But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of [the] Lord, that God has chosen you from [the] beginning to salvation in sanctification of [the] Spirit and belief of [the] truth
Paul has just described a world deceived and judged for refusing the truth. Now he turns and thanks God for the Thessalonians. One sentence holds God's eternal choice, the Spirit's work, and the believer's faith. How far back does that choice reach? And why does Paul name sanctification before belief?
Paul places this thanksgiving here on purpose. Just above, he described people who welcomed the lie. These believers are their opposite, so they need not fear the day of judgment.
The day of the Lord, then, will be a day of judgment, and those whom antichrist has deceived — willingly deceived — will be caught in it. But what were the people Paul wrote to? They were beloved of the Lord. God chose them from the beginning to salvation... How marked is the difference between them and those in Christendom who will be swept into the coming judgment. Could the beloved of the Lord be objects of His unsparing judgment? The refutation of the error was complete.
William Kelly takes "the beginning" as far back as it can go. He also weighs the verb "chose" itself.
The context appears to decide that we must take "from the beginning" in the largest sense. It does not mean only from the start of the gospel, or from Christ's appearing on earth. It means from of old, from everlasting. "Chose" is also somewhat unusual here: not so much chose out from others as chose for Himself. This is sweet and comforting to a believer whom true repentance has made nothing in his own eyes. If human nature takes it up, it turns into pride and hardness without a drop of real consolation.
Commentators differ on how far back "the beginning" reaches. Leslie M. Grant ties the phrase to the time the Son of God appeared on earth. He reads the stress differently: "it seems the emphasis is that there could be no change in their position, for they had been chosen long before." Greek copies differ here by a single letter, and the ESV follows the other reading: "as the firstfruits." William Kelly rejects that reading: "Of what could the Thessalonian saints be firstfruits? Not even of Macedonia, since the Philippians were earlier."
Paul names the Spirit's setting apart first, then faith. This is not holiness of life growing after conversion. It is what makes a sinner into a saint at the start.
Sanctification of the Spirit means that mighty separating act of the Holy Spirit that first sets a soul apart to God in a living way. And so faith of the truth goes with it. Practical holiness is the consequence... Here it is rather the great principle and power that goes with conversion to God, so generally overlooked... It is that work which meets a man while he is a sinner, and by grace makes him a saint. People are willing to allow it afterwards in practice, but are afraid to own it at the starting point.
Scripture uses the word "sanctification" in two other senses too. Keeping them apart clears up much confusion.
Salvation is in view here. God accomplishes it through sanctification of the Spirit (His internal work in the soul) and belief of the truth (the soul's response to Him in faith)... Sanctification by the blood of Christ is positional. God sets the believer apart in his position by the shedding of the blood of Christ (Heb. 10). Sanctification by the truth (John 17) is progressive, dealing with a daily, practical setting apart of the saints to God.
The verse has three layers: what God intended, what He produced, and how He did it.
"Chosen you to salvation" — that is the object God purposed in Himself. "In sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" — that is the effect produced in the elect, in keeping with God's purpose. "Our gospel" — that is the means God used to produce that effect.
What does this choice mean for the person who believes? W. T. P. Wolston answers with a picture of a gate.
Suppose I go up to a gate. On it I find written, "Whoever will may enter." I say, "That's free enough; I'll go inside." "But how do you know it means you?" It says "whoever" — that means me, and anybody. I touch the door and it swings open. I enter, and the door closes. On the inside I see written, "Whoever gets inside this door never gets out." Election secures this. God takes good care that the soul who believes His word will never be lost... The two things, sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, are inseparable; where one is, the other must be.
- Chosen — God's choice runs back before time, and the verb means chosen for Himself. It comforts a humbled believer, but human nature turns it into pride.
- Separated — the Spirit's act meets a man while he is a sinner and sets him apart to God. Practical holiness follows later.
- Believing — the Spirit's work and faith are inseparable. Where one is, the other must be.
- Called — salvation is God's purpose. Sanctification and faith are the effect. The gospel is the means He used.
- Secure — the beloved of the Lord are the opposite of the deceived. They cannot be objects of the judgment Paul has just described.
whereto he has called you by our glad tidings, to [the] obtaining of [the] glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul has just described a world that believes the lie and comes under judgment. Now he turns to the Thessalonians and traces the opposite path: God chose them, the gospel reached them, and a glory that belongs to Christ waits for them.
The words "to this" tie the verse back to God's choosing in verse 13. One writer shows how a purpose formed before time reached these people inside time.
So, if we have God's purpose in Himself before time, we have the object He proposed for the saints for eternity. He chose them from the beginning for salvation. He brought this about in time for the saints, in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
Many people stop at forgiveness. The same message that announces rescue also announces a destination.
It is clear then that believers are not only "saved" but "called." We find salvation through faith in Christ and His finished work. Then we are too often content to rest in the knowledge that our sins are forgiven and that we are safe from judgment and hell. We are slow to see that the same gospel that brings the good news of salvation from judgment proclaims the call of God to the glory of Christ.
The phrase is unusual — a preacher calling the message his own. It points to the fullness of what he had to preach.
The glory of Christ on high is the answer to His humiliation below, whatever else may follow. So the apostle speaks of "my gospel," and "our gospel" where he names his companions along with himself. God gave him the gospel of the glory of Christ to preach in all its height of blessedness. So there is danger in letting it slip, if someone who once knew it starts to preach grace at a lower level only, true as that lower message may be.
The word translated "obtaining" appears in other New Testament passages. Its root meaning is worth knowing.
In three other passages the word is found much more in its primary meaning of what remains over, is saved, reserved for oneself, and acquired and preserved. We have it applied in this way to salvation in 1 Thess. 5:9, and to glory in 2 Thess. 2:14; and in Heb. 10:39 to the contrast between those who "have faith and preserve their souls" and those who "shrink back and are destroyed."
Note whose glory is named. One writer sets it beside a promise made to Israel.
"God has called us into His own kingdom and glory"; "To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." But to Israel the word is, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you" — not that they obtain the glory of the Lord. In a word, their glory is distinct from the Lord's glory; that glory is something outside them, but the glory of the church is identical with that of the Lord.
So who will the day of the Lord fall on? Paul answers by contrast.
The day of the Lord, then, will be a day of judgment, and it will sweep up those whom the antichrist has deceived — willingly deceived. But what were those really to whom Paul wrote? They were beloved of the Lord. God chose them from the beginning for salvation, by sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, and called them by the gospel to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. How marked is the difference between them and those in the Christian world who will be swept into the coming judgment, as the contrast between verses 10-12 and 13, 14 shows. Could the beloved of the Lord be objects of His unsparing judgment? The refutation of the error was complete.
A calling can be forgotten. One writer weighs the care people give their daily work against the care they give this.
Every Christian has been called by the gospel to the obtaining of eternal glory, and that glory is as sure as the love that brought the gospel to us. But by that same gospel we have been called into Christian fellowship, and our business is to attend to this with all our hearts. Yet many Christians never give it a thought. They are most careful about all the obligations their earthly jobs lay on them; but this, the calling of God, their divine calling, seems to have escaped their notice.
- Chosen — God formed the purpose before time. The call is that purpose reaching a person in time.
- Called — the gospel does two things at once: it saves from judgment and it calls us to the glory of Christ. We are slow to hear the second half.
- By the gospel — the call comes through a preached message. The message Paul carried was the gospel of the glory of Christ on high.
- To glory — "obtaining" means something reserved and kept. The glory is not a light shining on us from outside; it is the Lord's own.
- Therefore secure — the chain runs from God's choice to Christ's glory. The day of judgment cannot fall on those the Lord loves.
So then, brethren, stand firm, and hold fast the instructions which ye have been taught, whether by word or by our letter.
Paul has just told these believers that God chose them for salvation and called them to obtain the glory of Christ. The words "so then" turn that into a command, which raises two questions: what must they hold, and why command people God has already secured?
The command rests on the promise of glory in the verses just before it. One writer meets the obvious objection: Scripture aims its calls at these very people.
Speculative men wonder and judge in their small way. Why, they ask, should the apostle call the saints to hold firmly to the truth in their ways and words, when he had just acknowledged that God called them to obtain the glory of our Lord? The mere mind of man regards this as logical inconsistency... why, they reason, should those elected to salvation need any further urging? Is not all sure and settled on divine grounds? But it is the elect, the blessed and happy children of God who know it, whom Scripture everywhere urges to watchfulness and prayer, to reading the word of God and every other means of spiritual well-being. We never find such calls made to the unbelieving and the fearful.
The Greek word behind "traditions" is the sticking point. Writers agree on its sense. It does not mean customs passed down through generations. It means teaching that a teacher delivered to those he taught.
As to "tradition," no one who has read the Greek Testament can doubt its sense for a moment. In the New Testament the word means a doctrine delivered, not handed down... So tradition in the popular sense is in contrast with Scripture; but in the passage you refer to (2 Thess. 2:15) it is either the direct word of prophecy in the church there, or the apostle's epistle. Nothing handed down in the church is secured by later authority. The saints were to keep the doctrine they had been taught — the body of saints.
Because of that, several writers prefer a plainer English word. One notes the choice directly:
It will be noted that the word "instruction" is used in the above verse rather than "traditions," for the former is more accurate.
Paul names two routes by which his teaching reached them: his voice and his letter. Only one of those routes stays open to us, and one writer draws out what that means.
In view of this the word to us is "stand fast." We are to hold the apostolic "traditions" or "instructions." The Thessalonian believers received these instructions in two ways: by word of mouth and by letter. We have them in one way only. Let us therefore take the more earnest heed to the apostolic writings.
Having the finished book is an advantage, yet it does not lessen the need for the command:
We are better off than they, as we now have the whole completed word of God to which we may always refer, but may we not say we need the exhortation to hold fast more than they did? Thank God we have equally the abiding Spirit.
Paul names both the spoken and the written teaching. Some use this verse to claim an authority alongside Scripture. One writer answers that the traditions in view were definite truth the church already had, not a vague spirit carried along by a community.
Beyond a doubt the delivered instructions cover spoken and written teaching. They leave no room for a vague sense that works powerfully but almost unnoticed on a community from age to age. The traditions which the apostle urges the church to hold fast were truth they knew and had (1 Cor. 11:2)... The theory of a dual rule of faith betrays its real character as a rival of Scripture... For this supposes a defect in Scripture, and claims, though human, nothing less than divine honour.
Their protection was not new information but attention to what they already had.
They were to hold fast the "traditions" or doctrinal "instruction" they had been taught. It came by "spoken word" when Paul was with them, and by "our letter" when he was away. They did not yet know all the truth, but it was foolish to let what they did not know disturb what they did know. Their safety lay in the Word of God received either by voice through apostolic lips, or in writing through apostolic pens.
- Chosen — God's choice and call to glory are the reason to stand firm, never a substitute for standing.
- Taught — "traditions" here means the teaching the apostle delivered to them, not customs the church built up later. "Instruction" is the clearer word.
- Delivered — that teaching came two ways, by voice and by letter. We have it one way, in the apostolic writings, so we heed them the more earnestly.
- Held — the traditions were truth the church knew and had. That rules out any second authority set beside Scripture.
- Standing — what Paul had already taught them was enough to keep them. The danger was letting what they did not yet know unsettle what they did.
But our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us, and given [us] eternal consolation and good hope by grace,
The chapter has just described a coming deception and the ruin of those who refuse the truth. Paul turns from that dark scene to prayer, naming two Persons and what they have already given — love, comfort that never runs out, and a hope that rests on grace.
Paul has told the Thessalonians to stand firm and hold fast. He does not leave the command alone. A prayer follows it, addressed to the Lord and to the Father.
Paul gives thanks for the assured blessing of the Thessalonians. He sets it against the everlasting ruin of those who abandon Christ and Christianity. Then comes not only an exhortation to stand firm in the truth of God given to them, but a prayer suited to their need. Christ came out from God to sinful people on earth, and went to God in heaven after He accomplished redemption. He revealed God as our Father, while He Himself remains our Lord.
The reason lies in what the believers were up against.
The Apostle has brought before us the salvation and calling of God, and he has urged us to "stand firm" and to "hold fast." But he realises that this is not possible in our own strength. We cannot enter into the calling, or stand firm in the presence of all the power of the enemy, on our own. So he turns to prayer.
Every title in the verse carries weight. One writer walks through them one at a time.
When you have "our," you have what appeals to the affections… and "Himself" is the beautiful addition in Luke 24. "Jesus Himself drew near and went with them." "Jesus Himself stood among them, and said to them, Peace to you!"… The apostle adds, "God, even our Father." In "God" we have all power. "My God will supply every need of yours." In "our Father," we remember how He spoke when He rose from the dead on that first day of the week, putting that relationship first: "My Father and your Father."
The verse joins the Son and the Father as one source of the comfort asked for. Kelly draws a conclusion from that.
Here again the gift of everlasting encouragement does not silence the prayer that He may encourage His children's hearts. It draws that prayer out and strengthens it. Our Lord, and God our Father, are remarkably identified in cheering and strengthening us now, as in 1 Thessalonians 3:11. It is a special way of speaking. It can only be explained by the eternal relation of the Father and the Son, and their unity of nature in the Godhead.
The verbs "loved" and "gave" look back at something settled. Grant links that finished work to what is asked for next.
Paul uses the entire title "our Lord Jesus Christ" here, and "God, even our Father." It is as though to press upon us the blessed fullness of supply that is ours in communion with the Father and the Son. For he first speaks of the eternal provision made for us — His love and everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. And the certainty of this is the basis of their practical comfort. It also establishes them in every good word and work.
The comfort is eternal for a reason. It has to last the whole journey.
There may be many sorrows to meet on the road, but there is "everlasting consolation" at the end of the journey. We may have to pass through difficult times, but we are passing on to the fulfilment of the "good hope." False teachers may seek to distress and distract the saints, but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, can give comfort.
Kelly sets the verse against the dark scene before it.
The hardening that comes as judgement, the powerful working of the enemy, and the day of the Lord were to fall only on those who despised Christ and renounced the gospel. Everlasting comfort and good hope through grace belonged to those who believed. So the apostle asked that they might be established now in every good work and word.
- Loved. The verse starts with what God has already done, not with what we must achieve. He is the One who loved us.
- Given. Out of that love came an eternal provision: comfort and hope, given through grace. That certainty is the basis of everything practical that follows.
- Lasting. Everlasting means it covers the whole journey — sorrows on the road, difficult times, false teachers.
- Sourced. One prayer names the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father together as its source. That way of speaking rests on the eternal relation of Father and Son.
- Steadying. No one can stand firm in his own strength, so Paul does not only command. He prays. The gift already given makes the prayer bolder, not needless.
encourage your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word.
Paul has just told the Thessalonians to stand firm and hold fast. He then stops giving orders and starts praying, because he knows what he is asking of them.
The Apostle has brought before us the salvation and calling of God. He has urged us to "stand firm" and to "hold fast." But he realises this: if we are to enter into the calling, and stand firm against all the power of the enemy, it will not be possible in our own strength. So he turns to prayer. He turns to our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, the One who is going to deal with all evil and put an end to every opposing power when He appears at His coming.
Paul prays to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God our Father in one breath. One writer sees in this a closeness that only the eternal relationship of Father and Son can explain.
Our Lord, and God our Father, are remarkably identified in thus cheering and strengthening us now, as in 1 Thess. 3:11: a special way of speaking, inexplicable unless it is grounded on the eternal relation of the Father and the Son, and their unity of nature in the Godhead.
Each title carries its own weight, and the little word "our" runs through them all.
When you have "our," you have what appeals to the affections… Coming back to our verse (2:16) the apostle adds, "God, even our Father." In "God" we have all power. In "our Father," we remember how He spoke when He rose from the dead on that first day of the week, putting that relationship first, "My Father and your Father." He has loved us — how deeply, who can tell? He has given us a consolation that never passes but lasts for ever, and good hope through grace. Then comes "comfort (or encourage) your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word" — for such is the order.
Verse 16 lists gifts already in hand; verse 17 asks for something present and daily. The order matters, and it stands in deliberate contrast to the doom of those described earlier in the chapter.
The hardening in judgement, the strong work of the enemy and the day of the Lord were to fall only on those who despised Christ and rejected the gospel. Everlasting comfort and good hope through grace belonged to those who believed. So he asked, on their behalf, for present establishing in every good work and word.
The permanent supply is what makes the daily strengthening possible.
He first speaks of the eternal provision made for us — His love and everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. And the certainty of this is the basis of their practical comfort and establishment in every good word and work. Valuing these eternal, unchangeable blessings would surely have a powerful effect on this practical fellowship and progress, in both word and work.
These believers were suffering for their faith. Paul points them to God, who has already given consolation that lasts.
So, when writing to the Thessalonian saints, who were suffering "persecution and tribulation," he can commit them to God "Who has given us everlasting consolation," to "comfort" their hearts.
The second half of the prayer reaches into everyday actions and everyday words. It asks for more than we can manage on our own.
The apostle desires that grace may cover all the path that lies between, with that divine encouragement. It suits both His past goodness and His people's exposure to suffering and sorrow. It suits them all the more because God calls them to bear a steady testimony to Christ, inside and out, in every good work and word. A wonderful call, when we think of God and His Son on the one hand, and of ourselves on the other! Who is equal to such a task? Our sufficiency comes from God.
Comfort alone would have left a real problem untouched. Some had stopped working, and the cause may have been a twisted view of the Lord's return.
He had to admonish as well as comfort, and to pray not only that their hearts might be comforted, but established in every good word and work. For some of them had stopped working with their hands. This may have been the fruit of a corrupt view of the truth they were best known for — the coming of the Lord. For it is Satan's way, if he cannot rob us of truth, to corrupt it while it is still in our hand.
- Given. The prayer rests on gifts God has already given: love, everlasting consolation, good hope. All of it comes by grace. None of it fades.
- Asked. Standing firm is beyond our own strength. So Paul stops giving orders and prays, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and to God our Father.
- Comforted. The first thing Paul asks for is comfort for hearts under persecution. The consolation God has already given is what steadies them.
- Established. The second thing he asks for is daily and practical: a steady witness to Christ, inside and out, in a life we cannot manage alone.
- Work and word. Together they meet the real problem at Thessalonica. A twisted view of the Lord's coming had led some to stop working with their hands.