Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
The letter closes with a prayer, not a command. False teaching and hard circumstances were robbing young believers of their peace, so Paul hands the whole situation over to Christ under a name used nowhere else.
A title given only once
The letters link peace to God again and again. One phrase, though, stands alone.
H J VineSeven times in the letters we read of "the God of peace," and surely He will supply abundance of peace for those who love Him. Once is that beautiful title given to Christ by the Spirit — "the Lord of peace." How encouraging is the verse where it occurs.
A name in Scripture is not decoration. It tells you what the one who bears it will do.
William Kelly"The Lord of peace" is a blessed title. In it He stands related to the saints and revealed to them. They might and ought to be sure that He could not fail to act in keeping with it. For the name of the Lord expresses what He is and what He does. We feel we owe help to our own relatives when they are in difficulty. What is that sense of duty compared with His unfailing grace?
Why these readers needed it
The title fit their situation. They were young believers, and everything around them was working against their peace.
Michael HardtThese were unsettling circumstances indeed, designed to rob these young believers of their peace. Note what was in danger of unsettling them. It was in no way the teaching they had received from Paul. It was the false doctrine being spread, and their circumstances. How appropriate for them to be directed to "the Lord of peace," the one who holds supremacy or, as has been said, the one who "is at the helm and not only preserves the ship but controls the elements."
From what He is to what He gives
The verse does not stop at describing His character. It asks Him to hand that peace over.
Michael HardtNow Paul goes a step further. He not only presents to them the Lord of peace but expresses his desire that He, the Lord of peace "Himself", would "give" them peace. Peace is not only at His disposal, it not only characterises Him, but He would make it available to them.
Nothing left out — always, in every way
The two small phrases at the end of the request are the point of it. Paul closes off every gap through which fear might return.
William KellyPaul did even more. He asked for peace not only at all times, but "in every way." Could anyone imagine a more deliberate shutting out of every source of alarm at all times? Could there be a stronger guarantee of peace from the Lord of peace Himself? And what fountain of peace can match with Him? These were saints of little experience, passing through a world full of trouble at all times, with a predicted time of tribulation ahead beyond anything before it.
If the supply never fails, a lack of peace must have another cause. Grant quotes an older translation, where the two phrases read "always" and "by all means."
Leslie M. GrantThe apostle's desire is that the Lord may give them this peace "always" and "by all means." It is not that the Lord withholds it by choice. Our state of soul may be such that we do not enjoy it. The answer to this is the drawing of our hearts and eyes to Himself. "By all means," too, suggests that every circumstance He allows may be the means God uses to make this peace a constant reality to the heart.
Compared with the first letter's closing prayer
The first letter ended by asking the God of peace to set them wholly apart for Himself. Writers notice that the second ends lower, and more soberly.
J. N. DarbyIt will be observed here that there is no longer the same expression of the energy of communion and of life as before (compare 2 Thess. 3:16 with 1 Thess. 5:23). Nevertheless the Lord was still the Lord of peace; but the beauty of that entire consecration to God, which would shine out in the day of Christ, does not present itself to the apostle's mind and heart as in the first letter. He prays for them, however, that they may have peace always and by all means.
The last clause carries the rest
The closing words look like an ordinary farewell. Faith sees far more in them.
William KellyThis, too, is crowned by "The Lord be with you all" — a wish of small price in eyes which see only a man writing to other men. What is it to those who know by faith? They see God using a servant, under His own unfailing guidance, to communicate His mind and heart to His children while they pass through the world. What use are all other helps, if "the Lord" is not with us all? And why should we not have perfect peace, if He is with us, whoever and whatever else is lacking?
Summary
- Person — the answer to trouble is a title, not a technique: "the Lord of peace," used only here. A name in Scripture states what its bearer does.
- Gift — Paul does not just describe Him as peaceful. He asks Him to hand that peace over, because it is His to give.
- Reach — "at all times" and "in every way" shut out every moment and every route by which alarm could return.
- Reception — the supply never fails. Where peace is not enjoyed, the state of the soul is in question, and the cure is to look back to Him.
- Presence — the prayer ends with the Lord Himself among them. If He is with us, no other lack can rob us of peace.