The comprehensive prayer for blessing with which he concludes is strictly after the apostle's manner.
I. THE AUTHORS OF THE BLESSINGS PRAYED FOR. "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father." The order of mention is unusual, though the name of Jesus occurs first in the apostolic benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14).
1. God the Father is the ultimate Source of blessing, as it is through Jesus Christ the blessing comes to us.
2. There is an entire equality between them, seeing the blessing is attributed to both.
3. There is oneness of essence, as is indicated by the singular verb used in the passage.
II. THE GROUND OF EXPECTATION THAT THE BLESSINGS ASKED WILL BE GIVEN. "Who loved us, and gave us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace."
1. The Divine love is the true ground of all our hopes of blessing, for it is everlasting, unchangeable, practical in its ends.
2. The two elements in the Divine gift.
(1) "Everlasting consolation."
(a) A source of unfailing comfort in the midst of the trials of life, springing out of everlasting sources and sufficing to all eternity; for God is a "God of all comfort," and "if there be any consolation," it is in Christ.
(b) This comfort is a gift - a mark of Divine favour, not of human merit.
(2) "A good hope through grace."
(a) This is "the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Titus 1:2).
(b) It is a good hope
(α) because of its Author;
(β) because of its foundation, "through grace;"
(γ) because of its purifying effects (l John 3:4).
III. THE BLESSINGS PRAYED FOR.
1. Heart-comfort. "Comfort your hearts." They needed to be comforted on account of their troubles respecting the second advent. None but God can give true and lasting comfort. "Thou hast put gladness into my heart."
2. Establishment and perseverance. "And stablish you in every good word and work."
(1) This blessing is to be sought especially in restless and unsettled times.
(2) Stability is to be sought in "every good word," so that believers may not be carried away by "winds of doctrine;" and in "every good work," so that they may not be shaken by doubt and thus become restless and disorderly in conduct. Instability is weakness, as stability is strength. - T.C.
Comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work
I. COMFORT.
1. What it is.(1) Our natural refreshment. We cannot enjoy our temporal mercies with any delight without God's blessing (Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:13; Acts 14:17).(2) Our support in troubles (Psalm 119:50; 2 Corinthians 1:4; Acts 9:31).(a) God can give His people comfort in the greatest tribulation (Isaiah 12). As long as we have God to stand by us and the promise of eternal life trouble will be counterbalanced (Romans 5:2, 3; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Isaiah 40:1, 2; Matthew 9:2).(b) There is special allowance of comfort for God's people in affliction (1 Peter 4:14). As the mother keeps most with the sick child, so God looks to the afflicted. This is the difference between God and the world; the world ever runs after those that are prosperous, as rivers into the sea, where there are waters enough.(c) Our comforts carry proportion with our sorrows (2 Corinthians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 10:13).
2. What it is to have our hearts comforted. The heart is the proper seat of spiritual comfort (Psalm 4:7). God's comfort is like a soaking shower that goes to the root, whereas the dew only wets the surface. Other comforts refresh the outward man. The joy of the world makes a great noise but leaves the heart sorrowful. God in dealing with the heart uses means, but His Spirit works immediately by —
(1)Opening the understanding to see the grounds of comfort (Romans 15:13).(2)By raising the heart to the lively act of joy (Acts 13:52).3. In what sense it is of God.
(1)When it is allowed by Him (Ecclesiastes 5:18).(2)When the matter is provided by Him (John 14:1).(3)When by these means He worketh comfort (Romans 14:17).II. WHY THIS IS OF GOD.
1. Because God challenges as His own the right to comfort the heart (Job 34:29).
2. Though the grounds of comfort be never so clear, yet if God concur not, we find not the effect.
3. Because of the advantages springing from this source. Our comforts —(1) Come with more authority, and silence all our doubts and fears (Psalm 94:19). If comfort be made of our own fancy it will be like a spider's web that is weaved out of its own bowels, but is easily swept away.(2) Are full and strong. For God works like Himself, and therefore can and will support His people in the greatest difficulties.
(a)They are full (Acts 13:52; 2 Corinthians 7:4; John 15:11).(b)Strong (Hebrews 6:18).III. THE USES.
1. To reprove Christians for over-much dejection and fainting in troubles. Why are we so much cast down? Is there no balm in Gilead or comfort in God?
2. If all comfort be of God, let us go to Him for it.(1) See that you are qualified for it. Comfort follows holiness, as heat fire. The Spirit is first a Sanctifier and then a Comforter (Ephesians 1:13, 14).(2) Expect not a singular way of comfort besides the Word, prayer, Lord's supper, etc.
3. Consider the ends for which God gives comfort — to fortify us against the enemies of our salvation.
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When a man walketh in the sun, if his face be towards it, he hath nothing before him but bright shining light and comfortable heat; but let him once tram his back to the sun what hath he before him but a shadow? And what is a shadow but the privation of light and heat of the sun? Yea: it is but to behold his own shadow, defrauding himself of the other. Thus there is no true wisdom, happiness, comfort, but in beholding the countenance of God; look from that and we lose these blessings. And what shall we gain? A shadow, an empty image of ourselves instead of the reconciled face of God.()
I. WHAT IT IS. Confirmation in the grace we have received. It must be distinguished —1. With respect to the power wherewith we are assisted. There is —(1) Habitual confirmation, when habits of grace are more settled and increased.
(a)Faith: for we stand by faith (Romans 11:20; 1 Peter 1:5: Luke 22:32).(b)Love (Song of Solomon 8:6, 7).(c)Hope (Hebrews 6:19).(2) Actual establishment, when these habits are fortified and quickened by the actual influence, of God; otherwise neither stability of resolutions (Psalm 73:2), nor of gracious habits (Revelation 3:2) will support us.2. With respect to the matter about which it is conversant — stability.(1) In the doctrine of faith (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Jeremiah 6:16). We ought to be well settled lest our fluctuating opinions breed unbelief in others and shame to ourselves. Yet while we cry up constancy we must not cherish prejudice which shuts the door on the light.(2) In every good work, or holiness of life. Here the greatest establishment is needed. It is ill when the mind is tainted, but worse when the heart is alienated (1 Thessalonians 3:13). This is difficult.(a) Because of the contrariety of the principles that are within us (Galatians 5:17). The garrison is not free from danger that has an enemy lodged within.(b) Because it is more hard to continue in conversion than to be converted. The latter is more passive, the former active.
3. With respect to the subject in which it is seated: the soul with its faculties.(1) The mind is established when we have a clear, certain, and full apprehension of the truth of the gospel (Colossians 2:2).(2) The will is established when it is firmly and thoroughly resolved for God against sin (Acts 11:23; Psalm 27:4; 1 Peter 4:1).(3) The affections are established when they stir us up to do what the mind is convinced of, and the will resolved upon as to the necessary duties in order to eternal happiness (Psalm 119:32).
(a)Love fills us with delight (Psalm 40:8; 1 John 5:3; Psalm 112:1).(b)Hope bears us up (Hebrews 3:6).4. With respect to the uses which it serves.(1) Doing the will of God with delight, cheerfulness, and constancy (Ephesians 3:16).(2) Bearing afflictions with honour to God and safety to ourselves (Philippians 4:13; Colossians 1:11).(3) Withstanding temptations (Ephesians 6:10).
5. With respect to the degree, it is such a strengthening of the soul as prevents not only our fall but our shaking (1 Corinthians 15:28; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:23).
II. HOW NEEDFUL IT IS.
1. Man at best is but a creature. As providence is a continual creation, so stablishing grace is the continuance of the new creation (2 Corinthians 1:21).
2. The indisposition of our natures.(1) To every good word. The truths of the gospel are supernatural and must be settled and preserved by Divine power (Ephesians 2:8).(2) To every good work (Jeremiah 14:10; Psalm 95:10).
3. In regard of those oppositions that are made against us after conversion. Satan pursues us ever (Colossians 1:13, cf. 1 John 4:4); therefore there must be the same power to stablish us in grace that first brought us into a state of grace.
4. The saints miscarry when God withdraws His supporting grace, as Peter, David, etc. (Psalm 51; 2 Chronicles 32:31).
III. WHY IT IS TO BE SOUGHT OF GOD.
1. He only is able (Romans 16:25; Jude 1:24; 2 Timothy 1:12).
2. He is willing (2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:17, 18).
3. He has promised (Psalm 73:23).
4. This is the experience of saints (Psalm 94:18).Conclusion: Look up to God for establishment.
1. When you begin to decline and grow indifferent in the practice of godliness. If grace be weak, you must get it strengthened (Psalm 17:5; Psalm 119:133).
2. In unsettled times when we are full of fears, and think we shall never hold out (Psalm 16:8).
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There are men and women here who would have been dead twenty years ago but for Jesus. They have gone through trial enough to exhaust ten times their physical strength. Their property went, their health went, their families were scattered. God only knows what they suffered. They are an amazement to themselves that they have been able to stand it. They look at their once happy home, surrounded by all comfort. Gone! They think of the time when they used to rise strong in the morning and walk vigorously down the street, and had experienced a health they thought inexhaustible. Gone! Everything but Jesus. He has pitied them. His eye has watched them. His omnipotence has defended them. Yes, He has been with them. They have gone through disaster, and He was a pillar of fire by night. They have gone across stormy Galilee, but Christ had His foot on the neck of the storm.()
People
Paul,
ThessaloniansPlaces
ThessalonicaTopics
Comfort, Deed, Encourage, Establish, Hearts, Stablish, Stedfast, Strength, StrengthenOutline
1. Paul urges them to continue stedfast in the truth received;3. shows that there shall be a departure from the faith,9. and a discovery of Antichrist, before the day of the Lord comes;15. repeats his exhortation to stand firm, and prays for them.Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Thessalonians 2:17 3212 Holy Spirit, and mission
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
5308 equality
6647 eternal life, experience
6746 sanctification, means and results
Library
Everlasting Consolation and Good Hope
'Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. 17. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.'--2 THESS. ii. 16, 17. This is the second of the four brief prayers which, as I pointed out in my last sermon, break the current of Paul's teaching in this letter, and witness to the depth of his affection to his Thessalonian converts. We do not know the special circumstances …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureElection
Now, first, I shall speak a little concerning the truthfulness of this doctrine: "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." Secondly, I shall try to prove that this election is absolute: "He hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation," not for sanctification, but "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Thirdly, this election is eternal, because the text says, "God hath from the beginning chosen you." Fourthly, it is personal: "He hath chosen you." Then we …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855
Grace and Holiness.
"Now God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."--1 THESS. iii. 11-13. There are few more precious subjects for meditation and imitation than the prayers and intercessions of the great Apostle. …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul
Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses.
BY JOHN BUNYAN PREFATORY REMARKS BY THE EDITOR This important treatise was prepared for the press, and left by the author, at his decease, to the care of his surviving friend for publication. It first appeared in a collection of his works in folio, 1692; and although a subject of universal interest; most admirably elucidated; no edition has been published in a separate form. Antichrist has agitated the Christian world from the earliest ages; and his craft has been to mislead the thoughtless, by …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
Sixteenth Day. Holiness and Truth.
Make them holy in the Truth: Thy word is Truth.'--John xvii. 17. 'God chose you unto salvation in sanctification and belief of the Truth.'--2 Thess. ii. 12. The chief means of sanctification that God uses is His word. And yet how much there is of reading and studying, of teaching and preaching the word, that has almost no effect in making men holy. It is not the word that sanctifies; it is God Himself who alone can sanctify. Nor is it simply through the word that God does it, but through …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ
Colossians iii. 17
Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. This, like the other general rules of the gospel, is familiar enough to us all in its own words; but we are very apt to forbear making the application of it. In fact, he who were to apply it perfectly would be a perfect Christian: for a life of which every word and deed were said and done in the name of the Lord Jesus, would be a life indeed worthy of the children of God, and such …
Thomas Arnold—The Christian Life
Approbation and Blessing.
"Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."--2 THESS. i. ii, 12. Two words sum up the Christian life--Grace and Glory; and both are associated with the two Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace particularly with the first Coming, …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul
The Edict of Banishment, 1729-1736.
But Zinzendorf was not long allowed to tread the primrose path of peace. As the news of his proceedings spread in Germany, many orthodox Lutherans began to regard him as a nuisance, a heretic, and a disturber of the peace; and one critic made the elegant remark: "When Count Zinzendorf flies up into the air, anyone who pulls him down by the legs will do him a great service." He was accused of many crimes, and had many charges to answer. He was accused of founding a new sect, a society for laziness; …
J. E. Hutton—History of the Moravian Church
Fifteenth Day. The Holy Spirit.
But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet: because Jesus was not yet glorified.'--John vii. 39. 'The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things.'--John xiv. 26. 'God chose you to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.'--2 Thess. ii. 13. (See 1 Pet. i. 2.) It has sometimes been said, that while the Holiness of God stands out more prominently …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ
The Calling of the Regenerate:
"Whom He did predestinate, them He also called."--Rom. viii. 30. In order to hear, the sinner, deaf by nature, must receive hearing ears. "He that hath ears let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29; iii. 6, 13, 22). But by nature the sinner does not belong to these favored ones. This is a daily experience. Of two clerks in the same office, one obeys the call and the other rejects it; not because he despises it, but because he does not hear God's call in it. Hence …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit
First Day. God's Call to Holiness.
Like as He which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy, for I am holy.'--1 Pet. i. 15, 16. The call of God is the manifestation in time of the purpose of eternity: 'Whom He predestinated, them He also called.' Believers are 'the called according to His purpose.' In His call He reveals to us what His thoughts and His will concerning us are, and what the life to which He invites us. In His call He makes clear to …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ
The Third Wall.
The third wall falls of itself, as soon as the first two have fallen; for if the Pope acts contrary to the Scriptures, we are bound to stand by the Scriptures, to punish and to constrain him, according to Christ's commandment; "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation
Perseverance of the Saints Proved.
The following considerations, taken together, seem to me to establish the truth of the doctrine in question beyond reasonable doubt. 1. God has from eternity resolved upon the salvation of all the elect. This we have seen. No one of this number will ever be lost. These are given to Christ from eternity, as a seed to serve him. The conversion, perseverance, and final salvation of the elect, we have seen to be secured. Their conversion, perseverance, and salvation, are secured by means of the grace …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology
Conflict and Comfort.
"For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2. Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul
How Christ is to be Made Use Of, as the Way, for Sanctification in General.
Having shown how a poor soul, lying under the burden of sin and wrath, is to make use of Jesus Christ for righteousness and justification, and so to make use of him, go out to him, and apply him, as "he is made of God to us righteousness," 1 Cor. i. 30, and that but briefly. This whole great business being more fully and satisfactorily handled, in that forementioned great, though small treatise, viz. "The Christian's Great Interest," we shall now come and show, how a believer or a justified soul …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
The Holy Spirit Bringing Forth in the Believer Christlike Graces of Character.
There is a singular charm, a charm that one can scarcely explain, in the words of Paul in Gal. v. 22, 23, R. V., "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance." What a catalogue we have here of lovely moral characteristics. Paul tells us that they are the fruit of the Spirit, that is, if the Holy Spirit is given control of our lives, this is the fruit that He will bear. All real beauty of character, all real Christlikeness in us, …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit
Discerning Prayer.
INTRODUCTORY. BY D.W. WHITTLE. To recognize God's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and wisdom to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of consequence and importance enough to bring into existence, are not of enough consequence for him to pay any attention to in the troubles …
Various—The Wonders of Prayer
Concerning God's Purpose
1. God's purpose is the cause of salvation. THE third and last thing in the text, which I shall but briefly glance at, is the ground and origin of our effectual calling, in these words, "according to his purpose" (Eph. i. 11). Anselm renders it, According to his good will. Peter Martyr reads it, According to His decree. This purpose, or decree of God, is the fountainhead of our spiritual blessings. It is the impulsive cause of our vocation, justification, glorification. It is the highest link in …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial
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