Final Greeting

2 Thessalonians 3:16 “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”

            Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians to the church of Thessalonica. In this second letter, Paul addresses issues of Christ’s return and what that may look like. Paul lists several events that must happen before Christ will return. He talks of this because the church in Thessalonica was confused by other teachings that Christ had already returned. They were full of fear. Paul needed to calm these fears and clear up the misunderstanding. It is important that Christians today do not confuse this scripture with the same scripture in other books or letters of the bible because they are all referencing different things, like one Antichrist is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians, but there are many in 1 John. The original audience of this time understood Paul’s teaching and knew what he was referencing when he said the “man of lawlessness.” We should take caution today when we interpret these scriptures and find their original meanings before applying them to ourselves or creating assumptions about what they mean for us today.

            In chapter 3, Paul addresses the issue of laziness. There were people in their church that were not contributing or working, and the people of the church were enabling this behavior by continuing to feed and take care of those who were able, yet unwilling to work. Paul encourages them to follow his and the apostles’ examples in not being idle, but always working to share the gospel and to love each other. He says they work so that they are not a burden to them, and they should not create a burden for each other either. Then he encourages those who are working. He tells them “never tire of doing what is good” (2 Thes. 3:13).

Read 2 Thessalonians 3

            In all of Paul’s letters, he includes a greeting at the beginning and end of each letter. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul addresses God as the Lord of peace. The people had been frightened by the false teachings that Christ had already returned without their knowing. Paul wanted to calm their fears. God is a God of peace and Paul wanted to remind the church of that. He prays that God would give them peace and that He would be with each one of them. This would have been a very special blessing to these people. Paul wanted them to have peace in every way possible (1).

            As we encourage our fellow believers, and those who do not believe, we should remind them of God’s peace that He extends to us. We can be confident in His promises because of His faithfulness shown throughout scripture and through our personal experiences with Him. The promise of eternal life brings me peace in that I know that all of my suffering and struggling in this life is temporary. One day I will be face to face with my Creator and Savior and I will get to live with Him and all other believers forever.

      What are the promises of God that brings you peace? Who can you share this peace with?

1.Water, M., Henry, M., Wesley, J., & Spurgeon, C. H. (2003). Parallel commentary on the New Testament: Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, Matthew Henry. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.