b. God’s faithfulness (3:3–5)
5. The faithfulness of God (3:1–5)
Paul is sure of God’s faithfulness and in this certainty he looks for his friends to pray for him. He goes on to show his confidence that God will do great things.
a. Request for prayer (3:1–2)
1. Finally (to loipon; see comment on 1 Thess. 4:1) brings us to the concluding part of the letter. It does not mean that there is nothing more to say, for Paul could and did discuss weighty matters after it. But it does mean that the main argument is concluded. Here it leads to a request for prayer (as in 1 Thess. 5:25). The verb pray is in an emphatic position (the subject is important), and it is in the present tense, which means ‘Pray continually’. Some think that Paul had been told that the converts were praying for him and that he responds with emphasis, ‘Keep on praying (as you are doing).’ Or he may mean, ‘Not only hold fast our teachings (2:15), but also pray for us.’ But we should not read too much into a tense; Paul often asks people to pray for him and this may simply be a reflection of his deep sense of need; he depended on God and he thus needed constant prayer.
That the message of the Lord may spread rapidly is more exactly ‘that the word of the Lord may run’. Paul sees ‘the word’ as active and vigorous, moving swiftly to accomplish God’s purpose. The imagery goes back to Psalm 147:15 (cf. also Ps. 19:4–5), and the Greek games may also be in mind, for Paul often uses illustrations from these athletic contests. ‘May run’ refers to what the word does in itself, while be honoured (or ‘glorified’) is concerned rather with its effect on people. When people see what God’s word accomplishes they will glorify it, as the Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch did (Acts 13:48). There is no it was in the Greek; Paul says ‘just as also with you’. Translators usually help him out with it was (as NIV), making him refer to the time of the original mission, or ‘it is’ (AV), making the reference to the time of writing. More likely it includes both. Paul was having difficulties in Corinth, and he recalls with nostalgia the Thessalonian mission (cf. 1 Thess. 1:5–10; 2:1, 13) and Timothy’s later report (1 Thess. 3:6–7). In Thessalonica the word of God was not bound (cf. 2 Tim. 2:9), and Paul longs to see its swift and powerful action in Corinth too.
2. For delivered see comment on 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (where this verb is translated ‘rescues’). There is an article with wicked and evil men, which points to a definite group (not adversaries of the gospel in general), as does the aorist tense in the verb. There can be no doubt that these people were the Jews who gave the apostle such trouble in Corinth (Acts 18:12ff.; cf. Rom. 15:31). Wicked translates atopōn, ‘that which is out of place’, thus ‘improper’, ‘wicked’. This is the only place in the New Testament where it is used of persons (it refers to things in Luke 23:41; Acts 25:5; 28:6). Evil (ponērōn) means not simply a passive acquiescence in badness, but an active evil. So Paul looks to his friends to pray that he will be delivered from wicked people who would oppose the gospel and harm its ambassadors.
There is dispute about the meaning of not everyone has faith, for pistis may mean ‘faith’ in the sense of belief and trust, or ‘faithfulness’, ‘fidelity’, or, with the article (which it has here), ‘the faith’, the body of Christian teaching. When the word is used of God it always has the second meaning, but it is doubtful whether it ever has this sense in the New Testament when it is used of people. In this passage there is not a great deal of difference between ‘not all people have faith (trust)’ and ‘not all people accept the Christian faith (teaching)’. Either way Paul is clearly stressing that his opponents came from among those to whom the great Christian verities mean nothing. But faith is more likely than ‘the faith’ in a letter as early as this, and it leads more naturally to what follows; we should understand the term as NIV.
b. God’s faithfulness (3:3–5)
3. The first word of this verse (pistos) is akin to the last word of the previous verse (pistis), and like it has more than one meaning. It may mean ‘believing’ in the sense of exercising faith, or ‘faithful’ in the sense ‘reliable’. Clearly here it has the second sense. Paul is reminding his friends of the faithfulness of God (cf. 2 Tim. 2:13; for a similar play on words see Rom. 3:3).
We would have expected ‘who will strengthen us’, but Paul says ‘who will strengthen you’. His deepest concern is for his flock, and he quickly passes over from his need to theirs. Notice the certainty with which Paul looks for strengthening (for this verb see comment on 1 Thess. 3:2), grounded as it is in the divine nature. Protect is really ‘guard’ (phylassō), and adds an important point. God will not establish his people and leave them; he will guard them continually. NIV is probably correct in translating the evil one, but the word is ambiguous and could mean ‘evil’ in general (there is a similar ambiguity in the Lord’s Prayer). Two things indicate that it is masculine here. First, this is by far the more common use in the New Testament; secondly, a reference to a person seems more likely in this context than to a principle. In the previous chapter Satan and his dupes have been in mind, and in the previous verse Paul was speaking of evil men. Everything points to a person here, and it seems that Paul is saying, ‘God will guard you from all the assaults of Satan.’
4. Again we have an expression that can be understood in more ways than one. We may take confidence with in the Lord (as NIV, NASB, etc.), with we (JB ‘we, in the Lord, have every confidence’), or with you (GNB ‘the Lord gives us confidence in you’). In the end not much hangs on our decision, for Paul is resting his confidence in the Lord, and he is saying that this gives him confidence also in the Thessalonians. Because God is faithful and perfects that which he begins in those who trust him (see Phil. 1:6), Paul knows that he can rely on the Thessalonians. He is confident that they are obedient to what he commands (see comment on 1 Thess. 4:11), and that they will continue to be obedient. He does not say what these commands are and some connect them with the obligation to pray for the missionaries (v. 1). But much more probably he is leading up to the commands of verses 6ff. (notice the repetition of command in v. 6).
5. Paul’s confidence in God leads him into a characteristic short prayer. The Lord is Jesus, as throughout this section. Direct (kateuthynō) means ‘to make straight’, and may be used of removing obstacles from the path (1 Thess. 3:11). The prayer is that Christ will open up the way for the whole of the inner life of the Thessalonians (for hearts see comments on 1 Thess. 2:4; 3:13) to be concentrated on the love and steadfastness of which he proceeds to speak.
There is dispute as to whether we should understand ‘the love of God’ as our love for God or as God’s love for us (NIV), and similarly with ‘the perseverance of Christ’. Paul’s normal use would lead us to expect ‘God’s love for us’ (he generally uses the verb when he refers to people loving God); on the other hand, in a prayer we would expect a petition that his readers should love God. But the construction is not precise; perhaps the primary thought is that of God’s love for us, with the further thought that we should respond with an answering love. We should similarly think of Christ’s perseverance as inspiring perseverance in his followers. It has been translated ‘endurance’ (1 Thess. 1:3, where see comment); it means ‘the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings’ (GT). Paul is reminding his readers of the steadfast endurance Christ displayed and praying that they, in their measure, will reproduce the same.