A. A Captatio Benevolentiae (3:1-5)
A. A CAPTATIO BENEVOLENTIAE (3:1-5)
At issue regarding these opening sentences is to ask how they serve to introduce the admonitions that follow in verses 6-15 — or do they? And here one should allow what appear to be Paul’s own instincts to be our guide. Having dealt with the primary issue that has come to him from them (regarding the day of the Lord), he must now return to an issue which he had dealt with in the first letter, but apparently unsuccessfully. How to get there, however, could have been an issue for him, especially since his former instructions on this matter had been clear enough, but had failed to achieve the desired results.
So Paul begins with an introduction that seems intended primarily to gain a good hearing from all of them,938 starting with a readiness to be vulnerable himself by requesting prayer on his behalf (vv. 1-2a), and offering the reason why he needs such prayer (v. 2b). This is followed in turn by a carefully crafted set of affirmations regarding Christ’s own faithfulness (v. 3) and the believers’ readiness to do what is right (v. 4), plus a prayer on their behalf (v. 5). The latter is for the Lord Jesus himself to direct the hearts of all of them, but especially the disruptive-idle, into God’s love (so that they will start working for their own sustenance) and Christ’s perseverance (as they do so with his empowering).939 What is striking, especially after the preceding prayer (in 2:16-17), is the absolute Christocentricity of this passage.940 The transition itself is notably marked by Paul’s use of the identical verb “we command” in verses 4 and 6.
1. A Request for Prayer (3:1-2a)
1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord 941 may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, . . .
The content of Paul’s desire for prayer regarding himself and his companions is twofold, and typical. As always, his primary concern is the spread of the gospel, and it is in this context that the request becomes more personal. Thus the second concern goes with the first, that Paul and his companions be delivered from those who would hinder their labor on behalf of the gospel.
1 That this request for prayer begins something new in the letter is made certain in two ways: first, by the opening to loipon,942 an adverb that has traditionally been translated “finally,” and thus served to make Paul the butt of many misguided jokes; and second, by the sixth (of seven) instance(s) of the vocative, “brothers and sisters.” While it is true that at the very end of a letter, as in 2 Corinthians 13:11, to loipon does mean “finally,” more often in Paul it appears somewhat earlier in the letter when he is picking up the last item(s) on his agenda. Thus it usually means, as it does here, “as for what remains to be said,” which the TNIV translators have nicely caught with their “as for other matters.”943 Although it has been suggested that in this case it implies a movement toward secondary matters, it is much more likely, in light of Paul’s later habits, that in fact, and as a point of emphasis, he has saved the final word for a matter that concerns him greatly — since the first time around had proven unsuccessful.
What “remains to be said” first is a request for prayer944
from them, a request that follows nicely his own prayer for them (2:16-17). And here is an instance in the letter where the plural “for us,” which has otherwise probably been primarily a polite literary plural, is almost certainly intended to refer to all three of them — Paul, Silas, and Timothy. But, typical of Paul, at issue in the Thessalonians’ praying “for us” is not for safety or health, but for the cause of the gospel itself. In making this request for the gospel, (literally) “that the word of the Lord may run and be honored,” Paul echoes very closely the language of Psalm 147:5 in the Septuagint, whose second strophe reads, “his word runs swiftly.”945 Thus, using the verb “to run” as a metaphor, Paul expresses his concern that the gospel “spread rapidly” in Achaia, where he is now,946 and beyond.
However, despite this basically plain language, Paul’s phrase “the word of the Lord” is from our distance quite ambiguous and has thus led to more than one interpretation. Because of the set phrase “word of the Lord,” it has been argued that “the Lord” here refers to God the Father.947 But that is against Paul’s own usage elsewhere and is thoroughly misleading in context, especially since “the Lord” in all instances of this paragraph reflects Paul’s standard usage as referring to Christ. Indeed, Paul’s predominant use in these two letters of “the Lord” as a referent to Christ948 makes it most highly improbable that Paul has suddenly changed his referent and intends the Thessalonians to hear this one as “the word that comes from God.” Thus if we follow Paul’s own usage with this idiom, as, for example, in 1 Thessalonians 1:8, then he is here once again referring to the gospel itself, the “message about Christ.”949
What Paul wants for the gospel, therefore, aided by their prayers, is that950 it will “speed on its way” and that it will “be honored.” The latter word, rendered “honored” by the TNIV, is Paul’s standard word for something or someone’s being “glorified,” that is, receiving its proper glory and honor among people. Very likely, therefore, it is used here as an indirect reference to the victor’s “crown” in a race.951 But in this case, as a reference to the gospel, it is not eschatological glory that is in view, but present glory. The way it will be “glorified” among people is by their accepting its message as the good news from God that it really is,952 and thus themselves becoming followers of the crucified, now glorified, One.
To make this point stick — prayer on behalf of the gospel as the Thessalonian believers’ proper duty — Paul adds the phrase, regarding the spread of the gospel, “just as with you.” This final phrase, which is verbless in the Greek text, is therefore probably not to be understood as having a temporal referent at all, but simply to the reality itself, both at its beginning and continuation.953 What Paul is after here is the reality of the success of the gospel among them, not when this success occurred. Although this kind of reference does not occur often in Paul’s letters, it is one of his basic working assumptions — that the gospel is God’s good news that has reached him and his churches, and is thus good news for others as well. Good news is to be shared, and Paul’s concern is that the Thessalonians will recognize this for themselves by making it a matter of prayer.
2a Paul’s priorities are always in place when it comes to the gospel. Thus, the first matter when “praying for us” is for the spread of the gospel itself. But he is not thereby loathe to ask for prayer for himself and his companions, that they “be delivered from wicked and evil people.”954 With this clause Paul is once more echoing the language of his Bible, from Isaiah 25:4, where the Septuagint differs considerably from the traditional Hebrew text, reading (in part), “from wicked people you will deliver them.”955 The addition “and evil” thus throws the net widely. The first word,956 rendered “wicked” in most English versions, has to do with people whose behavior is “out of place” in a pejorative sense.957 The second word958 is the more standard one for evil of all kinds. By the time this letter was written Paul had had plenty of experience with such people, especially in the Macedonian town/city of Philippi and Thessalonica. So, in making this request for prayer from the Thessalonian believers, Paul is not simply being “spiritual”; he is speaking into what they themselves know to be the very real situation in which Paul constantly lived, always in danger from those who, with reference to the gospel, are “wicked and evil people.” Indeed, it seems altogether likely that rather than a (decidedly negative) platitude, and especially in light of the preceding metaphor that alludes to the games, Paul is in this case being quite case specific. Thus, even though we may not know the specifics, one may rightly assume that he is here reflecting a very real situation in Corinth, where he is probably living at the time this letter was written.
2. Affirmation and Prayer (3:2b-5)
. . . for not everyone has faith. 3 But the Lord 959 is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.960 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
With these words Paul moves in a series of steps, mostly with words of encouragement, that take him from offering a reason for their prayers on his behalf (v. 2b), to an affirmation of Christ’s faithfulness to protect them from the evil one (v. 3), to a word of affirmation (v. 4) that anticipates the strong words of correction that follow in verses 6-15, to another moment of prayer for them (v. 5). The prayer is for the Lord (Jesus) to direct their hearts toward ongoing love and perseverance, qualities that are exemplified specifically in the Father and the Son. All of this is both reassurance on Paul’s part — that the Thessalonians are actually doing what he has commanded — and an apparent hesitation, since what follows (vv. 6-10) makes it clear that not all are doing so. Thus he affirms the majority, while setting up the difficult task of once again warning the (probably small) minority who have not yet heeded his instructions from the first letter.
2b Paul concludes the foregoing request for prayer with a truism that at first sight hardly seems necessary. Of course they know that (literally) “not of all people is [the] faith.”961 After all, that is what the first part of this letter is all about: their own suffering at the hands of fellow citizens in Thessalonica who do not “have faith.” Thus “the faith” is not objective here (= a reference to the content of the gospel), but is subjective, having to do with people’s (not) putting their trust in Christ. What is of interest in this case is that Paul refers to those outside the believing community in this negating way, rather than with further descriptors as to the nature of their evil deeds. This appears to have been deliberate on his part, so that he could use this negative language about his enemies in contrast to its positive expression of faith(fulness) found in Christ himself.
3 Here is a moment in the Greek text that would be immediately accessible to the recipients of the letter but is at the same time nearly impossible to put into similarly striking English. The concluding word in the request for prayer in verses 1-2 is the noun pistis (“faith”); the first word in this sentence is the adjective pistos (“faithful”). Thus these two words sit side by side, without a break between them and without punctuation. Indeed, it would have been basically impossible for his Greek readers to miss the wordplay. Those who have been opposing Paul and his companions, wherever they are at the time of this writing (probably Corinth), are people whose primary characteristic from Paul’s perspective is that they are people “without faith.” And as such, they are both unbelievers themselves and opponents of those who do — or would — believe. The power inherent in this juxtaposition of noun and adjective lies in the contrast between “the wicked and evil people” who oppose them and “the faithfulness” of Christ himself toward those who have “faith” and thus are “faith-ful.”
What is striking in this sentence, in light of the preceding request for prayer for himself and his companions, is the change of object — from “us” to “you.” This appears to be primary evidence that the preceding request for prayer is as much about the Thessalonians themselves as it is for the apostolic trio from whom this letter has come to them. That is, his concern seems to be one that places Paul’s and his companions’ need for divine deliverance in a context very similar to that of the Thessalonians themselves. Although he nowhere accuses the disruptive-idle of being under the influence of the evil one, the context of this request for prayer would seem to have more far-reaching considerations than one might see on first reading. This seems all the more likely in light of the affirmation and prayer that immediately follow.
In making his point Paul once again appeals to the Scriptures of Israel. One of the primary facets of Yahweh’s self-revelation to Israel is that Yahweh is a faithful God, always true to Godself and thus always true to Yahweh’s own character.962 Thus Yahweh is so revealed at the key moment in Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that Yahweh [Kyrios in the LXX] your God is God; Yahweh is a faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Yahweh and keep Yahweh’s commandments.” Because of Yahweh’s faithfulness, Yahweh can do no wrong (Deut 32:4); and it is to Yahweh’s faithfulness that both psalmist (e.g., 145:13) and prophet (e.g., Isa 49:7) appeal. And so, too, does Paul, since its first occurrence in his letters is in 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (“faithful is the One who calls you, who will also do it”). And although this theme does not appear often hereafter in his letters, it does occur three times in his correspondence with (less than faithful) Corinth (1 Cor 1:9; 10:13; 2 Cor 1:18).
Noteworthy in the above sampling is the fact that in the Old Testament it is God (theos) who is faithful. But here Paul attributes such faithfulness to Christ: “faithful is the Lord.” It is true that some scholars argue on the basis of this Old Testament usage that Paul had God the Father in mind here as well.963 But that seems to miss Paul’s own Christology by too much, since in all of his extant letters Paul uses the word Kyrios exclusively to refer to Christ. In the present case three matters seem particularly to favor Paul’s ordinary usage.
First, just two sentences earlier (2:16) — and with no “chapter” break(!) — Paul has identified “the Lord” with Jesus Christ, and has done so with the intensive pronoun “himself.” One would seem to need extraordinary evidence to the contrary to overrule Paul’s own identification. Second, in all other instances in his letters Paul clearly designates “God” (theos = the Father) as the One who is faithful; so why change that to kyrios here, one might ask, unless he intended a change of subject? Third, in the immediately following sentence Paul offers that his persuasion regarding the Thessalonians finds its basis en kyriō (“in the Lord”). Since this prepositional phrase in Paul’s letters universally refers to Christ, it would be strange indeed for Paul in the present sentence to refer to God the Father in this way and then immediately to change referents in the next sentence. Thus kyrios (= Christ) is faithful, and Paul is therefore persuaded in kyriō (= Christ) about their response to this appeal.
Thus, given that Paul intended to identify “the Lord” as Christ, it is of some further interest that he uses a verb regarding Christ’s activity here that is identical to the one used of the Father in the preceding prayer in 2:17. All of this, as elsewhere earlier in these letters, points to the fact that Paul’s “high Christology” had been in place long before these two letters were written.
But there is a further ambiguity in Paul’s Greek sentence that needs to be noted. What Christ’s faithfulness will protect them from is tou ponērou (either “evil” itself or “the evil one”). The King James Version had opted for the former, “keep you from evil.” But this rendering is altogether ambiguous, since the verb “keep” in this locution would tend to mean, “keep you from doing anything that is evil,” and thus many a sermon has made this very point. But Paul’s sentence clearly intends not “keeping one from evil” in that sense, but protection of the believer from Satan himself, and his wiles, as in almost all of the modern English versions. Thus this is not a subtle exhortation but a word of encouragement, that in the same way in which Paul has prayed that he and his companions may be “delivered from wicked and evil people,” their faithful Lord, Jesus Christ, will protect the Thessalonians from the evil one himself — even though they will be constantly harassed by him in every kind of way.
It should be noted finally that this is one of those rare moments in Paul where he appears to be echoing the Gospel tradition. In the Matthean version of the so-called “Lord’s prayer,” one finds language very similar to that used by Paul here. In Matthew the prayer is “but deliver us from the evil one”; Paul’s affirmation is that the Lord himself will “protect you from the evil one.” Although the verbs are not synonymous, in effect they come out at the same place, since Matthew’s “deliver” does not have to do with being released from Satan’s grip but with “deliverance” in the very same sense as Paul’s “protect.”
4 Paul now follows his own affirmation of what Christ will do for the Thessalonian believers with a second affirmation related to his and his companions’ own persuasion964 concerning them, that they are in fact both “doing and will continue to do the things we command.” This is most likely intended to be the “title” sentence for the admonitions that follow; and the only reason one would fail to recognize it as such stems from Paul’s “signing off ” this introductory passage with the prayer for them in verse 5. Indeed, without the prayer that follows,965 one could hardly miss its role as the lead-in to verses 6-15. After all, the verb found at the end of almost all English versions, “what we command,”966 is the first word up in verse 6 below, where Paul begins to address the matter of the disruptive-idle.
Paul’s confidence in this case is to be found “in the Lord,” a phrase that will hereafter become a standard formula for him.967 Again, the “Lord” is Christ, who in this sentence thus functions as the source of Paul’s confidence regarding his Thessalonian friends. This is not to say that he lacks confidence in them, but to note that Paul’s confidence regarding them lies with what Christ himself will continue to do in and among them.968 Almost certainly this is intended both to affirm the majority of them as diligent followers of Christ in terms of behavior and to anticipate the correction that is needed for the minority that have not yet caught on to what Christian deportment is all about. Thus he expresses confidence in them, that they will “continue969 to do the things we command.”
This final clause is what makes one realize that Paul himself was aware of his apostolic relationship with a group of believers whom he considered first of all to be his friends. But the very fact that some continue on a path of disobedience regarding “working with their own hands” causes Paul to “pull rank” at this point, but in a most unobtrusive manner. Thus he can both uphold his apostolic authority in the church and at the same time maintain the more essential relationship of “brother” to other “brothers and sisters” (v. 1) in this community of faith.
5 As another evidence of his and the Thessalonian believers’ basic relationship as one of “friendship” rather than of “apostle and disciples,” Paul concludes this final word of “introduction” to the corrective words that follow with yet another prayer on their behalf. But it is also one that can be read as a bit of a platitude before the axe falls, as it were. Indeed, for the Paul we know only from his literary remains, this is a most unusual kind of prayer for him to relate to these friends. Most often his prayers have close connections with the behavioral issues that he takes up in his letters; but here the prayer has altogether to do with their relationship with God and Christ.
As before, and always, “the Lord” to whom he prays is a reference to Christ.970 While some think otherwise here, that it refers to God the Father,971 that would stand in considerable tension with Paul’s usage elsewhere in these letters, where “God” is always identified as theos (“God”) and Christ as ho kyrios (“the Lord”). Indeed, it would make little sense of Pauline usage to make this usage of “Lord” refer to God, when in the preceding prayer report in 2:16-17 Paul has chosen to place Christ first as the one addressed in prayer and identified him as “the Lord” — and used the intensive pronoun in so doing — and then followed with theos, who is identified as “the Father.” Only our familiarity with referring to God as “the Lord” and resistance to Paul’s own language patterns and deliberate designations would make this instance of kyrios refer to God the Father.
What Paul wants from the Lord on their behalf is that he direct972 their hearts into “God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” In many ways this is a most unusual moment in Paul’s letters; and it is especially significant in terms of Paul’s underlying Christology. In one sentence he both prays to Christ and then puts Christ’s activity on their behalf on the same level as that of God the Father. Our only real difficulty with the clause is with what Paul intended by his final phrase, “into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.”
Of special interest in this prayer is Paul’s (apparently) deliberate intertextual use of 1 Chronicles 29:18.973 In David’s prayer in conjunction with the gifts brought for the construction of the temple, he implores, “Lord, God of our fathers, . . . direct their hearts to you.” Using this same language, Paul prays that the Lord will “direct your hearts into the love of God.” Thus:
Paul — May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God1 Chronicles — Lord God also direct their hearts toward you
Three items make one think that this is deliberate intertextuality: (1) the locution is both striking and unusual; in fact, the verb is found elsewhere in Paul only in the prayer in 1 Thessalonians 3:11; moreover, (2) the phrase “the Lord direct their/your hearts” toward God is unique to these two passages in the Bible;974 and (3) the phrase is found in the mouth of the great king of Israel, David himself — and in prayer! — so that it is not a merely passing phrase used by a more obscure figure. Again, Paul attributes to Christ the Septuagint’s translation of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) as Kyrios.975
Equally striking is the goal of this prayer on their behalf. One has little difficulty here with the phrase “the love of God,” which in this case most likely refers simultaneously to the love that both characterizes God and they themselves have experienced from God, and thus not their love for God.976 But the same ease of understanding does not obtain with the second phrase, “Christ’s perseverance.” Here the options are several. Is Paul praying, as some have held, for the Thessalonian believers’ own “patient waiting for Christ,”977 or that they will exhibit “the kind of perseverance found in Christ,”978 or (in keeping with the preceding subjective genitive) that Christ will bestow his own perseverance on them?979 Although each of these has had its proponents, it seems most likely in light of the preceding phrase that Paul intended a combination of the latter two options,980 which is probably what the NIV translators (kept in the TNIV) intended by using the English possessive. If so, then his prayer is for Christ to endow them with the kind of perseverance he desplayed in a life destined for the cross — to be totally given over to achieving the ultimate goal. Thus Paul anticipates the admonition that follows, which is directed toward the church as a whole, but specifically in fact has the recalcitrant “idlers” in view.
The point of all this as an introduction to the correctives that follow is typical of Paul, in that he first presents the positive dimension of a group of believers, before settling in on those who are creating difficulties among them. Thus the whole community is being encouraged, while the recalcitrant are being set up in a positive way for the needed admonition that follows.
There is much to be learned from this passage. First, from the captatio itself, which has not always been viewed in a positive way, one may quickly recognize that there is a (very) fine line between rightly praising people where such praise is merited and doing so with some ulterior motive in hand. Indeed, one cannot always be sure of one’s own motives in such moments, but here is a place where one needs to give the Apostle “some slack,” as it were. Christian courtesy demands that we begin by taking Paul at face value; after all, this is not very different from the very similar parenting technique of (honestly) praising a child for a job well done, while at the same time using such praise as a motive to stir the child on to other forms of good behavior. It is only when the praise is “trumped up” that such an approach should rightly be called into question. More significantly, one should note the very high Christology that is assumed throughout. Here especially the theory of forgery falls on hard times; it is difficult to imagine anyone being able to enter into Paul’s skin so thoroughly in this regard as this passage displays, both intentionally and otherwise. And in this regard, one should not miss that the appeal to Christ’s own faithfulness lies at the heart of everything, including his confidence in prayer at the end (v. 5).