Benedictions - ways to bless

There are some beautiful benedictions in II Thessalonians! One dictionary explains the word benediction as: the utterance of a blessing, especially at the end of a religious service.

Such passages include no ifs or buts or maybes - no conditions with which the listener must comply in order to be blessed. They are like the sunshine, right there for us as soon as we place ourselves in it.

Here's what I found in the excellent The New Oxford Annotated Bible - New Revised Standard Edition, purchased recently from our local Christian Science Reading Room:

II Thess. 1: 11-12 ...our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

II Thess. 2: 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

II Thess. 3: 16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.

II Thess. 3: 16 The Lord be with all of you.

II Thess. 3: 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

In Paul's day, it was correct etiquette to include these sorts of loving greetings in letters. I wonder if we need to revive the practice today as we greet friends and family, or dash off an email or sms. If not in writing or by spoken word, perhaps such benedictions could fashion our thoughts of others. We would all be blessed by that!

Julie Swannell

Quiet, steady performance

I googled “Second Coming.” Jesus' “Second Coming” didn't get a mention on the first page of Google references. The items are all about W.B. Yeats' famous poem – which I had never heard of.

Oh boy! There is much more to this than I had thought. My Bible Dictionary directs me to “Eschatology; Millennium; Parousia.” 

A statement at the beginning of a long entry on eschatology sort of satisfies me: 

Eschatology, beliefs or teaching about last things. Biblical, intertestamental, and rabbinic writings often distinguish between the present age or aeon, the period of history in which life is being lived, and the future, coming age, or period of transformed existence that God will bring at the end of history. The latter age or aeon is sometimes also referred to as the age to come or coming age, the kingdom of God, the new world, or the new or messianic age.

I usually get good info from Dummelow's One Volume Commentary on the Holy Bible. He concludes his introduction to the two letters to the Thessalonians: 

“(Paul) points out to the Thessalonians the true way of preparing for the Final Advent which Christ meant His Church to expect. They were to make ready for it, not by feverish excitement and restlessness, but by the quiet, steady performance of everyday duty as in His sight, with the assurance that His followers, whether living or asleep in Him, were in His safe keeping.”

Joyce Voysey

Support and opposition to Paul's city work

Thank you Julie for your research on the “Coming” of Jesus. How we are blessed by Mary Baker Eddy's discovery (uncovering perhaps) that the Christ is here, now and always. A loved hymn says so dearly: “The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking....” (Hymn 412 Christian Science Hymnal). 

My Bible Dictionary tells me that Thessalonica was prosperous city. It seems that Paul made a habit of going to spread the Gospel in prosperous cities. I am reminded that Mrs. Eddy wrote, “At this period my students should locate in large cities, in order to do the greatest good to the greatest number, and therein abide. The population of our principal cities is ample to supply many practitioners, teachers, and preachers with work” (Retrospection and Introspection p. 82:14-18).

There was a strong Roman presence in the city, as it was the centre of Roman administration in Macadonia.

My Bible Dictionary helpfully enumerates all the references to Thessalonica in the New Testament: Acts 17:1-13; 20:4; 27:2; Phil. 4:16; II Tim. 4:10.

Acts 17:1-13 puts the situation of the Jewish and the Christian attitudes to Paul and his teachings. Some of the Jews believed him, and “of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” Most of the Jews, however, were hostile, even following Paul to Berea--where the Jews were more receptive--in order to “[stir] up the people.”

Acts 20:4 tells us that two Thessalonians accompanied Paul – Aristarchus and Secundus. And we find that Aristarchus was with Paul on his fateful sea journey which ended in Melita (Acts 27:2).

The Philippians were kind to Paul when he was in trouble in Thessalonica – “Even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity” (Phil. 4:16).

Among his last words, Paul sadly tells of Demas, who “hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica” (II Tim. 4:10).

Joyce Voysey

Little Second Thessalonians

Book club August, 2019 – II Thessalonians

There is a precious story on the Workshop in Reading Aloud cassette tapes about II Thessalonians. (Here is a link to this brilliant series, now available on JSH-Online.)  

I believe the speaker is Rose Henniker-Heaton, and she speaks about being First Reader in a big London church. She recounts that designated passages in her books* were usually beautifully and carefully marked, but one time something from II Thessalonians was required to be read. It wasn't at the marker. She searched and searched but little II Thessalonians didn't seem to be in the Bible at all!

.....At last she read, "Finally brethren..." (II Thess. 3:1). 

😄

* The Bible and Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

Joyce Voysey 

Coming...or ever-present?

COMING

In II Thessalonians, second chapter, the King James Version of the Bible translates the Greek 'parousia' as 'coming'--see II Thess 2:1, 8 and 9. So, in verses 1 - 3, Paul writes: 
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us...let no man deceive you by any means..."

Writing in the April 1976 edition of The Christian Science Journal about Paul's letters to the Thessalonians, Bible scholar Thomas L. Leishman notes the "vexed question of the Parousia" which he says underlies Paul's second epistle to the newish church in the Macedonian capital: "It appears that part of the trouble was caused by a misinterpretation either of Christian tradition or of prophecy, or by an unauthorized letter circulated in Paul's name, so one of his first objects was to clear up this difficulty, showing why, in his view, the second advent would not be so immediate after all." Thus, Paul counsels his friends to: "...stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle" (II Thess 2: 15).

PRESENCE

A recent Bible Lens in the Christian Science Sentinel of May 20-26, 2019 referred to I Thessalonians 5:23: "'Coming' (Greek, parousia) simply means presence, and describes a state rather than an event. From early times, however, parousia was interpreted as an arrival—often, as in this verse, the reappearing of Christ Jesus as a human being. This expected appearance is called the Parousia today."  

In the December 1981 issue of The Christian Science Journal, Beulah Roegge affirms that "Christ Jesus' Messianic mission does not need to be repeated. His lessons embrace eternity and enable his followers to  recognize the timeless, impersonal nature of the parousia. This Greek word, meaning both "presence" and "coming," may signify to us what Mrs. Eddy states to be the spiritual sense of a portion of the Lord's Prayer:   

"Thy kingdom come. / Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present." 

Paul concludes his letter with a blessing: "the Lord be with you all" (II Thess 3: 16).

Julie Swannell

Everything needed is ours from God

Second Thessalonians is a short letter.

Paul obviously loved everyone in this group at Thessalonica (a city in Greece) and he wanted them to know it! His opening is super encouraging:

Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you need to be. 
II Thess 1: 2 (The Message by Eugene Peterson)

One contributor to the Christian Science Sentinel seems to have made it her practice to memorise the Golden Text from the Christian Science Bible Lessons. [This week's Golden Text is from Psalms 103:2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits...]

Miss Adams writes:

Memorizing the Golden Texts in our weekly Lesson-Sermons, found in the Christian Science Quarterly, when I was a Sunday School pupil has given me an inspiring store of food for spiritual thought. One cherished text is in II Thessalonians (3:5), "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." This simple message has had profound meaning for me in my application of Christian Science to human problems.—(Miss) Louise Thorne Adams, Boston, Massachusetts. 
See Christian Science Sentinel Feb 29, 1964

The Living Bible translates II Thess 3:5 as follows:
May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and of the patience that comes from Christ.

I love the idea I read somewhere that patience may be equated to expectant waiting, unrelated to time.

Book Clubbers will enjoy the website BiblePlaces.com, especially https://www.bibleplaces.com/thessalonica/ for some helpful background on Tessalonica's history and geography. Paul's visit there was part of his second big journey.

Happy reading and researching.

Julie Swannell