2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 Stand Firm and Hold On
Good morning, everyone! As you know, we have been studying about the different events to occur during the end times. They will not be fun events like back-to-school picnics and block parties. [Pic 0—Galileo] Instead, the events will be dark, dangerous, and difficult times. Especially, for those on earth during the great tribulation. But even before the great tribulation the spirit of rebellion and unrighteousness will increase step by step. So, it will be difficult for believers as well as the end time approaches. Still, we are blessed to live as believers in America with minimal persecution. But currently believers around the world are suffering immensely. The Thessalonian believers in Paul’s time were suffering terrible persecutions for their faith. Therefore, to end the chapter, Paul encourages the Thessalonian believers to stand firm to the end. This is an encouragement for us today, to have a strong foundation in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because we don’t know what kind of troubles or hardships we may face for our faith in the future. Or some of us may be facing in the present. How can we stand firm in our faith? Let’s learn from the Apostle Paul in these verses that we’ll study today.
Stand Firm and Hold On
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Key Verse: 15:
“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”
It was good to hear Jim’s lectionary about the word of God. Bishop Barron’s ministry is called “Word on Fire.” Because of God’s word is on fire. So, let’s start with God’s word. Look at verse 13. “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits[a] to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Here we see that this is a transition passage. It’s a bridge and a segway. It’s a very dramatic transition from the negative to the positive. Just recall the things we studied earlier in this chapter. From the bad news of rebellion against God, ungodliness, and tribulation, now to thanksgiving. From the lie of the antichrist to the truth of Christ. From the unredeemed to the redeemed. From prophecy to our position in Christ. In spite of all the discouraging things going on around them, Paul gives thanks to God for the faith of the Thessalonians. Paul gives thanks for God’s grand eternal plan of salvation and redemption. Paul makes it clear here that God’s grand plan of redemption begins with us being chosen by God. Very simply, verse 13 tells us that God chose and determined whom he would save. The word choose here simply means to select or to choose or to pick out. Paul is just telling us here clearly that God chose us to be saved. Let’s think about this topic a little more.
First Peter 1:1-2a, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” Peter wrote that we are “elect” or chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Peter also says, as Paul did, we’re chosen by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. This is what theologians call sovereign unconditional election. God is sovereign. He’s free to do as he pleases. By unconditional, we mean that God’s choosing of human beings to save them is not based on anything in them. It’s a sovereign unconstrained, unconditional choosing by God of human beings to be saved. God’s gracious election is free and unconditional. Wayne Grudem described God’s election in this way, “Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.” [Pic 1] It does not depend upon or called forth or constrained by anything. It is a spontaneous resolve on God’s part. God owes sinners no mercy of any kind only condemnation. It is no injustice if he does not resolve to bless them. But it is a wonder of free grace when he does. The fact that God chooses to bless certain guilty sinners cannot be accounted for in any terms other than his own good pleasure, which he purposed in Jesus Christ. God willed our salvation long before we ever came into existence. This divine choice was based upon divine love and divine determination. One of the great truths of scripture is that before we ever had sense enough to love the Lord, he loved us. Out of his heart of love there was a divine decision in eternity past which is referred to here as our being chosen. The original act of our salvation was with God not with man. Why did God choose us? We will never completely understand it. But the glorious fact is that he did and we praise God for that. God chose us from the beginning. Even before we were born. Charles Spurgeon said. He said, “I’m glad God chose me before I was born. Because if he would have waited till after I was born, he never would have chosen me.” [Pic 2] And that’s certainly true for all of us. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship.
As human beings we have free will. We can choose to sleep in on Sunday morning. We can choose what clothes we want to wear. We can choose to live where we want to live. We can choose to eat what we want. We can choose to exercise or not. We can choose to dye our hair pink or green. We have a free will to do lots of things. Some want to choose what gender they want to be. But we don’t have a free will to choose God. Because left to ourselves we never will. The problem is for all of us; our will is bound to our nature. And our nature has fallen. Martin Luther called it the bondage of the will. Our will is in bondage to our fallen nature. And our will in and of itself will never ever choose God. It’s not divine sovereignty and human free will. It’s divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Both of those things are true. God is sovereign and man is responsible. God’s sovereignty does not nullify our responsibility. And certainly, there’s mystery there. But it’s not about sovereignty and human free will. Charles Spurgeon put this well years ago in an illustration. He said that when the gospel is presented to somebody and they accept. It’s like when you go through the gate of salvation there’s a sign up above that says “whosoever will can drink of the water of life enter freely.” So, you go through the gate of salvation and you turn around and you look back on the other side. And it says “chosen in him before the foundation of the world.” That’s kind of the two sides. Whosoever will, can come. When we come, we realize it’s because we’ve been chosen in him from the foundation of the world. Honestly speaking, it is not an easy doctrine to fully grasp and brings a lot of mystery. Perhaps a general example can help us better understand about God and ourselves.
When you talk to a child who’s two years of age there’s a lot of things they can know about you. But to a great extent, you still remain unknown. For example, my grandson, Theo, is 2 years-old. He recognizes me as his grandpa. He even says, “I love you grandpa.” [Pic 3—sorry couldn’t resist] But you think about it, he doesn’t know anything about my plans. My purposes, my priorities, and my judgments in life. The possibilities that are known he doesn’t know any of that about me. He knows me, that I love him, but there’s so much about me that remains unknown to him. Before God we are in a position of a two-year-old. God has talked and talks still to us in the human language of written scriptures. And from what he tells us. Yet we may be sure that most of what God himself knows to be true regarding his own ideas, plans, values, priorities, and judgments are unknown to us. Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declare the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” When we cannot see how two things God has said about himself mesh together. We should neither be surprised nor worried. If a two-year-old cannot fully understand everything about his grandfather, how can finite humans fully understand the mind of our eternal God? It shouldn’t surprise us that there’s things that we don’t fully understand about God. It shouldn’t surprise us and it shouldn’t worry us. Rather, we should focus on the gospel and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 14. “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now the Bible distinguishes between two callings. There’s an external call that’s often referred to as the general call. And then there’s the internal or the special call. So, if you have a large group of people, for example in an evangelistic rally. The preacher would preach to the thousands of people. Then he would give the gospel and that was the general call. The external call for people to be saved, when people come to the stage or front of the auditorium. Then the Bible says that there’s a special call that God gives to people in their hearts. That calls them to faith in Christ and service to him. It’s an internal call or a special call. And when you receive that call you cannot resist it. Theologians call it the irresistible call or the effectual call. Well how do we know that? Romans 8:30, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” It says that whom he called are justified. In other words, everybody that gets that special call gets justified. So, if you get this special call of God through hearing the gospel you come to faith in Jesus Christ. Then the spirit comes and sets you apart. So, there’s no salvation without hearing the gospel. The purpose of all of this is to gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The final goal of this entire process is glory. This is the ultimate promise that we will be like Jesus Christ. Because of this glorious hope, Paul encourages us all to stand firm and hold on.
Look at verse 15. “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” Paul said here about God’s sovereignty. He did not say to them, “God chose you so relax and take it easy. He’s going to bring you to glory and you can just sit back now, do nothing, and enjoy the ride.” But far from relaxing and doing nothing we are to brace ourselves. Like, putting on a harness before a roller coaster ride. To stand firm and hold on. And he’s saying here that knowing God’s eternal purpose and plan for our lives rather than justifying slackness is the basis for urging us to live stable lives as God’s people. So, the doctrine of election brings responsibility. We aren’t passive in the Christian life. In verse 15, we are commanded to do two things, “stand firm and hold to the traditions.” Now both of those words in the Greek are imperatives. They’re commands but they’re present tense. So, keep standing firm and keep holding on. You know that the Thessalonian believers were facing tough times. They were facing persecution, suffering, and false teaching. There are a lot of strong currents threatening to knock them down. Today there’s all kinds of strong currents in our ungodly culture that will sweep us along as well. Instead of losing our spiritual footing, we have to stand firm. The ultimate source of our stability is knowing these great truths about our salvation.
One of the reasons some believers are unstable today is they don’t know what God’s done for them. They have no clue of God’s amazing grace. They don’t love or read and study the Bible carefully. They don’t love doctrine. They don’t understand that knowing the truth and doctrine is the foundation for their spiritual life and their stability. It’s very interesting that before the cross became the symbol of Christianity, it was the anchor. [Pic 4] This picture shows our anchor is being held onto by the throne of God. Why was the anchor used? Because an anchor keeps a ship from being swayed and drift away due to the currents. Someone also noticed that a part of the anchor looks like a cross. Probably, early believers were inspired for this symbol from the word of God. Hebrews 6:19, “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” When we anchor ourselves in Jesus, we can stand firm in our faith and hold on to the precious promises of God. As Paul had warned the Thessalonian believers about the coming of the man of deceptiveness, he warns all believers about human teachings that is in contradiction with God’s truth. Ephesians 4:14, “…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Paul wants all believers to not only stand firm on God’s word but also on traditions.
In verse 15, Paul also talks about traditions. He says “hold to the traditions.” Now the word tradition here in Greek means simply something that’s handed down from one person to another. Now clearly here it’s not man-made traditions or regulations or church traditions. Like you need to have lunch after church, but we like this tradition. So, let’s keep it. Jesus spoke strongly against making man-made traditions equal to the Bible. What he’s referring to here when he talks about the traditions is both the oral and the written truth that was given to the believers through the apostles. Also, Paul used tradition in the sense of the example they were leaving behind for the Thessalonian believers to follow. He wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:6, “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition you receive from us.” What was the tradition here he was talking about? It was about working hard and being self-supporting for the gospel. It was the example of their life and service for the gospel. Notice he also says whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. It’s the teaching now that’s been preserved for us in the scriptures, in the Bible. And he says here hold on to these traditions, which means hold on to the word of God. Don’t loosen your grip on it. The tendency today for so many people is always to be looking for something new and different. Kind of the newest spiritual fad or cultural trend. It’s kind of built into our American culture. As young people say, “That’s old school, man.” For example, these days there are churches popping up here and there who are appealing to cultural trends rather than the gospel truth. William Sargant said “what is new is not true and what is true is not new.” [Pic 4] That’s a pretty good way to think about it. Now of course we often read things in the Bible that are new to us. We’re always making fresh discoveries. But they’re not new in the sense because they’ve always been there in God’s word. So, he’s telling us here to have uncompromising loyalty to the scriptures. That’s the road to spiritual stability. And individuals and churches that forsake the word of God fall into error. And they fall into weakness and they become unstable. This is why Paul earnestly prays for the Thessalonian believers to remain in God’s word.
Look at verses 16-17. “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” Paul in every chapter in 2 Thessalonians prays right at the end for these believers. But you’ll notice what Paul doesn’t pray for them. He doesn’t pray for God to circumvent the storms for them. He prays for God to comfort them within the storms. He doesn’t pray for God to spare them. He prays that God will give them the strength to live out what he’s called them to do. Interestingly, in verse 16 the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned before God our father. It is less than 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul puts the Lord Jesus Christ before God the Father. In other words, they’re co-equal and they’re co-eternal. Paul believed in the deity of Christ back in A.D. 50. We also learn that our Lord Jesus not only has loved us but given us eternal comfort. God has given never-ending encouragement and comfort to us. And he’s given us good hope by grace. One of the hopes that we have is that Jesus Christ can come at any moment to take us to be with himself.
With this encouragement he gives his request that God will comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. God has created his chosen ones for good works to do while in this world. Titus 2:14, “…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” God wants his chosen people to be zealous for good works. Not to expect others to do the good works for them, but to take the initiative and be proactive in doing good works. Not as a requirement of salvation, but as a result of our salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. When we carry out the good works God has prepared for us, he will rejoice with gladness. It’s amazing that God rejoices in what we do in this life for his glory. We wouldn’t think that God would be moved by anything that we do. But he exults over us like a proud heavenly Father, looking down at his precious children. Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” We know from the Bible that the angels sing to exalt and glorify God. And we also sing praises to God. But God also sings when he sees his precious children carrying out his good will. We were amazed by this truth during our Bible study on Wednesday that God sings over us. When I drive my grandchildren to daycare in the morning, I sometimes sing in the car for them. “The wheels on the bus goes round and round, round and round.” Maria also sang many songs for our children while they were growing up. I think this tendency for parents to sing to their children comes from our Father God, who sings over his children. It is the same when Jesus will greet us at the gate of heaven with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” This is why it’s so important to stand firm to the end.
We need God’s strength to stand in these days in which we live. We need to ask God to give us the strength to do the things he’s commanded us to do. To be able to stand firm and hold on. We need to pray this for ourselves and our families and others in these turbulent times. For comfort and strength. For every good work and word that God called us to do. We have a never-ending comfort. We have the hope of Christ coming. We have the prospect of glory. That’s a lot to be thankful for. And this is Paul’s encouragement here to these believers at Thessalonica who are losing their jobs. Their properties being taken away. The believers are being excluded from the culture and from society. They are suffering economically for it and physically as well. So, he reminds them here and us of all the things we can’t lose. Though these believers were losing all kinds of things. He wanted to remind them of the things they can never lose. The things that are eternal. Especially, God’s eternal love and comfort.
In conclusion, most of us have the things that really matter in life. We need to give thanks for all the things of this life that we have. We need to get on our knees every morning and every night and thank God for his many blessings. But more than that we need to thank God for the spiritual resources and the treasures that we have that we can never lose. Those are the things that really matter. Our health can be taken from us. Our money can be taken from us. Our spouse can be taken from us. Our human freedom can be taken from us. Our life can be taken from us. But the precious things in God can never be stolen from us. They can never be taken. I thank God for his precious word that I can freely read and study that helps me to stand firm and be faithful to him. I also thank God for the many examples of faithful men and women I have seen, not only in WL, in UBF, but faithful believers in history and around the world. Their good examples or traditions have also helped me to stand firm and be zealous for God. For example, early morning prayer and daily Bible reading. May God help us all to stand fast and to stand firm and to hold on to Jesus Christ as we await his coming. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2 13-17 presentation
Footnotes
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13Some manuscripts chose you from the beginning
Stand Firm and Hold On
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17:
Key Verse: 15:
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
1. Read 2 Thess. 2:13, Paul expresses gratitude for the Thessalonians’ choice by God. What does this indicate about the nature of God’s call and the importance of being chosen? (Eph. 1:3-6) How does human responsibility correlate with God’s election? (Ro. 10:9; James 1:18)
2. The passage mentions sanctification by the Spirit. How does this process of sanctification manifest in the lives of believers, according to your understanding of the broader biblical context? How can we participate in Jesus’ divine nature? (2 Pet. 1:4)
3. How can we discern what is true in today’s world, and what role does the Holy Spirit play in guiding us to the truth? (Jn. 16:13) Read 2 Thess. 2:14, Paul refers to the gospel’s calling. What does it mean to be called through the gospel, and how does this shape a believer’s identity and purpose?
4. Read 2 Thess. 2:15. How can we stand firm in our faith? Before the cross, the anchor was the symbol used by early Christians. How does this illustration help believers to stand firm? (Eph. 4:14) How do you understand Paul’s command to hold on to traditions? (Eph. 2:20; 1 Jn. 1:3-4)
5. In verses 16-17, Paul prays for comfort and strength for the Thessalonians. How can we apply this prayer to our lives and the lives of those around us today? How is the Trinity clearly taught by Paul in these verses? How does God want to use his sanctified people? (Tit. 2:14; Zep. 3:17)
6. Considering the themes of this passage, what are some practical ways we can live out our faith in a way that reflects our calling and the truth of the gospel? How does the communal aspect of faith (as seen in the letter to the Thessalonians) contribute to individual believers’ growth and understanding of God’s truth?
Stand Firm
13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits[a] to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Footnotes
a. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 Some manuscripts chose you from the beginning
