Scripture Daily

Context No. 2045 of 4322 · 2 Thessalonians

Context · Reflection

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12: in context

1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds, 4so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure. 5This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also suffer. 6For it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, 7and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 8punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, 9who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11To this end we also pray always for you that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith with power, 12that 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.

Paul opens his second letter to the Thessalonians with thanksgiving, and he tells them exactly why. We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, he writes, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each of you toward one another abounds. Their faith was not static but growing; their love for one another was not fixed but abounding, increasing more and more. And Paul gives thanks for this growth, boasting of their perseverance and faith even under persecution and affliction.

What Paul gives thanks for is worth noticing: not that the Thessalonians had arrived at some fixed state, but that they were growing. Their faith was growing exceedingly; their love was abounding, increasing. This is the mark of a healthy life of faith, not that it stands still at some level once reached, but that it grows, faith deepening over time, love increasing, the whole life moving forward rather than stagnating. And Paul treats this growth as cause for thanksgiving, something to celebrate and give thanks to God for. This reframes how we think about our own life of faith. We can imagine that the goal is to reach a certain point and hold it, a steady state of belief and devotion maintained. But the picture here is of growth: faith meant to deepen, love meant to abound more and more, the life of faith always moving forward. A faith that is not growing, a love that is not increasing, has not arrived; it has stalled. The healthy life of faith is one that keeps growing, and Paul's thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' growth shows that this is what God desires and delights in. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, Peter urges; and Paul prays elsewhere that love may abound yet more and more. Growth, not a static plateau, is the mark of spiritual health. This calls us to desire and seek such growth, and to give thanks for it where we see it. Is our faith growing, deepening over time, or has it stalled at some level long since reached? Is our love for others increasing, abounding more and more, or has it settled into a fixed and limited measure? God desires our growth, faith deepening and love abounding; and where we see such growth, in ourselves or others, it is cause for thanksgiving, as it was for Paul. The healthy life of faith keeps growing; and we are called not to settle into a static state but to keep growing in faith and love, and to give thanks to God for every increase.

Is my faith growing and deepening over time, and my love for others increasing and abounding more and more, or has my life of faith stalled at some level long since reached, settled into a static state, and can I take from Paul's thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' growing faith and abounding love the desire to keep growing, and the gratitude to God for every increase he gives?

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