1 Thessalonians 2:13-20: a reflection

13For this cause we also thank God without ceasing that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, God’s word, which also works in you who believe. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, 16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost. 17But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short season in presence, not in heart, tried even harder to see your face with great desire, 18because we wanted to come to you—indeed, I, Paul, once and again—but Satan hindered us. 19For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20For you are our glory and our joy.

Paul thanks God for something about how the Thessalonians received his preaching: when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. They did not treat the message as merely Paul's human opinions, one voice among many, but received it as God's own word, and Paul notes the result: it is at work in you who believe.

Notice both how they received the word and what it did. They received it as what it really is, the word of God, not merely the thoughts of a man. That is a crucial difference. To receive Scripture as human wisdom, interesting, debatable, one perspective to weigh, is very different from receiving it as God's own word, with the authority and life that carries. And Paul says this second way of receiving it makes all the difference: received as God's word, it is at work in those who believe, actively shaping, changing, and sustaining them.

That searches how we ourselves receive Scripture. Do we treat the Bible as merely human words, ancient opinions to be weighed and often set aside, or do we receive it as what it really is, the word of God, carrying his authority and doing his work in us? The difference is not small; received as God's word, Scripture works in us, but received as mere human words, it remains inert. Receive the Scripture as what it really is: the word of God, not the word of men. And let it do its living work in you, shaping and changing and sustaining you as only God's word can.

Lord, the Thessalonians received your word not as the word of men but as what it really is, your own word, which was at work in them who believed. Search how I receive your Scripture. Keep me from treating it as merely human words, opinions to weigh and set aside. Help me receive it as what it truly is, your word, carrying your authority and life. And let it do its living work in me, shaping, changing, and sustaining me as only your word can. Speak to me through your word, and let it work in me.