ACC ~ 1 Thessalonians 5 v12 - 28

OVERVIEW:

Once again, Paul makes it clear that the Thessalonians are to be faithful, joyful and upright in their dealings, particularly in the midst of affliction, and particularly as he, Paul, models these by his humility (CHRYSOSTOM). Paul describes in essence the work of sound pastoral leadership in relation to different kinds of troubles in the community (AUGUSTINE, THEODORE). These troubles are described by Paul with careful attention to the spiritual malady that underlies each (AUGUSTINE, THEODORET). Paul is most concerned here with the matter of due obedience to lawful pastors, as well as the importance of carefully distinguishing false from true teaching (AMBROSIASTER, CAESARIUS OF ARLES). Faithful pastors and leaders are called to discern just what remedy and form of care are required for the ills of body, soul and spirit that afflict believers (ORIGEN, AMBROSE).

5:14 | Be Patient with Them All

MEDICINE FOR THE PILGRIMAGE. AUGUSTINE: Of course, even good men can be sick, suffering from that disobedience which is the penalty of a primal disobedience which, therefore, is a wound or weakness in a nature that is good in itself. It is because of this wound that the good who are growing in grace and living by faith during their pilgrimage on earth are given the counsels, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ,” and elsewhere, “We exhort you, brothers, reprove the irregular, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that no one renders evil for evil to any man.”. . . It is in this way that citizens of the City of God are given medicine during their pilgrimage on earth while praying for the peace of their heavenly fatherland. And, of course, the Holy Spirit is operative internally to give healing power to the medicine which is applied externally, for, otherwise, no preaching of the truth is of any avail. Even though God makes use of one of his obedient creatures, as when he speaks in human guise to our ears—whether to the ears of the body or to the kind of ears we have in sleep—it is only by his interior grace that he moves and rules our mind. THE CITY OF GOD 15.6.

BOLDNESS TO REBUKE. AUGUSTINE: Hence, as far as concerns us, who are not able to distinguish those who are predestinated from those who are not, we ought on this very account to will all humanity to be saved. Severe rebuke should be medicinally applied to all by us that they neither themselves perish nor may be the means of destroying others. It belongs to God, however, to make that rebuke useful to them whom he himself has foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. We do not abstain from admonishing for fear lest by rebuke a person should perish. So why do we not also rebuke for fear that one should rather perish by our withholding admonition? For there is no greater act of compassion on our part than when the blessed apostle says, “Rebuke those that are unruly; comfort the feeble-minded; support the weak; be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil.” ON REBUKE AND GRACE 16.49.

RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE ANOTHER. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: It was to the laity and to women and not only the clergy that the apostle said, “Reprove the irregular, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak.” Provided that you are willing to rebuke one another in case of sin, the Enemy will be able to take you by surprise only with difficulty or not at all. If he does take you by surprise, the evil which was done is easily amended and corrected. Then is fulfilled in you what was written, “A brother who helps his brother will be exalted,” and again, “he who helps a sinner to be brought back from the misguided way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.” SERMONS 74.4.

HUMBLE COMPASSION. CHRYSOSTOM: If we are to hate ungodly and lawless men, we shall go on also to hate sinners. Thus, in regular succession, you will find yourself cut off from most of your brothers, indeed, from all of them. There is not one of them without sin. If it is our duty to hate the enemies of God, we would have to hate not only the ungodly but backsliders as well. Then we would be worse than wild beasts, shunning all and puffed up with pride, just like the Pharisee. Paul commanded us differently. “Admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all.” HOMILIES ON FIRST CORINTHIANS 33.5.

HELP THE WEAK. THEODORET OF CYR: Let us then bravely bear the ills that befall us. It is in war that heroes are discerned; in conflicts that athletes are crowned; in the surge of the sea that the art of the helmsman is shown; in the fire that the gold is tried. And let us not, I beseech you, have concern for only ourselves, but let us rather look out for the rest, and that much more for the sick than for the whole, for it is an apostolic precept which exclaims, “Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak.” Let us, then, stretch out our hands to them that lie low, let us tend their wounds and set them at their post to fight the devil. Nothing will so vex him as to see them fighting and smiting again. LETTERS 78.

5:15 | Not Repaying Evil

STAGES OF PASSION. POEMEN: “What does ‘See that none of you repays evil for evil’ mean?” The old man said. . . ‘Passions work in four stages—first, in the heart; secondly, in the face; thirdly, in words; and fourthly, it is essential not to render evil for evil in deeds. If you can purify your heart, passion will not come into your expression; but if it comes into your face, take care not to speak; but if you do speak, cut the conversation short in case you render evil for evil.’” SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS 34.

5:16-18 | Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks

KEEP THE FEAST. ATHANASIUS: For no one is going to turn away from sin and start behaving righteously unless he thinks about what he is doing. Not until he has been straightened out by practicing godly behavior will he actually possess the reward of faith: the crown of righteousness that Paul possessed, having fought the good fight. That crown is laid up not just for Paul but for all who are like him in this respect. This sort of meditation and exercise in godliness should be familiar to us, as it was to the saints of old. It should be especially so in the season when the divine word calls upon us to keep the feast. For what, after all, is the feast but continual worship of God, recognition of godliness and unceasing prayer all done from the heart in full agreement with each other? St. Paul, wanting us to be so inclined, urges us, “Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all things.” FESTAL LETTERS 9.

TRUE CONSTANCY. BASIL THE GREAT: Then, because he [David] had been delivered from great danger, he sent up this prayer of thanksgiving to God who had rescued him. “I will bless the Lord at all times.” Having escaped death, as if he were setting up norms for his life, he molded his soul to an exact manner of living, so that he ceased at no time from praise but referred the beginning of affairs, great and small, to God. “I will not think,” he says, “that anything was done through my diligence nor happened through spontaneous chance, but, ‘I will bless the Lord at all times,’ not only in prosperity of life, but also in precarious times.” The apostle, learning from this, says, “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all things give thanks.” HOMILIES 16.

PERFECT DEVOTION. CASSIODORUS: “Sing with jubilation to God, all the earth.” The prophet was troubled for the faithful people in case they believe they are to serve the Lord with gloomy anxiety, so he began at once with jubilation, for ministering to the Lord with happiness of mind constitutes the perfect devotion of the just man. As Paul warns us, “Always rejoice: pray without ceasing: in all things give thanks.” COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 99.2.

THE WAY OF SALVATION. BENJAMIN: And when Abba Benjamin was dying, he quoted a text to his disciples, “Be joyful at all times, pray without ceasing, and give thanks for all things.” He told them, “Do these things and you can be saved.” SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS 4.

TRUE FREEDOM. JOHN CASSIAN: When the mind is freed from lust, established in tranquility and does not waver in its intention toward the one supreme good, the monk will fulfill the precept of St. Paul, “Pray without ceasing,” and “In every place lifting up holy hands without wrath and controversy.” By purity of heart the mind is drawn away from earthly feelings and is reformed in the likeness of an angelic spirit. Then, whatever thought the mind receives, whatever it considers, whatever it does, will be a prayer of true purity and sincerity. CONFERENCES 9.6.

THE PRAYER OF THE HEART. AUGUSTINE: And who observed and noticed the cause of his [i.e., the psalmist’s] groaning? “All my desire is before You.” For it is not before men, who cannot see the heart, but is before You that all my desire is open! Let your desire be before him, and “the Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you.” For it is your heart’s desire that is your prayer. If your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also. For it was not without meaning, when the apostle said, “Pray without ceasing.” Are we to be “without ceasing” in bending the knee and prostrating the body and lifting up our hands, such that he says, “without ceasing”? If that is what “without ceasing” means, then I do not believe it is possible. There is another kind of inward prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart. COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 37.14.

THE RECOLLECTED HEART. BASIL THE GREAT: For prayer and psalmody, however, as also, indeed, for some other duties, every hour is suitable, that, while our hands are busy at their tasks, we may praise God sometimes with the tongue (when this is possible, or, rather, when it is conducive to edification); or, if not, with the heart. … Thus we acquire a recollected spirit—when in every action we beg from God the success of our labors and satisfy our debt of gratitude to him who gave us the power to do the work, and when, as has been said, we keep before our minds the aim of pleasing him. If this is not the case, how can there be consistency in the words of the apostle bidding us to “pray without ceasing,” with those other words, “we worked night and day.” THE LONG RULES Q37.R.

JOHN THE ELDER: Why did Paul say, “Pray and do not grow weary”? As long as he is a servant, he indeed prays; but once born of the Spirit in the world of prayer, he is a son of God, and he has authority over riches, being an heir; thus he does not merely ask. LETTERS 5.6.

5:18 | In Everything Give Thanks

NOT ONLY IN DELIVERANCE. CHRYSOSTOM: Most appropriately have we all this day sung together, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.” For marvelous, and beyond all expectation, are the things which have happened. A whole city, and so great a population, when just about to be overwhelmed—to sink under the waves, and to be utterly and instantly destroyed—he has entirely rescued from shipwreck in a single moment of time! Let us give thanks, then, not only that God has calmed the tempest but that he permitted it to take place. Not only did he rescue us from shipwreck, but he allowed us to fall into such distress and permitted such an extreme peril to hang over us. Thus also Paul bids us “in every thing give thanks.” But when he says, “In every thing give thanks,” he means not only in our deliverance from evils but also at the time when we suffer those evils. HOMILIES ON THE STATUES 17.1.

5:19 | Do Not Quench the Spirit

THE SPIRIT IS HOLINESS OF LIFE. ATHANASIUS: We can thus see why Paul, not wanting the grace of the Spirit given to us to grow cold, exhorts us, “Do not quench the Spirit.” The only way we can continue to be partakers of Christ is to cling until the end to the Holy Spirit, who was given to us at the beginning. Paul said, “Do not quench” not because the Spirit is under the power of men but because evil and unthankful men certainly do wish to quench the Spirit. Demonstrating their impurity, they drive the Spirit away by their unholy deeds. FESTAL LETTERS 4.4.

FIRE AND FUEL. CHRYSOSTOM: As fire requires fuel, so grace requires our prompt response, that it may be ever fervent. “I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God that is in you by the putting on of my hands,” that is, the grace of the Spirit, which you have received, for presiding over the church, for the working of miracles and for every service. For this grace it is in our power to kindle or extinguish. For this reason Paul elsewhere says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” HOMILIES ON SECOND TIMOTHY 1.

CHRYSOSTOM: On this account Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit,” that is, the gift of grace, for it is his custom so to call the gift of the Spirit. But an impure life extinguishes the gift of grace. For as anyone who has sprinkled both water and dust upon the light of our lamp extinguishes it. … So it is also with the gift of grace. HOMILIES ON 1 THESSALONIANS 11.

MYSTICAL RECEPTION OF THE SPIRIT. MARK THE HERMIT: Learn from the apostle that we are the ones who grieve the Spirit, extinguishing him in our hearts. He says, “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecy”; and again, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, in whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption.” We introduce these testimonies not as if to suggest that every man who has been baptized and obtained grace is henceforth immutable and no longer in need of repentance, but to say that through baptism, according to Christ’s gift, the complete grace of God is granted to us for the fulfillment of the commandments. Henceforth each one who receives baptism mystically and yet does not fully perform the commandments, is activated by sin in proportion to their failure—the sin not of Adam but of the one who is negligent. ON BAPTISM, RESPONSE 5.

PHILOXENUS OF MABBUG: That is to say, do not grieve him by sin, otherwise his light will be quenched from your soul—a light which, when kindled within you, gives you the possession of a power that is beyond expression; and you will be able to contend “with principalities and powers,” and fight against the evil spirits under heaven, and reject all the world with its pleasures and pains. All are effected by the fervor of the Spirit within us. MEMRA ON THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

5:23 | Spirit, Soul and Body

THE HUMAN COMPOSITE. AMBROSE: On this subject the Lord says, “When you come into the land to which I bring you and when you eat of the food of the land, you shall present an offering to the Lord. When you separate the firstfruits of your barn floors, you shall also give the firstfruits of your dough to the Lord.” We are a composite of diverse elements mixed together, cold with hot, and moist with dry. This mixture is the source of many pleasures and manifold delights of the flesh. But these are not the firstfruits of this body of ours. Since we are composed of soul and body and spirit, the first place is held by that mixture in which the apostle desires that we find sanctification. “And may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound, blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” CAIN AND ABEL 2.1.6.

FULL PARTICIPATION. GREGORY OF NYSSA: This, therefore, is perfection in the Christian life in my judgment, namely, the participation of one’s soul and speech and activities in all of the names by which Christ is signified, so that the perfect holiness, according to the eulogy of Paul, is taken upon oneself in “the whole body and soul and spirit,” continuously safeguarded against being mixed with evil. ON PERFECTION.

ONE SANCTIFIED LUMP. ORIGEN: In another way, it is possible to take the woman for the church, the leaven for the Holy Spirit and the three measures for body, spirit and soul. These three are sanctified by the leaven of the Holy Spirit, so that by the Holy Spirit they become one lump, in order that “our whole body and spirit and soul may be kept blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” as Paul says. HOMILIES ON LUKE, FRAGMENT 205.

THE HARMONY OF THE THREE. ORIGEN: In the wicked sin reigns over the soul, being settled as on its own throne in the mortal body, so that the soul obeys its lusts. . . but in the case of those who have become perfected, the spirit has gained the mastery and put to death the deeds of the body. It imparts to the body of its own life and there arises a concord of the two, body and spirit, on the earth. … But still more blessed is it if the three [i.e., body, soul and spirit] be gathered together in the name of Jesus, that this may be fulfilled, “May God sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 14.3.

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

ARGUMENT: Since the Thessalonians have asked Paul about the “times and seasons, and since he is not able to visit in person, this is the letter that he sends instead. He wishes to refute “deceivers,” who have led the Thessalonians to think that the resurrection is past, that there is no retribution yet to come. Further, believers must be strengthened not only for retribution but for vindication yet to come (CHRYSOSTOM). Paul wishes to encourage the faith of the Thessalonians, as well as to warn them against expecting the Lord’s advent too soon. Antichrist must come first (THEODORE). Paul reminds them that great rewards await the righteous, as well as just punishment the unrighteous. The Thessalonians must not be led astray by false teaching about when the end will come (SEVERIAN). Central to Paul’s intention is the need to console the Thessalonians with the conviction that enemies of Christ must come, so that finally Christ our God and Savior will appear (THEODORET). In his discussion of the Lord’s final appearance and the resurrection of the dead, Paul speaks obscurely here about the end of the Roman kingdom and the person of Antichrist (AMBROSIASTER).