Chapter 3

In the first five verses we have the tying up of some loose ends in Thessalonica. In verses 6-11 we have the attitude toward the reversionistic believer. In verses 12-16 we have an epilogue.

In tying up the loose ends we begin with a concluding prayer request to remind believers that the more doctrine they have, the closer they are to supergrace and in supergrace, the greater becomes the exploitation of those things which are commanded in the Word of God. Certain things are commanded but these commands cannot be fulfilled apart from Bible doctrine in the soul. The two most common are prayer and witnessing. While both are commanded to every believer it is a mistake to assume that just because you are saved and spend time at it that you are a great prayer warrior. You are not until you have the supergrace capacity through doctrine. Just as supergrace capacity works in the field of enjoying wealth, promotion, success, happiness, etc., it also works in the realm of the exploitation and the fulfillment of various commands to the Christian way of life.

Verse 1 — To loipon, the word “Finally” which is a part of the accusative of general reference. Loipoj is the vocabulary form but it is in the accusative. As a part of the accusative of general reference it means “For the rest” or “For the remainder.” This is a perfect way to begin an epilogue, and the epilogue will tie up all of the loose ends of this epistle.

“brethren” indicates believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, members of the royal priesthood. Many of them have advanced doctrinally, even to supergrace, so that he can now command prayer.

“pray” is the present middle imperative of proseuxomai which is one of the stronger words for prayer in the Bible. The present tense is a futuristic present which denotes an event which has not yet occurred but is regarded as so certain that it will come to pass. In this way Paul for the first time recognises that there are many believers in Thessalonica who have reached supergrace or who have almost completed the ECS, and therefore this is a great compliment to ask them to pray. The middle voice is reflexive, which indicates that they themselves are going to do it. It also indicates something else: the clergy does not have a monopoly on prayer.

“that” — i(na introduces the first purpose clause and indicates a direction in which they can pray without interfering with Paul’s privacy.

“the word of the Lord” — o( logoj refers to Bible doctrine; tou kuriou — genitive of possession. Bible doctrine belongs to the Lord. This is amplified in 1 Corinthians 2:16 where Bible doctrine is called the mind of Christ. Here it is called “the word of the Lord.”

“may have free course” is a present active subjunctive of the verb for running, trexw. The present tense is an iterative present, which means that the action of the verb recurs at successive intervals. The active voice: Paul is asking them that he might produce the action. The subjunctive mood is potential. In other words, Paul is doing a lot of teaching of Bible doctrine. There is no change in the content, he has mastered the content. So the problem for which he is asking prayer is the presentation of what he knows, the communication of it. Many times a man has a message to teach that is vital to the recipients but because he is tied up in knots he can’t teach it properly. Paul asks that the Word of God might have free course, that it might run freely. This is an idiom. He has no problem with the content, his problem is to have freedom to teach effectively. Freedom to teach means that there must constantly be an elimination of those who are negative from the congregation.

“and may be glorified” is the present passive subjunctive of docazw. The more relaxed the pastor-teacher is the more effective the communication, and therefore the Word is glorified. The present tense being iterative, the action recurs at successive intervals. The passive voice: the Word of God receives glorification in its presentation. The subjunctive mood: this is a potential subjunctive, it depends upon the condition of the pastor-teacher at the time that he stands up before the congregation.

“even as it is with you” — to indicate that the Thessalonian believers were very positive to his ministry, and that he was very relaxed when he stood up in front of them because of their positive volition. Rapport between a pastor and a congregation comes from positive volition on the part of the congregation. The Thessalonians are an illustration of responsiveness to doctrine.

“with you” is proj plus the accusative and it means “face to face with you.”

Verse 2 — a second purpose clause. It begins with the conjunction i(na plus the subjunctive , the primary way of introducing a purpose clause. “That we may be delivered.” The word for delivered is r(uomai which is stronger than simply delivering, it means to drag out of danger. This is a constantive aorist which means that his life was often in danger. The passive voice means that he had to receive deliverance. The subjunctive mood: deliverance was always potential.

“from unreasonable” — a)po is the preposition of ultimate source: “from the source of unreasonable men.” The object of the preposition here is a)topoj which means harmful, perverted, and it refers to reversionists.

“and wicked” — means malignant, and this indicates the opposition of the unbeliever.— ponhroj. He has two sources of opposition: unreasonable or harmful, perverse, outrageous, refers to the believer. Ponhroj for wicked refers to the unbeliever, so he gets opposition from both believers and unbelievers.

“men” — a)nqrwpoj is a generic term referring to the human race in its category.

“for all men have not faith” — “have” is not found in the original. It simply says, “not the faith” — h( pistij here refers to two things. Pistij has basically three meanings. It means faith, which is its first meaning. Its second meaning is what is believed or doctrine. So pistij means both faith and doctrine. Both meanings apply here because we have two categories of homo sapien. We have the reversionistic believer who is described as harmful, perverse, or outrageous, and he lacks doctrine. The second category are those who lack faith in Jesus Christ. So both are true here. But the Lord’s faithfulness is now emphasised.

Verse 3 — “But the Lord is faithful” — again we have kurioj which connotes lordship and deity. It describes here God the Father as the author of the plan; “is” is a present active indicative of e)imi. This is a static present which means that the Lord perpetually exists as a faithful God us. The word “faithful” is pistoj which is an adjective which goes with pistij, the noun. The adjective means inspiring trust, dependable, and object of full confidence, faithful or reliable. All of the meanings here are pertinent with regard to God the Father.

The doctrine of faithfulness

1. God is faithful in rebound — 1 John 1:9 This means He is always faithful to forgive us our known sins, the sins we confess, and at the same time to forgive us the sins we did not know were sins.

2. He is faithful to us under conditions of testing — 1 Corinthians 10:13.

3. God is faithful in provision — 1 Thessalonians 5:24.

4. God is also faithful in protecting us — 2 Thessalonians 3:3.

5. God is faithful in the believer’s unfaithfulness — 2 Timothy 2:13.

6. God is faithful in keeping His promises — Hebrews 10:23.

7. God is faithful in following His plan — 1 Corinthians 1:9.

“who shall stablish you” — “who” is a relative pronoun referring to God the Father; “shall stablish” is a future active indicative of the verb sthrizw which means to set is a certain position or direction. It also means to be mentally stabilised, to be firmly established, to be firmly supported by something. This is accomplished through Bible doctrine. The progressive future tense means that the action of the verb will be fulfilled progressively in future time. The active voice: the Lord produces through doctrine the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative which indicates that the action of the verb is viewed from the standpoint of its reality.

“keep” is also a future active indicative. The verb is fulassw which means to guard or to preserve. The future tense this time, however, is not progressive, it is gnomic. The reason it is a gnomic future is because it goes with the previous future tense. As you continue to GAP it in the future and take in more and more doctrine, then you come to the place of being preserved from evil. You are guarded by doctrine in the soul. The principle is the gnomic future is axiomatic. As you respond to doctrine and reach the supergrace life the more doctrine you have in your soul the more you are guarded from evil in life, and doctrine becomes the guard in your soul.

“from evil” — ponhroj, which this time means “the evil one .” This is Satan who rules the world. The greatest defense you have against Satan is Bible doctrine in the soul.

The doctrine of Satan’s strategy toward the believer

1. The general principle is established by 2 Corinthians 2:11. Satan’s strategy is to accuse every believer — Zechariah 3:1,2; Job 1:6-11; Revelation 12:9,10. Satan is in the business of accusing every believer.

2. It is the strategy of Satan to persuade the believer to ignore the Word of God, to be negative toward it. This is done is three specific ways in the scripture.: To be disobedient to the Word and the authority involved in teaching it — Genesis 2:17; 3:4. To do this by worry and anxiety — 1 Peter 5:7-9. By ignoring doctrine that you have learned — 1 Chronicles 21:1.

3. To entice the believer from the will of God: the operational will of God, the geographical will of God, and the mental will of God — 2 Corinthians 2:11.

4. To destroy the believer’s focus. He does it in three ways: to get your eyes on self — 1 Corinthians 1:10,11; 1 Kings 19:10; Matthew 26:31-35; to get your eyes on other people — Genesis 19:28; 20:1; to get your eyes on things — Hebrews 13:5,6.

5. To frighten believers with regard to death. This is only counteracted by the whole principle of dying grace and all that is involved in it — Hebrews 2:14,15.

6. To infiltrate the believer’s right lobe with religion..

7. To involve believers in temporal solutions to man’s problems so that divine solutions are excluded or ignored — the social action concept, becoming involved, helping the downtrodden. This is a result of reversionism in the soul.

Verse 4 — the principle of bona fide spiritual confidence in the Christian life.

“And we have confidence” — the perfect tense of the verb peiqw. Peiqw means everything from faith to believe, to obey; but in the perfect tense it means to have confidence. Furthermore, this is an intensive perfect which means to have confidence in the past with the result that you keep on having confidence. Confidence comes from knowing what it is all about, orienting to the situation in life. This type of confidence comes from the supergrace life. Under the principle of the supergrace life the apostle Paul has confidence in every situation in life. He has doctrine in his soul and he knows how things should go in any situation.

The sphere of Paul’s confidence — the preposition e)n plus the locative of kurioj. The sphere for Paul’s confidence is a technical phrase because e)n plus the locative of kurioj refers to his position in Christ. So all confidence in the Christian life inevitably goes back to the start of Christianity. It all starts the same way, we enter into union with Christ. This keeps Christianity out of the religion class. Christianity is not a religion., it is a relationship, union with Christ.

“touching you” — the preposition e)f [for e)pi] plus the personal pronoun here in the accusative case indicates “toward you.” E)pi plus the accusative is always directional. So literally, “We have confidence in the Lord toward you.” The confidence here is based upon the fact that Paul knows the Thessalonians are positive toward doctrine.

Principle: When believers are positive toward doctrine and they are growing in grace, and when they are approaching or have actually reached the supergrace life, it is possible to have confidence toward them in the sense that their lives are consistent and are characterised by stability. So in this life there are people who can be counted on because of their relationship to the Lord in the royal priesthood.

“that” — the conjunction o(ti which used after peiqw has a special meaning. It is a clause introducing apostolic authority. Positive volition toward doctrine is characterised by accepting the authority of the communicator of doctrine.

“ye both do and will do the things which we command you.” The word “do” is a present active indicative of poiew. This is a retroactive progressive present — you have been doing it in the past, you will continue to do it, you are doing it right now. The future tense is a prophetic future active indicative of the same verb poiew. The present plus the future is the equivalent of a perfect tense. Why wasn’t a perfect tense used? The reason for not using the perfect tense was to divide their attitude to doctrine now from the future concept of it and therefore two verbs give greater emphasis to what is going to happen to these people who are going to supergrace.

“will do” means that they will continue to be faithful in taking in the Word; “the things” refer to Bible doctrine, the teaching of doctrine in apostolic times.

“which we command you” — the present active indicative from the compound verb paraggellw. Para is the preposition of immediate source; a)ggellw means to announce, to notify, to communicate. It means to communicate from the immediate source of self and eventually it comes to mean to give a command. But it means to give a command categorically. There are many words for giving a command but paraggellw indicates the idea of giving a detailed command .Paul is going to teach doctrine categorically and they are going to respond to it.

“you” is not found in the original.

Verse 5 — some basic techniques for moving in the creation of supergrace. “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God.” “The Lord” refers here to God the Father. In the previous verse it refers to God the Son. God the Father is mentioned here in terms of His perfection.

“direct” is the aorist active optative of kateuqunw. The word means to make straight according to norms or standards. In this case the norms and standards are God’s .The word “direct” is a good translation as long as you understand that the verb connotes direct according to an absolute standard. In other words, it is God’s objective to move you to a point, namely supergrace. With that in mind the previous command is doctrine moving you to that objective. “The Lord move you to the objective.” The aorist tense is an ingressive aorist which indicates to begin to move.

“of your hearts” — the heart is the mentality of the soul and is the objective for doctrine to reach supergrace.

“into the love of God” — the love of God here refers to occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are going to respond to the love of God then we must have maximum doctrine which is in the supergrace status.

“into patient waiting” — the supergrace life in its perspective toward circumstances in general. It is a prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of u(pomonh which means patient endurance, maximum faith-rest technique which comes under the supergrace life, maximum utilisation or maximum exploitation of doctrine. This is done, as it says in the genitive here, for Christ.”

Verse 6 — there are people in every local church who are negative toward doctrine. There are in Thessalonica lots of positives but there are also some negatives. What should be your attitude toward believers with negative volition?

“command” is the same paraggellw of the previous verse, and it means to give a direction. If you are going to move on to supergrace you are going to have to learn the principle of separation. No one reaches supergrace unless he separates from those who are negative.

The doctrine of separation

1. There are certain types of carnal believers from which we must separate, e.g. 1 Corinthians 5:10,11 — from any believer involved in abnormal sex.

2. Separation from reversionism. Reversionism is negative volition toward doctrine. All holy-rollers are reversionists — 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14,15; 1 Samuel 22:1.

3. Separate from believers who make emotion the criterion. They are going to enter into some system of pseudo spirituality — Romans 16:17,18.

4. Separation from the fast crowd — 1 Peter 4:4; Proverbs 1:10=19.

5. Separation from superficial social life and apostate fun crowds — Jeremiah 15:17.

6. Separation from unbelievers where doctrine is compromised. (You don’t separate yourself from all unbelievers) If you marry an unbeliever it is a compromise of doctrine — 2 Corinthians 6:14; Hebrews 13:13.

7. Separation from human viewpoint worldliness — Romans 12:1,2. Worldliness is a mental attitude, not something people do.

8. Separation from religion and apostasy — 2 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Peter 3:5.

“withdraw” — the present middle infinitive of the verb stellw which means to separate or withdraw. This is a tendencial present which indicates something that is not occurring at the moment but will take place at some time. The middle voice is a direct middle, which is reflexive. Make sure that you yourself withdraw from them. The infinitive indicates purpose. It is God’s purpose for you to be separated.

“from” is the preposition of ultimate source, a)po; “every brother” — the ablative of paj plus the ablative of a)delfoj. This is a command to separate from believers in reversionism. This does not conflict with commands to love the brethren, such as Romans 13:8; 1 Peter 1:22; 2:17; 3:8; 1 John 3:23; 4:12. Loving the brethren is a mental attitude only. Your mental attitude toward believers must be minus mental attitude sins. You can separate from these believers and still love them.

“that walketh” — the present active participle of perpatew which means pattern of life. The retroactive progressive present means they have been walking that way in the past, long enough for you to observe their reversionism, and at the present time they are still walking that way. When you put this with the tendencial present of stellw it indicates that so far the Thessalonians have not separated from these people because they are under the erroneous concept that love means that you must hang around them. The active voice: certain believers in Thessalonica are producing reversionism. The participle is circumstantial which indicates the condition of these people from whom they must withdraw.

“disorderly” — a)taktoj, a military adverb which means to be out of ranks, to be insubordinate. Disorderly is a good translation, but it should be translated “insubordination.” They have rejected the authority of the pastor, Paul’s apostolic authority, the authority of Bible doctrine.

“not after the tradition” — the negative mh indicates that there is till hope for them that they might come back, but separation is still the order of the day. Then we have the prepositional phrase kata plus the accusative of paradosij — “not according to the tradition.” The tradition of the Church is the constant intake of Bible doctrine, advancing toward the tactical victory of the supergrace life. Paradosij also means, in addition to tradition, delivery or transmission. The delivery or transmission of the local church is the communication of Bible doctrine.

The negative o)uk would means that there was no hope for them, that the door is shut; but here we have the negative mh which means that they can recover from reversionism. But while they are in it separate from them.

“which he received of us” — paralambanw which means to receive through teaching here; not “of us” but “from us” — para plus the ablative means from the source of us. Paul has taught these people in the past.

Verse 7 — this verse is not what it appears on the surface.

“You yourselves know” is the perfect active indicative of o)ida used as a present tense for knowledge they do have, something they do understand. Therefore o)ida becomes a frame of reference at this particular point.

“how ye ought” — “ought” indicates obligation: the present active indicative of dei is an idiom for obligation.

“to follow us” — present active infinitive of mimeomai which means to imitate. It is the basis for the English word “mimic.” The present tense in this particular case is a static present, which means this is a continuous thing. The active voice: believers are to do it. The infinitive indicates God’s purpose. The word mimeomai means here to respect the authority of. — “us,” Paul and his traveling seminary. And how are they to respect his authority? By following the thing that Paul has done. He has lived under authority and by authority before he exercised authority, and they are to do the same thing. “we have not behaved ourselves disorderly among you” — the aorist active indicative of a)taktew. The adverb is based on this verb and it means to be insubordinate — “we have not been insubordinate.” The constantive aorist gathers up into one entirety the action of the verb. At no time has Paul been insubordinate.

Translation: “For you yourselves know that it is necessary for you to imitate us: we have not been disorderly among you.”

Verse 8 — “Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nothing.” “We did not eat” is the aorist active indicative of e)sqiw, and again it is the constantive aorist.

“for nought” is an adverb, dwrean — “as a gift.” There is no place for moochers in the ministry, there is no place for moochers in Christianity. So Paul goes from the principle of authority to the principle of people who come in in order to scrounge something.

“but wrought” — e)gazomai here means to engage in business; “by means of hard work and travail” — wearisome labour.

“that we might not be chargeable to any of you” — or, “that we might not be a financial burden.”

Verse 9 — “But that we might give ourselves to a pattern that you might imitate.”

“we have not power” — e)cousia, which means authority. In other words, Paul had the authority to come in and take an offering from them.

“but that we might give ourselves to you as a pattern” — the word “make ourselves” is didomi, aorist active subjunctive. It is a constantive aorist. The active voice: Paul was trying to teach them a point they needed. The subjunctive mood is the potentiality of this thing, it isn’t followed everywhere.

“ensample” is tupoj for a pattern; “to follow us” or “to imitate us.”

They are to follow him in three things here: a) Verse 9 teaches the principle of taking advantage of; b) They did not scrounge; c) Authority: they respected authority. Principle: If you have respect for authority you have respect for the rights of others. When you have respect for the rights of others you have respect for the privacy of others.

Verse 10 — the background for this passage was that someone had sold believers on the story that the Rapture was going to occur at any moment, and they quit their jobs.

We have a reminder here: “For even when we were with you.” “We were” is the customary imperfect active indicative of e)imi. The imperfect tense always connotes past time. Customarily in the past Paul has been with them for the purpose of face to face teaching. The active voice: Paul always says we, so it indicates Paul and those who accompanied him. The indicative mood is a declarative indicative for reality.

“with you” is “face to face with you” — proj plus the accusative of su. It has to do with face to face teaching and it indicates the fact that face to face teaching is the order of the day for the Church Age.

“we commanded” — this time we have simply linear aktionsart in past time. This is equivalent to the progressive present tense and it means that this was a constant, repeated command. The word is paraggellw and it means to give a command or to direct or to take charge. Here it has the idea of taking charge — “we took charge of you.” They kept on taking the responsibility for them, for teaching them spiritual things.

“that if any would not work, neither should he eat” — “if” is a first class condition; “if any believer would not” — present active indicative of qelw indicating the function of free will. Of their own free will they would not get a job, they would not work for a living. The present middle infinitive of e)rgazomai connotes working as it then existed.

“neither should he eat” is a present active imperative of e)sqiw. This is a principle of economy and it is applied here to the local church because a lot of people have simply quit working under the excuse of the Rapture.

Verse 11 — “we hear” is the iterative present active indicative of a)kouw, which means from time to time we hear. The present tense doesn’t always mean linear aktionsart.

“some” — believers who do not understand doctrine and have misapplied and distorted the doctrine of the Rapture; “which walk disorderly” — present active participle of peripatew. Peripatew is used for a way of life. It is in the retroactive progressive present, which means these people who have distorted the Rapture are now doing something that they should not do. They have a manner of life which is contrary to the Word of God. The active voice indicates a segment of believers in reversionism doing this. This is a circumstantial participle to indicate something that is going on at that time. The adverb explains what is going on — “disorderly” is the adverb a)taktoj, a military term meaning out of ranks, insubordinate, out of line. It refers in this case to a distortion of doctrine.

“working not at all” — the present active participle of e)rgazomai plus the negative. This is a static present tense to indicate that this continues to be their status.

When people should be working and they are not working they get into trouble.

“but are busybodies” — a present active participle of periergazomai which means to be doing something you shouldn’t be doing. Peri means around; e)rgazomai means to work. Now they are going all around work. This also means to make a business of going around and intruding on the privacy of others.

Verse 12 — referring to these who have quit their jobs, who are loafing, who are meddlers, trouble makers.

“such” is a dative of disadvantage; “we command” — present active indicative of paraggellw again. This is an aoristic present. Here is a present tense using a point of time, like the aorist.

“exhort” means to take doctrine and show them the way out of their problem; “command” means orders to get under authority.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “with quietness” — the preposition meta accompanied by the genitive singular of h(suxia and it means “accompanied by quietness.” This means that they need to learn some doctrine. Learning has to be associated with quietness. They have to, as it were, withdraw from every activity, good or bad, and go on a crash program to learn doctrine.

“they work” — e)rgazomai in the present active participle. The present tense of this participle is a customary present, meaning that this should be a routine.

“and eat their own bread” — present active subjunctive of e)sqiw. They should make their own living.

Verse 13 — this is addressed to “brethren” which means believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it says “be not weary” and that is an aorist active subjunctive of e)gkakew. This means “do not be discouraged or despondent by the routine of life.” It indicates the fact that to have a routine in life is good, not bad. This is an ingressive aorist whereby when people start to loaf they start to become despondent. The mental attitude of despondency leads to other mental attitudes. The ingressive aorist says do not begin to get this way because when you do you get into this other pattern.

“in welldoing” is a present active participle kalopoiew. Kalopoiew means to be in the routine of life. Kaloj means noble, so it is noble doing. God regards what you do for a living as noble function — “stop being weary in noble function.” The royal priesthood is designed to work for a living. The very principle of being bored means that you are like a bomb. Boredom is the basis for detonating the bomb.

One of the occupational hazards on the way to supergrace is weariness. Weariness = routine + pressure, or weariness = normal living without anything unusual., or boring living + pressure. If you are going to dedicate yourself to reaching the tactical objective of the supergrace life there is going to have to be a lot of routine, s lot of things that you will not want to do and you will do them, and this is where the apostle takes the Thessalonian believers at the point of verse 13. He recognises, first of all, that they are members of the same family that he is. He calls them brethren for that reason. They are members of the royal family and he tells them not to be weary. He has already warned them about the importance of taking in doctrine on a daily basis.

We have an ingressive aorist active subjunctive of e)gkakew which means to be weary, to be despondent, discouraged, faint-hearted. The general connotation is discouragement. Many times we will be discouraged with the idea of going on. There seems to be, just before the believer reaches supergrace, a special test or pressure. You have to get through this pressure in order to make it, and this pressure can be any one of the reactor factors — disillusion, boredom, discouragement, overcome with self-pity, lonely and not able to handle it, the problem of frustration, mental attitude sins, or special pressure of some kind. These are all designed to give you that final sprint into supergrace, and this is a test that comes maybe once, maybe twice or three times on the road to supergrace. This is a specific warning about that, and the warning is given from the standpoint of he ingressive aorist to show that these things will occur when you are doing the right thing, when you are on the right track, when you are persistent and consistent in the intake of doctrine.

The words “well doing” have to do with moving into the supergrace life. The ingressive aorist means “do not begin even to get discouraged.” Don’t allow the test to overcome you., it will just slow you down in getting there. “Well doing” is kalopoiew which means noble doing. Noble doing has to do with the supergrace life. The present tense is a static present indicating a situation which is regarded as being normal for the Christian way of life. The word kaloj should be honourable or noble. “Do not become discouraged in noble/honourable function.”

When ever you become involved in one of the reactor factors the first move is generally toward the frantic search for happiness. Therefore the next verse is designed to cut you off from that.

Verse 14 — “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle.” These are the people who are on the road to reversionism and who are on the frantic search for happiness. “If” is a 1st class condition. The word “any man” is the impersonal tij, meaning “anyone.”

“obey not” — present active indicative of u(pakouw, one of the two major verbs for authority. This is a military terms an it means to be under the authority of someone who is over you as a commanding officer. The ones who are on the frantic search for happiness always break out of the authority of the pastor-teacher, whoever their right pastor-teacher happens to be. In doing so they get onto emotional revolt. This opens up mataiothj and causes the infiltration of false doctrine into the heart or the right lobe. This is a warning against it, and it also indicates that often these people do hang around.

“our word” — note that the authority of the pastor-teacher is tied up not only in the spiritual gift but also in what he communicates. “Our word” is Bible doctrine. In the case of the apostle Paul it is written. With pastor-teachers in the 20th century it is spoken.

“by this epistle is dia plus the genitive which means “through this epistle” — part of the Word of God.

“note” — the present middle imperative of shmeion. Shmeion actually means several things: to put a tag on someone, to make a reconnaissance for the purpose of avoiding. When you get discouraged, when you have reactor factors in your life, the worst thing you can do is hook up with someone who is on a frantic search for happiness because you will follow them instead of u(pakouw with regard to the Word. It is the tendency of all who become involved in reactor factors to immediately gravitate to and accept the leadership of anyone they know who is on a frantic search for happiness. The iterative present indicates that this will happen from time to time. It doesn’t happen all the time but when it does mark out these people for avoidance. Principle: troublemakers must always be tagged in your mind and avoided.

“and have no company with him” — present middle infinitive of sunanamignumi. When a word this long is used Paul usually has something very important in mind. This is a triple-compound verb: sun means with; ana means again; mignumi means to mix. With the negative it means “do not with again mix with that person.” It means to mix again and again with. In other words, it indicates a very close relationship, it indicates a social life. It means to have your social life with those who are on the road to reversionism. Principle: You cannot have social life with born-again believers on the road to reversionism without getting on the same road. Either doctrine continues to be your criterion and therefore the authority of your right pastor-teacher or on the road to reversionism with someone on a frantic search for happiness. The tendencial present tense of sunanamignumi actually means the action is purposed but it hasn’t been taken. That is what is wrong with the Thessalonians. This is an action which they should be following and definitely have not. The middle voice is a reflexive middle. They themselves have failed to do this. The infinitive means that it is God’s purpose and so far they haven’t come through. It is also a warning of social unfaithfulness to the Word of God. The negative mh is used for a command of separation. With the infinitive also indicates that people have already done so — that plus the 1st class condition.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “he may be ashamed” — a constantive aorist passive subjunctive of e)ntrepw, and it doesn’t mean to be ashamed. It means to receive guilt or shame. Ordinarily it means to receive guilt. If you cut yourself off from this one whom you have joined on the road to reversionism, then he faces the issue , he will have received shame or guilt. Shame is a better translation here for the simple reason that the nobility of the priesthood is on the road to supergrace and shame here is the antithesis of nobility. The constantive aorist gathers up into one ball of wax a new reaction which comes in to the person reacting against doctrine from the reactor factors. The frantic search for happiness starts to produce shame when this person finds himself cut off from someone whom he admires, whom he loves, and who is not going along for the ride in the frantic search for happiness but instead is going in the direction of doctrine. In other words, you subordinate yourself to the Word of God and leave him in the Lord’s hands, and this is the way the Lord deals with that individual. Guilt or shame is one of the knocking factors. When the Lord stands at the door and knocks, knocking is through shame. The passive voice: the reversionistic believer receives the shame. The subjunctive mood: the reality of this is a potential.

Verse 15 — “Yet count him not as an enemy.” “Count not” is the present active imperative from e(geomai. Once you have wisdom [sofia] on the launching pad you make conclusions, so e(geomai means to make conclusions or to have doctrine on the launching pad. “Conclude” is a better word than “count” here. “Do not conclude that person an enemy.” The present tense is an aoristic present, punctiliar action in present time. When the situation arises, don’t do this. Tag them for avoidance when it comes to any kind of social relationship but do not tag that person as an enemy. Why? Because if you as a believer separate yourself from just such a person your tendency is to react against them and your reaction against them produces mental attitude sins which are just as bad as hooking up with them in social infidelity to doctrine. So in other words, if you over react you put yourself in the mental attitude sin reaction bracket.

“but” — conjunction of contrast; “admonish” — be careful because admonishing is a form of teaching. We learn that from the verb itself, the present active imperative of neuqetew. Notice: this is made up of nouj (left lobe) plus tiqhmi (to place), to place in the nouj. In other words, you don’t go around and talk to these people and tell them they are all out of line, that they’re wrong, and so on. But if they solicit information from you the only thing you can do is to put some information in their nouj, their left lobe. It does not mean to admonish., it means to inject information into the left lobe. The iterative present means that this will occur from time to time, it doesn’t occur all of the time. The active voice: you can only give information to the left lobe, you cannot force them into a course of action.

This is generally accomplished by the pastor-teacher, not members of the local congregation. Do not regard as an enemy but provide information. The word “brother” means a member of a family, and a member of the family here means a member of the royal family. As a result of this a life of tranquillity emerges.

Verse 16 — “The Lord of peace,” o( kurioj refers to God the Father; e)irhnh, descriptive genitive singular, and it means here “tranquillity.” Principle: Before you have happiness you must first of all have tranquillity. This is the title of God the Father to show that He does not provide something frantic to counter something frantic. A frantic search for happiness is a desperate person suddenly trying to get their kicks out of life. Therefore they are subjective in their attitude. They are reacting. A principle of doctrine that is very important: If you stay on the road to supergrace you will have tranquillity before you have the ecstatic type happiness. Tranquillity must precede any other type of happiness. It actually means that you are now qualified for happiness, you have the true basis for happiness. So He is called the Lord of tranquillity Himself. When we add the reflexive pronoun here it means that the Lord of tranquillity Himself has provided tranquillity as a basis for your supergrace happiness. He has provided in doctrine the basis of tranquillity. Tranquillity leads to a more pronounced type of happiness.

“give” — the aorist active optative of didomi. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist. As a result of tranquillity in the soul through doctrine. Tranquillity = capacity, capacity through a maximum amount of doctrine. As a result of this tranquillity in the soul we have the culminative aorist which emphasises the results. As a result of taking in the Word, going through a test or two now and then, you come to the point of tranquillity. The active voice: God the Father gives you this. But remember that the aorist tense in its punctiliar concept is always punctiliar in past time, which means eternity past. In eternity past God gave you these things. The optative is important, it expresses a personal desire for every believer. It is God’s personal desire for you to have the capacity for blessing so that He can pour the blessing.

“you” is a dative of advantage as well as the dative of indirect object. As the dative of indirect object the action of the verb is for the benefit of the individual involved — the believer priest.

“peace” — e)irhnh, tranquillity or +H in the top floor of the ECS. This is the capacity for the happiness that God will provide.

“always” is literally, “through all” — dia plus the genitive singular of paj. That means through all your intake of doctrine, not “always.”

“by all means” is a prepositional phrase, e)n plus the locative — “in all places” : “through all doctrine in all places.” This indicates that once you reach +H then you can handle any circumstances in life.

“The Lord with you all” — this is the second use of kurioj, it refers this time to Jesus Christ. Kurioj can be used for any member of the Trinity. “The Lord with you all” is, again, the importance of being on the road to supergrace because that is when you have the indwelling of Christ. You always have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, you do not always have the indwelling of Christ. Meta is a preposition of association.

Verse 17 — the word a)spasmoj is used for salutation. It is generally used in the concept of the one who has the authority passing on information or orders to those who are under his authority.

“mine own hand” indicates that Paul dictated it through an amanuensis, but it indicates he is signing it which means it is official. So this is another way of saying, “This is official and you are under the authority of what has been taught.”

“which is the token” — present active indicative of e)imi, a retroactive progressive present which means “is and always was”; “a distinguishing mark” — an evidence or proof of authority. In other words, shmeion here refers to the sign of authority. Paul’s signature is the sign of authority, the evidence of authority.

Verse 18 — the benediction is again a reminder of the objective in the Christian way of life: “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is not just grace, it is supergrace. Xarij is related to by a genitive of possession to the Lord Jesus Christ. It can be translated, “The grace that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.” Again we have meta, the preposition of association — “associated with you all.” That is the objective of the Christian way of life and that is the way that Paul closes out the epistle — by restating the objective.

Translation: “The grace belonging to our Lord Jesus Christ associated with you all.”

“Amen” — I believe it.