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- [00:01]
Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. All right, let's get into today's content. We are going to be looking at Second Thessalonians as a whole. It's a short book. It's only three chapters. It is the totality of our reading today. I say this every day. If you haven't done the reading yet, just go ahead, stop this pause, go to the reading, and come back in 15 minutes or so. Probably won't even take you that long, maybe 10 minutes to read these three chapters. Number one, it's just three chapters, and the chapters are actually quite short. In each chapter really follows one main idea. Here's the context. So, hashtag, context, clue. Personal persecution has gotten a lot worse, okay, for the Christians in Thessalonica. And it's possible that the Thessalonians have actually received a forged or fake letter from Paul. So let's go to Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse one and two. And so we'll talk about the forged letter, and then we'll talk about the contents of that letter. So Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse one and two. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and are being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us, okay? Allegedly from us. Whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. And then second Thessalonians, chapter three, verse 17, says this. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. So there's probably a forged letter, okay, A letter that has gone out to the Thessalonians telling them this. Hey, you missed the Rapture, okay? You got left behind. And not only did you get left behind, but, you know, the tribulation, a great tribulation is going to follow the rapture of the church. And so this isn't just regular persecution, guys. You're living in the tribulation. The day of the Lord's already come. Jesus came. You missed it. Now think about it. Like Paul's. Paul was only with these guys for a month. They. They maybe been Christians for a couple of months, maybe a Year.
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Co-host or Assistant
Okay?
- [02:50]
Dr. Manny Arango
Paul writes this letter somewhere between 50 and 51 A.D. and so, you know, they haven't been Christians for a long time, and now someone has written to them telling them, christ, Christ came back, guys. And not only did you miss it, but that's why your life is so hard. Your life. You're experiencing persecution because this is the rat. You're experiencing the wrath that. That is reserved for non believers. You're experiencing the wrath that's reserved for those who have been left behind, okay? And so the. The Christians here in Thessalonica are. Are confused and they're. And they're scared. And so Paul writes them this letter. The first movement of the letter, three big things that we're going to take away. First movement of the letter is faithfulness in the midst of persecution. That persecution does not mean that you miss the rapture. Persecution is just a normal part of the Christian life, all right? Paul assures them over and over, like, hey, phrases like this. In Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5, you have been considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. You're not suffering because you missed it. You're suffering because you're a part of it. Verse 4, Steadfastness in faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
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Co-host or Assistant
Okay?
- [04:13]
Dr. Manny Arango
So chapter one's big theme is going to be steadfastness in the face of persecution. That is the context for this letter. I want to point out a little detail. In 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 8, it says this. Now it. It also says that you'll be vindicated. So the wrath of. Of God is talked about. And Paul says this. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, he's gonna say, this is not. There's no way to miss this, guys. It's gonna be very obvious, okay? Do you hear this? When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, okay? He's coming with angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's just think about this. So first thing he's saying is that, guys, you're not going to miss it, okay? It's going to be a little bit unmissable. Second of all, he's going to inflict vengeance on those who don't know God and on those who don't obey the gospel. That term, obey the gospel. It's a bit odd if Your definition of the Gospel is the forgiveness of sins or the remission of sin, that Jesus died for the forgiveness of your sins. If you've been believing in the Gospel of the cross, then obeying the gospel is kind of odd. Why do I need to believe in the gospel, not obey the gospel? But in context, the gospel is not just get out of jail free card. The gospel is an invitation. Well, actually not an invitation is an announcement that Jesus is king, that Jesus is Lord. And there's only one response to hearing that Jesus is Lord. It's to obey that, to live in alignment with the fact that that's true. Okay, so I don't just believe it. Like, oh, yeah, I believe. I. I believe this stuff in my mind. No, I. I obey it.
- [06:23]
Co-host or Assistant
Okay.
- [06:24]
Dr. Manny Arango
There's a great book called Salvation by Allegiance alone in which Matthew Bates talks about the fact that the word, the Greek word for faith, which is pistis, actually can be translated as faith, which is like belief or allegiance.
- [06:41]
Co-host or Assistant
Okay.
- [06:41]
Dr. Manny Arango
And if Jesus is Lord, that means the Gospel is not just that he's come to forgive you of your sins by dying on the cross, but that he is the King of the universe, that he is a Lord, and because he's Lord, he has become Savior. Little detail that, that I saw while I was reading Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 8. That there's vengeance on those who don't obey the Gospel. That the gospel doesn't just elicit belief, but it should elicit obedience. If the Rapture and the second coming are two different events, then first Thessalonians really talks about the Rapture. And second Thessalonians is really talking about the second coming of. If they're one event, then first Thessalonians really talking about the first half of that event, which would be the Rapture. And second Thessalonians really focuses on the second half of that event, which would be the day of the Lord, a day of wrath and vengeance of God. Okay. And so Paul really talks about here are some things that need to happen before that happens. That there's going to be a man of lawlessness, a son of destruction, a lawless one, really what we would call the Antichrist. And I love this passage. It says this in verse eight of chapter two. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth. That he has no equals, he has no rivals. That is not even going to be a battle. He's going to kill him with the breath of his mouth. Jesus has that much power and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. Like the moment Jesus appears, he's going to be brought to nothing. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, so that this lawless one, this Antichrist, is powered by Satan. But we want you to stand firm, don't be dismayed by the persecution and don't think that this persecution is a tribulation because you've missed the Rapture. No, it's going to be really obvious. You're not going to miss, you're not going to miss the Rapture.
- [08:52]
Co-host or Assistant
Okay?
- [08:54]
Dr. Manny Arango
Angels, flaming fire. And you would know, you would definitely know if you're on the wrong side of this, you would know. This is just persecution. This is not the wrath of God that is reserved for those who have rejected him. A big theme of chapter two is that God finally giving people what they want, verse 10 of chapter 2, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. And so this is not, you know, God is just smiting people out of anger. No, there's actually God respecting the free will choices that people have made over the course of their lifetime.
- [09:42]
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What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just.
- [09:45]
Dr. Manny Arango
The tip of the iceberg?
- [09:47]
ARMA Representative
The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding.
- [10:36]
Dr. Manny Arango
Out on the Bible together.
- [10:38]
ARMA Representative
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- [10:46]
Dr. Manny Arango
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- [10:49]
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- [10:52]
Dr. Manny Arango
To thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video.
- [10:58]
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Let's make this your year of to become a Bible man.
- [11:03]
Dr. Manny Arango
All right, last thing that we want to get into, the entirety of Chapter 3 of 2 Thessalonians deals with people being idle.
- [11:14]
Co-host or Assistant
Okay?
- [11:15]
Dr. Manny Arango
And this is not Idol, like idol. This is idle, okay? So 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 that you receive from us. So Paul's like, you didn't learn this from us the whole time we were with you, we worked with our hands. Actually, Paul is going to say in First Thessalonians, we made sure we worked with our hands so that you didn't even have to pay us for the preaching of the Gospel, which you should have and which we could have demanded from you. But we didn't want to do that like we wanted the Gospel message. We wanted our ministry work to be free. So we worked with our own hands. And we know that Paul is a tent maker, okay? Paul is a leather worker. Tents in the first century are made out of leather. So Paul is. Is doing hard manual labor all day, okay? You didn't learn that from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us. Not just imitate our spiritual life, but imitate our life, okay? This compartmentalization that we've created in the modern world is. Is not biblical, that God doesn't see your work, you and your spiritual life. He just sees you that everything that you do is all in one package. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with toil and labor, we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you, it was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. We could have demanded that you pay us for the ministry that we were doing amongst you. That was totally in our right. But we wanted to create an example for you to imitate that you work, labor and toil, that you work for even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. So don't be so loving in your Christianity that you enable people to be lazy. If they don't want to work, they don't eat. Simple. They will learn that they have to get a job. They cannot be unemployed. They can't be moochers. They can't be dependent on other people. Verse 11. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now, such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. This whole like. Now, a lot of people believe that there's either two things going on here. Let me give you both options. First option could be that they, they thought Jesus was coming back. So because Jesus coming back, let's just chill, let's chillax. And Paul says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Even if he's coming back tomorrow, you go to work today. Like you go get a job. And second, I'll give you a nerdy nugget. There's a thing in the ancient world called a client patron relationship in the Greco Roman world, where if someone was really, really wealthy, they'd be a patron. And if you were poor, you go work for them, you just essentially rent yourself out to them for the day, for the week. The work was really like inconsistent, you know, like you were just kind of like a day laborer, but also you never knew what you were going to have to do. Like your patron may say, go get five prostitutes and bring them to my house. And now you're involved in doing something that's immoral. A lot of people think this is actually what Paul's saying because that word that gets translated from Greek into English as idol idle actually is attack toast in Greek. That's the word attack toast in, in Greek means disorderly or irresponsible. That it's, it's not just that you're not working, but it's that the kind of work you've chosen to do is like shady dealings. So. So unemployment and shady employment are all grouped in the same category for Paul.
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Co-host or Assistant
Okay.
- [15:46]
Dr. Manny Arango
Whether we're talking about people who are just chilling on the couch all day, or whether we're talking about drug dealers, Paul says, this is all. Your work is a reflection of your character. You should be proud of your work. You should be proud for, for what you did with your hands. Which immediately leads me into my timeless truth. Work is a non negotiable part of our spiritual lives. Even though we compartmentalize our lives, they are indeed not compartmentalized. In reality, work is spiritual. Work gives dignity to men and women and reflects our character. Work provides a level of identity and purpose and meaning and is required for Christ followers. There was work before the fall of mankind, and there will be work in the new heaven and new earth. Work is sacred. It is deeply spiritual to work on something and be proud of it. You are like God when you do that. For six days, God worked and he looked at it and said, that's good. And there's nothing that that's as godly as you working on something and looking at it and saying that's good. I, I did a good job. That, that's good right there. And this reflects, reflects my level of excellence. It reflects my character. It reflects the purpose that God has for me on this world, that I am working on something. So whether it's that there's, there's also just not doing anything to being dependent on others, but then having the kind like being drawn to certain jobs that only lazy people are drawn to, towards Paul's lumping all that in the same category and saying whether it's disorderly, whether it's chaotic, whether it's lazy, this is not character that's becoming of a Christ follower. Okay, guys, that is two Thessalonians. We covered two Thessalonians in one day. Only three chapters in the book and tomorrow we dive into Corinthians. I had fun talking through Thessalonians and hopefully this episode helpful for you as you read through this content. Short little letters of Paul, but they pack a punch and super, super relevant for today. I'll see you right here tomorrow. I'm so proud of you. Love you, peace. Thank you so much for joining me on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, it would mean the world to me if you'd give us a follow rate and review the show. And don't forget to share. You can learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and find us on Instagram at the Bible Department. If you want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com. we'll see you back here tomorrow.