1 Thessalonians 5:27 - Read This Letter

25Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Target Date: Sunday, 6 August 2023

Thoughts on the Passage:

27 – The instruction to have the letter read, particularly in its strongest form of command, gives us a good basis for the practice of Scripture READING in corporate and personal worship. It is not enough to hear the interpretation of the Scriptures by a preacher, no matter how competent he is. We must directly encounter the words of God in the Scriptures for our own exhortation and understanding.

More than simply validating his ministry, Paul’s command signals how vital the reading of Scripture is to the sanctification of believers. “Sanctify them in the truth,” Jesus prayed to the Father on the night of his arrest; “your word is truth” (John 17:17). John Calvin cited this text in condemning those church authorities that withhold the Scriptures from the people, calling them “more refractory than even devils themselves.”

Then, it was Roman Catholic churches that sought to keep their people from the Bible. Today, it is evangelical churches that are so busy attracting large numbers with spiritual entertainment that little place is given to the sober reading and the careful exposition of God’s Word. From the beginning of this letter, when Paul expressed thanks that they “received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6), to here at the end, as he commands the public reading of his letter, Paul has emphasized the primacy of God’s Word in the life of the church.

It is not only allowed to the common people to read the scriptures, and what none should prohibit, but it is their indispensable duty, and what they should be persuaded to do. In order to this, these holy oracles should not be kept concealed in an unknown tongue, but translated into the vulgar languages, that all men, being concerned to know the scriptures, may be able to read them, and be acquainted with them.

27 – Knowing, as we saw at the very beginning of this study, that this is likely the first epistle written by Paul in the New Testament (indeed, even possibly the first book of the New Testament to be written), the practice of reading Paul’s letters publicly, and sharing them with other churches, would have had no way to have begun.

Thus, this command would have established from the first a normal method of treating apostolic writings to the churches.

It was this very method that, less than 200 years later, resulted in the collection of the New Testament. One of the requirements for inclusion was that the book or letter had to be generally used in the churches as authoritative.

28 - Like Augustine after him, the apostle would have our last thoughts to center not on human free will or effort—which must fail us in this life—but on the divine grace that provides our sure hope of eternal life.

Applications:

27 – It is not enough that the word of the Scriptures be preached, but they must be READ and HEARD by everyone. Preaching necessarily emphasizes and interprets; the unvarnished word speaks and judges.

Sermon Text:

As we come to the next-to-last verse in this letter, we find something truly surprising.

In all the instructions, exhortations, and commands in this epistle, this command is by far the strongest.

I put you under OATH before the Lord…

Not “we exhort you”.

I put you under oath!

Make the most solemn vow you can before the Lord to have this letter read to ALL the brothers.

Let no one of God’s people in Thessalonica be unaware of the very words that are spoken here.

Every single believer must hear the words of this letter.

This is not voluntary; this is a solemn command.

Paul is not asking for voluntary compliance;

He is COMMANDING their obedience in this task.

And it is personal.

For one of the few places in this epistle, the subject is not “we”, but “I”:

I put you under oath…

So the strongest command of the entire letter is put here at the very end,

Possibly even as a postscript.

Added just before the letter was sealed.

We don’t know if Paul took the pen and wrote by his own hand, like he does at the end of 2 Thessalonians (3:17),

Or if he told the amanuensis, the scribe who actually wrote the original document, to include this.

But there is little doubt this command was from him.

We see much the same command, only less urgent, near the end of the epistle to the Colossians:

When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. – Colossians 4:16

Certainly, the emphasis to the Thessalonians could very well be that they were the first to receive an epistle that would later be part of the New Testament,

While the Colossians were familiar with the process of reading the letters from the apostles to the congregation.

So there is little here to suggest that the Thessalonian leaders were unwilling to have this letter read.

On the contrary, they were probably overjoyed to pass along the epistle of these two beloved apostles to everyone in the church.

It is just that Paul wants to make SURE everyone hears the words of this letter.

There must be no misunderstanding, no interpreter between the words the Holy Spirit has inspired here and the ears and hearts of the people of God.

That is what makes this verse so important: it demonstrates powerfully the absolute NECESSITY of the word of God through the Scripture.

To read and hear the ACTUAL words of the Bible, not merely someone’s interpretation, impression, or collage of them.

Not simply a verse cited in isolation, but the entire argument, the full context of the verse, which puts to flight so many heretical teachings.

We have far too many preachers and teachers today creating novel meanings from their “impressions” and “understandings” of Scripture.

Sermons based in opinion and loose interpretation.

Teachings built on extra-biblical frameworks rather than being built on the solid foundation of Scripture.

A preacher’s job, and a teacher of the church for that matter, is to hold the light up to Scripture.

It is to illumine the words of Scripture, not to dazzle people with his holiness or understanding.

And certainly never to make something NOVEL, new, out of the word of God.

That is the height of ministerial malpractice:

To seek a “new word from the Lord”

Find new ways to apply the Bible – that is well and good.

But there is no “new” truth – only the Bible we have today.

There is a great millstone waiting for anyone who calls themselves a preacher who uses the Bible to simply teach their own personal biases.

For that matter, who simply uses the Scripture only to reinforce their own personal beliefs.

I can testify to you all that as I study each week, I, more often than not, wrestle with passages of Scripture.

Not to find something new in them – God forbid.

But to determine the meaning, the teaching, behind each verse, each word,

And to find applications for myself and to suggest applications for you.

And while I am confessing, I should also tell you I spend a great deal of time making sure that my opinions are, as much as possible, absent from these sermons.

The Lord of the Scriptures, our Lord Jesus Christ, that is who matters.

Any mere opinions of mine that are not directly borne from Scripture profane this holy desk.

Years ago, I heard of a church who had engraved on the front of the pulpit where none but the preacher could see it:

Sir, we would see Jesus.

A constant reminder of the awesome weight of responsibility we have as preachers and teachers to be faithful to the word of God alone.

This is also the reason we deliberately read from the Old and New Testaments each Lord’s Day.

This is a practice too often ignored in churches today for no good reason.

They will allow a dance routine,

A drama presentation,

A soloist or a rock band,

A slide show,

Or a poetry recital,

But then declare that the reading of the word of God is “boring” or “takes too long”.

People wring their hands over the impotence of the church in our day in our country, and much of it can be traced to the unholy merger of worship and entertainment we have given in to over the last century.

Worship has NEVER been about approaching God in any way we want.

Worship of the God of the Bible has always been about approaching Him in the way HE prescribes.

The Baals, the idols, would take whatever you brought to them because they were mute and imaginary.

But the Living God declares that we come to Him in his way.

To the people of Israel, this meant dressed in the right clothing,

Worshiping in the right place,

Bringing only the right offerings,

In the right way.

To those of us to who live in the time after Jesus Christ, it means worshiping Him in holiness, in His way.

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16)

Preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 4:13)

Prayer (Hebrews 13:15)

A common confession (1 Timothy 3:14-16)

The observance of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20, 33)

The sharing of a fellowship meal (agape feast) – 1 Corinthians 11, Jude 12)

And the public reading of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13)

When our Lord worshipped in the synagogue, the reading of Scripture was a major part of the worship there as well:

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:16-21

So as we read the Scripture each week, I invite you to follow along and think about what is being read.

I will generally try to have the readings have some relevance to the theme of the sermon for that week.

This, you may have found, can give us all important context to consider the teaching of the day.

And I take no offense at all if you consider the Scripture that is read of much greater importance than the words I speak.

Listen to the word of God, and allow yourself to be challenged by His word above all.

Finally, when considering our verse for today, I would point out the historical importance to us of what Paul begins here.

This is the beginning of the collection and sharing of what would become the New Testament.

Contrary to the cults that would arise later: Islam, Mormonism, and the other abominations to the truth,

The New Testament is not the work of a single human author, but the revelation of the one Holy Spirit through many different hearts, hands, and pens.

And it was the fact that these 27 documents: gospels, epistles, sermons, and apocalypse were used extensively throughout the church that was one of the major criteria for inclusion in the canon of Scripture.

This was not haphazard; it was guided by the Holy Spirit through the churches.

Some scandalously suggest this is a relic of the Roman Catholic church, but it isn’t.

Even the apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 3:15-17, describes Paul’s epistles as “Scripture”:

…just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness

We have a fragmentary list of 22 of the 27 New Testament books in use by one church, and that list dates from less than 100 years after the writing of the last book, the book of Revelation.

Seventy years after that, we have the writing of Origen, who places all 27 books into a descriptive paragraph.

This is echoed by Eusebius and then by Athanasius about a hundred years later.

This list by Athanasius became the “official” list used since.

This defined what is “canon” – or what can be considered authoritative for our instruction in Christ.

It is that which may be used, as Peter said,

so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness

I will point out that the fruitful use of the books of the New Testament by the churches was not the only criteria.

Other criteria were:

1. The book had to be associated with an ACTUAL apostle.

This excluded works that were written after AD 100.

Some, like the “Gospel of Thomas” and the “Gospel of Peter” were clearly heretical works written by gnostic authors trying to lure Christians astray.

Others, like the letters of Polycarp, Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Didache were not necessarily heretical or unused, but they were not closely enough associated with the apostles to be considered “canon”.

Mark and Luke were real-time associates of Peter and Paul, thus making their works close enough to the apostles for inclusion.

The rest of the authors were apostles.

2. The book had to adhere to the doctrine of the apostles.

The use by the churches weeded out many of the lesser works, so that the New Testament that has come to us teaches a unified gospel.

And we can be sure that it is the gospel that was proclaimed from Pentecost onward as the church grew and spread.

And so, I invite you this morning to celebrate the Scriptures God has given us, Old and New Testament, that:

is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17