Closing Remarks

Date: February 16, 2025

Title: Closing Remarks

Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-28

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

INTRODUCTION

In the beginning of V. 23 of our passage, when Paul says, “Now may the God of peace sanctify you…” it’s clear that at this point he’s wrapping things up. But as he brings this letter to a conclusion, he leaves the Thessalonians with a few last words.

And in this final appeal of his, we can see how in V. 25-27, he exhorts them to do a few things which is to basically, pray, greet, and read; but before he gets there, (V. 23-24) he first offers them up to the Lord in prayer and then assures them that God will be faithful to fulfill His will in their lives.

-   So, let’s look at that.

SANCTIFICATION

V. 23, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely…” This was Paul’s wish and prayer for the Thessalonians. He wanted them to be sanctified completely and he knew this was a work only God could accomplish. Sanctification isn’t a work of man, it’s a work of God, which means not only is God the God of peace, but He is the God of sanctification. He is the author of sanctification. Nobody can be sanctified in spirit, soul or body apart from God working in their lives through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

And that’s not difficult to understand, right?

As Christians, we get that. We know that we cannot be sanctified apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit… that’s totally understandable… but you know, as we pay attention to what Paul actually prays for here, it probably seems to be going a little over the top, doesn’t it? 

Because it’s one thing to pray for each other’s sanctification, but it’s quite another to pray for each other’s complete sanctification, yet that’s what Paul does here: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely,” entirely, through and through; that’s what Paul wants for the Thessalonians—that they be completely holy as God is holy.

Now this is where we need to remember that in the context of the Christian life, sanctification passes through three phases.

The Bible teaches that when are converted to Christ, in that very moment we are sanctified, we’re consecrated unto God, we’re set apart from this world. It’s a definitive work of God. But then flowing out of definitive sanctification is progressive sanctification, which is the process whereby God the Holy Spirit is continuously transforming us into the likeness of Christ. 

This is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and it happens in stages, steps, increments. We can be more or less sanctified depending upon how much we yield to the Spirit’s work in our lives.

But you know what the ultimate goal of progressive sanctification is? It’s complete sanctification. We might also call this, glorified sanctification.

So, if I were to give you a few categories/buckets to describe the three phases of sanctification, think about it in these terms:

1 - Positional sanctification.

2 - Progressive sanctification.

3 - Perfected sanctification.

If you’re a Christian, you have experienced the first; you are presently experiencing the second; and you are to be aiming for the third.

Well, when Paul expresses his desire for the Thessalonians to be sanctified completely, he’s thinking about that third bucket—sanctification’s final end. Now, whether the Thessalonians can reach such a high state of holiness in this life or not is besides the point, because if it’s God’s will for us to be completely holy, then that’s the goal to which we must all strive to attain.

That’s the mentality Paul had in his own walk with the Lord as well: Phil 3:12-13, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

Well, like Paul, we, too, are to have that same ambition in our own lives. We’re to aim for perfection. We’re to aim for complete sanctification so that every faculty of our being: spirit, soul, body, heart, mind, will, you name it - so that everything… every aspect of who we are would be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And what do you know? here we are again… back at the second coming of Christ! Which as we’ve seen time and time again is no doubt one of the chief emphases of this book. In fact, it’s interesting to note that nearing the end of every chapter in this book, Paul has made reference to the second coming of Christ: 1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23.

The second coming of Christ is a major focus in this book, and before Paul signs off, he makes sure to emphasize it again.

But in this case, the reason why he brings it up again here, I think, is because he wants these fragile and indeed imperfect believers to recognize that the second coming of Christ spells good news for them, so that regardless of where they sit on the scale of sanctification now, doesn’t take away from the fact of what will be theirs then!

In effect, Paul is reassuring them that the second coming of Christ is not an event to get all anxious about! It’s not a day to worry about.

And the reason being, of course, is because as Paul says in V. 24, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Well, do what? What exactly is God going to do? How will He show Himself faithful? 

Well, think about it… If only those who are completely holy will pass through the final judgment unharmed, then what do you suppose God is going to do for those whom He has promised to save from that judgment? 

He’s going to make them holy!

This is how God will show Himself faithful to all those whom He has graciously called! Christian, God will show Himself faithful to you by completing in you what He started in you.

In other words, the God who set you apart as holy and who is presently in the process of making you holy, will one day perfect you in holiness. 

He will do it! He will surely do it! He will not fail to do it, because this is the one the purposes for which He saved you; it’s so that you would be fully conformed to the image of His Son!

And you know when that’s going to happen—when God is going to finish His work in you? The Bible teaches that this is a work God will accomplish in you when Christ comes for you.

This is something I’m sure of because this is something Paul was sure of!

Phil 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

The second coming of Christ is itself the day of our final redemption. It’s the day that marks the resurrection of our bodies. It’s the day when we undergo a complete renovation.

1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

When we see Christ as He is, we shall be like Him. We shall experience a thoroughgoing transformation so that we finally reflect the image of the one we were always created to reflect.

God will do this work for us! He will make us holy! He will be faithful to produce in us the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

And in the present context, the particular kind of holiness in view must be referring to that perfected state of holiness—that perfected state of sanctification when all the remaining dross of sin has been completely purged out of our lives.

I agree with Greg Beale who says that, “God’s preserving of the believer is not merely spiritual but includes the resurrection body, which is part of the process of overcoming the judgment of death. It is not merely the believer’s spirit and soul that will be kept blameless at the end but also the Christian’s new, redeemed body.”

This is the day for which we all await!

And so, as much as we might feel weary at times in our fight for holiness now; as much as we might get frustrated by the ongoing pull of sin and temptation in this age; as much as we might feel like we’ll never be enough because of how far short we fall; as much as we might feel any of these things, do not lose sight of the promises of God!

Because a day is coming when God will surely do what He has promised, and the fact that He’s already bringing those promises to fruition in our lives through the sanctifying work of the Spirit right now, is a guarantee that He will bring it to completion in the end!

You say, ‘well I don’t feel like I’m there yet.’ It’s because we haven’t reached the end yet! Or maybe I should say, we haven’t reached the end of the end! 

The point is that there is more coming. Trust Him. Be patient. He who called you is faithful; He will surely do it. He will effect what He has promised. He will, as Jude says, God is “able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.”

That’s the great promise of V. 23. Hold onto it.

Well, after Paul speaks about God’s faithfulness to do what He has promised in V. 24, he then gives a series of commands in V. 25-27; there are three of them, and we’ll look at them in turn, beginning first with prayer.

PRAYER

In V. 25, Paul says, “Brothers, pray for us.”

What a simple yet profound command.

Sometimes this is all that needs to be said.

Don’t always need a detailed list of requests.

Don’t always need to be specific.

We can trust that when we ask each other for prayer, that we have an idea over what we should generally be praying about.

(Note) Not saying don’t be specific… Many occasions when Paul asked for specific requests.

Col 4:3-4, “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”

Many examples of people asking for specific prayer requests.

Sometimes it’s as simple as asking your brothers to please pray for you.

HOLY KISS

V. 26, “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.”

Don’t get any ideas!

Needs to be understood in its historical context!!

And when we look at the historical background of the day, we discover that giving a holy kiss was a friendly form of greeting. It wasn’t a romantic kiss. It wasn’t a kiss that had any intimate relational connotations.

A holy kiss, rather, was a modest, neighbourly kiss that was given as an expression of friendship.

Now, even then, I still find it to be a little weird… but such was the case!

This was just how people greeted one another in the Greek culture of the first century, and not only them, because the truth is down through history there’s been many cultures, including cultures in our own day that continue to greet one another with a holy kiss. It’s still practiced, for example, in places like France, certain spots in Latin America and elsewhere.

This is just one of the ways by which many people in the world greet one another and demonstrate their love and affection for one another, and the same thing was true in the first century context.

In fact, in 1 Peter 5:14, Peter even calls the holy kiss the kiss of love, which is to say, greeting one another with a holy kiss demonstrates love for the brethren, it fosters unity in the church, and it enhances the overall peace that is experienced within the congregation.

Now listen, because this is important… just because that’s how they greeted one another back then, doesn’t mean we need to do the exact same today, because the point of the command to greet one another with a holy kiss, isn’t that we master the right form of greeting; 

the issue, rather, is that we greet one another heartedly and sincerely, and that can look different depending upon the cultural norms of the society in which we live.

I think we all understand how some practices that might be normal in one culture can be really odd in another culture, and we need to be sensitive towards that.

I mean if we should started practicing holy kissing right now, right here, it probably wouldn’t go too well, would it? It wouldn’t create unity, it would probably just destroy it. There might even be brawls and stones being slung. Husbands would be saying, ‘get your lips off my wife!’ It would be madness, wouldn't it?

You see, the point is that there are are all kinds of cultural expressions that vary from culture to culture, but whatever particular form of greeting we choose to greet one another with in our culture isn’t really all that big of a deal, because again the point is that so long as we greet one another in appropriate ways, and always do so with Christ-felt love in our hearts, God will be pleased with it.

For some cultures, it may mean giving a holy kiss. For other cultures, it may mean waving your hand from afar, and for other cultures, it may mean giving a handshake or an occasional friendly hug or something along those lines.

So what, then, should we conclude about giving a holy kiss!?

Two things:

1 - For all you teenage guys out there, this does not give you a license to go kiss all the pretty girls in the church and then say you’re just doing it in the name of giving a “holy kiss.”

2 - Whenever we interpret scripture, we need to recognize that sometimes there are principial and cultural realities blended together within a single command, and we need to make sure we rightly distinguish the binding principle from the cultural application of that principle.

And I would argue that there are at least three commands in the New Testament that do this. And the three commands I’m thinking of is (1) foot washing, (2) (I know this one is disputed) head coverings, (3) and the holy kiss.

With each one of these commands, I would argue there is a universal 

principle that is binding on Christians at all times and in all settings, but then there is also a cultural application of that principle that will be subject to change depending upon the cultural norms of the day.

So, take foot washing for example. In John 13:13-15 (study this at home), Jesus, after washing the feet of His disciples, taught them that if they’re going to be faithful to follow His example, then they are going to have to wash the feet of the saints as well.

For that reason, some Christians think we still need to wash each other’s feet because that’s what Jesus seems to expect from all those who call Him Lord and Teacher.

And on the surface, that seems reasonable. I can see why someone would feel that way, but at the end of the day, I do think that’s a misapplication of the intent of Jesus’ command.

I think it’s much more likely the case that what you have going on there is a spiritual principle being applied to the culture of that day.

Because back then, when you have people wearing sandals all the time in a hot dusty country - if you’re going to be a good host to them when you have them over, then you’re going to have to wash their feet.

Now, that doesn’t mean it was a real enjoyable thing to do, but that’s just the point… In fact, that’s why the task of washing one’s feet was usually a task

 delegated to the lowliest member of the household, like a slave.

Well, when that is borne in mind, it provides some context, doesn’t it?

Indeed, I think it shows us that when Jesus told His disciples to follow His example by washing one another’s feet, the true underlying spiritual principle of that admonition is that we would be like Jesus by taking the lowliest place of service… that we would be like our Savior, who came not to be served but to serve and to give up His life as a sacrifice for us.

That’s the true import of the command. 

But to suggest that we are under obligation to re-erect an ancient custom of hospitality that clearly belonged to a previous era in order to make good on Jesus’ words in our own day, personally, I think that’s missing the point of what Jesus was getting at.

In reality, Jesus’ command to wash one another’s feet was a cultural application of a binding, spiritual, Christ-exalting principle, namely, be willing to take the lowest place of service in order to serve others.

And I think the same type of thing holds true for head coverings as well.

Feel free to turn there (1 Cor 11).

Have I ever been delving into some controversial issues lately!

Eschatology, rapture, prophecy, holy kissing, head coverings!

None of this is to target anyone.

I don’t have time to give you my exposition of 1 Cor 11 now, but suffice it to say, I think that in 1 Cor 11, this is another example where Paul combines a universal principle with the cultural application of that principle to their own time and setting.

The principle is established in this chapter is that there must be distinctions between men and women that reflect God’s created order. Hence, husbands are to lead; wives are to submit. Men are to be masculine; women are to be feminine. And this is to be reflected in what they wear, what they do with their hair, and how they carry themselves.

That’s the basic principle that is universally binding, but the head covering that was worn in addition to the natural covering God already gave women, which is their hair itself, was the cultural application of that principle for that time and setting.

You see, in 1 Cor 11, Paul speaks about two coverings: (1) There was a head covering that women were to manually put on themselves (V. 5-6), but then (2) there was the more glorious covering God gave women which is part of the natural order (V. 14-15). 

And so, people wonder, what’s going on with the head coverings…? Is there 

one is there two… what’s going on there?

Well look, I would argue that Paul speaks about two coverings in 1 Cor 11. One of them is natural and thus universal; the other is cultural and is thus bound up with the social convictions of that time period.

In fact, I would even argue that Paul explicitly states that head coverings belong in the category of custom, but I’m not going to belabour that point here.

At this point, all I want to say is that in 1 Cor 11, the veil the women wore over their heads as a covering was cultural, but the hair God gave them as a covering was creational.

And there’s a massive difference between something that belongs to creation and something that belongs to culture. That which is rooted in culture is  temporary, but that which is rooted in creation is universal, permanent, and thus transcends all cultural boundaries. 

And so, even though the man-made covering was a symbol of the God-given covering in that culture. 

Nevertheless, Paul is very clear about what’s actually baked into the cake, because a woman, by nature of what she is, and by virtue of the way God fashioned her, has been given a permanent covering for her head, which is her hair. 

And so, yes, indeed, God has given a glorious covering for women, and the amazing thing about it is that it’s built into the fabric of who they are. 

A woman’s hair is her glory. 

That’s the way God made her. 

That’s creational. That’s universal. That’s natural. 

That can be traced back to Genesis 2.

But in the culture of Paul’s day, however, the dominant practice, in both Jewish and Roman culture was for women to wear man-made coverings for various reasons, but one of which was because by that time they had come to represent a woman’s submission to her husband.

And so given that was the case, what does Paul say in this situation? Well, being the good gospel centred theologian he was, he tells the ladies not make a fuss about it and just put one on… not because it’s a universally binding principle that spans space and time, but because that’s what the law of Christ demanded of them in those circumstances.

Now obviously so much could be said, but just on the face of it, I don’t think that this way of approaching the issue of head coverings can be easily dismissed, because if it is indeed the case as some suggest, that Paul’s command in 1 Cor 11 is wholly based upon principle rather than culture, then you end up in a odd position.

If it’s always been the will of God from the very beginning, for women to 

honour their husbands by wearing an additional head covering over the one God gave them, then why did God wait so long to make that known?

We’re women just always supposed to assume they were to wear a head covering without any command from God?

I mean 1 Cor 11 is literally the first time, and I might add the only time, out of the entire Bible where women are given a command to wear head coverings, which would mean for the first four thousand years of history, women were seemingly free not to wear head coverings, but then suddenly out of nowhere they become a staple feature of biblical womanhood.

Now, I’m not saying that’s impossible… But that would be very odd.

But on the other hand, if Paul is simply teaching the Corinthians about what it means and looks like for them to live out their God given gender distinctions in light of the prevailing cultural trends of that day, 

then I think we’ll be in a much better position to give a more wholistic interpretation of 1 Cor 11, both in terms of understanding it within it’s own situational context, including the larger context of the Bible itself.

And again, this not only applies to head coverings; it applies to the holy kiss. The command to greet one another with a holy kiss is principial and cultural. It’s not either or, it’s both and. The principle is to greet one another, but the cultural application at that given time was to do so with a holy kiss.

The principle must always be obeyed, but the particular form in which that principle is expressed is subject to change.

CONCLUSION

(Note) Now look, wherever you land on the spectrum with some of these things: foot washing, head coverings, holy kissing…

Maybe you think they’re all binding on us today in the same form, maybe some, maybe none.

But wherever you land, I think we can all acknowledge that, though, the Bible was written for us, it was not written to us. It has a context! And sometimes it takes a little digging… comparing scripture with scripture to see what things transcend culture, making them applicable to all people at all times, and what things might actually be tied to a particular culture or season in redemptive history.

Remember, Paul was all about making the gospel vividly apparent in every cultural situation. He became all things to all men for a reason; it was to put a spotlight on the gospel so that in every context, every circumstance, and every setting - people would see the glory of Christ!

And we need to do the same thing today!

Our goal isn’t to try retrieving some ancient practice just because it belongs to the past. Now obviously there’s nothing wrong with learning from the past, that’s a good thing to do, but in our endeavour to learn from the past we want to be careful not to mistake tradition for scripture, culture for principle, costume for Canon.

At the end of the day, the Bible stands.

So in closing, let me just end with this final charge: brothers, read the Bible! Read the book of 1 Thessalonians! That’s how Paul brought this letter to a conclusion: (V. 27) “I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.”

In this verse, Paul is presumably telling the leaders of the church to read this letter to the church. And he’s urging them to do it. He’s charging them to do it. 

Now, the ESV says that he’s putting them under oath, but the word Paul uses here technically falls just short of an oath. I think it’s better to say as many other translations put it that Paul is adjourning them or imploring them. 

In other words, Paul is being adamant about what he expects to be done, namely, this letter which bears all fingerprints of apostolic authority is one that needs to be read, needs to be taught, and needs to be digested, ‘so make sure to have it read to all the brothers.’

That’s what he’s saying. 

And let me encourage you to read it for yourself! 

Read this letter; read all the letters; and read all the other portions of the Bible because it’s all profitable for training in righteousness. 

It’ll train us now, so that we can be adequately equipped for the day of Christ’s return! And what a day that’s going to be! 

He will sanctify us through and through! 

"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it!”

But as we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also have a responsibility to be faithful to do what God has called us to do…

… So let’s do it:

Let’s pray for one another, let’s greet one another, and let’s never stop reading the Bible to one another. 

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”