1 Thessalonians 3:13-The Purpose of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Intercessory Prayer on Behalf of the Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 3:11 Now may God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we do for you 13 so that your hearts are strengthened in holiness to be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (NET)

1 Thessalonians 3:13 brings to an end a section which began in 1 Thessalonians 3:11, which is merely communicating to the Thessalonians what Paul, Silvanus and Timothy prayed to the Father for in Jesus name and is expressing to the Thessalonians their great desire to them again.

This verse is communicating to the Thessalonians the content of the petition Paul, Silvanus and Timothy politely offered to the Father in prayer.

The purpose of which is to express again to the Thessalonians, the great desire of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to see them again.

They felt the need to offer this petition to the Father because Satan had hindered them from doing this. 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18 reveal that Satan had repeatedly hindered Paul and Silvanus from returning to visit the Thessalonians.

Then, in 1 Thessalonians 3:12, Paul writes that they prayed to the Father that the Lord Jesus would cause each of the Thessalonians to increase, indeed, to excel with regards to that which is divine-love for the benefit of each other as well as the non-Christian just as each of them does for the benefit of the Thessalonians.

Now, 1 Thessalonians 3:13 presents the purpose for which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wanted the Lord Jesus Christ to cause the Thessalonians to increase, and not only this but to excel with regards to that which is divine-love for the benefit of one another and the non-Christian.

Therefore, this indicates that the purpose for which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wanted the Lord Jesus to cause the Thessalonians to increase and excel with regards to that which is divine-love for the benefit of one another and the non-Christian was so that their hearts would be strengthened.

Their hearts would be strengthened with regards to their post-justification faith in the gospel which is indicated by Paul’s use of the verb stērizō, “are strengthened” in 1 Thessalonians 3:2 where he uses it in relation to the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel.

So therefore, if we compare Paul’s use of the verb stērizō in 1 Thessalonians 3:2, we can conclude that when this verb is used here in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, it is speaking of “strengthening” the Thessalonians’ hearts in the sense that their hearts would be marked by a firm determination or resolution with regards to their faith.

It means they would become stronger with regards to their faith in the sense of being more firm in this faith and unchanging in their attitude and belief in the gospel.

It means that the Thessalonians would more steadfast in their mental attitude reflecting a mental state that is settled and firmly rooted in the truth of the gospel.

The Thessalonians’ faith would be strengthened by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy communicating the gospel to them after their justification with regards to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Their faith would also be strengthened by teaching them about their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father (cf. Rom. 10:17).

This would cause the Thessalonians to become stronger in their faith and stabilized in their relationship with God and consequently, this would produce greater obedience and consequently, greater spiritual growth.

Furthermore, when Paul speaks of strengthening the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, he is speaking of exhorting and encouraging them with regards to their faith since this is how he defines strengthening in 1 Thessalonians 3:2.

So therefore, when Paul speaks of strengthening the Thessalonians, he means strengthening them with regards to their post-justification in the gospel by encouraging them for the benefit of their faith.

He means that he wanted to the Thessalonians with courage or strength of purpose suggesting he wanted to raise their confidence level with regards to their faith.

Therefore, when Paul speaks of strengthening the Thessalonians, he also means he wanted to strengthen them with regards to their post-justification faith in the gospel by exhorting them in the sense of authoritatively training them through instruction.

In other words, he wanted to communicate the gospel message to them so as to compel obedience in every area of their lives.

This authoritative training through instruction in the gospel would include teaching, conviction, correcting and training with regards to living out in one’s life the righteousness of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

In other words, Paul wanted to urge them to accept sound doctrine by faith which results in obedience to sound doctrine which produces godly conduct and character.

This authoritative training through instruction would also involve encouraging and warning of danger.

In verse 13, the noun kardia, “hearts” denotes that aspect of the soul, which circulates thought or mental activity and is where one’s frame of reference and memory center resides.

It is also the place where one’s vocabulary and the classification of thoughts reside as well as the conscience where the norms and standards reside.

A person’s entire mental attitude circulates in the kardia as well as the subconscious where various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or disappointment are located and it also contains the volition, which enables a person to make decisions.

Therefore, the hearts of the Thessalonians would be strengthened in the sense that their thoughts, conscience, emotions and volition would be firmly rooted by faith in the gospel, which would reflect a settle conviction with regards to the gospel.

The purpose for which the Thessalonians’ hearts were to be strengthened was so that they would be uncensurable in the sense that they would be “free from official reprimand, free from censure” in the presence of the Father.

In other words, Paul wants to present them to the Father as being free from official reprimand, free from censure.

1 Thessalonians 3:13 asserts that it is with respect to holiness that the Thessalonians would be strengthened to be uncensurable in the presence of the Father.

Holiness is the quality of being personally dedicated to God either by being set apart, by being morally pure or by being devoted to God and here it is used in relation to the sanctification of the Thessalonians and specifically, it speaks of the Thessalonians experiencing their sanctification through the practice of divine-love.

This interpretation is indicated by the fact that Paul would not pray for positional sanctification because this took place the moment the Thessalonians were declared justified by the Father when they trusted in His one and only Son Jesus Christ as their Savior.

In other words, their positional sanctification took place at their conversion.

He would not pray for their sanctification in a perfective sense since this will take place at the rapture or resurrection of the church when they receive their resurrection bodies.

He does however want them to experience their sanctification through the practice of God’s love when interacting with one another and the non-Christian.

When Paul speaks of the Thessalonians experiencing their sanctification, it is through the practice of God’s love, which is indicated by the fact that in 1 Thessalonians 4:6-7 he associates holiness with not violating the rights of one’s brother or taking advantage of them, which speaks of the practice of God’s love.

In fact, 1 Thessalonians 4:6-7 is in the midst of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5, which addresses the subject of experiential sanctification and 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 which addresses the subject of practicing the love of God.

Therefore, in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 “holiness” describes the Thessalonians experiencing the holiness of God in their lives or sanctification as a result of practicing the love of God when interacting with each other and with the non-Christian.

Therefore, the Thessalonians would be uncensurable in the presence of the Father with respect to experiencing sanctification through the practice of God’s love with one another and with the non-Christian.

“Before our God and Father” refers to the Thessalonians being in the presence of the Father in the third heaven, the throne room of God, after giving an account of their service to the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.

The latter takes place immediately after the rapture or resurrection of the church.

So therefore, this prepositional phrase refers to the Lord Jesus Christ presenting His bride to the Father.

“At the coming of our Lord Jesus” refers to Jesus Christ returning at the rapture or resurrection of the church in order to remove the church bodily from the earth prior to Daniel’s seventieth week (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-18), and to give the church age believer their resurrection body.

This event will be immediately followed by the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which will immediately be followed by the Lord Jesus Christ presenting to His Father the church as His spotless bride.

“With all his saints” describes all the members of the body of Christ who have been set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of conversion in order to order serve God exclusively.

Specifically, it refers to those members of the body of Christ who have died and come back with Jesus Christ at the rapture or resurrection of the church (cf. 1 Thess. 4:16).

There will be no exceptions when Jesus Christ comes back at the rapture in the sense that each and every believer who has died prior to the rapture will be with Him without exception.