1 Thessalonians 5:28-The Final Benediction

1 Thessalonians 5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (NET)

1 Thessalonians 5:28 May the grace originating from our Lord, namely, Jesus, who is the Christ cause itself to be manifested among each and every one of you. (My translation)

1 Thessalonians 5:28 contains the final benediction of First Thessalonians and is nearly identical to the ones found in Romans 16:20 and 1 Corinthians 16:23.

This benediction is a Spirit inspired desire that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ would cause itself to be manifested among each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

D. E. Hiebert writes “The concluding benedictions in all the Pauline epistles are essentially the same, with some variations. The shortest is simply ‘Grace be with you’ (Col. 4:18; 1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 4:22), while the fullest is the trinitarian formulation in 2 Corinthians 13:14. At times he adds the pronoun ‘all’ (2 Thess. 3:17; Titus 3:15) or says ‘with your spirit’ (Phil. 4:23; Philem. 25). The second-person pronoun ‘you’ (humōn) makes the benediction personal for the readers. Only in Ephesians is this pronoun not used; there the benediction is expressed impersonally in the third person (Eph. 6:24).”[1]

The final benediction in First Thessalonians solemnly expresses Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit inspired desire that the grace originating from the Lord Jesus Christ would cause itself to be manifested among each and every member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

The reference to “grace” refers to the means by which grace might be received, namely through the mind and thinking of Christ, the Word of God, which is inspired by the Spirit of God.

It refers to the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to each member of the Thessalonian Christian community through Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who communicates in this epistle the will of the Father’s will for their lives.

The noun charis, “the grace” contains the figure of speech called metonymy meaning the effect is put for the cause or in other words, the thing effected for the instrument which effects it.

Here grace is put for the Word of God which effects grace.

Therefore, here in 1 Thessalonians 5:28 Paul is not speaking of grace at justification but rather the grace or God’s provision for after justification.

The grace of God is not only God’s provision for justification but also a post-justification fellowship with Him.

So in other words, in 1 Thessalonians 5:28, Paul is referring to grace which sanctifies or sanctifying grace.

He wants the Thessalonians to experience their sanctification by obeying the requests, commands and prohibitions in this epistle.

Thus, 1 Thessalonians 5:28 communicates Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit inspired desire that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community would respond to the Spirit’s teaching in this epistle regarding the will of the Father for each of them.

So Paul, Silvanus and Timothy are revealing their Spirit inspired desire which is in agreement with the will of the Father that the Word of God would cause itself to be manifested among the individual members of the Thessalonian congregation as a result of applying its contents of First Thessalonians in their lives.

The objectives for fulfilling this Spirit inspired desire is that it would enable the Thessalonians to continue to appropriate by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

This in turn would enable them to continue to experience their deliverance over sin, Satan and his cosmic system.

It would also enable them to be unified and give them encouragement as they endured persecution in anticipation of the rapture (1 Timothy 2:17-3:6).

It would enable them to continue to experience their deliverance over sin and Satan and his cosmic system.

Correspondingly, it would enable them to continue to experience their sanctification (1 Thess. 4:1-8).

It would also enable the Thessalonians to endure undeserved suffering as they await the Lord’s return at the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

It would also enable them to persevere in light of the fact that they will be delivered from the Lord’s wrath during the eschatological day of the Lord.

Obedience to these requests, commands and prohibitions in First Thessalonians would thus enable the Thessalonians to be become more conformed into the image of Christ.

They would enable them to maintain their fellowship with the Trinity which would result that they would be unified experientially.

This Spirit inspired desire in 1 Thessalonians 5:28 that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ would cause itself to be manifested among each member of the Thessalonian Christian community is inextricably tied to the solemn command Paul issued this community in 1 Thessalonians 5:27.

This is indicated by the fact that the latter solemnly puts under oath each of the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community to read the contents of First Thessalonians to each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

The implication is that if these pastor-teachers did not perform this task, then they would be discipline by the Lord (Heb. 12:1-13) through church discipline (Matt. 18:15-17).

The exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:27 is solemn for two reasons.

First, Paul is employing the figure of asyndeton to emphasize the solemn nature and importance of the contents of 1 Thessalonians 5:27.

Secondly, as we noted in our exegesis, the verb enorkizō (ἐνορκίζω) means “to adjure” since the word pertains to commanding solemnly under or as if under oath or penalty of a curse.

The contents of First Thessalonians were extremely important for the spiritual growth of the Thessalonian Christian community since it communicated the will of the Father for them.

Therefore, the Spirit inspired desire in 1 Thessalonians 5:28 that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ would cause itself to be a manifested among each member of the Thessalonian Christian community is solemn for the same reasons since the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is manifested through the contents of First Thessalonians.

We also noted in our study of 1 Thessalonians 5:27 that the noun kurios, “by the authority of the one and only Lord” is ascribed to Jesus Christ throughout First Thessalonians and in fact, the last time the word appeared in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the term was ascribed to Him.

Therefore, the reference to “the grace originating from our Lord Jesus Christ” in 1 Thessalonians 5:28 is linked to the noun kurios in 1 Thessalonians 5:27 since the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of His Spirit inspired requests, commands and prohibitions in First Thessalonians manifests His sovereign authority over the Thessalonians and every member of His body.

Also, this Spirit inspired desire in 1 Thessalonians 5:28 that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ would cause itself to be manifested among the members of the Thessalonian Christian community corresponds to the “grace” mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 1:1.

1 Thessalonians 1:1 From Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the Thessalonian congregation in union and fellowship with God the Father as well as the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to each and every one of you resulting in peace. (My translation)

In 1 Thessalonians 1:1, charis, “grace” refers to the means by which grace might be received, namely through the mind and thinking of Christ, the Word of God, which is inspired by the Spirit of God.

The Spirit, through the communication of the Word of God to the believer reveals God the Father’s grace policy to the believer.

This word in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 refers to the Holy Spirit speaking through the communication of the Word of God to the believer’s human spirit or new Christ nature regarding the will of the Father.

By responding in faith to the Spirit’s appeal here in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, the recipients of First Thessalonians, would be obedient to the commands in Ephesians 5:18 and Colossians 3:16, which when obeyed produce the same results.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:1, we have a figure of speech with this word charis, “grace” which is called metonymy meaning the effect is put for the cause or in other words, the thing effected for the instrument which effects it.

Here grace is put for the Word of God which effects grace.

Therefore, the Spirit of God speaking through the communication of the Word of God to the believer’s human spirit regarding the will of the Father is the means by which grace is received by the believer.

Therefore, First Thessalonians is bookended by Spirit inspired desires which contained references to grace which originates from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Both the introduction and the benediction are expressing the Spirit inspired desire that the grace originating from the Lord Jesus Christ would cause itself to be manifested among the members of the Thessalonian Christian community as a result of the latter appropriating its contents by faith.

This faith in turn results in obedience to the commands, prohibitions and requests contained in this letter.

[1] Hiebert, D. E. (1996). 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Revised Edition, p. 280). Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books.