2 Thessalonians 2.17-Exhorting, Encouraging and Strengthening the Hearts of the Thessalonians with Respect to All They Say and Do
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 19, 2021
Second Thessalonians: 2 Thessalonians 2:17-Exhorting, Encouraging and Strengthening the Hearts of the Thessalonians in All They Say and Do
Lesson # 48
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself as well as God, who is our Father, who divinely loved each and every one of us, namely by means of grace having given to each one of us as a gift an encouragement, which is eternal resulting in a confident expectation of blessing, which is divine-good, 17 encourage and exhort your hearts. Specifically, by strengthening each and every one of you with respect to every kind of action and oral communication, which are divine-good in quality and character. (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Paul communicates to the Thessalonian Christian community an intercessory prayer that he, Silvanus and Timothy regularly offered up to the Father on behalf of each one of them.
In verse 17, we have the content of the prayer request. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy requested that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God the Father encourage and exhort the hearts of the Thessalonians by strengthening them with respect to every kind of action and word, which is divine-good in quality and character.
As we noted in our study of 2 Thessalonians 2:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 contain a grammatical oddity related to the referent of the third person singular form of the verbs agapaō (ἀγαπάω), didōmi (δίδωμι), parakaleō and stērizō (στηρίζω) since all of these verbs are used with a plural subject.
Specifically, the subject of all four of these verbs is the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος), “Lord” as well as the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός), “God.”
Therefore, both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father are the referents of all four of these verbs and thus perform the actions of all four of them.
Therefore, in relation to the verbs parakaleō (παρακαλέω) and stērizō (στηρίζω), this would indicate that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy requested the Father in prayer that He and the Lord Jesus Christ would perform the actions of encouraging the hearts of the Thessalonians by strengthening them with respect to every kind of action and oral communication, which are divine-good in quality and character.
Another interesting thing to point out is that 1 Thessalonians 3:11 contains the same grammatical oddity which appears in 2 Thessalonians 2:17.
1 Thessalonians 3:11 Now, may He Himself, namely, God, specifically, our Father as well as our Lord Jesus guide our journey into the presence of each and every one of you. (Lecturer’s translation)
In both verses, the articular construction of the nouns kurios (κύριος), “Lord” and theos (θεός), “God” distinguishes the Lord Jesus Christ from God the Father.
However, in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, they are closely linked with the singular form of the verb stērizō in order to emphasize that Jesus Christ shares the divine nature of the Father.
Thus, like 2 Thessalonians 2:17, Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 is honoring the Lord Jesus Christ by employing this grammatical oddity by affirming His deity with this unusual grammatical construction.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:17, the verb parakaleō contains two ideas, namely exhortation and encouragement.
It is expressing the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father causing each member of the Thessalonian Christian community to be encouraged either through Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit empowered teaching of the gospel.
It is also expressing the idea of both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father filling them with courage or strength of purpose and the raising of their confidence in their relationship with Trinity through Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit empowered teaching of the gospel.
It also expresses the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father exhorting them in the sense of authoritatively training each member of the Thessalonian Christian community through Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit empowered teaching of the gospel.
The purpose of which was to compel obedience in every area of their lives in order that they might live their lives in a manner worthy of God.
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 and this would reflect a settle conviction with regards to the gospel.
The conjunction kai is used to connect together the verbs stērizō and parakaleō in order to form the figure of hendiadys, which indicates that stērizō is intensifying or advancing upon the idea expressed by parakaleō.
Therefore, when Paul speaks of both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ exhorting and encouraging each member of the Thessalonian Christian community, he is speaking of strengthening each of them with respect to every type of action and oral communication, which are divine in quality and character.
The noun ergon, “action” is the object of the preposition en, which is a marker of reference or respect expressing the idea of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community would be strengthened “with respect to” every kind of action or oral communication.
It is also very important that we understand that these two verbs parakaleō and stērizō are both in the optative mood.
Both are a voluntative optative which expresses an obtainable wish or prayer and is frequently an appeal to the will, in particular when used in prayers.
Therefore, in relation to parakaleō it is expressing Paul, Silvanus and Timothy “politely requesting” of the Father that He and the Lord Jesus Christ would exhort and encourage the hearts of the Thessalonians.
Also, in relation to stērizō, it is expressing the idea of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy “politely requesting” in prayer to God the Father that He and the Lord Jesus Christ would strengthen the Thessalonians with respect to every type of action and word, which are divine in quality and character.
Now, it is also very important that we understand that the optative mood of these two verbs does not indicate that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy prayed to both the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 does not record the act of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy praying to the Father and the Son but rather it simply records the content of what these three men asked the Father to do for them.
This is indicated by the fact that the Lord Jesus Himself and the other writers of the New Testament all taught that all prayer is to be addressed to the Father and not the Lord Jesus (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom. 8:15; Eph. 3:14; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1:6).
There is a big difference between the act of praying and the content what is requested in prayer.
They are not one in the same.
So therefore, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 does not teach that the Lord Jesus is the recipient of prayer from believers along with the Father since as we noted, the Lord Jesus and the other writers of the New Testament all taught that there is a protocol to prayer.
There is yet another interesting grammatical issue in 2 Thessalonians 2:16 with regards to the word order because it mentions the Lord Jesus Christ first followed by God the Father.
Usually, the order is reversed in Paul’s writings (cf. Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 3:11; 2 Thess. 1:2, 12; Phlm. 3).
Since 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 presents the content of the prayer that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy regularly offered up to the Father when interceding in prayer for the Thessalonian Christian community, this would indicate that the word order is related to prayer.
Thus, I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is placed first before God the Father because it is only through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross that the Father received prayer from these three men and any Christian for that matter.
Also, it is only through the merits of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father that the Father receives prayer from these three men or any Christian.
Now, when Paul speaks of exhorting and encouraging the hearts of the Thessalonians by strengthening them with respect to every kind of action and oral communication, he is speaking of encouraging and exhorting and strengthening them for the benefit of their post-justification faith in the gospel.
This is indicated by the contents of 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2, which like 2 Thessalonians 2:17 contains the verbs parakaleō and stērizō.
In 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2, the exhortation and encouragement of the Thessalonians through the Spirit empowered teaching of these three men was for the benefit of the post-justification faith of the Thessalonian Christian community.
1 Thessalonians 3:1 Therefore, because I existed in the state of not being able to endure it any longer, I thought it best to be left alone in Athens. 2 Consequently, I have sent Timothy our brother as well as fellow-worker for the one and only God with regards to the proclamation of the one and only gospel about the one and only Christ in order to strengthen each and every one of you, yes for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging for the benefit of your faith. (Lecturer’s translation)