2 Thessalonians 3.3a-The Lord Jesus Christ is Faithful
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 28, 2021
Second Thessalonians: 2 Thessalonians 3:3a-The Lord Jesus Christ is Faithful
Lesson # 52
2 Thessalonians 3:1 Correspondingly, each one of you, brothers and sisters, please begin and continue to make it your habit of occupying yourselves with praying on behalf of each one of us that the message originating from and about the Lord would be propagated. Consequently, that it is honored just as it in fact is honored among all of you. 2 Likewise, that each one of us would be delivered from perverse, yes evil people because faith by no means is a characteristic which belongs to all. 3 But the Lord does inherently possess the characteristic of being faithful, who will strengthen each and every one of you. Consequently, He will protect each one of you from the evil one. (Lecturer’s translation)
2 Thessalonians 3:3 contains three declarative statements.
The first asserts that the Lord does inherently possess the characteristic of being faithful.
The second asserts that the Lord will strengthen each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.
The third and final statement asserts that the Lord will protect each member of the Thessalonian Christian from the evil one.
Now, the first declarative statement in this verse presents a contrast with the perverse and evil people mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 3:2, who have not exercised faith in Jesus Christ as Savior so as to be declared justified by the Father.
Therefore, the contrast is between the Lord Jesus Christ who is faithful and those people who are unregenerate perverse, evil people because they have not been declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son.
As was the case when the word appeared in 2 Thessalonians 1:1, 7, 8, 9, 12, 2:1-2, 8, 13, 14, 16 and 3:1, the noun kurios (κύριος) is a reference to Jesus Christ.
It indicates the following about Jesus Christ: (1) His equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His victory over the sin nature and Satan and His kingdom.
In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42). However, in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).
The noun kurios emphasizes the victory that Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, accomplished for the believer through His spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.
His spiritual death solved the problem of personal sins, which are produced by the sin nature through the function of human volition.
His physical death solved the problem of the sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of the human body.
His resurrection guarantees the believer that he or she will receive a resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which will be immortal and minus the sin nature.
In this first statement in 2 Thessalonians 3:3, the adjective pistos (πιστός), “faithful” emphatically describes the Lord Jesus Christ as firmly adhering to His promise to strengthen the post-justification faith of the Thessalonian Christian community so as to protect them from Satan.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the adjective “faithful,” “strict or thorough in the performance of duty; true to one’s word, promises, vows; steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; reliable, trusted, or believed; adhering or true to fact or an original.”
They also state, “faithful implies long-continued and steadfast fidelity to whatever one is bound to by a pledge, duty or obligation.
If we paraphrase these definitions, we could say that the Lord Jesus Christ will strengthen the post-justification faith of the Thessalonians so that He will also protect them from the devil because He is true to His promise to do so.
Secondly, we could say that the Lord will strengthen the post-justification faith of the Thessalonians so that He will also protect them from the devil because He is steady in allegiance to His promise to give do this.
Furthermore, we could say that the Lord will strengthen the post-justification faith of the Thessalonians so that He will also protect them from the devil because He is true to His promise to enable them to experience their sanctification up to the moment He arrives at the rapture.
Secondly, we could say that the Lord Jesus Christ will strengthen the post-justification faith of the Thessalonians so that He will also protect them from the devil because He is steady in allegiance to His promise to enable them to experience their sanctification up to the moment He arrives at the rapture.
Faithfulness is one of the attributes of God as related to moral beings (Deut. 7:9; 32:4; Lam. 3:23; Isa. 49:7; Hos. 11:12; Ps. 25:10; 33:4; 89:1-8; 91:4; 96:13; 98:3; 100:5; 119:75; 1 Cor. 1:9; 10:13; 2 Cor. 1:18; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 2 Tim. 2:13; Jn. 1:9; Heb. 10:23; 1 Pet. 4:19; Rev. 19:11).
It is one of the relative attributes of God meaning that it is related to God’s relationship to men.
Faithfulness characterizes God’s loyalty to His covenant people Israel and the Church.
Faithfulness is one of the relative attributes of God.
There are two kinds of attributes: (1) Absolute or intrinsic: those attributes that God possesses of Himself such as life and love. (2) Relative: those attributes related to His creation and especially men and angels.
For example, by nature God is truth but when God relates that truth to man, God’s truth becomes faithfulness.
Love is one of God’s intrinsic or absolute attributes but when His love is directed towards sinners, it becomes grace and mercy and compassion.
God is faithful to His promises found in the Old Testament, which speak of the forgiveness of sins.
The promise of the forgiveness of sins is of course rooted in the Old Testament (Is. 43:25; 53:11; Ps. 103:12-13; Ezek. 36:24-26; Jer. 31:34; Mic. 7:18-20).
In Christ, all the promises of the Old Testament prophets are fulfilled including the forgiveness of sins.
The Lord is faithful to His promises in the Old Testament and specifically the New covenant to forgive sins.
This is what Paul is referring to in 1 John 1:9.
Richard Mayhue writes “Christ is called faithful elsewhere (Rev 1:5; 3:14; 19:11). God is faithful in regard to: (1) completing His salvation (1 Cor 1:9); (2) aiding Christians to resist temptation (1 Cor 10:13); (3) fulfilling His promises (2 Cor 1:18; Heb 10:23; 11:11); (4) vindicating believers who suffer (1 Pet 4:19); and (5) cleansing Christians from sin (1 John 1:9). His faithfulness is a major theme in the Psalms (36:5; 88:11; 89:1–2, 5, 8, 24, 33, 49; 92:2; 119:90). So magnificent is this particular attribute of God, that Jeremiah wrote a most memorable line with tears as he watched the temple being destroyed and Jerusalem burned: ‘Great is Your faithfulness’ (Lam 3:23). God’s faithfulness stands in monumental contrast to the faithless men in 3:2.”
In 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Paul again reminds the Thessalonians that God the Father is faithful.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 The one who does effectually call each and every one of you does possess the characteristic of being faithful, who will in fact certainly cause these things to be accomplished. (Lecturer’s translation)
The first statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, which emphatically asserts that God the Father will in fact certainly cause each member of the Thessalonian Christian community to be sanctified completely is echoed in Philippians 1:6.
Philippians 1:6 I am confident of this very same thing, namely that, the One (God the Holy Spirit) who began in all of you a good work that is divine in character, will bring it to completion up to the day of Christ who is Jesus. (Lecturer’s translation)
In 2 Timothy 2:13, Paul discusses with Timothy God’s faithfulness.
Second Timothy 2:13 If and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that any of us is unfaithful, He continues to remain faithful because He is never able to be untrue to Himself. (Lecturer’s translation)
What does Paul in Second Timothy 2:13 mean when he states that the Lord Jesus Christ remains faithful to the Christian despite the Christian being unfaithful to Him or in other words, to what is the Lord faithful?
The answer is that the Lord is faithful to His promise to save us through faith in Him (John 3:16-18, 36; 6:29; 7:37-38; 11:25-26; cf. 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 1:18-20; 1 Thess. 4:23-24; 2 Thess. 3:3; Heb. 10:23; 1 Pet. 4:19).
He is also faithful to His promises found in the Old Testament, which speak of the forgiveness of sins.
The promise of the forgiveness of sins is of course rooted in the Old Testament (Is. 43:25; 53:11; Ps. 103:12-13; Ezek. 36:24-26; Jer. 31:34; Mic. 7:18-20).
The Lord is faithful to His promises in the Old Testament to forgive sins.
This is what Paul is referring to here in Second Timothy 2:13.