2 Thessalonians 3.5c-Experiencing Christ's Perseverance and Perseverance for Christ Through Faith in the Word of the Lord
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday November 11, 2021
Second Thessalonians: 2 Thessalonians 3:5c-Experiencing Christ’s Perseverance and Perseverance for Christ Through Faith in the Word of the Lord
Lesson # 58
2 Thessalonians 3:4 Now, each one of us is confident about each and every one of you because of your faith in and love for the Lord that what we are commanding, each one of you both are making it your habit of practicing, and each one of you will continue to practice. 5 On the other hand, may the word of the Lord guide the hearts of each and every one of you into experiencing God’s love and love for God so as to experience Christ’s perseverance and perseverance for Christ. (Lecturer’s translation)
2 Thessalonians 3:5 presents a Spirit inspired intercessory prayer which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy offered up to the Father on behalf of the Thessalonian Christian community.
These three men share this request with the Thessalonians because they wanted to encourage them to continue to grow spiritually and also to teach them what they should pray for themselves.
This intercessory prayer request that the word of the Lord Jesus Christ would guide the hearts of each member of this community into experiencing God’s love and love for God as well as Christ’s perseverance and perseverance for Christ.
Specifically, it requests that the word of the Lord Jesus Christ guide the hearts of each member of this community into experiencing God’s love for them which produces love for God as well as Christ’s perseverance for them, which produces in them perseverance for Christ.
Love for God is produced in the Thessalonians by the Thessalonians exercising faith in God’s love for them, which is communicated in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Also, persevering for Christ is produced by the Thessalonians exercising faith in the gospel, which presents the Lord’s perseverance in accomplishing the Father’s will in order to deliver them from His wrath when they were His enemies.
Why did Paul, Silvanus and Timothy asked the Father in prayer in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 that the “Lord” Jesus Christ and not the Father or the Spirit would guide the Thessalonians into experiencing God’s love for them and love for God as well as experiencing Christ’s perseverance for them and perseverance for Christ?
The reason is that all that they requested would all be accomplished through faith in the Word of the Lord, which Paul’s apostolic teaching manifested.
Thus, the noun kurios, “Lord” contains the figure of metonymy which means the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is put for His Word.
It is only through faith in the Word of the Lord that the Thessalonians would experience God’s love for them since this love is communicated to the child of God by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of the Lord, i.e. the Scriptures, Paul’s apostolic teaching.
It is experienced through faith in this teaching, which produces obedience, which manifests love for the Lord.
Also, it is only through faith in the Word of the Lord that the Thessalonians would love God since it is through obedience to the Word of the Lord which faith produces, that manifests the fact that one loves God.
It is only through faith in the Word of the Lord that the child of God experiences God’s love for them which empowers them to love God and others with this love.
Furthermore, it is only through faith in the Word of the Lord that the child of God experiences Christ’s perseverance since this perseverance is also communicated to the child of God by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of the Lord, i.e. Paul’s apostolic teaching, the Scriptures.
It too is experienced through faith in this teaching, which manifests obedience to God which produces perseverance for Christ in the child of God.
Lastly, it is only through the faith in the Word of the Lord that the child of God experiences persevering for Christ since persevering for Christ is accomplished through exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching that Christ persevered for them.
This faith manifests itself in obedience to the Lord, which manifests the fact that one loves the Lord which enables the child of God to persevere for the Lord.
The contents of First and Second Thessalonians constituted the Word of the Lord since they were inspired by the Holy Spirit and revealed the Father’s will for them to be conformed into the image of the Father’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The teaching Paul and Silvanus communicated to the Thessalonians prior to being driven out of the city of Thessalonica because of persecution also constituted the Word of the Lord.
The teaching Timothy communicated to the Thessalonians in the place of these two men also constituted the Word of the Lord.
This teaching constituted the gospel about Jesus Christ and originated from Him through the Spirit.
God the Father’s love for the Thessalonians was communicated in the gospel and when they exercised faith in the gospel, they experienced this love.
This same faith produced in them obedience to the various commands and prohibitions presented in the gospel and which obedience manifested the fact that they loved God.
Consequently, Christ’s perseverance, which He demonstrated on behalf of the Thessalonians, would be produced in the Thessalonians when they exercised faith in the gospel, which presents Christ’s perseverance on behalf of them and all of sinful humanity.
The prepositional phrase eis tēn agapēn tou theou (εἰς τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ), “into experiencing God’s love and love for God” in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 is expressing the idea of the hearts of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community entering into the state of experiencing God’s love for them as well as entering into the state of loving God.
The prepositional phrase eis tēn hypomonēn tou Christou (εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “into experience Christ’s perseverance and perseverance for Christ” presents the result of the prepositional phrase eis tēn agapēn tou theou (εἰς τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ), ““into experiencing God’s love and love for God.”
Therefore, this would indicate that Christ’s perseverance in doing the Father’s will in saving them, which produces perseverance in the Thessalonians is the direct result of the Thessalonians experiencing God’s love for them through faith in Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit empowered teaching which empowers the Thessalonians to love God.
The implication is that God’s love for the Thessalonians, which empowers them to love God as a result of their post-justification faith in the gospel, enables the Thessalonians to persevere.
This perseverance is motivated by Christ’s perseverance in doing the Father’s will, which manifested the Father’s love for the Thessalonians and all mankind.
The prepositional phrase eis tēn hypomonēn tou Christou (εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “into experience Christ’s perseverance and perseverance for Christ” is expressing the idea of the hearts of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community entering into the state of experiencing the Lord Jesus Christ’s perseverance in doing the Father’s will.
It is also expressing the idea of the hearts of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community entering into the state of persevering for the Lord Jesus Christ in order to accomplish the Father’s will for their lives.
Both are accomplished when the Thessalonians exercise faith in Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s Spirit empowered teaching which reveals God the Father’s love for them through the sacrifice of His Son.
The noun hupomonē, “perseverance,” which appears here in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 is almost always used in the Greek New Testament for the child of God exemplifying a godly perseverance.
This perseverance is produced by the Holy Spirit when they exercise faith in His teaching in the Word of God, which produces obedience to the Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions recorded in the Word of God.
However, 2 Thessalonians 3:5 is the only one place in the Greek New Testament where the noun hupomonē is the word used of a member of the Trinity.
In this verse, the noun hupomonē, “perseverance” is used with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ in accomplishing the Father’s will in order to deliver all of sinful humanity from His wrath in the eternal lake of fire.
Specifically, it speaks of the Lord exemplifying a perseverance which originates from the Trinity’s attribute of love.
It was manifested by Him at the cross when He experienced the Father’s wrath as a substitute for all of sinful humanity so that the latter would not experience this wrath in the eternal lake of fire.
Paul teaches in Romans 15:4 that godly perseverance is produced in the child of God by the Holy Spirit through the child of God’s faith in the Scriptures which the Spirit has inspired.
Like the noun theos, “God,” the proper name Christos, “Christ” also functions as a “plenary” genitive, which indicates that the word is both a “subjective” and “objective” genitive expressing the idea of “Christ’s perseverance on behalf of the Thessalonians and Thessalonians’ perseverance on behalf of the Lord.”
Specifically, it is expressing the idea of “Christ’s perseverance for the Thessalonians produces in the Thessalonians perseverance for Christ.”
Therefore, the noun Christos is expressing the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ persevering in accomplishing the Father’s will for His life, which was to suffer the wrath of the Father on the cross for the Thessalonians when they were His enemies.
It is also expressing the idea of the Thessalonians persevering for the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of accepting by faith the Father and the Son’s love for them, which the Holy Spirit communicated through Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s teaching (cf. Rom. 5:5; Gal. 5:22-23).
This faith would produce obedience to the various commands and prohibitions of Scripture and which obedience demonstrates love for both the Father and the Son (cf. John 14:15).