Living as Christians

GOLDEN TEXT: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” —I Thessalonians 5:9,10

I THESSALONIANS 1:1; 5:1-11, 14-23

THE opening verse of our lesson is important, for it indicates that the epistle is not addressed to the world nor to the worldly, but to the consecrated followers of the Master, the “church.” As a matter of fact, the entire Bible was written for the benefit of God’s people, and not for the purpose of revealing God’s plan to the world.

This distinction is especially important when we come to the opening verses of the 5th chapter of the epistle. Here Paul tells the “brethren” that they “know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” Then, and in contrast to this knowledge possessed by the “brethren,” Paul speaks of “they” and “them,” and says that when “they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

Paul addresses the “brethren” again, saying that they “are not in darkness, that that day should overtake” them as a “thief in the night.” The “day of the Lord” is the “day” in human experience which is ushered in by the return of the Lord at his second advent. Paul explains that it comes upon the unbelieving world—“they” and “them”—unexpectedly, and at a time when, from the human standpoint, the world seems about ready to enter an era of “peace and safety.”

There is much evidence that we are already living in that day, and that this is the reason for the destructive trouble which has been upon the nations, beginning particularly with the outbreak of the first World War in 1914. The world is still blind to the meaning of what is occurring, but the “brethren” are not in darkness. They discern that soon the reign of sin and death will be ended, and the kingdom of Christ fully manifested for the blessing of all the families of the earth.

The “brethren” are the “children of the light, and the children of the day,” and Paul admonishes them not “to sleep as do others.” This is symbolic language. The admonition is to be spiritually alert and thus able to discern the signs of the times, and to deport ourselves in keeping with the important “day” in which we are living.

It is a time, Paul writes, when we need to put on the “breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” Indeed, we need to put on the “whole armor of God” that we may be able to stand in this evil day. It is an evil day because, in the dying throes of the old world, Satan is doing his best to overthrow the faith of God’s people, and to lead them into all sorts of bypaths which veer away from that course of true righteousness which is pleasing to the Lord.

We are, as our Golden Text states, to “live together” with the Lord, that is, close to him. If we do this, we will also be living close to one another and will be able to comfort one another, giving proper recognition to the Lord’s arrangements for his people. We are to warn the unruly, “comfort the feebleminded, support the weak,” and “be patient toward all men.”—I Thess. 5:14

We are to “rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing”; and “in everything give thanks.” We are not to “quench the Spirit,” that is, stubbornly resist the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Much indeed is involved in keeping alert in these trying days in which we are living, as Paul so clearly shows. He exhorts us to abstain from every “appearance of evil.” The Greek text says every “form” of evil. If we do the things which Paul outlines in our lessons, we will be sanctified by God.

On behalf of these sanctified ones, Paul says, “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul could not be referring to the individual members of the church at Thessalonica, or elsewhere, for we know that they were not preserved, nor did he expect them to be. The reference is to the church as a whole, which indeed has been preserved in the world throughout the entire age, and is still alive and active as the light of the world.

Some have seized upon this text in an effort to prove that the soul and spirit do not die. But this is obviously wrong, for Paul includes the “body” as well, and all know that individual bodies die. But the mystic body of Christ in the earth has remained, and it has ever been vitalized by the Spirit of God, making it a living force in bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel. The word “soul” simply means a living being, and the body of Christ, animated by the Spirit of God through the truth of his Word, is very much alive today, “holding forth the Word of life.”—Phil. 2:16

QUESTIONS

For whose special benefit was the Bible written?

Explain the difference between “ye brethren” and “they” and “them” as these terms are used in our lesson.

What is the day of the Lord, and what evidence is there that we are now living in that day?

What does Paul mean by Christians not sleeping in this day of the Lord?

In what sense has the body, soul, and spirit of the church been preserved throughout the Gospel age?

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