1 Thessalonians 3:13

To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. YOUR HEARTS - naturally the spring of unholiness. BEFORE GOD, EVEN OUR FATHER - rather, 'before Him who is at once God and our Father.' Before not merely men, but Him who is not deceived by the show of holiness - i:e., may your holiness be such as will stand his scrutiny. God will judge by Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; Acts 17:31). COMING, [ parousia (G3952)] - 'personal presence.' WITH ALL HIS SAINTS - including holy angels, and the holy elect of men ...

13_That he may confirm your hearts_. He employs the term _hearts _here to mean _conscience_, or the innermost part of the soul; for he means that a man is acceptable to God only when he brings holiness of heart; that is, not merely external, but also internal. But it is asked, whether by means of holiness we stand at God’s judgment-seat, for if so, to what purpose is remission of sins? Yet Paul’s words seem to imply this — that their consciences might be _irreproveable in holiness_. I answer, that Paul does not exclude remission of sins, through which it comes that our holiness, which is otherwise mixed up with many pollutions, bears God’s eye, for faith, by which God is pacified towards us, so as to pardon our faults, (565) precedes everything else, as the foundation comes before the building. Paul, however, does not teach us what or how great the holiness of believers may be, but desir...

11-13 Prayer is religious worship, and all religious worship is due unto God only. Prayer is to be offered to God as our Father. Prayer is not only to be offered in the name of Christ, but offered up to Christ himself, as our Lord and our Saviour. Let us acknowledge God in all our ways, and he will direct our paths. Mutual love is required of all Christians. And love is of God, and is fulfilling the gospel as well as the law. We need the Spirit's influences in order to our growth in grace; and the way to obtain them, is prayer. Holiness is required of all who would go to heaven; and we must act so that we do not contradict the profession we make of holiness. The Lord Jesus will certainly come in his glory; his saints will come with him. Then the excellence as well as the necessity of holiness will appear; and without this no hearts shall be established at that day, nor shall any avoid co...

Verse 1 Thessalonians 3:13. _TO THE END HE MAY ESTABLISH YOUR HEARTS_] Without _love_ to God and man, there can be no establishment in the religion of Christ. It is _love_ that produces both _solidity_ and _continuance_. And, as _love is the fulfilling of the law_, he who is filled with love is _unblamable in holiness_: for he who has the love of God in him is a partaker of the Divine nature, for _God_ is love. _AT THE COMING OF OUR LORD_] God is coming to judge the world; every hour that passes on in the general lapse of time is advancing his approach; whatsoever he does is in reference to this great event: and whatsoever _we_ do should be in reference to the same. But who in that great day shall give up his accounts with joy? That person only whose heart is established in holiness before God

TO THE END HE MAY STABLISH YOUR HEARTS - That is, “may the Lord cause you to increase in love 1 Thessalonians 3:12, in order that you may be established, and be without blame in the day of judgment.” The idea is, that if charity were diffused through their hearts, they would abound in every virtue, and would be at length found blameless. UNBLAMEABLE - See the 1 Thessalonians 1:10 note; Philippians 2:15; Philippians 3:6 notes; Hebrews 8:7 note; c

EXPOSITION CONTENTS.—The apostle, no longer able to repress his longing and anxiety for the Thessalonians, resolved to be left alone at Athens, and sent Timothy for the purpose of exhorting them to endurance amid their persecutions, and to bring him information concerning their condition. Timothy had just rejoined him at Corinth, and the apostle expresses the extreme satisfaction which he felt at the welcome tidings which his messenger had brought of their faith and love; it put new life into him, and comforted him in all his affliction and distress. He prays God that he may be permitted to revisit the Thessalonians, and to supply what was still defective in their faith; and he makes it the object of his earnest supplication that the Lord Jesus would make them so to increase in love and establish them in holiness that they may be blameless at his appearance with all his holy ones....

TO THE END HE MAY STABLISH YOUR HEARTS,.... Which are very unstable and inconstant in their frames, and in the exercise of grace, and have need to be established in the love of God, against the fears of men, the frowns of the world, the temptations of Satan, and in, and with the doctrines of grace; 1 Thessalonians 3:2, UNBLAMABLE IN HOLINESS BEFORE GOD, EVEN OUR FATHER. There is no holiness in men naturally; what is in them without the grace of God is only a show; true holiness is from the Spirit of God; and this is a stable thing in itself, and can never be removed or taken away; but the acts of it, through the prevalence of corruption, the force of Satan's temptations, and the snares of the world, are fickle and inconstant; and the saints need to be established in the discharge of duty, as well as in the exercise of grace: and whereas the apostle prays, that

1 THESSALONIANS 3:13 auvtou/@( avmh,n#) {C} Was avmh,n dropped by copyists who thought it inappropriate in the body of a Pauline epistle (just as avmh,n was omitted by a scattering of witnesses at the close of Romans 15:33 and Romans 16:24), or was it added as liturgically appropriate in the context, especially when ver. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 came to be the conclusion of an ecclesiastical lection? Since it is ve...

III. AFFLICTIONS AND COMFORT CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Timotheus, Paul's messenger 1 Thessalonians 3:1)_ 2. His return with good tidings and the apostle's comfort and joy 1 Thessalonians 3:6) 3. This earnest desire 1 Thessalonians 3:11) 1 Thessalonians 3:1 His longing for the beloved Thessalonians and his solicitude for them became so great that he could no longer forbear and he decided to be left alone in Athens and send Timotheus to Thessalonica. He knew they had great afflictions and that there was danger that they might not endure and then his l

THE MISSION OF TIMOTHY TO THESSALONICA. Paul's distress and anxiety with regard to the fate of the Church led him to send Timothy upon a mission of inquiry. He describes the effect produced upon him by Timothy's reassuring report. 1 THESSALONIANS 3:2. SENT TIMOTHY: in * Acts 17:14 f; Acts 18:5, Silas and Timothy left Paul at Berœ a on the sea-coast and did not rejoin him till after his arrival at Corinth. It is possible, however, that Timothy followed him to Athens and was subsequently despatched to Thessalonica. TO ESTABLISH: the object of Timothy's mission was: (_a)_ to consolidate the Church, (_b)_ to comfort the Christians in the face of persecution....