1 Thessalonians 2:12

that ye would walk worthy of God Better, in order that ye should, and worthily (R. V.) "Walk" is the common Hebrew and O.T. figure for the conduct of life.

It was God'smessage the apostles of Christ had brought to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:9); "unto God, the living and true," they had "turned from their idols to serve" Him (ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:9). They must, therefore, now live a life "worthy of God" worthy of those who have such a God and are His servants and sons. Nowhere, perhaps, does St Pail lay such continued emphasis on the relation of the Christian believer to God as in these Epistles; see Introd.pp. 17, 18.

To "walk worthily of God" is the noblest possible ideal of life; so high that it would appear visionary and impracticable, if it were not for what follows:

(worthy of God) who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory According to the truer reading, who calleth for it is a call that continues till its purpose is accomplished (comp. ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:8, "God who giveth His Holy Spirit," R. V.); and into His own kingdom, &c.

Such is the confidence of "you that believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:10); and this conviction gives the believer will and courage to aspire to the loftiest moral attainments: comp. ch. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (note). God'ssummons the Thessalonians had heard; His call could not be purposeless or powerless.

The announcement of the Kingdom of Godwas a leading feature of St Paul's preaching at Thessalonica; comp. 2 Thessalonians 1:5, and see Introd.pp. 18 21. It is also designated "the kingdom of the Son," Colossians 1:13; "of Christ and God," Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 11:15; "of heaven," in St Matthew. This kingdom is sometimes spoken of as present, sometimes as future a variation which marks the language of Christ equally with His Apostle. The expression comes in the first place from the Jewish Rabbis, being derived from the predictions of Daniel 2:44-45; Daniel 7:13-14; Micah 4:7; and these predictions again had their foundation in the great prophetic declarations respecting the throne and house of David (2 Samuel 7; Psalms 2, 110). It was the popular designation for that perfect Divine rule which the Jews expected to see established on earth by the Messiah at His coming. It was called "the kingdom of heaven" (or "the heavens"), as having its seat and origin in heaven, and in contrast with the existing "kingdoms of this world and their glory," of which the Tempter said to Jesus, in harmony with Jewish ideas, "All this hath been delivered unto me" (Luke 4:6). But God calls men "from the dominion of Satan" (Acts 26:18) into "His ownkingdom and glory." The difference is, fundamentally, not one of place or time; it is a moral opposition. John the Baptist, and then Christ, in similar terms announced the new kingdom to be "at hand;" in leaving the world Jesus declared that His "Father's kingdom" would be revealed on His return (Matthew 13:43; Matthew 26:29; Matthew 26:64; Luke 19:12, &c.). At the same time, He taught that the kingdom already existed in His Person and was constituted by His presence; that in its essence it was set up within His disciples, and therefore its future coming would be the manifestation and unfolding of what they already possessed in the spiritual life received from Him: see Luke 17:21; John 18:36-37; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 13:31-33; Matthew 13:38, &c. Christ's doctrine of the kingdom is virtually contained in the two petitions of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven so also upon earth." This implies that so far as God's will is done on earth, His kingdom is here already; earth being ruled from heaven and by heaven's law. But the more it makes its power felt on earth, the more necessary does its heavenly glory become. St Paul sees the kingdom present and ruling where there is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17): but what is now possessed of it he regards as only the "earnestof our inheritance" (Romans 8:23; Ephesians 1:14); God "is" ever "calling" His servants onward "to His own kingdom and glory."

The gloryis God's glory the splendour of His future revelation as He will at last, on the return of Christ, be manifested to His saints. In this glory they will share. "The kingdom and glory of God" are one, the latter being the full display and consummation of the former. And in the Apostle's view, "the hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2) is bound up with the "hope in our Lord Jesus Christ," which the Thessalonians so earnestly cherished.

Obeying the voice of God that calls them to a place in His glorious kingdom, St Paul's readers will know how to "walk worthily." This summons is the ever-renewed incitement of a holy life, and inspires us with the most exalted of those "mighty hopes which make us men." So "we were saved by hope" (Romans 8:24).

This view of the religion of the Thessalonians agrees with what was said of them in ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. "Walking worthily of God" corresponds to "serving a living and true God;" and the "call to His kingdom and glory" invites them to "wait for His Son from the heavens."