The Hope of the Gospel (Present: Holiness)

(1 Thessalonians 5:15-22) See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

 These verses form the final section of 1 Thessalonians, leading into the closing benediction. These are Paul's final admonition to these people in his first letter. It's hard to describe or summarize since Paul is giving several general commands. I titled this article “Holiness”--that may not be the best word, but what I mean is that this is a general description about how the Christian should live. Some of this applies to the inner spirit and attitude. Some applies to how things work in the church. Some involve general actions. But running through all these things is this one idea: our life as Christians must be centered on God. All of these ideas come back, in one way or another, to this fact: being a Christian does not mean merely accepting a specific set of beliefs or trying to follow a certain code of ethics. It is something more than that. It means accepting a new center of existence: it means having a new fundamental loyalty. The Christian's life looks to God and flows from Him. And another term for this is holiness. And while I don't think this section is directly about what some tend to call 'holiness', i.e. entire sanctification, it is probably no coincidence that it is immediately after this passage that we have Paul's prayer regarding entire sanctification.

Since there really isn't an overarching theme here, we'll just go through this verse by verse.

First, we have verse 15 where we have the very familiar condemnation of revenge: “see that none render evil for evil.” This is something we have heard before, but there are two things that I specifically want to mention here. First, there is the following phrase “But ever follow that which is good.” The idea is that it is not enough simply to avoid seeking revenge. The Christian ideal isn't passive toleration. “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.” (Luke 6:27) Notice that? Jesus didn't simply say: “Don't hate or do evil to your enemies.” But specifically: “love and do good to them.”

Obviously, there is a theological reason for this. God did not merely forgive our sins but give us His grace, and so we should behave the same way to others. But I wonder if there is a psychological reason as well. I could be wrong on this so take it for what it's worth—but I wonder if it's easier to truly forgive and give up resentment if those feelings and impulses are replaced by something positive; just as it is easier to focus on eating healthy food instead of merely focusing on not eating unhealthy food.

There is another interesting thing to note here. Paul says we should render evil to any man and should follow that is good to all men. Back when we studied a very similar admonition in Romans, it had reference to those who were our enemies, perhaps specifically to those who oppose and persecute the church. That would also apply here, since as we know the Thessalonian church was facing persecution. They were a church that had enemies in a very concrete sense.

However, this verse goes with a passage about problems within the church and Paul specifically says “among yourselves” as well as to all men. We all know the Bible tells us to love and forgive our enemies. But we shouldn't forget that this also means we have to love and forgive our friends. Even forgoing the existence of hypocrites and backsliders within the church, there are going to be times when other Christians are going to be the source of frustration. There are going to be times when, even with other Christians, we have to refuse bitterness and choose forgiveness. This is logical enough if you think about it: of course, the people we are closest to and spend the most time with are the ones who will have the most opportunity to cause problems; you must be next to someone to experience friction.

Paul speaks of not seeking revenge. But remember that revenge doesn't always mean taking a gun and shooting someone, or even taking a fist and punching someone. Rendering evil for evil can be something more subtle and something that can exist within the church without obviously revealing itself. But the Bible makes it clear that the Christian path, whether dealing with big things or small, with other Christians or the world, is to forgive and to do good instead of evil.

In verses 16-18, we have three brief commands which seem to connect together. All three have to do with our attitudes, with the way we approach life on a very basic level. Fundamentally, it is a question of what kind of life we are actually living.

We have a command to rejoice, to pray, and to give thanks. In slightly different words, these three things are said to be universal. They are to be everywhere, all the time. It is not 'rejoice once and a while' but 'rejoice ever more'; not 'pray sometimes' but 'pray without ceasing'; not 'in some things give thanks' but 'in every thing give thanks.' The picture is of something universal and ubiquitous.

Suppose that an anthropologist is studying people of some other culture, and so for a period of time, he lives as a member of that culture. For a few weeks, perhaps a few months, he wears the same clothes they do; he eats the same food they eat; speaks the language they speak; engages in their trades and their religion; repeats their proverbs and quotes their philosophers. For that period, he is doing and saying the same things as everyone else.

But these things are only an isolated, individual part of his life. He may take part in the life of this other culture, may enjoy parts of it; but it is still only a part of him. And when his time of study is over, he will put it all behind him.

Now compare this to how it is for the people who have grown up and lived their whole lives as part of that culture. Their customs and thoughts and words are an intrinsic part of them. This is their world, their culture; it is built deep into their minds and their habits. It is who they are.

Obviously, that is an oversimplification, but the point of the analogy is this: as Christians, prayer, thanksgiving, and rejoicing should be an intrinsic, foundational part of our lives—not something we pick up as interesting curiosities every once and a while. These are the clothing of a Christian, not a costume. They should be our bread and butter—not the exotic cuisine we try out on special occasions. 

There will be times when these things are difficult—there will be occasions when prayer or thanksgiving or rejoicing is a struggle. We may even fail regarding them. But the point is that we can never, as Christians, simply dismiss them or ignore them. They are a part of our life; perhaps sometimes a difficult part, but always a part, always an intrinsic part which should provide the foundation for the other, more incidental things we do.

On the verse 'pray without ceasing', Matthew Henry comments: “The meaning is not that men should do nothing but pray, but that nothing else we do should hinder prayer in its proper season.  Prayer will help forward and not hinder all other lawful business, and every good work.” Prayer (and rejoicing and giving thanks) should be a basic part of our life, which lies behind and fuels the other things we do. “[Prayer] is the habit of lifting one's heart to God. The concept here involves a deliberately chosen pattern and habit of life.” (Beacon Bible Commentary, 496)

In verse 18 Paul says that “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” The KJV connects this specifically to 'in every thing give thanks' but other translations connect it to the entire sequence beginning at verse 16. On that view, all three of these things—rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks—are the will of God for us. 

You can see this as an intimidating thought—to think that this is a high standard that God has set for us. Really, this would be impossible to do without God's help. However, I want to point out the other side of this. This is also an inspiring thought. There are difficulties and unpleasant duties that go with being a Christian—Paul has had reason to talk about those elsewhere. It may often be a dark and dangerous path. And yet, fundamentally, it is a path of joy. God's will for us is that we would rejoice and give thanks. That is the kind of life that God wills for us.

I would interpret these verses as speaking particularly about our personal lives and attitudes, while the next several verses have to do with the church as a community. However, some commentators take these verses as referring to the church—that a Christian church should be a joyful church, a prayerful church, and a thankful church. And whether or not that was Paul's thoughts, if those are the characteristic attitudes of the individuals of the church, then logically they would also be characteristic of the church as a whole.

We have talked before about the kind of church that Thessalonica was. On one hand, it was a very good church; a vibrant, living church. But it was also a church with problems—there was debate and furor about eschatology and there were some members who were stirring up trouble. Though we don't know this for sure, it is plausible that these troublemakers were connected to the eschatological craze and that all of this grew out of a misguided zeal within the church. Perhaps members were claiming special visions from God about the future and using that as an excuse to stir up problems or avoid responsibilities.

As I said, that part is speculation. But if it is true, it would explain the next few verses. Because in light of such zeal, even, perhaps, fanaticism, there would be a danger of a reaction in the other direction. And so Paul gives the advice in verses 19-21.

First, we have the command: “Quench not the Spirit.” Quench is an interesting word in English, because it has a somewhat broad meaning but in modern English, it is only used in one specific sense. The word comes from Old English and means to put out or extinguish (making it a fairly exact equivalent of the Greek word used here.) But in Modern English, about the only way anyone uses it is in reference to thirst. When you 'quench your thirst', you extinguish or bring an end to your thirst.

Obviously, we cannot extinguish or bring an end to the Holy Spirit. But we can resist and try to drown His influence. Robertson says this could be translated “Stop quenching the Spirit” as if this were a problem already ongoing, rather than just a general warning.

Some believe that this has to do with the church—that because there were some fanatical members of the church, the leaders of the church were tempted to go too far in the other direction. Perhaps there were some were squashing true spiritual gifts and leading out of fear of excess. 

However, some take this to be still referring to the life of the individual. We can choose to extinguish the work of God's spirit within our own lives—or we can choose to fan the flames of the Spirit. Albert Barnes comments: “A man has no more religion than he intends to have; he has no graces of the Spirit which he does not seek; he has no deadness to the world which is not the object of his sincere desire, and which he does not aim to have. Any one, if he will, may make elevated attainments in the divine life; or he may make his religion merely a religion of form, and know little of its power and its consolations.”

The next command is “despise not prophesyings.” The NET Bible translates it: “Do not treat prophecies with contempt.”

When we speak of a 'prophet', we most often mean someone who speaks of the future, someone with a PREDICTIVE message. In common language, we sometimes call a person a prophet for predicting the future if they do it merely by natural intelligence or luck. But this idea is found throughout the Bible as well. Throughout the Old Testament, we have prophets who predicted future events, whether those events were close at hand or thousands of years later. We have the same thing in the New Testament. “And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.” (Acts 11:27-28)

However, Biblically, there is more to the idea of a prophet than that. If you read through the books of prophecy, you'll notice that there is more to them than just predicting the future. A good portion (especially of the minor prophets) concerns present concerns; problems of ethics and morality. In other words, their message was PRESCRIPTIVE as well as predictive.

To understand why, we have to look at the most basic definition of a prophet. When God appeared to Ezekiel and commissioned him to be a prophet, God gave this command: “And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.” (Ezekiel 2:7) That is the essential idea of a prophet—it is someone who speaks God's word to people. That word might be about the future or it might not, but the main thing is that it is God's word. Peter Kreeft said that, at its most basic level, a prophet is a “mouth”; he is someone who speaks for God. So he receives a word from God, and he gives that word to others. Describing prophecy, Paul says: “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” (1 Corinthians 14:3)

So a prophet is someone who gives God's message to mankind, whether that message is predictive or prescriptive. When we speak of the prophets, we mean those men who had a supernatural gift, who were miraculously given direct revelation from God. However, that prophecy didn't necessarily end with the men who spoke it. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) We see the prophets spoke as they were moved by God. But the point I specifically want to notice here is that this is connected to 'the scripture.' These prophets didn't merely speak but wrote down their words (or had them written by others). A large percent of the Bible is the words of prophets. But it goes further than that. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) Paul states that all the scripture is given by God; in other words, all the writers of the Bible (even those who were merely historians or accountants and not formerly prophets) were writing prophecy; that is, they were writing the word of God.

In the days of the early church, we read of God giving people supernatural gifts—besides prophecy, we also have gifts of healing and speaking in tongues (whatever that means). Many people believe that these gifts were given to the early church specifically to help the fledgling Christian movement become established. The gift of prophecy, specifically, is thought by many to have been given because the Bible was not yet complete. On this viewpoint, there is no longer a need for prophecy since we now have a definitive version of God's word.

I say all of that to say this. When Paul says 'despise not prophesyings', he may be speaking of a PREDICTIVE message from God or a PRESCRIPTIVE one. And while at the time, he may have been referring to some kind of supernatural, spiritual gift, in our day we can interpret this as preaching—as the giving of a message from God (predictive or prescriptive) from the Bible.

As I said before, it is possible that the lively state of the Thessalonian church was seen by some as a danger. We know at the time of 2 Thessalonians, people were stirring up doctrinal trouble (perhaps innocently) concerning eschatology. And with all this going on, perhaps some were coming to view ALL preaching with suspicion. And so Paul gave this admonition.

We don't know the exact situation at Thessalonica. But we can make this application to our own day: preaching is an important part of the church and it is not something to be taken lightly. This was a phrase Jesus used frequently regarding his preaching: “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:23) And I think that should apply whenever God's word is preached.

There is a caveat, however, and that is the first part of verse 21, where Paul says “Prove all things.” The word translated prove means to test or discern; it is used for testing a piece of metal to determine exactly what it is made of.

As we saw in verses 19 and 20, it is important to listen to preaching and not try to put out God's work—but that doesn't mean we just accept everything that happens in the church; that doesn't mean that we should listen to everyone who claims to speak in God's name; that doesn't mean we should never quench some movement that claims to be of the Spirit. It all comes back to this idea of proving or testing all things. John gave a similar warning: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) It is essential in matters of religion to practice discernment. 

So we should examine and test all things, find out whether they are good or bad. And what do we do when we find out?

That is answered in the rest of verse 21 and 22: “Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” When we find something that is good, that is true, we should hold on to it. You may remember in a previous study, we looked at Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” When we studied that verse, I said this: '“Think on these things” doesn't mean “daydream about these things.” Strong defines this word as meaning: “to take an inventory, i.e. estimate (literally or figuratively).” Weymouth translates this phrase “cherish the thought of these things.” The idea is, set your minds on these things as something important. Don't just think of these things in the sense of letting these things pass through your mind. Fix your mind on them as something important. Consider and count them as something valuable. Thayer says the word in this context means “To consider, take account, weigh, [or] meditate on... a thing, with a view to obtaining it.” (3049) These aren't things we just let pass through our minds, but things we fix our minds on and seek after and consider as valuable.' That is how we should treat things which are good. We should hold fast to them, treasure them up, fix our minds on them, and pursue them.

Regarding that which is evil, we should avoid it. Paul says to abstain from all appearances of evil. Some commentators take this in the sense of the similitude or resemblance of evil—in other words, they interpret Paul as saying we should avoid things which are, in themselves, good or at least morally neutral but which will appear to other people as being evil. There is a case to be made that this is a good rule-of-thumb based merely on common sense, and this is consistent with what the Bible teaches elsewhere. In 1 Corinthians, Paul discusses the problem of food that had been offered to idols. Paul makes it clear that there really is no evil in such food since food is only food; it has no real spiritual quality. However, he warns against eating it in situations where it will cause harm to others: “But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:28) This is the idea of abstaining from the similitude or resemblance of evil.

However, that is not how many commentators and translations interpret the phrase here in 1 Thessalonians. The Greek word translated 'appearance' can be translated 'form' or 'shape.' The majority of translations I looked at rendered it as: “form.” The idea is that the Christian must avoid and reject every type and kind of evil. We must avoid evil every time it appears; whenever it comes on stage, we should boo it back off. If you'll forgive a trivial comparison, this is a sort of spiritual whack-a-mole—every time evil pokes its head up, we need to whack it down. George MacDonald wrote: “No, there is no escape. There is no heaven with a little of hell in it—no plan to retain this or that of the devil in our hearts or our pockets. Out Satan must go, every hair and feather.”

This is the picture of the kind of life a Christian should live; the life Paul was calling upon the Thessalonians to live. A life completely given over to God; choosing good over evil; always turning our face to God and His will, as those who are waiting for His return.