Chapter 11

2 Thessalonians 2:13–17

Literary Context

In language reminiscent of 1:3, Paul turns from the condemnation of the wicked (2:1–12) to offer thanks to God for the believers. It is obvious that the Thessalonian disciples are beloved and chosen of God, in contrast with the lost in 2:1–12, who walk in Satan’s lies. In the following section (3:1–5) Paul enlists the Thessalonians to pray that others might hear the powerful gospel.

  1. III. Instruction concerning the End Times (2:1–12)
  2. IV. A Second Thanksgiving, an Exhortation, and a Prayer for the Thessalonians (2:13–17)
    1. A. The apostles give thanks because of God’s election and call (2:13–14)
    2. B. They remind the Thessalonians that they are responsible to hold fast to apostolic doctrine (2:15)
    3. C. They pray that the God of salvation will encourage and strengthen the Thessalonians (2:16–17)
  3. V. A Request for the Thessalonians’ Prayer (3:1–5)

Main Idea

Paul draws together three genres to make three theological statements; thanksgiving to God for the Thessalonians’ election and call; reminder language that they are responsible to follow what they have been taught; prayer that God will strengthen and encourage them in their walk.

Translation

Structure

This section is the perfect foil to the preceding section. The Thessalonians are saved through “faith in the truth” (2:13h); the pagans for their part believe a lie (2:10–11). God elected and called his people to salvation and righteousness (2:13); God is reinforcing the delusions of those who love unrighteousness (2:11–12). Most of all, the saints will obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (2:14c); the wicked will be condemned (2:12). The last point has deep roots in 1:5–11.

We may neatly divide these verses into three parts. It is entirely appropriate for Paul to state these thoughts in terms of thanks to God (2:13–14), an exhortation (2:15), and a report on their ongoing prayers (2:16–17).

The thanksgiving is marked by “but for our part, we” (expanded translation of δέ, which connects with ἡμεῖς). Their gratitude (2:13a) is an obligation (ὀφείλομεν), as seen already in 1:3; once again, Paul uses language of “all the time” and “for you” (2:13b-c). The cause (ὅτι) for their thanksgiving is God’s election (2:13) and his call (2:14).

In the exhortation section (2:15), God has worked in the Thessalonians from the start, and “consequently,” those disciples are obligated to hold firmly to the apostolic teaching. Here too Paul refers back to the previous section: let no Thessalonian decide that, if it is possible to forge a letter or fake a Pauline teaching (2:2), those media may be set aside when properly used.

Third (2:16–17), Paul offers a benediction/prayer, that the Thessalonians might live in the manner that the gospel demands. This is marked by “now” (δέ), which, as we have noted before, might introduce a prayer (1 Thess 3:11; 5:23). The petition focuses primarily on the Thessalonians, who being encouraged and strengthened will grow in good works.

Exegetical Outline

  1. I. The Apostles Give Thanks because of God’s Election and Call (2:13–14).
  2. II. They Remind the Thessalonians That They Are Still Responsible to Hold Fast to Apostolic Doctrine (2:15).
  3. III. They Pray That the God of Salvation Will Encourage and Strengthen the Thessalonians (2:16–17).

Explanation of the Text

2:13a-d But for our part, we are under obligation to give thanks to God all the time for you, brothers and sisters, whom the Lord loves (Ἡμεῖς δὲ ὀφείλομεν εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ θεῷ πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ κυρίου). Paul captures again the thankfulness of the team as they stand in awe of God’s work in Thessalonica. He uses what is technically known as inclusio: employing similar language at the beginning and ending of a section of text in order to come full circle to his original thought. In 1:3 he said, “We are under obligation to give thanks to God all the time because of you, brothers and sisters”; he then goes into a detailed discussion of how those outside the faith will face God’s wrath. He now returns to thank God for the Thessalonians: you are not part of they, “the outsiders”; you are distinct as God’s people, and it is all due to God’s intervention (see comments on 1:3 and 1 Thess 1:2–4). The perfect participle “beloved” (ἠγαπημένοι) echoes 1 Thess 1:4 and anticipates the love of God the Father for them in 2 Thess 2:16. Here it is “the Lord” who loves the Thessalonians, and if this reference follows Paul’s normal pattern, it is the Lord Jesus.

2:13e-h Because God has chosen you to be the firstfruits of people who would receive salvation by means of the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth (ὅτι εἵλατο ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς ἀπαρχὴν εἰς σωτηρίαν ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος καὶ πίστει ἀληθείας). Paul is grateful, not just because there are converts but because these individuals in particular belong to God.

There is a textual variant, with one letter making a substantial difference in meaning:

Both readings have solid manuscript support and both make sense; the UBS committee chose ἀπαρχήν because it is a Pauline expression whereas the former is not. God chose “you” (accusative ὑμᾶς) to be the “firstfruits” (a second accusative, ἀπαρχήν)—a double accusative that is not grammatically objectionable, but might have tempted some scribe to smooth it into a simpler “from the beginning.”

In Judaism as in paganism, people would present “firstfruits” at the temple, a token of the first of the season’s agricultural produce. It was a foreshadowing of a future, greater harvest (Exod 23:16). Paul at times used the term of a harvest of people. In 1 Cor 15:20, Christ is the “firstfruits” of the resurrection (the full eschatological harvest). “Firstfruits” can also serve as a metaphor of “first converts”: Epaenetus was the “first convert … of Asia” (Rom 16:5), and the household of Stephanus of Achaia (1 Cor 16:15). Paul never specifies of what the people are the firstfruits. Is the household of Stephanus, for example, part of the firstfruits that anticipates a larger harvest in Achaia during this age? At the resurrection? In the case of the Thessalonians, Paul does not mention their geographical location, so we cannot determine if he wishes to say that they are the initial converts of Thessalonica/Macedonia, or that they are among the earliest converts to the gospel in the Gentile world.

“God has chosen you … [to] receive salvation.” In this manner, Paul drew a firm contrast between the disciples and the world in 2:10–12; the wicked refuse to believe in the truth, and God has further confirmed them in their love for a lie. In the case of the Thessalonians, however, God has chosen them to be the firstfruits of those who would receive the gospel and enter salvation. Salvation is to be understood, as it is in these two letters, as eschatological—the disciples are saved from God’s wrath at Christ’s return; for this God has chosen them. The doctrine of election is key to understanding the Thessalonian letters; we will treat it in the “Theology in Application” section.

The “sanctifying work of the Spirit” (ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος) is the means through which God will save believers. Normally Paul uses “spirit/Spirit” to refer to the Holy Spirit rather than the human spirit. This in itself makes a translation of “Spirit” as the natural one. Nevertheless, Paul has shown himself capable of speaking of God’s sanctifying work in the human spirit in 1 Thess 5:23 (“may God himself … make all of you perfectly holy; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept perfectly without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”). If that were the case, “sanctification of [your] spirit” (objective genitive) is a possible alternative to “sanctification done by the Spirit” (subjective genitive). While this possibility exists, it is a remote one, and it is telling that the English versions do not mention it.

The general tenor of Paul’s language in these letters is that the Spirit makes people holy. Because of “the Spirit,” we may identify this verse as one of those passages that contain an implicit reference to what eventually came to be called the Trinity: the Lord (Jesus) loves them, God chooses them, the Spirit sanctifies them (see likewise 1 Pet 1:2).1

There are other passages that speak of sanctification as a past event in which God has set men and women apart to be his holy people (1 Cor 6:11: “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”). But that is not Paul’s emphasis in the Thessalonian letters, where holiness is always a goal and sanctification is the ongoing divine work in which people cooperate and by which Christians will attain that end.2

Their “faith in the truth” (πίστει ἀληθείας) is an objective genitive: “they believed the truth.” Paul moves back and forth in this part of the letter, distinguishing those who follow the truth with the followers of Satan, who believe a “lie” (2:9, 11) and hate the truth (2:10). By contrast, the Christians received the gospel as God’s own Word (1:10; also 1 Thess 2:13).

2:14 God called you unto [this saving work] through the gospel we preached, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (εἰς ὃ ἐκάλεσεν ὑμᾶς διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἡμῶν, εἰς περιποίησιν δόξης τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). Not only has God chosen the Thessalonians; he also called them to salvation through the preaching of the gospel and sets them on the path to being glorified in the future.

“Unto which” (εἰς ὅ) with its neuter pronoun would normally direct the reader back to find a neuter antecedent. But there is no neuter singular noun. This is a known usage and is similar to what Wallace calls the “Conceptual Antecedent” use of the neuter of the pronoun “this” (τοῦτο), which refers backward to a general concept rather than a particular word.3 This is most famously used in Eph 2:8: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this (τοῦτο) is not from yourselves” (i.e., “this whole process”). “This saving work” is a fitting summary of 2:13.

God is the implied subject of “he called you” (ἐκάλεσεν ὑμᾶς) and is parallel to other references to God’s call (1 Thess 2:12; 4:7; 5:24; 2 Thess 1:11). As always, God’s call is not considered apart from the preaching of the gospel (see the various levels of “call” in the “Theology in Application” section). Another parallel lies between this verse and 1 Thess 5:9, where Paul spoke of obtaining eschatological salvation. “To obtain the [end-time] glory” (εἰς περιποίησιν δόξης) is again a phrase with an objective genitive.4

“Glory” is a Pauline symbol of the final resurrection. Believers will enter glory in the kingdom (1 Thess 2:12); in the end they will glorify Christ but also be glorified by him (2 Thess 1:12; cf. Rom 8:30); glory is sought by the righteous (Rom 2:7); the saints hope for it (Rom 5:2; 8:17–23; 2 Cor 4:17; 2 Tim 2:10). As in 2 Thess 2, it is the goal of God’s election and call (Rom 8:30). The resurrection body is a body of “glory” (1 Cor 15:40, 41, 43).

The genitive “of our Lord Jesus Christ” has two possibilities: source (Jesus will give you glory) or descriptive (glory like that which Jesus has). The parallel in that other Macedonian letter (Phil 3:21) suggests the second option: Christians will receive a body like his “glorious body” (see also Col 3:4).

2:15 Consequently, brothers and sisters, be firmly committed and hold tight to the traditions that you were taught, whether through a message or letter from us (ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε, καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι’ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν). Paul gives the first word of exhortation in this letter. “Consequently” (ἄρα οὖν) points back to what has been said, leading to an overarching exhortation, as in 1 Thess 5:6. His word is that they conserve what they have gained or will have learned of the apostolic teaching. Paul further catches their attention with “brothers and sisters” (ἀδελφοί)—he means to be listened to and taken seriously.

The two imperatives in this verse do not have physical meanings (“grab hold of something”) but metaphorical. “Hold fast to” (κρατεῖτε) implies a firm commitment; apart from here, this verb is found only in Col 2:19 in Paul’s letters, where the errorists were (lit.) “not holding fast to the Head.” “Be firmly committed” (στήκετε) shows up in 1 Thess 3:8 and elsewhere in Paul’s letters.

The Thessalonians must continue firm in “the traditions [παραδόσεις] that you were taught.” Paul uses the verb form “pass on tradition” (παραδίδωμι) when he refers to creedal language in 1 Cor 11:2, 23 and 15:3, the latter being “what I received I passed on [παρέδωκα] to you.”5 Yet we need not limit Paul’s thought in 2 Thess 2:15 to creeds—the language is broad enough to include all teaching, oral or written (“through a message or letter from us”), including the full content of the two letters at hand (so 2 Thess 3:14).

Paul has to maintain a careful balance here, reinforcing the importance of tradition while also warning about the pitfalls of the various media of the early church (see 2:2 and comments). The disciples at Thessalonica must be fully attentive to genuine apostolic teaching, that is, what they have already received along with further instruction in the future. After all, there will probably be more visits, and there have been at least two letters. Despite the dangers inherent in the sending of letters, which he will try to mitigate in 3:17, Paul is clearly unwilling to give up on written communication.

2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal encouragement and good hope by [his] grace (Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ [ὁ] θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν, ὁ ἀγαπήσας ἡμᾶς καὶ δοὺς παράκλησιν αἰωνίαν καὶ ἐλπίδα ἀγαθὴν ἐν χάριτι). Paul moves to a prayer/benediction, which reflects the elements of the first two chapters with their emphasis on hope and good works. The sentence continues in 2:17, where the main verb appears, which can be attached either to the Lord or to God the Father. This has a strong parallel in 1 Thess 3:11–13, and one comparison in particular is instructive: in 3:11 the divine names are reversed: “our God and Father” comes first, followed by “our Lord Jesus Christ.” In addition, the optative verbs that follow are in singular, even though the subject is plural. In the next sentence (3:12), the results for which Paul prays there are to be carried out by “the Lord” Jesus.

Here in the second letter, by contrast, the “Lord Jesus Christ” is followed by “God our Father,” and it is the Father who is the active person, as shown by two attribute participles “who loved us and gave us” (ὁ ἀγαπήσας ἡμᾶς καὶ δοὺς) and then by the optative verb in 2:17. This means that by comparing two similar Pauline prayers, the reader arrives at a subtle but undeniable attestation of the divinity of Christ. In both cases, God the Father and the Lord Jesus are petitioned in prayer, and one or the other who might answer that prayer. What Paul explored a few times in explicit propositions (Rom 9:5; Phil 2:6; Titus 2:13) becomes clear when he turns to God and the Lord Jesus in prayer; it is in prayer that he shows who he really thinks the Lord Jesus is.

Greek participles do not communicate the time of an action, and so it is doubtful that the Greek implies past time with the two aorist participles, “who loved us and gave us.” The only help we are given here is the context, which most likely points to God’s elective love in the past, God who then gave the Christian hope through the reception of the gospel message.

God has given the Thessalonians “eternal encouragement and good hope by his grace” (παράκλησιν αἰωνίαν καὶ ἐλπίδα ἀγαθὴν ἐν χάριτι). We take “by his grace” to be connected to both of these phrases. The two direct objects are uncommon. “Eternal encouragement” anticipates Paul’s prayer in the optative of “encourage you” in 2:17. The encouragement is not merely of some eternal quality; Paul means to say that it chronologically extends into the age to come. The same is true of “good hope”; the Thessalonians can look forward to the welcome they will receive into the kingdom (1:5).

2:17 Encourage your whole person and strengthen you with respect to every good work and word (παρακαλέσαι ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας καὶ στηρίξαι ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ ἀγαθῷ). Paul speaks in language reminiscent of 1 Thess 3:11–13. The main verb of this prayer/benediction is the aorist optative, “encourage” (παρακαλέσαι; see 1 Thess 3:11 for comments on the optative). Since it is prayer language, we translate it “may he encourage.”

Once again, we avoid translating the object of the verb (ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας) as “your hearts,” since that implies something different in English than it does in Greek (see comments on 1 Thess 3:13; see there also for comments on the translation of “strengthen you”). Paul does not ask simply that they be blessed or confirmed; he wants God and the Lord to empower them to lead a life of “goodness” (ἀγαθῷ, cf. 1 Thess 4:3). This adjective modifies both nouns. The Christian life expresses itself holistically, from the innermost person, outwardly into the interaction of the individual with others in word and deed.

Theology in Application

One cannot study the Thessalonian letters without being impressed with the central importance of divine election.

Theology in Thessalonica

The majority of Paul’s audiences (i.e., the relatively few who even bothered to listen to him in the first place) rejected and even lampooned the gospel. Even as he was dictating this letter, the Corinthian multitude was labeling his word “foolishness” (1 Cor 1:18). But during his three stops in Macedonia and two in Achaia, some few had a radically distinct reaction: they “received the word.” To Paul’s delight, the Thessalonians not only acted on the gospel, but they held on to it despite fierce trials and even actively promoted its spread. It was within this matrix that Paul thinks about cause and effect in God’s kingdom.

Perhaps we have debated the issues of election and human will in classrooms and coffee shops. But when Paul broaches the topic of God’s election, he cannot do so in a sterile environment. He speaks as evangelist and pastor of real men and women. He claims to know that the Thessalonians are chosen and shows them how their behavior patterns strike an apostle as the fruit of divine election. He reminds them that, as Calvin put it, “it was not a bare preaching that had been brought to them.”11 There were miracles and the presence of the Spirit and a gripping sense of the truth of the gospel in the minds of its envoys (1 Thess 1:5). A Thessalonian in the middle of confusion, hardship, and death is, therefore, hearing from leading experts in the gospel: “Believe us, you have had the real experience; we’d recognize it anywhere.” The joy of the apostolic team “God has chosen you” in turn bolsters the believers’ confidence and urges them further in godliness.

Yet if the Thessalonians showed every indication of being among God’s elect and thus on their way to the kingdom (1 Thess 2:12; 2 Thess 1:5), election is not the only relevant doctrine to consider. These very people, who have demonstrable signs of having been elected and called, must endure to the end if they are to receive salvation. Salvation is principally an eschatological goal (1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; 2 Thess 1:10–12; 2:14, 16), and along the pathway lies the real possibility of disaster (1 Thess 3:5). As in Jesus’ teaching and that of the other letters and Revelation, the apparently elect might apostatize and fail to receive that for which they started.

Biblical Theology

How might we handle the prickly doctrines of election and perseverance? If we would follow Paul, we will not start a debate over free will versus predestination. Instead, we will acknowledge these realities from the Thessalonian texts.

1. There exists a spectrum of data. One must agree to take all biblical evidence with seriousness. “God chose you” (cf. 1 Thess 1:4; 2 Thess 2:13) and “you received/believed the message” (cf. 1 Thess 1:6; 2 Thess 2:13) will be paid equal attention. Paul’s anxiety about whether their evangelistic work had been “in vain” (1 Thess 3:5) should also be included in the data pool. We must show ourselves capable of allowing seemingly contradictory data to exist side-by-side, even as we try to synthesize them.12

2. The “call” to salvation seems to take two meanings, depending on the context. First Thessalonians 2:12 speaks of God’s calling or summoning the Thessalonians into his eschatological kingdom; 4:7 speaks of God’s call to purity; 5:24 speaks of God’s call without further detail. Similarly, 2 Thess 1:5 speaks of being worthy of his calling; 2:14 of calling them by means of the gospel presentation.

On the one hand, God uses preachers to call everyone to believe (Rom 1:5). On the other, there is a “call” to become a Christian that was experienced only by those who believed. This is why Paul can say in Rom 1:6 that “you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ”; in the context only the predestined receive that call (see Rom 8:28: 8:30; 11:29) while, logically, other people have not been so called. See also Rev 17:14: those “with [the Lamb] will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

One of the points of contention between Arminians and Calvinists has been precisely the nature of that second kind of call. The former hold that God’s call was given within a context of “prevenient grace”; that is, after the fall of Adam, God gave all people a measure of grace sufficient to overcome their hardness and to receive the gospel. The other view is that God’s grace is effective in carrying out God’s elective will. Hence the Westminster Confession 10.1: “All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call … effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ.” Critical to this definition, yet at times overlooked, is the qualifier, “they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.”13

3. God is the subject, not the object, of “election.” “Were chosen” in 1 Thess 1:4 and “has chosen” in 2 Thess 2:13 and other verbs or action nouns in the New Testament predicate a free choice on God’s part. This is why John Calvin (like Augustine before him) was infuriated when one of his detractors accused him of teaching “predestination and fate.” The confusing of the two concepts, said he, was “outraging all decency … to confound things the most opposite”:

Fate, according to the Stoics, is a necessity springing out of a changeable and complicated labyrinth, and binding in some measure God himself. Instructed by the Scriptures, I define predestination as the free counsel of God, by which he regulates the human race, and all the individual parts of the universe, according to his own immense wisdom, and incomprehensible justice.14

The personal, living God is the All-Free One, who chooses to initiate a relationship with yet unborn persons; Paul states in Eph 1:4 that it took place prior to the creation itself.

4. The apostles spoke of election within different contexts. Noteworthy passages about divine election are Rom 8:28–30; 1 Thess 1:4; and 1 Pet 1:2; it is striking that all do so in the context of persecution. That is, the authors affirm God’s election and love in situations where doubt might have crept in. In other situations, the authors seem to use the doctrine to warn their audiences about apostasy (all throughout Hebrews) or to exhort them (2 Pet 1:10) to “make very effort to confirm your calling and election.” That is, the doctrine of election is no hope for those who drift away from the faith.

5. Both the church and the individual may be said to be “elect.” According to 1 Pet 2:9 God’s people as a corporate whole are a “chosen people.” In 1 Thess 1:4, however, it would be awkward to regard election as “corporate.” It would involve Paul in a tautology (a statement that is true by necessity and thus not worth saying): that he was certain that God had chosen the Thessalonian church because that group received the gospel. It makes better sense if Paul is thinking of the faith that he detects in the believers as individuals.

6. Election is demonstrable only by its effects on human behavior. The so-called “free grace theology” maintains that good works are not a necessary proof of faith in Christ. In fact, this viewpoint goes on to say that those who insist on visible works do not truly believe in justification by faith. With regard to perseverance, one popular preacher writes that

God’s love for His people is of such magnitude that even those who walk away from the faith have not the slightest chance of slipping from His hand…. [We] are not saved because we have an enduring faith. We are saved because at a moment in time we expressed faith in our enduring Lord.15

This notion would never have passed muster with Paul. He satisfied himself that the Thessalonians were God’s people by examining how they conducted their lives, not by the fact that they professed faith at some point in time. He follows the teaching of Jesus (Matt 7:16–20; John 3:8) that the relationship of a person to the Father is detectable to other human beings by the evidence of a changed life, visible only after the conversion of that individual.16

7. The doctrine of election, far from making prayer moot, makes it a vital component in the saints’ perseverance. Success in the Christian life consists in the work of God, and God works mightily through the prayers of a pastoral figure (1 Thess 3:12; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:17). Of course, theologians may argue over what is the exact relation between prayer, perseverance, and election. Do believers persevere because they are elect? Or do they remain elect because they continue in the faith? It is clear that God works to have them persevere (1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 3:3; cf. Phil 1:6). It is also clear that Paul prays that they will do so, and by implication, believes that pastoral prayer and effort are ingredients in their persistence (see 2 Tim 2:10).

8. The doctrine of election is not a deterrent but a spur to seeking the lost. Paul is yet again a model for his disciples, showing how prayer and thanksgiving are a vital part of the gospel work (2 Thess 3:1; see too Col 4:2–3a). When we pray that the gospel will be received, it happens that it meets with success. God works so that people turn to Christ in faith.

Summary. God chose both a people, which included the church of the Thessalonians and its members, bestowing on them his covenant love. His intervention and the coming promised Spirit of the new covenant bring about what Israel of old did not consistently do: the Gentiles put away idols; serve God; experience the eschatological love, joy, and hope while living in an age of tribulation; and await future salvation. Being part of God’s people demands a life of service to God; that is, Spirit-bred works are a necessary adjunct to election. That is why when the devil tried to “shake” the Thessalonians, Paul felt genuine fear and was not certain apart from Timothy’s testimony that they had endured Satan’s pounding.17 He viewed prayer as a factor in people’s reception of the gospel and their endurance.

Message of This Passage for the Church Today

If election is a biblical doctrine, it is also clear that the Christian is an active agent in the proclamation, reception, and incarnation of the gospel. I speak here, being persuaded of the Reformed doctrine of election, but I think brothers and sisters from across the spectrum will benefit by these comments.18

Evangelistic methodology. Paul himself was a brilliant strategist who planted a string of self-replicating congregations in key cities. We know from Acts that he knew how to contextualize his message. He strikes us as a man who would have had no tolerance for unclear preaching or sloppy organization.

Nevertheless, some people put so much emphasis on strategizing that it leads to the idolization of method. That is, we implicitly decide that God cannot or will not work outside of our set of assumptions—be they traditional, Pentecostal, or emergent. The election doctrine for its part “reminds the contemporary church that to be a church is to participate in an activity initiated by God.”19 We exist because God chose a new people and intervened in power at this time and not another; our own conversions were a late chapter in this story and our personal actions long postdate the Spirit’s work. This is hard to swallow when we are daily told that we create our own reality by our own choices.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy become our “models” in these letters. They do not simply give a treatise about God’s work or even a treatise about prayer. Rather, they report how they always speak to God and thus enter into what he is doing, and they invite the Thessalonians and us to join in. Calvinists and Arminians—all Christians must agree on the efficacy of intercession for drawing people into the flock and keeping them there.20 We are never more in line with the reality of God’s doings than when we are praying and giving thanks for his work in people.

Overthinking the doctrine of election. Most Christians do not give the doctrine of election sufficient thought. Yet there are also those who brood over the mysteries of God’s sovereignty and risk falling into paralysis. Looked at this way, some say: perhaps Abraham defied God when he interceded for the cities of the plain, who were already under God’s judgment. In that case, who is to know whether we should pray for Bill or for Mary, when for all we know they are already under God’s condemnation?

Now and again I have been struck with a sudden realization that God wanted me to pray for or share my faith with a specific individual. But I can hardly exegete my experience to mean that I should pray for a person only if and when the Holy Spirit tips me off that they are fair game for evangelism. This perspective is out of harmony with the apostolic pattern. Paul prayed for groups and for individuals to come to Christ, and he did not seem to worry that he would offend God’s sovereignty. Do we imagine that we are so spiritually sharp that we won’t misidentify our run-of-the-mill coldness of heart as the Holy Spirit’s saying “don’t bother to pray”? By all means let us pray for discernment, but within a vital active lifestyle of prayer and evangelism.