“2 Thessalonians 3”

Friday, July 26, 2013

Could you please give me an overview of what Paul is saying in 2 Thessalonians 3?  I sincerely thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Looking For Cliff Notes

Dear Looking For Cliff Notes,

2 Thessalonians 3 is the final chapter of Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica.  The Thessalonian church was a very young church that had already suffered a great deal of persecution (Acts 17:1-9).  This chapter can be broken into three major sections:

1. In the beginning of the chapter, Paul asks the brethren to pray for him (2 Thess 3:1-2) and reminds them to never stop obeying the Scriptures (2 Thess 3:4).
2. The second section deals with a problem in the church.  There were people in the congregation who were lazy and living off the kindness of others (2 Thess 3:6).  Paul commanded them to stop enabling this lazy behavior and to rebuke these brethren, so that they would get to work and stop taking advantage of others (2 Thess 3:10-12).
3. The last section is full of some final words of encouragement.  Paul urges them to never give up or grow weary (2 Thess 3:13), to stand firm, and discipline unruly brethren (2 Thess 3:14-15).  And last, but not least, he reminds them of how much he loves them (2 Thess 3:17-18).

Share