_MUTUAL INTERCESSION._
"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run
and be glorified, even as also _it is_ with you; and that we may
be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for all have not faith.
But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and guard you from
the evil _one_. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you,
that ye both do and will do the things which we command. And the Lord
direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of
Christ."--2 THESS. iii. 1-5 (R.V.).
The main part of this letter is now finished. The Apostle has
completed his teaching about the Second Advent, and the events which
precede and condition it; and nothing remains to dispose of but some
minor matters of personal and practical interest.
He begins by asking again, as at the close of the First Epistle, the
prayers of the Thessalonians for himself and his fellow-workers. It
was a strength and comfort to him, as to every minister of Christ, to
know that he was remembered by those who loved him in the presence of
God. But it is no selfish or private interest that the Apostle has in
view when he begs a place in their prayers; it is the interest of the
work with which he has identified himself. "Pray for us, that the word
of the Lord may run and be glorified." This was the one business and
concern of his life; if it went well, all his desires were satisfied.
Hardly anything in the New Testament gives us a more characteristic
look of the Apostle's soul than his desire that the word of the Lord
should _run_. The word of the Lord is the gospel, of which he is the
principal herald to the nations; and we see in his choice of this word
his sense of its urgency. It was glad tidings to all mankind; and how
sorely needed wherever he turned his eyes! The constraint of Christ's
love was upon his heart, the constraint of men's sin and misery; and
he could not pass swiftly enough from city to city, to proclaim the
reconciling grace of God, and call men from darkness unto light. His
eager heart fretted against barriers and restraints of every
description; he saw in them the malice of the great enemy of Christ:
"I was minded once and again to come unto you, but Satan hindered me."
Hence it is that he asks the Thessalonians to pray for their removal,
that the word of the Lord may run. The ardour of such a prayer, and of
the heart which prompts it, is far enough removed from the common
temper of the Church, especially where it has been long established.
How many centuries there were during which Christendom, as it was
called, was practically a fixed quantity, shut up within the limits of
Western European civilisation, and not aspiring to advance a single
step beyond it, fast or slow. It is one of the happy omens of our own
time that the apostolic conception of the gospel as an ever-advancing,
ever-victorious force, has begun again to take its place in the
Christian heart. If it is really to us what it was to St. Paul--a
revelation of God's mercy and judgment which dwarfs everything else, a
power omnipotent to save, an irresistible pressure of love on heart
and will, glad tidings of great joy that the world is dying for--we
shall share in this ardent, evangelical spirit, and pray for all
preachers that the word of the Lord may run very swiftly. How it
passed in apostolic times from land to land and from city to
city--from Syria to Asia, from Asia to Macedonia, from Macedonia to
Greece, from Greece to Italy, from Italy to Spain--till in one man's
lifetime, and largely by one man's labour, it was known throughout the
Roman world. It is easy, indeed, to over-estimate the number of the
early Christians; but we can hardly over-estimate the fiery speed with
which the Cross went forth conquering and to conquer. Missionary zeal
is one note of the true Apostolic Church.
But Paul wishes the Thessalonians to pray that the word of the Lord
may be glorified, as well as have free course. The word of the Lord is
a glorious thing itself. As the Apostle calls it in another place, it
is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. All that makes the
spiritual glory of God--His holiness, His love, His wisdom--is
concentrated and displayed in it. But its glory is acknowledged, and
in that sense heightened, when its power is seen in the salvation of
men. A message from God that did nothing would not be glorified: it
would be discredited and shamed. It is the glory of the gospel to lay
hold of men, to transfigure them, to lift them out of evil into the
company and the likeness of Christ. For anything else it does, it may
not fill a great space in the world's eye; but when it actually brings
the power of God to save those who receive it, it is clothed in glory.
Paul did not wish to preach without seeing the fruits of his labour.
He did the work of an evangelist; and he would have been ashamed of
the evangel if it had not wielded a Divine power to overcome sin and
bring the sinful to God. Pray that it may always have this power. Pray
that when the word of the Lord is spoken it may not be an ineffective,
fruitless word, but mighty through God.
There is an expression in Titus ii. 10 analogous to this: "Adorning
the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." That expression is
less fervent, spoken at a lower level, than the one before us; but it
more readily suggests, for that very reason, some duties of which we
should be reminded here also. It comes home to all who try to bring
their conduct into any kind of relation to the gospel of Christ. It is
only too possible for us to disgrace the gospel; but it is in our
power also, by every smallest action we do, to illustrate it, to set
it off, to put its beauty in the true light before the eyes of
men. The gospel comes into the world, like everything else, to be
judged on its merits; that is, by the effects which it produces in the
lives of those who receive it. We are its witnesses; its character, in
the general mind, is as good as our character; it is as lovely as we
are lovely, as strong as we are strong, as glorious as we are
glorious, and no more. Let us seek to bear it a truer and worthier
witness than we have yet done. To adorn it is a calling far higher
than most of us have aimed at; but if it comes into our prayers, if
its swift diffusion and powerful operation are near our hearts in the
sight of God, grace will be given us to do this also.
The next request of the Apostle has more of a personal aspect, yet it
also has his work in view. He asks prayer that he and his friends may
be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men, he says,
have not faith. The unreasonable and wicked men were no doubt the Jews
in Corinth, from which place he wrote. Their malignant opposition was
the great obstacle to the spread of the gospel; they were the
representatives and instruments of the Satan who perpetually hindered
him. The word here rendered unreasonable is a rare one in the New
Testament. It occurs four times in all, and in each case is
differently translated: once it is "amiss," once "harm," once
"wickedness," and here "unreasonable." The margin in this place
renders it "absurd." What it literally means is, "out of place"; and
the Apostle signifies by it, that in the opposition of these men to
the gospel there was something preposterous, something that baffled
explanation; there was no reason in it, and therefore it was hopeless
to reason with it. That is a disposition largely represented both in
the Old Testament and the New, and familiar to every one who in
preaching the gospel has come into close contact with men. It was one
of the great trials of Jesus that He had to endure the contradiction
of those who were sinners against themselves; who rejected the counsel
of God in their own despite; in other words, were unreasonable men.
The gospel, we must remember, is good news; it is good news to all
men. It tells of God's love to the sinful; it brings pardon, holiness,
immortal hope, to every one. Why, then, should anybody have a quarrel
with it? Is it not enough to drive reason to despair, that men should
wantonly, stubbornly, malignantly, hate and resist such a message? Is
there anything in the world more provoking than to offer a real and
indispensable service, out of a true and disinterested love, and to
have it contemptuously rejected? That is the fate of the gospel in
many quarters; that was the constant experience of our Lord and of St.
Paul. No wonder, in the interests of his mission, the Apostle prays to
be delivered from unreasonable men. Are there any of us who come
under this condemnation? who are senselessly opposed to the gospel,
enemies in intention of God, but in reality hurting no one so much as
ourselves? The Apostle does not indicate in his prayer any mode of
deliverance. He may have hoped that in God's providence his
persecutors would have their attention distracted somehow; he may have
hoped that by greater wisdom, greater love, greater power of
adaptation, of becoming all things to all men, he might vanquish their
unreason, and gain access to their souls for the truth. In any case,
his request shows us that the gospel has a battle to fight that we
should hardly have anticipated--a battle with sheer perversity, with
blind, wilful absurdity--and that this is one of its most dangerous
foes. "O that they were wise," God cries of His ancient people, "O
that they understood." He has the same lament to utter still.
We ought to notice the reason appended to this description of Paul's
enemies: absurd and evil men, he says; for all men have not faith.
Faith, of course, means the Christian faith: all men are not believers
in Christ and disciples of Christ; and therefore the moral unreason
and perversity of which I have spoken actually exist. He who has the
faith is morally sane; he has that in him which is inconsistent with
such wickedness and irrationality. We can hardly suppose, however,
that the Apostle meant to state such a superfluous truism as that all
men were not Christians. What he does mean is apparently that not all
men have affinity for the faith, have aptitude or liking for it; as
Christ said when He stood before Pilate, the voice of truth is only
heard by those who are _of_ the truth. So it was when the apostles
preached. Among their hearers there were those who were _of_ the
truth, in whom there was, as it were, the instinct for the faith; they
welcomed the message. Others, again, discovered no such natural
relation to the truth; in spite of the adaptation of the message to
human needs, they had no sympathy with it; there was no reaction in
their hearts in its favour; it was unreasonable to them; and to God
they were unreasonable. The Apostle does not explain this; he simply
remarks it. It is one of the ultimate and inexplicable facts of human
experience; one of the meeting-points of nature and freedom which defy
our philosophies. Some _are_ of kin to the gospel when they hear it;
they have faith, and justify the counsel of God, and are saved: others
are of _no_ kin to the gospel; its wisdom and love wake no response in
them; they have not faith; they reject the counsel of God to their own
ruin; they are preposterous and evil men. It is from such, as
hinderers of the gospel, that Paul prays to be delivered.
In the two verses which follow, he plays, as it were, with this word
"faith." All men have not faith, he writes; but _the Lord_ is
faithful, and _we_ have _faith_ in the Lord touching you. Often the
Apostle goes on thus at a word. Often, especially, he contrasts the
trustworthiness of God with the faithlessness of men. Men may not take
the gospel seriously; but the Lord does. He is in indubitable earnest
with it; He may be depended upon to do His part in carrying it into
effect. See how unselfishly, at this point, the Apostle turns from his
own situation to that of his readers. The Lord is faithful who will
stablish _you_, and keep you from the evil one. Paul had left the
Thessalonians exposed to very much the same trouble as beset himself
wherever he went; but he had left them to One who, he well knew, was
able to keep them from falling, and to preserve them against all that
the devil and his agents could do.
And side by side with this confidence in God stood his confidence
touching the Thessalonians themselves. He was sure in the Lord that
they were doing, and would continue to do, the things which he
commanded them; in other words, that they would lead a worthy and
becoming Christian life. The point of this sentence lies in the words
"in the Lord." Apart from the Lord, Paul could have had no such
confidence as he here expresses. The standard of the Christian life is
lofty and severe; its purity, its unworldliness, its brotherly love;
its burning hope, were new things then in the world. What assurance
could there be that this standard would be maintained, when the small
congregation of working people in Thessalonica was cast upon its own
resources in the midst of a pagan community? None at all, apart from
Christ. If _He_ had left them along with the Apostle, no one could
have risked much upon their fidelity to the Christian calling. It
marks the beginning of a new era when the Apostle writes, "We have
confidence _in the Lord_ touching you." Life has a new element now, a
new atmosphere, new resources; and therefore we may cherish new hopes
of it. When we think of them, the words include a gentle admonition to
the Thessalonians, to beware of forgetting the Lord, and trusting to
themselves; that is a disappointing path, which will put the Apostle's
confidence toward them to shame. But it is an admonition as hopeful as
it is gentle; reminding them that, though the path of Christian
obedience cannot be trodden without constant effort, it is a path on
which the Lord accompanies and upholds all who trust in Him. Here
there is a lesson for us all to learn. Even those who are engaged in
work for Christ are too apt to forget that the only hope of such work
is the Lord. "Trust no man," says the wisest of commentators, "left to
himself." Or to put the same thing more in accordance with the spirit
of the text, there always is room for hope and confidence when the
Lord is not forgotten. _In the Lord_, you may depend upon those who
_in themselves_ are weak, unstable, wilful, foolish. In the Lord, you
may depend on them to stand fast, to fight their temptations, to
overcome the world and the wicked one. This kind of assurance, and the
actual presence and help of Christ which justified it, are very
characteristic of the New Testament. They explain the joyous, open,
hopeful spirit of the early Church; they are the cause, as well as the
effect, of that vigorous moral health which, in the decay of ancient
civilisation, gave the Church the inheritance of the future. And still
we may have confidence in the Lord that all whom He has called by His
gospel will be able by His spiritual presence with them to walk worthy
of that calling, and to confute alike the fears of the good and the
contempt of the wicked. For the Lord is faithful, who will stablish
them, and preserve them from the evil one.
Once more the Apostle bursts into prayer, as he remembers the
situation of these few sheep in the wilderness: "The Lord direct your
hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ." Nothing
could be a better commentary than one of Paul's own affectionate
Epistles on that much discussed text, "Pray without ceasing." Look,
for instance, through this one with which we are engaged. It begins
with a prayer for grace and peace. This is followed by a thanksgiving
in which God is acknowledged as the Author of all their graces. The
first chapter ends with a prayer--an unceasing prayer--that God would
count them worthy of His calling. In the second chapter Paul renews
his thanksgiving on behalf of his converts, and prays again that God
may comfort their hearts and stablish them in every good work and
word. And here, the moment he has touched upon a new topic, he
returns, as it were by instinct, to prayer. "The Lord direct your
hearts." Prayer is his very element; he lives, and moves, and has his
being, in God. He can do nothing, he cannot conceive of anything being
done, in which God is not as directly participant as himself, or those
whom he wishes to bless. Such an intense appreciation of God's
nearness and interest in life goes far beyond the attainments of most
Christians; yet here, no doubt, lies a great part of the Apostle's
power.
The prayer has two parts: he asks that the Lord may direct their
hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ. The love
of God here means love to God; this is the sum of all Christian
virtue, or at least the source of it. The gospel proclaims that God is
love; it tells us that God has proved His love by sending His Son to
die for our sins; it shows us Christ on the cross, in the passion of
that love with which He loved us when He gave Himself for us; and it
waits for the answer of love. It comprehended the whole effect of the
gospel, the whole mystery of its saving and re-creating power, when
the Apostle exclaimed, "The love of Christ constraineth us." It is
this experience which in the passage before us he desires for the
Thessalonians. There is no one without love, or at least without the
power of loving, in his heart. But what is the object of it? On what
is it actually directed? The very words of the prayer imply that it is
easily misdirected. But surely if love itself best merits and may best
claim love, none should be the object of it before Him who is its
source. God has earned our love; He desires our love; let us look to
the Cross where He has given us the great pledge of His own, and yield
to its sweet constraint. The old law is not abolished, but to be
fulfilled: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind."
If the Lord fix our souls to Himself by this irresistible attraction,
nothing will be able to carry us away.
Love to God is naturally joyous; but life has other experiences than
those which give free scope for its joyous exercise; and so the
Apostle adds, "into the patience of Jesus Christ." The Authorised
Version renders, "the patient waiting for Christ," as if what the
Apostle prayed for were that they might continue steadfastly to hope
for the Last Advent; but although that idea is characteristic of
these Epistles, it is hardly to be found in the words. Rather does he
remind his readers that in the difficulties and sufferings of the path
which lies before them, no strange thing is happening to them, nothing
that has not already been borne by Christ in the spirit in which it
ought to be borne by us. Our Saviour Himself had need of patience. He
was made flesh, and all that the children of God have to suffer in
this world has already been suffered by Him. This prayer is at once
warning and consoling. It assures us that those who will live godly
will have trials to bear: there will be untoward circumstances; feeble
health; uncongenial relations; misunderstanding and malice;
unreasonable and evil men; abundant calls for patience. But there will
be no sense of having missed the way, or of being forgotten by God; on
the contrary, there will be in Jesus Christ, ever present, a type and
a fountain of patience, which will enable them to overcome all that is
against them. The love of God and the patience of Christ may be called
the active and the passive sides of Christian goodness,--its free,
steady outgoing to Him who is the source of all blessing; and its
deliberate, steady, hopeful endurance, in the spirit of Him who was
made perfect through suffering. The Lord direct our hearts into both,
that we may be perfect men in Christ Jesus.