Category Archives: 2 Thessalonians

“I Didn’t Recognize The Number”

A couple of weeks ago a man decided to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest mountain in Colorado. It’s just a bit under 15,000 ft., so it’s doable in a day. He started in the morning, reached the summit, and started back down. He got a little disoriented, darkness fell, and he ended up spending theContinue reading ““I Didn’t Recognize The Number””

Working For The Lord

Can you guess what the following statistics (from Karl Thompson) have reference to? It’s something that occupies: 14 % of your total life, 21 % of your total waking hours, 23.3% of your life during the years you’re actually you’re doing this, 35% of your waking hours during those years you’re doing this, 50% ofContinue reading “Working For The Lord”

I See Trouble On The Way (3)

Historically speaking 1. If the man of lawlessness represents a pronounced escalation of evil and apostasy, is there any way for us to identify it? Can we look back at some point in the first century (or afterward) and say this is what Paul was talking about? Are Paul’s words even meant to be takenContinue reading “I See Trouble On The Way (3)”

I See Trouble On The Way (2)

Unpacking the text 1. He tells the Thessalonians that Jesus will not return “until the rebellion occurs, and the man of lawlessness is revealed” (2:3). So, we have two things to work with—the rebellion and the revealing of the man of lawlessness who is also referred to as “the man doomed to destruction” (v. 3).Continue reading “I See Trouble On The Way (2)”

I See Trouble On The Way (1)

Some preliminaries After working with 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 a bit, I caught myself thinking that it would have been okay with me if this particular text had never made it into the biblical canon! It could be like the letter Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians 5:9 that served its purpose in the first centuryContinue reading “I See Trouble On The Way (1)”

Worthy Of His Calling

Part of Paul’s prayer for the disciples at Thessalonica is that “our God may make you worthy of His calling” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). He prays the same sort of thing for disciples everywhere (Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10). Interestingly, this passage is singular in the sense that this is the only text where God’sContinue reading “Worthy Of His Calling”