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Day 327 – Thru the Bible
Today we complete First Thessalonians. Excellent work!
1 Thessalonians 5 – Paul continues His encouragement from chapter 4 here. Whether we live in Jesus or die in Jesus , we who are in Jesus will live forever with Him as children of light. So, Paul admonishes us to “be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” All this is established in God’s sovereign love, having “not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is our glorious hope through the Gospel of Jesus, who died in our place. The promise of the Gospel is that Jesus died as the certain guarantee of our inheritance and will return that we might live with Him forever.
As is common for Paul, he concludes his letter to the Thessalonian church with a litany of exhortations established on the truths of the Gospel he has set forth throughout his letter. The imperatives of the Christian life—what we are called to do as we follow Jesus by faith—are founded on and flow from the indicatives of the Christian life—who we are in Jesus by faith.
Moreover, every imperative in the Christian life is provided to us as a gracious admonition from God so that we might glorify Him and enjoy Him as we live the free and abundant life we have in Jesus—who is the way, the truth, and the life ().
The commands of God are the Believer’s delight as we live by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill God’s calling while we “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), “pray without ceasing,” and “give thanks in all circumstances,” resting in the hope that “the God of peace himself” will “sanctify [us] completely” because “He who calls [us] is faithful” and “will surely do it.” We remain responsible to live the Christian life, even as we rest upon the faithfulness of the Lord and rely upon His power.
How do you remember that your identity in Jesus always precedes and empowers your doing for Jesus?
What other thoughts or questions does today’s reading bring up?
Some of these notes are from the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible study notes. We highly recommend this study Bible.
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