1 Thessalonians
5:23-28
4. Benediction and postscript
Prayer, final injunction and blessing
ArgumentPaul now concludes his letter with a prayer for the holiness of the members of the Thessalonian congregation, along with a number of injunctions, and a final invocation for the grace of God to be bestowed on those who hear / read the letter.
Issues
i] Context: See 1:1-3.
ii] Structure: Benediction and postscript
Benediction, v23-24:
A prayer for holiness / sanctification, v23;
A promise for its realisation, v24.
Request for prayer, v25;
The holy greeting, v26;
Injunction, v27:
Concerning the public reading of the letter.
Invocation of grace, v28.
iii] Interpretation:
Although the placement of the benedictory prayer, v24-25, is usually tied to the conclusion of the letter, it is probably more tightly linked to Paul's exhortations toward Christian living, 4:1-5:22. This is particularly evident in the two main themes of the benediction, namely, holiness and the parousia, "appearing", of Christ. These themes are dominant in 4:1-5:22. Note how Paul's relationship with the Thessalonian church, 2:1-3:13, similarly ends with a prayer in 3:11-13.
Throughout 4:1-5:22 Paul calls on his readers to strive toward holiness / sanctification; "the life to which God has called us is not one of uncleanness; it is a life of holiness", Cassirer, cf., 4:7. As is always the case, when it comes to holiness / sanctification, the imperative rests on an indicative - the believer is to strive to be what they are. In 5:23-24, Paul reminds his readers that what they are rests wholly on the grace of God. Holiness / sanctification is not something a believer can attain through their own efforts, but is bestowed and maintained by a gracious God. This is a very simple truth, although not easily grasped.
The new perspective on Paul (see Galatians) has not only unsettled the proposition that justification is by grace through faith apart from law, it has also further confused the sense of sanctification (aJgiazw, "to make holy, sanctify), already undermined by the notion that it is progressed by faithful obedience. In Christ, by grace through faith, we are already completely sanctified, completely holy. We can't make ourselves more holy by our behaviour, nor can we make ourselves less holy by our behaviour. If we stand with Jesus we are holy - we are sanctified oJloteleiV, "wholly, completely." Holiness is given, it is bestowed, and so Paul prays that God aJgiasai uJmaV oJloteleiV, "sanctify you completely." Such is the indicative, the given, and to this we apply the imperative, that we should strive to be what we are. Sanctification is a state of holiness, which, in the renewing power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we seek to realise in our daily life, albeit imperfectly, ie., sanctification is the progressive realisation of what we are already in Christ.
The second part of the benediction for the Thessalonian believers calls on God to thrhqeih, "keep, preserve", them amemptwV, "blamelessly", en th/ parousia/, "to the appearing, coming", of Christ - kept in their state of holiness until the day of judgment, kept to their faith. Paul is seeking their perseverance in faith, not their obedience. Faithful obedience cannot make them blameless; only faith in Christ can make them blameless. Again, it is grace that guarantees the preservation of the flock, and faith the key that facilitates its realisation.
The letter's closing covers v25-28. It consists of three specific requests, and closes with an invocation of grace. The first request is a request for prayer. Paul is seeking prayers for his mission team, and so presumably he is asking for prayer-support for his gospel ministry. The second request is somewhat unclear. In Eastern society family members and friends would kiss the cheek of another, both male and female, as an expression of mutual respect and affection. Paul may be asking the church members to treat each other as family, but it is unlikely that he is instituting a liturgical greeting, even though such soon became part of Christian worship (a tradition reinstituted today in the giving of peace - a liturgical practice viewed by many as disruptive!). It is likely that Paul is asking the person who is reading the letter to the church to offer an affectionate greeting to the congregation on his behalf (blow a kiss); see Collins, Studies on the First letter to the Thessalonians, 1984. The third request is a strongly worded note calling on the church elders to read the letter to the congregation and not restrict its communication. It is likely that this note is in Paul's own hand.
Paul concludes with a concluding benediction, an invocation of grace. The word "grace" appears in all the concluding benedictions in Paul's letters, as it does in the salutations at the beginning of the letters. One thing we are sure of with Paul is that all is grace. This grace is not any old grace, it is the gift of divine favour that flows from Jesus Christ; it is the undeserved, unmerited, mercy and kindness bestowed by God on those united to Christ in faith.
Text - 5:23
Benediction and postscript, v23-28: i] Benediction, v23-24 - a prayer for full sanctification and a promise for its realisation. The prayer is so important that Paul repeats it in the second clause of v23; he prays that they be completely sanctified and that their whole person be preserved entirely and without blame, cf., Morris. Again, the indicative and imperative apply. Through faith in Christ the Thessalonian believers stand perfectly holy / sanctified in the presence of God, a promise according to God's will that Paul rightly prays for. At the same time, it is necessary that the Thessalonian believers strive, in the renewing power of the Spirit of Christ, for sanctified living, for which Paul prays, in accord with God's will. Neither their "complete sanctification", nor their being "preserved blameless", is dependent on their own personal struggle for it, but on their trust in God who, having called them to himself, will complete what he began, cf., Fee, p231.
Weima suggests the following structure:
A. may he sanctify (verb)
B. you (recipients)
C. complete (adjective)
C1. whole (adjective)
B1. your spirit and soul and body (recipients)
A1. may it be preserved (verb)
With his use of the two adjectives, "complete" and "whole", Paul's prayer for the Thessalonian believers is "for nothing less that their total and complete sanctification", Weima.
de "-" - but/and. Transitional, serving to indicate a step in the argument, ie., a paragraph marker; "Now may the God of peace ...", ESV.
aJgiasai (aJagiazw) opt. "may ....... sanctify" - may ..... sanctify. Optative verb expressing a wish, here a wish-prayer. On "sanctify", see above.
autoV pro. "himself" - he. Subject of the optative verb "may sanctify, make holy", The pronoun is usually treated as intensive, "May the God of peace himself ....."
oJ qeoV (oV) "the God" - the god. Nominative, standing in apposition to the personal pronoun autoV, "he".
thV eirhnhV "of peace" - of peace. The genitive is adjectival, descriptive, idiomatic / producer, or verbal, subjective "the God who bestows / brings about peace"; "the God who gives us peace", TEV.
oJloteleiV adj. "through and through" - [sanctify you] complete. This adjective takes the predicate position, modifying "you" (the congregation, ie., "you all"), although it is usually treated adverbially, with a qualitative emphasis rather than quantitative, "may he sanctify you so that ye be entire", Lightfoot; "sanctify you complete" = "wholly sanctify" / "make you thoroughly holy" - "Paul's prayer is that the God of peace will sanctify the Thessalonians 'completely'", Weima. Although Paul is directing his words to the congregation as a whole, he has in mind the complete sanctification of the individual rather than the sanctification of the congregation itself. Paul is not advocating a notion of full sanctification appropriated by a particular spiritual endeavour. Being wholly sanctified is a work of divine grace found in union with Christ through faith and realised, in part, in our walk with the Spirit. As such, Paul is able to pray that the Thessalonians be completely sanctified; "Make you holy through and through", Cassirer.
thrhqein (threw) opt. aor. pas. "may ...... be kept" - [and] may keep, guard = preserve. Optative, expressing a wish, here as a wish-prayer. This second wish-prayer "repeats and extends the first", Wanamaker.
oloklhron adj. "whole" - [the] whole, complete, undamaged, intact. This second adjective is attributive, and because it is singular, it technically only limits the first noun, "spirit", although the other two nouns are likely included, cf., BDF #135.3. Paul prays that their whole being be preserved" when the Lord comes. The sense of the word is "being complete and meeting all expectations", BDAG. Morris suggest that there is a sacrificial allusion in the use of this word such that "the entire surrender of the man to God ... is involved in sanctification." Still, the verb "to be kept" is passive, so again, God does the keeping of the whole / complete spirit, soul and body, and this to a complete end, namely, our being blameless in the day of Christ's appearing.
to pneuma (a atoV) "spirit" - spirit [and the soul and the body of you be preserved]. The first noun of a combined subject of the optative verb "to be preserved." This three-part division has prompted debate. Is our being made up of body, soul and spirit, or just body and soul/spirit? That a human consists of body / flesh and spirit / soul (the God breathed element) is the dominant teaching of the scriptures. It is likely that Paul is being less than technical at this point, but it can be argued that to pneuma is alluding to "the Holy Spirit" as the mediator of the sanctifying power that makes the "soul and body" "blameless".
en + dat. "at" - [blameless] in = at, on [the appearing of the lord of us]. Temporal use of the preposition. The genitive tou kuriou, "of the Lord", is adjectival, and is also probably temporal, giving the sense "at the time / on the day when the Lord appears". This reflects the common NT phrase hJ parousia tou uiJou tou anqrwpou, "the coming / appearing of the Son of Man" = "when the Son of Man comes." The sense is simple enough: "may your spirit, soul and body be kept faultless until our Lord Jesus returns", CEV. The genitive hJmwn, "of us", is adjectival, either possessive, as NIV, or idiomatic / subordination, "Lord over us".
Ihsou Cristou (oV) gen. "Jesus Christ" - jesus christ. Genitive, standing in apposition to the genitive "Lord [of us]"; "our Lord, namely Jesus Christ."
v24
A word of assurance to the Thessalonians that God will do what he says he will do, with respect to their complete sanctification.
oJ kalwn (kalew) pres. part. "The one who calls" - the one calling [you]. The participle serves as a substantive, subject of an assumed verb to-be. The present tense, being durative, is likely underlining process in the divine initiative. The divine "call" can simply mean "invite", but here it is likely to mean God's sovereign initiative in eternally setting apart an elect people for himself, a people gathered on the basis of grace through faith, cf., 1:4, 2:12, 3:3.
pistoV adj. "is faithful" - is trusted. Predicate adjective, emphatic by position. Given the character of God, he will bring to fruition Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians, namely their complete sanctification. God is "absolutely to be relied on to carry out what has been promised", Fee.
kai "and" - and [who will do, effect it]. Here probably epexegetic, introducing a relative clause which explains what is meant by "faithful", "that is, he will do what he has promised to do". "He will finish what he set out to do", Phillips.
v25
ii] Request for prayer, v25. Paul has prayed for the Thessalonians and so calls on them to reciprocate. To his end, scribes over the years have added an adjunctive kai, "pray also for us." This request by Paul further expresses his affection for the Thessalonian believers.
peri + gen. "[pray] for [us]" - [brothers pray] for [us]. The preposition is used here to express advantage, as uJper, "for the sake of, for the benefit of".
v26
iii] The holy greeting, v26. Displays of affection, particularly kissing, was not normal in the Graeco-Roman world, and certainly not in Jewish society. Kissing was normally restricted to family members. It is not at all clear whether kissing was a widespread practice between believers as a form of brotherly greeting. The only references are Acts 20:37 (a very emotional moment between friends), Peter's exhortation in 1 Peter 5:14, and Paul in his letters: Rom.16:16, 1Cor.16:20, 2Cor.13:12 and here. The practice certainly developed in the early church, with the "kiss of peace" becoming a significant religious act within a liturgical setting, presumably the Eucharist. The practice is documented by Justin Martyr, AD 150. In the following years the practice was restricted and later dropped due to its sexual connotations.
It is quite possible that Paul is neither confirming, nor introducing, a particular form of religious greeting between believers, ie., a kiss "to symbolise the unity of the community as the family of God", Wanamaker. Given v25, it is likely Paul is saying "greet everyone with a kiss from me", Morris. This not a literal physical "kiss", but a "holy kiss", an expression of affection like the affection expressed in the kiss of close family members. Paul is giving his brothers and sisters at Thessalonica a big mental hug, like throwing a kiss. Note how these instructions to greet each other are often linked with a greeting to the church from Paul's associates, so indicating that the greeting to each other is likely to be on behalf of Paul, cf., Phil.4:21 and three texts above.
As for the inclusion of The Greeting in modern liturgies - offering "peace" to other worshippers, kissing, shaking of hands, "How are you going mate!", etc., (and with a quick bit of organising for a barbecue after church) - the less said the better.
en + dat. "with" - [greet all the brothers] with. Adverbial use of the preposition, instrumental, expressing means, or modal, expressing manner.
aJgiw/ dat. adj. "holy - [a] holy [kiss]. Attributive adjective limiting "kiss". As for "love" in "kiss of love", 1Pet.5:14, it is not clear what weight should be put on this modifier. It may not carry any great weight, other than serving to indicate that the noun "kiss" is being used metaphorically. Bruce suggests that it does carry weight in that the kiss is "signifying the bond that unites them in holy fellowship", a fellowship "from which none was to be excluded".
v27
iv] Injunction regarding the reading of the letter, v27. The instruction shifts to first person, possibly indicating that Paul is now writing the final words himself. The instruction is very forceful, indicating that Paul is determined to have the letter read to all members of the congregation; Paul's words are not just for the elders.
enorkizw (enorkizw) pres. "I charge" - i put under an oath [you the lord]. A hapax legomenon (once only use in the NT). This verb is commonly used with a particular construction. First, the verb is followed by a double accusative: the person charged / put under the oath ("you all"); and the person (or thing) by whose authority the charge is laid ("the Lord"). Then follows an accusative infinitive construction specifying the charge ("that the letter be read") - "I put you under an oath by the Lord that this letter be read aloud to ....". Paul has used the en prefix intensive version of the verb. The fact that Paul would be so demanding has prompted some debate. We probably should follow Weima who argues that, given the troubles in the church, there would be some resistance to the letter being read publicly at a regular church meeting. As for the use of "the Lord" here, it is probably a shorthand version of "in the name of the Lord", ie., the charge is made under the authority of the Lord Jesus; "I adjure you, in the Lord's name, .....", Cassirer.
anagnwsqhnai (anaginwskw) aor. pas. inf. "to have [this letter] read" - [the letter] to be read. The infinitive introduces an object clause / dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what Paul adjures the congregation to do, namely, to read the letter. The accusative thn epistolhn, "the letter", serves as the accusative subject of the infinitive; "that this letter be read aloud."
toiV adelfoiV (oV) dat. "to [all] the brothers and sisters" - to [all] the brothers. Dative of indirect object.
v28
v] Invocation of grace, v28. In ancient letters the good-bye (God be with ye) would often conclude with a wish for the recipients. "Be strong" was commonly used, sometimes with the preposition "with" when a family or group was in mind; "with you all." Paul changes this in his letters to a wish-prayer for the bestowal of divine grace / favour through the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul uses the same benediction in Rom.16:20 and 1Cor.16:23.
hJ cariV (iV ewV) "the grace" - the grace, favour. Subject of an assumed optative verb to-be. The grace, or favour, that Paul has in mind is the unmerited gift of "the totality of salvation", Conzelmann. "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always."
tou kuriou (oV) gen. "of our Lord" - of the lord [of us]. Presumably Paul is speaking of the grace freely given by Christ, so we may classify the genitive as adjectival, descriptive, idiomatic / source; "the grace which derives from / is bestowed by the Lord."
Ihsou Cristou (oV) gen. "Jesus Christ" - jesus christ. Standing in apposition to "Lord".
meq (meta) + gen. "be with" - be with [you]. Expressing association / accompaniment.
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