God’s people in Thessalonica were confused. Someone they trusted had lied to them. Someone had told them that the day of Christ’s return had come and gone and that they had missed it. Christ’s return is just one thread, of course, in the total fabric of doctrine, but, like all the other threads, it is important to get that one right. In 2 Thessalonians, right at the beginning of chapter 2, Paul urges these dear people “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed” about these things. He had already disclosed to them the truth of sound doctrine.
Of course, Paul is not surprised by the presence of false teachers. He says very clearly in verse 7 that “the mystery of lawlessness is already at work” because, as he points out in verses 9 and 10, Satan is at work “with all wicked deception.” But we are not to be deceived. In our text for today, Paul tells us to “stand firm” in the truth, to “hold to the traditions” we have been taught, and he gives us three reasons for doing so. We are to stand firm in the truth because the truth assures us (1) that God is sovereign, (2) that He is gracious, and (3) that He is faithful. Let’s look at each of these affirmations in turn.
Truth Assures Us that God Is Sovereign
Scripture urges us to “stand firm” in the truth, first of all, because truth assures us that God is sovereign. Paul writes in verse 13, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved”—or, to use the marginal reading, “because God chose you from the beginning.”
This is the great comfort that Scripture gives to those who believe in Jesus Christ, that God has chosen us “from the beginning.” Otherwise, we would never have chosen God, and we would be left in our sins. Here is the truth: All of humanity is fallen, and outside of Christ we have lost communion with God and abide under His wrath. But God in His great mercy has appointed a means of redemption. The Shorter Catechism asks, “Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?” And it answers, “God having, our of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer.”
The whole world is under the spell of deception, perpetrated by “the father of lies” (John 8:44), but God has chosen some out of this world “to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). This He has done, not on account of any special qualities that we have—the truth is, we have none—but simply because of His sovereign pleasure.
So, how can we know that we are chosen? Paul tells us in his first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 4 and 5: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came not only to you in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” In other words, you believed that what we said was true, and it was the Holy Spirit who convinced you. It was the sovereign Lord. What great assurance is this, that “God chose you from the beginning”!
When I was a kid at recess in school, we would often choose up teams to play one game or another. And, of course, the best athletes would be chosen first. Why? Because they were good. But God chose His people despite the fact that none of us is good. As Paul says in Ephesians, “He chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).
This is the truth, and we are to “stand firm” in it. Otherwise, we are vulnerable to deception, and, like the people of ancient Thessalonica, we may find ourselves “shaken in mind or alarmed.” Look, if you will, at verse 10: Satan is at work, deceiving “those who are perishing.” And why are they perishing? “Because they refused to believe the truth and so be saved.” But you have put your confidence in the gospel. You have believed the truth. You are saved. Stand firm in that truth.
Truth Assures Us that God Is Gracious
This we must do, first of all, because truth assures us that God is sovereign, and, secondly, because truth assures us that God is gracious. We see this in verses 13 and 14. How do we know this truth? Paul gives us three pieces of evidence.
God’s Grace Brings His People to Life (v. 13b)—First, God’s grace brings His people to life. In the latter part of verse 13, Paul writes, “God chose you…to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit.” The New Testament uses the term sanctification in two senses. In some contexts it refers to “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we…are,” as the Shorter Catechism says, “enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (Q/A 35). This is what I learned to call progressive sanctification. It is the process by which we “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” greatly assured that “it is God who works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12, 13).
But there is a second sense in which the term sanctification is used, and its meaning is significantly different. I learned to call this form of sanctification positional sanctification or definitive sanctification. Again, in the words of the Shorter Catechism, this understanding of sanctification is “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God” (Q/A 35). It is what the Catechism refers to as “effectual calling.” In answer to Question 30 about how the Holy Spirit applies Christ’s work of redemption to us, it says, “The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.” It then goes on in reply to Question 31 to tell us what “effectual calling” is. It is ‘the work of God’s Spirit whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.” In short, sanctification in this sense is regeneration. It is the new birth. And it is solely the work of God. And this, I believe is what Paul is referring to when he says in verse 13, “God chose you…to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit.”
God’s Grace Brings His People to Faith (v. 13b)—The truth, we are saying, assures us that God is gracious. And we have seen here in 2 Thessalonians that God’s grace brings His people to life. We also see that God’s grace brings His people to faith. Still in the latter half of verse 13, we read, “God chose you…to be saved, through…belief in the truth.” Belief and faith, of course are synonymous. Once we have been sanctified—that is, once we have been effectually called out of the tomb of our spiritual deadness—we are then enabled to believe in Jesus, who is the truth. We are empowered to trust Him who alone is our salvation. This act of faith is the instrument of our justification. That is, when we believe in Christ, not only are our sins transferred to Him but also His righteousness is transferred to us. The Shorter Catechism, in defining justification, says: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone” (Q 33).
God’s Grace Brings His People to Glory (v. 14)—So, what we are seeing is what William Perkins called “the golden chain” of salvation. Or, as we have it in Romans 8:30, “Those whom [God] predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” And that’s exactly the order of the links in the chain that we have here in 2 Thessalonians. The God who chose us brings us to life. He brings us to faith. And now, in verse 14, we see, He brings us to glory. Look again at that verse, verse 14: “To this he called you”—that is, He called you to the truth that is in Jesus—why? “So that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Shorter Catechism affirms this as one of the “benefits” that we receive from Christ. In the Answer to Question 37 we learn what benefits we receive from Christ at death. The Catechism says, “The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory.” And then in the Answer to Question 38 the Catechism says, “At the resurrection”—that is, at the end of the age—“believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.”
Isn’t this exactly what Jesus prayed for in His great high priestly prayer, recorded for us in John, chapter 17? He said to His Father, “The glory you have given to me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” That’s verse 22, and in verse 24, we read where Jesus says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory….”
Oh, the marvelous, matchless, wonderful grace of God! The truth assures us that God is gracious.
Truth Assures Us that God Is Faithful
Truth also assures us that God is faithful. In our text—in 2 Thessalonians 2, now at verse 15—we read Paul’s application of these eternal truths. “So then, brothers,” he says, “stand firm and hold to the traditions that your were taught by us”—those traditions being what the Reformed faith calls the doctrines of grace—“stand firm and hold to [these] traditions that your were taught by us, either by spoken word or by our letter.”
What we are dealing with here is the perseverance of the saints, or what might be equally well understood as the preservation of the saints. Both things are true. We stand firm, and God gives us strength to do so. We persevere because He preserves us.
In speaking of the benefits of the grace of God in this life, the Shorter Catechism says, “The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and”—look at this!—“perseverance therein to the end” (Q/A 36).
Oh, what assurances the truth gives us! We are assured that God is sovereign. Nothing can interfere with His plans for us. In Job 42:2, Job says to God, “I know…that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” If you have put your faith in Christ and Christ alone for your salvation, you can be assured that “God chose you from the beginning to be saved.” Isn’t that a great assurance?
Along with that assurance, we have the comfort of knowing that God is gracious. He brings His people to life. He brings His people to faith. And He brings His people to glory. If He is our hope, we can rest assured that “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).
And nothing can ever change that. Not only does the truth in which we stand firm assure us of God’s sovereignty and grace, but it also assures us of His faithfulness. He will carry us to the end. We will persevere because of His faithful preservation.
So, stand firm in this truth. Hold on to it. Acquaint yourself with it. Immerse yourself in it. And then let nothing move you from this solid footing. Let the words of Psalm 62:6 be yours. David says of God, “He is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” This is the truth. This is the tradition that you were taught. Hold fast. Stand firm.
