2 Thessalonians 3

Paul asked for prayer that God's Word would run (not be hindered). This must mean that something can hinder God's Word: man-made tradition (Mark 7:13).

Again, the purpose of this letter was to address the afflictions Paul and the believers at Thessalonica were receiving from unreasonable and evil men.

Verse 5 was the First Command: Love God with your whole being. We love God by allowing the Holy Spirit to direct us to love God the Father. Then God works through us towards others which is the Second Command.

Doctrine: Withdraw yourself from those "brothers" that walk disorderly. Paul was talking about people in the church who claimed to be believers but walked disorderly. These people SAY the right thing but they are not following through in their actions. Remember, Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 5 to remove these people from the church so that believers could interact with them.

Paul used the same contrastive thinking approach we saw in his first letter to prove his point: the believers in Thessalonica knew HOW and WHY to imitate Paul.

This referred to sloth: rest without working. Paul had written about the importance of work in his first letter: 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, which immediately preceded Paul's deep Doctrine presentation.

A busybody referred to someone who "bustles about uselessly"…also "to busy one's self about trifling, needless, useless matters; used apparently of a person officiously inquisitive about other's affairs."

Paul encouraged them to not tire from doing good (Right and Just) to others.

Paul concluded his teaching by stating those who claimed to be a believer yet did not obey this specific epistle should be admonished and then removed from community if they did not repent. Paul wrote this epistle himself...

Theme of Chapter 3: Do not have fellowship with people saying they are believers but not having the actions that prove they are believers.

The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was the ninth book of the Section of the New Testament known as the Pauline Epistles. Paul's visit to Thessalonica was documented in Acts 17:1-9. Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians around 54 AD from Corinth, making that letter, chronologically, the earliest of Paul's epistles. This second letter was written about a year after the first letter and was a response to issues that arose from Paul's previous letter. We have seen the epistles previous to these letters to the Thessalonians covered the full spectrum of teaching.

In the previous letter, we saw the church in Thessalonica consisted of Gentiles that Paul had spent a month teaching. Consequently, Paul focused on teaching and encouraging these new Gentile believers. The first letter gave us a glimpse into how Paul approached new believers ten years before the last of the previously covered epistles were written. Paul encouraged them to continue growing and being a good witness to unbelievers. Paul also shared deep Doctrine with these new believers in hopes they could use the information to encourage each other. This letter was written to clarify the deep Doctrine concerning the Day of the Lord. False teachers had circulated a letter they claimed Paul wrote that stated the Day of the Lord was at hand. These events set the context for Paul to teach more deeply about the events that would precede Jesus' spiritual return to earth to Rapture His Church: The Holy Spirit currently restrains the revealing of the Antichrist. Once the Church and the Holy Spirit are removed from the earth during the pre-Tribulation Rapture (spiritual Day of the Lord) that concludes our dispensation, the Antichrist will be revealed which re-establishes the previous dispensation (the Law) that will be concluded seven years later during the battle of Armageddon, which will be Jesus' physical return to earth (physical Day of the Lord) with all the believers. Paul explained this Doctrine in order to prove neither "Day of the Lord" had occurred at the time of this letter as was being falsely reported about Paul by deceivers.