Context Matters

This morning I was reading from 1 Thessalonians and realized that Paul was writing to them as new Christians, for his visit to them had been short, and they had only been able to share with them briefly before they had to leave town (see Acts 17). Paul hadn't had time to fully form the church there, nor preach the fullness of the Gospel, for they only stayed a very short time. So Paul's message to the church there was not the message to a mature church, but rather to new believers, fresh in their faith and not fully formed. He longs to return to them and finish what he started and supply what was lacking in their faith. The verses below illustrate this:

1 Thessalonians 3:1-2, 5-6, 10-13 NIV

[1] So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. [2] We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

[5] For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.

[6] But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.

[10] Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

[11] Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. [12] May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. [13] May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones."

In the preceding chapters we also see how gently Paul dealt with them, and how He loved them.

1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 NIV
[7] "Instead, we were like young children among you.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, [8] so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. [9] Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. [10] You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. [11] For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, [12] encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory."

My point in all this is understanding who Paul is writing too, helps us to understand ad frame his messages, for we can become confused by some of the simple language he uses here, compared to some of the more thoroughly written and thought out letters to mature believers, like Romans or Hebrews. We must always take Paul's writings as a whole, and recognize that no one sentence or one chapter can be understood on its own, nor can a theological point be extracted correctly without understanding the greater body of his work.

A good example is 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 NIV:

[3] "It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; [4] that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, [5] not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; [6] and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before."

First the phrase translated "the Lord will punish", could be more accurately translated "the Lord is the avenger". If takeN out of context, and with this single translation we could think that the Lord will punish those who sin sexually. The issue with this is that the Lord has already taken all the punishment for all sins upon himself on the cross (Romans 6).

Secondly we might think this is an immediate punishment, but Paul writes in Romans 2:5 "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath , when his righteous judgment will be revealed." In other words, the punishment, if the sin is not forgiven, will be meted out on the day of Judgement, the day of God's vengeance.

Thirdly, one might misunderstand that this sexual sin is different than any other sin, all of which come under the blood of Jesus and can be forgiven. Jesus paid the price for all of us, and His blood cleanses us of every sin, if we come to Him and ask forgiveness (Eph 1:7, Col 1:14, Heb 9:22)! The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 10:14, 17-18 NIV:

[14] "For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

[17] Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” [18] And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary."

In other words, Jesus made the sacrifice for our sins, and if we come under His blood, in faith, our sins are remembered no more, and sacrifice for them has already been made.

So, in summary, let us read carefully and understand the fullness of the Gospel message, not taking things out of context, or creating theology out of one sentence. Let us be fed upon the whole Gospel and pursue maturity in Christ Jesus, that we might faithfully proclaim the Gospel, the good news, to all the world. Let us live to please God, not out of fear of punishment, but out of joy and relationship.