Peter Barnes: 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18
(3 June 2018)
SERMON NOTES: PEACE, TRUTH AND GRACE (2 Thessalonians 3:16-18)
1. Christ gives peace.
– 3:16. Paul’s other peace benedictions refer to God e.g. 2 Cor.13:11; 1 Thess.5:23. But here it is the Lord of peace, and ‘Lord’ invariably refers to Christ the Son. Christ is the Lord of peace to the Christian – Col.1:20; Rom.5:1; Eph.2:14.
– 3:16b; see Matt.18:20; 28:20. This is the peace of Christ’s presence, which is meaningful because of His deity. and giving them peace – John 14:27; 16:33. H. A. Ironside told the story of a Confederate soldier at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. He was in the woods of Richmond, Virginia, and almost starving because he did not know that the war had ended.
2. Paul’s concern for the truth.
– 3:17. Calvin: ‘By the singular kindness of God Satan’s frauds had been overthrown and the doctrine has come down to us safe and undamaged through the ministry of Paul and others.’
– letters in the ancient world were often dictated to a secretary – Rom.16:22. But Paul would write some lines in his own hand – 1 Cor.16:21; Gal.6:11; Col.4:18; Philemon 19. Cicero does it too.
– see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. In the second century a work appeared known as the Acts of Paul and Thecla. It was written in Asia (Turkey) by a presbyter who composed it, says Tertullian, ‘as if he were augmenting Paul’s fame from his own store, after being convicted, and confessing that he had done it from love of Paul, was removed from his office.’ Truth counts more than good intentions.
3. Grace to all of Christ’s people.
– 3:18; like 1 Thess.5:28, but with an addition – ‘to you all’. Peace, truth and free grace are found in Christ alone.