THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S "wholly” is a very expressive . — * '-'“ *oop v meaning perfect in every respect. Paul makes his prayer still m o re. significant hy adding, and may your sp irit and soul and body be preserved entire, with- out blame a t th e coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Man consists of th ree parts, the sp irit received directly from 1 1 1 1 | E linking him to God (cf. Gen. 2 .7 ; 1 Cor. 1 5 :4 5 ), th e soul, i. e., the anim al soul (cf. Jud e 19, R .v . an(j Margin in Greek) and th e body P au l’s prayer is th a t each p a rt of th is th ree fold man be “preserved entire, w ithout blame. This means th e absolute per- W t ™ 77 b reth ren w itlT a holy k is s ^ ^ T M s 1was “an tehe 0 Lethhi8t1^ fe“owship between all the breth ren , rich and poor (cf Luke 7 :45 ; Acts 2 0 :37 ). In the e a r lv church the custom arose a t th e com munion of passing the kiss, the men thu s salu ting the men and the women th e women. The second charge is very solemn. ^T ad ju re you by the Lord,” un^o Kill Kth ^î. th is epistle be read unto all the b reth ren .” Evidently P aul had a deep sense of the weight and value of th is letter. It was the Word ^ ° d viCf‘ 2 : 1'31• Each member of th e church should h ear th e Word of God for himself. P robably th ere were many m th e church who could not read for themselves and they m ust hear someone else read it. Here then is a specific command from God through His inspired Apostle Paul, th a t the Scrip tu res be not kept away from th e people even the most igno ran t of the people,’ bu t th a t everyone h ear the Word of God. W hat a rebuke to th e a ttitu d e th a t the Roman Catholic church has tak en reg ard ing the reading of th e S criptures by th e laity. These N T Scriptures were regarded and used in th e early church in the same way as the O.T. Scriptures were regarded and used in Israel (cf. Deut. 31:12; Josh. 8:33- 35). This epistle closes as it begins (and as th e Christian life begins and closes), w ith “ grace.” P au l prays th a t “ th e grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be w ith you.” We begin today the study of 2 Thess. As th ere are bu t five days rem aining in th e month and as we m ust finish the epistle, thd notes must be brief and frag mentary. The occasion for w riting th is le tte r is very evident. P aul had heard again from the church in Thessalonica. A doctrinal erro r had crept in among some of th e members th ere and out of it had arisen a grave practical erro r I here were some who claimed th a t “ the day ° f t o6„ L° r d ” was already present (cf. ch. 2:2 English R .V .). i n conse quence of th is th ere were some among them who would not work a t all (cf filo- 3 :6 ; 1 5 )- P aul w rote th is le tte r largely to meet th is error. The two v?rses are very nearly th e same M^the\ flrSt ,vei se of the flrst epistle (See Notes). P aul follows, as in th e first epistle, w ith th ank s to God. As in th e first epistle he mentions his causes of MONDAY, Ja n u ary 27. 2 Thess. 1:1-5. W r â , w ith two things, first to
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