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(cf. 1 Cor. 1 5 :58 ). The way in which P aul speaks of God in j th is prayer is very touching and very instructive, “God, our F ath er, which loved us and gave to us eternal com fort and good hope th rough (ra th er, in) g ra c e /’ W hat wonderfully precious gifts are these, and they are “ through (in ) grace.” As, in many of his letters, Paul earn estly asks th e ir prayers for him self and his companions (ch. 3 :1 ). The espe cial th ing th a t he asks them to pray for is “ th a t the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified.” The Word of God run s when it makes rapid progress. It, is th e opposite of the Word of God being bound (cf. 2 Tim. 2': 10). The Word of God is glorified when it is appreciated and praised, in con trast w ith its being evil spoken of (cf. 1 Pet. 4 :1 4 ). Paul also asks them to pray “ th a t we may be delivered from un rea sonable and evil*m en.” At th is very tim e when P aul was w riting he was meeting w ith g reat opposition in Cor in th (cf. Acts 18 :5 -9 ). He was deliv ered from these “ unreasonable and evil men” and so th is prayer was answered (Acts 18:9, 10). P aul lifts his eyes from these unreasonable and evil men, these men who “ have not faith ,” toward God and says, “ But the Lord is faith fu l.” In connection w ith th e though t of the Lord’s faithfulness he adds, “Who shall establish you, and guard you from the evil one.” In a sim ilar was in the F irs t Epistle in connection w ith his prayer for th e ir complete sanctification he speaks of th e fact th a t God is “ faith fu l” (cf. 1 Thess. 5:24; 2 Tim. 2 :1 3 ). P aul had the utmost confidence reg ard ing th e church in Thessalonica, th a t they were both now doing and would contmke to do as he said, b u t his con fidence was not in them bu t “ in the Lord” (v. 4 ). He adds still another prayer in th e ir behalf, “The Lord direct your h earts into the love of God, and into th e patience of Christ.” FRIDAY, Ja n u ary 31. 2 Thess. 3:6-18. In the sixth verse we have an in stru c tive union of au tho rity and b ro th erli ness. P au l begins, “We command you,” and then he adds, “ b reth ren .” The command is given “ in th e name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” i. e., on His au th o r ity. The command is one th a t is appli cable to our own day; “th a t ye (we) w ithdraw yourself (ourselves) for every b ro th er th a t w alketh disorderly, and not a fte r th e trad itio n which they received of us.” In th e first le tte r he told them to admonish th is class (cf.
1 Thess. 5:14, R .V .), bu t th e evil had meanwhile increased, so now he com mands stern er measures (cf. 1 Cor. 5:10, 11). Yet even th is was not th e stern est sentence of excommunication (cf. 1 Cor. 5 :5 ; 1 Tim. 1 :2 0 ). P aul holds before them his own example. Happy is the preacher th a t can do th at. In the most unh esitating way P aul says, “Ye ough t to im itate us.” It is in the m atter of indu stry th a t he particu larly points to' his own example. Well he m ight for he could say* “N either did we eat bread for n augh t (more literally, as a gift) a t any m an’s hand (more lite r ally, from any m an ), bu t in labor and travail (two very strong words, indi cating the h ardest kind of to il), work ing night and day (in the ¿Greek g reat emphasis is upon the “ night and day,” and th e though t is, deprived even of necessary rest) th a t we m ight not bu r den any (any one) of you.” He had th e au tho rity to burden them w ith his sup port, but he had foregone his righ ts in order th a t he m ight set them an exam ple of un tiring industry. Even while w ith them Paul had anticipated th a t some m ight wish to live upon others, so he had commanded, "If any (m an) will not work (literally, w illeth not to w o rk ), n eith er let him ea t.” T h at is a Christian principle of action in all ages of th e ' church, and it applies to both rich and poof. Those th a t worked not a t all overworked attend ing to th e busi ness of o th er people. The only way to keep any one from being a “busybody” is to keep him busy (cf. 1 Tim. 5 :1 3 ). The word tran slated “ busybodies” is a very suggestive word. It means, lit erally, w orking around or about. The though t is, running around in terfering w ith th e work of other folks instead of attending to one’s own work a t home. W ith g reat solemnity and au tho rity Paul tu rn s to the idlers and says, “We command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, th a t w ith quietness (not offi ciously meddling w ith th e affairs of o th e rs), they work, and eat th e ir own bread (th eir own because they have earned it by th e ir own industry, and not w hat belongs to some one e lse ).” The clear implication is th a t when bread is worked for it belongs to us, bu t where we are idle the bread we ea t belongs to somebody else and when we eat it we steal. P aul anticipating th a t some m ight refuse obedience to th is command, adds regarding such, “Note th a t man, th a t ye have no company w ith him .” The word tran slate d “ have
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