A Torah Verse By Verse Commentary Of Paul's Epistles by Re'tzon Ha'El - HTML preview

Chapter 3

V1-2 We live in a time where we have the opportunity to freely preach the gospel, without persecution. It is because of these circumstances that we should question why Satan would let his guard down and permit the so-called ‘revivals’ to spread across a much greater mass of humanity of nearly 8 billion, which he so profoundly abhors. Paul suffered such great resistance preaching in the Roman empire which had a meagre population of approximately 45 million. 

The early Christians of the first century suffered such great persecution, literally losing their lives for simply preaching the gospel of Yeshua the Messiah. Paul constantly prayed for release from imprisonment and torture, from wicked men used by Satan and his hordes of fallen angels and evil spirits to proclaim the truth of this gospel cf Eph 6:19-20; Col 4:3-4; 1 Cor 16:7-9. 

We need to be suspicious of this great freedom that we have today. Satan no longer needs to use persecution to antagonize the gospel. Rather, he has corrupted it so much that it barely resembles that preached in the first century. Besides the Torah being rejected, upon which truth stands, Satan has additionally sneaked in terribly heretical doctrines from the pit of hell, and fused Christianity with paganism, that it is a far cry from that which existed in Paul’s time cf 1 Tim 4:1; 2 Pet 2:1; 2 Cor 11:3; 2 Tim 4:3-4. 

V3-4 The Thessalonians, as we have discovered throughout the commentaries of both epistles written to them, had endured vehement, unending tribulation at the hands of both Judaizers denying Yeshua as Messiah, and heathen idol worshippers who outrightly denied Yehovah as Elohim. Paul, having already survived the brutality of wicked men in almost every quarter within which he preached, could bear record of the faithfulness of Yeshua to phulasso/guard, keep watch over him in his time of need. Paul was confident that this young assembly would not buckle under pressure from the enemy, but rather continue walking in Torah truth. When the anti-Messiah is revealed, darker days than these shall return, and the dross of Christianity shall be separated from the gold through great tribulation never before seen since the dawn of mankind. Those keeping Torah and walking in Holy Spirit power shall endure to the end. The multitude of lukewarm pretenders will throw in the towel and opt for Satan’s kingdom, and believe the strong delusion as outlined in chapter 2.

V5 ‘kateuthuno’ translated as ‘to make straight’ means to guide or direct, and is the same word used in Lk 1:79. The only way our hearts can be directed into the love of Elohim is by the Holy Spirit guiding us along the straight paths of Torah cf Pro 3:1,3,6. The chesed/Heb for grace,mercy and emeth/truth of verse 3 which qualifies the Torah of verse 1, was personified by Yeshua, who was the living Word/Torah John 1:17! Also see Ps 25:8-10. A heart full of the love of Elohim, will persevere having the hope, wisdom and understanding of the rewards that await those found worthy at Yeshua’s return. 

V6 ‘Paraggello’ translated ‘we command’ in v5 and 6 is to charge or transmit a message. ‘Ataktos’ translated ‘disorderly’ is to deviate from a prescribed order or rule. ‘Paradosis’ translated ‘traditions’ is a body of precepts. Of special note is that Paul was charging the Thessalonian ecclesia to not mingle with those amongst them who walked contrary to the teachings of the gospel given them. He was not concerned about the Judaizers or the heathen idol worshippers corrupting the gospel, but rather of the brethren in their midst, whom Satan could use to deceive and contaminate the congregation. This indeed is the greatest enemy in Christendom today. Those in the very pulpits preaching week in week out, are deceiving the masses with a gospel contrary to that preached by Yeshua and the first century apostles. Paganism, rejection of the Torah, material prosperity, acceptance of and turning a blind eye to wickedness such as homosexuality, abortion, transgenderism, eccumenicalism, paedophilia for example, has catapulted the mystery of iniquity so written of.

V7 ‘Mimeomai’ translated ‘to follow’ is better rendered as imitate. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy followed Torah and walked in it guided by the Holy Spirit. This orderly way of living is all that could possibly be referred to. On multiple occasions Paul charged the body of Messiah to imitate his Christian walk. It is nothing short of stupefying how almost the whole of contemporary Christendom believes otherwise, and chooses the broad way that leads to destruction. Satan finds no need to persecute such a great mass of humanity that operates under the delusion of a Torah denying gospel. If anything, he effectively uses this greater majority to vehemently suppress the teaching of Torah through ridicule. In the end days, as Torah truth becomes more apparent, the days of violent opposition to the true gospel shall return against the very few who shall hold on strong against the anti-Messiah’s agenda for all of mankind to worship and submit to him.

V8 On several occasions Paul categorically stated that he never for a moment desired to prosper financially, nor even at the very least expected financial support for preaching the gospel. He preferred to earn his own living outside of preaching to sustain himself, being a tentmaker by profession cf 1 Thes 2:9; Acts 18:1-3; 20:34; 1 Cor 4:12; Eph 4:28. The churches of today have quite literally been infiltrated by thieves masquerading as prophets, bishops, apostles, popes and other titles of self-aggrandizement, living ostentatious lifestyles that even celebrities of the wicked world we live in envy. It is unfortunate that although they are satisfied with the fate that they have sealed for themselves in the afterlife, they shall take with them the deceived masses that throng their megachurches, and enrich them through the false prosperity gospel doctrine that has bewitched these forsaken ones.

V9 This verse needs to be read in conjunction with 1 Cor 9:1-18 in order to understand what Paul means by the word exousia/power of authority and of right/privilege. Those who give up their time for the furtherance of the gospel do certainly deserve to be sustained by the ecclesia, but there is a fine line between sustenance and blatant avarice and love of filthy lucre cf 1 Tim 5:17-18. To obviate the remotest hint of accusation of the latter, Paul preferred to deny himself of such power of authority. In these times of cynicism and suspicion especially from non-believers, it is best to follow Paul’s example, if we have the slightest hope of winning over their souls for the kingdom of Elohim.

The fetidity of the prosperity gospel has so greatly defiled Christianity, that it has made other false religions more attractive to those seeking spirituality. The rise of Islam has largely been attributed to frustrated Christians abandoning their faith in favour of this seemingly more pious, yet falsely labelled monotheistic religion, due to the apostasy and superficial nature largely brought about by the insipid love of money within churches of today.

V10 This verse should be a great indictment on those who enter ministry for financial gain. The obligation to work for one’s sustenance was divinely ordained from the time of Adam going forth cf Gen 3:19. Paul did indeed instruct the Thessalonians to work for their worth in his first missive to them cf 1 Thes 4:11-12.

V11-12 The first century assembly of Elohim already suffered from such law-breaking malcontents, who felt entitled to be bolstered financially by its congregants. ‘Periergazomai’ translated ‘busybodies’ refers to this same class of people who spent much time in trifling matters, always inquisitive about, and engaged in, other people's affairs. This is typical of a sluggard, who has too much time on their hands cf Pro 26:16. The saying ‘an idle mind is the devil’s playground rings true.

V13 -14 Paul, well known for repetition when drilling a message into his readers, reiterates the need to major on living a righteous life, and to not tolerate the behaviour of those within the congregation who wilfully disobeyed the truth of the gospel message. He strictly instructs them to alienate themselves completely from such dissenters who wilfully oppose ecclesiastical, Elohim-ordained protocol. This was in order for them to be marked for shame. This was an excellent deterrent for rogue behaviour within the ecclesia, and also the ostracised individual would be more likely to repent of their sin. It is pitiful how nowadays such dissent is not only condoned but glorified, and even headed by such behaviour. Homosexuals, pro-abortionists, evolutionists, paedophiles and all manner of twisted individuals have been ordained as clergymen and women to run numerous churches across the world, in almost all denominations.

Condoning such sin rapidly infects the rest of the assembly cf 1 Cor 5:11-13. The worldly church retaliates by claiming that we should not judge others, yet scripture clearly states that being one in the body of Messiah requires us to judge ourselves in order to remain in a state of purity. We have no business judging the lost, as that is for Elohim to deal with, but once one declares themselves to be part of the holy body of Yeshua the Messiah, they immediately fall under strict scrutiny as the defiling nature of evil must not be tolerated within so sacred a body.

V15 Ostracising the Christian offender was designed to give them a chance to acknowledge and reflect on their wrongdoing. It is critically important to immediately rehabilitate a brother in Messiah that has gone astray, before they become completely lost for Satan’s kingdom once again. This rehabilitation commences with a noutheteo/warning, exhortation, designed to promote repentance unto restoration cf Gal 6:1; Jm 5:19-20.  If the wrongdoer refuses to repent after sufficient warning, then their defiling, toxic nature needs to be evicted from the body of Messiah cf Tit 3:10; Matt 18:15-17. In such a case of delivering them back to Satan’s kingdom, we can only hope that they may be regretful of their excommunication, sober up and seek genuine readmittance into the kingdom of light cf 1 Cor 5:1-5.

V16 This is yet another title of Yeshua the Prince of peace cf Isa 9:6 The peace that He bears is infused with strength that rattles Satan’s kingdom cf Ps 29:11; Rom 16:20. This peace Yeshua breathes upon us to receive the power of the Holy Spirit cf Jn 14:26-27;20:21-22. Paul prayed for the persecuted Thessalonian assembly to be imbued by the power and protection of the Holy Spirit of Yeshua who thwarts the workings of Satan, bringing about peace to His saints.

V17-18 Paul signs off in his usual format of identifying himself as the author of the epistle, and by praying for the grace of Yeshua to be with his readers. Again, this epistle was penned in Athens as was the first, hence the immature Thessalonians did not have to wait too long in between his epistles for further enlightenment in the truths of the Christian faith, of which Paul so desperately desired to impart in person. Amen