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Future Glory | Present Trial: 1 Thess. 2:14-20

Future Glory - Present Trial :: Comfort and Unity within the War
1 Thessalonians 2:14-20

The Apostle Paul’s long introduction to the first letter to the young Thessalonian church is a mixture of gratitude, prayer, history (the birth and early days of the church) and personal character reference. In chapter 2 we see Paul recall the tumultuous early days of the church and then address certain accusations about his motives and character.

This same spirit and content continue in 2:14-20. Here Paul links the shared experience of unjust suffering for one’s faith in Jesus in the Thessalonian church to the same affliction in the mother church in Jerusalem and the wider churches of Judea. There is a great comfort in the shared experience of affliction for one’s faith.

The final paragraph of the chapter is an incredibly personal expression of Paul’s love and passion for the young church, recounting his repeated attempts to return to them. The language used here is almost poetic. The chief opposition to this reunification was Satan. This fact also brings a clarifying unity as the church engages in the spiritual battle of resistance.

Satan is a Hebrew word meaning “accuser” or “adversary.” The Bible speaks of Him often, describing his fall (Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28), his nature as a high-ranking angel of light, his strategy to accuse and oppose God’s will, his character as a liar, thief and murderer. He is the “serpent of old,” the great and terrible dragon (Revelation 12:9), the Deceiver, the Enemy, the prince of the power of the air (John 12:31; Ephesians 2:2) and the current (and temporary) god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4). Despite his great power, his knowledge and power are limited. He is not God’s equal and opposite. His demise is certain. The clock is ticking.

Over the past year, we have often discussed the “new normal” of our current cultural situation. This question refers to life mid and post-COVID but also within the world-wide cultural climate of secularism, globalism, humanism, atheism, tribalism and even socialism. (It seems the -ism’s are taking over.) It may be rightly said that the new normal for us is actually an increased awareness of spiritual warfare. Even though this spiritual battle has been raging since Adam’s eviction from Eden, the Bible seems to suggest that it increases toward the culmination of the age, the end times. Indeed, now is a time of awareness, resistance and prayerfulness.

Group Discussion Questions:
  1. What has most impacted you thus far from our study/discussion of First Thessalonians? Share with your group.
  2. When have you found comfort in a shared negative or painful experience? Share a brief story.
  3. How does Paul discuss the shared experience of suffering from the Thessalonian church and the churches in Judea (the area around Jerusalem)? What is his point?
  4. How does Paul describe the Jews who oppose Jesus, faith in Jesus and the Christian church? How does this description contrast to the passion and love he shares in 2:17-20?
  5. Discuss how the Thessalonian believers might have suffered in the first years of their life? Think socially, economically, legally and personally.
  6. Paul says that he and his companions were abducted or “taken away” from the Thessalonians, not the other way around. This word in verse 17 can be translated “orphaned.” Discuss what this means for Paul’s view of the church.
  7. Discuss what the bible reveals about the devil. Use the concordance at the back of your bible or look up the passages listed above. Work to identify his strategy.
  8. What does this passage in 1 Thessalonians reveal about the nature of spiritual warfare? How do 2 Corinthians 10 and Ephesians 6 help?
  9. Once again, in verse 19, Paul mentions Jesus’ future return. What is his point? How does he make it?
  10. Share with your group some prayer requests and spend some time praying for one another, with special emphasis on the reality of the spiritual battle raging inside and around all of us.
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