Is Christianity the same as other religions?
The people of the Church of Thessalonica were shaken after receiving a forged letter with false teaching. Paul contrasted those who know and love the truth with those who don’t, and reminded the people of the truth of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can learn from this letter, how not to be disturbed or deceived by the lies of the world, especially concerning the Christian faith.
Scripture
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 ESV But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Bible Study Questions
The Christian Faith calls us to love the truth and worship the Creator not the created
Verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians 2 starts with “but”. How is the Holy Spirit drawing a contrast between the previous verses about truth and delusion, and the verses which follow concerning the believers in Thessalonica?
2 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV But we ought always to give thanks to God for you…
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 ESV Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Romans 1:24-25 ESV Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
The Christian Faith calls us to worship the One Triune God
What are the different roles of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity of God in saving us?
2 Thessalonians 2:13 …brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit
John 15:13 ESV Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Ephesians 1:3-4 ESV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…
John 6:44 ESV No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day
1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Christian Faith is gives the desire and ability to believe the objective truth
Is belief in the truth, in the context of 2 Thessalonians 2:13, just a once off confession of faith? Is this truth objective or subjective? (Is your truth different to someone else’s truth?)
2 Thessalonians 2:13 …and belief in the truth.
John 8:44-45 ESV You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
John 18:37 ESV Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
John 3:18-21 ESV Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The Christian Faith is centred in the power of the Gospel, that Christ died for our sins, and was raised from the dead.
What is the Gospel and what does God use it to accomplish?
2 Thessalonians 2:14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 ESV because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
1 Corinthians 15:1-6 ESV Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
The Christian Faith is called to honour and obey the Scriptures above any human tradition or teaching
Why does Paul remind the Thessalonians about standing firm and holding the traditions and writings that they received from him and his associates? (What other information had they received?). Where do we find these traditions and writings?
2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
Mark 7:5-8 ESV And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
The Christian Faith reveals that Jesus is God and that He suffered the punishment for our sins.
How does the original language of 2 Thessalonians 2:16 show that Jesus Christ and God the Father are One? Why does this matter?
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
1 John 4:10-11 ESV In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
The Christian Faith is equips us to do good because we are saved not so that we can be saved.
All other religions call us to do something to appease some or other god and gain favour with them. Is Christianity the same, how is it fundamentally different, and what should we be careful of?
2 Thessalonians 2:17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.