First Thessalonians 5:1-28

Continuing on from the end of I Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul writes:

I Thessalonians 5:1 and 2:

^5:1But concerning the (chronological-)times and the (specific-)times, brothers, you do not have a need (for) you to be written to, ^.2for you yourselves knew² accurately that (the) day of (the) Lord as a thief in (the) night thus comes;

Again Paul addresses these Thessalonian holy-people (sanctified-people, Christians, saints, children of God) as "brothers" thereby emphasizing and reminding them that all holy-people are brothers one of another because we all have the same holy spirit within us and God is our Father in the spirit category.

But about the chronological times (different times lasting for particular durations, quantities, lengths of time) and the specific times (the opportune or precise periods, occasions, seasons), brothers, you do not have a need (you don't have a necessity, no use, it is not needful) for you to be written to, for you (emphatically) yourselves knew and you still know accurately (you exactly, precisely perceive) that the day of the Lord comes as a thief (in comparison to how a thief comes to his target) during nighttime.

The chronological-times and the specific-times have not been revealed and made-known by God to any other spirit or any person. The day of the Lord refers to that time commencing with the coming and presence of Christ to gather together the church, as taught by Paul in chapter 4, and will continue with the wrath portion and end with Christ handing the kingdom over to God his Father. At the exact-moment that the Lord Jesus Christ will come then begins his day, referring to his time (not just one 24-hour period) and nobody or no spirit will be able to stop him; he will be carrying out God's will! The Lord Jesus Christ is not being likened to a thief, but the day of the Lord comes in a manner as a thief comes in the night.

In what manner does a thief come during the night? First of all, nobody is aware of what chronological night he will come, because the thief does not make this knowledge known; and secondly, nobody knows the specific time of his coming during the night he chooses to come, because the thief also does not make this knowledge known. Therefore, nobody can truthfully say, "The thief will come at 10:30 on Tuesday night, so I will lock everything up at 10:15 on Tuesday night and be prepared and ready for his coming"! Nor can anyone see a thief coming during the night because it is dark and therefore cannot truthfully say, "I see him coming in the distance, he is definitely on his way here at this very moment, so let us prepare quickly"!

The timing of the day of the Lord coming is under the authority of the only true God; He will give the Lord Jesus Christ the 'go-ahead' when that time comes.

Verses 3-5:

^.3whenever they may say, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction stands-on them, wholly-as the pang on the (woman) having in (her) womb, and they may never escape; ^.4but you, brothers, are not in darkness in order that the day may take-hold-of you as a thief ^.5for you are all sons of light and sons of day – we are not of night neither of darkness,

Paul continues to teach regarding this subject, but here he uses the pronoun "they" - not "we" or "you"! "They" refers to people who have not received holy spirit, the non-Christians, those who are not children of God.

At whatever time they (people who do not have holy spirit-life within them) may say, "Peace (tranquil harmony without strife) and safety (surety, cannot be tripped-up or thrown-down and thereby fall from position)" – we've got it all figured out now, we know how to control this and that, we don't have to consider Christ or anything to do with God, we can do it all by ourselves, our motto is 'Peace and Safety' of our own making – THEN, at that time sudden destruction stands on them (that-which ruins and slays, disaster with death without any warning, approaches and stands on them).

At that time sudden destruction will stand upon them, wholly as the birth pang or throes-of-birth stands-upon the pregnant woman (sudden, intense and effective), and they will never escape (the people who refuse to believe what God says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thereby refusing God's gift of holy spirit, will emphatically not flee out from what will definitely happen to them).

But you, brothers (again reminding you that you and I and all holy-people are brothers because we all have holy spirit-life within us, all children of God our Father) are not within darkness whereby the purpose and result would be that the day of the Lord would take hold of you as a thief (in the active sense of receiving in a downward motion seizing or overtaking you suddenly in comparison to how a thief takes hold of his target which is with sudden destruction to his target) for the truth is that you holy-people presently and actively are sons of light and sons of day – we (the pronoun changing to "we" - all of you Thessalonian holy-people and myself and those with me and all holy-people wherever we may live) are not of night neither of darkness.

During nighttime it is dark because there is no light; it is really difficult to see anything, isn't it? Speaking for myself, during the night when I turn the electric lights off in my house I have to be careful not to bump against the furniture and hurt myself because I cannot see it. Even a little light from a match would help in order to see where I am going, and a flashlight would be more helpful.

But, all holy-people are sons of light and sons of day. When the Bible refers to someone or something as being "sons" or "children" of such-and-such which is intangible, for example "sons of light" and "sons of day," we must recognize that this is a figure of speech. The words “light” and “day” denote the quality of these “sons” and the phrase indicates their essence, making a distinction regarding them from those who are in/of darkness and night.

The essence of holy-people is light and day. The day (the time of daylight) is in complete contrast to night (the time of darkness). We, that is to say all Christians, have God's light in Christ's light in us. We have holy spirit within us, we belong-to light and day, therefore the day of the Lord could not, cannot, and will not happen to Christians as a thief's sudden ruining destruction in, within or during darkness. It is not available for the day of the Lord to take-hold-of you holy-people/Christians as a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day, you need not be concerned with the "wrath" portion of the day of the Lord which will happen to those who refuse God's Word and thus refuse to receive holy spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ will first gather all holy-people together with him as Paul has explained towards the end of chapter 4 and this is encouraging to know. We will be taken out-from being among the unholy-people who will be taken-hold-of with sudden destruction. [For further information regarding the "wrath" portion of the day of the Lord you may read my study on II Thessalonians in-which Paul goes into great detail.]

[Reference: John 1:5, 8:12, 12:36; Acts 2:24; Colossians 1:12, 13, and 27; I Peter 2:9; I John 1:5.]

Verses 6-11:

^.6therefore consequently let us not lie-down-asleep as the remaining-people but let us wakefully-watch and let us be sober, ^.7for the (people) lying-down-asleep lie-down-asleep of night and the (people) making-themselves-drunk are drunk of night, ^.8but we being of day let us be sober having clothed-ourselves-with (the) breastplate of belief and of love¹ and (the) helmet (which is the) hope of salvation, ^.9because God did not put us into wrath but into an acquisition of salvation by means of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^.10the (one) having died on our behalf, in order that whether we may wakefully-watch or we may lie-down-asleep we may live unitedly together with him; ^.11on-which-account you must encourage one-another and you must edify one the (other) one according as also you do.

Logically following on in correspondence to what has just been written, let us not lie down asleep (get drowsy in our receptivity to our holy spirit-life, the Lord Jesus Christ or God, and then live our everyday lives in a voluntary lying down asleep state or condition of mind and body) as the rest of the people (those who do not have holy spirit within them because they refuse to believe God's Word, those who are not children of God) – but in contrast to that way of living, let us wakefully-watch (be watchful, keep awake, figuratively: have our eyes open and be spiritually alert) and let us be sober (free from intoxicants, figuratively: be in control of our minds and bodies so that we are alert and receptive to what God and/or the Lord Jesus Christ may want to make known to us, and that we are not in a stupor, a daze, lethargic).

In truth, the people who are lying down asleep (referring to the people who are not children of God) lie down asleep of night (this activity belongs to night, the nighttime) and the people who are making themselves drunk (causing themselves to be heading towards being intoxicated) are drunk of night (this activity belongs to night, the nighttime) - that is the way they walk, the way they behave, the way they live their lives. Non-Christians cannot live their everyday lives in any other manner from God's point of view, no matter what they may think of themselves from an intellectual or physical point of view, because they refuse to receive God's gift of holy spirit, they cannot receive information from the only true God or the Lord Jesus Christ via holy spirit nor can they walk with/by holy spirit because they do not have holy spirit within them. Of course, it is always available for non-Christians to pray asking God to teach them His Word, to tell them what they should know and do in order to be saved (refer to Acts chapter 10 and Romans chapter 10).

But we holy-people who are presently and actively being of day (repeating and thereby emphasizing the truth that all of us belong to day, figuratively referring to the daylight portion of 24 hours and to God Who is Light) let us be sober (free from intoxicants, figuratively: be in control of our minds and bodies so that we are alert and receptive to what God and/or the Lord Jesus Christ may want to make known to us, and that we are not in a stupor, a daze, lethargic) – how? We must have clothed ourselves with (put-on as a garment by going inside of it, envelope ourselves with) the breastplate of belief and of love¹ and the helmet which is the hope of salvation.

The breastplate is that part of armor which is worn to protect the chest area which contains a person's heart and lungs and many other vital organs to maintain physical life. Paul uses the word "breastplate" in the figurative sense to refer to the protection to our spiritual vital organs – our breastplate is belief (faith, trust relative-to God, what God has given us to believe which is God's belief) and love¹.

The word "love¹" or the verb "to love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.

The helmet is the protective covering around your head where your brain is, where you make decisions, purposes, intentions, etc, so that your head cannot be bruised or crushed causing you to permanently die. Paul uses the word "helmet" in the figurative sense to refer to the protection to our spiritual life/living; our helmet is the hope of salvation (our expectation of a definite future event which will come to pass as God has promised us which is our salvation). The only reason that we have hope is because we have already received God's gift of holy spirit which is eternal life. Our hope is based upon our salvation and the fullness of our salvation will come to pass when Christ will gather all of us together with him giving us our new spiritual bodies, the life of which will be holy spirit-life, and we will be together with him.

We holy-people are to be sober, having clothed ourselves with the breastplate of belief and of Godly-love and the helmet which is the hope of salvation – because God did not put us into wrath (He did not place or set us with a view to, directed to or resulting in wrath; refer to I Thessalonians 1:10 and 2:16), but on the contrary, God put us into an acquisition of salvation (He placed or set us to and for Himself with a view to, directed to or resulting in that-which He has made us to be around/about Himself proceeding-from, belonging-to and resulting-in salvation; we could not be His acquisition of salvation unless we had already been saved, made-safe) by means of our Lord Jesus Christ (through our Lord/Master Jesus Christ; he is the agency by way of which the initiated progress passes-through in order to reach the accomplishment of God having put us, all holy-people, into an acquisition of salvation).

God put us into an acquisition of salvation by means of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one who died on behalf of us (in our interests, in our place), for the purpose and result that – whether we holy-people may wakefully-watch (be alive being watchful, keep awake; including the figurative usage: be alive having our eyes open, and being spiritually alert and receptive to what God wants us to know and do) or whether we may lie-down-asleep (lie in the position of sleep ready to die; including the figurative usage: get drowsy in our receptivity to our holy spirit-life, the Lord Jesus Christ or God, and then live our everyday lives in a lying-down-asleep state or condition of mind and body) – we may live unitedly together with him (in order that we would be alive in union at the same time in conjunction with our Lord Jesus Christ; refer to I Thessalonians 4:13-17).

Paul has already taught in this letter regarding the Lord Jesus Christ's coming to be present and gathering all of us holy-people together with him – therefore whether we are physically alive and being wakefully-watching or being spiritually drowsy, we will be gathered-together with him; or whether we will have physically died by that time, we will be gathered-together with him. Why will this be possible? Because of all that God has accomplished for us by means of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, as Paul teaches in this letter, all of us ought to behave ourselves in accordance with what God says during the everyday living of our lives as we await Christ's presence.

Paul continues: it's on account of this that you must encourage one-another (exhort, call one-another beside you as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do that which is right) and you must edify (build upwards), one edify the other one (on a one-to-one basis whereby nobody is missed and would therefore be denied this edification regarding this subject), according as also you presently and actively do. Paul lets them know that he is aware that they are doing this at the present time - nevertheless, he did not omit to write this information here in the letter.

[Reference: Numbers 23:19; Acts 20:8; Romans 6:1-23, 13:11-14, 14:7-9; I Corinthians 13:13; Ephesians 1:14, 6:10-18; I Thessalonians 4:13-18.]

Verses 12 and 13:

^.12But we ask you, brothers, to have known² the (people) laboring among you and standing-before you in (the) Lord and admonishing you, ^.13and to lead (your minds to regard) them super-exceedingly in love¹ because-of their work; you must live-peaceably among them.

Again Paul addresses these Thessalonian holy-people as "brothers" thereby emphasizing and reminding them that all holy-people are brothers one of another because we all have the same holy spirit within us and God is our Father in the spirit category. He writes: but we (myself and those with me) ask you (with familiarity), brothers:

…to know the people (you already know or perceive the holy-people I am going to write about here with recognition because they have come within your sphere of perception, your circle of vision, but we ask you to continue to know them) who are…

laboring among you (the word "labor" literally means "a beating" but in the context here the verb means "exerting wearisome effort"; these holy-people are presently and actively extending a lot of effort, as if beating themselves out physically by what they are doing among you) and
standing-before you in the Lord (presently standing in-front-of you as leaders presiding over you - in whom? In the Lord, within the sphere of action, character and attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ whereby he is the instrumental and efficient cause of their 'standing-before' you in the walk/behavior category to help you live your everyday lives in accordance with God's Word) and
admonishing you (presently and actively putting you in mind of what God says - either the already revealed Word of God, or information which they receive at that specific time during a specific situation or circumstance via their holy spirit)…

…and to lead your minds to regard them super-exceedingly in love¹ (to take the initiative, cause it to be in your minds to view them superly out-from excess, beyond and over the abundance which is above the number or measure already attained by you within the sphere of action of Godly-love) – why? Because-of their work (on account of the work that they work, because of that-which is wrought by them, their deed, the effect-produced by them having acted expending their energy). This does not say that the reason is because they are "more spiritual" because that would not be true as every person in the one spiritual body of Christ has exactly the same measure of holy spirit-life within him/her - all of us holy-people have the spirit of Christ in us - no more and no less (refer to Colossians 1:27).

Paul continues: you must live-peaceably among them (keep peace during the time that you are with them, manifest tranquil harmony without strife, not arguing or fighting with them). Some Greek texts have the word "yourselves" instead of "them" here – this would include all the Thessalonian holy-people, whether they were standing-before others or not.

[Reference: Romans 12:8 and 18; II Corinthians 13:11; Ephesians 3:20; I Thessalonians 3:10.]

Verses 14 and 15:

^.14But we encourage you, brothers: you must admonish the disarranged-people; you must comfort the little-souled-people; you must hold-fast-to the weak-people; you must be patient towards all-people; ^.15you must see (that) someone may not give-away a bad-thing in-the-place-of a bad-thing to someone but you must always pursue the good-thing both into one-another and into all-people;

Again Paul calls them "brothers" as he has done many times previously in this letter. He writes: we encourage you (exhort, call you beside us as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do that which is right), brothers:

you must admonish the disarranged-people (the people who are not in order, disorderly, disarrayed, without arrangement in ordered sequence, out of rank, like in the military sense when soldiers do not keep their rank, neglectful of duties and insubordinate – put the holy-people who are behaving in a deranged manner in mind of what is right according to God's Word);
you must comfort the little-souled-people (speak in a soothing or tender manner to the people who live exhibiting only a small-amount of life, as though their soul or breath life was not enough to maintain them, living their everyday lives with a character and disposition of being faint-hearted and timid);
you must hold-fast-to the weak-people (firmly-hold the people who are without-strength, infirm - as though holding them up before yourself firmly in order to support them and keep them up);
you must be patient towards all-people (long-suffering, long-tempered, have long-forbearance towards or with all).

You must see (perceive with your eyes and understand the object-of-sight in your mind's thoughts, make sure) that someone would not give-away a bad-thing (give or pay-back what is due or obligated, but in this context giving-away that-which is bad) in-the-place-of a bad-thing to someone (instead of, in return for having received something bad from that person), but on the contrary (contrary to "payback-time" or "what he/she did to me I am going to do to him/her"), you must always pursue the good-thing (constantly follow, proceed earnestly after that-which is good in God's viewpoint) both into, with a view to, directed to one-another (the holy-people) and into all (all people, which includes those who have not yet or who may never become Christians because they have not yet or may never believe what God says).

God is the source and standard of His goodness and therefore we go to Him to know what is good in different situations, and we evidence it towards others - spiritually and mentally and bodily - during the everyday living of our lives.

[Reference: Matthew 6:24; Romans 12:17; I Corinthians 13:4; Galatians 5:22; I Thessalonians 2:11; II Thessalonians 3:6, 7, and 11; Titus 1:9.]

Verses 16-22:

^.16always you must joy; ^.17unceasingly you must pray; ^.18in everything you must be thankful, for this (is the) intention of God in Christ Jesus for you; ^.19the spirit you must not quench; ^.20prophecies you must not despise; ^.21all-things you must prove; the beautiful-thing you must hold-down; ^.22away-from every seen-thing of evil you must refrain-yourselves.

Paul continues teaching how holy-people/Christians ought to behave during the everyday living of our lives (notice that Paul puts the emphasis on what he is writing by putting the verb last in all of the following phrases):

always you must joy (rejoice – when? – constantly; there is so much taught in this letter about-which we should be joyful all the time);
unceasingly you must pray (assiduously communicate to and with God, the general speaking towards/with God – this includes both prayer via your spirit and prayer via your understanding mind whereby you determine the words you speak to God);
in everything you must be thankful (express well your gratitude to God Who is the giver of the grace received by you in, during or within the sphere of action of all/every situation or circumstance), for this is the intention of God in Christ Jesus for you (in truth this is God's will within Christ Jesus into, regarding or for you holy-people);
the spirit you must not quench (do not extinguish, like putting-out a light or a fire, the spirit, the things which emanate from the holy spirit-life within you; God is in-working in us both to intend and to in-work on behalf of His good-consideration, but if we reject God's will which our spirit communicates to us then we would be quenching the spirit; we would not be quenching God but we would be quenching the information that our spirit manifests to us);
prophecies you must not despise (do not think-nothing-of, treat-with-contempt, set-as-naught the prophecies that you hear, the content of-which are God's words spoken forth to people by the one prophesying having been given these words via his/her holy spirit concerning the past, present or future);
all-things you must prove (prove by examination or testing all things with the already revealed and written Word of God and/or your holy spirit-life to either approve or disapprove – not to blindly-accept everything that you hear, see, taste, touch and/or smell as being true from God's viewpoint);
the beautiful-thing you must hold-down (have/hold firm and fast that-which has a manifested decorous, harmonious and acceptable goodness from God's viewpoint);
away-from every seen-thing of evil you must refrain-yourselves (hold yourselves back, abstain away from all/every seen-thing of, belonging-to or emanating-from active malignancy, exercised badness). A 'seen-thing' is that-which is perceived and known-of, here referring to evil's seen-thing – either by physically seeing it with your physical eyes or by spiritually seeing it with your "spiritual eyes" which is by receiving the information regarding this evil via your holy spirit-life.

The only way you can know whether something is evil or not is by knowing what God thinks about that particular thing or situation, and we are not to be unknowing of what God has made known in the already revealed Word of God, nor is any Christian to ignore, not heed what God or the Lord Jesus Christ may make-known at any time to him/her via the holy spirit within us.

[Reference: Numbers 11:26-29; Luke 3:22, 9:29, 18:1; Romans 8:26, 27, 12:2; I Corinthians 12:7-11, 28, 29, and chapter 14; II Corinthians 5:7; Philippians 4:4, 6, and 7; Ephesians 4:11-13; 5:20, 6:16, 18 and 19; I John 4:1-6.]

Verses 23 and 24:

^.23But may the God of the peace Himself make wholly-completive you holy, and may your whole-lot - the spirit and the soul and the body - be blamelessly kept in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^.24Believable (is) the (One) calling you, Who also will do.

The only true God is the God of the peace (tranquil harmony without strife). He is the source of His peace and He emanates this true peace and He bestows it to His children. Notice the emphasis on God by also writing "Himself" - there is no other God of true peace!

Paul writes making known his prayerful desire to God regarding these Thessalonian holy-people:

may the God of the peace Himself make wholly-completive you holy – cause you, who are entirely complete (adjectively described as being fully brought to your ending-issue, totally-perfected in the spirit category because you have holy spirit within you), to be sanctified, cause you to be set-apart from the state of being common, defiled or unclean against God by coming into the state of corresponding to the essence of God, Who is Holy Spirit, in the walk/behavior category during the everyday living of your lives now; and
may your whole-lot, consisting of the spirit and the soul and the body, be blamelessly kept in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ – may the wholeness or entirety belonging to you of the inheritance, assigned lot, allotment, allotted portion, that-which is assigned to you by lot, which is presently consisting of three parts:…

the spirit (holy spirit-life – first mentioned here because it is the most important part from God's viewpoint, just as spirit was written about first in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 when God first created, made and formed mankind), and
the soul (the life of your physical body which is evidenced by breathing), and
the body (your physical and fleshy body)…

…be blamelessly kept (an eye kept on it, had in safekeeping, and therefore not neglected or violated but be watched-over, taken-care-of, maintained, and observed un-blamably, in a manner without blame, no fault to be found because of any incompleteness on your part) regarding the walk/behavior category during the everyday living of your lives from now and within the time of the presence, the arrival or coming to be present of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believable is the One calling you, Who also will do. Faithful, trustworthy is the One – God – Who is presently and actively calling (inviting) you holy-people, Who additionally will perform everything that He says He will do/perform. God is believable, He is to be believed, He is faithful, He is trustworthy, He can be relied-upon. God has already accomplished what He said He has accomplished by means of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He continues to do it, and He will do what He says He will do!

God will do all He promises in His Word to help His children. He has already done it spiritually - He has given us the gift of holy spirit and that makes us holy/sanctified and completely blameless in the spirit category. But our walk/behavior is a different story - it is up to each individual to hear, believe and obey God's Word. When the Christian or anybody-else does what God says then God will fulfill His Word, His promises towards that individual in that situation/circumstance. It is up to each of us to accept God's help during the everyday living of our lives, because God does not control or force any of us to behave ourselves according to His will and accept the blessings (receive what He says He would like to bestow upon us following our doing what He says in the walk/behavior category).

[Reference: Acts 3:16; Romans 15:33, 16:20; I Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; Colossians 1:12; I Thessalonians 1:10; 2:19, 3:13, 4:13-17.]

Verses 25 and 26:

^.25Brothers, you must pray also concerning us. ^.26You must greet all the brothers in a holy kiss.

Paul again addresses the Thessalonian holy-people as "brothers" - reminding them of the great truth that all holy-people/Christians are children of God having received the same holy spirit, we are brothers and God is our Father. He writes: brothers, you must pray (communicate to/with God) also specifically about us (myself and those with me).

Paul was not embarrassed to ask that prayer be made for himself and those with him to help them continue doing the work that God and the Lord Jesus Christ wanted them to do. We too can pray to God concerning our brothers today, and we can ask them to pray to God concerning us.

He continues: you must greet (draw to yourselves, salute) all the brothers in a holy kiss (not some but all the brothers within a sanctified love-token, the considerate expression of your Godly-love for one-another within the sphere of action of the brotherly or friendly kind of love).

In some cultures today the literal act of kissing another may not be acceptable - but what Paul wanted them to do was to greet one-another with loving respectful consideration and affection, as is fitting of brothers and sisters in Christ being children of God; perhaps in your culture it may be demonstrated by a hand-shake or an embrace. This is applicable to all holy-people today also because we are children of God having received exactly the same holy spirit within us which is the spirit of Christ, the deposit of the new covenant.

[Reference: Romans 16:16; I Corinthians 16:20; II Corinthians 13:12; II Thessalonians 3:1.]

Verses 27 and 28:

^.27I adjure you (by) the Lord (for) the letter to be read to all the brothers. ^.28(May) the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (be) with you.

Paul writes: I presently and actively adjure you by the Lord (I put you within an oath, cause you to be within an oath and under the obligation of an oath by/with/in all the ability and authoritative-power of the Lord, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ) for the letter (this epistle I am writing) to be read to all the brothers (nobody is to be excluded from having the opportunity of hearing someone read what I have written). This was not just a mere suggestion! This was the tendering of an oath by Paul by/with/in the authority of the Lord/Master to the Thessalonian Christians to make sure that this letter be read to all the brothers.

Paul began this letter referring to grace and here he closes it out by expressing this prayerful desire: may it be that the grace (the unmerited, freely-bestowed favor) of, belonging-to and proceeding-from our Lord Jesus Christ (our Master Jesus Christ) is in company and association with you during the everyday living of your lives.

[Reference: Romans 16:20; Colossians 4:16. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

(May) the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (be) with you.

Study of II Thessalonians