NOTES for Th2 3:3

³But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

It is not hard to guess that the most tragic page of human history was the fall. And not only because of the consequences that affected not only man, but the whole world, but first of all because of the power the devil received over the human heart. In fact, if this power had not existed, the mentioned consequences would not have existed either, and if a person were able to free his heart completely from the power of the dark forces, everything else would perhaps not be easy, but it would be correctable.

Yet the trouble is precisely that the devil holds a person not by the body and not by the soul, but by the heart, by that spiritual core of the human person without which there is no person at all as the image and likeness of God. The spirit of darkness could not tear the heart out of a person completely, but he managed to hinder and poison that breath of life which God breathed into man at creation. And now, in order to keep man from destruction and the world from complete annihilation, God has to make special efforts so that everyone who would like to change at least something in his spiritual situation may be given such an opportunity.

Of course, God is stronger than the devil, for God is the creator of the world, and the devil is only a creature that rebelled against its Creator. But God needs free persons, not slaves whom He could easily obtain by taking them by force from the devil. If the fall had been exclusively an act of violence, there would be no such problem. But the whole horror of the situation is that it was the consequence of a voluntary choice. And now only the same voluntary choice in the opposite direction gives God the possibility to intervene. Until a person himself understands that he can no longer and does not want to live in diabolical captivity, God will not intervene. He will support every step a person takes toward Him, but He will not force such steps.

And in our days, in the age of the approaching Kingdom, a new dimension has been added to the old confrontation. None of us, before complete transformation, is capable of being completely freed from the power of sin. And the devil has his own hooks in each of us, about which we may or may not know, but with which for a time we can do nothing. And it becomes the special task of God and Jesus to keep the devil from knocking us off the path of the Kingdom. After all, at the beginning of this path we will inevitably have to share in the life of the Kingdom while remaining sinners, and the devil would have every opportunity to close the Kingdom to us forever by inflating our sinfulness to proportions incompatible with the Kingdom. Only God's direct intervention prevents such a development. For God wants to save us. As we are.

Other notes

For Th2 2:13-3:5

¹³But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

¹⁴Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

¹⁶Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

¹⁷Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

¹Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

²And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

³But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

⁴And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.

⁵And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

“Keep away from disorderly and wicked people.” Lack of discipline is a terrible enemy of our faith... Read more

“Keep away from disorderly and wicked people.” Lack of discipline is a terrible enemy of our faith. Indiscipline, laxity, and disorder always become the first signs that not everything is well in the house. Doubt and rejection of faith have not yet found expression in words, but disorder is already present, along with the abandonment of daily prayer and the everyday labor of putting one's inner house in order so as to receive Christ in one's heart. Of course, the Lord is always with us, and our prayerful bond with Him need never be interrupted. But all too often such freedom becomes the cause of having no life of prayer at all. “I can pray at any time” turns into “I never have to pray.” Here, human inconstancy can be overcome not by moods and emotions, but by an iron discipline of daily prayer.