Page 24 - Pauline Epistles Student Textbook

Notice also that he continues to use the word “brothers” in addressing the believers at Thessalonica.
Most of the English translations have both “brothers and sisters.” Both brothers and sisters are
drawn from one Greek word, ἀδελφοί (adelpoi [brothers]). How is that possible? Context usually
decides on whether we should stick to brothers only, sisters only, or both. Contextually (based on
Luke’s narrative of Acts), after Paul’s proclamation of the gospel in Thessalonica, it was not only
women who came to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but men as well. We deduce that the
new church at Thessalonica did not only comprise of men, but women as well. In which case, the
translation of ἀδελφοί as exclusively referring to brothers is equal to the extrapolation of the
passage. In this context then, an extrapolation is defined as drawn out conclusions from some other
facts outside the Bible itself.

It appears that Paul had already taught them on how to walk and to please God. And they were
doing so at the time of his writing. However, he is asking and urging them to do more. When did he
teach them those instructions and what were their contents? Since this is the first letter Paul wrote
to the Church he most likely gave them those instructions during his stay in Macedonia. Since he
wrote to them reminding them that the apostles initially instructed them and that they were living in
accordance with those instructions, the contents could have partly been drawn from “traditional Old
Testament and Jewish behavioral codes and practices as well as on some drawn from Hellenistic
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philosophies. . .they constituted the distinctive Christian way of life that Paul required.” In v2,
those instructions were given to them by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul appeared to
have appealed to them in that manner in order that they would take them with seriousness. Also, he
wanted them to know that he was not just inculcating those instructions by his human authority, but
by Jesus’ authority.

In v3a, Paul desired that the believers at Thessalonica be sanctified. ἁγιασμὸς (agiasmos), derived
from the Greek verb ἁγιάζειν (agiazein) as “nomen actionis,” signifies “sanctifying rather than
sanctification.” Operation of ἁγιασμὸς can be realized only by a holy person so that in the case of
self-sanctifying, it should be supposed that it is fulfilled on the ground “of the state of sanctification
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attained in the atonement.” His argument on the definition of the word is that sanctification found
in v3 has to do with the moral aspect of a person. Simply put, one cannot experience progressive
sanctification without being born again. The sanctification we are looking at entails the application
of some biblical principles put forward by Paul as we will see later. Nobody can work for the basis of
salvation which is, “by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God—not by works. . .” (Eph. 2:8-9). So, this moral sanctification can either mean the
following; to “set apart as sacred to God,” “make holy,” “consecrate,” “regard as sacred,” “purify,”
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“cleanse.” Wanamaker maintains that ἁγιασμὸς “may denote either the process whereby the
Thessalonians would become sanctified or consecrated to God through their separation from
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immorality or the outcome of that process.” To think that we can absolutely abstain from any
sinful act without being born again, is fallacious. To drive the point home, Paul wrote to them about
moral sanctification (a process) because the believers at Thessalonica had already accepted to be in
a fellowship with the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:4-6, 9-10).

41 Wanamaker, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the
Thessalonians, 148.

42 Geoffrey W. Bromiley, trans., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. I: A-Γ, eds., Gerhard
Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), 113.

th
43 Barbara Aland, et al. eds., The Greek New Testament, 4 Rev. ed., 2.
44 Wanamaker, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the
Thessalonians, 150.

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