Page 37 - Pauline Epistles Student Textbook

hacking cough? It is really annoying, especially in a church service. You try not to cough, but you
have a strong tingle in your throat. While you resist coughing, it cannot be avoided. With this
condition, you cough throughout the day as the tingle in your throat is magnified.

The same concept is applied to prayer. There should be the tingle of prayer constantly. It is always
there. Bringing each daily need and being in fellowship with the creator is a strong desire in the
believer’s life. And as we walk throughout the day, we cough out our prayers to the Lord. So
praying without ceasing is the process of coughing out our prayers to God throughout the day,
bringing our needs and desires to Him.

Not only were the believers at Thessalonica supposed to give thanks to God because their salvation
in Christ (cf. 1 Thess. 1:2; 2:13), but in all circumstances. Wanamaker makes the statement that “to
thank God at all times is to see God working in every situation to bring about the divine saving will.”
He maintained that we should acknowledge that “God works for the good of the elect through every
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situation” (Rom 8:28).

Demanded not to Quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19-22)

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19 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is
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good. Abstain from every form of evil.

In v19, Paul commanded them to not quench the Spirit of God. Most scholars have taken πνεῦμα
(pneuma [Spirit]) to refer to God the Holy Spirit. Verse 20 suggests what quenching the Spirit looks
like, treating prophecies with contempt or strong disdain. The quenching of the Holy Spirit in this
passage, appears to be the distaining of some gifts in the church by the Holy Spirit. One of these is
prophecy. In v21b, before anyone decides to disdain or reject any prophecy, hence, resorting to
quenching the Spirit, that person is supposed to test whether that prophecy is from the Holy Spirit.
Paul did not state the benchmark for their testing. However, instructions he had given to them and
the apostles’ Spirit-driven examples and works could have been enough to inform their decision
concerning the identification of either the authentic or false manifestation of the Spirit’s gifts.
Having tested and drawn out the verdict, then, the believers at Thessalonica were supposed to
accept what was good (gifts manifested by the Holy Spirit) and then rebuff what was evil (vv21a-22).

Prayers for the Believers at Thessalonica (1Thess 5:23-25)

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul
and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he
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will surely do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us. (ESV)

In v23, Paul wished that they should be sanctified totally. The mentioning of the words, “whole
spirit” (ψυχὴ [psyche, human spirit/soul]), emphasized the whole personality. So, if that
sanctification was to be complete, the whole personality was supposed to be soaked in it for them to
be kept blameless at the Parousia of Jesus Christ.

The debate concerning the components of man is endless. Some hold to a trichotomist view which
argues that man comprise of three components, spirit, soul, and body. Others hold to a dichotomist
view which argues that man has two components, spirit/soul -body. However, Paul’s focus is not
constitutive in nature, but on wholeness. That is, whatever the elements man comprises of, they are

64 Ibid.

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