Deeper Reflection
IN 2 THESSALONIANS, PAUL CONCLUDES WITH “A THREEFOLD blessing”³³: “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way” (v.16a), “The Lord be with you all” (v.16b) and “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (2 Thess 3:18). What prayers that we can pray daily for ourselves and for the church! Note the centrality of the “the Lord” in these three prayers. We cannot assume when we pray – just because prayer is to God – that our prayer is Godcentred. God-centredness is a deliberate consciousness.Paul’s first prayer – prayer for “peace” (v.16a) – is made in both the immediate and larger context of the letter. The immediate context is his call for church discipline for those who persisted in disobeying his apostolic command to work and not living in idleness (2 Thess 3:6-15). The persistent disobedience and the exercising of church discipline would be a “chaotic situation” in the church, which “certainly involved personal conflict, pain, confrontation” and “a lack of peace”³⁴. And there will be a lack of peace if the persistent disobedience is left unchecked and undealt with. However, when the church discipline results in the sinners’ repentance, there will be peace: between the sinners and God, and between the sinners and the rest of the church.³⁵ But our hope for relational peace among God’s people lies on “the Lord of peace” (Paul’s emphasis), who “He Himself is our peace” (Eph 2:14), and it is He “Himself ” (another emphasis) who gives the peace. The emphases underline the Lord’s commitment to give us His peace.

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³³ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 197 ³⁴ G. K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (IVP Academic, 2003), 264 ³⁵ G. K. Beale, 265