Salvation Summaries

I am going through each book in the New Testament (again) and writing bullet point comments about how a person becomes a Christian and how a Christian should live.  The following notes are from the book of 2 Thessalonians.

Summary

2 Thessalonians contains little information about how a person is saved or how a saved person should live.

A person becomes saved when they hear, understand, believe and embrace/love the gospel. Faith is also part of being saved. Faith and obedience are closely related.  An analogy is this: faith is a belt; obedience is the act of wearing the belt.  Just as the belt doesn’t work if you don’t wear it; faith isn’t effective if there’s no obedience.  

The goal of every Christian is not to be saved (for he/she already is), but to know God and be counted worthy of His calling (2 Thes 1:5, 8).  Another goal is to grow in one’s faith and love for others (2 Thes 1:3). From the looks of it, many Christians appear unaware of these, and as such, they have not grown much in their relationship with God, their faith in the Lord, or their love for other people.

This book includes a severe warning to people who are not a Christian. When Jesus returns (and no one knows when that will be, but it won’t occur until the anti-Christ appears on this earth, declares himself to be God and demands to be worshiped), He will come with angels “in flaming fire” and deal out retribution to all who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of Jesus. In short, if you are not a Christian when He returns, you will be punished (sent to hell), and the punishment will last forever.  This seems harsh, I know, but we don’t “make the rules”; God does, and it is a primary reason why we should have a healthy fear of Him.

How a person is saved (and other verses relating to salvation)

• Hear, understand, believe and embrace or love the truth of the gospel (2 Thes 2:10, 13, 14)
• Through the sanctifying work of the HS (2 Thes 2:14)

Characteristics of a Christian

• Knows God and obeys the gospel (2 Thes 1:8)
• Has faith (2 Thes 3:2)
• Does not delight in wickedness (2 Thes 2:12)
• Is loved by the Lord Jesus (2 Thes 2:13)

Characteristics of non-Christians

• Too many non-Christians hear from the media and our society that God is love and that He accepts all lifestyles.  Unfortunately, that’s not an accurate depiction of Him per the Bible.  Yes, God is love, gracious, merciful, forgiving and patient.  But He’s also powerful, majestic, and someone we should fear, for He has the power to judge people according to His standards (not ours), to punish those who disobey what He (not our culture) requires, and to send people to hell.  We should view Jesus, or God in the flesh, the same way.
  • Jesus will “punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day He comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed…”(2 Thes. 1:8)

How a Christian should live

• The goal of a Christian is not to be saved (for he/she already is), but to know God and be counted worthy of God’s calling (2 Thes 1:5, 8).  It is also to grow in one’s faith and love for others (2 Thes 1:3).  Those who grow in faith and love, and who persevere in trials and suffering, provide evidence to themselves that God will count them worthy (2 Thes 1:5).
• A Christian’s life is more than belief; it includes obedience to the gospel (2 Thes 1:9).

Who God is

• Our Father (2 Thes 2:16)
• Loves those who believe in Him (2 Thes 2:16)
• Gives grace to others for their salvation (2 Thes 2:16)
• Is able to encourage the heart of a believer and to strengthen them in every good deed and word (2 Thes 2:16)
• From the beginning (of the earth or time) God chose the Thessalonians whom Paul wrote to that they would be saved through belief in the truth and the sanctifying work of the HS (Thes 2:13).
  • Calvinists view this as unconditional election
  • Arminians would say that God’s chosing who would be saved was conditional on their belief in the truth or their faith (i.e., justified by faith, chosen by faith)
• He gives (or can give) relief to Christians who are troubled (persecuted) by non-Christians (2 Thes 1:7).  He can also “pay back” trouble to non-Christians who persecute Christians (2 Thes 1:6).
  • Voice of the Martyrs magazine has many, many articles about Christians who are being troubled by (persecuted, with some experiencing bodily injury or death) by Muslims.
• God has the authority and power to seal the fate of unbelievers who have delighted in wickedness and believed the lawless one by sending them a powerful delusion to believe what is false (2 Thes 2:11-12).
  • This is one reason to fear God.

Who Jesus is

• Our Lord (2 Thes 2:16)
• Powerful (2 Thes 1:9)
• To be glorified (2 Thes 1:9)
• Has the power and authority to “punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord…” (2 Thes 1:8-9)
• Able to strengthen and protect Christians from the evil one, or Satan (2 Thes 3:3)

Prayer

• We can use Paul’s prayer to the Thessalonians as a prayer for believers we know.
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• We can use another set of verses by Paul as a prayer for others:
  • May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word (2 Thes 2:16)

Other

• Jesus’ second return – Jesus will not return to this earth until the man of lawlessness, or the anti-Christ, is revealed (2 Thes 2:3).  This person will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God, and proclaim himself to be God.  With the help of Satan, he will perform counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders.  Unbelievers will believe the lawless one because they refused to love the truth and become saved. (2 Thes 4-10).