“HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD.”
1 THESSALONIANS
5:14-28-JANUARY 25.-
OUR LESSON is a
summary statement of the proper attitude for the Lord’s people to maintain in
order that they may grow in grace and through faithfulness finally come off
conquerors through their Redeemer. Although addressed to the saints at
Thessalonica, these noble words have been a source of strength, encouragement
and discipline to the faithful in Christ Jesus from their writing to the
present time. No child of God can afford to ignore nor to neglect these words
of divine counsel, and in proportion as each of us gives heed to them our lives
will surely be the more Christ-like, and we will thus be the more pleasing to
the Lord, and eventually make our calling and election sure to joint-heirship
with him in the Millennial Kingdom, and its glories and its service to the
world of mankind. Let us take up these apostolic injunctions seriatim.
Not the elders alone are exhorted by the Apostle, as though they were a
separate class, exercising control and treating the brethren as their wards; he
addresses the “brethren”-the entire Church, including the sisters also. But
this does not signify that the counsel would not apply specially to the elders;
because they were selected as amongst the brethren most advanced in Christian
doctrine and practice, and as the representatives of the Church, to specially
look after the interests of the Lord’s flock. These apostolic words apply to
each member of the flock in proportion to his capacity and ability, but would
naturally come with special force to the elders who, under God’s providence,
had the oversight of his Church, “to feed the flock.” (Acts 20:28.) While,
therefore, all the brethren are to see to the carrying out of the injunctions
here given, the elders in every Church should feel a special responsibility
respecting them-a responsibility derived from the position they occupy as
representatives of the Church,-its standard-bearers.
The unruly are here contrasted with the feeble-minded or faint-hearted and
the weak. The divine arrangement is full of order as well as full of liberty;
and, rightly understood, liberty can best be conserved by order; and order best
be maintained through a reasonable recognition of personal liberty. The
mistake frequently made, not only by earthly law-givers and disciplinarians,
but also in the Church of Christ, is along the line of extremes, either in one
or the other of these directions. Some misunderstand liberty to mean
lawlessness, disorder, unruliness. Others with equally good intentions, no
doubt, are disposed to carry order and obedience to rules to such an extent as
to dwarf the individual liberties of the flock. Great grace is needed along
this line, to prevent friction amongst the Lord’s people-to preserve the unity
of the spirit in the bonds of love and peace.
We are not to have such false ideas of personal liberty as would ignore
rules, law, order, in the assemblies of the Lord’s people; and those disposed
to be unruly, self-conscious, thrusting themselves forward, without the request
of the Church, need to be held in check-to be “warned”-to be shown that their
course is contrary to the spirit of the Lord and all the arrangements
instituted by the apostles, his representatives. They need to be “warned” also
that their course would mean injury to the Church, instead of blessing and
peace and joy and development; and injury to themselves, in that it would
develop in them a combativeness or self-esteem, already too large, and might
thus not only work injury to the cause, but hinder themselves from attaining
the character-likeness necessary to a share in the Kingdom.
But while some might need thus to be warned and held in check, others,
faint-hearted and weak, would need aid, support, encouragement;-naturally
backward, diffident, lacking in combativeness and self-esteem, they need to be
pushed to the front a little, in order to bring out what talents they really
possess, for their own encouragement and for the blessing also of the entire
household of faith.
“Be patient toward all” seems to imply that the
better balanced amongst the Lord’s people should look with sympathy upon and
exercise patient forbearance toward the classes above mentioned;-not only
toward the weak and those who lack courage, but toward all; including
those who have too much courage and self-push. The Scriptures repeatedly
admonish us, “Ye have need of patience,” and day by day the advanced children
of the Lord realize the truthfulness of this, and come to appreciate patience
as one of the chief Christian graces. (1) Growth in
knowledge helps us to grow in this grace of patience, for as we appreciate more
and more the heavenly Father’s patience with us it helps us to apply the same
principle toward others. (2) As we come to realize the great disaster
that is upon our race as a whole-our fallen condition and how the fall has
affected some more in one manner and others more in another-some chiefly
mentally, some chiefly physically, and some chiefly morally, it enlarges our
sympathy toward our fellow-creatures, and thus increases our patience in
dealing with them. This is particularly true in respect to the household of
faith, in which we recognize amongst those whom God has graciously called, some
more blemished, perhaps, than ourselves in some particulars-though we may be
more imperfect in others. The thought that our
heavenly Father has favored and called anyone should make us extremely careful
how we would co-operate with the Lord in respect to the call, and be as helpful
as possible to all those who are seeking to walk with us in the footsteps of
our Lord in the narrow way. We certainly should have special patience,
therefore, with the brethren. -Rom. 14:15; 1 Cor. 8:11.
“See that none render evil for evil unto any.” This exhortation has a
special force when we remember how much evil treatment was heaped upon the
followers of our Lord at that time; and that the writer himself, as well as
those specially addressed, had suffered much on account of their faithfulness
in dispensing the Word of the Lord, the Word of life, the good tidings. The
exhortation means that the Lord’s followers are not to attempt to retaliate
upon their enemies by doing them evil in return, or in any manner to “get even
with them.” The Lord’s exhortation is that we seek to render good in return
for the evil we receive, and includes our language as well as our conduct, we
are not to give word for word, railing for railing, accusation for accusation,
slander for slander any more than blow for blow. It includes also our very
thoughts, for we are not even to render anger for anger, malice for malice,
envy for envy. Two evils can never make a good-two wrongs will never make a
right. Our sympathy for our blinded enemies is to cultivate our patience and
forbearance toward them in thought, word and deed.-1 Pet. 2:21-23.
The Lord’s people, so far from ever turning aside to render railing for
railing or evil for evil, are uniformly to “pursue that which is good”-that
which is right, that which the Lord approves. This will mean that each member
of the Royal Priesthood will pursue righteousness to the extent of his
ability-pursue every good and noble sentiment, and seek to live as nearly as
possible up to the high standard of righteousness, perfection, exemplified
absolutely in our Lord. This pursuit of goodness is to be maintained not only
amongst the brethren, where all are professing the same pursuit, but also
toward others-in our dealings with the world. Some of the world can learn more
of the gospel through witnessing our avoidance of evil and our constant pursuit
of righteousness, than by anything we can say to them;-and possibly as they
discern the new life in us they may gradually come to have “an ear to hear” the
message of good tidings which has wrought this change in us.
The worldly spirit does not approve this part of the Apostle’s counsel,
but urges, rather, that we should treat others as they treat us-that we should
“give as good as we get,”-meaning that we should give as bad as we get. By way
of saying as good a word as they can in their own favor along these lines they
sometimes accuse the Lord’s followers of cowardice. Courage is one of the noble
qualities of humanity, and it is quite a trial to some to be considered timid
or lacking in courage; and to such this enjoined restraint of word and act is a
particular trial. It is not true, however, that the Lord’s counsel tends to
effeminacy or lack of courage. This matter is well stated in the language of
another, as follows:-
“One feature which stands out clear in the society founded by Christ and
his apostles is the extraordinary heroism which was shown in the face of death
and tortures, not only by men, but by feeble women and tender children. It
amazed the heathen magistrates who were striving after fortitude by the
aid of philosophy. It amazed the wild savages, who mistook gentleness for
cowardice, when they found it was harder to terrify the missionary who came
with the Gospel than the invader who came in battle array. Quiet endurance may
be more heroic than violent resistance, and the Christian law of bearing
personal insults and injuries meekly tends to the development of the highest courage
and truest manliness. There is nothing more courageous, more heroic, in all
history than living up to this precept.”
“Rejoice evermore” is the same exhortation that in our last lesson we saw
the Apostle sending to the Philippians. The Christian’s rejoicing is not
hysterical, but founded on established principles, upon promises and comforting
assurances of the divine Word which stands firm amid all the storms and trials
and shocks of life.
“Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.” Only somewhat advanced
pupils in the School of Christ are prepared clearly to comprehend this
exhortation. Having surrendered their wills and all of the interests of the
present life to the Lord, exchanging earthly interests for heavenly interests,
the Lord’s people are less disposed than others to pray unceasingly for earthly
good things. Having set their affections on things above, their prayers are
in respect to those things,-the heavenly robe, the heavenly food, the heavenly
favor. Their prayers are specially for such leadings of divine providence and
such assistance of divine grace as will enable them to rejoice always in such
experiences as their gracious Lord may deem best for their spiritual
development. More and more they find their prayers to consist of thanksgiving
for blessings already received, as well as for those yet to come, which they
grasp by the hand of faith.
Their prayers are without ceasing, in that, having
the condition of heart which is in fellowship with the Lord and fully devoted
to the doing of his will, they not only implore his blessing at the beginning
of each day, and present their thanks at the close of each day, but in all of
life’s affairs they seek to remember that they have consecrated their all to
the Lord, and by faith look up to him in all of the affairs of life;-and in
proportion to the importance of their undertakings they, by faith, realize the
association of God’s providence with all the interests of life and give thanks
accordingly. This is the will of God concerning us;-he wills that we live in
such an attitude of constant regard for his will and for his blessing;-and he
wills it in respect to us because it will be the condition most favorable to
our progress in the narrow way, and which will best assist us in making our
calling and election sure.
Having stated succinctly the Church’s proper attitude toward the
Lord to be one of continued rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving and acceptance
of his divine providences, the Apostle next briefly admonishes them respecting
their attitude toward each other in the Church, in their feasting together on
the Word of the Lord;-saying,
“Quench not the Spirit.
“Despise not prophesyings.
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
“Abstain from every form of evil.”
By following these admonitions, their fellowship in the Lord would be the
more profitable-they would, as a congregation of the Lord’s followers, be
helped onward the more toward the grand standard to which we are called. The spirit of the Lord amongst his people is compared to “a
flame of sacred love” for the Lord and all connected with his cause: this flame
is enkindled through the divine message in each one individually, when begotten
of the holy spirit, and appertains, therefore, to the Church collectively,
under the guidance of that spirit. In proportion as the church grows in
knowledge and in love and in fellowship with
the Lord this “flame of sacred love” will make it a light in the world,-as a
city set on a hill, which cannot be hid. This is a different figure
from the use of fire as a symbol of destruction.
True, the flame of sacred love does not consume and destroy sin, but
sympathy with sin; sin is not a part of the new creature, which opposes it and
desires to have it consumed,-that the light of righteousness and truth may
shine the more brightly. This “flame of sacred love” may, indeed, consume our
mortal bodies, as living sacrifices in the service of the truth; but with such
a consumption the new mind is fully in accord, and rejoices, realizing that it
has in heaven an enduring habitation, and counting it all joy to be reckoned
worthy to suffer for the Lord’s cause. The more this “flame of sacred love”
burns, individually and collectively in the Church, the greater will be the
progress in all good things. Hence we are to be specially on guard, that our
words and conduct and the general management of the interests of Zion in our
midst shall permit this spirit of love to have free course in all our hearts
and lives-that it be not quenched either with false doctrines or forms and
ceremonies, or too rigid rules or by worldly spirit or by cares of this life or
by any other thing, circumstance or condition under our control.
The Church is not to despise prophesyings: the Apostle does not mean that
we are not to despise the prophecies of the holy men of old who spoke as they
were moved by the holy spirit-it would be unnecessary to caution the Church on
that subject. The exhortation is, not to despise prophesyings that may be done
in our midst. As we have previously seen, the gift of prophecy in the sense of
foretelling coming events was to some extent in the Church in the Apostle’s
day, as one of the gifts of the spirit, to mark out the Lord’s people and to
assist in establishing them at a time when the inspired messages of the Lord
were unavailable. We find, however, that the Apostle frequently used this word
“prophecy” in respect to public utterance, declamation,
preaching. The early churches were accustomed to having general gatherings for
their mutual assistance and upbuilding, and may have been in danger of thinking
more of the gifts of miracles and tongues than of connected and logical
discourse respecting the truth. The Apostle points out that without discarding
the other blessings, this one should not be despised-our Lord was a preacher;
the apostles were preachers, and the Lord has since raised up instructors
amongst his people. Hence, such service should not be despised or ignored.
We live in a time when the very reverse of this is true; when the danger
is rather that too much time and too much attention may be given to preaching,
and not sufficient to the other methods of inculcating truth and encouraging
the Lord’s flock, “edifying and building up yourselves in the most holy
faith”-when too much reliance is apt to be placed upon a leader and a connected
discourse.
“Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” However
much they should ever come to respect prophesyings, or public preaching, the
Lord’s people should learn proportionately not to receive what they might hear
without proper examination and criticism: they should prove all things that
they hear, should exercise discrimination of mind, as to what is logically and
scripturally supported, and what is mere conjecture and possibly sophistry.
They should prove what they hear, with a view to holding fast everything that
stands the test of the divine Word, and shows itself to be in accordance with
the holy spirit; and they should as promptly and thoroughly reject whatever
will not stand these tests. Alas! the Lord’s people today greatly need
to give attention to this exhortation; for much is being presented in the name
of the Lord and as the teaching of his Word that is neither logical nor
scriptural-that is supported neither by the letter nor the spirit of the
Word;-much that is not good, and should be rejected. With such a
discrimination prevailing amongst the Lord’s consecrated ones, how much of the
chaff of nominal “orthodoxy” would be rejected, and what a hungering and
thirsting and searching there soon would be for the good Word of God, that
would stand these tests! Let us diligently heed the Apostle’s exhortation on
this point.
“Abstain from every form of evil” (Rev. Ver.) gives the Apostle’s
thought. There are various evils which present themselves; some in their true
hideousness, and some under a cloak of hypocrisy-some openly and boldly
admitting their evil character and endeavoring to decoy the Lord’s people into
sin; others, garbing themselves as angels of light, would seek to mislead and
to deceive. The exhortation is that everything that
is evil, whether it have a good form or a bad form, is to be resisted and
opposed. We may not say with some, “Let us do evil that good may
follow.” The Lord’s people must be loyal to the principles of
righteousness, under any and all circumstances. To do otherwise would be surely
to undermine the character which they are seeking to build up.
To abstain from every appearance of evil
is another thought-a different one from what the Apostle’s words in the
original would warrant; nevertheless, they represent a sound principle. We
surely should abstain not only from evil things, whatever their form or garb,
but we should abstain so far as possible from doing things that we know to be
good, which our friends or neighbors might misunderstand and consider to be
evil things. The spirit of a sound mind dictates that not only evil in its
every form, but everything that has an evil appearance, even, should be
avoided-that our influence for the Lord and the truth may be the greater.
In closing, the Apostle pronounces his benediction. It is an
invocation-the expression of his heart’s desire on their behalf-that the God of
peace would sanctify them wholly. He thus emphasizes the fact that God
is not a God of confusion, anarchy, turmoil and disturbance, but a God of
peace; and that in proportion as we are taught of him in the School of Christ
we will become lovers of peace, and the peace of God will dwell in us and will
abound in us more and more, and cause us to be not unfruitful in regard to holy
character, and will make us advocates and promoters of peace in our words and
deeds. As it is written, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the children of God.” Peace in the heart, manifesting itself in the
look and word and conduct, is, as the Apostle intimates, an evidence of whole
or complete setting apart, and that God’s spirit has come into such a
sanctified heart and is filling it with his peace, the peace of God which
passeth all understanding.
“And may your spirit, soul and body be preserved entire, without blame, at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (R.V.) The Apostle could mean this only
in respect to the Church, as a whole, and not concerning the individual
members; because he surely did not expect the Christians at Thessalonica
without exception to live until the presence of the Lord, even as he did not
himself expect to live until that time, and so declared. (2 Tim. 4:7,8; 2 Pet.
1:12-15.) The Apostle is not, therefore, to be understood as speaking of the
spirit and soul and body of each individual Christian at Thessalonica, but
respecting the spirit of the Church, the soul of the Church, and the body of
the Church. In other words, his desire was that the Church at Thessalonica
might continue to the full end of the Gospel age as a noble and faithful
congregation of the Lord’s body, full of his spirit and courageous in his work.
As a matter of fact, we know that the Apostle’s good wishes, or prayer did not
come true; for this congregation, like the others he planted, died out: not
heeding with sufficient care his injunctions and exhortations, not proving all
things, not holding fast the good, not abstaining from evil, not being
sanctified wholly, the spirit of the Lord in their midst was quenched, and as a
congregation it died, or ceased to be-the light having blessed and confirmed
some, passed on to other quarters, seeking those “meet for the inheritance of
the saints in light.”*
“Faithful is he that called you, who will also do it.” The fact that the
Thessalonica Church has not been kept in accordance with the Apostle’s prayer,
is not to be charged to unfaithfulness on God’s part, but to neglect and
unfaithfulness on the part of those whom the Apostle addressed, or their
successors in that congregation. So it is with every one of us who has been
called of the Lord. It is for us to hear and to heed the Lord’s message
through his servants, if we would make our calling and our election sure. If
not disposed to hear his message in the way he has sent it, the fault lies at
our own door. Faithful is he who called us, who would rejoice to do for us
abundantly better things than we could ask or think, if we accept his
provisions in faith and follow the directions of his Word.
“Brethren, pray for us.” There was nothing of the pope or lord about the
Apostle-no feeling of such a superiority to the others of the Lord’s flock that
he could pray for them to their advantage, but needed not their prayers.
Similar is the spirit of all who are in the proper relationship with the Lord-a
spirit of humility and appreciation of all the household of faith, and of their
petitions at the throne of grace-a realization that the humblest of the Lord’s
people has access to the throne of heavenly grace, and may there obtain mercy
and find strength to help in every time of need.
“Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.” This was the ancient style of
greeting, corresponding to our present style of saluting with the hand or with
the hat or by shaking hands. The custom of men kissing each other is still
followed in eastern countries. The Apostle’s thought is that there should be
thorough cordiality amongst all who claim membership in the body of Christ, and
that this fellowship should be manifested by the accustomed form of
greeting,-whatever reasonable form that might be. Possibly he meant-“I greet,”
etc., implying that he would love to be with them and greet them personally,
and now did so by letter.
Before invoking the Lord’s blessing upon the Church, the Apostle charged
most strongly that this epistle should not be considered as a private message
or letter to those in whose care it was sent, but that it should be considered
as his address to the entire company of the Lord’s faithful, and should be read
to them all. The Apostle seemed to fear that there might be a spirit of
censorship amongst the leading brethren which might lead them to preserve his
letter to themselves, and to dole it out second-hand to the Church, either as a
whole or such parts of it as in their judgment would be prudent. Such a
spirit on the part of the elders in any Church would be reprehensible. God’s
Word is for God’s people, and whoever would hinder its flow would surely offend
the Master himself. That the elders at Thessalonica were faithful is apparent
from the fact that the epistle was delivered to the Church. Some today need
caution along this same line: many preachers and teachers have discerned in The
Plan of the Ages the light of the Millennial dawn, but, instead of
heralding it to others, have sought to hide it from the Lord’s people that they
might use it as a personal illuminant to cause themselves to shine before their
flocks. They consider this cunning,-“wise and prudent,”-forgetting that the
Lord declares that he hides his deep things from the wise and prudent
and reveals them unto babes. (Luke 10:21.) True to our Lord’s words, this
class rarely makes much progress;-the truth passes on and ere long they are in
comparative darkness;-because they received not the truth in the love of it,
but in the love of self. (2 Thess. 2:10.) Loyalty to the Lord and to his flock
and to his Truth, through whatever channel it comes, demands that it shall be
heralded by each of us to the extent of our ability and in its purity and as
speedily as possible,-consistent with the condition and interests of those for
whom the Lord intended it-his flock. Shepherds who feed themselves and not the
flock are warned by the Lord of his displeasure, and could not be expected to
thrive spiritually, or otherwise to enjoy the light of the Lord’s face.- Ezek.
34:2,7-10.