The Holy Spirit in the Epistles to the Thessalonians

IT is well known that the epistles to the Thessalonians were the first epistles the apostle Paul penned by the Spirit of God. In Acts 17 we have the historical record of his visit to Thessalonica. He preached the gospel in the synagogue and elsewhere. The blessing of God rested upon it. Without touching upon the leading teaching of these two epistles, which are prophetic in that the testimony most prominent is the coming of the Lord, we point out the few references to the Holy Spirit in both of these epistles.

Chapter 1:5-6. "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit manifesting His power in the preaching of the good news, giving much assurance to those who believed, as well as the subsequent results in their salvation and the accompanying joy are here mentioned. They turned to God from idols. They served the true and living God and became His followers. They waited for His Son from heaven, for the apostle had taught them in the very beginning the blessed hope, which brings the consummation of the believer's redemption. In all this the Holy Spirit acted as He still does. He quickened them so that they could turn to God; He enabled them to serve God in a separated life, and gave them the patience of hope. Let it be noticed that neither in this epistle nor in the book of Acts is anything said that there were extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit of God amongst them. There is no mention made of the gift of tongues, the working of miracles and other sign gifts. It is indeed very significant that in the great Pauline epistles addressed to the church, except in Corinthians, nothing is said of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues, the gift of healing and the gift of working miracles. Not a word of all this in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians and the other epistles.

Chapter 4:8. Another passage showing that believers have the Holy Spirit as the gift of God.

Chapter 5:19. "Quench not the Spirit." In Ephesians we read the warning not to grieve the Spirit. Quenching the Spirit is not the same as grieving Him. The verse preceding and the verse which follows this brief exhortation explains what quenching the Spirit means. If we neglect to be thankful and do not praise Him for everything, then we quench the Spirit, for He is in us as the Spirit of praise and worship. If we do not follow His leading when we should speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether in a public meeting or in private, we quench Him. To quench the Spirit means to hinder His action in the midst of the church or in individual service. As we said in connection with the exhortation not to grieve the Spirit, so we say here, we may quench Him, but He will never leave us, in spite of our unfaithfulness.

In the second epistle the Holy Spirit is mentioned only once by name, at the close of the second chapter (2:13). This second chapter is prophetic and we cannot pass it by without saying a word on the hindering One, who will be taken out of the way. In the first epistle is revealed the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord for His Saints. From the beginning of the second chapter in the second epistle we learn that the Thessalonian believers had been disturbed by false teachers who taught that the day of the Lord, the day of judgment and wrath for the unbelieving world was at hand. They went so far, it seems, as to send a spurious letter in the name of Paul. The inspired man of God informs the troubled Thessalonian Christians that the day of the Lord does not come till the falling away has come and the man of sin, the final, personal antichrist is revealed. He gives a picture of the character and work of this masterpiece of Satan, the man of sin. All this he had taught during his stay in Thessalonica (verse 5). Then we read the following words, "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work, only He who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way." We have written the person mentioned as the hindering One with a capital H-for we believe the person is the Holy Spirit. As long as He is in the world as He is now, the final great apostasy cannot come, nor can the man of sin be revealed. As we have seen the Holy Spirit dwells in the individual believer and He dwells therefore in the true church, which is the habitation of God by the Spirit. Some day the true church will be taken out of the world to meet the Lord in the air. Then the Holy Spirit will be no longer in the world as He is now here, that is, in the body of Christ. Through the true church, constituted of all believers, He keeps back the falling away and restrains Satan from putting his man into the world. But when He has finished the work in the completion of the church and her subsequent glorification, this restraining influence will be gone; "Then shall that Wicked be revealed." Of course the Spirit of God will still do a work on earth after the true church has been raptured, just as He worked before the day of Pentecost.

The one reference to the Holy Spirit in chapter 2:13 needs no further comment.