Paul was confident that God would provide strength and protection for the Thessalonians in view of His promises to provide for His own. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 - Held Firm And Guarded From Evil
This closing section is full of comfort and inspiration. Believers in Christ are the beloved of God; their salvation dates from His eternal love and choice, and His purpose for us is being wrought out in our characters by the Holy Spirit, who ministers to us through the truth. Our comfort is eternal and our hope is unfailing.
Paul was now preaching at Corinth, and he asks that the gospel may run, 2 Thessalonians 3:1, r.v. Oh, for a divine impatience that we may be content with nothing short of this! When unreasonable and wicked men try you, turn to the Lord, who is faithful to His promises and to His saints. The stronger the gales of opposition and hatred, the deeper should we become established and rooted in the truth. The word direct in 2 Thessalonians 2:5 may be rendered, make a thoroughfare through; that is, we desire that our hearts should be a highway down which the love of God and the patience of our Lord may pass to a world of sin and fret. Let us ever connect the patience and kingdom of our Lord, as in Revelation 1:9. [source]
Chapter Summary: 2 Thessalonians 3
1Paul craves their prayers for himself; 3testifies what confidence he has in them; 5makes request to God in their behalf; 6gives them various precepts, especially to shun idleness, and ill company; 16and then concludes with prayer and salutation
Greek Commentary for 2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful [πιστος δε εστιν ο κυριος] (πιστος δε εστιν ο κυριος pistos de estin ho kurios). [source]
But faithful is the Lord [correct rendition)] (correct rendition), with a play (paronomasia) on πιστις pistis by πιστος pistos as in Romans 3:3 we have a word-play on απιστεω apisteō and απιστια apistia The Lord can be counted on, however perverse men may be. From the evil one (απο του πονηρου apo tou ponērou). Apparently a reminiscence of the Lord‘s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου rusai hēmas apo tou ponērou But here as there it is not certain whether του πονηρου tou ponērou is neuter (evil) like to πονηρον ponēron in Romans 12:9 or masculine (the evil one). But we have ο πονηρος ho ponēros (the evil one) in 1 John 5:18 and του πονηρου tou ponērou is clearly masculine in Ephesians 6:16. If masculine here, as is probable, is it “the Evil One” (Ellicott) or merely the evil man like those mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ? Perhaps Paul has in mind the representative of Satan, the man of sin, pictured in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, by the phrase here without trying to be too definite. [source]
From the evil one [απο του πονηρου] Apparently a reminiscence of the Lord‘s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου rusai hēmas apo tou ponērou But here as there it is not certain whether του πονηρου tou ponērou is neuter (evil) like to πονηρον ponēron in Romans 12:9 or masculine (the evil one). But we have ο πονηρος ho ponēros (the evil one) in 1 John 5:18 and του πονηρου tou ponērou is clearly masculine in Ephesians 6:16. If masculine here, as is probable, is it “the Evil One” (Ellicott) or merely the evil man like those mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ? Perhaps Paul has in mind the representative of Satan, the man of sin, pictured in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, by the phrase here without trying to be too definite. [source]
From evil [ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ] Possibly, from the evil one. Τὸ πονηρόν evilis found Romans 12:9; Matthew 5:39; but general N.T. usage favors the masculine, personal sense. See Matthew 13:19,Matthew 13:38; Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 2:13,1 John 2:14; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18. In lxx, τὸ πονηρόν evil is very common: ὁ πονηρὸς a few times, but always of men. See Deuteronomy 24:7; Esther 7:6; Job 21:30. In Tobit 3:8,17, τὸ πονηρόν δαιμόνιον thewicked demon. The masculine is favored by the Jewish formularies, of which traces appear in the Lord's prayer; by the unanimous tradition of Greek interpreters; by the interpretations of Tertullian and Cyprian, and by the evidence of the Syriac and Sahidic Versions. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Thessalonians 3:3
1 John 1:9Faithful [πιστός] True to His own nature and promises; keeping faith with Himself and with man. The word is applied to God as fulfilling His own promises (Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 11:11); as fulfilling the purpose for which He has called men (1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Corinthians 1:9); as responding with guardianship to the trust reposed in Him by men (1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Peter 4:19). “He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). The same term is applied to Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:3; Hebrews 3:2; Hebrews 2:17). God's faithfulness is here spoken of not only as essential to His own being, but as faithfulness toward us; “fidelity to that nature of truth and light, related to His own essence, which rules in us as far as we confess our sins” (Ebrard). The essence of the message of life is fellowship with God and with His children (1 John 1:3). God is light (1 John 1:5). Walking in the light we have fellowship, and the blood of Jesus is constantly applied to cleanse us from sin, which is darkness and which interrupts fellowship. If we walk in darkness we do not the truth. If we deny our sin the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, “God, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful ” (1 Corinthians 1:9) to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and thus to restore and maintain the interrupted fellowship. [source]
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: κύριος
Sense: he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord.
Greek Commentary for 2 Thessalonians 3:3
(πιστος δε εστιν ο κυριος pistos de estin ho kurios). [source]
(correct rendition), with a play (paronomasia) on πιστις pistis by πιστος pistos as in Romans 3:3 we have a word-play on απιστεω apisteō and απιστια apistia The Lord can be counted on, however perverse men may be. From the evil one (απο του πονηρου apo tou ponērou). Apparently a reminiscence of the Lord‘s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου rusai hēmas apo tou ponērou But here as there it is not certain whether του πονηρου tou ponērou is neuter (evil) like to πονηρον ponēron in Romans 12:9 or masculine (the evil one). But we have ο πονηρος ho ponēros (the evil one) in 1 John 5:18 and του πονηρου tou ponērou is clearly masculine in Ephesians 6:16. If masculine here, as is probable, is it “the Evil One” (Ellicott) or merely the evil man like those mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ? Perhaps Paul has in mind the representative of Satan, the man of sin, pictured in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, by the phrase here without trying to be too definite. [source]
Apparently a reminiscence of the Lord‘s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου rusai hēmas apo tou ponērou But here as there it is not certain whether του πονηρου tou ponērou is neuter (evil) like to πονηρον ponēron in Romans 12:9 or masculine (the evil one). But we have ο πονηρος ho ponēros (the evil one) in 1 John 5:18 and του πονηρου tou ponērou is clearly masculine in Ephesians 6:16. If masculine here, as is probable, is it “the Evil One” (Ellicott) or merely the evil man like those mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 3:2 ? Perhaps Paul has in mind the representative of Satan, the man of sin, pictured in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, by the phrase here without trying to be too definite. [source]
Possibly, from the evil one. Τὸ πονηρόν evilis found Romans 12:9; Matthew 5:39; but general N.T. usage favors the masculine, personal sense. See Matthew 13:19, Matthew 13:38; Ephesians 6:16; 1 John 2:13, 1 John 2:14; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18. In lxx, τὸ πονηρόν evil is very common: ὁ πονηρὸς a few times, but always of men. See Deuteronomy 24:7; Esther 7:6; Job 21:30. In Tobit 3:8,17, τὸ πονηρόν δαιμόνιον thewicked demon. The masculine is favored by the Jewish formularies, of which traces appear in the Lord's prayer; by the unanimous tradition of Greek interpreters; by the interpretations of Tertullian and Cyprian, and by the evidence of the Syriac and Sahidic Versions. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Thessalonians 3:3
True to His own nature and promises; keeping faith with Himself and with man. The word is applied to God as fulfilling His own promises (Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 11:11); as fulfilling the purpose for which He has called men (1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Corinthians 1:9); as responding with guardianship to the trust reposed in Him by men (1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Peter 4:19). “He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). The same term is applied to Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:3; Hebrews 3:2; Hebrews 2:17). God's faithfulness is here spoken of not only as essential to His own being, but as faithfulness toward us; “fidelity to that nature of truth and light, related to His own essence, which rules in us as far as we confess our sins” (Ebrard). The essence of the message of life is fellowship with God and with His children (1 John 1:3). God is light (1 John 1:5). Walking in the light we have fellowship, and the blood of Jesus is constantly applied to cleanse us from sin, which is darkness and which interrupts fellowship. If we walk in darkness we do not the truth. If we deny our sin the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, “God, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful ” (1 Corinthians 1:9) to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and thus to restore and maintain the interrupted fellowship. [source]
See on 1 Peter 5:10, and compare Luke 22:32; Romans 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:3. [source]