Main news for 22 November 2014

Nova Vulgata (lat)

Epistula II ad Thessalonicenses, Caput 3, versae 14-15

¹⁴Quod si quis non oboedit verbo nostro per epistulam, hunc notate, non commisceamini cum illo, ut confundatur;

¹⁵et nolite quasi inimicum existimare, sed corripite ut fratrem.

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3:14 Have no company with him - No intimacy, no familiarity, no needless correspondence.

3:15 Admonish him as a brother - Tell him lovingly of the reason why you shun him.

NOTES

Speaking of the need for everyone to work and earn his bread by his own labor, Paul, as one can see, precisely...

Speaking of the need for everyone to work and earn his bread by his own labor, Paul, as one can see, connects following the "tradition" that he and his co-workers left to the Thessalonian church precisely with such a way of life (vv. 6-10). Mentioning certain brothers who do nothing but, in Paul's own definition, "busy themselves," he advises keeping away from them, not in order to treat them as enemies, but, as one can see, in order not to take part in the fuss that brings no benefit to anyone (vv. 11-15). The context of the letter as a whole allows us to suppose that the brothers mentioned by the apostle were busying themselves not only because of the disorderliness of their own character, but also, perhaps, because they were waiting too tensely for the day of the Savior's return.

Such tense, perhaps even feverish expectation could not fail to produce in the church community a distinctive "eschatological" excitement, so familiar to many churches in many different ages. Apparently Paul was a resolute opponent of the spread of this kind of attitude in the churches. And the point here, clearly, is not only that they did not help normal and full spiritual life at all, but on the contrary only hindered it, as all fuss hinders it. The point is above all that they distracted Christians from the main task: sanctification and witness, without which the spread of the Kingdom is impossible. Indeed, the whole meaning of Paul's letter to the Thessalonian church comes down to the fact that the Savior's return is inseparable from the becoming and revealing of the Kingdom in the world, that this return itself is possible only as the completion of the process of the transformation of creation, a process determined above all by the activity of the witnesses of the Kingdom. Meanwhile, feverish expectation of the Second Coming in the apostle's time, as in all other times, as one can see, was accompanied by anything except witness to the Kingdom. There is nothing surprising in this: after all, such an overly emotional expectation means first of all that for those waiting, the Kingdom is still ahead. For them, the history of the Kingdom has not yet begun; it will begin only on the day of the Second Coming, which in essence will turn out for them not to be the second but the first, because the first, to which the evangelists testify, changed nothing for them and had no effect on their lives.

For Christians living a normal, full spiritual life, the Kingdom is already a reality, although it has not yet revealed itself in all its fullness. For those feverishly awaiting the Second Coming, it is only an exciting premonition that stirs the mind and heart, which of course has very little in common with the life of the Kingdom. And Paul advises the faithful to keep away from the busy brothers not because he hates or despises them, but because the faithful taking part in such fuss will benefit neither those who are busy nor the faithful themselves. It will not bring the former closer to the Kingdom, and it can only move the latter farther from it. One can be joined to the Kingdom only by ceasing to fuss and beginning to live, which is what Paul calls all his Thessalonian brothers to do.

Some words lose all meaning when we repeat them thoughtlessly day after day. Who remembers that the Russian greeting...

As seen, Paul being very serious about his service and witness did not all the same find it as the ultimate truth. He admitted that even quite right things, of which he writes in his messages, can cause disagreement, and did not consider it as a sufficient reason to count opponents as enemies of God and the Church. There is nothing surprising here. Because on one hand Paul is a person of the Torah, and on the other - a person of the Kingdom. As a person of the Torah, he understands perfectly that the only reason for counting anyone as enemy of God is an open violation of the Torah, the commandments given by God. When it is about such violations, Paul makes no compromise. When it is about important things, but not related directly with the violation of the Torah, the apostle doesn’t considers himself in right to refuse the one who disagrees the right of spiritual consistency.

Of course, the disagreements can be, maybe even the lack of communication, when the opponents are separated and divider into various meetings, but they always remain brothers and members of the same Church of Christ. And as a person of the Kingdom, the same Paul understands perfectly that for every person, is absolutely real only one variant of the spiritual experience – his own. We cannot live the spiritual life of others, we can only live ours.

The imitation of the spiritual life of others is possible of course, but it kills spiritually man. And Paul always tried to make sure that each finds his own way to Christ and the Kingdom. On this way, everyone of course makes mistakes, sometimes similar to the mistakes of others, sometimes not. But the apostle recognized the right to make mistakes for the seeker of the Kingdom. The only thing that was unacceptable for him - deceit and lie, and of course the imposition of one’s spiritual experience or religiosity to another. Here he became merciless, and it is not surprising: for him all this was absolutely incompatible with the Kingdom. And for the rest Paul gave to each freedom. This freedom of the Kingdom, without which salvation is impossible.

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