Thessalonians

Thessalonians

An Expositional Commentary

Donald Grey Barnhouse

Publisher, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Inc, 1716 Spruce St Philadelphia PA 19103 USA. Smashwords Edition.

Revised 2009, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. All rights reserved.

Scripture is from the King James Version. Other Scripture is from the Revised Standard Version. Copyright National Council of Churches of Christ in America, 1952

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. B-THE SW

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

CHAPTER 1: Background to the Thessalonian Epistles

CHAPTER 2: I Thessalonians 1

CHAPTER 3: 1 Thessalonians 2

CHAPTER 4: 1 Thessalonians 3

CHAPTER 5: 1 Thessalonians 4

CHAPTER 6: 1 Thessalonians 5

CHAPTER 7: 2 Thessalonians 1

CHAPTER 8: 2 Thessalonians 2

CHAPTER 9: 2 Thessalonians 3

Foreword

For generations the faithful preaching and teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse has been impacting the lives of thousands around the world. With the discipline of expository preaching fading in many mainstream churches, resources like Barnhouse's commentary on Thessalonians are becoming more and more valuable. While current scholars might shy away from his view of the so-called end times, we see it as a product of a generation that we can still learn from. Carefully examining the verses and the doctrines throughout Paul's letters to the church at Thessalonica allows Barnhouse to continue faithful exegesis and application of the Word.

Grounding the reader in the historical context of Paul's letters allows Barnhouse the opportunity to properly guide us through their many timeless truths. Addressing difficult themes such as suffering, obedience, justification, sanctification, and our witness to the world in a practical manner gives the reader not only a proper understanding, but encouragement to apply these teachings on a daily basis. Now, justification is that planting of the new life of God in us; sanctification is the rise and development of the new life. I suppose that if we charted the progress of our new life in Christ, the chart would not show a steady growth, but rather it would be like those charts on the stock market-up and down (p. 61).

There is much that can be gained from the expositional teaching of Dr. Barnhouse. With his classic style of anticipation and explanation, those interested in his teaching can rest assured knowing that his careful examination of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians in this commentary will cover much of what the reader is after. Barnhouse's Thessalonians commentary continues what has marked Barnhouse’s ministry of over 60 years and beyond: making God’s word plain!.

Praise God for His Word!

Robert Brady

Executive Vice President

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

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Introduction

These expositions of the First and Second Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians were first presented by Donald Grey Barnhouse to the congregation of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, which he served for thirty–three years. The messages were refined as he traveled about the United States and Canada conducting Bible conferences.

Dr. Barnhouse, regarded by many as the outstanding popular Bible expositor of his generation, was both a product of the evangelical culture of his day and one of its most forceful leaders. He was a tall, handsome man with a shock of curly hair that turned from chestnut to white in the long years of his ministry. Always a commanding figure in the pulpit, his teaching often came across as authoritarian. Yet to brand him only as an authoritarian fundamentalist preacher would do him despite.

True, he was dogmatic and often anything but politic in his public utterances, but beyond all this, he was an unparalleled communicator of Bible truth. His real authority as a teacher stemmed from his passionate commitment to the Word of God. Beneath his brusque exterior was a childlike faith in the living God and the Holy Scriptures. He always blew the trumpet of the Lord with a certain sound.

What were the forces in his life that developed his great gifts?

The youngest child and only boy in a devout Watsonville, California, family, young Donald was beloved and perhaps spoiled by his loving parents and four doting sisters. The eldest sister, Mabel Jean, became a student at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It was her example that influenced Donald to enter the same school when he was eighteen. Only three years before, he had confessed his faith in Jesus Christ at a Christian Endeavor convention in San Jose.

It was at Biola, however, that young Barnhouse met the man who shaped his theological thinking more than any other individual—Reuben Archer Torrey, one of the giants of early fundamentalism. Torrey, a graduate of Yale College and Divinity School and schooled in German universities, was ordained to the Congregational ministry. He was attracted to the dispensationalist teaching that was centered at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and ultimately became superintendent and, later dean, of that school. Torrey liked Donald and, in an unprecedented move, lent his teaching notes to his alert young disciple.

Later Barnhouse studied at the University of Chicago, Princeton University, and Princeton Theological Seminary, but his grounding in the Word of God under Torrey never departed from him. Thus he became a Bible teacher, not a theologian.

While still a student at Biola, he had heard most of the great fundamentalists of his day lecture—A. C. Gaebelein, James M. Gray, C. I. Scofield, W. B. Riley, and F. W. Farr, to mention a few. These were valiant men who passionately and brilliantly defended the historic Christian faith against the onslaught of humanistic liberalism then known as modernism. These men, and particularly Torrey, molded the thinking of the bright and often cocky young man who one day would sway audiences with his own God–given charisma.

At Princeton Seminary, young Barnhouse came under the tutelage of four giants of the Princeton school who confirmed his faith in the infallible Word of God. These proponents of the Reformed faith were Benjamin B. Warfield, regarded by many as the greatest American theologian of all time; Robert Dick Wilson, the eminent Hebrew scholar; John D. Davis, Old Testament expert and editor of the Bible dictionary bearing his name; and William B. Green, apologist. His ministry was forever enhanced by the impact of these conservative scholars.

Later Dr. Barnhouse eschewed the term dispensationalist, the prevailing school of theology at Moody and Biola, yet the mark of this school of interpretation of Scripture never left him. It is evident in these messages on both Thessalonian Epistles, which deal with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although he spurned the separatism of many fundamentalists and was thereby misunderstood for his views on the church, Dr. Barnhouse never departed from what is known as the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial position. Thus, he taught that Christ could return at any moment to take out His redeemed people from the world—that event known as the rapture. He also believed that following the rapture, there would be a period of time called the great tribulation, which would precede the millennium, the time when Christ would return to earth with his saints to establish His thousand–year kingdom.

Dr. Barnhouse argued that this position most satisfactorily harmonized with the biblical passages relating to a revived nation of Israel. Yet this prince of expositors in his later years did not emphasize Bible prophecy in his ministry, because he felt many Bible conference adherents were more interested in future events surrounding the return of Christ than they were in Christ himself.

In his teaching of the Thessalonian Epistles, Dr. Barnhouse warns against abstract doctrine that does not have an effect on a believer's life. His comments on 1 Thessalonians 5 illustrate this: My chief interest in the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ is what it does for you now, he declared. And if you don't know 1 John 3:3, I am not interested in your theory of prophecy, for 1 John 3:3 says, 'Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.' Thus, he stressed the need for personal holiness as well as doctrinal orthodoxy.

There are many theories as to why Barnhouse influenced so many pastors, missionaries, and Christian workers both in North America and around the world. Some will stress Dr. Barnhouse's great gift of employing apt illustrations to drive biblical truth home to his listeners. This is certainly a valid observation, for, like our Lord, Barnhouse used illustrations from the common life of his culture to make spiritual truths glow in one's memory.

But was not the greatest reason for his influence his application of God–given truth in such a way that those who heard recognized that God's truth must change their lives? The Word had to become flesh in their experience.

There is nothing in Barnhouse's messages that cannot easily be understood by a willing heart. May God grant that this colorful teacher of the Word will continue to be used in the lives of many Christians.

Russell T. Hitt

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Chapter 1: Background to the Thessalonian Epistles

ACTS 17:1-11

1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where was a synagogue of the Jews.

2. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures,

3. Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

4. And some of them believed, and consorted with