1 Thess. 3:12-4:3 is a liturgical selection that straddles the two main parts of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. 3:11-13 is the prayer of intercession that concludes 1-3, while 4:1-3 begins the exhortatory part of the letter. The intercessory prayer begins with the petition that "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" facilitate the return of Paul and his companions to the Thessalonians. It is followed by one that asks the Lord to make the Thessalonians more generous in loving one another and the rest of the world "as much as we love you." It ends with the petition that the Lord "confirm your hearts in holiness" so that they may be blameless at the coming of the Lord "with all his saints". 4:1-3 on the other hand is the introduction to a review of the moral teachings that the Thessalonians already learned from Paul while he was there with them. The appeal of Paul is that they progress in the kind of life that they are meant to live.
Paul and the Thessalonians
Paul wrote this letter in Corinth in year 50 or 51 after Timothy returned from a visit to Thessalonica and brought Paul the news of the courage of the Thessalonians under persecution. Paul came to Thessalonica in year 50 during his second missionary journey. Luke narrates the circumstances of Paul's arrival and work at Thessalonica in Acts 17:1-91. For three consecutive sabbaths, Luke informs us, Paul explained using Scriptures that that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that this Christ is Jesus. There were conversions from the ranks of the Jews, the God-fearers and rich matrons, Luke tells us. But there were those who resented the success of Paul and with the help of some gang from the market place, they stirred up a crowd and went to the place where Paul was thought to reside. Instead, finding only a certain Jason and some of the "brothers", the lynching mob, dragged these instead before the People's Assembly charging them with treason. Jason and his companions were eventually freed, but Paul and Silvanus had to leave Thessalonia, going to Beroea and when they were pursued there (17:13-15), Paul proceeded to Athens and later to Corinth where he was able to stay for eighteen months. The return of Timothy from a visit to Thessalonica helped assuage Paul's worries about the brothers there. And so the first part of his letter to them is full of affection. Paul weaves his thanksgiving with the memories he has of the Thessalonian community. He concludes this first part with the prayer of intercession in 3:11-13.
The Prayer of Intercession
3:11-13 concludes the first part of the letter but also acts as a transition point between the thanksgiving part of the letter and the exhortatory part. 3:11 recalls 2:17-18 where Paul expresses his desire to visit the brothers in Thessalonica once more.
But we, brothers, being taken away from you for a short time, in sight -- not in heart --
have hastened the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
For we would have come unto you, I Paul indeed, once and again: but Satan hath hindered us.
We do not know exactly how Satan hindered Paul from making another visit to the Thessalonians; but it is clear that Paul had intended to visit the community but was prevented from doing so. It is because of this desire that he prays that both "our Father" and the "the Lord Jesus Christ" make it easy for him and his companions to return to them.
Paul prays that the Thessalonians increase in charity, and this is not due to some deficiency in this area. In 4:9, Paul writes
On the matter of brotherly love, we have no need to write to you:
for yourselves have learned of God to love one another.
For indeed you do it towards all the brothers in all Macedonia.
But we entreat you, brethren, that you abound more.
In other words, the prayer is that the Thessalonians abound in love as they are loved by Paul himself who was to them not only a preacher but also like a nurse and a father, not only proclaiming to them the gospel of God but also would have given his life for them (see 2:1-12).
The last petition is that the Thessalonians be confirmed in holiness so that they be found blameless on the day of the Lord's coming with his saints. The Lord's parousia -- "His coming" in glory -- is the reality towards which the life of the Thessalonians tend towards. They have turned away from idols and have begun to serve God and await the coming of His Son (1:9.10). Even Paul sees them as his boast and reason for joy before the Lord (2:19-20). This petition is repeated at the end of the letter:
And may the God of peace himself sanctify you in all things;
that your whole spirit, and soul, and body, may be preserved blameless
in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (5:23)
Saved from the wrath to come, the Thessalonians are now to remain in holiness, abounding in love as they await the coming of the Lord who "died for us; that, whether we watch or sleep, we may live together with him" (5:10)
The Introduction to Exhortation
The exhortatory part of 1 Thessalonians begins with 4:1-3. The key in this passage is the word "parelabete" (you have received) which is at the opposite end of the verb "paradidonai" (to hand over). This latter is the verb for "tradition"; "parelabete" is the act of receiving the tradition of the apostle, which is described in the phrase: "how it is necessary that you walk and please God" (4:1), that is to live in the way God intends. We have already discussed the word "tradition" in the NT. The stress here is that the Thessalonians live according to the instructions received from the apostle that they may please God and remain blameless at the coming of the Lord.
In Advent Sunday I (Year C)
The selection 1 Thess. 3:12-4:3 is read in the first Sunday of Advent, Year C. The gospel reading for that day is from Luke 21:25-36 where two passages -- characteristically Lucan -- can be related to Paul's prayer that the coming Lord may find the Christian community confirmed in holiness and blameless:
The Christian community has been saved from the coming wrath (5:9); they are now to live the manner of life that is pleasing to God. For this reason too, they are to keep watch and be vigilant so that they can stand before the Son of Man when he comes.But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
...
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.
