Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Israel's cleansing 13:1-6
  13:1 In that day God would open a fountain for the complete spiritual cleansing of the Israelites, both for their moral sins and for their ritual uncleanness (cf. Ezek. 47). The figure of a fountain pictures abundant cleansin...
• B. Jesus' teachings about motivation for service 21:15-23
  Jesus now proceeded to use the miracle that He had just performed as the background for important instruction. John presented Jesus doing this many times in this Gospel. The repetition of this pattern in the epilogue is an ev...
• B. Thanksgiving 1:4-9
  Paul followed his salutation with an expression of gratitude for his original readers, as he usually did in his epistles. In this case the focus of his thanksgiving was on God's grace in giving the Corinthians such great spir...
• B. Denunciation 1:6-10
  In these opening words Paul rebuked his readers for turning away from the gospel that he had preached to them and for turning toward a different "gospel."He accused them of being religious turncoats. He did so to impress them...
• Purpose
  Three purposes are evident from the contents of the epistle. Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonian believers to continue to persevere in the face of continuing persecution (1:3-10). He also wanted to clarify events precedi...
• Message3
  We could contrast 1 and 2 Thessalonians by saying that Paul wrote the first epistle primarily to comfort the Thessalonians whereas he wrote the second epistle primarily to correct them.Paul had said some things in his first e...
• Outline4
  I. Salutation 1:1-2II. Commendation for past progress 1:3-12A. Thanksgiving for growth 1:3-4B. Encouragement to persevere 1:5-10C. Prayer for success 1:11-12III. Correction of present error 2:1-12A. The beginning of the day o...
• B. Encouragement to persevere 1:5-10
  These verses explain what God's future righteous judgment is.1:5 Paul explained that suffering for Christ demonstrates the believer's worthiness to participate in God's kingdom. A hot fire under gold ore separates the gold fr...
• A. The beginning of the day of the Lord 2:1-5
  2:1-2 Paul introduced his teaching by urging his readers not to be shaken from their adherence to the truth he had taught them by what they were hearing from others. The issue centered on Paul's instructions concerning the Ra...
• B. Prayer for strength 2:16-17
  As part of a bridge between his instructions (2:1-12) and exhortations (3:1-15), Paul added this prayer for the Thessalonians. He petitioned God for their encouragement and strength (cf. 1 Thess. 3:2, 13; 2 Thess. 3:3)."Addre...
• VI. CONCLUSION 3:16-18
  Paul concluded this epistle with an emphasis on unity in the church to motivate his readers to work out their problems and reestablish peaceful conditions that would glorify God.3:16 He concluded with two more prayers, his fo...
• E. The problem of apostasy in the church 4:1-5
  In this pericope Paul reminded Timothy of the apostasy that Jesus Christ had foretold to equip him to identify and to deal with it.143"The change that occurs at 4:1 following the hymn of victory, then, is not unexpected. Oppo...
• C. The Possibility of Rest for God's People 4:1-14
  The writer returned again from exhortation to exposition. He now posed the alternatives of rest and peril that confronted the new people of God, Christians.127The writer warned his readers so they would not fail to enter into...
• B. Protecting the Truth vv. 7-11
  Next John moved on to his second purpose. He wrote to encourage his readers to resist the false teachers who were distorting the truth and deceiving some of the believers."The presbyter's attention now moves from the existenc...