COMFORT AND EXHORT. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 It is significant that, up to this point in the letter, Paul has combined teaching about Christian living and prophecy concerning the Lord’s coming for the church and the Day of the Lord. Prophecy is not meant to be an area of study open to opinions and debate among scholars. It is revealed truth that provides direction and hope to believers living in uncertain times, helping them focus on God’s reasons for leaving us here at this point in history rather than on ourselves and our personal objectives.
A Christian’s life is not only a training period preparing us for future service to the Lord, but also a time to encourage, exhort, and comfort others. Three verses guide us to be attentive to others. The next seven verses instruct us in practical living and holiness in our own lives. The remaining verses describe what God does for our sanctification and what we should do for others.
This fifteen-point checklist of general instructions, as it relates to believers and the assembly they are part of, is not just suggestions. The word “beseech” highlights the importance of the personal relationships between believers and the challenge of maintaining a personal devotional life that makes these relationships meaningful for all of us. A spiritually healthy assembly will take these exhortations seriously and consistently apply them.
A joyful church life and a fulfilling personal life rely on our willingness to “consider one another to provoke love and good works.” We are still fragile, mortal people with limitations, differences, opinions, and ambitions that must be integrated with others. One mark of a scripturally gathered assembly of God’s people is that we do not hold elections to choose leaders or determine our beliefs and practices. Individually and collectively, we all submit to the sovereignty of God in our doctrine and practices.