A little while ago, I produced a verse by verse series in Philippians. I really enjoyed that exercise and have been wondering if I should take on another book. Well it turns out that 1 Thessalonians is the victim of my machinations, and hopefully, the thoughts produced by this fantastic book will edify and encourage the reader.
As with Philippians I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
As we left the fourth chapter, we found that Paul was providing information to the Thessalonians in order to comfort them, encouraging them to comfort each other regarding the coming of the Lord.
I sought to emphasize that there was little “meat on the bones” in those verses that inidicated any time interval or condition of culture that would provide the Thessalonians information on the date of the return.
Paul now comes out and clearly states that he did not need to communicate any chronological specifics about when the Lord would return. The already knew!
What? They knew when the Lord was coming back?
Hold up. As we venture through this portion of Scripture (verse 1-11) Paul continues with his pastoral heart, seeking to comfort the believers, and not simply provide a specific time of the return!
But Carl, Paul specifically starts this portion, referring to the “times” and “seasons”. Surely he is about to describe the date of the Lord’s return.
Woah. Hold up and let’s take a moment to consider what his letter says and doesn’t say.
Times
χρόνος chrónos. This term speaks of a space of time, but not a specific time or portion of time, or a particular period of time. This term is of the more generic terms in relation to the topic of time
The term speaks of a quantiative measure of duration.
Seasons
καιρός kairós. This term speaks of a particular time, often associated with a specific action or occurence, a time that is consequential or appointed, It may simply define a point in time, usually containing specific circumstances.
In using these two terms, Paul is speaking of the Thessalonians understanding of the general passage of time (chrónos) , and of some specific circumstances in a period of time (kairós).
Now as we continue reading this passage, I have always assumed Paul is speaking of the times the Thessalonians lived in. This only makes sense since Paul was not providing the Thessalonian church information that would be directed only to the 12th century church in Madagascar, or the 21st century church in North Bergen New Jersey. He is addressing a first century church.
So let’s recap.
- He is seeking to comfort his current church. This is very applicable to the modern church. The return of the Lord is truth the church should use to “encourage one another and build one another up”. (verse 11)
- He is speaking of their current knowledge of the “times and seasons”. Some in the modern church may have this knowledge.
- He is reminding the Thessalonians of their general knowledge of the time they lived in, and of the characteristic of the times (seasons) prior to the end. This is not directly applicable to the modern church, as we did not have the opportunity to hear his teaching, nor are we in their specific time condition. We may glean much of this knowledge from his writings, and for that we are thankful, but let us not think we know more than the Thessalonians. We know enough.
In verse 2, he will begin to describe their full knowledge of the times and seasons, but Paul will not specifically indicate any date. (Argh!) He will describe to the Thessalonians characteristics of the times of the day of the Lord, which is much more helpful for the modern church. We can look around our culture and find many of the characteristics Paul speaks of. Some periods of time are laden with these characteristics, and should bring us great hope.
In all of this discussion on times and seasons, the overriding message we need to remember is that the Lord Jesus is returning, and our knowledge of the times should encourage us, not worry us.
He is coming back! Whether it be today (hopefully) or February 19th, 3247 each of us will meet Him soon. We all have our own date of meeting if He tarries!
Come Lord Jesus!
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