But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you,
brethren beloved by the Lord,
because God from the beginning chose you for salvation
through
sanctification by the Spirit
and belief in the truth

2 Thessalonians 2:13

Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica for only three weeks before persecution arose and compelled them to leave. They left behind several new believers who subsequently became the targets of persecution. Paul and Silas were greatly concerned about how these babes in Christ fared until Timothy returned with an excellent report. Their joy upon hearing the good news saturated the two Thessalonian epistles.

 The verse above is an example of Paul’s enthusiasm over their steadfastness and growth. But we can easily confuse his message if we don’t clearly understand the terms he used.

Salvation

Probably the key term to understand is ‘salvation.’ In these days, we use ‘salvation’ almost exclusively regarding the event of being born again and justified from sins. But the New Testament used the word with a slightly broader scope. Consider Peter’s message to born-again believers in the opening verses of his epistle.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

So although Scripture regularly used ‘salvation’ to refer to the one-time event of justification, it also used the term in reference to our final deliverance from the corruptive effects of sin in us.

Initially, my colleague, Graham, and I assumed Paul was referring to the justification aspect of salvation in our passage above. But we came to understand that he had something else in mind for three reasons. 

The first is the grammatical construction of the verse. Paul wrote that their salvation came through the sanctification of the Spirit. Sanctification here means ‘being made holy.’ We saw he could not mean their justification (salvation) came through a process of being made holy (sanctification), because in Romans he wrote that we are justified by faith, not through a process of sanctification. So his use of ‘salvation’ here does not fit with the aspect of justification.

Secondly, we noticed that other passages which speak of salvation coming through something are arguably speaking of another aspect of salvation. When Paul was writing to the Thessalonians in the first epistle, he wrote about salvation that would come through the Lord Jesus.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10 

Since they were already saved, he clearly was referring to a future aspect of salvation, namely, living together with the Lord. This aspect of their salvation would come through the Lord Jesus Christ, for He was the key to this hope by virtue of the fact that He would return for them. 

Paul provides another example of salvation which comes through something in his letter to Timothy.

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:13-15

Here, the context indicates that ‘salvation’ referred to deliverance from deceptions that come from evil men. This deliverance (salvation) would come through faith in Christ Jesus, and the faith would come from the wisdom of the Scriptures.

Given that these other passages which speak of salvation through something were speaking of an aspect other than justification, we concluded that 2 Thessalonians 2:13 was doing likewise. 

Our last reason for taking this view is the thought flow in the context. In the verses preceding our passage, Paul wrote of the last days of this age.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

He was speaking of a delusion that will come upon all those who will not receive and believe the truth. He stated that the reason they would not receive the truth would be because they enjoyed unrighteousness. In other words, their love of unrighteousness would make them unavoidably susceptible to the coming delusion. 

It seems reasonable to understand ‘salvation’ in our verse as speaking of deliverance from that delusion and resulting condemnation. Then, the thought flow would proceed as follows. 

First, Paul wrote of the coming delusion. Then he gave thanks for the Thessalonian believers because God would deliver them from the delusion through sanctification (making them holy) by the Spirit, and belief in the truth. Whereas the unbelievers would fall for the delusion because they loved their sin, God would deliver the Thessalonians from the delusion through the purifying work of the Spirit. Paul closed the thought flow with an exhortation to hold fast to what they had been taught.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. 2 Thessalonians 2:15

This appears a perfectly natural instruction in the context’s thought flow if we take ‘salvation’ with the meaning as we have presented. When we took ‘salvation’ to mean justification, we found this instruction in verse 15 disrupted the flow of thought because the ‘therefore’ made little sense in the context of justification. 

Chose

Although this discussion about salvation may seem to quibble about semantics, the results have a significant impact on the meaning and blessing of the passage. Especially when you add the meaning of the Greek word for ‘chose’ (G0138). 

G0138 (chose) evidently had a relatively narrow range of meaning. It meant a specific type of choice of taking for oneself in a way that involved personal commitment. We can see a clear example from the life of Moses.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. Hebrews 11:24-26

Moses made a choice to take upon himself the identity of the people of God instead of Pharaoh’s royal household. This was a choice that involved great personal commitment on his part and had a lasting impact on his life.

Another good example for our consideration is the first time this Greek word was used in the Greek Old Testament. Besides showing the meaning, this passage also shows that G0138 is not necessarily unilateral since both parties made a choice. 

Today you have chosen God to be your god and to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his judgments and to obey his voice. Today also the Lord has chosen you to be his exceptional people, as he said, to keep all his commandments, and that you be high above all nations, as he has made you renowned and a boast and glorified, that you be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he spoke. Deuteronomy 26:17-19 (New English Translation of the Septuagint)

Israel made a choice of commitment that YHWH would be their God, and God made the same kind of choice for Israel to be His people. Notice how God’s choice of Israel had the goal of making the Israelites holy, which is the same theme as His choice of the Thessalonians.

One final element of G0138 involves the emotional side. 1 Samuel 1:19 used the word to describe Jonathon’s great delight in David. It is evident that his personal commitment to David was coupled with a feeling of endearment (see here for further discussion on G0138).

With these word meanings in our minds, imagine what Paul’s statement meant to the Thessalonians. Paul was telling them that God had made a personal commitment to them. God would take it upon Himself to ensure they would not fall prey to the delusion that would swallow up the unrighteous and lead to their condemnation. And He would accomplish this through a process of making them holy in the Spirit. All they had to do was to grow in their belief in the wonderful truth in His Word. It was a wonderful statement of assurance in God’s love and commitment towards them.

Beginning

Before we leave this verse, it might be good to consider ‘beginning’ (G0746). This word had a broad range of meaning, being used to describe both the absolute beginning (John 1:1), and the relative beginning of the relevant object. 

As far as we could see, nothing in the immediate context indicates whether Paul was thinking of the beginning of time or some other beginning. However, in the first epistle, Paul wrote of his gratitude to God in a similar fashion to our 2 Thessalonians passage.

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13

In this verse, Paul was referring to the time when they first received the word of God. It seems reasonable that he was referencing the same time period when he gave thanks in the 2 Thessalonians 2:13 passage. That means he was saying that God, from the beginning when the Thessalonians first heard and received the gospel, preemptively chose them for deliverance from the delusion through being made holy.

This interpretation fits well within the historical context of their salvation. Paul and Silas were forced to abandon the new believers before they could fully fortify them against the deceptions of unrighteousness. But the apostles soon saw that God, from the day these people were saved, preemptively committed Himself to delivering these dear believers through the process of sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Paul and Silas recognized that the endurance of the Thessalonian believers was not due to their help, but to God’s loving commitment to them. 

God’s commitment to His people was and is a marvelous truth full of assurance and security in His faithfulness to us. May we be encouraged in the loving-kindness of our God.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

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