This, Too, Is Resistance
by Christopher C. Thompson | 19 December 2024 |
I recently attempted here to address our present political context, and to show why the correctives in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians are relevant today.
The responses to that piece were vocal and varied. One of the things I’ve learned is that even Adventist Christians struggle to talk civilly about these matters. Yet when we stifle candid and civil dialogue, we become complicit with injustice, bigotry, and oppression.
The last few weeks have taught us that we are in for a wild ride over the next few years. It is with such a harrowing future in view that Paul’s correctives in the letters to the Thessalonians should be invaluable to us while living with congruent crises.
So let me here look at Paul’s keys to living in crisis times in the Roman Empire, and explore some ways that they apply to our present world empires.
Community
I never really paid attention to Paul’s deep concern from chapter two through chapter three: I thought about it as an extension of the initial greeting of the letter.
I’m reading it with new eyes.
Paul painstakingly explains his care and compassion for the Thessalonian believers because they are in crisis. He admits his fear that hardship might cause them to give up before he could return to reassure their faith as an expression of his concern. He wants to visit them because he knows that community strengthens faith (3:5).
Yet, even when he is separated from them, he makes every effort to reach them because he knows that community matters (2:17). So he sent Timothy instead, to make sure that the Thessalonians maintain faith (3:2). But he also encouraged them to keep their own community bonds strong (3:12; 4:9-10; 5:26-27) .
I love how he tells them to keep loving each other, but do it “more and more.” Community is key. In these trying times, we should start the work of revitalization by prioritizing families and community-building. The only way we’re going to get through this is if we “press together,” huddle up, and care for one another.
Perseverance
This is the very core of the letter. Paul is aware that times are very hard. He wants to be sure that they don’t give up. He constantly praises them for their faith that has held up under trial (1:6; 2:13; 3:8-9; 4:1; 2; Thess. 1:4). He also celebrates them as a model for the faith of other believers abroad (1:7-9). We need you to hold on to faith because others are watching you, he says, and because you can’t let the enemy win (3:5b; 2 Thess. 2:11-12; 3:3).
Paul contends that they have been called and sanctified as children of God and representatives of the gospel to share in the glory of God (2 Thess. 2:13-14). Don’t succumb to the evil order of the day. May the glory of God shine through you despite the hardships and evil that are pressing all around us.
Discipline
Satan uses distractions and pain to derail us from the call, purpose, and plan of God for our lives. Paul urges the Thessalonians to stay the course and to develop in ways that would ensure their steadfastness. They are littered throughout the text, but Paul’s aim is clear. His prayer is that God will “strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones” (3:13).
Yet there are so many standalone directives (i.e., 4:3-11; 5:12-22). It’s in 4:12 that Paul gives yet another reason that we should aim for a life that is above reproach. It is “so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
So it’s not just we who receive benefit from the discipline of living well, but also those around us are inspired to persevere through difficulty.
One of my dearest mentors told me once, “Don’t paint a target on your back.” What he meant was don’t make it easy for people to find fault with you and make you the problem. With that wisdom in mind, I will add that we should aim for the practices that add the most value to the community.
For some, this may sound like respectability politics. It could be, but it is not. If we prioritize the good of the community, we have to commit to the practices that benefit the community the most.
Truth
Paul instructs the Thessalonians to hold on to the teachings that have been passed down, stand firm against deception, test all teachings and prophecy, and refuse to be swayed by teachings that didn’t come from us (see 5:19-22; 2 Thess. 2:1-3,15; 3:6). I am drawn to a very unique and distinct directive coupled with a stark warning: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way” and be aware of the time that is coming when the “man of lawlessness will be revealed.”
Lawlessness signals the intensification of the conflict and suffering of God’s people. What could possibly come of lawlessness except disorder, destruction, and devastation? Notice the lawless one will seek to deceive. We should assume that there might be many who would be led astray, but the fact that this lawlessness comes within the context of already tumultuous times signals that this deception only makes matters worse.
But Paul challenges believers to stand firm. Alternative facts will never override or overcome what is true. The ways of the man of sin must never be tolerated or exalted above the work and the word of God. Truth is truth. Facts are facts. Let’s pursue and preserve what is true and what is fact.
Joy and hope
In the greeting, Paul says that he thanks God for their “endurance in hope” (1:4). He also acknowledges that they received the message with “joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1:6). When talking about those who have passed away, Paul clarifies that we are not to grieve as those “who have no hope” (4:13). Rather, we ought to “encourage one another with these words” of hope and reassurance (4:18).
He also challenges them to “rejoice always, and give thanks in every circumstance.” As hard and as counterintuitive as it may sound, this is the path to wholeness. We may feel like we don’t have occasion for gratitude, but we don’t have to look far to find that we actually do.
Bryan Stevenson says that “Hope is our superpower.” And I strongly believe that joy and hope are first cousins. Joy is the reflection of the goodness of God that is already manifest. Hope is the anticipation of the providence of God that has yet to manifest. Both of them help to heal our hearts and reorient us to an eternal focus.
This is resistance!
As innocent as these passages sound, the principles that are laid out by Paul would represent resistance to Empire—both that ancient one, and the present empires. They are in direct opposition to empires because empires constantly seek to (1) disrupt and destroy community, (2) wear you down and drown you out, (3) siphon strength and discipline, (4) distort and change the truth, and (5) steal your joy or rob you of your hope.
The task of the believer is to maintain faith and commitment to the ways and work of God despite the overwhelming and oppressive influence of the empire.
Remember: Jesus said we are salt and light. Salt preserves and adds flavor to a bland and spoiling world. Light is only necessary where there is darkness. We are in the business of dispelling darkness.
This is the heart of resistance: not allowing the bewitching and oppressive influence of empire to cause us to lose our joy and hope. Might we be faithful to that end. May the force be with you, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Christopher C. Thompson is a pastor in Beaufort, South Carolina.
To comment, click/tap here.
