2 Thess 2, Being At Home in a Foreign Land.

Wednesday August 30, 2023

The Epistle to Diognetus. Written sometime around 130 A.D. as a defense against the critics of Christianity. This is an excerpt.

“They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and restored to life ... The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; not do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each ... They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of the birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.”

Theme: To live the fullest life as a Christian, you have to know that you are a foreigner in this world awaiting your King to whom belongs all glory.

Our King is the originator, agent, and culmination of all things.

Rom 11:33

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

In the doxology at the end of Romans 11 (vs. 36), Paul spells out three distinct theological concepts about Christ.

Rom 11:36

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

Christ is the origin, means, and end goal of all things.

ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα·

[click, fly in] Ex - out of Him in that He is the source or origin of all things.

[click, fly in] Di - through, all things come through him in that He is the agent or guide of all things.

[click, fly in] Eis - unto or to, All things come unto or to Him in that He is the ultimate goal of all things.

[click, bounce in] All things.

αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν.

“To Him (be) the glory forever (unto the ages), Amen.”

Rom 11:34-36

For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

In Isa 40 God displays His infinite greatness.

Isa 40:13

Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His counselor has informed Him?

God displays His greatness to Job who questions Him.

Job 41:11

“Who has given to Me that I should repay him?

Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.”

Job was the most righteous man on the earth at the time and still he had given nothing to God. Our smallness is brought out when we comprehend something of the majesty of the Lord. And that should lead us to genuine humility.

Perhaps it is time here to think about why we need a kingdom and how a kingdom fulfills the need.

God made us social.

God Himself built a nation of people from one family.

The family of people could not ever rule themselves. They needed a king, but a righteous one.

God is a family – a Trinity of three who are one.

The kingdom of mankind must be under God and unified in all that is good, or else it is not God’s kingdom.

And something more, God brought this kingdom into Himself. When the Son of God became a Man, He drew saved mankind right into God Himself.

Joh 17:22-24

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Son of God made that kingdom to be in the divine, the Holy Trinity.

With that picture clear in our minds, we should easily see that there is no place in this kingdom for pride, forcibly and sinfully taking from others, lust for multiplying earthly things.

While we, who are of the true kingdom, come to know our Lord and His kingdom, we should be shining lights in this dark world of sin and selfish evil.

Rev 18:9

“And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her (Babylon).”

This kingdom itself is a beast that openly opposes God.

In light of this world, we must truly grab hold of what we’ve been given and live in it so as to glorify our King.

1 Cor 2:8-9

the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written,

"THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,

AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,

ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

“which” referring back to the wisdom in a mystery that had been hidden (vs. 7).

1Co 2:6-7

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

The mystery is embodied in Christ Jesus – kingdom of men and women in eternity, united under the one true King.

The wonder of the mystery to us is that it has now been revealed to anyone who has the faith to see it.

But if you have, the King and what He has prepared for you becomes your very life – and what a life it is.

1 Cor 2:8-9

the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written,

"THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,

AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,

ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."

What no one has ever seen, heard, or thought of is the life of the subject of the King in His kingdom. The kingdom is not hear yet, but the life is.

The passage then relates that we have been given the Holy Spirit so that we may know the deep things of God.

But what about the natural minded man? What does he know? What can he know?

1Co 2:14-16

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

1Co 2 speaks of our understanding of God through the Holy Spirit within. Rom 11:34-36 speaks of the eternal glory of the Son of God.

Rom 11:34-36

For Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor Or Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

To know the Lord through the Spirit is to live the way of the Lord, overcoming sin, and submitting to the authority of Him in meekness. If you do that then you will behold His glory. And if you do that, your life will be one of kingdom happiness, like we all will have in eternity all the time.

In His kingdom, we must be content to be used by Him.

Jesus is the King who originates all thing, who is the agent and guide of all things, and to whom all things will eventually culminate.

While we are living in a world of failed kingdoms and people who do not know the real King and His kingdom come, we must live by the Spirit and His Word, knowing the King of kings and living in His way, the way of His kingdom. It is the most precious and rewarding life by far.