{"id":3644,"date":"2012-05-22T03:30:02","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T10:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3644"},"modified":"2012-05-21T23:29:12","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T06:29:12","slug":"1-thessalonians-213-gods-effective-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/1-thessalonians-213-gods-effective-work\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Thessalonians 2:13 – God’s Effective Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed <\/strong><\/span>it<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>not <\/strong><\/span>as<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Any success we might have is because of God, not us.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The words “we … thank<\/span>” are translated from the verb euchariste\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of eu<\/em><\/span>, meaning “good” or “well” and a form of charidzomai<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to grant” or “to give.” The basic meanings of this word include “to show oneself to be pleased or grateful” or “to give thanks.”<\/p>\n

Adialeipt\u014d<\/em>s<\/em> <\/span>is the Greek word translated “without ceasing<\/span>.” It is a double compound word made up of a<\/em><\/span>, meaning “without,” dia<\/em><\/span>, meaning “through” or “between,” and a form of the verb leip\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to leave.” Thus, adialeipt\u014ds<\/em> <\/span>literally means “without leaving space between.” In other words, it means doing something without pausing or stopping.<\/p>\n

“You received<\/span>” is from the Greek verb paralamban\u014d<\/em><\/span>. This word is made up of para<\/em><\/span>, meaning “from” and lamban\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to take” or “to receive.” This word means “to receive from someone else” or “to receive to oneself.”<\/p>\n

“You welcomed<\/span>” is translated from dechomai<\/em><\/span>, which means “to accept something deliberately and readily.”<\/p>\n

The words “effectively works<\/span>” are from the verb energe\u014d<\/em><\/span>. This word is based on energ\u0113s<\/em><\/span>, meaning “operative, active, or working.” Thus, energe\u014d<\/em> <\/span>means “to be at work” or “to be effective.”<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the hallmarks of the Apostle Paul’s ministry is his repeated thankfulness to God. He realized, without a doubt, that his ministry, its effectiveness, and its result were all the result of God’s working in him, not his own efforts. He also realized that his message was not something that he made up or delivered in his own personal eloquent style. He knew that he was not the originator of the message, simply the messenger. As a result, he reminded the Christians in Thessalonica that the message they heard from him is not of human origin, but God’s word.<\/p>\n

You may recall from the first chapter of this letter that these believers were undergoing persecution (a point which he will reiterate in the upcoming verses). Under similar persecution, Christians of all ages have found comfort and encouragement in the words of Holy Scripture. Paul also reminds his readers here that God’s word is truth. Notice that in His closing prayer at the last supper, Jesus declared plainly that it is the truth which sets us apart from the rest of the world (John 17:17<\/strong><\/span>). In similar fashion, throughout the apostolic teaching in the New Testament, the writers give testimony that God’s word is truth (2 Corinthians 4:2, 6:7; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18; 1 John 3:18<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Let us all remember that we are here to serve God, not ourselves. In whatever ministry we find ourselves, our responsibility is to represent our King and it is His message we deliver. Therefore, any success which we might have is the result of His working, not ours. Give Him thanks and praise!<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. Truth to Learn Any success we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2567,2535,797,873,2638,1584,875,2639,2568,412],"class_list":["post-3644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adialeiptos","tag-dechomai","tag-energeo","tag-eucharisteo","tag-paralambano","tag-received","tag-thank","tag-welcomed","tag-without-ceasing","tag-works"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-WM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3647,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3644\/revisions\/3647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}