{"id":4105,"date":"2012-12-05T03:30:28","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T11:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=4105"},"modified":"2012-12-04T21:59:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T05:59:31","slug":"2-thessalonians-215-stand-firm-and-hold-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/2-thessalonians-215-stand-firm-and-hold-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Thessalonians 2:15 – Stand Firm and Hold Fast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

We must learn truth and hold fast to what we know is true.<\/p>\n

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

“Stand fast<\/span>” is from the st\u0113k\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from the verb hist\u0113mi<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to stand.” As it is used in the New Testament, st\u0113k\u014d<\/em> <\/span>means “to stand firm in faith and duty.” It is expressed here in the imperative mood, indicating a command.<\/p>\n

The word “hold<\/span>” is translated from krate\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is based on the word kratos<\/em><\/span>, meaning “strength.” Krate\u014d<\/em> <\/span>means “to take hold of” or “become the master of.” It implies a degree of force with which one brings a person or thing wholly under one’s power, even when resistance is encountered. It, too, is expressed here in the imperative mood, indicating a command.<\/p>\n

Paradosis<\/em> <\/span>is the Greek word translated “traditions<\/span>.” It is based on paradid\u014dmi<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to deliver teaching.” Thus, paradosis<\/em> <\/span>refers to doctrine, instruction, or a tradition delivered or communicated from one person to another (usually orally).<\/p>\n

The words “you were taught<\/span>” are from the verb didask\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to teach.”<\/p>\n

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

You may recall from earlier in this letter that the Christians in Thessalonica were disturbed because false teachers had come to them and taught that the Day of the Lord (the Tribulation) had already come. Some of these false teachers had even claimed that their false teaching had come from the Apostle Paul and his companions.<\/p>\n

Now, having taught them about the things that must happen before the Day of the Lord, Paul teaches them how to detect and avoid such false teachings in the future. He starts off with a command to stand fast, that is, to not waver back and forth between good doctrine and bad. He adds to this the command to master the good teaching and hold firmly to it.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that in the first century of the church, the only “Scripture” that Christians had was what we call “the Old Testament.” Paul and others were traveling from area to area preaching the new truths and they and others of the Apostles had begun sending letters to churches teaching the truths of the Christian faith. In some cases it was hard for the people to distinguish between good doctrine and false teaching. Therefore, Paul taught them to hold fast to, to master, the teaching that they knew to be genuine. This would help them to identify false teaching from others.<\/p>\n

In some ways, it us just as easy for us to be deceived by false teaching. If we don’t regularly read and study the Bible for ourselves, instead simply depending on what we are taught by others, it is easy to accept teaching that is not true.<\/p>\n

Now, a quick word about traditions. Just because a church has held to long taught traditions, doesn’t mean that they are the truth. The word here translated “traditions” refers specifically to good doctrine and sound teaching. Again, we must be familiar enough with what the Bible actually teaches in order to distinguish between long held traditions and good doctrine.<\/p>\n

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

In these last days it is especially important to know what the Bible teaches. In 2 Timothy 4:3<\/strong> Paul warned Timothy that many will not want sound doctrine. Stand firm in the faith and hold on dearly to what you know is truth. Don’t be deceived!<\/p>\n

\n

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

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

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Truth to Learn We must learn truth and hold fast to what we know is true. Behind the Words “Stand fast” is from the st\u0113k\u014d, which is derived from the verb hist\u0113mi, meaning “to stand.” As it […]<\/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":[1433,2932,2933,2934,2931,2703,2258,2935],"class_list":["post-4105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-didasko","tag-hold","tag-krateo","tag-paradosis","tag-stand-fast","tag-steko","tag-taught","tag-traditions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-14d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105","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=4105"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4108,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4105\/revisions\/4108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}