With These Words

Paul’s two letters to the Thessalonians are among the first words of the New Testament ever written — sent to a young, anxious congregation that had buried some of its own and wondered what would become of them. To a church grieving and bracing for the Lord’s return, Paul gives not speculation but comfort: Christ has died and risen, the dead in him are not lost, and “so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

With These Words walks through both letters a passage at a time, reading them as the early church read them and as the Lutheran confessions teach us to: law and gospel kept straight, eschatology that consoles rather than alarms, and a steady answer to the question every grieving Christian asks. Along the way it clears away the end-times chart-making that has been laid over these chapters and lets Paul’s own pastoral purpose stand.

Written for the people in the pew and suited to adult Bible class or personal study, this is a study of Thessalonians that ends where Paul ends — not with a timetable, but with a comfort strong enough to speak at a graveside.