Pastor’s Pen
But the Lord is faithful, who shall
stablish you, and keep you from evil.
-
2
Thessalonians 3:3
We
live in interesting times. When the
days are warm and the sky is blue, a gentle breeze is blowing, life is good we
are feeling blessed and there is not a care in the world, it is easy to read
this verse and think, “keep us from evil”.
What is that about? I am
reminded that in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus prayed for us that we would be
delivered from evil. What is evil from
a biblical point of view? The word
‘evil’ in our English language comes from at least three words translated
‘evil’ in the English. When used as an
adjective the first word is “kakos”.
This stand for whatever is evil in character, or base in distinction
from the second word “poneros” which means what is evil in influence and
effect. Like a disease such as cancer
it can be considered malignant or terminal.
The third word is ‘phaulos’ which basically means slight or trivial, or
blown about by every wind; it is bad in the sense of being worthless,
contemptible, belonging to a low order of things. Kakos is the opposite of kalos, which means fair or
good in character, and to agathos, which means beneficial, or good in
act. Kakos covers what is
morally evil which can include people or qualities, emotions, or deeds. It can be something that causes injuries or
is destructive. Poneros refers
to evil that causes pain or sorrow. It
can refer to in the physical sense that which is bad or worthless. In the moral sense it can mean evil or
wicked and can refer to person(s), or evil spirits, or things. Poneros can also be used as a noun and when
so used it can refer to Satan. In our
text in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 we find Paul speaking of Satan as evil or the evil
one. How do we as believers find the
power to resist or overcome Satan? Our
strength comes from the Lord. Paul
wrote this letter to the Thessalonians because there were some who had
misunderstood his teaching on the coming Day of The Lord. They believed that the second return of
Christ had occurred and they had missed it, which was explaining why they were
going through their persecution. Paul
explains in the preceding chapter what two events had to have happened for the
Day of The Lord to occur. Our ability
to be kept from evil is from God the Father.
God is faithful, He is reliable and can be trusted. Paul says the Lord will stablish them. It means to firmly fix, or strengthen, to
secure. God was going to in the midst
of their assault or attack that threatened their faith make them unconquerable
by the evil one. How will the Lord do
that? He will keep us or guard us. It carries with it the picture of a solider
guarding a prisoner. His job is not to
let anything happen to the prisoner while he is under his control. We as Christians are in the hands of the
Lord and as we seek to follow Him and do His will he will keep us from the evil
one. We can care about the world
because we are in the care of the Father.