2 Thessalonians 3:4
And gwe have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
πεποίθαμεν δὲ ἐν Κυρίῳ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ἃ παραγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν καὶ ποιεῖτε καὶ ποιήσετε.
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2 Corinthians 7:16 I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.
Galatians 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
1 Thessalonians 4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
2 Thessalonians 3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
Romans 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
The apostle had before declared his confidence that God would establish them and keep them from evil, and now here declares his confidence in them concerning their obedience; for he knew well that this is the way of God’s keeping men; and hereby he shows that he built his confidence concerning what he had before declared about their election, calling, establishment, and preservation upon some good ground.
And he describes their obedience by doing what the apostle and his fellow labourers in the gospel among them commanded them, whether they were commandments about the duties of the law of the first or second tables, or the doctrine, order, worship, or discipline of the gospel; so that their commandments were no other but the commandments of the Lord himself, Mat 28:20 1Co 14:37. Ministers are not arbitrary commanders in the church; not lords over God’s heritage, 1Pe 5:3, or have dominion over the people’s faith, 2Co 1:24; nor may they, as the Pharisees, teach for doctrines the commandments of men, Mat 15:9. And he speaks before of these Thessalonians, that they received the word preached by them, not as the word of men, but of God, 1Th 2:13. Both our faith and practice in religion are to be built upon Divine authority; either upon what God hath expressly declared, or what by clear consequence may be derived from it. So that what they command the people is from the Lord, and not themselves.
Their work is to search out the mind and will of Christ, as revealed in the Scripture, seeing they have not that immediate infallible inspiration that the apostles had, who were called to lay the foundation which others were to build upon. And as to those things that are but appendices, and not of the substance of religion, and for which no particular rule is or can be laid down, Christian prudence is to regulate them according to general rules, wherein the advice, appointment, and authority of the minister is to be regarded in every church.
Yet nothing ought to be enjoined in these things that is uncomely, that is not for edification, that is not of good report, that hath an appearance of evil, that gives just occasion of offence, that transgresseth the general rule of mercy, that is a direction of superstition, whereby many of the commandments of the Romish Church are justly condemned. And obedience to these commandments of the apostle he describes by the universality of it,
that is, all things; the indefinite being equivalent to the universal. And by the constancy of it, that ye both do and will do, & c.; ye will persevere to do what commandments ye have already received, or any new commandments we shall further give you; some whereof are probably such as are mentioned in the following part of this chapter. And their present obedience gave the apostle confidence about that which was future; at least he declares to them this confidence, as an insinuating argument to persuade them thereunto.