2 Thessalonians 3

2 Thessalonians 3:1

Now, my dear brethren in Christ, let me entreat your most fervent prayers for me and my fellow-labourers in preaching the gospel, that we may be graciously directed, assisted, and owned, of God in our great and difficult work; and that the gospel of salvation, of which Christ is the Author and principal Subject, may be speedily and successfully spread far and wide; and may, as with you, be honourably received, and produce glorious effects in the conversion, edification, and holy conversation, of multitudes, wherever it is preached: 2. And that we may be kept or rescued out of the hands of unbelieving Jewish zealots and false brethren; who are so insolently perverse and absurd ? Descended from a Jewish mother and grandmother, Timothy had been very early instructed by them in the knowledge of the Old Testament. By the ministration of Paul at Lystra he was converted to the Christian faith, and remarkably enriched with the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost; Acts xvi. Having circumcised him, that the Jews might take no offence at him on account of his father being a Greek, Paul took him to be his companion, under the character of an evangelist. And, having left him at Ephesus to rectify and establish the complete order of the church there, he sent him this and the subsequent epistle, to fix upon his mind the instructions which he had formerly given him, and enable him to communicate the same to others. In them the apostle testifies his affection, warns him of danger, and directs him in his personal and ministerial conduct.—The second was written from Rome, perhaps several years after the first