Stand Fast and Hold the Traditions (2 Thessalonians 2:15–17)

2 Thess. 2:15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or by our epistle.

“Therefore”—having such a calling, namely the glorification of the Lord or the obtaining of the Lord’s glory, being armed with such mighty means as faith and the all-sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit, being covered by such divine benevolence as is expressed in your primordial election to salvation—“stand fast…” Thus does a commander speak to soldiers who are armed and arrayed against the foe, pointing to the crowns of reward before them. And in the Apostle too one sees the thought: there is something worth standing firm for. You are among those being saved—in contrast to those who are perishing. See to what rank you have been placed by the Lord who loves you. Stand firm, then, or you will lose everything. “It is necessary for you, who have been accounted worthy of such blessings, to be steadfast” (St. John of Damascus). God chose you from the ages, brought you to faith, bestowed grace. Do therefore, on your part, the effort to stand unwaveringly in the order of the new life that has been established among you. The personal effort to stand firm is an indispensable condition of salvation. It is the chief driving force of the Christian life. Everything else is means! Should this effort cease, life itself will stop. The words “hold the traditions” explain wherein one must stand: one must strictly hold, guard, and keep everything that was delivered to them by the Apostles. Be not only hearers, but also doers. You have heard and received; perform it then, so that all may see that you are not Christian in name only, but in very deed—true Christians.

“Tradition…” in our ordinary speech means a saying, or a custom, or a belief passed down from ancestors to descendants from time immemorial. As such, it borders on an indefinite report, subject to deliberation and criticism. In the word of God, in the mouth of the Apostle Paul, it signifies the handing down of divine teaching, and is taken from the practice of teachers who deliver (παραδιδουν) lessons in classrooms, and when they go to class say that they are going εις την παραδοσιν — to give a lesson. Thus “tradition” here is equivalent to Divine Revelation of the New Testament, and encompasses everything that has been brought into humanity in fulfilment of the Lord’s commandment: “Go and teach” (Mt. 28:19). Blessed Theodoret writes on this passage: “Let that which has been delivered to you by us be your rule of teaching—what we preached to you when we were with you, and what we wrote when we had left you.”

“Word or epistle” are means of delivering the divine Christian faith. And a writing is the same kind of tradition as a word. But in Church usage, Tradition came subsequently to be called exclusively the teaching delivered orally by the Apostles and preserved by the Church. This was required by the course of Church life. When the apostolic writings became generally known and were gathered into a single body, all drew that portion of Divine Revelation which was contained in them from those writings. Meanwhile, much was believed and practised in Christian communities that is not in those writings. To the question: whence, then, does this come? the answer was: thus the holy Apostles taught orally and personally established and instituted; or: thus it was delivered by the Apostles; or simply: it is tradition. And in this way, what was not written of the apostolic teaching, or Divine Revelation, came to be called Tradition, while what was contained in the apostolic writings was called Scripture. Both were held in equal reverence; both were equally prized. St. Chrysostom writes on the present text: It is clear from this that the Apostles did not deliver everything to believers through their letters, but communicated much also without writing; and yet both are equally trustworthy. Therefore we must acknowledge the authority of Church tradition as well. ‘There is a tradition—seek nothing further.’ So spoke the teachers of the Church who came before St. Chrysostom, and those who came after him.

Much of what was orally delivered by the Apostles and personally established by them was later committed to writing by their successors, the pastors of the Church; while much remained unrecorded even by them, and was preserved in hearts, in practice, in the ordering of Christian life. Some things were intentionally not committed to writing—such as, for example, the manner of celebrating the sacraments, as Cyril of Jerusalem notes, in order to conceal them from unbelievers, who are unworthy either to hear or to read of them until they believe. From this it is evident of itself how groundless it is for those of other confessions to reject Church teachings and ordinances not mentioned in Scripture. Nor is their objection of any value, that they fear receiving something non-apostolic, and therefore reject everything not contained in Scripture. Gold-miners collect not only what is obviously gold, but often earth and sand in large quantities, for fear of missing even a grain of gold that may not be visible. So it was that such people also ought to have acted. Much, certainly, was introduced after the Apostles; but on the basis of apostolic tradition and in the same spirit. And within this common mass the directly apostolic is hidden. Is the apostolic dear? — It is dear to everyone. So one ought to hold everything that the Church holds, out of serious concern not to trample on the apostolic while fearing to receive the non-apostolic. To trample on the apostolic is already a ruinous thing; whereas to receive with respect what is not directly apostolic, but accords in all things with the apostolic and is permeated by its spirit, can cause no harm. The only legitimate concern is not to receive anything contrary to the apostolic. But this the Church herself guards against, having as her permanent law the rejection of every tradition which, appearing under the name of apostolic, would be contrary to apostolic teaching.

In planting Christianity on earth, the Apostles did not deliver a theory but established a way of life. Coming to any given place, they delivered to the people the Christian teaching, sound understanding of all things, gave commandments as to which virtues ought to adorn the heart, established the ordering of outward life and determined Christian conduct—before believers and unbelievers alike—prescribed how God is to be worshipped in common assembly and privately at home, how to celebrate the sacraments, how to maintain the teaching received; they appointed persons to oversee all this and to carry out certain duties, consecrated them, and then departed to another place. The Christian life in its full scope began at once. So it was in the second place, and in the third, and everywhere; so did one Apostle, so did another, so did all. And in every corner of the earth wherever the beautiful feet of the evangelists reached, the Christian ordering of moral and religious life was established—of family, ecclesial, and civic life—all in one spirit and according to one plan, drawn up not on earth but outlined in heaven, like the plan of the tabernacle. From this it follows that as the Church came forth from apostolic hands and appeared before the whole world, such she is by the will and determination of God Himself, and such she must remain in order to accomplish the salvation of perishing humanity. And so we see everywhere, from the earliest times, in the Church of God, laypeople and ordained ministers—deacons, priests, bishops—upon whom lay the duty to preach the word, to sanctify through the sacraments that bestow grace, and to guide in life; we see the seven established sacraments and the orders of prayer and divine worship: vespers, matins, and the Liturgy; we see that for Christians not all days were equal, but some were set apart exclusively for prayer and the satisfaction of religious needs, and that meat-eating was not continuous, but there were days—and many of them—on which strict abstinence was appointed, and this not for a time only, but for all times; we see that among Christians in all the particular Churches there were special zealots who, having abandoned everything and renounced everything, devoted themselves exclusively to prayer and contemplation of God, with strict abstinence and mortification of the flesh, in the sure confidence that by this path they would more swiftly root out the passions, attain purity, and be accounted worthy of perceptible communion with God—promised to all Christians—through the power and action of the all-sanctifying grace by which they were guided along this arduous path. Such, in general, is the ordering of Christian life from its earliest times. Whatever was added afterwards was added to this same order not as a new institution, but as an expansion or better adaptation to place and time of what the Apostles had established. That all Christians should fast in common at a certain appointed time is an apostolic law. From the Apostles the fasts on Wednesday and Friday were undoubtedly established, and the fast in commemoration of the Lord’s Passion. On this basis all other fasts were subsequently instituted in the Church, and all the rules of fasting. That there should be strict ascetics, the Apostles ordained, and their general rule is even written in Scripture (in the Epistle to the Corinthians); and from this grew all the monastic orders. To assemble together for prayer and to praise God and lift prayer to Him with one mouth is an apostolic institution. In their time also some hymns of the Church were introduced, and perhaps some were given by them. But from this beginning the whole varied hymnography of the Church developed. So it is with everything. The whole ordering of Christian life, in its general outlines, comes from the Apostles. Nothing has been added to this general ordering since then; only the particulars have developed more broadly and variously. But within this there are hidden also the apostolic particulars themselves. And all of this—both what has been applied over time and what was delivered by the Apostles—is preserved by our holy Orthodox Church. All of it is precious to us in the Church. And all careful and reverent Christians strictly keep the prayerful and sanctifying orders that characterize our ecclesial life, seeing in this the necessary support of the inner moral and religious Christian life.

2 Thess. 2:16, 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, “comfort” “your hearts and establish you in every good word and deed.”

The Apostle said that the believing Thessalonians were chosen for salvation, as their faith and grace clearly testify. Then, lest they think that after this they themselves have nothing more to do, he added: “stand fast and hold…” That has been granted you from God’s goodness; now the effort is yours. Faith and grace have been given for salvation, but the salvation itself you must still work out, armed with faith and grace. If you do not strive to be firm in faith and in life according to faith, you will fall away from grace and lose your salvation. Finally, lest they again turn aside to wrong thinking—as though they could continue and bring to completion what God had begun in them by their own unaided efforts and labours—he adds a prayer for their establishment in faith and in a good life, thereby teaching them too to ask God’s help for everything they undertake and do as Christians with a view to salvation. The efforts are ours, but the success of those efforts is from God. God sees the efforts and grants help. Help is proper for one who is striving but unable to do the work as it should be done—not for one who lies in carelessness and makes no effort to move so much as a single limb. St. Chrysostom says: “Again, following the exhortation, comes a prayer.” Theophylact adds: “As if to say: I said, stand fast; but all is from God.”

In his prayer the Apostle first calls to mind the mercies of God, as is done in all our liturgical prayers—for one who prays must always quicken within himself the hope of receiving what he asks, which is accomplished by calling to remembrance the mercies of God. The subject of the prayer is the very same thing he enjoined just before. He said: “stand fast and hold the traditions.” Now he says, as it were: May the Lord help you in this, establishing you in every good word and deed—in right doctrine and in a virtuous life.

“Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father…” He begins with the Lord the Saviour, the incarnate Son of God, and ascends to God the Father. For such indeed is the path of our ascent—we who have fallen away—to God the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and men, the intermediary who restored the union of men with God. From the Lord all things come to us. He is in us, and we in Him. But in Him and with Him, God the Father is also present, seen, and felt. So it is in fact, so it is in word. St. Chrysostom, in the circumstances of his own flock, draws another application here, which we too cannot fail to keep in mind: “Where now,” he says, “are those who belittle the Son because He is named after the Father (in the conferring of) baptismal grace? For here, on the contrary, the Apostle first says: ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’, and only then: ‘God and Father’”—“not teaching,” Theodoret adds, “that the Son is greater than the Father, but showing their equal honour by the change of order. He here refutes the blasphemy of Arius and Eunomius, and makes it clearly known that the order of the names does not indicate a difference of dignity.” Let us add to this that, having mentioned two persons of the Godhead—God the Son and God the Father (God the Holy Spirit having been spoken of earlier, in the words: “through sanctification of the Spirit”)—the Apostle addresses Them as one God, saying: “who has loved, has given, may He comfort” and “establish.” When mentioning two, or all three, persons of the Godhead, the Apostles in their consciousness did not divide or triple the one God, thereby teaching us also always and in everything to contemplate, inseparably yet without confusion, in the one God three hypostases, and to believe that the grace which saves us is the grace of the one God, worshipped in Trinity, working inseparably yet without confusion in believers—since the work of each person’s salvation is accomplished “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit,” “through sprinkling of the blood” “of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:2).

To quicken the hope of receiving what is asked, the Apostle first sets forth God’s love toward us—the source of all God’s mercies, unceasingly pouring out upon us blessings of every kind: “who has loved us”—and then the munificence already shown to us in deed: “has given.” What has God already given? — “Everlasting consolation and good hope.” But “everlasting” refers the mind beyond the bounds of time, and “hope” is the expectation of what is to come. On what then can one ground the assurance, within the heart, that even though this gift belongs to the future, it is as certain as though it were already possessed in very fact? — On the grace of the Holy Spirit, received and held by all believers from the time of baptism: “through grace.” In giving grace, God gave both everlasting consolation and good hope. Grace is the pledge, or earnest, of receiving also what is to come (2 Cor. 1:22). In the grace received there is a guarantee of the certain reception of everlasting consolation and good hope. Just as elsewhere, pointing to the fact that God did not spare His own Son for our salvation, the Apostle exclaimed: “how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32), so here too, pointing to the grace already received, he means to instill that after this, all that is promised we must understand as already actually possessed.

“Everlasting consolation and good hope” stand in the following relationship to each other: the grace of the Holy Spirit, having descended into the heart, fills it with consolation and joy, for the fruit of the Spirit is joy and peace (Gal. 5:22). This gladness of heart, occurring within time, is not itself from temporal things but from the divine realm, which is beyond time; moreover, having begun, it is destined not to end, but to continue throughout all the ages and all eternity; and finally, having been born and unfolding ever more fully, it points ahead in the future to goods “which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). Thus from “everlasting consolation” there develops, as its fruit, “good hope”—which is either a consoling hope, acting on the heart well, pleasantly, and sweetly, or a hope of consoling goods that gladden the soul. From the consolation already received, hope is born which in turn heightens the consolation. This mutual action makes them inseparable. Our ancient commentators also understand them as expressing one thing—the hope of eternal goods. Theodoret paraphrases these words thus: “Having given hope of future goods.” Oecumenius and Theophylact ask: “What is everlasting consolation?” And both give one answer: “The hope of future goods, which the Apostle therefore calls good.” And that the Apostle sets this before us here precisely in order to quicken hope of receiving what he desires in this prayer, is pointed out by St. Chrysostom, who says: “You see how through prayer he endeavours to encourage their hearts, presenting to them pledges and tokens of God’s unspeakable providence toward them.”

“May He comfort your hearts and establish.” Having recalled God’s mercies toward all believers (for he says: who has loved “us”—and, consequently, given likewise “to us,” that is, to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in general), the holy Apostle prays that God would make the Thessalonians partakers of these same gifts. What exactly does he ask? — “May He comfort your hearts and establish” them—your hearts, or you, as some supply. Comfort is needed for those who grieve, and establishment for those who are weak and may waver. Both were needed by the Thessalonians. As those who had been subjected to persecutions and oppressions, they grieved; and as those newly begun, they might not yet be firm in Christianity. The Apostle prays that God would comfort them as those who grieve, and establish them as those who are not yet firm. He desires establishment “in word and in good deed.” He desires establishment in word, so that when they speak they may speak in a Christian manner—and for this, that they may have Christian understanding of all things, or may know and firmly hold all Christian teaching; consequently, establishment in word will be the same as establishment in right faith, in right doctrine, in its true understanding and unshakeable maintenance. He desires establishment in “good deed”, so that they may do only good, and whatever good they do, may do it in a Christian manner—with Christian feelings and dispositions; he desires, that is, firmness for them in Christian conduct and in the Christian disposition of heart. “What is said,” St. Chrysostom observes, “pertains both to the doctrines of the faith and to the rules of conduct.” Theodoret writes something similar: “May He establish you in the faith, so that you may shine forth in good word and in deeds worthy of the word.” “By deed,” says Oecumenius, “the Apostle here signifies life, and by word—right doctrine.” Theophylact then paraphrases the whole passage thus: “May He establish you in right doctrine and in good deeds.”

The desire for consolation is linked by the Apostle with the desire for establishment in faith and in life according to faith—not by chance, but because the first is impossible without the second. He who is not firm in faith and is disordered in life must not expect consolation in sorrowful circumstances. Consolation flows from the testimony of conscience that you are right before God, and that if you suffer, you suffer without cause. For those who suffer without cause, God is always a rampart, consolation, and deliverance. Our ancient commentators devote more attention to this side of the matter. Oecumenius writes: “To be firm and steadfast in every good word and deed is for Christians a true consolation before the receiving of future goods. And what can compare with the consolation afforded by the testimony of conscience that we are pleasing Christ through our life and conduct?” Theophylact likewise holds that the Apostle desires for the Thessalonians establishment in right doctrine and virtuous life in order that they, finding consolation therein, may not waver or fall under the weight of their sorrowful circumstances. “One who is established (in faith and life), whatever he may suffer, bears it manfully and does not waver, for the preservation of right doctrine assures him of obtaining future goods, while a good life gladdens him with the thought that he suffers not as an evildoer but as a servant of God.” Both borrowed this thought from St. Chrysostom, who writes: “In this consists consolation—that we remain unshaken. For he who is not shaken bears with great patience whatever he may have to endure; whereas he whose mind wavers is unable to accomplish any good and noble act, because, like any weakened person, the soul wavers when it has no conviction that it is attaining a good end.”