2 Thessalonians 2:13, NIV: But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
As Paul reflects on what God did in the Thessalonians’ lives, he gives thanks constantly. They are his spiritual brothers and sisters in whom God’s love abides. He is thankful specifically that God chose them from the very first to grant them salvation.
This divine choosing does not rule out human accountability. The gospel calls sinners to believe in Christ, which Paul’s readers did (1 Thessalonians 1:4–6). However, the Holy Spirit fills a significant role in salvation by setting sinners apart for salvation. Our sanctification is the process of being made holy and set apart for God.
In response to the work of the Holy Spirit, the Thessalonians had put their trust in the truth, the message of salvation that Paul and his fellow missionaries had preached in Thessalonica. Salvation is entirely by grace, but no one is saved unless he accepts it by faith as a gift from God. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8–9: “for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” And in Romans 5:16 and 6:23 Paul declared that eternal life is the gift of God “in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
1 Peter 1:2, NIV: who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
We are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. That means God knew us before something. Before what? Ephesians 1:4 says that God chose us in Christ even “before the foundation of the world.” 1 Peter 1:20 says that Christ Himself was foreknown by the Father in the same way. God didn’t just know about us; He knew us—personally, somehow—and He chose us. More, we are chosen through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. That means God’s Holy Spirit is involved in making us “set apart” just for God, in making us people God can call “holy.”
PRAYER
Thank you Holy Spirit that you SAVED us and SET US APART, SANCTIFYING US for your good pleasure and called us HOLY! We pray our obedience to this sanctifying work will bring your glory and honour.