Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Thessalonians · About this commentary
Stand Firm and Hold
2 Thessalonians 2:15
15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word or by letter. · WEB
The practical answer to a frightening chapter is not vigilance about the future but grip on what they had already been taught.
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word or by letter. The conclusion drawn from two chapters about a coming deceiver is remarkably undramatic. No watch is set, no calculation is commissioned. They are told to keep hold of what they have.
The word rendered traditions means what is handed over, and its content here is apostolic teaching rather than custom — the same body Paul elsewhere says he delivered as he had received it 1 Corinthians 15:3. Whether by word or by letter covers both forms in which it had reached them, which also quietly answers the forged message of verse 2: the test is agreement with what the apostles actually taught, and they knew what that was.
The two verbs face opposite directions and belong together. Stand firm is resistance to being moved; hold is refusal to let go. Between them they describe the entire defense this letter offers against the deception it has just described.
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