We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22
Our lifelong experiences and trained point of view often can hamper our deeper understanding of the Word. We need to go often to the Holy Spirit to give us His wisdom in the Word that we are currently reading. Asking Him to take us deeper into understanding, rather than our prideful usual disposition that we already ‘know’ what this particular scripture means.
From my own upbringing I’ve always seen verse 12 from the above scripture to mean the “pastor(s)” in my current church I was attending. That spiritual leadership was always from the ‘professional career’ / collar types. The Holy Spirit has helped me see a different perspective.
The straight Greek translation to the English word for word for verse 12 would read, “We implore however you, brothers, to appreciate those toiling among you and taking the lead over you in (the) Lord, and admonishing you,”
Let’s look at this verse this way using one of Paul’s own spiritual analogies of ‘running a race’. We all are running this race together, over the hard places, the difficult climbs, the exhilarating downhills, the potholes, and the LONG straightaways. Some runners are ahead of you in the race, working hard to navigate the course, and actually are making the effort to call out to the ones behind them to ‘watch out for…’, and to ‘not lose heart’, and to ‘save your energy’, as they push forward in the race. Are those runners really ‘over’ you in the sense that they are your actual ‘Team Coach’? Or are they just ‘coaching you’ and encouraging you in the same race they are in with you? ‘Over’ could then mean — in front of? In the translation ‘over you’ the Greek word is ‘hymon’ which means the pronoun “you”. Toiling and taking the lead are the key words here prior to the words ‘over you’. “In the Lord” means to me that they are also in the Body of Christ. These types are actually in the race with you and are your teammates, who are working hard to finish the race just like you. They are attempting to help you navigate the path in front of you that they just covered themselves. They are your friends, you know them, you work out together. You practice together, you hang out after practice together. How many of you actually personally and intimately know those who are helping you ‘run the race’ God has you on? Is your Pastor separated from you, do you actually know him and his own struggles? Do you actually ‘hang out’ together? Do you ‘practice’ together?
Let’s stop trying to separate the Body of Christ into the Old Covenant structure of Priests and Laity, or the clerical and common folk. The New Covenant did away with that structure, as we NOW have the Holy Spirit available to all of us 24/7 actually indwelling our very personhood, spirit, soul, and body. We ALL are in this race together. Let’s work on knowing each other better, not as ‘lording over’ someone, but as a friend who just wants to help their ‘brother or sister’ by sharing our own struggles we just passed over. Do you have any teammates like this? If not, find some.
The other statement in this passage that gets ‘glossed’ over is… “Do not quench the Spirit.” There is …oh so much in this little sentence. The Holy Spirit actually IS your Team Coach, as well as your Fuel to run the race! Don’t deny what He wants to give you. Don’t dismiss His instructions to you during the race. Listen to your Coach! Learn to listen for His Voice calling out to you!