The Meaning of 1 Thessalonians 5:24 Explained

1 Thessalonians 5:24

KJV: Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

YLT: stedfast is He who is calling you, who also will do it.

Darby: He is faithful who calls you, who will also perform it.

ASV: Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Faithful  [is] he that calleth  you,  who  also  will do  [it]. 

What does 1 Thessalonians 5:24 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Paul was confident God would do this work in the Thessalonians through the Holy Spirit, assuming their proper response to Him ( 1 Thessalonians 5:19). The antecedent of "it" seems to be the sanctification and preservation of the Thessalonians, not the return of Christ. [1]

Context Summary

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 - "without Blame" At His Coming
The remainder of the chapter is filled with brief sentences of exhortation, like cablegrams from our Heavenly Captain to his soldiers, who, in the previous section, are described as wearing the breastplate of faith and love. As we endeavor to put them into practice, we become conscious of a new and divine energy entering and quickening our nature. It is the God of peace who is at work, co-operating with our poor endeavors and sanctifying us wholly.
Each soul has a ministry to others, 1 Thessalonians 5:14. A sketch is here given of the ideal believer, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22; full of joy, constant in prayer, giving thanks in everything, loving with the unquenched fire of the Holy Spirit, willing to listen to any voice that may bear a divine message, testing all events and utterances with a celestial solvent, steadfast in good, and persistent against evil. This is a high standard, and impossible of realization apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But when the inner shrine is truly surrendered to Him, He will possess the whole temple, even to our physical well-being. God is faithful and will never fail the soul that dares to be all that He wills [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Thessalonians 5

1  He proceeds in the description of Christ's coming to judgment;
16  and gives various instructions;
23  and so concludes the epistle

Greek Commentary for 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Faithful [πιστος]
God, he means, who calls and will carry through (Philemon 1:6). [source]
Faithful [πιστὸς]
Comp. 2 Timothy 2:13, and see on 1 John 1:9; see on Revelation 1:5; see on Revelation 3:14. [source]
That calleth [ὁ καλῶν]
the caller. The emphasis is on the person rather than on the act. Comp. Romans 9:11; Galatians 1:6, Galatians 1:15; Galatians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Peter 5:10; James 1:5. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Thessalonians 5:24

1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful [πιστος ο τεος]
This is the ground of Paul‘s confidence as he loves to say (1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Romans 8:36; Philemon 1:16). God will do what he has promised. [source]
Galatians 5:8 Him that calleth [τοῦ καλοῦντος]
Very often applied to God by Paul. See Romans 8:30; Romans 9:11; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 7:15; Galatians 1:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:121 Thessalonians 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:14. The persuasion to subject yourselves to the Jewish law does not proceed from him who called you to freedom in Christ. [source]
2 Thessalonians 2:14 Whereunto [εις ο]
The goal, that is the final salvation Through our gospel God called the Thessalonians through Paul‘s preaching as he calls men now through the heralds of the Cross as God chose (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:24). [source]
Hebrews 9:15 They which are called [οἱ κεκλημένοι]
Without regard to nationality. The scope of the new covenant was wider than that of the old. Comp. Acts 2:39. In Hebrews 3:1, the readers are addressed as “partakers of a heavenly calling,” which corresponds with “eternal inheritance” here. Those who obtain this inheritance are designated as “called.” See Ephesians 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Peter 3:9. [source]
1 John 4:6 He that knoweth [ὁ γινώσκων]
Lit., the one knowing: he who is habitually and ever more clearly perceiving and recognizing God as his Christian life unfolds. The knowledge is regarded as progressive and not complete. Compare Philemon 3:12, and He who is calling ( ὁ καλῶν , 1 Thessalonians 5:24) also ὁ ἀγαπῶν hethat loves (1 John 4:7). [source]
1 John 1:9 Faithful [πιστός]
True to His own nature and promises; keeping faith with Himself and with man. The word is applied to God as fulfilling His own promises (Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 11:11); as fulfilling the purpose for which He has called men (1 Thessalonians 5:24; 1 Corinthians 1:9); as responding with guardianship to the trust reposed in Him by men (1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Peter 4:19). “He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). The same term is applied to Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:3; Hebrews 3:2; Hebrews 2:17). God's faithfulness is here spoken of not only as essential to His own being, but as faithfulness toward us; “fidelity to that nature of truth and light, related to His own essence, which rules in us as far as we confess our sins” (Ebrard). The essence of the message of life is fellowship with God and with His children (1 John 1:3). God is light (1 John 1:5). Walking in the light we have fellowship, and the blood of Jesus is constantly applied to cleanse us from sin, which is darkness and which interrupts fellowship. If we walk in darkness we do not the truth. If we deny our sin the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, “God, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful ” (1 Corinthians 1:9) to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and thus to restore and maintain the interrupted fellowship. [source]

What do the individual words in 1 Thessalonians 5:24 mean?

[Is] faithful the [One] calling you who also will do [it]
πιστὸς καλῶν ὑμᾶς ὃς καὶ ποιήσει

πιστὸς  [Is]  faithful 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πιστός  
Sense: trusty, faithful.
  the  [One] 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
καλῶν  calling 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: καλέω  
Sense: to call.
καὶ  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
ποιήσει  will  do  [it] 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ποιέω  
Sense: to make.