Holy Spirit in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

The key to understanding Peter’s words is found in allowing the Bible to define its own “ages.” There are various interpretive systems among Bible students today that describe the stages of the biblical story. The dispensational pre-millennialist has at least seven dispensations or ages in which God has and will work. Another common division of the Bible ages has three main ages: the Patriarchal Age, Mosaic Age, and Christian Age. The problem for both of these approaches is that the Bible never uses any such structure or labels to describe its own ages.

The seal of the Holy Spirit would last until the coming “day of the Lord” which would bring a baptism of fire upon those that rejected Jesus and would bring a vindicating “day of redemption” upon the true children of God. By that time the revelation would be completed and the need for the continuing miracles of the Holy Spirit would have been met. Once the gospel, and so by extension, the people of the gospel had been redeemed and confirmed – once the perfect had come – the miracles of the Holy Spirit and their “in part” manifestation would cease, vanish, and pass away.