. . . The word “traditions” here is taken generally
and is understood as all the teaching in whatever way is handed down either in
speech or in writing. The apostle admonishes the Thessalonians to preserve constantly
in the heavenly doctrine that he had handed down to them orally at that time,
as well as that which he had begun to put into writing in this Epistle, as the
connection of the apostolic text shows: verse 4: “Do you not remember that when
I was still with you I Told you these things?” Verse 14: “God called you through
our Gospel.” Verse 15: “So, then, stand firm and hold to the traditions you
have learned.” (Johann Gerhard, On the Nature of Theology and on Scripture [trans.
Richard J. Dinda; Saint Louis, Miss.: Concordia Publishing House, 2009], 365)
