Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 2
2:1 Brothers, you know our visit with you, that it has not been
found vain- "Our visit" is literally as AV "our entering in", and is
the same word used by Paul for the 'entering in' by the Lord Jesus when He
began His ministry (Acts 13:24). Paul clearly saw his ministry as a
manifestation and replica of the Lord's. His audiences met Christ insofar
as they met him. Therefore Paul’s personal example could hardly be
distinguished from the gospel he taught (1 Thess. 2:1-12)- he was his
message, just as the Lord was His word made flesh. This is why ‘authority’
and respect are things which are earned naturally in a community by those
who have converted the community. It is hard to impose these things from
outside the conversion experience.
2:2 As you know- Paul was only with them for three Sabbath
days, and yet in his teaching of them he told them what had happened to
him in Philippi just days before. The marks of the beatings and the
imprint of the chains would still have been on his body. He would have
been a living, visible example of what it meant to suffer with Christ, and
of the kind of commitment which following Him required. And Acts 17:4 says
that a large number of people responded to his preaching.
1 Thessalonians constantly alludes to what Paul taught them
whilst with them, and to how he had behaved amongst them in the brief
["three Sabbath days"] period when he had been amongst them (1 Thess.
The emotional level in Paul's reasoning here can only be
described as very high. T
Previously in Philippi we suffered and were spitefully treated-
These are the very words used about the sufferings of the Lord (Mt.
16:21; 17:12 etc.); and of His shameful or spiteful treatment on the cross
(Lk. 18:32). Hence Paul could speak of filling up the measure of
Christ’s sufferings through what he suffered whilst preaching Christ’s
Gospel (Col. 1:24). Paul was explaining and exhibiting what death and
suffering with Him really meant; and people lined up to be baptized in
response. They became followers of Paul and of the Lord (1:6). I suggested
on 1:9 that the converts in Thessalonica were religiously curious Gentiles
who attended the synagogue. But it was seeing the radical height of the
call in Christ which made them snap out of the religiously curious mindset
and be willing to sacrifice themselves for the Lord. The height of a
demand motivates us to snap out of the mediocre secular mindset and give
all for Him. Terrorist groups often find recruits among the uncommitted,
religiously curious, secular types- who see in the rhetoric of total
commitment something appealing. That rhetoric of total devotion unto death
is found in the Lord Jesus, and Paul was a parade example of human
response to it. The same word for "suffered" will be used in :14 and 2
Thess. 1:5 of how in turn, the Thessalonians "suffered"- with Christ, with
Paul, and as an invitation to others to likewise sign up to the life of
suffering and death with Him, that we might live with Him.
But even amid much opposition we were bold in our God to tell you
about the gospel of God- Thessalonians tends to speak more about God
rather than about the Lord Jesus. This was because they had been persuaded
to quit their many gods and accept the one true God (1:9).
2:3- see on 2 Cor. 12:7.
For our appeal is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deceit-
Paul didn't state bald facts and leave it to his audience to make their
minds up, which seems to be the tendency of preaching in our age. He
appealed for their response. He has to remind the Thessalonians that
he isn't preaching because he wants to take money and have relationships
with women (1 Thess. 2:3-12). There were some wealthy women in
Thessalonica who accepted the Gospel (Acts 17:4 Western Text), and no
doubt gossip spread from this. See on 1 Tim. 5:19. It goes with the
territory that any preacher of the Gospel is going to suffer gossip and
slander, no matter how wisely they deport themselves.
2:4 But even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the
gospel, so we speak- We were "put in trust with the Gospel",
literally 'en-faithed' with it, God gave it to us in faith that we would
preach it (1 Thess. 2:4). The parable of the talents has an element of
unreality to it, in that the rich owner gives all his wealth to his slaves
and then goes away, leaving them to trade with it and increase his overall
wealth. The storyline demands that we see him as having taken a big leap
of faith in men and women who were not at all used to operating on their
own initiative.
Not as pleasing men but God, who tests our hearts- If we know
God's judgments- and this is an ongoing process- then our self-examination
will become closer and closer to the real picture of us which God has. It
is apparent that God now tries our hearts (Job 7:18; Ps. 11:4;
17:3; 26:2; 139:23), e.g. weighing up our motives in preaching (1 Thess.
2:4).
2:5 For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery,
as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness- Usually,
itinerant preacher rocked up in a town, taught their ideas, and demanded
payment or donation, using flattering words of gratitude. Paul was only
two or three weeks in Thessalonica, but he was teaching what he knew to be
desperately and urgently and ultimately true. His teaching was no cloak or
covering over a covetous desire for money or adulation (:6). It is this
desire for money and glory from men which has wrecked Christian leadership
and the wider church.
2:6 Nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others,
when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ- Paul
turned up in Thessalonica and preached. But he didn't claim any authority
to do so, listing his qualifications, explaining that he was an apostle of
Christ etc. He simply preached the message. It's rather like the teenage
Mormon 'elder' who comes to your door telling you all his qualifications.
All that stands for nothing. The message is all important. Paul knew his
motives well enough to be able to say that he did not seek glory neither
from his converts nor from his audiences generally.
2:7 But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherishes
her own children- Paul taught from the podium of the synagogue for
three Sabbath days in Thessalonica. But he was somehow "in the midst of
you", treating them as his babies. This is a challenge for all platform
speakers. He was amongst them as a nurse with her own children.
This is a touching figure- a wet nurse giving that extra special attention
to her own child (as 2:11 RV a father with his own
children); and like children, they mimicked him (1 Thess. 1:6 Gk.). This
was quite different to Paul’s background culture, where “boldness and
abusive scolding were considered essential by many of the wandering
philosophers if their teaching was to have any impact”. Many a
Pentecostal pastor likewise scolds his flock for their lack of faith; but
the leaders of our groups shouldn’t be like this. There should be
gentleness, an appeal for love’s sake, rather than shouting and criticism.
Paul dealt with his converts “as a father with his own children”,
encouraging, comforting, ‘dealing with each one [individually]’ and urging
them to live a life worthy of God’s grace (1 Thess. 2:11,12 RV). Note in
this context how Paul says that he cares for them as for his own babies,
as both the father and mother, and yet reminds them that “We were babes
among you” (1 Thess. 2:7 RVmg.). His appeal to them was on the basis of
the fact that although their parent, he was also essentially like them.
Only as their spiritual father could he ask the Corinthians whether they
wanted him to come to them with a whip or with a loving appeal. He
could exercise the discipline of a father, out of his affectionate
concern for them; but he chose, wherever possible, a better way. He
normally uses the father: child image to show his closeness to them,
rather than to impose his authority upon them. And so it should be with
the true spiritual father or mother in our groups today. He asks them to
copy him; his method of shaping the community was to present himself as
the pattern. This was especially necessary amongst largely illiterate
converts- one could not direct them merely to independent study of the
text of Scripture. Paul even likens himself to a woman breast feeding a
child (1 Cor. 3:1-3; 1 Thess. 2:7). And yet such wet nursing was
considered to be an occupation for the very lowest of women in the Roman
world; it was common for even a respectable slave woman to pass her baby
over to such a woman to breast feed. But no, Paul himself, as their leader
and converter, as it were breast fed them himself. This very nicely shows
the link between unashamed, self-abasing humility and true leadership. And
again, the Spirit chose ‘shepherd’ as an image of ecclesial leadership,
when the surrounding Rabbis despised shepherds as dishonest. It’s just the
same as the Lord Jesus describing Himself as the humble King- a very
contradiction in the terms of the contemporary culture. There is an
intended juxtaposition in Zech. 9:9: “thy King cometh... lowly, and riding
upon an ass”.
2:8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to
impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because
you had become dear to us- As explained on :7, this affection or
'yearning' (Gk.) was because he really considered them to be his own
children, for whom he would die. It is one thing to impart the Gospel to
someone. It is another to give your soul to them, because you truly love
them. I suspect we have all been guilty of merely imparting the gospel,
without the heart that bled within Paul. They are two quite different
things. Imparting knowledge, inviting to meetings, distributing books… is
not the same as giving your soul. The AV of this passage says that Paul
was “willing to have imparted unto you… our own souls”. There may
be a connection back to Rom. 9:3 (see note there), where in the spirit of
Moses, Paul says that he is theoretically willing to give his eternal
place in the Kingdom for the sake of his hearers’ conversion- even though
he had learnt from Moses’ example that God will not accept such a
substitutionary offer. To give your life, to impart a Gospel… is one
thing. But to so feel for others that you would let them go to the Kingdom
rather than you… this is love. No wonder Paul was so compelling a
converter. There was such an upwelling of thankful love and reflected
grace behind his words of preaching. The Thessalonians became so "dear to
us" over just two or three weeks, and we wonder exactly how many contact
hours they had with Paul during that period, given the demands of family
and secular life, and Paul's need to work night and day to support himself
(:9). But he fell in love with them, and treats them as his beloved
babies; despite their weaknesses of understanding and behaviour. For he
had to warn them: “Abstain
from fornication” (1 Thess. 4:3), and he had to teach them that when a
believer dies, that is not the end, he will be resurrected at the last day
(1 Thess. 4:13). 1 Thess. 5:14 clearly states that there were amongst them
the “disorderly… fainthearted… the weak”. But moral and doctrinal weakness
need not get in the way of a yearning love for our brethren because they
all the same are committed to the Lord Jesus. Paul's example with the
Thessalonians is a great example of this.
2:9- see on Phil. 4:16.
For, brothers, you remember our labour and distress, working night
and day, so that we would not burden any of you while we preached the
gospel of God to you- Paul was only there with them for three Sabbath
days. But he didn't have the cash in hand to support himself and his team
for that time; he had to somehow work, presumably doing manual work on a
casual basis. He would have had no time to set up a tentmaking business in
three weeks; at best he could have only worked for a tentmaker on a casual
basis. So he worked nights too, so desperate was he for cash. This makes
his love for the Thessalonians the more remarkable, for he twice mentions
that there were lazy people amongst them who didn't work (5:14; 2
Thess.3:11). And he had only recently been thrown into prison and badly
beaten in Philippi, so his health and ability to do manual work was
limited. His example is even the more commendable because he knew that he
would have been quite justified in asking for basic support. He reminds
them again of this in 2 Thess. 3:8,9: "Neither did we eat bread for
nothing at anyone's hand; but we ate our bread as the result of our own
labour and toil, working night and day, that we might not financially
burden any of you. Not because we do not have the right to do so, but to
make ourselves an example to you- that you should imitate us". All this
also suggests that the number of contact hours he had with the
Thessalonians was limited. He worked by night perhaps so he could teach
folks by day; but they too had to work, and so they learned the Gospel in
a very short time. The power of the most basic ideas of the Gospel, even
if one has only a few hours to explain them, is enough to radically turn
around the religiously curious into those on fire for Christ, willing to
sacrifice all. And it was during the course of his daily work that he won
many converts: “You remember, brothers, our work and toil. It was
while we were labouring night and day… that we proclaimed to you the
gospel of God” (1 Thess. 2:9 Gk.). People would have been stunned and
deeply impressed by this man, as with lash marks on his back he carried
water or shifted fruit or building material around the town to support
himself... and it was whilst doing this that he preached and people
believed. Celsus claimed that Christianity was attractive “only to the
foolish, dishonourable and stupid, and only slaves, women and little
children… [the Christian evangelists] were wool-workers, cobblers,
laundry-workers, and the most illiterate and bucolic yokels [who enticed]
… children and stupid women [to come along to] … the wooldresser’s shop,
or to the cobbler’s or the washerwoman’s shop, that they may learn
perfection”. This could almost be a quotation from 1 Cor. 1, where Paul
describes the converts as just such people. And yet from out of their
ordinary life situations, the witness went forth. Not from specially built
halls, but from the workplace. And so it has ever been. This is why Pliny
could observe that Christianity “penetrated not only the cities but even
the villages and farms”. It was individuals converting individuals.
2:10- see on Phil. 1:10.
You are witnesses and God also, how holily and righteously and
unblameably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe- "Toward [AV
"among"] you that believe" carries the sense that they now believed,
because of Paul's example. It was Paul's behaviour during the two weeks he
was with them which left such an impression. All itinerant preachers
demanded money; but Paul was to be seen doing manual casual work around
the town in order just to get food and lodging (:9), bearing in his body
the signs of a recent traumatic lashing and beating. No wonder his own
example led people to Jesus. Ideas alone are only meaningful and
compelling, especially to the illiterate, when they are made flesh in
practice. And this was just what Paul did. See on :9.
2:11- see on 1 Thess. 2:7.
As you know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his
own children, exhorting you, encouraging you and testifying- Paul did
not just preach to a group, baptize them as a group, and relate to them as
a teacher to a class of pupils. He dealt with each of them individually.
The language here is appropriate to practical exhortation and
encouragement in a way of life, rather than theological instruction.
Despite his few contact hours with each of them, he stressed the way of
life more than theology (hence the need to teach them in chapter 4 that
the dead in Christ are not lost but shall be resurrected at the last day).
The Gospel of the Kingdom as taught by the Lord was likewise largely
focused upon the way of life in Him rather than theological truths.
2:12 To the end you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into
His own kingdom and glory- See on 2:2 for the emphasis on God rather
than the Lord Jesus. Note the present tense of "calls you"; God is
constantly calling us to the Kingdom through the word of the Gospel, and
therefore that word dynamically works in us who believe. The basic Gospel
of the Kingdom works in us throughout our lives, calling us daily,
beckoning us onwards to the Kingdom. Walking / living appropriately given
our calling to eternity, appropriate to the fact the Lord died for us, is
a major theme with Paul (s.w. Rom. 16:2; Eph. 4;1; Phil. 1:27; Col. 1:10).
This explains Paul's huge teaching emphasis upon practical issues in his
short time amongst them (see on :11).
2:13 And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when
you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not
as the word of men but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also
works powerfully in you that believe- It is the Spirit which works
powerfully within believers (1 Cor. 12:11; Eph. 3:16-20 s.w.). But it
would be a mistaken equation to therefore state that the word of God as in
the Bible equals the work of the Spirit, as if we can squeeze the Spirit
out of the pages of the Bible by extensive study of it. Such study has
been impossible for the majority of believers over time, seeing they were
illiterate and didn't have Bibles. And the Spirit of God is repeatedly
described as a gift, given into our hearts by grace. The "word of God"
rarely refers to the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation; and here we
are reading of the logos of God rather than the rhema.
It is the Lord Jesus who is "received" and "accepted", as the essential
logos of God. The Lord Jesus is He who "works powerfully" in human
hearts through His Spirit. But this working is not independent of the word
of the Gospel; if we neglect that word, He will never force us. His work
in us is related to our willingness for Him to work in us, and such
willingness will be reflected in our continued memory and [in our
generation] reading of His word. That basic Gospel message continued to
work powerfully within them. Spiritual growth is not so much from
discovering new things about the Bible (which can become a mere form of
intellectual titillation), but from being persuaded over and over of the
wonder and practical implication of the basic Gospel truths.
2:14- see on 1 Thess. 1:6-9.
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in
Christ Jesus which are in Judea. For you also suffered the same things of
your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews- This is a fairly
clear statement that most of the Thessalonians were Gentiles, although
they had been converted whilst involved with synagogue attendance (see on
1:9). What did Gentiles in Thessalonica know about the Jewish churches in
Judea? Only what Paul had taught them. And it was he who had persecuted
those very churches (Acts 9:31). Yet Paul was only three weeks at most
with the Thessalonians. His teaching of them had involved personal
testimony of his own shameful past, and how brave and committed those
Judean Christians had been under his own persecution and torture of them.
Paul would have been radically different from any other itinerant
preacher; this man who worked day and night to support himself and his
team (see on :9), with wheal marks on his back from a recent flogging and
imprisonment in Philippi... who admitted to torturing and murdering Jewish
Christians, but had changed because he had met the Lord Jesus, and was now
urging Gentiles to convert to the Hope of Israel. His stories of those
churches he had persecuted gripped the minds of his hearers, and they
vowed to follow those brave believers. And somehow there was a credibility
in Paul's accounts, a sense that really he was not making this up. They
"suffered", using the same word as used for Paul's sufferings and those of
the Lord (see on :2). Paul and the invisible Lord he imitated became their
template.
2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us
out, and do not please God, and oppose all mankind- Considering Paul
had met the Thessalonian converts in the synagogue, his strong anti-Jewish
rhetoric was purposeful. He saw the threat of Judaism and the Judaist
campaign against his work as the biggest single problem facing the church.
"The prophets" refers to the New Testament prophets, and therefore to
martyrdoms which aren't recorded in Acts, which mainly focuses upon the
work of Paul and Peter alone. As noted on :2, Paul continually draws a
parallel between the Lord's sufferings and his own, and theirs. This
principle is true for us; all our sufferings are a sharing in His final
suffering, so that His life might be ours too, both now and at the last
day (2 Cor. 4:11). They "drove us out" refers to how the Jews in
Thessalonica had driven Paul out of town and persuaded the town
authorities to ban Paul from ever returning (see :18). And contrary to the
Judaist claim to be 'God pleasers', they were the very opposite. Judaism
would have objected to the claim that they "oppose all mankind", but they
did so in that they sought to stop Paul preaching to the Gentiles (:16).
This is an example of how the implications of human behaviour are
perceived and judged by God.
2:16- see on Mt. 19:14.
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved-
Paul had preached in the synagogue at Thessalonica, and from this he had
met Gentiles who attended the synagogue who were impressed with his
message. But the Jews had forbidden him to preach; and like Peter, he had
refused to be obedient. We also see here the huge and eternal significance
of preaching; by speaking to men we can lead them to salvation.
The reference may be to the persecution of the Jerusalem church ‘in the
eighth year of Claudius’ (AD 48/49), recorded by
By doing so they fill up the full measure of their sins. But God’s
wrath comes upon them at last- The Jews forbad or hindered the
apostles from preaching to the Gentiles “to fill up their sins… for the
wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Thess. 2:16). This is quoting
from the LXX of Gen. 15:16 about the Amorites. See on Jn. 12:31. The
religious Jews are being painted as nothing less than the worst of the
Gentiles in God's eyes. This was an argument Stephen had used multiple
times in his speech of Acts 7 which Paul would have heard and been
convicted by. And he now repeats that same basic argument.
Not only did the Jews crucify God’s Son, but the book of Acts makes it
clear that it was Jewish opposition which was the main adversary to Paul’s
spreading of the Gospel and establishment of the early church (Acts
13:50,51; 14:2,5,619; 17:5–9,13,14; 18:6,12–17; 21:27–36; 23:12–25). Paul
speaks of the Jewish opposition as having “killed both the Lord Jesus and
the [first century Christian] prophets, and drove us out; they displease
God and oppose everyone by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so
that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the
measure of their sins” (1 Thess. 2:13–16). These are strong words, and
must be given their full weight in our assessment of the degree to which
the Jews were indeed a great ‘Satan’ to the cause of Christ in the first
century. And Paul refers to them like this in :18.
2:17 But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a short
time in presence but not in heart, endeavoured more eagerly to see your
face with great desire- Often he speaks of his urgent desire to see
the face of his brethren (Rom. 1:11; 15:24; Phil. 1:27; 1 Thess. 2:17;
3:6,10; Heb. 13:23). It has been pointed out by F.F. Bruce that Paul's
later letters reveal a marked and progressive fondness for Greek
words compounded from syn-, i.e. together / with (e.g.
synergos, co-worker; synaichmalatos, co-prisoner).
Priscilla, Aquilla, Timothy, Titus, Marcus, Archippus, Luke, Aristarchus,
Tychicus, Epaphras, Demas, Epaphroditus, Clement, Philemon, Euodias,
Syntyche (the last two being weak in terms of spiritual behaviour) ...all
of these are described by Paul with a syn- compound word. It
seems that as he matured, Paul needed his brethren, he realized
he wasn't so alone and strong-willed as he had once been, he saw the
Christ in his brethren. Perhaps Paul's endeavours to see them again refer
to how he sought to have his ban from entering Thessalonica reversed; see
on :15 and :18.
2:18 Because we wanted to come to you, I Paul time and again; but
Satan hindered us- As noted on :16, it was the Jewish satan /
adversary / opposition which stopped Paul returning to Thessalonica.
According to Acts 17, it was the Jews who got Paul driven out of town,
which may mean they persuaded the local Roman administration to issue a
ban forbidding Paul to ever return there (:15). All efforts to appeal
against it had been rejected by Jewish pressure upon the Roman
administration there.
2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not
even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? - Nearly all
references to Paul's "joy" are in the context of his joy at the prospect
of others' spiritual development and salvation (Acts 13:52; Rom. 5:11;
15:32; 2 Cor. 2:3; 7:4,6,13; Phil. 1:14,18; 2:2,17; 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19,20;
3:9; 2 Tim. 1:4; Philemon 7,20). See on Eph. 1:4. Paul could say that his
great joy at the judgment would be to see his dear brethren enter the
Kingdom (1 Thess. 2:19,20; Phil. 4:1; 2 Cor. 1:14); not just joy for his
own personal acceptance. In this moment, "he that soweth and he that
reapeth [will] rejoice together" (Jn. 4:36)- the letter writers, speakers,
writers, travellers... Hence Paul "held forth the word of life" to his
converts at Philippi, "that I may rejoice in the day of Christ (through
their acceptance) that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain".
This explains the intensity of his efforts to strengthen his brethren: "As
though God did beseech you by us: we pray you... be ye reconciled
to God" (2 Cor. 5:20). And later he could write from prison "Therefore I
endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also
obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:10). Thus even in
this life John could write: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my
children walk in truth... I wish above all things that thou
mayest (spiritually) prosper" (3 Jn. 2-4).
Paul's "crown", the nature of his eternal reward, was tied up in
whether or not his converts made it there. He appeals to the Philippians
to "stand fast" exactly because they were his "crown" (Phil. 4:1). His
certainty at the end that he would receive the crown (2 Tim. 4:8) is
perhaps a statement that he rejoiced that at least some of his converts
would indeed be saved. Our focus likewise must be upon the moment when we
shall stand before our Lord Jesus. The joy and crown will be tied up in
the acceptance there of others for whom we have laboured. This is not to
teach salvation by works; but the quality and nature of our eternity is
clearly predicated upon what we do for others. Sitting in splendid
isolation, insisting upon our understanding of some curious theological
point as an excuse for non engagement with the rest of the Lord's body...
is not going to enable us to share too much joy for others in that day.
2:20 For you are our glory and our joy- Paul has stated that
their acceptance in the last day before the Lord Jesus will be his glory
and joy (:19). We noted on 1:3 how in prayer before the Lord, he recounted
the good things about his Thessalonian brethren; he gloried in them right
now in this life, before the throne of grace in prayer. And our attitude
in prayer now before the Lord will be our attitude at the last day. In
that day too, Paul will be glorying in his brethren, and eternally (:19).
All this is a powerful template for us to live by.
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