<p>2:2 <em>As you know- </em>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.</p><p><em>Previously in Philippi we suffered and were spitefully treated- </em>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).&nbsp; Hence Paul could speak of filling up the measure of Christ&rsquo;s sufferings through what he suffered whilst preaching Christ&rsquo;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 &quot;suffered&quot; will be used in :14 and 2 Thess. 1:5 of how in turn, the Thessalonians &quot;suffered&quot;- 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.</p><p><em>But even amid much opposition we were bold in our God to tell you about the gospel of God</em>- 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).</p>