Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 1:2
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
2. We give thanks to God always for you all ] “We,” i.e. the three above named. Here, as in Php 1:4, he has thankfulness and joy over them “all;” no other Churches seem to have been so much to the Apostle’s mind as these two. And everything dear to him or useful to others in his friends moves him to gratitude toward God on their account. This St Paul felt that he “owed to God” (2Th 1:3), the Source of al goodness in men; and it was the best and safest way of commending them.
making mention of you in our prayers ] i.e. when engaged in prayer. As often as the Apostle and his companions prayed, the Thessalonian Church came to their mind; and with supplication praise on their behalf constantly mingled. For the connection of prayer and thanksgiving, see notes on ch. 1Th 5:17-18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We give thanks to God always for you all – see the notes, Rom 1:9.
Making mention of you in our prayers – See the notes at Eph 1:16. It may be observed here:
(1) That the apostle was in the habit of constant prayer.
(2) That he was accustomed to extemporary prayer, and not to written prayer. It is not credible that forms of prayer had been framed for the churches at Thessalonica and Ephesus, and the other churches for which Paul says he prayed, nor would it have been possible to have adapted such forms to the varying circumstances attending the organization of new churches.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Th 1:2-4
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers
Ministerial thanksgiving
I.
Is expansive in its character. It is our duty to be grateful for personal benefits, but it displays a nobler generosity to be thankful for the good of others. Paul thanked God–
1. Because of their work of faith.
(1) Faith itself is a work; it is the laying hold of Christ for salvation. In its exercise man meets with opposition, and it becomes a fight.
(2) It is the cause of work–the propelling and sustaining motive in all Christian toil. Faith without works is dead.
2. Because of their labour of love. Labour tests the strength of love. We show our love to Christ by what we do for Him. Love makes even drudgery an enjoyment. It leads us to attempt what we would once have shrunk from in dismay.
3. Because of their patient hope. It was severely tried, but not quenched. It is hard to hope in the midst of discouragement. It was so with Joseph in prison, with David in the mountains of Judah, with the Jews in Babylon. But the grace of patience gives constancy to hope.
4. Because of their election, not as individuals, this could not he, but as a people. St. Paul here means that from what he saw of the operations of Christian grace in them he knew they were Gods elect. As Bengel says, Election is the judgment of Divine grace, exempting in Christ, from the common destruction of men, those who accept their calling by faith. Every one who is called, is elected from the first moment of his faith; and so long as he continues in his calling and faith, he continues to be elected; if at any time he loses calling and faith, he ceases to be elected. Observe the constancy of this thanksgiving spirit–We give thanks always for you all. As they remembered without ceasing the genuine evidences of conversion so did they assiduously thank God.
II. Evokes a spirit of practical devotion. Making mention of you in our prayers. The interest of the successful worker in his converts is keenly aroused; he is especially anxious the work should be permanent, and resorts to prayer as the effectual means. Prayer for others benefits the suppliant. When the Church prayed, not only was Peter liberated from prison, but the faith of the members was emboldened.
III. Is rendered to the great Giver of all good. We give thanks to God. God is the author of true success. In vain we labour where His blessing is withheld. (G. Barlow.)
Intercessory prayer
A praying engineer used to run from Boston on the morning express train. A very faithful man he was in his business; and he was a man of ardour and enthusiasm for souls. He used to make me ride with him, and he would give me an account of his hunting and fishing for souls. I suppose he was the means of rescuing fifty men from the devils grasp, clothing them and getting them into business. Even while he was running his engine he was thinking of his work–for his real work was among souls. The moment he got to the terminus off went his engineers clothes and on went his ordinary dress, and he started around town to look after some of his cases to inquire about them, and to speak with them. He drew out his praying list one day! I found that he had a strip of paper on which were written ten or fifteen names; and he said that each day he prayed for every single one of them. Sometimes he was more particularly moved in behalf of this one, and sometimes in behalf of that one. Said he, As soon as one of these is converted I put another on the list. There are ever so many waiting to get on the list; but I cannot put more than fifteen on. He was always praying somebody on or somebody off from that list of his. He gave me some of the most affecting accounts that I ever heard in my life. (H. W. Beecher.)
Prayer for individuals
There is nothing better than to always have before your mind some one at whose conversion you are aiming. There may be a withering plant in your garden, but it will respond to the touch of the water with which you sprinkle it, and there will be an awakening to new strength and beauty. And who will say that less effective will be the power of the Holy Ghost; that the Christian may not pray down an influence like the waters of life to any soul wasted away by sin? It is so hopeful, this personal work in behalf of souls. It is most effective when its aim is single, and one by one you separate men and make them special, individual objects of your attention. Such work, if persisted in, will tell wonderfully by and by. The results will grow into mountains. They may not aggregate as rapidly as did Dr. Hopkins, the old Newport parson, and the famous author of Hopkinsonism. He made a list of the members of his congregation, and for each one made separate supplication. There were thirty-one conversions after those separate prayers. You may not have such a success, but enough stars will shine in your crown to make a constellated glory there forever!
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. We give thanks] See Phi 1:3; Phi 1:4, and Col 1:3; where the same forms of speech are used.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We give thanks to God; after his salutation he adds his thanksgiving and prayer for them. He saw in them an eminent seal of his apostleship, and effect of his ministry, and advantage to the gospel in their example, and so gives thanks. And his thanks is to God, because the success of the gospel was more from his blessing than his own ministry.
Always; pantote, that is, in a constant course; or affectu, though not actu, by a grateful sense he had of it continually upon his heart.
For you all; for he had a good report of them all from Timothy, 1Th 3:6, and we find not one reproof in this First Epistle to any one, as in the Second.
Making mention of you in our prayers; he adds also his prayer for them, wherein he made mention of them by name, as some understand the words, . Prayer and thanksgiving ought to go together, especially in the ministers of the gospel, and in the work of their ministry. And thus the apostle practised towards other churches also, as Rom 1:8; Phi 1:3, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. (Rom 1:9;2Ti 1:3.) The structure of thesentences in this and the following verses, each successive sentencerepeating with greater fulness the preceding, characteristicallymarks Paul’s abounding love and thankfulness in respect to hisconverts, as if he were seeking by words heaped on words to conveysome idea of his exuberant feelings towards them.
WeI, Silvanus, andTimotheus. Ro 1:9 supportsALFORD in translating,”making mention of you in our prayers without ceasing” (1Th1:3). Thus, “without ceasing,” in the second clause,answers in parallelism to “always,” in the first.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We give thanks to God always for you all,…. For all the members of this church, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, greater or lesser believers, officers or private Christians; for their being a church, for the gifts bestowed on them, for the graces hereafter mentioned that were wrought in them and exercised by them; the glory of all which is given to God, and thanks for the same, which shows them to be gifts of his, and not in the least owing to any merits of men: the apostle ascribes nothing to their free will, previous dispositions and qualifications, diligence and industry; nor does he attribute anything to himself and to his companions, who were only ministers by whom these believed; but he refers all to God, to his grace and goodness: and he returned thanks to him for it, and that “always”; whenever he thought of it, made mention of it, or was at the throne of grace, as follows,
making mention of you in our prayers; to God, daily, both in private and in public, at which times thanksgivings to God were made on their account; for thanksgiving is a part of prayer, and requests are always to be made known unto God with thanksgiving. The Ethiopic version renders this clause in the singular number, “and I am mindful of you always in my prayer”; and leaves out the word “all” in the former clause.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Thanksgiving to God. | A. D. 51. |
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. 5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
I. The apostle begins with thanksgiving to God. Being about to mention the things that were matter of joy to him, and highly praiseworthy in them, and greatly for their advantage, he chooses to do this by way of thanksgiving to God, who is the author of all that good that comes to us, or is done by us, at any time. God is the object of all religious worship, of prayer and praise. And thanksgiving to God is a great duty, to be performed always or constantly; even when we do not actually give thanks to God by our words, we should have a grateful sense of God’s goodness upon our minds. Thanksgiving should be often repeated; and not only should we be thankful for the favours we ourselves receive, but for the benefits bestowed on others also, upon our fellow-creatures and fellow-christians. The apostle gave thanks not only for those who were his most intimate friends, or most eminently favoured of God, but for them all.
II. He joined prayer with his praise or thanksgiving. When we in every thing by prayer and supplication make our requests known to God, we should join thanksgiving therewith, Phil. iv. 6. So when we give thanks for any benefit we receive we should join prayer. We should pray always and without ceasing, and should pray not only for ourselves, but for others also, for our friends, and should make mention of them in our prayers. We may sometimes mention their names, and should make mention of their case and condition; at least, we should have their persons and circumstances in our minds, remembering them without ceasing. Note, As there is much that we ought to be thankful for on the behalf of ourselves and our friends, so there is much occasion of constant prayer for further supplies of good.
III. He mentions the particulars for which he was so thankful to God; namely,
1. The saving benefits bestowed on them. These were the grounds and reasons of his thanksgiving. (1.) Their faith and their work of faith. Their faith he tells them (v. 8) was very famous, and spread abroad. This is the radical grace; and their faith was a true and living faith, because a working faith. Note, Wherever there is a true faith, it will work: it will have an influence upon heart and life; it will put us upon working for God and for our own salvation. We have comfort in our own faith and the faith of others when we perceive the work of faith. Show me thy faith by thy works, Jam. ii. 18. (2.) Their love and labour of love. Love is one of the cardinal graces; it is of great use to us in this life and will remain and be perfected in the life to come. Faith works by love; it shows itself in the exercise of love to God and love to our neighbour; as love will show itself by labour, it will put us upon taking pains in religion. (3.) Their hope and the patience of hope. We are saved by hope. This grace is compared to the soldier’s helmet and sailor’s anchor, and is of great use in times of danger. Wherever there is a well-grounded hope of eternal life, it will appear by the exercise of patience; in a patient bearing of the calamities of the present time and a patient waiting for the glory to be revealed. For, if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, Rom. viii. 25.
2. The apostle not only mentions these three cardinal graces, faith, hope and love, but also takes notice, (1.) Of the object and efficient cause of these graces, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ. (2.) Of the sincerity of them: being in the sight of God even our Father. The great motive to sincerity is the apprehension of God’s eye as always upon us; and it is a sign of sincerity when in all we do we endeavour to approve ourselves to God, and that is right which is so in the sight of God. Then is the work of faith, or labour of love, or patience of hope, sincere, when it is done under the eye of God. (3.) He mentions the fountain whence these graces flow, namely, God’s electing love: Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God, v. 4. Thus he runs up these streams to the fountain, and that was God’s eternal election. Some by their election of God would understand only the temporary separation of the Thessalonians from the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles in their conversion; but this was according to the eternal purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, Eph. i. 11. Speaking of their election, he calls them, brethren beloved; for the original of the brotherhood that is between Christians and the relation wherein they stand one to another is election. And it is a good reason why we should love one another, because we are all beloved of God, and were beloved of him in his counsels when there was not any thing in us to merit his love. The election of these Thessalonians was known to the apostles, and therefore might be known to themselves, and that by the fruits and effects thereof–their sincere faith, and hope, and love, by the successful preaching of the gospel among them. Observe, [1.] All those who in the fulness of time are effectually called and sanctified were from eternity elected and chosen to salvation. [2.] The election of God is of his own good pleasure and mere grace, not for the sake of any merit in those who are chosen. [3.] The election of God may be known by the fruits thereof. [4.] Whenever we are giving thanks to God for his grace either to ourselves or others, we should run up the streams to the fountain, and give thanks to God for his electing love, by which we are made to differ.
3. Another ground or reason of the apostle’s thanksgiving is the success of his ministry among them. He was thankful on his own account as well as theirs, that he had not laboured in vain. He had the seal and evidence of his apostleship hereby, and great encouragement in his labours and sufferings. Their ready acceptance and entertainment of the gospel he preached to them were an evidence of their being elected and beloved of God. It was in this way that he knew their election. It is true he had been in the third heavens; but he had not searched the records of eternity, and found their election there, but knew this by the success of the gospel among them (v. 5), and he takes notice with thankfulness, (1.) That the gospel came to them also not in word only, but in power; they not only heard the sound of it, but submitted to the power of it. It did not merely tickle the ear and please the fancy, not merely fill their heads with notions and amuse their minds for awhile, but it affected their hearts: a divine power went along with it for convincing their consciences and amending their lives. Note, By this we may know our election, if we not only speak of the things of God by rote as parrots, but feel the influence of these things in our hearts, mortifying our lusts, weaning us from the world, and raising us up to heavenly things. (2.) It came in the Holy Ghost, that is, with the powerful energy of the divine Spirit. Note, Wherever the gospel comes in power, it is to be attributed to the operation of the Holy Ghost; and unless the Spirit of God accompany the word of God, to render it effectual by his power, it will be to us but as a dead letter; and the letter killeth, it is the Spirit that giveth life. (3.) The gospel came to them in much assurance. Thus did they entertain it by the power of the Holy Ghost. They were fully convinced of the truth of it, so as not to be easily shaken in mind by objections and doubts; they were willing to leave all for Christ, and to venture their souls and everlasting condition upon the verity of the gospel revelation. The word was not to them, like the sentiments of some philosophers about matters of opinion and doubtful speculation, but the object of their faith and assurance. Their faith was the evidence of things not seen; and the Thessalonians thus knew what manner of men the apostle and his fellow-labourers were among them, and what they did for their sake, and with what good success.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
We give thanks (). Late denominative verb from (grateful) and that from , well and , to show oneself kind. See in verse 1. “The plural implies that all three missionaries prayed together” (Moffatt).
Always (). Late word, rare in LXX. So with in 2Thess 1:3; 2Thess 2:13; 1Cor 1:4; Eph 5:20; Phil 1:3. Moffatt takes it to mean “whenever Paul was at his prayers.” Of course, he did not make audible prayer always, but he was always in the spirit of prayer, “a constant attitude” (Milligan), “in tune with the Infinite.”
For you all ( ). Paul “encircled (, around) them all,” including every one of them and the church as a whole. Distance lends enchantment to the memory of slight drawbacks. Paul is fond of this phrase “you all,” particularly in Phil. (Phil 1:3; Phil 1:7).
Making mention ( ). Paul uses this very idiom in Rom 1:9; Eph 1:16; Phlm 1:4. Milligan cites a papyrus example of in prayer (B. Y. U. 652, 5). Did Paul have a prayer list of the Thessalonian disciples which he read over with Silas and Timothy?
In here is =“in the time of our prayers.” “Each time that they are engaged in prayers the writers mention the names of the converts” (Frame).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
We give thanks [] . According to Paul ‘s habit, a thanksgiving follows the salutation, commonly with the verb ejucaristein as here; but in 2nd Corinthians and Ephesians, eujloghtov oJ qeov blessed be God. The thanksgiving is omitted only in Galatians. The verb eujcaristein occurs only in later Greek, and there but rarely. In LXX only in Apocr. See Judith 8 25; 2 Macc. 1 11; 10 7; 3 Macc. 7
1Th 1:16In the N. T. Epistles, P o. Originally to do a good turn; hence, to return a favor. The meaning to give thanks is late. The kindred noun eujcaristia giving of thanks, is found often in Paul. As a designation of the Lord ‘s Supper (Eucharist) it is not found in the N. T. Perhaps the earliest instance of its use in that sense is in Ignatius. See Philad. 4; Smyrn. 4, 8; Ephesians 8, Comp. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, 64, 65.
In we give thanks, it is not easy to decide whether Paul uses we as plural, or in the sense of i. Rom 3:9 seems to be a clear case of the latter usage. In 1Th 3:1, 2, hujdokhsamen we thought it good, and ejpemyamen we sent, can, apparently, refer only to Paul; and similarly, in 1Th 3:6, prov hJmav unto us, can hardly include Silvanus who came with Timothy (comp. iii. 5). But it is significant that, in the Epistles which are written in Paul ‘s name alone (Romans, Galatians, Ephesians), only I is used, unless we except Gal 1:8, which is doubtful. Paul and Timothy appear jointly as correspondents in Philippians, but the first person predominates throughout the letter. The same is true of 1st Corinthians, where Paul and Sosthenes are associated in the address, but the singular pronoun is used almost throughout. (See 1Th 4:10 – 13; 1Th 9:4, 5, 25, 26). In Colossians Paul and Timothy appear in the address. The plural prevails to 1Th 1:23, and alternates with the singular throughout the remainder. The alternations in 2nd Corinthians are very bewildering.
On the whole, I think that occasional instances of the epistolary plural must be granted. It is not, however, Paul ‘s habitual usage. We is often employed as in ordinary correspondence or argument, where the writer or speaker associates himself with his readers or hearers. Abundant illustrations of this may be seen in Romans 6 and 8; but in other cases, when Paul speaks in the plural, he usually associates his fellow – ministers, mentally, with himself. 8 Making mention [ ] . For the phrase see Rom 1:9; Eph 1:16; Phl 1:4. Always in connection with prayer. In the sense of remember it appears in LXX, Job 14:13. In Psa 111:4, to make a memorial. See further, on without ceasing, ver. 3.
In my prayers [] . When engaged in offering my prayers. Epi here blends the local with the temporal sense.
Prayers [] . The more general term, and limited to prayer to God; while dehsiv petitionary prayer, supplication, may be addressed to man. Paul alone associates the two words. See Phi 4:6; Eph 6:18. In classical Greek the word does not occur in the sense of prayer. It is found in later Greek, meaning a place for prayer, in which sense it appears in Act 16:13, 16. It signified either a synagogue, or an open praying – place outside of a city. 9
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “We give thanks to God” (eucharistoumen to theo) “We offer gratitude to or toward God”; The we” referred to is Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Tho in prison in Rome Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the former two who were once in the Philippian jail of Macedonia for their faith, still had hearts of gratitude for the faith of others, Php_4:6.
2) “Always for you all” (pantote peri panton humon) “At all times concerning all of you”, or on behalf of their faithfulness Rom 1:9; Jas 5:16.
3) “Making mention of you in our prayers” (mneian poioumenoi epi ton proseuchon hemon adialiptos) making mention on behalf of you in our prayers, unceasingly”, continually, without ceasing as taught by the Lord, Luk 18:1; 2Ti 1:3; 1Th 2:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2 We give thanks to God. He praises, as he is wont, their faith and other virtues, not so much, however, for the purpose of praising them, as to exhort them to perseverance. For it is no small excitement to eagerness of pursuit, when we reflect that God has adorned us with signal endowments, that he may finish what he has begun, and that we have, under his guidance and direction, advanced in the right course, in order that we may reach the goal. For as a vain confidence in those virtues, which mankind foolishly arrogate to themselves, puffs them up with pride, and makes them careless and indolent for the time to come, so a recognition of the gifts of God humbles pious minds, and stirs them up to anxious concern. Hence, instead of congratulations, he makes use of thanksgivings, that he may put them in mind, that everything in them that he declares to be worthy of praise, is a kindness from God. (491) He also turns immediately to the future, in making mention of his prayers. We thus see for what purpose he commends their previous life.
(491) “ Est vn benefice procedant de la liberalite de Dieu;” —”Is a kindness proceeding from God’s liberality.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1Th. 1:3. Work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.The famous three sister-graces familiar to us from St. Pauls other letters. As Bengel says, they are Summa Christianismi. St. James, one thinks, would have liked the expression, work of faith (Jas. 2:14-26). But if faith works, love cannot be outdone (1Co. 13:13), and toils with strenuous endeavour; whilst hopea faculty flighty enough with somehere patiently endures, pressing on and bearing up.
1Th. 1:4. Your election.God is said to pick out, not for any inherent qualities, certain persons for purposes of His own. The same idea is in the word saints, as those whom God has separated from a godless world and made them dear to Himself.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Th. 1:2-4
Ministerial Thanksgiving.
Gratitude for the healthy, flourishing state of the Thessalonian Church is a marked feature in both epistles, and is frequently expressed. The apostle left the young converts in a critical condition, and when he heard from Timothy a favourable account of their steadfastness and growth in grace, like a true minister of Christ he gave God thanks.
I. Ministerial thanksgiving is expansive in its character.We give thanks always for you all (1Th. 1:2). It is our duty, and acceptable to God, to be grateful for personal benefits; but it displays a broader, nobler generosity when we express thanksgiving on behalf of others. It is Christ-like: He thanked God the Father for revealing the things of His kingdom unto babes. The apostle thanked God:
1. Because of their work of faith.Remembering without ceasing your work of faith (1Th. 1:3). Faith is itself a work. It is the eye and hand of the soul, by which the sinner sees and lays hold on Christ for salvation. Man meets with opposition in its exercise; he has to fight against the faith-stifling power of sin in himself and in the world. Faith is also the cause of work. It is the propelling and sustaining motive in all Christian toil. Faith without works is dead.
2. Because of their labour of love.The strength of love is tested by its labour; we show our love to Christ by what we do for Him. Love intensifies every faculty, moves to benevolent exertion, and makes even drudgery an enjoyment. Love leads us to attempt work from which we would once have shrunk in dismay.
3. Because of their patient hope.Their hope of salvation in Christ was severely tried by affliction, persecutions, and numberless temptations, but was not quenched. It is hard to hope on in the midst of discouragement. It was so with Joseph in prison, with David in the mountains of Judah, with the Jews in Chaldea. But the grace of patience gives constancy and perseverance to our hope. The apostle rejoiced in the marked sincerity of their faith, love, and hope, which he acknowledged to be in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. These virtues are derived alone from Christ, and their exercise God witnesses and approves. Things are in reality what they are in Gods sight. His estimate is infallible.
4. Because assured of their election.Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election (1Th. 1:4). St. Paul here means only to show how he, from the way in which the Spirit operated in him at a certain place, drew a conclusion as to the disposition of the persons there. Where it manifested itself powerfully, argued he, there must be elect; where the contrary was the case, he concluded the contrary (Olshausen). Election is the judgment of divine grace, exempting in Christ from the common destruction of men those who accept their calling by faith. Every one who is called is elected from the first moment of his faith, and so long as he continues in his calling and faith he continues to be elected; if at any time he loses calling and faith he ceases to be elected (Bengel). Observe the constancy of this thanksgiving spiritWe give thanks always for you all. As they remembered without ceasing the genuine evidences of their conversion, so did they assiduously thank God. There is always something to thank God for if we will but see it.
II. Ministerial thanksgiving evokes a spirit of practical devotion.Making mention of you in our prayers (1Th. 1:2). The interest in his converts of the successful worker is keenly aroused; he is anxious the work should be permanent, and resorts to prayer as the effectual means. Prayer for others benefits the suppliant. When the Church prayed, not only was Peter liberated from prison, but the faith of the members was emboldened. Gratitude is ever a powerful incentive to prayer. It penetrates the soul with a conscious dependence on God, and prompts the cry for necessary help. There is no true prayer without thanksgiving.
III. Ministerial thanksgiving is rendered to the great Giver of all good.We give thanks to God (1Th. 1:2). God is the Author of true success. In vain we labour where His blessing is withheld. Paul was not equally successful in other places as in Thessalonica. In Damascus, where he first bore testimony for Christ, the governor under King Aretas planned his capture, and he but narrowly escaped. At Lystra the apostle was violently stoned and dragged out of the town as one dead. But at Thessalonica, notwithstanding opposition, the gospel laid firm hold of the hearts of men, and believers were multiplied. The highest kind of success in spiritual work must ever come from above. Like Paul, we should be careful constantly to acknowledge and thank God as the active source of all prosperity.
Lessons.
1. There is much in the work of the minister to test his patience and faith.
2. The true minister gratefully traces all success directly to God.
3. A thankful spirit prompts the minister to increased Christian enterprise.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Th. 1:2. Thanksgiving and Prayer.
I. The apostle had the burden of all the Churches and their individual members.
II. The effect of the remembrance on himself.
1. He gives thanks. They were the seals of his ministry, the recipients of the grace of God, the earnest of a more abundant harvest.
2. He prays.They had not fully attained. They were in danger. None trusts less to human means than the most richly qualified.Stewart.
1Th. 1:3. Grace and Good Works.
I. All inward graces ought to bloom into active goodness.
1. Faith is to work.
2. Love is to labour.
3. Hope is to endure.
II. All active goodness must be rooted in some inward grace.
1. The root of work is faith.
2. The spring of labour is in love.
3. We need to refresh ourselves by a perpetual onward glance, a confident anticipation of the coming triumph.Local Preachers Treasury.
1Th. 1:4. Election of God.
I. There is an eternal election.
II. Which comes out in the election made in time.
III. Let us rejoice in it, for apart from it none would be saved.Stewart.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Text (1Th. 1:2)
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Translation and Paraphrase
2.
We are giving thanks unto God always for all of you (Thessalonians), making mention (of you) in our prayers (for you are that dear unto us).
Notes (1Th. 1:2)
1.
Here in I Thessalonians, as in almost all his letters, Paul begins with a giving of thanks. Compare Rom. 1:8; 1Co. 1:4; etc. Even when he had to scold people in his epistles, Paul usually began with an expression of thanks. We ought to imitate this way of thinking and speaking when we deal with our brethren. We so often scold publicly, but seldom praise publicly. What other institution so greatly deserves public thanks as the church?
2.
Paul says, We give thanks, because Silas and Timothy joined with him in the greeting. But, of course, Paul was the main author of the epistle.
3.
Give thanks is in the present tense, which indicates continuous action. Therefore we have rendered it giving thanks in our translation. Paul considered giving thanks a privilege and duty that needed to be repeated often.
4.
The word mention (Gr, mneia) can also mean remembrance or memory, Like Paul, we should not forget our brethren when we go away from them, God hears our prayers for them at a distance, as well as near, Paul prayed for them, mentioning them by name before God.
5.
Paul often spoke about bearing people up in prayer, He was busy teaching and writing. But he devoted much time to prayer, praying for people by name. See Rom. 1:9; Php. 1:3-4; etc. This was essential for Paul, It is also essential for us. Paul even prayed for the Colossians and Laodiceans whom he had never seen face to face. Col. 2:1.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(2) We never set ourselves to prayer without remembering your faithful activity, loving laboriousness, cheerful and persevering endurance, and thanking God for it.
We.All three are regarded as the writers, and no doubt the sentiments of all are expressed, though the letter is St. Pauls own composition. In 1Th. 2:18 he corrects himself for using we where it was only true of himself. It may be noticed that St. Paul never speaks of himself alone in the plural in any of the other Epistles.
To God.None of the success is due either to the preachers or to the converts.
Always.Not as meaning without ceasing, but on every occasion that reminds us of you; the words in our prayers specify the nappy occasions. Christians like best to be remembered then.
For you all.There is not one of you that we know of for whom we cannot give thanks: the whole church is what it should be.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. We give thanks to God For whatever conditions man performs in order to salvation, yet the author of that salvation, the bringer of it within our reach, and the empowerer of our souls to accept it, is God. Upon these thanks depend the three co-ordinate participles, making mention, remembering, and knowing. Making mention shows that the thanks for them were done vocally and specifically, in trust that the distinct act of faith in their behalf would bring on them the divine answers.
Always That is, whenever our prayers are offered. Never were his Thessalonians forgotten when he bowed before God.
All Not that each was named; but his comprehensive prayer took in every soul of the church.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patient endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election.’
We have here a threefold pattern revealing the completeness of Paul’s concern for the Thessalonians. ‘Making mention — remembering — knowing’, resulting from and the result of his gratitude to God for their faithfulness. He mentions them in his prayers, he remembers them in his heart continually, he knows in his heart that they are truly Christ’s, truly God’s ‘elect’.
‘We give thanks to God always for you all.’ Note that he includes his fellow-workers in his declaration. They give thanks together as they pray together, and it goes on continually, ‘always’, and it excludes none, ‘for you all’. The giving of thanks is in Scripture an important part of prayer, possibly the most important. It expresses confidence in God’s working, and gratitude for it, puts the onus on Him and leaves Him to sort out the details. Paul constantly speaks of expressing gratitude to God (1Co 15:57; 2Co 2:14; 2Co 8:16 ; 2Co 9:15; Eph 1:16; Eph 5:4; Eph 5:20; Php 4:6; Col 1:3; Col 1:12; Col 2:7; Col 3:17; Col 4:2; 1Th 3:9; 1Th 5:18 ; 2Th 2:13; 1Ti 2:1). He lived and breathed such gratitude.
‘For you all.’ Paul had no favourites. He was concerned for, and grateful for, the wellbeing of every child of God.
Modern praying can so often tend to be selfish, concentrating on what we want, (consider your prayer list), but the Lord’s prayer concentrated on what God wants, the hallowing of His name by the bringing about of His purposes, the establishing of the Kingly Rule of God and the doing of His will on earth as in Heaven followed by the desire for the minimum necessary physical provision, daily forgiveness and deliverance from the machinations of the Evil One so that we may faithfully seek to achieve what we have prayed for. It lacks a thought of benefit for self and is full of desire for the fulfilment of God’s purposes. We need wider horizons.
‘Making mention of you in our prayers.’ His gratitude and praise to God was expressed in his prayers. His heart was full of thanksgiving. And he knew that so to give thanks for them was to bring blessing on them as they were remembered before God.
‘Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patient endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father.’ He gave thanks because he remembered continually what he had seen spring up in their lives. The genitive here probably indicates ‘which springs from’. They worked hard for God because they believed. They laboured hard for God because they loved Him. They patiently endured because of their future hope. And Paul remembered gladly how all three were revealed when he was among them.
What a contrast this was with the Ephesian church in Rev 2:2. They too had works, and labour, and patient endurance, but they had lost their first love. There is no mention there of faith, love and hope, except for the loss of their first love. We must ever ensure that our service does not take our eyes off Christ. When His listeners asked what they should do to ‘work the works of God’, doing God’s work along with Him, eager to please, Jesus replied that the first work of God was to enable them to believe on Him Whom God had sent. They wanted some wonderful means of being enabled to live God-pleasing lives. His reply was that God’s first work was for their hearts to be rightly directed on Him (Joh 6:28-29). Then they would work the works of God truly.
This trilogy of faith, love and hope occurs regularly. See 1Th 5:8; Rom 5:2-5 ; 1Co 13:13; Gal 5:5-6; Col 1:4-5; Heb 6:10-12; 1Pe 1:21-22. The early church recognised that they were the foundation of any Christian life. If one be missing that life will be severely impeded.
‘Your work of faith.’ True faith is not something that you do, it is a response which results from knowing God and Jesus Christ. As we see Him and know more of Him faith flows from our hearts, the natural response to His attraction and His truth. We cannot make ourselves believe. We respond because the Father draws us (Joh 6:44; Joh 12:32). Thus the faith that saves is not of our doing, it results from the work of God in our hearts as our eyes are opened to see Him (Act 26:18). We can read His word, we can consider Him, but we cannot make ourselves believe. The faith that saves, while possibly resulting directly from so seeking Him, is His work not ours as our eyes are opened and we respond to Him. Thus the ‘work of faith’ is not that of producing faith but that work which results from the arousal of faith. Because we believe, we do, and so our faith is proved genuine (Jas 2:14-20). It is a faith that works by love (Gal 5:6).
Jesus constantly told men to believe in Him, and so did Paul, but both did so in anticipation of the work of God in men’s hearts. For we cannot make ourselves truly believe in Christ. We cannot make ourselves truly believe anything. Such a worked up ‘faith’ would not last, and could only do us harm. Faith can only spring from recognition of truth (or what is conceived of as truth). It is a result, not a cause, although once faith has sprung up it then becomes the cause of our actions. Thus the Pharisees antagonistic to Jesus believed in God and in their own interpretation of the Jewish religion, but it was a faith that led them to demand the crucifixion of Christ, and to condemnation. As James tells us, ‘the devils also believe (in God) and tremble’ (Jas 2:1). They are aware of what He is and that what He is condemns them. But in neither case was it responsive faith.
It is not faith that saves, but the response of faith to the truth as it is revealed in the heart by God. Great faith, if it is in what is not true, can only finally lead to disaster. The truth about the state of a man’s heart is discovered by what he believes. The faith that saves is faith in Christ wrought in us by God. That is saving faith. (Although strictly speaking it is God Who saves, faith is only the channel). And it then results in service.
What then was their ‘work of faith’? That they turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for His Son from Heaven (verse 9). This was the result of their faith, not the cause of it.
‘Your labour of love.’ Having believed, the Thessalonians were then filled with love for Christ and responded by hard work in His service. The word for ‘labour’ means hard toil and the willingness to endure much hardship. True love for Christ is all demanding and expresses itself in service, both in witnessing and praying, and in doing good and revealing concern for those in need. It is not without significance that the provision of hospitals and schools for the poor in Europe in centuries past originally arose from the activities of men and women of God, and that many of the great nineteenth century reformers were evangelical Christians. Jesus’ parables constantly stressed that we are ‘servants’ who are to go about our physical duties in readiness for His coming.
The word for love is agape. It was not a word in common use, as far as we know, in classical Greek, and when used tended to contain the meaning of the highest and noblest form of love, spiritual or rational love for what is noble. But especially in its verbal form it was regularly used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) to express covenant love, love between God and His people on the basis of His covenant, resulting in similar love between the covenanters. It was not emotional so much as responsive in action for the good of the object of that love, having a genuine desire to be pleasing and for the wellbeing of the one loved.
Analysis of human emotion is always tricky, the subject is so intricate, but agape in this sense must be distinguished from romantic love, sexual love and human affection, although it did come to be used more generally for the latter and agapao and phileo are sometimes used indistinguishably. But the general Christian thought behind the word was of a higher love, as described above. It is used of God’s love, a general benevolence that then results in activity for the wellbeing of its object, and is willing to do so at great cost. It is not a love only of the deserving, but also of the undeserving who are chosen out without merit for that purpose.
‘And patient endurance of hope.’ Becoming a Christian produces ‘hope’ for the future. It is a certain hope because of the One in Whom that hope is placed. In the final analysis it is the assured hope of eventually being a totally transformed being in the presence of God, often expressed in terms of Christ’s second coming which will bring that about. Indeed the thought of Christ’s return to raise the dead and take the living into His presence, while judging and destroying all that is evil, is central to the idea of hope. And because we have that hope it affects the whole of our lives, and results in patient endurance (see Luk 21:19; Rom 5:3-4; 2Co 6:4-10; Col 1:11; 2Th 1:4; Heb 6:12). It is not the wistful hope of the dreamer, but the fortitude of the soldier who is confident of final victory. It enables us to ‘keep on going on’ whatever the circumstances.
Such patient endurance of hope is well illustrated in 2Co 4:14-18. ‘He Who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus — wherefore we faint not — for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us to a greater and greater extent an eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’
‘In our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father.’ This must be attached to all three expressions ‘faith — love — and hope’, for without it they are incomplete. It is ‘faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, love for our Lord Jesus Christ and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ’ that is the essence of the Christian message. The Christian’s faith, love and hope are set on a Person, the One Who is Lord, the One Who saves, the One Who is God’s enthroned King. And it is response to Him, and to Him alone that is the test of the genuineness of our faith. It is not love for a church or love for a creed that finally proves our faith, but response of heart towards the One proclaimed by that church or creed if they are true to their responsibilities. Without that both church and creed are irrelevant for the purpose of salvation.
‘Before our God and Father’. Paul does not hesitate to exalt Christ in the presence of God, and what is more to turn all our thoughts on Christ while in that Presence. The Jew would argue for faith in God as being supreme, and that to put faith, love and hope on any other in His presence would be blasphemy. It would be to sideline God. And Paul agrees. And yet in the presence of our God and Father he centralises attention on the Lord Jesus Christ. This can only be because to love Christ is to love God, to believe in Christ is to believe in God, to hope in Christ is to hope in God. In this is clearly expressed that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form (Col 2:9). It confirms His co-equality with the Father. When we love Christ, serve Christ, worship Christ, it is always in the presence of our God and Father, and is worship too of Him. The Fatherhood of God results in response to the Son Who reveals Him (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18; Joh 14:9).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Introduction: A Summary of Divine Election from the Perspective of the Office of the Holy Spirit – Paul begins his epistle with his typical words of thanksgiving to the believers. He thanks God for His work of divine election in their lives (1Th 1:2-4). Then in 1Th 1:5-10 Paul describes this election by reminding the believers at Thessalonica of how it has been manifested in their lives. He first describes their conversion (1Th 1:5), which we may call a “work of faith”. He also reminds them of their steadfastness in the Gospel (1Th 1:6-9), which we may call “labours of love.” He recalls their unshakable hope of Christ’s Second Return (1Th 1:10), which we can call “patience of hope.” Thus, Paul is describing their divine election, which is mentioned in 1Th 1:4. He describes this election from the perspective of the work of the Holy Spirit, who works miracles and manifesting the gifts of the Spirit in order to bring them to conversion in the truth of the Gospel (1Th 1:5). The Holy Spirit produces joy in the midst of persecutions (1Th 1:6-9). The Holy Spirit establishes them in the hope of Christ’s Return (1Th 1:10). In other words, this passage describes the physical manifestations of divine election that a person can see with their eyes and feel in their hearts and understand with their minds. This divine election is three-fold in nature, which Paul lists in 1Th 1:3 as “work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.” Now we can see how this passage Paul assures them of their conversion (1Th 1:5), which they saw in the form of signs and wonders, and of their sanctification (1Th 1:6-9), which they saw in the form of much joy in the midst of afflictions, and of the goal of their conversion, which is to be prepared and sanctified for the Second Coming of Christ, which is the fulfillment of their election (1Th 1:10), which they see manifested among one another as a steadfast hope.
1Th 1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
1Th 1:2
I know that my mother’s prayers are the reason why God has worked so wonderfully in my life. I realize that I have had a role to play in my willingness to yield to His calling in my life. However, it was her prayers that initiated this calling into the ministry. I believe that my mother’s prayers were often effective in moving God to do a further work of sanctification in my life. In this same way, God moved in the church of Thessalonica largely because of the prayers and intercessions of Paul and his co-workers as these young converts became established in the faith.
Paul will give thanks for two reasons. First, he is thankful for God’s work of electing them unto salvation and using Paul to bring them the Gospel message (1Th 1:4 to 1Th 2:12). Secondly, he gives thanks because of their willingness to respond to this election by receiving Paul and his message as being from God (1Th 2:13 to 1Th 3:13).
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1Th 1:3
The phrase “work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” describes the process of sanctification in the life of every believer as a person responds to divine election by putting his faith in Jesus Christ, laboring in love while awaiting the Second Coming of the Lord in hope: thus, faith, love, and hope. Note other uses of these three words in the same verse:
1Co 13:13, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
1Th 5:8, “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”
Faith, hope and love does, or produces, certain things for us. Faith establishes our heart and determines our actions:
Jas 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works .”
Love toils and serves, bringing our bodies into subjection to the will of God:
Mat 20:28, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Joh 15:18, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
Rom 16:1-4, “I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”
Hope causes us to endure, being the anchor of the soul:
Heb 6:19, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”
Heb 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
Heb 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
1. “your work of faith” (Sanctification of the spirit of a man) We may translate the phrase “work of faith” as “demonstration of faith,” or “response to the preaching of the Gospel.” For by our actions we demonstrate our faith in God, as we read in the epistle of James. For this reason, the two words “faith” and “works” are often associated together in the Scriptures. Note:
Joh 6:29, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”
Rom 2:13, “not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
Rom 10:9-10 – For salvation, one must believe (Faith) and confess (work). The word “work” is also translated, “manifestation, practical proof”
Gal 5:6, “Faith which worketh by love.”
2Th 1:11, “The work of faith with power.”
Jas 1:22 “be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only.”
Jas 2:17-18, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. show me Thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.”
True faith in God causes a person to conduct himself in a manner that demonstrates his faith in God. In other words, a man demonstrates his faith by his actions. The phrase “your work of faith” refers to the process of sanctification of the spirit of a man. Paul will place emphasis upon the spirit, or heart, in 1Th 1:4 to 1Th 3:13 as he reminds them of how they received the Gospel message from their hearts. He exhorts the brethren to be assured of their salvation and trust in God’s Word as the divine truth, and to remember that his companions were led of God, and that they were men of God. Paul will emphasis God’s role in their election in 1Th 1:4 to 1Th 2:12. Then, he will emphasis their role in responding to their election in 1Th 2:13 to 1Th 3:13. This is why Paul begins this passage on man’s role in 1Th 2:13 by saying “the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe”; for the Gospel has a powerful effect on those who believe. Thus, Paul describes this aspect of our sanctification as “work of faith.”
2. “labour of love” (Sanctification of a man’s body) Love is a noun of action in Greek grammar. This means that love is an action that someone does, not just an intangible feeling. The true love of God has labor, just as God-kind of faith has works. BDAG translates this phrase, “loving service” (see 2). I once read a company logo that said, “Work is love made manifest.” When we study the definition of love found in 1Co 13:4-7, we see that all of these are “labors of love.” It takes effort to make them happen. The greater the toil, the more the love.
1Co 13:4-7, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
Note this same phrase “labour of love” found in the epistle to the Hebrews.
Heb 6:10, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love , which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”
Illustration – In Joh 4:7 Jesus asked the Samaritan woman to give him a drink of water. Jesus had a physical need and she had a spiritual need. In order to meet her need, Jesus asked for a drink of water so that she might be able to give what little affection she had to God. In return, God could pour out His divine love into her life. Jesus was attempting to get her to reach out in love so that He could return that love and meet her need of salvation. It is the same principle that we find when Elijah asked the widow to bake him a little cake first. Note these insightful words from Frances J. Roberts:
“‘Give and ye shall receive’ is a spiritual law that holds true as much between thyself and God as between man and his fellowman. Even more so, for this is a higher plane of operation. Learn it on the highest plane, and it will become simple and automatic at the human level. Even as I said to the woman at the well (knowing her need of true satisfaction) ‘Give Me a drink’, so I say to you, Give Me a portion of the love ye have even though it be limited and natural, and I will give you My love in return. Love that is infinite. Love that is abounding. Love that will gush forth from thy life to refresh others. Give Me just a cupful of your limited affection. I long for it. I weep for it as I wept for the love of Jerusalem. I will pour out upon you such love as ye have never known. Love that will flood your whole being with such satisfaction as ye never dreamed possible to experience except in Heaven. Lo, I beg of thee, ‘Give Me a drink;. Or in the language of Elijah, ‘Bake me a little cake first’, and thou wilt never lack for meal and oil.” [65]
[65] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 45-6.
Illustration – In November 2002, the Chairman and directors of Lighthouse Television came to Kampala, Uganda on their annual visit to see the work that was being done by their Christian television station. I had worked long hours in preparing for and hosting them on this trip. Bob Nichols, the chairman, leaned over to me one night at a restaurant and said that he hoped that they were not putting me through too much work, since it was obvious I was putting in long hours. I opened my mouth that replied that my work was a labour of love and that it was fine. I was not thinking about this phrase as it came out of my mouth. This incident helped me to understand what Paul was referring to in this phase.
The phrase “labour of love” refers to the process of sanctifying man’s physical body. Paul will emphasis this aspect of sanctification in 1Th 4:1-12.
3. “patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Sanctification of a man’s mind) – Or, “hopeful patience in one day seeing Jesus return.” The word patience means “endurance, steadfastness, or perseverance.”
Rom 5:3-4, “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:”
Rom 8:25, “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
Rom 8:24, “we are saved by hope.”
Luk 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”
Heb 10:36, “ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (in hope right now)
Patience takes a man through in steadfastness until his hope becomes a reality; without patience, one would not endure to see his hope come true, and without hope, one grows weary and aimlessly loses any purpose for enduring.
Jas 5:7, “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” (This is hope of seeing Jesus one-day.)
The phrase “patience of hope” refers to the process of sanctifying our minds. Paul will emphasis this aspect of sanctification in 1Th 4:13 to 1Th 5:11.
1Th 1:3 “in the sight of God and our Father” Comments – God is taking special note of our works. God sees our works and will reward us accordingly. Heb 6:10 says, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love” The fact that we will be rewarded according to our works is a motivation for driving us on in the faith and service of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We may not get much worldly recognition now, but one day, yes, I say one day, we will be rewarded.
Illustration – A missionary couple returned to the United States after a lifetime at missionary work. The band was there at the port with a crowd. The band played and the crowd cheered as the passengers unloaded off of this ship. It finally became apparent whom they were cheering. A diplomat was a passenger on board the ship, and was receiving an honorable welcome home. Yet the missionary couple received no recognition. Later that day, in a quiet motel room, the missionary was praying to the Lord. He said that no one had cheered their coming back after such a life of ministry. The Lord said to him, “My son, you have not yet come home.” When we come home what a day that will be!
1Th 1:3 Comments – We find faith, love and hope expressed again in Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians:
2Th 2:13-14, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1Th 1:4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
1Th 1:4
1Th 1:4 Word Study on “election of God” Strong says the Greek word “election” ( ) (G1589) literally means, “called or spoken forth (or out), selection, chosen.”
Rom 9:11, “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ;)”
Rom 9:23, “And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory ,”
Rom 11:5, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace .”
2Pe 1:10, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”
Comments – In process of our divine election from the aspect of the office and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bring into full sanctification, as stated in 1Th 5:23, that the very God of peace sanctify us wholly; and this is done as our whole spirit and soul and body are preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the epistle of 1 Thessalonians is an exposition of our divine election, which is a process rather than a completed event; for our election is based upon our sanctification.
In 1Th 1:2 to 1Th 2:12 Paul will place emphasis upon God’s role in bringing the Thessalonians into their salvation and eternal hope of election; for God’s role was that He divinely elected us. Our role of receiving the Gospel message will be emphasized in the following passage of 1Th 2:13 to 1Th 3:13. Thus, divine election is not entirely dependent upon God’s divine plan, but it also involves our willingness to participate in that plan.
1Th 1:2-4 Comments – Prayer of Thanksgiving – Paul begins many of his epistles with a prayer, a feature typical of ancient Greco-Roman epistles as well, [66] with each prayer reflecting the respective themes of these epistles. For example, Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving to the church at Rome (Rom 1:8-12) reflects the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in redeeming mankind. Paul’s prayer of thanks for the Corinthians (1Co 1:4-8) reflects the theme of the sanctification of believers so that the gifts of the Spirit can operate through them as mature believers walking in love. Paul’s prayer to the Corinthians of blessing to God for comforting them in their tribulations (2Co 1:3-7) reflects the theme of higher level of sanctification so that believers will bear the sufferings of Christ and partake of His consolation. Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians (Eph 1:15-22) reflects the theme of the believer’s participation in God the Father’s great plan of redemption, as they come to the revelation this divine plan in their lives. Paul’s prayer to the Philippians (Php 1:3-11) reflects the theme of the believer’s role of participating with those whom God the Father has called to minister redemption for mankind. Paul’s prayer to the Colossians (Col 1:9-16) reflects the theme of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the life of every believer, as they walk worthy of Him in pleasing Him. Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving to the Thessalonians (1Th 1:2-4) reflects the theme of the role of the Holy Spirit in our complete sanctification, spirit, soul, and body. Paul’s second prayer of thanksgiving to the Thessalonians (2Th 1:3-4) reflects the theme of maturity in the believer’s sanctification.
[66] John Grassmick says many ancient Greek and Roman epistles open with a “health wish” and a prayer to their god in behalf of the recipient. See John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre,” in Interpreting the New Testament Text, eds. Darrell L. Bock and Buist M. Fanning (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 232.
1Th 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
1Th 1:5
Heb 2:3-4, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”
Paul is assuring them of the truth of the Gospel and of their salvation in 1Th 1:5. He reminds them how God bore witness with signs and wonders, which they saw with their eyes. God poured out His Spirit through the baptism of the Holy Ghost and gifts of utterance, which they heard with their ears. This resulted in assurance in their hearts of the truth of the Gospel, which they embraced.
We see in the book of Acts how the Gospel came in both in the preaching of the Word and in demonstration and power of the Holy Spirit. The words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ call its hearers to put their faith in Jesus Christ, but the power of the Gospel demonstrates and testifies to its authenticity by being accompanied with signs and wonders (Mar 16:20).
Mar 16:20, “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
As the epistle of Romans emphasizes the words and message of the Gospel, the epistle of 1 Thessalonians emphasizes the power of the Gospel to transform the lives of those who receive it through the office and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
“as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake” Comments – In a persuasive argument, listeners not only evaluate the message, but also the evidence. Paul first mentions the evidence of divine miracles that accompanied. He now refers to another persuasive element of argument, which is the character of the speaker. One of the problems in the healing revivals in the U.S. in the 1940’s and 1950’s was the poor character of some ministers of the Gospel whom God was using mightily in the area of signs and wonders. [67] A godly lifestyle does more to convince a local congregation to serve the Lord than the sermon itself. For example, Bryan Chapell explains that if he were to visit some of his previous pastorates, the people may not remember much of his sermons, but they would certainly remember his character. [68] Godly character leaves a deep impression upon a congregation.
[67] Don Clowers, “Sermon,” Calvary Cathedral International, Fort Worth, Texas.
[68] Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, second edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, c1994, 2005), 38.
1Th 1:6 “with joy of the Holy Ghost” Comments – Note these insightful words from Frances J. Roberts regarding the joy of the Lord:
“Ye must walk in the Spirit, and in so doing keep thyself from becoming entangled in the things of the flesh. Ye just live in obedience to the Spirit, and thus be kept from being in bondage to the desires of the flesh. Myself cannot keep you except ye first make this choice. It was concerning this matter that Jude write his word of admonition: And ye, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping yourselves in the love of God (Jud 1:20-21). By setting your soul through deliberate choice of your will to pursue the worship of God by praying in the Spirit, thou shalt find thy faith strengthened and thy life bathed in the love of God. With thy faith laying hold upon God’s promises and power, and thine actions motivated by the love of God, thou wilt find thyself in the path of the activity of God: His blessing shall be upon thee, and He will accomplish His works through thee. Thou needest make no plans nor resort to any clever strategy. Keep yourself in the love of God. Pray in the Spirit. Rejoice evermore. Set your affections upon Christ. God will do through you and for His glory such things as it pleases Him to do, and thou shalt rejoice with Him. For as thine own spirit is aware when His Spirit is grieved within thee, so shalt thou also be aware when His Spirit rejoices within thee. This is His joy. This is the joy He promised. This is the greatest joy that can come to the human heart, for it is the joy of God, and the joy of God transcends the joy of man . Surely thou shalt not only rejoice but be exceeding glad, with a gladness surpassing thy power to tell.” [69]
[69] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 83-4.
1Th 1:6 Comments – The reference to the faith of the believers in Thessalonica as described in 1Th 1:6 is found in Act 17:1-9.
1Th 1:8 Comments – In 1Th 1:8 Paul likened the testimony of the church at Thessalonica to a trumpet call or to the loud clap of thunder by saying that from them “sounded out” the word of the Lord.
1Th 1:9 Comments – The testimony of the Thessalonians faith was so loud that the news reached other churches before Paul had a chance to tell them; for these churches rehearsed their testimony to Paul.
1Th 1:10 Comments The phrase “from the wrath to come” can be interpreted two ways, either as God’s wrath being poured forth upon the earth during the Tribulation Period, or as God’s eternal judgment upon sinners in the lake of fire. Paul uses the Greek word three times in 1 Thessalonians (1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:16; 1Th 5:9).
1Th 2:16, “Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
1Th 5:9, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”
1Th 1:9-10 Comments The Second Coming in the Gospel of Jesus Christ – 1Th 1:9-10 reveals that the message of Christ’s Second Coming and of eternal judgment was such a part of the early preaching of the Gospel that converts were described as those who turned from idols to the living and true God and to wait for His Son from Heaven, which will deliver us from His eternal wrath.
1Th 1:9-10 Comments Faith, Hope and Love – 1Th 1:9-10 gives us a three-fold reference to their work of faith, labour of love and patience of hope, as Paul mentions in his opening greetings to them (1Th 1:3).
1. “how ye turned to God from idols” – their work of faith.
2. “to serve the living and true God” their labour of love.
3. “to wait for his Son from heaven” their patience of hope.
Paul will expound upon these three topics in this epistle:
1. Paul begins by commending their work of faith (1Th 1:5 to 1Th 3:10).
2. He then encourages them to continue their labour of love (1Th 3:11 to 1Th 4:12).
3. Paul then turns his emphases upon their patience of hope as they await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (1Th 4:13 to 1Th 5:11).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
1Th 1:2. From this verse to the end of the third chapter we have the chief business of this Epistle; which was to comfort, strengthen, and establish the Christians at Thessalonica, and to persuade them to persevere under all the discouragements which he, their Apostle, or they themselves, might meet with. In his entrance upon this design, he gives vent to what lay most upon his heart, thanking God for their genuine conversion from idolatry to Christianity, amid so many discouraging circumstances, and begging of God that they might persevere; in which he takes all occasions of speaking well of the Thessalonians, as indeed he does in the general through all this Epistle.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Th 1:2 . ] The plural, which Koppe, Pelt, Koch, Jowett, and others refer to Paul only, is most naturally to be understood of Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, on account of 1Th 1:1 compared with 1Th 2:18 , where the apostle, to obviate a mistaken conception of the plural, expressly distinguishes himself from his apostolic helpers.
] Thanks is rendered to God, because Paul in his piety recognises only His appointment as the first cause of the good which he has to celebrate.
] even if after (see critical note) is omitted, belongs to , not to ., as the expression: , instead of , is un-Pauline. It is not to be weakened (with Koppe) in the sense of , certainly also not (with Zanchius and Pelt) to be limited to the feelings of the apostle, that the took place “non actu sed affectu ” (comp. already Nicholas de Lyra: semper in habitu, etsi non semper in actu), but to be understood absolutely always ; certainly, according to the nature of the case, hyperbolically. Moreover, not without emphasis does Paul say: , in order emphatically to declare that his thanksgiving to God referred to all the members of the Thessalonian church without exception.
. ] These words are conjoined, and to be separated from the preceding by a comma. The clause is no limitation of : when , or as often as we make mention of you (Flatt, Baumgarten-Crusius, Bisping; on , see Meyer on Rom 1:10 ); but the statement of the manner of .: whilst we, etc. Only by the addition of this participial clause is the statement of his thanks and prayer for the Thessalonians completed.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
FIRST PART
Personal And Historical
1Th 1:2 to 1Th 3:13
___________
I
Paul shows the Thessalonians the genuineness of his preaching and of their faith
(1Th 1:2 to 1Th 2:16)
1Th 1:2-7
The Apostle thanks God for the gracious standing of the Thessalonians (1Th 1:2), which he describes in its human manifestation (1Th 1:3), as well as its Divine ground (1Th 1:4). The latter is their election, to he inferred from the fact, that the Gospel was, on the one hand, preached amongst them with power (1Th 1:5), and, on the other hand, was received by them with joy, so as to furnish an example to others (1Th 1:6-7)
2We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you15 in our prayers; 3remembering without ceasing16 your work of faith, and labor [toil, ] of love, and patience of hope in [of ]17 our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of [before, ] God and our Father [our God and Father, ]; 4knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God [brethren beloved of 5God, your election]18; for [because, ] our gospel came not unto you19 in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in [sin. omits this ] much assurance; as [even as, ] ye know what manner of men we were [proved were found]20 among you [for Bin. has simply ] for your sake; 6and ye became followers [imitators, ] of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; 7so that ye were [became, ] ensamples [a pattern]21 to all that believe [all the believers]22 in Macedonia and [in] Achaia.[23]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. (1Th 1:2.) We give thanks.With such a thanks giving for the faith of his readers, or rather an assurance that he is always giving thanks on that account, Paul begins all his Epistles to churches (and also 2 Timothy and Philemon), with the exception of that to the Galatians, where he sets out with a characteristic . What God has done and continues to do in sinners appears to him ever afresh great and worthy of praise, nor does he even allow himself to be disconcerted in his thanksgiving by the many faults and imperfections still adhering to the churches, while on the other hand by testifying his thankful joy in his readers, every one of whom is to understand that he himself is included therein (), he opens his way to their hearts. But pro gratulatione gratiarum actionem ponit, ut Dei beneficium esse admoneat, quicquid prdicat esse in ipsis laude dignum (Calvin).The plural, found here and 2 Thessalonians and Colossians, is not the literary We (Pelt, [Conybeare,] &c., contrary to 1 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, &c., but includes Silvanus and Timothy (comp. 1Th 2:18).24 As the three men preach and write together, so also they pray together. Excellently De Wette: In other cases the Epistles begin with such declarations of thankfulness only by way of preamble, and so that soon a special object of the Epistle is announced; but here the thanksgiving is connected with a good deal that the Apostle feels himself impelled to write to the young church respecting its condition, and his own relation to it; and this forms a principal part of the Epistle, if not its main substance. The Apostle gives thanks for the Christian standing of his readers, and to confirm them therein, and remove all doubt of its Divine reality, as well as of the purity of the motives with which he himself had led them into their position, is really, strictly speaking, his object in chh. 13.
2. Making mention of you.That . supplies the particular explanation, or modal definition, to .: whilst we make mention of you, is clear; and equally so that , 1Th 1:4, supplies a causal definition: Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians, because he knows their election. But it is a question, whether the intermediate participle is to be made parallel to the first or the third. The former view is adopted by most, and then at first sight a beautiful parallel results: answers to the ., the is extended in , and, , &c. returns in . But the parallelism is only too strong, and amounts to tautology; the first clause were of no account alongside of the second. We shall, therefore, do better (with Chrysostom, Calvin, Schott, Koch), by taking . as parallel to , and finding in 1Th 1:3 the first, and in 1Th 1:4 the second, ground assigned for the thanksgiving. In favor of this, also, is the analogy of Col 1:4 and 2Th 1:3. To thanksgiving for the Thessalonians the Apostle is impelled on the human side by his remembrance of their work of faith, &c.; on the divine side, by his reasonable conviction of their election.25
3. (1Th 1:2 [3].) Without ceasing. is by the Peschito, Vulgate, Luther, Bengel, Ewald, and many others [Benson, Burton, Bloomfield, Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, &c.J. L.], rightly construed with what precedes; and for this the analogy of 1Th 2:13; Rom 1:9; comp. 2Ti 1:3, is decisive. The word, moreover, is used by Paul in only one other place, 1Th 5:17, and thus always in connection with prayer. Nor does the word so arranged drag (Lnemann); rather it is distinguished, and thereby receives its special illustration. The Apostle would certify the Thessalonians with peculiar emphasis that they are constantly in his devotional remembrance. On the other hand, does not in this way become flat (De Wette), but is just as marked and forcible as the parallel at the head of the clause.26
4. (1Th 1:3.) For we are mindful [Remembering]. is not merely transitive= , to mention, bring to remembrance (De Wette, Lnemann, &c.27), but it also means, and indeed primarily, to be mindful (), as , =, . Thus everywhere in Pauls writings, and generally in the New Testament; whence arises a new proof in favor of our view of 1Th 1:3 (though, even taken intransitively, the word might be understood of remembrance in prayer).Paul remembers what he himself has seen at Thessalonica, and what Timothy has since reported to him (1Th 3:6). He goes on to speak in unusually strong terms of the excellencies of the Thessalonians, as in the second chapter he has to commend his own ministry. In this there is neither flattery nor egotism; nor is it simply even a fathers joy in the young church, that puts such words in his mouth. He is rather exhibiting evidences to the Thessalonians, that they had attained to a genuine faith, and that there is in them a true work of God (J. Mich. Hahn).
5. Your work in [of] faith. is to be connected with the following substantives, and that in such a way that its force extends over all the three main ideas.It is, then, of three things that Paul is mindful, and this threefoldness he defines according to the three fundamental elements of the Christian life, which he so often extols: faith, love, hope (comp. 1Th 5:8; 1Co 13:13; Col 1:4 sq.). But here these occur only in a subordinate, genitival way. And the genitives are all of the same sort: genitives of the origin (De Wette, Schott, and most);28 they mark the feeling that produces , , , showing itself practically therein. In German we should best employ compound substantives: Glaubenswerk, Liebesmhe, [faith-work, love-toil], were this kind of phrase possible in the last instance. Now in this way also may be explained the only one of these expressions that is difficult, and has been very variously understood: , with which comp. 2Th 1:11. Here , as parallel to , cannot denote a single work, but is something continuous, a totality, like our days-work, life-work. And so is already found also in classical Greek = business, occupation; it denotes every human activity, especially in so far as it displays a free energetic movement, or is connected with toil and effort (Passow). In the New Testament and with Paul the word stands repeatedly for a mans whole life-work, the sum of his , as it is sometimes said that God judges according to works, at other times according to every ones work (comp., for instance, Romans 1 [2] 6 with 1Pe 1:17; Rev 20:12 with Rev 22:12). is thus a course of action, with the accessory idea of vigor, strength, as proceeding from faith; the resolute, serious authentication of faith; practical earnestness in Christianity (comp. for the expression , Rom 2:15, in which only the genitival relation is somewhat different; whereas the material parallel cited by De Wette, and others, Gal 5:6 : , is in so far less apt, as it confounds the second particular, the , with the first). To the later Pauline usage, formed in connection with the doctrine of justification, our expression stands as yet in no direct, conscious relation; but in reality it forms a double antithesis to the , since faith and law stand mutually opposed (Rom 4:13 sqq.; Gal 3:23 sqq.), and so the singular to the anarthrous pluralthe undivided unity of the spiritually quickened life-work to the incoherent multiplicity of single, more or less external, works and performances. For the thought, such passages may be compared as Col 1:10; Eph 2:10, and especially Tit 3:8 ( ); Tit 2:14; Tit 2:7; Tit 1:16; 1Ti 2:10; 2Ti 2:21; 2Ti 3:17. As Paul has the expression in his two earliest Epistles, so his latest, the Pastoral Epistles, insist with peculiar earnestness on the evidencing of faith in good works. Herein moreover lie hints for the reconciliation of Paul with James. After what has been said, we can now readily estimate the divergent explanations. It is a mistake, were it only on account of the analogy with what follows, to take , nearly in the sense of Joh 6:29, as a genitive of apposition [Hofmann, Alford]: the work, that consists in faith; whether, indeed, we understand this, with Calvin and Calov, of faith as a mighty operation of God in man, or, with Clericus and Macknight, of the reception of the Gospel as mans work, so far as that involves, for example, the subduing of prejudices. It is also erroneous, because resting on an indistinct conception of the and of the genitival relation, and likewise as violating the analogy with what follows, and encroaching in the third member, to lay the chief stress, with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Pelt, Lnemann (though he rightly says that is emphatic), and others, on : faith, something begun with energy, and in spite of all temptations steadfastly retained. Rightly Anselm: quomodo fides vestra non est otiosa, sed semper bonum opus gignit; De Wette: moral activity, proceeding from faith; and similarly Bengel, Olshausen, &c.
[At 2Th 1:11 Dr. Riggenbach would modify the above explanation of by limiting the expression to the inward work of faith in the soul itself, and cites Rom 4:20-21 as a better parallel than Gal 5:6. An obvious objection to this is, that what Paul had observed of the faith of the Thessalonians, and what he now remembered of it, could only have been its outward manifestations in the life, not its internal operation in the heart. And just so in regard to their love and hope.J. L.]
6. Toil in [of] love.[Such as their own Jason had shown amid persecutions, in Acts 17. Jowett.J. L.]The first expression bears on the relation to God, the second on that to the Christian brethren (comp. Col 1:4), the third on that to the world and its persecutions. The governing substantives advance from the active to the passive: is vigorous doing, patient suffering, forms the transition: toil is a doing combined with suffering; strenuous, fatiguing, devoted labor. Patience is the last and highest; rightly to suffer is more and harder than rightly to work; even in the case of the Lord suffering was the last, decisive test, and became the means of His perfecting and glorification (comp. 1Pe 4:14). In these three, then, are shown and verified faith, love, hopethe root, stem, and crown of the new life. Faith lays hold of the grace exhibited in the facts of redemption, and is thus the foundation of Christian life, the reimplanting of man through Christ in God. Thence arises love as the echo and answer to the Divine love in the heart of man; it is the pure opposite of selfishness that principle of sinand so is the soul of the Christian life, and of the present Christian fellowshipthe fulfilling of the law. Hope knows that the future belongs to the Lord and His Church; it is the real expectation and sure prospect, that the pneumatic life, which now already, descending from the Lord, dwells in his members, shall outwardly also penetrate and transfigure all things, and subdue its still existing antagonists, the flesh and the world, by means of new revelations of the Lord. Thus, in these three subjective factors of the new life is reflected at the same time the historical character of the objective kingdom of God.With regard to the Thessalonians, therefore, Paul rejoices first of all in the vigor and earnestness of their life of faith, in that they have not yet become faint, and then in the fact that during this hard time, when their church is exposed to manifold vexations, they not merely in a general way hold together in mutual love, but also with laborious effort and sacrifice come to one anothers helpin beneficiis spiritualibus vel externis (Bengel). Comp. the examples, Act 17:5; Act 17:9; Rom 16:4; Rom 16:12; 1Jn 3:16.With this is connected finally
7. (1Th 1:3.) Patience in [of] hope. , properly the staying under (under the cross), patient, unwearied constancy in suffering; here in persecution (see Act 17:5 sqq.). This constancy proceeds from hope, because in view of the future glory one can the more cheerfully bear the present suffering (Rom 8:18; 2Co 4:17 sq.; Heb 11:26; Heb 12:2 sq.). Patience, therefore, appears as the inseparable companion of hope (Rom 8:25); likewise, in the reverse order, as producing it, for in the spiritual life there exists a reciprocal influence (Rom 5:3 sq.); or it even takes the place of hope beside faith and love (Tit 2:2; comp. 2Ti 3:10; 1Ti 6:11). refers not to all the three preceding virtues as derived from Christ (Olshausen, [Steiger, on 1Pe 1:2, Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson]), nor yet to (Bengel, after 2Th 3:5), but to as a genitive, not of apposition (Luther), but of the object. Christ is the proper object of hope (and as such is certainly Himself also called , Col 1:27; 1Ti 1:1), not only because on Him all our trust (this the more common meaning of ) rests, but especially because it is through His return and the revelation of the Kingdom of God therewith connected, that the Christians hope of glory is fulfilled (Tit 2:13). Let it be observed, how by the addition of this genitive the element of hope, so important in our Epistles, already appears here in a fuller and more emphatic way than the other two.29
8. Before our God and Father. belongs to both substantives.[30] The words , &c., may be joined either with the verb (De Wette, Olshausen, [Lnemann, Alford, Ellicott], &c.), or with the three substantives, , &c. (Chrysostom, Theodoret, cumenius [Bishop Hall, Jowett, Wordsworth]). Even in the first case . need not be understood of mention in prayer, but that Paul before God, that is, so often as he comes before God in prayer, remembers their work of faith, &c.; that is the ground of his thanksgiving; comp. 1Th 3:9, a parallel passage that favors this view. But opposed to it is the verbal arrangement, since , &c. would in this way drag; and the other connection, which no more than , 1Th 1:1, requires the article to be repeated (against Lnemann), might be preferable.[31] By this means the entire conduct of the Thessalonians is put in relation to God (comp. 1Th 3:13), as 1Th 1:4 will presently describe in turn Gods bearing towards them. Chrysostom [Wordsworth]: Since no man praised or rewarded what they did, therefore Paul adds these words, as if he would say: Be of good cheer, you suffer in the presence of God.
9. (1Th 1:4.) Knowing. is thus parallel with , 1Th 1:3; comp. the note on that word. Paul makes the two participles emphatic by placing them in the front. By the side of the remembrance of what actually lay before his eyes, he sets the knowledge, the firm assurance of something, of which one cannot be so easily certain, and in this way he intimates so much the more strongly, that on this point he is sure of his ground. To an afflicted person no higher comfort can be given, than when it is allowed to say to him: I know that thou art chosen.With this also agrees the address: brethren beloved of God (, perfect participle: embraced once for all by the Divine love): they are permitted to regard themselves as objects of the Divine love, of electing love; they are to know that their Christianity is not a human dream and vapor, but the evidence that the everlasting purpose of Gods own love is directed towards them. Comp. 2Th 2:13, where an address almost entirely similar stands also in connection with election; Col 3:12; Rom 11:28; Psa 60:7 [Psa 60:5]; Psa 108:1 [Psa 108:6],32 where the members of the chosen people are called LXX. . Thus the members of the Old and of the New Testament Church are spoken of both as Gods Chosen and as His beloved., , selection, the election of grace, is the acting of the Divine love, whereby God has from eternity freely devised in Christ the plan of salvation, according to which all men should be called in succession to the kingdom of heaven,33 and has likewise received into the same these ordained persons.34 answers to , e. g. Deu 7:6, and includes three things: –: the stem marks the freeness of the Divine choice; the middle, that God has chosen men for Himself, into, the fellowship of His love, for His own; , to select, out from the world, comp. Joh 15:15; Joh 16:19 [Joh 15:16; Joh 15:19]. In our place denotes, not, as Rom 9:11, the act of choosing, but, as 2Pe 1:10, the being chosen [Mller35]; Rom 11:1, the chosen. Paul constantly gives this title of elect to Christians, in whom through their calling and faith the purpose of redemption is realized; see 1Th 1:5-6.
10. (1Th 1:5.) Because. not=that (Luther, Bengel, Schott, &c.), but=because, for. It serves not to analyze , but to confirm . . The Apostle assigns two grounds of his knowledge of the election of the Thessalonians, both lying in the nature of the case, so far as from the realization of election an inference may be drawn backward to its existence: 1. the call had come to them in power (1Th 1:5); 2. they had received it in faith (1Th 1:6). The first takes place on the part of God through the apostolical preaching, the second on the part of men; and therefore to (1Th 1:5) the (1Th 1:6) is emphatically opposed.
11. Our gospel came [German: showed itself] unto you.Before Paul came to Macedonia and Thessalonica, as Rieger also and Olshausen remind us, he was forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in the provinces of Asia and Bithynia (Act 16:6-7); from which he could but infer that the hour of their election had not yet struck (it came later, Act 19:10). Instead of this, he was called by a vision to Macedonia (Act 16:9-10), and here, and therefore also in Thessalonica, he was able to preach with more than ordinary power and assurance in the Holy Ghost. By this he perceived that Gods saving purpose was directed to the Thessalonians. , or, which is the same in sense, , not: was with you (Luther), as if it were ` ,36 but: came to you, showed itself in its direction and relation to you. By the certainty of the fact is expressed in a sonorous word, which is therefore thrice repeated in 1Th 1:5-6, and precisely at the essential points. This we have attempted to represent in the translation by: showed itself.37
12. Not in word only, but, &c.Comp. as specially parallel 1Co 4:20; only that is wanting there, because the is in question, here the preaching of the Apostle is the objective Divine force, which shone forth from the Apostle in preaching, and wrought as a power on mens souls, spiritualis doctrinal energia (Calvin); , the subjective fulness of conviction, assurance, confidence, and joyfulness, with which he was able to speak; Ewald: gushing fulness. In the middle stands the common principle of both: the Holy Ghost, who animated the Apostle, and was, indeed, the Author alike of the former fact, the real power, and of this consciousness, the fulness of confidence. By means of , significantly placed in the centre, as it were the soul of both, . and . receive their precise specification; for with mere power and assurance can even a worldly orator speak.Power and spirit belong together (comp. 1Co 2:4; Rom 15:19; Act 1:8; Act 10:38; comp. Luk 1:35), and so spirit and life (Rom 8:12 [11]; Joh 6:63; 2Co 3:6; Rom 8:2; Rom 8:10.
13. Even as ye know what, &cWith this begin the appeals, so frequent in the sequel, especially 1Th 2:1-12 (1Th 2:1-2; 1Th 2:5; 1Th 2:9-11), to the personal knowledge of the Thessalonians respecting the Apostles behavior among them. These can only be explained by the fact, that some sought to misrepresent that behavior, and bring it under suspicion. , how behaved, in what power and fulness of the Spirit (Olshausen); carried out in detail, 1Th 2:1-12. So little does the Apostle divide his gospel, his preaching, his office, from his person, that for proof of the former he appeals, and can appeal, to the latter. He says not: how we preached, but: how we were. The whole man preached. Such a fine advance of the thought characterizes the style of the Apostle.By the put significantly at the close Paul hints thus early at what he afterwards also further unfolds, 1Th 2:1 sqq., that in his ministry he had sought not his own advantage, but only the salvation of the Thessalonians.
14. (1Th 1:6.) And ye became, &c.After 1Th 1:5 should be placed, not, as is commonly done, a period, but a comma, 1Th 1:6 being still dependent on of 1Th 1:5, as the emphatic is no doubt opposed to . of that verse;[38] see Exegetical Note 9 [10]. Thus 1Th 1:6, with which, 1Th 1:1 is connected, contains the second ground from which is inferred the election of the Thessalonians. namely, the reception on their part of the call. But, as Paul preached, not merely in a general way, but with power, &c., so they too received the word, not merely in a general way, but in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. Through these corroborating circumstances on both sides the conclusion in regard to the election becomes the more certain. And therefore is this corroboration emphasized in 1Th 1:6 by prefixing , &c.; for the tertium comparationis lies not in , which indeed were unsuitable, in particular, to the Lord, but in this, that in great affliction, with holy joy of the Spirit, they yielded themselves to God in faith, as Paul and the Lord had done in their preaching and official procedure. On , comp. 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1; Php 3:17; Eph 5:1; Gal 4:12, and the Doctrinal division.
15. Having received the word, &c.When through the preaching of the gospel a man experiences in his heart the truth and glory of salvation, this will the more vividly mount even to joy of the Holy Ghost, the more that outward affliction, that is, hostility and persecution for the gospels sake, seeks to dispute with him the possession of salvation. As a counterpoise to the worlds intimidation and vexation, the Holy Ghost works this inward joy at the opening prospect of an everlasting communion with God ( , genitive of the origin, like the genitives of 1Th 1:3). And now the question is, whether the man gives the victory to this joy or to that affliction, to the new power of the Spirit or to the old power of the flesh. If he does the first, the case comes to ..39 The on which comp. 1Th 2:13; Luk 8:13; Act 8:14; Act 11:1; Act 17:11; Jam 1:21 ( , imperative)expresses mans agency in the work of salvation, as this is likewise marked by . But this agency is not an independent efficiency (Pelagianism), nor any coperation (Synergism), but an acceptance, the affirmation of the Divine working on us and in us, a free receptivity.40 While a man thus gives admission to prevenient grace, asserting itself to him inwardly in the word of the Spirit (1Th 1:5), and acting upon his heart, he yet recognizes the new life as entirely the work of the Holy Spirit, because he himself has not effected, but merely received it.On the affliction of the Thessalonians, see Act 17:5 sqq. At Thessalonica, and generally in the primitive Church period, conversion was an act of personal courage and vigorous self denial, since a man had to be prepared to surrender comfort, honor, property, and life itself.
16. (1Th 1:7.) A pattern to all the believers answers to the of 1Th 1:6 : The true followers become themselves in turn patterns for others. This circumstance, moreover, that they had become a pattern for others, might be of vise to the Thessalonians for confirmation in their faith, and for their conviction of its reality; the Apostle, therefore, still further enlarges upon it in the following section (1Th 1:7-10), to which our verse forms the transition.Believers) is one of the most frequent designations of Christians in the New Testamentcomp. Act 2:44; Act 4:32along with , &c.
17. Macedonia and Achaia, whither the Apostle journeyed from Thessalonica. Achaia, originally the most northern territory of the Peloponnesus, was from the year 146 before Christ the name of the Roman province that embraced the Peloponnesus and Hellas, since by the overthrow of the Achan League the Romans had made themselves masters of Greece. The two provinces of Macedonia and Achaia together formed the entire Greek domain, and are therefore often named together (Act 18:12; Act 19:21; Rom 15:26. 2Co 9:2).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. (1Th 1:2.) The exordiums of the Pauline Epistles afford us noteworthy glimpses of the devotional life of the Apostle. So faithfully and constantly did he bear churches and individuals on his heart in intercession and thanksgiving, that he is able to speak of it to his readers in terms, which to the common sense appear hyperbolical. And it is true that the apostolic is by its very nature hyperbolical, inasmuch as the Apostles transcend the ordinary measure, and excel all others not only as preachers and founders of the Church, but also as men of prayer. When the Twelve at Jerusalem gave up the external services to the deacons, they said: But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Act 6:4). Prayer is to them the full half, and indeed the first half, of their office. And so Paul too begins his Epistles, in which he addresses the word to the churches, with a distinct reference to the fact, that he is constantly praying for them. By prayer we act upon God; by the word, on the world, on men. To every labor for the world must be added the blessing of God; the moral can prosper only on the religious ground. Hence for every man the golden, in its simplicity inconceivably wise and comprehensive, rule: Pray and labor. But for the laborer in the word, whereby the world is to be brought to God, and the Spirit of God is to enter mens souls, the rule has a double value. And indeed from the statements of the Apostle we observe that he had regular exercises of devotion; as a result of which, his Epistles manifest a continual devotional frame.
2. (1Th 1:3.) On faith, love, hope, see Exegetical Note 5.
3. (1Th 1:4.) Election is not to be so understood, as if God had appointed some men to salvation, to the exclusion of others. The latter are not rejected, but simply passed by for a time [?nur zurckgestellt]. Election has reference to an organic position in that kingdom of God, to which all men are appointed, and, in connection therewith, to a temporal entrance into the same (see Romans 9-11, and on that passage especially J. T. Beck, Versuch einer pneumatisch hermeneutischen Entwicklung des ix. Kapitels im Brief an die Rmer, Stuttgart, 1833). God chooses for Himself out of all, before others and for others. (Richter, Hausbibel, on Eph 1:4.) Quite as little is election to be so understood, as if in the elect grace wrought irresistibly, so that they could not fail to become and remain believers. Rather, when Gods hour for a man has struck, there goes forth to him through the Gospel the call (1Th 1:5), which he can receive or not (1Th 1:6;on the relation between grace and freedom, see the second Note on that verse); and, when he has received it, it is still for him a question of permanent interest, that he persevere and continue steadfast in grace (see 2Th 2:13-15 : . 2Pe 1:10): Scripture certainly knows only of a Divine causality in the matter of salvation; but neither does it conflict with this, that the conditions of obtaining salvation rest with man.41 (Stier, on Eph 1:4.) By means of the first view, that the election of grace is to be understood in an organic and historical sense, the difficulty in regard to the reprobi is solved; by means of the other, that freedom, or, more precisely, mans free receptivity is not annulled, but unbound, by grace and the election of grace, is solved the difficulty in regard to the electi. A prdestinatio sanctorum is spoken of, but without at the same time affirming also a reprobatio impiorum or a gratia irresistibilis. (Olshausen, on Eph 1:4.) Predestination is a decrelum absolutum, and to that extent remains ever a mystery, in so far as it rests on the free good pleasure of the Divine love and wisdom, which according to their sovereign decision, yet not otherwise in the kingdom of God than in secular history, assign to one a distinguished, to another an inglorious, position; but it is no decretum horrendum, because on the ground of what God gives men move with freedom, and so the claims of conscience and reason remain secure. Nay, only thus does predestination become, what it is to Paul, the Divine world idea, the plan, formed in Christ, of creation and redemption, which lies at the basis of the entire development of the world, and comprehends the successive elevation or reintroduction of the creatures into the glory of the Creator. But for believers the knowledge of election has a double significancea humbling one, made especially prominent in Romans 9; and one that lifts up, with which the Apostle has to do here, and at Eph 1:4; Rom 8:28-30. The first consideration is the consciousness, fatal to all self righteousness, that our salvation rests not on any. doings or performances of ours, but is founded wholly out of and above ourselves in the free, everlasting mercy of God. The second is the lofty and joyful assurance, wherein believers find comfort, that their salvation is therefore not of yesterday, but from eternity; that it rests not on weak, human props, but in the eternal purpose of grace of the Father in the Son, into the world pervading realization of which they know themselves to be taken up. The grace of God is all embracing; but it is precisely in consequence of the universality of the gracious disposition that despisers perish. Jul. Mller: Love could not be in earnest with itself, did it not deny its denial. [Mat 10:33; Luk 12:9.] To believers, on the other hand, it never occurs either to suppose that now indeed they can no longer miscarry, or even to claim superiority to other men, as if God had not loved the world. From all weakness and temptation we may ever again revert to the eternal foundation, that in Jesus Christ God has foreordainec us, that within the eternal contemplation of His Son is included our election, which now advances in manifestation and accomplishment, till we hear the gospel and are sealed by the Spirit. Only this is implied in the election of grace, as Paul explains it, that faith has reason to consider itself chosen; of those who do riot attain to this grace he speaks not at all. (Minutes of the Preachers Conference at Stuttgart, May 12, 1852, p. 309.)[Barnes: It is possible for a people (and for individuals) to know that they are chosen of God, and to give such evidence of it that others shall know it also.J. L.]
4. (1Th 1:5.) The call does not come through every sort of gospel-preaching, but through!, preaching filled with the Spirit, and an essential point in the matter is the personal endowment of the preachers. Comp. the Exegetical Notes 11 and 12.
5. (1Th 1:6-7.) Christianity proposes to men no new problems which they must first solve by themselves, and as it were in new paths; it is also in this respect not a law, but a gospel. The primary problem is solved, the way is prepared, and in this way there are forerunners, in whose footsteps we simply tread, God, Christ, and His witnesses. God was imitated by Christ (Joh 5:19 sq.), Christ by Paul and the Apostles (1Co 11:1), Paul by the Thessalonians and all who so walked (Php 3:17), and then again these imitators themselves became a pattern for others (see Exegetical Note 15). Nor is that a spiritless imitation, but a following (Luk 9:23 sqq., Luk 9:57 sqq.) in the power of the Spirit, who begets ever new, fresh life, though in historical continuity; since He is a Spirit of remembrance (Joh 14:26), yea, the ever present God Himself, authenticating His earlier creations by those subsequent, so that preceding spiritual men become models and instruments of training for the later, and that word: Learn of me (Mat 11:29), finds its fulfilment perpetually renewed. Thus the Church hangs through Christ on God, and from God there goes forth through Christ and His Apostles into the world an unbroken succession of bright forms, a cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1), who are images and representatives of God in the world, and, in connection with their predecessors, leave a personal impress of the heavenly, spiritual quality, according to the circumstances and needs of each several period. As we commence the missionary work amongst a heathen people, not by translating the Bible into their language, but by sending messengers to them(it is not without reason that occurs in the missionary charge, Mat 28:19)so, in general, to the word of the Spirit, even the preached, audible word, must still be added the visible stamp of the Spirit in living personalities, who show by act the power and glory of the gospel, and in whom can be seen, if the expression is allowed, the holy arts of the spiritual walkthe spiritual dietetics. On this rests the high importance of good biographies, and yet more of the living observation of Christian characters. What Christian owes not his best thanks to such life impressions? For, indeed, humanity is so organized, and this is its noble distinction, that what is deepest rests ever on the relation of person to person: the relation of father and child, of master and disciples, penetrates everywhere. Oetinger: It cannot be denied that an embodied visible gospel42 is necessary to the right use of the written rule, and of the hearing of preaching. The written standard must be made available through the help of the Spirit in the members. Hence the importance of Church History in its innermost sanctuary, so far as it is a history of the invisible Church, of men of God, of true saints. That is the most living tradition, the tradition of the Spirit and of power. In this sense also an essential importance belongs to the Church as well as to Holy Scripture. She is in a certain sense a continuation of the actual revelation of God alongside of the verbal revelation, wherein, it is true, the word of God reaches, as it always does, far beyond the fact, and the latter serves only as a step and means of guidance to the former (comp. Joh 2:11; Joh 2:22; Joh 5:36 sqq. and Joh 5:39 sqq.; Joh 14:10-11). And thus shall it be, till what we shall be appears; then fact and word become one.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1Th 1:2. Prayer, as in the apostolic Epistles, so generally, the beginning and foundation of the promulgation of the word. The preachers office a perseverance in prayer and in the ministry of the word; comp. Act 6:4.The Apostles daily communication with his churches by prayer.Zwingli: True love is careful for the brethren.A Christian preacher gives God glory and thanks for what through him has been wrought in souls; and just so the praise of other men becomes in the Christians mouth thanksgiving to God.Rieger: Oh, the lightening of the official burden, when the Lord still opens our eyes, and shows us for what we have to give thank?, and for what to pray!Theodoret: We should first give thanks for the good already bestowed upon us, and only then pray for what still is wanting. So do we find it everywhere with the Apostle.Diedrich: Happy the man, who is able to let all his joy pour itself forth in pure thanksgiving to the Father. Otherwise there is even no joy worth anything.Calvin: An important motive to zealous progress is the reflection, that God has granted to us noble gifts for the perfecting of the work begun; that under His guidance we have already made advances on the right road for reaching the end. For as an idle confidence in the virtues to which men foolishly lay claim puffs them up, and makes them secure and sluggish, so the recognition of Gods gifts humbles pious souls, and incites them to a solicitous zeal.
1Th 1:3. Calvin: A brief description of true Christianity: 1. That faith be earnest and vigorous; 2. that no pains be spared, so long as there are neighbors to be assisted, but that all the pious assiduously fulfil the obligations of love; 3. they should studiously endeavor, in the hope of Christs manifestation, to despise all things else, and by patience overcome both the irksomeness of the long interval (to the appearing of the Lord), and all the temptations of the world.Luther: Faith is a lively, active, practical, temperate thing, so that it cannot but do good works unremittingly. It does not even ask whether good works are to be done; but let a man rather ask whether he has done, and is ever doing, them. Without constraint, therefore, a man becomes willing and glad to do good to every one, to serve every one, to suffer in every way, from love to God and for His glory, who has shown him so great grace; so that it is impossible to separate works from faith, as impossible as for heat and light to be separated from fire.Bengel: He, who from regard to his own profit and ease withdraws from labor, loves little.Rieger: Love will have reality and truth, nor that in such measure only as is convenient for every man, bringing him honor and a good name, without too closely compromising his own life; but so that a man must descend withal from his own station, and the distinctions thereto belonging, and, instead of finding his pleasure in himself, place himself in the circumstances of another: that is what is meant by the labor of love. Under the patience of hope may be comprehended the entire career of our Lord Jesus Christ. For it is all summed up in this, that He condescended to what was most ignominious, and maintained Himself above what was most glorious; as now in our career of faith everything depends on the hope of the kingdom breaking its way through tribulation with the patience of Christ.
1Th 1:4. Election the highest comfort of the tempted.Zwingli: Paul therewith guards his commendation, lest they arrogate to themselves what belongs to God alone.Marks of election: 1. a powerful call; 2. a believing reception of the gospel as the word of God; comp. 1Th 2:13.An anointed preacher may thus comfort tempted believers, and one Christian another: I know that thou art chosen.Rieger: The Apostle speaks thus decidedly of their election, in consequence of the call and the evidence of their obedience to it. Nor is it even beyond our present measure to form such a judgment, in praise of the work of God in a soul, though formerly, to be sure, it may have been more perceptible. Our office otherwise loses its proper force [Seele, soul], when we never dare to discern between the righteous and the unrighteous, or to recognize as dead or alive what really is so.
1Th 1:3-4. [Scott: Faith which worketh not obedience; professed love that declines self denying labor; and hope which is separated from patient continuance in well doing, can never prove a mans election.J. L.]
1Th 1:5. The right preaching of the kingdom of God, like itself, stands not in words, but in power.Spiritual power dwells in the preaching, when the hearers feel that the preacher himself is a man of firm conviction, who stands in the joyful assurance of that which he preaches.Power on others and assurance (within) we cannot give to ourselves; it is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Even an Apostle cannot everywhere work with equal force. It behoves us, renouncing self, to yield ourselves to the Lord.The preachers doctrine and life must form one whole.John Mich. Hahn: A holy, Christian behavior makes impressions on elect souls. Wherever we go or sojourn, let us never forget that we too are closely watched and observed. Our aim must be to walk as elect, holy and beloved, not only before our Holy Father, but also before the dear ones whom our Lord has purchased for Himself.
1Th 1:6. The right disposition of preachers and hearers.Diedrich: Ye are in the heavenward march of the children of God, that is led by the God Man.Rieger: To hear and receive Gods word has been specified by the Saviour Himself as the decisive badge of those, who are of God and of the truth; especially when one is not deterred by the outside covering of shame and affliction.Roos: A gospel or good news should cause joy, and, if unable to cause any, it is no gospel. When amongst Jews, Heathens, or Christians, unbelief, idolatry, and all damnable ungodliness is reproved, this rebuke should be keen and of swift operation; but so likewise should joy over the simultaneously proffered grace swiftly rise, and cause the pain occasioned by the rebuke to be disregarded, when compared with the richness of the proffered grace, or with the happy condition into which a man now enters.[Jowett: The suffering that comes from without cannot depress the spirit of a man who is faithful in a good cause. It is only when from within are fears that the mind is enslaved.J. L.]
1Th 1:7. Rieger: Who becomes a follower of the Lord, without confiding also in brave predecessors and comrades, and becoming their follower? It amounts to a great perverseness, when any would break down confidence in those who by word and work, doctrine and life, are helpers of the truth, and would pretend in this to a zeal for the Lord, supposing that they are striving merely against a ruinous dependence on men. Whoever in his following casts off humility, fails likewise to attain the grace to become a pattern.Even believers need patterns of the genuineness and evidence of joy under affliction.[Webster and Wilkinson: It requires higher grace, and is a more important duty, to be an example to believers than to the world, 1Th 2:10.J. L.]
Footnotes:
[15]1Th 1:2. after is, indeed, wanting in A. B. [Sin.] &c., but by Tischendorf, who, with Lachmann, formerly cancelled it, it has been rightly resumed on preponderating evidence, external and internal. On account of the before [ it might easily drop out of the manuscripts.
[16]1Th 1:3.[For a different construction of , adopted by our Authors, see the Exegetical Notes.J. L.]
[17]1Th 1:3.[Comp. 1Th 5:8; Rom 5:2; Tit 1:2; Tit 3:7. And so here the older English versions, and very many others. See the Exegetical Notes, and the Revision.J. L.]
[18]1Th 1:4.[This construction of , (Sin: ) , is that of the oldest versions (Syriac and Vulgate), and may be said to be now universally adopted. King James Revisers erred here in quitting Tyndale and Cranmer to follow Geneva and the Bishops Bible. Comp. 2Th 2:3; Rom 1:7 : Sept. Deu 33:12; Sir 45:1; Sir 46:13.The reason for the change of the punctuation at the close of 1Th 1:4-5 will be found in the exegesis.J. L.]
[19]1Th 1:5. , Griesbach, Lachmann, Lnemann: . [Sin. inserts after .J. L.]
[20]1Th 1:5.[. Comp. 2Co 7:14. Here Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva: behaved ourselves; Auberlen: urs erwiesen (and similarly in the other two instances in 1Th 1:5-6); and many other versions to the same effect. In the New Testament the first aorist passive forms of (see Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck, pp. 1089) occur 36 times, and, while in 14 instances our English version treats them as simply equivalent to a past tense of , it is not difficult to detect a different shade of meaning in every one of them. See the Revision on this verse, Notes s. and W. In the present context Alford lays (Ellicott thinks an undue) stress on the passive forms as suggestive of Divine efficiency;* and so Wordsworth: were made by Gods grace.J. L.]
[21]1Th 1:7. Recepta, defended by: . [The singular is edited by Knapp, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicottthe last named, however, admitting that the plural form is supported by better external authorityA. C. F. G. K. L.; to which must now be added Sin.For the translation, comp. Tit 2:7 and Heb 8:5.J. L.].
[22]1Th 1:7.[ ;. not having here a pure participial force, but, as often in the N. T. coalescing with the article to form a substantive. Ellicott.J. L.]
[23]1Th 1:7.[ Most critical editions repeat the before , with nearly all the uncial manuscripts, including Sin.Here, and in 1Th 1:8, is in Sin. .J. L.]
[24][So commentators generally in this instance. Wordsworths remark, however, is worthy of note, that the we of these earliest Epistles is in those of later date exchanged for the first person singular I. Jowett also refers it exclusively to Paul.J. L.]
[25][Ellicott, who takes the other view of , as being parallel to the preceding , would distinguish the three participial clauses thus: The first serves principally to define the manner, the second the time and circumstances, the third the reasons and motives of the action.J. L.]
[26][All this fails to satisfy me that the construction of our English version should not be retained. The whole sentence is thus better balanced. Paul having assured the Thessalonians that he was always thanking God for them, it was much less important to add immediately that he made continual mention of them in his prayers, than that the continual remembrance of their Christian character and its fruits was the reason why his reference to them in his prayers always took the form of thanksgiving to God. The other texts cited cannot control a sentence of different structure. Ellicott also adheres to this arrangement as far more natural, and refers in its behalf to Chrysostom and the other Greek commentators.J. L.]
[27][This meaning, which Beza here introduced (commemorantes), and which Alford has lately adopted: making mention of (though in his New Testament for English Readers, published in the same year as the last edition of the Greek Testament1865he follows the Common Version, remembering), is borne by the word, out of 21 instances of its occurrence in the New Testament, only at Heb 11:22, and there the construction is different.J. L.]
[28][Ellicott is inclined to make them simply possessive genitives, and , , the prevailing features and characteristics of , , ,, respectively. But the two ideas are in this case essentially oneat least inseparable in fact;the former belonging to the latter at modes of self-manifestation.J. L.]
[29][The above definition of the hope, as having immediate reference to Christs second coming (comp. 1Th 1:10), is given by very many of the best interpreters, from Ambrosiaster to Alford and Ellicott.J. L.]
[30][So the Dutch version, Conybeare, Peile, Jowett, &c. The other construction, however, is in this case grammatically allowable. Ellicott rather prefers it; see his note on Gal 1:4.J. L.]
[31][Dr. Riggenbachs Preface indicates a preference for the connection with .J. L.]
[32][The German Bible, like the Hebrew, includes the titles of the Psalms among the numbered verses.J. L.]
[33][I do not know where Scripture teaches that this is a part of the plan of salvation, or where is employed to express any such idea; nor is it easy to see how it could be, except, indeed, as the human race might be spoken of as thus distinguished from the angels that sinnedJ. L.]
[34][What persons? All men in succession? or the Church members referred to in the previous sentence? In either case reception and election represent totally different ideas.The whole definition is lacking in accuracy and precision. Nor do these qualities by any means characterize all that is added on this topic under the Doctrinal head. This is not the place for the discussion of theological systems, But I may be allowed simply to refer to what is said on this point in my Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 55 sqq. and p. 542 sq.J. L.]
[35][Dr. W. Mller. He edited the 3d edition of De Wettes Exeg. Handbuch on the Epistles to the Galatians and Thessalonians, 1864.J. L.]
[36][Ellicott would allow this sense to , and refers to 1Co 16:10.J. L.]
[37][See Critical Note 6.J. L.]
[38][The Authors German version repeats the : and because ye became, &c. But it is better, with Ellicott, to regard the connection of 1Th 1:6 with that particle as rather logical than structural, and so to place neither a period (Tischendorf, Alford), nor a comma (Lachmann, Buttmann), but a colon, after 1Th 1:5. In the Translation, indeed, Ellicott, perhaps through oversight, retains the period.J. L.]
[39][The joy of the Holy Ghost is rather the accompaniment and the fruit of faith, than, as here represented, the preparation for it.J. L.]
[40][On as compared with , see Exegetical Notes on 1Th 2:13.J. L.]
[41][Only let it be added, that the Divine causality extends also to the human conditions, though in such a way, however to us incomprehensible, as does not at all impair, out rather strengthens, mans free moral agency. See Act 13:48; Act 16:14; Eph 2:8; 2Ti 2:25; Luk 22:32; 1Pe 1:5; Jude 24; &cJ. L.]
[42][German: ein visibles und sichtbares Evangelium.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2191
TRUE PIETY DESCRIBED
1Th 1:2-4. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
THIS epistle, though not placed first in the sacred canon, is generally supposed to have been the first in point of time: and in point of tenderness and affection, it is certainly inferior to none. The Church at Thessalonica was subjected to heavy trials. In their first reception of the word, they sustained grievous opposition [Note: ver. 6.]; and, in their subsequent profession of it, they endured a great fight of afflictions, being no less cruelly persecuted by their own countrymen than the Apostles were by the Jews [Note: 1Th 2:14.]. From them St. Paul had been driven by the fury of his bloodthirsty enemies [Note: Act 17:5-10.], who had followed him even to Bera with the most relentless animosity [Note: Act 17:13-14.]. No wonder therefore that he felt extremely anxious for his new converts, under a situation of such peril. Gladly would he have returned to them again and again: but his watchful and malicious adversaries would not suffer it [Note: 1Th 2:18.]. Hence his anxiety for them became exteme; so that he could no longer endure the suspense he was in concerning them. The presence of Timothy with him at Athens was of great importance: yet on the whole he thought it better to be left at Athens alone, that, by sending Timothy to them, he might gain certain information of their state, and promote their establishment in the faith [Note: 1Th 3:1-2; 1Th 3:5.]. After Timothys return to him, he wrote them this epistle. It is an epistle admirably calculated to impress the minds of all who read it, whether ministers or people, and to shew them what ardent affection should subsist between all who stand in that relation towards each other. In the commencement of it we see how ready he was to acknowledge and commend what was good in them: and herein he particularly instructs us how to minister with effect. Though doubtless it is the duty of every minister to reprove and correct what he sees amiss in his people, his chief delight should be to comfort the feeble-minded, to support the weak, and to build up all in their most holy faith. The object he should continually aim at should be, to be a helper of their joy.
In discoursing on the words which we have just read, we shall consider,
I.
The graces which he had seen in them
The great leading graces of Christianity are, faith, hope, and charity. On these all other graces essentially depend; so that where these are, there will all others most assuredly be found. But of all these graces there are counterfeits: there is a faith that is dead: there is a love, which is little else than dissimulation: and there is a hope of the hypocrite that perisheth. Such however were not the graces which had been exercised among them: in them he had seen,
1.
An active faith
[True faith is active: it brings to the Christians view the Lord Jesus Christ, as having in him a fulness of all imaginable blessings treasured up for the use of the Church; just as the vine has in its root and trunk that sap, of which all the branches partake, and by which they are nourished [Note: Col 1:19. Eph 1:22-23. Joh 15:5.] Faith, moreover, brings him to Christ for daily supplies of those blessings which his various necessities require [Note: Joh 1:16.] And having received communications of grace according to his necessities, he is stirred up by it to improve them to the glory of his Redeemers name In a word, whatever the Christian has to do for God, he does it through the operation of this principle; by which, and by which alone, he overcomes the world [Note: 1Jn 5:4.], and purifies his heart [Note: Act 15:9.]. This faith he had seen in his Thessalonian converts: yea, so eminently had it shone forth in them, that they were celebrated for it in almost every Church throughout all the Roman empire, and were held forth as patterns and ensamples of it to all the Christian world [Note: ver. 7, 8.]!]
2.
A laborious love
[Love is that fruit by which, above all, the truth and reality of faith will be discerned [Note: Gal 5:6.]. It is by this, above all, that we can assure ourselves [Note: 1Jn 3:14.], or be known to others [Note: Joh 13:35.], as faithful followers of Christ. If we have it not, all else that we can have is of no value [Note: 1Co 13:1-3.]. But love is a laborious grace: it is always seeking for something which it may do, either for God or man. It cannot endure to be idle. Whether it can do little or much, it delights to be doing what it can [Note: Mar 14:8.]. Nor is it diverted from its pursuit by slight obstacles: no; like the water obstructed by the dam, it will overcome them; and will evince its strength and ardour, in proportion to the difficulties that impede its exercise. Love is a self-denying grace: and where it exists in due measure, it will prompt a man not only to sacrifice ease and interest, but even to lay down his life itself for the brethren [Note: 1Jn 3:16.]. This grace was so conspicuous in the Thessalonian converts, that St. Paul judged it quite unnecessary to write to them on the subject: they were so taught by God himself respecting all its duties and offices, that he could add nothing to them, but only exhort them to abound more and more in the conduct which they had already pursued [Note: 1Th 4:9-10.].]
3.
A patient hope
[Hope is the offspring of faith and love, or at least of that faith which worketh by love. It is here called hope in our Lord Jesus Christ; because in him all the promises of God are yea, and amen. It is a patient grace, leading us to expect all that God has promised, however long we may have to wait for it [Note: Rom 8:25.]; and to fulfil all that God has required, to the utmost possible extent [Note: 1Jn 3:3.]; and to suffer all that God has ordained us to suffer, in hope of a final recompence [Note: Heb 10:34.]; and, finally, to continue in a constant course of well-doing, even to the end [Note: Rom 2:7.]. Such was the hope which the Thessalonians had maintained; and in which they had greatly rejoiced, even in the midst of all their afflictions [Note: ver. 6.].]
From considering the graces of these eminent Christians, we proceed to notice,
II.
The effects produced by them in his own mind
They excited in the Apostles breast,
1.
A lively interest in their welfare
[A person less connected with them than he, could not but have admired such excellencies: but he was their father: he had begotten them in the Gospel [Note: 1Th 2:13.]: and therefore he might well boast of them, as his glory, and joy [Note: 1Th 2:20.]. Accordingly we find that, whenever he came into the presence of his God and Father [Note: We connect the close of ver. 3. with the word remembering.], he both gave thanks for them, and prayed for their still greater advancement in every thing that was good. Most exalted was the joy which he felt on their account [Note: 1Th 3:9.]. When he saw the transcendent eminence of their attainments, he quite forgot all his own afflictions [Note: 1Th 3:6-7.]: the sight inspired new life and vigour into him [Note: 1Th 3:8.]: and he felt in himself a recompence, which richly repaid all that he had done and suffered for their sake.
This shews what are the views and feelings of every faithful minister, when he sees his people adorning by their conduct the Gospel of Christ. Verily, as St. John says, they have no greater joy than to see their children walk in truth [Note: 3 John, ver. 4.]. This comforts them in all their approaches to the throne of grace: this fills them with praises and thanksgivings to God. That so great an honour should be conferred on themselvesthat such advantages should be imparted to their perishing fellow-creaturesand that such glory should be brought to God by their meansis to them a subject of almost stupifying amazement, and of overwhelming gratitude. And whilst they render thanks to God for these things, they pour out their hearts before him in prayers and supplications in their behalf. In a word, these things form a bond of union between a minister and his people, such as exists not in the whole world besides.]
2.
An assured confidence in their state
[When he beheld these fruits produced by his converts, he had no doubt of their election of God: the graces they exercised were manifestly wrought in them by the power of God, who had wrought thus upon them in consequence of his own purpose which from all eternity he had purposed in himself [Note: Eph 3:11. 2Ti 1:9.].
The same blessed assurance we also may entertain, wherever the same ground for it exists. Assurance, so founded, can never be productive of any bad effect. It is only when persons pretend to be assured of their election on other grounds, that any evil can arise from it. If, for instance, a person founded such a conceit on a dream, or vision, or strong impression on his own mind, then we would be among the first to bear testimony against him, as a wild enthusiast, and a self-deluding impostor. Against such a delusion we readily acknowledge that no terms of reprobation are too severe. But when such fruits as those which the Thessalonian converts produced are visible in any, then may we indulge the pleasing thought respecting them, as they also may respecting themselves, that God loved them with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving-kindness hath he drawn them [Note: Jer 31:3.]. Only we may observe, that this assurance is no farther justifiable than it is warranted by the graces which exist in the soul: with the increase of those graces it may justly rise; and with the diminution of them it must proportionably fall. Any other assurance than this is unscriptural and vain: but this not only may be entertained, but is the privilege and comfort of all who believe in Christ.]
Happy should we be to improve this subject in such a way only as corresponds with the general tenour of the Apostles address: but,
1.
Must we not rather take up a lamentation over you?
[Of how small a part of our audience can we speak in the terms here used towards the Thessalonian converts! For, where are the works of faith, the labours of love, the patience of hope, of the generality amongst you? Where are those fruits which would warrant your minister to say, that he knew from them your election of God? What is the faith of the generality, but a dead faith? what their love, but an empty name? what their hope, but presumption? We would not willingly speak thus, God knoweth! We would be glad to be found false accusers in this matter. Greatly should we rejoice to be convinced of our error, and to revoke every intimation we have here given. But, whilst the fruit produced by you is no other than what the world at large produce, we can address you in no other terms than those of grief and sorrow. If the fruit be bad, the tree must be bad also. O brethren! examine well the daily operation and effect of your faith and love and hope; and then ask, whether St. Paul would have exulted over you, as he did over the Thessalonian converts? and, if your own consciences testify that he would have found no such cause for joy in you, then learn to relax your confidence of your state before God, and seek to be made Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.]
2.
Suffer ye then yet farther a word of exhortation
[To those who really possess and manifest the graces before described, we would say, Be thankful to God for his electing love; and give him all the glory of whatever good there is in you. Press onward too, forgetting what is behind, and reaching forward to what is before: and never think that you have already attained, whilst and thing remains to be attained.
But to those in whom there is little or no evidence of such a work of grace we would say, For Christs sake deceive not your own souls. This which you have seen in the Thessalonians is Christianity: and this is the state to which the Gospel is designed to bring you also: this too is the object of all our ministrations: and, if these graces be not wrought in your hearts, we consider ourselves as labouring in vain, and running in vain. Whilst we see not this effect of our ministrations, how can we give thanks for you? or how, with any comfort, can we make mention of you in our prayers? Instead of rejoicing over you, we can only mourn and weep on your account [Note: Jer 9:1; Jer 13:17.]: and, instead of having the delightful thought of presenting you to God as the children which God has given us [Note: ver. 19. with Isa 8:18.], we have the terrible apprehension that we shall prove swift witnesses against you to your eternal condemnation [Note: Mal 3:5.]. We pray you, brethren, lay to heart these affecting considerations; and begin without delay to seek that entire change both of heart and life, which invariably characterizes the elect of God, and which alone can warrant any hope of happiness in the eternal world.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Ver. 2. We give thanks to God ] Thus he beginneth most of his Epistles with thanksgiving; this being held to be the first that ever he wrote to any of the Churches, the beginning of his strength, as Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), and the excellency of dignity, Gen 49:3 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 10 .] Jowett remarks, that few passages are more characteristic of the style of St. Paul than this one: both as being the overflowing of his love in thankfulness for his converts, about whom he can never say too much: and as to the very form and structure of the sentences, which seem to grow under his hand, gaining force in each successive clause by the repetition and expansion of the preceding. See this exemplified in detail in his note.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2 .] , coming so immediately after the mention of Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, can hardly be here understood of the Apostle alone, as Pelt, Conyb. and Hows., Jowett, al. For undoubted as it is that he often, e.g. ch. 1Th 3:1-2 , where see note, uses the plural of himself alone, yet it is as undoubted that he uses it also of himself and his fellow-labourers e.g., 2Co 1:18-19 . And so De W., Lnemann, al., take it here.
] We have the same alliteration Eph 5:20 . These words belong to ., not to . On these latter words see Rom 1:9 f.
seems by the nearly parallel place, Rom 1:9 , to belong to . ., not to , as Ln., Pelt, al. Such a formula would naturally repeat itself, as far as specifications of this kind are concerned. Still it must be borne in mind, that the order there is slightly different.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2 3:13 .] FIRST PORTION OF THE EPISTLE, in which he pours out his heart to the Thessalonians respecting all the circumstances of their reception of and adhesion to the faith .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Th 1:2-10 . Thanksgiving for the origin and achievements of the church .
1Th 1:2 . Whenever Paul was at his prayers, he remembered his friends at Thessalonica; and whenever he recalled them his first feeling was one of gratitude to God (see 1Th 3:9 ) for the Christian record which, as individuals and as a church ( ) they displayed of active faith (1Th 1:4-10 , 1Th 2:13-16 ), industrious love (1Th 4:9 f.), and tenacious hope (1Th 5:1-11 ). And not Paul alone. The plural implies that all three missionaries prayed together. . The greeting is followed, as in ordinary letters of the period, by a word of gratitude and good wishes. . is common in votive inscriptions, in connection with thanksgiving to a god. But while Paul, in dictating his letter, starts with a conventional epistolary form, the phrase immediately expands loosely into ( . as frequently in ethnic phraseology).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Th 1:2-10
2We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; 5for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. 9For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
1Th 1:2 “We” This refers to Paul, Silas and Timothy (the believing Jewish mission team). Paul used this plural pronoun more often in 1 Thessalonians than in any other letter. It is uncertain how this affected the process of writing the book. Paul often used scribes. Exactly how much freedom these scribes had is unknown.
“give thanks to God” This is a present active indicative indicating continuous action. A spirit of thanksgiving characterizes the entire letter (cf. 1Th 2:13; 1Th 3:9). Paul had a wonderful relationship with this church as he did with the church at Philippi. Paul’s opening prayers are not only culturally expected in Greek style, but often seem to outline his theological topics.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THANKSGIVING
“making mention of you” This is a present middle participle indicating a purposeful decision by Paul to continue to pray. The syntactical structure of Paul’s prayer can be seen in the three dependent clauses: (1) making mention (1Th 1:2); (2) constantly bearing in mind (1Th 1:3); and (3) knowing (1Th 1:4).
SPECIAL TOPIC: INTERCESSORY PRAYER
1Th 1:3 “constantly bearing in mind” This is a present active participle. This shows Paul’s intense, abiding concern for these believers. He thought of and thanked God often for these converts, as he did for all the churches (cf. Rom 1:9; Eph 1:16; Php 1:3-4; Col 1:9; 2Ti 1:3; Philemon v.4).
NASB, NRSV”your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope”
NKJV”your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope”
TEV”how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm”
NJB”your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope”
Each of these three phrases is in a grammatical construction that asserts that the work is produced by faith, the labor is produced by love, and the steadfastness is produced by hope. The focus is on active, faithful believers. Faith is always a response to God’s initiating activity.
These characteristics form the basis of Paul’s thanksgiving to God. In Eph 2:8-10, grace and faith are related to good works. These three terms (faith, hope, and love) are often linked in the NT (cf. Rom 5:2-5; 1Co 13:13; Gal 5:5-6; Col 1:4-5; 1Th 5:8; Heb 6:10-12; Heb 10:22-24; 1Pe 1:21-22). The order often differs. “Faith,” in this context, does not refer to doctrine (cf. Jud 1:3; Jud 1:20), but to personal trust (cf. 1Th 1:8). See Special Topic at Gal 3:6.
“labor” “Labor” is a very intense wordChristianity is active not passive (cf. 1Co 15:58).
“steadfastness” This is not a passive concept either, but an active, voluntary, steadfast endurance in the face of trials (cf. Luk 21:19; Rom 5:3-4). It meant to see a need and then voluntarily help carry the load as long as needed (cf. 2Th 1:4).
“hope. . .in the presence of our God” This refers to the parousia or Second Coming, a major theme of this letter (cf. 1Th 1:10; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:13 to 1Th 5:11; 1 Thess. 5:32; 2Th 1:7; 2Th 1:10). Notice that each chapter ends discussing this very subject. “Hope” does not have the connotation of a doubtful “maybe” or “could be” as in English, but rather the expectation of an event with an ambiguous time element. See Special Topic: Hope at Gal 5:5.
1Th 1:4 “knowing” This is the third of three participles which relate to Paul’s prayer in 1Th 1:2.
“beloved by God” Literally “divinely loved ones.” This perfect passive participle phrase is theologically linked to their election (cf. Eph 1:4-5). It emphasizes believers continuing status as “loved ones.” The agent of love is God. The adjective “beloved” (agaptos) is usually used of the Fathers’s love for Jesus (cf. Mat 3:17; Mat 12:18; Mat 17:5; Eph 1:6). It comes to be used for those who trust Him by faith and are now also the beloved by the Father (cf. Rom 1:7; Col 3:12; 2Th 2:13).
NASB”His choice of you”
NKJV”your election by God”
NRSV”that he has chosen you”
TEV”God. . .has chosen you”
NJB”that you have been chosen”
While no verb appears (just the noun phrase “the choice of you”), the agent of the action is God in Christ, which is expressed by the passive voice in the previous verb and with God specifically mentioned. This is asserting the theological necessity of God’s initiating love and choice (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65). Paul knew they were chosen because they responded to the gospel! God’s choice was confirmed by His powerful actions expressed in 1Th 1:5. Election is a call to holiness (cf. Eph 1:4) and service (cf. Col 3:12-14; 2Pe 1:2-11).
SPECIAL TOPIC: ELECTION/PREDESTINATION AND THE NEED FOR A THEOLOGICAL BALANCE
1Th 1:5
NASB, NKJV”did not come to you in word only”
NRSV”came to you not in word only”
TEV”not with words only”
NJB”it came to you not only as words”
More than just an abstract idea, the gospel changed their lives (cf. Rom 1:16; Jas 2:14-26). This must be true of gospel preaching today. Holiness, not only accurate doctrine, is the goal (cf. Rom 8:28-29; Gal 4:19; Eph 1:4). The gospel is (1) a person to welcome, (2) truths about that person to be believed, and (3) a life emulating that person to be lived! All three are crucial.
“in power and in the Holy Spirit ” There are three related things that confirmed God’s choice:
1. gospel came in word
2. gospel came in power
3. gospel came in Holy Spirit
This refers to (1) what happened to the Thessalonian believers personally or (2) God’s work through Paul (cf. Rom 8:15-16). There was powerful confirmation of the truth and spiritual power of the gospel through Paul’s preaching and teaching.
“with full conviction” This “full assurance” (cf. Col 2:2; Heb 6:11; Heb 10:22) could refer to Paul’s preaching or the Thessalonians’ response to the gospel.
“as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake” Paul is contrasting the way he and his mission team acted among the Thessalonians (cf. 1Th 2:7; 1Th 2:10) compared to those mentioned in 1Th 2:3-6. Notice the differences in chapter 2:
Paul Others
amid much opposition not from error not from impurity not by way of deceit not men pleasers not flattering speech not for greed not seeking glory gentle as a nursing mother having a fond affection imparted the gospel and themselves error impurity deceit men pleasers flattering speech greed seeking glory
Paul is describing false teachers and trouble makers among the Jews (e.g., Act 17:5).
1Th 1:6 “You also” This is an emphatic contrast to the “we” of 1Th 1:2-5.
NASB, NRSV”You also became imitators of us and of the Lord”
NKJV”And you became followers of us and of the Lord”
TEV”You imitated us and the Lord”
NJB”and you were led to become imitators of us, and of the Lord”
“Imitators” comes into English as “mimic” (cf. the Greek term and concept are found in 1Th 1:6; 1Th 2:14; 2Th 3:7; 2Th 3:9; 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1; Gal 4:12; Php 3:17; Php 4:9). Christlikeness is God’s goal for every believer (cf. Rom 8:28-29; Gal 4:19; Eph 1:4). The image of God in mankind is to be restored (cf. Lev 11:44; Lev 19:2; Mat 5:48; Eph 1:4; Eph 5:1).
NASB, NKJV”having received the word”
NRSV”you received the word”
TEV”you received the message”
NJB”you took to the gospel”
This term has the connotation “to receive as a welcomed guest” (cf. Mat 10:40-41; Mat 18:5) or “to receive a message” (cf. 2Co 11:4; Jas 1:21). This is an aorist middle (deponent) participle. Humans must respond to God’s offer of love in Christ’s finished work by repentance and faith (cf. Mar 1:15; Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21; Rom 10:9-13). Salvation is (1) a message (doctrinal truth); (2) a person (existential encounter); and (3) a life to live (1Th 1:6). We receive the gospel message and befriend Jesus. We must trust completely in both. This results in a new life of faithfulness and holiness.
NASB”in much tribulation”
NKJV”in much affliction”
NRSV”in spite of persecution”
TEV”even though you suffered much”
NJB”the great opposition all round you”
This is literally “to press” (cf. Joh 16:33; Act 14:22; 2Th 1:4; 2Th 1:6). Becoming a Christian does not guarantee a lack of tensionon the contrary, it is quite the opposite (cf. Mat 5:10-12; Joh 15:18-19; Rom 8:17; 1Pe 3:13-17; 1Pe 4:12-19). Acts 17 describes some of the persecution Paul (cf. 2Co 4:7-12; 2Co 6:3-10; 2Co 11:23-28) and this church experienced.
“with the joy of the Holy Spirit” This joy given by the Spirit is so encompassing and complete that it is present and sustaining amid great persecution and pain. It is a joy unaffected by circumstances (cf. Rom 5:2-5; 2Co 7:4; 1Pe 4:13).
1Th 1:7 “you became an example to all the believers” In some ways this is hyperbole, but in others very literal. The Thessalonian believers’ joy and perseverance under testing and trial was a source of great encouragement to other believers. This is also how the suffering of Job, the prophets (cf. Mat 5:10; Mat 5:12), the Messiah, and the Apostles affect future believers. Often believers most powerful testimony is during times of trial, pain, and persecution.
“example” See Special Topic following.
SPECIAL TOPIC: FORM (TUPOS)
“in Macedonia and in Achaia” These were Roman provinces. Achaia is located within modern Greece; Macedonia is a political state independent of Greece, though culturally and economically related.
1Th 1:8 “has sounded forth” This is literally “trumpeted” or “thundered.” It is a perfect passive indicative which implies that through their joy amidst trials the gospel “sounded forth and still sounds.” In English we get the word “echo” from this Greek word. 1Th 1:8-10 form one sentence in Greek.
“but also in every place” This is a metaphorical exaggeration (hyperbole) similar to 1Th 1:2 (cf. Rom 1:8). The Bible, being an eastern book, often uses figurative language. Be careful of western literalism.
SPECIAL TOPIC: EASTERN LITERATURE
NASB”so that we have no need to say anything”
NKJV”so that we do not need to say anything”
NRSV”so that we have no need to speak about it”
TEV”There is nothing, then, that we need to say”
NJB”We do not need to tell other people about it”
An ambiguous phrase, many translations supply “the faith” from the previous clause. This does not necessarily mean that they understood everything about Christian doctrine or even about suffering. But their lives showed that the gospel truly took root in their hearts and minds. The Holy Spirit will reveal the basics of the gospel to every receptive heart.
1Th 1:9 “turned to God from idols” This refers to their repentance from pagan idolatry. The gospel is both negative and positiverepentance and faith (cf. Mar 1:15; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21). There is a “turning from” as well as a “turning to.”
The NASB Study Bible (p. 1748) makes the observation that the three destructive evidences of the Thessalonian conversion were
1. turning from idols
2. serving God
3. waiting for Christ’s return
“to serve” Literally this means “as a slave.” This is a present infinitive. They turned (aorist) from idols and continued to serve the true, living God (cf. Rom 6:18). This portrays God as King and His followers as servants. In one sense, we are slaves, in another, we are sons.
“a living and true God” This reflects God’s covenantal name, YHWH (cf. Exo 3:14). YHWH is the ever-living, only-living God. This is the basis of biblical monotheism (cf. Deu 4:35; Deu 4:39; Deu 6:4; Isa 45:5-6; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:21-22; Isa 47:8; Isa 47:10).
SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY
1Th 1:10 This verse is like a summary of the gospel (cf. 1Co 15:1-4). These summaries are often called the kerygma (“proclamation”).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE KERYGMA OF THE EARLY CHURCH
“to wait for His Son from heaven” This is another present infinitive. They continued to serve (cf. 1Th 1:9) God and to wait for Christ’s return. Paul continued his emphasis on the Second Coming as the theological keynote of the letter. Every chapter ends on this subject (cf. 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:13-18; 1Th 5:23). See Special Topic at 1Th 5:9.
“whom He raised from the dead” This was confirmation of the Father’s acceptance of the Son’s substitutionary death (cf. 1 Corinthians 15). All three persons of the Trinity were active in Christ’s resurrection: the FatherAct 2:24; Act 3:15; Act 4:10; Act 5:30; Act 10:40; Act 13:30; Act 13:33-34; Act 13:37; Act 17:31; the SpiritRom 8:11 and the SonJoh 2:19-22; Joh 10:17-18. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TRINITY at Gal 4:4.
“rescues us” This is a present middle (deponent) participle which emphasizes Jesus’ continuous action on our behalf. The victory is ongoing (cf. Rom 8:31-39). He continues to intercede for us (cf. 1Jn 2:1; Heb 7:25; Heb 9:24).
“wrath to come.” For some, Jesus’ Second Coming is their great hope, but for others it will be their eternal loss. The believers will experience the persecution and pressure of Jews and pagans, but they will never experience the wrath of God (cf. 1Th 5:9). The wrath of God is coming (present middle [deponent] participle) on all those who reject Christ (cf. 1Th 2:16; Matthew 25; Romans 1-2). It is surely true that wrath is an anthropomorphic term, but so too, is “the love of God.”
At the end of each chapter in 1 Thessalonians an allusion to the Second Coming is prominent (cf. 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:13-18; 1Th 5:23). New Testament writers view time and history through their world-view of a coming day of judgment and reward. The NT is thoroughly eschatological (cf. How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart, pp. 131-134).
SPECIAL TOPIC: TRIBULATION
SPECIAL TOPIC: GOD DESCRIBED AS A HUMAN (anthropomorphic language)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
give thanks. Greek. eucharisteo. See Act 27:35.
always. App-151.
for. App-104.
making mention. See Rom 1:9.
in. App-104.
prayers. App-134.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2-3:13.] FIRST PORTION OF THE EPISTLE, in which he pours out his heart to the Thessalonians respecting all the circumstances of their reception of and adhesion to the faith.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Th 1:2. -, mention-unceasingly) Comp. Rom 1:9; 2Ti 1:3.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Th 1:2
We give thanks to God always-Paul knew the facts concerning their conversion and the trials which they endured under the fierce persecutions through which they passed.
for you all,-There was not one of them that he knew for whom he did not give thanks. The whole church was what it should be.
making mention of you in our prayers;-He made special mention of them in asking Gods help and blessing to rest upon them. The number of persons and churches Paul mentions in his prayers is remarkable. It shows how much Paul regarded special and direct prayers for persons.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Rom 1:8, Rom 1:9, Rom 6:17, 1Co 1:4, Eph 1:15, Eph 1:16, Phi 1:3, Phi 1:4, Col 1:3, Phm 1:4
Reciprocal: Rom 16:19 – I am Phi 1:7 – it is 1Th 2:13 – thank 1Th 3:9 – what 2Th 1:3 – are 2Ti 1:3 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Th 1:2. Making mention of you in our prayers. Here is a specific example of direct or personal mention of those for whom we wish to pray to God, and not the unnecessary and indefinite request for Him to “bless all for whom we should pray.”
1Th 1:2 G2168 [G5719] G3588 WE GIVE THANKS G2316 TO GOD G3842 ALWAYS G4012 CONCERNING G3956 ALL G5216 YOU, G3417 MENTION G5216 OF YOU G4160 [G5734] MAKING G1909 AT G3588 G4335 G2257 OUR PRAYERS,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Th 1:2. We. This probably refers, as in 1Th 2:18, 1Th 3:1, to Paul himself.
Give thanks to God. So Paul begins most of his Epistles, but here the causes of thankfulness are more fully enlarged upon. He welcomes the tidings brought him by Timothy, and subjects him to no cynical cross examination. It is always a pleasure to him to praise, to recognise merit, to fan the smoking flax.
Always for all of you. Forgetting none; such is our never-failing habit (Jowett).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Note here, 1. The holy wisdom of our apostle, who being about to magnify and extol the graces of the Spirit wrought in the Thessalonians, particularly their faith, their love, their patience and hope, instead of commending them for these graces, he breaks forth into thanksgiving unto God for them; We give thanks to God always for your work of faith and labour of love, and patience of hope: His business was not to celebrate and commend them, but to admire the special grace of God conferred upon them, and conspicuous in them.
Learn hence, that it is our duty, and will be our great wisdom, so to speak of the grace of God, which we see and observe in others, as that they may not be puffed up with any conceit of their own excellencies, but see matter of praise and thanksgiving due unto God, only, and nothing to themselves.
Note, 2. The special and particular graces which St. Paul observed in the Thessalonians, their faith, their love, their hope, together with the evidence of the sincerity of those graces, their faith was a working faith, that is, fruitful in good works; their love was a laborious love, promoting the good of all the saints; and their hope in the Lord Jesus, rendered them patient in and under all tribulations for his sake. There is no such way to judge of the truth of the inward habits of grace in the heart, as by observing the effects and fruits of that grace in the life; The apostle concluded they had true faith, because a fruitful faith; true love, because a laborious love; a good hope in Christ, because accompanied with patience under the cross of Christ.
Note, 3. St. Paul’s offices and acts of love performed on the Thessalonians behalf, namely, thanksgiving and prayer.
1. Thanksgiving, We give thanks unto God always for you all.
But why, O blessed apostle, art thou so thankful for the graces of God’s holy Spirit wrought in these Thessalonians?
For thy own sake, no doubt, as well as theirs; he saw in them an eminent seal of his apostleship, the happy fruit and blessed effect of his ministry among them.
This, O! This it was that drew forth his very soul in thanksgivings to God. Learn, that the faithful ministers of Christ rejoice greatly at the sight and appearance of the grace of God in any person, but when they see it in their own people, as the seal of their ministry, and the blessed fruit of their own painful endeavours amongst them, this carries them out into transports of thankfulness; verily, the joy of their hearts is too big to come out at their mouths, they give thanks for such a mercy without ceasing.
Yet, 2. He subjoins prayers with his praises, adds, supplications to his thanksgivings, making mention of you always in my prayers; to let them know that there was still much grace wanting in them to keep them humble, as well as great grace in them to make him thankful: Our prayers for grace, must be thankful prayers, or accompanied with thanksgiving; when we pray to God for more grace, we must ever be thankful for what we have received; and when we return thanks for grace received, we must be earnest and instant with God for further and fresh supplies of grace wanted.
Note, 4. The frequency, yea, contancy of our apostle, in performing these duties of prayer and thanksgiving on the behalf of these Thessalonians, We give thanks to God always for you, remembering you without ceasing in the sight of God, and our Father: that is, as often as we appear before God our Father, we incessantly pray for you, and constantly praise God on your behalf.
Where observe, the comfortable relation in which the saints of God do approach and draw near unto God in prayer, they come to him as a Father, yea, as their Father; in the sight of God our Father. The Holy Spirit of God vouchsafed to believers under the gospel, enables them to come before him in prayer, with a full assurance of his fatherly affection towards them, as being the sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus, and it enables them to cry, Abba, Father; and they are very careful to improve this their relation to God, and interest in him as a Father, in prayer, on behalf of themselves, and all their fellow brethren and members in Christ. Thus St. Paul here, We give thanks for you, and remember you without ceasing, in the sight of God and our Father.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Thanking God for the Thessalonians
Those who displayed a true love for God by following His will were, as a group, chosen of God before the world began ( Eph 1:3-4 ; Eph 1:9-11 ). Those answering the gospel call were described by Paul as God’s elect, another description of those chosen ( 2Th 2:13-14 ). The words “our gospel” may refer merely to the good news Paul, Silas and Timothy preached among them, or to that which all the apostles preached. Really, either is true because they are one and the same ( 1Co 15:1-11 ). It was proven to be the word of God by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit ( Rom 15:9 ; 2Co 12:12 ; Heb 2:2-4 ). Further, Paul and his companions kept the truth out of the field of controversy by conducting themselves in an exemplary manner. As is seen later in this letter, the apostles even worked at physical jobs so they would not burden young converts with the expense of supporting them ( 1Th 1:4-5 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Th 1:2-4. We give thanks, &c. From hence to 1Th 3:13, we have the chief object of this epistle, which was to comfort, strengthen, and establish the Christians at Thessalonica, and induce them to persevere under all the discouragements which he, their apostle, or they themselves, might meet with. And in his entrance upon this design he gives vent to what lay most upon his heart, thanking God for their conversion from idolatry to Christianity amidst so many discouraging circumstances; and praying that they might continue in the faith they had embraced, in which he takes all occasions of speaking well of the Thessalonians, as indeed he does through all the epistle, in which there is a peculiar sweetness, unmixed with any sharpness or reproof; those evils which the apostle afterward reproved, having not yet crept into the churches: remembering without ceasing Or constantly in all our prayers; your work of faith Your active, ever-working faith; and labour of love Your love to God and man, which induces you to labour continually to promote the glory of God, and do good to the bodies or souls of men; and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ Your patience under all your persecutions and other sufferings, the fruit of that blessed hope of eternal life, which is grounded on the death and resurrection of Christ, and is wrought in you by his saving grace; in the sight of God, even our Father Whose eye is continually upon you, who observes, and will not fail to reward, the graces wrought in you by his blessed Spirit. Observe reader, all true faith in Christ, and the truths and promises of the gospel, works; all genuine love to God and man, labours; and the hope which is well grounded and lively, patiently bears all things. Knowing, brethren, beloved of God And of us his servants; your election Your being chosen to be Gods peculiar people, by these plain marks. Of predestination and election, see on Rom 8:28; Eph 1:4-5.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
ARGUMENT 1
THESSALONIAN CONVERSION
2,3. Incessantly remembering your work of faith and labor of love. All who have faith and love are Christians, these two fundamental graces constituting the beautiful globe of the new creation, Faith the human, and Love the Divine hemisphere. Soul-saving work is the legitimate and normal fruit of a genuine faith; so is love demonstrated by evangelistic labor These people proved their faith and love by their works.
4. Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election. We are repeatedly informed in the Scripture that our election is through sanctification of the Spirit. In conversion we become candidates for heaven; in sanctification, we are elected. Though these people had not all been sanctified, God seeing it in the future recognizes it.
5. Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but even in dynamite and in the Holy Ghost and in much full assurance. You see from these inspired statements that their conversion was no modern bogus, but was like a sunburst from the throne of God. It is utterly impossible for a candid mind to call in question the genuineness of their spiritual birth.
6. Receiving the Word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Ghost. No sinner has the joy of the Holy Ghost, but he has the sorrow and condemnation of conviction till he passes from death to life.
7. So that you are an example to all those who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Here we see Paul holds them up as paragon saints for the exemplification of all others.
8. For from you the Word of the Lord has roared out, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith, which is toward God, has gone forth. Here we see that they were not only themselves saved, but efficient and enthusiastic missionaries, scouring all the surrounding country, and preaching with stentorian voices. Good Lord, give us everywhere the Thessalonian type of conversion!
8. The Thessalonian saints are bold missionaries, proclaiming the gospel in Macedonia and Achaia with stentorian voices. They were none of your dumb professors.
9. We find Paul, on his first visit to Thessalonica, rendered the second coming of Christ exceedingly prominent. The Christhood, in which his first coming to suffer and die, and his second coming to conquer and to reign, are the great salient points, constituted the burden of apostolic preaching. So it is today. When we cease to preach Christ, we would better travel. To await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, delivering us from the wrath to come. Christ is our great Deliverer, over all and in all.
1,2. Despite their cruel treatment in Philippi, and the hot and bloody pursuit of their enemies to Thessalonica, they were bold as lions, exposing the futility of the heathen gods, and the impertinency of the defunct Judaism; they fearlessly hold Jesus Christ as the only Savior of a lost world, the Holy Ghost attesting the truth of their testimony.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1:2 {1} We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
(1) An example of proper Christian rejoicing, by which also we learn, that those who have great gifts in them, are in two ways governed: first, if they consider that they have received all from God, and second, that continuance must be desired at his hands. And to these things this whole epistle exhorts the Thessalonians.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
II. PERSONAL COMMENDATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS 1:2-3:13
This extended personal section of the epistle contains thanksgivings for the Thessalonian Christians, reminders for them, and concerns that Paul had regarding them.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
A. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians 1:2-10
Paul began the first main section of his epistle by reviewing several aspects of the Thessalonians’ salvation and giving thanks to God for them to encourage his readers to persevere despite persecution.
". . . both letters name Paul, Silas, and Timothy as the authors of the letters. Yet the letters are traditionally ascribed to Paul alone. Is this fair? Many scholars answer no. They note the way the first-person plural dominates both letters, even in the thanksgiving section, which does not happen in most of the other Pauline letters, including three of them that name someone else in the salutation (1 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon). The inclusion of more than one person in the salutation of a letter was most unusual in antiquity; readers would probably have read the plural ’we’ as a genuine indication of authorship. However, there is reason to pause before drawing this conclusion. . . . Paul is the primary author [cf. 2Th 3:17]." [Note: Carson and Moo, pp. 534-44.]
"Paul, like a good psychologist, and with true Christian tact, begins with praise even when he meant to move on to rebuke." [Note: William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians, p. 217.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Summary statement 1:2-3
The Thessalonians’ response to the gospel and their continuance in the faith caused Paul and his companions to thank God for them continually. "Continually" is hyperbole meaning very often. Obviously Paul did not mean that he spent all his time praying for the Thessalonians. Three characteristics of these Christians stood out to Paul. First, they had turned to Christ in faith. Second, they had served Him out of love. Third, they had borne up under tribulation patiently because of the hope that lay before them. Each virtue found its object in Jesus Christ as they lived before God. They had exercised faith in the past when they first trusted Christ. They were loving Him in the present, and they were hoping for His return in the future (cf. 1Co 13:13).
"These three Christian virtues-faith, love, and hope-occupied a large place in early analyses of Christian responsibility. The expectation was that in every life faith would work (Gal 5:6; Jas 2:18), love would labor (Rev 2:2; Rev 2:4), and hope would endure (Rom 5:2-4; Rom 8:24-25). This threefold balance probably arose even before Paul’s doctrinal stance had matured and perhaps came from the teachings of Christ himself." [Note: Thomas, p. 242. Cf. A. M. Hunter, Paul and His Predecessors, pp. 33-35.]
"The triad of faith, hope and love is the quintessence of the God-given life in Christ." [Note: Gunther Bornkamm, Paul, p. 219.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 2
THE THANKSGIVING.
1Th 1:2-4 (R.V.)
THE salutation in St. Pauls epistles is regularly followed by the thanksgiving. Once only, in the Epistle to the Galatians, is it omitted; the amazement and indignation with which the Apostle has heard that his converts are forsaking his gospel for another which is not a gospel at all, carries him out of himself for a moment. But in his earliest letter it stands in its proper place; before he thinks of congratulating, teaching, exhorting, admonishing, he gives God thanks for the tokens of His grace in the Thessalonians. He would not be writing to these people at all if they were not Christians; they would never have been Christians but for the free goodness of God; and before he says one word directly to them, he acknowledges that goodness with a grateful heart.
In this case the thanksgiving is particularly fervent. It has. no drawback. There is no profane person at Thessalonica, like him who defiled the church at Corinth at a later period; we give thanks, says the Apostle, for you all. It is, as far as the nature of the case permits, uninterrupted. As often as Paul prays, he makes mention of them and gives thanks; he remembers without ceasing their newborn graces. We ought not to extenuate the force of such words, as if they were mere exaggerations, idle extravagances of a man who habitually said more than he meant. Pauls life was concentrated and intense, to a degree of which we have probably little conception. He lived for Christ, and for the churches of Christ; it was literal truth, not extravagance, when he said, “This one thing I do”: the life of these churches, their interests, their necessities, their dangers, Gods goodness to them, his own duty to serve them, all these constituted together the one dear concernment of his life; they were ever with him in Gods sight, and therefore in his intercessions and thanksgivings, to God. Other mens mind might surge with various interests; new ambitions or affections might displace old ones; fickleness or disappointments might change their whole career; but it was not so with him. His thoughts and affections never changed their object, for the same conditions appealed constantly to the same susceptibility; if he grieved over the unbelief of the Jews, he had unceasing () pain in his heart; if he gave thanks for the Thessalonians, he remembered without ceasing () the graces with which they had been adorned by God.
Nor were these continual thanksgivings vague or formal; the Apostle recalls, in each particular case, the special manifestations of Christian character which inspire his gratitude. Sometimes, as in 1st Corinthians, they are less spiritual-gifts, rather than graces; utterance and knowledge, without charity; sometimes, as here, they are eminently spiritual-faith, love, and hope. The conjunction of these three in the earliest of Pauls letters is worthy of remark. They occur again in the well-known passage in 1Co 13:1-13, where, though they share in the distinction of being eternal, and not, like knowledge and eloquence, transitory in their nature, love is exalted to an eminence above the other two. They occur a third time in one of the later epistles-that to the Colossians-and in the same order as here. That, says Lightfoot on the passage, is the natural order. “Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future.” Whether this distribution of the graces is accurate or not, it suggests the truth that they cover and fill up the whole Christian life. They are the sum and substance of it, whether it looks back, or looks around, or looks forward. The germ of all perfection is implanted in the soul which is the dwelling place of “these three.”
Though none of them can really exist, in its Christian quality, without the others, any of them may preponderate at a given time. It is not quite fanciful to point out that each in its turn seems to have bulked most largely in the experience of the Apostle himself. His earliest epistles-the two to the Thessalonians-are pre-eminently epistles of hope. They look to the future; the doctrinal interest uppermost in them is that of the second coming of the Lord, and the final rest of the Church. The epistles of the next period-Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians-are as distinctly epistles of faith. They deal largely with faith as the power which unites the soul to God in Christ, and brings into it the virtue of the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. Later still, there are the epistles of which Colossians and Ephesians are the type. The great thought in these is that of the unity wrought by love; Christ is the head of the Church; the Church is the body of Christ; the building up of the body in love, by the mutual help of the members, and their common dependence on the Head, preoccupies the apostolic writer. All this may have been more or less accidental, due to circumstances which had nothing to do with the spiritual life of Paul; but it has the look of being natural, too. Hope prevails first-the new world of things unseen and eternal outweighs the old; it is the stage at which religion is least free from the influence of sense and imagination. Then comes the reign of faith; the inward gains upon the outward; the mystical union of the soul to Christ, in which His spiritual life is appropriated, is more or less sufficient to itself; it is the stage, if it be a stage at all, at which religion becomes independent of imagination and sense. Finally, love reigns. The solidarity of all Christian interests is strongly felt; the life flows out again, in all manner of Christian service, on those by whom it is surrounded; the Christian moves and has his being in the body of which he is a member. All this, I repeat, can be only comparatively true; but the character and sequence of the Apostles writings speak for its truth so far.
But it is not simply faith, love, and hope that are in question here: “we remember,” says the Apostle, “your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” We call faith, love, and hope the Christian graces; and we are apt to forget that the associations of heathen mythology thus introduced, are disturbing rather than enlightening. The three Graces of the Greeks are ideally beautiful figures; but their beauty is aesthetic, not spiritual. They are lovely as a group of statuary is lovely; but though “by (their) gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdom of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame,” their nature is utterly unlike that of the three powers of the Christian character; no one would dream of ascribing to them work, and labour, and patience. Yet the mere fact that “Graces” has been used as a common name for both has diffused the idea that the Christian graces also are to be viewed mainly as the adornments of character, its unsought, unstudied beauties, set on it by God to subdue and charm the world. That is quite wrong; the Greek Graces are essentially beauties; they confer on men all that wins admiration-personal comeliness, victory in the games, a happy mood; but the Christian graces are essentially powers; they are new virtues and forces which God has implanted in the soul that it may be able to do His work in the world. The heathen Graces are lovely to look at, and that is all; but the Christian graces are not subjects for aesthetic contemplation; they are here to work, to toil, to endure. If they have a beauty of their own – and surely they have-it is a beauty not in form or colour, not appealing to the eye or the imagination, but only to the spirit which has seen and loved Christ, and loves His likeness in whatever guise.
Let us look at the Apostles words more closely: he speaks of a work of faith; to take it exactly, of something which faith has done. Faith is a conviction with regard to things unseen, that makes them present and real. Faith in God as revealed in Christ and in His death for sin, makes reconciliation real; it gives the believer peace with God. But it is not shut up in the realm of things inward and unseen. If it were, a man might say what he pleased about it, and there would be no check upon his words.
Wherever it exists, it works: he who is interested can see what it has done. Apparently the Apostle has some particular work of faith in his mind in this passage; some thing which the Thessalonians had actually done, because they believed; but what it is we cannot tell. Certainly not faith itself; certainly not love, as some think, referring to Gal 5:6; if a conjecture may be hazarded, possibly some act of courage or fidelity under persecution, similar to those adduced in Heb 11:1-40. That famous chapter contains a catalogue of the works which faith wrought; and serves as a commentary, therefore, on this expression. Surely we ought to notice that the great Apostle, whose name has been the strength and shield of all who preach justification by faith alone, the very first time he mentions this grace in his epistles, mentions it as a power which leaves its witness in work.
It is so, also, with love: “we remember,” he writes, “your labour of love.” The difference between (work) and (labour) is that between effect and cause. The Apostle recalls something which the faith of the Thessalonians did; he recalls also the wearisome toil in which their love spent itself. Love is not so capable of abuse in religion, or, at least, it has not been so rankly abused, as faith. Men are much more apt to demand the proof of it. It has an inward side as much as faith; but it is not an emotion which exhausts itself in its own transports. Merely as emotion, indeed, it is apt to be undervalued. In the Church of today emotion needs rather to be stimulated than repressed. The passion of the New Testament startles us when we chance to feel it. For one man among us who is using up the powers of his soul in barren ecstasies, there are thousands who have never been moved by Christs love to a single tear or a single heart throb. They must learn to love before they can labour. They must be kindled by that fire which burned in Christs heart, and which He came to cast upon the earth, before they can do anything in His service. But if the love of Christ has really met that answer in love for which it waits, the time for service has come. Love in the Christian will attest itself as it attested itself in Christ. It will prescribe and point out the path of labour. The word employed in this passage is one often used by the Apostle to describe his own laborious life. Love set him, and will set everyone in whose heart it truly burns, upon incessant, unwearied efforts for others good. Paul was ready to spend and be spent at its bidding, however small the result might be. He toiled with his hands, he toiled with his brain, he toiled with his ardent, eager, passionate heart, he toiled in his continual intercessions with God, and all these toils made up his labour of love. “A labour of love,” in current language, is a piece of work done so willingly that no payment is expected for it. But a labour of love is not what the Apostle is speaking of; it is laboriousness, as loves characteristic. Let Christian men and women ask themselves whether their love can be so characterised. We have all been tired in our time, one may presume; we have toiled in business, or in some ambitious course, or in the perfecting of some accomplishment, or even in the mastery of some game or the pursuit of some amusement, till we were utterly wearied: how many of us have so toiled in love? How many of us have been wearied and worn with some labour to which we set ourselves for Gods sake? This is what the Apostle has in view in this passage; and, strange as it may appear, it is one of the things for which he gives God thanks. But is he not right? Is it not a thing to evoke gratitude and joy, that God counts us worthy to be fellow labourers with Him in the manifold works which love imposes?
The church at Thessalonica was not old; its first members could only count their Christian age by months. Yet love is so native to the Christian life, that they found at once a career for it; demands were made upon their sympathy and their strength which were met at once, though never suspected before. “What are we to do,” we sometimes ask, “if we would work the works of God?” If we have love enough in our hearts, it will answer all its own questions. It is the fulfilling of the law just because it shows us plainly where service is needed, and put us upon rendering it at any cost of pain or toil. It is not too much to say that the very word chosen by the Apostle to characterise love- this word -is peculiarly appropriate, because it brings out, not the issue, but only the cost, of work. With the result desired, or without it; with faint hope, or with hope most sure, love labours, toils, spends and is spent over its task: this is the very seal of its genuine Christian character.
The third grace remains: “your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The second coming of Christ was an element in apostolic teaching which, whether exceptionally prominent or not, had made an exceptional impression at Thessalonica. It will more naturally be studied at another place; here it is sufficient to say that it was the great object of Christian hope. Christians not only believed Christ would come again; they not only expected Him to come; they were eager for His coming. “How long, O Lord?” they cried in their distress. “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,” was their prayer.
It is matter of notoriety that hope in this sense does not hold its ancient place in the heart of the Church. It holds a much lower place. Christian men hope for this or that; they hope that threatening symptoms in the Church or in society may pass away, and better things appear; they hope that when the worst comes to the worst, it will not be so bad as the pessimists anticipate. Such impotent and ineffective hope is of no kindred to the hope of the gospel. So far from being a power of God in the soul, a victorious grace, it is a sure token that God is absent. Instead of inspiring, it discourages; it leads to numberless self-deceptions; men hope their lives are right with God, when they ought to search them and see; they hope things will turn out well when they ought to be taking security of them. All this, where our relations to God are concerned, is a degradation of the very word. The Christian hope is laid up in heaven. The object of it is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not precarious, but certain; it is not ineffective, but a great and energetic power. Anything else is not hope at all.
The operation of the true hope is manifold. It is a sanctifying grace, as appears from 1Jn 3:3 : “Everyone that hath this hope set on Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” But here the Apostle characterises it by its patience. The two virtues are so inseparable that Paul sometimes uses them as equivalent; twice in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, he says faith, love, and patience, instead of faith, love, and hope. But what is patience? The word is one of the great words of the New Testament.
The corresponding verb is usually rendered endurance, as in Christs saying, “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” Patience is more than resignation or meek submission; it is hope in the shade, but hope nevertheless; the brave steadfastness which bears up under all burdens because the Lord is at hand. The Thessalonians had much affliction in their early days as Christians; they were tried, too, as we all are, by inward discouragements-that persistence and vitality of sin that break the spirit and beget despair; but they saw close at hand the glory of the Lord; and in the patience of hope they held out, and fought the good fight to the last. It is truly significant that in the Pastoral Epistles patience has taken the place of hope in the trinity of graces. It is as if Paul had discovered, by prolonged experience, that it was in the form of patience that hope was to be mainly effective in the Christian life. The Thessalonians, some of them, were abusing the great hope; it was working mischief in their lives, because it was misapplied; in this single word Paul hints at the truth which abundant experience had taught him, that all the energy of hope must be transformed into brave patience if we would stand in our place at the last. Remembering their work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in the presence of our God and Father, the Apostle gives thanks to God always for them all. Happy is the man whose joys are such that he can gratefully dwell on them in that presence: happy are those also who give others Cause to thank God on their behalf.
The ground of the thanksgiving is finally comprehended in one short and striking phrase: “Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election.” The doctrine of election has often been taught as if the one thing that could never be known about anybody was whether he was or was not elect. The assumed impossibility does not square with New Testament ways of speaking. Paul knew the elect, he says here; at least he knew the Thessalonians were elect. In the same way he writes to the Ephesians: “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world; in love He foreordained us to adoption as sons.” Chose whom before the foundation of the world? Foreordained whom? Himself, and those whom he addressed. If the Church has learned the doctrine of election from anybody, it has been from Paul; but to him it had a basis in experience, and apparently he felt differently about it from many theologians. He knew when the people he spoke to were elect; how, he tells in what follows.