Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 1:9
For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
9. For they themselves shew of us ] Rather, report concerning us (R.V.) “They” points to “those in Macedonia and Achaia” and “in every place,” any whom the Apostle visited, or to whom he had thought of sending the news. “Instead of waiting to be told by us, we find them spreading the joyful news already!” And this self-diffusing report concerned not the Thessalonians alone, but Paul and his colleagues. It published their success at this great city, and helped their further progress: they report what kind of an entrance we had unto you.
The “manner” of this “entering in” is not to be found in the kind of reception given to the evangelists at Thessalonica, but in the way in which they presented themselves and entered on their ministry here: comp. 1Th 1:5, and ch. 1Th 2:1-2. The reports that told of the heroic faith of the Thessalonians, told also of the wonderful energy and success with which Paul and Silas had preached to them.
and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God ] Lit., from the idols, to be bondmen to a God living and true. This explains the “faith toward God” of 1Th 1:8. “How” implies not the fact alone, but the manner of their conversion “with what decision and gladness” ( 1Th 1:3 ; 1Th 1:6), parallel to “what manner of entrance.” The Thessalonian Christians had been mainly Gentiles and heathen; comp. ch. 1Th 2:14, also Act 17:4-5, from which it appears, however, that there was a sprinkling of Jews among them, and “a great multitude” of proselytes, already more or less weaned from idolatry.
The “faith toward God” defined in this verse, is the faith of the whole Bible, in which from first to last God asserts Himself as “the Living and True,” against the ten thousand forms of human idolatry. The word idol (Greek eidlon) means properly an appearance, a mere image, or phantom. Homer, e.g., applies the term to the phantasms of distant persons by which his gods sometimes impose on men ( Iliad, v. 449; Odyssey, IV. 796). Comp. Lord Bacon’s idola tribus, specus, fori, theatri, in the Novum Organum. This word is the equivalent in the Septuagint Version of Hebrew designations for heathen gods and their images of like significance vapours, vanities, nothings. To all these the Name of the God of Israel Who “is the true God, and the living God” (Jer 10:10) is the constant, tacit antithesis: “I am Jehovah” (more strictly Jahveh, or Yahweh, commonly “the Lord” in the English O. T.) the HE IS (see Exo 3:13-14 for its interpretation; and for its use in argument against idolatry, such passages as Isa 42:8; Isa 45:5-6; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:21-22). Like the Prophets and Psalmists (e.g. in Psa 115:4-8; Isa 44:9-20; Jer 10:1-10), St Paul was powerfully impressed with the illusion and unreality of heathen religions. He defines idolatry in two passages, 1Co 8:4; 1Co 10:19-20, as being half lies, half devilry; and in the horrible immorality then existing in the Gentile world he saw its natural consequence and judicial punishment (Rom 1:18-25).
“True” signifies truth of fact, not word: “true God” is the “very God” of the Nicene Creed, the real God: comp. Joh 17:3, “that they should know Thee, the only true God;” and 1Jn 5:20, “This is the true God, and life eternal.”
The service to this “living and true God” which the Thessalonians had embraced, was that of bondmen, acknowledging themselves His property and at His absolute disposal. St Paul habitually calls himself “Christ’s” (once “God’s,” Tit 1:1) “bondman.” In Gal 4:8 he speaks of heathenism as bondage to false gods; in Rom 6:15-23 he shows that to become a Christian is to exchange the bondage of sin for bondage to righteousness and to God, bondage under grace. The full conception of the Christian relationship to God is formed by the combination of the idea of sonship (in respect of affection and privilege) with that of bond-service (in respect of duty and submission), to Him “Whose service is perfect freedom.”
On the relation of this passage to St Paul’s general teaching see Introd. pp. 17, 18. So far, in 1Th 1:8-9, St Paul has related the conversion of the Thessalonians in the language and spirit of the O. T., and as an acceptance of Hebrew faith. In the next verse he advances to that which was distinctively Christian in their new creed:
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For they themselves – They who have visited you, and they whom you have sent out; all persons testify of your piety. The apostle seems to refer to all whom he had met or had heard of in all places, who said anything about the Thessalonians They were unanimous in bearing testimony to their fidelity and piety.
Show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you – The testimony which they bear of you is, in fact, testimony of the manner in which we preached the gospel, and demeaned ourselves when we were with you. It shows that we were intent on our Masters work, and that we were not actuated by selfish or sinister motives The argument is, that such effects could not have been produced among them if Paul, Silas, and their fellow laborers had been impostors. Their sound conversion to God; their change from idolatry to the true religion, and the zeal which had been the result of their conversion, was an argument to which Paul and his fellow-laborers might appeal in proof of their sincerity and their being sent from God. Paul often makes a similar appeal; compare notes on 2Co 3:2-3. It is certain that many of the Jews in Thessalonica, when Paul and his fellow-laborers were there, regarded them as impostors Act 17:6, Act 17:8, and there is every reason to suppose that after they left the city, they would endeavor to keep up this impression among the people. To meet this, Paul now says that their own undoubted conversion to a life of holiness and zeal under their ministry, was an unanswerable argument that this was not so. How could impostors and deceivers have been the means of producing such effects?
And how ye turned to God from idols – That is, under our preaching. This proves that the church was to a considerable extent composed of those who were converted from idolatry under the preaching of Paul; compare Intro. 4. The meaning here is, that they who came from them, or they who had visited them, bore abundant testimony to the fact that they had turned from idols to the worship of the true God; compare notes 1Co 12:2; Gal 1:8.
To serve the living and true God – He is called the living God in opposition to idols – who are represented as dead, dumb, deaf, and blind; compare Psa 135:15-17; notes, Isa 44:10-17; Mat 16:16; Joh 5:26; Act 14:15.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. How ye turned to God from idols] This could not be spoken either of the Jews or of the devout persons, but of the heathen Greeks, and of such it appears that the majority of the Church was formed. See what is said on this subject in the preface to this epistle.
To serve the living and true God] The living God; in opposition to the idols, which were either inanimate stocks or stones, or the representations of dead men.
The true God-In opposition to the whole system of idolatry, which was false in the objects of its adoration, false in its pretensions, false in its promises, and false in all its prospects.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For they themselves show of us, what manner of entering in we had unto you: the believers of Macedonia and Achaia do speak of these things , openly, whereby it is evident the word of the Lord sounded forth to them from you, and they, without any information from us, declare the great entertainment you gave us and our gospel at our first entrance among you.
And how ye turned to God from idols; particularly your forsaking your former idolatry, when you worshipped idols, that were either the images or shapes of the true God, formed by men; or men whom they deified, and set up as gods, and worshipped them and their images; or inanimate creatures, as sun, moon, and stars, or whatever creature they found beneficial to them, the heathens made idols of them. These ye turned from: though it was by the power of God and the gospel upon your hearts, yet it was an act of your own. And though it was the worship of these idols you had been trained up in, and wits generally practised, yet you turned from it. And as to the manner of it, how ye turned from these idols, as in the text; that is, how readily, how sincerely, how speedily, with a holy indignation of them: or, , how, that is, by what means; meaning by our entrance amongst you, and the power of our gospel upon your hearts, according to that prophecy, Isa 2:20,21, which refers to gospel times.
To serve the living and true God; to serve with religious worship proper to God; though the papists would confine the Greek word to some lower worship they give to saints or angels; or it may signify the whole service of God. And here the apostle speaks of their religion in the positive part, the former being negative. The living God, so called in opposition to idols, which were either images without life, or inanimate creatures, or men that were dead whom they worshipped; or living, because God is so eminently, being life essentially, originally, eternally, immutably, and derivatively to all things that live. As I live, saith the Lord, as if none had life but himself, Isa 49:18, &c. And called the true God in opposition to false gods. The heathen gods had no deity but what men gave them by worshipping them. They were not gods by nature, Gal 4:8, and so not true. And as these things are spoken to show the power of the gospel, so in a way of commendation, that they did not only turn from idols, but did serve the true God; many profess the true God, but serve him not. As also they denote their privilege, that they served a God that could save them, which their idols could not.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Strictly there should follow,”For they themselves show of you,” c. but, instead, hesubstitutes that which was the instrumental cause of theThessalonians’ conversion and faith, “for they themselves showof us what manner of entering in we had unto you“;compare 1Th 1:5, whichcorresponds to this former clause, as 1Th1:6 corresponds to the latter clause. “And how ye turnedfrom idols to serve the living . . . God,” c. Instead of ourhaving “to speak any thing” to them (in Macedonia andAchaia) in your praise (1Th 1:8),”they themselves (have the start of us in speaking ofyou, and) announce concerning (so the Greek of ‘showof’ means) us, what manner of (how effectual an) entrance we had untoyou” (1Th 1:5 1Th 2:1).
the living and true Godasopposed to the dead and false gods from which they had”turned.” In the English Version reading, Ac17:4, “of the devout Greeks a great multitude,”no mention is made, as here, of the conversion of idolatrousGentiles at Thessalonica; but the reading of some of the oldestmanuscripts and Vulgate singularly coincides with thestatement here: “Of the devout ANDof Greeks (namely, idolaters) a great multitude”; so inAc 17:17, “the devoutpersons,” that is, Gentile proselytes to Judaism, form aseparate class. PALEY andLACHMANN, by distinctlines of argument, support the “AND.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For they themselves show of us,…. Either the above reports of the preaching of the Gospel to the Thessalonians, and of their faith in God; or rather the persons to whom these reports were brought, openly and publicly, and largely declared concerning
the apostles, what manner of entering in we had unto you; under what difficulties they laboured, what contention they had with the unbelieving Jews, what reproaches were cast upon them, and what persecutions they endured when they first entered their city and synagogue, and preached the Gospel to them; and in what manner they did preach it, with what boldness, sincerity, uprightness and affection, and without flattery, covetousness, and vain glory; and with what power it came to them, and what success attended it, and how readily, cheerfully, and reverently both they and that were received by them:
and how ye turned to God from idols; immediately and at once, upon the preaching of the Gospel to them, being first turned by the powerful and efficacious grace of God; for the first work of conversion is God’s work; then they themselves, under the influence of the same grace, turned to the one God, from their internal idols, their sins and lusts, and from their external idols, their many false and fictitious deities: for the Thessalonians before the Gospel came among them were idolaters; here the “Dii Cabiri”, the great and chief gods of the Gentiles, were worshipped; as Jupiter and Bacchus, Ceres and Proserpina, Pluto and Mercury, Castor and Pollux, and Esculapius; these the Macedonians, and particularly the Thessalonians, worshipped with great devotion and reverence d: but now they turned from them and forsook them,
to serve the living and true God; who is called the living God, because he has life in and of himself, and is the fountain of life to others; from whom all living creatures have their life, and are supported in it by him; and in opposition to the above idols, which were inanimate things made of wood or metal, and were images of men that had been dead long ago: and the “true” God, because he is truth itself, and cannot lie, who faithfully performs all his promises, and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; and in opposition to the nominal and fictitious deities of the Gentiles, which were only in name, not in truth and reality, or by nature gods: now though these Thessalonians had before done service to these idols, they now turned from them to serve the one living and true God; not only externally, by embracing and professing his Gospel, submitting to his ordinances, and walking according to the rules prescribed by him; but also internally, in the exercise of faith, hope, love, and every other grace.
d Gutherlothus de mysteriis Deor. Cabirorum, c. 15. p. 94, 95. Jul. Firmicus. de errore prof. relig. p. 18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They themselves (). The men of Macedonia, voluntarily.
Report (). Linear present active indicative, keep on reporting.
What manner of entering in ( ). What sort of entrance, qualitative relative in an indirect question.
We had (). Second aorist active (ingressive) indicative of the common verb .
And how ( ). Here the interrogative adverb in this part of the indirect question. This part about “them” (you) as the first part about Paul. The verb is an old verb for turning and is common in the Acts for Gentiles turning to God, as here from idols, though not by Paul again in this sense. In Ga 4:9 Paul uses it for turning to the weak and beggarly elements of Judaism.
From idols ( ). Old word from (figure) for image or likeness and then for the image of a heathen god (our idol). Common in the LXX in this sense. In Ac 14:15 Paul at Lystra urged the people
to turn from these vain things to the living God ( ), using the same verb . Here also Paul has a like idea,
to serve a living and true God ( ). No article, it is true, but should be translated “the living and true God” (cf. Ac 14:15). Not “dead” like the idols from which they turned, but alive and genuine (, not ).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
They themselves shew [ ] . They themselves in contrast with we, ver. 8. We need not speak of anything : they themselves volunteer testimony to your faith. Shew, more correctly announce or report. 13 Entering in [] . Comp. ch. 1Th 2:1. The thought of ver. 5 is resumed. The repetition of the word in ch. 2 1, and of in vain in ch. 3 5, may point to expressions in a letter of the Thessalonians.
Unto you [] . The preposition combines with the sense of direction that of relation and intercourse. Comp. Mt 13:56; Mr 9:16; Joh 1:1; Act 3:25; Col 4:5; Heb 9:20.
Ye turned unto God [ ] . Comp. Act 14:15. The exact phrase only here. The verb is common in LXX, with both kurion Lord and qeon God.
Idols. See on 1Co 8:3. The word would indicate that the majority of the converts were heathen and not Jews.
Living and true [ ] . The only instance in N. T. of this collocation. It does not occur in O. T. For ajlhqinov genuine, see on Joh 1:9; Joh 4:37; Joh 7:28. Mostly in the Johannine writings.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For they themselves shew of us” (autoi gar peri hemon apangellousin) “For they themselves relate or report concerning us”; following Paul’s example of effective witnessing of Christ to all who passed through the commercial center from East, West, North, and South.
2) “What manner of entering in we had unto you” (hopoian eisodon eschomen pros humas) “What sort, manner, or kind of entrance we had toward you all”, in their faithful witnessing, though persecuted of the Jews in that city, Act 17:1-9. In spite of vile, rabble-rousing opposition many were saved, Act 17:4-5.
3) “And how ye turned to God” (kai pos epestrepsate pros ton theon) “Even how ye turned to the trinitarian God”; to turn means to change directions in a spiritual as well as physical course; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob turned their backs upon idols to serve the living God–so did the Hebrew children.
4) “From Idols” (apo ton eidolon) “From the (way of) idols”; as men of God have turned to him they must forever keep idols behind them, never countenance any with approval Act 15:20; Act 15:29; Act 21:25; 1Jn 5:21; Rev 9:20.
FOLLY OF IDOLATRY
According to Jewish tradition, Terah was a maker and seller of idols, and being one day obliged to leave home, he charged his son Abram to attend to business in his absence. Presently an elderly man came in, and taking a fancy to an idol asked the price. In reply, Abram said, “Old man, what is thy age?” “Threescore years,” replied the visitor. Whereupon Abram exclaimed. “Threescore years! And thou shouldest worship a thing that has been fashioned by the hands of my father’s slaves within the last four and twenty hours! Strange that a man of sixty should be willing to bow down his gray head to a creature of a day!” At these words the man, overwhelmed with shame, went away.
–Bible 111.
5) “To serve the living and true God” (douleuein theo zonti kai alethino) “actively to serve a living and true God”; the God who is “real” as opposed to the false or counterfeit Gods, the kind described as being dead, deaf, dumb, lifeless, even as false religions, Psa 115:4-9; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:12; 1Co 8:6.
Note that the (1) “work of faith” is to turn from idols to God, Joh 6:28-29; (2) The “labor of love” is to serve the living and true God, Gal 5:6; and the (3)’ “patience of hope” (1Th 1:3) is to “wait for His Son from Heaven”, Mat 24:42; Mat 25:13; Luk 12:36-48; Act 1:11; Php_3:20-21; Tit 2:11-13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
He says that the report of their conversion had obtained great renown everywhere. What he mentions as to his entering in among them, refers to that power of the Spirit, by which God had signalized his gospel. (510) He says, however, that both things are freely reported among other nations, as things worthy of being made mention of. In the detail which follows, he shews, first, what the condition of mankind is, before the Lord enlightens them by the doctrine of his gospel; and farther, for what end he would have us instructed, and what is the fruit of the gospel. For although all do not worship idols, all are nevertheless addicted to idolatry, and are immersed in blindness and madness. Hence, it is owing to the kindness of God, that we are exempted from the impostures of the devil, and every kind of superstition. Some, indeed, he converts earlier, others later, but as alienation is common to all, it is necessary that we be converted to God, before we can serve God. From this, also, we gather the essence and nature of true faith, inasmuch as no one gives due credit to God but the man, who renouncing the vanity of his own understanding, embraces and receives the pure worship of God.
9 To the living God. This is the end of genuine conversion. We see, indeed, that many leave off superstitions, who, nevertheless, after taking this step, are so far from making progress in piety, that they fall into what is worse. For having thrown off all regard to God, they give themselves up to a profane and brutal contempt. (511) Thus, in ancient times, the superstitions of the vulgar were derided by Epicurus, Diogenes the Cynic, and the like, but in such a way that they mixed up the worship of God so as to make no difference between it and absurd trifles. Hence we must take care, lest the pulling down of errors be followed by the overthrow of the building of faith. Farther, the Apostle, in ascribing to God the epithets true and living, indirectly censures idols as being dead and worthless inventions, and as being falsely called gods. He makes the end of conversion to be what I have noticed — that they might serve God. Hence the doctrine of the gospel tends to this, that it may induce us to serve and obey God. For so long as we are the servants of sin, we are free from righteousness, (Rom 6:20) inasmuch as we sport ourselves, and wander up and down, exempt from any yoke. No one, therefore, is properly converted to God, but the man who has learned to place himself wholly under subjection to him.
As, however, it is a thing that is more than simply difficult, in so great a corruption of our nature, he shews at the same time, what it is that retains and confirms us in the fear of God and obedience to him — waiting for Christ. For unless we are stirred up to the hope of eternal life, the world will quickly draw us to itself. For as it is only confidence in the Divine goodness that induces us to serve God, so it is only the expectation of final redemption that keeps us from giving way. (512) Let every one, therefore, that would persevere in a course of holy life, apply his whole mind to a expectation of Christ’s coming. It is also worthy of notice, that he uses the expression waiting for Christ, instead of the hope of everlasting salvation. For, unquestionably, without Christ we are ruined and thrown into despair, but when Christ shews himself, life and prosperity do at the same time shine forth upon us. (513) Let us bear in mind, however, that this is said to believers exclusively, for as for the wicked, as he will come to be their Judge, so they can do nothing but tremble in looking for him.
This is what he afterwards subjoins — that Christ delivereth us from the wrath to come. For this is felt by none but those who, being reconciled to God by faith, have conscience already pacified; otherwise, (514) his name is dreadful. Christ, it is true, delivered us by his death from the anger of God, but the import of that deliverance will become apparent on the last day. (515) This statement, however, consists of two departments. The first is, that the wrath of God and everlasting destruction are impending over the human race, inasmuch as all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) The second is, that there is no way of escape but through the grace of Christ; for it is not without good grounds that Paul assigns to him this office. It is, however, an inestimable gift, that the pious, whenever mention is made of judgment, know that Christ will come as a Redeemer to them.
In addition to this, he says emphatically, the wrath to come, that he may rouse up pious minds, lest they should fail from looking at the present life. For as faith is a looking at things that do not appear, (Heb 11:1) nothing is less befitting than that we should estimate the wrath of God, according as any one is afflicted in the world; as nothing is more absurd than to take hold of the transient blessings which we enjoy, that we may from them form an estimate of God’s favor. While, therefore, on the one hand, the wicked sport themselves at their ease, and we, on the other hand, languish in misery, let us learn to fear the vengeance of God, which is hid from the eyes of flesh, and take our satisfaction in the secret delights of the spiritual life. (516)
(510) “ Par laquelle Dieu auoit orné et magnifiquement authorizé son Euangile;” — “By which God had adorned and magnificently attested his gospel.”
(511) “ De toute religion;” — “Of all religion.”
(512) “ Que ne nous lassions et perdions courage;” — “That we do not give way and lose heart.”
(513) “ Jettent sur nous leurs rayons;” — “Cast upon us their rays.”
(514) “ Aux autres;” — “To others.”
(515) “ Mais’au dernier iour sera veu a l’oeil le fruit de ceste deliurance, et de quelle importance elle est;” — “But on the last day will be visible to the eye the fruit of that deliverance, and of what importance it is.”
(516) “ En delices et plaisirs de la vie spirituelle, lesquels nous ne voyons point;” — “In the delights and pleasures of the spiritual life which we do not see.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1Th. 1:9. What manner of entering in.In Acts 17 we have an account of how the Jews instigated men ever ready for a brawl to bring a charge of high treasonthe most likely way of giving the quietus to the disturbers of ancient traditions, Paul and Silas. To serve the living and true God.The Thessalonians had not been delivered from the bondage of fear that they might lead lives irresponsible. Get a new master, then be a new man.
1Th. 1:10. And to wait for His Son.The compound word for wait is only found here in the New Testament. The idea may be compared with our Lords figure of the bondservants waiting with lights and ready for service on their Lords return (Luk. 12:35-40). Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.R.V. delivereth. The wrath to come revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1:18) is the penalty threatened against sin persisted in.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Th. 1:9-10
Conversion and its Evidence.
A good work cannot be hid. Sooner or later it will manifest itself and become the general topic of a wide region. The successful worker meets with the fruit of his labours at times and places unexpected. Wherever the apostles went, the reputation of the newly founded Church had preceded them, and the varied features of the great change that had passed over the Thessalonians were eagerly discussed. We have here a description of conversion and its evidence.
I. The conversion of the Thessalonians.For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols (1Th. 1:9). You have watched a vessel lying at anchor in a tidal river with her bowsprit pointing seaward. After a brief interval you have observed the force of the incoming tide swing the vessel completely round, so that her head points in an exactly opposite direction. Not less apparent was the change among the Thessalonians when the flood-tide of gospel blessing entered the city. Conversion is a turning abouta change from sin to holiness, from unbelief to faith, from darkness to light, from Satan to God.
1. They turned from idols.For generations the majority of the members of this Church, with their forefathers, had been idolaters, walking as other Gentiles walked in the vanity of their mind, etc. (Eph. 4:17-18; Eph. 2:12). Any creature, real or imaginary, invested with divine properties is an idol. An angel, a saint, wealth, an idea, or any object to which we ascribe the omnipotence that belongs to God, becomes to us an idola false deity. An idol is also the true God falsely conceived. The Pantheist, mistaking the effect for the cause, regards the vast fabric of created things as God, and Nature, with her grand, silent motions, is the object of his idolatry. The sensualist, reluctant to believe in punishment for sin, exalts the boundlessness of divine mercy, and ignores the other perfections, without which there could be no true God. Idolatry is a sin against which the most faithful warnings have been uttered in all ages, and on account of which the most terrible judgments have been inflicted, yet it is the worship to which man is most prone.
2. They turned to God.The one God whom Paul preached as the God that made the world and all things therein; the living God, having life in Himself, and giving to all life and breath and all things; the true God, having in Himself the truth and substance of essential deity, in extreme contrast with an idol, which is nothing in the world. With shame and confusion of face as they thought of the past, with penitential sorrow, with confidence and hope, they turned to God from idols.
II. The evidence of their conversion.Seen:
1. In the object of their service. They serve the living and true God, serve Him in faithful obedience to every command, serve Him in the face of opposition and persecutionwith every faculty of soul, body, and estatein life, in suffering, in death. This is a free, loving service. The idolater is enslaved by his own passions and the iron bands of custom. His worship is mechanical, without heart and without intelligence. The service acceptable to God is the full, spontaneous, pure outflow of a loving and believing heart. It is an ennobling service. Man becomes like what he worships; and as the object of his worship is often the creation of his own depraved mind, he is debased to the level of his own gross, polluted ideas. Idolatry is the corrupt human heart feeding upon and propagating its own ever-growing corruptions. The service of God lifts man to the loftiest moral pinnacle and transfigures him with the resplendent qualities of the Being he adores and serves. It is a rewardable service. It brings rest to the world-troubled spirit, fills with abiding happiness in the present life, and provides endless felicity in the futureresults idolatry can never produce.
2. Seen in the subject of their hope.And to wait for His Son (1Th. 1:10).
(1) Their hope was fixed on Christ as a Saviour. Even Jesus, who delivereth us from the coming wrath. Terrible will be the revelation of that wrath to the impenitent and unbelieving. As soon as one wave of vengeance breaks another will follow, and behind that another and another interminably, so that it will ever be the wrath to come! From this Jesus delivers even now.
(2) Their hope was fixed on Christ as risen. Whom He raised from the dead. They waited for and trusted in no dead Saviour, but One who, by His resurrection from the dead, was powerfully declared to be indeed the Son of God.
(3) Their hope was fixed on Christ as coming again. To wait for His Son from heaven. There is a confusing variety of opinions as to the character of Christs second advent; as to the certainty of it nothing is more plainly revealed. The exact period of the second coming is veiled in obscurity and uncertainty; but it is an evidence of conversion to be ever waiting for and preparing for that coming as if there were a perpetual possibility of an immediate manifestation. The uncertainty of the time has its use in fostering a spirit of earnest and reverential inquiry, of watchfulness, of hope, of fidelity.
Lessons.
1. Conversion is a radical change.
2. Conversion is a change conscious to the individual and evident to others.
3. The gospel is the divinely appointed agency in conversion.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Th. 1:9-10. The Change effected by the Gospel
I.
In religious belief.
II.
In corresponding conduct.
III.
In the hope cherished.
1. Of the second coming of Christ.
2. Proved by His resurrection from the dead.
3. The object of His second coming to deliver from wrath.
4. The spirit of earnest but patient waiting induced.
1Th. 1:10. The Christian waiting for his Deliverer
I. Implies a firm belief in Christs second coming.
II. Habitually endeavouring to be prepared for His second coming.
III. Earnestly desiring it.
IV. Patiently waiting for it.Bradley.
The Wrath to come.
I. It is divine wrath.
II. Unmingled wrath.Judgment without mercy; justice without the least mixture of goodness.
III. Provoked wrath.
IV. Accumulated wrath.A wrath we have inflamed and increased by every act of sin we have committed.
V. Future wrath.The wrath to come; lasting as the holiness of the Being who inflicts and the guilt of the sinners who endure it.
VI. Deliverance from wrath.
1. Undeserved.
2. Complete.
3. Eternal.Ibid.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Text (1Th. 1:9)
9 For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
Translation and Paraphrase
9.
For they themselves (the people in every place) report (to us when we talk to them,) concerning us (telling us about) what (a wonderful) sort of entering in we had unto you (when we came to Thessalonica to preach), and how that you (so completely) turned to God from idols, (determined) to serve (yes, even be slaves of) a living and true God.
Notes (1Th. 1:9)
1.
News about a genuine conversion is quickly known far and wide. Paul found himself hearing reports from many people about how the Thessalonians had turned to God. As travellers came into Corinth from various places, many of them told how they had heard about the Thessalonians, and how Paul had had such a successful entry into Thessalonica, and how that so many of them had turned from idols to the true and living God. The Thessalonians had really placed their light on a candlestick for all to see. Mat. 5:15. They were a church to be thankful for.
2.
The discussion of the manner of Pauls entering in unto the Thessalonians is taken up in detail beginning at 1Th. 2:1. The word translated entrance in 1Th. 2:1 (eisodos) is the same word translated here as entering in.
3.
Act. 14:15 gives an example of how Paul urged the Gentiles to turn from idols: We . . . preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God. It will not do to put up a picture of Christ on an idol shelf along with the statue of Buddha. People must turn FROM idols to serve God acceptably.
4.
The verb turned is in the aorist tense, indicating completed, punctilliar, point action. They did not half turn. They turned once for all from idols.
5.
They turned from idols to serve the living God. The verb translated serve (douleuo) means to be slaves (or bondservants) of. Paul frequently referred to himself as the servant or slave of Christ. See Rom. 1:1. The unavoidable truth is that ALL people are going to be bondservants of someone, either of sin, or of the Lord. Rom. 6:16; Joh. 8:34. However, sin is so deceptive that men can be slaves to it, and think they are completely free and emancipated. This is the devils method of enslaving people.
6.
The expression, living and true God, is a Hebrew way of describing God, and is gloriously correct. Jesus himself spoke of His Father in a similar manner when He said, That they . . . might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. Joh. 17:3.
7.
The fact that the Thessalonians had so generally turned from idols shows that it was predominantly a Gentile church, as Act. 17:4 also indicates.
8.
It is a fact that a person becomes like what he worships. The idol worshippers reflect on their faces the likeness (often the sadness) of their gods. The worshippers of the living God show by radiant joy that their God is REAL. They looked unto him, and were radiant; and their faces shall never be confounded. Psa. 34:5; American Standard Ver.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) They themselvesi.e., the inhabitants of those countries. Wherever we go we find our own story told us.
Shew.Rather, announce. Both sides of the story are told: (1) of uswhat kind of entry we made among you, explained in 1Th. 2:1-12 to mean with the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness (Psa. 45:5); (2) of youhow truly converted you were, as he proceeds to show further in 1Th. 2:13 to 1Th. 3:13.
Living and true God.In contrast to the lifeless and false idols. The Thessalonians had been Gentiles, Perhaps St. Paul was thinking of his own speech on Mars Hill, which had been recently uttered.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. They themselves The above anticipators, implied but not expressed.
Manner of entering More fully depicted in 1Th 2:1-2.
From idols From the fabled Jove to the divine Jehovah.
Living and true In contrast to the idols, which were lifeless and false.
‘For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the coming wrath.’
Everywhere Christians were talking about what had happened to the Thessalonians through the preaching of Paul and Silas, and with what powerful effect (in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance) they had proclaimed the Good News in Thessalonika. For they saw these Thessalonians transformed. They had become completely different people. They no longer partook in idolatrous worship but looked only to the living God, and were now totally involved in serving Him and looking for the return of Christ, the deliverer from coming judgment and wrath.
Note the threefold picture. ‘Turned to God from idols (a work of faith), to serve the living and true God (a labour of love) and to wait for His Son from the heavens (the patient endurance of hope).’ Note also that the turning was immediate and once for all (aorist tense) but the serving and the waiting was continual (present tense).
The picture is vibrant. This was no passive conversion but an active turning to God. Idols were thrust aside in their positive turning to God. All that had previously controlled their lives was done away with. The fact that they did this demonstrates that the converts were far more than the Jews and God-fearers mentioned in Acts. These were men who had still been deeply involved in idolatry, but on hearing the message of the Gospel had ‘seen’ the living and true God and had thrust their idols aside so that they might serve Him and wait for His Son from Heaven. The contrast is clear. Their new faith was in a living God, not in lifeless idols, it was in One Who was true rather than in mythological beings who themselves told lies, it resulted in active service on His behalf and it involved a positive expectancy of a face to face encounter with the coming One, Who had Himself conquered death and would deliver them from coming judgment.
‘To wait for His Son from heaven (the heavens, a plural of intensity), Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus Who delivers us from the wrath to come.’ This emphasis on the eschatological return of Christ will be amplified later in the letter. Paul had taught the Thessalonians that He Who had been raised from the dead according to his Gospel (2Ti 2:8 compare 1 Corinthians 15) was coming again as the heavenly Deliverer from coming judgment. Thus they now awaited His coming with joyful anticipation.
The expectation of Christ’s return is especially prominent in this letter, see 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13 ; 1Th 4:13-17; 1Th 5:1-11; 1Th 5:23. It was an especially important doctrine when tribulation and persecution was rife as the Book of Revelation indicates.
‘Whom He raised from the dead.’ This coming One was a proof of the new life that was available to those who believed, for He Himself had been raised from the dead and would come in that resurrected life. He was the guarantee of their future resurrected life (1Th 4:14; 1Co 15:20-24). This positive view of life beyond death was in direct contrast to the gloomy views held by many of some kind of amorphous life beyond the grave.
‘Even Jesus Who delivers us (is delivering us) from the coming wrath.’ The process of deliverance has already begun and will find itself completed at His coming (Eph 5:27). He is delivering from ‘the coming wrath’, a phrase that covers all views and aspects of the coming judgment of men revealed in the Old Testament. The present tense forbids us seeing this as simply referring to some particular aspect of the wrath of God. He is the One who delivers from wrath in all its aspects. This ‘wrath’ is not some anger of a God unable to control His feelings, but the deserved and controlled judgmental attitude of a righteous and holy God when faced with man’s sinfulness. For right to prevail sin must be fully punished, and all that is sinful done away with. This dealing with sin is not optional but demanded. Impenitent sinners cannot be forgiven for they would simply go on in their sins, and the whole sad story of history would begin again.
Notice the active involvement of God in all this. He is the living God, He raised Jesus, His Son, from the dead, His Son will come from Heaven, He will one day deal with impenitent man in wrath, and through His Son is delivering those who are penitent. All is in His hands. No greater contrast with idolatry can be found.
1Th 1:9. For they themselves shew of us “For even our enemies, as well as the Christians, can tell, and do speak of it, not without wonder and astonishment, what uncommon gifts we ourselves had, and communicated unto you, and what a hearty reception we met with on our first arrival.”
1Th 1:9 . ] not: sponte , , of themselves (Pelt), but emphatically opposed to the preceding : not we, nay they themselves , that is, according to the well-known constructio ad sensum (comp. Gal 2:2 ): . See Bernhardy, Syntax , p. 288; Winer, p. 137 [E. T. 181]. Beza erroneously (though undecidedly) refers to (1Th 1:7 ).
] is not equivalent to , in our stead (Koppe), but means: concerning us, de nobis ; and, indeed, is the general introductory object of , which is afterwards more definitely expressed by . . .
, however, refers not only to the apostle and his assistants, but also to the Thessalonians , because otherwise in relation to would be inappropriate. This twofold nature of the subject may be already contained in (1Th 1:8 ); as, on the one hand, the producing of by the labours of the apostle is expressed, and, on the other hand, its acceptance on the part of the Thessalonians.
] what sort of entrance we had to you , namely, with the preaching of the gospel, i.e. (comp. 1Th 1:5 ) with what power and fulness of the Holy Spirit, with what inward conviction and contempt of external dangers (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact erroneously limit to danger), we preached the gospel to you. Most understand (led astray by the German Eingang ) of the friendly reception, which Paul and his companions found among the Thessalonians (indeed, according to Pelt, in itself without denotes facilem aditum); and accordingly some (Schott, Hofmann) think of the eager reception of the gospel, or of its entrance into the hearts of the Thessalonians (Olshausen). The first view is against linguistic usage , as can only have an active sense, can only denote the coming to one, the entrance (comp. 1Th 2:1 ); as also in the classics is particularly used of the entrance of the chorus into the orchestra (comp. Passow on the word). The latter view is against the context , as in . . . the effect of the apostle’s preaching is first referred to.
] how , that is, how joyfully and energetically.
] to turn from the false way to the true.
] to be converted to God: a well-known biblical figure. It can also denote to return to God; for although this is spoken of those who once were Gentiles, yet their idolatry was only an apostasy from God (comp. Rom 1:19 ff.).
] the infinitive of design. See Winer, p. 298 [E. T. 408].
] the living God (comp. , 2Ki 19:4 ; 2Ki 19:16 , and Act 14:15 ), in contrast to dead idols (Hab 2:19 ).
] true, real (comp. , 2Ch 15:3 ; Joh 17:3 ; 1Jn 5:20 ), in contrast to idols, which are vain and unreal. The design intended by contains as yet nothing specifically Christian; it is rather consecrated to the living and true God, common to Christians and Jews. The specific Christian mark, that which distinguishes Christians also from Jews, is added in what immediately follows.
DISCOURSE: 2193 1Th 1:9-10. They themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
ST. PAUL delighted in bestowing commendation wherever it was due. When writing to the Church at Rome, he told them that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world [Note: Rom 1:8.]; and here he tells his Thessalonian converts, that their faith was so celebrated, that he heard of it wherever he went; insomuch that in every place he was anticipated in his commendations of them, the extraordinary effects of his ministry among them being in all the Churches a general topic of conversation. The particular effects which had been produced he here specifies: and, in considering them, we shall be led to shew,
I.
What is the great end and object of our ministrations
Ministers are ambassadors from God to man: they are sent with tidings of mercy to a rebellious world: but they are sent also to effect a moral change in the hearts and lives of all who receive their message. They are sent to bring men,
1.
To serve and obey their God
[Even Christians, till converted by the Spirit of God, are universally addicted to idolatry. They do not indeed, like the heathen world, bow down to stocks and stones; but they love and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, possess the supreme place in their affections, and are sought after in preference to God To turn men from these vanities, and to bring them to their God, is the end for which every minister is sent, and at which he should continually aim. And this, we trust, is the object which, in all our addresses, we have in view. Yes, we would bring you to serve the living God, who alone is worthy of your regard; for he alone has life in himself; and he alone can confer life on his devoted servants. But it is not a mere formal service to which we would bring you, but a total surrender of all your faculties and powers to him. This is your reasonable service. There is none but God that has any claim upon you. What has the world done for you? or what can it ever do? To whom, or to what, are ye debtors, that ye should consult their wishes, or obey their will? But God has created you, yea, and has redeemed you by the blood of his only dear Son. Ye are therefore in no sense, and in no degree, your own: your bodies, and your spirits, are altogether his; and with them ye must glorify your God alone [Note: 1Co 6:19-20.].]
2.
To wait for the second coming of their Lord from heaven
[He who once came down from heaven to suffer for us, and by his own obedience unto death hath delivered us from the wrath to come, has been raised up from the dead, and is now exalted to the right hand of God, that he may carry on and perfect the work he has begun. And he will once more come down from heaven to gather together his elect, and to raise them to the fruition of that glory which he has purchased for them. To wait in joyful expectation of that period is the privilege of all his people: and to bring you to such a state of mind is to be the incessant labour of his ministers. We are not to be satisfied with seeing you born to God; but, as loving parents, we are to nourish you in our bosom; that under our fostering care ye may grow to the full measure of the stature of Christ. This waiting posture, this constant readiness for the coming of your Lord, is one of the highest gifts to which any man can attain [Note: 1Co 1:7.]. We speak not now of persons waiting, like criminals, for the arrival of their Judge; (that is a state from which it is the Christians privilege to be delivered;) but of their waiting as servants for the coming of their Lord. The diligence of servants is prompted, not by fear, but love; and they feel assured of the approbation of their master, when he shall find every thing done, though not with absolute perfection, yet in all material points agreeably to his will. Thus we would have you with your loins continually girt, and your lamps burning with undiminished splendour [Note: Luk 12:35-38.]. But perhaps we may give a yet juster view of the state to which we would wish to bring you, if we compare you to a bride preparing herself for the arrival of her bridegroom. Such should be the holy, longing desire which you should feel after the coming of your Lord [Note: 2Pe 3:12. with Tit 2:13.]: and to assist you in this preparation, that eventually we may present you to him in a state of complete readiness, is the blessed service which we have to perform [Note: Rev 19:7. 2Co 11:2.].]
Such is the office of those to whom the cure of souls is assigned: and corresponding with it is,
II.
The duty of those to whom we minister
As we must not seek to please men, but to edify them, so they must not be satisfied with reaping mere instruction, but must determine,
1.
To yield themselves up to the full influence of our labours
[In coming to the house of God, all persons should resemble Cornelius and his friends, when Peter came to minister unto them: Now are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God [Note: Act 10:33.]. There should be no disposition to cavil at what they hear, or to sit in judgment on the preacher, but a real desire to learn the will of God, and a full determination through grace to do it. If the minister endeavour to probe the conscience, they should welcome the salutary wound, and cry unto the Lord, Search me, O God, and try the ground of my heart! If he be endeavouring rather to bind up the broken spirit, they should thankfully embrace the gracious promises of the Gospel, as those who most need the blessings which it offers. If, on the other hand, he be denouncing the terrors of the Lord, they should humble themselves before God in dust and ashes, if peradventure they may be lifted up in due time. And lastly, if he be expatiating on any duty, they should set themselves, like racers in a course, to run with ardour and with patience the race that is set before them. Whoever it be that speaks, and whatever it be that is spoken, provided only it be agreeable to the standard of truth, they should receive it, as the Thessalonians did, not as the word of man, but as the word of God [Note: 1Th 2:13.]. The whole assembly of you should come to the ordinances as to a banquet prepared of the Lord; or as the sick and diseased came to our Lord in the days of his flesh, each feeling his own malady, and determined, if possible, to obtain a cure: however difficult it may be to gain access to him, you should press through the crowd, as it were, to touch but the hem of his garment; or seek to be let through the tiling of the house, so that you may by any means find admittance into his presence, and obtain the blessings which you stand in need of. In a word, Christians should be satisfied with nothing short of a perfect conformity to the Divine will; and should come to the house of God with hearts so melted, as easily to be poured into the mould of the Gospel, and permanently to retain the very image of their God.]
2.
To display the efficacy of them in the sight of all men
[The Thessalonians were ensamples, not to the world only, but to believers also, and that throughout all the regions of Macedonia and Achaia. This is what we also should endeavour to be: we should shine as lights in the world, and in every situation and relation of life we should so make our light to shine before men, that all who see us may glorify our Father which is in heaven. We should bear in mind, that the honour of God is greatly affected by our conduct; and that our fellow-creatures also may either be won by our good conversation, or be eternally ruined by our misconduct. We should, from these considerations, take especial care never to lay a stumbling-block in the way of others; but so to walk, that we may be able to say unto all around us, Whatsoever ye have seen and heard in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you. Thus we should shew to all what manner of entrance the Gospel has had amongst us, and what are its genuine effects: and thus putting to silence the ignorance of foolish men, we should constrain them to acknowledge, that the doctrines we profess are holy, and that God is with us of a truth.]
We conclude with one or two inquiries: What entrance has the Gospel had amongst us?
[Has it so wrought, as to attract the attention, yea, and excite the admiration also, of all around us? Alas! in how many has it produced no change at all! and in how many a change in profession only, or in external conduct, whilst the heart is as worldly, and the temper as unsubdued, as ever! Look to it, brethren, that ye do not thus receive the grace of God in vain: for if the Gospel be not unto you a savour of life unto life, it will be a savour of death, to your more aggravated condemnation.]
2.
How may it be rendered more effectual for our good?
[Search what it is that has hitherto obstructed the operation of the word upon your souls. Some are careless and inattentive, so that the word never enters into their hearts; in others, the word takes not any deep root; whilst in others its growth is hindered by the lusts and cares which grow up together with it. All these therefore must be rooted out, that the good seed may prosper and increase. But there is yet another evil, which renders the most faithful ministry unavailing for the good of many: I refer to that pride and conceit which so inflate the hearts of many, and render the Gospel itself odious in the world. This must be mortified; and a childlike spirit be cultivated in the midst of us. The meek will God guide in judgment; the meek he will teach his way.]
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
Ver. 9. What manner of entering in, &c. ] The pastor hath his part and share in the people’s commendation. If they grow famous, he cannot lie obscured.
Ye turned to God from idols ] They gave not the half turn only from east to south, but the whole turn, from the east to west, from idols to God, Hos 6:4 . Ephraim shall say, “What have I to do any more with idols?” Hos 14:8 ; those Balaam blocks, those mawmets and monuments of idolatry, those images of jealousy? Ephraim is now no longer as a cake half-baked, as a speckled bird, Jer 12:9 . Better be a Papist than an atheist, a gross idolater than a profligate professor, a carnal gospeller.
9 .] , the people . . ., . : see reff., and Bernhardy, p. 288.
] concerning US, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus; not as Ln., ‘ us both ,’ including the Thessalonians. This he does, to square the following clauses, which otherwise are not correspondent: but there are two objections to his view: (1) the emphatic position of , which seems to necessitate its keeping its strict meaning: (2) that it would in this case have been much more naturally than , as the second person has prevailed throughout, and our to you was quite as much a matter happening to you as to us. That , should be abbreviated as we find it, will surely not surprise any one familiar with the irregularities, in point of symmetry, of St. Paul’s style.
The here correspond to the two members of the above proof, 1Th 1:5-6 . has no reference to danger , as Chrys., al. merely access , in the way of coming to them : see ch. 1Th 2:1 ; not of itself facilis aditus , as Pelt. , merely how that , introducing matter of fact, not ‘ how ,’ ‘in what manner,’ how joyfully and energetically, as Lnem.: if so, the long specification ( ), which follows the (thus) unemphatic verb, drags wearily: whereas, regarded as indicating matter of fact only, the is unemphatic, and the matter of fact itself, carrying the emphasis, justifies the full statement which is made of it.
. ] , . , . Thdrt.
1Th 1:9 . The positive and negative aspects of faith: “Videndum est ut ruinam errorum sequatur aedificium fidei” (Calvin). = “real” as opposed to false in the sense of “counterfeit”. , as opposed to dead idols (see above, p. 5) impotent to help their worshippers. Elsewhere the phrase ( cf. 1Ti 3:15 ; Heb 3:12 ) “implies a contrast with the true God made practically a dead deity by a lifeless and rigid form of religion” (Hort, Christian Ecclesia , 173). Nothing brings home the reality of God ( i.e. , as Father, 1Th 1:1-3 ) to the Christian at first so much as the experience of forgiveness.
shew = report.
of. App-104.
entering in. Greek. eisodos. See Act 13:24.
unto. App-104.
to. Same as “unto”, above.
idols. This shows that these converts were mainly Gentiles. The Jews were bitterly hostile. Act 17:4-6, Act 17:13.
serve. App-190.
the = a.
true. App-175.
9.] , the people . . ., . : see reff., and Bernhardy, p. 288.
] concerning US, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus; not as Ln., us both, including the Thessalonians. This he does, to square the following clauses, which otherwise are not correspondent: but there are two objections to his view: (1) the emphatic position of , which seems to necessitate its keeping its strict meaning: (2) that it would in this case have been much more naturally than , as the second person has prevailed throughout, and our to you was quite as much a matter happening to you as to us. That , should be abbreviated as we find it, will surely not surprise any one familiar with the irregularities, in point of symmetry, of St. Pauls style.
The here correspond to the two members of the above proof, 1Th 1:5-6. has no reference to danger, as Chrys., al. merely access, in the way of coming to them: see ch. 1Th 2:1; not of itself facilis aditus, as Pelt. , merely how that, introducing matter of fact,-not how, in what manner, how joyfully and energetically, as Lnem.: if so, the long specification ( ), which follows the (thus) unemphatic verb, drags wearily: whereas, regarded as indicating matter of fact only, the is unemphatic, and the matter of fact itself, carrying the emphasis, justifies the full statement which is made of it.
. ] , . , . Thdrt.
1Th 1:9. , concerning us) both teachers and believers [both us who taught, and you who believed].- , to serve God) The Thessalonians are thus distinguished from the Gentiles; so also from the Jews, in the following verse.- and true) This denotes the truth of [His] nature.
1Th 1:9
For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols,-The facts concerning the conversion of the Thessalonians were well known throughout the regions in which he traveled. They were acquainted not only with the fact that Paul had preached in Thessalonica, but also with the results of his preaching. The results had been greater among the Gentiles than among the Jewish population. Luke says: “Some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. (Act 17:4.) They were to turn to God from whatever kept them from him, to turn because they believed in him and loved him, and meant to listen, study, and obey him in conversion. Conversion implies faith in God through Christ, and repentance is turning away from sin. The intention with which they turned to God is described, in which the two grand features of the Christian life are signalized.
to serve-To serve God is a comprehensive expression including the various thoughts, feelings, and acts whereby a godly person seeks to please God.
a living and true God,-The God to whom they had now turned is living and real. Jesus said: And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. (Joh 17:3.) True means real, genuine, as opposed to that which is pretended, which has no real existence.
how ye turned
The tenses of the believer’s life here indicated are logical and give the true order. They occur also in 1Th 1:3. The “work of faith” is to “turn to God from idols” (cf) Joh 6:28; Joh 6:29 the “labour of love” is to “serve the living and true God”; and the “patience of hope” is to “wait for his Son from heaven” (cf); Mat 24:42; Mat 25:13; Luk 12:36-48; Act 1:11; Php 3:20; Php 3:21. Paul repeats this threefold sequence in Tit 2:11-13.
what: 1Th 1:5, 1Th 1:6, 1Th 2:1, 1Th 2:13
ye: Isa 2:17-21, Jer 16:19, Zep 2:11, Zec 8:20-23, Mal 1:11, Act 14:15, Act 26:17, Act 26:18, 1Co 12:2, Gal 4:8, Gal 4:9
the living: Deu 5:26, 1Sa 17:26, 1Sa 17:36, Psa 42:2, Psa 84:2, Isa 37:4, Isa 37:17, Jer 10:10, Dan 6:26, Hos 1:10, Rom 9:26, 2Co 6:16, 2Co 6:17, 1Ti 4:10, Heb 12:22, Rev 17:2
Reciprocal: Gen 4:16 – went Num 23:23 – What hath Jos 3:10 – living Rth 1:16 – thy God 2Ki 5:17 – will henceforth 2Ch 15:3 – true God Psa 22:27 – turn Isa 8:19 – for the living Isa 45:14 – Surely Isa 56:6 – join Jer 23:22 – then Jer 23:36 – of the Hos 2:23 – Thou art my God Hos 14:8 – What Mal 2:6 – and did Mal 3:18 – between him Mat 16:16 – the living Joh 6:57 – the living Joh 17:3 – the only Act 9:35 – turned Act 11:21 – turned Act 15:19 – turned Act 19:26 – that not Act 20:19 – Serving Act 26:20 – turn Rom 1:8 – that your Rom 1:13 – even Rom 1:25 – the truth Rom 16:19 – obedience 2Co 3:3 – the living Phi 1:13 – in all other places 1Ti 3:15 – the living 1Ti 6:17 – the living Heb 3:12 – the Heb 9:14 – to serve Rev 7:2 – living Rev 15:7 – who
WAITING FOR THE SON FROM HEAVEN
Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead.
1Th 1:9-10
These conditions marked the life of those to whom the Apostle wrote:
(a) The turning from idols.
(b) The service of the living and true God.
(c) The waiting for the Son from heaven as they who expect the return of a King.
Are these conditions graven deeply into the life of the people of this land; do they hold an acknowledged sway over the hearts of young and old, rich and poor? Or shall we saymaking every allowance for great and blessed exceptionsthat shallowness in religion, a tendency to presume upon the patience of God are among the foremost of the characteristics of our time?
I. To wait for His Son from heaven.Momentary expectation, and calm and patient preparation, marked that waiting in days of old. The faces once upturned on Olivet must often have scanned the sky to see if there were any signs of the return of Him of Whom it was said, He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. The early Christians lived as the servants of One Whose coming, if promised at no moment, was possible at any, as those whose existence pledged them to prepare both themselves and those around them for the return of a King, Whose kingdom on earth should show some marks of preparedness to anticipate and welcome His coming.
II. And so into the heathen debauchery and iniquity around them these men strove to carry the ennobling message of the liberty of Christ. Into the Christian wickedness and darkness around us, too, we must carry that same message, if we would be faithful soldiers of the Cross of Christ. And can the need be exaggerated; can the horrors be too deeply painted; can the inarticulate cries for help be too strongly accentuated? There is much to be seen now that ought to make us hopeful and most thankful.
And yet the need is great and terrible and pressing, in regard to the social evils of our time.
III. What are we doing in these matters?We too often look out helplessly over masses. God individualises. We say, We, what can we do? God says, Thouwhat art thou doing? Art thou using thy Christian liberty, and by precept and example seeking to gladden the lives of others with the message which has made thy life free with the yoke of Christ? For Christian liberty is not license to live to ourselves, but power to live unto God. There is nothing that will unite conflicting interests, that will join heart to heart, that will knit together class and class like common work for Godlike mutual, helpful preparation, as we wait for the return of the Son from heaven, turning to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
IV. In such a preparation heaven and earth meet.As we lift up our hands to the work, other hands there are which seem to meet and clasp our own. Lift up your eyes to heaven, and mark the preparations ever going forward there when you are tempted to despond. There,midst the increasing activities that surround the throne of God; there, where arises the deathless song of praise; there, until the fulness of time shall have come, goes forward ever the gathering preparations for the triumphant return of Christ, the King of kings. Within the veil He represents, He pleads, He intercedes. O lift up your eyes unto the hills, whence cometh your help, ye lowly followers of Godye who, in a strength which is not your own, and drawn by the strange attraction of the Cross, are seeking to keep both your own heart, whence are the issues of life and death, and diligently to tend that part of the vineyard which the Lord hath committed to your charge. It is the very work of Christ which is laid upon you. It must burden your heart and tax your energies, and make itself felt in your life. Fear not this; he who follows Christ must bear a cross, and he who bears a cross will find it mark his shoulders. Yet if your cause be Christs, it is the one which has writ large upon it the promise and potency of ultimate and assured success. Unite then yet more perfectly your waiting for the Son from heaven with His Who now waits within the veil; and let the same mark of active and unwearying preparation, of large sympathy, of unfailing love, of unwearied patience that characterise all Christs work, also distinguish in their measure your earnest efforts in the Masters cause.
Bishop E. R. Wilberforce.
1Th 1:9. Manner of entering in is the same as “manner of men” in verse 5, and the meaning is that the teaching and conduct of Paul’s group was reflected by the brethren in different places. This reflection did not consist in indefinite compliments only, but they specified some of the good things that resulted from their example. Among them was their conversion from idolatry (the Macedonians being Gentiles and worshipers of idols) to the worship of the true God. He was living and not made of wood or stone.
1Th 1:9 G846 G1063 FOR THEMSELVES G4012 CONCERNING G2257 US G518 [G5719] RELATE G3697 WHAT G1529 ENTRANCE IN G2192 [G5719] WE HAVE G4314 TO G5209 YOU, G2532 AND G4459 HOW G1994 [G5656] YE TURNED G4314 G3588 TO G2316 GOD G575 G3588 FROM G1497 IDOLS, G1398 [G5721] TO SERVE G2316 A GOD G2198 [G5723] LIVING G2532 AND G228 TRUE,
1Th 1:9. For they themselves, i.e. the inhabitants of the various places he visited, and who might have been expected to be unacquainted with Paul and his mission and past career; these persons to whom he intended to introduce himself, themselves related to him his ministry and mode of life in Thessalonica, and its success.
What manner of entering in. The circumstances in which the Gospel had been preached to them, the character of the preaching, and the reception given to it.
How ye turned to God from idols. They were acquainted not only with the fact that Paul had preached in Thessalonica, but also with the results of his preaching. The effect had been greater among the Gentile than among the Jewish population (Act 17:4). To turn to God from whatever has kept as from Him, to turn because we believe in Him and love Him, and mean to listen to, study, and obey Him, this is conversion. Conversion implies repentance, i.e. turning away from sin; and faith, i.e. turning to God in Christ. The intention, more or less conscious, with which the Thessalonians turned to God, is described in the following words, in which the two grand features of their Christian life are signalized: to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. To serve God is a comprehensive expression including the various acts, thoughts, and feelings, whereby a godly person seeks to please God.
Living and true, in contrast to the idols which are nothing in the world (1Co 8:4), and are by nature no gods (Gal 4:8).
Things Reported About Them
Christ promised He would return again. The angels confirmed that promise at the time of His ascension ( Joh 14:1-3 ; Act 1:11 ). New Testament Christians should live in expectant hope of that coming ( 1Co 16:22 ; Rev 22:20 ). The exact time of that coming is unknown, so Christians should live in a state of constant preparedness ( Mat 25:36-42 ; Mat 25:13 ; 2Pe 3:9-14 ). Christ’s resurrection from the dead is clear proof that he is the Son of God. Such a demonstration of power leaves no doubt concerning His ability to come again to receive His disciples, as He promised, as well as save them from God’s wrath against sinful men ( 1Th 1:9-10 ; Eph 5:6 ; Rom 1:18 ; Rom 1:32 ; Rom 2:6-9 ).
For they themselves [those to whom Paul came] report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
Verse 9
What manner of entering in we had, &c.; that is, what was the effect of our labors. The meaning is, that although Paul had been violently driven away from Thessalonica, so that he had no opportunity personally to witness the fruits of his labor, still the successful results which followed, had been fully made known to him by general report.
1:9 For {d} they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, {5} and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
(d) All the believers.
(5) It is no true conversion to forsake idols, unless a man in addition worships the true and living God in Christ the only Redeemer.
Other people were telling Paul how effective his readers had become at spreading the gospel since they had heard it from him. They reported how the Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the only divine and true God (cf. Tit 2:11-13). This was the evidence of their faith and love (1Th 1:3). [Note: For a good explanation of the relationship between repentance and faith, see Charles C. Ryrie, So Great Salvation, pp. 91-100.] This reference indicates a sizable Gentile population in the church since idolatry was a Gentile vice. There were evidently two types of Gentiles in the Thessalonian church: pagan Gentiles who had been idolaters and God-fearing Gentiles (cf. Act 17:4).
"The language of separation occurs with regularity in the Thessalonian correspondence (1Th 1:9; 1Th 4:5; 1Th 4:7; 1Th 4:12-13; 1Th 5:5 f.; 2Th 1:7 f.; 2Th 2:11 f.; 2Th 3:6; 2Th 3:14 f.) and serves in a negative way to mark the boundary between those who belong to the Christian community and those who do not, thereby encouraging the new Christian identity. Similarly, the language of belonging is also prominent in the Thessalonian correspondence (1Th 1:4; 1Th 2:12; 1Th 5:5; 2Th 1:11-12; 2Th 2:6 [sic], 2Th 2:13-15;2Th 3:16)." [Note: Wanamaker, p. 16.]
Paul’s description of God as living does not simply mean that He is alive; it means that He is also active. He is the true (genuine, Gr. alethinos) God as opposed to false, unreal gods.
Chapter 4
CONVERSION
1Th 1:9-10 (R.V.)
THESE verses show what an impression had been made in other places by the success of the gospel at Thessalonica. Wherever Paul went, he heard it spoken about. In every place men were familiar with all its circumstances; they had heard of the power and assurance of the missionaries, and of the conversion of their hearers from heathenism to Christianity. It is this conversion which is the subject before us. It has two parts or stages. There is first, the conversion from idols to the one living and true God; and then the distinctively Christian stage of waiting for the Son of God from heaven. Let us look at these in order.
The Apostle, so far as we can make out, judged the religions of heathenism with great severity. He knew that God never left Himself without a witness in the world, but Gods testimony to Himself had been perverted or ignored. Ever since the creation of the world, His everlasting power and divinity might be seen by the things He had made; His law was written on conscience; rain from heaven and fruitful seasons proved His good and faithful providence; yet men were practically ignorant of Him. They were not willing, in fact, to retain Him in their knowledge; they were not obedient; they were not thankful; when they professed religion at all, they made gods after their own image, and worshipped them. They bowed before idols; and an idol, says Paul, is nothing in the world. In the whole system of pagan religion the Apostle saw nothing but ignorance and sin; it was the outcome, in part, of mans enmity to God; in part, of Gods judicial abandonment of men; in part, of the activity of evil spirits; it was a path on which no progress could be made; instead of pursuing it farther, those who wished really to make spiritual advance must abandon it altogether.
It is possible to state a better case than this for the religion of the ancient world; but the Apostle was in close and continuous contact with the facts, and it will take a great deal of theorising to reverse the verdict of a conscience like his on the whole question. Those who wish to put the best face upon the matter, and to rate the spiritual worth of paganism as high as may be, lay stress on the ideal character of the so-called idols, and ask whether the mere conception of Zeus, or Apollo, or Athene, is not a spiritual achievement of a high order. Let it be ever so high, and still, from the Apostles ground, Zeus, Apollo, and Athene are dead idols. They have no life but that which is conferred upon them by their worshippers. They can never assert themselves in action, bestowing life or salvation on those who honour them. They can never be what the Living God was to every man of Jewish birth-Creator, Judge, King, and Saviour; a personal and moral power to whom men are accountable at every moment, for every free act.
“Ye turned unto God from. idols, to serve a living and true God.” We cannot overestimate the greatness of this change. Until we understand the unity of God, we can have no true idea of His character, and therefore no true idea of our own relation to Him. It was the plurality of deities, as much as anything, which made heathenism morally worthless. Where there is a multitude of gods, the real power in the world, the final reality, is not found in any of them; but in a fate of some sort which lies behind them all. There can be no moral relation of man to this blank necessity; nor, while it exists, any stable relation of man to his so-called gods. No Greek or Roman could take in the idea of “serving” a God. The attendants or priests in a temple were in an official sense the deitys ministers; but the thought which is expressed in this passage, of serving a living and true God by a life of obedience to His will, a thought which is so natural and inevitable to either a Jew or a Christian, that without it we could not so much as conceive religion-that thought was quite beyond a pagans comprehension. There was no room for it in his religion; his conception of the gods did not admit of it. If life was to be a moral service rendered to God, it must be to a God quite different from any to whom he was introduced by his ancestral worship. That is the final condemnation of heathenism; the final proof of its falsehood as a religion.
There is something as deep and strong as it is simple in the words, to serve the living and true God. Philosophers have defined God as the ens realissimum, the most real of beings, the absolute reality; and it is this, with the added idea of personality, that is conveyed by the description “living and true.” But does God sustain this character in the minds even of those who habitually worship Him? Is it not the case that the things which are nearest to our hand seem to be possessed of most life and reality, while God is by comparison very unreal, a remote inference from something which is immediately certain? If that is so, it will be very difficult for us to serve Him. The law of our life will not be found in His will, but in our own desires, or in the customs of our society; our motive will not be His praise, but some end which is fully attained apart from Him. “My meat, said Jesus, is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work”; and He could say so because God who sent Him was to Him the living and true God, the first and last and sole reality, whose will embraced and covered all His life. Do we think of God so? Are the existence of God and the claim of God upon our obedience the permanent element in our minds, the unchanging background of all our thoughts and purposes? This is the fundamental thing in a truly religious life.
But the Apostle goes on from what is merely theistic to what is distinctively Christian. “Ye turned to God from idols to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead.”
This is a very summary description of the issue of Christian conversion. Judging by the analogy of other places, especially in St. Paul, we should have expected some mention of faith. In Act 20:1-38, e.g., where he characterises his preaching, he names as its main elements, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. But here faith has been displaced by hope; the Thessalonians are represented not as trusting in Christ, but as waiting for Him. Of course, such hope implies faith. They only waited for Him because they believed He had redeemed them, and would save them at the great day. If faith and hope differ in that the one seems to look mainly to the past and the other to the future, they agree in that both are concerned with the revelation of the unseen.
Everything in this revelation goes back to the resurrection and rests upon it. It is mentioned here, in the first instance, exactly as in Rom 1:4, as the argumentum palmarium for the Divine Sonship of Jesus. There are many proofs of that essential doctrine, but not all can be brought forward in all circumstances. Perhaps the most convincing at the present time is that which is drawn from the solitary perfection of Christs character; the more truly and fully we get the impression of that character, as it is reflected in the Gospels, the surer we are that it is not a fancy picture, but drawn from life; and that He whose likeness it is stands alone among the sons of men. But this kind of argument it takes years, not perhaps of study, but of obedience and devotion, to appreciate; and when the apostles went forth to preach the gospel they needed a more summary process of conviction. This they found in Christs resurrection; that was an event standing alone in the worlds history. There had been nothing like it before; there has been nothing like it since. But the men who were assured of it by many infallible proofs, did not presume to disbelieve it because of its singularity; amazing as it was, they could not but feel that it became one so unique in goodness and greatness as Jesus; it was not possible, they saw after the event, that He should be holden by the power of death; the resurrection only exhibited Him in His true dignity; it declared Him the Son of God, and set Him on His throne. Accordingly in all their preaching they put the resurrection in the forefront. It was a revelation of life. It extended the horizon of mans existence. It brought into view realms of being that had hitherto been hidden in darkness. It magnified to infinity the significance of everything in our short life in this world, because it connected everything immediately with an endless life beyond. And as this life in the unseen had been revealed in Christ, all the apostles had to tell about it centred in Him. The risen Christ was King, Judge, and Saviour; the Christians present duty was to love, trust, obey, and wait for Him.
This waiting includes everything. “Ye come behind in no gift,” Paul says to the Corinthians, “waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That attitude of expectation is the bloom, as it were, of the Christian character. Without it, there is something lacking; the Christian who does not look upward and onward wants one mark of perfection. This is, in all probability, the point on which we should find ourselves most from home, in the atmosphere of the primitive Church. Not unbelievers only, but disciples as well, have practically ceased to think of the Second Advent. The society which devotes itself to reviving interest in the truth uses Scripture in a fashion which makes it impossible to take much interest in its proceedings; yet a truth so clearly a part of Scripture teaching cannot be neglected without loss. The door of the unseen world closed behind Christ as He ascended from Olivet, but not forever. It will open again; and this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as the apostles beheld Him go. He has gone to prepare a place for those who love Him and keep His word; but “if I go,” He says, “and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and take you to Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” That is the final hope of the Christian faith. It is for the fulfilment of this promise that the Church waits. The Second Coming of Christ and His Resurrection stand and fall together; and it will not long be possible for those who look askance at His return to receive in all its fulness the revelation of life which He made when He rose again from the dead. This world is too much with us; and it needs not languor, but strenuous effort on the part of faith and hope, to make the unseen world as real. Let us see that we come not behind in a grace so essential to the very being of Christianity.
The last words of the verse describe the character in which the Son of God is expected by Christians to appear-Jesus, our deliverer from the wrath to come. There is, then, according to apostolic teaching, a coming wrath – a wrath impending over the world, and actually on its way towards it. It is called the wrath to come, in distinction from anything of the same nature of which we have experience here. We all know the penal consequences which sin brings in its train even in this world. Remorse, unavailing sorrow, shame, fear, the sight of injury which we have done to those we love and which we cannot undo, incapacity for service, -all these are Dart and parcel of the fruit which sin bears. But they are not the wrath to come. They do not exhaust the judgment of God upon evil. Instead of discrediting it, they bear witness to it; they are, so to speak, its forerunners; the lurid clouds that appear here and there in the sky, but are finally lost in the dense mass of the thunderstorm. When the Apostle preached the gospel, he preached the wrath to come; without it, there would have been a missing link in the circle of Christian ideas. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” he says. Why? Because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness which is Gods gift and acceptable in Gods sight. But why is such a revelation of righteousness necessary? Because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The gospel is a revelation made to the world in view of a given situation, and the most prominent and threatening element in that situation is the impending wrath of God. The apostles do not prove it; they declare it. The proof of it is left to conscience, and to the Spirit of God reinforcing and quickening conscience; if anything can be added to this, it is the gospel itself; for if there were no such thing as the wrath of God, the gospel would be gratuitous. We may, if we please, evade the truth; we may pick and choose for ourselves among the elements of New Testament teaching, and reject all that is distasteful; we may take our stand upon pride, and decline to be threatened even by God; but we cannot be honest, and at the same time deny that Christ and His apostles warn us of wrath to come.
Of course we must not misconceive the character of this wrath. We must not import into our thoughts of it all that we can borrow from our experience of mans anger-hastiness, unreason, intemperate rage. The wrath of God is no arbitrary, passionate outburst; it is not, as wrath so often is with us, a fury of selfish resentment. “Evil shall not dwell with Thee,” says the Psalmist: and in that simple word we have the root of the matter. The wrath of God is, as it were, the instinct of self-preservation in the Divine nature; it is the eternal repulsion, by the Holy One, of all evil. Evil shall not dwell with Him. That may be doubted or denied while the day of grace lasts, and Gods forbearance is giving space to the sinful for repentance; but a day is coming when it will no more be possible to doubt it-the day which the Apostle calls the day of wrath. It will then be plain to all the world that Gods wrath is no empty name, but the most terrible of all powers-a consuming fire in which everything opposed to His holiness is burnt up. And while we take care not to think of this wrath after the pattern of our own sinful passions, let us take care, on the other hand, not to make it an unreal thing, without analogy in human life. If we go upon the ground of Scripture and of our own experience, it has the same degree and the same kind of reality as the love of God, or His compassion, or His forbearance. In whatever way we lawfully think of one side of the Divine nature, we must at the same time think of the other. If there is a passion of Divine love, there is a passion of Divine wrath as well. Nothing is meant in either case unworthy of the Divine nature; what is conveyed by the word passion is the truth that Gods repulsion of evil is as intense as the ardour with which He delights in good. To deny that is to deny that He is good.
The Apostolic preacher, who had announced the wrath to come, and awakened guilty consciences to see their danger, preached Jesus as the deliverer from it. This is the real meaning of the words in the text; and neither “Jesus which delivered,” as in the Authorised Version, nor, in any rigorous sense, “Jesus which delivereth,” as in the Revised. It is the character of Jesus that is in view, and neither the past nor the present of His action. Everyone who reads the words must feel, How brief! how much remains to be explained! how much Paul must have had to say about how the deliverance is effected! As the passage stands, it recalls vividly the end of the second Psalm: “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” To have the Son a friend, to be identified with Jesus-so much we see at once-secures deliverance in the day of wrath. Other Scriptures supply the missing links. The atonement for sin made by Christs death; faith which unites the soul to the Saviour, and brings into it the virtue of His cross and resurrection; the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers, sanctifying them, and making them fit to dwell with God in the light, -all these come into view elsewhere, and in spite of the brevity of this notice had their place, beyond doubt, in Pauls teaching at Thessalonica. Not that all could be explained at once: that was unnecessary. But from imminent danger there must be an instantaneous escape; and it is sufficient to say that it is found in Jesus Christ. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” The risen Son is enthroned in power; He is Judge of all; He died for all; He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. To commit everything definitely to Him; to leave Him to undertake for us; to put on Him the responsibility of our past and our future, as He invites us to do; to put ourselves for good and all at His side, -this is to find deliverance from the wrath to come. It leaves much unexplained that we may come to understand afterwards, and much, perhaps, that we shall never understand; but it guarantees itself, adventure though it be; Christ never disappoints any who thus put their trust in Him.
This description in outline of conversion from paganism to the gospel should revive the elementary Christian virtues in our hearts. Have we seen how high a thing it is to serve a living and true God? Or is it not so, that even among Christians, a godly man-one who lives in the presence of God, and is conscious of his responsibility to Him-is the rarest of all types? Are we waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead? Or are there not many who hardly so much as form the idea of His return, and to whom the attitude of waiting for Him would seem strained and unnatural? In plain words, what the New Testament calls Hope is in many Christians dead: the world to come and all that is involved in it-the searching judgment, the impending wrath, the glory of Christ-have slipped from our grasp. Yet it was this hope which more than anything gave its peculiar colour to the primitive Christianity, its unworldliness, its moral intensity, its command of the future even in this life. If there were nothing else to establish it, would not its spiritual fruits be sufficient?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
SCOPE AND END OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
1.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary