Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 2:17

But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.

17. But we, brethren, being taken from you ] bereaved of you (R. V.), or torn away from you; lit., orphaned a word employed in Greek with some latitude the very strongest expression the Apostle could find, occurring only here in the N.T.

for a short time ] Lit., season of an hour, as we say, “an hour’s time.” St Paul expected, when he left Thessalonica, to be able to return very shortly. Meanwhile the apostles felt themselves to be parted from their friends “in presence (or person) not in heart.” The comfort of their parting was the hope of speedy reunion:

“Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say Good-night, till it be morrow.”

We find from Act 17:10 that it was “the” Thessalonian “brethren” who “sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Bera,” in order to secure their safety. Unwilling to go, the apostles were eager to return:

we endeavoured the more abundantly ] exceedingly (R. V.): we were the more earnest in our endeavours (because our hearts were so truly one) to see your face, with great desire.

“Face” is identical in Greek with the “presence” of the former clause: they were parted in sight, not in affection; but true affection longs for sight. This “great desire” excited and sustained the apostles’ endeavours. “We longed for the sight of your dear faces, and did our utmost to get back to you:” so in ch. 1Th 3:10, “Night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face.” Such, too, was the love of St John to his friends: “But I hope speedily to see thee; and we will talk mouth to mouth” (2Jn 1:12; 3Jn 1:14). “The spiritual interest of the Apostle about his converts is never for a moment separate from his tender human love for them” (Jowett).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

section iv

St Paul’s Present Relations to the Thessalonians. Ch. 1Th 2:17 to 1Th 3:13

The Apostle had been drawn aside in the last paragraph, by a sudden and characteristic burst of feeling, from the main purpose of his letter. To this he now returns. 1Th 2:17 might follow quite naturally upon 1Th 2:12. Having recalled to his readers the circumstances of his arrival at Thessalonica and the manner of his life amongst them, he goes on to speak of the feelings and views which he now entertains in regard to them. And he continues in this vein to the end of ch. 3. He speaks (1) of his great desire to revisit them and the attempts he has made to do so, 1Th 2:17-20; (2) he relates how he sent Tmothy with messages and enquiries when he found this impossible, ch. 1Th 3:1-5; (3) he expresses his satisfaction at the report Timothy has brought back to him, 1Th 2:6-8; and (4) he repeats his thanksgiving and his longing to see them, with prayers both on this account and for their final acceptance in the day of Christ, 1Th 2:9-13.

We may suppose that St Paul’s enemies, while they set down the preaching of the missionaries in the first instance to base motives (see note to 1Th 2:3), went on to insinuate that the Apostle’s continued absence showed his unconcern for his persecuted followers. (Comp. Introd. pp. 23, 24.) Hence the warmth and energy of his protestations.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But we, brethren, being taken from you – There is more implied in the Greek word here rendered, being taken from you – aporphanisthentes – than appears from our translation. It properly has relation to the condition of an orphan (compare notes on Joh 14:18), or one who is bereaved of parents, or one who is bereaved of parents}. Then it is used in a more general sense, denoting to be bereaved of; and in this place it does not mean merely that he was taken from them, but there is included the idea that it was like a painful bereavement. It was such a state as that of one who had lost a parent. No word, perhaps, could have expressed stranger attachment for them.

For a short time – Greek, For the time of an hour; that is, for a brief period. The meaning is, that when he left them he supposed it would be only for a short time. The fact seems to have been Act 17:10, that it was supposed, when Paul was sent to Berea, that things would soon be in such a state that he could safely return to Thessalonica. He was sent there by those who thought it was necessary for the safety of some of his friends at Thessalonica, and he evidently purposed to return as soon as it could properly be done. It had, in fact, however, turned out to be a long and painful absence.

In presence, not in heart – My heart was still with you. This is an elegant and touching expression, which we still use to denote affection for an absent friend.

Endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face – Made every endeavor possible. It was from no want of affection that I have not done it, but from causes beyond my control.

With great desire – Compare the notes at Luk 22:15.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Th 2:17

But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time

The power of Satan great but restricted

St.

Paul had a very profound belief in the reality and activity of the evil one (Eph 2:2; 2Co 4:4; Act 26:18; 1Ti 5:15; Eph 4:27; 2Co 12:7). The powers of Satan–

I. Forcing an unwilling separation.

1. The separation was painful but temporary–Being taken from you literally, being orphaned of you. Their grief was like that of a father bereaved of his children, or children of their parents. They hoped speedily to return, and after a lapse of five years, that hope was realized. Satan acted by means of wicked men (Act 17:5-8; Act 17:13).

2. The separation did not lessen their spiritual attachment. In presence, not in heart. Satan may deprive of the opportunity of social intercourse, but not of reciprocal Christian love. Augustine, referring to different kinds of friendship, shows the preeminence of the spiritual, when the link is grace and the Spirit of God. Natural affections, want of presence diminisheth; mundane friendship, where profit makes the union, want of profit unlooseth; but spiritual amity nothing dissolves, no, not that which dissolves all others, lack of society.

II. Hindering an earnestly desired visit.

1. Opposition intensified their desire to see their converts. Endeavoured the more abundantly, etc. As lime is inflamed by water, as a stream grows more furious by the obstacles set against it, so genuine affection is increased by that which opposes it.

2. The opposition succeeded in baffling repeated attempts to carry out that desire. Once and again, but Satan hindered us. The apostle halted at Berea on his way to Athens, and probably attempted then to return to Thessalonica, but was thwarted in his design. Though no express reference is made in the history to the agency of Satan, Paul had unmistakeable evidence of its operation in many wars. Satan hindered us–perhaps by sickness, imprisonment, tempests at sea, or by keeping him so fully occupied with incessant conflicts and ever new tribulations of his own, as to leave him no leisure for carrying out his plan. The verb signifies to cut a trench in the way of a pursuing enemy, so as to hinder his progress.

III. Unable to rob the Christian worker of the joy and reward of success. Great as is the power of Satan, it is not omnipotent. The Christian warrior can successfully withstand it (Eph 6:11-13; Rom 16:20).

1. Success in soul saving is productive of joy. For what is our hope, etc. The merchant rejoices over his gains, the warrior ever his victories, the artist over the achievements of genius; but there is no joy so sweet as that of the successful winner of souls.

2. The joy of success in soul saving will be among the highest rewards of the future. In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? etc. The return of Christ to heaven, after the judgment, is here compared to the solemnity of a triumph, in which the apostle is to appear crowned in token of victory over the false religions of the world, attended by his converts, and because they are the cause of his being thus crowned, they are, by a beautiful figure of speech, called his crown of rejoicing. Special honour is promised to the successful worker (Dan 12:3).

(1) Joy enhanced by the recognitions in the future life. If Paul knows his converts in the heavenly world, shall not we know our loved ones who have gone before?

(2) By the presence and approbation of the Lord Jesus for whom we have laboured. In Thy presence is fulness of joy, etc.

Lessons:

1. The power of Satan works through many agencies; therefore we have need of watchfulness.

2. The power of Satan is limited; therefore we need not be discouraged (G. Barlow.)

Pauls absence from the Thessalonians

For this he apologizeth.

I. He was rudely forced away from them, such was the rage of his persecutors, who, by certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, stirred all the city of Thessalonica into an uproar, and would have taken summary vengeance upon him and Silas; but their brethren interposed, and ere long they sent them away by night to Berea. The body of Paul was at Berea, but the heart of Paul was at Thessalonica. He could not forget the Thessalonians. Sooner might the stars forget their courses at night time, or the sun forget to shine at noon day.

II. Even his bodily absence was but for a brief space–the time of an hour, as it were. All time on earth is brief and uncertain, whether we are present with our friends or absent from them. This world is not a place where we are long together. It is in heaven holy souls shall meet and never part more.

III. He earnestly endeavoured to see them again. How strong and beautiful his words, We endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire! Who could doubt his affection for his converts after this? He knew they esteemed him very highly in love for his works sake, and was therefore attracted to them by the force of the same holy passion. Love alway begets love, and hearts thereby influenced would never be separated. But even apostles are not masters of their own time. Paul did his best, and angels could do no more.

IV. But Satan hindered his return to them. The great enemy of mankind is especially opposed to those who would destroy his kingdom of lies by declaring the truth of another kingdom. The child of God can no sooner enterprise that which is really good, but he meets with some impediment; so, whoever be the means or instruments for impeding us in the way of duty, the devil himself, through Gods permission, is the prime author of that woeful work, and all others do but fight under his banner; for, though other means were doubtless accessory to Pauls stay at Berea, yet Satan hindered him from returning at once to Thessalonica. (D. Mayo.)

The discipline of absence

A little party of friends had been making a fortnights excursion among the Alps, in high enjoyment and good fellowship. Among them were two lovers in the first happiness of their engagement. The company broke up by degrees, and on the shore of the Lake of Geneva the young man took leave for a while of his betrothed. As the little steamer carried her away, and the twilight fell upon the lake, she sat alone, and her face grew pensive with a loneliness which was new to her. Her friends were walking the deck–a husband and wife, who for many years had walked together, and to whom sweet alike were the deck or the shore, Switzerland or England, if they were side by side. Their glances fell on the girl, and they said to each other, Today she was happy, and now she is sad; but she could not spare the sadness. She will be the fitter for a wifes joy if she learns to love through missing him as well as through having him. So, perhaps, may higher intelligences look upon us in our saddest hours, and say, Now they are learning to love. (Free Methodist.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 17. Being taken from you for a short time] Through the persecution raised by the Jews, see Acts xvii., he was obliged to leave Thessalonica, and yield to a storm that it would have been useless for him to have withstood.

Being taken from you – in presence, not in heart] The apostle had compared himself to a parent or nurse, 1Th 2:7; 1Th 2:11; and the people he considered as his most beloved children; here he represents himself as feeling what an affectionate father must feel when torn from his children; for this is the import of the word , bereft of children, which we tamely translate being taken from you.

Endeavoured the more abundantly] His separation from them did not destroy his parental feelings, and the manner in which he was obliged to leave them increased his desire to visit them as soon as possible.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The apostle here makes his apology, for his so soon departing from them, and his continued absence. They were under great sufferings for receiving the gospel he had preached, and for him therefore to leave them so soon as he did, (as appears in the story, Act 17:1-34), and not presently to return, might discourage their hearts and make them question his love.

1. For his leaving them, he tells them it was not voluntary, but forced by the persecution of the Jews, he being sent away in the night by the brethren to Berea, Act 17:10; and therefore he calls it a taking away, rather than a going away from them. And (as the Greek word imports) it was:

2. A thing grievous to him, as children that are bereft of father and mother, and left orphans, are greatly troubled. And he was afflicted as a father bereft of children; so were these Thessalonians to him, having begotten them to Christ by the gospel.

3. It was but

for a short time, for the time of an hour; when he left them, he intended but a short stay from them, only to avoid the present storm: others think he means by the words his sudden leaving them before he took solemn leave of them.

4. He left them in presence, quoad faciem, as to outward sight, not in heart: the proper genius of true lovers, who are present with each other in soul when separated in body.

5. He tells them of his endeavours to see their face; and that the more abundantly, because he came away so suddenly from them. And lastly, he did this with great desire, his endeavours herein were acted with great affection.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. But weresumed from 1Th2:13; in contrast to the Jews, 1Th 2:15;1Th 2:16.

takenrather as Greek,“severed (violently, Ac17:7-10) from you,” as parents bereft of their children. So”I will not leave you comfortless,” Greek,“orphanized” (Joh14:18).

for a short timeliterally,”for the space of an hour.” “When we had been severedfrom you but a very short time (perhaps alluding to the suddenness ofhis unexpected departure), we the more abundantly (the shorter wasour separation; for the desire of meeting again is the more vivid,the more recent has been the parting) endeavored,” c. (Compare2Ti 1:4). He does not hereby, asmany explain, anticipate a short separation from them, which would bea false anticipation for he did not soon revisit them. The Greekpast participle also forbids their view.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But we, brethren, being taken from you,…. Here more properly should begin the third chapter, in which the apostle having before observed the manner of his entrance among these people, the nature of his ministry, the reception the word of God met with among them, and the powerful effect it had upon them, insomuch that they patiently and cheerfully bore persecution for the sake of it; he excuses his not having been with them again as yet, which he knew was proper and necessary, as he was their apostle and spiritual father; and expresses an affectionate concern at his parting with them in the manner he did, which was not his own choice and voluntary act, but was obliged to it, being hurried away at once, at an unawares in the night, by reason of the uproar made in the city by the baser sort of people, instigated by the unbelieving Jews; so that he and his fellow ministers had not the opportunity of taking their leave of them, as they would have done: hence he says,

we being taken from you; they were, as it were, passive in it; they were forced away on a sudden, they did not go of themselves; the word used is very uncommon and emphatical, and may be literally rendered, “we being orphanized from you”; which represents this parting to be like the separation made by death, between parents and children; when either parents are deprived of their children, or children of their parents, and are left orphans or fatherless; and just in such a destitute and desolate condition were the apostle and his companions in, in their account; nor need it to be wondered at, when they are before compared to a nursing mother and a tender father, as they were to these their spiritual children: and he further observes, that this removal from them, was

for a short time, or “for the time of an hour”; which may either denote the suddenness of it, being as it were at an hour’s warning, having no more notice of it than for the space of an hour; or it may express the great affection he and his fellow ministers had for them, insomuch that they could not bear an absence from them, though but for an hour; or it may be said by way of comfort, that this parting was but for a short time, and that in a little while they might hope to see them again; and if not in this life, yet in the future state, when they should meet and never part more, and which would be but in a short time at longest: moreover, this separation was only

in presence; in person, in face, in sight, in body, it was but a corporeal one: not in heart; the apostle’s heart was with them, as much as if present; they were always in his mind, and remembered by him, at the throne; he had as it were the images of them continually before him, as parents have of their children when at a distance from them; his heart was after them, and his affections moved strongly towards them: and the effect this distance had on him, and those that were with him, was this, that they

endeavoured the more abundantly, he observes,

to see your face with great desire; it made them but the more desirous of seeing them face to face again, and put them upon attempting with more abundant earnestness and diligence to come and see them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Effects of the Christian Ministry.

A. D. 51.

      17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.   18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.   19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?   20 For ye are our glory and joy.

      In these words the apostle apologizes for his absence. Here observe, 1. He tells them they were involuntarily forced from them: We, brethren, were taken from you, v. 17. Such was the rage of his persecutors. He was unwillingly sent away by night to Berea, Acts xvii. 10. 2. Though he was absent in body, yet he was present in heart. He had still a remembrance of them, and great care for them. 3. Even his bodily absence was but for a short time, the time of an hour. Time is short, all our time on earth is short and uncertain, whether we are present with our friends or absent from them. This world is not a place where we are always, or long, to be together. It is in heaven that holy souls shall meet, and never part more. 4. He earnestly desired and endeavoured to see them again: We endeavoured more abundantly to see your face with great desire, v. 17. So that the apostle at least intended his absence should be but for a short time. His desire and endeavour were to return again very soon to Thessalonica. But men of business are not masters of their own time. Paul did his endeavour, and he could do no more, v. 18. 5. He tells them that Satan hindered his return (v. 18), that is, either some enemy or enemies, or the great enemy of mankind, who stirred up opposition to Paul, either in his return to Thessalonica, when he intended to return thither, or stirred up such contentions or dissensions in those places whether he went as made his presence necessary. Note, Satan is a constant enemy to the work of God, and does all he can to obstruct it. 6. He assures them of his affection and high esteem for them, though he was not able, as yet, to be present with them according to his desire. They were his hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing; his glory and joy. These are expressions of great and endeared affection, and high estimation. And it is happy when ministers and people have such mutual affection and esteem of each other, and especially if they shall thus rejoice, if those that sow and those that reap shall rejoice together, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.

      The apostle here puts the Thessalonians in mind that though he could not come to them as yet, and though he should never be able to come to them, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come, nothing shall hinder this. And further, when he shall come, all must appear in his presence, or before him. Ministers and people must all appear before him, and faithful people will be the glory and joy of faithful ministers in that great and glorious day.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Being bereaved of you ( ‘ ). First aorist passive participle of the rare compound verb (, in Aeschylus, but nowhere else in N.T.). Literally,

being orphaned from you (‘ , ablative case). Paul changes the figure again ( or mother nurse in verse 7, or babe in verse 7, or father in verse 11) to

orphan (). He refers to the period of separation from them,

for a short season ( ) for a season of an hour. This idiom only here in N.T., but in Lu 8:13 and in 2Co 7:8. But it has seemed long to Paul. Precisely how long he had been gone we do not know, some months at any rate.

In presence, not in heart ( ). Locative case. , old word (, , in front of the eye, face) for face, look, person. Literally,

in face or person . His heart was with them, though they no longer saw his face. Heart, originally , is the inner man, the seat of the affections and purposes, not always in contrast with intellect (). “Out of sight, not out of mind” (Rutherford).

Endeavoured the more exceedingly ( ). Ingressive aorist active indicative of , old word to hasten (from , ).

We became zealous . Comparative adverb from , more abundantly than before being orphaned from you.

Your face ( ). Cf. his

face above.

With great desire ( ).

In much longing ( from and , , to run after, to yearn after, whether good or bad).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Being taken from you [] . N. T. o. o LXX Rev. better, being bereaved of you. From ojrfanov bereft. See Mr 12:40, Joh 14:18; Jas 1:27. The word suggests the intimate personal fellowship of the writer with his readers. The separation was like that between parents and children. Comp. vv. 7, 8.

For a short time [ ] . N. T. o. Lit. for the season of an hour. Comp. Lat. horae momentum. Stronger than the usual phrase prov wran for an hour : see 2Co 7:8; Gal 2:5; Phl 1:15. Comp. prov kairon for a season, Luk 8:13; 1Co 7:5. The more abundantly [] . Rev. the more exceedingly. Paul uses this adverb very freely, and outside of his letters it appears only Heb 2:1; Heb 13:19. He is much given to the use of comparatives, and sometimes heaps them together : see Rom 8:37; 2Co 7:13; 2Co 4:17; Eph 3:20; Phi 1:23.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “But we, brethren” (hemis de, adelphoi) “Yet, we, brethren”, Paul, Silas, and perhaps, Timothy, former Missionaries who had labored with the brethren of Thessalonica, Act 17:4; 1Th 1:1.

2) “Being taken from you,’ (aporphanesthentes aph humon) “being bereaved (separated) from you”; or “torn from you”, Act 17:10.

3) “For a short time in presence” (pros kairon horas prosopo) “For the period of an hour in face to face fellowship” “not in heart” (ou kardia) “not in heart, affection.” This letter was written about one year after Paul and his mission helpers left Thessalonica, while they longed to return for a visit soon, Col 2:5.

4) “Endeavored the more abundantly” (perissoteros espoudasamen) “were eager more abundantly”; Paul’s longer stay from them was unavoidable, but he did send Timothy back to help them, when he could not return. (1Th 3:1-5).

5) “To see your face with great desire” (to prosopon humon idein en polle epithumia) “to see your face, with much desire or longing affection”; 1Th 3:5-7.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

17 But we, brethren, bereaved of you. This excuse has been appropriately added, lest the Thessalonians should think that Paul had deserted them while so great an emergency demanded his presence. He has spoken of the persecutions which they endured from their own people: he, in the mean time, whose duty it was above all others to assist them, was absent. He has formerly called himself a father; now, it is not the part of a father to desert his children in the midst of such distresses. He, accordingly, obviates all suspicion of contempt and negligence, by saying, that it was from no want of inclination, but because he had not opportunity. Nor does he say simply, “I was desirous to come to you, but my way was obstructed;” but by the peculiar terms that he employs he expresses the intensity of his affection: “When,” says he, “I was bereaved of you.” (550) By the word bereaved, he declares how sad and distressing a thing it was to him to be absent from them. (551) This is followed by a fuller expression of his feeling of desire — that it was with difficulty that he could endure their absence for a short time. It is not to be wondered, if length of time should occasion weariness or sadness; but we must have a strong feeling of attachment when we find it difficult to wait even a single hour. Now, by the space of an hour, he means — a small space of time.

This is followed by a correction — that he had been separated from them in appearance, not in heart, that they may know that distance of place does not by any means lessen his attachment. At the same time, this might not less appropriately be applied to the Thessalonians, as meaning that they, on their part, had felt united in mind while absent in body; for it was of no small importance for the point in hand that he should state how fully assured he was of their affection towards him in return. He shews, however, more fully his affection, when he says that he endeavored the more abundantly; for he means that his affection was so far from being diminished by his leaving them, that it had been the more inflamed. When he says, we would once and again, he declares that it was not a sudden heat, that quickly cooled, (as we see sometimes happen,) but that he had been steadfast in this purpose, (552) inasmuch as he sought various opportunities.

(550) “The original word is here very emphatical. It is an allusion to that grief, anxiety, and reluctance of heart, with which dying, affectionate parents take leave of their own children, when they are just going to leave them helpless orphans, exposed to the injuries of a merciless and wicked world, or that sorrow of heart with which poor destitute orphans close the eyes of their dying parents.” — Benson. — Ed.

(551) “ Le mot Grec signifie l’estat d’vn pere qui a perdu ses enfans, ou des enfans qui ont perdu leur pere;” — “The Greek word denotes the condition of a father that has lost his children, or of children that have lost their father.”

(552) Hujus propositi tenacem. See Hor. Od. 3, 3. 1. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

1Th. 2:17. Being taken from you.R.V. bereaved of you. St. Paul, absent from Thessalonica, feels like a parent who has lost a child, and regards them as children who feel the loss of a parent (see Joh. 14:18).

1Th. 2:18. But Satan hindered us.Lit. beat us in. The figure is a military one, and indicates the obstruction of an enemys progress by breaking up the road (destroying bridges, etc.).

1Th. 2:19. Crown of rejoicing.R.V. glorying. The victors wreath. St. Paul regards his steadfast converts as the proof of his successful efforts.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Th. 2:17-20

The Power of Satan, Great but Restricted.

St. Paul had a profound, unhesitating belief in the reality and personal activity of Satan. An examination of the apostles own writings and discourses places this beyond doubt. We need refer to but a few passages. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2); the god of this world, blinding the minds of them which believe not (2Co. 4:4). To convert to the Christian religion is to bring men from the power of Satan unto God (Act. 26:18). To relapse is to turn aside after Satan (1Ti. 5:15). To commit sin is to give place to the devil (Eph. 4:27). If Paul suffered from some grievous bodily ailment that checked him in his evangelical labours, it was the angel of Satan to buffet him (2Co. 12:17); and when he was prevented from paying a visit to the struggling Church at Thessalonica, it was Satan that hindered him. Observe:

I. The power of Satan forcing an unwilling separation.But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart (1Th. 2:17).

1. The separation was painful, but temporary.Being taken from youliterally, being orphaned of you. This grief was like that of a father bereft of his children, or children of their parents. Their emotions were expressed by JacobIf I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. They hoped speedily to return; and, after the lapse of five years, their hope was realised. Satan acted by means of wicked men (Act. 17:5-8; Act. 17:13).

2. The separation did not lessen their spiritual attachment.In presence, not in heart. Satan may deprive of the opportunity of social intercourse, but not of reciprocal Christian love. Augustine, referring to different kinds of friendship, shows the pre-eminence of the spiritual, where the link is grace and the Spirit of God: Natural affection want of presence diminisheth; mundane friendship, where profit makes the union, want of profit unlooseth; but spiritual amity nothing dissolves, no, not that which dissolves all others, lack of society.

II. The power of Satan hindering an earnestly desired visit.

1. Opposition intensified their desire to see their converts. Endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire (1Th. 2:17). As lime is inflamed by water, as a stream grows more furious by the obstacles set against it, so genuine affection is increased in fervour by that which opposes it.

2. The opposition succeeded in baffling repeated attempts to carry out that desire.Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us (1Th. 2:18). The apostle halted at Bera on his way to Athens, and probably attempted then to return to Thessalonica, but was thwarted in his design. Though no express reference is made in the history to the agency of Satan, Paul had unmistakable evidence of its operation in many ways. Satan hindered usperhaps by imprisonment, tempests at sea, or by keeping him so fully occupied with incessant conflicts and ever-new tribulations of his own, as to leave him no leisure for carrying out his plan. The verb signifies to cut a trench in the way of a pursuing enemy, so as to hinder his progress.

III. The power of Satan unable to rob the Christian worker of the joy and reward of success.Great as is the power of Satan, it is not omnipotent. The Christian warrior can successfully withstand it (Eph. 6:11-13); and he is assured that God will bruise Satan under his feet (Rom. 16:20).

1. Success in soul-saving is productive of unutterable joy.For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye? (1Th. 2:19). The merchant rejoices over his gains, the warrior over his victories, the artist over the achievements of genius; but there is no joy so sweet, so exquisite, so abiding, as the successful winner of souls.

2. The joy of success in soul-saving will be among the highest rewards of the future.In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy (1Th. 2:19-20). The return of Christ to heaven, after the judgment, is here compared to the solemnity of a triumph, in which the apostle is to appear crowned in token of victory over the false religions of the world, attended by his converts; and because they are the cause of his being thus crowned, they are, by a beautiful figure of speech, called his crown of rejoicing. Special honour is promised to the successful worker (Dan. 12:3).

(1) Joy enhanced by the recognitions in the future life. Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? If Paul knows his converts in the heavenly world, shall we not know our loved ones who have gone before?
(2) By the presence and approbation of the Lord Jesus for whom we have laboured. In Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Lessons.

1. The power of Satan works through many agencies; therefore we have need of watchfulness.

2. The power of Satan is limited: therefore we need not be discouraged.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

1Th. 2:18. Satanic Hindrances

I. Are veiled by subtle and specious pretexts.

II. Work mischief in individuals and in Churches.

III. May succeed in diverting for a time the best intentions of the good.

IV. Should be diligently and prayerfully watched.

V. Are frustrated by a superior power.

1Th. 2:19-20. The Joy of a Minister in his Converts

I. As they are living witnesses of the power of the gospel.

II. As they are the crowning reward of his labours.

III. As he shares the joy of Christ in their salvation and final glory.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Text (1Th. 2:17)

17 But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence not in heart, endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire:

Translation and Paraphrase

17.

But we, brethren, being bereaved (by our separation) from you, (like a father is grieved when he has lost his children, even though it has been but) for a (short) time (such as the passing) of an hour, (and we have been separated from you only) in presence, not in heart, we, (because of our grief) have hurried (about, seeking) more abundantly (than you can imagine) to see your face with great desire.

Notes (1Th. 2:17)

1.

Can you imagine how a father in a Communistic country would feel to see his children taken out of his house by the police, and sent away to state schools, while he himself was sent off to a slave labor camp? Pauls feelings when he was driven away from the Thessalonians were equally intense.

Paul uses the word aporphanidzo (the root of which gives us our word orphan) to describe his feelings, The word means to bereave, as one separated from parent or child.

We love the churches where we have served. But probably most preachers do not have the intensity of love and yearning for them that Paul had.

2.

Paul had not been separated from the Thessalonians very long when he wrote this letter. He says it was a short time, such as the time of an hour. McGarvey says that this short time was about six months. But though the time had not been long, the pain of being separated was not any less keen.

3.

Christian people have many farewells to say in this life. Thank God, we shall not have these in the world to come. But even in this life, Christians are not separated in heart nor affection, merely in presence. Thus Paul was separated from the Thessalonians only in presence, not in heart. Paul wrote a similar thought to the Colossians. Col. 2:5.

4.

We do not know just what all Paul had done to try to get back to Thessalonica. But he had earnestly endeavoured (literally, hastened or hurried about) to get back to see them.

5.

Not only did Paul desire to get back to see the Thessalonians, but he also desired to see his brethren in other places. He wrote to the Romans, I long to see you. Rom. 1:11; Rom. 1:13. Pauls heart was big enough to love all of his brethren with all of him. Like a parent with a dozen children, he did not love any of them the less, just because there were so many to love.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(17) But we, brethren.Now comes a change of subject: no longer the memories of the time when St. Paul was among them, but his hopes and fears about them since he left.

But while you were being persecuted by these reprobate Jews, we, who were driven away from you, were longing to come back to see whether your faith was such an effectual working faith as to support you through it all.

Taken from you.Literally, bereaved from youi.e., bereaved by being torn from you; a return to the simile of the mother (1Th. 2:7), or father (1Th. 2:11).

The more abundantly.So far were we from the proverb, out of sight, out of mind, that our very absence gave us a greater yearning after your presence (1Co. 5:3).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. St. Paul’s anxiety to revisit the Thessalonians, but failure hitherto, 1Th 2:17-20.

17. In the whole of this and the following paragraph, St. Paul’s we refers to himself, without including Silas and Timothy. Yet it is not quite correct to translate it, with Conybeare, by I; for the apostle has a right to call himself we in English if he prefers, as well as in Greek. Note, 1Th 1:1.

A short time Literally, the period of an hour. The first hour I left your presence I longed to see you.

Your face The images of their features, fresh in memory, heightened his interest for their welfare.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short while (literally ‘a season of an hour’), in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire, because we would fain come to you, I Paul once and again, and Satan hindered us.’

Paul now explains why he has not been back to see them and declares his strong desire to do so. He tells them that being parted from them has been like a bereavement. They had had to leave Thessalonika in a hurry (Act 17:10), and then Paul had had to leave Beroea (Act 17:14). That had been for the sake of the churches there, to prevent serious trouble for them. But he assures them that the absence was only of the body. His heart was still with them. Indeed his desire to see them was so great that he had made every attempt to come to them but Satan had hindered him. Possibly this points to some illness that had prevented him, or more likely to the interference of legal authorities, possibly brought about by Jewish instigators. Both of the latter are directly connected with Satan in Revelation (Rev 2:9; Rev 2:13; Rev 3:9; Revelation 13; Revelation 17).

‘Endeavoured.’ The word indicates eagerness and serious attempt. ‘The more exceedingly’ adds further emphasis. He had made a great effort.

‘With great desire.’ The word indicates strength of feeling. It often indicates lust or covetousness. Here it is used in a good sense, and intense longing.

Satan means ‘the adversary’. Whatever adversaries the people of Christ, have those adversaries have their backing from Satan, the great Adversary. Yet we must not see him as being almost as powerful as God. Powerful he is (Jud 1:9), but he has been defeated and bound by Christ (Mar 3:27; Col 2:15) and is limited in what he can do. Thus he acts through men who unconsciously carry out his bidding.

‘Hindered us.’ The word is used of an athlete cutting in front of a rival to slow him down and prevent him winning. The hindering of the people of God is one of Satan’s main aims.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Paul’s Efforts to Return to Thessalonica In 1Th 2:17-20 Paul explains to the Thessalonians how he had not forsaken them, but rather, he had made a number of efforts to return to the city safely and without controversy in order to see them and strengthen their faith, yet Satan had hindered these efforts. Thus, Paul chose to send Timothy (1Th 3:1-5).

1Th 2:17 Word Study on “being taken from” Comments Strong says the Greek word “taken from” ( ) (G642) literally means, “to bereave, wholly, separate.”

The idea of separation in 1Th 2:17 involves Paul having to leave Thessalonica regretfully and of necessity, although his heart is still with them.

1Th 2:18 “once and again” Comments The phrase “ ” (once and again) can read, “once or twice.” In other words, Paul would have visited them several other times had he not be hindered from those who threatened him if he returned.

1Th 2:18 Comments The hindrance from Satan that Paul mentions in 1Th 2:18 may be the fact that their security was removed when Jason was reprimanded and they had to leave, and efforts to secure their safe return was being denied by city leaders.

1Th 2:20 Word Study on “joy” Strong says the Greek word ( ) (G5479) means, “cheerfulness, delight.” It carries the idea of happiness, both spiritually and mentally.

1Th 2:20 Scripture Reference:

Psa 127:5, “ Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Paul’s attempts to visit the Thessalonians:

v. 17. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.

v. 18. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.

v. 19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?

v. 20. For ye are our glory and joy.

Here the apostle returns once more to the declaration of the cordial affection which he felt for the Thessalonian Christians: But we, brethren, bereft of you for a little while, in presence, not in heart, strove all the more to see your face with great desire. With great emphasis Paul places himself at the head of the sentence, in order once more to indicate to the Thessalonians the sincerity of his affection for them. He had been bereft of them, of their company, of their loving intercourse, for some little time. But he hastens to add that this was in presence only, not in heart, for in his heart he was just as closely connected with them as ever. But even this short absence had resulted in bringing out a homesick longing for them, which made him desire to be with them more than ever. It was not a case of leaving his disciples in the lurch, not a matter of “out of sight, out of mind”; on the contrary, his absence had been unavoidable, and his longing to see them could not be fulfilled.

He had also tried to get back to Thessalonica: Wherefore we craved to come to you, even I, Paul, once and a second time, and Satan hindered us. The apostle was not indulging in cheap phrases in assuring the Thessalonians of his continued interest in them and their welfare, but he had honestly attempted to visit them, just as had Silas and Timothy. He had, for his own person, tried time and again, but the obstacle was of a nature which effectually prevented his coming. Just in what this hindrance consisted which Paul ascribes to the agency of Satan does not appear from the context. It may have been an illness of some kind, or it may have been the fact that Jason and other Christians of Thessalonica had been bound over by the politarchs of Thessalonica to keep the peace by preventing Paul’s return. At any rate, Paul had done all in his power to visit them again.

And yet another thought the apostle commends to their consideration: For who is our hope or joy or crown or glorying if not you in the presence of our Lord Jesus in His royal visit? For you are our glory and joy. This is an appeal which was bound to have some influence upon the Thessalonian Christians that mere inclined to doubt the sincerity of the apostle. For, he asks, who could possibly hope to take their place in his affections which they are now holding. They were the subject of his hope: he was sure that they would remain steadfast in the Word and faith until the end: they were the object of his joy, he was happy that they had accepted the Gospel of their salvation with such willing hearts: they were the crown of his glorying, they were his pride and delight, like the garland which crowns the victor at the end of a race of which he may boast. To this experience Paul is looking forward at the coming of Christ, when He makes His final, royal visit to the earth on the last great day. The Thessalonian Christians were verily the glory and joy of the apostle in this respect; the glory of their eternal salvation would reflect upon him and thus, at least in part, add to the bliss of his eternal salvation.

Summary

The apostle shows that his coming to Thessalonica was not in selfish ambition, but in disinterested, loving devotion; he praises the eager acceptance which the Gospel found in the midst of the Thessalonians, and tells of his unsuccessful attempts to visit them.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

1Th 2:17. Being taken from you The original word is very emphatical; . It is an allusion to that grief, anxiety, and reluctance of heart with which dying parents take farewell of their children, when they are just going to leave them helpless orphans, exposed to the injuries of the world; or that sorrow of heart with whichpoor destitute orphans close the eyes of their dying parents. The Apostle, by this metaphor, in a very lively and tender manner, expresses the concern and reluctance wherewith he had parted from his young converts at Thessalonica; being violently driven away from them by the unbelieving Jews; compelled to leave these his spiritual children amid the most restless and malicious enemies, without the guidance, defence, and support of their father in the gospel. Act 17:5; Act 17:10. The original, rendered, for a short time, signifies literally, for an hour’s time; which is a figurative expression. It was several years before the Apostle returned to them; but his mind was full of the ideas of eternity, which annihilated, as it were, any period of mortal life.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Th 2:17 begins a new section of the Epistle.

] is not in contrast to , 1Th 2:14 (de Wette, Koch, Hofmann); for 1Th 2:14 is only an explanation of the main thought in 1Th 2:13 , and, besides, the invective against the Jews given in 1Th 2:15-16 is too marked and detailed, that passing over it could be referred to in 1Th 2:14 . It is therefore best to assume that , whilst it contrasts the writer to the Jews whose machinations have just been described, and accordingly breaks off the polemic against the Jews, refers to 1Th 2:13 as the preceding main thought , and accordingly resumes the in 1Th 2:13 . To the attestation of his thanksgiving to God on account of the earnest acceptance of the gospel on the part of the Thessalonians, the apostle joins the attestation of his longing for his readers, and his repeatedly formed resolution to return to them. The view of Calvin, which Musculus, Zanchius, Hunnius, Piscator, Vorstius, Gomarus, Benson, Macknight, Pelt, Hofmann, and Auberlen maintain, is erroneous, that 1Th 2:17 ff. were added by Paul as an excusatio “ne se a Paulo desertos esse putarent Thessalonicenses, quum tanta necessitas ejus praesentiam flagitaret.” For evidently in the circumstances that constrained the apostle to depart from Thessalonica, such a suspicion could not arise, especially as, according to Act 17:10 , the Thessalonians themselves had arranged the departure of the apostle. Accordingly no justification was requisite. The explanation has rather its origin only in the fulness of the apostolic Christian love, which cared and laboured for the salvation of these recent disciples of Christ.

] bereaved . is originally used of children who are deprived of their parents by death. It is however used, even by the classics, in a wider sense, expressing in a figurative and vivid manner the deprivation of an object, or the distance, the separation from a person or thing. Thus the adjective occurs in Pindar (see Passow) in a wider sense ( e.g. . , Isthm. vii. 16); also of parents, , childless, Ol. ix. 92; comp. Hesych.: . Here also expresses the idea of distance, of separation, but is not exhausted by this idea. We would accordingly err, if we were to find nothing further in it than is expressed by ; for the verb, in union with the feeling of tender love which pervades the whole passage, vividly describes the feeling of emptiness and solitude which by the separation came over the apostle a feeling of solitude, such as befalls children when they are placed in a condition of orphanage.

] away from you . The apostle repeats the preposition , instead of putting the simple genitive after the participle, in order to give prominence to the idea of local severance, which was already expressed in , here once more specified by itself .

] not subito (Balduin, Turretin), literally, for the space of an hour; but as an hour is relatively only a short space, generally “for the space of an instant,” i.e. for a very short period . [39] It is a more definite expression for the simple , Gal 2:5 , 2Co 7:8 , Phm 1:15 , Joh 5:35 , or , 1Co 7:5 , Luk 8:13 , and corresponds to the Latin horae momentum . Comp. Hor. Sat. I. 1. 7, 8: “horae | momento aut cita mors venit aut victoria laeta.” Plin. Nat. Hist. vii. 52: “Eidem ( sc. Maecenati) triennio supremo nullo horae momento contigit somnus.” The expression does not import that the apostle even now hopes soon to return to the Thessalonians (Flatt; and appealing to 1Th 3:10 , de Wette and Koch). This is forbidden by the grammatical relation of to the preterite , according to which can only be the time indicated by the participle. Thus the sense is: After we were separated from you for scarcely an instant, that is, for a very short season, our longing to return to you commenced.

] comp. 2Co 5:12 , in presence, not in heart , for the severance refers only to our bodies; but love is not bound in the fetters of place or time; comp. Col 2:5 .

] we endeavoured so much the more . , to show diligence to reach something, implies in itself that the apostle had already taken steps to realize his resolution to return, and thus proves the earnestness of the design. is not to be referred to , “more than if I had been separated from you in heart” (de Wette, Koch), for then there could have been no mention of a at all; [40] but is, with Schott, to be referred to , so much the more , as the separation has only recently occurred. For it is a matter of universal experience, that the pain of separation from friends, and the desire to return to them, are more vivid, the more freshly the remembrance of the parting works in the spirit, i.e. the less time has elapsed since the parting. Therefore the explanation of Oecumenius and Theophylact, after Chrysostom, is unpsychological: . Winer’s view ( Gram. p. 217 [E. T. 305]) is also inappropriate, because without support in the context: The loss of their personal intercourse for a time had made his longing greater than it would have been, if he had stood with them in no such relation. Further, arbitrarily, because the proximate reference of can only result from the directly preceding participial sentence, but not from 1Th 2:14 , Fromond.: “magis et ardentius conati sumus, quum sciremus pericula, in quibus versaremini;” and Hofmann: “for the readers the time after their conversion is a time of trouble; for their teachers it is on that account a time of so much the more anxious endeavour to see them again.” Lastly, grammatically incorrect Turretin, Olshausen, and de Wette, Exo 1 , more than usual , i.e. very earnestly .

Schott discovers an elegance and force in Paul, not having written , but the fuller form , with reference to the preceding ; but hardly correct, as is a usual form with Paul. Comp. 1Th 3:10 ; Col 2:1 .

] with much desire (longing). A statement of manner added to , for the sake of strengthening.

[39] The assertion of Hofmann, that “cannot possibly denote how long it was since Paul had been separated from the Thessalonians, but only how long this was to happen: as he was obliged to be separated from them, yet this separation was not for ever,” etc., could only have a meaning if instead of the passive form a participle had been put, which denoted the free action of the apostle.

[40] This reference is in a positive form expressed logically more correctly by Musculus: “quo magis corde praesens vobiscum fui, hoc abundantius faciem vestram videre studui;” and Baumgarten-Crusius: with so much the greater desire, because I was sincere with you.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

II

1Th 2:17 to 1Th 3:13

What Paul did for the Thessalonians after his departure

1Th 2:17-20

1. He had once and again earnestly purposed to come unto them, but was hindered

17But we, brethren, being taken [having been bereaved by separation] from you82 for a short time, in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly 18[the more ab. end.]83 to see your face with great desire. Wherefore84 we would have [wished to, ] come unto you, even I Paul, once and again [both once and again, ]; but [and, ] Satan hindered us. 19For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]85? Are [Or are]86 not even ye [ye also, ], in the presence of [before, ] our Lord Jesus Christ87 at His coming? 20For ye are our glory and joy.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. (1Th 2:17.) But we., emphatic in itself and by its position in front: As to what concerns us. Having spoken, 1Th 2:13-16, of the Thessalonians (comp. the standing foremost with like emphasis in 1Th 2:14); Paul again reverts to himself, in order to do away with a second imputation or doubt, as if, since he has been gone from the Thessalonians, after they had been readily persuaded and won over, he had left off caring for them. Suspicionem contemtus et negligenti prvenit (Calvin; similarly Pelt and others). Thus, as the first section (1Th 1:2 to 1Th 2:16) sketches for us a lively picture of Pauls ministry at Thessalonica and of the founding of the church there, a like sketch is given in the second section (1Th 2:17 to 1Th 3:13) of the manner in which, during the interval of some six months that has since elapsed, the founder of the church has cared for it and been active in its behalf. This authentic information respecting the Apostles doings in the establishment and rearing of churches is of high value.[, resumed from 1Th 2:13, and now contrastedwith the persecuting Jews of 1Th 2:15-16. So Lunemann, Alford, Ellicott.J. L.]

2. Bereaved of you.Chrysostom: Paul does not say separated, but more than that. and are even in the classics used, not merely of children bereaved of their parents, but also of parents bereaved of their children, and in other similar relations. The expression is one of tenderness, and belongs to the same category as the figure of the mother (1Th 2:7-8) and of the father (1Th 2:11) [so that Paul does not really compare himself to a child, as Chrysostom &c. improperly assume.Riggenbach]. The Apostle would, first of all, intimate to his readers, that, so far from having forgotten them, his separation from them has been for him a painful experience. Hence also the two additions: for the space of an hour, that is, only a very short time, as we say: for a moment (elsewhere , for a short time, Phm 1:15; Gal 2:5; 2Co 7:8, or , for a time at least limited, Luk 8:13; 1Co 7:6; here both are strengthened by being joined together), and: in presence only, not in heart, which ever remained with you (dative of reference, comp. 1Co 5:3; and, on the opposition between and , 2Co 5:12; 1Sa 16:7, LXX.). Thus: We had almost no sooner been parted from you, and that only outwardly, not inwardly, than we again had a great longing to see you. [ does not state that the separation altogether lasts but a short time, as if Paul here anticipated the fulfilment of the wish expressed in 1Th 3:10 (De Wette, Koch), or even thought of the reunion at the approaching parousia (Olshausen).Riggenbach].

3. Endeavoured quite earnestly [the more abundantly endeavoured].When the idea, with which the comparison exists, is at once understood from the context, it is not uncommon for the comparative to stand alone, and it then has the force of a positive, as in Act 17:21; especially does this happen with the comparative of adverbs, as , , .88 Alex. Buttmann, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Sprachgebrauchs, 1859, p. 72 (on the form , ibid, p. 61). If it is desired to specify the idea round which the comparison turns, it is evidently from the connection the purposely repeated in opposition to : Because the Apostle was not separated from them in heart, though in face [presence], he therefore strove the more keenly to see again their face also.89 Less suitable supplements are introduced by others90 is a reiterated confirmation of . The one confirmation stands at the beginning, the other not less emphatically at the close, of the sentence. Here also the Apostles love again shows itself so fervent, and as it were that of a bridegroom, that Chrysostom, impressed thereby, remarks: .To see your face is a select phrase of love, instead of the more prosaic to come unto you of 1Th 2:18; comp. 1Th 3:10.

4. (1Th 2:18.) Wherefore we wished to come unto you.From the general disposition, 1Th 2:17, proceeded positive resolutions, for the non-fulfilment of which Paul is not to be blamed. : solitarium for the greater prominence of the subject. From this too we see, as from 1Th 2:4, and 1Th 2:8, that in the first person plural Paul intends to include Silvanus and Timothy (Lnemann). Had he meant himself alone by it, the addition of would have been unnecessary. But here especially he had to distinguish himself, because indeed Timothy had in the meanwhile come to Thessalonica. But having once singled himself out, he afterwards speaks even of himself alone in the plural; so even in our verse , and with peculiar distinctness in 1Th 3:1-2. , not simply , nor yet (which is used indefinitely=more than once), but stronger than the former expression and more precise than the latter: both once and twice, not only once but twice (comp. Php 4:16): testatur non subitum fuisse fervorem, qui statim refrixerit, sed hujus propositi se fuisse tenacem, quum varias occasioned captaverit (Calvin).

5. And Satan hindered us.Instead of , Paul chooses the Hebraistic connective, which in this case is almost the more energetic.Satan, the personal devil (comp. 1Th 3:5), in whose existence, therefore, Paul not merely believes, but refers to his agency even such comparatively trifling and external matters, because therein there lies prepared a hindrance to the kingdom of God (comp. Eph 6:12; otherwise at Rom 1:13; Rom 15:22; Act 16:6 sq.). The Apostle, then, does not everywhere, and as a matter of course, speak of Satan, but he knows how with testing insight to distinguish. There is nothing about him of mere cant. In what the restraint consisted, we know not; only it cannot have been an accumulation of business, or anything of that sort, but must have been something of evilwhether on the side of the Thessalonians or on that of Paul. In the first case we should have to think with De Wette &c. of the enemies of the gospel at Thessalonica, whose hatred had been a source of danger to the Apostle on his arrival in Thessalonica; in the other case, either, with Chrysostom and others, of trials in the churches where Paul had since been, which rendered a removal from them impossible for him, or, perhaps better, of some sickness of the Apostle, and in connection with this we might think of Satans messenger, 2Co 12:1a topic, it is true, on which we know just nothing very clear and certain. (Comp. also 1Th 3:1.) It is even very possible that both kinds of reasons concurred; that the first time, for example, and this would best agree with 1Th 2:17, Paul desired to turn back again to Thessalonica from Bera, but was hindered in that by the Thessalonian Jews (Act 17:13.See Calvin, Bengel, and others.)

6. (1Th 2:19.) For.Paul gives the reason of his longing after the Thessalonians, and of his repeated purpose to come unto them. Illum desiderii ardorem inde confirmat, quia in ipsis felicitatem suam quodammodo repositam habeat; perinde enim valet hc sententia ac si dixisset: Nisi me ipsum obliviscar, necesse est ut vos expetam (Calvin).

7. Who91 [What] is our hope, &c. belongs to , and it is, of course, merely incidental that is coincident with the before and ; &c. belongs to &c.92 But is purposely put between, so that &c. attaches itself immediately to these words, because the Apostle would have it observed that, so far from his relation to them being a transient one, it is rather to reach on to the coming of Christ, and verify itself before the eyes of the Lord.Hope and joy, here, of course, objective=the subject of hope and joy. This the Thessalonians are not, in so far as Paul hopes in regard to them that they shall be found blameless (Lnemann), but in so far as they are the fruits of his ministry, after which the Lord at His return will inquire (see Luk 19:15). To this also there is special reference in , an

expression derived from the garland that crowns the competitor at the goal in the successfully contested race (1Co 9:23; 2Ti 2:5; 2Ti 4:8). , moreover, is not glory in the objective sense, but glorying; not gloria, but gloriatio; and so a crown for glorying=in which I may glory (comp. Eze 16:12; Eze 23:42; Pro 16:31; LXX.). Roos: We hope on your account to have some great experience at the coming of Christ; we shall then be able to rejoice over you; we shall be able to parade with you, as one parades with a crown won in a contest of the games.Ye also, as well as other churches; those, for example, in Philippi or Corinth (see Php 4:1; 2Co 1:14parallelisms also for the expression).

8. (1Th 2:20.) Ye are verily93 [For ye are], &c. confirms and strengthens the readily understood affirmation in the oratorical question of 1Th 2:19 (comp. Winer, p. 396). Our glory and joy. The expression glory [Herrlichkeit] is properly retained in translation here also by Ewald and J. Mich. Hahn, and is by the latter emphasized in a theosophic way. is weakened, when rendered merely by renown or honor [Lnemann: Ruhm; Luther, De Wette: Ehre.J. L.] (Comp. 1Co 11:7, where the woman is called the of the man, the man the of God; and 2Co 8:23, where approved brethren are distinguished by the title, .) As in God Himself is His life-impression, life-form (see at 1Th 2:12 Doctrinal Principles, No. 8), so with such genitives it denotes the representation of the life, resting on the communication of life,the copy, standing in essential connection with the original, belonging to it, and forming as it were one whole with it, so that the latter is surrounded by it with a halo, as the sun by its beams, as the head by the crown ( parallel with ). Thus it is with the man and the woman taken from him; with Christ and believers; with Paul and the spiritual children begotten by him.That such objective, actual glory then becomes in the subjective experience a matter of joy, lies in the nature of the case.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. (1Th 2:18.) Satan appears in Scripture in a threefold activity; as tempter and seducer, as accuser, as destroyer. In the first relation he is the first and perpetual author of sin amongst men ( , 1Th 3:5; Mat 4:3; , Mat 12:9). As accuser (, Rev 12:10), he seeks, when the sin is accomplished, to make the most of it with lying exaggeration before the Divine Judge (Zec 3:1), and also to exhibit it in the worst possible colors before our inner judge, the conscience, in order to bind the sinner inwardly, rendering him fainthearted and paralyzing his resistance to sin. Here belong the two most common names of the devil, the Hebrew , properly adversary, especially in court (comp. , Zec 3:1, and , 1Pe 5:8), and the Greek , informer, slanderer, defamer, properly one who strikes through with words. As destroyer (comp. , Rev 9:11) Satan works, in so far as he, as prince of the fallen world, sets in motion all the powers of physical and moral evil against salvation, the kingdom of God, and in behalf of mischief, which in the last instance is , eternal damnation. It is thus that lie appears in our text. In the two first relations he is a liar; in the last, andin so far as that lies as the ultimate aim at the bottom also of the earlierin all three, a murderer (Joh 8:44). In the case of Judas he succeeded first in his trade as a seducer, then in that of an accuser; hence the end of the former in despair and suicide, whereby he fell a prey to the destroyer.

2. (1Th 2:19-20.) Pauls hope is to be adorned with the fruits of his ministry before the Lord at His coming. Holy Scripture everywhere lays stress on this point, that every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor (1Co 3:8). The fundamental relation of every man to God in respect of faith or unbelief decides the question of his happiness or misery (Eph 2:8; Mar 16:16; Joh 3:18; Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24). But within these two great classes there is still possible an extraordinary diversity in the life-acting of faith or unbeliefin practical honesty and dishonesty. Through faith we are become children of God; but now we must yield ourselves to be also trained as such, and renewed ever more and more into the image of the Father and of our First-born Brother ( , Tit 2:11-12; comp. Heb 12:7-10; Col 3:10; Rom 12:2; Rom 8:29; 2Co 3:18), that we remain not weak, new-born children, but grow to the ripe age of a perfect man (Heb 5:13-14; comp. Eph 4:13-14). We are rooted in the right ground and soil, and bear within us the full germ of life; but for that very reason it concerns us now to grow and bring forth fruit (Col 2:7; Col 1:10-11; Mat 13:23; Mar 4:26-28; Joh 15:2; Php 1:9-11). The whole walk of a man contributes to the formation of his disposition and character; all the issues of the life exert a formative reacting influence on our inner manimpress and stamp themselves also in ourselves (character from ). In the Divine judgment, therefore, justification and condemnation are made to depend even on our words (Mat 12:36-37); but especially is our fate determined according to our works, or (in the singular) our work, life-work, so far as therein is exhibited the total result of the religious and moral life, rearing itself on the foundation of faith or unbelief (Rom 2:6; 2Co 5:10; Rev 2:23; Rev 20:12 sq.; Rev 22:12; Mat 16:27; Joh 5:29). As a man walks, so he becomes; and as he becomes, so is he also in death; his works do follow him (Rev 14:13), and agreeably thereto his destiny in that other world spontaneously shapes itself; on which account there will be among the blessed and among the lost very different degrees of glory or of torment (comp., for example, Luk 19:17-19; Luk 12:47 sq.; Mat 11:22-24; 1Co 3:12-15. Of course, this is not the place to go into more precise definitions respecting heaven, hades, hell, the first and second resurrections, &c.). By this view justice is done also to the scriptural idea of reward, without our falling into the Catholic idea of merit. And in this way, especially, sanctification, a spiritual walk, inward growth, and the outward activity of the life, here acquire an importance which in the original Protestantism was not duly recognized and acknowledgeda defect, that has been in many ways prejudicial, and here and there is so still, to our evangelical doctrine and practice. It is true, our Confessions teach emphatically, that faith by an inward necessity brings forth good works; and yet the main point of view, from which they had to handle this doctrine over against Catholicism, was the negative one: that righteousness and salvation depend neither for their attainment nor their preservation on good works. For this reason, and the kindred one, that for the doctrine of faith and justification that of regeneration was neglected, it was impossible for the idea of sanctification, and what is connected therewith also in eschatology, to reach fully its positive, scriptural development and significance. Meanwhile, there is by no means any want of good suggestions, particularly in Melancthons excellent discussion de dilectione et impletione legis in the Apology for the Augsburg Confession.

3. (1Th 2:19-20.) Whatever work we perform in an earthly calling, even in art and science as such, belongs to the domain of the perishableof means, not of everlasting ends. Only what of good or evil is wrought in the souls of men is of eternal import. And the highest service is to help a soul to the life in God. On this rests the singular dignity, and also the responsibility, of the ministerial office. In an altogether peculiar sense, this is work for the day of Jesus Christ, whether we are now good shepherds or hirelings.

4. Paul hopes on the day of the Lord to be surrounded by those converted through him, as by a glory. This , this crown of glorying, is the true halo, when, coming into the presence of the heavenly Judge, one is able to say: Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me. At His coming the Lord will present to Himself His entire Church glorious, without spot or wrinkle (Eph 5:27; 2Co 11:2). But the Church is an organism, not merely in the sense that the body as a whole depends on the head, but also in that it is composed of various members, the weaker depending on the stronger. Thus do spiritual children hang on their spiritual fathers, and are as it were embraced in them, and ruled by them. In this sense Paul hopes to be surrounded by his Gentile churches; in this sense is the promise made to the Twelve of ruling the twelve tribes of Israel (Mat 19:28; Luk 22:29-30). This agrees with the fundamental view which Scripture, in this case also the true interpreter of experience, takes of humanity. It regards it, not as an atomic mass of individuals, but as an organism, depending for its natural life on Adam, for its spiritual life on Christ; and that in such a manner, that from these two genealogical heads the membership branches off to every single individual. Hence the importance of progenitors and their primitive doings in the sphere itself of nature and of race (Adam, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Abraham, David, &c.; Adams fall, Hams misdeed, Abrahams faith, the gracious treatment of Davids descendants for Davids sake, &c.), just as prominent prophetic and apostolic persons are centres of light and union in the spiritual sphere. The case is similar with the Lord of the worlds history.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1Th 2:17. The Apostles loving union with his churches even when absent from them. J. Mich. Hahn: In the Apostle, who certainly loves all the children of God, and even all the Lords dearly redeemed, with a priestly, cordial love, there is yet a predilection for his spiritual children (1Co 4:15; Gal 4:19). The reason of that is the closer affinity of spiritual kindred. If it is so in the earthly nature, and cannot be said to be improper, who then shall blame it in the spiritual? Whoever blames it, would mend an arrangement of the Creator, who is also our Redeemer.Rieger: As matters now stand with us, we are unable to estimate what a benefit it was to come together in person, and strengthen one another concerning the common faith.Diedrich: Christians may well even long to see one another, whilst they are in the flesh; worldlings are soon fain to get out of one anothers way.[The same principles of the new creature, that led the primitive Christians to delight in personal intercourse with one another (comp. Act 4:23; Act 20:38; Rom 1:11; Rom 15:24; 1Th 3:6; 2Ti 1:4; 2Jn 1:12; 3Jn 1:14), were still more powerfully operative in their relations to their Lord (comp. Joh 14:3; Joh 14:19; Php 1:23; 1Th 4:17; 1Jn 3:2; &c.J. L.]

1Th 2:18. Calvin: It is certain, that whatever opposes the work of the Lord proceeds from Satan. Would that it were a firmly settled conviction in all pious souls, that Satan is continually making every effort to retard or hinder the edification of the Church! We should certainly be more intent on resisting him; we should have more at heart the preservation of sound doctrine, of which Satan takes such eager pains to rob us.A part of that Bound doctrine is the doctrine of Satan himself.[Bishop Wilson: Non-residence. N. B. It is the work of Satan, and his desire, to keep a pastor from his flock.J. L.]

1Th 2:19-20. It is important that a man should not merely be assured of his gracious standing and salvation, which, indeed, is the first thing and most important, but should also be zealous to bear fruit for the day of the Lord, and to be able hereafter to say to the Loud: Lord, my pound hath gained ten pounds (Luk 19:16). He can also set his aim too low, and cover with false humility his own drowsiness and sloth.A great and main point for the preacher, that he appear not empty before the Lord in His day.Calvin: At the last day Christs servants will obtain glory and triumph according as they have spread abroad His kingdom. Therefore should they even now rejoice and glory in nothing save the blessed result of their labor, in seeing the glory of Christ advanced through their service. In this way also they will attain to a true love for the Church.Theodoret: Paul has compared himself to a mother (1Th 2:1), and mothers are wont to call their young children their hope, joy, &c.94Chrysostom: Who would not exult in such a numerous and well-bred troop of children?To whose lot fall these joys of spiritual paternity? Do we even know any thing of them?The Apostles joys and cares of spiritual fatherhood are a pattern for us also in regard to our children after the flesh, how we should be faithful in our families, and should carefully engage that not one of the members be lost.To keep the coming of the Lord at all times before our eyes, that is to be likeminded with the Apostles.Rieger: In the gospel the Lords coming shines in upon us so near, that it affords us already at every step much light for our feet.[ Matthew Henry: The Apostle here puts the Thessalonians in mind, that though he could not come to them as yet, and though he should never be able to come to them, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come; nothing shall hinder that.Benson (Macknight, Barnes, &c.): Paul expected to know his own converts again in the great day; and particularly to rejoice in them. We may, therefore, hope to know our friends in the future state.J. L.]

Footnotes:

[82]1Th 2:17.[ . German: verwaiset von euch; Vaughan: literally, orphaned from you. The double emphasizes the fact of separation; ., the feeling of bereavement and desolation that ensued.Peile, Ellicott, Vaughan and others: torn from you; Peile adding, and bereaved. Jowett: bereaved in being taken from you; Robinson: bereaved and separated.J. L.]

[83]1Th 2:17.[The Greek order, throwing the emphasis more distinctly on the more abundantly (Ellicott).J. L.]

[84]1Th 2:18.Instead of Lachmann, Lnemann [Tischendorf in the first and latest editions, Alford, Ellicott] and others, read, after Sin. A. B. D.1 F. G. and some other manuscripts, , whereas Tischendorf (ed. 2), De Wette, Reiche and others, retain of the received text. At any rate must be=on which account, therefore, and so equivalent to , as Lnemann also supposes; but elsewhere is with Paul=because; comp. in our Epistle 1Th 2:8; 1Th 4:6.

[85]1Th 2:19.[. See the English margin, and 2Co 7:4; comp. also Rom 15:17, and the several instances (6 out of 12) in which the noun is in our version rendered boasting.J. L.]

[86]1Th 2:19.[The before is wanting in Sin.1, but was added by correction; and the same thing is true of before in 1Th 2:20J. L.]

[87]1Th 2:19.[Ellicott: The addition (Rec. with F. G. L.; many Vv.) is rightly rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and most modern editors, and our German text. It is wanting in Sin.J. L.]

[88][ occurs eight times in Pauls other Epistles (besides Heb 2:1; Heb 13:19), and in some of those in stances does it stand for the positive.J. L.]

[89][So De Wette, Koch, Ellicott, and others. The objection to this is, not merely that, had the separation been in heart, there would have been no desire whatever to see them again [Lunemann), but that is simply an incidental, parenthetical correction of the main thought, . I prefer Calvins explanation: The writers love, instead of being lessened by absence, was rather the more inflamed thereby (and so Aretius, Gill, Winer, Wordsworth, Vaughan, and others).J. L.]

[90][See Notes in my Revision of this verse.J. L.]

[91][So Luther, and other German versions.J. L.]

[92][This is frequently indicated by a comma after , and another after .J. L.]

[93] [Ihr seid jamaking the intensive, as is done also by Luther, Scholefield, Ellicott, and many others. But the rendering of our common version is quite as good;the 20th verse now justifying, as if after reconsideration (Webster and Wilkinson), the confident tone of the previous question by the triumphant assertion of what is there only strongly implied. The reader will notice likewise the emphatic .J. L.]

[94][In this suggestion Theodoret, as usual, follows Chrysostom. Wordsworth: These are my jewels, as the Roman mother, Cornelia, said of her offspring. Comp. Pro 17:6, , , .J. L.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.

Ver. 17. For a short time ] Or, In a short time, suddenly. See Act 17:9-10 .

Being taken away ] Or separated, as orphans are from their dear parents, or parents from their deceased children, . The separation of friends is so grievous, that death itself is styled no other than a departure.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

17 .] resumes the subject broken off at 1Th 2:13 ; the introducing a contrast to the description of the Jews in 1Th 2:15-16 .

] is properly used, as with us, of children who have lost their parents. But it is found in a wider sense, e.g. Joh 14:8 , Pind., Isthm. vii. 16, , Olymp. ix. 92, ( . , Dion. Hal. Antt. i. p. 69, Kypke): Hesych.: , (compare the similitude, 1Th 2:7 ). The word occurs sch. Choph. 247, of the eagles’ brood deprived of their parents. Here it is used in deep affection, the preposition giving the sense of local severance, which is further specified by following. There is no occasion to press the metaphor, as Chrys., al.

] for the space of an hour , i.e. for a very short time: it is a combination of the expressions and , see reff. It refers, not to his present impression that the time of separation would still be short (as Flatt and De W.), for this the past participle forbids, but to the time alluded to in that past participle when we had been separated from you for the space of an hour .

. . ] datives of the manner in which (i.e. as Ellic. ‘marking, with the true limiting power of the case, the metaphorical place,’ which in the interpretation of the metaphor would be manner or form, ‘to which the sense is restricted’) no separation in heart took place.

. . ] the more abundantly (because our separation was so short. Lnem. says well: “Universal experience testifies, that the pain of separation from friends and the desire of return to them are more vivid, the more freshly the remembrance of the parting works in the spirit, i.e. the less time has elapsed since the parting.” Therefore the explanation of c. and Thl., after Chrys., is unpsychological: , . Luth., Bretschn., De W., and Ellic. understand it ‘the more,’ i.e. than if I had been separated from you in heart: but the above seems both simpler and more delicate in feeling) endeavoured (implies actual setting on foot of measures to effect it) in much desire (i.e. very earnestly) to see your face .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

17 3:13 .] He relates to them how he desired to return after his separation from them: and when that was impracticable, how he sent Timotheus: at whose good intelligence of them he was cheered, thanks God for them, and prays for their continuance in love and confirmation in the faith .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Th 2:17 . . ., as we both expected, but, as it turned out, for much longer. . ., “not where I breathe; but where I love, I live” (Southwell, the Elizabethan Jesuit poet, echoing Augustine’s remark that the soul lives where it loves, not where it exists); cf. Eurip., Ion , 251. The next paragraph, 1Th 2:17 to 1Th 3:13 , starts from a fresh imputation against the apostles’ honour. Paul, it was more than hinted by calumniators at Thessalonica, had left his converts in the lurch ( cf. 18); with him, out of sight was out of mind; fresh scenes and new interests in the South had supplanted them in his affections, and his failure to return was interpreted as a fickle indifference to their concerns. The reply is three-fold. ( a ) Paul’s continued absence had been unavoidable (17 f.); he had often tried to get back. In proof of this anxiety ( b ) he had spared Timothy from his side for a visit to them (1Th 3:1-5 ), and ( c ) Timothy’s report, he adds (1Th 3:6 f.) had relieved a hearty concern on his part for their welfare; he thus lets them see how much they were to him, and still prays for a chance of re-visiting them (11). He was not to blame for the separation; and, so far from blunting his affection, it had only whetted ( ) his eagerness to get back.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

1Th 2:17 to 1Th 3:13 . Paul’s apologia pro absentia su .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Th 2:17-20

17But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short whilein person, not in spiritwere all the more eager with great desire to see your face. 18For we wanted to come to youI, Paul, more than onceand yet Satan hindered us. 19For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20For you are our glory and joy.

1Th 2:17

NASB, NKJV”having been taken away from you”

NRSV”we were made orphans by being separated from you”

TEV”we were separated from you”

NJB”we had been separated from you”

This is an aorist passive participle. Highly emotional language fills this whole paragraph. This continues Paul’s parenting metaphors of 1Th 2:7; 1Th 2:11. It is literally “orphaned” by an outside agent.

Probably the accusers of Paul stated or insinuated that his quick exit and long-term absence showed he did not truly care for them. Paul refutes this in 1Th 2:17-20; 1Th 3:6.

“with great desire” This term is often rendered “lust,” in its pejorative sense, but rarely, as it does here, it is used positively. Paul’s desire to see them is graphically portrayed in 1Th 3:10.

1Th 2:18 “For we wanted to come to you” All of Paul’s plans did not work out (cf. Rom 1:13; Rom 15:22).

“Satan” A personal evil force is active in our world, seeking to thwart God’s plans and purposes by the agency of: (1) a fallen world system, (2) the demonic, and (3) fallen humanity (cf. Eph 2:2-3 and James 4). We see Satan in the OT in Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3 as a servant of YHWH. By the NT he is an enemy (cf. Rom 16:20; 1Co 5:5; 1Co 5:7; 1Co 7:5; 2Co 2:11; 2Co 11:14; 2Co 12:7) but still under God’s control! For a good discussion of the intensification of evil in the Bible, read A.B. Davidson’s Old Testament Theology, pp. 300-306.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PERSONAL EVIL

“hindered” This is a military term used for the destruction of roads and bridges in the face of the enemy’s advance. There really is a spiritual conflict (cf. Eph 4:14; Eph 6:10-18).

It is also a possibility that a physical illness was the problem, not Satan (cf. 2 Corinthians 12). Paul saw his life in spiritual as well as physical categories.

1Th 2:19 The mark of the genuineness of Paul’s apostleship was the success of his ministry among the Gentiles (cf. 1Th 2:20).

“hope” See Special Topic at Gal 5:5.

NASB”Is it not even you”

NKJV”Is it not even you”

NRSV”Is it not you”

TEV”It is youyou, no less than others”

NJB”You are”

The problem with this phrase is how it related to Paul’s affection and love for the Thessalonian church compared to his other Gentile churches. Were they somehow special? TEV’s translation of “you, no less than others” may represent the thought.

In a sense the Thessalonian believers were a powerful witness to Paul’s effective work as an Apostle to the Gentiles. As Paul mimicked Jesus, they mimicked Paul, which is an outward evidence of their new heart and spirit (New Covenant).

“at His coming?” “Parousia,” literally meaning “presence,” and by metaphorical extension, means “coming.” This is the first use of the term in the NT (cf. 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:15; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 2:1; 2Th 2:8-9; 1Co 15:23). It was used in secular literature of the first century for a royal visit by a king. It came to have a technical meaning in the church for the Second Coming. This coming of Jesus is the theological focus of I & 2 Thessalonians. Every chapter of 1 Thessalonians ends on this note (cf. 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:13-18; 1Th 5:23). See SPECIAL TOPIC: NT TERMS FOR CHRIST’S RETURN at 1Th 3:13.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ANY-MOMENT RETURN OF JESUS VS. THE NOT YET

1Th 2:20

NASB, NKJV,

NRSV”our glory”

TEV, NJB”our pride”

This is the use of the term glory as pride. This does not relate to the theological glory used to describe God (cf. 1Th 2:12).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

being taken = having been bereaved. Greek. aporphanizomai. Only here. Compare Joh 14:18.

from. App-104.

a short time. Literally a season of an hour.

presence, face. Compare 1Co 5:3. Col 2:5.

endeavoured = were diligent.

see. App-133.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

17.] resumes the subject broken off at 1Th 2:13; the introducing a contrast to the description of the Jews in 1Th 2:15-16.

] is properly used, as with us, of children who have lost their parents. But it is found in a wider sense, e.g. Joh 14:8,-Pind., Isthm. vii. 16, ,-Olymp. ix. 92, (. , Dion. Hal. Antt. i. p. 69, Kypke): Hesych.: , (compare the similitude, 1Th 2:7). The word occurs sch. Choph. 247, of the eagles brood deprived of their parents. Here it is used in deep affection, the preposition giving the sense of local severance, which is further specified by following. There is no occasion to press the metaphor, as Chrys., al.

] for the space of an hour, i.e. for a very short time: it is a combination of the expressions and , see reff. It refers, not to his present impression that the time of separation would still be short (as Flatt and De W.), for this the past participle forbids, but to the time alluded to in that past participle-when we had been separated from you for the space of an hour.

. .] datives of the manner in which (i.e. as Ellic. marking, with the true limiting power of the case, the metaphorical place, which in the interpretation of the metaphor would be manner or form, to which the sense is restricted) no separation in heart took place.

. .] the more abundantly (because our separation was so short. Lnem. says well: Universal experience testifies, that the pain of separation from friends and the desire of return to them are more vivid, the more freshly the remembrance of the parting works in the spirit, i.e. the less time has elapsed since the parting. Therefore the explanation of c. and Thl., after Chrys., is unpsychological: , . Luth., Bretschn., De W., and Ellic. understand it the more, i.e. than if I had been separated from you in heart: but the above seems both simpler and more delicate in feeling) endeavoured (implies actual setting on foot of measures to effect it) in much desire (i.e. very earnestly) to see your face.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Th 2:17. , brethren) He begins a new division of the epistle.-, having been bereft of you) as parents, in the absence of their children.- , [lit. for the space of an hour] for a brief space) means time indefinitely; , a definite period, Exo 13:10, ; LXX., .-, to see) 2Ti 1:4.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Th 2:17

But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season,-This he says lest they should think he had deserted them while so great an emergency demanded his presence. If he could not give them the comfort of his presence, he gave them the comfort of knowing that he would have been with them had it been possible.

in presence not in heart,-His heart was still with them. This is an elegant and touching expression used to denote affection for absent friends. Pauls absence from them gave him a greater yearning for their presence.

endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire:-[His affection for them was so far from being diminished by his leaving them that it had been the more inflamed.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

in presence: 2Ki 5:26, Act 17:10, 1Co 5:3, Col 2:5

endeavoured: 1Th 3:6, 1Th 3:10, 1Th 3:11, Gen 31:30, Gen 45:28, Gen 48:11, 2Sa 13:39, Psa 63:1, Luk 22:15, Rom 1:13, Rom 15:23, Phi 1:22-26

Reciprocal: Act 15:36 – and see Act 21:1 – we were Rom 1:12 – that I may Rom 15:22 – I have Gal 4:20 – to be 2Ti 1:4 – desiring

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Th 2:17. Being taken from you for a short time. In Act 17:10 is the account of Paul’s departure from Thessa-lonica, and his pause at Berea. He was still present with them in heart (or mind), and he desired and planned to return to them in body soon.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Th 2:17. But we. The we is emphatic, equivalent to so far as concerns us; and Paul is induced to speak of his own feelings towards them, apparently for the sake of removing any bitter feeling which the Thessalonians might have harboured regarding his absence during their troubles. If he could not give them the comfort of his presence, he would at least give them the comfort of knowing that he would fain be with them if he could.

Being taken from you; or, having been bereaved by our separation from you.

For a short time. Inserted to show how immediately the longing to see them again supervened upon his departure.

The more abundantly. The comparative form of the adverb does not necessarily imply that there was any definite comparison in the writers mind; yet he probably meant that his absence had intensified his affection, and that his longing to see them was more abundant than his love had been while he was in Thessalonica.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

PERSONAL AND CONGRATULATORY

PAULS DESIRE TO REVISIT THE CHURCH (1Th 2:17-19)

Satan hindered in the execution of this desire in ways indicated in Acts 17, specifically, by stirring up opposition on the part of the Jews. Observe the teaching here as to the personality of Satan, his hatred of the true church, and the power he has to use agents in opposition to it. Pauls desire to visit the church is explained by his interest in the saints (1Th 2:19). Observe here the reference to the Second coming of Christ, and the teaching of Paul that he would then meet his converts, and know and rejoice over them in the Lords presence. What an answer to the question so often raised, Shall we recognize each other in the future life?

TIMOTHYS MISSION TO THE CHURCH (1Th 3:1-5)

Refer to Acts 17 and observe the circumstances under which Paul was left at Athens. Driven out of Thessalonica and Berea, by persecution, the brethren had sent him there. Observe the reason why Timothy was returned to Thessalonica; to establish and comfort the young saints (1Th 3:2). Their affliction arising out of their faith was great, and though they had been warned to it (1Th 3:4), yet they might have succumbed under it, and Pauls labor on their behalf would in that sense have been in vain (1Th 3:5).

TIMOTHYS REPORT OF THE CHURCH (1Th 3:6-10)

Their faith was firm, their love warm, their remembrance of Paul keen, and he was comforted. This was life for him, to know that his children in the faith stood fast in the Lord (1Th 3:8).

PAULS PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (1Th 3:11-13)

That he might see them again and that their love might increase toward one another, and toward all. But all this would be fulfilled in permanent perfection only at the Coming of Christ (1Th 3:13).

QUESTIONS

1. What are the four main points of the lesson?

2. How did Satan hinder Paul?

3. What light does this lesson throw on the question of future recognition of believers?

4. Why did Timothy return to Thessalonica?

5. What was the nature of his report to Paul leading to the writing of this letter?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Observe here, that St. Paul having all along, in the chapter before us, compared himself to a tender father, and a nursing mother, for his affectionate love unto, and his solicitous concern for, these Christian converts; he doth in the words before us, declare, that this constrained absence from them, occasioned him no less grief than that of a tender father, when bereft of his beloved children; or that of an indulgent mother, when the child she loves as her own soul is taken violently from her.

We, brethren, being taken from you; the words intimate such a separation as death makes between a father and a child, which rends the parent’s heart in sunder, and is like cutting off a limb or member from his body, exquisitely painful; intimating, that the enforced absence of a pastor from his beloved people, though but for a short season, is very afflictive. Ah! how heart-rending then is a total and final separation from each other, occasioned either by natural or civil death!

Observe, 2. St. Paul tells them, that though persecutors had deprived them of his bodily presence, yet not of his heart, for though not in body, yet in mind he was present with them; minister and people, like true lovers, are present with each other in soul, when separated in body. It is a singular comfort to Christians under persecution, that their enemies can neither deprive them of the presence of God, nor the prayers of their faithful ministers; their prayers may meet, when their persons are distant, and they may be present in spirit, in heart, and affection, when at the ends of the earth.

Observe, 3. How he expresses his desire and endeavour, his fervent purpose, and fixed resolution to come unto them, to see their face, to refresh them, and be refreshed by them; I endeavoured abundantly to see your face, but Satan hindered; that is, his instruments, persecutors, lay in wait for him, on the one hand, and caused some dissentions in other churches, which detained him from coming to them; on the other hand, Satan hindered.

Learn thence, that such as obstruct the preaching and propagating of the gospel, and persecute the promoters of it, are Satan’s instruments and ministers.

2. That such as do Satan’s work, it is fit they should bear this name.

3. Thus The devil shall cast some of you into prison Rev 2:13, that is, his servants: It is fit that master and servant should have both one name.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

1Th 2:17-20. But we, brethren, &c. In this verse we have a remarkable instance, not so much of the transient affections of holy grief, desire, or joy, as of that abiding tenderness, that loving temper, which is so apparent in all St. Pauls writings toward those he styles his children in the faith. This is the more carefully to be observed, because the passions occasionally exercising themselves, and flowing like a torrent, in the apostle, are observable to every reader; whereas it requires a nicer attention to discern those calm, standing tempers, that fixed posture of his soul, from whence the others only flow out, and which more peculiarly distinguish his character. Being taken from you Greek, , separated from you. The expression is commonly applied to children who are deprived of their parents: here, as the apostle, under God, was the spiritual father of the believers in Thessalonica, it is used in allusion to parents who are deprived of their children: for a short time , for an hours time; that is, for a very little season. Perhaps the apostle meant, that when he fled from Thessalonica to Berea, he proposed to be absent only a few days, till the rage of the Jews was abated; after which he intended to return. Accordingly he tells them, he the more earnestly, on that account, endeavoured to return, and actually made two attempts for that purpose. But the coming of the Jews from Thessalonica, to stir up the people in Berea against him, frustrated his design, and obliged him to leave Macedonia. We would have come (even I, Paul,) once and again, &c. This parenthesis, Macknight thinks, shows, that what follows is to be understood of Paul alone, though he continues to use the plural form of expression; and that therefore in other passages, where he uses the plural number, he may be speaking of himself only. But Satan hindered us By the persecuting Jews. Because the devil employs himself continually in obstructing the good purposes, endeavours, and actions of mankind, and is the chief enemy of God and man, he hath the name of Satan, or adversary, given him by way of eminence. And they who assist him in his malicious attempts are called ministers of Satan, 2Co 11:15. The persecution raised against the apostle and his fellow-labourers, in Berea, is here ascribed to Satan, to teach us that persecution for conscience sake is the genuine work of the devil. For what is our hope The source of my hope; or joy That wherein I take comfort; or crown of rejoicing? The honour of my ministry, and the chief cause of my rejoicing. Are not even ye As well as our other children; in the presence of our Lord When I shall behold you, at the last day, owned of him, and made happy by him. In this passage, the apostle compares the return of Christ to heaven, after the judgment, to the solemnity of a triumph, in which the apostle himself is to appear crowned in token of his victory over the false religions of the world, and over the abetters of those religions, as well as over the errors and vices of mankind, and all the enemies of God and his people, visible and invisible; and attended by his converts, who are, in that manner, to honour him as their spiritual father. And because these converts were the fruits of his preaching, and the evidences of the success of his labours, and therefore one grand cause of his being thus crowned, they are, by a beautiful figure of speech, called his crown of glorying. That some peculiar honour or reward will be conferred on them who have been instrumental in the conversion of sinners, is evident from Dan 12:3. For ye are our glory and joy The manner in which the apostle here speaks of the Thessalonians, shows that he expected to know his converts at the day of judgment. If so, we may hope to know our relations and friends then. And as there is no reason to think that in the future life we shall lose those natural and social affections which constitute so great a part of our present enjoyment, may we not expect that these affections, purified from every thing animal and terrestrial, will be a source of our happiness in that life likewise? It must be remembered, however, that in the other world we shall love one another not so much on account of the relation and friendship which formerly subsisted between us, as on account of the knowledge and virtue which we possess. For among rational beings, whose affections will all be suited to the high state of moral and intellectual perfection to which they shall be raised, the most endearing relations and warmest friendships will be those which are formed on excellence of character. What a powerful consideration this to excite us to cultivate, in our relations and friends, the noble and lasting qualities of knowledge and virtue, which will prove such a source of happiness to them and to us through the endless ages of eternity! Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season [about six months], in presence not in heart [Col 2:5], endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire [Paul had been torn rudely from the Thessalonians by the hand of persecution, so he speaks of being “bereaved” of them, thus using a strong word which indicates both the separation and the sense of desolation which arose from it. Though he had been but about six months absent from them, his heart was filled with desires to return to them]:

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

2:17 {15} But we, brethren, {m} being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.

(15) He meets with an objection, why he did not come to them immediately, being in such great misery: I often desired to, he says, and I was not able, but Satan hindered my endeavours, and therefore I sent Timothy my faithful companion to you, because you are most dear to me.

(m) Were kept apart from you, and as it were orphans.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Paul’s plan 2:17-20

"First Thessalonians has been called ’a classic of friendship,’ and here is a passage where Paul’s deep affection for his friends breathes through his words." [Note: Barclay, p. 224.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Paul and his companions had to leave Thessalonica prematurely, and for Paul the separation was an especially sorrowful one. He compared it to being bereft (lit. orphaned). He felt torn from them. However even though absent in body his readers were very present in his affections. Moreover Paul eagerly anticipated the opportunity to return to Thessalonica to see them again. He had attempted such a visit more than once, but Satan, the adversary who had interfered and had made the apostle’s ministry in person impossible for the present, had hindered him.

". . . Paul . . . found his unbounded capacity for paternal affection amply employed in his relationship with his converts." [Note: Bruce, p. 54.]

In Act 16:6-7 Luke wrote that the Holy Spirit forbade Paul to preach in Asia and Bithynia. Here Paul said that Satan thwarted his efforts to return to Thessalonica. How can we tell if Satan is opposing us or if the Spirit is directing us? It seems to me that the New Testament writers viewed God’s sovereign control of all things on different levels at different times. Sometimes, as in Acts, they spoke of the One who is in ultimate charge and focused on His direction. At other times, as here, they spoke of the instruments that God uses. God permitted Satan to oppose Paul’s return to Thessalonica, but this was all part of God’s sovereign will. In Acts the emphasis is on the One responsible for the expansion of the church, but here the emphasis is on the instrument God used in this situation. Satan can only oppose us as God gives him permission to do so (Job 1-2). [Note: See ibid., p. 58.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

C. Concerns for the Thessalonians 2:17-3:13

Paul’s heart of love blossoms in this section in which he expressed his great desire to see the Thessalonians again and explained how news of their continuing steadfastness gladdened his heart. He said these things to encourage them further to persevere in their faith and service.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Desire to see them again 2:17-3:5

In this pericope Paul expressed his sincere desire to return to Thessalonica. He did so to help his readers appreciate how much they meant to him to encourage them to reject any suggestion that his interest in them was selfish.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 7

ABSENCE AND LONGING

1Th 2:17-20; 1Th 3:1-5 (R.V.)

THE Apostle has said all that he means to say of the opposition of the Jews to the gospel, and in the verses before us turns to his own relations to the Thessalonians. He had been compelled to leave their city against his will; they themselves had escorted him by night to Beroea. He cannot find words strong enough to describe the pain of separation. It was a bereavement, although he hoped it would only last for a short time. His heart was with them as truly as if he were still bodily present in Thessalonica. His strongest desire was to look upon their faces once more.

Here we ought to notice again the power of the gospel to create new relations and the corresponding affections. A few months before Paul had not known a single soul in Thessalonica; if he had been only a travelling tent maker he might have stayed there as long as he did, and then moved on with as little emotion as troubles a modern gipsy when he shifts his camp; but coming as a Christian evangelist, he finds or rather makes brothers, and feels his enforced parting from them like a bereavement. Months after, his heart is sore for those whom he has left behind. This is one of the ways in which the gospel enriches life; hearts that would otherwise be empty and isolated are brought by it into living contact with a great circle whose nature and needs are like their own; and capacities, that would otherwise have been unsuspected, have free course for development. No one knows what is in him; and, in particular, no one knows of what love, of what expansion of heart he is capable, till Christ has made real to him those relations to others by which his duties are determined, and all his powers of thought and feeling called forth. Only the Christian man can ever tell what it is to love with all his heart and soul and strength and mind.

Such an experience as shines through the words of the Apostle in this passage furnishes the key to one of the best known but least understood words of our Saviour. “Verily I say unto you,” said Jesus to the twelve, “there is no man that hath left house, or wife, or brethren, or parents, or children, for the Kingdom of Gods sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come eternal life.” These words might almost stand for a description of Paul. He had given up everything for Christs sake. He had no home, no wife, no child; as far as we can see, no brother or friend among all his old acquaintances. Yet we may be sure that not one of those who were most richly blessed with all these natural relations and natural affections knew better than he what love is. No father ever loved his children more tenderly, fervently, austerely, and unchangeably than Paul loved those whom he had begotten in the gospel. No father was ever rewarded with affection more genuine, obedience more loyal, than many of his converts rendered to him. Even in the trials of love, which search it, and strain it, and bring out its virtues to perfection-in misunderstandings, ingratitude, wilfulness, suspicion-he had an experience with blessings of its own in which he surpassed them all. If love is the true wealth and blessedness of our life, surely none was richer or more blessed than this man, who had given up for Christs sake all those relations and connections through which love naturally comes. Christ had fulfilled to him the promise just quoted; He had given him a hundredfold in this life, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children. It would have been nothing but loss to cling to the natural affections and decline the lonely apostolic career.

There is something wonderfully vivid in the idea which Paul gives of his love for the Thessalonians. His mind is full of them; he imagines all the circumstances of trial and danger in which they may be placed; if he could only be with them at need! He seems to follow them as a woman follows with her thoughts the son who has gone alone to a distant town; she remembers him when he goes out in the morning, pities him if there are any circumstances of hardship in his work, pictures him busy in shop or office or street, looks at the clock when he ought to be home for the day; wonders where he is, and with what companions, in the evening; and counts the days till she will see him again. The Christian love of the Apostle, which had no basis at all in nature, was as real as this; and it is a pattern for all those who try to serve others in the gospel. The power of the truth, as far as its ministers are concerned, depends on its being spoken in love; unless the heart of the preacher or teacher is really pledged to those to whom. he speaks, he cannot expect but to labour in vain.

Paul is anxious that the Thessalonians should understand the strength of his feeling. It was no passing fancy. On two separate occasions he had determined to revisit them, and had felt, apparently, some peculiar malignity in the circumstances which foiled him. “Satan,” he says, “hindered us.”

This is one of the expressions which strike us as remote from our present modes of thought. Yet it is not false or unnatural. It belongs to that profound biblical view of life, according to which all the opposing forces in our experience have at bottom a personal character. We speak of the conflict of good and evil, as if good and evil were powers with an existence of their own; but the moment we think of it we see that the only good force in the world is the force of a good will, and the only bad force the force of a bad will; in other words, we see that the conflict of good and evil is essentially a conflict of persons. Good persons are in conflict with bad persons; and so far as the antagonism comes to a head, Christ, the New Testament teaches, is in conflict with Satan. These persons are the centres of force on one side and on the other; and the Apostle discerns, in incidents of his life which have now been lost to us, the presence and working now of this and now of that. An instructive illustration is really furnished by a passage in Acts which seems at the first glance of a very different purport. It is in the 16th chap., vv. 6-10 (Act 16:6-10), in which the historian describes the route of the Apostle from the East to Europe. “They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia” “they assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not” Paul saw a vision, after which they “sought to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called them to preach the gospel unto them.” Here, we might almost say, the three Divine Persons are referred to as the source of intimations directing and controlling the course of the gospel; yet it is evident, from the last mentioned, that such intimations might come in the shape of any event providentially ordered, and that the interpretation of them depended on those to whom they came. The obstacles which checked Pauls impulse to preach in Asia and in Bithynia he recognised to be of Divine appointment; those which prevented him from returning to Thessalonica were of Satanic origin. We do not know what they were; perhaps a plot against his life, which made the journey dangerous; perhaps some sin or scandal that detained him. in Corinth. At all events it was the doing of the enemy, who in this world, of which Paul does not hesitate to call him the god, has means enough at his disposal to foil, though he cannot overcome, the saints.

It is a delicate operation, in many cases, to interpret outward events, and say what is the source and what the purpose of this or that. Moral indifference may blind us; but those who are in the thick of the moral conflict have a swift and sure instinct for what is against them or on their side; they can tell at once what is Satanic and what is Divine. As a rule, the two forces will show in their strength at the same time; “a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries”: each is a foil to the other. What we ought to remark in this connection is the fundamental character of all moral action. It is not a figure of speech to say that the world is the scene of incessant spiritual conflict; it is the literal truth. And spiritual conflict is not simply an interaction of forces; it is the deliberate antagonism of persons to each other. When we do what is right, we take Christs side in a real struggle; when we do what is wrong, we side with Satan. It is a question of personal relations; to whose will do I add my own? to whose will do I oppose my own? And the struggle approaches its close for each of us as our will is more thoroughly assimilated to that of one or other of the two leaders. Do not let us dwell in generalities which disguise from us the seriousness of the issue. There is a place in one of his epistles in which Paul uses just such abstract terms as we do in speaking of this matter. “What fellowship,” he asks, “have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?” But he clinches the truth by bringing out the personal relations involved, when he goes on, “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?” These are the real quantities concerned-all persons: Christ and Belial, believers and unbelievers; all that happens is at bottom Christian or Satanic; all that we do is on the side of Christ or on the side of the great enemy of our Lord.

The recollection of the Satanic hindrances to his visit does not detain the Apostle more than a moment; his heart overflows them to those whom he describes as his hope and joy and crown of glorying in the day of the Lord Jesus. The form of words implies that these titles are not the property of the Thessalonians only; yet at the same time, that if they belong to anybody, they belong to them.

It is almost a pity to analyse words which are spoken out of the abundance of the heart; yet we pass over the surface, and lose the sense of their truth, unless we do so. What then does Paul mean when he calls the Thessalonians his hope? Everyone looks at least a certain distance into the future, and projects something into it to give it reality and interest to himself. That is his hope. It may be the returns he expects from investments of money; it may be the expansion of some scheme he has set on foot for the common good; it may be his children, on whose love and reverence, or on whose advancement in life, he counts for the happiness of his declining years. Paul, we know, had none of these hopes; when he looked down into the future he saw no fortune growing secretly, no peaceful retirement in which the love of sons and daughters would surround him and call him blessed. Yet his future was not dreary or desolate; it was bright with a great light; he had a hope that made life abundantly worth living, and that hope was the Thessalonians. He saw them in his minds eye grow daily out of the lingering taint of heathenism into the purity and love of Christ. He saw them, as the discipline of Gods providence had its perfect work in them, escape from the immaturity of babes in Christ, and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour to the measure of the stature of perfect men. He saw them presented faultless in the presence of the Lords glory in the great day. That was something to live for. To witness that spiritual transformation which he had inaugurated carried on to completion gave the future a greatness and a worth which made the Apostles heart leap for joy. He is glad when he thinks of his children walking in the truth. They are “a chaplet of victory of which he may justly make his boast”; he is prouder of them than a king of his crown, or a champion in the games of his wreath.

Such words might well be charged with extravagance if we omitted to look at the connection in which they stand. “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at His coming.” “Before our Lord Jesus at His coming”: this is the presence, this the occasion, with which Paul confronts, in imagination, his hope and joy and triumph. They are such as give him confidence and exultation even as he thinks of the great event which will try all common hopes and put them to shame.

None of us, it may be presumed, is without hope when he looks into the future; but how far does our future extend? For what situation is provision made by the hope that we actually cherish? The one certain event of the future is that we shall stand before our Lord Jesus, at His coming; can we acknowledge there with joy and boasting the hope on which our heart is at present set? Can we carry into that presence the expectation which at this moment gives us courage to look down the years to come? Not everyone can. There are multitudes of human hopes which terminate on material things, and expire with Christs coming; it is not these that can give us joy at last. The only hope whose light is not dimmed by the brightness of Christs appearing is the disinterested spiritual hope of one who has made himself the servant of others for Jesus sake, and has lived to see and aid their growth in the Lord. The fire which tries every mans work of what sort it is, brings out the imperishable worth of this. The Old Testament as well as the New tells us that souls saved and sanctified are the one hope and glory of men in the great day. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” It is a favourite thought of the Apostle himself: “appear as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ.” Even the Lord Himself, as he looks at the men whom He has gathered out of the world, can say, “I am glorified in them.” It is His glory, as the Fathers servant, that He has sought and found and sanctified His Church.

We ought not to pass by such fervent utterances as if they must mean less than they say. We ought not, because our own hold on the circle of Christian facts is weak, to glide over the qualification, “before our Lord Jesus at His coming,” as if it were without any solid meaning. The Bible is verbally inspired at least in the sense that nothing in it is otiose; every word is meant. And we miss the main lesson of this passage, if we do not ask ourselves whether we have any hope which is valid on the grand occasion in question. Your future may be secured as far as this world is concerned. Your investments may be as safe as the National debt; the loyalty and virtue of your children all that heart could wish; you are not afraid of poverty, loneliness, age. But what of our Lord Jesus, and His coming? Will your hope be worth anything before Him, at that day? You do not know how near it is. For some it may be very near. There are people in every congregation who know they cannot live ten years. No one knows that he will live so long. And all are summoned to take that great event into their view of the future; and to make ready for it. Is it not a fine thing to think that, if we do so, we can look forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus with hope and joy and triumph?

The intensity of Pauls love for the Thessalonians made his longing to see them intolerable; and after being twice baffled in his attempts to revisit them he sent Timothy in his stead. Rather than be without news of them he was content to be left in Athens alone. He mentions this as if it had been a great sacrifice, and probably it was so for him. He seems to have been in many ways dependent on the sympathy and assistance of others; and, of all places he ever visited, Athens was the most trying to his ardent temperament. It was covered with idols and exceedingly religious; yet it seemed to him more hopelessly away from God than any city in the world. Never had he been left alone in a place so unsympathetic; never had he felt so great a gulf fixed between others minds and his own; and Timothy had no sooner gone than he made his way to Corinth, where his messenger found him on his return.

The object of this mission is sufficiently plain from what has been already said. The Apostle knew the troubles that had beset the Thessalonians; and it was Timothys function to establish them and to comfort them concerning their faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions. The word translated “moved” occurs only this once in the New Testament, and the meaning is not quite certain. It may be quite as general as our version represents it; but it may also have a more definite sense, viz., that of allowing oneself to be befooled, or flattered out of ones faith, in the midst of tribulations. Besides the vehement enemies who pursued Paul with open violence, there may have been others who spoke of him to the Thessalonians as a mere enthusiast, the victim in his own person of delusions about a resurrection and a life to come, which he sought to impose upon others; and who, when affliction came on the Church, tried by appeals of this sort to wheedle the Thessalonians out of their faith. Such a situation would answer very exactly to the peculiar word here used. But however this may be, the general situation was plain. The Church was suffering; suffering is a trial which not everyone can bear; and Paul was anxious to have some one with them who had learned the elementary Christian lesson, that it is inevitable. The disciples had not, indeed, been taken by surprise. The Apostle had told them before that to this lot Christians were appointed; we are destined, he says, to suffer affliction. Nevertheless, it is one thing to know this by being told, and another to know it, as the Thessalonians now did, by experience. The two things are as different as reading a book about a trade and serving an apprenticeship to it.

The suffering of the good because they are good is mysterious, in part because it has the two aspects here made so manifest. On the one hand, it comes by Divine appointment; it is the law under which the Son of God Himself and all His followers live. But on the other hand, it is capable of a double issue. It may perfect those who endure it as ordained by God; it may bring out the solidity of their character, and redound to the glory of their Saviour; or it may give an opening to the tempter to seduce them from a path so full of pain. The one thing of which Paul is certain is, that the salvation of Christ is cheaply purchased at any price of affliction. Christs life here and hereafter is the supreme good; the one thing needful, for which all else may be counted loss.

This possible double issue of suffering-in higher goodness, or in the abandonment of the narrow way-explains the difference of tone with which Scripture speaks of it in different places. With the happy issue in view, it bids us count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations; blessed, it exclaims, is the man who endures; for when he is found proof, he shall receive the crown of life. But with human weakness in view, and the terrible consequences of failure, it bids us pray, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The true Christian will seek, in all the afflictions of life, to combine the courage and hope of the one view with the humility and fear of the other.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary