Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 2:19

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?

19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?] Not rejoicing, but glorying (R. V.), or boasting. “Crown of glorying” is a Hebrew idiom (Isa 62:3; Pro 16:31, &c.); it is the crown which expresses one’s exultation, not the king’s “diadem” (as in Rev 19:12), but the wreath of the victor in the games (1Co 9:24-25). So he calls the Philippians his “joy and crown a boast to me in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain” (Php 2:16; Php 4:1). And here: “Who will furnish our crown at Christ’s coming who, indeed, but you?”

Are not even ye ] This clause is best read, with Westcott and Hort, as a rhetorical parenthesis are not even ye? then the main question is resumed and completed: “before our Lord Jesus at His coming?”

It is then that the Apostle will wear the crown which the Thessalonians furnish for him. His wealth is in hope. He loves them for what they are, but still more for what they will be in the “unveiling of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19), “set faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). Then how proud (in the just sense of that word) will their Apostle be of them! See the prayers of ch. 1Th 3:13 and 1Th 5:23-24; also Col 1:28-29, where the goal of Paul’s labours is that he “may present every man perfect in Christ.”

our Lord Jesus Christ ] should be our Lord Jesus (R. V.). On a point like this we should always consult a critical text, such as that of the Revisers. Copyists were peculiarly liable to error in the names of Christ.

Observe the return in glory, and as Judge, of the same Lord Jesus Whom the Jews wickedly killed, 1Th 2:15: “I saw in the midst of the throne a Lamb, as though it had been slain,” Rev 5:6. He had said to His judges: “Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mat 26:64). This title identifies the Divine Judge and Conqueror over sin and death with the historical and human Jesus (comp. Joh 5:27; Act 17:31). The combination Lord Jesus is more frequent in these Epistles than anywhere else in the N.T., a circumstance due to their prevailing reference to the Second Coming. For further notes on the title see ch. 1Th 1:10 and 2Th 1:7.

his coming ] Lit., presence Greek, parousia i.e. “presence” in its active sense (different from the “presence,” or “face,” of 1Th 2:17 and 2Th 2:9) His arrival.

Here is the earliest example of a word, parousia, that has passed into the language of theology, denoting the promised Advent of Christ in glory, when He will come to complete His work of redemption and to judge mankind. His own teaching on the subject is recorded in Matthew 24; Matthew 25; Mark 13; Luk 12:35-59; Luk 17:20-37; Luk 19:11-27; Luk 21:5-36; Joh 5:27-29; Joh 14:1-3; Joh 16:22, &c. Seven times the Apostle uses this solemn word in these two letters once besides, in 1Co 15:23. From the three writings we lean nearly all that he has to teach on this mysterious subject. The parousia is spoken of by Christ, in answer to His disciples, in Matthew 24; and is referred to also in the Epistles of James, Peter, and John.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For what is our hope – That is, I had a strong desire to see you; to assist you; to enjoy your friendship; for you are my hope and joy, and my absence does not arise from a want of affection. The meaning, when he says that they were his hope, is, that their conversion and salvation was one of the grounds of his hope of future blessedness. It was an evidence that he was a faithful servant of God, and that he would be rewarded in heaven.

Or joy – The source of joy here and in heaven.

Or crown of rejoicing – Margin, as in Greek, glorying; that is, boasting, or exulting. The allusion is, probably, to the victors at the Grecian games; and the sense is, that he rejoiced in their conversion as the victor there did in the garland which he had won; notes, 1Co 9:24-27.

Are not even ye – Or, will not you be?

In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming – When the Lord Jesus appears at the end of the world, then our highest source of happiness and honor will be your conversion and salvation. Then their salvation would be a proof of his fidelity. It would fill his soul with the highest happiness, that he had been the means of saving them from ruin.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Th 2:19-20

What is our hope, or Joy, or crown of rejoicing?

Those we lead to Christ an element of our final reward

Paul wrote this letter from Corinth. He had, probably, just witnessed the Grecian games and the crowning of the victors. Then, says he, What is our crown? Are not even ye? They were also his glory. God desires and expects honour. We have a right to desire it. His prayer was that his pupils might be perfect in Christ at His coming. The coming is associated with the resurrection. Then the apostles hope was to see his pupils complete in Christ at the resurrection.

I. Paul was not concerned about his own salvation. That was as far behind him as that spot on the way to Damascus. His hope, his joy, was in the salvation of others.

II. He expected to know them in the resurrection. For this would be the source of his joy. They, for whom he laboured, would then be his crown. The indefinite thought that somewhere in the universe were a crowd of persons who had been saved through his labour would not have satisfied. There follows the inference that identity will not be destroyed. To destroy identity is to destroy the person. Nor is there continuity of existence save in memory. We go into the other world with the totality of our natures. There can be no reward save there is a consciousness of work done, and this consciousness will depend on the memory being intact. Otherwise, God may give joy, but that will not be reward; He may torture, but that will not be punishment.

III. Then it will be known to these saved ones what Paul had wrought for them. Else, how could their salvation be his joy and his crown? He would need more than the unselfish thought of what he had done. God will have glory. Christ was never more unselfish than when on the cross, despising the shame, yet He thought of the joy that was set before Him. An element in Pauls joy will be the honour and praise given him by those who will be conscious of the good he did them.

IV. Paul was not a mere instrument, but a co-worker with God. He was a factor in the power that saved his pupils. He speaks of God and the Holy Spirit, and also of himself, and claims for himself a crown of rejoicing in the work wrought Then God, Paul, and you are to work out the salvation of men.

V. Paul will take his crown in the presence of the Lord. Christ will recognize him as a factor. Christ will not be jealous. The elder brother goes out to find file prodigal. Observe–

1. Selfish motives are admissible in our Christian work. The Lord, perhaps, never had a more self-sacrificing servant than Paul. He cultivated such familiarity with the spiritual world as to make it present. He thought Christ might come any minute. His was a personal hope, a personal joy, a personal crown. Heaven to us is a pretty place, talked about in Revelation, or by Milton. It is not to us sufficiently real to dry our tears.

2. The selfish interests we aim at in this world are but trifles, compared with the crown, the joy, the hope, we may have. We take from this life nothing but our characters, and there await us cycles of eternities upon eternities, and yet what time we devote to our wardrobes, to trifles. Think of our translation to that other world; think of meeting men, women, and children leaping for joy, harp in hand, singing praises to God, and, at the same time, acknowledging us, with grateful hearts, as factors in the power that secured their salvation.

3. What dignity this gives the work of the Church. We are living in a time when the dignity of Christianity seems endangered. (T. T. Duryea, D. D.)

The grand reward anticipated by the genuine gospel minister

It is natural for men to work for rewards, to have an eye in all their labours to compensation. There is a selfish and a disinterested aim after rewards. The selfish is not only seen in the mere worldling, whose rewards are confined to the present life, but also in the religious professor, who here works, sacrifices, and prays in order to get for himself a blessed heaven at last. The disinterested reference to rewards is peculiar to the genuinely Christian worker, and is exemplified in the text. Notice–

I. The nature of the good which he regarded as a reward for his labours. It was not wealth or enjoyment on earth, nor his own heaven in the future, but the spiritual excellence of those for whom he laboured; their deliverance from moral evil; their restoration to the image of God. He sought nothing higher as a recompense. This was his highest hope–his joy. Nothing thrilled him with a keener delight than to see sin crushed and virtue triumphant. This was his crown of glorying. The pleasure which the victor in the Grecian games felt in the garland he had won was nothing compared to Pauls.

II. The period when this good would be manifested to his admiring eyes. Are not ye, etc., which implies–

1. His belief in the final advent of Christ. Paul never doubted this, nor did the early disciples. They were not inspired as to its specific time; hence the latter mistook and thought it just at hand.

2. His belief that at that period when he should meet and recognize all his converts, and they would be presented to the Great Head without spot or wrinkle, filled him with joy. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The ministers joy

1. Numerous causes of depression are connected with the lives of faithful ministers. Their office necessarily brings them into collision with the passions of others. Hostility to the truth frequently assumes the character of personal spite against the preacher, who is misrepresented, contemned, and persecuted.

2. During these seasons the apostles were able to state their possession of supports and consolations which had imparted to them animation and perseverance (2Co 4:8-9; 2Co 4:16; 2Co 6:9-10). These are comforts permanently provided for the work of the ministry, and not the least is that of the text.

I. There is a strong religious affection cherished by ministers of the Gospel towards their relieving hearers. This is well illustrated by previous expressions in this Epistle.

1. The relation of ministers to their people must of necessity always involve the exercise of kindly solicitude on their behalf. This is clear from Scriptural designations of their vocation. It is impossible to fulfil that vocation without feeling towards those whom they feed as shepherds, protect as watchmen, instruct as teachers, lead as guides, an affectionate interest.

2. This affection is also founded, as is all intelligent affection, on the possession of some common property. Both have been called in one hope of their calling, received the same Divine grace in their hearts, brought from the same spiritual bondage, washed in the same fountain, justified by the same righteousness, etc.

3. This affection becomes still more powerful when pastors have reason to conclude that to their instrumentality believers have been indebted for their introduction to spiritual life. Thus it was here. This connection is more close than others. It is not the relation of a friend to a friend, but of a father to a son (3Jn 1:2-4).

II. There is an important event which it becomes ministers and their believing hearers to anticipate. Those who are united in the bond of Christian attachment ought to hold in remembrance that their communion on earth must soon terminate. But we have not to stay our contemplation of the future with the point of death. We have to look beyond to a period of high restoration. Throughout the Epistle the thought of the Lords coming is associated with the well-being of the saints.

1. Let the minister habitually anticipate this, and he cannot but be careful that he may answer the claims and fulfil the obligations of his office.

2. Let private Christians regard this, and they, too, will earnestly cultivate the graces appropriate to their station.

III. The event anticipated will involve the mutual recognition of those who have been spiritually related on earth. This involves the general principle that all pious friendships will be restored to be perpetuated forever.

1. The ultimate recognition of the saints is a truth adapted to administer substantial consolation amidst the numerous and painful separations inflicted by death. What gratitude should arise towards that religion which affords such a hope!

2. This doctrine is applied to the recognition of preachers and believers. That connection which on earth is the parent of so much pure enjoyment will then be restored.

IV. This recognition will to ministers be connected with elevated joy (2Co 1:13-14; Php 2:15-16; Php 4:1). In contemplating the reasons for ministerial joy we may name–

1. The consideration of the unspeakable misery which believers have avoided, and the happiness to which they are exalted.

2. Saved believers will be a public testimony to the universe of official faithfulness and success. What a transcendent honour to be acknowledged in the presence of the Father and the holy angels. Here we do not witness all the results of our ministry.

3. The salvation of others will add new and permanent value to ministerial reward. (James Parsons.)

Culture of character the work of the Christian pastor

How thoroughly Pauls work is charged with personal feeling. There are times in which this personal feeling should be allowed its proper expression.

I. The aim of a true ministry. To get men ready to stand in the presence of Christ. The apostle lived in expectation of the appearance of the Saviour. That great hope was his own perpetual inspiration, and by the teaching of it he ever urges his disciples to live holier and more consecrated lives.

II. The joy it gives the minister to work with this for his aim. There is a passionate kind of joy known by the man who is the means of many conversions. There is surely a deeper, holier joy known by him who watches over the growth of holy character, and the settling of holy principle, and the arrangements of a holy life–those further stages of the work of conversion. There must have been a great thrill of joy in the heart of the old alchemist as he watched the metals simmering, and changing form; and as he fancied he caught, again and again, signs that the long-sought elixir was yielding to the fires. How intense must be the joy of the sculptor who works at the rough quarry block, and sees under each chisel stroke a new proof that the image of his soul is gaining form before him! The artist must know true joy in his work as the bare canvas gradually fills with the creations of his genius. The architect watches stone laid on stone, and fair proportions and graceful forms growing up before him with ever-new delight, We know there is no joy on earth like that of the mother who watches the babe unfold in strength and intelligence; and on up through the stages of childhood and youth that mother watches with a perpetual soul thrill as intelligence and character are developed and perfected. I have sometimes tried to conceive the inconceivable, and imagine I stood beside Jehovah, and felt the thrill of His great joy as He watched creation unfold all its fitnesses and beauties before His Divine commands: as chaos broke up into movement, and rocks gathered round their centre, and water floods separated themselves from the land. Who shall tell the joy of Him who watched the stages of that wondrous growth? It is but suggested in the words, And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good. But all these fail before the joy to God, and to the good, that is found in watching the new creation of a soul, the regeneration and sanctification of a soul. All these can be but images and suggestions of the far greater joy he knows who watches the growth of souls, and can say, What is our joy?are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus at His coming? God must have more joy in the sanctifying of a soul, for He gave His only Son to accomplish that end.

III. The hope the minister may cherish that in some his aim will be realized. When we stand in the presence of Christ we shall each have several persons to thank for helping us forward on the road to holiness and God. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

The ministers joy

I. The reasons upon which Christs faithful ministers are so seriously engaged in saving souls, making it the great object of their desire and hope, the scope of their prayers, and the business of their lives.

1. The Divine command and charge laid upon them (Act 20:28; Col 4:17; 2Ti 4:1-2; 1Co 9:16).

2. The Spirit and Grace of Christ. They preach no unknown Saviour, but one in whom and in whose work they have a special interest (Rom 10:1; Gal 4:19; Act 20:31; 2Co 12:15).

3. The example of Christ, who came to seek and save the lost; and whose meat was to do the will of His Father, etc.

4. The worth of souls.

5. The danger they are in from the world without and corruption within.

6. The price paid for souls (Act 20:28).

7. The strict account they will have to give of their ministry (Eze 3:17-18).

8. Future glory.

II. The joy they will have in the souls they win in the presence of Jesus Christ.

1. Every recovered soul will be a jewel added to their crown.

2. Their converts will be eternally safe.

3. They will spend eternity in their company whom they have loved most below.

4. They will receive the special commendation of the Lord.

Conclusion.

1. How important the work of labouring for souls.

2. The prospect should animate pastors and people in times of depression.

3. How heavy will be the doom of those who have despised the preached gospel. (D. Wilcox.)

The pastors joy and crown

(Farewell sermon). Let us consider–

I. What you are to me in the present.

1. Some of you are my hope. Joy comes of anticipations realized, but we hope for that we see not. Some of you are my hope because there are possibilities which have never been developed, aspiration s which have never been fulfilled, blessings not yet experienced. At the same time you have not yet turned your backs upon them. You and I are hoping that the seed may yet bear fruit.

(1) Some of you young men have not yet become corrupted by a life of sin; but you have not yet given your hearts to God. Turn my hope into joy by deciding for Christ.

(2) Some of you maidens have not yet yielded to the fashions and frivolities of the world, and have indeed been drawn after Christ; but you have not yet embraced Him. Make my hope joy by doing so now.

(3) Whether old or young you are my hope if you are convinced that what I say is and has been true. No longer halt, then, between two opinions.

2. Some of you are my joy. My hopes have been realized. You have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Cleave to Him and work for Him so that you may continue to be my joy, and be something more by and by.

II. What you may be to me in the future. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ: I as your pastor to render an account of my ministry. Whether I have done my work well or ill it cannot be altered now; but if you have been unprofitable hearers you may remember in days to come what you have heard, and by giving yourselves to Christ be my crown of rejoicing. Then I shall be able to point to you and others and say, Here am I and the children Thou hast given me. And if any shall say, He did not feed the flock, comfort the sorrowful, etc., I shall be able to point to you in refutation. (R. Davey.)

The pastors crown of rejoicing

I. The text points to the future. Instead of indulging in fond regrets, lamenting over the severance of old ties, and giving himself up to the fascination of sentimental reminiscences, Paul looks onward to the future–hopefully, cheerfully, anticipating renewed friendship, calculating on continued usefulness. But beyond the horizon of time, Pauls eager gaze penetrates eternity. He and his brother believers did not forget the first Advent, but they seem to have been more mightily moved by the hope of the second. When this hope will be consummated they could not tell, neither can we; but it will be some day.

II. The text recognizes an everlasting bond of union between a Christian pastor and his flock.

1. Moral influences work forever. Mind affects mind, and will affects will, and character, character in everlasting consequences of action and reaction. People cannot live and work together without making one another different. All relationships may be said to be interminable, because the influence for good or evil is perpetually operative.

2. But the relation between pastor and people is noticed in Scripture in a way no other is. Nothing is said about the meeting of kings and subjects, brothers and sisters, etc. This relationship of ministerial labour and oversight is alone placed in the eternal light; because a preacher has to do a work which no others do. He toils for eternity; and the result of his employment will not appear till time shall end. Many kinds of efforts produce immediate results; but with our sacred occupation the harvest is the end of the world.

III. The text suggests the conditions on which the apostolic hope expressed may be fulfilled. This hope is sublimely disinterested. Paul here stands before us, a true philanthropist, who loses himself in the good of others, whose heaven is to lead others to heaven. The hope of the salvation of others is his own great hope; their joy his own joy; their crowns his own crown. The conditions upon which such a lofty hope can be fulfilled are these–

1. The conversion of men to Christ through repentance and faith. The feelings with which one regards a pupil or adopted child may be very tender and grow into the semblance of paternal affection, but it is only a semblance at best. A fathers love and joy no stranger intermeddleth with. And so there is pure ministerial satisfaction in being an instructor of Christianity; but to be really a father in God, to beget a soul for Christ through the gospel–that is a joy which no man knoweth save he who receiveth it. The thought of that fills an apostolic mind with ecstasy.

2. The edification, improvement, growth in holiness of those so converted, whether by the minister himself or his brethren. To educate ones child is a most precious task; to have under ones pastoral care a person who attributes to you his conversion is a similar and yet nobler employment. To carry on step by step the purifying and ennobling process; to help to polish pillars in the house of God that are to go out no more forever; to add any touches to the likeness of Christ drawn in the lives of His people–that is to enter into the noblest kind of partnership, to share in the consummation of the grandest of purposes. And it all bears on the anticipated felicity at the coming of the Lord Jesus.

3. The consolation of the afflicted in this world of trial. No man entered more deeply into the feelings of others than did Paul. Perhaps the strongest of all ministerial power is sympathy in affliction; and the prospect of spending eternity together with the sons and daughters of sorrow in that world where tears are wiped from all faces will form no small part of our crown of rejoicing. (J. Stoughton, D. D.)

The way to the crown

The crown of a mans life is that which he desires above all things. A crown of rejoicing is that which gives him the greatest joy. The apostles life joy was bound up with the salvation of souls. If that failed his life was joyless.

I. The sweetest joy that earth gives is the joy of doing good.

1. Here is a high hill, its sides rocky, its surface sterile, its contour uncomely. Nobody wants it or values it. Presently a wise man walks over it, purchases it, cuts away at its sides, and after long and expensive toil lays bare a wealth of precious minerals. So there is many a deed of kindness that waits to be done; yet no one does it. It seems an unpleasant, hard, costly thing; yet he who at last does it finds in it a treasure. In every kindness there is a joy locked up for your own soul, and the more difficult it is the sweeter the joy. It is sweet to take a loaf of bread to the starving, although it may leave you hungry; to deny yourself of some ornament to clothe the naked; to lose your own sleep to watch beside the suffering. Pearls are found in the unsightly oyster, so pearls of joy are found in tasks from which we shrink.

2. But the sweetest joy is that of saving souls. A man once saved a childs life by snatching it from under the feet of a galloping horse, and ever after that one deed illumined that mans life. He lay for years in prison cells, but the joys of that heroic hour shone ever in upon his gloom. If it is so blessed to save from physical, how much more to save from eternal death! When Dr. Lyman Beecher was dying some one asked him what was the greatest of all things. He answered, It is not theology; it is not controversy; it is saving souls. As the Christian approaches the sunset of life he feels that this is the only work worth doing, A preacher may draw crowds, and be rewarded with academic titles, and achieve great fame; but if souls are not saved his ministry is a failure.

II. Those whom we lead to Christ will be our crown of joy in heaven.

1. Reference is here made to the ancient games. At the end of the race the victor is crowned. So at the end of the apostles course he should receive a crown jemmed with saved souls. He who gives a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple will be rewarded, and he who saves souls will receive the most glorious rewards.

2. There seems also to have been in the apostles mind the thought that his spiritual children would be grouped round him as a glory, as children gather round a parent. Jesus is the Saviour around whom all the saved shall gather. But that one family will be broken up into countless groups gathered about those who have led them to Jesus. All whom we have helped to the Saviour will greet us as we pass inside heavens gates. Every Christian pastor or worker will, in heaven, be like a tree with many or few branches on which all the fruits of his life will hang. Conclusion: Our joy in heaven will be measured by our deeds of kindness on earth. The gold and silver we have spent in benefitting our race, will be transmuted into crowns of glory. Those who are spending themselves for Christ are weaving fadeless garlands for their brows. They who are saving souls are gathering and polishing jewels for their heavenly crowns. (J. R. Miller.)

Believers the joy of ministers

I. Inquire when Christian professors may be styled the hope, the joy, and the crown of their ministers.

1. When they appear to be truly converted to God.

2. When they grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.

3. When they walk worthy of their heavenly calling, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness, such as closet duties, family religion, love for Divine ordinances, and Christian ministers, and consistent deportment in the world.

II. The solemn time in which they shall be the hope, the joy, and the crown of their ministers.

1. The second coming of Christ.

2. Ministers and hearers must then meet.

3. Their hope is to meet them at the right hand of God.

4. Their joy to see them partakers of Divine glory.

5. Their crown of rejoicing to behold them as the seals to their ministry. (C. Evans, D. D.)

Consistent Christians a ministers joy

I do not know when I ever felt more gratified than on one occasion, when sitting at a Church meeting, having to report the death of a young brother who was in the service of an eminent employer, a little note came from him to say, My servant, Edward–is dead. I send you word at once, that you may send me another young man; for if your members are such as he was, I never wish to have better servants around me. I read the letter at the Church meeting, and another was soon found. It is a cheering thing for the Christian minister to know that his converts are held in repute. Of another member of my Church an ungodly employer said, I do not think anything of him; he is of no use to anybody; he cannot tell a lie! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Hope, joy, crown

There are some who are our hope, who are not our joy; and others who are our hope and joy too, for a time, who will never be our crown; who hold not out to the end, and therefore will never be our rejoicing in the presence of the Lord at His coming. Some are under serious impressions, and excite a hope and joy, like that felt at the sight of blossoms in the spring, and yet are afterwards blighted. There are some that have made even a public profession, and yet, like the thorny and stony ground hearers, produce no fruit. The object desired, therefore, is not only your setting out, but your holding on, walking in the truth, and holding fast your profession to the end. Then, indeed, you will not only be our hope and joy, but our crown of rejoicing. (Andrew Fuller.)

Pauls crown and glory

That one word glory gathers up all the rays of light which stream from the others into its focus. They are his halo of glory now and evermore. Believers, or at least those who are specially engaged in His service, are described in 2Co 8:23 as the glory of Christ. They are also in a lower sense the glory of Christs ministers. The pastor will find in his congregation either his glory or his shame. It was the boast of the Jews that to them had been given three crowns–the crown of the law, the crown of the priesthood, and the royal crown. These they highly prized, but they often added, better than these is the crown of a good name. Pauls crown of a good name in the presence of Christ Jesus was his converts. The same crown is offered to us all, and is in keeping for us all if we are found faithful. History tells us that when in Philip IIs reign a rebel claimed and gained the crown of Granada, he bore at the ceremony of coronation in his right hand a banner bearing the inscription More I could not desire, less would not have contented me. These words cease to be presumptuous and become the utterance of truest wisdom only, when they refer to the crown of heavenly rejoicing, and when they are the legend of the banner under which he fights in the sacramental host of Gods elect. In view of the truth that converts are the crown of boasting in store for all faithful witnesses for Christ, the words are invested with a solemn significance We live if ye stand fast in the Lord. Now, little children, abide ye in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

Heavenly recognition

It is natural for those who are travelling to an unknown land, in which they are soon to make their residence, to enquire frequently anent its manners, its customs, and its modes of intercourse; it is therefore not surprising that Christians, travellers to the kingdom of God, frequently endeavour to lift the veil which covers futurity, and to learn what are the holy delights of that heavenly world in which they hope to dwell forever. To these inquiries, Pauls statement to the Thessalonians affords the most precious consolation: it teaches that the friendship founded on piety is imperishable–that those who were friends to the Redeemer, as well as to each other, shall have mutual knowledge and recollection in the future world, which shall result in intercourse with each other and the whole triumphant Church.

I. The doctrine of heavenly recognition.

1. The enjoyments and occupations of heaven are uniformly represented as social; but where is the charm of society without mutual knowledge?

2. Heaven is uniformly represented as perfecting all our faculties. Is it then probable that it will diminish, nay, entirely abolish memory, one of the most important of them?

3. The chief grace that will be exercised in the regions of the blest, next to love to God, will be love to our companions in glory. But what kind of love is that which is felt for an object which we know not?

4. In the general judgment which is appointed to vindicate the ways of God to man, it is certain that every individual will be known to the vast assembly as distinct from all other persons. Is it probable that God, after thus making the blessed acquainted with each other, should immediately afterward obliterate this knowledge?

5. It is certain that we shall see and know the glorious manhood of our blessed Saviour, elevated above all the heavenly powers; and if we shall know one body, why not mere? During His abode on earth, He afforded to three favoured disciples a glimpse of His Divine glory. He was transfigured, and Moses and Elias descended in celestial brilliancy: the disciples knew them distinct from the Saviour, and each as distinct from the other; and if they knew them on the solitary mount, why should they not know them in the New Jerusalem?

6. We find the apostle Paul very frequently consoling himself under the sufferings and persecutions which he had to endure, by the prospect of meeting in heaven those who had been converted by his ministry on earth.

II. The teaching of this doctrine.

1. What a delightful idea does it give of the felicity of the celestial world! Surely nothing, except the vision and enjoyment of God and the Lamb, can equal the joys of knowing and being known to all the Church triumphant above–of living in an eternal brotherhood–of forming an indissoluble connection with all the good men that ever have existed, or that ever shall exist, till the trump of the archangel shall shake the earth to its centre. Who can even conceive the raptures of such an intercourse?

2. The doctrine that in heaven we shall know each other, and all the pious who have preceded us, affords one of the sweetest consolations to the Christian against the natural fear of death. To a soul that has made its peace with God, death has nothing so terrible as those agonizing adieus which are to be given to those whom we love; but the anguish arising from this source is removed when the dying believer can strain his closing eyes upon those who surround his bed of death, and say to them, Suffer me to go and join yon heavenly company with the bright hope that you will ere long come to me, and we shall be beyond the reach of death, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. The doctrine of future recognition teaches relatives and friends how they should act in order that the sentiments of affection which they entertain for each other may have their greatest force, and they be saved from the severest pains. Form your attachments for eternity; build them on the basis of religion; strive to cement the ties of relationship by the more indissoluble bonds of grace; and then your future will be ineffably blessed and glorious. (H. Kollock, D. D.)

.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 19. For what is our hope] I can have no prospects from earth; I have forsaken all for the Gospel; and esteem every thing it can afford as dross and dung, that I may gain Christ. Why then should I continually labour at the risk of my life, preaching the Gospel? Is it not to get your souls saved, that ye may be my crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ? For this I labour; and, having planted the Gospel among you, I wish to take every opportunity of watering it, that it may grow up unto eternal life.

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

Here the apostle gives the reason of his desire to see them. He first calls them his hope; that is, the master of his hope, that among others they should be saved in the day of Christ. Secondly, his joy: he at present rejoiced in their ready and sincere receiving the gospel preached by him. Thirdly, his crown of rejoicing, which signifies the triumph and height of joy: and seeing he mentions the presence and coming of Jesus Christ, he looks to the crown that he should receive at that day, which he speaks of, 1Co 9:25; and these Thessalonians, among others, would help to make up this crown of rejoicing to him. And in the words we may observe an eminent gradation, as also that the crown of ministers will arise not only from Christ, but from their people also.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Forgiving the reason forhis earnest desire to see them.

Are not even ye in thepresence of . . . Christ“Christ” is omitted in theoldest manuscripts. Are not even ye (namely, among others; the “even”or “also,” implies that not they alone will be hiscrown) our hope, joy, and crown of rejoicing before Jesus, when Heshall come (2Co 1:14; Phi 2:16;Phi 4:1)? The “hope”here meant is his hope (in a lower sense), that these his convertsmight be found in Christ at His advent (1Th3:13). Paul’s chief “hope” was JESUSCHRIST (1Ti1:1).

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

For what is our hope, or joy,…. The apostle here gives a reason why they were so concerned at parting with the Thessalonians, and were so desirous of seeing them again, and attempted it so often, cause they were their “hope”; not the foundation of it, which was Christ; nor the thing hoped for, which was eternal life; nor the ground of their hope, which was the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; but they were persons whom they hoped well of, and of whom their hope was steadfast; as of their election of God, of their redemption by Christ, of their effectual calling, of their perseverance in faith and holiness, notwithstanding all reproach and persecution; and of meeting the Lord, and being together with him for ever: and they were also their “joy”; their conversion was a matter of joy to them, because of the glory of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, displayed therein; because of the abundant grace bestowed on these persons; and because that hereby the kingdom of Satan was weakened, and the kingdom of Christ enlarged and his churches increased and beautified; and their own ministry was blessed and confirmed, and their hearts and hands strengthened, and they encouraged to go on in it: and they continued to be their joy, inasmuch as they stood fast in the Lord, walked on in the truth, and had their conversations as became the Gospel of Christ; and they were persuaded would be their joy hereafter, at the second coming of Christ; when they should give up their account of them with joy, and not with grief: and it is added,

or crown of rejoicing; or of “glorying”, or “boasting”; not that they gloried in them, for they gloried not in men, but in the Lord, in his righteousness, riches, wisdom, strength, and grace, in the person, blood, and cross of Christ; but they gloried of them, as trophies of divine grace, as a prey taken out of the hand of the mighty, and as lawful captives delivered from the power of Satan, and of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of Christ. The Alexandrian copy reads, as we render it,

crown of rejoicing: which is but a stronger phrase, to press the joy they had in their conversion and perseverance, in allusion to crowns wore at times of rejoicing, as at marriage feasts, and the like: hence we read i of the crowns of the bridegrooms, and of the brides, which were forbidden the use of in the war of Vespasian; the latter were made of gold, in the form of the city of Jerusalem, and from thence called golden cities k; and the former, some say, were made of salt and sulphur, to put them in mind of the destruction of the Sodomites, for their unnatural lusts l; others of a salt stone as clear as crystal, or of the stone Bdellium, painted in the colour of sulphur m; and some were made of myrtles and roses, but in the war of Vespasian only those made of reeds were used n; these crowns at weddings seem to be the “beautiful crowns” in

Eze 23:42 where the Septuagint use the same phrase as here,

, “a crown of rejoicing”, or “glorying”: the Hebrew phrase , may be rendered “a crown of glory”, as the phrase here is by the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; but does not mean the crown of glory, life, righteousness, and immortality, the apostle expected at the hands of Christ another day; nor that his being an instrument of the conversion of these persons was the ground of such an expectation, or was what entitled him to such a crown; since he knew that conversion work was owing to the powerful grace of God, and the crown of eternal life was his free gift; but that it would be an honour to him, and give him abundant joy and pleasure at the coming of Christ, to be encircled with such a number of souls he had been useful to, and who were his spiritual children; just as children’s children are the crown of old men, Pr 17:6 all this is put by way of question, which strongly affirms,

are not even ye; or “ye also”, as well as others, as the Corinthians and Philippians; see 2Co 1:7.

In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? to judge the quick and dead, when both they and these should meet him, and stand before him with confidence, being clothed with his righteousness, and clad with robes of immortality and glory.

i Misna Sota. c. 9. sect. 14. k Maimon. in Misna Sota, & in Sabbat, c. 6. sect. 1. l Ez Hechaim M. S. apud Wagenseil in Sota ib. m Bartenora in Misna Sota, c. 9. sect. 14. n T. Bab. Sota, fol. 49. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Crown of glorying ( ). When a king or conqueror came on a visit he was given a chaplet of glorying. Paul is answering the insinuation that he did not really wish to come.

At his coming ( ). This word is untechnical (just presence from ) in 2Thess 2:9; 1Cor 16:17; 2Cor 7:6; 2Cor 10:10; Phil 1:26; Phil 2:12. But here (also 1Thess 3:13; 1Thess 4:15; 1Thess 5:23; 2Thess 2:1; 2Thess 2:8; 1Cor 15:23) we have the technical sense of the second coming of Christ. Deissmann (Light from the Ancient East, pp. 372ff.) notes that the word in the papyri is almost technical for the arrival of a king or ruler who expects to receive his “crown of coming.” The Thessalonians, Paul says, will be his crown, glory, joy when Jesus comes.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Hope. Used of the object of hope, as Col 1:5; 1Ti 1:1; Heb 6:18.

Joy – crown [ – ] . Comp. Phi 4:1. The phrase crown of rejoicing or boasting, in Pro 16:31; Eze 16:12; Eze 23:42. Comp. Isa 61:3, stefanov kallouv crown of beauty, and Soph. Aj. 465. stef eujkleiav crown of renown. The Thessalonians were “a chaplet of victory of which Paul might justly make his boast in the day of the Lord” (Ellicott). For stefanov see on Rev 4:4.

Coming [] . See on Mt 24:8, and on ejpifaneia appearing, 1Ti 6:14 and 2Th 2:8.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For what is our hope ‘ (tis gar hemon elpis) “For what is the hope of us,” our hope? Who will furnish our crown or rejoicing when Jesus comes? Who? but you all? Paul seems to be asking.

2) “Or joy, or crown of rejoicing”? (he chara he stephanos kaucheseos) “or joy or crown of boasting”; Those won to the Lord by the Preacher are considered the most royal objects of his labors, for which he shall be rewarded, Dan 12:3; 1Co 3:14; 2Ti 4:8; Php_4:1.

3) “Are not even ye” (e ouchi kai humeis) “are not even you all”, our object or crown of joy and boasting, in the work of the Lord” Col 3:24; 1Pe 5:4.

4) “In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ” (emprosthen tou kuriou hemon lesou) “before our Lord Jesus,” or in the presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ, when each is stood up before him, 2Co 5:10-11.

5) “At his coming?” (en te autou parousia) “at the bodily (Royal) presence (return) of Him?” to reward his saints for saintly labors, Rev 22:12. The term “parousia” originally meant a royal-visit or the presence of a Royal person. What more appropriate term might describe the return of Jesus Christ for His own, Act 1:10-11; Heb 10:36-37; 1Th 3:13.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

19 For what is our hope. He confirms that ardor of desire, of which he had made mention, inasmuch as he has his happiness in a manner treasured up in them. “Unless I forget myself, I must necessarily desire your presence, for ye are our glory and joy. ” Farther, when he calls them his hope and the crown of his glory, we must not understand this as meaning that he gloried in any one but God alone, but because we are allowed to glory in all God’s favors, in their own place, in such a manner that he is always our object of aim, as I have explained more at large in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. (553) We must, however, infer from this, that Christ’s ministers will, on the last day, according as they have individually promoted his kingdom, be partakers of glory and triumph. Let them therefore now learn to rejoice and glory in nothing but the prosperous issue of their labors, when they see that the glory of Christ is promoted by their instrumentality. The consequence will be, that they will be actuated by that spirit of affection to the Church with which they ought. The particle also denotes that the Thessalonians were not the only persons in whom Paul triumphed, but that they held a place among many. The causal particle γάρ, ( for,) which occurs almost immediately afterwards, is employed here not in its strict sense, by way of affirmation—” assuredly you are.”

(553) “ Sur la premiere aux Corinth., chap. 1, d. 31;” — “On 1Co 1:31.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Text (1Th. 2:19-20)

19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20 For ye are our glory and our joy.

Translation and Paraphrase

19.

(We have desired so greatly to see you,) for what is our hope, or joy, or crown in which we rejoice (like an athlete rejoices in his laurel of victory)? Are not even you (Thessalonians our hope, joy, and crown)? (Indeed you are those very things to us, and you will be our crown when we stand) before our Lord Jesus at his coming.

20,

For ye are our glory and joy.

Notes (1Th. 2:19-20)

1.

To a gospel preacher like Paul, his converts are his . . .

(1)

Hope

(2)

Joy

(3)

Crown of rejoicing

(4)

Glory; 1Th. 2:20

2.

When we stand before Christ at His coming, the souls that we have won, and the work that we have done for Christ, will be our hope, and joy, and glory, and crown, Let us therefore win souls while we have opportunity.

3.

Numerous references in the New Testament teach us that Christians shall be rewarded according to their works. We did not say saved by their works, but rewarded according to their works. 1Co. 3:14 : If any mans work shall abide . . . he shall receive a reward.

This fact partly explains why Paul was so uneasy when he thought that the Thessalonians might have forsaken the faith. If they stood fast for Christ, he would have a reward. If they shrunk back from the Lord, he would suffer loss. 1Co. 3:15. (Of course Pauls concern for them was prompted more by love for them than by self-interest.)

4.

Victorious athletes in Pauls time often received garland crowns as symbols of their victories. They could point to the crowns as objects of pride and proof of victory. Likewise Paul could point to the churches he had established as emblems of victory and tokens of his joy. Php. 4:1 : Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord.

In the absence of his king, Paul had won a crown, the Thessalonians. When he met the king, he would lay his crown before the kings feet.

5.

The fact that the Thessalonians would be Pauls joy and crown in heaven should make it plain once for all that we shall know one another in the future life. Otherwise how could Paul glory in them before Christ at His coming?

6.

To explain how the souls we win will be our glory, we can do no better than to quote Dan. 12:3 : 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.

7.

This verse mentions the coming of our Lord Jesus. The Greek word translated coming is parousia. It is used here for the first time in the Thessalonian epistles. You should get to know this word as you will often find it in books, even those all written in English.

Parousia literally means a being alongside, and is usually translated coming or presence. It is frequently used in Greek literature to refer to the visit (or coming) of some official or prominent personage. It refers in the New Testament to the coming or arrival of men, such as Stephanas (1Co. 16:17) and Titus (2Co. 7:6-7). It is applied seventeen times to the second coming of Jesus.

Parousia is used twenty-four times in the New Testament. In the King James version it is translated coming twenty-two times and presence twice. It is found in Mat. 24:3; Mat. 24:27; Mat. 24:37; Mat. 24:39; 1Co. 15:23; 1Co. 16:17; 2Co. 7:6-7; 2Co. 10:10; Php. 1:26; Php. 2:12; 1Th. 2:19; 1Th. 3:13; 1Th. 4:15; 1Th. 5:23; 2Th. 2:1; 2Th. 2:8-9; Jas. 5:7-8; 2Pe. 1:16; 2Pe. 3:4; 2Pe. 3:12; 1Jn. 2:28.

We have given all these detailed facts, so that when we come to this word, parousia, in future verses, you will already know its meaning and uses.

STUDY SUGGESTION

Turn to the Did You Learn? questions following chapter 3 [see Chapter Comments], and see if you can answer questions 1 through 9. These deal with the section, 1Th. 2:17-20.

(We started the study of chapter three at 1Th. 2:17. For our reasons for doing this, the outline of chapter three, and the Thinking Through Thessalonians questions over chapter three, turn back to the pages following notes on 1Th. 2:16.)

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(19) We were most anxious to come and stablish you for we should lose all our hope and joy and honours if Christ should come and we should have lost you.

Our hopei.e., the object on which our hopes are centered.

Crown of rejoicing.Or, of boasting; crown that we are proud to wear, like victors in the games For the meaning of such phrases, see Note on 1Th. 1:3

Even ye(not necessarily excluding other converts) just you, and others like you.

In the presence.It is the thought of presenting you to Him that thrills us with hope, joy, pridethe thought of wearing such a decoration before Him. (Comp. 2Co. 11:2.)

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

19. For Momentous reason for this intense anxiety. His young converted Church was his all; his hope, joy, crown of rejoicing. He asserts this more vividly by question than could be done by affirmation. For his question is again an appeal to them, (note 1Th 2:1,) and he expects and inwardly hears their joyful answer.

Presence Christ coming The presence of that coming is present to his and their thought. If they are saved in that glorious presence, it will be his crown to have instrumentally saved them. They will stand as glorious witnesses of his faithfulness to the divine Master, as he can testify how they turned from dumb idols to his glorious service. Such is the apostle’s joy and interest in his converts; type of the interest and joy of every minister of Jesus over his work. Trials and privations that minister may suffer now; too great, indeed, for endurance, but that he may count his results as his crown in the day of Christ’s presence and coming.

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

‘For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even you before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy.’

Paul now reveals how important they are to him and his companions from every point of view. He has described to them his yearning to see them again. Now he confirms their preciousness as those who participate with them in their success. When the Lord Jesus comes at His Parousia (personal presence, royal visit) they will be their hope and joy and crown of glorying. Parousia is regularly used to describe the second coming of Christ. Paul was aware of Christ’s personal presence with him continually (Gal 2:20), and the Parousia would be the manifestation of His presence on His visible coming.

This threefold description may have in mind the joy and satisfaction they will have when the race is won and they receive praise from God at the judgment seat of Christ (1Co 4:5 compare Rom 14:10; 2Co 5:10). The hope of success, the joy of victory and the laurel crown given to the victor suggest a victor at the games.

Or the idea may be simply to express the picture of them all coming together to the judgment seat of Christ with Paul and his companions filled with pride and joy at the company they can present before God, who are themselves as good and valued as a crown of victory. This is suggested by the final words, ‘you are our glory and joy’. That is, are at present. Paul’s heart overflows as he contemplates them, and he knows that his heart will continue to overflow in that day. And that is why he has now sent Timothy to them, even though it meant losing his company and assistance (1Th 3:1-2).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Th 2:19 . A reason not for , 1Th 2:17 (Hofmann), but of the twice formed resolution of the apostle to return to Thessalonica, 1Th 2:18 . This earnest desire to return is founded on the esteem of the apostle for his readers, on account of their promising Christian qualities. Grotius: Construi haec sic debent: ; Certainly correct as regards the matter and the thought , as is to be referred to the preceding predicates, but ought not to be connected with , as a second independent question. So also Olshausen, who renders it thus: “or do not ye also (as I myself and all the rest of the faithful) appear before Christ at His coming, i.e. without hesitation, without any doubt, ye will surely be also recognised by Christ as His, and therefore will not fall away again at any time from the faith.” But the reason and justification for this strange position of the words consist in this, that Paul originally conjoined the words in thought, and originally wrote them by themselves ; but then to present the predicates already put down as considered not in a worldly, but in a specifically Christian sense, he introduces, as a closer definition and explanation of the whole clause , the words . There is, accordingly, no need for the supposition of Laurent ( Neutestam. Studien , Gotha 1866, p. 28 f.), that Paul only at a later period, after he had read through the whole Epistle once, placed these words in the margin, or ordered them to be inserted. Accordingly, the apostle says: For who is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing, or are not even ye this? before our Lord Jesus at His coming; i.e. , if any one deserves to be called our hope, etc., ye deserve it. As the addition . . . proves that the apostle thinks on the judgment connected with the coming of Christ.

Paul, however, calls the Thessalonians (comp. Liv. xxviii. 39), not because he anticipates a reward for himself on account of the conversion of the Thessalonians effected by him (Estius, Fromond., Joachim Lange, Hofmann, and most critics), or at least a remission of the punishment for his early persecution of the Christian church (for the emphasis rests not on , but on the predicates . . .), but because he has the confident hope that the Thessalonians will not be put to shame at the trial to be expected at the advent, but will rather be found pure and blameless, as those who embraced the faith with eagerness, and heroically persevered in it in spite of all contentions.

] or joy , as by the conversion and Christian conduct of the Thessalonians the kingdom of God has been promoted.

] or crown of glory (comp. , Eze 16:12 ; Eze 23:42 ; Pro 16:31 , and also the LXX.; Phi 4:1 ; Soph. Aj. 460; Macrob. in somn. Scip. i. 1), inasmuch as this greatness and glory, occasioned by the labours of the apostle for the church, is, as it were, the victorious reward of his strivings.

] not nonne (Erasmus, Schott, and others), but an non, for here introduces the second member of a double question.

] also ye: for, besides the Thessalonians, there were other churches planted by Paul worthy of the same praise. According to de Wette, to whom Koch and Bisping attach themselves, should properly have followed . .: “no one is more our hope than you;” but with the apostle corrects himself, not to say too much, and not to offend other churches. But just because imports too much, why should not the apostle have designed to put from the very first!

] at his coming (return) to establish the Messianic kingdom (comp. 1Th 3:13 , 1Th 4:15 , 1Th 5:23 , et al.; Usteri, Lehrbegr. p. 341 ff.); an epexegesis to .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2197
CHRISTIANS THE JOY OF THEIR MINISTERS

1Th 2:19-20. 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? For ye are our glory and joy.

THE relation between a minister and his people is a subject rarely touched upon, except in addresses exclusively intended for those who sustain the pastoral office. But it is a subject of general importance; and ought to be felt by the people, as well as by the minister; between whom there should be at all times a feeling of reciprocal affection. A pious pastor does not undertake his office in order to feed himself with the fat, and clothe himself with the wool, of his flock. No; he has higher objects in view: he seeks their best interests, and makes their welfare his chief concern. The epistles of St. Paul, not those addressed to Timothy and Titus merely, but those addressed to whole Churches, are full of this subject. This to the Thessalonians is almost one continued breathing of parental tenderness, on the Apostles part, and a call on his converts for correspondent emotions on their part. The extreme ardour of his affection for them is indeed the immediate subject of all the preceding context. He had been driven from them suddenly by a violent persecution; and it was owing to the unabated malice of his enemies that he had not visited them again. Greatly had he longed to do so; and repeated efforts had he made; for they were exceeding dear to him, as he tells them: 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? Yes, ye are our glory and joy.
From these words we will take occasion to shew,

I.

In what light a faithful minister views his people

If a man be a faithful servant of Christ, the prosperity of his people will be the one aim of all his labours, and the one source of all his joys: both at the present hour, and in the prospect of the eternal world, their welfare will be his hope, his joy, his crown of rejoicing. Is it asked, Wherefore they are so dear to him? we answer, He glories in them;

1.

As witnesses for God

[God is excluded as it were from this lower world. The great mass of mankind acknowledge him not, or acknowledge him in word only, and not in deed and in truth. But true believers confess him openly before men: they are his witnesses, that he is great, and worthy to be feared; that he is good, and worthy to be loved; that he is faithful, and worthy of entire trust and confidence. But yet more particularly they are witnesses of all his perfections, as united and glorified in the cross of Christ; and they proclaim to all around them, that, in Christ Jesus, God is a just God and a Saviour, yea just, and yet the justifier of all that believe in Jesus. These are the truths which ministers have it in commission to make known to the sons of men: and by the free publication of these truths they hope to turn men from the guilt and dominion of sin, to peace with God, and universal holiness. Obstinate unbelievers will deride this attempt as visionary: but the minister of God can point to his converts as living witnesses for God, and as monuments of the saving efficacy of his Gospel; and in this view they give him a ground of joy and exultation far beyond all that the whole world besides could afford. Hence he glories in them in the Churches, as God himself also does, seeing that they are to him for a name and for a praise and for a glory throughout the whole earth.]

2.

As trophies of the Redeemers grace

[There is not one of them who was not once a bond-slave of Satan, the god of this world, who ruleth in all the children of disobedience. But secure as they once seemed to be in the hands of the strong man armed, the stronger Potentate, even Jesus, has rescued them from his dominion, and brought them into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Jesus, when he yet hanged upon the cross, triumphed over the principalities and powers of hell, and by death overcame him that had the power of death; but in his resurrection and ascension he triumphed yet more, leading captivity itself captive. But it is in the preaching of his word that all this is made to appear. By that men are turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Not that he drags them like captives at his chariot-wheels, but rather takes them up with him into his chariot, wherein ho goes forth conquering and to conquer. How Jesus exults in them in this view may be judged from that expression of the prophet; Ye are a crown of glory and a royal diadem in the hands of your God [Note: Isa 62:3.]. No wonder therefore that the soldiers of Christ, through whose instrumentality the victory has been won, exult also.]

3.

As the fruits of his own labour

[It is rarely, if ever, now, that faithful servants of Christ are suffered to labour, like Isaiah, fifty years, and, like Hosea, seventy, with scarcely any visible fruits of their ministry. Though God does not make equal use of all, yet, if they be faithful, he will not leave them without witness [Note: Jer 23:22.]: he will accompany their word with signs following. Were they left to labour in vain and run in vain, their hands would soon hang down, and their hearts faint: but when they see the dry bones quickened, and the dead come forth out of their graves, through the influence of their word, they greatly rejoice [Note: Eze 37:9-10.]. They point to such persons as seals of their ministry [Note: 1Co 9:2.], and as attestations from God, that the word delivered by them is His word. It is said of women, that, when once they behold the fruit of their travail, they forget, as it were, all their pangs, for joy that a man-child is born into the world. And thus it certainly is with those who minister in holy things. Much they have to endure in the prosecution of their great object: but when they see sons and daughters born to God, they account their labours richly recompensed; and, for the attainment of such a blessing they count not even their lives dear unto them.]

4.

As pledges of his own eternal felicity

[There is, it is true, no merit in converting sinners unto God, seeing that the whole work is Gods alone. Whoever plant or water, it is God alone who gives the increase. But it is nevertheless true, that they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever [Note: Dan 12:3.]. It is not indeed in proportion to every mans success, that a recompence will be bestowed: but according to every mans labour it will [Note: 1Co 4:8.]. And O! what a blessed period will that be, when the faithful minister shall present his converts before the throne of God, saying, Here am I, and the children thou hast given me! Not even in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ himself will he forget those with whom, as St. Paul expresses it, he once travailed in birth: there will they be his joy and crown of rejoicing: there will they be, as it were, jewels in his crown. Every fresh accession to the Church thus enhances the ministers joy: and in the prospect of this, he joys according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil [Note: Isa 9:3.].]

But since it is not over all that a minister can rejoice, we proceed to shew,

II.

Who they are whom he can truly recognize under this character

In the first ages, when every one was exposed to so much peril on account of his Christian profession, there was reason to hope that all were sincere: and therefore the Apostle could say to the whole Philippian Church, It is meet for me to think thus of you all. But Christianity is professed now under far other circumstances: and the great mass of those who are called by the name of Christ are far from being a joy and crown of rejoicing to their minister. Even of religious professors, there are great multitudes of whom we must stand in doubt, and of whom we cannot speak, but with grief [Note: Php 3:18.]. Those who alone will ultimately prove the joy and crown of their ministers, are,

1.

Those who embrace the faith

[There must be a real conversion of the soul to God. It is not necessary that this conversion be sudden, or that it should be attended with such circumstances as shall enable a person to declare the precise time and manner in which it was accomplished: but it is necessary that every man should have an evidence within himself that he is translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Gods dear Son. He must receive Christ into his heart, and build on him as the only foundation of his hope. Christ must become truly precious to his soul. Christ must be his life, his peace, his strength, his joy, his all. Till this be done, a minister can have no comfort in any man, because he has no ground to believe him truly and savingly converted to God: but when this change is manifest (for no natural man in the universe ever thus gloried in Christ alone,) then does the person in whom it is wrought become the joy and crown of his minister: he then, in the judgment of charity, is brought to the fold of Christ: and his minister, like a faithful shepherd, rejoices over him, as a sheep that was lost, and is found.]

2.

Those who walk in love

[If there be a mere adoption of Christian principles, without the attainment of Christian practice, this change will produce no satisfaction, in the heart either of God or man. But if there be a corresponding change in the heart and life of a professor, and a suitable exercise of Christian graces and tempers, then the minister will feel a proportionable confidence respecting a work of grace within him: seeing the fruit to be good, he will conclude that the tree is good also. The grace of love in particular must be predominant. This is the grace whereby all men are to know whether we be Christs disciples. If pride, envy, malice, or any other temper contrary to love, reign in the heart, we only deceive ourselves in fancying ourselves Christians: we are yet in darkness, and children of the wicked one [Note: 1Jn 2:9-11; 1Jn 3:10; 1Jn 3:14-15; 1Jn 4:7-8.]. A minister can only weep over such persons: they are a grief to him here [Note: 2Co 12:20-21.]: they will be yet more so in that day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world [Note: Heb 13:17.]: they themselves too, if they be not undeceived in time, will have to bewail their delusions to all eternity. Love is absolutely and indispensably necessary to prove the sincerity of our faith. If that reign not in the heart, our faith is but the faith of devils: but if that be the governing principle of our lives, then have we that which accompanies salvation; and a minister may confidently rejoice over us as the elect of God [Note: 1Th 1:4. Heb 6:9.].]

3.

Those who advance in holiness

[It is essential to grace, that it grows and advances in the soul. The children of Gods family are all expected to grow from babes to young men, and from young men to fathers. Now, as a mother, however she might rejoice at the birth of her infant, would soon cease to rejoice, if it did not grow in stature and in strength; so is a ministers joy turned into grief, if he see his people making no proficiency in the divine life, but continuing under the habitual influence of those defects which characterized them in their unconverted state, or in the earlier stages of their professed conversion. O ye who profess godliness, consider this; and inquire whether you do indeed make your profiting to appear? It is only when we have clear evidence that you are growing up into Christ as your living Head, and progressively transformed into his image, that we can glory in you, or look forward with comfort to that awful meeting which we shall have with you in the great day of the Lord Jesus [Note: 1Jn 2:28.].]

We will improve this subject,
1.

In a way of appeal

[The text is an appeal to the whole Church at Thessalonica, that he had sought nothing, and gloried in nothing, in comparison of their spiritual welfare. And the same appeal, we hope through grace, we can make also [Note: Of course, no minister will proceed to make such an appeal, if he has not a testimony in the consciences of his people, that what he says is true.]. Yes, blessed be God, we can, and do, appeal both to you and to God himself, that that we have lived but for the benefit of those committed to our charge, and have known no greater joy than to see our people walk in truth. Permit us then to ask, whether ye can make the same appeal to the heart-searching God? Have ye sought, as the one great object of your Hie, so to improve our ministrations, that ye might be our joy and crown of rejoicing in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Has there also been a reciprocity of affection, so that we have been your rejoicing, even as ye also have been ours, in the prospect of the great day of the Lord Jesus [Note: 2Co 1:14.]? Let this be well fixed in all your minds, that unless the regard between a minister and his people be mutual, and their endeavours to reap benefits from his ministry keep pace with his efforts to impart them, little ultimate good can result from the connexion: on the contrary, the word which he labours to make unto you a savour of life unto life, will prove in the issue a savour of death unto death.]

2.

In a way of exhortation

[A meeting must soon take place between us before the judgment-seat of Christ: and in reference to that awful period St. Paul exhorted the Thessalonian Church, saying, We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him [Note: 2Th 2:1.]. In reference to that solemn meeting we also would exhort you. In a little time we shall be called to give an account of our ministrations, as you also will of your improvement of them. Let not him who wishes you to be his joy and crown be disappointed of his hope. If he have not to present you in a perfect state to Christ in that day, all his warnings and instructions will have been lost upon you [Note: Col 1:28.], yea, worse than lost, seeing that he will be a swift witness against you.

O ye, who have never yet been converted by the labours of your minister, let him now prevail on you to turn unto the Lord with your whole hearts
And let those of you who look up to him as your spiritual Father, hold fast the truth ye have received, and endeavour to shine more and more as lights in the world, that his joy in you may be complete in the last day [Note: Php 2:15-16.]. Yes, we would address you in the words of Paul to his Philippian converts; My brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand ye fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved [Note: Php 4:1.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

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?

Ver. 19. For what is our hope, &c. ] A very lively and lofty expression, such as the apostle ordinarily useth in speaking of heavenly glory. Nec Christus, nec caelum patitur hyperbolen, A man can hardly hyperbolize in speaking of heaven.

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

19 .] accounts for this his earnest desire to see them, by the esteem in which he held them . The words . . . . . . . . must not be transposed in the rendering (“construi hc sic debent, . . . . . .” Grot.): for the Apostle, after having asked and answered the question . . ., breaks off, and specifies that wherein this hope and joy mainly consisted, viz. the glorious prospect of their being found in the Lord at His appearing. But he does not look forward to this as anticipating a reward for the conversion of the Thessalonians (Est., al.), or that their conversion will compensate for his having persecuted the Church before, but from generous desire to be found at that day with the fruits of his labour, and that they might be his boast and he theirs before the Lord: see 2Co 1:14 ; Phi 2:16 .

On . . , see reff. and Soph. Aj. 460.

] The , as Ellic., ‘introduces a second and negative interrogation, explanatory and confirmatory of what is implied in the first:’ see Winer, edn. 6, 57. 1. b.

, ‘as well as others my converts.’

. , further specifies the . .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Th 2:19 . Of course we wanted to come back, for ( ), etc. The touch of fine exaggeration which follows is true to the situation. Paul’s absence from the young church was being misinterpreted in a sinister way, as if it implied that the Achaian Christians had ousted the Thessalonians from his affections. You it is , he protests, who but you ( superfluous after , as in Epict. i. 6, 39; Rom 14:10 , but really heightening the following word, as in Rom 5:7 ; almost = “indeed” or “even”) you are my pride and delight! , of a public honour granted (as to Demosthenes and Zeno) for distinguished public service. The metaphor occurs often in the inscriptions ( cf. also Pirke Aboth, iv. 9). Paul coveted no higher distinction at the arrival of the Lord than the glory of having won over the Thessalonian church. Cf. Crashaw’s lines to St. Teresa in heaven:

“Thou shalt look round about, and see Thousands of crown’d souls throng to be Themselves thy crown”.

= royal visit ( cf. Wilcken’s Griech. Ostraka , i. 274 f.), and hence applied ( cf. Mat 24 .) to the arrival of the messiah, though the evidence for the use of the term in pre-Christian Judaism is scanty (Test. Jud. xxii. 3; Test. Levi. viii. 15; for the idea of the divine “coming” cf. Slav. En. , xxxii. 1, xlii. 5). This is the first time the term is used by Paul, but it was evidently familiar to the readers. Later on, possibly through Paul’s influence, it became an accepted word for the second advent in early Christianity.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

crown. Compare Php 1:4, Php 1:1.

rejoicing. Greek. kauchesis. See Rom 3:27.

Jesus Christ. App-98. but the texts omit “Christ”.

coming. Greek. parousia. See Mat 24:3. The first of seven Occurs in these two Epistles. See 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:15; 1Th 5:23. 2Th 2:1, 2Th 2:8, 2Th 2:9.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

19.] accounts for this his earnest desire to see them, by the esteem in which he held them. The words . . . . . … must not be transposed in the rendering (construi hc sic debent, . . . . . . Grot.): for the Apostle, after having asked and answered the question …, breaks off, and specifies that wherein this hope and joy mainly consisted, viz. the glorious prospect of their being found in the Lord at His appearing. But he does not look forward to this as anticipating a reward for the conversion of the Thessalonians (Est., al.), or that their conversion will compensate for his having persecuted the Church before, but from generous desire to be found at that day with the fruits of his labour, and that they might be his boast and he theirs before the Lord: see 2Co 1:14; Php 2:16.

On . ., see reff. and Soph. Aj. 460.

] The , as Ellic., introduces a second and negative interrogation, explanatory and confirmatory of what is implied in the first: see Winer, edn. 6, 57. 1. b.

, as well as others my converts.

. , further specifies the . .

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Th 2:19. ) So, , LXX., 1Sa 11:12.-, …) our hope, etc.: comp. the end of this verse. It is great praise.- , a crown of [rejoicing] glorying) So LXX., Pro 16:31.- , even ye) He does not exclude others: he chiefly reckons these among the number.-, in) Regarding this particle, comp. ch. 1Th 3:13; Rom 2:16, note [In the day expresses something more than against the day]. So far is hope extended! [So far does his hope reach! even to the day of Christ.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Th 2:19

For-[This word introduces his reason for so ardently desiring to be with them again; this is conveyed in the form of a question to express his deep feeling more effectively than a mere statement would have done. This accounts for his earnest desire to visit them. He thus longed to see them for there was nothing that afforded him its same immediate enjoyment, or the same substantial satisfaction as his spiritual children in Thessalonica.]

what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying?-The highest point in his future was their acceptance as true and faithful Christians by the Lord Jesus at his coming.

Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?-They would be at the day of Jesus Christ as the fruits of his labors, the hope of his glorying in that day. Paul frequently calls his converts his crown of glory. We are your glorying, even as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. (2Co 1:14.) Holding forth the word of life; that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain. (Php 2:16.)

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

our hope: 2Co 1:14, Phi 2:16, Phi 4:1

crown: Pro 4:9, Pro 12:4, Pro 16:13, Pro 17:6, Isa 62:3, 1Pe 5:4, Rev 4:10, Rev 4:11

rejoicing: or, glorying, 1Th 2:20, Rom 15:16-19

in: 1Th 3:13, 1Th 5:23, 1Co 4:5, 1Co 15:23, 2Co 1:14, Phi 2:16, Phi 4:1, 2Th 1:7-12, 2Th 2:1, 1Ti 6:14, 1Ti 6:15, 2Ti 4:1, 2Ti 4:2, Tit 2:13, 1Jo 2:28

our Lord: Jud 1:24

at: Rev 1:7, Rev 22:12

Reciprocal: Pro 11:30 – and Pro 23:15 – if Son 8:12 – those Dan 12:3 – shine Luk 15:6 – his Joh 4:36 – he that reapeth receiveth 1Co 3:14 – General 1Co 4:8 – ye did 1Co 15:31 – your 2Co 7:4 – great 2Co 12:14 – for I Phi 1:4 – with Phi 2:2 – Fulfil 1Th 3:9 – for 2Th 1:4 – glory 1Ti 4:16 – them 2Ti 1:18 – in that Phm 1:7 – great joy Phm 1:20 – let me Heb 13:17 – with joy Jam 5:7 – unto 2Jo 1:4 – rejoiced 3Jo 1:2 – even 3Jo 1:3 – I

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Th 2:19-20. No man’s salvation depends on the faithfulness of his converts if he has done his duty in teaching them. However, there is an added joy in seeing them remain true, and this is the crown of rejoicing meant in this verse. They must be faithful until Christ comes again (or until death). This is the reward that is meant in 1Co 3:14-15; 2Jn 1:8 and 3Jn 1:4. While the reward will not be given to the converts until Christ comes, yet the hope that it will be done was possible for Paul to enjoy in this life, by observing the faithfulness of his brethren.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Th 2:19. For. Paul accounts for his earnest desire to revisit Thessalonica. I thus earnestly long to see you, for there is nothing which affords the same prospect, or the same present enjoyment, or the same substantial satisfaction, as my Christian children in your church.

Our hope. The brightest point in our future is your acceptance as true Christians by the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming.

Crown of boasting. As the victor can point to his garland in proof that he has fought a good fight, so the apostle felt thorough satisfaction in the Thessalonians as evidence that his labours had not been in vain. The expression seems to be borrowed from the Septuagint Version of Eze 16:12.

Ye also. Ye, as well as other churches, similar expressions being used to the Philippians and Corinthians.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here, in the close of the chapter, St. Paul acquaints the Thessalonians with the true reason why he had such an endearing affection for them, and such a fervent desire to be present with them. They were his hope, his joy, his crown of rejoicing; that is, they were then the cause of his hope, no the ground and foundation of his hope; that Christ alone was; but their conversion by his ministry was, in concurence with other things, a good ground of hope concerning his own salvation; ye are now my hope, my joy, and crown of rejoicing.

Where note, a very remarkable gradation in the words; he calls them his hope, his joy, and his crown of rejoicing. His hope, that is, the matter of his hope, that they shall be saved; his joy, that is the occasion of his joy, in their conversion by his ministry; and his crown of rejoicing in Christ’s presence at his coming, that is, the fruit and success of his ministry amongst them, would add to his crown, and redound to his glory in the day of Christ.

Learn hence, 1. That there are degrees of glory in heaven, probably according to the measures and degrees of service we have done for God on earth; there is, no doubt, an equality of glory there, as to the essentials, but not with respect to the accidentals; besides the joy and satisfaction which the ministers of Christ are partakers of, in heaven, in common with other glorified saints, they have an additional joy and glory from the success of their pious and painful labours, which God has crowned with the conversion and edification of many souls.

Lord! Who would not study, spend, and be spent in the service of such a master? Is it not worth all our labour and sufferings, to appear in the presence of Christ, accompanied with all those souls whom we have instrumentally either brought home, or built up in the most holy faith, either converted, comforted, or confirmed in the way to heaven? To hear one spiritual child say, “Lord, this is the instrument by whom I believed;” another, “This is the minister by whom I was established;” a third, “This is he that quickened me by his example, and provoked me to love, and to good works: O blessed be God, that I ever saw his face, and heard his voice!”

But, Lord, what will it be to hear thy blessed voice saying to us, “Well done good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of me your Lord; I have kept an exact account of all your fervent prayers for your people, of all your instructive and persuasive sermons, of all your sighs and groans poured forth before me, on behalf of those whom ye would have persuaded to be happy, but could not! Every tear from your eye, and drop of sweat from your face, shall now meet with an eternal recompence; you shall now find me, according to my promise, not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.”

O what a master do the ministers of Christ serve! Who would not sacrifice all that is dear for him, who has the assurance of such an exceeding and eternal weight of glory from him?

Learn, 2. That the saints of God in heaven will know one another there: Why else doth St. Paul here comfort himself, that these Thessalonians, whom he converted to Christ, would be his crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ? Surely, this must needs suppose and imply his distinct knowledge of them in that day; if he did not know them, how could he rejoice in them? Doubtless we may allow, in that state, all that knowlege which is accumulative and perfective, whatever may heighten our felicity, and increase our satisfaction, as this must needs be allowed to do.

Lord, make us faithful to the death, faithful to thee, faithful to our own souls, faithful to our people; and then, as they are now our hope and joy, so will they be our crown of rejoicing in the presence of the Lord Jesus at his coming. Amen.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

A Deep Desire to See Them

Paul had been forced to leave, or orphaned as his word means, the newborn Christians in Thessalonica against his personal desire, as can be seen when he says, “having been taken away from you.” While he was not physically with them, his heart never left them. He had a strong desire to return to them and was working hard to that end. In fact, Paul had tried over and over again to come to them. Somehow, Satan had prevented him from coming to them personally. Opposition to anything that would further the cause of Christ is ultimately motivated by Satan ( 1Th 2:17-18 ; Mat 16:21-23 ).

Like an athlete who hoped for a victory wreath in which to rejoice, Paul saw converts to Christ as a trophy to be laid down at the Master’s feet. As he looked forward to the day he would present them to Christ, becomes clear that Paul expected to recognize them in the resurrection and rejoice with them in victory ( 1Th 2:19-20 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Paul’s words for his converts here are especially affectionate. His love for the Thessalonians was unusually strong. Their development was what he hoped for, their glorification was what he rejoiced in, and their ultimate victory would be a crown of glory for him. That is, the Lord’s commendation for Paul’s ministry to the Thessalonians would be as a crown to him that would make him justifiably proud when the Lord returned. Paul was talking like a father again (cf. 1Th 2:11). Looking at the end of his ministry Paul said he would take the greatest pride in those believers. They would be his "crowning glory."

Believers’ Crowns

Title	Reason	Reference
An Imperishable Crown	For leading a disciplined life	1Co 9:25
A Crown of Rejoicing	For evangelism and discipleship	1Th 2:19
A Crown of Righteousness	For loving the Lord’s appearing	2Ti 4:8
A Crown of Life	For enduring trials	Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10
A Crown of Glory	For shepherding God’s flock faithfully	1Pe 5:4

"The glory of any teacher lies in his scholars and students; and should the day come when they have left him far behind the glory is still greater. A man’s greatest glory lies in those whom he has set or helped on the path to Christ." [Note: Barclay, p. 225.]

 

"The future event Paul is looking toward is identical with the appearance of every Christian before the bema (’judgment seat’) of Christ (2Co 5:10), where the works of every Christian will be evaluated. Because of his converts’ evident spiritual attainments, Paul feels that this will be an occasion of joy and victory." [Note: Thomas, p. 262. Cf. Earl Radmacher, "Believers and the Bema," Grace Evangelical Society News 10:3 (May-June 1995):1, 4; and Joe L. Wall, Going for the Gold, pp. 129, 152-63.]

"Parousia ["coming"] comes from two words: ’to be’ and ’present.’ It may point to the moment of arrival to initiate a visit or it may focus on the stay initiated by the arrival. In the NT the word applies to the return of Jesus Christ. The various facets of this future visit are defined by the contexts in which parousia appears. In this instance it is Jesus’ examination of his servants subsequent to his coming for them (1Th 4:15-17) that is in view." [Note: Thomas, p. 262.]

". . . the formerly pagan Thessalonians probably understood the parousia of Christ in terms of the visits of the imperial rulers of Rome. These rulers were increasingly being thought of as the manifestations of deities who required elaborate ceremonies and honors when they visited the various cities of the Empire." [Note: Wanamaker, p. 125.]

Paul at this time evidently expected his ministry to end with the return of Christ rather than by his own death (1Th 2:19). This is one of many evidences that Paul and the other early Christians believed in the imminent return of Christ. Nothing had to occur before His return. This perspective strongly suggests that Paul believed in the pretribulational rapture of the church.

How could Christ’s return at the Rapture be imminent in view of the Lord’s statement that Peter would grow old (Joh 21:18) and His promise to Paul that he would visit Rome (Act 23:11)? Concerning God’s promise to Peter, "when you grow old" (Joh 21:18) is a very general description of what lay ahead for Peter. Peter could have undergone confinement and died at any time after Christ’s ascension and one could say he had grown old. About the promise Paul received, the assumed condition of its fulfillment was probably if the Lord did not return before then. This would have been true for what Jesus prophesied concerning Peter’s death as well. We often speak this way today. We say something will happen, but we mean and do not say unless the Lord comes first.

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