1 Thessalonians 2

1Th 2:1-20.

HIS

MANNER OF

PREACHING, AND

THEIRS OF

RECEIVING, THE

GOSPEL;

HIS

DESIRE TO

HAVE

REVISITED

THEM

FRUSTRATED BY

SATAN.

1. For--confirming

1Th 1:9.

He discusses the manner of his fellow missionaries' preaching among

them

(1Th 1:5,

and former part of

1Th 2:9)

at

1Th 2:1-12;

and the Thessalonians' reception of the word (compare

1Th 1:6, 7,

and latter part of

1Th 2:9)

at

1Th 2:13-16.

yourselves--Not only do strangers report it, but you know it to

be true [ALFORD] "yourselves."

not in vain--Greek, "not vain," that is, it was full of

"power"

(1Th 1:5).

The Greek for "was," expresses rather "hath been and is,"

implying the permanent and continuing character of his

preaching.

2. even after that we had suffered before--at Philippi

(Ac 16:11-40):

a circumstance which would have deterred mere natural, unspiritual men

from further preaching.

shamefully entreated--ignominiously scourged

(Ac 16:22, 23).

bold--

(Ac 4:29;

Eph 6:20).

in our God--The ground of our boldness in speaking was the

realization of God as "OUR God."

with much contention--that is, literally, as of

competitors in a contest: striving earnestness

(Col 1:29; 2:1).

But here outward conflict with persecutors, rather than

inward and mental, was what the missionaries had to endure

(Ac 17:5, 6;

Php 1:30).

3. For--The ground of his "boldness"

(1Th 2:2),

his freedom from all "deceit, uncleanness, and guile"; guile,

before God, deceit (Greek, "imposture"), towards men

(compare

2Co 1:12; 2:17;

Eph 4:14);

uncleanness, in relation to one's self (impure motives of carnal

self-gratification in gain,

1Th 2:5),

or lust; such as actuated false teachers of the Gentiles

(Php 1:16;

2Pe 2:10, 14;

Jude 8;

Re 2:14, 15).

So Simon Magus and Cerinthus taught [ESTIUS].

exhortation--The Greek means "consolation" as well as

"exhortation." The same Gospel which exhorts comforts. Its first lesson

to each is that of peace in believing amidst outward and inward sorrows.

It comforts them that mourn (compare

1Th 2:11;

Isa 61:2, 3;

2Co 1:3, 4).

of--springing from--having its source in--deceit, &c.

4. as--according as; even as.

allowed--Greek, "We have been approved on trial," "deemed

fit." This word corresponds to "God which trieth our hearts"

below. This approval as to sincerity depends solely on the grace and

mercy of God

(Ac 9:15;

1Co 7:25;

2Co 3:5;

1Ti 1:11, 12).

not as pleasing--not as persons who seek to please men;

characteristic of false teachers

(Ga 1:10).

5. used we flattering words--literally, "become (that is, have we been

found) in

(the use of) language of flattery"; the resource of those who

try to "please men."

as ye know--"Ye know" as to whether I flattered you; as to

"covetousness," GOD, the Judge of the heart, alone can be "my witness."

cloak of--that is, any specious guise under which I might cloak

"covetousness."

6. Literally, "Nor of men (have we been found,

1Th 2:5)

seeking glory." The "of" here represents a different Greek word

from "of" in the clause "of you . . . of

others." ALFORD makes the former (Greek,

"ex") express the abstract ground of the glory; the

latter (apo) the concrete object from which it was to

come. The former means "originating from"; the latter means "on the

part of." Many teach heretical novelties, though not for fain, yet for

"glory." Paul and his associates were free even from this motive

[GROTIUS],

(Joh 5:44).

we might have been burdensome--that is, by claiming maintenance

(1Th 2:9;

2Co 11:9; 12:16;

2Th 3:8).

As, however, "glory" precedes, as well as "covetousness," the reference

cannot be restricted to the latter, though I think it is not

excluded. Translate, "when we might have borne heavily upon

you," by pressing you with the weight of self-glorifying

authority, and with the burden of our sustenance.

Thus the antithesis is appropriate in the words following, "But we were

gentle (the opposite of pressing weightily) among you"

(1Th 2:7).

On weight being connected with authority, compare Note,

see on

2Co 10:10,

"His letters are weighty"

(1Co 4:21).

ALFORD'S translation, which excludes

reference to his right of claiming maintenance ("when we might

have stood on our dignity"), seems to me disproved by

1Th 2:9,

which uses the same Greek word unequivocally for "chargeable."

Twice he received supplies from Philippi while at Thessalonica

(Php 4:16).

as the apostles--that is, as being apostles.

7. we were--Greek, "we were made" by God's grace.

gentle--Greek, "mild in bearing with the faults of

others" [TITTMANN]; one, too, who is gentle

(though firm) in reproving the erroneous opinions of others

(2Ti 2:24).

Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "we became little children"

(compare

Mt 18:3, 4).

Others support the English Version reading, which forms a better

antithesis to

1Th 2:6, 7,

and harmonizes better with what follows; for he would hardly, in the

same sentence, compare himself both to the "infants" or "little

children," and to "a nurse," or rather, "suckling mother."

Gentleness is the fitting characteristic of a nurse.

among you--Greek, "in the midst of you," that is, in our

intercourse with you being as one of yourselves.

nurse--a suckling mother.

her--Greek, "her own children" (compare

1Th 2:11).

So

Ga 4:19.

8. So--to be joined to "we were willing"; "As a nurse

cherisheth . . . so we were willing," &c.

[ALFORD]. But

BENGEL,

"So," that is, seeing that we have such affection for you.

being affectionately desirous--The oldest reading in the

Greek implies, literally, to connect one's self with

another; to be closely attached to another.

willing--The Greek is stronger, "we were well

content"; "we would gladly have imparted," &c. "even our own

lives" (so the Greek for "souls" ought to be translated);

as we showed in the sufferings we endured in giving you the Gospel

(Ac 17:1-34).

As a nursing mother is ready to impart not only her milk to them, but

her life for them, so we not only imparted gladly the spiritual milk of

the word to you, but risked our own lives for your spiritual

nourishment, imitating Him who laid down His life for His friends, the

greatest proof of love

(Joh 15:13).

ye were--Greek, "ye were become," as having become our spiritual

children.

dear--Greek, "dearly beloved."

9. labour and travail--The Greek for "labor" means

hardship in bearing; that for "travail," hardship in doing; the

former, toil with the utmost solicitude; the latter, the being wearied

with fatigue [GROTIUS].

ZANCHIUS refers the former to spiritual (see

1Th 3:5),

the latter to manual labor. I would translate, "weariness (so

the Greek is translated,

2Co 11:27)

and travail" (hard labor, toil).

for--omitted in the oldest manuscripts.

labouring--Greek, "working," namely, at tent-making

(Ac 18:3).

night and day--The Jews reckoned the day from sunset to sunset, so

that "night" is put before "day" (compare

Ac 20:31).

Their labors with their hands for a scanty livelihood had to be engaged

in not only by day, but by night also, in the intervals between

spiritual labors.

because we would not be chargeable--Greek, "with a view to not burdening any of you"

(2Co 11:9, 10).

preached unto you--Greek, "unto and among you." Though

but "three Sabbaths" are mentioned,

Ac 17:2,

these refer merely to the time of his preaching to the Jews in the

synagogue. When rejected by them as a body, after having converted

a few Jews, he turned to the Gentiles; of these (whom he preached to in

a place distinct from the synagogue) "a great multitude believed"

(Ac 17:4,

where the oldest manuscripts read, "of the devout [proselytes] and

Greeks a great multitude"); then after he had, by labors continued

among the Gentiles for some time, gathered in many converts, the

Jews, provoked by his success, assaulted Jason's house, and drove him

away. His receiving "once and again" supplies from Philippi, implies a

longer stay at Thessalonica than three weeks

(Php 4:16).

10. Ye are witnesses--as to our outward conduct.

God--as to our inner motives.

holily--towards God.

justly--towards men.

unblamably--in relation to ourselves.

behaved ourselves--Greek, "were made to be," namely, by God.

among you that believe--rather, "before (that is, in the eyes

of) you that believe"; whatever we may have seemed in the eyes of the

unbelieving. As

1Th 2:9

refers to their outward occupation in the world; so

1Th 2:10,

to their character among believers.

11. exhorted and comforted--Exhortation leads one to do a

thing willingly; consolation, to do it joyfully

[BENGEL],

(1Th 5:14).

Even in the former term, "exhorted," the Greek includes the

additional idea of comforting and advocating one's cause:

"encouragingly exhorted." Appropriate in this case, as the Thessalonians

were in sorrow, both through persecutions, and also through deaths of

friends

(1Th 4:13).

charged--"conjured solemnly," literally, "testifying";

appealing solemnly to you before God.

every one of you--in private

(Ac 20:20),

as well as publicly. The minister, if he would be useful, must not

deal merely in generalities, but must individualize and particularize.

as a father--with mild gravity. The Greek is,

"his own children."

12. worthy of God--"worthy of the Lord"

(Col 1:10);

"worthily of the saints"

(Ro 16:2,

Greek): ". . . of the Gospel"

(Php 1:27)

". . . of the vocation wherewith ye are called"

(Eph 4:1).

Inconsistency would cause God's name to be "blasphemed among the

Gentiles"

(Ro 2:24).

The Greek article is emphatical, "Worthy of

THE God who is calling you."

hath called--So one of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate. Other

oldest manuscripts, "Who calleth us."

his kingdom--to be set up at the Lord's coming.

glory--that ye may share His glory

(Joh 17:22;

Col 3:4).

13. For this cause--Seeing ye have had such teachers

(1Th 2:10-12)

[BENGEL], "we also (as well as 'all that believe'

in Macedonia and Achaia) thank God without ceasing ('always'

. . . 'in our prayers,'

1Th 1:2),

that when ye received the word of God which ye heard from us

(literally, 'God's word of hearing from us,'

Ro 10:16, 17),

ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, even as it is truly, the

word of God." ALFORD omits the "as" of English

Version. But the "as" is required by the clause, "even as it is

truly." "Ye accepted it, not (as) the word of men (which it

might have been supposed to be), but (as) the word of God,

even as it really is." The Greek for the first

"received," implies simply the hearing of it; the Greek of the

second is "accepted," or "welcomed" it. The proper object of faith, it

hence appears, is the word of God, at first oral, then for

security against error, written

(Joh 20:30, 31;

Ro 15:4;

Ga 4:30).

Also, that faith is the work of divine grace, is implied by

Paul's thanksgiving.

effectually worketh also in you that believe--"Also," besides your

accepting it with your hearts, it evidences itself in your lives. It

shows its energy in its practical effects on you; for instance,

working in you patient endurance in trial

(1Th 2:14;

compare

Ga 3:5; 5:6).

14. followers--Greek, "imitators." Divine working is most of

all seen and felt in affliction.

in Judea--The churches of Judea were naturally the patterns to

other churches, as having been the first founded, and that on the very

scene of Christ's own ministry. Reference to them is specially

appropriate here, as the Thessalonians, with Paul and Silas, had

experienced from Jews in their city persecutions

(Ac 17:5-9)

similar to those which "the churches in Judea" experienced from Jews in

that country.

in Christ Jesus--not merely "in God"; for the synagogues of the

Jews (one of which the Thessalonians were familiar with,

Ac 17:1)

were also in God. But the Christian churches alone were not only

in God, as the Jews in contrast to the Thessalonian idolaters

were, but also in Christ, which the Jews were not.

of your own countrymen--including primarily the Jews settled at

Thessalonica, from whom the persecution originated, and also the

Gentiles there, instigated by the Jews; thus, "fellow countrymen" (the

Greek term, according to Herodian, implies, not the

enduring relation of fellow citizenship, but sameness of country

for the time being), including naturalized Jews and native

Thessalonians, stand in contrast to the pure "Jews" in Judea

(Mt 10:36).

It is an undesigned coincidence, that Paul at this time was suffering

persecutions of the Jews at Corinth, whence he writes

(Ac 18:5, 6, 12);

naturally his letter would the more vividly dwell on Jewish bitterness

against Christians.

even as they--

(Heb 10:32-34).

There was a likeness in respect to the nation from which

both suffered, namely, Jews, and those their own countrymen; in

the cause for which, and in the evils which, they

suffered, and also in the steadfast manner in which they

suffered them. Such sameness of fruits, afflictions, and experimental

characteristics of believers, in all places and at all times, is a

subsidiary evidence of the truth of the Gospel.

15. the Lord Jesus--rather as Greek, "Jesus

THE LORD." This enhances the

glaring enormity of their sin, that in killing Jesus they killed the

LORD (Compare

Ac 3:14, 15).

their own--omitted in the oldest manuscripts.

prophets--

(Mt 21:33-41; 23:31-37;

Lu 13:33).

persecuted us--rather as Greek (see Margin), "By persecution

drove us out"

(Lu 11:49).

please not God--that is, they do not make it their aim to

please God. He implies that with all their boast of being God's

peculiar people, they all the while are "no pleasers of God," as

certainly as, by the universal voice of the world, which even they

themselves cannot contradict, they are declared to be perversely

"contrary to all men." JOSEPHUS [Against

Apion, 2.14], represents one calling them "Atheists and

Misanthropes, the dullest of barbarians"; and

TACITUS [Histories, 5.5], "They have a

hostile hatred of all other men." However, the contrariety to all

men here meant is, in that they "forbid us to speak to the

Gentiles that they may be saved"

(1Th 2:16).

16. Forbidding--Greek, "Hindering us from speaking," &c.

to fill up their sins alway--Tending thus "to the filling up (the

full measure of,

Ge 15:16;

Da 8:23;

Mt 23:32)

their sins at all times," that is, now as at all former times.

Their hindrance of the Gospel preaching to the Gentiles was the last

measure added to their continually accumulating iniquity, which made

them fully ripe for vengeance.

for--Greek, "but." "But," they shall proceed no further, for

(2Ti 3:8)

"the" divine "wrath has (so the Greek) come upon

(overtaken unexpectedly; the past tense expressing the speedy certainty

of the divinely destined stroke) them to the uttermost"; not merely

partial wrath, but wrath to its full extent, "even to the finishing

stroke" [EDMUNDS]. The past tense implies that

the fullest visitation of wrath was already begun. Already in A.D. 48, a tumult had occurred at the Passover in

Jerusalem, when about thirty thousand (according to some) were slain; a

foretaste of the whole vengeance which speedily followed

(Lu 19:43, 44; 21:24).

17. But we--resumed from

1Th 2:13;

in contrast to the Jews,

1Th 2:15, 16.

taken--rather as Greek, "severed (violently,

Ac 17:7-10)

from you," as parents bereft of their children. So "I will not leave

you comfortless," Greek, "orphanized"

(Joh 14:18).

for a short time--literally, "for the space of an hour." "When we

had been severed from you but a very short time (perhaps alluding to the

suddenness of his unexpected departure), we the more abundantly

(the shorter was our separation; for the desire of meeting again is the more

vivid, the more recent has been the parting) endeavored," &c.

(Compare

2Ti 1:4).

He does not hereby, as many explain, anticipate a short separation from

them, which would be a false anticipation; for he did not soon revisit

them. The Greek past participle also forbids their view.

18. Wherefore--The oldest manuscripts read, "Because," or "Inasmuch

as."

we would--Greek, "we wished to come"; we intended to come.

even I Paul--My fellow missionaries as well as myself wished to

come; I can answer for myself that I intended it more than once.

His slightly distinguishing himself here from his fellow missionaries,

whom throughout this Epistle he associates with himself in the plural,

accords with the fact that Silvanus and Timothy stayed at Berea when

Paul went on to Athens; where subsequently Timothy joined him, and was

thence sent by Paul alone to Thessalonica

(1Th 3:1).

Satan hindered us--On a different occasion "the Holy Ghost, the

Spirit of Jesus" (so the oldest manuscripts read),

Ac 16:6, 7,

forbad or hindered them in a missionary design; here it is

Satan, acting perhaps by wicked men, some of whom had already

driven him out of Thessalonica

(Ac 17:13, 14;

compare

Joh 13:27),

or else by some more direct "messenger of Satan--a thorn in the flesh"

(2Co 12:7;

compare

2Co 11:14).

In any event, the Holy Ghost and the providence of God overruled

Satan's opposition to further His own purpose. We cannot, in

each case, define whence hindrances in good undertakings arise;

Paul in this case, by inspiration, was enabled to say; the

hindrance was from Satan. GROTIUS thinks Satan's

mode of hindering Paul's journey to Thessalonica was by instigating the

Stoic and Epicurean philosophers to cavil, which entailed on Paul the

necessity of replying, and so detained him; but he seems to have left

Athens leisurely

(Ac 17:33, 34; 18:1).

The Greek for "hindered" is literally, "to cut a trench between

one's self and an advancing foe, to prevent his progress"; so Satan

opposing the progress of the missionaries.

19. For--giving the reason for his earnest desire to see them.

Are not even ye in the presence of . . .

Christ--"Christ" is omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Are not even

ye (namely, among others; the "even" or "also," implies that not

they alone will be his crown) our hope, joy, and crown of

rejoicing before Jesus, when He shall come

(2Co 1:14;

Php 2:16; 4:1)?

The "hope" here meant is his hope (in a lower sense), that these his

converts might be found in Christ at His advent

(1Th 3:13).

Paul's chief "hope" was JESUS

CHRIST

(1Ti 1:1).

20. Emphatical repetition with increased force. Who but ye and our

other converts are our hope, &c., hereafter, at Christ's

coming? For it is ye who ARE

now our glory and joy.