.—Paul, after the address and salutation, testifies that he renders constant thanks to God for the Thessalonians, calling to remembrance their faith, love, and hope, being assured of their election. He expresses his joy in their cordial reception of the gospel and the Christian character which they exhibited, being examples to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. He mentions the favorable report which he had of their conversion to God from idols, and of their waiting for the advent of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul. He does not call himself "an apostle," not because the Thessalonians were newly converted (Chrysostom), or from tenderness to Silvanus who was not an apostle (Estius), or because his apostolic authority was not yet recognized (Jowett), or because he had merely commenced his apostolic labors (Wordsworth); but because his apostleship had never been called in question by the Thessalonians. For the same reason he omits this title in the Epistle to the Philippians; whereas he strongly insists upon it in his Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians, because among them there were many opposed to his authority. And Silvanus. The same as the Silas of the Acts. He is mentioned as a chief man among the brethren, and a prophet or inspired teacher (Acts 15:22, Acts 15:32). His Latin name renders it probable that he was a Hellenistic Jew, and, like Paul, he was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37). He was sent with Judas Barsabas from Jerusalem, to convey the apostolic decrees to Antioch; and he accompanied Paul instead of Barnabas on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:40). He suffered imprisonment with Paul at Philippi; and was engaged with him in preaching the gospel in Thessalonica, Beraea, and Corinth. His ministry at Corinth is honorably mentioned by Paul in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 1:9). After this there is no more mention of Silvanus in the Acts, and it is doubtful whether he was the Silvanus by whom the First Epistle of Peter was conveyed to the Churches of Asia (1 Peter 5:12). £ Ancient tradition, erroneously supposing that Silas and Silvanus were different persons, makes Silas the Bishop of Corinth, and Silvanus the Bishop of Thessalonica. And Timotheus. The well-known disciple of Paul. He was a native of Lystra, having a Greek father and a Jewish mother (Acts 16:1). He joined Paul and Silas on their second missionary journey at Lystra, and was with them in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. He was with Paul on his third missionary journey, and was sent by him on a mission to Macedonia and Corinth (Acts 19:22; 1 Corinthians 16:10), and accompanied him into Asia on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4). He was also with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment, when he wrote the Epistles to the Philippians and Colossians (Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:1). Afterwards he resided at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3); from which he was recalled to Rome by Paul shortly before his martyrdom (2 Timothy 4:21). The last mention of Timothy is in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you" (Hebrews 13:23). According to ecclesiastical tradition, he became Bishop of Ephesus, and there suffered martyrdom. Silvanus and Timotheus are associated with Paul in his address to the Thessalonians, not to give weight and authority to his Epistle, but because they assisted him in the planting of the Church at Thessalonica, and were now with him at Corinth, when he was writing this Epistle. Silvanus is placed first, because he was the older and had been longer with the apostle, and, as is evident from the Acts, was at this time the more important of the two (Acts 16:19; Acts 17:4). By being included in the address, they are represented as joint authors of the Epistle with Paul, although they were only so in name. It is possible that Paul employed one of them as his amanuensis in writing the Epistle. Unto the Church. The word "Church" denotes a select assembly; here, Christians selected from the world. It does not denote in the New Testament, as with us, a building, but the congregation. In Paul’s later Epistles, those addressed are called, not the Church, but saints. Of the Thessalonians. In other Epistles the address is to the city, as Rome, Philippi, Colosse; here it is to the inhabitants. The Church of the Thessalonians was chiefly composed of converted Gentiles, with a small number of converted Jews (see Introduction). Which is; to be omitted, as not being in the original. In God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. The characteristic peculiarity of the Church: they are in God and Christ, that is, in fellowship with them, united to them. "In God the Father" characterizes them as not being heathens; "in the Lord Jesus Christ" characterizes them as not being Jews. Grace be unto you, and peace. The usual apostolic benediction. "Grace" is the Greek and" peace" is the Jewish form of salutation. The Greeks commenced their epistles with wishing grace for those to whom they wrote; and the usual form of salutation among the Jews was Shalom or "peace;" the apostle combines them, thus intimating that both Greeks and Jews are one in Christ Jesus. In the Pastoral Epistles and in the Second Epistle of John the form is "Grace, mercy, and peace" (2 John 1:3.), and in the Epistle of Jude it is "Mercy, peace, and love" (Jude 1:2). From God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. These words are wanting in some important manuscripts, and are omitted in the R.V. The preponderance, however, of external authority is in their favor. 1 Thessalonians 1:2 We. Many expositors (Cony-beare, Koch, Jowett) suppose that the plural is here used for the singular; as Paul elsewhere does in other parts of this Epistle. Thus: "Wherefore we would come unto you, even I Paul, once and again" (1 Thessalonians 2:18); "Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone" (1 Thessalonians 3:1). In these verses the pronoun "we" is evidently restricted to Paul. Still, however, Silvanus and Timotheus being mentioned directly before, it is most natural to include them here. Give thanks to God always for you all. All Paul’s Epistles, with the solitary exception of the Epistle to the Galatians, commence with an expression of thanksgiving. Making mention of you in our prayers; whilst we are engaged in prayer for you. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians took the form of thanksgiving. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing. Some attach the words, "without ceasing," or "unceasingly," to the previous clause; "making mention of you unceasingly in our prayers" (so Alford). Your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope. These expressions are not to be weakened, as if they were a mere Hebraism for active faith, laborious love, and patient hope. We have here the three cardinal virtues—faith, love, and hope (1 Corinthians 13:13). Elsewhere these graces are combined. Thus again in this Epistle: "Putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8); and in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven" (Colossians 1:4, Colossians 1:5). By the "work of faith" is not meant faith itself as the work of God (John 6:29), but that faith which is energetic, which is active and living, productive of good works. By the "labor, or toil, of love" is not meant that love which is devoted to God, but that love which manifests itself in acts of kindness toward our fellow-Christians and toward the human race. And by the "patience of hope" is meant that constancy which remains unconquered by trials and persecutions. There is a climax here; faith manifests itself by its works—its active exertion; love by its toils—its works of self-denial; and hope by its patience—its endurance amid trials and discouragements. "Remembering, the apostle would say, your faith, hope, and love: a faith that had its outward effect on your lives; a love that spent itself in the service of others; and a hope that was no mere transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen, when Christ should be revealed" (Jowett). In our Lord Jesus Christ. These words do not refer to all three virtues (Hohnann), but only to the last, specifying its object, namely, that it is hope in the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is hope s highest expectation, because at the advent the kingdom of Christ will come in its glory. In the sight of (or rather, before) God and our Father. These words are to be conjoined with "remembering:" "remembering unceasingly before God and our Father your work of faith," etc. According to the English idiom, the conjunction "and" is dropped—"God our Father." 1 Thessalonians 1:4 Knowing; that is, not the Thessalonians themselves, but we, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus; knowing, being well assured of. Brethren beloved, your election of God; or rather, as it is in the margin and in the R.V., Knowing brethren, beloved of God, your election. By election is meant that act of free grace by which God destines individuals to become believers in Christ. Thus the Thessalonian converts were chosen or elected by God from among their heathen countrymen to become Christians. The ultimate reason of their Christianity was their election of God. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 For; or rather, how that (R.V.); or, because; assigning the reasons for Paul’s confidence in their election; and these reasons were two: first, the powerful entrance which the gospel had among them; and secondly, the joyful reception which was given to it by the Thessalonians. Our gospel; that is, the gospel which was preached by us. Came not unto you in word only. The gospel came in word, for this was a necessary pre-requisite, but "not in word only," that is, it was not a bare publication or communication in human words. But in power. Some restrict the epithets which here follow to the teachers, as denoting the mode in which they preached the gospel; but it is better to refer them both to the teachers and the taught. By "power" is not meant miracles, but, in contrast to "word," the power with which Paul and his companions preached, and the impression which the gospel made on the hearers. And in the Holy Ghost. Here also the reference is, not to miraculous gifts, but to the influences of the Spirit accompanying the preaching of the gospel; such was the efficacy of Paul’s preaching that it proved itself to be accompanied by the operation of the Holy Ghost in the conversion of his hearers. There is here an ascent: the gospel came in power, and, what is more, it came in the Holy Ghost. And in much assurance. By "assurance" here is meant the confidence with which Paul and his fellow-workers preached the gospel to the Thessalonians, and the fullness of conviction with which the Thessalonians received it. As ye know. An appeal to their knowledge that what he now states is true. What manner of men we were among you. Alluding to the blamelessness of their behavior when in Thessalonica. For your sake; namely, that we sought not our own profit or advantage, but your spiritual good. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 Now follows the second reason assigned by Paul for his confidence in their election. And ye became followers (or, imitators) of us, and of the Lord; of Christ. By becoming imitators of the apostle, they became imitators of Christ. "Be ye followers of me," writes St. Paul to the Corinthians, "even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). The point of imitation did not consist in their cordial reception of the gospel, for that could not apply to Christ; but in their joyful endurance of suffering. Having received the word in much affliction. We learn from the Acts that the unbelieving Jews stirred up the heathen rabble, and raised a persecution against Paul and his associates, in consequence of which they had to depart from Thessalonica (Acts 17:4-10). It would appear that, after the apostle had left the city, the persecution, far from abating, rather increased, and the Gentile inhabitants united with the unbelieving Jews against the Christians; the Thessalonian converts suffered from their own countrymen as well as from the Jews (1 Thessalonians 2:14). With joy of the Holy Ghost; that is, not merely spiritual joy, or joy in the Holy Ghost, but joy which proceeds from the Holy Ghost—joy which is produced by him, of which he is the Author. 1 Thessalonians 1:7 So that ye were ensamples. The word here rendered "ensamples" literally signifies "types." It is used to denote a form or figure (Acts 7:43), a model or likeness (Acts 7:44), a mark or impression (John 20:25). Hence, in a metaphorical sense, it came to signify an example, a pattern for imitation. "Now these things are our examples" (1 Corinthians 10:6). To all that believe—to all believers—in Macedonia and Achaia. These are the two provinces into which ancient Greece was divided by the Romans, each of which was governed by a proconsul Macedonia was the northern portion, including Macedonia proper, Epirus and Illyricum; at first it was divided into four districts, but afterwards united into one province, of which Thessalonica was constituted the capital. Achaia was the southern portion of ancient Greece, including the Peloponnesus, Attica, Boeotia, etc., and, until recently, was nearly of the same dimensions with the modern kingdom of Greece; its capital was Corinth. 1 Thessalonians 1:8 For; or, because the proof of tiffs praise conferred on the Thessalonians. From you sounded out. Resounded like the sound of a trumpet. Comp. Romans 10:18, "Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world." The word of the Lord. This does not intimate that the Thessalonians by their missionary activity disseminated the gospel, but that from them locally the-gospel had spread. Not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad. There is a slight difficulty in the construction. The sentence is complete without the addition, "your faith to God-ward is spread abroad," and, therefore, we must consider these words as equivalent to "from you sounded out the word of the Lord." When the apostle says that "the faith of the Thessalonians is spread abroad in every place," the meaning is that the report of their joyful reception of the gospel had excited universal attention. There is here a certain use of the figure hyperbole. The words, "in every place," are not to be taken in their full literal sense, but are merely a strong expression for the wide diffusion of the faith of the Thessalonians. Paul uses similar hyperboles in other places, as when he speaks of the faith of the Romans being spoken of throughout the whole world (Romans 1:5), and of the gospel having come into all the world (Colossians 1:6). This wide diffusion of the Faith of the Thessalonians, notwithstanding the recent date of their conversion, may be accounted for when we consider that Thessalonica and Corinth were two great commercial cities, from and to which there was a constant coming and going, so that reports might easily be transmitted by merchants and strangers. It has also been suggested that Aquila and Priscilla, who had lately come from Rome (Acts 18:2), must in their journey have passed through Thessalonica, and would bring with them to Corinth such a report of the faith of the Thessalonians (Wieseler). So that we need not to speak anything; that is, of your faith, as this is already so well known and applauded. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves; that is, the reporters, those in Macedonia, Achaia, and every other place. Show of us; or, report concerning us (R.V.) in regard to our preaching or entrance among you. Instead of questions being asked of us by them, as would naturally be expected, they of their own accord give information. What manner of entering in we had among you. "Entering" here evidently refers, not merely to the outward entrance, the mere preaching of the gospel among the Thessalonians; but to the access, the internal entrance, which the gospel found into their hearts; that is, with what power and fullness of the Holy Ghost we preached the gospel unto you, and with what joy and confidence and contempt of danger ye received it. And how ye turned to God from idols. This, as already remarked, is one of the proofs that the Church of Thessalonica was chiefly composed of Gentile converts, though, of course, not to the exclusion of the Jewish element (Acts 17:4). To serve the living and true God. Two epithets there employed in contrast to the idols of the heathen: "living," in opposition to dead idols, which were nothing in the world; "true," not in the sense of veracious, but of real in opposition to the imaginary gods of the heathen. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait. The faith of the Thessalonians took the form of hope or expectation for the coming of the Lord; an element of Christian feeling, perhaps, not so prominent in the present day. For his Son from heaven; referring to the second advent. Christ on his departure from this world went to heaven, where he resides, making intercession for us, but from thence he will come to judge the quick and the dead. In the primitive Church the advent of Christ was not regarded as at a distance, but as an event which might at any moment occur. Whom he raised from the dead; with emphasis placed before "Jesus," because his resurrection from the dead was the open declaration, the public inauguration, of his Divine sonship (Romans 1:4). Even Jesus which delivered us. The participle is present; not past, "who delivered us," namely, by his death; nor future, "who shall deliver us," at the judgment; but present," who delivers us;" the deliverance is going on—it commenced with Iris death, but will not be completed until his advent. Or the word may be used as a substantive, "Jesus, our Deliverer." From the wrath; or righteous indignation of God; here punishment as the effect of wrath. "The wrath of God is, in its deepest ground, love; love itself becomes a consuming fire to whatever is opposed to the nature of goodness" (Koch). To come; literally, which is coming, the coming wrath, denoting its absolute certainty. This coming wrath will take place at the advent of Christ, when he appears, not only for the salvation of his people, but for the destruction of his enemies. 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 1 Thessalonians 1:2 The character of Christians. 1. They are converted; they turn to God from idols. As the heathen turned from material idols, so do believers from spiritual idols. A change is effected in their disposition; their chief affection is now fixed on God and Christ; they serve the living and true God. 2. They wait for the Lord Jesus Christ; they expect salvation from him, and look forward to his second craning. 3. They live a holy life; they possess the three cardinal virtues, and prove that they do so by their outward manifestations. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 The three cardinal virtues faith, love, and hope. 1. Their order. Faith is the commencement of the spiritual life, love its progress and continuance, and hope its completion; faith is the foundation, love the structure, and hope the top-stone of God’s spiritual temple in the soul. 2. Their manifestations. Faith is seen by its works; love, by its self-denying exertions; and hope, by its patience and endurance. 3. Their reference to time. Faith refers to the past, love to the present, and hope to the future. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 The entrance of the gospel. 1. Negatively. "Not in word only." The preaching of the gospel will only add to our condemnation if we do not by faith accept it; not nominal, but real Christianity is the chief matter; the entrance must not be external, but internal. 2. Positively. "In power," arresting us in our worldly career; "in the Holy Ghost," being the Agent of our conversion; "in much assurance," so that we know from experience its truth and efficacy. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 The imitation of Christ. Christ not only died as a Sacrifice, but lived as an Example. He is the great Example whom we must imitate, the Pattern of the new creation, the Original of which all believers are copies. Especially we must imitate him in his patient endurance of suffering. The cross is ever the Christian’s motto; and we can only enter into heaven through tribulation. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 The union of affliction with joy. The Thessalonians "received the word with much affliction and joy of the Holy Ghost." Christianity makes no stoical demands. Spiritual joy does not exclude, but even includes, sorrow. "Sorrowing, yet always rejoicing," is the Christian’s condition. To glory in tribulation is the Christian’s experience. "In the spiritual world joy and sorrow are not two, but one." 1 Thessalonians 1:7 The example of Christians. It was greatly to the praise of the Thessalonians that they were examples to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 1. Consistent believers are living evidences of the truth of Christianity. By the purity of their conduct, by their unselfishness, by their patience in suffering, they prove that there is something real and living in Christianity. 2. Inconsistent believers are obstacles in the way of the gospel. They confirm the worldly in their worldliness, as if Christianity were a mere pretence, and thus give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 - The expectation of the advent. Believers are here described as waiting for the Son of God from heaven. Certainty of the fact of the advent; Christ shall come from heaven. Uncertainty of the time of the advent; "Of that day knoweth no man, not even the angels who are in heaven." It would appear that the early Christians believed that Christ might come at any time, even in their days; the first advent, being so recent, excited within them the expectation of the immediateness of the second. Hence the doctrine of the second advent occupied a much more prominent place in the thoughts of the primitive Christians than it does in ours. It was to them a living power; believers then lived in constant expectation of the coming of the Lord; whereas the teaching of the present day has in a measure passed from it; its uncertainty, instead of exciting us to holiness and watchfulness, is too often abused as an encouragement to sloth and security. BY T. 1 Thessalonians 1:1 - Address and salutation. At a point almost midway between the apostle’s call and his martyrdom he penned this first of his thirteen Epistles, which was, perhaps, the earliest book of New Testament Scripture, and addressed to one of the primary centers of European Christianity. I. THE AUTHORS OF THE . "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy." Simply Paul, without official adjunct of any sort, for there was no one in the Thessalonian Church to challenge his apostleship or his relationship to Christ. He associates Silvanus and Timothy with himself in the salutation as they were associated with him in the original foundation of the Church; Silvanus being placed next to himself, because he was of older standing and greater weight in the Church than Timothy, a comparatively young evangelist. II. THE CHURCH TO WHICH THE WAS . "To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 1. Its situation. Thessalonica was the capital of all Macedonia, and is still the second city of European Turkey. Important then as now by its commerce; important by its place on the great road which connected Rome with its Asiatic dependencies; but more important in the eye of the apostle as a grand center of missionary operations both by laud and sea, and with a mingled population of Jews and Gentiles. 2. Its true character as a Church. It was "the Church of the Thessalonians"—a regularly organized community of Christians, mostly Gentiles, having the root and ground of its spiritual existence in union with the Father and the Son. They were "in the fellowship of the Father and the Son," because they were "dwelling in God, and God in them," and "they were in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ." The one fellowship implies the other; for Jesus said, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me;" yet it is also true that it is "God who calls us into the fellowship of the Son" (1 Corinthians 1:9). This double fellowship is secured by the bond of the Holy Spirit. As enjoyed by the Thessalonians it implied: (1) Their devotion to the truth; for only "as abiding in the doctrine of Christ" they would have "both the Father and the Son" (2 John 1:9; 1 John 2:24). There is no fellowship but in the truth. To be in darkness is to be out of fellowship (1 John 1:6). (2) Their unity. "Even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21). (3) Their love to one another. "If we love one another God abideth in us" (1 John 4:12). (4) Their boldness in the day of judgment (1 John 2:28). (5) Their ultimate perfection. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (John 17:21-23). Behold thus the high dignity and blessed privilege of the Church at Thessalonica. III. THE . "Grace and peace be unto you." (See homiletical hints on Galatians 1:5; Colossians 1:2.)—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:3 - Heartfelt thanksgiving for spiritual prosperity. The apostle begins by a full and earnest expression of thanksgiving such as is characteristic of all his Epistles except that to the Galatians. I. THE GROUND OF . "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." We consider here: 1. The graces of the Christian life. We have here, in the first Epistle ever written by the apostle, his favorite trilogy of Christian principles. (1) The three graces are fundamental. As the three principal colors of the rainbow—red, yellow, and blue, representing respectively heat, light, and purifying power—supply in their combination all the other colors, so, by a sort of moral analysis, it can be shown that faith, hope, and love lie at the foundation, or enter into the composition, of all other Christian graces whatever. (2) They are three inseparable graces. Faith always works by love, and love is inseparable from hope, for "hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost" (Romans 5:5). Faith is the necessary root, as hope and love are its unfailing fruits. As faith works by love, it is also the substance of things hoped for. (3) They are at once the defense and the adornment of Christian life. "Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8). (4) They are the abiding principles of Christian life: "Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three" (1 Corinthians 13:13). They do not die with death; for in eternity the Church will ’be made perfect in love, as it will ever continue to trust in the Lord, and hope for new developments of truth and new disclosures of blessedness. 2. The practical aspect of these graces as forces in the life of the Church. There is a climax in the exhibition of the three graces. The apostle does not say, "the work of faith, the work of love, the work of hope," but ascends from work to labor, and from labor to endurance. There is a work that is a refreshing exercise of our energies, but it involves no exhaustion or fatigue; but when work has deepened into labor we become conscious of the limitation of our strength, and then we have to call in the new principle of endurance, or "patience," if we are to carry it to a triumphant result. (1) The work of faith points to a work springing out of faith; for faith is the most active of all the principles which influence human conduct. Their faith was, therefore, a fruitful faith. (2) The labor of love suggests the sacrifices which we are ready to make for the objects of our love. It was not "love in word or in tongue," but "in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). (3) The patience of hope suggests the severity of present afflictions, which are borne with constancy and perseverance because the sufferers arc cheered by hope. But it is "hope in our Lord Jesus Christ;" that is, hope of his second advent; for the Thessalonians had a constant and overwhelming sense of the nearness of his coming, which in some cases broke in upon the continuity of their daily duties. II. THE , , AND OF THE APOSTLE’S . "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers." 1. It was in his prayers for them that he expressed his thanksgiving. "Even in the sight of God and our Father." The care of all the Churches was upon him daily (2 Corinthians 11:28), and under such a burden he "bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is happy for Christians to be remembered in the prayers of saints, to be borne upon their hearts, to be borne up before God in intercessory prayer (Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16). His thanksgivings were as constant as his prayers. 2. Tile thanksgivings were addressed to God because the spiritual prosperity at Thessalonica was due neither to the converts themselves nor to the preachers of the gospel. We must ever speak of the grace of God, and exalt it in our praises. 3. The thanksgiving was all the more hearty and full because it had regard to the prosperity of the entire community. "All of you," because they were an eminent seal Of his apostleship, a blessed effect of his ministry among them.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6 - Their election and its fruits another ground of thanksgiving. The apostle, Jew as he was, addresses these Gentiles as his brethren, and represents them as the objects of Divine love. "Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election." I. THERE IS AN : TO GRACE. 1. The election referred to here was not an election to external privilege or ecclesiastical relationship; for that might have had a very uncertain issue, and would not have been the subject of such abounding thankfulness as he expresses in this passage. 2. It was not even the call to obtain glory, which they had received through his gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:14); for the election only realized itself in that call, Scripture always distinguishing the order of election and calling. "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called" (Romans 8:30). 3. Much less is the election to be identified with regeneration, conversion, or faith. These were its effects. 4. It was an election to eternal life, involving all the various processes of his grace. (Romans 11:5.) (1) It is an election in Christ (Ephesians 1:4). (2) It is irrespective of merit (Romans 9:11). (3) It is through faith and the sanctification of the Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13). (4) It is to eternal glory (Romans 9:23). II. THE OF THIS IS A AND AN ACTUAL . The apostle’s knowledge was not derived from special revelation, neither was it the mere credulity of a kindly charity, "hoping all things" in the absence of evidence. It had a double ground—one subjective and the other objective; one based upon the apostle’s conscious experience in preaching the gospel, the other upon their practical and hearty reception of the truth. 1. The subjective evidence. "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." (1) It did come in word, for it was conveyed to the Thessalonians in human speech, albeit not "in the enticing words of man’s wisdom," but it passed beyond the word. It did not merely sound in the ear nor touch the understanding. (2) But it came in power—on the part of the preachers with an overwhelming force and persuasiveness, so that "the faith of the people should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:5). There was a conscious abounding energy which carried them beyond themselves, with an overmastering conviction that they would prevail. (3) It came also "in the Holy Ghost," or, as the apostle elsewhere phrases it, "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4). The Word would otherwise have been a dead letter and a killing letter, but the Spirit gave it life. The power of the gospel, therefore, was due to the efficient operation of the Spirit. (4) It came also "in much assurance," not on the part of the Thessalonians, but on the part of the preachers of the gospel, who were fully convinced of its truth, and had thorough confidence in its power. (5) This subjective evidence was confirmed by their own recollection of the three preachers of the gospel—"As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." The Thessalonians would have a very vivid recollection both of the preaching and the preachers. The three brethren were conspicuous by their holiness, their zeal, and their interest in the welfare of the Thessalonians. This was no self-flattery, for it was confirmed by the knowledge of their converts. 2. The objective evidence of their election. "And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." Their ready imitation of the apostle and his colleagues—which was, in truth, an imitation of Christ, so far as they were connected with him in his life and truth—was a practical proof of the sincerity of their conversion. The imitation was manifest in the spirit and circumstances of their reception of the truth. (1) The truth was received "in much affliction." The history of their conversion confirms this statement (Acts 17:5, Acts 17:9). But the persecution continued after the departure of the apostle. The gospel had its drawbacks, but the Thessalonians were steadfast in their allegiance to the truth. (2) Yet it was received "with joy of the Holy Ghost;" that is, the joy that springs from his presence in the soul. They were thus imitating that apostle who "took pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake" (2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 12:10). The joy in question is (a) a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22); (b) it is essentially connected with the kingdom of God as part of its blessedness (Romans 14:17); (c) it is capable of increase through the very presence of affliction (Acts 5:41); (d) it is the strength of the believer—"The joy of the Lord shall be your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10); (e) its advent marks a distinct change in the world’s history; (f) it ought to be constant (Philippians 4:4); (g) it is maintained through abiding in Christ (John 15:10, John 15:11).—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 1:8 - The profound impression made by the conversion of the Thessalonians. Having become imitators of the apostles and of our Lord, they soon became examples for the imitation of other Churches. Their conversion lifted them up into a sudden and distinct visibility in two directions. I. THE GOSPEL WAS TITUS CARRIED THROUGH AND GREECE LIKE THE RINGING SOUND OF A TRUMPET. "For from you hath sounded out the Word of the Lord in Macedonia and Achaia." These two divisions of Greece, included in the Roman empire, received the report of the gospel, which went forth like a joyful sound, proclaiming with no uncertainty liberty to the captives. 1. A work of grace in one place quickly leads to a work of grace in other places. The tale of wonder is repeated with solemn surprise, gratitude, and expectation. 2. Churches already in existence were stirred and stimulated by the visible work of grace at Thessalonica. II. THE REPORT OF THEIR FAITH A WIDE , EVEN OUTSIDE THE LIMITS OF GREECE. This was not wonderful, for the city was, as Cicero says, in the very bosom of the Roman empire, a center of business and influence which touched its furthest limits. Their faith must have had the solid stamp of reality to produce such a widespread sensation. It must have been practical and self-mantles-tattoo, for they did not hide it in their own breasts, but declared it by words and deeds. There was, therefore, no necessity for the apostle speaking about it—"so that we need not to speak anything."—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 - The nature of the impression made upon the world by the spectacle of Thessalonian piety. It was a truly providential foresight that led the apostles at the beginning of the gospel to plant it first in the great cities of the world. Thus it first appeared at Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Rome, and Corinth. I. THE WORLD WAS FIRST BY THE RAPID AND SUCCESS OF THE . "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you." The world seemed to appreciate the boldness, the sincerity, the uprightness of the preachers, as elements of their success; for there was no dexterous flattery, there was no spirit of self-seeking, there was no guileful strategy, in the proclamation of the gospel. II. THE WORLD WAS STILL MORE DEEPLY BY THE BLESSED EFFECTS OF THE ’ , "And how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." 1. It was a conversion from idolatry, Immediately and at once they received converting grace, under the influence of which they turned to the Lord from their dead and fictitious deities. (1) Idolatry is apostasy from God. These Thessalonians" had changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things" (Romans 1:23). They had been "joined to their idols" for ages (Hosea 4:17). They had been hitherto walking just like other Gentiles, in all moral blindness and carnality of heart (Ephesians 4:17, Ephesians 4:18). (2) Their conversion was a repudiation of idolatry. It was not mere proselytism. It was the bursting asunder of ties which had an immense social as well as religious weight in pagan life. (3) It was a thorough consecration to the service of the living and true God. As their God was true God and living God, having life in himself and a true and faithful relation to his worshippers, they could give him the living service of faith, obedience, and dependence. 2. Another effect of the apostles’ preaching was their expectation of our Lord’s coming. The doctrine of the advent occupies the foreground in the thoughts of the Thessalonians, as in the two Epistles addressed to them. As faith underlies the service of the true God, so hope underlies the expectation of the Lord’s coming. "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to conic." (1) This implies the belief that Jesus is in heaven, to reign, to plead, to prepare a place for us. (2) It implies the belief that he will return from heaven. The Thessalonians may have believed that he would return in that age, but all Christians live in the "blessed hope" of his second coming. (3) This waiting attitude implied the recognition of a certain connection between Christ’s resurrection and our deliverance from the wrath to come. They were not waiting for a dead man lying in a Jewish grave, but for One raised from the dead, and living in the power of an endless life. His resurrection implied the completion of his atoning work, as the work of atonement supplies the ground for our continuous deliverance from the wrath that is coming. There is a wrath coming upon disobedient sinners, but there is a way of deliverance provided in the Word of Jesus Christ ratified by his resurrection from the dead.—T.C. BY B.C. CAFFIN 1 Thessalonians 1:1 - The address. I. THE WRITER. 1. He uses no title. He does not style himself apostle. He asserted his apostolic authority when it was necessary to do so; for the sake of others, as in his Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians. Now it was not necessary; the Macedonian Churches regarded him with affection and reverence. He simply gives his name, his new name—Paul. He had laid aside his old name with all its associations. It recalled the memory of the famous king, Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. It recalled to the apostle the memories of his own old unconverted life, his self-satisfied Pharisaism, his persecution of the Church, especially that one saddest day of his life, when he consented to the death of the first martyr of the Lord, the holy Stephen. He had laid aside his old name, and with it his old modes of thought, his old life. Paul was, we may say, his Christian name; we do not read of it before the beginning of his first missionary journey; it was consecrated now by constant, untiring, self-sacrificing labor. It was known wherever Christ was preached as the name of the great missionary, the apostle of the Gentiles, the first of the noble band of Christian missionaries, who had left his home and all that once he loved to devote himself, heart and soul, to the mission work with all its hardships, all its dangers. Many holy men have trodden in his steps; but it was Paul who first set the high example, who kindled the sacred enthusiasm which has led so many saints in every age to fulfill the Lord’s command, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul is a Latin name; it means "little." St. Augustine in one place suggests that St. Paul may have chosen it to mark himself as "the least of the apostles." There are other possible reasons for the change, and it may be thought that St. Paul would have shrunk from what might seem almost like a parade of humility. But at least we may find a lesson here. God exalteth the humble. Paul is a famous name. Others have borne it—some distinguished Romans; but it was reserved for the apostle to make the name honored and beloved throughout the civilized world. The Paulus who conquered Macedonia for Rome is far less famous now than the Paul who won the Macedonian Churches for Christ. 2. He associates others with himself. Paul is the spiritual father of the Thessalonian Christians; he is the writer of the Epistle, not Silvanus or Timotheus (see 2 Thessalonians 3:17). But they had labored with him in Thessalonica; Silvanus certainly, Timotheus in all probability; they had shared his dangers there; they were well known to the Thessalonians. So he joins their names with his own, recognizing their brotherly fellowship, their faithful co-operation, and shrinking, it may be, kern putting himself into unnecessary prominence. He seeks not honor ion himself; he has no literary ambition; his one aim is the salvation of his converts, the glory of God. (1) Silvanus, or, in the shortened form of the name, Silas. tic, like St. Paul, was a Roman citizen, and bore a Latin name. It was, in the Latin mythology, the name of the sylvan god, who was supposed to protect the sheep, and save them from wolves. When he became a Christian, that name might perhaps serve to remind him of the great duty of tending the flock for which the good Shepherd died. He had leech a leader in the Church at Jerusalem; he was a prophet (Acts 15:32), that is, he had the gift of spiritual, inspired eloquence; he used it to exhort and confirm the brethren. He accompanied St. Paul in his first missionary journey; he worked with him, he suffered with him. In the dungeon at Philippi, his feet made fast in the stocks, he prayed and sang praises unto God. His presence and sympathy had cheered St. Paul in his dangers. Companionship in affliction had bound them very close to one another. When working together at Thessalonica they must have still felt the effects of the many stripes which they had received at Philippi. It was natural that St. Paul should mention Silas in writing to the Thessalonians. We may notice here that he furnishes one of the links which couple together the two apostles whose differences (Galatians 2:11-21) have been so much magnified by heretics of old, by unbelievers now. St. Paul loved Silvanus; St. Peter counted him a faithful brother (l Peter 5:12). (2) Timotheus, St. Paul’s dearest companion, his own son in the faith, bound to him with the closest ties of tender, personal affection. He stands first among the noble company of holy, loving fellow-workers whom St. Paul had drawn around himself. He was known to the Thessalonians; his name, indeed, does not appear in the record of St. Paul’s visit to Thessalonica in the Acts of the Apostles. But we know that he was sent there afterwards to establish and to comfort the Thessalonian Christians concerning their faith (1 Thessalonians 3:2). Doubtless he was chosen for that work because of the Christian zeal, the loving, gentle sympathy which marked his beautiful character. He fulfilled his mission, and brought back to the apostle good tidings of the faith and charity of the Thessalonians. He greets them now. II. THE CHURCH. 1. The foundation of the Thessalonian Church. St. Paul had been shamefully treated at Philippi; he had not lost courage. He came to Thessalonica; he went, as he was wont, to the synagogue. There he preached for three sabbath days; he "reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." He showed (as our Lord himself had shown to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus) that it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer, and should rise again from the dead; he showed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. All true preaching must be full of Scripture; all true preaching must be full of Christ. St. Paul’s words were greatly blessed. Some Jews believed, a great multitude of Greek proselytes, many ladies of rank. Those three sabbaths had been wonderfully fruitful; a Church was formed at Thessalonica. 2. The word "Church." This is the earliest of St. Paul’s extant Epistles; it may be (possibly the Epistle of St. James was written earlier) the earliest of all the writings of the New Testament. Then, if we were to read the New Testament in chronological order, we should meet here with the word "Church" for the first time. St. James 2:2 uses the word "synagogue," not "Church." Our Lord, of course, used it earlier. He founded the Church. He had said, "On this rock wilt I build my Church;" and again, "Tell it to the Church." But the date of St. Matthew’s Gospel is probably later than that of this Epistle. The Greek word means simply an assembly, a congregation, as the word "synagogue" means a meeting. It is derived from a verb which means to call out or summon, and is regularly used in classical Greek of the assemblies of citizens summoned by the magistrate in the Greek commonwealths for legislative or other political purposes (comp. Acts 19:39); sometimes of other assemblies, as of the crowd of artisans collected by Demetrius (Acts 19:32, Acts 19:41). It is used of the congregation of Israel in Acts 7:38; Hebrews 2:12; and sometimes in the Septuagint. The New Testament has taken the word and filled it with a new and holy meaning. It is the assembly which Christ hath chosen to himself out of the world—the flock of Christ. The visible Church of Christ is "a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same." The great day of Pentecost was the true birthday of the Church; the gift of the Holy Ghost then sent down from heaven knit together the disciples into one body, the mystical body of Christ. St. Luke gives us, in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, a description of the Church at that time. "Then they that gladly received the Word were baptized… and they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Thus the notes of the Church, according to Holy Scripture, are baptism, fellowship with the apostles, the doctrine of the apostles, the holy communion, public worship. The Church is also one, for it is one body in Christ, united into one fellowship by the indwelling of the one Spirit. It is holy, because it is being sanctified by the Holy Ghost; all its members are dedicated to God in holy baptism; they are all pledged by that dedication to follow after holiness of heart and life. It is catholic, because it is not confined to one nation, like the synagogue, but universal, world-wide, open to all who receive the Word of God. It is apostolic, because it is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone; and because it continues in the doctrine and fellowship of the apostles. It is the bride of Christ. "Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it unto himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." 3. The Church of the Thessalonians. Now there was a branch of the one Church at Thessalonica. (1) It was the second Church founded in Europe. The first was at Philippi, a small place, though a Roman colony. Thessalonica was a populous city, the metropolis of Macedonia. God plants his Church everywhere. It embraces all who will accept the gospel—poor and rich, ignorant and learned; it meets the deepest needs of all places alike—the quiet country and the stirring city. (2) It was already organized. It had its ministers (1 Thessalonians 5:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:13), and its assemblies for public worship (1 Thessalonians 5:27). Short as St. Paul’s visit was, he had, it seems, ordained elders there, as he was wont to do in every Church (Acts 14:23), and had provided for the regular meetings of the brethren. (3) It was in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. This was its essential characteristic. As Chrysostom says, "There were many e)kklhsi&ai, many assemblies both Jewish and Greek. St. Paul writes to that assembly, that congregation, which was in God. It is a high exaltation, above all other possible dignities, to be in God." Thessalonica formerly lay in wickedness, in the evil one (1 John 5:19), in the sphere of his activity. Now, the Church there was in God. The presence of God was the very atmosphere in which the Church lived and moved. It lay in the everlasting arms, encircled with his embrace, guarded by his love. The words imply a close intimate union, an exceeding great depth of love and tenderness, a very great and profound truth, which does not admit of formal definition, and cannot be adequately expressed in language; but it is realized, in a greater or less degree, in the inner life of those true members of the Church who abide in that invisible, but most holy and most blessed, union with the Lord. God had breathed into the Church of the Thessalonians the breath of life—that new life, that eternal life, which consists in the personal knowledge of God. That life is in his Son. Christ is the Life. "He that hath the Son hath life." The Thessalonian Church was in the Lord Jesus Christ, as it was in God. "We are in him that is true," says St. John, "even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." The Church is in Christ, then surely Christ is God. The Church cannot be said to be in any creature; in St. Paul, for instance, or in any other of the holiest saints of God. Such an assertion would be unmeaning, blasphemous. Then in the first verse of the first of St. Paul’s Epistles (the least dogmatic, some say, of all his Epistles, possibly the earliest of the New Testament writings), he distinctly teaches the great doctrine of the divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "In Christ," "in the Lord," is a constant formula of St. Paul’s; he is never weary of repeating it, never weary of enforcing the great truth that the Christian lives in Christ. Here he asserts the same thing of the Church as a whole. It is in Christ, living in his life, holy in his holiness, strong in his strength, glorious (John 17:22) in his glory; the glory of his presence now, the glory of eternal life with him henceforth in heaven. The Church is "in Christ;" its members must strive to realize the blessedness of that holy fellowship in their own individual souls. Outward membership will not avail for our salvation, unless we abide in living spiritual communion with the Lord. III. THE . 1. Grace. It is one of those words which the Holy Spirit has taken from common use and filled with a sweet and sacred meaning. (1) It is the gracious favor of God which rests upon all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That favor is essentially free, spontaneous, flowing out of that eternal love which is intimately one with the very being of God. "God is love." It is given in and through the Lord Jesus; it is "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2) It is the gratitude, the spirit of joyful thankfulness, which should be the happy temper of those who believe in the grace of God. (3) It sometimes (as in Colossians 4:6) expresses the sweetness, the winning beauty, the dignified gracefulness of the true Christian character. The grace of God produces thankfulness, and gives grace and beauty to the life. 2. Peace. It was the first greeting of the risen Lord to his apostles, "Peace be unto you." It became the apostolic greeting. The Macedonian Churches had little outward peace; they were early called to suffer. They needed that blessed peace which God alone can give. (See homiletics on Philippians 1:2 and Philippians 4:7.) LESSONS. 1. Imitate St. Paul in his humility. Notice every feature, every manifestation of that great grace; it is hard to learn. 2. The Church, as a whole, is in God; in his guardianship, in his encircling love. We must strive and pray to realize that loving presence individually, to be in God ourselves. 3. Pray that grace and peace may rest on all who bear the Name of Christ.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-6 - The apostle’s thanksgiving. I. ITS . 1. It is shared with his companions. "We give thanks." The three friends prayed and gave thanks together. It is true that the plural number is characteristic of these Epistles to the Thessalonians; the singular is avoided, it seems, from motives of modesty. But here, immediately after the mention of the three names, it is natural to regard the thanksgiving as proceeding from all. It is a true Christian feeling that draws friends together for religious exercises. The faith, the love, of the one kindles, strengthens, the like graces in the other. The tide of prayer and praise from many hearts flows in deeper, fuller volume towards the throne. And we know that where two or three are gathered together in his Name, there is he in the midst of them. 2. It is constant. "We give thanks to God always." Thanksgiving is the joy of the redeemed in heaven; it is the outpouring of the Christian heart upon earth. The nearer we can approach to perpetual thanksgiving, the nearer we draw to heaven. "Sursum corda!"—"Lift up your hearts!" is an exhortation which we daily need. May God give us grace to answer daily, hourly, "We lift them up unto the Lord." 3. It is for all. The true shepherd knows his sheep; he loves them all, he prays for all. He does not divide them into parties. The closer his own walk with God, the more he is enabled to keep himself apart from and above party divisions. But the infant Thessalonian Church seems to have enjoyed the blessing of unity. It was not, like Corinth, distracted by strife and party feeling. 4. It accompanied prayer. Thanksgiving and prayer ever go together. The man who prays earnestly must give thanks, for prayer brings him into the sense of God’s most gracious presence; and with that presence cometh joy—joy in the Lord. True prayer must involve intercession, for in answer to prayer the Holy Spirit is given; and the first, the chief of the fruits of the Spirit is love. St. Paul is a remarkable example of perseverance in intercessory prayer. II. ITS GROUNDS. 1. His remembrance of their spiritual state. He was working hard at Corinth; in the midst of his labor, with all its new interests, he remembered without ceasing the Christians of Thessalonica. The care of all the Churches was already beginning to press upon him. He was unwearied in his labors, in his supplications, in his constant thoughtfulness for all the Churches which he had founded, for all the converts whom he had brought to Christ. Mark the extent, the comprehensiveness of his love for souls. 2. His description of that state. The Thessalonian Christians already exhibited the three chief Christian graces. (1) Faith, and that not a dead faith, but a faith that was ever working through love. St. Paul remembered their work of faith. Faith is itself a work, the work of God. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." It is itself a work, and it must work in the soul, for it is an active principle. It cannot exist without working. Its working may not always express itself in outward action; it will do so when possible; but it will be always working in the inner sphere of the heart, producing self-purification, self-consecration, spiritual self-sacrifice. Each step towards holiness is a work of faith, hidden, it may be, from the eyes of men, but seen by him who searcheth the heart. The Thessalonians had shown their faith by their works. (2) Love, the greatest of the three, manifests itself in labor. The word is a strong one; "toil," perhaps, is a better rendering. Toil is not painful when it is prompted by love. True Christian love must lead the believer to toil for the gospel’s sake, for the souls and bodies of those whom Jesus loved. The abundance of the Christian’s labors is the measure of his love. "I labored more abundantly than they all" (says St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:10): "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (3) Hope. The object of the Christian’s hope is the Savior—our "Lord Jesus Christ, which is our Hope." We hope for him—for his gracious presence revealed in fuller measure now, for the blissful vision of his glorious beauty hereafter. That hope is patient. The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth; the Christian waits patiently for Christ. It works patience in the soul. He can endure the troubles of life who is blessed with the lively hope of the inheritance reserved in heaven. The Thessalonians showed in their lives the presence of this lively hope. All this the apostle remembered without ceasing before God in his prayers and meditations. 3. His confidence in God’s election; Himself "a vessel of election" (Acts 9:15), he felt sure that the same gracious choice had rested on the Thessalonian Christians. God had "chosen them to salvation," he tells them in the Second Epistle. St. Paul loves to dwell on the great truth of God’s election. 4. The evidence of that election. St. Paul finds it: (1) In the lives of the Thessalonians. Archbishop Leighton beautifully says, "If men can read the characters of God’s image in their own souls, these are the counterpart of the golden characters of his love in which their names are written in the book of life. He that loves God may be sure that he was first loved of God; and he that chooses God for his delight and portion may conclude confidently that God hath chosen him to be one of those that shall enjoy him and be happy in him for ever; for that our love of him is but the return and repercussion of the beams of his love shining upon us." The Thessalonians received the Word; they showed the martyr spirit; they were content to suffer as Christians for the gospel’s sake. They had joy amid tears—that holy joy which the presence of the blessed Spirit can give even in the midst of afflictions. They were learning in their own experience the meaning of that seeming contradiction, "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." They imitated the holy life of St. Paul, the holiest life of the Lord Jesus Christ. By this patient continuance in well-doing they were making their calling and election sure. (2) In the energy and success of his own preaching among them. He had brought them the gospel, the glad tidings of great joy. He had delivered his message with power, with the strength of deep conviction. The Holy Ghost was with him, teaching him what to speak, filling him with a Divine fervor and enthusiasm. His words were more than mere sounds; they were a message full of intense meaning—a message from God. The Thessalonians had felt the power of his preaching; they were his witnesses. This energy was not his own; it came from God; it proved that God was with him; it was a sure evidence that God was blessing the apostle’s work; it was given for the sake of the Thessalonians; it surely meant that God had chosen them to be his own. Learn: 1. To take delight in the spiritual progress, in the, faith, hope, love of our fellow-Christians. 2. To thank God for it. 3. To refer all that seems good in us to God’s electing grace. 4. To look for the evidence of that election in holiness of life.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 - The happy results of the conversion of the Thessalonians. I. THEY BECAME AN EXAMPLE TO OTHERS. 1. True piety tends to propagate itself. The Thessalonians had not long embraced Christianity. But they had learned much; they had given their hearts to God. The Macedonian Churches gave St. Paul, from the first, deep and unmingled satisfaction. Thessalonica was the metropolis of Macedonia, the seat of government, and of trade. It became a center of spiritual life. All believers throughout Macedonia and Achaia looked to the Thessalonians. St. Paul was now at Corinth, the chief city of Achaia. The Lord had much people in that city; but there were grave evils at Corinth, many causes for anxiety and distress. St. Paul must have told the Corinthians often of the simple faith and obedience of the Macedonians. So the Thessalonians became an example to the converts whose lot was cast among the sensual temptations anti the intellectual restlessness of the famous Peloponnesian town. The lives of good men are very precious; they are a living proof of the power of God’s grace; they arc facts which can be seen and tested; facts from which the reality of the forces which are working in the unseen sphere of God’s spiritual agency can be inferred with as much certainty as the laws of nature from the facts of observation and experiment. 2. The Word of God is living and powerful. The Thessalonians had received it; it was in their hearts and on their lips. As the starry heavens with their silent witness declare the glory of God, so it is with the stars that are in the right hand of the Son of God (Revelation 1:20); their sound goeth forth into all the earth. That heavenly melody was issuing now from Thessalonica. "It hath sounded forth," St. Paul says, like a clear, thrilling trumpet-strain. It hath sounded, and still it sounds, reaching far and wide with its penetrating tones. The conversion of the Thessalonians was known not only in the neighboring regions of Greece. The glad news had brought joy wherever the gospel had reached. It was not necessary for the apostle to praise the faith of the Thessalonians; men knew it., talked of it among themselves, reported it to the great missionary himself. II. THE THAT WAS BORNE TO THE FAITH OF THE . Christians talked: This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ .—Paul turns from the reports of others to the experience of the readers. They themselves knew that his entrance was not powerless; although maltreated in Philippi, he was emboldened to preach the gospel at Thessalonica. His preaching did not proceed either from delusion on his part or from a desire to delude others. He felt approved by God, and was actuated by no improper motives: he sought neither their praise nor their money; so far from insisting on his apostolic rights, he was gentle among them, and conducted himself with the tenderness of a nursing mother toward her children; and so far from his ministry being a pretext for covetousness, he had labored for his own support; and thus he could confidently appeal to the Thessalonians as witnesses of the blamelessness of his conduct And as his entrance among them was not powerless, so he thanked God that it resulted in their reception of the gospel; they had embraced it as the word of God, and had not shunned persecution for its sake; they had in’ this become the imitators of the Churches in Judaea. The apostle then alludes to his earnest desires to see them; twice he had attempted to come to Thessalonica, and twice he had been prevented by the machinations of Satan. They were very dear to him—the objects of his tender affections, and the source of his rejoicing before the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. 1 Thessalonians 2:1 For yourselves, brethren; in contrast to other persons. Not only do strangers report the power and efficacy of our preaching among you, but you yourselves arc experimentally acquainted with it. Know our entrance in unto you; referring, not merely to the mere preaching of the gospel to the Thessalonians, but to the entrance which the gospel found into their hearts—to its coming, not in word only, but also in power (1 Thessalonians 1:5). That it was not in vain; not empty, useless, to no purpose,—descriptive of the character of the apostolic entrance among them. Our entrance among you was not powerless, unreal; on the contrary, it was mighty, energetic, powerful. The reference is chiefly to the manner or mode in which Paul and his companions preached the gospel, though not entirely excluding the success of the gospel among the Thessalonians (comp. l Corinthians 15:14, "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain"). 1 Thessalonians 2:2 But even after we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated. As the word here rendered "suffered before" does not in itself imply that the sufferings were unjust, the apostle adds, "and were shamefully entreated." As ye know, at Philippi. We are informed, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Paul and Silas were publicly scourged and cast into prison; and scourging with rods was regarded as an ignominious punishment, and therefore was forbidden to be inflicted on Roman citizens, such as Paul and Silas were. "They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison" (Acts 16:37). We were bold in our God to speak unto you. The word here rendered "bold" denotes boldness or freedom of speech; and hence some render the clause, "We were bold of speech in our God, so as to speak unto you" (Ellicott). Perhaps, however, as the verb "to speak" follows, it is better to render the clause," We were confident in our God to speak;" or "emboldened to speak" (R.V., "we waxed bold"). This boldness or confidence was in our God, that is, on account of our fellowship or union with him. The gospel of God. The genitive of origin, denoting, not merely that God was the Object, but that he was the Author of the gospel. With much contention; or, in much conflict (R.V.), alluding to the peril and danger with which Paul preached the gospel in Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 2:3 For our exhortation. This word has a twofold signification, denoting both "exhortation" and "consolation;" when it refers to the moral conduct it denotes exhortation, but when it is an address to a sufferer it denotes consolation. In the gospel these two meanings are blended together. Was not of deceit. Not in the sense of guile, which would be tantological, but simply "error," without any direct evil intent; our gospel was not a delusion—we were not ourselves deceived. Nor of uncleanness; a word usually employed to denote sensuality, and in this sense the meaning is—We did not, like the heathen in their worship, give occasion to unclean practices: "We have corrupted no man" (2 Corinthians 7:2). The word, however, may be taken in a more general sense, as denoting impurity of disposition, impure motives: such as the impure desire of applause or of gain, to which the apostle afterwards alludes. Or of guile. As we were not ourselves deceived, so neither did we attempt to deceive others. The apostle did not adapt his religion, an. Mahomet, to suit the prejudices or passions of men; he did not employ any seductive or temporizing arts; but he boldly went in the face of the prevailing religions of the age, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 But; in contrast. As; according as. We were allowed. The old English for "approved." Of God. The word rendered "allowed" signifies tried, tested as gold is tested in the fire, and hence also the result of that trial, "approved." As we were esteemed worthy to be put in trust with the gospel; entrusted with its publication. Even so; in this condition of approval and trust. We speak, not as pleasing men, but God, that trieth. The same verb that is rendered "allowed" in the first part of the verse; hence "proverb," or "approveth." Our hearts. Not a general statement, "God who is the Discerner of the heart;" but "our hearts," namely, of us, the publishers of the gospel—Paul and Silas and Timothy; thus appealing to God, as the infallible Judge of their sincerity. 1 Thessalonians 2:5 For; confirming the statement that the preachers of the gospel did not seek to please men, but God. Neither at any time used we flattering words; endeavoring to gain you by flattery and praise; we did not pander to your feelings; we did not soften the demands of the gospel. As ye know, nor a cloak—or pretext—of covetousness. We did not use the gospel as a pretext to mask our real motive, which was covetousness, pretending to seek your spiritual good, whereas in reality we sought our own advantage. Paul could with perfect confidence appeal to his converts, and say, "I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel" (Acts 20:33). He was free from all sinister motives. "He did not use words such as flattery uses, or pretexts such as covetousness" (Jowett). God is witness. Paul appeals to the Thessalonians themselves that he had not used flattering words; so now he appeals to God that the motive of his conduct was not covetousness. Men can judge the external conduct, they can hear the flattering words; but God only can know the motive of action—he only can discern the covetousness. 1 Thessalonians 2:6 Nor of (or, from) men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome. These words admit of two meanings. The apostle may refer to his refusal to seek maintenance from the Thessalonians, and in this sense become a burden to them. But such a meaning does not suit the context; and besides: this refusal of maintenance is afterwards alluded to by the apostle. The reference here is not to maintenance, but to glory: we did not seek glory from you, when we might have been burdensome, when we might have done so. Hence the word is to be taken in the sense of honor, importance; when we might have claimed honor. As—in virtue of our character as—the apostles of Christ. Paul does not speak of himself alone, but he includes Silas and Timothy, and therefore the word "apostles" is to be taken, not in its restricted, but in its wider meaning. 1 Thessalonians 2:7 But. The apostle now describes iris conduct positively. We were gentle; a word used of the amiable conduct of a superior toward an inferior, as of a master toward a servant, a prince toward his subjects, or a father toward his children. "The servant of God must not strive, but be gentle toward all men" (2 Timothy 2:24). Some manuscripts read, "We were babes among you"—the difference being only the addition of another letter. Among you; in our intercourse with you. Even as a nurse; or rather, a nursing mother, for the children arc her own. Cherisheth; the word employed for birds warming and cherishing their young. Her children. A stronger expression of tenderness and love could hardly be made. Even as a nursing mother dedicates her life for her infant; so, says Paul, we are willing to dedicate ourselves for you. Some important manuscripts read the verse thus: "But we were babes among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children;" but this arises from an obvious error of the transcriber. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 So being affectionately desirous of you; a strong expression in the original: "being filled with earnest love for you." We were willing. The word denotes a predetermination of the will: "we esteemed it good." To have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls. An evident climax: not only were we willing to preach the gospel of God to you, but more than this, to sacrifice our own lives for your advantage. The word here rendered "souls" denotes lives; and the meaning is that the apostle was willing to submit to death for the sake of the Thessalonians. The plural "we" still implies Paul and Silas and Timothy. The thought is—As a nursing mother not only nourishes tier children, but is also ready to sacrifice her life for them; so the apostle not only nourished his spiritual children with the pure milk of the gospel, but was ready to sacrifice his own life for their spiritual maintenance; thus expressing in the strongest manner the womanly tenderness of the apostle toward his converts. Because ye were dear unto us. 1 Thessalonians 2:9 For; a proof or confirmation of this dearness of the Thessalonians to the apostle. Ye remember, brethren; recalling to their recollection his conduct when he was with them. Our labor and travail. These two terms frequently occur together (2 Corinthians 11:27; 2 Thessalonians 3:8), and can hardly be distinguished; "labor," or" toil," is active, denoting exertion; "travail" is passive, denoting weariness or fatigue, the effect of the exertion. For laboring; in its strict meaning chiefly used of manual labor. Paul here refers to his working for his own support as a tent-maker. Night and day. Night precedes according to the Jewish mode of reckoning. It does not denote that the apostle made up by labor at night the loss of time during the day which his higher duties, as a preacher of the gospel, occasioned; that he wrought at his trade at night, and preached during the (lay; but the phrase, "night and day," denotes incessantly, continually. Because we would not be chargeable to any of you. Not a proof of the poverty of the Church of Thessalonica; but the reason of this unselfish conduct of the apostle was that no hindrance should arise on his part to the spread of the gospel; that no imputation of selfishness or covetousness should be laid to his charge. As he had done at Thessalonica so the apostle acted in other places. Thus at the time he was writing this Epistle he was working for his support at Corinth (1 Corinthians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 11:9). And such was also his practice at Ephesus; for in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders he could appeal to them: "Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me" (Acts 20:34). We preached unto you the gospel of God. Thus freely, without charge. 1 Thessalonians 2:10 Ye are witnesses, and God also; ye of the outward conduct, and God of the motives which actuated us. How holily and justly and unblamably; "holily" denoting the apostle’s conduct to God, "justly" his conduct to man, and "unblamably" the negative side of both particulars. We behaved ourselves among you that believe. The apostle here refers to his own personal demeanor and to that of Silas and Timothy among them, in order that the Thessalonians might realize the purity of their conduct, and so might continue steadfast in their attachment to the gospel which they taught, He men-lions specially "them that believe," not that He acted otherwise among those that did not believe, but because believers were cognizant of his conduct. 1 Thessalonians 2:11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children. The translation of this verse is somewhat faulty; it ought to be, as in the R.V., as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying. Paul here changes the image from that of a nursing mother to that of a father; because then he was speaking of his tender care for his converts, whereas here he speaks of the instructions and admonitions which he gave them; as a mother he nourished their spiritual life, and as a father he superintended their spiritual education. "Exhorting and comforting and charging;" representing three modes of the apostle’s instructions: "exhorting" denotes also encouraging and consoling; "comforting" denotes supporting and sustaining ("Comfort the feeble minded," 1 Thessalonians 5:14); and "charging" denotes testifying or protesting—a solemn pressing home of the exhortation to the hearers. 1 Thessalonians 2:12 That (or, to the end that) ye would walk worthy of God; so as to adorn the gospel of God. So in the Epistle to the Colossians: "That ye would walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing" (Colossians 1:10). Who hath called you; or, as the best attested manuscripts read, who calleth you. To his kingdom and glory. Not to be weakened as if it were a Hebraism for "his glorious kingdom," or "the kingdom of his glory;" but the kingdom and glory are to be viewed as two different objects. "God called you to Ms kingdom," namely, the Messianic kingdom which he has established on earth; and which will be completely realized at the advent. And "God called you to his glory," namely, the glory which is in reserve for all the members of his kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause. Not because God has called you to his kingdom and glory, but, referring to what follows, because of your reception of’ the gospel. We thank God. Although the reception of the gospel was in one sense the free and voluntary act on the part of the Thessalonians; yet in another sense it was the act of God who ordained them to accept the gospel; their belief was an operation of God in them. Without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us; literally, because when ye receive, d from us the Word of hearing, which is of God. The gospel is called "the Word of hearing," because it came by hearing; hence "the Word heard," or "the Word of the message" (R.V.). It is further designated "of God"—the Word whose Author is God. Ye received it not as the word of men—as if it were of human origin—but as it is in truth, the Word of God—of Divine origin—which effectually worketh. The pronoun may refer to God, "who effectually worketh," or better to the Word of God, as the principal subject of the sentence. Also in you that believe. The gospel was powerful as respects the preachers, and effectual as respects the hearers. 1 Thessalonians 2:14 For ye, brethren, became followers; or rather, imitators, namely, in the endurance of suffering for the sake of the gospel, not in intention only, but in reality. Of the Churches Of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus. These Churches arc mentioned as being at this early period the most prominent. The special mention of persecution by the Jews has its origin in the fact that it was by the unbelieving Jews that Paul was persecuted at Thessalonica. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen. One of the proofs that the Church of Thessalonica was Gentile in its origin; as these countrymen were evidently Gentiles, being here distinguished from the Jews. From this it would seem that, after Paul and his companions had left Thessalonica, the persecution which arose against the Christians continued, and the Gentiles combined with the Jews in opposing the gospel. Even as they—the Churches of God in Judaea—have of the Jews. We learn from the Acts of the Apostles that the Jewish Christians in Judaea were exposed to severe persecution from their unbelieving countrymen: Stephen was put to death, and Paul himself, in his unconverted state, was a chief among the persecutors. 1 Thessalonians 2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus; emphatic, to point out the greatness of their wickedness. And their own prophets; or, as some manuscripts read, and the prophets. This crime was often laid to the charge of the Jews: thus, by our Lord, "Ye are witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets" (Matthew 23:31); and by the protomartyr Stephen, "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" (Acts 7:25.) And have persecuted us; literally, driven us out, as Paul and Silos were expelled from Thessalonica. And they please not God, but are contrary to all men. The hatred and contempt which the Jews bore to other nations is noticed by Tacitus, Juvenal, and other heathen writers. Thus Tacitus writes of them: "They are faithful to obstinacy, and merciful toward themselves, but toward all others are actuated by the most irreconcilable hatred (odium humani generis)." And Juvenal says, "They will not show the road to one who was not of their religion, nor lead the thirsty person if uncircumcised to the common spring." Perhaps, however, the apostle refers here, not to the enmity of the Jews to the human race in general, though perfectly cognizant of their bigotry and intolerance; as this enmity was a perversion of their peculiar distinction as he people of God; but rather to their opposition to his preaching the gospel to the Gentiles—to their extreme reluctance that the Gentiles along with themselves should be admitted into the kingdom of God. 1 Thessalonians 2:16 Forbidding us—by contradicting, blaspheming, slandering, laying snares—to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. Not that the Jews were averse to the proselytism of the Gentiles, provided they were circumcised -rod kept the Law of Moses; on the contrary, Judaism at this period was a proselytizing religion; but their great objection to the preaching of the gospel was that the preachers did not insist on the Gentiles becoming Jews before they became Christians. And, accordingly, we learn from the Acts of the Apostles that the unbelieving Jews were the most violent and implacable enemies of the gospel. Of the numerous persecutions mentioned in the Acts, there were only two, namely, those at Philippi and Ephesus, which were not occasioned by the Jews. To fill up their sins always; so that the measure of their iniquity became full to overflowing. Their forbidding the apostles to preach to the Gentiles was the last drop which caused the cup of their iniquity to overflow (cutup. Genesis 15:16, "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full"). The remark of Professor Jowett is well worthy of notice: "In the beginning of sin and evil it seems as if men were free agents, and had the power of going on or of retreating. But as the crisis of their fate approaches, they are bound under a curse and the form in which their destiny presents itself to our minds is as though it were certain, ’rod only a question of time how soon it is to be fulfilled." For the wrath; that wrath which was predicted and is merited by them. "Wrath" is here used for punishment, which is the effect of wrath. Is come upon them to the uttermost; literally, to the end. The apostle here refers to the judgments of God, which were impending on Jerusalem and the Jewish people; judgments which were fearfully executed in the awful sufferings they endured in the Jewish war, and in the destruction of their city by the Romans. 1 Thessalonians 2:17 Here a new chapter ought to have commenced, passing on to another subject, the apostle’s desire to visit the Thessalonians. But we, brethren, being taken from you; literally, being bereaved of you (R.V.). For a short time; literally, for the space of an hour. And yet it was several years before the apostle revisited Thessalonica; but he here speaks of the short period—a space of six months—which had already separated them; not, as some suppose, that his mind was so full of the ideas of eternity that he overlooked all divisions of time. In presence, not in heart. Similar expressions are common in Paul’s Epistles, denoting his love for his converts; thus: "Though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit" (Colossians 2:5). Endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire; because our separation has been so short. As has been well observed, "Universal experience testifies that the pain of separation from friends and the desire to return to them are more vivid, the more freshly the remembrance of the departure is on the mind" (Lunemann). 1 Thessalonians 2:18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul. Paul distinguishes himself, because in all probability his companions, Silas and Timothy, had been at Thessalonica after he had left it. Once and again. Not used indefinitely, but referring to two separate attempts which Paul made to revisit the Thessalonians. But Satan hindered us; denoting, not the enemies of Christianity, but the devil, the author of all the hindrances in the kingdom of God. Paul here recognizes the personality of Satan, as the author of all evil, the great opponent of God and Christ. We are not informed by what instrumentality this hindrance of Satan took place. It may refer to the various persecutions against Paul, which prevented him returning to Thessalonica, and especially to that persecution raised against him in Beraea by the Jews of Thessalonica (Acts 17:13). In one sense, indeed, the hindrances arose in the way of God’s providence, for under its direction all the journeys of Paul were placed, and Satan could not have hindered him from preaching the gospel in any quarter, unless by the Divine permission (comp. Acts 16:7; Romans 1:13). 1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? or, glorying. The apostle calls the Thessalonians his "hope," not because he anticipates any reward from their conversion, or because their conversion would counterbalance his former persecution of the Christians, but because he hoped to meet them in glory; he calls them his "joy," because he would rejoice with them in their final salvation; and he calls them his "crown of rejoicing," because he regards them as trophies of the victory of the gospel which he preached. Similarly he calls the Philippians "his joy and crown" (Philippians 4:1). Are not even ye; or rather, are not ye also?—ye as well as other Christians? In the presence of—before—our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming; at the restoration of his Messianic kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 2:20 For ye are our glory and joy. Some refer this verse to the present, and the former verse to the future; not merely at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but even now ye are our glory and joy. But there is no reason for this distinction; the words are merely confirmatory, and added from the fullness of the apostle’s emotions. 1 Thessalonians 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 2:6 - Motives of action, Man judges us by our outward conduct; God by our internal disposition. The apostle appeals to God as a witness of the purity of his motives. He asserts that he was free from all desire of personal fame or interest. Can we make the same appeal and the same assertion? 1. Are we influenced by unworthy motives? Is covetousness, the desire of fame, or the love of power, the mainspring of our life? 2. Or are we influenced by worthy motives? Do we seek to please, not man, but God? Is the glory of God in Christ Jesus the chief end of our life and actions? 1 Thessalonians 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 2:11, 1 Thessalonians 2:19 - The true pastorate. 1. Its qualities. Paul compares himself to a nursing mother and a father. A minister should resemble the one in his tenderness and loving sympathy, and the other in his wisdom and firmness. 2. Its mode: exhorting, comforting, and. charging. 3. Its reward: (1) conversion of the hearers; (2) a joyful meeting with them at the coming of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 2:12 - Our high and holy calling. We ought to walk worthy of God, so as: 1. To obey God’s laws. 2. To imitate God’s moral perfections. 3. To enjoy God’s fellowship. 4. To adorn God’s gospel. 5. To promote God’s cause. 6. To live to God’s glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 - The gospel a Divine revelation. 1. Negatively. The gospel is not the word of man; not the result of man’s wisdom; does not spring from a development of human thought; its doctrines are not within the sphere of the human intellect. 2. Positively. The gospel is the Word of God. This seen from its origin, its contents, and its efficacy. 1 Thessalonians 2:16 - Beware of opposing the gospel. The Jews did so. They endeavored to prevent the apostle preaching to the Gentiles, and wrath came upon them to the uttermost; and so will all opposition made to the gospel terminate (Psalms 2:6, Psalms 2:9). If we ourselves will not embrace the gospel, let us beware of throwing obstacles in the way of those who would. Especially let parents beware how they act toward their children when under religious impressions. 1 Thessalonians 2:18 - The opposition of Satan to the gospel. "Satan hindered us." I. THE OF SATAN. Christ and Satan, the heads of two opposite empires—the one the kingdom of light, and the other the kingdom of darkness; the one the source of all that is good, and the other the source of all that is evil. II. THE AGENCY OF SATAN. He hindereth the spread of the gospel. He worketh in the children of disobedience. Mode of his operation; the instruments which he employs. III. THE FINAL VICTORY OF CHRIST OVER SATAN. Though Satan hindereth the gospel, yet it is only for a season. "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly" (Romans 16:20). BY T. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4 - Effectiveness of the gospel. Entrance into Thessalonica. It was not necessary, however, to depend upon foreign testimony for the facts of the case, for the Thessalonians themselves were the best witnesses. "For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain," but an effective living reality, a great and gracious success. The proof of the fact is contained in two circumstances. I. THE OF THE THREE , "But even after that we bad suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much conflict." The insulting treatment the apostle had received at Philippi had not the effect of scaring him away, or of leading him to withdraw into Asia, leaving Europe to its fate. Such treatment would have deterred men of a different stamp. His boldness was not mere stoical courage, but based on faith, for he was "bold in our God," and was equal to present perils as well as to past persecutions; for he spoke the gospel of God "in much conflict," caused, as we know, by the league of violence which the Jews of Thessaionica formed with "lewd fellows of the baser sort" against the gospel. II. THE SPIRIT AND METHOD OF THEIR . "For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile." The matter is exhibited first negatively, and then positively. 1. Negatively. His persuasive exhibition of the truth was not (1) "of deceit." He was not deceived himself—be had not "followed cunningly devised fables"—neither did he design to deceive others, for he preached the truth as it is in Jesus. Therefore there was all the greater force and fervent and directness in his teaching. (2) "Nor of uncleanness." There were no impure or sinister ends in his teaching, implying love of gain; nor any disposition to tolerate those subtle forms of temptation which sometimes manifest themselves even under the guise of piety. (3) "Nor in guile," for he was straightforward and sincere in his methods, with "no cunning craftiness," no maneuvers, no strategy; for they had" renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully" (2 Corinthians 4:2). 2. Positively. The method of his preaching met with the Divine approval. "But as we were approved of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth our hearts." (1) The gospel is a solemn trust, a rich treasure. There are many human trusts which men would rather shirk, but the apostle is not unwilling to accept this trust for the good of the world. (2) He claims no independent worthiness for so sacred a trust. God gave him any worthiness or sufficiency he possessed. "Our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament" (2 Corinthians 3:5, 2 Corinthians 3:6). (3) He discharged his trust (a) with a perfect disregard for men’s opinions about him (1 Corinthians 4:3); (b) and with no desire to catch the favor of men. "Not as pleasing men; "for" as of sincerity, as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:17). Not sacrificing truth [o the fancies or prejudices of men in order to secure their favor. If "he pleased men, he should not be the servant of God" (Galatians 1:10). (4) He had supreme and final regard to the all-seeing God, "who trieth the hearts," who knows the springs of all actions, discovers all artifices, and brings all hidden things to light, lien look on the outward appearance. God "spares all beings but himself that awful sight—a naked human heart." He "seeth not as man seeth." It is vain, therefore, to appear other than we are.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:5-8 - The spirit and method of apostolic labor. The apostle sets it forth under two aspects. I. . "For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness; nor seeking glory of men." 1. The apostle and his colleagues did not attempt to win their way by flattery, either by setting forth high views of human nature, or by holding men’s persons in admiration for the sake of advantage; for their gospel tended rather to humble man and subdue his pride. Flattery is a gross dishonor both to God and man, for it implies untruthfulness, and may become fatal in its results to easily deluded sinners. The apostle appealed to the Thessalonians in confirmation of his statement. 2. They did not use their position as a cloak of covetousness, as God could testify, who knows the heart. The apostle might say now, as he afterwards said to the elders of Ephesus, "I coveted no man’s silver, nor gold, nor apparel." The false teachers were chargeable with covetousness, for "through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you" (2 Peter 2:1, 2 Peter 2:3). How emphatically the apostle insists upon ministers of the gospel being free from this vice! "Not greed, of filthy lucre." 3. They were not fond of vain-glory. "Nor seeking glory of men, neither from you, nor from others, when we might have been burdensome as apostles of Christ," or might have stood on their dignity as apostles of Christ. There is no allusion here to his claim to ministerial support, but rather to the position of magisterial dignity he might have assumed, with all its pomp and peremptoriness and sternness. His spirit at Thessalonica was not that of lordship over God’s heritage. II. . "But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children." 1. They were gentle in their intercourse with their converts; unassuming and mild, with no haughty or imperious airs, challenging honor and homage. They acted in the very spirit of the good Shepherd. Long afterwards the apostle could remind one of his present colleagues that "the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves" (2 Timothy 2:24-26). This gentleness, which is at once a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and a characteristic of the "wisdom from above" (James 3:17), becomes all the more impressive when it is linked with the highest strength of character. 2. They were most affectionate in their intercourse with their converts. "Even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us." (1) Their yearning love was manifest: (a) In their imparting the gospel to them. As their spiritual parents they travailed in birth till Christ was formed in them, and then they fed them thereafter with the sincere milk of the Word. (b) In their readiness to risk their lives for the sake of their children in the faith. They verily carried their lives in their hands. (2) This apostolic solicitude on their behalf sprung out of their deep love for the Thessalonians, as being at once the trophies of their ministry, and as being pre-eminently docile in their attitude toward the gospel and its preachers. There is hardly any stronger tie in this world than that which links together a spiritual father and his converts.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:9 - A retrospect of his disinterested and self-sacrificing labors. He next recalls the circumstances of his ardent and laborious ministry amongst them. "For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God." I. THE OF THE APOSTLE WAS ALWAYS . He could say to the Corinthians that "he had approved himself as the minister of God in labors;" that "in labors he was more abundant" (2 Corinthians 6:4, 2 Corinthians 6:5; 2 Corinthians 11:23); exhausting his strength daily in his eager anxiety to reach the people with the gospel of God. If ever man went to the edge of his possibility, it was the Apostle Paul. The labor might be exhausting in itself, or on account of the obstacles thrown in his way, but it became the habit of his daily life. II. IT WAS DOUBLY AT ON ACCOUNT OF THE HE IMPOSED UPON HIMSELF OF WORKING FOR HIS LIVING. Occupied in preaching or teaching through the day, he devoted his nights to his craft as a tent-maker. 1. The necessity in question was not imposed by either the Mosaic or the Christian Law. He showed to the Corinthians that alike natural justice, the Mosaic ordinance, and positive law, as announced by our Lord himself, required them to support the ministers of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:1-27.). "They who preach the gospel shall also live of the gospel." 2. It was a necessity based upon a high Christian expediency. At Corinth he thought good "not to use his power in the gospel," and therefore preached the gospel there "without charge." The malignity of Jewish enemies led him to avoid even the appearance of covetousness, or of attempting to "make a gain" of the Corinthians. We do not know under what circumstances he was led to pursue a similar course at Thessalonica. It may have been from similar accusations, or from a tendency he had observed among certain saints in the city to forswear work and go about as "busybodies." But his policy was exceptional, and affords no rule in modern times unless the circumstances should again become exceptional. 3. It was a necessity cheerfully accepted for the good of the Thessalonians. He had but two means of support in the city. (1) He was not supported by super natural means, like Elijah in the desert. (2) He was occasionally helped by the thoughtful kindness of the Philippians. "I robbed other Churches," he tells the Corinthians, "taking wages of them to do you service." He tells the Philippians, "For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again to my necessities" (Philippians 4:15-17). (3) He had to supplement these occasional-gifts by "working with his own hands." Every Jew had to learn a trade. The apostle thus dignifies common industry.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 - Appeal alike to man and to God respecting his personal and his official work at Thessalonica. This double appeal attests his profound sincerity. I. HIS . "Ye are witnesses, and God, how holily, and justly, and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe." He touches on the twofold relationship of the Christian life toward God and toward man, for he had always exercised himself" to have a conscience void of offence toward man and God," and strove "to give no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed" (Acts 26:16; 2 Corinthians 6:3). He had striven to walk circumspectly in a world prone to suspect sinister ends even in the best of men. The apostle’s walk was on high, even as his calling was high. II. HIS . It was manifest in his method of dealing with his converts, and in the end which he kept steadily in view in all his ministry. 1. His method of dealing with his converts. "As ye know how we exhorted and comforted, and testified to each one of you as a father doth his children." (1) Mark the varieties in his mode of dealing with his converts. (a) He exhorted them, for their position of persecution and temptation demanded that he "should give them much exhortation (Acts 20:2). (b) He comforted them, m the presence of many disquieting circumstances in their condition. (c) He testified to them, exhibiting gospel truth with all urgency. (2) Mark the affectionate spirit of his dealing with them: "As a father doth his children;" for he combined a father’s unwearying love with his power of direction and authority. (3) Mark the individualizing interest in their welfare: "Each one of you." Whether they were rich or poor, few or many, he passed by none of them. They all had a place in his heart. 2. The aim of all his affectionate and individualizing interest in their welfare. "That you would walk worthy of God, who calleth you into his kingdom and glory." The duty here enjoined, "Walk worthy of God." This implies (1) conformity to his revealed will; (2) adornment of the gospel by a holy walk; (3) supreme regard to the obligations involved in the high calling of God—these being necessitated by (a) the nature of the call, which is not external, but spiritual; (b) by the consideration of him who calls us; (c) by the holy ends of the call; (d) by the consideration of their high destiny: for they are called to "his own kingdom and glory." This kingdom is that which is established in the mediation of Christ, into which we enter by the gate of regeneration, and which reaches its full and final development in the second coming of Christ. The glory is that which he impresses upon his people here, and which receives its full manifestation hereafter.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 - The Thessalonian reception of the truth. The apostle had spoken of his own part in the work of grace; he now speaks of the manner in which his converts accepted the truth. "Ye are my witnesses; now I am yours." His immediate ground of thankfulness was that they had received, not man’s word, but God’s, and that the Word was so thoroughly efficacious. "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received not the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God." I. THEY THE BETWEEN THE WORD OF MEN AND THE WORD OF GOD. 1. They first heard it no doubt with interest and docility of spirit. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Word was not read but heard in the preaching of the apostles; it was no discovery of their own mind. 2. They received it as an external fact made known to them by man. 3. They welcomed it with the inner acceptance of faith. It was "mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). It was "the joy and the rejoicing of their heart" (Jeremiah 15:16). 4. Their glad acceptance of it was conditioned upon its Divine origin. It was not man’s word, representing a new speculation in philosophy or ethics; it was "the Word of God" (Romans 10:14). It was therefore (1) an infallible Word; (2) bearing the impress of Divine authority; (3) and therefore to be received with reverence and love. II. THEY THE POWER OF THE TRUTH IN THEIR LIVES. "Which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1. This effectual operation is conditioned upon their faith. "The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). The gospel is only to the believer "the power of God to salvation" (Romans 1:16). 2. Its power was manifest in quickening, enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting under all afflictions and persecutions.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 - The evidence of the effectual working of the Divine Word. They were able to imitate the patience and constancy of the Judaean Churches under great persecutions. These Churches were referred to probably because they were the oldest Churches, and the most severely persecuted. I. IT IS A HIGH HONOR AS WELL AS FOR TO BE AS OF TO OTHER . "For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus." We are first to be imitators of Christ, then of all who follow in his steps, who keep on "looking to Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2). There were many Churches in Judaea, for Christianity was founded by Jews; its first converts were Jews; its first martyrs were Jews; and the Churches among them rejoiced in the fellowship of Christ, as the Source of their life and comfort. II. THE PATH OF THE WAS ONE OF SEVERE TRIAL AND . "For ye also have suffered like things from your own countrymen, even as they from the Jews." 1. They had received the Word "in much affliction." (1 Thessalonians 1:6.) The first outbreak of violence against them occurred after their conversion (Acts 17:5). They belonged to one of those Churches of Macedonia of which the apostle long afterwards wrote to the Corinthians as "enduring a great trial of affliction." It came from their heathen countrymen. 2. Their trials attested the genuineness of their conversion. The heathen would have had no quarrel with a dead faith. The Thessalonians did not "sleep as did others." They discovered by sharp experience that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). 3. Their trials involved the precious experience of a "fellowship in Christ’s sufferings." (Philippians 3:10.) 4. Their trials manifested at once the strength of their faith and their Christian constancy. III. IT WAS SOME COMFORT TO THE TO KNOW THAT THEY WERE NOT THE ONLY FROM THE FURY OF . "Even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and drave us out." This terrible invective against the Jews illustrates the saying that the apostle often "goes off at a word." It recalls the language of Stephen before his murderers (Acts 7:52). The malignity of the Jews against their believing countrymen was extreme. 1. The Jews were murderers of Jesus and the prophets. Though the Savior was executed by the Romans, the responsibility of the terrible deed rests on the Jews, who "fur envy" delivered him up, and "killed the Prince of life." They likewise killed their own prophets, whose very sepulchers they afterwards built and garnished. What wonder, then, that the Thessalonian converts should escape! 2. The Jews, though zealous for God, did not please him. "They pleased not God," but rather provoked him to anger by their unbelief and their wickedness. 3. They were at cross-purposes with all mankind. They were "contrary to all men." They were anti-social, exclusive, and bitter, so that the heathen Tacitus could describe them as "holding an attitude of hostility and hatred to the human race." But it was specially manifest in their resistance to the calling of the Gentiles—"forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. The Acts of the Apostles supply abundant evidence of this fact. 4. The end to which all this wickedness toward God and man was tending. "To fill up their sins at all times." (1) God often allows nations to complete the sum of their wickedness before bringing upon them final retribution. "The iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full" (Genesis 15:16). (2) The judgment upon the Jews was at hand—"but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." "There is now nothing between it and them." The destruction of Jerusalem was still future, but "the days of vengeance were already come." The fire was already burning, which would never be quenched till the vengeance was complete. The apostle seems to regard the moment of the rejection of the Messiah as marking the outpouring of the Divine wrath. The history of the Jews from that moment is a significant commentary on the passage.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:17, 1 Thessalonians 2:18 - The apostle’s anxiety to visit the Thessalonians. His departure had been very sudden, but he had never ceased to regret his separation from them. I. HIS GRIEF AT THE OF WITH THEM. "But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season in presence, not in heart." The term is expressive of the orphan-feeling felt by children deprived of their parents, or of parents bereaved of their children. He seems to say like Jacob, "If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." 1. His grief was a proof of his deep affection for them. Grace intensifies all right human affections. 2. Absence, instead of weakening, rather strengthened his desire to see them again face to face. Neither time nor distance could diminish his interest in them. II. THE WAS BY SEVERAL TO REVISIT THEM. "We endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire." The difficulties were great, but he tried once and again to get back to Thessalonica, probably in the period when Silas and Timothy were temporarily gone from him. III. THE TO HIS RETURN. "But Satan hindered us." 1. The apostle believed in the existence of a personal evil spirit as well as in his steadfast resistance to the kingdom of God in all its interests. He was "not ignorant of Satan’s devices." 2. The obstacles may have arisen through Satan inciting evil men to raise conflicts and tribulations round the apostle, so as to allow of no leisure for the projected visit. IV. THE GROUND OF HIS ANXIETY TO REVISIT THEM. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye before our Lord Jesus at his coming?" He did not desire to have his labor in vain. 1. They were closely identified with his own future honor and happiness, by the hope that they would not be "ashamed at Christ’s coming," but would be "his joy and crown of rejoicing." He would then "rejoice in the day of Christ that he had not run in vain, neither labored in vain" (Philippians 2:15, Philippians 2:16). Therefore he longed to be near to them that "he might impart to them some spiritual gift," and watch over the walk of his spiritual children. 2. It’s wish implies (1) that there will be degrees of glory in heaven according to the measures of a minister’s usefulness; (2) that he will be able to identify his converts in heaven.—T.C. BY B.C. CAFFIN 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 - The characteristics of St. Paul’s preaching at Thessalonica. I. APPEAL TO THE OF THE . 1. His first appearance among them had not been in vain. Others had borne witness to its results. That testimony was true; the Thessalonians knew it themselves. The apostle appeals to them in all the confidence of Christian simplicity. Perfectly sincere and single-hearted himself, he knew that as a body they had appreciated the purity of his motives. They could bear testimony (he knew that they would gladly do so) that his preaching from the beginning had not been empty talk, but full of energy and life and fire. It is a blessed thing, this mutual confidence between a pastor and his flock. 2. His previous sufferings had not abated his zeal He had been cruelly treated at Philippi; he bore the marks of the lictors’ rods when he entered Thessalonica. It did not damp his ardor. His Lord had endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before him. For the same joy, the great joy of saving souls, St. Paul was content to suffer, and, if need be, to die. Troubles soon came upon him in Thessalonica. He preached amid much conflict, but he was full of courage. 3. His courage was of God. We were bold in our God. It was he who gave them boldness, he who taught them what to speak; they felt that it was not they, but the Spirit of God who spoke in them. They abode in him, in his encompassing, irradiating presence, within the sphere of his gracious influence; hence came their utterance, their boldness of speech. 4. For their gospel (our gospel, he calls it in 1 Thessalonians 1:5) was the gospel of God. They were the messengers, but he had given the message. It was his glad tidings; it came from him, and it brought tidings of him, of his will, of his justice, of his love; it told men of a Creator, a Savior, a Sanctifier. It was a high mission to preach that blessed gospel; the sense of its unspeakable preciousness inspired their burning words. II. WHAT THEIR WAS NOT. The Jews had tried to poison the minds of the Thessalonians against the apostle; they imputed low, earthly motives to him. St. Paul repudiates their insinuations. 1. There was no mixture of selfish motive. Their preaching was not of error or of deceit. They were not deceived themselves, they did not deceive others. They did not belong to the crowd of wandering impostors like Simon Magus, or Elymas the sorcerer. They knew certainly the truth of their mission. St. Paul had seen the Lord; what he delivered to the Thessalonians he had first received of the Lord. He knew this from the sure evidence of experience. His own truthfulness was manifest; the mighty change that had come over his life, the greatness of his sacrifices proved it. There was no uncleanness (as, perhaps, some of his enemies maliciously suggested), no impurity of any kind, attaching to his exhortation or his conduct. None who knew him could charge him with such things. But a life of self-sacrifice for the sake of souls was unexampled. He was the first missionary who had traversed Asia Minor, and now came to Europe for that lofty purpose. The mass of men, whether Jews or heathens, could not understand his noble character; it was high above them. They judged him by themselves. They were incapable of such self-denial for the sake of others; they could not believe in it; they had- no faith in love, in purity, in high religious motive. Such a life, too, if real, if genuine, was a rebuke to them. It angered them. They could not bear to think of its contrast with their own life; it was like light and darkness. And so they believed, or forced themselves to believe, that it was not genuine. A true life like St. Paul’s seemed to them above human nature—impossible, inexplicable. And they said that it was not true; they attributed his actions to vulgar motives, to low selfish designs. 2. There was no covetousness. His life was not one of pretences, fair words serving to conceal the covetousness which (so said his enemies) was his real motive. But his treasure was in heaven. He had suffered the loss of all things for Christ. He had in him a hidden treasure, a pearl of great price, for which he was content to count all else as loss. He could not covet earthly gold who had the true riches. But he had to endure this among other slanders. It was said of him at Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:17; 2 Corinthians 7:2). He was obliged to take with him delegates of the Churches to assist him in the administration of alms, that he might avoid blame (2 Corinthians 8:20, 2 Corinthians 8:21). What a sad proof of the meanness of human nature that such a motive should be attributed to such a man! 3. There was no desire of glory. They did not seek to please men, but God. They knew that God tried the hearts, and, knowing that, they sought only to approve their inner and outer life to him. We labor, said St. Paul (2 Corinthians 5:9), it is our ambition to be well pleasing unto him. God had proved them; he had entrusted them with the gospel. It was a high privilege. St. Paul counted it so; he magnified his office. He sought for nothing else. The great work of winning souls was, he well knew, of all works the highest and the noblest. God was proving their hearts now. He, the Searcher of hearts, knew their work through and through. He knew the inner Ere of thought and motive, as well as the outer life of word and action. They fully recognized this great truth. They knew that their motives were pure and unselfish. God knew it too. It was all they wanted. They sought not praise of men. They had no pleasure in flattery; they did not flatter others. That the Thessalonians knew. God knew the purity of their motives. "God is witness," they could say. How blessed that life must be which could thus appeal to his all-seeing eye! They were apostles of Christ; St. Paul in the highest sense, Silvanus and Timotheus in the more extended meaning of the word. St. Paul may, indeed, be using the plural number of himself only; more probably in this place he includes his companions. They might have claimed honor for themselves; they might have made men feel the weight of their apostolic dignity. But they sought not glory from men. They had overcome that temptation which is so strong in most men, the "last infirmity of noble minds," the desire of earthly glory. III. WHAT THEIR WAS. 1. They were gentle. There is very strong manuscript evidence for nh&pioi, babes. If that is the true reading, St. Paul means that their character was one of childlike simplicity, free from selfish motives; they were babes in malice, but men in understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20). But "gentle" suits the context better. "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men." St. Paul adduces the most touching type of human tenderness—the nursing mother cherishing her own children, warming them in her bosom. Such had been his gentleness among his children after the faith. He had sought to win them by gentle words. He had told them of the gentleness of Christ. He had set before them the attractive picture of the Savior’s tender love. Gentleness wins more hearts than sternness. The apostle knew the terrors of the Lord. He could remind his converts of the awful things beyond the grave. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." But he knew that love is a more powerful motive than fear. "Perfect love casteth out fear." The cross of Jesus Christ draweth all men to the Savior, because it is the manifestation of that love that passeth knowledge—the love of Jesus Christ. 2. They u, ere actuated by the strong love of souls. The Thessalonians had become very dear to them. They had not known them long, but they recognized them as sheep of that little flock which the Lord Jesus bids those who love him to feed for his love’s sake. Thus loving them, they were affectionately desirous of their salvation. They were ready to give them not only the blessed gospel, but their own selves, their own lives, in humble imitation of the good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. They had exposed themselves to the greatest dangers for the work’s sake; for that work they were ready, if need be, to die. The love of souls is the essential requisite for real success in the sacred work of the ministry. Other qualifications may win the praise of men; but the true work of winning souls can be wrought only by those who have learned from the blessed Savior something of that holy love which burned in the sacred heart of Jesus. 3. They were absolutely disinterested. They would not be burdensome to their new converts. The Philippian Church had twice sent help to the apostle during his residence at Thessalonica (Philippians 4:16). That help he had accepted; it was unasked, freely given. He welcomed it for the sake of the givers, as an evidence of their love. But the gifts, though very precious as a proof of Christian charity, were probably small in themselves; the Philippian Church was very poor. It seems also to have been a season of scarcity; times were bad. The missionaries had to labor for their livelihood. St. Paul’s craft, weaving tent-cloth of goats’ hair, was hard, wearisome, ill-paid work. He had to labor night and day. Yet he achieved those great results. He had but the sabbath to himself. Three sabbath days he spent in reasoning with the Jews, and preaching Jesus in the synagogue at Thessalonica; other days he had to work, to work hard and long, for his daily bread. The Greeks despised manual labor; they called it vulgar; they left such work to slaves. The apostle teaches by his own example the dignity of honest labor, the dignity of true Christian independence. Probably the Thessalonians could have helped him. "Not a few of the chief’ women" had become Christians. They must, one thinks, have been willing. St. Paul must have had reasons for declining their aid, as he afterwards declined the aid of the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:9, 2 Corinthians 11:10). How these thoughts increase our admiration of the great apostle! Amid all these difficulties, all these cares, all this engrossing labor, he preached with power, with perseverance, with success such as only an ardent love of souls, only the presence of God the Holy Ghost, could give. 4. They set a high example. The Thessalonians saw their outward life; God could read the secrets of their hearts. That life was pure and holy towards God, just and righteous in its relations to men. The Christians of Thessalonica knew that they were blameless. Others might, perhaps, be busy with their insinuations; unbelievers might suggest this or that unworthy motive. The Christians had learned to know St. Paul and his companions. They knew the sincerity, the purity of their lives. Nay, St. Paul could fearlessly appeal to a higher Witness—to the all-seeing God. Example is a mighty aid in preaching the gospel. Deeds are more persuasive than words. A holy life is an evidence of the reality of those spiritual facts which the preacher describes in words. 5. They taught their converts individually. They were not contented with preaching in the synagogues every sabbath day; they taught from house to house. The converts were many, we read in the Acts of the Apostles. Chrysostom wonders at their zeal in omitting no one in so great a multitude. They sought out each, caring for each separate soul, sharing the angels’ joy over one sinner that repenteth. They tried all means of winning souls. They exhorted, stirring the souls of men with burning words, suggesting nobler views of human life and destiny; they comforted, encouraging the afflicted, the despondent, the penitent, by the glad tidings of pardon, peace, and hope; they testified, urging their converts by every constraining motive to persevere in the Christian life. And all this they did with such earnestness, with such affectionate interest, with such love as a father shows towards his own children. A bright example of the pastor’s work. 6. The purport of their exhortation. God was calling them; they must walk worthily of that high calling. He was calling them into his kingdom now, into the kingdom which Christ had come to found—his Church. They had become children of the kingdom. He was calling them higher yet, to his glory, to the beatific vision, that the Savior’s prayer might be fulfilled, "I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." Their walk in life must show the reality of their hope. Walk implies movement, change of place and scene. As they move hither and thither in the course of their daily lives, in their business, in their amusements, they must ever think of that high calling, and live according to their hopes. Their religion was not to be confined to the sabbath, to the synagogue, to the hours spent on their knees in private prayer; they must carry it everywhere with them; it must guide, stimulate, comfort, encourage in all the varying circumstances of daily life. Their life must be worthy of their calling. They must show its influence; they must adorn the doctrine of God their Savior in all things. LESSONS. 1. Study the lives of St. Paul and other holy men. 2. Let not that study end in admiration; act upon it. 3. In such lives is seen the manifest workings of the grace of God. 4. The sight of such lives confirms the faith of the wavering, kindles the desire of the lukewarm. 5. True Christians are the light of the world; they must let their light shine before men. 6. But not for their own glory; they must seek only the glory of God.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 - The effects of the gospel. I. ITS BY THE . 1. They believed that it came from God. Paul and Silas and Timotheus brought the message; the Thessalonians recognized it as the message of God. They felt that it came from him. (1) Their words were such as never man untaught of God could speak. The gospel was utterly unlike anything that had been heard or read before. It stood alone, unique, separate from all other histories. No human imagination could have pictured it; no human genius could have thought it out. It must be of God; it could have no other source. It bore within itself the evidence of its inspiration, of its Divine origin. And (2) they felt its energy within their hearts. It did not lie dormant there; it was living and powerful It wrought within them with a mighty working, drawing them by a strange constraining power away from their old self-pleasing lives into the new life of faith and love and self-denial. That living force showed that it was the Word of God. No mere human words could so stir the heart. The preaching of the cross might be a stumbling-block to the Jews, it might seem foolishness to the Greeks; but to those who had the precious gift of faith, it was "the power of God and the wisdom of God." 2. They showed their faith by their works. The infant European Churches imitated the oldest Churches, those of Judaea. All alike belonged to God; all were in Christ Jesus, living branches in the true Vine. The new converts sought to live like the first Christians. "Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." They imitated them in active holiness, and they imitated them in patient endurance. II. THE OF THE WORLD. 1. The Gentile opposition. It first appeared in Macedonia. In Philippi the evangelists were for the first time brought before Gentile magistrates. The politarchs of Thessalonica had more sense of justice than the so-called praetors of Philippi. They contented themselves with taking security from the Christians who were brought before them. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ .—The apostle, no longer able to repress his longing and anxiety for the Thessalonians, resolved to be left alone at Athens, and sent Timothy for the purpose of exhorting them to endurance amid their persecutions, and to bring him information concerning their condition. Timothy had just rejoined him at Corinth, and the apostle expresses the extreme satisfaction which he felt at the welcome tidings which his messenger had brought of their faith and love; it put new life into him, and comforted him in all his affliction and distress. He prays God that he may be permitted to revisit the Thessalonians, and to supply what was still defective in their faith; and he makes it the object of his earnest supplication that the Lord Jesus would make them so to increase in love and establish them in holiness that they may be blameless at his appearance with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:1 This verse is closely connected with the concluding verses of the last chapter, from which it should not be separated. Wherefore; on account of my affection toward you and my repeated vain attempts to see you. When we. Some refer the plural to Paul, Silas, and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 1:1); others to Paul and Silas, as Timothy had been sent to Thessalonica; but it is to be restricted to Paul, as is evident from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20:38 and 1 Thessalonians 3:5, and inasmuch as Paul was left alone at Athens; the plural being here used for the singular. Could no longer forbear; could no longer restrain our longing and anxiety to know your condition. We thought it good; a happy translation of the original, expressing both "we were pleased and resolved." To be left at Athens alone; an expression of solitude. Alone in Athens, in the very metropolis of idolatry. Compare with this the common saying, "Alone in London." In the Acts of the Apostles we are informed that Paul came to Athens alone, and that there he waited for Silas and Timothy (Acts 17:14, ]5), and that these fellow-workers rejoined him at Corinth (Acts 18:5). Many expositors, however, from this and the next verse, infer that Timothy at least joined Paul at Athens, but was sent back by him to Thessalonica, to inquire into the condition of his converts in that city. Such is the opinion of Olshausen, Neander, De Wette, Lunemann, Hofmann, Koch, and Schott; and, among English expositors, of Macknight, Paley, Eadie, Jowett, Ellicott, and Wordsworth. There is no contradiction between this view and the narrative of the Acts. Luke merely omits to mention Timothy’s short visit to Athens and departure from it, and relates only the final reunion of these three fellow-workers at Corinth. Indeed, Paley gives this coming of Timothy to Athens as one of the undesigned coincidences between this Epistle and the Acts of the Apostles. £ Still, however, we are not necessitated to suppose that Timothy joined the apostle at Athens. The words admit of the opinion that he was sent by Paul direct from Beraea, and not from Athens; and that he and Silas did not join Paul until they came from Macedonia to Corinth. Such is the opinion of Hug, Wieseler, Koppe, Alford, and Vaughan. 1 Thessalonians 3:2 And sent Timotheus. This was a great act of self-sacrifice on the part of Paul; because to be without an assistant and fellow-laborer in the gospel in such a city as Athens, the very center and strong hold of heathenism, full of temples and idols, must necessarily have brought upon him many discomforts; and yet his anxiety for the Thessalonians overcame all motives of personal convenience. Our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow-laborer. The reading of manuscripts here varies. Some important manuscripts read, "our brother and fellow-worker with God"—a phrase which is elsewhere employed by the apostle: "for we are laborers together with God" (1 Corinthians 3:9). Retaining, however, the reading of the text, Paul here calls Timothy his brothel expressing his esteem and fraternal affection for him; "a minister of God," expressing Timothy’s official position and the honor conferred on him by Christ; and his "fellow-laborer," expressing his laborious work in preaching the gospel, and reminding the Thessalonians of his labors among them. Different reasons have been assigned for this eulogy pronounced by Paul on Timothy. Some suppose that it was to show how eagerly he consulted the welfare of the Thessalonians, by sending to them a person of such importance and of such use to himself as Timothy (Calvin); others think that it was to recommend Timothy to the favorable regard of the Thessalonians in the absence of himself (Chrysostom); but it appears to be the natural outburst of affection for his favorite disciple. In the gospel of Christ. Timothy had labored with Paul and Silas in the publication of the gospel at Thessalonica, and was consequently well known to the Thessalonians, and favorably regarded by them. To establish you, and to comfort you; or rather, to exhort you, as the matter of exhortation follows. Concerning your faith; in order to the continuance and furtherance of your faith. The purpose of the mission of Timothy; namely, to confirm the Thessalonians in the faith, to exhort them to perseverance in Christianity, notwithstanding the persecutions to which they were exposed. 1 Thessalonians 3:3 This verse contains the object of the exhortation; the clause is an accusative to the verb. That no man should be moved (or, shaken) by; or rather in; expressing the position in which they were placed. These afflictions. The same word as "tribulation" in the next verse. For yourselves know. How they knew is explained, partly from the forewarnings of the apostle, and partly from their own experience. That we; not to be referred to Paul only, nor to Paul and his companions, Silas and Timothy, nor to Paul and the Thessalonians, but to all Christians in general; that we Christians. Are appointed thereunto; namely, by God. Our afflictions do not result from chance, but are the necessary consequence of our Christianity; they arise from the appointment and ordinance of God. Tribulation is the Christian’s portion. Whatever truth there may be in the saying that prosperity is the promise of the Old Testament, affliction is certainly the promise of the New. We must be conformed to Christ in his sufferings. "In the world," says our Lord, "ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). When our Lord called Paul to his apostleship, he showed him how great things he must suffer for his Name’s sake (Acts 9:16). All the apostles suffered from persecution, and concerning Christians in general Paul asserts that it is only through tribulation that they can enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22; see Revelation 7:14). 1 Thessalonians 3:4 For; assigning the reason why they should not be moved by these afflictions. Verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we; here also Christians in general. Should suffer. Not a simple future, but denoting that it was thus appointed in the counsels of God—that their tribulation was the result of the Divine purpose. Tribulation (affliction); even as it came to pass, and ye know; that is, from your own experience. The affliction, then, was not some strange thing which had befallen them. 1 Thessalonians 3:5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear; no longer repress my anxiety, and endure my want of information concerning you. I sent to know your faith; to receive information concerning your spiritual condition. Lest by some means the tempter; a designation of Satan, used also by Matthew 4:3. Have tempted you, and our labor be in vain; that is, useless, without result (see on 1 Thessalonians 2:1; comp. also Galatians 4:11, "I am afraid, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain"). The temptation to which the Thessalonians were exposed was that of apostasy from Christianity, through the fear or endurance of persecution. That the tempter had tempted them is probable—it was almost unavoidable; that he had succeeded in his temptation, and had thus rendered the apostle’s labors among them useless, was uncertain—a contingency which might possibly have taken place. 1 Thessalonians 3:6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us. Timothy, as we learn from the Acts, in company with Silas, joined Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:15), and brought him information concerning the state of the Thessalonian Church. And brought us good tidings; the same word which is elsewhere employed for preaching the gospel. The information which Timothy brought to the apostle was as it were a gospel to him (comp. Luke 2:10, "Behold I bring you good tidings"). Of your faith and charity. The good tidings which Timothy brought referred to the spiritual condition of the Thessalonians—their faith had not been shaken and their love had not waxed cold under the persecutions to which they were exposed; and along with their faith and love was the affection which they bore to the apostle, and their earnest desire to see him. And that ye have constant remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you. The affection between the Thessalonians and the apostle was mutual. 1 Thessalonians 3:7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you—with reference to you—in all our affliction and distress. Some refer "affliction" to outward troubles, and "distress" to internal evils—referring the one to the persecutions arising from his Corinthian opponents, and the other to his bodily infirmity (Koch). Such a distinction is, however, precarious. The words do not refer to the apostle’s anxiety on account of the Thessalonians, for that was removed by the coming of Timothy. Clearly some external trouble is denoted. Paul, when he preached the gospel at Corinth, and before he obtained the protection of Gallio, was exposed to much persecution and danger. The Jews had expelled him from their synagogue (Acts 18:6), and attempts had been made against him which at length broke out into an insurrection against him, when he was dragged before the Roman tribunal (Acts 18:12). His condition at Corinth when he wrote this Epistle was dark and gloomy. By your faith; by the steadfastness of your faith. The good news which Timothy brought of the faith and love of the Thessalonians comforted the apostle amid all the trials and difficulties and disappointments of his ministry (comp. with this passage 2 Corinthians 7:4-7). 1 Thessalonians 3:8 For now we live. Not to be referred to the eternal and future life (Chrysostom); or to be weakened as if it merely signified, "We relish and enjoy life notwithstanding our affliction and distress" (Pelt); but the meaning is the good tidings which Timothy has brought have imparted new life unto us; "we are in the full strength and freshness of life, we do not feel the sorrows and tribulations which the outer world prepares for us" (Lunemann). The apostle considers his condition of affliction and distress as a kind of death: so, elsewhere he says, "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31); and from which death he was now again raised to life. If; provided—a hypothetical assumption. Ye stand fast; continue firm in the faith of the gospel. In the Lord; the element of true life. 1 Thessalonians 3:9 For; assigning the reason of the declaration, "now we live." What thanks can we render to God again for you. As their steadfastness in the faith was owing to God’s grace, thanks was to be rendered to God on their behalf. For all the joy; joy in all its fullness (comp. James 1:2, "Count it all joy"). Wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God. Giving prominence to the purity of their joy. 1 Thessalonians 3:10 Night and day praying exceedingly. Denoting the intense earnestness and anxiety of the apostle for the spiritual welfare of the Thessalonians, that found vent to itself in incessant prayer for them. Now follows the subject-matter of his prayer. That we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. The faith of the Thessalonians was not perfect; it was "lacking" in several respects. It was defective in extent; they were ignorant of many of the doctrines of the gospel, and had formed erroneous views of other doctrines, such as the second advent. It was defective in application; they had not yet renounced all the corrupt practices of their former heathen life, nor had they embodied all the precepts of the gospel into their actual life. The Thessalonians were as yet but novices. So also the reason which impelled Paul to wish to come to Rome was to supply that which was lacking in the faith of the Roman converts (Romans 1:11). Confirmation was a work in which the apostle delighted, being both important and desirable. In general, faith at first is weak and defective; it is only developed by degrees. Especially is it increased by every increase of spiritual knowledge. "Add to your faith knowledge" (2 Peter 1:5, 2 Peter 1:6). The remark of Calvin is worthy of attention: "Paul is desirous of having the opportunity given him of supplying what is wanting in the faith of the Thessalonians, or, which is the same thing, completing in all its parts their faith which was as yet imperfect. Yet this is the faith which he had previously extolled marvelously. From this we infer that those who far surpass others are still far distant from the goal. Hence, whatever progress we may have made, let us keep in view our deficiencies, that we may not be reluctant to aim at something further." 1 Thessalonians 3:11 Now God himself and our Father; or, as we would express it according to the English idiom, God himself, our Father, omitting the conjunction. And our Lord Jesus Christ. Some suppose that the three Divine Persons of the sacred Trinity are here expressly named: God the Holy Ghost, and the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; but the words in the original will not bear this sense: "God himself and our Father" is the same Divine Person. Direct. It is to be observed that the verb "direct" is in the Greek in the singular, thus denoting a unity between God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. At all events, we have an express prayer directed to Christ, thus necessarily implying his Divine nature. Our way unto you. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 And the Lord. By some referred to the First Person of the blessed Trinity, God our Father (Alford); by others to the Holy Ghost, as the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are afterwards both mentioned in the prayer; but it is to be referred, according to the prevailing usage in Paul’s Epistle, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Make you; literally, you may the Lord make, putting the emphasis on" you." To increase and abound in love one toward another; toward your fellow-Christians. And toward all men; toward the human race in general. "This is the character of Divine love to comprehend all; whereas human love hath respect to one man and not to another" (Theophylact). Even as we do toward you; that is, as we abound in love toward you. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 To the end (in order that) he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God. In the sight of God, in his judgment who searcheth the hearts. The words, "before God," are to be conjoined neither with "holiness" nor with "unblamable," but with the whole phrase, "unblamable in holiness." Even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; at the second advent. With all his saints. By "saints" or "holy ones" are by some understood the angels who shall accompany Christ to judgment; but although the term "saints" is used of the angels in the Old Testament, it is never so employed in the New. The word seems to denote those holy men who have died in the Lord and who shall be raised at the advent, and accompany Christ to the judgment. 1 Thessalonians 3:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:4 - Connection between affliction and religion. True religion, instead of delivering those who possess it from suffering, rather entails suffering upon them. Believers are appointed by God to suffer tribulation. This was peculiarly true of the early Christians, but it is true generally. We are appointed to afflictions (1) in order that by them our fitness for heaven and our relish for our everlasting rest may be increased; (2) in order that we may thus learn the blessed graces of patience and resignation—graces which we could not learn in health and prosperity, and which will be useful to us in a world of glory (1 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Corinthians 4:18). 1 Thessalonians 3:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:8 - Steadfastness in faith and affliction. "That no man should be moved by these afflictions." We are certainly not now exposed to persecutions, but still there are afflictions peculiar to the Christian life. We are forewarned of them, and therefore are not to regard them as strange or unexpected calamities. 1. This steadfastness is the work of God. God is able to make us stand, and will cause us to be more than conquerors. He can even, while we continue in this state of warfare, establish our hearts unblamable in holiness. 2. This steadfastness is the work of man. We must co-operate with God. We must beware of being either terrified by threats or allured by blandishments. We must exercise prayer, watchfulness, and the active performance of Christian duties. 1 Thessalonians 3:6-8. - The duties of minister and people. In the reciprocal feelings of the apostle and his Thessalonian converts, we gain instruction regarding the mutual conduct of minister and people. 1. Duties of the minister. The affection and anxiety which he should have for his people; the earnestness with which he should pray for them; the gratitude with which he should thank God for their spiritual welfare; the joy which he experiences in the steadfastness of their faith and the warmth of their charity; the care and diligence with which he should supply what is lacking in their faith. 2. Duties of the people. The reciprocal affection which they should have for their minister; the good remembrance which they should entertain of him; the obedience which they should render unto him in spiritual matters; the constant prayers which they should offer up for him. 1 Thessalonians 3:9 - Joy in the spiritual welfare of others. We rejoice in the temporal prosperity of our friends; much more ought we to rejoice in their spiritual prosperity. "Now we live," says the apostle, "if ye stand fast in the Lord." And similarly the Apostle John says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth." We must imitate the angels in heaven, who rejoice at the repentance of a sinner. We must imbibe the spirit of the Lord Jesus himself, who is represented as rejoicing when he had found the sheep that was lost. We should rejoice (1) because souls are rescued from hell and Satan; (2) because Christ is glorified in the salvation of men; (3) because new members are born into the family of God; (4) because boundless happiness is secured. 1 Thessalonians 3:10 - Defective faith Our faith may be defective in various ways. 1. In its finality. It may be mingled with unbelief or with doubts; we may only partially believe. If so, let our prayer be, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." 2. In its objects. It may not embrace all the revealed truths of religion; we may be ignorant of some of them, or have adopted erroneous notions concerning others. If so, we must "add to our faith knowledge." 3. In its efficacy. It may be too much of a dead faith; it may not exercise itself outwardly; it may not sufficiently influence our practice. If so, we must remember that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead." 4. In its steadfastness. Our faith may be wavering, unstable, liable to fail; it may be variable; sometimes we may be strong in the faith, and at other times weak. If so, let our prayer be, "Lord, increase our faith." 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - Prayer addressed to Christ. We have here an instance of prayer addressed to Christ. The apostle prays that Christ may direct his way to the Thessalonians, and make them abound in love. The martyr Stephen breathed out his spirit in a prayer to Christ. And Christians in general are represented as those who in every place call on the Lord Jesus. "There is no foundation," as Bishop Alexander remarks, "for any such statement as that ’truly primitive and apostolic prayer is invariably to God through Christ.’" Christ himself is often in Scripture the direct Object of worship. Now, if Christ be not God, the apostle and early Christians were idolaters. The divinity of Christ is the only ground on which the worship of Christ can be defended. 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 3:13 - Religious progress. 1. The nature of religious progress. It is an increase in love to our fellow-Christians and to all men. 2. The ultimate end of religious progress. The establishment of our hearts in holiness, and our being presented blameless before the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 - The ultimate end of the Christian dispensation. The establishment of believers in holiness before God at the advent of Christ is the ultimate design of Christianity. Or, as Paul elsewhere expresses the same truth, "Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:26, Ephesians 5:27). And again, "That ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8). What a glorious consummation! What a perfection of holiness! When faith and love will both be perfect; when all that is lacking in our faith will be supplied; and all that is defective in our love will be remedied; and when the whole Church will be presented faultless and blameless before God; when sin and moral imperfection will be forever excluded! BY T. 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 - The design of Timothy’s mission to Thessalonica. When the apostle could no longer control his longing to see his converts, he sent them Timothy by way of relieving his solicitude in their behalf. His love for them was manifest in all the circumstances of this mission. I. HE HIS OWN COMFORT TO THEIR BENEFIT. "We thought it good to be left at Athens alone." 1. Though Timothy was most necessary to him in the ministry, he parted with him for their good. 2. Athens, as a seat of boundless idolatry, exercised such a depressing influence upon him that he needed the stimulus of Timothy’s society. Yet he denied himself this comfort that he might serve them. II. HE TO THEM THE MOST HIGHLY OF HIS FELLOW-. "Our brother, and minister of God, and fellow-laborer in the gospel of Christ." He selects one best fitted to serve them by his gifts, his experience, and his knowledge of the apostle’s views and wishes. The various titles here given to Timothy help to honor him before the Churches, and to challenge the abiding confidence of the Thessalonians. III. THE DESIGN OF TIMOTHY’S MISSION. It was twofold: "To establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith," and "to know your faith." 1. The necessity for his mission. The afflictions which they were enduring for the gospel. (1) These afflictions had a most disturbing tendency. "That no one be disquieted by these afflictions." The converts had newly emerged from heathenism, and therefore the apostle was more concerned on their behalf. Yet, as we know from the Second Epistle, they remained firm. "We ourselves glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure" (2 Thessalonians 1:4). (2) These afflictions were of Divine appointment. "For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto." They were, therefore, "no strange thing." They come by the will of God, who has determined their nature, severity, and duration. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." The afflictions were not accidental. (3) They were clearly foreseen by the apostle. "When we were with you we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction." (a) It is the duty of ministers to forewarn their converts of coming affliction, lest they should be offended thereby. (b) Converts, when forewarned, ought to be forearmed, so that they may not sink under them, much less forsake the gospel on account of them. "For the light afflictions are but for a moment, and work out an exceeding weight of glory." (4) Satan is the main source, of danger in these afflictions. "Lest by any means the tempter had tempted you. The apostle was "not ignorant of his devices," and was apprehensive lest Satan should get an advantage of his converts by moving them from the hope of the gospel, and causing them to relinquish their profession of it. (5) The only security against Satan’s temptations—faith; for this "is the victory that overcometh the world"—this is the shield "wherewith they could quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." 2. The manner in which Timothy’s mission was to be discharged. "To establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith." (1) In relation to the Thessalonians. Timothy would (a) establish them by giving them a fresh exhibition of the truth with its manifold evidences. The strongest faith needs confirmation. The apostles were in the habit of confirming the souls of the disciples (Acts 14:22). (b) He would comfort them concerning their faith by exhibiting the example of Christ, the glory that must accrue to God from their steadfastness, and the hope of the coming kingdom. (2) In relation to the apostle himself. "To know your faith." One object of his sending Timothy was to put an end to his own anxieties and doubts on their behalf, for he might fear that "his labor would be in vain." He might hope the best but fear the worst, for he was most deeply concerned in their welfare.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 3:6-8 - The happy issue of Timothy’s visit to Thessalonica. This Epistle was written immediately after Timothy’s return as expressive of the apostle’s hearty relief at his tidings. I. THE GOOD TIDINGS. "Your faith and charity, and that ye have remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you." 1. Their faith. He was gratified to hear of the steadfastness and soundness of their faith. They abounded in the (1) grace of faith, which was unfeigned, growing, and lively; (2) in the doctrine of faith, which had much light in it; (3) in the profession of faith, which they held fast without wavering, out of a pure conscience. 2. Their love. This, which was the fruit of their faith, had not waxed cold on account of abounding iniquity. Their faith worked by love. The two graces are always found together. Christian love must be without dissimulation, in deed and in truth, fervent and constant. 3. Their constant and kindly remembrance of the apostle. "Ye have a good remembrance of us always." They thought much of their spiritual teachers, bore their persons in memory, thought of them with gratitude and respect, and, no doubt, remembered them in their prayers. 4. Their desire to see the apostle. They desired to have their memories refreshed by a personal visit from him. If they had begun to fall away, they would not have been so anxious to see him. There was a tender attachment on both sides, for there was a longing on both sides for further fellowship. II. THE EFFECTS OF THESE GOOD TIDINGS ON THE APOSTLE. "Therefore we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith." 1. They enabled him, if not to forget, at least to bear up, under a weighty burden of trial. He was now at Corinth, in peril and persecution from the Jews, who "opposed themselves and blasphemed" (Acts 18:5-17; 1 Corinthians 2:3). He was disconsolate and dispirited, almost like a dead man, carrying about with him the dying of the Lord Jesus; but now the news of Timothy revived him, like life from the dead, infusing into him new life and vigor. It was their faith especially which comforted him. There is no comfort to a minister comparable to that which springs from the stability and perseverance of his people. 2. The very continuance of his life seemed to be dependent upon their steadfastness. "For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." The language is almost painfully strong. It suggested to them: (1) The necessity of continued watchfulness and faith. (2) The true secret of steadfastness—being "in the Lord." Thus only would "they build themselves up in their most holy faith," "continuing steadfastly in the Church’s prayers and instructions." (3) How much they could affect, not the comfort only, but the life of their teachers, by their vigilance and perseverance!—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 3:9, 1 Thessalonians 3:10 - The apostle’s gratitude to Clod and his further solicitude for his converts. I. HIS FOR THE JOY BY TIMOTHY’S TIDINGS. "For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God?" 1. He has no words to express his gratitude to God for their constancy. 2. The joy he experienced was not in the greed of any worldly advantage he had gained, but was the hearty and sincere joy of one profoundly interested in their spiritual welfare. 3. It was joy "before God," who sees and knows all inward thoughts and feelings, and therefore knows its reality and power. II. HIS ANXIETY TO SEE THE FOR THEIR FURTHER BENEFIT. "Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith." His prayers had an extraordinary fervency. Ministers ought to be much in prayer for their flocks. 1. The deficiencies in their faith. They had already received the grace of faith and the doctrine of faith, and exhibited in its fullness the "work of faith." But there were deficiencies still to be supplied. (1) Their faith wanted still greater power, for they had hardly yet escaped all danger of relapse into heathen impurities. (2) It wanted to be more widely diffused through all the duties of life, for they needed to mind honest industry and forswear idleness. (3) They needed fuller light upon the second advent. 2. The design of the ministry is to supply these deficiencies of faith. The apostle longed to be at Thessalonica once more, not only to impart to them "some spiritual gift, to the end they might be established" (Romans 1:10, Romans 1:11), but to give them fuller teaching upon the various points where their faith needed enlargement. It is God’s work to increase faith, but ministers can promote it as instruments, for they are "for the perfecting of the saints in the knowledge of the Son of God."—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 3:11 - Further prayer for his personal return to Thessalonica. The apostle had hitherto been hindered by Satan from carrying out his intention. "But may God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you." I. THE APOSTLE A DIVINE HAND IN ALL THAT HIS LIFE. His way to Thessalonica seemed hitherto blocked up, but he felt that, it depended, not upon Satan, nor upon his wicked instruments, but upon the will of God himself, whether he should ever take that way. This implies: 1. Our journeys are not in our own power. Man may plan his own ways, but God directs his goings; for "a good man’s steps are ordered by the Lord." 2. Our journeys are not to be undertaken without God’s will. (James 4:13, James 4:14; Romans 1:10.) It is for him to order us where and when to go. 3. It is in his power only to remove the obstacles to our journeys. II. THE APOSTLE THIS AS EQUALLY BY THE FATHER AND THE SON. 1. He prays here to both Father and Son. The same prayer is addressed to both without distinction, for the verb is in the singular number. Must not Jesus, therefore, be a Divine Person? 2. Father and Son are here regarded as possessing one indivisible will, as exercising a joint agency in the guidance of men, and as possessing an equality of power to this end. Athanasius saw this fact clearly in the grammatical peculiarity of the passage. 3. The apostle exercises an appropriating faith in both Father and Son, for he speaks of "our God and Father," and our Lord Jesus Christ. He was, therefore, all the more disposed to trust submissively to the directing hand of God.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 1 Thessalonians 3:13 - The apostle’s prayer for the progressive sanctification of the Thessalonians and their final perfection at the coming of Christ. He has just prayed for himself, but whether he is to come to them or not, he has a prayer for their spiritual benefit. I. THE PERSON TO WHOM THE PRAYER IS , "But you may the Lord enlarge." It is the Lord Jesus, who, "as the Purchaser of the Church with his own blood," has received the fullness of the Spirit for the benefit of his people. It was to the Lord the apostles addressed the unanimous prayer, "Increase our faith." II. THE PRAYED FOR. "But you may the Lord enlarge and make to abound in love toward one another, and toward all." 1. The existence of their love is frankly admitted. He had spoken of "their labor of love." He prays now for its increase. 2. Their love was to be an abounding love. (1) There were defects in their love, as there were defects in their faith, to be supplied from the inexhaustible Source of all love. (2) The objects of their love were (a) "one another," those of the household of faith, who were to have the first place in their affections; (b) but "all men" likewise, as children of a common Father, for as we have opportunity we must do good unto all men (Galatians 6:10), the world itself being the field of our missionary labors. The Apostle Peter adds "love" to "brotherly kindness" in the chain of Christian graces, as if to imply that brotherly kindness might become a narrow, sectarian thing, and therefore the love of man as man is enjoined. III. THE DESIGN AND OF THIS . "To the end that he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." 1. This implies that establishment in holiness is necessarily involved in the enlargement of both faith and love. 2. It implies that stability in holiness is the great end of Christian life in a world which shakes believers by fears and temptations and delusions. 3. It implies that without perfect holiness we cannot appear without blame before God. 4. It implies that perfect holiness is reserved for the second coming. (1) It is not attainable in this life. We are not here "without spot or wrinkle." (2) It is connected with the redemption of the body. (3) It is connected with the final glorification of the redeemed; for all the saints are to be associated with the Judge as assessors in the final judgment (Luke 22:30; John 5:28; 1 Corinthians 6:3). Therefore let us pray for the increase of faith and love, and live in the blessed hope of the "day of Christ."—T.C. BY B.C. CAFFIN 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 - Proof of the apostle’s love for the Thessalonians. I. THE MISSION OF TIMOTHY. 1. He could no longer forbear. Mark the intensity of his affection. He repeats the words twice, verse 1 and verse 5, first in the plural, then in the singular number, implying, perhaps, that while all the missionaries longed to know how it fared with the Thessalonians, his longing was the most overmastering. He must hear of his converts, cost him what it might. The suspense was agonizing; he could endure it no longer; so deep, so burning, was his interest in their spiritual state. What an example to Christian pastors now! 2. He would submit to any sacrifice; he would be left alone at Athens. "Alone in London" has almost passed into a proverb. Loneliness is nowhere felt so much as in a great city— "Crowded wilderness, Where ever-moving myriads seem to say, ’Go! thou art naught to us, nor we to thee—away!’" St. Paul felt like this at Athens. To the student of history, to the lover of classical antiquities, Athens is one of the most attractive of cities. To St. Paul it was almost a desert. He does not seem to have found delight in natural beauty or in historic associations; the one object of his life was to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom, to win souls to Christ. The Athenians of his day had much curiosity, much versatility, but no depth of character, no real longing after truth. They did not persecute; they had not earnestness enough for that. But mockery and indifference were more painful to St, Paul than danger and suffering. He could not feet at home in Athens. And he was one of those men to whom sympathy is almost a necessity; his one earthly comfort was the society of Christian friends. This Epistle shows the intensity of his affections; he can scarcely find words strong enough to express his love for the Thessalonians, his yearning desire to see them again. Yet he had spent only three weeks, or perhaps a short time longer, at Thessalonica. How, then, must he have prized the society of Timotheus, the dearest of all his friends! He was his brother, his fellow-laborer; he could ill spare him, especially while laboring in vain, as it seemed, in that most uncongenial place. But he would send him; he would endure that isolation which was so oppressive to him. Even for himself it was better than the cruel uncertainty which he could bear no longer; and the visit of Timotheus would be very useful to the infant Church at Thessalonica. So he thought it good; it pleased him, there was a pleasure mingled with the pain, to be left at Athens alone. There is a pleasure in self-sacrifice, severe but real; there is a peace in the conscious submission of the human will to the blessed will of God—a peace not granted to all, for not all take up the cross, but very precious, very high and holy. 3. So he sent his closest friend and companion. His words show how he felt the separation. He describes him as his brother; elsewhere he calls him his son in the faith, his dearly beloved son. His presence, his loving care, his affectionate sympathy, were very dear to St. Paul. His help, too, was very needful; he was the minister of God, St. Paul’s fellow-laborer in the gospel (the readings are somewhat confused, but the meaning is plain); he could assist him in his difficult and almost heartless labor at Athens. Like St. Paul, he delighted to serve God, to do God’s work, to preach the glad tidings of the atonement, the resurrection of Christ, the life and immortality brought to light by the Lord Jesus. There was work, hard work, enough and more than enough, for both of them at Athens; but St. Paul, in his intense anxiety for the Thessalonians, sent to them his dearest companion and his best helper. Old work must not be neglected for new; it is a common temptation. The care of all the Churches pressed upon St. Paul. The minister of God must care for all the souls entrusted to his charge. II. THE PURPOSE OF TIMOTHY’S MISSION. 1. To stablish them. They were but neophytes—Christians of a few months. The first work of drawing men to take an interest in religion is often easier than the work which follows of stablishing and building them up in the faith. It is hard to persevere; we know it from our own experience. It may be that by God’s grace we have drawn nigh to the crucified One; we have felt something of the sweetness of his precious love; our hearts have burned within us as we listened to his voice, "Come unto me." In such moments we have felt, perhaps, that our work was well-nigh done, and our souls saved for ever; we thought that we could never fall from him whom we had learned to love so dearly. But a little while, and we found ourselves miserably disappointed. The time of temptation came; or perhaps, without any definite temptation, the freshness of those glowing feelings passed away; we lost our first love, and sunk back into that cold indifference which we hoped we had shaken off forever. We lost all that we seemed to have gained; we had to begin our work again. Alas! many are thus always beginning; their spiritual history is a series of oscillations between permitted carelessness and feeble repentance. They make no real progress towards that holiness without which we cannot see God. They need a Timotheus to stablish them. It is one of the most important, one of the most difficult, duties of the ministers of God to persevere themselves, to lead others to persevere. 2. To comfort them, or rather, perhaps, to exhort them. They needed both, comfort and exhortation. The cross was coming. They were but babes in Christ; they shrunk from its sharpness. But "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." The grace of perseverance is best acquired in the bracing air of affliction. "The trying of our faith worketh patience." Self-denial, the mortification of the flesh, are, alas! to many of us but empty sounds. They must become realities in our daily lives if we are to be Christians indeed. The sentimental religion of mere poetry and feeling is a weak and sickly exotic; it will never bear the cold blasts of temptation, it will not stand in the evil day. Timotheus was to comfort the Thessalonians in their troubles, to exhort them to patient endurance, that their faith might not fail them, that it might rather grow and increase. 3. To prepare them for tribulation. (1) Afflictions must come. It is a law of Christ’s kingdom. "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." The Savior endured the cross, despising the shame; the Christian must consider him, always "looking unto Jesus." "We are appointed thereunto," St. Paul says; not himself only, but all Christians. It is God’s ordinance; it is "the trial of faith, much more precious than of gold." The gold perisheth, the faith abideth; it will issue in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. But "we are appointed thereunto." We must recognize this, and accept it cheerfully as the law of our Christian race. The cross is the very badge and emblem of our religion; the cross is a sacred object in the Christian’s eyes; but it will not profit us unless we bear the inner cross, the spiritual cross of self-sacrifice wrought into our souls by the power of God the Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus bore the cross first; his death upon the cross gave a deep and awful and blessed meaning to the word; it invested the cross with glory and solemn beauty and attractive sweetness. His saints have followed him. One after another they have taken up the cross; they came out of great tribulation. From the quiet rest of paradise their voices seem to float around us yet, telling us of the power of the Savior’s cross and the high rewards of suffering for his sake. "We are appointed thereunto," St. Paul said to the Thessalonians; he does not attempt to hide it from them. They were very young Christians, but, young as they were, they must experience the law of suffering. "Ye knew it," St. Paul says; for they knew the blessed story of the cross, and they knew the meaning of the cross. The Churches of Macedonia had a great trial of affliction. We are not called to suffer in the same way, but the cross has the same meaning still. "In the world ye shall have tribulation." "We are appointed thereunto." We are not in danger of the martyr’s death, but the martyr’s spirit is as necessary as ever it was; its essence lies in the prayer which we daily use, "Thy will be done." We must not be moved by these afflictions; they must not be allowed to disquiet us, to disturb the steadfastness of our faith. Affliction is the ordinary atmosphere of the Christian life. (2) St. Paul had told them this. When he was with them, short as the time was—three weeks or a little more—he warned them of the coming trials. It was a great help when the time came. As Chrysostom says, if the physician warns his patient of the probable symptoms of his disease, he is not so terrified when they come. Thus the Thessalonians were prepared to see the sufferings of St. Paul and his companions—prepared themselves to follow them as they followed Christ. The preacher must not dwell exclusively on the bright side of religion, its beauty and its joys; he must point to the cross; he must prepare himself and his people to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. (3) But though he had warned them, he was still anxious. The affliction had come, as he had said. He knew that they were suffering; he felt for them in their trials. Especially he was anxious to know how that newly formed faith of theirs would endure the first shock of persecution. The tempter had tempted them—that was certain. These trials were his work. It was permitted; it was overruled for good, as the event showed. But it came from the same evil one who had tempted Job to curse God, and was foiled then by the patience of that holy man, and now, by the grace of God, vouchsafed to the Thessalonians. But St. Paul did not know the issue. He had beard of the temptation, and with the tender, trembling solicitude of a loving parent he feared—he could not help fearing—lest his labor should prove in vain. Mark, again, his firm belief in the personality of Satan. He knew his malice; he was not ignorant of his devices, and he feared for his children in the faith. LESSONS. 1. Pray for the love of souls; seek to love souls with a great love, as St. Paul yearned for the salvation of his converts. 2. Be content, like him, to suffer privations for the souls of others. 3. Pray for the grace of perseverance; be distrustful of self; trust only Christ; watch always. 4. Expect afflictions, chastisements; they must come; they form a necessary part of Christian experience; be prepared for them.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 - The return of Timotheus. I. THE GOOD NEWS. 1. The faith and charity of the Thessalonians. This was good tidings to St. Paul. The gospel was good tidings to all who felt the misery of sin, to all who had been distressed by the strange, perplexing mysteries of life. Tidings of a Deliverer, of an atonement, of the gracious help of God’s Holy Spirit, of eternal life to come, were full of joy and gladness to the Thessalonians. Out of that first great joy sprang other gifts of joy. The apostles had no greater joy than to hear that their children were walking in the truth. They had so entered into the full meaning of that short prayer, "Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven," that they had learned to share the holy joy wherewith the blessed inhabitants of heaven rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. Good news to them did not mean this or that earthly success, but the growth in grace of Christian souls. Are we thus affected when we hear of the victories of the gospel, of missionary triumphs abroad, of converted sinners, of holy deaths at home? It is a sure index of our spiritual state. If we know ourselves the deep blessedness of communion with God, we shall count it good news indeed when we hear of other souls being drawn into that holy fellowship. The glory of God is the one highest object to which all true Christians look, and each redeemed soul brings new glory and honor to the great Redeemer. The deeper, the purer our joy in the growth of holiness around us, the nearer our approach, while we are yet on earth, to the holy joy of heaven. Timotheus brought news that the faith of the Thessalonians had not wavered in the fiery trial, that their charity was living and fervent. It was glad news indeed to St. Paul. 2. Their remembrance of the apostle. St. Paul had a tender human heart; he writes these words, as Bengel says, with a fresh joy, with the tenderest love. The steadfastness of their faith was the chief part of the good news; but also their personal love for the apostle was very precious to him. To hear that they loved him still, that they desired greatly to see him, that they remembered his presence, his words, his affection, was very sweet to him. II. ST. PAUL’S DELIGHT. 1. He was comforted. He had need of comfort and encouragement. Since he left Thessalonica he had met with great perplexities and disappointments at Athens; and now at Corinth he was working amid many difficulties, much harassed by the persecutions of the Jews, toiling hard for his daily bread. He tells them of his necessities, of his affliction. But now he was comforted; and it was their faith that brought him comfort, that encouraged him in his work. How these words must have pleased the Thessalonians, who so loved the apostle! To hear of their faith was good tidings to him; to be told that that faith had given him such deep comfort in his troubles must have been good news to them. 2. Their perseverance gave him new life. He knew what it was to die daily, to bear about always in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. But if death, as he says, was working in him, there was a new life that more than balanced it; a new life, full of warm, glowing feelings, full of high hopes and eager aspirations. And that life was nourished and sustained by the continued progress of the gospel. The tidings of their faith gave him a sense of life, a spiritual energy, a joy analogous to that joy in the mere sense of living which we experience sometimes in the bloom of youth and health. But his joy was wholly spiritual; the life of Christ in other souls seemed to stimulate the energies of the same Divine life in himself; he felt the water of life within him springing up with renewed freshness, as he listened to the glad words of Timotheus telling him how the Thessalonians were standing fast in the Lord. They were in the Lord, as he was—in the sphere of his gracious presence, of his Divine working; and to be in the Lord is life, for he is the Life. Spiritual life consists in union with him, without whom we can do nothing. The Thessalonian Christians were in him; so was St. Paul. Their life and his life came from the same Source. The knowledge of their faith and love, their spiritual life, quickened the Divine life that lived in him. III. HIS . 1. He thanks God for them. He regards thanksgiving as a return due to Almighty God for his mercies. So the psalmist, "What shall i render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?" He fulfills his own precept, "In everything give thanks." Thanksgiving is the outflow of a loving heart. The love of God is the very essence of religion; and the more we love him, the more fervent will be our thanksgivings. St. Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians, for their faith and love: for faith and love come from God, who is the Object of faith, who alone can increase our faith; who is Love, from whom, the highest Love, cometh all pure and holy love. 2. He thanks God for his own joy. Holy joy is the fruit of the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit, the foretaste of the joy of heaven; it must issue in thanksgiving. St. Paul’s joy was full and complete. He thanks God for all the joy wherewith he was joying. There were no shadows to darken its brightness; he had heard of no backslidings among the Thessalonians. And it was pure; it could bear the all-seeing eye of God. "We joy before our God," he says. There was no element of selfishness, no earthly pride, no lower motive, to defile it. Such joy in the salvation of souls is indeed heavenly; it is like the ineffable joy wherewith the blessed rejoice before the throne. 3. He adds prayer to his thanksgiving. Prayer and thanksgiving ever go together; they act and react upon one another. Prayer leads to thanksgiving; thanksgiving lends increasing energy to prayer. (1) He prayed night and day. The quiet of the night is a time for holy thoughts. The psalmist thought of the Name of God in the night season, and received comfort. The Christian prays; he watches with Christ as he lies yet awake on his bed. He prayed night and day. While working at his daily labor, the hard work of weaving the goats’ hair, he ever prayed. So it is with Christians now. They "Ply their daffy task with busier feet, Because their secret souls some holy strain repeat." (2) He prayed exceedingly. "Above measure," the words mean literally. The more we pray, the more we love prayer. The prayers of the Christian increase in fervor, in earnestness, and in delight, the nearer he draws to God. Prayer occupies more and more of his time; it tends to assume more and more its proper place as the great work of life, the most important part of each day’s business. St. Paul’s love for the Thessalonians deepened the importunity of his intercession. (3) He prayed that he might see their face. To see a good man’s face, to hear his voice, to touch his hand, is a source of true pleasure. St. John trusted to speak face to face with his Christian friends, "that our joy," he says, "may be full." So was it with St. Paul. (4) That he might be enabled to do them good. He had been but a very short time with them. He wished to give them further instruction, to fill up what was lacking in their knowledge. Christians may be living near to God, but there is always room for further advance in knowledge and in holiness. A saint of God like St. Paul can always do us good. Learn: 1. To rejoice in the spiritual progress of others. 2. To thank God for it. 3. To take delight in intercourse with holy men.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 - St. Paul’s prayer for his converts. I. GOD HIMSELF IS THE ONLY GIVER OF ALL GOOD THINGS. 1. He can give the apostle and his converts the great joy of another meeting. The Thessalonians might be zealous in their religious duties; St. Paul might pray exceedingly, above measure; but it is God himself, not any creature, from whom all goodness flows. The word au)to&j ("himself") is emphatic. He only can save; he only is the Giver of joy. He is our God, therefore he is able; he is our Father, therefore he is willing to help us. His is the kingdom and the power and the glory, and he loves us with a Father’s love. The apostle adds the Savior’s Name: "God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ." He addresses Christ in the language of direct prayer. He uses, too, a verb in the singular number. There can be no satisfactory explanation of this, save that furnished by our Lord’s own words, "I and my Father are one." From him only, the Triune God, cometh every blessing. He can bring St. Paul again to the Thessalonians. He will, if it is good for him and for them. 2. He can increase in them the great grace of charity. Love is the chiefest of all graces; it expels all manner of sin little by little from the heart which it fills; it consumes selfishness little by little with its heavenly fire. It must abound in the Christian’s heart, for it is the best of all treasures; it must be fervent, intense, for lukewarmness is hateful to the Lord. It must be wide in its range; for that love which rests on some men because they are agreeable, and excludes others because they do not please, is merely human; not of God—mere natural affection; not the precious grace of holy love. God loved the world; the measure of his love is the gift of his Son. His saints in their poor way must imitate him. He only can make them abound in love; for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Love is the best gift of the good Spirit of God. We must covet earnestly that great grace, and seek it from him of whose only gift it cometh. II. GOD CAN FULFILL THE GOOD WORK WHICH HE BEGAN. 1. Holiness comes from him. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord; and it is God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth the elect people of God. He can cleanse the thoughts of the heart by his Divine inspiration. He can make the soul that was unclean pure and blameless. We must listen to his voice speaking in our hearts. He checks us when we are tempted to sin; he calls us ever onwards to holiness, to self-consecration, to closer union with Christ. It is our part to recognize his awful presence, to shrink with godly fear from grieving the indwelling Spirit, to make silence in our hearts to listen to his voice, to pray with ever-deepening earnestness, "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." 2. He can enable us to persevere. The psalmist says, "O God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed." That fixedness, that establishment of the heart in holiness, cometh from God; it is his gift. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." We need to be rooted and grounded in love, to be strengthened with all might by his Spirit in the inner man. Then we shall persevere unto the end; then we shall be found unblamable in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. St. Paul ever looked forward to that second coming; it filled the whole range of his hopes. So ought Christians now to live, "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." LESSONS. 1. St. Paul prays that God would direct his way to Thessalonica. We may pray for the great blessing of intercourse with those whom we love; but it must be "in the Lord," in humble submission to his will. 2. But above all things we should pray for their continued growth in grace and holiness, in preparation for the coming of the Lord.—B.C.C. BY R. 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13 - The subject is still Great desire to see the Thessalonians. I. PAUL ALONE AT ATHENS. "Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone." There is continued the use of the plural; but it is to be regarded as corrected by the use of the singular in the fifth verse. The correction relates to the mission of Timothy, which is to be understood as covering Paul’s being left behind at Athens. For want of full materials it is difficult to understand the bearing of what is said in the Acts of the Apostles on what is said here. But the most probable account of matters seems to be the following. Silos and Timothy were left behind at Beraea. They that conducted Paul from Beraea brought him as far as Athens; and immediately returned with a commandment unto Silos and Timothy that they should come to him with all speed. Here comes in the link which is given here: Wherefore (i.e. on account of his endeavor to see the Thessalonians having twice proved abortive) when he could no longer forbear (i.e. when he was necessitated to give some relief to his feeling of being orphaned), he thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone. This was a change of plan, but arising out of the very best feeling. He sent on to Beraea a second commandment, that Timothy should proceed to Thessalonica before joining him, Silas meantime remaining at Beraea. In that case Paul was really left behind at Athens, though not with the greatest literalism. He was left behind from the point of view of Timothy going on to Thessalonica, and also of his intention to have had Silas and Timothy with him at Athens. It was the being alone at Athens that made him think of sending for Silas and Timothy, while his conductors from Beraea had not yet left. He felt the atmosphere to be so oppressive beyond his expectations that he longed for their fellowship. And while he was waiting for them, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, the feeling did not abate. He went forth into this beautiful city which was associated with the greatest intellectual refinement. And, though a man of gigantic intellect, he was not attracted to the study of its works of art or philosophies. No, it was the gospel sandals with which his feet were shod. It was in the light of Christ that he contemplated the city. Its principal works of art were temples. There on the Areopagus was a temple of Mars, with the subterranean sanctuary of the Furies. On the prominent Acropolis was the Parthenon, or temple of Athene, the protectress of the city, and, next to it in magnificence, the Erectheum with its presiding deities. A third rock was associated with Jove. There was an altar of Prometheus within the groves of the Academy; the Lyceum was dedicated to Apollo. At every turn were structures connected with idolatrous worship, and, among the many, the eye of the apostle detected an altar with this inscription, "To the Unknown God," from which he afterwards took occasion to preach to the Athenians some of the elementary truths of religion. It was while alone in this city full of idols, oppressed by its false forms of religion, that he longed for Silas and Timothy to come on to him. But, strong as his desire for their fellowship was, it was soon overmastered by another, viz. desire toward the Thessalonians, for the gratification of which he was willing to make sacrifice by remaining alone at Athens. II. MISSION OF TIMOTHY WITH TO THE . "And sent Timothy, our brother and God’s minister in the gospel of Christ." Timothy is sometimes called Paul’s son; he is here called his brother. He was a son who had already grown up to be a companion and associate in work. He was one to whom Paul gave commandment, yet it was properly to God that he stood or fell. The sphere in which he ministered to God was the gospel of Christ. It was his duty generally to bring the gospel of Christ to the wants of men. But let us think of it as his duty specially to bring the gospel of Christ to the wants of the Thessalonians. 1. Timothy was to seek to influence them against their being moved by the pressing afflictions. "To establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith; that no man be moved by these afflictions." The afflictions, not confined to the Thessalonians, but having the first reference to them, are regarded as present. It was Thessalonian afflictions that forced Paul to leave Thessalonica much sooner than he had intended. It was in a manner Thessalonian afflictions that followed him to Beraea. At the time of sending Timothy he may have had late information of the things suffered by the Thessalonians of their own countrymen. By indications, then, he could only think of the afflictions as what might any moment be experienced by them. In consequence of these afflictions Timothy was sent to establish them. It was work which might expose him to the attacks of the virulent Jews of Thessalonica; and this establishing work is usually committed to older men. But that by which he was himself established was his message. And it was to this that he was to look for establishing the Thessalonians. He was to exhort them (not comfort them) concerning their faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions. He was to hold up persuasively before them the gospel of Christ, that their faith thereby being strengthened, they might be kept from apostatizing. 2. There was reason for their not being moved by the afflictions. "For yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed. For verily, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction; even as it come to pass, and ye know." The Thessalonians, and Paul as well, and not they alone, were appointed to suffer affliction. It was the sovereign, all-wise decree of God that, through the affliction of his people, the gospel was to be spread abroad, and transmitted to future generations. And that was a reason why they were not to be moved in affliction. They were not being made the sport of chance, or simply left to the will of their enemies; but they were submitting to the reasonable necessary appointment of their heavenly Father, and that along with others. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ .—With this chapter the second portion of the Epistle—its practical application-commences. The apostle exhorts and entreats the Thessalonians to make progress in the Christian life, and to practice those commandments which, when he was with them, he gave them by the authority of Jesus Christ. God had called them to holiness and to the renunciation of their heathen practices. They must especially be on their guard against impurity, to which as Gentiles they were formerly so prone. He who rejected his injunctions rejected, not man, but God, whose commands they were. As they were already taught of God in the active practice of Christian love, so they must abound therein. They must not allow themselves to be led away by excitement, as if the day of Christ were at hand, but with quietness and honesty perform the duties of their earthly calling, and so commend the gospel to unbelievers. And with regard to their anxiety concerning the fate of their deceased friends, they were to be comforted by the thought that the dead in Christ would be no losers at the advent, but would rise first, and, along with the living, would be caught up to meet the Lord at his coming, and so they shall all be united in one holy fellowship with him. 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Furthermore; literally, finally; for the rest—introducing the closing or practical part of the Epistle. The apostle uses the same word elsewhere at the close of his Epistles. Then; or rather, therefore; connecting this exhortation with the closing verses of the last chapter: In order that you may be established un-blamably in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, you must do your part, you must earnestly strive after holiness. We; to be restricted to Paul. Beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus; or rather, in the Lord Jesus; that is, in fellowship with him—the sphere or element within which the apostle besought and exhorted the Thessalonians. He wrote as the organ or instrument of the Lord Jesus. That as ye have received of us. Paul here appeals to the exhortations which he gave them during his residence among them at Thessalonica. How ye ought to walk and to please God; how you ought to conduct yourselves so as to please God. The walking was the means of pleasing. The R.V., after these words, on the authority of manuscripts, adds, "even as ye do walk." So ye would abound more and more. The apostle acknowledges their Christian walking; they had already entered upon the road; their conduct was sanctified; but he exhorts them to abound therein with still greater care and fidelity. 1 Thessalonians 4:2 For ye know; appealing to their memory in confirmation of what he had said. What commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus; or, through the Lord Jesus; that is, not merely by his authority, but by means of him, so that these commandments did not proceed from Paul, but from the Lord Jesus himself. We have here, and indeed in this chapter throughout, an assertion of the inspiration of the apostle: the commandments which he gave to the Thessalonians were the commandments of the Lord Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God. The phrase, "the will of God," has two significations in Scripture: the one is the determination of God—his decree; the other is his desire, that in which he delights—a will, however, which may be frustrated by the perversity of his creatures. It is in this latter sense that the word is here employed. Even your sanctification; complete consecration; holiness taken in its most general so. use. Our holiness is the great design of Christ’s death, and is the revealed will of God. Some (Olshausen, Lunemann) restrict the term to moral purity, and consider the next clause as its explanation (comp. Romans 12:1). That ye should abstain from fornication; a vice fearfully prevalent among the heathen, and which, indeed, they hardly regarded as wrong. Especially it was the great sin of Corinth, from which the apostle wrote, the patron goddess of which city was Venus. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess. The word here rendered "possess" rather signifies "acquire." The R.V. renders the clause, "that each one of you know how to possess himself of;" hence it admits of the translation, "to obtain the mastery over." His vessel. This word has given rise to a diversity of interpretation. Especially two meanings have been given to it. By some it is supposed to be a figurative expression for "wife," in which sense the word is used, though rarely, by Hebrew writers. Peter speaks of the wife "as the weaker vessel" (1 Peter 3:7). This is the meaning adopted by Augustine, Schott, Do Wette, Koch, Hofmann, Liinemann, Riggenbach; and, among English expositors, by Alford, Jowett, Ellicott, and Eadie. This meaning is, however, to be rejected as unusual and strange, and unsuitable to what follows in the next verse. The other meaning—"one’s own body"—is more appropriate. Thus Paul says, "We have this treasure," namely, the gospel, "in earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7; comp. also 1 Samuel 21:5). The body may well be compared to a vessel, as it contains the soul. This meaning is adopted by Chrysostom, Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, Olshausen, Meyer; and, among English expositors, by Macknight, Conybeare, Bishop Alexander, Wordsworth, and Yaughan. In sanctification and honor. What the apostle here requires is that every one should obtain the mastery over his own body, and that whereas, as Gentiles, they had yielded their members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, they should now, as Christians, yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness (Romans 6:19). 1 Thessalonians 4:5 Not in the lust of concupiscence—not in the passion of lust (R.V.)—even as the Gentiles which know not God; and therefore from whom nothing better was to be expected. The moral sense of the heathen was so perverted, and their natures so corrupt, that they looked upon fornication as a thing indifferent. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 That no man go beyond; or, transgress. And defraud; or, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, oppress, or, overreach; wrong (R.V.). His brother. Not an exhortation against dishonesty, or prohibition against all attempts to overreach in usual mutual intercourse, as the words would at first sight seem to imply, and as some consider it (Hofmann, Lunemann, Riggenbach); but, as is evident from the context, a continuation of the former exhortation, a prohibition against impurity. In any matter; or, more properly, in the matter, namely, that about which I have been discoursing. "An example of the modest reserve and refined delicacy which characterize the holy apostle’s language in speaking of things which the Gentiles did without shame, and thus, by a chaste bashfulness of words, commending the duty of unblemished purity in deeds" (Wordsworth). ‹ ›Because the Lord is the Avenger of all such; either of all such as are thus defrauded or of all such sinful practices. As we also have forewarned you and testified. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God hath not called us unto; or, for the purpose of. Uncleanness; moral uncleanness in general. But unto; or, in; in a state of Holiness; or sanctification; the same word as in the third verse; so that holiness is the whole sphere of cur Christian life. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 He therefore that despiseth; or, as it is in the margin, rejecteth (R.V.). What is rejected is either the above commands to moral purity, or the Christian calling to holiness, or, better still, Paul himself, as the organ of God. Despiseth; or, rejecteth. Not man; that is, not me, as if the commands were given from myself—were of mere human origin. But God; the Giver of these commands. So also Peter said unto Ananias, "Thou hast not lied unto man, but unto God" (Acts 5:4); and our Lord says, "He that rejecteth you rejecteth me" (Luke 10:16). Who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. If this is the correct reading, then the apostle here again asserts his own inspiration, and that in the strongest and plainest terms. The best manuscripts, however, read, "who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you" (R.V.)—a strong enforcement of holiness, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit was given them for the express purpose of producing holiness within them. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 The apostle now proceeds to a new exhortation. But as touching brotherly love. Brotherly love is the love of Christians to Christians, that special affection which believers bear to each other; a virtue which was carried to such perfection in the primitive Church as to call forth the admiration of their heathen adversaries. This virtue is often inculcated in Scripture (Hebrews 13:1; 1 John 3:14), and is distinguished from love in general (2 Peter 1:7). Ye need not that I write unto you; a delicate and gentle reproof. For ye yourselves are taught of God. We are not here to think of the new commandment of brotherly love given by the Savior, nor on the Divine compassion exciting us to love; but "taught of God" by the influences of the Spirit on their hearts and consciences to love one another. 1 Thessalonians 4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. Not only to those in Thessalonica, but to all believers in your country and neighborhood. But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; that ye make progress in brotherly love—that it increase in purity, in warmth, and in extent. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study; literally, that ye be ambitious. To be quiet; to avoid unrest, to live in peace. Worldly ambition excludes quietness and prompts to restlessness; so that the apostle’s admonition really is, "that ye be ambitious not to be ambitious." The unrest which disturbed the peace of the Thessalonian Church was not political, but religions; it arose from the excitement naturally occasioned by the entrance of the new feeling of Christianity among them. It would also appear that they were excited by the idea of Christ’s immediate advent. This had occasioned disorders, and had caused several to neglect their ordinary business and to give themselves over to an indolent inactivity, so that Christian prudence was overborne. Perhaps, also, the liberality of the richer members of the Church was abused and perverted, so as to promote indolence. And to do your own business; to attend to the duties of your worldly calling, to avoid idleness. And to work with your own hands. From this it would appear that the members of the Thessalonian Church were chiefly composed of the laboring classes. As we commanded you. A precisely similar exhortation is given in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good" (Ephesians 4:28). 1 Thessalonians 4:12 That ye walk honestly; that is, honorably; seemly. Toward them that are without; without the pale of the Christian Church, toward those who are not Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, the unbelieving world. So also, in another Epistle, the apostle says, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without" (Colossians 4:5). That ye may have lack of nothing; either neuter, of no thing; or perhaps rather masculine, of no man; that ye be under no necessity of asking assistance either from heathens or from fellow-Christians; inasmuch as working with your hands will put you in possession of what is necessary for life; whereas idleness necessarily involves poverty and dependence on others. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 With this verse the apostle proceeds to another subject, namely, to comfort those who were mourning the death of their friends. It would appear that the Thessalonians were in perplexity and distress concerning the fate of their deceased friends, fearing that these would miss those blessings which they expected Christ to confer at his advent. Their views of the time and nature of the advent and of the future state in general were confused. They expected that Christ would come immediately and establish his kingdom on earth; and consequently they feared that those who had died would be excluded from it. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren; a phrase often used by the apostle, when he makes a transition to new and important matters (comp. Romans 1:13; Romans 11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8). Concerning them which are asleep; or, are fallen asleep. The death of believers in the New Testament is frequently called "sleep." "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth" (John 11:11). Of Stephen it is said that "he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60). "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep" (1 Corinthians 11:30). "Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (1 Corinthians 15:18). "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (l Corinthians 15:51). "He fell asleep" is a common epitaph on early Christian tombstones. It is to be observed that it is not of the dead generally that the apostle speaks, but of the dead in Christ, and especially of those members of the Thessalonian Church who had died. That ye sorrow not. Some suppose that sorrow for our deceased friends is here utterly prohibited; inasmuch as if we had a firm belief in their blessedness we would rejoice and not mourn. But the sorrow here prohibited is a despairing and an unbelieving sorrow; we are forbidden to sorrow as those who have no hope, no belief in a blessed resurrection. The tears of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus have authorized and sanctified Christian sorrow. "Paul," observes Calvin, "lifts up the minds of believers to a consideration of the resurrection, lest they should indulge excessive grief on occasion of the death of their relatives, for it were unseemly that there should be no difference between them and unbelievers, who put no end or measure to their grief, for this reason, that in death they recognize nothing but destruction. Those that abuse this testimony so as to establish among Christians stoical indifference, that is, an iron hardness, will find nothing of this nature in Paul’s words." Even as others; literally, as the rest; namely, the heathen. Which have no hope; no hope of immortality beyond death, or no hope of the resurrection. The heathen, with very few exceptions, had no hope of a future life, and hence they mourned over the death of their friends as an irreparable loss. This disconsolate feeling is apparent in their writings (for examples, see Lunemann, Alford, and Jowett, in loco). 1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. The apostle’s argument proceeds on the supposition that Christ and believers are one body, of which Christ is the Head and believers are the members; and that consequently what happens to the Head must happen to the members. Our knowledge and belief of a future state, and especially of the resurrection, is founded on the resurrection of Christ. Even so them also which sleep in Jesus; or more literally, through Jesus. Will God bring with him; namely, with Jesus. These words are differently construed. Some read them thus: "Even so them also which sleep will God through Jesus bring with him" (De Wette, Lunemann); but this appears to be an awkward construction; as we must then render the clause, "will God through Jesus bring with Jesus." It is, therefore, better to refer the words, "through Jesus," to the first clause. It is through Jesus that believers fall asleep; it is he who changes the nature of death, for all his people, from being the king of terrors into a quiet and gentle sleep, from which they will awaken to eternal life. 1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord; or rather, by a word of the Lord. The apostle does not refer to those portions of the gospel which record our Lord’s discourses concerning the last things; nor to some sayings of Christ preserved by tradition; but to a direct revelation made unto himself by the Lord. We know from Scripture that Paul had many such revelations imparted to him. That we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. These words are the occasion of an important discussion. It has been affirmed that the apostle here asserts that he himself expected to be alive, with the majority of those to whom he was writing, at the Lord’s advent; that, according to his expectation, Christ’s second coming was close at hand. "Those who are alive and remain" are distinguished from "those who are asleep," and in the former class the apostle includes himself and his readers. And a similar declaration is contained in the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51). Such is the view adopted by Grotius, Olshausen, Koch, Neander, Lechler, Baur, Winer, Reuse, Lunemann, Riggenbach; and, among English divines, by Alford, Jowett, Stanley, and Conybeare. Some of them suppose that Paul changed his opinion on this point—that whilst in his earlier Epistles he taught the immediateness of the advent, in his later Epistles he renounced this hope and looked forward to his own departure. There does not seem to be any ground for this opinion. On the contrary, it would appear from the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, written only a few weeks after this Epistle, that Paul did not expect the advent immediately, but mentions a series of events which would intervene before its occurrence (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). And in this Epistle he represses the curiosity of the Thessalonians about the precise time of the advent by telling them that it was beyond the sphere of his teaching (1 Thessalonians 5:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:2). We consider, then, that the apostle speaks here as a member of the Christian body, and uses a very common form of expression—that we Christians which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord; but not at all intending to express his confidence that he himself and his converts would be actually alive at the advent. "He spake," says St. Chrysostom, "not of himself, but of Christians who would be alive at the day of judgment." Such is the view adopted by Chrysostom, Calvin, Bengel, Hofmann, Lunge, Macknight, Ellicott, Bishop Alexander, Wordsworth, and Vaughan. At the same time, it must be remembered that the time of the advent was expressly concealed (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7), and that it might occur at any period; and, by reason of their proximity to the first advent, the primitive Christians would be deeply impressed with the possibility or even probability of its occurrence in their days. Christians were to be living always in readiness for this great event, and thus it became a matter of expectation. "Strictly speaking, the expectation of the day of the Lord was not a belief, but a necessity in the early Church; clinging as it did to the thought of Christ, it could not bear to be separated from him; it was his absence, not his presence, that the first believers found it hard to realize" (Jowett). Hence Paul might not regard the advent as far removed into the distant future, as wholly impossible to happen in his days, but as an occurrence which might at any time take place; but he did not teach anything definite or certain on the subject. £ Shall not prevent; go before or anticipate, obtain the preference over, get before, so that those that are asleep might be left behind and fail of the prize. Them that are asleep; those who are dead, so that they, the living, should be glorified before them, or perhaps hinder their glorification. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For; assigning a reason for the above assertion, "because." The Lord himself; not merely the Lord as the chief Person and Actor on that day, in contrast to his saints, but emphatic, "the Lord himself," the Lord in his own proper Person. Shall descend from heaven; where the crucified and risen Jesus is now enthroned, seated at the right hand of God. With a shout; a word denoting a commanding shout as that of a leader to his host when he leads them into the battle, or of the army when it rushes to the fight. Some refer this shout to what follows—the voice of the archangel and the trump of God; but there are three particulars here mentioned. Others attribute it to Christ himself. With the voice of the archangel; or rather, of an archangel. There is only one archangel mentioned in Scripture (Jude 1:9); the word denotes, not "chief angel," but "chief or ruler of the angels." Accordingly, same suppose that Christ himself is here meant, as to him alone, it is asserted, does this title belong; but the Lord and the archangel are here evidently distinguished. Others strangely imagine that the Holy Ghost is here meant. Others fix on the archangel Michael (Jude 1:9). Christ is represented as accompanied by angels to the judgment; and it is futile to inquire who this leader of the angels is. And the trump of God; even as the trumpet sounded at the giving of the Law from Sinai. Also the advent of Christ to judgment is represented as heralded by the sound of a trumpet (Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Corinthians 15:52). "We are to recognize three particulars, following each other in rapid succession—the commanding shout of the King himself, the voice of the archangel summoning the other angels, and the trump of God which awakens the dead and collects believers" (Riggen-bach). And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Some suppose that the reference here is to the first resurrection; that the righteous, "the dead in Christ," shall rise before the wicked, "the dead not in Christ;" and that a thousand years, or the millennium, will intervene between the first and second resurrections (Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:5). But this is an entirely erroneous supposition. All that is here asserted is that the dead in Christ shall rise before the living in Christ shall be changed; there is no contrast between the dead in Christ and the dead not in Christ, nor any allusion to the resurrection of the wicked. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain; or, are left; that is, the saints who shall then be found alive on the earth. The apostle classes himself among the living, because he was then alive. Shall be caught up. The expression describes the irresistible power with which the saints shall be caught up, perhaps by the ministry of angels. Together with them; with the dead in Christ who are raised. In the clouds. Our Lord is described as coming to judgment in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7). According to the Old Testament representation, God is described as making the clouds his chariot (Psalms 104:3). To meet the Lord; in his descent from heaven to earth. In the air. Not that he shall fix his throne in the air, but that he passes through the air in his descent to the earth. And so shall we ever be with the Lord; shall share a blessed eternity in the vision and participation of his glory. The apostle does not here describe the solemnities of the judgment; but stops at the meeting of Christ and his risen saints, because his object was to comfort the Thessalonians under bereavement. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words; on the ground of that Divine revelation which I have made unto you. 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:7 - Holiness the design of revelation. Holiness is the end aimed at in all the dispensations of God. (1) God has chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy (Ephesians 1:4); (2) Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14); (3) the Holy Spirit is conferred to sanctify us (Titus 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:13); (4) the Word is the instrument of sanctification (John 17:17); and (5) God chastens us in order that we might be made partakers of his holiness (Hebrews 12:10). In short, holiness is salvation—our restoration to the moral image of God. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 - Brotherly love. 1. Its nature. It is a love to all believers as believers, as being the children of the same Father, the brethren of the same Savior, the members of the same family, the sharers of the same grace, and the expectants of the same glorious immortality. To all men we are related by a common humanity, but to Christians we are still more closely related by a common Christianity. 2. Its manifestations. It will show itself in acts of kindness done to believers, in preferring their company to that of worldly men, and in conversing with them on religious subjects. 3. The evidence arising from brotherly love. It is a proof that we are not of the world, that we love God and that we are Christ’s friends and disciples. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 - Quietness and faithfulness in worldly duties. 1. Quietness. A true Christian is of a quiet and retiring disposition; he shrinks from worldly bustle; he is free from worldly ambition; like the lily of the valley, he loves the shade; he knows that this is not his home, and he looks for a better country, even a heavenly. 2. Faithfulness. A true Christian faithfully performs his worldly duties, because be believes them to be assigned him by the Lord; and he labors assiduously at his calling, because he recognizes it as the law of Providence that if any man do not work neither shall he cat. 1 Thessalonians 4:12 - Honesty. 1. Its nature. We must guard against commercial dishonesty; all attempts to go beyond and defraud our brother; all overestimating what we sell, and underestimating what we buy; all shrinking from the payment of debts; all mean practices to gain customers. 2. Its importance. Temptations to dishonesty in this commercial age. Dishonesty combined with religious profession gives occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. We must walk honestly toward them that are without. The independence and loftiness of character which honesty imparts. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - The death of friends. 1. The Christian’s sorrow for the death of friends. All sorrow not here forbidden; only commanded not to sorrow as those who have no hope. The Christian sorrow is a submissive sorrow, which discerns the hand of God; a holy sorrow, which improves the affliction; a disinterested sorrow, which, whilst it mourns over the loss, is comforted at the thoughts of the happiness of the departed; an enlightened sorrow, which looks forward to the future, and regards our separation from our departed friends as being neither final nor complete. 2. The Christian’s improvement of the death of friends. It teaches us the vanity of the world, the power of religion, and the necessity of preparation for our own death. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 - Resurrection of believers. The ground of their resurrection rests on their union to Christ and on his resurrection. Not only are their souls immortal, but their bodies shall be redeemed from the grave. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God will call them from their graves, and, endowed with spiritual bodies, they shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The resurrection is purely a doctrine of revelation; it formed no part of the religion of nature; the natural analogies which are adduced are defective in essential points. BY T. 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:2 - The importance of living in harmony with the Divine will. The practical part of the Epistle begins at this point. I. MARK THE MANNER OF THE APOSTLE’S ADDRESS. "We beseech you and exhort by the Lord Jesus." He does not speak in the language of command, much less assume the air of a lord over God’s heritage, but meekly and affectionately in the way of entreaty. But there was all the force of authority in the very entreaty because it was grounded in the Lord Jesus as its source and element. II. THE NATURE OF HIS REQUEST. "That according as ye received from us how ye ought to walk and please God, ye would abound yet more." 1. It is the duty of a minister to enforce moral duties as well as gospel doctrines. Scripture knows nothing of antinomianism except to condemn it. It is necessary for ministers to expound duty as well as doctrine. 2. It is possible to please God in holy walking. This does not imply that the saints’ acceptance depends upon themselves, but that God is pleased with what a believer does in faith from a principle of love, in the grace of Christ, for the Divine glory. "The Lord taketh pleasure in his people." Even when our hearts condemn us, "he upbraideth not" (James 1:5). 3. It is necessary to increase in godliness. "So ye would abound yet more." (1) The apostle recognizes their begun sanctification. The best texts add the words, "even as also ye walk." (2) He enforces the necessity of making further increase in holy walking. There must be an "exercising of themselves unto godliness," a resolute "going on unto perfection" in the exercise of every grace, in the discharge of every duty, "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). III. OF THE . "For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." 1. The apostle’s position was purely ministerial, for he merely delivered what he bad received from the Lord. 2. The moral duties he enjoins are based in the gospel of Christ, which supplies the motives to a full-hearted obedience.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - Sanctification, a Divine Arrangement. "For this is God’s will, your sanctification." The first duty expressed is personal holiness. I. THE NATURE OF . 1. It implies the consecration of all our faculties and powers, both of body and mind, to God’s service. 2. It implies personal purity in heart and life. We are to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). II. THE GROUND OF THE . 1. It is God’s will. That ought to stimulate to exertion and encourage to prayer. "Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God." 2. It was the design of Christ’s death; for he "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). III. THE MEANS OF . 1. It is by the truth. "Sanctify them by thy truth: thy Word is truth." 2. It is by his ordinances. 3. It is by his providences. (Psalms 119:71; Hebrews 12:10; Romans 2:4.) 4. It is, above all, by the Spirit of holiness, as its sole Author.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - Warning against sins of impurity. The apostle comes at once to particulars. "That ye should abstain from fornication." Though adultery and incest were crimes among the heathen, fornication was not accounted a sin at all. Therefore we can understand the emphatic place which is assigned to this sin in the synodal letters to the Gentile Churches (Acts 15:20-29), The Gentiles "walked after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness." I. THE OF THIS SIN. 1. It is a sin against God. So Joseph regarded it (Genesis 39:9). The law to restrain from this sin is grounded in the reason, "For I the Lord am holy" (Leviticus 19:2), The Divine nature which believers share through grace is quite inconsistent with "the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4). This sin is likewise inconsistent with the design of the gospel of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:29, Ephesians 4:30). 2. It is a sin against our neighbor. This is implied in the seventh commandment. 3. It is a sin against our own bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:18.) Sinners dishonor their own bodies (Romans 1:24). 4. It is a sin against the soul. "Whoredom takes away the heart" (Hosea 4:11). II. THE FATAL OF THIS SIN. 1. It Wastes the body. (Job 20:11.) 2. It wars against the soul. (1 Peter 2:11.) 3. It causes shame. (Proverbs 6:33; Ephesians 5:12.) 4. It entails poverty. (Proverbs 6:26.) 5. It excludes from the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 6:10.)—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:4-8 - How personal purity is to be maintained. The sanctification which is God’s will requires that "every one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust." The vessel is not a wife, but a man’s own body. If it meant a wife, it might be said that every man would be bound to marry. The wife is no doubt called the "weaker vessel," the evident meaning of the term of comparison being that the husband is also "a vessel;" I. HOW THE BODY IS TO BE USED. 1. Negatively. (1) It is not to be regarded as outside the pale of moral obligation, as antinomian perverters say, basing their error on the words of the apostle, "It is not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me;" "In me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing." (2) It is not to be injured or mutilated by asceticism, after Romish example. The apostle condemns "the neglecting of the body" and "the not sparing of the body" (Colossians 2:23). (3) It is not to be made "an instrument of unrighteousness" through sensuality—"not in passion of lust." Sensuality is quite inconsistent with the very idea of sanctification. 2. Positively. (1) The body is to be kept under control; the Christian "must know how to possess himself of his own vessel." He "must keep under the body;" he must make it servant and not master, and not allow its natural liberty to run into licentiousness. (2) He must treat it with all due honor—"in sanctification and honor;" (a) because it is God’s workmanship, for "we are fearfully and wonderfully made;" (b) because it is "the temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 6:19); (c) because it is an heir of the resurrection; (d) because it is, and ought to be, like the believer himself, "a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use," for the body has much to do in the economy of grace. II. AGAINST . 1. The knowledge of God received by the Christian ought to guard us against it. The apostle here attributes Gentile impurity to ignorance of God. "Even as the Gentiles who know not God." The world by wisdom knew not God, was alienated from the life of God, and thus sunk into moral disorder. The apostle shows in the first chapter of Romans how God, as a righteous retribution, gave over the idolatrous Gentiles to all sorts of moral dishonor. 2. Another dissuasive is the regard we ought to have for a brother’s family honor. "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in this matter." A breach upon family honor is a far worse offence than any breach upon property. The stain is indelibly deeper. 3. Another dissuasive is the Divine vengeance. For "the Lord is the Avenger concerning all these things." If the vengeance does not reach men in this world, it will in the next, where they will have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. They shall "not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9). 4. The nature of the Divine call is another dissuasive. For "God did not call you for uncleanness, but in sanctification." They had received "a holy calling," a "high calling;" and though "called unto liberty," they were "created unto good works." They were "called to be saints;" for God says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." 5. Another dissuasive is that the sin involves a despisal of God, who has given us his Holy Spirit that we may attain to sanctification. "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit." God has ordered all our family relations, and any dishonor done to them involves a contempt of his authority. We have in this passage God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—interested in man’s salvation and holiness.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:10 - Inculcation of brotherly love. The apostle next reminds the Thessalonians of the duty of abounding in brotherly love. I. THE NATURE OF THIS LOVE. 1. It is the affection of those who are children of the same Father. (Galatians 4:26.) Members of the same "household of faith" (Galatians 6:10). "Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him’ (1 John 5:1). 2. It is a practical love. "Not in word only, bat in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). It showed itself in "labors of love," add especially through the whole of Macedonia. 3. It was a duty thoroughly understood by believers, because they were "taught of God to love one another" in both Testaments. 4. It was the test of regeneration. (1 John 3:14.) 5. It was a token of discipleship. (John 13:35.) 6. It was essential to the growth of the Church. (Ephesians 4:16.) II. THE MOTIVES TO THIS LOVE. 1. The command of Christ. (John 13:34.) 2. The example of Christ. (Ephesians 5:2.) 3. The glory of Christ in the world is promoted by it. (John 13:35.) 4. It will be a powerful means towards the world’s conversion (John 7:21.) III. THE OF THIS LOVE. 1. In bearing one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). The Thessalonians several years afterwards showed this spirit, as we see by 2 Corinthians 8:1, 2 Corinthians 8:2, toward the Churches of Macedonia. 2. "In honor preferring one another" (Romans 12:10). 3. "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another" (Colossians 3:13). 4. "Not suffering sin upon a brother" (Leviticus 19:17).—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:12 - Inculcation of the duty of quiet and honest industry. "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you." I. A WARNING AGAINST THREE AND MODES OF LIFE. 1. They were to guard against a spirit of restlessness. "That ye study to be quiet." There had, perhaps, arisen an unsettlement of mind on account of their belief in the nearness of Christ’s advent, as well as some uneasiness on account of the fate of their deceased brethren. It led to a desultoriness of life little effective for any good end. The apostle, therefore, counsels sedateness and calmness. We ought to live "a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1 Timothy 2:2). 2. They were to guard against a meddling and pragmatical spirit. "Do your own business." Love naturally inclines us to "look not on our own things, but also on the things of others" (Philippians 2:4), but it must not prompt either to the neglect of our own business or to undue interference with that of others. We must not be "busybodies in other men’s matters." 3. They were to guard against idleness. "Work with your own hands." The converts probably belonged mostly to the artisan class. The belief in the nearness of the advent had unhinged their minds, and led them to neglect the duties of their secular calling. Industry is a commanded duty. "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called" (1 Corinthians 7:20). The Thessalonians needed to be reminded of it, for he had occasion to speak of it in his first visit. Idleness has peculiar temptations. II. MOTIVES TO THE OF THESE DUTIES. "That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have need of nothing." 1. We are to have consideration to the opinion of those without. They may misjudge us, yet their judgments may be often true. We must not repel them by our inconsistencies of conduct. We must give "none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully" (1 Timothy 5:14). 2. We are to provide a supply for our own wants, (1) so as to support ourselves respectably, (2) and to enable us to supply the need of others. Christianity is above all things a self-respecting religion, and has the promise even "of the life that now is." Mendicancy is essentially degrading.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - Sorrow for the dead. The apostle next refers to the share of the Christian dead in the coming of Christ, respecting which some misapprehensions seem to have existed at Thessalonica. I. THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IS A CAUSE OF DEEP SORROW TO . Such sorrow is instinctive, and is not forbidden by the gospel: for "Jesus wept" at the grave of Lazarus, and the friends of Stephen "made great lamentation over him." True religion does not destroy, but restrains, natural affections. II. THERE IS A BETWEEN AND HEATHEN SORROW. That of the heathen is extravagant, because there is "no hope" in the death of their relatives. It is "the sorrow of the world," which is utterly uncheered by hope. The sorrow of the Christian is sober, and chastened by the hope of the gospel. III. THE CAUSE OF SORROW. 1. It was not that there was a denial or doubt of the resurrection from the dead, such as existed at Corinth. 2. Nor was it that the resurrection was regarded as past already, according to the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus. 3. But it was that it was feared the Christian dead would not be raised to share with the living in the coming glories of the advent. IV. THE HAS CHANGED DEATH INTO A SLEEP. "Those that are asleep." 1. There is nothing in the word to justify the idea of the soul’s unconsciousness in the period between death and resurrection. 2. Sleep implies an awaking. This will occur at the resurrection. Thus the hope of the Church is the hope of the resurrection. V. THE OF EXACT THE FUTURE DESTINY OF THE SAINTS. "I would not have you ignorant." Ignorance of the truth mars our spiritual comfort.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:15 - Reasons against sorrow for the dead. The apostle gives several reasons why the Thessalonians ought not to sorrow for their dead. I. THE REASON IS THE DEATH AND OF CHRIST. "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again." These are the primary facts of Christianity. They are inseparably linked together, for the resurrection was the crown of the redeeming sacrifice; for if he was delivered for our offences, he was raised again for our justification. Deny either or both, we "are yet in our sins." II. THE SECOND REASON IS, WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN FROM THE FATHER’S RIGHT HAND, HE WILL BRING WITH HIM THE SAINTS. "Even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1. The dead saints sleep in Jesus. They arc associated with him both in life and in death. They "die in the Lord;" "they are present with the Lord." 2. They will accompany Jesus at his second coming. This includes (1) their resurrection from the dead,—for "he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:14); (2) their joining the retinue of Jesus to share his triumph. As risen from the dead, he becomes "the Firstfruits of them that slept." III. THE THIRD REASON IS THAT THE LIVING SAINTS WILL NOT PRECEDE THE DEAD SAINTS AT THE COMING OF CHRIST. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep." This fact would effectively dissipate their sorrow for their departed friends. 1. It is a fact wade known by special revelation. Such revelations were frequently made to the apostle, as in the case of his special mission field (Acts 22:18-21), the position of Gentile saints (Ephesians 3:3), the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23), and the reality and proofs of Christ’s resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3). 2. It is a fact that does not imply either the nearness of the second advent, or the apostle’s own share as a living man in its glories. He says, "We which are alive and remain to the coming of Christ;" he merely identifies the living believers of the last age with himself, as if he said, "Those of us Christians who may be alive at the advent." He could not have believed that he would not die before the advent, for (1) that would imply that "the word of the Lord" had misled him; (2) he actually preferred to be absent from the body, and toward the end of his life spoke of death as "gain," and of his desiring "to depart and be with Christ," words quite inconsistent with this theory; (3) he virtually declares in the Second Epistle that the advent could not happen in his lifetime (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17.); (4) he knew that no man, not even the Son of man, knew the time of the advent (Mark 13:1-37:42). 3. It is a fact that the living saints will not get the start of the dead saints in the coming of the Lord. This is his express revelation from the Lord. "The dead in Christ shall rise first," or before the living are changed (1 Corinthians 15:1-58.). The Thessalonians need not, therefore, sorrow for their departed friends, neither be afraid themselves to die.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 - The order of events at the second advent. The apostle justifies his statement by a fuller revelation of the truth. He sets forth the order of events. I. THE DESCENT OF THE LORD FROM HEAVEN. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." 1. It will be a descent of our personal Lord. "No phantom, no providential substitute, no vicarious spirit;" the same Person that ascended is he that will descend 2. It will be a descent with awe-inspiring accompaniments. (1) "With a signal shout" by the Lord himself, which will be taken up and prolonged by (2) "the voice of the archangel;" for he is to come, "bringing with him all the holy angels" (Matthew 25:31); and (3) "the trump of God," for "the trumpet shall sound" (1 Corinthians 15:52), and "he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31). It is God’s trumpet because employed in his heavenly service. It will be the sound of a literal trumpet, like that which was heard upon Sinai (Exodus 19:16, Exodus 19:19). These various sounds are to herald the descent of the Lord, and to gather the elect together from the four winds of heaven. II. THE OF THE DEAD SAINTS. "And the dead in Christ shall rise first." There is no allusion to the resurrection of the wicked. The apostle is concerned at present with the destinies and glories of a single class. So far from the sainted dead being overlooked, the priority of resurrection is to belong to them. III. THE CHANGE OF THE LIVING SAINTS. This wonderful transformation is here rather implied than asserted. "For we shall not all die, but we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51). IV. THE OF BOTH CLASSES OF SAINTS. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air." 1. As one united band, the saints, in spiritualized bodies, will be caught up in clouds—those "clouds which are his chariot"—just as he himself ascended "in a cloud," and "a cloud received him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9). The new bodies of believers will be able to pass with ease through the air. 2. The saints will then "meet the Lord in the air"—not in heaven as he leaves it, nor in earth as he approaches it, but between heaven and earth. The apostle does not say whether they will at once descend to earth and return with him to heaven. He is silent upon the question of the judgment or the entry into final glory. V. THE OF THE SAINTS WITH THE LORD. "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1. It will be a meeting without a parting. The intercourse begun will have an endless duration. Believers shall "go no more out." 2. It implies an intimate fellowship with the Lord. 3. It will be the fulfillment of our Lord’s prayer: "That they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory" (John 17:24). VI. THE OF ALL THESE TRUTHS. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Chase away your sorrow; the dead are not lost or forgotten; they shall share in the glories of the advent. There was surely deep and lasting consolation in such truths.—T.C. BY B.C. CAFFIN 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:2 - Exhortation. ST. PAUL’S . 1. He beseeches. He has finished the personal part of his letter; he has told them of his love, his constant remembrance of them, his prayers for them, his thanksgiving; he has reminded them of the close spiritual ties which bound them to him. Now he beseeches them to persevere. He knows the exceeding difficulty of maintaining a Christian life in this sinful world; he knows the momentous issues that depend on perseverance; he loves his converts with an intense love; therefore he beseeches. He uses all means of persuasion in turns. Now he commands, now he beseeches. Sometimes entreaty is more prevailing than commandment, gentleness than authority. No qualities are more important in the work of the ministry than a genuine love for souls, a real and evident anxiety for the spiritual welfare of our people. St. Paul beseeches; it is an example to all Christian ministers. 2. He exhorts them in the Lord Jesus. Christian people need all manner of encouragement, comfort, exhortation. That exhortation prevails which is in the Lord Jesus. His presence, his grace, himself, is the sphere of the Christian’s spiritual activity. He who lives habitually in "that fellowship which is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," is best able to lead others to God and heaven. For he who hath the Son hath life. The Lord Jesus is the Life; and he who hath that life himself, hath from the life that abideth in him the warmth, the fervor, the holy enthusiasm, without which religious exhortation has no power, no reality. "In the Lord Jesus." Mark how frequently those words, "in Christ," "in the Lord," are on the lips of St. Paul. It is a constant formula with him. But it is a formula full of life, full of holy meaning. "Not I, Christ liveth in me." 3. He reminds them of his former teaching. He had given them a charge, and that through the Lord Jesus. He had received of the Lord that which he delivered unto them. The commandments were not his; they were the commandments of Christ. He had received them from Christ; and through Christ’s appointment, guidance, presence, he delivered them to the Thessalonians. He appeals to their recollection. They knew them; they had the knowledge; that knowledge involves a deep and solemn responsibility. The Lord tells us in the Gospel of the condemnation that hangs over the careless servant who knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will. Hence the force of the apostle’s words, "Ye know." Much had been given to them, much would be required. It is a warning to be always remembered, to be urged constantly upon ourselves, upon those who are brought in any way under our influence. "Ye know." Knowledge, if it issue in obedience, is exceeding precious; knowledge without obedience involves an awful danger. "Ye know;" therefore we must use that knowledge, that precious talent entrusted to our keeping. The tremendous alternative lies before us—the blessed words, "Welt done!" or the sentence that fills the heart with shuddering awe, "Thou wicked and slothful servant!" 4. He urges them to continual progress. He had taught them how to walk and to please God. The subject of his practical teaching was how to walk, not how to talk. They must walk in the Spirit, he had told them; their daily life in all its details and circumstances must be guided by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth," is the key-note of the true Christian life. Thus living they would please God. To please God is the highest Christian ambition; the consciousness of pleasing him is the highest Christian joy. But walking implies progress. Standing still is dangerous; it must issue in backsliding. They must go on from strength to strength; they must forget those things that are behind, and press on to those that are before. The grace of God abounds; it is without limit. He giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. So must the Christian abound more and more in the exercise of the graces communicated to him by God; he must work the works of righteousness with ever-increasing energy, as the grace of God more and more fills his heart. LESSONS. 1. Do all things in the Name of the Lord Jesus; learn by experience the meaning of those deep words, "in the Lord." 2. Remember that knowledge implies responsibility. 3. Strive to maintain continual progress in all Christian graces, in faith, hope, love, humility, patience.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 - The law of purity. I. PURITY OF HEART. 1. The will of God the rule of the Christian life. To please God is the strongest desire of the true Christian; and we please him by obedience. The Lord delighteth not in outward observances as he doth in "obeying the voice of the Lord." The Christian’s prayer is, "Thy will be done." The standard of that obedience is the obedience of the angels in heaven. It is above our reach; but it is what we are bidden to aim at, what we are told to pray for in our daily prayers. It should be the effort of our lives to lift ourselves up, by the grace of God assisting us, nearer and nearer to that heavenly rule. Without that grace we are helpless; but "I can do all things," says St. Paul, "through him that strengtheneth me." 2. The will of God is our sanctification. He willeth that all men should be saved; but salvation is possible only through sanctification; for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Sanctification is the separation from all that is evil, the entire consecration of the whole man to the service of God, the gradual conforming of the human will to the blessed will of God. Christ is our Sanctification. "He of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification." Faith brings us near to him, and he becomes our Righteousness; then the work of sanctification begins. It is a progressive work, slow and gradual. The more the believer grows in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more does that blessed knowledge exert its hallowing power. The beauty of holiness, the sweetness of fellowship with God, the glories of his coming kingdom, are more and more deeply felt. Then, when the affections are set upon things above, and the heart’s love is centered upon God, the soul reacheth forth after Christ, longing above all things to be like him, yearning after holiness with a strong, intense desire, eagerly striving to purge itself from the defilement of sin, and to advance ever onwards in the work of sanctification; and that because the Lord. Jesus Christ dwelleth there himself, and the pulses of his love beat in the converted heart. He is our Sanctification. He abideth in his people’s heart by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All holy desires, all good counsels, all just works, come from him—from his inspiring, elevating present. This is the will of God; this is what God would have us to be. It is a very high and heavenly state; yet in its various degrees it must be by the grace of God within our reach. For he is the God of truth; his promises are not deceitful; his commandments do not mock us with a standard impossible of attainment. II. PURITY OF LIFE. 1. Chastity. The apostle is writing to converts who but a short time before had been heathens. It was necessary to speak very plainly and solemnly on this subject; for the heathen commonly regarded that impurity, which is so great a sin in the sight of God, almost as a thing indifferent. But the will of God is our sanctification, and sanctification involves purity. Without sanctification we cannot see the Lord; but the pure in heart shall see him. God is light; in him is no darkness at all. There is something awful in the stainless purity of the starry heavens. As we gaze into them, we feel ourselves oppressed with an overwhelming sense of our own uncleanness. It is a parable of the ineffable purity of God. In his sight the heavens are not clean. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil; therefore only the pure in heart can see his face. That inner purity covers the whole spiritual life. It implies freedom from all lower motives—all that is selfish, earthly, false, hypocritical; it is that transparency of character which flows from the consciousness of the perpetual presence of God. But that inner purity, which is so large an element in sanctification, involves the perfect purity of the outward life. Religion is not morality, but it cannot exist without morality. It transcends morality, but it implies it. This was not the teaching of the religion which the Thessalonians had abandoned. That admitted immorality. Their very gods were immoral. They were served, not by purity of life, but by sacrifices and outward rites often leading to impurity. Hence the urgency of the apostle’s appeal Amid the evil surroundings of a heathen town, living in an atmosphere of depraved public opinion, new converts were exposed to constant and great dangers. St. Paul reminds them that holiness, without which there is no salvation, is impossible without chastity. Fornication is not, what they once deemed it, a thing indifferent. It is an awful sin against God. Christianity has taught us this. We know it well. We wonder at the light way in which heathen writers speak of abominations which now we shrink from naming. But the sin exists still in terrible strength. It hides itself, indeed; it walketh in the darkness; Christianity has driven it there. But still, alas! it slays its thousands and its ten thousands. It cuts a soul away from God with a fearful rapidity. It fills the man with impure images, unholy desires. It drives out of the heart the thought of God. The soul that is tainted with this foul leprosy cannot pray. It cannot endure the thought of the presence of God in his heart-searching nearness, in his awful purity. Impurity destroys the possibility of the slightest approach to that sanctification without which we cannot see God. Hence the necessity of the apostle’s earnest words, "The will of God is your sanctification; and there can be no sanctification if ye live in uncleanness." 2. Honor. The unclean life of the heathen cities was full of sin and shame. The Christian life is truly honorable. The Christian’s body is a holy thing. It has been dedicated to God. It is "for the Lord" (1 Corinthians 6:13). The Christian must acquire a mastery over it in honor. He must yield his "members as instruments of righteousness unto God." The Christian husband must give honor to his wife. Christian marriage must be honorable, for it is a parable of the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church. The life of holiness and purity is a thing to be honored. Those who honor holiness honor God, who is the most holy One, the one Fountain of holiness. 3. The knowledge of God. The heathens knew not God. They might have known him. He had manifested in the works of creation his eternal power and Godhead. But they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. Their false gods resembled men, not only in their form, but also in their sins and uncleanness. Men had framed a conception of Deity from their own corrupt nature, and that conception reacted powerfully upon their character. Their gods were like them, and they were like their gods. The Thessalonian Christians had learned a holier knowledge. They must not live like the heathen, who knew not the true and living God. Their knowledge must act upon their life. They must be pure. 4. Impurity is a sin against man. "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." Impure desires assume the form of love; uncleanness usurps and degrades the sacred name of love. The sensual man ruins in body and in soul those whom he professes to love. He uses words of tenderness. He is the most cruel, the deadliest enemy in his wicked selfishness. He cares not for the nearest and holiest ties. He sins against the sanctity of matrimony. He brings misery upon families. Seeking only the gratification of his own wicked lust, he transgresses and wrongs his brethren. But his sin will bring swift punishment upon him. The Lord is the Avenger in all such things. He called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Sanctification is the very sphere in which the new life moves and energizes. Uncleanness is utterly alien to it. The Lord who called us in sanctification will punish with that awful vengeance which belongeth to him all who for their wicked pleasure sin against their brethren. 5. It is a sin against God. God hath given us his Holy Spirit. He hath given that great gift "unto you," the apostle says—to you Thessalonians. He gave it once, he is giving it still. It is this great fact which makes uncleanness in Christians a sin of such exceeding awfulness. Their bodies are the temples of God the Holy Ghost. To bring impure thought into that most sacred presence, to defile that body which he has taken to be his Church and shrine, is an outrage, an insult to that Divine Majesty. Such a man hath done despite to the Spirit of grace. Of what punishment shall he be thought worthy? The Spirit of purity cannot abide in an impure heart. He will depart, as he once departed from Saul. There are awful things in Holy Scripture said of those who resist the Holy Ghost, who will not listen to his still small voice speaking in the heart, but continue to vex him by willful and persistent disobedience, till at last his voice is heard no more, and his gracious influences are quenched. It is enough to fill the thoughtful Christian with shuddering awe when he reflects on that sanctification which the Word of God requires, and contrasts it with the fearful prevalence of sins of impurity. LESSONS. 1. Long after holiness, pray for it, struggle for it with the deepest yearnings of the heart, the most earnest efforts of the life. 2. Flee from the slightest touch of impurity—the thought, the look, the word. It is a deadly poison, a loathsome serpent; it stingeth unto death. 3. Remember God the Holy Ghost dwells in the Christian’s heart. Keep thyself pure.—B.C.C. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 - The law of love. I. ON ITS SIDE. 1. It is taught by God. God is love, and love is of God. The Church of God is the school of love. God himself is the great Teacher. He teaches us by his own example. "So God loved the world, he gave his only Son;" "The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me." The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ reveals to us the blessed love of God. God the Holy Ghost teaches his people to comprehend with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. He shows us something of his own blessed love, and bids us learn of him. "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." We are his disciples, his pupils; we learn of him. What should we learn, if we learn not to love? It is the great task of life. Our lives are wasted if we have not learned that holiest lesson before we die; for heaven is the home of love. There is no place there for the soul that hath not learned to love. God is the Teacher. He had taught the Thessalonians. They did love the brethren. They needed not, the apostle says in his tenderness, a human teacher. 2. Yet St. Paul exhorts them. For love is a debt which is never fully paid. The great lesson of love is never fully learned. We are dull scholars. Our natural selfishness keeps us back. We need every incentive, every help. There must be a continual growth. To stand still is to lose ground. We must urge ourselves, we must urge others, to abound more and more. The Lord Jesus is our Example. "As I have loved you," he says. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ .—With regard to the time of that glorious advent when believers, whether dead or living, will be gathered together to Christ, the Thessalonians had already been fully instructed. They knew well that the day of the Lord would come suddenly and unexpectedly, and surprise an ungodly world. But they were not in darkness so as to be taken by surprise. Still, however, they must exercise constant watchfulness and sobriety, and be armed with the Christian graces of faith, love, and hope, being comforted with the assurance that God had not appointed them to wrath, but to the acquisition of salvation through Jesus Christ, who died for their benefit, in order that, whether living or dead, they might share in the blessings of his advent. Now follows a series of short admonitions. The Thessalonians were to love and honor their ministers, to live in peace among themselves, to admonish the disorderly, to encourage the faint-hearted, to support the weak, and to exercise forbearance toward all men. They were to be on their guard against revenge, to preserve Christian joyfulness, to be constant in prayer, and to maintain a thankful disposition. They were not to quench the Spirit, nor despise prophesyings, but were to test all things, retaining the good and rejecting the evil. And it was his earnest prayer for them that God would so completely sanctify them that they might be blameless at the advent of the Lord Jesus. After requesting an interest in their prayers, and solemnly charging them to read this Epistle to the assembled Church, the apostle concludes with his apostolic benediction. 1 Thessalonians 5:1 This verse is connected with what precedes. The apostle was comforting the Thessalonians under the loss of their deceased friends by the assurance that both the living and the dead would be gathered together at the advent. The question would naturally arise, "When shall these things be?" (Luke 21:7); and it would appear that the Thessalonians expected an immediate advent. The apostle represses their curiosity on this point by reminding them of the uncertainty of the time of the Lord’s coming. But of the times and the seasons, brethren; that is, of the time and the precise period of the Lord’s advent. "Times" and "seasons" are elsewhere united together (Ecclesiastes 3:1-22.; Daniel 2:21; Acts 1:7). The word translated "times" denotes time absolutely without regard to circumstances; and the word rendered "seasons" denotes a definite point of time; not merely the day, but the hour (Mark 13:32). Ye have no need that I write unto you; literally, that ought be written unto you (R.V.); comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:9. The reason why it was not needful for the apostle to write unto them was, not because he regarded the information unprofitable or superfluous, or because he knew it to be impossible, but because he had already informed them when at Thessalonica that the time of the advent was beyond the sphere of his teaching. The apostle mentions this to repress that vain curiosity which is natural to man, and which was the occasion of so much disorder among the Thessalonians. Our duty is, not to pry into the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power (Acts 1:7), but to exercise constant watchfulness. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly; namely, not from Scripture, nor from oral tradition, but from the teaching of the apostle when in Thessalonica. That the day of the Lord. "The day of the Lord" is a common Old Testament expression, denoting the coming of the Divine judgments (Joe 1:15; Joe 2:1); and by the phrase here is meant, not the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the day of one’s death, but the day of the Lord’s advent, when Christ shall descend from heaven in glory for the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of the world. The idea of judgment is contained in the term "day." So cometh as a thief in the night. The same comparison is used by our Lord himself (Matthew 24:43; Luke 12:39), and the very words are employed by Peter (2 Peter 3:10). The point of resemblance is evidently the unexpectedness and suddenness of the coming. The thief comes upon people in the night season, when they are asleep and unprepared; so, in a similar manner, when Christ comes, he will find the world unprepared and not expecting his advent. The ancient Fathers inferred from this passage that Christ would come to judgment in the night season, and hence they instituted vigils, or night watches. Some, still more precisely, fixed the coming on Easter night, from the analogy of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt on the paschal evening. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 For; the best manuscripts omit this conjunction; the description is continuous. When they shall say; namely, the unbelieving world. Peace and safety; peace denoting internal rest, and safety external security. Sudden destruction cometh upon them. When they thought themselves most secure, they were then in the greatest danger; when they were most off their guard, then the crisis came. As travail upon a woman with child. The primary point of resemblance is certainly the suddenness and unexpectedness of the event; as labor comes upon a woman suddenly, so sudden destruction cometh upon the ungodly world. Still, however, the unavoidableness of the judgment may also be here intimated; there is no possibility of escape: this is implied in the last clause, and they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:4 But ye, brethren; ye believers, in opposition to the unbelieving world. Are not in darkness; referring back to the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2), when the thief comes. By darkness is here meant, not merely ignorance, but moral depravity—the darkness of sin. Ye are not in the ignorant and sinful condition of the unredeemed world, so as to be surprised by the day of the Lord. With you it is not night, but day; the light of the gospel is shining around you; and therefore the day of the Lord’s coming will not surprise you in an unprepared state. That; a statement, not of result, but of purpose—"in order that." That day; the day; namely, the day of the Lord. Should overtake you—surprise you—as a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 Ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day. Hebraistic expressions denoting, Ye all belong to the light and to the day. An affirmation, strengthening the previous declaration. The light and the day are synonymous expressions—the day being the period of light, as opposed to the night and darkness. We are not of the night, nor of darkness; rendering the positive assertion more emphatic. 1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore; because we are the children of the, light and of the day, because we have been enlightened and purified, we ought to be watchful and sober, so that we may not be unprepared for the day of the Lord. Privileges will avail us nothing, unless we use them and walk up to them. Let us not sleep. Sleep is hero evidently used metaphorically to denote religious carelessness. As do others; the unbelieving and ungodly. But let us watch and be sober; evidently to be understood metaphorically of spiritual vigilance and sobriety: watchfulness denoting wakefulness from sleep, and sobriety freedom from intoxication. Both must be combined: we must be watchful, on our guard, and we must be sober, armed and prepared; "for even by day," observes St. Chrysostom, "if one watches, but is not sober, he will fall into numberless dangers." The same exhortation is given by Peter, but in the reverse order: "Be sober, be vigilant" (1 Peter 5:8). 1 Thessalonians 5:7 For; the reason of this exhortation. They that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. Here not to be taken in a metaphorical sense, but a simple statement of fact—what occurs in ordinary experience. The night is the season in which sleep and drunkenness usually occur; whereas the day is the season of watchfulness, sobriety, and work. Both heathen and Jews considered it as eminently disgraceful for a man to be seen drunken in the day-time. Hence, when the Jews accused the believers on the day of Pentecost with being filled with new wine, Peter answered, "We are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day" (Acts 2:15). 1 Thessalonians 5:8 But; contrast to the conduct of those who are of the night: let us not only be watchful, but armed. The apostle now adopts a favorite figure, that of spiritual armor. The arms which he here mentions are only two—the breastplate to protect the heart, and the helmet to guard the head; they are both defensive weapons, because the reference here is not so much to the believer’s conflict with evil, as to his defense against surprise. And by these spiritual weapons are denoted the three cardinal graces—faith, love, and hope (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Let us who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love. By "faith" is here meant faith in Christ; and by "love," not so much love to God as love to man. These preserve the heart of a Christian against the assaults and influences of evil, as the breastplate guards the heart of the earthly warrior. And for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Salvation in its most comprehensive sense. The hope of salvation sustains our courage amid all the trials of life by holding out to us the prospect of eternal blessedness. Vigilance is of no avail unless armed by faith, hope, and love. In the Epistle to the Ephesians there is a still fuller enumeration of the Christian armor (Ephesians 6:14-18); and there is a slight difference in the description of the weapons. Here the apostle speaks of the breastplate of faith and love; there of the breastplate of righteousness and of the shield of faith. Here the helmet is called the hope of salvation; there the apostle speaks of the helmet of salvation. And besides these defensive weapons, other weapons of defense and the sword, a weapon of offence, are mentioned. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 For. Not a new reason for watchfulness and sobriety, but referring to "the hope of salvation," why we may with confidence put on such a hope as a helmet. God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain—or, to the acquisition of—salvation by—or, through—our Lord Jesus Christ. Not through the doctrine of Christ, nor even through faith in Christ, but through the Lord Jesus Christ himself, through what he has done for us, and especially through his atoning death. The appointment of God’s grace is here mentioned as the efficient cause of our salvation; and the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Mediator through whom salvation is bestowed. 1 Thessalonians 5:10 Who died. His death being the meritorious cause of our salvation. For us; that is here, not "instead of us," but "for our benefit," or "on our account." That, whether we wake or sleep. Here not to be taken in an ethical sense—whether we are spiritually awake or asleep, for those who are spiritually asleep will be surprised by the coming of the Lord; nor in a natural sense—whether he come in the night and find us taking our natural sleep, or in the day, when we are awake—which would be a mere trifling observation; but in a metaphorical sense—whether we are alive or dead. The apostle has just been speaking of those who are dead under the designation of those "who are asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:13), and therefore it is natural to interpret the clause, "whether we wake or sleep," of the condition of believers at the coming of the Lord. There is here certainly a change of metaphor: "sleep" in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 denotes religious carelessness; in 1 Thessalonians 5:7, natural sleep; and here, death. We shall live together—or, in one company—with him. The apostle is still continuing his consolatory address to those who were mourning over their deceased friends; and he tells them that at the advent there will be no difference between those who are then alive and those who sleep—both will live together with the Lord (comp. Romans 14:8, Romans 14:9). 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Wherefore; because, whether alive or dead, you will equally share in the blessings of the advent. Comfort yourselves together. The words refer back to the last verse of the preceding chapter (1 Thessalonians 4:18), and with them the apostle concludes his consolatory address to those who were mourning over the loss of their friends. And edify one another; or, build up. It was a favorite figure of the apostle to compare the Christian Church and each individual believer to a building. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 With this verse commences a new paragraph. The apostle adds in conclusion a few brief and somewhat miscellaneous exhortations. And we beseech you, brethren; an expression of earnestness and affection. To know; that is, to value, appreciate, and esteem. Them which labor among you. It was Paul’s custom to organize the Churches which he had founded, and to appoint presbyters among them. Although the Church of Thessalonica had been so recently founded, yet it had its presbyters. And are over you. The presbyters, in virtue of their office, presided over the Christian assemblies. In the Lord; the sphere in which they were set over the Church; they were ordained to minister in sacred things. And admonish you. There are not three classes or orders of office-bearers here mentioned—those who labored among them, those who presided over them, and those who admonished them (Mac-knight); but all these duties belonged to one class, namely, the presbyters. 1 Thessalonians 5:13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake; that is, both on account of their labors, and especially on account of the dignity of their office, for their work is the work of the Lord. Both love for their persons and respect for their authority are here enjoined. And; to be omitted, as not in the original. Be at peace among yourselves. A new exhortation, entirely independent of the preceding; it is not addressed to the presbyters, but to the members of the Church in general. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren; an exhortation also addressed to all. Warn them that are unruly; or, as in the margin, disorderly (R.V.). Different modes of treatment have to be adapted to different classes; the unruly have to be warned. The word here rendered "unruly" or "disorderly" was originally a military term expressing the character of those soldiers who would not keep their ranks—out of the ranks. It would seem from this and other intimations that disorders existed among the Thessalonians; and that, especially being impressed by a belief in the near approach of the advent, several of them neglected the common duties of life, and abstained from working. Comfort the feebleminded. By "the feeble-minded" are meant the desponding or faint-hearted; those who were agitated about the fate of their deceased friends, or those who despaired of the grace of God by reason of their sins. These were not to be reprimanded, but comforted and exhorted. Support the weak. By "the weak" are not meant those who are physically weak—the sick; but those who are spiritually weak, whose faith was feeble—those who were afraid of persecution, or were troubled with vain scruples. These were to be supported—confirmed in the faith, be patient toward all men; all men in general, whether believers or unbelievers; toward them patience and forbearance were to be exercised. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any. The prohibition of revenge is peculiarly Christian, neither corresponding to the spirit of heathenism, nor yet clearly revealed in Judaism. A precisely similar prohibition is given in Romans 12:17, "Recompense to no man evil for evil." But ever follow; pursue after. That which is good; the good, the beneficial. Both among yourselves; your fellow-Christians. And to all men. The human race in general; the one being brotherly kindness and the other charity (2 Peter 1:7). 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice evermore; or, rejoice always (R.V.). Joy is that feeling of delight which arises from the possession of present good, or from the anticipation of future happiness; and in both respects the believer has abundant reason for constant joy. He possesses the blessedness of forgiveness and the sure prospect of eternal life, and he has the consciousness that all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28). God wishes his people to be happy, and does not suffer them to be indifferent to their own peace. He commands them to rejoice, yea, to rejoice evermore. "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. The means of promoting religious joy is prayer. This prayer is to be "without ceasing," implying constancy (Colossians 4:2) and perseverance (Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; Luke 18:1). This is not a mere precept "capable of fulfillment in idea, rather than in fact" (Jowett); but it is an exhortation to live in a devotional frame of mind. It is impossible to be always on our bended knees, but we may be in the spirit of prayer when engaged in the duties of our earthly calling. Prayer may be without ceasing in the heart which is full of the presence of God, and evermore communing with him. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks. In every circumstance—in joy and in sorrow; for everything—for prosperity and for adversity; in every place—in the house of God and on the bed of sickness; Christians should not only be engaged in constant prayer, but in constant thanksgiving; indeed, their prayers should partake largely of the nature of thanksgiving. For this; this thankful spirit. Is the will of God; his desire. In Christ Jesus; the sphere in which this will of God is displayed. Concerning you. God by the gift of his Son has laid us under the obligation of perpetual thanksgiving. Our whole lives ought to be one continued thank-offering for all the blessings of redemption. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit. The Spirit is here considered as a flame which may be extinguished (Matthew 3:11). The descent of the Spirit at Pentecost was in the form of cloven tongues like as of fire (Acts 2:3). By the Spirit here is usually understood the miraculous gifts of the Spirit—speaking with tongues or prophesyings; and it is supposed that the apostle here forbids the exercise of these gifts being hindered or checked. In the next verse the gift of prophesying is mentioned. But there is no reason to exclude the ordinary and still more valuable gifts of the Spirit, such as pure thoughts, holy actions, devout affections, which may be effectually quenched by a careless or immoral life. "Quench not the Spirit." Do not those things which are opposed to his influences. Be on your guard against sin, as opposed to the work of the Spirit in the soul. In this sense the admonition is similar to that given by Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God" (Ephesians 4:30). 1 Thessalonians 5:20 Despise not prophesyings. This refers to the miraculous gift of prophecy possessed by the primitive Church. And by prophesyings here we are to understand, not the prediction of the future, but inspired discourse, conducive to the instruction and edification of the Church. "By the term ’prophesying,’" observes Calvin, "I do not understand the gift of foretelling the future, but the science of interpreting Scripture, so that a prophet is an interpreter of the will of God." This useful gift, it would seem, was apt to be despised, and the inferior miraculous gift of tongues to be preferred before it (1 Corinthians 14:1-3). 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things. This exhortation is closely connected with the preceding. "Prove all things," namely, whatever was advanced by the prophets in their inspired discourses. "Prove" here means to test, as metals are tested in the fire; and hence the word frequently denotes the favorable result of the testing, or approval. There was a special gift of discerning spirits in the primitive Church (1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Corinthians 14:29). But although the words primarily refer to the testing of prophetic utterances, yet they have a general application. We should not rest our faith on the authority of others. The right of private judgment is the characteristic and privilege of Protestantism. We ought thoroughly to examine all doctrines by the test of Scripture, and then, discerning their reasons, we shall be able to take a firmer hold of them. At the same time, the fundamental principle of rationalism, that reason as such is the judge of the doctrines of revelation, is not contained in these words, and cannot be inferred from them. Hold fast; retain. That which is good; the good, the beautiful, the honorable; a different word from that rendered "good" in 1 Thessalonians 5:15. We are to retain whatever is good in those "all things" which we are to prove or test, namely, in the prophesyings. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. This verse is connected with the last, and states negatively what is there stated positively. Test the declarations of the prophets; retain the good, and reject the evil. The word translated "appearance" has been differently rendered; it denotes form, figure, species, kind; so that the clause is to be rendered, "Abstain from all form of evil" (R.V.), or, "of the evil," the word being an abstract substantive. The whole exhortation is similar to that given in Romans 12:9, only there the negative statement is put first: "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Some suppose that the metaphor employed is from the practice of money-changers who tested the money offered to them, rejecting what was base and retaining what was genuine. Among the Fathers we meet with the phrase, "Be ye experienced money-changers," as a traditionary saying of our Lord; and some suppose that the apostle refers to this saying, and give the following paraphrase: "The good money keep; with every sort of bad money have nothing to do; act as experienced money-changers: all the money presented to you as good, test." Such a supposition is fanciful and far-fetched. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace; the God who communicates peace; an expression frequently employed by Paul at the close of his Epistles (Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; Philippians 4:9; 2 Corinthians 13:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:16). Sanctify you wholly; that is, perfectly, without anything wanting, referring to the entireness of the sanctification, which is presently expressed in detail. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body; the adjective "whole" applies to all the three substantives. The apostle here divides human nature into three parts—spirit, soul, and body; and this threefold division is not a mere rhetorical statement: "The apostle pouring forth from the fullness of his heart a prayer for his converts" (Jowett); but a distinct statement of the three component parts of human nature. The "spirit" is the highest part of man, that which assimilates him to God; renders him capable of religion, and susceptible of being acted upon by the Spirit of God. The "soul" is the inferior part of his mental nature, the seat of the passions and desires, of the natural propensities. The "body" is the corporeal frame. Such a threefold distinction of human nature was not unknown among the Stoics and Platonists. There are also traces of it in the Old Testament, the spirit, or breath of God, being distinguished from the soul. Be preserved blameless. "The spirit is preserved blameless at the advent when the voice of truth rules it, the soul when it strives against all the charms of the senses, and the body when it is not abused as the instrument of shameful actions" (Lunemann). Unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you. Paul knows that he does not beseech God in vain. He who calls you to the Christian faith is faithful to fulfill his promises. God’s calling is the commencement of a series which terminates in glorification (Romans 8:30). A similar appeal to the faithfulness of God is elsewhere made by the apostle (1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:3). Who also will do it; namely, will preserve you blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:25 Brethren, pray for us; namely, that our apostolic work may be successful; that "the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified" (2 Thessalonians 3:1). The apostle, in almost all his Epistles, requests from his converts an interest in their prayers (Romans 15:30; 2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 6:19; Colossians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; comp. Hebrews 13:18). Ministers and people need each other’s prayers, and prayer is a duty which they owe to each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. That certain persons were enjoined to salute the other members of the Church is a proof that the Epistle was given into the hands of the presbyters. The reference is to the mode of salutation in the East. The kiss is called "holy" because it was the symbol of Christian affection. The same exhortation is made in other Epistles (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12). 1 Thessalonians 5:27 I charge you; namely, the presbyters. By the Lord; namely, Christ, an indirect proof of his Divinity, the adjuration being in his Name. The reason of this solemn charge was, not on account of any remissness on the part of the presbyters, but was occasioned by the earnestness of the apostle and by his consciousness that what he wrote was most important to the Thessalonians, and was the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. That this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren; unto the Church of Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. A similar salutation is to be found at the close of all Paul’s Epistles; indeed, in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, he states that this salutation was the token which he affixed to his Epistles (2 Thessalonians 3:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:18). Amen. To be rejected, as not in the original. 1 Thessalonians 5:6 - Watchfulness and sobriety. The day of the Lord is uncertain as regards its time. The early Christians were mistaken in regarding that time as at hand, and we perhaps may be equally mistaken in regarding it as distant. But there is an event which to each of us is, to all intents and purposes, the same as "the day of the Lord," which is both near and uncertain—the day of our death. Let us be watchful, so that that day may not overtake us in an unprepared state; and let us be sober, never indulging ourselves in any course of action in which we would not wish death to surprise us. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 - Spiritual armor. We must not only be watchful, but be armed sentinels. To guard against surprise we must especially provide ourselves with two defensive weapons. 1. The breastplate of faith and love. By faith in Christ and love to man we shall effectually preserve our hearts against evil influences. Faith imparts courage, and love preserves us from selfishness, the great inlet to evil. The stronger and the more living our faith, and the purer and the more active our love, the more completely shall we be guarded against evil. 2. The helmet of the hope of salvation. By "the hope of salvation" we shall preserve our head from being filled with the idle dreams of worldly happiness, whether of power or fame. Hope will defend us from being seduced by the world’s pleasures or allured by the world’s honors. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - Christian forgiveness. 1. Its peculiarity. Forgiveness of our enemies is pre-eminently a Christian virtue. It had no place in the morality of the heathen. The utmost they could attain to was, "Thou shall love all men except those who have wronged thee." It was very obscurely revealed in the Old Testament. The ancient saints did not distinguish between sinners and their sins; hence David’s bitter curses against his and the Lord’s enemies. Jesus Christ was the first to lay special stress on forgiveness. 2. Its properties. Forgiveness must be free, full, and universal; no feelings of enmity or ill will to any of our fellow-men ought to lodge in our hearts. We must imitate the example of our Savior, who on the cross prayed for the forgiveness of his murderers. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - Religious joy. 1. Its sources. Religious joy springs from four sources: from the relation in which believers stand to God, and then it is the joy of love; from the interest which they have in Christ, and then it is the joy of faith; from the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and then it is the joy of holiness; and from the hopes which they have of heaven, and then it is the joy of hope. 2. Its properties. Religious joy is ordinarily calm; it is serious; it may be often interrupted; it is purifying; it is generally greater at peculiar seasons; and it is often sensibly felt at the hour of death. 3. Means of obtaining it. We must live by faith in Christ, guard against seeking our chief happiness in any creature-good, and be diligent in the performance of our religious duties. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - Unceasing prayer. We ought not only to have stated hours of prayer, but to be continually raising up ejaculatory prayers, carrying on a constant intercourse between God and our souls; our prayers should be like the angels which Jacob saw continually ascending the mystic ladder to the throne of God. Unceasing prayer implies: 1. A devotional spirit: walking with God. 2. Ejaculatory prayer: our thoughts rising in prayer amid our daily occupations. 3. Perseverance in prayer: not leaving off until our prayers are answered. 4. Regularity in prayer: carefully keeping the appointed seasons for prayer. 5. Conjunction of thanksgiving with our prayers: realizing God’s mercies and grace. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 - Quenching the Spirit. 1. How we may quench the Spirit. We quench the Spirit by the commission of grievous sins, by the indulgence of sensuality, covetousness, pride, and the irascible passions, and by formality and lukewarmness in our religion. 2. How we may cherish the Spirit. We cherish the Spirit by earnest desires for his influences, by a diligent use of the means of grace, by a spirit of trust and dependence, and by compliance with his secret impressions. 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 - Use of reason in religion. 1. The office of reason in religion. Reason is of use to examine the evidences of revelation, to ascertain the contents of revelation, and to judge that there is no contradiction to reason and morality in those doctrines which we suppose are deducible from Scripture. 2. The limitation of reason in religion. Distinction between what is above reason and what is contrary to reason. When once we prove that Scripture is the Word of God, and that such and such doctrines are contained in it, then it is the province of reason to submit to faith, because the truth of these doctrines rests on their being part of a Divine revelation; the doctrines of revelation are above, but they can never be proved to be contrary to, reason. BY T. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 - Certainty of the time of the second advent. There is a natural curiosity to know "the times and the seasons" connected with an event so transcendently important to the human race. "But of the times and the seasons ye have no need that I write unto you." I. GOD HAS TIMES AND SEASONS IN HIS OWN POWER. It is solemnly true that "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). God has "determined the times before appointed" (Acts 17:26). His Son came "in the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4). There is often a curious periodicity in the great time-intervals marked in sacred history. II. GOD HAS HID FROM MAN THE PRECISE DATE OF THE SECOND COMING. "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32); "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7). III. THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL BE . "The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." 1. It is the day of the Lord, as it is "the day of the Son of man." "The day of God;" "the day of redemption," involving that of the body as well as the soul; "the last day," the day which winds up the destinies of the universe. 2. It will be sudden and unexpected. It will be "as a thief in the night," who comes without previous warning at such an hour as we are not looking for him. This is true, even though there may be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and distress of nations, and men’s hearts failing them for fear (Luke 21:1-38.). These will be the first signs to break up the calm, but the wicked will not see them in their true light. There is nothing in the simile of the thief to justify the opinion that Jesus will come in the night. IV. THE OF THE WICKED. "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." 1. Their condition is one of " peace," inner quiet, and "safety," external tranquility. 2. Their fate. "They shall not escape." It will be with them as with the men in the days of Noah and Lot (Matthew 24:36-39). The catastrophe will be as inevitable and as full of fear as in the case of a "woman in travail." V. THE OF THE . This lies in their character. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1. They were "not in darkness." They were "sons of light, sons of the day." Darkness is the characteristic of the wicked. (1) There is darkness in their understanding. (2) There is darkness in their hearts. "Their foolish hearts are darkened." (3) They walk in darkness, and therefore stumble and go astray. (4) They live in darkness (Psalms 107:10), they belong to "the kingdom of darkness" (Colossians 1:13); they are under "the world-rulers of this darkness" (Ephesians 6:12). (5) But the darkness does not hide them from God’s vengeance. 2. Believers are "sons of light." "Sons of the day." (1) They walk in the light (1 John 1:7); for "he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). (2) They are in fellowship with God, for they cannot have it and walk in darkness (1 John 1:6, 1 John 1:7). (3) They "have cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12). (4) They are in fellowship with all believers; for "he that walketh in darkness hateth his brother" (1 John 2:9)—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 - A warning against watchlessness. The apostle says that, as children of light and of the day, believers ought to exercise vigilance and sobriety in view of the solemn prospects before them. I. THE SIN AND DANGER OF SLEEP. "Let us not sleep, as do others." There are three kinds of sleep spoken of in Scripture—the sleep of nature, which restores the wasted energies of the body; the sleep of death; and the sleep of the text, which is always fraught with peril, its prevailing idea being insensibility. The sleeper is: 1. Not aware of his danger. 2. Forgetful of his duty. 3. Unconscious of the real world around him. 4. Immovable to all appeals. 5. May not even know that he is asleep. II. THE DUTY OF AND . "But let us watch and be sober," so as to be always prepared for the Lord’s coming. We are not to be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, so that that day should overtake us unawares. Let us watch that we may be sober. 1. The reason is that sleep and drunkenness are works of darkness done in the night. "They that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night." Those spiritually asleep "sleep through all life’s agitations, beneath the thunders of Sinai, and the pleadings of mercy from the cross." Like drunken men, they are intoxicated with life’s delights, "minding earthly things," occupied supremely with "the unfruitful works of darkness." Believers are not so, into whose heart "God has commanded the light to shine out of darkness, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:6). 2. Another reason for watchful sobriety is that our life is a spiritual warfare. The believer is to be a sentinel always on guard, or a soldier on the battle-field—"having on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." As a good soldier, bound to endure hardness, he goes forth into the conflict of life, equipped in Divine armor, not for aggression but for defense. The pieces of armor here enumerated are for the protection of vital parts, the heart and the head. (1) Faith is the principal part of this spiritual armor. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4, 1 John 5:5). It is by faith they resist the devil (1 Peter 5:9). It is by it all difficulties are overcome (Matthew 17:20). If it is by the "sword of the Spirit, the Word of God," we are to conquer, faith is the arm that wields the sword. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews illustrates the power of faith as a principle of action and as a principle of endurance. (2) Love is joined with faith to form the breastplate, for "faith worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6). Love preserves from apostasy, and knits the saints together, because it is the bond of perfection, and thus enables us to bear all trial through love to the Redeemer. (3) The hope of salvation is the helmet. In the corresponding passage in Ephesians, the helmet is salvation itself; but the difference is not material, the salvation in the one case being partially enjoyed, in the other an object of future hope. Hope is a protection to the believer, as it nerves him to meet danger, and enables him to brave difficulties, by looking to the glorious objects in view. Therefore it is "the patience of hope." Thus the three Christian graces make the soul watchful and ready for the Lord’s coming.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 - The source, channel, and end of the salvation hoped for. The apostle is now led to illustrate the hope of salvation. I. ITS SOURCE. "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation." 1. The calling is according to the purpose. "Whom he predestinates, them he also calls." The security of the believer depends, not upon himself, but upon God’s unchangeable and loving purpose. 2. The purpose is not to wrath, but to salvation. Though believers were once ’"children of wrath," they are now reconciled to God, and saved from wrath to come. 3. God’s purpose of mercy toward us does not free us from the necessity of being watchful concerning the means of salvation. II. THE CHANNEL OF . "By our Lord Jesus Christ." 1. The covenant was "ordained in the hand of a mediator." (Galatians 3:19.) 2. His death, not his doctrine or example merely, was necessary to our salvation. "Who died for us." 3. His death was substitutionary. It was "for us." III. THE END OF THIS . "Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live with him together." This was "the joy set before him" for which "he endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2) that we might live to him in order to our living with him. 1. It is life with Christ. Not merely life in him, but life with him in glory. "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better" (Philippians 1:23). It is the greatest joy and glory of heaven (Romans 14:8, Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 5:9). 2. It is life with all believers. They are to live with him, unsevered from one another; for whether they "are alive and remain," or whether they are of those who "have fallen asleep," they will be together, in Christ’s society. Thus the great salvation is the "common salvation." IV. THE ASPECT OF THESE TRUTHS. "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." These truths afforded a grand basis for mutual comfort and edification. The Thessalonians ought, therefore, to dismiss their despondency and alarm, and encourage each other with the blessed hopes of the gospel.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:13 - The due recognition of Christian pastors. The apostle next touches upon the relation of the Church to its teachers. I. THE OF PASTORS IN THE CHURCH. 1. This was by Divine appointment. "He gave pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). There is no hint given in Scripture of a time when pastors would cease to be necessary, and when the Church would be served by an "any-man ministry." 2. It was the custom of the apostles to "appoint elders in every city," for they understood the advantages of a full ecclesiastical organization. II. THE AND DUTIES OF PASTORS. 1. They are laborers in the Church. "We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you." (1) This work is no sinecure, but a hard exhausting service, with heavy responsibilities and many cares. (a) It is labor in preaching. For they "labor in the Word and doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:5), "rightly dividing the Word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15), giving each of the household of faith "a portion of meat in due season" (Luke 12:42). (b) It is labor in earnestly contending for the faith as well as in dispensing the ordinances of religion. (2) It is labor in a Divine partnership. For pastors are "laborers together with" God in the work of perfecting the Church (1 Corinthians 3:9). 2. They are presidents in the Churches. "Those which are over you in the Lord." This refers to the elders or presbyters, who are also called pastors, or shepherds, or bishops (Acts 20:17, Acts 20:28). (1) The appointment of rulers is essential to order and harmony m the Church. (2) Yet they are not a sacerdotal caste, nor "lords over God’s heritage" (1 Peter 5:3). (3) Their official superiority is "in the Lord," because from him deriving its warrant, motive, and blessing. 3. They are spiritual guides. "And admonish you." They have "to watch for your souls as they that must give account" (Hebrews 13:17). Therefore they must "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:2). They have to "warn every man, and teach every man in all wisdom, that they may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 1:28). They have to warn against sins committed, and urge to duties neglected. III. THE OF PEOPLE TO THEIR PASTORS. 1. They must give them due recognition as pastors. They must "know them." They must make themselves acquainted with them, that pastors may be the better able to know the state of their souls, and they must acknowledge their position as "stewards of the mysteries of God," and submit to their ministry. 2. They must "esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake." (1) The bond is not to be one of mere official relationship, but of affection. (2) A due respect for the ministry is an important element in its efficiency and success. Therefore we are to "hold such in reputation," and to count them "worthy of double honor." 3. The ground of this claim is "for their work’s sake." Not for the mere office, which may be often filled unworthily, though it is still entitled to consideration, but for the sake of the "labors of love" involved in its faithful discharge. Ministers who "make full proof of their ministry" challenge the abiding respect of their flocks.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:13 - Inculcation of mutual peace. "And be at peace among yourselves." This is connected with the previous verse, for a faithful pastorate tends to unity and peace. I. THIS PEACE DEPENDS UPON OUR DIVINE CALLING. For it is the "peace unto which we are called" (Colossians 3:15). II. IT IS TO GROWTH AND . (Ephesians 4:3; Psalms 133:1; James 3:18.) III. IT IS ONE OF THE ALWAYS TO BE PRAYED FOR. (Psalms 122:6-8.) IV. IT IS ONE OF THE WITH A PROMISE. (Matthew 5:9.) V. IT IS ONE OF THE FAIREST GROWTH OF THE SPIRIT. (Galatians 5:22.)—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 - Mutual duties of Church members. The Church must act as well as its pastors. I. TO THE . "Warn them that are unruly." 1. The unruly are, literally, those who break rank, taking exceptional courses, to the injury of the peace or unity of the Church. Probably the apostle refers to the unhinging effect of the error concerning the near approach of the advent, leading individuals to abandon work and loiter about in a sort of meddlesome idleness. 2. Such persons need to be warned, even with sharpness of reproof, yet in love; for "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, in all the Churches of the saints" (1 Corinthians 14:33). Warn them to "do their own business, and work with their own hands." II. COMFORT THE FEEBLE-MINDED. "Comfort the feeble-minded." 1. These persons were overburdened with sorrow on account of the dead, under the influence of error respecting their safety. They were not intellectually feeble, but had become dispirited and desponding through their failure to realize the hope of the resurrection at the advent. 2. They were to be comforted; not rebuked or admonished for their sins, but exhorted lovingly in the truth. It is the Lord’s way "to raise them that are bowed down," and "to comfort them which be in any trouble" (2 Corinthians 1:4). There is "consolation in Christ." III. SUPPORT FOR THE WEAK. "Support the weak." 1. The weak in faith, or other Christian graces, who may still feel the lingering influence of Jewish prejudice and pagan delusions. We are to "bear the infirmities of the weak." 2. They must be sustained, not despised for their weakness. "Be eyes to the blind; be feet to the lame." Thus "we fulfill the Law of Christ." We must "lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees" (Hebrews 12:12, Hebrews 12:13). IV. TOWARD ALL MEN. "Be patient toward all men." 1. Patience or long-suffering, in view of the perverseness, or defects, or follies, or sins of men. It points to a temper not easily moved or offended, to a disposition to bear and forbear after the example of that Father who "is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). This disposition greatly promotes the comfort and usefulness of life. 2. It is to be exercised toward all men. Even to those outside the household of faith who may gainsay or persecute the truth.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - Abstinence from revenge, and the steadfast pursuit of good. To a people fleshly emerged out of paganism this counsel was still most appropriate, for the Greeks were remarkable for their undying feuds. I. WARNING AGAINST . "See that none render evil for evil to any man." 1. Retaliation is condemned both by the Old and the New Testaments. (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 12:19.) 2. It is condemned by Christ’s beautiful example of forbearance. (1 Peter 2:23.) "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not." 3. It is expressly rebuked by Christ in the case of the disciples James and John. (Luke 9:54, Luke 9:55.) 4. It springs from a spiteful heart. (Ezekiel 25:15.) 5. It indicates a want of trust in God. (Proverbs 20:22.) II. OF THE PURSUIT OF GOOD. "But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men." Believers are not to resist evil, but to return good for evil—to overcome evil with good. 1. The good to be done is after the example of Christ, who "went about every day doing good." 2. It is done in virtue of union with Christ. (John 15:4, John 15:5; Philippians 1:11.) 3. It is the preordained pathway of God’s children. (Ephesians 2:10.) 4. Christians ought to provoke each other to good. (Hebrews 10:24.) 5. It is a grand argument for the gospel. (Matthew 5:16.) 6. It is to be catholic in its spirit; for it is to he done, not to believers only, but "to all men." The believer is to have "brotherly kindness" as well as "love" (2 Peter 1:7). 7. It is to be earnestly pursued. "Follow after that which is good." (1) Because it glorifies God (Matthew 5:16). (2) Because God remembers it (Hebrews 6:9, Hebrews 6:10). (3) Because it is an evidence of faith (James 2:14-20). (4) Because it shall be brought into judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10).—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - The duty and the privilege of constant joy. "Rejoice evermore." (See homiletical hints on Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:4.)—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - The duty of constant prayer. "Pray without ceasing." There is a mutual affinity between joy, prayer, and thanksgiving, as we see by other passages of Scripture (Philippians 3:4-6; Colossians 4:2). I. PRAYER THE DUTY, THE , THE , OF ALL . 1. It is a commanded duty. (Matthew 7:7.) 2. It is a sign of conversion. (Acts 9:11.) 3. Saints delight in it. (Psalms 42:4; Psalms 122:1.) 4. It is recommended: (1) By the example of Christ (Luke 22:32). (2) By the experience of past mercies (Psalms 4:1). (3) By the faithfulness of God (Psalms 143:1). (4) By the fullness of the promises (Psalms 119:49; 1 John 5:15). II. THE OF . ΆΆ Pray without ceasing." 1. There is nothing in the words to justify the neglect of other duties. The apostle traveled and preached and labored with his hands as well as prayed; but he cultivated a constant spirit of supplication. It is not true, therefore, that it can be fulfilled only in idea. 2. It is a command not to be fulfilled by set hours of prayer, much less by adherence to a monastic ragout of devotion. Yet it is not inconsistent with set hours. The psalmist prayed at evening, morning, and noon (Psalms 55:17). Yea, "seven times a day do I praise thee" (Psalms 119:164). Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). 3. The apostle enjoins a constant spirit of prayer in view of our constant dependence on the Lord. Prayer should interspace all our works. The heart may rise to a throne of grace in inward prayer when the hands are busy with the duties of life.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - The duty of thanksgiving. It is the natural fruit of joy as it is the natural accompaniment of prayer. "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I. IS THE OF A JOYFUL AND PRAYING HEART. 1. It is a mark of the wicked that they have no thankfulness. They who glorified not God "neither were thankful" (Romans 1:21). It is a sign of the antichristian apostasy that men "shall he unthankful" (2 Timothy 3:2). Since "every good gift and every perfect gift" comes from the Father of Lights, the guilt of such ingratitude is great. 2. It is the mark of the saints in heaven that they are full of thanksgivings. (Revelation 19:6, Revelation 19:7; Revelation 7:12.) 3. It is likewise a mark of the saints on earth. "Blessed are they which dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee" (Psalms 84:4). They abound in faith with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:7). They offer sacrifices of thanksgiving (Psalms 116:17). They habitually offer thanksgiving (Daniel 6:10). II. MUST BE IN ITS SPHERE. "In everything give thanks." 1. For the supply of our bodily wants. (1 Timothy 4:3, 1 Timothy 4:4.) 2. For the gift of Christ. (2 Corinthians 9:15.) 3. For the goodness and mercy of the Lord. (Psalms 106:1.) 4. In all circumstances of prosperity and adversity, joy and sorrow, health and sickness. Job could say in the depth of his affliction, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" (Job 1:8, Job 1:20, Job 1:21). III. THE GROUND AND REASON OF THIS DUTY. "For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." The Scripture as well as the light of nature directs to it, as it sets forth that "good and perfect and acceptable will of God," "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." In Jesus Christ is this will revealed and made effectual; for all God’s mercies reach us through the channel of his mediation. Therefore we "are to give thanks unto God and the Father by him" (Colossians 3:17); therefore "by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Hebrews 13:15).—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 - Exhortations regarding spiritual gifts. These three verses refer to one subject, the extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit so frequent in the Church at this period, but apply likewise to his ordinary influence in believers. I. THE SIN AND DANGER OF THE SPIRIT. "Quench not the Spirit." Perhaps there was a tendency to repress spiritual utterances, either because they had become fanatical, or from an undue love of order. It is possible to resist the Spirit. God strives with man, who may yet resist all his importunities (Acts 7:51.), "insulting the Spirit of grace" (Hebrews 10:29). Even in the case of believers, "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Galatians 5:17). It is both sinful and dangerous for believers to "grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby they are scaled to the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). The text suggests the idea of quenching a fire. 1. The Spirit acts upon the believer’s nature like a fire, warming, purifying, refining. 2. The fire may be quenched by neglecting it quite as much as by casting water upon it. This is the tendency of neglect. 3. Sin has a tendency to quench the Spirit, as water quenches fire. We ought to stir up our gifts and graces that they may shine the brighter, and give both light and heat around us. Yet provision is made in the covenant of grace that the fire once kindled will never be quenched. II. THERE MUST BE NO OF . "Despise not prophesying." 1. These were spiritual utterances, sometimes in psalms and hymns, "for the edification and exhortation and comfort" of believers, though they had the effect sometimes of laying bare the hearts of unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:25). They were more important than other gifts of the Spirit, and therefore more to be coveted (1 Corinthians 12:31). 2. They were, therefore, not to be despised. (1) Perhaps there had been "false prophets" at Thessalonica who had tried to pervert the truth, or weak members who had abused the gift of prophecy. The tendency, therefore, to underrate the gift was natural, but not proper. (2) Perhaps the exercise of this gift created less wonder or made less visible impression than other gifts, like those of tongues and healing. Therefore it came to be rather despised. III. THE OF TESTING GIFTS. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Instead of rejecting prophesyings, they were to test them by a due spiritual discernment. 1. They were to be tested: (1) By a comparison with the original tradition given to them (2 Thessalonians 2:2). (2) By a comparison with the prophesyings of others who sat as judges (1 Corinthians 14:29). There was, besides, a supernatural gift of "discerning of spirits" (1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 12:14, 1 Corinthians 12:29). (3) By marking the practical fruits of these prophesyings. "Hold fast that which is good." Our Lord said, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 5:15, Matthew 5:16). True doctrine is "according to godliness" (1 Timothy 6:3). Thus Christians are to examine the grounds of their faith, to hold fast nothing that has not first been tried, and to retain only "that which is good." 2. Believers have the capacity as well as the right to test all things. They are "to try the spirits whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). (1) They are the spiritual; "they judge all things, yet they themselves are judged of no man "(1 Corinthians 2:15). They have "an unction from the Holy One, and they know all things" (1 John 2:20). (2) A right state of heart is necessary to this power of insight. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God" (John 7:17). "Walk as children of light... proving what is acceptable unto God" (Ephesians 5:8-10).—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 - Warning against every form of evil. "Abstain from every form of evil," whether practical or doctrinal. I. WE NEED TO BE WARNED AGAINST EVIL. 1. Because we naturally tend to do evil. 2. Because evil is so injurious to our spirits, in repressing joy, prayer, and thanksgiving. 3. Because it gives offence to others. Therefore we ought to abhor that which is evil, to cleave to that which is good. II. THE FORMS OF EVIL ARE VERY VARIOUS, AND NOT EASILY . Truth is one; error is manifold. Satan can disguise error under forms difficult of detection. It is sometimes difficult to decide what is evil. But "a sound heart is the best casuist."—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 - Prayer for the sanctification and preservation of Thessalonian believers. I. IT IS A PRAYER FOR PERFECT . "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly." 1. It is the design of the God of peace to do this. Our Lord came to "save his people from their sins," to "redeem them from all iniquity." 2. This sanctification is to extend to body, soul, and spirit. (1) The body is to be sanctified, for it is to become an "instrument of righteousness," a "temple of the Holy Ghost," and eventually will receive its "redemption" in the resurrection (Romans 8:23). (2) The soul is to be sanctified. It is the principle of animal life. It is the self. The individual life of man is to be fully sanctified. (3) The spirit points to the inner life as coming from God, as the soul is life as constituted in man. The spirit is the higher aspect of self, the spiritual man being man as grace has reconstructed him. Yet the two words are parallel, though not equivalent; signifying not two separate natures in man, but two separate functions of the same nature. Provision is made for the sanctification of the whole man. 3. It is not perfect in the present life. The very prayer that God might sanctify them wholly implies that it was an attainment yet to be reached. II. IT IS A PRAYER FOR THE OF SAINTS TILL THE COMING OF CHRIST. "May your spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless." 1. It is God only who can keep us. He "keeps us from falling," that "he may present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). He "keeps us from evil" (John 17:15). Saints are "kept by his power" through faith unto salvation (1 Peter 1:5). 2. The preservation is to extend till the second advent. Not till death, but till his coming, implying that body and soul are alike to share in the final redemption. "He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). III. THE GROUND OF HIS IN GOD’S PURPOSE OF AND . "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." 1. God’s faithfulness is the guarantee. He "also will do it." He will be faithful to his oath, to his promises, to his covenant; for he has promised to cleanse his people from all their sins, and preserve them to his kingdom and glory. God is faithful "by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son" (2 Corinthians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 1:9). 2. Effectual calling is another guarantee. For whom he calls he justifies and glorifies. If he gives grace, he gives glory. The calling implies perfection, as it is the first step to it.—T.C. 1 Thessalonians 5:25-27 - Three closing injunctions. I. THE APOSTLE ASKS AN IN THE PRAYERS OF THE . "Brethren, pray for us." 1. He did not feel himself independent, in spite of all his high graces and gifts, of the intercessions of the humblest disciples. His request is a proof of his deep humility. 2. His position, with the care of all the Churches upon his heart, entitled him to their prayers. He said to the Roman Christians, "Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." (1) He wanted a door of utterance as well as a door of entrance. (2) He wanted to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. (3) He wanted to see the gospel flourishing in all the Churches. II. FOR TO SALUTE EACH OTHER. "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." Eastern customs differ from Western; but the salutation ought still to prevail in all our Churches, not in the letter, but in the spirit. It ought to express the feeling of oneness, of affection, of equality among the disciples of the same Lord. Christianity purifies and elevates worldly courtesy. III. SOLEMN TO HAVE THE EPISTLE READ TO ALL THE . "I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." Conjectures have been freely expressed that the elders at Thessalonica may have been disinclined to read the letter to the Church. There is not much ground for the opinion. 1. This Epistle was the first ever written by the apostle to any Church; and as the disciples may not have known how to use it, he gives specific directions on the subject. 2. He recognizes the right of all the brethren to read it. Rome denies to the laity this right.—T.C. BY B.C. CAFFIN 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 - "The day of the Lord." I. THE TIME OF ITS COMING. 1. There was no real need to write to them about this. St. Paul had spoken of it; it had been a principal subject of his teaching. They knew all that could be known, all that they needed to know for their souls’ health. But there was a restless curiosity, an eager longing "to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." Such knowledge was not for the apostles; it is not for the Church. "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man." But, in spite of these words of Christ, human thought has ever busied itself, it busies itself still, to pry into this awful secret. St. Paul had told the Thessalonians all he knew; there was no need to write it again. But he deals gently with them. He tries to quiet their restless anxiety. 2. They knew that it could not be known. It cometh suddenly, when men are least expecting it; when they say, "Peace and safety." It cometh as a thief in the night. They knew the Lord’s illustration. St. Paul had told them. It was enough for them to know. Suddenly, as the lightning that cometh out of the east and shineth even to the west, the Son of man shall come. That we know; nothing more can be known. It is a thought full of awfulness, full of deep lessons and solemn warnings. II. FOR ITS COMING. 1. Christians are not in the darkness. Darkness is the element, the sphere of the unconverted life. Darkness is ignorance of God, ignorance of the atoning work of Christ, ignorance of the blessed influences of God the Holy Ghost. Such darkness is either intellectual, darkness of the understanding; or spiritual, darkness of the heart and will. The two act and react upon one another. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/