1 Thessalonians 2.1-13
1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
(ESV)
For you yourselves know,
brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already
suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness
in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to
deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the
gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for
greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or
from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we
were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not
only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very
dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and
day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you
the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and
blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father
with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged
you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and
glory.
And we also thank God constantly
for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you
accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God,
which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the
churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same
things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the
Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all
mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be
saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come
upon them at last!
Commentary:
In
verse 1 Paul challenges the Thessalonian believers to remember what happened when
the Apostles came to town. In these verses Paul asks them to remember the persecution
of Paul and his companions and how they responded by preaching the gospel of
God. How they preached a message to please God and not man. “In fact, Paul
feels the need to remind the Thessalonians about what they “know” at least once
in every chapter of this letter (1:5; 2:1, 2, 5, 11; 3:3, 4; 4:2; 5:2).”1
___________________________________
1Byron, John. 1 and 2
Thessalonians (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 58). Zondervan Academic.
Kindle Edition.
Paul
would have us know that “Those called by
God must live in a manner appropriate to that call, anticipating his kingdom
and glory”. [1] Paul makes
it plain here that he and his fellow workers did not preach the Gospel under
any pretext or false motive. It was necessary for Paul to do this because what
other people said about him.
Paul then goes on to state how he
worked while he was among them so as not to be a burden. Paul never claimed (as
he could have) that he was entitled to support from the Thessalonians. He never
used his office of Apostle to lord it over them but instead calling on God as
his witness how he worked for a living and never behaved in a greedy way. “Flattery,
greed, and exploitation did not characterize the apostles in Thessalonica. The
Thessalonians knew this, God is witness of this, and their behavior proved this”
(vv. 5–6).[2]
There is a shift in imagery in the letter.
Paul begins by comparing his ministry among them as being like a nursing mother
taking care of her children and then like a father encouraging and cheering his
children on. Paul was imitating what he had been taught Jesus was like during
his ministry. We can understand ourselves to be God’s sons and daughters and
that God will treat us in this same way.
We should, in our
Christian walk, be worthy of the inheritance God has prepared for us in his
kingdom. We should, as Paul and the rest of his team did, behave in a manner
that brings glory to God. We should accept scripture not as a word from any
person, but as it is the true word of God, and be imitators of those we see who
walk in the way of the Word and not in way of the world.
Because it “it offers
an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to
love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than
to love life.” People often behave in unlovely ways. It is our task to love
them as they are unconditionally.
Paul then goes on to a sensitive
topic. Persecution at the hands of the Jewish people. It is easy to feel discourage
when our own friends do things that cause us harm. “Paul wants the believers to
know that they are not alone in their suffering and that God sees their
suffering Paul wants the Thessalonians to know that though it
is not easy, they are not alone.”5
We covered a lot of ground in this
post the important thing to keep in mind is that Paul and his companions wanted
the Thessalonian believer to see is that they are loved by them and by God. Working
out the Gospel with their lives daily is what they are called to do. As long as
they are trying to do that they can rest assured that God sees them as his very
own children and will not leave them as orphans.
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5 Byron,
John. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 83).
Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
2.D.
Michael Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians,
vol. 33, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1995), 85.
3 D. Michael Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians,
vol. 33, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1995), 79.
4
Byron, John. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 69).
Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
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