1 Thessalonians 3:7

Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: OVER YOU, [ ef' (G1909) humin (G5213)] - in respect to you. It is a comfort to him who loves to hear that the one beloved knows his love. IN - notwithstanding "all our distress [ anangkee (G318): inevitable trial, 'necessity] and affliction;" namely, external trials at Corinth, whence Paul writes (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:6 with Acts 18:5; Act...

6-10 Thankfulness to God is very imperfect in the present state; but one great end of the ministry of the word is to help faith forward. That which was the instrument to obtain faith, is also the means of increasing and confirming it, namely, the ordinances of God; and as faith cometh by hearing, so it is confirmed by hearing also....

Verse 7. _THEREFORE - WE WERE COMFORTED _] My afflictions and persecutions seemed trifles when I heard of your perseverance in the faith....

WE WERE COMFORTED OVER YOU - See the notes, 2Co 1:3-7; 2 Corinthians 7:6. The sense here is, that their steadfastness was a great source of comfort to him in his trials. It was an instance where the holy lives and the fidelity of a people did much, as will always be the case, to lighten the burdens and cheer the heart of a minister of the gospel. In the inevitable trials of the ministerial office there is no source of comfort more rich and pure than this....

EXPOSITION CONTENTS.—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....

THEREFORE, BRETHREN, WE WERE COMFORTED OVER, YOU,.... Or "in you", as the Vulgate Latin version; or "from you", as the Arabic; or "by you", as the Syriac; or "for you", as the Ethiopic; that is, on account of them, either by what they had heard was in them, or had heard from them. This gave abundant consolation IN ALL OUR AFFLICTION AND DISTRESS: which they met with at Corinth, where the apostle laboured with his own hands, and ministered to his own, and the necessities of others, and was greatly opposed, reproached, and persecuted; see Acts 18:3, but the news of the good estate and condition the Thessalonians were in, was a great relief and comfort to him, particularly their faith: BY YOUR FAITH: by the report of it, that it grew exceedingly, and that they walked in the truth; see 1

III. AFFLICTIONS AND COMFORT CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Timotheus, Paul's messenger 1 Thessalonians 3:1)_ 2. His return with good tidings and the apostle's comfort and joy 1 Thessalonians 3:6) 3. This earnest desire 1 Thessalonians 3:11) 1 Thessalonians 3:1 His longing for the beloved Thessalonians and his solicitude for them became so great that he could no longer forbear and he decided to be left alone in Athens and send Timotheus to Thessalonica. He knew they had great afflictions and that there was danger that they might not endure and then his l

THE MISSION OF TIMOTHY TO THESSALONICA. Paul's distress and anxiety with regard to the fate of the Church led him to send Timothy upon a mission of inquiry. He describes the effect produced upon him by Timothy's reassuring report. 1 THESSALONIANS 3:2. SENT TIMOTHY: in * Acts 17:14 f; Acts 18:5, Silas and Timothy left Paul at Berœ a on the sea-coast and did not rejoin him till after his arrival at Corinth. It is possible, however, that Timothy followed him to Athens and was subsequently despatched to Thessalonica. TO ESTABLISH: the object of Timothy's mission was: (_a)_ to consolidate the Church, (_b)_ to comfort the Christians in the face of persecution....

So, when we could not stand it any longer, we made up our minds to be left all alone in Athens, and we sent Timothy our brother and God's servant in the good news of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you about your faith, to see that none of you is beguiled into leaving the faith because of these afflictions, for you yourselves know that that is the very work that God has appointed us to do. For, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we Christians always suffer for our faith--as indeed it has turned out as you well know. So then, no longer able to stand it, I sent to find out how your faith is doing, in case the tempter had put you to the test and our labour should turn out to be all for nothing. But now that Timothy has come back to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love, and has told us that you always think kindly of us and that you alw...

THEREFORE. Same as "For this cause", 1 Thessalonians 3:5. OVER. App-104. IN. Same as "over". DISTRESS. necessity, as 1 Corinthians 7:26....