1 Thessalonians 5:12

And we beseech you, brethren For "beseech" (or "ask") see note to ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:1. The Apostle resumes the line of exhortation which he there commenced, and which was interrupted by the consolations and warnings he had to give on the subject of the Second Coming.

The "But" with which this entreaty begins, points back to 1 Thessalonians 5:11. The Apostle has been directing his readers generally to "encourage and edify each other:" butat the same time they must not ignore the services of their official ministry or deem their oversight and teaching needless.

to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you A clear testimony, from this earliest writing of the N.T., to the existence in the Church at the beginning of a ministerial order a clergy(to use the language of a later age) as distinguished from the laitycharged with specific duties and authority. But there is nothing in the grammar of the sentence, nor in the nature of the duties specified, which would warrant us in distributing these functions amongst distinct ordersof Church office. "Labouring," "presiding," and "admonishing" form the threefold calling of the local Christian ministry. Doubtless St Paul had organized this Church before leaving it, as he and Barnabas did the Churches of Lycaonia at an earlier time, "ordaining elders in every city" (Acts 14:23). It is not likely that it had advanced beyond the incipient stage of Church government. The Epistle to the Philippians, in which "bishops and deacons" are addressed (Philippians 1:1), was written nearly ten years later.

"Labour" or toil, as in ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (see note) implies difficultyin the work; the Apostle uses it of his own spiritual work in 1 Corinthians 15:10; Galatians 4:11; Philippians 2:16; Colossians 1:29. The chief instrument and method of this "labour" are pointed out in 1 Timothy 5:17; "who labour in word and doctrine."

Lit., and preside over you in the Lord. The Pastoral Epistles, describing Church office in its more advanced development, represent this as the chief duty of the elders: "Let the elders who preside (rule, A.V. and R. V.) well, be counted worthy of double honour"; comp. also 1 Timothy 3:5; 1 Timothy 3:12. There, however, as here, "labouring" is honoured even more than "ruling." The presidency of the elders in the Church assemblies naturally carried with it, as in Jewish communities, the right of exercising discipline over the moral life of the community. Hence "preside" comes to signify "rule," as also in Romans 12:8. In Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17 the ministers are called "your leaders." To "preside in the Lord" is to preside over a Christian assembly in Christ's name and authority.

The duty of admonitiondevolved chiefly on the officers of the Church; but not exclusively, as 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:14and 2 Thessalonians 3:15 show.

To "knowthose who labour and preside and admonish" is to understand them and the nature of their duties to know their character and labours, to havedue acquaintance with them. Ministers are often told that they must knowtheir people: the Apostle points out the duty that exists on the other side. Such knowledge, wanting apparently in some of the Thessalonians, would result in high esteem: