1 Thessalonians 2:15,16

Text (1 Thessalonians 2:15-16)

15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men; 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always; but the wrath is come upon them to the uppermost.

Translation and Paraphrase

15.

(These Jews are the people) who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and have persecuted (and pursued) us, and (they) please not God, and are antagonistic to all men.

16.

preventing us (if they possibly can) from speaking to the Gentiles so that they could be saved. (All of this wickedness is working) unto the (result, that they, like the Amorites of old, are) filling full their (cup of) sins always. But (God has not overlooked this wickedness any more than He overlooked the iniquity of the Amorites.) Rather, the wrath (of God) has come upon them to the (bitter) end.

Notes (1 Thessalonians 2:15-16)

1.

Facts about the Jews.

(1)

They killed the Lord Jesus.

(2)

They killed the prophets.

(3) They persecuted and pursued Paul.
(4)

They please not God.

(5)

They are contrary to all men.

(6)

They forbade Paul to speak to the Gentiles.

2.

This list of charges which Paul lays upon the Jews would be enough in modern times to raise scrams of Anti-Semitism! from coast to coast. Nonetheless, everything which Paul said about them was true.

3.

They killed the Lord Jesus. We have observed in recent times a lot of propaganda trying to get people to stop blaming the Jews for killing Jesus. But the fact remains that Pilate, the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to die, did not want to do so. See John 19:6; John 19:12. Only the mob pressure from the Jews prevailed upon him to do it.

The Jews had tried to kill Jesus several times previously, before He finally was crucified. See John 8:59; John 10:31; Luke 4:29.

Just fifty days after Jesus died, right in Jerusalem where He was killed, the apostle Peter said publicly to the Jews, YOU have taken (Jesus) and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, Acts 2:23. No Jew there could deny that Peter spoke the truth about their deed.

4.

The Jews killed their prophets, Jesus himself laid this charge upon them. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. Matthew 23:37. See also Matthew 23:29-35; Acts 7:52.

The Jews during their history had turned against Moses, They persecuted Jeremiah. Amos was told to leave and prophesy no more, Amos 7:12. Micaiah was imprisoned, 1 Kings 22:24-28. Hanani imprisoned. 2 Chronicles 16:7-10. Zechariah slain. 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. This list could go on and on.

5.

The Jews had persecuted Paul, almost from the moment he had become a Christian. To list all the places where Paul had been hounded and persecuted by the Jews would be to list every place he ever visitedDamascus, Jerusalem, Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, etc. Shortly before this letter was written, Paul had had to leave Berea, because Jews had come all the way from Thessalonica to run Paul out of town. See Acts 17:10-13.

This was such an unreasonable thing for them to do, sort of a dog in the manger attitude. But, there is no limit to what religious prejudice will really do when men's eyes become blinded. (Ironside, ADDRESSES, p. 28.)

6.

The Jews please not God. Probably of all the charges made by Paul against the Jews, this one would be the most hotly disputed. But as proof that Paul was right when he said, The Jews please not God, let us remind you that God's prophets which He sent to the Jews confirm Paul's judgment:

(1)

John the Baptist called them a generation of vipers. Matthew 3:7.

(2)

Isaiah called them a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters. Isaiah 1:4.

(3)

Jeremiah said that they were all grievous revolters, walking with slanders. Jeremiah 6:28.

(4)

Malachi declared God's judgment, that from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances. Malachi 3:7.

Jesus said to his apostles, Whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service to God. John 16:2. The mistaken zeal of men like Saul of Tarsus led them even to commit murder in God's name. This certainly did NOT please God.

Now we must in all fairness interject, that there have always been many devout, gracious, open-hearted Jews, men like their father Abraham. Paul himself acknowledged this, for he himself was a Jew. Romans 11:5. Many Jews honestly considered what, Jesus said and did, and many became Christians. But many closed their minds, and became violent against Christ and His followers. In doing that, they did NOT please God.

7.

The Jews are contrary to all men. Contrary (Gr., enantios) means opposite, antagonistic, etc.

The Jews of Paul's time delighted in hatching all manner of sedition, private conspiracy, and rebellion. Tacitus, the Roman historian, brands them as the enemies of all men. The great Jewish doctor of the law, Gamaliel, himself tells of two violent rebellions of the Jews. Acts 5:36-37.

The Jews despised the Gentiles as unclean. They would not enter the house of Pilate the Roman governor. John 18:29. The apostle Peter said to Cornelius, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. Acts 10:28.

We admit that it is plain evident history that Gentiles (and even professed Christians) have been cruel to the Jews throughout the centuries. But the Jews have themselves been guilty of everything that they have suffered from others. Gentiles and Jews alike are guilty before God.

8.

The Jews forbade Paul to speak to the Gentiles. Nothing roused the Jews to more fury than for Paul to go to the Gentiles with the gospel of Christ.

Paul, in telling about his conversation and life before the Jews in Jerusalem, said, And He (Jesus) said unto me, Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voice, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air.. Acts 22:21-23.

It was always the same story wherever Paul went. The Jews tried to prevent him from teaching the Gentiles. In Lystra the Jews from Antioch and Iconium persuaded the people (Gentiles) to stone Paul. Acts 14:19; Acts 17:13.

9.

The result of all these wicked acts by the Jews, was that they fill up their sins always. This expression appears to be a reference to what God had long before said about the wicked Amorites in the land of Canaan: The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full, Genesis 15:16, At a later date God indicated that their iniquity was full, and that their own land would vomit them out. Leviticus 18:24-28.

To say that the Jews resembled the heathen Amorites, whom they conquered in the time of Joshua, was perhaps a crowning insult, but not an exaggeration.

10.

As a result of the iniquity of the Jews, wrath was come upon them to the uttermost, or unto the end. This does not mean that wrath would continue upon them to the end of the world. For Paul himself prophesied that the Israelites would return to God before that time. Romans 11:25-26. Rather, wrath unto the uttermost means wrath that fully expends itself.

God's wrath against the Jews was particularly demonstrated at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Already at the time when Paul wrote this epistle, the great rebellion of the Jews against the Romans was taking form. When the rebellion finally came in 66 A.D., it led to a bloody war, in which the walls, temple, and much of the rest of Jerusalem were demolished and burned down. 97,000 people were carried away captive into slavery, and eleven hundred thousand (1,100,000) perished, many by starvation and killing one another. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about this in Wars of the Jews, VI, ix, 4.

Paul was certainly correct when he said that wrath was come upon them to the uttermost.

11.

This statement about wrath upon them to the uttermost leaves some overly sensitive people shuddering with dislike and unbelief. Some interpreters even assert that this statement must be a later interpolation into the text. (So Moffatt, Interpreter's Bible, etc.) There is no proof whatsoever of such an opinion. It is just the reaction of the natural mind of man to God's judgment. Naturally, men do not like to accept what God says about such things as hell, the blood of Jesus, God's wrath, and the judgment. See 1 Corinthians 2:14. But surely we must accept anything that God says. The Thessalonians did. 1 Thessalonians 2:13.

STUDY SUGGESTIONS

1.

You have now come to the closing verses of the second part of Chapter two. We urge you to review the outline of chapter 2.

2.

Also you should now try to answer the remaining questions in the section that follows. Questions over the second section of chapter two are questions 30 to 45.