1 Thessalonians 2:17

πρὸς κ. ὥ., as we both expected, but, as it turned out, for much longer. προσ. οὐ κ., “not where I breathe; but where I love, I live” (Southwell, the Elizabethan Jesuit poet, echoing Augustine's remark that the soul lives where it loves, not where it exists); cf. Eurip., Ion, 251. The next paragraph, 1 Thessalonians 2:17 to 1 Thessalonians 3:13, starts from a fresh imputation against the apostles' honour. Paul, it was more than hinted by calumniators at Thessalonica, had left his converts in the lurch (cf. 18); with him, out of sight was out of mind; fresh scenes and new interests in the South had supplanted them in his affections, and his failure to return was interpreted as a fickle indifference to their concerns. The reply is three-fold. (a) Paul's continued absence had been unavoidable (17 f.); he had often tried to get back. In proof of this anxiety (b) he had spared Timothy from his side for a visit to them (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5), and (c) Timothy's report, he adds (1 Thessalonians 3:6 f.) had relieved a hearty concern on his part for their welfare; he thus lets them see how much they were to him, and still prays for a chance of re-visiting them (11). He was not to blame for the separation; and, so far from blunting his affection, it had only whetted (περισσοτέρως) his eagerness to get back.