[In this section, Paul amplifies two statements made in the previous section. In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13; he enlarges upon the facts set forth in 1 Thessalonians 1:5; and 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 are a similar enlargement of the matter contained in 1 Thessalonians 2:6]_ For yourselves_ [as distinguish... [ Continue Reading ]
but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict. [The Thessalonians remembered how Paul and Silas had come to them fresh from Philippi, with the evidences of persecution yet apparent on the... [ Continue Reading ]
For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile [The word "exhortation" has a double significance--it includes the idea of rousing the slothful, and also that of comforting the sorrowful. Paul here begins to contrast his teaching with that of false teachers with whom the world... [ Continue Reading ]
but even as we have been approved of God to be intrusted with the gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts. [Instead of preaching the old falsehoods which had so long pleased the wicked of Thessalonica, Paul had come as a trustee of God commissioned to preach the gosp... [ Continue Reading ]
For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness [As to his outward conduct (that it was without flattery) he calls the Thessalonians to witness, and as to his inward desires (that they were without covetousness) he calls God to w... [ Continue Reading ]
nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ. [As the apostle had not preached for money, neither had he preached for fame. Though he might have stood upon his dignity, and magnified his office as an ambassador of God, yet he... [ Continue Reading ]
But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse [nourisher; i. e., nursing mother] _cherisheth her own children_ :... [ Continue Reading ]
even so, being affectionately desirous of you [not yours, but you], _we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only_ [as the sincere milk of the Word], _but also_ [as mothers often do for their new-born babes] _our own souls_ [lives-- 1 John 3:16], _because ye were become very d... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day [the Hebrew order-- Genesis 1:5], _that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God_. [The apostle was so intent upon blessing the Thessalonians with the gospel of God that he toiled at night to make u... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily [toward God] _and righteously_ [toward man] _and unblamably_ [either toward God or man] _we behaved ourselves toward you that believe_ [Paul here claims not perfection, but consistency of life]:... [ Continue Reading ]
as ye know how we dealt with each one of you [individually, and without partiality], _as a father_ [as patiently, tenderly and earnestly as a father] _with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying_,... [ Continue Reading ]
to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory. [As those who are called to an honor owe it to the one calling them to walk worthy of the honor, so the Thessalonians, being called to have part in the present kingdom and future glory of God, needed to w... [ Continue Reading ]
And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing [without ever failing to mention it in our prayers], _that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that beli... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews [their countrymen];... [ Continue Reading ]
who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men;... [ Continue Reading ]
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always [Genesis 15:16; Matthew 23:32]: _but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost_. [While narrating the course of events at Thessalonica, Paul notes the similarity between the history of the Thessalonian chu... [ Continue Reading ]
But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season [about six months], _in presence not in heart_ [Colossians 2:5], _endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire_ [Paul had been torn rudely from the Thessalonians by the hand of persecution, so he speaks of being "bereav... [ Continue Reading ]
because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again [emphatic way of saying twice]_; and Satan hindered us_. [How Satan hindered, we are not told, but we find that his emissaries had so little disposition to let Paul return that they drove him from Beroea onward to Athens.]... [ Continue Reading ]
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye are our glory and our joy. [Paul also calls the Philippians his joy and crown (Philippians 4:1), and expresses, as here, a hope of glorying hereafter both in them and in the Corinthians (Philippians 2:16; 2 Corinthians 1:14). Paul usually employs the word "crown" in a figurative sense, the fi... [ Continue Reading ]