1 Thessalonians 2:13

1 Thessalonians 2:13. For this cause, referring to what follows. His thankfulness was no doubt intensified by the apparent unlikelihood that the word of a stranger, a Jew, without wealth or influence, without letters of commendation, without even a good command of Greek and a good accent; of a man still limping from the wounds he had received at Philippi, should be received as the word of God. There is no evidence that miracles were wrought at Thessalonica, though prophesying' soon became common, and certainly Paul had to flee as any unwelcome political agent or detected charlatan might have had to flee; yet his word was accepted as the word of God. Why?

Which effectually worketh also. Paul felt an indescribable joy when he found that his simple scheme of deliverance from evil, his gospel, worked; that it not only looked well on paper, but actually made men holy and courageous. How tame and poor all other modes of spending his life must have seemed when once he had tasted this joy!