1 Thessalonians 2:17

1 Thessalonians 2:17. But we. The ‘we' is emphatic, equivalent to ‘so far as concerns us;' and Paul is induced to speak of his own feelings towards them, apparently for the sake of removing any bitter feeling which the Thessalonians might have harboured regarding his absence during their troubles. If he could not give them the comfort of his presence, he would at least give them the comfort of knowing that he would fain be with them if he could.

Being taken from you; or, having been bereaved by our separation from you.

For a short time. Inserted to show how immediately the longing to see them again supervened upon his departure.

The more abundantly. The comparative form of the adverb does not necessarily imply that there was any definite comparison in the writer's mind; yet he probably meant that his absence had intensified his affection, and that his longing to see them was ‘more abundant' than his love had been while he was in Thessalonica.