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¹ Opening Considerations Greeting Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, Paul gives recognition to the junior members of the team. to the congregation The first image that the term ‘church’ evokes in the minds of many is that of a building; what is in view here is a group of people. of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. To the ‘western’ mind the repetition of the full form, “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” may seem unnecessary, if not stylistically poor, but this letter was written by a Hebrew. By switching from ‘the’ to ‘our’ Father he claims a personal relationship.

² The Thessalonians are praised We always give thanks to God for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers,

³ continually remembering before our God and Father your work for the Faith and your labor coming from the Love and your perseverance based on the Hope, our Lord Jesus Christ being their source, We are used to the rendering: “word of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”. However, ‘faith’, ‘love’, ‘hope’ and ‘Lord’ all have the definite article and are in the genitive/ablative case. If we translate the definite articles it changes the ‘flavor’; we are looking at a particular faith, a particular love, a particular hope, and the three qualities either belong to the Lord or proceed from Him. The genitive/ablative case in Greek is quite ‘versatile’, and so just to render ‘of’ all the time is so ambiguous as to leave the precise intent undefined. (However, I can’t guarantee that my attempt to ‘disambiguate’ is correct.)

⁴ knowing as we do, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen. They are loved and chosen by God, marvelous privilege—verse 3 describes their appropriate response, which I suppose is how Paul ‘knew’ that they were chosen.

⁵ They became examples You see, our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit In verses 1 and 2 it is clear that the Father and the Son are distinct persons; here Paul adds the Holy Spirit. and with complete certainty Powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit do have a way of adding certainty to the spoken word; they also help to face affliction with joy (next verse). (of course you know what sort of men we proved to be among you for your sake).

⁶ Yes you became imitators of us and of the Lord, To imitate the messengers was to imitate the Lord; their walk with God presumably had something to do with the powerful manifestations. having received the Word with the Holy Spirit’s joy, The Holy Spirit’s joy in the soul is an unanswerable proof of the reality of true conversion; it also enables you to face ‘severe affliction’ with equanimity. in spite of severe affliction,

⁷ so that you became examples They bought into the messengers’ life style of total commitment to Christ and His Kingdom. to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

⁸ That’s because the Word of the Lord sounded out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place—your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we do not need to say anything.

⁹ Their hope They themselves report about you what kind of entrance we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to be slaves to the living and true God,

¹⁰ and to wait for His Son coming out of the heavens Verses 9-10 give a good picture of true conversion. It involves turning your back on all the ‘idols’ that governed your life to trust in the true God; but the only acceptable way to truly relate to the Sovereign of the universe is as a slave = total commitment; this gives a valid hope for a bright future. (whom He raised from among the dead) Resurrection has to do with bodies, so the Son will return with a visible body. —Jesus, who preserves us from the coming wrath. Which expression of the Wrath is this? Jesus delivers us from the ultimate wrath, the Lake of fire, but based on 4:13-18 I imagine that this refers to a pre-wrath rapture.

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¹ Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica Now you yourselves know, brothers, that our entrance to you did not happen without purpose.

² Rather, in spite of having already suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, we made bold in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God, in the face of strong opposition. They deliberately chose to pay a personal price to reach the Thessalonians. Are we prepared to do the same for the increase of Christ’s Kingdom today?

³ Further, our exhortation does not spring from delusion or impurity, nor is it in deception,

⁴ but we speak precisely as those who have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, They knew who they were and what they were about. They deny any form of delusion or hidden agenda—they were honest and aware. not so as to please men, but to please the God who evaluates our hearts. There it is: if you want to be a serious servant of God, His approval must be more important to you than that of the people around you.

⁵ Further, you well know that we never used words to flatter, or to disguise greed (God is witness),

⁶ or to seek glory from men (whether from you or from others) Wow! If all Christian workers could say the same—no impurity, no deception, no flattery, no greed, no seeking glory—the church and the world would be different than they presently are. —as apostles of Christ By his use of the plural, Paul is saying that Silvanus and Timothy were also apostles. we could have been ‘heavy’,

⁷ but we were gentle among you, like a nurse The basic meaning of the noun is ‘nurse’, but the reference to ‘her own children’ has led some to translate it as ‘mother’. I take the point to be that whereas a professional nurse is supposed to take good care of anyone in her charge, she will be especially careful with her own children. cherishing her own children.

⁸ Paul’s devotion to them Yearning over you in this way, we were well pleased to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become dear to us.

⁹ Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and exertion, because working night and day, so as not to burden any of you, It is clear that they supported themselves financially by working (making tents, or whatever). Between working, evangelizing and discipling (teaching), their sleeping time was probably short. So when could they be alone with God? In prison Paul had lots of time for contemplation (and writing letters), but not in Thessalonica. we proclaimed the Gospel of God to you.

¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;

¹¹ indeed you know how we treated each one of you as a father does his own children, exhorting and comforting you,

¹² insisting that you conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. They really involved themselves in the lives of their converts, a deliberate (and costly) investment, that produced remarkable results. God is calling us into His Kingdom and glory.

¹³ Their conversion Another reason we give thanks to God continually is that when you received from us the spoken word of God, you welcomed it not as the word of men but, as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed operative in you who believe. Whether written or spoken, any word from God is powerful, and changes lives.

¹⁴ For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s congregations in Christ Jesus, the ones in Judea, Israel was God’s congregation, but not in Christ Jesus. in that you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen that they did from the Jews

¹⁵ (the ones who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, who have persecuted us, who do not please God and are hostile to everybody,

¹⁶ trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved—so as to fill up the measure of their sins. They have received the full impact of the Wrath). I did the best I could with this last sentence, but the concept seems difficult. The verb is in the past and it is the wrath (not just any old wrath). I get the impression that ‘the Jews’ described here had passed the point of no return (like Pharaoh and the plagues—at first he hardened his own heart, but after a while God hardened it and his doom was sealed) and were just making their accounting worse and worse, ‘filling up the measure’—from God’s perspective the ‘full impact’ had already been decreed.

¹⁷ Paul’s concern for the Thessalonians A sense of bereavement Now we, brothers, having been bereaved of you for a short season (in presence, not in heart), made every effort to see your face, from intense longing. I find the degree of emotional attachment described here to be surprising—perhaps a natural consequence of having poured himself into them as he did.

¹⁸ (We actually tried to come to you—I, Paul, time and again—but Satan thwarted us.) I, for one, would like to know just how the enemy managed it.

¹⁹ For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Is it not precisely you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? The Thessalonian believers represented ‘the fruit of their labor’, evidence that they had been faithful servants, to be presented to the Lord at the Accounting.

²⁰ Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.

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¹ Concern leads to action So when we couldn’t stand it any longer, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone

² and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, also our fellow worker in the Gospel of Christ, to confirm you and encourage you concerning your faith,

³ that no one be unsettled by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. We are appointed to affliction in this life. How many sermons have you heard on this topic? If the Son learned obedience through suffering (Heb. 5:8), how about us? “Whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb. 12:6). Have you ever been scourged, literally? I have—I didn’t enjoy it.

⁴ For indeed, when we were with you we kept telling you in advance that we were going to be afflicted; It was all a calculated risk. The messengers had their eyes open and wanted to make sure their hearers went into their new life with their eyes open—there were no misleading promises of peace and prosperity! just as it happened, in fact, as you know.

⁵ Yes, that’s why, no longer standing it, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had successfully tempted you and our labor come to be for nothing.

⁶ But now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, just as we also long to see you

⁷ —because of this, brothers, in all our affliction and distress we were encouraged about you by your faith;

⁸ for now we live, if you are standing firm in the Lord. Again, I find the level of Paul’s involvement with them to be surprising. (It would be physically and emotionally impossible to be this involved with every church he started.) But as a responsible father, he is properly concerned for their growth and well being (verse 10).

⁹ Paul’s desire to go to them With what thankfulness can we repay God for you, for all the joy with which we are rejoicing in the presence of our God because of you; To see our spiritual children growing in their walk with God is a source of considerable joy.

¹⁰ praying most earnestly night and day, that we may see your face and complete the things lacking in your faith?

¹¹ Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you.

¹² And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love toward each other and toward all, just as we also do toward you,

¹³ so as to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His holy ones. Another reference to the Accounting: a heart ‘blameless in holiness’ is the ticket.

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¹ Holiness pleases God Finally then, brothers, we urge and exhort you in the Lord Jesus: as you received from us how you ought to behave and please God, do so even more

² —you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. Paul keeps insisting that he is God’s spokesman.

³ Sanctified sex Now this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you stay away from fornication; ‘Fornication’ refers to any sexual activity outside the marriage bond (distinct from adultery): it includes prostitution, rape, anal sex, sex with an animal; in short, sex without commitment and responsibility (sex that disregards the Creator’s intention).

⁴ that each of you know how to gain possession of his own ‘vessel’ in sanctification and honor,

⁵ not in lustful passion (like the heathen who don’t know God);

⁶ that no one trespass and defraud his brother in this matter, I take it that this clause clarifies the interpretation of ‘vessel’; verse 4 refers to getting a wife. The term ‘defraud’ is quite strong, so I imagine it refers to courting (not to mention usurping) the affections of a girl already promised, if not betrothed, to another. because the Lord is the avenger of all such behavior, To behave so as to make yourself the object of God’s vengeance doesn’t sound like a good idea. as, indeed, we have already told you and warned you.

⁷ Because God did not call us for uncleanness, but by holiness.

⁸ So then, the rejecter is not rejecting man, but God, the very One who gave you His Holy Spirit.

⁹ An impressive life style Now about brotherly love you do not need to be written to, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,

¹⁰ because in fact you are doing so toward all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Still, we exhort you to do even more, brothers,

¹¹ to make it a point to be peaceable and to mind your own business, to work with your hands (as we instructed you),

¹² so that outsiders may be well impressed by your life style, and that you may have no lack. Throughout the Bible, laziness and idleness are proscribed.

¹³ Christ’s second coming The Rapture Now then, brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who have ‘fallen asleep’, This is a metaphor for dying. so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

¹⁴ Because since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, just so will God bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

¹⁵ For this we say to you by a word of the Lord, that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will absolutely not precede those who have fallen asleep;

¹⁶ because the Lord Himself—with a commanding shout, One is reminded of Jesus’ words in John 5:25-29. In verse 25 He says “now is”, so He is speaking of the spiritually dead who need to listen to Him and receive spiritual life. But in verse 28 He speaks plainly of those “in the graves”—all the dead will be resurrected at Jesus’ command, including the lost, who will then be condemned to the Lake. I take it that here in 4:16 Jesus resurrects only the “dead in Christ”, and He uses a commanding shout. To raise Lazarus He gave a loud shout (Jn. 11:43), that might have carried half a mile; this one will be heard around the globe. with the archangel’s voice There is only one archangel or top angel; once Lucifer, now Michael. and with God’s trumpet—will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first;

¹⁷ then we who are still alive, who are left, will be snatched up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In precisely this way we will always be with the Lord.

¹⁸ So then, comfort one another with these words.

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¹ The Day of the Lord Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you do not need to be written to,

² for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord comes just like a thief in the night.

³ For whenever they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction is standing near them, like labor pains to a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. The destruction will not necessarily strike when they speak. Just as a pregnant woman knows she will have labor pains—the only uncertainty is when, not if—so the destruction will be inescapable.

⁴ Live as sons of light But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should come upon you like a thief.

⁵ You are all sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night, nor of darkness.

⁶ So then, let us not sleep, Here the reference is to physical sleep or mental lethargy, not death. like the rest, but let us stay alert and sober;

⁷ because those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night;

⁸ but we being of day, let us be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet of hope of salvation.

⁹ For God did not appoint us to undergo wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁰ who died for us so that whether awake or asleep we may live together with Him. Here is the bottom line: to be with the Creator throughout eternity.

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, as in fact you do.

¹² Concluding instructions Esteem spiritual leaders Now we urge you, brothers, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,

¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ A variety of instructions Now we exhort you, brothers: admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, be supportive of the weak, be patient toward all.

¹⁵ See that no one pays back evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue the good, both for one another and for all.

¹⁶ Rejoice always!

¹⁷ Pray continually!

¹⁸ Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. There are those who say we should give thanks for everything, as distinct from in everything. I doubt that our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane gave thanks for the suffering He was facing and already enduring. To give thanks in a distressful situation is a declaration of confidence in God and His disposition of our affairs.

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit! When you quench a lighted candle, you put out its light. To quench the Spirit is presumably to ‘put out’ or refuse His light, to suppress or ignore His voice when He speaks to us—this would include any rejection of the revealed will of God.

²⁰ Do not disdain prophesies,

²¹ but test everything; All prophesy should be tested. hold on to the good.

²² Keep away from every form of evil! The evil here is aggressive, or malignant.

²³ Complete sanctification Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body I take it that the grammatical structure of this phrase, “the spirit and the soul and the body” (in Greek), demands a tripartite/trichotomous view of the human being. I confess that I have trouble imagining complete sanctification for the body, in this life. be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴ He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.

²⁵ Farewell Brothers, pray for us.

²⁶ Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

²⁷ I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers. To adjure by the Lord that the letter be read is tantamount to claiming inspiration for it.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.