1 Thessalonians 1:3

3. remembering without ceasing … in the sight of God and our Father] Standing ever in the presence of God, the witness of all his thoughts, St Paul bears with him unceasingly the remembrance of what he had beheld in the Christian life and spirit of his Thessalonian brethren. The adjunct comes in with solemn emphasis at the end of the verse. Comp. ch. 1Th_3:9 : “What fitting thanks can we render for all the joy with which we rejoice over you before our God?” and the frequency with which the writer appeals to “God” as “witness” of his feelings and his behaviour (ch. 1Th_2:4-5; 1Th_2:10); similarly in Rom_1:9, “God is my witness … how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers beseeching,” &c.; and in the thanksgiving of Php_1:8, “God is my witness, how I long after you all!” We are reminded of Elijah’s protestation, “As the Lord liveth, before Whom I stand!” (1Ki_17:1, &c.)

He says before our God and Father (R.V.): for it is in the character of Father that St Paul approaches God in prayer (comp. ch. 1Th_3:11; 2Th_2:16; and the Lord’s prayer: “After this manner pray ye, Our Father”); and “in God” as “Father” (1Th_1:1) the Thessalonians became a “church,” and had received the blessings for which the Apostle now gives thanks.

remembering … your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ] “Remembering,” i.e. “how active and fruitful your faith has shown itself to be, how devoted and unwearied your love, and what fortitude your hope in the Lord Jesus has inspired.” Faith, Love, and Hope are the essence of practical Christianity. Fides, amor, spes—summa Christianismi (Bengel); comp. 1Co_13:13. Work, Labour, Patience are their threefold expression; comp. the “works and labour and patience” of the Ephesian Church, in Rev_2:2-3.

There was a remarkable vigour, a moral courage and activity in the life of this Church, over which the Apostle rejoiced even more than he did in the eloquence and knowledge of the Church of Corinth (1Co_1:5). Warmth of heart and practical energy were the distinguishing features of Thessalonian Christianity (see Introduction, chap. IV.):

“Whose faith and work were bells of full accord.”

The work of faith includes the two expressions that follow. It embraces the whole practical issue of a Christian life, denoting that which faith effects, its outcome and result in the doings of life; expressed from the Divine side in “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal_5:22), and “fruit of the light” (Eph_5:9, R. V.). This expression the Apostle uses once more, in 2Th_1:11. This first appearance of the word “faith” in St Paul’s Epistles, conjoined with “work,” shows how far he was removed from antinomianism, from approving either a merely theoretical, or sentimental faith. In his later Epistles, especially in Galatians and Romans, we find “faith” contrasted with works,”—i.e. Pharisaic “works of law,” supposed to be meritorious and to earn salvation by right and as matter of debt on God’s part (see Rom_4:1-4; Rom_9:32; Gal_2:16; Gal_3:10-14). No such notions had as yet troubled the simple-minded Thessalonians. But in the later as in the earliest Epistles faith is always with St Paul an operative principle of life, a working power. He quite agreed with St James (ch. 1Th_2:17) that “faith, if it have not works, is dead.” Hence in Gal_5:6 he writes of “faith working through love.”

The Thessalonians’ work of faith was manifest especially in the two forms of toil of love and endurance of hope. Similarly in 2Th_1:3-4, faith is joined with love (the “charity” of 1 Corinthians 13) on the one side, and with patience on the other. These are the two chief branches of Christian work—loving service to the brethren and our fellow-men (comp. ch. 1Th_4:9-10; 1Th_5:13), and fearless testimony for Christ before the world, with endurance of the loss and suffering this may entail (1Th_1:6-7; 1Th_2:13-14; 1Th_3:2-4)—“the good fight of faith” (1Ti_6:12). So we see the Christian life in its simplest elements: “a faith that had its out ward effect on your lives; a love that spent itself in the service of others; a hope that was no transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen, when it should be revealed” (Jowett).

We must distinguish “work” from “labour” (or toil). The former points to the thing done, as matter of achievement: the latter to the pains spent in doing it, as matter of exertion. Under this latter word the Apostle refers to his own manual labour (ch. 1Th_2:9; 2Th_3:8), also to his labours as a minister of Christ (ch. 1Th_3:5; 2Co_10:15 &c.; see besides 1Co_3:8, “Each shall receive his reward according to his own toil”). Work may be easy and delightful: labour is toilsome; no selfish man will endure it for another’s good. Hence labour is the test of love. How will a mother toil and weary herself for her child! So St Paul, to whom with his many infirmities his work must often have been a heavy task.

“True love is humble, thereby it is known;

Girded for service, seeking not its own.”

“Patience of hope” is not al the Apostle means. The Greek word implies active endurance—perseverantia and tolerantia, as well as patientia or sustinentia (Vulgate); the constancy of Mind Milton, that both “bears up, and steers right onward.” It is not the resignation of the passive sufferer, so much as the fortitude of the stout-hearted soldier, which carries him in the hope of victory through the long day’s march and conflict. In Rom_2:7 the first and last of these expressions meet, and this word is rendered “patient continuance in good work” (see Trench’s N. T. Synonyms, on patientia). Christian hope inspired this courage: “hope is the balm and life-blood of the soul.” So Jesus Himself “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross (Heb_12:2). And the Thessalonians were “imitators of the Lord” (1Th_1:6), following the patience of Christ (2Th_3:5). Being the embodiment of Hope, Patience takes its place in 2Th_1:4; and elsewhere.

This was the climax of Thessalonian virtue, tried from the first by fierce persecution (1Th_1:6; 1Th_3:2-6). For their “endurance” the Apostle gloried in this Church, and Christ was glorified in them (2Th_1:4-12); such conspicuous courage gave powerful testimony to the Gospel (1Th_1:7-8). Observe that here Hope inspires Patience: in Rom_5:4, “Patience worketh hope.” Both are true.

Their hope was in our Lord Jesus Christ. This adjunct might, grammatically, be applied to the three foregoing phrases—to faith, love, and hope alike; but less suitably, as we think. Faith and love are subsequently conceived in a wider sense: God is the Object of faith in 1Th_1:8, and love embraces brotherly love in ch. 1Th_4:9, 1Th_5:13, &c.; whereas “our Lord Jesus Christ,” in His final coming, is frequently, and with concentrated emphasis, represented as the Object of the Thessalonians’ hope (see 1Th_1:10; 1Th_2:12; 1Th_2:19; 1Th_3:13; 1Th_4:14 to 1Th_5:11; 2Th_1:7-10; 2Th_2:1-8. The Second Advent and the Last Judgement had been leading themes of St Paul’s preaching at Thessalonica, and had taken powerful hold of his hearers’ minds (see Introd. pp. 18–21). In this expectation lay the peculiar strength, and at the same time the danger and temptation of their faith, as we shall afterwards see. “If Joy is the key-note of the Epistle to the Philippians, Hope is that of the present Epistle” (Ellicott).

in the sight of God, &c.] Connected most suitably with “remembering” (see note above); though the clause might grammatically be attached to the “faith, hope, and love” just preceding, and would so give a good sense.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th_1:3-4

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith

The three graces at work

I. The work of faith. Faith is an active principle, and St. James has dealt with it as such, and told Antinomians of every age that faith without works is dead. Some assert that he was antagonistic to St. Paul on this subject. But this is refuted by St. Pauls example, and by the text, which accords with all that James has written.

1. Faith is the awakening of the soul to the realities of life. To apprehend the truth is to feel its power, without the consciousness of that power life is a dream. To grasp the truths of the gospel with the hand of faith is to stir up the powers of human nature and load them with responsibilities.

2. Faith is the inspiration to discharge the duties of life. The mere sense of obligation is not enough. It is a mans duty to pay his debts whether he has the means or not. Honesty of purpose and hope of success will encourage the debtor to labour until he is able to discharge his liabilities. The work of faith, although not without its reward, is a present effort to secure future fruits. The good seed is cast into the ground in expectation of a harvest. Work follows belief.

II. Labour of love distinguishes between the ordinary work of the Church, and the supreme efforts necessary to maintain the Christian name. The cross was often very heavy. Fiery trials came to overcome faith, but love stood in the breach, and drove back the enemy. Where trust may fail, love never will.

1. It is a labour of love when everything seems to go against us. Peter and his fellow disciples, although they had toiled in vain all night, yet cast the net once more out of love for the Saviour. It does not appear that they believed success would attend the second effort, but they did it in loving obedience to Christ. Apostolic labours were often carried on in the same spirit. Ministers, Sunday school teachers, and Christian workers, when faith falters, should do as the second officer does when immediate danger is apprehended--send for the captain. In heavy seas let love take the command of the vessel. Charity never faileth.

2. It is a labour of love when we are persecuted by those whom we seek to save. It is a trying ordeal to benefit others while they are injuring us. We have a severe lesson to learn when we must love those who hate us. In this the believer approaches nearer the Saviour.

3. It is a labour of love when we leave all the fruit for others to gather and enjoy. Disinterested love labours not for itself, but for those who follow. This is a grand movement in the Church.

III. Patience of hope. This is the climax. Work must bear fruit. The glory of God in what we do may be beyond the ken of faith. The storm may rage furiously, threatening to outdo the wisdom and the courage of love. Hope sees beyond all this to the desired haven.

1. Abide Gods time. With the Lord a thousand years are as but one day. Faith may become dispirited because there is a seeming slackness on the part of God to fulfil His promise. Love may be beaten by the storm for a longer time than was expected. Hope brings forward the visions of the future to cheer the one and to strengthen the other.

2. Lay hold on Gods arm. Hope feels for the strength of the Lord, and leans upon it. (Weekly Pulpit.)

A favourite triology

These were St. Pauls favourite triology of Christian principles. And they were fundamental also. An eminent theologian puts it thus:--As the three principal colours of the rainbow--red, yellow, and blue, representing heat, light, and purifying power--supply in their combination all the other colours, so, by a sort of moral analysis, faith, hope, and love lie at the foundation, or enter into the composition, of all other Christian excellences. They are, in a word, inseparable graces. Faith always works by love, and these two virtues can wait patiently and hopefully for ultimate results. They are the crown of Christian believers, and the forces of the whole Church. And they must succeed. Faith says--I labour in the full confidence that I shall finally accomplish all I would; Love says--I delight in my work, and therefore will not slacken in my efforts until I have secured all I desire; and Hope says--I can wait patiently for all I joyfully anticipate. These three divine graces are a created trinity, and have some glimmering resemblance of the Trinity uncreate; for as there the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from them both; so here a true faith begets a constant hope, and from them proceeds charity. In the godly these three are united, and cannot be sundered. We believe in Gods mercy, we hope for His mercy, and we love Him for His mercy. (T. Adams.)

The vital graces

The leading graces of Christianity are faith, hope, and charity. On these all other graces essentially depend; so that where these are, there will all others most assuredly be found. But of all these graces there are counterfeits: there is a faith that is dead; there is a love which is dissimulation; and there is a hope of the hypocrite that perisheth. Such, however, were not the graces which had been exercised among the Thessalonians: in them the apostle had seen--

I. An active faith. True faith is active: it brings to the Christians view the Lord Jesus Christ, as having in Him a fulness of all imaginable blessings treasured up for the use of the Church; just as the vine has in its root and trunk that sap of which all the branches partake, and by which they are nourished. Faith, moreover, brings the Christian to Christ for daily supplies of those blessings which his various necessities require. And having received communications of grace according to his necessities, he is stirred up by it to improve them to the glory of his Redeemers name. In a word, whatever the Christian has to do for God, he does it through the operation of this principle, by which, and by which alone, he overcomes the world, and purifies his heart. This faith St. Paul had seen in his Thessalonian converts; yea, so eminently had it shone forth in them, that they were celebrated for it in almost every Church throughout the Roman empire, and were held forth as patterns and ensamples of it to all the Christian world.

II. A laborious love. Love is that fruit by which, above all, the truth and reality of faith will be discerned. It is by this, above all, that we can assure ourselves, or be known to others, as faithful followers of Christ. If we have it not, all else that we can have is of no value. But love is a laborious grace: it is always seeking for something which it may do either for God or man. It cannot endure to be idle. Whether it can do little or much, it delights to be doing what it can. Nor is it diverted from its pursuit by slight obstacles; no--like the water obstructed by the dam, it will overcome them, and will evince its strength and ardour in proportion to the difficulties that impede its exercise. Love is a self-denying grace; and where it exists in due measure, it will prompt a man not only to sacrifice ease and interest, but even to lay down his life itself for the brethren. This grace was so conspicuous in the Thessalonian converts, that St. Paul judged it quite unnecessary to write to them on the subject: they were so taught by God Himself respecting all its duties and offices, that he could add nothing to them, but only to exhort them to abound more and more in the conduct which they had already pursued.

III. A patient hope. Hope is the offspring of faith and love, or at least of that faith which worketh by love. St. Paul calls it hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, because in Him all the promises of God are yea and amen. It is a patient grace, leading us to expect all that God has promised, however long we may have to wait for it; and to fulfil all that God has required, to the utmost possible extent; and to suffer all that God has ordained us to suffer, in hope of a final recompense; and, finally, to continue in a constant course of well-doing, even to the end. Such was the hope which the Thessalonians had manifested, and in which they had greatly rejoiced even in the midst of all their afflictions. (C. Simeon, M. A.)

The character of Thessalonian Christianity

I. Active faith shown in--

1. A full persuasion of the truth of the gospel.

2. Steadfast adherence to it in the midst of trial.

3. The great change which it had already wrought in their life and character.

4. The efforts in which they had engaged to extend the gospel.

II. Laborious love implying--

1. Great anxiety for the temporal and spiritual well-being of others.

2. Self-denying exertions to promote that well-being.

III. Patient hope.

1. A conviction that Christ will come.

2. A preparedness for His coming.

3. An expectation of it.

4. An earnest desire for it. (T. Hughes.)

Faith, home, and love

Faith hangs on the word of promise, love on that God who gives, hope on the promised inheritance. Faith receives and has, love gives, hope waits. Faith makes the heart firm, love makes it soft, hope expands it. Faith holds fast to what it has received, love gives up what it has received, hope triumphs over what is wanting. Faith capacitates us for dominion over this world, love for ministering to this world, hope for renunciation of this world. Faith is the confidence in what one hopes for; love, the proof of this, that one has faith; hope, the taking possession, before we have reached the goal, of that which we have learned by faith and love to yearn after. Faith is what it ceases to be in sight; hope is what it ceases to be in full possession; love is that which it never ceases to be, for God is love. (Prof. Harless.)

Faith is childlike, hope is saintlike, but love is Godlike. (Prof. Eadie.)

The work of faith

I. As it regards God.

1. To depend on His guidance--

(1) In His word.

(2) In the opening up of providential opportunities.

2. To trust in His help. Without Him we can do nothing.

(1) The mind is dark as to duty--He must enlighten it.

(2) The will is irresolute or rebellious--He must subdue and strengthen it.

(3) The energies are enfeebled--He must invigorate them.

3. To use His power.

(1) It is offered freely.

(2) It must be employed faithfully and energetically.

4. To bide His time. As in nature, so in grace, there is seed time and harvest: how often the Christian husbandman confounds the two.

5. To aim at His glory.

(1) This is His due inasmuch as He is the great Agent, we the implements.

(2) This will lift our efforts on to a higher platform and endue them with an irresistible motive power.

II. As it regards self.

1. To believe that God has qualified us for a certain work in a certain way.

(1) God has qualified some mentally. It is for such to believe that God has fitted them for literature, teaching, organization, etc.

(2) God has qualified some physically. It is for such to believe that although not gifted intellectually, they can still work for God in visiting the sick, etc.

(3) God has qualified some financially: they should believe that their work is beneficence.

(4) God has qualified some with only a quiet influence: such should not believe that they can do nothing. God sometimes qualifies by disqualifications. How can the sick work? In many ways. By prayer, the example of Christian resignation, etc. They also work who only stand and wait.

2. To believe that God intends and will help us each to work in his own way. Do not, then, ape anyone else. That is unbelief in our God-given individuality. Yet it largely obtains. The born preacher thinks he should organize: the visitor that he should teach: but it is misplaced faith and therefore unbelief. Be yourself, and rely on yourself as called and qualified by God.

3. To believe that through Gods strength we are sufficient for anything that He calls us to. Unbelief here is the paralysis of Christian effort and the nurse of much sinful indolence.

4. To believe that God will accept and consecrate us as we grapple with our tasks. Faith is the spring of devotion to God.

III. As regards our work.

1. To believe in the Divine sanction. Unbelief here is ruinous. Any doubt about our Divine call will not be compensated by the most transparent sincerity and the most prodigious effort. All work must fall to pieces without faith in its Divinity.

2. To believe that it is worthy of the best energies that we can devote to it, the best time that we can spend in its preparation and execution, the best appliances we can use in it. We must regard it as the noblest work in which a human spirit can engage: which it really is.

3. To believe in its ultimate success. Who would stand long hours behind a counter unless he believed that his work was going to pay? And who can preach and teach with any power unless he believes that Gods word shall not return to Him void.

IV. As regards others, viz., those for whose benefit we work.

1. To believe that they want our service: that the sinful need cleansing, that the degraded need elevating, etc.

2. To believe that our service will meet this need. If we have any lingering doubt that the gospel is not quite effective, and must be abandoned for, e.g., some methods of social reform--farewell to all power and prospect of success. Learn--

1. That Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. It is the gift of God.

2. That faith having secured personal salvation, it henceforth becomes practical.

3. That faith grows and strengthens by exercise, and nowhere so effectually as in Christian work. (J. W. Burn.)

And labour of love:--

The labour of love

I. The labour which love inspires. Love is the mightiest motive: the one which never fails. This is needed in all work that is worth doing: much more Christian work. Love regards either the work itself, as in the case of an artist, or the object for which the work is done, i.e., to please a friend or to feed a family. Christian work is animated by the threefold motive: the work is worth doing, God is worth serving, souls are worth saving.

II. The labour which love does.

1. It undergoes any sacrifices. Mark the self-denial of the student, e.g., in his pursuit of learning. Shall the Christian then avoid any discipline that will perfect his character, or is necessary for his equipment for war or service?

2. It succumbs to no fatigue. Of mere task service we soon tire.

3. It spares no energies. When a man begins to pick and choose, it is easy to see that he has no heart in it. Christian love asks not how little can I do and escape condemnation, but how much can I do of this glorious work for this dear Master.

III. The labour which love perfects. Its work must be worthy of itself. So--

1. It is ingenious in contriving to do the best thing in the best way. What pains are taken about mothers birthday present; and shall we be less solicitous for Christ.

2. It adds beauty to ability so that the gratification may be complete. There is a holy extravagance about love which excites the query, To what purpose is this waste?

IV. The labour which love rewards.

1. The labour of love is its own reward: to have produced a book which has edified thousands is a reward to which the most handsome remuneration is out of all proportion. To have brought a soul to Christ is worth more than the wealth of a Rothschild.

2. The smile of the beloved one recompenses the labour of love. Your work is worth so much--which will you have--twice its value or the warm word of appreciation? The Masters glad well done is heaven.

Lessons:

1. Learn to love what you do either for its own sake or for the sake of some one. This will make drudgery divine.

2. Let your love grow with your work and your work under your love. (J. W. Burn.)

Products of love

Fear produceth unwilling, servile performances, as those fruits that grow in winter or in cold countries are sour, unsavoury, and unconcocted; but those which grow in summer or in hotter countries, by the warmth and influence of the sun, are sweet and wholesome. Such is the difference between those fruits of obedience which fear and love produceth. (Bishop Reynolds.)

Love wrought this

A century ago, in the north of Europe, stood an old cathedral, upon one of the arches of which was a sculptured face of wondrous beauty. It was long hidden, until one day the suns light striking through a slanted window, revealed its matchless features. And ever after, year by year, upon the days when for a brief hour it was thus illuminated, crowds came and waited eager to catch a glimpse of that face. It had a strange history. When the cathedral was being built, an old man, broken with the weight of years and care, came and besought the architect to let him work upon it. Out of pity for his age, but fearful lest his failing sight and trembling touch might mar some fair design, the master set him to work in the shadows of the vaulted roof. One day they found the old man asleep in death, the tools of his craft laid in order beside him, the cunning of his right hand gone, the face upturned to this marvellous face which he had wrought--the face of one whom he had loved and lost in early manhood. And when the artists and sculptors and workmen from all parts of the cathedral came and looked upon that face they said, This is the grandest work of all; love wrought this. (Christian Advocate.)

Patience of hope--

Patience of hope

Is the point of this verse that we shall insist upon. But what is hope? It is an emotion; but it is more nearly allied to an intellectual state, perhaps, than a good many others. It is cheerfulness; it is happiness in expectancy; or, it is a bright view of the future. Memory takes care of the past; realization considers the present; anticipation works in the future, but it is a purely intellectual state of fore-looking: it may run along the line of cause and effect; it is a kind of prophecy from the known side of the relation of causes to effects. Hope acts in the future; it distils joy in the present by reason of that which it sees in the future. Anticipation does not: anticipated joys do not make one necessarily joyful now; anticipated success does not bring the remuneration of success in the present; it may bring courage, but not joy. Hope does bring joy, it irradiates the present; trials, struggles, temptations, defeats, are all made radiant by hopefulness. Not only is it an active state, but under certain circumstances it is a state that beds itself in, or is upheld by, the condition of patience, as if patience were a candlestick, and hope were the candle. It is looking at things in the future in a bright and cheerful light--the light of happiness. In this regard there are those that have no hope, or, rather, that have a hope that is torpid. I recollect having to deal with a saintly and notable woman, who, at the breaking out of a revival of religion, was in the very depths of despair, and felt that her hopes were blasted, and that she was foredoomed to eternal destruction. She had been so excessively active in all the preliminary stages of the religious excitement that she had simply exhausted herself; and, being of a bilious temperament, she had gone into a condition of absolute paralysis, if I might so say, of hopefulness. I did not address one single consideration of hopefulness to her. When her confidence was secured, so that she could follow implicitly my directions, I forbade her to go to church, to read one word in the Bible, or to utter a syllable of prayer until I gave her permission. She was filled with amazement; but resting absolutely, and freeing herself from that which had already been an over-anxiety in her case, at last nature rebounded, and she sent me word that if I did not free her from her promise she would have to break it, for her heart was overflowing with joy, and she could not help it though she tried ever so hard. If I had gone on describing the sin of her forgetting Christ and so forth, it would have been adding to her overstraining, and there would have been no chance for nature to rebound and come to her help. So, while there is this state of a probably diseased condition of mind, there must be other than mere moral treatment. There be many persons that have been injured by a too intense application, to their cases, of religious stimuli. We should have care not to plunge men into despondency; but, on the other hand, we ought all of us to be taught, in the very beginning, that of ourselves we are scarcely to attain anything that is very high--that the light which is in us, tending toward good, is the atmosphere of God Himself. Have hope--not despair; and above all things, do not get caught in the devils puzzle as between that which is in you by reason of Gods stimulus, and that which is dependent on your own exertion and your own will. (H. W. Beeches.)

The patience of hope

I. The relation of hope to patience.

1. It begets patience. Where there is no hope there is no patience, but either apathy or recklessness. The man who feels there is no hope of retrieving his ruined fortunes simply folds his hands or drowns his despair in self-indulgence.

2. It fosters patience. While there is a hope of anything, we feel that it is worth while waiting for it. But just in proportion as hope fades does patience relax its hold.

3. It justifies patience. If there is nothing to wait for, why wait? A friends promise, e.g., is sure to be redeemed. The hope of that warrants the patience of years. Apply these principles--

(1) To Gods salvation. To despair of this as some have done is to grow careless and indifferent--but what weary days and months have been spent in the hope of the smile of Gods countenance. This hope encourages us to wait for salvation in Gods time and way, and the object is so great as to justify any amount of patience.

(2) To Christian work. The prospect of winning souls calls forth the patient use of means. When we despond, the means are abandoned or only feebly employed. But hope lures the labourer to plod on. The seed is sown in tears; but it is sown; and the harvest will repay patient continuance in well-doing.

(3) To family duties. The mothers lot is brightened by hope. Alas! what would it be without it? That troublesome boy may grow up to be a great man. In the hope of this plod on, mother!

II. The relation of patience to hope.

1. It keeps hope alive. The impatient are most subject to fits of despondency. The patient are often disappointed, but what do they do? Turn their energies into another channel. Bruce and the spider, Try, try, try again. The man who quietly plods on in spite of discouragement augments his hope.

2. It brings hope nearer its fruition. Every step brings the traveller nearer home. Apply these principles--

(1) To the Christian conflict. The more strenuous your efforts to subdue the flesh and to resist temptation, the easier becomes the warfare and the brighter the hope of victory.

(2) To the prospects of the Church. Our Lord delayeth His coming! What shall we do? Abandon Missions? No. Hold the fort, for He is coming, and every days service brings Him nearer. (J. W. Burn.)

The patience of hope

In the year 1683, Vienna, the capital of Austria, was besieged; a great army of Turks, who were then making war with the nations of Europe, lay before it. When it was known that they were near Vienna, the Emperor of Austria fled from the city, and the poor people in it were left in sad fear and distress. The only person they thought likely to save them was the King of Poland, John Sobieski, and they sent entreating him to come to their help. They knew that he could only come to them over the northern mountains, and day after day they rose early, and watched for the first morning light, in the hope of seeing the Polish army on the mountains. It was anxious waiting, but hope sustained them. The siege began in July; on the 11th of September some weary watchers were looking out from the ramparts to the mountain of the Kalimburg, when--oh, delightful sight!--they saw something bright on the mountain side, and discerned the lances and armour of the brave Poles marching to the rescue. That very day Sobieski fought a bloody battle, defeated the Turks, and set Vienna free. (Family Treasury.)

The effects produced by the vital graces in St. Pauls mind

I. A lively interest in their welfare. A person less connected with them than he could not but have admired such excellences; but he was their father; he had begotten them in the gospel, and therefore might well boast of them as his glory and joy. Accordingly we find that whenever he came into the presence of his God and Father, he both gave thanks for them, and prayed for their still greater advancement in everything that was good. Most exalted was the joy which he felt on their account. When he saw the transcendent eminence of their attainments, he quite forgot all his own afflictions; the sight inspired new life and vigour into him; and he felt in himself a recompense which richly repaid all that he had done and suffered for their sake. This shows what are the feelings and views of every faithful minister when he sees his people thus adorning the gospel of Christ. That so great an honour should be conferred on themselves--that such advantages should be imparted to their perishing fellow creatures, and that such glory should be brought to God by their means, is to them a subject of almost stupefying amazement and overwhelming gratitude. And, while they render thanks to God for these things, they pour out their heart before Him in prayers and supplications on their behalf. In a word, these things form a bond of union between a minister and his people, such as does not exist in the whole world beside.

II. An assured confidence in their state. When the apostle beheld these fruits produced by his Thessalonian converts, he had no doubt of their election of God; the graces they exercised were manifestly wrought in them by the power of God, who had wrought thus upon them in consequence of His own purpose, which from all eternity He had purposed in Himself. The same blessed assurance may now be entertained wherever the same ground for it exists. Assurance, so founded, can never be productive of any bad effect. When such fruits as those which the Thessalonian converts produced are visible in any, then may we indulge the pleasing thought respecting them, as they also may respecting themselves, that God loved them with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness hath He drawn them. Only we may observe--that this assurance is no farther justifiable than it is warranted by the graces which exist in the soul; with the increase of those graces it may justly rise, and with their diminution it must proportionably fall. Any other assurance than this is unscriptural and vain; but this not only may be entertained, but is the privilege and comfort of all who believe in Christ. (C. Simeon, M. A.)

In the sight of God and our Father--

The habitual recognition of God

I. What it is to act as ever in the sight of God. To maintain a supreme and habitual regard for God in the relations He sustains towards us.

1. Some act with a perpetual self-consciousness. They care for no ones esteem or condemnation. Their one object is to please self--a poor master when best pleased.

2. To act with a perpetual consciousness of others: ever fearful to offend, and offending from very fearfulness; ever over-anxious to please, and failing through very over-anxiousness.

3. The Christian is ever conscious of, Thou God seest me.

(1) As a Being of infinite perfection.

(2) As Lawgiver and Sovereign.

(3) As Creator, Preserver, Benefactor.

(4) As Redeemer and Sanctifier.

(5) As Judge and Rewarder.

(6) As Father.

II. The advantage of acting as ever in the sight of God.

1. It would make the whole of life a continued act of religion. Apply this to business, politics, domestic duties.

2. It would give us the comfort of knowing that some one whose appreciation is worth having is cognizant of little acts upon which men set no value. Who regards the widows mite or the cup of cold water? God is also observant of those little trials in the warehouse or home, the aggregate of which constitute a great trial. He is looking down with sympathy--be brave; He is looking down with justice--beware.

3. It would strengthen against temptation. There is enough in that omniscient Being to gratify every longing. Why, then, try to fill your belly with the husks that the swine do eat?

4. It would make us stedfast in all holy obedience. We should be prepared for all the duties of devotion. The sense of God with us amid all the cares and bustle of the world would help to maintain all the graces in lively exercise.

5. It would prepare for death and eternity. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)

Realization of Gods presence

The realization of the Divine presence is the central thought of the Christians whole life. All the graces of his character spring from that one root. Just as all life, animal or vegetable, forms round a nucleus, a centre, a mere point or speck at first, but containing the germ of the animal or plant that is developed from it; so the spiritual life of the believer all forms itself from this one centre, the realization of the presence of God. (Dean Goulburn.)

An eye fixed on man

What would you say if, wherever you turned, whatever you were doing, whatever thinking in public or private, with a confidential friend, telling your secrets, or alone planning them, if, I say, you saw an eye constantly fixed upon you, from whose watching though you strove ever so much you could never escape; and even if you closed your own eye to avoid, you still fancied that to get rid of it was impossible--that it could perceive your every thought? The supposition is awful enough. There is such an Eye, though the business and struggles of the world would often enough prevent us from considering this awful truth. In crowds we are too interrupted, in the pursuit of self-interest we are too much perverted, in camps we are struggling for life and death, in courts we see none but the eye of a human sovereign; nevertheless, the Divine eye is always upon us, and, when we least think of it, is noting all, and, whatever we may think of it, will remember all. (De Vere.)

Man in the sight of God

Let us ask ourselves seriously and honestly, What sort of a show would I make after all, if the people around me knew my heart and all my secret thoughts? What sort of a show then do I already make in the sight of Almighty God, who sees every man exactly as he is? But take comfort also, and recollect however little you and I may know, God knows; He knows Himself and you and me and all things; and His mercy is over all His works. (C. Kingsley, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

PART FIRST.

RETROSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL, 1Th_1:3 to 1Th_3:13.

1. Recollections of their Christian faithfulness, 1Th_1:3-10.

3. Remembering—The following blessed facts as gifts to be richly thankful for, namely, your rich displays of Christian character.

Without ceasing—The fulness of Paul’s ardour for them appears in the fulness of his expressions, always, you all, without ceasing. The objects of this remembering are now mentioned; namely, the three Christian graces upon which he expatiates in 2 Corinthians 13.

Faith, love, hope—The words work, labour, and patience are in a climax of increasing intensity.

Work of faith—That life-work of Christian activity which faith inspires, and to which the profession of faith pledges the man. It was by this life of duty-doing that the pagan Thessalonians were taught what Christianity is.

Labour of love—That self-sacrifice to which love alone can prompt a man, and which love alone makes easy.

Patience of hope—Hope-inspired patience or endurance. The trials of life and the persecutions from pagans were endured with patience, because of the hope in (Greek of) Christ, and of that mighty advent so vividly described in Paul’s preaching. See notes on Act_24:25, and 2Th_1:6-11.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 Thessalonians

FAITH, LOVE, HOPE, AND THEIR FRUITS

1Th 1:3.

This Epistle, as I suppose we all know, is Paul’s first letter. He had been hunted out of Thessalonica by the mob, made the best of his way to Athens, stayed there for a very short time, then betook himself to Corinth, and at some point of his somewhat protracted residence there, this letter was written. So that we have in it his first attempt, so far as we know, to preach the Gospel by the pen. It is interesting to notice how, whatever changes and developments there may have been in him thereafter, all the substantial elements of his latest faith beam out in this earliest letter, and how even in regard to trifles we see the germs of much that came afterwards. This same triad, you remember, ‘faith, hope, charity,’ recurs in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, though with a very significant difference in the order, which I shall have to dwell upon presently.

The letter is interesting on another account. Remembering that it was only a very short time since these Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the living God, there is something very beautiful in the overflowing generosity of commendation, which never goes beyond veracity, with which he salutes them. Their Christian character, like seeds sown in some favoured tropical land, had sprung up swiftly; yet not with the dangerous kind of swiftness which presages decay of the growth. It was only a few days since they had been grovelling before idols, but now he can speak of ‘your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope’ . . . and declare that the Gospel ‘sounded out’ from them--the word which he employs is that which is technically used for the blast of a trumpet--’so that we need not to speak anything.’ Rapid growth is possible for us all, and is not always superficial.

I desire now to consider that pair of triads--the three foundation-stones, and the three views of the fair building that is reared upon them.

I. The three foundation-stones.

That is a natural metaphor to use, but it is not quite correct, for these three--faith, love, hope--are not to be conceived of as lying side by side. Rather than three foundations we have three courses of the building here; the lowest one, faith; the next one, love; and the top one, hope. The order in 1 Corinthians is different, ‘faith, hope, charity,’ and the alteration in the sequence is suggested by the difference of purpose. The Apostle intended in 1 Corinthians to dwell at some length thereafter on ‘charity,’ or ‘love.’ So he puts it last to make the link of connection with what he is going to say. But here he is dealing with the order of production, the natural order in which these three evolve themselves. And his thought is that they are like the shoots that successive springs bring upon the bough of a tree, where each year has its own growth, and the summit of last year’s becomes the basis of next. Thus we have, first, faith; then, shooting from that, love; and then, sustained by both, hope. Now let us look at that order.

It is a well-worn commonplace, which you may think it not needful for me to dwell upon here, that in the Christian theory, both of salvation and of morals, the basis of everything is trust. And that is no arbitrary theological arrangement, but it is the only means by which the life that is the basis both of salvation and of righteousness can be implanted in men. There is no other way by which Jesus Christ can come into our hearts than by what the New Testament calls ‘trust,’ which we have turned into the hard, theological concept which too often glides over people’s minds without leaving any dint at all--’faith.’ Distrust is united with trust. There is no trust without, complementary to it, self-distrust. Just as the sprouting seed sends one little radicle downwards, and that becomes the root, and at the same time sends up another one, white till it reaches the light, and it becomes the stem, so the underside of faith is self-distrust, and you must empty yourselves before you can open your hearts to be filled by Jesus. That being so, this self-distrustful trust is the beginning of everything. That is the alpha of the whole alphabet, however glorious and manifold may be the words into which its letters are afterwards combined. Faith is the hand that grasps. It is the means of communication, it is the channel through which the grace which is the life, or, rather, I should say, the life which is the grace, comes to us. It is the open door by which the angel of God comes in with his gifts. It is like the petals of the flowers, opening when the sunshine kisses them, and, by opening, laying bare the depths of their calyxes to be illuminated and coloured, and made to grow by the sunshine which itself has opened them, and without the presence of which, within the cup, there would have been neither life nor beauty. So faith is the basis of everything; the first shoot from which all the others ascend. Brethren, have you that initial grace? I leave the question with you. If you have not that, you have nothing else.

Then again, out of faith rises love. No man can love God unless he believes that God loves him. I, for my part, am old-fashioned and narrow enough not to believe that there is any deep, soul-cleansing or soul-satisfying love of God which is not the answer to the love that died on the Cross. But you must believe that, and more than believe it; you must have trusted and cast yourselves on it, in the utter abandonment of self-distrust and Christ-confidence, before there will well up in your heart the answering love to God. First faith, then love. My love is the reverberation of the primeval voice, the echo of God’s. The angle at which the light falls on the mirror is the same as the angle at which it is reflected from it. And though my love at its highest is low, at its strongest is weak: yet, like the echo that is faint and far, feeble though it be, it is pitched on the same key, and is the prolongation of the same note as the mother-sound. So my love answers God’s love, and it will never answer it unless faith has brought me within the auditorium, the circle wherein the voice that proclaims ‘I love thee, my child,’ can be heard.

Now, we do not need to ask ourselves whether Paul is here speaking of love to God or love to man. He is speaking of both, because the New Testament deals with the latter as being a part of the former, and sure to accompany it. But there is one lesson that I wish to draw. If it be true that love in us is thus the result of faith in the love of God, let us learn how we grow in love. You cannot say, ‘Now I will make an effort to love.’ The circulation of the blood, the pulsations of the heart, are not within the power of the will. But you can say, ‘Now I will make an effort to trust.’ For faith is in the power of the will, and when the Master said, ‘Ye will not come unto me,’ He taught us that unbelief is not a mere intellectual deficiency or perversity, but that it is the result, in the majority of cases--I might almost say in all-of an alienated will. Therefore, if you wish to love, do not try to work yourself into a hysteria of affection, but take into your hearts and minds the Christian facts, and mainly the fact of the Cross, which will set free the frozen and imprisoned fountains of your affections, and cause them to flow out abundantly in sweet water. First faith, then love; and get at love through faith. That is a piece of practical wisdom that it will do us all good to keep in mind.

Then the third of the three, the topmost shoot, is hope. Hope is faith directed to the future. So it is clear enough that, unless I have that trust of which I have been speaking, I have none of the hope which the Apostle regards as flowing from it. But love has to do with hope quite as much, though in a different way, as faith has to do with it. For in the direct proportion in which we are taking into our hearts Christ and His truth, and letting our hearts go out in love towards Him and communion with Him, will the glories beyond brighten and consolidate and magnify themselves in our eyes. The hope of the Christian man is but the inference from his present faith, and the joy and sweetness of his present love. For surely when we rise to the heights which are possible to us all, and on which I suppose most Christian people have been sometimes, though for far too brief seasons; when we rise to the heights of communion with God, anything seems more possible to us than that death, or anything that lies in the future, should have power over a tie so sweet, so strong, so independent of externals, and so all-sufficing in its sweetness. Thus we shall be sure that God is our portion for ever, in the precise degree in which, by faith and love, we feel that ‘He is the strength of our hearts,’ to-day and now. So, then, we have the three foundation-stones.

And now a word or two, in the second place, about

II. The fair building which rises on them.

I have already half apologised for using the metaphor of a foundation and a building. I must repeat the confession that the symbol is an inadequate one. For the Apostle does not conceive of the work and labour and patience which are respectively allocated to these three graces as being superimposed upon them, as it were, by effort, so much as he thinks of them as growing out of them by their inherent nature. The work is ‘the work of faith,’ that which characterises faith, that which issues from it, that which is its garment, visible to the world, and the token of its reality and its presence. Faith works. It is the foundation of all true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we might almost say that. But in the Christian scheme it is eminently the underlying requisite for all work which God does not consider as busy idleness. I might here make a general remark, which, however, I need not dwell upon, that we have here the broad thought which Christian people in all generations need to have drummed into their heads over and over again, and that is that inward experiences and emotions, and states of mind and heart, however good and precious, are so mainly as being the necessary foundations of conduct. What is the good of praying and feeling comfortable within, and having ‘a blessed assurance,’ a ‘happy experience,’ ‘sweet communion,’ and so on? What is the good of it all, if these things do not make us ‘live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world’? What is the good of the sails of a windmill going whirling round, if the machinery has been thrown out of gear, and the great stones which it ought to actuate are not revolving? What is the good of the screw of a steamer revolving, when she pitches, clean above the waves? It does nothing then to drive the vessel onwards, but will only damage the machinery. And Christian emotions and experiences which do not drive conduct are of as little use, often as perilous, and as injurious. If you want to keep your ‘faith, love, hope,’ sound and beneficial, set them to work. And do not be too sure that you have them, if they do not crave for work, whether you set them to it or not.

‘Your work of faith.’ There is the whole of the thorny subject of the relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what James said and it is exactly what a better than James said. When the Jews came to Him with their externalism, and thought that God was to be pleased by a whole rabble of separate good actions, and so said, ‘What shall we do that we might work the works of God?’ Jesus said, ‘Never mind about works . This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,’ and out of that will come all the rest. That is the mother-tincture; everything will flow from that. So Paul says, ‘Your work of faith.’

Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you. Do men see that your faith works; that its output is different from the output of men who are not possessors of a ‘like precious faith’? Ask yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it.

Love labours. Labour is more than work, for it includes the notion of toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, antagonism. Ah! the work of faith will never be done unless it is the toil of love. You remember how Milton talks about the immortal garland that is to be run for, ‘not without dust and sweat.’ The Christian life is not a leisurely promenade. The limit of our duty is not ease of work. There must be toil. And love is the only principle that will carry us through the fatigues, and the difficulties, and the oppositions which rise against us from ourselves and from without. Love delights to have a hard task set it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more poignant the satisfaction. Loss is gain when it brings us nearer the beloved. And whether our love be love to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is the only foundation on which toil for either God or man will ever permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy which has not a bottom of faith, and do not believe in work for Christ which does not involve in toil. And be sure that you will do neither, unless you have both these things: the faith and the love.

And then comes the last. Faith works, love toils, hope is patient. Is that all that ‘hope’ is? Not if you take the word in the narrow meaning which it has in modern English; but that was not what Paul meant. He meant something a great deal more than passive endurance, great as that is. It is something to be able to say, in the pelting of a pitiless storm, ‘Pour on! I will endure.’ But it is a great deal more to be able, in spite of all, not to bate one jot of heart or hope, but ‘still bear up and steer right onward’; and that is involved in the true meaning of the word inadequately rendered ‘patience’ in the New Testament. For it is no passive virtue only, but it is a virtue which, in the face of the storm, holds its course; brave persistence, active perseverance, as well as meek endurance and submission.

‘Hope’ helps us both to bear and to do. They tell us nowadays that it is selfish for a Christian man to animate himself, either for endurance or for activity, by the contemplation of those great glories that lie yonder. If that is selfishness, God grant we may all become a great deal more selfish than we are! No man labours in the Christian life, or submits to Christian difficulty, for the sake of going to heaven. At least, if he does, he has got on the wrong tack altogether. But if the motive for both endurance and activity be faith and love, then hope has a perfect right to come in as a subsidiary motive, and to give strength to the faith and rapture to the love. We cannot afford to throw away that hope, as so many of us do--not perhaps, intellectually, though I am afraid there is a very considerable dimming of the clearness, and a narrowing of the place in our thoughts, of the hope of a future blessedness, in the average Christian of this day--but practically we are all apt to lose sight of the recompense of the reward. And if we do, the faith and love, and the work and toil, and the patience will suffer. Faith will relax its grasp, love will cool down its fervour; and there will come a film over Hope’s blue eye, and she will not see the land that is very far off. So, dear brethren, remember the sequence, ‘faith, love, hope,’ and remember the issues, ‘work, toil, patience.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:3 The reason for Paul’s gratitude was the Thessalonians’ faithful work, loving deeds, and enduring hope (or confidence; see 3:6; 5:8; 2 Thes 1:3-4).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Th 1:3. Ὑμῶν, your) This depends on τῆς πίστεως, of faith, etc.—ἔργου—κόπου—ὑπομονῆς, work—labour—patience) These have the force of epithets, joined to ‘faith’, ‘love,’ ‘hope.’ Work is opposed to mere empty words [ἐν λόγῳ μόνον, in word only, 1Th 1:5], and in the singular signifies something lasting and efficacious, which faith has in itself, exercising itself in the very fact of believing, not proceeding merely from love.—[1] κόπου, labour) in spiritual and external acts of kindness. Those who evade all exertion that gives them trouble, in consideration of their own interest and quiet, love little. [Some one may say, Who will procure for me leisure to undertake this labour? Nay, but beware of losing time in the indulgence of sloth, in protracting social entertainments longer than is proper, and in vain conversation; and you will find abundance of time for performing the labour of love.—V. g.]—τοῦ Κυρίου, of our Lord) Construe this with patience [but Engl. Vers. hope in our Lord Jesus, etc.], as at 2Th 3:5 [ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the patience of Christ]: as I might say, the heavenly devotion of sighs [meaning, The heavenly devotion expressed by sighs: so the patience of our Lord, i.e. Patient] Perseverance for the name of Christ.—ἔμπροσθεν, in the sight) This is construed with μνημονεύοντες, remembering.

[1] πίστεως—ἀγάπης—ἐλπίδος, of faith—of love—of hope) ch. 1Th 5:8; 2Th 1:3-4.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th_1:3. As the apostle has first stated the personal object of his thanksgiving, so now follows a further statement of its material object. 1Th_1:3 is therefore a parallel clause to μνείαν … ἡμῶν (1Th_1:2), in which μνημονεύοντες corresponds to μνείαν ποιούμενοι, ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου … Χριστοῦ to ὑμῶν after μνείαν, and lastly, ἔμπροσθεν … ἡμῶν to ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν ἡμῶν. Schott, Koch, and Auberlen (in Langes Bibelwerk, Th. X., Bielef. 1864) incorrectly understand 1Th_1:3 as causal; the statement of the cause follows in 1Th_1:4.

ἀδιαλείπτως] unceasingly does not belong to the preceding μνείαν ποιούμενοι (Luther, Bullinger, Balduin, Er. Schmid, Harduin, Benson, Moldenhauer, Koch, Bloomfield, Alford, Ewald, Hofmann, Auberlen), for, as an addition inserted afterwards, it would drag, but to μνημονεύοντες (Calvin and others), so that it begins the new clause with emphasis.

μνημονεύειν is not intransitive: to be mindful of (Er. Schmid: memoria repetentes; Fromond: memores non tam in orationibus sed ubique; Auberlen), but transitive, referring to the making mention of them in prayer.

ὑμῶν] is, by Oecumenius, Erasmus (undecidedly), Vatablus, Calvin, Zwingli, Musculus, Hemming, Bullinger, Hunnius, Balduin, regarded as the object of μνημονεύοντες standing alone, whilst ἕνεκα is to be supplied before the genitives τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστ. κ.τ.λ. But this union is artificial, and the supposed ellipsis without grammatical justification. It would be better to regard τοῦ ἔργου κ.τ.λ. as a development of ὑμῶν in apposition; but neither is this in itself nor in relation to 1Th_1:2 to be commended. Accordingly, ὑμῶν is to be joined to the following substantives, so that its force extends to all the three following points. What Paul approvingly mentions in his prayers are the three Christian cardinal virtues, faith, love, and hope, in which his readers were distinguished, see 1Th_5:8; Col_1:4-5; 1Co_13:13. But Paul does not praise them simply in and for themselves, but a peculiar quality of eacheach according to a special potency. First their πίστις, and that their ἔργον τῆς πίστεως. Πίστις is faith subjectively. That τὸ ἔργον τῆς πίστεως is not to be understood periphrastically for τῆς πίστεως[32] (Koppe), nor does it correspond with the pleonastic use of the Hebrew דָּבָר, is evident, as (1) such a use of the Greek ἔργον is not demonstrable (see Winers Grammar, p. 541 [E. T. 768]); and (2) ἜΡΓΟΝ Τῆς ΠΊΣΤΕΩς must be similarly understood as the two following double expressions, but in them the additions ΚΌΠΟΥ and ὙΠΟΜΟΝῆς are by no means devoid of import. Also Kypkes explanation, according to which ἜΡΓΟΝ ΠΊΣΤΕΩς denotes veritas fidei, is to be rejected, as this meaning proceeds from the contrast of ἔργον and λόγος, of which there is no trace in the passage. Not less erroneous is it, with Calvin, Wolf, and others, to take ἔργον τῆς πίστεως absolutely as faith wrought, i.e. wrought by the Holy Ghost or by God. An addition for this purpose would be requisite; besides, in the parallel expressions (1Th_1:3) it is the self-activity of the readers that is spoken of. In a spiritless manner Flatt and others render ἔργον as an adjective: your active faith. Similarly, but with a more correct appreciation of the substantive, Estius, Grotius, Schott, Koch, Bloomfield, and others: operis, quod ex fide proficiscitur; according to which, however, the words would naturally be replaced by ΠΊΣΤΙς ἘΝΕΡΓΟΥΜΈΝΗ (Gal_5:6). So also de Wette: your moral working proceeding from faith. Hardly correct, as(1) ΤῸ ἜΡΓΟΝ can only denote work, not working. (2) The moral working proceeding from faith, according to Paul, is love, so that there would here be a tautology with what follows. Clericus refers τὸ ἔργον τῆς πίστεως to the acceptance of the gospel (Opus … erat, ethnicismo abdicato mutatoque prorsus vivendi instituto, christianam religionem profiteri atque ad ejusdem normam vitam in posterum instituere; quae non poterant fieri nisi a credentibus, Jesum vere a Deo missum atque ab eo mandata accepisse apostolos, ideoque veram esse universam evangelii doctrinam); so also Macknight, according to whom the acceptance of the gospel is called an ἜΡΓΟΝ on account of the victory over the prejudices in which the Thessalonians were nourished, and on account of the dangers to which they were exposed by their acceptance of Christianity. But this reason is remote from the context. Chrysostom (ΤΊ ἘΣΤΙ ΤΟῦ ἜΡΓΟΥ Τῆς ΠΊΣΤΕΩς; ὍΤΙ ΟὐΔῈΝ ὙΜῶΝ ΠΑΡΈΚΛΙΝΕ ΤῊΝ ἜΝΣΤΑΣΙΝ· ΤΟῦΤΟ ΓᾺΡ ἜΡΓΟΝ ΠΊΣΤΕΩς. ΕἸ ΠΙΣΤΕΎΕΙς, ΠΆΝΤΑ ΠΆΣΧΕ· ΕἸ ΔῈ ΜῊ ΠΆΣΧΕΙς, Οὐ ΠΙΣΤΕΎΕΙς), Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Calovius, Bisping, and others understand the words of the verification of faith by stedfastness under persecution. This meaning underlying the words appears to come nearest to the correct sense. ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως denotes your work of faith; but as ἜΡΓΟΥ has the emphasis (not ΠΊΣΤΕΩς, as Hofmann thinks), it is accordingly best explained: the work which is peculiar to your faithby which it is characterized, inasmuch as your faith is something begun with energy, and held fast with resoluteness, in spite of all obstacles and oppositions. This meaning strikingly suits the circumstances of the Epistle.

ΚΑῚ ΤΟῦ ΚΌΠΟΥ Τῆς ἈΓΆΠΗς] the second point of the apostles thanksgiving. Ἀγάπη is not love to God, or to God and our neighbour (Nicol. Lyr.), also not to Christ, as if τοῦ κυρίου ἡμ. Ἰ. Χ. belonged to ἄγαπης (Cornelius a Lapide), still less love to the apostle and his companions (Natal. Alexander: labores charitatis vestrae, quibus nos ex Judaeorum seditione et insidiis eripuistis, quum apud vos evangelium praedicaremus; Estius, Benson), but love to fellow-Christians (comp. Col_1:4). Κόπος τῆς ἀγάπης denotes the active labour of love, which shuns no toil or sacrifice, in order to minister to the wants of our neighbours: not a forbearing love which bears with the faults and weaknesses of others (Theodoret); nor is the genitive the genitive of origin, the work which proceeds from love (so Clericus, Schott, de Wette, Koch, Bloomfield, and most critics); but the genitive of possession, the work which is peculiar to love, by which it is characterized. According to de Wette, ΚΌΠΟς Τῆς ἈΓΆΠΗς might refer also to the labour of rulers and teachers (1Th_5:12). Contrary to the context, as 1Th_1:3 contains only the further exposition of 1Th_1:2; but according to 1Th_1:2, the apostles thanksgiving extends to all the members of the church (περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν), not merely to individuals among them.

The third point of the apostles thanksgiving is the ἘΛΠΊς of his readers, and this also not in and for itself, but in its property of ὙΠΟΜΟΝΉ. ὙΠΟΜΟΝΉ is not the patient waiting which precedes fulfilment (Vatablus), but the constancy which suffers not itself to be overcome by obstacles and oppositions (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact). The genitive here also is not the genitive of origin (Clericus, Schott, de Wette, Koch, Bloomfield), but of possession: your endurance of hope; that endurance which belongs to your hope, by which hope is characterized. ἐλπίς is here as usual subjective: hoping (otherwise, Col_1:5).

τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ.] does not refer to all the three above-mentioned virtues, in order to show that they are one and all derived from Christ, and instilled into man by the Holy Spirit (Olshausen), or are directed to Christ as their object (Cornelius a Lapide, Hofmann), but is the object only of ἐλπίδος. The hope refers to Christ, that is, to His advent, because the judgment and retribution will then take place, and the divine kingdom completed in all its glory will commence.

ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν] belongs not to εἰδότες (1Th_1:4), which Musculus thinks possible, and as little to τοῦ κυρίου ἡμ. Ἰ. Χ.; for(1) the article τοῦ before ἔμπροσθεν must then have been omitted, and (2) an entire abnormal representation of Christ would occur; also not to τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος, or to all the three ideas, to indicate thereby these three virtues as existing before the eyes and according to the judgment of God, and thus as true and genuine (Theodoret, Oecumenius, Aretius, Fromond, Cornelius a Lapide, Baumgarten-Crusius, Auberlen), for in this case the repetition of the article would be expected, and besides, ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ and similar expressions have, in the above sense, always an adjective or corresponding clause; but it belongswhich only is grammatically correctto μνημονεύοντες, so that μνημονεύοντες ἔμπροσθεν κ.τ.λ. corresponds to μνείαν ποιεῖσθαι ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν (1Th_1:2).

τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν] may mean Him, who is our God and our Father; or Him, who is God, and likewise our Father.

[32] So in essentials Hofmann, who considers τῆς πίστεως as an epexegetical genitive, and converts the double expression into the unimportant saying: Their doing or conduct consists in this, that they believed.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th 1:3 . ἀδιαλ . Neither distance nor fresh interests make any difference to his affection; his life is bound up with their welfare; his source of happiness is their Christian well-being ( cf. 1Th 2:17-20 , 1Th 3:7-10 ). The adverb (a late Greek formation, cf. Expos. , 1908, 59) goes equally well with the preceding or with the following words; better with the former, on the whole, as the participles then open the successive clauses in 2, 3 and 4. ὑμῶν is prefixed for emphasis to the three substantives which it covers, while the closing ἔμπροσθεν … ἡμῶν ( cf. 1Th 2:19 ) gathers up the thought of μνημον . Faith in one sense is a work, but Paul here (as in Gal 5:6 ) means faith that does work ( opus opponitur sermoni inani , Bengel), by producing a change of life and a cheerful courage under trials. It would be no pleasure to recall a merely formal or voluble belief, any more than a display of Christian love ( cf. Col 1:4 ) which amounted simply to emotions or fitful expressions of goodwill, much less a hope which could not persist in face of delay and discouraging hardships.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The reading του εργου … τον κοπον … την υπομονην, of D*, exhibits the carelessness of Western transcribers; G has the accusative throughout. et laboris et caritatis (as if τ. κοπου και τ. αγαπης) in vg.

3. ἀδιαλείπτως μνημονεύοντες: indesinenter memores (Calvin)—or still better, indesinenter memoria recolentes (Estius: for μνημονεύω = μνήμων εἰμί), being unremittingly mindful of your work, &c. The rhythm and balance of the participial clauses seem to speak, however, for the attachment of the adverb to 1Th 1:2—making mention of you in our prayers unceasingly; St Paul uses ἀδιαλ. characteristically of prayer: see 1Th 2:13, 1Th 5:17; Rom 1:9 f.; 2Ti 1:3. Μνημονεύω is capable of the same double use as μνείαν ποιοῦμαι above; but it is construed with περί in the sense of mentioning (cf. Heb 11:22); the bare genitive suits the sense remembering: cf. Gal 2:10; Col 4:18; and note the different shade of meaning conveyed by the accusative in 1Th 2:9. On the grammatical construction, see Winer-Moulton, Grammar, pp. 256 f.

ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ κ.τ.λ. at the end of this clause balances τῷ θεῷ and ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν of the preceding clauses: “in the presence (or sight) of our God and Father” St Paul and his companions ever bear in mind the Christian worth of the Thessalonians. Ἔμπροσθεν in this connexion is peculiar to this Epistle: 1Th 2:19, 1Th 3:9; 1Th 3:13; cf. 2Co 5:10; Act 10:4; 1Jn 3:19. Grammatically, the ἔμπροσθεν clause might adhere to the nearer verbal nouns ἔργου, κόπου, ὑπομονῆς, or to the last alone (so Lightf.: cf. 1Th 3:13; and, for the idea, 2Co 4:18; Heb 11:27), much as ἐν θεῷ πατρί is attached to ἐκκλησίᾳ in 1Th 1:1; but ἡμῶν points back to the subject of μνημονεύοντες, and through the first part of the Letter there runs a tone of solemn protestation on the writers’ part (see Introd. pp. xxxiv. f.) with which this emphatic adjunct to the participle is in keeping: see 1Th 2:4 ff., 1Th 2:19 f., 1Th 3:9; and cf. Rom 9:1 f.; 2Co 1:23; 2Co 11:31.

ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως καὶ τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ κυρίου κ.τ.λ. On occasion of mentioning persons (1Th 1:2), one recalls their character and deeds. The three objects of remembrance—ἔργου, κόπου, ὑπομονῆς (for the trio, cf. Rev 2:2)—are parallel and collectively introduced by the possessive ὑμῶν, each being expressed by a verbal noun with subjective genitive, on which genitive in each case—πίστεως, ἀγάπης, ἐλπίδος—the emphasis rests: “remembering how your faith works, and your love toils, and your hope endures”; see Blass’ Gram. of N.T. Greek, p. 96. The third of the latter three is defined by the objective genitive, τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ: Hope fastens on “our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Jn 3:3)—thus named under the sense of the majesty of His παρουσία (cf. 1Th 1:10, 1Th 5:9; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 1:12; 2Th 2:14; 2Th 2:16; also 1Co 1:7-9, &c.)—while in this context Faith looks, through Christ, “toward God” (1Th 1:8 f.), and Love has “the brethren” for object (1Th 4:9 f.; 2Th 1:3). The familiar Pauline triad first presents itself here—fides, amor, spes: summa Christianismi (Bengel); they reappear in 1Th 1:8: cf. the thanksgiving of 2Th 1:3 f.; also 1Co 13:13 (where love predominates, as against Corinthian selfishness and strife; here hope, under the pressure of Thessalonian affliction); Gal 5:5 f.; Col 1:4 f.; in 1Pe 1:3 ff. hope again takes the lead. Faith and Love are constantly associated (see 1Th 3:6, &c.), Faith and Hope frequently (Rom 5:1 ff; Rom 15:13, &c.), Love and Hope in 1Jn 4:17 f. These formed the three “theological virtues” of Scholastic Ethics, to which were appended the four “philosophical virtues,” Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Justice.

τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως, faith’s work (activity; cf. Jas 1:4)—a wide expression (cf. 1Th 2:13 below; 2Th 1:11; 2Th 2:17; Gal 5:6) corresponding to “the fruit of the Spirit” or “of the light” (Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9), which embraces the whole practical outcome of Thessalonian faith indicated immediately afterwards in 1Th 1:7-10. The commendation is characteristic of this Church (see Introd. p. xxxiii.). This connexion of “faith,” on its first appearance in St Paul’s writings (cf. πίστις ἐνεργουμένη, Gal 5:6) with “work,” shows that he was as far from approving a theoretical or sentimental faith as St James (see Jas 2:14 ff.). In the second group of his Epistles “faith” indeed is opposed to (Pharisaic) “works of law” (see Rom 4:1-5; Gal 2:16; Gal 3:10-14), for these “works” were put by the legalists in the place of faith and were built upon as affording in their own right a ground of salvation; the “work” of this passage and of James 2 is the offspring of faith, and affords not the ground but the aim and evidence of salvation. The distinction comes out very clearly in Eph 2:8-10: οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον· οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων … αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα … ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς. Since πίστις is the root-virture of Christianity, Christians as such are styled οἱ πιστεύοντες (1Th 2:13; 2Th 1:10, &c.).

τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης κ.τ.λ. The faith of this Church shone in its toil of love (see 1Th 4:9 ff.; 2Th 1:3) and endurance of hope (1Th 1:6; 1Th 1:10, 1Th 2:14, 1Th 5:4 f.; 2Th 1:4 ff; 2Th 2:14). Κόπος signifies wearing toil, labour carried to the limit of strength, and differs from ἔργον as effort and exertion from activity: St Paul refers both to his manual labour (1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8) and to his missionary toil (1Th 3:5; 2Co 6:5) as κόπος; cf. κοπιάω, Joh 4:6; Rev 2:3. In 1Co 3:8 κόπος gives the measure for Divine reward: here it is the expression of human love; thus parents task themselves for their children (cf. 1Th 2:7-9; also Eph 4:28, κοπιάτω). On ἀγάπη, the specific N.T. word for (spiritual) Love—to be distinguished from φιλία and ἔρως—see Trench’s N.T. Synonyms, § 12, or Cremer’s Bibl.-Theological Lexicon.

Ὑπομονή is a more positive, manful virtue than patience (see Trench, Syn. § 53); it corresponds to the classical καρτερία or καρτέρησις (Plato, Aristotle), and embraces perseverantia as well as patientia (Old Latin) or sustinentia (Vulg.); hence it suits with ἔργον and κόπος: see Rom 2:7, καθʼ ὑπομονὴν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ; cf. also 2Th 1:4-7, and (including ὑπομένω) 2Th 3:5; Rom 5:4; Rom 8:25; Col 1:11; Heb 12:1 ff.; Mat 10:22. Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ inspired the brave patience in which Thessalonian virtue, tried from the first by severe persecution (1Th 1:6, 1Th 3:2-6), culminated.

1Th 1:4 discloses the deeper ground of the Apostles’ thanksgiving, lying in their conviction, formed at the beginning of their ministry to the Thessalonians (1Th 1:5) and confirmed by subsequent experience (1Th 1:6 ff., 1Th 2:13), that the readers are objects of God’s electing love. εἰδότες—siquidem novimus (Estius)—implies settled knowledge; contrast this with γνῶναι of 1Th 3:5 (see note).

ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ [τοῦ] θεοῦ. The parallel construction of 2Th 2:13 (see note) proves ὑπὸ θεοῦ to belong to the participle, for which otherwise ἀγαπητοί would have served (see 1Th 2:8; Php 4:1, and passim; cf. Rom 1:7); the ordo verborum forbids attachment to τὴν ἐκλογήν (A.V.). This phrase occurs in Sir 45:1, used of Moses (with καὶ ἀνθρώπων added); cf. Rom 9:25 (Hos 2:23, LXX). The perf. participle marks the readers as objects of an abiding, determinate love (cf. 1Jn 3:1, ἀγάπην δέδωκεν), which has taken expression in their election.

εἰδότες … τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν. St Paul’s doxologies commonly look behind the human worth of the subjects to some gracious action or purpose on God’s part towards them; cf. e.g. 1Co 1:4 ff.; Php 1:6; Col 1:4 f. Ἐκλογή (picking out, selection), from ἐκλέγομαι (= αἱρέομαι, 2Th 2:13), denotes the act of God in choosing a man or community to receive some special grace, or to render some special service (e.g., in Act 9:15), or for both intents at once; more particularly, as here and in 2Th 2:13, to salvation in Christ (see Rom 9:11; Rom 11:5; Rom 11:28). In Rom 11:7, by metonymy, it signifies a body of chosen persons (= ἐκλεκτοί: for which usage cf. Rom 8:33; Tit 1:1). Romans 11 shows how St Paul’s doctrine of “election,” “the elect of God,” grew out of the O.T. conception of Israel as “the people of Jehovah” chosen and separated from the nations: see e.g. Psa 33:12; Psa 135:4; Deu 14:2; Isa 43:1-7; and cf. further with these passages Rom 8:28-39; 1Co 1:26-31; Eph 1:4 ff., also 1Pe 2:9 f. This election, in the case of Israel or of the N.T. Churches, implied selection out of the mass who, for whatever reason, are put aside—“the rest” (1Th 4:13, 1Th 5:6, below); and appropriation by God. Under the “call” of the Gospel the national gives place to a spiritual election, or ἐκλογὴ χάριτος (Rom 11:5), of individual believers who, collectively, constitute henceforth “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16); this is formed οὐ μόνον ἐξ Ἰουδαίων (λεῖμμα, Rom 11:5) ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν (Rom 11:24; Eph 3:6), the latter being grafted into the “garden-olive” (Rom 11:24) of God’s primitive choice. In Rom 8:28-30 the Divine ἐκλογή is represented as an orderly πρόθεσις—love planning for its chosen—with its successive steps of πρόγνωσις, προόρισις, &c.; in Eph 1:4 it is carried back to a date πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου (see note on 2Th 2:13 below). Our Lord’s parable of the Marriage-Supper (Mat 22:1-14) distinguishes the ἐκλεκτοί from the κλητοί, ‘the invited’; otherwise in the N.T. the two terms are equal in extent: see note on 1Th 2:12; and cf. κλῆσις and ἐκλέγομαι as they are associated in 1Co 1:26 ff. God’s choice of men does not preclude effort on their part (see 1Th 1:3), nor even the contingency of failure; though the Apostle “knows the election” of his readers, he “sends in order to know” their “faith … lest” his “toil should prove vain” (1Th 3:5; cf. 2Ti 2:10; Joh 6:70). The missionaries are practically certain that their converts are of God’s elect, not absolutely sure of the final salvation of every individual thus addressed.

Of God’s special favour to this people the writers were persuaded (a) by the signal power attending their ministry at their first preaching to them (1Th 1:5), and (b) by the zeal and thoroughness with which they had accepted the gospel (1Th 1:6 ff.).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. ἀδιαλείπτως μνημονεύοντε. “Bearing in mind continually.” This participial clause, parallel to the defining temporal clause μνείαν ποιούμενο, suggests the immediate ground of the thanksgiving, while the third parallel εἰδότε gives the ultimate ground (Find.). The never-failing memory of the spiritual excellence of the converts prompts the expression of thanks at every season of prayer.

Whether ἀδιαλείπτω is to be taken with μνημονεύοντε (Chrys., Dob., Dibelius, et al.) or with ποιούμενο (Ephraem, Pesh, Vulg, and G (which capitalises Μνημονεύοντε) Wohl., Mill., Moff., et al.) cannot be determined. In view of the freedom of epistolary usage, the analogy of 1 Mac. 12:11, Rom 1:10 P. Lond. 42 (διαπαντὸς μνείαν ποιούμενο) is not decisive. ἀδιαλείπτω is used with μνείαν ποιεῖσθα (Rom 1:9; cf. 1 Mac. 12:12), εὐχαριστεῖ (2:13), and προσεύχεσθα (5:17; cf. Ign. Eph. 10:1; Hermas Sim. IX 11:7; and Polyc. 4:3 ἐντυγχάνει).—Since μνημονεύει with gen. (Gal 2:10, Col 4:18) refers to the thought not to its expression in prayer before God, it is better to take ἔμπροσθεν κτλ not with the distant μνημονεύοντε but with the adjacent Ἰησοῦ Χριστου (Lft., Mill., Dob.), as indeed the position of the clause and the analogy of 3:13 make probable (but see Lillie, ad loc.).

ὐμῶ … Χριστου. The genitives are somewhat bewildering and the interpretations are various. The most favoured solution is that which joins ὑμῶ with ἔργου, κόπου, ὑπομονῆ, and which explains τῆς πίστεως, τῆς ἀγάπη, and τῆς ἐλπίδο as subjective genitives, and τοῦ κυρίο as an objective genitive qualifying ἐλπίδο. The stress is laid not on faith alone but on the work that results from faith; not on love alone but on the toilsome activity prompted by love; not on endurance alone but on the endurance that is inspired by the hope in Christ. The three phrases τὸ ἔργον τῆς πίστεως, ὁ κόπος τῆς ἀγάπη, and ἡ ὑπομονὴ τῆς ἐλπίδο may be the coinage of Paul; at least they are not found elsewhere in the Gk. Bib. (except II 1:11 ἔργον πίστεω; Heb 6:10 reads not τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπη but simply τῆς ἀγάπη), or in the Apostolic Fathers.

Lillie notes that Olshausen and Steiger (1832 on 1Pe 1:2) connect τοῦ κυρίο with all three gen. πίστεως, ἀγάπη and ἐλπίδο, a view to which Dob. inclines. But love to God (Rom 8:28, 1Co 2:9, 1Co 8:3) or Christ (1Co 16:22, Eph 6:24) is rare in Paul compared with the love of God or Christ for men. On the name ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ (5:9, 23, 28, II 2:1, 14, 16, 3:18), see below on 2:19.

τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεω. The work of faith is the activity that faith inspires, that is, love in all its manifestations (as in II 1:11).—τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπη. “The toilsome activity prompted by love.” In this unique phrase, minted from the situation, it is uncertain whether Paul has in mind manual labour necessary to support missionary propaganda, or the laborious missionary effort as such (3:5), or both. Love is not to be restricted to φιλαδελφί.—τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδο. “The endurance inspired by hope.” This unique phrase differs from ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς ὑπομονῆ (4 Mac. 17:4) in that the emphasis is upon endurance. Hope, whose object is Christ (Col 1:27), is the confident expectation of spiritual prosperity after death, the hope of salvation (5:8), the good hope (II 2:16) originating in Christ, a hope that those who are not in Christ do not share (4:13).

ὑπομονη (II 1:4, 3:5) is frequent in 4 Mac. (e. g. 15:30) in the sense of καρτερί In 1 Clem. 5:7 Paul himself is ὑπομονῆς μέγιστος ὑπογραμμό In II 3:5 the only adequate endurance is that inspired by Christ.

ἔμπροσθεν κτλ. Hope in Christ suggests the day of the Lord when all men must appear before God. For the unbeliever, it is a day of destruction (1:10, 5:3, II 1:9), but for the believer, a day of salvation (1:10, 3:13, 5:9), the fruition of hope. The Judge here is not Christ (2Co 5:10) but God (Rom 14:10), and that too the God and Father of us Christians. As in 2:19, 3:13, ἔμπροσθε is attached loosely to the immediately preceding words.

ὁ πατή (Rom 6:4, Eph 2:18, Eph 3:14, Col 1:2 v. l.), ἀββά ὁ πατή (Gal 4:6, Rom 8:15), ὁ θεὸς πατή (Col 1:12 (א) 3:17), θεὸς ὁ πατή (1Co 8:6, Col 1:12 FG), ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατή (1Co 15:24, Eph 5:20), ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ (Rom 15:6, 2Co 1:3, Eph 1:3, Col 1:3 (אA; BCDG omit και) 2Co 11:31 D) do not occur in I, II. We have, however, θεὸς πατή (1:1, II 1:2 (BD) Gal 1:1, Gal 1:3 (BD) Eph 6:23, Php 2:11), θεὸς πατὴρ ἡμῶ (II 1:1, Gal 1:3 (אA) Rom 1:7, 1Co 1:3, 2Co 1:2, Col 1:2, Eph 1:2, Php 1:2, Phm 1:3), and ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ ἡμῶ (1:3, 3:11, 13, Gal 1:4, Php 4:20). Unique is II 2:16 whether we read θεὸς ὁ πατήρ ἡμῶ (BD) or ὁ θεὸς ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶ (אG). Paul does not use ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν καὶ πατή or πατὴρ θεό (Sir. 23:4).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He commendeth them for three special gifts, effectual faith, continual love, and patient hope: to the end they might be ashamed being endued with such excellent gifts, not to continue in God’s election.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

work of faith--the working reality of your faith; its alacrity in receiving the truth, and in evincing itself by its fruits. Not an otiose assent; but a realizing, working faith; not "in word only," but in one continuous chain of "work" (singular, not plural, works), Th1 1:5-10; Jam 2:22. So "the work of faith" in Th2 1:11 implies its perfect development (compare Jam 1:4). The other governing substantives similarly mark respectively the characteristic manifestation of the grace which follows each in the genitive. Faith, love, and hope, are the three great Christian graces (Th1 5:8; Co1 13:13).

labour of love--The Greek implies toil, or troublesome labor, which we are stimulated by love to bear (Th1 2:9; Rev 2:2). For instances of self-denying labors of love, see Act 20:35; Rom 16:12. Not here ministerial labors. Those who shun trouble for others, love little (compare Heb 6:10).

patience--Translate, "endurance of hope"; the persevering endurance of trials which flows from "hope." Rom 15:4 shows that "patience" also nourishes "hope."

hope in our Lord Jesus--literally, "hope of our Lord Jesus," namely, of His coming (Th1 1:10): a hope that looked forward beyond all present things for the manifestation of Christ.

in the sight of God and our Father--Your "faith, hope, and love" were not merely such as would pass for genuine before men, but "in the sight of God," the Searcher of hearts [GOMARUS]. Things are really what they are before God. BENGEL takes this clause with "remembering." Whenever we pray, we remember before God your faith, hope, and love. But its separation from "remembering" in the order, and its connection with "your . . . faith," &c., make me to prefer the former view.

and, &c.--The Greek implies, "in the sight of Him who is [at once] God and our Father."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Your work of faith] This verse contains a very high character of the believers at Thessalonica. They had FAITH, not speculative and indolent, but true, sound, and operative; their faith worked. They had LOVE, not that gazed at and became enamoured of the perfections of God, but such a love as laboured with faith to fulfil the whole will of God. Faith worked; but love, because it can do more, did more, and therefore laboured-worked energetically, to promote the glory of God and the salvation of men. They had HOPE; not an idle, cold, heartless expectation of future good, from which they felt no excitement, and for which they could give no reason, but such a hope as produced a satisfying expectation of a future life and state of blessedness, the reality of which faith had descried, and love anticipated; a hope, not hasty and impatient to get out of the trials of life and possess the heavenly inheritance, but one that was as willing to endure hardships as to enjoy glory itself, when God might be most honoured by this patient endurance. FAITH worked, LOVE laboured, and HOPE endured patiently.

It is not a mark of much grace to be longing to get to heaven because of the troubles and difficulties of the present life; they who love Christ are ever willing to suffer with him; and he may be as much glorified by patient suffering, as by the most active faith or laborious love. There are times in which, through affliction or other hinderances, we cannot do the will of God, but we can suffer it; and in such cases he seeks a heart that bears submissively, suffers patiently, and endures, as seeing him who is invisible, without repining or murmuring. This is as full a proof of Christian perfection as the most intense and ardent love. Meekness, gentleness, and long-suffering, are in our present state of more use to ourselves and others, and of more consequence in the sight of God, than all the ecstasies of the spirits of just men made perfect, and than all the raptures of an archangel. That Church or Christian society, the members of which manifest the work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope, is most nearly allied to heaven, and is on the suburbs of glory.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3 Unceasingly remembering you. While the adverb unceasingly might be taken in connection with what goes before, it suits better to connect it in this manner. What follows might also be rendered in this way: Remembering your work of faith and labor of love, etc. Nor is it any objection to this that there is an article interposed between the pronoun ὑμῶν and the noun ἔργου, for this manner of expression is frequently made use of by Paul. I state this, lest any one should charge the old translator with ignorance, from his rendering it in this manner. As, however, it matters little as to the main point which you may choose, I have retained the rendering of Erasmus.

He assigns a reason, however, why he cherishes so strong an affection towards them, and prays diligently in their behalf — because he perceived in them those gifts of God which should stir him up to cherish towards them love and respect. And, unquestionably, the more that any one excels in piety and other excellences, so much the more ought we to hold him in regard and esteem. For what is more worthy of love than God? Hence there is nothing that should tend more to excite our love to individuals, than when the Lord manifests himself in them by the gifts of his Spirit. This is the highest commendation of all among the pious — this the most sacred bond of connection, by which they are more especially bound to each other. I have said, accordingly, that it is of little importance, whether you render it mindful of your faith, or mindful of you on account of your faith.

Work of faith I understand as meaning the effect of it. This effect, however, may be explained in two ways — passively or actively, either as meaning that faith was in itself a signal token of the power and efficacy of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as he has wrought powerfully in the exciting of it, or as meaning that it afterwards produced outwardly its fruits. I reckon the effect to be in the root of faith rather than in its fruits — “A rare energy of faith has strewn itself powerfully in you.”

He adds labor of love, by which he means that in the cultivation of love they had grudged no trouble or labor. And, assuredly, it is known by experience, how laborious love is. That age, however, more especially afforded to believers a manifold sphere of labor, if they were desirous to discharge the offices of love. The Church was marvelously pressed down by a great multitude of afflictions: many were stripped of their wealth, many were fugitives from their country, many were thrown destitute of counsel, many were tender and weak. The condition of almost all was involved. So many cases of distress did not allow love to be inactive.

To hope he assigns patience, as it is always conjoined with it, for what we hope for, we in patience wait for, (Romans 8:24) and the statement should be explained to mean, that Paul remembers their patience in hoping for the coming of Christ. From this we may gather a brief definition of true Christianity — that it is a faith that is lively and full of vigor, so that it spares no labor, when assistance is to be given to one’s neighbors, but, on the contrary, all the pious employ themselves diligently in offices of love, and lay out their efforts in them, so that, intent upon the hope of the manifestation of Christ, they despise everything else, and, armed with patience, they rise superior to the wearisomeness of length of time, as well as to all the temptations of the world.

The clause, before our God and Father, may be viewed as referring to Paul’s remembrance, or to the three things spoken immediately before. I explain it in this way. As he had spoken of his prayers, he declares that as often as he raises his thoughts to the kingdom of God, he, at the same time, recalls to his remembrance the faith, hope, and patience, of the Thessalonians, but as all mere presence must vanish when persons come into the presence of God, this is added, in order that the affirmation may have more weight. Farther, by this declaration of his goodwill towards them he designed to make them more teachable and prepared to listen.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) Faith . . . love . . . hope.—in this first of his writings, St. Paul has already fixed upon the three great abiding principles (1Co_13:13) of the Christian life, and the forms in which they mainly exhibit themselves. The genitive in such phrases as “work of faith,” etc., is almost equivalent to a very emphatic adjective—“faithful activity,” i.e., a work characterised by faith and prompted by faith, such as faith alone could have enabled you to accomplish; so “labour of love” is similarly equivalent to “loving labour,” laborious toil undertaken for love’s sake, and done in the spirit of love; and “patience of hope” to “hopeful endurance of trials,” a steadfast endurance which is grounded upon and cheered by hope.

In our Lord.—More correctly, of The words in the Greek go with all three clauses: He is the object of the faith and love, as well as of the hope. This “hope of our Lord” includes, but is not limited to, the hope of His second Advent.

In the sight of God goes closely with “remembering,” and is equivalent to “in prayer.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Remembering without ceasing,.... The phrase "without ceasing", is, by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, joined to the last clause of the preceding verse; and the remembrance the apostle speaks of is either a distinct thing from the mention made of them in prayer, and suggests that they bore them on their minds at other times also; or it is the same with it; or rather a reason of their mentioning of them then, because they remembered them, and the following things of theirs:

as your work of faith; by which is meant not the principle of faith, for as such that is God's work, the product of his grace, and the effect of his almighty power; but the operative virtue and exercise of it under the influence of the grace of God: the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it, "the work of your faith"; and so some copies, and the Syriac version, "the works of your faith". The Targumist in Hab 1:12 represents God as holy , "in works of faith": faith is a working grace, it has a deal of work to do, it has its hands always full, and is employed about many things; it is the grace by which a soul goes to God, as its covenant God, lays hold on him as such, pleads his promises with him, asks favours of him, and is very importunate, and will have no denial; and by which it goes to Christ as at first conversion, afterwards for fresh supplies of grace, out of that fulness of grace that is in him; it receives him and all from him, and through him pardon, righteousness, adoption of children, and an eternal inheritance; and it is that grace which carries back all the glory to God and Christ, and to free grace; it glorifies God, exalts Christ, humbles the creature, and magnifies the grace of God, it has much work to do this way; and it works by love, by acts of love to God, to Christ, and to the saints; and it puts the soul upon a cheerful obedience to every ordinance and command, and hence obedience is styled the obedience of faith; and indeed all good works that are properly so are done in faith, and faith without works is dead; it is greatly engaged against the world and the devil; it is that grace by which Satan is opposed and overcome, and by which the believer gets the victory over the world; so that he is not discouraged by its frowns, and cast down by the trials and afflictions he meets with in it, nor drawn aside by its snares and allurements; something of this kind the apostle had observed and remembered in these believers: he adds,

and labour of love; love is a laborious grace when in lively exercise; love to God and Christ will constrain a believer to engage in, and go through, great hardships, difficulties, toil, and labour, for their sakes; and love to the saints will exert itself, by serving them in things temporal and spiritual, ministering cheerfully and largely to their outward wants, for which reason the same epithet is given to love in Heb 6:10 as here; regarding and assisting them in their spiritual concerns; praying for them and with them; building them up in their most holy faith; communicating their experiences, and speaking comfortable words unto them; reproving them for sin in love, and with tenderness; restoring them when fallen in a spirit of meekness; and stirring them up to love and good works: love has much toil and labour, not only in performing the several duties of religion, both towards God and man; but in bearing all things, the burdens of fellow Christians; the infirmities of weak believers, forbearing them in love, forgiving their offences, and covering their sins:

and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, or "of our Lord Jesus Christ". These persons had a good hope through grace given unto them, and which was founded in Christ Jesus, in his person, blood, and righteousness, and so was as an anchor sure and steadfast; and it had him for its object, it was an hope of interest in him, of being for ever with him, of his, second coming and glorious appearance, and of eternal life and happiness through him; and this was attended with patience, with a patient bearing of reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions, for the sake of Christ, and a patient waiting for his coming, his kingdom and glory; and this as well as the others were remembered by the apostle, and his fellow ministers, with great pleasure: and that

in the sight of God and our Father; or before God and our Father; which may be read in connection either with the above graces, which were exercised, not only before men, but before God, and in his sight, who sees not as man seeth, and who cannot be deceived and imposed upon; and so shows that these graces were true and genuine, faith was unfeigned, love was without dissimulation, and hope without hypocrisy: or with the word remembering, as it is in the Syriac version, which reads, "remembering before God and our Father"; that is, as often as we appear before God, and lift up our hands and our hearts unto him in prayer, we bear you upon our minds before God; and particularly remember your operative faith, laborious love, and patient hope of Christ.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Ver. 3. Remembering without ceasing] A good memory is required to assiduity in prayer. All the faculties are exercised, and the whole man hard wrought.

Your work of faith] We believe not without much conflict. When faith goes about to lay hold on Christ, the devil raps her on the fingers, and would beat her off. Hence the believer hath such ado to believe.

And labour of love] Every man’s love is as his labour is, Heb 6:10. Therefore also love and labour are of one root in Latin, because love is diligent and laborious.

And patience of hope] To wait the accomplishment of God’s promises. Thus every Christian virtue hath its proper distinctive character, to difference it from that which is counterfeit.

In the sight of God] True grace will stand to God’s trial, which false grace cannot abide; as alchemy gold cannot pass the seventh fire; nor doth it comfort the heart as true gold doth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Remembering without ceasing - Remembering your faith and love whenever we pray. This is not to be understood literally, but it is language such as we use respecting anything that interests us much. It is constantly in our mind. Such an interest the apostle had in the churches which he had established.

Your work of faith - That is, your showing or evincing faith. The reference is probably to acts of duty, holiness, and benevolence, which proved that they exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Works of faith are those to which faith prompts, and which show that there is faith in the heart. This does not mean, therefore, a work of their own producing faith, but a work which showed that they had faith.

And labour of love - Labour produced by love, or showing that you are actuated by love. Such would be all their kindness toward the poor, the oppressed, and the afflicted; and all their acts which showed that they loved the souls of people.

And patience of hope - Patience in your trials, showing that you have such a hope of future blessedness as to sustain you in your afflictions. It was the hope of heaven through the Lord Jesus that gave them patience; see the notes on Rom 8:24. “The phrases here are Hebraisims, meaning active faith, and laborious love, and patient hope, and might have been so translated.” Doddridge.

In our Lord Jesus Christ - That is, your hope is founded only on him. The only hope that we have of heaven is through the Redeemer.

In the sight of God and our Father - Before God, even our Father. It is a hope which we have through the merits of the Redeemer, and which we are permitted to cherish before God; that is, in his very presence. When we think of God; when we reflect that we must soon stand before him, we are permitted to cherish this hope. It is a hope which will be found to be genuine even in the presence of a holy and heart-searching God. This does not mean that it had been merely professed before God, but that it was a hope which they might dare to entertain even in the presence of God, and which would bear the scrutiny of his eye.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The apostle praises the Thessalonians for the progress they had made in the theological virtues [of faith, hope, and charity], and enumerates the profit they had derived from each. Their faith had produced works; their charity rendered their labour light and easy, and their patience was the fruit of their future hopes, in confidence of which they bore what they had to suffer from their unconverted countrymen. (Estius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Remembering without ceasing; the occasion of his constant thanksgivings was his constant remembering of that grace of God that did so abound and work powerfully in them, not as if he had always an actual remembrance of it, but he did not forget it, the habitual sense of it was continually in his mind, and was often actually in his thoughts, especially in his approaches to God; and that is all which is meant in the original word, αδιαλειπτωσ. While the apostle was with them he saw this in them, but being now absent he remembered it; and with such a practical remembrance as stirred up his heart to thanksgiving. That is a good memory where is treasured up matter of prayer and thanksgiving.

Your work of faith; or the work of the faith of you, that is, their faith and the work of it; whereby he intimates their faith was true and real; a faith unfeigned, 2Ti 1:5; the faith of God’s elect, Tit 1:1; and so distinguished from a dead faith, Jam 2:26. They received the work in much affection, with joy of the Holy Ghost; they turned from idols to the service of the true God; they waited for the coming of Christ, &c.; here was the work of faith.

And labour of love; a labour to weariness, as the word imports; laborious love. True faith hath its work, but love hath its labour; and when faith worketh by love it will work laboriously. Whereby the apostle declares the reality of their love, as well as their faith; it was unfeigned love, yea, fervent love, the labour of it went forth towards that true God whom they now worshipped, that Jesus Christ on whom they now believed, and to the saints that were now their fellow brethren, 1Th 4:10; and particularly to the apostle himself, as in other ways, so particularly in the pains and labour that some of them took to conduct and travel along with him from Thessalonica to Athens, Act 17:15.

And patience of hope: the apostle had mentioned before their faith and love, and now their hope; which are called the three cardinal or theological graces, all mentioned together by him, 1Co 13:13; and by which we have all our communion with God on earth. And as their faith had its work, and love its labour, so their hope had its patience as the fruit and product of it. There is a patience with respect to an expected good, and with respect to an incumbent evil; and both produced by hope. The former is more properly called μακροθυμια, or length of mind, consisting in waiting for and expectation of some desired good; the latter is υτομονη, consisting in patient suffering, or abiding under some present evil. Their former patience is mentioned in 1Th 1:10, they waited for his Son from heaven. The latter in the second chapter, 1Th 2:14, Ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen: as they (i.e. the churches of Judea) have of the Jews. This latter is here specially meant in the text; and for which he gives God thanks, 2Th 1:4. And hope produceth the former patience, as it looks upon the expected good as that which will come at last; and the latter patience, as it looks upon the suffered evil as that which will not always continue. And when with respect to both these the mind of man is kept sedate and quiet, this is the

patience of hope.

In our Lord Jesus Christ; or, of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the efficient and author of this hope, and of their faith and its work, and love and its labour: or,

in our Lord Jesus Christ, as here rendered; and so he is the object of this hope, 1Co 15:19; 1Ti 1:1. And by this the Christian’s hope is distinguished from all other. All hope worketh patience. The husbandman’s hope to receive the former and latter rain, maketh him wait for it with patience, Jam 5:7; the hope of the merchant, for the return of his adventure; the hope of the heir, for his inheritance; but the Christian’s hope worketh patience as fixed upon Christ: other hope resteth upon the things of this lower visible world, but this is as an anchor sure and stedfast, entering within the veil, where Christ is entered as a forerunner, &c., Heb 6:19,20. Faith and love both have Christ for their object; but considered as present; but the patience of hope in Christ respecteth something future, some revelation of him, and salvation by him, which is yet to come. If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, Rom 8:25.

In the sight of God and our Father: these words are not in the Syriac or Arabic version. And they respect either the apostle’s thanksgiving and prayer for them, and his remembering the grace of God in them when he solemnly approached God’s presence; for in all duties of worship we come before God, and present ourselves in his sight, and their graces he before mentioned, he remembered them to God, and presented them to his view: or they respect the omniscience of God, that their work of faith, labour of love, &c. were all in God’s sight, and he was a delighted spectator of them: or, lastly, they may respect the sincerity of their hearts in all the actings of their faith, love, and hope; they did all this in the sight of God. As the apostle asserts his sincerity in his ministry by this: We speak as in the sight of God, 2Co 2:17. And thus the apostle mentions their graces, not as the heathen orators, who made great encomiums of virtue to the praise of men, but to the honour and praise of God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Remembering without ceasing. Some attach the words, "without ceasing," or "unceasingly," to the previous clause; "making mention of you unceasingly in our prayers" (so Alford). Your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope. These expressions are not to be weakened, as if they were a mere Hebraism for active faith, laborious love, and patient hope. We have here the three cardinal virtues faith, love, and hope. (1Co_13:13) Elsewhere these graces are combined. Thus again in this Epistle: "Putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation"; (1Th_5:8) and in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven". (Col_1:4, Col_1:5) By the "work of faith" is not meant faith itself as the work of God, (Joh_6:29) but that faith which is energetic, which is active and living, productive of good works. By the "labor, or toil, of love" is not meant that love which is devoted to God, but that love which manifests itself in acts of kindness toward our fellow-Christians and toward the human race. And by the "patience of hope" is meant that constancy which remains unconquered by trials and persecutions. There is a climax here; faith manifests itself by its works its active exertion; love by its toils its works of self-denial; and hope by its patience its endurance amid trials and discouragements. "Remembering, the apostle would say, your faith, hope, and love: a faith that had its outward effect on your lives; a love that spent itself in the service of others; and a hope that was no mere transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen, when Christ should be revealed" (Jowett). In our Lord Jesus Christ. These words do not refer to all three virtues (Hohnann), but only to the last, specifying its object, namely, that it is hope in the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is hope s highest expectation, because at the advent the kingdom of Christ will come in its glory. In the sight of (or rather, before) God and our Father. These words are to be conjoined with "remembering:" "remembering unceasingly before God and our Father your work of faith," etc. According to the English idiom, the conjunction "and" is dropped our Father." The three cardinal virtues:

faith, love, and hope.

1. Their order. Faith is the commencement of the spiritual life, love its progress and continuance, and hope its completion; faith is the foundation, love the structure, and hope the top-stone of God"s spiritual temple in the soul.

2. Their manifestations. Faith is seen by its works; love, by its self-denying exertions; and hope, by its patience and endurance.

3. Their reference to time. Faith refers to the past, love to the present, and hope to the future.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 3.

Works of grace.

In writing to the Corinthians St. Paul singles out three Christian graces for supreme honor faith, hope, and love. Here he selects the same three graces, but not simply to praise them for their own inherent merits. They are now regarded in their energetic operation, as powers and influences; and the fruits of their activity are the subjects of the apostle"s thankful recognition. He makes mention in prayer of the work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.

I CHRISTIAN GRACES ARE ACTIVE POWERS. They are beautiful in themselves, but they are not to exist solely for their own beauty. Flowers are lovely, but the object of the existence of flowers is not that they may dream through the summer hours in their loveliness, and then fade and wither and die. They serve an important end in the economy of plants by preparing fruit and seeds.

1. The active operation of Christian grace glorifies God. While dwelling only in the depths of the soul, quiescent and secret, they do not show forth the glory of God. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit". (Joh_15:8)

1. The active operation of the Christian graces is a means of benefiting our fellow-men. Faith, love, and hope are not given to us for our own enjoyment only. They are aids for our mission in life the mission of serving God by serving mankind. We must let them have their perfect work, that this mission may be fulfilled.

2. The active operation of the Christian graces is a proof of their vital health. "Faith apart from works is barren". (Jam_2:20) By the fruits they bear we know how far we have the graces within us.

II CHRISTIAN GRACES HAVE THEIR SEPARATE SPHERES OF ENERGY.

1. Faith has its work. When we both believe and actively trust in the helps of the Unseen, we are encouraged to use them, and when we yield ourselves in faith to the will and law of the Unseen, we learn to obey the authority above us. Hence the work of faith. This is characterized by decision it is no wavering, hesitating, intermittent activity by calmness and by energy.

2. Love has its labor. Labor is harder than work. It implies great effort, toil, and trouble. Love goes beyond faith and undertakes greater tasks. But with love "all toil is sweet." An enthusiasm amounting to passion characterizes this activity and distinguishes it from the sober work of faith. Love to God and love to man are necessary for the hardest work. It was not mere faith, it was love, that inspired the awful toils and sacrifices of Christ.

3. Hope has its patience. This is the passive fruit of Divine grace. It is not therefore the less important, nor does it therefore show the less energy. We need strength for endurance as much as strength for action. Christian hope manifests its energy by unflinching perseverance in spite of present crosses and distresses.

III CHRISTIAN GRACES MUST CO-OPERATE FOR THE RIPENING OF THE FULL CHRISTIAN LIFE. St. Paul rejoices that all three of the primary graces were in active operation in the Thessalonian Church. Characters are too often one-sided. Faith is hard if love is wanting. Love is weak and wild if it is not supported and guided by faith. Hope is an idle dream without these two graces, and they are sad and gloomy if they are not cheered by hope. As the cord is far stronger than the separate strands, faith, hope, and love united produce energies many times greater than the results of their individual efficacy. The perfect Christian character is the character that is developed into rich fruitfulness on all sides. All the colors in the bow must blend to produce the pure white of saintliness. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Remembering in the sight of God - That is, praising him for it. Your work of faith - Your active, ever-working faith. And labour of love - Love continually labouring for the bodies or souls of men. They who do not thus labour, do not love. Faith works, love labours, hope patiently suffers all things.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

work of faith

Lit. operative faith, and laborious love, and hope-filled patience.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father [Paul thanked God for the church at Thessalonica for its evidences of Christian life mentioned in the remainder of this section. In the words before us he sets forth their relations to the three cardinal Christian graces, or faith, hope and love ( 1Th_5:8 ; Col_1:4-5 ; 1Co_13:13 ). Their faith was not formal, barren and dead ( Jam_2:20 ; Jam_2:26 ); but it actively worked, bringing their wills into obedience to the will of God ( Rom_1:5 ; Rom_16:26 ); their love was not idle, but caused them to employ themselves in heartfelt toil for the welfare of others; and their hope in Christ sustained their souls, so that they endured all trials and persecutions, and were unyielding in their conflict with temptation and doubt. Thus, each in its own way, the three graces manifested themselves, and in such a way that it was evident that these graces were centered in, inspired by, and renewed of Christ, and viewed with approval by the Father];

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Remembering … your work of faith. He states reasons for thankfulness. Work of faith. Works which result from faith. Labor of love. Toil for others caused by love for them and for Christ. Patience of hope. Patient endurance of toil, hardship and persecution through a hope in Christ. Probably a hope that soon these would cease with the coming of Christ. The Thessalonians, as we learn, expected his speedy coming.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

3.] μνημον. is not intransitive, as Erasm.-Schmid, al.: but as in reff.: ‘commemorantes,’ Beza. ὑμῶν is by Œcum., Calv., al., regarded as the genitive after μνημον. standing alone, and ἕνεκα supplied before the other genitives. But such a construction may be doubted, and at all events it is much simpler here to regard ὑμ. as the genitive governed by τοῦ ἔργου, … τοῦ κόπου, and τῆς ὑπομονῆς, and prefixed, as belonging to all three, πίστις, ἀγάπη, ἐλπίς, are the three great Christian graces of 1Co_13. See also ch. 5:8; Col 1:4, Col 1:5: and Usteri, paulinisch. Lehrbegriff, p. 236 ff.

τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως] Simple as these words are, all sorts of strange meanings have been given to them. Koppe and Rosenmüller hold τ. ἔργου to be pleonastic: Calv., Calov., al., render (ungrammatical) ‘your faith wrought by God;’ Kypke, ‘the reality (ἔργ. as contrasted with λόγος) of your faith;’ Chrys., Thl., Thdrt, Œc., al., ‘the endurance of your faith in suffering:’ &c. Comparing the words with the following genitives, they seem to mean, ‘that work (energetic activity) which faith brings forth’ (as Chrys. ἡ πίστις διὰ τῶν ἔργων δείκνυται: the gen., as also those following, being thus a possessive one: see Ellicott here): q.d. ‘the activity of your faith:’ see 2Th 1:11: or perhaps, as Jowett (but not so well), “ ‘your work of faith,’ i.e. the Christian life, which springs from faith:” thus making the gen. one of origin.

τοῦ κόπου] probably towards the sick and needy strangers, cf. Act 20:35; Rom 16:6, Rom 16:12—not in the word and ministry (De W.), cf. ch. 5:12: which is irrelevant here. τῆς ἀγάπ. not as springing from, but as belonging to, love,—characterizing it (Lün.): see above.

τ. ὑπομ. τῆς ἐλπίδος] your endurance of hope—i.e. endurance (in trials) which belongs to (see above), characterizes, your hope; and also nourishes it, in turn: cf. Rom 15:4, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς, κ. διὰ τῆς παρακλήσεως τῶν γραφῶν τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχωμεν.

τοῦ κυρ. ἡμ. Ἰ. χ.] specifies the hope—that it is a hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. ver. 10). Olsh. refers the words to all three preceding substantives—but this seems alien from St. Paul’s style. On all three Jowett says well, ‘your faith, hope, and love; a faith that had its outward effect on your lives: a love that spent itself in the service of others: a hope that was no mere transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen when Christ should be revealed.’

ἔμπρ. τ. θ. κ. πατρ. ἡμ.] belongs most naturally to μνημονεύοντες—making mention … before God: not to the genitives preceding (see Rom 4:17; Rom 14:22), as Thdrt., al.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Without ceasing [αδιαλειπτως] . P o. In LXX see 1 Macc. 7 11; 2 Macc. 3 26; 9 4; 8 12; 14 7; 3 Maccvi. 33. Should be construed with making mention, not with remembering, as A. V. and Rev. The salutations of Paul reproduce ordinary conventional forms of greeting. Thus the familiar Greek greeting cairein be joyful, hail, welcome, appears in cariv grace. This was perceived by Theodore of Mopsuestia (350 - 428 A. D.), who, in his commentary on Ephesians, says that in the preface to that letter Paul does very much as we do when we say "So and so to So and so, greeting" [ο δεινα τω δεινι χαιρειν] . Deissmann gives some interesting parallels from ancient papyri. For instance, a letter dated 172 B. C., from an Egyptian lady to her brother or husband : "Isias to her brother Hephaestion, greeting [χαιρειν] . If you are well, and other things happen as you would wish, it would be in accordance with my constant prayer to the gods. I myself am well, and the boy; and all at home make constant remembrance of you. Comp. Rom 1:9; Eph 1:16; Phl 1:4. Again :" Ammonios to his sister Tachnumi, abundant greeting [τα πλειστα χαιρειν] . Before all things, I pray that you may be in health; and each day I make the act of worship for you. " In these specimens the conventional salutations in correspondence include the general greeting [χαιρειν] and the statement that prayer is made for the correspondent's welfare; and the words constant and daily are attached to the act of prayer. It is further to be noticed that many passages of Paul 's Epistles give evidence of having been shaped by expressions in letters received by him from the parties he is addressing. In his answer he gives them back their own words, as is common in correspondence. Thus, making mention of you and remembering your work, etc., together with the statement that Timothy reports that you have a good remembrance of us (ch. 3 6), all together suggest that Paul had before him, when writing to the Thessalonians, a letter which Timothy had brought from them. Other instances will be noted as they occur. 10 Work - labor - patience [επργου - κοπου - υπομονης] . Ergon work, may mean either the act, the simple transaction, or the process of dealing with anything, or the result of the dealing, - as a book or a picture is called a work. Kopov labor, from koptein to strike or hew; hence, laborious, painful exertion. Upomonh patience, patient endurance and faithful persistence in toil and suffering. See on 2Pe 1:6; Jas 5:7. The genitives, of faith, love, hope, mark the generating principles of the work and labor and patience, which set their stamp upon each; thus, work which springs from faith, and is characteristic of faith. The phrase patience of hope is found only here; but see Rom 5:4; Rom 8:25; Rom 14:4; 1Co 8:7; Heb 7:11, 12. uJpomonh in LXX, see 1Ch 29:15; Job 14:19; Psa 9:18; Psa 38:7; Jer 1:4 8. We have here the great triad of Christian graces, corresponding to 1 Corinthians 8. Hope is prominent throughout the two Epistles. The triad appears, 1Th 5:8; Gal 5:5, 6; 1Co 8:13; Eph 4:2 - 5; Col 1:4, 5; Heb 10:22 - 24; 1Pe 1:21 - 22. Comp. 1Th 2:9; 1Th 5:8; 2Th 3:5, 8; 1Co 14:10, 58; 2Co 11:27; Rev 2:2.

In our Lord, etc. [του κυριου] . Lit. of our Lord. For a similar use of the genitive, see Joh 5:42; 1Jo 2:5, 15; Act 9:31; Rom 1:5; iii. 18, 22, 26, etc. Connect with hope only.

Before our God and Father. Const. with remembering, and comp. ch. 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:9.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.