1 Thessalonians 2:13

Here observe, I. The apostle makes mention of the success of his ministry among these Thessalonians (Th1 2:13), which is expressed,

1. By the manner of their receiving the word of God: When you received the word of God, which you heard of us, you received it, not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God. Where note, (1.) The word of the gospel is preached by men like ourselves, men of like passions and infirmities with others: We have this treasure in earthen vessels. The word of God, which these Thessalonians received, they heard from the apostles. (2.) However, it is in truth the word of God. Such was the word the apostles preached by divine inspiration, and such is that which is left upon record, written in the scriptures by divine inspiration; and such is that word which in our days is preached, being either contained, or evidently founded on, or deduced fRom. these sacred oracles. (3.) Those are greatly to blame who give out their own fancies or injunctions for the word of God. This is the vilest way of imposing upon a people, and to deal unfaithfully. (4.) Those are also to blame who, in hearing the word, look no further than to the ministry of men, who are only, or chiefly, pleased with the elegance of the style, or the beauty of the composition, or the voice and manner in which the word is preached, and expect to receive their advantage herein. (5.) We should receive the word of God as the word of God, with affections suitable to the holiness, wisdom, verity, and goodness, thereof. The words of men are frail and perishing, like themselves, and sometimes false, foolish, and fickle: but God's word is holy, wise, just, and faithful; and, like its author, lives and abides for ever. Let us accordingly receive and regard it.

2. By the wonderful operation of this word they received: It effectually worketh in those that believe, Th1 2:13. Those who by faith receive the word find it profitable. It does good to those that walk uprightly, and by its wonderful effects evidences itself to be the word of God. This converts their souls, and enlightens their minds, and rejoices their hearts (Psa 19:1-14); and such as have this inward testimony of the truth of the scriptures, the word of God, by the effectual operations thereof on their hearts, have the best evidence of their divine original to themselves, though this is not sufficient to convince others who are strangers thereto.

II. He mentions the good effects which his successful preaching had,

1. Upon himself and fellow-labourers. It was a constant cause of thankfulness: For this cause thank we God without ceasing, Th1 2:13. The apostle expressed his thankfulness to God so often upon this account that he seemed to think he never could be sufficiently thankful that God had counted him faithful, and put him into the ministry, and made his ministrations successful.

2. Upon them. The word wrought effectually in them, not only to be examples unto others in faith and good works (which he had mentioned before), but also in constancy and patience under sufferings and trials for the sake of the gospel: You became followers of the churches of God, and have suffered like things as they have done (Th1 2:14), and with like courage and constancy, with like patience and hope. Note, The cross is the Christian's mark: if we are called to suffer we are called only to be followers of the churches of God; so persecuted they the prophets that were before you, Mat 5:12. It is a good effect of the gospel when we are enabled to suffer for its sake. The apostle mentions the sufferings of the churches of God, which in Judea were in Christ Jesus. Those in Judea first heard the gospel, and they first suffered for it: for the Jews were the most bitter enemies Christianity had, and were especially enraged against their countrymen who embraced Christianity. Note, Bitter zeal and fiery persecution will set countrymen at variance, and break through all the bonds of nature, as well as contradict all the rules of religion. In every city where the apostles went to preach the gospel the Jews stirred up the inhabitants against them. They were the ringleaders of persecution in all places; so in particular it was at Thessalonica: Act 17:5, The Jews that believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar. Upon this occasion, the apostle gives a character of the unbelieving Jews (Th1 2:15), enough to justify their final rejection and the ruin of their place, and church, and nation, which was now approaching. (1.) They killed the Lord Jesus, and impudently and presumptuously wished that his blood might be on them and their children. (2.) They killed their own prophets: so they had done all along; their fathers had done so: they had been a persecuting generation. (3.) They hated the apostles, and did them all the mischief they could. They persecuted them, and drove and chased them from place to place: and no marvel, if they killed the Lord Jesus, that they persecuted his followers. (4.) They pleased not God. They had quite lost all sense of religion, and due care to do their duty to God. It was a most fatal mistake to think that they did God service by killing God's servants. Murder and persecution are most hateful to God and cannot be justified on any pretence; they are so contrary to natural religion that no zeal for any true or only pretended institution of religion can ever excuse them. (5.) They were contrary to all men. Their persecuting spirit was a perverse spirit; contrary to the light of nature, and contrary to humanity, contrary to the welfare of all men, and contrary to the sentiments of all men not under the power of bigotry. (6.) They had an implacable enmity to the Gentiles, and envied them the offers of the gospel: Forbidding the apostles to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved. The means of salvation had long been confined to the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews, says our Saviour. And they were envious against the Gentiles, and angry that they should be admitted to share in the means of salvation. Nothing provoked them more than our Saviour's speaking to them at any time concerning this matter; this enraged the Jews at Jerusalem, when, in his defence, Paul told them, he was sent unto the Gentiles, Act 22:21. They heard him patiently till he uttered these words, but then could endure no longer, but lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. Thus did the Jews fill up their sins; and nothing tends more to any person or people's filling up the measure of their sins than opposing the gospel, obstructing the progress of it, and hindering the salvation of precious souls. For the sake of these things wrath has come upon them to the uttermost; that is, wrath was determined against them, and would soon overtake them. It was not many years after this that Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jewish nation cut off by the Romans. Note, When the measure of any man's iniquity is full, and he has sinned to the uttermost, then comes wrath, and that to the uttermost.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing] Revised reading: And for this cause we also, &c. The Apostle has already given thanks for the Christian worth of the Thessalonians (ch. 1Th_1:2 ff.); his thanksgiving is renewed when he considers that this is the fruit of his own and his companions’ labour amongst them. Hence we is emphasized here (in the Greek), but not in ch. 1Th_1:2.

“For this cause” looks back over the whole of the last section, 1Th_2:1-12. Accordingly he continues:—

because, when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us] Better, (we give thanks) that (R. V.), or in that: comp. notes on ch. 1Th_1:5 and 2Th_1:3. The recollections of the last paragraph prompt the writer to the thanksgiving which takes shape in the words that follow:—

For ye received the word of God, &c., R. V. renders: ye received from us the word of the message (Greek, word of hearing), even the word of God. Perhaps the A.V. is nearer to St Paul’s meaning: “from us” in the original immediately follows “hearing,” and appears to be dependent upon it. We therefore translate, somewhat freely, but after the order of the Greek: when you received the word you heard from us—God’s word. “Word” is not repeated by the Apostle, nor has it the definite article; English idiom requires both. His joy is that a message heard from his lips, not his own indeed but God’s word (see 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:8-9, and note on the last), had been thus received. For the connection of “hearing” and “from us” comp. 2Ti_1:13; 2Ti_2:2, “what thou hast heard from me”; and 2Co_1:19, “the Son of God proclaimed through me and Silas and Timothy.” “Faith comes by hearing”; and hearing requires “a preacher” (Rom_10:13-17).

ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God] R. V., accepted for received: the Greek verb differs from that of the last clause, which might signify the mere outward reception of something “heard”; this term, as in ch. 1Th_1:6, denotes a willing, hearty acceptance—a welcome given to the “word.” It is the expression used in Gal_4:14 :—“as an angel of God you received me”; again in Php_4:18, where Paul speaks of his welcoming the timely gift from Philippi; and is the common Greek term for receiving a guest.

Literally the clause reads, you accepted not men’s word, but, as it is truly, God’s word. “Men’s word”—the mere word of “Paul and Silas and Timothy.” The Thessalonians accepted God’s word as God’s, with reverence and faith. They recognised in what they heard from Paul and Silas a higher Voice, the message of the living and true God, calling them to life eternal. The success of religious teaching lies in its power to make God’s voice audible through human speech. If the preacher cannot do this, he does nothing. And this accounts for the result, which St Paul next describes:—

which effectually worketh also in yom that believe] which also worketh (R. V.: read worketh with an emphasis), or is operative, effectual.

The “work of faith” which the Apostle admired in the Thessalonian Church (ch. 1Th_1:3 : see note) is the work of God’s word in them. In their lives that word takes effect; it puts forth its energy, and does its proper work. “The seed” of all such fruit “is the word of God” (Luk_8:11).

On “you that believe” see note to ch. 1Th_1:7. Here the present tense of the participle makes its force sensible—“you that do believe;” continued faith being the condition of this sustained efficacy of the word of God in the Thessalonians. Mighty as it is, that word can do nothing for us unless we believe it (comp. Mat_13:58).

section iii

Jewish Persecutors of the Church. Ch. 1Th_2:13-16

This short paragraph is of peculiar interest. The Apostle was at the time exposed in his Gentile mission to the bitterest persecution from the unbelieving Jews, as we gather from the contemporary narrative of Acts 16-18. And he employs against them in 1Th_2:15-16 language more severe than is found in any other of his writings. Evidently he regarded the Jews as being now, in the counsels of God, a doomed nation (1Th_2:16). Accordingly, we find him in Romans 9-11, a few years later, arguing upon the reprobation of “Israel after the flesh” as a settled thing. We observe, too, his desire (1Th_2:14) to draw the Jewish and Gentile sections of the Church nearer to each other in sympathy under the stress of persecution. As to the bearing of this passage on the date of the Epistle, see Introd. p. 23, foot-not[7].

[7] foot-note It is necessary to observe that the opponents St Paul has in view in 1 Thessalonians 2 (see esp. 1Th_2:15-16) are unconverted Jews, altogether hostile to the gospel Paul preached. The Jews of Thessalonica drove him from this city, and following him to Berœa attacked him there; and their compatriots at Corinth imitated their example, though happily not with the same success (Act_17:5; Act_17:13; Act_18:12-17). Of the Jewish Christians opposed to Paul and his Gentile mission, the “false brethren” who afterwards “troubled” him at Corinth and in Galatia, we find in these Epistles no trace whatever.

Analysis: The Apostle (1) again thanks God for the reception given to the Gospel by his readers, 1Th_2:13; (2) he sees in their union with the Judean Churches in persecution a proof of its efficacy in them, 1Th_2:14; and (3) this gives him occasion to denounce Jewish violence against the Gospel, whose punishment is now decreed and impending, 1Th_2:15-16.

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.

The apostle having given the reasons on his part and his fellow ministers’, why the gospel had such effect upon them, he next proceeds to show the reason on their part, for which he giveth God thanks. And that is, from their manner of receiving it; though this, as well as the former, are but subordinate reasons.

1. They heard it; some will not do that; and therefore the apostle here calls it a word of hearing, a Hebraism, as Rom 10:17; Faith cometh by hearing.

2. They received it: the word importeth a receiving with affection, as Joseph the virgin Mary to his wife, Mat 1:20.

3. They received it not as the word of men, which we receive sometimes doubting, sometimes disputing it; or believing it only with a human faith, upon grounds of reason, as the dictates of philosophy, or on the reports of men, and without the impression of the authority of God upon our minds; or when we receive the word of God because of the eloquence or learning of the preacher, and the affection we bear to him, or admiration of his person; or, as the papists, we believe it because the church believeth it.

But as it is in truth, the word of God; with a divine faith, ready subjection of our souls to it, and with reverent attention, as a word that is from heaven; which the apostle positively asserts in way of parenthesis.

As it is in truth, or truly, they believed, so he dispersed the word to them, and so they received it. And for this cause he gave thanks to God. Having mentioned before the subordinate reasons of the efficacy of the word, he now mentions the principal, which is God himself. That any receive the word as the word of God, it is not from the preachers so much as from God. And it is a great cause of thanksgiving to God, when ministers find a people receive the word with a Divine faith, which is not done without Divine grace: then they see the fruit of their ministry, for which they ought to give thanks. Which effectually worketh also in you that believe: the powerful working of God is usually expressed by this word, Eph 1:19; Phi 2:13; and the working of Satan also, Eph 2:2. Men possessed with the devil are called energumeni. And where the word is believed and received as the word of God, there it hath this energy, or worketh effectually, so as to promote love, repentance, self-denial, mortification, comfort, and peace, &c. The apostle had mentioned before their work of faith, labour of love, patience of hope, 1Th 1:3; and all from hence, their receiving the word as the word of God, and so retaining it.

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

1Th_2:13

For this cause also thank we God

A happy ministers meeting

(text and 1Th_2:14):--Paul unbosoms his heart to the loving Church at Thessalonica.

He knew what it was to be worried by others, but found rest when thinking of them. The most tried ministers have some bright spots. In setting forth his joyful memories of Thessalonica, the Apostle gives us a sight of three things.

I. Ministers giving thanks. We also thank God. Ministers are not always weeping, though they often do so. They have their time of thanksgiving, as Paul had.

1. This followed upon sore travail (see 1Th_2:9). As we sow in tears, we reap in joy.

2. This was backed by holy living (1Th_2:10-11). Unholy ministers, will have scant cause for joy.

3. It prevented all self-laudation. To thank God is the opposite of glorifying self.

4. It was of a social character. We--Paul, Silas, and Timothy--we hold a fraternal meeting of joy when God blesses us among our beloved people.

5. It was of an abiding character. Without ceasing. We can never cease praising the Lord for His goodness in saving souls.

6. It cheered them for further service. They wished (1Th_2:17) to visit the friends again, and further benefit them. What a mercy for us all when Gods servants are glad about us! Their joy is in our salvation.

II. Hearers receiving the Word. Ye received. Not all receive it. How badly do some treat the gospel. Not all receive it as did the Thessalonians, for--

1. They received the Word of God; they heard it calmly, attended to it candidly, considered it carefully.

2. They received the Word of God with a hearty welcome. They accepted it by faith, with personal confidence and joy.

3. They did not receive the word of man. It is well to keep the doors locked in that direction. We cannot receive everything; let us reject merely human teaching, and leave the more room in our minds for the Lords word.

4. They did not receive the gospel as the word of men. Their faith was not based on the clever, eloquent, logical, dogmatical, or affectionate way in which it was preached.

5. They received it as Gods revealed Word, and therefore received it with reverence of its Divine character, with assurance of its infallibility, with obedience to its authority, with experience of its sacred power.

6. They received it so that it effectually worked in them. It was practical, efficient, and manifestly operative upon their lives and characters.

III. Converts exhibiting the family likeness.

1. They were like Judaean Christians, the best of them--in faith, in experience, in afflictions.

2. Yet many of them as heathen began at a great disadvantage.

3. They had never seen the church of God in Judaea, and were no copyists, yet they came to be facsimiles of them.

4. This is a singular confirmation of the Divine character of the work. The same Lord works in all believers, and in the main the same experience occurs in all the saints, even though they may never have seen each other. This similarity of all regenerated men furnishes a valuable set of experimental evidences of the Divine origin of conversion. Let us not be daunted by opposition, for at Thessalonica Paul was persecuted and yet triumphant. Let us rejoice in the effects of the Word everywhere. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The correct estimate of Gospel truth

The population of Thessalonica consisted of two diverse classes--Greek and Jew--the one representing the philosophy of Paganism, the other being the custodian of the truths of revelation. Among the Hebrews, Moses was recognized as the head of their system, and his words were profoundly venerated; and the Gentiles were not less devout and ardent in their admiration of Plato. The gospel impinged on these ancient and revered institutions. The followers of Moses and Plato were compelled to admit the higher authority of the apostolic message. They formed a correct estimate of it when they received it not as the word of men, etc.

I. The Gospel is superior to all human wisdom. Human wisdom is--

1. Limited. The greatest mind is imperfect in its knowledge, and restricted in using what it knows.

2. Changeable. Aristotle said, There is no difference between what men call knowledge and mere opinion; therefore, as all opinion is uncertain, there can be no certainty in human knowledge.

3. Unsatisfying. Another great thinker said, Nothing can be known; nothing, therefore, can be learned; nothing can be certain; the senses are limited and delusive; intellect is weak; life is short.

II. The Gospel is essentially divine.

1. It is authoritative. When God speaks, unbelievers may well be filled with fear. His Word comes with the majesty of its own innate power. It bends the ear to attention, the mind to faith, the heart to reverence, the will and conscience to obedience.

2. It is immutable. It is the Word of the Lord that liveth and abideth forever.

(1) Its promises are sure.

(2) Its threatenings will certainly be executed.

3. It is complete. There is nothing to add, nothing to subtract. It contains the fullest revelation of God, of man, of eternal issues, such as can never be found elsewhere.

4. It is worthy of universal credence. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. It is to the everlasting commendation of the Thessalonians, and of millions since their day, that when they heard the Word of God, they received it not as the word of men, etc.

III. The Gospel is efficacious in transforming character. Which effectually worketh also in you that believe. As the planet receiving the light of the sun is transformed into an imitation sun, so the believing soul, receiving the light of the Word, is changed into the image of that Word. Whatever the Divine Word prescribes, that it works in us. Does it prescribe repentance?--it works repentance; faith?--it works faith; obedience?--it works obedience; knowledge?--it enlightens to know. Its transforming power is continually demonstrated. It makes the niggardly generous, the profane holy, the drunkard sober, the profligate chaste. Faith is the vital force that connects the soul with this converting power.

IV. The correct appreciation of gospel truth is matter of ceaseless thanksgiving to the preacher. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing. No disappoint ment is keener than that of unproductive labour. Some of the choicest ministers of God have had to mourn over comparative failure. Think of the anguish of Jeremiah, when the Word of the Lord, which he declared, was turned into daily reproach and derision; and of Ezekiel, when he wept over rebellious Israel! But the joy of success is inexpressible; and the full heart pours out its thanks to God. They joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. Lessons:

1. The word of man, while it may charm the understanding, is powerless to change the heart.

2. The correct estimate of gospel truth is to regard it as the Word of God.

3. The Word of God is efficacious to the individual only as it is received believingly. (G. Barlow.)

The gospel message: its instrument and reception

I. The gospel is a message from God to man. A message is a special communication, directly sent by one person to another, affecting matters of immediate interest. It is in this light that the gospel was regarded by its first preachers. They were ambassadors for Christ to men.

1. The message is special. Creation and Providence declare the glory of God, His power, wisdom, goodness. They have spoken with a thousand tongues, but they have not told us all. Their speech could not convey to the heart of man the hidden thought of the gospel, But the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

2. The message has been directly sent. At sundry times, and in divers manners, through dream and vision, by the prophets, the communication was made at first, but in these last: days He has spoken to us by His Son.

3. It demands our immediate attention. The answer is to be made by return. We must not turn away from Him who speaketh from heaven.

II. That message is conveyed by human instrumentality. This is so obvious as to require no elucidation; but in the special light of the text it demands the closest attention. Touching this, St. Paul said to the Corinthians, And my speech and my preaching was not with the enticing words of mans wisdom, etc. The preacher must be so impressed with the solemnity of his position as to make his own glorification impossible. This was a charge made by the Redeemer against the Pharisees, Ye receive glory of men. The hearer must also rise above many of the peculiarities of the messenger to the message itself, See how ye hear.

III. The message, when received in faith, exerts an immediate influence. Which also worketh in you that believe. The whole soul is moved to action.

1. There is a response to its call. Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief.

2. There is a conformity to its demand. Take up the Cross, and follow Me.

3. There is a realization of its peace. It is a message of mercy offering peace and joy to the believer. Peace be unto you. (Weekly Pulpit.)

The Preaching of the Word and its effects

I. When may it be said that the Word, not of men, but of God, is preached--

1. Negatively. Not--

(1) When doctrine evidently false is preached, or such as is condemned in Scripture, as, e.g., some branches of the Socinian, Antinomian, Pharisaic, and other doctrines.

(2) When doctrine is preached which is not contained therein, and, therefore, at best, doubtful--speculation, mysticism, etc.

(3) When trivial doctrine is preached, and such as Scripture lays little stress upon, such as kneeling or sitting at the sacrament.

(4) When uninteresting doctrine is preached, and such as, how, ever important at another time, and to another people, does not particularly concern those to whom it is delivered; as when Christian perfection is preached to a drunkard, or the promises of eternal life to the impenitent.

(5) When the preacher is influenced by sinister motives--as by a view to wealth, or ease, or honour, or when his own practice contradicts his doctrine and gives the lie to it; for then, it appears, he does not believe it himself.

2. Positively.

(1) When, like the first teachers of Christianity, the preacher has no worldly advantages to expect, but rather suffering; and when his conduct shows that he firmly believes his own doctrine, and that it has a powerful influence upon his heart and life.

(2) When it is evidently scriptural, and therefore true, important, and of particular concern to those to whom it is declared. And, above all, when it is declared by the Scripture to be essential to salvation. It is not a sufficient objection to this that the doctrine is clothed in language neither elegant nor pure, without any proper arrangement of ideas, in a manner neither engaging nor affecting.

II. What is implied in their receiving it, not as the word of men, but the Word of God?

1. Negatively. It is not received as the Word of God, but as of man, if received with inattention, irreverence, unconcern, unbelief, or with after neglect and disobedience. Not that the word even of man may not be attended to and heard with much respect, belief, and obedience; but if what is really the Word of God be not attended to, believed, and obeyed, it is evident it is received only as the word of man.

2. Positively. It is received as the Word of God if received with fixed and serious attention. Shall not the creature attend when the Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer speaks, and we know that He speaks to us?--with deep reverence, self-abasing humility, lively concern on account of the interest we have in the things revealed; assured faith as to the truth, importance, and suitableness of what is spoken; fervent prayer, since we cannot understand the Word unless we are taught by Gods Spirit (1Co_2:11); sincere gratitude. What a blessing to have God speak to us!--ardent love of the truth, though it may condemn and distress us, though it be quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword (Heb_4:12); a meek and patient mind (Jam_1:19-21); a firm purpose of obeying the will of God (Jam_1:22).

III. The effects produced by it when thus received. It effectually worketh in you that believe. Amongst its happy effects, are repentance, viz., illumination, conviction, humiliation, hatred of sin, and change of life (Act_2:37; 1Co_14:24-25; 1Th_1:5-10). Confidence, and peace with God (Rom_10:17; Rom_5:1); regeneration (Jam_1:18; 1Pe_1:23); a lively hope of immortality (2Ti_1:10; 2Ti_1:12; Tit_1:2-3; 1Pe_1:3); a spiritual and heavenly mind (Col_3:1; Php_1:20); and deadness to the world (1Jn_5:4); love to God and man (1Th_3:12); this love is humble, resigned, zealous, obedient (1Co_13:4; Joh_14:15; Joh_14:21; Joh_14:23; 1Jn_5:3); benevolence to all men; the Word of God, showing that all are the workmanship of one Creator, under the care of the same Divine providence, and the subjects of the same call in the gospel: a meek, gentle, and long-suffering mind towards all: a merciful, sympathizing, and liberal mind: a sober, temperate, and pure mind (Tit_2:11-12): a watchful and serious mind (1Th_5:4-9): the Word of God, revealing serious and awful things, should create a corresponding temper in us: a courageous and brave mind (2Ti_1:7-8): a growing and progressive conformity to Christ (Eph_4:11-16; 2Ti_3:17). (J. Benson.)

The authenticity of the Scriptures

They are the Word of God on several grounds.

I. From the majesty and sublimity of the style in which they were written.

II. From the great and holy design of their Divine Author, and the harmony of all their parts.

III. From the character of the sacred writers. They lived at different times and in different parts of the world; their adversaries were many and mighty; they had no worldly advantages; they relate their own imperfections; they were either good or bad men.

IV. From the testimony of God himself. Miracles--prophecy, the evidences of which increases the farther it goes.

V. From the satisfaction which believers obtain from the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit. The inspiration of the sacred writers was supernatural and extraordinary; that of believers is extraordinary, but not supernatural. (A. Barber.)

Receiving the Word

I. The description of the Gospel--the Word of God.

1. It was given by God to the World.

2. It reveals to us His will in the salvation of ruined man.

3. He has commissioned His ministers to publish it.

II. The act of receiving it.

1. Hearing it as the Word of God, and not merely as the word of man.

2. Listening to it with attention.

3. Accepting it with the fullest credence.

4. Taking it wholly in all its parts.

III. The effect it produces.

1. It works a complete conformity to the character of Christ.

2. It supports the mind under all the difficulties and trials of life.

IV. The gratitude expressed for it.

1. Because it is all the gratuitous work of Gods Spirit.

2. Because the safety and happiness it confers and ensures.

Reflections:

1. Have we received the gospel?

2. Are we bringing forth its fruits? (E. Brown.)

The efficacy of the Word of God and the way of receiving it

Ministers and hearers are alike responsible, the one for preaching and the other for receiving. The Word of God is not to be trifled with. It is either a savour of life unto life, or the reverse.

I. The description given of the Word.

1. As to its Author.

(1) It is not the word of men. Men are employed as instruments for making it known, but it is not a cunningly devised fable of theirs.

(2) It is the Word of God in truth.

(a) Such was the gospel as preached by the apostles (1Th_2:2; Gal_1:11-12; Mat_10:20).

(b) Such also is the Written Word--the Bible. Men wrote as they spoke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2Ti_3:16; 2Pe_1:21).

(c) The same may be said of the Word as preached by true ministers now. They claim no inspiration, but if their teaching be founded upon and drawn from the Bible it is in truth the Word of God.

2. As to its effects. The Word is not only the channel of Divine revelation, it is the instrument of Divine quickening. The Spirit not only inspires it, but conveys Himself with it. Thus the Word is made effectual (1Pe_1:22-23). Hence it is called the rod of Gods strength, a fire, a hammer (Psa_110:2; Jer_23:29), and the converter of the soul (Psa_19:7). It works effectually in--

(1) Producing conviction of sin. The Spirit does this with His sword (Joh_16:8; Eph_6:17; Heb_4:12).

(2) Binding up the broken heart. It reveals the way in which the sin of which it convinces may be forgiven.

II. The manner in which it ought to be received.

1. With attention, because of its importance.

2. With reverence, as coming from a holy God to sinful men.

3. With humility and teachableness, making the requisite effort to understand it, and when understanding it receiving it without question.

4. As Gods appointed instrument for the conversion and edification of our souls. (E. Cooper, M. A.)

Hearing and receiving the Word

I. Hearing the Word. The temper of soul in the Thessalonians was so great a favour that Paul thought he could never praise the Author of it sufficiently. He knew his spiritual children could not but thrive when they received their meat in such a manner as the Word of God. It is the speech of Senaclaeus concerning Diarius the martyr--Methought when I heard him speak, I heard the Holy Ghost Himself preaching to me. Truly the want of this hearing is one main cause why the Word of God doth so little good. The devil is very diligent at duties: he is every Lords day the first at church. The children of God never gather together but Satan is among them. His great design is to render this engine of the Word fruitless, whereby the strongholds of His kingdom have been battered and broken down. Therefore, as a jailer will sometimes let his prisoners have their hands and feet at liberty so long as the doors of the prison are barred that they cannot run away, so he will let men have their hands at liberty for some acts of charity, and their feet at liberty to walk in some paths of virtue, so long as he can have the doors of their ears and hearts locked fast that they cannot get from him. He knoweth that Christ waiteth at the outer door of the ear, that He might thereby come to the inward door of the heart, and deliver the poor captives out of his hands. For this cause, it it be possible, he will keep the street door shut; he will hinder men from hearing as in Gods presence; he will find them other work to do than to hear. It may be he will get them to play and toy, or to talk to their pew fellows, or to be reading, or to have their hearts in their own houses, while their bodies are in Gods house; or as a child, though they are at their book, he will make them look off, if but a butterfly come by; he will set them about some business or other, unless they are serious as in Gods sight, that they shall never have so much leisure as to hear even when in church. Yet did they but believe the invaluable worth of their souls, the consequence and weight of their unchangeable estates, what a searching time the hour of death will be, and what dreadful things will be seen at the day of judgment! Good Lord, how would they hear! The minister need not then call them to attend to the Word of God; they would of themselves give it their ears, and minds, and hearts, and think all too little for it.

II. Receiving the Word. The Word is a salve of sovereign virtue. Some talk of the weapon salve that it heals at a distance: but the Word will not; it must be applied to the sore, or it will never cure. The Word is seed; preaching is the sowing of this seed; application of it to the heart is the harrowing of this seed into the earth. If the seed be thrown on the ground and not harrowed in, it can effect no harvest. It must be received. A good hearer is said to eat the Word (Jer_15:16; Pro_9:5). It is not the bread in the cupboard of the Bible, or on the table of a sermon, which will nourish the soul, unless it be by application of it, eaten and taken into the stomach; the glass of wine in the hand will not make the heart glad; the precious promises in the ears will not rejoice the spirit; they must by application be drunk down, then they will refresh and comfort the conscience. Faith is both the mouth to receive in, and the stomach to digest, this spiritual food. It is worthy of observation how frequently the Holy Ghost attributeth the famous effects and heroic acts of the Word to this commander-in-chief, under whose courageous and wise conduct it warreth. The Word fighteth boldly, and worketh miraculously under the banner of faith (Rom_1:16). If the threatenings and curses of the Law are preached, faith is to them as the powder is to the bullet, causing them to make great havoc upon the lusts of a man. Faith turns stones into bread, and helpeth the Christian, like Samson, to fetch meat out of the eater. If the precepts and commands of the Law are preached, faith is the eye to see the equity in them, and the excellency of them; and faith is the hand to put them into practice. If the promises and comforts of the gospel are preached, faith is to them as induction to a minister; and gives him actual possession of them, making them his own. Faith in the threatenings causeth humiliation; faith in the precepts causeth subjection; and faith in the promises worketh consolation. If at any time thou goest from hearing both dead and undone, thou mayest say to faith as Martha did to Christ, If thou hadst been here my soul had not died. The unbeliever, like a man in a swoon, shuts his mouth against those life-recalling cordials which are before him in the gospel. Other sins wound the soul, but unbelief, like Joab, strikes under the fifth rib, and kills outright. So it cometh to pass that the Word is preached to many, but not to their profit. They hear the minister as chickens hear the hen; the hen calls them to come to her; they lie scraping in the dust, and will not hear her, till the kite cometh and devoureth them. But when the Word cometh with power the soul heareth it, as Peter heard the cock; he goeth out and weepeth bitterly when he hears of the boundless mercy he hath deserted, the matchless misery he hath deserved, and the infinite love he hath abused. When we are hearing, like the Thessalonians, our souls must be changed into the similitude of the Word, that it may come to us with power. As the working of physic kindly and well commendeth both the physician and body of the patient, so the powerful operation of the Word doth highly applaud both the skill of the Saviour and the state of the soul. It is written of Philetus, a disciple of Hermogenes, that, going to dispute with St. James the elder, the apostle preached Christ to him so powerfully, that he returned to his master, and said to him, Majus abieram, Christianus redeo;--I went forth a conjurer, but am come back a Christian. Oh, how happy will it be for us, whatever our end in going to church, yet when we return, we may upon good ground say, We went forth proud, but are come home humble! We went forth bond slaves of Satan, but are returned free men of Christ! We went forth carnal, malicious, and obstinate sinners, but are come back spiritual, gracious, and heavenly saints! (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

The Word and its works

I. The reception of the Gospel.

1. There is something in the source of the Word which claims our reverential regard. It is not the word of man, but of God. Yet the word of man claims to be heard. The utterances of the wise and good cannot be disregarded without blame; how much more the revelations of the supreme intelligence and goodness.

2. There is something in the intrinsic importance and manifest adaptation of this word which gives it claim to our regard. It speaks to our deepest wants and longings, and unfolds the unsearchable riches of Christ for their satisfaction.

3. There is something in the truthfulness of Gods Word which gives it certainty. Man yearns for certainty, and is unhappy till he find it. He cannot find it in philosophy and speculation, but he can in Him who is the Truth, who reveals Himself and speaks in the Word.

4. There is that in the nature of this Word which gives it authority. Mere human teaching has always wanted this: but the Word like its Author speaks with authority, not as the Scribes.

II. The operation of the Gospel. To be effectual it must be received, but being received it works--

1. The conviction of sin. To leave us in our spiritual slumber because of the unpleasant sensations of the awakening were false mercy; but the power which rouses conscience is beneficent.

2. It leads to reconciliation with God. There can be no happiness while the soul is estranged from God. The Word brings us back by revealing the fulness and sufficiency of redemption.

3. It sanctifies the heart (Joh_17:17). Pardon is not sufficient by itself. The Christian life is progressive holiness. The Word quickens holiness and promotes its growth.

4. It supplies consolation in time of trial. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

Gods Word intelligently received

The following strikingly interesting story was lately related to me by the Lord Bishop of Derry: During Lord Lyndhursts last illness, he received a visit from Lord Harrowby. The latters eyes happening to fall upon some books popular among infidels, Renans Life of Jesus among others, which were lying upon a table by the side of the sick mans bed, and had evidently recently formed the subject of his reading, he expressed in his countenance no inconsiderable amount of distress and disappointment. Upon this Lord Lyndhurst, who observed this change come over him, assured him that he need not be in the least degree alarmed, for that he had studied with the utmost care both sides of the question (and never was there an abler and more expert judge of the nature and value of evidence, no matter how entangled and conflicting such evidence might be, than Lord Lyndhurst), and was accordingly perfectly acquainted with all that had been urged against as well as for Christianity, but that (observe, I pray, his beautiful conclusion), his belief in the mission and resurrection of Jesus Christ had never been even for one second shaken. (Maurice C. Hime, M. A.)

Gods Word prayerfully received

Dr. Schauffler, the missionary at Constantinople, relates the following story: A Turk of Thessalonica bought a Bible and read it diligently, lie was asked what he thought of the Bible--if it was a book like other books. No, said he; this is a book which man could mot have written. God must have written it Himself. Have you not also found that Christ must have been the Son of God? He shook his head. On his next visit he returned again to the subject, and said, When I visited you last I could not answer your question truthfully from my heart. That Christ was the Son of God was the only point I could not believe. I went away to my closet and prayed for light, that I might believe; and in answer to my prayer that I might know Christ as the Saviour of the world, light broke on my spirit, and since then I have believed. (Der Glaubensbote.)

Gods Word soul quickening

A lady who was present at the dispensation of the Lords Supper, where the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine was assisting, was much impressed by his discourse. Having been informed who he was, she went next Sabbath to his own place of worship rehear him. But she felt none of those strong impressions she experienced on the former occasion. Wondering at this, she called on Mr. E., and stating the case, asked what might be the reason of such a difference in her feelings. He replied, Madam, the reason is this, last Sabbath, you went to hear Jesus Christ, but today you have come to hear Ebenezer Erskine.

Life-giving energy of the Word of God

A native minister of Madagascar, who has since been an assistant in the revision of the book of Genesis, attributes his conversion entirely to his having accidentally met with a small scrap torn from a Malagasy Bible. While walking past the spot where the Memorial Church of Ambantan-kanga now stands, he saw upon the ground a small scrap of printed paper. Taking it up, he found that it was a mere fragment of the book of Psalms. He began to read, and was especially struck with one verse, which speaks of the power and majesty of God. He could not get rid of the impression it made on his mind, that the God revealed in the Bible was the true and living God. He accordingly sought out a Christian, and inquired about the faith they possessed. The result was that he accepted Christ as his Saviour, joined himself to the persecuted company of believers, and endured with them privation and loss for Christs sake. He has now been for some years a native pastor, and is a most zealous and godly man. What other word is so full of life-giving energy as this? What other book can so change men for time and for eternity? Surely, this is Gods book.

A due reception of the gospel

I. The occasion of Pauls thankfulness.

1. The manner in which the Thessalonians received the Word of God.

(1) As proceeding from Gods love.

(2) As sanctioned by His authority.

(3) As assured to them by His truth and faithfulness.

2. The manner in which it operated in--

(1) Their conversion.

(2) Their subsequent support.

(3) Their progressive sanctification.

II. The ground which ministers have for thankfulness whose labours are so blest.

1. For the peoples sake.

2. For the Churchs sake.

3. For the worlds sake.

4. For the Lords sake.

Learn--

1. Whence it is that the Word preached is so generally ineffectual to any saving purpose.

2. How it may be made effectual to the good of souls. (C. Simeon, M. A.)

The right reception of the gospel

I. The right reception of the gospel (1Th_1:5).

1. They listened to it not as the word of men, but as the Word of God. Paul refers to the danger of listening to the gospel as if it were the word of men. How many treat it as merely the preachers message.

(1) Mans word is mixed with error and should be sifted; but in Gods Word there is no error.

(2) Mans message may not concern us, but Gods Word is of momentous importance. When its infallibility and worth are realized, you will--

(a) Listen to it with reverence.

(b) Feel its authority.

(c) Rejoice in its preciousness.

(d) Be impressed with a due sense of responsibility.

2. They received it in faith, Also in you that believe. This is the only way in which it can be received. Hearing is not receiving it, nor an intelligent comprehension of its nature and relationships. Not until a man accepts Christ as his Redeemer and Righteousness is the gospel received. It should be thus received because of--

(1) Its inexpressible importance to us.

(2) The infinite love of God in the Word of His grace.

3. It follows that in thus receiving the gospel as the Word of God--

(1) They dismissed from their minds all prejudices and preoccupations (Act_17:5).

(2) They heard with personal application.

II. The efficacy of the Word when rightly received. It will have an effect, but what each must choose.

1. The mighty power which the Word had on those who believed, Which effectually worked. By means of it they were--

(1) Convinced of sin.

(2) Made new creatures in Christ Jesus (Jam_1:18).

(3) Sanctified (Joh_17:17).

2. The explanation of this effectual working--because they believed (Heb_4:2). In proportion to our faith will be our profit from the Word.

III. The thankfulness. Inspired by this right reception and effectual working of the Word. Paul felt, thankful because of--

1. His sympathy with the Lord Jesus in His work and triumphs He shall see of the travail of His soul, etc.

2. The blessings realized by those who received the Word. The liberator feels joy in freeing the slave; the physician in making the diseased healthy. (G. W. Humphreys, M. A.)

The logic of life

I wish to point out the evidences of the faith of Christ in its effectual working; that it is the Word of God is declared by its practical working; its Divinity, its validity, its preciousness are alike evidenced by its action and consequences in the experience and life of all those who truly receive it. Its practical working shows that it is no cunningly devised fable, but the very truth and power of God. There are three grand tests.

I. In circumstances the test of truth is utility. A belief is not shown to be true because it works to the profit of one man or a few men, or because it works to the profit of many men during a limited period; but a belief is shown to be true if it works to the profit of vast masses of men, in all kinds of conditions, through one generation after another. That which uniformly tends to the enrichment of society is manifestly in harmony with the law of the world. Now, I am bold to affirm that the faith of Christ will bear this test. It vindicates itself by stimulating life, enriching it, adorning it.

II. In character the test of truth is beauty. What is false in doctrine and ideal will tell in deformity, weakness, incompleteness of character. What is true in doctrine and ideal will illustrate itself in nobility of character and life. Beauty is the splendour of truth. Here again Christianity finds attestation in the logical life. Proof that Christ brought the eternal doctrine was seen in His own personal perfection. He who was the Truth was the Beauty. And the same splendour of character has been revealed in all generations of Christs saints. But it is objected that these characters are not what they are in beauty by virtue of Christianity. Some sceptic said of Sister Dora, Shes a noble woman, but shed have been that without her Christianity. But we cannot accept that. Could we accept it if a man were to say of a great golden sheaf of wheat that had brought forth a hundred-fold, Yes, it has grown on ploughed land, it has been manured, weeded, watched, but it would have grown just the same on a prairie?

III. In consciousness the test of truth is happiness. If a mans faith gives him joy of the very highest kind--a joy altogether pure and unselfish, a joy that is intelligent, a joy that promotes the growth of the moral nature, a joy that persists through change and sorrow--I say that in such gladness he finds one of the strongest proofs of the divinity of his creed. It is a matter of the first import that a faith makes myriads nobly happy. Now, the logic of life once more accredits the faith of Christ--it makes its disciples truly happy. (Joh_14:27). Those who rest in the great doctrines of Christ share the peace and joy of Christ. Just as the eye is delighted with the lustre of the sun shine, the ear with the concord of sweet sounds, the nostril with the fragrance of the flower, so the soul is delighted with the truths revealed in Jesus Christ (Joh_15:11). (W. L. Watkinson.)

Inspiration of the spoken Word

The Word here is the spoken in contrast with the written Word (1Th_1:8), the Third Gospel which, it has been conjectured, had possibly been entrusted to the keeping of the Thessalonian Church. The bearing of the text on the doctrine of the inspiration of the spoken Word of the apostles is very evident. This effectual working, this energy which is ascribed to the Divine Word is seen in its revealing to men, both what they are by nature and may be by grace. It is, as it were, the mirror which, as legend has it, can alone stay the basilisk. That creature which neither fire nor sword can overcome, is destroyed at once so soon as, the mirror being set before it, it sees itself and its hideousness. The corruption of the natural man dies when it sees itself in the mirror of Gods Word. Not only so, that Word is also like the fabled mirror, which, the longer it is gazed upon, transforms and beautifies the beholder, till at last it reflects to all who bend lovingly over it the perfected beauty of holiness. Such an all transforming energy pertains to Gods Word in the experience of all who believe. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

The unity of the Bible

Word of God is one of the most common, ancient, and accurate titles of the Bible. It is a name to be specially valued because it carries with it the doctrine that the Bible is one whole, has one Author, subject and object, and as the text states, works with like power in all who receive it.

I. In anything that has organic unity, all the different parts, however many and alike, are yet so related as organs that every one of them is essential to the integrity and completeness of the whole.

1. This needs illustration.

(1) In the human body there is a wonderful variety of parts as to substance, form, colour, size, etc.; but you cannot take away a bone or vein, etc., without effecting the unity of the body. The Mind that created it made every smallest part with reference to every other part.

(2) In a heap of sand there is no such unity of parts or purpose, One particle has no necessary relation to others. Take away one or twenty of these separate grains, you make the heap smaller, that is all.

(3) The same difference can be traced in the different states of a tree. The organic law of vegetable life makes every portion of a tree--bark, wood, sap, leaf--from the root to the topmost twig, one whole, in spite of the diversity of the parts. But cut the tree down, saw and split it, and then lay the pieces together, no matter how regularly--the unity is lost. But, again, take the same pieces of timber, shape them in a particular way so as to fit them for each other with other materials according to the design of our mind so as to make a building. Here we have unity again, though not of life. You look at the house or temple and say it is one thing.

2. These examples make it plain what organic unity is in any production of the mind whether of God or man. Remember, however, two qualifications--

(1) While every portion is essential to the completeness it is not said that it is essential to the life of the thing. A tree will live with some of the branches or roots cut off. A body will live after amputation.

(2) All the parts are not of equal importance.

II. The bible has this unity. It came from one Spirit, as one whole, with one design. Every part has vital connection with every other and with that design. You cannot tear any portion out without vitally hurting the integrity and authority of it as one Book. Hence it is what it is declared to be, the indestructible Word of God. If it has not this unity, then human reason may take it to pieces, like the useless links of a broken chain, and sit in judgment on each one, and throw any one away, This experiment has long ago been tried, but the Church has held the Bible fast, and kept it one.

III. In what does the unity of the Bible consist.

1. Not in the absence of variety or diversity in the parts. No book ever written approaches it in the diversity of its contents. It is not like the unity of a Doric column, a blade of grass or a single portrait; but rather like the unity of nature in the variety of her manifestations and operations.

2. Look at this diversity as bringing out the unity by contrast in a striking and impressive light.

(1) The division into two Testaments stamped with the characteristics of two unlike dispensations having centuries lying between.

(2) There are more than threescore books with almost as many writers.

(3) These volumes were produced in states of society utterly dissimilar and appeared at unequal intervals stretching over 1,500 years.

(4) The history covers between three and four thousand years, is in three distinct languages, all dead.

(5) Notice the diversities of style, chronicles, biographies, poems, statistics, songs, treatises, predictions, etc. Each author has a stamp of his own, clearly defined from the rest.

2. Yet after all it is one Word. This unity is--

(1) a unity of doctrine. As to the being, personality and providence of God the Father; as to the history, character and offices of God the Son; as to the nature, gifts and works of God the Holy Ghost; as to mans origin, sin, recovery and destiny; as to his regeneration, redemption and retribution; as to the constitution and glory of the Church; as to holiness of life and the communion of saints, this book teaches by all its voices, substantially the same thing everywhere.

(2) Of history, proceeding straight from the first man, by the chosen nation, expanding afterwards into the broader family all visited with the Light and all regathered before the throne, it is one perfect historic whole.

(3) Of prophecy and its fulfilment. The predictions run on from that early one on the threshold of Eden, through different parts of the volume, including much special and minute foretelling, till the mysteries of another life are foreseen in Patmos.

(4) Of types and their answering realities. One portion will tell us about men, places, acts or ceremonies of which we do not see half the significance till we read on to a distant part of the record.

(5) Of one living Person who harmonizes these arguments in Himself. Central to all this wondrous universe of Scripture signs and symbols stands the Saviours Cross, with unbroken tables of the broken law leaning against its feet. Jesus is its inward life--making it the Book of Life to us--as much as the blood in the veins is the life of the body. In conclusion notice two difficulties.

1. You say that you cannot see the connection of some parts of the Bible with its principal object. There are passages and even books so apparently detached from the main drift that you cannot trace the links which join them with the rest. This is just what might have been expected in a message sent by God to a short-lived and ignorant child, but meant also to be for all time, lands and conditions. If certain pieces of mortar and timber from a building were brought to you, you would confess that you could not see what relation they bore to the structure. A young child sees no use in half the things that the grownup world deems quite necessary to keep society safe and strong. Could you see as the inspiring Spirit sees you would confess that either to the narrative, or moral impression, or spiritual power, directly or indirectly, to some past, present or future, this very part was an essential contribution.

2. You say that some parts are unedifying. To you, perhaps, but not to differently constituted persons, nor even to yourself if you sought more prayerfully. (Bp. Huntington.)

Receiving the Scriptures as the Word of Man

I remember in Archbishop Magees book on the Atonement, allusion to a commentary on a very difficult text, which seemed to the person who was handling it certainly to contain the doctrine of our Lords pre-existence and divinity, The man who found this a hard nut to crack had no other way of solving it except by saying that probably the old apostle had dictated one thing, and his amanuensis had written down another. (Archbishop Tait.)

Gods Word and mans; their relative value

There is gold in the rocks which fringe the pass of Splugen, gold even in the stones which mend the roads, but there is too little of it to be worth extracting. Alas, how like too many books and sermons! Not so the Scriptures; they are much fine gold; their very dust is precious. (W. Baxendale.)

Gods Word and mans; their relative effect

A clergyman had prepared a certain sermon with great care, and had reason to hope that it would be attended with a great blessing, for which he had sought with earnest prayer. The sermon was preached with great effect, and he came down from the pulpit full of hope. A widow stopped him on his way to the vestry and begged a word. Ah! he said to himself it is coming as I expected. I thought it would not be preached in vain. Then to the woman What part of the sermon struck you most, the beginning or the ending? Well sir, she replied, I do not know much about the beginning or the ending; but you said God so loved the world that He gave, etc. The doctor was struck to the heart. All his fine words forgotten, but one of Gods words made effectual. (W. Baxendale.)

The power of the Word

When I read Rom_9:1-33; Rom_10:1-21; Rom_11:1-36, to that fine old man, Mr.

, at Ramsgate, he shed tears. Any Jew of sensibility must be deeply impressed by them. (S. T. Coleridge.)

Converted by the Word

It is well known that the Earl of Rochester was for many years an avowed infidel, and that a large portion of his time was spent in ridiculing the Bible. One of his biographers has described him as a great wit, a great sinner, and a great penitent. Even this man was converted by the Holy Spirit in the use of His Word. Reading Isaiah lift he was convinced of the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures, and the Deity and Atonement of Christ. On that atonement he rested, and died in humble expectation of heavenly happiness.

Experimental evidence to the Word

In order to appreciate this come with me to some sequestered glen amid the hills of Scotland, to the patriarchal occupant of a lonely cabin, where you may behold the grey-headed man, amid intermingling smiles and tears, bending morning, noon and night, over one book, the big ha Bible. Let us ask him, How do you know that that book is the Word of God? You never read the Evidences of Paley, the Analogy of Butler, the Credibility of Lardner, the eloquent Demonstrations of Chalmers; how came you to believe it? Come to believe it, would the peasant say, I have felt it in my heart and conscience to be the Book of God; it has taught me the truths I never knew before; it has given me a peace the world could never give; it has calmed my beating heart; it has stanched my bleeding wounds; it has kindled within me the love of God, and the hope of glory. Not the Book of God! I am convinced of it as I am that I am here a living man. (J. Cumming, D. D.)

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

1Th 2:13-16. For this cause — Or, on this account also; thank we God without ceasing — See on 1Th 1:2; that is, we not only thank him that we have been enabled to conduct ourselves, and to discharge our duty, in the manner above described, but that, when ye received the word of God which ye heard, &c. — Greek, λογον ακοης του Θεου, literally, the word of hearing of God; the word which God hath appointed to be heard through our preaching. Accordingly, the same expression, λογον ακοης, (Heb 4:2,) is rendered by our translators, the word preached. But Dr. Chandler thinks the clause should be rendered, the word of report concerning God; supposing it to be an allusion to Isa 53:1, Who hath. believed, τη ακοη ημων, our report? Ye received it not as the word of men — As a mere human invention, or a doctrine framed by the wisdom of men; but as it is in truth, the word of God himself — Of which there is this further proof, that it worketh effectually in you that believe — Producing such a change in your hearts and lives as abundantly attests its divine original. Wherever the gospel is thus received — where there is a full conviction that it is nothing less than a message from Jehovah himself, a Being of infallible truth, unspotted holiness, unerring wisdom, and overflowing goodness — it is no wonder that it should produce the effect here ascribed to it. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches in Judea — Imitators of their courage and constancy in suffering for the truth, as being influenced by the same Spirit which animated and supported them, though you had not been eye-witnesses of their example: for ye suffered like things of your own countrymen — Ye have been calumniated, imprisoned, and spoiled of your goods; even as they suffered from the Jews — Their countrymen. The same fruit, the same afflictions, and the same experience, at all times, and in all places, are an excellent criterion of evangelical truth. Who both killed the Lord Jesus — Their own Messiah; and — Before him; their own prophets — Who foretold his appearance; and whom God, in many distant ages of their commonwealth, raised up unto them. The expression, their own prophets, is emphatical; and denotes that the Jews acknowledged the prophets whom they killed to be prophets really sent of God. So remarkable were the Jews for persecuting the prophets, that Stephen challenged the council to show so much as one whom their fathers had not persecuted, Act 7:52. And have persecuted us — Apostles and preachers of the gospel; and they please not God — Though they pretend to be so well acquainted with him and his will, and boast so much of their interest in him; nay, they are not concerned to please him, notwithstanding their fair professions; and are contrary to all men — Are common enemies of all mankind; full of contempt and malignity against all other nations, and behaving toward them in the most perverse and unfriendly manner. The hatred which the Jews bore to all the heathen, without exception, was taken notice of by Tacitus and Juvenal, and even by Josephus. It was directly contrary to the law of Moses, which, in the strongest terms, recommended humanity to strangers; but arose probably from their not understanding rightly the intention of the precepts of their law, which were given to prevent them from having familiar intercourse with idolaters, lest they should be induced to imitate them in their practices. Forbidding us — The apostles and messengers of God; to speak to the Gentiles — That is, to preach the gospel to them, as we are expressly commanded of God to do; that they might be saved — In which respect especially they show themselves to be the enemies of mankind, opposing their present and everlasting salvation; to fill up, &c. — So that, instead of pleasing God, they fill up the measure of their sins always — As they have ever done: but the wrath — The vengeance of God; is come upon them — Is about to overtake them unawares, while they are seeking to destroy others. Or, God has begun to punish them, and will speedily complete their destruction. The word εφθασε, here rendered is come, being in the past time, properly signifies hath come. But, as Macknight observes, the past time is here put for the present, or rather for the future, as is plain from this, that the wrath of God had not yet fallen on the Jewish nation in the full sense here expressed. The apostle only speaks of their punishment as at hand, being taught either by Christ’s prediction, or by a peculiar revelation made to himself. The original expression, εις τελος, rendered here to the uttermost, was understood, by the ancient commentators, as signifying that the wrath of God was coming upon the Jews, not for a few years, but for a long duration, even for many generations: which has accordingly come to pass. To render the expression as our translators have done, to the uttermost, is certainly not quite proper. For, though the calamities brought on the Jews by the Romans were very great, they did not utterly destroy them. According to God’s promise, that he never would make a full end of the Jews, a remnant of them was left; and in the posterity of that remnant, now multiplied to a great number, the promises concerning the conversion and restoration of Israel will be fulfilled. It may not be improper to observe here, that in the dreadful calamities brought on the Jewish nation for killing their Messiah, and opposing his gospel, we have an example and proof of the manner in which all obstinate opposition to the gospel will end.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Thessalonica’s reception and faithful retention of St. Paul’s gospel, 1Th_2:13-16.

As the last paragraph, 1Th_2:1-12, is an expansion of 1Th_1:5, which gives the powerful preaching of the gospel as proof of the divine election (1Th_2:4) of the Thessalonians, so this paragraph (1Th_2:13-16) is an expansion of 1Th_1:6, giving their acceptance of the gospel as the complete proof of their divine election. For such election implies a true offer of the gospel and a true acceptance.

13. Thank we God—From whom the power of accepting comes.

Received—By the ear.

Received—Different Greek word from the former received, signifying acceptance by will.

Word of God—It was preached as gospel of God, and was correspondently accepted as word of God.

Effectually—But not resistlessly, worketh. Yet conviction is often resistless, though conversion be free and voluntary. And if powerful conversion be ever resistless, perseverance is not. St. Paul declares that their acceptance was by divine inworking spirit and grace, just as the preaching was in our God. There was a double correspondent divine work in the offer and in the acceptance, which in neither case excluded the freedom of man, but in both cases called for thanks to God, 1Th_1:2; 1Th_2:13.

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

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

1Th_2:13. The word of God which ye heard of us.—R.V. “the word of the message, even the word of God.” The preposition “from us” is “properly used in relation to objects which come from the neighbourhood of a person—out of his sphere” (Winer); but the word originates, not with Paul, but in God. Which effectually worketh also.—There is no original word corresponding to “effectually” here; but the word “worketh” of itself, unemphasised, is too weak. We might almost say “becomes energetic.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF 1Th_2:13

The Correct Estimate of Gospel Truth.

We have before stated that the population of Thessalonica consisted of two diverse classes, Greek and Jew—the one representing the philosophy of paganism, the other being the custodian of the sacred truths of Revelation. Among the Hebrews Moses was recognised as the central human figure and head of their legal system, and his words were profoundly venerated; and the Gentiles were not less devout and ardent in their admiration of Plato and his far-seeing wisdom. The influence of these two systems was all-potent with the Thessalonians; it supplied thought, moulded character and life, and filled up the widest circle of their hopes. The gospel impinged upon these ancient and revered institutions, and they reeled beneath the shock. The bigoted followers of Moses and Plato were compelled to admit the higher authority of the apostolic message. They formed a correct estimate of gospel truth when they “received it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.”

I. The gospel is superior to all human wisdom.—It is “not the word of men.”

1. Human wisdom is limited in its range. The greatest mind is restricted in its knowledge, and imperfect in using what it knows. A celebrated Roman scholar once exclaimed with petulance and disgust: “The human mind wanders in a diseased delirium, and it is therefore not surprising that there is no possible folly which philosophers, at one time or another, have not propounded as a lesson of wisdom.”

2. Human wisdom is changeable.—Aristotle, the great father of natural philosophy, summed up his impressions on this subject with his usual hard, unyielding logic when he said: “There is no difference between what men call knowledge and mere opinion; therefore, as all opinion is uncertain, there can be no certainty in human knowledge.”

3. Human wisdom is unsatisfying.—It is with a sigh of bitter disappointment that one of the most profound thinkers of antiquity concluded his long and deep inquiry into human affairs, and summed up the result with these sad, melancholy words: “Nothing can be known; nothing therefore can be learned; nothing can be certain; the senses are limited and delusive; intellect is weak; life is short!”

II. The gospel is essentially divine.—

1. It is authoritative. There is an old proverb, “When the lion roars, the beasts of the forest tremble.” So when the gospel speaks, unbelievers may well be filled with fear. Milton thus describes Adam in his innocency advancing to meet his celestial visitor: He

“walks forth without more train

Accompanied than with His own complete

Perfections: in Himself was all His state.”

In like manner God’s word comes to us clothed with the majesty and authority of its own innate power. It bonds the ear to attention, the mind to faith, the heart to reverence, the will and conscience to obedience.

2. It is immutable.—It is “the word of the Lord that liveth and abideth for ever.”

(1) Its promises are sure;

(2) its threatenings will certainly be executed.

3. It is complete.—There is nothing to add, nothing to subtract. It contains the fullest revelation of God, of man, of eternal issues—such as can never be found elsewhere.

4. It is worthy of universal credence.—“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.” It is to the everlasting commendation of the Thessalonians, and of millions since their day, that when they heard the word of God they “received it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.”

III. The gospel is efficacious in transforming character.—“Which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” As the planet receiving the light of the sun is transformed into an imitation sun, so the believing soul receiving the light of the word is changed into the image of that word. Whatever the divine word prescribes, that it works in us. Does it prescribe repentance?—it works repentance; faith?—it works faith; obedience?—it works obedience; knowledge?—it enlightens to know. Its transforming power is continually demonstrated. It makes the niggardly generous, the profane holy, the drunkard sober, the profligate chaste. Faith is the vital force that connects the soul with this converting power.

IV. The correct estimate of gospel truth is matter of ceaseless thanksgiving to the preacher.—“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing.” No disappointment is keener to the anxious preacher than that of unproductive labour. Some of the choicest ministers of God have to mourn over comparative failure. Think of the anguish of the sympathetic Jeremiah when the word of the Lord which he declared was turned into daily reproach and derision; and of Ezekiel, when he wept over rebellious Israel! But the joy of success is irrepressible, and the full heart pours out its thanks to God. “They joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.”

Lessons.—

1. The word of man, while it may charm the understanding, is powerless to change the heart.

2. The correct estimate of gospel truth is to regard it as the word of God.

3. The word of God is efficacious to the individual only as it is received believingly.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE

The Efficacy of the Word of God and the Way of receiving it.

I. The description given of the word.—

1. The word not of men, but of God.

2. Known by its effects.

(1) Producing conviction of sin.

(2) Binding up the broken heart.

II. In what manner it should be received.—

1. With attention and reverence.

2. With humility and teachableness.

3. As the instrument for conversion and edification.—E. Cooper.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th_2:13-16

3. b. The Apostle now on his part also reminds the Thessalonians, with thanksgiving to God, that they had received his word as the word of God, as they have since continually experienced in themselves God’s mighty working (1Th_2:13). They could not otherwise have endured such vexations from their countrymen, as the brethren in Judea had from the Jews (1Th_2:14), whose enmity to the truth and the Apostles, moreover, need give the less offence, that they are thereby rather only filling the measure of their sins, and ripening rapidly for judgment (1Th_2:15-16)

13For this cause59 also thank we [we also give thanks to]60 God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us [received from us the word of preaching that is of God],61 ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God [ye accepted, not men’s word, but, as it is in truth, God’s word],62 which effectually worketh also [also work eth]63 in you that believe. 14For ye, brethren, became followers [imitators, μιμηταί] of the churches of God which in Judea are [which are in Judea, τῶν οὐσῶν ἐν τῇ Ιουδαὶα] in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered [suffered, ἐπὰθετε] like things [the same things, τὰ αὐτά]64 of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; 15who both killed the Lord [also killed the Lord]65 Jesus and their own prophets,66 and have persecuted [and persecuted, ἐκδιωξάντων] us,67 and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, 16forbidding us to speak [hindering us from speaking, κωλυόντων … λαλῆσαι] to the Gentiles, that they might [may] be saved, to fill up their sins always: for [but, δἐ] the wrath68 is come [came]69 upon them to the uttermost [to the end, εἰς τέλος].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. (1Th_2:13.) For this cause we also give thanks.—Διὰ τοῦτο: Because it is God who calls you to His kingdom, therefore we thank Him that ye received our word, not as man’s word, but God’s.70—Καὶ ἡμεῖς stands opposed to αὐτοὶ γἁρ οἴδατε (1Th_2:1)71 and means Paul and his attendants, who now, in further explanation of 1Th_1:6 and πῶς ἐπεστρέψατε of 1Th_1:9 sq., remind the Thessalonians of their lively reception of the word of God, just as the Thessalonians were appealed to, 1Th_2:1-12, as witnesses of the pure and powerful ministry of the Apostle among them; see on 1Th_1:8, Exeg. Note 1. We have mutually received from one another the deepest impressions of an operation of the Divine Spirit: that is the third argument, adduced in 1Th_2:1-16, whereby Paul seeks to convince the Thessalonians of the reality of their faith. So deep an impression did he retain of the faith of the Thessalonians, with which they received his word as the word of God, that he has ever since felt himself moved to unceasing thanksgiving to God. If he speaks of the matter to God, and here repeatedly emphasizes this fact (comp. 1Th_1:2), they may at once herein recognize a new indication, how little the question is about something merely human (comp. on διὰ τοῦτο). So far τῷ θεῷ answers both to the previous τος͂ θεοῦ (1Th_2:12) and to the subsequent λόγον θεοῦ. The discourse thus turns back here, at the end of the entire section, to the beginning (1Th_1:2. Ewald).

2. When ye received from us the word of preaching that is of God.—Παραλαβ., the objective, outward, matter-of-fact reception, in distinction from δέχεσθαι, the subjective, inward acceptance (comp. 1Th_1:6.)72—ἀκοή=שְמֻעָה, Isa_53:1; Rom_10:14-17=pass, what one hears, a report, announcement, preaching, message. Λόγος ἀκοῆς (comp. Heb_4:2) is one of those genitival connections, which we in German are accustomed to express by a combination of nouns: Botschaftswort; Ewald: Predigtwort [as if we should say in English, message-word, preaching-word]. The addition of ἀκοῆς marks the audible, oral announcement, coming to men as a (new, hitherto unknown) message: comp. Rom_10:17, where ἀκοή is distinguished from ῥῆμα θεοῦ, the latter going forth from God to His messengers, the former from the messengers to the rest of men. The anarthrous λόγος ἀκοῆς should perhaps be translated a message, to indicate it as unknown, new; comp. λόγος κυρίου of 1Th_4:15 with ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κ. of 1Th_1:8, With this message Paul appeared among the Thessalonians; he knew that it was from God; they could not yet of themselves know that. This he here represents to us in a measure by the purposely anomalous arrangement, παῤ ἡμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ: they received the word of the message immediately from him, but behind him stood God as the Author and Sender of the message. Παῤ ἡμῶν naturally depends on παραλαβ., to which also the preposition expressly points back (De Wette, Koch [Ellicott, Webster and Wilkinson], &c.), [not on λόγος ἀκοῆς (Beza, Pelt, Olshausen, Lünemann, &c.), whereby the construction becomes very harsh and clumsy withal, since τοῦ θεοῦ would have to be a closer definition of the composite idea, λόγος ἀκοῆς παῤ ἡμῶν.—Riggenbach.]; τοῦ θεοῦ, on the other hand, depends on λόγος ἀκοῆς, and is a gen. autoris, as in εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ of 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:8-9, ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρὶου of 1Th_1:8, (see there Note 4). It comes last with emphasis, the point in the subsequent context being that the preaching was the word, not merely of the man Paul, but of God. Thus the participial clause, παραλαβόντες—παρ’ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, takes in once more the contents of 1Th_2:1-12; for there, from the beginning to the end (see especially 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:4; 1Th_2:12), it is shown that Paul had not labored among the Thessalonians in his own name or in an egotistic manner, but, as an agent of God, had brought them His message and call.

3. Ye accepted it, not as men’s word, &c. [Ye accepted, not men’s word, &c.].73—The Thessalonians, then, understood and acknowledged the real nature, the Divine character and origin, of the apostolic preaching. They perceived in the word such a supernatural, essential power, as can proceed from no mortal man, himself involved in the disorder of the world’s sin. They felt the Godhead drawing near to them in the word of life; for the Holy Spirit was thereby active in their souls. And as the inward sense and instinct of the Divine light in the consciousness opened to, and allowed itself to be intimately pervaded by, the concurrent light in the word, mightily judging and irradiating their previous darkness (2Co_4:4-6; Joh_3:19-21), they therefore accepted the preached word for what it is, as the word of God.—Ἐδέξασθε, comp. δεξάμενοι 1Th_1:6—a text for general comparison. As immediate object, λόγον ἀκοῆς τοῦ θεοῦ must be supplied out of the participial clause; οὐ λόγον ἀνθρ &c. is a second accusative of the predicate: to accept something as—Winer, p. 203 sq.—Λόγον ἀνθρ, in opposition to θεοῦ indicates the origin, and at the same time the quality, which necessarily passes over from the source to what springs therefrom (Olshausen). The plural ἀνθρώπων stands with reference to the plurality of the preachers, and also indeed generically; comp. Mat_9:8. Winer, p. 158. Λόγον θεοῦ, the word which God Himself causes to be proclaimed by men, whom He by His Spirit equips as His instruments; comp. Rom_10:17. Rieger: An expression of God’s heart concerning us.—Καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς: a simple, forcible testimony to inspiration.

4. Who [which] also worketh in you that believe.—Ὅς can be referred either to λόγον (Œcumenius, Olshausen, Lünemann, &c. [Conybeare, Peile, Jowett, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, &c]; comp. Winer, p. 231), and in favor of this it is alleged that elsewhere the active ἐνεργεῖν is used of God, and the middle ἐνεργεῖσθαι only of things (yet comp., for example, Col_1:29; Eph_3:20)74; or to θεοῦ (Theodoret, Luther, Bengel, &c), and this is preferable, because the context treats, not of an energetic operation generally, but specially of a Divine operation;75 Bengel: Deus ostendens, verbum vere esse verbum Dei (1Th_4:8-9; Act_14:3). On the former view the meaning must be: which also shows itself as such, &c. [comp. Act_20:32].—Καί adds to the acceptance of the word as God’s word on the side of the Thessalonians the effective, and that a continuous, confirmation of it on the side of God (ἐδέξασθε, aorist; ἐνερλεῖται, present).76 From that time onward you are in real communion with God, who shows Himself operative in you by the power of His heavenly Spirit, overruling everything human, as may be seen in the fact that even the strongest human ties cannot bind you, since you have suffered severely from your own relations and countrymen (1Th_2:14). Τοῖς πιστεύουσιν: so far is faith from being some empty thing, that it is rather the organ for God’s operations in us (comp. 1Th_2:10 and Exeg. Note 26; for the topics, Eph_1:19).77

5. (1Th_2:14.) For ye, brethren, became imitators, &c.—On γάρ, see Note 4. ὑμεῖς resumes the immediately preceding ἐν ὑμῖν 1Th_2:13, and stands with honorable distinction foremost. Μιμηταὶ ἐγενήθητε, as in 1Th_1:6. There the Thessalonian believers are described as followers of the Apostle and of the Lord Himself; here, in terms of scarcely less honor and encouragement, as followers of the original Christian churches in Judea. The Apostle points out historically a fundamental law of the kingdom of God, that is now fulfilling itself in the case of the Thessalonians: The bearers of the Divine are always expelled by the natural community to which they belong (comp. Mat_10:35-37). Thus the Thessalonian Christians by their associates of their own race, and the Jewish Christians by the Jews, who in like manner killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and now also have driven out the Apostle. So little need the Thessalonians allow themselves to be disconcerted by the injustice done them by their compatriots, that herein rather lies the evidence of the reality and power of the Divine influences present with them; for only that which is really Divine is hated by the world (comp. the forcible word of Jesus, Joh_7:7; Joh_15:18 sq.), just as the strength to endure this enmity likewise rests on God’s operation in believers. Ἐπάθετε denotes strictly nothing more than the actual experience (there has befallen you), but according to the connection it includes the inward endurance of what has happened. For in no other way can πάσχειν serve to establish the efficiency of the Divine word in them, and in no other way, especially, can the preterite ἐπάθετε, which, being parallel to the ἐδέξασθε of 1Th_2:13, has primary reference to the time of their conversion, serve to confirm the present ἐνεργεῖται, than as implying that the Thessalonians have really encountered the enmity of their fellow-countrymen, and do not allow themselves to be thereby driven into apostasy. Taken together, 1Th_2:13-14 thus answer pretty closely to the parallel statement in 1Th_1:6; 1Th_5:13 to δεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον μετὰ χαρᾶς πνεύματος ἁγίου 1Th_5:14 to ἐν θλίψει πολλῇ; comp. there Exeg. Note 14.

6. (1Th_2:14.) Of the churches of God which are in Judea, &c.—Τοῦ θεοῦ answers to the threefold mention of God in 1Th_2:13; τῶν οὐσῶν has ἐν twice connected with it: in the first instance, ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, it denotes the external, geographical sphere; in the other, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, the inner, essential life-sphere, on which see 1Th_1:1, Exeg. Note 3, and Doct. and Eth. 1. By the latter specification the Jewish-Christian congregations are distinguished from the Jewish, which also εἶναι δοκοῦσι congregations of God (Œcumenius).—Τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν is also to be noted in this respect, that the Thessalonians were the first church out of Palestine that was persecuted as a church.

7. Countrymen.—Συμφυλ., those of the same tribe, exhibits the natural connection (Luther only too strongly: blood relations), and the epithet ἰδίων gives it additional force, in order the more clearly to show the gospel’s penetrating, overcoming power as supernatural, Divine. By the συμφυλέται, therefore, as the contrast τῶν Ἰουδαίων shows, are meant chiefly [only] Gentiles (Olshausen, De Wette, Lünemann, Ewald, [Alford, Ellicott, &c.] &c), because the Thessalonian church was composed almost entirely of Gentile Christians (Act_17:4). [Not Jews (Chrysostom, &c.): Calvin, Bengel, &c, think of Jews and Gentiles both.—Riggenbach.]—Αὐτοί are the members of the churches in Judea; constructio ad sensum.

8. (1Th_2:15.) Who also, &c.—Καί is not perhaps to be connected with the καί following=as well—as also, since several καί follow one another in simple series: it rather adds to what precedes something new and correspondent: The Jews have not only persecuted the Christian churches in Judea, but also killed the Lord Jesus, &c. The subsequent strong expressions respecting the Jews are at first sight somewhat strange, indeed almost displeasing, especially because one does not well see, at least not at once, how the Apostle was led to them by the context. Looked at more closely, they fall apart into two divisions, the first consisting of past participles (ἀποκτεινάντων, ἐκδιωξάντων), the second of present (ἀρεσκόντων with ἐναντίων, κωλυόντων). Both divisions end in something that has reference to the Apostle: ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξ 1Th_2:15, κωλυόντων ἡμᾶς 1Th_2:16. Thus, the point in question is the relation of the Jews to the Apostle, on which comp. Act_17:5. This seems also to have been used against the Apostle by the countrymen of the Thessalonians. They might say: “How can you still believe that stranger? His own people, in fact, have driven him out, and are utterly unwilling to have him draw you over to his side;”—an objection which might have the more weight for the Thessalonian Christians, because most of them had previously been proselytes (Act_17:4), and so accustomed to seek and find the truth among the Jews. To this Paul now answers: “Yes, they have persecuted me, but no otherwise than they did the Lord Jesus and their own prophets; nor are they willing to endure it, that I should publish salvation to you, and the Gentiles generally; but in this they are merely contrary to God and men, and fill up the measure of their sins.” Thus regarded, 1Th_2:15-16 have a meaning and significance in where they stand, and thus also is set aside the offensive harshness that seems to lie in the words; it is set aside from the same point of view, which in the earlier sections removes the offence of self-praise or of the praise of the Thessalonians. But the treatment of this matter is attached to this particular context for the reason that it falls under the same law as the suffering of the Thessalonians from those of their own race (see Exeg. Note 5): Paul had the same experience from his countrymen, as they from theirs: and as they were preceded by the Jewish Christians, so he himself by the Lord and the prophets. With such predecessors, and with this uniformity of experience, the offence must surely cease. It is moreover evident that the example in 1Th_2:14 is there selected with an eye to the fact, that Paul means presently to speak of the Jews. And this point he has kept to the close of the entire section; for having fully reestablished his own authority with his readers, he can the more powerfully subvert their earlier authority, the Jews. [While expositors generally deal with the difficulty, some of the expedients adopted by them in accounting for 1Th_2:15-16 are very far fetched. Olshausen: “Paul foresaw that the Judaizers, standing on the same level as the Jews, would damage him in this Church also, and therefore, by way of precaution, he here expressed himself on the points in regard to which he was usually blamed.” But would any one attack the Jews beforehand, in order to resist a possible, later incursion of Judaizing Christians, to whom, besides, several things are here inapplicable, whilst their characteristic peculiarities, especially their legality, are wanting? Von Hofmann, on the contrary, supposes that some desired to persuade the Thessalonians, that the gospel was purely a Jewish affair, and that it is in opposition to this notion that Paul here speaks. But one cannot understand how this objection could arise, since the Jews were certainly the first and most vehement adversaries of the gospel in Thessalonica; and then an attack on the Jews would still have been a very indirect and extravagant way of defending himself against that objection. De Wette contents himself altogether with the remark, that the Apostle seizes the opportunity to give vent to his displeasure with the Jews. Lünemann is correct in finding the occasion of the philippic, 1Th_2:15-16, in the fact, that in Thessalonica the Jews were the real instigators of the persecutions of the Christians, and that in other places likewise they manifested the same obdurate spirit of contradiction; but with this generality he stops, and so fails to account for the complexion of the entire passage, as well as its particular phrases, and overlooks the reference to Paul. Calvin, who is followed by Calixtus;, comes nearest the truth: Poterat Thessalonicensibus hoc venire in mentem: si hæc vera est religio, cur eam tam infestis animis oppugnant Judæi, qui sunt sacer Dei populus? Ut hoc offendic-ulam tollat, primum admonet, hoc eos commune habere cum primis ecclesiis, quæ in Judæa erant, postea Judæos dicit obstinatos esse Dei omnis sanæ doctrinæ hostes. The only mistake here is, that Calvin, whilst he too overlooks the special reference of 1Th_2:15-16 to Paul, and understands συμφυλετ. 1Th_2:14, principally of the Jews, brings to bear on 1Th_2:14 the point of view, that is applicable to 1Th_2:15 sq.—Riggenbach.]

9. The Lord Jesus and their own prophets, &c.—Τὸν κύριον stands emphatically first, and is still more marked in being separated by ἀποκτειν, from Ἰησοῦν: Yea, the Lord Himself they killed (comp. 1Co_2:8); is it to be wondered at, if they persecute the servant (comp. Joh_15:20)? What is expressed in the case of Ἰησοῦν by the prominent putting forward of τὸν κύριον is in the case of τοὺς προφήτας expressed by the addition of ἰδίους: their own prophets, ὧν καὶ τὰ τεύξη περιφέρουσι (Chrysost.), they treated no better than they have done the Gentile Apostle. This internal evidence is favorable to the genuineness of ἰδίους; if regarded as spurious, this makes no change whatever in the thought; we lose merely that particular stroke. Τοὺς προφήτας might grammatically be connected, as Koch would have it, with what follows; but com mentators correctly refer it to what goes before, both because in other places also mention is made of the Jewish murder of the prophets (Mat_23:31; Mat_23:37; Luk_11:47 sq.;Luk_13:34; Act_7:52), and on account of ἐκδιωξάντων, of which presently.—When Paul now proceeds: καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκ διωξάντων, we are by this time so well prepared for it, that it can no longer furnish an objection to him, but rather an argument for him and against the Jews. ̔Εκδιώκειν is no doubt in the Sept. Psa_44:17 [Psa_44:16]; Psa_119:157 the strengthened διώκειν (De Wette, Lünem.); but the proper meaning of the word (see, for instance, Passow, who indeed gives no other meaning) is to pursue forth, chase out, expel, persequendo ejicere (Bengel, who adds: frequens verbum apud LXX.), and so the word stands in the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament, Luk_11:49 (in the parallel passage, Mat_23:34, διώξετε ἀπὸ πάλεως εἰς πόλιν)—a point of so much the more importance, as Paul probably has here in his eye that expression of Christ. In this case we are (with J. Mich. Hahn, Baur, &c.) to think simply of the expulsion of Paul and his companions from Thessalonica (see Act_17:5; Act_17:13), the very thing at which many believers might stumble. [Bengel, Pelt, Schott, Lünemann, (Ellicott,) think of the persecutions of Paul and the Apostles generally; but this extension of ἡμᾶς is against the context, see 1Th_2:16-17, as well as 1Th_2:13; besides, the aorist participle leads us the more readily to think of a single act, since the Jewish persecutions of the Apostles in general still continued (see Act_17:13; Act_18:6; Act_18:12), so that it must have been ἐκδιωκόντων as well as afterwards κωλυόντων—Riggenbach.]

10. And they please not God, &c.—The participles now pass from the aorist [Alford: definite events] into the present [Alford: habits] and, as τῶν καὶ τὸν κύριον—ἐκδιωξάντων hangs closely together, so again does all that follows as far as σωθῶσιν. For not to please God and to be contrary to all men are correlatives, and κωλυόντων, &c. adds to it nothing new and independent, but, having no καί before it like all the previous participles, is to be subordinated to ἀρεσκ, and ἐναντίων [with Lünem., though he makes it depend only on ἐναντίων (and so Alford.—J. L.).—Riggenbach.], comp. 1Th_2:6 sq.; 11 sq. The subordinate clause shows to what extent the Jews displease God, and are contrary to all men; and thus at the same time these strong expressions lose much of their harshness.—Θεῷ μὴ ἀρεσκόντων: the Jews were jealous at Thessalonica (Act_17:5), as they were elsewhere both before and afterwards (Act_13:45; Act_18:6-13; comp. Act_22:21 sq.; Act_26:19 [Act_26:21]), because through Paul so many Gentiles were converted, and this jealousy was with them a zeal for God and His kingdom in Israel (Rom_10:2), whereby they thought to please Him (comp. Joh_16:2). In opposition to this Paul now says; they please not God. Thus the subjective negative μή does not imply placere non quærentium (Bengel, &c.); but, on the contrary, it denies the ἀρέσκειν as conceived by the Jews and also by the Thessalonians (Winer, p. 428 sq.)78 Ubi dicit non placere Deo, hoc vult, indignos esse, quorum ratio inter Dei cultores habeatur (Calvin). The very softness of the expression has a peculiar force.—Πᾶσιν ἄνθρ. ἐναντίων: as contrary to God, so contrary to men; but the former passively=objects of the Divine displeasure, the latter actively=hostile to all men. πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, of course, excepting themselves, and so, as to the sense,=τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ill the explanatory clause. But Paul purposely holds up to view the inhumanity of this state of mind. When heathen writers, as interpreters are here in the habit of reminding us, reproach the Jews with adversus omnes alios hostile odium (Tac. Hist. 1Th_2:5; Juv. Sat. 14:103 sqq.; Jos. c. Rev_2:10-14, etc.), they do not at any rate properly distinguish in this thing the Divinely sanctioned particularism of Israel, and the proud, narrow-minded exclusivism of the Jews. Paul, of course, blames only the latter, which would not acknowledge that God Himself had now abolished the former.

11. (1Th_2:16.) Hindering us, &c.—Κωλυόντων, see Exeg. Note 10. Δαλῆσαι ἴνα σωθῶσιν, either: to preach to the Gentiles, in order that they may be saved, (Bengel, Olshausen, De Wette; thus taking λαλ. as a meiosis or tapeinosis for εὐαγγελίζεσθαι); or ἵνα is weakened, as in the New Testament it so often is, and marks the object (Winer, p. 299 sqq.)=λαλῆσαι περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας, λαλῆσαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον 1Th_2:2 (Lünemann, [Ellicott, Webster and Wilkinson], &c.). The latter method is the more simple.

12. To fill up their sins always.—Εἰς τό, &c., belongs, not merely to κωλυόντων, but to the whole description from 1Th_2:15. The result is here presented as an unconscious purpose, just as we say: to fill up the measure [De Wette). [εἰς then, is not=ὤστε, of the result as such (Pelt, &c.); but neither does it mark God’s purpose in the sins of the Jews (Olshausen, Lünemann)1Th 79: the expression belongs not so much to the Pauline style of thought, as to ordinary speech.—Riggenbach]:—αὐτῶν stands emphatically before τὰς ὰμαρτ: their sins, while they are persecuting others, God’s messengers, as sinners.—̔Αναπλμρῶσαι, comp. Mat_23:32, καὶ ὑηε͂ις πληρώσατε τὸ μὲτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑηῶν [also Gen_15:16]. The compound ἀναπληρ. means to fill up to fill again higher, so that, as it were, the still empty space in the vessel becomes ever smaller. We thus get a simple explanation of πάντοτε (which is thought to be difficult by De Wette, and strange by Olshausen, who, with Bretschneider, would take it as=πάντως, παντελῶς). The subsequent clause likewise with its εἰς τελος, will in this connection obtain its natural interpretation. Πάντοτε means always, at every time, by the persecution of the prophets, of the Lord, of the Apostle, the sins were always again filled up, filled higher, till now the measure is full.

13. But the wrath came upon them to the end.—Δέ opposes to the sin its punishment, and to the ever fresh increase the end. Parallel to the heaping up of the sin went the heaping up of the judicial wrath of God (Rom_2:5), which now, however, is come to the end, to the uttermost, where it must discharge itself (Lünemann). On ἡ ὀργή [Jowett: either the long-expected wrath, or the wrath consequent upon their sins.—J. L.] see 1Th_1:10, Exeg. Note 14. Εἰς τελος is to be connected with ἔφθασε, which means simply pervenit (Vulgate, Calvin, De Wette, Lünemann, &c.), not prævenit (Beza, Schott, Pelt, &c.), since in the New Testament, with the exception of 1Th_4:15, φθάςειν occurs only in the later, weakened sense of reaching to, with εἰς (Rom_9:31; Php_3:16), ἐπί τινα. (Mat_12:28; Luk_11:20; comp. Dan_4:25), ἄχρι τινός (2Co_10:14). Here it is connected with two prepositions of the direction, one of which (εἰς τέλος) indicates the inward development to the end; the other (ἐπʼ αὐτούς), the outward movement. [At this many interpreters needlessly stumble, and have either taken εἰς τέλος adverbially (=finally or totally), or have thought it necessary to refer it to ἡ ὀργή: the wrath which lasts to the end of the world, or for ever (Theodoret, Theophylact, Œcumenius, &c.), or till its full manifestation (Olshausen),80 or to the destruction of the Jews (Grotius, Pelt, Flatt, &c.). The last view is shared also by De Wette, Ewald, &c., who connect εἰς τέλος with ἔφθασε in the sense of 2Ch_31:1; Dan_9:27,=to utter ruin, to complete extinction.—Riggenbach.]—Paul knows that the Jews, having likewise rejected the Messiah and the spiritual witness of his Apostles, are now ripe for judgment, which accordingly followed soon after in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. He neither appeals to any revelation that he had received on this subject, nor does he merely draw inferences from the political situation of the Jews [Jowett: “To the Apostle, reading the future in the present, the state of Judea at any time during the last thirty years before the destruction of the city, would have been sufficient to justify the expression, ‘wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.’ ”—J. L.], but in the light of prophecy of the Old Testament and of the Lord Himself (Ewald mentions Mat_23:37-39; Mat_14:16 sqq.; Dan_9:24 sqq.) he discerns with clear spiritual glance the interpretation of the signs of the time. With this earnest word on the near imminence of the Divine judgment on the principal adversaries of the gospel the section closes, and so again in a measure with an eschatological prospect (comp. 1Th_1:10; 1Th_2:12). While the Jews fall under wrath, Christians are saved from wrath (1Th_1:10), and called to God’s kingdom and glory (1Th_2:12).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. (1Th_2:13.) It may seem strange that Paul should thank God for something that the Thessalonians had done (ἐδέξασθε). We are not to infer from this, that their acceptance of the word, or their faith, is thought of as an operation of God to the exclusion of man’s free receptivity. Had Paul meant to say this, he must have expressed himself otherwise, as thus: We thank God that He wrought the acceptance, or faith, in you. But the indication in ἐδέξασθε of free receptivity is the more marked, as it is only afterward that the operation of God in them is named in confirmation of the Divine character of the freely accepted word (ὃς καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν).81 Nevertheless, Paul can and must thank God for the faith of the Thessalonians, partly because it would not have existed but for His preparative grace, and the accompanying influence of His Spirit, whereby the Thessalonians were convinced that Paul’s word was God’s word, and thus faith is no independent act of man (Olshausen), but really rests on a Divine causality; partly because for every good thing that happens to the Christian, and makes him glad—and the faith of the Thessalonians was for Paul something in the highest degree exhilarating (1Th_2:19-20)—he gives thanks and honor to the Father of lights, under whose providential guidance and control stand even the free actions of men (Lünemann). Comp. 1Th_1:6, and its Exegetical Note 14, and Doctrinal Principles, No. 3.

2. Paul calls his word God’s word. To what extent he knew himself to be justified in doing so has been shown already, especially in 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:4 and 1Th_1:5. God Himself, by a miraculous call and the light of revelation had entrusted him with the proclamation of His glad tidings to the world (comp. Gal_1:11-16; 1Co_2:6-16; Col_1:25-29; Eph_3:1-12), and now in Thessalonica, as in Corinth and elsewhere (1Co_2:4-5; Rom_15:18-19), he has preached the gospel in the energy of the Holy Ghost. There are thus two essential points in the case: 1. The apostolic call and illumination (inspiration), which, effected by special acts of God, concerns the whole man, and assigns to him an official mission, a fundamental position and significance in the kingdom of God (comp. Eph_2:20); 2. the separate acts of proclamation, performed on the ground of that general inspiration, and yet again in every particular instance, “in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance,” or “in demonstration of the spirit and in power.” Now what is true of the oral proclamation of Apostles holds good of the written. “For the relation between word and writing is ordinarily this, that the writing compresses the copiousness of the spoken word into a settled elementary form—the final expression, made clear and strong by deliberate reflection, of the inspired thought—and so in Holy Scripture we have the ripe, developed fruit of inspiration” (Martensen, Dogmatik, 2d ed., p. 455). We are therefore at liberty, and are bound, to call also the written word of Apostles (and Prophets) the word of God. And down through all centuries the Church has borne to it in the power of the Spirit the same witness, that the Thessalonians did to Paul’s oral proclamation; she has freely recognized and accepted it as God’s word. The testimonium Spiritus Sancti continually asserts itself as the subjective correlative and living evidence of inspiratio—But now, as regards the uninterrupted oral proclamation of the word of God in the preaching of the Church, on that point Paul says in the Pastoral Epistles, which may be regarded as his legacy to the Church in its gradual transition from the first age of the Apostles into the common course of history: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me,” and: “The thing that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2Ti_1:13; 2Ti_2:2). He will thus have the Church’s doctrine and preaching expressly bound to the fundamental apostolic word, and, though here too the reference is to what is spoken and heard, yet we properly may and ought once more to think of the written word, which, indeed, is the only authentic tradition of the oral for later generations (1Jn_2:7; 1Jn_2:24; 1Jn_1:3-4; 2Pe_1:13-15). Essentially, therefore, the Church’s doctrine and preaching is a propagation, reproduction, an ever new appropriation of the apostolic word. But as the preaching Apostles would not have fulfilled their task by a mere dry communication of God’s revelations, but for every announcement they had to be freshly endued with the Spirit from on high, that the gospel might be brought powerfully to bear on the heart and conscience of the hearers according to their general and special needs, as, for example, on the Jews otherwise than on the Gentiles, so likewise for our preaching the objective agreement with apostolic, orthodox doctrine does not suffice, but there must always be a subjective fulness, and that in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. It is not the preaching, but the preacher, that preaches (comp. 1Th_1:5, and its Exegetical Note 12, and Doctrinal Principles, No. 4). This, in fact, is precisely what is proposed in the oral word, to bring near to men in a human way the objective gift of God—to convey it to them with a spiritual, personal vivacity. The preacher is not a mere messenger, who may have no interest in the intelligence he has to bring; he is a witness, guaranteeing what he says by all that he is (Joh_15:27; Luk_24:48; Act_1:8; Act_1:22; 1Jn_1:2). And, accordingly, he too can and should testify to his hearers the one apostolic truth in the freedom of the spirit, ever according to their needs, in this or that form, from this side or from that. The more these two elements mutually interpenetrate, the objective agreement with the apostolic doctrine and the subjective, spiritual fulness of the individual, so much the more may even the preaching of the Church be called the word of God. At the same time we here perceive that the Divine does not in its revelation and communication exclude or suppress the human, but assimilates it, fills it with itself, and so consecrates it for its own organ. [When our Confessions teach: “Sacramenta et verbum propter ordinationem et mandatum Christi sunt efficacia, etiamsi per malos exhibeantur” (Conf. Aug. 8; comp. Hebrews 1.), this contains a truth, no doubt; and yet there is here a somewhat hasty making of a virtue out of necessity, and especially the difference between the word and sacrament, in relation to the personality of the minister, is not duly considered. Comp. 1Co_1:14-17—Riggenbach.] Thus, in the connection of our passage with earlier statements in the Epistle, and in its harmony with expressions of the Apostle elsewhere, it furnishes essential features to the doctrine of the verbum divinum, both as written and as preached.

3. (1Th_2:13-16.) At that time there had arisen even among the heathen a searching after truth. The great world-empires had along with the populations shaken also the gods and the religions. Light and happiness were sought in schools of philosophy, in the renewal of the mysteries, from the Goëtæ, &c. There had ensued, as in our day, a dissolution of the spiritual life—a confused, conflicting throng of all possible standpoints and attempts at deliverance. The point then was, to discriminate between man’s word and God’s. For this end the conscience is of service (2Co_4:2; 2Co_5:11), which is given to us as a compass on the swelling sea of life. When it is aroused, a separation is made between what is Divine and what is human. At this time many, at Thessalonica also, had already attached themselves as proselytes to the Jews, because even in the preparatory revelations of God they found the best satisfaction of their needs of conscience. Such were in a peculiar degree prepared, inwardly and outwardly, to accept the Gospel as the word of God. They were so more than the Jews, because the latter generally held the law and the prophets in the way merely of outward tradition, whereas the former consented thereto with heart and life. Thus frequently upright men, belonging as to their external position to the world, are nearer to the kingdom of God than others, who have perhaps from their youth up been associated with the pious. In like manner churches, which assume to be those in which alone salvation is to be had, or which boast of their orthodoxy, are not exactly those which bring forth the most children to the Lord, because the Spirit departs in a measure proportioned to the reliance placed, as by the Jews, on institutions, the form of doctrine, &c. (Rom_2:17 sqq.)

4. (1Th_2:14-16.) We can here almost perceive the growth in Paul of his leading view of the position of Gentile Christians in relation to Jewish Christians and Jews. The latter are the proper enemies of the gospel, not only amongst those of their own nation, but also in the Gentile world; for this reason he sees the judgment now breaking in on them. On the other hand, he recognizes in the Gentile Christians the followers of the Jewish Christians, of the true congregation of God in Israel. They belong—this thought here presents itself as a matter of course—to the genuine seed of Abraham, and take the place of the exscinded branches (Romans 4, 11). The condition for this is simply faith, on which such special stress is laid in 1Th_2:13; through faith a man quits his natural connections, and enters the circle of the Divine operation in the world (the connection of 1Th_2:13-14). To the Jews were entrusted the λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ (Rom_3:2); to believers from among Jews and Gentiles is not merely entrusted outwardly the λόγος θεοῦ, but God thereby works in them with a living power (1Th_2:13). We have thus here, in regard to the history of the kingdom of God, the genesis of Paul’s objective, fundamental view respecting the setting aside of the Jews and the participation of the Gentiles in that kingdom, just as in Act_13:38-39 we have the genesis of his fundamental view of subjective salvation, of the doctrine of justification by faith. Then in the Epistle to the Romans both views are developed jointly.

5. But it must not be forgotten, that our text is not the last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting the Jews. It is rather in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 9-11) that he has uttered this. There, with an extreme, self-denying love, he expresses his profound, continual sorrow on account of the rejection of Israel (Rom_9:1-3; Rom_10:1-2). He places the ultimate aim of his Gentile apostleship in this, that by means of the converted Gentiles the Jews should be provoked to emulation (Rom_11:13-14). He makes it the duty of Gentile Christians not to be proud and severe in regard to the Jewish branches broken off on account of their unbelief, because otherwise the same fate awaits us (Rom_11:17-22). To his Gentile Church, accordingly, which has so often, alas, actually fallen into that spirit of arrogance toward the Jews which he repudiates, and is still for the most part ensnared therein, he has rather bequeathed it a her task, by means of her walk of faith before Israel, and her loving sorrow in their behalf, to win over the blinded people. The Church has a mission of faith and love to the Jews; she has and should have a Jewish mission. If among us evangelicals this obligation is again here and there acknowledged and discharged, yet these efforts are but feeble, slight germs and beginnings. The Jewish mission is still far too much a thing singular, peculiar; it is too little sustained by the intercessory sympathy of the believing Church. We must in this thing learn to walk more fully in the steps of our Apostle and of the Lord Himself, of whom in reference to this very people Mat_9:36-38 stands written. The Jewish mission, moreover, is in a quite special sense the mission also of hope. For the very last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting Israel is this, that the entire people shall yet be saved, and from the receiving of them again shall a new life stream forth to the nations of the world (Rom_11:12; Rom_11:15; Rom_11:23 sqq.). This national conversion of Israel is, indeed, not a matter that we can introduce; with other developments in the kingdom of God, it is connected with the coming of Christ (Mat_23:39; Act_3:19-21) [Zechariah 12, 13, 14.—J. L.]. But in order to this, to say nothing of the salvation of individual souls, the Jewish mission has to perform the office of a forerunner, and prepare the way.

6. The result of the entire development of the Jewish people during more than fifteen centuries was their division into a believing minority (1Th_2:14) and an unbelieving majority (1Th_2:15-16), which oppressed and persecuted the former. Already, indeed, had the prophets prophesied of the remnant which alone should be converted (comp. Rom_9:27-29; Rom_11:1-10). This division [Scheidung] being completed, there came the crisis [Entscheidung], the judgment (κρίσις includes both) in the destruction of Jerusalem, from which the believers were delivered (Pella, &c.), whereas ruin befell the unbelieving people. The same result will follow the development also of the New Testament Church and of the Christian nations. On this rests the deep, biblical truth of the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church. We too stand in the time of separation, and are advancing toward the crisis.

7. (1Th_2:15-16.) It is worthy of notice that the ideas of 1Th_2:15-16 obviously lean on a sentence of the Lord, and are evolved from it. Comp. with 1Th_2:15, Mat_23:34; Luk_11:49 : ἀπαστελῶ προφήτας καὶ ἀποστόλους καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενοῦσι καὶ ἐκδιώξουσιν and, with 1Th_2:16 Mat_13:32 : καὶ ὑμε͂ις πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὐμῶν, and 2:36: ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην. We thus see how, under the illumination of the Spirit, the words of the Lord and the Apostle’s own experiences originated his thoughts. At another time it was words of the Lord, which the Apostle received in immediate revelations from heaven. In his eschatological teachings which we shall have later to consider, we shall see both kinds of words coöperating, and along with them Old Testament prophecy. The sayings of Jesus were evidently not unknown to Paul. With him they frequently sound still in a freer form (preceding the written determination of them).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1Th_2:13. Rieger: Where we said: I am glad, I ever think of it without joy, there the spirit, in which Scripture is written, impels us to say: We thank God, that He may ever be acknowledged as she Giver of these joyful providences, and that joy itself may be so seasoned with salt, that the flesh shall be less able to attribute aught to itself.—J. Mich. Hahn: How greatly must it rejoice a servant of the Lord, when he is permitted also to see fruits of his labor! Or are we going to find fault with this joy, even though it be a joy in the Lord? Or have we perchance any cause to blame the Apostle, when, for the strengthening of the faith of those dear to him, he exhibits to them something of the fair fruits of the Spirit? Did not Jesus Himself first tell His churches of whatever good things they had, and then of their evil, if they had any?—Rieger: Perhaps some one thinks, it was possible for the Thessalonians at once to accept as the word of God the word from the mouth of such a gifted Apostle; but who will require of us now, that we accept for God’s word everything that sounds from pulpits? That time also had its own difficulties. Paul was not regarded at Thessalonica with quite the same degree of respect that we can now feel toward him. Outwardly he was to be looked upon as a mechanic (1Th_2:9); inwardly the opposition he had to endure gave him great trouble. The acceptance in these circumstances of his word as the word of God was promoted by means, that would still be effective in the case of our expositions at the present day—by searching the Scriptures, whether those things are so (Act_17:11). That at least accept as God’s word, which thou canst so accept with the concurrence of thy conscience.—The apostolic word (the word of the Bible) is God’s word, and certifies itself as such by its Divine, spiritual working in us (the witness of the Holy Ghost).—Roos: You experience a Divine working within you. Before you believed, there was none of this Divine working. It exists while you believe, and ever since you believe. You feel it, and may thence infer that what you believe is the word of God.—The Same: Is it not the effect of the Divine working, that you can allow yourselves to be harassed by people of your nation, without becoming thereby disheartened or enraged? Who has at any time seen this fruit of the Spirit in an unbelieving Gentile or Jew? Thus the patience and faith of the saints (Rev_13:10; Rev_14:12)—these two main elements of the suffering and contending Church—are likewise the main proofs of the Divine character of her foundation, as laid in the apostolic word. In this sense the Church is the proof of the Divine character of Scripture (comp., at 1Th_1:6-7, Doctrinal Principles, No. 5). This is, indeed, no glorious proof, such as might strike even the natural sense, the merely logical or mathematical understanding. On the contrary, it is a proof from her humiliation. But the very fact that the Church of Jesus amidst all depressing and adverse circumstances, and while having the whole world opposed to her, still endures, is a proof that supernatural, Divine powers here rule—that Jesus has given to her the glory which He received from the Father (Joh_17:22; 1Pe_4:14).—The preached word as God’s word (comp. Luk_10:16): What this includes, 1. for preachers (see Doctrinal Principles, No. 2), 2. for hearers: a. the obligation not to carry themselves with indifference or even offensively toward the word, but to receive it as a real message from God attentively and willingly; b. the blessing, that from the word thus received there proceed Divine influences upon us.—Pfaff: God’s word cannot be without stir and fruit, wherever it is but allowed to rule, any more than fire and light in cold and darkness.—Zwingli: The persecutors of God’s word, in order to render it odious, put forward the name of Luther or Zwingli. The believer alone can decide whether it is God’s word or man’s; that is when God works in the hearers, and arouses and quickens within them the external, preached word, so that a new man is born.

1Th_2:14. See on 1Th_2:13.—Roos: Novices in Christianity are commonly spared by the Lord sharp trials; but this was not the experience of the Thessalonians, the Lord often indeed showing that He does not always act according to one rule.—Though in our Christian world relations are in part changed from what they were then, yet even now also the convert has often to suffer, and that severely, from kinsmen and other companions. But let us be thoroughly penetrated by the power of the Divine word, and we are thereby enabled to hearken unto God more than unto the dearest of men. Then too have we the best hope of drawing after us those connected with us, when they see how the truth is sacred and precious to us above all things else; this inspires them first with respect for it, and afterwards perhaps with love to it.—Bengel: The same fruits, the same afflictions, the same experiences of believers of all places and times afford an excellent criterion of evangelical truth.—Roos: A congregation or a household of believers may take comfort from the example of others, and, in particular, converts in Christianity may do so from the example of older Christians.—Zwingli: The churches in Judea believed first on the Lord Jesus, and then the Gentiles also followed them; they did not, therefore, follow the Roman church or the Pope. [Moreover, the promise given to Peter, Mat_16:18 sq., was fulfilled in Jerusalem at Pentecost and afterwards, Acts 2 sqq., not in Rome.—Riggenbach.]

[Matthew Henry: The cross is the Christian’s mark: if we are called to suffer, we are called only to be followers of the churches of God; so persecuted they the prophets that were before you, Mat_5:12.—J. L.]

1Th_2:15-16. On the Jews, see Doctrinal Principles, Nos. 3–6.—The sin of the Jews was peculiarly grievous, and more grievous than that of the Gentiles; for it consisted not merely in the doing of evil, but in the rejection of the help offered them against the evil, in their hostility to the messengers of salvation, in hardening themselves against the ever new and higher revelations and more urgent invitations of God (Mat_21:33 sqq.; Mat_22:3-7). Indeed, the real sin is unbelief (Mar_16:15 sq.; Joh_16:9; Joh_5:46 sq.). What was true, therefore, at that time of the Jews is now true of Christians; since the light shines now for us, for us is the day of salvation.—Bengel: Stubborn resistance to the word is that which most of all fills up the measure of sin. And Rieger: He who neglects his own salvation grudges to see in others greater zeal for their salvation; and so by the persecution of others is the measure of sins commonly filled up.—Diedrich: To love Christ, and that alone, is truly to love humanity; for true humanity is in Him alone, and by His word it is propagated and trained.—There is among us Christians also a Jewish illiberality, which thinks to please God by drawing the circle in some one sense very tight. This is a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Rom_10:2), a zeal which, as with the Jews, is ever connected somehow with self-righteousness (1Th_2:3), and does not duly understand Christ as the end of the law (1Th_2:4). Let us allow grace to be really grace, and we shall recognize it also in its universality, nor will we make the strait gate still straiter. We learn to unite with a strict conscience a wide heart and a free vision.—Pfaff: God seldom punishes the first sin, but He suffers iniquity to mount for a certain period and to a certain pitch. When it has reached the measure fixed by Him, He breaks in with His judgment; but this limit is not very discernible before the event. Foretokens of it, however, are not obscurely to be inferred from, for example, the long duration and heinousness of the sins, from contempt of the richly proffered means of grace, from obduracy, &c.—Burkitt: It is a singular support to suffering saints, to consider that Christ and His Apostles suffered before them, and by His sufferings has sanctified a state of affliction and persecution to them.—A spirit of persecution seems ofttimes to run in a blood, and passes from parent to child through many generations. The Jews killed Christ, stoned the prophets, and persecuted the Apostles.—Paul ranks them that are enemies to the preaching of the gospel with the obstinate shedders of Christ’s blood; they are enrolled amongst the capital enemies of mankind.—J. L.]

Footnotes:

[59]1Th_2:13.—Καί read before διὰ τοῦτο [as well as after it] by Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford,] after A. B. [Sin.]; but the authority is insufficient (Lünemann).

[60]1Th_2:13.—[καὶ ἡμεῖς εὐχαριστοῦμεν. The καί belongs, as usual, to what immediately follows it.—E. V. renders εὐχαριστέω by to give thanks in 1Th_1:2; 1Th_5:18; 2Th_2:13, 23 times elsewhere out of 34.—J. L.]

[61]1Th_2:13.—[The above is Ellicott’s version of παραλαβόντες λόγον ἀκοῆς παῤ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. Auberlen; da ihr das Wort der Botschaft Gottes von uns empfinget. Alford retains the construction of the common English Version. See Exegetical Note 2.—J. L.]

[62]1Th_2:13.—[ἐδέξασθε ου λόγον ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ … λόγος θεοῦ. Lünemann: “The addition of a ὡς (οὐχ ὡς λόγον ἀνθρ. ἀλλὰ … ὡς λόγον θεοῦ), in itself superfluous (see Kühner II. p. 226), was so much the more inadmissible, because the Apostle wished to express, not merely what the preached word was in the view of the Thessalonians, but at the same time what it was in fact. Hence also the emphatic parenthesis, καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς.” To the same effect many others, including Alford, Wordsworth, and Ellicott.—In the Cod. Sin. ἀληθῶς, omitted a prima manu, is supplied by correction.—J. L.]

[63]1Th_2:13.—[καὶ ἐνεργεῖται. The effectually of E. V., probably from Calvin’s efficaciter—Bishops’ Bible: effectuously—is scarcely warranted; though neither is our simple worketh quite satisfactory. Auberlen: sich wirksam beweist=shows itself operative; and so many others.—J. L.]

[64]1Th_2:14.—[So Sin. B. D. B. F. &c., and the critical editors, instead of ταὐτά (Rec., after A. &c.).—J. L.]

[65]1Th_2:15.—[If the first καί of this verse is rendered both, it must belong to τὸν κύριον, as in Wiclif: which slowen bothe the lord ihesus and the profetis; and so others, including Conybeare, Ellicott, Vaughan. But see the Exegetical Notes, 8.—J. L.]

[66]1Th_2:15.—Ἰδίους before προφήτας is wanting in A. B. D*. E1. J. G. [Sin.] &c., and is therefore cancelled by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf [and nearly all the other recent editors], but defended by Schott, De Wette, Reiche, &c. Even if spurious, it is at any rate an intelligent gloss. [Revision: “Tertullian asserts (Adv. Marc. 1Th_2:15.) that it was heretically introduced (adjectio hæretici). De Wette, on the other hand, thinks that it may have been dropped either in consequence of the ὁμοιοτέλευτον (τοὺν ἰδι̇ους), or as offensive to the anti-gnostic spirit, and commends Schott for retaining it.”]

[67]1Th_2:15.—[Or, as in the English margin: chased us out, ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξάντων. Auberlen: uns vertrieben haben; Ellicott, Alford: drove us out; Am. Bible Union: drove us forth; &c.—J. L.]

[68]1Th_2:16.—[The MSS. D. E. F. G. have the Vulgate addition of τοῦ Θεοῦ after ἡ ὀργή.—J. L.]

[69]1Th_2:16.—[ἔφθασε (Lachmann: ἔφθακε after B. D.).—The historical time is determined by that of ἀναπληρῶσαι. Comp. the Greek of Mat_12:28, and see the note in Revision. Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, Alford, and the Am. Bible Union: came.—J. L.]

[70][The same explanation of διὰ τοῦτο is given by Olshausen, Lünemann, Alford. Others prefer a reference to “the general subjects of the preceding verses,—the earnestness and zeal of the Apostle and his associates” (Ellicott; and similarly Webster and Wilkinson). Less probable is Vaughan’s reference to what follows.—J. L.]

[71][Perhaps rather to ὑμεῖς of 1Th_2:10; Ye are our witnesses, and now we too are yours. Or as Zanchius: Not you alone ought to give thanks for this calling, but we also. And similarly Ellicott. Either explanation is better than Lünemann’s: We, as well as every true Christian that hears of your deportment; or Alford’s reference to those expressly mentioned in 1Th_1:7.—J. L.]

[72][German versions represent the two verbs by empfangen and auf-or an-nehmen. For ἐδέξασθε Calvin has am-plexi estis=ye embraced of Benson, Macknight, and other English versions.—Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson. accepted.—J. L.]

[73][See Critical Note 4.—J. L.]

[74][These two texts, in which the middle participle is connected, not with θεός, but with (the Divine) ἐνεργεία or δύναμις, cannot properly he regarded as exceptional.—J. L.]

[75][It may quite as well he said, that in the context “the writer is magnifying the word, by way of justifying his continual thanksgiving to God for the Thessalonian reception of it” (Revisied)—J. L.]

[76][Καί is no less intelligible on the other view: “As it is God’s word, so also, and in a manner that befits and proclaims its great Original, it worketh, &c. (Revision). Ellicott adds, that perhaps it suggests also “a contrast with the inoperative nature of the word, when merely heard and not believed.”—J. L.]

[77][In the preface Dr. Riggenbach intimates his dissent from his colleague’s reference of the ὅς.—J. L.]

[78][Ellicott: “It is not correct always to find in the μὴ (as Alford here) a reference to the feelings or views of the subject connected with the participle (compare on Gal_4:8). It sometimes refers to the aspect in which the facts are presented by the writer, and regarded by the reader.” In this correction Alford now acquiesces.—J. L.]

[79][Alford and Ellicott also agree in thinking this the main reference of εἰς τό, considered not grammatically, but theologically. Jowett: the object and the result blended together in one; the natural event, as the Apostle regards it, in the order of Providence.—J. L.]

[80][Lünemann: “even to its—the wrath’s—end, that is, the wrath of God has come upon them to its extreme limit, so that it must now discharge itself; now must judgment take the place of the previous long-suffering And patience.” To the same effect Alford and Ellicott. See the note in Revision.—J. L.]

[81][Comp. Exegetical Note 4, with the foot-notes.—J. L.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 6

IMPEACHMENT OF THE JEWS

1Th_2:13-16 (R.V.)

THESE verses complete the treatment of the subject with which this chapter opens. The Apostle has drawn a moving picture of his life and labours in Thessalonica; he has pointed to it as his sufficient vindication from all the charges laid against him. Before carrying the war into the enemies camp, and depicting the traditions and the spirit of his traducers, he lingers again for a moment on the happy results of his work. In spite of persecution and calumny, he has cause to thank God without ceasing when he remembers the reception of the gospel by the Thessalonians.

When the message was brought to them, they accepted it, he says, not as the word of men, but as what it was in truth, the word of God. It is in this character that the gospel always presents itself. A word of men cannot address men with authority; it must submit itself to criticism; it must vindicate itself on grounds which mans understanding approves. Now, the gospel is not irrational; it is its own demand that the Christian shall be ready to answer everyone who demands a rational account of the hope that is in him. But neither does it, on the other hand, come to us soliciting our approval; submitting itself, as a system of ideas, to our scrutiny, and courting approbation. It speaks with authority. It commands repentance; it preaches forgiveness on the ground of Christs death-a supreme gift of God which may be accepted or rejected, but is not proposed for discussion; it exhibits the law of Christs life as the law which is binding upon every human being, and calls upon all men to follow him. Its decisive appeal is made to the conscience and the will; and to respond to it is to give up will and conscience to God. When the Apostle says, "Ye received it as, what it is in truth, the word of God," he betrays, if one may use the word, the consciousness of his own inspiration. Nothing is commoner now than to speak of the theology of Paul as if it were a private possession of the Apostle, a scheme of thought that he had framed for himself, to explain his own experience. Such a scheme of thought, we are told, has no right whatever to impose itself on us; it has only a historical and biographical interest; it has no necessary connection with truth. The first result of this line of thought, in almost every case, is the rejection of the very heart of the apostolic gospel; the doctrine of the atonement is no longer the greatest truth of revelation, but a rickety bridge on which Paul imagined he had crossed from Pharisaism to Christianity. Certainly this modern analysis of the epistles does not reflect the Apostles own way of looking at what he called "My gospel." To him it was no device of man, but unequivocally Divine; in very truth, the word of God. His theology certainly came to him in the way of his experience; his mind had been engaged with it, and was engaged with it continually; but he was conscious that, with all this freedom, it rested at bottom on the truth of God; and when he preached it - for his theology was the sum of the Divine truth he held, and he did preach it-he did not submit it to men as a theme for discussion. He put it above discussion. He pronounced a solemn and reiterated anathema on either man or angel who should put anything else in its stead. He published it, not for criticism, as though it had been his own device; but, as the word of God, for the obedience of faith. The tone of this passage recalls the word of our Lord, "Whoso shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." There are difficulties enough connected with the gospel, but they are not of a kind that disappear while we stand and look at them, or even stand and think about them; unquestioning surrender solves many, and introduces us to experiences which enable us to bear the rest with patience.

The word of God, in other words the gospel, proved its Divine character in the Thessalonians after it was received. "It also worketh," says Paul, "in you that believe." The last words are not superfluous. The word preached, we read of an earlier generation, did not profit, not being mixed with faith in them that heard. Faith conditions its efficacy. Gospel truth is an active force when it is within the heart; but it can do nothing for us while doubt, pride, or unacknowledged reserve, keep it outside. If we have really welcomed the Divine message, it will not be inoperative; it will work within us all that is characteristic of New Testament life-love, joy, peace, hope, patience. These are the proofs of its truth. Here, then, is the source of all graces: if the word of Christ dwell in us richly; if the truth of the gospel, deep, manifold, inexhaustible, yet ever the same, possess our hearts, -the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

The particular gospel grace which the Apostle has here in view is patience. He proves that the word of God is at work in the Thessalonians by pointing to the fact that they have suffered for His sake. "Had you been still of the world, the world would have loved its own; but as it is, you have become imitators of the Christian churches in Judea, and have suffered the same things at the hands of your countrymen as they from theirs." Of all places in the world Judea was that in which the gospel and its adherents had suffered most severely. Jerusalem itself was the focus of hostility. No one knew better than Paul, the zealous persecutor of heresy, what it had cost from the very beginning to be true to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Scourging, imprisonment, exile, death by the sword or by stoning, had rewarded such fidelity. We do not know to what extremity the enemies of the gospel had gone in Thessalonica; but the distress of the Christians must have been great when the Apostle could make this comparison even in passing. He had already told them {1Th_1:6} that much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, is the very badge of Gods elect; and here he combines the same stern necessity with the operation of the Divine word in their hearts. Do not let us overlook this. The work of Gods word (or if you prefer it, the effect of receiving the gospel), is in the first instance to produce a new character, a character not only distinct from that of the unconverted, but antagonistic to it, and more directly and inevitably antagonistic, the more thoroughly it is wrought out; so that in proportion as Gods word is operative in us, we come into collision with the world which rejects it. To suffer, therefore, is to the Apostle the seal of faith; it warrants the genuineness of a Christian profession. It is not a sign that God has forgotten His people, but a sign that He is with them; and that they are being brought by Him into. fellowship with primitive churches, with apostles and prophets, with the Incarnate Son Himself. And hence the whole situation of the Thessalonians, suffering included, comes under that heartfelt expression of thanks to God with which the passage opens. It is not a subject for condolence, but for gratitude, that they have been counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name.

And now the Apostle turns from. the persecuted to the persecutors. There is nothing in his epistles elsewhere that can be compared with this passionate outburst. Paul was proud with no common pride of his Jewish descent; it was better in his eyes than any patent of nobility. His heart swelled as he thought of the nation to which the adoption pertained, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose were the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. Apostle of the Gentiles though he was, he had great sorrow and unceasing pain in his heart, when he remembered the antagonism of the Jews to the gospel; he could have wished himself anathema from Christ for their sakes. He was confident, too, that in some glorious future they would yet submit to the Messiah, so that all Israel should be saved. The turning of the heathen to God would provoke them to jealousy; and the Divine calling with which the nation had been called in Abraham would reach its predestined goal. Such is the tone, and such the anticipation, with which, not very long afterwards, Paul writes in the epistle to the Romans. Here he looks at his countrymen with other eyes. They are identified, in his experience, with a fierce resistance to the gospel, and with cruel persecutions of the Church of Christ. Only in the character of bitter enemies has he been in contact with them in recent years. They have hunted him from city to city in Asia and in Europe; they have raised the populace against his converts; they have sought to poison the minds of his disciples against him. He knows that this policy is that with which his countrymen as a whole have identified themselves; and as he looks steadily at it, he sees that in doing so they have only acted in consistency with all their past history. The messengers whom God sends to demand the fruit of His vineyard have always been treated with violence and despite. The crowning sin of the race is put in the forefront; they slew the Lord Jesus; but before the Lord came, they had slain His prophets; and after He had gone, they expelled His apostles. God had put them in a position of privilege, but only for a time; they were the depositaries, or trustees, of the knowledge of God as the Saviour of men; and now, when the time had come for that knowledge to be diffused throughout all the world, they clung proudly and stubbornly to the old position. They pleased not God and were contrary to all men, in forbidding the apostles to preach salvation to the heathen. There is an echo, all through this passage, of the Words of Stephen: "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." There are sentences in heathen authors, who repaid the contempt and hatred of the Jews with haughty disdain, that have been compared with this terrible impeachment by the Apostle; but in reality, they are quite unlike. What we have here is not a burst of temper, though there is undoubtedly strong feeling in it; it is the vehement condemnation, by a man in thorough sympathy with the mind and spirit of God, of the principles on which the Jews as a nation had acted at every period of their history.

What is the relation of God to such a situation as is here described? The Jews, Paul says, did all this "to fill up their sins at all times." He does not mean that that was their intention; neither does he speak ironically; but speaking as he often does from that Divine standpoint at which all results are intended and purposed results, not outside of, but within, the counsel of God, he signifies that this Divine end was being secured by their wickedness. The cup of their iniquity was filling all the time. Every generation did something to raise the level within. The men who bade Amos begone, and eat his bread at home, raised it a little; the men who sought Hoseas life in the sanctuary raised it further; so did those who put Jeremiah in the dungeon, and those who murdered Zechariah between the temple and the altar. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, the cup was full to the brim. When those whom He left behind to be His witnesses, and to preach repentance and remission of sins to all men, beginning at Jerusalem, were expelled or put to death, it ran over. God could bear no more. Side by side with the cup of iniquity the cup of judgment had been filling also; and they overflowed together. Even when Paul wrote he could say, "The wrath is come upon them to the very end."

It is not easy to explain the precise force of these words. They seem to point definitely to some event, or some act of God, in which His wrath had been unmistakably made manifest. To suppose that the fall of Jerusalem is meant is to deny that Paul wrote the words. All that is certain is that the Apostle saw in the signs of the times some infallible token that the nations day of grace had come to an end. Perhaps some excess of a Roman procurator, now forgotten; perhaps one of those famines that desolated Judea in that unhappy age; perhaps the recent edict of Claudius, expelling all Jews from Rome, and betraying the temper of the supreme power; perhaps the coming shadow of an awful doom, obscure in outline but none the less inevitable, gave shape to the expression. The Jews had failed, in their day, to recognise the things that belonged to their peace; and now they were hid from their eyes. They had disregarded every presage of the coming storm; and at length the clouds that could not be charmed away had accumulated over their heads, and the fire of God was ready to leap out.

This striking passage embodies certain truths to which we do well to give heed. It shows us that there is such a thing as a national character. In the providential government of God a nation is not an aggregate of individuals, each one of whom stands apart from the rest; it is a corporation with a unity, life, and spirit of its own. Within that unity there may be a conflict of forces, a struggle of good with evil, of higher with lower tendencies, just as there is in the individual soul; but there will be a preponderance on one side or the other; and that side to which the balance leans will prevail more and more. In the vast spirit of the nation, as in the spirit of each man or woman, through the slow succession of generations as in the swift succession of years, character gradually assumes more fixed and definite form. There is a process of development, interrupted perhaps and retarded by such conflicts as I have referred to, but bringing out all the more decisively and irreversibly the inmost spirit of the whole. There is nothing which the proud and the weak more dread than inconsistency; there is nothing, therefore, which is so fatally certain to happen as what has happened already. The Jews resented from the first the intrusion of Gods word into their lives; they had ambitions and ideas of their own, and in its corporate action the nation was uniformly hostile to the prophets. It beat one and killed another and stoned a third; it was of a different spirit from them, and from Him who sent them; and the longer it lived, the more like itself, the more unlike God, it became. It was the climax of its sin, yet only the climax-for it had previously taken every step that led to that eminence in evil-when it slew the Lord Jesus. And when it was ripe for judgment, judgment fell upon it as a whole.

It is not easy to speak impartially about our own country and its character; yet such a character there undoubtedly is, just as there is such a unity as the British nation. Many observers tell us that the character has degenerated into a mere instinct for trade; and that it has begotten a vast unscrupulousness in dealing with the weak. Nobody will deny that there is a protesting conscience in the nation, a voice which pleads in Gods name for justice, as the prophets pled in Israel; but the question is not whether such a voice is audible, but whether in the corporate acts of the nation it is obeyed. The state ought to be a Christian state. The nation ought to be conscious of a spiritual vocation, and to be animated with the spirit of Christ. In its dealings with other powers, in its relations to savage or half civilised peoples, in its care for the weak among its own citizens, it should acknowledge the laws of justice and of mercy. We have reason to thank God that in all these matters Christian sentiment is beginning to tell. The opium trade with China, the liquor trade with the natives of Africa, the labour trade in the South Seas, the dwellings of the poor, the public-house system with its deliberate fostering of drunkenness, all these are matters in regard to which the nation was in danger of settling into permanent hostility to God, and in which there is now hope of better things. The wrath which is the due and inevitable accompaniment of such hostility, when persisted in, has not come on us to the very end; God has given us opportunity to rectify what is amiss, and to deal with all our interests in the spirit of the New Testament. Let no one be backward or indifferent when so great a work is in hand. The heritage of sin accumulates if it is not put away by well-doing; and with sin, judgment. It is for us to learn by the word of God and the examples of history that the nation and kingdom that will not serve Him shall perish.

Finally, this passage shows us the last and worst form which sin can assume, in the words "forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they should be saved." Nothing is so completely ungodly, so utterly unlike God and opposed to Him, as that spirit which grudges others the good things which it prizes for itself. When the Jewish nation set itself relentlessly to prohibit the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles-when the word was passed round the synagogues from headquarters that this renegade Paul, who was summoning the pagans to become the people of God, was to be thwarted by fraud or violence-Gods patience was exhausted. Such selfish pride was the very negation of His love; the ne plus ultra of evil. Yet nothing is more easy and natural than for men who have occupied a position of privilege to indulge this temper. An imperial nation, which boasts of its freedom, grudges such freedom to others; it seems to lose the very consciousness of being free, unless there is a subject people over which it can tyrannise. In many relations of minor consequence, political and social, we have cause to make this reflection. Do not think that what is good for you is anything else than good for your neighbour. If you are a better man because you have a comfortable home, leisure, education, interest in public affairs, a place in the church, so would he be. Above all, if the gospel of Christ is to you the pearl above all price, take care how you grudge that to any human soul. This is not an unnecessary caution. The criticism of missionary methods, which may be legitimate enough, is interrupted too often by the suggestion that such and such a race is not fit for the gospel. Nobody who knows what the gospel is will ever make such a suggestion; but we have all heard it made, and we see from this passage what it means. It is the mark of a heart which is deeply estranged from God, and ignorant of the Golden Rule which embodies both gospel and law. Let us rather be imitators of the great man who first entered into the spirit of Christ, and discovered the open secret of His life and death, -the mystery of redemption, -that the heathen should be heirs with Gods ancient people, and of the same body, and partakers of the same promises. "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

2:13 Paul gives thanks a second time (see 1:2; 3:9) because the Thessalonians accepted the message of the apostles—not just as a human philosophy, but as the very word of God (1:5; 2 Thes 2:14; 2 Cor 5:20).

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

1Th 2:13. Διὰ τοῦτο, for this cause) i.e. because you have had such teachers.—εὐχαριστοῦμεν, we give thanks) The naked and categorical sentence would be, You have received [the word of God]. Affection has rendered the language modal[8] by adding thanksgiving.—παραλαβόντες) παραλαμβάνω signifies simply receiving; δέχομαι, includes also in the signification, pleasure and inclination in receiving.[9]—οὐ λόγον ἀνθρώπων, not the word of man) This is an explanation of what he just now said, “the word of God.” Ye have received it, namely, not the word of men, etc.—ὅς, who) viz. God,[10] who thereby shows [viz. by its effectual working in you] that the word is truly the word of God, ch. 1Th 4:8-9; Act 14:3.—ἐνεργεῖται, works effectually) Gal 3:5. [It, for instance, worketh in you patient endurance, 1Th 2:14.—V. g.]

[8] See App. under the title, “Modalis Sermo.”

[9] “When ye received the word—ye welcomed it.” The distinction of the verbs is lost in Engl. Vers.—ED.

[10] But Engl. Vers. makes the antecedent of ὃς, not Θεὸς, but λόγος: which effectually worketh.—ED.

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

1Th_2:13. Paul in 1Th_2:13 passes from the earnest and self-sacrificing publication of the gospel to the earnest and self-sacrificing reception of the gospel. Erroneously Baumgarten-Crusius: Paul, having taught in what manner he has been among the Thessalonians, shows in 1Th_2:13-16 what he has given to them, namely, a divine thing.

Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο] And even in this account. Καί, being placed first, connects the more closely what follows with what precedes. Comp. 2Th_2:11.

διὰ τοῦτο] not: quoniam tam felici successu apud vos evangelium praedicavimus (Pelt, Bloomfield); for (1) from 1Th_2:1 and onwards the subject spoken of is not the success or effect, but only the character of the apostles preaching; (2) the intolerable tautology would arise, as we have preached to you the gospel with such happy success, so we thank God for the happy success of our ministry; (3) lastly, if Paul wished to indicate a reference of 1Th_2:13 to the whole preceding description, he would perhaps have written διὰ ταῦτα, though certainly διὰ τοῦτο might be justified, as 1Th_2:1-12 may be taken together as one idea. According to Schott, διὰ τοῦτο refers back to εἰς τὸ περιπατεῖν: Quum haec opera in animis vestris ad vitam divina invitatione dignam impellendis minime frustra fuerit collocata, quam vos ejusmodi vitam exhibueritis, ego vicissim cum sociis deo gratias ago assiduas, ὅτι ff. But still a tautology remains, which Schott himself appears to have felt, since he takes καὶ ἡμεῖς in sharp contrast to ὑμᾶς, 1Th_2:12; besides, the ground of this explanation gives way, inasmuch as εἰς τὸ περιπατεῖν can only denote the object, but in no way the result of the exhortations. Also de Wette refers διὰ τοῦτο to εἰς τὸ περιπατεῖν, but explains it thus: Therefore, because it was so important an object for us (so already Flatt, but who unites what is incapable of being united) to exhort you to a worthy walk. But there is in the preceding no mention of the importance of the object of the apostles exhortations. Accordingly there remains for διὰ τοῦτο only two connections of thought possible, namely, either to refer to the earnestness and zeal described in 1Th_2:11-12, with which the exhortations of the apostle were enforced. Then the thought would be: because we have so much applied ourselves to exhort you to walk worthy (Flatt), so we thank God for the blessed result of our endeavours. Or διὰ τοῦτο may be referred to the concluding words of 1Th_2:12 : τοῦ καλοῦντος ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείαν καὶ δόξαν, so that the meaning is: Because God calls you to such a glorious goal, so we thank God continually that you have understood this call of God which has come to you, and that you have obeyed it. Evidently this last reference, which is found in Zanchius, Balduin, and Olshausen, is to be preferred as the nearest and simplest. So recently also Alford and Auberlen.

καὶ ἡμεῖς] to be taken together, we also. For not only Paul and his companions, but every true Christian who hears[37] of the conduct of the Thessalonians, must be induced to thankfulness to God. Comp. Eph_1:15. Hardly correctly, Zanchius, whom Balduin follows, places καί in contrast to the Thessalonians: non solum vos propter hanc vocationem debetis agere gratias, sed etiam nos. Erroneously also de Wette; καί belongs to the whole clause: therefore also, which would require διὰ καὶ τοῦτο.

εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ Θεῷ] For although the spontaneous conduct of the readers is here spoken of, yet thanks is due to God, who has ordained this spontaneous conduct.

ὅτι παραλαβόντες λόγον κ.τ.λ.] The object of εὐχαριστοῦμεν, because that when ye received, etc.

παραλαμβάνειν] which Baumgarten-Crusius erroneously considers as equivalent to δέχεσθαι, indicates the objective receptionthe obtaining (comp. Col_2:6; Gal_1:9); δέχεσθαι, on the other hand, is the subjective receptionthe acceptance (comp. 1Th_1:6; 2Co_8:17).

ἀκοή] is used in a passive sense, that which is heard, i.e. the preaching, the message (comp. Rom_10:16; Gal_3:2; Joh_12:38). Arbitrarily Pelt; it is that to which one at once shows obedience. παρʼ ἡμῶν is to be closely connected with ἀκοῆς (Estius, Aretius, Beza, Calixtus, Koppe, Pelt, Schott, Olshausen, Alford, Hofmann, and others), and to the whole idea λόγον ἀκοῆς παρʼ ἡμῶν is added the more definite characteristic τοῦ Θεοῦ. Thus: the word of God which ye have heard of us, the word of God preached by us. We must not, with Musculus, Piscator, Er. Schmid, Turretin, Fritzsche (on 2 Cor. diss. I. p. 3), de Wette, Koch, and Auberlen, unite παρʼ ἡμῶν with παραλαβόντες; for against this is not only the order of the words, as we would expect παραλαβόντες παρʼ ἡμῶν λόγον ἀκοῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, whereas in the passage there exists no reason for the separation of the natural connection; but also chiefly the addition of ἀκοῆς would be strange, as along with παραλαβόντες παρʼ ἡμῶν it would be superfluous. It is otherwise with our interpretation, in which an important contrast exists, Paul contrasting himself as the mere publisher to the proper author of the gospel; and in which also the construction is unobjectionable (against de Wette), as ἀκούειν παρά τινος (see Joh_1:41) is used, substantives and adjectives often retaining the construction of verbs from which they are derived. See Kühner, II. pp. 217, 245.

τοῦ Θεοῦ] not the objective genitive, the word preached by us which treats of God, i.e. of His purposes of salvation (Erasmus, Vatablus, Musculus, Hunnius, Balduin, Er. Schmid, Grotius), against which the following οὐ λόγον ἀνθρώπων … ἀλλὰ λόγον Θεοῦ is decisive; but the word which proceeds from God, whose author is God Himself.

ἐδέξασθε] ye have received it, sc. the word of God preached.

οὐ λόγον κ.τ.λ.] not as the word of man. The addition of a ὡς (οὐχ ὡς λόγον ἀνθρ. ἀλλὰ … ὡς λόγον Θεοῦ), dispensable in itself (see Kühner, II. p. 226), is here the rather left out, because the apostle would not only express what the preaching of the word was in the estimation of the Thessalonians, but likewise what it was in point of fact, on which account the parenthesis καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς, according as it is in truth, is emphatically added.

The Thessalonians received λόγος Θεοῦ as the word of God, seeing they believed it, and were zealous for it.

ὅς] is not to be referred to Θεοῦ (Cornelius a Lapide, Bengel, Koppe, Flatt, Auberlen, and others), but to λόγον Θεοῦ (Syr. Ambrose, Erasmus, Estius, Balduin, Aretius, Wolf, Turretin, Benson, Fritzsche, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Koch, Hofmann); for (1) in what immediately precedes, the subject is not Θεός, but λόγος Θεοῦ. (2) Paul uses always the active ἐνεργεῖν of God (comp. 1Co_12:6; Gal_2:8; Gal_3:5; Eph_1:11; Php_2:13), and of things the middle ἐνεργεῖσθαι (comp. Gal_5:6; Eph_3:20; Col_1:29).

ἐνεργεῖται is middle (which is active), not passive (which is made active), as Estius, Hammond, Schulthess, Schott, Bloomfield, and others think.

ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν] does not mean: ex quo tempore religionem suscepistis (Koppe); for then ἐν ὑμῖν πιστεύσασιν would have to be put. Also not: quum susceperitis (Pelt), or propterea quod fidem habetis (Schott), because or in so far as, ye believe and continue believing (Olsh. Koch); for if it were a causal statement, the participle πιστεύουσιν without the addition of the article would be put. τοῖς πιστεύουσιν rather serves only for the more precise definition of ὑμῖν, thus indicating that πιστεύειν belongs to the Thessalonians.

[37] So specially Alford: We as well as πάντες οἱ πιστεύοντες ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ, 1Th_1:7.

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 2:13-16 . Further thanksgiving for their endurance of trial .

1Th 2:13 . “And for this we also render thanks, viz. , that;” the καί , by a loose but not unusual ( cf. 1Th 3:5 ; Rom 3:7 ; Rom 5:3 , etc.) construction, goes not with the pronoun but with the verb, or simply emphasises the former ( e.g. , Soph., Oed. Col. , 53, 520, etc.). τοῦ θεοῦ comes in so awkwardly that one is tempted to regard it, with Baljon and some other Dutch critics, as a scribal gloss.

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

§ 4. 1Th 2:13-16. Fellowship in Persecution with the Judæan Churches

The rich fruits of the Gospel in the Thessalonian Church, for which the writers thank God (§ 2), led them to dwell, in the tone of self-defence, on their own signal and devoted work (§ 3), which had this happy result. (a) The recital brings them back, in renewed thanksgiving, to the thought of the full acceptance on the readers’ part of the message of God (1Th 2:13, resuming 1Th 1:2-10). (b) In this acceptance, the Epistle goes on to say, the Thessalonian believers identify themselves with the mother Churches in Judœa (1Th 2:14 a). (c) This fact is evidenced by the persecution undergone at the hands of their fellow-countrymen (1Th 2:14 b). (d) At this point the Letter breaks out into a stern denunciation of the Jews, who have been persecutors of God’s servants all along (1Th 2:15), (e) and by obstructing the salvation of the Gentiles have made themselves the objects of a settled wrath, that is bringing upon them a conclusive judgement (1Th 2:16).

The passionate note of 1Th 2:15-16 is singular in St Paul’s Letters; nowhere else does he assail the Jewish nation in this way (see the Introd. pp. xviii. f.). In Rom 9:1-5 the Apostle writes of his “kindred” in quite another mood. On this ground, and since 1Th 2:15-16 form a parenthesis and might be removed without injury to the context, Schmiedel, with a few other critics, regards the passage as an interpolation due to some anti-Jewish editor, dating from a time subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem, to which the supposes 1Th 2:16 c to refer as a fait accompli (see note below); A. Ritschl would excise the last clause only. It must be borne in mind, however, that St Paul was pursued from the beginning of his work in Thessalonica up to the time of writing with peculiar virulence by the Jews (Acts 17, 18), that the troubles of the Thessalonian Christians had their origin in Jewish envy and intrigue (Act 17:5), and that the slanderous insinuations brought against the missionaries at the present time in Thessalonica almost certainly proceeded from the same quarter; there was cause enough for severe resentment and condemnation. Moreover, Silvanus, who had a share in the Epistle (see note on 1Th 1:1), was a Judæan Christian; some recent news of persecution suffered by his brethren at home may have added fuel to the flame of righteous anger and awakened his prophetic spirit (Act 15:32).

13. αληθως εστιν, אaB cop (א* omits αληθως, by homœoteleuton after καθως): all other codd. reverse the order; cf. Joh 4:42; Joh 6:14; Joh 7:40.

13. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ ἀδιαλείπτως. And on this account we also give thanks to God unceasingly. At the beginning of the Epistle the Apostles gave thanks to God in remembrance of the worth of their readers; they find a supplementary ground of thanksgiving in the fact that these had “received as God’s word” “the word of hearing” coming from themselves: hence the emphatic ἡμεῖς καὶ εὐχαριστοῦμεν instead of the bare εὐχαριστοῦμεν of 1Th 1:1, and the peculiar phrase λόγον ἀκοῆς παρʼ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. Διὰ τοῦτο gathers its meaning from the previous paragraph: all the toil and sacrifice of the missionaries contributed to their satisfaction over the result accomplished; their consuming devotion to the Thessalonians made the thanksgiving a thoroughly personal matter: see 1Th 2:19 f., 1Th 3:8 f.

Accordingly the clause ὅτι παραλαβόντες λόγον ἀκοῆς παρʼ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, κ.τ.λ., does not supply the correlative to διὰ τοῦτο (as if St Paul meant “on this account, viz. that,” &c.); but it gives the subject-matter of εὐχαριστοῦμεν (cf. 2Th 1:3; 2Th 2:13; 1Co 1:4 f., &c.): that (or in that) when you received the word of hearing from us—God’s word—you accepted (in it) … a word of God. Παραλαβόντες, denoting the objective fact of receiving—by way of information, tradition, or the like (cf. 1Th 4:1; 2Th 3:6; 1Co 15:1; Gal 1:9, &c.)—leads up to ἐδέξασθε, which indicates subjective acceptance (see 1Th 1:6, and note; 2Th 2:10; 1Co 2:14), the inner apprehension and appreciation of the message for what it truly is. The λόγος ἀκοῆς is the “word” as it came to the παραλαβόντες (cf. Php 4:9, παρελάβετε κ. ἠκούσατε), and from the λαλοῦντες (1Th 2:2; 1Th 2:4) and κηρύσσοντες (1Th 2:9),—the word of God sounding in the ears of the Thessalonians from the writers’ lips; the phrase occurs again in Heb 4:2, “where, as here, it stands in contrast to the faithful reception of the Gospel” (Lightfoot). For ἀκοῆς (ἀκούω) παρά, implying a “word” lodged with the speakers (1Th 2:3), cf. 2Ti 1:13; 2Ti 2:2; Act 10:22, &c.; Joh 15:15. Others connect παρʼ ἡμῶν with παραλαβόντες. In Rom 10:17 it is said, ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς, where πίστις corresponds to δέχεσθαι in this passage; an ἀκοὴ ἀπιστίας is described in that context. Ἀκοῆς should probably be read, like its counterpart in Rom 10:8—(τὸ ῥῆμα) τῆς πίστεως—as a lax genitive of the possessor, “the word which belongs to (or is for) hearing”; as ἀκοή is διὰ ῥήματος (Rom 10:17), so λόγος is εἰς ἀκοήν. For ἀκοή, see further Gal 3:2; Joh 12:38; Isa 53:1 (LXX). Τοῦ θεοῦ is genitive of subject defining the noun-phrase λόγον ἀκοῆς and correcting παρʼ ἡμῶν,—“God’s word given you to hear from us”; cf. Col 1:6 b, 7; 2Co 3:5 f., 1Th 5:19 f.; Eph 3:7 f.; Act 15:7: “the Apostle betrays a nervous apprehension that he may be unconsciously making claims for himself; the awkwardness of the position of the words τοῦ θεοῦ is the measure of the emphasis of his disclaimer” (Lightfoot).

ἐδέξασθε οὐ λόγον ἀνθρώπων ἀλλά, καθὼς ἀληθῶς ἐστίν, λόγον θεοῦ: you accepted no word of men, but, as it truly is, God’s word. No need to understand ὡς before λόγον in either instance: the Thessalonians in point of fact did not accept a human but a Divine word; they were listening to Another behind Paul and Silas. Of the kind of hearing negatived St Paul’s Athenian audience gave an example (Act 17:18-21). With οὐ λόγον ἀνθρ. κ.τ.λ. cf. 1Co 3:5-9, οὔτε ὁ φυτεύων ἐστίν τι κ.τ.λ.; also 1Co 1:12-17; 1Co 1:29-31. The phrase ἀληθῶς ἐστίν is hap. leg. in St Paul; rather frequent in St John.

ὃς καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, which (word) is also made operative (or is working effectually) in you that believe. The active of ἐνεργέω has in St Paul a personal subject; the passive (or middle) voice is used of personal powers, influences, as in 2Th 2:7; Gal 5:6, &c. This relative clause carries the readers from past to present time: “God’s word,” which they had accepted as such at the mouth of His Apostles, from that time “also works on in” their hearts and lives. Ἐνεργεῖται recalls the ἔργον πίστεως (1Th 1:1; see note),—the primary matter of thanks to God. This verb (= ἐνεργής εἰμι) signifies effective, fructifying operation (cf. Rom 7:5; Php 2:13); see J. A. Robinson on Ephesians, pp. 241 ff., who gives reason for rendering ἐνεργέομαι as passive in the N.T. The “word is made to work in” those “that believe,” since faith is the operative principle of the new life,—πίστις … ἐνεργουμένη (Gal 5:6; cf. Jas 2:22; Heb 4:2). A second time ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν serves to designate the Christian readers (1Th 2:10; see note); in 1Th 1:7 πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν denoted Christians at large.

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.

13.] διὰ τοῦτο is best and most simply referred, with Lünem., to the fact announced in the preceding words—viz. that God καλεῖ ὑμᾶς εἰς, &c. Seeing that He is thus calling you, your thorough reception of His word is to us a cause of thanksgiving to Him. That διὰ τοῦτο is made thus ‘to refer to a mere appended clause’ (Ellic.) is no objection: see above on ver. 9. It is surely not possible with Jowett, to refer διὰ τοῦτο ‘to the verses both before and after.’

καὶ ἡμεῖς] We also, i.e. as well as πἀντες οἱ πιστεύοντες ἐν τῇ Μακεδ. κ. ἐν τῇ Ἀχ., ch. 1:7.

παραλαβόντες … ἐδέξασθε] The former verb denotes only the hearing, as objective matter of fact: the latter, the receiving into their minds as subjective matter of belief: see reff.

ἀκοῆς παρʼ ἡμῶν is perhaps to be taken together—of hearing (genitive of apposition) from us—i.e. ‘which you heard from us.’ So Est., Pelt, Olsh., Lünem., all. Or παραλ. παρʼ ἡμῶν may be taken together, as De W., strongly objecting to the construction ἀκοῆς παρʼ ἡμῶν, and understanding by λόγος ἀκοῆς the preached word (Wort der Künde). Lünem. answers,—that the construction ἀκοῆς παρʼ ἡμῶν is unobjectionable, as ἀκούειν παρά τινος occurs Joh 1:41, al., and substantives and adjectives often retain in construction the force of the verbs from which they are derived (Kühner, ii. 217, cites from Plato, Alcib. ii. p. 141, οἶμαι δὲ οὐκ ἀνήκοον εἶναι ἔνιά γε χθιζά τε καὶ πρώϊζα γεγενημένα):—that De W.’s rendering is objectionable, because thus no reason is given for separating παρʼ ἡμῶν from παραλ., and because ἀκοῆς is superfluous and vapid if the same is already expressed by παραλαβ. παρʼ ἡμῶν. On the other rendering, which is adopted and defended also by Ellicott, there is a significant contrast, St. Paul distinguishing himself and his companions, as mere publishers, from God, the great Source of the Gospel.

τ. θεοῦ] of (i.e. ‘belonging to,’ ‘coming from,’ not ‘speaking of,’ as Grot., al., see below) God (i.e. which is God’s. But we must not supply ‘as,’ with Jowett: no subjective view of theirs being implied in these words, but simply the objective fact of their reception of the word from Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus).

ἐδέξ.] See above on παραλ. Ye received it (being) not (no ‘as’ must be inserted: he is not speaking of the Thessalonians’ estimate of the word, but (see above) of the fact of their receiving it as it really was) the word of men (having man for its author), but as it is in reality, the word of God, which (Bengel, al., take ὅς as referring to θεός: but the Apostle uses always the active ἐνεργεῖν of God, cf. 1Co 12:6: Gal 2:8; Gal 3:5: Eph 1:11: Php 2:13 al.,—and (reff.) the middle (not passive) of things) is also (besides being merely heard) active in you that believe.

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

13. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς κτλ. “And for this reason we too as well as you give thanks.” διὰ τοῦτ refers, as the resumptive ὅτ shows, not to the entire contents of vv. 1-12 but to the salient principle enounced in vv. 1-4, namely, that the gospel is not human, as the Jews alleged, but divine. The και in καὶ ἡμεῖ indicates a reciprocal relation between writers and readers. As the Thessalonians, in their letter to Paul, thanked God that they welcomed the gospel as a word from God, so now do the missionaries reciprocate that thanksgiving.

διὰ τοῦτ like διο is frequent in Paul, but καὶ διὰ τοῦτ (Mar 6:14 = Mat 14:2; Luk 14:20, Heb 9:15, Joh 5:16; Barn. 8:7 Ign. Mag. 9:2 Hermas, Sim. VII, 2, IX, 19:1 (καὶ διὰ τοῦτο και as here)) occurs elsewhere in Paul only II 2:11; hence D here and II 2:11 omits και It is probable that in Paul this consecutive and subordinating διὰ τοῦτ has always some reference to the preceding even when the primary reference, often general, is supplemented by a secondary, often specific, reference introduced by ὅτ as here and often in Jn. (cf. Gen 11:9, Gen 21:31, etc.; Diogn. 2:6 Hermas Vis. III, 6:1), by ἵν (2Co 13:10, Phm 1:15), or by some other construction (II 2:11, 1Co 11:10, Heb 9:15). On διὰ τοῦτο και cf. 3:5, Rom 13:6, Luk 11:49, Mat 24:44, Joh 12:18; on ὅτ = “because,” Rom 1:8.—και before ἡμεῖ, if it retains its classic force, is to be construed closely with ἡμεῖ Its precise significance here is somewhat uncertain. In a similar passage (Col 1:9), Lft. observes that “και denotes the response of the apostle’s personal feeling to the favourable character of the news” (so here Mill.). Wohl. thinks that, Paul tacitly refutes the insinuation that he is not thankful to God. More plausible here (as in Col 1:9, Eph 1:15) is the conjecture of Rendel Harris (op. cit.; cf. Bacon, Introd. 73 and McGiffert, EB 5038) that και presupposes a letter from the Thess. to Paul (cf. 4:9, 13, 5:1) in which they thanked God as Paul now thanks him. Dob. however, following the lead of Lietzmann (ad Rom 3:7), feels that και is not to be joined closely with ἡμεῖ, but serves to emphasise the εὐχαριστοῦμε with reference to εὐχαριστοῦμε in 1:2. In support of this usage, Dob. refers to καὶ λαλοῦμε in 1Co 2:13, which goes back to the λαλοῦμε in 2:6.

παραλαβόντε … ἐδέξασθ. The distinction between the external reception (παραλαμβάνει) and the welcome (δέχεσθα) given to the word, a welcome involving a favourable estimate of its worth, was early recognised (cf. Ephr.). That the diostinction is purposed, that Paul is tacitly answering the insinuation of the Jews that the word preached was not of divine but of human origin (vv. 1-4) is suggested by the striking position of τοῦ θεου (which leads P to put παρʼ ἡμῶ before λόγον ἀκοῆς and induces Schmiedel to consider τοῦ θεου a gloss) and by the emphasis on the fact that this word, heard, received, and welcomed, also operates in the inner lives of believers.

λόγον ἀχοῆ = λόγον ὃν ἠκούσατ; cf. Sir. 42:1 λόγον ἀκοῆς = דבר תשמע (Smend). Grot. notes Heb 4:2 ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀκοῆ The gen. is appositive.—Since παρα with gen. (rare in Paul) is used, apart from Rom 11:27 (Lxx), with verbs implying (II 3:8) or stating the idea of receiving (e. g. παραλαμβάνει 4:1, II 3:6, Gal 1:12; δέχεσθχ Php 4:18; κομίζεσθα Eph 6:8), it is more natural to take παρʼ ἡμῶ with παραλαμβάνει than with ἀκοῆ, although, as Beza remarks, the sense is the same in either construction. On παραλαμβάνειν εὐαγγέλιο, cf. 1Co 15:1, Gal 1:9.

οὐ λόγον ἀνθρώπων κτλ. “Not as a word of men but, as it really is, as a word of God.” Since there is a distinction between παραλαμβάνει and δέχεσθα, the latter implying an estimate of worth, λόγον ἀνθρώπω and λόγον θεου are to be taken predicatively. The precise point appears to be not that the word is true, for this is first stated in καθὼς ἀληθῶς ἐστί, not that the hearers welcomed the word as if it were true, for there is no ὡ (contrast Gal 4:14), but that they welcomed the word as a word of God (cf. Ephr.). ὃς καὶ ἐνεργεῖτα Since λόγο receives the emphasis, ὅ refers not to θεου but to λόγο The και indicates not only that the word is heard (ἀκοῆ), received (παραλαβόντε), and welcomed (ἐδέξασθ), but also that it is an active power (Rom 1:16) operating constantly (pres. tense) in (Col 1:29) the hearts of believers. The word is living, for the power of God is in the believers (1:1 ἐν θεῷ) as it is in the missionaries (2:2 ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶ).

Eighteen of the twenty-one cases of ἐνεργεῖ in the N. T. occur in Paul. In the active, it is used of superhuman operations, usually divine but once (Eph 2:2) demonic. ἐνεργεῖσθα (II 2:7, 2Co 4:12, Col 1:29, Eph 3:20; cf. Rom 7:5, 2Co 1:6, Gal 5:6) may be passive “to remind us that the operation is not self-originated” (Robinson, Ephesians, 247) or middle, without such a reminder (Mayor on Jas 5:16). It happens that ὑπο is never expressed. “In actual meaning ἐνεργεῖ and ἐνεργεῖσθα come nearly to the same thing” (Robinson, l.c.). Grot. remarks: ἐνεργεῖσθα sono Passivum sensu activum. See further Robinson (op. cit. 241-247).—The Old Latins and some comm. (Ephr., Th. Mops., Piscator, Bengel, Auberlen refer ὅ to θεό, an interpretation which is contextually improbable and which is precluded if ἐνεργεῖτα is passive.

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

Also - we. Also may point to an expression of thanksgiving in a letter from the Thessalonians to Paul. You say "we give thanks to God." We also give thanks. Comp. ch. 1Th 1:2.

When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us [παραλαβοντες λογον ακοης παρ ημων του θεου] . Rend. when ye received the word of the message (which came) from us, even the word of God. The words the word of the message from us form one conception, governed by paralabontev having received or when ye received; therefore from us is not to be taken as depending on having received, as Rev. when ye received from us the word, etc. Of God (supply the word) is added in order to correct any possible false impression made by from us. Akoh in N. T. means the sense of hearing, as Mt 13:14; 1Co 12:17; 2Pe 2:8 : or the organ of hearing = ear, as Mr 7:35; Luk 7:1 : or a thing heard, a report, rumor, as Joh 12:38; Rom 10:16. The phrase logov ajkohv or thv ajkohv the word of hearing, or word of the message, signifies the word which is heard. Comp. Heb 4:2. See on the fame, Luk 4:37.

Effectually worketh [ενεργειται] . Referring to the word, not to God. Comp. Phi 2:13. In the middle voice as here, used only by Paul and James, and only of things. See Eph 3:20; Col 1:29; Jas 5:16, and footnote on Col 1:29. The noun ejnergeia, P o. It means power in exercise, and is used only of superhuman power.

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

Having approved his ministry, he commendeth again (to that end and purpose that I spake of) the cheerfulness of the Thessalonians, which was answerable to his diligence in preaching, and their manly patience.

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

For this cause--Seeing ye have had such teachers (Th1 2:10-12) [BENGEL], "we also (as well as 'all that believe' in Macedonia and Achaia) thank God without ceasing ('always' . . . 'in our prayers,' Th1 1:2), that when ye received the word of God which ye heard from us (literally, 'God's word of hearing from us,' Rom 10:16-17), ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, even as it is truly, the word of God." ALFORD omits the "as" of English Version. But the "as" is required by the clause, "even as it is truly." "Ye accepted it, not (as) the word of men (which it might have been supposed to be), but (as) the word of God, even as it really is." The Greek for the first "received," implies simply the hearing of it; the Greek of the second is "accepted," or "welcomed" it. The proper object of faith, it hence appears, is the word of God, at first oral, then for security against error, written (Joh 20:30-31; Rom 15:4; Gal 4:30). Also, that faith is the work of divine grace, is implied by Paul's thanksgiving.

effectually worketh also in you that believe--"Also," besides your accepting it with your hearts, it evidences itself in your lives. It shows its energy in its practical effects on you; for instance, working in you patient endurance in trial (Th1 2:14; compare Gal 3:5; Gal 5:6).

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 13. Ye received the word of God] Ye received the doctrine of God, not as any thing fabricated by man, but as coming immediately from God himself, we being only his messengers to declare what he had previously revealed to us. And ye have had the fullest proof that ye have not believed in vain; for that doctrine, under the power and influence of the Holy Ghost, has worked most powerfully in you, filling you with light, life, and holiness.

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

13 Wherefore we give thanks. Having spoken of his ministry, he returns again to address the Thessalonians, that he may always commend that mutual harmony of which he has previously made mention. He says, therefore, that he gives thanks to God, because they had embraced the word of God which they heard from his mouth, as the word of God, as it truly was. Now, by these expressions he means, that it has been received by them reverently, and with the obedience with which it ought. For so soon as this persuasion has gained a footing, it is impossible but that a feeling of obligation to obey takes possession of our minds. For who would not shudder at the thought of resisting God? Who would not regard contempt of God with detestation? The circumstance, therefore, that the word of God is regarded by many with such contempt, that it is scarcely held in any estimation — that many are not at all actuated by fear, arises from this, that they do not consider that they have to do with God.

Hence we learn from this passage what credit ought to be given to the gospel — such as does not depend on the authority of men, but, resting on the sure and ascertained truth of God, raises itself above the world; and, in fine, is as far above mere opinion, as heaven is above earth: and, secondly, such as produces of itself reverence, fear, and obedience, inasmuch as men, touched with a feeling of Divine majesty, will never allow themselves to sport with it. Teachers are, in their turn, admonished to beware of bringing forward anything but the pure word of God, for if this was not allowable for Paul, it will not be so for any one in the present day. He proves, however, from the effect produced, that it was the word of God that he had delivered, inasmuch as it had produced that fruit of heavenly doctrine which the Prophets celebrate, (Isaiah 55:11,13; Jeremiah 23:29) in renewing their life, for the doctrine of men could accomplish no such thing. The relative pronoun may be taken as referring either to God or to his word, but whichever way you choose, the meaning will come all to one, for as the Thessalonians felt in themselves a Divine energy, which proceeded from faith, they might rest assured that what they had heard was not a mere sound of the human voice vanishing into air, but the living and efficacious doctrine of God.

As to the expression, the word of the preaching of God, it means simply, as I have rendered it, the word of God preached by man. For Paul meant to state expressly that they had not looked upon the doctrine as contemptible, although it had proceeded from the mouth of a mortal man, inasmuch as they recognized God as the author of it. He accordingly praises the Thessalonians, because they did not rest in mere regard for the minister. but lifted up their eyes to God, that they might receive his word. Accordingly, I have not hesitated to insert the particle ut, (that,) which served to make the meaning more clear. There is a mistake on the part of Erasmus in rendering it, “the word of the hearing of God,” as if Paul meant that God had been manifested. He afterwards changed it thus, “the word by which you learned God,” for he did not advert to the Hebrew idiom.

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.

(13) The first part of this chapter draws attention to the Apostles’ part in the conversion of Thessalonica. From this point (roughly speaking) to the end of 1 Thessalonians 3, the action of the converts is the chief subject.

This verse differs from the original in several particulars of more or less importance. Literally translated, it would run thus: And for this cause we too thank God unceasingly, that, on receiving a word of hearing at our lips of God, ye welcomed, not a word of men, but (as it is in truth) a word of God, which also, etc.

For this cause—viz., because of the labours we went through to teach you, which we are thankful were not wasted. We too, as well as you. The two words rendered “received” are not the same; the first meaning merely an outward reception, the second the welcome given. The words “it” and “as” (as the italics show) do not stand in the Greek. St. Paul is not expressing so much his gratitude for the manner in which the word was greeted, as for the essential character of what was greeted.

The word of God which ye heard of us.—The same phrase as in Heb_4:2, which is there rendered, “the word preached.” “The word might have been, so far as you knew, a mere word spoken by us—ordinary men—but it was in reality a word of God, and so you found when you embraced it.”

You that believe.—It could have no effect without this condition. (See Heb_4:2.)

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

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,.... As for their election of God, Th1 1:4 so for their effectual calling by his grace, to his kingdom and glory, just now mentioned, as well as for their reception of the word of God as such, hereafter expressed; since their having it and receiving it, and the effectual operation of it in them, were owing to the goodness and grace of God, and therefore required a constant sense of the favour, and thankfulness, without ceasing, for it. The apostle having at large considered the manner of his and his fellow ministers' entrance among them without guile, flattery, covetousness, or any sinister view, and with all simplicity, integrity, labour, diligence, affection, and tenderness, returns to observe the reception their ministry met with, and the influence and effect it had upon them:

because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us; or "the word of hearing of God", as the Vulgate Latin version from the Greek text literally renders it; that is, the Gospel which was preached by the apostles, and was heard and received by these Thessalonians: and it is called the word of God, because God is the author of it; it comes from him, and is ministered by his authority, and is a part of that written word which is given by his inspiration; and because his grace in choosing, redeeming, justifying, pardoning, adopting, regenerating, and giving eternal life to men, and the declaration of his will concerning saving them by his Son Jesus Christ, are the subject matter of it; and because he owns and blesses it, for the conversion and comfort of his people: and it may be called the word of hearing of God, because coming from him, and containing his will, and preached by his order, and succeeded by his power, hearing comes by it; it is divinely breathed by him; he speaks in it by his ministers, and he is heard of in it by his people; as he was by these believers, who heard his word both externally and internally; and received it into their understandings, so as to know it spiritually and experimentally; into their minds, not merely notionally, and so as to assent to the truth of it, and give credit to it, but so as to believe in Christ revealed in it; and into their affections, in the love of it, and with joy in the Holy Ghost; they received it gladly, and with meekness and readiness, so that it became the ingrafted word, and brought forth fruit in them: the manner in which they received it follows,

ye received it not as the word of men: which is often fallacious and deceitful, at least dubious and uncertain, and not to be depended on; nor did they receive it as the words of wise men are received, and because it was clothed with the wisdom, eloquence, and oratory of men, for it was destitute of these; nor upon the credit and authority of men, no, not of the apostles themselves:

but as it is in truth the word of God: it appearing to be agreeably to the perfections of his nature, and to the Scriptures of truth, and it bearing his impress and divine authority, they received it with much assurance and certainty, as infallible truth; and which was inviolably to be adhered to, without any alteration, without adding to it or taking from it; and to be had and retained in the greatest esteem and reverence, and never to be departed from: and that they received it in this manner, appears from its operation in them,

which effectually worketh also in you that believe: the Vulgate Latin version reads, "who worketh"; referring it to God, as indeed it may be referred to him, as well as to his word; but the sense is much the same, for God works by and with his word, and his word only effectually works when it comes in power; or is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe; and when it does come with a divine commission and power, it effectually works to the quickening of dead sinners, the enlightening of dark minds, the unstopping of deaf ears, the softening of hard hearts, producing faith which works by love, encouraging hope, delivering from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law, and comforting and establishing the hearts of the saints under all afflictions, trials, and persecutions.

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

13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

Ver. 13. Not as the word of men] Whom yet he maketh use of to cast down Satan’s strongholds, as he made use of little David against Goliath, and of the frogs and flies against Pharaoh, and of the ram’s horns against Jericho. This treasure, these pearls, he giveth us in vile oyster shells, 2Co 4:7.

As the word of God] With reverence and diligence, with all good affection and attention. When Samuel knew it was God that called him (and not Eli) he had no more mind to sleep. "We are all here present before God," saith Cornelius, Act 10:33. And "God is in you of a truth," saith the Corinthian convert, 1Co 14:25.

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.

For this cause also thank we God - In addition to the reasons for thankfulness already suggested, the apostle here refers to the fact that they received the truth, when it was preached, in such a way as to show that they fully believed it to be the word of God.

Not as the word of men - Not of human origin, but as a divine revelation. You were not led to embrace it by human reasoning, or the mere arts of persuasion, or from personal respect for others, but by your conviction that it was a revelation from God. It is only when the gospel is embraced in this way that religion will show itself sufficient to abide the fiery trials to which Christians may be exposed. He who is convinced by mere human reasoning may have his faith shaken by opposite artful reasoning; he who is won by the mere arts of popular eloquence will have no faith which will be proof against similar arts in the cause of error; he who embraces religion from mere respect for a pastor, parent, or friend, or because others do, may abandon it when the popular current shall set in a different direction, or when his friends shall embrace different views; but he who embraces religion as the truth of God, and from the love of the truth, will have a faith, like that of the Thessalonians, which will abide every trial.

Which effectually worketh also in you that believe - The word rendered “which” here - ὅς hos - may be referred either to “truth” or to “God.” The grammatical construction will admit of either, but it is not material which is adopted. Either of them expresses a sense undeniably true, and of great importance. The meaning is, that the truth was made efficacious in the minds of all who became true Christians. It induced them to abandon their sins, to devote themselves to God, to lead pure and holy lives, and enabled them to abide the trials and temptations of life; compare notes on Phi 2:12-13; Heb 13:21. The particular illustration here is, that when they embraced the gospel it had such an efficacy on their hearts as to prepare them to meet all the terrors of bitter persecution without shrinking.

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

The word [4] of the hearing of God, which can only signify the word of God you heard from us. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Verbum auditus Dei, Greek: logon akoes.

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).

For this cause. Not because God has called you to his kingdom and glory, but, referring to what follows, because of your reception of" the gospel. We thank God. Although the reception of the gospel was in one sense the free and voluntary act on the part of the Thessalonians; yet in another sense it was the act of God who ordained them to accept the gospel; their belief was an operation of God in them.

Without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us; literally, because when ye receive, d from us the Word of hearing, which is of God. The gospel is called "the Word of hearing," because it came by hearing; hence "the Word heard," or "the Word of the message" (R.V). It is further designated "of God the Word whose Author is God. Ye received it not as the word of men as if it were of human originbut as it is in truth, the Word of God of Divine originwhich effectually worketh. The pronoun may refer to God, "who effectually worketh," or better to the Word of God, as the principal subject of the sentence. Also in you that believe. The gospel was powerful as respects the preachers, and effectual as respects the hearers.

The gospel a Divine revelation.

1. Negatively. The gospel is not the word of man; not the result of man"s wisdom; does not spring from a development of human thought; its doctrines are not within the sphere of the human intellect.

2. Positively. The gospel is the Word of God. This seen from its origin, its contents, and its efficacy. The Thessalonian reception of the truth.

The apostle had spoken of his own part in the work of grace; he now speaks of the manner in which his converts accepted the truth. "Ye are my witnesses; now I am yours." His immediate ground of thankfulness was that they had received, not man"s word, but God"s, and that the Word was so thoroughly efficacious. "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received not the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God.

I THEY APPRECIATED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORD OF MEN AND THE WORD OF GOD.

1. They first heard it no doubt with interest and docility of spirit. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Word was not read but heard in the preaching of the apostles; it was no discovery of their own mind.

2. They received it as an external fact made known to them by man.

3. They welcomed it with the inner acceptance of faith. It was "mixed with faith in them that heard it". (Heb_4:2) It was "the joy and the rejoicing of their heart". (Jer_15:16)

1. Their glad acceptance of it was conditioned upon its Divine origin. It was not man"s word, representing a new speculation in philosophy or ethics; it was "the Word of God". (Rom_10:14) It was therefore

1. an infallible Word;

2. bearing the impress of Divine authority;

3. and therefore to be received with reverence and love.

II THEY MANIFESTED THE POWER OF THE TRUTH IN THEIR LIVES. "Which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

1. This effectual operation is conditioned upon their faith. "The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard. (Heb_4:2) The gospel is only to the believer "the power of God to salvation". (Rom_1:16)

2. Its power was manifest in quickening, enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting under all afflictions and persecutions. T.C.

Vers. 13-16.

The effects of the gospel.

I ITS RECEPTION BY THE THESSALONIANS.

1. They believed that it came from God. Paul and Silas and Timotheus brought the message; the Thessalonians recognized it as the message of God. They felt that it came from him.

(1) Their words were such as never man untaught of God could speak. The gospel was utterly unlike anything that had been heard or read before. It stood alone, unique, separate from all other histories. No human imagination could have pictured it; no human genius could have thought it out. It must be of God; it could have no other source. It bore within itself the evidence of its inspiration, of its Divine origin. And

(2) they felt its energy within their hearts. It did not lie dormant there; it was living and powerful It wrought within them with a mighty working, drawing them by a strange constraining power away from their old self-pleasing lives into the new life of faith and love and self-denial. That living force showed that it was the Word of God. No mere human words could so stir the heart. The preaching of the cross might be a stumbling-block to the Jews, it might seem foolishness to the Greeks; but to those who had the precious gift of faith, it was "the power of God and the wisdom of God.

2. They showed their faith by their works. The infant European Churches imitated the oldest Churches, those of Judaea. All alike belonged to God; all were in Christ Jesus, living branches in the true Vine. The new converts sought to live like the first Christians. "Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." They imitated them in active holiness, and they imitated them in patient endurance.

II THE OPPOSITION OF THE WORLD.

1. The Gentile opposition. It first appeared in Macedonia. In Philippi the evangelists were for the first time brought before Gentile magistrates. The politarchs of Thessalonica had more sense of justice than the so-called praetors of Philippi. They contented themselves with taking security from the Christians who were brought before them. But the converts were exposed to great persecution in both places from the first. In his letters to both Churches, St. Paul again and again mentions their sufferings. In writing to the Corinthians he speaks of the "great trial of affliction" which beset the Macedonian Christians. The Thessalonians had to suffer much at the hands of their own countrymen. But they had been taught that those who would live a godly life must suffer persecution, and so they thought it

2. not strange. It had been so from the beginning of Christianity. They looked to the example of the earliest Churches.

3. The Jewish opposition. The Jews had slain the prophets; they had slain the Lord Jesus; they had chased the apostle from city to city. They were St. Paul"s own countrymen. He loved them dearly. He could find no words strong enough to express his intense longing for their salvation. (see Rom_9:1-3) But they were constantly thwarting his work that work of saving souls on which his whole heart was set. They were doing so now at Corinth, opposing themselves and blaspheming. (Act_18:6) St. Paul could not restrain his feelings of holy indignation. They call themselves (he says) the peculiar people of God; but they please him not. He willeth that all men should be saved, and they are contrary to all men. In that hatred of the human race which heathen writers attribute to them, they tried to hinder the apostle from preaching to the Gentiles. Nothing angered them more than the proclamation of a free salvation offered to Jew and Gentile alike. (see Act_22:21, Act_22:22) This wicked jealousy filled up the measure of their sins. Their sin was its own punishment. That hardened heart was the beginning of the judgment that was coming.

Learn:

1. To reverence the Gospel as the Word of God.

2. To look for its inner working in the heart.

3. To imitate the saints of God in patient endurance. B.C.C. Vers. 13-16.

Response of the Thessalonians to the proclamation of the gospel by Paul and his companions.

I THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF THE WORD. "And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when ye received from us the word of the message, even the Word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also worketh in you that believe." With this commences the second of the divisions indicated at the close of the first chapter. Our attention is turned away from the preachers to the hearers. It is confusing to join "also" to "we," and to suppose the meaning to be, with Lunemann, "We as well as every true Christian who hears of your conduct," or, with Ellicott, "We as well as you who have so much to be thankful for." It makes an easier transition to join "also" to "thank," making the subject of thanksgiving something additional to the earnestness of the preachers. We may translate freely, Having this as an antecedent, we have this in addition as a consequent for which to thank God." Here, then, is a falling back into the thankful strain with which the Epistle commenced. The very word translated "without ceasing" is caught up. Having given out their strength in preaching, they had unceasing cause of thanksgiving to God in the result. In setting forth the result, the word is described from the point of view of the Thessalonians in relation to the preachers. The nearest translation is "the from-us-heard-word." This they received in the outward ordinance of preaching. Having thus received it, they next accepted it or received it into their inmost being. They gave this inner reception to it, as being, in their estimation, not the word of man. It was indeed delivered by men, It was a word of human salvation. In its very humanness it was fitted to reach men. But their estimation of the word rose above it as a mere human word to what it really was (as attested here), the Word of God. It was a Word given under Divine direction. It was a Word that came from the heart of God. It was a Word of the overflowing of Divine love. It was a Word, moreover, that was accompanied with the Divine efficacy. In harmony with its being the Divine Word, it is described as working in them that believe. Faith is the organ for our reception of the Word. We may receive the Divine Word in the outward ordinance of preaching, but if there is not this organ of inner reception it must remain inoperative. On the other hand, if there is faith, and in proportion as there is faith, does the mighty power of the word pass into us, even up to the full extent of our capacity and need. It is, therefore, our duty to see that we present no obstacle of unbelief to the efficacy of the Word in us. "That the Word may become effectual to salvation we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.

II THE ACCEPTED WORD WROUGHT IN THEM TO GIVE THEM CHRISTIAN HEROISM. "For ye, brethren, became imitators of the Churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews." There were, to appearance, other Churches of God in Judaea. It was, therefore, necessary to distinguish Christian Churches in Judaea. It is not to be understood that the Thessalonian Christians were designedly imitators of the Judaean Churches. In result they were imitators. In similar circumstances they exhibited a similar spirit. Judaea was notably the quarter where Christian heroism was most required. The Jews there were filled with deepest rancor against Christ. By their numbers they were more to be considered by the Roman power, and were able to go to greater lengths against the Christians. It could be said of the Thessalonian Christians that they were not behind the Judaean Churches in Christian heroism. They suffered the same things of their own countrymen. We are, therefore, to understand that they were subjected to severe persecution in Thessalonica. We know that the Jews had to do with the persecution as instigators, but, as they had little in their power without the action of the Gentile authorities, their own countrymen are referred to as those at whose hands the Thessalonians suffered. A position was held for Christ at Thessalonica as in Judaea. And, in recording this to the praise of the Thessalonians, they warm toward them and address them as brethren.

III FOR THEIR ENCOURAGEMENT IN HEROISM THE JEWS ARE PRESENTED IN THEIR TRUE CHARACTER.

1. Their past conduct.

(1) Worst manifestation. "Who both killed the Lord Jesus." In the Greek the mind is first made to rest on the word "Lord." Then there is brought into neighborhood and sharp contrast with it the word "killed." The "Lord" of the Old Testament Scriptures to whom Divine attributes are ascribed whom David owned as his Lord they did not own or submit to; but, going in the opposite direction as far as they could go, him they murdered.

They did this not only to him who was the Impersonation of authority, but was also the Jesus is third Accomplisher of the loving, saving purpose of God. "For" added as a word. This the Jews did as a nation. They said in effect, through their constituted authorities, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him." In thus charging guilt home upon the Jews, Paul was charging it home upon himself. For wherever he was at the time of the crucifixion, in his then state of mind he was in full sympathy with the action of the rulers. And it is right that we should see here not only the blackness of the Jewish heart, but the blackness of the human heart. This was what we did to our Lord when he came on an errand of mercy to our earth. We laid hands on him and put him to death. For this let us be deeply humbled before God. Let us say with Job, in nearer contact with God, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

(2) Manifestations leading up to the worst. And the prophets." What the Jews did to their Messiah was net an isolated act. It was only of a piece with what their previous conduct had been. "Which of the prophets," said Stephen, "did not your fathers persecute? and they killed them which showed before of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers." The treatment they gave to God"s messengers, whose work it was to prepare the way for the Messiah by rebuke and prediction, led up to the treatment they gave their Messiah. In his pro-Christian state Paul was well entitled to be called "son of them that slew the prophets;" and so are all who abuse and thwart, or stand aloof from, those who are seeking to advance the cause of God in the world.

(3) Manifestation subsequent to the worst. "And drave out us." The reference seems to be to the driving of the apostles out of Judaea. This was overruled by God for the proclamation of the gospel beyond Judea; but none the less was it culpable. It showed that the spirit of penitence had not passed over them for the heinous crime of which they had been guilty. They were still holding to the words, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children.

2. Condemnation of their conduct.

(1) It was against God. "And please not God." The Jews thought they were pleasing God in what they did to Christ and also to the prophets and apostles. This is denied of them. They were really, in their anti-Christian position, setting themselves against the Divine ends. They were setting themselves against the whole meaning of their existence as a nation, against the teaching of their oracles, against the design of their rites. They were setting themselves against the evidence of miracles, and against the stronger evidence of a goodness which should have carried conviction to every honest heart. If they could be so far mistaken, have not we reason to be on our guard? We may think that we are pleasing God when we have never learned the alphabet of the Divine teaching, have never subjected ourselves to the Divine control.

(2) It was against man. "And are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved." Their condemnation manward is as strong as their condemnation Godward. They were contrary to all men, is the language used; and the proof which is given is conclusive. The gospel is the offer of salvation to all men. But the universality, which is its glory, was to them its defect. They had the idea of keeping salvation to themselves. They had the idea that they were blessed the more, the fewer they were that were blessed. And when the apostles spoke to the Gentiles, and thus preached the larger salvation, as if the blessing were being taken away from them, they forbade them in such manner as they could, by contradiction, calumnies, laying snares for their life. If this was their fall, let us beware lest it should be ours. The first saved (for as Christians we stand where the Jews stood) must understand it to be their duty, not to draw the line at themselves, but to reach forth in blessing to all the unsaved.

3. Final result of their conduct.

(1) In guilt. "To fill up their sins always." There is here a reflection f our Lord"s words, "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers." The Jews were on their trial as a nation. In this trial they should have filled up the measure of their good actions, of service to the world. That would have been their vindication before God. Instead of that, they filled up the measure of their sins. There is significant language used in Gen_15:10, "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." It is a sad thing that it could be said of the Jews with Divine helps, as of the Amorites without Divine helps, that they were filling up their sins. They were filling up their sins always. It was a course which they did not alter by a genuine deep conformed repentance as a nation. The general tendency of their conduct, both before Christ, at the time of Christ, and after Christ, was to fill up their sins. They obstinately put away God from them, disregarded the Divine calls and warnings. And the ultimate result of such conduct, in the working out of the eternal purpose, could only be as here set down, the bringing of the measure of their sins up to the full.

(2) In punishment. "But the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." This is in contrast with the filling up of their sins, in their opposition to God and man. The wrath of God, which is here mentioned for the second time in the Epistle, is to be thought of as the predestined or the merited wrath. It is a wrath which descends upon nations as well as upon individuals. As the measure of their sins is thought of as being brought up to the full, so the wrath is thought of as reaching its utmost limit, when it must discharge itself when, instead of probationary dealing, there must be inflictive judgment. The inspired writers here had words of our Lord on which to proceed. "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." The apostolic words were written within fifteen years of the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jews were finally rejected as a nation. There is hope of their conversion at some future period; but it cannot be said that to this day the wrath of God, for their long course of disobedience, has been removed. R.F.

The Word of God.

I ST. PAUL CLAIMED TO BE A TEACHER OF THE WORD OF GOD.

1. He did not admit that his teachings were merely human speculations on religious subjects. His position was entirely different from that of the most gifted philosopher, more exalted since he stood forth as the apostle of superhuman truth, and also more humble since he subordinated his own private ideas to the message of which he was but the bearer.

2. St. Paul did not profess to be simply a witness of the facts of the gospel. That was the position of the first Christian teachers. St. Peter and his companions of the day of Pentecost presented themselves as witnesses of the great transactions of the life of Christ, and chiefly of his resurrection. They narrated what they had seen and heard. (Act_2:32; 1Jn_1:1) St. Paul had not been a companion of our Lord. But he had something higher than the knowledge of experience and observation. He did not learn his gospel of men; it was revealed to him in the solitudes of Arabia.

3. St. Paul claimed to be inspired with a Divine revelation. It was not his thought, nor even his testimony of Divine facts, but the Word of God that he proclaimed. It is plain that the apostle used his own language, and spoke in a characteristic and individual style. He also reasoned with his own intellect; for inspiration does not simply breathe through a man as through a mechanical instrument. But his language and thought and whole being were illumined and elevated by the Spirit of God, so that he saw the truth of God and was able to speak the Word of God.

II THE THESSALONIANS ACCEPTED ST. PAUL"S MESSAGE AS THE WORD OF GOD.

1. They admitted the fact. They did so, no doubt, first because the power and personal influence of the apostle impressed them; then because they were convinced by his arguments; then because they must have felt the inherent beauty and greatness of what he taught; and lastly because they saw the good effects of his gospel. By these four gradations we are led on to a more and more consistent belief in the Divine authority of the gospel; viz. by authority, by argument, by the excellency of the gospel itself, and by its fruits.

2. The Thessalonians received the message as befitted its Divine origin.

(1) They believed in its truth. God only speaks what is true. To establish a message as the Word of God is to prove its truth.

(2) They submitted to its authority. There may be many things in the gospel which we cannot account for. Our faith in God should be implicit.

(3) They yielded to its influence. Thus they let it work in them. The Word of God is a word of grace and a word of command. To accept it aright we must avail ourselves of the grace and obey the command. To receive a word of pardon as from a king is to leave the prison when the door is open. To receive a message as from a master is to carry out the order.

III ST. PAUL"S TEACHING PROVED ITSELF TO BE THE WORD OF GOD BY ITS EFFECTS. It was found to be working in the Church at Thessalonica. The Word of God is powerful. (Heb_4:12) Christ"s words were spirit and life. (Joh_6:63) This Divine Word is no barren revelation of far-off celestial curiosities. It is a message concerning human and earthly as well as heavenly affairs. Like the first creative word, when God spake and it was done, the message of the new creation is a word that effects. God"s words are deeds. But that they may be deeds in us it is necessary for us to receive them in faith. And in proportion to our faith will the energy of God"s Word work in us. 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.

The Manner in Which the Thessalonians Received the Gospel

They accepted the Gospel and bore its burdens:

v. 13. for this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

v. 14. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews;

v. 15. who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men,

v. 16. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

The apostle had just mentioned the fact that God had called the Thessalonian Christians into the kingdom of His grace. This fact causes him to launch forth into another thanksgiving: And on this account also we give thanks to God without ceasing, namely, that, receiving from us the Word of preaching, which is of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it truly is, the Word of God, who also works effectively in you that believe. Paul had come to Thessalonica as the avowed messenger of God, claiming for the Gospel which he preached divine origin. It was therefore a matter of much gratification and of sincere thanksgiving to him that the Thessalonians received the Word which he brought in the same spirit; they not only heard the preaching with the ears of their body, but they also acknowledged God as the Author and Sender of the message. Paul had not come in his own name, but as the agent and ambassador of God, and in this sense they had accepted his message and call, not as the mere word of men, but for that which it is in truth, the Word of God. This fact was further impressed upon them by the fact that they could not deny the effective working of God through the medium of the Word; they felt His power in the Word. The Thessalonian Christians were effectively and continuously confirmed in their faith by the Word of Grace which was proclaimed to them. Note: The acceptance of the Gospel as the Word of God, as the divine message for man’s salvation, is essential for faith; it is this confidence which must precede and accompany the certainty of salvation.

Paul now explains why he felt justified in drawing these conclusions: For you became imitators, brethren, of the congregations of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus, for the same things suffered also you from your own countrymen, as also they from the Jews. If the Word of the Gospel had not gotten such an effective hold on the Thessalonian Christians, if they had not had the firm conviction that the Gospel was the Word of God, they would hardly have been willing to bear its burdens. But now Paul says in their praise that they have followed in the footsteps of the congregations in Judea, that they were having the same experiences in the interest of the Gospel which the brethren had that had heard the Gospel-message first. The Christians in Judea had suffered persecution at the hands of the Jews; the Christians of Thessalonica were meeting with the same treatment at the hands of their countrymen. In both cases the congregations were in Christ Jesus, united with Him in the most intimate fellowship, not only deriving their spiritual life from Him, but having their life in His sphere; in both cases, therefore, they suffered persecution, 2Ti 3:12. That is the lot of all Christians, but it is incidentally a pretty fair indication of the faith which lives in them.

In a passage some of whose thoughts remind one of the speech of Stephen, Act 7:1-60, Paul now arraigns the Jews for their stubborn opposition and hatred of the true Church: Who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets as well as they persecuted us, and please not God, and are opposed to all men, hindering us to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always; but the wrath was manifested upon them to the end. It may have been that this thought was suggested to the apostle by the fact that detractors might allege his having been denounced and persecuted by his own countrymen as a point against him. But Paul shows that the hatred of the unbelieving Jews had been directed even against the Lord Jesus. They had killed the Lord Jesus Himself as well as their own prophets, 1Co 2:8; Act 7:52; small wonder, then, that they were persecuting His servant. It was evident, therefore, that their actions could not possibly be well pleasing to the Lord, that they were an abomination in his sight, that they were proving hostile to all men by their behavior. They had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they hindered the apostle from bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, lest the latter should have an advantage over them in being heirs to the salvation which they rejected. By this entire list of hostile acts, moreover, they were heading toward a terrible result and end: they were filling up the measure of their sins to the very top: with every new transgression they were approaching nearer to the limit of God’s forbearance. And so the wrath of God must now discharge itself; the Jews are ripe for the judgment of God, it was even then imminent, and His wrath was poured out upon them at the destruction of Jerusalem. See Mat 23:37-39; Mat 24:16; Dan 9:24. Note: The fate of the Jews is a warning example for all times, bidding all men to refrain from all enmity to the Word of God.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle’s great design, in this chapter, being to set forth the wonderful success which the preaching of the gospel had among the Thessalonians, and also to assign the causes of that success, he having, in the former verses, given the reason of this on his own part, namely, his sincerity in preaching it, and his pious conversation in all things suitable to it; now he comes to shew the reason on their part, with all thankfulness to Almighty God for the same:

first, they heard it;

secondly, they received it;

thirdly, they examined it, and found it no fable, but the word of God, and, as such, entertained it with a divine faith;

fourthly, the word thus received did work with a mighty power and efficacy in them that believed, that is, was accompanied with miracles, and miraculous operations of the Holy Spirit, then to confirm them in the faith of what they did believe;

and the word has also now an efficacious energy and divine efficacy accompanying it in the hearts of believers, working upon the will, not in a way of compulsion, but in a way congruous to the nature and liberty of the will, by a divine influx, Tollendo resistentiam, non voluntatis libertatem, (as the great St. Austin speaks).

Observe next, St. Paul farther proves the efficacious success which the word had amongst the Thessalonians, from their constancy and patience under the sharpest sufferings for the word’s sake; Ye have suffered like things of your own countrymen:

As if he had said, "You of the Christian church in Thessalonica, have shewn yourselves like to the Christian churches in Judea, in patient suffering persecution from your friends and kinsfolks, from your countrymen and fellow citizens as they did from the unbelieving Jews."

Note thence, that where the word is efficaciously received, it makes the embracer of it endure the hardest trials and sufferings rather than renounce it.

Note, 2. That there neither is, nor can be, any better evidence that the word of God is effectually received, than when it enables Christians to bear afflictions, and undergo persecutions with Christian courage and holy resolution; Ye have suffered like things:

But of whom?

Of your own countrymen at Thessalonica, as the churches in Judea did of the Jews.

Learn thence, that such is the fury of a persecuting spirit, that when men are judicially given up of God unto it, they will break all bonds, both natural, civil, and religious, and turn barbarous and savage, like wolves and tigers, towards those of their own flesh, who dare not deny the truth, which they persecute and oppose. Here the churches in Judea and Thessalonica were persecuted alike by their own countrymen, Ye have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing [without ever failing to mention it in our prayers], that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe . [The word is the good seed of the kingdom which the heart receives, and from which it brings forth fruit with patience-- Luk_8:11-15 ]

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.

13–16. Not as the word of men. They had received the gospel preached by Paul as the word of the Lord, a divine message. Which effectually worketh. The word, received into the heart, is the good seed of the kingdom, and springeth up to eternal life.

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.

General Information:

Paul continues to use "we" to refer to himself and his traveling companions and "you" to the Thessalonian believers.

we also thank God constantly

Paul often thanks God for their acceptance of the gospel message he shared with them.

not as the word of man

"Word of man" here is a synecdoche for "a message that comes simply from a man." AT: "(it is) not a message that is made up by a man" (See: Synecdoche)

you received it as it truly is, the word of God

"Word" here is a metonym for "message." AT: "you received it as it truth is, the message that comes from God" (See: Metonymy)

It is this word that is also at work among you who believe

Paul speaks of God's gospel message as if it were a person who was doing work. "Word" is a metonym for "message." AT: "It is this set of God's instructions that enables those of you who believe to work well together" (See: Personification and Metonymy)

translationWords

God

receive

word of God

works

believe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.