1 Thessalonians 2:15

Contextual Overview

¹³And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. ¹³ And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. ¹³ For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. ¹³And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe. ¹³We are so thankful you didn't turn a deaf ear to what we had to say. You didn't act like God's message was just another self-help course taught by the world. It was the word of God and you accepted it with the awe and reverence you should have. It is this power that is now available to you and at work within you whether you realize it or not. ¹³ And for this cause we still give praise to God, that, when the word came to your ears through us, you took it, not as the word of man, but, as it truly is, the word of God, which has living power in you who have faith. ¹³ And for this cause we also give thanks to God unceasingly that, having received [the] word of [the] report of God by us, ye accepted, not men's word, but, even as it is truly, God's word, which also works in you who believe. ¹³ This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers. ¹³ For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe. ¹³ For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, even because when ye received the word of God from us, ye received it, not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God, who likewise effectually worketh in you that believe.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

killed: Matthew 5:12, Matthew 21:35-39, Matthew 23:31-35, Matthew 23:37, Matthew 27:25, Luke 11:48-51, Luke 13:33, Luke 13:34, Acts 2:23, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:10, Acts 5:30, Acts 7:52

persecuted us: or, chased us out, Amos 7:12, Acts 22:18-21

please: Acts 12:3, 1 Corinthians 10:5

contrary: Esther 3:8, Luke 11:52, Luke 11:53

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:8 - lay not Psalms 34:21 - they Psalms 55:19 - hear Psalms 69:24 - Pour Psalms 69:26 - For Psalms 72:14 - precious Psalms 109:20 - Let this Proverbs 25:26 - General Proverbs 29:8 - Scornful Isaiah 30:10 - say Isaiah 49:5 - Israel Isaiah 59:12 - our transgressions Isaiah 65:2 - a rebellious Isaiah 66:5 - Your Isaiah 66:24 - and they Jeremiah 2:30 - your own sword Jeremiah 11:22 - young Jeremiah 26:15 - ye shall Jeremiah 26:23 - who Jeremiah 51:24 - General Lamentations 4:13 - that Ezekiel 11:8 - General Daniel 9:6 - have we Daniel 9:27 - that determined Hosea 4:2 - toucheth Amos 2:11 - and Micah 1:5 - the transgression of Jacob Micah 2:6 - Prophesy ye Zechariah 1:4 - unto Zechariah 7:12 - therefore Zechariah 13:8 - two Matthew 12:45 - Even Matthew 22:6 - the remnant Matthew 23:13 - for ye shut Mark 12:3 - they Luke 3:20 - General Luke 4:28 - were Luke 6:22 - when men Luke 6:23 - for in Luke 11:47 - for Luke 13:9 - if not Luke 19:27 - General Luke 19:43 - the days Luke 21:12 - before Luke 22:36 - But John 8:28 - then John 11:48 - all John 15:20 - word John 16:9 - General Acts 4:17 - let Acts 5:28 - blood Acts 9:23 - the Jews Acts 14:2 - General Acts 25:11 - no man Romans 11:28 - are enemies Romans 15:31 - I may 2 Corinthians 11:26 - in perils by mine Galatians 4:29 - even Ephesians 3:1 - for Philippians 1:30 - the same 1 Timothy 2:4 - will Titus 1:2 - God Hebrews 10:27 - which Hebrews 10:38 - my James 5:6 - have James 5:10 - for 1 Peter 5:9 - the same Revelation 18:24 - in her

Cross-References

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Genesis 2:2
And in the seuenth day God ended his worke whiche he had made. And the seueth day he rested from all his worke which he had made.

Genesis 2:2
God finished the work he was doing, so on the seventh day he rested from his work.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Genesis 2:2
And God fillide in the seuenthe dai his werk which he made; and he restide in the seuenthe dai fro al his werk which he hadde maad;

Genesis 2:2
And on the seuenth day God ended his worke, which hee had made: And he rested on the seuenth day from all his worke, which he had made.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Who both killed the Lord Jesus,.... For though Pilate condemned him to death, and the Roman soldiers executed the sentence, yet it was through the malice and envy of the Jews that he was delivered to him, who brought charges against him, and insisted upon the crucifixion of him; and who are therefore said to have taken him with wicked hands, and crucified and slain him; and to have killed the Prince of life, and to have been the betrayers and murderers of him; and therefore it is no wonder that such persons should persecute the followers of Christ, whether in Judea or elsewhere:

and their own prophets; whom God sent unto them; these they not only mocked and misused, and persecuted, but many of them they put to death, as Isaiah and others; and though this was done by their fathers, yet the present generation were the children of them that killed the prophets; and showed themselves to be of the same principles, and by their practices approved of what they had done: hence our Lord addresses the city of Jerusalem thus, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets", Matthew 23:31. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out the phrase "their own", and so does the Alexandrian copy; but it stands in the Syriac and Arabic versions, and is rightly retained, it having an emphasis in it; these prophets being of their own nation, born among them, and raised up in the midst of them, and sent unto them particularly, and yet were so used; and therefore it need not seem strange that they should treat in an ill manner persons of a lower character, that did not agree with them; the consideration of which serves to support under reproach and persecution; see Matthew 5:12.

And have persecuted us; the apostles of Christ; have drove us out of our own country, and pursued us from place to place, and caused us to flee from one city to another:

and they please not God: though they reckoned themselves his chosen people, the favourites of heaven, and whom God delighted in; but neither their persons nor their actions were pleasing to him, their carnal minds being enmity to him, to his law and to his Gospel; and they in the flesh, or in an unregenerate estate, and without faith in Christ, without which it is impossible to please God, and their actions such as before described:

and are contrary to all men; not only Christians, but Heathens; to all the Gentiles, who are called all men, the nations of the world, the world, and the whole world; they were contrary to these, both in their religious and civil principles, and had an aversion to them, of which the following is a full instance.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who both killed the Lord Jesus - see the notes on Acts 2:23. The meaning here is, that it was characteristic of the Jews to be engaged in the work of persecution, and that they should not regard it as strange that they who had put their own Messiah to death, and slain the prophets, should now be found persecuting the true children of God.

And their own prophets - see the Matthew 21:33-40; Matthew 23:29-37 notes; Acts 7:52 note.

And have persecuted us - As at Iconium Acts 14:1, Derbe, and Lystra Acts 14:6, and at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. The meaning is, that it was characteristic of them to persecute, and they spared no one. If they had persecuted the apostles themselves, who were their own countrymen, it should not be considered strange that they should persecute those who were Gentiles.

And they please not God - Their conduct is not such as to please God, but such as to expose them to his wrath; 1 Thessalonians 2:16. The meaning is not that they did not aim to please God - whatever may have been the truth about that - but that they had shown by all their history that their conduct could not meet with the divine approbation. They made extraordinary pretensions to being the special people of God, and it was important for the apostle to show that their conduct demonstrated that they had no such claims. Their opposition to the Thessalonians, therefore, was no proof that God was opposed to them, and they should not allow themselves to be troubled by such opposition. It was rather proof that they were the friends of God - since those who now persecuted them had been engaged in persecuting the most holy people that had lived.

And are contrary to all men - They do not merely differ from other people in customs and opinions - which might be harmless - but they keep up an active opposition to all other people. It was not opposition to one nation only, but to all; it was not to one form of religion only, but to all - even including God’s last revelation to mankind; it was not opposition evinced in their own country, but they carried it with them wherever they went. The truth of this statement is confirmed, not only by authority of the apostle and the uniform record in the New Testament, but by the testimony borne of them in the classic writers. This was universally regarded as their national characteristic, for they had so demeaned themselves as to leave this impression on the minds of those with whom they had contact. Thus Tacitus describes them as “cherishing hatred against all others” - adversus omnes alios hostile odium; Hist. v. 5. So Juvenal (Sat. xiv. 103, 104), describes them.

Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti,

Quaesitum a.d. fontem solos deducere verpos.

“They would not even point out the way to any one except of the same religion, nor, being asked, guide any to a fountain except the circumcised.” So they are called by Appollonius “atheists and misanthropes, and the most uncultivated barbarians” - ἀθεοι καὶ μισανθρώποι καὶ ἀφεῦστατοι τῶν βάρβαρῶν atheoi kai misanthrōpoi kai apheustatoi tōn barbarōn; Josephus, Contra Apion ii. 14. So Diodorus Siculus (34:p. 524), describes them as “those alone among all the nations who were unwilling to have any contact (or intermingling - επιμιξιας) epimixias with any other nation, and who regarded all others as enemies” καὶ πολεμίους ὑπολαμβάνειν πάντας kai polemious hupolambanein pantas. Their history had given abundant occasion for these charges.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 15. 16. Who hath killed the Lord Jesus, c.] What a finished but just character is this of the Jews!

1. They slew the Lord Jesus, through the most unprincipled and fell malice.

2. They killed their own prophets there was no time in which the seed of the serpent did not hate and oppose spiritual things, they slew even their own prophets who declared to them the will of God.

3. They persecuted the apostles showing the same spirit of enmity to the Gospel which they had shown to the law.

4. They did not please God, nor seek to please him; though they pretended that their opposition to the Gospel was through their zeal for God's glory, they were hypocrites of the worst kind.

5. They were contrary to all men; they hated the whole human race, and judged and wished them to perdition.

6. They forbade the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, lest they should be saved; this was an inveteracy of malice completely superhuman; they persecuted the body to death, and the soul to damnation! They were afraid that the Gentiles should get their souls saved if the Gospel was preached to them!

7. They filled up their sins always; they had no mere purposes or outlines of iniquity, all were filled up; every evil purpose was followed, as far as possible, with a wicked act! Is it any wonder, therefore, that wrath should come upon them to the uttermost? It is to be reckoned among the highest mercies of God that the whole nation was not pursued by the Divine justice to utter and final extinction.