Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Thessalonians 2:13

Clarke's Commentary

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.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Paul’s work in Thessalonica (2:1-16)

In Paul’s day there were some travelling preachers whose main aim was to make money, usually by crafty or dishonest methods. Certain people in the Thessalonian church, apparently angry that Paul had left them suddenly, accused him of being one of these untrustworthy travelling preachers. They said he was concerned only for himself, not for them. Paul replies that he has never used smooth words to deceive people or gain a following. His readers know that in both Philippi and Thessalonica he was so straightforward in preaching God’s message that he suffered bodily harm (2:1-5).
Paul wanted neither praise nor money. As an apostle he had a right to be supported financially by those to whom he ministered, but he did not claim this right. Far from trying to make financial profit from the Thessalonians, he gave freely to help them (6-8). He worked at his trade to earn enough money to support himself, and spent the rest of his time preaching (9). The Christians in Thessalonica know that his conduct among them was without fault. It was a living example of the kind of life that Paul urged them to live, the life that pleases God and brings glory to his name (10-12).
The Thessalonians knew that the gospel they received was not something of human creation but was a message from God himself, and they were prepared to suffer for it. They were persecuted by the citizens of their own country, just as the Christians in Judea were persecuted by the Jews (13-14). Not only had the Jews crucified the Lord Jesus and rejected God themselves, but they were now trying to prevent the message of Jesus from reaching the Gentiles. In doing so they were building up a terrible divine judgment against themselves (15-16).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

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.

It is verses such as this which forbid any allegations that Paul was mistaken about the near-approach of the Advent, or anything else. Paul and all the other apostles declared repeatedly their absolute and invariable conviction that what they delivered to us was not their word, but the word of Almighty God. Those who do not believe this is true do not believe the New Testament.

This verse reminds us of the following passage from Acts:

Now these (of Berea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so (Acts 17:11).

Paul's testimony in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 shows that Luke's account in Acts was focused upon the unbelievers in Thessalonica, whereas Paul here tells the way it was with the believers.

Which also worketh in you that believe … We are indebted to David Lipscomb for this tabulation of how the word works in believers:

By the word the new birth is effected (1 Peter 1:23).

By it the soul is saved (James 1:21).

By it we are sanctified (John 17:17; 1 Timothy 4:5).

It prevails mightily (Acts 19:20).

Like the seed (Mark 4:26-27), it has power in itself to produce.

It is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).

It is like fire against that which is false (Jeremiah 23:29).

It is like a hammer against that which is strong (Jeremiah 23:29).

It is light in darkness (Psalms 119:105).

It is the sole weapon in Christian warfare (Ephesians 6:17). David Lipscomb, op. cit., p. 31.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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 Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 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.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

13Wherefore 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. ⁽⁵³⁷⁾ 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. ⁽⁵³⁸⁾ 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: ⁽⁵³⁹⁾ 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 ⁽⁵⁴⁰⁾ 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; Jeremiah 23:29) in renewing their life, ⁽⁵⁴¹⁾ 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. ⁽⁵⁴²⁾

(537) Calvin refers here to the harmony which happily subsisted between the preaching of Paul and the faith of the Thessalonians.—Ed.

(538) “Il ne se pent faire que nous ne venions quant et quant a auoir vne saincte affection d’obeir;” — “It cannot but be that we come at the same time to have a holy disposition to obey.”

(539) “Aussi lois d’vne opinion, ou d’vn cuider;” — “As far above opinion, or imagination.”

(540) “Les Docteurs, c’est a dire ceux qui ont la charge d’enseigner;” — “Teachers, that is to say, those that have the task of instructing.”

(541) “En renouelant et reformant la vie des Thessaloniciens;” — “In renewing and reforming the life of the Thessalonians.”

(542) “Car il n’a pas prins garde que c’estoit yci vne façon de parler prinse de la langue Hebraique;” — “For he did not take notice that it was a manner of expression taken from the Hebrew language.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

FOR yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain ( 1 Thessalonians 2:1 ):

Now, Paul evidently had quite an entrance to the city of Thessalonica for he makes reference to it three times here in the first, in the opening part of this letter: but "it was not in vain."

But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi ( 1 Thessalonians 2:2 ),

I mean, they had really suffered. They were no doubt a real beating that was inflicted on these fellows. And having coming directly from Philippi, the marks still quite obvious.

So...

after we had suffered, were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention ( 1 Thessalonians 2:2 ).

Because there was a lot of contention raised by the unbelieving Jews there in Thessalonica against Paul. We are told in the book of Acts that they were contentious because they were envious at the great crowds. By the time the third Sabbath came, the whole town had gathered together to listen to the message that Paul was proclaiming, and the Jews became envious, jealous.

And so they then stirred up a group of men who were of the base sort to beat them, to lie against them, to false . . . to give false charges. These men are against Rome. They're rebelling against Rome and all, and perpetrated, of course, the beatings of them and the imprisonment in the dungeon. So as they preached the gospel in Thessalonica, these Jews stirred up contention there and they were so contentious that when they heard that they'd heard that they've gone to Berea, they came down to Berea to stir up trouble down in Berea.

For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile ( 1 Thessalonians 2:3 ):

Paul said, "We were straightforward with you. We exhorted you in a straightforward manner. There was no endeavor to deceive you, there was no kind of hidden meaning, no guile . . . straightforward."

But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which tries our hearts ( 1 Thessalonians 2:4 ).

And so, they had that sense of responsibility before God. And how important that we have that sense of responsibility to God. I think that that's one of the problems today with a lot of people. The fear of God is not in their heart. They are not really honest before God and before the people. A lot of exaggerations, a lot of deception.

Keith Ritter who labored with us here at Calvary for many years and now is laboring for us in his ministry over in China, Japan before coming to Calvary, was attending another church in the area. And a part of Keith's ministry in the other church was to help frame the bulletin and he was given the typed out messages of the pastor six months in advance. And in a message that was to be preached six months down the road, the pastor would be using an illustration. And the illustration would say, "Last week my secretary came in and said this and this and this," you know, and it was a sermon to preached six months from now. Well, that bothered Keith. In fact it bothered him so much he left the church, because there were a lot of illustrations that were not really true, relating of events that really didn't happen, but it made great sermon illustration.

Paul said, " I didn't have any of that. We were straightforward because we know that God tries our hearts; God knows our hearts." That awareness, and thus the honesty before God is so important.

For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness; For God is witness ( 1 Thessalonians 2:5 ):

And they were aware of that fact that God was witness. The fear of God was in their hearts and surely that's what we need today; that we have a true fear of God within our hearts.

Nor of men did we seek glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ ( 1 Thessalonians 2:6 ).

We didn't seek your support, though as apostles we could have sought your support, but we didn't.

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse who cherishes her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us ( 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ).

Now, again, we have a beautiful insight into the heart of the apostle here, and no wonder he was so effective. He was clean; he was honest; he was straightforward. He wasn't there to make a buck for himself; he wasn't there to enrich himself or to get glory for himself. He was there because he loved them earnestly with a Godly love and wanted to bring them the glorious truth of Jesus Christ which had transformed his own life.

And so...

You remember, brethren, that our labour and travail ( 1 Thessalonians 2:9 ):

That word labor again; toiling into the point of weariness and travail.

For laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God ( 1 Thessalonians 2:9 ).

So, he worked night and day in order that he might provide for his own needs, in order that he might preach to them the gospel of God, so that no one would actually accuse him of being a mercenary. "Well, you're just in it, Paul, for the money. You know, you come in and ya take a big offering, and then you leave town." No way. He labored with his own hands to provide for the needs of his group that he would not be chargeable to any of them.

You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe ( 1 Thessalonians 2:10 ):

I mean, they lived straight circumspect lives. They lived holy lives. They lived unblameable kind of lives. God help us. No wonder the witness of the church is so weak and so anemic, because of the lies of many of those who are out running the circuit doing such damage. God help us.

As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children ( 1 Thessalonians 2:11 ),

Paul's ministry, I love it. Here is the insight, really, to the true minister: one who travails and labors among the people, one who is not seeking the glory of the people, one who just is gently with them as a nurse cherishing their children and now as a father, his children . . . teaching, exhorting, comforting.

That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory ( 1 Thessalonians 2:12 ).

In other words, you are a prince, a princess. You're children of the king. Walk worthy of God's kingdom and God's glory. And this beautiful exhortation to them:

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you receive the word of God which you heard of us, you didn't receive it as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13 ).

So they received it as God's word.

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 ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14 ):

The church was experiencing persecution in Israel, in Judea. They had already had several persecutions that by which the church was scattered. And so here, these in Thessalonica were having problems, even as the church in Jerusalem had had problems.

Suffering of their own countrymen, [Speaking of the church in Jerusalem] and of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and pleased not God, and are contrary to all men ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 ):

Quite an indictment that Paul makes against the Jews here: they killed the Lord Jesus, they killed their own prophets, they persecuted us and they're contrary to all men.

I have, in my mind, been writing a book. I don't know if it will ever get on paper. But I've been writing a book addressed to the Jewish people, and I was thinking of a title: Do You Always Crucify Those Who Love You? Here is a group of people that somehow find it very difficult to receive love without being suspicious, without looking for some ulterior motive, and perhaps for good reason. Because of the treatment that they have received from the world, and so much anti-Semitism and all, that whenever anyone shows a genuine concern or love for them, they seem to get suspicious. But then they begin to almost deliberately cut those persons off.

Just recently I started getting a lot of bad press in Israel, totally false. Accusations being made that are completely spurious. People are writing things about me that I've never done, I've never been, they've never happened and yet, for some reason or another, I've started to get it of late in the press in Israel. And it is interesting because all I've ever had is a tremendous love for Israel and yet, they always look with suspicion. Why do you love us? Why do you give to us? Why do you support us? And they begin then to interpret all kinds of false motives. "Well, you're just trying to get close to us so you can missionize us or convert us. Or you're only doing it, you know, because you're trying to fulfill prophecy and get the Lord to come back or you know . . . " They can't just accept love because, you know, you are God's people and we love you because you're God's people.

I personally do not have any great burden to evangelize the Jews any more than I do any other race or group of people. I feel that evangelism of the Jews is something that's totally in God's hands. If He's blinded their eyes, only He can take away the blind of the eyes of the Jews. So I leave their evangelism to God. I can't undo what God has done. And if blindness is happened in part to Israel until the fullness of Gentiles become in, then I'm not gonna waste my efforts trying to undo what God has done. Let God undo that. And my ministry is not to the Jews, but to the church, which is comprised of people from all backgrounds, for there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. So evangelism of Israel is not my motive in loving them.

And I am also convinced that as far as prophecy is concerned, it's in God's hands and He's gonna fulfill what He has said He's gonna do without my help. I do not have any grandiose concept of myself as, you know, God has chosen me to fulfill His prophecies in these last days. I don't feel like I'm any special instrument of God any more than anybody else who has committed their life to God. You know, so I don't feel any divine calling to go blow up the Dome of the Rock or anything else, you know, which I've been accused of in the press of late. Supporting the terrorist groups and all, or wanting to blow up the Dome of the Rock and this kind of stuff, and somehow they got my name in with a bunch of other people's names who I don't really know. They got me meeting regularly with them and I didn't even know they met. It'll be interesting to see what comes of it.

But are contrary to all men, those that love them, they have difficulty receiving them.

And so they would forbid Paul to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, and they fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost ( 1 Thessalonians 2:16 ).

And so, these people who, through their rejection of Jesus Christ and God's provision for their salvation, have brought such hardships upon themselves.

But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, but not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire ( 1 Thessalonians 2:17 ).

So, Paul said, "I had to leave in a hurry." Actually, he got out of there just before the officers came to Jason's house to arrest him. "Though I left my body, my heart's still there. Man, I still, I long to see . . . I really desire to be there and to be with you."

Wherefore we would have come to you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? ( 1 Thessalonians 2:18-19 )

Isn't this our hope? Isn't this our joy? Isn't this the crown of my ministry? That when the Lord comes, you're gonna be there, and you'll meeting together with Him in His kingdom. That's the purpose, that's the joy, that's the crown of our ministry.

John, in writing his epistle said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" ( 1 John 4:0 ). And so for the minister, the real joy, the real hope, the real reward, the crown of the ministry is in the lives of the people who, through the word of God, have been transformed and now have that glorious hope of being in Christ in His kingdom. And our joy and crown will be fulfilled when we sit there together before the throne of the Lamb, worshipping together, and we look around and we see those who God brought into our lives, that we might impact them with His love and with His truth. And there will be all the reward ever necessary for the ministry. So Paul said, "That's my joy, that's my hope, that's the crown of my ministry; you being there in the presence of the Lord that is coming."

For you are our glory and joy ( 1 Thessalonians 2:20 ). "

Contending for the Faith

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.

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: Morris cites one scholar (Ward 62) who has referred to "received" as a "hospitality word." Its use here suggests the Thessalonians hospitably welcomed Paul’s preaching as one might welcome a dear friend into one’s house. The Thessalonians Are open-minded and teachable. But more than that they acted on what they heard. "Paul appears to be thinking of the obedient response of faith that followed when the Thessalonians received the message" (Morris 62). The word was heard, received, welcomed, and obeyed.

not as the word of men: The word is preached by men, but it does not originate with them, and the Thessalonians have heard enough doctrines with purely human origins to be able to recognize the difference between the two.

but as it is in truth, the word of God: Twice in this verse Paul says the message he proclaimed is the word of God. To further emphasize its divine origin, he says it is "not the word of men." To substitute the words of men for the word of God would have been for Paul a betrayal of the sacred trust reposed in him (2:4) and an invitation to be eternally accursed (Galatians 1:8-9). A similar fate awaits preachers of today who are not careful to preach "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

which effectually worketh also in you that believe: The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Like those prophetic utterances of old, "It shall not return unto me void" (Isaiah 55:11). The frequency with which this verb ("worketh") and its cognates refer in the New Testament to the activity of God makes it all but certain the reference here is to God’s work in the lives of believers. Lending support to that notion is the fact that some scholars believe that, in the Greek, the verb is passive rather than active. The word "is at work in you" (NIV). As Morris notes, "the power is God’s and the word is his instrument" (63). "The message came from God through the apostle to the Thessalonians and was changing them" (Stott 54).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

B. Reminders for the Thessalonians 2:1-16

Paul next reminded his readers of how the apostles delivered the gospel to them and how they received it to encourage them not to abandon it.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Previously Paul thanked God for the way these believers were bearing the fruit of righteousness in their own lives (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Now he thanked God for the way they responded when he had preached the gospel to them the first time. They sensed that it was a divine revelation rather than a human philosophy, and they believed it. Because they received that divine message, it had done a mighty work of transformation in their lives as God’s Holy Spirit used it.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. How the gospel was received 2:13-16

Paul reminded his readers how they had welcomed the gospel message to vindicate further his own ministry and to emphasize the importance of proclaiming this message. He did this so the Thessalonians would continue to herald it abroad as they had been doing.

"This section of the letter begins with the second thanksgiving in a series of three (1 Thessalonians 1:2-5; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13) that dominate the tone of the first three chapters." [Note: Martin, pp. 85-86. See also Wanamaker’s discussion of this digression, pp. 109-10.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 2

PAUL ON HIS DEFENSE ( 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 )

2:1-12 You yourselves know, brothers, that our coming among you was not to no effect; but after we had--as you know--already undergone suffering and ill-treatment at Philippi, we were bold in our God to tell you the good news of God, and a sore struggle we had. Our appeal to you did not proceed from any delusion, nor from impure motives, nor was it calculated to deceive; but as we have been deemed worthy by God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, not as if we were seeking to please men, but rather as if we were seeking to please God, who tests our hearts. At no time, as you know, did we use flattering words; at no time did we use our message as a pretext for greed; God is our witness at no time did we seek reputation from men, either from you or from others, although we might well have claimed a place of weight, as apostles of Christ. But we showed ourselves gentle among you, treating you as a nurse cherishes her children. Yearning for you like this, we wanted to share with you, not only the good news of God, but even our very lives, because you had become very dear to us. For, brothers, you remember our labour and toil. It was while we were working night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you, that we proclaimed the good news of God to you. You are our witnesses and so is God. How reverently and righteously and blamelessly we behaved to you who believed. As you know, as a father his children we exhorted and encouraged and solemnly charged each one of you to walk worthily of God who calls you to his Kingdom and his glory.

Beneath the surface of this passage run the slanders which Paul's opponents at Thessalonica attached to him.

(i) 1 Thessalonians 2:2 refers to the imprisonment and abuse that he had received at Philippi ( Acts 16:16-40). There were, no doubt, those in Thessalonica who said that this man Paul had a police record, that he was nothing less than a criminal on the run from justice and that obviously no one should listen to a man like that. A really malignant mind will twist anything into a slander.

(ii) 1 Thessalonians 2:3 has behind it no fewer than three charges.

(a) It was being said that Paul's preaching came from sheer delusion. A really original man will always run the risk of being called mad. Festus thought that Paul was mad in later days ( Acts 26:24). There was a time when Jesus' friends came and tried to take him home because they thought that he was mad ( Mark 3:21). The Christian standards can be so different from the standards of the world that he who follows them with a single mind and a burning enthusiasm can appear to other men to be off his head.

(b) It was being said that Paul's preaching sprang from impure motives. The word used for impurity (akatharsia, G167) often has to do with sexual impurity. There was one Christian custom which the heathen often and deliberately misinterpreted; that was the kiss of peace ( 1 Thessalonians 5:26). When the Christians spoke of the Love Feast and the kiss of peace, it was not difficult for an evil mind to read into these phrases what was never there. The trouble often is that a mind itself nasty will see nastiness everywhere.

(c) It was being said that Paul's preaching was guilefully aimed at deluding others. The propagandists of Hitler Germany discovered that if a lie is repeated often enough and loudly enough it will in the end be accepted as the truth. That was the charge which was levelled at Paul.

(iii) 1 Thessalonians 2:4 indicates that Paul was accused of seeking to please men rather than to please God. No doubt that rose from the fact that he preached the liberty of the gospel and the freedom of grace as against the slavery of legalism. There are always people who do not think that they are being religious unless they are being unhappy; and any man who preaches a gospel of joy will find his slanderers, which is exactly what happened to Jesus.

(iv) 1 Thessalonians 2:5 and 1 Thessalonians 2:9 both indicate that there were those who said that Paul was in this business of preaching the gospel for what he could get out of it. The word used for flattery (kolakeia, G2850) always describes the flattery whose motive is gain. The trouble in the early Church was that there were people who did attempt to cash in on their Christianity. The first Christian book of order is called The Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and in it there are some illuminating instructions. "Let every apostle that cometh unto you be received as the Lord. And he shall stay one day and, if need be, the next also, but if he stay three days he is a false prophet. And when the apostle goeth forth, let him take nothing save bread, till he reach his lodging. But if he ask money, he is a false prophet." "No prophet that ordereth a table in the Spirit shall eat of it, else he is a false prophet." "If he that cometh is a passer-by, succour him as far as you can. But he shall not abide with you longer than two or three days unless there be necessity. But if he be minded to settle among you and be a craftsman, let him work and eat. But if he has no trade, according to your understanding, provide that he shall not live idle among you, being a Christian. But if he will not do this, he is a Christmonger: of such men beware." (Didache, chapters 11 and 12). The date of The Didache is about A.D. 100. Even the Early Church knew the perennial problem of those who traded on charity.

(v) 1 Thessalonians 2:6 indicates that Paul was accused of seeking personal prestige. It is the preacher's constant danger that he should seek to display himself and not the message. In 1 Thessalonians 1:5 there is a suggestive thing. Paul does not say, "I came to you." He says, "Our gospel came to you." The man was lost in his message.

(vi) 1 Thessalonians 2:7 indicates that Paul was charged with being something of a dictator. His gentleness was that of a wise father. His was the love which knew how to be firm. To him Christian love was no easy sentimental thing; he knew that men needed discipline, not for their punishment but for the good of their souls.

THE SINS OF THE JEWS ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 )

2:13-16 And for this, too, we 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--as in truth it is--as the word of God, who also works in you who believe. For, brothers, you became imitators of the Churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus, for you too suffered the same things at the hands of your own fellow-countrymen as they did at the hands of the Jews; for they killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and they persecuted us, and they do not please God, and they are up against all men, and they try to stop us speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved; and all this they keep on doing that they may complete the catalogue of their sins. But wrath to the uttermost has come upon them.

To the Thessalonians the Christian faith had brought not peace but trouble. Their new-found loyalty had involved them in persecution. Paul's method of encouraging them is very interesting. It is in effect to say to them,

"Brothers, we are treading

Where the saints have trod."

Their persecution was a badge of honour which entitled them to rank with the picked regiments of the army of Christ.

But the great interest of this passage is that in 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 Paul draws up a kind of catalogue of the errors and the sins of the Jews.

(i) They killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets. When God's messengers came to them they eliminated them. One of the grim things about the gospel narrative is the intensity with which the leaders of the Jews sought to get rid of Jesus before he could do any more damage. But no man ever rendered a message inoperative by slaying the messenger who brought it. Someone tells of a missionary who went to a primitive tribe. He had to use primitive methods to get his message across; so he had a chart painted which showed the progress to heaven of the man who accepted Christ and the descent to hell of the man who rejected him. The message disturbed the tribe. They did not want it to be true. So they burned the chart and, having done so, thought all was well! A man may refuse to listen to the message of Jesus Christ but he cannot eliminate it from the structure of the universe.

(ii) They persecuted the Christians. Even although they themselves refused to accept the message of Christ, they ,night have allowed others to listen to it and, if they wished, to accept it. Let a man always remember that there are more ways to heaven than one; and let him keep himself from intolerance.

(iii) They did not try to please God. The Church's trouble has often been that it has clung to a man-made religion instead of a God-given faith. The question men have too often asked is, "What do I think?" instead of, "What does God say?" It is not our puny logic that matters; it is God's revelation.

(iv) They were up against all men. In the ancient world the Jews were, in fact, accused of "hatred of the human race." Their sin was the sin of arrogance. They regarded themselves as the Chosen People, as indeed they were. But they regarded themselves as chosen for privilege and never dreamed that they were chosen for service. Their aim was that some day the world should serve them, not that at all times they should serve the world. The man who thinks only of his own rights and privileges will always be up against other men--and, what is more serious, he will be up against God.

(v) They wished to keep the offer of God's love exclusively to themselves and did not wish the Gentiles to have any share in his grace. Someone has summed up the exclusive attitude in four bitter lines of verse,

"We are God's chosen few;

All others will be dammed.

There is no room in heaven for you;

We can't have heaven crammed."

There is something fundamentally wrong with a religion which shuts a man off from his fellow-men. If a man really loves God that love must run over into love for his fellow-men. So far from wanting to hug his privileges to himself, he will be filled with a passion to share them.

OUR GLORY AND OUR JOY ( 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 )

2:17-20 But, brothers, when we had been separated from you--in presence but not in heart--for a short time, we were the more exceedingly eager with a great desire to see your face. So we wished to come to you--I Paul longed for it once and again--but Satan blocked our way. For who is our hope or our joy or the crown in which we boast? Is it not even you, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For you are our glory and our joy.

First Thessalonians has been called "a classic of friendship," and here is a passage where Paul's deep affection for his friends breathes through his words. Across the centuries we can still feel the throb of love in these sentences.

Paul uses two interesting pictures in this passage.

(i) He speaks of Satan blocking his way when he desired to come to Thessalonica. The word he uses (egkoptein, G1465) is the technical word for putting up a road-block calculated to stop an expedition on the march. It is Satan's work to throw obstacles into the Christian's way--and it is our work to surmount them.

(ii) He speaks of the Thessalonians being his crown. In Greek there are two words for crown. The one is diadema ( G1238) which is used almost exclusively for the royal crown. The other is stephanos ( G4735) which is used almost exclusively for the victor's crown in some contest and especially for the athlete's crown of victory in the games. It is stephanos ( G4735) that Paul uses here. The only prize in life that he really valued was to see his converts living well.

W. M. Macgregor used to quote the saying of John when he was thinking of the students whom he had taught, "No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth." ( 3 John 1:4). Paul would have said amen to that. The glory of any teacher lies in his students; and should the day come when they have left him far behind the glory is still greater. A man's greatest glory lies in those whom he has set or helped on the path to Christ.

Anne Ross Cousin turned into verse the thoughts of Samuel Rutherford as he lay in prison in Aberdeen. In one verse she pictures him thinking of his old congregation in Anwoth:

"Fair Anwoth on the Solway

To me thou still art dear;

Even from the verge of heaven

I drop for thee a tear.

O! if one soul from Anwoth

Shall meet me at God's right hand,

My heaven will be two heavens

In Immanuel's land."

Nothing that we can do can bring us credit in the sight of God; but at the last the stars in a man's crown will be those whom he led nearer to Jesus Christ.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

1 Thessalonians 2:13

New Paragraph

B. A Good Influence, 2:14-20

1. God’s Word within them, v.13

2. God’s People around them, v.14-15

3. God’s Glory before them, v.16-20

Cause -- Reason.

Word of God -- They: 1. appreciated, 2. appropriated, 3. applied; -- the Word.

Word of God -- NASV "which also performs its work in you who believe."

INSPIRATION - 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21, 1 Corinthians 14:37, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Galatians 1:11-12, Matthew 17:5, Luke 1:68-70,

Which -- worketh -- The Word does what? Produced believers! Romans 10:17, Hebrews 4:12, Colossians 3:16.

* Truth effects people, and the greater truth has the greatest effect.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,.... As for their election of God, 1 Thessalonians 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.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

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

      Here observe, I. The apostle makes mention of the success of his ministry among these Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 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,1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 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 (Psalms 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,1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 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 (1 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Thessalonians 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,Matthew 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: Acts 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 (1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 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,Acts 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.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Three Sights Worth Seeing

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A Sermon

(No. 1979)

Delivered on Thursday Evening, March 24th, 1887, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

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"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. 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." 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 .

PAUL seems very much at home when he is writing to the church at Thessalonica. In his letters to that favored people he unveils his inmost feelings. He is rather apt to do so when he feels himself quite at ease: for Paul is by no means a man shut up within himself, who is never at home to any one. When he is battling with an ungrateful people he keeps himself to sharp words and strong arguments; but when he is writing to a loving, attached, affectionate church, he lets them have the key of his heart, and he lays bare before them his secret emotions. I feel as if we were interviewing Paul to-night as if we were all sitting in a room with him, and Silas, and Timothy, and were hearing their private conversation. We are come to a round-table conference with them, and we are listening to their talk about the ministry which God had committed to them. Even in these two verses we hear of how these holy preachers loved the gospel, told out the gospel, and saw that gospel take hold of their hearers' hearts.

They were not obliged to be reticent about their own conduct, or their experience with the Thessalonian friends: they were able to tell the story of their transactions with the church of Thessalonica from the very beginning. It is a happy thing to be the pastor of a church where one may near his heart upon his sleeve. In certain positions prudence demands that we keep ourselves to ourselves until we know more of the character of those who surround us. This is by no means pleasant; indeed it is a painful thing to go through life like a man in armor, who scarcely dares to move a single plate of steel, lest somebody should wound him in an unguarded place. One is glad to know that on the face of this earth there is a church where the minister feels himself as much at home as a brother among brethren, and as safe as a father among his sons, since he is not afraid of being misunderstood. It is my joy that for many years I have found such a place of peace, so that I can say with the Shunammite, "I dwell among mine own people." To return to our text: we find the apostle at home, telling out his thoughts in the freest manner. Indeed, he seems to me to show us three sights of the most interesting kind, which it will be pleasing and profitable for us to consider with care. I shall try to spear; upon these three things, one after the other.

The first is, ministers giving thanks. "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing." Then we have the cause of it, which brings up a second beautiful sight, namely, hearers receiving the word. Paul speaks of them thus: "When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, we 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." In these words we find a window into the heart of the Thessalonian Christians and what we see is like a cabinet of jewels. Then we have a third thing which is exceedingly interesting, namely, new converts exhibiting the family likeness, turning out to be very like the believers of older churches. Born many miles away from Judaea, with a sea dividing them from the first country where the gospel was preached, yet these Thessalonian Gentiles, when converted, looked wonderfully like the converts from among the Jews "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews."

I. To begin, then: we are asked out to a little social party. We are placed in a corner of a cosy room where we have license and favor to gaze upon MINISTERS GIVING THANKS.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy make up a little meeting. No doubt the Lord is with them, for they form what he has made a quorum. They are within the number to which the promise is made: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." These three godly ministers are holding what, if I use a Greek word, I may call a holy eucharistical service a service of thanksgiving. "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing." It is a pleasant sight to see anybody thanking God; for the air is heavy with the hum of murmuring, and the roads are dusty with complaints and lamentations. It is a delightful vision to see hard-working, earnest ministers of Christ met together and occupying their time with thanksgiving; for many waste their hours in speculations, doubtings, and discussions. Let us turn aside and look into their smiling faces! It will do us good to see who these good men were, and how they came to be in this thankful condition.

And, first, I would remark that this thankfulness of theirs followed upon sore travail. It is of no use for you to say, "I shall thank God for a harvest," if you neither plough nor sow. You will have no harvest without labor and patience. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy"; but if there be no sowing and no tears there is no promise of any kind of reaping. I have known young preachers envy those who have had many converts, and I do not wonder that they should; but if they themselves desire to be greatly useful and successful, they must go the same way to work that others have done. In the cause and kingdom of Christ, although the race is not to the swift, it certainly is not to the sluggish; and although salvation is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, it certainly is not of him that does not will and does not run. We may sit and sigh as long as we like, but we shall see no result from lethargy. Dead bees make no honey either in the land of grace or of nature. Neither is anything wrought by merely tucking up your sleeves, and making a brave show. We may plot and we may plan, we may propose and we may expect, but expectations and proposals will fall to the ground like apple-blossoms that have never knit unless we stir ourselves up in the name of God, and throw all the strength we have into the work of faith and labor of love. We shall fail unless we cry for much more strength than nature will yield us. With a vehemence that will not take a denial, we must plead with the Lord until we prevail; for in this matter "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Yes, Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, you would not be sitting together thanking God, if you had not for many a day put your shoulders to the wheel. If you had not labored night and day, if you had not exercised much labor and travail, and been willing to impart to the people, not only the gospel, but even your own lives also, you would never have rejoiced to ether in the way you have described. Ministers giving thanks to God are ministers who have worked.

And this work of theirs had been backed by holy living, for the apostle is bold to declare, "Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe." Brethren, we shall not win success unless we hunt for it by careful lives. You wish to see your Sunday-school class converted. You are anxious to be blest on your tract-district. You want to see that little mission-hall crowded, and souls converted. Begin by looking to your own life. As the man is, depend upon it, so will his life-work be. There will not come out of any one of us that which is not in us. You must fill the pitcher, or you cannot go round and fill the cups of those who thirstily ask you for water. That which you would in part of grace or life must be in yourself first; and when God has wrought it in you, then it shall be yours to work out. The water of life must be placed in you to be a well of living water, springing up, and then the word shall be fulfilled in you "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Personal piety is the back-bone of success in the service of God. Be you sure of that. Our mistakes and blunders in the work itself usually originate in faults in the closet, faults in the family, faults in our own souls. If we were better, our works would be better. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us.

We cannot be too careful of our conduct if we aspire to be used of the Lord. Though the Lord is jealous of all his servants, he is especially jealous of those whom he honors in service. "Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord." That which he might have passed over in one of his common servants he will not wink at in those whom he largely blesses. Therefore, dear friends, let us remember that rejoicing servants of God must be holy servants of God. They shall not give thanks for the purity of their people unless they have set a holy example themselves. This renders all work for Christ a very solemn thing. May we always think it so, and never go to it in a trifling spirit, but with many cries to the Holy One of Israel that he would make and keep us clean and bright as vessels fit for the Master's use!

You see, dear friends, that these three brethren, who met together, and were thanking God, were men who had worked, and men who had lived holily; but further notice that, when they congratulated each other, this mode of expressing their joy by thankfulness prevented their falling into anything like self-laudation. Neither Paul, nor Silas, nor Timothy, had anything whereof to glory, and they did not meet together either for self-glorification, or for mutual admiration. They glorified God, and thanked him without ceasing. Let us copy the example of these holy men. Brother, be much in thanking the Lord. If you have had one soul converted by your teaching, thank God. If in your class in the Sabbath-school, or if in your own family at home, you have had one conversion, thank God. I am afraid that we fail in thankfulness. We pray for blessings, and forget to praise for them. We are not grateful enough. I was chiding myself last Tuesday. I think that I selected twenty-eight persons whom I could venture to propose for church fellowship out of many who came. What a number it was! I felt when the day was over very weary with the blessed service, and then I chided myself that I had permitted weariness to come in when I should rather have been praising and blessing God. I could not help my weakness, and yet I thought my gratitude ought to have borne me above it. Oh, I recollect the day when I would have given my eyes ay, given my head for twenty-eight converts! I feel that I would sacrifice my all for such a blessing even now. To think that God should send so many in one week, and give me evidence that there are plenty more to follow! Was not this a delight? They keep on coming to confess Christ in great numbers still. We ought to be very joyful for this. The whole church should bless God for so many, and pray for more. If it were one soul saved by twenty years' work, we ought to feel that we could dance for joy, and count the service to be as nothing; but hundreds added to the church should carry us up to the third heaven of delight. As Jacob forgot all his toils when at last he could call the beloved Rachel his own, so should we count nothing hard, laborious, or trying, so long as souls are saved. Oh, to bring souls to God! Whenever we think of it, or see it done, let us say, like these three holy men, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing."

Notice that this thankfulness was of a social kind. "Thank we God." They all joined in it. Why, it there is a soul saved anywhere, we ought all to thank God for it! I hope that over at Walworth Road this week there may be some brought to Christ by their special meetings; and if they are so brought, glory be to God. What does it matter which church they join? We hear of God blessing Mr. Moody or somebody else right away in America. Glory be to God for it! The success of any church is our success. It is all in the family. Let us praise God for it. But some are accustomed to look with a rather jealous eye at God's blessing other denominations, or other preachers. Let us fight against this spirit. O brethren, those of us who have had the most of God's blessing, what a mercy it would be if we were cut out altogether by better and more useful men! Let our star cease to shine if brighter stars will but shine, and more souls see the blessed light, Do not those of you whom God has blessed feel that you would gladly get out of the way, and leave a clear road for somebody else, if the Lord would use them more than you? If you do not feel so, I am afraid that the Master will put you out of the way because you are not completely absorbed in his glory. When we are up to the neck in consecration, we are willing to be made nothing of, if God can be glorified thereby. While we cannot be content to see Christ glorified by others and ourselves laid on the shelf, there is a little bit of self left; and we must try to get rid of it.

At any rate, let us rejoice with those that do rejoice, and triumph in the success of our brethren. Be it ours to make joint-stock in praising God for all that he works by us all! What a sweet thing it would be if we oftener met together when God blessed us, and said, "For this cause thank we God"! We ought all to join in the hallelujahs of the church over souls saved by grace. We must not waste our time in allotting the success to this man, and to that man. Let us at once give all the glory to God. One cries, "It was Timothy that did it." "Oh, no!" says another, "Silas is the man that brought me to Christ." "Ah!" says another, "but I like to hear Paul. He is the masterpreacher. That young Timothy why, he is nothing, and Silas is nowhere by the side of Paul." Such comparisons are odious. This kind of talk is evil; for all God's servants belong to you all, and you must get all the good you can out of them; but to compare and to contrast them is to trifle. Let ministers discourage such vain talk among their people by their hearty love to each other. It is good for God's servants to get together, and to make a common heap of their spoils, and send up a joint thanksgiving for the joint results of their joint labor. "For this cause thank we God without ceasing." Yes, and we do, my brethren! I can see some here to-night who I know join with me in thanksgiving, as I join heartily with them whenever I think of them. I will bless and praise God for his exceeding mercy in saving souls by them, and by me, and by all his workers.

One thing more is to be noticed: this was a continual thanksgiving day; for the apostle says, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing." Our gratitude to God should be as lasting as life, as constant as the bounty to which it bears witness. Our American friends have one Thanksgiving Day in the year, but it was Thanksgiving Day all the year round with Paul and Silas and Timothy when they thought of the Thessalonians. They felt as it they never could leave off thanking God for the Thessalonians, for they knew by sad experience that all churches were not of the same happy kind. There were those Corinthians, for ever quarrelling and thus grieving the apostle. "Never mind," he says, "we will thank God for the Thessalonians." Oh, but there are those Galatians! They have gone off the line, bewitched by Judaizing teachers. They have wandered into "modern thought," and left the old orthodox faith. "Yes," says the apostle, "those Galatians are a burden to me; but, then, blessed be God for the Thessalonians." So I think we ought to bless God for those that are kept, and for those that are true, and for those that are faithful; and when our harp is made to hang upon the willows because of part of the work which is barren and unfruitful, yet let us not cease to praise and bless the Lord our God for that part of the work which prospers. Let us magnify him for those that are brought to know his name. "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because ye received the word of God."

This spirit of thanksgiving tends to make us stronger and stronger for labor in days to come. Yes, let us sing unto the Lord instead of sighing unto ourselves! Let us not rob him of his revenue of praise even in our most desponding moments. "Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure." What if Satan does not appear to fall from heaven? What if the devils do not seem to be subject unto us? Yet let us rather rejoice because our names are written in heaven. O child of God, fall back upon what the Lord has done, and this shall make you encounter every difficulty with a brave heart! What the Lord has done is but a token of what he is going to do. Let us hold the fort, and look out for better times. Never let us dream of fainting or retreating. Do not say, "I will give it up because of the Galatians." No, but go at it again because of the Thessalonians. Do not say, "I am worried and wearied with the Corinthians." No, but with your heart full of joy, persevere in your Master's service, because many Thessalonians have received the word, not as the word of man, but as the word of God. Hallelujah, there is still something to sing about! Bring out the trumpets: we are not yet silenced, nor shall we be while the Lord liveth. The walls of Jericho will be more likely to fall before our trumpets than our tremblings.

So I have painted for you an ancient interior you can see those three good men singing together to the praise of God as they think of their Thessalonian converts.

Ah, my hearers, you could make some of us very happy! If you gave your hearts to the Lord, how you would cheer and comfort us! And some of you that do love the Lord would do us a world of good if you would come and tell us what the Lord has done for your souls. If you have been blessed, do not hide it. If you do, you will rob us of our wages, for our wages come to us very much through our knowing that God has blessed our ministry. Think of this, and treat us fairly and kindly, even as we have sought your good. I, for one, have had such weary times of wolf-hunting that I should be heartily glad to have the quiet joy of watching the young lambs, and noting the growth of the sheep.

Now we leave the ministers, and think of the people.

II. The second sight which we have to look at is, HEARERS RECEIVING THE WORD. Let us keep close to the text. "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."

Notice, first, these people received the word of God. They were willing to hear it; they were anxious to hear it; they heard it, and they were attentive in the hearing of it. They lent a willing ear and a ready mind. They did not cavil, and dispute, and question, but they received the word of God. Happy preacher who has such people to deal with! If we have them not, let us work on till we gather them. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, let us tell the people our Lord's message. But if God favors us with receptive hearers, let us be instant in season and out of season. A good bit of soil like that ought to be most diligently ploughed and sown. Thank God, there are, I trust, many here who have received the word of God so far, that they are willing to learn, and anxious to know its meaning, and to feel its power! Among you our labor is lightened by hope, and cheered with expectation.

But next, these people had doubly received the word of God; at least, the word is twice mentioned in our version. "When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it." In the Greek those are two different words altogether. The second "received" might, perhaps, better be read, "accepted." I do not think that I should be straining a point if I read it, "Ye welcomed it." They first received it by eagerly hearing it. They wanted to know what it was all about: they were attentive to it, and wanted to understand it. When they had heard it they rejoiced, and said, "Oh, yes, yes, yes, this is the very thing we want!" They embraced it. That word will do they embraced it. They put their arms around it, and would not let it go. They were hospitable to the gospel, and said, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord: come and live in our hearts!" They assented and they consented to the word of the Lord. They first appreciated the gospel, and then they apprehended it by faith. They were like the man that was hungry in a foreign land, and he could not make the people quite understand; but as soon as ever they brought an article of food which he liked he fell to directly, and made them comprehend that he would be glad of more of that sort of thing. By his hearty reception of what they brought, the hungry man said plainly, "Bring some more of that." So we have a people about us, thank God, that are looking out for the gospel! They are always willing to hear it if men will but preach it; and when they do get it they mean business, and feed upon the word with hearty appetite. How glad I am to feed men that will eat! It is a pleasure indeed. The spiritually hungry welcome heavenly food; they take it into themselves, and receive it as the bread their soul craves after. Oh, what a mercy it is when sermons are preached which feed souls, and souls hear so as to feed thereon! It is a happy day when a full Christ and empty sinners meet. Now, I am persuaded, dear friends, that if any of you do not know the gospel really do not know it and yet are heavy of spirit and cannot rest, and are unhappy, it will be a very blessed thing for you to find out what the gospel is. I am pretty sure that many of you are in such a condition that as soon as you really know that the doctrine proclaimed to you is God's gospel, you will receive it into your very souls, and say, "There is none like it. That is the very thing we have been looking after all our lives." I think I hear one of you say, "I have been hunting after this for years. I did not know that there was anything like it, but it suits me to a turn. It fits me as a key fits a lock: it enters every ward of the lock of my soul as if it were made for me." Brethren, I bear witness that when I received the gospel of Jesus Christ, it seemed to me as if Jesus Christ had made the gospel on purpose for me, and for me only. If there had been nobody else in the world, and Jesus had made a gospel for me only, it could not have been more adapted for me. His gospel exactly suited that poor sinner who, on one snowy morning, looked to him and was lightened. My dear hearer, you will find Jesus the very Savior for you. "But I am an out-of-the-way sinner," cries one. Have you never heard of him who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on those that are out of the way? What a wonderful text that is for you you out-of-the-way ones! He can have compassion on those that are out of the way. There is a remedy in the gospel for your disease. For the particular shape your malady has taken the Lord has a special eye. His Son, Jesus, has a plaster suited for your peculiar sore, a medicine adapted to your peculiar need. May the Holy Spirit bring you to receive it as these Thessalonians did!

And then, if I may trouble you to look at the text again, you will notice that the word "it" is in italics; and so is the word "as." Let me read the text again: "When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received not the word of men." You see I have left out the "it" and the "as" because they are not really there, though they are correctly added by the translators as giving the meaning of the apostle. Verbally they are not in the text. I take the sentence out of its connection, and say that these Thessalonians received not the word of men. And I like them for that. Oh, but there were very learned men in those days! When Paul was on the earth, and a little before his day, some of the greatest natural minds that ever existed were in Greece teaching the people. Yet the Thessalonians were in such a state that they received not the word of men. They did not hearken to Plato, or accept Socrates, for there was a something about them which made them hunger for more than the philosophers could bring them. God's elect are of that mind. You may know the Lord's sheep by the fact that "a stranger will they not follow: for they know not the voice of strangers." They will not receive the word of man; it is too light, too chaffy, too frothy for them. You may put it before them in the daintiest guise, illustrate it with poetry, and prove it by the fictions of science, but they cannot feed on such wind. They receive not the word of men; they will not have it; they want something more substantial.

To come back to our translation: they received not the gospel as the word of men. In these days there are some who receive the gospel, but they receive it as the word of men. This is their spirit "Yes, I know that such is the view that is held by Mr. Black; but there is another view held by Dr. White; and another view is upheld by Professor Gray. All these different 'views' are supposed to be very much upon a par." Beloved friends, this is not our way; there is the truth of God, and there is a lie; and I want you always to feel that there is a solemn difference between the true and the false, and that no lie is of the truth. "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." If one says, "Yes," and the other says, "No," it cannot be that they are both true. Salvation is of grace, or else of works: it cannot be of both. Salvation is the work of God or else of man: it cannot be a joint-stock-company affair. There is truth, and there is error; and these are opposite the one to the other. Do not indulge yourselves in the folly with which so many are duped that truth may be error, and error may be truth; that black is white, and white is black, and that there is a whity-brown that goes in between, which is, perhaps, the best of the whole lot.

There is an essential difference between man's word and God's word, and it is fatal to mistake the one for the other. If you receive even the gospel as the word of man you cannot get the blessing out of it; for the sweetness of the gospel lies in the confidence of our heart that this is the word of God. You fall back upon Holy Scripture in the grief of an aching heart; but you cannot rest, however soft the pillow of the promise may seem to be, till you can surely say, "I know that it is of God." If you have even the shadow of a doubt about it, comfort oozes out. The life of comfort flies before doubt, even as love is said to fly out at the window when want comes in at the door. Prick the heart ay, with but a needle's point and life will go; and prick the heart of faith ay, even with the smallest doubt, and the life of joy is gone! The joy of faith, and the strength of faith, yea, and the life of faith, are gone when you distrust the word of the Lord!

Are we then infallible? No, but the Book is. Do we infallibly understand the Book? No, but the Spirit of God will teach us what he himself means; and of those truths which he teaches us we get so firm a grip that we say, "No, no; I am never going to argue about this any more! This is proved to my heart and soul beyond all further question. It is woven into my experience. It has stamped itself on my consciousness. It has done that for me which no lie could do. This is the revelation of God, and I will die sooner than I will ever, by any action of mine, permit a doubt to be cast upon it." Brethren, do you accept the word of God as infallible? Thus have I learned the gospel of Christ. Have you learned it in this fashion? Then you have received the gospel aright, but not else.

To receive the gospel as the word of man is not to receive the gospel; but to receive it as a revelation from God, true, sure, infallible, so as to risk your whole soul on it, and to feel that there is no risk this is to receive the gospel in truth. After this manner we receive it with the deepest reverence; not as a thing that I am to judge, but as that which judges me; not as a matter of opinion, but as a sure truth with which I must make my opinion agree. It makes all the difference whether we rule the truth or the truth rules us. The reverent obedience of the understanding to the word of the Lord is a great part of sanctification.

To receive the gospel as the word of God is to receive it with strong assurance. Other things may be true, but this must be true. Other things may be questioned, but this must be implicitly believed. This gospel of Jesus Christ is of God as surely as you live, and you have not received it at all if you do not know it to be the word of God.

It is to receive it with obedience, because it comes with authority: to say, "This I must yield to. Other truths I may be master of, but this is master of me. Other truths I may or may not hold they may not be of sufficient importance for me to bow before them; but this truth has God himself enshrined within it, and therefore I cannot be disobedient to the heavenly vision." With man's statements we are men, but before God's truth we are converted into little children. Is this so with you?

This gospel, if it is received as the word of God, comes with power. Ay, do not let us be misunderstood; the power we mean is by no means a common thing! It is not the force of persuasion, nor the energy of rhetoric; it is divine power the finger of God. There is still in the world a miraculous force the divine energy of the Holy Ghost. It does not give us to speak with tongues, neither do we hear it in rushing, mighty wind; but it is as unmistakable to those who have it as if it did come with such extraordinary signs. Sometimes a truth has been borne in upon my soul and I doubt not you can say the same with an inward evidence which is beyond all argument for force and certainty. Though it is not logic, we are more sure than if conquered by reasoning. We prefer it to the demonstrations of mathematics so far as our own assurance is concerned. In my own case, I could not see, but I did more than see: my inner soul without eyes beheld the essential principle of truth. I did not touch it, and yet my inner soul handled it, tasted it, fed on it. It went into the secret spring,-head and well-spring of my being, and became one of its first principles. If any man said that the Lord Jesus was not able to save, and that his gospel was not true, I snapped my fingers at him. I could not stop to answer him, because he seemed to be wilfully denying self-evident fact, and there is no answering such folly. For a man to tell me that the gospel is not true, when the Spirit seals it on my heart, is all in vain. He might as well tell me that there was no light when I stood gazing on a landscape in the brightness of the sun, or assure me that there was no such thing as air when the strong north wind was on my cheeks. He might as well tell me that there was no nutriment in food when I had just lost my hunger, and felt refreshed by what I had eaten. There are some things that we have no patience to argue about, we have done with discussion concerning them.

If you do not know spiritual things, ask God to let you know them. But you are out of court as a witness: you cannot prove a negative, nor can your negative disprove our positive. We cannot argue with you who are dead in sin, and have not received as yet spiritual senses. What can you know? Why should we dispute with the blind concerning colors? How can we discuss music with the deaf?

"Oh," says one, "but I do not believe in your spiritual experience!" I did not say you did; on the contrary, I expected you not to believe in it. But what does that prove? Why, only that you have no spiritual perception! That you have not perceived spiritual things is true; but it is no proof that there are none to perceive. The whole case is like that of the Irishman who tried to upset evidence by non-evidence. Four witnesses saw him commit a murder. He pleaded that he was not guilty, and wished to establish his innocence by producing forty persons who did not see him do it. Of what use would that have been? So, if forty people declare that there is no power of the Holy Ghost going with the word, this only proves that the forty people do not know what others do know. If there are four of us that do know it well, we shall not cease our witness. We receive God's word as the word of God, because it comes to us with that power which effectually worketh in them that believe. It works in us a horror of sin, a detestation of self-confidence, and an aspiration after holy and heavenly things. It works in us love to God and good-will to men. It works in us aspirations after the divine. It works in us victory over evil from day to day; and while it does that, the proof of it is within us. The witness and seal of the truth of the gospel are within our own character and being and we cannot therefore give up our confidence. People who have come to this pass make glad their ministers. Paul, Silas, and Timothy are all happy men when surrounded by hearers who have received the gospel in all its divine authority and power.

III. Now my time has gone, otherwise my third point would have been a very interesting one. These three men are rejoicing in CONVERTS WHO ARE EXHIBITING A FAMILY LIKENESS.

I only call your attention to the fact that the apostle says, "Ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus." Here are people converted in Judaea, and they are of a strongly Jewish type; quite another set of people over at Thessalonica become converted to Christ, and though they are thoroughly of the Greek type, they are very like the converts in Judaea. They know nothing about the law of Moses, they have been heathens, worshipping idols; and yet, when they are converted, the strange thing is, that they are exceedingly like those Jews over yonder, to whom idolatry was an abomination. Greek believers are like Hebrew believers. They have never spoken to one another, and nobody has been there to tell them the peculiarities of Christians, and yet a family likeness is distinctly visible. Were you never startled with this, that if, in the preaching of the gospel to-day, we were to bring to the Lord Jesus a person of high rank, and another of the very lowest extraction, they have the same experience, and upon the greatest of subjects they talk in the same way? "Oh, but," you say, "they pick up certain phrases." No, no! They differ in speech: the likeness is in heart and character. I frequently meet with converts who have not attended this place of worship more than half-a-dozen times, but they have been converted, and when they come to tell the story of their inner life you would suppose that they had been born and bred among us, and had learned all our ways; for, though they do not use the phrases which we use, yet they say the same things. The fact is, we are all alike lost and ruined, and we are born again in the same way, and we find the Savior in the same way, and we rejoice in him when we do find him after much the same fashion, and express ourselves very much after the same style. Believers differ in many things, and yet they are alike in the main things. There are no two exactly alike in all the family of God, and yet the likeness to the Elder Brother is to be seen more or less in each one.

It is to me one of the evidences of the truth and divine nature of the work of grace in the heart, that if you take a Hottentot in his kraal, and he is converted, and you take a university man, who has won all the degrees of learning, and he is converted, yet you would not know Sambo from the Doctor when they begin to talk about the things of God. The Hottentot's English may be broken, but his theology is sound. The uneducated man's words may limp, but his heart will leap. Ruin, redemption, and regeneration are the chief subjects in every case. When I am talking sometimes with young converts, and they put their statements oddly and ignorantly, I am reminded of Father Taylor, when he was getting old. The old man sometimes lost the thread of his discourse, and whenever he did so, he used to say, "There, I cannot find the end of that sentence, but I am bound for the kingdom! Brethren, I am bound for the kingdom!" Off he went to something else; for though he could not complete the paragraph he was bound for the kingdom. Some brethren and sisters cannot see to the end of their own experience, but they are bound for the kingdom. They cannot put this and that together to make it ship-shape: but you can see that they are bound for the kingdom. There is the same tear of repentance, the same glance of faith, the same thrill of joy, the same song of confidence: each one according to his measure enjoys the same life, if he is indeed bound for the kingdom. The babe is like the man, and the man reminds you of the babe. We are one spirit in Christ Jesus.

I will not enlarge, except to say that it makes us sing for joy when we can see in ourselves a likeness to the children of God. We, too, resemble the early saints in our experiences. Opposition and tribulation come to us in our measure as they did to them. There are the same afflictions, the same persecutions, the same trials, wherever the work of Christ goes on; but there is the same mighty God to carry on the work of grace, and the same promises of grace to be fulfilled to every believer.

Dear friends, are you believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are, joy and rejoice with me; but if you are not, oh, how I wish you were! Whatever comforts of life you enjoy, you are missing the only thing that makes life worth having. If you are not yet resting on Christ Jesus, you have not yet found out the kernel of the nut. You are boring away at the hard shell of life, and unless you turn to Christ you will die worrying and wearying over the shell, and you will never taste the sweet kernel. If you did but know our Lord Jesus, if you did but trust him, if you did but find salvation in him, then you would find that if earth cannot be heaven, it can become marvellously like it. The earnest of our everlasting inheritance may be enjoyed even here. Would God you would seek my Lord and Master, for if you seek him he will be found of you! What a pleasure it would be if every one at this time would receive the gospel as the word of God! Spirit of God, grant that it may be so, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

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PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

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HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 433, 483, 331.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

There is a special interest in examining the epistles to the Thessalonians, more particularly the first, because, in point of fact, it was the earliest of the letters of the apostles; and as the first on the part of Paul, so also to an assembly found in the freshness of its faith, and in the endurance of no small suffering for Jesus' sake. This has given a colour to the character of the epistle. Besides, the very truth which most strongly characterized the assembly there the habitual waiting for the Lord Jesus was that which the enemy perverted into a means of danger. It is always thus. Whatever God has specially given to the church, whatever He has caused to be brought out in any marked manner at any time, is that which we may expect Satan to sap and undermine with all diligence. We might have supposed, à priori, that any characteristic truth would be that in which the children of God would be more earnest, and strong, and united. Undoubtedly it is that for which they are specially responsible; but for this very reason they are the object of the continual and subtle attacks of Satan in respect of it.

Now these epistles (for both in fact show us the same truth, but on different sides, guarding it against a different means used by the enemy to injure the saints) present on their very face, in great fulness of application, the hope of the Christian, and that which surrounds it and flows from it. At the same time, the Spirit of God in no way limits Himself to that one subject in all its parts; but as we receive the truth in its fulness in Christ, so we have the great elements of Christianity, as well as the attractive state of the believers in Thessalonica, formed by the hope which animated them, and by the truth in general seen in its light. The apostle writes to them in a manner to confirm their faith: "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ." He does not mean by this to set forth any great advance, any high standing on the part of the believer, as has been sometimes drawn from these words, but rather the contrary. It was the infantine condition of the assembly of the Thessalonians which appears to have suggested this mode of address from the apostle. Just as the babe of the family would be an especial object of a father's concern more particularly if peril surrounded it, so does the apostle cheer the church of the Thessalonians, by speaking of their being in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Compare John 10:28-29.) It is as children, not merely in the sense of being born of God, but as babes; and the Spirit of God views the assembly of the Thessalonians in this way. As a proof that this is correct, it may be noticed that there does not appear at this time to have been any regular oversight established in their midst. There is no hint of elders appointed here as yet, any more than at Corinth. There was no small vigour; but, at the same time, it had the stamp of youth. The fresh flow of affection filled their hearts, and the beauty of the truth had but just dawned, as it were, on their souls. This, and more of kindred character, may be traced very clearly. And we find here an instructive lesson how to deal with the entrance of error, and the dangers that threaten the children of God, more particularly such as may be comparatively unformed in the common faith.

After his salutation the apostle, as usual, gives thanks to God for them all, making mention of them in his prayers, as he says: "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." From the outset we find the eminently practical shape which the truth had taken; as indeed must always be the case where there is the care and activity of the Spirit of God. There is no truth that is not given both to form the heart, and to guide the steps of the saints, so that there may be a living and a fruitful service flowing to God from it. Such was the case with these Thessalonians; their work was the work of faith, and their labour had love for its spring; and more than that, their hope was one which had proved its divine strength by the power of endurance which it had given them in the midst of their afflictions. It was really the hope of Christ Himself, as it is said "patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." Thus, we see, all was kept in conscience before God; for this is the meaning of the words "in the sight of God and our Father."

All this brings them before the soul of the apostle in confidence, as being simple-hearted witnesses, not only of the truth, but of Christ the Lord. "For our gospel," he says, "came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." The apostle could unburden himself, and speak freely. With the Corinthians he could not so open his heart: there was such fleshly vaunting among them that the apostle speaks to them with no small reserve. But here it is otherwise; and as there was fervent love in their hearts and ways, so the apostle could speak out of the very same love; for assuredly love was not less on his part. Hence he could enlarge with joy on that which was before him the manner in which the gospel had come to them; and this is of no small consequence in the ways of God. We should by no means pass by a due consideration of the manner in which God deals either with individual souls, or with saints, in any special place. For all things are of God. The effect of a storm of persecution, accompanying the introduction of the gospel, could not have been without its weight in forming the character of the saints who received the truth; and, yet more, the way in which God had wrought particularly in him who was the bearer of His message at that time would not be without its modifying influence in giving such a direction to it as would be for the Lord's glory and praise. I doubt not, therefore, that the apostle's entrance among them, the notable accompanying circumstances of it, the faith and love that had been then tried of course, habitually there, but, nevertheless, put at that juncture to the proof to a remarkable degree at Thessalonica had all their source in God's good guidance; so that those that were to follow in the wake of the same faith, who would have to stand and suffer in the name of the same Lord Jesus at a later day, were thus strengthened and fitted, as no other way could have done so well, for what was to befall them.

The apostle, therefore, does not hesitate to say, "Ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia." And this was so true that the apostle did not need to say anything in proof of it. The very world wondered how the word wrought among these Thessalonians. Men were struck by it; and what impressed even people outside was this that they not only abandoned their idols, but henceforth were serving the one living and true God, and were waiting for His Son from heaven. Such was the testimony, and an uncommonly bright one it is. But, indeed, simplicity is the secret for enjoying the truth, as well as for receiving it; and we shall find always that it is the sure mark of God's power in the soul by His word and Spirit. For there are two things that characterize divine teaching: real simplicity, on the one hand, and, on the other, that definiteness which gives the inward conviction to the Christian that what he has is the truth of God. It might be too much to expect the development, or, at any rate, a large exercise of such precision as this among the Thessalonians as yet; but. one may be sure that if there was true simplicity at first, it would lead into distinctness of judgment ere long. We shall find some features of this kind for our guidance, and I hope to remark upon them as they come before me.

But, first of all, take notice that the first description which is given of them, in relation to the coming of the Lord, is simply awaiting the Son of God from heaven. We do not well to fasten upon this expression more than it was intended to convey. It does not appear to me to mean anything more than the general attitude of the Christian in relation to Him whom he expects from above. It is the simple fact of their looking for the same Saviour who had already come, whom they had known that Jesus who had died for them and was raised again from the dead, their Deliverer from the wrath to come. Thus they were waiting for this mighty and gracious Saviour to come from heaven. How He was coming they knew not; what would be the effects of His coming they knew little. They of course knew nothing about the time, no soul does; it is reserved in the hands of our God and Father; but they were, as became babes, waiting for Him according to His own word. Whether He would take them back into the heavens, or at once enter on the kingdom under the whole heaven, I am persuaded they did not know at this time.

It seems therefore a mistake to press this text, as if it necessarily taught Christ's coming in order to translate saints into heaven. It leaves the aim, mode, and result an entirely open matter. We may find ourselves sometimes forcing scripture in this way; but be assured, it is true wisdom to draw from scripture no more than it distinctly undertakes to convey. It is much better, if with fewer texts, to have them more to the purpose. We shall find ere long the importance of not multiplying proof-texts for any particular aim, but of seeking rather from God the definite use of each scripture. Now all that the apostle has here in view is to remind the Thessalonian saints that they were waiting for that same Deliverer, who was dead and risen, to come from heaven. It is likely that as His coming is presented in the character of Son of God, it may suggest more to the spiritual mind, and probably did suggest more to them at a later day. I am only speaking of what is important to bear in mind at their first conversion. It was the simple truth that the divine person, who loved them and died for them, was coming back from heaven. What would be the manner and the consequences they had yet to learn. They were waiting for Him who had proved His love for them deeper than death or judgment; and He was coming: how could they but love Him and wait for Him?

The second chapter pursues the subject of the apostle's ministry in connection with their conversion. He had not left them when they had been brought to the knowledge of Christ. He had laboured among them. "For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: but even after we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention." The apostle had gone on in persevering faith, undisturbed by that which had followed. He was not to be turned aside from the gospel. It had brought trouble on him, but he persevered. "For our exhortation," he says, "was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness, God is witness: nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ."

Here we see how entirely his ministry had been above the ordinary motives of men. There was no self-seeking It was not a question of exalting himself, or of earthly personal gain; nor, on the other hand, was there the indulging of the passions, either gross or refined None of these things had a place in his heart, as he could appeal to God solemnly. Their own consciences were witnesses of it. But, more than that, love and tenderness of care had wrought toward them. "We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." What a picture of gracious interest in souls, and of this, not in Him who has the full expression of divine love, but in a man of like passions with ourselves! For if we must ever look for the perfection of it in Christ alone, it is good for us to see the life and love of Christ in one who had to contend with the very same evils which we have in our nature.

Here, then, we have the lovely picture of the grace of the apostle in watching over these young Christians; and this he presents in a two-fold form. First, when in the most infantine condition, as a nurse he cherished them; but when they grew a little, he pursued his course, "labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, preaching unto you the gospel of God. As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children." As they advanced spiritually, so the character of ministering to their need was changed; but it was the very same love in exhorting them as a father, which had cared for them as a nurse. This may be the beau idéal of a true pastor; but it is the picture of a real apostle of Christ, of Paul among the Thessalonians, whose one desire was that they should walk worthy of God, who had called them to His kingdom and glory. "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."

Then follows a sketch of that suffering which faith entails, as sooner or later it must come; and as he had charged them to walk worthy of God, who had cheered them with the prospect of the unseen and eternal things so he would have them to prove by their constancy and endurance that it was God's word which so powerfully wrought in them, spite of all man could do. "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: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets" not exactly their own prophets, but the prophets "and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles." What a contrast with the grace of God! The people who had the prestige of religion could not endure that the gospel should go to the despised Gentiles, their enemies. Yet why should they have been so careful of it, since they did not believe in it themselves? How came to pass this their sudden interest in the spiritual welfare of the heathen? Whence originated this unwearied zeal to deprive others of the gospel they themselves scorned? If the gospel were such an irrational and immoral and trumpery matter as they professed to consider it, how was it that they spared no pains to prejudice men against it, and to persecute its preachers? Men do not usually feel thus do not set themselves so bitterly and continuously against that which does not prick their consciences. One can understand it where there is the sense of a good of which they are not prepared to avail themselves: the rebellious heart vents itself then in implacable hatred at seeing it go to others, who peradventure would receive it gladly. It is man always the enemy, the persistent antagonist of God, and more particularly of His grace. But it is religions man, as the Jew was, here and everywhere man with a measure of traditional truth, who feels thus sore at the operations of God in His mighty grace.

But the apostle as he had shown us men the objects of the gospel, and the constant interest of grace in Christians, contrasted with those who hindered because they hated the grace of God, so he also lets them know the affectionate desire that was not weakened by absence from it, but rather the contrary. "But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire." There is nothing so real upon earth as the love of Christ reproduced by the Spirit in the Christian. "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us." There is a reality for evil in Satan, the great personal enemy, as much in a certain sense as there is in Christ for good. Let us not forget it.

On the other hand, what is the encouragement to suffering love and toil along the road? "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?" It matters little what the circumstances maybe in regard to true ministry in the grace of Christ. Trial shows how superior it is to circumstances. Bodily presence or absence only tests it. Afflictions only prove its strength. Distance only gives room to its expression to those who are absent. The unfailing and only adequate comfort is the certain re-union of those who minister, and those who are ministered to, in the day when all opposition will vanish, and around the board where all the fruits of true ministry, whether of a nurse or of a father that exhorts those who are growing up in the truth, will be tasted in the joy of our Lord. The apostles and their companions in labour were content to wait for the reward of loving oversight exercised among the saints of God.

But this did not in the slightest degree hinder the apostle's tender sympathy with those who were pressed down by any special sufferings. For Christianity is not dreamy or sentimental, but most real in its power of adapting itself to every need. It is the true deliverance from all that is fictitious, whether on the side of reason or of imagination in the things of God. Superstition has its perils; but quite as much has the dogmatism of mere intellect. Scripture raises the believer above both; yet the apostle shows what anxiety of feeling was his about the Thessalonians. He did not doubt the Lord's watchful eye. Nevertheless all his heart was in movement about them. He had sent Timotheus when he could not go himself; and he was rejoiced to hear the good account which he thus gleaned through him, for he dreaded lest they might be shaken by the great wave of trouble that was sweeping over them. No doubt they had been prepared for this in a measure; for he had told them, when with them, that they were appointed thereunto.

But now, how cheered was his spirit to find that the tempter had been foiled! Timotheus had come with good tidings of their faith and love. Spite of all, they had "good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you." Love was still fervent, as in him so in them. "Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." But in the midst of thanksgiving he prays for them.

We may notice two prayers particularly in this. epistle. The first occurs at the end of 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13, and the second at the end of the last chapter. The first is more particularly a review of the entrance of the gospel among the Thessalonian saints and of his own ministry, which was no doubt meant to be suggestive to them of the true character and method of serving the Lord in dealing with all men. He winds it up with prayer to the effect: "Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints."

Here at once we come to very distinct guidance for our thoughts; and this in more ways than one. He prays not that they may be established in holiness, in order that they might love one another, but that they might abound in love, in order that they might be established in holiness. Love always precedes holiness. It is true from conversion from the beginning of the work in the soul and it is also true to the last. What first raises the heart to God is some faint sense of His love in Christ. I do not say anything at all like the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit given us. There may then be no power to rest on divine love; there can be no abounding in love in such a state. But, for all that, there is a hope of love if it be the feeblest thought; if it be only that "there is bread enough and to spare" for the merest prodigal that betakes himself to the father's house. If we look at God and Christ, and at the grace that suits the Father's counsels and the Son's work, I admit all this is a scanty measure a poor thing on their part, to give a servant's portion in such a house. But it was no small prize for the heart of a sinner, darkened and narrowed by selfishness, and the indulgence of lust and passion. And what is sin in every form but selfishness? We know how this shuts up the heart, and how it destroys every expectation of goodness in others. The grace of God, contrariwise, works and kindles, it may be, a very little spark at first, but still a beginning of what is truly great, good, and eternal. Accordingly, as we read, the prodigal starts from the far country, and cannot rest though there was incomparably more earnestness on the part of the father to meet him, as well we know; for it was not the prodigal that ran to the father, but the father to the prodigal. And thus it is always. The same true working of love, however at first dimly seen, that wakes the sinner from his wretched bed of sin for rest it cannot be called this rouses him from the guilty dreams of death. On the other hand, it is the fulness of love which gives the heart to enter into the riches of grace towards us, shedding abroad, not an earnest of it, but itself in the heart. And this holiness, not in desire only, but real and deep, keeps pace with love.

It is not, of course, my present task to unfold the wonderful way in which that love has been proved to us. It does not come before me now, nor is it for me to leave my theme even to speak of its display in Christ, by whom God commends His own love to us, in that, while yet sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, till we can joy in Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. But I affirm that all practical holiness is the fruit of the love to which the heart has surrendered, and which it receives simply and enjoys fully. This, then, is true of the soul that is only seeking to know the grace of God.

But here he earnestly desires their growth in holiness, and prays for them that they might "increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness." And the manner in which this is connected with the coming of Christ here is very noticeable. He supposes it to be flowing out of love, and going on in holiness, proceeding unbroken, until the saint finds himself at last in the display of glory; not when Christ comes to take us up, but when God brings us with Him. Why (let me ask) is there not presented His coming to receive the saints in this chapter, as in the next? Because our walking in love and holiness is the question in the hand of the Holy Spirit; and this has the most intimate connection with Christ's appearing, when we come with Him. And for this there is a simple reason. Where the walk comes in, we have clearly responsibility before the saints. Now the appearing of the Lord Jesus is that which will manifest us in the results of responsibility. Then we shall each see, when self-love can no longer darken our judgment of ourselves, or our estimate of others, when nothing but the truth shall remain and be displayed of all that his been wrought in us, or done by us. For the Lord will assuredly come to translate us to His presence; but He will also cause us, to appear with Him in glory, when He appears; and when this moment arrives, it will be made manifest how far we have been faithful, and how far faithless. All will be turned to His own glory. Accordingly then here in1 Thessalonians 3:1-13; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13 we see the reason why, as it appears to. me, the Spirit directs attention to His coming with all His saints, not for them.

The next portion, or second half of the epistle, opens with practical exhortation. The early part insists on purity; then follow a few words on love. It might seem strange that it should be needful to guard these saints, walking as we have seen so simply and delightfully, against unclean offences even in the closest relations of life that Christian men should be warned against fornication and adultery; but we know that so desperate is the evil of the flesh, that no circumstances nor position can secure, yea, even the joy of the blessing of God's grace, without * exercise of conscience and self-judgment; and hence these solemn admonitions from the Lord. It was particularly needed at that time and in Greece, because such sins were rather sanctioned than judged in the heathen world. Even mankind in later days have profited enormously by the change. They can now no doubt enrich themselves with truth, and talk largely about holiness; but how little they knew of either before they borrowed from Scripture! it is all stolen goods, every bit of real value. The men of whom they are the successors were unclean to the last degree. The Aristotles and Platos were really not fit for decent company. I admit our Grecians would scowl at such an estimate, or scorn it; but they lack the elements for forming an adequate moral appraisal, or they do not look the facts in the face, plain enough as they are. If knowingly they endorse or make light of such morals as Plato counted desirable for his republic, it cannot be doubted where they themselves are. Undoubtedly there were some fine speculations, but nothing more; for men thought that talking about morality would do as well as the thing itself. It is Christ, and Christ alone, that has brought in the very truth of God in word and deed. It was unknown to man before: still more the ultimate proof in the cross that He is love. Christ first displayed absolute purity in the very nature which had revelled in lust and passion heretofore.

But the Thessalonians in general might not mated its importance fully, being young in the truth. There was doubtless good reason why the apostle in writing to them had to lay great stress on moral purity. The fact is, that it was a matter of course then for men to live just as they listed. There was no restriction, except so far as mere human vengeance or punishments of the law might deter them. Men indulged themselves in anything they could do safely. And so indeed it is to this day, except so far as Christianity or the profession of it prevents them.

After speaking of purity, the apostle treats of loving one another, and adds that there was no need to say much about it. They themselves were taught of God; they knew what they were called to in brotherly love. But he does exhort them to be quiet and to mind their own business, working with their own hands, as he not only commanded them when in their midst, but exemplified it from day to day himself. He had it deeply at heart that they should walk reputably toward those without, and have need of no one or thing.

But we come in the next place to a main topic of the epistle. They had fallen into a serious mistake as to some of the brethren that had fallen asleep. They feared that these departed saints would miss much at the coming of the Lord in fact, that they would lose their part in the joyful meeting between the Lord Jesus and His saints. This at once shows us that we must not estimate the Thessalonian believers according to that standard which these mistakes helped to elicit from the Holy Ghost. We have the advantage of the entire development of the truth, much of which was the inspired correction of evils and errors. The New Testament, you must remember, was not then written; a very small part one gospel, or at most perhaps two, and not one of the epistles. Thus, except the teaching that they had received from the apostle during his comparatively short stay in Thessalonica, they had little, or no means of further instruction in the truth, and we know how easily that which is only heard passes away. We may learn from this the invaluable blessing we have, not merely in the word, but in the written word of God scripture. However, at this time, for the most part, the New Testament books were not yet written. It was that part of scripture which most of all concerned these saints. We must not, therefore, wonder that they were ignorant of what had regard to their brethren who had fallen asleep. On the other hand, it is not meant that they entertained any fears of their being lost. This could not arise in the minds of souls grounded in what the apostle calls our gospel; and no charge is so much as hinted of any failure in this respect. Still a delay might have been conceived before they entered into full blessedness. One can understand their perplexity for want of light on what the Lord would do with them. They did not know whether they would then enter the kingdom, or how, or when. These were questions unsolved.

The Holy Ghost meets their difficulties now, and tells them to this effect: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Clearly we hear again of the Lord coming, and bringing these saints with Him. It is not the Lord, however, receiving them to Himself, but bringing them with Him. That is, we have once more the Lord coining in glory with His saints already glorified. When that moment comes, at any rate, they will be with Him. Such is the first statement of the apostle. But this very truth, which made part of their old difficulty, raises another difficulty. How could the saints that had fallen asleep come with Him now? How could all the saints appear in glory with Christ? They seem to have understood that when the Lord came, there would be saints here below waiting for Christ; and that these would somehow be with Him in glory. But they were utterly perplexed as to the saints that had fallen asleep. They did not know what to make of the interim if indeed they suspected an interim. They did not know the process by which the Lord would deal with those that had died; and it is now explained.

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [shall in no wise anticipate] them which are asleep." If they had remained alive, no difficulty had been felt in the case. Some in our day seem to feel a good deal surprised at such a difficulty as this; but the truth is that the sorrow of the Thessalonians arose from the simplicity of their faith, and men's feeling no difficulty now is partly owing to their lack of any genuine faith in it. Had they more faith, they might have their perplexities too, not at the end, but, as usual, at the beginning. It was certainly so with the Thessalonians at this time. It is always the effect of faith at first. Newly-entered light gives occasion to the perception of much which we cannot solve at once. But God comes in to the aid of the believer, and in His own grace and time solves one difficulty after another. Then the apostle clears it up thus: "We which are alive and remain unto the coming [or presence] of the Lord," etc. The word "coming" means the fact of being present in contrast with absence. "We which are alive and remain unto the presence of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep." I take the liberty of changing the word "prevent," which is old English, into a phrase which gives the same meaning as "prevent" when the translation was made.

We "shall not precede them which are asleep." Thus, suppose we are waiting for Christ to come, and that He comes, we shall not be before those saints that have departed previously. How can this be? It is answered in the next verse. "For the Lord himself," says he, "shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together. with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Thus it is evident that, if there be a moment of difference, it is in favour of the sleepers, and not of those which remain alive. Those that are asleep are first wakened up. Bear in mind, sleep is for the body; the soul is never said or supposed in scripture to be asleep. But those who are asleep in their graves will be wakened up by the shout ( κέλευσμα ) of the Lord Jesus; for the word means the call of a commander to his men that follow, or of an admiral to his sailors. It is from one who has a relation to others under his authority; it is not a vague call to those that may not own his command, but to his own people.

It is evident, therefore, that the notion entertained by some, that this shout must be heard by men in general, is refuted by these words, as well as other facts. Men in general have no such relation to the Lord. It is a shout that is heard by those to whom it appertains. Not a word, therefore, includes but, rather the contrary, shuts out those to whom Christ stands in no such connection. In other words, it is the Lord's call to His own, and accordingly the dead in Christ rise first, as the immediate fruit of it. "Then we, the living that remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." This at once dispels the difficulty as to those who were asleep. So far from missing the moment of meeting between the Lord and His own, they rise first; we immediately join them; and thus both together are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with Him.

Then the apostle, having left with the Thessalonians the comfort of this about their brethren, turns to the day of the Lord, or His appearing. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." "The day of the Lord" is invariably in Scripture that period when the Lord will come in manifest and awful judgment of sinful men. It is never applied to any dealing with the Christian as on the earth. We find a very particular application of it, which seems connected with the saints. This is not exactly called the day of the Lord, but "the day of Christ." Confessedly there is a connection between the two. The day of Christ means that aspect of the day of the Lord, in which those who are in Christ will have their special place in the kingdom assigned. Consequently, where it is a question of the fruit of labour in the service of Christ, reward of faithfulness, or anything of the kind, "the day of Christ" is mentioned.

But "the day of the Lord," as such, is invariably the day of the Lord's dealing in judgment with man as such on the earth. Of that day, then, the apostle felt no need to write. It was already known perfectly that the day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night. This was a matter of Old Testament statement and phraseology. All the prophets speak of it. If you search from Isaiah to Malachi, you will find that the day of Jehovah is that moment of divine intervention when man is no longer allowed to pursue his own path, when the Lord God will deal with the world's system in all its parts, when the idols of the nations all perish together with their benighted votaries. But the Lord Himself shall be exalted in that day, and His people shall be brought into their true place, and the Gentiles shall accept theirs. This will be the time of displayed divine government. Jehovah will take Zion as the central seat of His earthly throne, and all peoples shall submit to His authority in the person of Christ.

Hence, therefore, the apostle, when he speaks of the day of the Lord, alludes to it as already too notorious to need fresh words about it. The Thessalonians did not require to be instructed as to that. But this makes most plain the distinction of the manner in which the saints and mankind will be dealt with. When he treats of the Lord's coming, they require to be instructed; where he speaks about the day of Jehovah, they do not. The day of Jehovah was matter of common knowledge from the Old Testament. To a scribe instructed thus, there was no doubt about its bearing. Not even a Jew disputed about it, and of course a Christian would be subject to the testimony of God in the Old Testament. But a Christian might not know that which most of all it was desirable for him to understand, the manner in which his own proper hopes would link themselves with the day of Jehovah.

It is exactly there many make such utter confusion; for they do not distinguish between the hope of the Christian and "the day" for the world. And this lets out a great secret the heart's desire to think of the two things together. We can all understand that people would like to have the best of both. But it cannot be done. Hence in speaking of the day of the Lord (and I draw your attention to it, because we shall find its importance in the next epistle) he says, "When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child." He does not say "you," but "they." Why this difference? When he is speaking about the presence of the Lord, he says "you," "we;" but when treating of the day of Jehovah, he says "they."

Indeed, the apostle excludes the believer; for he says, "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." Besides, he gives a moral reason, "Ye are children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." Salvation here means complete deliverance not yet come the redemption of the 'body and not that of the soul alone. For Christ "died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him."

Carefully remember that waking or sleeping here has reference to the body; it has no reference at all to anything of moral state. It is impossible that the Spirit of God should say that, whether in a right state or wrong we should live together with Him. The Holy Spirit never makes light of the condition of sin. Nor is there anything more foreign to the tone of scripture, than that the Spirit of God should treat with indifference the question whether a saint was in a good or a bad state. He had no doubt just used the words "wake or sleep" in another sense; but he seems to me to assume the impossibility of a saint applying them in a moral sense when he pursues the subject farther. In verse 6, for instance, the sleeping and watching are moral states; but when we come down to verse 10, they refer to the question of life or death in the body, and not to the saints' ways. In fact this manner of taking up words, and applying them in another sense, will be found to be one of the characteristics of the abrupt, animated, and forcible style of the apostle.

I should not make the remark if I had not known excellent men sometimes in considerable danger from overlooking this, and taking scripture in a narrow and pseudo-literal sense. But this is not the way to understand the Bible. It is one of the great misuses to which a concordance exposes those who are caught by verbal analogies, instead of entering into the scope of thought real meaning.

We shall live with Him then. "Wherefore," he says, comfort yourselves to ether, and edify one another." Then he gives them certain instructions; and I add this observation, which is one of practical importance. He calls upon these young believers to know those who laboured among them, and were over them, or took the lead in the Lord, and admonished them. They were to esteem them very highly in love for their work, being at peace at the same time among themselves.

This exhortation, always right, has, to my own mind, great wisdom and worth for us now; for the simple reason that, so far, we stand in a measure, as to circumstances though not from the same cause with these Thessalonian saints. Assuredly they were in a comparatively infantine condition, quite as much or more than those I am now addressing. Yet if saints, no matter how informed, then had among them those that laboured and were over them in the Lord, surely the same Lord gives still the same helps and governments. He raises up and sends His workmen in the world, and those who bring in that moral power and wisdom which enable some to take the lead. Hence it is beyond just controversy from the case of the Thessalonians (and it is not alone) that for some to be over others in the Lord did not depend on apostolical appointment. It is a defective and even mistaken idea to restrict it to this, though it is admitted that the apostles used to appoint such elders. But the essence , of what we find here is, that in that appointment spiritual power and might did show itself in this way; and that the greatest of the apostles exhorts the saints to acknowledge those who were thus and only thus over them in the Lord, altogether independently of any apostolic act. No doubt the due external appointment was desirable and important in its place. But what of places (and I would add, what of times) where it could not be had?

These are our circumstances now; for no matter how much we might welcome and value such outward appointment, we cannot have it. Without the proper scriptural authority, who is to appoint? Any body unquestionably, and leaders especially, might imitate Paul and Barnabas, or Titus. But, assuredly, mere imitation is nothing, or worse; and those that take the lead, or are qualified to do so, are the persons to be appointed not to appoint, if we really bow to the Lord. More than this direct authority from the Lord for the purpose was needed. Where is it now? The moment you make an appointing power of your own, it is evident that its authority cannot rise above its source. If it is only a humanly given authority, it can exercise no more than a human power. But the apostle or rather the prescient Spirit of God meets various contingencies in the exhortation, and shows that a company of believers, even though not long gathered, might have more than one in their midst qualified to lead the rest, and entitled to respect and love on the score of their work, as thus labouring. If there be such now, (and who will deny it?) are the saints not called on to know them? Are there none who labour among them none that take the lead among them in the Lord? It is evident that there ought to be no flinching from such a truth as this. For the present and long-existing confusion of Christendom in no way neutralizes it, but rather creates a fresh reason for adhering to it, as to all scripture. No doubt it may not be always pleasant to high-minded men; but be assured, it is a thing of no small moment in its place.

Again, under the circumstances of Thessalonica, as there must have been danger of headiness, the apostle calls on the brethren to watch against unruly ways. The two things would be likely to go together: peace promotes love and respect. Disorderly folk are apt to know nobody over them in the Lord. Hence he calls on all to admonish them, to comfort the fainthearted, to support the weak, to be patient toward all. Then follows a cluster of other exhortations on which I need not dwell now. My object is not so much to insist on the exhortatory part of the epistle, as to present the general thread of design that runs though each, so as to give a comprehensive view of its structure.