The Thessalonians’ Faith and Courageous Steadfastness (1 Thessalonians 2:13–16)

Having pointed to the signs of the divine character of Gospel teaching in the circumstances of his sojourn among the Thessalonians, the Apostle now passes to depicting how the word of preaching was received by the Thessalonians, indicating here too the signs of its divine dignity. (aa) You yourselves, he says, received our word as divine, and therefore had grounds to be assured of this at the time; (bb) the received word is at work in you—this is a continually ongoing assurance of its extraordinary power and superhuman dignity (1 Thess. 2:13); (cc) your lot, after receiving the word, places you in the same rank as all the confessors of the divine character of the Gospel—a sign that it is not of human origin, for otherwise no one would be persecuted (1 Thess. 2:14). The conclusion from all this is one: stand firm in faith, as indeed you do. Verses 1 Thess. 2:15 and 1 Thess. 2:16 appear as an appendix. But since they, though briefly, yet fully and powerfully depict the ever-present character of the stubbornly unbelieving Jews and determine their final fate, one cannot but presume that the holy Apostles had a particular motive for saying this—namely, to cut off that wavering of faith which was occasioned by the following thought: the Jews are your own people; they should be the ones to believe you, yet they persecute you. The Apostle says to this: do not look to them; they have always been like this; that is why their end will be what it will be.

1 Thess. 2:13. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

“For this reason.” What reason? If related to what stands immediately above, it will be—for the reason that God has called you into His kingdom and glory. At this everyone should rejoice. We too rejoice, giving thanks to God, that by this calling you believed our word as the word of God, without which one cannot be partakers of God’s saving economy for mankind, proclaimed by us. By this thought the Apostle continues to testify to his fatherly love for the Thessalonians. But it is better to relate it to all that preceded (1 Thess. 2:1–12). “You know our entrance to you”—you know how many sacrifices were made by us, how much labor, attention, and heartfelt care was expended. You believed and crowned our efforts with success; we rejoice at this and give thanks to God. Such a connection of the words “for this reason” is seen by the holy Chrysostom, and after him by Oecumenius and Theophylact. Chrysostom writes: “It is impossible to say, he says (the Apostle), that we alone in all things behaved blamelessly, while you did something inconsistent with how we treated you—for you listened to us not with the disposition with which one listens to men, but you heeded us as if God Himself were instructing you.”

“We give thanks to God.” The Apostle’s aim is to point to the Thessalonians’ conviction of the divine character of the word as a proof of that divine character. He gives thanks to God for such conviction, in order to show that it was placed in their hearts by God Himself; and thus, by attributing an unworldly origin to their conviction, he sets forth its superhuman importance and awakens in them an obligation to remain faithful to it.

“Because when you received the word of God’s hearing from us, you welcomed it…” “By ‘the word of hearing’ he means the preaching in which one believes by means of hearing. For, ‘how will they believe if they have not heard?’ (Rom. 10:14)” (Theophylact). Since “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17), God was pleased that there should be preaching and sent preachers. It pleased God that all should hear His word. Those who are granted this are granted to hear the utterance proceeding from God and heard by God’s arrangement. The holy Apostle thanks God for the Thessalonians: that they received the word, that they were given it, that it reached them and they agreed to hear it—for this too is from God; and that, having received the word in this way, they received it “as the word of God”—which again is evidently from God. Having received the word by hearing—the word that came to you from outside—you received it into your heart not “as the word of men,” though it came through men, but as the word of God. “From us you received the word—yet it is not ours but God’s, for God speaks through us” (Photius, cited by Oecumenius). In hearing our word, you felt the extraordinary power of the word, and acknowledged that it is not of the earth but divine. Together with the word, light entered into your souls and drove out the darkness; an invisible power entered and awakened in you the energy of your dormant spiritual forces. This was “God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who shone in your hearts” (2 Cor. 4:6). You recognized this and became convinced that our word was the word of God, and received it as such.

“Which also effectively works in you.” The action of the word was not momentary; having begun once, it continues without interruption. Just as in the Saviour’s parable the seed cast into the earth then of itself brings forth the blade, the stalk, the ear, and the grain; so too among the Thessalonians the Gospel word, having been received into the heart by faith, of itself, without external intermediary, more and more developed, more and more widely occupied the soil of the heart, illumined the understanding, corrected the feelings, ordered the character. Like a medicine taken, it healed what was sick and restored the sound powers of nature. When the word is received not only by the mind and hearing but by the heart, it does not remain idle but enters into life and works in it (2 Pet. 1:8) as a force that moves everything and governs all. — Nevertheless, the holy Apostle had in mind not only this single inward action of the word, but also the extraordinary gifts of grace that everywhere accompanied the Gospel word. Of course, the Thessalonians, having been granted prophetic grace, prophesied, spoke in tongues, and performed extraordinary miracles (Theodoret and Oecumenius). The Apostle says, as it were: all this you are experiencing; consequently, you have living assurance of the unworldly action of the word, testifying that it too is not earthly, not ordinary, not human. Stand firm, therefore!

“In you who believe”—because you believe—inasmuch as you believe—on the condition of faith. Without faith the word will not enter the heart and cannot work in it. If it entered and works in you, it is only because you believed and do believe. The power of faith lies in this: when the heart, on every point of faith and every question concerning it, answers without any deliberation—“so God has commanded.” This conviction is what imparts unwavering steadiness of thought and the moral firmness of submission to the will of God. When all the powers of the spirit are united by faith, the spirit receives its wholeness and its native strength. At the same time it becomes a firm vessel for holding the gifts of grace. The Apostle says to the Thessalonians: because of your faith you see what fruits you have received; therefore cherish it.

1 Thess. 2:14. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Jews.

Writing to the Philippians, the Apostle said that it had been granted to them not only to believe in the Lord but also to suffer for Him. Here too, after speaking of the faith of the Thessalonians, he mentions their sufferings as the necessary companions of faith. “For to this we are appointed,” as he says later (1 Thess. 3:3).

Previously he said: “you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6). Here he says: “you became imitators of the churches” of Judea. He wishes to establish in them the thought that in the economy of salvation all suffer: the Lord, His Apostles, and all believers. Such is the law of the manifestation on earth of the truth concerning Christ Jesus—the division of men and the rising of some against others (Mt. 10:35–37). Against those who receive and carry the word of God, those who do not receive it arm themselves and persecute them. So it was in Judea, so it is everywhere, so it is with you. In the fact that people rose up against you, there is no reproach upon the word and no undermining of its truth; on the contrary, it is proof that the word stands outside the common order, is not of the earth—it is divine. The particle “for” (gar) shows that the Apostle here is giving a reason. For what? For what he said just before—that the word preached by them and received by the Thessalonians is divine and shows divine power and action in them. In what way do hostility and persecutions from one’s own people serve as proof of this? In this way: the received word, by the action of grace, changed the pattern of thought, the morals, and the conduct of those who believed. This set them apart from their own people and armed those people against them. Persecutions prove the divine character of the word in that they point to the essential change that took place in the minds and hearts of those who believed—a change that could not have occurred if the word were not divine. On the other hand, the persecuted endure and stand firm on what they believe. Where does this come from? From the same power of the word received with faith. Thus the divine character of the word is proved both by the existence of persecution and by the fact that those who received the word remain faithful to it despite that persecution. The holy Chrysostom says: “He proves by the trials they underwent that they received the word in the right way. How, he says, would you have endured such dangers if you had not heeded our words as the very words of God?” Oecumenius adds: “That you received our word as the word of God is evident from the fact that you were able to bear such tribulations. Just as from what he himself suffered the Apostle proved above that he preaches what is divine, so from what they suffered he now proves that they received his preaching as the word of God.” The same thought is in Theophylact.

By comparing the Church of Thessalonica with the churches of Judea, he confers greater honor upon it and encourages it toward endurance. Proselytes from the Gentiles were already accustomed to look upon Jerusalem and Judea as the sanctuary of divine truth. Christians from the Gentiles therefore had all the more reason to look upon the believers there with reverence. The Lord had worked there; the Holy Spirit had descended there; the first churches had been established there; from there the Apostles had gone out to the whole world. The churches there were exemplary, and to be likened to them was an honor for Christians living far away. Here was fulfilled the prophecy of the holy Isaiah concerning the glory of Zion and the eager striving of the nations toward it for enlightenment and truth (Is. 2:2–3).

Having referred to the churches in Judea, the Apostle characterized them thus: “churches” “of God in Christ Jesus”—to show that not all the assemblies there are true churches. “Since the Jewish synagogues too were, apparently, of God, the Apostle says of the churches of believers that they are not only of God but also of Christ Jesus, for he who has denied the Son has also denied the Father” (Oecumenius; Theophylact similarly). Here too the Apostle’s aim is the same—to hold the attention of the Thessalonians on the thought of the division everywhere brought about by the word of truth which they preach. And this was necessary for him to remove the perplexity caused by the unbelief of the Jews. How is it that the Jews, worshipers of the true God, guardians of His revelations, do not believe you? Does it not mean that your words are not from God? The Apostle dispels this perplexity by saying that not all are unbelieving, and then describes with dark colors the unbelieving Jews in 1 Thess. 2:15, 16.

The better part of the Jews believed and formed the glorious churches of Christ Jesus. And they suffer from their own Jewish kinsmen, just as you suffer from your own countrymen. If all Jews were unbelieving, the perplexity would remain strong; but since whole churches have been formed from them, this is powerful proof of the truth of the word. For those who believed suffer from their own, and to endure this one must have stronger reasons and grounds for faith than for unbelief, since unbelief would have left them in peace, in the old ways which they themselves formerly valued highly. The holy Chrysostom says: “If Jews too resolved to endure everything with patience for the sake of faith, this is no small proof that the preaching is true.” Theophylact continues the same thought: “It is no small proof of the truth of the Gospel that Jews willingly suffer for what they themselves formerly persecuted.”

Having thus distinguished the believing Jews from the unbelieving, the holy Apostle presses down with the full weight of judgment upon the latter.

1 Thess. 2:15. Who killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are hostile to all men. 1 Thess. 2:16. “Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as to always fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.”

Both these verses are an appendix to the preceding. In them the Apostle expresses, as if in passing, his thought about the unbelieving Jews. But since they so fully define the character of the unbelieving Jews and prophetically indicate their final fate, one cannot but see that they were attached by the Apostle intentionally—and specifically for the final dispelling of the perplexity which some might draw, and perhaps actually did draw in Thessalonica, from the unbelief of the Jews. In Thessalonica, among the believers, Jews were far fewer than Gentiles; but the persecution raised against Christians was instigated by Jews, though they hid behind the Gentiles. Their unbelief could therefore cause great disturbance. The holy Apostle now says that the unbelief of the Jews is no cause for disturbance. They have always proved disobedient to God. God sent prophets to them, and they killed them; the Lord Jesus came, and they killed Him; the Lord sent us to them, and they expelled us; when we turned from them to the Gentiles, they hinder us from proclaiming the word of truth to the Gentiles as well. Thus throughout all of history they are enemies of God and haters of mankind. Do not be troubled, therefore, by their unbelief, the more so since their end is already near. God had long been merciful to them; now the wrath of God—final wrath—is ready to fall upon their heads. Such is the thought in the verses in question! We will add a few notes on particular expressions.

“Who killed the Lord Jesus…” He begins his portrayal of Jewish wickedness with deicide, and deliberately names the Saviour “Lord,” to say that they “crucified the Lord of glory” (Acts 3:15; 1 Cor. 2:8). How they killed the Lord had certainly been told during the evangelization in Thessalonica. For the first preaching in Thessalonica proceeded in such a way that it extensively proved from Scripture “that it was necessary for Christ to suffer thus” (Acts 17:3).

“And His prophets”—whom they likewise killed. The holy Chrysostom draws consolation for the persecuted Thessalonians from the mention of the Lord’s own death and then adds: “But perhaps the Jews did not recognize Him (the Lord)? On the contrary, they knew Him very well. But what? Did they not also kill and stone their own prophets, whose Scriptures they carry with them everywhere? Certainly they did not act so out of love for truth. Thus he (the Apostle) not only offers consolation in trials, but also persuades them not to suppose that the Jews acted so out of love for truth—and not to be troubled by this.” Theophylact adds: “Whereby it is evident that they do nothing as zealots for truth, but rather raging against truth.”

“And have persecuted us.” The occasion for such speech may have been the recent expulsion of the holy Paul and Silas from Thessalonica (Acts 17:5–9). But since the Apostle intends to depict in general the truly hateful character of the Jews, he here evidently means all the Apostles in general, the heralds of the New Testament, in correspondence with the Old Testament prophets (cf. Acts 5:17 and following; Acts 6:12 and following).

“And do not please God and are hostile to all men.” The conjunctions “and… and” show that each of these phrases expresses new features of Jewish wickedness. What then do the words “do not please God and are hostile to men” express—when it goes without saying that those who did what was said before do not please God and are hostile to men? The Apostle wishes to point to the source of the misdeeds shown. They act in this way because in their hearts there lies no sincere intention to please God and no warm love for people. They do not love God, and pleasing Him is not the chief goal of their life. Their heart, not loving God, does not love God’s truth either—it rises up against it. Not loving God, they are also ill-disposed toward men and always go against what God sends for their benefit. But how is it that they uphold all the divine institutions? They have zeal, but “not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2). “They think they are offering service to God” (Jn. 16:2), yet in fact they oppose Him.

“Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved.” These words serve as an explanation of the preceding. Their failure to please God and their hostility to men are plainly visible in the fact that they hinder the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. In this they become enemies of God and haters of mankind. God has commanded, yet they hinder; the preaching is salvific, yet they do not want it to reach the Gentiles and save them. “If the whole world must be evangelized, and they oppose this, then they are the common enemies of the world” (Chrysostom).

“So as to always fill up the measure of their sins.” The word of God always speaks thus of God’s judgments—that terrible punishments overtake people for filling up the measure of sins (e.g. Gen. 15:17). God admonishes sinners in every way, but when they stubbornly reject His salvific provisions for them, then God gives them over into the hands of their own will. And then, adding sins to sins, they both fill up the measure of sins and exhaust the divine longsuffering. Merciless judgment follows. The Apostle says, as it were: they act in this way so that it can be said of them that they were filling up the measure of their sins “always”—at all times, in every period of their historical life, both before the Lord Jesus and in His time and after Him, throughout all their history. They have been permitted to rise up against us and against the Lord Himself, so that even in this period they should not be without a godless deed (Photius, cited by Oecumenius). So much evil did they do to the ancient prophets, and in our day to Christ the Lord and to us, so that sins might always be in the filling. Since they always acted thus, they always filled up their sins. “Or the Apostle wishes to say: they sinned before also, but it was still bearable. But when at last they rose up against God Himself and His holy Gospel, the measure of their sins was thereby filled to the full. It is no longer possible to endure them. The Lord said: ‘You also fill up the measure of your fathers’ (Mt. 23:32)—fill up what was lacking in them. In that case ‘always’ will mean ‘once and for all,’ as we say ‘once for all’—that is, finally.” Theophylact writes: “This they were doing to the ancient prophets, then to Christ, and finally to us as well—and are doing—so as to show that they hasten to reach the full measure of sins, their extreme limit.”

“But wrath has come upon them” to “the uttermost.” “Has come to the uttermost”—the measure of longsuffering is filled; the final decree of God’s judgment upon them has been issued; their fate is decided. Thus Chrysostom: “Having said ‘wrath has come,’ the Apostle showed that it must inevitably follow, for it was foreordained and foretold.” Or thus: the wrath of God was always following them; now it has caught up with them, has drawn close—it is on the very point of striking. Or “to the uttermost” means final wrath; it will strike finally, there will be no restoration—expect no mercy. Evidently the Apostle has in mind the Lord’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the people. They sinned before, and God punished them with a view to correction. But now there follows the finally wrathful punishment for opposition to the purposes of God—so manifest, so salvific both for them and for all people, that without these purposes men cannot attain their own goals. They go contrary to the God-ordained course of the restoration of humanity; they are therefore not worthy of being preserved. When the Apostle wrote this, the beginnings of pressure from the Romans had already appeared. They gave to understand that what the Lord predicted was near its fulfillment. The holy Chrysostom says on this: “There will no longer be for them what there was before. There is no time for repentance; there is no place for divine longsuffering, but inevitable wrath approaches. How is this evident? From Christ’s prediction.”

Oecumenius paraphrases this apostolic charge against the Jews with particular feeling: “The Apostle brings a great accusation against the Jews. For he says that all that the Jews did, they did with the aim of sinning—that is, they took pleasure in sins and sinned so as to keep their sins from being incomplete, as it were: they sinned as if paying a debt by means of sins. Suppose they killed the Lord in ignorance—why did they stone the prophets, who were held in honor? Why did they expel us? Why do they do evil to you? For what reason do they hinder the Gentiles from being saved? If the conversion of the Gentiles to Christ is a good thing, why, not converting themselves, do they place obstacles to the conversion of others? And if they do not consider it a good thing, then why do they envy those who are converting? And what concern are the Gentiles to them? — You see how they sin from sheer love of sin, and do everything to fulfill their sins—that is, so as never to be without sins. For this, he says, ‘the wrath of God has come upon them to the uttermost.’ Wrath always pursued them when they sinned, but it was held back, giving place to repentance; but now it has overtaken them. The wrath — η οργηwith the article—shows that here is meant that very wrath which should have fallen upon them long before. ‘To the uttermost.’ It will no longer be as before—slavery and then liberation again, captivity and then return, the wrath of God and then mercy again—now the wrath of God is upon them to the uttermost; there will be no more deliverance from distress.”