The Thessalonians’ Praiseworthy Qualities (2 Thessalonians 1:3–4)

After the first epistle had been sent to the Thessalonians and received by them, the holy Paul received fresh tidings concerning the state of that Church—in general very encouraging; but in certain particulars the Christians there required correction, both in matters of doctrinal belief and in matters of conduct—and this moved him to write a second epistle.

He begins it with what is encouraging—with praise for what is good in them, with an exhortation to steadfastness in good, and with prayer to that end—beginning thus in order to open the way for words of correction as well, and to dispose them to receive such words with love. The Thessalonians had been progressing in the virtues which the Apostle had already noted in them previously and by which every Christian community ought to be distinguished (1 Thess. 1:3). Rejoicing in this, the Apostle 1) gives thanks to God that their faith is exceedingly growing and their love is increasing, so that he could not but boast to others both of these their virtues and, especially, of their patience amid persecutions and tribulations (verses 3, 4). Since this bright inner condition had been overshadowed by an adverse outward situation, and the Thessalonians consequently stood in need of support chiefly from that side, the holy Paul next 2) sets forth those truths which could encourage the Thessalonians to patience and to reckon as nothing all the attacks upon them—namely: there will be a judgment at which unbelievers, those who persecute, will be put to shame and condemned to eternal torments, while believers, those who are persecuted, will be glorified (verses 5–10). Then, since this blessed resolution of their lot at the judgment depends on their steadfastness in faith and constancy in a good and Christian life, the Apostle adds 3) a prayer that God would grant the Thessalonians to hold themselves to the end as the Christian calling requires, so that on that day the Lord may be glorified in them and they in Him (verses 11–12). Judging by this content of the first part of the epistle, it is altogether fitting to entitle it: an encouraging sketch of the bright side of the Thessalonian Church.

1. The Praiseworthy Qualities of the Thessalonians’ Christian Life (2 Thess. 1:3, 4)

2 Thess. 1:3. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith is exceedingly growing, and the love of each one of you all toward one another is increasing.

“The Apostle presents praise in the form of thanksgiving, and as he marvels at their faith toward God, so he marvels at their love toward their neighbor, and by both he bears witness to the perfection of their virtue” (Theodoret).

“See what progress the Thessalonians have made, that the Apostle sends up thanksgiving for them to God—not for the simple fact that they believe, but because their faith is exceedingly growing; and not for the simple fact that they love, but because they are growing rich in love” (Damascene).

“We give thanks to God…” He wishes to commend them for their progress in Christian life, but recognizing that this progress is from God, he turns first to Him with thanksgiving, inclining the Thessalonians to do the same. In this way he both praises them and cuts off any impulse toward self-congratulation. At the same time, by pointing to God as the source of their perfections, he lays upon their conscience the obligation to guard these as a gift from above and to cultivate them as a talent entrusted to them.

“We are bound.” “He acknowledges himself a debtor to God for the progress made” (Ambrosiaster). The apostolic conscience obliges one to this. The Apostles took every advance of the Christians deeply to heart. They did not relate to the cause of Christianity merely externally, but devoted themselves to it with all their heart. Not in such a way that the preaching was proclaimed, the Gospel was announced, and then each could do as he wished. They considered it their duty not merely to proclaim Christ, but to root Christianity in hearts and to bring it into life. For this reason they labored with all zeal and prayed unceasingly, and then rejoiced when their desire was fulfilled and gave thanks for it to God. He had also prayed for the Thessalonians that God would fill them with Christian virtues (1 Thess. 2:12, 3:12). Now, seeing that his good wishes and prayers are being fulfilled, he gives thanks for it to God.

“As it is fitting.” Either—we are bound to give thanks as is due, as duty dictates, “in all justice.” Recognizing that your progress is from God, it is in justice and duty that we are bound to thank God, for your progress is also our good. Or—we are bound to give thanks “worthily,” in due measure, to such a degree as we account your progress to be a great blessing, “so that for an inestimable gift the greatest possible thanksgiving might be rendered” (Ambrosiaster). — Both can be united in the following thought: as the bright state of your life in Christ requires—which state is from God. It would be wrong to separate these aspects and, accepting one, to reject the other. In life they are inseparable. One who has not felt the blessing will not give thanks; while one who has felt it simultaneously recognizes himself as obliged to give thanks and strives to express his gratitude in proportion to the sense of the blessing received. The ancient commentators do not separate them but accept both. Oecumenius: “Or ‘worthily’ means ‘abundantly’—to give thanks as one should to Him Who has bestowed such great blessings.” Theophylact: “He said this so that we should not be lifted up even by our very thanksgiving, as though we were doing something special, for in it we are only doing what we ought to do; which is why he called this act (thanksgiving) a ‘duty.’ Or he speaks thus in order to suggest that one must give thanks both in word and in deed, for only such thanksgiving is true thanksgiving.”

From this action of the holy Paul—that he thanks God for the Thessalonians’ progress in Christianity despite tribulations and persecutions—blessed Theophylact draws the following lessons: “Three things does the Apostle teach us here: if anything is found to be right in us, we ought not to honor ourselves for it but to give thanks to God and, attributing everything to Him, not to be lifted up thereby; if anyone suffers, that is not worthy of weeping and tears but of thanksgiving to God—and such a one ought to rejoice rather than be cast down in spirit; one ought not to envy those who appear to have made progress, but to rejoice in it and to give thanks to God for one’s brethren—so that those who are stung by the good they see in others are thereby dishonoring God Himself.” “If Paul gives thanks to God for the blessings of others, what is to be said of those who not only do not give thanks but are even tormented with envy?” (the holy Chrysostom).

Thus the Apostle lifts the minds of the Thessalonians toward God in order to draw their attention away from outward tribulations. With the same aim he points them, not to anything else, but to faith and love within themselves, saying as it were: do not look at outward things, whatever they may be, but look rather at the treasures ripening in your heart beneath that outward burden. Faith and love are indeed the treasures of the Christian heart, and their increase and preservation ought to be the first and greatest concern of Christians.

Faith grows exceedingly, love increases or grows rich, expanding the range of its activity in the variety of works of love and in the number of persons it warms and benefits. Faith, abiding in itself, is the foundation, the point of support and departure for love—it grows by remaining unshakeable amid temptations and trials. Love spreads out on the foundation of faith, multiplying like flowers in good soil.

In saying “faith exceeds all measure,” the Apostle conveys the idea that it rises above every adverse circumstance, outgrows them, and stands like an unshakeable rock amid the waves. Trials endured for the faith drive it deeper into the heart and render it immovable. Here it enters into the very blood and marrow and becomes an inseparable element of life. Therefore it is held precious and guarded as life itself, and cannot be lost or taken away even together with life. The Apostle accordingly treats the multiplication of trials as a sign of the growth of faith. St. Chrysostom writes: When the gusts of wind grow fierce, when torrential rains fall, when a violent storm rises on every side, when the waves surge high, and yet you remain unshaken—this is a sign of nothing other than that your faith has grown and exceeded all measure and become more exalted. Just as in a flood all low-lying places are covered with water while the higher ground remains beyond its reach—so also faith, once it has attained a certain height, no longer falls. Therefore the Apostle did not say ‘it grows,’ but: “it exceeds all measure.”

It should be noted that the faith of the Thessalonians was growing in strength and intensity; yet this did not prevent certain articles of faith from being misunderstood by some. The Apostle knew this was the case, and yet he bears witness that their faith exceeds all measure. Faith can be strong even when its content is incomplete. Strong faith, standing immovably in the truths it has embraced, nurtures a readiness to receive and hold every truth that is in Christ Jesus. Such faith may, by mistake, accept certain erroneous ideas as true, yet it is altogether free from the stubbornness of clinging to what it has once held, even when that error is exposed—it abandons the falsehood at once, as soon as it is made clear. The Apostle writes to them as to people of this kind.

“Love abounds.” Common afflictions draw closer together those who suffer for the same cause. Moreover, afflictions give rise to compassion, compassion to mutual assistance and support, which is precisely the work of love. Thus afflictions strengthened love; and love in its turn alleviated the suffering and imparted courage. “Do you see,” says St. Chrysostom, “that in afflictions we are helped also by mutually guarding and sustaining one another? This too affords great consolation.”

“Of every one of you toward one another.” So many expressions are employed in order to convey that in love none of them yielded to another; all burned with it equally, each emulating the other in it. And it bound them all closely together, as brothers or members of one family. “The Apostle showed thereby,” says Oecumenius, “that their mutual love one toward another was equal in all of them, and no one had more or less of it.” Pointing to the same thing, St. Chrysostom draws from it also a very instructive lesson on the impropriety among Christians of exclusive love toward some. “Consider the love of the Thessalonians. They did not act in such a way as to love one and not another; on the contrary, their love was equal toward all. For this is what the Apostle indicates when he says ‘of every one of you toward one another’; because their love extended equally to all as to members of one body. It is true, even in our own time we find love among many people, but such love as is the cause of discord. For when we unite in twos or threes among ourselves, and these two, or three, or four are in greater agreement with one another while separating themselves from all the rest—so that between one group and the other there is no longer mutual cooperation and full confidence—this is a rupture of love, not love. If the love that ought to spread throughout the whole Church of God we concentrate on one or two persons only, we thereby harm both ourselves and them and everyone in general. What profit is there in loving such-and-such a person very intensely? That is human love. But if it is not merely human, but you love him for God’s sake, then love all the others as well. For God has commanded us to love even our enemies. And if He has commanded love toward enemies, all the more toward those who have given us no offence.”

2 Thess. 1:4. So that we ourselves glory in you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations which you endure.

“Having learned of the greatness of the afflictions that have come upon you and of the steadfastness with which you repel them, we glory in you, extolling your courage also in other churches” (Theodoret). With this, St. Paul completes his depiction of the praiseworthy qualities of the Thessalonians. In the first epistle he noted in them, as their distinguishing features, “the work of faith, the labor” “of love,” “and the patience of hope” (1 Thess. 1:3). In the second epistle he attests that these qualities have not only been preserved in them but have risen to a higher degree of perfection. That faith exceeds all measure and love abounds he has said just before. Now he says that patient endurance rooted in hope is not behind those two virtues in perfection; but he expresses this not directly, but by holding up the wide renown of their lofty patience and the universal praise it has earned. The report of it is everywhere, so that its reflection falls upon us as well, and we cannot restrain ourselves, but, swept along by the praise that is everywhere given you, we ourselves also begin to glory in you. Thus the thought of this passage is to indicate the surpassing quality of their patience; all the other expressions serve as the fitting setting for this central idea.

“We ourselves glory in you.” Perhaps there is also this thought: on account of your lofty patience, the report of which has gone everywhere, we too are praised and accorded great honor in all the churches. But the commonly received interpretation is that the Apostles themselves glory in the patient faithfulness of the Thessalonians in the face of every attack upon them. “We ourselves glory.” It is not our custom to boast, but the greatness of your patience makes us forget our reserve. Or thus: others give praise. That is not enough—we ourselves could not hold back and have begun to glory in you, counting your steadfastness in the faith as an honor to ourselves. The Apostle had already called them previously his “crown of boasting”—but before the Lord at His coming (1 Thess. 2:19). Now he glories in them already here below—not, of course, in so many words declaring “behold what disciples we have,” but hinting at it in every way—and not in order to exalt himself, but to display the power of the Gospel truth and the grace of God, which exercise such authority over the heart that for their sake believers are ready to endure every privation, having in mind thereby to encourage and inspire others to do the same (Ambrosiaster). That it is not himself the Apostle glories in but grace, we may be assured by his own confession that he is “by the grace of God” what “he is” (1 Cor. 15:10). He who forbids boasting in anything except the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31; 3:21) here also, of course, glories in the Lord, showing what the Lord has accomplished and is accomplishing in the Thessalonians and what He makes them by His grace. It is possible, then, to boast without offending God—to boast with a boasting that is free from pride and refers all that is good to the grace of God, which alone accomplishes in men, through all their personal labors, every true and God-pleasing good.

“Among the churches of God”—those in the vicinity of Corinth, for instance in Athens and other places. In writing the second epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle mentions the many saints who are“in Achaia” (2 Cor. 1:1). The sphere of the Apostle Paul’s activity during his year and a half in Corinth was certainly not confined to Corinth alone.

“For your patience and faith.” Here he indicates that much time has already passed since the beginning of their sufferings, for patience becomes evident in the course of a long period of time, not in two or three days. And he does not speak merely of patience in the simple sense. Patience is indeed expressed even in the case of one who does not yet enjoy the blessings promised to him; but in the present instance he speaks of a greater patience. What kind of patience? — That which is born of persecutions. That he is hinting at this very thing is evident from what he adds further, saying: “in all your persecutions and” “tribulations” “which you endure” (Chrysostom). “Patience exists also when the promised good is slow in coming, but patience in trials and afflictions is loftier and more wondrous” (Oecumenius).

The height of patience lies in the fact that, despite calamities, all stand firm in the confession they have received. This is why under patience the Apostle also includes faith, pointing to the reason they endure and likewise to the source from which they draw the strength to endure. You endure, and yet you hold fast the faith, having come to love it, being convinced that it is the one true faith, and from that conviction drawing the impulse to endure and calling down from above the strength for endurance. Of the surpassing growth of the Thessalonians’ faith the Apostle has spoken above; here, of course, he points to those aspects of faith by which patience is especially sustained—namely, that through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace received from Him, God has become their God and they His own; they have received the right to be children of God and thus stand under a special mercy of God, under His protection; and if they do not enjoy happiness here, it is in order that through this the true and eternal blessedness awaiting them in heaven may be increased. One may therefore say that “patience and faith” in this passage is the same as “the patience of hope” in the first epistle (1 Thess. 1:3). By the word “faith” the Apostle has pointed to the spirit of patience. For patience is not valuable in itself in the eyes of God, but for the disposition with which one endures.

Persecutions and tribulations embrace the external and internal dimensions of the Thessalonians’ distressing situation. Persecutions press from without. These include various grievances and oppressions in daily affairs, the loss of their former standing in society, the confiscation of property, and the like. Enduring all this not for any fault of their own but solely for the faith, the Thessalonians could not but feel that they were suffering unjustly; and the sense of unjust suffering makes deprivations most keenly felt. Nor does the Apostle suggest that they should remain insensible to these losses. He saw that they grieved, yet did not fall in spirit from grief, but overcame it through faith and, amid all their misfortune, remained cheerful in spirit. It is on account of this cheerfulness, which swallowed up the outward hardships, that the Apostle neither grieves nor laments over the sufferings of the Thessalonians—though he loved them as a father—but glories in them before others. To the Thessalonians themselves he writes of this in order to encourage them yet further in their steadfastness in the faith, by the conviction that what they are doing is praiseworthy not for themselves alone, but for their teachers and for Christianity itself; by which it was implied that if they wavered, they would cast a shadow over the Gospel itself and through it over the Lord Himself. On the other hand, it was also implied that their sufferings are not humiliating on every side. If the Apostle values them so highly, how much more does God. There is an Eye that ever gazes with favor upon those who suffer, approving and encouraging them.

The words “which you endure” give us to understand that the afflictions were still continuing at the time the Apostle wrote this epistle; and at the same time that the Thessalonians bore them willingly, neither evading nor resisting them, but consenting to them gladly. By this they might have disarmed their enemies, but those proved insatiable. St. Chrysostom writes: “They lived constantly among enemies who strove on every side to do them harm; and yet they displayed unyielding and unshakeable patience.”

“Let those be ashamed, therefore,” he adds, “who change their convictions for the sake of human patronage. For even at the very beginning of the apostolic preaching, poor men who lived by the day’s labor entered into conflict with those who governed the state and occupied its highest positions—when not a single king and not a single ruler was yet among the believers—and they endured an irreconcilable enmity and, for all that, did not renounce their convictions.”