1THESSALONIANS 1 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.

1.BARNES, Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus - On the reasons why Paul associated other names with his in his epistles, see the 1Co_1:1 note, and 2Co_2:1 note. Silvanus, or Silas, and Timothy were properly united with him on this occasion, because they had been with him when the church was founded there, Acts 17, and because Timothy had been sent by the apostle to visit them after he had himself been driven away; 1Th_2:1-2. Silas is first mentioned in the New Testament as one who was sent by the church at Jerusalem with Paul to Antioch (notes, Act_15:22); and he afterward became his traveling companion.

Which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ - Who are united to the true God and to the Redeemer; or who sustain an intimate relation to the Father and the Lord Jesus. This is strong language, denoting, that they were a true church; compare 1Jo_5:20. Grace be unto you, etc.; see the notes, Rom_1:7.

2. CLARKE, Paul, and: Silvanus, and Timotheus - Though St. Paul himself dictated this letter, yet he joins the names of Silas and Timothy, because they had been with him at Thessalonica, and were well known there. See Act_17:4, Act_17:14.

And Silvanus - This was certainly the same as Silas, who was St. Pauls companion in all his journeys through Asia Minor and Greece; see Act_15:22; Act_16:19; Act_17:4, Act_17:10. Him and Timothy, the apostle took with him into Macedonia, and they continued at Berea when the apostle went from thence to Athens; from this place St. Paul sent for them to come to him speedily, and, though it is not said that they came while he was at Athens, yet it is most probable that they did; after which, having sent them to Thessalonica, he proceeded to Corinth, where they afterwards rejoined him, and from whence he wrote this epistle. See the preface.

3. GILL, Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus,.... These are the persons concerned in this epistle, and who send their greetings and salutations to this church; Paul was the inspired writer

of it, and who is called by his bare name, without any additional epithet to it, as elsewhere in his other epistles; where he is either styled the servant, or apostle, or prisoner of Christ, but here only Paul: the reason for it is variously conjectured; either because he was well known by this church, having been lately with them; or lest these young converts should be offended and stumble at any pompous title, which they might imagine carried an appearance of arrogance and pride; or because there were as yet no false apostles among them, who had insinuated anything to the disadvantage of Paul, as in other places, which obliged him to assert his character and magnify his office; or rather because this was the first epistle he wrote, and he being conscious to himself of his own meanness, and that he was the least of the apostles, and unworthy to be called one, chose not to use the title. Silvanus is the same with Silas, who was with the apostle at Thessalonica and at Corinth, when he wrote this epistle; he was originally a member of the church at Jerusalem, and was one of the chief of the brethren there, and a prophet; see Act_17:4, Timothy was also with the apostle at the same place, and was sent back by him from Athens to know their state, and returned to Corinth to him with Silas; he stands last, as being the younger, and perhaps was the apostle's amanuensis, and therefore in modesty writes his name last: the reason of their being mentioned was because, having been with the apostle at this place, they were well known by the church, who would be glad to hear of their welfare; as also to show their continued harmony and consent in the doctrines of the Gospel; they stand in the same order in 2Co_1:19, unto the church of the Thessalonians: which consisted of several of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, both Jews and Gentiles; See Gill on Act_17:4, who were called under the ministry of the word by the grace of God, out of darkness into marvellous light, and were separated from the rest of the world, and incorporated into a Gospel church state. This was a particular congregated church of Christ. Some have thought it was not as yet organized, or had proper officers in it; since no mention is made of pastors and deacons, but the contrary is evident from 1Th_5:12, where they are exhorted to know, own, and acknowledge them that laboured among them, and were over them in the Lord, and esteem them highly for their works' sake. This church is said to be in God the Father; were interested in his love and free favour, as appears by their election of God, 1Th_1:4, and they were in the faith of God the Father, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the profession of it, and so were distinguished from an assembly of Heathens that were in the faith of idols, and not of the one true and living God, and especially as the Father of Christ; they were in fellowship with God the Father, and they were drawn by the efficacy of his grace to himself and to his Son, and were gathered together and embodied in a church state under his direction and influence; he was the author of them as a church, and they were plants of Christ's heavenly Father's planting, not to be plucked up; and they were, as the Arabic version renders it, "addicted" to God the Father; they were devoted to his service; they had his word among them, which they had received not as the word of men, but as the word of God; and his ordinances were duly and faithfully administered among them, and attended on by them: and in the Lord Jesus Christ; they were chosen in him before the foundation of the world; they were chosen in him as their head and representative; they were in him as members of his body, and as branches in the vine; they were openly in him by the effectual calling and conversion, were in the faith of him, and in the observance of his commands, an in communion with him; and so were distinguished from a Jewish synagogue or congregation: all this being true, at least of the far greater part of them, is said of them all, in a judgment of charity, they being under a profession of the Christian religion:

grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the apostle's usual salutation and wish in all his epistles to the churches; See Gill on Rom_1:7, the words "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" are left out in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions; and the Arabic version omits the last clause, "and the Lord Jesus Christ"; and the Ethiopic version only reads, "peace be unto you and his grace".

4. HENRY, In this introduction we have,

I. The inscription, where we have, 1. The persons from whom this epistle came, or by whom it was written. Paul was the inspired apostle and writer of this epistle, though he makes no mention of his apostleship, which was not doubted of by the Thessalonians, nor opposed by any false apostle among them. He joins Silvanus (or Silas) and Timotheus with himself (who had now come to him with an account of the prosperity of the churches in Macedonia), which shows this great apostle's humility, and how desirous he was to put honour upon the ministers of Christ who were of an inferior rank and standing. A good example this is to such ministers as are of greater abilities and reputation in the church than some others. 2. The persons to whom this epistle is written, namely, the church of the Thessalonians, the converted Jews and Gentiles in Thessalonica; and it is observable that this church is said to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ; they had fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, 1Jo_1:3. They were a Christian church, because they believed in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed the principles both of natural and revealed religion. The Gentiles among them were turned to God from idols, and the Jews among them believed Jesus to be the promised Messias. All of them were devoted and dedicated to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: to God as their chief good and highest end, to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Mediator between God and man. God the Father is the original centre of all natural religion; and Jesus Christ is the author and centre of all revealed religion. You believe in God, says our Saviour, believe also in me. Joh_14:1.

II. The salutation or apostolical benediction: Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the same for substance as in the other epistles. Grace and peace are well joined together; for the free grace or favour of God is the spring or fountain of all the peace and prosperity we do or can enjoy; and where there are gracious dispositions in us we may hope for peaceful thoughts in our own breasts; both grace and peace, and all spiritual blessings, come to us from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; from God the original of all good, and from the Lord Jesus the purchaser of all good for us; from God in Christ, and so our Father in covenant, because he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note, As all good comes from God, so no good can be hoped for by sinners but from God in Christ. And the best good may be expected from God as our Father for the sake of Christ.

5. JAMISON, 1Th_1:1-10. Address: Salutation: His prayerful thanksgiving for their faith, hope, and love. Their first reception of the Gospel, and their good influence on all around.

Paul He does not add an apostle, because in their case, as in that of the Philippians (see on Phi_1:1), his apostolic authority needs not any substantiation. He writes familiarly as to faithful friends, not but that his apostleship was recognized among them (1Th_2:6). On the other hand, in writing to the Galatians, among whom some had called in question his apostleship, he strongly asserts it in the superscription. An undesigned propriety in the Epistles, evincing genuineness.

Silvanus a chief man among the brethren (Act_15:22), and a prophet (Act_15:32), and one of the deputies who carried the decree of the Jerusalem council to Antioch. His age and

position cause him to be placed before Timothy, then a youth (Act_16:1; 1Ti_4:12). Silvanus (the Gentile expanded form of Silas) is called in 1Pe_5:12, a faithful brother (compare 2Co_1:19). They both aided in planting the Thessalonian Church, and are therefore included in the address. This, the first of Pauls Epistles, as being written before various evils crept into the churches, is without the censures found in other Epistles. So realizing was their Christian faith, that they were able hourly to look for the Lord Jesus.

unto the church not merely as in the Epistles to Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, to the saints, or the faithful at Thessalonica. Though as yet they do not seem to have had the final Church organization under permanent bishops and deacons, which appears in the later Epistles (See on Phi_1:1; see on Introduction to 1 Timothy, and see on Introduction to 2 Timothy). Yet he designates them by the honorable term Church, implying their status as not merely isolated believers, but a corporate body with spiritual rulers (1Th_5:12; 2Co_1:1; Gal_1:2).

in implying vital union.

God the Father This marks that they were no longer heathen.

the Lord Jesus Christ This marks that they were not Jews, but Christians.

Grace be unto you, and peace that ye may have in God that favor and peace which men withhold [Anselm]. This is the salutation in all the Epistles of Paul, except the three pastoral ones, which have grace, mercy, and peace. Some of the oldest manuscripts support, others omit the clause following, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It may have crept in from 1Co_1:3; 2Co_1:2.

6. CALVIN, The brevity of the inscription clearly shews that Paul doctrine had been received with

reverence among the Thessalonians, and that without controversy they all rendered to him the honor that

he deserved. For when in other Epistles he designates himself an Apostle, he does this for the purpose of

claiming for himself authority. Hence the circumstance, that he simply makes use of his own name without

any title of honor, is an evidence that those to whom he writes voluntarily acknowledged him to be such

as he was. The ministers of Satan, it is true, had endeavored to trouble this Church also, but it is evident

that their machinations were fruitless. He associates, however, two others along with himself, as being, in

common with himself, the authors of the Epistle. Nothing farther is stated here that has not been

explained elsewhere, excepting that he says, Church in God the Father, and in Christ; by which terms

(if I mistake not) he intimates, that there is truly among the Thessalonians a Church of God. This mark,

therefore, is as it were an approval of a true and lawful Church. We may, however, at the same time infer

from it, that a Church is to be sought for only where God presides, and where Christ reigns, and that, in

short, there is no Church but what is founded upon God, is gathered under the auspices of Christ, and is

united in his name.

7.EBC, THE CHURCH OF THE THESSALONIANS

THESSALONICA, now called Saloniki, was in the first century of our era a large and flourishing city. It was situated at the northeastern corner of the Thermaic gulf, on the line of the great Egnatian road, which formed the main connection by land between Italy and the East. It was an important commercial centre, with a mixed population of Greeks, Romans, and Jews. The Jews, who at the present day amount to some twenty thousand, were numerous enough to have a synagogue of their own; and we can infer from the Book of Acts (Act_17:4) that it was

frequented by many of the better spirits among the Gentiles also. Unconsciously, and as the event too often proved, unwillingly, the Dispersion was preparing the way of the Lord.

To this city the Apostle Paul came, attended by Silas and Timothy, in the course of his second missionary journey. He had just left Philippi, dearest to his heart of all his churches; for there, more than anywhere else, the sufferings of Christ had abounded in him, and his consolations also had been abundant in Christ. He came to Thessalonica with the marks of the lictors rods upon his body; but to him they were the marks of Jesus; not warnings to change his path, but tokens that the Lord was taking him into fellowship with Himself, and binding him more strictly to His service. He came with the memory of his converts kindness warm upon his heart; conscious that, amid whatever disappointments, a welcome awaited the gospel, which admitted its messenger into the joy of his Lord. We need not wonder, then, that the Apostle kept to his custom, and in spite of the malignity of the Jews, made his way, when Sabbath came, to the synagogue of Thessalonica.

His evangelistic ministry is very briefly described by St. Luke. For three Sabbath days he addressed himself to his fellow countrymen. He took the Scriptures into his hand, -that is, of course, the Old Testament Scriptures, -and opening the mysterious casket, as the picturesque words in Acts describe his method, he brought out and set before his auditors, as its inmost and essential secret, the wonderful idea that the Christ whom they all expected, the Messiah of God, must die and rise again from the dead. That was not what ordinary Jewish readers found in the law, the prophets, or the psalms; but, once persuaded that this interpretation was true, it was not difficult to believe that the Jesus whom Paul preached was the Christ for whom they all hoped. Luke tells us that some were persuaded; but they cannot have been many: his account agrees with the representation of the Epistle (1Th_1:9) that the church at Thessalonica was mainly Gentile. Of the "chief women not a few," who were among the first converts, we know nothing; the exhortations in both Epistles make it plain that what Paul left at Thessalonica was what we should call a working class congregation. The jealousy of the Jews, who resorted to the device which had already proved successful at Philippi, compelled Paul and his friends to leave the city prematurely. The mission, indeed, had probably lasted longer than most readers infer from Act_17:1-34. Paul had had time to make his character and conduct impressive to the church, and to deal with each one of them as a father with his own children; (1Th_2:11) he had wrought night and day with his own hands for a livelihood; (2Th_3:8) he had twice received help from the Philippians. (Php_4:15-16) But although this implies a stay of some duration, much remained to be done; and the natural anxiety of the Apostle, as he thought of his inexperienced disciples, was intensified by the reflection that he had left them exposed to the malignity of his and their enemies. What means that malignity employed-what violence and what calumny-the Epistle itself enables us to see; meantime, it is sufficient to say that the pressure of these things upon the Apostles spirit was the occasion of his writing this letter. He had tried in vain to get back to Thessalonica; he had condemned himself to solitude in a strange city that he might send Timothy to them; he must hear whether they stand fast in their Christian calling. On his return from this mission Timothy joined Paul in Corinth with a report, cheering on the whole, yet not without its graver side, concerning the Thessalonian believers: and the first Epistle is the apostolic message in these circumstances. It is, in all probability, the earliest of the New Testament writings; it is certainly the earliest extant of Pauls; if we except the decree in Act_15:1-41, it is the earliest piece of Christian writing in existence.

The names mentioned in the address are all well known-Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. The three are united in the greeting, and are sometimes, apparently, included in the "we" or "us" of the Epistle; but they are not joint authors of it. It is the Epistle of Paul, who includes them in the salutation out of courtesy, as in the First to the Corinthians he includes Sosthenes, and in Galatians "all the brethren that are with me"; a courtesy the more binding on this occasion that Silas and Timothy had shared with him his missionary work in Thessalonica. In First and

Second Thessalonians only, of all his letters, the Apostle adds nothing to his name to indicate the character in which he writes; he neither calls himself an apostle, nor a servant of Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians knew him simply for what he was; his apostolic dignity was yet unassailed by false brethren; the simple name was enough. Silas comes before Timothy as an older man, and a fellow labourer of longer standing. In the Book of Acts he is described as a prophet, and as one of the chief men among the brethren; he had been associated with Paul all through this journey; and though we know very little of him, the fact that he was chosen one of the bearers of the apostolic decree, and that he afterwards attached himself to Paul, justifies the inference that he heartily sympathised with the evangelising of the heathen. Timothy was apparently one of Pauls own converts. Carefully instructed in childhood by a pious mother and grandmother, he had been won to the faith of Christ during the first tour of the Apostle in Asia Minor. He was naturally timid, but kept the faith in spite of the persecutions which then awaited it; and when Paul returned, he found that the steadfastness and other graces of his spiritual son had won an honourable name in the local churches. He determined to take him with him, apparently in the character of an evangelist; but before he was ordained by the presbyters, Paul circumcised him, remembering his Jewish descent on the mothers side, and desirous of facilitating his access to the synagogue, in which the work of gospel preaching usually began. Of all the Apostles assistants he was the most faithful and affectionate. He had the true pastoral spirit, devoid of selfishness, and caring naturally and unfeignedly for the souls of Php_2:20 f. Such were the three who sent their Christian greetings in this Epistle. The greetings are addressed "to the church of (the) Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." No such address had ever been written or read before, for the community to which it was directed was a new thing in the world. The word translated "church" was certainly familiar enough to all who knew Greek: it was the name given to the citizens of a Greek town assembled for public business; it is the name given in the Greek Bible either to the children of Israel as the congregation of Jehovah, or to any gathering of them for a special purpose; but here it obtains a new significance. The church of the Thessalonians is a church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the common relation of its members to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ which constitutes them a church in the sense of the Apostle: in contradistinction from all other associations or societies, they form a Christian community.

The Jews who met from Sabbath to Sabbath in the synagogue were a church; they were one in the acknowledgment of the Living God, and in their observance of His law; God, as revealed in the Old Testament and in the polity of Israel, was the element or atmosphere of their spiritual life. The citizens of Thessalonica, who met in the theatre to discuss their political interests, were a "church"; they were one in recognising the same constitution and the same ends of civic life; it was in that constitution, in the pursuit of those ends, that they found the atmosphere in which they lived. Paul in this Epistle greets a community distinct from either of these. It is not civic, but religious; though religious, it is neither pagan nor Jewish; it is an original creation, new in its bond of union, in the law by which it lives, in the objects at which it aims; a church in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This newness and originality of Christianity could not fail to impress those who first received it. The gospel made an immeasurable difference to them, a difference almost equally great whether they had been Jews or heathen before; and they were intensely conscious of the gulf which separated their new life from the old. In another epistle Paul describes the condition of Gentiles not yet evangelised, "Once," he says, "you were apart from. Christ, without God, in the world." The world-the great system of things and interests separated from God-was the sphere and element of their life. The gospel found them there, and translated them. When they received it, they ceased to be in the world; they were no longer apart from Christ, and without God: they were in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing could be more revolutionary in those days than to become a Christian: old things passed away; all things became new; all things

were determined by the new relation to God and His Son. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian was as unmistakable and as clear to the Christian mind as the difference between the shipwrecked sailor who has reached the shore and him who is still fighting a hopeless fight with wind and waves. In a country which has long been Christian, that difference tends, to sense at least, and to imagination, to disappear. We are not vividly impressed with the distinction between those who claim to be Christians and those who do not; we do not see a radical unlikeness, and we are sometimes disposed to deny it. We may even feel that we are bound to deny it, were it only in justice to God. He has made all men for Himself; He is the Father of all; He is near to all, even when they are blind to Him; the pressure of His hand is felt

and in a measure responded to by all, even when they do not recognise it; to say that any one is

, or , or that he is not in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, seems

really to deny both God and man.

Yet what is at issue here is really a question of fact; and among those who have been in contact with the facts, among those, above all, who have had experience of the critical fact-who once were not Christians and now are - there will not be two opinions about it. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian, though historical accidents have made it less visible, or rather, less conspicuous than it once was, is still as real and as vast as, ever. The higher nature of man, intellectual and spiritual, must always have an element in which it lives, an atmosphere surrounding if, principles to guide it, ends to stimulate its action; and it may find all these in either of two places. It may find them in the world-that is, in that sphere of things from which God, so far as mans will and intent goes, is excluded; or it may find them in God Himself and in His Son. It is no objection to this division to say that God cannot be excluded from His own world, that He is always at work there whether acknowledged or not; for the acknowledgment is the essential point; without it, though God is near to man, man is still far from God. Nothing could be a more hopeless symptom in character than the benevolent is this truth; it takes away every motive to evangelise the non-Christian, or to work out the originality and the Christian life itself. Now, as in the apostolic age, there are persons who are Christians and persons who are not; and, however alike their lives may be on the surface, they are radically apart. Their centre is different; the element in which they move is different; the nutriment of thought, the fountain of motives, the standard of purity are different; they are related to each other as life in God, and life without God; life in Christ, and life apart from Christ; and in proportion to their sincerity is their mutual antagonism.

In Thessalonica the Christian life was original enough to have formed a new society. In those days, and in the Roman Empire, there was not much room for the social instincts to expand. Unions of all kinds were suspected by the governments, and discouraged, as probable centres of political disaffection. Local self-government ceased to be interesting when all important interests were withdrawn from its control; and even had it been otherwise, there was no part in it possible for that great mass of population from which the Church was so largely recruited, namely, the slaves. Any power that could bring men together, that could touch them deeply, and give them a common interest that engaged their hearts and bound them to each other, met the greatest want of the time, and was sure of a welcome.

Such a power was the gospel preached by Paul. It formed little communities of men and women wherever it was proclaimed; communities in which there was no law but that of love, in which heart opened to heart as nowhere else in all the world, in which there were fervour and hope and freedom and brotherly kindness, and all that makes life good and dear. We feel this very strongly in reading the New Testament, and it is one of the points on which, unhappily, we have drifted away from the primitive model. The Christian congregation is not now, in point of fact, the type of a sociable community. Too often it is oppressed with constraint and formality. Take any particular member of any particular congregation; and his social circle, the company of friends

in which he expands most freely and happily, will possibly have no connection with those he sits beside in the church. The power of the faith to bring men into real unity with each other is not lessened; we see this wherever the gospel breaks ground in a heathen country, or wherever the frigidity of the church drives two or three fervent souls to form a secret society of their own; but the temperature of faith itself is lowered; we are not really living, with any intensity of life, in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we were, we would be drawn closer to each other; our hearts would touch and overflow; the place where we meet in the name of Jesus would be the most radiant and sociable place we know.

Nothing could better illustrate the reality of that new character which Christianity confers than the fact that men can be addressed as Christians. Nothing, either, could better illustrate the confusion of mind that exists in this matter, or the insincerity of much profession, than the fact that so many members of churches would hesitate before taking the liberty so to address a brother. We have all written letters, and on all sorts of occasions; we have addressed men as lawyers, or doctors, or men of business; we have sent or accepted invitations to gatherings where nothing would have astonished us more than the unaffected naming of the name of God; did we ever write to anybody because he was a Christian, and because we were Christians? Of all the relations in which we stand to others, is that which is established by "our common Christianity," by our common life in Jesus Christ, the only one which is so crazy and precarious that it can never be really used for anything? Here we see the Apostle look back from Corinth to Thessalonica, and his one interest in the poor people whom he remembers so affectionately is that they are Christians. The one thing in which he wishes to help them is their Christian life. He does not care much whether they are well or ill off in respect of this worlds goods; but he is anxious to supply what is lacking in their faith. (1Th_3:10)

How real a thing the Christian life was to him! what a substantial interest, whether in himself or in others, engrossing all his thought, absorbing all his love and devotion. To many of us it is the one topic for silence; to him it was the one theme of thought and speech. He wrote about it, as he spoke about it, as though there were no other interest for man; and letters like those of Thomas Erskine show that still, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. The full soul overflows, unaffected, unforced; Christian fellowship, as soon as Christian life is real, is restored to its true place.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy wish the church of the Thessalonians grace and peace. This is the greeting in all the Apostles letters; it is not varied except by the addition of "mercy" in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus. In form it seems to combine the salutations current among the

Greeks and the Jews ( and ), but in import it has all the originality the Christian

faith. In the second Epistle it runs, "Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace is the love of God, spontaneous, beautiful, unearned, at work in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinful men; peace is the effect and fruit in man of the reception of grace. It is easy to narrow unduly the significance of peace; those expositors do so who suppose in this passage a reference to the persecution which the Thessalonian Christians had to bear, and understand the Apostle to wish them deliverance from it. The Apostle has something far more comprehensive in his mind. The peace, which Christ is; the peace with God which we have when we are reconciled to Him by the death of His Son; the soul health which comes when grace makes our hearts to their very depths right with God, and frightens away care and fear; this "perfect soundness" spiritually is all summed up in the word. It carries in it the fulness of the blessing of Christ. The order of the words is significant; there is no peace without grace; and there is no grace apart from fellowship with God in Christ. The history of the Church has been written by some who practically put Paul in Christs place; and by others who imagine that the doctrine of the person of Christ only attained by slow degrees, and in the post-apostolic age, its traditional importance; but here, in the oldest extant monument of the Christian faith, and in

the very first line of it, the Church is defined as existing in the Lord Jesus Christ; and in that single expression, in which the Son stands side by side with the Father, as the life of all believing souls, we have the final refutation of such perverse thoughts. By the grace of God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, the Christian is what he is; he lives and moves and has his being there; apart from Christ, he is not. Here, then, is our hope. Conscious of our own sins, and of the shortcomings of the Christian community of which we are members, let us have recourse to Him whose grace is sufficient for us. Let us abide in Christ, and in all things grow up into Him. God alone is good; Christ alone is the Pattern and the Inspiration of the Christian character; only in the Father and the Son can the new life and the new fellowship come to their perfection.

8. SBC, I. Thessalonica was a populous and wealthy city of Macedonia. As an important seaport it was the meeting place of Greek and Roman merchandise, and consequently the centre of widespread and commanding influence. Paul had twice attempted to revisit his Thessalonian friends, but he had failed. He had been prevented from personally seeing them. He therefore sent Timothy to make inquiries and report as to their general condition. Timothy brought back a favourable report of their Christian progress and steadfastness, and of their strong, ardent attachment to Paul. On receipt of these welcome tidings, the Apostle now writes them in words which reveal the thankfulness and the yearning love of his heart. But as there were certain unfavourable features in the reportneglect of daily duty because of erroneous views about the second coming: ignorant anxiety lest friends who had died should have no share in the gladness and glory of that advent, wrong views about spiritual gifts as in the Church at Corinth; danger of falling back into the mire of heathen profligacy; proneness to faint in view of the persecutions at the hand of their countrymen. The Apostle has also to use words of reproof, correction, and encouragement. These, intertwined with many reminiscences of his personal intercourse with them, are the sum and substance of an Epistle fraught with many similar counsels to us, "upon whom the ends of the world are come."

II. Pauls associating others with himself as he does in the text is a striking instance of the humility and tenderness of his heart. It is also a lesson of the fellowship of brethren one with another, of the brotherly kindness of one teacher towards another, and, last of all, of a teachers familiar relation towards his scholar, his son in the faith.

The Church of the Thessalonians is described as being in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the distinctive characteristic mark of a true church. There were heathen assemblies in the city, numerous and powerful. But the only true church was the Christian community. It had its hidden spiritual life with Christ in God.

J. Hutchison, Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 1.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-3 I. Here we have the apostolic greeting in its most usual formgrace and peacea blending of the ordinary Greek and Hebrew modes of salutation, "the union of Asiatic repose and European alacrity," which by apostolic use has become invested with a significance infinitely higher than that which was implied in the ordinary civilities of social life. These formulae of friendly intercourse familiar to the ancient world were like some precious antique vase, prized for their beauty more than for their use. They had become empty of significance, or, at all events, entirely

empty of blessing. But now they are lifted up into a higher service, consecrated to the noblest purpose,henceforth brimful of holiest meaningfilled with the very water of life.

II. But this grace and peace is from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes from God the Father as the Primal Source of all good, and it comes from Christ Jesus as the Mediating Source. Peace is the sign and seal of Christs kingdom. Its subjects call God Father, because they have first called Christ Jesus Lord.

III. The apostolic thanksgiving suggests an example which it must be ours to imitate. Constant giving of thanks to God, that is a priestly function which every believer must discharge; that offering must be laid on the altar of every renewed heart. Not at times only are we to thank God on behalf both of ourselves and others, but evermore. One of the old Puritans has said: "Grace (i.e., gratitude) is like a ring without end, and the diamond of this ring is constancy."

And as far the apostolic graces, faith and love and hope, have their several manifestations in work, toil, and patience, these suggest to us our duty and our dignity, till at length patience has her perfect work.

J. Hutchison, Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 13.

9. MEYER, This chapter abounds in thanksgiving; and the Apostle recites the many beautiful and hopeful traits of character and behavior by which the members of this Christian community had endeared themselves to him. Notice his favorite grouping of faith, hope, and love. We are taught to crave for these in our own soul-garden, and to rejoice to find them blossoming in others. Too often the gospel comes only in word; let us seek the other three accompaniments of 1Th_1:5. What a blessed thing it would be if our church life were so full of the Spirit of Christ that the ministers would not need to say anything! By whose preaching, a lad was asked, were you converted? By no ones preaching, was the reply, but by my Aunt Marys living.

10. BI, Paul, and Silvanus and Timotheus to the Church of the Thessalonians. After the usual superscription in which St. Paul associates with himself his two missionary companions, we have.

I. The apostolic greeting.

1. Grace and peace blends the Greek and Hebrew modes of salutation, that union of Asiatic repose and European alacrity. But these formulae had become like some precious antique vases, prized for their beauty more than their use, and empty of significance or at least of blessing. But now they are lifted into a higher sphere and attain a holier meaning, grace representing gospel blessing as coming from the heart of God; peace, gospel blessing as abiding in the heart of man; embracing together the fulness of salvation. The right reception of them brings the peace of inward conscience, of brotherly love, of eternal glory.

2. This grace and peace

(1) come from God the Father as the source of all good. No designation brings God nearer the heart than that favourite one of Pauls, the God of peace. It can never come through ourselves or others.

(2) It comes through Him who is our Peace, who reconciles things on earth and things in heaven (Rom_5:1).

(3) When we receive the adoption we have the peace which passed all understanding.

II. The apostolic prayerfulness.

1. Pauls life was one of unexampled activity. The care of all the churches rested on him. But he was not too busy to pray. The busier a servant of God is, the more prayerful he needs to be. Devotion and labour are two sides of the one renewed life. With the Word the preacher influences the world; with prayer he influences heaven. But the intimation here is that Paul had his stated seasons for prayer. It was said of him at his conversion, Behold he prayeth, and ever after the words held good.

2. But in Pauls prayers the element of thanksgiving was always present.

(1) No prayer can be complete without it. It is peculiarly characteristic of Christian prayer. There are prayers in Homers poems, but how few thanksgivings. The Gentile world glorified Him not, neither were thankful.

(2) This thanksgiving, was for others. It sprang from his loving contemplation of the Thessalonians excellences. While prayer for others is common, gratitude for others is rare. It is a duty, notwithstanding, arising from a community of interest in each others welfare.

III. The apostolic congratulation. He has much to say in reproof, so he will begin with praise. This was Christs method towards the Seven Churches. Let the same mind be in us.

1. The ground of his commendation, the three graces of the renewed lifenot in themselves however, but as they manifest themselves in the life.

(1) Your work of faith, i.e. the work which faith produces. Wherever faith is it works onwards to this. This is the Christians duty towards self.

(2) Labour of love is his duty towards his neighbour. Love is infused by God and effused in good works.

(3) Patience of hope is duty in reference to the future and towards God. Manly endurance under trial and stedfast expectation of a happy issue when the just and gentle monarch shall come to terminate the evil and diadem the right.

2. These graces exist and prove their existence

(1) In our Lord Jesus Christ. All three proceed from Him as their origin and terminate in Him as their end.

(2) In the sight of God the Father. This is true of evil works as well as good, but the thought brings no peace to the evil worker, whereas it is the joy and life of the Christian. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

In God the Father

A man cannot be as a house with doors and windows closed against the light, yet standing in the midst of light. A ship may take refuge in a harbour without receiving anyone on board or sending anyone ashore; but a man cannot so deal with God; he cannot take refuge in God without letting God in. The diver goes down into the water to find treasure, but carefully excludes the water; a man cannot so deal with God and the treasures hid in God. In the very act of finding safety and rest in God he must open his soul to God. (J. Leckie, D. D.)

The introduction to the Epistle

I. A specification of the persons from; whom the letter went.

1. The name of Paul stands first because

(1) He only possessed full apostolic authority.

(2) He alone wrote or dictated the Epistle (1Th_2:8; 1Th_3:5; 1Th_5:27).

2. The connection of Silvanus and Timotheus with Paul and with the Thessalonians is illustrated in the Acts. When Paul set out from Antioch on his second tour, he chose Silas to attend him (Act_15:34; Act_15:40). In the course of their journey they met with Timothy (Act_15:1-3). The three proceeded to Troas (Act_16:8-9), where they crossed the sea and conveyed the gospel to several Macedonian towns. On leaving Philippi, Paul and Silas, if not Timothy, proceeded to Thessalonica (Act_17:1-9). Silas and Timothy remain behind at Berea (Act_17:13-14). Paul proceeded to Athens and Corinth. (Act_17:15; Act_18:1). Here Silas and Timothy, the latter of whom had been sent from Athens to encourage and confirm the Thessalonians, at length rejoined him, and here Paul wrote the Epistle.

3. These details account for three things in this specification.

(1) How natural it was for Paul to address a letter so paternal to a Church he was instrumental in founding.

(2) How appropriate that he should associate with himself men who had been active in ministering to the Thessalonians.

(3) How fitting that Silas the elder should take precedence of Timothy (2Co_1:19).

II. The persons to whom the epistle was sent.

1. Thessalonica was a town of Macedonia. Anciently it bore the names, successively, of Eurathia and Therma. It was restored and enlarged by Cassander, and was called Thessalonica after his spouse, the daughter of King Philip, or, according to another opinion, from a victory which Philip himself achieved. It was a rich commercial city, distinguished for profligacy. It is now called Salonichi, and retains considerable traces of its ancient splendour.

2. There Paul preached on successive occasions in the Jewish synagogue. His doctrine is specified in Act_17:2-3, and his success in Act_17:4. But idolaters were also converted (1Th_1:9).

3. The combined converts formed a Church.

(1) The word means called out, and is used to denote an assembly of persons. The Thessalonian Christians had been set apart by a Divine call in respect of faith, character and profession, and were associated as a religious brotherhood, a commonwealth of saints.

(2) This Church was in God the Father, signifying intimacy of relation. They were protected by His power, guided by His counsel, and cherished by His grace.

(3) In the Lord Jesus Christ denotes the union between Christ and believers, elsewhere likened to that subsisting between the vine and the branches, the members and the head, etc.

III. The blessings invoked.

1. Grace: the favour of God.

2. Peace.

(1) Quiet and tranquillity.

(2) Prosperity (Psa_122:6-7; 3Jn_1:2). (A. S. Patterson, D. D.)

Phases of apostolic greeting

I. It is harmonious in its outflow.

1. Paul, though the only apostle of the three, did not assume the title or display any superiority. The others had been owned of God equally with himself in Thessalonica and were held in high esteem by the converts. Timothy was only a young man, and it is a significant testimony to his character that he should be associated with men so distinguished. Each had his distinctive individuality, talent, and mode of working; but there was an emphatic unity of purpose in bringing about results.

2. The association also indicated perfect accord in the Divine character of Pauls doctrines. Not that it gave additional value to them. Truth is vaster than the individual, whatever gifts he possesses or lacks.

3. What s suggestive lesson of confidence and unity was taught the Thessalonians by the harmonious example of their teachers.

II. Recognizes the Churchs sublime origin.

1. The Church is divinely founded. In denotes intimate union with God, and is equivalent to Joh_17:21.

2. The Church is divinely sustained. Founded in God, it is upheld by Him. Thus the Church survives opposition, and the fret and wear of change. But this is withdrawn from apostate churches.

III. Supplicates the highest blessings.

1. Grace includes all temporal good and all spiritual benefits. The generosity of God knows no stint. A monarch once threw open his gardens to the public during the summer months. The gardener, finding it troublesome, complained that the visitors plucked the flowers. What, said the king, are my people fond of flowers? Then plant some more! So our Heavenly King scatters on our daily path the flowers of blessing, and as fast as we can gather them, in spite of the grudging world.

2. Peace includes all the happiness resulting from a participation in the Divine favour.

(1) Peace with God, with whom sin has placed us in antagonism.

(2) Peace of conscience.

(3) Peace one with another.

3. The source and medium of all the blessings desired. From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jew could only say, God be gracious unto you, and remember His covenant; but the Christian honours the Son, even as he honours the Father. The Fathers love and the Sons work are the sole source and cause of every Christian blessing.

Learn

1. The freeness and fulness of the gospel.

2. The spirit we should cultivate towards others: that of genuine Christian benevolence and sympathy. We can supplicate for others no higher good than grace and peace. (G. Barlow.)

The pastors prayer

I. The blessings desired.

1. Their nature.

(1) Grace.

(2) Peace.

2. Their connection.

(1) Grace may exist without peace, but not peace without grace.

(2) Yet peace flows from grace.

II. Their source.

1. God the Father is the Fountain of all grace.

2. Christ is the Medium of communication.

III. Their supply.

1. Free.

2. Sufficient for all.

3. Constant.

4. Inexhaustible. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Timotheus

was a Lyconian born in Derbe or Lystra, where he was religiously trained. He was probably converted by St. Paul during his first visit to Lycaonia (A.D. 45, Act_14:6-7). He was taken on a second visit to be Pauls companion, and circumcised (A.D. 51, Act_16:1, etc.). He was sent from Bares to Thessalonica (Act_17:14; 1Th_3:2); with Silas he rejoins Paul at Corinth (A.D. 52, Act_18:5; 1Th_3:6) and remains with Paul (1Th_1:1; 2Th_2:1). He was with Paul at Ephesus (A.D. 57, Act_19:22; and was sent thence to Corinth (Act_19:22; 1Co_4:17; 1Co_16:10). He is again with Paul (A.D. 58, 2Co_1:1; Rom_16:21). He journeys with Paul from Corinth to Asia (Act_20:4); and is with Paul in Rome (A.D. 62 or 63, Php_1:1; Col_1:1; Phm_1:1). Henceforth his movements are uncertain (A.D. 68-66). He is probably left by Paul in charge of the Church at Ephesus (A.D. 66 or 67; 1 Timothy); received the second Epistle, and sets out to join Paul at Rome (A.D. 67 or 68). Ecclesiastical tradition makes him first bishop of Ephesus and to suffer martyrdom under Domitian or Nerva. (Bleek.)

Silvanus

or Silas was an eminent member of the early Christian Church. The first, which in his full name, is given him in the Epistles, the latter contraction by the Acts. He appears as one of the leaders of the Church at Jerusalem (Act_15:22), holding the office of inspired teacher. His name, derived from the Latin silva wood, betokens him a Hellenistic Jew, and he appears to have been a Roman citizen (Act_16:37). He appointed a delegate to accompany Paul and Barnabas on their return from Antioch with the decree of the council of Jerusalem (Act_15:22; Act_15:32).

Having accomplished this mission, he returned to Jerusalem (Act_15:33). He must however have immediately revisited Antioch, for we find him selected by St. Paul as the companion of his second missionary journey (Act_15:40; Act_17:4). At Beroea he was left behind with Timothy while Paul proceeded to Athens (Act_17:14), and we hear nothing more of his movements until he rejoined the apostle at Corinth (Act_18:5). Whether he had followed Paul to Athens in obedience to the injunction to do so (Act_17:15), and had been sent thence with Timothy to Thessalonica (1Th_3:2), or whether his movements were wholly independent of Timothys, is uncertain. His presence at Corinth is several times noticed (2Co_1:19; 1Th_1:1; 2Th_2:1). He probably returned to Jerusalem with Paul, and from that time the connection between them seems to have terminated. Whether he was the Silvanus who conveyed 1 Peter to Asia Minor (1Pe_5:2) is doubtful. The probabilities are in favour of the identity. A tradition of slight authority represents Silas as Bishop of Corinth. (W. L. Bevan, M. A.)

To the Church

in Galatians, Corinthians and Thessalonians, but to the Saints in Romans, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. It is remarkable that this change of form should take place in all the later Epistles; perhaps because the apostle, more or less in his later years, invested the Church on earth with the attributes of the Church in heaven. The word ecclesia is used in the LXX for the congregation, indifferently with synagogue. It is found also in Matthew, in the Epistles of John and James as well as in Hebrews and Revelation. It could not, therefore, have belonged to any one party or division of the Church. In the time of St. Paul, it was the general term, and was gradually appropriated to the Christian Church. All the sacred associations with which that was invested as the body of Christ were transferred to it, and the words synagogue and ecclesia soon became as distinct as the things to which they were applied. The very rapidity with which ecclesia acquired its new meaning, is a proof of the life and force which from the first the thought of communion with one another must have exerted on the minds of the earliest believers. Some indication of the transition is traceable in Heb_2:12, where the words of Psa_22:23 are adopted in a Christian sense; also in Heb_12:23, where the Old and New Testament meanings of ecclesia are similarly blended. (Prof. Jowett.)

The note of a true Church

There were heathen assemblies in Thessalonica, numerous and powerful; but these were for the worship of false gods. The only true Church was this recent, despised, persecuted one, which rejoiced in the knowledge of the Creator of heaven and earth as their heavenly Father through Christ. There was also a congregation of Jews. A synagogue stood there for the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only living and true God. But its people, by rejection of the Messiah and persecution of His saints, had transformed it into a synagogue of Satan. But the Church, which Paul had planted, was in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a Christian community. It was in God the Father, having been originated by Him, being His possession, receiving the tokens of His favour, and being governed by His laws. It was in the Lord Jesus Christ, its members having been gathered in His name, being knit together in His love, existing for His service, and preserved for His glory. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

Grace be unto you and peaceLet us look at the blessings.

I. Apart.

1. Gracefavour shown to one who has no claim upon it; and so either the kindness existing in Gods heart towards us, or as some operation of that kindness. In the one case, we cannot see itit is a boundless ocean hidden in Gods infinite mind; in the other case, if we cannot see it we can enjoy itit is a stream flowing out of that unseen ocean into our hearts. This grace

(1) Quickens.

(2) Enlightens.

(3) Upholds and strengthens.

(4) Transforms.

(5) Elevates.

(6) Comforts.

We are lost till grace finds us, undone till it saves us, naked till it clothes us, miserable till it comforts us. Grace finds us poor and makes us rich; sunk, and never leaves us till it has raised us to heaven.

2. Peace, i.e., of mind through reconciliation with God. Naturally we are all strangers to this. We accordingly find men everywhere flying from thought and feeling to pleasure, business, science, and even cares. But quiet is not thus obtained. The soul slumbers but is not at peace. The peace of the text is not absence of thought and feeling, it is tranquillity and comfort while thinking and feeling. It spreads itself over the whole mind.

(1) The understanding no longer harassed in its search for truth feels that in the gospel it has found truth to repose upon.

(2) The conscience is quieted. Its tormenting fears go when the blood of Jesus cleanseth it from sin.

(3) The affections which no natural man can indulge without disquiet, have such objects as satisfy while they exercise them, as regulate while they excite them.

(4) The will before quarrelling with Gods dealings now acquiesces in them and enters into perfect peace.

II. Conjoined.

1. The connection is very close. Paul mentions them together in all his Epistles except Hebrews, and so does St. Peter. Nearly twenty times are they coupled together and prayed for in the New Testament. So the connection cannot be accidental.

2. They are always mentioned in the same ordernowhere peace and grace.

3. They are united as cause and effect. Grace is the root of peace, peace the flower of grace. They are not found together like two trees that grow side by side, their roots and branches intertwined. Where grace is, peace is or will be.

4. We may apply this to rectify the errors of

(1) The worldling. He cuts them in two. He wants peace without grace, happiness without holiness. But he might as well go round the world and search for a day without a sun.

(2) The penitent who looks for grace but despairs of peace.

III. Their twofold source.

1. From the Father, because His free everlasting love is the fountain of them. The work of Christ did not make God love, it was the way Gods love was manifested.

2. From the Lord Jesus Christ, as the great Medium through which our prayers for grace and peace ascend, and through whom these blessings flow from God. Man in union with Christmans poor, empty, disquieted heart is the cistern into which the streams of grace and peace run.

3. In every instance in which Paul uses this benediction the two names are conjoinedan emphatic witness to the co-equality of Christ with God.

IV. The light in which this prayer places them. It represents them as

1. Exceedingly valuable. If we have but these we need nothing more.

2. Needed by all.

(1) By sinners.

(2) By the comfortless.

(3) By saints of all kinds, as here.

They are not given once for all, but moment by moment.

3. Copioussufficient for all times, etc. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Peace of Christ

A friend once asked Professor Francke, who built the Orphan house at Halle, how it came to pass that he maintained so constant a peace of mind. The benevolent and godly man replied, By stirring up my mind a hundred times a day. Wherever I am, whatever I do, I say, Blessed Jesus, have I truly a share in thy redemption? Are my sins forgiven? Am I guided by thy Spirit? Thine I am. Wash me again and again. By this constant converse with Jesus, I have enjoyed serenity of mind, and a settled peace in my soul. (Scottish Christian Herald.)

Peace

The ordinary salutation of the East was one of peace, and is so still. Seated on his fiery steed and armed to the teeth, the Bedouin careers along the desert. Catching, away to the haze of the burning sands, a form similarly mounted and armed approaching him, he is instantly on the alert; for life is a precarious possession among these wild sons of freedom. His long spear drops to the level; and grasping it in his sinewy hand he presses forward, till the black eyes that glance out from the folds of his shawl recognize in the stranger one of a friendly tribe, between whom and him there is no quarrel, no question of blood to settle. So, for the sun is hot, and it is far to their tents, like two ships in mid-ocean, they pass; they pull no rein, but sweep on, with a Salem AleikumPeace be unto you. Like their flowing attire, the black tents of Kedar, the torch procession at their marriages, this salutation is one of the many stereotyped habits of the East. The modern traveller hears it fresh and unchanged, as if it were but yesterday that David sent it to Nabal. Beautiful as the custom is, like the fragrant wallflower that springs from the mouldering ruin it adorns, it sprung from an unhappy condition of society. Why peace? Because frequent wars made the people of these lands sigh for peace. War does not take us unawares. We see the black storm cloud gathering before it bursts; and by prudent policy may avert it, or, if it be inevitable, prepare bravely to meet it. But this curse of humanity fell on those countries with the suddenness of a sea squall that strikes a ship, and, ere time is found to reef a sail or lower a

boat, throws her on her beam ends, and sends her, crew and cargo, foundering into the deep. Look at the case of Job, at Abrahams rescue of Lot at the spoiling of Ziklag (1Sa_30:1-31), and it is easy to understand how the most kind and common greeting in such countries was Peace be unto you. With these words our Lord on returning from the grave accosted His disciples. How well did they suit the occasion! The battle of salvation has been fought out, and a great victory won; and in that salutation Jesus, His own herald, announces the news to the anxious Church. He has fulfilled the anthem with which angels sang His advent to this distracted, guilty world. Though He had to recall her from heaven, where she had fled in alarm at the Fall, or rather, had to seek her in the gloomy retreats of death, He brings back sweet, holy peace to the earth. Suppose that instead of descending in those silent and unseen influences of the Spirit, our Lord were to come in person, how would He address us? It would be in these very words. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians Faith

2 We always thank God for all of you and continually

mention you in our prayers.

1.BARNES, We give thanks to God always for you all - see the notes, Rom_1:9.

Making mention of you in our prayers - See the notes at Eph_1:16. It may be observed here:

(1) That the apostle was in the habit of constant prayer.

(2) That he was accustomed to extemporary prayer, and not to written prayer. It is not credible that forms of prayer had been framed for the churches at Thessalonica and Ephesus, and the other churches for which Paul says he prayed, nor would it have been possible to have adapted such forms to the varying circumstances attending the organization of new churches.

2. CLARKE, We give thanks - See Phi_1:3, Phi_1:4, and Col_1:3; where the same forms of speech are used.

3. GILL, We give thanks to God always for you all,.... For all the members of this church, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, greater or lesser believers, officers or private Christians; for their being a church, for the gifts bestowed on them, for the graces hereafter mentioned that

were wrought in them and exercised by them; the glory of all which is given to God, and thanks for the same, which shows them to be gifts of his, and not in the least owing to any merits of men: the apostle ascribes nothing to their free will, previous dispositions and qualifications, diligence and industry; nor does he attribute anything to himself and to his companions, who were only ministers by whom these believed; but he refers all to God, to his grace and goodness: and he returned thanks to him for it, and that "always"; whenever he thought of it, made mention of it, or was at the throne of grace, as follows, making mention of you in our prayers; to God, daily, both in private and in public, at which times thanksgivings to God were made on their account; for thanksgiving is a part of prayer, and requests are always to be made known unto God with thanksgiving. The Ethiopic version renders this clause in the singular number, "and I am mindful of you always in my prayer"; and leaves out the word "all" in the former clause.

4. HENRY, I. The apostle begins with thanksgiving to God. Being about to mention the things that were matter of joy to him, and highly praiseworthy in them, and greatly for their advantage, he chooses to do this by way of thanksgiving to God, who is the author of all that good that comes to us, or is done by us, at any time. God is the object of all religious worship, of prayer and praise. And thanksgiving to God is a great duty, to be performed always or constantly; even when we do not actually give thanks to God by our words, we should have a grateful sense of God's goodness upon our minds. Thanksgiving should be often repeated; and not only should we be thankful for the favours we ourselves receive, but for the benefits bestowed on others also, upon our fellow-creatures and fellow-christians. The apostle gave thanks not only for those who were his most intimate friends, or most eminently favoured of God, but for them all.

II. He joined prayer with his praise or thanksgiving. When we in every thing by prayer and supplication make our requests known to God, we should join thanksgiving therewith, Phi_4:6. So when we give thanks for any benefit we receive we should join prayer. We should pray always and without ceasing, and should pray not only for ourselves, but for others also, for our friends, and should make mention of them in our prayers. We may sometimes mention their names, and should make mention of their case and condition; at least, we should have their persons and circumstances in our minds, remembering them without ceasing. Note, As there is much that we ought to be thankful for on the behalf of ourselves and our friends, so there is much occasion of constant prayer for further supplies of good.

III. He mentions the particulars for which he was so thankful to God; namely,

1. The saving benefits bestowed on them. These were the grounds and reasons of his thanksgiving. (1.) Their faith and their work of faith. Their faith he tells them (1Th_1:8) was very famous, and spread abroad. This is the radical grace; and their faith was a true and living faith, because a working faith. Note, Wherever there is a true faith, it will work: it will have an influence upon heart and life; it will put us upon working for God and for our own salvation. We have comfort in our own faith and the faith of others when we perceive the work of faith. Show me thy faith by thy works, Jam_2:18. (2.) Their love and labour of love. Love is one of the cardinal graces; it is of great use to us in this life and will remain and be perfected in the life to come. Faith works by love; it shows itself in the exercise of love to God and love to our neighbour; as love will show itself by labour, it will put us upon taking pains in religion. (3.) Their hope and the patience of hope. We are saved by hope. This grace is compared to the soldier's helmet and sailor's anchor, and is of great use in times of danger. Wherever there is a well-grounded hope of eternal life, it will appear by the exercise of patience; in a patient bearing

of the calamities of the present time and a patient waiting for the glory to be revealed. For, if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, Rom_8:25.

2. The apostle not only mentions these three cardinal graces, faith, hope and love, but also takes

notice, (1.) Of the object and efficient cause of these graces, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ. (2.)

Of the sincerity of them: being in the sight of God even our Father. The great motive to sincerity

is the apprehension of God's eye as always upon us; and it is a sign of sincerity when in all we do

we endeavour to approve ourselves to God, and that is right which is so in the sight of God. Then

is the work of faith, or labour of love, or patience of hope, sincere, when it is done under the eye

of God.

5. JAMISON, (Rom_1:9; 2Ti_1:3.) The structure of the sentences in this and the following verses, each successive sentence repeating with greater fullness the preceding, characteristically marks Pauls abounding love and thankfulness in respect to his converts, as if he were seeking by words heaped on words to convey some idea of his exuberant feelings towards them.

We I, Silvanus, and Timotheus. Rom_1:9 supports Alford in translating, making mention of you in our prayers without ceasing (1Th_1:3). Thus, without ceasing, in the second clause, answers in parallelism to always, in the first.

6. CALVIN, 2We give thanks to God. He praises, as he is wont, their faith and other virtues, not so

much, however, for the purpose of praising them, as to exhort them to perseverance. For it is no small

excitement to eagerness of pursuit, when we reflect that God has adorned us with signal endowments,

that he may finish what he has begun, and that we have, under his guidance and direction, advanced in

the right course, in order that we may reach the goal. For as a vain confidence in those virtues, which

mankind foolishly arrogate to themselves, puffs them up with pride, and makes them careless and

indolent for the time to come, so a recognition of the gifts of God humbles pious minds, and stirs them up

to anxious concern. Hence, instead of congratulations, he makes use of thanksgivings, that he may put

them in mind, that everything in them that he declares to be worthy of praise, is a kindness from

God. (491) He also turns immediately to the future, in making mention of his prayers. We thus see for what

purpose he commends their previous life.

(491) Est vn benefice procedant de la liberalite de Dieu; a kindness proceeding from God liberality.

7. EBC, THE THANKSGIVING.

THE salutation in St. Pauls epistles is regularly followed by the thanksgiving. Once only, in the Epistle to the Galatians, is it omitted; the amazement and indignation with which the Apostle has heard that his converts are forsaking his gospel for another which is not a gospel at all, carries him out of himself for a moment. But in his earliest letter it stands in its proper place; before he thinks of congratulating, teaching, exhorting, admonishing, he gives God thanks for the tokens of His grace in the Thessalonians. He would not be writing to these people at all if they were not Christians; they would never have been Christians but for the free goodness of God; and before he says one word directly to them, he acknowledges that goodness with a grateful heart.

In this case the thanksgiving is particularly fervent. It has. no drawback. There is no profane person at Thessalonica, like him who defiled the church at Corinth at a later period; we give

thanks, says the Apostle, for you all. It is, as far as the nature of the case permits, uninterrupted. As often as Paul prays, he makes mention of them and gives thanks; he remembers without ceasing their newborn graces. We ought not to extenuate the force of such words, as if they were mere exaggerations, idle extravagances of a man who habitually said more than he meant. Pauls life was concentrated and intense, to a degree of which we have probably little conception. He lived for Christ, and for the churches of Christ; it was literal truth, not extravagance, when he said, "This one thing I do": the life of these churches, their interests, their necessities, their dangers, Gods goodness to them, his own duty to serve them, all these constituted together the one dear concernment of his life; they were ever with him in Gods sight, and therefore in his intercessions and thanksgivings, to God. Other mens mind might surge with various interests; new ambitions or affections might displace old ones; fickleness or disappointments might change their whole career; but it was not so with him. His thoughts and affections never changed their object, for the same conditions appealed constantly to the same susceptibility; if

he grieved over the unbelief of the Jews, he had unceasing () pain in his heart; if he

gave thanks for the Thessalonians, he remembered without ceasing () the graces with

which they had been adorned by God.

Nor were these continual thanksgivings vague or formal; the Apostle recalls, in each particular case, the special manifestations of Christian character which inspire his gratitude. Sometimes, as in 1st Corinthians, they are less spiritual-gifts, rather than graces; utterance and knowledge, without charity; sometimes, as here, they are eminently spiritual-faith, love, and hope. The conjunction of these three in the earliest of Pauls letters is worthy of remark. They occur again in the well-known passage in 1Co_13:1-13, where, though they share in the distinction of being eternal, and not, like knowledge and eloquence, transitory in their nature, love is exalted to an eminence above the other two. They occur a third time in one of the later epistles-that to the Colossians-and in the same order as here. That, says Lightfoot on the passage, is the natural order. "Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future." Whether this distribution of the graces is accurate or not, it suggests the truth that they cover and fill up the whole Christian life. They are the sum and substance of it, whether it looks back, or looks around, or looks forward. The germ of all perfection is implanted in the soul which is the dwelling place of "these three."

Though none of them can really exist, in its Christian quality, without the others, any of them may preponderate at a given time. It is not quite fanciful to point out that each in its turn seems to have bulked most largely in the experience of the Apostle himself. His earliest epistles-the two to the Thessalonians-are pre-eminently epistles of hope. They look to the future; the doctrinal interest uppermost in them is that of the second coming of the Lord, and the final rest of the Church. The epistles of the next period-Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians-are as distinctly epistles of faith. They deal largely with faith as the power which unites the soul to God in Christ, and brings into it the virtue of the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. Later still, there are the epistles of which Colossians and Ephesians are the type. The great thought in these is that of the unity wrought by love; Christ is the head of the Church; the Church is the body of Christ; the building up of the body in love, by the mutual help of the members, and their common dependence on the Head, preoccupies the apostolic writer. All this may have been more or less accidental, due to circumstances which had nothing to do with the spiritual life of Paul; but it has the look of being natural, too. Hope prevails first-the new world of things unseen and eternal outweighs the old; it is the stage at which religion is least free from the influence of sense and imagination. Then comes the reign of faith; the inward gains upon the outward; the mystical union of the soul to Christ, in which His spiritual life is appropriated, is more or less sufficient to itself; it is the stage, if it be a stage at all, at which religion becomes independent of imagination and sense. Finally, love reigns. The solidarity of all Christian interests is strongly felt; the life

flows out again, in all manner of Christian service, on those by whom it is surrounded; the Christian moves and has his being in the body of which he is a member. All this, I repeat, can be only comparatively true; but the character and sequence of the Apostles writings speak for its truth so far.

But it is not simply faith, love, and hope that are in question here: "we remember," says the Apostle, "your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." We call faith, love, and hope the Christian graces; and we are apt to forget that the associations of heathen mythology thus introduced, are disturbing rather than enlightening. The three Graces of the Greeks are ideally beautiful figures; but their beauty is aesthetic, not spiritual. They are lovely as a group of statuary is lovely; but though "by (their) gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdom of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame," their nature is utterly unlike that of the three powers of the Christian character; no one would dream of ascribing to them work, and labour, and patience. Yet the mere fact that "Graces" has been used as a common name for both has diffused the idea that the Christian graces also are to be viewed mainly as the adornments of character, its unsought, unstudied beauties, set on it by God to subdue and charm the world. That is quite wrong; the Greek Graces are essentially beauties; they confer on men all that wins admiration-personal comeliness, victory in the games, a happy mood; but the Christian graces are essentially powers; they are new virtues and forces which God has implanted in the soul that it may be able to do His work in the world. The heathen Graces are lovely to look at, and that is all; but the Christian graces are not subjects for aesthetic contemplation; they are here to work, to toil, to endure. If they have a beauty of their own - and surely they have-it is a beauty not in form or colour, not appealing to the eye or the imagination, but only to the spirit which has seen and loved Christ, and loves His likeness in whatever guise.

Let us look at the Apostles words more closely: he speaks of a work of faith; to take it exactly, of something which faith has done. Faith is a conviction with regard to things unseen, that makes them present and real. Faith in God as revealed in Christ and in His death for sin, makes reconciliation real; it gives the believer peace with God. But it is not shut up in the realm of things inward and unseen. If it were, a man might say what he pleased about it, and there would be no check upon his words.

Wherever it exists, it works: he who is interested can see what it has done. Apparently the Apostle has some particular work of faith in his mind in this passage; some thing which the Thessalonians had actually done, because they believed; but what it is we cannot tell. Certainly not faith itself; certainly not love, as some think, referring to Gal_5:6; if a conjecture may be hazarded, possibly some act of courage or fidelity under persecution, similar to those adduced in Heb_11:1-40. That famous chapter contains a catalogue of the works which faith wrought; and serves as a commentary, therefore, on this expression. Surely we ought to notice that the great Apostle, whose name has been the strength and shield of all who preach justification by faith alone, the very first time he mentions this grace in his epistles, mentions it as a power which leaves its witness in work.

It is so, also, with love: "we remember," he writes, "your labour of love." The difference between

(work) and (labour) is that between effect and cause. The Apostle recalls something

which the faith of the Thessalonians did; he recalls also the wearisome toil in which their love spent itself. Love is not so capable of abuse in religion, or, at least, it has not been so rankly abused, as faith. Men are much more apt to demand the proof of it. It has an inward side as much as faith; but it is not an emotion which exhausts itself in its own transports. Merely as emotion, indeed, it is apt to be undervalued. In the Church of today emotion needs rather to be stimulated than repressed. The passion of the New Testament startles us when we chance to feel it. For one man among us who is using up the powers of his soul in barren ecstasies, there are

thousands who have never been moved by Christs love to a single tear or a single heart throb. They must learn to love before they can labour. They must be kindled by that fire which burned in Christs heart, and which He came to cast upon the earth, before they can do anything in His service. But if the love of Christ has really met that answer in love for which it waits, the time for service has come. Love in the Christian will attest itself as it attested itself in Christ. It will prescribe and point out the path of labour. The word employed in this passage is one often used by the Apostle to describe his own laborious life. Love set him, and will set everyone in whose heart it truly burns, upon incessant, unwearied efforts for others good. Paul was ready to spend and be spent at its bidding, however small the result might be. He toiled with his hands, he toiled with his brain, he toiled with his ardent, eager, passionate heart, he toiled in his continual intercessions with God, and all these toils made up his labour of love. "A labour of love," in current language, is a piece of work done so willingly that no payment is expected for it. But a labour of love is not what the Apostle is speaking of; it is laboriousness, as loves characteristic. Let Christian men and women ask themselves whether their love can be so characterised. We have all been tired in our time, one may presume; we have toiled in business, or in some ambitious course, or in the perfecting of some accomplishment, or even in the mastery of some game or the pursuit of some amusement, till we were utterly wearied: how many of us have so toiled in love? How many of us have been wearied and worn with some labour to which we set ourselves for Gods sake? This is what the Apostle has in view in this passage; and, strange as it may appear, it is one of the things for which he gives God thanks. But is he not right? Is it not a thing to evoke gratitude and joy, that God counts us worthy to be fellow labourers with Him in the manifold works which love imposes?

The church at Thessalonica was not old; its first members could only count their Christian age by months. Yet love is so native to the Christian life, that they found at once a career for it; demands were made upon their sympathy and their strength which were met at once, though never suspected before. "What are we to do," we sometimes ask, "if we would work the works of God?" If we have love enough in our hearts, it will answer all its own questions. It is the fulfilling of the law just because it shows us plainly where service is needed, and put us upon rendering it at any cost of pain or toil. It is not too much to say that the very word chosen by the Apostle to

characterise love- this word -is peculiarly appropriate, because it brings out, not the issue,

but only the cost, of work. With the result desired, or without it; with faint hope, or with hope most sure, love labours, toils, spends and is spent over its task: this is the very seal of its genuine Christian character.

The third grace remains: "your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." The second coming of Christ was an element in apostolic teaching which, whether exceptionally prominent or not, had made an exceptional impression at Thessalonica. It will more naturally be studied at another place; here it is sufficient to say that it was the great object of Christian hope. Christians not only believed Christ would come again; they not only expected Him to come; they were eager for His coming. "How long, O Lord?" they cried in their distress. "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," was their prayer.

It is matter of notoriety that hope in this sense does not hold its ancient place in the heart of the Church. It holds a much lower place. Christian men hope for this or that; they hope that threatening symptoms in the Church or in society may pass away, and better things appear; they hope that when the worst comes to the worst, it will not be so bad as the pessimists anticipate. Such impotent and ineffective hope is of no kindred to the hope of the gospel. So far from being a power of God in the soul, a victorious grace, it is a sure token that God is absent. Instead of inspiring, it discourages; it leads to numberless self-deceptions; men hope their lives are right with God, when they ought to search them and see; they hope things will turn out well when they ought to be taking security of them. All this, where our relations to God are concerned, is a

degradation of the very word. The Christian hope is laid up in heaven. The object of it is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not precarious, but certain; it is not ineffective, but a great and energetic power. Anything else is not hope at all.

The operation of the true hope is manifold. It is a sanctifying grace, as appears from 1Jn_3:3 : "Everyone that hath this hope set on Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure." But here the Apostle characterises it by its patience. The two virtues are so inseparable that Paul sometimes uses them as equivalent; twice in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, he says faith, love, and patience, instead of faith, love, and hope. But what is patience? The word is one of the great words of the New Testament.

The corresponding verb is usually rendered endurance, as in Christs saying, "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." Patience is more than resignation or meek submission; it is hope in the shade, but hope nevertheless; the brave steadfastness which bears up under all burdens because the Lord is at hand. The Thessalonians had much affliction in their early days as Christians; they were tried, too, as we all are, by inward discouragements-that persistence and vitality of sin that break the spirit and beget despair; but they saw close at hand the glory of the Lord; and in the patience of hope they held out, and fought the good fight to the last. It is truly significant that in the Pastoral Epistles patience has taken the place of hope in the trinity of graces. It is as if Paul had discovered, by prolonged experience, that it was in the form of patience that hope was to be mainly effective in the Christian life. The Thessalonians, some of them, were abusing the great hope; it was working mischief in their lives, because it was misapplied; in this single word Paul hints at the truth which abundant experience had taught him, that all the energy of hope must be transformed into brave patience if we would stand in our place at the last. Remembering their work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in the presence of our God and Father, the Apostle gives thanks to God always for them all. Happy is the man whose joys are such that he can gratefully dwell on them in that presence: happy are those also who give others Cause to thank God on their behalf.

The ground of the thanksgiving is finally comprehended in one short and striking phrase: "Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election." The doctrine of election has often been taught as if the one thing that could never be known about anybody was whether he was or was not elect. The assumed impossibility does not square with New Testament ways of speaking. Paul knew the elect, he says here; at least he knew the Thessalonians were elect. In the same way he writes to the Ephesians: "God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world; in love He foreordained us to adoption as sons." Chose whom before the foundation of the world? Foreordained whom? Himself, and those whom he addressed. If the Church has learned the doctrine of election from anybody, it has been from Paul; but to him it had a basis in experience, and apparently he felt differently about it from many theologians. He knew when the people he spoke to were elect; how, he tells in what follows.

8. BI, Ministerial thanksgiving

I. Is expansive in its character. It is our duty to be grateful for personal benefits, but it displays a nobler generosity to be thankful for the good of others. Paul thanked God

1. Because of their work of faith.

(1) Faith itself is a work; it is the laying hold of Christ for salvation. In its exercise man meets with opposition, and it becomes a fight.

(2) It is the cause of workthe propelling and sustaining motive in all Christian toil. Faith without works is dead.

2. Because of their labour of love. Labour tests the strength of love. We show our love to Christ by what we do for Him. Love makes even drudgery an enjoyment. It leads us to attempt what we would once have shrunk from in dismay.

3. Because of their patient hope. It was severely tried, but not quenched. It is hard to hope in the midst of discouragement. It was so with Joseph in prison, with David in the mountains of Judah, with the Jews in Babylon. But the grace of patience gives constancy to hope.

4. Because of their election, not as individuals, this could not he, but as a people. St. Paul here means that from what he saw of the operations of Christian grace in them he knew they were Gods elect. As Bengel says, Election is the judgment of Divine grace, exempting in Christ, from the common destruction of men, those who accept their calling by faith. Every one who is called, is elected from the first moment of his faith; and so long as he continues in his calling and faith, he continues to be elected; if at any time he loses calling and faith, he ceases to be elected. Observe the constancy of this thanksgiving spiritWe give thanks always for you all. As they remembered without ceasing the genuine evidences of conversion so did they assiduously thank God.

II. Evokes a spirit of practical devotion. Making mention of you in our prayers. The interest of the successful worker in his converts is keenly aroused; he is especially anxious the work should be permanent, and resorts to prayer as the effectual means. Prayer for others benefits the suppliant. When the Church prayed, not only was Peter liberated from prison, but the faith of the members was emboldened.

III. Is rendered to the great Giver of all good. We give thanks to God. God is the author of true success. In vain we labour where His blessing is withheld. (G. Barlow.)

Intercessory prayer

A praying engineer used to run from Boston on the morning express train. A very faithful man he was in his business; and he was a man of ardour and enthusiasm for souls. He used to make me ride with him, and he would give me an account of his hunting and fishing for souls. I suppose he was the means of rescuing fifty men from the devils grasp, clothing them and getting them into business. Even while he was running his engine he was thinking of his workfor his real