1 Thessalonians 2

What’s happening

Paul says the Thessalonians themselves know that his coming to them was not in vain, though he and Silas had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, they had boldness in their God to speak the gospel to them "in much conflict." Their appeal does not come from error, impurity, or trickery; "just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts." They never used flattery, or a pretext for greed, or sought glory from people, though as apostles of Christ they might have made demands; rather, "we were gentle among you, as when a nurse cherishes her own children. Even so, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not the Good News of God only, but also our own souls, because you had become very dear to us." They remember Paul's labor and toil, working night and day so as not to burden any of them while proclaiming the gospel. They are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteously and blamelessly Paul and his friends behaved toward them as believers, "as you know how we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, so that you would walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory." Paul thanks God that when they received the word of God they accepted it "not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe." They became imitators of the assemblies of God in Judea, since they also suffered the same things from their own countrymen, as the Judean churches did from the Jews, "who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don't please God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost." Paul, having been torn away from them for a short time in person, not in heart, tried hard to see them face to face with great desire; he wanted to come, more than once, but Satan hindered him. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn't it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and our joy."

Who’s in this chapter

Talk it through

1. Paul describes his care as a nursing mother and as a father. What does each picture add?
2. He worked night and day so as not to burden them. What does that say about the way he saw his role?
3. Paul says they accepted the message "not as the word of men, but as the word of God." What difference does that make to how one hears?
4. Verses 14-16 are hard and have been misused. How should we read a hard passage like this with care?