After Paul fled Thessalonica, his enemies seem to have spread stories about him: that he was a traveling fraud, in it for money or admiration, who ran off and abandoned his converts when trouble came. In the second chapter of his letter Paul answers, not with anger, but by reminding the church of what they had seen with their own eyes: a man who worked night and day so as not to burden them, who was gentle with them as a mother with her child, and who longed to see them again because they were his crown of rejoicing at the coming of the Lord.
A study in 1 Thessalonians 2 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 17 min read
Bold In Our God
“For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”
1 Thessalonians 2:1-4
Paul arrived in Thessalonica with fresh wounds. At Philippi he and Silas had been stripped, beaten with rods and locked in the stocks, even though they were Roman citizens (Acts 16:22-24, 37). Most people would have gone quiet after that. Paul says they were “bold in our God” — not bold by temperament, but bold because of Whom they served.
The ancient world was full of wandering teachers and religious showmen who moved from city to city, flattering audiences and collecting money. Paul’s opponents apparently lumped him in with them. His answer is simple. The gospel was “put in trust” with him, like a deposit with a banker; he answers to the One who “trieth our hearts,” not to the crowd.
“In this first epistle, Paul referred to his manner of labor among the Thessalonians. He declared that he had not sought to win converts through deception or guile.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 256
Even As A Nurse Cherisheth Her Children
“For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”
1 Thessalonians 2:5-8
Three denials: no flattery, no hidden greed, no hunger for glory. Then one of the tenderest pictures Paul ever painted of himself. The “nurse” here is a nursing mother, and the phrase “her children” suggests her own children, held close and fed and kept warm. The man who faced mobs and magistrates was gentle as a mother with these new believers.
And he gave them more than a message. He gave them “our own souls” — his life, his time, his heart. That is the difference between a preacher and a shepherd. The gospel can be delivered by anyone; it is best received from someone who plainly loves you.
“Paul rebuked and warned his converts with the faithfulness of a father to his children, while, at the same time, he cherished them as tenderly as a fond mother would her child.”
Ellen G. White · Sketches from the Life of Paul, p. 84
Labouring Night And Day
“For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”
1 Thessalonians 2:9-12
How did a traveling preacher support himself? Paul had a trade. He made tents, or worked leather (Acts 18:3), and in Thessalonica he worked “night and day” — probably starting before dawn in a workshop and preaching and teaching as he worked and in the evenings. He did it deliberately, so that no one could say he preached for money.
“Before he became a disciple of Christ, Paul had occupied a high position and was not dependent upon manual labor for support. But afterward, when he had used all his means in furthering the cause of Christ, he resorted at times to his trade to gain a livelihood. Especially was this the case when he labored in places where his motives might have been misunderstood. It is at Thessalonica that we first read of Paul’s working with his hands in self-supporting labor while preaching the word.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 347
Then the picture changes from mother to father. A mother nurtures; a father trains. Paul “exhorted and comforted and charged” every one of them, individually, “as a father doth his children.” And his aim was that they would “walk worthy of God” — not to earn His call, but because He had already called them “unto his kingdom and glory.”
As It Is In Truth, The Word Of God
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13
Here is the secret of the Thessalonians’ growth. They did not treat Paul’s preaching as one more opinion to weigh. They recognized in it the voice of God, and received it that way. And a word received like that does not sit still. It “effectually worketh” — it is active, powerful, changing those who believe it.
“The good-ground hearer receives the word ‘not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.’ 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Only he who receives the Scriptures as the voice of God speaking to himself is a true learner. He trembles at the word; for to him it is a living reality. He opens his understanding and his heart to receive it.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 59
“For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16
These verses need careful reading. Paul, himself “an Hebrew of the Hebrews” who wished he could be cut off for the sake of his own people (Romans 9:3), is not condemning a race. He is describing the particular religious leaders who had rejected Jesus, persecuted the Judean believers, and now followed Paul from city to city to stop him from preaching to Gentiles — exactly as they had done in Thessalonica (Acts 17:5). The Thessalonian believers, he says, were suffering the same thing from their own Gentile neighbors. Persecution was not a sign they had gone wrong. It placed them in the company of the first believers in Judea, the prophets, and the Lord Himself.
Our Crown Of Rejoicing
“But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.”
1 Thessalonians 2:17-18
“Taken from you” translates a striking word: “orphaned.” Torn away so suddenly, Paul felt like a parent bereaved of his children. He tried to come back more than once, “but Satan hindered us.” Paul does not explain exactly how — perhaps through the bond Jason had to post (Acts 17:9), perhaps through continued hostility in the city. But he sees the conflict behind it. The great controversy between Christ and Satan was being fought over a small church in Macedonia.
“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.”
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
For the second time in two chapters, Paul’s thoughts run straight to the second coming. And here we learn what he expected to find there. His reward would not be a reputation or a list of accomplishments. It would be people — these very believers, standing in the presence of Christ “at his coming.” The word translated “coming” is parousia, the term used for the arrival of a king, and the first time in this letter Paul uses it.
“Yet there is a future joy to which Paul looked forward as the recompense of his labors—the same joy for the sake of which Christ endured the cross and despised the shame—the joy of seeing the fruition of his work. ‘What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?’ he wrote to the Thessalonian converts. ‘Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy.’ 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20.”
Ellen G. White · Education, p. 70
“This is the treasure for which Christ bids us labor. Character is the great harvest of life. And every word or deed that through the grace of Christ shall kindle in one soul an impulse that reaches heavenward, every effort that tends to the formation of a Christlike character, is laying up treasure in heaven.”
Ellen G. White · Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 89
So the chapter that began as a defense ends as a love letter. Paul’s opponents said he had used the Thessalonians and abandoned them. Paul answers with the record of his conduct and the honest cry of his heart: he had worked with his own hands for them, cared for them like a mother and trained them like a father, and he could not wait to see them — now, if God would allow it, and forever at the coming of the Lord.
