The true God - In opposition to the whole system of idolatry, which was false in the objects of its adoration, false in its pretensions, false in its promises, and false in all its prospects.
Verse 10
And to wait for his Son from heaven - To expect a future state of glory, and resurrection of the body, according to the Gospel doctrine, after the example of Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, and ascended unto heaven, ever to appear in the presence of God for us.
Delivered us from the wrath to come - From all the punishment due to us for our sins, and from the destruction which is about to come on the unbelieving and impenitent Jews.
This was the news, the sounding out, that went abroad concerning the converted Thessalonians. Every where it was said: They have believed the Gospel; they have renounced idolatry; they worship the living and true God; they have received the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; they are happy in their souls, unspotted in their lives, and full of joy; expecting an eternal glory through that Christ who had died for and purged their sins, and who shall fashion their degraded bodies and make them like to his glorious body, and give them an eternal residence with himself in a state of blessedness.
These were glorious news; and, wherever they were told, prepared the way of the Gospel among the heathen. The mere preaching of the Gospel has done much to convince and convert sinners, but the lives of the sincere followers of Christ, as illustrative of the truth of these doctrines, have done much more: Truth represented in action seems to assume a body, and thus renders itself palpable. In heathen countries, which are under the dominion of Christian powers, the Gospel, though established there, does little good, because of the profane and irreligious lives of those who profess it. Why has not the whole peninsula of India been long since evangelized? The Gospel has been preached there; but the lives of the Europeans professing Christianity there have been, in general, profligate, sordid, and base. From them sounded out no good report of the Gospel; and therefore the Mohammedans continue to prefer their Koran, and the Hindoos their Vedas and Shasters, to the Bible. It should now ever be acknowledged, to the glory of God, that of late years a few apostolic men in that country are turning the tide in favor of the Gospel; and several eminent Europeans have warmly espoused the doctrine of Christ, and are labouring to circulate the word of God through the whole of British India.
Introduction
The apostle sets forth how the Gospel was brought and preached to the Thessalonians, in consequence of his being persecuted at Philippi, [1Thes 2:1], [1Thes 2:2]. The manner in which the apostles preached, the matter of their doctrine, and the tenor of their lives, [1Thes 2:3-11]. He exhorts them to walk worthy of God, [1Thes 2:12]. And commends them for the manner in which they received the Gospel, [1Thes 2:13]. How they suffered from their own countrymen, as the first believers did from the Jews, who endeavored to prevent the apostles from preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, [1Thes 2:14-16]. St. Paul's apology for his absence from them; and his earnest desire to see them, founded on his great affection for them, [1Thes 2:17-20].
Verse 1
Our entrance in unto you - His first coming to preach the Gospel was particularly owned of the Lord, many of them having been converted under his ministry. This consideration gave him a right to deliver all the following exhortations.
Verse 2
Shamefully entreated - at Philippi - There Paul and Silas had been beaten with many stripes, shut up in the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks. See [Act 16:23], etc.; and the notes there.
With much contention - The words εν πολλῳ αγωνι not only signify, with intense labor and earnestness, but may here mean, exposed to the greatest danger; at the peril of our lives. The Greek phrase quoted by Rosenmuller is to the point, αγων προφασιν ουκ αναμενει, in danger we must not delay - activity and despatch are then indispensably necessary.
Verse 3
Our exhortation - The word παρακλησιςhas a very extensive meaning; it signifies not only exhortation and teaching in general, but also encouragement, consolation, and the like. When the apostles exhorted or admonished men, it was that they should turn from evil to good, from misery to happiness, from Satan to God, and from hell to heaven. Their exhortations having this object, every word was consolatory; and as the truth which they delivered was unquestionable, therefore their ministry was a subject of the highest encouragement and joy.
Not of deceit - We did not endeavor to allure you with false pretences; we did not deceive you, nor were we deceived ourselves.
Nor of uncleanness - Such as the teachings of the Gentile philosophers were; their supreme gods were celebrated for their adulteries, fornications, uncleannesses, thefts, barbarities, and profligacies of the most odious kind. Our Gospel was pure; came from the pure and holy God; was accompanied with the influences of the Holy Spirit, and produced purity both in the hearts and lives of all that received it.
Nor in guile - We had no false pretences, and were influenced by no sinister motives.
Verse 4
But as we were allowed of God - Καθως δεδοκιμασμεθα· As we were accounted worthy to be put in trust - as God put confidence in us, and sent us on his most especial message to mankind, even so we speak, keeping the dignity of our high calling continually in view; and, acting as in the sight of God, we speak not to please or flatter men, though our doctrine is the most consolatory that can be conceived, but to please that God who searcheth the heart, and before whom all our motives are constantly without a veil.
Verse 5
Flattering words - Though we proclaimed the Gospel or glad tidings, yet we showed that without holiness none should see the Lord.
Ye know - That while we preached the whole Gospel we never gave any countenance to sin.
For a cloak of covetousness - We did not seek temporal emolument; nor did we preach the Gospel for a cloak to our covetousness: God is witness that we did not; we sought you, not yours. Hear this, ye that preach the Gospel! Can ye call God to witness that in preaching it ye have no end in view by your ministry but his glory in the salvation of souls? Or do ye enter into the priesthood for a morsel of bread, or for what is ominously and impiously called a living, a benefice? In better days your place and office were called a cure of souls; what care have you for the souls of them by whose labors you are in general more than sufficiently supported? Is it your study, your earnest labor, to bring sinners to God; to preach among your heathen parishioners the unsearchable riches of Christ?
But I should speak to the thousands who have no parishes, but who have their chapels, their congregations, pew and seat rents, etc., etc. Is it for the sake of these that ye have entered or continue in the Gospel ministry? Is God witness that, in all these things, ye have no cloak of covetousness? Happy is the man who can say so, whether he has the provision which the law of the land allows him, or whether he lives on the free-will offerings of the people.
The faithful laborer is worthy of his hire; for the ox that treads out the corn should not be muzzled; and they that preach the Gospel should live, not riot, by the Gospel. But wo to that man who enters into the labor for the sake of the hire! he knows not Christ; and how can he preach him?
Verse 6
Nor of men sought we glory - As we preached not for worldly gain, so we preached not for popular applause; we had what we sought for-the approbation of God, and the testimony of a good conscience.
When we might have been burdensome - They had a right to their maintenance while they devoted themselves wholly to the work of the Gospel for the sake of the people's souls. Others understand the words εν βαρει ειναι, to be honorable; we sought no glory of you nor of others, though we were honorable as the apostles of Christ. כבוד cabod, in Hebrew, to which the Greek βαρος answers, signifies not only weight but glory; and in both these senses the apostle uses it, [2Cor 4:17].
Verse 7
But we were gentle among you - Far from assuming the authority which we had, we acted towards you as a tender nurse or parent does to a delicate child. We fed, counselled, cherished, and bore with you; we taught you to walk, preserved you from stumbling, and led you in a right path.
Instead of ηπιοι, gentle, many MSS., and several versions and fathers, have νηπιοι, young children. But this never can be considered the original reading, the scope of the place being totally opposed to it. It is the Thessalonians whom the apostle considers as young children, and himself and fellow laborers as the nurse; he could with no propriety say that he was among them as a little child, while himself professed to be their nurse.
Verse 8
Being affectionately desirous of you - We had such intense love for you that we were not only willing and forward to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to you, but also to give our own lives for your sake, because ye were dear, διοτι αγαπητοι ἡμιν, because ye were beloved by us. The words used here by the apostle are expressive of the strongest affection and attachment.
Verse 9
Ye remember - our labor and travail - From this it appears that St. Paul spent much more time at Thessalonica than is generally supposed; for the expressions in this verse denote a long continuance of a constantly exercised ministry, interrupted only by manual labor for their own support; labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable to you. Probably Paul and his companions worked with their hands by day, and spent a considerable part of the night, or evenings, in preaching Christ to the people.
Verse 10
Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily - i.e., in reference to God; how justly in reference to men; and unblamably in reference to our spirit and conduct, as ministers of Christ, we behaved ourselves among you. What a consciousness of his own integrity must St. Paul have had to use the expressions that are here! No hypocrite, and none who did the work of the Lord carelessly, could make such an appeal both to God and man.
Verse 11
How we exhorted - What pastoral care is marked here! They exhorted - were continually teaching and instructing, the objects of their charge; this was their general work.
And comforted - They found many under trials and temptations, and those they encouraged.
And charged - Μαρτυρουμενοι· Continued witness to the people that all the threatenings and promises of God were true; that he required faith, love, and obedience; that he could not behold sin with allowance; that Jesus died to save them from their sins; and that, without holiness, none should see God. And all these things they did, not in a general way only, but they spoke to every man; none was left unnoticed, unadmonished, uncomforted. The spirit in which they performed all these branches of the pastoral care was that which was most likely to insure success; as a father treats his children, so they treated every member of the Church.
Verse 12
That ye would walk worthy of God - That they should, in every respect, act up to their high calling, that it would not be a reproach to the God of holiness to acknowledge them as his sons and daughters. See the notes on [Eph 4:1]; [Phi 1:27] (note); and [Col 1:10] (note).
His Kingdom and glory - His Church here, for that is the kingdom of God among men; and his glory hereafter, for that is the state to which the dispensations of grace in his Church lead. The words, how ever, may be a hendiadys, and signify his glorious kingdom.