--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 605 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/605/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 605. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/605/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 605. 1 Thessalonians · 3 of 7 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/605/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/605/#p-N ### Verse 13 [¶1] Ye received the word of God - Ye received the doctrine of God, not as any thing fabricated by man, but as coming immediately from God himself, we being only his messengers to declare what he had previously revealed to us. And ye have had the fullest proof that ye have not believed in vain; for that doctrine, under the power and influence of the Holy Ghost, has worked most powerfully in you, filling you with light, life, and holiness. ### Verse 14 [¶3] Ye - became followers of the Churches of God - There is not a word here of the Church of Rome being the model after which the other Churches were to be formed; it had no such pre-eminence: this honor belonged to the Churches of Judea; it was according to them, not the Church at Rome, that the Asiatic Churches were modelled. The purest of all the apostolic Churches was that of the Thessalonians, and this was formed after the Christian Churches in Judea. [¶4] Had any pre-eminence or authority belonged to the Church of Rome, the apostle would have proposed this as a model to all those which he formed either in Judea, Asia Minor, Greece, or Italy. [¶5] Ye also have suffered - of your own countrymen - It is worthy of remark that, in almost every case, the Jews were the leaders of all persecutions against the apostles and the infant Church. And what they could not do themselves, they instigated others to do; and, by gathering together lewd fellows of the baser sort from among the Gentiles, they made frequent uproars, and especially at Thessalonica, where the opposition to the Gospel was very high, and the persecution of the Christians very hot. ### Verse 15 [¶7] Who hath killed the Lord Jesus, etc. - What a finished but just character is this of the Jews! [¶8] 1. They slew the Lord Jesus, through the most unprincipled and fell malice. [¶9] 2. They killed their own prophets; there was no time in which the seed of the serpent did not hate and oppose spiritual things, they slew even their own prophets who declared to them the will of God. [¶10] 3. They persecuted the apostles; showing the same spirit of enmity to the Gospel which they had shown to the law. [¶11] 4. They did not please God, nor seek to please him; though they pretended that their opposition to the Gospel was through their zeal for God's glory, they were hypocrites of the worst kind. [¶12] 5. They were contrary to all men; they hated the whole human race, and judged and wished them to perdition. [¶13] 6. They forbade the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, lest they should be saved; this was an inveteracy of malice completely superhuman; they persecuted the body to death, and the soul to damnation! They were afraid that the Gentiles should get their souls saved if the Gospel was preached to them! [¶14] 7. They filled up their sins always; they had no mere purposes or outlines of iniquity, all were filled up; every evil purpose was followed, as far as possible, with a wicked act! Is it any wonder, therefore, that wrath should come upon them to the uttermost? It is to be reckoned among the highest mercies of God that the whole nation was not pursued by the Divine justice to utter and final extinction. ### Verse 17 [¶16] Being taken from you for a short time - Through the persecution raised by the Jews, see Acts 17, he was obliged to leave Thessalonica, and yield to a storm that it would have been useless for him to have withstood. [¶17] Being taken from you - in presence, not in heart - The apostle had compared himself to a parent or nurse, [1Thes 2:7], [1Thes 2:11]; and the people he considered as his most beloved children; here he represents himself as feeling what an affectionate father must feel when torn from his children; for this is the import of the word απορφανισθεντες, bereft of children, which we tamely translate being taken from you. [¶18] Endeavoured the more abundantly - His separation from them did not destroy his parental feelings, and the manner in which he was obliged to leave them increased his desire to visit them as soon as possible. ### Verse 18 [¶20] Even I Paul - He had already sent Timothy and Silas to them; but he himself was anxious to see them, and had purposed this once and again, but Satan hindered; i.e., some adversary, as the word means, whether the devil himself, or some of his children. There was, however, such a storm of persecution raised up against him, that his friends did not think it prudent to permit him to go till the storm had been somewhat allayed. ### Verse 19 [¶22] For what is our hope - I can have no prospects from earth; I have forsaken all for the Gospel; and esteem every thing it can afford as dross and dung, that I may gain Christ. Why then should I continually labor at the risk of my life, preaching the Gospel? Is it not to get your souls saved, that ye may be my crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ? For this I labor; and, having planted the Gospel among you, I wish to take every opportunity of watering it, that it may grow up unto eternal life. ### Verse 20 [¶24] For ye are our glory and joy - Ye are the seal of our apostleship; your conversion and steadiness are a full proof that God hath sent us. Converts to Christ are our ornaments; persevering believers, our joy in the day of judgment. [¶25] 1. In the preceding chapter we have the character and marks of a genuine pastor laid down in such a manner as not to be misunderstood. Every man who preaches the Gospel should carefully read this chapter and examine himself by it. Most preachers, on reading it conscientiously, will either give up their place to others, or purpose to do the work of the Lord more fervently for the future. He who expects nothing but the approbation of Christ, will labor for Christ; and he, who has the glory of his Master only in view, will ever have his Master's presence and blessing. Those who enter into this work for human applause or secular emolument, may have their reward; but in that, one smile of approbation from Christ is not included. [¶26] 2. God, for reasons best known to himself, often permits the most pious and benevolent purposes of his servants to be frustrated for a time. It is well that the good purpose was in the heart; but God knows the fittest time and place to bring it to effect. Satan is ever opposing all that is pure, good, and benevolent and he appears frequently to succeed; but this is not really the case: if at any time he prevents the followers of God from bringing a pious purpose into effect, that was the time in which it could not have been done to secure its full effect. Let the purpose be retained, and the best time and place will be duly provided. As Satan constantly endeavors to oppose every good work, no wonder he is found opposing a good purpose, even at the very time that God sees it improper to bring it to the intended effect. Man proposes, but God disposes. [¶27] 3. The apostle speaks of the wrath coming upon the Jews: it was about twenty years after this that their city was destroyed, their temple burnt, more than a million of them destroyed, their civil polity utterly subverted, and what remained of this wretched nation scattered to all the winds of heaven; and in this state, without a nation, without a temple, without worship, and apparently without any religion, they continue, to this day, a monument of God's displeasure, and a proof of the Divine inspiration both of the prophets and apostles, who, in the most explicit manner, had predicted all the evils which have since befallen them. Their crimes were great; to these their punishment is proportioned. For what end God has preserved them distinct from all the people of the earth among whom they sojourn, we cannot pretend to say; but it must unquestionably be for an object of the very highest importance. In the meantime, let the Christian world treat them with humanity and mercy. ### Introduction [¶29] St Paul informs them how, being hindered himself from visiting them, he had sent Timothy to comfort them, of whom he gives a high character, [1Thes 3:1], [1Thes 3:2]. Shows that trials and difficulties are unavoidable in the present state, [1Thes 3:3], [1Thes 3:4]. Mentions the joy he had on hearing by Timothy of their steadiness in the faith, for which he returns thanks to God; and prays earnestly for their increase, [1Thes 3:5-10]. Prays also that God may afford him an opportunity of seeing them, [1Thes 3:11]. And that they may abound in love to God and one another, and be unblamable in holiness at the coming of Christ, [1Thes 3:12], [1Thes 3:13]. ### Verse 1 [¶31] Wherefore, when we could no longer, etc. - The apostle was anxious to hear of their state, and as he could obtain no information without sending a messenger express, he therefore sent Timothy from Athens; choosing rather to be left alone, than to continue any longer in uncertainty relative to their state. ### Verse 2 [¶33] Timotheus, our brother - It appears that Timothy was but a youth when converted to God; he had now however been some years in the work of God; Paul therefore calls him his brother, being one of the same Christian family, a son of God by adoption: elsewhere he calls him his own son, [1Tim 1:2]; and his dearly beloved son, [2Tim 1:2]; because he was brought to the knowledge of the true God, and to salvation by Christ, through the apostle's instrumentality. See the preface to the First Epistle to Timothy. [¶34] Minister of God - Employed by God to preach the Gospel; this was God's work, and he had appointed Timothy to do it, and to do it at this time in conjunction with St. Paul; and therefore he calls him his fellow laborer. There were no sinecures then; preaching the Gospel was God's work; the primitive preachers were his workmen, and labored in this calling. It is the same still, but who works? ### Verse 3 [¶36] That no man should be moved - That is, caused to apostatize from Christianity. [¶37] We are appointed thereunto - Εις τουτο κειμεθα· We are exposed to this, we lie open to such, they are unavoidable in the present state of things; as the Latins say, sic est sors nostra, "this is our lot." God appoints nothing of this kind, but he permits it: for he has made man a free agent. ### Verse 4 [¶39] That we should suffer tribulation - I prepared you for it, because I knew that it was according to their nature for wicked men to persecute the followers of God. ### Verse 5 [¶41] For this cause - Knowing that you would be persecuted, and knowing that your apostasy was possible, I sent to know your faith - whether you continued steadfast in the truth, lest you might have been tempted by Satan to consult your present ease, and abandon the Gospel, for which you suffered persecution. ### Verse 6 [¶43] When Timotheus came - We have already seen that he and Silas stayed behind at Thessalonica, when Paul was obliged to leave it; for the persecution seems to have been principally directed against him. When Paul came to Athens, he sent pressingly to him and Silas to come to him with all speed to that city. We are not informed that they did come, but it is most likely that they did, and that Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to comfort and build up these new converts. After Paul had sent away Timothy, it is likely he went himself straight to Corinth, and there Timothy soon after met him, with the good news of the steadiness of the Thessalonian Church. [¶44] Your faith and charity - The good tidings which Timothy brought from Thessalonica consisted of three particulars: