A Commentary in Simple English on 1 Thessalonians

Chapter 2

Verses 1-8 Paul's reasons for his work were right.

In these verses Paul still writes about the way in which he had done God's work at Salonika. The Jews had driven him from the city. Now they wanted to spread wrong ideas about Paul, so that the new church would turn against him. So Paul says again that the Salonikan believers know that Paul's way of preaching the Good News was right. In verse 1, he says that he did not fail in his work at Salonika. This was of course only because of God's help. In verse 2, he says that he could have just kept quiet. He had been beaten a few days before he came to Salonika. His back was torn and bloody with the scars. If he preached the Good News again, he could expect to be treated in the same way again. He was brave to preach again; and this was by God's help.

In verse 3 Paul suggests that the Jews are saying that Paul had wrong reasons for his preaching. Many of the religious lies of that day were helped by clever tricks. This is still true, but Paul used no clever tricks. It is a great honour (verse 4.) for God to trust us with His truth. When he does, we must speak it so as to please Him. We should not try to please people. [2.1] Preachers set out to please people when they want power in the church, or if what they really want is money. We shall have all the glory we want from God if we are faithful.

(Verse 5) There is no need to be greedy or to want to be popular. We can do without praise from men. Paul brought God's message, so he could have asked for help from the people who became Christians. (verse 6.) He could have said: ‘You ought to give me money and a nice house to live in‘. Men who preach the Good News do have the right to be looked after like this by the churches. But Paul was free, and he chose not to ask for anything. His desire was not to take anything but only to give (verses 7,8) like a nurse caring for young babies and keeping them warm.

Verses 9-12 Paul had worked to keep himself at Salonika.

In verse 9 Paul tells them again what they knew. It had not been easy for him. Paul had preached and he had also talked about the Good News to people one by one for long periods of time (verse 11). Paul had worked. He worked not only by day but also into the night. Jewish teachers were expected to be able to work at a trade and Paul was a tent maker. (See Acts 18: 3) We do not know for sure that the work which he did at Salonika was tent making. He made money by his work so that he did not have to take anything from the new Christians in Salonika. He was not greedy! (See Philippians: 15,16. The only help that Paul had received came from the Christians at Philippi). This is why we now often call it ‘tent making’ when Christians go to another country and work at their trade or calling, in order to spread the Good News.

The Good News brings light into our minds. Now that the Salonikans had become Christians they were able to judge these things. Before they were Christians they would not have understood. (verse 10).

Verses 11 and 12 are a fine description of the Christian ministry. [2.2].

Only God is our Father! - but a Christian minister should behave towards his people in the way that a good father behaves to his children. He should have authority, but be kind. He should be willing to give all he has, but he should know when his people are not ready to receive what he knows. He should praise them when they do what is right, and tell them openly and clearly if they do what is wrong.

Paul had taught them using several different ways so that their lives would match what God expected of them. They had more than a wonderful hope that they would enter God’s kingdom and glory. They had already been called into it. So have we. This ought to make all the difference to our lives now.

At this point, Paul moves on for a while from speaking of his ministry. We should remember four things: -

1. That a faithful Christian minister has a right to be paid for the work he does.
2. A cheap ministry is not good for a church.
3. A minister has a right to give his services free to a church. He should be given more, not less, honour if he does this.
4. A minister who gives his services freely must be careful of the temptation to pride. What he does in this way does not give him a right to tell other men that they ought to follow his example.

Verses 13-16 The Christians at Salonika had suffered.

Much depends on the right sort of men preaching the Good News, but now Paul gives thanks to God for the way in which the Christians at Salonika had listened to it. In verse 13, he says they heard it not as a message from men but as a message from God, Who must be obeyed. Because it came from God they believed and the message changed their lives.

The enemies of the Good News at Salonika had copied the Jews in Palestine (verse.14.) [2.3]. They had been cruel to the Christians in the first churches around Jerusalem. The Christian believers, however, had copied the Christians in those first churches by suffering for the sake of Jesus. The Jews who believed and suffered in Judea belonged to the same body as those who suffered for Christ's sake in Salonika.

Verse 15. There was a problem here for these new Christians. The people of God, the Jews, had killed Jesus and the prophets and now they chased men like Paul from one city to the next. The worst thing about such unbelief is that it tries to stop the Good News of God's salvation from spreading. The wrath of God (verse.16) has, it seems, rested on the Jewish people for almost 2000 years, but now we can see that God is at work with them in a different way. This is the sure sign that God is doing new things in the world in our day. Paul may speak like this because all the Jews who lived in Rome had been made to leave there. (Acts 18: 2).

Verses 17-20 & Chapter 3: 1-5 Paul longed to see the Christians in Salonika again.

In verse 17, Paul says that he feels like an ‘orphan‘, that is, a child whose parents have died. One of the wonderful things about the Good News is its power to bring about new and pure friendships. This is just one of the ways in which the Good News makes our life richer now. Although Paul had only known these people for such a short time, he loved them and so he wanted to be with them.

Paul tells the Salonikans that he had tried hard to get back to them. Acts 17: 9 may mean that the Roman law stopped Paul from going back. Paul says in verse 18 that he had tried to get this position-changed ‘but Satan stopped us‘. When Paul moved on from Athens to Corinth he could see why God worked like this. Paul preached in Athens and few people believed. When he moved on to Corinth, he had to work hard. But many people there believed the Good News. So maybe it was Satan who stopped Paul from going back to Salonika. But the will of God was for Paul to go on to Corinth. Paul thought that the church in Salonika could not do without him. He was wrong. It is often hard for us to see that God no longer needs us to work in a place which we love.

In verses 19 and 20, Paul tells us that even if he has finished his work at Salonika he still expects to receive his prize or reward for his work. God will give this to him.

The Olympic Games were not the only great Greek games in ancient times. The Isthmian Games took place near Corinth. The prize that was given to the winner in a race or other event in the Games was a crown. But it was not made of gold! It might be made from parsley or wild celery, green stuff which would quickly die. Paul says that he ran his race when he founded the new church in Salonika. The new Christians in Salonika will still be an honour for Paul when Jesus comes again!

So in Chapter 3: 1, Paul says he did something which was very difficult. Timothy was with him in Athens. He parted with Timothy and sent him back to Salonika. This meant that Paul was all alone in a city he did not really know. Silas may have gone to Philippi to join Luke there. Paul wants his friends at Salonika to know that although he had left behind the trouble he met at Salonika, there was fresh trouble for him in Corinth. So he had chosen an easy life for himself, and left the Salonika church in trouble. He worked at least as hard in Corinth as he had done in Salonika. The Christians in Salonika must not let their old friends in the city come to them and say: ‘We are sorry to see all your troubles. Why not forget all about Jesus? Life would be so much easier for you if you did‘. Paul had taught the Christians that they must expect to suffer for their faith. Indeed, it was all part of the way in which God was at work in their lives. When we preach and teach, we must not hide from people the truth. If the Good News is worth anything, it is worth every thing that we have.

In the same way, the enemies of the church might come to the Christians and say to them ‘Look! This man Paul has gone away. He left you to face all this suffering without him. A man like that is no good to you‘. People still talk like that. We must learn not to listen to lies about people, and not to repeat the lies we are told. And so Paul tells the Salonika Christians what a good man has been sent to them. Paul speaks very kindly of Timothy.

Paul does not seem to know quite how much God had done at Salonika through his ministry and how strong the faith of the new church was. (verse 5). This was why he sent Timothy to find out the position. There will be times when we shall feel like Paul. He thought that perhaps all the work he had done at Salonika was lost and wasted. Instead of that, God used his work far more than he knew