1 Thessalonians 2:13–16

Paul and his colleagues return to a thankful recollection of how the Thessalonians embraced the truth of God’s gospel and also imitated the Christian conduct of other churches. This even entailed suffering, likely in part due to Jewish opposition to the Christian message. Such opposition prompts comment from Paul, who, in ways similar to the OT prophets, expresses frustration that most of his Jewish countrymen have rejected the messianic good news.

1. III.B. How the Thessalonians Responded and Endured (2:13–16)
   1. 1. The Thessalonians Respond (2:13–14a)
   2. 2. Jewish Opposition to the Gospel (2:14b–16)

2:13 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy again proclaim their thanksgiving to God for the Thessalonian church, returning to themes from the beginning of the letter (esp. 1:6–10). Such thanksgiving is made “without ceasing” (ESV mg.; cf. 1:2 ESV mg.). Paul refers to the gospel as the “word of God” (Rom. 9:6; Col. 1:25; 2 Tim. 2:9; Titus 2:5). He thus contrasts any message of human origin (“word of men”) with the gospel, which originated from God. Though God makes his gospel known through human agents, the message itself is firmly rooted in God’s own revelation in Christ.

In Greek, the concluding relative clause in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (“which is at work in you believers”) could refer either to the “word” of God (thus translated “which is at work . . .”) or to God himself (“who is at work . . .”). The question of whether “God” works or his “word” does rests on a fine distinction, since clearly God works through his word in the lives of believers. The mention of “believers” here is certainly intentional. Paul is renowned for his focus on faith as the proper response to God’s grace, which brings someone into true Christian fellowship with God. Thus “believers” are those to whom God has given faith in Christ, which leads them to trust him in all of life (also 1 Thess. 1:7; 2:10).

2:14 Paul alludes again to a central theme in his Christian ethics: imitation. Christians are to imitate Christ, but they also learn how to follow Christ from observing how other Christians imitate Christ (cf. comments on 1:6–7). Paul earlier commended the Thessalonians for serving as a model for other churches (1:7–10). Here the Thessalonians, as they follow Christ amid suffering and persecution, are said to imitate believers in Judea, the very birthplace of Christian faith.

Paul has heard a report from Timothy that the persecuted Thessalonians are standing fast, which gives him cause for thanksgiving (cf. 1 Thess. 3:8–9). Here in chapter 2, Paul specifically mentions that the church’s sufferings are at the hands of their “own countrymen,” indicating a concerted local opposition to the church.

Paul compares their suffering to the Jewish persecution of the Judean church. Notably, Jewish persecution was evident also at the founding of the Thessalonian church, when synagogue leaders out of jealousy raised a rabble to attack Paul (Acts 17:5–9). This mob failed to catch Paul, but they ransacked the house of Jason, dragging him and other Christians before the city authorities. Even after Paul and his company slipped away from Thessalonica to Berea, Thessalonian Jews pursued Paul, forcing him to leave the province of Macedonia altogether (Acts 17:13–14). It seems likely that such opponents of the gospel in Thessalonica, not content with Paul’s dismissal, would have continued to oppose the church that Paul left behind.

2:15–16 Paul speaks further of Jewish opposition to the gospel, both in Judea and elsewhere. Paul’s concerns here do not spring from anti-Semitism, especially since Paul elsewhere identifies with, and shows compassion and concern for, his fellow Jewish countrymen (e.g., Rom. 11:1–2). Even though Paul self-identified as the “apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13; also Gal. 2:8–9; 1 Tim. 2:7), he typically went first to the synagogue in each city he visited (Acts 13:14; 14:1; 17:1–3, 10, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8). In the synagogue Paul proclaimed the Messiah Jesus in keeping with his statement that the gospel is “to the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16). Paul desired that the success of his Gentile ministry might call his Jewish countrymen to worship Jesus the Messiah (Rom. 11:13–16). Indeed, Gentile believers are “grafted in” to Israel as God’s people (Rom. 11:17), and it is this renewed Israel of believing Jews and Gentiles that will be saved (Rom. 11:17–32).

However, Paul also remembers that, on virtually every occasion when he delivered the messianic good news in these synagogues, he eventually faced great opposition (in Pisidian Antioch [Acts 13:45–51]; in Iconium [14:2–6]; in Lystra [14:19]; in Thessalonica [17:5]; in Berea [17:13–14]; in Corinth [18:6, 12–17]; and later in Ephesus [19:9]). Eventually this culminated in Paul’s imprisonment and in Jewish attempts to have him put to death (Acts 21–25). Paul invariably met with a mixed response among his Jewish countrymen, with some believing in Jesus but others refusing to do so (e.g., Acts 28:24). Such a negative reception reminds Paul of how Judah and Israel responded to the OT prophets. Amid the prophets’ calls for Israel to repent, those prophets typically experienced social ostracism and even death (cf. Acts 28:25–28; Rom. 11:7–10). Jesus himself warned that the church would be persecuted, much in the way the OT prophets had been (e.g., Matt. 5:11–12; 23:29–39). The Messiah himself was rejected by his own people (e.g., Luke 23:13–24; 24:20; Acts 2:23; 13:27–28; cf. John 1:11). In Acts, the young Saul (later Paul) heard Stephen utter a message about Jewish persecution of the OT prophets and of Christ’s followers (Acts 7:39–43; 7:51–8:1). Moreover, Paul remembers a time when, prior to God’s gracious intervention, he too was a persecutor of the church (Acts 8:3; Gal. 1:13–14; Phil. 3:6).

All of this serves as the background to Paul’s strong statements of condemnation of his fellow Jewish countrymen in 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16. Paul’s denunciation follows the pattern of an OT prophet, who would censure his people even while longing for their repentance and return to the Lord. By condemning the Lord Messiah to death and opposing his agents, unbelieving Jews have invoked divine displeasure. In attempting to thwart Paul in his role as apostle to the Gentiles, they “oppose all mankind” by hindering the word of salvation from coming to all humanity. In this way, Paul concludes they are “[filling up] the measure of their sins” through disavowal of God’s messengers, just as their forefathers had done to the OT prophets (2:16; cf. Matt. 23:32).

Such opposition to the Messiah of God rightly deserves God’s wrath (cf. also 2 Thess. 1:5–10), and Paul recognizes that this indeed is the result, so he exclaims, “But wrath has come upon them at last!” (1 Thess. 2:16). The tense of this verb (“has come”) has led commentators to speculate concerning which specific moment of “wrath” Paul references. Were there certain events in Paul’s day, prior to the writing of this letter, to which Paul was referring? Since the Roman suppression of the First Jewish Revolt occurred later (AD 66–73), some suggest Paul alludes to an earlier humiliation of the Jews—perhaps through some imperial edict (such as Claudius’s expulsion of Jews from Rome just prior to the writing of this letter; cf. Acts 18:2) or some local judgment of the Jews in Thessalonica or Corinth (e.g., Acts 18:14–17). However, the Greek aorist tense can at times be used to refer with extra certainty to the prophetic future, and Paul’s mention of “at last” in verse 16 may refer to wrath at the final judgment (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; also Rom. 2:5; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6). Regardless of whether “wrath” here refers to the prophetic future or to a particular event in Paul’s day, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that God brings justice in the end.

Throughout this discourse in 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16, Paul identifies with the Thessalonians’ emotions in times of persecution. He assures them that in the end the Lord will deal out just retribution to their opponents. He provides a broader context for Jewish opposition to the gospel, illustrating that such responses have long been encountered in the history of God’s dealings with Israel. And he acts as an OT prophet, indicting his own people while nonetheless desiring their repentance and salvation. Thus Paul helps Thessalonian Jewish believers in Christ (as well as the Gentile Christians among them) better to understand the opposition they face as they continue to follow the Messiah.

Paul here commends the ready acceptance of the Christian good news as the very word of God. He indirectly encourages churches to imitate one another as each seeks to honor Christ while enduring opposition in this present age. He also locates the sufferings of the church in a broader tableau of all who have followed God in the past. Since our forerunners in the OT and NT faced suffering, and indeed since Christ himself encountered death at the agency of his own people, we should be prepared to persevere in a world that is in opposition to the things of God. The salvation message is worth every bit of energy and commitment from Christ’s followers. And our endurance can serve as a model to others who cling to the Word of God in such an age.