For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. (2:13–16)
Since God first revealed it to mankind, the plan of redemption has been a bittersweet reality (cf. Rev. 10:8–10). One finds sweetness in contemplating the bliss and glory of eternal life that awaits those who embrace the gospel. By contrast, one finds only bitterness in the endless shame and punishment of eternal damnation that awaits those who reject the gospel. That contrast is never more strikingly seen than when one compares people who have made the most of limited spiritual opportunity to people who have squandered great spiritual opportunity and privilege. Throughout redemptive history, the Jews have exemplified the latter reality, which illustrates the ultimate tragedy of apostasy (cf. Rom. 2:4–11; 3:1–4; 9:30–33). On the other hand, the Thessalonians epitomized the former reality and believed God’s truth after only a brief initial exposure to it (Acts 17:1–4).
This striking contrast is the object of the apostle Paul’s focus in 1 Thessalonians 2:13–16. He distinguishes sharply between a people to be glad for, the believing Thessalonians, and a people to be sad for, the unbelieving Jews. In just a few weeks, the Thessalonians readily chose the blessing of obedience to the gospel of God, whereas after centuries of revelation from God, the Jews stubbornly chose the cursing resulting from disobedience to the gospel. Such opposite responses to God’s truth and grace prompted Paul to sort out the reasons he rejoiced for the Thessalonians and sorrowed for the Jews.
A PEOPLE TO BE GLAD FOR
For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, (2:13–14)
Paul, Silas, and Timothy had ministered only a short while in Thessalonica when they saw miraculous results from their preaching (Acts 17:2–3). Because of the immorality and strong pagan religious environment in the city, and the realities that the truth of salvation was so new to the people, and the apostle had been with them only a few months, Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians’ faith might have faltered. Consequently, after leaving Thessalonica, Paul sent Timothy back there to check on the church’s progress: “When I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain” (1 Thess. 3:5). However, the apostle’s fears proved unfounded: “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you” (v. 6). That positive report prompted this expression of gratitude for the Thessalonians.
Paul was always thankful for the privilege of ministry, and he ceaselessly acknowledged God as the One who empowered the truth through him. He had already expressed this to the Thessalonians when he opened his letter: “We give thanks to God always for all of you” (1:2; cf. Rom. 1:8). Here he rehearses the reason he had to constantly thank God for the Thessalonians. The expression for this reason, though singular, encompasses a threefold cause for Paul’s gratitude: the Thessalonians’ reception of God’s Word, their honoring of the saints, and their perseverance in suffering.
THE THESSALONIANS’ RECEPTION OF GOD’S WORD
that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. (2:13)
Paul was first of all thankful the people willingly received the word of God. They were open and receptive in listening to the preaching from Paul, Silas, and Timothy (Acts 17:4; cf. 28:24). Paralabontes (received) refers to an objective reception of a particular message, in this case the gospel.
The phrase the word of God which you heard from us literally reads, “A word heard from us out from God.” The missionaries spoke the words, but those words came from God. That is why Paul several times in this letter refers to his message as “the gospel of God” (2:2, 8, 9; cf. Acts 8:14; 13:44). As the word of God, it was infinitely superior to the words of human opinion the Thessalonians were accustomed to hearing. Because of Thessalonica’s strategic location (see Introduction 1 Thessalonians and chapter 1 of this volume), the city attracted many false philosophers and religious teachers. Its residents therefore had heard a wide range of human wisdom and rhetoric. But, in contrast to all others, when they heard the preaching of Paul and his companions, they accepted it as the true message of salvation from God.
The Thessalonians’ reception of God’s Word was subjective as well as objective. Edexasthe (accepted) connotes an inward welcome of the message, a transference from the mind to the heart. Such an eager embracing of what the Thessalonians had heard indicated that God had granted them faith and regeneration. Luke’s record says: “Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women” (Acts 17:4; cf. Rom. 10:10, 17).
Paul underscored what the Thessalonians affirmed—that the message they had accepted was not … the word of men. The recipients of Paul’s letters knew that what he taught was from God. To the Corinthians he wrote:
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand…. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:1, 3–4)
He assured the Galatians, “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11–12). Likewise, what the Thessalonians heard really was the word of God (cf. 1 Thess. 4:15).
Unlike the word of men, the Word of God is not empty, inert, or powerless. The verb rendered performs its work means to work effectively, efficiently, and productively on a supernatural (divine) level (cf. 1 Cor. 12:6; Phil. 2:13). God’s Word always performs His purposes in the lives of all who believe (cf. Isa. 55:11). Scripture works on behalf of believers in a multitude of ways: it saves them (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23); it sanctifies them (John 17:17); it matures them (1 Peter 2:2); it frees them (John 8:31–32); it perfects them (2 Tim. 3:16–17); it counsels them (Ps. 119:24); it builds them up (Acts 20:32); it ensures their spiritual success (Josh. 1:8–9; Ps. 1:2–3); and it gives them hope (Ps. 119:147; Acts 20:32).
In spite of its claims to the contrary, human wisdom cannot produce any of those results. That is the clear message of 1 Corinthians 1:18–25, which records Paul’s Spirit-inspired testimony on the emptiness and folly of human wisdom:
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The Thessalonians progressed spiritually because they savingly believed the message of the Cross and that belief powerfully affected their daily lives. Paul was thankful for that reality, just as he was later for the Colossians’ reception of the Word: “It is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth” (Col. 1:6).
THE THESSALONIANS’ HONORING OF THE SAINTS
For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, (2:14a)
The proof of their complete acceptance of the gospel and the Lord of that gospel is that the church in Thessalonica had become imitators of the apostle and his coworkers, Silas and Timothy (see discussion of 1:6 in chapter 1 of this volume). Here Paul expands his commendation and says the Thessalonians also imitated the believers in Judea, giving him further reason to be thankful to God for His work in saving the Thessalonians.
Though the Thessalonians probably had never been to the churches in Judea to see a pattern they could follow, the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work was making the Thessalonian church a duplicate of His work in Judea, in that both churches experienced suffering (v. 14b).
In the first century, Judea was a Roman province in Palestine. It was the home of the first local Christian assembly, the Jerusalem church, which began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). During the first few years following the birth of that church, believers founded other local churches (cf. Acts 8:4) that, by the time of the Thessalonians’ conversion, were all mature assemblies, having benefited from the refining of persecution.
Paul refers to the Judean congregations as the churches of God, which emphasizes their divine source (cf. Acts 20:28; Gal. 1:22). The plural churches indicates that by this time there were a number of local churches scattered around Judea, individual assemblies of people who were in Christ Jesus, which is true of all genuine churches (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1). True churches are both of God and in Christ because all individual believers are in Christ (Rom. 6:11; 8:1; 12:5; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:10; Phil. 4:21; Col. 1:28; 2 Tim. 2:10; 1 Peter 5:14).
THE THESSALONIANS’ PERSEVERANCE IN SUFFERING
for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, (2:14b)
After the stoning of Stephen, the Judean Christians suffered a period of persecution that was mainly led by Saul of Tarsus (Acts 7:54–8:4). When the risen Christ saved Saul on the Damascus road (9:1–19), the persecution waned somewhat. But it was not long before the persecution—which this time included the first murder of an apostle, James, by the sword—flared up again under Herod. At that time also, the Jewish leaders imprisoned Peter (Acts 12:1–4). Thus the Judean churches had a history of dealing with severe harassment, and had persevered in suffering—an experience the Thessalonian church was imitating.
Even as the believers in Judea suffered persecution from their own people, the Jews, the Thessalonians, immediately after receiving the gospel (Acts 17:1–4), endured persecution at the hands of their own countrymen. Acts 17:5–8 identifies those persecutors as both unbelieving Jews and their Gentile accomplices:
But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.
In that instance, the mob sought Paul and his friends at Jason’s house on the assumption that they were protected there. (Jason was a name adopted by many dispersed Jews, so he was possibly an Israelite.) The episode illustrates the kind of persecution the Thessalonian church was suffering.
Paul and his companions left Thessalonica immediately after the mob uproar (Acts 17:10), but it is likely that the persecution resumed and intensified during the subsequent weeks before Paul sent this epistle from Corinth. The Thessalonians nevertheless triumphed in their sufferings, being joyful in affliction (1 Thess. 1:6), which to Paul was an evidence of their true conversion and thus the culmination of his thanks to God for them.
A PEOPLE TO BE SAD FOR
who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. (2:15–16)
The apostle Paul made an unusually abrupt transition as he began his criticism of the Jews. It is almost as if the mention of the word Jews at the end of verse 14 instantly catapulted him into the harsh words of verses 15 and 16. The unbelieving Jews were the tragic antithesis of the believers in Thessalonica.
Such a harsh, condemning outburst as this against the Jews was not unusual for Paul, in light of their long-standing, persistent resentment of the apostle, which began shortly after his conversion. The book of Acts chronicles numerous examples of the Jews’ hostility. “Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ … [And] Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the [disbelieving] Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 9:20, 22; cf. 14:1–7, 19–20; 18:12–17; 19:8–10; 2 Cor. 11:24). In Acts 13, when the Jews observed Paul and his companions effectively proclaiming the gospel among the Gentiles, they reacted with prejudicial hatred. They were filled with envy and rage over the efforts of Paul, a Jew, to reach unclean Gentiles. Acts 13:40–50 describes that sort of prejudice:
“Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: ‘Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’” As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’” When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
The Jewish people had already turned their backs on the spiritual privilege that Paul alluded to in the book of Romans:
Who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. (9:4–5; cf. Gen. 17:2; Ex. 4:22; Deut. 4:13; 29:14–15; 1 Sam. 4:21; Pss. 26:8; 147:19; Heb. 9:1, 6)
The apostle subsequently summarized their apostate position: “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:2–3; cf. Matt. 23:13–30).
Knowing that the Jews’ hateful attitude had not changed but rather had intensified since their original hostility in the early days at Thessalonica, Paul made a strong statement about their spiritual condition. His statement consists of three reasons they are a people to be sad for: they rejected God’s Word, they hindered the saints, and they faced punishment in suffering. These three are in direct contrast to the reasons Paul was joyful over the Thessalonians.
THE JEWS’ REJECTION OF GOD’S WORD
who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. (2:15a)
Amazingly, in clear contrast to the Thessalonian believers’ immediate love of the truth, throughout their long history the Jews rejected the message and messengers God sent them. Most notably, the Lord Jesus, their Messiah, declared the truth of God, and they killed Him (Acts 2:22–23, 36). The Old Testament prophets delivered God’s words to His people, and they killed those men also (Jer. 26:23; Heb. 11:32–37; cf. 1 Kings 19:10; 2 Chron. 24:20–21). Matthew 23:31–35 sums up the Jews’ attitude toward God’s messengers:
So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Jesus’ parable in Matthew 21:33–46 vividly reveals their murderous acts toward the prophets and the Lord:
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.
The gospels support Paul’s statement that the Jews killed the Lord Jesus (Matt. 27:20–25; Mark 14:61–65; 15:11–14; Luke 23:20–25). The Romans executed Him, but only at the instigation of the Jews (John 19:12–16). Obviously it is not all Jews of all time who were responsible for killing Christ. However, the apostate Jewish mob that insisted Pontius Pilate should carry out the crucifixion of Jesus was guilty of murdering Him. Those Jews represented the historic apex of their people’s unbelief and opposition to God’s will (Acts 2:22–23, 36; 4:10; 5:30; 10:39). Thus Paul’s strong words in verse 15 are without doubt in harmony with God’s centuries-old disapproval of the Jews who apostatized (cf. 2 Kings 17:13; 2 Chron. 15:1–2; 36:16; Jer. 25:4–5; Lam. 2:9; Ezek. 3:19; Matt. 23:35–38).
The Jewish people’s culpability for the murder of Jesus also correlates with their deadly hostility toward the prophets. Other than Zechariah’s (2 Chron. 24:20–22), the Old Testament spokesmen’s murders are not detailed in Scripture. However, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews provides a general indication of what occurred: “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated” (Heb. 11:37).
The Jews’ long-established rejection of anyone who brought God’s Word to them (2 Chron. 24:19) extended to Paul and the other New Testament apostles. Hence Paul wrote that the Jews drove his associates and him out of Thessalonica (Acts 17:10). The verb rendered drove us out refers to the hunting down of an animal with the intention of killing it. Such stubborn and overt Jewish rejection of God’s Word profoundly saddened the apostle’s heart (cf. Rom. 9:1–5; 10:1).
THE JEWS’ HINDRANCE OF THE SAINTS
They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; (2:15b–16a)
Whereas the Thessalonians honored the messengers of God, the Jews hindered the gospel preachers by trying to prevent them from preaching their message. By hindering the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles, the Jews, in similar fashion to the unconverted Saul of Tarsus, thought they were rendering God a service. However, Paul said they were not pleasing to God and used the present tense, denoting that the Jews’ antagonistic attitude was habitual.
The Jews were not only displeasing to God, but they were also hostile to all men. That hostility was not so much a racial prejudice as it was a religious prejudice. They resented, even hated, any religion but their own—and especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, whom they rejected as a satanic, counterfeit messiah (cf. Matt. 12:24). That animosity was expressed in hindering the apostles from speaking the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews refused to believe the gospel, and they resented it being preached so that others might be saved. Such sinful religious prejudice had appeared before, in the earliest days of the Jerusalem church, when the Sanhedrin attempted to silence the apostles:
But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned). When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. (Acts 5:25–33; cf. 4:1–22; 5:17–18, 40–41)
That indicates how strongly the Jews rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how determined some of them were to stop its proclamation—even by killing the proclaimers!
THE JEWS’ PUNISHMENT IN SUFFERING
with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. (2:16b)
The Thessalonians had demonstrated perseverance in suffering and emerged triumphant in the hope of eternal glory. However, the Jews faced an entirely different situation. They would not be able to endure their fearful, deadly, final punishment.
The result of the Jews’ hostility to God’s Word and His saints is that they always fill up the measure of their sins. Literally, that phrase says, “They always heap up their sins to the limit.” There is a well-defined point at which people reach the limit of their sins (cf. Gen. 6:3, 5–6; Matt. 23:32). Paul’s language stems from the kind of expression first seen in Scripture in Genesis 15:16, “The iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” It means God brings judgment only when sin has reached a certain limit (Dan. 8:23; Acts 17:30–31; Rom. 2:5–6; cf. Matt. 23:32; Heb. 10:28–30).
God’s judgmental wrath has come upon the Jews to the utmost. The verb translated has come is in the aorist tense, which affirms that Paul was so certain that divine wrath would come that he expressed the notion as if it had already occurred. And historically, it had occurred—in the Babylonian exile (Ezek. 8–11). His expression likely includes the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, although then nearly twenty years off; and it denotes the eschatological wrath to come when Jesus returns to earth in judgment (Rev. 19). But primarily the expression points to the damnation of people who reject God (cf. John 3:36). That, too, was so certain that Paul could write of it as if it had already occurred. Those Jews had met all the prerequisites for future damnation. They had completed the measure of their sins in rejecting the only truth of salvation and murdering their Messiah and His messengers; therefore, God’s wrath would come upon them to the utmost. The expression to the utmost means God will extend His wrath to the unbelieving Jews to its extreme limit, or fullest expression (cf. 2 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron. 24:18; 36:16; Neh. 13:18; Ps. 78:59; Jer. 4:4; Matt. 3:7; Rom. 9:22). Their future punishment in hell was by that time irreversible. (However, that does not mean God is through with Israel. As Paul writes in Romans 11:26–27, someday God will save all Israel, in accord with His promises to that nation: “All Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’” [cf. Jer. 33:19–26; Zech. 12:10].)
Today, as in Paul’s day, the choice between God’s blessing and His cursing (cf. Deut. 28:1, 15) remains. Those who believe and obey the Word and honor other believers by imitating their lives will persevere to eternal glory, which is good reason to be glad for them. But those who reject the Word and hinder those who preach it will ultimately suffer eternal condemnation, which is good reason to be sad for them.