+I. As they are living witnesses of the power of the Gospel.+
+II. As they are the crowning reward of his labours.+
+III. As he shares the joy of Christ in their salvation and final
glory.+
* * * * * * * *
+CHAPTER III.+
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._
Ver. 1. +When we could no longer forbear.+--This latter word occurs
in 1 Cor. xiii. 7 to describe the endurance of love.
Ver. 2. +Fellow-labourer+ is omitted from the R.V. text, which reads,
"our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ." +To
establish you.+--To fix firmly; as Christ said to Peter, "_Stablish_
thy brethren" (Luke xxii. 32).
Ver. 3. +That no man should be moved.+--The word seems to imply
"moved to softness," as Professor Jowett intimates. It is used
especially of the motion of a dog's tail as it fawns on its master.
So the word passes over to the mental sphere (compare on St. James'
figure, James i. 6). "That no man should amidst his calamities be
allured by the flattering hope of a more pleasant life to abandon his
duty" (_Tittmann_).
Ver. 4. +We should suffer tribulation.+--In the verse previous the
noun from the same root as the one here translated "suffer
tribulation" is given as "afflictions." "The actual persecution of
the Roman government was slight, but what may be termed social
persecution and the illegal violence employed towards the first
disciples unceasing" (_Jowett_).
Ver. 5. +When I could no longer forbear . . . sent to know.+--The
whole verse shows the tension of the apostle's mind.
Ver. 6. +And brought us good tidings.+--R.V. "glad tidings." "The one
word for 'brought-glad-tidings' everywhere else in the New Testament
signifies _the_ glad tidings. . . . Hence the peculiar force of the
word here. . . . It was a gospel sent to _him_ in return for his
gospel brought to them" (_Findlay_). +Ye have good remembrance of
us.+--Kindly remembrance. The tempter had not been able to turn to
gall the sweet thoughts of grateful appreciation of the apostle's
work.
Ver. 8. +For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.+--The man who
later could say, "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. i. 21),
prepares us for that saying by this. Life to him is desirable only as
others benefit by it.
Ver. 9. +For what thanks can we render to God again.+--In the R.V.
"again" is joined with "render," representing the one word of St.
Paul. The same verb is found twice in Luke xiv. 14 as "recompense."
The apostle feels what a poor requital any thanksgiving must be for
the mercy of the good news from Thessalonica (see 2 Thess. i. 6).
Ver. 11. +Direct our way unto you.+--Acts xvi. 6, 7 should be read.
Satan might hinder (ch. ii. 18); if God "makes straight" the way,
progress will be easy.
Ver. 12. +The Lord make you abound in love.+--The Lord may here be
the Holy Spirit, as the three persons of the Trinity will be appealed
to (cf. ver. 13, as in 2 Thess. iii. 5). So the Holy Ghost is called
the Lord (2 Cor. iii. 17). Love is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.
v. 22), and His office is to establish in holiness (ver. 13; 1 Pet.
i. 2) (_Faussett_).
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1, 2.
_A Difficult and Important Mission._
Paul had been compelled to leave Thessalonica in consequence of the
malignant opposition of the Jews. They thirsted for his life, and it
would still be dangerous for him to visit the city. But Timothy might
venture where it would be perilous for the apostle to appear. While
the wrath of the Jews raged against the Gospel as a whole, it
culminated in its fury around the head of Paul, the ringleader and
champion of the movement. Fearing that his absence might be
misconstrued, and anxious to strengthen the faith of the infant
Church in the midst of trial, the apostle determines to send a
trusted messenger. It is a significant testimony to the sound
judgment and prudence of Timothy, that he is selected for this
difficult and important mission.
+I. This mission was the suggestion of an uncontrollable
anxiety.+--"Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear" (ver. 1).
This anxiety sprang from the intensity of the apostle's love. It is a
striking feature of genuine, Christian love that, while it bears with
uncomplaining patience any amount of external suffering, it is
restless with a holy impatience of delay in doing good to those it
embraces. The devoted mother can endure anything but restraint in her
desire to promote the best welfare of her child. David was
indifferent to the exposure and dangers of his wilderness-life; but
his soul panted after God with all the raging thirst of the hart in
autumn for the cooling water-brook.
+II. This mission involved great personal inconvenience.+--"We
thought it good to be left at Athens alone" (ver. 1). The
unselfishness of true love ever prefers another's good to its own.
Timothy had travelled so constantly with Paul and had been so great a
comfort to him in his captivities and trials, that his absence was a
keenly felt loss. Specially was his sympathy and co-operation needed
when the great Gentile missionary entered the region--
"Where on the Ægean shore a city stood,
Built nobly, pure the air and light the soil,
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence."--_Milton._
_"At Athens alone."_ What a sublime historical picture is portrayed
in these words! Christianity embodied in a single, lonely man,
standing in the midst of the populous metropolis of pagan culture and
idolatry! Yet the power sustained in that solitary man broke up and
scattered the huge fabric of heathenism. "Solitude is one of the
highest enjoyments of which our nature is susceptible. Solitude is
also, when too long continued, capable of being made the most severe,
indescribable, unendurable, source of anguish" (_Deloraine_).
+III. This mission was entrusted to a thoroughly qualified
messenger.+--The high character of Timothy and the relations existing
between the two preachers are brought out in the epithets applied to
him. "Timothy _our brother_" (ver. 2). In other places Paul calls him
his "own son in the faith," his "dearly beloved son" (1 Tim. i. 2;
2 Tim. i. 2); but in speaking of him to the Churches he recognises
him on the equal footing of a _brother._ He was also a _minister of
God,_ solemnly set apart to this service by the voice of prophecy,
and by the consecrating hands of the presbytery, and of Paul himself.
And finally, he was Paul's _fellow-labourer in the Gospel of Christ,_
not only as all God's ministers are fellow-labourers, working the
work of the same Lord, but also on the ground of that special
intimacy of personal intercourse and co-operation, to which he was
from the first admitted by the apostle (_Lillie_). Thus, Timothy was
thoroughly qualified--(1) _to carry out the apostle's wish concerning
the Thessalonians, and_ (2) _to sympathise with the Church's peculiar
difficulties and trials._ He was more than a mere courier. He was
faithful to Paul's instructions, and valuable to the Church in
himself.
+IV. This mission was charged with a work of high importance and
necessity.+--"To establish you, and to comfort you, concerning your
faith" (ver. 2).
1. _To establish_--to comfort, or set fast their faith by a fresh,
authoritative manifestation of the Gospel truth and its Divine
evidences; and this would be done by private conversation and public
ministration.
2. _To comfort._--The word means also, and especially here, to
_exhort,_ though doubtless comfort would be mingled with the
exhortation. The Thessalonians were exposed to the storm of
persecution that was everywhere raging against the Gospel and its
adherents, and they were exhorted to steadfastness, "that no man
should be moved by these afflictions" (ch. iii. 3). Paul and Barnabas
had a similar mission to the Churches in Lesser Asia (Acts xiv. 22).
There are none so strong in faith but need confirmation, none so
courageous but need comfort.
+Lessons.+--1. _The establishment of believers is ever a subject of
anxiety to the true minister._ 2. _The desire to promote the highest
welfare of the Church should ever be paramount._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._
Ver. 1. "At Athens alone" (cf. Acts xvii. 16, 17). _The Solitude of a
Great City_--
+I. Affords a painful opportunity to reflect on its moral
condition.+--"He saw the city wholly given to idolatry."
+II. Awakens profound concern in a great soul.+--"His spirit was
stirred in him."
+III. Rouses to immediate action in promoting the welfare of the
citizens.+--"Therefore disputed he in the synagogue and in the
market daily."
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 3-5.
_The Perils of Suffering._
A storm among the Highlands of Scotland often effects great and rapid
changes. The huge mountain that slumbers harmlessly in the sunshine,
with such calm and sullen majesty, is transformed by the tempest into
a monster of fury. Its sides are suddenly sheeted with waterfalls,
and the ferocious torrents work devastation among the glens and
straths that lie in their impetuous course. The trees and shrubs that
are but slightly rooted are swept away, and only the firmly grounded
survive. So it is, when the storm of persecution breaks upon the
Gospel and its adherents. The new converts, the roots of whose faith
have not penetrated so deeply into the soil of truth, are in danger
of being disturbed and carried away. Their peril is matter of anxiety
to the Christian worker. Hence the apostle sends Timothy, and writes
this epistle to the Thessalonians, to confirm and establish them in
the faith. He shows:--
+I. That suffering is the inevitable lot of God's people.+--1. _That
suffering is a Divine ordinance._ "For ye yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto" (ver. 3). A strange way, one would think, of
reconciling people to affliction, by telling them that they have
nothing else to expect. It is a grand proof of the triumph of the
Gospel over the rebellious human heart that it prescribes such
conditions and reconciles men to the acceptance of them; and it does
so both by the grace which it imparts for the present and by the
glorious hope it holds out for the future. It is laid down as a law
of Christian progress "that we must, through much tribulation, enter
into the kingdom of God" (Acts xiv. 22). The very purity of the
Church, imperfect as it is, coming into contact with the sin and
misery prevalent in the world, produces suffering. "Because ye are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you" (John xv. 19). It is enough for us to know that
our trials do not happen without the knowledge and consent and
purpose and control of God, and that their extent and duration are
regulated by His infinite, fatherly wisdom and love. The Divine
appointment of suffering is designed for our highest discipline and
culture--withdrawing our affections from the temporal and centring
them on eternal realities; exposing our hypocrisies and cleansing the
moral corruptions that have entered into our lives, like filth on
standing waters, and strengthening us to do the right, undismayed by
the bitterest afflictions. The greatest suffering often brings us
into the neighbourhood of the greatest blessing. "Gold is cleaner
after it has been put into the fire: be thou gold, and the fiery
persecution shall not hurt thee."
2. _That suffering was the subject of frequent apostolic
warning._--"For verily, when we were with you, we told you before
that we should suffer tribulation" (ver. 4). It is intimated here
that it was not so much one single statement on some particular
occasion as it was the constant and habitual tenor of the apostle's
teaching that suffering was to be expected. Paul himself was an
illustrious example of heroic fortitude in suffering for Christ's
sake. "The Holy Ghost," said he, "witnesseth in every city, saying
that bonds and afflictions abide me" (Acts xx. 23). It is both wise
and kind to forewarn God's people of coming afflictions, that they be
not overtaken unexpectedly and unprepared. The predictions of the
apostle were verified: _"Even as it came to pass, and ye know."_
Their first acquaintance with the Gospel was in the midst of
persecution and trial. The violent opposition continued, but the
warnings and exhortations of the apostle were not in vain (2 Thess.
i. 4).
3. _That the suffering of God's people is a cause of ministerial
anxiety._--"For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to
know your faith" (ver. 5). It has been pithily said, "Calamity is
man's true touchstone." The strongest have then become a prey to the
malice and subtlety of Satan. The faithful minister, knowing the
perils of suffering and the awful consequences of apostasy, is
anxiously concerned about the faith of his converts. "There are three
modes of bearing the ills of life--by indifference, which is the most
common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by
religion, which is the most effectual" (_Colton_).
+II. That suffering exposes God's people to the disturbing forces of
Satanic temptations.+--"Lest by some means the tempter have tempted
you" (ver. 5).
1. _A suggestive designation of Satan._--"The tempter." What
unspeakable vileness, ruin, misery, and terror are suggested by that
name! All human woe may be traced directly up to him. The greatest
champions of Christendom, such as Paul and Luther, had the most vivid
sense of the personality, nearness, and unceasing counter-working of
this great adversary of God and man. There is need of sleepless
vigilance and prayer.
2. _The versatility of Satanic temptations._--"Lest by some means."
He may descend suddenly, clothed with terror and burning with wrath,
to surprise and terrify into sin. More frequently he appears in the
seductive and more dangerous garb of an angel of light, the deceptive
phantom of what he once was. Infinite are his methods; his aim is
one--to suggest doubts and impious references as to God's
providential dealings of severity, and to produce apostasy from the
faith.
+III. That the temptations of a suffering state imperil the work of
God's servants.+--"And our labour be in vain" (ver. 5). _In vain_ as
regards the great end of their salvation; they would lapse into their
former heathenish state, and by apostasy lose their heavenly reward;
and _in vain_ as regards the joy which the apostle anticipated from
their ultimate salvation. It is true no work done for God is
absolutely in vain; the worker shall receive his just reward; but it
may be in vain with regard to the object to which his best efforts
have been directed. It is bitterly disappointing to see the work that
has cost so much, utterly frustrated by a momentary temptation of the
wicked one. How different might have been the moral history of
thousands if they had not yielded to the first fiery trial!
"Of all the sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these--_it might have been._"
+IV. That God's people may triumph over the greatest
suffering.+--"That no man should be moved [drawn away by flattery or
shaken] by these afflictions" (ver. 3). While piety is tried, it is
also strengthened by suffering. The watchful and faithful soul may
use his troubles as aids to a richer experience and a firmer
consolidation of Christian character. "Thus God schooleth and
nurtureth His people, that so, through many tribulations, they may
enter into their rest. Frankincense, when it is put into the fire,
giveth the greater perfume; spice, if it be pounded, smelleth the
sweeter; the earth, when it is torn up by the plough, becometh more
fruitful; the seed in the ground, after frost and snow and winter
storms, springeth up the ranker; the nigher the vine is pruned to the
stock, the greater grape it yieldeth; the grape, when it is most
pressed and beaten, maketh the sweetest wine; fine gold is the better
when it is cast into the fire; rough stones, with hewing, are squared
and made fit for the building; cloth is rent and cut that it may make
a garment; linen that is thrown into the tub, washed, and beaten, is
the fairer" (_Jewell_).
+Lessons.+--1. _To live a godly life involves suffering._ 2. _A
period of suffering is ever attended with powerful temptations._
3. _The grace of God is sufficient to sustain and deliver His people
amid the perils of acutest suffering._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._