I Thessalonians 3 · The Lantern

Because of this, willing to wait no longer, it was pleasing to us to remain at Athens, alone.

Seest thou how God permits trials, and by them stirs up and awakens the disciples, and makes them more energetic? Then let us not sink down under trials: for He Himself will "also make the way of escape, that we may be able to bear them." Nothing so makes friends, and rivets them so firmly, as affliction: nothing so fastens and compacts the souls of believers: nothing is so sea…

That is: they chose and preferred.

Paul mentioned the trials they had endured and the relief he intended to supply for them. Here he recalls how he came to their assistance through the visit of Timothy. First, Paul deals with the task of his messenger; secondly, Paul talks about the contact established through Timothy (3:6); thirdly, Paul writes on the effect of this contact on the Apostle (3:7).

And we sent Timothy, our brother and a minister of God in the Gospel of Christ, to confirm you and to exhort you, on behalf of your faith,

Whenever anything happens to the helmsman, either the officer in command at the bows or the seaman of highest rank takes his place, not because he becomes a self-appointed helmsman but because he looks out for the safety of the ship.

Since the Thessalonians were troubled by the fact that their teacher was subjected to trials, they had need of strengthening and consolation, so as not to fall away from the faith. For the trials of a teacher cause no small disturbance to the disciples, just as the wounds of a commander do to the soldiers.

And we sent Timothy, who was the one most in accord with the Apostle: "I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare" (Phil. 2:20). "I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord" (1 Cor. 4:17). Our brother, sustained by charity. "A brother helped by a brother is like a strong city" (Prov.

so that no one would be disturbed during these tribulations. For you yourselves know that we have been appointed to this.

"Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory." How is it "for them?" How is it "their glory?" It is because God so loved them, as to give even the Son for them, and to afflict His servants for them: for it was in order that they might attain so many blessings, that Paul was in prison.

Paul says that Timothy is coming to strengthen the Thessalonians with his words, stabilizing the thinking of the Thessalonians by his presence with them, lest they collapse under the weight of their tribulations. Paul describes this collapsing as a "commotion," being caught up in the passions of your persecutors.

Paul says, to establish and to exhort you, for the soul of a man is strengthened through encouragement: "Your words have upheld him who was stumbling" (Job 4:4). "When you have turned again, strengthen your brethren" (Lk. 22:32). And you are in need of encouragement in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions.

For even while we were with you, we predicted to you that we would suffer tribulations, even as it has happened, and as you know.

For this reason also, I was not willing to wait any longer, and I sent to find out about your faith, lest perhaps he who tempts may have tempted you, and our labor might have been in vain.

"For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should be in vain." A Question lies before us to-day, which is much disputed, and which is gathered from many sources. But what is this question?

I, he says, did not suppose that you were shaken, except perhaps because you were subjected to temptations. Do you see that disturbance in afflictions is the work of the devil, and especially when some are scandalized as a result of others experiencing misfortune? So he acted with Job, troubling his wife by the fact that he was suffering.

For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent that I might know your faith, how firm you are in your faith: "Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds" (Prov. 27:23); for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you, that is, the devil: "And the tempter came" (Matt. 4:3).

But then, when Timothy arrived to us from you, he reported to us your faith and charity, and that you keep a good remembrance of us always, desiring to see us, just as we likewise desire to see you.

"But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we also to see you." "Brought us glad tidings," he says. Do you see the excessive joy of Paul?

I, he says, expected one thing, but the opposite happened. Pay attention to the great joy of Paul! He did not say: news, but: "good news." So great a blessing did he consider their steadfastness in the faith. And he rejoiced in their love, because it was a sign of their faith.

Then when Paul says: but now that Timothy has come to us from you, he comments that Timothy spoke of their good practices towards God and towards the Apostle: faith and love towards God: "For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Gal. 6:15); faith also towards the Apostle, so Paul says: you always remember us kindly.

As a result, we were consoled in you, brothers, in the midst of all our difficulties and tribulations, through your faith.

"For this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." What is comparable to Paul, who thought the salvation of his neighbors was his own, being so affected towards all, as really towards members?

A wonderful thing! Paul expresses gratitude to them for the fact that they were not shaken. We, he says, no longer feel sorrows, but have been comforted—not in just one particular sorrow, but in every one. For the joy over you became a counterbalance to all our afflictions.

Then when Paul says: we have been comforted about you, he speaks of the threefold effect of their relationship, namely, of spiritual consolation, of the spirit of thanksgiving, in the words: for what thanksgiving can we render to God for you, and of the resultant frequent prayer, in the words: praying night and day.

For we now live so that you may stand firm in the Lord.

Such ought a Teacher to be, so to regard his disciples, to think them everything. "Now we live," he says, "if ye stand fast in the Lord." And again, "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ?" You see his anxiety in this matter, his regard for the good of his disciples, not less than for his own.

He did not say: we were comforted, but: "we live," showing by this that their stumbling he considers death for himself, and their progress, standing, and firmness in Christ – life.

For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord, as if saying: I value your condition so highly that I think it sustains me: "It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive" (Gen. 45:28).

For what thanks would we be able to repay to God because of you, for all the joy with which we rejoice over you before our God?

"For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith?" Not only, he says, are ye the causes of life to us, but also of much joy, and so much that we cannot worthily give thanks to God.

Such, he says, is our joy over you, that we are not even able to worthily thank God for you. Your progress we consider a gift of God. For such a lofty feeling is not characteristic of the human soul or of human effort. That is why, being obliged to thank Him, we cannot find a worthy thanksgiving.

Then when Paul says, for what thanksgiving can we render to God for you, the second effect of their existent relationship is treated, namely, the spirit of thanksgiving, as if implying: I am not worthy to supply fitting thanks to God for you: "With what shall I come before the Lord?" (Mic. 6:6). "What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me?" (Ps. 116:12).

For night and day, ever more abundantly, we are praying that we may see your face, and that we may complete those things that are lacking in your faith.

But to those who are still babes in mind, and who as carnal, the apostle says, require to be nourished with milk, all discoursing on such a subject, wherein we deal not only with the believing, but also with the understanding and the knowing of what is spoken, must be burdensome, as being still unable to perceive such things, and be more fitted to oppress than to feed them.

Note the intensification in the expression! "Praying most earnestly" to see them, just as a farmer, hearing that the field he cultivates abounds with fruit, impatiently desires to see it with his own eyes.

Then when Paul says, night and day, the third effect of their relationship is explained. First, he points out the frequency of his prayer; secondly, he shows what he desires while praying (3:11). So Paul insists: We give thanks for things past; nevertheless we do not fail to pray also for future concerns, indeed, we do so night and day, that is, in adversity and prosperity.

But may God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you.

For one and the same grace is from the Father in the Son, as the light of the sun and the sun's radiance is one, and as the sun's illumination is effected through the radiance. So too when Paul prays for the Thessalonians, in saying, "Now God himself our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, may he direct our way to you," he has guarded the unity of the Father and of the Son.

"Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you: and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you." This is a proof of excessive love, that he not only prays for them by himself, but even in his Epistles inserts his prayer.

Then when Paul says: may our God... direct our way to you, he makes known what he desires for them; in regard to this he first shows what he is asking for (3:13). And Paul is asking for two things: One on his own behalf—that he may go to see them—and so he says: may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.

And may the Lord multiply you, and make you abound in your charity toward one another and toward all, just as we also do toward you,

in order to confirm your hearts without blame, in sanctity, before God our Father, unto the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. Amen.

And again: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, at His coming?

The Apostle shows that love benefits those who love, not those who are loved. "May the Lord fill you," he says, "with love, so as to establish your hearts." By "the Lord" understand the Spirit, as Basil the Great also interpreted this. For who else will establish them blameless before God and Father at the coming of Christ, if not the Spirit entirely?

But for what purpose does Paul pray? So that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness, that is, that nobody can complain about you; "...righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless" (Lk. 1:6). In holiness before our God who sees the heart: "In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life" (Lk. 1:75).

I Thessalonians3