First Thessalonians 2:1-20

I Thessalonians 2:1 and 2:

^2:1For you yourselves knew², brothers, our entrance-way, the (entrance-way) towards you, that it did not become² empty, ^.2but, having suffered-beforehand and having been hurtfully-treated according as you knew² in Philippi, we were bold in our God to utter-forth the good-message of God towards you in much contest,

Continuing on from chapter 1, Paul by revelation writes: in truth you (emphatically) yourselves knew and still know (perceive, see), brothers…. Again addressing these Thessalonian holy-people as "brothers" and so reminding them that they and Paul and all holy-people have received the same gift of holy spirit, therefore all are brothers in the spirit category being children of God.

For you yourselves knew and continue to know, brothers, our entrance (way of entry, manner of going in) towards you, that it did not become empty at that time and it is still not empty (not empty of contents, not void), but on the contrary, though we had previously suffered (had been affected by and experienced many things) before we came to Thessalonica and we had been hurtfully-treated (acted upon by others with wanton-violence, insolence resulting in injury) when we were in Philippi [see Acts 16:12-40], we were bold (with frankness and openness) in our God to utter-forth the good-message of God towards you in much contest.

Bold in Whom? We were bold in our God (within the sphere of action of our God, the God of us, ours, not someone else's so-called "god") to utter-forth the good-message of God (to speak the gospel, evangel belonging-to and proceeding-from God, God's good-message that He makes-known) towards you in much contest (within a lot of contesting). The word “contest” means: being in a place of contest where there are two opposing parties conflicting against each other in order to be the one to gain the prize at the end of the contest. The usage of athletic terminology draws attention to holy-people and the truth of being together moving in the direction of the same objective, being on the same team in the same contest, not a different one or on a different team.

[Reference: Acts 17:1-4; Romans 1:1-6, 16 and 17; I Thessalonians 1:9.]

Verses 3 and 4:

^.3for our encouragement (was) not from a wandering, nor from uncleanness, nor in deceit, ^.4but according as we were approved² by God to be trusted-with the good-message thus we utter-forth, not as pleasing men but (pleasing) God, the (One) proving our hearts;

Paul continues: in truth our encouragement (the exhortation we gave to you, calling you beside us as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do what is right) was:

not out-from a wandering (error caused by and issuing-from the devil, satan, not-staying in the rightful-place, the leading-astray in error away-from the truth of God's Word),
nor out-from uncleanness (the state of not being free from mixture of that-which is against God, being mixed with something else, having impurity from God's viewpoint mixed with it),
nor in deceit (within deceit, using bait or guile to catch by stratagem or subterfuge)….

But contrary to that being the case, according as we (myself, Silvanus and Timothy) were approved and continue approved by God (we have been proved by testing or examination and thereby approved by God, He is the efficient or instrumental agent approving us) to be trusted-with the good-message thus we utter-forth….

The Greek verb translated as "trusted-with" comes from the root-word pisteuo which means "to believe, to have faith, to trust" – but when it is in the passive form of the verb with accusative, as it is in this context, it has the meaning that the recipient of what is given is being believed-in by the giver that he is willing and capable of taking-care-of and fulfilling all that is involved pertaining to that-which is given to him. The recipient is entrusted with what is given to him by the giver. God and the Lord Jesus Christ entrusted Paul and Silvanus and Timothy with the good-message, the gospel, God's Word regarding God Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ - what a great privilege and responsibility had been entrusted to them!

Paul wrote: but according as we were approved and continue approved by God to be trusted-with the good-message thus we utter-forth (it is in this manner that we speak), not as presently and actively pleasing men (not as being agreeable, acceptable and gratifying to/with men, mankind; this is not our purpose, goal or motivation), but on the contrary – pleasing God, the One Who is presently and actively proving our hearts (putting to the test the center of our beings, the seat of our whole personal selves and living, examining us to either approve or disapprove our walk/behavior regarding this matter).

God had not just entrusted the good-message to Paul and Silvanus and Timothy and then walked-away and forgot about it or them - no! - God continued to make sure that the good-message was being taken-care-of by these men and that all that God had expected them to fulfill concerning His Word was being done!

God does not use fear motivation, nor does He tempt people with evil, nor does He force or control anybody to do His will, His Word. God "proves" people like a mother and/or father would "prove" their child: when parents ask their child to do something for them, they may need to answer some questions by the child about this, and they would watch to see if the son or daughter would obey them and carry out what they asked of him/her in order to see how they may best proceed with their teaching of their child and how they may encourage and take care of him/her as he/she grows into adulthood - and so they would prove them by testing. They would not ask their child to do something that would ultimately hurt him/her - it may not seem to line up with the child's way of thinking at that time, but it would be for their child's own welfare - that is if the parents are good and honest parents. God would not ask us to do something that would ultimately hurt us; it may inconvenience us as far as our physical living and perhaps our work-careers are concerned, but then, which is more important to us - the Word of God or our careers?

[Reference: Acts 13:10; Galatians 1:10; Ephesians 4:14 and 19, 5:10.]

Verses 5 and 6:

^.5for neither at-some-time were we caused-to-become in a word of flattery, according as you knew², nor in a pretense of covetousness, God (is) witness, ^.6nor seeking-after glory out-from men - neither from you nor from other-people;

Paul continues by revelation to clarify regarding how he and those with him lived and behaved themselves in accordance with the way/manner that God their Father and their Lord Jesus Christ wanted them to proceed on this mission, this assignment. He writes: in truth…

neither at any time (not even once) were we caused to become (did we come to pass to be, come into being) within the sphere of action of a word of flattery (our spoken account did not belong-to nor proceed-from words that were only spoken to sound extremely pleasing to the hearer but the speaker has his own underlying motive for saying such words), as you Thessalonian holy-people knew and you still know,
nor in a pretense of covetousness (and not within putting something forth or causing something else to appear in order to cover up or disguise the real intent of covetousness, the deeper co-existent cause as to why we were doing what we did, not in pretext of a constant-wanting to have more than what God provides, greed, always grasping and reaching out to get something else more than what is right),…

…God is witness (God is the One Who has information or knowledge of this truth and so He attests to it, He can confirm it on the strength of His-own authority) – we should realize that God, or the Lord Jesus Christ, would not have asked Paul to write this in this letter if it were not true!;

nor seeking-after glory out-from men (and not looking for importance, splendor, renown out-from mankind), neither away-from you Thessalonian holy-people nor away-from other people.

[Reference: John 5:41 and 44; Acts 27:30; Romans 1:9.]

Some Greek texts continue as verse 6 and begin verse 7 with the words: "But we...."

Verses 7-9:

^.7being able to be in pressured-weight as apostles of Christ but we were caused-to-become gentle in your midst, as if-ever a nursing-mother may cherish the children of herself ^.8thus yearning-after you we used-to consider-it-good to sharingly-give to you not only the good-message of God but also the souls of ourselves for-this-reason-that you were caused-to-become loved-people¹ to us, ^.9for you remember, brothers, our labor and travail, night and day working towards (the purpose of) not to pressure-weight-on someone of you, we heralded-forth the good-message of God into you.

Continuing, Paul writes: being able (having the able-power, the capability) to be active within pressured-weight (weight which is pressurized, not in the sense of being a heavy load or burden to carry, but in the sense of causing pressure to/for you as of our greatness, fullness, much importance, a vast extent of pressured weight on you) as apostles of Christ (myself, Silvanus and Timothy are Christ's apostles, holy-people who have been sent forth or away from the Lord Jesus Christ on a specific mission or assignment to you), but contrary to using that ability which we had at that time and which we have now, we came to pass to be gentle in your midst (people being soothingly helpful among you, as opposed to using pressure). Some Greek texts have the word "infants/minors/babies" instead of "gentle."

We were caused to become gentle in your midst, in comparison to how it would be if a nursing-mother would cherish the children to whom she gave birth (as she would heat and keep her-own children warm like with incubation), it is in this manner that while we were at that time yearning-after you (remembering and longing for you with strong affection) we continually supposed it to be good (considered it well) to sharingly-give to you (to impart or give in company and association with you, to give you a share of something, a part of what we had already received)…. This sharing was to benefit or profit both parties involved. The ones sharing do not lose that-which they are sharing with other people, but rather they profit from it plus give the other people the opportunity to also profit from it.

We used-to consider it good to sharingly-give to you not alone God's gospel, but in addition we sharingly-gave to you our very own souls (the life of our physical bodies which is evidenced by breathing, and figuratively referring to our beings, including our character and disposition as we live our lives – in other words, to sharingly give everything we've got to you, our physical lives in service) – why? On this account that you came to pass to be loved-people¹ (this word comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love - people who are Godly-loved) to/by us; for you remember, brothers (surely you must call to your minds, you who are brothers having the same holy spirit-life being children of God):

our labor and travail (our times of exerting wearisome effort and times of painful-effort),
working during the night and day (expending energy during all available times earning needful-items or money to buy what we needed to live)
towards/with/for the purpose of not putting a pressured-weight (weight with the emphasis being on the pressure and not on a physical heaviness of a load or burden to be carried) on someone of you,…

…we heralded-forth the good-message of God into you (we proclaimed the gospel of God directed to you).

[Reference: Isaiah 49:15; Romans 1:11, 12:8; II Corinthians 2:5, 4:17, 11:27; Ephesians 4:8 and 11, 5:29; II Thessalonians 3:8-12; II Timothy 2:24.]

Verses 10-12:

^.10You (are) witnesses, and God, as holily and righteously and blamelessly we were caused-to-become with you, the (people) believing, ^.11fully-as you knew² as (regarding) each one of you, as a father (encourages the) children of himself, (we were) encouraging you and comforting and witnessing ^.12with-a-view-for you to walk worthily of God, the (One) calling you into the kingdom and glory of Himself,

You Thessalonian Christians are witnesses (you have information or knowledge of what I am writing about here and so you attest to it, you can confirm it on the strength of your own authority), also God is a Witness, as to how:

holily (in what manner of holiness, pure-Godliness free from all crime, the condition of religious-observance of what God says, the practicing of every duty and function which thereby fulfills every obligation which God has given to be believed and carried-out) and
righteously (justly) and
blamelessly (un-blamably, in a manner without blame, no fault to be found because of any incompleteness on our part)…

…we were caused to become with you who are the people actively believing (having faith, trusting relative-to God).

Even as you knew and still know (perceive, see) as regarding each one of you that as a father encourages his very own children, we continued encouraging you (exhorting you, calling you beside us as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do what is right) and comforting (speaking in a soothing or tender manner to you) and witnessing (bearing witness, attesting with the information and knowledge that we had and could therefore confirm it on the strength of our own authority) into, with a view, for the purpose of you to walk (literally: to move the feet around, go on foot; figuratively: walk around during the everyday living of life, behave or conduct yourselves) worthily of God (in a manner that is of equal-value or like-worth with the only true God) Who is the One Who was and still is now calling (inviting) you into His-own kingdom, (God's kingdom, all that is contained within God's sovereignty, His kingly or royal dominion and government and rule and territory and power, etc, which of course is holy and spiritual because God is the Holy Spirit) and into His own glory (God's importance, splendor and renown).

[Reference: John 11:19 and 31; Acts 2:27, 13:34 and 35; Ephesians 4:1 and 24; I Peter 5:10.]

Verse 13:

^.13and because-of-this we also thank God unceasingly because having received (the) word of hearing of God from us you accepted not (the) word of men but according as it truly is: (the) word of God, which also is caused-to-in-work in you, the (people) believing;

On account of this we (myself and Silvanus and Timothy) additionally thank God (express our gratitude towards God) without ceasing (assiduously) because after you had received (had taken to beside or alongside yourselves) the word of hearing of God from us (the spoken-account of the thing-heard belonging-to and proceeding-from God, God's word that we spoke to be heard by you, God's spoken and heard report), you accepted (welcomed, subjectively received or willingly took what was presented to you) – what? – not the spoken-account of the inner-thoughts of mankind (not as being the philosophies or opinions or politics or religions or doctrines or intellectual abilities emanating from the mind of man), but on the contrary, you accepted what you heard from us according as it truly is: the word of God (the spoken account of the inner-thoughts of God, God's Word, the word belonging-to and proceeding-from God), the word which also is caused to in-work in you, the people who are believing (the word also/even/with-emphasis is presently being caused to work within, to do work within, made to produce effects by being in work, is energized by God within you, in your holy spirit-life, you who are the people who are presently and actively believing what God says, having faith or trusting God's Word).

These Thessalonian people did not reject the thing-heard by them from Paul and those with him saying, "Oh, this is just a myth. What Paul is saying is his own philosophy. That can't be true because I saw Paul eating chocolate ice-cream yesterday! How could God give His Word to someone who ate chocolate ice-cream?" Whether Paul ate chocolate ice-cream or not I do not know, but what I do know, because the Bible tells me, is that Paul and those with him did speak the Word of God. They were receptive to what God wanted to communicate to them and they believed what God told them, and then they preached it to the Thessalonian people and they accepted it as being the word of hearing of God.

[Reference: Romans 10:8-17; I Corinthians 12: 4-14; Galatians 3:2 and 5; I Thessalonians 1:2 and 3; II Peter 3:15 and 16.]

Verses 14-16:

^.14for you were caused-to-become imitators, brothers, of the churches of God, the (churches) being in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you suffered the same-things, even you, by (your) own tribesmen-together with (you) according as also they by the Judeans, ^.15the (Judeans) having killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and having persecuted us out-from (areas) and not pleasing God and contrary to all men, ^.16hindering us to utter-forth to the Gentiles in order that they may be saved, with-a-view to always fill-up their sins but the wrath went-ahead on them into completion.

Paul again calls the Thessalonian holy-people/Christians "brothers" and thus reminds them that they are all born of God, all having received the same holy spirit-life.

He writes: for emphatically you came to pass to be imitators (mimics, followers), brothers, of the churches of God (the assemblies of called-out people belonging-to God) presently being in the area of Judea in Christ Jesus (within the sphere of action of the resurrected Christ Jesus) – why? Because you suffered the same-things (you were affected by and experienced the things themselves), also emphatically you, by the power of (from under the hand of) your own joint-tribesmen (people of the same union-of-people, the same clan; refer to Acts chapter 17) according as the holy-people in the churches of God in Judea suffered these things by the power of the Judeans (the people who are Judeans/Israelites by descent living in Judea but who have not believed God's Word regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore have not become holy-people, they refuse to be members of the churches of God in Judea in Christ)!

The Judeans (who reject the Lord Jesus Christ):

are responsible for having killing both the Lord/Master Jesus and the prophets (those people whom God sent to speak-forth God's words being revealed to them concerning the past, present and/or future to, before, in front of a person or people, which would have included information regarding the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, throughout the years) and
have persecuted us (pursued myself and those with me, in the bad sense as enemies with malignity) out from areas where we went to preach God's Word such as Thessalonica and
are not pleasing (not being agreeable, acceptable and gratifying) to/with God and
are contrary to all men (opposed to/with the whole of mankind from God's viewpoint),
are hindering us (blocking, preventing myself and those with me) to speak God's Word to the Gentiles (the other nations, people of other ethnic groups) for the purpose and result that they (Gentiles) would be saved (made safe by believing what God says and thus receiving the gift of holy spirit becoming holy-people),
- into, with a view, the purposed objective and result of their actions being to constantly fill-up their sins (to make full up, as filling a chasm or container to the brim with something, here the Judeans fill-up with sins, missing-the-mark of God's truth, aberrations from God's Word, God's will, God's law, God's precepts, committing more and more sins)
- but the wrath (referring to the wrath of God which is lasting angry vengeance, like the heat of a burning-fire - this is not a spur-of-the-moment thing on God's part because He has foretold regarding the consequences of unbelief and rejection of His Word all through the ages) went-ahead on them into completion (has already gone in front of them, in the sense that even though it has not happened yet, these Judeans are heading in that direction because the wrath precedes them and will overtake or come suddenly and surprisingly down-on them sooner than they expect, into or resulting-in completion, its ending-issue, its fulfillment).

They cannot receive holy spirit-life if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore they themselves have decided by their own freedom of will not to be gathered together with Christ, and so they decided to be within the wrath. The wrath is what will happen in the future after Christ comes and gathers the church of holy-people, leaving those who will have rejected the good-message regarding the only true God and the Lord Jesus Christ to go through the time of wrath, the day of vengeance of the Lord.

[Reference: Genesis 15:16; Matthew 23:25-39, 24:1-51; Luke 11:49-54; Acts 2:22-24, 7:51 and 52, 13:45, 17:5-13, 18:12; Romans 1:18-32, 5:9; I Corinthians 10:32 and 33, 11:1, 14:16, 15:23-28; Galatians 1:22; I Thessalonians 1:6 and 10; II Thessalonians chapter 2.]

Verses 17-20:

^.17But we, brothers, having been orphaned-away from you towards a time of an hour, by face not by heart, were more-exceedingly earnestly-diligent to see your face in much intense-yearning ^.18for-this-reason-that we intended to go towards you, I indeed Paul both once and twice, and satan obstructed us; ^.19for what (is) our hope or joy or crown of boasting? – or, you (will) also (be) in-front-of our Lord Jesus in his presence, won't you? – (yes) – ^.20for you are our glory and joy;

Again Paul calls these holy-people "brothers" – reminding and emphasizing the truth that they were all brothers in the spirit category because of having received the same holy spirit-life within each one of them, including Paul and those with him, they all had the same Father Who is God. There was no difference between them spiritually, even though they may have had different backgrounds, or genealogical/racial differences, or skin-color differences, or career/work differences, or perhaps some of them drank a different brand of coffee! All holy-people are brothers.

Paul writes: but emphatically we (myself and Silvanus and Timothy), brothers, after we had been orphaned away from you (had been bereaved, rendered as orphans separated away from your company) for a specific-time or season lasting for a limited-period of time (which will definitely end when we either come visit you or when Christ gathers us all together, but right now we are away from you), by face but not by heart (face-to-face, we are not physically in your presence at the moment, but we are not orphaned heart-wise, the center of our being is still with you, both mentally and spiritually), we were more exceedingly earnestly-diligent (we had speedy application or performance, assiduity, endeavoring with earnestness more abundantly, more than above the measure already attained) to see your face in much intense-yearning (a lot of holding the strong-desire which attaches or fixes upon a certain object, lust; here used in the good sense). Why? On account of the reason that we intended (willed, with active volition and desire) to go towards you – I affirm that I myself intended to go towards you on more than one occasion – and satan actively obstructed us ("satan" is the name emphasizing the devil's opposing and adversarial attributes; satan cut-in blocking our way like digging a trench in the way of an enemy to impede us, he thwarted us).

In truth, what is our hope (the expectation we have now of something future coming to pass) or joy (the rejoicing we have now) or crown of boasting (the victory-wreath, as a garland on our heads being the victors of a contest, that we have already received which is our reason to speak justifiably loudly)? Or, considering the issue of what our hope or joy or crown of boasting is, and why we have hope, joy, a crown of boasting – won't you also be in front of our Lord Jesus in his presence? Yes!

This question in the Greek is written in such a manner that the answer must be, "Yes." Yes you Thessalonian holy-people will also be in front of (before, face to face with) our Lord/Master Jesus at the time of and during his coming to be present, his arrival towards all of us and then being with all of us. In truth, you presently and actively are our glory (the importance, splendor, renown that we have now) and the rejoicing we have now.

Paul and those with him knew that satan cannot stop the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at which time our Lord will gather all holy-people together with him, and therefore they had hope, they had joy, they had the prized victor's wreath in this contest regarding the Thessalonian holy-people. They were their glory and rejoicing in manifestation, in evidence to others at that time!

[Reference: Romans 15:22; I Corinthians 12:4-27; Philippians 4:1; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; II Thessalonians 2:1. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

And, Paul continues….

I Thessalonians Chapter 3