The Hope of the Gospel (Past: The Results of Paul's Ministry)

Thus far we have talked about the history of Paul's interactions with the Thessalonians and their interactions with the gospel. Paul had come to them and preached; they had believed and it had made a change in their life.

But then Paul had left Thessalonica; probably several months have passed by this point. So what had followed on that initial event? What were the results of that? The rest of chapter 2 and chapter 3 are mainly concerned with this—with the continuing experiences of the Thessalonians and of Paul as a result of his visit. 

(1 Thessalonians 2:13-20) For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.

Verse 13 sums up all we have said thus far as well as setting up the rest of the passage. This verse is Paul's exclamation of thanksgiving. I think I mentioned this before, but thanksgiving is one of the underlying themes or leitmotifs that repeat throughout these letters. The Thessalonians letters look to the past and to the future—hope is the key word for the future but thanksgiving is the keyword for the past. We can rejoice and give thanks for God's work in the past as we look forward with faith and hope to what He will do in the future.

But for the flow of the letter, we need to note specifically what it was that Paul was thanking God for—and it was for the fact that the Thessalonians had received the message which Paul had preached. But it was more than simply that Paul had spoken and the Thessalonians had listened. Perhaps Paul is still thinking of the accusations that some had (probably) leveled against him. He is reminding the Thessalonians that they had not simply taken his word as his word. Though Paul was, in some sense, a leader and example, they had not become disciples of Paul. They did not receive the gospel as the gospel of Paul, though it may have been the gospel according to Paul. They received the gospel as the word of God; they had understood and accepted what the gospel truly is; not the work of man but the work of God.

And because it was the work of God (and not merely the work of Paul) it was able to actively perform something in the hearts and lives of those who believe it. The Thessalonians had not merely received some new ideas—though they had definitely done that—they had come in contact with a new source of power, with something bigger than and separate from themselves. All of which is to say that they had become Christians; they had been converted. They were in Christ.

That had one result—one result that Paul talks about here—and it might not be the one you would think of immediately when discussing the results of conversion. It was persecution. This is in verses 14-16.

We already noted that persecution marked Paul's time at Thessalonica—a persecution that affected both Paul and at least some of the Thessalonian Christians. And there are various hints and references throughout these two letters referencing persecution. Some of the commentators try to date when this persecution took place and this feeds into the whole question about which of these two letters was written first.

However, I think too many people think of persecution as being a specific event. It can happen that way, but it doesn't necessarily. Especially since, at this time, it was probably not a concerted attack on the church by the government as would happen later in the first century. If the government outlaws the church, then that law must be passed at a specific time and then, perhaps, repealed at a specific time. But if persecution is an amalgamation of peer pressure, social censure, family friction, and casual contempt, then it doesn't start or stop at a particular time. It may rise and fall like the tides, but it is always there in the background like the ocean. 

We don't know how strong this persecution was or what forms it may have taken, but we do know that the Thessalonian Christians had and (at least some probably) were still suffering it.

Previously, we talked about how the Jews were the leaders in this persecution. But even in Acts, we see the Jews working with and through the Gentile inhabitants of Thessalonica. Here Paul makes a point of saying that they had suffered persecution from their own countrymen. He is looking at the Gentiles who were facing persecution from their own people; their own neighbors, their own business associates, their own friends and families.

Now, I am not an expert on the history and culture of the first-century Greco-Roman world. But this is my understanding from what I've read. They were a very religious society, with many gods and religious orders. But those gods did not come into conflict. Those who worshipped Zeus did not make  war with those who worshipped Artemis. Those who worshipped Ares did not try by force to make the followers of Hermes stop worshipping him and worship Ares instead. The Greeks and Romans had hundreds, perhaps thousands of gods. A writer of Paul's day said there were more gods than men in Athens. And they all dwelled together in one giant pantheon; and however much the gods may have fought in the myths, their worshippers usually did not. Again, this is only my understanding, but religious persecution (as we know it) was comparatively rare in the first century.

Judaism and then Christianity were always the exception because they rejected pluralism. Those who worshipped Zeus did not deny the existence of Artemis. But those who worshipped Jehovah denied the existence of all other gods. Christians and Jews, by the very nature of their religion, were always cut off from the religious world around them. And Christians, by their insistence on the role and nature of Jesus, were cut off even from the Jews.

For many Gentile Christians, this idea of being persecuted because of their religion may have come as something strange and unexpected. But Paul's point here is to show that it wasn't strange and shouldn't have been unexpected. For the Thessalonians, the special pain may have been that this persecution was coming from their own people. If a foreign enemy had come in and brought a wave of oppression, that would have been one thing—but being turned on by their own friends and neighbors--that was the deepest wound. They may have felt very much alone.

But Paul is showing that they were not alone. Their very affliction made them brothers with the rest of the church, especially the churches of Judea, the geographical source of Christianity. Just as the Thessalonian Christians had faced persecution from their fellow Thessalonians, so the Jewish Christians had faced persecution from their fellow Jews.

Paul then goes on in verses 15-16 to discuss the animosity of the Jews. Some have pointed out that Paul (probably) wrote this from Corinth and that Paul faced a lot of Jewish opposition in Corinth. For that reason, their animosity would be on this mind. The reality is that that would probably hold true no matter where Paul was writing from since Paul faced Jewish opposition nearly everywhere he went. But, as we said before, the Jews had been the initial leaders of the persecution in Thessalonica and, probably, they were still working against the church, spreading rumors and riling people up—so that even though the natives Thessalonians may have been persecuting the church, there was a large Jewish pressure behind it. Therefore, this rant against the Jews would have been relevant to them.

I'll be honest. I really don't understand the significance of these verses; why did Paul bother going off on this somewhat indignant tangent? At first, it seems almost petty. Certainly, though, we know that Paul was no anti-Semite. Paul's feelings for his own people are something we've discussed before in Romans. When Paul speaks of the “Jews” here, he is speaking of a segment of them. And if Paul is angry, he is justifiably angry.

But there may be another reason behind this. This is purely my idea, so take it for what it's worth. But given that the Jews were exerting pressure on the Thessalonian church, it could be that they were using arguments like this: they were claiming to be the true followers of God and that Christianity was just a break-off, an inferior copy, a cult of Judaism—telling the Thessalonian Christians, especially the Gentiles among them, that instead of accepting Christianity, they should just listen to them, the Jews. And these verses serve as Paul's counter.

The Jews persecuted Paul. That can be literally translated: they drove us out, as did actually happen many times in Paul's ministry. But some might say this was a special case; perhaps Paul deserved their animosity. But they hadn't just persecuted Paul, but the prophets throughout their history. But of course, all those prophets were human and while used by God, assumably they were not without human error, so perhaps that excuses the persecution. But the Jews had not only persecuted the prophets but killed Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the Man in whom there was no sin. Of course, there is a sense in which all those who live in sin bear guilt for the death of Christ, but as a point of historical fact, the driving force behind that event was the Jewish leaders (those of the same class, perhaps some of the same individuals who were now actively persecuted the church.)

The actions of these people were not, one could say, pleasing to God. It is wrong to displease God in order to please other people. But the Jews—the class of the Jews Paul is referring to here—didn't even do that. They rejected God and equally rejected mankind. Many of them had become so hardened in this idea of being a separate people that they had come to view everyone outside their circle as lesser or unworthy.

This was seen in the fact that they not only rejected the gospel, but actively tried to prevent the gospel from going out to the Gentiles. If it had been up to the Jews, the Gentiles of Thessalonica would never have been Christians. From the sound of it, the Jews had no special interest, even, in making them Jews. 

In all of this, they were filling up their sins, they were loading up a full truckload of wrong-doing. And this resulted in God's wrath. This is a principle we've met with before. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18) Man's unrighteousness is answered in God's wrath. The picture of 'filling up' sin may have the idea that God had given them a measure of room to work with, given them the chance to change or repent—but they had filled up every opportunity with sin. And now there was nothing left but God's wrath.

Paul says that God's wrath “is come upon them.” Some think that Paul is foreseeing the judgment that would be poured out on Jerusalem a few years later, seeing it as so certain that he speaks of it as already present. Others think that Paul means that God's wrath was already, at that time, come upon them even though there were no visible results. The verdict had already been handed down, even if the sentence had not yet been carried out. Or, some sort of local judgment may have come upon the Jewish agitators of Thessalonica, but we have no evidence of this. 

So, we have the results of Paul's preaching. To the Thessalonians, that result was persecution. But while that was a negative, it was a sign of their brotherhood with the rest of the Christian church. And while it might seem that they were in a bad position and their persecutors were triumphant, Paul assures them that wrath was on them.

But we also have the results to Paul. And for Paul, the end result, the bottom line of his time with the Thessalonians was a deep love and concern for them and a desire to return. Perhaps some had accused Paul of abandoning them, and so Paul reassures them that it was no lack of care or concern on his part that caused their separation. In verse 17, when he speaks of being taken away from them, the word is connected to the Greek word for orphan. The idea is that he felt like an orphan forcibly bereaved of his parents when he was forced to leave the Thessalonians. He goes on to assure them that though they were parted physically, he was still with them in his heart. He adds that he had wanted several times to visit them, but had been hindered.

And then we have a flashforward to the future. Paul looks to the return of Christ. In light of that event, the Thessalonians (and Paul's other converts) were Paul's hope. Clarke points out that Paul had given up all his prospects and expectations on earth. By choosing the path of life he had, Paul could hope for very little in the way of tangible rewards. He was not working for anything of this world; his hope and expectation was to achieve a spiritual success. His converts were his hope; the fruit of his labor. And they would be his joy  and his crowning success. 

We have a contrast here. The persecutors of the church seemingly were in a triumphant position. They had power and position; they had the whip hand, perhaps literally. Paul and the Thessalonian Christians were in an inferior position. Paul had twice been forced to flee for his life just during this journey. Looking on, it would be easy to say which were the winners and which were the losers.

But, over the Jewish persecutors there stood the wrath of God, a sentence hanging over them like a sword poised for a blow. But Paul had a hope, a hope for himself and for his converts, a hope of a reward at the return of Christ.

Years later, when God gave St. John his revelation, the church in Philadelphia was facing a similar situation—persecution from a group of Jewish agitators. And this is what Jesus told John to tell them: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Revelation 3:9-11) God promised that his people would be vindicated and their persecutors would be humbled. Whether in time or eternity, sooner or later, the scales would be righted. People often say that life isn't fair, but that is because their view of what life is is far too limited. In the end, right will be triumphant, and wrong will be defeated. 

Paul (and the Thessalonians) had a hope for the future. And therefore they could live triumphantly in the present, even when that present wasn't a pleasant present. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown thinks that in verse 20, Paul is looking at the present. In the future, at Christ's return, the Thessalonian Christians would be Paul's joy and glory—that was his hope. And therefore they were also his joy and glory in the present. He could find joy and triumph in the present, even when it didn't look like it, because he knew that it would be vindicated in the future. And that future triumph and reward was based on the reality that existed in the present—all of which is because of his ministry (and the Thessalonians' faith) in the past. The three strands of reality unite. Because while Paul speaks of the Thessalonians as being his hope, that hope was centered in Christ, and Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.