1 Thessalonians 2:9–20
Paul continues to remind the Thessalonians of their time together and give thanks to God for them. Many of the points made in chapter 1 are expanded upon here, as Paul continues to describe God’s work in their midst, their reception of the word amid suffering, and their imitation of those who were in Christ before them.
Working Night and Day (2:9–12)
9You recall, brothers, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. 11As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, 12exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
NT: 2 Thess 3:6–9
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy worked night and day, meaning that they worked not through the night but into it. Paul does not mention what sort of work they were doing, but later in the letter he admonishes the Thessalonians to work with their hands (4:11). The book of Acts describes Paul as a tentmaker (18:3), a description that is consistent with what Paul says in his letters. Paul did not make a comfortable living and frequently found himself without enough food to eat and poorly clothed (1 Cor 4:11; 2 Cor 6:5; 11:27). Jesus had commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive a living (1 Cor 9:14). Though Paul could have accepted payment from the churches, he put himself through these hardships in order not to burden any of you. As he puts it in 1 Cor 9:12, “We endure all things rather than give hindrance to the gospel of Christ” (my translation). In 2 Thessalonians Paul gives the additional reason that he wanted to give the Thessalonians an example to imitate (3:7–9). Interestingly, Paul did accept money on numerous occasions from the church in Philippi (Phil 4:10–20; 2 Cor 11:9), and he describes the money they gave him as a sacrifice “pleasing to God” (Phil 4:18). Paul never explains why his policy varied from church to church. Presumably he believed that giving would benefit the Philippians (Phil 4:17), whereas other congregations would benefit more from receiving the gospel “free of charge” (1 Cor 9:18). Though he never explicitly connects his policy of forgoing payment to the example of Jesus, Paul tells the church in Philippi to follow the example of Jesus, who gave up his divine prerogatives and humbled himself to the point of death on a cross (Phil 2:1–13), and he asks the Corinthians to give their money to needy Christians in Jerusalem, following the example of Jesus, who “became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). It is not hard to see Paul’s renunciation of his apostolic prerogatives for the sake of others as his attempt to practice what he preached by imitating Jesus’s own renunciation.
Paul is confident that God and the Thessalonian church would testify that Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy behaved devoutly and justly and blamelessly. The word for “devoutly” (hosiōs) could also be translated as “holy.”1 The words “holy and just” are a common pair in the Bible where they describe God’s own character (Rev 16:5) as well as actions that are pleasing to God (Titus 1:8). The third word, “blamelessly” (amemptōs), refers to the absence of faults. In Phil 3:6 Paul says that when he was a Pharisee he was “blameless” under the law. Luke describes John the Baptist’s parents as being “blameless” because they followed “all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). Paul uses this word two more times in this letter, praying that God would find the Thessalonians “blameless” when Jesus returns (3:13; 5:23; see also Phil 2:15).
After referring to the Thessalonians as brothers (1:4; 2:1) and describing himself as an infant and a nurse (2:7), Paul turns to paternal language, saying that we treated each one of you as a father treats his children. By comparing himself to a father exhorting, encouraging, and insisting with his children, Paul calls to mind both his authority and his compassion. The concept of fatherhood was a loaded one in the Roman Empire, carrying strong connotations of power. “Father” was sometimes used as the title of the gods and emperors, and in Roman law the paterfamilias sometimes had complete authority over his household, including adult children. Paul occasionally refers to himself as a father to remind others of his authority (1 Cor 4:14; 2 Cor 12:14). At the same time, Paul also applies the language of fatherhood to himself to emphasize his affection and care for his children in Christ (1 Cor 4:14–15; Philem 1:10). As John Chrysostom puts it while preaching on this passage, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy spoke “not in a severe manner, but as fathers.”2
Verse 12 provides a short summary of Paul’s message. In Thessalonica Paul encouraged them, conduct yourselves as worthy of . . . God. The Greek text translated here as “conduct yourselves” literally says “walk,” following a common Hebrew idiom. Scripture frequently uses the metaphor of walking to describe one’s way of life (e.g., 2 Kings 20:3), and it is a favorite term of Paul’s, appearing again twice in this letter (1 Thess 4:1, 12). The metaphor of walking reminds us that Paul called the Thessalonians to much more than a new set of ideas. By turning from idols to serve God (1:9), they have embarked on a new way of life.
Unlike the synoptic Gospels, Paul does not often speak of the “kingdom of God.” Here, however, he says that God is calling them into his kingdom and glory. A newcomer to a country must learn the customs and laws of the land in order to thrive there. God was calling the Thessalonians into his kingdom and glory, so it was necessary for them to walk “worthily” (axiōs) of their new kingdom. Some ancient scribes found the God who calls you strange and changed it to “the God who called you.” But Paul’s use of the present tense describes a call that is ongoing, continually leading the Thessalonians to a new way of life (see also 1 Thess 2:12; 4:7; 5:23–24; 2 Thess 1:11).
Reflection and Application (2:9–12)
First Thessalonians is packed with the language of family, especially in chapter 2. Paul’s description of being “orphaned” when he was separated from the Thessalonians (2:17) completes the complex web of familial language that includes the Thessalonians as brothers, and the apostles as infants and also as nurses caring for children. The apostles also compare themselves to a father exhorting his children. While writing this commentary, I taught a class on 1–2 Thessalonians to seminarians training to become Catholic priests. The seminarians were impressed with Paul’s obvious affection for the Thessalonians as well as his zeal for their salvation. In particular, they gravitated to the language of fatherhood in 2:11. They aspire to become spiritual fathers and found in Paul a model. At the same time, more than one expressed bemusement at the infantile and maternal metaphors. How could an apostle be like a baby or a nursing mother?
It is undeniable that the familial language in this letter forms a kaleidoscope of quickly shifting images. Yet, each description portrays a different aspect of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy’s ministry to the Thessalonians that must not be ignored or explained away simply because it seems odd. When we imagine Paul as an infant, we imagine him as humble and guileless. The depiction of Paul as nurse calls to mind a flood of images: the loving chastisement of errant behavior, the teaching of basic skills, constant feeding and cleaning, and so on. By juxtaposing these descriptions with that of a father and a brother, Paul paints a nuanced portrait of apostolic ministry that is consonant with Jesus’s command at the Last Supper that the apostles become like children and servants in imitation of him, who came as a servant (Luke 22:26–27).
Receiving the Word of God (2:13)
13And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.
OT: Isa 55:10–11
NT: Heb 4:12–13
Catechism: divine revelation, 81–82
Paul’s Letters usually open with a word of thanksgiving to God and a description of how he prays for the addressees (see 1:3). In this letter, however, Paul takes up the thanksgiving a second time so he can continue retelling the story of how the Thessalonian converts received the gospel in the midst of persecution. He gives thanks that they received the apostles’ teaching as the word of God rather than a merely human word. Though they received the message from Paul and his companions, the Thessalonians understood that the message did not originate with them. As Augustine puts it, “It is called the word of God . . . because a divine and not a human doctrine is handed down.”3 Paul’s Letters show that he thought carefully about his responsibilities to the “word” that he proclaimed. As a carrier of God’s word, Paul guarded the message as a precious object that did not belong to him. He saw himself as being entrusted with the word (2:4), as an ambassador from God to humanity (2 Cor 5:19–20) who needed to take care not to falsify the message (2 Cor 4:2) or use it for his own gain (2 Cor 2:17).
The NABRE interprets the relative clause which is now at work in you who believe to refer to God’s word. According to this translation, the gospel message that Paul brought to Thessalonica is “living and effective” (Heb 4:12), continuing to work among the faithful. It is also possible, however, that the pronoun refers to God and should be translated as “who is now at work.”4 The difference between the two translations is not great. When the Thessalonians received the message of the gospel, they received God, who works within them to conform them to the message. In other words, to receive God’s word is to receive God. In his commentary on the Song of Songs, St. Bernard (1090–1153) states this concisely: dando revelat et revelando dat (“He reveals himself by giving himself, and he gives himself by revealing himself”).
Comparison to the Judean Churches (2:14–16)
14For you, brothers, have become imitators of the churches of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you suffer the same things from your compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us; they do not please God, and are opposed to everyone, 16trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved, thus constantly filling up the measure of their sins. But the wrath of God has finally begun to come upon them.
NT: Rom 9–11
Catechism: death of Jesus, 595–623
In chapter 1 Paul mentioned hardship endured by the Thessalonians. Here he says a little more, noting that they have suffered at the hands of their compatriots, a word that probably refers to other residents of Thessalonica. Through this suffering they became imitators of the churches of God that are in Judea, which themselves had experienced suffering because of other residents of Judea. The language of imitation recalls Paul’s thanksgiving that the Thessalonians were imitators of the Lord and the apostles (1:6). Here the Jewish Christians of Judea are held out as examples for the young Gentile congregation. Paul does not explain the precise nature of the Thessalonians’ suffering. It is possible that they experienced persecution, or perhaps just the inevitable estrangement from other residents of the city that followed from their refusal to worship idols.5
In verses 15–16 Paul makes a lengthy digression in which he criticizes the opponents of the churches in Judea, a group he labels the Jews (hoi Ioudaioi). The criticism seems so harsh and sudden that some scholars argue that some or all of 2:13–16 was added by a later scribe. There are no ancient manuscripts lacking these lines, but it is argued that this condemnation of the Jewish people better fits post–AD 70 anti-Jewish polemics than Paul’s own thought.6 If this argument is correct, we would be forced to imagine a late first-century interpolator who, as Markus Bockmuehl puts it, “successfully duped the entire textual and interpretative tradition—and this despite the fact that he worked at least a quarter-century after Paul, at which point other copies of the letter must have existed.”7 If the text makes sense as it stands—and I suggest in the following commentary that it does—then emendation is unnecessary.8
Paul charges “the Jews” with killing the Lord Jesus and the prophets and hindering the evangelization of the nations. Of course, Paul is not blaming all Jews for the death of Jesus any more than he is condemning all Gentiles in verse 14.9 After all, Paul and the other apostles were Jews (Gal 2:15), and the churches of Judea would have been predominantly Jewish as well (1 Thess 2:14). Two small corrections of the NABRE will help to clarify this point. First, the word Ioudaioi, which the NABRE translates as “Jews,” can also refer to residents of the region of Judea or “Judeans.” This sense of the word is in the foreground here because Paul is talking about those who have persecuted the churches “in Judea” (2:14). Second, the NABRE adds a comma at the end of verse 14 before the words “who killed . . . the Lord Jesus.” This additional comma makes it sound as if Paul is blaming all Jews for Jesus’s death. The Greek could be more satisfactorily rendered as follows: the churches of Judea suffered from “the Judeans who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us.”10 Paul is lambasting the residents of Judea who handed Jesus over for Roman execution, troubled the Judean churches, and opposed his mission. This is not to deny the broad, caricaturing nature of Paul’s description here but rather to specify its necessary limits.
In charging the Judeans with killing the prophets, Paul is following a polemical tradition that goes back to the Old Testament. Prophets often identified their own generation with all who have opposed God’s messengers throughout history and warned that God was about to bring retribution (e.g., 1 Kings 19:10; Jer 2:30). This same tradition appears in the Gospels. In the parable of the tenants, the chief priests and Pharisees are identified with those who killed all the prophets and Jesus (Matt 21:33–46 and parallels). In a passage very similar to 1 Thess 2:14–16, Jesus charges the scribes, Pharisees, and then “Jerusalem” with killing the prophets and warns that judgment is at hand, ironically telling them to “fill up” the measure of their ancestors (Matt 23:29–39). Like Paul’s description of them constantly filling up the measure of their sins, this passage imagines sin building up like a debt until God finally collects what is due (see also Gen 15:13–16; 2 Macc 6:12–17).
Paul also alleges that the Judeans have persecuted us (i.e., the apostles). Paul was familiar with opposition to the apostles from both sides of the conflict, himself having formerly “persecuted the church of God” (Gal 1:13). His other letters attest to ongoing persecution of Christians by non-Christian Jews (Gal 4:29; 6:12). He mentions being whipped by fellow Jews (2 Cor 11:24), and prior to traveling to Judea he asks for others to pray that he would be delivered from “disobedient” Judeans (Rom 15:31). The mention of preventing us from speaking to the Gentiles could suggest that Paul has experienced opposition especially to his mission to the Gentiles (see Gal 6:12).11
The final sentence can be understood in a number of different ways: that the wrath of God has already come upon them (NRSV), or that the wrath of God is near or just beginning to be unleashed (NABRE). There had been a number of crises in recent history that Paul might have interpreted as signs of the beginnings of God’s wrath on the Judeans who opposed his proclamation of the gospel.12 In any case, the final unleashing of God’s wrath would not occur until the day of the Lord (1 Thess 1:10; 5:1–9).
Reflection and Application (2:14–16)
In this passage Paul blames the Judeans for killing Jesus, but a moment’s reflection shows that there is more to the story. For one thing, Jesus was “crucified under Pontius Pilate,” as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed puts it. Crucifixion was a Roman, not a Jewish, method of execution. Though the Gospels say that Jewish authorities handed Jesus over for crucifixion, not all Judeans were complicit, still less all Jews. The Second Vatican Council noted this and pointed out that Christ died freely in order that all people would be saved:
True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. . . . Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone. Besides, as the Church has always held and holds now, Christ underwent His passion and death freely, because of the sins of men and out of infinite love, in order that all may reach salvation. It is, therefore, the burden of the Church’s preaching to proclaim the cross of Christ as the sign of God’s all-embracing love and as the fountain from which every grace flows. (Nostra Aetate [Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions] 4)
What, then, do we say about 1 Thess 2:14–16? These verses are best read as an outburst of righteous indignation at the opposition that the earliest Christians received from some fellow Jews. But such expressions of judgment do not have the last word in Scripture. The Old Testament prophets, whom Paul imitates here, charge the people with killing the prophets and bringing wrath down on themselves, but they always offer the hope of restoration (e.g., compare Jer 2:30 with 31:1–40). Similarly, Paul did not rest with this word of condemnation. Indeed, again in Nostra Aetate 4, Vatican II turned to another passage of Paul’s for explaining the Church’s relationship to the Jewish people, Rom 9:
The Church keeps ever in mind the words of the Apostle about his kinsmen: “theirs is the sonship and the glory and the covenants and the law and the worship and the promises; theirs are the fathers and from them is the Christ according to the flesh” (Rom 9:4–5), the Son of the Virgin Mary. She also recalls that the Apostles, the Church’s main-stay and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples who proclaimed Christ’s Gospel to the world, sprang from the Jewish people. . . . God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues—such is the witness of the Apostle. In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle, the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him shoulder to shoulder” (Zeph 3:9).
Thwarted Attempts to Return (2:17–20)
17Brothers, when we were bereft of you for a short time, in person, not in heart, we were all the more eager in our great desire to see you in person. 18We decided to go to you—I, Paul, not only once but more than once—yet Satan thwarted us. 19For what is our hope or joy or crown to boast of in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming if not you yourselves? 20For you are our glory and joy.
Catechism: Satan, 391–95
The striking familial language continues as Paul once again describes himself as a little child longing for the Thessalonians as if they were his parents. The NABRE’s we were bereft of you could be rendered more literally as “we were made orphans from you.” As St. John Chrysostom, a native Greek-speaker, notes, “He does not say, ‘separated from you,’ or ‘torn away from you,’ or ‘set apart from you,’ or ‘left behind from you,’ but rather he says, ‘orphaned from you.’ He seeks language that is sufficient to show the pain of his soul.”13 This may indicate that Paul was forcibly removed from their presence, and it certainly indicates that Paul felt real grief because he could not reestablish contact with them. It also implies that Paul needed them. It is not as if he dispensed wisdom and gained nothing in return. Indeed, one is struck above all by the vulnerability in Paul’s self-description. He is an apostle who exhorts them as a father would his children, but he also is like a child and finds himself feeling like an orphan when he loses contact with them.
It was common for ancient letter writers to say that they remain united even as they are separated by distance, as Paul does when he says he is separated from them only in person, not in heart. Students who were learning to write letters were taught to say things like this. For instance, a handbook on how to write letters from the first century AD instructs students to say, “Even though I have been separated from you for a long time, I suffer this in body only. For I can never forget you.”14 Paul followed this polite convention on several occasions (1 Cor 5:3; Col 2:5; see 2 Cor 10:1–2), but it is clear these were not merely empty words for Paul. His sincere desire to see the Thessalonians and his concern for them leap off the page.
Since being separated from the Thessalonians, the apostles had tried to return to Thessalonica, but Satan thwarted their attempts. What does this mean? We discover in 3:1–2 that Paul was able to send Timothy to Thessalonica from Athens. We do not know why Timothy was able to return while Paul could not, nor do we know what convinced Paul that it was Satan who prevented him from returning to Thessalonica. What is clear is that Paul understands Satan to be a threat to the Thessalonian church. A few verses later he adds that he was worried that “the tempter” had convinced the Thessalonians to abandon their faith (3:5). Paul does not mention Satan often, but he regarded Satan as an enemy to be taken seriously. He taught that God’s complete victory over Satan was assured (Rom 16:20) and that Satan’s power was held in check by God (2 Cor 12:7). Nevertheless, Paul saw Satan as a real adversary with the power to tempt the faithful to sin (1 Cor 7:5), appearing as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) and working counterfeit miracles (2 Thess 2:9). Most strikingly, he refers to Satan as “the god of this age” with the power to blind people to the truth of the gospel (2 Cor 4:4).
When Jesus returns Paul expects the Thessalonian Christians to be his crown. When reading the word “crown,” most people today will picture a metal hat that indicates the wearer’s royal status, but Paul is most likely referring to leafy wreathes worn by victorious athletes. In 1 Cor 9:25 he compares the “perishable crown” won by runners and other athletes with the “imperishable crown” for which he works in his ministry (my translation). In other words, athletes receive awards that wither away, but Paul competes for a crown that will endure forever. If Jesus returns and finds the Thessalonians standing faithfully (1 Thess 3:8), they will be like a crown of honor for Paul, proving that he had fought the good fight (2:2). Paul says something similar in 1 Cor 3:9–15, but there he uses the image of the wage due a worker instead of the crown of a victorious athlete. He builds up the Corinthian church and will receive a “wage” from God if the building is sound. Paul saw himself as entrusted with the task of calling the nations to serve God (Rom 15:15–21), and at the Lord’s return, he hoped to present his churches blameless and unblemished to the Lord (1 Thess 3:12–13). Three hundred years later St. Basil the Great would cite this passage to encourage preachers in his day: “Those who preach the word should not slack off because of their own successes but should know that the improvement of the faithful is the distinct and special work of the office entrusted to them.”15
Readers who are more familiar with Paul’s negative uses of the word “boasting” (kauchēsis) may be taken aback by this description of a boast at the Lord’s return. On other occasions Paul teaches that no one should boast because everything we have is a gift from God (1 Cor 4:7; see also Rom 3:27), and yet here he is looking forward to the day when he will boast in the presence of Jesus. The English word “boast” has an almost exclusively negative connotation. In contrast, the word Paul uses, kauchēsis, sometimes means “boasting” in the negative sense, but for Paul it can also mean the source of one’s confidence or joy. We frequently find Paul claiming that his “boast” is based on Christ: “But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14; see also Rom 5:11; 1 Cor 1:31; Phil 3:3). This confidence in Christ extended to confidence in the mission to which Paul was called. In his letter to the Romans he says that he has reason to boast in his ministry to the Gentiles because it is based on the power of God (15:15–21; see also 2 Thess 1:4). Though Paul does not make it explicit in 1 Thess 2:19–20, he has already said that the Thessalonians’ faith, hope, and love are the work of God in them.
Reflection and Application (2:17–20)
Paul was desperate to return to the church in Thessalonica, but his attempts were repeatedly thwarted. One might expect him to conclude from his inability to return that it was not God’s will for him to rejoin the Thessalonian church. Many Christians are quick to assume that whatever unfortunate events occur must be God’s will for their lives. Paul, however, does not equate the way things are with the will of God. To be sure, he believes that God is able to tear down whatever barriers stand between him and the Thessalonians, and he prays that God will do this (3:11). Nevertheless, he does not consider his current inability to return to Thessalonica evidence that God does not want him to return. On the contrary, he interprets the obstacles that keep him in Achaia as diabolical opposition. Paul reminds us that Christians believe God is supreme, but that we do not need to see everything that happens as the direct result of God’s will—indeed, we must not. Paul taught that creation is in bondage to decay (Rom 8:21–22) and that the god of this age—that is, Satan—is still at work (2 Cor 4:4). As the Catechism puts it, the world is in the power of the evil one, and as a result our life is a battle (409). Facile equations of the way things are with the will of God do not belong to a Christian view of reality.16
1. Or rather with the archaic adverb “holily.”
2. Homiliae in epistulam i ad Thessalonicenses (PG 62:406 [my translation]).
3. The Trinity, trans. Stephen McKenna, FC 45 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1963), 478.
4. Note the Douay-Rheims Bible: “You received it not as the word of men, but (as it is indeed) the word of God, who worketh in you that have believed.”
5. See the discussion in John M. G. Barclay, “Conflict in Thessalonica,” CBQ 55 (1993): 512–30.
6. For a defense of this view, see Birger A. Pearson, “1 Thessalonians 2:13–16: A Deutero-Pauline Interpolation,” HTR 64 (1971): 79–94; Earl J. Richard, First and Second Thessalonians, SP 11 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995), 17–19.
7. Markus Bockmuehl, “1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 and the Church in Jerusalem,” TynBul 52 (2001): 1–31, here 7.
8. For a more complete argument, see Bockmuehl, “1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 and the Church in Jerusalem.”
9. Bockmuehl, “1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 and the Church in Jerusalem,” 11.
10. See Frank D. Gilliard, “The Problem of the Antisemitic Comma between 1 Thessalonians 2.14 and 15,” NTS 35 (1989): 481–502.
11. The Greek for the phrase “persecuted us” could be translated as “drove us out.” Some see here a reference to Paul’s hasty exit from Thessalonica (see Acts 17:5–8).
12. Possibilities include the death of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem during Passover in AD 49 or the death of Herod Agrippa I in AD 44. See the discussion in Bockmuehl, “1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 and the Church in Jerusalem,” 25–29.
13. Epistulae ad Olympiadem 8.12 (my translation).
14. Stanley K. Stowers, Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity, LEC 5 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 58.
15. Regulae morales 31.825 (my translation).
16. For a helpful discussion of this issue, see David Bentley Hart, The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005).