1 Thessalonians 3:1–13
While working in Athens, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to encourage the new church, lest their suffering and the devil’s influence cause them to fall away. When Timothy returned with the good news that they endured in the faith, Paul was overwhelmed with relief, but he continued to pray that God would allow him to return to Thessalonica and that God would increase their love and so prepare them for the return of the Lord Jesus.
Timothy Returns to Thessalonica (3:1–5)
1That is why, when we could bear it no longer, we decided to remain alone in Athens 2and sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3so that no one be disturbed in these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4For even when we were among you, we used to warn you in advance that we would undergo affliction, just as has happened, as you know. 5For this reason, when I too could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had put you to the test and our toil might come to nothing.
NT: Mark 4:1–20
Paul continues retelling the story of his relationship with the Thessalonian church. Here he recounts how he sent Timothy in his stead to strengthen their faith. Paul was worried that they had been disturbed by the afflictions they were suffering (3:3). He also feared that Satan, whom he calls the tempter, had tempted them and brought Paul’s work to nothing (3:5). Paul knew that suffering sometimes causes people to abandon their beliefs, and he assumed that Satan would be working to take advantage of this period of vulnerability, just as Satan had prevented him from returning to encourage the Thessalonians. Though Paul does not cite it, the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1–20 and parallels) is a good illustration of Paul’s concern. It compares the preaching of the word to sowing seed. Some seed is eaten by birds before it can grow, which represents Satan stealing the word away. Other seed is sown on rocky ground, which represents those who receive the word with joy, but who quickly fall away in times of “tribulation or persecution” because they have no root. Paul was worried that the word would be snatched away from the Thessalonians before it could grow. After all, the Thessalonians were only recent followers of Jesus. Paul did not know what kind of “soil” they were.
Since Paul was unable to return, he decided to remain . . . in Athens and send Timothy to discover whether their faith was intact (3:5) and to strengthen and encourage them in their faith (3:2). He hoped that Timothy’s presence and counsel would bolster their faith if it was wavering. This is a good example of how Paul’s use of the word “faith” (pistis) is not limited to belief. It is not that Paul wondered if they had come to accept some new doctrine, but rather he wondered if they had remained faithful to the gospel in the midst of suffering.
When Paul was in Thessalonica he was careful to tell them ahead of time that we are destined for suffering. The Greek verb translated as “we are destined” could be rendered as “we are set up for.” It’s the same word Simeon uses when he tells Mary that the infant Jesus is “destined” for the falling and rising of many (Luke 2:34). Why would Paul tell the Thessalonians that God had appointed them to suffer? Jewish †apocalyptic writers frequently alluded to a time of great suffering that would precede God’s decisive action in history (e.g., Dan 12:1). Paul believed that all who are in Christ would share in Christ’s suffering as well as his resurrection. For Paul, the Thessalonians’ reception of the gospel in the midst of suffering was clear evidence that the Holy Spirit was empowering them to become like Jesus (1 Thess 1:6). As he put it in his letter to the Thessalonians’ neighbors in Philippi, God graciously allows Christians “not only to believe in [Christ], but also to suffer for him” because suffering leads to our salvation (Phil 1:28–29; see also 3:10–11; Rom 8:18).
The NABRE’s translation we used to warn you correctly suggests that suffering was a central part of Paul’s message. In their relatively short time together, Paul taught them repeatedly that suffering is basic to the life of those in Christ. Yet, the word “warn” sounds too negative. A more wooden rendering of the Greek would be “we were telling you ahead of time.” For Paul, faithful suffering was evidence that God was working to bring someone to salvation (2 Thess 1:3–12; Phil 1:28). It is not that Paul thought that suffering is good in itself, but rather he thought that God uses suffering to unite us with Christ so we will also share in his resurrection (Rom 5:3–5; Phil 3:10). Almost four centuries later, St. John Chrysostom would quote Paul’s reminder to the Thessalonians that we are destined to suffer and quip, “And, as if we were destined for relaxation, we think it strange.”1
What sort of “affliction” had the Thessalonians undergone? Paul does not specify the nature of their suffering—it was known well enough to them. Readers of Acts will think of how an angry mob attacked the house of one of the Thessalonian converts and dragged some of them before the city authorities, accusing them of what amounts to insurrection (Acts 17:5–9). It is almost inevitable that the Thessalonians would have experienced some personal turmoil. They had rejected the gods of their city and families as dead idols (1 Thess 1:9) and surely would have experienced the pain of strained or broken relationships and perhaps persecution. It is also likely that some of them had died (see commentary on 1 Thess 4:13–18).2
Timothy’s Good News (3:6–10)
6But just now Timothy has returned to us from you, bringing us the good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us and long to see us as we long to see you. 7Because of this, we have been reassured about you, brothers, in our every distress and affliction, through your faith. 8For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
9What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God? 10Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.
The story of Paul’s relationship with the Thessalonians, which Paul has been telling since 1:2, finally comes to an end here as Paul describes the joy he experienced when Timothy returned with the good news that the Thessalonians had remained unshaken by their suffering. There are two main parts to Timothy’s report as Paul describes it. First, Timothy reported that the Thessalonians continued in their faith and love. Their sufferings had not caused them to abandon their new life of loyalty to Christ and work on behalf of his kingdom (see 1:2–3). Paul spends most of the rest of the letter seeking to reinforce their faith, their love, and also their hope. The second part of Timothy’s report was that the Thessalonians always think kindly of us and long to see us as we long to see you. In other words, the Thessalonians still hold Paul in high esteem and wish to deepen their relationship.
The talk of “longing” sounds rather overheated by our standards. To modern ears, this is the language of romance, not ecclesial correspondence. For Greek letter writers of Paul’s day, however, it was conventional to speak of one’s longing for the recipient. Indeed, 3:6–10 is filled with language that sounds effusive to us but that was standard in its own context. The mention of happy memories (3:6), the welfare of the other being a matter of life and death (3:8), and thanksgiving to God or gods (3:9)—all of this was common in letters between friends. This does not mean that 1 Thessalonians would have sounded stale or cliché when it was read aloud to the assembled Thessalonians—far from it. It bursts with arresting images and creativity. But Paul’s description of his longing for the Thessalonians is quite conventional.
Paul is consoled in his distress and affliction because of the Thessalonians’ enduring faith. His relief at hearing Timothy’s good news is so great that he says we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord. St. John Chrysostom interprets this to mean that Paul’s eternal life depends on the Thessalonians remaining steadfast: “What is equal to Paul, who thought the salvation of his neighbors was his own salvation, as a body toward its parts? . . . He has said not ‘we rejoice’ but rather ‘we live,’ referring to the life to come.”3 On another occasion Chrysostom cites this verse alongside Moses’s prayer that God blot him out if God would not forgive his fellow Israelites (Exod 32:32).4 Most modern commentators object that Paul is simply using hyperbole to express his relief.5 As noted above, letters between friends frequently expressed this sort of sentiment, including the claim that the writer will die if he or she doesn’t see the recipient (see sidebar, “Strong Emotions in Ancient Letters,” above). At the same time, Paul did expect to be rewarded when Jesus returned, on the basis of the Thessalonian church (1 Thess 2:19–20), so Chrysostom’s interpretation may not be too far off the mark. Paul needs the Thessalonians to “stand firm in the Lord” in order to fulfill his calling bring the gospel to the nations.
Since the beginning of the letter Paul has been retelling the story of his time with the Thessalonians, their separation, his anxiety, the mission of Timothy, and finally Paul’s great relief upon learning that they continue to stand firm “in the Lord.” The story was punctuated with thanksgiving to God in 1:2 and 2:13. In 3:9–10 Paul finally brings the story and his thanksgiving to a close with this question: What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God? This rhetorical question is similar to the English “How can I thank you?” Paul feels that it is appropriate for him to return thanks to God, but he knows that it is impossible for him to give thanks adequately for such a great gift. A similar question appears in Sir 7:28: “What can you give [your parents] for all they gave you?” One should honor one’s parents by caring for them in their old age, but a child will never really repay her parents for all she has received. Similarly, Paul is searching for a way to thank God for this gift, even though he knows he never will.
The word translated as “render” (antapodidōmi) means “repay” or “pay back.” To people today, it seems almost inappropriate to speak of paying God back with thanksgiving. We tend to imagine that payment and thanksgiving belong to completely separate categories, but in Paul’s day it was not at all unusual to speak of repaying thanks to God or humans (see commentary on 2 Thess 1:3). The language of repaying thanks to God is found frequently in the Psalms. In LXX Psalm 115:3 (ET 116:12) the psalmist asks, “What shall I pay [antapodidōmi] to the Lord for all the things which he has paid [antapodidōmi] me?” (my translation). The Psalms frequently speak of vows to “repay” God with thanksgiving if God delivers one from distress.6 In the psalm the temple is the ideal location to repay one’s vows. Paul, however, sees himself already standing “before our God,” in the presence of God in his current location.
In the NABRE, verse 10 is a new sentence, but in the Greek text Paul rambles on excitedly with the same sentence begun in verse 9. Though Timothy brought a good report, Paul still seems desperate to return to Thessalonica himself. He still feels that there are deficiencies in their faith that he needs to remedy. Though they have remained steadfast “in the Lord” (3:8) and Timothy was able to “strengthen” them in the faith (3:2), there is still progress to be made. At first glance it could seem as if Paul is contradicting himself here. If their faith is deficient, why is Paul elated? We tend to speak of faith as if it is something that one simply has or not, but faith language in the Bible is more complicated. One thinks of the distressed father who cried out to Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 [my translation]). He was confident that Jesus could do what he promised, and yet the man knew that his faith was still lacking something. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul describes faith as something that can be built up and strengthened, or weakened and lost (3:2, 5). Faith is operative in works (1:3) and is closely associated with love (1:3; 3:6; 5:8). Faith must grow, as Paul reminds the Corinthian church (2 Cor 10:15). Thus, it is not a question of whether the Thessalonians had faith. They clearly did. But, as Chrysostom puts it while commenting on this verse, “They had not yet enjoyed the benefit of all his teaching, nor had they learned all that was necessary for them to learn.”7 Chapters 4 and 5 show us the main things that Paul probably had in mind.
Prayer for Reunification and Holiness (3:11–13)
11Now may God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, 12and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, 13so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. [Amen.]
OT: Zech 14:5
NT: Matt 25:31–46
Lectionary: 1 Thess 3:12–4:2; First Sunday of Advent (Year C)
Paul has finally finished retelling the story of his relationship with the Thessalonian church. He concludes this first section of the letter with a prayer that he would see them again and that they would be sanctified. In addition to concluding his account of prior events, this prayer also anticipates many of the main issues that Paul will raise in the following section devoted to explaining what kind of lives they should live (4:1–5:22). He prays that they increase in their love, which anticipates 4:9–12, and expresses concern for their preparedness for the return of Jesus, which anticipates 4:13–5:11. As noted in the introduction, these verses are an excellent summary of the letter as a whole, drawing together Paul’s desire to see the Thessalonians again and his hope that they would grow in love and be ready for the return of the Lord.
The first part of the prayer is for God himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus to make it possible for Paul to return to Thessalonica. Though Satan has prevented Paul’s reunification with the Thessalonians up to this point (2:18), Paul believes that God and Jesus can overcome this obstacle. Scholars disagree on the question of when Christians first came to see Jesus as fully divine. As a prayer to both Jesus and God in the oldest book of the New Testament, this verse has attracted a good deal of attention. Some have seen great significance in Paul’s use of the Greek verb for direct in the singular, which in Greek presupposes a singular subject. What is more significant is that Paul addresses his prayer to both God the Father and Jesus and assumes that they will hear his prayer and answer. He sees Jesus and God as acting together in answering his request.
Paul does not often appeal to Jesus in prayer, but in verses 11–12 he does just that, addressing him as the Lord (see also 1 Cor 1:2; 16:22; 2 Cor 12:7–9). Paul prays that Jesus would cause a superabundance of love to well up in the Thessalonian converts, overflowing to love of one another and also for all. In 1 Thess 5:15 Paul says something similar, asking the Thessalonians always to “pursue the good, both for one another and for all” (my translation). In 4:10 he commends them for loving one another and also “all the brothers throughout Macedonia.” The love that existed among the members of the local church was meant to overflow to those in Christ elsewhere as well as those outside the church (2 Cor 9:13; Gal 6:10).
Love for all people will transform the Thessalonians so that they will be blameless in holiness when Jesus returns and works are judged. We tend to think of “holiness” as our personal sanctity before God and love as something that turns our attention to others. In American Christianity, where we are tempted to divide Christianity up along the lines of the American political spectrum of “liberal” and “conservative,” we sometimes associate “love” with liberal Christians and “holiness” with conservative Christians. So, a church that emphasizes “holiness” will stress things like freedom from sexual sin, whereas a church that emphasizes “love” will focus on welcoming outcasts into the community. Paul taught his churches to avoid sexual sin (1 Thess 4:3) and to accept others (Rom 15:7), but there is no split between holiness and love in his thought. On the contrary, in this prayer we see that holiness is expressed and achieved in love. Holiness conforms the Christian to Christ, who “loved” others and gave himself up for them (Gal 2:20). Paul prays that Jesus will find the Thessalonians sanctified through their love when he returns.
The prayer describes Jesus returning surrounded by all his holy ones. The word translated as “holy ones” (plural of hagios) is commonly translated as “saints.” Despite the fact that every other occurrence of hagios in Paul’s Letters describes humans, most commentators argue that “holy ones” refers to angels in this case.8 Many ancient Jewish and Christian texts do describe the Lord’s return in the company of angels. Zechariah 14:5 (“The LORD, my God, will come, and all his holy ones with him”), which Paul echoes here, is often read this way. Moreover, it is argued that Paul would be contradicting himself if he said here that the Lord returns in the company of the faithful, because in 1 Thess 4:16 Paul describes the faithful joining Jesus after his return. These are reasonable arguments, but the case for understanding “holy ones” as a reference to the faithful is stronger. Though the image of the Lord returning flanked by angels was traditional, so was the image of the Lord returning in the company of the people of God.9 Indeed, Zech 14:5 itself may be referring to humans.10 Most importantly, human “holy ones” makes much more sense in context. In this verse, Paul has just prayed that the Lord would strengthen them in holiness in preparation for the †parousia, so it is not surprising that when looking forward to that day he would refer to them as “the holy ones.” The supposed contradiction with 1 Thess 4:16 disappears on closer examination. An early Christian text known as the Didache interpreted the Lord coming “with” all his saints as a reference to the resurrection of the dead (16:7), so that may be what Paul had in mind. Paul describes the faithful meeting the Lord in the air after the resurrection (1 Thess 4:17), probably imagining that they will accompany him from that point on, returning “with him” to the earth for the last judgment (see commentary on 1 Thess 4:16–17).11 According to 4:13–18, therefore, one may say that the Lord returns “to” the faithful but also that the Lord returns “with” the faithful.
Reflection and Application (3:11–13)
A frequent subject of debate among scholars of the New Testament and Christian origins is the question of when Jesus was first believed to be divine. First Thessalonians may be Paul’s oldest surviving letter and also the earliest surviving Christian document. As such, it provides special insight into the beliefs of some of the earliest Christians. In these verses (3:11–13) Paul concludes the long first section of the letter with prayers that Jesus would increase the love of the Thessalonian church, and that Jesus and God would make it possible for Paul to return to them. Paul would not say this unless he believed that Jesus was indeed able to increase the Thessalonians’ love, and that Jesus could work together with God the Father to eliminate the obstacles preventing Paul from traveling to Thessalonica.12 It is also important to note that Paul does not explain to the Thessalonians how Jesus will accomplish these things. Though the Thessalonians were new believers and were confused about many things (as chap. 4 shows), they apparently already understood that Jesus was at work in their lives to increase their love.
If we back up and take stock of what the letter as a whole says about Jesus, we see that Paul taught that Jesus was a man who, like the prophets before him, was killed unjustly in Judea (2:14–15). Despite the fact that his execution was unjust, it had a larger purpose in God’s plan. Jesus gave his life “for us” so that we might obtain salvation and live with him whether we are dead or alive (5:9–10). After he was killed, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven (1:10; 4:14). The Church waits in hope of his coming, confident that he will save them from the wrath that will come in the final days (1:3, 10; 5:1–11) and in the hope that they will share in a resurrection like his and be with him always (4:13–18). Though this event remains in the future, Paul can already say that we live with Jesus (5:10) and that Jesus speaks through him (4:2). Paul also says that God gives us the Holy Spirit (4:8) and that God’s “word” is at work among us to enable us to become holy and to be like Jesus by enduring persecution with joy (1:6). This process of sanctification has as its goal the moment when Jesus returns and those who are in him stand before him “blameless in holiness,” perfected in love through the working of Jesus in our lives. This is not the developed trinitarian theology of later centuries, but from this earliest letter we see that Paul preached Jesus as a human who died and was raised and who works in our lives in concert with the Holy Spirit and God the Father.
1. Homiliae in epistulam i ad Thessalonicenses (PG 62:410 [my translation]).
2. See introduction to 1 Thessalonians.
3. Homiliae (PG 62:418 [my translation]).
4. In sanctum Barlaam martyrem (PG 50:676).
5. E.g., Béda Rigaux, Saint Paul: Les Épitres aux Thessaloniciens, EBib (Paris: Lecoffre, 1956), 480–81.
6. E.g., Pss 22:26; 50:14; 56:13; 61:6, 9; 66:13; 116:14.
7. Homiliae (PG 62:419 [my translation]).
8. E.g., Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 32B (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 214.
9. 2 Thess 1:10; Didache 16.7; Ascension of Isaiah 4.14. See Rigaux, Les Épitres aux Thessaloniciens, 491.
10. Didache 16.7 (first or second century AD) interprets Zech 14:5 as a description of the resurrection of all Christians.
11. See also 1 Thess 4:14, which says that God will bring the faithful departed “with him.”
12. See Chris Tilling, Paul’s Divine Christology, WUNT 2/323 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 153–54.