NOTES

ST. PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE

THESSALONIANS.

This is the first of all the epistles which St. Paul wrote.

Thessalonica was one of the chief cities of Macedonia. Hither

St. Paul went after the persecution at Philippi: but he had

not preached here long before the unbelieving Jews raised a

tumult against him and Silvanus and Timotheus. On this the

brethren sent them away to Berea. Thence St. Paul went by

sea to Athens, and sent for Silvanus and Timotheus to come

speedily to him. But being in fear, lest the Thessalonian

converts should be moved from their steadfastness, after a

short time he sends Timotheus to them, to know the state of

their church. Timotheus returning found the apostle at Corinth

from whence he sent them this epistle, about a year after he

had been at Thessalonica.

The parts of it are these:-

I. The inscription,............................... C. i. 1

II. He celebrates the grace of God towards them,..... 2-10

Mentions the sincerity of himself and his

fellowlabourers,.......................... C. ii. 1-12

And the teachableness of the Thessalonians,..... 13-16

Ill. He declares,

1. His desire,................................... 17-20

2. His care,............................... C. iii. 1-5

3. His joy and prayer for them,................... 6-13

IV. He exhorts them to grow,

1. In holiness,............................. C. iv. 1-8

2. In brotherly love with industry,............... 9-12

V. He teaches and exhorts,

1. Concerning them that sleep,................... 13-18

2. Concerning the times,.................... C. v. 1-11

VI. He adds miscellaneous exhortations,............. 12-24

VII. The conclusion,................................ 25-28

-------------------

Verse 1. Paul-In this epistle St. Paul neither uses the

title of an apostle, nor any other, as writing to pious

and simple-hearted men, with the utmost familiarity.

There is a peculiar sweetness in this epistle, unmixed with

any sharpness or reproof: those evils which the apostles

afterward reproved having not yet crept into the church.

Verse 3. Remembering in the sight of God-That is, praising

him for it. Your work of faith-Your active, ever-working

faith. And labour of love-Love continually labouring for the

bodies or souls of men. They who do not thus labour, do not

love. Faith works, love labours, hope patiently suffers all

things.

Verse 4. Knowing your election-Which is through faith, by

these plain proofs.

Verse 5. With power-Piercing the very heart with a sense of

sin and deeply convincing you of your want of a Saviour from

guilt, misery, and eternal ruin. With the Holy Ghost-Bearing

an outward testimony, by miracles, to the truth of what we

preached, and you felt: also by his descent through laying on

of hands. With much assurance-Literally, with full assurance,

and much of it: the Spirit bearing witness by shedding the love

of God abroad in your hearts, which is the highest testimony

that can be given. And these signs, if not the miraculous

gifts, always attend the preaching of the gospel, unless it be

in vain: neither are the extraordinary operations of the Holy

Ghost ever wholly withheld, where the gospel is preached with

power, and men are alive to God. For your sake-Seeking your

advantage, not our own.

Verse 6. Though in much affliction, yet with much joy.

Verse 8. For from you the word sounded forth-(Thessalonica

being a city of great commerce.) Being echoed, as it were,

from you. And your conversion was divulged far beyond Macedonia

and Achaia. So that we need not speak anything-Concerning it.

Verse 9. For they themselves-The people wherever we come.

Verse 10. Whom he hath raised from the dead-In proof of his

future coming to judgment. Who delivereth us-He redeemed us

once; he delivers us continually; and will deliver all that

believe from the wrath, the eternal vengeance, which will then

come upon the ungodly.

Verse 1. What was proposed, # 1Thess 1:5,6, is now more

largely treated of: concerning Paul and his fellowlabourers,

# 1Th 2:1-12; concerning the Thessalonians, # 1Th 2:13-16.

Verse 2. We had suffered-In several places. We are bold

-Notwithstanding. With much contention-Notwithstanding both

inward and outward conflicts of all kinds.

Verse 3. For our exhortation-That is, our preaching. A part is

put for the whole. Is not, at any time, of deceit-We preach not

a lie, but the truth of God. Nor of uncleanness-With any unholy

or selfish view. This expression is not always appropriated to

lust, although it is sometimes emphatically applied thereto.

Nor in guile-But with great plainness of speech.

Verse 5. Flattering words-This ye know. Nor a cloak of

covetousness-Of this God is witness. He calls men to witness

an open fact; God, the secret intentions of the heart. In a

point of a mixed nature, # 1Th 2:10, he appeals both to God and

man.

Verse 6. Nor from others-Who would have honoured us more, if

we had been burdensome-That is, taken state upon ourselves.

Verse 7. But we were gentle-Mild, tender. In the midst of

you-Like a hen surrounded with her young. Even as a nurse

cherisheth her own children-The offspring of her own womb.

Verse 8. To impart our own souls-To lay down our lives for

your sake.

10. Holily-In the things of God. Justly-With regard to men.

Unblamable-In respect of ourselves. Among you that believe

-Who were the constant observers of our behaviour.

Verse 11. By exhorting, we are moved to do a thing willingly;

by comforting, to do it joyfully; by charging, to do it

carefully.

Verse 12. To his kingdom here, and glory hereafter.

Verse 14. Ye suffered the same things-The same fruit, the same

afflictions, and the same experience, at all times, and in all

places, are an excellent criterion of evangelical truth. As

they from the Jews-Their countrymen.

Verse 15. Us-Apostles and preachers of the gospel. They please

not God-Nor are they even careful to please him, notwithstanding

their fair professions. And are contrary to all men-Are common

enemies of mankind; not only by their continual seditions and

insurrections, and by their utter contempt of all other nations;

but in particular, by their endeavouring to hinder their hearing

or receiving the gospel.

Verse 16. To fill up-The measure of their sins always, as they

have ever done. But the vengeance of God is come upon them

-Hath overtaken them unawares, whilst they were seeking to

destroy others, and will speedily complete their destruction.

Verse 17. In this verse we have a remarkable instance, not

so much of the transient affections of holy grief, desire,

or joy, as of that abiding tenderness, that loving temper,

which is so apparent in all St. Paul's writings, towards

those he styles his children in the faith. This is the more

carefully to be observed, because the passions occasionally

exercising themselves, and flowing like a torrent, in the

apostle, are observable to every reader; whereas it requires

a nicer attention to discern those calm standing tempers,

that fixed posture of his soul, from whence the others only

flow out, and which more peculiarly distinguish his character.

Verse 18. Satan-By those persecuting Jews,

# Acts 17:13.

Verse 19. Ye also-As well as our other children.

Verse 1. We-Paul and Silvanus. Could bear no longer-Our

desire and fear for you.

Verse 3. We are appointed hereto-Are in every respect laid

in a fit posture for it, by the very design and contrivance

of God himself for the trial and increase of our faith and

all other graces. He gives riches to the world; but stores

up his treasure of wholesome afflictions for his children.

Verse 6. But now when Timotheus was come to us from you

-Immediately after his return, St. Paul wrote; while his

joy was fresh, and his tenderness at the height.

Verse 8. Now we live-Indeed; we enjoy life: so great is

our affection for you.

Verse 10. And perfect that which is wanting in your faith

-So St. Paul did not know that "they who are once upon the

rock no longer need to be taught by man."

Verse 11. Direct our way-This prayer is addressed to Christ,

as well as to the Father.

Verse 13. With all his, Christ's, saints-Both angels and men.

Verse 1. More and more-It is not enough to have faith, even

so as to please God, unless we abound more and more therein.

Verse 3. Sanctification-Entire holiness of heart and life:

particular branches of it are subjoined. That ye abstain from

fornication-A beautiful transition from sanctification to a

single branch of the contrary; and this shows that nothing is

so seemingly distant, or below our thoughts, but we have need

to guard against it.

Verse 4. That every one know-For this requires knowledge, as

well as chastity. To possess his vessel-His wife. In

sanctification and honour-So as neither to dishonour God

or himself, nor to obstruct, but further, holiness;

remembering, marriage is not designed to inflame, but

to conquer, natural desires.

Verse 5. Not in passionate desire-Which had no place in man

when in a state of innocence. Who know not God-And so may

naturally seek happiness in a creature. What seemingly

accidental words slide in; and yet how fine, and how vastly

important!

Verse 6. In this matter-By violating his bed. The things

forbidden, here are three: fornication,

# 1Th 4:3;

the passion of desire, or inordinate affection in the married

state, # 1Th 4:5; and the breach of the marriage contract.

Verse 8. He that despiseth-The commandments we gave.

Despiseth God-Himself. Who hath also given you his Holy

Spirit-To convince you of the truth, and enable you to be holy.

What naked majesty of words! How oratorical, and yet with what

great simplicity!-a simplicity that does not impair, but improve,

the understanding to the utmost; that, like the rays of heat

through a glass, collects all the powers of reason into one

orderly point, from being scattered abroad in utter confusion.

Verse 9. We need not write-Largely. For ye are taught of

God-By his Spirit.

Verse 11. That ye study-Literally, that ye be ambitious: an

ambition worthy a Christian. To work with your hands-Not a

needless caution; for temporal concerns are often a cross to

them who are newly filled with the love of God.

Verse 12. Decently-That they may have no pretence to say,

(but they will say it still,) "This religion makes men idle,

and brings them to beggary." And may want nothing-Needful

for life and godliness. What Christian desires more?

13. Now-Herein the efficacy of Christianity greatly

appears,-that it neither takes away nor embitters, but

sweetly tempers, that most refined of all affections, our

desire of or love to the dead.

Verse 14. So-As God raised him. With him-With their living head.

15. By the word of the Lord-By a particular revelation.

We who are left-This intimates the fewness of those who

will be then alive, compared to the multitude of the dead.

Believers of all ages and nations make up, as it were, one body;

in consideration of which, the believers of that age might put

themselves in the place, and speak in the person, of them who

were to live till the coming of the Lord. Not that St. Paul

hereby asserted (though some seem to have imagined so) that

the day of the Lord was at hand.

Verse 16. With a shout-Properly, a proclamation made to a

great multitude. Above this is, the voice of the archangel;

above both, the trumpet of God; the voice of God, somewhat

analogous to the sound of a trumpet.

Verse 17. Together-In the same moment. In the air-The wicked

will remain beneath, while the righteous, being absolved, shall

be assessors with their Lord in the judgment. With the Lord-In

heaven.

Verse 1. But of the precise times when this shall be.

Verse 2. For this in general ye do know; and ye can and need

know no more.

Verse 3. When they-The men of the world say.

Verse 4. Ye are not in darkness-Sleeping secure in sin.

Verse 6. Awake, and keep awake-Being awakened, let us have all

our spiritual senses about us.

Verse 7. They usually sleep and are drunken in the night-These

things do not love the light.

Verse 9. God hath not appointed us to wrath-As he hath the

obstinately impenitent.

Verse 10. Whether we wake or sleep-Be alive or dead at his

coming.

Verse 12. Know them that,

1. Labour among you:

2. Are over you in the Lord:

3. Admonish you.

Know-See, mark, take knowledge of them and their work. Sometimes

the same person may both labour, that is, preach; be over, or

govern; and admonish the flock by particular application to

each: sometimes two or more different persons, according as God

variously dispenses his gifts. But O, what a misery is it when

a man undertakes this whole work without either gifts or graces

for any part of it! Why, then, will he undertake it? for pay?

What! will he sell both his own soul and all the souls of the

flock? What words can describe such a wretch as this? And yet

even this may be "an honourable man!"

Verse 13. Esteem them very highly-Literally, more than

abundantly, in love-The inexpressible sympathy that is

between true pastors and their flock is intimated, not

only here, but also in divers other places of this epistle.

See # 1Thess 2:7,8.

For their work's sake-The principal ground of their vast regard

for them. But how are we to esteem them who do not work at all?

Verse 14. Warn the disorderly-Them that stand, as it were,

out of their rank in the spiritual warfare. Some such were

even in that church. The feeble-minded-Literally, them of

little soul; such as have no spiritual courage.

15. See that none-Watch over both yourselves and each other.

Follow that which is good-Do it resolutely and perseveringly.

Verse 16. Rejoice evermore-In uninterrupted happiness in God.

Pray without ceasing-Which is the fruit of always rejoicing in

the Lord. In everything give thanks-Which is the fruit of both

the former. This is Christian perfection. Farther than this we

cannot go; and we need not stop short of it. Our Lord has

purchased joy, as well as righteousness, for us. It is the very

design of the gospel that, being saved from guilt, we should be

happy in the love of Christ. Prayer may be said to be the

breath of our spiritual life. He that lives cannot possibly

cease breathing. So much as we really enjoy of the presence of

God, so much prayer and praise do we offer up without ceasing;

else our rejoicing is but delusion. Thanksgiving is inseparable

from true prayer: it is almost essentially connected with it.

He that always prays is ever giving praise, whether in ease or

pain, both for prosperity and for the greatest adversity. He

blesses God for all things, looks on them as coming from him,

and receives them only for his sake; not choosing nor refusing,

liking nor disliking, anything, but only as it is agreeable or

disagreeable to his perfect will.

Verse 18. For this-That you should thus rejoice, pray, give

thanks. Is the will of God-Always good, always pointing at

our salvation.

Verse 19. Quench not the Spirit-Wherever it is, it burns; it

flames in holy love, in joy, prayer, thanksgiving. O quench

it not, damp it not in yourself or others, either by neglecting

to do good, or by doing evil!

Verse 20. Despise not prophesyings-That is, preaching; for

the apostle is not here speaking of extraordinary gifts. It

seems, one means of grace is put for all; and whoever despises

any of these, under whatever pretence, will surely (though

perhaps gradually and almost insensibly) quench the Spirit.

Verse 21. Meantime, prove all things-Which any preacher

recommends. (He speaks of practice, not of doctrines.) Try

every advice by the touchstone of scripture, and hold fast

that which is good-Zealously, resolutely, diligently practise

it, in spite of all opposition.

Verse 22. And be equally zealous and careful to abstain from

all appearance of evil-Observe, those who "heap to themselves

teachers, having itching ears," under pretence of proving all

things, have no countenance or excuse from this scripture.

Verse 23. And may the God of peace sanctify you-By the peace

he works in you, which is a great means of sanctification.

Wholly-The word signifies wholly and perfectly; every part and

all that concerns you; all that is of or about you. And may the

whole of you, the spirit and the soul and the body-Just before

he said you; now he denominates them from their spiritual state.

The spirit-

# Gal 6:8;

wishing that it may be preserved whole and entire: then from

their natural state, the soul and the body; (for these two make

up the whole nature of man, # Matt 10:28;) wishing it

may be preserved blameless till the coming of Christ.

To explain this a little further: of the three here mentioned,

only the two last are the natural constituent parts of man. The

first is adventitious, and the supernatural gift of God, to be

found in Christians only. That man cannot possibly consist of

three parts, appears hence: The soul is either matter or not

matter: there is no medium. But if it is matter, it is part of

the body: if not matter, it coincides with the Spirit.

Verse 24. Who also will do it-Unless you quench the Spirit.

Verse 27. I charge you by the Lord-Christ, to whom proper

divine worship is here paid. That this epistle-The first he

wrote. Be read to all the brethren-That is, in all the

churches. They might have concealed it out of modesty, had not

this been so solemnly enjoined: but what Paul commands under so

strong an adjuration, Rome forbids under pain of excommunication.

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