17 But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season [about six months], in presence not in heart [Col. 2:5], endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire [Paul had been torn rudely from the Thessalonians by the hand of persecution, so he speaks of being "bereaved" of them, thus using a strong word which indicates both the separation and the sense of desolation which arose from it. Though he had been but about six months absent from them, his heart was filled with desires to return to them]: 18 because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again [emphatic way of saying twice]; and Satan hindered us. [How Satan hindered, we are not told, but we find that his emissaries had so little disposition to let Paul return that they drove him from Beroea onward to Athens.] 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20 For ye are our glory and our joy. [Paul also calls the Philippians his joy and crown (Phil. 4:1), and expresses, as here, a hope of glorying hereafter both in them and in the Corinthians (Phil. 2:16; 2 Cor. 1:14). Paul usually employs the word "crown" in a figurative sense, the figure being derived from the wreath or chaplets worn by athletes in the Grecian games (1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Tim. 4:7, 8), and it is fair to suppose that he does so here. The full thought, then, is this: As an athlete, who, in the absence of his king, had entered the contest, competed for, and won the crown, would, on the king's appearing, rejoice to lay his trophy at the king's feet; so Paul, having won the Thessalonians for Christ, hoped that he might joyfully present them to Christ at his coming. The passage is a [11] beautiful but effectual rebuke to the idle fears of some Christians that they will not recognize their friends in the hereafter. If Paul could not recognize the Thessalonians, how could he present them as his crown, or glory in them ?]

      III. 1 Wherefore when we [by this plural Paul means himself only] could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone; 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith [fearful lest the infant church should succumb to temptation or to persecution, and unable longer to endure his want of information concerning it, Paul had sent Timothy, from Athens, that he might visit the Thessalonians, and bring him word as to their spiritual condition; though in so doing he had deprived himself of all brotherly fellowship and ministerial assistance in Athens, the seat of idolatry and vain philosophy]; 3 that no man [of you] be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed. ["We" refers to all Christians, and Theophylact sagely remarks, "Let all Christians hear this." As to the doctrine, see Matt. 13:21; Mark 10:30; John 15:18; 16:33; Acts 4:22.] 4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction; even as it came to pass, and ye know. [As to the affliction which Paul foretold and which came upon them, see Acts 17:5-9.] 5 For this cause [because he feared that persecution might cause them to apostatize] I also, when I could no longer forbear [resuming the thought of verse 1], sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means [and Satan has many] the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should be in vain. [It is sad to lose spiritual labor, but sadder still to lose the souls which are the results of it. But we should not leave this passage without observing that if Paul had had Calvinism in mind, and had wished to assert that the elect might fall from grace and be lost despite their election, he could hardly have stated his point more clearly, for these [12] words are addressed to those whom he has just pronounced elect.] 6 But when Timothy came even now [suggesting that Paul wrote on the day of Timothy's arrival, or very soon after] unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we, also to see you; 7 for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith [Since Paul would be comforted as to the Thessalonians by the good news of their condition brought by Timothy, the "distress and affliction" must have referred to other matters which disturbed the apostle's rest. These were doubtless the failure at Athens, and the troubles which he had at Corinth before the negative protection afforded him by Gallio, when that official refused to interfere, either to aid or hinder him (Acts 18:6-12). Thus the good news from Thessalonica lightened the apostle's burdens at Corinth]: 8 for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. [The good news made Paul relish and enjoy life, just as his afflictions and distress had been to him a kind of death. Comp. 1 Cor. 15:31] 9 For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God. [Paul felt that he could not be thankful enough for the joy which the faith of the Thessalonians gave him; not a joy arising from worldly or personal pride in them, but a joy so pure and holy that it could be displayed before the searching eye of God]; 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith? ["Night," says Joseph de Maistre, "is a great chapter in the Psalms, to which David often recurs." Paul, like David, employed much of the night in meditation and prayer. At such times he remembered the brevity and sudden termination of his ministry in Thessalonica, and realized that his converts were not fully instructed in many items of faith and doctrine; he therefore prayed that he might return and complete his instruction. After three or [13] four years his prayer was answered (Acts 20:1, 2), and some ten years after that it was again answered--1 Tim. 1:3.] 11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way unto you: 12 and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you; 13 to the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. [The "you" of verse 12 is emphatic, and stands in contrast with "our" of verse 11, as though Paul said "the Lord direct our way to you, but whether he does so or not, may he prosper you, causing your love to grow and abound, even as we grow in love toward you, that by love (though ye may lack somewhat of instruction) ye may be so established that no one can lay anything to your charge when the Lord Jesus comes." The Epistles to the Thessalonians have many such brief prayers (1 Thess. 3:11; 5:23; 2 Thess. 1:11; 2:16; 3:5-16). In verse 11, and also at 2 Thess. 2:16, 17, while we have God and Jesus for nominatives, yet the accompanying verb is in the singular, thus showing the oneness or unity of God. The love which Paul here asks for is Christian love. "This," says Theophylact, "is the character of divine love to comprehend all; whereas human love hath respect to one man, and not to another." Since the word "saints" (literally, holy ones) is used in the Old Testament to include angels, it is likely that they are included here, for Paul's words are, no doubt, an indirect quotation of Zech. 14:5.] [14]

[TCGR 11-14]