Chapter 3

Verse 1 — “we could no longer forbear” is one word in the Greek. It is a present active participle which means to hold out or to endure. Apparently reports had been coming through that there were difficulties at Thessalonica, and because of these difficulties Paul could only stand it so long and then he had to find out what was going on there. Apparently some of the Thessalonian believers are confused. One rumour which had come back and which was confirmed was the fact that due to the doctrine of the Rapture of the Church, due to the fact that the Church might be removed at any time, some of the men who were in business in Thessalonica had finally decided to give up their businesses and wait for the Rapture by apparently doing nothing. When people get into the do-nothing attitude they next get into trouble. Therefore there was some difficulty in Thessalonica. However, the exact nature of the problem was not known to Paul when he was in Athens. In order to determine what was going on Timothy was detached from the missionary team and sent back to Thessalonica to make a full report after a complete inspection.

“we thought it good” — apparently there were at least three people present at this conference: Luke, Timothy, and probably Silas. So “we” includes three, possibly four, people. The words “we thought it good” means “we think well.” Immediately we have a principle which comes out of this phrase. God has ordained a number of Spiritual gifts among believers. For those who are born again there are many members of the team with many different types of spiritual gifts. Some of these gifts have to do with leadership, some with administration, and some with discernment in order to determine that status quo of any given situation. Notice that Paul met with the other members of his team, and together they thought over the situation. Principle: It is not contrary to the Word of God for Christians to think! Principle: Nor is it contrary to the Word of God for Christians to put their heads together in order to determine a course of action. So it is not contrary to the Word of God, for example, who have the proper gifts to gather themselves together in order to recommend or to determine a course of action.

“to be left at Athens alone” — in other words, even though Timothy is much loved by the missionary team and is fulfilling a very important function there at Athens, it becomes necessary now to send him back to Thessalonica to make an inspection. Therefore, as a result of this conference a decision was made.

Verse 2 — “And sent Timotheus [Timothy], our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow labourer.” Notice that when Timothy is sent on his way that there are several things which are mentioned by way of describing him. First of all, he is called a “brother” which means he is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is also called a “minister of God.” This is the specialised use of the word. The word “minister” is found in three separate and distinct ways in the New Testament. First of all, and very important, every believer is a minister in one sense of the word — in the sense of 2 Corinthians chapter 3, 4:1; 5:17 where every believer has the ministry of reconciliation. So first of all the word is used to designate every Christian, for every Christian is the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. During the absence of our Lord from the earth everyone who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a minister. This is the doctrine of the universal ministry of the believer. The word minister is used in another sense in Romans 13:4 for those who have leadership responsibilities within a national entity are also called “the ministers of God for good.” They are called ministers in the sense that “they bear not the sword in vain.” The sword is a reference to capital punishment. Within any national entity there are those who have positions of responsibilities in connection with justice and with administration, and they have the responsibility of authorising the administration of capital punishment in order to enforce the law. They are declared to be ministers doing good according to the divine plan. There is another use of the word minister, it has a specialised concept. Often the pastor of a church was called a minister. In this particular case Timothy is not the pastor of a church, he is the inspector-general of the Pauline missionary team. Therefore, under that concept he is being sent forth as a minister is a specialised way. In other words, we gather that the word minister is also used for those who devote their entire time to special jobs within the framework of the local church.

“fellow-labourer in the gospel” — he is a member of the Pauline missionary team.

What is the purpose of sending Timothy back? “to establish you, and to comfort you”. The word “establish” is an aorist active infinitive in the Greek. The infinitive denotes purpose and it is the purpose of Timothy in returning to Thessalonica to stabilise the situation which has become unsettled. Here is another principle which we should recognise in the realm of experience. It is easy, even for a local church which is centred in the Word of God, to become unsettled at times. This is what had happened at Thessalonica. The first purpose of Timothy peeling off and going back to Thessalonica is to provide stability in a rather confusing situation which had developed. The second reason was to comfort. This refers to that crowd who were all confused about physical death and thought that their loved ones who had died would miss out on the Rapture.

“concerning your faith” is literally, “with reference to your faith.” Faith here means the whole body of doctrine, the whole body of truth. Because they had some gaps in their understanding of the Word and because they had misconstrued certain events in life, they need some comfort as well.

Versed 3 — the pressure in Thessalonica is now mentioned. “That no man should be moved” — here is the problem back at the local church. “That” introduces a purpose clause, and here is a further purpose for sending Timothy; “should be moved” means to fawn, to cringe, or to wag the tail [like a dog which is being disciplined]. This was the original use of the word. It eventually came to mean to be disturbed or discouraged. Some of the people at Thessalonica are disturbed and therefore they are going to lose the purpose for which the Local church is established. The confusion is there. “That no man should be disturbed” — present tense, constantly disturbed as has been the situation.

“by these afflictions” — the word “affliction” means pressure. Affliction and pressure in the Christian way of life should never disturb the believer. God has so designed the Christian and so provided for the Christian that he can have perfect peace, perfect stability, perfect comfort, perfect happiness in the midst of the pressures of life. Timothy is going back to fill in on the necessary doctrines and principles in this particular factor. Every believer sooner or later faces the difficulties and the trials of life. When he faces these difficulties and trials the big question is: Does he have inner happiness, peace, stability, or does he fall apart like any unbeliever in the midst of his troubles? “These afflictions” is in the dative case, dative of advantage. It is to the advantage of believers to have pressure. In other words, this introduces that great doctrine, happiness and blessing in the midst of the pressures of life.

“for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto” — in other words, the Thessalonians knew that the Pauline team was appointed to take up the slack on many of these problems.

Verse 4 — Paul’s warning regarding suffering. Paul says here, “I told you so.” He told them that they would have trouble. Apparently it was quite a shock to the Thessalonian believers when the trouble came.

“for verily, when we were with you” — reminding them of the fact that Paul was once there and taught them the Word — “we told you before.” “We told you” is imperfect linear aktionsart which means they had kept on telling them. They didn’t tell them once, they told them many times. They repeatedly taught it. If the believer has doctrine on the inside he has the equipment to be stable at all times, and since these Thessalonians are brand new Christians this is one lesson they haven’t learned yet. In spite of all the doctrine that Paul taught them while he was there Timothy has to go back to teach them the secret of stability in the Christian life of phase two.

“that we [Paul, his party, and the Thessalonians] should suffer Tribulation; even as it came to pass, and now you know” — you know in the past with the result that you will understand the principle that Timothy is coming back to teach. “You know” is the verb for inherent knowledge, now they have it in their frontal lobes, they know what Paul means when he said we all as Christians have tribulation. So Paul is concerned about them and he expresses his concern once more in verse 5.

Verse 5 — “For this cause, when I could no longer hold out” — this is a repetition of what he started to say in verse 1. It was Paul who finally called the conference which decided to send Timothy.

“I sent to know your faith” — by faith he means the operation of the faith-rest technique. In effect he is saying, “I sent Timothy to find out how you were doing with the faith-rest technique, I sent Timothy to check out your spiritual instruments.”

“lest by some means the tempter hath tempted you, and our labour be in vain” — “the tempter tempt” means, of course, that Satan has many ways of trying to get believers away from occupation with Christ, and then the great tragedy which apparently had happened enough for Paul to add this phrase: “our labour.” The word for labour in the Greek is labour to the point of exhaustion. When Paul was in Thessalonica he worked day and night teaching the Word of God. He laboured to the point of exhaustion. He studied and taught until he was totally exhausted, and he said it was possible that this labour could become vain. The word “vain” means empty or void, no purpose is accomplished. There is a principle here we should not miss: It is possible for the Bible to be taught day after day, month after month, year after year, and that Bible teaching can be vain, to no purpose, when it is not used by believers in their daily lives. That is the tragedy, that is why Paul was afraid, and that is why he sent Timothy.

Verses 6-9, Timothy has returned. Paul sent him from Athens and Timothy returns to Paul in Corinth, and in these verses we have the inspector’s report. Timothy came back with this report.

Verse 6 — “and brought us good tidings.” Paul had probably been a bit down in the dumps. He could visualise, as seen in the last verse, that all of his teaching had been void and empty and useless, and that the whole church at Thessalonica was going to come unglued and fall apart.

“and brought us good tidings of your faith and love” — Paul sent Timothy down in hopes that they were still using the faith-rest technique, and when Timothy comes back he says it is not just the faith-rest technique but it is the filling of the Spirit. “Faith” stands for the faith-rest technique and the word “charity” here is the word for divine love and it stands for the filling of the Spirit.

So how were they weathering the storm? Most of them were doing a wonderful job for two reasons. Here is the secret to weathering the storms of life: a) The faith-rest technique; b) The filling of the Spirit. Note: The faith-rest technique has to do with the mind, with operation mental attitude — claiming the promises of God; the filling of the Spirit has to do with the inner life of the believer. The secret to weathering the storm is the inner life of the Christian — what goes on in the frontal lobe, what goes on with regard to the filling of the Spirit.

Paul was delighted that they had weathered the storm.

“and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you.”

Three good things in the inspector’s report:

a) Most of them were weathering the storm by using the techniques of the Christian life. Three techniques are involved. You can only be filled with the Spirit by rebound, so it is faith-rest, rebound, filling of the Spirit.

b) They were remembering Paul in prayer. The Thessalonians in their time of difficulty not only were stabilised but at the same time they had a wonderful prayer life. They had entered into the ministry of Paul and his team in Athens, in Corinth, and wherever they went.

c) They longed to have fellowship with Paul again. Paul was a Bible teacher and no one wants to have fellowship with a Bible teacher unless he is interested in the Bible, unless he is interested in the Word of God, unless the spiritual phenomena contained in the Word of God is the most important thing in his life.

Verses 7-9 — Paul’s reaction to the report. The report is given in one verse but Paul is so enthusiastic about hearing this good news that he responds immediately. Paul’s response reminds us of a further doctrinal principle: No man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself in modus operandi Christianity, and there is a very definite interrelationship between believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you like it or not the relationship between believers is so close that their ups can be your ups and their downs can be your downs, so much so that Paul wrote to the Corinthians “weep with them that weep and rejoice with them that rejoice.” And he mentions this again to the Romans, so quite obviously it is a principle in the Word of God: the interrelationship of believers. That is not surprising since we are all in the body of Christ. we are members one of another, and inasmuch as we are all members of the body of Christ there must be established an interrelationship. Paul had been down when he thought things were down at Thessalonica, but now the inspector’s report indicates that things are going very well on the whole, and there are only one or two little gaps where the slack has to be taken up.

Notice three reactions on the part of Paul. In verse 7 he is comforted; in verse 8 he is animated; in verse 9 he has inner happiness as a result of this report.

Verse 7 — Paul was comforted by the fact that they were using the faith-rest technique and therefore he responded in kind. He has comfort as a result of these things. “We were comforted” — aorist tense, in the point of time when we got the inspector’s report. Passive voice: Paul and the missionary team received comfort. The indicative mood, the mood of reality: if was genuine comfort which came as a result of the good report.

Verse 8 — Animation. “For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.” “We live” is actually a term for animation. We might even say, “Now we are enthusiastic, if ye stand fast.” The word “if” is a first class condition — if and it is true that you are standing fast. “Stand fast” is present linear aktionsart, you keep on standing fast, and this is a Greek word which means to be stabilised under pressure conditions. So he just can’t help being very enthusiastic about it.

Verse 9 — Joy. The word “joy” means inner happiness. Paul makes it very clear that first of all he is thankful, and this thanksgiving is an expression of his inner happiness, his inner joy at getting this wonderful report from Timothy.

Verses 10-13 — the result of the inspector’s report.

Verse 10 — the persistence of prayer. “Night and day” — as a result of this report what is Paul going to do? He is going to pray as never before for the Thessalonians; “praying” — he is going to persist in prayer. Later on in chapter five when he says to the Thessalonians, “Pray without ceasing” he has already given them an example. The word “pray”: a) it is present linear aktionsart, he is going to keep on praying; b) The middle voice is very important. The subject is benefited by the action of the verb. Paul will personally be benefited by praying for them.

“that” — here is the purpose of his prayer: First of all that he might have the opportunity of coming back to see them again, to be with them — “that we might see your face.” Paul is praying now, night and day, that God will open the door so that he can personally return to Thessalonica. What is the point? When he gets a report like this, when he realises that the majority of believers in Thessalonica in the midst of the storms and pressures of life are using the techniques, that they continue to faith-rest it, that they continue to be filled with the Spirit, that they rebound when necessary, they want to see him, that they are praying for him, he can’t wait to get back. Why? because any Bible teacher in his right mind can’t help but want to be where there is a response to the Word of God.

At the end of the verse he tells why he wants to teach the Word there, “and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith” — here “faith” is the whole realm of doctrine, the whole realm of the Christian life. The word for “perfect” means to supply an army with equipment. It means to provide weapons, it means to provide ammunition, food, uniforms. It means to equip an army for combat operations. Paul picked this word very specially for these people: “I was to give you information, provide doctrine, so that you can continue to be effective in combat as you have in the past.” He wants to equip them so that they can go throughout the entire world with the gospel.

With that, quite abruptly, he pronounces the benediction. He is not through, we have two chapters yet. But he is so enthusiastic, he has just stated his prayer and therefore he just has to wind up with a benediction three verses long.

Verse 11 — “Now God himself and our Father.” Why did he start there? Because all prayer is addressed to the Father and because the Father is the author of the divine plan for the human race; because Paul is a part of that plan and because the Thessalonians are a part of that plan, and because all believers are a part of that plan it is a good place to start a benediction.

“and our Lord Jesus Christ” — the Lord Jesus Christ is the executor of phase one, because it is the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins and took our place and made it possible for a door to be opened in the divine plan for the human race. The divine plan included angels but now the divine plan includes mankind because Jesus Christ went to the cross, because He provided redemption, because He propitiated the Father, because He reconciled man to God. And there is a door, a breakthrough in the divine plan. Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. We have actually broken into the divine plan.

“direct our way unto you” — when a Bible teacher prays to go to a certain people you can be sure of one thing, those people love the Word of God.

Verse 12 — “And the Lord.” The Trinity is included in this benediction because the Word “Lord” here refers to the Holy Spirit, not to the Lord Jesus Christ who has just been mentioned. “And the Spirit make you increase and abound in love.” How is He going to do that? The Holy Spirit indwells them. When they are filled with the Spirit they will increase and abound in divine love. “Increase” is an aorist optative, increase in a point of time, the point of time when they received the Word of God. The optative is an expression of a wish or desire. He wants to go to Thessalonica so that he can further teach them doctrine, so that in the point of time when he teaches them doctrine they will take it in and increase. And what will happen? They will “abound in the sphere of divine love” which is the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Notice the direction of this divine love — “one toward another.” That means another of the same kind, another believer. They will love believers but it won’t stop there.

“and toward all” — the word “men” is in italics: all the rest of the human race, all unbelievers.

And then he adds something — “even as we toward you.” We love you with a divine love. We appreciate you, we recognise your intake of the Word of God and its significance, and we just pray that we can come back and further provide you equipment for the combat of life in phase two, and that we can have the joy of having a part in your ministry.

Verse 13 — the purpose. “To the end that he may stabilise your hearts” — the word “heart” is mind. That you might have a stabilised mental attitude — “unblameable in holiness before God” means to have doctrine in the frontal lobe which causes a stabilised mental attitude which completely turns the world upside down. When a Christian has doctrine and stability in his frontal lobe what a tremendous difference it makes! Holiness has to do with positional truth.

“even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints” — that is the second advent, after the judgement seat of Christ. Mental stability in time will have eternal repercussions. What you think today will produce for all eternity.