Chapter V: AUTOGRAPH CONCLUSION.--1. The Judaisers' motive (ch. vi. 12, 13) (37)

- Page 434, lesson "Ceremonial," point II 2, apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 436, same lesson, point IV 2, apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 437, notes on chapter iii., verse 15, change "ii. 18" to "ch.
ii. 18." Verse 16, apply RC to "Divine"; add an em-dash at the end
of the paragraph. Verse 18, remove comma from "here, and." Verse
23, add double quotes around "Whatsoever ye do, work heartily" and
"from the soul."

- The page break between pages 439 and 440 is in a unit that style
indicates should not be broken: "conduct.--1. |A." The entire unit
was moved to the earlier page.

- Page 438, lesson "Aspirations," point II 1, change "ver. 2" to
"ver. 1."

- Page 439, same lesson, point II 2, add an em-dash at the end of
the paragraph.

- Page 440, lesson "Present Condition," introduction, apply RC to
"Divine light." Point I, remove comma from "past, and."

- Page 441, same lesson, point II 2, add comma to "undiscerning He."
Point III, apply RC to "His Word."

- Page 443, lesson "Mortification," point I 3, remove comma from
"heart, and"; apply RC to "Divine." Point II, apply RC to
"Divine"; remove comma from "come, and"; apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 444, same lesson, point V, remove commas from "disguised,
and" and "man, and"; apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 445, lesson "New Nature," introduction, remove comma from
"garments, but"; add comma to "So the"; remove comma from "state,
but"; add comma to "words he." Point I, apply RC to "Divine"
(twice). Point II, remove commas from "once, but" and "possessed,
but"; apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 446, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "Divine"; remove
comma from "unsuited, and." Point IV 1, apply RC to "Gospel."
Point IV 2, remove comma from "country, and." Point IV 3, apply RC
to "Gospel." Point V, apply RC to "Source," "Centre," "Ideal," and
"Possession"; change "He" to "he," referring to the believer.

- Page 447, "Religion" note, point II, apply RC to "Divine."
"Christ" note, point II, apply RC to "Divine," remove commas from
"civ., and" and "hearts, and." Point III, apply RC to "Divine"
(twice).

- Page 448, same note, point IV, remove comma from "Him, and."
Application ("Lessons"), point 3, apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 449, lesson "Essentials," point I 1, apply RC to "Divine" and
"Son." Point I 2, apply RC to "Divine." Point I 3, apply RC to
"Divine."

- Page 451, lesson "Love," introduction, remove commas from
"romance, and" and "garment, and." Point I, remove comma from
"Ghost, and."

- Page 452, same lesson, point IV 2, remove comma from "changed,
if." Lesson "Rule," point I, apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 453, same lesson, same point, apply RC to "Divine"; remove
comma from "cross, and"; apply RC to "Divine"; remove comma from
"Christ, and." Point II, remove commas from "games, and" and
"stadium, and." Point II 1, remove comma from "duty, and"; apply
RC to "Divine." Point II 2, remove comma from "temptation, and."
Point II 3, remove comma from "right, and"; apply RC to "His
Word"; add "Ps. li. 10" reference.

- Page 454, same lesson, point IV 1, apply RC to "Gospel" and "God's
Word." Point IV 2, remove comma from "body, so"; apply RC to
"Spirit." Point V, change "sin#" to "sins" and "#ll" to "all";
apply RC to "Divine." "Peace" note, point I, apply RC to "His
Word."

- Page 455, lesson "Poetry," introduction, remove comma from "first,
and"; apply RC to "Divinely" and "Divine Word." Point I, apply RC
to "Divine Word." Point I 1, apply RC to "Divine Word," "Word,"
and "Gospel." Point I 2, apply RC to "Divine Word," "Word,"
"Divinity," and "Word" (twice).

- Page 456, same lesson, point II, remove comma from "arrangement,
and." Point III 1, apply RC to "Word" (twice). After the poem,
remove comma from "dying, and." Application ("Lessons"), point 1,
apply RC to "Divine Word."

- Page 457, first note, application ("Lessons"), point 3, apply RC
to "Word." Second note, add "I." before first bold point and apply
RC to "Word." Point I 3, apply RC to "Word" (twice). Point II 3,
apply RC to "Word" (twice). Application ("Lessons"), each of point
1 and 2, apply RC to "Word."

- Page 460, lesson "Duties of Husbands," point I 1, apply RC to
"Divine."

- Page 461, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "Divine." Point
III 2, remove comma from "supreme, and."

- Page 462, lesson "Duties of Parents," point I 1, apply RC to
"Divine." Point I 2, apply RC to "Divine" (twice).

- Page 463, point II 2, replace left single quote before "Lest" with
a left double quote. Lesson "Duties of Masters," introduction,
remove comma from "slavery, and."

- Page 464, same lesson, point I, add "Rev. vii. 15" and "Mark
x. 45" references; remove comma from "servitude, but." Point II 1,
remove commas from "slaves, and" and "slavery, and." Point II 2,
add "ver. 22" reference; apply RC to "Divine." Point III 1, add
"heartily" into the verse 23 quotation; apply RC to "Divine."
Point III 2, apply RC to "Divine"; change "He hath done what he
could" to "She hath done what she could" to match KJV and add
"Mark xiv. 8" reference.

- Page 465, same lesson, point IV, apply RC to "Divine"; add "1 Pet.
i. 4" reference. Point V, remove comma from "light, and." Point
VI 2, add "Matt. xxiii. 8" and "Matt. xxv. 40" references.

- Page 466, critical notes for chapter iv., verse 3, apply RC to
"Word."

- Page 467, lesson "Efficacy," introduction, apply RC to "Divine";
remove comma from "petitioner, but"; apply RC to "Divine." Point
I, remove comma from "make, and."

- Page 468, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "Divine"; add double
quotes around the saying of an old writer (assumed to finish the
paragraph). Point IV, apply RC to "Gospel." Point IV 1, apply RC
to "Gospel"; change "once popular minister" to "once-popular
minister." Point IV 2, apply RC to "Gospel" (twice).

- The break between pages 468 and 469 is in the word "declaration":
declara|tion.

- Page 469, same lesson, point IV 3, apply RC to "Gospel" (twice),
"Divine," and "Gospel." Point IV 4, apply RC to "Gospel" (four
times). Application ("Lessons"), point 2, apply RC to "Gospel."

- Page 470, lesson "Wise," introduction, remove comma from "life,
and." Point I 1, add "ver. 5" reference. Point I 2, apply RC to
"Spirit." Point I 3, remove comma from "itself, and"; apply RC to
"Gospel."

- Page 471, same lesson, point I 4, remove comma from "eagerness,
and." Point II 3, remove comma from "tongue, and." First note, add
sentence-ending period to point IV.

- Page 472, "Truth" note, point III, apply RC to "Divine." Point IV,
remove comma from "religion, but." Lesson "Side-lights,"
introduction, remove comma from "epistle, and." Point I, apply RC
to "Gospel."

- Page 473, same lesson, point II, remove commas from "Paul, and"
and "crowds, and"; apply RC to "Gospel" and "Divine." Point III,
remove comma from "Ephesus, and."

- Page 474, same lesson, point IV, remove comma from "ritual, and";
apply RC to "Gospel"; add comma to "thus they"; remove comma from
"Christ, and"; apply RC to "Gospel"; remove comma from
"professors, and."

- Page 475, lesson "Model Pastor," introduction, apply RC to
"Gospel"; remove commas from "them, and" and "faith, but"; apply
RC to "Divine." Point I, apply RC to "Gospel." Point II, after
poem, apply RC to "Gospel."

- Page 476, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "Divine." Point IV,
apply RC to "Divine."

- Page 477, lesson "Greetings," introduction, add "Prov. x. 7"
reference. Point I 1, remove commas from "travel, and" and "man,
but." Point I 2, apply RC to "Divine" and "Gospel."

- Page 478, same lesson, point II 1, add "1 Cor. xv. 58" reference.
Point II 2, remove comma from "city, and"; add comma to "piety
he"; apply RC to "Divine." Point III, remove comma from "Colossæ,
and."

- Page 479, point IV 1, apply RC to "Gospel"; remove comma from
"Lord, and"; apply RC to "Divine." "Luke" note, point V, apply RC
to "Great Physician." "Ministry" note, point I, apply RC to
"Divine."

- Page 480, lesson "Farewell," point I, change "mo" to "me." Point
II, apply RC to "Gospel" (twice).

- Page 481, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "Divine."

+THE FIRST EPISTLE+

+TO THE THESSALONIANS.+

* * * * * * * *

+INTRODUCTION.+

+Thessalonica and its Church.+--Most of the Churches of the New Testament belonged to cities which, if they have not dropped out of existence altogether, are scarcely recognisable to-day. Thessalonica exists as a place of considerable commercial importance, with a population of 70,000, under the shortened form of "Saloniki." It is situated at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, so called from the ancient name of the town which rises like an amphitheatre above its blue waters. _Therma_ is the name by which the town comes into history, the _warm_ mineral springs of the neighbourhood originating the appropriate designation. Cassander, son-in-law of Philip of Macedon, gave to the city the name of his wife, "Thessalonica." Its position brought commerce both by sea and land, for, in addition to its natural harbour, the Via Egnatia, like a great artery, drove its stream of traffic through the town. Trade brought riches, and riches luxurious living and licentiousness. But if sin abounded, so did the grace which sent the heralds of deliverance from sin in the persons of St. Paul and Silas, fresh from their terrible beating and the dungeon of Philippi, and Timothy, the ever-valued friend of St. Paul. Jews were in Thessalonica in greater force than in Philippi; and St. Paul, perhaps not with any great hope of success amongst the adherents of the religion in which he had been trained, but according to his constant rule, went first to the synagogue, hoping that, as elsewhere, devout souls not content with the materialism and atheism of their day might be amongst those who were drawn towards the faith of Israel. So at least it proved, and their acceptance of the message of the Gospel was the signal for the outbreak of Jewish hatred which set on the _canaille_ of the city with a cry of revolution and high treason. Amidst such birth-throes the second Church in Europe came into being. St. Paul's continuance in the city might only have provoked murder, so, leaving the infant Church to one who would "naturally care for" it, he made his way to Berœa.

+Occasion and design of the epistle.+--With eager impatience the apostle would wait for the messenger with tidings of the Macedonian Churches. The writer of the Proverbs likened "good news from a far country" to "cold waters to a thirsty soul"; so St. Paul says to these Thessalonians: "Now when Timothy came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, . . . we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for _now we live,_ if ye stand fast in the Lord" (1 Thess. iii. 6-8). Timothy had brought word of their fidelity; but he had also to inform the apostle of the persecutions they had to endure, and also of the troubled minds of some of the Christian brotherhood over the condition of their dead, and their relationship to the Lord whom they daily expected.

So St. Paul sends them word by this first letter of his earnest longing to see them again, and of how he had often purposed to do so, but had been thwarted. Perhaps there are references in the epistle to the aspersions on the character of Paul; and in other ways the epistle is meant to do what Paul, now that his missionary field had become so extended, could not do in person.

+Contents of the epistle.+

i. 1. Salutation.

2-10. Thanksgiving for reception and diffusion of the Gospel.

ii. 1-12. Appeal to their knowledge of what Paul's ministry had
been.

13-16. Thanksgiving for fidelity under the strain of Jewish
hostility.

17--iii. 13. Baffled purposes resulting in the despatch of Timothy,
and the outburst of joy for the good news with which he
returned.

iv. 1-12. Warning against lustful injustice, and exhortation to a
further development of brotherly love.

13--v. 11. The Second Advent in its relation to those who already
slept.

12-24. Ethics of Church-life and personal life.

25-28. Conclusion.

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER I.+

_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._

Ver. 1. +Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timotheus.+--As to Paul, it may be noted that he does not mention his office. It was largely owing to the aspersions of others that he came, later, to magnify his office. Sylvanus is the "fellow-helper" and fellow-sufferer of the apostle, better known to New Testament readers by the shortened form of his name--Silas. That he was a Jew appears from Acts xv., but, like Paul, able to claim the privilege of Roman citizenship (Acts xvi.). Timotheus is the valuable and dear companion of St. Paul. Twelve or fourteen years later he is said to be still young (1 Tim. iv. 12). He, too, is only partly a Jew (Acts xvi. 3). +Grace be unto you, and peace.+--The men who are by birth and training divided between Jew and Gentile, salute both. It is not less true of the Gospel than the law that it speaks the language of the children of men. All that grace could mean to the Greek, or peace to the Hebrew, met in Him whose title was written above the cross in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.

Ver. 3. +Work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.+--The famous three sister-graces familiar to us from St. Paul's other letters. As Bengel says, they are _Summa Christianismi._ St. James, one thinks, would have liked the expression, "work of faith" (Jas. ii. 14-26). But if faith works, love cannot be outdone (1 Cor. xiii. 13), and toils with strenuous endeavour; whilst hope--a faculty flighty enough with some--here patiently endures, "pressing on and _bearing up._"

Ver. 4. +Your election.+--God is said to pick out, not for any inherent qualities, certain persons for purposes of His own. The same idea is in the word "saints," as those whom God has separated from a godless world and made them dear to Himself.

Ver. 5. +Our gospel.+--The good news which we proclaimed; so when St. Paul in Rom. ii. 16 calls it "_my_ gospel." +In word . . . in power.+--The antithesis is sometimes between the word or declaration and the reality; here perhaps we have an advance on that. Not only was it a word the contents of which were really truth, but efficacious too. +In much assurance.+--R.V. margin, "in much fulness." "The _power_ is in the Gospel preached, the _fulfilment_ in the hearers, and the _Holy Spirit_ above and within them inspires both" (_Findlay_).

Ver. 6. +Followers of us and of the Lord.+--R.V. "imitators." St. Paul begs his Corinthian readers to imitate him, _even as_ he imitates Christ. The same thought is implied here: We are walking after Christ; walk after us, and you will follow Him. +With joy of the Holy Ghost.+--Not only was the word preached "in the Holy Ghost" (ver. 5), but it was eagerly welcomed by hearts made ready by the Holy Ghost--as St. Paul said to the Corinthians, "So we preach, so ye believed."

Ver. 7. +So that ye were ensamples.+--R.V. follows the singular. The original word is that from which we get our "type." The image left on a coin by stamping is a type. Children are said to be types of their parents. So these Thessalonians were clearly stamped as children of God.

Ver. 8. +For from you sounded out the word of the Lord.+--The Word did not originate amongst the Thessalonians. They had but taken up the sound and sent it ringing on to others in the regions farther removed. They had echoed out the Word, says St. Paul. +In every place.+--Or as we may say, "Everybody is talking about the matter."

Ver. 9. +What manner of entering in.+--In Acts xvii. we have an account of how the Jews instigated men ever ready for a brawl to bring a charge of high treason--the most likely way of giving the quietus to the disturbers of ancient traditions, Paul and Silas. +To serve the living and true God.+--The Thessalonians had not been delivered from the bondage of fear that they might lead lives irresponsible. "Get a new master," then "be a new man."

Ver. 10. +And to wait for His Son.+--The compound word for wait is only found here in the New Testament. The idea may be compared with our Lord's figure of the bondservants waiting with lights and ready for service on their lord's return (Luke xii. 35-40). +Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.+--R.V. "delivereth." The wrath to come "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (Rom. i. 18) is the penalty threatened against sin persisted in.

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 1.

_Phases of Apostolic Greeting._

There is an interest about this epistle as the first in the magnificent series of inspired writings which bear the name of Paul. This was "the beginning of his strength, the excellency of dignity and power." The labours of the apostle and his co-helpers in the enterprising and populous city of Thessalonica, notwithstanding the angriest opposition, were crowned with success. The stern prejudice of the Jew was assailed and conquered, the subtle philosophising of the Grecian tracked and exposed. The truth was eagerly embraced; and as sunbeams streaming through mist render it transparent, so did the light of the Gospel bring out in clearness and beauty the character of the Thessalonian citizens, which had been hitherto shrouded in the dark shadows of superstition.

+I. This greeting is harmonious in its outflow.+--Paul, though the only apostle of the three, did not in this instance assume the title or display any superiority either of office or power. Silvanus and Timotheus had been owned of God, equally with himself, in planting the Thessalonian Church, and were held in high esteem among the converts. Each man had his distinctive individuality, varied talents, and special mode of working; but there was an emphatic unity of purpose in bringing about results. They rejoiced together in witnessing the inception, confirmation, and prosperity of the Church, and when absent united in sending a fervent, harmonious greeting. This harmony of feeling is traceable throughout both epistles in the prevalent use of the first-person plural. The association of Silvanus and Timotheus with the apostle in this greeting also indicated their perfect accord with him in the Divine character of the doctrines he declared. As men dowered with the miraculous faculty of spiritual discernment, they could testify that everything contained in the epistle was dictated by the Spirit of God and worthy of universal evidence. Not that the personal peculiarities of any man give additional value to the doctrine. Truth is vaster than the individual, whatever gifts he possesses or lacks. The water of life is as sweet and refreshing whether sipped from the rudest earthen vessel or from the goblet of richly embossed gold. What a suggestive lesson of confidence and unity was taught the Thessalonians by the harmonious example of their teachers!

+II. This greeting recognises the Church's sublime origin.+--It is addressed "unto the Church which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ."

1. _The Church is Divinely founded._--The preposition "in" denotes the most intimate union with God, and is of similar significance as in the comprehensive prayer of Jesus: "As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one _in_ Us" (John xvii. 21). The Church rests, not on any sacerdotal authority or human organisation, though many have laboured thus to narrow its limits and define its character; it depends for its origin, life, and perpetuity on union with the Deity. It is based on the Divine love, fostered by the Divine Spirit, shielded by Omnipotence, and illumined and adorned by the Divine glory. It exists for purely spiritual purposes, is the depositary of he revealed Word, the channel of Divine communication to man, the sanctuary of salvation.

2. _The Church is Divinely sustained._--Founded in God, it is every moment sustained by Him. Thus the Church survives the mightiest opposition, the fret and wear of perpetual change. It is not wedded to any locality under heaven. Places once famous for the simplicity and power of their Church-life have become notoriously vile or sunk into utter obscurity. Bethel, once bearing the hallowed name House of God, under the idolatrous rule of Jeroboam became corrupted into Bethhaven, House of Iniquity. Jerusalem, the praise of the whole earth, was once the chosen habitation of Jehovah; now it is a heap of ruins, its temple and worship destroyed, and its people scattered, without king, prophet, or leader. The light that shown so full and clear from the seven celebrated Asiatic Churches grew dim and went out, and that region is now wrapped in the darkness of idolatry. And Thessalonica, renowned as a pattern of Christian purity and zeal, now languishes under its modern name of Saloniki, a victim of Turkish despotism, and professing a spurious religion the first founders of the Church there, could they revisit the spot, would certainly repudiate. But the true Church lives, grows, and triumphs.

+III. This greeting supplicates the bestowal of the highest blessings.+--1. _Grace._ The source of all temporal good--life, health, sustenance, prosperity, enjoyment; and of all spiritual benefits--pardon for the guilty, rest for the troubled spirit, guidance for the doubting and perplexed, strength for the feeble, deliverance for the tempted, purity for the polluted, victory and felicity for the faithful. The generosity of God knows no stint. A certain monarch once threw open his parks and gardens to the public during the summer months. The royal gardener finding it troublesome, complained to his Majesty that the visitors plucked the flowers. "What," said the king-hearted king, "are my people fond of flowers? Then plant some more!" So, our heavenly King with lavish hand scatters on our daily path the flowers of blessing, and as fast as we can gather them, in spite of the grudging, churlish world, more are supplied.

2. _Peace._--A blessing inclusive of all the happiness resulting from a participation in the Divine favour. _Peace with God,_ with whom sin has placed us in antagonism, and to whom we are reconciled in Christ Jesus, who hath "abolished in His flesh the enmity, so making peace" (Eph. ii. 15). _Peace of conscience,_ a personal blessing conferred on him who believes in Jesus. _Peace one with another_--peace in the Church. In the concluding counsels of this epistle the writer impressively insists, "Be at peace among yourselves." The value of this blessing to any Christian community cannot be exaggerated. A single false semitone converts the most exquisite music into discord.

3. _The source of all the blessings desired._--"From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The Jew in his most generous greeting could only say, "God be gracious unto you, and remember His covenant"; but the Christian "honours the Son even as he honours the Father." The Father's love and the Son's work are the sole source and cause of every Christian blessing.

+Lessons.+--1. _Learn the freeness and fulness of the Gospel._ It contains and offers all the blessings that can enrich and ennoble man. It needs but the willing heart to make them his own. He may gather wisdom from the Eastern proverb, and in a higher sense than first intended, "Hold all the skirts of thy mantle extended when heaven is raining gold."

2. _Learn the spirit we should cultivate towards others._--A spirit of genuine Christian benevolence and sympathy. We can supplicate for others no higher good than grace and peace.

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._

_Apostolic Introduction to the Epistle._

+I. The persons sending are mentioned.+--"Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus." 1. _Paul is not here called an apostle, because his apostleship was granted._ 2. _Silvanus and Timotheus had assisted in planting and watering this Church._

+II. The persons addressed are introduced and described.+--1. _The epistle was addressed to believers._ 2. _The Church is presented in an interesting point of view_ (John xvii. 20). The Father and the Mediator are one in redemption; into this union the Church is received. 1. _The blessings desired are grace and peace._ Sovereign mercy and favour and reconciliation. 2. _These are mentioned in their proper order of time, of cause and effect._ 3. _These are traced to their proper source._ The Father--the Godhead; the Son--all fulness.--_Stewart._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 2-4.

_Ministerial Thanksgiving._

Gratitude for the healthy, flourishing state of the Thessalonian Church is a marked feature in both epistles and is frequently expressed. The apostle left the young converts in a critical condition, and when he heard from Timothy a favourable account of their steadfastness and growth in grace, like a true minister of Christ he gave God thanks.

+I. Ministerial thanksgiving is expansive in its character.+--"We give thanks always for you all" (ver. 2). It is our duty, and acceptable to God, to be grateful for personal benefits; but it displays a broader, nobler generosity when we express thanksgiving on behalf of others. It is Christ-like: _He_ thanked God the Father for revealing the things of His kingdom unto babes. The apostle thanked God:--

1. _Because of their work of faith._--"Remembering without ceasing your work of faith" (ver. 3). _Faith is itself a work._ It is the eye and hand of the soul, by which the sinner sees, and lays hold on Christ for salvation. Man meets with opposition in its exercise; he has to fight against the faith-stifling power of sin in himself and in the world. _Faith is also the cause of work._ It is the propelling and sustaining motive in all Christian toil. "Faith without works is dead" (James ii. 26).

2. _Because of their labour of love._--The strength of love is tested by its labour; we show our love to Christ by what we do for Him. Love intensifies every faculty, moves to benevolent exertion, and makes even drudgery an enjoyment. Love leads us to attempt work from which we would once have shrunk in dismay.

3. _Because of their patient hope._--Their hope of salvation in Christ was severely tried by affliction, persecutions, and numberless temptations, but was not quenched. It is hard to hope on in the midst of discouragement. It was so with Joseph is prison, with David in the mountains of Judah, with the Jews in Chaldea. But the grace of _patience_ gives constancy and perseverance to our hope. The apostle rejoiced in the marked _sincerity_ of their faith, love, and hope, which he acknowledged to be "in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father." These virtues are derived alone from Christ, and their exercise God witnesses and approves. Things are in reality what they are in God's sight. His estimate is infallible.

4. _Because assured of their election._--"Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election" (ver. 4). St. Paul here means only to show how he, from the way in which the Spirit operated in him at a certain place, drew a conclusion as to the disposition of the persons there. Where it manifested itself powerfully, argued he, there must be elect; where the contrary was the case, he concluded the contrary (_Olshausen_). Election is the judgment of Divine grace, exempting in Christ from the common destruction of men those who accept their calling by faith. Every one who is called is elected from the first moment of his faith, and so long as he continues in his calling and faith he continues to be elected; if at any time he loses calling and faith he ceases to be elected (_Bengel_). Observe the _constancy_ of this thanksgiving spirit--"We give thanks _always_ for you all." As they remembered without ceasing the genuine evidences of their conversion, so did they assiduously thank God. There is always something to thank God for if we will but see it.

+II. Ministerial thanksgiving evokes a spirit of practical devotion.+--"Making mention of you in our prayers" (ver. 2). The interest in his converts of the successful worker is keenly aroused; he is anxious the work should be permanent, and resorts to prayer as the effectual means. Prayer for others benefits the suppliant. When the Church prayed, not only was Peter liberated from prison, but the faith of the members was emboldened. Gratitude is ever a powerful incentive to prayer. It penetrates the soul with a conscious dependence on God and prompts the cry for necessary help. There is no true prayer without thanksgiving.

+III. Ministerial thanksgiving is rendered to the great Giver of all good.+--"We give thanks to God" (ver. 2). God is the Author of true success. In vain we labour where His blessing is withheld. Paul was not equally successful in other places as in Thessalonica. In Damascus, where he first bore testimony for Christ, the governor under King Aretas planned his capture, and he but narrowly escaped. At Lystra the apostle was violently stoned and dragged out of the town as one dead. But at Thessalonica, notwithstanding opposition, the Gospel laid firm hold of the hearts of men, and believers were multiplied. The highest kind of success in spiritual work must ever come from above. Like Paul, we should be careful constantly to acknowledge and thank God as the active source of all prosperity.

+Lessons.+--1. _There is much in the work of the minister to test his patience and faith._ 2. _The true minister gratefully traces all success directly to God._ 3. _A thankful spirit prompts the minister to increased Christian enterprise._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Ver. 2. _Thanksgiving and Prayer._

+I. The apostle had the burden of all the Churches and their individual members.+

+II. The effect of the remembrance on himself.+--1. _He gives thanks._ They were the seals of his ministry, the recipients of the grace of God, the earnest of a more abundant harvest.

2. _He prays._--They had not fully attained. They were in danger. None trusts less to human means than the most richly qualified.--_Stewart._

Ver. 3. _Grace and Good Works._

+I. All inward graces ought to bloom into active goodness.+--1. _Faith is to work._ 2. _Love is to labour._ 3. _Hope is to endure._

+II. All active goodness must be rooted in some inward grace.+--1. _The root of work is faith._ 2. _The spring of labour is in love._ 3. _We need to refresh ourselves by a perpetual onward glance, a confident anticipation of the coming triumph.--Local Preacher's Treasury._

Ver. 4. _Election of God._

+I. There is an eternal election.+

+II. Which comes out in the election made in time.+

+III. Let us rejoice in it, for apart from it none would be
saved.+--_Stewart._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 5.

_The Gospel in Word and in Power._

You have passed through a bleak, barren moorland, where the soil seemed sown with stones and disfigured with stumps of trees, the only signs of vegetable life were scattered patches of heather and flowerless lichen. After a while, you have again traversed the same region, and observed fields of grain ripening for the harvest, and budding saplings giving promise of the future forest. Whence the transformation? The cultivator has been at work. Not less apparent was the change effected in Thessalonica by the diligent toil and faithful preaching of the apostles. We have here two prominent features in the successful declaration of the Gospel.

+I. The Gospel in word.+--"Our gospel came unto you in word." In the history of the introduction of the Gospel into Thessalonica (Acts xvii.) we learn the leading themes of apostolic preaching. "Paul . . . reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ" (vers. 2, 3). It is worthy of note that the inspired apostle grounded his discourse on the Holy Scriptures. Even _he_ did not feel himself free from their sacred bonds. The apostle's preaching embraced three leading topics:--

1. _He demonstrates that the preached Messiah was to be a suffering Messiah._--The mind of the Jewish people was so dazed with the splendid prophecies of the regal magnificence and dominion of Jesus, that they overlooked the painful steps by which alone He was to climb to this imperial greatness: the steps of suffering that bore melancholy evidence of the load of anguish under which the world's Redeemer staggered--steps crimsoned with the blood of the sacred Victim. Out of their Scriptures he proved that the only Messiah referred to there was to be a "Man of sorrows" (Isa. liii. 3).

2. _He demonstrates that the Messiah who was thus to suffer and die was to rise again._--This declared the Divine dignity of His person, and was the pledge of the future success and eternal stability of His redeeming work.

3. _He insisted that the Jesus who thus suffered, died, and rose again was none other than the identical Messiah promised in their Scriptures._--The grand topic of apostolic preaching must be the staple theme of the pulpit to-day--JESUS CHRIST: Christ suffering, Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ regnant and triumphant. When John Huss was in prison at Constance for the Gospel's sake, he dreamt that his chapel at Prague was broken into and all the pictures of Christ on the walls destroyed. But immediately he beheld several painters in the chapel, who drew a greater number of pictures, and more exquisitely beautiful than those that had perished. While gazing on these with rapture, the sanctuary suddenly filled with his beloved congregation, and the painters, addressing them, said, "Now, let the bishops and priests come and destroy _these_ pictures!" The people shouted for joy. Huss heartily joined them, and amid the acclamation awoke. So modern unbelievers may try to expunge the pictures of Christ familiar to the mind for generations, and to some extent they may succeed. But the Divine Artist, with graving-tool of Gospel Word, will trace on the tablet of the soul an image more beautiful and enduring than that which has been destroyed; and by-and-by a universe of worshippers shall rejoice with thundering acclaim, while recognising in each other the reproduction of the image of Him whose visage was once marred more than any man's, but whose face now gleams with celestial beauty and is radiant with the lustre of many crowns.

+II. The Gospel in power.+--"Not in word only, but also in power."

1. _In the exercise of miraculous power._--The apostles were specially invested with this power, and used it in substantiating the great facts of the Gospel.

2. _In the Holy Ghost._--Not only in His miraculous manifestations necessary in that age, but in the ordinary exercise of His power, as continued down to the present day--enlightening, convincing, renewing.

3. _With much assurance._--Literally, with full assurance, and much of it. Πληροφοία--full conviction--is from a word that means to _fill up,_ and is used to denote the hurrying ship on her career, with all her sails spread and filled with the wind. So the soul, filled with the full conviction of truth, is urged to a course of conduct in harmony with that conviction.

4. _An assurance enforced by high integrity of character._--"As ye know what manner of men we were among you, for your sake." Their earnest labours and upright lives showed they were men moved by profound conviction--a blending of evidence that is not less potent in these days.

+Lessons.+--1. _To receive the Gospel in word only is disastrous._--In a certain mountainous region under the tropics the stillness of night is sometimes broken by a loud, sharp report, like the crack of a rifle. What causes this strange, alarming sound? It is the splitting of rocks charged with the intense heat of the tropical sun. Day by day the sun throws down its red-hot rays of fire, and bit by bit the rock, as it cools, is riven and crumbles into ruin. So is it with the mere hearer of the Word. The Gospel pours upon him its light and heat, and his heart, hardened with long and repeated resistance, becomes damaged by that which is intended to better it.

2. _The Gospel must be received in power._--What is wanted is strong, deep faith-compelling conviction--conviction of the awful truth and saving power of the Gospel. To be a mighty force, man must have clear, solid, all-powerful convictions.

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._

Ver. 5. _The Manner in which the Gospel comes to the Believing Soul._

+I. The first is negative.+--"The Gospel came not in word only." This description embraces various classes of persons. 1. _Such as hear the Gospel habitually without understanding it._ 2. _Such as partially understand the Gospel without feeling its sanctifying influence._ 3. _Such as are affected by it only for a limited time._

+II. In contradistinction to such, the Gospel came to the believing Thessalonians in power.+--1. _Power over the understanding._ 2. _Power over the conscience._ 3. _Power over the heart._ 4. _Power over the life._

+III. In the Holy Ghost.+--Explains the former. 1. _The message was that of the Spirit._ 2. _The apostles were filled with the Spirit._ 3. _Signs and miraculous proofs were furnished by the Spirit._ 4. _An entrance for the Word was procured by the Spirit._

+IV. In much assurance.+--1. _Fulness of apprehension._ 2. _Fulness of belief_--the result. 3. _Fulness of consequent hope.--Stewart._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6-8.

_The Practical Result of a True Reception of the Gospel._

Christianity transforms man, fills the mind with pure and lofty thoughts, turns the current of his feelings into the right channel, makes the soul luminous with ever-brightening hopes, and transfigures his sin-stricken nature into a semblance of the dignity, beauty, and perfection of the Divine. Observe its influence on the mixed population of Thessalonica.

+I. The true reception of the Gospel.+--"Having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost" (ver. 6). The Word may fall on the ear like a sweet strain of music, and charm the soul with temporary rapture, may enter the understanding as a clearly apprehended truth, may captivate the affections, and travel through the whole sphere of emotion on a thrill of ecstasy; but unless it be embraced by the heart and conscience, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it is powerless in spiritual reformation. Two opposite, but often strangely blended, emotions--sorrow and joy--were exercised in the reception of the Gospel by the Thessalonians.

1. _They received the Word in sorrow._--"In much affliction." Amid the tumult and persecution of the citizens (Acts xvii. 5-9). Principally, sorrow on account of sin, and because of their prolonged rejection of Christ and obstinate disobedience.

2. _They received the Word with joy._--"With joy of the Holy Ghost." They realised the joy of _conscious forgiveness and acceptance with God._ The sinless angels, placed beyond the necessity of pardon, are incapable of experiencing this joy. It belongs exclusively to the believing penitent. _The joy of suffering for the truth._ Cyprian, who suffered for the Gospel, used to say, "It is not the pain but the cause that makes the martyr." That cause is the cause of truth. Suffering is limited, life itself is limited, but truth is eternal. To suffer for that truth is a privilege and a joy. _The joy of triumph,_ over error, sin, Satan, persecution. This joy is the special product of the Holy Ghost. These twin feelings--sorrow and joy--are typical of the ever-alternating experience of the believer throughout his earthly career.

+II. The practical result of the true reception of the Gospel.+--1. _They became imitators of the highest patterns of excellence._ "Ye became followers of us and of the Lord" (ver. 6). The example of Christ is the absolute, all-perfect standard of moral excellence. But this does not supersede the use of inferior models. The planets have their season to guide and instruct us, as well as the sun, and we can better bear the moderated light of their borrowed splendour. The bravery of the common soldier, as well as the capacity and heroism of the most gifted officer, may stimulate a regiment to deeds of valour. So the apostles, in their patient endurance of suffering, their enterprising zeal and blameless integrity of life, became examples for their converts to imitate, while they pointed to the great infallible Pattern after which the noblest life must ever be moulded.

2. _They became examples to others._--"So that ye were ensamples to all that believe" (ver. 7). _In the reality and power of their faith._ They eagerly embraced the Word preached, believing it to be not the word of men but of God. This gave a profound reality to their conceptions of the Gospel and a strong impulse to their active religious life. _In their zealous propagation of the truth._ "For from you sounded out the word of the Lord" (ver. 8). Wherever they travelled they proclaimed the Gospel. They imparted that which had enriched themselves, and which, in giving, left them still the richer. _The influence of their example was extensive in its range._ "Not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak anything" (ver. 8). Macedonia and Achaia were two Roman provinces that comprised the territory known as ancient Greece. Thessalonica. the metropolis of Macedonia, was the chief station on the great Roman road--the Via Egnatia--which connected Rome with the whole region north of the Ægean Sea and was an important centre both for commerce and the spread of intelligence. Wherever the trade of the merchant city extended, there the fame of the newly founded Church penetrated. Great was the renown of their own Alexander, the Macedonian monarch, and brilliant his victories; but the reputation of the Thessalonian Christians was of a higher order, and their achievements more enduring.

+Lessons.+--1. _The Gospel that brings sorrow to the heart brings also joy._ 2. _A genuine reception of the truth changes the man and creates unquenchable aspirations after the highest good._ 3. _A living example is more potent than the most elaborate code of precepts._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 6, 7. _The Evidences and Effects of Revival._

+I. Receivers.+--With faith, with joy, not without trial.

+II. Followers.+--Apostolic piety. Christ-like spirit. Multiplication of Christ-like men.

+III. Ensamples.+--Centres of Christian influence.

+IV. Dispensers.+--Induced to diffuse the Gospel by their gratitude for the special grace which had brought it to them with saving power, by their supreme attachment to its vital truths and their experience of the suitableness of these truths to their wants as sinners, by their commiseration for those who were yet in a state of nature, by their love to the Lord Jesus, by the express command of God, by the hope of reward.--_G. Brooks._

Ver. 8. _The Power of Example_--

+I. In a faithful declaration of the Gospel.+

+II. In its far-reaching influence on others.+

+III. Speaks for itself, rendering explanation unnecessary.+

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 9, 10.

_Conversion and its Evidence._

A good work cannot be hid. Sooner or later it will manifest itself and become the general topic of a wide region. The successful worker meets with the fruit of his labours at times and places unexpected. Wherever the apostles went, the reputation of the newly founded Church had preceded them, and the varied features of the great change that had passed over the Thessalonians were eagerly discussed. We have here a description of conversion and its evidence.

+I. The conversion of the Thessalonians.+--"For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols" (ver. 9). You have watched a vessel lying at anchor in a tidal river with her bowsprit pointing seaward. After a brief interval you have observed the force of the incoming tide swing the vessel completely round, so that her head points in an exactly opposite direction. Not less apparent was the change among the Thessalonians when the flood-tide of Gospel blessing entered the city. Conversion is a turning about--a change from sin to holiness, from unbelief to faith, from darkness to light, from Satan to God.

1. _They turned from idols._--For generations the majority of the members of this Church, with their forefathers, had been idolaters, "walking as other Gentiles walked in the vanity of their mind," etc. (Eph. iv. 17, 18, ii. 12). _Any creature, real or imaginary, invested with Divine properties is an idol._ An angel, a saint, wealth, an idea, or any object to which we ascribe the omnipotence that belongs to God, becomes to us an idol--a false deity. _An idol is also the true God falsely conceived._ The Pantheist, mistaking the effect for the cause, regards the vast fabric of created things as God, and Nature, with her grand, silent motions, is the object of his idolatry. The sensualist, reluctant to believe in punishment for sin, exalts the boundlessness of Divine mercy, and ignores the other perfections, without which there could be no true God. Idolatry is a sin against which the most faithful warnings have been uttered in all ages, and on account of which the most terrible judgments have been inflicted, yet it is the worship to which man is most prone.

2. _They turned to God._--The _one_ God whom Paul preached as "the God that made the world and all things therein"; the living God, having life in Himself, and "giving to all life and breath and all things"; the _true_ God, having in Himself the truth and substance of essential Deity, in extreme contrast with an "idol, which is nothing in the world." With shame and confusion of face as they thought of the past, with penitential sorrow, with confidence and hope, they turned to God from idols.

+II. The evidence of their conversion.+--Seen: 1. _In the object of their service._ They "serve the living and true God," serve Him in faithful obedience to every command, serve Him in the face of opposition and persecution--with every faculty of soul, body, and estate--in life, in suffering, in death. _This is a free, loving service._ The idolater is enslaved by his own passions and the iron bands of custom. His worship is mechanical, without heart and without intelligence. The service acceptable to God is the full, spontaneous, pure outflow of a loving and believing heart. _It is an ennobling service._ Man becomes like what he worships; and as the object of his worship is often the creation of his own depraved mind, he is debased to the level of his own gross, polluted ideas. Idolatry is the corrupt human heart feeding upon and propagating its own ever-growing corruptions. The service of God lifts man to the loftiest moral pinnacle and transfigures him with the resplendent qualities of the Being he adores and serves. _It is a rewardable service._ It brings rest to the world-troubled spirit, fills with abiding happiness in the present life, and provides endless felicity in the future--results idolatry can never produce.

2. _Seen in the subject of their hope._--"And to wait for His Son" (ver. 10). (1) Their hope was fixed on _Christ as a Saviour._ "Even Jesus, who delivereth us from the coming wrath." Terrible will be the revelation of that wrath to the impenitent and unbelieving. As soon as one wave of vengeance breaks another will follow, and behind that another and another interminably, so that it will ever be _the wrath to come!_ From this Jesus delivers even now. (2) Their hope was fixed on _Christ as risen._ "Whom He raised from the dead." They waited for and trusted in no dead Saviour, but One who, by His resurrection from the dead, was powerfully declared to be indeed the Son of God. (3) Their hope was fixed on _Christ as coming again._ "To wait for His Son from heaven." There is a confusing variety of opinions as to the _character_ of Christ's second advent; as to the _certainty_ of it nothing is more plainly revealed. The exact period of the second coming is veiled in obscurity and uncertainty; but it is an evidence of conversion to be ever waiting for and preparing for that coming as if there were a perpetual possibility of an immediate manifestation. The uncertainty of the time has its use in fostering a spirit of earnest and reverential inquiry, of watchfulness, of hope, of fidelity.

+Lessons.+--1. _Conversion is a radical change._ 2. _Conversion is a change conscious to the individual and evident to others._ 3. _The Gospel is the Divinely appointed agency in conversion._

_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._

Vers. 9, 10. _The Change effected by the Gospel_--

+I. In religious belief.+

+II. In corresponding conduct.+

+III. In the hope cherished.+--1. _Of the second coming of Christ._
2. _Proved by His resurrection from the dead._ 3. _The object
of His second coming to deliver from wrath._ 4. _The spirit of
earnest but patient waiting induced._

Ver. 10. _The Christian waiting for his Deliverer_--

+I. Implies a firm belief in Christ's second coming.+

+II. Habitually endeavouring to be prepared for His second coming.+

+III. Earnestly desiring it.+

+IV. Patiently waiting for it.+--_Bradley._

_The Wrath to come._

+I. It is Divine wrath.+

+II. Unmingled wrath.+--Judgment without mercy; justice without the
least mixture of goodness.

+III. Provoked wrath.+

+IV. Accumulated wrath.+--A wrath we have inflamed and increased by
every act of sin we have committed.

+V. Future wrath.+--The wrath to come; lasting as the holiness of
the Being who inflicts and the guilt of the sinners who endure
it.

+VI. Deliverance from wrath.+--1. _Undeserved._ 2. _Complete._
3. _Eternal.--Ibid._

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER II.+

_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._

Ver. 1. +Our entrance in . . . was not in vain.+--The word for "vain" here is the same as that in the first half of "ceno-taph." The entrance into Thessalonica, we might say colloquially, "had something in it."

Ver. 2. +Suffered before.+--Previously, that is, to our entrance to Thessalonica. +And were shamefully entreated.+--The acute sense of suffering in mind shows how far St. Paul was from Stoicism. It is this same exquisite sensibility which makes possible the beautiful courtesy with which, in his letters, we are so familiar. +With much contention.+--All the watchfulness required by one in the arena and all the danger incident to a false movement characterised St. Paul's work.

Ver. 3. +For our exhortation.+--The word reminds us of Christ's word, "I will send you another Advocate"--"Paraclete." Our advocacy of the Gospel of Christ was not born of error. +Was not of deceit, nor uncleanness, nor guile.+--Perhaps we might paraphrase thus: We were not ourselves mistaken as to the subject-matter of our preaching, we used no "dirty tricks" in the way of its publication, we baited no hooks for unwilling souls.

Ver. 4. +As we were allowed of God.+--The original word means "to approve after testing"--or, as God knows without testing, as it is applied to Him it simply means--"we were approved of God." +To be put in trust.+--R.V. "to be intrusted." "'To be put in trust with the Gospel' is the highest conceivable responsibility; the sense of it is enough to exclude every base motive and deceitful practice" (_Findlay_). +Not as pleasing men.+--The vice condemned in slaves is equally reprehensible if it should appear in the minister of the Gospel. +But God, which trieth the hearts.+--"Alloweth" and "trieth" are different forms of the same verb. Like an assayer whose methods are perfect, God makes manifest what is in man's heart.

Ver. 5. +For neither at any time used we flattering words.+--"His friends well knew that he was not one to--

"'Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning'" (_Ibid._).

+Nor a cloke of covetousness.+--The same thing perhaps as a mode of flattering speech. Fulsome flattering is either the mark of a mind hopelessly abject or the craft of a designing mind. Much fair speech and the flattering of the lips still lead fools by the nose (Prov. vii. 21) to where "covetousness" dwells.

Ver. 6. +Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others.+--"The motive of ambition--'that last infirmity of noble minds'--rises above the selfishness just disclaimed; but it is just as warmly repudiated, for it is equally inconsistent with the single-mindedness of men devoted to the glory of God. Our Lord finds in superiority to human praise the mark of a sincere faith (John v. 44)" (_Ibid._). +When we might have been burdensome.+--A.V. margin, "used authority." R.V. margin, "claimed honour"--literally in weight--an ambiguous phrase whose sense is interpreted by ver. 9 (_Ibid._).

Ver. 7. +But we were gentle.+--R.V. margin says, "Most ancient authorities read babes." Origen and Augustine interpret this to mean, "Like a nurse amongst her children, talking in baby language to the babes" (_Ibid._). +As a nurse cherisheth her children.+--The A.V. has omitted a necessary word of the original which R.V. supplies--"her _own_ children." The word for "cherisheth" is used in Deut. xxii. 5 (LXX.) of the mother-bird brooding over her nestlings (a figure made memorable by our Lord's mournful words over Jerusalem). The word occurs again only in Eph. v. 29.