G. Narrative Part 4: In The Meantime (2:17-3:10)
G. NARRATIVE PART 4: IN THE MEANTIME (2:17-3:10)
Beginning with verse 17, the narrative of Paul’s relationship with the Thessalonians takes a decided turn. To this point everything has been about that relationship in the recent past: his coming to them; their conversion; the nature of his ministry among them; their ongoing suffering at the hands of their fellow citizens. Now Paul begins to narrate how he and his companions have handled the absence since their hasty withdrawing from the city some months past.
The narrative, which Malherbe (179) rightly entitles “Reestablishing Contact,” is in three clear parts, and is fully chronological. It begins in 2:17- 20 with an emphatic declaration of Paul’s feeling bereft of them and his repeated attempts to return. His failure to do so is attributed ultimately to Satan’s intervention; but he then concludes by explaining why he longed so to see them. The next paragraph (3:1-5) goes on to explain what he did instead since he could not come personally — send Timothy in his place. At the same time we are now given the reasons for his wanting to see them: it has to do with their “faith.”324 In light of their sufferings he desired two things, expressed in reverse order: (a) to strengthen and encourage them regarding their “faith” (v. 2), and (b) to learn about their “faith,” whether they were in fact truly hanging in there (v. 5). The final paragraph (3:6-10) is primarily an expression of great relief. Timothy had returned full of good news regarding their “faith.” So Paul concludes with thanksgiving, joy, and prayer — again, with regard to their “faith.” All of which is then wrapped up with a prayer report (3:11-13), which flows directly out of the concerns in the present narrative.325
1. Paul Had Been Thwarted from Returning (2:17-20)
17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you — certainly I, Paul, did, again and again — but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
It is hard to miss the sense of angst that emerges in this paragraph, even though it is being written on this side of Timothy’s return with the good news (3:6-8). In many ways 3:8 says it all: “For now we live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.” So even though the present set of sentences was written from that perspective, Paul’s memory of his anxiety is still sharp and here finds repeated expression.326 The anxiety had to do with the Thessalonians themselves; and although not expressed as such at this point — that comes next — it was all about the Thessalonians and their “faith.” The various statements, therefore, tend to tumble over each other, as Paul simultaneously relates both his concern for them and his own anxiety, the kind that only a long period of silence can bring. The paragraph itself is in four discernible parts. He begins (a) with a participial phrase (v. 17a), declaring emphatically his sense of having been bereft of them — in terms of presence, not actuality. This is followed (b) by the main clause (vv. 17b-18), declaring his repeated efforts to return. He goes on (c) to attribute this failure ultimately to Satan (v. 18b), and concludes (d) by explaining why he longed so to see them (vv. 19-20), which takes an unexpected turn toward eschatology. Verse 19 expresses Paul’s concern by way of a question, to which verse 20 offers the affirmative response.
17 With an emphatic “but we,”327 which stands in immediate, stark contrast to the Judean Jews in verses 14-16,328 and with yet another vocative (“brothers and sisters”) — the fifth since 1:4 — Paul picks up the thread of the narrative that was dropped in verse 12, to which he had momentarily returned in verse 14. In the former narrative Paul reminded the Thessalonians of what he and his companions were like when present with them (as an apparent defense against his detractors in Thessalonica); the present sentence has altogether to do with his and their “relationship” during his absence from them. Thus Paul feels compelled to explain why he and Silas themselves had never returned, but had sent Timothy instead.
To make his point Paul uses one of the more remarkable metaphors in all his letters: Paul and his companions themselves have been “orphaned”329 (TNIV, “torn away from”) in being absent from these new believers. In doing so, he picks up on the first of the three metaphors that occurred in quick succession in the preceding narrative (vv. 1-12), where he was first as a “small child” among them (v. 7), then a “nursing mother” (v. 8), and finally a caring “father” (v. 11). Returning to the first metaphor, he thinks of himself and Silas as “orphans.” Although this word in English refers to children who have been bereft of their parents, in Greek it was also used, as here, to refer to parents bereft of their children. The metaphor works in this case because the two of them are the ones “away from home,” as it were, in terms of their relationship to the Thessalonian believers.
Having made that point, Paul immediately qualifies it with two adverbial phrases that emphasize time and space. With regard to time, the separation has been only “for a short time,”330 a relative term if ever there was one! It all depends on perspective. Nonetheless, in terms of actual time he and Silas had been away from them for only a relatively short time (probably not yet a year); but at a time in history when communication between distances was slow and irregular, no news was not necessarily good news.331 With regard to space, and typical of letters of friendship, Paul quickly qualifies that the absence, though real in terms of personal contact, was not at all so in terms of memory and endearment (lit. = “in face, not in heart”). In the Greco-Roman world, as in our own, true friends were never understood as absent in the ultimate sense.
The intensity of Paul’s feelings regarding this separation can be seen by the Greek word order, which makes impossible English: “All the more eagerly we made every effort your faces to see with great longing.” Thus in Paul’s sentence the whole is enclosed by the two adverbial modifers, “all the more eagerly”332 and “with great longing,”333 which will have considerable value in terms of his readers. What he longs for is “to see your faces” once again, an idiom which in Greek functions precisely as it does in English, where “seeing a person’s face” means to see them “in person”; its strength as an idiom rests with the emphasis on bodily presence.
18 The intensity of Paul’s feelings regarding this separation is furthered by his next sentence, which begins with an explanatory “for,”334 as he goes on to explain the opening clause in two ways. He first elaborates on it with the further clause, “we wanted to come to you . . . again and again,” and then offers a curt reason for failure (“but335 Satan hindered336 us”). The Greek idiom for the TNIV’s “again and again” is (literally) “both once and twice” (cf. Phil 4:15), which is comparable to our “once and again,” meaning several times but without an actual count.337
The more striking moment comes with the parenthetical interruption (“certainly I, Paul, did”), where for the first time in the letter we are made aware of what we could have guessed right along — that the letter, even though sent from the three of them, is actually from Paul himself, in terms of both initiation and dictation.338 So at this crucial point Paul momentarily steps out from behind the curtain, as it were, and emphasizes his own deep personal desire339 — and attempts — to come back to Thessalonica to “see how they were doing,” well aware that the near riot that drove him and Silas out of the city would undoubtedly spill over onto those who had chosen to become disciples.
The actual reason for failure to return is one of the mysteries in the Pauline corpus, since our knowledge is deficient in several areas. To begin with, we do not know the locations of these attempts (Berea? Athens? Corinth?). Moreover, we are left in the dark in terms of both the actual nature of the attempts and what then happened to prevent them, so that Paul could attribute it to Satan. And finally we are left only to speculate as to the specific events or circumstances he attributed to Satan himself340 as thwarting his desire to return.341 In any case, it stands in marked contrast to another “failure to return” situation in 1 Corinthians 16:12 (Apollos, in this case), which Paul attributes to God’s not willing it. In this present situation Paul obviously saw the hand of the enemy as somehow involved in his thwarted plans; but as to specifics, we will never know and speculation is fruitless; indeed, it is possible (probable?) that the Thessalonians did not know as well.
19 With the explanatory “for” with which this new sentence begins, Paul does not do what many of us from our historical distance might have wished him to do — to go on to explain the reasons for his failure to return to Thessalonica.342 Rather, his interest is personal and relational, so he explains what had compelled him to try to do so on several occasions. It had to do with the Thessalonians’ eschatological future. This is now the fourth such reference in this letter (see 1:3, 10; and 2:12 above); and there are more to come (see 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:1-11; and 5:23 below). In contrast to most of the others, the emphasis here is twofold: first, on the Thessalonians themselves as being present at the Lord’s coming, emphasized especially by means of the parenthetical, “Is it not you?”343 and second, on their actually being in our Lord Jesus’ presence at his coming. At the same time Paul’s own role in their being “present in the presence” is the first thing up in the sentence. All of this is undoubtedly setting the stage for his response to one of the major concerns that Timothy has brought back to Paul from Thessalonica, to which he will respond in some detail in 4:13-18 and 5:1-11.
The matter of first emphasis in both sentences (vv. 19 and 20) is Paul’s own expected joy and honor at the Thessalonians’ being present at the coming of the Lord. This anticipation of their presence with Paul at Christ’s coming is first of all “our hope.” Over against the watered-down sense that the word “hope” has for most people in English,344 this word is Paul’s primary way of speaking about the certainty of the future. Whatever else, for Paul “hope abides” (1 Cor 13:13), in the sense that one lives in absolute confidence of a sure future that has been guaranteed by Christ’s own resurrection from the dead (see on 1:3 above).
But in this sentence the word stands in some tension with that ordinary usage, since it is used of people rather than of Christ the guarantor. Furthermore, it is now expressed on this side of Timothy’s return, so it appears to take on the unusual sense (for Paul) of either “the foundation of his expectation” regarding the future or “something that is hoped for.”345 In either case, it seems to fall slightly short of a guaranteed reality. Their being present with Paul at the coming of Christ is his desire, to be sure, and undoubtedly his expectation as well. But the very nature of the sentence seems to put it one step removed from the certainty about the future that he usually intends by this word. Thus, from the perspective of his having sent Timothy, the Thessalonian believers would have been Paul’s “hope” in terms of his earnest desire and confidence in Christ’s work in and among them. But now on this side of Timothy’s return with the good new about them, they are part of his genuine “hope” regarding the coming of Christ.
Similarly, their expected presence at the coming of Christ will be Paul’s own “joy.” If it had turned out that they had fallen short of endurance, that joy would surely have been diminished. But it is not good feelings that Paul is referring to, as is so often the case with this noun in English. Rather, for Paul “joy” is not about feelings but about verbalizing, since the word finds its true meaning in its corresponding verb, “rejoice.” It is less about how one “feels” and more about what one does in the presence of God; one “rejoices in the Lord” — which would be the way the Thessalonians would be Paul’s “glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes.”
The final item in the present triad is especially poorly understood when given its traditional rendering of “crown of boasting,”346 since both English words in this phrase, not to mention its unusual locution, lead one to miss Paul’s point altogether. The first problem is with the word “crown” itself, whose first meaning in English refers to the (usually) metal diadem worn by a king or other royalty; and it is hard to imagine that the English reader will picture anything else when hearing this word in a context like this. On the contrary, the “crown” Paul expects to receive at the coming of Christ has nothing at all to do with royalty; rather, its primary referent is the (usually laurel) wreath bestowed on the victor in one of the contests in the games, the winner’s ultimate prize, as it were. Thus it is not the symbol of royalty, but of victory, or achievement.
The second problem is with the English word “boasting,” which in some contexts is what this Greek word can, and does, mean, especially in its frequently pejorative use by Paul in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Indeed, for most readers there is scarcely an instance where this English word does not first of all register negative connotations, even if its intent is positive. The key to Paul’s usage of the Greek word is to be found in its very next appearance in his letters, in 1 Corinthians 1:29-31, where it has to do with putting one’s confidence in something and thus to “glory” in it. There Paul concludes by citing Jeremiah 9:23-24 (LXX), where God through his prophet expostulates with his people: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their strength, or the rich boast of their riches; but let those who boast boast about this, that they understand and know me, that I am Yahweh, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight, declares Yahweh.” This is almost certainly the origin of Paul’s own double use of this word, which in its negative sense means to take both wrongful pride and thus false security in something, and in its positive sense means to put all of one’s hope and security in the living God. Likewise here, with imagery from the games Paul is picturing himself as standing in the Lord’s own presence at his coming, wearing the victor’s wreath. But the “wreath” in this case is none other than the Thessalonian believers themselves, in whom he will glory because they are there with him in the Lord’s presence at his Parousia.
Two further things need to be noted about the final phrase, “in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his Parousia.” First, the Greek word parousia had a long history in the Greek-speaking world as “the official term for a visit of a person of high rank, esp[ecially] of kings and emperors visiting a province” (BDAG 2bα). Given Thessalonica’s own pride of place in the Empire, it is therefore of some interest that except for its later appearance in 1 Corinthians 15:23, the word is otherwise used exclusively by Paul in our present two letters, and in each case but one (2 Thess 2:9, of the “lawless one”) it refers to the “coming” of Christ.347 In Paul’s own usage, however, it is hardly the technical term that it later became in the Christian tradition, since he uses it several times of himself and others.348
Second, and related to the first observation, the combination (“the Lord, Jesus”) occurs as many times in these two letters (nine in all) as in the rest of the corpus together.349 This frequent identification of Jesus as “the Lord” is most likely related to the fact that he is writing to believers in a city that especially enjoyed Roman privileges, for whom the “coming” of the “Lord Caesar” would have been seen as Thessalonica’s highest honor. These words, “the Lord, Jesus, at his coming,” are almost certainly intended to encourage the beleaguered believers in Thessalonica, that the coming of “the (real) Lord” lies in their own future.
20 Paul now follows his rhetorical question with the answer already implied in the rhetoric itself. “For you yourselves,” he now affirms, “are our glory and joy.” Four matters are noteworthy about this positive response to his own question. First, the repetition lacks the eschatological dimension of the prior question. What he says here is not about what they will be for him at the Lord’s coming, but about what they are for him now. And that is probably, second, why the word “hope” is not repeated. That word had altogether to do with their being present with him at Christ’s coming; here he is focussing on what they mean to him currently. And that leads in turn, third, to the probable reason for “glory” being substituted for “‘crown’ of boasting,” since the “crown” in view is that of the victor at the end of the race. Here he is interested only in what they presently mean to him. They are also his “glory,” probably in the sense of what he had already said about them in 1:8, that what the Lord had done in Thessalonica for them had resounded throughout the Grecian provinces; and he will therefore gladly “wear them” as his “glory” now. And that leads, fourth, to the one repeated word from the preceding enumeration: above all else, “you are our joy.” They are so in much the same way that new parents beam with delight over a newborn; and one cannot long be around such parents without experiencing their joy as well.350 Paul and Silas may themselves have felt “orphaned” by the many months of absence from their Thessalonian “newborns” (v. 17); but the reality is that the Thessalonian believers are their “children” in the Lord, who are also therefore their present joy.
In some ways this is a remarkable paragraph, while it is also thoroughly Pauline. Paul’s concern is that of ordinary friendship — to tell them how greatly they have been missed and how he feels about the absence. But typical of the Apostle, everything his hand/pen touches turns into some word about Christ and the gospel. In this case his (barely) hidden concern is for their perseverance in Christ. Now written from the perspective of Timothy’s return, he thus overflows with joy that they are remaining faithful, an overflow that is ex-pressed ultimately in eschatological terms — his intense longing for them and him to be together in the Lord’s presence at his coming. Such a desire on his part is thus a scarcely subtle urging them on to continued perseverance. Everything for Paul has to do with “salvation,” and salvation for him has to do with both present and future realities.
2. The Sending of Timothy (3:1-5)
1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s servicea351 in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you352 in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.a 2 Some manuscripts brother and co-worker; other manuscripts brother and God’s servant
With this paragraph Paul’s narrative proceeds apace, and in the telling all sorts of things fall into place in terms of the reasons for the letter itself. What we learn is what they already knew, that instead of Paul himself returning to Thessalonica (which is explained in the preceding paragraph), Timothy had come to them instead. What Paul is anxious for them to hear from his side is why Timothy — not “why Timothy rather than himself or Silas,” but why Timothy at all. Thus the structure tells the tale. The paragraph is enclosed by the two sentences that begin “when we/I could stand it no longer,” thereby tying it to 2:17-20. In both cases the sending of Timothy is followed by a purpose clause, having to do with their “faith” (vv. 3b and 5b), each of which is concluded by a further purpose clause which gives the reason for the first one.
The purpose of Timothy’s having come thus turns out to be twofold: first, for the sake of their faith, so that they not be shaken by the inevitable afflictions; and second, for Paul’s own sake, lest the Tempter in testing them had won the day and Paul’s labor thus be empty. Between these two clauses there is a three-part explanation regarding their present hardships (thus taking us back to 2:14): the Thessalonians know “we were appointed to such”; they had been repeatedly told so previously; thus the hardship itself and their knowing about it coalesce (“even as it has happened, even as you know”). The only additional matter is the commendation of Timothy in verse 2a.
The paragraph thus comes to us in four unequal sentences (vv. 1-3a, 3b, 4, 5), which we will comment on in their logical groupings (vv. 1-2a, the sending and commendation of Timothy; vv. 2b-3a, the reason for sending him; vv. 3b-4, suffering as Christian destiny; v. 5, the sending and its purpose repeated).
1-2a The explanation for Timothy’s coming begins with the inferential conjunction, “therefore”353 (= for this reason), rendered simply as “so” in the TNIV. What is about to be offered is an explanation for his sending Timothy to them; the reason for it lies with the preceding sentences: they themselves are part of Paul’s eschatological hope. Because of this, and with concern lest it no longer be so, he sets out to detail both the fact of, and reasons for, the sending of Timothy. He was sent to them because “we could stand it354 no longer,” a “we” that becomes “I” in verse 5. The “what” Paul could no longer endure was not simply the separation itself, but as verse 3 makes clear, the need to learn about the status of “their faith.”
Thus, picking up the emotion from 2:17 (we were “orphaned” from you), he now admits to being willing to be “abandoned” alone355 in Athens in order to learn about the present condition of their faith. In so doing, Paul has left us with another difficulty regarding persons, geography, and chronology. On the one hand, he mentions no other geographical location of any kind in either of these two letters, thus giving us no certainty about his location at the time of the writing of the letters. Because of the presence of both Silas and Timothy (1:1), most scholars have (probably rightly) assumed that the two letters were written and sent from Corinth,356 where the three of them were together for a longer period than Paul seems to have been in Athens, thus allowing time for the going and coming of Timothy. On the other hand, according to the present account Timothy had previously been sent from Athens; and although it is likely that they had agreed to meet again in Corinth, what is narrated about these events in Acts 17 and 18 is nonetheless a bit difficult to square precisely with the present narrative.357 Moreover, because Paul uses “we” here, but resorts to “I” in verse 5, one cannot be sure about the presence or absence of Silas in Athens. According to the Acts account, Paul was alone in Athens because he had been hustled out of Berea and was to be joined there by Silas and Timothy; but instead he went on to Corinth, where the two of them eventually joined him. It is clear from this present narrative, however, that the three of them had been together in Athens, and that Timothy was sent to Thessalonica from there. While nothing significant is at stake here, it is likely that Luke has once again given us the essential information that got the three of them together in Corinth, since for both writers Athens did not seem to have been a major center for Pauline missionary activity (this passing note is its only mention in the Pauline corpus).
What happens next comes to the modern reader as a bit of a surprise, since Paul “commends” Timothy to them as “our brother358 and co-worker”; and Timothy has himself just returned from there, as verse 6 makes plain. In fact, if we did not have the next paragraph (vv. 6-10), the present sentence would be universally understood as a first sending of Timothy on a fact-finding visit.359 Indeed, since this is an “after the fact” commendation (!), why do it at all? The answer in this case is a simple one. Paul is going to send Timothy back to Thessalonica as the bearer of the present letter; and the commendation is simply pro forma, where the bearer of a letter in the Greco-Roman world, even when known by the recipients, is “commended” — historically as a way of authenticating the letter by authenticating its bearer.
But in this case, what Paul says about Timothy has had a substantial history of being tampered with by subsequent copyists, since at first blush there is a considerable degree of ambiguity to the commendation. What Paul dictated was “our brother and co-worker”; but when he then added the possessive (“God’s”) to his clause, he left himself with a legacy of difficulties for later readers. The present difficulty thus lies with the fact that the word “co-worker” is followed by the possessive genitive “God’s.” As with the same combination later in 1 Corinthians 3:9, where Paul speaks of himself and Apollos as co-workers who both belong to God,360 any genitive that immediately follows this particular word will be instinctively understood not as a possessive, but as the one with whom one is a co-worker. Thus if Paul were merely to have said “our co-worker,” everyone in both Greek and English would correctly understand that to mean “one who works alongside us.” Since Paul could hardly have meant “God’s co-worker” in that sense,361 early scribes did their best to help Paul out, hence the considerable array of secondary options to Paul’s original text noted above (n. 28). But what Paul almost certainly intended is what one finds in the TNIV, that Timothy, who ultimately belongs to God, is being commended first of all as Paul’s and Silas’s own “brother,” and further as their co-worker “in the gospel of Christ.” At the same time he is God’s person in all this missionary activity. Although Paul’s phrase for this activity may mean, as the TNIV has it, “in spreading the gospel of Christ” (which as an English idiom means to evangelize), he far more likely intended, “in the continuing work of the gospel of Christ,” which would thus include his past and present visit to Thessalonica.
2b-3a With this clause (“to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials”) Paul offers the specific reasons for having sent Timothy to them the earlier time, which are to be found in all three elements of the clause. The primary reason is expressed in the two verbs, “to strengthen and encourage,” the first of which occurs four times in these two letters362 and has to do with “establishing” them in Christ. The second one is not a redundancy, but rather picks up what he has already said in 2:11-12 about his prior relationship to them; there he spoke of his fatherly concern of “encouraging” them. Now his concern is about encouraging them “with regard to your faith.”
This latter phrase thus brings us to the real object of Paul’s concern. It was, and is, all about “your faith,” a note that will be struck no fewer than five times in the present passage (vv. 2, 5, 6, 7, 10). Without further elaboration, one might tend to understand this word in light of its common use in Galatians and Romans, having to do with trusting in Christ vis-à-vis putting confidence in “doing the Law.” But that narrower meaning will not do here, as the pickup of the word in verse 5 makes plain. Paul’s obvious concern is not whether they are putting their trust in Christ for their salvation or not, but whether those who have already done so are remaining “faith-ful” in that “faith.”363 After all, as verse 5 makes plain, that is what the concern has been right along, and is thus the reason for sending Timothy in the first place. It seems clear from this passage that initial “faith” counts for very little if that faith does not endure through thick and thin. Thus in verse 10 he anticipates the content of our chapters 4 and 5, by indicating that their “faith” needed further instruction and encouragement.
The third element in the sentence offers the ultimate reason for his desire to strengthen them and encourage them regarding their faith. As had already happened when he was there, and as he knew would be the case once he and Silas had left hurriedly under something of a cloud, the Thessalonian believers would experience more than their share of “trials.”364 Paul has already alluded to these in 1:6 (TNIV, “severe suffering”) as something they were already experiencing. His concern now is about whether they would “be unsettled by these [present] afflictions.” Although some have suggested that this is the secondary reason for sending Timothy,365 that seems to miss the deep concern of the passage by too much.
At issue in the passage is Paul’s use of the verb the TNIV has translated “unsettled.”366 Its “literal” meaning, going back as far as Homer, had to do with dogs’ wagging their tails. Hence a number of interpreters (but not translators) have understood it as referring to the beguiling deceptions of their opponents, who were flattering them in order to gain their favor and thus turn their backs on Christ.367 But that meaning fits very poorly in the present context, not to mention the larger context of the letter, where the issue is not with the Thessalonians’ being beguiled by unbelievers, but with their being regularly subjected to various forms of distress368 by them. Indeed, this verb makes most sense as standing in direct contrast to “strengthen” in the preceding clause.369 This is especially so in light of the earlier use of this word in 1:6, where their thlipsis is compared to that of both Paul and of Christ himself. Moreover, Paul’s specifying that he is concerned about “these trials,” although such things had happened to them while he was among them, suggests that it is their ongoing hardships that he now has in view — hardships that he would now know more about with the return of Timothy.
3b-4 But rather than go on immediately to finish the narrative about the sending of Timothy, Paul interrupts himself to repeat a previously given pastoral response to such things. He does so, first, by reminding them that trials are simply part and parcel of Christian life, and, second, by elaborating how it is that they know this. So he begins, “[For] you (yourselves)370 know quite well that we are destined371 for [these trials].” And thus begins a most interesting sequence. Paul himself is deeply concerned about whether they are hanging in there, given that he knew they would suffer persecution. Moreover, as we learn next, he had repeatedly told them that such would happen. And now that Timothy has returned he is aware that such in fact has happened — and, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:1, it is going to happen again. So how does he comfort them? By reminding them, “I told you so.” “In fact,”372 he begins, “when we were with you, we kept telling373 you that we would be persecuted.” As Best (135) aptly puts it: “normality is persecution” (emphasis mine). And so Paul concludes this little interlude by returning to their own present reality, with a matter-of-fact “and it turned out that way, as you well know”!374
But this reality is not to be made light of. The Christian faith, after all, beginning with our Lord himself, stands in total contradiction to the primary worldview and values of our fallen, broken world. It should therefore not be surprising that those who stand in opposition to such a world and its primary values — even if not verbally so, but by contrasting lifestyles — should regularly experience the scorn and hatred of those who prefer Satan’s values to Christ’s. Perhaps the single most unfortunate result of Christendom as a cultural reality has been that the overlay of a less than radical Christian worldview allows God’s people to “coast” rather than to experience the kind of expected discipleship Paul speaks of here.
5 The “for this reason” with which this concluding sentence375 begins is Paul’s way of tying the preceding parenthetical moment (vv. 3b-4) to the way this part of the narrative began. Thus Paul here repeats the essence of his opening sentence (vv. 1-3a), and does so by tying their present hardships to satanic activity, as he previously had done regarding his own inability to return (2:18). In so doing, he also — and this is the most striking feature of this wrap-up sentence — returns to the first person singular of that former sentence. Nonetheless, for all the repetition of verses 1-3a, the focus regarding the sending of Timothy has shifted altogether. In verse 2 he mentions the sending of Timothy from the Thessalonians’ perspective (why he was coming to them); now he mentions it from his own perspective. Indeed, everything we could (or would) have guessed at heretofore is now spelled out in explicit detail.
Thus, “when I376 could stand it no longer,” Paul sent Timothy so as “to find out about your faith.” That is, Timothy was first of all on a fact-finding mission, in which case he would also “encourage them regarding their faith” (v. 2). This is the key issue for Paul, their “faith,” whether or not they were remaining “faithful” in persecution — which “faithfulness,” of course, depended on their abiding “faith = trust” in God.
The rest of the sentence spells out the reasons for his concern, which comes in two parts. First, the same Satan who thwarted Paul’s return to Thessalonica (2:18) would be at work among them as “the great Tester.” In our present Western world there is a dual tendency with regard to the work of Satan: either not to recognize him at all, or to give him too much credit — as directly responsible for every ill that befalls one. Paul’s view lay somewhere between these. He seldom in fact attributes human fallenness to the work of Satan;377 on the other hand, he is quite ready to see Satan at work in the kind of persecution that would thwart the furtherance of the gospel.378 The plain reality, which Paul knew well, was that the Thessalonian believers were being constantly harassed by their “fellow citizens” (2:14); from his perspective this harassment was being directed by Satan himself, even though those doing it would not have thought so. At issue for Paul was whether the “last straw” had been laid on the pile of their suffering, so that the believers will have broken under it. The good news, of course, was that such was not the case.
But since such a possibility existed, and since Paul cared deeply for them, he expressed this concern finally in the language of Isaiah 65:23, but in a negative way. Whereas Yahweh’s eschatological people “will not labor in vain,” Paul’s concern is that the Tempter might have caused that to happen in the case of the Thessalonians. Thus this second paragraph in the present narrative concludes in a way similar to the first: concern over the proper eschatological conclusion to the Thessalonians’ faith, even though there is not here a direct eschatological word. Regarding the much-debated issue as to whether or not such could happen, Paul himself certainly seemed to think so, since the concern resurfaces in later letters.379
3. The Return of Timothy (3:6-10)
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God380 enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
Now at last comes the moment of great relief! The collapse of the nascent Christian community that might well have happened under present circumstances had not in fact happened; and this paragraph from beginning to end simply breathes gratitude — of the kind that finally finds expression in verse 9. Thus Paul’s clauses fall all over themselves as he tries to communicate back to the Thessalonians his grateful relief. All of this is the more remarkable when one considers that the whole letter has been written from this perspective.
One of the reasons for this overflow of gratitude emerges with considerable clarity in this paragraph, namely the convergence of several friendship motifs,381 especially the final clause in our verse 6 and the content of verses 8 and 9. Here, too, all of the preceding familial imagery now falls into place. Only in the passing moment in 2:7 are they reminded that he is an apostle, after all. Everywhere else familial imagery abounds: they are his “brothers and sisters” whatever else (repeated here in v. 7), so that his concern for them is like that of a nursing mother (2:7) or a caring father (2:11); and their long absence from each other has seemed to him as though he had become an “orphan” without them (2:18).
The paragraph itself comes in two long sentences, verses 6-8 and 9- 10, with almost every word being about them and him — Christ is mentioned but once (v. 8), while God is mentioned in prayer twice in verse 9. The first sentence expresses Paul’s great relief regarding the Thessalonians’ continuing faithfulness to Christ and their affection for him. Nonetheless, the clause at the end of the thanksgiving/prayer finally lets us in on the “why” of this letter and therefore of Timothy’s going back to them again: there are some things “lacking in [their] faith,” which he will “supply” when he sees them again. But in the meantime this letter must do.382
6 Paul’s long sentence begins with a slightly adversative “but” and the adverb “now,” which, contrary to the TNIV, is probably intended not to modify the verb “has come,”383 but rather anticipates the main verb in the sentence in verse 7, “we were encouraged.” To get there, however, Paul begins with a genitive absolute384 whose primary purpose is not just to pick up on Timothy’s return (from v. 5), but to put the right emphasis upfront: the good news that Timothy has brought with him “to us from you.”385 And with this mention, Timothy drops out of the narrative altogether, not to appear again until the salutation of the next letter (2 Thess 1:1).
What Timothy has done on his return is to “announce the good news386 to us,” of two kinds: first, “about your faith and love,” while, second, the latter is elaborated in terms of their keeping Paul in good remembrance. The first word, “faith,” thus picks up the concern from the preceding paragraph, as to the reason for sending Timothy in the first place. Having been sent “to find out about your faith” (v. 5), he has now returned with the good news that their faith (toward Christ) is intact. This is obviously the matter of first importance, as is made plain by the further elaboration in verse 7 and the concern further to “supply what is lacking in your faith” in verse 10.