Approved By God
APPROVED BY GOD
1 THESSALONIANS 2:1-8
Is God’s approval of your life more important to you than any other consideration?
In 1:5 Paul writes, “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.” These next paragraphs provide a commentary on this verse. They recall the circumstances under which the Thessalonians first heard the gospel and the treatment they had received from the evangelists. A note of protest may be detected in much that occurs here. Paul, apparently, is responding to slanderous charges impugning his integrity, urged by the same Jewish leaders who had earlier disrupted his work (Acts 17:5-8,13). His defense is an appeal to what the Thessalonians themselves can verify: “you yourselves know” (2:1); “as you know” (2:2,5); “you remember” (2:9); “you are witnesses” (2:10); “for you know” (2:11)). They know that he was no imposter.
The success of the mission (1:8; 2:1), in spite of sustained opposition, was due in large part to the apostle’s sheer courage inspired by God. The beating and imprisonment suffered at Philippi (Acts 16:12ff.) and the violence with which the Jews of Thessalonica attacked him (Acts 17:5-8) were sufficient to dissuade someone with merely human resolution (2:2). Paul persisted in the mission for one reason: God had entrusted him with the gospel and he must please God (2:4).
The approval of God was more important to Paul than the success of the mission, but the success of the mission offered the necessary proof that the apostle’s message was true, his motives were pure and his approach was sincere. His appeal cannot spring from “error,” for what he proclaims is the gospel of God; he cannot be guilty of “uncleanness,” for he has been approved by God; he cannot present his message “with guile,” for he speaks to please God who sifts the heart (2:3-4).
Paul had refused to resort to flattery, as some teachers did, or to seek his own gain or glory (2:5-6). On the contrary, he had exhibited that quality of tender affection experienced by a mother as she nourishes her child at her breast. It was an act of obedience to God to share the gospel with the Thessalonians. It became an act of love when the apostle and his company gave themselves completely to the young church (2:7-8). Paul was a disciplined man of authority. He was also a man of deep affection (2:8). In this paragraph you see a pastor who has found sufficient reason to endure suffering (2:2) and the impugning of his integrity (2:3,5f.).