Apostle does not employ again. We may expand it thus: "To the assembly of Thessalonians, gathered in the twofold Name, confessing God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord."

Observe the two parts of this description: (1) the local qualification, "church of Thessalonians." Nearest to this is the phrase "churches of Galatia" (Gal. i. 2), named however from the district, not the people. In 1 and 2 Corinthians the address runs, "To the church of God that is in Corinth"; afterwards, "To the saints that are in Ephesus, Philippi," &c. The change from "church of Thessalonians" to "church in Corinth" is significant; it indicates an enlargement during the four years intervening of the conception of the Church, now no longer constituted by the local assembly, but thought of as one and the same Church here or there, in Corinth, Rome, or Jerusalem. Comp. note on ch. ii. 14, "churches of God which are in Judæa."

(2) The spiritual definition: "the assembly...in God the Father," &c. Church is in the N. T. ecclesia (French église), the common Greek word for "assembly," or legal meeting of citizens, "called out" by the herald; which in the LXX (the Greek rendering of the O. T.) is applied frequently to the solemn religious assemblies of the people of Israel. The Apostle distinguishes this "assembly of Thessalonians" from both those gatherings. The Christian ecclesia is "in God the Father,"therefore a religious assembly marked off from all that is

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pagan, having one God, the Father"; also "in the Lord Jesus Christ," and thus distinguished from everything Jewish and Pagan alike, by its confession of "one Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. viii. 5, 6). The creed of the Thessalonian Church is here contained in brief. Its members had been "baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son"; and all that they believed in and lived for as a Church centred in these two names-two, yet one ("in God the Father and the Lord," not "and in the Lord"). "In God as Father," they knew and owned themselves His children. "In the Lord," they discerned their Saviour's Divine Sonship and glory (ver. 10); "in Jesus," His human birth and history (ch. ii. 15; iv. 14, &c.); and "in Christ," the living Head and Redeemer of His people. This is His full style and title, The Lord Jesus Christ."

Grace be unto you, and peace] In this earliest Epistle the salutation has its shortest form. The qualifying words, "from God our Father, &c. (see R. V.), are not authentic here; they first appear in 2 Ep. The usage of St Paul's other Epistles naturally led copyists to make the addition here. But the "church" that is "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," needs not to be told from Whom these gifts

come.

Grace is the sum of all blessings that God bestows through Christ. Peace is the sum of all spiritual blessing that man receives and experiences; it is Grace in its fruit and realisation. In the wide sense of its Hebrew original (Shalóm), Peace is more than the absence of hostility and disorder; it denotes health and harmony of nature, inward tranquillity and wellbeing. And Grace, which in the first instance is God's love and favour to the undeserving, becomes also the inward possession of those who receive it, manifesting itself as the spirit and habit of their lives. The supreme exhibition of God's grace is the death of

2

We give thanks to God always for you all, making 3 mention of you in our prayers; remembering without

Christ for sinful men, and the great instrument of peace is the sacrifice of the cross: Jesus "by God's grace tasted death for every man, making peace through the blood of His cross" (Heb. ii. 9; Col. i. 20; Eph. ii. 14-18; &c.).

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St Paul's whole gospel is in these two words. GRACE is his watchword, as Love is that of St John. For his conversion and Apostolic call were, above everything, a revelation of Divine grace: see 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10, "By the grace of God I am what I am"; comp. Eph. ii. 7; iii. 2-8; 1 Tim. i. 12-15. See additional note on grace, 2 Ep. i. 12.

SECTION I. THE THANKSGIVING AND THE REASONS For it. CH. I. 2-10.

In every Epistle, except Galatians, the Apostle's first words are of thanks and praise to God for the fruits of God's grace found in his readers, according to his own maxim (ch. v. 18), "In everything give thanks." And his thanksgiving is expressed here in the fullest and warmest terms. Its special grounds and reasons lie (1) in the earnest Christian life of the Thessalonians, ver. 3; which gave assurance (2) of their Divine election, ver. 4; already manifest (3) in the signal character of their conversion, which took place under the most trying circumstances, vv. 5, 6; and which (4) had greatly furthered the progress of the gospel, vv. 7, 8; for (5) everywhere the story was told of how the Thessalonians had forsaken idolatry in order to serve the true God, and to await from heaven the return of Jesus, vv. 9, 10.

This long sentence is a good example of St Paul's manner as a writer. His thought flows on in a single rapid stream, turning now hither, now thither, but always advancing towards its goal. His sentences are not built up in regular and distinct periods; but grow and extend themselves like living things under our eyes, "gaining force in each successive clause by the repetition and expansion of the preceding" (Jowett). See Introd. pp. 32, 33.

2. We give thanks to God always for you all] "We," i.e. the three above named. Here, as in Phil. i. 4, he has thankfulness and joy over them "all;" no other Churches seem to have been so much to the Apostle's mind as these two. And everything dear to him or useful to others in his friends moves him to gratitude toward God on their account. This St Paul felt that he "owed to God" (2 Ep. i. 3), the Source of all goodness in men; and it was the best and safest way of commending them.

making mention of you in our prayers] i.e. when engaged in prayer. As often as the Apostle and his companions prayed, the Thessalonian Church came to their mind; and with supplication praise on their behalf constantly mingled. For the connection of prayer and thanksgiving, see notes on ch. v. 17, 18.

3. remembering without ceasing...in the sight of God and our Father] Standing ever in the presence of God, the witness of all his thoughts,

ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and pa

St Paul bears with him unceasingly the remembrance of what he had beheld in the Christian life and spirit of his Thessalonian brethren. The adjunct comes in with solemn emphasis at the end of the verse. Comp. ch. iii. 9: “What fitting thanks can we render for all the joy with which we rejoice over you before our God?" and the frequency with which the writer appeals to "God" as "witness" of his feelings and his behaviour (ch. ii. 4, 5, 10); similarly in Rom. i. 9, my witness...how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers beseeching," &c.; and in the thanksgiving of Phil. i. 8, "God is my witness, how I long after you all!" We are reminded of Elijah's protestation, "As the Lord liveth, before Whom I stand!" (1 Kings xvii. 1, &c.)

"God is

He says before our God and Father (R. V.): for it is in the character of Father that St Paul approaches God in prayer (comp. ch. iii. 11; 2 Ep. ii. 16; and the Lord's prayer: "After this manner pray ye, Our Father"); and "in God" as "Father" (ver. 1) the Thessalonians became a "church," and had received the blessings for which the Apostle now gives thanks.

remembering...your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ] Remembering," i.e. "how active and fruitful your faith has shown itself to be, how devoted and unwearied your love, and what fortitude your hope in the Lord Jesus has inspired." Faith, Love, and Hope are the essence of practical Christianity. `Fides, amor, spes-summa Christianismi (Bengel); comp. 1 Cor. xiii. 13. Work, Labour, Patience are their threefold expression; comp. the "works and labour and patience" of the Ephesian Church, in Rev. ii. 2, 3.

There was a remarkable vigour, a moral courage and activity in the life of this Church, over which the Apostle rejoiced even more than he did in the eloquence and knowledge of the Church of Corinth (1 Cor. i. 5). Warmth of heart and practical energy were the distinguishing features of Thessalonian Christianity (see Introduction, chap. IV.):

"Whose faith and work were bells of full accord."

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The work of faith includes the two expressions that follow. It embraces the whole practical issue of a Christian life, denoting that which faith effects, its outcome and result in the doings of life; expressed from the Divine side in "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. v. 22), and "fruit of the light" (Eph. v. 9, R. V.). This expression the Apostle uses once more, in 2 Ep. i. 11. This first appearance of the word "faith" in St Paul's Epistles, conjoined with work," shows how far he was removed from antinomianism, from approving either a merely theoretical, or sentimental faith. In his later Epistles, especially in Galatians and Romans, we find "faith" contrasted with "works,"-i.e. Pharisaic "works of law," supposed to be meritorious and to earn salvation by right and as matter of debt on God's part (see Rom. iv. 1—4, ix. 32; Gal. ii. 16, iii. 10-14). No such notions had as yet troubled the simple-minded Thessalonians. But in the later as in the earliest 4

THESS.

tience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of

Epistles faith is always with St Paul an operative principle of life, a working power. He quite agreed with St James (ch. ii. 17) that "faith, if it have not works, is dead." Hence in Gal. v. 6 he writes of "faith working through love."

The Thessalonians' work of faith was manifest especially in the two forms of toil of love, and endurance of hope. Similarly in 2 Ep. i. 3, 4, faith is joined with love (the "charity" of 1 Cor. xiii.) on the one side, and with patience on the other. These are the two chief branches of Christian work-loving service to the brethren and our fellow-men (comp. ch. iv. 9, 10; v. 13); and fearless testimony for Christ before the world, with endurance of the loss and suffering this may entail (vv. 6, 7; ii. 13, 14; iii. 2—4)—“ the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. vi. 12). So we see the Christian life in its simplest elements: "a faith that had its outward effect on your lives; a love that spent itself in the service of others; a hope that was no transient feeling, but was content to wait for the things unseen, when it should be revealed" (Jowett).

We must distinguish "work" from "labour" (or toil). The former points to the thing done, as matter of achievement: the latter to the pains spent in doing it, as matter of exertion. Under this latter word the Apostle refers to his own manual labour (ch. ii. 9; 2 Ep. iii. 8), also to his labours as a minister of Christ (ch. iii. 5; 2 Cor. x. 15 &c.; see besides I Cor. iii. 8, "Each shall receivė his reward according to his own toil"). Work may be easy and delightful; labour is toilsome; no selfish man will endure it for another's good. Hence labour is the test of love. How will a mother toil and weary herself for her child! So St Paul, to whom with his many infirmities his work must often have been a heavy task.

"True love is humble, thereby it is known;

The Greek word

Girded for service, seeking not its own." "Patience of hope" is not all the Apostle means. implies active endurance-perseverantia and tolerantia, as well as patientia or sustinentia (Vulgate); the constancy of blind Milton, that both "bears up, and steers right onward." It is not the resignation of the passive sufferer, so much as the fortitude of the stout-hearted soldier, which carries him in the hope of victory through the long day's march and conflict. In Rom. ii. 7 the first and last of these expressions meet, and this word is rendered “patient continuance in good work" (see Trench's N. T. Synonyms, on patientia). Christian hope inspired this courage: "hope is the balm and life-blood of the soul." So Jesus Himself" for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" (Heb. xii. 2). And the Thessalonians were "imitators of the Lord" (ver. 6), following the patience of Christ (2 Ep. iii. 5). Being the embodiment of Hope, Patience takes its place in 2 Ep. i. 4; and elsewhere.

This was the climax of Thessalonian virtue, tried from the first by fierce persecution (ver. 6; iii. 2-6). For their "endurance" the Apostle gloried in this Church, and Christ was glorified in them (2 Ep. i. 4-12); such conspicuous courage gave powerful testimony to the Gospel

God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your 4

(vv. 7, 8). Observe that here Hope inspires Patience: in Rom. v. 4, "Patience worketh hope." Both are true.

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Their hope was in our Lord Jesus Christ. This adjunct might, grammatically, be applied to the three foregoing phrases-to faith, love, and hope alike; but less suitably, as we think. Faith and love are subsequently conceived in a wider sense: God is the Object of faith in ver. 8, and love embraces brotherly love in ch. iv. 9, v. 13, &c.; whereas 'our Lord Jesus Christ," in His final coming, is frequently, and with concentrated emphasis, represented as the Object of the Thessalonians' hope (see ver. 10; ii. 12, 19; iii. 13; iv. 14-v. 11; 2 Ep. i. 7—10; ii. 1-8. The Second Advent and the Last Judgement had been leading themes of St Paul's preaching at Thessalonica, and had taken powerful hold of his hearers' minds (see Introd. pp. 18-21). In this expectation lay the peculiar strength, and at the same time the danger and temptation of their faith, as we shall afterwards see. "If Joy is the key-note of the Epistle to the Philippians, Hope is that of the present Epistle (Ellicott).

in the sight of God, &c.] Connected most suitably with "remembering" (see note above); though the clause might grammatically be attached to the "faith, hope, and love" just preceding, and would so give a good sense.

4. knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God] Better, following the A. V. margin and R. V., knowing, brethren beloved by God, your election: comp. 2 Ep. ii. 13, "brethren beloved by the Lord."

The Apostle thinks of his readers as brethren, for he has just been carrying them in his thoughts in prayer "before our God and Father." The knowledge that God their Father loves them and has chosen them for His own, gives confidence to the Apostle's prayers for them and inexpressible joy to his thanksgivings. Comp. 2 Ep. ii. 13: "We are bound to give thanks always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you," &c.; and Eph. i. 3-5, "Blessed be God..., Who blessed us in every spiritual blessing,...according as He chose us in Christ," &c.

The participle "loved" is not however present in tense, as though the Thessalonians were simply loved now, in consequence of their newly-acquired Christian worth; it is in the Greek perfect tense, signifying a love existing in the past and realised in the present, the antecedent and foundation of their goodness. So in I John iii. I: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath given us, that we should be called sons of God!"

The Christian excellence of the Thessalonians, therefore, moved the Apostle and his companions to thanksgiving (vv. 2, 3), not simply on its own account, but because it marked them out as the objects of God's loving choice. The word election, here occurring for the first time in St Paul's Epistles, and expressing one of his most important doctrines, needs to be carefully studied. The N. T. use of the word originates in the O. T. idea of Israel as God's " peculiar possession," "the