Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Paul founded the Thessalonian church in the late 40s CE. Not long thereafter, Paul and his fellow missioners were forced to leave the city (1 Thessalonians 2:16–17; see also Acts 17:5–10a). Try though he did, Paul was unable to return to Thessalonica to discover how the congregation, which was composed of those who “had turned to God from idols” (1 Thessalonians 1:9), was faring in their newfound faith (see especially 1 Thessalonians 2:17–18).

Given that the Thessalonians’ conversion was occasioned by opposition from their kith and kin (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14; 3:3–5), Paul was particularly concerned that they persist in the faith. Indeed, he “was afraid that the tempter [might have] tempted [them] and that [the apostles’] labor had been in vain” (1 Thessalonians 3:5).

Thus, when Paul could “bear it no longer,” he dispatched Timothy to check on the well-being of the fledgling fellowship amid their trials and affliction (1 Thessalonians 3:1–2). Fearing the worst, Paul was overjoyed to learn from Timothy upon his return to him that the assembly was standing firm in the faith and was longing to see Paul again (1 Thessalonians 3:6–10). As it happened, it was Timothy’s return to Paul, seemingly in Corinth, that occasioned the letter now known to us as 1 Thessalonians, which is one of the earliest surviving letters of Paul—if not the earliest—and one of the oldest New Testament documents—if not the oldest.

Interpretation: The text in focus

The second reading selected for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost is drawn from a passage where Paul is reflecting upon his ministry among the Thessalonians. Time and again throughout 1 Thessalonians, Paul reminds the church of his mission, motivation, and message while he was with them (see, for example, 1:5; 2:1–2, 5, 11; 3:4; 4:2). This is particularly true in 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12, which any number of interpreters of the letter, including me, regard to be a Pauline apology (or defense) of his apostolic ministry with special reference to Thessalonica.¹

Having reminded the Thessalonians of the circumstances surrounding the missioners’ coming (2:1–2) and the nature of their appeal (2:3–6), Paul likens the apostles to infants and nursing mothers—or perhaps wet nurses (2:7). Furthermore, he assures the Thessalonians of his and his coworkers’ deep affection for them. They not only shared the gospel with them, but they also shared themselves (literally their “souls”), for their converts had become beloved to them (2:8).

As Paul continues to reflect upon his founding visit to Thessalonica in 2:9, he urges his “brothers (and sisters)”—in other words, fellow believers—to recall the apostles’ “labor and toil” among them.² Paul reminds them that he and his fellow missioners worked “night and day” (we might say “day and night” or “day after day”) so that they might not burden the Thessalonians as they proclaimed to them the gospel of God.

Although Paul had the right as an apostle to make his living from the gospel (see 2:7; see also 1 Corinthians 9), he willingly relinquished this right. By plying his tentmaking (or leatherworking) trade amid his ministry in the city, Paul was not only able to “pay his own way,” but also to serve as an example for the Thessalonians to “work with [their] hands … so that [they] might be dependent upon no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12; see also 2 Thessalonians 3:8–9).³

In addition to calling upon their collective memory, Paul calls upon the Thessalonians, and even upon God (see also 2:5), to testify regarding the missioners’ “pure, upright, and blameless” conduct while in the city. In contrast to charlatans, blowhards, and scam artists, who were pervasive then even as they are now, Paul and his coworkers were marked by veracity and integrity (2:10).

Additionally, employing yet another familial metaphor, Paul describes the apostles’ ministry among the Thessalonians as akin to a father caring for each of his children. As their father in the faith (see also 1 Corinthians 4:15; Philemon 10), Paul, along with his coworkers, was actively engaged in urging, encouraging, and pleading with the converts to walk worthy of a God who calls them into his own kingdom and glory.⁴

Although 2:13 is better read with 2:14–16, the lectionary conjoins this expression of thanksgiving with the preceding verses (see also 1:2; 3:9; 5:17). Regardless, Paul reports in this verse that he continuously expresses thanks to God that the Thessalonians received the word of the gospel not ultimately as a human word, but as what it truly is—the living and active word of God that is at work in and among the Thessalonian believers.

Reflections: The text proclaimed

A preacher can go any number of directions with 1 Thessalonians 2:9–13. One promising avenue to explore would be the familial metaphors that pervade and surround the text (note, also, where Paul likens the apostles to orphans in 2:17).

One might also attend to one or more of the following themes that emerge from these verses:

• Pastoral care
• Pastoral conduct
• The gospel/word and work of God
• Walking worthy of God

As you labor and toil with this text, I pray that you will have ample reason to give God thanks for the gospel you have been entrusted to proclaim and for the people to whom you are privileged to proclaim it.

Notes

1. See, for example, Todd D. Still, Conflict in Thessalonica: A Pauline Church and Its Neighbours (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999).
2. Pauline interpreters regularly and rightly note the concentration of “fictive kinship language” in 1 Thessalonians. Instructively, Paul employs the term adelphos (“brother”) 19 times in the letter. It is noteworthy that adelphos occurs with a greater degree of frequency (12.8 times per 1,000 words) in 1 Thessalonians than in any other Pauline letter. (Philemon is a close second with 11.87 hits per 1,000 words.)
3. On the pivotal role Paul’s handcraft played in his apostolic ministry, see Todd D. Still, “Did Paul Loathe Manual Labor? Revisiting the Work of Ronald F. Hock on the Apostle’s Tentmaking and Social Class,” Journal of Biblical Literature 125 (2006): 781–796.
4. Although the term basileia (“kingdom”) recurs in the Synoptic Gospels (121 times), it is seldom found in Paul (14 times in the 13 letters that bear Paul’s name) and only occurs here (2:12) in 1 Thessalonians.