For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
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1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Even so, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not the Good News of God only, but also our own souls, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God. You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe. As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory. For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
Parallel Translations
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For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men,
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
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For ye brethren became folowers of the congregacions of god which in Iewry are in Christ Iesu: for ye have suffered lyke thynges of youre kynsmen as we oure selves have suffered of the Iewes.
Which as they kylled the lorde Iesus and their awne prophetes even so have they persecuted vs and God they please not and are contrary to all men
and forbid vs to preache vnto the gentyls that they myght be saved to fulfill their synnes all waye. For the wrath of God is come on them even to the vtmost.
Show all 3 translations
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For brethren, ye are become folowers of the Churches of God, which in Iudea are in Christ Iesus, because ye haue also suffred the same things of your owne countrey men, euen as they haue of the Iewes,
Who both killed the Lord Iesus and their owne Prophets, and haue persecuted vs away, and God they please not, and are contrary to all men,
And forbid vs to preach vnto the Gentiles, that they might be saued, to fulfill their sinnes alwayes: for the wrath of God is come on them, to the vtmost.
Cross-references (81)
- Matthew 5:12 (v15) Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:4 (v14) For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know.
- Acts 17:13 (vv14, 16) But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise,…
- Luke 11:48-53 (v15) So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God…
- Acts 7:52 (v15) Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now…
Show all 80 cross-references
- Hebrews 10:33-34 (v14) partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. For you both had…
- Acts 2:23 (v15) him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
- Acts 14:19 (v16) But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city,…
- Hebrews 5:7-8 (v14) He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from…
- Luke 13:33-34 (v15) Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can’t be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.’…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:4 (v14) so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the…
- Malachi 4:1 (v16) “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes…
- Matthew 23:31-35 (v15) Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You…
- Matthew 23:32 (v16) Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
- Matthew 23:37 (v15) “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children…
- Matthew 27:25 (v15) All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!”
- Mark 16:16 (v16) He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
- Luke 24:20 (v15) and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
- Acts 3:15 (v15) and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.
- Acts 14:5 (v16) When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
- 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 (v14) Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the assemblies of Macedonia, how in much proof of…
- Galatians 1:22 (v14) I was still unknown by face to the assemblies of Judea which were in Christ,
- Esther 3:8 (v15) Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your…
- Matthew 21:41-44 (v16) They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the…
- Acts 5:30 (v15) The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, hanging him on a tree.
- Acts 12:3 (v15) When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.
- Acts 13:50 (v16) But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and…
- Acts 22:21-22 (v16) “He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’” They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted…
- Galatians 5:11 (v16) But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10 (v16) and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be…
- James 5:1-6 (v16) Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.…
- Genesis 15:16 (v16) In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
- Malachi 4:5 (v16) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
- Matthew 3:7-10 (v16) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
- Matthew 3:12 (v16) His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the…
- Matthew 12:45 (v16) Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that…
- Luke 11:50-51 (v16) that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of…
- Acts 12:1-3 (v14) Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly. He killed James, the brother of John, with the…
- Acts 13:45 (v16) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.
- Acts 18:12-13 (v16) But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying,…
- Acts 22:18-21 (v15) and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’ I said,…
- 1 Corinthians 7:17 (v14) Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.
- 1 Corinthians 10:5 (v15) However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (v14) You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
- 1 Timothy 2:4 (v16) who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.
- Isaiah 45:22 (v16) “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Joel 2:30-31 (v16) I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon…
- Amos 7:12 (v15) Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
- Zechariah 5:6-8 (v16) I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land…
- Matthew 21:35-39 (v15) The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they…
- Matthew 22:6-7 (v16) and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his…
- Matthew 24:6 (v16) You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
- Matthew 24:14 (v16) This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
- Matthew 24:21-22 (v16) for then there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. Unless those…
- Luke 19:42-44 (v16) saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. For the days…
- Luke 21:20-24 (v16) “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the…
- Acts 4:10 (v15) may it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God…
- Acts 4:12 (v16) There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”
- Acts 8:1 (v14) Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all…
- Acts 9:1 (v14) But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
- Acts 9:31 (v14) So the assemblies throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the…
- Acts 11:2-3 (v16) When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and…
- Acts 11:19 (v14) They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch,…
- Acts 14:2 (v16) But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.
- Acts 17:1-8 (v14) Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. Paul, as was his…
- Acts 19:9 (v16) But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the…
- Acts 21:27-31 (v16) When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands…
- Romans 10:13-15 (v16) For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will…
- Ephesians 3:8 (v16) To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- Ephesians 3:13 (v16) Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:1 (v14) Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (v16) and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:1 (v14) Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:
- Hebrews 6:8 (v16) but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- Hebrews 10:27-30 (v16) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. A man who disregards Moses’ law…
- Revelation 22:11 (v16) He who acts unjustly, let him act unjustly still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him do righteousness…
- Acts 8:3 (v14) But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison.
- Acts 9:13 (v14) But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.
- Acts 11:17-18 (v16) If then God gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?” When they…
- Acts 17:5-6 (v16) But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the…
80 distinct cross-references across this passage (81 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv14–16 14 For ye became imitators. If you are inclined…
14 For ye became imitators. If you are inclined to restrict this to the clause in immediate connection with it, the meaning will be, that the power of God, or of his word, shews itself in their patient endurance, while they sustain persecutions with magnanimity and undaunted courage. I prefer, however, to view it as extending to the whole of the foregoing statement, for he confirms what he has stated, that the Thessalonians had in good earnest embraced the gospel, as being presented to them by God, inasmuch as they courageously endured the assaults which Satan made upon them, and did not refuse to suffer anything rather than leave off obedience to it. And, unquestionably, this is no slight test of faith when Satan, by all his machinations, has no success in moving us away from the fear of God.
In the mean time, he prudently provides against a dangerous temptation which might prostrate or harass them; for they endured grievous troubles from that nation which was the only one in the world that gloried in the name of God.
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This, I say, might occur to their minds: “If this is the true religion, why do the Jews, who are the sacred people of God, oppose it with such inveterate hostility?” With the view of removing this occasion of offense, he, in the first place, shews them that they have this in common with the first Churches that were in Judea: afterwards, he says that the Jews are determined enemies of God and of all sound doctrine. For although, when he says that they suffered from their own countrymen, this may be explained as referring to others rather than to the Jews, or at least ought not to be restricted to the Jews exclusively, yet as he insists farther in describing their obstinacy and impiety, it is manifest that these same persons are adverted to by him from the beginning. It is probable, that at Thessalonica some from that nation were converted to Christ. It appears, however, from the narrative furnished in the Acts, that there, no less than in Judea, the Jews were persecutors of the gospel. I accordingly take this as being said indiscriminately of Jews as well as of Gentiles, inasmuch as both endured great conflicts and fierce attacks from their own countrymen
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14–16 Which Christ hath gathered together.
Which Christ hath gathered together.
Even of them which are of the same country, and the same town that you are of.
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He confirmeth them in their afflictions which they suffered of their own people, because they were afflicted of their own countrymen: which came as well (saith he) to the Churches of the Jews, as to them: and therefore they ought to take it in good part.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–16 14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches…
14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
Ver. 14. Of your own countrymen] Malice against the truth breaks all bonds of nature or amity. Moab was irked because of Israel, or vexed at them, Num 22:3-4, though they were allied to Israel, who passed by them peaceably, and by the slaughter of the Amorites, freed them from evil neighbours, which had taken away part of their country, &c. The English Papists in four years sacrificed 800 of their innocent countrymen in Queen Mary’s days. In the holy war (as they called it) against the Waldenses (those ancient Protestants) in France, the pope’s great army took one great populous city, and put to the sword 60,000, among whom were many of their own Catholics. For, Arnoldus the Cistercian, abbot (being the pope’s envoy in this great war) commanded the captains and soldiers, saying, Caedite eos, novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius, i.e. Down with them all, for God knoweth which of them are his. (Caesarius Heisterbach. Hist. v. 21.) And the issue of this was, ut potius caesi, fugati, bonis ac dignitatibus ubique spoliati sint, quam ut erroris convicti resipuerint, i.e. that they were rather slain, scattered, spoiled of their goods and dignities, than brought by a sight of any error to sound repentance, saith Thuanus, an ingenuous Papist.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv14–16 This proves the assertion of the foregoing verse, as…
This proves the assertion of the foregoing verse, as the illative for doth show. They were
followers of the churches in Judea, which showed the word wrought in them effectually. Though the greatest part of the Jews believed not, yet many did, and hereupon we read of churches in Judea. Though there was before but one national church, yet now in gospel times the churches were many. And believing in Christ they are called churches in him, gathered together in his name, into his institutions, and by his Spirit; and these Thessalonians became followers or imitators of them, or in the same circumstances with them. The churches among the Jews were the first planted, and the Gentile churches followed them, conforming to the faith, worship, and order that was first in them, yea, and imitating their faith and patience in suffering.
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For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen; the Jews that believed suffered from the unbelieving Jews of their own country; so did these Thessalonians. But whether the apostle means only the Gentiles of Thessalonica, or the Jews that dwelt there and were born among them, is uncertain; for the persecution mentioned Act 17:1-34, was chiefly from the Jewish synagogue, though the Gentiles might also join with them therein.
Even as they have of the Jews: they suffered as the churches of Judea, namely, in the same kind, as Heb 10:32-34; and in the same cause, and with the same joy, constancy, and courage. And here Christ’s words are fulfilled, that a man’s enemies shall be those of his own house, Mat 10:36.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v15 Our apostle’s design being to encourage the Thessalonians to…
Our apostle’s design being to encourage the Thessalonians to patience and constancy under their persecutions for Christianity, he acquaints them, that they did not walk alone in this thorny path, but that Jesus Christ, the prophets and apostles, went before them, and every step they took in it, was up to the knees in blood; They killed the Lord Jesus, &c.
Where observe, the bitter and bloody persecution which the Jews were guilty of,
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they killed the Lord Jesus, and before him their own prophets, called their own, because of their own nation, and sent with a peculiar message to them; and now they persecuted, banished, and drove away St. Paul, and the rest of the apostles;
they pleased not God, that is, they highly displeased him, dreadfully provoked him, they were haters of God, hateful to him, now hated of him, and, lastly,
rejected by him; contrary to all men, that is, to the common interest of all men, by endeavouring to obstruct the preaching of the gospel, which bringeth salvation to all men;
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that is, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and consequently obstructing, what in them lay, the salvation almost of all the world;
filling up the measure of their sins, till at last the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost, in their judicial obduration, and the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; after which the Jews have been no more a people, but scattered abroad through the face of the earth.
From the whole, learn 1. That it is a singular support to suffering saints to consider, that Christ and his apostles suffered before them; and by his sufferings, has sanctified a state of affliction and persecution to them.
Learn, 2. That a spirit of persecution seems oft-times to run in the blood, and passes from parent to child, through many generations. Persecution became, as it were, hereditary, and, in a sort, transient from one generation to another among the Jews; they killed Christ, stoned the prophets, and persecuted the apostles.
Note 3. How St. Paul ranks and reckons them that are enemies to the preaching of the gospel, with the obstinate shedders of Christ’s blood, they are enrolled amongst the capital enemies of mankind; They killed the Lord of life, forbidding us to preach to the Gentiles; such as are enemies to preaching are enemies to the souls of men.
Object. But what need so much preaching amongst us, who are converted from heathenism to Christianity?
Ans. It is one thing to be converted from heathenism to Christianity, and another thing to be converted from sin to God.
Object. But we have the Bible for that end, and can make use of that.
Ans. Observe it, and you will find that such as are no friends to the pulpit, are usually none of the best friends to the Bible; follow them to their families, how doth the Bible lie by as a neglected book amongst them; and it must be a large charity, that can judge it is conscientiously used in the closet, when it is carelessly neglected in the family.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv14–16 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of…
For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God,.... As of the Lord and of the apostle, Th1 1:6 so of the churches of God that were before them, who were gathered out of the world by the grace of God; and who were united in the fear of God, and assembled together for his worship, to bear a testimony to his truth and ordinances, and for the glory of his name: these they followed in the faith and order of the Gospel, and "became like" them, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render the word; or "equal" to them, were upon an equal foot with them, as the Arabic; that is, in suffering reproach and persecution for the Gospel, as the latter part of the verse shows; and their bearing these with patience, courage, and constancy, was a proof that the word of God had a place, and wrought effectually in them; otherwise they would never have endured such things as they did, and as other churches did:
which in Judea are in Christ Jesus; for besides the church at Jerusalem, there were many churches in Judea and Galilee; see Act 9:31 which shows that the primitive churches were not national, but congregational: and these were in Christ Jesus; "in the faith" of Jesus Christ, as the Arabic version renders it; which distinguishes them from the synagogues, or congregations of the Jews, which did not believe in Christ; See Gill on Th1 1:1.
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For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen; the inhabitants of Thessalonica, the baser sort of them, who were stirred up by the unbelieving Jews of that place, to make an uproar in the city, and assault the house of Jason, in order to seize upon the apostles; see Act 17:6.
Even as they have of the Jews; in like manner as the churches of Judea suffered by the Jews their countrymen; see Act 8:1 Heb 10:32.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv14–16 Ye suffered the same things - The same fruit,…
Ye suffered the same things - The same fruit, the same afflictions, and the same experience, at all times, and in all places, are an excellent criterion of evangelical truth. As they from the Jews - Their countrymen.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14–16 Verse 14. Ye - became followers of the Churches…
Verse 14. Ye - became followers of the Churches of God] There is not a word here of the Church of Rome being the model after which the other Churches were to be formed; it had no such pre-eminence: this honour belonged to the Churches of Judea; it was according to them, not the Church at Rome, that the Asiatic Churches were modelled. The purest of all the apostolic Churches was that of the Thessalonians, and this was formed after the Christian Churches in Judea.
Had any pre-eminence or authority belonged to the Church of Rome, the apostle would have proposed this as a model to all those which he formed either in Judea, Asia Minor, Greece, or Italy.
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Ye also have suffered-of your own countrymen] It is worthy of remark that, in almost every case, the Jews were the leaders of all persecutions against the apostles and the infant Church. And what they could not do themselves, they instigated others to do; and, by gathering together lewd fellows of the baser sort from among the Gentiles, they made frequent uproars, and especially at Thessalonica, where the opposition to the Gospel was very high, and the persecution of the Christians very hot.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv14–16 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of…
For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus - Which are united to the Lord Jesus, or which are founded on his truth: that is, which are true churches. Of those churches they became “imitators” - μιμηταὶ mimētai - to wit, in their sufferings. This does not mean that they were founded on the same model; or that they professed to be the followers of those churches, but that they had been treated in the same way, and thus were like them. They had been persecuted in the same manner, and by the same people - the Jews; and they had borne their persecutions with the same spirit. The object of this is to comfort and encourage them, by showing them that others had been treated in the same manner, and that it was to be expected that a true church would be persecuted by the Jews. They ought not, therefore, to consider it as any evidence that they were not a true church that they had been persecuted by those who claimed to be the people of God, and who made extraordinary pretensions to piety.
For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen - Literally, “of those who are of your fellow-tribe, or fellowclansmen “ - συμφυλέτων sumphuletōn. The Greek word means “one of the same tribe,” and then a fellow-citizen, or fellowcountryman. It is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. The particular reference here seems not to be to the pagan who were the agents or actors in the scenes of tumult and persecutions, but to the Jews by whom they were led on, or who were the prime movers in the persecutions which they had endured. It is necessary to suppose that they were principally Jews who were the cause of the persecution which had been excited against them, in order to make the parallelism between the church there and the churches in Palestine exact. At the same time there was a propriety in saying that, though the parallelism was exact, it was by the “hands of their own countrymen” that it was done; that is, they were the visible agents or actors by whom it was done - the instruments in the hands of others.
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In Palestine. the Jews persecuted the churches directly; out of Palestine, they did it by means of others. They were the real authors of it, as they were in Judea, but they usually accomplished it by producing an excitement among the pagan, and by the plea that the apostles were making war on civil institutions. This was the case in Thessalonica. “The Jews which believed not, moved with envy, set all the city on an uproar.” “They drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, ‘Those that have turned the world up side down have come hither also;’” Act 17:5-6. The same thing occurred a short time after at Berea. “When the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also and stirred up the people;” Act 17:13; compare Act 14:2. “The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren.” “The Epistle, therefore, represents the case accurately as the history states it. It was the Jews always who set on foot the persecutions against the apostles and their followers;” Paley, Hor. Paul. in loc. It was, therefore, strictly true, as the apostle here states it:
(1) That they were subjected to the same treatment from the Jews as the churches in Judea were, since they were the authors of the excitement against them; and,
(2) That it was carried on, as the apostle states, “by their own countrymen;” that is, that they were the agents or instruments by which it was done. This kind of undesigned coincidence between the Epistle and the history in the Acts of the Apostles, is one of the arguments from which Paley (Hor. Paul.) infers the genuineness of both.
As they have of the Jews - Directly. In Palestine there were no others but Jews who could be excited against Christians, and they were obliged to appear as the persecutors themselves.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v16 To full up the measure of their sins, after…
To full up the measure of their sins, after which God’s justice would punish them. (Witham) --- The Jews filled up the measure of their iniquities by the opposition they every where manifest to the religion of Christ. The earliest Fathers of the Church testify that they dispersed people into every nation to blaspheme the name of Christ; and hence sprang the evil fame which Christians bore among the pagans. See the apologies of St. Justin, Tertullian, Origen, &c. --- For the wrath of God is come upon them to the end. It seems a foretelling of their entire destruction, which happened not long after under Vespasian and Adrian. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv14–16 followers--Greek, "imitators." Divine working is most of all seen…
followers--Greek, "imitators." Divine working is most of all seen and felt in affliction.
in Judea--The churches of Judea were naturally the patterns to other churches, as having been the first founded, and that on the very scene of Christ's own ministry. Reference to them is specially appropriate here, as the Thessalonians, with Paul and Silas, had experienced from Jews in their city persecutions (Act 17:5-9) similar to those which "the churches in Judea" experienced from Jews in that country.
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in Christ Jesus--not merely "in God"; for the synagogues of the Jews (one of which the Thessalonians were familiar with, Act 17:1) were also in God. But the Christian churches alone were not only in God, as the Jews in contrast to the Thessalonian idolaters were, but also in Christ, which the Jews were not.
of your own countrymen--including primarily the Jews settled at Thessalonica, from whom the persecution originated, and also the Gentiles there, instigated by the Jews; thus, "fellow countrymen" (the Greek term, according to Herodian, implies, not the enduring relation of fellow citizenship, but sameness of country for the time being), including naturalized Jews and native Thessalonians, stand in contrast to the pure "Jews" in Judea (Mat 10:36). It is an undesigned coincidence, that Paul at this time was suffering persecutions of the Jews at Corinth, whence he writes (Act 18:5-6, Act 18:12); naturally his letter would the more vividly dwell on Jewish bitterness against Christians.
even as they-- (Heb 10:32-34). There was a likeness in respect to the nation from which both suffered, namely, Jews, and those their own countrymen; in the cause for which, and in the evils which, they suffered, and also in the steadfast manner in which they suffered them. Such sameness of fruits, afflictions, and experimental characteristics of believers, in all places and at all times, is a subsidiary evidence of the truth of the Gospel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv14–16 14. Churches… in Judea—Paul’s memory now runs from his…
14. Churches… in Judea—Paul’s memory now runs from his European experience back to his Palestinean experience. The conversion of his Thessalonians, and their perseverance against persecution, reminds him of the earlier conversion of Churches in Judea, and the terrible contest they suffered from their Jewish kindred. And he now ranks his young Church here on the same footing with those suffering saints of the early day, whose work had already become historical. These young converts were true followers, imitators of the true primitive models.
Have suffered—Your sufferings for Christ are the true badge of your identity with the earlier sufferers.
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Own countrymen—Kindred Gentiles.
They… of the Jews— Gentiles were persecuted by Gentiles, as Jews by Jews. Generally, the earliest persecutions were by Jews. More slowly did the Romans pass edicts against Christianity.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–16 14. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches…
14. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus] Followers should be imitators (R. V.), just as in ch. 1Th_1:6 : imitators of the apostles and of their Lord, the Thessalonians were imitating the Judæan Churches, and in the same respect, viz. in the willing endurance of suffering for the word’s sake. Silas, be it remembered, had been an active member of the Church at Jerusalem (Act_15:22; Act_15:32), and through him especially the missionary band would be in communication and sympathy at this time with their brethren in Judæa.
More strictly, which are in Judæa in Christ Jesus (R. V.). “In Judæa” is the local, “in Christ Jesus” the spiritual habitat of these Churches. This latter phrase—an expression characteristic of St Paul and frequent in subsequent Epistles—signifies “in union and communion with Him, incorporated with Him who is the Head” of His Body the Church (Ellicott). It distinguishes the Christian from other Judæan communities which also claimed to be “Churches (assemblies) of God.” Comp. note on “Church … in God the Father,” &c., ch. 1Th_1:1.
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Observe the order Christ Jesus, a combination almost confined to St Paul, and which he employs when he thinks of Him in His actual Person and official character, as the present Head and Life of His people on earth; whereas Jesus Christ is the historical order, and points to His earthly course and exaltation to Messiahship (see Act_2:36).
“Church of God” is an O.T. expression, found in the Greek rendering of Neh_13:1; Deu_23:1-3 (church of the Lord: congregation, A.V.); it denotes that the Church belongs to God, while it suggests, according to the derivation of ek-klesia, that its members are called out (of the world) by God (comp. 1Th_2:12). In Gal_1:22 the Apostle writes, more simply, “the Churches of Judæa which are in Christ.”
This reference to the Home Churches creates a link between far-off Thessalonica and Judæa. The Thessalonians are not alone in their troubles; they are fighting the same battle as the mother Church and the first disciples of the Lord. Comp. Php_1:30, “having the same conflict which ye saw in me.” Their union with Christ’s persecuted flock in Its native land shewed that the Gospel was working in them to purpose (1Th_2:13), and working everywhere in the same way.
for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews] St Paul says the same, not like things. And this “for” represents a different word from the previous “for;” it is rather in that, not accounting for the Thessalonians imitating Judean example, but explaining wherein the imitation consisted.
The hostility of their fellow-townsmen formed a bitter ingredient in their afflictions (Act_17:5-9). The Apostle tells them that it was the same with the primitive Churches in Judæa—that, indeed, the murder of the Lord Jesus and of the old prophets, and the expulsion of the apostles, were due to feelings precisely similar to those aroused in their own city against themselves. This was a proof that they were in the true succession. Christ had said, “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Such comfort has often to be given to young missionary churches.
But the Apostle has now to add words of awful severity respecting those whom his readers knew to be the prime instigators of persecution, both against themselves and him—the Jews:—
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–16 (14) For ye.—“The effectual power of this word upon…
(14) For ye.—“The effectual power of this word upon you is shown in your joining the Church in spite of such difficulties.”
Followers.—Better, imitators. The churches of Judæa are probably selected for example, not only as being the oldest and best-organised churches, but the most afflicted, both by want (Act_11:29; Act_24:17; Rom_15:26), and (chiefly) by persecution from the “Jews.”
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Your own countrymen.—See Act_17:8-9. It was always the Jewish policy to persecute by means of others. Evidently the Thessalonian Church is almost entirely Gentile.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14–16 For ye, brethren, became followers; or rather, imitators, namely,…
For ye, brethren, became followers; or rather, imitators, namely, in the endurance of suffering for the sake of the gospel, not in intention only, but in reality. Of the Churches Of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus. These Churches arc mentioned as being at this early period the most prominent. The special mention of persecution by the Jews has its origin in the fact that it was by the unbelieving Jews that Paul was persecuted at Thessalonica. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen. One of the proofs that the Church of Thessalonica was Gentile in its origin; as these countrymen were evidently Gentiles, being here distinguished from the Jews. From this it would seem that, after Paul and his companions had left Thessalonica, the persecution which arose against the Christians continued, and the Gentiles combined with the Jews in opposing the gospel. Even as they the Churches of God in Judaea have of the Jews. We learn from the Acts of the Apostles that the Jewish Christians in Judaea were exposed to severe persecution from their unbelieving countrymen: Stephen was put to death, and Paul himself, in his unconverted state, was a chief among the persecutors.
Vers. 14-16.
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The evidence of the effectual working of the Divine Word.
They were able to imitate the patience and constancy of the Judaean Churches under great persecutions. These Churches were referred to probably because they were the oldest Churches, and the most severely persecuted.
I IT IS A HIGH HONOR AS WELL AS PRIVILEGE FOR CHURCHES TO BE SELECTED AS PATTERNS OF PATIENCE TO OTHER CHURCHES. "For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus." We are first to be imitators of Christ, then of all who follow in his steps, who keep on "looking to Jesus". (Heb_12:2) There were many Churches in Judaea, for Christianity was founded by Jews; its first converts were Jews; its first martyrs were Jews; and the Churches among them rejoiced in the fellowship of Christ, as the Source of their life and comfort.
II THE PATH OF THE THESSALONIANS WAS ONE OF SEVERE TRIAL AND CONTINUOUS PERSECUTION. "For ye also have suffered like things from your own countrymen, even as they from the Jews.
1. They had received the Word "in much affliction." (1Th_1:6) The first outbreak of violence against them occurred after their conversion. (Act_17:5) They belonged to one of those Churches of Macedonia of which the apostle long afterwards wrote to the Corinthians as "enduring a great trial of affliction." It came from their heathen countrymen.
2. Their trials attested the genuineness of their conversion. The heathen would have had no quarrel with a dead faith. The Thessalonians did not "sleep as did others." They discovered by sharp experience that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution". (2Ti_3:12)
1. Their trials involved the precious experience of a fellowship in Christs sufferings." (Php_3:10)
2. Their trials manifested at once the strength of their faith and their Christian constancy.
III IT WAS SOME COMFORT TO THE THESSALONIANS TO KNOW THAT THEY WERE NOT THE ONLY SUFFERERS FROM THE FURY OF PERSECUTORS. "Even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and drave us out." This terrible invective against the Jews illustrates the saying that the apostle often "goes off at a word." It recalls the language of Stephen before his murderers. (Act_7:52) The malignity of the Jews against their believing countrymen was extreme.
1. The Jews were murderers of Jesus and the prophets. Though the Savior was executed by the Romans, the responsibility of the terrible deed rests on the Jews, who "fur envy" delivered him up, and "killed the Prince of life." They likewise killed their own prophets, whose very sepulchers they afterwards built and garnished. What wonder, then, that the Thessalonian converts should escape!
2. The Jews, though zealous for God, did not please him. "They pleased not God," but rather provoked him to anger by their unbelief and their wickedness.
3. They were at cross-purposes with all mankind. They were "contrary to all men." They were anti-social, exclusive, and bitter, so that the heathen Tacitus could describe them as "holding an attitude of hostility and hatred to the human race." But it was specially manifest in their resistance to the calling of the Gentiles us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. The Acts of the Apostles supply abundant evidence of this fact.
4. The end to which all this wickedness toward God and man was tending. To fill up their sins at all times.
(1) God often allows nations to complete the sum of their wickedness before bringing upon them final retribution. "The iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full". (Gen_15:16)
(2) The judgment upon the Jews was at hand the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." "There is now nothing between it and them." The destruction of Jerusalem was still future, but "the days of vengeance were already come." The fire was already burning, which would never be quenched till the vengeance was complete. The apostle seems to regard the moment of the rejection of the Messiah as marking the outpouring of the Divine wrath. The history of the Jews from that moment is a significant commentary on the passage. T.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14–15 For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of…
1Th_2:14
For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God which are in Judaea
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I.
Church followers. The Thessalonian believers, acquainted with the important fact that there were several holy brotherhoods in Judaea which were united to Jesus Christ by faith in His truth, strove to imitate them in their spiritual virtues, and thus show that they were one with them--were united to them in and through the same Lord. The union of Church members is not a mere outward adhesion, like the way in which the stones of a building are joined to one another, but it is a living organic union, like the members of one body, possessed of a common life, constituting together one living whole, so that all are parts of one and the same being; hence it is a union which cannot be severed without doing violence to that blessed Spirit by whose act it has been brought about. The Church of Christ, which is His mystical body, cannot be Otherwise than one, wherever it may be--in Judea or Thessalonica, and its members, wherever living, cannot be otherwise than imitators of each other.
II. Church sufferers. The Word preached to the Thessalonians had wrought so effectually in them that they became examples unto others not only in faith and good works, but in patience and suffering, also for the Words sake. With unflinching courage and steady constancy they met the fierce opposition of their own fellow tribe or clansmen, beside that of others--the Jews--all enemies of the Cross of Christ. Christ Himself never used anything like force or violence, except once, and that was to drive ungodly men not into the Temple, but out of it. To ill-treat, and stone, and crucify good men for their religion is not the gospel of Christ, but the direct instigation of the devil. He is the father of lies, and truth is almost invariably on the side of the persecuted. Yet, though believers suffer persecution for it, they are benefitted by persecution, just as the giant of the forest becomes all the stronger and more deeply rooted for the strong blasts which have shaken and tried it. (M. F. Day, D. D.)
Suffering the test of conversion
It often happens that suffering reveals new features of character and awakens powers before dormant. It is said that Agrippa had a dormouse that slumbered so profoundly that it would never wake till cast in a cauldron of boiling lead. So there are some natures which put forth their powers only when in extremity. The piety of Gods people is often tested by affliction. The faith of thousands has sunk, while those who have borne the strain have gained an accession of moral nerve. The Thessalonians imitated the churches of God in facing the storm of persecution with unconquerable firmness.
I. Their suffering had a common origin. Ye of your own countrymen--they of the Jews.
1. It is the unkindest cut of all that comes from the sword of our own people--people with whom we have lived in amity, but from whom conscience compels us to differ (Psa_55:12), when natural love is turned into unnatural enmity.
2. What a revelation this of the devilish nature of persecution. Its insensate malice rudely sunders all bonds of fatherland, friendship, or kindred. The close affinity between Cain and Abel does not arrest the murderers hand. The tender ties between Saul and David avail not to curb the mad cruelty of the king.
3. How deep and changeless is the truth--All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The suffering that tests is still from the same source. A mans foes are they of his own household.
II. Their suffering was borne with exemplary Christian fortitude. The same thought is expressed in 1Th_1:6. At the head of the long line is Jesus, the captain of salvation; and all whom He leads to glory walk in His steps, imitate His example, and so become followers one of another.
1. It is not suffering in itself that purifies, so much as the spirit in which it is borne. It was enough to cool the fiery ambition of the aspiring disciples when Jesus said, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? And yet the following of Christ in suffering is the true test of discipleship. He that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.
2. It is a proof of the supernatural efficacy of the gospel that it inspires so intense a love of it as to make us willing to endure suffering for its sake. The love of truth becomes supreme. John Huss, lamenting the rupture of an old and valued friendship, said, Paletz is my friend; truth is my friend; and both being my friends, it is my sacred duty to give the first honour to truth.
3. The soul, penetrated with this devotion, will pass unscathed the fiery test. On the destruction of the London Alexandra Palace by fire, it was found that, while many specimens of old English porcelain exhibited there were reduced to a black, shapeless mass, the true porcelain of Bristol, though broken into fragments, still retained its whiteness, and even its most delicate shades of colour uninjured by the fire. So the truly good, though wounded, shall survive the fiercest trial, and retain intact all that distinguishes the Christian character.
Lessons:--
1. Our love of the Gospel is tested by what we suffer for it.
2. The similarity of experience, in all times and places, is a strong evidence of the truth of the Christian religion.
3. Suffering does not destroy, but builds up and perfects. (G. Barlow.)
The secret of persecution
A wolf flies not upon a painted sheep, and men can look upon a painted toad with delight. It is not the soft pace, but the furious march of the soldier that sets men a-gazing and dogs a-barking. Let but a man glide along with the stream of the world, do as others do, he may sit down and take his ease; but if he once strive against the stream, stand up in the cause of God, and act for Christ, then he shall be sure to meet with as much malice as men and devils can possibly throw upon him. (J. Spencer.)
The honour of persecution
One who was persecuted in Queen Marys time wrote thus, A poor prisoner for Christ! What is this for a poor worm! Such honour have not all His saints. Both the degrees I took in the university have not set me so high as the honour of becoming a prisoner of the Lord.
Consolation in persecution
Do they cast us out of the city? They cannot cast us out of that which is in the heavens. If they who hate us could do this, they would be doing something real against us. So long, however, as they cannot do this, they are but pelting us with drops of water or striking us with the wind. (Gregory Nazianzen.)
Persecution elicits sympathy
A coloured man applied to a New York merchant for a subscription, who at once knocked him into the street. The coloured man started on telling the story of his abuse, won sympathy by it, and, before night, collected fifty dollars. The persecutor, hearing the story, desired to silence the man, sent for him, and gave him a liberal subscription,
Benefit of persecution
As frankincense, when it is put into the fire, giveth the greater perfume; as spice, if it be pounded and beaten, smelleth the sweeter; as the earth, when it is torn up by the plough, becometh more fruitful; the seed in the ground, after frost and snow and winter storms, springeth the ranker; the nigher the vine is pruned to the stock, the greater grape it yieldeth; the grape, when it is most pressed and beaten, maketh the sweetest wine; linen, when it is bucked and washed, wrung and beaten, is so made fairer and whiter: even so the children of God receive great benefit by persecution; for by it God washeth and scoureth, schooleth and nurtureth them, that so, through many tribulations, they may enter into their rest. (Cawdray.)
Persecution a stimulus
A certain amount of persecution rouses a mans defiance, stirs his blood for magnificent battle, and makes him fifty times more a man than he would have been without the persecution. So it was with the great reformer when he said, I will not be put down, I will be heard. And so it was with Millard, the preacher, in the time of Louis XI. When that sovereign sent word to him that unless he stopped preaching in that style he would throw him into the river, he replied, Tell the king that I shall reach heaven sooner by water, than he will by fast horses. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv14–16 14. Became followers. Imitators of the churches in Judea,…
14. Became followers. Imitators of the churches in Judea, enduring persecution faithfully. Ye also have suffered. As the Jews persecuted the churches in Judea, so you have been persecuted by your own countrymen. The persecution at Thessalonica was first stirred up by unbelieving Jews, but they induced the heathen to join in it. They “stirred up the people” (Acts 17:13).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv14–15 1Th_2:14. Became followers.—R.V. “imitators.” The usual meaning of imitators…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1Th_2:14. Became followers.—R.V. “imitators.” The usual meaning of imitators hardly seems to obtain in full strength here. We cannot think the Thessalonians consciously copied the Judean Christians, to do which they would have had the superfluous task of raising up opposition. The words seem to mean no more than, “Ye came to resemble.” Of your own countrymen.—Lit. “fellow-tribesmen.” One is reminded of Shylock’s words—
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“Sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF 1Th_2:14
Suffering: the Test of Conversion.
It often happens that suffering reveals new features of individual character, and awakens powers that were before dormant. It takes a great deal to thoroughly rouse some people. We are told that Agrippa had a dormouse that slumbered so profoundly that it would never wake till cast into a cauldron of boiling lead. So there are some natures which put forth all their powers only when in suffering and extremity. The piety of God’s people has been most severely tested in the midst of persecution and affliction. The faith of thousands has failed in the hour of trial, while those who have borne the strain have gained an accession of moral nerve and bravery. The Thessalonians imitated the Churches in Judea in boldly facing the storm of malignant opposition, and standing under it with calm, unconquerable firmness.
I. The suffering of the Thessalonians had a common origin.—“For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.” Just as the Jews who embraced Christianity met with the maddest violence from their own unbelieving countrymen, so the Gentiles found their fiercest foes among their fellow-countrymen, who blindly clung to the worship of the gods. It is the unkindest cut of all that comes from the sword of our own people—people with whom we have lived in amity and concord, but from whom conscience compels us to differ. Who can fathom the deep anguish of the Psalmist sounding in that sharp, bitter cry of startled surprise, “For it was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it; but it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance”! It was a horrible discovery of nature engaged in a terrible suicidal war with itself! Nature grown monstrously unnatural and savagely retaliating on its own: natural love turned into unnatural enmity! What a revelation, too, is this of the desperate nature of all persecution! Its insensate malice rudely sunders all bonds of fatherland, friendship, and kindred. The close affinity between Cain and Abel does not arrest the murderer’s hand; the tender ties between Saul and David, woven with much reciprocal kindness and affection, avail not to curb the mad cruelty of the infuriate king. Ah! how deep and changeless is the truth, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” The suffering that tests is still from the same source, “A man’s foes are they of his own household.”
II. The suffering of the Thessalonians was borne with exemplary Christian fortitude.—“For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus.” The same thought is expressed in the first chapter, where the apostle says, “Ye became followers of us and of the Lord.” For at the head of the long line is Jesus, the Captain of salvation; and all whom He leads to glory walk in His steps, imitate His example, and so become followers one of another. It is not, however, suffering in itself that purifies and exalts Christian character, so much as the spirit in which it is borne. The hardest point of obedience is to obey in suffering. It was enough to cool the fiery ambition of the aspiring disciples when Jesus said, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?” And yet the following of Christ in suffering is the true test of discipleship. “He that taketh not his cross and followeth Me is not worthy of Me.” It is a grand proof of the supernatural efficacy of gospel truth that it inspires so intense a love of it as to make us willing to endure the most exquisite suffering for its sake. The love of truth becomes supreme. John Huss, lamenting the rupture of an old and valued friendship, said: “Paletz is my friend; truth is my friend; and both being my friends, it is my sacred duty to give the first honour to truth.” The soul, penetrated with this sublime devotion to truth, will pass unscathed the fiery test of suffering. On the destruction by fire of the London Alexandra Palace a few years ago, it was found that, while many specimens of old English porcelain exhibited there were reduced to a black, shapeless mass, the true porcelain of Bristol, though broken into fragments, still retained its whiteness, and even its most delicate shades of colour, uninjured by the fire. So the truly good, though wounded and maimed, shall survive the fiercest trial, and retain intact all that specially distinguishes and beautifies the Christian character.
Lessons.—
1. Our love of the gospel is tested by what we suffer for it.
2. The similarity of experience in all times and places is a strong evidence of the truth of the Christian religion.
3. Suffering does not destroy, but builds up and perfects.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v14 14-16. Sin, like its symbol, the rattlesnake, always fights…
ARGUMENT 3
SIN ALWAYS FIGHTS
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14-16. Sin, like its symbol, the rattlesnake, always fights for its life. The Christians in Palestine were cruelly persecuted by the Jews. The Thessalonian Gentiles were most malignantly persecuted by the Gentile tribes. Graceless always fight the grace of God, that seeks to save them. The Gentiles were the apostate Patriarchal Church; the Jews, the fallen Mosaic Church, having retrogressed into formality and hypocrisy. So the devil had them both, and they were ready to unite against God. Fallen Churchism has always been Satan’s organized opposition. “But wrath cometh on them in the extreme.” Paul’s prophetic eye saw the awful storm of Roman castigation coming on the Jews. Within a score of years from this writing, the army of Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. Josephus says that a sword suspended high in the air hung over Jerusalem a whole year preceding her destruction. The horrors of the siege beggar all description. A solid million perished by sword, pestilence, and famine, and a million were sold into slavery; while the scathed and peeled remnant were driven to the ends of the earth, prohibited, on pain of death, to return to the home of their race and the land of their love. The Roman emperors hated the religion, both of Jews and Christians. Therefore they did their utmost to obliterate the very memory of Jerusalem, the Emperor Adrian even dropping the name, and founding a Roman colony on the site under the name of Elia Capitolina. It retained this name two hundred years, till the conversion of Constantine, A.D. 325, when he and his royal mother, Queen Helena, went to Palestine, rebuilt Jerusalem, restoring the name after an interregnum of two hundred years. Still the curse of expatriation is on the Jews. Methinks I see the day dawning on the wandering children of Abraham. Certainly the signs of the times portend the speedy fulfillment of the wonderful latter-day prophecies in reference to the hope of Israel.
Terrible has been their retribution. Correspondingly glorious will be their redemption when they shall come from their wanderings in the ends of the earth, and again take their place at the front of the world, to fall and wander no more.
17. We see here Paul’s “hour” indefinitely denoted simply a short period of time.
18. Satan is constantly maneuvering, especially through human instrumentality, to hinder God’s saints in their soul-saving enterprises. Blessed consolation amid all, God is infinitely stronger than the devil, and actually his assaults are a blessing to his true people.
19. The saints are Paul’s hope, joy, and crown, in presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. In this and all other epistles, Paul keeps the second coming of the Lord constantly before the people, thus inspiring them to get ready. Parousia, the Greek translated coming, is from para, along with, and ousa, being. Hence, it means to come and stay, perfectly harmonizing with the pre-millennial view of his glorious reign on the earth after his coming. It literally means his presence.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv14–16 For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of…
For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews [their countrymen];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v16 saved (See Scofield "Rom 1:16")
saved (See Scofield "Rom 1:16")
sins Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v14 Here this means fellow Christians, including both men and…
brothers
Here this means fellow Christians, including both men and women.
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became imitators of the churches
The Thessalonian believers endured persecutions similar to the Judean believers. "became like the churches"
from your own countrymen
"from other Thessalonians"
They forbid us to speak
"They try to make us stop speaking"
they always fill up their own sins
Paul speaks as though someone can fill a container with their own sins as with liquid. (See: Metaphor)
Wrath must come on them in the end
This refers to God finally judging and punishing people for their sins.
translationWords
brother
church
God
Judea
Jesus
suffer
Jew
lord
prophet
Gentile
save
sin
wrath
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14–16 2:14 The evidence that the Thessalonian believers accepted the…
2:14 The evidence that the Thessalonian believers accepted the word of God was that they suffered persecution (1:6). This followed the pattern of the apostles, the churches in Judea (Acts 8:1), and Christ himself.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.