Explanation of the Text: 1Thess 3:5 Timothy sent to find out the Condition of their faith

T
1Th 3:5  For this reason I also, when I could no longer endure the uncertainty, sent to know the condition of your faith, lest perchance the Tempter might have tempted you and our labour have been lost.


Since I knew that you were so liable to be persecuted, and since I feared that some might be turned from the truth by this opposition. Barnes
Notes: I sent to Know (eis to gnonai)
Image result for picture of asia bibi
Aisia Bibi in Jail in Pakistan
when I — Greek, “when I also (as well as Timothy, who, Paul delicately implies, was equally anxious respecting them, compare “we,” 1Th_3:1), could no longer contain myself (endure the suspense).”
sent to know the condition of your faith.That is, your fidelity. or your steadfastness in the gospel. Barnes. He wanted to know whether they were holding firm or vacillating under the strain of the Persecution. So often Persecution and suffering is designed to turn believers away from the faith.

In Malaysia new Converts from Islam are placed in reeducation camps which make it very difficult for them. So many Muslims have seen through the face of Islam in our day thatthey are turning to Christ in their Thousands, especially after the Shias and Sunnis have been fighting one another for years. Muslims have been killing other Muslims by their 100s of thousands. eg. Syria.

lest perchance the Tempter might have tempted you and our labour have been lost. 

The Tempter Matthew 4:3  So the Tempter came to Jesus and said, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to turn into loaves of bread.
Matthew 6:13 In the Lord's Prayer: "And bring us not into temptation but rescue us from the Evil One."
Paul realized that the Thessalonians were liable to be persecuted and even chased, so he feared that some might be turned from the faith by the opposition.

The Jewish opposition was the immediate opposition in those transactions, yet Paul regarded this as being under the direction of Satan to accomplish his purpose. Satan was the real author of those persecutions. He tempts people to swerve from the Faith. Barnes.

our labour have been lost. 
an our efforts to have been useless. NIV.
Reliance on God is the key to the Christian Life and this is just what the Tempter wants to attack. Paul's whole thrust in his ministry was that the Thessalonians would believe, trust and rely on God in the midst of sore trials.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explanation of the Text: 1 Thess 5:5-6 Offspring of the LIGHT.

Image
1Th 5:5  You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night, or of darkness.  Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be calm.  ____________________________________________________________________________ Notes  You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day .  This is definitely connected to the previous verse 4. But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief.  You have no reason to fear the Coming Day of the Lord, for you are all Sons of the Light and Sons of the Day. You have been 'Born Again'. There has been a spiritual transformation in your life whereby the Spirit of God has transformed your life, and therefore now you resemble your Father in character (intellectually, morally, and spiritually illuminated. Joh 12:36  While you have the Light, believe in the Light so that you may become sons of Light. Jesus spoke these things and departed and was hidde
Read more

Explanation of the Text 1 Thess. 2:7 Paul's Gentle Approach to the Thessalonians

Image
1 Thess 2:7 On the contrary, in our relations to you we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children W.N.T. 1Th 2:7  even though as apostles of Christ we could have made demands on you. But we were gentle when we were with you, like a mother taking care of her children. GNB Instead of using authority, we used only the most kind and gentle methods to win you and to promote your peace and order. The word here rendered “nurse,” may mean any one who nurses a child, whether a mother or another person. It seems here to refer to a mother (compare 1Th_2:11), and the idea is, that the apostle felt for them the affectionate solicitude which a mother does for the child at her breast. A Daddy Blog young brunette mother breastfeeding her baby gentle: G2261  ἤπιος  ēpios  ay'-pee-os Probably from G2031; properly affable, that is, mild or kind: - gentle. What a picture of a 'mother nursing her baby lovingly.'  She cherishes her
Read more

Background to 1 Thessalonians

Image
     Read Acts 17 (1-9) Paul and Silas's  First Visit to Thessalonica. The Bustling City Today. The Thessalonians were Pagans. Paul and Silas arrived in Thessaloniki after walking about 144 kms from Philip-pi where they had been abused, bashed and imprisoned unjustly. They preached the Good News of Jesus there for just three weeks and left  a church in the homes of Jason, Aristarchus and Secundus. Thessalonica was the Provincial Capital of Macedonia. It was on the  Via Egnatia from Byzantium to Rome; a natural port and a free city  in the Roman Empire. Wikipedia Maps. The Greek Religion  was bound by civic and domestic rituals which  had to be visible. They paid their respects to their deities who acted as  their 'patrons'. They had Feast Days; sacrifices; celebrations, and Games which were all public events.. Every event had it's religious ceremonies;  even the banquets, games and business transactions. In every household their
Read more