e The Apoftle having ſaid that they kifew they were appointed to ſufferings, tells them here they knew it, becauſe he had told them of jt. ! aul by ſome extraordinary inftin& or Revelation, often fore- aw his ſufferings, and God more generally told him of them at his fit Convertion, As 9. 16. And he told them of them that they might reckon upon lufferings. A faithful Minifter will not only tell the People of the Crown, but of the Croſs of- Chrift, f And what he foretold of his ſufferings, he tells thcm came to paſs, whereby they mizht be ſtrengthened further in their Faith about the Golpe] he had preached to them, and not be offended at his Sutferings, be- ing foretold to them, as well as appointed of God.
5 For this cauſe when I could no longer forbear, ]
J:) /
ONIANS.
7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted ever you!
o He was comforted by this Faith of theirs ia all his own affiction, and diftrets, The faithfulneſs and conſtancy of a People is the grzat comfort of their Teachers. I have no greater joy than to ſee my Childr,n walking in #he ruth, 2 John 3. 4,
8 For now we live, if ye ſtand faſt in the Lord p.
p The comfort of their Faith was ſo great, that it would be as life t& him, if they ſtood faſt in it ; which he calls a ſtanding fi? in 1þ2 Lord, Life is not oniy the Union of Soul and Body. Comfort is tho Life of the Soul, eſpecially that which ſprings from Divine Canſzs, And on the contrary the apoſtacy and :legeneracy of a i'cople doth kil! the hearts of their faithtul Leachers,
9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your ſakes & before our God 7,
q This is another effe& of the melſage 7imotky brought, it cauſed ir; the Apoſtle great Thanſgivinzs to God. Firſt he rejoiced in their Faith, and then gives God thanks for that joy. The matter of his rejoycing - was their Faith, but the Author and upholder of chis Eaith was God ; and in giving thanks to God for his joy, he gives thanks alſo to God for their Faith trom whence it ſprang, The joy that Minifters have in their Peoples Faith ſhould break forth into- Thankſyivings., And the Apoſtles thanks to God was beyond what he could recurn or expreſs, as appears by the form of his ſpeech, For whas thanks can we render, &C, as Pſal, 116. 12, What ſhall I return unto the Lord, faid Di vid, &c, r And his rejoicing before God implies bot}: che nature of it, it was Divine and >piritual, and his reſpe& to God therein, 2 David danced before the Lord with all his might, 2 San. 6, ig. 2. *: With a reſpe& to God's goodne(s then declared. Or the Apoftle may mean his joy was inward before God rather than before men.
10 Night and day * praying exceedingly / that we might ſce your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith t ?
We have here the laſt effed& of Timo:h:us meſſage, upon the A- poſtle, it put him upon Prayer for theſe Th:Jalontns, expreft by the athduity of it, nizhr and day, &c. that is, in a conſtant courle; as we noted before, Chap. 2. 9, And by the fervency of it, exceeingly or excethvely. The Greek word cannot well be Engliſhed, yet often u- ſed by the Apoſtle when he would cypreſs any thing with an emphatis, as Eph. 3.20. and in this Epiſtle, chap. 5. 13, 3 And by the matter of it ; Tpar he might ſee their face, and perfe# that which was lacking t their Faith, Though his Epiſtles might avail towards it, yet his pe ſonal preſence would do more. There is a peculiar bleſſing attend oral Preaching, more than Reading, The like Prayer he made, with reſpect to the Romans, and upon the ſame account alſo, Rom. 1. 10, 11. Though the Apoſtle had before commended their Faith, vea, ther was ſomething lacking in it. No Faith is made perfett at firſt; yea the bett Faith may have ſome defects. And the word is uſed elſewhere to fignifie ſomething that is wanting, or left hehind, x Cor. 16, 17.
it, ſome Myſteries of Faith they might not yet underftand, as the DiC- ciples did not, till after Chriii's Aſcention 5 and ſome of the Corinthi- ans a while doubted the Dottrin of the Reſurretion, 1 Cor. 15. 12, &Cc. 2. Asto the clearnels of it with reſpe& to the Truths they did a;rea- dy know and believe. 3. As to the lively operations and fruits of it, Lhe former defetts are removed by Dottrin, the laſt by Exhortation. and Comfort, and the Apoſtle defired to ſee their face on the account of both : And to perfet a thing, is to make it compleat both as to parts and degrees. 'The word here uſed we find it oft in the New Leftament, 2 Cor. 13. 11. Gal. 6. 1, &c. and variouſly rendred in the leveral tranſlations, but yet much to the ſame ſenſe ; the Avullle beins lo ſuddenly driven trom them, he left them as an houſe ha!f built ;
ſent to know your Faith, leſt by ſome means the tempt-
*Phil, 2, cr had tempted you g, and our labour * be in vain h.
Ie, g The Apoſtle here gives a further account of the reaſon why he ſent Timotheus to them, which was to know their Faith, whether it continued ftedfaft under all their ſufferings and temptations. He feared Satan, whom he calls the-tempter, might have ſome way or other tempted them, either by falſe Teachers to ſeduce them, or ſufferings to affright them. He was more concerned about the inward State of their Souls, than their outward Condition ; and commonly temptations go along with perſecutions : þ And the Apoſtle having beſtowed great labour upon them, feared left it might be in vain, that the Tempter had prevailed. Satan's firft work is,
| to keep men from believing, his next is to deftroy their Faith; young Converts are commonly moſt affaulted, Paul's heart was therefore very ſolicitous for them, ſo that (as he ſaid before) he could not any Jonger forbear ſending to know how it was with them,
| 6 But now, when Timotheus came from you to us, and brought us good tidings of your faith z and chari-
10- 1; 37 || &, and that ye have good remembrance of us always
+ *4, defiring greatly to ſee vs #2, as we allo to ſee you 1.
2 We had before an account of Timorhy's ſending, now of his re- turn, wherein we have the meſſage he brought, and the effect there- of upon the Apoſile, The meſſage may be conſidered, 1. As to its new coming, But now when Timotheus came, &c. ſo that this Epiſtle