The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 11

he W8I! of older st.:ind_ing ,rnd greater weight in the Church than Timothy, a compara- t 1,•.,ly young evan;:<'hst. II. Tez Ouunc11 TO WHICH THR SALUTATION WA8 ADDRESSED. "To the Church of the Th8811Rlonians in God the FaLher and the Lord Jesus Christ." 1. It, situation. Thessalonica wa_s t.he capital of all Macedonia, and is still the srcond'city of European Turkey. Important then as now by its commerce; important by its place on the great road which connected Rome with its Asiatic dependencies; but more important in the eye of tbe apostle as a grand centre of missionary operations both by land and sea and with a mingled population of Jews and Gentiles. 2. Its true charactei· as a Church. It was "the Church of the Thessalonians "-a regularly organized community of Chris- tians, mostly Gentiles, having the root and ground of its spiritual existence in union with the Father and the Sun. They were" in the fellowship of the Father and the Son," because they were "dwelling in God, and God in them," and "they were in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ." The one fellowship implies the other; fur ,Jesus said," No man cometh unto the Father but by me;" yet it is also true that it is " God who calls us into the fellowship of the Son" (1 Oor. i. 9). This double fellow- ship is secured by the bond of the Holy Spirit. As enjoyed by the Thessalonians it implied: (1) Their devotion to the truth; for only "as abiding in the doctrine of Christ" they would have "both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9; 1 John ii. 24). There is no fellowship but in the truth. To be in darkness is to be out of fellow- ship (1 John i. 6). (2) Their unity. "Even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John ir:viL 21). (3) 'l'heir love to one another. "If we love one another God abideth in us" (1 John iv. 12). (4) Their boldness in the day of judgment (1 John ii 28). (5) Their ultimate perfection. "I in them, a,nd thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (John ir:vil. 21-23). Behold thus the high dignity and blessed privilege of the Church at Thessalonica. IIL THE SALUTATION. " Grace and peace be unto you." (See homiletical hint.a on Gal. i 6 ; CoL i. 2.}-T. C. Vera. 2, 3.-Heartjelt tl,anl.-sgivi"1} for epiritual pro,perity. The apostle begins by a full and earnest expression of thanksgiving such as is characteristic of all his Epistles except that to the Galatians. L Tim GROUND OF TH.ANXSGIVDIG. " Remembering without ceasing _your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." We consider here: L The graces of the (Jhristian life. We have here, in the first Epistle ever written by the apostle, his favourite trilogy of Christian principles. (1) 'l'he three graces are fundament&L ,Al!, the three principal colours of the rainbow-red, yellow, and blue, representing respectively heat, light, and purifying power-supply in their combi- nation all the other colours, so, by a sort of moral analysis, it can be shown that faith, J,ope, and love lie at the foundation, or enter into the composition, of all other Chris- tian graces whatever. (2) They are three inseparable graces. Faith always worka by love, and love is in.separable from hope, ,for "hope maketh not ashamed, because the luve of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost" (Rom. v. 5). Faith is the necessary root, as hope and love ·are its unfailing fruits. As faith works by love, it is also the subst&nceof things hoped for. (3) They are at once the derence and the adorn- ment of Christian life. " Let us, who are of the day, be sober, puttiug on the hreast- 1,late of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation" (eh. v. 8). (4) They are the abiding principles of Christian life: "Now abideth faith, hope, love, these tliree" (1 Cor. xiii. 13). 'l'hey do not die with death; for in eternity the Uh urch will be mad~ perfect in love, as it will ever continue to trust in the Lord, and hupe for new developments of truth and new disclosures of blessedness. 2. The practical asped oj the!Je gracetJ asfOf'ces in the life of the Chui-eh. There is a climax in the exliiu1tion of the three graces. The apostle does not say, "the work of faith, the work of love, the work of hope," but ascends from work to labour, and from labour to eudurance. There is a work that is a refreshing exercise of our energie~, but it involves no exhaustion or fatigue ; but when work ha.s deepened into lauour we become conscious of the liruitation of our strength, e.nd then we have to call in the new principle of tndurance, or "patience," if we are to carry it to a triumphant result. (1) The work· of faith points I.() a work B}'ringing out of faith; for faith is the most active of all the principles which vii. I. 1-10.] 'l'llE .l<'lHS'l' J<:PlS'l'LE TO THE TIIESSALONIANS. 7