1 Thessalonians 3.3-Paul and Silas Were Destined to Suffer Undeservedly (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday July 21, 2024

First Thessalonians Series: 1 Thessalonians 3:3-Paul and Silas Were Destined to Suffer Undeservedly

Lesson # 39

1 Thessalonians 3:1 Therefore, because I existed in the state of not being able to endure it any longer, I thought it best to be left alone in Athens. 2 Also, I have sent Timothy our brother as well as fellow-worker for the one and only God with regards to the proclamation of the one and only gospel about the one and only Christ in order to strengthen each and every one of you, yes for the purpose of exhorting and encouraging for the benefit of your faith. 3 Specifically that absolutely no one would be unsettled by these adversities because you yourselves are well aware of the fact that each one of us are destined for this. (Pastor’s translation)

As we noted in our study of 1 Thessalonians 3:2, the apostle Paul informs the Thessalonian Christian community that he sent Timothy to them in order to strengthen them and specifically by exhorting and encouraging them for the benefit of their faith.

This statement is an addition to the statement in 1 Thessalonians 3:1, which asserts that because Paul could no longer endure that he did not know how the Thessalonians were doing spiritually, he thought it best to be left alone in Athens.

Therefore, a comparison of these two verses indicates that in addition to thinking it would be best to be left alone in Athens by Silas and Timothy, Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians to minister to their spiritual needs.

Based upon Paul’s statements in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 in which he asserts in these verses that he and Silas were hindered by Satan from visiting the Thessalonians and ministering to their spiritual needs, it is understandable why Paul felt an urgent need to send Timothy to accomplish this task.

Now, the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:3 continues his thought from 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2.

The former contains an appositional clause which is then followed by a causal clause.

This appositional clause identifies specifically for the reader what Paul is concerned about regarding the Thessalonians’ faith, which we noted he mentions at the end of verse 2.

Therefore, a comparison of these two verses indicates that he does not want the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel to become unsettled by the persecutions they were experiencing because of this faith.

Specifically, they indicate that Paul does not want the Thessalonians to exist in the state of being unsettled in their post-justification faith in the gospel message by being persecuted because of this faith so as to abandon their belief in the gospel and thus abandon their belief in Jesus Christ.

The “trials” mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 3:3 are a reference to the persecutions the Thessalonians were experiencing since the whole tenor of 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5 is clearly expressing Paul’s great concern for the Thessalonians’ spiritual well-being.

This is why he sent Timothy in the first place to them to ascertain their status.

Further supporting this interpretation is that Paul mentions this concern about their faith in 1 Thessalonians 3:5.

The causal clause which brings to an end 1 Thessalonians 3:3 presents the reason why the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel should not be unsettled.

It emphatically asserts that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community was well aware of the fact that they and Paul, Silas and Timothy and all Christians are destined for persecution because of their faith in the gospel.

So therefore, this causal clause indicates that Paul did not want the Thessalonians to be unsettled with regards to their post-justification faith in the gospel message because they were well aware of the fact that they were destined for persecution by God the Father in eternity past.

1 Thessalonians 3:4 reveals that they would be well aware of this fact because when Paul and Silas were with them, they were telling them in advance that he and Silas would suffer persecution.

The implication is that if Paul and Silas were persecuted for proclaiming the gospel to them, the Thessalonians would be persecuting likewise for accepting by faith the gospel and living by means of it.

This is indicated by the fact that it is the common lot of God’s people that they suffer persecution at times for believing in the gospel and proclaiming it to others.

Each and every Christian who exercises faith in the gospel after their justification is destined by God to suffer persecutions because of their faith in the gospel message.

The implication is that this had been established by the sovereign will of God so that there is a divine purpose for the Christian suffering persecution.

James 1:2-4 teaches that the Lord will test the believer’s faith after justification in order to produce endurance in them.

James 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 2 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance 3 and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (NASB95)

James 1:12 also teaches that the Lord rewards the believer after his post-justification faith has been tested.

James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (NASB95)

The apostle Paul taught Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12 that every believer who does at any time desire to live a godly life by means of fellowship with Jesus Christ will certainly be persecuted.

Second Timothy 3:12 Now, in fact, each and every one who does at any time desire to live a godly life by means of fellowship with the Christ, who is Jesus, will certainly be persecuted. (Pastor’s translation)

Paul’s declaration here in Second Timothy 3:12 that each and every Christian who does at any time desire to live a godly life by means of fellowship with Jesus Christ will certainly be persecuted is a divine promise to the Christian.

It is designed to reassure the godly Christian that persecution is a part of the Father’s plan for the Christian to advance them to spiritual maturity.

It is designed to draw them into a more intimate fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit.

One of the identifying marks of a spiritually mature Christian is that of being persecuted by others for not conforming to the ungodly way of life in Satan’s cosmic system.

As Billy Graham once noted, “it is unnatural for Christianity to be popular.”

Persecution can take various forms in different countries and in different ages. Some persecution is blatantly overt and some persecution is very subtle taking the form of rejection which can include being ignored, patronized or mocked. It can take the form of condescension as well.

Both forms express the hostility of those who are enslaved to sin and Satan and his cosmic system.

This is not the first time in First Thessalonians that Paul has mentioned the Thessalonian Christian community experiencing undeserved suffering in the form of persecution since he mentions this about them in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and 2:14.

1 Thessalonians 1:2 We make it our habit of always giving thanks to the one and only God (the Father) on behalf of each and every one of you because we constantly make it our practice of bringing each and every one of you into remembrance during our prayers. 3 Specifically, because we make it our habit of remembering in the presence God, our Father, your work, which was produced by your faith, as well as your labor, which was motivated by your divine-love and also your perseverance which was produced by your confident expectation of blessing from our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 Furthermore, because each one of us possesses the conviction He elected each and every one of you to privilege brothers and sisters, divinely loved by the one and only God (who is the Father). 5 At the same time, each and every one of us possesses the conviction that our proclamation of the gospel was by no means manifested by the act of speaking only but on the contrary, by means of power as well. Specifically, it was manifested by means of the Holy Spirit’s power as well as with deep conviction. In the same way, each one of you possesses the conviction regarding the quality of character each one of us as individuals manifested among each one of you for the benefit of each of you. 6 Consequently, each one of you entered into the state of imitating each one of us and as a result the one and only Lord because each one of you received our teaching in the midst of great adversity with a joy produced by the Spirit, who is holy. (Pastor’s translation)

1 Thessalonians 2:13 Now, because of this, each one of us always makes it our habit of giving thanks to the one and only God, namely that, when each one of you received a message originating from this God which was obediently heard from each one of us, each one of you for your own benefit never received it as a message originating from human beings. On the contrary, for your own benefit, you accepted it as truly being a message originating from God, which for His own benefit, is also working in each one of you who are believers. 14 In fact, each one of you brothers and sisters entered into the state of imitating God’s congregations who live in Judea in union and fellowship with Christ Jesus. Specifically, each of you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they themselves also did from the Jews. (Pastor’s translation)