1 Thessalonians 3.8-Paul and Silas Were Joyful Because the Thessalonians Remained in Fellowship (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday August 11, 2024

First Thessalonians Series: 1 Thessalonians 3:8-Paul and Silas Were Joyful Because the Thessalonians Remained in Fellowship

Lesson # 44

1 Thessalonians 3:8 Consequently, we are now living, if each and every one of you continue to remain in fellowship with the Lord. (Pastor’s translation)

1 Thessalonians 3:8 is composed of a fifth class condition, which serves to affirm that the Thessalonians were remaining faithful to the gospel after their justification.

However, it also serves as a warning to them that they must continue to exercise faith in the gospel so that Paul and Silas could continue being free of anxiety regarding their spiritual status.

This fifth class conditional statement presents a hypothetical situation and the effect this hypothetical situation will have on Paul and Silas.

They would not be anxious about the Thessalonians’ spiritual state but rather joyful if they continue to stand firm in fellowship with the Lord.

Now, the apodosis of this fifth class condition serves to explain or clarify the assertion in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 that Paul and Silas were encouraged by means of the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel.

A comparison of 1 Thessalonians 3:6 and 7 indicates that this faith was also the reason why they were encouraged as well.

Specifically, the apodosis of this fifth class condition identifies the implication of the Thessalonians continuing to exercise faith in the gospel after their justification.

It asserts that Paul and Silas were living, which means that they were no longer experiencing anxiety with regards to the Thessalonians but rather joy after hearing the good news about them from Timothy.

1 Thessalonians 3:8 is epexegetical because it explains the previous assertion in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 that Paul and Silas were encouraged by means of the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel.

Specifically, it explains the result or implication of this assertion in verse 7.

Therefore, this would be expressing the idea that Paul and Silas were encouraged by the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel “to the effect that” or “with the result that” they were living.

Thus, verse 8 is explaining that experiencing fellowship with the Lord is the inevitable consequence of the child of God exercising faith in the gospel after their justification.

Specifically, this epexegetical clause is explaining the implication or the result of the Thessalonians continuing to remain faithful to the gospel after their justification, which is that Paul and Silas were no longer were experiencing anxiety about the Thessalonians but rather joy.

This stands in direct contrast to the period prior to these two men receiving the good news from Timothy that they were remaining faithful.

The protasis of this fifth class condition asserts that this lack of anxiety would continue if the Thessalonians continued to remain in fellowship with the Lord.

This fellowship would be the result of continuing to appropriate by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

Therefore, 1 Thessalonians 3:8 reveals that Paul and Silas were no longer experiencing anxiety with regards to the spiritual state of the Thessalonians as a result of hearing this good news from Timothy.

In 1 Thessalonians 3:8, the verb zaō (ζάω) means “to live” and is employed in a figurative hyperbolic sense of experiencing the removal of anxiety and experience of joy.

Therefore, this verb means “to live” in the sense that Paul and Silas no longer were experiencing anxiety but rather joy because of not knowing the status of the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel.

It does not speak of experiencing eternal life since both men were experiencing eternal life and thus fellowship with God because of their own obedience to the gospel.

Paul is using hyperbole, which “is a type of overstatement in order to increase the effect of what is being said.”

A hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration, in which more is said than is literally meant, in order to add emphasis.

Therefore, this word zaō is a deliberate exaggeration designed to emphasize with the Thessalonians, Paul and Silas’ great love and concern for them.

It is an overstatement in order to increase the effect of saying they were no longer experiencing anxiety but rather joy as a result of hearing the good news about the Thessalonians remaining faithful to the gospel despite experiencing persecution.

Therefore, this verb expresses the idea that they were breathing a sigh of relief after hearing the good news from Timothy that the Thessalonians were remaining faithful to the gospel despite experiencing persecution.

In 1 Thessalonians 3:8, the verb stēkō (στήκω), “are standing” pertains to the Thessalonians continuing to remain in the state of experiencing fellowship with the Lord which is the result of appropriating faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ.

Now, this verb stēkō (στήκω), “are standing” and the prepositional phrase en kyriō (ἐν κυρίῳ), “in the Lord,” which modifies it express the concept of perseverance and in fact, Paul mentions the Thessalonians’ perseverance in 1 Thessalonians 1:3.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:3, the noun hupomonē (ὑπομονή), “endurance” is used with regards to the Thessalonian Christian community practicing this godly virtue so as to exemplify it.

It speaks of them continuing to make it their habit of practicing godly perseverance which is produced by the Holy Spirit so as to exemplify this godly virtue.

It refers to them remaining faithful to the Lord by being obedient to the Word of God despite the obstacles in life such as the old sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan.

It refers to them bearing up under intense pressure and not quitting on God and depicts them as enduring undeserved suffering on behalf of the communication of the gospel.

In the New Testament, hupomonē (ὑπομονή), “endurance” is used primarily to denote perseverance, which is steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, and a state and suggests activity maintained in spite of intense pressure, difficulties, steadfast and long continued application.

For the Christian, “perseverance” is remaining faithful by being obedient to the Word of God despite the obstacles in life such as the old sin nature, self, the cosmic system of Satan and is bearing up under intense pressure and not quitting on God.

Now, in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, the elpis (ἐλπίς), “hope” means “confident expectation” of blessing in the form of receiving a resurrection body from the Lord Jesus Christ at the rapture of the church as well as rewards for faithful service from Him at the Bema Seat.

This confident expectation empowered the Thessalonians to remain faithful and to persevere in serving God, each other and the non-Christian community.

The noun elpis (ἐλπίς), “hope” functions as a genitive of production, which indicates that the Thessalonians’ perseverance was “produced by” their confident expectation of receiving a resurrection body as well as rewards for faithful service at the Bema Seat.