1 Thessalonians 3:7-Paul and Silvanus Were Encouraged Because the Thessalonians Were Remaining Faithful to the Gospel Lesson #44

1 Thessalonians 3:1 So when we could bear it no longer, we decided to stay on in Athens alone. 3:2 We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you about your faith, 3:3 so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 3:4 For in fact when we were with you, we were telling you in advance that we would suffer affliction, and so it has happened, as you well know. 3:5 So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless. 6 But now Timothy has come to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection and long to see us just as we also long to see you! 7 So in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, through your faith. (NET)

The apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 makes two emphatic, emotional statements to the Thessalonian Christian community.

The first is that Paul and Silvanus were encouraged by the report they received from Timothy which is recorded in 1 Thessalonians 3:6 while the second is that they were encouraged by the Thessalonians during all their distress produced by all their adversity by means of the Thessalonians’ post-justification faith in the gospel.

So therefore, the first emphasizes that what encouraged Paul and Silvanus was what the Thessalonians were doing and their attitude toward them.

The second simply personalizes the first emphasizing the Thessalonians were the reason why they were encouraged during all their distress produced by all their adversity by means of their post-justification faith.

That these assertions are emphatic and emotional is indicated by the vocative use of the noun adelphos which is expressing the fact that 1 Thessalonians 3:7 is an emphatic emotional statement from Paul and Silvanus to the Thessalonian Christian community.

The first assertion is tied to the statements in 1 Thessalonians 3:7, which is indicated by the phrase dia touto (διὰ τοῦτο) which is pointing back to the second, third and fourth statements in 1 Thessalonians 3:6, which contains five statements.

The first asserts that Timothy had come back into the presence of Paul and Silvanus.

The second asserts that Timothy by himself communicated to Paul and Silvanus the good news of the Thessalonians’ faith as well as their divine-love.

The third asserts that the Thessalonians were always remembering these two men with affection.

The fourth asserts that the Thessalonians greatly desired to see them again.

The fifth and final assertion states that Paul and Silvanus greatly desired to see the Thessalonians again as well.

Of course, the first and fifth statements do not present the reason why Paul and Silvanus were encouraged by the Thessalonians.

Therefore, a comparison of the second, third and fourth statements in 1 Thessalonians 3:6 and the verb parakaleō which appears in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 indicates that there were four reasons why Paul and Silvanus were encouraged by the news they received from Timothy regarding the Thessalonians.

First, they were encouraged because Timothy communicated to them the good news of the Thessalonians’ faith.

They were also encouraged because Timothy communicated the good news of their divine-love.

Paul and Silvanus were also encouraged because Timothy communicated the good news to them that the Thessalonians were always remembering them with affection.

Lastly, they were encouraged because Timothy communicated to them the good news that the Thessalonians greatly desired to see them again.

Now, notice that the prepositional phrase dia touto, “for these reasons” in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 is redundant and interferes with the syntactical flow of 1 Thessalonians 3:6-7 since this prepositional phrase is causal and the second and third participles in 1 Thessalonians 3:6 are also causal.

Both these participles and this prepositional phrase are expressing the reason why Paul and Silvanus were encouraged with the latter pointing back to the second, third and fourth assertions in 1 Thessalonians 3:6.

This interruption of the syntactical flow is deliberate and called anacoluthon, which is so-called, because the construction with which a proposition begins is abandoned and either for the sake of perspicuity, emphasis or elegance, the sentence proceeds in a manner different from that in which it set out.

Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit employs this figure for emphasis in that he is attempting to catch and fix the attention of the reader.

Here it draws the attention of the reader to the good news Timothy communicated to Paul and Silvanus regarding the spiritual status of the Thessalonians.

Now, the prepositional phrase ephʼ hymin (ἐφʼ ὑμῖν), “about you” personalizes the prepositional phrase dia touto (διὰ τοῦτο), “for these reasons.”

Thus the former is emphasizing the Thessalonians themselves as people were the reason why they were encouraged during all their distress produced by all their adversity by means of their faith while the latter asserts that Timothy’s report about them encouraged them.

The prepositional phrase epi pasē tē anankē kai thlipsei hēmōn (ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ καὶ θλίψει ἡμῶν), “in all our distress and affliction” contains the figure of hendiadys which indicates that the nouns anagkē and thlipsis are not referring to two different concepts but rather one.

This figure indicates that thlipsis is intensifying or advancing upon the idea expressed by anagkē and the advancement and the intensification are that this distress was produced by the adversity Paul and Silvanus experienced.

The adversity which Paul and Silvanus are speaking of here in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 and the distress of soul produced by it is reference to the persecution they were experiencing which was undeserved suffering.

1 Thessalonians 3:7 is not the first time in First Thessalonians that the apostle Paul has mentioned that he and Silvanus experienced undeserved suffering in the form of persecution since he mentions this adversity in 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6, 2:15, and 3:4.

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.

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 and 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.

Now, 1 Thessalonians 3:7 comes to an end with the prepositional phrase dia tēs hymōn pisteōs (διὰ τῆς ὑμῶν πίστεως), “through your faith” which indicates that the Thessalonians’ faith in the gospel was the means by which Paul and Silvanus were encouraged.

This is not a reference to justifying-faith since the Thessalonians were already declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ or in other words, they were already regenerated and thus Christians.

Rather, this faith speaks of their post-justification faith or in other words, their faith they need to exercise in the Word of God after their justification which would enable them to experience their sanctification and salvation and practice the love of God in their lives.

This is indicated by the fact that in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul associates their faith with work, which refers to their Christian service.

This prepositional phrase indicates that Paul and Silvanus main concern regarding the Thessalonians or in other words, that which they were most concerned about was whether or not they were exercising faith in the gospel which they communicated to them prior to their abrupt departure from Thessalonica.

1 Thessalonians 3:7 does not mention the fact that they were obeying the command to love one another but not because it was not important.

So why the emphasis on their post-justification faith in the gospel?

If they did not exercise faith in the gospel, they would not be able to obey the command to love one another and if they did not have faith that God loves them, they would be unable to obey the command to love one another.

Their love for God, each other and the non-believer was the result of them responding “by faith” to the Spirit’s revelation in the gospel that the Father sent His Son to the cross for them when they were His enemies in order that they might possess an eternal relationship and fellowship with Him for all of eternity.

This faith was demonstrated by the Thessalonians obeying the command to love one another which originated with the Father (cf. John 13:34; 15:12; 1 John 3:11, 23, 4:7, 11-12, 21).

So therefore, without faith, the Thessalonians would not obey the command to love another and consequently, because they did exercise faith in the fact that God loves them which was expressed through the work of the Son and the Spirit, they obeyed the command to love another.

Thus, they manifested God’s attribute of love and thereby glorified God and this is why Paul mentions the Thessalonians’ faith first in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 3:2 and 6 and then their love.

Love is important, however, faith was more important because without faith it is impossible to love one another and thus please God (cf. Heb. 11:1-6).