Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Thessalonians 2:17

"But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence not in heart, endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire:" — 1 Thessalonians 2:17 (ASV)

But we, brothers and sisters.—Now comes a change of subject: no longer the memories of the time when St. Paul was among them, but his hopes and fears about them since he left.

“But while you were being persecuted by these reprobate Jews, we, who were driven away from you, were longing to come back to see whether your faith was such an effectual working faith as to support you through it all.”

Taken from you.—Literally, bereaved from you—that is, bereaved by being torn from you; a return to the simile of the mother (1 Thessalonians 2:7), or father (1 Thessalonians 2:11).

The more abundantly.—“So far were we from the proverb, ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ that our very absence gave us a greater yearning after your presence” (1 Corinthians 5:3).