Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 3

Paul gives as his reason for sending Timothy: “We could stand [GK 5095] it no longer.” This verb has the metaphorical meaning of “hold out against.” Paul was at this point unable to stand his ignorance of how his precious converts were faring in persecution. His personal trials meant far less to him than those for whom he suffered vicariously in Christ.

Paul’s sincerity is therefore demonstrated by his willingness to do without his cherished co-worker Timothy and to remain alone in a strange city (Athens) dominated by pagan philosophy and animosity toward the Gospel (cf. Acts 17:16– 34)—“we” here probably means Paul himself; cf. “I, Paul” in 2:18 and “I” in 3:5.

Some are troubled by the problem of harmonizing Timothy’s movements with those recorded in Ac 17–18. But Luke does not write about everything in Paul’s itinerary. In this case he omits the visit of Silas and Timothy to Athens. According to this verse, they came to Paul while he was in Athens and were sent back again to the Macedonian cities, Timothy going to Thessalonica (cf. v.1). With Silas’s departure prior to or simultaneous with Timothy’s, the apostle was subjected to an almost intolerable state of loneliness until their subsequent return when he was at Corinth (Acts 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:6). And he was willing to endure this only for the sake of benefitting the Thessalonians and satisfying his thirst for news about them.

Timothy was valuable not only to Paul, but also to Christians more generally, for he was their “brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ” (cf. Php 2:19–24). Timothy was a spiritual brother in the truest sense and an effective servant of God, and for Paul to choose him to go to Thessalonica demonstrates again his genuine concern for the Christians there.

Timothy’s mission was “to strengthen and encourage” the Thessalonians in their “faith,” as Paul himself usually did (Acts 14:22; 15:32, 41; Acts 18:23; Romans 1:11; Romans 16:25; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17; 2 Thessalonians 3:3). Dependence on God in faith was their only recourse in adversity. They could remain faithful only as they let him supply inner strength (see also v.10).

Paul remained in Athens while he sent Timothy and Titus back to Macedonia. This restored amphitheater in Athens is still in use.

Timothy told them not to be “unsettled by these trials.” “Trials” (or “afflictions”; GK 2568) are the stiffest test of faith. Such is the inevitable lot of Christ’s followers (e.g., Jn 16:33), just as it was for their Master (cf. Jn 15:18– 16:4). These trials are not to be identified with the end-time tribulation just before Christ’sparousia, which will mark the culmination of God’s wrath against the ungodly (Matthew 24:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:6). Rather, they are part of the church’s ongoing experience, as Paul indicates in v.4. Paul had already told them that trials are an inevitable part of Christian experience (3:3; cf. Acts 14:22); Timothy was to reinforce this message.

Timothy told them not to be “unsettled by these trials.” “Trials” (or “afflictions”; GK 2568) are the stiffest test of faith. Such is the inevitable lot of Christ’s followers (e.g., Jn 16:33), just as it was for their Master (cf. Jn 15:18– 16:4). These trials are not to be identified with the end-time tribulation just before Christ’sparousia, which will mark the culmination of God’s wrath against the ungodly (Matthew 24:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:6). Rather, they are part of the church’s ongoing experience, as Paul indicates in v.4. Paul had already told them that trials are an inevitable part of Christian experience (3:3; cf. Acts 14:22); Timothy was to reinforce this message.

In this situation, Paul, speaking now only of himself at this point, was constrained to find out through Timothy the state of their faith. He knew that “the tempter” (i.e., Satan; cf. Matthew 4:3) had been at work among them and that God permits the enemy this activity. What Paul did not know about the Thessalonians, however, was whether or not the tempter’s solicitations had been successful, making his work and that of his colleagues “useless.”