Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 3:2

"and sent Timothy, our brother and God`s minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort [you] concerning your faith;" — 1 Thessalonians 3:2 (ASV)

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.