John Calvin 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, brethren, bereaved of you. This explanation has been appropriately added, so that the Thessalonians would not think that Paul had deserted them while so great an emergency demanded his presence. He has spoken of the persecutions which they endured from their own people; he, meanwhile, whose duty it was above all others to assist them, was absent.

He has previously called himself a father; now, it is not the role of a father to desert his children in the midst of such distresses. He, accordingly, counters all suspicion of contempt and negligence by saying that it was from no lack of desire, but because he did not have the opportunity.

Nor does he say simply, “I desired to come to you, but my way was obstructed;” but by the particular terms that he uses, he expresses the intensity of his affection: “When,” he says, “I was bereaved of you.” By the word bereaved, he declares how sad and distressing it was for him to be absent from them. This is followed by a fuller expression of his feeling of desire — that it was with difficulty that he could endure their absence for a short time. It is no wonder if a long time should cause weariness or sadness; but our attachment must be strong when we find it difficult to wait even a single hour. Now, by the space of an hour, he means — a short period of time.

This is followed by a clarification — that he had been separated from them in appearance, not in heart, so that they would know that distance of place does not in any way lessen his attachment. At the same time, this could just as appropriately be applied to the Thessalonians, meaning that they, for their part, had felt united in mind while absent in body; for it was of no small importance for the matter at hand that he should state how fully assured he was of their affection for him in return.

He shows, however, more fully his affection when he says that he endeavored the more abundantly; for he means that his affection was so far from being diminished by his leaving them, that it had been all the more inflamed. When he says, we would once and again, he declares that it was not a sudden heat that quickly cooled (as we sometimes see happen), but that he had been steadfast in this purpose, since he sought various opportunities.