and under the Romans it had the additional advantage of lying on the Via Egnatia, which led from the western shores of Greece to Byzantium, and the East. Its magistrates were named woλɩrápɣai, a peculiar title, and the accuracy of St. Luke in calling them by this name is confirmed by an inscription on an arch of the time of the early Emperors, in which this unique title is given to them. It appears to have had in all times of its history a large population of Jews, and a small number could scarcely have persecuted the Apostles, and made their animosity felt in other cities in the way described by St. Luke.

THE

FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

PAUL

CHAP. I.

AUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace

b

a 2 Cor. i. 19. 2 Thess. i. 1.

1 Pet. v. 12. b Eph. i. 2.

1. “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians," &c. How is it that Silvanus and Timotheus are joined with the Apostle in writing this his first letter? Because, as I have before said, he desired to associate his companions and fellow-helpers with himself, as in some degree sharing his authority. The Epistle is entirely his own, not one word contributed by either of them, and yet as they had frequently to occupy his place in his absence, or when he sent them on messages to the Church, he wished, as far as possible, to invest them with something of Apostolical authority.

Both Silvanus and Timotheus were his fellow-helpers in planting the Church of Thessalonica after his departure from Philippi. Timotheus seems to have joined him at Thessalonica, and when he departed to Athens they were left there (Acts xvii. 14).

Silvanus is always called by St. Luke Silas, but by the Apostle always with the full name. He is mentioned before Timotheus, most probably because he was before him in the Gospel, being a prominent person in the Mother Church of Jerusalem before Timothy became a Christian (Acts xv. 32).

"The church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ." This is the first sentence of St. Paul's writing which has come down to us, and in it we have the

be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

c Rom. i. 8. Eph. i. 16.

Philem. 4.

2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;

1. "From God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." So N, A., C., D., E., K., L., P., most Cursives, d, e, &c. ; but B., F., G., 47, 73, 115, f, g, Vulg., Syriac, &c., omit.

assertion of that which may be called his characteristic doctrinethat as Christians can be in God, so they can be in Christ. They are “in” a Man Who is at the right hand of God, just as they are “in” the God, in Whom we live and move and have our being. That Christ should be thus set forth as containing the Church, just as God contains it, is a very deep mystery, but it is one which the Apostle was raised up to set forth (Ephes. iii. 6). It may be said to underlie the teaching of every Epistle, particularly those to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Ephesians, and the Colossians. "Ye in me, and I in you" "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." This is the way in which the Lord sets forth the mystery, and this Apostle was especially commissioned to take up and dwell upon it, and show how it bears upon all Christian life. So that the Apostle strikes the key note of his teaching in his very first Epistle, and in its first verse.

"Grace be unto you, and peace." "Grace," that is, the power to apprehend God and subdue sin and live holily. "Peace" has especially to do with their dwelling together in unity; and this was, in the eyes of the Apostle, of supreme necessity, for the grace of God could not continue with those who did not love one another, as another Apostle said, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light" (1 John ii. 10).

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2. We give thanks to God always

making mention,"

&c. St. Paul almost invariably begins his Epistles with thanks to God for the grace of God manifested in them; thus in Romans i. 8, "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all." 1 Corinthians, i. 4, "I thank my God always on your behalf." The only instance to the contrary is that to the Galatians, of whom he has to say, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain (iv. 11). This is a proof quite as clear and cogent as any dogmatic

CHAP. I.]

d

YOUR WORK OF FAITH.

3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of

assertion that he recognizes all Christian living as entirely the work of the grace of God.

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3. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope," &c. Here we have the three great abiding graces mentioned also at the beginning of his teaching and mentioned in such wise as to show that they never could be alone. Faith, if it be true, must work; love, if it be sincere, must labour; hope, if it is not to be ashamed, must endure with patience. Chrysostom, in expounding this passage, carries the Apostle's remembrances back to the first preaching of the Gospel among them. and the sufferings they then endured: "What is the work of faith? That nothing has turned aside your steadfastness. For this is the work of faith. If thou believest, suffer all things: if thou dost not suffer thou dost not believe. For are not the things promised such, that he who believes would choose to suffer even ten thousand deaths. The kingdom of heaven is set before him and immortality and eternal life. He, therefore, that believes will suffer all things. Faith then is shown through his works.”.

“And your labour of love. Why? what labour is it to love? Merely to love is none at all. But to love sincerely is great labour. For tell me, when many things are stirred up that would draw us from love and we hold out against them all, is it not labour? For what did not these men suffer, that they might not revolt from their love? Did not they that warred on the Gospel go to Paul's host (Acts xvii. 5, 6), and not having found him, drag Jason before the rulers of the city? Tell me is this a slight labour when the seed is not yet taken root to endure so great a storm-so many trials.

"And patience (he says) of hope. For that persecution was not confined to one time, but was continual; and they warred not only with Paul the master, but with his disciples also. For if they were thus affected towards those who wrought miracles, these venerable men, what, think ye, were their feelings towards those who dwelt among them, their fellow-citizens, who had all of a sudden revolted from them?"