‘You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves towards you who believe, as you know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying, to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Paul now calls on a twofold witness to the truth of what he is saying, and each is called on three times. The Thessalonian Christians are themselves witnesses. Compare 1 Thessalonians 2:2, ‘you know', 1 Thessalonians 2:9, ‘you remember', but here the ‘you' is emphatic The idea is getting stronger. And Paul now again calls on God as a witness. Compare 1 Thessalonians 2:4, ‘God Who proves the heart', 1 Thessalonians 2:5, ‘God is witness'.
‘How holily and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves towards you who believe.' Again a threefold combination emphasising completeness. Compare 1Th 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. ‘Holily' stresses the rightness of their behaviour in God' eyes in their religious approach, righteously stresses the rightness of their behaviour in God's eyes in terms of right and wrong, unblameably stresses the faultlessness of their behaviour before God. ‘Towards you who believe.' Christians are regularly thought of as ‘believers', the idea being that there is only one truth, Jesus Christ (compare John 14:6), and therefore no object need be stated.
‘As a father with his own children.' First the nursing mother, now the father. No closer relationship could be described. Compare Psalms 103:13. They were father and mother to them in the best sense of the words. Note the interesting comparison of the nursing mother ‘cherishing' her children, and the father ‘exhorting and encouraging'.
‘Each one of you.' This is emphatic. He had taken a personal interest in each one. None had been neglected.
‘Exhorting you, and encouraging and testifying --.' The emphatic ‘you' probably connects with all three verbs. ‘Exhorting' has in mind awakening and spurring on. The word for ‘encouraging' is found in John 11:19; John 11:31 where it refers to comforting the bereaved. It is a very tender word. ‘Testifying' stresses that the exhortation and gentle encouragement was on the basis of a truth testified to. It was not just general platitude, but based on response to specific truths.
‘To the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.' The truths are now stated. They walk before God Who has called them under His kingly rule and to share His glory. (The present tense stresses that the call is continual and never ceasing). They must therefore walk worthily of Him. Response to the Good News brings a man into a personal relationship with God. He can no longer be what he was. He has been called to be God-like, a true representative of the King. Note the close connection between the kingdom and God's glory. To be in the Kingdom is to share His glory. Thus the final idea here is of the heavenly kingdom, and yet it is something that we can enjoy now.
The idea of ‘the Kingly Rule of God' appears in the Old Testament, first at Sinai where it is implicit and God becomes His people's sovereign (explicit in Deuteronomy 33:5; Exodus 19:6 compare Psalms 5:2; Psalms 10:16; Psalms 22:8; Psalms 24:7-10; Psalms 29:10; Psalms 44:4; Psalms 45:6; Psalms 47:2; Psalms 74:12; Psalms 95:3; Psalms 98:6; Psalms 103:19; Psalms 145:1; Psalms 145:11-13; Psalms 149:2 where He is also king of all the earth), and then in the ideal fulfilment of what was expressed there in the coming time when God's rule will be established and acknowledged and all will walk in obedience to Him (e.g. Zechariah 14:9; Zechariah 14:16-17; Isaiah 24:23; Obadiah 1:21; Zephaniah 3:15). It is also linked with the establishing of His righteous King (e.g. Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-10; Ezekiel 37:22-24; Daniel 7:13-14; Zechariah 9:9).
Jesus pointed to the Kingly Rule of God as ‘at hand' (e.g. Mark 1:15), and taught both its present fulfilment in those who responded to God through His teaching (Matthew 6:33; Matthew 12:28; Matthew 21:31; Matthew 21:43; Mark 4:26; Mark 4:30; Mark 9:1; Mark 10:14-15; Mark 12:34; Luke 7:28; Luke 9:27; Luke 10:9; Luke 11:20; Luke 16:16; Luke 17:21; Luke 18:17; John 3:3-5 compare Acts 8:12; Acts 14:22; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31; Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 4:20) and its future fulfilment when all things will be under God as King (Mark 14:25; Luke 13:29; Luke 22:16-18; Luke 19:11; Luke 21:31; compare 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Galatians 5:21; Colossians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5). Indeed He Himself would be the King (Matthew 16:28; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 25:31-46).
The idea behind the Kingly Rule of God is not of rule over an area of land, but of holding sway over His people. Christians are under the Kingly Rule of God wherever they are as they respond to Him. But the ideal will be fulfilled when all is under His sway and He is all in all (1Co 15:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:28; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54), and His people share His glory.