CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Thessalonians 3:3. That no man should be moved.—The word seems to imply “moved to softness,” as Professor Jowett intimates. It is used especially of the motion of a dog’s tail as it fawns on its master. So the word passes over to the mental sphere (compare on St. James’s figure, 1 Thessalonians 1:6). “That no man should amidst his calamities be allured by the flattering hope of a more pleasant life to abandon his duty” (Tittmann).
1 Thessalonians 3:4. We should suffer tribulation.—In the verse previous the noun from the same root as the one here translated “suffer tribulation” is given as “afflictions.” “The actual persecution of the Roman government was slight, but what may be termed social persecution and the illegal violence employed towards the first disciples unceasing” (Jowett).
1 Thessalonians 3:5. When I could no longer forbear … sent to know.—The whole verse shows the tension of the apostle’s mind.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Thessalonians 3:3-5
The Perils of Suffering.
A storm among the Highlands of Scotland often effects great and rapid changes. The huge mountain that slumbers harmlessly in the sunshine, with such calm and sullen majesty, is transformed by the tempest into a monster of fury. Its sides are suddenly sheeted with waterfalls, and the ferocious torrents work devastation among the glens and straths that lie in their impetuous course. The trees and shrubs that are but slightly rooted are swept away, and only the firmly grounded survive. So it is when the storm of persecution breaks upon the gospel and its adherents. The new converts, the roots of whose faith have not penetrated so deeply into the soil of truth, are in danger of being disturbed and carried away. Their peril is matter of anxiety to the Christian worker. Hence the apostle sends Timothy, and writes this epistle to the Thessalonians, to confirm and establish them in the faith. He shows:—
I. That suffering is the inevitable lot of God’s people.—
1. That suffering is a divine ordinance. “For ye yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto” (1 Thessalonians 3:3). A strange way, one would think, of reconciling people to affliction, by telling them that they have nothing else to expect. It is a grand proof of the triumph of the gospel over the rebellious human heart that it prescribes such conditions and reconciles men to the acceptance of them; and it does so both by the grace which it imparts for the present and by the glorious hope it holds out for the future. It is laid down as a law of Christian progress “that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.” The very purity of the Church, imperfect as it is, coming into contact with the sin and misery prevalent in the world, produces suffering. “Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” It is enough for us to know that our trials do not happen without the knowledge and consent and purpose and control of God, and that their extent and duration are regulated by His infinite, fatherly wisdom and love. The divine appointment of suffering is designed for our highest discipline and culture—withdrawing our affections from the temporal and centring them on eternal realities; exposing our hypocrisies and cleansing the moral corruptions that have entered into our lives, like filth on standing waters, and strengthening us to do the right, undismayed by the bitterest afflictions. The greatest suffering often brings us into the neighbourhood of the greatest blessing. “Gold is cleaner after it has been put into the fire: be thou gold, and the fiery persecution shall not hurt thee.”
2. That suffering was the subject of frequent apostolic warning.—“For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation” (1 Thessalonians 3:4). It is intimated here that it was not so much one single statement on some particular occasion as it was the constant and habitual tenor of the apostle’s teaching that suffering was to be expected. Paul himself was an illustrious example of heroic fortitude in suffering for Christ’s sake. “The Holy Ghost”, said he, “witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and affliction abide me” (Acts 20:23). It is both wise and kind to forewarn God’s people of coming afflictions, that they be not overtaken unexpectedly and unprepared. The predictions of the apostle were verified: “Even as it came to pass, and ye know.” Their first acquaintance with the gospel was in the midst of persecution and trial. The violent opposition continued, but the warnings and exhortations of the apostle were not in vain (2 Thessalonians 1:4).
3. That the suffering of God’s people is a cause of ministerial anxiety.—“For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith” (1 Thessalonians 3:5). It has been pithily said, “Calamity is man’s true touchstone.” The strongest have then become a prey to the malice and subtlety of Satan. The faithful minister, knowing the perils of suffering and the awful consequences of apostasy, is anxiously concerned about the faith of his converts. “There are three modes of bearing the ills of life—by indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual” (Colton).
II. That suffering exposes God’s people to the disturbing forces of Satanic temptations.—“Lest by some means the tempter have tempted you” (1 Thessalonians 3:5).
1. A suggestive designation of Satan.—“The tempter.” What unspeakable vileness, ruin, misery, and terror are suggested by that name! All human woe may be traced directly up to him. The greatest champions of Christendom, such as Paul and Luther, had the most vivid sense of the personality, nearness, and unceasing counter-working of this great adversary of God and man. There is need of sleepless vigilance and prayer.
2. The versatility of Satanic temptations.—“Lest by some means.” He may descend suddenly, clothed with terror and burning with wrath, to surprise and terrify into sin. More frequently he appears in the seductive and more dangerous garb of an angel of light, the deceptive phantom of what he once was. Infinite are his methods; his aim is one—to suggest doubts and impious references as to God’s providential dealings of severity, and to produce apostasy from the faith.
III. That the temptations of a suffering state imperil the work of God’s servants.—“And our labour be in vain” (1 Thessalonians 3:5). In vain as regards the great end of their salvation; they would lapse into their former heathenish state, and by apostasy lose their heavenly reward; and in vain as regards the joy which the apostle anticipated from their ultimate salvation. It is true no work done for God is absolutely in vain; the worker shall receive his just reward; but it may be in vain with regard to the object to which his best efforts have been directed, It is bitterly disappointing to see the work that has cost so much, utterly frustrated by a momentary temptation of the wicked one. How different might have been the moral history of thousands if they had not yielded to the first fiery trial!
“Of all the sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these—it might have been.”
IV. That God’s people may triumph over the greatest suffering.—“That no man should be moved [drawn away by flattery or shaken] by these afflictions” (1 Thessalonians 3:3). While piety is tried, it is also strengthened by suffering. The watchful and faithful soul may use his troubles as aids to a richer experience and a firmer consolidation of Christian character. “Thus God schooleth and nurtureth His people, that so, through many tribulations, they may enter into their rest. Frankincense, when it is put into the fire, giveth the greater perfume; spice, if it be pounded, smelleth the sweeter; the earth, when it is torn up by the plough, becometh more fruitful; the seed in the ground, after frost and snow and winter storms, springeth up the ranker; the nigher the vine is pruned to the stock, the greater grape it yieldeth; the grape, when it is most pressed and beaten, maketh the sweetest wine; fine gold is the better when it is cast into the fire; rough stones, with hewing, are squared and made fit for the building; cloth is rent and cut that it may make a garment; linen that is thrown into the tub, washed, and beaten, is the fairer” (Jewell).
Lessons.—
1. To live a godly life involves suffering.
2. A period of suffering is ever attended with powerful temptations.
3. The grace of God is sufficient to sustain and deliver His people amid the perils of acutest suffering.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Thessalonians 3:3-5. The Necessity and the Perils of Affliction.
I. That afflictions are disturbing and distressing to the children of God.
II. That afflictions are appointed by God for His people’s good.
III. That Christians are forewarned to expect affliction.
IV. That Satan uses affliction as a means of temptation.
V. That the faithful minister must labour and watch in order to secure the steadfastness of believers under his care.—Herbert, the saintly poet of the seventeeth century, exhorts the preacher to make the consolations of the gospel his main theme:
“Oh, let him speak of comfort, ’tis
Most wanted in this vale of tears.”
—P. Mearns.