And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
Beseech - "exhort" in 1 Thessalonians 5:14; here, "we beseech," as a personal favour (Paul making the cause of the Thessalonian presbyters his own).
Know - to have respect for their office, and treat them accordingly (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:18) with reverence and liberality in supplying their needs (1 Timothy 5:17). The Thessalonian church being newly planted, the ministers were novices (1 Timothy 3:6), which may account for the people treating them with less respect. Paul's practice was to ordain elders in every church soon after its establishment (Acts 14:23).
Them which labour among you, and are over you ... admonish you. Not three classes, but one, as there is but one article common to the three (Greek). "Labour" expresses their laborious life: "are over you," their pre-eminence as superintendents ("bishops," i:e., overseers, Philippians 1:1; them that have rule over you х proistamenous (G4291), leaders], Hebrews 13:17; "pastors," Ephesians 4:11): "admonish you," their leading function х nouthetountas (G3560)]; "put in mind:" not arbitrary authority, but gentle, though faithful, admonition (2 Timothy 2:14; 2 Timothy 2:24-25; 1 Peter 5:3).
In the Lord. Their presidency over you is not in worldly affairs, but in things appertaining to the Lord.