He had formerly listened to their praises from the lips of other Churches; he could now sound their praises at Corinth and elsewhere, ascribing all the while due praise to God.

I. THE GROUND OF HIS PRAISES. "For your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure."

1. Afflictions, whether in the form of sharp persecution or of more general trouble, are the lot of God's faithful children. They are "appointed thereunto" (1 Thessalonians 2:3).

2. It is the glory of a Christian to bear such afflictions with patience and faith. The Thessalonians had not been "moved by these afflictions" (1 Thessalonians 3:3).

(1) Their patience was the result of their faith. "The trial of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:3). Their trials did not uproot their faith. They had "the patience of hope." The faith and the patience are always closely allied. "I know thy faith and thy patience" (Revelation 2:19).

(2) It is for the glory of God and for the good of believers that" patience should have its perfect work" (James 1:4; 1 Peter 2:20).

(3) It is necessary to the inheritance of the promises (Hebrews 6:12; Hebrews 10:36).

II. IT IS NOT UNLAWFUL, BUT EXPEDIENT, THAT A MINISTER SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PEOPLE. Not in their social rank, or riches, or numbers, but in the graces of the Spirit manifested in their life. The apostle elsewhere advises us not to glory in men, but in the Lord. But in this case the glory is given to God, not to man.

III. IT PROMOTES THE SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF CHURCHES TO HEAR OF THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN OTHER CHURCHES. The example of faith, love, and patience at Thessalonica would stimulate the saints in all Greece. - T.C.

I. THE MANNER.

1. The person commending — "We ourselves." In 1 Thessalonians 1:8 he speaks of their faith as praised by others: here he justifies common fame by His own testimony.(1) It is easy to deceive the credulous multitude, but to deserve esteem of those who are best able to judge is a comfort.(2) Where grace is eminent it may be praised without suspicion of flattery.(3) We should keep up the value of our testimony that it may be of weight to those who receive it.

2. The act of praising. Glorying imports exaltation or rejoicing of mind and the outward expression: The one comes from the apprehension of some excellency, the other from a desire that others may know how we are affected with it. This glorying became apostolic gravity for —(1) It was for the honour of God who had wrought these graces, and not himself.(2) For the encouragement of the Thessalonians. We ought to give a testimony to those who deserve it, not to curry favour with them, but to incite them to perseverance in the way of God.(3) For the example of others and the edification of the Church.(4) For his own comfort (1 Thessalonians 2:20).

3. The persons before whom. Not in common meetings, but where. God's people were met for worship and spiritual benefit. "Churches of God" are so called because: —

(1)God instituted and founded them (Acts 20:28).

(2)There God is worshipped and acknowledged (Psalm 22:3):

(3)There He manifests His power and presence (Ephesians 2:22).

II. THE MATTER.

1. The graces wherein they excelled "faith and patience" before it was faith and love. These two are often joined (Hebrews 6:12; Philippians 1:29). Faith precedes suffering, for the sufferer must first be a believer; but when God calls to it both must go together (Hebrews 10:35, 36).

2. The grievousness of those temptations wherewith these graces were exercised.

(1)They were many — "All."

(2)They took effect: persecution worked tribulation (Romans 8:35).

(3)But the Thessalonians continued, firm, "endured."

(T. Manton , D. D.)

Tribulations and persecutions often befall God's dearest and choicest servants (2 Timothy 3:12; Acts 14:22). It is —

I. THAT WE MAY BE CONFORMED TO OUR LORD AND PLEDGE HIM IN HIS BITTER CUP (Colossians 1:24). The sufferings of Christ personal are complete and meritorious; they need not to be filled up; but the sufferings of Christ mystical (1 Corinthians 12:12) are not complete until every member of His body have their own allotted portion and share. Christians should be animated to suffer patiently by the fact that the Captain of our Salvation was made perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). Those who will partake with Christ in His kingdom must share with Him in sorrows. Paul counted all things but dross that he might know the fellowship of Christ's sufferings (Philippians 3:10).

II. FOR OUR TRIAL (1 Peter 1:7). A man may be deceived at other times, and think that faith strong which a trial discovers to be weak: as Peter (Matthew 26:35). A man may doubt, and think his faith weak, which a trial discovers to be strong (Hebrews 10:32; Hebrews 11:34).

III. THAT THE EXCELLENCY OF OUR SPIRITUAL STATE MAY APPEAR. What can be more excellent than that which affords joy under the saddest temporal condition (John 16:33; 2 Corinthians 1:5). This will sweeten the bitter waters, like the wood in Marsh. A drop of this honey will make our bitterest cup agreeable.

IV. BECAUSE WE NEED THEM (1 Peter 1:6).

1. To modify our pride.

2. To keep us close to God.

3. To tame our flesh. Great prosperity perverts the best.Conclusion:

1. With what thoughts we should take up the stricter profession of Christianity, viz., with expectations of the Cross, Many think they may be good Christians, yet all their days live a life of ease. This is just as if we should enlist as a soldier and never expect battle, or as if a mariner should go to sea and always expect a calm.

2. What fools they are that take up religion expecting honour, ease, and plenty. You may do so for a time, but the trials will come. The summer friends of the gospel, or those painted butterflies that flutter about in the sunshine of prosperity, must expect that a winter will come.

(T. Manton , D. D.)

I. WHAT IS PATIENCE? A contented endurance of painful evils. It is a moral virtue when by the argument of human prudence we harden ourselves to bear the evils that befall us. The spiritual grace is the fruit of the Spirit, and we bear these evils from Divine principles to Divine ends. The latter as it is wrought in us by God (Romans 15:5) so it fetcheth its strength from God's Word (Romans 15:4). Now scriptural arguments are fetched either from the will of God who appoints us to this conflict (1 Thessalonians 3:3), or from the glory of God, which is promoted thereby (Philippians 1:20), or else our final happiness (James 1:12) or from the example of Christ (1 Peter 2:21). This grace of patience may be considered —

1. Barely as tried. Some give up at the first assault (Matthew 3:21). Others hold up against the first brunt, but begin to be tired and wax weary in their minds (Hebrews 12:3).

2. As tried with many and long afflictions (Hebrews 10:32; Colossians 1:4). Many cannot bear any evil; they have no faith. Some hold out in slighter temptations for a while; they have weak faith. But the constant and unconquered patience is the fruit of strong faith.

II. WHAT OF FAITH IS MANIFESTED BY IT?

1. Assent, for we must believe the truth with a Divine faith before we can suffer for it. How can we endure afflictions for supernatural things, which merely depend on revelation, unless we are firmly persuaded of their truth? (Acts 14:22).

2. Consent, or fidelity to Christ in our covenanted duty (Matthew 16:24). In great afflictions we are tried whether we love anything above Christ (Matthew 10:37). The resolution of this consent is the thing tried, i.e., whether we are prepared to endure anything for Christ's sake (Acts 21:13). It is easier to discourse of patience than to practice it, as it is easier to build a castle in time of peace than to defend it in time of war.

3. Confidence, or relying upon God's promises, which are our support. There are two sorts of promises.(1) That God will enable you to bear them (2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:18; 1 Corinthians 10:13).(2) That He will graciously reward them (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17).

III. THE REASONS.

1. Faith is the grace that is most struck at in our tribulations (James 1:3); therefore if a man know the strength of it in time of tribulation, then ordinarily he has a clearer proof of the truth and strength of that grace than at other times.

2. It is the grace that is of most use to us at such times (1 Peter 5:9; Ephesians 6:16). Three benefits we have by it —(1) It keeps us so that we do not for these things question the love of God (Isaiah 49:14; Psalm 77:9; Hebrews 12:5).(2) So that we take no sinful course for our escape (Psalm 125:3, 5). It should not shake our constancy and persuade us to do as the wicked (Isaiah 28:16; Hebrews 11:35).(3) So that we may not faint and grow weary of duties, even of life itself, as Jonah (Jonah 4:8; see Psalm 27:13; Psalm 42:5).

3. In such times faith is manifested. The true and sensible discovery of faith is patience under manifold tribulations.(1) Because then we have nothing to stick unto but the comforts and supports of faith.(2) Its proper, genuine effect is then produced to the view of both conscience and the world. What courage our belief in God's promises has produced in us sensibly appears by enduring the greatest extremities rather than forsake the way of the Lord.

(T. Manton , D. D.)

Among the regular and consistent worshippers at the Bohemian Church in Berlin during the ministry of Pastor Janike was a colonel at the War Office. His brother officers mocked at his piety, and used every opportunity of turning religion into ridicule. Being unable by these means to provoke the good man to indiscretions, they determined to provoke him by a more definite act of rudeness and scorn. Accordingly one of his colleagues in the office sketched a caricature of the colonel kneeling in church and receiving the holy communion. It was plain, from the entire character of the work, that a deadly hatred against the holiness of the Lord had inspired the pen that drew it. The sketch was secretly placed on the desk of the colonel, and the perpetrators of the miserable jest watched his arrival, and counted on an outburst of wrath. However, when the good man came and saw the sketch, he gravely shook his head, folded the paper, put it in his pocket, and then went on with his work, conversing with his colleagues in the usual friendly manner. A few days after the man who had drawn the shameful sketch knocked at the colonel's door. The patience of the Christian was more than his conscience could bear. He came now, and with deep emotion, to apologise for his impertinence. The colonel gave him his hand, and assured him he had forgiven him everything. Not very long after this man knelt by the colonel's side to receive the Lord's supper, testifying with tears of gratitude that he had found Christ. From henceforth he became one of the warmest friends of the pious and long-suffering Christian.

(Sunday at Home.)

I shall never forget as long as I live that day where, in the glow of the eventide, as the sun was sinking and as the mists were creeping over the land, I walked with one of our native brethren by the riverside, and saw a light in the dim distance, when he said to me, "Yonder is the only Christian in all that great town." Ten years ago he received Christ into his heart; his father and mother turned him out; his friends forsook him; his neighbours persecuted him; and all these years he stood his ground, scarcely getting food to eat. During all these ten years he maintained his Christian character unspotted in the midst of the heathen around him, and the native brother said to me, "Now his business is reviving, because people say he sells the best things and always means what he says." I entered his humble bamboo hut and sat down on the ground by his side, and as I discoursed about his loneliness and his sadness the tears sprang into his eyes, and he said, "No, I am never lonely; for as Christ was with the Hebrew children, and as He was with Daniel in the lions' den, so all these years He has been with me."

(A. H. Baynes.)

Paul, Silas, Silvanus, Thessalonians, Timotheus, TimothyThessalonicaAfflictions, Amid, Assemblies, Bear, Boast, Churches, Endurance, Endure, Enduring, Faith, Glory, Honourable, Increases, Mention, Midst, Mind, Ourselves, Patience, Persecutions, Perseverance, Pride, Proudly, Sorrows, Speak, Steadfastness, Sustaining, Trials, Tribulations, Troubles, Untroubled1. Paul certifies the Thessalonians of the good opinion which he had of their faith, love, and patience;
11. and therewithal uses various reasons for the comforting of them in persecution.

2 Thessalonians 1:4

     2426   gospel, responses
     5593   trial
     8020   faith
     8027   faith, testing of
     8031   trust, importance
     8318   patience
     8418   endurance
     8459   perseverance
     8485   spiritual warfare, conflict
     8713   discouragement
     8794   persecution
     8797   persecution, attitudes

2 Thessalonians 1:4-5

     5565   suffering, of believers

Sanctification
TEXT: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification."--1 Thess. 4:3. It is quite significant that the Apostle Paul writes explicitly concerning sanctification to a church in which he had such delight that he could write as follows: "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

Twenty Sixth Sunday after Trinity God's Judgment when Christ Returns.
Text: 2 Thessalonians 1, 3-10. 3 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth; 4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure; 5 which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Christ Glorified in Glorified Men
'He shall come to be glorified in His saints; and to be admired in all them that believe.'--2 THESS. i. 10. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are the Apostle's earliest letters, both give very great prominence to the thought of the second coming of our Lord to judgment. In the immediate context we have that coming described, with circumstances of majesty and of terror. He 'shall be revealed . . . with the angels of His power.' 'Flaming fire' shall herald His coming; vengeance shall be …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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'We pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power; 12. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him.'--2 THESS. i. 11, 12. In the former letter to the Church of Thessalonica, the Apostle had dwelt, in ever-memorable words--which sound like a prelude of the trump of God--on the coming of Christ at the end to judge the world, and to gather His servants into …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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And now, beloved, having thus given you two thoughts which seemed to me to arise naturally from the text, I shall repair at once to the object of this morning's discourse. The apostle thanks God that the faith of the Thessalonians had grown exceedingly. Leaving out the rest of the text, I shall direct your attention this morning to the subject of growth in faith. Faith hath degrees. In the first place, I shall endeavor to notice the inconveniences of little faith; secondly, the means of promoting …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

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"Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."--2 THESS. i. ii, 12. Two words sum up the Christian life--Grace and Glory; and both are associated with the two Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace particularly with the first Coming, …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

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1. Almighty God can, in the resurrection, as easily raise up thy body out of the grave, from the sleep of death, as he hath this morning wakened thee in thy bed, out of the sleep of nature. At the dawning of which resurrection day, Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints; and every one of the bodies of the thousands of his saints, being fashioned like unto his glorious body, shall shine as bright as the sun (2 Thess. i. 10; Jude, ver. 14; Phil. iii. 21; Luke ix. 31;) all the angels shining …
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Holy feasting is a solemn thanksgiving, appointed by authority, to be rendered to God on some special day, for some extraordinary blessings or deliverances received. Such among the Jews was the feast of the Passover (Exod. xii. 15), to remember to praise God for their deliverance out of Egypt's bondage; or the feast of Purim (Esth. ix. 19, 21), to give thanks for their deliverance from Haman's conspiracy. Such amongst us is the fifth of November, to praise God for the deliverance of the king and …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

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(Admonition 9.) Differently to be admonished are the forward and the faint-hearted. For the former, presuming on themselves too much, disdain all others when reproved by them; but the latter, while too conscious of their own infirmity, for the most part fall into despondency. Those count all they do to be singularly eminent; these think what they do to be exceedingly despised, and so are broken down to despondency. Therefore the works of the forward are to be finely sifted by the reprover, that …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

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And the very God of peace sanctify, you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. -- 1 Thess. v. 23. The Scriptural doctrine that sanctification is a gradual process perfected only in death must be maintained clearly and soberly: first, in opposition to the Perfectionist, who says that saints may be "wholly sanctified" in this life; secondly, to those who deny the implanting of inherent holy dispositions in God's children. …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

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Rom. viii. 1.--"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." There are three things which concur to make man miserable,--sin, condemnation, and affliction. Every one may observe that "man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward," that his days here are few and evil. He possesses "months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed" for him. Job v. 6, 7, vii. 3. He "is of few days and full of trouble," Job xiv. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Sanctions of Moral Law, Natural and Governmental.
In the discussion of this subject, I shall show-- I. What constitute the sanctions of law. 1. The sanctions of law are the motives to obedience, the natural and the governmental consequences or results of obedience and of disobedience. 2. They are remuneratory, that is, they promise reward to obedience. 3. They are vindicatory, that is, they threaten the disobedient with punishment. 4. They are natural, that is, happiness is to some extent naturally connected with, and the necessary consequence of, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Extracts No. X.
"Dear sir and brother--In remarking on your reply to my 8th number, as in a former case I shall follow the arrangement which you have made; taking up the articles in the same order. "1st. I did not suppose but that the method which I proposed to account for the absence of the body of Jesus would be liable to serious objections; and these objections are increased by connecting with them, circumstances which, if the resurrection be false, must be considered equally false. Because, if the resurrection …
Hosea Ballou—A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation

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This, as the former, being spoken indefinitely, may be universally taken, as relating both to such as are yet in the state of nature, and to such as are in the state of grace, and so may be considered in reference to both, and ground three points of truth, both in reference to the one, and in reference to the other; to wit, 1. That our case is such as we stand in need of his help, as being the Life. 2. That no other way but by him, can we get that supply of life, which we stand in need of, for he …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Greatness of the Soul,
AND UNSPEAKABLENESS 0F THE LOSS THEREOF; WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT. FIRST PREACHED AT PINNER'S HALL and now ENLARGED AND PUBLISHED FOR GOOD. By JOHN BUNYAN, London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682 Faithfully reprinted from the Author's First Edition. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Our curiosity is naturally excited to discover what a poor, unlettered mechanic, whose book-learning had been limited to the contents of one volume, could by possibility know …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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The three divisions of this chapter,--I. The principal use of the cross is, that it in various ways accustoms us to despise the present, and excites us to aspire to the future life, sec. 1, 2. II. In withdrawing from the present life we must neither shun it nor feel hatred for it; but desiring the future life, gladly quit the present at the command of our sovereign Master, see. 3, 4. III. Our infirmity in dreading death described. The correction and safe remedy, sec. 6. 1. WHATEVER be the kind of …
Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff—On the Christian Life

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"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

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"Go and inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth."--ACTS ix. 11. "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."--1 TIM. i. 16. God took His own Son, and made Him our Example and our Pattern. It sometimes is as if the power of Christ's example is lost in the thought that He, in whom is no sin, is not man as we are. Our Lord took Paul, a man …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

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2 COR. v. 17. 2 COR. v. 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. THE knowledge of our true state in religion, is at once a matter of so great importance, and so great difficulty that, in order to obtain it, it is necessary we should have line upon line and precept upon precept. The plain discourse, which you before heard, was intended to lead you into it; and I question not but I then said enough to convince many, that they were …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

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'But grow in grace.' 2 Pet 3:38. True grace is progressive, of a spreading and growing nature. It is with grace as with light; first, there is the crepusculum, or daybreak; then it shines brighter to the full meridian. A good Christian is like the crocodile. Quamdiu vivet crescit; he has never done growing. The saints are not only compared to stars for their light, but to trees for their growth. Isa 61:1, and Hos 14:4. A good Christian is not like Hezekiah's sun that went backwards, nor Joshua's …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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There is another difficulty, wherein believing souls will stand in need of Christ, as the truth, to help them; and that is, when his work is overturned, his cause borne down, truth condemned, and enemies, in their opposition to his work, prospering in all their wicked attempts. This is a very trying dispensation, as we see it was to the holy penman of Psalm lxxiii. for it made him to stagger, so that his feet were almost gone, and his steps had well nigh slipt; yea he was almost repenting of his …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

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