1 THESSALONIANS 1 (SECOND READING)
1 THESSALONIANS 1 (SECOND READING)
Ques Would you say “our glad tidings” (verse 5) is the same as Paul preached in Acts 17?
CAC I have always thought it was striking that the account in Acts 17 was only of Paul’s labours in the synagogue, but when he writes this epistle he seems entirely occupied with those who were converted among the gentiles, who “turned to God from idols”. In preaching to the Jews he reasoned from the Scriptures and shewed that Jesus whom he announced was the Christ;
[p. 238] that is, he preached Jesus as the One who was God’s anointed; the impression made on the people was that there was “another king”. It shews that the promises connected with God’s anointed and the kingdom had been prominent in his preaching. In the epistles the apostle speaks more of having set God before them.
Rem According to custom he went to the synagogue first.
CAC Yes, the work spread from that centre.
Rem Reports as to Paul had reached the Thessalonians.
CAC These reports were a preparation for Paul’s visit; they had known how he had been ill-treated and insulted at Philippi. The gospel has only power according to the way it is lived out. They saw it livingly in Paul; he was prepared to surmount every difficulty and suffer anything to bring the gospel to them.
Rem It says in the next chapter that they “received the word of the report of God”, that is, God’s word.
CAC Whatever is God’s word to us is effectual. We may receive it as man’s word merely, but what we receive as God’s word must affect us. We all know what it is to have been familiar with a text of Scripture, and some day it lays hold of us with a grip and becomes operative whether for exercise or for comfort. It has never been God’s word to me till then. A great deal of our information is what we have received on the testimony of man, but when Scripture comes to you as the word of God it moves you, it becomes effectual.
There is such a living character about this epistle. Whether it is the life and labours of the apostle, or the way the converts are affected, it is all living and in relation to a living and true God. Verse 6 shews what a character of things had been set forth; Paul puts himself and the Lord together.
Ques We find in verse 5 that the word was “in power,
and in the Holy Spirit”; what is the difference? Power must be in the Holy Spirit?
CAC Paul does distinguish them in 2 Corinthians 6 where he gives his credentials; “in the Holy Spirit” (verse 6), “in the power of God” (verse 7).
We see what it is to be converted here. Things were said of the Thessalonians that would be true of any soundly converted person. They were healthy babes.
Ques Why do not we see such demonstration of power now?
CAC We do. There are probably more people converted to God in this room than there were in Thessalonica; there is nothing to shew they were a large company. No doubt there was a remarkable working, but it has not stopped. If you could gather all the christians together in T. they would be a large company, so the wonder-working power is still going on.
It is a great transition inwardly today, not outwardly. Take a child brought up in a christian household. When converted he would find he had not known more of God than if he had been brought up in Africa. For a man who reads his Bible and is religious there is not the same change outwardly, but there is inwardly; God has come into his soul as a reality, and God’s word has spoken in his heart — it is a spiritual revolution!
Rem I suppose Paul’s word was with power when Felix trembled, and yet Felix was not converted.
CAC Yes, the servant was marked by power. There are two things, the testimony of the servants and of the Holy Spirit. The Lord said of the Spirit in John 15, “He shall bear witness concerning me”, and again “Ye too bear witness”. Then in Acts 15: 28 we read, “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”. So you may have the power of God with a servant and there is also the Holy Spirit.
[p. 240] Preaching is very much a word of faith. A brother who prays in secret for conversions, generally gets them. Of course there is the gift of an evangelist, and one would expect such to be specially used, but any servant who carries on his service with God will see fruit, though perhaps it may come out years after. Sometimes I have been discouraged at seeing so little result, and when I have, the Lord has nearly always given me to hear of some blessing. We want to see fruit without labour, but Paul was prepared to suffer, to travail in birth, to surmount all difficulties so that they might be blessed. We would like to see people converted without it costing us anything. It comes home to us all in a small way; we are not all levites but the same principles apply. When we are prepared to suffer for the good of others we get on to the right line. Paul suffered even the peril of life, and the converts were prepared to suffer, they received the word “in much tribulation” (verse 6). Paul did not try to hide the difficulties of the position from them; he told his converts that “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom”, and they took it up on that line. While there is nothing to do to be saved, there is much to suffer.
Rem It was “with joy of the Holy Spirit”.
CAC They were introduced into an entirely new region of the Spirit; they could rejoice in affliction because it did not touch that region. We have to retire into the region of the Spirit. There may be affliction but there is the joy of the Holy Spirit. These saints were severely tested, and they appreciated the character of that other region in the Holy Spirit.
There was public testimony. God brings His grace and the knowledge of Himself into human hearts in order to have a light for Himself in this world, and we are to serve God in relation to His things. If we serve God, we serve in relation to an unseen system of things, a region of the [p. 241] Spirit that the world knows nothing about; and in that region we learn all that God has set His heart on, and where His glory is manifested. There is a whole system of things connected with the revelation of God in grace, and we are brought into that system to serve God, so that every detail of God’s thoughts has an interest to the exercised saint.
Ques “The word of the Lord sounded out”, did that refer to their preaching?
CAC I think their faith was talked about. They did preach, no doubt, but this is a public report that went out. Paul did not need to tell people what God had done; it spoke for itself. One has seen often that when people are converted in a remarkable way it attracts public attention. One has seen God lay hold of the most wicked man in the town and he is converted, and the whole countryside has talked about it.
Ques “Your faith which is towards God” — is that faith the reception of the gospel?
CAC No, it is the right moral effect of receiving it; the effect of the gospel was faith.
They were waiting for His Son, surrounded by the bitter hostility of the world and conscious that nothing would be right in this world till God’s Son comes back. That is the portion of the saints today; the world hates them as far as it takes account of them. The present state of the world is advantageous to us; it is better than for everything to be comfortable; we are so apt to be earth-dwellers.
Waiting is an active state in the region of the Spirit:
‘The Spirit brings Thy glory nigh
To those who for Thee wait’. (81:2)
“until... the morning star arise in your hearts”, 2 Peter 1:19. The coming One is the hope before the soul. None of us have anything to look forward to in this world.
“Entering in” is an open door. We get access to people’s souls and that is the great thing. We may get access outwardly and have a great crowd; that is not necessarily an open door. God can use all kinds of things providentially to open the door, and give access to people’s souls.