It is exactly so, for you yourselves know how everything was. The two halves of this section correspond exactly to what Saint Paul heard (1:9): "what kind of entrance we had to you" (2:1-12), and "how you turned" (2:13-16).
But if Saint Paul had really intended only to confirm and explain what outsiders were reporting, then, since all this was already known to the Thessalonians, it would have been enough to hint at it.
He would not have needed to depict it in such detail. The words of outside Christians may be considered the occasion for the holy Apostle's speaking on this subject.
Yet because he speaks of it so extensively, there must certainly have been another reason. The first possible reason here may be that he wanted to renew in the memory of the Thessalonians everything that happened among them at the time of their faith.
Had Paul deceived you? Was he himself not in delusion, under some influence of the unclean? How many Jews we have, and they are reluctant to believe. He himself only appeared and went away, and has no concern.
Such words, of course, could not trouble everyone. But it cannot be said that they troubled no one, especially among those who believed after Saint Paul left Thessalonica.
Those who were wavering could be disabused by the more skilled and firm. Yet their being disabused required apostolic confirmation. So the holy Apostle writes.
It is only evident that he wishes to remove actual disturbances, not imagined ones. The very form of the discourse does not allow the conjecture that Saint Paul is merely preparing in advance a defense against future disturbers.
He is not acting only because he foresees that, here as elsewhere, some will disturb the peace of the faithful. The preceding discourse gave the occasion, or served as the transition, to what follows.
Saint Paul joins this discourse to the preceding one by recounting the same things that outsiders recounted and that the Thessalonians themselves knew, but with his own special aim.
"Our entrance." This is not merely his arrival in Thessalonica and first appearance among the Thessalonians. It is his entire stay there, from arrival to departure.
It is his entrance into spiritual communion with the Thessalonians: how he preached to them, how they believed, and how the Church was formed and ordered from them.
"That it was not in vain." This is against the first accusation. "Not in vain" is ου κενη. Κενος means empty.
They must have said: these people go about for nothing, idle wanderers, dreamers, deceivers or deceived. The Apostle says: we are not such.
Whoever is such will not suffer. But we suffered in Philippi, and when we came to you, we had immediately to enter into conflict and struggle.
From this alone you can judge that our entrance to you, the work accomplished by us among you, is not a work of idleness, empty, aimless, or deceptive.
This word has a similar meaning in 1 Cor 15:14, where Saint Paul says that if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain.
This thought fully corresponds to what is said in verse 2, and then in verse 3: "not from error." Saint Chrysostom interprets ουκ ανθρωπινη, ουδε η τυχουσα as not human, not according to ordinary earthly aims, and not accidental.
That is, it was not some chance thing, not aimless, not insignificant. Oecumenius explains Chrysostom's thought by saying that "not in vain" means that their preaching conversations were not false fables, sleepy fantasies, empty speech, or idle talk, ου μυθοι ψευδεις και ληροι.
How is this evident? It is evident because, having only just escaped dangers, we again dared to expose ourselves to new dangers. Surely we would not have decided on this if we had not been convinced that our preaching was divine.
According to Theodoret, "those who enter upon deception wear the mask only until dangers come. As soon as they see them, they immediately reveal themselves, and the lie is exposed."
If this phrase, "not in vain," is placed in correspondence with what is said in 1 Thess 1:5, "not in word only, but in power," then it will mean that our entrance to you was not ordinary.
We did not act among you by word alone. Rather, by God's special mercy toward you, our word was accompanied by signs and wonders.
This thought also corresponds to what preceded, showing in the signs of God that accompanied the Apostle's preaching the reason why people everywhere spoke about the Thessalonians.
Saint Chrysostom also leads us to this when, beginning the interpretation of the second chapter, he speaks generally of its content.
He says: "Here the Apostle wishes to express what he said above. He shows the qualities of the Christian preaching both from the side of miracles and the resolve of the preachers, and from the side of the zeal and diligence of those who received the preaching."
In relation to what Saint Paul says below, "lest somehow our labor should be in vain" (1 Thess 3:5), one may give this word the same meaning here.
Then it means that the Apostle's entrance to the Thessalonians was not fruitless, but brought much fruit: the conversion of so many and such zealous Christians.
In that case, it corresponds to 1 Thess 2:13-16, where the conversion of the Thessalonians is discussed. Blessed Theodoret says that after the sorrowful events in Philippi, Saint Paul was filled with great zeal because he foresaw the benefit of his labors.
Which of these three thoughts to choose may be left to one's discretion. They do not contradict one another, nor the course of the apostolic discourse.
THEOSIS