1 Thessalonians 2:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then? Did they not kill and stone their prophets, whose writings they carry with them everywhere? Certainly they did not act so out of love for the truth. Therefore he not only offers consolation in temptations, but also persuades them not to think that the Jews act so out of love for the truth, and not to be troubled by it.

“And drove us out,” he says. That is, we too suffered countless troubles from them. “And they do not please God, and oppose all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved.” “They oppose all men,” he says. In what way? In this way: if the Gospel must be preached to the whole world, and they hinder it, then they are common enemies of the world.

They killed Christ and the prophets. They offend God. They are common enemies of the world. They also persecute us, who have come for the work of salvation. What is surprising, then, if they treated you as they did those in Judea?

The same was true of the Apostles. From the time the Cross came to Christians and the Comforter Spirit withdrew to them, none of the Jews were any longer persecuted. Christians alone became martyrs. Therefore no one should be amazed, because truth must necessarily be persecuted.

Instead, they hastened to fill up the measure of their sins and of their fathers’ sins. They not only failed to be converted, but also hindered others from being converted to Christ. Thus they not only failed to please God, but also opposed men.

“As from what the Apostle himself suffered he proved above that he preached what is divine, so from what the Thessalonians endured he now proves that the Thessalonians received his preaching as the Word of God,” says Oecumenius.

Saint Chrysostom speaks in the Apostle’s person: “How would you, the Thessalonians, have endured such dangers if you had not given heed to our words as to the words of God Himself? If even the Jews resolved to endure everything patiently for the faith, this serves as no small proof that the preaching is true.

But perhaps the Jews did not know Him, the Lord? On the contrary, they knew Him very well. What then? Did they not kill and stone their own prophets, whose writings they carry everywhere? Certainly they did not act so out of love for the truth. Therefore the Apostle not only offers consolation in temptations, but also persuades them not to think that the Jews acted so out of love for the truth, and not to be tempted by this.

If the Gospel must be preached to the whole world, and the Jews oppose this, then they are common enemies of the world. Having said, ‘wrath has come upon them,’ the Apostle showed that wrath must certainly follow, for it was appointed and foretold.”

“Clearly,” says Bishop Theophan, “the Apostle has in view the Lord’s prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Hebrew people. They go against the course, determined by God, of the restoration of mankind. Therefore they are not worthy to be preserved.

When the Apostle wrote this, the beginnings of oppression from the Romans had already appeared. They made it clear that what the Lord had foretold was near fulfillment. Not loving God, the Jews are also ill-disposed toward men and always go against what God sends for men’s benefit.

They have zeal, but not according to knowledge (Rom 10:2). They think they offer service to God (Jn 16:2), but in deed they oppose Him. Their displeasing of God and opposition to men is clearly visible in their hindering the preaching of the Gospel. They do not want it to pass to the nations and save them. This is why a final wrathful punishment follows upon them.”

It is worthy of note that the Apostle considers the persecutors of the Thessalonian Christians to be pagans. This, of course, was so according to the Apostle’s description, whereas during his own time the Jews chiefly rose against him. Thus there is no disagreement between Saint Paul’s testimony (1 Thess 2:14–16) and the book of Acts (17:5), on the basis of which ill-disposed investigators draw various unfavorable conclusions.

Having in view this Jewish influence upon the Thessalonians, the Apostle points out with special insistence that the Jews are a people satisfied with nothing. They killed the Messiah and even their own (τούς ίδιους) prophets. If they now explain their struggle against the Apostle of the Gentiles as zeal for the glory of God, they must in no way be believed. They are not pleasing to God and arouse aversion in men by their pride and their dreadful national egoism. But they will soon be punished. The wrath of God against them has already come to the end, that is, it is ready to break forth over the sinful people.

Their unbelief, therefore, could greatly trouble believers. The holy Apostle now says that there is no reason to be troubled by the unbelief of the Jews. They have always proved disobedient to God. God sent them prophets, and they beat them. The Lord Jesus came, and they killed Him. The Lord sent us to them, and they drove us out. We turned from them to the Gentiles, and they hinder us from proclaiming the word of truth even to them.

Thus throughout their whole history they are fighters against God and haters of men. Therefore do not be troubled by their unbelief, especially since their end is already near. God had mercy on them for a long time. Now the wrath of God, final wrath, is ready to fall upon their head. Such is the thought in the verses indicated.

Let us add several remarks on particular expressions. Who killed both the Lord Jesus. He begins the portrayal of Jewish wickedness with the killing of God, and here he intentionally names the Savior Lord, in order to say that they crucified the Lord of glory (Acts 3:15; 1 Cor 2:8).

How they killed the Lord had surely been told during the evangelization in Thessalonica. For the first preaching in Thessalonica proceeded in such a way that it proved at length from Scripture that the Christ had to suffer in this manner (Acts 17:3).

And also His prophets. Saint Chrysostom draws consolation for the persecuted Thessalonians from the mention of the death of the Lord Himself, and then adds: "But perhaps the Jews did not know Him, the Lord? On the contrary, they knew Him very well. But what then? Did they not kill and stone their own prophets, whose Scriptures they carry everywhere with them? Surely they did not act thus out of love for the truth. Therefore he, the Apostle, not only offers consolation in trials, but also persuades them not to think that the Jews acted thus out of love for the truth, and not to be troubled by this."

Theophylact adds: "From this it is evident that they do nothing as zealots for the truth, but rather as raging against the truth."

And drove us out. The occasion for such speech may have been the recent expulsion of Saint Paul and Silas from Thessalonica (Acts 17:5-9). But since the Apostle has in view a general portrayal of the truly hateful character of the Jews, he surely understands here all the Apostles in general, the heralds of the New Testament, corresponding to the Old Testament prophets (see Acts 5:17 and following; Acts 6:12 and following).

And displeasing to God, and opposing all men. The repeated and shows that in each of these sayings new traits of Jewish wickedness are expressed. What then is expressed by the words displeasing to God and opposing men, when it is self-evident that those who did the things just mentioned do not please God and oppose men?

The Apostle wants to indicate the source of the crimes shown. They act this way because in their heart there is no sincere intention to please God and no warm love for men. They do not love God, and they do not set pleasing Him as the chief aim of their life. Their heart is not God-loving, and therefore it does not love God's truth. It rises up against it.

Not loving God, they are also not well-disposed toward men. They always oppose what God sends for men's benefit. But how, then, do they stand so firmly for God's institutions? They have zeal, but not according to knowledge (Rom 10:2). They think that they offer service to God (Jn 16:2), but in deed they resist Him.