1 Thessalonians 2:20Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Tell me, blessed Paul, are the Macedonians alone your hope? Not they alone, he answers. For this reason he added: “Are not even you? For what,” he says, “is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting?”

Do you not recognize here the language of women burning with the tenderest love and speaking with little children? “Or crown,” he says, “of boasting.” The single word “crown” was not enough for him to show the splendor of his adornment. He therefore added “of boasting.”

What ardor! If mother and father came together and mingled their love, they could never express love equal to Paul’s. “Joy,” he says, “or crown.” That is, I rejoice over you more than over a crown.

For you are our glory more than the works of our life, and you are also our joy more than the reward of our recompense.

Since he likened himself to a mother who nurses an infant at the breast (1 Thess 2:7), he also uses words fitting to her. For mothers usually call their very young children their hope, joy, and similar names.

The Apostle Paul’s sympathy for the Thessalonians is so sincere and deep that no one should shake their confidence in this sympathy and fellow suffering.

“We, brethren, were separated from you for a short time in face, not in heart,” the Apostle wrote, “and once and again we wished to come to you, but Satan hindered us. Unable to endure it any longer, we were pleased to remain in Athens alone and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, to establish you and comfort you in your faith. But now, when Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good tidings, we were comforted concerning you, praying night and day most earnestly that we might see your face and complete what was lacking in your faith” (1 Thess 2:17; 3:1, 2, 6-7, 10).

Consolation and glory from the Lord are the Apostle’s highest motives for his beneficial influence upon the Thessalonians. Yet he desires to receive this consolation and glory from the Lord by bringing the Thessalonians to meet Christ.

This will be when He comes a second time to earth in glory, to require an account from all, and especially from those to whom, like the Apostle, much had been given. He placed his hope in the Thessalonians, that they would glorify him by their Christian perfection.

For his part, the Apostle, together with his helpers, gratefully recalls that the Thessalonians received their preaching as the word of God Himself. He also recalls that this word reveals its wondrous action in them, giving them strength to endure sufferings from their unbelieving fellow countrymen.

Why, in connection with this, does the Apostle speak with special indignation about the Jews who persecuted the Palestinian Christians? This question is answered by the fact that the Jews harmed the Apostle more than anyone in Thessalonica as well.

Their hostile attitude toward the Apostle Paul could also trouble the Thessalonian Christians. Many of them had formerly belonged to the Jewish proselytes and therefore could not quickly free themselves from attachment to Jewish opinions.

The answer to the question posed above is already contained in the question itself. Yet the Apostle also states it expressly, as though saying: yes, you. He does this to hold attention longer on the thought expressed and to confirm it.

Do not think that, in speaking this way, I was carried away by a special affection for you, or that I merely used such a turn of phrase. No, this is truly so, and it cannot be otherwise.

Does the Apostle understand here the future glory and joy, or the present one? In the course of the discourse, the Apostle’s thought remains before the face of the Lord at His coming. Yet the form of expression is so general that it gives no hint of time. Therefore the interpreters do not speak definitely, but only in general.