1 Thessalonians 3:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He was compelled to send Timothy to learn about their faith: “lest somehow,” he says, “the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should be in vain.” What then, if someone says that even the saints did not know everything?

That they truly did not know everything, anyone can verify from many examples, both ancient and later. Thus Elisha did not know about the woman (4 Kgs 4). Thus Elijah said to God, “I alone am left, and they seek my life” (3 Kgs 19:10).

For this reason he heard from God, “I have left among the Israelites seven thousand men” (3 Kgs 19:18). So again Samuel, when sent to anoint David, hears this.

“The Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. I do not see as man sees. Man looks on the face, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Kgs 16:7).

This happens through God’s particular providence. For what purpose, and how? For the saints themselves and for those who believe in them. Just as God permits persecutions, so He does not allow the saints to know many things, so that they may be humbled.

For this reason Paul said, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I be exalted” (2 Cor 12:7). Again, this also happens so that others may not imagine too much about them.

Indeed, if they were regarded as gods because of miracles, much more would this have happened if they had always known everything. Concerning this the same Apostle again says, “lest anyone should think of me above what he sees in me or hears from me” (2 Cor 12:6).

Hear also what Peter says when he healed the lame man: “Why do you marvel at this, or why do you look at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” (Acts 3:12).

If false opinions about them arose even when they said and did such things, and when they were performing few and comparatively small miracles, much more could this happen with great miracles.

This was permitted for another reason also. It was so that no one might say that they performed their exploits as if they had ceased to be men. Otherwise all would have surrendered themselves to carelessness.

God shows that they also are weak, so that every pretext for shamelessness may be taken from those who wish to remain in error. This is why Paul does not know.

This is why, even after many promises to come, he does not come, so that they may know that he too did not know many things. No small benefit came from this.

There were even some who asserted that he was a great power of God. Others said that he was this or that. If this had not been in Paul, what else would they not have imagined?

Thus, although this seems to be a defect in the saints, if one examines carefully, their wondrous power and the excess of the temptation become clear. How so? Attend.

If you, Paul, said to them above, “For this we are appointed,” and, “that none of you should be shaken,” why then do you send Timothy afterward, as though fearing that something might happen contrary to your desire?

He does this from the abundance of love. Those who love, through burning zeal, fear even for what is safe. This arose from the multitude of temptations. “It is true,” he says, “that I said, For this we are appointed.”

“But the excessive multitude of evils frightened me.” Therefore he did not say, “Having noticed something bad in you, I send him.” Rather he says, “When I could no longer bear it,” which properly belonged to love.

What does “lest the tempter had tempted you” mean? Do you see that disturbance in affliction is the work of the devil and his deceit? When he cannot shake us ourselves, he shakes the weaker through us.

This is a sign of their extreme and wholly inexcusable weakness. He acted this way with Job, stirring up his wife against him. “Curse God,” she said, “and die” (Job 2:9). See into what temptation he led her.

But why did the Apostle not say, “lest he had shaken you,” but, “lest he had tempted you”? Because, he says, I feared only whether you had undergone temptation.

He does not call temptations from the devil a shaking, because only the man who has already accepted his enchantment has been shaken. O how great is Paul’s compassion!

He was not concerned with the afflictions and snares to which he himself was subjected. I think that at this time he was there amid temptations, since Luke says that he remained in Greece three months.

Then, “when a plot was made against him by the Jews” (Acts 20:3). Therefore he was not concerned about the dangers threatening him, but about the disciples. Do you see that he surpassed every father according to the flesh?

In afflictions and dangers we cease remembering everyone. But he so feared and trembled for his children that he sent to them the one who was his only consolation, Timothy, his companion and fellow-worker, while he himself remained amid dangers.

“And our labor,” he says, “should be in vain.” Why? If they had even gone astray, it would not have been through your fault or negligence. Yet even in that case, because of strong brotherly love, I would have counted my labor lost.

“Lest somehow the tempter had tempted you.” He tempts without knowing whether he will overcome. But even if he attacks without knowing, while we know that we shall overcome manfully, should we not be sober?

That he attacks without knowing whether he will overcome is shown in Job. That evil spirit said to God, “Have You not made a hedge around him and his house and all that he has?”

“You have blessed the work of his hands, and his herds have spread through the land. But stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and see whether he will bless You” (Job 1:10-11).

He tempts. If he sees something weak, he attacks. If he sees strength, he withdraws. “And whether our labor had become vain,” he says. Let us all hear how Paul labored.

He did not say “work,” but “labor.” He did not say, “and you will perish,” but, “our labor.” Therefore, if anything had happened, what was likely would have happened. But since nothing happened, the wonder is great.

We expected that, he says, but the opposite happened. We have not received any increase of sorrow from you. Rather, we have received consolation.

“To learn of your faith.” Here some ask: why does the one who ascended to the third heaven and heard ineffable words (2 Cor 12:6) not know what was happening with the Thessalonians, but sends Timothy to learn of their faith?

One may say that not even all the saints who lived before Christ and after Christ knew everything. Elisha did not know about the Shunammite woman (4 Kgs 4:8). Elijah thought that he alone remained, although there were still seven thousand others (3 Kgs 19:10).

Before them, Samuel received instruction not to look at the appearance of David’s elder brother (2 Kgs 16:7). So also the Apostles did not know everything.

This was by the special providence of God, so that they themselves might not be exalted, and others might not think too highly of them. It was also so that later Christians could not say that they performed the struggles of virtue because they were above men, and then give themselves over to negligence.

On the contrary, we are to know that they too did not always rely on God’s help, but accomplished their struggles by their own labors.

“Lest somehow the tempter had tempted you.” I did not suppose, he says, that you had wavered, except perhaps because you had been subjected to temptations. Do you see that disturbance in afflictions is the devil’s work, especially when some are scandalized because others suffer misfortune?

Thus he acted with Job, troubling Job’s wife because Job was suffering. Yet the devil tempts without knowing whether he will overcome. This is clear from Job’s example. Nevertheless, being shameless, he attacks.

If he sees some weakness, he remains and waits. But if he sees strength, he withdraws.

“And our labor might have become vain.” If they had turned aside, O Paul, what is that to you? Your labor will not remain without full reward from God. Yet, he says, because of intense love, I would have considered my labor lost.

According to St. John Chrysostom, “The Apostle did this from an abundance of love. Those who love, from burning zeal, fear even for what is safe. Although he said, ‘we are appointed to this,’ the excessive multitude of evils frightened me.

“He did not say, ‘having noticed something bad in you, I sent,’ but, ‘unable to endure it any longer,’ which properly comes from love. In afflictions we lay aside remembrance of everyone. Yet he so feared and trembled for his children that he sent to them even the one who was his consolation, Timothy, his companion and helper.

“Confusion in affliction is the work of the devil and his deceit. The Apostle calls wavering a temptation from the devil. Only the one who is already wavering is tempted, the one who has already accepted the devilish enchantment.”

Blessed Theophylact adds to this: “When the devil finds a favorable time for temptation, he shakes the unstable by reminding them of their former ease, so that they may fall away from what caused their afflictions.”

This cause was a change of faith and life. By the word “to be troubled,” “the Apostle wished precisely to express that someone, because of afflictions endured for accepted convictions and rules of life, might not waver in fidelity to them through the enticement of a former quiet life and flattering expectations. The afflictions of the Apostles could also shake them” (Bishop Theophan).

“Disciples are troubled not so much amid their own temptations as when they see the temptations of their teachers. Likewise, a soldier is not so much troubled by his own wounds as when he sees his commander wounded.”

Exegetes of the negative school, on the basis of parallel passages (Acts 17:14; 18:5; 1 Cor 4:17; 16:10 and others), raise objections concerning the sending of Timothy to Thessalonica. Yet these passages only confirm it. According to Acts, Paul’s meeting with Timothy is implied (17:14-15), as is Timothy’s mission to Macedonia (18:5). Here, in 1 Thess 3:1-8, this meeting and mission are stated positively.

No less was I anxious about you. Unable to endure it any longer, I sent, and so on. But it will be more direct if we accept this translation: for this cause, because of these circumstances, I too sent to you.

Unable to endure it, I sent. "He does this from an abundance of love. For those who love, out of burning zeal, fear even for what is safe. Although he said, 'We are appointed to this,' the excessive multitude of evils frightened me. He did not say: having noticed something bad in you, I sent. Instead he says: unable to endure it any longer, which properly comes from love.

In afflictions we lay aside remembrance of everyone, but he feared and trembled so much for his children that he sent to them even the one who was his consolation, Timothy, his companion and fellow worker" (Chrysostom).

To know your faith means the state of your faith: whether you are firm, whether you have yielded to temptation, whether you stand in what is yours. "Since I could no longer endure the thought that was troubling me, I sent, desiring to learn whether any harm had befallen you from the temptations and whether the labor we had undertaken for you had been lost" (Theodoret).

Lest somehow the tempter had tempted you means: had the tempter tempted you? The tempter could be anyone who, by corrupt words, might shake the recent convictions of the Thessalonians and draw them away from faith in the Lord. But according to the Apostle's thought, Satan is evidently meant here, whom he had already mentioned in 1 Thess 2:18.

Working in the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2), he is the tempter kat' exochen (Mt 4:3, 10; 1 Cor 7:5). The Apostle knew that the Thessalonians had suffered after his departure, or were subject to temptation from outside. But he did not know what effect these afflictions had produced on the hearts of the Thessalonians.

This is what he wished to know: had Satan shaken them? Afflictions and persecutions in themselves are not temptations. They belong to the order of things and are for good. From them, or on their occasion, Satan already arranges temptations, when, approaching the heart, he plants doubts and shakes faith.

"Do you see that disturbance in affliction is the work of the devil and his cunning? He calls wavering a temptation from the devil. Only the one who already wavers is tempted, the one who has already accepted the devil's enchantment" (Chrysostom).

And our labor would be in vain. If it should turn out that he had tempted you, that is, had shaken you, then all our labor spent on you would be nothing and would have perished in vain. Properly speaking, the labor of the Apostles could not perish in vain, even if there were no success, provided everything possible had been done.

But the Apostle looks not to rewards from God, but to his intentions in apostolic labors. He labors not merely in order to labor, but always with the fruit of labors in view: the glory of the Gospel and of faith in the Lord. When this does not occur, he does not count the labor as labor. It is all one as though he had not labored. For such labor, in his view, there is nothing to expect from the Lord.

Earlier too he said: you are our joy and crown, implying: if you stand in the faith. Here the Apostle touches the Thessalonians' love for him, for they had experienced his fatherly care. Love makes the good common, and the loss of one evokes the sympathy and assistance of others.

The Apostle strikes precisely this note by mentioning the vanity of his labor. In this he gives an impulse to stand firmly in the faith, as though saying: you will not decide to offend me by depriving my labor for you of its fruit. Theophylact writes: "If they had turned aside, O Paul, what is that to you? Your labor will not remain without full reward from God."

Saint Chrysostom paraphrases more fully: "For if they had gone astray, it would not have been through your fault or your negligence. But in this case, he says, because of my strong brotherly love, I would consider my labor lost."