1 Thessalonians 4:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This is a strong inducement to fulfill the duty of love. I do not say without reason, “you yourselves are taught by God,” but I know this from your deeds. Thus he also spoke much to them about this.

He does not simply say, “you are taught by God,” but, “I know this from your deeds.” He mentioned Macedonia because Thessalonica is the chief city of Macedonia. I know that you are brotherly in love. This is what we ask: that you progress still more in brotherly love and become more generous.

This instruction does not contradict the praises given above. For it happened that some generously supplied what was necessary to the needy, while the latter, because of their generosity, neglected work. The Apostle rightly praised the former and gave useful counsel to the latter. He fittingly called work itself a kind of generosity. For those who, because of the generosity of fellow believers, could be fed even without working, yet still refuse to live without labor and obtain food by their own hands, show a certain generosity through industriousness.

The holy Apostle, like a true spiritual physician, saw that this disease, arising from the spirit of despondency, was spreading even in his own time. Or, by the Holy Spirit, he foresaw that it would arise among monks.

He hastens to forestall it with the saving medicine of his commandments. For when he wrote to the Thessalonians, he first treated the weakness of the sick with a gentle and mild word, like a most skillful and perfect physician.

He began with love and praised them in this respect. Thus the mortal wound, bound with a soothing remedy, would lose the swelling of indignation and more easily endure sharp medicines.

Here is a rebuke for those who, imagining that the kingdom of Antichrist has come or that the glorious coming of Christ has drawn near, do not want to attend to earthly affairs. They abandon their homes, leave the cultivation of fields, and give themselves to inactivity. The day of the Lord must find us not in idleness, but in the labor appointed to each by the Lord.

In the moral and dogmatic section, the holy Apostle Paul offers the Thessalonians various instructions according to Timothy's report about their moral state. Then he reasons with them about the lot of those who died before the Lord's second coming. Finally, he prevents possible moral failings among the Thessalonians and heals actual ones.

The Apostle gives instruction that the will of God is our sanctification. Therefore the Thessalonians must abstain from fornication, knowing how to keep their vessel, the body, in holiness and honor.

He also instructs them not to act unlawfully or covetously toward their brother in anything. On the contrary, they are to live quietly, attend to their own affairs, work with their own hands, and be in need of nothing (1 Thess 4:1-12).

The Apostle does not speak at length about brotherly love, finding that it is sufficiently manifested among them. This is seen both in their mutual relations and toward the inhabitants of all Macedonia, by which he probably means a general Christian influence.

Yet the Apostle commands them to abound in love, for the work of love is too great for anyone quickly to become fully perfected in it.

St John Chrysostom says, "What does it mean that the Apostle seems to set aside love, the foundation of every virtue, saying, 'There is no need to write about this'?

"This proceeds from his great prudence and spiritual wisdom. For by supposing that they lead a righteous life, even if they did not live so, and therefore not urging them toward it, he more quickly brings them to such a life.

Then, turning again to the shortcomings observed in the life of the Thessalonians, the Apostle exhorts them to live quietly and attend to their own work. He also urges them not to trouble the Gentiles by their conduct. This instruction was all the more necessary for the Thessalonians because many of them, in view of the nearness of Christ’s coming and the manifestation of His glorious kingdom, had completely abandoned their occupations. They began to wander idly through the city, provoking complaints among the Gentiles against Christianity in general. See 2 Thess 3:9.

"You do." That there is truly no need to write to them about brotherly love, since they are taught this by God, is shown by their works of love toward the brethren in Macedonia.

By tracing their works back to God as their source, he sanctifies them, and thereby gives them an incentive to continue. The Thessalonians were probably benevolent even by natural disposition.

While he was among them and personally gave them lessons, the Apostle gave this natural disposition a direction pleasing to God. After they received grace, which sanctified and transformed nature, this also became from God.