“See what care all the disciples showed for the chief apostles. Communion with the Church has great power. What one cannot do by himself, he will do together with others.
Therefore here especially prayers are offered for the whole world, for the Church in all its bounds, for their welfare, and for those in danger.”
“Thus those who sent Paul away could have done something great by themselves. With him they would have done and accomplished still more, but for the moment they wished to deliver him from danger.”
As for leaving Silas and Timothy in Beroea, this was done so that the preaching might continue there. Something similar had already been practiced earlier in Philippi (see Acts 16:40), and afterward in Thessalonica.
From Thessalonica Paul ordered Silas and Timothy to return to him quickly in Athens. It may be thought that, despite Paul’s short stay in Athens, Timothy came to him there (see 1 Thess 2:18-3:2), as he had come from Philippi to Thessalonica.
Their longer meeting took place in Corinth, where the Apostle Paul remained for a longer time. Saint John Chrysostom, as a profound venerator of the holy Apostle Paul, expresses joy at his arrival in Athens, the center of Greek learning.
He says, “It was good that they were led by God into Macedonia, for Greece was already renowned.”
Leaving Macedonia was very bitter for the apostle. He had been called there in such an extraordinary way, and his work there had proved especially fruitful.
This was still more bitter because the cause lay with the Jews. They were so dear to his heart that, for the sake of their conversion, he was ready to sacrifice his own salvation.
It was especially grievous to Saint Paul that the Jews not only failed to be converted themselves, but also hindered the apostle from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved.
Thus, not pleasing God and opposing men, they filled up the measure of their sins (1 Thess 2:16).
Only one conviction strengthened the apostle and gave him power. It was the conviction that the sacred ministry of the gospel of God which he performed (Rom 15:16) was determined by the will of God Himself.
He was also convinced that afflictions and persecutions are necessary for those who serve Christ, since through them we must enter the Kingdom of God.
Strengthened by this, and hoping for good shoots from the seed already sown, he turned to new places where the word of the gospel had not yet sounded.
Since he was not yet able to visit Macedonian cities such as Thessalonica, the apostle took care to strengthen the Church there through his two epistles, written soon afterward from Corinth.
In the first of them he wrote: We were gentle among you, as a nurse tenderly cares for her children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we wished to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own souls, because you had become dear to us (1 Thess 2:7-8).
As a father with his own children, we exhorted and comforted and charged each one of you to walk worthily of God, who called you into His own Kingdom and glory (1 Thess 2:11-12).
You remember, brethren, our labor and toil. Working night and day, so as not to burden any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God (1 Thess 2:9).
This was said against idlers, of whom there were many in Thessalonica. The apostle further announced that the Thessalonians would have to endure many temptations (see 1 Thess 3:2-4; 5:2-3).
This will be a terrible time for the sons of darkness. For those counted worthy of trial, however, it is not an object of fear, but of joyful expectation.
Especially terrible will be the son of perdition (2 Thess 2:3), the Antichrist, who exalts himself above all. Even now the mystery of lawlessness is at work, but it will not be completed until the restrainer is taken away (2 Thess 2:7).
That is, this will not occur so long as laws and the lawful bearers of right and justice are acknowledged and respected. But when the lawless one is revealed, the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the manifestation of His coming (2 Thess 2:8).
For the apostle, it was a matter of the highest importance to give the Christians of newly founded Churches a correct view of the state, civil authority, and the relation of the Church to the state.
Only such a view could protect Christians from consequences deeply grievous for them. These would have followed from a contemptuous, and still more from a rebellious, attitude toward the representatives of the state’s legal order.
THEOSIS