1 Thessalonians 1:8

1:6-10 When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from the dead, which is a full assurance unto all men that he will come to judgment. He came to purchase salvation, and will, when he comes again, bring salvation with him, full and final deliverance from that wrath which is yet to come. Let all, without delay, flee from the wrath to come, and seek refuge in Christ and his salvation.

1 Thessalonians 1:8 . Γὰρ , for ) The intensive particle.— ἐξήχηται ) was given ( spread ) abroad with a clear sound .— τοῦ Κυρίου , of the Lord ) Christ.— ὥστε , so that ) It is lawful to speak where the subject is the conversion of souls. Paul takes this for granted; and he himself would have taken also the subject of his remarks from the conversion of the Thessalonians, had not others known the fact already before, and spoken about it.— λαλεῖν τι , to speak anything ) concerning your faith, 1 Thessalonians 1:9 .

1 Thessalonians 1:8 . ἡ πίστις … ἐξελ . ( Romans 10:18 ), by anacoluthon, reiterates for emphasis ἀφʼ ὑμῶν … κυρίου ( ὁ λόγος τ . Κ . depending for its effectiveness on the definite testimony of Christians). Paul is dictating loosely but graphically. The touch of hyperbole is pardonable and characteristic ( cf. Romans 1:8 ; 1 Corinthians 4:17 ; Colossians 1:6 ); but the geographical and commercial position of Thessalonica see Introd., p. 5) must have offered ample facilities for the rapid dissemination of news and the promulgation of the faith, north and south, throughout European Greece ( Encycl. Bibl. , i. 32). The local Christians had taken full advantage of their natural opportunities. Through their imitation of the apostles (see Introd., p. 7) and of Christ (here as in 1 Peter 2:19-21 , in his sufferings), they had become a pattern for others. The ἐν τῇ is omitted before Ἀχαίᾳ here because Μ . and Α . are grouped together, over against π . τ .— ὥστε … γάρ , the reputation of the apostles rested upon solid evidence.

Hath sounded forth (ἐξήχηται) N.T.o. lxx Joel 3:14; Sir. 40:13, of thunder; 3 Macc. 3:2, of a report. It means a loud, unmistakable proclamation. The word of the Lord (ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου) The phrase in Paul only in these Epistles. Comp. 2 Thessalonians 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:15. Comparatively frequent in Acts. Paul has λόγος Θεοῦ or τοῦ Θεοῦ word of God, eight times, and λόγος τοῦ χριστοῦ word of the Christ, once, Colossians 3:16. The meaning here is the gospel, regarded either as the message proceeding from the Lord, or concerning him. It is the εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ the gospel of God: see 1 Thessalonians 2:2, 1 Thessalonians 2:8, 1 Thessalonians 2:9; Romans 1:1; Romans 15:16; 2 Corinthians 11:7. As Professor Sanday remarks on Romans 1:1, "it is probably a mistake in these cases to restrict the force of the genitive to one particular aspect: all aspects are included in which the gospel is in any way related to God and Christ." In every place A rhetorical exaggeration, signifying the whole known world. It is explained by the extensive commercial relations of Thessalonica. Comp. Romans 1:8; Colossians 1:6, Colossians 1:23, 2 Corinthians 2:14. Is spread abroad (ἐξελήλυθεν) Lit. and better, has gone forth.

1 Thessalonians GOD’S TRUMPET 1 Thessalonians 1:8 . This is Paul’s first letter. It was written very shortly after his first preaching of the Gospel in the great commercial city of Thessalonica. But though the period since the formation of the Thessalonian Church was so brief, their conversion had already become a matter of common notoriety; and the consistency of their lives, and the marvellous change that had taken place upon them, made them conspicuous in the midst of the corrupt heathen community in which they dwelt. And so says Paul, in the text, by reason of their work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope, they had become ensamples to all that believe, and loud proclaimers and witnesses of the Gospel which had produced this change. The Apostle employs a word never used anywhere else in the New Testament to describe the conspicuous and widespread nature of this testimony of theirs. He says, ‘The word of the Lord sounded out ‘ from them. That phrase is one most naturally employed to describe the blast of a trumpet. So clear and ringing, so loud, penetrating, melodious, rousing, and full was their proclamation, by the silent eloquence of their lives, of the Gospel which impelled and enabled them to lead such lives. A grand ideal of a community of believers! If our churches to-day were nearer its realisation there would be less unbelief, and more attraction of wandering prodigals to the Father’s house.

Would that this saying were true of every body of professing believers! Would that from each there sounded out one clear accordant witness to Christ, in the purity and unworldliness of their Christlike lives! I. This metaphor suggests the great purpose of the Church. It is God’s trumpet, His means of making His voice heard through all the uproar of the world. As the captain upon the deck in the gale will use his speaking-trumpet, so God’s voice needs your voice. The Gospel needs to be passed through human lips in order that it may reach deaf ears. The purpose for which we have been apprehended of Christ is not merely our own personal salvation, whether we understand that in a narrow and more outward, or in a broader and more spiritual sense. No man is an end in himself, but every man, though he be partially and temporarily an end, is also a means. And just as, according to the other metaphor, the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, each particle of the dead dough, as soon as it is leavened and vitalised, becoming the medium for transmitting the strange, transforming, and living influence to the particle beyond, so all of us, if we are Christian people, have received that grace into our hearts, for our own sakes indeed, but also that through us might be manifested to the darkened eyes beyond, and through us might drop persuasively on the dull, cold ears that are further away from the Divine Voice, the great message of God’s mercy.

Verse 8. - For ; or, because the proof of tiffs praise conferred on the Thessalonians. From you sounded out. Resounded like the sound of a trumpet. Comp. Romans 10:18 , "Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world." The word of the Lord. This does not intimate that the Thessalonians by their missionary activity disseminated the gospel, but that from them locally the-gospel had spread. Not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad. There is a slight difficulty in the construction. The sentence is complete without the addition, "your faith to God-ward is spread abroad," and, therefore, we must consider these words as equivalent to " from you sounded out the word of the Lord." When the apostle says that " the faith of the Thessalonians is spread abroad in every place," the meaning is that the report of their joyful reception of the gospel had excited universal attention. There is here a certain use of the figure hyperbole. The words, "in every place," are not to be taken in their full literal sense, but are merely a strong expression for the wide diffusion of the faith of the Thessalonians. Paul uses similar hyperboles in other places, as when he speaks of the faith of the Romans being spoken of throughout the whole world ( Romans 1:5 ), and of the gospel having come into all the world ( Colossians 1:6 ).

This wide diffusion of the Faith of the Thessalonians, notwithstanding the recent date of their conversion, may be accounted for when we consider that Thessalonica and Corinth were two great commercial cities, from and to which there was a constant coming and going, so that reports might easily be transmitted by merchants and strangers. It has also been suggested that Aquila and Priscilla, who had lately come from Rome ( Acts 18:2 ), must in their journey have passed through Thessalonica, and would bring with them to Corinth such a report of the faith of the Thessalonians (Wieseler). So that we need not to speak anything ; that is, of your faith, as this is already so well known and applauded. 1 Thessalonians 1:8