1 Thessalonians 2:18

2:17-20 This world is not a place where we are to be always, or long together. In heaven holy souls shall meet, and never part more. And though the apostle could not come to them yet, and thought he might never be able to come, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come; nothing shall hinder that. May God give faithful ministers to all who serve him with their spirit in the gospel of his Son, and send them to all who are in darkness

1 Thessalonians 2:18 . Ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ) So the LXX. Nehemiah 13:20 .— ὁ Σατανᾶς , Satan ) Paul wisely considered that there lurked beneath this the first cause of evil—a cause, of which we should have had no suspicion otherwise, when reading the history in Acts 17:13-14 . Satan acted by means of wicked men.

1 Thessalonians 2:18 . “We did crave to reach you,” διότι (= because) not being required with the English stress on did . The whole verse is parenthetical, syntactically.— καὶ … Σατανᾶς . The mysterious obstacle, which Paul traced back to the ultimate malice of Satan, may have been either ( a ) an illness ( cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7 , so Simon, die Psychologie des Apostels Paulus , 63, 64), ( b ) local troubles, ( c ) the exigencies of his mission at the time being (Grotius), or ( d ) a move on the part of the Thessalonian politarchs who may have bound over Jason and other leading Christians to keep the peace by pledging themselves to prevent Paul’s return (Ramsay’s St. Paul the Traveller , 230 f., Woodhouse, E. Bi [32], 5047, Findlay). Early Christian thought referred all such hindrances to the devil as the opponent of God and of God’s cause. The words ἐν Ἀθήναις ( 1 Thessalonians 3:1 ) rule out Zimmer’s application of ( b ) to the emergency at Corinth, while the silence of Acts makes any of the other hypotheses quite possible, though ( d ) hardly fits in with the ordinary view of the Empire in II. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 f. and renders it difficult to see why the Thessalonians did not understand at once how Paul could not return. The choice really lies between ( a ) and ( c ). Kabisch (27–29), by a forced exegesis, takes 1 Thessalonians 2:20 as the explanation of this satanic manœuvre.

We would (ἠθελήσαμεν) Implying more than a mere inclination or desire. It was our will to come. See on Matthew 1:19. IPaul Not implying any less desire on the part of his associates, but emphasizing his own. See on the use of the epistolary plural, 1 Thessalonians 1:2. Satan (Σατανᾶς) From the Aramaic Satana, adversary. In the canonical lxx the name appears only three times, 1 Kings 11:14, 1 Kings 11:23, 1 Kings 11:25, and in each case is applied to a man. In lxx διάβολος is used, almost without exception, as the translation of the Hebrew Satan. Of 22 instances of διάβολος only 9 are outside of the book of Job. From the more general conception of an adversary, there is, in the O.T., a gradual development toward that of an evil personality. For instance, in 2 Samuel 24:1, the numbering of the people is ascribed to the anger of the Lord. The later historian, in 1 Chronicles 21:1, ascribes the act to Satan. See also Job, Wisd. 2:24; Zechariah 3:1. The specialising of the conception was due, in part, to the contact of the Jews with the religions of Babylon and Persia. In N.T. Satan appears as the personal spirit of evil - the same who is called the devil, the wicked one, the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this world, the serpent, the God of this world, the tempter. He tempts to evil, opposes God's work, inspires evil dispositions, torments God's people. The word Satan occurs only once in the Fourth Gospel, not in the Epistles, but often in Revelation.

Mark never uses διάβολος, Matthew never Satan. Paul seldom διάβολος, often Satan. Satan alone in Pastorals. Luke uses both. It is clear that Paul here as elsewhere employs the word in a personal sense; but any attempt to base the doctrine of a personal devil on this and similar passages is unsafe. Hindered (ἐνέκοψεν) See on 1 Peter 3:7.

Verse 18. - Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul . Paul distinguishes himself, because in all probability his companions, Silas and Timothy, had been at Thessalonica after he had left it. Once and again. Not used indefinitely, but referring to two separate attempts which Paul made to revisit the Thessalonians. But Satan hindered us ; denoting, not the enemies of Christianity, but the devil, the author of all the hindrances in the kingdom of God. Paul here recognizes the personality of Satan, as the author of all evil, the great opponent of God and Christ. We are not informed by what instrumentality this hindrance of Satan took place. It may refer to the various persecutions against Paul, which prevented him returning to Thessalonica, and especially to that persecution raised against him in Beraea by the Jews of Thessalonica ( Acts 17:13 ). In one sense, indeed, the hindrances arose in the way of God's providence, for under its direction all the journeys of Paul were placed, and Satan could not have hindered him from preaching the gospel in any quarter, unless by the Divine permission (comp. Acts 16:7 ; Romans 1:13 ). 1 Thessalonians 2:18

18. Wherefore—The oldest manuscripts read, "Because," or "Inasmuch as." we would—Greek, "we wished to come"; we intended to come. even I Paul—My fellow missionaries as well as myself wished to come; I can answer for myself that I intended it more than once. His slightly distinguishing himself here from his fellow missionaries, whom throughout this Epistle he associates with himself in the plural, accords with the fact that Silvanus and Timothy stayed at Berea when Paul went on to Athens; where subsequently Timothy joined him, and was thence sent by Paul alone to Thessalonica (1Th 3:1). Satan hindered us—On a different occasion "the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Jesus" (so the oldest manuscripts read), Ac 16:6, 7, forbad or hindered them in a missionary design; here it is Satan, acting perhaps by wicked men, some of whom had already driven him out of Thessalonica (Ac 17:13, 14; compare Joh 13:27), or else by some more direct "messenger of Satan—a thorn in the flesh" (2Co 12:7; compare 2Co 11:14). In any event, the Holy Ghost and the providence of God overruled Satan's opposition to further His own purpose. We cannot, in each case, define whence hindrances in good undertakings arise; Paul in this case, by inspiration, was enabled to say; the hindrance was from Satan.

Grotius thinks Satan's mode of hindering Paul's journey to Thessalonica was by instigating the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers to cavil, which entailed on Paul the necessity of replying, and so detained him; but he seems to have left Athens leisurely (Ac 17:33, 34; 18:1). The Greek for "hindered" is literally, "to cut a trench between one's self and an advancing foe, to prevent his progress"; so Satan opposing the progress of the missionaries.

(18) We would. —Not merely a conditional tense, but “we were ready to come—meant to come.” Even I Paul.—Rather, that is to say, I; Paul, not as if it were a great thing that one like him should have such a wish, but showing that Silas and Timothy had not shared his intention. Why had they not? The answer shows the minute truthfulness of the Acts. Timothy, apparently, did not at first leave Thessalonica with St. Paul (Acts 17:10, where the Greek seems definitely to exclude him). Both Silas and Timothy were left at Berœa (Acts 17:14). It was during this period that St. Paul felt so eager a desire to return to his persecuted children. We cannot tell on what two definite occasions the desire was almost taking shape; but possibly his longing may have been stimulated by seeing his messengers start for the north, first when he sent for his two companions (Acts 17:15), and secondly when he despatched Timothy himself to Thessalonica (1Thessalonians 3:2). But Satan hindered.—How, cannot be decided; but St. Paul has no doubt that his disappointment was a direct manifestation of the work of evil, not a leading of God to stay where he was.

Elsewhere he is quite as clear that the obstruction of his own plans is owing to God. (See Acts 16:6-7; 1Corinthians 16:12, where the will spoken of is not Apollos’ will, but God’s.) The difficulty is to tell in each case whether God is directly saving us from a worse course, in spite of ourselves, or permitting a momentary, and yet if rightly used a disciplinary, triumph of evil. Satan.—The Thessalonians, though originally Gentiles, had doubtless been taught enough at their conversion to recognise the word. Though it is quite clear from other passages (e.g., 1Corinthians 7:5; 2Thessalonians 2:9; 1Timothy 3:7) that St. Paul believed in the existence of personal fallen spirits, it cannot be positively affirmed that he here means anything more than a personification of all that is opposed to God—the hostility of wicked men, &c.