Page 16 - Pauline Epistles Student Textbook

Study Section 3: Apology for Evidential Sincere
Ministry among Them.

3.1 Connect.

You ever been criticized? Someone did not like what you did or the way to you did
it, and they openly let others know. Perhaps they came up to you personally and
“let you have it.” If you are doing something to serve the Lord, you should not be
surprised when something like that happens. Look at our Savior. Christ healed the
sick, casted out demons, raised people from the dead, etc. (Matt 9:18-26; 17:14-21;
John 11:43-44). His good works were attacked. He cast out demons and the
opposition told him He was empowered by Satan. He was constantly under attack by the religious
leaders of his day.

So, if you have been criticized, join the club. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live
godly lives in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution.” If you endure hardship, you stand beside
Christ, Paul, the apostles, and literally thousands of Christians through the Church age who have
suffered and died for their faith. Today we will see that there is a cost to stand for Christ….

3.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to compare and contrast 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 and 1
Thessalonians 2:1-16.

2. The student should be able to draw out principles that can help him contend for faith.

3. The student should be able to list the principles used by the apostles for defending their faith.

3.3 Apostles’ Ministry Among the Thessalonian Believers (1 Thess. 2:1-16).

Motivation for the Apostles’ Proclamation of the Gospel (2:1-7)

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But
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though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you
know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of
much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt
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to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak,
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not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of
flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from
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people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of
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Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. (ESV)

The Greek coordinate conjunction “γὰρ” (gar, for [1 Thess. 2:1a]) is very common. Based on the
context in verse 1, Wallace suggests that for “indicates that addition information is being given
about what is being described.” Leon Morris also suggests that that “conjunction shows that what
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follows is a consequence of the preceding.” Why is the opening of this section significant? Initially,

28 Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, 673.
nd
29 Leon Morris, ed., 1 & 2 Thessalonians: The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 2 ed. (Downers
Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1984), 50.

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