1 Thessalonians 2

Chapter 2

Paul's work in Thessalonica

1Our Christian friends, you yourselves know that our visit to you had good results. 2You know what happened to us before we came to you. The people at Philippi had done bad things to us. #2:2 Philippi was another city in Macedonia. It was about 115 kilometres east of Thessalonica. Paul and his friends had been at Philippi before they came to Thessalonica. Some people at Philippi had hurt Paul and Silas very much. Then they had put Paul and Silas in prison. See Acts 16:12-40. They had caused us to have trouble. When we came to you, our God helped us to be brave. We were not afraid to tell you his good news. Many people tried to stop us, but we told you God's message.

3When we tell people to obey God's message, we are not saying anything that is not true. We do not have a wrong purpose. We are not trying to deceive anyone. 4Instead, we say what God wants us to say. He has chosen us to tell his good news to people. So we do not do it to make people happy. We do it to make God happy. He is the one who knows what we are really like.

5When we came to you, we spoke what was true. We did not just say nice things to make you feel good. You yourselves know that. We did not try to make you give things to us. We never had a secret purpose like that. God knows that this is true. 6We did not want anyone to say that we are great people. We did not want you to do that, or anyone else. 7We could have used our authority over you, because we are Christ's apostles. But instead, we chose to be kind to you and to help you. We took care of you, like a mother takes care of her little children. 8We loved you very much, so we wanted to tell you God's good news. We wanted to share our lives with you too. #2:8 Some people at Thessalonica may have said bad things about Paul and his friends. They may have told the Christians there that Paul did not really love them. They may have said that Paul only wanted power and money for himself. So Paul is explaining that he never had any wrong purpose like that. He only wanted to do what was best for the believers at Thessalonica.

9Our Christian friends, remember how we worked so hard to help you. We worked during the day and even during the night. We did not want to cause any problems for you. So we taught you God's good news and we did not ask you to give us anything in return. #2:9 While Paul, Silas and Timothy were at Thessalonica, they worked to get some money. We do not know the kind of work that they did. But we know that Paul could make tents. See Acts 18:3.

10You know that we lived in a good way when we were with you. God also knows that. We were completely honest with you believers. Nobody could say that we did anything wrong. 11You know that we helped you, like a father helps his own children. 12We taught you clearly what is true. We helped you to be strong as believers. God has chosen you to be his own people. You belong to his great kingdom, where he rules. So we told you to live in a way that pleases him.

13There is another reason why we always continue to thank God for you. When we told God's message to you, you knew that it was not human ideas. You accepted it as God's own message, and that is what it certainly is. You continue to grow as believers because of God's message that you heard.

14Our Christian friends, you have received the same kind of trouble that the people in the churches of Judea received. #2:14 Judea was the south part of Israel. The people who lived there were called Jews. People in your own country have caused you to have trouble and pain. The same thing happened to the people in Judea who believed in Christ Jesus. They received trouble from their own Jewish people.

15People like that even killed the Lord Jesus. They killed God's prophets, too. They also did bad things against us, so that we had to leave their towns. They make God become angry. They are enemies of all people, 16because they try to stop us speaking to Gentiles. They do not want God to save anyone from another nation. In this way, they continue to do more and more bad things. When their sins become too many, God has to stop them. He has become so angry that he has punished them completely.

Paul wants to return to Thessalonica

17Our friends, we have had to go away from you for a short time. But we have not stopped thinking about you. We have wanted more and more to come to see you again. 18Yes, we really wanted to return to you. Certainly, I, Paul, tried again and again to come to you, but Satan stopped us.

19You are the people that make us very happy! We know that you will continue to trust God. So, when our Lord Jesus returns, we will be proud of you. You will be like a crown that he gives us when we stand in front of him. 20You show the great results of our work. Yes, it is because of you that we are very happy.