A Proper Witness to the Word of God—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 23A (1 Thessalonians 2:9-13)

Fresco of St. Paul - 5th Century Ephesus

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁹ You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. ¹¹ As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹² urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³ We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

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                As I noted in the previous posts regarding Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian church, this is likely the earliest of his letters. Although he and his companions planted a church in Thessaloniki, they had to depart quickly due to opposition from folks in the community (Acts 16-17). In this reading, Paul continues the defense of his ministry, building on the opening verses of 1 Thessalonians 2, where he spoke of how he had engaged the community with gentleness, much like a nursing mother (1 Thess. 2:1-8). In this passage, Paul continues that defense/apology for his ministry. As he points out in verse 11, he addresses them as a father would his children. That may sound a bit paternalistic, but this is a new community that Paul had founded. Therefore, in his view, the members of this community are his spiritual children, who still require his guidance. In other words, this is a very young community of faith that still needs help from its mother and father as they grow in the faith.  

                In verse 8, which we engaged last week, Paul tells the Thessalonian believers that he and his companions care so deeply about them that they desire not only to share the gospel with them but also to share themselves with and for them. Having stated their desire to give themselves fully to the Thessalonians, Paul begins our reading in verse 9 by reminding the Thessalonians of their labor and toil, as they worked day and night so they wouldn’t be a burden to them. The Book of Acts suggests that Paul supported himself by working as a tentmaker (Acts 18:1-3),  so that he wouldn’t be accused of milking the people for support. Since he and his companions supported themselves financially as they continued their ministry, no one could accuse them of acting with false motives (1 Thess. 2:5-7). That he felt the need to say this suggests that there may have been other itinerant preachers, whether Christian or not, who were religious hucksters (think here of Elmer Gantry). We know from history that there have been plenty of such preachers who used religion as a con to make money. Having said that, Paul's choice of a missional path in which he chose to support himself financially rather than depending on the local community doesn’t mean it is inappropriate for church workers to receive salaries. Even Paul suggested that this was appropriate, though he chose not to avail himself of that support. Thus, he writes in 1 Corinthians: “ Do you not know that those who work in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:13-14).

                Paul wrote that since the Thessalonians had witnessed their labor and toil as they proclaimed the Gospel, this was evidence that their conduct as missionaries was “pure, upright, and blameless.” Here is where Paul tells the Thessalonians that they had acted as a father to his children. Although this is a paternalistic message, in verse 7 Paul described his relationship with the Thessalonians as that of a wet nurse who attended tenderly to them as a nurse would to her own children. Thus, Paul uses both maternal and paternal images, which is worth noting. In our reading, acting as a father with his children, he and his companions had encouraged the Thessalonians, even pleading with them, to “live a life worthy of God.” In other words, behavior was important to Paul. Or to quote James, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). It was their behavior as missionaries that bore witness to the Gospel; the same should be true of the Thessalonians. Why? Because God had called them “into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12). In this declaration, we see hints of Paul’s eschatological message that had been shared with the Thessalonians. Using this eschatological imagery, Paul reminds them that God’s ultimate purpose for their lives is that they would live lives worthy of God because God had invited them to participate in the coming kingdom (reign of God) in all its glory.

                Our reading concludes with a word of thanksgiving to God because the Thessalonians had received their message, not as a human word but as God’s Word. It was this divine Word that was at work in them as believers. The key here was their discernment that the message Paul delivered was of divine origin. Not only had they discerned that Paul’s message had brought them God’s word, not a human word, but that word was now at work in their lives. Or, might we say that God was directly working in their midst? You might say that Paul had simply been the midwife, bringing the word to them, which was now at work in them because it was a Word from God. As we ponder Paul’s word of thanksgiving concerning the reception of their proclamation as being not a human word but of divine origin, it is worth taking note of Karl Barth’s distinction between the three-fold Word of God. Barth writes in the first volume of his Church Dogmatics

Proclamation is human speech in and by which God Himself speaks like a king through the mouth of his herald, and which is meant to be heard and accepted as speech in and by which God Himself speaks, and therefore heard and accepted in faith as divine decision concerning life and death, as divine judgment and pardon, eternal Law and eternal Gospel both together. [Church Dogmatics, 1:1:52].

Barth acknowledged that not all preaching reflects God’s Word. For him, preaching became the Word of God when it drew from Scripture and pointed to Christ, who was the Word of God incarnate [on this see my brief book: The Authority of Scripture in a Postmodern Age: Some Help from Karl Barth (Topical Line Drives Book 9)]. The point where I think Barth and Paul might agree is that God can speak through human messengers, whether through preaching or some other form of communication.