(REFLECTIONS ON 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20)

For Paul and his colleagues, the gospel they preached was not their own, but it was the gospel of God. It was not preached because it would bring about health and wealth, but amid much opposition. In fact, they did not just preach the gospel of God, but they also gave their own lives for the people they were ministering to.

Their message was not meant to deceive, not meant to just be pleasing to the ear, as they didn’t come with flattering speech, not because of greed, not for glory from men, but gently as a mother’s care, in truth and in love.

13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

The Thessalonians thus believed, not in their words, not as words of men, but in the gospel of God and the word of God. The word of God is not just to be heard and read, but it is life changing, and performs its work in the believer.

The work it performed in Paul and his colleagues led them to full conviction of life in the Lord, Jesus Christ, that turned their lives from being inward focused, to God focused, even in the midst of opposition. The word of God is living and breathing, and it is when the words of God activate within us to awaken our souls into a new life with Him, that it performs its work in us as well.

That is the full conviction Paul and his colleagues had, and the full conviction that the Thessalonians had in receiving not the words of men, but the gospel of God as the word of God. Let that also be our message, not of flattering speech, not because of greed, not for our glory, but gently as a mother’s care, and may it be the word of God, not the words of men that the world hears and experiences from the church. A word not just to be heard, but a word that performs its work in those who believe.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: 1 Thessalonians 2