Homilies on 1 Thessalonians 2.1–3.1

“For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report concerning us what kind of entrance we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” Just as a fragrant ointment does not keep its fragrance shut up in itself, but sends it out far off, and, filling the air with its scent, so passes it into the senses of those near by, so too noble and admirable men do not keep their virtue shut up in themselves, but by their fame they benefit many and make them better. Which is what happened then also. Therefore he said, “so that you became examples to all who believe in Achaia and in Macedonia. For from you,” he says, “the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone out.” You have filled all your neighbours with instruction, he says, and the world with wonder; for this is what “in every place” means. And he did not say, “your faith has been talked about,” but “has sounded forth,” making plain that, just as when a trumpet sounds brilliantly the whole place round about is filled, so the fame of your courage, trumpeting like that, is able to fill the world and to fall with equal sound upon all everywhere. For great deeds are sung more brilliantly where they happen, and far off they are sung, but not so; but from you it is not so; rather a clear sound has gone out into every part of the earth. And let no one think the words an exaggeration. For this nation of the Macedonians was famous even before Christ’s coming, and was sung everywhere more than the Romans; and the Romans were admired for this, that they had conquered these. For what the king of the Macedonians accomplished surpassed all words: setting out from a small city, he seized the world. Therefore the prophet sees him as a winged leopard, signifying his swiftness and vehemence and fieriness, and that he flew suddenly across the world with trophies and victory. And they say that, hearing a philosopher say that there are infinite worlds, he groaned bitterly, if, there being infinitely many, he had not yet become master of even one; so lofty-minded and great-souled was he, and he was sung in every part of the world. Along with the fame of the king, then, rose the glory of the nation also; for he was called Alexander the Macedonian; so that, since he was celebrated, what happened there was naturally sung everywhere too; for nothing about famous people can be hidden. The affairs of the Macedonians, then, were no less known than those of the Romans. “Your faith toward God,” he says, “has gone out.” See how, as if speaking of a living thing, he has put “has gone out”; and this came from their vehemence. Then, making plain that they showed their faith so vehement and active, he adds, “so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report concerning us what kind of entrance we had to you.” They do not wait to hear about you, but those who were not present and did not see receive the account from those who were present and saw your good deeds; so plain has it become everywhere to men’s ears. We shall not need, therefore, to tell of your deeds in order to bring them to equal zeal; for what they ought to have heard from us, they themselves say first. And yet in such cases there is often envy; but the excess overcame even this, and they themselves are heralds of your contests. And although they are left behind, not even so are they silent, but they anticipate us. And when they are such, it is not possible to disbelieve them when they tell us. What is “what kind of entrance we had to you”? That it was full of dangers, of ten thousand deaths; that none of these troubled you; but, as if nothing had happened, so you held to us; as if you had suffered no harm, but as if you had enjoyed ten thousand good things, so you received us afterwards. For this was a second entrance. For example, they went away to Beroea, they were persecuted; and afterwards, when they came, they received them so as to be honoured even by them, so that they laid down their lives for them. This “what kind of entrance we had,” then, is interwoven; for it contains praise both of these and of them; but he turned it to their credit. “And how you turned,” he says, “to God from idols, to serve a living and true God”; that is, readily, with great vehemence, that you did not need much effort to serve a living and true God. Here he brought in an exhortation too, which is the way of one who makes his speech less burdensome. “And to wait,” he says, “for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.” “And to wait,” he says, “for his Son from heaven,” the crucified, the buried; and so, making this plain, he adds, “whom he raised from the dead.” Do you see all things together: the resurrection, the ascension, the second coming, the judgment, the reward of the righteous, the punishment of the wicked? “Jesus,” he says, “who rescues us from the wrath to come.” This is at once comfort, and encouragement, and exhortation to them. For if he raised him from the dead, and he is in heaven, and will come from there (and you believed that this is so; for had you not believed, you would not have suffered so much), these things too are comfort enough. And if those men will certainly pay the penalty, as he says in the second letter also, you will have another comfort, and no small one. Besides, he said “to wait for his Son from heaven,” making plain that the terrible things are at hand, but the good things in the future, when Christ comes from heaven. See how much hope is needed: that the crucified one was raised, that he was taken up into heaven, that he is coming to judge the living and the dead. “For you yourselves know, brothers, our entrance to you, [that it was not in vain; but though we had suffered before] and been insulted, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.”

Great too are your deeds; but neither did we use human reasoning. But what he says above, he says here also, that from both sides it is shown what kind of thing the preaching is: from the signs, from the purpose of those who preached, and from the fervour and zeal of those who received it. “For you yourselves know,” he says, “our entrance to you, that it was not in vain”; that is, that it was not human, nor ordinary. For coming from great dangers and deaths and blows, we at once fell into dangers. “As you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God.” Do you see how again he ascribes the whole to God? “To speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.” It cannot be said, he says, that there we were in danger but here not; you too know how great the danger was, and in what anguish we came to you. Which he says also when writing to the Corinthians: “I was with you in weakness and in toil and in fear and in much trembling.” “For our appeal does not spring from error or from uncleanness, [nor is it made in guile; but as we have been approved] by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” Do you see that, as I said, he makes their firmness a proof that the preaching is divine? For had it not been so, had it been a deceit, we would not have endured so many dangers, which did not even give us time to breathe. What then is it? Had not something of the future roused us, had we not been persuaded that the hope is good, we would not have been more eager in our sufferings. For who would choose to endure so much for the things of this world, and to live a life full of struggle and full of dangers? For whom would they persuade? Are not these very things enough to throw the disciples into confusion, when they see their teachers in dangers? But you did not suffer this. “For our appeal,” that is, our teaching, “does not spring from error.” The thing is not a fraud, he says, nor a deceit, that we should give way; it is not on behalf of abominable things, like those of sorcerers and magicians; for this is “from uncleanness”; nor “in guile,” nor in any rising, such as Theudas made; “but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God.” Do you see that it is not vainglory? “But God,” he says, “who tests our hearts.” We do nothing to please men, he says; for for what reason would we have done these things? Then, having praised them by saying, “not as wishing to please men, nor seeking honours from men,” he added, “but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.” As if he said: Had he not seen us free from every worldly concern, he would not have chosen us; as then he approved us, such also we remain. “We have been approved,” he says, “by God”; that is, he approved us and entrusted us with the gospel. As then we appeared approved to God, so also we remain. The proof of this virtue is being entrusted with the gospel; and had there been anything base in us, God would not have approved us. And “approved” here stands for “found approved and trusted”; it is not to search out. For we act after testing, but he without testing. So then we speak as is fitting for those who have been approved by God and entrusted, being worthy of the gospel; and “we speak, not as pleasing men”; that is, we do not do all these things for your sake. Since he had praised them beforehand, so that he might not bring himself under suspicion [he says], “For we never came with a word of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness; nor seeking glory from men, whether from you or from others, though we could have been burdensome as apostles of Christ.” “For we never came with a word of flattery,” he says; that is, we did not flatter, which is the way of deceivers, of those who wish to gain control and to rule. It cannot be said that we flattered in order to rule, nor that we took this up for the sake of money. Of the former, which was plain, he calls them as witnesses: whether we flattered, you know, he says; but of what was not plain, whether it was by way of greed, he calls God as witness. “Nor seeking glory from men, whether from you or from others, though we could have been burdensome as apostles of Christ”; that is, neither seeking honours, nor boasting, nor going about with a bodyguard. And yet even if we had done this, we would have done nothing improper; for if those sent by kings are nevertheless held in honour, much more we. And he did not say, “we were dishonoured,” nor “we did not enjoy honour,” which would have been the language of one reproaching them; but “we did not seek it.” We then who, though we could have sought it, did not seek it, even when the preaching demanded this, how do we do anything for glory? And yet even if we had sought it, not even so would it have been a fault; for it is fitting that those sent from God to men, like ambassadors just arrived from heaven, should enjoy much honour. But we, out of abundance, do none of these things, so that we may stop the mouths of our opponents. And it cannot be said that we were so with you but not so with others; for so too, writing to the Corinthians, he said, “For you bear it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes from you, if someone exalts himself, if someone strikes you in the face”; and again, “But his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account”; and again, “Forgive me this wrong.” For there too he shows that he was very lowly, from having suffered so much. But here he speaks of money also: “though we could have been burdensome as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, as a nurse cherishes her own children. So, yearning for you, we were well pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”

“We were gentle,” he says; that is, we showed nothing burdensome, nothing oppressive or heavy, nothing boastful. And “among you” means, as one might say, as one of you, not taking the higher station. “As a nurse,” he says, “cherishes her own children.” So must the teacher be. Does the nurse flatter in order to win glory? Does she ask money from the little children? Is she heavy and burdensome to them? Are they not gentler than mothers? Here he shows his tender affection. “So yearning for you,” he says, that is, longing for you. So bound are we to you, he says, that not only do we take nothing, but if we had to share even our lives, we would not have refused. Is this, tell me, the mark of a human mind? And who is so foolish as to say this? “We were well pleased,” he says, “to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives.” So this is greater than that. And what is the gain? From the gospel there is gain; but to give one’s life is greater than that in difficulty. For it is not equal simply to preach and to give one’s life; the former is more precious, but the latter was of greater difficulty. We wished, he says, if it had been possible, to pour out even our lives into you. Since then he had praised and is praising them, he therefore says that we do this not seeking money, not flattering you, not grasping at glory. For see: if they had contended much, and they had to be praised and admired extraordinarily so as to become firmer, the praise was open to suspicion. Therefore, to remove the suspicion, he speaks of the dangers. And again, so that he might not be thought to speak of the dangers for this reason, as labouring for them and owing to be honoured by them, after speaking of the dangers he added, “because you had become dear to us,” making plain that we would gladly have given you even our lives for this reason, that we were exceedingly bound to you. The gospel, then, we proclaim because God commanded it; but we love you so much that, had it been possible, we would have given even our lives. So must the one who loves love: that if even his life is asked, and it is possible, he does not refuse. Why do I say “is asked”? Rather, so that he runs to such giving. For nothing, nothing can be sweeter than such love; nothing painful will befall there. Truly “a faithful friend is a medicine of life”; truly a faithful friend is a strong shelter. For what would a genuine friend not do? How much pleasure would he not create? How much benefit? How much security? Though you name ten thousand treasures, nothing is equal to a genuine friend. And let us speak first of friendship itself, how much pleasure it has. He rejoices to see him and is filled with gladness; he is knit to him with a union of soul that has unspeakable pleasure; and if he only remembers him, he is roused in mind and given wings. I speak of genuine friends, of one soul, who would choose even to die for one another, who love warmly. Do not think of those who love casually, sharers of tables, friends in name, and so suppose that my words are refuted. If anyone has such a friend as I describe, he will recognise the words; even if he sees him every day, he is not satisfied; he prays for him the same things as for himself. I know someone who, asking holy men on behalf of a friend, asked them to pray first for him, and then for himself. So great a thing is a good friend, that even places and times are loved for his sake. For just as bright bodies shed their bloom on the places near them, so friends too leave their charm on the places where they have been. And often, coming to those places without our friends, we have wept, remembering the days we spent there. It is not possible to express in words how much pleasure the presence of friends brings; only those who have experience know. One may ask a favour and receive a favour from a friend without suspicion. When they give us orders, then we are grateful to them; but when they hesitate, then we are distressed. We have nothing that is not theirs. Often, despising everything here, we do not wish to depart from here for their sake; and they are more desirable to us even than the light. For truly a friend is more desirable than the light itself; I mean a genuine one. And do not wonder; for it would be better for us that the sun be quenched than that we be deprived of friends; better to live in darkness than to be without friends. And how so, I will tell you. Because many who see the sun are in darkness, but those rich in friends would not even be in affliction. I speak of spiritual friends, who prefer nothing to friendship. Such was Paul, who would gladly give his own life even unasked, and would gladly have fallen into Gehenna. So must one love, with a fiery disposition. I wish to give an example of friendship. Friends surpass fathers and sons; friends, I mean, according to Christ. Do not tell me of the men of today, that along with other good things this too has departed; but consider that in the time of the apostles (I do not mean the leaders, but those who had believed), “the whole company,” it says, “were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things he possessed was his own; and distribution was made to each as any had need.” There was then no “mine” and “yours.” This is friendship: that one should not consider his own things his own, but his neighbour’s, and his own as another’s; that he should spare the other’s life as his own, and the other show the same disposition likewise. “And where is it possible,” someone says, “for such a one to be found?” Yes, it is not possible, because we do not wish it; for if we wished it, it would be entirely possible. For had it not been possible, Christ would not have commanded it; he would not have spoken so much about love. A great thing is friendship, and how great no one could learn, nor could any word express it, except experience itself. This has produced the heresies; this still makes the Greeks to be Greeks. The one who loves does not wish to command or to rule, but is rather grateful when ruled and commanded; he wishes rather to confer favours than to receive them; for he loves, and is so disposed as one who has not satisfied his desire. He does not delight so much in receiving good as in doing good; for he wishes rather to put him under obligation than to be in his debt; or rather he wishes both to be in his debt and to have him as a debtor; he wishes to confer favours and does not wish to seem to confer favours, but to be the debtor. Perhaps many of you do not understand what has been said; so it is necessary to say it again. He wishes to begin the kindness, and not to seem to begin, but to repay; just as God did with men. He was about to give his Son for us; but so as not to seem to give freely, but to owe it to us, he commanded Abraham to give his son, so that, doing a great thing, he might seem to do nothing great. For when there is no friendship, we both reproach people with our kindnesses and magnify small ones; but when there is friendship, we both hide them and wish to make great ones appear small, so that we may not seem to have our friend as a debtor, but to be ourselves debtors to him in having him as a debtor. I know that most do not even understand what is said; and the cause is that I am speaking of a thing that now dwells in heaven. Just as, if I spoke of some plant growing in India, of which no one had had experience, my words would not be able to express it, though I said ten thousand things, so now too whatever I say, I shall say in vain; for no one will be able to understand. This plant is planted in heaven, having branches laden not with pearls but with a virtuous life far sweeter than these. What pleasure would you name? The shameful? The honourable? The pleasure of friendship surpasses them all, even if you name that of honey. For honey cloys; but a friend never, as long as he is a friend; rather the desire grows, and such pleasure never brings satiety. And a friend is sweeter even than the present life; many, at least, after the death of their friends, have not prayed to live any longer. With a friend one would bear even exile gladly, but without a friend one would not choose to live even in one’s own country; with a friend even poverty is bearable, but without him even health and wealth are unbearable. Such a one has another self. I am choked that I cannot speak by example; for then I would have made known that what has been said falls far short of what is due. And these things are here; but from God the reward of friendship is so great that it cannot even be told. He gives us a reward for loving one another: Love, he says, and receive a reward, for a thing for which we owe a reward. Pray, he says, and receive a reward, for a thing for which we owe a reward, because we ask for good things. For what you ask, he says, receive a reward; [fast,] and receive a reward, although you owe a reward. But just as fathers, when they make their children virtuous, then even give them a reward, for they are their debtors, because they have given them pleasure, so God too says, Receive a reward if you become virtuous; for you gladden your father, and for this I owe you a reward; but if you are wicked, no longer; for you provoke the one who begot you. Let us not then provoke God, but gladden him, so that we may obtain the kingdom of heaven in Christ Jesus our Lord, and so on.

“For you remember, brothers, our labour and toil: working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and blamelessly we behaved toward you who believe; just as you know how, like a father with his own children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” The teacher must count nothing burdensome of the things that contribute to the salvation of his disciples. For if the blessed Jacob wore himself out night and day in guarding the flocks, much more must the one entrusted with souls do everything, whether the work be toilsome or lowly, looking to one thing only: the salvation of those he is making disciples, and the glory that comes to God from it. See at least how Paul too, though he was herald and apostle of the world, and had taken up such an honour, worked with his hands so as not to burden those he was making disciples. “For you remember,” he says, “brothers, our labour and toil.” He said beforehand, “though we could have been burdensome as apostles of Christ”; which he says also in the letter to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that those who perform the sacred services eat from the temple? So too Christ ordered that those who proclaim the gospel should live by the gospel.” “But I,” he says, “did not wish it,” but laboured. And he did not simply work, but with great earnestness. And see what he says: “for you remember.” He did not say, “the kindnesses you received from me,” but “our labour and toil. Working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, so we preached to you the gospel of God.” But to the Corinthians [he says something else: “I robbed other churches, taking] wages from them for your service.” And yet there too he worked; but he did not remind them of this, but set down another thing more cutting, as if he said, I was fed by others while serving you. But here it is not so; but what? “Working night and day.” And there he says, “And when I was with you [and was in want, I burdened no one … taking] wages for your service”; but here he shows that the men were in poverty; and there it was not so. Therefore he continually brings them forward as witnesses: “For you are witnesses,” he says, “and God also,” making his word trustworthy, and setting down that which most fully assured them; for the one thing is unclear to those who do not know, but this was now beyond doubt to all. And do not wonder; for he did not look to the fact that it was Paul who said these things, but out of great abundance he wishes to assure them fully. Therefore he says, “You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and blamelessly we behaved toward you who believe.” He had to praise them again; therefore he puts forward these things, which were enough to persuade them. For he reasons that one who was in need there and did not take, much more now. “How holily and righteously and blamelessly we behaved toward you who believe, just as you know how, like a father with his own children, each one of you …” He speaks with reference to love, which was more than that of patronage. And what was said is also a mark of freedom from pride. “Like a father with his own children, exhorting you and encouraging you and charging you to walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” When he said “and charging,” then he mentions fathers, showing that even if we charged you, we did it not harshly, but as fathers. “Each one of you.” Wonderful! In so great a multitude to pass over no one, neither small nor great, neither rich nor poor. “Exhorting”: to what did he say? To bear everything. “And encouraging”: so they were not seeking glory. “And charging”: so they did not flatter. “To walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” See again how, while narrating, he both teaches and comforts: for if he called you into a kingdom, you must bear everything. We exhort, not that you may do us any favour, but that you may obtain the kingdom of heaven. “And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is also at work in you who believe.” It cannot be said, he says, that we do everything blamelessly, while you have done things unworthy of our conduct; for you were not disposed as if hearing men when you heard us, but you paid attention as if God himself were exhorting. How is this plain? Just as he shows that he did not preach in flattery or vainglory from his own trials, and from their testimony, and from what he did, so also he shows from their trials that they received the word rightly. For why, he says, if you had not heard it as God speaking, did you bear such dangers? And see the dignity: “For you, brothers,” he says, “became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and do not please God, and oppose all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But the wrath has come upon them to the end.”