The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians

William Barclay

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780664226763
• eBook ISBN:
  9781611640250
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Here are William Barclay's offerings on Paul's letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. Though written to the faithful in years gone by, Paul's words come to life for readers today through Barclay's own translation and enlightening commentary. For almost fifty years and for millions of readers, the Daily Study Bible commentaries have been the ideal help for both devotional and serious Bible study. Now, with the release of the New Daily Study Bible, a new generation will appreciate the wisdom of William Barclay. With clarification of less familiar illustrations and inclusion of more contemporary language, the New Daily Study Bible will continue to help individuals and groups discover what the message of the New Testament really means for their lives.

1 THESSALONIANS

LOVE’S INTRODUCTION

1 Thessalonians 1

Paul and Silas and Timothy send this letter to the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be to you and peace.

Always we thank God for you all, and always we remember you in our prayers. We never cease to remember the work inspired by your faith, the labour prompted by your love and the endurance founded on your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God who is also our Father. For we know, brothers beloved by God, how you were chosen. We know that our good news did not come to you with words only, but with power and with the Holy Spirit and with much conviction, just as you know what we showed ourselves to be to you for your sakes. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for although you received the word in much affliction, yet you received it with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaea. For the word of the Lord went forth from you like a trumpet, not only in Macedonia and Achaea, but the story of your faith towards God has gone forth in every place, so that we had no need to say anything about it. For the people among whom we were could tell us your story, and how we entered into you and how you turned from idols towards God, to serve the living and true God and to await the coming of his Son from heaven, even Jesus, whom he raised from among the dead, and who rescues us from the coming wrath.

PAUL sends this letter to the church of the Thessalonians which is in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God was the very atmosphere in which the Church lived and moved and had its being. Just as the air is in us and we are in the air and cannot live without it, so the true Church is in God and God is in the true Church, and there is no true life for the Church without God. Further, the God in whom the Church lives is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, therefore, the Church does not shiver in the icy fear of a God who is a tyrant but basks in the sunshine of a God who is love.

In this opening chapter, we see Paul at his most attractive. In a short time, he was going to deal out warning and rebuke; but he begins with unmixed praise. Even when he rebuked, it was his aim never to discourage but always to uplift. In every individual there is something fine, and often the best way to rid a person of the lower things is to praise the higher things. The best way to eradicate faults is to praise someone’s virtues so that they will flower all the more; we all react better to encouragement than to rebuke. It is told that once the Duke of Wellington’s cook gave notice and left him. He was asked why he had left so honourable and well-paid a position. His answer was: ‘When the dinner is good, the Duke never praises me, and when it is bad, he never blames me; it was just not worth while.’ Encouragement was lacking. Paul, like a good psychologist and with true Christian tact, begins with praise even when he means to move on to rebuke.

In verse 3, Paul picks out three great ingredients of the Christian life.

(1) There is work which is inspired by faith. Nothing tells us more about people than the way in which they work. They may work in fear of being reprimanded; they may work for hope of gain; they may work from a grim sense of duty; or they may work inspired by faith. Their faith is that their tasks have been given by God and that they are working in the last analysis not for others but for God. It has been said that the sign of true dedication to God is to be able to find glory in drudgery.

(2) There is the labour which is prompted by love. The First World War veteran and writer, Bernard Newman, tells how he once stayed in a Bulgarian peasant’s house. All the time he was there, the daughter was stitching away at a dress. He said to her: ‘Don’t you ever get tired of that eternal sewing?’ ‘Oh no!’ she said. ‘You see, this is my wedding dress.’ Work done out of love always has a glory.

(3) There is the endurance which is founded on hope. When Alexander the Great was setting out on his campaigns, he divided all his possessions among his friends. Someone said: ‘But you are keeping nothing for yourself.’ ‘Oh yes, I am,’ he said. ‘I have kept my hopes.’ It is possible to put up with anything as long as we have hope, for then we are walking not to the night but to the dawn.

In verse 4, Paul speaks of the Thessalonians as being beloved by God. The phrase beloved by God was a phrase which the Jews applied only to supremely great figures like Moses and Solomon, and to the nation of Israel itself. Now the greatest privilege of the greatest among God’s chosen people has been extended to the humblest of the Gentiles.

Verse 8 speaks of the faith of the Thessalonians sounding forth like a trumpet; the word could also mean crashing out like a roll of thunder. There is something tremendous about the sheer defiance of early Christianity. When all prudence would have dictated a way of life that would escape notice and so avoid danger and persecution, the Christians broadcast their faith. They were never ashamed to show whose they were and whom they sought to serve.

In verses 9–10, two words are used which are characteristic of the Christian life. The Thessalonians served God and waited for the coming of Christ. The Christian is called upon to serve in the world and to wait for glory. The loyal service and the patient waiting were the necessary preludes to the glory of heaven.

PAUL ON HIS DEFENCE

1 Thessalonians 2:1–12

You yourselves know, brothers, that our coming among you was not to no effect; but after we had – as you know – already undergone suffering and ill-treatment at Philippi, we were bold in our God to tell you the good news of God, and a sore struggle we had. Our appeal to you did not proceed from any delusion, nor from impure motives, nor was it calculated to deceive; but, as we have been deemed worthy by God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, not as if we were seeking to please men, but rather as if we were seeking to please God, who tests our hearts. At no time, as you know, did we use flattering words; at no time did we use our message as a pretext for greed; God is our witness; at no time did we seek reputation from men, either from you or from others, although we might well have claimed a place of weight, as apostles of Christ. But we showed ourselves gentle among you, treating you as a nurse cherishes her children. Yearning for you like this, we wanted to share with you not only the good news of God, but even our very lives, because you had become very dear to us. For, brothers, you remember our labour and toil. It was while we were working night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you, that we proclaimed the good news of God to you. You are our witnesses and so is God. How reverently and righteously and blamelessly we behaved to you who believed. As you know, as a father his children we exhorted and encouraged and solemnly charged each one of you to walk worthily of God who calls you to his kingdom and his glory.

BENEATH the surface of this passage run the slanders which Paul’s opponents at Thessalonica attached to him.

(1) Verse 2 refers to the imprisonment and abuse that he had received at Philippi (Acts 16:16–40). There were, no doubt, those in Thessalonica who said that this man Paul had a police record, that he was nothing less than a criminal on the run from justice and that obviously no one should listen to a man like that. A really malicious mind will twist anything into a slander.

(2) Behind verse 3, there are no fewer than three charges.

(a) It was being said that Paul’s preaching came from sheer delusion. Anyone with a really original mind will always run the risk of being called mad. Later on, Festus thought that Paul was mad (Acts 26:24). There was a time when Jesus’ friends came and tried to take him home because they thought that he was mad (Mark 3:21). Christian standards can be so different from the standards of the world that those who follow them with single-minded purpose and a burning enthusiasm can appear to others to be off their heads.

(b) It was being said that Paul’s preaching sprang from impure motives. The word used for impurity (akatharsia) often has to do with sexual impurity. There was one Christian custom which non-Christians often and deliberately misinterpreted; that was the kiss of peace (1 Thessalonians 5:26). When the Christians spoke of the Love Feast and the kiss of peace, it was not difficult for an evil mind to read into these phrases meaning that was never there. It is often the case that a truly unpleasant mind will see a similar unpleasantness everywhere.

(c) It was being said that Paul’s preaching was cunningly aimed at deluding others. The propagandists of Hitler’s Germany discovered that if a lie is repeated often enough and loudly enough it will in the end be accepted as the truth. That was the charge which was levelled at Paul.

(3) Verse 4 indicates that Paul was accused of seeking to please people rather than to please God. No doubt that rose from the fact that he preached the liberty of the gospel and the freedom of grace as against the slavery of legalism. There are always people who do not think that they are being religious unless they are being unhappy; and anyone who preaches a gospel of joy will be subject to misrepresentation, which is exactly what happened to Jesus.

(4) Verses 5 and 9 both indicate that there were those who said that Paul was in this business of preaching the gospel for what he could get out of it. The word used for flattery (kolakeia) always describes the flattery whose motive is gain. The trouble in the early Church was that there were people who did attempt to cash in on their Christianity. The first Christian book of order is called the Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and in it there are some illuminating instructions. ‘Let every apostle that comes to you be received as the Lord. And he shall stay one day and, if need be, the next also; but if he stays three days he is a false prophet. And when the apostle goes forth, let him take nothing save bread, until he reaches his lodging. But if he asks for money, he is a false prophet.’ ‘No prophet that orders a table in the Spirit shall eat of it, else he is a false prophet.’ ‘If he that comes is a passer-by, succour him as far as you can. But he shall not abide with you longer than two or three days unless there is necessity. But if he is minded to settle among you and be a craftsman, let him work and eat. But if he has no trade, according to your understanding, provide that he shall not live idle among you, being a Christian. But if he will not do this, he is a Christmonger: of such men beware’ (Didache, 11–12). The date of the Didache is about AD 100. Even the early Church knew the constant problem of those who traded on charity.

(5) Verse 6 indicates that Paul was accused of seeking personal prestige. It is a constant danger for preachers that they should seek to promote themselves and not the message. In 1 Thessalonians 1:5, there is a thought-provoking phrase. Paul does not say: ‘I came to you.’ He says: Our gospel came to you.’ The man was lost in his message.

(6) Verse 7 indicates that Paul was charged with being something of a dictator. His gentleness was that of a wise father. His was the love which knew how to be firm. To him, Christian love was in no way easy or sentimental; he knew that people needed discipline, not for their punishment but for the good of their souls.

THE ERRORS OF THE JEWS

1 Thessalonians 2:13–16

And for this, too, we 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 – as in truth it is – as the word of God, who also works in you who believe. For, brothers, you became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus, for you too suffered the same things at the hands of your own fellow countrymen as they did at the hands of the Jews; for they killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and they persecuted us, and they do not please God, and they are up against all men, and they try to stop us speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved; and all this they keep on doing that they may complete the catalogue of their sins. But wrath to the uttermost has come upon them.

TO the Thessalonians, the Christian faith had brought not peace but trouble. Their new-found loyalty had involved them in persecution. Paul’s method of encouraging them is very interesting. It is in effect saying to them, to use words from the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’:

‘We are treading
Where the saints have trod.’

Their persecution was a badge of honour which entitled them to rank with the chosen regiments of the army of Christ.

But the great interest of this passage is that in verses 15-16 Paul draws up a kind of catalogue of the errors made by the Jews.

(1) They killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets. When God’s messengers came to them, they eliminated them. One of the grim things about the gospel narrative is the intensity with which the leaders of the Jews sought to get rid of Jesus before he could do any more damage. But no one ever rendered a message ineffective by killing the messenger who brought it. The story is told of a missionary who went to a certain tribe. He had to use primitive methods to get his message across, so he had a chart painted which showed the progress to heaven of those who accepted Christ and the descent to hell of those who rejected him. The message disturbed the tribe. They did not want it to be true. So they burned the chart and, having done so, thought all was well! Some people may refuse to listen to the message of Jesus Christ – but they cannot eliminate it from the structure of the universe.

(2) They persecuted the Christians. Even though they themselves refused to accept the message of Christ, they might have allowed others to listen to it and, if they wished, to accept it. We should always remember that there is more than one way to heaven; and we should always avoid intolerance.

(3) They did not try to please God. The Church’s trouble has often been that it has clung to a religion which is a human creation instead of a God-given faith. The question people have too often asked is: ‘What do I think?’ instead of ‘What does God say?’ It is not our feeble logic that matters; it is God’s revelation.

(4) They stood in opposition to the world. In the ancient world, the Jews were, in fact, accused of ‘hatred of the human race’. They regarded themselves as the chosen people, as indeed they were. But they regarded themselves as chosen for privilege, and never dreamt that they were chosen for service. Their aim was that some day the world should serve them, not that at all times they should serve the world. People who think only of their own rights and privileges will always come into conflict with others – and, what is more serious, they will be in conflict with God.

(5) They wanted to keep the offer of God’s love exclusively to themselves and did not want the Gentiles to have any share in God’s grace. The seventeenth-century Irish writer Jonathan Swift summed up the exclusive attitude in four bitter lines of verse:

We are God’s chosen few;
All others will be damned.
There is no room in heaven for you;
We can’t have heaven crammed.

There is something fundamentally wrong with a religion which shuts people off from others. If we really love God, that love must overflow into love for our neighbours. Far from wanting to hold onto our privileges, we will be filled with a p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• General Introduction
• General Foreword
• Editor’s Preface
• A General Introduction to the Letters of Paul
• Introduction to the Letter to the Philippians
• Philippians
• Introduction to the Letter to the Colossians
• Colossians
• Introduction to the Letters to the Thessalonians
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians