Ver. 12. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.—A little mirror may not increase the sum-total of sunlight, but it may cause some otherwise unobservant eye to note its brightness. So, Christ’s infinite and eternal glory cannot be augmented but only shared by Christians (John xvii. 22).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 1, 2.

Phases of Apostolic Greeting.

Under this heading we have already treated homiletically the apostle’s formula of salutation, which is the same here as the beginning of the first epistle.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 3, 4.

Congratulatory Features of a Prosperous Church.

We have here a suggestive example of the apostolic method of dealing with a Church in which the incipient elements of error were beginning to operate. He applauds first what is really good, and then faithfully, almost fiercely, warns of the threatening evil. He who would effectually rebuke must first learn how to tenderly sympathise. These verses indicated what are the congratulatory features of a prosperous Church.

I. There is a vital and progressive faith.—“Your faith groweth exceedingly” (ver. 3). Faith feeds on truth; and all truth leads to and unites with God, its source. A living faith can only be sustained by a living truth; and where there is life there will be growth. We are ruled by our beliefs; if they are wrong, our track is wrong, our life a mistake, our energies wasted. The faith of the Thessalonians was so real, so vivid, so vitalising, so deeply rooted in the quickening soil of Gospel truth, that it flourished with tropical luxuriance. The doom of a Church is sealed when its faith is dead and its creed inert. It is like a fossil in the grasp of a fossil—a museum of dry, bony, musty remains.

II. There is a reciprocal and expansive charity.—“And the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth” (ver. 3). Love is the fruit of the Christian spirit, and the proof of its genuineness. It should be manifested to every believer in Christ. The love of a common Saviour and the sharing in a common suffering tend to intensify mutual esteem and affection. The prayer of the apostle on behalf of the Thessalonians was fulfilled (1 Thess. iii. 12)—an encouragement to pray on behalf of others. Where charity abounds, there is mutual forbearance with one another’s faults and frailties, the absence of suspicion and jealousy, no tendency to pass harsh and rapid judgments on the conduct of others, a disposition to think the best of each other, to share each other’s trials, and bear each other’s burdens.

III. There is a patient fidelity under suffering.—“Your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” (ver. 4). These trials began with the first planting of the Gospel in Thessalonica and seemed to have continued without cessation. The Jews were the principal agents and instigators stirring up the populace against the Christians and rousing the suspicions of the magistrates who were specially jealous of religious innovations (Acts xvii. 5–8). Their faith made them patient and uncomplaining under the pressure of affliction; they believed the Gospel was still the power of God unto salvation, though their profession of it brought on them sorrow and suffering. The former warnings and teachings of the apostle were not in vain; their faith triumphed over persecution. Suffering is the opportunity for patience and the test of faith. Troubles come not alone, but are like chain-shot, or like the billows of the sea, linked one to another, each succeeding blow being more destructive than the other. Patience without faith is simply dull, stupid, stoical endurance. It is faith that renders the soul invincible and triumphant.