1 Thessalonians 2

Paul’s Ministry to the Thessalonians

1 For you yourselves recognize, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you did not fail to achieve its purpose.

2 But rather, even though we had already endured suffering and shameful treatment at Philippi, as you are fully aware, we gained boldness in our God to declare the good news of God to you amid great conflict and struggle.

3 For the message we bring does not originate from error or from corrupt intentions, nor do we employ cunning manipulation.

4 But just as we have been tested and found trustworthy by God to be given responsibility for the gospel message, in that same manner we speak—not seeking to gain human approval, but to satisfy God, who tests and evaluates our inner motivations.

5 For we never resorted to words of flattery, as you can testify, nor did we act with hidden motives of greed—God stands as witness to this truth.

6 We were not looking for honor from human beings—neither from you nor from others—though as apostles of Christ we had the right to make demands and assert our position.

7 But instead, we conducted ourselves with gentleness in your midst, like a mother who nurses and tenderly cares for her own children.

8 Because we cared for you so deeply, we were eager to impart to you not only God’s good news but also our own lives, since you had become extremely precious to us.

9 For you remember, brothers and sisters, the exhausting labor and hard work we endured: laboring day and night so as not to place a financial burden on anyone among you, we proclaimed to you the good news of God.

10 You yourselves are witnesses, and God also, how reverently, justly, and irreproachably we behaved toward you who believe.

11 Just as you know that we dealt with each individual among you in the way a father deals with his own children—

12 urging you forward, comforting you, and charging you solemnly to walk in a manner that befits God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

13 And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing, that when you received God’s word which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as merely human teaching but as what it actually is—the word of God, which is performing its work powerfully in you who trust in Him.

14 For you, brothers and sisters, became followers of the churches of God in Christ Jesus located in Judea, for you experienced the same kinds of sufferings from your own countrymen that they experienced from the Jewish authorities,

15 who put to death both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and who persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God and stand in opposition to all humanity

16 by attempting to prevent us from speaking to the Gentile nations so that they might be saved. Thus they continually fill up the full measure of their sins. Yet the wrath of God has come upon them at last.

Paul’s Intense Desire to Visit the Thessalonians

17 But as for us, brothers and sisters, having been separated from you for a short period—absent in body but never in heart—we made extraordinary efforts, driven by intense longing, to see your faces once more.

18 For this reason we determined to come to you—I, Paul, made the attempt more than once—but Satan hindered us and prevented our coming.

19 For who represents our confident expectation or our delight or our boast of achievement in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He appears? Is it not you yourselves?

20 Yes indeed, you are our glory and our joy.

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