Deeper Reflection
AT THE MOMENT WHEN THE THESSALONIANS “RECEIVED the word” and “in much affliction” – “in highly distressing circumstances”⁴⁶, they “started out on a path of discipleship that entails imitating Jesus and His apostles”⁴⁷ (v.6). The “affliction” refers to “outward trials and not only the inward anxieties that quite naturally accompany such trials”⁴⁸. For the Thessalonians, it was persecution in the form of “severe social harassment and ostracism” like “their alienation from unbelieving family members and friends; and the curtailment of their opportunities to maintain, let alone to improve, their current economic and social status”⁴⁹. We ought to take suffering – in whatever form – for granted as the normal lot of faithful followers of Jesus, for “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). The Thessalonians received the Gospel in severe suffering “with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (v.6). This joy in severe suffering is “a manifestation of the supernatural”⁵⁰, for it comes from the Holy Spirit and is not humanly generated. This joy is built in endurance. It is rejoicing “in the Lord” (Phil 4:4) – in union and communion with the Lord. This joy in suffering is possible with a theocentric perspective and attitude, seeing the suffering as the will of God and the “fellowship of His sufferings”, which is part of knowing Christ (Phil 3:10). In his imprisonment, Paul viewed himself as “a prisoner of the Lord”, not of Caesar (Eph 4:1).

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⁴⁶ Gary S. Shogren, 66 ⁴⁷ Gary S. Shogren, 67 ⁴⁸ Jeffrey A. D. Weima, 1-2 Thessalonians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2014), 101 ⁴⁹ Jeffrey A. D. Weima, 101 ⁵⁰ Gary S. Shogren, 67