the Fourth Week of Advent
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THE MESSAGE
1 Thessalonians 3:1
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens.
Wherefore when wee could no longer forbeare, wee thought it good to bee left at Athens alone:
Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;
Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone,
Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it best to be left behind, alone at Athens,
When we could not wait any longer, we decided it was best to stay in Athens alone
Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone,
Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we were pleased to be left behind at Athens alone,
So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens.
Finally, we couldn't stand it any longer. We decided to stay in Athens by ourselves
So when we could no longer stand it, we agreed to be left in Athens alone
Wherefore, being no longer able to refrain ourselves, we thought good to be left alone in Athens,
We could not come to you, but it was very hard to wait any longer. So we decided to send Timothy to you and stay in Athens alone. Timothy is our brother. He works with us for God to tell people the Good News about Christ. We sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage you in your faith.
Wherefore since we coulde no longer forbeare, wee thought it good to remaine at Athens alone,
AND because we could no longer with stand these obstacles, we decided to remain at Athens alone;
Finally, we could not bear it any longer. So we decided to stay on alone in Athens
Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we determined to be left behind in Athens alone,
So, no longer enduring, we were pleased to be left in Athens alone,
Therefore, when we could no longer endure our separation [from you], we thought it best to be left behind, alone at Athens,
Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone;
At last our desire to have news of you was so strong that, while we ourselves were waiting at Athens,
Therefore, when we couldn't stand it any longer, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone,
Therefore, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to remain alone in AthensActs 17:15; 1 Thessalonians 3:5;">[xr]
And because we could not endure, we were willing to be left at Athinos alone,
And, because we could no longer endure it, we were willing to be left alone at Athens,
Wherfore, sence we coulde no longer forbeare, we thought it good to remaine at Athens alone.
Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone;
Therefore, when we couldn't stand it any longer, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone,
Therefore when we could bear no longer, we thought good to be left at Athens alone,
So when we could endure it no longer, we decided to remain behind in Athens alone;
For which thing we suffriden no lengere, and it pleside to vs to dwelle aloone at Atenys;
Therefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone;
Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;
So when we could bear it no longer, we decided to stay on in Athens alone.
Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone,
Finally, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens,
When we could wait no longer, we decided it was best to stay in the city of Athens alone.
Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone in Athens;
Wherefore, no longer concealing our anxiety, we were well-pleased to be left in Athens, alone,
For which cause, forbearing no longer, we thought it good to remain at Athens alone.
Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone,
Wherfore sence we coulde no lenger forbeare it pleased vs to remayne at Athens alone
Wherefore no longer forbearing, we thought good to be left in Athens alone,
Wherfore sence we coulde no longer forbeare, we thoughte it good to remayne at Athens alone,
Being therefore impatient to hear of you, we judg'd it proper to stay at Athens alone, and send you our brother Timothy,
So, when we could stand it no longer, we sent Timothy to y'all.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
when: 1 Thessalonians 3:5, 1 Thessalonians 2:17, Jeremiah 20:9, Jeremiah 44:22, 2 Corinthians 2:13, 2 Corinthians 11:29, 2 Corinthians 11:30
we thought: Acts 17:15
Reciprocal: 2 Timothy 1:4 - desiring
Cross-References
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Wherefore when we could no longer forbear,.... Or "bear", as the word properly signifies; or "bear that", as the Ethiopic version reads; that is, "that desire", as the Arabic version renders it; that ardent and longing desire of seeing them again, expressed in the latter part of the preceding chapter; which was as fire in their bones, and was retained with great pain and uneasiness; but now they could hold it no longer, and like Jeremiah, Jeremiah 20:9 were weary with forbearing, and could not stay; or it was like a burden, which they stood up under as long as they could, even Paul, Silas, and Timothy, but now it became insupportable:
we thought it good to be left at Athens alone: that is, Paul and Silas, or Paul only, speaking of himself in the plural number; for he seems to have been alone at Athens, at least at last; he considering everything, thought it most fit and advisable when at Athens, where he waited for Silas and Timothy, having ordered them to come thither to him from Berea, Acts 17:14 either to send orders to Berea for Timothy to go from thence to Thessalonica, to know the state of affairs there, and Silas elsewhere; or if they came to him to Athens, of which Luke gives no account, he immediately dispatched Timothy to Thessalonica, and Silas to some other part of Macedonia, for from thence they came to him at Corinth, Acts 18:5 such was his desire of knowing how things were at Thessalonica, that he chose rather to be left alone at Athens, disputing with the unbelieving Jews, and Heathen philosophers of the Epicurean and Stoic sects, sustaining all their scoffs and jeers alone; and was content to be without his useful companions, Silas and Timothy, who might have been assisting to him at Athens, in hope of hearing of his dear friends at Thessalonica.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Wherefore - See 1 Thessalonians 2:18. This particle (διὸ dio) is designed here to refer to another proof of his affection for them. One evidence had been referred to in his strong desire to visit them, which he had been unable to accomplish 1 Thessalonians 2:18, and he here refers to another - to wit, the fact that he had sent Timothy to them.
We could no longer forbear - That is, when I could not 1 Thessalonians 3:5, for there is every evidence that Paul refers to himself only though he uses the plural form of the word. There was no one with him at Athens after he had sent Timothy away Acts 17:15; Acts 18:5, and this shows that when, in 1 Thessalonians 2:6, he uses the term apostles in the plural number, he refers to himself only, and does not mean to give the name to Timothy and Silas. If this be so, Timothy and Silas are nowhere called “apostles” in the New Testament. The word rendered here “could forbear” (στέγοντες stegontes), means, properly, “to cover, to conceal;” and then to hide or conceal anger, impatience, weariness, etc.; that is, to hold out as to anything, to bear with, to endure. It is rendered suffer in 1 Corinthians 9:12; beareth, 1 Corinthians 13:7; and forbear, 1Th 3:1, 1 Thessalonians 3:5. It is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. It means that he could no longer bear up under, hide, or suppress his impatience in regard to them - his painful emotions - his wish to know of their state; and he therefore sent Timothy to them.
We thought it good - I was willing to suffer the inconvenience of parting with him in order to show my concern for you.
To be left at Athens alone - Paul had been conducted to Athens from Berea, where he remained until Silas and Timothy could come to him; Acts 17:15. It appears from the statement here that Timothy had joined him there, but such was his solicitude for the church at Thessalonica, that he very soon after sent him there, and chose to remain himself alone at Athens. Why he did not himself return to Thessalonica, is not stated. It is evidently implied here that it was a great personal inconvenience for him thus to part with Timothy, and to remain alone at Athens, and that he evinced the strong love which he had for the church at Thessalonica by being willing to submit to it. What that inconvenience consisted in, he has not stated, but it is not difficult to understand,
(1) He was among total strangers, and, when Timothy was gone, without an acquaintance or friend.
(2) The aid of Timothy was needed in order to prosecute the work which he contemplated. He had requested that Timothy should join him as soon as possible when he left Berea Acts 17:15, and he evidently felt it desirable that in preaching the gospel in that city he should have all the assistance he could obtain. Yet he was willing to forego those comforts and advantages in order to promote the edification of the church at Thessalonica.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III.
St Paul informs them how, being hindered himself from visiting
them, he had sent Timothy to comfort them, of whom he gives a
high character, 1, 2.
Shows that trials and difficulties are unavoidable in the present
state, 3, 4.
Mentions the joy he had on hearing by Timothy of their
steadiness in the faith, for which he returns thanks to God;
and prays earnestly for their increase, 5-10.
Prays also that God may afford him an opportunity of seeing
them, 11.
And that they may abound in love to God and one another, and
be unblamable in holiness at the coming of Christ, 12, 13.
NOTES ON CHAP. III.
Verse 1 Thessalonians 3:1. Wherefore, when we could no longer, c.] The apostle was anxious to hear of their state, and as he could obtain no information without sending a messenger express, he therefore sent Timothy from Athens choosing rather to be left alone, than to continue any longer in uncertainty relative to their state.
