1 Thessalonians 3:2
Fellow worker in the gospel of Christ
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,
And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:
and sent Timotheus—our brother, and a servant of God, and our fellow-workman in the good news of the Christ—to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith,
우리 형제 곧 그리스도 복음의 하나님의 일꾼인 디모데를 보내노니 이는 너희를 굳게 하고 너희 믿음에 대하여 위로함으로
우리 형제 곧 하나님의 사역자요 그리스도의 복음 안에서 우리의 동료 일꾼인 디모데를 보내었노니 이것은 너희를 굳게 세우고 너희의 믿음에 관해 너희를 위로하여
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 1Thess 3:1-5 as a whole
The more we find pleasure in the ways of God, the more we shall desire to persevere therein. The apostle's design was to establish and comfort the Thessalonians as to the object of their faith, that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the world; and as to the recompence of faith,…
Read the whole commentary →Wesley
Nothing on this verse itself.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Driven out of Thessalonica, Paul could not stop worrying about the young church he had left. He chose to be left behind in Athens and sent Timothy back. This verse introduces Timothy and says what he was sent to do.
We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,
1 Thessalonians 3:2Paul says he and his companions were "torn away" from the Thessalonians, "in person, not in heart" (1 Thessalonians 2:17); he tried again and again to come back, "but Satan obstructed us" (1 Thessalonians 2:18). So, "when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens" (1 Thessalonians 3:1). The purpose runs on into the next verse: "so that none of you would be shaken by these trials" (1 Thessalonians 3:3).
stands here with the preposition ἐν, "in the gospel": the gospel is the field in which Timothy works. In chapter 2 Paul spoke of "the gospel of God"; here it is "the gospel of Christ" instead. The news comes from God, and its content is Christ. The purpose of the visit is given in two infinitives. is to set something firm, to prop it so that it stands; παρακαλέω is to come alongside and encourage.
The versions differ more than usual here, and the reason is the manuscripts. The KJV, following the Greek of the Textus Receptus, calls Timothy "minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ": two titles, and the LSV gives both as well. Many older manuscripts have a single title, either "servant of God" or "God's fellow worker", and the BSB follows the second with "fellow worker for God". Whichever reading is original, Timothy belongs to God, and his work is the gospel. Paul uses the bolder phrase elsewhere without hesitation: "For we are God’s fellow workers" (1 Corinthians 3:9).
Wesley explains why Paul could bear it no longer: "Our desire and fear for you" Wesley. Matthew Henry says the apostle's design was "to establish and comfort the Thessalonians as to the object of their faith, that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the world" Matthew Henry, and notes that the apostles, far from promising ease, "told them plainly they must count upon trouble in the flesh" Matthew Henry.
The gospel is not only the door into faith but the ground it stands on. What steadies a shaken believer is seldom new news; more often it is someone who comes and tells the same gospel again.