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The effect upon the apostle of Timothy's encouraging report:
v. 5. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the Tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.
v. 6. But now, when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you,
v. 7. therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith;
v. 8. for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
The apostle here resumes the thought of 1Th_3:1, referring again to his constant anxiety in their behalf: On this account I also, when I could no longer bear it, sent to find out about your faith, whether perhaps the Tempter had tempted you and our toil had been thrown away. The apostle's personal interest in the matter is here brought out by his changing from the plural to the singular. The Thessalonians had experienced suffering; he, on his part, had done what he could to keep them firm in the faith. His anxiety for them having reached the point when he could no longer endure the suspense, Timothy had been dispatched as his representative to get information concerning their stand in the faith. For, as Paul tells his readers, there was always danger that the devil might have succeeded in trapping them and thus rendering all his hard labor in their city useless and frustrating all his toil in their behalf. The same danger threatens the Christians of our day. The devil either leads them to a false security and thus creates an attitude of indifference, or he brings persecutions upon them, causing them to deny their faith.
Now, however, the apostle's anxiety had been quieted: Now, however, Timothy having come to us from you and having brought us the good news of your faith and love, and that you have a good remembrance of us always, eagerly desiring to see us, just as also we are to see you, for that reason we were comforted, brethren, concerning you, in all our own distress and trouble, through your faith, because now we live if you stand firm in the Lord. Timothy had now joined the apostle at Corinth, and it was his report that had urged the apostle to pen these lines at once. Good news he had brought, an excellent account of their faith and love. The Gospel had not been preached in their midst in vain. It had not only worked faith in the hearts of the Thessalonians, but it had kept them in the faith, and it had brought forth the fruit of faith in their lives, love toward God and their fellow-men. Their attachment to the apostle was also as warm as ever; they still remembered him kindly, they were filled with anxious longing to see him, their eagerness in this respect equaling his own. All these factors combined in giving Paul the greatest comfort and cheer. Amidst all his own troubles and afflictions he was at least fully satisfied about them. Their perseverance in faith was such a source of consolation to him that all considerations of his own state dwindled into insignificance. He felt refreshed, revived, he was full of the true joy of living. If they would but remain firm in the Lord, in faith, he would consider that he had not lived and was not living in vain. It was an appeal which was intended to stimulate the Thessalonians to their highest efforts in their Christian life.