For also ye do this towards all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia; but we exhort you, brethren, to abound still more,
Paul had no fault to find in how these young believers loved each other. Their love already reached churches across the whole province — so why ask for more of what God Himself had taught them?
Where did this love come from? Not from anything Paul had to teach them.
As to this he gladly admits there was no need of his exhortations, for they had been taught by God to do it. It was the very instinct of the divine life in their souls. The only thing he has to say to them is that they should "increase more and more." … LOVE and OBEDIENCE — these are the things! And more and more of them!
The verse widens love out to all the brothers. What ties a believer to Christians they have never met?
That we should increase in this is the Holy Spirit's expressed desire for us. "We urge you, brothers, to do this more and more" (1 Thess. 4:10). This is because "you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers." Our Lord Jesus Christ loves all and has redeemed us all by His precious blood. All are born of God. All are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. All call God "Father," and happily they may follow together Him who is "not ashamed" to call them "brothers."
Macedonia was the wider region around Thessalonica. Their love did not stop at the people they met each week. It showed itself in giving too.
As each one enjoyed divine grace, their hearts went out to every member of the Christian community. It reached not Thessalonica only, but all the brothers in all Macedonia. We learn too how ready Christians from the Gentiles were to give to the need of the poor saints at Jerusalem. How willing and hearty the churches of Macedonia were in that service! (2 Cor. 8:1-4)
"More and more" runs right through this letter. That repetition settles a question: can a Christian reach a finished state in this life?
It is very interesting to watch the apostle's use of the word "abound" or "increase" in this letter. It is also important, because it shows that there is no limit of attainment here for the believer. Many speak of perfection or holiness as something we can reach in this world. But the smallest glance at the apostle's teaching on "abounding" shows that these ideas get no support from the word of God. He says, "may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all." It is clear that there can be no standard for "abounding."
Paul had already said much the same in chapter 3. Why say it again here?
Still, he had to urge them to "increase more and more." He had told them nearly the same thing in chapter 3:12, yet he needed to say it again. It is similar in Philippians with joy in the Lord (Phil. 3:1). For true joy in the Lord can so easily fade instead of grow, and love toward others can become feeble instead of abounding. Such exhortation we constantly need.
Could a call for more love mean looser standards? The answer lies in who God is.
This increase of love will not lead to laxity or indifference, for love is of God, and God is light as well as love. The same letter shows it. There Paul asks the Lord to make their love abound, "so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints" (1 Thess. 3:12-13).
- Taught — this love was not a skill Paul had to teach them. It was the instinct of the divine life in them, learned from God Himself.
- Grounded — it reaches all the brothers because Christ redeemed them all by the same blood. All are born of God, indwelt by the Spirit, and call God Father.
- Widened — real love does not stop at the local church. Theirs covered a whole province and opened their hands to poor believers far away.
- Increased — "more and more" sets no ceiling. That is why claims of perfection in this life find no support in Paul's teaching.
- Kept — love that grows does not grow lax. The same letter ties growing love to hearts blameless in holiness when the Lord comes.
and to seek earnestly to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your [own] hands, even as we charged you,
This command comes straight after a call to abound in brotherly love. It gives three plain instructions: live quietly, mind your own business, and work. Why does so much weight rest on things this ordinary?
The Greek word behind "aspire" is elsewhere used for driving personal ambition, which makes its object here surprising. One writer traces it across its few appearances:
The third, and so far as we can trace, the only other reference to this word is in 1 Thess. 4:11, where it is translated in the Authorised Version as "study." "Seek earnestly (the same word) to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your (own) hands, even as we charged you, that you may walk reputably towards those without, and may have need of no one," (or of nothing), (New Trans.).
Ordinary ambition needs position and opportunity. This one needs neither:
What a lovely ambition, and yet within the reach of the lowest. There is no need to be kings, or among the great of this world, to follow this instruction; but how it would change the Christian world if Christians would only obey it.
Love among believers and minding your own affairs pull the same way. Meddling has a different root:
Here too the apostle wants brotherly love to abound more and more, and with it the deliberate aim to be quiet and to mind their own affairs. Brotherly love would surely promote this. It is the very opposite of that meddling spirit, which comes from assuming you are superior in knowledge or spirituality or faithfulness.
Getting involved in the world's affairs comes naturally. A believer has to pull against that:
It is natural for a man of the world to take part in its affairs, even if they are only of local interest. The Christian, remembering that he is called out of the world, will strive hard against this natural tendency. He quietly goes his own way, avoiding as far as possible the questions and controversies that occupy the world around.
Paul had a right to ask this, because his own hands showed the marks of it:
I sadly fear that most of the Lord's people today love the honour of working with their heads in a clean and respectable position, rather than soiling their hands by using them in hard work. They forget their Master worked with His own hands until He was about thirty years of age. They forget that the man who urged this ambition could hold out his hands. He could say, "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me." Those hands were probably worn and calloused from making tents.
Work with the hands also steadies a church still fresh with excitement:
The thrill of a new faith can too easily take souls over. So can the excitement of a wonderfully successful work of God. There must be a settling, a learning to weigh things quietly and soberly. This studying is therefore a true, consistent application of the heart. Work with the hands is, of course, a good balance. It keeps souls from a one-sided, emotional Christianity.
The command is not a verdict on ordinary life. One writer, using an older translation that reads "study to be quiet," makes it a question of proportion:
It would be very wrong to conclude that rest or business success are bad things in themselves. This was the Thessalonian mistake. The apostle corrects it by telling them, (1) "to study to be quiet," and (2) "to do their own business." What he condemns is being so absorbed in either one or the other that you are hindered in the Lord's service.
The failure ran the other way too. Some treated the Lord's soon coming as a reason to stop working:
What utter disgrace for a Christian to decide that he need not work at all because Christ is coming soon, and to take his support from others who do work! Nor will it end there. They also become "busybodies." Since they pay no attention to their own business, they shamefully interfere in the business of others.
The next verse gives the aim of these commands:
An honest walk, steadily kept up, would prove the reality of their faith to "outsiders." They were to cultivate this diligently. The last part of verse 12 may be translated "and that you may have need of no one," meaning they would not depend on other people.
- Ambition — this is a real ambition; the surprise is its object. Not greatness, but quietness.
- Available — no rank is needed. This ambition is within reach of the lowest, and would change the Christian world if obeyed.
- Restraint — real love minds its own affairs. Meddling comes from assuming you are superior to others.
- Hands — Paul's calloused hands and the Master's thirty years of work back the command. Honest work keeps faith from turning into pure emotion.
- Reputation — the aim is a walk outsiders can read as honest, and a life dependent on no one for support.