1 Thessalonians 2:15-Unregenerate Jews Who Killed Jesus, the Prophets and Persecuted Christians Are Displeasing to God and Oppose the Human Race Lesson # 32
Bill Wenstrom
First Thessalonians Chapter Two • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 59:31
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1 Thessalonians 2:13 And so we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe. 14 For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us severely. They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people. (NET)
1 Thessalonians 2:15, we have four assertions and each one presents a description of the Jews mentioned at the conclusion of 1 Thessalonians 2:14, which as we noted asserts that they severely persecuted the Jewish Christian community in Judea.
Now, the first assertion in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 states that these Jews murdered the Lord Jesus as well as His prophets.
These Jews are of course unregenerate and specifically, they are a reference to unregenerate Jews in both the Old Testament period as well as those living during the first century A.D. which is indicated by the reference to the prophets here in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 which is a reference to the Old Testament prophets of Israel.
That these Jews are also referring to unregenerate Jews of the first century A.D. is indicated by the fact that they are described as severely persecuting the Jewish Christian community in Judea in 1 Thessalonians 2:14.
Also, they are described in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 as murdering the Lord Jesus and severely persecuting Paul, Silvanus and Timothy.
The Jewish Christian community in Judea, the Lord Jesus and Paul, Silvanus and Timothy all of course lived during the first century A.D.
The term “Jew” refers to those individuals who are racially or biologically descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Now, we noted that the first assertion in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 states that these unregenerate Jews living during the first century A.D. murdered the Lord Jesus, which is of course a reference to the Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and physical death.
Although, the Romans actually executed Jesus, the Jewish leaders desired to execute Jesus and in fact falsely arrested and accused Him of blasphemy and opposing Rome and handed Him over to the Roman procurator Pilate to be crucified.
If the Romans allowed the Jews to execute people, they would have executed Jesus themselves.
“The prophets” refers to only the Old Testament prophets.
Paul is employing a well-known tradition concerning the killing of the Old Testament prophets, which in fact goes back to the Old Testament (1 Kings 18:4; 19:9–18; 2 Chron. 24:19–21; 36:15–16; Neh. 9:27, 30; Jer. 2:30; 26:8, 20–23).
The killing of the prophets was a common way by the first century A.D to refer to the persecution of the faithful remnant within Israel by unregenerate Israel and appears often in Jesus’ teaching (Matt. 5:12; 23:29–37; Luke 4:24; 6:23; 11:47–51; 13:33–34) and is also found in the preaching of the early apostles (Acts 7:52).
The second assertion which appears in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 states that the Jews severely persecuted Paul, Silvanus and Timothy during the course of their missionary activities in the Roman Empire.
G.L. Green writes “Acts shows how in many cities the Jews instigated the populace against Paul and were key players in his expulsion (Acts 9:23–25, 29; 13:45, 50; 14:2, 4–6, 19–20; 17:5, 13; 18:6, 12–17; 19:9; and cf. 2 Cor. 11:24, 26).”[1]
The third assertion which appears in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 presents the result of the first two assertions in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 and the one at the end of 1 Thessalonians 2:14.
It states that these unregenerate Jews who severely persecuted the Jewish Christian community in Judea, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy and murdered Jesus and His prophets are displeasing to God.
Therefore, this third assertion is teaching that these Jews are displeasing to God as a result of murdering the Lord Jesus and His prophets and in addition severely persecuting Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as well as the Jewish Christian community in Judea.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 addresses the subject of pleasing God instead of being a people pleaser and the concept of being a God pleaser rather than a people pleaser is also found in Ephesians 6:6 and Colossians 3:22.
The unregenerate Jews described in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 had absolutely no capacity whatsoever to please God because of their unregenerate state, which meant that they did not possess the Holy Spirit who gives the justified sinner the capacity to please God.
They were actively opposing God and blatantly doing so by not only rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ but also by hindering Christians such as Paul, Silvanus and Timothy from communicating it to unregenerate Gentiles so that they could be saved.
This opposition to God manifested the fact that they were sons of the devil (cf. John 8:44) and belonged to His kingdom and were under the wrath of God (cf. John 3:16-18, 3:36).
The fourth assertion in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 asserts that these unregenerate Jews are opposing the entire human race and the causal clause which begins in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 tells us how they did so.
It asserts that they hindered Paul, Silvanus and Timothy from proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles in order that they could be saved.
The Scriptures teach that each and every human being is in danger of eternal condemnation since Romans 1-3 teach that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and there is absolutely none righteous (cf. Rom. 3:10, 23).
They are also condemned by the Law as Jews and the inherent law (cf. Rom. 2:14-15), which resides in the conscience of every human being, both Jew and Gentile and furthermore, Romans 5:12 teaches that every human being is spiritually dead and possesses a sin nature.
They are sinners by nature and practice (cf. Ecc. 7:20; Gal. 3:22) and are also enslaved to sin and Satan (cf. Eph. 2:1-3).
The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims the good news that Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father has delivered every member of the human race from eternal condemnation, enslavement to sin and Satan and his cosmic system, personal sins, spiritual and physical death, condemnation from the Law.
The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims that if the sinner trusts in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they are delivered from all of these things and their faith will result in the Father declaring them justified and regenerating them by the Holy Spirit and they will also receive the forgiveness of their sins.
They will also be identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit (cf. Rom. 6; Eph. 2:4-10; Col. 3:1-17).
Therefore, in 1 Thessalonians 2:15, we can see why this verse asserts that the unregenerate Jews who severely persecuted the Jewish Christian community in Judea, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy and murdered the Lord Jesus and His prophets were opposing every human being on earth.
By hindering Paul, Silvanus and Timothy from proclaiming the gospel to unregenerate Gentiles, these unregenerate Jews, were living in opposition to these Gentiles and thus the entire human race.
If the gospel is not proclaimed to unregenerate sinners, then there is no possible way for them to be delivered from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, personal sins, enslavement to the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system as well as spiritual and physical death.
Some have argued that Paul’s strong condemnation of these unregenerate Jews in his day in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 was anti-Semitic, which is opposition to, prejudice against, or intolerance of the Jewish people.
However, this charge is absolutely ridiculous accusation since Paul and Silas were both Jews and Timothy’s mother and grandmother were Jews.
In fact, Romans 9-11, the apostle Paul expresses in the strongest manner possible his great desire that his unregenerate Jewish countrymen would be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
In these chapters, he asserts that the nation of Israel will finally trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior at His Second Advent.
The purpose of 1 Thessalonians 2:13-15 is designed to encourage the Thessalonians and to promote unity in the body of Christ between Jews and Gentiles.
The persecution they were suffering from their own countrymen was in keeping with the crucifixion and death of Jesus and the suffering of the Jewish Christian community in Judea as well as the suffering experienced by Paul, Silvanus and Timothy who suffered from their Jewish countrymen.
Therefore, these verses are encouraging the Thessalonian Christian community that they were not alone in suffering persecution from their own countrymen.
Secondly, 1 Thessalonians 2:13-15 was designed to promote unity between Jew and Gentile in the body of Christ since these verses teach that both groups were suffering persecution because of their identification with Jesus Christ and obedience to His teaching.
[1] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 145). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.