Periodically, I have an in-depth Bible study with my two teenage daughters, Jewell and Ana. This is not a superficial reading and discussion, but an in-depth examination of the Scriptures. You can do the same thing…
Let’s take 1 Thessalonians 3:6-8 as an example: “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord.” Notice that these three verses are all one sentence, as in the NASV.
First: what is the main idea in this sentence? If you broke it down into the main subject, verb, and object of the verb, what would it be?
Paul begins verse 6 with a dependent phrase: “now that Timothy has come to us…” It is actually an adverbial phrase because it begins with the adverb: “now.” If you were to use an interlinear (which provides the Greek for the English reader), you would observe that “come” is a participle. A participle is a word formed from a verb, used as an adjective or a noun. Main ideas/verbs cannot be found in participles.
The next phrase is: “has brought to us good news…” Clearly Timothy is the subject of “has brought good news… (all one word in the original: “evangelized”)” The interlinear shows that this verb is also a participle. Thus it is not the main verb.
The next phrase is: “you always think kindly of us.” This verb is not a participle but it is attached to the previous two participles by “and,” showing that all three carry the same “grammatical weight” in the sentence.
The next phrase is clearly a participle (as it ends in “-ing”): “longing to see us…” So, it is grammatically parallel with the other three phrases and does not carry the main idea of the sentence.
This brings us to the next verb: “we were comforted about you…” This is the main idea of the sentence! Paul and his co-writers Silas and Timothy (the subjects of the verb) were “comforted” (or “encouraged” as the verb is parakaleo) about the Thessalonians (the objects of the verb). This is the main point of this long sentence.
Now, combine each of the four dependent phrases to this main idea:
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“We were comforted about you: now that Timothy has brought good news.” What was this “good news” (or “Gospel”) about? “Your: 1.) faith; and 2.) love; and 3.)…
“We were comforted about you: that you always think kindly of us.” More specifically, the Thessalonians were “longing to see [Paul, Silas, Timothy] just as” they longed to see the Thessalonians. That’s the fourth reason these three men were “comforted.”
For all of these four reasons, Paul says “we were comforted.” This comfort came from news (through Timothy) of the Thessalonians, despite Paul’s “distress and affliction.”
We are not quite finished unpacking the text. “We were comforted” is past tense (aorist in the Greek). But the next verb is present tense: “now we live.” But this “living” is conditional: “If.” If what? If the Thessalonians “stand firm” (present tense: continue standing firm) “in the Lord.”
What a marvelous impact the young Christians in Thessalonica had over the experienced and mature missionaries, Paul, Silas, and Timothy! Their example gave the old Christians life! On their part, the older Christians challenged the young Christians to continue standing firm in their relationship with the Lord.
What marvels you can learn by studying God’s word.
–Paul Holland
