Come and study Holy Scriptures with us as Father Stephen DeYoung teaches verse by verse on the podcast,

The Whole Council of God. Father Stephen is a former Protestant pastor and Bible teacher in the

Reformed Church, but now an Orthodox priest serving at Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church

in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Okay, we'll go ahead and get started in St. Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians

chapter 2, verse 1.

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain.

But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God

in much conflict, for our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.

So this, if nothing else, makes clear that St. Paul is writing this not that long after he was there.

So this is another reason for believing this is fairly early.

In terms of St. Paul's epistles, we said last time how he was probably writing this from Corinth during the years that he spent in Corinth, writing back to Thessalonica.

And so he mentions here those events in Acts.

Remember, in Philippi, he had been thrown in prison.

And there was that earthquake in the middle of the night, the Philippian jailer, that story.

And so he mentions that the way they were treated at Philippi being thrown in prison and all

of that.

They came to Thessalonica.

There was the conflict in Thessalonica with the leaders of the synagogue there.

So St. Paul is referring back to that.

So he's saying, when we came to you,

meaning when he came and preached the gospel there,

...