1 Thessalonians 2:15 – Not Pleasing to God

15 who kill the Lord Jesus as well as the prophets, and banish us, and are not pleasing to God, and are contrary to all men,

The opposition Paul describes here did not arise from indifference toward God. Quite the contrary. Elsewhere he writes concerning his fellow countrymen that they have a “zeal of God,” but “not in accord with recognition” (Rom. 10:2). That makes his words here all the more striking: they were religiously driven, and yet they were “not pleasing to God.”

Paul knew this better than anyone from his own experience. He once was “exceedingly more zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal. 1:14), and that very zeal caused him to persecute the ecclesia of God. He now recognizes the same religious zeal in the opposition to his own ministry. Moreover, he sees a continuing pattern in it: the prophets were killed, the Lord Jesus was killed, and His messengers were banished.

Finally, Paul says that they “are contrary to all men.” The next verse explains why: they forbid Paul to speak to the nations “that they may be saved” (1 Thess. 2:16). There is no greater opposition to the good news that God has proclaimed to mankind than opposition driven by religious zeal. The same applies today: those who believe this evangel and speak openly about it need not be surprised when hostility comes precisely from that quarter.

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