1 Thessalonians 2:16 – Filling Up the Measure

16 …to fill up their sins always.

Paul has just outlined a long history of opposition. The prophets were killed, the Lord Jesus was killed, and Paul and his coworkers were banished. Now, moreover, they are hindering them from speaking to the nations that they may be saved. In doing so, something is again being added to what preceded it. Hence Paul’s wording: “to fill up their sins always.” The verb used means to fill up, to make full.

Jesus also used this imagery when addressing the scribes and Pharisees: “And you! Fill full the measure of your father!” (Matt. 23:32). There, too, He spoke about killing the prophets and persecuting those whom God sent. Paul recognizes the same pattern. The opposition to his ministry was not an isolated incident. Precisely now that the evangel was going out to the nations, something was again being added to that history of opposition.

And that last point is significant. According to Paul, it had been foretold concerning Israel that it would be provoked to jealousy and vexation by “an unintelligent nation” (Rom. 10:19). Salvation went to the nations to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom. 11:11). That is precisely what was happening here. In their opposition to speaking to the nations, they continued filling up their sins. Even their opposition thus confirmed the course God had taken with Paul’s ministry!

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