1 Thessalonians 2:15
“Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Paul describes those who opposed the gospel: the ones who took part in the death of Jesus and the prophets and who now drive out His messengers.
What Does 1 Thessalonians 2:15 Mean?
Paul speaks of the particular opponents who had pursued him from city to city, the same hostility that had 'killed the Lord Jesus' and earlier silenced 'their own prophets.' Now that same opposition 'persecuted us,' driving the messengers from place to place. Such resistance to God's messengers 'please not God,' and by hindering the gospel it sets itself 'contrary to all men.'
Paul writes out of the wound of fresh persecution, naming the deep-running resistance that has always risen against God's word, the spirit that rejected the prophets and then rejected the Prophet Himself. He is describing a hostility toward the truth, not pronouncing a verdict on a whole people, for many who shared that heritage, Paul among them, had embraced the Lord. The tragedy he names is that opposing the gospel finally opposes the salvation of everyone, since it would keep the good news from reaching the world. Rejection of God's messengers is an old and sorrowful story, and it reached its darkest point at the cross.