1Th 5:12-13 | JFB | STEP | 12. beseech —"Exhort" is the expression in ; here, "we beseech you," as if it were a personal favor (Paul making the cause of the Thessalonian presbyters, as it were, his own). know —to have a regard and respect for. Recognize their office, and treat them accordingly (compare ) with reverence and with liberality in supplying their needs ( ). The Thessalonian Church having been newly planted, the ministers were necessarily novices ( ), which may have been in part the cause of the people's treating them with less respect. Paul's practice seems to have been to ordain elders in every Church soon after its establishment ( ). them which labour . . . are over . . . admonish you —not three classes of ministers, but one, as there is but one article common to the three in the Greek. "Labor" expresses their laborious life; "are over you," their pre-eminence as presidents or superintendents ("bishops," that is, overseers, , "them that have rule over you," literally, leaders, ; "pastors," literally, shepherds, ); "admonish you," one of their leading functions; the Greek is "put in mind," implying not arbitrary authority, but gentle, though faithful, admonition ( ). in the Lord —Their presidency over you is in divine things; not in worldly affairs, but in things appertaining to the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

12. beseech—"Exhort" is the expression in 1Th 5:14; here, "we beseech you," as if it were a personal favor (Paul making the cause of the Thessalonian presbyters, as it were, his own).

know—to have a regard and respect for. Recognize their office, and treat them accordingly (compare 1Co 16:18) with reverence and with liberality in supplying their needs (1Ti 5:17). The Thessalonian Church having been newly planted, the ministers were necessarily novices (1Ti 3:6), which may have been in part the cause of the people's treating them with less respect. Paul's practice seems to have been to ordain elders in every Church soon after its establishment (Ac 14:23).

them which labour . . . are over . . . admonish you—not three classes of ministers, but one, as there is but one article common to the three in the Greek. "Labor" expresses their laborious life; "are over you," their pre-eminence as presidents or superintendents ("bishops," that is, overseers, Php 1:1, "them that have rule over you," literally, leaders, Heb 13:17; "pastors," literally, shepherds, Eph 4:11); "admonish you," one of their leading functions; the Greek is "put in mind," implying not arbitrary authority, but gentle, though faithful, admonition (2Ti 2:14, 24, 25; 1Pe 5:3).

in the Lord—Their presidency over you is in divine things; not in worldly affairs, but in things appertaining to the Lord.

13. very highly—Greek, "exceeding abundantly."

for their work's sake—The high nature of their work alone, the furtherance of your salvation and of the kingdom of Christ, should be a sufficient motive to claim your reverential love. At the same time, the word "work," teaches ministers that, while claiming the reverence due to their office, it is not a sinecure, but a "work"; compare "labor" (even to weariness: so the Greek), 1Th 5:12.

be at peace among yourselves—The "and" is not in the original. Let there not only be peace between ministers and their flocks, but also no party rivalries among yourselves, one contending in behalf of some one favorite minister, another in behalf of another (Mr 9:50; 1Co 1:12; 4:6).