For you are our glory and joy.
In these words the apostle apologizes for his absence. Here observe, 1. He tells them they were involuntarily forced from them: We, brethren, were taken from you, Th1 2:17. Such was the rage of his persecutors. He was unwillingly sent away by night to Berea, Act 17:10. 2. Though he was absent in body, yet he was present in heart.
Commenting on 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20
For ye are our glory and joy. Or "our joy", as the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read; this is a repetition, and a confirmation of what is before said; and signifies that these saints were then the glory of the apostles, being the seals of their ministry; and whom they gloried of and rejoiced in, and hoped and believed they would be such, as...
Verse 20. For ye are our glory and joy. The meaning is, that the source of happiness to a minister of the gospel in the day of judgment will be the conversion and salvation of souls. The object of the apostle in dwelling on this, in a manner so tender and affectionate, is, to show them that his leaving them, and his long absence from...