The Sounding Forth of the Word
Bp. Alexander. 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 So that you were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.… The Greek commentators in this picturesque word observe a metaphor derived from the trumpet's brilliant tone and power of distant resonance. Thus : "The resonance of the trumpet fills the whole vicinity; but the fame of your excellence fills the world, and reaches all and everywhere with equal sound. Great deeds are celebrated with the distinctest commemoration where they were performed. They are indeed often celebrated far away, but not so much. It is not so with you. The glorious sound has gone through the earth." It can scarcely be doubted that St. Paul was thinking of the geographical position of Thessalonica, which had been particularly noted by Cicero ("It is placed in the bosom of our Empire"). It was indeed by land a chief station on the great Roman Military Road (Via Egnatia), as Cicero also observes; while by sea it had a principal share in the commerce of the Levant, and was in constant communication with almost every shore of the known world. When we take into account St. Paul's subtle tact in dealing with men, there seems to be much reason for finding an allusion also to a history of which every Thessalonian must have been proud — an historical blended with a geographical reference. The apostle may have lightly touched upon a new fame in the gospel, succeeding to and surpassing the ancient Macedonian glory. In the verse generally, and more particularly in the vivid words, "Your faith is spoken as if of a living thing," Chrysostom seems to trace a reminiscence of the elastic and bounding symbol of Alexander's Macedonian Empire in Daniel 8:5-8. Rarely, indeed, could such words have afterwards been applied to the Church of Thessalonica. Cyril and Methodius, however, belonging to the Sclavo-Bulgarian nationality, which extends from the Danube to Thessaly — Hellenized Sclaves — evangelized Moravia, Bohemia, and Pannonia. They were born in the ninth century at Thessalonica. (Bp. Alexander.) Parallel Verses KJV: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. WEB: so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.