Acts 18:5

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia. — We learn from 1 Thessalonians 2:18, that the latter had come to St. Paul at Athens, but had been almost immediately sent back to Thessalonica to bring further news about the converts, for whose trials the Apostle felt so much sympathy and anxiety. They brought a good report of their faith and love (1 Thessalonians 3:6), possibly also fresh proofs of their personal regard, and that of the Philippians, in the form of gifts (2 Corinthians 11:9). This may, however, refer to a later occasion. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians was probably sent back by the brethren who had accompanied Silas and Timotheus on their journey to Corinth. The reader will note the parallelism (1) between the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, which treats of the Second Advent, with the teaching of 1 Corinthians 15:51, and (2) between the few words as to spiritual gifts, in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, with the fuller treatment of the same subject in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Paul was pressed in the spirit. — The better MSS. give, “he was constrained by the Word.” The words describe something of the same strong emotion as the “paroxysm” of Acts 17:16. The Word was within him as a constraining power, compelling him to give utterance to it. His “heart was hot within him, and while he was musing the fire kindled” (Psalms 39:4). Whether there was any connection between the arrival of Silas and Timotheus and this strong feeling is a question which there are no sufficient data for answering. It is hardly satisfactory to say, as has been suggested, that they probably brought pecuniary supplies from Macedonia (2 Corinthians 11:9), and that he was therefore relieved from the obligation of working for his livelihood, and able to give himself more entirely to the work of preaching. There is no indication of his giving up tent-making, and 1 Corinthians 9:1 is decidedly against it. A more probable explanation may be found in the strong desire — of which he says, in Romans 15:23, that he had cherished it for many years — to see Rome and preach the gospel there. Now he found himself brought into contact with those who had come from Rome, who formed, in fact, part of its population, and the old feeling was stirred to a new intensity.