1Thess 2:15

“Even in brief works there is much pungency? The Jews had slain their prophets. I may ask, What has this to do with the apostle of the rival god, one so amiable withal, who could hardly be said to condemn even the failings of his own people; and who, moreover, has himself some hand in making away with the same prophets whom he is destroying? What injury did Israel commit against him in slaying those whom he too has reprobated, since he was the first to pass a hostile sentence on them? But Israel sinned against their own God.”

“"Who both killed the Lord," he says-but, perhaps, they did not know Him,-assuredly they did know Him. What then? Did they not slay and stone their own prophets, whose books even they carry about with them? And they did not do this for the sake of truth. There is therefore not only a consolation under the temptations, but they are reminded not to think that (the Jews) did it for the truth's sake, and be troubled on that account. "And drave out us," he says. And we also, he says, have suffered numberless evils. "And please not God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved." "Contrary to all men," he says. How? Because if we ought to speak to the world, and they forbid us, they are the common enemies of the world. They have slain Christ and the prophets, they insult God, they are the common enemies of the world, they banish us, when coming for their salvation. What wonder if they have done such things also to you, when they have done them even in Judaea? "Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved." It is a mark of envy therefore to hinder the salvation of all. "To fill up their sins alway. But the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." What is "to the uttermost"? These things are no longer like the former. There is here no return back, no limit. But the wrath is nigh at hand. Whence is this manifest? From that which Christ foretold. For not only is it a consolation to have partakers in our afflictions, but to hear also that our persecutors are to be punished. And if the delay is a grievance, let it be a consolation that they will never lift up their heads again; or rather he hath cut short the delay, by saying, "The wrath," showing that it was long ago due, and predetermined, and predicted.”

“And what is surprising in that they mistreated their own countrymen, when they even killed the Lord? See what a consolation it is to be a partaker with Christ in sufferings! Therefore Paul also always points this out in trials. But someone will say that they did not recognize the Lord. So what? Did they not recognize their own prophets, whose books they carry everywhere? How then did they kill them too? From this it is evident that they do nothing as zealots for the truth, but rather rage against the truth. The apostles, your teachers. Therefore you, as disciples, ought to endure all things, having these examples before your eyes. For how could they please Him whose Son they killed, and before that had also killed the prophets?”

“Then when Paul observes, who killed both the Lord Jesus, he rebukes the Jews who started the persecution. First, he recalls their sin, and then the reason for the sin (2:16). In regard to the first point Paul does three things: first, he treats their sin in relation to God's ministers; secondly, with reference to God Himself; and thirdly as relating to the entire human race. The ministers of God are those who preach, namely, Christ, the prophets and the apostles. Preaching is performed by Christ as the one from whom the doctrine originates, by the prophets who prefigured this doctrine, and by the apostles who carry out the injunction to preach. Paul first makes reference to Christ when he says: who killed the Lord Jesus, as is clear from Matthew (21:38): "This is the heir; come, let us kill him." That it was the Gentiles who killed him is not a valid objection, for the Jews with their own words asked Pilate to kill him: "My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest, she has lifted up her voice against me" (Jer. 12:8). Paul then speaks of the prophets when he mentions: and the prophets. "Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered" (Acts 7:52). Paul next speaks of the apostles when he comments: and drove us out, that is, the apostles. "Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues" (Matt. 10:17). Secondly, Paul mentions the sin of the Jews in its relation to God, with the words: and displease God, although they may think that through this they do a service to God, as is evident in John 16. Actually, because they do not have zeal for God in accordance with knowledge, they are not pleasing to God, since they do not act in keeping with right faith and "without faith it is impossible to please him" (Heb. 11:6); "therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and smote them" (Is. 5:25). Thirdly, Paul considers their sin in its relation to the whole human race, when he says: and oppose all men. "His hand against every man and every man's hand against him" (Gen. 16:12).”