Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 Thessalonians · About this commentary
Know Those Who Labor Among You
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13
12 But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, · WEB
A church months old already has leaders, and the respect asked for is grounded in the work rather than the office.
We beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you. Again Paul begs rather than commands. And know here means to recognize in a practical sense — to acknowledge who these people are and what they are doing.
Three participles describe them, and they are functions rather than titles. Those who labor — the word for exhausting work. Those who are over them in the Lord, a term for standing in front, used equally of leading and caring for. And those who admonish, the least comfortable of the three. No office is named anywhere in the letter.
Verse 13 sets the manner: respect and honor them in love, for their work's sake. The regard is owed to what they do rather than to rank — a standard that must be re-earned rather than granted once.
And the sentence ends with three words attached without explanation: be at peace among yourselves. Placing them here suggests where the strain was — congregations divide over their leaders more readily than over anything else.
settled What this mark means