1 Thess 2:15:
So then, brethren, stand firm,
and hold fast to the traditions you have been taught, either in word or in our
latter (v. 15): keep as the norm of doctrine the words offered you
by us, which we preached to you when present and wrote when absent. (Theodoret
of Cyrus, Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul, 2 vols. [Brookline,
Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2001], 2:130)
2 Thess 2:13:
We also give thanks
unceasingly to God for this, that you received the word of God you heard from
us and accepted it, not as a word of human beings, but as it really is, word of
God, which is also at work in you believers (v. 13). Since he had instilled
fear into them with his adjuration, he comforted them with commendation,
saying, You accepted not as human words but as divine words what was offered
by us. Actual experience also shows them to be like that: in receipt of
the charism of inspiration, they themselves prophesied, spoke in tongues and performed
remarkable wonders. The text hinted not only at that but also at the perils
brought upon them by the adversaries; the sequel indicates as much, In fact,
you became imitators, brethren, of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are
in Judea in suffering the same things form your own compatriots as they did
from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us
out. They are not pleasing to God, and are hostile to everyone (vv. 14-15).
(Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul, 2 vols. [Brookline,
Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2001], 2:111, emphasis in bold added)
