1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 (NKJV) For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
V13 “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” Without ceasing does not mean praying continuously but day after day without ceasing. Received the word of God = the Gospel. They heard, the Holy Spirit opened their minds, hearts, and eyes to the truth of their character, freed their wills to accept or reject, and they placed their faith and trust into Jesus alone for their salvation (Acts 4:12). This was not a philosophy or sales pitch but in reality (truth) is the Word of God. Here, the Word of God means the Gospel that Jesus preached and came to them. God’s word (Gospel or not) is used by God for effective means and results.
V14 “or you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans…” The believers in Judea suffered from Messiah rejectors and so you do from your neighbors, etc. The church = the assembly and the believers collectively.
V15 “…who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men…” The Romans (Gentiles) condemned and nailed the Lord to the cross, but the Jewish religious leaders plead for the Romans to kill Him. They wanted Jesus dead. The religious leaders have a poor record of listening to and welcoming the Lord Jesus (THE Messiah), the prophets, and now the believers in Jesus. Their motive is because they are sinners, children of disobedience, and follow their father satan (his thoughts, desires, words, and deeds). These type of persons are a pest to all people. The Gospel will be opposed. Satan will do anything to try stopping it (1 Peter 5:8), but the Lord Jesus said that even the Gates of Hell (Matthew 16:18) cannot stop it. Satan uses lies, temptations, lusts, angry memories, diversion, etc. to stop people from believing in Jesus.
V16 “…forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.” The religious leaders in Israel in Jesus’s time had their own form of Judaism, their laws, their applications, and the hypocritical rabbis. The religious leaders forbid the preaching of Jesus and/or His Gospel (Acts 4:18-21, etc.). They do not want people to place their faith in the Lord Jesus. A comment: (Holman Commentary) “Obviously the antagonism of persecutors toward Christ and his message displeases God, but how can this be seen as hostility to all men? By trying to suppress the truth, they are agents of destruction to all humankind. By trying to prevent the spread of God’s saving grace, they become enemies of all people.
“Those who attack the gospel and Christ’s church always heap up their sins to the limit. They fill up the cup of God’s wrath. Their guilt results in God’s wrath—his just vengeance. It is not an angry outburst, but the settled nature of God’s judgment. Those who reject the grace of God suffer his righteous indignation and punishment.”