Note 5 at 1 Th. 2:14: Sometimes when Christians suffer persecution they think they are not in God's will because of such difficulties. In this verse Paul counters this false view and identifies his readers with the churches of God in Judaea that suffered similar things at the hand of the unbelieving Jews.

Paul himself had been the recipient of so much persecution that he later wrote, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). Persecution is not the exception, it's the norm. One of the reasons Christians aren't persecuted is that they are not living a godly life. If we go against the flow, we will bump into the devil. Only those who are headed in the same direction as the devil never encounter him.

In many Christian nations today, there is not overt persecution from the government as in days gone by. However, there is still plenty of opposition to the gospel and those who proclaim it (see note 7 at Mt. 5:10, p. 127; see reference l in v. 15).