2:17–20 · Exit of the founders: The founders of the church were torn away from the new converts in Thessalonica, an experience Luke describes in Acts 17:5–10 and Paul recalls here (2:17). The Greek text indicates that the apostles were “made orphans,” an expression that in Paul’s day could indicate a child’s loss of parents or the tragedy of losing one’s children. The separation, however, was only physical—not mental. The longing for the Thessalonians prompted great, even extreme, efforts to return. The desire was there to see the Thessalonians, and Paul expresses his own repeated attempts to do so: “For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again” (2:18). The question on the table was why he had not returned to the church he founded. Paul explains, “but Satan blocked…