Text -- 1 Thessalonians 1:3-10 (NET)

1:3 because we recall in the presence of our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:4 We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 1:5 in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction (surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you). 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction. 1:7 As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 1:8 For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything. 1:9 For people everywhere report how you welcomed us and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

Remembering ( mnēmoneuontes ).

Present active participle of old verb from adjective mnēmōn (mindful) and so to call to mind, to be mindful of, used either with the accusative as in 1Th 2:9 or the genitive as here.

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

Without ceasing ( adialeiptōs ).

Double compound adverb of the Koiné[28928]š (Polybius, Diodorus, Strabo, papyri) from the verbal adjective ȧdiȧleiptos (a privative and diȧleipō , to leave off). In the N.T. alone by Paul and always connected with prayer. Milligan prefers to connect this adverb (amphibolous in position) with the preceding participle poioumenoi rather than with mnēmoneuontes as Revised Version and Westcott and Hort rightly do.

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

Your work of faith ( humōn tou ergou tēs pisteōs ).

Note article with both ergou and pisteōs (correlation of the article, both abstract substantives). Ergou is genitive case the object of mnēmoneuontes as is common with verbs of emotion (Robertson, Grammar , pp. 508f.), though the accusative kopon occurs in 1Th 2:9 according to common Greek idiom allowing either case. Ergou is the general term for work or business, employment, task. Note two genitives with ergou . Humōn is the usual possessive genitive, your work , while tēs pisteōs is the descriptive genitive, marked by, characterized by, faith, "the activity that faith inspires"(Frame). It is interesting to note this sharp conjunction of these two words by Paul. We are justified by faith, but faith produces works (Romans 6-8) as the Baptist taught and as Jesus taught and as James does in James 2.

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

Labour of love ( tou kopou tēs agapēs ).

Note article with both substantives. Here again tou kopou is the genitive the object of mnēmoneuontes while tēs agapēs is the descriptive genitive characterizing the "labour"or "toil"more exactly. Kopos is from koptō , to cut, to lash, to beat the bread, to toil. In Rev 14:13 the distinction is drawn between kopou (toil) from which the saints rest and erga (works, activities) which follow with them into heaven. So here it is the labour that love prompts, assuming gladly the toil. Agapē is one of the great words of the N.T. (Milligan) and no certain example has yet been found in the early papyri or the inscriptions. It occurs in the Septuagint in the higher sense as with the sensuous associations. The Epistle of Aristeas calls love (agapē ) God’ s gift and Philo uses agapē in describing love for God. "When Christianity first began to think and speak in Greek, it took up agapē and its group of terms more freely, investing them with the new glow with which the N.T. writings make us familiar, a content which is invariably religious"(Moffatt, Love in the New Testament , p. 40). The New Testament never uses the word erōs (lust).

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

Patience of hope ( tēs hupomonēs tēs elpidos ).

Note the two articles again and the descriptive genitive tēs elpidos . It is patience marked by hope, "the endurance inspired by hope"(Frame), yes, and sustained by hope in spite of delays and set-backs. Hupomonē is an old word (hupo , menō , to remain under), but it "has come like agapē to be closely associated with a distinctively Christian virtue"(Milligan). The same order as here ergou , kopos , hupomone4 ) appears in Rev 2:2 and Lightfoot considers it"an ascending scale as practical proofs of self-sacrifice."The church in Thessalonica was not old, but already they were called upon to exercise the sanctifying grace of hope (Denney).

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

In our Lord Jesus Christ ( tou Kuriou hēmōn Iēsou Christou ).

The objective genitive with elpidos (hope) and so translated by "in"here (Robertson, Grammar , pp. 499f.). Jesus is the object of this hope, the hope of his second coming which is still open to us. Note "Lord Jesus Christ"as in 1Th 1:1.

Robertson: 1Th 1:3

Before our God and Father ( emprosthen tou theou kai patros hēmōn ).

The one article with both substantives precisely as in Gal 1:4, not "before God and our Father,"both article and possessive genitive going with both substantives as in 2Pe 1:1, 2Pe 1:11; Tit 2:13 (Robertson, Grammar , pp. 785f.). The phrase is probably connected with elpidos . Emprosthen in the N.T. occurs only of place, but it is common in the papyri of time. The picture here is the day of judgment when all shall appear before God.

Robertson: 1Th 1:4

Knowing ( eidotes ).

Second perfect active participle of oida (eidon ), a so-called causal participle=since we know, the third participle with the principal verb eucharistoumen , the Greek being fond of the circumstantial participle and lengthening sentences thereby (Robertson, Grammar , P. 1128).

Robertson: 1Th 1:4

Beloved by God ( ēgapēmenoi hupo ̣toǔ theou ).

Perfect passive participle of agapaō , the verb so common in the N.T. for the highest kind of love. Paul is not content with the use of adelphoi here (often in this Epistle as 1Th 2:1, 1Th 2:14, 1Th 2:17; 1Th 3:7; 1Th 4:1, 1Th 4:10), but adds this affectionate phrase nowhere else in the N.T. in this form (cf. Jud 1:3) though in Sirach 45:1 and on the Rosetta Stone. But in 2Th 2:13 he quotes "beloved by the Lord"from Deu 33:12. The use of adelphoi for members of the same brotherhood can be derived from the Jewish custom (Act 2:29, Act 2:37) and the habit of Jesus (Mat 12:48) and is amply illustrated in the papyri for burial clubs and other orders and guilds (Moulton and Milligan’ s Vocabulary ).

Robertson: 1Th 1:4

Your election ( tēn eklogēn humōn ).

That is the election of you by God. It is an old word from eklegomai used by Jesus of his choice of the twelve disciples (Joh 15:16) and by Paul of God’ s eternal selection (Eph 1:4). The word eklogē is not in the lxx and only seven times in the N.T. and always of God’ s choice of men (Act 9:15; 1Th 1:4; Rom 9:11; Rom 11:5, Rom 11:7, Rom 11:8; 2Pe 1:10). The divine eklogē was manifested in the Christian qualities of 1Th 1:3 (Moffatt).

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

How that ( hoti ).

It is not certain whether hoti here means "because"(quia ) as in 2Th 3:7; 1Co 2:14; Rom 8:27 or declarative hoti "how that,"knowing the circumstances of your election (Lightfoot) or explanatory, as in Act 16:3; 1Th 2:1; 1Co 16:15; 2Co 12:3.; Rom 13:11.

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

Our gospel ( to euaggelion hēmōn ).

The gospel (see Mat 4:23; note on Mar 1:1 and Mar 1:15 for euaggelion ) which we preach, Paul’ s phrase also in 2Th 2:14; 2Co 4:3; Rom 2:16; Rom 16:25; 2Ti 2:8. Paul had a definite, clear-cut message of grace that he preached everywhere including Thessalonica. This message is to be interpreted in the light of Paul’ s own sermons in Acts and Epistles, not by reading backward into them the later perversions of Gnostics and sacramentarians. This very word was later applied to the books about Jesus, but Paul is not so using the term here or anywhere else. In its origin Paul’ s gospel is of God (1Th 2:2, 1Th 2:8, 1Th 2:9), in its substance it is Christ’ s (1Th 3:2; 2Th 1:8), and Paul is only the bearer of it (1Th 2:4, 1Th 2:9; 2Th 2:14) as Milligan points out. Paul and his associates have been entrusted with this gospel (1Th 2:4) and preach it (Gal 2:2). Elsewhere Paul calls it God’ s gospel (2Co 11:7; Rom 1:1; Rom 15:16) or Christ’ s (1Co 9:12; 2Co 2:12; 2Co 9:13; 2Co 10:14; Gal 1:7; Rom 15:19; Phi 1:27). In both instances it is the subjective genitive.

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

Came unto you ( egenēthē eis humās ).

First aorist passive indicative of ginomai in practically same sense as egeneto (second aorist middle indicative as in the late Greek generally). So also eis humās like the Koiné[28928]š is little more than the dative humin (Robertson, Grammar , p. 594).

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

Not only - but also ( ouk - monon , alla kai ).

Sharp contrast, negatively and positively. The contrast between logos (word) and dunamis (power) is seen also in 1Co 2:4; 1Co 4:20. Paul does not refer to miracles by dunamis .

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

In the Holy Spirit and much assurance ( en pneumati hagiōi kai plērophoriāi pollēi ).

Preposition en repeated with logōi , dunamei , but only once here thus uniting closely

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

Holy Spirit

and much assurance. No article with either word. The word plērophoriāi is not found in ancient Greek or the lxx. It appears once in Clement of Rome and one broken papyrus example. For the verb plērophoreō see note on Luk 1:1. The substantive in the N.T. only here and Col 2:2; Heb 6:11; Heb 10:22. It means the full confidence which comes from the Holy Spirit.

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

Even as ye know ( kathōs oidate ).

Paul appeals to the Thessalonians themselves as witnesses to the character of his preaching and life among them.

Robertson: 1Th 1:5

What manner of men we showed ourselves toward you ( hoioi egenēthēmen humin ).

Literally, What sort of men we became to you. Qualitative relative hoioi and dative humin and first aorist passive indicative egenēthēmen , (not ēmetha , we were). An epexegetical comment with for your sake (di' humās ) added. It was all in their interest and for their advantage, however it may have seemed otherwise at the time.

Robertson: 1Th 1:6

Imitators of us and of the Lord ( mimētai hēmōn kai tou kuriou ).

Mimētēs (̇tēs expresses the agent) is from mimeomai , to imitate and that from mimos (mimic , actor). Old word, more than "followers,"in the N.T. only six times (1Th 1:6; 1Th 2:14; 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1; Eph 5:1; Heb 6:12). Again Paul uses ginomai , to become, not eimi , to be. It is a daring thing to expect people to "imitate"the preacher, but Paul adds "and of the Lord,"for he only expected or desired "imitation"as he himself imitated the Lord Jesus, as he expressly says in 1Co 11:1. The peril of it all is that people so easily and so readily imitate the preacher when he does not imitate the Lord. The fact of the "election"of the Thessalonians was shown by the character of the message given them and by this sincere acceptance of it (Lightfoot).

Robertson: 1Th 1:6

Having received the word ( dexamenoi ton logon ).

First aorist middle participle of dechomai , probably simultaneous action (receiving), not antecedent.

Robertson: 1Th 1:6

In much affliction ( en thlipsei pollēi ).

Late word, pressure. Tribulation (Latin tribulum ) from thlibō , to press hard on. Christianity has glorified this word. It occurs in some Christian papyrus letters in this same sense. Runs all through the N.T. (2Th 1:4; Rom 5:3). Paul had his share of them (Col 1:24; 2Co 2:4) and so he understands how to sympathize with the Thessalonians (1Th 3:3.). They suffered after Paul left Thessalonica (1Th 2:14).

Robertson: 1Th 1:6

With joy of the Holy Spirit ( meta charas pneumatos hagiou ).

The Holy Spirit gives the joy in the midst of the tribulations as Paul learned (Rom 5:3). "This paradox of experience"(Moffatt) shines along the pathway of martyrs and saints of Christ.

Robertson: 1Th 1:7

So that ye became ( hōste genesthai humas ).

Definite result expressed by hōste and the infinitive genesthai (second aorist middle of ginomai ) as is common in the Koiné.

Robertson: 1Th 1:7

An ensample ( tupon ).

So B D, but Aleph A C have tupous (plural). The singular looks at the church as a whole, the plural as individuals like humās . Tupos is an old word from tuptō , to strike, and so the mark of a blow, print as in Joh 20:25. Then the figure formed by the blow, image as in Act 7:43. Then the mould or form (Rom 6:17; Act 23:25). Then an example or pattern as in Act 7:44, to be imitated as here, Phi 3:17, etc. It was a great compliment for the church in Thessalonica to be already a model for believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Our word type for printers is this same word with one of its meanings. Note separate article with both Macedonia (tēi Makedoniāi ) and Achaia (tēi Achaiāi ) treated as separate provinces as they were.

Robertson: 1Th 1:8

From you hath sounded forth ( aph' humōn exēchētai ).

Perfect passive indicative of exēcheō , late compound verb (ex , ēchos , ēchō , ēchē , our echo) to sound out of a trumpet or of thunder, to reverberate like our echo. Nowhere else in the N.T. So "from you"as a sounding board or radio transmitting station (to use a modern figure). It marks forcibly "both the clear and the persuasive nature of the logos tou Kuriou "(Ellicott). This phrase, the word of the Lord , may be subjective with the Lord as its author or objective with the Lord as the object. It is both. It is a graphic picture with a pardonable touch of hyperbole (Moffatt) for Thessalonica was a great commercial and political centre for disseminating the news of salvation (on the Egnation Way).

Robertson: 1Th 1:8

But in every place ( all' en panti topōi ).

In contrast to Macedonia and Achaia. The sentence would naturally stop here, but Paul is dictating rapidly and earnestly and goes on.

Robertson: 1Th 1:8

Your faith to God-ward ( hē pistis humōn hē pros ton theon ).

Literally, the faith of you that toward the God. The repeated article makes clear that their faith is now directed toward the true God and not toward the idols from which they had turned (1Th 1:10).

Robertson: 1Th 1:8

Is gone forth ( exelēluthen ).

Second perfect active indicative of old verb exerchomai , to go out, state of completion like exēchētai above.

Robertson: 1Th 1:8

So that we need not to speak anything ( hōste mē chreian echein hēmās lalein ti ).

Hōste with the infinitive for actual result as in 1Th 1:7. No vital distinction between lalein (originally to chatter as of birds) and legein , both being used in the Koiné[28928]š for speaking and preaching (in the N.T.).

Robertson: 1Th 1:9

They themselves ( autoi ).

The men of Macedonia, voluntarily.

Robertson: 1Th 1:9

Report ( apaggellousin ).

Linear present active indicative, keep on reporting.

Robertson: 1Th 1:9

What manner of entering in ( hopoian eisodon ).

What sort of entrance, qualitative relative in an indirect question.

Robertson: 1Th 1:9

We had ( eschomen ).

Second aorist active (ingressive) indicative of the common verb echō .

Robertson: 1Th 1:9

And how ( kai pōs ).

Here the interrogative adverb pōs in this part of the indirect question. This part about "them"(you) as the first part about Paul. The verb epistrephō is an old verb for turning and is common in the Acts for Gentiles turning to God, as here from idols, though not by Paul again in this sense. In Gal 4:9 Paul uses it for turning to the weak and beggarly elements of Judaism.

Robertson: 1Th 1:9

From idols ( apo tōn eidolōn ).

Old word from eidos (figure) for image or likeness and then for the image of a heathen god (our idol ). Common in the lxx in this sense. In Act 14:15 Paul at Lystra urged the people to turn from these vain things to the living God (apo toutōn tōn mataiōn epistrephein epi theon zōnta ), using the same verb epistrephein . Here also Paul has a like idea, to serve a living and true God (douleuein theōi zōnti kai alēthinōi ). No article, it is true, but should be translated "the living and true God"(cf. Act 14:15). Not "dead"like the idols from which they turned, but alive and genuine (alēthinos , not alēthēs ).

Robertson: 1Th 1:10

To wait for his Son from heaven ( anamenein ton huion autou ek tōn ouranōn ).

Present infinitive, like douleuein , and so linear, to keep on waiting for. The hope of the second coming of Christ was real and powerful with Paul as it should be with us. It was subject to abuse then as now as Paul will have to show in this very letter. He alludes to this hope at the close of each chapter in this Epistle.

Robertson: 1Th 1:10

Whom he raised from the dead ( hon ēgeiren ek ̣tōň nekrōn ).

Paul gloried in the fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead of which fact he was himself a personal witness. This fact is the foundation stone for all his theology and it comes out in this first chapter.

Robertson: 1Th 1:10

Jesus which delivereth us from the wrath to come ( Iēsoun ton ruomenon hēmās ek tēs orgēs tēs erchomenēs ).

It is the historic, crucified, risen, and ascended Jesus Christ, God’ s Son, who delivers from the coming wrath. He is our Saviour (Mat 1:21) true to his name Jesus. He is our Rescuer (Rom 11:26, ho ruomenos , from Isa 59:20). It is eschatological language, this coming wrath of God for sin (1Th 2:16; Rom 3:5; Rom 5:9; Rom 9:22; Rom 13:5). It was Paul’ s allusion to the day of judgment with Jesus as Judge whom God had raised from the dead that made the Athenians mock and leave him (Act 17:31.). But Paul did not change his belief or his preaching because of the conduct of the Athenians. He is certain that God’ s wrath in due time will punish sin. Surely this is a needed lesson for our day. It was coming then and it is coming now.

Vincent: 1Th 1:3

Without ceasing ( ἀδιαλείπτως )

Po . In lxx see 1 Macc. 7:11; 2 Macc. 3:26; 9:4; 8:12; 15:7; 3 Macc. 6:33. Should be construed with making mention , not with remembering , as A.V. and Rev. The salutations of Paul reproduce ordinary conventional forms of greeting. Thus the familiar Greek greeting χαίρειν be joyful , hail , welcome , appears in χάρις grace . This was perceived by Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428 a.d.), who, in his commentary on Ephesians, says that in the preface to that letter Paul does very much as we do when we say " So and so to So and so, greeting" (ὁ δεῖνα τῷ δεῖνι χαίρειν ). Deissmann gives some interesting parallels from ancient papyri. For instance, a letter dated 172 b.c., from an Egyptian lady to her brother or husband: " Isias to her brother Hephaestion, greeting (χαίρειν ). If you are well, and other things happen as you would wish, it would be in accordance with my constant prayer to the gods. I myself am well, and the boy; and all at home make constant remembrance of you . Comp. Rom 1:9; Eph 1:16; Phm 1:4. Again: " Ammonios to his sister Tachnumi, abundant greeting (τὰ πλεῖστα χαίρειν ). Before all things, I pray that you may be in health; and each day I make the act of worship for you." In these specimens the conventional salutations in correspondence include the general greeting (χαίρειν ) and the statement that prayer is made for the correspondent's welfare; and the words constant and daily are attached to the act of prayer. It is further to be noticed that many passages of Paul's Epistles give evidence of having been shaped by expressions in letters received by him from the parties he is addressing. In his answer he gives them back their own words, as is common in correspondence. Thus, making mention of you and remembering your work , etc., together with the statement that Timothy reports that you have a good remembrance of us (1Th 3:6), all together suggest that Paul had before him, when writing to the Thessalonians, a letter which Timothy had brought from them. Other instances will be noted as they occur.

Vincent: 1Th 1:3

Work - labor - patience ( ἔπργου - κόπου - ὑπομονῆς )

Ἔργον work , may mean either the act , the simple transaction, or the process of dealing with anything, or the result of the dealing, - as a book or a picture is called a work . Κόπος labor , from κόπτειν to strike or hew ; hence, laborious , painful exertion. Ὑπομονὴ patience , patient endurance and faithful persistence in toil and suffering. See on 2Pe 1:6; see on Jam 5:7. The genitives, of faith , love , hope , mark the generating principles of the work and labor and patience, which set their stamp upon each; thus, work which springs from faith , and is characteristic of faith. The phrase patience of hope is found only here; but see Rom 5:4; Rom 8:25; Rom 15:4; 1Co 8:7; Heb 7:11, Heb 7:12. ὑπομονὴ in lxx, see 1Ch 29:15; Job 14:19; Psa 9:18; Psa 38:7; Jeremiah 1 Jer 4:8. We have here the great triad of Christian graces, corresponding to 1Co 8:1-13. Hope is prominent throughout the two Epistles. The triad appears, 1Th 5:8; Gal 5:5, Gal 5:6; 1Co 8:13; Eph 4:2-5; Col 1:4, Col 1:5; Heb 10:22-24; 1Pe 1:21-22. Comp. 1Th 2:9; 1Th 5:8; 2Th 3:5, 2Th 3:8; 1Co 15:10, 1Co 15:58; 2Co 11:27; Rev 2:2.

Vincent: 1Th 1:3

In our Lord, etc. ( τοῦ κυρίου )

Lit. of our Lord. For a similar use of the genitive, see Joh 5:42; 1Jo 2:5, 1Jo 2:15; Act 9:31; Rom 1:5;Rom 3:18, Rom 3:22, Rom 3:26, etc. Connect with hope only.

Vincent: 1Th 1:3

Before our God and Father

Const. with remembering , and comp. 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:9.

Vincent: 1Th 1:4

Election of God

Incorrect. Const. of or by (ὑπὸ ) God with beloved . Ἑκλογὴ election , in N.T., mostly by Paul. Elsewhere only Act 9:15, and 2Pe 1:10. This, and the kindred words, ἐκλέγειν to choose , and ἐκλεκτὸς chosen or elect , are used of God's selection of men or agencies for special missions or attainments; but neither here nor elsewhere in the N.T. is there any warrant for the revolting doctrine that God has predestined a definite number of mankind to eternal life, and the rest to eternal destruction. The sense in this passage appears to be defined by the succeeding context. The Thessalonians had been chosen to be members of the Christian church, and their conduct had justified the choice. See 1Th 1:5-10.

Vincent: 1Th 1:5

For ( ὅτι )

Incorrect. Rend. how that . It is explanatory of your election . For similar usage see 1Co 1:26.

Vincent: 1Th 1:5

Our gospel

The gospel as preached by Paul and his colleagues. Comp. Rom 2:16; Rom 16:25; Gal 1:11; Gal 2:2; 1Th 2:4. My gospel is sometimes used in connection with an emphasis upon some particular feature of the gospel, as in Rom 2:16, where Paul is speaking of the judgment of the world by Christ ; or in Rom 16:25, where he is referring to the extension of the messianic kingdom to the Gentiles.

Vincent: 1Th 1:5

In word ( ἐν λόγῳ )

The gospel did not appeal to them as mere eloquent and learned discourse.

Vincent: 1Th 1:5

In power ( ἐν δύναμει )

Power of spiritual persuasion and conviction: not power as displayed in miracles, at least not principally, although miraculous demonstrations may be included. Paul rarely alluded to his power of working miracles.

Vincent: 1Th 1:5

Assurance ( πληροφορίᾳ )

Assured persuasion of the preacher that the message was divine. The word not in pre-Christian Greek writers, nor in lxx. Only in one other passage in Paul, Col 2:2. See Heb 6:11; Heb 10:22.

Vincent: 1Th 1:5

We were ( ἐγενήθημεν )

More correctly, we shewed or proved ourselves .

Vincent: 1Th 1:6

Followers ( μιμηταὶ )

More literally and better, imitators . Only once outside of Paul's writings, Heb 6:12. Comp. 1Th 3:9; 2Th 3:7; 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1; Gal 4:12; Phi 3:17; Phi 4:9.

Vincent: 1Th 1:6

And of the Lord

Guarding against any possible imputation of self-assertion or conceit. Comp. 1Co 11:1.

Vincent: 1Th 1:6

Tribulation ( θλίψει )

See on Mat 13:21. Referring especially to persecutions at the hands of the Jews (Act 17:5 ff.), which probably continued after Paul's departure from Thessalonica.

Vincent: 1Th 1:7

An ensample ( τύπον )

See on 1Pe 5:3.

Vincent: 1Th 1:7

Macedonia and Achaia

Shortly after 146 b.c., all Greece south of Macedonia and Epirus was formed into a Roman province under the name of Achaia, and Macedonia with Epirus into another province called Macedonia.

Vincent: 1Th 1:8

Hath sounded forth ( ἐξήχηται )

N.T.o . lxx Joe 3:14; Sir. 40:13, of thunder ; 3 Macc. 3:2, of a report . It means a loud , unmistakable proclamation.

Vincent: 1Th 1:8

The word of the Lord ( ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου )

The phrase in Paul only in these Epistles. Comp. 2Th 3:1; 1Th 4:15. Comparatively frequent in Acts. Paul has λόγος Θεοῦ or τοῦ Θεοῦ word of God , eight times, and λόγος τοῦ χριστοῦ word of the Christ , once, Col 3:16. The meaning here is the gospel , regarded either as the message proceeding from the Lord, or concerning him. It is the εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ the gospel of God: see 1Th 2:2, 1Th 2:8, 1Th 2:9; Rom 1:1; Rom 15:16; 2Co 11:7. As Professor Sanday remarks on Rom 1:1, " it is probably a mistake in these cases to restrict the force of the genitive to one particular aspect: all aspects are included in which the gospel is in any way related to God and Christ."

Vincent: 1Th 1:8

In every place

A rhetorical exaggeration, signifying the whole known world. It is explained by the extensive commercial relations of Thessalonica. Comp. Rom 1:8; Col 1:6, Col 1:23, 2Co 2:14.

Vincent: 1Th 1:8

Is spread abroad ( ἐξελήλυθεν )

Lit. and better, has gone forth .

Vincent: 1Th 1:9

They themselves shew ( αὐτοὶ ἀπαγγέλλουσιν )

They themselves in contrast with we , 1Th 1:8. We need not speak of anything: they themselves volunteer testimony to your faith. Shew , more correctly announce or report .

Vincent: 1Th 1:9

Entering in ( εἴσοδον )

Comp. 1Th 2:1. The thought of 1Th 1:5 is resumed. The repetition of the word in 1Th 2:1, and of in vain in 1Th 3:5, may point to expressions in a letter of the Thessalonians.

Vincent: 1Th 1:9

Unto you ( πρὸς )

The preposition combines with the sense of direction that of relation and intercourse . Comp. Mat 13:56; Mar 9:16; Joh 1:1; Act 3:25; Col 4:5; Heb 9:20.

Vincent: 1Th 1:9

Ye turned unto God ( ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν )

Comp. Act 14:15. The exact phrase only here. The verb is common in lxx, with both κύριον Lord and θεὸν God .

Vincent: 1Th 1:9

Idols

See on 1Co 8:3. The word would indicate that the majority of the converts were heathen and not Jews.

Vincent: 1Th 1:9

Living and true ( ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ )

The only instance in N.T. of this collocation. It does not occur in O.T. For ἀληθινὸς genuine , see on Joh 1:9; see on Joh 4:37; see on Joh 7:28. Mostly in the Johannine writings.

Vincent: 1Th 1:10

To wait for ( ἀναμένειν )

N.T.o . Several times in lxx, as Job 2:9; Job 7:2; Isa 59:11. Paul's usual word is ἀπεκδέχομαι : see Rom 8:19, Rom 8:28, Rom 8:25; 1Co 1:7; Phi 3:20.

Vincent: 1Th 1:10

From heaven ( ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν )

Lit. from the heavens . Comp. 1Co 15:47; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 1:7. Paul uses the unclassical plural much oftener than the singular. Although the Hebrew equivalent has no singular, the singular is almost universal in lxx, the plural occurring mostly in the Psalm. Οὐρανός is from a Sanscrit word meaning to cover or encompass . The Hebrew shamayim signifies height , high district , the upper regions . Similarly we have in N.T. ἐν ὑψίστοις in the highest (places), Mat 21:9; Luk 2:14 : ἐν ὑψηλοῖς in the high (places), Heb 1:3. Paul's usage is evidently colored by the Rabbinical conception of a series of heavens: see 2Co 12:2; Eph 4:10. Some Jewish teachers held that there were seven heavens, others three. The idea of a series of heavens appears in patristic writings, in Thomas Aquinas's doctrine of the celestial hierarchies, and in Dionysius the Areopagite, Through the scholastic theologians it passed into Dante's Paradiso with its nine heavens. The words to await his Son from heaven strike the keynote of this Epistle.

Vincent: 1Th 1:10

Jesus which delivered ( Ἱησοῦν τὸν ῥυόμενον )

More correctly, delivereth . See on Mat 1:21. Ῥύεσθαι to deliver , mostly in Paul. Lit. to draw to one's self . Almost invariably with the specification of some evil or danger or enemy. Σώζειν to save is often used in a similar sense, of deliverance from disease, from sin, or from divine wrath: see Mat 1:21; Mar 6:56; Luk 8:36; Act 2:40; Rom 5:9 : but σώζειν is a larger and more comprehensive term, including not only deliverance from sin and death, but investment with all the privileges and rewards of the new life in Christ.

Vincent: 1Th 1:10

The wrath to come ( τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης )

Lit. the wrath which is coming . The wrath, absolutely, of the wrath of God, as Rom 5:9 Rom 7:19; 1Th 2:16. Sometimes for the punishment which wrath inflicts, as Rom 12:4; Eph 5:6; Col 3:6. See on Joh 3:36. The phrase wrath to come is found in Mat 3:7; Luk 3:7. Coming does not necessarily imply the thought of speedy or imminent approach, but the general tone of the Epistle points in that direction.

Wesley: 1Th 1:3

That is, praising him for it.

Wesley: 1Th 1:3

Your active, ever - working faith.

Wesley: 1Th 1:3

Love continually labouring for the bodies or souls of men. They who do not thus labour, do not love. Faith works, love labours, hope patiently suffers all things.

Wesley: 1Th 1:4

Which is through faith, by these plain proofs.

Wesley: 1Th 1:5

Piercing the very heart with a sense of sin and deeply convincing you of your want of a Saviour from guilt, misery, and eternal ruin.

Wesley: 1Th 1:5

Bearing an outward testimony, by miracles, to the truth of what we preached, and you felt: also by his descent through laying on of hands.

Wesley: 1Th 1:5

Literally, with full assurance, and much of it: the Spirit bearing witness by shedding the love of God abroad in your hearts, which is the highest testimony that can be given. And these signs, if not the miraculous gifts, always attend the preaching of the gospel, unless it be in vain: neither are the extraordinary operations of the Holy Ghost ever wholly withheld, where the gospel is preached with power, and men are alive to God.

Wesley: 1Th 1:5

Seeking your advantage, not our own.

Wesley: 1Th 1:6

Though in much affliction, yet with much joy.

Wesley: 1Th 1:8

(Thessalonica being a city of great commerce.) Being echoed, as it were, from you. And your conversion was divulged far beyond Macedonia and Achaia.

Wesley: 1Th 1:8

Concerning it.

Wesley: 1Th 1:9

The people wherever we come.

Wesley: 1Th 1:10

In proof of his future coming to judgment.

Wesley: 1Th 1:10

He redeemed us once; he delivers us continually; and will deliver all that believe from the wrath, the eternal vengeance, which will then come upon the ungodly.

JFB: 1Th 1:3

The working reality of your faith; its alacrity in receiving the truth, and in evincing itself by its fruits. Not an otiose assent; but a realizing, working faith; not "in word only," but in one continuous chain of "work" (singular, not plural, works), 1Th 1:5-10; Jam 2:22. So "the work of faith" in 2Th 1:11 implies its perfect development (compare Jam 1:4). The other governing substantives similarly mark respectively the characteristic manifestation of the grace which follows each in the genitive. Faith, love, and hope, are the three great Christian graces (1Th 5:8; 1Co 13:13).

JFB: 1Th 1:3

The Greek implies toil, or troublesome labor, which we are stimulated by love to bear (1Th 2:9; Rev 2:2). For instances of self-denying labors of love, see Act 20:35; Rom 16:12. Not here ministerial labors. Those who shun trouble for others, love little (compare Heb 6:10).

JFB: 1Th 1:3

Translate, "endurance of hope"; the persevering endurance of trials which flows from "hope." Rom 15:4 shows that "patience" also nourishes "hope."

JFB: 1Th 1:3

Literally, "hope of our Lord Jesus," namely, of His coming (1Th 1:10): a hope that looked forward beyond all present things for the manifestation of Christ.

JFB: 1Th 1:3

Your "faith, hope, and love" were not merely such as would pass for genuine before men, but "in the sight of God," the Searcher of hearts [GOMARUS]. Things are really what they are before God. BENGEL takes this clause with "remembering." Whenever we pray, we remember before God your faith, hope, and love. But its separation from "remembering" in the order, and its connection with "your . . . faith," &c., make me to prefer the former view.

JFB: 1Th 1:3

The Greek implies, "in the sight of Him who is [at once] God and our Father."

JFB: 1Th 1:4

Forasmuch as we know.

JFB: 1Th 1:4

The Greek is rather, "beloved by God"; so Rom 1:7; 2Th 2:13. "Your election" means that God has elected you as individual believers to eternal life (Rom 11:5, Rom 11:7; Col 3:12; 2Th 2:13).

JFB: 1Th 1:5

Namely, the Gospel which we preached.

JFB: 1Th 1:5

Greek, "was made," namely, by God, its Author and Sender. God's having made our preaching among you to be attended with such "power," is the proof that you are "elect of God" (1Th 1:4).

JFB: 1Th 1:5

In the efficacy of the Holy Spirit clothing us with power (see end of verse; Act 1:8; Act 4:33; Act 6:5, Act 6:8) in preaching the Gospel, and making it in you the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16). As "power" produces faith; so "the Holy Ghost," love; and "much assurance" (Col 2:2, full persuasion), hope (Heb 6:11), resting on faith (Heb 10:22). So faith, love, and hope (1Th 1:3).

JFB: 1Th 1:5

Answering to the "knowing," that is, as WE know (1Th 1:4) your character as the elect of God, so YE know ours as preachers.

JFB: 1Th 1:5

The purpose herein indicated is not so much that of the apostles, as that of God. "You know what God enabled us to be . . . how mighty in preaching the word . . . for your sakes . . . thereby proving that He had chosen (1Th 1:4) you for His own" [ALFORD]. I think, from 1Th 2:10-12, that, in "what manner of men we were among you," besides the power in preaching, there is included also Paul's and his fellow missionaries' whole conduct which confirmed their preaching; and in this sense, the "for your sake" will mean "in order to win you." This, though not the sole, yet would be a strong, motive to holy circumspection, namely, so as to win those without (Col 4:5; compare 1Co 9:19-23).

JFB: 1Th 1:6

Answering to "For our Gospel," 1Th 1:5.

JFB: 1Th 1:6

Greek, "imitators." The Thessalonians in their turn became "ensamples" (1Th 1:7) for others to imitate.

JFB: 1Th 1:6

Who was the apostle of the Father, and taught the word, which He brought from heaven, under adversities [BENGEL]. This was the point in which they imitated Him and His apostles, joyful witness for the word in much affliction: the second proof of their election of God (1Th 1:4); 1Th 1:5 is the first (see on 1Th 1:5).

JFB: 1Th 1:6

(1Th 2:14; 1Th 3:2-5; Act 17:5-10).

JFB: 1Th 1:6

That is, wrought by "the Holy Ghost." "The oil of gladness" wherewith the Son of God was "anointed above His fellows" (Psa 45:7), is the same oil with which He, by the Spirit, anoints His fellows too (Isa 61:1, Isa 61:3; Rom 14:17; 1Jo 2:20, 1Jo 2:27).

JFB: 1Th 1:7

So some of the oldest manuscripts read. Others, "ensample" (singular), the whole Church being regarded as one. The Macedonian Church of Philippi was the only one in Europe converted before the Thessalonians. Therefore he means their past conduct is an ensample to all believers now; of whom he specifies those "in Macedonia" because he had been there since the conversion of the Thessalonians, and had left Silvanus and Timotheus there; and those in "Achaia," because he was now at Corinth in Achaia.

JFB: 1Th 1:8

Not that they actually became missionaries: but they, by the report which spread abroad of their "faith" (compare Rom 1:8), and by Christian merchants of Thessalonica who travelled in various directions, bearing "the word of the Lord" with them, were virtually missionaries, recommending the Gospel to all within reach of their influence by word and by example (1Th 1:7). In "sounded," the image is that of a trumpet filling with its clear-sounding echo all the surrounding places.

JFB: 1Th 1:8

No longer directed to idols.

JFB: 1Th 1:8

To them in praise of your faith; "for (1Th 1:9) they themselves" (the people in Macedonia, Achaia, and in every place) know it already.

JFB: 1Th 1:9

Strictly there should follow, "For they themselves show of you," &c.; but, instead, he substitutes that which was the instrumental cause of the Thessalonians' conversion and faith, "for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you"; compare 1Th 1:5, which corresponds to this former clause, as 1Th 1:6 corresponds to the latter clause. "And how ye turned from idols to serve the living . . . God," &c. Instead of our having "to speak any thing" to them (in Macedonia and Achaia) in your praise (1Th 1:8), "they themselves (have the start of us in speaking of you, and) announce concerning (so the Greek of 'show of' means) us, what manner of (how effectual an) entrance we had unto you" (1Th 1:5; 1Th 2:1).

JFB: 1Th 1:9

As opposed to the dead and false gods from which they had "turned." In the English Version reading, Act 17:4, "of the devout Greeks a great multitude," no mention is made, as here, of the conversion of idolatrous Gentiles at Thessalonica; but the reading of some of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate singularly coincides with the statement here: "Of the devout AND of Greeks (namely, idolaters) a great multitude"; so in Act 17:17, "the devout persons," that is, Gentile proselytes to Judaism, form a separate class. PALEY and LACHMANN, by distinct lines of argument, support the "AND."

JFB: 1Th 1:10

This verse distinguishes them from the Jews, as 1Th 1:9 from the idolatrous Gentiles. To wait for the Lord's coming is a sure characteristic of a true believer, and was prominent amidst the graces of the Thessalonians (1Co 1:7-8). His coming is seldom called his return (Joh 14:3); because the two advents are regarded as different phases of the same coming; and the second coming shall have features altogether new connected with it, so that it will not be a mere repetition of the first, or a mere coming back again.

JFB: 1Th 1:10

The grand proof of His divine Sonship (Rom 1:4).

JFB: 1Th 1:10

Rather as Greek, "who delivereth us." Christ has once for all redeemed us; He is our Deliverer ALWAYS.

JFB: 1Th 1:10

(1Th 5:9; Col 3:6).

Clarke: 1Th 1:3

Your work of faith - This verse contains a very high character of the believers at Thessalonica. They had Faith, not speculative and indolent, but true, sound, and operative; their faith worked. They had Love, not that gazed at and became enamoured of the perfections of God, but such a love as labored with faith to fulfill the whole will of God. Faith worked; but love, because it can do more, did more, and therefore labored - worked energetically, to promote the glory of God and the salvation of men. They had Hope; not an idle, cold, heartless expectation of future good, from which they felt no excitement, and for which they could give no reason, but such a hope as produced a satisfying expectation of a future life and state of blessedness, the reality of which faith had descried, and love anticipated; a hope, not hasty and impatient to get out of the trials of life and possess the heavenly inheritance, but one that was as willing to endure hardships as to enjoy glory itself, when God might be most honored by this patient endurance. Faith worked, Love labored, and Hope endured patiently

It is not a mark of much grace to be longing to get to heaven because of the troubles and difficulties of the present life; they who love Christ are ever willing to suffer with him; and he may be as much glorified by patient suffering, as by the most active faith or laborious love. There are times in which, through affliction or other hinderances, we cannot do the will of God, but we can suffer it; and in such cases he seeks a heart that bears submissively, suffers patiently, and endures, as seeing him who is invisible, without repining or murmuring. This is as full a proof of Christian perfection as the most intense and ardent love. Meekness, gentleness, and long-suffering, are in our present state of more use to ourselves and others, and of more consequence in the sight of God, than all the ecstasies of the spirits of just men made perfect, and than all the raptures of an archangel. That Church or Christian society, the members of which manifest the work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope, is most nearly allied to heaven, and is on the suburbs of glory.

Clarke: 1Th 1:4

Knowing your election of God - Being assured, from the doctrine which I have delivered to you, and which God has confirmed by various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, that he has chosen and called the Gentiles to the same privileges to which he chose and called the Jews; and that, as they have rejected the offers of the Gospel, God has now elected the Gentiles in their stead. This is the election which the Thessalonians knew; and of which the apostle treats at large in his Epistle to the Romans, and also in his Epistles to the Galatians and Ephesians. No irrespective, unconditional, eternal, and personal election to everlasting glory, is meant by the apostle. As God had chosen the Jews, whom, because of their obstinate unbelief, he had now rejected; so he had now chosen or elected the Gentiles. And in neither case was there any thing absolute; all was most specifically conditional, as far as their final salvation was concerned; without any merit on their side, they were chosen and called to those blessings which, if rightly used, would lead them to eternal glory. That these blessings could be abused - become finally useless and forfeited, they had an ample proof in the case of the Jews, who, after having been the elect of God for more than 2000 years, were now become reprobates.

Clarke: 1Th 1:5

For our Gospel - That is, the glad tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ, and of your being elected to enjoy all the privileges to which the Jews were called, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, or fulfill the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law

Clarke: 1Th 1:5

Came not unto you in word only - It was not by simple teaching or mere reasoning that the doctrines which we preached recommended themselves to you, we did not insist on your using this or the other religious institution; we insisted on a change of heart and life, and we held out the energy which was able to effect it

Clarke: 1Th 1:5

But also in power - Εν δυναμει· With miraculous manifestations, to your eyes and to your hearts, which induced you to acknowledge that this Gospel was the power of God unto salvation

Clarke: 1Th 1:5

And in the Holy Ghost - By his influence upon your hearts, in changing and renewing them; and by the testimony which ye received from him, that you were accepted through the Beloved, and become the adopted children of God

Clarke: 1Th 1:5

And in much assurance - Εν πληροφοριᾳ πολλῃ . The Holy Spirit which was given you left no doubt on your mind, either with respect to the general truth of the doctrine, or the safety of your own state. Ye had the fullest assurance that the Gospel was true, and the fullest assurance that ye had received the remission of sins through that Gospel; the Spirit himself bearing witness with your spirit, that you are the sons and daughters of God Almighty

Clarke: 1Th 1:5

What manner of men we were - How we preached, and how we lived; our doctrines and our practices ever corresponding. And for your sakes we sustained difficulties, endured hardships, and were incessant in our labors.

Clarke: 1Th 1:6

Ye became followers of us - Ye became imitators, μιμηται, of us-ye believed the same truths, walked in the same way, and minded the same thing; knowing that our doctrine was of the Lord, and that the way in which we walked was prescribed by himself, and that he also suffered the contradictions of ungodly men

Clarke: 1Th 1:6

Having received the word in much affliction - That they received the doctrine of the Gospel in the midst of much persecution we may learn from the history in general, and from Act 17:5, Act 17:6

Clarke: 1Th 1:6

With joy of the Holy Ghost - The consolations which they received, in consequence of believing in Christ, more than counterbalanced all the afflictions which they suffered from their persecutors.

Clarke: 1Th 1:7

Ye were ensamples - Τοπους· Types, models, or patterns; according to which all the Churches in Macedonia and Achaia formed both their creed and their conduct.

Clarke: 1Th 1:8

From you sounded out - As Thessalonica vas very conveniently situated for traffic, many merchants from thence traded through Macedonia, Achaia, and different parts of Greece. By these, the fame of the Thessalonians having received the doctrine of the Gospel was doubtless carried far and wide. And it appears that they had walked so conscientiously before God and man, that their friends could speak of them without a blush, and their adversaries could say nothing to their disgrace.

Clarke: 1Th 1:9

How ye turned to God from idols - This could not be spoken either of the Jews or of the devout persons, but of the heathen Greeks, and of such it appears that the majority of the Church was formed. See what is said on this subject in the preface to this epistle

Clarke: 1Th 1:9

To serve the living and true God - The living God; in opposition to the idols, which were either inanimate stocks or stones, or the representations of dead men

The true God - In opposition to the whole system of idolatry, which was false in the objects of its adoration, false in its pretensions, false in its promises, and false in all its prospects.

Clarke: 1Th 1:10

And to wait for his Son from heaven - To expect a future state of glory, and resurrection of the body, according to the Gospel doctrine, after the example of Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, and ascended unto heaven, ever to appear in the presence of God for us

Clarke: 1Th 1:10

Delivered us from the wrath to come - From all the punishment due to us for our sins, and from the destruction which is about to come on the unbelieving and impenitent Jews

This was the news, the sounding out, that went abroad concerning the converted Thessalonians. Every where it was said: They have believed the Gospel; they have renounced idolatry; they worship the living and true God; they have received the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; they are happy in their souls, unspotted in their lives, and full of joy; expecting an eternal glory through that Christ who had died for and purged their sins, and who shall fashion their degraded bodies and make them like to his glorious body, and give them an eternal residence with himself in a state of blessedness

These were glorious news; and, wherever they were told, prepared the way of the Gospel among the heathen. The mere preaching of the Gospel has done much to convince and convert sinners, but the lives of the sincere followers of Christ, as illustrative of the truth of these doctrines, have done much more: Truth represented in action seems to assume a body, and thus renders itself palpable. In heathen countries, which are under the dominion of Christian powers, the Gospel, though established there, does little good, because of the profane and irreligious lives of those who profess it. Why has not the whole peninsula of India been long since evangelized? The Gospel has been preached there; but the lives of the Europeans professing Christianity there have been, in general, profligate, sordid, and base. From them sounded out no good report of the Gospel; and therefore the Mohammedans continue to prefer their Koran, and the Hindoos their Vedas and Shasters, to the Bible. It should now ever be acknowledged, to the glory of God, that of late years a few apostolic men in that country are turning the tide in favor of the Gospel; and several eminent Europeans have warmly espoused the doctrine of Christ, and are labouring to circulate the word of God through the whole of British India.

Calvin: 1Th 1:3

3.Unceasingly remembering you. While the adverb unceasingly might be taken in connection with what goes before, it suits better to connect it in this manner. What follows might also be rendered in this way: Remembering your work of faith and labor of love, etc. Nor is it any objection to this that there is an article interposed between the pronoun ὑμῶν and the noun ἔργου, ⁴⁹² for this manner of expression is frequently made use of by Paul. I state this, lest any one should charge the old translator with ignorance, from his rendering it in this manner. ⁴⁹³ As, however, it matters little as to the main point ⁴⁹⁴ which you may choose, I have retained the rendering of Erasmus. ⁴⁹⁵

He assigns a reason, however, why he cherishes so strong an affection towards them, and prays diligently in their behalf — because he perceived in them those gifts of God which should stir him up to cherish towards them love and respect. And, unquestionably, the more that any one excels in piety and other excellences, so much the more ought we to hold him in regard and esteem. For what is more worthy of love than God? Hence there is nothing that should tend more to excite our love to individuals, than when the Lord manifests himself in them by the gifts of his Spirit. This is the highest commendation of all among the pious — this the most sacred bond of connection, by which they are more especially bound to each other. I have said, accordingly, that it is of little importance, whether you render it mindful of your faith, or mindful of you on account of your faith.

Work of faith I understand as meaning the effect of it. This effect, however, may be explained in two ways — passively or actively, either as meaning that faith was in itself a signal token of the power and efficacy of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as he has wrought powerfully in the exciting of it, or as meaning that it afterwards produced outwardly its fruits. I reckon the effect to be in the root of faith rather than in its fruits — “A rare energy of faith has strewn itself powerfully in you.”

He adds labor of love, by which he means that in the cultivation of love they had grudged no trouble or labor. And, assuredly, it is known by experience, how laborious love is. That age, however, more especially afforded to believers a manifold sphere of labor, if they were desirous to discharge the offices of love. The Church was marvelously pressed down by a great multitude of afflictions: ⁴⁹⁶ many were stripped of their wealth, many were fugitives from their country, many were thrown destitute of counsel, many were tender and weak. ⁴⁹⁷ The condition of almost all was involved. So many cases of distress did not allow love to be inactive.

To hope he assigns patience, as it is always conjoined with it, for what we hope for, we in patience wait for, (Rom 8:24) and the statement should be explained to mean, that Paul remembers their patience in hoping for the coming of Christ. From this we may gather a brief definition of true Christianity — that it is a faith that is lively and full of vigor, so that it spares no labor, when assistance is to be given to one’s neighbors, but, on the contrary, all the pious employ themselves diligently in offices of love, and lay out their efforts in them, so that, intent upon the hope of the manifestation of Christ, they despise everything else, and, armed with patience, they rise superior to the wearisomeness of length of time, as well as to all the temptations of the world.

The clause, before our God and Father, may be viewed as referring to Paul’s remembrance, or to the three things spoken immediately before. I explain it in this way. As he had spoken of his prayers, he declares that as often as he raises his thoughts to the kingdom of God, he, at the same time, recalls to his remembrance the faith, hope, and patience, of the Thessalonians, but as all mere presence must vanish when persons come into the presence of God, this is added, ⁴⁹⁸ in order that the affirmation may have more weight. Farther, by this declaration of his goodwill towards them he designed to make them more teachable and prepared to listen. ⁴⁹⁹

Calvin: 1Th 1:4

4.Knowing, brethren beloved. The participle knowing may apply to Paul as well as to the Thessalonians. Erasmus refers it to the Thessalonians. I prefer to follow Chrysostom, who understands it of Paul and his colleagues, for it is (as it appears to me) a more ample confirmation of the foregoing statement. For it tended in no small degree to recommend them — that God himself had testified by many tokens, that they were acceptable and dear to him.

Election of God. I am not altogether dissatisfied with the interpretation given by Chrysostom — that God had made the Thessalonians illustrious, and had established their excellence. Paul, however, had it in view to express something farther; for he touches upon their calling, and as there had appeared in it no common marks of God’s power, he infers from this that they had been specially called with evidences of a sure election. For the reason is immediately added — that it was not a bare preaching that had been brought to them, but such as was conjoined with the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, that it might obtain entire credit among them.

When he says, in power, and in the Holy Spirit, it is, in my opinion, as if he had said — in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that the latter term is added as explanatory of the former. Assurance, to which he assigned the third place, was either in the thing itself, or in the disposition of the Thessalonians. I am rather inclined to think that the meaning is, that Paul’s gospel had been confirmed by solid proofs, ⁵⁰⁰ as though God had shewn from heaven that he had ratified their calling. ⁵⁰¹ When, however, Paul brings forward the proofs by which he had felt assured that the calling of the Thessalonians was altogether from God, he takes occasion at the same time to recommend his ministry, that they may themselves, also, recognize him and his colleagues as having been raised up by God.

By the term power some understand miracles. I extend it farther, as referring to spiritual energy of doctrine. For, as we had occasion to see in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul places it in contrast with speech ⁵⁰² — the voice of God, as it were, living and conjoined with effect, as opposed to an empty and dead eloquence of men. It is to be observed, however, that the election of God, which is in itself hid, is manifested by its marks—when he gathers to himself the lost sheep and joins them to his flock, and holds out his hand to those that were wandering and estranged from him. Hence a knowledge of our election must be sought from this source. As, however, the secret counsel of God is a labyrinth to those who disregard his calling, so those act perversely who, under pretext of faith and calling, darken this first grace, from which faith itself flows. “By faith,” say they, “we obtain salvation: there is, therefore, no eternal predestination of God that distinguishes between us and reprobates.” It is as though they said — “Salvation is of faith: there is, therefore, no grace of God that illuminates us in faith.” Nay rather, as gratuitous election must be conjoined with calling, as with its effect, so it must necessarily, in the mean time, hold the first place. It matters little as to the sense, whether you connect ὑπὸ with the participle beloved or with the term election ⁵⁰³

Calvin: 1Th 1:5

5.As ye know. Paul, as I have said before, has it as his aim, that the Thessalonians, influenced by the same considerations, may entertain no doubt that they were elected by God. For it had been the design of God, in honoring Paul’s ministry, that he might manifest to them their adoption. Accordingly, having said that they know what manner of persons they had been, ⁵⁰⁴ he immediately adds that he was such for their sake, by which he means that all this had been given them, in order that they might be fully persuaded that they were loved by God, and that their election was beyond all controversy.

Calvin: 1Th 1:6

6.And ye became imitators. With the view of increasing their alacrity, he declares that there is a mutual agreement, and harmony, as it were, between his preaching and their faith. For unless men, on their part, answer to God, no proficiency will follow from the grace that is offered to them — not as though they could do this of themselves, but inasmuch as God, as he begins our salvation by calling us, perfects it also by fashioning our hearts to obedience. The sum, therefore, is this — that an evidence of Divine election shewed itself not only in Paul’s ministry, in so far as it was furnished with the power of the Holy Spirit, but also in the faith of the Thessalonians, so that this conformity is a powerful attestation of it. He says, however, “Ye were imitators of God and of us, ” in the same sense in which it is said, that the people believed God and his servant Moses, (Exo 14:13 ⁵⁰⁵) not as though Paul and Moses had anything different from God, but because he wrought powerfully by them, as his ministers and instruments. ⁵⁰⁶ While ye embraced. Their readiness in receiving the gospel is called an imitation of God, for this reason, that as God had presented himself to the Thessalonians in a liberal spirit, so they had, on their part, voluntarily come forward to meet him.

He says, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, that we may know that it is not by the instigation of the flesh, or by the promptings of their own nature, that men will be ready and eager to obey God, but that this is the work of God’s Spirit. The circumstance, that amidst much tribulation they had embraced the gospel, serves by way of amplification. For we see very many, not otherwise disinclined to the gospel, who, nevertheless, avoid it, from being intimidated through fear of the cross. Those, accordingly, who do not hesitate with intrepidity to embrace along with the gospel the afflictions that threaten them, furnish in this an admirable example of magnanimity. And from this it is so much the more clearly apparent, how necessary it is that the Spirit should aid us in this. For the gospel cannot be properly, or sincerely received, unless it be with a joyful heart. Nothing, however, is more at variance with our natural disposition, than to rejoice in afflictions.

Calvin: 1Th 1:7

7.So that ye were. Here we have another amplification — that they had stirred up even believers by their example; for it is a great thing to get so decidedly the start of those who had entered upon the course before us, as to furnish assistance to them for prosecuting their course. Typus (the word made use of by Paul) is employed by the Greeks in the same sense as Exemplar is among the Latins, and Patron among the French. He says, then, that the courage of the Thessalonians had been so illustrious, that other believers had borrowed from them a rule of constancy. I preferred, however, to render it patterns, that I might not needlessly make any change upon the Greek phrase made use of by Paul; and farther, because the plural number expresses, in my opinion, something more than if he had said that that Church as a body had been set forward for imitation, for the meaning is, that there were as many patterns as there were individuals.

Calvin: 1Th 1:8

8.For from you sounded forth. Here we have an elegant metaphor, by which he intimates that their faith was so lively, ⁵⁰⁷ that it did, as it were, by its sound, arouse other nations. For he says that the word of God sounded forth from them, inasmuch as their faith was sonorous ⁵⁰⁸ for procuring credit for the gospel. He says that this had not only occurred in neighboring places, but this sound had also extended far and wide, and had been distinctly heard, so that the matter did not require to be published by him. ⁵⁰⁹

Calvin: 1Th 1:9

He says that the report of their conversion had obtained great renown everywhere. What he mentions as to his entering in among them, refers to that power of the Spirit, by which God had signalized his gospel. ⁵¹⁰ He says, however, that both things are freely reported among other nations, as things worthy of being made mention of. In the detail which follows, he shews, first, what the condition of mankind is, before the Lord enlightens them by the doctrine of his gospel; and farther, for what end he would have us instructed, and what is the fruit of the gospel. For although all do not worship idols, all are nevertheless addicted to idolatry, and are immersed in blindness and madness. Hence, it is owing to the kindness of God, that we are exempted from the impostures of the devil, and every kind of superstition. Some, indeed, he converts earlier, others later, but as alienation is common to all, it is necessary that we be converted to God, before we can serve God. From this, also, we gather the essence and nature of true faith, inasmuch as no one gives due credit to God but the man, who renouncing the vanity of his own understanding, embraces and receives the pure worship of God.

9.To the living God. This is the end of genuine conversion. We see, indeed, that many leave off superstitions, who, nevertheless, after taking this step, are so far from making progress in piety, that they fall into what is worse. For having thrown off all regard to God, they give themselves up to a profane and brutal contempt. ⁵¹¹ Thus, in ancient times, the superstitions of the vulgar were derided by Epicurus, Diogenes the Cynic, and the like, but in such a way that they mixed up the worship of God so as to make no difference between it and absurd trifles. Hence we must take care, lest the pulling down of errors be followed by the overthrow of the building of faith. Farther, the Apostle, in ascribing to God the epithets true and living, indirectly censures idols as being dead and worthless inventions, and as being falsely called gods. He makes the end of conversion to be what I have noticed — that they might serve God. Hence the doctrine of the gospel tends to this, that it may induce us to serve and obey God. For so long as we are the servants of sin, we are free from righteousness, (Rom 6:20) inasmuch as we sport ourselves, and wander up and down, exempt from any yoke. No one, therefore, is properly converted to God, but the man who has learned to place himself wholly under subjection to him.

As, however, it is a thing that is more than simply difficult, in so great a corruption of our nature, he shews at the same time, what it is that retains and confirms us in the fear of God and obedience to him — waiting for Christ. For unless we are stirred up to the hope of eternal life, the world will quickly draw us to itself. For as it is only confidence in the Divine goodness that induces us to serve God, so it is only the expectation of final redemption that keeps us from giving way. ⁵¹² Let every one, therefore, that would persevere in a course of holy life, apply his whole mind to a expectation of Christ’s coming. It is also worthy of notice, that he uses the expression waiting for Christ, instead of the hope of everlasting salvation. For, unquestionably, without Christ we are ruined and thrown into despair, but when Christ shews himself, life and prosperity do at the same time shine forth upon us. ⁵¹³ Let us bear in mind, however, that this is said to believers exclusively, for as for the wicked, as he will come to be their Judge, so they can do nothing but tremble in looking for him.

This is what he afterwards subjoins — that Christ delivereth us from the wrath to come. For this is felt by none but those who, being reconciled to God by faith, have conscience already pacified; otherwise, ⁵¹⁴ his name is dreadful. Christ, it is true, delivered us by his death from the anger of God, but the import of that deliverance will become apparent on the last day. ⁵¹⁵ This statement, however, consists of two departments. The first is, that the wrath of God and everlasting destruction are impending over the human race, inasmuch as all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) The second is, that there is no way of escape but through the grace of Christ; for it is not without good grounds that Paul assigns to him this office. It is, however, an inestimable gift, that the pious, whenever mention is made of judgment, know that Christ will come as a Redeemer to them.

In addition to this, he says emphatically, the wrath to come, that he may rouse up pious minds, lest they should fail from looking at the present life. For as faith is a looking at things that do not appear, (Heb 11:1) nothing is less befitting than that we should estimate the wrath of God, according as any one is afflicted in the world; as nothing is more absurd than to take hold of the transient blessings which we enjoy, that we may from them form an estimate of God’s favor. While, therefore, on the one hand, the wicked sport themselves at their ease, and we, on the other hand, languish in misery, let us learn to fear the vengeance of God, which is hid from the eyes of flesh, and take our satisfaction in the secret delights of the spiritual life. ⁵¹⁶

Calvin: 1Th 1:10

10.Whom he raised up. He makes mention here of Christ’s resurrection, on which the hope of our resurrection is founded, for death everywhere besets us. Hence, unless we learn to look to Christ, our minds will give way at every turn. By the same consideration, he admonishes them that Christ is to be waited for from heaven, because we will find nothing in the world to bear us up, ⁵¹⁷ while there are innumerable trials to overwhelm us. Another circumstance must be noticed; ⁵¹⁸ for as Christ rose for this end — that he might make us all at length, as being his members, partakers of the same glory with himself, Paul intimates that his resurrection would be vain, unless he again appeared as their Redeemer, and extended to the whole body of the Church the fruit and effect of that power which he manifested in himself. ⁵¹⁹

Defender: 1Th 1:3

The Greek word rendered "without ceasing" means continuously (repeated frequently) rather than continually (never stopping).

Defender: 1Th 1:3

The linking of faith, hope and love occurs often in the New Testament (see note on Col 1:4, Col 1:5)."

Defender: 1Th 1:9

Note the exposition in the lives of the Thessalonians of Paul's testimony in 1Th 1:3. They demonstrated the reality of their faith by their work of faith in turning "to God from idols," they showed true labor of love in serving "the living and true God," and they manifested patience of hope as they waited "for His Son from heaven."

Defender: 1Th 1:9

The Thessalonian believers, especially the Gentiles, had heard and received the same creation evangelism message Paul had preached at Athens. They had trusted the true, eternally living God of creation, instead of the false gods and dead idols they once had served. They further believed in the atoning death of Jesus for their eternal deliverance from judgment to come, acknowledging that He alone, as God incarnate and perfect man, could conquer death and rise from the dead (compare Act 17:22-31)."

Defender: 1Th 1:10

This epistle written by Paul, only eighty-eight verses long, has at least fourteen verses referring to Christ's second coming. The promise of the return of Christ was the "blessed hope" (Tit 2:13) of Christians from the very first."

TSK: 1Th 1:3

Remembering : 1Th 3:6; 2Ti 1:3-5

your : 1Th 2:13, 1Th 2:14; Joh 6:27-29; Rom 16:26; 1Co 15:58; Gal 5:6; 2Th 1:3, 2Th 1:11; Heb 4:11, Heb 11:7, Heb 11:8, Heb 11:17, Heb 11:24-34; Jam 2:17-26; Rev 2:19

and labour : Gen 29:20; Son 8:7; Joh 14:15, Joh 14:21-23, Joh 15:10, Joh 21:15-17; Rom 16:6; 1Co 13:4-7; 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15, 2Co 8:7-9; Gal 5:13; Phm 1:5-7; Heb 6:10,Heb 6:11; 1Jo 3:18, 1Jo 5:3; Rev 2:2-4

and patience : Rom 2:7, Rom 5:3-5, Rom 8:24, Rom 8:25, Rom 12:12, Rom 15:13; 1Co 13:13; Gal 6:9; Heb 6:15; Heb 10:36; Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 5:7, Jam 5:8; 1Jo 3:3; Rev 3:10

in the : Ecc 2:26; Act 3:19, Act 10:31; 2Co 2:17; 1Ti 2:3; Heb 13:21; 1Pe 3:4; 1Jo 3:21

TSK: 1Th 1:4

Knowing : 1Th 1:3; Rom 8:28-30, Rom 11:5-7; Eph 1:4; Phi 1:6, Phi 1:7; 1Pe 1:2; 2Pe 1:10

your election : Rom 1:7, Rom 9:25; Eph 2:4, Eph 2:5; Col 3:12; 2Th 2:13; 2Ti 1:9, 2Ti 1:10; Tit 3:4, Tit 3:5

beloved, your election of God : or, beloved of God

TSK: 1Th 1:5

our : Isa 55:11; Rom 2:16; 2Co 4:3; Gal 1:8-12, Gal 2:2; 2Th 2:14; 2Ti 2:8

in word : 1Th 2:13; 1Co 4:20; 2Co 3:6

but : Psa 10:2, Psa 10:3; Mar 16:20; Act 11:21, Act 16:14; Rom 1:16, Rom 15:18, Rom 15:19; 1Co 1:24; 1Co 2:4, 1Co 2:5, 1Co 3:6; 2Co 10:4, 2Co 10:5; Eph 1:17-20, Eph 2:4, Eph 2:5, Eph 2:10, Eph 3:20; Phi 2:13; Jam 1:16-18; 1Pe 1:3

in the : Joh 16:7-15; Act 2:33, Act 10:44-46, Act 11:15-18; 1Co 3:16, 1Co 12:7-11; 2Co 6:6; Gal 3:2-5, Gal 5:5, Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23; Tit 3:5, Tit 3:6; Heb 2:4; 1Pe 1:12

in much : Col 2:2; Heb 2:3, Heb 6:11, Heb 6:18, Heb 6:19, Heb 10:22; 2Pe 1:10,2Pe 1:19

what : 1Th 2:1-11; Act 20:18, Act 20:19, Act 20:33-35; 1Co 2:2-5, 1Co 4:9-13, 1Co 10:33; 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:2; 2Co 6:3-10; Phi 4:9; 2Th 3:7-9; 1Ti 4:12-16; 1Pe 5:3

for : 1Co 9:19-23; 2Ti 2:10

TSK: 1Th 1:6

ye : 1Th 2:14; 1Co 4:16, 1Co 11:1; 2Co 8:5; Phi 3:17; 2Th 3:9

and of : Mat 16:24; Joh 8:12, Joh 13:13-15; Eph 5:1; 1Pe 3:13; 3Jo 1:11

received : 1Th 2:13, 1Th 2:14, 1Th 3:2-4; Hos 2:14; Mar 10:29-30; Act 17:5; 2Co 8:1, 2Co 8:2; 2Th 1:4

with joy : Joh 14:16-18; Act 5:41, Act 9:31, Act 13:52; Rom 5:3-5, Rom 8:16-18, Rom 15:13; Gal 5:22; Heb 10:34; 1Pe 1:6, 1Pe 1:8

TSK: 1Th 1:7

ensamples : 1Th 4:10; 1Ti 4:12; Tit 2:7; 1Pe 5:3

in : 1Th 1:8; Act 16:12, Act 1:13, Act 18:1; 2Co 1:1, 2Co 9:2, 2Co 11:9, 2Co 11:10

TSK: 1Th 1:8

from : Isa 2:3, Isa 52:7, Isa 66:19; Rom 10:14-18; 1Co 14:36; 2Th 3:1; Rev 14:6, Rev 22:17

in every : Rom 1:8; 2Th 1:4; 3Jo 1:12

God-ward : Exo 18:9; 2Co 3:4

TSK: 1Th 1:9

what : 1Th 1:5, 1Th 1:6, 1Th 2:1, 1Th 2:13

ye : Isa 2:17-21; Jer 16:19; Zep 2:11; Zec 8:20-23; Mal 1:11; Act 14:15; Act 26:17, Act 26:18; 1Co 12:2; Gal 4:8, Gal 4:9

the living : Deu 5:26; 1Sa 17:26, 1Sa 17:36; Psa 42:2, Psa 84:2; Isa 37:4, Isa 37:17; Jer 10:10; Dan 6:26; Hos 1:10; Rom 9:26; 2Co 6:16, 2Co 6:17; 1Ti 4:10; Heb 12:22; Rev 17:2

TSK: 1Th 1:10

wait : 1Th 4:16, 1Th 4:17; Gen 49:18; Job 19:25-27; Isa 25:8, Isa 25:9; Luk 2:25; Act 1:11, Act 3:21; Rom 2:7, Rom 8:23-25; 1Co 1:7; Phi 3:20; 1Th 1:7, 1Th 2:7; 2Ti 4:1; Tit 2:13; Heb 9:28; 2Pe 3:12, 2Pe 3:14; Rev 1:7

whom : Act 2:24, Act 3:15, Act 4:10, Act 5:30,Act 5:31, Act 10:40,Act 10:41, Act 17:31; Rom 1:4, Rom 4:25, Rom 8:34; 1Cor. 15:4-21; Col 1:18; 1Pe 1:3, 1Pe 1:21, 1Pe 3:18; Rev 1:18

Jesus : 1Th 5:9; Mat 1:21; Rom 5:9, Rom 5:10; Gal 3:13; 1Pe 2:21

the wrath : Mat 3:7; Luk 3:7; Heb 10:27

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Th 1:3

Remembering without ceasing - Remembering your faith and love whenever we pray. This is not to be understood literally, but it is language such as we use respecting anything that interests us much. It is constantly in our mind. Such an interest the apostle had in the churches which he had established.

Your work of faith - That is, your showing or evincing faith. The reference is probably to acts of duty, holiness, and benevolence, which proved that they exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Works of faith are those to which faith prompts, and which show that there is faith in the heart. This does not mean, therefore, a work of their own producing faith, but a work which showed that they had faith.

And labour of love - Labour produced by love, or showing that you are actuated by love. Such would be all their kindness toward the poor, the oppressed, and the afflicted; and all their acts which showed that they loved the souls of people.

And patience of hope - Patience in your trials, showing that you have such a hope of future blessedness as to sustain you in your afflictions. It was the hope of heaven through the Lord Jesus that gave them patience; see the notes on Rom 8:24. "The phrases here are Hebraisims, meaning active faith, and laborious love, and patient hope, and might have been so translated."Doddridge.

In our Lord Jesus Christ - That is, your hope is founded only on him. The only hope that we have of heaven is through the Redeemer.

In the sight of God and our Father - Before God, even our Father. It is a hope which we have through the merits of the Redeemer, and which we are permitted to cherish before God; that is, in his very presence. When we think of God; when we reflect that we must soon stand before him, we are permitted to cherish this hope. It is a hope which will be found to be genuine even in the presence of a holy and heart-searching God. This does not mean that it had been merely professed before God, but that it was a hope which they might dare to entertain even in the presence of God, and which would bear the scrutiny of his eye.

Barnes: 1Th 1:4

Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God - The margin here reads, "beloved of God, your election."The difference depends merely on the pointing, and that which would require the marginal reading has been adopted by Hahn, Tittman, Bloomfield, and Griesbach. The sense is not materially varied, and the common version may be regarded as giving the true meaning. There is no great difference between "being beloved of God,"and "being chosen of God."The sense then is, "knowing that you are chosen by God unto salvation;"compare notes on Eph 1:4-5, Eph 1:11. The word "knowing"here refers to Paul himself, and to Silas and Timothy, who united with him in writing the Epistle, and in rendering thanks for the favors shown to the church at Thessalonica. The meaning is, that they had so strong confidence that they had been chosen of God as a church unto salvation, that they might say they knew it.

The way in which they knew it seems not to have been by direct revelation or by inspiration, but by the evidence which they had furnished, and which constituted such a proof of piety as to leave no doubt of the fact. Calvin. What this evidence was, the apostle states in the following verses. I was shown by the manner in which they embraced the gospel, and by the spirit which they had evinced under its influence The meaning here seems to be, not that all the members of the church at Thessalonica were certainly chosen of God to salvation - for, as in other churches, there might have been those there who were false professors - but that the church, as such, had given evidence that it was a true church - that it was founded on Christian principles - and that, as a church, it had furnished evidence of its "election by God."Nor can it mean, as Clarke and Bloomfield suppose, that God "had chosen and called the Gentiles to the same privileges to which he chose and called the Jews; and that as they (the Jews) had rejected the gospel, God had now elected the Gentiles in their stead;"for a considerable portion of the church was composed of Jews (see Act 17:4-5), and it cannot, therefore, mean that the Gentiles had been selected in the place of the Jews. Besides, the election of the Gentiles, or any portion of the human family, to the privileges of salvation, to the neglect or exclusion of any other part, would be attended with all the difficulties which occur in the doctrine of personal and individual election. Nothing is gained on this subject in removing the difficulties, by supposing that God chooses masses of people instead of individuals. How can the one be more proper than the other? What difficulty in the doctrine of election is removed by the supposition? Why is it not as right to choose an individual as a nation? Why not as proper to reject an individual as a whole people? If this means that the church at Thessalonica had shown that it was a true church of Christ, chosen by God, then we may learn:

\caps1 (1) t\caps0 hat a true church owes what it has to the "election of God."It is because God has chosen it; has called it out from the world; and has endowed it in such a manner as to he a true church.

\caps1 (2) a\caps0 church may give evidence that it is chosen of God, and is a true church. There are things which it may do, which will show that it is undoubtedly such a church as God has chosen, and such as he approves. There are just principles on which a church should be organized, and there is a spirit which may be manifested by a church which will distinguish it from any other association of people.

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 t is not improper to speak with strong confidence of such a church as undoubtedly chosen of God. There are churches which, by their zeal, self-denial, and deadness to the world, show beyond question their "election of God,"and the world may see that they are founded on other principles and manifest a different spirit from other organizations of people.

\caps1 (4) e\caps0 very church should evince such a spirit that there may be no doubt of its "election of God."It should be so dead to the world; so pure in doctrine and in practice, and so much engaged in spreading the knowledge of salvation, that the world will see that it is governed by higher principles than any worldly association, and that nothing could produce this but the influence of the Holy Spirit of God.

Barnes: 1Th 1:5

For our gospel came not unto you - When first preached; Act 17:1-3. Paul speaks of it as "our gospel,"because it was the gospel preached by him and Silas and Timothy; comp 2Th 2:14; 2Ti 2:8. He did not mean to say that the gospel had been originated by him, but only that he had delivered the good news of salvation to them. He is here stating the evidence which had been given that they were a church "chosen by God."He refers, first, to the manner in which the gospel was received by them 1Th 1:5-7, and, secondly, to the spirit which they themselves manifested in sending it abroad; yet.1Th 1:8.

In word only - Was not merely spoken; or was not merely heard. It produced a powerful effect on the heart and life. It was not a mere empty sound that produced no other effect than to entertain or amuse; compare Eze 33:32.

But also in power - That is, in such power as to convert the soul. The apostle evidently refers not to any miracles that were performed there, but to the effect of the gospel on those who heard it. It is possible that there were miracles performed there, as there were in other places, but there is no mention of such a fact, and it is not necessary to suppose it, in order to see the full meaning of this language. There was great power manifested in the gospel in its leading them to break off from their sins, to abandon their idols, and to give their hearts to God; see this more fully explained in the notes on 1Co 2:4.

And in the Holy Ghost - Compare the notes on 1Co 2:4. It is there called the "demonstration of the Spirit."

And in much assurance - That is, with firm conviction, or full persuasion of its truth. It was not embraced as a doubtful thing, and it did not produce the effect on the mind which is caused by anything that is uncertain in its character. Many seem to embrace the gospel as if they only half believed it, or as if it were a matter of very doubtful truth and importance; but this was not the case with the Thessalonians. There was the firmest conviction of its truth, and they embraced it "heart and soul;"compare Col 2:2; Heb 6:11. From all that is said in this verse, it is evident that the power of God was remarkably manifested in the conversion of the Thessalonians, and that they embraced the gospel with an uncommonly strong conviction of its truth and value. This fact will account for the subsequent zeal which the apostle so much commends in them - for it is usually true that the character of piety in a church, as it is in an individual, is determined by the views with which the gospel is first embraced, and the purposes which are formed at the beginning of the Christian life.

As ye know what manner of men, ... - Paul often appeals to those among whom he had labored as competent witnesses with respect to his own conduct and character; see 1Th 2:9-10; Act 20:33-35. He means here that he and his fellow-laborers had set them an example, or had shown what Christianity was by their manner of living, and that the Thessalonians had become convinced that the religion which they taught was real. The holy life of a preacher goes far to confirm the truth of the religion which he preaches, and is among the most efficacious means of inducing them to embrace the gospel.

Barnes: 1Th 1:6

And ye became followers of us - "You became imitators - μιμηταὶ mimētai - of us."This does not mean that they became followers of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, in the sense that they had set themselves up as teachers, or as the head of a sect, but that they imitated their manner of living; see the notes on 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1.

And of the Lord - The Lord Jesus. You also learned to imitate him. From this it is evident that the manner in which the Saviour lived was a prominent topic of their preaching, and also that it was one of the means of the conversion of the Thessalonians. It is probable that preaching on the pure and holy life of the Lord Jesus might be made a much more important means of the conversion of sinners than it is. Nothing is better adapted to show them the evil of their own guilty lives than the contrast between their lives and his; and nothing can be conceived better fitted to win them to holy living than the contemplation of his pure and holy deportment.

Having received the word in much affliction - That is, amidst much opposition from others; see Act 17:5-8. It was in the midst of these trials that they had become converted - and they seem to have been all the better Christians for them. In this they were imitators of the Saviour, or shared the same lot with him, and thus became his followers. Their embracing and holding fast the truths of religion amidst all this opposition, showed that they were controlled by the same principles that he was, and that they were truly his friends.

With joy of the Holy Ghost - With happiness produced by the Holy Ghost. Though they were much afflicted and persecuted, yet there was joy. There was joy in their conversion - in the evidence of pardoned sin - in the hope of heaven; see the notes, Act 8:8. However great may be the trials and persecutions experienced in receiving the gospel, or however numerous and long the sufferings of the subsequent life in consequence of having embraced it, there is a joy in religion that more than overbalances all, and that makes religion the richest of all blessings.

Barnes: 1Th 1:7

So that ye were ensamples to all that believe - Examples in reference to the firmness with which you embraced the gospel, the fidelity with which you adhered to it in trials, and the zeal which you showed in spreading it abroad. These things are specified in the previous and subsequent verses as characterizing their piety. The word here rendered "ensamples"- τύπον tupon , singular - is that from which the word type is derived. It properly denotes anything caused or produced by the means of "blows"(from τύπτω tuptō ), and hence a mark, print, or impression, made by a stamp or die; and then a resemblance, figure, pattern, exemplar - a model after which anything is made. This is the meaning here. They became, as it were, a model or pattern after which the piety of others should be moulded, or showed what the piety of others ought to be.

In Macedonia - Thessalonica was an important city of Macedonia (see the Intro.; compare notes, Act 16:9), and of course their influence would be felt on the whole of the surrounding region. This is a striking instance of the effect which a church in a city may have on the country. The influence of a city church may be felt, and will usually be felt afar on the other churches of a community - just as, in all other respects, a city has an important influence on the country at large.

And Achaia - Achaia proper was the part of Greece of which Corinth was the capital. The word, however, was sometimes so used as to comprehend the whole of Greece, and in this sense it seems to be employed here, as there is no reason to suppose that their influence would be felt particularly in the province of which Corinth was the center. Koppe observes that Macedonia and Achaia were the two provinces into which all Greece was divided when it was brought under the Roman yoke, the former of which comprehended Macedonia proper, Illyricum, Epirus, and Thessaly, and the other Greece properly so called. The meaning here is, therefore, that their influence was felt on all the parts of Greece; that their piety was spoken of, and the effect of their conversion had been felt in all those places. Thessalonica was a commercial city, and a sea-port. It had contact with all the other parts of Macedonia, with Greece, and with Asia Minor. It was partly owing to the advantages of its situation that its influence was thus felt.

Its own merchants and mariners who went abroad would carry with them the spirit of the religion of the church there, and those who visited it from other ports would see the effect of religion there. This is just an instance, therefore, of the influence which a commercial town and a sea-port may have in religion on other parts of the world. A revival of religion in such a place will extend its influence afar to other places, and appropriate zeal among the friends of the Redeemer there may have an important effect on sea-ports, and towns, and lands far remote. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of such places in regard to the spread of the gospel; and Christians who reside there - be they merchants, mechanics, lawyers, physicians, mariners, or ministers of the gospel, should feel that on them God has placed the responsibility of using a vast influence in sending the gospel to other lands. He that goes forth from a commercial town should be imbued with the spirit of the gospel, and churches located there should be so under the influence of religion, that they who come among them from abroad shall bear to their own lands honorable testimony of the power of religion there.

Barnes: 1Th 1:8

For from you sounded out the word of the Lord - The truths of religion were thus spread abroad. The word rendered "sounded out"- ἐξήχηται exēchētai - refers to the sounding of a trumpet (Bloomfield), and the idea is, that the gospel was proclaimed like the sonorous voice of a trumpet echoing from place to place; compare Isa 58:1; Rev 1:10. Their influence had an effect in diffusing the gospel in other places, as if the sound of a trumpet echoed and reechoed among the hills and along the vales of the classic land of Greece. This seems to have been done:

\caps1 (1) i\caps0 nvoluntarily; that is, the necessary result of their conversion, even without any direct purpose of the kind of their own, would be to produce this effect. Their central and advantageous commercial position; the fact that many of them were in the habit of visiting other places; and the fact that they were visited by strangers from abroad, would naturally contribute to this result. But.

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 his does not appear to be all that is intended. The apostle commends them in such a way as to make it certain that they were voluntary in the spread of the gospel; that they made decided efforts to take advantage of their position to send the knowledge of the truth abroad. If so, this is an interesting instance of one of the first efforts made by a church to diffuse the gospel, and to send it to those who were destitute of it. There is no improbability in the supposition that they sent out members of their church - messengers of salvation - to other parts of Macedonia and Greece that they might communicate the same gospel to others. See Doddridge.

But also in every place - Thessalonica was connected not only with Macedonia and Greece proper, in its commercial relations, but also with the ports of Asia Minor, and not improbably with still more remote regions. The meaning is, that in all the places with which they trafficked the effect of their faith was seen and spoken of.

Faith to God-ward - Fidelity toward God. They showed that they had a true belief in God and in the truth which he had revealed.

So that we need not to speak anything - That is, wherever we go, we need say nothing of the fact that you have been turned to the Lord, or of the character of your piety. These things are sufficiently made known by those who come from you, by those who visit you, and by your zeal in spreading the true religion.

Barnes: 1Th 1:9

For they themselves - They who have visited you, and they whom you have sent out; all persons testify of your piety. The apostle seems to refer to all whom he had met or had heard of "in all places,"who said anything about the Thessalonians They were unanimous in bearing testimony to their fidelity and piety.

Show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you - The testimony which they bear of you is, in fact, testimony of the manner in which we preached the gospel, and demeaned ourselves when we were with you. It shows that we were intent on our Master’ s work, and that we were not actuated by selfish or sinister motives The argument is, that such effects could not have been produced among them if Paul, Silas, and their fellow laborers had been impostors. Their sound conversion to God; their change from idolatry to the true religion, and the zeal which had been the result of their conversion, was an argument to which Paul and his fellow-laborers might appeal in proof of their sincerity and their being sent from God. Paul often makes a similar appeal; compare notes on 2Co 3:2-3. It is certain that many of the Jews in Thessalonica, when Paul and his fellow-laborers were there, regarded them as impostors Act 17:6, Act 17:8, and there is every reason to suppose that after they left the city, they would endeavor to keep up this impression among the people. To meet this, Paul now says that their own undoubted conversion to a life of holiness and zeal under their ministry, was an unanswerable argument that this was not so. How could impostors and deceivers have been the means of producing such effects?

And how ye turned to God from idols - That is, under our preaching. This proves that the church was to a considerable extent composed of those who were converted from idolatry under the preaching of Paul; compare Intro. 4. The meaning here is, that they who came from them, or they who had visited them, bore abundant testimony to the fact that they had turned from idols to the worship of the true God; compare notes 1Co 12:2; Gal 1:8.

To serve the living and true God - He is called the "living God"in opposition to idols - who are represented as dead, dumb, deaf, and blind; compare Psa 135:15-17; notes, Isa 44:10-17; Mat 16:16; Joh 5:26; Act 14:15.

Barnes: 1Th 1:10

And to wait for his Son from heaven - It is clear from this and from other parts of these two Epistles, that the return of the Lord Jesus to this world was a prominent subject of the preaching of Paul at Thessalonica. No small part of these Epistles is occupied with stating the true doctrine on this point (1 Th 4:v.), and in correcting the errors which prevailed in regard to it after the departure of Paul. Perhaps we are not to infer, however, that this doctrine was made more prominent there than others, or that it had been inculcated there more frequently than it had been elsewhere, but the apostle adverts to it here particularly because it was a doctrine so well fitted to impart comfort to them in their trials 1Th 4:13-18, and because, in that connection, it was so well calculated to rouse them to vigilance and zeal; 1Th 5:1-11. He makes it prominent in the second Epistle, because material errors prevailed there in reference to it which needed to be corrected.

In the passage before us, he says that the return of the Son of God from heaven was an important point which had been insisted on when he was there, and that their conduct, as borne witness to by all, had shown with what power it had seized upon them, and what a practical influence it had exerted in their lives. They lived as if they were"waiting"for his return. They fully believed in it; they expected it. They were looking out for it, not knowing when it might occur, and as if it might occur at any moment. They were, therefore, dead to the world, and were animated with an earnest desire to do good. This is one of the instances which demonstrate that the doctrine that the Lord Jesus will return to our world, is fitted, when understood in the true sense revealed in the Scriptures, to exert a powerful influence on the souls of people. It is eminently adapted to comfort the hearts of true Christians in the sorrows, bereavements, and sicknesses of life Joh 14:1-3; Act 1:11; 1Th 4:13-18; 2Pe 3:8-9; to lead us to watchfulness and to an earnest inquiry into the question whether we are prepared to meet him Mat 24:37-44; Mat 25:13; to make us dead to the world, and to lead us to act as becomes the children of light (1Th 5:5-9; to awaken and arouse impenitent and carless sinners 1Th 5:2-3; 2Pe 3:3-7, and to excite Christians to self-denying efforts to spread the gospel in distant lands, as was the case at Thessalonica. Every doctrine of the gospel is adapted to produce some happy practical effects on mankind, but there are few that are more full of elevated and holy influences than that which teaches that the Lord Jesus will return to the earth, and which leads the soul to wait for his appearing; compare notes, 1Co 1:7; Phi 3:20.

Whom he raised from the dead - See the Act 2:24-32 notes; 1Co 15:4-9 notes. Paul probably means to intimate here, that this was one of the great truths which they had received, that the Lord Jesus had been raised from the dead. We know it was a prominent doctrine wherever the gospel was preached.

Which delivered us from the wrath to come - Another of the prominent doctrines of Christianity, which was undoubtedly always inculcated by the first preachers of religion. The "wrath to come"is the divine indignation which will come upon the guilty; Mat 3:7. From that Christ delivers us by taking our place, and dying in our stead. It was the great purpose of his coming to save us from this approaching wrath. It follows from this:

\caps1 (1) t\caps0 hat there was wrath which man had to dread - since Jesus came to deliver us from something that was real, and not from what was imaginary; and,

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 hat the same wrath is to be dreaded now by all who are not united to Christ, since in this respect they are now just as all were before he died; that is, they are exposed to fearful punishment, from which He alone can deliver. It may be added, that the existence of this wrath is real, whether people believe it or not, for the fact of its existence is not affected by our belief or unbelief.

Remarks On 1 Thessalonians 1

This chapter teaches:

(1) That it is right to commend these who do well; 1Th 1:3. Paul was never afraid of injuring any one by commending him when he deserved it: nor was he ever afraid to rebuke when censure was due.

(2) Christians are chosen to salvation; 1Th 1:4. Their hope of heaven depends on the "election of God."

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 t is possible for a people to know that they are chosen of God, and to give such evidence of it that others shall know it also; 1Th 1:4. It is possible for a church to evince such a spirit of piety, self-denial, love, and holiness, and such a desire to spread the gospel, as to show that they are "chosen of God,"or that they are a true church. This question is not to be determined by their adherence to certain rites and forms; by their holding to the sentiments of an orthodox creed: or by their zeal in defense of the "apostolic succession,"but by their bringing forth "the fruits of good living."In determining that the church at Thessalonica was "chosen of God,"Paul does not refer to its external organization, or to the fact that it was founded by apostolic hands, or that it had a true ministry and valid ordinances, but to the fact that it evinced the true spirit of Christian piety; and particularly that they had been zealous in sending the gospel to others. There were three things to which he referred:

\tx720 \tx1080 1.\caps1     t\caps0 hat the gospel had power over themselves, inducing them to abandon their sins;

2.\caps1     t\caps0 hat it had such influence on their lives that others recognized in them the evidence of true religion; and,

3.\caps1     t\caps0 hat it made them benevolent, and excited them to make efforts to diffuse its blessings abroad.

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 f a church may know that it is chosen or elected of God, it is true of an individual also that he may know it. It is not by any direct revelation from heaven; not by an infallible communication of the Holy Spirit; not by any voice or vision; but it is in the same way in which this may be evinced by a church. The conversion of an individual, or his "election of God,"may be certainly known by himself, if,

\tx720 \tx1080 1.\caps1     t\caps0 he gospel is received as "the word of God,"and induces him to abandon his sins;

2.\caps1     i\caps0 f it leads him to pursue such a life that others shall see that he is actuated by Christian principles; and,

3.\caps1     i\caps0 f he makes it his great aim in life to do good, and to diffuse abroad, as far as he can, that religion which he professes to love. He who finds in his own heart and life evidence of these things, need not doubt that he is among the "chosen of God."

\caps1 (5) t\caps0 he character of piety in the life of an individual Christian, and in a church, is often determined by the manner in which the gospel is embraced at first, and by the spirit with which the Christian life is entered on; see the notes on 1Th 1:5-6. If so, then this fact is of immense importance in the question about organizing a church, and about making a profession of religion. If a church is so organized as to have it understood that it shall be to a considerable extent the patron of worldly amusements - a "halfway house"between the world and religion, that purpose will determine all its subsequent character - unless it shall be counteracted by the grace of God. If it is organized so as to look with a benignant and tolerant eye on gaiety, vanity, self-indulgence, ease, and what are called the amusements and pleasures of life, it is not difficult to see what will be its character and influence. How can such a church diffuse far and near the conviction that it is "chosen of God,"as the church at Thessalonica did And so of an individual. Commonly, the whole character of the religious life will be determined by the views with which the profession of religion is made. If there is a purpose to enjoy religion and the world too; to be the patron of fashion as well as a professed follower of Christ; to seek the flattery or the plaudits of man as well as the approbation of God, that purpose will render the whole religious life useless, vacillating, inconsistent, miserable. The individual will live without the enjoyment of religion, and will die leaving little evidence to his friends that he has gone to be with God. If, on the other hand, there be singleness of purpose, and entire dedication to God at the commencement of the Christian life, the religious career will be one of usefulness, respectability, and peace. The most important period in a man’ s life, then, is that when he is pondering the question whether he shall make a profession of religion.

\caps1 (6) a\caps0 church in a city should cause its influence to be felt afar; 1Th 1:7-9. This is true, indeed, of all other churches, but it is especially so of a church in a large town. Cities will be centers of influence in fashion, science, literature, religion, and morals. A thousand ties of interest bind them to other parts of a land, and though in fact there may be, as there often is, much more intelligence in a country neighborhood than among the same number of inhabitants taken promiscuously from a city; and though there may be, as there often is, far more good sense and capability to appreciate religious truth in a country congregation than in a congregation in a city, yet it is true that the city will be the radiating point of influence. This, of course, increases the responsibility of Christians in a city, and makes it important that, like those of Thessalonica, they should be models of self-denial and of efforts to spread the gospel.

\caps1 (7) a\caps0 church in a commercial town should make use of its special influence to spread the gospel abroad; 1Th 1:7-9. Such a place is connected with remote lands, and those who, for commercial purposes, visit distant ports from that place, should bear with them the spirit of the gospel. Such, too, should be the character of piety in the churches in such a city, that all who visit it for any purpose, should see the reality of religion, and be led to bear the honorable report of it again to their own land,

\caps1 (8) s\caps0 uch, too, should be the piety of any church. The church at Thessalonica evinced the true spirit of religion; 1Th 1:7-9. Its light shone afar. It sent out those who went to spread the gospel. Its members, when they went abroad, showed that they were influenced by higher and purer principles than those which actuated them before conversion, and than were evinced by the pagan world. Those who visited them, also, saw that there was a reality in religion, and bore an honorable report of it again to their own lands. Let any church evince this spirit, and it will show that it is "chosen of God,"or a true church; and wherever there is a church formed after the primitive model, these traits will always be seen.

\caps1 (9) i\caps0 t is our duty and privilege to "wait for the Son of God to return from heaven."We know not when his appearing, either to remove us by death, or to judge the world, will be - and we should therefore watch and be ready. The hope of his return to our world to raise the dead, and to convey his ransomed to heaven, is the brightest and most cheering prospect that dawns on man, and we should be ready, whenever it occurs, to hail him as our returning Lord, and to rush to his arms as our glorious Redeemer. It should be always the characteristic of our piety, as it was that of John to say, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus;"Rev 22:20.

Poole: 1Th 1:3

Remembering without ceasing the occasion of his constant thanksgivings was his constant remembering of that grace of God that did so abound and work powerfully in them, not as if he had always an actual remembrance of it, but he did not forget it, the habitual sense of it was continually in his mind, and was often actually in his thoughts, especially in his approaches to God; and that is all which is meant in the original word, adialeiptws . While the apostle was with them he saw this in them, but being now absent he remembered it; and with such a practical remembrance as stirred up his heart to thanksgiving. That is a good memory where is treasured up matter of prayer and thanksgiving.

Your work of faith or the work of the faith of you, that is, their faith and the work of it; whereby he intimates their faith was true and real; a faith unfeigned, 2Ti 1:5 ; the faith of God’ s elect, Tit 1:1 ; and so distinguished from a dead faith, Jam 2:26 . They received the work in much affection, with joy of the Holy Ghost; they turned from idols to the service of the true God; they waited for the coming of Christ, &c.; here was the work of faith.

And labour of love a labour to weariness, as the word imports; laborious love. True faith hath its work, but love hath its labour; and when faith worketh by love it will work laboriously. Whereby the apostle declares the reality of their love, as well as their faith; it was unfeigned love, yea, fervent love, the labour of it went forth towards that true God whom they now worshipped, that Jesus Christ on whom they now believed, and to the saints that were now their fellow brethren, 1Th 4:10 ; and particularly to the apostle himself, as in other ways, so particularly in the pains and labour that some of them took to conduct and travel along with him from Thessalonica to Athens, Act 17:15 .

And patience of hope: the apostle had mentioned before their faith and love, and now their hope; which are called the three cardinal or theological graces, all mentioned together by him, 1Co 13:13 ; and by which we have all our communion with God on earth. And as their faith had its work, and love its labour, so their hope had its patience as the fruit and product of it. There is a patience with respect to an expected good, and with respect to an incumbent evil; and both produced by hope. The former is more properly called makroyumia , or length of mind, consisting in waiting for and expectation of some desired good; the latter is utomonh , consisting in patient suffering, or abiding under some present evil. Their former patience is mentioned in 1Th 1:10 , they waited for his Son from heaven. The latter in the second chapter, 1Th 2:14 , Ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen: as they (i.e. the churches of Judea) have of the Jews. This latter is here specially meant in the text; and for which he gives God thanks, 2Th 1:4 . And hope produceth the former patience, as it looks upon the expected good as that which will come at last; and the latter patience, as it looks upon the suffered evil as that which will not always continue. And when with respect to both these the mind of man is kept sedate and quiet, this is the

patience of hope

In our Lord Jesus Christ or, of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the efficient and author of this hope, and of their faith and its work, and love and its labour: or,

in our Lord Jesus Christ as here rendered; and so he is the object of this hope, 1Co 15:19 1Ti 1:1 . And by this the Christian’ s hope is distinguished from all other. All hope worketh patience. The husbandman’ s hope to receive the former and latter rain, maketh him wait for it with patience, Jam 5:7 ; the hope of the merchant, for the return of his adventure; the hope of the heir, for his inheritance; but the Christian’ s hope worketh patience as fixed upon Christ: other hope resteth upon the things of this lower visible world, but this is as an anchor sure and stedfast, entering within the veil, where Christ is entered as a forerunner, &c., Heb 6:19,20 . Faith and love both have Christ for their object; but considered as present; but the patience of hope in Christ respecteth something future, some revelation of him, and salvation by him, which is yet to come. If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, Rom 8:25 .

In the sight of God and our Father: these words are not in the Syriac or Arabic version. And they respect either the apostle’ s thanksgiving and prayer for them, and his remembering the grace of God in them when he solemnly approached God’ s presence; for in all duties of worship we come before God, and present ourselves in his sight, and their graces he before mentioned, he remembered them to God, and presented them to his view: or they respect the omniscience of God, that their work of faith, labour of love, &c. were all in God’ s sight, and he was a delighted spectator of them: or, lastly, they may respect the sincerity of their hearts in all the actings of their faith, love, and hope; they did all this in the sight of God. As the apostle asserts his sincerity in his ministry by this: We speak as in the sight of God, 2Co 2:17 . And thus the apostle mentions their graces, not as the heathen orators, who made great encomiums of virtue to the praise of men, but to the honour and praise of God.

Poole: 1Th 1:4

Another ground of his thanksgiving for them. By the manner of their receiving the gospel, and the evident operation of the graces of God’ s Spirit, the apostle knew their election of God. We cannot know election as in God’ s secret decree, but as made manifest in the fruits and effects of it. As there is a knowledge of things a priori, when we argue from the cause to the effect, so a posteriori, when we argue from the effects to the cause. And thus the apostle came to know their election. Not, we hope it, or conjecture it, but we know it; and not by extraordinary revelation, but by evident outward tokens. And if the apostle knew this, why should we think they themselves might not know it also; and the words may be read: Ye knowing your election of God. And election imports the choosing of some out of others; for election cannot comprehend all. Some deny all eternal election of particular persons, and make it a temporal separation of persons to God in their conversion; but is not this separation from a pre-existing decree, God doing all things after the counsel of his own will? Eph 1:11 . Or, they will yield an eternal election of persons, but only conditional; one condition whereof is perseverance to the end. But the apostle asserts their election at present, before he saw their perseverance.

Poole: 1Th 1:5

The former part of the verse asserts the reasons on which the apostle built the knowledge of their election, which is the manner of the gospel’ s coming to them.

Our gospel because preached by him and others to them; or intrusted with them egenhyh eiv umav .

Came not unto you in word only, but also in power confirmed by miracles, and had powerful operation upon your hearts. The power of God went along with our ministry, which did not with the false teachers, 1Co 4:19 ; and the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, 1Co 4:20 .

And in the Holy Ghost either in gifts of the Holy Ghost which ye received, or that power which ye felt from the gospel upon your hearts was through the Holy Ghost: that they might not think it was their ministry, or the word alone, that had this power upon them.

And in much assurance ye giving full assent to the truth of the gospel, without doubting on your part; or preached to you with much confidence and assurance on our part. The former sense is best. And there is an allusion in the word to a ship riding upon the sea with a full gale, and not turned out of its course by a contrary wind. Your faith triumphed over the waves of all objections, disputes, or hesitations of mind. For doubtings of mind do much hinder the power of the word upon the heart. And this assurance they had from the Holy Ghost.

As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake we did not carry ourselves among you like ordinary men, but by our laboriousness and zeal in preaching, our patient suffering for the gospel we preached, by our holy conversation, by our denial of ourselves in labouring with our hands amongst you, and by our great tenderness and affection to you, you might perceive that we were men sent of God, and our ministry was from heaven, and that we sought not yours, but you; whereby you had an advantage to entertain the gospel preached by us with greater assurance. And in all these things we had respect to your salvation. And for the truth of all this, he appeals to their own knowledge, and that mighty presence and assistance of God in their ministry among them; as they could not but perceive it, so it was all for their sake.

And ye became followers of us; as you received our gospel in the power of it into your hearts, so you showed it forth in your conversation, becoming followers or imitators of us in our patient and cheerful sufferings, and our holy and self-denying carriage. The doctrine of the gospel which we taught you, we practised it before your eyes, and you followed us therein; though before you walked according to the course of the world, and were followers of the religion and manners of the heathen. The examples of ministers ought to be teaching as well as their doctrine.

And of the Lord; we have followed the example of Christ, and ye followed us. So that as you believed on Christ as your Saviour, so you followed his commands and examples as your Lord and Master; as he exhorts the Corinthians: Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ, 1Co 11:1 .

Having received the word in much affliction: though affliction and persecution attended the word, yet you received, it; and this receiving was not only into your heads by knowledge of it, and into your hearts by all effectual believing it, but into your practice by a walking according to it. For receiving the word, in the Scripture phrase, comprehends all this in it.

With joy of the Holy Ghost; though afflictions attended you, they did not deject your spirits, but you had joy in your hearts by the Holy Ghost; who usually doth give forth his joy most to the saints when under suffering, which is one instance of the gospel’ s coming to them not in word only, but in the Holy Ghost, as was said before. The glad tidings of the gospel did more comfort them, than all their sufferings did cast them down.

Poole: 1Th 1:7

As ye followed our example, and of the Lord, so ye were examples yourselves, and such great examples that influenced all the believers both of Macedonia and Achaia. Your example reached beyond the confines of Thessalonica, unto the believers of all Macedonia, yea farther, to the believers of all Achaia. And though the Philippians of Macedonia received the gospel before you, as appears in the story, Act 16:1-40 , yet ye exceeded them, and became examples to them in your faith and patience, &c.

Poole: 1Th 1:8

How could they be examples to persons so remote, amongst whom they had no converse? The apostle here resolves it. It was by way of report. Things that are eminent, and done in eminent places, such as Thessalonica was, easily spread abroad, either by merchants, travellers, or correspondence by letters. And this report is compared to a sound that is heard afar off, that made an echo, as the word implies. And that which sounded out from you was the word of the Lord. The word is said to sound by the voice of the preacher, 1Co 14:8,9 Ga 6:6 , and by the practice of the hearers. The mighty power and efficacy of it was made known abroad, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place; not strictly every where, but here and there, up and down in the world. As it is said of the apostles’ ministry, Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world, Rom 10:18 ; the report of the gospel went farther than the preachers of it, and their receiving the gospel sounded abroad far and near. And not only the word, but

your faith to God-ward is spread abroadezelhluyen . Your faith being so eminent, it was spoken of far and near. That ye believed so soon at our first entrance, as 1Th 1:9 ; and though we had been shamefully treated at Philippi a little before our coming to you, and persecution followed us and the gospel we preached to you, yet ye believed, and your faith was eminent in the fruits and operations of it also, as was mentioned before, and is afterwards in the Epistle. And it was faith God-ward; it rested not upon men, no, nor only the Man Christ Jesus, whom we preached to you, but upon God himself though through Christ ye became worshippers of the true God, and believed on him with an exemplary faith.

So that we need not to speak any thing either of the manner of our preaching the gospel, or of your manner of receiving it. Where men’ s deeds speak and commend men, words may be silent. And the apostle might have thought it needful to have divulged these things abroad for the advantage of the gospel, and the examples of others, if he had not been prevented by the report already spread abroad. The good examples of the people may ease their ministers of some labour in spreading the gospel.

Poole: 1Th 1:9

For they themselves show of us, what manner of entering in we had unto you: the believers of Macedonia and Achaia do speak of these things apaggellousin , openly, whereby it is evident the word of the Lord sounded forth to them from you, and they, without any information from us, declare the great entertainment you gave us and our gospel at our first entrance among you.

And how ye turned to God from idols particularly your forsaking your former idolatry, when you worshipped idols, that were either the images or shapes of the true God, formed by men; or men whom they deified, and set up as gods, and worshipped them and their images; or inanimate creatures, as sun, moon, and stars, or whatever creature they found beneficial to them, the heathens made idols of them. These ye turned from: though it was by the power of God and the gospel upon your hearts, yet it was an act of your own. And though it was the worship of these idols you had been trained up in, and wits generally practised, yet you turned from it. And as to the manner of it, how ye turned from these idols, as in the text; that is, how readily, how sincerely, how speedily, with a holy indignation of them: or, pwv , how, that is, by what means; meaning by our entrance amongst you, and the power of our gospel upon your hearts, according to that prophecy, Isa 2:20,21 , which refers to gospel times.

To serve the living and true God to serve with religious worship proper to God; though the papists would confine the Greek word douleuein to some lower worship they give to saints or angels; or it may signify the whole service of God. And here the apostle speaks of their religion in the positive part, the former being negative. The living God, so called in opposition to idols, which were either images without life, or inanimate creatures, or men that were dead whom they worshipped; or living, because God is so eminently, being life essentially, originally, eternally, immutably, and derivatively to all things that live. As I live, saith the Lord, as if none had life but himself, Isa 49:18 , &c. And called the true God in opposition to false gods. The heathen gods had no deity but what men gave them by worshipping them. They were not gods by nature, Gal 4:8 , and so not true. And as these things are spoken to show the power of the gospel, so in a way of commendation, that they did not only turn from idols, but did serve the true God; many profess the true God, but serve him not. As also they denote their privilege, that they served a God that could save them, which their idols could not.

Poole: 1Th 1:10

And to wait for his Son from heaven: this is added to show the further power of the gospel upon them, they had not only faith to God-ward, as was said before, but to Christ-ward. They did not only turn to the true God, in opposition to the heathen, but to the Son of God as the true Christ, in opposition to the unbelieving Jews. For though he was the Son of David after the flesh, yet he was the Son of God also; and not by creation, as the angels are called the sons of God, nor by adoption, as the saints are, but by eternal generation, though the Man Christ Jesus by his personal union is the Son of God. And their faith respecting the Son of God, was their waiting for him from heaven; not that their faith consisted only in this, but it suited their present state of affliction to wait for Christ’ s coming as a deliverer and rewarder, therefore here mentioned by the apostle; and their faith, hope, love, and patience may all be included in it. They believed that he was gone to heaven, and would come again, which are two great articles of the Christian faith. And though there was nothing in sense or reason, or any tradition, to persuade them of it, yet they believed it upon the apostle’ s preaching it. And though the time of his coming was unknown to them, yet their faith presently put them upon waiting for it. And the certain time of his coming is kept secret, that the saints in every age may wait for it. Though he will not come till the end of the world, yet the saints ought to be influenced with the expectation of it in all generations that do precede it. It is to their advantage to wait for it, though they live not to see him come. And here the apostle concludes his account of the glorious effects of the gospel upon these Thessalonians; that which follows in the chapter is by way of doctrine concerning the Son of God.

Whom he raised from the dead he mentions his resurrection from the dead after his sonship; for he was there declared to be the Son of God with power, Rom 1:4 . And: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, applied to Christ’ s resurrection, Act 13:33 . Or the apostle mentions it to confirm their hope of his coming again. Had they heard of his death, and not of his rising again, they could not have expected his coming from heaven. It is used as an argument by Paul to the Athenians, that Christ will come again to judge the world by God’ s raising him from the dead, Act 17:31 . And these believers also might comfortably expect their own resurrection, seeing that he himself is already risen, at his coming; and so be supported under their present sufferings, though they should reach to the killing of the body.

Even Jesus: he that was before called the Son of God, is here called Jesus, or Saviour; a name that might more endear him to them, than by calling him the Son of God. And he mentions a great act of his salvation in the next words, and therefore here properly called Saviour; and when he comes, he will come to his people’ s salvation, Heb 9:28 .

Which delivered us from the wrath to come: if we read the word as our translation hath it, delivered, it looks to what Christ hath already done and suffered for our deliverance. If in the present tense, as the Greek now hath it, it implies a continued act: he is delivering us from the wrath to come, either by his intercession, or by supplies of his grace delivering us from the power of sin and temptations, and so preserving us in a state of salvation. Or if we read the word in the future tense, who will deliver us, as we often find the present tense both in the Hebrew and Greek to have a future signification, it refers to his last coming; and therefore the saints need not be afraid of the terror of that day, but wait for it; for though the wrath to come is greater than ever yet brake forth in the world, Rom 2:5 , yet a drop of it shall not fall upon them. Though they may meet with temporal afflictions and chastisements at present, and may be assaulted by the wrath of men, yet they shall be free from the wrath to come. And this will be done by a powerful rescue of Christ, as the word imports, ruomenon , notwithstanding all the danger and difficulty that may attend it.

PBC: 1Th 1:4

See PB: Ga 5:22

PBC: 1Th 1:9

SEE Philpot: IDOLATRY

Haydock: 1Th 1:3

The apostle praises the Thessalonians for the progress they had made in the theological virtues [of faith, hope, and charity], and enumerates the profit they had derived from each. Their faith had produced works; their charity rendered their labour light and easy, and their patience was the fruit of their future hopes, in confidence of which they bore what they had to suffer from their unconverted countrymen. (Estius)

Haydock: 1Th 1:5

In power. The sense is, I have preached the gospel to you, not only in words of persuasion, but have proved it by the power of miracles, in much fulness, or in great abundance. I have also taught you the gospel not by my words only, but by my actions; for you know what kind of a life I led among you. I had no interest but in gaining your souls. And I rejoice to hear you have received it in much power, by the Holy Ghost working within you. (Haydock) ---

And in much fulness. [1] Some would have the Greek word to signify in a full assurance; but in the style of the New Testament, it may as well signify a fulness, or plentitude. (Witham)

===============================

[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

In plenitudine multa, Greek: en plerophria polle. See Luke i.

Haydock: 1Th 1:8

From you was spread abroad the word. [2] The Greek, was sounded about. ---

In every place. In very many places. (Witham)

===============================

[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Diffamatus est, Greek: exechetai. Insonuit, St. John Chrysostom says, ( Greek: log. b. p. 166.) Greek: delon oti osper salpiggos, instar Tubæ.

====================

Gill: 1Th 1:3

Remembering without ceasing,.... The phrase "without ceasing", is, by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, joined to the last clause of the preceding verse; and the remembrance the apostle speaks of is either a distinct thing from the mention made of them in prayer, and suggests that they bore them on their minds at other times also; or it is the same with it; or rather a reason of their mentioning of them then, because they remembered them, and the following things of theirs:

as your work of faith; by which is meant not the principle of faith, for as such that is God's work, the product of his grace, and the effect of his almighty power; but the operative virtue and exercise of it under the influence of the grace of God: the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it, "the work of your faith"; and so some copies, and the Syriac version, "the works of your faith". The Targumist in Hab 1:12 represents God as holy בעובדי הימנותא, "in works of faith": faith is a working grace, it has a deal of work to do, it has its hands always full, and is employed about many things; it is the grace by which a soul goes to God, as its covenant God, lays hold on him as such, pleads his promises with him, asks favours of him, and is very importunate, and will have no denial; and by which it goes to Christ as at first conversion, afterwards for fresh supplies of grace, out of that fulness of grace that is in him; it receives him and all from him, and through him pardon, righteousness, adoption of children, and an eternal inheritance; and it is that grace which carries back all the glory to God and Christ, and to free grace; it glorifies God, exalts Christ, humbles the creature, and magnifies the grace of God, it has much work to do this way; and it works by love, by acts of love to God, to Christ, and to the saints; and it puts the soul upon a cheerful obedience to every ordinance and command, and hence obedience is styled the obedience of faith; and indeed all good works that are properly so are done in faith, and faith without works is dead; it is greatly engaged against the world and the devil; it is that grace by which Satan is opposed and overcome, and by which the believer gets the victory over the world; so that he is not discouraged by its frowns, and cast down by the trials and afflictions he meets with in it, nor drawn aside by its snares and allurements; something of this kind the apostle had observed and remembered in these believers: he adds,

and labour of love; love is a laborious grace when in lively exercise; love to God and Christ will constrain a believer to engage in, and go through, great hardships, difficulties, toil, and labour, for their sakes; and love to the saints will exert itself, by serving them in things temporal and spiritual, ministering cheerfully and largely to their outward wants, for which reason the same epithet is given to love in Heb 6:10 as here; regarding and assisting them in their spiritual concerns; praying for them and with them; building them up in their most holy faith; communicating their experiences, and speaking comfortable words unto them; reproving them for sin in love, and with tenderness; restoring them when fallen in a spirit of meekness; and stirring them up to love and good works: love has much toil and labour, not only in performing the several duties of religion, both towards God and man; but in bearing all things, the burdens of fellow Christians; the infirmities of weak believers, forbearing them in love, forgiving their offences, and covering their sins:

and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, or "of our Lord Jesus Christ". These persons had a good hope through grace given unto them, and which was founded in Christ Jesus, in his person, blood, and righteousness, and so was as an anchor sure and steadfast; and it had him for its object, it was an hope of interest in him, of being for ever with him, of his, second coming and glorious appearance, and of eternal life and happiness through him; and this was attended with patience, with a patient bearing of reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions, for the sake of Christ, and a patient waiting for his coming, his kingdom and glory; and this as well as the others were remembered by the apostle, and his fellow ministers, with great pleasure: and that

in the sight of God and our Father; or before God and our Father; which may be read in connection either with the above graces, which were exercised, not only before men, but before God, and in his sight, who sees not as man seeth, and who cannot be deceived and imposed upon; and so shows that these graces were true and genuine, faith was unfeigned, love was without dissimulation, and hope without hypocrisy: or with the word remembering, as it is in the Syriac version, which reads, "remembering before God and our Father"; that is, as often as we appear before God, and lift up our hands and our hearts unto him in prayer, we bear you upon our minds before God; and particularly remember your operative faith, laborious love, and patient hope of Christ.

Gill: 1Th 1:4

Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Which intends not an election to an office, for this epistle is written not to the officers of the church only, but to the whole church; nor to the Gospel, the outward means of grace, since this was common to them with others, and might be known without the evidence after given; nor does it design the effectual calling, sometimes so called for this is expressed in the following verse as a fruit, effect, and evidence of the election here spoken of, which is no other than the eternal choice of, them to everlasting life and happiness: this is of God, an act of God the Father, made in Christ Jesus before the world began, and which springs from his sovereign will, and is the effect of his pure love and free favour; and therefore these persons who are the objects of it are said to be "beloved of God"; for so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read the words, and which agree with 2Th 2:13 for this choice does not arise from the merits of men, or any conditions in them, or from the foresight of their faith, holiness, and good works, but from the free grace and good pleasure of God; and is the source and spring of all grace, and the blessings of it, and even of good works; and is a sure, immutable, and irreversible act of God, being founded on his own will, and not on the works of men; the knowledge they had of this was not what the Thessalonians themselves had, though they might have, and doubtless had the knowledge of this grace, and which may be concluded with certainty from the effectual calling; and is a privilege which many particular believers may, and do arrive unto the knowledge of, without any extraordinary revelation made unto them: but here it intends the knowledge which the apostle and his companions had of the election of the members of this church; not by inspiration of the Spirit of God, but by the manner of the Gospel's coming unto them, and the effects it had upon them, as expressed in the following verses; and from their faith, hope, and love, mentioned in the preceding verse; and which was the ground and foundation of their thanksgiving for them;

see on Gill 2Th 2:13.

Gill: 1Th 1:5

For our Gospel came not unto you,.... The apostle calls the Gospel "our Gospel", not because he and his fellow ministers were the authors of it; for in this respect it is solely of God, being the produce of his wisdom and grace, and by the revelation of Jesus Christ, hence he calls it the Gospel of God in 1Th 2:2 nor because they were the subject of it, for they preached not themselves, but a crucified Christ, and him only, though it was a stumblingblock to some, and foolishness to others; but because it was committed to their trust, and they were the preachers of it, and agreed in the ministration of it; and it is opposed to, and is distinct from, that which was preached by the false teachers; and here intends not barely the Gospel itself, but chiefly their preaching of it: and this came unto them being sent of God, for wherever the Gospel comes, it comes with a mission and commission from God; and being brought unto them by the apostles, who were bringers and publishers of the good tidings of good things, it came unthought of, unsought and unasked for by them; and that not only externally, which to have is a great blessing, but internally, εις υμας, "into you"; it came not barely into their ears vocally, and into their heads notionally; but into their hearts, and worked effectually there; it was mixed with faith, and was profitable; it became the ingrafted word, and dwelt richly in them: for it came to them not

in word only; it did come in word, it could not come without words, there is no interpreting of Scripture, no preaching of the Gospel, nor hearing of it without words, without articulate sounds; but not only with these, nor with wisdom of words, with enticing words of man's wisdom, with words which man's wisdom teacheth; as also not in the mere notion and letter of the Gospel, which when it comes in that manner is a dead letter, and the savour of death unto death:

but in power; not merely preached in a powerful way, or attended with miraculous operations, though doubtless both were true; for the apostle was a powerful preacher, and his ministry was confirmed by signs and wonders and mighty deeds; but from neither of these could he conclude the election of these people: but the preaching of the Gospel was accompanied with the powerful efficacy of the grace of God, working by it upon them; so that it became the power of God unto salvation to them; it came to them in the demonstration of the Spirit of God, and of power, quickening them who were dead in trespasses, and sin, enlightening their dark understandings, unstopping their deaf ears, softening their hard hearts, and delivering them from the slavery of sin and Satan; from whence it clearly appeared that they were the chosen of God, and precious:

and in the Holy Ghost; the Gospel was not only preached under the influence, and by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and attended with his extraordinary gifts for the confirmation of it, which it might be, and be no proof of the election of these persons to eternal life; but it came by the power of the Holy Spirit to their souls, working and implanting his graces in them, as faith, hope, and love, and every other; and he himself was received along with it, as a spirit of illumination and conviction, of regeneration, conversion, and sanctification, and of faith and adoption; all which gave full evidence of their election:

and in much assurance; not on the preacher's side, as if the Gospel was preached by him with great assurance, boldness, and confidence; or with great strength of evidence, giving clear and full proof of what was delivered sufficient to ascertain it, and persuade anyone to the belief of it; or with "much fulness", as some render the words, that is, of the Gospel of Christ, and of the gifts of the Spirit, and to a multitude of persons; all which might be, and yet be no proof of the choice of these persons in Christ to eternal salvation; but the Gospel preached to them was blessed to produce in them much assurance, or a large assurance, if not a full one, of the grace of faith in Christ, and of hope of eternal life by him, and of understanding of the doctrines of the Gospel, and of interest in the blessings of grace held forth in them; and this being a fruit, was an evidence of electing grace:

as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. The apostle appeals to themselves for the truth of what he had said; who must have observed, and could not but remember, with what meanness they appeared, with what fear and trembling, with what plainness and simplicity, without the enticing words of man's wisdom; what a contemptible figure they made, how they wrought with their own hands, and endured reproach and persecution for their sakes, that they might obtain salvation by Christ with eternal glory; and had nothing to recommend them to them, to win upon them, and engage their attention, and strike their affection; or persuade them to receive their persons, and believe their doctrines; wherefore the effects their ministry had upon them were not owing to the charms of words, the force of language, and power of oratory; or to any external thing in them, or done by them; but must be ascribed to the Spirit of God, and to the power and efficacy of his grace.

Gill: 1Th 1:6

And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord,.... So far followers of them as they were of Christ, in embracing the Gospel, submitting to the ordinances of it, professing the name of Christ, and suffering for his sake; the Alexandrian copy reads, "of God", and others, "of Christ":

having received the word; the Gospel, the word of truth, peace, and righteousness, and of salvation by Christ; which they received not as the word of man, but of God; and that

in much affliction; referring to the uproar made by the baser sort of people, instigated by the unbelieving Jews, and the trouble they gave to Jason and other brethren, mentioned in Act 17:1 and this is a considerable commendation of them, that at a time when others were offended and fell off from hearing the word, and a profession of the Gospel, they should receive it, and that

with much joy of the Holy Ghost; not with a carnal joy, or with a mere flash of natural affection, as in the stony ground hearers, and in the Jews, who rejoiced for a while in John's ministry, and in Herod, who sometimes heard him gladly; but with a spiritual joy of the Holy Ghost's producing in them, applying the word with power to them, giving them a spiritual gust of it, and pleasure in it, raising in their souls a joy upon the most solid foundation.

Gill: 1Th 1:7

So that ye were ensamples to all that believe,.... They were not only followers of Christ and his apostles, whom they took for examples of faith, holiness, courage, meekness, and patience; but they were patterns of good works; and of suffering afflictions to other believers, even to all that knew them, or heard of them, particularly

in Macedonia; as at Philippi and other places: though the Gospel was first preached there, and they had received it, and a Gospel church state was formed there; yet these were more forward in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty, and were even ensamples to them to copy after; so the first are sometimes last, and the last first:

and Achaia; another part of Greece, the metropolis of which was Corinth, where there also was a very considerable church; but these saints at Thessalonica set them an example in many things, and particularly in acts of beneficence and liberality, being one of the churches of Macedonia spoken of in 2Co 8:1.

Gill: 1Th 1:8

For from you sounded out the word of the Lord,.... By which is meant the Gospel, and is so called because it is from the Lord, as the author of it: and it is of the Lord, as the subject of it; and it is by the Lord, as the minister or dispenser of it; and it is owing to the efficacy of his grace that it is useful and successful, and ought to be attended to, received, and obeyed, not as the word of man, but as the word of the Lord. This is said to have "sounded out", alluding to the blowing of a trumpet, to which the Gospel is sometimes compared, as to the silver trumpet under the law, for the gathering of the people of Israel; or to the trumpet blown in the years of jubilee, which proclaimed liberty, release of debts, and restoration of inheritances, as the Gospel in a spiritual sense does; or to the trumpet used in war to prepare for the battle, and therefore should not give an uncertain sound; or as used musically, the Gospel being a joyful sound; and this sounding of it may denote the clear publication and open declaration, and large spread of it far and near: though, when it is said to sound forth from the Thessalonians, it is not to be understood as if the Gospel first began to be preached among them, and from thence went to other places; it was preached at Philippi before it came to them, and at many other places before it was there; the word of the Lord, according to the prophecy of Isa 2:2 came from Jerusalem; Christ and his apostles first preached there, and from thence their words and sound went to the ends of the earth; but not so much the preaching of the Gospel, as the fame and report of its being preached in this place, is here meant: and so the Latin translation of the Syriac version renders it, "for from you went the report of the word of our Lord"; the fame of its being preached and received at Thessalonica, in the manner it was, spread itself,

not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place; not only at Philippi, Berea, Athens, and Corinth, and other cities and towns in those countries, but also in other parts of the world; and what greatly contributed to it were the uproar that was made at Thessalonica, and continued at Berea upon the first preaching of the Gospel in those parts by the unbelieving Jews; as also the large numbers both of Greeks and Jews, and of devout women of considerable families, that were converted: to which may be added, that Thessalonica was the metropolis of Macedonia, and a city of great trade, and much frequented from all parts both by sea and land; and by this means it came to pass, that not only the fame of the preaching of the word among them went abroad everywhere; but, as the apostle adds,

your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; meaning the grace of faith bestowed on them, by which they received the Gospel in the love of it, assented to it, and professed it, and which has God for its object, and is very valuable, since such public notice is taken of it; and which shows that it was not kept to themselves, and lay hid in their own breasts; but they declared it both by words and by deeds, by making a profession of it, and by walking agreeably to it:

so that we had no need to speak anything; the Syriac version adds, "concerning you"; concerning the preaching of the Gospel among them, their faith in it and profession of it, all being so well known in the several places where they came; for it seems it was usual with the apostles, when they came to any place, to speak of their success in others, and of the faith, and hope, and joy of other Christians, for the encouragement of, and as ensamples to those to whom they minister; but with relation to the Thessalonians this was unnecessary.

Gill: 1Th 1:9

For they themselves show of us,.... Either the above reports of the preaching of the Gospel to the Thessalonians, and of their faith in God; or rather the persons to whom these reports were brought, openly and publicly, and largely declared concerning

the apostles, what manner of entering in we had unto you; under what difficulties they laboured, what contention they had with the unbelieving Jews, what reproaches were cast upon them, and what persecutions they endured when they first entered their city and synagogue, and preached the Gospel to them; and in what manner they did preach it, with what boldness, sincerity, uprightness and affection, and without flattery, covetousness, and vain glory; and with what power it came to them, and what success attended it, and how readily, cheerfully, and reverently both they and that were received by them:

and how ye turned to God from idols; immediately and at once, upon the preaching of the Gospel to them, being first turned by the powerful and efficacious grace of God; for the first work of conversion is God's work; then they themselves, under the influence of the same grace, turned to the one God, from their internal idols, their sins and lusts, and from their external idols, their many false and fictitious deities: for the Thessalonians before the Gospel came among them were idolaters; here the "Dii Cabiri", the great and chief gods of the Gentiles, were worshipped; as Jupiter and Bacchus, Ceres and Proserpina, Pluto and Mercury, Castor and Pollux, and Esculapius; these the Macedonians, and particularly the Thessalonians, worshipped with great devotion and reverence ^d: but now they turned from them and forsook them,

to serve the living and true God; who is called the living God, because he has life in and of himself, and is the fountain of life to others; from whom all living creatures have their life, and are supported in it by him; and in opposition to the above idols, which were inanimate things made of wood or metal, and were images of men that had been dead long ago: and the "true" God, because he is truth itself, and cannot lie, who faithfully performs all his promises, and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; and in opposition to the nominal and fictitious deities of the Gentiles, which were only in name, not in truth and reality, or by nature gods: now though these Thessalonians had before done service to these idols, they now turned from them to serve the one living and true God; not only externally, by embracing and professing his Gospel, submitting to his ordinances, and walking according to the rules prescribed by him; but also internally, in the exercise of faith, hope, love, and every other grace.

Gill: 1Th 1:10

And to wait for his Son from heaven,.... The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the natural, essential, and eternal Son of God; and whoever is truly converted, is not only turned to God the Father, and believes in him; but also believes in, receives, embraces, and professes his Son Jesus Christ; who became incarnate, and, in the human nature he assumed, obeyed, suffered, and died and rose again, and ascended into heaven, where he now is, and will be till the time of the restitution of all things; when he will descend from thence, and come and judge the world in righteousness; and from thence the saints expect him, and look and wait by faith for eternal glory and happiness by him, and with him at his appearance and kingdom; so that many articles of faith are contained in this expression, which these Thessalonians were acquainted with, believed, and acted upon: and Christ the Son of God is further described as that person

whom he raised from the dead; that is, God the Father raised from the dead, and whereby he was declared to be the Son of God; and which supposes his dying for the sins of his people, as it expresses his rising again for their justification; things which the faith of these believers was led unto, and in which light they viewed him:

even Jesus, which delivered us from wrath to come; which is revealed from heaven against sin, and comes upon the children of disobedience; which all men are deserving of, even God's elect themselves, but shall not partake of, because they are not appointed to it, but to salvation; and because they are justified by the blood and righteousness of Christ, and so are saved from it; not from all fears about it, and apprehensions of it, which they are filled with, especially under first awakenings, and sometimes afterwards when under afflictive providences; but they are delivered from the thing itself, by which is meant vindictive punishment, even from all punishment in this life, for there is no wrath mixed with any of their mercies or their chastisements; and from all punishment in the world to come, which will fall heavy on others; and that because Christ has bore their sins, and the wrath of God and curse of the law, due unto them, in their room and stead.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Th 1:3

¹ tn Grk “making mention…recalling.” The participle ποιούμενοι (poioumenoi) in v. 2 has been translated as temporal, and μνημονεύοντες (mnhmoneuonte") in v. 3 has been translated as causal.

² tn Or the phrase may connect at the end of the verse: “hope…in the presence of our God and Father.”

³ tn These phrases denote Christian virtues in action: the work produced by faith, labor motivated by love, and endurance that stems from hope in Christ.

NET Notes: 1Th 1:4

¹ tn Grk “knowing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence started here in the translation.

² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

³ tn Grk “your election.”

NET Notes: 1Th 1:5

¹ tn Or “because.”

² tn Or “speech,” or “an act of speaking.”

³ tn Grk “just as you know what sort of people we were among you for your sakes.” Verse 5 reflects on the experience of Paul and his fellow preachers; v. 6 begins to describe the Thessalonians’ response.

NET Notes: 1Th 1:6

¹ tn Or “after you received.”

NET Notes: 1Th 1:7

¹ tc Most mss (א A C D² F G Ψ 0278 Ï) have the plural τύπους (tupou", “examples”) here, while a few important witnesses have the singular τύπον (tupon, “example”; B D*^,c 6 33 81 104 1739 1881 pc lat). With ὑμᾶς (Jumas, “you”) immediately preceding, the plural form looks motivated: Scribes would be expected to change the singular to the plural here. Although the external evidence for the singular reading is not overwhelming, the internal evidence for it is compelling.

NET Notes: 1Th 1:8

¹ tn Or “the word of the Lord.”

sn “The word of the Lord” is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said. Here the phrase has been translated “the message of the Lord” because of the focus upon the spread of the gospel evident in the passage.

² tn Grk “your faith in God has gone out.”

NET Notes: 1Th 1:9

¹ tn Grk “they themselves,” referring to people in the places just mentioned.

² tn Grk “what sort of entrance we had to you” (an idiom for how someone is received).

NET Notes: 1Th 1:10

¹ sn The coming wrath. This wrath is an important theme in 1 Thess 5.

Geneva Bible: 1Th 1:3

^{( 2 )} Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

^{( 2 )} He commends them for three special gifts: effectual faith, continual love, and patient hope. And he does this to the end that they might be ashamed, being endued with such excellent gifts, not to continue in God's election.

Geneva Bible: 1Th 1:4

Knowing, brethren beloved, your ^{( a )} election of God.

^{( a )} Literally, "that your election is of God".

Geneva Bible: 1Th 1:5

^{( 3 )} For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in ^{( b )} much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

^{( 3 )} Another reason why they ought in no way start back but continue to the end, because they cannot doubt this doctrine which has been so many ways confirmed to them, even from heaven, as they themselves well knew.

^{( b )} Paul shows by two things that there followed very great fruit from his preaching, that is, by these gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that certain assurance which was thoroughly settled in their minds, as appeared by their willingly bearing the cross.

Geneva Bible: 1Th 1:6

^{( 4 )} And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with ^{( c )} joy of the Holy Ghost:

^{( 4 )} Another reason, because even to that day they embraced the Gospel with great cheerfulness, insomuch that they were an example to all their neighbours: so that it would be more shameful for them to faint in the middle of the race.

^{( c )} With joy which comes from the Holy Spirit.

Geneva Bible: 1Th 1:9

For ^{( d )} they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, ^{( 5 )} and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

^{( d )} All the believers. ^{( 5 )} It is no true conversion to forsake idols, unless a man in addition worships the true and living God in Christ the only Redeemer.

Geneva Bible: 1Th 1:10

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, which delivered us from ^{( e )} the wrath to come.

^{( e )} This word "the" is not put here without reason: and by "wrath" is meant that revenge and punishment with which the Lord will in time judge the world in his terrible wrath.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Th 1:1-10

1 The Thessalonians are given to understand both how mindful of them Saint Paul was at all time in thanksgiving, and prayer;

5 and also how well he was persuaded of the truth and sincerity of their faith and conversion to God.

Maclaren: 1Th 1:8

Faith, Love, Hope, And Their Fruits

Your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope. 1 Thess. 1:8.

THIS Epistle, as I suppose we all know, is Paul's first letter. He had been hunted out of Thessalonica by the mob, made the best of his way to Athens, stayed there for a very short time, then betook himself to Corinth, and at some point of his somewhat protracted residence there, this letter was written. So that we have in it his first attempt, so far as we know, to preach the Gospel by the pen. It is interesting to notice how, whatever changes and developments there may have been in him thereafter, all the substantial elements of his latest faith beam out in this earliest letter, and how even in regard to trifles we see the germs of much that came afterwards. This same triad, you remember, faith, hope, charity,' recurs in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, though with a very significant difference in the order, which I shall have to dwell upon presently.

The letter is interesting on another account. Remembering that it was only a very short time since these Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the living God, there is something very beautiful in the overflowing generosity of commendation, which never goes beyond veracity, with which he salutes them. Their Christian character, like seeds sown in some favoured tropical land, had sprung up swiftly; yet not with the dangerous kind of swiftness which presages decay of the growth. It was only a few days since they had been grovelling before idols, but now he can speak of' your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope'.., and declare that the Gospel sounded out' from them--the word which he employs is that which is technically used for the blast of a trumpet--so that we need not to speak anything.' Rapid growth is possible for us all, and is not always superficial.

I desire now to consider that pair of triads--the three foundation-stones, and the three views of the fair building that is reared upon them.

I. The Three Foundation-Stones.

That is a natural metaphor to use, but it is not quite correct, for these three--faith, love, hope--are not to be conceived of as lying side by side. Rather than three foundations we have three courses of the building here; the lowest one, faith; the next one, love; and the top one, hope. The order in 1 Corinthians is different, faith, hope, charity,' and the alteration in the sequence is suggested by the difference of purpose. The Apostle intended in 1 Corinthians to dwell at Some length thereafter on charity,' or love.' So he puts it last to make the link of connection with what he is going to say. But here he is dealing with the order of production, the natural order in which these three evolve themselves. And his thought is that they are like the shoots that successive springs bring upon the bough of a tree, where each year has its own growth, and the summit of last year's becomes the basis of next. Thus we have, first, faith; then, shooting from that, love; and then, sustained by both, hope. Now let us look at that order.

It is a well-worn commonplace, which you may think it not needful for me to dwell upon here, that in the Christian theory, both of salvation and of morals, the basis of everything is trust. And that is no arbitrary theological arrangement, but it is the only means by which the life that is the basis both of salvation and of righteousness can be implanted in men. There is no other way by which Jesus Christ can come into our hearts than by what the New Testament calls trust,' which we have turned into the hard, theological concept which too often glides over people's minds without leaving any dint at all--faith.' Distrust is united with trust. There is no trust without, complementary to it, self-distrust. Just as the sprouting seed sends one little radicle downwards, and that becomes the root, and at the same time sends up another one, white till it reaches the light, and it becomes the stem, so the underside of faith is self-distrust, and you must empty yourselves before you can open your hearts to be filled by Jesus. That being so, this self-distrustful trust is the beginning of everything. That is the alpha of the whole alphabet, however glorious and manifold may be the words into which its letters are afterwards combined. Faith is the hand that grasps. It is the means of communication, it is the channel through which the grace which is the life, or, rather, I should say, the life which is the grace, comes to us. It is the open door by which the angel of God comes in with his gifts. It is like the petals of the flowers, opening when the sunshine kisses them, and, by opening, laying bare the depths of their calyxes to be illuminated and coloured, and made to grow by the sunshine which itself has opened them, and without the presence of which, within the cup, there would have been neither life nor beauty. So faith is the basis of everything; the first shoot from which all the others ascend. Brethren, have you that initial grace? I leave the question with you. If you have not that, you have nothing else.

Then again, out of faith rises love. No man can love God unless he believes that God loves him. I, for my part, am old-fashioned and narrow enough not to believe that there is any deep, soul-cleansing or soul-satisfying love of God which is not the answer to the love that died on the Cross. But you must believe that, and more than believe it; you must have trusted and cast yourselves on it, in the utter abandonment of self-distrust and Christ-confidence, before there will well up in your heart the answering love to God. First faith, then love. My love is the reverberation of the primeval voice, the echo of God's. The angle at which the light falls on the mirror is the same as the angle at which it is reflected from it. And though my love at its highest is low, at its strongest is weak: yet, like the echo that is faint and far, feeble though it be, it is pitched on the same key, and is the prolongation of the same note as the mother-sound. So my love answers God's love, and it will never answer it unless faith has brought me within the auditorium, the circle wherein the voice that proclaims I love thee, my child,' can be heard.

Now, we do not need to ask ourselves whether Paul is here speaking of love to God or love to man. He is speaking of both, because the New Testament deals with the latter as being a part of the former, and sure to accompany it. But there is one lesson that I wish to draw. If it be true that love in us is thus the result of faith in the love of God, let us learn how we grow in love. You cannot say,' Now I will make an effort to love.' The circulation of the blood, the pulsations of the heart, are not within the power of the will. But you can say, Now I will make an effort to trust.' For faith is in the power of the will, and when the Master said, Ye will not come unto me,' He taught us that unbelief is not a mere intellectual deficiency or perversity, but that it is the result, in the majority of cases--I might almost say in all--of an alienated will Therefore, if you wish to love, do not try to work yourself into a hysteria of affection, but take into your hearts and minds the Christian facts, and mainly the fact of the Cross, which will set free the frozen and imprisoned fountains of your affections, and cause them to flow out abundantly in sweet water. First faith, then love; and get at love through faith. That is a piece of practical wisdom that it will do us all good to keep in mind.

Then the third of the three, the topmost shoot, is hope. Hope is faith directed to the future. So it is clear enough that, unless I have that trust of which I have been speaking, I have none of the hope which the Apostle regards as flowing from it. But love has to do with hope quite as much, though in a different way, as faith has to do with it. For in the direct proportion in which we are taking into our hearts Christ and His truth, and letting our hearts go out in love towards Him and communion with Him, will the glories beyond brighten and consolidate and magnify themselves in our eyes. The hope of the Christian man is but the inference from his present faith, and the joy and sweetness of his present love. For surely when we rise to the heights which are possible to us all, and on which I suppose most Christian people have been sometimes, though for far too brief seasons; when we rise to the heights of communion with God, anything seems more possible to us than that death, or anything that lies in the future, should have power over a tie so sweet, so strong, so independent of externals, and so all-sufficing in its sweetness. Thus we shall be sure that God is our portion for ever, in the precise degree in which, by faith and love, we feel that He is the strength of our hearts,' to-day and now. So, then, we have the three foundation-stones.

And now a word or two, in the second place, about

II. The Fair Building Which Rises On Them.

I have already half apologised for using the metaphor of a foundation and a building. I must repeat the confession that the symbol is an inadequate one. For the Apostle does not conceive of the work and labour and patience which are respectively allocated to these three graces as being superimposed upon them, as it were, by effort, so much as he thinks of them as growing out of them by their inherent nature. The work is' the work of faith,' that which characterises faith, that which issues from it, that which is its garment, visible to the world, and the token of its reality and its presence. Faith works. It is the foundation of all true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we might almost say that. But in the Christian scheme it is eminently the underlying requisite for all work which God does not consider as busy idleness. I might here make a general remark, which, however, I need not dwell upon, that we have here the broad thought which Christian people in all generations need to have drummed into their heads over and over again, and that is that inward experiences and emotions, and states of mind and heart, however good and precious, are so mainly as being the necessary foundations of conduct. What is the good of praying and feeling comfortable within, and having a blessed assurance,' a happy experience,' sweet communion,' and so on? What is the good of it all, if these things do not make us live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world? What is the good of the sails of a windmill going whirling round, if the machinery has been thrown out of gear, and the great stones which it ought to actuate are not revolving? What is the good of the screw of a steamer revolving, when she pitches, clean above the waves? It does nothing then to drive the vessel onwards, but will only damage the machinery. And Christian emotions and experiences which do not drive conduct are of as little use, often as perilous, and as injurious. If you want to keep your faith, love, hope,' sound and beneficial, set them to work. And do not be too sure that you have them, if they do not crave for work, whether you set them to it or not.

Your work of faith.' There is the whole of the thorny subject of the relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what James said and it is exactly what a better than James said. When the Jews came to Him with their externalism, and thought that God was to be pleased by a whole rabble of separate good actions, and so said, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?' Jesus said, Never mind about works. This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,' and out of that will come all the rest. That is the mother-tincture; everything will flow from that. So Paul says, Your work of faith.'

Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you. Do men see that your faith works; that its output is different from the output of men who are not possessors of a like precious faith'? Ask yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it.

Love labours. Labour is more than work, for it includes the notion of toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, antagonism. Ah! the work of faith will never be done unless it is the toil of love. You remember how Milton talks about the immortal garland that is to be run for, not without dust and sweat.' The Christian life is not a leisurely promenade. The limit of our duty is not ease of work. There must be toil. And love is the only principle that will carry us through the fatigues, and the difficulties, and the oppositions which rise against us from ourselves and from without. Love delights to have a hard task set it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more poignant the satisfaction. Loss is gain when it brings us nearer the beloved. And whether our love be love to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is the only foundation on which toil for either God or man will ever permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy which has not a bottom of faith, and do not believe in work for Christ which does not involve in toil. And be sure that you will do neither, unless you have both these things: the faith and the love.

And then comes the last. Faith works, love toils, hope is patient. Is that all that hope' is? Not if you take the word in the narrow meaning which it has in modern English; but that was not what Paul meant.

He meant something a great deal more than passive endurance, great as that is. It is something to be able to say, in the pelting of a pitiless storm, Pour on! I will endure.' But it is a great deal more to be able, in spite of all, not to bate one jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward'; and that is involved in the true meaning of the word inadequately rendered patience' in the New Testament. For it is no passive virtue only, but it is a virtue which, in the face of the storm, holds its course; brave persistence, active perseverance, as well as meek endurance and submission.

Hope' helps us both to bear and to do. They tell us nowadays that it is selfish for a Christian man to animate himself, either for endurance or for activity, by the contemplation of those great glories that lie yonder. If that is selfishness, God grant we may all become a great deal more selfish than we are! No man labours in the Christian life, or submits to Christian difficulty, for the sake of going to heaven. At least, if he does, he has got on the wrong tack altogether. But if the motive for both endurance and activity be faith and love, then hope has a perfect right to come in as a subsidiary motive, and to give strength to the faith and rapture to the love. We cannot afford to throw away that hope, as so many of us do--not perhaps, intellectually, though I am afraid there is a very considerable dimming of the clearness, and a narrowing of the place in our thoughts, of the hope of a future blessedness, in the average Christian of this day--but practically we are all apt to lose sight of the recompense of the reward. And if we do, the faith and love, and the work and toil, and the patience will suffer. Faith will relax its grasp, love will cool down its fervour; and there will come a film over Hope's blue eye, and she will not see the land that is very far off. So, dear brethren, remember the sequence, faith, love, hope,' and remember the issues, work, toil, patience.'

Maclaren: 1Th 1:8

God's Trumpet

From you sounded out the word of God.'--1 Thess. 1:8.

THIS is Paul's first letter. It was written very shortly after his first preaching of the Gospel in the great commercial city of Thessalonica. But though the period since the formation of the Thessalonian Church was so brief, their conversion had already become a matter of common notoriety; and the consistency of their lives, and the marvellous change that had taken place upon them, made them conspicuous in the midst of the corrupt heathen community in which they dwelt. And so says Paul, in the text, by reason of their work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope, they had become ensamples to all that believe, and loud proclaimers and witnesses of the Gospel which had produced this change.

The Apostle employs a word never used anywhere else in the New Testament to describe the conspicuous and widespread nature of this testimony of theirs. He says, The word of the Lord sounded out' from them. That phrase is one most naturally employed to describe the blast of a trumpet. So clear and ringing, so loud, penetrating, melodious, rousing, and full was their proclamation, by the silent eloquence of their lives, of the Gospel which impelled and enabled them to lead such lives. A grand ideal of a community of believers!

If our churches to-day were nearer its realisation there would be less unbelief, and more attraction of wandering prodigals to the Father's house. Would that this saying were true of every body of professing believers! Would that from each there sounded out one clear accordant witness to Christ, in the purity and unworldliness of their Christlike lives!

I. This Metaphor Suggests The Great Purpose Of The Church.

It is God's trumpet, His means of making His voice heard through all the uproar of the world. As the captain upon the deck in the gale will use his speaking-trumpet, so God's voice needs your voice. The Gospel needs to be passed through human lips in order that it may reach deaf ears. The purpose for which we have been apprehended of Christ is not merely our own personal salvation, whether we understand that in a narrow and more outward, or in a broader and more spiritual sense. No man is an end in himself, but every man, though he be partially and temporarily an end, is also a means. And just as, according to the other metaphor, the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, each particle of the dead dough, as soon as it is leavened and vitalised, becoming the medium for transmitting the strange, transforming, and living influence to the particle beyond, so all of us, if we are Christian people, have received that grace into our hearts, for our own sakes indeed, but also that through us might be manifested to the darkened eyes beyond, and through us might drop persuasively on the dull, cold ears that are further away from the Divine Voice, the great message of God's mercy. The Church is God's trumpet, and the purpose that He has in view in setting it in the world is to make all men know the fellowship of the mystery, and that through it there may ring out, as by some artificial means a poor human voice will be flung to a greater distance than it would otherwise reach, the gentle entreaties, and the glorious proclamation, and the solemn threatenings of the Word, the Incarnate as well as the written Word, of God.

Of course all this is true, not only about communities, but it is true of a community, just because it is true of each individual member of it. The Church is worse than as' sounding brass,' it is as silent brass and an untinkling cymbal, unless the individuals that belong to it recognise God's meaning in making them His children, and do their best to fulfil it. Ye are my witnesses,' saith the Lord. You are put into the witness-box; see that you speak out when you are there.

II. Another Point That This Figure May Suggest Is, The Sort Of Sound That Should Come From The Trumpet.

A trumpet note is, first of all, clear. There should be no hesitation in our witness; nothing uncertain in the sound that we give. There are plenty of so-called Christian people whose lives, if they bear any witness for the Master at all, are like the notes that some bungling learner will bring out of a musical instrument: hesitating, uncertain, so that you do not know exactly what note he wants to produce. How many of us, calling ourselves Christian people, testify on both sides; sometimes bearing witness for Christ; and alas! alas! oftener bearing witness against Him. Will the trumpet, the instrument of clear, ringing, unmistakable sounds, be the emblem of your Christian testimony? Would not some poor scrannel-pipe, ill-blown, be nearer the mark? The note should be clear.

The note should be penetrating. There is no instrument, I suppose, that carries further than the ringing clarion that is often heard on the field of battle, above all the strife; and this little church at Thessalonica, a mere handful of people, just converted, in the very centre of a strong, compact, organised, self-confident, supercilious heathenism, insisted upon being heard, and got itself made audible, simply by the purity and the consistency of the lives of its members. So that Paul, a few weeks, or at most a few months, after the formation of the church, could say, From you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,' your own province and the one next door to it, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad.' No man knows how far his influence will go. No man can tell how far his example may penetrate. Thessalonica was a great commercial city. So is Manchester. Hosts of people of all sorts came into it as they come here. There were many different circles which would be intersected by the lives of this Christian church, and wherever its units went they carried along with them the conviction that they had turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.

And so, dear brethren, if our witness is to be worth anything it must have this penetrating quality. There is a difference in sounds as there is a difference in instruments. Some of them carry further than others. A clear voice will fling words to a distance that a thick, mumbling one never can attain. One note will travel much further than another. Do you see to it that your notes are of the penetrating sort.

And then, again, the note should be a musical one. There is nothing to be done for God by harshness; nothing to be done by discords and gangling; nothing to be done by scolding and rebuke. The ordered sequence of melodious sound will travel a great deal further than unmusical, plain speech. You can hear a song at a distance at which a saying would be inaudible. Which thing is an allegory, and this is its lesson,--Music goes further than discord; and the witness that a Christian man bears will travel in direct proportion as it is harmonious, and gracious and gentle and beautiful.

And then, again, the note should be rousing. You do not play on a trumpet when you want to send people to sleep; dulcimers and the like are the things for that purpose. The trumpet means strung-up intensity, means a call to arms, or to rejoicing; means at any rate, vigour, and is intended to rouse. Let your witness have, for its utmost signification, Awake! thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give thee light.'

III. Then, Still Further, Take Another Thought That May Be Suggested From This Metaphor, The Silence Of The Loudest Note.

If you look at the context, you will see that all the ways in which the word of the Lord is represented as sounding out from the Thessalonian Church were deeds, not words. The context supplies a number of them. Such as the following are specified in it: their work; their toil, which is more than work; their patience; their assurance; their reception of the word, in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost; their faith to Godward; their turning to God from idols, to serve and to wait.

That is all. So far as the context goes there might not have been a man amongst them who ever opened his mouth for Jesus Christ. We know not, of course, how far they were a congregation of silent witnesses, but this we know, that what Paul meant when he said, The whole world is ringing with the voice of the word of God sounding from you,' was not their going up and down the world shouting about their Christianity, but their quiet living like Jesus Christ. That is a louder voice than any other.

Ah! dear friends! it is with God's Church as it is with God's heavens; the' stars in Christ's right hand' sparkle in the same fashion as the stars that He has set in the firmament. Of them we read: There is neither voice nor language, their speech is not heard'; and yet, as man stands with bared head and hushed heart beneath the violet abysses of the heavens, their line' (or chord, the metaphor being that of a stringed instrument) is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.' Silent as they shine, they declare the glory of God, and proclaim His handiwork. And so you may speak of Him without speaking, and though you have no gift of tongues the night may be filled with music, and your lives be eloquent of Christ.

I do not mean to say that Christian men and women are at liberty to lock their lips from verbal proclamation of the Saviour they have found, but I do mean to say that if there was less talk and more living, the witness of God's Church would be louder and not lower; and men would take knowledge of us, that we had been with Jesus'; and of Jesus, that He had made us like Himself.

IV. And So, Lastly, Let Me Draw One Other Thought From This Metaphor, Which I Hope You Will Not Think Fanciful Playing With A Figure; And That Is The Breath That Makes The Music.

If the Church is the trumpet, who blows it? God! It is by His Divine Spirit dwelling within us, and breathing through us, that the harsh discords of our natural lives become changed into melody of praise and the music of witness for Him. Keep near Christ, live in communion with God, let Him breathe through you, and when His Spirit passes through your spirits their silence will become harmonious speech; and from you will sound out the word of the Lord.'

In a tropical country, when the sun goes behind a cloud, all the insect life that was cheerily chirping is hushed. In the Christian life, when the Son of Righteousness is obscured by the cloudy born of our own carelessness and sin, all the music in our spirit ceases, and no more can we witness for Him. A scentless substance lying in a drawer, with a bit of musk, will become perfumed by contact, and will bring the fragrance wherever it is carried. Live near God, and let Him speak to you and in you; and then He will speak through you. And if He be the breath of your spiritual lives, and the soul of your souls, then, and only then, will your lives be music, the music witness, and the witness conviction. And only then will there be fulfilled what I pray there may be more and more fulfilled in us as a Christian community, this great word of our text, from you sounded out,' clear, rousing, penetrating, melodious, the word of the Lord,' so that we, with our poor preaching, need not to speak anything.

MHCC: 1Th 1:1-5

As all good comes from God, so no good can be hoped for by sinners, but from God in Christ. And the best good may be expected from God, as our Father, for the sake of Christ. We should pray, not only for ourselves, but for others also; remembering them without ceasing. Wherever there is a true faith, it will work; it will affect both the heart and life. Faith works by love; it shows itself in love to God, and love to our neighbour. And wherever there is a well-grounded hope of eternal life, this will appear by the exercise of patience; and it is a sign of sincerity, when in all we do, we seek to approve ourselves to God. By this we may know our election, if we not only speak of the things of God with out lips, but feel their power in our hearts, mortifying our lusts, weaning us from the world, and raising us up to heavenly things. Unless the Spirit of God comes with the word of God, it will be to us a dead letter. Thus they entertained it by the power of the Holy Ghost. They were fully convinced of the truth of it, so as not to be shaken in mind by objections and doubts; and they were willing to leave all for Christ, and to venture their souls and everlasting condition upon the truth of the gospel revelation.

MHCC: 1Th 1:6-10

When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from the dead, which is a full assurance unto all men that he will come to judgment. He came to purchase salvation, and will, when he comes again, bring salvation with him, full and final deliverance from that wrath which is yet to come. Let all, without delay, flee from the wrath to come, and seek refuge in Christ and his salvation.

Matthew Henry: 1Th 1:2-5

I. The apostle begins with thanksgiving to God. Being about to mention the things that were matter of joy to him, and highly praiseworthy in them, and greatly for their advantage, he chooses to do this by way of thanksgiving to God, who is the author of all that good that comes to us, or is done by us, at any time. God is the object of all religious worship, of prayer and praise. And thanksgiving to God is a great duty, to be performed always or constantly; even when we do not actually give thanks to God by our words, we should have a grateful sense of God's goodness upon our minds. Thanksgiving should be often repeated; and not only should we be thankful for the favours we ourselves receive, but for the benefits bestowed on others also, upon our fellow-creatures and fellow-christians. The apostle gave thanks not only for those who were his most intimate friends, or most eminently favoured of God, but for them all.

II. He joined prayer with his praise or thanksgiving. When we in every thing by prayer and supplication make our requests known to God, we should join thanksgiving therewith, Phi 4:6. So when we give thanks for any benefit we receive we should join prayer. We should pray always and without ceasing, and should pray not only for ourselves, but for others also, for our friends, and should make mention of them in our prayers. We may sometimes mention their names, and should make mention of their case and condition; at least, we should have their persons and circumstances in our minds, remembering them without ceasing. Note, As there is much that we ought to be thankful for on the behalf of ourselves and our friends, so there is much occasion of constant prayer for further supplies of good.

III. He mentions the particulars for which he was so thankful to God; namely,

1. The saving benefits bestowed on them. These were the grounds and reasons of his thanksgiving. (1.) Their faith and their work of faith. Their faith he tells them (1Th 1:8) was very famous, and spread abroad. This is the radical grace; and their faith was a true and living faith, because a working faith. Note, Wherever there is a true faith, it will work: it will have an influence upon heart and life; it will put us upon working for God and for our own salvation. We have comfort in our own faith and the faith of others when we perceive the work of faith. Show me thy faith by thy works, Jam 2:18. (2.) Their love and labour of love. Love is one of the cardinal graces; it is of great use to us in this life and will remain and be perfected in the life to come. Faith works by love; it shows itself in the exercise of love to God and love to our neighbour; as love will show itself by labour, it will put us upon taking pains in religion. (3.) Their hope and the patience of hope. We are saved by hope. This grace is compared to the soldier's helmet and sailor's anchor, and is of great use in times of danger. Wherever there is a well-grounded hope of eternal life, it will appear by the exercise of patience; in a patient bearing of the calamities of the present time and a patient waiting for the glory to be revealed. For, if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it, Rom 8:25.

2. The apostle not only mentions these three cardinal graces, faith, hope and love, but also takes notice, (1.) Of the object and efficient cause of these graces, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ. (2.) Of the sincerity of them: being in the sight of God even our Father. The great motive to sincerity is the apprehension of God's eye as always upon us; and it is a sign of sincerity when in all we do we endeavour to approve ourselves to God, and that is right which is so in the sight of God. Then is the work of faith, or labour of love, or patience of hope, sincere, when it is done under the eye of God. (3.) He mentions the fountain whence these graces flow, namely, God's electing love: Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God, 1Th 1:4. Thus he runs up these streams to the fountain, and that was God's eternal election. Some by their election of God would understand only the temporary separation of the Thessalonians from the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles in their conversion; but this was according to the eternal purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, Eph 1:11. Speaking of their election, he calls them, brethren beloved; for the original of the brotherhood that is between Christians and the relation wherein they stand one to another is election. And it is a good reason why we should love one another, because we are all beloved of God, and were beloved of him in his counsels when there was not any thing in us to merit his love. The election of these Thessalonians was known to the apostles, and therefore might be known to themselves, and that by the fruits and effects thereof - their sincere faith, and hope, and love, by the successful preaching of the gospel among them. Observe, [1.] All those who in the fulness of time are effectually called and sanctified were from eternity elected and chosen to salvation. [2.] The election of God is of his own good pleasure and mere grace, not for the sake of any merit in those who are chosen. [3.] The election of God may be known by the fruits thereof. [4.] Whenever we are giving thanks to God for his grace either to ourselves or others, we should run up the streams to the fountain, and give thanks to God for his electing love, by which we are made to differ.

3. Another ground or reason of the apostle's thanksgiving is the success of his ministry among them. He was thankful on his own account as well as theirs, that he had not laboured in vain. He had the seal and evidence of his apostleship hereby, and great encouragement in his labours and sufferings. Their ready acceptance and entertainment of the gospel he preached to them were an evidence of their being elected and beloved of God. It was in this way that he knew their election. It is true he had been in the third heavens; but he had not searched the records of eternity, and found their election there, but knew this by the success of the gospel among them (1Th 1:5), and he takes notice with thankfulness, (1.) That the gospel came to them also not in word only, but in power; they not only heard the sound of it, but submitted to the power of it. It did not merely tickle the ear and please the fancy, not merely fill their heads with notions and amuse their minds for awhile, but it affected their hearts: a divine power went along with it for convincing their consciences and amending their lives. Note, By this we may know our election, if we not only speak of the things of God by rote as parrots, but feel the influence of these things in our hearts, mortifying our lusts, weaning us from the world, and raising us up to heavenly things. (2.) It came in the Holy Ghost, that is, with the powerful energy of the divine Spirit. Note, Wherever the gospel comes in power, it is to be attributed to the operation of the Holy Ghost; and unless the Spirit of God accompany the word of God, to render it effectual by his power, it will be to us but as a dead letter; and the letter killeth, it is the Spirit that giveth life. (3.) The gospel came to them in much assurance. Thus did they entertain it by the power of the Holy Ghost. They were fully convinced of the truth of it, so as not to be easily shaken in mind by objections and doubts; they were willing to leave all for Christ, and to venture their souls and everlasting condition upon the verity of the gospel revelation. The word was not to them, like the sentiments of some philosophers about matters of opinion and doubtful speculation, but the object of their faith and assurance. Their faith was the evidence of things not seen; and the Thessalonians thus knew what manner of men the apostle and his fellow-labourers were among them, and what they did for their sake, and with what good success.

Matthew Henry: 1Th 1:6-10

In these words we have the evidence of the apostle's success among the Thessalonians, which was notorious and famous in several places. For,

I. They were careful in their holy conversation to imitate the good examples of the apostles and ministers of Christ, 1Th 1:6. As the apostle took care to demean himself well, not only for his own credit's sake, but for the benefit of others, by a conversation suitable to his doctrine, that he might not pull down with one hand what he built up with the other, so the Thessalonians, who observed what manner of men they were among them, how their preaching and living were all of a piece, showed a conscientious care to be followers of them, or to imitate their good example. Herein they became also followers of the Lord, who is the perfect example we must strive to imitate; and we should be followers of others no further than they are followers of Christ, 1Co 11:1. The Thessalonians acted thus, notwithstanding their affliction, that much affliction which the apostles and themselves also were exposed to. They were willing to share in the sufferings that attended the embracing and professing of Christianity. They entertained the gospel, notwithstanding the troubles and hardships which attended the preachers and professors of it too. Perhaps this made the word more precious, being dear - bought; and the examples of the apostles shone very bright under their afflictions; so that the Thessalonians embraced the word cheerfully, and followed the example of the suffering apostles joyfully, with joy in the Holy Ghost - such solid and spiritual and lasting joy as the Holy Ghost is the author of, who, when our afflictions abound, makes our consolations much more to abound.

II. Their zeal prevailed to such a degree that they were themselves examples to all about them, 1Th 1:7, 1Th 1:8. Observe here,

1. Their example was very effectual to make good impressions upon many others. They were tupoi - stamps, or instruments to make impression with. They had themselves received good impressions from the preaching and conversation of the apostles, and they made good impressions, and their conversation had an influence upon others. Note, Christians should be so good as by their example to influence others.

2. It was very extensive, and reached beyond the confines of Thessalonica, even to the believers of all Macedonia, and further, in Achaia; the Philippians, and others who received the gospel before the Thessalonians, were edified by their example. Note, Some who were last hired into the vineyard may sometimes outstrip those who come in before them, and become examples to them.

3. It was very famous. The word of the Lord, or its wonderful effects upon the Thessalonians, sounded, or was famous and well known, in the regions round about that city, and in every place; not strictly every where, but here and there, up and down in the world: so that, from the good success of the gospel among them, many others were encouraged to entertain it, and to be willing, when called, to suffer for it. Their faith was spread abroad. (1.) The readiness of their faith was famed abroad. These Thessalonians embraced the gospel as soon as it was preached to them; so that every body took notice what manner of entering in among them the apostles had, that there were no such delays as at Philippi, where it was a great while before much good was done. (2.) The effects of their faith were famous. [1.] They quitted their idolatry; they turned from their idols, and abandoned all the false worship they had been educated in. [2.] They gave themselves up to God, to the living and true God, and devoted themselves to his service. [3.] They set themselves to wait for the Son of God from heaven, 1Th 1:10. And this is one of the peculiarities of our holy religion, to wait for Christ's second coming, as those who believe he will come and hope he will come to our joy. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming; he is yet to come. And there is good reason to believe he will come, because God has raised him from the dead, which is full assurance unto all men that he will come to judgment, Act 17:31. And there is good reason to hope and wait for his coming, because he has delivered us from the wrath to come. He came to purchase salvation, and will, when he comes again, bring salvation with him, full and final deliverance from sin, and death, and hell, from that wrath which is yet to come upon unbelievers, and which, when it has once come, will be yet to come, because it is everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, Mat 25:41.

Barclay: 1Th 1:1-10

Paul sends this letter to the church of the Thessalonians which is in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. God was the very atmosphere in which the Church lived and moved and had its being. Just as the air is in us and we are in the air and cannot live without it, so the true Church is in God and God is in the true Church and there is no true life for the Church without God. Further, the God in whom the Church lives is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, therefore, the Church does not shiver in the icy fear of a God who is a tyrant but basks in the sunshine of a God who is love.

In this opening chapter we see Paul at his most winsome. In a short time he was going to deal out warning and rebuke; but he begins with unmixed praise. Even when he rebuked, it was never his aim to discourage but always to uplift. In every man there is something fine, and often the best way to rid him of the lower things is to praise the higher things. The best way to eradicate his faults is to praise his virtues so that they will flower all the more; every man reacts better to encouragement than he does to rebuke. It is told that once the Duke of Wellington's cook gave notice and left him. He was asked why he had left so honourable and well-paid a position. His answer was, "When the dinner is good, the Duke never praises me and when it is bad, he never blames me; it was just not worth while." Encouragement was lacking. Paul, like a good psychologist and with true Christian tact, begins with praise even when he means to move on to rebuke.

In 1Th 1:3Paul picks out three great ingredients of the Christian life.

(i) There is work which is inspired by faith. Nothing tells us more about a man than the way in which he works. He may work in fear of the whip; he may work for hope of gain; he may work from a grim sense of duty; or he may work inspired by faith. His faith is that this is his task given him by God and that he is working in the last analysis not for men but for God. Someone has said that the sign of true consecration is when a man can find glory in drudgery.

(ii) There is the labour which is prompted by love. Bernard Newman tells how once he stayed in a Bulgarian peasant's house. All the time he was there the daughter was stitching away at a dress. He said to her, "Don't you ever get tired of that eternal sewing?" "O no!" she said, "you see this is my wedding dress." Work done for love always has a glory.

(iii) There is the endurance which is founded on hope. When Alexander the Great was setting out on his campaigns, he divided all his possessions among his friends. Someone said, "But you are keeping nothing for yourself." "O yes, I am," he said. "I have kept my hopes." A man can endure anything so long as he has hope, for then he is walking not to the night, but to the dawn.

In 1Th 1:4Paul speaks of the Thessalonians as brothers beloved by God. The phrase beloved by God was a phrase which the Jews applied only to supremely great men like Moses and Solomon, and to the nation of Israel itself Now the greatest privilege of the greatest men of God's chosen people has been extended to the humblest of the Gentiles.

1Th 1:8speaks of the faith of the Thessalonians sounding forth like a trumpet; the word could also mean crashing out like a roll of thunder. There is something tremendous about the sheer defiance of early Christianity. When all prudence would have dictated a way of life that would escape notice and so avoid danger and persecution, the Christians blazoned forth their faith. They were never ashamed to show whose they were and whom they sought to serve.

In 1Th 1:9-10two words are used which are characteristic of the Christian life. The Thessalonians served God and waited on the coming of Christ. The Christian is called upon to serve in the world and to wait for glory. The loyal service and the patient waiting were the necessary preludes to the glory of heaven.

Constable: 1Th 1:2-10

A. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians 1:2-10

Paul next reviewed several aspects of the Thessalonians' salvation and gave thanks to God for them to encourage his readers to persevere despite persecution.

Constable: 1Th 1:2-3

1. Summary statement 1:2-3

The Thessalonians' response to the gospel and their continuance in the faith caused Paul and his companions to thank God for them continually.¹³ Three characteristics of these Christians stood out to Paul. First, they had turned to Christ in faith. Second, they had served Him out of love. Third, they had borne up under tribulation patiently because of the hope before them. Each virtue found its object in Jesus Christ as they lived before God. They had exercised faith in the past when they first trusted Christ. They were loving Him in the present, and they were hoping for His return in the future (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13).

"These three Christian virtues--faith, love, and hope--occupied a large place in early analyses of Christian responsibility. The expectation was that in every life faith would work (Gal 5:6; James 2:18), love would labor (Rev 2:2, 4), and hope would endure (Rom 5:2-4; 8:24, 25). This threefold balance probably arose even before Paul's doctrinal stance had matured and perhaps came from the teachings of Christ himself."¹⁴

"The triad of faith, hope and love is the quintessence of the God-given life in Christ."¹⁵

Constable: 1Th 1:4-10

2. Specific reasons 1:4-10

1:4-5 Paul's favorite appellation for the Thessalonians was "brothers." He used it 15 times in this epistle and seven times in 2 Thessalonians. It emphasizes the equality of Christians in the family of God, Jews and Gentiles. Paul thanked God for choosing the Thessalonian believers for salvation.¹⁶ Their response to the gospel proved God's choice of them. Paul had not persuaded them by clever oratory, but the power (Gr. dynamei, dative) of God through the Holy Spirit's convicting work had brought them to faith in Christ (cf. Rom. 1:16).¹⁷

"The spiritual power and conviction with which the message was received matched the spiritual power and conviction with which it was delivered."¹⁸

The lives of the preachers who had behaved consistently with what they taught in Thessalonica had backed up their message.

"Conviction is invisible without action. Paul's conviction as well as that of the Thessalonians (seen in their respective actions) testified to the genuine relationship that each had with the God who chose them . . ."¹⁹

"Persons in both the religious and philosophical communities of the first century felt that the only teachers worth a moment's attention were those who taught with their lives as well as with their words."²⁰

1:6-7 Paul was also grateful that his readers had demonstrated the fruit of their faith by becoming followers of their teachers and their Lord. They had welcomed the gospel message even though it had meant much suffering for them because of the persecution of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles. Most of the New Testament writers took for granted that tribulation is the normal experience of Christians (cf. John 16:33; Acts 14:22). Nevertheless with tribulation joy had also come to them, the joy of sins forgiven. News of their good example had circulated within their own province of Macedonia but had also reached their neighboring province to the south, Achaia. This excellent example included generously giving to other Christians in need (2 Cor. 8:1-8).

1:8 The Thessalonians had acted as relay runners by passing the gospel they had heard on to farther places. They were a missionary church.

"The figure is of an echo that continues indefinitely (perfect tense, eksechetai, rang out') and implies the persistence of the testimony over an ever-increasing expanse . . ."²¹

They were so effective at this that Paul felt his ministry of pioneer evangelism was no longer necessary in that area. Possibly only the news of the Thessalonians' faith had circulated widely but they had not sent out missionaries.²²

1:9 Other people were telling Paul how effective his readers had become at spreading the gospel since they had heard it from him. They reported how the Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the only divine and true God. This was the evidence of their faith and love (v. 3).²³ This reference indicates a sizable Gentile population in the church since idolatry was a Gentile vice. There were evidently two types of Gentiles in the Thessalonian church: pagan Gentiles who had been idolators and God-fearing Gentiles (cf. Acts 17:4).

"The language of separation occurs with regularity in the Thessalonian correspondence (1 Thes. 1:9; 4:5, 7, 12, 13; 5:5f.; 2 Thes. 1:7f.; 2:11f.; 3:6, 14f.) and serves in a negative way to mark the boundary between those who belong to the Christian community and those who do not, thereby encouraging the new Christian identity. Similarly, the language of belonging is also prominent in the Thessalonian correspondence (1 Thes. 1:4; 2:12; 5:5; 2 Thes. 1:11-12; 2:6, 13-15; 3:16)."²⁴

1:10 They were also awaiting the return of God's Son "out of the heavens" (Gr. ek ton ouranon).²⁵ This was the evidence of their hope (v. 3). Jesus' resurrection is indisputable proof of His deity and the prerequisite to His return.

"To the extent that the Thessalonians accepted the resurrection as an act of God, it would give them confidence in the prospect of Christ's coming in power."²⁶

"Believers live anticipating a coronation (2 Tim 4:8) rather than a condemnation."²⁷

When Paul spoke of "the wrath to come" did he have in mind the general outpouring of God's wrath on unbelievers in eternal damnation? Or did he mean a specific instance of God's outpouring His wrath at a particular time in history yet future? The commentators, regardless of their eschatological positions, take either position on this question.²⁸

"Wrath is the holy revulsion of God's being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness."²⁹

If this was the only reference to "the wrath to come" in this epistle, we might conclude that Paul was probably referring to the outpouring of God's wrath on unbelievers generally. There is no specific reference to a particular judgment here. However, later he spent considerable space writing about the outpouring of God's wrath in the Tribulation (4:13-18; 5:1-11). Therefore it seems that this is the first reference to that outpouring of wrath in the epistle (cf. 2:16; 5:9).³⁰

". . . the choice of erchomene [come'] rather than mellousa [come'] . . . may have been determined by the fact that Paul purposes to express not so much the certainty . . . as the nearness of the judgment. Nearness involves certainty but certainty does not necessarily involve nearness."³¹

The outpouring of God's wrath occurs at many times in history. One of these judgments is the Great Tribulation (Rev. 7:14) that will come upon the whole earth in the future (Rev. 3:10). Another is the great white throne judgment at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:11-15).

"Used technically, as it so frequently is in the NT, wrath' (orges) is a title for the period just before Messiah's kingdom on earth, when God will afflict earth's inhabitants with an unparalleled series of physical torments because of their rejection of His will [i.e., the Tribulation] (Matt 3:7; 24:21; Luke 21:23; Rev 6:16, 17)."³²

The Greek preposition ek, translated "from," can mean either "away from" or "out of." Other passages teach that believers will not experience any of God's wrath (e.g., John 3:36; 5:24; Rom. 5:1; 8:1, 34; et al.). Consequently "away from" seems to be the idea Paul intended here.³³

How will God keep believers "away from" His wrath as He pours it out during the tribulation period? Pretribulationists say He will do so by taking us to heaven before the Tribulation begins.³⁴ Midtribulationists say we will enter the Tribulation, but God will take us to heaven before the outpouring of His wrath that will occur only during the second half of the Tribulation.³⁵ Posttribulationists believe we will go through the entire Tribulation and God will protect us from the outpouring of His wrath during that time.³⁶

1 Thessalonians 1:10 does not state exactly how God will deliver us "away from" His wrath when He will pour it out in the tribulation period. Other passages in 1 Thessalonians, however, point to a pretribulational deliverance (e.g., 4:13-18; 5:4-10).

Preservation from the wrath of God is part of the believer's hope. This chapter, like all the others in this epistle, closes with a reference to Jesus Christ's return (cf. 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-18; 5:23).

"That attitude of expectation is the bloom, as it were, of the Christian character. Without it there is something lacking; the Christian who does not look upward and onward wants one mark of perfection."³⁷

"To wait for him has ethical implications; those who wait are bound to live holy lives so as to be ready to meet him (cf. 5:6-8, 23)."³⁸

"In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 the Thessalonian believers are pictured as waiting for the return of Christ. The clear implication is that they had a hope of His imminent return. If they had been taught that the great tribulation, in whole or in part, must first run its course, it is difficult to see how they could be described as expectantly awaiting Christ's return. Then they should rather have been described as bracing themselves for the great tribulation and the painful events connected with it."³⁹

College: 1Th 1:1-10

1 THESSALONIANS 1

I. GREETING (1:1)

¹ Paul, Silas ^a and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace to you. ^b

^a 1 Greek Silvanus , a variant of Silas ^b 1 Some early manuscripts you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Letters in the first century normally began with a brief greeting identifying the writer and the recipients and offering some wish for the well-being of the recipients. Paul followed this convention in his letters but adapted even this most mundane of epistolary elements to express ideas central to the Christian gospel.

1:1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,

Paul first of all identifies himself by name as the writer of the letter. Though in other, later epistles he identifies himself as "an apostle" (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 1 Tim 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1; Titus 1:1), here he does not, perhaps because his authority is not at issue with the Thessalonian church. Along with Paul, Silas and Timothy are mentioned as well. It is possible that these two had some hand in composing the letter. However, the emphasis in chs. 2-3 on Paul's absence from Thessalonica and his concern despite the visit by Silas and Timothy indicates that this letter primarily is Paul's personal expression of care for the Thessalonian church. Paul perhaps includes Silas and Timothy in the salutation to show that his associates, who have actually spent more time with the Thessalonian church than has Paul, stand with him in affirming this message.

Silas (as he is called in Acts) or Silvanus (as Paul refers to him in his letters) accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey, assuming a role similar to that of Barnabas on Paul's first journey. Since he was sent to Antioch to deliver the message from the council of Acts 15, we can conclude that he was a Jewish Christian from the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:22). The fact that Acts associates him with Paul only on this one journey (Acts 15-18) is corroborated by the fact that he is mentioned in Paul's letters only here, in 2 Thess 1:1 and 2 Cor 1:19, all at points in which Paul reflects on the activity of his second missionary journey. He is also mentioned in 1 Pet 5:12, where Peter indicates that Silas has had some role in composing that letter.

Timothy is among Paul's associates whom he mentions most frequently. Acts indicates that he joins Paul on his second missionary journey (16:1) and is with him on the third as well (19:22; 20:4). Paul mentions him with Silas in the salutation of 2 Thessalonians; in 2 Corinthians, Philippians and Colossians he is the only person mentioned with Paul at the opening of the letter. His role in Paul's letters is generally like his role in 1 Thessalonians: he serves as Paul's representative to bring messages and carry out instructions in places where Paul cannot be present personally.

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

The letter is addressed to "the church of the Thessalonians." The Greek word translated "church," ejkklhsiva (ekklçsia ), has been widely analyzed according to its etymology to signify "the called-out ones." But however true it may be that the church is composed of those whom God has called out from the world, the word ekklçsia would not have suggested this idea to Paul's readers. The term was widely used in the Hellenistic world for assemblies of various kinds, including the assembly of citizens in Greek city-states, pagan religious conclaves, and various other secular assemblies. Significantly, though, the term was frequently used in the LXX to translate the Hebrew lhq ( qahal ), which often is used to refer to the assembly of Israel as the people of God. During the intertestamental period, the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls referred to themselves in Aramaic as the la lhq ( qehal 'el ) ("assembly of God"; 1QM 4:10; 1QS ^a 2:4), reflecting their belief that they were the people of God of the end times. The early Christians' use of this term probably reflects this background. It expresses their conviction that they belong to the assembly of God's people in the age of fulfillment. As is usually the case, Paul uses the word here to refer to what we would call a "local church," the assembly of God's people in a particular place, though he uses it in some contexts for the universal church.

The phrase "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" identifies the ekklçsia as one that is different from all other assemblies of people in Thessalonica: they are the ones who "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead" (vv. 9-10). The expression "in Christ" and variants like the one here are among the most frequent in Paul's letters - and certainly among the most discussed by scholars. Here, though the expression serves primarily to differentiate the church from others, it also expresses Paul's conviction that Christians are united with Christ and so experience both his death and his resurrected life in their own lives. That reality will become significant in this epistle as Paul discusses the Thessalonians' experience of persecution and their hope of the resurrection at the Lord's coming. Both, he will state, are consequences of their status "in Christ."

The fact that Paul so easily identifies the church as "in God" and "in Christ" reflects his conviction that Christ is indeed fully divine. As a Jew with rabbinic training, Paul would never have related something to God and to another unless that other one was himself God. Certainly Paul's conviction that Christ was deity began with Christ's appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus: Paul's question of the voice from heaven, "Who are you, Lord ?" is answered, "I am Jesus . . . ." This conviction was reinforced as well by what Paul learned by revelation from the Lord and what he was taught by other Christians.

Grace and peace to you.

The salutation closes with Paul's characteristic "grace and peace." The term "grace" (cavri" , charis ) is, of course, absolutely central to Paul's theology. Paul insists that salvation is to be found not in keeping the Mosaic law so as to gain merit before God, a task made impossible by human sinfulness, but by receiving God's free, unmerited gift of his favor through faith in Jesus Christ. As a word of greeting Paul may have used charis as a play on the similar-sounding caivrein ( chairein ), the ordinary greeting among Hellenistic peoples (cf. James 1:1; 2 John 10-11). With this he combines "peace," the Greek eijrhvnh (eirçnç ), probably as a translation of the Hebrew and Aramaic greeting s ^v alôm ). In OT usage this term signified not just the absence of hostility but positive well-being and fullness of life, the consequence of God's benevolent rule over his people. As Paul uses the expression in tandem with grace, it thus indicates that Christians have received the fulfillment of God's promised peace through the gospel (cf. Matt 10:13//Luke 10:6). Especially striking in this letter is the fact that Paul stresses the peace which God gives (cf. 5:23) while at the same time recounting the suffering which the readers have experienced (1:6; 2:14; 3:3). Precisely because such peace persists in suffering, throughout the letter Paul stresses the comfort and encouragement that come from the gospel (2:3, 12; 3:2, 7; 4:1, 10, 18; 5:11, 14).

The combination of a play on the common Hellenistic greeting with a translation of the common Jewish greeting has been regarded by some as an indication of Paul's concern for the unity of Gentiles and Jews in the church. This conclusion may press the evidence too far, however. Grace is no less an OT concept than peace, and Jews living in a Hellenistic culture were accustomed to using the common Greek salutation (cf. 2 Macc 1:1; 2 Apoc. Bar. 78:2).

In all of Paul's other epistles the phrase "grace and peace" is followed by the phrase "from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" or some near variant of it. Though some manuscripts of 1 Thessalonians include that phrase here, it is omitted in others. Because it is more likely that a scribe inserted the phrase in order to bring this letter into conformity with the others than that anyone omitted it, it is probably not an original part of the letter and so was consigned to a footnote in the NIV.

II. THANKSGIVING (1:2-10)

A. THE INITIAL THANKSGIVING (1:2-5)

² We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. ³ We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

Another characteristic of letters in the Greco-Roman world was that the salutation was often followed by a statement of thanksgiving to the deity worshiped by the writer. Though in many letters this thanksgiving was a mere formality, Paul uses such thanksgivings in all of his letters except Galatians to articulate some of the important themes on which he will elaborate. As he does here, Paul's usual thanksgiving was offered for the faith and other Christian virtues that the readers have demonstrated by the way they have lived their lives in Paul's absence.

This section is a single sentence in the Greek text, with the main clause at the beginning of v. 1 ("We always thank God for all of you . . ."). The NIV has rendered it as four separate sentences for ease of understanding in English.

1. Paul's Constant Prayers for the Readers (1:2)

1:2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.

At several points in this statement, Paul stresses that his thanksgiving for the Thessalonian Christians is constant. The verb eujcaristou'men ( eucharistoumen , "thank") and the participle poiouvmenoi ( poioumenoi , "making"; with mneivan [ mneian ], "mention," the sense is "mentioning") are in the Greek present tense, indicating a continuing action. The adverb "always" (pavntote , pantote ) further emphasizes that verbal aspect. Then the adjective "all" (pantw'n , pantôn ), alliterating with the adverb to provide further emphasis, stresses that Paul's thanksgiving includes everyone in the church. The plural "prayers" also indicates a repeated practice. Overall the statement vividly emphasizes the regularity and persistence of Paul's prayers for the readers. The plural "prayers" may also indicate that Paul continued the rabbinic practice of praying regularly at particular times of the day. However, glimpses of his prayer life found in Acts and elsewhere in his letters show that it was not governed or restricted by ritualistic tradition.

2. Their Exercise of Faith, Love and Hope (1:3)

1:3 We continually remember before our God and Father

Again Paul stresses that his thanksgiving is continual. "Remember" translates the Greek mnhmoneuvonte" (mnçmoneuontes ), again a present participle indicating continuing action, and the adverb ajdialeivptw" (adialeiptôs , literally, "without interruption") adds stress to this idea. Here the example is established for the instruction on prayer which Paul gives in 5:17, where "continually" in the NIV represents the same Greek term. To "remember" the Thessalonians before God refers to the same kind of action as "mentioning" them in v. 2, but here the reason for the thanksgiving is specified.

your work produced by faith,

Paul specifies the reason for his thanksgiving with a trio of terms - faith, love and hope - which appear together several times in Paul's letters (Rom 5:1-5; 1 Cor 13:13; Gal 5:5-6; Eph 4:2-5; Col 1:4-5; 1 Thess 5:8) as well as in literature influenced by Paul (Heb 6:10-12; 10:22-24; 1 Pet 1:3-8, 21-22). Though the order most familiar to students of the Bible is probably "faith, hope and love" because of its occurrence in the well-known text 1 Cor 13:13, the order found in this text occurs everywhere else. Here each of the terms is connected to a particular response produced by it. Literally the text reads, "your work of faith, your labor of love and your steadfastness of hope"; the NIV translators have inserted the words "produced . . . prompted . . . inspired" to make clear the sense of the text, not to imply any difference among the three. With each of the three phrases in this context, Paul seems to refer not to some specific action which the church has taken so much as the general tenor of their lives as Christians since he left them.

"Faith," the response of assent to and trust in God and his message of salvation, stands at the head of the list because of its priority in the Christian life: all aspects of Christian living stem from our response of faith to the initiative God has taken for us in Christ. Paul sharply distinguishes "faith" from "works" as ways of salvation: he insists that no one can earn God's favor by keeping the Mosaic law (cf. Gal 2:16; Rom 3:28). But Paul always understands that genuine faith expresses itself in action. So here his thanksgiving is for the Thessalonians' "work produced by faith," that is, deeds that they have done as the natural and necessary result of their belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

your labor prompted by love,

"Love" is the Greek ajgavph (agapç), which in the New Testament is most frequently used to refer to the love of God for humanity despite their unworthiness and to the same kind of love which his people show to others. Here it is grounded on faith in the God who demonstrates his love to us in Christ, though as Paul indicates in 1 Cor 13:13, it shall supersede even faith as faith yields to sight while love endures. Like faith, love motivates action. The word translated "labor," kovpo" ( kopos ), is often used to refer to especially difficult or tiresome work. In this context, however, Paul probably does not intend for it to indicate something more difficult than the "work produced by faith"; the different term simply avoids repetition. So the point of both expressions is very similar: genuine love, like genuine faith, produces action.

and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Hope" characteristically comes at the end of the list because of its orientation to the future. As used in the New Testament, the Greek term ejlpiv" ( elpis ) suggests a confident expectation about the future. Such confidence is grounded in God's own faithfulness to carry out the work which he has initiated in Christ, as Paul expresses in Phil 1:6. Hence, their hope is "in our Lord Jesus Christ" not just because they look forward confidently to his return (cf. 1:9-10; 4:13-5:11) but because they are already through their relationship with Christ experiencing the blessings of God that will be fully realized in the future. What stands in the way of the full realization of those blessings in the present is the ongoing struggle with evil, a struggle made more acute by the opposition which their new faith generates. But the confident expectation that God will indeed fulfill his promises to the final degree gives believers the assurance that they need to endure the persecution and other sufferings that come their way in the present age. Thus, endurance is the practical outgrowth of their hope.

These three phrases describing the Thessalonian Christians serve several purposes in the letter. As Paul offers thanksgiving, they show that his primary cause for thanksgiving is the Christian lifestyle of the readers. Mentioning their lifestyle at the beginning of the letter also serves as encouragement and reinforcement for continuing in that lifestyle. This also provides a basis for the moral exhortation that Paul gives implicitly in 2:1-12 and explicitly in 4:1-5:22. There Paul will call the readers to ongoing faithfulness in the manner of life that they already follow. The mention of hope at the climax of the list introduces the theme of 4:13-5:11, namely, the return of Christ.

3. Their Election (1:4)

1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God,

The response of the Thessalonians to the gospel message described in v. 3 is just that - a response to God's initiative in bringing salvation to them. So Paul continues the thanksgiving by focusing on God's work. The term "brothers," Paul's favorite form of address for his readers, was used by Jews to refer to other Jews (cf. Deut 15:3, 12). As Paul applies it to Christians, it stresses the new relationship which has been created among the readers because of what God the Father has done. The barriers and divisions which otherwise would have existed among them have been broken down by the new unity created by their common life in Christ.

This brotherhood has been forged by the actions of God in making the Thessalonian believers his people. They are "loved by God": they are the objects of God's unmerited favor. Hence, they have been "chosen" by God. These two terms indicate that the readers' relationship with God is like Israel's (Deut 7:7; 14:2; Ps 33:12; Acts 13:17). As God chose Israel as his covenant people, so now he has chosen the Christians, but for even greater blessings (cf. Isa 14:1). Because Paul particularly focuses on converts from paganism in this chapter (v. 9), his use of language associated with Israel to refer to Christian believers is especially striking. They do not merely belong to a distinct group of people; they are part of the community of God's people that has received the blessings promised for the end time. In the rest of the chapter Paul will indicate that the Thessalonians' genuine faith and its consequences indicate this new relationship to God is genuine.

that he has chosen you

The idea of God's "choosing" or election has been a controversial one in Christian theology. Under the influence of Augustine and later of John Calvin, many have understood that Christians are only able to come to faith because God has first chosen them and so has irresistibly caused them to believe. In fact, Paul's use of the language of election indicates a different emphasis altogether.

By stressing that God has chosen the Christians, Paul acknowledges that God is sovereign, that he has supreme authority and determines who will belong to him. But the terminology focuses primarily on the relationship that results from God's choosing, not on the act of choosing itself. Paul emphasizes that through the initiative which God has taken in Christ, Christians are in a relationship with God which is secure both in the difficulties of this life (Rom 8:28-30) and in the final judgment (Rom 8:33) because it is based on the choice of the all-sovereign God.

Furthermore, Paul indicates that God's choice is conditional: that is, that God chooses believers on the basis of their faith, not that he first chooses them and so later causes them to believe. This is explicit in Rom 8:29 ("For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren"), a text similar in language to 1 Thess 1:4. It is also consistent with the fact that in Paul's letters the result of God's predestination or choice is never faith as such but the results of salvation conditioned on faith, including such things as conformity to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), holiness and blamelessness (Eph 1:4; cf. Col 3:6), adoption into God's family (Eph 1:5), and ultimately the glorification of God himself (Eph 1:11-12).

If Paul's use of the language of election reflected a belief that God had chosen individuals before creation and so later caused them to believe, we might expect words like "chosen" to be used sometimes to refer to those who are elect but have not yet come to faith. This use, however, is nowhere in evidence in Paul or the rest of the New Testament. Instead, as I.H. Marshall has pointed out, the term always refers to those who have already responded to God's call.

Most importantly, understanding the concept of election had genuine benefit for early Christians. In Paul's letters it gave believers the assurance that they were receiving the full advantage of all of God's saving activity in history. They are at the climax of what God had done; they are the beneficiaries of the plan of God from before creation. Whatever difficulties they may face in this age, they have the assurance of their standing with God in his eternal plan.

4. The Power of the Gospel in Thessalonica (1:5)

1:5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words,

Paul will now demonstrate the reality of the Thessalonians' relationship with God by stressing the genuineness of the gospel which they received. The terms "the gospel" and "the word," meaning the word of God, occur frequently in 1 Thessalonians, along with other terms, especially "you know," which remind the readers of the message that they have already received. The frequency of these terms point to one aspect of Paul's purpose: he writes to remind the readers of the message that they have already received, encouraging them to remain firm and pointing out specifically how that message applies to the difficult circumstances they have faced.

Here Paul stresses the genuineness of the gospel by recounting how the Thessalonians first heard and received it. He knows that they are God's chosen because they have received the genuine message of salvation, and that genuineness is demonstrated first of all by the sincerity of the people who brought it. The ancient world, no less than our own, had a generous share of unscrupulous purveyors of philosophical and religious ideas. Speaking an appealing message that they themselves did not believe, such preachers did not demonstrate by their lives their own belief in their words, and neither did their message produce what they claimed. Paul, however, draws a contrast with the readers' experience of the gospel. Paul's use of the term "gospel" (eujaggevlion, euangelion ) sharpens the focus on these ideas. In Isaiah the related verb eujaggelivzw (euangelizô) is used to refer to the proclamation of the good news of God's salvation (Isa 40:9; 52:7; 60:6; 61:1). Jesus used this language to refer to his ministry (Luke 4:17-20), especially as the announcement of the imminent coming of God's kingdom (Matt 4:29; 9:35; 24:14). As used by Paul the term usually refers to the content of the message preached, though sometimes it can refer to the act of preaching itself. Here the two points of reference stand close together. The genuineness of the gospel message insures that the Thessalonian Christians are indeed God's people, but the fact that the message is genuine is demonstrated in part by the way in which it was preached.

but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction.

These three characteristics distinguish the gospel from other messages which the readers may have encountered. "Power" here refers to the power of God, as implied by the focus on God's actions in the previous verse. Paul probably has in mind his demonstration of God's power through miracles (cf. Rom 15:18-19), though the expression here is perhaps not confined to miracles alone. For Paul, as for New Testament writers generally, miracles served as tokens of the greater salvation which was available through the gospel. So having seen the power of God demonstrated in miraculous actions, the Thessalonian Christians also recognized that God's power was at work in them as they put their faith in Christ.

Paul indicates the source of that power in the following phrase. The Holy Spirit both empowers the apostle to do miraculous deeds and, more importantly, empowers the new Christians to bring their lives into conformity with the gospel which they have received. Because the Old Testament views the pouring out of the Spirit of God on all flesh as a part of God's end-time work of salvation (Joel 2:28-32; Isa 44:3-5; 32:15; Ezek 36:27; 37:14), this reminder of the Spirit's connection to the gospel stresses as did v. 4 that the Thessalonian Christians have received the fulfillment of God's Old Testament promises.

The phrase "deep conviction" is emphatic in the Greek text, underscoring the absolute sincerity of the one who believes the gospel. Though it could refer to the profound belief of the readers at their conversion, the fact that the following clause refers to Paul's own manner of life suggests that the term refers to Paul's sincerity as a messenger. The profound personal commitment of Paul and his associates to the gospel stands is sharp contrast to an insincere message that comes "simply with words."

The previous phrase, "with words" may well have prompted Paul's readers to expect him to draw a contrast with his deeds, as many philosophers of the time did. Paul's contrast, however, is on the message of the gospel and God's power in Paul's preaching of it. This shift helps the readers to focus on the real significance of what they have received from Paul.

You know how we lived among you for your sake.

Paul and his associates demonstrated their own sincere belief in the gospel by the way that they lived among the Thessalonians. Paul does not offer specific characteristics which they demonstrated, at this point relying instead on the Thessalonians' own memory to supply the details. But the fact that they lived such lives "for your sake" indicates their unselfish, generous concern for others demonstrated in their actions. Later in 2:1-12 Paul will elaborate on this brief description.

B. REITERATION AND FURTHER SPECIFICATION OF THE THANKSGIVING (1:6-10)

⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia - your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead - Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

1. The Readers' Imitation of Paul and His Associates (1:6a)

1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord;

The sincere belief of Paul, Silas and Timothy was reproduced in the readers, indicating further their genuine status as God's people. Like others who offered moral or religious instruction in the ancient world, Paul often admonished his convert to imitate him (1 Thess 2:14; 2 Thess 3:7-9; 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; Eph 5:1; Phil 3:17). In such instructions, Paul indicates either directly or indirectly that in imitating him his readers ultimately are imitating the Lord. Paul offers a variety of specific behaviors which are or ought to be imitated in these passages; he never suggests that his converts should be like him in absolutely every respect. But in offering himself as a model, he provides a concrete example for the abstract, verbal instruction which they have received. The next statement indicates that he particularly has in mind the Thessalonians' following him in steadfast faith despite suffering (cf. 2:2, 14). By implication, as they imitate Paul's suffering, they also imitate Christ's (cf. 2:15; Phil 3:10; Col 1:24). In reminding his readers of their initial steadfastness in suffering, Paul builds a foundation to encourage them to further steadfastness (4:1-5:22).

2. Their Endurance of Suffering (1:6b)

in spite of severe suffering,

The Thessalonian Christians suffered undoubtedly because of the tension that arose with family and neighbors because of their conversion. Abandoning pagan worship (v. 9) separated them from the practices which had formerly bound them together with other members of their community (cf. Acts 19:23-41 for an example of the consequences of such dislocation). And though such conflict in their social relationships is probably sufficient to explain Paul's references to their suffering, the Thessalonians may have also suffered persecution from more official sources, such as local or imperial rulers, to whom the gospel might have appeared subversive. Leaving the old life for the gospel was for them a costly transaction. In 2:14-16 Paul will remind the readers that other Christians have shared a similar cost.

you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

But ironically, this very suffering is indicative of the power of the gospel (v. 5), since that power has its origin in Christ's self-sacrificial suffering on the cross. But because the gospel message is not just about Christ's death but also about his resurrection and exaltation, sharing in Christ's suffering is a source of joy. Joy is not what one would expect to find in suffering; it does not arise naturally in the circumstances Paul describes. So Paul reminds the readers that this joy has a supernatural source: it is the "joy of the Holy Spirit," joy present with them because God's Spirit is present with them (Gal 5:22; Rom 14:17), given by the exalted Christ, bringing to his people the blessing and power of God that will be fully realized when Christ returns (cf. 1 Thess 4:18; 5:11; Phil 3:1, 20-21). Thus, the fact that the Thessalonians had joy despite suffering shows again that they were genuine people of God (cf. Mark 4:16): they had the joy that comes from God's authentic salvation which transcends present, outward circumstances (cf. Matt 5:10-12; Acts 4:31; 5:40-42; Rom 5:3-5; 2 Cor 1:5-7; 4:7-18; Col 1:24; James 1:2; 1 Pet 1:6-8; 4:13-14).

3. Their Example to Other Churches (1:7-8a)

1:7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

The idea of imitation introduced in v. 6 is now carried a step further in v. 7. By imitating Paul, and ultimately the Lord, in steadfast suffering, the Thessalonian Christians have provided a model for others who believe the same gospel. Paul indicates that the sphere of their influence includes their own region, Macedonia (the northern portion of the Greek peninsula) as well as the region to the south, Achaia (including Athens and Corinth, from which Paul writes). The word translated "model" is tuvpo" ( typos ). Originally this word referred to a mark or impression made by striking something, like the image on a coin. Figuratively it was used to refer to a model or pattern, especially for ethical conduct. This account and others like it in Paul's letters (Rom 1:8; Eph 1:15; Col 1:4-5) indicates that early Christians received and circulated reports about their brothers and sisters in other places and took encouragement from them. Not only did the first generation of Christians repeat the gospel story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection; they also regularly shared the experiences of other Christians. All this serves to make concrete what they were taught about Christian living.

1:8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia -

The expression "the Lord's message" (literally "the word of the Lord") refers here not to the gospel story but to what Paul has been discussing in v. 7: the story of the Thessalonians' steadfastness. This is made clear by the fact that the latter part of the verse refers to this message as "your faith." The fact that Paul can refer to an account of response to the gospel as "the word of the Lord" indicates its supreme value. Such material was integral to God's word for his people because it recounted what God had done among his people. Thus, Luke's writing of Acts as a companion volume to his Gospel has its roots in this oral sharing of information about the churches.

your faith in God has become known everywhere.

Paul widens the Thessalonians' scope of influence from the immediate regions to "everywhere." Though this expression obviously does not mean that literally all the world - or even all the Roman empire - had heard the report, it does stress that the gospel in all its aspects was shared without borders. Paul uses similar expressions elsewhere (Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 2:14; Col 1:6, 23; 1 Tim 2:8), stressing that the Christian gospel is the message of salvation for all people.

The fact that Paul refers to their faith as "faith in God" rather than "in Christ" is consistent with his stress on their conversion to Christian faith from paganism. Had Paul intended to address Jewish Christians, faith in God would not have distinguished them from other Jews (see comments on v. 9). This emphasis may indicate that pressure from the readers' pagan families and neighbors was the primary source of their persecution.

4. Reports of Their Conversion (1:8b-10)

Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 1:9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us.

The point of this statement is that the Thessalonians' faith is well known among all the churches in which Paul has been ministering. Again, we see how important such accounts were to the life of the early Christians. The focus of the report is still on the Thessalonians' initial acceptance of the gospel despite opposition. Now, though, the specific focus is on the success of the missionaries' visit to Thessalonica. A prepositional phrase periΙ hJmw'n (peri hçmôn, "concerning us") appears in v. 9 and is left untranslated by the NIV. It places stress on Paul and his associates as the subjects of the report in circulation. The word ei[sodo" ( eisodos ), translated here as "reception" in the NIV, literally means "entrance" and refers to Paul's entire visit to Thessalonica. The clause literally reads, "For concerning us they themselves report what kind of entrance we had with you." It stresses less the Thessalonians' reception of Paul, as the NIV has it, than the success of Paul's visit, though obviously one implies the other. Paul will elaborate on this idea as he repeats eisodos in 2:1 (there translated as "visit" in the NIV) and discusses his experience with the Thessalonians at length in ch. 2-3.

Forsaking Idols to Serve the Living God (1:9b)

They tell how you turned to God from idols

That the messenger and his message cannot be separated is once more clear from the fact that Paul focuses again on the response to his preaching. The NIV accurately represents the redundancy of the Greek text which stresses that it is to God that the Thessalonians have turned. Here Paul draws upon Old Testament language (cf. Jer 10:1-10) to describe their conversion from paganism. The term "idols" stresses that the Thessalonians' worship had centered on images of multiple deities. In contrast, the God of Israel is one God (Deut 6:4), supreme and transcendent over all, and can never be represented as or reduced to an image (Deut 5:8-10). Other so-called "gods" are no gods at all; they are the imaginary creations of the people who worship them. Hence, the God of Israel is "living," in contrast to the lifeless pagan deities, and "true" or "genuine," in contrast to the false pagan gods.

to serve the living and true God,

As the only true God, the God of Israel possesses absolute authority; consequently, the only right response to him is "to serve." The Greek infinitive translated "to serve," douleuvein ( douleuein ), refers to the service of a slave to a master, stressing the obligation of the relationship, and is in the present tense, emphasizing that the service is continuing. For Paul such service is what makes a person truly free, for the alternative is slavery to sin, which yields death (Rom 6:15-23). Thus, Paul can comfortably describe Christians as God's children as well as his slaves (e.g., Rom 8:16). The virtues mentioned in v. 3 are obvious examples of the new service to the one true God.

In this contrast between the true God and idols lies the heart of the gospel's universal claim. The objects of pagan worship were generally conceived to have authority over a specific, limited realm, often thought to be tied to a particular place or people. The God of Israel, on the other hand, is Creator and Lord of all. Hence, his message of salvation is a message for all people, and so Paul seeks to proclaim that message to all.

The conversion of the Gentiles to faith in the one true God is viewed by the Old Testament as a significant part of God's great act of salvation in the last days (Isa 2:2-4; 25:6-8; 42:6; 49:6; Micah 4:1-3; Zech 8:20-23). Having been called especially to preach to the Gentiles, Paul saw his own ministry as a part of this great event. In this text, he offers the Thessalonians' conversion from paganism as further evidence that the gospel is genuine, for through the gospel God's promise to bring the nations to faith in him is being fulfilled.

This factor probably best explains Paul's emphasis in this passage on Gentile converts in the Thessalonian church. Many scholars have drawn attention to the fact that in Acts 17:1-9, Luke indicates that the Thessalonian church consisted of both Jews and Gentiles. Some have speculated that Paul writes 1 Thessalonians specifically to the Gentile segment of the Thessalonian church. This idea, however, would appear to be inconsistent with Paul's stress on the unity of Jew and Gentile in the church. Others have argued that Luke has overemphasized the Jewish element of the Thessalonian church because of his own theological interests. But resorting to this conclusion is unnecessary when Paul's purpose in 1 Thessalonians 1 is recognized.

At this point Paul continues to recount the experience of the Thessalonian Christians in order to remind them of the authenticity of the message that they have received. Since conversion of the Gentiles is, according to the Old Testament prophets, a result of God's end-time act of salvation, such conversions are another indication that the Thessalonians have put their faith in the true message of God. Paul thus neither denies that there are Jewish Christians in the Thessalonian church nor ignores them in this letter. Instead, he focuses here on Gentile converts as further evidence that the gospel of Jesus Christ is much more than mere words (v. 5).

Awaiting the Return of Jesus (1:10)

1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead -

This verse further specifies the object of the Thessalonians' faith. Verse 9 by itself could describe the conversion of a pagan to Judaism, and some have suggested that Paul is using language drawn from Jewish sources there. But here the content of the Thessalonians' faith is explicitly Christian: they believe not only in the true God but more specifically in Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead by God and now reigns with him from heaven, the place of universal authority. In this specific conviction the Thessalonian Christians, both Gentiles and Jews, would be distinct from all other people. The genuine gospel message assumes that there is one true God, but it focuses on what he has done in Jesus Christ, whom he raised from the dead and who will return for his people.

Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

But this verse serves to do more than distinguish the Thessalonians' faith from other groups'. It also explicates further the basis for the Thessalonians' steadfastness in suffering. Regardless of what happens to them, they have the assurance that they belong to the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Thus, God's power to overcome their own difficulties, including death itself, is guaranteed. Because Christ is presently in heaven, they have the assurance of his absolute and supreme power at work in their lives, even when outward circumstances would seem to indicate otherwise. Indeed, in times of persecution it may seem that the unbelievers have the best of it. But God's wrath is about to bring punishment on those who have rebelled against God's authority. The readers' own lives as pagans (v. 9) would make them objects of that same wrath, but through Jesus they have the assurance that they have been removed from the sphere of God's wrath and are instead numbered among his beloved people (v. 4). The word translated "deliver," rJuvomai ( rhyomai ) is not as common as sw/vzw (sôzô, "save") in Paul's letters, but when it does occur it emphasizes salvation from something - here, from God's wrath. The full realization of both the wrath of God and the deliverance from that wrath will occur when God's Son comes returns from heaven. So as they experience persecution in the present, the Thessalonian Christians can focus on that full realization in the future: they "wait" with confidence that God will finish the work which he began with Christ's resurrection and continues in them. As they wait for that consummation, the power that raised Jesus from the dead is continuing at work in them.

The concept of God's wrath is sometimes difficult to hold together with his love. Some mistakenly equate the concept of God's wrath with capricious human anger prompted by selfishness and pride. The biblical concept, however, is grounded in God's holiness and the consequent necessity that he punish sin. Wrath is thus God's consistent, just and holy response in bringing punishment for sin (cf. Rom 2:5,8; 3:5-6; 2 Thess 1:5-10). It is therefore necessarily God's wrath directly and personally, not some impersonal consequence of disaster that inevitably follows evil, as some have argued. Likewise, wrath is perfectly consistent with God's supreme desire to forgive sinners. Indeed, God's desire to bring forgiveness and the holy necessity that sin be punished are what make the cross necessary (Rom 3:25-26).

Paul saves the personal name "Jesus" for a point of emphasis in the sentence. In so doing he identifies unambiguously the one of whom he speaks. The Son of God raised from the dead and coming to rescue his people is Jesus of Nazareth, a figure of history known personally by Paul's contemporaries. That the gospel message is grounded in history is assumed by Paul at every point.

The connection between the Gentiles' conversion and Jesus' return is significant here. Jesus told his disciples that God's purpose of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles would be fulfilled prior to his return (Matt 24:14; Mark 13:10). From the Old Testament perspective, this preaching is an event of the end-time; from the post-Easter perspective, the end-time climaxes with Jesus' return.

This verse also announces a theme which will occupy an important portion of the letter. In 4:13-5:11 Paul will discuss further the significance of the Lord's coming, reminding the readers of teaching which they had already received and correcting their misunderstanding of certain points. Here, as in that later elaboration, we see that Paul's teaching on Christ's return is not a matter of esoteric doctrinal details; rather, it has an immediate and profound impact on the way that a believer responds to the difficulties of the present life.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

McGarvey: 1Th 1:3

remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father [Paul thanked God for the church at Thessalonica for its evidences of Christian life mentioned in the remainder of this section. In the words before us he sets forth their relations to the three cardinal Christian graces, or faith, hope and love (1Th 5:8 ; Col 1:4-5 ; 1Co 13:13). Their faith was not formal, barren and dead (Jam 2:20 ; Jam 2:26); but it actively worked, bringing their wills into obedience to the will of God (Rom 1:5 ; Rom 16:26); their love was not idle, but caused them to employ themselves in heartfelt toil for the welfare of others; and their hope in Christ sustained their souls, so that they endured all trials and persecutions, and were unyielding in their conflict with temptation and doubt. Thus, each in its own way, the three graces manifested themselves, and in such a way that it was evident that these graces were centered in, inspired by, and renewed of Christ, and viewed with approval by the Father];

McGarvey: 1Th 1:4

knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election ,

McGarvey: 1Th 1:5

how that our gospel [ours not by right of authorship, but of proclamation] came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake .

McGarvey: 1Th 1:6

And ye became imitators of us [1Co 11:1], and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction [Act 17:4-10], with joy of the Holy Spirit ;

McGarvey: 1Th 1:7

so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. [Continuing, Paul gives thanks that he has so much evidence of the election of the Thessalonians that it amounts to a practical knowledge of that election. This evidence is threefold: 1. The power with which he and his companions had felt endued when they preached the gospel in Thessalonica, for they had come not as vain "babblers" of empty words (Act 17:18 ; Act 17:32), but as messengers of God speaking truth powerful in itself, and additionally supplemented by the power of the Spirit. 2. The undaunted way in which the Thessalonians had received the gospel, despite the swiftness with which, they had fallen a prey to persecution. 3. The prompt manner in which the gospel had brought forth fruit in their lives. But what does Paul mean by election? Not that rigid, arbitrary choice of God first promulgated by Augustine, and afterwards emphasized by Calvin, for such doctrine was not then known. Such an absolute, unchangeable thing as Calvinistic election could only have been fittingly made known to an apostle by direct revelation, but Paul knew the election here spoken of by mere sensuous evidence. To elect means to choose, and the choosings of God do not annul the free will or agency of man. Thus Israel is chosen (Deu 7:6); yet afterwards cast off because of unbelief (Mat 8:11-12). Election is not made absolute by God; on the contrary, the choosing of God requires that we ourselves make our calling and election sure (2Pe 1:10); it does not make our salvation sure, for as supplemental to it we ourselves must still work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phi 2:12). We may make shipwreck of the faith to which we have been called or chosen (1Ti 1:19), and Paul's exhortations suggest that some of these elect in Thessalonica were in danger of doing this -- 1Th 4:1-8]

McGarvey: 1Th 1:8

For from you hath sounded forth [as the sonorous, soul-stirring blast of a trumpet] the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia [after its subjection by the Romans, all Greece was divided into two parts, of which. Macedonia was the northern, and Achaia the southern], but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything . [Thessalonica, being a seaport, had intercourse with all Greece, and with much of the then known world. News of the church in that place, and of the peculiar virtues that characterized it, soon spread through all Greece, and was borne by believers, and those interested in carrying such news, to the more remote parts of the earth. Though Paul had not been beyond the confines of Greece since his departure from Thessalonica, yet his experience in Greece leads him to speak by way of anticipation of parts as yet unvisited, and to represent the good news of the faith, etc., of the Thessalonians to have preceded him so that he had no need to say anything about it.]

McGarvey: 1Th 1:9

For they themselves [those to whom Paul came] report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God ,

McGarvey: 1Th 1:10

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come . [Paul had gone from Thessalonica to Athens, and from Athens to Corinth. He may have done considerable missionary work in the smaller villages about Corinth. Now, as he went about through Corinth and through these villages he found that instead of being permitted to tell of the good work which he had done at Corinth, he himself had to become a listener while strangers told him how he had preached the gospel there, and how those who had been for generations worshipers of dead idols had turned unto the living God, and those whose fathers had for centuries worshiped the imaginary gods of that Mount Olympus under whose shadow they dwelt, had suddenly become worshipers of the true God as revealed in Christ: thus becoming disciples of a religion which taught that Jesus was the Son of God, that he had been raised from the dead, that he had ascended to heaven, from whence he had promised to return to his waiting disciples, whom he keeps in a constant state of justification, so that they are delivered from every manifestation of the wrath of God, either now present or to be revealed at the last judgment.]

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: 1Th 1:5

God backs up His Word with power. When the unsaved ask for proof, we have it. If any person obeys the command to repent and trust Jesus Christ, he will experience the power of the gospel. God will transform him on the inside by giving him a new heart with new desires. Instead of drinking in iniquity like water, he will begin to thirst after righteousness. He will be born again. God will make him a new creature, all of which will give him " much assurance."

Evidence: 1Th 1:9

This reveals the essence of Paul’s message to the Thessalonians. He preached against their sin of idolatry (transgression of the First and Second Commandments). This is also the essence of his message to the Athenians (see Act 17:29 ).

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

First Thessalonians

From Corinth a.d. 50-51

By Way of Introduction

We cannot say that this is Paul’s first letter to a church, for in 2Th_2:2 he speaks of some as palming off letters as his and in 2Th_3:17 he says that he appends his own signature to every letter after dictating it to an amanuensis (Rom_16:22). We know of one lost letter (1Co_5:11) and perhaps another (2Co_2:3). But this is the earliest one that has come down to us and it may even be the earliest New Testament book, unless the Epistle of James antedates it or even Mark’s Gospel. We know, as already shown, that Paul was in Corinth and that Timothy and Silas had just arrived from Thessalonica (1Th_3:6; Act_18:5). They had brought supplies from the Macedonian churches to supply Paul’s need (2Co_11:9), as the church in Philippi did once and again while Paul was in Thessalonica (Phi_4:15.). Before Timothy and Silas came to Corinth Paul had to work steadily at his trade as tent-maker with Aquila and Priscilla (Act_18:3) and could only preach in the synagogue on sabbaths, but the rich stores from Macedonia released his hands and " Paul devoted himself to the word" ( suneicheto tōi logōi Paulos ). He gave himself wholly to preaching now. But Timothy and Silas brought news of serious trouble in the church in Thessalonica. Some of the disciples there had misunderstood Paul’s preaching about the second coming of Christ and had quit work and were making a decided disturbance on the subject. Undoubtedly Paul had touched upon eschatological matters while in Thessalonica. The Jewish leaders at Thessalonica charged it against Paul and Silas to the politarchs that they had preached another king, Jesus, in place of Caesar. Paul had preached Jesus as King of the spiritual kingdom which the Jews misrepresented to the politarchs as treason against Caesar as the Sanhedrin had done to Pilate about Jesus. Clearly Paul had said also that Jesus was going to come again according to his own promise before his ascension. Some asserted that Paul said Jesus was going to come right away and drew their own inferences for idleness and fanaticism as some do today. Strange as it may seem, there are scholars today who say that Paul did believe and say that Jesus was going to come back right away. They say this in spite of 2Th_2:1. where Paul denies having ever said it. Undoubtedly Paul hoped for the early return of Jesus as most of the early Christians did, but that is a very different thing from setting a time for his coming. It is open to us all to hope for the speedy return of Christ, but times and seasons are with God and not with us. It is not open to us to excuse our negligence and idleness as Christians because of such a hope. That hope should serve as a spur to increased activity for Christ in order to hasten his coming. So Paul writes this group of Epistles to correct gross misapprehension and misrepresentation of his preaching about last things (eschatology). It is a rare preacher who has never been misunderstood or misrepresented.

JFB: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

The AUTHENTICITY of this Epistle is attested by IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 5.6.1], quoting 1Th 5:23; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [The Instructor, 1.88], quoting 1Th 2:7; TERTULLIAN [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 24], quoting 1Th 5:1; CAIUS in EUSEBIUS' Ecclesiastical History [6.20]; ORIGEN [Against Celsus, 3].

The OBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.--Thessalonica was at this time capital of the Roman second district of Macedonia [LIVY, Histories, 45.29]. It lay on the bay of Therme, and has always been, and still is, under its modern name Saloniki, a place of considerable commerce. After his imprisonment and scourging at Philippi, Paul (1Th 2:2) passed on to Thessalonica; and in company with Silas (Act 17:1-9) and Timotheus (Act 16:3; Act 17:14, compare with 1Th 1:1; 1Th 3:1-6; 2Th 1:1) founded the Church there. The Jews, as a body, rejected the Gospel when preached for three successive sabbaths (Act 17:2); but some few "believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout (that is, proselytes to Judaism) Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." The believers received the word joyfully, notwithstanding trials and persecutions (1Th 1:6; 1Th 2:13) from their own countrymen and from the Jews (1Th 2:14-16). His stay at Thessalonica was doubtless not limited to the three weeks in which were the three sabbaths specified in Act 17:2; for his laboring there with his hands for his support (1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8), his receiving supplies there more than once from Philippi (Phi 4:16), his making many converts from the Gentiles (1Th 1:9; and as two oldest manuscripts read, Act 17:4, "of the devout and of the Greeks a great multitude," Act 17:4), and his appointing ministers--all imply a longer residence. Probably as at Pisidian Antioch (Act 13:46), at Corinth (Act 18:6-7), and at Ephesus (Act 19:8-9), having preached the Gospel to the Jews, when they rejected it, he turned to the Gentiles. He probably thenceforth held the Christian meetings in the house of Jason (Act 17:5), perhaps "the kinsman" of Paul mentioned in Rom 16:21. His great subject of teaching to them seems to have been the coming and kingdom of Christ, as we may infer from 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:12, 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:13-18; 1Th 5:1-11, 1Th 5:23-24; and that they should walk worthy of it (1Th 2:12; 1Th 4:1). And it is an undesigned coincidence between the two Epistles and Act 17:5, Act 17:9, that the very charge which the assailants of Jason's house brought against him and other brethren was, "These do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." As in the case of the Lord Jesus Himself (Joh 18:33-37; Joh 19:12; compare Mat 26:64), they perverted the doctrine of the coming kingdom of Christ into a ground for the charge of treason against Cæsar. The result was, Paul and Silas were obliged to flee under the cover of night to Berea; Timothy had probably preceded him (Act 17:10, Act 17:14). But the Church had been planted, and ministers appointed; nay, more, they virtually became missionaries themselves for which they possessed facilities in the extensive commerce of their city, and both by word and example were extending the Gospel in Macedonia, Achaia, and elsewhere (1Th 1:7-8). From Berea, also. Paul, after having planted a Scripture-loving Church, was obliged to flee by the Thessalonian Jews who followed him thither. Timothy (who seems to have come to Berea separately from Paul and Silas, compare Act 17:10, with Act 17:14) and Silas remained there still, when Paul proceeded by sea to Athens. While there he more than once longed to visit the Thessalonians again, and see personally their spiritual state, and "perfect that which was lacking in their faith" (1Th 3:10); but (probably using the Thessalonian Jews as his instruments, Joh 13:27) "Satan hindered" him (1Th 2:18; compare Act 17:13). He therefore sent Timotheus, who seems to have followed him to Athens from Berea (Act 17:15), immediately on his arrival to Thessalonica (1Th 3:1); glad as he would have been of Timothy's help in the midst of the cavils of Athenian opponents, he felt he must forego that help for the sake of the Thessalonian Church. Silas does not seem to have come to Paul at Athens at all, though Paul had desired him and Timothy to "come to him with all speed" (Act 17:15); but seems with Timothy (who from Thessalonica called for him at Berea) to have joined Paul at Corinth first; compare Act 18:1, Act 18:5, "When Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia." The Epistle makes no mention of Silas at Athens, as it does of Timothy (1Th 3:1).

Timothy's account of the Thessalonian Church was highly favorable. They abounded in faith and charity and reciprocated his desire to see them (1Th 3:6-10). Still, as nothing human on earth is perfect, there were some defects. Some had too exclusively dwelt on the doctrine of Christ's coming kingdom, so as to neglect the sober-minded discharge of present duties (1Th 4:11-12). Some who had lost relatives by death, needed comfort and instruction in their doubts as to whether they who died before Christ's coming would have a share with those found alive in His kingdom then to be revealed. Moreover, also, there had been committed among them sins against chastity and sobriety (1Th 5:5-7), as also against charity (1Th 4:3-10; 1Th 5:13, 1Th 5:15). There were, too, symptoms in some of want of respectful love and subordination to their ministers; others treated slightingly the manifestations of the Spirit in those possessing His gifts (1Th 5:19). To give spiritual admonition on these subjects, and at the same time commend what deserved commendation, and to testify his love to them, was the object of the Epistle.

The PLACE OF WRITING IT was doubtless Corinth, where Timothy and Silas rejoined him (Act 18:5) soon after he arrived there (compare 1Th 2:17) in the autumn of A.D. 52.

The TIME OF WRITING was evidently immediately after having received from Timothy the tidings of their state (1Th 3:6) in the winter of A.D. 52, or early in 53. For it was written not long after the conversion of the Thessalonians (1Th 1:8-9), while Paul could speak of himself as only taken from them for a short season (1Th 2:17). Thus this Epistle was first in date of all Paul's extant Epistles. The Epistle is written in the joint names of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the three founders of the Thessalonian Church. The plural first person "we," is used everywhere, except in 1Th 2:18; 1Th 3:5; 1Th 5:27. "We" is the true reading, 1Th 4:13. The English Version "I," in 1Th 4:9 1Th 5:1, 1Th 5:23, is not supported by the original [EDMUNDS].

The STYLE is calm and equable, in accordance with the subject matter, which deals only with Christian duties in general, taking for granted the great doctrinal truths which were not as yet disputed. There was no deadly error as yet to call forth his more vehement bursts of feeling and impassioned argument. The earlier Epistles, as we should expect, are moral and practical. It was not until Judaistic and legalizing errors arose at a later period that he wrote those Epistles (for example, Romans and Galatians) which unfold the cardinal doctrines of grace and justification by faith. Still, later the Epistles from his Roman prison confirm the same truths. And last of all, the Pastoral Epistles are suited to the more developed ecclesiastical constitution of the Church, and give directions as to bishops and deacons, and correct abuses and errors of later growth.

The prevalence of the Gentile element in this Church is shown by the fact that these two Epistles are among the very few of Paul's writings in which no quotation occurs from the Old Testament.

JFB: 1 Thessalonians (Outline)

• ADDRESS: SALUTATION: HIS PRAYERFUL THANKSGIVING FOR THEIR FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE. THEIR FIRST RECEPTION OF THE GOSPEL, AND THEIR GOOD INFLUENCE ON ALL AROUND. (1Th 1:1-10)
• HIS MANNER OF PREACHING, AND THEIRS OF RECEIVING, THE GOSPEL; HIS DESIRE TO HAVE REVISITED THEM FRUSTRATED BY SATAN. (1Th. 2:1-20)
• PROOF OF HIS DESIRE AFTER THEM IN HIS HAVING SENT TIMOTHY: HIS JOY AT THE TIDINGS BROUGHT BACK CONCERNING THEIR FAITH AND CHARITY: PRAYERS FOR THEM. (1Th 3:1-13)
• EXHORTATIONS TO CHASTITY; BROTHERLY LOVE; QUIET INDUSTRY; ABSTINENCE FROM UNDUE SORROW FOR DEPARTED FRIENDS, FOR AT CHRIST'S COMING ALL HIS SAINTS SHALL BE GLORIFIED. (1Th. 4:1-18)
• THE SUDDENNESS OF CHRIST'S COMING A MOTIVE FOR WATCHFULNESS; VARIOUS PRECEPTS: PRAYER FOR THEIR BEING FOUND BLAMELESS, BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT, AT CHRIST'S COMING: CONCLUSION. (1Th. 5:1-28)

TSK: 1 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

1Th 1:1, The Thessalonians are given to understand both how mindful of them Saint Paul was at all time in thanksgiving, and prayer; 1Th 1:5, and also how well he was persuaded of the truth and sincerity of their faith and conversion to God.

MHCC: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

This epistle is generally considered to have been the first of those written by St. Paul. The occasion seems to have been the good report of the stedfastness of the church at Thessalonica in the faith of the gospel. It is full of affection and confidence, and more consolatory and practical, and less doctrinal, than some of the other epistles.

MHCC: 1 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

(1Th 1:1-5) The faith, love, and patience of the Thessalonians, are evident tokens of their election which was manifested in the power with which the gospel came to them.

(1Th 1:6-10) Its powerful and exemplary effects upon their hearts and lives.

Matthew Henry: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Epistle of st. Paul to the Thessalonians

Thessalonica was formerly the metropolis of Macedonia; it is now called Salonichi, and is the best peopled, and one of the best towns for commerce, in the Levant. The apostle Paul, being diverted from his design of going into the provinces of Asia, properly so called, and directed after an extraordinary manner to preach the gospel in Macedonia (Act 16:9, Act 16:10), in obedience to the call of God went from Troas to Samothracia, thence to Neapolis, and thence to Philippi, where he had good success in his ministry, but met with hard usage, being cast into prison with Silas his companion in travel and labour, from which being wonderfully delivered, they comforted the brethren there, and departed. Passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where the apostle planted a church that consisted of some believing Jews and many converted Gentiles, Act 17:1-4. But a tumult being raised in the city by the unbelieving Jews, and the lewd and baser sort of the inhabitants, Paul and Silas, for their safety, were sent away by night unto Berea, and afterwards Paul was conducted to Athens, leaving Silas and Timotheus behind him, but sent directions that they should come to him with all speed. When they came, Timotheus was sent to Thessalonica, to enquire after their welfare and to establish them in the faith (1Th 3:2), and, returning to Paul while he tarried at Athens, was sent again, together with Silas, to visit the churches in Macedonia. So that Paul, being left at Athens alone (1Th 3:1), departed thence to Corinth, where he continued a year and a half, in which time Silas and Timotheus returned to him from Macedonia (Act 18:5), and then he wrote this epistle to the church of Christ at Thessalonica, which, though it is placed after the other epistles of this apostle, is supposed to be first in time of all Paul's epistles, and to be written about a.d. 51. The main scope of it is to express the thankfulness of this apostle for the good success his preaching had among them, to establish them in the faith, and persuade them to a holy conversation.

Matthew Henry: 1 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

After the introduction (1Th 1:1) the apostle begins with a thanksgiving to God for the saving benefits bestowed on them (1Th 1:2-5). And then mentions the sure evidences of the good success of the gospel among them, which was notorious and famous in several other places (1Th 1:6-10).

Barclay: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227). It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church, and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time, there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36.)

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who would Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation.... He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added Ws own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end). In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me." (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 .)

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS TO THE THESSALONIANS

Paul Comes To Macedonia

For anyone who can read between the lines the story of Paulcoming to Macedonia is one of the most dramatic in the book of Acts. Luke, with supreme economy of words, tells it in Act_16:6-10 . Short as that narrative is, it gives the impression of a chain of circumstances inescapably culminating in one supreme event. Paul had passed through Phrygia and Galatia and ahead of him lay the Hellespont. To the left lay the teeming province of Asia, to the right stretched the great province of Bithynia; but the Spirit would allow him to enter neither. There was something driving him relentlessly on to the Aegean Sea. So he came to Alexandrian Troas, still uncertain where he ought to go; and then there came to him a vision in the night of a man who cried, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." Paul set sail, and for the first time the gospel came to Europe.

One World

At that moment Paul must have seen much more than a continent for Christ. It was in Macedonia that he landed; and Macedonia was the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who had conquered the world and wept because there were no more worlds left to conquer. But Alexander was much more than a military conqueror. He was almost the first universalist. He was more a missionary than a soldier; and he dreamed of one world dominated and enlightened by the culture of Greece. Even so great a thinker as Aristotle had said that it was a plain duty to treat Greeks as free men and orientals as slaves; but Alexander declared that he had been sent by God "to unite, to pacify and to reconcile the whole world." Deliberately he had said that it was his aim "to marry the East to the West." He had dreamed of an Empire in which there was neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian or Scythian, bond or free (Col_3:11 ). It is hard to see how Alexander could have failed to be in Paulthoughts. Paul left from Alexandrian Troas which was called after Alexander; he came to Macedonia which was Alexanderoriginal kingdom; he worked at Philippi which was called after Philip, Alexanderfather; he went on to Thessalonica which was called after Alexanderhalf-sister. The whole territory was saturated with memories of Alexander; and Paul must surely have thought, not of a country nor of a continent, but of a world for Christ.

Paul Comes To Thessalonica

This sense of the wide-stretching arms of Christianity must have been accentuated when Paul came to Thessalonica. It was a great city. Its original name was Thermal, which means The Hot Springs, and it gave its name to the Thermaic Gulf on which it stood. Six hundred years ago Herodotus had described it as a great city. It has always been a famous harbour. It was there that Xerxes the Persian had his naval base when he invaded Europe; and even in Roman times it was one of the worldgreat dockyards. In 315 B.C. Cassander had rebuilt the city and renamed it Thessalonica, the name of his wife, who was a daughter of Philip of Macedon and a half-sister of Alexander the Great. It was a free city; that is to say it had never suffered the indignity of having Roman troops quartered within it. It had its own popular assembly and its own magistrates. Its population rose to 200,000 and for a time it was a question whether it or Constantinople would be recognized as the capital of the world. Even today, under the name Salonika, it has 70,000 inhabitants.

But the supreme importance of Thessalonica lay in this--it straddled the Via Egnatia, the Egnatian Road, which stretched from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic to Constantinople on the Bosphorus and thence away to Asia Minor and the East. Its main street was part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. East and West converged on Thessalonica; it was said to be "in the lap of the Roman Empire." Trade poured into her from East and West, so that it was said, "So long as nature does not change, Thessalonica will remain wealthy and prosperous."

It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was settled there, it was bound to spread East along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered and West until it stormed even the city of Rome. The coming of Christianity to Thessalonica was crucial in the making of it into a world religion.

PaulStay At Thessalonica

The story of Paulstay at Thessalonica is in Act_17:1-10 . Now, for Paul, what happened at Thessalonica was of supreme importance. He preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths (Act_17:2 ) which means that his stay there could not have been much more than three weeks in length. He had such tremendous success that the Jews were enraged and raised so much trouble that Paul had to be smuggled out, in peril of his life, to Beroea. The same thing happened in Beroea (Act_17:10-12 ) and Paul had to leave Timothy and Silas behind and make his escape to Athens. What exercised his mind was this. He had been in Thessalonica only three weeks. Was it possible to make such an impression on a place in three weeksime that Christianity was planted so deeply that it could never again be uprooted? If so, it was by no means an idle dream that the Roman Empire might yet be won for Christ. Or was it necessary to settle down and work for months, even years, before an impression could be made? In that event, no man could even dimly foresee when Christianity would penetrate all over the world. Thessalonica was a test case; and Paul was torn with anxiety to know how it would turn out.

News From Thessalonica

So anxious was Paul that, when Timothy joined him at Athens, he sent him back to Thessalonica to get the information without which he could not rest (1Th_3:1-2 , 1Th_3:5 ; 1Th_2:17 ). What news did Timothy bring back? There was good news. The affection of the Thessalonians for Paul was as strong as ever; and they were standing fast in the faith (1Th_2:14 ; 1Th_3:4-6 ; 1Th_4:9-10 ). They were indeed "his glory and Ws joy" (1Th_2:20 ). But there was worrying news.

(i) The preaching of the Second Coming had produced an unhealthy situation in which people had stopped working and had abandoned all ordinary pursuits to await the Second Coming with a kind of hysterical expectancy. So Paul tells them to be quiet and to get on with their work (1Th_4:11 ).

(ii) They were worried about what was to happen to those who died before the Second Coming arrived. Paul explains that those who fall asleep in Jesus will miss none of the glory (1Th_4:13-18 ).

(iii) There was a tendency to despise all lawful authority; the argumentative Greek was always in danger of producing a democracy run mad (1Th_5:12-14 ).

(iv) There was the ever-present danger that they would relapse into immorality. It was hard to unlearn the point of view of generations and to escape the contagion of the heathen world (1Th_4:3-8 ).

(v) There was at least a section who slandered Paul. They hinted that he preached the gospel for what he could get out of it (1Th_2:5 , 1Th_2:9 ); and that he was something of a dictator (1Th_2:6-7 , 1Th_2:11 ).

(vi) There was a certain amount of division in the Church (1Th_4:9 ; 1Th_5:13 ).

These were the problems with which Paul had to deal; and they show that human nature has not changed so very much.

Why Two Letters?

We must ask why there are two letters. They art, very much alike and they must have been written within weeks, perhaps days of each other. The second letter was written mainly to clear up a misconception about the Second Coming. The first letter insists that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and urges watchfulness (1Th_5:2 ; 1Th_5:6 ). But this produced the unhealthy situation where men did nothing but watch and wait; and in the second letter Paul explains what signs must come first before the Second Coming should come (2Th_2:3-12 ). The Thessalonians had got their ideas about the Second Coming out of proportion. As so often happens to a preacher, Paulpreaching had been misunderstood, and certain phrases had been taken out of context and over-emphasized; and the second letter seeks to put things back in their proper balance and to correct the thoughts of the excited Thessalonians regarding the Second Coming. Of course, Paul takes occasion in the second letter to repeat and to stress much of the good advice and rebuke he had given in the first, but its main aim is to tell them certain things which will calm their hysteria and make them wait, not in excited idleness, but in patient and diligent attendance to the daywork. In these two letters we see Paul solving the day to day problems which arose in the expanding Church.

FURTHER READINGS

Thessalonians

J. E. Frame, Thessalonians (ICC; G)

G. Milligan, St. PaulEpistles to the Thessalonians (MmC; G)

W. Neil, The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians (MC; E)

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: 1 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Love's Introduction (1Th_1:1-10)

Constable: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

Thessalonica was an important city. Cassander, the Macedonian king, founded it in 315 B.C. and named it for his wife, who was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. It was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, and it stood on the Via Egnatia, the Roman highway to the East. It was a self-governing community with enough Jews in residence to warrant a synagogue (Acts 17:1).

Paul first visited Thessalonica during his second missionary journey with Silas and Timothy. They had just left prison in Philippi and made their way southward to Thessalonica. For at least three Sabbath days Paul reasoned in the synagogue with those present, and many believed the gospel (Acts 17:2). However, he probably ministered in Thessalonica for a longer time than just three weeks in view of what he wrote that he had done there (e.g., 1 Thess. 2:9; cf. Phil. 4:15-16).¹ Those who responded to the message of Christ's sufferings and resurrection (Acts 17:3, 7) were Jews (Acts 17:4) and God-fearing proselytes to Judaism. There were also some leading women of the city and many idol-worshipping pagans (Acts 17:4-5).

"If Macedonia produced perhaps the most competent group of men the world had yet seen, the women were in all respects the men's counterparts; they played a large part in affairs, received envoys and obtained concessions from them for their husbands, built temples, founded cities, engaged mercenaries, commanded armies, held fortresses, and acted on occasion as regents or even co-rulers."²

When the unbelieving Jews heard of the conversion of the proselytes, whom they were discipling, they stirred up a gang of roughnecks who attacked the house of Jason. Paul had been staying with him. Unable to find the missionaries the mob dragged Jason before the magistrates who simply charged him to keep the peace. Convinced of the danger for Paul and Jason the Christians sent Paul and Silas away from the city by night to Berea (Acts 17:10).

Paul and his party began their evangelistic work in Berea in the synagogue, as was their custom. However when many Jews there believed, the Thessalonian Jews came down to Berea and stirred up more trouble (Acts 17:10-13). The Berean Christians sent Paul away to Athens, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea (Acts 17:14). Having been sent for by Paul, Silas and Timothy joined Paul in Athens, but he soon sent Silas back to Philippi and or Berea, and Timothy back to Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:1-3; Acts 17:15). Later both men returned to Paul while he was practicing his trade in Corinth (Acts 18:3, 5) with a gift from the Christians in those Macedonian towns (2 Cor. 11:9; cf. Phil. 4:15).

Timothy's report of conditions in the Thessalonian church led Paul to write this epistle. Some of the Thessalonians apparently believed that Jesus Christ was about to return momentarily and had consequently given up their jobs and had become disorderly (cf. 1 Thess. 4:11; 5:14). Some worried about what had happened to their loved ones who had died before the Lord had returned (4:13, 18). Persecution from the Gentiles as well as the Jews still oppressed the believers (2:17-3:10) who were nevertheless holding fast to the truth and eager to see Paul again (3:6-8). Some outside the church, however, remained hostile to Paul (2:1-12). There appears to have been some misuse of spiritual gifts in the assembly as well as an unfortunate tendency on the part of some to return to their former habits involving sexual impurity (4:1-8; 5:19-21).

It seems clear that Paul wrote this epistle shortly after he arrived in Corinth (1:7-9; 2:17; 3:1, 6; Acts 18:5, 12), about 51 A.D. If one follows the early dating of Galatians, as I have suggested, this epistle would have been Paul's second inspired writing. If Paul penned Galatians after the second missionary journey, 1 Thessalonians could have been his first inspired epistle.³ However the first option seems more probable.⁴

A few scholars have suggested that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians before he wrote 1 Thessalonians.⁵ This is not as improbable as may appear at first since the traditional sequence of Pauline letters to churches rests on length rather than date. Nonetheless this theory has not convinced most scholars.⁶

Purpose

In view of this epistle's contents, Paul had at least three purposes in mind when he wrote it. First, he wanted to encourage the Christians in Thessalonica who were making good progress in their new faith (1:2-10). Second, he desired to correct misinformation about himself and his fellow missionaries that some of his critics in Thessalonica were circulating (2:1-3:13). Third, he wrote to give additional instruction that would contribute to the Thessalonians' spiritual growth (4:1-5:24).

"Far and away the largest theological contribution of the Epistles [1 and 2 Thessalonians] lies in what they say about eschatology."⁷

". . . over a quarter of 1 Thessalonians and nearly half of 2 Thessalonians deal with problems and issues regarding the parousia or coming of Christ from heaven."⁸

"The Thessalonian letters present the first literary evidence for the use of parousia . . . in the sense of the future Advent of Christ: it occurs in this sense six times in the two letters. The event is depicted repeatedly in language borrowed from portrayals of OT theophanies. But it is the ethical implications that are chiefly stressed: the writers look forward to the Parousia especially as the time when their service will be reviewed and rewarded by the Lord who commissioned them, and they will be content, they say, to have it assessed by the quality of their converts."⁹

Message¹⁰

In this epistle there is evidence that Paul had conflicting emotions regarding the new church in Thessalonica. On the one hand he was joyful and satisfied with what God had accomplished. On the other hand he felt concern about the perils in which the new Christians lived.

This letter differs from most of Paul's others in that it does not deal primarily with a doctrinal issue or a departure in belief or behavior. While the teaching on the Rapture of the church is definitely a doctrinal contribution, Paul did not write primarily to expound that truth or to defend it. He simply clarified the events he had previously taught them. The new revelation is in a sense secondary to Paul's argument. Nevertheless it is obvious that the Lord's return was prominent in Paul's mind from beginning to end of this letter. He referred to it in every chapter.

Paul wrote this epistle primarily to comfort and to encourage those who were suffering for their Lord. Their hope was an essential emphasis in view of this purpose (cf. 1 Pet.).

The epistle deals with the hope of the Lord's return as this relates to Christian experience.

Paul took the fact of the Lord's return for granted. He did not feel compelled to try to prove it. His belief that Jesus would return for His own is obvious to anyone who reads this letter regardless of his or her eschatology. Paul believed in a real return of the same Jesus who had lived on the earth, died, was buried, arose from the dead, and ascended into heaven (cf. 4:16). First Thessalonians deals with when the Lord will return. The larger emphasis in 1 Thessalonians, however, is that He will return.

In relation to Christian experience the return of Christ is the final argument that produces faith. When Paul preached the gospel in Thessalonica, he proclaimed that the Christ who had come would come again (1:9-10). His converts were to wait for Him. They had turned from belief in visible idols to an invisible God. Paul urged them to wait with the assurance that they would see their God visibly soon. They turned from disorder to the hope of divine rule, from spiritual anarchy to the hope of an orderly kingdom. Christians trust in Christ's first coming and wait for His return. Without the hope of Christ's vindication the message of His death is incomplete. I do not mean that the return of Christ is part of the gospel message. However without the hope of Christ's return the gospel message is harder to accept. The return of Christ is the final argument that produces faith in this sense. It is an apologetic for Christianity.

In relation to Christian experience the return of Christ is, second, the abiding confidence that inspires labor (1:9). The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living God. Their reward for service would come at His return. That would be their payday. Paul referred to his readers as his own reward for service at Christ's return (2:19-20). A little of our reward comes to us here and now, but the great bulk of it awaits the judgment seat of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58). When those we have led to Christ and discipled experience glorification, our reward will be full. This prospect is what so forcefully motivated Paul in his tireless missionary service.

Third, in relation to Christian experience the return of Christ is the ultimate victory that creates patience (3:13). The conviction that we will experience ultimate victory at the Rapture produces patience in the believer (cf. 5:14b). We can be patient about our own slow growth knowing that eventual glorification will take place. Furthermore we can be patient with God knowing that God will balance the scales of justice and vindicate Himself. One day Christ will return just as one day He was born. Both events are crises in history. They are high points not built up to gradually but introduced as cataclysms.

Thus the return of Christ is the final argument producing faith, the abiding confidence inspiring labor, and the ultimate victory creating patience. In the introduction to this epistle Paul said he remembered his readers' work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope (1:3). Faith, hope, and love are the three greatest attributes of the Christian life, and they are possible because Christ will return.

This epistle also helps us understand how we should respond to the truth that Christ will return.

First, in our own life we should respond with godly behavior: personal purity, love for the brethren, and honesty in the world. Christ's return should have a purifying effect in every one of these areas of our life (ch. 4).

Second, in the face of death there is a two-fold response. There is comfort for the bereaved in particular (4:14).

Also there is comfort for all the living (4:18).

Third, in view of judgment to come our response should be confidence. We will not experience God's wrath, but He will deliver us from it in all its manifestations.

Failure to accept the truth of the Lord's return results in unbelief and a return to idols.

It results in indolence that leads to strife.

Furthermore it results in impatience that leads to sin. These are the very opposite of the work of faith, the labor of love, and the patience of hope.

The light of this great doctrine underwent an eclipse during the history of the church. It only came out into prominence again in the nineteenth century. We at Dallas Seminary follow in the train of those dispensational writers and teachers who through careful study of the whole Word of God have brought this doctrine back out into public view. Satan would like to silence this emphasis because the hope of Christ's return is one of the greatest motivations for Christian service and sacrifice. The sanctification of the whole person (spirit, soul, and body) consists in active waiting for Jesus to return (5:23). I pray that as a result of this study of 1 Thessalonians we may all live with a greater conscious awareness of Christ's return.

Outline¹¹

I. Salutation and greeting 1:1

II. Personal commendations and explanations 1:2-3:13

A. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians 1:2-10

1. Summary statement 1:2-3

2. Specific reasons 1:4-10

B. Reminders for the Thessalonians 2:1-16

1. How the gospel was delivered 2:1-12

2. How the gospel was received 2:13-16

C. Concerns for the Thessalonians 2:17-3:13

1. Desires to see them again 2:17-3:5

2. Joy on hearing about them 3:6-13

III. Practical instructions and exhortations 4:1-5:24

A. Christian living 4:1-12

1. Continued growth 4:1-2

2. Sexual purity 4:3-8

3. Brotherly love 4:9-12

B. The Rapture 4:13-18

C. Personal watchfulness 5:1-11

D. Church life 5:12-15

1. Attitudes toward leaders 5:12-13

2. Relationships among themselves 5:14-15

E. Individual behavior 5:16-24

1. Personal actions and attitudes 5:16-18

2. Actions and attitudes in corporate living 5:19-22

3. Divine enablement 5:23-24

IV. Conclusion 5:25-28

Constable: 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians

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Thomas, Robert L. "1 Thessalonians." In Ephesians--Philemon. Vol. 11 of Expositor's Bible Commentary. 12 vols. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978.

Wall, Joe L. Going for the Gold. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Wallace, Daniel B. "A Textual Problem in 1 Thessalonians 1:10: Ek tes Orges vs Apo tes Orges." Bibliotheca Sacra 147:588 (October-December 1990):470-79.

Walvoord, John F. The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation. Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.

_____. The Rapture Question. Findlay, Oh.: Dunham Publishing Co., 1957.

_____. "The Resurrection of Israel." Bibliotheca Sacra 124:493 (January-March 1967):3-15.

_____. The Thessalonian Epistles. Study Guide series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.

Wanamaker, Charles A. The Epistles to the Thessalonians. New International Greek Testament Commentary series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., and Exeter, Eng.: Paternoster Press, 1990.

White, R. Fowler. "Does God Speak Today Apart from the Bible? In The Coming Evangelical Crisis, pp. 77-90. Edited by John H. Armstrong. Chicago: Moody Press, 1996.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Ready. BE Books series. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1980.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE THESSALONIANS.

INTRODUCTION.

St. Paul having preached with success at Thessalonica, the chief city of Macedonia, wrote to the this letter, to confirm them in the Christian faith and in the practice of virtue. This, in order, is the first epistle of St. Paul. He wrote it about the year fifty-two, as it is thought, from Corinth. (Witham) --- St. Paul having preached the gospel in this place, converted some Jews and a great number of Gentiles; but the unbelieving Jews, envying his success, raised such a commotion against him, that he and his companion Silvanus were obliged to quit the city. Afterwards he went to Athens, where he had heard that the converts in Thessalonica were under severe persecution ever since his departure; and lest they should lose their fortitude, he sent Timothy to strengthen and comfort them in their sufferings. In the mean time St. Paul came to Corinth, where he wrote this first epistle and also the second to the Thessalonians, both in the same year, being the nineteenth after our Lord's ascension. (Challoner) --- St. Paul preached the faith in this city, assisted by Silas and Silvanus, whose name is joined with the apostle's in this letter. See Acts xvii. Being driven away from this city by the violence of the Jews, he left Timothy and Silas in Macedonia, to confirm the new converts in their faith. But having afterwards called them to him, and hearing of their constancy and perseverance, he writes this epistle to encourage them and praise them. It is the first in time of all St. Paul's epistles, and filled with the most affectionate expressions of love and tenderness for his spiritual children in Jesus Christ. In the latter part of the epistle, he gives some short instructions concerning the state of souls after death, and the coming of the last day; as his companions had informed him that strange reports concerning these two articles were in circulation at Thessalonica, to the disturbance of the faithful. (Calmet, Estius, and others.) --- The first three chapters are to confirm and comfort the Thessalonians against the temptations of persecution; the other two are to exhort them to live up to the precepts he delivers them.

====================

Gill: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 THESSALONIANS

Thessalonica was a very large, populous, and flourishing city, it was "liberae conditionis", as Pliny says ^a, a free city, and the metropolis of Macedonia; it was formerly called Halis ^b, and had the name of Thessalonica given it by Philip king of Macedon, on account of his conquest of Thessalia, which this name signifies; and some say he gave this name to a daughter of his on that occasion, who was afterwards the wife of Cassander; who, others say, called this place by his wife's name ^c, which before was Therme: its name with the Italians is Salonichi, and is now in the hands of the Turks, as all Greece is: here the Apostle Paul came after he had been at Philippi, and stayed about three weeks, and preached every sabbath day, and his ministry was blessed to the conversion of some Jews, a multitude of devout Greeks, and many of the chief women of the place, which laid the foundation of a Gospel church; to which the apostle wrote this epistle, and is the first of all the epistles he wrote: the occasion of it was this; the unbelieving Jews, vexed to see the apostle's success, raised a mob of the baser sort of people, and assaulted the house of Jason, where the apostle and his companions were; but Paul and Silas were sent away by night to Berea, which the rabble understanding, followed them thither; when Paul was sent as if he was going to the sea, but was conducted by the brethren to Athens, who gave orders that Silas and Timothy should come to him with all speed, as they did; and Timothy was sent back to Thessalonica to establish and comfort the young converts there; and returning with good news of their faith, and charity, to the apostle at Corinth, he sent them from thence this epistle, and not from Athens, as some have thought: the design of which is to encourage them under their afflictions and sufferings; to exhort them to stand fast in the Lord, to abide by his truths and ordinances, and to live an holy life and conversation, and to regard the several duties of religion, towards God and one another, and those that were set over them; and in it he instructs them concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the coming of Christ, articles of very great importance and concern: the writing of this epistle is placed by Dr. Lightfoot in the 51st year of Christ, and in the 11th of Claudius Caesar.

Gill: 1 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 THESSALONIANS 1

This chapter contains the inscription of the epistle; the apostle's salutation of the persons it is written to; his thanksgiving for blessings received by them; an account of the manner in which the Gospel came to them, how they behaved when it was preached to them, and of the success of it in their conversion. The inscription which expresses the names of the persons concerned in the epistle, and describes those to whom it is written, and also the salutation, which is the same as in other epistles, are in 1Th 1:1 and then follows a thanksgiving to God made in prayer to him for the special graces of the Spirit bestowed on them, as faith, hope, and love, and the lively exercise of them in which they were; the source and spring of which was the electing love of God, 1Th 1:2 and the evidence of their election of God to the apostle, was the manner in which the Gospel came to them; not merely in the external ministry of it, but in the internal efficacy of it, through the power of the Holy Ghost, 1Th 1:5 and the effects of it upon them; it found an hearty reception among them, in much affliction, and with joy of the Holy Ghost; so that they not only professed it, and became the followers of Christ and his apostles, but were examples unto others, 1Th 1:6 for the fame of the Gospel being preached unto them, and of their faith, were spread everywhere, so that the apostle had no need to say anything about it, 1Th 1:8 the manner of their entrance among them, and the issue of it, their conversion, were so manifest to all; which is described by what they were turned from, idols; and by what they were turned to, the living God; and by the ends of it, which were to serve God, and wait for Jesus Christ; the arguments engaging to which are, his relation to God as his Son, his being raised from the dead by him; his being in heaven, exalted at his right hand there, from whence he is expected; and his having, by his sufferings and death, delivered his people from wrath to come, 1Th 1:9.

College: 1 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

FOREWORD

This commentary has been produced through a full schedule of college and seminary teaching and church-based ministry. In the current climate of biblical studies, that schedule has necessitated some compromises. Journal articles, scholarly monographs and commentaries are today so numerous that the person who wants to keep current in the study of a biblical book must have the leisure to devote almost full time to the task. Therefore, I have not been able to consider all the issues as thoroughly as I might have liked. For most readers, however, this is probably a relief. I have tried to discuss only those matters which significantly affect our understanding of the text and have sufficient supporting evidence to warrant a hearing. So to those who find that an issue has been ignored, too briefly summarized, or too fully discussed, I offer my apologies. It is my hope that the setting in which I have written the book, having taught and preached on it in churches and a church-based college and seminary, will ensure a greater degree of relevance than might be found in some scholarly works and a greater degree of accuracy than in some popular ones.

Thanks for assistance with this project go to several people. I am grateful to the publishers and editors of the series for their invaluable help in bringing this work to publication. To my former professor and present colleague Dr. Jack Cottrell, who first offered the invitation, and to Mr. John Hunter of College Press, who graciously worked with me for its completion, I give special thanks. Another former professor and present colleague, Mr. Tom Friskney, first stimulated my study of the Thessalonian letters. His influence is felt on every page, but he should not be blamed for my mistakes. In particular I thank my family - my wife, Tammie, and our children, Cale and Allison - for their patience with me as I spent too many evenings, weekends and vacation times working on this project.

My parents, Chet and Millie Weatherly, more than anyone have provided the example for me of the integrity, love, discipline, hard work, generosity, endurance and expectancy which these letters teach. I dedicate this book to them with heartfelt gratitude.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

INTRODUCTION

Though it is a relatively brief letter, 1 Thessalonians provides the modern Christian with a challenging glimpse into the life and thought of the first generation of Christianity. Its presentation of the ministry of Paul, the trials of the persecuted church, the ethical demands of the new life in Christ, and especially of the vivid expectation of Christ's return provides some of the foundational elements for genuine Christian experience in every era.

Major critical problems with 1 Thessalonians are fewer than with some other Pauline letters; the bulk of modern scholarship is largely agreed about the general circumstances under which the letter was written. But knowing those circumstances provides a necessary touchstone for the interpretation of the letter, so they will be briefly summarized below.

THE CITY OF THESSALONICA

Founded by Cassander, a general of Alexander the Great, around 315 B.C., Thessalonica was a city of size and influence. Located at the head of the Thermatic Gulf, now called the Gulf of Salonika, a natural harbor on the Aegean coast of Macedonia, the northern part of the Greece, it was an important port city, providing a gateway to the Macedonian interior. Its prominence as a transportation center was augmented when the Romans constructed the Via Egnatia or Egnatian Way, a highway crossing the Greek peninsula from east to west and ultimately connecting Asia in the east with Italy and Rome in the west. Inland from Thessalonica lay a fertile plain, which provided abundant agricultural resources for the city and the region.

It is little wonder, then, that in 146 B.C. the Romans designated Thessalonica as the capital of the province of Macedonia. The city itself had an independent government with magistrates known as "politarchs" (Acts 17:6, 8), providing a degree of autonomy from the imperial government and its taxes. The religious climate was dominated by paganism; the cults of Dionysus and the Cabirus appear to have been especially prominent. According to Acts 17:1 there was also a colony of Jews large enough to constitute at least one synagogue.

Altogether, then, Thessalonica appears to us as a busy, prosperous, cosmopolitan city, a place where the gospel could readily take root but also meet significant resistance. That image is confirmed to us by the description of Paul's mission in Acts and the corresponding elements of 1 Thessalonians.

PAUL'S MINISTRY IN THESSALONICA

AND THE WRITING OF 1 THESSALONIANS

According to Acts, Paul visited Thessalonica with Timothy and Silas on what we call his second missionary journey (17:1). Having left Philippi after being jailed overnight, Paul traveled to the neighboring city on the Egnatian Way, perhaps pursuing a strategy of planting churches in cities on major transportation arteries so that the gospel could spread out from those centers. There, as was his custom, Paul preached in the synagogue as long as he was able (17:2-3). Acts indicates that his converts included Jews, God-fearers (Gentiles who acknowledged the God of Israel but had not converted fully to Judaism), and some of the principal women (17:4). According to Acts these conversions prompted a jealous response from non-Christian Jews, presumably synagogue leaders, who incited a mob against the Christians (17:5-7). The magistrates appear to have recognized that the mob's anger was not prompted by any offense against the civil order and required only that Jason, apparently a prominent Christian convert, post a bond pledging no further trouble (17:8-9). The violence did, however, prompt Paul to leave the city, perhaps sooner than he had planned (17:10).

From Thessalonica Paul went to Berea. But the fervor of his Thessalonian opponents was intense, for they followed him there and incited similar opposition (17:13). Paul then went on alone to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy behind (17:14-15). After Paul had preached in Athens with mixed results (17:16-34), he went on to Corinth (18:1). There Silas and Timothy rejoined him (18:5).

The text of 1 Thessalonians confirms and supplements this outline. Though Paul focuses on the conversion of Gentiles in 1:9 (see comments below), says little about the conversion of Jews, and does not quote the Old Testament, themes from the Jewish Scriptures and Judaism appear throughout the letter (cf. 1:4, 6, 10; 2:4, 10, 12, 15-16, 18; 3:3, 5; 4:3, 5-8, 16; 5:3, 5, 8-9, 23-24), implying an audience familiar with them. The letter acknowledges the opposition to Paul (2:2) and the ongoing problem of persecution in Thessalonica (1:6; 2:14; 3:3-4), elements entirely consistent with the anti-Christian violence which Acts depicts. It indicates that Paul left the city prematurely and under duress (2:17) and was prevented from returning (2:18). In particular it makes clear that from Athens Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica as a substitute for his own presence (3:1-3; see comments below) to strengthen the church and report about its progress to Paul. Timothy's return and report are recounted also (3:6).

It appears, then, that Timothy's report prompts the writing of this first letter. We can infer from the letter's contents that the report was mostly positive but did note some areas of serious concern. The letter serves to reassure the readers about their status as Christians (1:3-10; 3:11-13) and about Paul's concern for them despite his absence (2:1-12; 2:17-3:10), to strengthen them in the persecution which they endure (2:13-16; 3:4-5), and to reiterate instruction which they had already received about the standards by which they are to live as people in Christ surrounded by an immoral pagan culture (4:1-12). In particular Paul is concerned about their misunderstanding of the significance of Christ's return, especially regarding the status of those who have died as Christians (4:13-18), but also more generally (5:1-11). He also expresses specific concern about the need for Christians to support themselves responsibly (4:11-12; 5:14; cf. 2:6b-9), and to have proper respect for leaders (5:12) and for the spiritual gift of prophecy (5:19-22). In essence, then, this letter is a substitute for Paul's actual presence, containing the teaching which he would have delivered had it been possible for him to return to Thessalonica immediately. While a couple of specific problems had arisen, Paul's primary concern is to strengthen the young church in its commitment and the consistency of its practice.

DATE

If the reconstruction above is correct, then 1 Thessalonians was written during Paul's stay in Corinth on his second missionary journey. It is conceivable that Paul could have written this letter on his third journey after his second visit to Thessalonica, but since the letter itself refers to only one visit, the obvious explanation is that Paul had made only one. Some have denied the accuracy of the sequence of events in Acts altogether, but the numerous points of confirmation between 1 Thessalonians and Acts as noted above make such a denial highly questionable.

Paul's stay in Corinth can be dated with an exceptional degree of precision. According to Acts 18:12-17, Gallio served as proconsul of Achaia during Paul's Corinthian mission. An inscription at Delphi puts Gallio as proconsul during the twelfth year of Claudius' imperial power, after the Roman senate's twenty-sixth proclamation of Claudius as emperor. Since the twenty-seventh proclamation was made in August of A.D. 52 and proconsuls took office usually in midsummer, Gallio can be assumed to have taken office in the summer of A.D. 50 or 51. The Acts account makes it appear that Paul was brought before Gallio not long after he took office and near the end of Paul's eighteen-month sojourn in the city. Therefore, a date of 50-51 is likely for this letter.

Relative to Paul's other letters, 1 Thessalonians is very early. Unless Galatians was written earlier, as is plausible, between the first and second missionary journeys, or 2 Thessalonians was written first (see the introduction to 2 Thessalonians below), this letter is Paul's earliest. If so, it is also likely to be the earliest book of the New Testament, unless, as we have no way to confirm, one of the Gospels or the letter of James was penned sometime in the forties of the first century. For students of Paul and of early Christianity generally, then, this letter has special import.

AUTHORSHIP

Few critical scholars have doubted that Paul composed this letter himself. The internal claim of the letter is clear and unequivocal, including not only the salutation (1:1), but the repeated personal references in the middle section of the letter (2:1-3:10). Likewise, the external evidence is clear. The letter was quoted in some of the earliest Christian literature outside the New Testament (Ign. Eph. 10:1; Ign. Rom. 2:1; Did. 16:6-7), attributed to Paul as early as Marcion (c. A.D. 140), and never questioned in the early centuries of Christianity.

Those who have contended that 1 Thessalonians is not an authentic letter of Paul have largely based their arguments on alleged discrepancies with Acts. As implied above, it has been argued that this letter indicates that Paul's Thessalonian converts were pagans (1:9; 4:1-5) while Acts asserts that they were Jews and God-fearers (17:4). However, as noted in the comments below, Paul may have a particular reason for emphasizing converts from paganism, and Acts certainly emphasizes Jewish converts in Thessalonica as a part of a larger theme in Paul's ministry. Neither book, however, should be understood to be deliberately specifying the precise composition of the Thessalonian church.

Likewise, it has been argued that the movements of Timothy and Silas in 1 Thessalonians do not match those in Acts. In particular, Acts 18:5 shows them rejoining Paul in Corinth, whereas 1 Thessalonians 3:1-6 may show Timothy rejoining Paul in Athens. Several reconstructions of their specific movements can be offered which account for the material in both books. Paul may have initially left Timothy and Silas behind in Macedonia, and they may have returned to him briefly in Athens only to be sent back to Macedonia a second time. Alternately, Paul may have sent his associates back to Thessalonica after arriving in Athens, and Acts may simply condense their movements, giving the result that they were "left behind" while focusing attention on Paul. But most important is the observation that the use of "Athens" instead of "here" in 1 Thess 3:1 indicates that Paul probably wrote from a place other than Athens and so was reunited with Timothy at that place. Corinth clearly fits the details here, precisely in accord with the description in Acts.

A third argument based on alleged tensions with Acts concerns the length of Paul's stay. It is argued that Acts 17:2 indicates a stay of three weeks, whereas this letter presumes a longer stay with its discussion of Paul's self-support and preaching. However, all that Acts 17:2 asserts is that Paul preached in the synagogue for three sabbaths, not that those three weeks comprised his entire stay. And if only three weeks were involved, Paul still could have preached, taught and worked with his hands.

Another challenge to authorship is found in hypotheses which argue that the letter is a compilation of several authentic or pseudepigraphical letters, edited together by a later follower of Paul. Elaborate arguments for compilation are entirely conjectural and have found little support. Some have argued that 5:1-11 is a later, non-Pauline interpolation based on its vocabulary and content. The differences with the rest of Paul's letters are in fact few, however, and so this hypothesis has little support either. More prominent has been the hypothesis that 2:13-16 are a later interpolation of non-Pauline material. Specific discussion of this issue can be found in the comments on the passage below.

ORGANIZATION

Most of Paul's letters follow a rather set pattern of salutation, thanksgiving, letter body, and closing greetings. This pattern is apparent in a wide variety of letters from the Greco-Roman world, indicating that Paul adapted the standard letter form for his own purposes.

1 Thessalonians follows this pattern approximately, as the outline below indicates. One variation comes at 2:13-16, where Paul appears to offer a second thanksgiving. Such formal irregularities are not surprising, however, if Paul felt free to adapt standard forms as the occasion demanded.

Recently Paul's letters have been analyzed according to the patterns of Greek rhetoric. Several recent works have employed this approach in understanding 1 Thessalonians, with the beneficial result of stressing that the letter is a unified composition with a specific purpose of communication. Opinions vary, however, on where the precise rhetorical divisions lie, probably because Paul did not compose his letters strictly according to the canons of rhetoric, though he was probably influenced by them. In this commentary, therefore, no direct attention will be given to specifying the precise rhetorical contours of the letter.

THEOLOGICAL VALUE

As a small, young church in big, pagan city, the Thessalonian Christians faced challenges to their faith at every turn. Persecution, social pressure, temptations of the old lifestyle, conflict with new brothers and sisters in Christ, and surrender to despair were constant threats. Whatever the confidence with which they began their Christian pilgrimage, these believers were now faced with the daily ordeals of life in Christ in hostile surroundings.

Paul's answers to these problems are varied and significant. He confirms the truth of the gospel in the face of the doubts and struggles which they face, reminding them of the change which the gospel has brought to their lives and of the warnings which they had already received about the difficulties to come. He reminds them of his own manner of life with them, itself a confirmation of the truth of his message and an example of the self-sacrificial love and Christ-glorifying integrity which comprise the core of the Christian lifestyle. That love expressed to one another will in turn draw the church together to stand up to the pressure of the hostile culture which surrounds it. Perhaps most importantly, Paul reminds the readers repeatedly that the work of God begun in them in Christ will not be complete until Christ returns. They can therefore look forward to his return with great expectancy, remembering that even death itself will then be utterly defeated, and living each moment in faithfulness as they await the fulfillment of their relationship with Christ.

The situation for Christians near the beginning of the third millennium is not much different from the one that Paul addressed. And so his reminders remain timely. The truth and power of the gospel, the love and integrity which characterize Christ's people, and the living hope of Christ's return are especially relevant to a people confronted with the contemporary diseases of relativism, hatred, selfishness, and despair. The conviction that this universe will end with God's eternal triumph is as foreign to modern thinking as is the idea that it began by God's command. But apart from such a conviction, which stands at the center of 1 Thessalonians, can humanity find meaning in what seems to be chaos? Without it, can humanity find a basis for moral decisions? Faced with such questions, today's reader will not have to read far in 1 Thessalonians to find both blessing and challenge.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 & 2 THESSALONIANS

COMMENTARIES

Commentaries are cited in the notes by author's last name alone.

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Best, Ernest. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians . BNTC. 1972. Reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986.

Frame, James Everett. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians . ICC. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1979 (reprint).

Marshall, I. Howard. 1 and 2 Thessalonians . NCB. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983.

Morris, Leon. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians . NICNT. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Wanamaker, Charles A. The Epistles to the Thessalonians . NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.

OTHER WORKS

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. "The Liturgical Background of the Necessity and Propriety of Giving Thanks According to 2 Thes 1:3," JBL 92 (1973) 432-438.

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Weatherly, Jon A. "The Authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2.13-16: Additional Evidence," JSNT 42 (1991) 79-98.

. Jewish Responsibility for the Death of Jesus in Luke-Acts . JSNTSup 106. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994.

Wenham, David. Gospel Perspectives 4: The Rediscovery of Jesus' Eschatological Discourse . Sheffield: JSOT, 1984.

. Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Winter, Bruce W. "The Entries and Ethics of Orators and Paul (1 Thessalonians 2:1-12)," TynBul 44 (1993) 55-74.

Witton, J. "A Neglected Meaning for Skeuos in 1 Thessalonians 4.4," NTS 28 (1982) 142-143.

Wright, N.T. The Climax of the Covenant . Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992.

COMMENTARIES

Commentaries are cited in the notes by author's last name alone.

Bruce, F.F. 1 & 2 Thessalonians . WBC 45. Waco, TX: Word, 1982.

Best, Ernest. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians . BNTC. 1972. Reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986.

Frame, James Everett. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians . ICC. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1979 (reprint).

Marshall, I. Howard. 1 and 2 Thessalonians . NCB. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983.

Morris, Leon. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians . NICNT. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Wanamaker, Charles A. The Epistles to the Thessalonians . NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.

OTHER WORKS

Allison, Dale C. "The Pauline Epistles and the Synoptic Gospels: the Pattern of the Parallels," NTS 28 (1982)1-31.

Aus, Roger D. "God's Plan and God's Power: Isaiah 66 and the Restraining Factors of 2 Thess 2:6-7," JBL 96 (1977) 537-553.

. "The Liturgical Background of the Necessity and Propriety of Giving Thanks According to 2 Thes 1:3," JBL 92 (1973) 432-438.

Bammel, Ernst. "Preparation for the Perils of the Last Days: 1 Thessalonians 3:3." In Suffering and Martyrdom in the New Testament: Studies Presented to G. M. Styler by the Cambridge New Testament Seminar . Ed. William Horbury and Brian McNeil. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Bassler, Jouette M. "The Enigmatic Sign: 2 Thessalonians 1:5," CBQ 46 (1984) 498-510.

Boers, Hendrikus. "The Form Critical Study of Paul's Letters. I Thessalonians as a Case Study," NTS 22 (1976) 140-158.

Collins, R.F. Studies on the First Letter to the Thessalonians . BETL 66. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1984.

Cottrell, Jack. What the Bible Says About God the Ruler . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1984.

Donfried, Karl P. The Theology of the Shorter Pauline Letters . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Ellis, E. Earle. Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.

Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity . 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.

Friskney, Tom. Thirteen Lessons on First and Second Thessalonians . Joplin, MO: College Press, 1982.

Funk, Robert W. Parables and Presence: Forms of the New Testament Tradition . Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982.

Guthrie, Donald. New Testament Introduction . 4th ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1990.

Harris, Murray J. Raised Immortal: Resurrection and Immortality in the New Testament . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983.

Hengel, Martin. The Pre-Christian Paul . Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991.

Hewett, James A. "1 Thessalonians 3:11," ExpTim 87 (1975-76) 54-55.

Hock, Ronald F. The Social Context of Paul's Ministry: Tentmaking and Apostleship . Minneapolis: Fortress, 1980.

Holland, Glenn S. The Tradition that You Received from Us: 2 Thessalonians in the Pauline Tradition . HUT 24. Tübingen: Mohr, 1988.

Jewett, Robert. The Thessalonian Correspondence: Pauline Rhetoric and Millenarian Piety . FFNT. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986.

Johnson, Luke T. "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish Slander and the Conventions of Ancient Polemic," JBL 108 (1989) 419-441.

Klijn, A.F.J. "1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 and Its Background in Apocalyptic Literature." In Paul and Paulinism: Essays in Honour of C. K. Barrett . Ed. M.D. Hooker and S.G. Wilson. London: SPCK, 1982, pp. 67-73.

Ladd, G.E. A Theology of the New Testament . Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Lightfoot, J.B. Notes on Epistles of St. Paul . 1885. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980.

Malherbe, Abraham J. "Exhortations in First Thessalonians," NovT 25 (1983) 238-256.

. "'Gentle as a Nurse': The Stoic Background to 1 Thess. II," NovT 12 (1970) 203-217.

. Moral Exhortation, A Greco-Roman Sourcebook . Library of Early Christianity. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986.

. Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care . Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987.

Marshall, I. Howard. "Pauline Theology in the Thessalonian Correspondence." In Paul and Paulinism: Essays in Honour of C.K. Barrett . Ed. M.D. Hooker and S.G. Wilson. London: SPCK, 1982, pp. 173-183.

Meeks, Wayne A. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983.

Morris, Leon. The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross . 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965.

Moule, C.F.D. The Origin of Christology . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Pauline Theology, Volume I: Thessalonians, Philippians, Galatians, Philemon . Ed. Jouette M. Bassler. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991.

Pate, C. Marvin. The End of the Age Has Come: The Theology of Paul . Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

Pearson, Birger A. "I Thessalonians 2:13-16: A Deutero-Pauline Interpolation," HTR 64 (1971) 79-94.

Plevnik, Joseph. "1 Thess 5,1-11: Its Authenticity, Intention and Message," Bib 60 (1979) 71-90.

. "The Taking Up of the Faithful and the Resurrection of the Dead in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18," CBQ 46 (1984) 274-283.

Poythress, Vern S. "2 Thessalonians 1 Supports Amillennialism," JETS 37 (1994) 529-538.

Russell, R. "The Idle in 2 Thess 3.6-12: An Eschatological or a Social Problem," NTS 34 (1988) 105-119.

Schlueter, Carol J. Filling Up the Measure: Polemical Hyperbole in 1 Thessalonians 2.14-16 . JSNTSup 98. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994.

Schmidt, Daryl. "1 Thess 2:13-16: Linguistic Evidence for an Interpolation," JBL 102 (1983) 269-279.

Schmithals, Walter. Paul and the Gnostics . Trans. J.E. Steely. Nashville: Abingdon, 1972.

Stowers, Stanley K. "Social Status, Public Speaking and Private Teaching: The Circumstances of Paul's Preaching Activity," NovT 26 (1984) 68-82.

The Thessalonian Correspondence . Raymond F. Collins, ed. BETL 87. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1990.

Walton, Steve "What Has Aristotle to Do with Paul? Rhetorical Criticism and 1 Thessalonians," TynBul 46 (1995) 229-249.

Warfield, B.B. "The Prophecies of St. Paul." In Biblical and Theological Studies . 1886. Ed. Samuel G. Craig. Reprint, Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1952, pp. 463-475.

Weatherly, Jon A. "The Authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2.13-16: Additional Evidence," JSNT 42 (1991) 79-98.

. Jewish Responsibility for the Death of Jesus in Luke-Acts . JSNTSup 106. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994.

Wenham, David. Gospel Perspectives 4: The Rediscovery of Jesus' Eschatological Discourse . Sheffield: JSOT, 1984.

. Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Winter, Bruce W. "The Entries and Ethics of Orators and Paul (1 Thessalonians 2:1-12)," TynBul 44 (1993) 55-74.

Witton, J. "A Neglected Meaning for Skeuos in 1 Thessalonians 4.4," NTS 28 (1982) 142-143.

Wright, N.T. The Climax of the Covenant . Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

ABBREVIATIONS

ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. by David Noel Freedman

ASNU Acta seminarii neotestamentici upsaliensis

ASV American Standard Version

AV Authorized (King James) Version

BAGD Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker Greek Lexicon, 1979

BDF Blass-Debrunner-Funk Greek Grammar

BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium

Bib Biblica

BNTC Black's New Testament Commentary

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

DPL Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. by Gerald F.

Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin and Daniel G. Reid

EDNT Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. by Horst

Balz and Gerhard Schneider

ET English Translation

ExpTim Expository Times

FFNT Foundations and Facets: New Testament

GELNTBSD Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on

Semantic Domains (2nd ed.), ed. by Johannes P. Louw,

Eugene A. Nida, Rondal B. Smith and Karen A. Munson

HCNT Hellenistic Commentary to the New Testament, ed. by

M. Eugene Boring, Klaus Berger and Carsten Colpe

HTR Harvard Theological Review

HUT Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie

ICC International Critical Commentary

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament

Supplement Series

LSJ Liddell-Scott-Jones-McKenzie Greek Lexicon (9th ed.)

MHT Moulton-Howard-Turner Grammar of

New Testament Greek

MM Moulton-Milligan Vocabulary of the Greek Testament

NASB New American Standard Bible

NCB New Century Bible Commentary

NIDNTT New International Dictionary of New Testament

Theology, ed. by Colin Brown

NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament

NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary

NIV New International Version

NovT Novum Testamentum

NRSV New Revised Standard Version

NTS New Testament Studies

RSV Revised Standard Version

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. by

Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich

TEV Today's English Version

TynBul Tyndale Bulletin

UBS United Bible Societies

UBSGNT United Bible Societies Greek New Testament

WBC Word Biblical Commentary

ZPEB Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, ed. by

Merrill Tenney

ZTK Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: 1 Thessalonians (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. GREETING - 1:1

II. THANKSGIVING - 1:2-10

A. The Initial Thanksgiving - 1:2-5

1. Paul's Constant Prayers for the Readers - 1:2

2. Their Exercise of Faith, Love and Hope - 1:3

3. Their Election - 1:4

4. The Power of the Gospel in Thessalonica - 1:5

B. Reiteration and Further Specification - 1:6-10

1. The Readers' Imitation of Paul and His Associates - 1:6a

2. Their Endurance of Suffering - 1:6b

3. Their Example to Other Churches - 1:7-8

4. Reports of Their Conversion - 1:9-10

a. Forsaking Idols to Serve the Living God - 1:9

b. Awaiting the Return of Jesus - 1:10

III. PAUL'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE THESSALONIAN CHURCH - 2:1-3:13

A. Paul's Behavior in Thessalonica - 2:1-12

1. Paul's Motives - 2:1-6a

2. Paul's Activity - 2:6b-12

B. The Thessalonians' Endurance of Persecution - 2:13-16

1. Their Genuine Reception of the Word - 2:13

2. Their Imitation of the Judean Christians - 2:14

3. The Continuity of Persecution Age to Age - 2:15-16

C. Paul's Continuing Concern for the Church - 2:17-3:10

1. His Desire to See the Thessalonians - 2:17-20

2. Timothy's Visit on Paul's Behalf - 3:1-5

3. Timothy's Report and Paul's Response - 3:6-10

D. Paul's Prayer for the Thessalonians - 3:11-13

1. That He Might Return to Them - 3:11

2. That They Might Abound in Love, and Be Blameless at the Lord's Return - 3:12-13

IV. EXHORTATION - 4:1-5:22

A. Exhortation Concerning Christian Living - 4:1-12

1. To Continue in Current Behavior - 4:1-2

2. To Remain Sexually Pure - 4:3-8

3. To Exercise Brotherly Love - 4:9-10

4. To Lead a Quiet, Honest Life - 4:11-12

B. Exhortation Concerning the Lord's Return - 4:13-5:11

1. The Dead in Christ and the Lord's Return - 4:13-18

2. The Suddenness of the Lord's Return - 5:1-11

C. General Exhortations - 5:12-22

1. Behavior in the Christian Community - 5:12-15

a. Respect for Christian Leaders - 5:12-13

b. Service and Forgiveness - 5:14-15

2. Constants of Christian Behavior - 5:16-18

3. Responding to Christian Prophecy - 5:19-22

a. Yielding to the Spirit's Work - 5:19-20

b. Testing Prophecy - 5:21-22

V. CONCLUSION - 5:23-28

A. Benediction - 5:23-24

B. Final Words - 5:25-28

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV