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.
