1 Thessalonianschapter 1
10 verses · Paul · AD 50 or 51 · Paul's letters
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
Introduction
Paul, Paul's letters, 1 Thessalonians Overview.
Paul wrote this letter from Corinth to a church he had been forced to leave after only a few weeks. It is among the earliest of his letters that survive, and it opens the way letters of that time opened, with names, a greeting and thanks. The people who first heard it read aloud had lost friends, standing and peace in their own city. Listen for the three graces named near the start, since they return later in the letter. Listen also for the last line of the chapter. Each chapter of this letter ends in the same place.
Context
- Who
- New believers, most of them Greeks who had walked away from the gods their families had always served
- What
- The opening greeting and thanksgiving of the letter, giving thanks for the Thessalonians' faith, love and hope and for the way the report of their conversion had spread.
- Where
- Written from Corinth in the province of Achaia to Thessalonica, the chief city of Macedonia, on the Egnatian Way.
- When
- About AD 50 to 51, during Paul's second missionary journey, a few months after the church was founded (Acts 17:1 to 10 and 18:5).
- Why
- To assure a young, persecuted church that its faith was real and known, and that God had chosen it.
Historical context
Thessalonica was a port city with a harbor on one side and the great Roman highway, the Via Egnatia, running straight through it. That road carried soldiers, traders, and mail from the Adriatic coast east toward Byzantium. News moved along it fast, and a story about a whole household dumping its gods would travel with the carters.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The city governed itself under Rome and kept its own officials, called politarchs, a title once doubted by scholars until it turned up carved on the city's own gate inscription. Free-city status was a prize, and it depended on staying loyal and staying quiet.
Turning from idols cost more than a change of mind. A Greek household kept small images at home, joined in city festivals, and did business inside trade guilds that opened their meetings with a sacrifice. Stepping out of that looked to neighbors like disloyalty to the city and to the family dead.
The believers had heard Paul for only a few weeks before a riot drove him out. The whole letter is written by a man who had to leave in a hurry and has been anxious ever since about what he left behind.
Significance
The first hearers were a small group who had lost standing in their own city, and Paul's opening tells them their loss is being talked about everywhere the road goes. Their reputation had outrun his own preaching.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The closing line gave them a way to hold the future: they were waiting for a Son who had already been raised, not for a rescue that might or might not come.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Our Gospel Came Not in Word Only
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: Three names stand over one of Paul's earliest surviving letters: the mission team of Acts 17 writes together from Corinth. Silvanus is the Silas of the Philippian jail, and Timothy has just returned from the visit chapter 3 describes.
1 Thessalonians 1:1
“Two made a symphony, Paul and Sosthenes, when writing the first epistle to the Corinthians. After this Paul and Timothy sang in harmony when they wrote their second letter to the same church. And even three made a symphony when Paul and Silvanus and Timothy gave instruction by letter to the Thessalonians.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on Matthew 14.1patristic
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Thessalonians 1:1
“All of them were devoted and dedicated to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: to God as their chief good and highest end, to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Mediator between God and man. God the Father is the original centre of all natural religion; and Jesus Christ is the author and centre of all revealed religion.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Thessalonians 1:1
“Paul - In this epistle St. Paul neither uses the title of an apostle, nor any other, as writing to pious and simple-hearted men, with the utmost familiarity. There is a peculiar sweetness in this epistle, unmixed with any sharpness or reproof: those evils which the apostles afterward reproved having not yet crept into the church.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
remembering you in our prayers: The thanksgiving recalls three graces, each named with its labor: your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope. The triad returns as armor at 5:8, the letter's own summary of the Christian life.
1 Thessalonians 1:2
“We give thanks to God always for you all - see the notes, Rom 1:9. Making mention of you in our prayers - See the notes at Eph 1:16. It may be observed here: (1) That the apostle was in the habit of constant prayer. (2) That he was accustomed to extemporary prayer, and not to written prayer.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Thessalonians 1:2
“We--I, Silvanus, and Timotheus. Ro 1:9 supports ALFORD in translating, "making mention of you in our prayers without ceasing" (1Th 1:3). Thus, "without ceasing," in the second clause, answers in parallelism to "always," in the first.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
your work of faith: Each grace is named by its fruit. Faith shows itself in work, love in labor that tires the worker, and hope in endurance under pressure. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that labor here means wearying toil, and Thomas Aquinas sets the three beside 1 Corinthians 13:13.
1 Thessalonians 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.”
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
we know that He has chosen you: Paul says we know that He has chosen you. Verse 5 gives the evidence, a gospel that came in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction. The fruit shows the root.
1 Thessalonians 1:4
“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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
our gospel came to you: Paul calls it our gospel because he, Silvanus and Timothy preached it, and Albert Barnes notes that he claims no authorship of it. Power, the Spirit and conviction came with the words. Matthew Henry holds that without the Spirit the word stays a dead letter to its hearers.
1 Thessalonians 1:5
“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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
1 Thessalonians 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.”
1 Thessalonians 1:5
“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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
You Turned From Idols to Wait for His Son
1 Thessalonians 1:6-7
you became imitators of us and of the Lord: The joy of the Holy Spirit and great suffering came together. The imitators then became an example, typos, the stamp others are struck from, to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. A church weeks old under persecution became the region's pattern.
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“And ye--answering to "For our Gospel," 1Th 1:5. followers--Greek, "imitators." The Thessalonians in their turn became "ensamples" (1Th 1:7) for others to imitate. of the Lord--who was the apostle of the Father, and taught the word, which He brought from heaven, under adversities [BENGEL].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“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, 1 Co. xi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
an example to all the believers: The two names trace Paul's own route. Macedonia was their province, and Achaia held Corinth, where Paul was writing, which is how Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain the pair. Theophylact of Ohrid adds that a church converted after others became their teacher.
1 Thessalonians 1:7
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
1 Thessalonians 1:7
“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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Thessalonians 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.”
1 Thessalonians 1:8-9
the message of the Lord ring out from you: The verb rendered ring out is used of a sounding trumpet. From Thessalonica, a free city on the Egnatian Way, the report went ahead of Paul wherever he went.
1 Thessalonians 1:8
“In "sounded," the image is that of a trumpet filling with its clear-sounding echo all the surrounding places. to God-ward--no longer directed to idols. so that we need not to speak any thing--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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
1 Thessalonians 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.”
1 Thessalonians 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Thessalonians 1:8
“PAUL went to Thessalonica from Philippi with a sore back but with a sound heart. He went resolved to spend and to be spent for his Lord in that city. On the first three Sabbaths he spoke to the Jews in the synagogue but he soon found that they were obstinately resolved to reject Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. Therefore he directed his attention to the heathen of Thessalonica and among them he had wonderful success.”
how you turned to God from idols: Others carried the report back to Paul, so he had nothing to add, which is how Albert Barnes reads they themselves. They turned toward God, and so away from the idols. Charles Spurgeon preached verses 9 and 10 as a summary of Christian experience and a body of divinity.
1 Thessalonians 1:9
“‘For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye 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, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.’1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. IN Thessalonica the conversions to the faith were remarkable. Paul came there without prestige, without friends, when he was in the very lowest condition; for he had just been beaten and imprisoned at Philippi, and had fled from that city.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Thessalonians 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.”
to await His Son from heaven: The waiting has a person for its object, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. The coming wrath names a real day ahead, and 5:9 answers it with salvation, so the two verses belong together.
1 Thessalonians 1:10
“Whom he hath raised from the dead - In proof of his future coming to judgment. Who delivereth us - 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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 Thessalonians 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).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Thessalonians 1:10
“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, Mt. xxv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A thanksgiving that opens the letter with praise of its readers, as Chrysostom classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Faith, love and hope | Verse 3 names the three graces together, each with what it produces: the work of faith, the labor of love and the enduring hope. Thomas Aquinas sets them beside 1 Corinthians 13:13, where the same three abide. Faith and love return at 3:6, and all three return as armor at 5:8.Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians, on 1 Thessalonians 1:3. | 1 Thessalonians 1:3 |
| Turned, to serve, to await | Verses 9 and 10 describe conversion in three verbs: they turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to await His Son from heaven. The site's published exposition of verses 8 and 9 reads them as turning, serving and waiting, with serving placed before waiting.This site's published exposition of 1 Thessalonians 1:8 to 9, The exposition_notes row on 1 Thessalonians 1:8 to 9, citing Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, and John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament. | 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 |
| Each chapter ends on the coming of the Lord | The chapter closes on the Son awaited from heaven, and each of the five chapters closes the same way, at 1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 4:16 to 17 and 5:23. The site's published exposition of 1:10 and of 2:19 to 20 records the pattern.This site's published exposition of 1 Thessalonians 1:10, The exposition_notes row on 1 Thessalonians 1:10, citing Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. | 1 Thessalonians 1:10 |
Where the chapter stands in the letter
5 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter is the letter's opening. Verse 1 gives the senders and the greeting, and the thanksgiving that begins at verse 2 runs to the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 picks up the words of verse 9, what kind of welcome you gave us, and turns them into an account of how the missionaries lived among the church. The hope named at verse 10 is left open here and taught at length in 4:13 to 5:11.
The debated reading: election and its evidence
Verse 4 says Paul knows they are chosen, and verse 5 gives the ground. John Calvin and John Gill read the gospel's power among them as the visible mark of God's choice, as the site's published exposition of verses 4 and 5 records. Charles Spurgeon preached verse 4 as a defense of election and a list of its evidences (The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2920, "Election-its Defenses and Evidences"). The other readings of election, with their holders, stand at /featured/predestination-and-election.
Where it reaches
Faith, love and hope stand together again at 1 Corinthians 13:13 and Colossians 1:4 to 5. The waiting of verse 10 looks toward 4:16 and 5:9, where the coming and the rescue from wrath named here are taught in full.
Keep studying
People and groups1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon; James Denney, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (Expositor's Bible); Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits.
The form and classifications
Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1806, "A Summary of Experience and a Body of Divinity", on 1 Thessalonians 1:9 to 10 and John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Thessalonians, Homily 1, on 1 Thessalonians 1:2.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1806, A Summary of Experience and a Body of Divinity; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians.