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1 Thessalonians 1

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Greeting and Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians 1–5

1
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. ​
2
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
3
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; ​
4
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. ​
5
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. ​

The Thessalonians as a Model Church 6–10

6
And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
7
So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. ​
8
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. ​
9
For they themselves shew 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; ​
10
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Thessalonians 1

Verse 1

Silvanus, and Timotheus — Silvanus is the Latin form of Silas, who was with Paul at Thessalonica (Acts 17:4) and came with Timotheus to him from Macedonia (Acts 18:5). The church (ekklesia, an assembly called out) is addressed as 'in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ', while 2 Thess 1:1 reads 'in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'.

Verse 3

work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope — Three pairs: ergon, work; kopos, toil to weariness; hypomone, steadfast endurance. The same three virtues return in 5:8, 'the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation', and in 1 Cor 13:13. The hope is held 'in our Lord Jesus Christ'.

Verse 4

your election of God — Eklogē, a choosing out, the noun Paul uses of Jacob and of the remnant (Rom 9:11; 11:5). He knows it by what follows: the gospel came 'in power' (v.5), and they received it 'in much affliction' (v.6). To the same church he writes, 'God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation' (2 Thess 2:13).

Verse 5

much assurance — Plerophoria, full conviction, found four times in the New Testament (Col 2:2; Heb 6:11; 10:22; here). It stands beside 'power' and 'the Holy Ghost' as the way the gospel came, as at Corinth, 'in demonstration of the Spirit and of power' (1 Cor 2:4). The closing clause appeals to the preachers' conduct among them.

Verse 7

ensamples — Typos, the mark left by a blow, so a pattern to be copied: the 'print of the nails' (John 20:25). Paul uses it of himself in Phil 3:17 and of Timothy in 1 Tim 4:12. Macedonia is the province of Thessalonica; Achaia that of Corinth (Acts 18:1, 12), so the church is a pattern to the believers of both.

Verse 8

sounded out — Exēcheō, to echo forth, found only here in the New Testament. The 'word of the Lord' resounded from Thessalonica beyond Macedonia and Achaia, and their 'faith to God-ward' was known 'in every place', so that Paul 'need not to speak any thing'. Romans 1:8 says the same of Rome: 'your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world'.

Verse 9

turned to God from idols — Epistrepho, to turn about; the service owed is that of a slave (douleuo) to God as 'living' and 'true' (alethinos, genuine), the pair of Jer 10:10, 'the LORD is the true God, he is the living God'. Paul and Barnabas called for the same turning at Lystra: 'from these vanities unto the living God' (Acts 14:15).

Verse 10

to wait for his Son from heaven — Anamenō, to wait for, found only here in the New Testament. The Son awaited is the one 'whom he raised from the dead'. 'Delivered' (rhyomai, to rescue) is in the present tense in Greek: Jesus is the rescuer from 'the wrath to come' (Luke 3:7), to which God has not appointed believers (5:9).