1 Thessalonians Chapter 1
Read along with me from God’s Word—1 Thessalonians Chapter 1
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you 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, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Welcome to 30 Minute Christian Studies, where we work our way through God’s Word, one book at a time and one chapter at a time, all in about 30 minutes. I’ll first explain the passage and then we’ll apply it—the goal of all good Bible study is ‘To Know God and To Live For Him.’ We are here in our first lesson, in 1 Thessalonians. Today we will be studying chapter 1.
Let’s set up 1 Thessalonians. First Thessalonians is a book of the Bible. The Bible (we know) is a collection of smaller books. These smaller books (there are 66 of them) are grouped into 2 halves. The first half is the Old Testament (39 books), and the second half is the New Testament (27 books). First Thessalonians is found in the New Testament. Now, we call 1 Thessalonians a book but it’s really a letter. I don’t know if you’ve ever sent or received a letter in the mail (we typically text or email nowadays), but in biblical times (obviously) they’d communicate in writing, with ink on paper (or on papyrus).
Paul is the author of this letter. Paul (remember) was God’s chosen person to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the synagogues and in the marketplaces of cities throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, and then when people got saved, he’d gather them up into new churches. And after getting them all set up, he’d move on to the next city and do it all again.
Now, to get this all situated in your mind, this is all after Jesus had come to earth, preaching the Kingdom of God, dying for our sins, and then after rising from the dead, he went back to heaven. Christ’s followers had received the Holy Spirit, and the Church was born there in Jerusalem. And of course, this didn’t go over well with the established religious leaders of the time, and they began to persecute the early church, and Paul was one of those religious leaders rounding up the Christians and throwing them into prison.
But God put an end to all that. Jesus showed up and powerfully converted Paul, and then put him to work for the Kingdom of God. Paul (after that) became THE most important evangelist and church planter in all of the Bible. In fact, most of the New Testament is his letters to these churches.
Paul went on several missionary journeys. His second journey took him through what is modern day Turkey and Greece, he started several churches—one of which was the church of Thessalonica.
We read the story in the book of Acts (Acts is the book that details Paul’s missionary travels). Paul had received a vision from God telling him to go to Macedonia. So he and his traveling companion Silas set sail for Macedonia. They first arrived in Philippi where they started a church, but soon after they were beaten and imprisoned by the Roman authorities, and then kicked out of town. So, the story picks up there in Acts 17:1-9.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis [am-FIP-uh-lis] and Apollonia [AH-puh-LOH-nee-uh], they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews[a] were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Amazing! So Paul gets a vision to go preach in Macedonia. He goes to Phillipi and starts the Phillippian church, only to be beaten up, thrown in prison, and then kicked out of the city. He then goes to Thessalonica, starts a church there, this time gets mobbed—having been accused of acting against the decrees of Caesar. Religious leaders bust into Jason’s house (Jason was Paul’s host), and having not found Paul (we learn later his friends had snuck him out in the middle of the night), they dragged Jason to the Roman authorities, shouting, “These men (and I love this) who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” Oh, that someone might say that about us today—that we’ve turned the world upside down; what an accusation. I think we’d all love to be accused of that.
So, if we keep reading we see this happens again and again, Paul and his companions (Silas and Timothy) were chased all around what is today Greece until Paul finally lands in Athens and then in Corinth, and after sending Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on them, he receives a good report, and that’s when he writes this letter and sends it back to the church in order to encourage them and give them some more instruction.
So, what do we know about Thessolanica in the Ancient Mediterranean world? Thessolanica was part of Macedonia, which (like I mentioned) was the northern part of modern Greece. Greece is a peninsula on the northern side of the Mediterranean sea. A little history: Phillip II ruled Macedonia around 360 BC. He had a famous son, Alexander the Great, who was arguably the greatest world conqueror of all time. He set up the Greek Empire all over the Ancient Mediterranean and Middle East after Phillip II died. Alexander also had a half-sister, Phillip’s daughter, whose name was Thessoloniki [thes-sah-loh-NEE-kee], and the city was named after her. In fact, the city of Thessaloniki still exists today, it’s actually the second largest city in Greece.
Now, the Greek Empire that was set up by Alexander the Great eventually fell to the Roman Empire (some more history here). Rome named Thessalonica a Roman province in 148 BC, but mostly allowed it to remain a Greek city with Greek culture. It was a very cosmopolitan city. Thessalonica sat on the Egnatian Way, a major highway that went east and west across Macedonia from one side of the peninsula to the other. It was an important trade route. So, it’s not surprising that Paul would strategically plant a church there.
So Thessalonica was filled with locals and travelers, sailors and tradesmen. There were Greeks, Romans, and Jews there. Paul, upon arrival, probably still sore from his beating in Phillipi, went straight to the Jewish synagogue and began preaching. The passage in Acts reports that ‘some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.’
The church in Thessalonica wasn’t all that different from the church in America today (in some aspects). We have new Christians joining our churches all the time who need encouragement and instruction. And we live along the information highway, where we come into contact with people from all over the globe everyday, bringing their own ideas as to what’s true. And many of them (we know) are hostile to Christian truth.
Paul wanted to encourage the church of Thessalonica to be strong in the face of persecution. We read earlier about what the Jews there did to Paul and his companions. We can assume that the new church also experienced that same persecution. And the church today is under tremendous persecution. We need encouragement from God’s Word too. First Thessalonians is for us.
So looking at this letter (It’s actually the very first letter Paul sent to any of his churches). It was his practice to send written communication to the churches he started. Having had to leave Thessalonica in such a hurry, no doubt he was anxious to get back in touch with them. So, Paul was in Corinth, he first sent Timothy back to check on the church of Thessalonica, and then once Timothy returned to Paul with a report. Paul then wrote this letter.
First Thessalonians is made up of 5 chapters with the translators dividing each chapter into several sections. The chapters and section headers are as follows:
Chapter 1 is the Greeting, and then we learn of the Thessalonians' faith and example. Chapter 2 talks about Paul's ministry to the Thessalonians, and then his longing to see them again. Chapter 3 is Timothy's encouraging report. Chapter 4 is Paul’s admonition to live a life pleasing to God, and then it talks about the coming of the Lord. Chapter 5 gets into the day of the Lord and then concludes with some final instructions and a benediction. So there’s a lot going on in this little book.
Let’s jump into our chapter. Chapter 1 starts with the greeting and then goes into Paul’s thanking the Thessalonians for their faith and example.
Like most letters, verse 1 begins with Paul identifying himself and his traveling companions: Silvanus (or Silas) and Timothy are mentioned. Silas was a leader of the church in Jerusalem and had done some ministry in Antioch. Timothy we know to be Paul’s protege. Paul later sent 2 letters to him that became books of the Bible. Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father, and that suited him for ministry to the Gentiles.
Also in verse 1, we read that the letter is addressed to the church of the Thessalonians. This was the assembly of believers that met there in the city, most likely gathering in one of their homes. The practice was that the leaders would receive a letter and at the next gathering, they would read it before the church.
Verse 1 ends with a pleasant greeting, “Grace to you and peace.”
Paul goes from greeting them to his being grateful for (verse 3) ‘your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’
The Christians there were faithful, they were going about their business in the community, working hard. All while waiting for Christ’s return. Paul wanted to encourage them, but also foreshadow some themes that would come up later in the letter regarding work and hope in Christ’s return.
Paul reminds them of their election. Verse 4: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” He wanted to assure them that they will persevere to the end because they were God’s elect. They were chosen by God.
Verse 5-6: “Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction.”
Paul mentions the powerful preaching they received, and begins a defense of himself against some accusations that he’ll pick up later.
So we have an idea here of what Paul is doing in this first chapter. He’s setting up his letter in a familiar way—establishing the author and audience, and while thanking them for their faith and example, he’s preparing them for what’s to follow.
The reason he’d start this way becomes clearer in the second part of the chapter:
Verse 7: “You became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”
Paul wanted to encourage them. What better way to start a letter? Especially, if you’re going to have to also give some instruction, even correction. But they deserved some praise. They’ve suffered some persecution. Paul’s detractors were trying to discredit Paul and the church, but the church was remaining faithful. And the news of their faithfulness was spreading all over.
Paul was proud, and when the letter was read to the congregation, you could imagine they would have been beaming—they would’ve been proud of themselves, too
We actually see this kind of support throughout Scripture. Jesus warned his disciples early on that it’d be difficult to follow after him. It would be dangerous; the church would be hated.
“If the world hates you,” Jesus said in John 15:18, “ know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
Jesus warned them to be ready. And Peter also warned his churches. In 1 Peter 4:12 he writes: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings”
Suffering for the sake of Christ is a common theme throughout the New Testament. Jesus and Peter said get ready, don’t be surprised, and Paul a little later in this letter will write to the Thessalonians, that he wants:
“to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
So here we have an enduring principle from Paul that we establish ourselves in the faith so that you will be moved by the persecution that will certainly come. That’s a principle for us today.
How then, are we to establish ourselves in the faith and by what confidence can we know that we will be established? Look back at verse 4: “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.” The Thessalonians were God’s elect; they were chosen by him from eternity past. Jesus uses the same language in John 15:16 to speak of his disciples. “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” The Thessalonians would be established in the faith and wouldn’t be moved by persecution, because they were chosen by God, they were his elect. As Paul writes a little later in the letter, “He who calls you if faithful; HE will do it.” He will establish us.
But how did they know they were God’s elect? Paul says in verse 5 that it was because “our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” They were powerfully saved by the true gospel, and not only that, they responded in obedience—they repented and believed. Verse 9 says they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” The Thessalonians could have confidence that they were chosen by God because they experienced the power of the gospel and they were powerfully changed by it.
That’s how to establish yourself in the faith so that you won’t be moved by persecution. Understand your election, and then like Peter writes to ‘be diligent to confirm your election by turning from your idols.’
So, remember our objective in all of these studies: we want to know God. And from this chapter we learned something about him, we now know God a little better, and from there in order to live for him, we need to apply what we just learned. So, what’s the application from this chapter?
First, let’s think about what we would LIKE the application to be. What would make our lives easier? What would make us feel better? Now, it’s not always wrong to want an easier life or to feel better, but our first thoughts on application may not always be the best. It’s important to recognize our felt needs first, so we can see through them to what Scripture really says. God knows what we really need.
This is probably one passage where our felt needs line up with our real needs. Those of us who are out there living for Christ, may feel a little beat up, and we’d appreciate some encouragement. But the reality is that many of us probably aren’t living for Christ in a way that would lead to our persecution.
So if our felt needs would say that we want to be praised for our secret faith, the real need may be that we gotta get out there and start living for Christ in a way that people actually notice.
God knows what we really need in order to live for him. The Bible will always leave us with some things we can do (some duties), or it’ll tell us who we need to become (help us improve our character), and it will point us in the direction that we need to go (it’ll give us some goals).
So, applying what we learned about God from the chapter, we could say that (verse 4) ‘we know, we are loved by God, that he has chosen us, because the gospel came to us not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.’ Because God elected us for good works, we have a duty to live for him. And, we can be like the Thessalonians, who (verse 8) the word of the Lord sounded forth from,’ we can make ‘our faith in God go forth everywhere.’ So, using our categories, our duty could be to take our faith public, and we could imitate the Thessalonians’ character as they imitated Paul, by sounding forth the gospel. And lastly, a goal that we could give ourselves is to establish ourselves in the faith (in God’s Word) so that we won’t be moved by afflictions. We could give ourselves a goal of studying God’s Word.
My hope and prayer is that we’ll apply these truths. Of course, there’s no way that we’ll be able to do any of these duties, or be able to improve our character, or we’ll reach any of our goals unless we first stop fighting God. Can you believe that we fight God? How exhausting is that? How foolish of us to think that we could win a fight with God. God wants to change us, just like he wanted to change the Thessalonians, but we fight him on it. We resist his changes.
Some of us, for the first time, need to stop fighting and put our faith in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, he made peace possible. We can actually have peace with God. We can end the war; we can escape his wrath.
We just need to surrender. We need to say we’re sorry for our sins.. He promises to forgive us, he’ll empower us with his Holy Spirit. Once we stop fighting and surrender to him, we will see change. We can live for God.
And then there’s others of us who have repented of our sin and we have received Jesus’ forgiveness, but we haven’t really surrendered to him. We feel a little better now having been forgiven, but we’re still holding some things back. We don’t want to surrender all of us to God.
The invitation to stop fighting is before us, the offer of peace is here: Repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ. And if you’ve already been forgiven, but you’re finding that it's hard to change, consider what areas of your life you’ve not yet surrendered to him. God wants all of you. He loves you.
Won’t you respond to God today? Thanks for listening to this Bible study. Hope you’ll go on to the next chapter, as we continue to learn ABOUT God. AND how to live for him.
SOURCES:
Fee, Gordon. The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 2009.
Macarthur, John. 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Macarthur New Testament Commentary. Moody, 2002.
Martin, Michael. 1, 2 Thessalonians, New American Commentary, vol. 33. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995.