The New Testament with Commentary 1 Thessalonians 1

The First Epistle of Paul to the

THESSALONIANS

Opening Considerations

Greeting

1 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy,* to the congregation† of Thessalonians in God the Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ.‡

The Thessalonians are praised

2 We always give thanks to God for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, 3 continually remembering before our God and Father your work for the Faith and your labor coming from the Love and your perseverance based on the Hope, our Lord Jesus Christ being their source,§ 4 knowing as we do, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen.*

They became examples

5 You see, our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit† and with complete certainty‡ (of course you know what sort of men we proved to be among you for your sake).§ 6 Yes you became imitators of us and of the Lord,* having received the Word with the Holy Spirit's joy,† in spite of severe affliction, 7 so that you became examples‡ to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 That is because the Word of the Lord sounded out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place§—your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we do not need to say anything.

Their hope

9 They themselves report about you* what kind of entrance we had to you,† and how you turned to God from idols to be slaves to the living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son coming out of the heavens‡ (whom He raised from among the dead)§—Jesus, who preserves us from the coming wrath.*

*1:1 Paul gives recognition to the junior members of the team.

†1:1 The first image that the term ‘church’ evokes in the minds of many is that of a building; what is in view here is a group of people, and a very particular group of people.

‡1:1 To the ‘western’ mind the repetition of the full form, “God our Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ,” may seem unnecessary, if not stylistically poor, but this letter was written by a Hebrew. By switching from ‘the’ to ‘our’ Father he claims a personal relationship. Some 7.5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “from God our Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

§1:3 We are used to the rendering: ‘work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ’. However, “faith”, “love”, “hope” and “Lord” all have the definite article and are in the genitive/ablative case. If we translate the definite articles it changes the ‘flavor’; we are looking at a particular faith, a particular love, a particular hope, and the three qualities either belong to the Lord or proceed from Him. The genitive/ablative case in Greek is quite ‘versatile’, and so just to render ‘of’ all the time is so ambiguous as to leave the precise intent undefined. (However, I can't guarantee that my attempt to ‘disambiguate’ is correct.)

*1:4 They are loved and chosen by God, marvelous privilege—verse 3 describes their appropriate response, which I suppose is how Paul ‘knew’ that they were chosen.

†1:5 In verses 1 and 2 it is clear that the Father and the Son are distinct persons; here Paul adds the Holy Spirit.

‡1:5 Powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit do have a way of adding certainty to the spoken word; they also help to face affliction with joy (next verse).

§1:5 Why “for your sake”? They were giving an example to be followed.

*1:6 To imitate the messengers was to imitate the Lord; their walk with God presumably had something to do with the powerful manifestations.

†1:6 “The Holy Spirit's joy” in the soul is an unanswerable proof of the reality of true conversion; it also enables you to face “severe affliction” with equanimity.

‡1:7 They bought into the messengers' life style of total commitment to Christ and His Kingdom.

§1:8 For something to resound far and wide requires a sufficient cause. Their response to the Gospel was sufficiently vigorous that it caused widespread comment, comment about their transformed lives and the Message that could produce such transformation.

*1:9 Instead of “you”, perhaps 60% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘us’, as in most versions. I follow the best line of transmission.

†1:9 Paul did not have to ‘toot his own horn’.

‡1:10 Verses 9-10 give a good picture of true conversion. It involves turning your back on all the ‘idols’ that governed your life to trust in the true God; but the only acceptable way to truly relate to the Sovereign of the universe is as a slave = total commitment; this gives a valid hope for a bright future.

§1:10 Resurrection has to do with bodies (it is the body that is resurrected, to be reunited with the spirit), so the Son will return with a visible body. As the angels said, He will return ‘in like manner’ (Acts 1:11).

*1:10 Which expression of the Wrath is this? Jesus delivers us from the ultimate wrath, the Lake of fire, but based on 4:13-18 below I imagine that this refers to a pre-wrath Rapture.