Chapter One

Greeting (v. 1). Thanksgiving to God and prayers for the readers because of their progress in faith, love, and hope as a result of God’s election (2–4). The preaching of the Apostle in Thessalonica and its divine effect there and in neighboring places (5–10).

1 Thessalonians 1:1. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy—to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The greeting is written on behalf of all three heralds who labored in the founding of the church in Thessalonica. The Apostle Paul calls himself simply “Paul,” applying no characteristic descriptions to himself. This is rather unusual, because in all his other epistles he usually calls himself “Apostle,” “Apostle and servant,” simply “servant,” or even “prisoner of Jesus Christ.” But in 1 Thess (as in 2 Thess) he calls himself only by name, apparently because in this case there was no need to particularly insist on his apostolate, which was later denied and questioned. Silvanus is placed second, both because he was among the “leaders among the brothers” (Acts 15:22) and because he, probably, took the most active part in the founding of the Thessalonian church. Silvanus should be recognized as identical with Silas mentioned in Acts 15:22, with the understanding that the name “Silas” was formed from “Silvanus” by abbreviation; analogous examples are the following abbreviations: Loucanus, Parmenas from Parmenides, or Epaphras from Epaphroditus, Apollos from Apollonius. Silas is first mentioned in Acts 15:22; he joined the Apostle Paul at the beginning of his second apostolic journey in place of the Apostle Barnabas. He took the most active part in the founding of the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, but later (Acts 18:5) he completely disappears from the ranks of the Apostle Paul’s coworkers. He was apparently of Jewish origin (Acts 16:20) and had Roman citizenship (Acts 16:37-38), hence his Roman name Silvanus (so he is always called by the Apostle Paul—see 2 Thess 1:1; 2 Cor 1:19). A person named Silvanus is mentioned also in 1 Pet 5:12; usually this person is identified with the Apostle Paul’s coworker. Timothy is placed third, probably due to his youth. He was the most faithful coworker of the Apostle Paul. The name Timothy is mentioned in 11 of the 14 epistles, 2 of which are written personally to him. He was from Lystra by origin, and was probably converted to Christianity by the Apostle Paul himself (Acts 16:1-8; 2 Tim 1:5). He began his coworking with the latter from the second apostolic journey and did not interrupt his connection with the Apostle Paul until the end of his life. The epistle is addressed to “the church of the Thessalonians.” This form of address is a peculiarity common to 1 and 2 Thess, 1 and 2 Cor, and Galatians, though in 1 and 2 Thess the local element is stronger than in the other just-mentioned epistles. The church in Thessalonica is defined from another side as well—as the community of believers in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. “Grace—χάρις—is the primary beginning of all blessings, and peace—ειρήνη—is their final result and consequence” (Lightfoot, op. cit. p. 8). At this point the Apostle Paul combines together the Greek and Hebrew forms of greetings, of course, only with a more profound and spiritualized content.

1 Thessalonians 1:2. We always give thanks to God for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, The Apostle gives thanks to God for the good state of the church in Thessalonica.

1 Thessalonians 1:3. Constantly remembering your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father, Here (and in 1 Thess 5:8) the Apostle lists the three main Christian virtues—“faith as the source of all Christian virtues, love as the building and sustaining principle of Christian life, and hope as the guiding star leading us to future life” (Lightfoot op. cit. p. 10). We find the same order of naming the virtues in Col 1:4 and in Gal 5:5; but in 1 Cor 13:13, love is placed in the last position. “The great importance given to hope here is fully consistent with the dominant structure of the epistles to the Thessalonians, since in them the Apostle constantly tries to direct all the attention of his readers to the great day of judgment.”

1 Thessalonians 1:4. knowing your election, beloved brothers by God; 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Because our gospel came to you not in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, as you know what kind of people we were among you for your sake. “Our gospel,” says the Apostle, “came to you not in word alone, not in empty and heartless rhetoric, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”—πληροφορία—the conviction and assurance on the part of the Apostle and his coworkers.

1 Thessalonians 1:6. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit in the midst of much affliction, “In the midst of much affliction”—persecutions, at first from the Jews (Acts 17:5 and further) and then from their own kinsmen, who did not remain deaf to Jewish slander against the Apostle (1 Thess 2:14).

1 Thessalonians 1:7. So that you became a model for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The progress of the Thessalonians in the Christian life was so great that they became τύπον (a model) of Christian community for the believers of Macedonia and Achaia. The Apostle Paul wrote from Corinth, and therefore had every reason to appreciate the power of influence of their example.

1 Thessalonians 1:8. For the word of the Lord resounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth into every place, so that we have no need to say anything. From them “the word of the Lord” (see 2 Thess 3:1 and compare 1 Pet 1:25 and Col 3:16), like thunder, went forth not only through Macedonia and Achaia, but also “into every place” their faith in God (ή προς τόν Θεόν) became a subject of conversation. But how could the Apostle say that their faith became known “in every place” when the church in Thessalonica had been founded by him so recently? What is the meaning of this expression έν παντί τόπω? Of course, there is no need to particularly insist on the literal understanding of this expression (compare Col 1:6; Rom 1:8) in view of the generally not entirely correct construction of the speech in this passage. Grammatically correct speech should have ended at the expression έν παντί τόπω. On the other hand, Thessalonica, being a large commercial center and located on the Via Egnatia, served as an excellent point of departure for the preaching of the word of God, which went forth from here throughout Macedonia and Achaia, and a convenient center from which news about the affairs of the Thessalonian church could quickly spread. Wherever the Apostle came, the fame of the Thessalonians already preceded him. He speaks of their faith as “directed to God” (ή προς τόν Θεόν), which undoubtedly emphasizes their former service to idols, from which they turned away and turned “to the living and true God.”

1 Thessalonians 1:9. For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God Whom does the Apostle mean by “they themselves” (αυτοί γαρ)? “The noun to which this αυτοί should be referred is implicitly contained in έν παντί τόπω, that is, here are meant visitors from all parts” of Greece (Lightfoot, op cit., p. 16).

1 Thessalonians 1:10. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. The end of v. 9 and v. 10 contain a brief summary of the Apostle’s preaching in Thessalonica, where he apparently especially insisted on the coming of Christ and the terrible judgment. The majority of the Thessalonians turned to God “from idols” to serve “the living and true God” (if the discussion were about those converted from the Jews, we would have not προς τόν Θεόν, but προς τόν Κύριον—see Acts 9:4, and compare Acts 15:19; Gal 4:8 and Acts 14:15), and to await the parousia of His Son, whose resurrection is attributed to the action of God, as also in Rom 1:4. “The word ‘wrath’ here is used not only in the sense of God’s wrath against sin, but also in the sense of the manifestation of divine retribution on the part of his justice, of which the Apostle expected rapid manifestation in the world. The Greek text speaks of this wrath not as something that should open in an indefinite future time, but as something approaching already, as if actually already close to full revelation” (Drummond. I. Thessalonians, p. 20).