Inscription and Greeting (1 Thessalonians 1:1)

1 Thess. 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 ancients did not begin their letters as we do. We customarily place only the name of the person to whom we write at the beginning, while the good wishes and our own name come at the end. With them, all these indispensable elements of a letter were indicated at the beginning. The holy Apostles followed this custom. The holy Paul follows it too, in all his Epistles as well as in the present one. Only with him everything is filled with a different spirit. Everything is written and wished in God and the Lord, and from God and the Lord. As he lived in Them, so he illumines all his deeds and relationships with Their name.

In the specific features of salutations and greetings, the holy Paul did not follow one fixed form but acted in this with complete freedom, as he found best, in accordance with circumstances or prompted by the Spirit of God who guided him in all things. For all that, however, in certain cases one may suppose there were reasons that led him to write in one way rather than another. Thus in the present Epistle the holy Paul places beside himself Silvanus and Timothy, because they had been his co-workers known to the Thessalonian Church. He presents his co-workers in the work as co-participants in the Epistle as well, because though he alone uttered the word, it was composed on the basis of the information furnished by Silas and Timothy. Moreover, Silvanus and Timothy had been there in person, teaching and giving directions. By placing them beside himself, the Apostle lends authority to everything that was said and done by them there, conveying the thought that all of it ought to be received as if said and done by himself—he confirms it with his apostolic authority. And this was not without purpose for the aims of the Epistle. All three persons had become dear and precious to the Thessalonians; all three had, as it were, with one mouth proclaimed to them the saving Gospel. As they had orally preached Christ together, it was fitting that the written word should go forth from all, as a confirmation of the ongoing unity among them—testifying to the unbreakable unity and firmness of the teaching they had set forth, which had gone out as one from two and three mouths (cf. Mt. 18:16, 20) and continues to this day unchanged in three witnesses (2 Cor. 13:1). In general, that which is individual in the Church of Christ is of little worth. Hence the Apostles in Jerusalem resolved even the difficulty of the Antiochians in council, and their letter to them was written not from one person but from all—and not Apostles only, but also elders and the whole brotherhood (Acts 15:23). The holy Paul took his example from them; for he himself had been there, and that conciliar letter was continually in his memory, since on this his second journey, which followed shortly after that council, he, passing along his previously laid path, was delivering to the Churches the decrees to be kept that had been determined by “the Apostles and elders who are in Jerusalem” (Acts 16:4). Had there been more co-workers with him at that time, he would certainly have included them all; and if at other times he named no one, it was doubtless because no one was with him. Silvanus—the same as Silas in Acts—is placed first as the more senior. He was already among the most eminent and advanced in the Jerusalem Church when the holy Paul and Barnabas came there to resolve the question that was troubling the Antiochian Church, and after its resolution, on behalf of the Antiochian council, as a leading man among the brothers (Acts 15:22), he was sent together with Judas to accompany the Apostle Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, where, as a prophet, he encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words (1 Thess. 15:32). He then remained there permanently and was chosen by the holy Paul to accompany him on his second apostolic journey (Acts 15:40), when Paul and Barnabas parted ways. Thus together with the holy Paul he traversed all the churches of Asia Minor, crossed over into Macedonia, together with him preached and suffered in Philippi and Thessalonica, and together with him at length organized the Corinthian Church (2 Cor. 1:19). At that time, therefore, he appears as the closest and most powerful co-worker of the holy Paul, from whom he was separated, probably, by the Apostle’s imprisonment, which for a time put an end to his missionary activity. After this, history places him beside the Apostle Peter, who sends him to carry his Epistle to the churches of Asia Minor, as a “faithful brother” (1 Pet. 5:12) known to them from his earlier activity there with the Apostle Paul.

The holy Timothy displayed his gifts and was called to co-labor in preaching only on this second journey, on the testimony of the brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:2). Although even in this short time he had already proved trustworthy to the point of being entrusted, as a servant of God and a fellow-worker in the Gospel, to comfort and strengthen the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 3:2); yet his devotion to the preaching of the Word and to the holy Paul was fully revealed in later years, and the holy Paul bore witness that no one had labored with him so sincerely and selflessly as Timothy, who had worked with him as a son with a father (Phil. 2:22). Hence he always spoke of him with especial praise, calling him not only a brother in general (2 Cor. 1:1; Col. 1:1; Phlm. 1:1), not only a fellow minister and co-worker in the Gospel (Rom. 16:21; 1 Cor. 16:10) and a servant of Jesus Christ on equal footing with himself (Phil. 1:1), but also his true, beloved, and most dear child (1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:2, 18; 2 Tim. 1:2).

The holy Paul does not distinguish himself here with any title—perhaps because it had not yet been established how best to write, since this was the first Epistle; or perhaps the state of the Thessalonians required it, as the holy Chrysostom notes: “They were still newly instructed and did not know him well.” “Hence it was not fitting to display his dignity before them,” Oecumenius continues, “lest they somehow be scandalized by that as well.” Or perhaps the holy Paul did not want to engage the Thessalonians’ attention with his apostolic authority, because he already had a firmer hold over them through the force of the love with which he had been drawn to them and by which he had bound them to himself. Hence he judged it more fitting even in the Epistle to appear before them in the same spiritual light in which they had seen him among them—in “power and the Holy Spirit and with great conviction” (1 Thess. 1:5). Perhaps in omitting his apostolic dignity, the holy Paul had in view not the Thessalonians but Silas and Timothy, and concealed it so as not to appear to be arrogating to himself any preeminence or superiority over them, though he was truly an Apostle “not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father”—chosen and called (Gal. 1:1). One cannot say for certain that he acted thus with precisely this aim; but one cannot deny that in this omission he manifested his humility; and it is all the more attractive here for being manifested so simply and unstudied. In only one respect did the holy Paul distinguish himself from the others—he placed himself first; and he placed himself first because humility too must have its limits. A true model for ecclesiastical and civil authorities in their relation to subordinates—not to dominate, but not to demean oneself either!

“To the Church of the Thessalonians.” The word “Church” leads us to suppose that in Thessalonica there were not only believers but also a corresponding hierarchy—stewards of the mysteries and ministers of the word. Although the holy Paul does not mention here, as in other Epistles, bishops, presbyters, and deacons, this does not mean they were absent; for at the end he writes a commandment about obedience to their leaders who labor among them and instruct them—by whom, of course, we must understand sacred persons (1 Thess. 5:12). Is it not to them that at the end the holy Paul commands that this Epistle be read before the whole Church (1 Thess. 5:27)?

“In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” To the Church of the Thessalonians, he says, which is in God. For there are assemblies of Jews and pagans, but they are not in God. “Great and incomparable is the dignity of the Church, if it is in God,” says the holy Chrysostom. The Church in God is the one gathered by the will and cooperation of God, organized according to His plan and for the glory of His name—the Church that worships the true God, bows down before Him, and pleases Him according to His commandment. In this lies the distinctive mark of the true Church. By the word “in God” is meant not merely communion with God through profession of faith, but actual, life-giving abiding in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 15:4; 17:21; 1 Jn. 2:5; 5:20). Before, the Thessalonians were outside God and Christ, where everything lies in evil. The Jews did not know Christ; the pagans did not even know the true God. Now, however, from among them there was formed a community of those who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This transformation is a miracle of God’s goodwill toward them, for which Paul then offers praise and thanksgiving—as in all his Epistles. By recalling this, the Apostle Paul instills: take care not to make yourselves unworthy of this lofty perfection, and in every way keep yourselves pure from every sin; for “of one who is a slave to sin, it can no longer be said that he is in God,” says Chrysostom.

“Grace to you and peace.” In all of the holy Paul’s Epistles the salutation is expressed in these words. Only in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus is there added: “grace, mercy, and peace.” The same is seen in the other Apostles as well. The first form of expression appears in both Epistles of the holy Peter, and the second in the two Epistles of John. The salutation of the holy Jude differs from all: “mercy, peace, and love.”

“Grace” — χαρις— recalls the Greek form of greeting — χαιρειν(see Acts 23:26), which was retained by the Apostles in their conciliar letter to the Antiochians (Acts 15:23) and used in the Epistle of James (1 Thess. 1:1).

“Peace” is the customary Hebrew (and Arabic) form of greeting (Gen. 43:23; Judg. 19:20; and so on). The Saviour commanded the Apostles to use it when He sent them out to preach (Lk. 10:5–6). He Himself used it when appearing to the Apostles after the resurrection (Jn. 20:19, 21, 26). And even before, in His farewell discourse, He left to His disciples peace as a sign of His victory over the world, as an inheritance for them, as the distinctive mark setting them apart from those whom the world beguiles (Jn. 14:27; 16:33).

Both words, taken from ordinary Jewish and Greek speech—where they referred to earthly life and outward well-being—have been elevated by the holy Apostles to signify the fullness of blessing and salvation in Christ Jesus. A noteworthy example of the formation of the Christian biblical language!

“Grace”—in general—means goodwill, favor, and caring solicitude; in which sense it is said also of the child Jesus: “the grace of God was upon Him” (Lk. 2:40). But more specifically, grace—as opposed to the Law, works, and duty (Rom. 4:4; 6:14; 11:6)—is the gratuitous, free, and unconditional manifestation of God’s love toward those who not only have no right to it whatsoever, but, by all justice, deserve the contrary (Rom. 3:23–24; Eph. 2:3–5). This is the New Testament saving grace manifested to sinners in Christ Jesus (Tit. 2:11; Jn. 1:17). It is not only the once-for-all accomplished redemption and deliverance of sinful humanity in the Lord Jesus, but also the life-giving power that draws each person to Christ, giving birth and nurturing new life in him—a life which in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is communicated and sealed, at times accompanied by particular gifts (Jn. 6:44; Rom. 5:5; Eph. 1:17). What grace, then, does the Apostle wish for the Thessalonians? — both kinds: as goodwill and as living communion with God through faith in the Lord; for in the first lies the source of the second; and he wishes above all for its continuation, increase, and growth, since both kinds of grace have already been manifested to them.

“Peace” is the immediate action of God’s grace in human hearts—an inner harmony of life and its joyful experience, after the inner dissolution and disintegration that characterized the sinful life—proceeding from and resting upon the fact that sin, which had been dissolving everything, troubling the conscience, and separating from God, has now been expelled; and the person, inwardly pacified and healed, once again enters into the living communion with God for which he was destined. Thus peace in the Christian is both the fruit of the sense of health and vitality filling him in the new life, and the echo of the hidden feeling of the prodigal who has returned to his father’s house and been received back into full sonship. Being such as it is, it possesses within itself a compelling force to dispose a person to make every effort to remain forever in this blessed ordering of life. For all that, however, since it too is sown and grows, it is very fitting to wish for its increase and speedier growth—with which the holy Paul greets the Thessalonians.

“From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”—as the one source of grace and peace. In the holy Paul, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are joined together in countless places. By this he loudly proclaims Their consubstantiality. According to the economy of our salvation, the Father is the Source of the counsel of salvation, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Accomplisher of that salvation, having redeemed us at the price of His blood. Therefore through Him there come to us from God all the powers “that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3), whose Giver is the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4).