1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Sunday School Notes

These are some of my notes for Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008 in the Lifeway Explore the Bible series.

Books referenced here include:
1. F.F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Word Bible Commentary, vol.45 (1982)

2. Charles Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, New International Greek Testament Commentary (1990)

3. Ben Witherington III, 1 and 2 Thessalonians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (2006)

4. J.B. Lightfoot, Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul (1895): e-book, paperback

5. E. Randolph Richards, Paul and First Century Letter Writing (2004)

 6. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915): Studylight online edition; Esword dictionaries module download page

 7. A. R. Fausset(1821-1910), Bible Dictionary (?): Studylight online edition; Esword dictionaries modules download page

8. Philip Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary, (2008)

9. Roger Omanson, A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament, (2006)

10. Hans-Josef Klauck, Ancient Letters and the New Testament, (2006)

11. Craig Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, (1994)

1 Th 1:1
The standard form of an ancient letter was:(Klauck)

1. Opening
a. Prescript
b. Proem

2. Body
a. Body Opening
b. Body Middle
c. Body Closing

3. Closing
a. Epilogue
b. Postscript

E. Randolph Richards compiled a chart of costs for components (lines, amount of papyri, scribal salary) and adjusted it to today’s dollars, coming up with a figure of $484 for 1 Thessalonians. Plainly a reason for having so few Pauline letters in the New Testament is because it was an expensive business writing them. Paul’s letters are very long for ancient times, when the average letter was only one papyrus sheet long. (Richards)

Richards also made a chart of names mentioned in the opening and closing of Paul’s letters, which leads him to conclude those named in the opening were actually involved in the writing of the letter to some degree. On the other hand, since Paul singed the letters, ancient tradition dictated that Paul took full responsibility for the contents of the letter, however many coauthors and scribes were involved in producing the document. (Richards)

The modern idea of letter writing is not appropriate to Paul’s letters. Desks were all but unknown, and literacy was divided into several categories:
1. simple ability to read
2. ability to write a little and slowly
3. ability to write well. Mostly limited to professional scribes and the wealthy.

Most letters were physically written by scribes, even for literate people, because scribes brought speed, style, and custom to writing. Ancient letters had standard forms which scribes could make dictated letters fit by creating a final letter from dictation or written notes. The author(s) could then approve this draft letter for formal copying or work on further drafts. While this sounds like the author(s) left much to the scribe to do, ancient tradition put sole responsibility for the final letter on the signer, requiring any responsible author to be very involved in the creation of his letters.(Richards)

Paulos: This means “short”, near enough. Saulos, the Greek form of his Jewish name, sounds like a Greek term for the salacious walk of prostitutes, so it is no surprise he didn’t use that name.(Witherington)

Silvanus: This is Silas’ Latin name as a Roman citizen. Jewish Roman citizens would often choose Aramaic and Latin names that sounded similar.(BBCNT)

From ISBE:”Silas sī´las (Σίλας, Sílas, probably contraction for Σιλουανός, Silouanós; the Hebrew equivalents suggested are שׁליש, shālīsh, “Tertius,” or שׁלח, shelaḥ (Gen_10:24) (Knowling), or שׁאוּל, shā’ūl = “asked” (Zahn)): The Silas of Acts is generally identified with the Silvanus of the Epistles. His identification with Titus has also been suggested, based on 2Co_1:19; 2Co_8:23, but this is very improbable (compare Knowling, Expositor’s Greek Test., II, 326).

Silas, who was probably a Roman citizen (compare Act_16:37), accompanied Paul during the greater part of his 2nd missionary journey (Acts 15 through 18). At the meeting of the Christian community under James at Jerusalem, which decided that circumcision should not be obligatory in the case of Gentile believers, Silas and Judas Barsabas were appointed along with Paul and Barnabas to convey to the churches in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia the epistle informing them of this decision. As “leading men among the brethren” at Jerusalem, and therefore more officially representative of the Jerusalem church than Paul and Barnabas, Silas and Judas were further commissioned to confirm the contents of the letter by “word of mouth.” On arrival at Antioch, the epistle was delivered, and Judas and Silas, “being themselves also prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.” Their mission being thus completed, the four were “dismissed in peace from the brethren unto those that had sent them forth” (Revised Version), or “unto the apostles” (the King James Version) (Act_15:22-33).

Different readings now render the immediate movements of Silas somewhat obscure; Act_15:33 would imply that he returned to Jerusalem. But some texts proceed in Act_15:34, “Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still,” and others add “and Judas alone proceeded.” Of this, the first half is accepted by the King James Version. The principal texts however reject the whole verse and are followed in this by the Revised Version (British and American). It is held by some that he remained in Antioch till chosen by Paul (Act_15:40). Others maintain that he returned to Jerusalem where John Mark then was (compare Act_13:13); and that either during the interval of “some days” (Act_15:36), when the events described in Gal_2:11 ff took place (Wendt), he returned to Antioch along with Peter, or that he and John Mark were summoned thither by Paul and Barnabas, subsequent to their dispute regarding Mark. (For fuller discussion, see Knowling, Expositor’s Greek Test., II, 330, 332-35.)

Upon Barnabas’ separation from Paul, Silas was chosen by Paul in his place, and the two missionaries, “after being commended by the brethren (at Antioch) to the grace of the Lord,” proceeded on their journey (Act_15:33 margin through 40). Passing through Syria, Cilicia, Galatia, Phrygia and Mysia, where they delivered the decree of the Jerusalem council and strengthened the churches, and were joined by Timothy, they eventually reached Troas (Acts 15:41 through 16:8). Indications are given that at this city Luke also became one of their party (compare also the apocryphal “Acts of Paul,” where this is definitely stated; Budge, Contendings of the Apostles, II, 544).

Upon the call of the Macedonian, the missionary band set sail for Greece, and after touching at Samothrace, they landed at Neapolis (Act_16:9-11). At Philippi, Lydia, a seller of purple, was converted, and with her they made their abode; but the exorcism of an evil spirit from a sorceress brought upon Silas and Paul the enmity of her masters, whose source of gain was thus destroyed. On being charged before the magistrates with causing a breach of the peace and preaching false doctrine, their garments were rent off them and they were scourged and imprisoned. In no way dismayed, they prayed and sang hymns to God, and an earthquake in the middle of the night secured them a miraculous release. The magistrates, on learning that the two prisoners whom they had so maltreated were Roman citizens, came in person and besought them to depart out of the city (Acts 16:12-39).

After a short visit to the house of Lydia, where they held an interview with the brethren, they departed for Thessalonica, leaving Luke behind (compare Knowling, op. cit., 354-55). There they made many converts, especially among the Greeks, but upon the house of Jason, their host, being attacked by hostile Jews, they were compelled to escape by night to Berea (Acts 16:40 through 17:10). There they received a better hearing from the Jews, but the enmity of the Thessalonian Jews still pursued them, and Paul was conducted for safety to Athens, Silas and Timothy being left behind. On his arrival, he dispatched an urgent message back to Bercea for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him at that city (Act_17:11-15). The narrative of Acts implies, however, that Paul had left Athens and had reached Corinth before he was overtaken by his two followers (Act_18:5). Knowling (op. cit., 363-64) suggests that they may have actually met at Athens, and that Timothy was then sent to Thessalonica (compare 1Th_3:1, 1Th_3:2), and Silas to Philippi (compare Phi_4:15), and that the three came together again at Corinth. The arrival of Silas and Timothy at that city is probably referred to in 2Co_11:9. It is implied in Act_18:18 that Silas did not leave Corinth at the same time as Paul, but no further definite reference is made to him in the narrative of the 2nd missionary journey.

Assuming his identity with Silvanus, he is mentioned along with Paul and Timothy in 2Co_1:19 as having preached Christ among the Corinthians (compare Act_18:5). In 1Th_1:1, and 2Th_1:1, the same three send greetings to the church at Thessalonica (compare Act_17:1-9). In 1Pe_5:12 he is mentioned as a “faithful brother” and the bearer of that letter to the churches of the Dispersion (compare on this last Knowling, op. cit., 331-32). The theory which assigns Hebrews to the authorship of Silas is untenable.”

In early church bishop lists, Silas and Silvanus were considered two different people, Silas being the Bishop of Corinth, Silvanus, the Bishop of Thessalonica, though they’ve long since been considered different names for the same person.(Lightfoot)

From Fausset’s Bible Dictionary: “Timothy :First mentioned (Act_16:1) as dwelling in Lystra (not Derbe, Act_20:4; compare 2Ti_3:11). His mother was Eunice, a Jewess (2Ti_1:5); his father a Greek, i.e. a Gentile; he died probably in Timothy’s early years, as he is not mentioned later. Timothy is called “a disciple,” so that his conversion must have been before the time of Act_16:1, through Paul (1Ti_1:2, “my own son in the faith”) probably at the apostle’s former visit to Lystra (Act_14:6), when also we may conjecture his Scripture-loving mother Eunice and grandmother Lois were converted from Judaism to Christianity (2Ti_3:14-15; 2Ti_1:5): “faith made its “dwelling” (enookesen; Joh_14:23) first in Lois and Eunice,” then in Timothy also through their influence.

The elders ordained in Lystra and Iconium (Act_14:21-23; Act_16:2) thenceforth superintended him (1Ti_4:14); their good report and that of the brethren, as also his origin, partly Jewish partly Gentile, marked him out as especially suited to assist Paul in missionary work, labouring as the apostle did in each place, firstly among the Jews then among the Gentiles. The joint testimony to his character of the brethren of Lystra and Iconium implies that already he was employed as “messenger of the churches,” an office which constituted his subsequent life work (2Co_8:23). To obviate Jewish prejudices (1Co_9:20) in regard to one of half Israelite parentage, Paul first circumcised him, “for they knew all that his father was a Greek.” This was not inconsistent with the Jerusalem decree which was the Gentiles’ charter of liberty in Christ (Acts 15); contrast the case of Titus, a Gentile on both sides, and therefore not circumcised (Gal_2:3).

Timothy accompanied Paul in his Macedonian tour; but he and Silas stayed behind in Berea, when the apostle went forward to Athens. Afterward, he went on to Athens and was immediately sent back (Act_17:15; 1Th_3:1) by Paul to visit the Thessalonian church; he brought his report to Paul at Corinth (1Th_3:2; 1Th_3:6; Act_18:1; Act_18:5). Hence both the epistles to the Thessalonians written at Corinth contain his name with that of Paul in the address. During Paul’s long stay at Ephesus Timothy “ministered to him” (Act_19:22), and was sent before him to Macedonia and to Corinth “to bring the Corinthians into remembrance of the apostle’s ways in Christ” (1Co_4:17; 1Co_16:10).

His name accompanies Paul’s in the heading of 2Co_1:1, showing that he was with the apostle when he wrote it from Macedonia (compare 1Co_16:11); he was also with Paul the following winter at Corinth, when Paul wrote from thence his epistle to the Romans, and sends greetings with the apostle’s to them (1Co_16:21). On Paul’s return to Asia through Macedonia he went forward and waited for the apostle at Troas (Act_20:3-5). At Rome Timothy was with Paul during his imprisonment, when the apostle wrote his epistles to the Colossians (Col_1:1), Philemon (Phm_1:1), and Philippians (Phi_1:1). He was imprisoned with Paul (as was Aristarchus: Col_4:10) and set free, probably soon after Paul’s liberation (Heb_13:23). Paul was then still in Italy (Heb_13:24) waiting for Timothy to join him so as to start for Jerusalem. They were together at Ephesus, after his departing eastward from Italy (1Ti_1:3).

Paul left Timothy there to superintend the church temporarily as the apostle’s locum tenens or vicar apostolic (1Ti_1:3), while he himself went to Macedonia and Philippi, instead of sending Timothy as he had intended (Phi_2:19; Phi_2:23-24). The office at Ephesus and Crete (Tit_1:5) became permanent on the removal of the apostles by death; “angel” (Rev_1:20) was the transition stage between “apostle” and our “bishop.” The last notice of Timothy is Paul’s request (2Ti_4:13; 2Ti_4:21) that he should “do his diligence to come before winter” and should “bring the cloak” left with Carpus at Troas, which in the winter Paul would so much need in his dungeon: about A.D. 67 (Alford). Eusebius (Ecclesiastes Hist. iii. 43) makes him first bishop of Ephesus, if so John’s residence and death must have been later. Nicephorus (Ecclesiastes Hist. iii. 11) reports that he was clubbed to death at Diana’s feast, for having denounced its licentiousness.

Possibly (Calmet) Timothy was “the angel of the church at Ephesus” (Revelation 2). The praise and the censure agree with Timothy’s character, as it appears in Acts and the epistles. The temptation of such an ardent yet soft temperament would be to “leave his first love.” Christ’s promise of the tree of life to him that overcometh (Rev_2:5; Rev_2:7) accords with 2Ti_2:4-6. Paul, influenced by his own inclination (Act_16:3) and the prophets’ intimations respecting him (1Ti_1:18; 1Ti_4:14; 2Ti_1:6; compare Paul’s own ease, Act_13:1), with his own hands, accompanied with the presbytery’s laying on of hands, ordained him “evangelist” (2Ti_4:5). His self-denying character is shown by his leaving home at once to accompany Paul, and his submitting to circumcision for the gospel’s sake; also by his abstemiousness (1Ti_5:23) notwithstanding bodily “infirmities,” so that Paul had to urge him to “use a little wine for his stomach’s sake.”

Timothy betrayed undue diffidence and want of boldness in his delicate position as a “youth” having to deal with seniors (1Ti_4:12), with transgressors (1Ti_5:20-21) of whom some were persons to whom he might be tempted to show “partiality.” Therefore he needed Paul’s monition that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2Ti_1:7). His timidity is glanced at in Paul’s charge to the Corinthians (1Co_16:10-11), “if I come, see that he may be with you without fear, let no man, despise him.” His training under females, his constitutional infirmity, susceptible soft temperament, amativeness, and sensitiveness even to “tears” (2Ti_1:4, probably at parting from Paul at Ephesus, where Paul had to “beseech” him to stay: 1Ti_1:3), required such charges as “endure hardness (hardship) as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Ti_2:3-18; 2Ti_2:22), “flee youthful lusts,” (1Ti_5:2) “the younger entreat as sisters, with all purity.”

Paul bears testimony to his disinterested and sympathizing affection for both his spiritual father, the apostle, and those to whom he was sent to minister; with him Christian love was become “natural,” not forced, nor “with dissimulation” (Phi_2:19-23): “I trust to send Timothy shortly … for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ’s; but ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the father he hath served with me in the gospel.” Among his friends who send greetings to him were the Roman noble, Pudens, the British princess Claudia, and the bishop of Rome, Linus. Timothy “professed a good profession before many witnesses” at his baptism and his ordination, whether generally or as overseer at Ephesus (1Ti_1:18; 1Ti_4:14; 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_1:6).

Less probably, Smith’s Bible Dictionary states that it was at the time of his Roman imprisonment with Paul, just before Paul’s liberation (Heb_13:23), on the ground that Timothy’s “profession” is put into juxtaposition with Christ Jesus’ “good confession before Pilate.” But the argument is “fight the good fight of faith.” seeing that “thou art called” to it, “and hast professed a good profession” (the same Greek, “confession.” (homologia) at thy baptism and ordination; carry out thy profession, as in the sight of Christ who attested the truth at the cost of His life “before or under” (epi) Pilate. Christ’s part was with His vicarious sacrifice to attest the good confession, i.e. Christianity; Timothy’s to “confess” it and “fight the good fight of faith,” and “keep the (gospel) commandment” (Joh_13:34; 1Ti_1:5; Tit_2:12; 2Pe_2:21; 2Pe_3:2).”

Silas and Timothy were both excellent choices for companions in Paul’s missionary work. Silas was a Jewish Roman citizen like Paul, and Timothy was half Jewish, half Greek. This meant both men could speak to both Jews and Gentiles with knowledge and empathy. (Witherington)

From ISBE: “Thessalonica thes-a-lṓ-nī´ka (Θεσσαλονίκη, Thessaloníkē, ethnic Θεσσαλονικεύς, Thessalonikeús):

1. Position and Name:
One of the chief towns of Macedonia from Hellenistic times down to the present day. It lies in 40 degrees 40 minutes North latitude, and 22 degrees 50 minutes East longitude, at the northernmost point of the Thermaic Gulf (Gulf of Salonica), a short distance to the East of the mouth of the Axius (Vardar). It is usually maintained that the earlier name of Thessalonica was Therma or Therme, a town mentioned both by Herodotus (vii. 121 ff, 179 ff) and by Thucydides (i. 61; ii. 29), but that its chief importance dates from about 315 BC, when the Macedonian king Cassander, son of Antipater, enlarged and strengthened it by concentrating there the population of a number of neighboring towns and villages, and renamed it after his wife Thessalonica, daughter of Philip II and step-sister of Alexander the Great. This name, usually shortened since medieval times into Salonica or Saloniki, it has retained down to the present. Pliny, however, speaks of Therma as still existing side by side with Thessalonica (NH, iv. 36), and it is possible that the latter was an altogether new foundation, which took from Therma a portion of its inhabitants and replaced it as the most important city on the Gulf.

2. History:
Thessalonica rapidly became populous and wealthy. In the war between Perseus and the Romans it appears as the headquarters of the Macedonian navy (Livy xliv. 10) and when, after the battle of Pydna (168 BC), the Romans divided the conquered territory into four districts, it became the capital of the second of these (Livy xlv. 29), while later, after the organization of the single Roman province of Macedonia in 146 BC, it was the seat of the governor and thus practically the capital of the whole province. In 58 BC Cicero spent the greater part of his exile there, at the house of the quaestor Plancius (Pro Plancio 41, 99; Epistle Ad Att, iii. 8-21). In the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Thessalonica took the senatorial side and formed one of Pompey’s chief bases (49-48 BC), but in the final struggle of the republic, six years later, it proved loyal to Antony and Octavian, and was rewarded by receiving the status and privileges of a “free city” (Pliny, NH, iv. 36). Strabo, writing in the reign of Augustus, speaks of it as the most populous town in Macedonia and the metropolis of the province (vii. 323, 330), and about the same time the poet Antipater, himself a native of Thessalonica, refers to the city as “mother of all Macedon” (Jacobs, Anthol. Graec., II, p. 98, number 14); in the 2nd century of our era Lucian mentions it as the greatest city of Macedonia (Asinus, 46). It was important, not only as a harbor with a large import and export trade, but also as the principal station on the great Via Egnatia, the highway from the Adriatic to the Hellespont.

3. Paul’s Visit:
Paul visited the town, together with Silas and Timothy, on his 2nd missionary journey. He had been at Philippi, and traveled thence by the Egnatian Road, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia on the way (Act_17:1). He found at Thessalonica a synagogue of the Jews, in which for three successive Sabbaths he preached the gospel, basing his message upon the types and prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures (Act_17:2, Act_17:3). Some of the Jews became converts and a considerable number of proselytes and Greeks, together with many women of high social standing (Act_17:4). Among these converts were in all probability Aristarchus and Secundus, natives of Thessalonica, whom we afterward find accompanying Paul to Asia at the close of his 3rd missionary journey (Act_20:4). The former of them was, indeed, one of the apostle’s most constant companions; we find him with Paul at Ephesus (Act_19:29) and on his journey to Rome (Act_27:2), while in two of his Epistles, written during his captivity, Paul refers to Aristarchus as still with him, his fellow-prisoner (Col_4:10; Phm_1:24). Gaius, too, who is mentioned in conjunction with Aristarchus, may have been a Thessalonian (Act_19:29). How long Paul remained at Thessalonica on his 1st visit we cannot precisely determine; certainly we are not to regard his stay there as confined to three weeks, and Ramsay suggests that it probably extended from December, 50 AD, to May, 51 AD (St. Paul the Traveler, 228). In any case, we learn that the Philippines sent him assistance on two occasions during the time which he spent there (Phi_4:16), although he was “working night and day” to maintain himself (1Th_2:9; 2Th_3:8). Paul, the great missionary strategist, must have seen that from no other center could Macedonia be permeated with the gospel so effectively as from Thessalonica (1Th_1:8).

But his success roused the jealousy of the Jews, who raised a commotion among the dregs of the city populace (Act_17:5). An attack was made on the house of Jason, with whom the evangelists were lodging, and when these were not found Jason himself and some of the other converts were dragged before the magistrates and accused of harboring men who had caused tumult throughout the Roman world, who maintained the existence of another king, Jesus, and acted in defiance of the imperial decrees. The magistrates were duly alive to the seriousness of the accusation, but, since no evidence was forthcoming of illegal practices on the part of Jason or the other Christians, they released them on security (Act_17:5-9). Foreseeing further trouble if Paul should continue his work in the town, the converts sent Paul and Silas (and possibly Timothy also) by night to Berea, which lay off the main road and is referred to by Cicero as an out-of-the-way town (oppidum devium: in Pisonem 36). The Berean Jews showed a greater readiness to examine the new teaching than those of Thessalonica, and the work of the apostle was more fruitful there, both among Jews and among Greeks (Act_17:10-13). But the news of this success reached the Thessalonian Jews and inflamed their hostility afresh. Going to Berea, they raised a tumult there also, and made it necessary for Paul to leave the town and go to Athens (Act_17:14, Act_17:15).

Several points in this account are noteworthy as illustrating the strict accuracy of the narrative of the Acts. Philippi was a Roman town, military rather than commercial; hence, we find but few Jews there and no synagogue; the magistrates bear the title of praetors (Act_16:20, Act_16:22, Act_16:35, Act_16:36, Act_16:38 the Revised Version margin) and are attended by lictors (Act_16:35, Act_16:38 the Revised Version margin); Paul and Silas are charged with the introduction of customs which Romans may not observe (Act_16:21); they are beaten with rods (Act_16:22) and appeal to their privileges as Roman citizens (16:37, 38). At Thessalonica all is changed. We are here in a Greek commercial city and a seaport, a “free city,” moreover, enjoying a certain amount of autonomy and its own constitution. Here we find a large number of resident Jews and a synagogue. The charge against Paul is that of trying to replace Caesar by another king; the rioters wish to bring him before “the people,” i.e. the popular assembly characteristic of Greek states, and the magistrates of the city bear the Greek name of politarchs (Act_17:5-9). This title occurs nowhere in Greek literature, but its correctness is proved beyond possibility of question by its occurrence in a number of inscriptions of this period, which have come to light in Thessalonica and the neighborhood, and will be found collected in AJT (1898, 598) and in M. G. Dimitsas, (Μακεδονία, Makedonia), 422 ff. Among them the most famous is the inscription engraved on the arch which stood at the western end of the main street of Salonica and was called the Vardar Gate. The arch itself, which was perhaps erected to commemorate the victory of Philippi, though some authorities assign it to a later date, has been removed, and the inscription is now in the British Museum (CIG, 1967; Leake, Northern Greece, III, 236; Le Bas, Voyage archeologique, number 1357; Vaux, Trans. Royal Sec. Lit., VIII, 528). This proves that the politarchs were six in number, and it is a curious coincidence that in it occur the names Sosipater, Gaius and Secundus, which are berate by three Macedonian converts, of whom the first two were probably Thessalonians, the last certainly.

4. The Thessalonian Church:
The Thessalonian church was a strong and flourishing one, composed of Gentiles rather than of Jews, if we may judge from the tone of the two Epistles addressed to its members, the absence of quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament, and the phrase “Ye turned unto God from idols” (1Th_1:9; compare also 1Th_2:14). These, by common consent the earliest of Paul’s Epistles, show us that the apostle was eager to revisit Thessalonica very soon after his enforced departure: “once and again” the desire to return was strong in him, but “Satan hindered” him (1Th_2:18) – a reference probably to the danger and loss in which such a step would involve Jason and the other leading converts. But though himself prevented from continuing his work at Thessalonica, he sent Timothy from Athens to visit the church and confirm the faith of the Christians amid their hardships and persecutions (1Th_3:2-10). The favorable report brought back by Timothy was a great comfort to Paul, and at the same time intensified his longing to see his converts again (1Th_3:10, 1Th_3:11). This desire was to be fulfilled more than once. Almost certainly Paul returned there on his 3rd missionary journey, both on his way to Greece (Act_20:1) and again while he was going thence to Jerusalem (Act_20:3); it is on this latter occasion that we hear of Aristarchus and Secundus accompanying him (Act_20:4). Probably Paul was again in Thessalonica after his first imprisonment. From the Epistle to the Philippians (Act_1:26; Act_2:24), written during his captivity, we learn that his intention was to revisit Philippi if possible, and 1Ti_1:3 records a subsequent journey to Macedonia, in the course of which the apostle may well have made a longer or shorter stay at Thessalonica. The only other mention of the town in the New Testament occurs in 2Ti_4:10, where Paul writes that Demas has forsaken him and has gone there. Whether Demas was a Thessalonian, as some have supposed, cannot be determined.

5. Later History:
For centuries the city remained one of the chief strongholds of Christianity, and it won for itself the title of “the Orthodox City,” not only by the tenacity and vigor of its resistance to the successive attacks of various barbarous races, but also by being largely responsible for their conversion to Christianity.

From the middle of the 3rd century AD it was entitled “metropolis and colony,” and when Diocletian (284-305) divided Macedonia into two provinces, Thessalonica was chosen as the capital of the first of these. It was also the scene in 390 AD of the famous massacre ordered by Theodosius the Great, for which Ambrose excluded that emperor for some months from the cathedral at Milan. In 253 the Goths had made a vain attempt to capture the city, and again in 479 Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, found it so strong and well prepared that he did not venture to attack it. From the 6th to the 9th century it was engaged in repeated struggles against Avars, Slavonians and Bulgarians, whose attacks it repelled with the utmost difficulty. Finally, in 904 AD it was captured by the Saracens, who, after slaughtering a great number of the inhabitants and burning a considerable portion of the city, sailed away carrying with them 22,000 captives, young men, women and children. In 1185, when the famous scholar Eustathius was bishop, the Normans under Tancred stormed the city, and once more a general massacre took place. In 1204 Thessalonica became the center of a Latin kingdom under Boniface, marquis of Monferrat, and for over two centuries it passed from hand to hand, now ruled by Latins now by Greeks, until in 1430 it fell before the sultan Amurath II. After that time it remained in the possession of the Turks, and it was, indeed, the chief European city of their dominions, with the exception of Constantinople, until it was recaptured by the Greeks in the Balkan war of 1912….”

Textual Critical Note: “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” isn’t found in recent translations, but in the KJ/NKJV because it was a part of the Majority text reading here. The textual evidence is a bit divided: Codices Sinaiticus (300s) and Alexandrinus (400s) have the words, while Codices Vaticanus (300s) and 1739(900s copy of 300s manuscript) do not.

The argument for omission runs so:
1. Paul omitted the phrase here despite his normal use of it to use it with “assembly of Thessalonians”.
2. Scribes, so used to Paul using this phrase, would habitually add it where Paul hadn’t.
3. Thessalonians is either the first or one of the very first of Paul’s letters. Paul hadn’t developed his writing style, such as this phrase, yet.
4. Scribes were more likely to add material than delete, especially something common like this phrase, so the short reading without the phrase is most likely original.(Comfort)

church – Greek ekklesia, “assembly”. This form of address occurs in the first five of Paul’s letters, by common chronological reckoning: Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Galatians. Later letters address “the saints” or “the brethren”.(Lightfoot)

in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Likely used here to explain what sort of “assembly” the Thesalonians are, since “ekklesia” had not likely become “church” yet in these early Christians minds. The point was doubtless that the church owed (and still owes) its creation and continued existence to God.(Lightfoot)

Grace to you and peace- Many people think this is an adaptation of the standard Greek greeting, chairien “greetings, rejoice”, and the standard Hebrew greeting, shalom, “peace, wellness”. A number of scholars disagree. F.F. Bruce suggested Paul was adopting his own form of “mercy and peace” used among Jews. J.B. Lightfoot suggested Paul wanted to emphasize that Christians get their blessing from grace, and that theend and reward of the Christian life is peace. (Bruce, Lightfoot)

1 Th 1:2
Verses 2-10 are a “proem”, an opening designed to get the goodwill of readers/listeners. Paul does this by way of praising the Thessalonians, which is also meant to encourage them. And while Jews of the day often equated prayer with “memorials” or “rememberings” before God, it is likely that Paul means the three authors thank God for the Thessalonians during their regular prayer.(BBCNT)

These thanksgivings at the head of a letter were a normal practice in ancient writing, and Paul himself obviously like the form, omitting it only in his letter to the Galatians, for the obvious reason that he was writing to scold the Galatians.(BBCNT)

“We” points to all three missionaries involvement in this letter, and it is all the more pointed since ancient authors frequently used “I” even when others had helped craft their letters.

Textual Critical note: This verse has two segmentation/punctuation problems:

1. Depending on whether or not one makes a break after umin (of you), a major portion of this verse can be read: “We always thank God for all of you remembering you constantly in our prayers” or “We always thank God for all of you remembering you constantly in our prayers”.

2. “constantly”, “without ceasing”, Greek adialeiptos might modify either “remembering you in our prayers” or “we recall…in presence of our God….”(Omanson)

This verse gives the vivid impression of Paul’s constant, active prayer life. It also adds a note of genuineness to what appears a standard literary device of admitting prayer for a letter recipient.

1 Th 1:3
Paul invokes the three Christian graces of faith, love, and hope, a triad he either invented or adopted from earlier Christians but most definitely had in mind frequently. It is a particularly Christian set of virtues, as Greco-Romans likely would have used something like justice, self-control, and mercy. Lightfoot points out how faith is the basis for the Christian, love the motivator, and hope what sustains him. One might also see it as a triad about Father and Son. Faith comes from knowing God’s action to send the Son to save, love grows in relationship to the Father through the Son, and hope endures in the surety of vindiction before the Father through the Son, who is “in the sight of God and our Father”, making intercession in highest heaven itself for us.(Witherington, Lightfoot)

Work, labor, and endurance: These seem to be in an ascending scale of effort, labor being the Greek topos, “toil, hard work, strenuous effort”, and endurance the Greek hupomene “steadfastness, constancy, bearing up”. Post-Reformation, it is interesting to see Paul linking “work” with “faith”, a sign some Reformers have gone overboard stressing the mutual separation of the terms.

hope in our Lord Jesus Christ: This explains what Christians have hope in, and surely points to the apocalyptic second coming theme that will come later in the letter.

And speaking of Jesus, he invokes this same collation of work, labor, and endurance in His message to the Ephesian church in Rev 2:2(Bruce)

1 Th 1:4
“Chosenness, election” the Greek ekloge, is a term Jews apply to themselves. Here Paul applies it to the Thessalonian assembly of believers, who were probably predominantly Gentiles. It is reasonably called language of belonging, along with “brethren”, “beloved of God”. Ekloge is only used in the Greek bible here, so you can’t reasonably build a doctrine of election upon it, though Ben Witherington opines that election is much what 1 Thessalonians is about, presumably as a reassurance in their time of persecution.(BBCNT, Wanamaker, Lightfoot, Witherington)

1 Th 1:5
Textual Critical note: “our gospel” is found in most manuscripts, but a few scribes changed it to “the gospel of God” or “the gospel of our God”. “Gospel” is also understood to mean more than the simple facts of the gospel. Rather it referes to the actual preaching and teaching of the missionaries.(Omanson, Comfort)

Letters teaching the recipients how they ought to behave (a form called “parenetic”) often remind people of what they already know as an obviously strong form of argumentation. (BBCNT)

Gospel, “good news”, Greek euangelion, is more than just language out of the Old Testament Jesus used. It is also a technical term for the actions of benefactors, especially deities and the emperors. Employing it with reference to the Christian God is a dig at Roman pretension in the face of the real deity and benefactor, God, who has in Christ done the ultimate great thing, good news for all mankind.(Witherington)

And if you thought in verse four Paul or I had left out the third Person of the Trinity, here He is. Paul’s preaching is empowered by the Holy Spirit, making it more than simple effort rhetoric. Power, Greek dunamis, is often nearly synonymous with the Gospels “signs and wonders”; miracles. “Assurance” is both another gift of the Spirit and also a human response to the Spirit’s conversion. People believed, and kept on believing, not merely convinced by the force of Paul’s speech until the effect wore off. (Wanamaker, Witherington)

In the latter part of the verse Paul notes that the Thessalonians had also the witness of the three missionaries for the truth and power of the gospel, their example reinforcing what went on in preaching and in power.

1 Th 1:6
Imitation of a worthy example has always been a standard learning technique, and it was common in ancient times for teachers to instruct students to imitate them.

The ancient people were no fonder of religious conversion than people today, and even the earliest Christians faced hostility from the larger culture, since Christianity was so contrary to much of Greco-Roman culture. Later as Christianity became more widely known, the hostility would become both broadly philosophical and eventually governmental.(BBCNT)

Acts 17:1-9 describes the sojourn in Thessalonica, but it only speaks of a three week stay, which most scholars think is shorter than the actual time the missionaries were there. And while they got out of the city safely, the assumption is the same angry people then turned to the Christian community in Thessalonica and persecuted them, for the ensuing verses show the opponents of Christianity were determined, following the missionaries to Berea (Acts 17:13). It was thus the Thessalonians truly imitated the missionaries and Christ himself, by enduring persecution with joy from the Holy Spirit. (Bruce)

Textual Critical note: Most manuscripts read “with joy of or from the Holy Spirit”, but a few read “with joy and the Holy Spirit”. (Comfort)

1 Th 1:7
Textual Critical note: As demonstrated by the HCSB (example) and the KJV (examples), some scribes were confused by the lack of agreement between you (plural) and example (singular). The singular example is preferred, presuming Paul meant to commend the church as a whole body, rather than as individuals. Nevertheless the plural has the impressive support of Codices Sinaiticus (300s) and Alexandrinus (400s) while the singular has the generally more reliable Codices Vaticanus (300s) and 1739 (900s copy of a 300s manuscript). (Comfort)

From Fausset’s Bible Dictionary: “Macedonia: The first country in Europe where Paul preached the gospel, in obedience to the vision of a man of Macedonia, saying “come over and help us.” The Haemus (Balkan) range, separating it from Maesia, is on its N.; the Pindus, separating it from Epirus, on the W.; the Cambunian hills S. separating Macedonia from Thessaly; Thrace and the Aegean sea E. There are two great plains, one watered by the Axius entering the sea near Thessalonica, the other by the Strymon which passes near Philippi and empties itself below Amphipolis. Between lies Mount Athos, across the neck of which Paul often travelled with his companions. Philip (from whom Philippi is named) and Alexander were its most famous kings. When Rome conquered it from Perseus, Aemilius Paulus after the battle of Pydna divided it into Macedonia Prima, Secunda, Tertia, and Quarta. Macedonia Prima, the region E. of the Strymon, had Amphipolis as its capital, Macedonia Secunda, the region between the Strymon and Axius, had Thessalonica. Macedonia Tertia, from the Axius to the Peneus, had Pella. Macedonia Quarta, the remainder, had Pelagonia.

In New Testament times the whole of Macedonia, Thessaly, and a district along the Adriatic, was made one province under a proconsul at Thessalonica the capital. The great Ignatian Road joined Philippi and Thessalonica, and led toward Illyricum (Rom_15:19). Philippi had supplanted Amphipolis in importance. Mention of Macedonia in this wide sense occurs Act_16:9-12; Act_18:5; Act_19:21-22; Act_19:29; Act_20:1-3; Act_27:2; Rom_15:26; 1Co_16:5; 2Co_1:16; 2Co_2:13; 2Co_7:5; 2Co_8:1; 2Co_9:2; 2Co_9:4; 2Co_11:9; Phi_4:15; 1Th_1:7-8; 1Th_4:10; 1Ti_1:3 (which last passage proves Paul accomplished the wish expressed in his first imprisonment, Phi_2:24). Achaia S., Illyricum N.W., and Macedonia comprehended the whole region between the Danube and the southernmost point of the Peloponnese.

The Macedonian Christians are highly commended; the Bereans for their readiness in receiving the word, and withal diligence in testing the preached word by the written word (Act_17:11); the Thessalonians for their “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus,” so that they were “examples” to all others (1Th_1:3; 1Th_1:7); the Philippians for their liberal contributions to Paul’s sustenance (Phi_4:10; Phi_4:14-19; 2Co_9:2; 2Co_11:9). Lydia was the first European convert, and women were Paul’s first congregation (Act_16:13-14); so the female element is prominent at Philippi in the epistle to the Philippians as working for Christ (Phi_4:2-3). ”

From Fausset’s Bible Dictionary: “Achaia: In New Testament, a Roman province, including the whole Peloponnese, and most of Hellas proper, with the islands. This province, with Macedonia, comprehended all Greece (Act_18:12; Act_19:21). The name was given by the Romans, when they took Corinth and destroyed the Achaian League (146 D.C.), which, beginning with the narrow northern region of the Peloponnese called Achaia, afterward included several Grecian states. In Act_18:12 Gallio, with the minute propriety that marks historical truth, called “deputy” (proconsul). Achaia had only just been restored under Claudius to the senate, whose representatives in the provinces were proconsuls, from having been an imperial province under Tiberius, whose representatives were procurators.”

1 Th 1:8
Except for government couriers, ancient letters moved no faster than the travelers who carried them. Thus travelers were a prime source of news in ancient times. Thessalonica was a large trade center, and thus many people would be passing through it, allowing news of the city goings on to spread across Greece.(BBCNT)

Thessalonica was described by Cicero as “lying in the lap of the Empire”. It was one of the best sea harbors available, and lay along the major East-West road, the Via Egnatia, built about 130 BC, made of stone slaps and over nineteen feet wide. News from Thessalonica could travel as fast perhaps as anywhere in the empire.(Witherington, Wanamaker)

The Thessalonians Christians indeed received the word in power, for news of their faith has already spread. “Rang out, sounded out” translates the Greek exechetai, which can describe thunder or the loud sound of a trumpet. “In every place” is a bit of an exaggeration, but apparently the Thessalonians’ faith is becoming widespread news. Paul is being rhetorical when he mentions this fame, while saying he need not mention it.(Witherington)

1 Th 1:9
Paul copies the Jewish idea of conversion here, speaking of a radical change from “dead idols” to the “living God”. Religion in the ancient world was bound up in politics and culture, so that converting to Christianity was to opt out of normal society, and even one’s family in many ways.

Ancient Roman religion was very synthetic, allowing worship of many gods under the understanding that often the different names were actually the same gods. Thessalonica had major cults of Egyptian gods Serapis and Isis, the common Greco- Roman gods like Dionysus, and a small wealthy patronage of the god Cabirus from Samothrace. (BBCNT)

“They themselves” are the people of Achaia and Macedonia.(Bruce)

The comparison between idols and the living and true God is not as obvious as it might seem. Paul isn’t just convinced that idols are empty and meaningless. In 1 Cor 10:20 he says those who eat in temples are participating in worship of demons, the powers of the universe opposed to God, that Jesus came to subdue. Thus “living and true” counters both empty gods and evil ones”. (Witherington)

1 Th 1:10
Eschatology, the study of end things, is a big part of the two Thessalonian letters, and Paul makes a reference to it here. Apparently the Thessalonians knew something of the end of days, but not enough. Their basic knowledge is summarized here: Jesus is in the Heavens (the Greek is plural, indicating Paul’s typical enough ancient view of Heaven as a place of levels), raised by the Father (“raised” Greek egerein, is typical Pauline language for resurrection of both Jesus and Christians in general), and is the one who is the deliverer or rescuer (this is practically a divine title from the Greek OT of Is 59:20, a recognized Messianic passage) of His people from the inevitable coming wrath of God who must dispense justice both to fulfill his own righteousness and ,as Is 59:15-16 says, because He see no one else will bring justice.

Thus Paul gives two motives for Christians to live in service to God: gratitude for deliverance, and fear of the awesome wrath that must come. Who would wish to taste even a hint of that anger and punishment? (Witherington, Bruce)