No serious objections have been made to dispute that Paul was the author of 1 Thessalonians (1:1). The greeting also mentions Silvanus and Timothy. Sometimes Paul wrote from the team perspective, but he was the primary author (2:18; 3:2).
About AD 50 the missionary team led by Paul and Silas left Philippi and traveled westward on the Roman road known as the Via Egnatia. They proceeded toward the strategic capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia—Thessalonica.
Thessalonica was a large port city on the Aegean Sea in modern-day Greece, with a population of about two hundred thousand. The city was filled with pagan worshipers of idols, the full pantheon of Greek and Roman gods, and was well known for its emperor worship. Thessalonica was loyal to Caesar, and he had granted its citizens many privileges.
As was his custom, Paul found the local Jewish synagogue and started teaching there. For three Sabbaths he reasoned with the Jews from the Scriptures. He explained and demonstrated that the promised Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. After explaining the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, he then stated boldly, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah” (Ac 17:3). Some of the Jews were persuaded, along with some of the devout Greeks who were worshipers at the synagogue, and some of the prominent women. They joined Paul and Silas, and the church in Thessalonica was born.
There were Jews in the city who were not persuaded, and they became jealous of what Paul and Silas had done. They incited the people into an uproar and attacked Jason’s house where the missionary team had been staying. Wanting to drag Paul and Silas out before the crowd, they found only Jason and some new believers. They dragged these out before the city authorities. The rulers, not wanting more unrest, forced Jason and the rest of the brothers to make a financial payment of security to ensure that there would not be a repeat of such a disturbance. That very night the Thessalonian believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, where they could continue their ministry (Ac 17:1-9).
From Berea Paul went to Athens. He wanted to see the Thessalonians again. When he could endure the separation no longer, he sent Timothy to encourage the Thessalonian believers (1Th 3:2). Timothy came back with an encouraging report about the Thessalonian church (3:6). Paul wrote to them from Corinth in response to Timothy’s report. Based on the archaeological evidence of a dated inscription mentioning Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, by name (Ac 18:12) and correlating this with Paul’s visit to Corinth when Gallio was there, 1 Thessalonians can be reliably dated at AD 50 or 51. This would make 1 Thessalonians the earliest of Paul’s letters with the probable exception of the book of Galatians.
First Thessalonians contributes to our understanding of the second coming of Christ. Paul wrote to correct some misunderstandings of this doctrine, and in the process he showed us that Christ’s return gives us true hope. First Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians (chap. 15) are the only books that explicitly mention that Christians who are alive at Christ’s return will be changed and will meet Christ in the air without dying.
First Thessalonians follows the standard form for a first-century letter: greeting (1:1), thanksgiving (1:2-4), body (1:5–5:22), and farewell (5:23-28). The body of the letter does not follow Paul’s typical structure of presenting doctrine first, followed by practical exhortation based on that doctrine. Instead, 1 Thessalonians moves back and forth between the doctrinal and the practical.
In Thessalonica the conversions to the faith were remarkable. Paul came there without prestige, without friends, when he was in the lowest condition, for he had just been beaten and imprisoned at Philippi and had fled from that city. Yet it mattered not in what condition the ambassador might be; God, who works mighty things by weak instruments, blessed the word of his servant Paul.
1Paul, Silvanus, A and Timothy:
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace. B
2 We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. 3 We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, 6 and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. 7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith C in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9 for they themselves report D what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
QUOTE 1:3
The three divine sisters—faith, hope, love—linked hands in their lives. These were with them in their best condition—faith working, love laboring, hope enduring.
1:3 “We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The three divine sisters—faith, hope, love—linked hands in their lives. These were with them in their best condition—faith working, love laboring, hope enduring. Faith performing her work with energy is healthy and alive. Their love did not consist in words or in a kind disposition. But it worked with a will. As for hope—that bright-eyed grace which looks within the veil and realizes things not seen yet—it was peculiarly their endowment. This enabled them to bear with patience their suffering for Christ whether it lay in false accusation or in the spoiling of their goods. It is of no use for us to attempt to sound out the word of the Lord if we do not have the spiritual power that lies in those three divine graces. These are of first importance.
1:9-10 “For they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: 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 rescues us from the coming wrath.” In Thessalonica the conversions to the faith were remarkable. Paul came there without prestige, without friends, when he was in the lowest condition, for he had just been beaten and imprisoned at Philippi and had fled from that city. Yet it mattered not in what condition the ambassador might be; God, who works mighty things by weak instruments, blessed the word of his servant Paul.
A 1:1 Or Silas ; Ac 15:22-32; 16:19-40; 17:1-16
B 1:1 Other mss add from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
2For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result. 2 On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition. 3 For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. 4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts. 5 For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives — God is our witness — 6 and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others. 7 Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle A among you, as a nurse B nurtures her own children. 8 We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9 For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers. 11 As you know, like a father with his own children, 12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to live worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us. They displease God and are hostile to everyone, 16 by keeping us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are constantly filling up their sins to the limit, and wrath has overtaken them at last. C
17 But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you D for a short time (in person, not in heart), we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face. 18 So we wanted to come to you — even I, Paul, time and again — but Satan hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 Indeed you are our glory and joy!
ILLUSTRATION 2:18
It appears to me that we shake the tree, and no fruit drops from it. And just when one more shake would bring down the luscious fruit, the devil touches us on the shoulder and tells us it is time to be gone. And so we miss the blessing we might have attained. I mean that just when prayer would be the most successful, we are tempted to abstain from it.
2:13 “This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.” This thankfulness of theirs followed upon sore travail. It is of no use for you to say, “I shall thank God for a harvest,” if you neither plow nor sow. You will have no harvest without labor and patience. Neither is anything worked by merely tucking up your sleeves and making a brave show. We may plot and we may plan, we may propose and we may expect, but expectations and proposals will fall to the ground unless we stir ourselves up in the name of God and throw all the strength we have into the work of faith and labor of love.
2:18 “So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.” Satan is sure to hinder Christians when they are earnest in prayer. Have we not frequently found that when we have been most earnest in supplication, something or other will start across our minds to make us cease from praying? If Satan possibly can, he will come upon God’s people in those times when they are full of thought and ardor and ready for Christian effort, that he may murder their infant plans and cast these suggestions of the Holy Spirit out of their minds.
3Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. 2 And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker E in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
6 But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you, 10 as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?
11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. 13 May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen. A
3:8 “For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord.” When I have seen God’s people steadfast, my fears have fled. Yes, I have said, the Lord keeps the feet of his saints. He is a wall of fire round about his own. If it were possible, the powers of evil would deceive the elect, but it is not possible. The saints are steadfast, and each steadfast one cheers his minister and helps him lay aside his anxieties and rejoice in the certainty that the gospel will triumph.
The steadfast become our life by stimulating us to greater exertion. I believe the steadfast help the minister to a high degree of usefulness. When the man of God sees his people living to God at a high rate of piety, he speaks many things that otherwise he never would have spoken. He glories in the work of God, and with no bated breath or trace of hesitation, he points to his people and cries, “See what God has done!” He exults over his converts with a holy joy. He cries, “See what they used to be and what they are now! See how life has been made to spring up in the midst of death and how light shines where before darkness reigned.” Take away the living evidences of divine power from the church, and you lower the preacher’s spirit at once and deprive him of power to demonstrate his commission by the signs that follow it. Of godly established Christians, I may quote the words of David, “Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate” (Ps 127:5). The best answer to all the opponents of the old-fashioned gospel is the godly zeal of a fervent church.
4Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God — as you are doing B — do this even more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you knows how to control his own body C in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God. 6 This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. 7 For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. 8 Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9 About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. 10 In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, 11 to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, D and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. A
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, B with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage C one another with these words.
QUOTE 4:13
The more we Christians know of our religion, the better for our peace and happiness.
4:13 “We do not want you to be uninformed.” The more we Christians know of our religion, the better for our peace and happiness. The apostle says, “We do not want you to be uninformed.” He knew that was an ill condition and we may well shun it. Depend on this—the more thoroughly we understand the gospel, the more we will find that the gospel blesses us and makes us happy. Each word eternal wisdom speaks is pure. We must give heed, then, to the sure word of Scripture, and so we will journey as with chart in hand, escaping a thousand dangers to which untaught travelers are exposed and enjoying a thousand delights which they cannot discern.
4:17 “Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” It is a great truth that you will rise again. It is a sweeter truth that you will “always be with the Lord.” Whatever else you draw comfort from, neglect not this deep, clear, and over-flowing well of delight. There are other sources of good cheer in connection with the glory to be revealed, for heaven is a many-sided joy, but still none can excel the glory of communion with Jesus Christ, wherefore comfort one another in the first place and most constantly, with these words, “So we will always be with the Lord.”
C 4:4 Or to acquire his own wife ; lit to possess his own vessel
D 4:11 Lit to practice one’s own things
5About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.
12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you A in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, B comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Don’t stifle the Spirit. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.
QUOTE 5:17
The more we pray, the more we rejoice. Prayer gives a channel to the pent-up sorrows of the soul; they flow away, and in their place streams of sacred delight pour into the heart.
QUOTE 5:17
When joy and prayer are married, their firstborn child is gratitude.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
5:2 “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.” It will be a great surprise to the wicked. It will take them by surprise. Just at that moment when they least expect it, Christ will come, and as the thief comes to destroy and to kill, so will the coming of Christ be the death of their carnal ease—the destruction of their earthly hopes.
5:5 “For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.” In making us children of light, he gave evidence that our appointment was for the light—that through the light of gospel grace we should, by and by, enter into the light of eternal glory.
5:17 “Pray constantly.” The more we pray, the more we rejoice. Prayer gives a channel to the pent-up sorrows of the soul; they flow away, and in their place streams of sacred delight pour into the heart. At the same time the more rejoicing, the more praying. When the heart is in a quiet condition and full of joy in the Lord, then also will it be sure to draw near to the Lord in worship. Holy joy and prayer act and react on each other. Observe, however, what immediately follows in the text: “Give thanks in everything.” When joy and prayer are married, their firstborn child is gratitude. When we joy in God for what we have and believingly pray to him for more, then our souls thank him both in the enjoyment of what we have and in the prospect of what is yet to come.
5:26 “Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.” Give one another a hearty shake of the hands. That is the Western interpretation of the Eastern form. Outward forms differ. The inward sense abides the same. Let brotherly love continue in a hearty friendliness among yourselves.