1 Thessalonians 1:1

(1) “The founders of the Church of Thessalonica, who have so recently left it, greet the Church in the common Father in whom they are united.”

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus.—There was no need to add “Apostle” to the name of Paul, in writing to a Church with which his relations were so familiar and so cordial: it is probably omitted for the same reason in the Epistle to the Philippians and in that to Philemon. Some see in the omission a mark of the early date of the letter, before St. Paul had assumed the title; others think he omits it in courtesy to his companions, to whom it could not be given. Both theories are disproved by 1Th_2:6. Silas takes precedence of Timothy (comp. Act_17:14-15; Act_18:5; 2Th_1:1) as a man of higher standing. (See Act_15:22, and 1Ti_4:12.)

In God.—Other Thessalonians were “in the world,” “in darkness,” “in their sins.” The distinctive mark of these was that they were re-united to the Father of all men; and more, re-united in Christ. The words following “peace” should be struck out, not being found in the best text.

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The Address and Salutation. Ch. 1Th_1:1

This being the earliest of St Paul’s extant letters, let us note with care the form of his address and introduction, for it is that from which he never departed. But his greetings were enlarged as time went on, and varied with every variation in the circumstances of his readers and in his relations to them.

The ordinary address of an ancient letter ran thus: “X. to Y. greeting.” The greeting was, in Latin, a wish of “Health”; in Greek, of “Joy”; in Hebrew, “Peace to thee!” The Apostle’s salutation, adopted by the Church, combined the Hebrew and Greek (Jewish and Gentile, Eastern and Western) forms of courtesy, transforming the latter by a verbal change (chairein becoming charis)—slight indeed to the ear, but great in its significance—into the devout and Christian “Grace to you!” On grace and peace see note below.

The Address is usually followed by an Act of Thanksgiving (1Th_1:3 ff.)

1. Paul] Here and in 2Th St Paul introduces himself without the title Apostle, or any personal designation. Similarly in his much later Epistles to the Philippians, and to his friend Philemon. For in these cases he has no need to stand on his dignity. He is “gentle among them, as a nurse with her children” (ch. 1Th_2:6-8); and prefers, as in writing to Philemon (1Th_1:9), to merge the Apostle in the friend. For a further reason comp. note on Apostles, ch. 1Th_2:6.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus] “Silvanus and Timotheus” had been Paul’s companions at Thessalonica, see Introd. chap. II. The Apostle was accustomed to associate with himself in writing to the Churches any of his helpers present with him and known to his readers. This was courteous, and promoted mutual sympathy.

Silvanus (so in 2Th_1:1; 2Co_1:19; 1Pe_5:12) is the Silas of Acts 15-28; comp. Lucas (Luke) for Lucanus. The name (English, Sylvan: comp. our surname Wood, or Woods) is Latin, like that of Paul himself (Paulus). Both were Roman citizens, as we learn from Act_16:37. Silas was notwithstanding a Jew—a leading member of the Church at Jerusalem, and an inspired man (a “prophet”: Act_15:22-23). Silas shared with the Apostle Paul the honour of planting the gospel and first suffering for Christ in Europe; and his name worthily stands at the head of these earliest books of the N. T. The association of St Silas with St Paul terminated with the Second Missionary Journey of the Apostle. But he is probably the “Silvanus” of 1Pe_5:12, and his name is, along with that of Mark, a link between the Apostles Peter and Paul.

Timotheus (on whom see further ch. 1Th_3:1-2) is our familiar Timothy, as the name is uniformly given in the R. V. He shares In the addresses of 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians , , 1 and 2 Thessalonians; and St Paul toward the close of his life wrote two inspired letters to this most constant and beloved of his companions, his “dear child Timothy.” He joined the Apostle in the course of this Second Missionary Expedition (Act_16:1-3), and remained in his service to the end of St Paul’s life. At this time Timothy must have been very young; for he is referred to as a “young man” in 1Ti_4:12 and 2Ti_2:22, twelve years later. In the narrative of the Acts at this time he stands quite in the background; while Silas took a leading part in the common work, Timothy acted as their youthful attendant and apprentice, just as John Mark was “minister” (or “attendant,” R. V.) to Barnabas and Paul at an earlier period (Act_13:5).

These three names—paul, Silas, Timothy—are typical of the mixed state of society in Apostolic times, and the varied material of which the Church was at first composed. It was built on a Jewish basis, with a Græco-Roman superstructure. Paul and Silvanus were Jews, with Roman name and citizenship. Timotheus had a Greek name and father, with a Jewish mother (Act_16:1-3).

So much for the authors of the letter: the readers are designated the Church of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (R. V.). This remarkable form of address, used in both Epistles, the Apostle does not employ again. We may expand it thus: “To the assembly of Thessalonians, gathered in the twofold Name, confessing God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord.”

Observe the two parts of this description: (1) the local qualification, “church of Thessalonians.” Nearest to this is the phrase “churches of Galatia” (Gal_1:2), named however from the district, not the people. In 1 and 2 Corinthians the address runs, “To the church of God that is in Corinth”; afterwards, “To the saints that are in Ephesus, Philippi,” &c. The change from “church of Thessalonians” to “church in Corinth” is significant; it indicates an enlargement during the four years intervening of the conception of the Church, now no longer constituted by the local assembly, but thought of as one and the same Church here or there, in Corinth, Rome, or Jerusalem. Comp. note on ch. 1Th_2:14, “churches of God which are in Judæa.”

(2) The spiritual definition: “the assembly … in God the Father,” &c. Church is in the N. T. ecclesia (French église), the common Greek word for “assembly,” or legal meeting of citizens, “called out” by the herald; which in the LXX (the Greek rendering of the O. T.) is applied frequently to the solemn religious assemblies of the people of Israel. The Apostle distinguishes this “assembly of Thessalonians” from both those, gatherings. The Christian ecclesia is “in God the Father,”—therefore a religions assembly marked off from all that is pagan, having “one God, the Father”; also “in the Lord Jesus Christ,” and thus distinguished from everything Jewish and Pagan alike, by its confession of “one Lord Jesus Christ” (1Co_8:5-6). The creed of the Thessalonian Church is here contained in brief. Its members had been “baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son”; and all that they believed in and lived for as a Church centred in these two names—two, yet one (“in God the Father and the Lord,” not “and in the Lord”). “In God as Father,” they knew and owned themselves His children, “In the Lord,” they discerned their Saviour’s Divine Sonship and glory (1Th_1:10); “in Jesus,” His human birth and history (ch. 1Th_2:15; 1Th_4:14, &c.); and “in Christ,” the living Head and Redeemer of His people. This is His full style and title, “The Lord Jesus Christ.”

Grace be unto you, and peace] In this earliest Epistle the salutation has its shortest form. The qualifying words, “from God our Father,” &c. (see R. V.), are not authentic here; they first appear in 2Th The usage of St Paul’s other Epistles naturally led copyists to make the addition here. But the “church” that is “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” needs not to be told from Whom these gifts come.

Grace is the sum of all blessings that God bestows through Christ. Peace is the sum of all spiritual blessing that man receives and experiences; it is Grace in its fruit and realisation, In the wide sense of its Hebrew original (Shalóm), Peace is more than the absence of hostility and disorder; it denotes health and harmony of nature, inward tranquillity and wellbeing. And Grace, which in the first instance is God s love and favour to the undeserving, becomes also the inward possession of those who receive it, manifesting itself as the spirit and habit of their lives. The supreme exhibition of God’s grace is the death of Christ for sinful men, and the great instrument of peace is the sacrifice of the cross: Jesus “by God’s grace tasted death for every man,” “making peace through the blood of His cross” (Heb_2:9; Col_1:20; Eph_2:14-18; &c.).

St Paul’s whole gospel is in these two words. Grace is his watchword, as Love is that of St John. For his conversion and Apostolic call were, above everything, a revelation of Divine grace: see 1Co_15:9-10, “By the grace of God I am what I am”; comp. Eph_2:7; Eph_3:2-8; 1Ti_1:12-15. See additional note on grace, 2Th_1:12.

Section I. The Thanksgiving and the Reasons for it. Ch. 1Th_1:2-10

In every Epistle, except Galatians, the Apostle’s first words are of thanks and praise to God for the fruits of God’s grace found in his readers, according to his own maxim (ch. 1Th_5:18), “In everything give thanks.” And his thanksgiving is expressed here in the fullest and warmest terms. Its special grounds and reasons lie (1) in the earnest Christian life of the Thessalonians, 1Th_1:3; which gave assurance (2) of their Divine election, 1Th_1:4; already manifest (3) in the signal character of their conversion, which took place under the most trying circumstances, 1Th_1:5-6; and which (4) had greatly furthered the progress of the gospel, 1Th_1:7-8; for (5) everywhere the story was told of how the Thessalonians had forsaken idolatry in order to serve the true God, and to await from heaven the return of Jesus, 1Th_1:9-10.

This long sentence is a good example of St Paul’s manner as a writer. His thought flows on in a single rapid stream, turning now hither, now thither, but always advancing towards its goal. His sentences are not built up in regular and distinct periods; but grow and extend themselves like living things under our eyes, “gaining force in each successive clause by the repetition and expansion of the preceding” (Jowett). See Introd. pp. 32, 33.

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Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus - On the reasons why Paul associated other names with his in his epistles, see the 1Co 1:1 note, and 2Co 2:1 note. Silvanus, or Silas, and Timothy were properly united with him on this occasion, because they had been with him when the church was founded there, Acts 17, and because Timothy had been sent by the apostle to visit them after he had himself been driven away; 1Th 2:1-2. Silas is first mentioned in the New Testament as one who was sent by the church at Jerusalem with Paul to Antioch (notes, Act 15:22); and he afterward became his traveling companion.

Which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ - Who are united to the true God and to the Redeemer; or who sustain an intimate relation to the Father and the Lord Jesus. This is strong language, denoting, that they were a true church; compare 1Jo 5:20. “Grace be unto you,” etc.; see the notes, Rom 1:7.

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1Th_1:1

Paul, and Silvanus and Timotheus to the Church of the Thessalonians.

After the usual superscription in which St. Paul associates with himself his two missionary companions, we have

I. The apostolic greeting.

1. Grace and peace blends the Greek and Hebrew modes of salutation, that union of Asiatic repose and European alacrity. But these formulae had become like some precious antique vases, prized for their beauty more than their use, and empty of significance or at least of blessing. But now they are lifted into a higher sphere and attain a holier meaning, grace representing gospel blessing as coming from the heart of God; peace, gospel blessing as abiding in the heart of man; embracing together the fulness of salvation. The right reception of them brings the peace of inward conscience, of brotherly love, of eternal glory.

2. This grace and peace--

(1) come from God the Father as the source of all good. No designation brings God nearer the heart than that favourite one of Pauls, the God of peace. It can never come through ourselves or others.

(2) It comes through Him who is our Peace, who reconciles things on earth and things in heaven (Rom_5:1).

(3) When we receive the adoption we have the peace which passed all understanding.

II. The apostolic prayerfulness.

1. Pauls life was one of unexampled activity. The care of all the churches rested on him. But he was not too busy to pray. The busier a servant of God is, the more prayerful he needs to be. Devotion and labour are two sides of the one renewed life. With the Word the preacher influences the world; with prayer he influences heaven. But the intimation here is that Paul had his stated seasons for prayer. It was said of him at his conversion, Behold he prayeth, and ever after the words held good.

2. But in Pauls prayers the element of thanksgiving was always present.

(1) No prayer can be complete without it. It is peculiarly characteristic of Christian prayer. There are prayers in Homers poems, but how few thanksgivings. The Gentile world glorified Him not, neither were thankful.

(2) This thanksgiving, was for others. It sprang from his loving contemplation of the Thessalonians excellences. While prayer for others is common, gratitude for others is rare. It is a duty, notwithstanding, arising from a community of interest in each others welfare.

III. The apostolic congratulation. He has much to say in reproof, so he will begin with praise. This was Christs method towards the Seven Churches. Let the same mind be in us.

1. The ground of his commendation, the three graces of the renewed life--not in themselves however, but as they manifest themselves in the life.

(1) Your work of faith, i.e. the work which faith produces. Wherever faith is it works onwards to this. This is the Christians duty towards self.

(2) Labour of love is his duty towards his neighbour. Love is infused by God and effused in good works.

(3) Patience of hope is duty in reference to the future and towards God. Manly endurance under trial and stedfast expectation of a happy issue when the just and gentle monarch shall come to terminate the evil and diadem the right.

2. These graces exist and prove their existence--

(1) In our Lord Jesus Christ. All three proceed from Him as their origin and terminate in Him as their end.

(2) In the sight of God the Father. This is true of evil works as well as good, but the thought brings no peace to the evil worker, whereas it is the joy and life of the Christian. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

In God the Father

A man cannot be as a house with doors and windows closed against the light, yet standing in the midst of light. A ship may take refuge in a harbour without receiving anyone on board or sending anyone ashore; but a man cannot so deal with God; he cannot take refuge in God without letting God in. The diver goes down into the water to find treasure, but carefully excludes the water; a man cannot so deal with God and the treasures hid in God. In the very act of finding safety and rest in God he must open his soul to God. (J. Leckie, D. D.)

The introduction to the Epistle

I. A specification of the persons from; whom the letter went.

1. The name of Paul stands first because--

(1) He only possessed full apostolic authority.

(2) He alone wrote or dictated the Epistle (1Th_2:8; 1Th_3:5; 1Th_5:27).

2. The connection of Silvanus and Timotheus with Paul and with the Thessalonians is illustrated in the Acts. When Paul set out from Antioch on his second tour, he chose Silas to attend him (Act_15:34; Act_15:40). In the course of their journey they met with Timothy (Act_15:1-3). The three proceeded to Troas (Act_16:8-9), where they crossed the sea and conveyed the gospel to several Macedonian towns. On leaving Philippi, Paul and Silas, if not Timothy, proceeded to Thessalonica (Act_17:1-9). Silas and Timothy remain behind at Berea (Act_17:13-14). Paul proceeded to Athens and Corinth. (Act_17:15; Act_18:1). Here Silas and Timothy, the latter of whom had been sent from Athens to encourage and confirm the Thessalonians, at length rejoined him, and here Paul wrote the Epistle.

3. These details account for three things in this specification.

(1) How natural it was for Paul to address a letter so paternal to a Church he was instrumental in founding.

(2) How appropriate that he should associate with himself men who had been active in ministering to the Thessalonians.

(3) How fitting that Silas the elder should take precedence of Timothy (2Co_1:19).

II. The persons to whom the epistle was sent.

1. Thessalonica was a town of Macedonia. Anciently it bore the names, successively, of Eurathia and Therma. It was restored and enlarged by Cassander, and was called Thessalonica after his spouse, the daughter of King Philip, or, according to another opinion, from a victory which Philip himself achieved. It was a rich commercial city, distinguished for profligacy. It is now called Salonichi, and retains considerable traces of its ancient splendour.

2. There Paul preached on successive occasions in the Jewish synagogue. His doctrine is specified in Act_17:2-3, and his success in Act_17:4. But idolaters were also converted (1Th_1:9).

3. The combined converts formed a Church.

(1) The word means called out, and is used to denote an assembly of persons. The Thessalonian Christians had been set apart by a Divine call in respect of faith, character and profession, and were associated as a religious brotherhood, a commonwealth of saints.

(2) This Church was in God the Father, signifying intimacy of relation. They were protected by His power, guided by His counsel, and cherished by His grace.

(3) In the Lord Jesus Christ denotes the union between Christ and believers, elsewhere likened to that subsisting between the vine and the branches, the members and the head, etc.

III. The blessings invoked.

1. Grace: the favour of God.

2. Peace.

(1) Quiet and tranquillity.

(2) Prosperity (Psa_122:6-7; 3Jn_1:2). (A. S. Patterson, D. D.)

Phases of apostolic greeting

I. It is harmonious in its outflow.

1. Paul, though the only apostle of the three, did not assume the title or display any superiority. The others had been owned of God equally with himself in Thessalonica and were held in high esteem by the converts. Timothy was only a young man, and it is a significant testimony to his character that he should be associated with men so distinguished. Each had his distinctive individuality, talent, and mode of working; but there was an emphatic unity of purpose in bringing about results.

2. The association also indicated perfect accord in the Divine character of Pauls doctrines. Not that it gave additional value to them. Truth is vaster than the individual, whatever gifts he possesses or lacks.

3. What s suggestive lesson of confidence and unity was taught the Thessalonians by the harmonious example of their teachers.

II. Recognizes the Churchs sublime origin.

1. The Church is divinely founded. In denotes intimate union with God, and is equivalent to Joh_17:21.

2. The Church is divinely sustained. Founded in God, it is upheld by Him. Thus the Church survives opposition, and the fret and wear of change. But this is withdrawn from apostate churches.

III. Supplicates the highest blessings.

1. Grace includes all temporal good and all spiritual benefits. The generosity of God knows no stint. A monarch once threw open his gardens to the public during the summer months. The gardener, finding it troublesome, complained that the visitors plucked the flowers. What, said the king, are my people fond of flowers? Then plant some more! So our Heavenly King scatters on our daily path the flowers of blessing, and as fast as we can gather them, in spite of the grudging world.

2. Peace includes all the happiness resulting from a participation in the Divine favour.

(1) Peace with God, with whom sin has placed us in antagonism.

(2) Peace of conscience.

(3) Peace one with another.

3. The source and medium of all the blessings desired. From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jew could only say, God be gracious unto you, and remember His covenant; but the Christian honours the Son, even as he honours the Father. The Fathers love and the Sons work are the sole source and cause of every Christian blessing.

Learn--

1. The freeness and fulness of the gospel.

2. The spirit we should cultivate towards others: that of genuine Christian benevolence and sympathy. We can supplicate for others no higher good than grace and peace. (G. Barlow.)

The pastors prayer

I. The blessings desired.

1. Their nature.

(1) Grace.

(2) Peace.

2. Their connection.

(1) Grace may exist without peace, but not peace without grace.

(2) Yet peace flows from grace.

II. Their source.

1. God the Father is the Fountain of all grace.

2. Christ is the Medium of communication.

III. Their supply.

1. Free.

2. Sufficient for all.

3. Constant.

4. Inexhaustible. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Timotheus

was a Lyconian born in Derbe or Lystra, where he was religiously trained. He was probably converted by St. Paul during his first visit to Lycaonia (A.D. 45, Act_14:6-7). He was taken on a second visit to be Pauls companion, and circumcised (A.D. 51, Act_16:1, etc.). He was sent from Bares to Thessalonica (Act_17:14; 1Th_3:2); with Silas he rejoins Paul at Corinth (A.D. 52, Act_18:5; 1Th_3:6) and remains with Paul (1Th_1:1; 2Th_2:1). He was with Paul at Ephesus (A.D. 57, Act_19:22; and was sent thence to Corinth (Act_19:22; 1Co_4:17; 1Co_16:10). He is again with Paul (A.D. 58, 2Co_1:1; Rom_16:21). He journeys with Paul from Corinth to Asia (Act_20:4); and is with Paul in Rome (A.D. 62 or 63, Php_1:1; Col_1:1; Phm_1:1). Henceforth his movements are uncertain (A.D. 68-66). He is probably left by Paul in charge of the Church at Ephesus (A.D. 66 or 67; 1 Timothy); received the second Epistle, and sets out to join Paul at Rome (A.D. 67 or 68). Ecclesiastical tradition makes him first bishop of Ephesus and to suffer martyrdom under Domitian or Nerva. (Bleek.)

Silvanus

or Silas was an eminent member of the early Christian Church. The first, which in his full name, is given him in the Epistles, the latter contraction by the Acts. He appears as one of the leaders of the Church at Jerusalem (Act_15:22), holding the office of inspired teacher. His name, derived from the Latin silva wood, betokens him a Hellenistic Jew, and he appears to have been a Roman citizen (Act_16:37). He appointed a delegate to accompany Paul and Barnabas on their return from Antioch with the decree of the council of Jerusalem (Act_15:22; Act_15:32). Having accomplished this mission, he returned to Jerusalem (Act_15:33). He must however have immediately revisited Antioch, for we find him selected by St. Paul as the companion of his second missionary journey (Act_15:40; Act_17:4). At Beroea he was left behind with Timothy while Paul proceeded to Athens (Act_17:14), and we hear nothing more of his movements until he rejoined the apostle at Corinth (Act_18:5). Whether he had followed Paul to Athens in obedience to the injunction to do so (Act_17:15), and had been sent thence with Timothy to Thessalonica (1Th_3:2), or whether his movements were wholly independent of Timothys, is uncertain. His presence at Corinth is several times noticed (2Co_1:19; 1Th_1:1; 2Th_2:1). He probably returned to Jerusalem with Paul, and from that time the connection between them seems to have terminated. Whether he was the Silvanus who conveyed 1 Peter to Asia Minor (1Pe_5:2) is doubtful. The probabilities are in favour of the identity. A tradition of slight authority represents Silas as Bishop of Corinth. (W. L. Bevan, M. A.)

To the Church

in Galatians, Corinthians and Thessalonians, but to the Saints in Romans, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. It is remarkable that this change of form should take place in all the later Epistles; perhaps because the apostle, more or less in his later years, invested the Church on earth with the attributes of the Church in heaven. The word ecclesia is used in the LXX for the congregation, indifferently with synagogue. It is found also in Matthew, in the Epistles of John and James as well as in Hebrews and Revelation. It could not, therefore, have belonged to any one party or division of the Church. In the time of St. Paul, it was the general term, and was gradually appropriated to the Christian Church. All the sacred associations with which that was invested as the body of Christ were transferred to it, and the words synagogue and ecclesia soon became as distinct as the things to which they were applied. The very rapidity with which ecclesia acquired its new meaning, is a proof of the life and force which from the first the thought of communion with one another must have exerted on the minds of the earliest believers. Some indication of the transition is traceable in Heb_2:12, where the words of Psa_22:23 are adopted in a Christian sense; also in Heb_12:23, where the Old and New Testament meanings of ecclesia are similarly blended. (Prof. Jowett.)

The note of a true Church

There were heathen assemblies in Thessalonica, numerous and powerful; but these were for the worship of false gods. The only true Church was this recent, despised, persecuted one, which rejoiced in the knowledge of the Creator of heaven and earth as their heavenly Father through Christ. There was also a congregation of Jews. A synagogue stood there for the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only living and true God. But its people, by rejection of the Messiah and persecution of His saints, had transformed it into a synagogue of Satan. But the Church, which Paul had planted, was in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a Christian community. It was in God the Father, having been originated by Him, being His possession, receiving the tokens of His favour, and being governed by His laws. It was in the Lord Jesus Christ, its members having been gathered in His name, being knit together in His love, existing for His service, and preserved for His glory. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

Grace be unto you and peace--Let us look at the blessings.

I. Apart.

1. Grace--favour shown to one who has no claim upon it; and so either the kindness existing in Gods heart towards us, or as some operation of that kindness. In the one case, we cannot see it--it is a boundless ocean hidden in Gods infinite mind; in the other case, if we cannot see it we can enjoy it--it is a stream flowing out of that unseen ocean into our hearts. This grace--

(1) Quickens.

(2) Enlightens.

(3) Upholds and strengthens.

(4) Transforms.

(5) Elevates.

(6) Comforts.

We are lost till grace finds us, undone till it saves us, naked till it clothes us, miserable till it comforts us. Grace finds us poor and makes us rich; sunk, and never leaves us till it has raised us to heaven.

2. Peace, i.e., of mind through reconciliation with God. Naturally we are all strangers to this. We accordingly find men everywhere flying from thought and feeling to pleasure, business, science, and even cares. But quiet is not thus obtained. The soul slumbers but is not at peace. The peace of the text is not absence of thought and feeling, it is tranquillity and comfort while thinking and feeling. It spreads itself over the whole mind.

(1) The understanding no longer harassed in its search for truth feels that in the gospel it has found truth to repose upon.

(2) The conscience is quieted. Its tormenting fears go when the blood of Jesus cleanseth it from sin.

(3) The affections which no natural man can indulge without disquiet, have such objects as satisfy while they exercise them, as regulate while they excite them.

(4) The will before quarrelling with Gods dealings now acquiesces in them and enters into perfect peace.

II. Conjoined.

1. The connection is very close. Paul mentions them together in all his Epistles except Hebrews, and so does St. Peter. Nearly twenty times are they coupled together and prayed for in the New Testament. So the connection cannot be accidental.

2. They are always mentioned in the same order--nowhere peace and grace.

3. They are united as cause and effect. Grace is the root of peace, peace the flower of grace. They are not found together like two trees that grow side by side, their roots and branches intertwined. Where grace is, peace is or will be.

4. We may apply this to rectify the errors of

(1) The worldling. He cuts them in two. He wants peace without grace, happiness without holiness. But he might as well go round the world and search for a day without a sun.

(2) The penitent who looks for grace but despairs of peace.

III. Their twofold source.

1. From the Father, because His free everlasting love is the fountain of them. The work of Christ did not make God love, it was the way Gods love was manifested.

2. From the Lord Jesus Christ, as the great Medium through which our prayers for grace and peace ascend, and through whom these blessings flow from God. Man in union with Christ--mans poor, empty, disquieted heart is the cistern into which the streams of grace and peace run.

3. In every instance in which Paul uses this benediction the two names are conjoined--an emphatic witness to the co-equality of Christ with God.

IV. The light in which this prayer places them. It represents them as--

1. Exceedingly valuable. If we have but these we need nothing more.

2. Needed by all.

(1) By sinners.

(2) By the comfortless.

(3) By saints of all kinds, as here.

They are not given once for all, but moment by moment.

3. Copious--sufficient for all times, etc. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Peace of Christ

A friend once asked Professor Francke, who built the Orphan house at Halle, how it came to pass that he maintained so constant a peace of mind. The benevolent and godly man replied, By stirring up my mind a hundred times a day. Wherever I am, whatever I do, I say, Blessed Jesus, have I truly a share in thy redemption? Are my sins forgiven? Am I guided by thy Spirit? Thine I am. Wash me again and again. By this constant converse with Jesus, I have enjoyed serenity of mind, and a settled peace in my soul. (Scottish Christian Herald.)

Peace

The ordinary salutation of the East was one of peace, and is so still. Seated on his fiery steed and armed to the teeth, the Bedouin careers along the desert. Catching, away to the haze of the burning sands, a form similarly mounted and armed approaching him, he is instantly on the alert; for life is a precarious possession among these wild sons of freedom. His long spear drops to the level; and grasping it in his sinewy hand he presses forward, till the black eyes that glance out from the folds of his shawl recognize in the stranger one of a friendly tribe, between whom and him there is no quarrel, no question of blood to settle. So, for the sun is hot, and it is far to their tents, like two ships in mid-ocean, they pass; they pull no rein, but sweep on, with a Salem Aleikum--Peace be unto you. Like their flowing attire, the black tents of Kedar, the torch procession at their marriages, this salutation is one of the many stereotyped habits of the East. The modern traveller hears it fresh and unchanged, as if it were but yesterday that David sent it to Nabal. Beautiful as the custom is, like the fragrant wallflower that springs from the mouldering ruin it adorns, it sprung from an unhappy condition of society. Why peace? Because frequent wars made the people of these lands sigh for peace. War does not take us unawares. We see the black storm cloud gathering before it bursts; and by prudent policy may avert it, or, if it be inevitable, prepare bravely to meet it. But this curse of humanity fell on those countries with the suddenness of a sea squall that strikes a ship, and, ere time is found to reef a sail or lower a boat, throws her on her beam ends, and sends her, crew and cargo, foundering into the deep. Look at the case of Job, at Abrahams rescue of Lot at the spoiling of Ziklag (1Sa_30:1-31), and it is easy to understand how the most kind and common greeting in such countries was Peace be unto you. With these words our Lord on returning from the grave accosted His disciples. How well did they suit the occasion! The battle of salvation has been fought out, and a great victory won; and in that salutation Jesus, His own herald, announces the news to the anxious Church. He has fulfilled the anthem with which angels sang His advent to this distracted, guilty world. Though He had to recall her from heaven, where she had fled in alarm at the Fall, or rather, had to seek her in the gloomy retreats of death, He brings back sweet, holy peace to the earth. Suppose that instead of descending in those silent and unseen influences of the Spirit, our Lord were to come in person, how would He address us? It would be in these very words. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th 1:1. Paul, &c. — In this epistle St. Paul neither uses the title of an apostle, nor any other, as writing to pious and simple-hearted men with the utmost familiarity; and Silvanus, (also called Silas,) and Timotheus — St. Paul joins these two faithful fellow-labourers with himself in this epistle, because they had been with him at Thessalonica, and were well known to and much loved by the believers there; to the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father — The one living and true God, in whom they have believed, whose children they are become, and whom they acknowledge and worship as their God and Father, thereby distinguishing themselves from the idolatrous heathen; and in the Lord Jesus Christ — Whom they also believe in, adore, and serve, as the Son of the Father, and their Redeemer and Saviour, thereby distinguishing themselves from Jews. The expression also implies that they had union and communion with God and Christ.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Salutation and Thanksgiving

1. Salutation. For Silvanus (Silas) see Act_15:22; Act_16:20, Act_16:37, Act_16:38. Timothy was one of St. Paul's most constant companions (Act_16:1; Rom_16:21; 1Co_4:14-17; 2Co_1:19; Php_1:1; Php_2:19-24; 2Ti_1:5; 2Ti_3:14). The church.. which is in God, etc.] a phrase peculiar to this Epistle. The Church is in living union with God and Christ (Col_2:19).

2-10. Fervent thanksgiving for their conversion and growth in grace.

4. Better, 'Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that,' etc. 'Election,' i.e. to Christian and Church privileges (2Ti_2:10).

5. Assurance] RV mg. 'fulness.' They preached with deep conviction of the truth and power of the message entrusted to them.

6. Affliction] referring to the persecution and suffering recorded in Act_17:10-13.

Joy of] i.e. joy inspired by the Holy Ghost.

7. In Macedonia] of which Thessalonica was the capital. And Achaia] of which Corinth, where the Apostle was, was capital.

Achaia, the Roman province (= Greece).

8. To speak anything] i.e. to recount their faith.

9. They themselves] i.e. the dwellers in all the places the Apostle and his companions had visited or heard from. The living and true God] better, 'a living and true God.' The Thessalonian converts had, as a rule, been heathens, though some were proselytes (i.e. Jews by religion), Act_17:4.

10. To wait] to look for the Second Coming. Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come] better, 'delivereth us from the wrath which is approaching.'

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. Paul—Notes Rom_1:1, and Act_13:9. For the first time this memorable name heads an apostolic epistle to a Church, and omitting his title of apostle. This omission arose from the fact, that no opposition to his claim existed, as at Galatia; for the stronger ever the denial of his claim, the stronger his assertion. And as but a few months ago he had bidden farewell reluctantly to his dear Thessalonians, and had longed to revisit them, so this epistle, his only substitute for that visit, needed not display his official rank. Modesty is the rule where no necessity requires self-assertion. The triad of names, Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy, are here associated because the apostolic trio that bore them had together proclaimed the gospel to the Thessalonians, and were together preaching the gospel now in Corinth. Paul adds their names courteously as being his aids; and their names, like the names of two witnesses signed to a legal document, were a voucher of the authenticity of the epistle. Yet the authorship of the epistle is wholly his; it was in no way the epistle of Sylvanus, but of Paul alone; and his we, which may indicate that they were his penmen, inferentially includes or excludes them, or signifies himself alone, as in 1Th_3:1.

Sylvanus—Called by Luke Silas, but by both Paul and Peter by the full name. Silas was an abbreviation of Sylvanus (sylvan or, woodland) as Lucas was of Lucanus, so that Luke may have used the briefer form from fellow feeling. See note on Act_13:1. Silas or Sylvanus appears first as delegate from Jerusalem to Antioch escorting home the delegates from Antioch. There, when, after a sad separation from Barnabas, Paul started upon his second missionary tour, he took Silas as a substitute for John Mark, and comrade with Timothy, as his attendants. Thence passing through Asia Minor over the Hellespont into Europe, Paul had the faithful Silas as his aid. Together they sung at midnight in the jail at Philippi. Together they laboured at Thessalonica, and were driven thence by the mob to Berea. There Paul left them, departed to Athens and thence to Corinth, where Silas and Timothy joined him, and whence they now join him in this epistle to Thessalonica. As elder, and more prominent as yet, (see note Act_17:10,) Silas is mentioned before Timothy.

Timotheus—See introduction to 1 Timothy Church of… Thessalonians. The the is not in the original. Wordsworth ingeniously conjectures that St. Paul does not say the Church in Thessalonica, because Paul, having preached there but three weeks, and not having been able to return, it was not so much an organized Church in that city as a congregation consisting of Thessalonians. But Silas and Timothy remained some time, and there is every appearance that it was a formed and established Church. The Bourbons were kings of France; the Bonapartes were emperors of the French. The difference is a matter of taste.

In God—Within whom all things, including the Church, are; the living all-pervading Omnipotence. But the Church is in God as nothing else is, namely, as our Father. It is in the bosom of his parental love.

Grace—Note, Eph_1:2.

As regards the omission of St. Paul’s apostolic title, Wordsworth says: (1) He begins all his epistles with his own name “Paul,” except the epistle to the Hebrews. See Heb_1:1. (2) He adds to his own name the official title of apostle in all his epistles, except the two earliest, and in the epistles to Philemon, the Philippians, and the Hebrews, where it is omitted for special reasons. (3) In his five earliest epistles he addresses himself “to the Church,” etc., but in no others. (4) In his two earliest epistles he addresses himself to the Church of persons in the city, and not “to the Church” in the city, and in no others. (5) In all the other epistles he commences with the salutation “to the saints,” etc. (6) In all his epistles he commences with the salutation, “Grace and peace.” In all his pastoral epistles, “Grace, mercy, and peace.” (7) In his earliest epistles he uses the first person plural, “we;” in his later epistles the first person singular, “I.” (8) As to his usage at the close of his epistles, see on 1Th_5:28. (9) All these minute incidents indicate a well-prepared and well-digested plan in the composition of his epistles, even in the details of diction, and much more in the delivery of doctrine.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Paul. He does not call himself "an apostle," not because the Thessalonians were newly converted (Chrysostom), or from tenderness to Silvanus who was not an apostle (Estius), or because his apostolic authority was not yet recognized (Jowett), or because he had merely commenced his apostolic labors (Wordsworth); but because his apostleship had never been called in question by the Thessalonians. For the same reason he omits this title in the Epistle to the Philippians; whereas he strongly insists upon it in his Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians, because among them there were many opposed to his authority. And Silvanus. The same as the Silas of the Acts. He is mentioned as a chief man among the brethren, and a prophet or inspired teacher. (Act_15:22, Act_15:32) His Latin name renders it probable that he was a Hellenistic Jew, and, like Paul, he was a Roman citizen. (Act_16:37) He was sent with Judas Barsabas from Jerusalem, to convey the apostolic decrees to Antioch; and he accompanied Paul instead of Barnabas on his second missionary journey. (Act_15:40) He suffered imprisonment with Paul at Philippi; and was engaged with him in preaching the gospel in Thessalonica, Beraea, and Corinth. His ministry at Corinth is honorably mentioned by Paul in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians. (2Co_1:9) After this there is no more mention of Silvanus in the Acts, and it is doubtful whether he was the Silvanus by whom the First Epistle of Peter was conveyed to the Churches of Asia. (1Pe_5:12) Ancient tradition, erroneously supposing that Silas and Silvanus were different persons, makes Silas the Bishop of Corinth, and Silvanus the Bishop of Thessalonica. And Timotheus. The well-known disciple of Paul. He was a native of Lystra, having a Greek father and a Jewish mother. (Act_16:1) He joined Paul and Silas on their second missionary journey at Lystra, and was with them in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. He was with Paul on his third missionary journey, and was sent by him on a mission to Macedonia and Corinth (Act_19:22; 1Co_16:10) and accompanied him into Asia on his last journey to Jerusalem. (Act_20:4) He was also with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment, when he wrote the Epistles to the Philippians and Colossians (Php_1:1; Col_1:1) Afterwards he resided at Ephesus; (1Ti_1:3) from which he was recalled to Rome by Paul shortly before his martyrdom. (2Ti_4:21) The last mention of Timothy is in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you". (Heb_13:23) According to ecclesiastical tradition, he became Bishop of Ephesus, and there suffered martyrdom. Silvanus and Timotheus are associated with Paul in his address to the Thessalonians, not to give weight and authority to his Epistle, but because they assisted him in the planting of the Church at Thessalonica, and were now with him at Corinth, when he was writing this Epistle. Silvanus is placed first, because he was the older and had been longer with the apostle, and, as is evident from the Acts, was at this time the more important of the two. (Act_16:19 Act_17:4) By being included in the address, they are represented as joint authors of the Epistle with Paul, although they were only so in name. It is possible that Paul employed one of them as his amanuensis in writing the Epistle. Unto the Church. The word "Church" denotes a select assembly; here, Christians selected from the world. It does not denote in the New Testament, as with us, a building, but the congregation. In Paul"s later Epistles, those addressed are called, not the Church, but saints. Of the Thessalonians. In other Epistles the address is to the city, as Rome, Philippi, Colosse; here it is to the inhabitants. The Church of the Thessalonians was chiefly composed of converted Gentiles, with a small number of converted Jews (see Introduction). Which is; to be omitted, as not being in the original. In God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. The characteristic peculiarity of the Church: they are in God and Christ, that is, in fellowship with them, united to them. "In God the Father" characterizes them as not being heathens; "in the Lord Jesus Christ" characterizes them as not being Jews. Grace be unto you, and peace. The usual apostolic benediction. "Grace" is the Greek and" peace" is the Jewish form of salutation. The Greeks commenced their epistles with wishing grace for those to whom they wrote; and the usual form of salutation among the Jews was Shalom or "peace;" the apostle combines them, thus intimating that both Greeks and Jews are one in Christ Jesus. In the Pastoral Epistles and in the Second Epistle of John the form is "Grace, mercy, and peace", (2Jn_1:3) and in the Epistle of Jude it is "Mercy, peace, and love". (Jud_1:2) From God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. These words are wanting in some important manuscripts, and are omitted in the R.V The preponderance, however, of external authority is in their favor.

HOMILETICS.

Vers. 1, 2.

The character of Christians.

1. They are converted; they turn to God from idols. As the heathen turned from material idols, so do believers from spiritual idols. A change is effected in their disposition; their chief affection is now fixed on God and Christ; they serve the living and true God.

2. They wait for the Lord Jesus Christ; they expect salvation from him, and look forward to his second craning.

3. They live a holy life; they possess the three cardinal virtues, and prove that they do so by their outward manifestations.

HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY. Ver. 1.

Address and salutation.

At a point almost midway between the apostle"s call and his martyrdom he penned this first of his thirteen Epistles, which was, perhaps, the earliest book of New Testament Scripture, and addressed to one of the primary centers of European Christianity.

I THE AUTHORS OF THE SALUTATION. "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy." Simply Paul, without official adjunct of any sort, for there was no one in the Thessalonian Church to challenge his apostleship or his relationship to Christ. He associates Silvanus and Timothy with himself in the salutation as they were associated with him in the original foundation of the Church; Silvanus being placed next to himself, because he was of older standing and greater weight in the Church than Timothy, a comparatively young evangelist.

II THE CHURCH TO WHICH THE SALUTATION WAS ADDRESSED. "To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Its situation. Thessalonica was the capital of all Macedonia, and is still the second city of European Turkey. Important then as now by its commerce; important by its place on the great road which connected Rome with its Asiatic dependencies; but more important in the eye of the apostle as a grand center of missionary operations both by laud and sea, and with a mingled population of Jews and Gentiles.

2. Its true character as a Church. It was "the Church of the Thessalonians a regularly organized community of Christians, mostly Gentiles, havingthe root and ground of its spiritual existence in union with the Father and the Son. They were "in the fellowship of the Father and the Son," because they were "dwelling in God, and God in them," and "they were in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ." The one fellowship implies the other; for Jesus said, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me;" yet it is also true that it is "God who calls us into the fellowship of the Son". (1Co_1:9) This double fellowship is secured by the bond of the Holy Spirit. As enjoyed by the Thessalonians it implied:

(1) Their devotion to the truth; for only "as abiding in the doctrine of Christ" they would have "both the Father and the Son". (2Jn_1:9; 1Jn_2:24) There is no fellowship but in the truth. To be in darkness is to be out of fellowship. (1Jn_1:6)

(2) Their unity. "Even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us". (Joh_17:21)

(3) Their love to one another. "If we love one another God abideth in us". (1Jn_4:12)

(4) Their boldness in the day of judgment. (1Jn_2:28)

(5) Their ultimate perfection. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one". (Joh_17:21-23) Behold thus the high dignity and blessed privilege of the Church at Thessalonica.

III THE SALUTATION. "Grace and peace be unto you." (See homiletical hints on Gal_1:5; Col_1:2) T.C.

HOMILIES BY B.C. CAFFIN Ver. 1.

The address.

I THE WRITER.

1. He uses no title. He does not style himself apostle. He asserted his apostolic authority when it was necessary to do so; for the sake of others, as in his Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians. Now it was not necessary; the Macedonian Churches regarded him with affection and reverence. He simply gives his name, his new name Paul. He had laid aside his old name with all its associations. It recalled the memory of the famous king, Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. It recalled to the apostle the memories of his own old unconverted life, his self-satisfied Pharisaism, his persecution of the Church, especially that one saddest day of his life, when he consented to the death of the first martyr of the Lord, the holy Stephen. He had laid aside his old name, and with it his old modes of thought, his old life. Paul was, we may say, his Christian name; we do not read of it before the beginning of his first missionary journey; it was consecrated now by constant, untiring, self-sacrificing labor. It was known wherever Christ was preached as the name of the great missionary, the apostle of the Gentiles, the first of the noble band of Christian missionaries, who had left his home and all that once he loved to devote himself, heart

2. and soul, to the mission work with all its hardships, all its dangers. Many holy men have trodden in his steps; but it was Paul who first set the high example, who kindled the sacred enthusiasm which has led so many saints in every age to fulfill the Lord"s command, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul is a Latin name; it means "little." St. Augustine in one place suggests that St. Paul may have chosen it to mark himself as "the least of the apostles." There are other possible reasons for the change, and it may be thought that St. Paul would have shrunk from what might seem almost like a parade of humility. But at least we may find a lesson here. God exalteth the humble. Paul is a famous name. Others have borne it some distinguished Romans; but it was reserved for the apostle to make the name honored and beloved throughout the civilized world. The Paulus who conquered Macedonia for Rome is far less famous now than the Paul who won the Macedonian Churches for Christ.

3. He associates others with himself. Paul is the spiritual father of the Thessalonian Christians; he is the writer of the Epistle, not Silvanus or Timotheus. (see 2Th_3:17) But they had labored with him in Thessalonica; Silvanus certainly, Timotheus in all probability; they had shared his dangers there; they were well known to the Thessalonians. So he joins their names with his own, recognizing their brotherly fellowship, their faithful co-operation, and shrinking, it may be, kern putting himself into unnecessary prominence. He seeks not honor ion himself; he has no literary ambition; his one aim is the salvation of his converts, the glory of God.

(1) Silvanus, or, in the shortened form of the name, Silas. tic, like St. Paul, was a Roman citizen, and bore a Latin name. It was, in the Latin mythology, the name of the sylvan god, who was supposed to protect the sheep, and save them from wolves. When he became a Christian, that name might perhaps serve to remind him of the great duty of tending the flock for which the good Shepherd died. He had leech a leader in the Church at Jerusalem; he was a prophet, (Act_15:32) that is, he had the gift of spiritual, inspired eloquence; he used it to exhort and confirm the brethren. He accompanied St. Paul in his first missionary journey; he worked with him, he suffered with him. In the dungeon at Philippi, his feet made fast in the stocks, he prayed and sang praises unto God. His presence and sympathy had cheered St. Paul in his dangers. Companionship in affliction had bound them very close to one another. When working together at Thessalonica they must have still felt the effects of the many stripes which they had received at Philippi. It was natural that St. Paul should mention Silas in writing to the Thessalonians. We may notice here that he furnishes one of the links which couple together the two apostles whose differences (Gal_2:11-21) have been so much magnified by heretics of old, by unbelievers now. St. Paul loved Silvanus; St. Peter counted him a faithful brother (l Peter 5:12).

(2) Timotheus, St. Paul"s dearest companion, his own son in the faith, bound to him with the closest ties of tender, personal affection. He stands first among the noble company of holy, loving fellow-workers whom St. Paul had drawn around himself. He was known to the Thessalonians; his name, indeed, does not appear in the record of St. Paul"s visit to Thessalonica in the Acts of the Apostles. But we know that he was sent there afterwards to establish and to comfort the Thessalonian Christians concerning their faith. (1Th_3:2) Doubtless he was chosen for that work because of the Christian zeal, the loving, gentle sympathy which marked his beautiful character. He fulfilled his mission, and brought back to the apostle good tidings of the faith and charity of the Thessalonians. He greets them now.

II THE CHURCH.

1. The foundation of the Thessalonian Church. St. Paul had been shamefully treated at Philippi; he had not lost courage. He came to Thessalonica; he went, as he was wont, to the synagogue. There he preached for three sabbath days; he "reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." He showed (as our Lord himself had shown to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus) that it was necessary that the Messiah should suffer, and should rise again from the dead; he showed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. All true preaching must be full of Scripture; all true preaching must be full of Christ. St. Paul"s words were greatly blessed. Some Jews believed, a great multitude of Greek proselytes, many ladies of rank. Those three sabbaths had been wonderfully fruitful; a Church was formed at Thessalonica.

1. The word Church." This is the earliest of St. Paul"s extant Epistles; it may be (possibly the Epistle of St. James was written earlier) the earliest of all the writings of the New Testament. Then, if we were to read the New Testament in chronological order, we should meet here with the word "Church" for the first time. St. Jam_2:2 uses the word "synagogue," not "Church." Our Lord, of course, used it earlier. He founded the Church. He had said, "On this rock wilt I build my Church;" and again, "Tell it to the Church." But the date of St. Matthew"s Gospel is probably later than that of this Epistle. The Greek word means simply an assembly, a

2. congregation, as the word "synagogue" means a meeting. It is derived from a verb which means to call out or summon, and is regularly used in classical Greek of the assemblies of citizens summoned by the magistrate in the Greek commonwealths for legislative or other political purposes; (Act_19:39) sometimes of other assemblies, as of the crowd of artisans collected by Demetrius. (Act_19:32, Act_19:41) It is used of the congregation of Israel in Act_7:38; Heb_2:12; and sometimes in the Septuagint. The New Testament has taken the word and filled it with a new and holy meaning. It is the assembly which Christ hath chosen to himself out of the world the flock of Christ. The visible Church of Christ is "a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ"s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same." The great day of Pentecost was the true birthday of the Church; the gift of the Holy Ghost then sent down from heaven knit together the disciples into one body, the mystical body of Christ. St. Luke gives us, in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, a description of the Church at that time. "Then they that gladly received the Word were baptized and they continued steadfastly in the apostles" doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Thus the notes of the Church, according to Holy Scripture, are baptism, fellowship with the apostles, the doctrine of the apostles, the holy communion, public worship. The Church is also one, for it is one body in Christ, united into one fellowship by the indwelling of the one Spirit. It is holy, because it is being sanctified by the Holy Ghost; all its members are dedicated to God in holy baptism; they are all pledged by that dedication to follow after holiness of heart and life. It is catholic, because it is not confined to one nation, like the synagogue, but universal, world-wide, open to all who receive the Word of God. It is apostolic, because it is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone; and because it continues in the doctrine and fellowship of the apostles. It is the bride of Christ. "Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it unto himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

3. The Church of the Thessalonians. Now there was a branch of the one Church at Thessalonica.

(1) It was the second Church founded in Europe. The first was at Philippi, a small place, though a Roman colony. Thessalonica was a populous city, the metropolis of Macedonia. God plants his Church everywhere. It embraces all who will accept the gospel poor and rich, ignorant and learned; it meets the deepest needs of all places alike the quiet country and the stirring city.

(2) It was already organized. It had its ministers, (1Th_5:12, 1Th_5:13) and its assemblies for public worship. (1Th_5:27) Short as St. Paul"s visit was, he had, it seems, ordained elders there, as he was wont to do in every Church, (Act_14:23) and had provided for the regular meetings of the brethren.

(3) It was in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. This was its essential characteristic. As Chrysostom says, "There were many ejkklhsiai, many assemblies both Jewish and Greek. St. Paul writes to that assembly, that congregation, which was in God. It is a high exaltation, above all other possible dignities, to be in God." Thessalonica formerly lay in wickedness, in the evil one, (1Jn_5:19) in the sphere of his activity. Now, the Church there was in God. The presence of God was the very atmosphere in which the Church lived and moved. It lay in the everlasting arms, encircled with his embrace, guarded by his love. The words imply a close intimate union, an exceeding great depth of love and tenderness, a very great and profound truth, which does not admit of formal definition, and cannot be adequately expressed in language; but it is realized, in a greater or less degree, in the inner life of those true members of the Church who abide in that invisible, but most holy and most blessed, union with the Lord. God had breathed into the Church of the Thessalonians the breath of life that new life, that eternal life, which consists in the personal knowledge of God. That life is in his Son. Christ is the Life. "He that hath the Son hath life." The Thessalonian Church was in the Lord Jesus Christ, as it was in God. "We are in him that is true," says St. John, "even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." The Church is in Christ, then surely Christ is God. The Church cannot be said to be in any creature; in St. Paul, for instance, or in any other of the holiest saints of God. Such an assertion would be unmeaning, blasphemous. Then in the first verse of the first of St. Paul"s Epistles (the least dogmatic, some say, of all his Epistles, possibly the earliest of the New Testament writings), he distinctly teaches the great doctrine of the divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "In Christ," "in the Lord," is a constant formula of St. Paul"s; he is never weary of repeating it, never weary of enforcing the great truth that the Christian lives in Christ. Here he asserts the same thing of the Church as a whole. It is in Christ, living in his life, holy in his holiness, strong in his strength, glorious (Joh_17:22) in his glory; the glory of his presence now, the glory of eternal life with him henceforth in heaven. The Church is "in Christ;" its members must strive to realize the blessedness of that holy fellowship in their own individual souls. Outward membership will not avail for our salvation, unless we abide in living spiritual communion with the Lord.

III THE SALUTATION.

1. Grace. It is one of those words which the Holy Spirit has taken from common use and filled with a sweet and sacred meaning.

(1) It is the gracious favor of God which rests upon all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That favor is essentially free, spontaneous, flowing out of that eternal love which is intimately one with the very being of God. "God is love." It is given in and through the Lord Jesus; it is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(2) It is the gratitude, the spirit of joyful thankfulness, which should be the happy temper of those who believe in the grace of God.

(3) It sometimes (as in Col_4:6) expresses the sweetness, the winning beauty, the dignified gracefulness of the true Christian character. The grace of God produces thankfulness, and gives grace and beauty to the life.

2. Peace. It was the first greeting of the risen Lord to his apostles, "Peace be unto you." It became the apostolic greeting. The Macedonian Churches had little outward peace; they were early called to suffer. They needed that blessed peace which God alone can give. (See homiletics on Php_1:2 4:7)

LESSONS.

1. Imitate St. Paul in his humility. Notice every feature, every manifestation of that great grace; it is hard to learn.

2. The Church, as a whole, is in God; in his guardianship, in his encircling love. We must strive and pray to realize that loving presence individually, to be in God ourselves.

3. Pray that grace and peace may rest on all who bear the Name of Christ. B.C.C. HOMILIES BY R. FINLAYSON Ver. 1.

Introduction.

This Epistle has the distinction of being the first in time of all Paul"s Epistles. The leading thought, to which there is reference toward the close of each of the five chapters into which the Epistle has been divided, is the second coming of our Lord. The first three chapters are personal, setting forth the apostle"s connection with the Thessalonians, and interest in them as a Church. In the remaining two chapters he addresses them in view of their condition as a Church, and especially in view of anxiety connected with the second coming. Pleased with the progress they were making, he writes to them in a quiet, practical, prevailingly consolatory strain.

I THE WRITERS. "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy." Paul comes first, as preeminently the writer. It can be made out that the matter and style are characteristically Pauline. It speaks to his humility that he does not claim it as his own, that he does not put forward his official position, but associates two brethren with him as joint-writers. These, Silvanus (to be identified with Silas) and Timothy (less prominent at the time), assisted at the founding of the Thessalonian Church. Timothy had just returned from a visit of inquiry to Thessalonica. He therefore claims them as adding the weight of their influence with the Thessalonians to his own. And their place as joint-writers is accorded to them throughout. Only in three places, for a special reason in each case, does he make use of the singular number.

II COMMUNITY ADDRESSED. "Unto the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Thessalonica so named by Cassander in honor of his wife, who was a sister of Alexander the Great was well situated for commerce "on the inner bend of the Thermaic gulf half-way between the Adriatic and the Hellespont on the sea-margin of a vast plain watered by several rivers," the chief of these being the Axius and Haliacmon. Under the Romans it became a large, wealthy, and populous city; and was chosen as the Macedonian capital. Its importance has been well kept, up to the present day. Saloniki (slightly altered from Thessalonica) ranks next to Constantinople in European Turkey, with a population of seventy thousand. Paul visited Thessalonica in his second missionary tour, after the rough handling he had received in the other Macedonian city of Philippi. The Jews, being more numerous here than at Philippi, had a synagogue; and in this, Paul, for three sabbath days, reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead, and that this Jesus is the Christ. The result was so far favorable. Some Jews were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; of the Gentile proselytes attached to the Jewish synagogue, a great multitude, and, among these, not a few chief women. But there was also what was unfavorable. The Jews as a body, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble, and raised a tumult against the Christian preachers, which ended in their departing by night for Beraea. Paul and his assistants had a very short time in which to found a Church in Thessalonica. For three sabbath days Paul reasoned in the Jewish synagogue. We may allow a little longer time for the ripening of Jewish opposition. Short as the time was, they had settled down to supporting themselves by laboring with their own hands. Short as the time was, the Philippian Christians, in their eagerness, had managed once and again to send unto Paul"s necessity. What would render the formation of a Christian Church at Thessalonica easier was the number of Gentile proselytes who embraced Christianity. These had received training in monotheistic ideas, and had already the elements of a godly character. But, beyond this, many Gentile idolaters must have been brought in; for the entering in of Paul and his companions was signalized as a turning of the majority of them from idols unto the living and the true God. Under the conditions of time and manual labor and Jewish fanaticism, the founding of the Thessalonian Church was a most marvelous work. So short time with them, Paul wrote to them when he got to Corinth, after Visiting Beraea and Athens, about the close of the year 52. The Thessalonians are addressed as a Church, i.e. in their corporate capacity, with corporate responsibilities and privileges, not as saints, i.e. in respect of the consecration of the members-individually. They are addressed as a Church in God the Father, i.e. as having all the position of sons. They are also addressed as a Church in the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e. as a Christian family where the sons are all saved men placed under the superintendence of him who has the position of Lord, and distributes to their need.

III GREETING. Grace to you and peace. " This did not necessarily exclude favor and peace from men, from these persecuting Jews. But whether it had that sweep or not, it certainly meant the Divine treatment of them, not according to merit, but according to infinite mercifulness, and the consequent freeing of them from all disturbing influences. It is what we should invoke for all our friends. R.F.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

1Th_1:1. Paul, and Sylvanus, and Timotheus.—As to Paul, it may be noted that he does not mention his office. It was largely owing to the aspersions of others that he came, later, to magnify his office. Silvanus is the “fellow-helper” and fellow-sufferer of the apostle, better known to New Testament readers by the shortened form of his name—Silas. That he was a Jew appears from Acts 15, but, like Paul, able to claim the privilege of Roman citizenship (Acts 16). Timotheus is the valuable and dear companion of St. Paul. Twelve or fourteen years later he is said to be still young (1Ti_4:12). He, too, is only partly a Jew (Act_16:3). Grace be unto you, and peace.—The men who are by birth and training divided between Jew and Gentile, salute both. It is not less true of the gospel than the law that it speaks the language of the children of men. All that grace could mean to the Greek, or peace to the Hebrew, met in Him whose title was written above the cross in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF 1Th_1:1

Phases of Apostolic Greeting.

There is an interest about this epistle as the first in the magnificent series of inspired writings which bear the name of Paul. This was “the beginning of his strength, the excellency of dignity and power.” The labours of the apostle and his co-helpers in the enterprising and populous city of Thessalonica, notwithstanding the angriest opposition, were crowned with success. The stern prejudice of the Jew was assailed and conquered, the subtle philosophising of the Grecian tracked and exposed. The truth was eagerly embraced; and as sunbeams streaming through mist render it transparent, so did the light of the gospel bring out in clearness and beauty the character of the Thessalonian citizens, which had been hitherto shrouded in the dark shadows of superstition.

I. This greeting is harmonious in its outflow.—Paul, though the only apostle of the three, did not in this instance assume the title or display any superiority either of office or power. Silvanus and Timotheus had been owned of God, equally with himself, in planting the Thessalonian Church, and were held in high esteem among the converts. Each man had his distinctive individuality, varied talents, and special mode of working; but there was an emphatic unity of purpose in bringing about results. They rejoiced together in witnessing the inception, confirmation, and prosperity of the Church, and when absent united in sending a fervent, harmonious greeting. This harmony of feeling is traceable throughout both epistles in the prevalent use of the first person plural. The association of Silvanus and Timotheus with the apostle in this greeting also indicated their perfect accord with him in the divine character of the doctrines he declared. As men dowered with the miraculous faculty of spiritual discernment, they could testify that everything contained in the epistle was dictated by the Spirit of God and worthy of universal evidence. Not that the personal peculiarities of any man give additional value to the doctrine. Truth is vaster than the individual, whatever gifts he possesses or lacks. The water of life is as sweet and refreshing whether sipped from the rudest earthen vessel or from the goblet of richly embossed gold. What a suggestive lesson of confidence and unity was taught the Thessalonians by the harmonious example of their teachers!

II. This greeting recognises the Church’s sublime origin.—It is addressed “unto the Church which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

1. The Church is divinely founded.—The preposition “in” denotes the most intimate union with God, and is of similar significance as in the comprehensive prayer of Jesus: “As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us.” The Church rests, not on any sacerdotal authority or human organisation, though many have laboured thus to narrow its limits and define its character; it depends for its origin, life, and perpetuity on union with the Deity. It is based on the divine love, fostered by the divine Spirit, shielded by Omnipotence, and illumined and adorned by the divine glory. It exists for purely spiritual purposes, is the depositary of the revealed word, the channel of divine communication to man, the sanctuary of salvation.

2. The Church is divinely sustained.—Founded in God, it is every moment sustained by Him. Thus the Church survives the mightiest opposition, the fret and wear of perpetual change. It is not wedded to any locality under heaven. Places once famous for the simplicity and power of their Church-life have become notoriously vile or sunk into utter obscurity. Bethel, once bearing the hallowed name House of God, under the idolatrous rule of Jeroboam became corrupted into Bethhaven, House of Iniquity. Jerusalem, the praise of the whole earth, was once the chosen habitation of Jehovah; now it is a heap of ruins, its temple and worship destroyed, and its people scattered, without king, prophet, or leader. The light that shone so full and clear from the seven celebrated Asiatic Churches grew dim and went out, and that region is now wrapped in the darkness of idolatry. And Thessalonica, renowned as a pattern of Christian purity and zeal, now languishes under its modern name of Saloniki, a victim of Turkish despotism, and professing a spurious religion the first founders of the Church there, could they revisit the spot, would certainly repudiate. But the true Church lives, grows, and triumphs.

III. This greeting supplicates the bestowal of the highest blessings.—

1. Grace. The source of all temporal good—life, health, sustenance, prosperity, enjoyment; and of all spiritual benefits—pardon for the guilty, rest for the troubled spirit, guidance for the doubting and perplexed, strength for the feeble, deliverance for the tempted, purity for the polluted, victory and felicity for the faithful. The generosity of God knows no stint. A certain monarch once threw open his parks and gardens to the public during the summer months. The royal gardener, finding i troublesome, complained to his Majesty that the visitors plucked the flowers. “What,” said the kind-hearted king, “are my people fond of flowers? Then plant some more!” So our heavenly King with lavish hand scatters on our daily path the flowers of blessing, and as fast as we can gather them, in spite of the grudging, churlish world, more are supplied.

2. Peace.—A blessing inclusive of all the happiness resulting from a participation in the divine favour. Peace with God, with whom sin has placed us in antagonism, and to whom we are reconciled in Christ Jesus, who hath “abolished in His flesh the enmity, so making peace.” Peace of conscience, a personal blessing conferred on him who believes in Jesus. Peace one with another—peace in the Church. In the concluding counsels of this epistle the writer impressively insists, “Be at peace among yourselves.” The value of this blessing to any Christian community cannot be exaggerated. A single false semitone converts the most exquisite music into discord.

3. The source of all the blessings desired.—“From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Jew in his most generous greeting could only say, “God be gracious unto you, and remember His covenant”; but the Christian “honours the Son even as he honours the Father.” The Father’s love and the Son’s work are the sole source and cause of every Christian blessing.

Lessons.—

1. Learn the freeness and fulness of the gospel. It contains and offers all the blessings that can enrich and ennoble man. It needs but the willing heart to make them his own. He may gather wisdom from the Eastern proverb, and in a higher sense than first intended, “Hold all the skirts of thy mantle extended when heaven is raining gold.”

2. Learn the spirit we should cultivate towards others.—A spirit of genuine Christian benevolence and sympathy. We can supplicate for others no higher good than grace and peace.

GERM NOTE ON THE VERSE

Apostolic Introduction to the Epistle.

I. The persons sending are mentioned.—“Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus.”

1. Paul is not here called an apostle, because his apostleship was granted.

2. Silvanus and Timotheus had assisted in planting and watering this Church.

II. The persons addressed are introduced and described.—

1. The epistle was addressed to believers.

2. The Church is presented in an interesting point of view (Joh_17:20). The Father and the Mediator are one in redemption; into this union the Church is received.

1. The blessings desired are grace and peace. Sovereign mercy and favour and reconciliation.

2. These are mentioned in their proper order of time, of cause and effect.

3. These are traced to their proper source. The Father—the Godhead; the Son—all fulness.—Stewart.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th_1:1

Salutation

1Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus [Timothy],1 unto the church2 of the Thessalonians which Isaiah 3 in God the Father and in4 the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you [Grace unto you, χάρις ὑμῖν],5 and peace (from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ).6

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus [Timothy].—On Paul, see the Acts of the Apostles, and the Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans.—Silvanus. He is called in the Acts Silas; by Paul and Peter, Silvanus. A distinguished leader (ἡγούμενος; comp. Lechler at Act_15:22) and prophet of the church of Jerusalem, he was chosen by the Apostolic Council as one of the bearers of its decrees to Antioch, where he then remained for a longer period in friendly intercourse with the Gentile Christians, exhorting them and confirming them in the faith (Act_15:22; Act_15:27; Act_15:32 sq.). Even though Act_15:34 be not genuine, yet that choice and this sojourn are sufficient to show, that Silas was one of the Jewish Christians who, like Stephen, had from the beginning a freer, open sense for Gentile Christianity and Paulinism. In recognition of this Large-heartedness Paul chose him for his attendant on his second missionary journey (Act_15:40), during which the church at Thessalonica was founded (see Introduction), and so we find him by his side in work and suffering, before magistrates, in stripes, in prison, in prayer, in miraculous deliverance, in flight, Act_16:19; Act_16:25; Act_16:29; Act_17:4; Act_17:10; Act_17:14 sq.; Act_18:5. He accordingly appears in the inscriptions of the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, and 2Co_1:19. Subsequently Silvanus is simply mentioned by Peter as bearer of his First Epistle to Asia Minor, where he was already known, ever since Paul’s second missionary journey, as “a faithful brother” (1Pe_5:12; comp. Fronmüller in loc.). Silvanus, from his original position at Jerusalem in friendly relations to Peter, and then a companion of Paul, is a man of whom it must be thought a peculiarly natural thing, that he again appears by the side of Peter, when the latter addressed himself to the at least to some extent Pauline churches of Asia Minor. He belongs to those men of second rank in the apostolic period, in whom the oneness of the Pauline spirit with that of the first Apostles, and the credibility, of late so severely assailed, of the book of Acts, are in an artless way historically represented. According to the tradition of the ancient Church, Silvanus should have been the first Bishop of Thessalonica, but Silas—whom it distinguishes from Silvanus—Bishop of Corinth (see Winer, biblisches Real-wörterbuch, 3d ed., II. p. 459, Art. Silas). As this distinction is certainly erroneous, since Silas is merely a contraction, such as frequently occurs in proper names, for Silvanus, as Ἀντίπας for Ἀντίπατρος, in German Niklas for Nikolaus, &c, and since in the Acts we find Silas, and in Paul’s Epistles Silvanus, associated with Paul and Timothy at Thessalonica and Corinth, so the whole tradition admits of easy explanation as an arbitrary inference from the New Testament data, Silas appearing for the last time at Corinth, Act_18:5, and Silvanus in the forefront of the Thessalonian Epistles.—On Timothy, who had in like manner attended the Apostle during the founding of the Thessalonian church, see the Introduction to 1 Tim. Everywhere Paul speaks of Timothy with paternal tenderness, and bears the highest testimony to his character. Not only does he mention him generally as a brother (2Co_1:1; Col_1:1; Phm_1:1; 1Th_3:2), not only as a servant of God and his own fellow-laborer in the gospel of Christ (1Th_3:2; Rom_16:21; 1Co_16:10), a servant of Jesus Christ, like himself (Php_1:1), but he calls him his faithful and beloved, his genuine child in the Lord (1Co_4:17; 1Ti_1:2; 1Ti_1:18 [γνησίῳ τέκνῳ]; 2Ti_1:2), and writes to the Philippians (Php_2:19 sqq.) of their knowing the proof of him, that, as a child the father,7 he has served with him in the gospel; indeed he says expressly (Php_1:20) that he has—so at least during the first Roman imprisonment, when he wrote this—no one likeminded, who will so sincerely and disinterestedly care for the church. Thus in the glorious circle of apostolic men that surrounded Paul Timothy takes the first place. “No one,” says F. Ranke, “has the Apostle embraced with more cordial and fatherly affection than Timothy—one of the loveliest and most refreshing sights of the apostolic age.”—It is undoubtedly as being the older man that Silvanus is here and 2Co_1:19 placed before Timothy,8 whose youth is still spoken of in the Epistles written to him at a much later date (1Ti_4:12; 2Ti_2:22). It is worthy of note and agrees with what has just been said, that in the narrative of travel in the Acts (Acts 16, 17) Timothy, after the mention of his being added to the company, is not again immediately named, whereas Silas is mentioned frequently along with Paul. First on occasion of the separation from Paul is Timothy afterwards named along with and after Silas (Act_17:14 sq.; Act_18:5).—The Apostle names, and his practice is similar in other places also (comp., besides the inscriptions of 2 Thess., 2 Cor., Phil., Col., and Philemon, in which Timothy in like manner appears, 1Co_1:1 Paul and Sosthenes, and Gal_1:1-2 Paul and all the brethren that are with me), Silvanus and Timothy as joint authors,[9] as virtually joined with him in getting up the Epistle, though he alone is the writer, and dictates the Epistle perhaps only to one of them. As they have preached the Lord together orally (comp. 2Co_1:19), so should also the written word go forth from all the three. The three men who had become dear to the church must again appear before her mental vision united as in the beginning; she must recognize their fair, lasting concord one with another, and know that she has received the same gospel, not merely from an individual, but from the mouth of two and three witnesses (Mat_18:16; Mat_18:20), and is borne on more than one heart (comp. 1Th_1:2 : we give thanks). Therefore also Paul does not need to describe Silvanus and Timothy more closely; they are held still in fresh, living remembrance by the church.—For just the same reason also he does not designate himself more fully as an Apostle, &c. As already remarked by Calvin, he needs not to come before the Thessalonians with official authority, but merely to recall his person to their memory, as he lived and wrought among them in the power of the Spirit. In this brief, free self-designation Lünemann finds with reason a mark of the earlier composition and authenticity of our Epistles. At a later period, indeed, Paul does not in the inscriptions of his Epistles call himself an Apostle in cases, where he can count on faithful, unimpaired love and recognition on the part of a church or an individual; yet even there the inscriptions are fuller, as Php_1:1; Phm_1:1. But after that his apostolic authority was assailed, from the time of the Epistle to the Galatians, his general custom was to append his official to his personal name, and then frequently he makes use of that for longer or shorter additions corresponding to the actual contents of the letter, so that no inscription is in all respects the same as another. Even in Thessalonica, it is true, attempts to create distrust were not wanting; but these affected not his apostolic authority as such, but his entire person. This freedom of the Apostle in his self-designations is characteristic and instructive. As he directs his letters, not to the office-bearers, but to the church, so, unless there be a necessity for it, he does not himself come forth in his official authority. He has no stiff official style, but here too he proportions every thing to the circumstances and exigencies of the particular case. Accordingly, he here distinguishes himself by no addition from Silvanus and Timotheus, but simply takes the precedence of them, and thereby at the same time designates himself as properly the author of the Epistle. Certainly in this is shown also the humility of the Apostle, and so far the remark is not incorrect, that Paul omitted his apostolic title out of modesty, whether towards the Thessalonians (Chrysostom, &c.), or towards Silvanus and Timothy Zwingli, Pott, &c.). Only we are not to find here the proper motive of the omission (comp. Col_1:1). The humility is all the more genuine, that it comes out thus silently and unconstrained.

2. To the church.—Paul writes not to the presbyters, teachers, &c., but to the churches; where he names the office-bearers, it is by way of supplementary appendage (Php_1:1).[10] In the most solemn manner he requires, 1Th_5:27, that all the brethren should read the Epistle. To deny the reading of Holy Scripture to the laity, therefore, is to contravene its original destination. In his earlier Epistles (to the Thessalonians, Galatians, and Corinthians) Paul writes τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ or ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις; in the later ones (Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians) τοῖς ἁγίοις, &c, which indeed is added in those to the Corinthians.[11]

3. In God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.—These words are to be closely joined with τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, as if they were preceded by τῇ or τῇ οὔσῃ, as in the opening of 1 and 2 Cor., where it is said, only in reverse order: τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τῆ οὔσῃ ἐν Κορίνθῳ (comp. 1Th_2:14). The addition attached by means of the preposition forms here, in fact (comp. Winer, p. 123), with the substantive but one main idea, and is to be connected with it merely by the voice. This happens with special frequency in the case of the Pauline formula: ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, to which our expression is nearly allied (comp., in particular, Php_1:1 : τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Φιλίπποις, also Col_1:2). Thus the want of the article intimates that it belongs to the idea of the Church, to be in God and Christ. “Est hæc nota veluti approbatio veræ et legitimæ ecclesiæ” (Calvin). In this very brevity of the expression is something great and profound. It denotes not merely fellowship with God (Bengel, Lünemann), but a real, essential being in God and Christ (Rom_16:11; Joh_15:4; Joh_17:21 sqq.; 1Jn_2:5 sq.; 1Jn_5:20). “It is a high dignity, to which nothing is equal, when one is in God” (Chrysostom). Whereas Thessalonica previously lay with the whole world in the wicked one (ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ masc., 1Jn_5:19; comp. 1:18; ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ opposed to 1:20)—whereas in that place there were only Jews, who had no part in Christ, and Gentiles, who had none also in God—there is at this time a church there, that is in God the Father, and in Christ Jesus. Here is a miracle of God, over which the Apostle gives Him glory and thanks; as always at the beginning of his Epistles, when he turns his eye on the churches, so also here, 1Th_1:2.

4. Grace unto you [German: Grace be with you.—J. L.], and peace. The old epistolary style combines in the inscription what with us is distributed into the address, salutation, subscription, and direction. The Pauline benediction is χάρις καὶ εἰρήνη; only in the Epistles to Timothy (and perhaps Tit_1:4) χάρις, ἔλεος, εἰρήνη; the first form also in 1 and 2 Peter, the latter in 2 John; Judges 2 : ἔλεος καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ ἀγάπη. Χάρις reminds us of the Greek salutation χαίρειν (comp. Act_23:26), which occurs also in the apostolic circular (Act_15:23; Jam_1:1); εἰρήνη, of the Hebrew (likewise Arabic, see Winer, Realwörterbuch: Höflichkeit) form of salutation and benediction, שָׁלוֹם (Gen_43:23; Jdg_19:20; 1Ch_12:18; Exo_18:7; Jdg_18:15 1Sa_10:4; 1Sa_25:5-6). As James in a lively manner connects, 1Th_1:2, χαρά with the χαίρειν, so Paul has given it a turn of yet deeper Christian import in χάρις while, the εἰρήνη ὑμῖν had already by the Saviour or His return from death been brought to a Christian maturity and depth (Joh_20:19; Joh_20:21; Joh_20:26; comp. also Luk_10:5-6), especially in connection with His farewell discourse, in which He had promised, as the fruit of His victory over the world, and so as a distinctive family legacy in opposition to the world, to bequeathe His peace to His own (Joh_14:27; Joh_16:33). By their juxtaposition both words are raised completely out of their Gentile and Jewish outward significance, as referring almost solely to the natural life and welfare, into the “fulness of the peculiar salvation and blessing of Christians.” A notable instance of the way in which the New Testament dialect was formed.—χάρις is, first of all, favor generally, kindness, especially towards inferiors, the ἀγάπη in self-manifestation (just as righteousness is holiness in self-manifestation), and in this sense it is used also of the child Jesus, Luk_2:40 : χάρις θεοῦ ἦν ἐπʼ αὐτό. But in a more special sense χάρις denotes (opposed to ὀφείλημα, νόμος, ἔργα, Rom_4:4; Rom_6:14 sq.; Rom_11:6) the exhibition of the Divine love as free and undeserved in regard to such, as have not merely no legal claim to it, but have according to law deserved the opposite (Rom_3:23-24; Eph_2:3-5). This is the New Testament saving grace, which in Christ Jesus has appeared to sinners (Tit_2:11; Joh_1:17). It is not merely the principle of the redemption accomplished once for all, but it continues also to be the sustaining ground, the nourishing power of the new-spiritual life with its manifold gifts in Christians (comp. Act_23:11 [no doubt a misprint for Act_11:23]; Act_6:8; Eph_4:7), and so is ever afresh inwardly sealed and communicated to them from God in Christ through the Holy Ghost (comp. Rom_5:5; Joh_1:16). In this sense, according to which grace is thus not simply a sentiment, but at the same time a Divine self-communication, Paul desires for his readers ever fresh grace from God and Christ. Εἰρήνη need not be taken, with De Wette, Meyer, &c., against the Greek and New Testament usage, as=salvation, but with most since Chrysostom, who on this point as a Greek has a special voice, as=peace. This is the immediate effect of grace in the heart of man, the restoration, after the distraction and discord of the life of sin, of the harmony of the inner life, with its pure enjoyment, resting on the fact that the oppression and curse of sin are removed from the conscience, and man knows that in Christ he is brought again into his true relation to God, the filial relation (Rom_5:1), and is thereby comforted and strengthened against the oppositions and vexations of the world (Joh_16:33). The enhancement of this peace, when it pours its quickening and elevating influence into the experience, is joy (χαρά, Rom_14:17; Php_4:4; Joh_15:11; Joh_16:22; Joh_16:24; Joh_17:13; 1Jn_1:4; 1Pe_1:8—a fundamental idea of the New Testament, too much neglected by us in life and doctrine). Peace being the feeling of convalescence and healthfulness of the new life, the home-feeling of the returned prodigal, it impels the man of itself to abide in the healthful life-element of home; it has a power to keep the heart and mind, the whole mechanism of the inner life, in Christ Jesus (Php_4:7), and is therefore suitable in every relation as a chief benediction for Christians.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Of the natural world these two things are true: In God we live, move, and are [Luther’s version: sind=ἐσμέν.—J. L.], all things harmoniously existing in the Logos (Act_17:25-28; Col_1:17); and: The whole world lieth in the wicked one (1Jn_5:19). The original Divine powers of creation and the superadded powers of the prince of this world, life and death, intermingle therein in a mysterious manner. Through Christ this mixture is dissolved, and the separation, the great judgment of the world, is effected, whereby the Satanic element is cast out, and the world brought back again to its original ground of life (Joh_12:31; Col_1:20). It is in His own person first of all, the person of the Son of man who has entered through death into His glory, that the world’s judgment is fulfilled, that which is of the devil is rightfully abolished, and humanity introduced anew to God. Whosoever would again live wholly in God must be in Him. But this new being and life unites itself to the world first inwardly in the spirit. As therefore all creatures in respect of their natural existence, that is, so far as they live generally in the world of death and corruption, live, move, and are in God and immediately in the Logos, drawing continually from His omnipresent, all-pervading energy the breath of life, so Christians, in respect of their inner, pneumatic, incorruptible existence, are and live first of all in Jesus Christ, the glorified, who being the Lord is also the Spirit[12] as God (2Co_3:17), and so the Head and all-pervading life-principle of the Church born of His Spirit (Col_1:18; Col_2:6-7; Eph_1:22 sq.; Eph_2:21 sq.), the element in which Christians live, as the branches in the vine (Joh_15:4 sqq.), so that all they do is done in Christ Jesus (Col_3:17 and the phrase, occurring more than a hundred times with Paul, ἐν Χριστῷ or ἐν κυρίῳ). Because in Christ, they are then also, in this higher sense of the spiritual, eternal life, in God (1Co_3:23; 1Co_11:3; Joh_14:20). Thus in the Church is a beginning made towards the attainment of the great, Divine purpose in the world, again organically to comprehend the whole in Christ and in God (Eph_1:10; 1Co_15:28).—[Webster and Wilkinson: The full significancy of this important preposition ἐν, in its N. T. use with Θεῷ, Ἰησοῦ, Χριστῷ, Κυρίῳ, can only be understood by realizing the all-pervading doctrine of the Holy Ghost.—J. L.]

2. It is of doctrinal significance, that ἐκκλησία denotes as well the universal, as the individual or local, church. The distinction between congregation and church [Gemeinde und Kirche] does not exist in the New Testament usage. Not merely a philological exactness, but one of Luther’s genial instincts must be recognized in his having preserved this identity of expression, and everywhere in the New Testament translated ἐκκλησία by Gemeinde [congregation]. Spirit is, according to Oetinger’s word, where every part can again become a whole. The same is true also of the place of the Spirit’s manifestation, the Church. The Apostles, anxious as they were for the order of single churches (Act_14:23; Tit_1:5), made no arrangement before their departure for securing the external unity of the Church, which till then had rested in their persons. From this fact, which has not yet been sufficiently considered, we perceive two things: 1. That the Church can be one in the Spirit, even where there is a separation of outward communions; 2. that we should make moderate account of the Church as an institution. The New Testament has no word for churchly.13

3. “Nothing speaks more strongly for the Divinity of Christ than the practice, which pervades the whole style of Scripture, of joining Christ with God, and ascribing to Him strictly Divine operations.” Olshausen on Rom_1:7. There is everywhere in the New Testament, even in the Synoptical Gospels, a multitude of indirect evidences for the Divinity of Christ, modes of speech which can only on this supposition be understood in their full, natural sense. Christologies which recognize in the Redeemer merely the sinless, supernaturally begotten, eternally ordained central Man (Schleiermacher, Rothe, Schenkel), have in them important elements of truth, but do not ascend to the biblical height. In the inscriptions of the Pauline Epistles Father and Son are joined together as Θεὸς πατήρ, with and without ἡμῶν, and κύριος (again with and without ἡμῶν) Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Now it might be supposed, especially on account of the ἡμῶν common to both, that πατήρ and κύριος answer to one another, the former expression derived from the family, the latter from the state and kingdom; or the former from the filial relation, the latter from that of a servant (comp. Mal_1:6 and the frequent δοῦλος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). But both the verbal arrangement and the decisive passage 1Co_8:5-6 (comp. 1Co_12:5-6; Eph_4:5-6) show that the correspondence is rather between θεός and κύριος, πατήρ and Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. And this reminds us that the LXX put κύριος for יְהוָֹה (in conformity with the oral אֲדֹנָי[14]) and θεός for אֱלֹהִים (comp. also Joh_20:28 and 2Jn_1:3, where to κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός is still added, with a specific relation to the πατήρ, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός). Thus the appellation κύριος also becomes a witness for Christ’s Divinity, as Nitzsch has particularly pointed out. (Cfr. his article on the essential trinity of God, Studien und Kritiken, 1841, p. 322 sqq., and System der christl. Lehre, 5th ed., p. 145, 189.) The peculiarity of the designation of Christ as κύριος is, that therein the Divine essence (κύριος= יְהוָֹה) and the historical, official position and operation (κύριος κυριεύων, Rom_14:9, Lord and King of the kingdom of God, on which account ἡμῶν is easily subjoined) are combined in one. The latter signification evolves itself in the Gospels by various steps and deepening shades of meaning from the dialect of common life, where κύριος as applied to Jesus is scarcely any longer an ordinary word of courtesy, but, as in the sphere of revelation generally, every nomen again becomes omen, a reverential address to One whose essential superiority is recognized, as well as his possession of a miraculous power (Joh_4:11; Joh_4:15; Joh_4:19; Mat_8:2; Mat_8:6; Mat_8:8; Mat_8:21; Mat_8:25; Mat_17:4; Mat_20:30-31; Mat_22:43-45; Mat_25:37; Mat_25:44; Mat_27:10; Joh_6:68; Joh_9:36; Joh_9:38; Joh_13:6; Joh_13:13 sq.; Joh_20:13; Joh_20:28; Joh_21:7; comp. Act_2:36; Act_10:36), whereas on the other hand the deeper, Jehovistic-Messianic usage of the Apostles, especially of Paul, is found employed at the very beginning, among the links of connection with the Old Testament, by the angel Gabriel (Luk_1:16-17, and so accordingly Luk_1:43; Luk_1:76; comp. also Mat_7:21-22; Act_7:59; Act_9:13-14). In the Book of Acts the expressions ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ and ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου are used interchangeably (Act_4:31; Act_6:2; Act_6:7; Act_8:14; Act_17:13, &c.; Act_8:25; Act_13:48 sq.; Act_15:35 sq.; Act_19:10; Act_19:20). In this higher use of the word it is clearly implied, that Christ attained His central position as Lord and Head of the Church, of humanity, of the world, only by means of His Divinity. But certainly there is in it also an expression of the distinctive character of His Divinity, to wit, of subordination rightly understood—the Father being the Supreme God over all, and so also the God of Christ (Eph_1:17; Joh_20:17; Rev_3:12), but the Son God as manifested, mediating, standing on the pinnacle of the world (Eph_4:5-6; 1Co_12:5-6). God, Lord, Spirit, are the trinitarian expressions of Paul; Father, Son, Spirit, those of the Evangelists, of the Lord, and of John.—That God, the Most High, is our Father, who loves us, and to whom we should draw near with filial confidence, and that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Jehovah, who as Man draws near to us as Saviour—this truth meets the readers of Paul’s Epistles at the very outset, full of grace and peace.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Paul and his friends a model of Christian fellowship: 1. Generally of brethren with one another; 2. of teachers with one another (Paul and Silas, comp. Act_16:17); 3. of teachers and scholars (Paul and Timothy). The brotherly fellowship of teachers laboring in a church, as a main condition of blessed working: 1. The personal fellowship of spirit; 2. the fellowship of doctrine; 3. that of prayer and intercession (comp. 1Th_1:2 and 2Th_1:3; 2Th_1:11).—Christian brotherhood and Christian friend ship, their oneness and their difference, shown in the relation of Paul to his fellow-laborers and especially to Timothy.—Rieger: In the kingdom of Christ even the most highly-gifted person does not choose to be so alone, nor alone to perform everything, but gladly seizes occasion to support his own witness to the truth, and mode of acting therein, by the consent of others. In this way likewise a man can really well commend himself to the consciences of others, when they perceive in him a willingness to let others also stand beside him as his equals.

Believers should regard themselves as those who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Comp. Tersteegen’s: “All-pervading Air, wherein we ever move, of all things principle and life, &c.” [Comp. Act_17:28.—J. L.]—Roos: Civil societies have their ground in an external force and a temporary expediency; a Christian church has its everlasting ground in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is acknowledged and adored in common.—Diedrich: Nowadays in most countries one knows only of churches on a merely natural foundation.—The great joy, which the Apostle always proclaims to his readers at the beginning of his Epistles, that God is our Father and Jesus Christ our Divine Lord.

The two vital points [Herzpunkte] of Christianity: 1. In the heart of God, and from Him, grace; 2. in the heart of man, and from him in the church, peace.—Thomas Aquinas: χάρις principium omnis boni, εἰρήνη finale bonorum omnium.—Phil. Matth. Hahn: We have daily need of fresh emanations of grace and peace from the highest source. 1. The emanations of God’s grace are innumerable: forgiveness of sins; the witness of the Spirit, that we are the children of God; light and life-power from the word. 2. Every new effluence of grace gives also new peace within the heart, since in full assurance of the Holy Ghost we know that we have not to fear God’s wrath on account of our former sins, and that the impending day of wrath will not consume us (see on Col_1:2; Eph_1:2).

[Anselm, cited by Pelt and Afford: “Gratia et pax a Deo sit vobis, ut, qui humana gratia et sæculari pace privati estis, apud Deum gratiam et pacem habeatis.”—J. L.]

Footnotes:

[1][The English form, Timothy, occurs seven times in our Authorized Version.—J. L.]

[2][ἐκκλησία, German: Gemeinde, congregation. But see Dr. Schaff’s note 4 on Mat_16:18.—J. L.]

[3][The English supplement, which is, might better have been omitted.—J. L.]

[4][The repetition of the in is also superfluous.—J. L.]

[5][See the Auth. Vers. at 2Th_1:2; Rom_1:7; Phm_1:3. Koch: “By the omission of the verb the expression gains fn strength and emphasis.”—German, after Luther: sei mit euch.—J. L.]

[6]The words ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου ̓Ἰησαῦ Χριστοῦ are wanting in important manuscripts [B. F. G.], versions [Vulgate, Syriac, &c.], and all the [ancient] commentaries, and are therefore bracketed by Bengel and Lachmann, and cancelled by Tischendorf,* Pott, De Wette, Lünemann, and others [Alford, Ellicott, Amer. Bible Union], though defended by Schott, Olshausen, Koch, Reiche, and others. It is an obvious conjecture, that the words were brought here from the opening of the other Pauline Epistles, and in favor of this view is the brevity by which the inscription of this earliest of the Epistles is on the whole distinguished. In the precisely similar opening of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians the words in question are also found, and are there undoubtedly genuine. We let them stand here likewise [in brackets], in accordance with the principle which we intend to follow also in other cases, that for homiletic treatment a various reading only then comes to be of decisive importance, when the authorities are so weighty that a universal, or at least nearly universal, agreement prevails among the critics in regard to it. [In this case, moreover, the common reading is sustained by the Codex Sinaiticus,† A. D. E., and other uncials.—J. L.]

[7][According to Luther’s more exact rendering of Php_2:22.—J. L.]

[8][Ellicott: “as being probably the older man, and certainly the older associate of St. Paul.” Alford urges rather the personal and official eminence of Silas.—J. L.]

[9][By no means. Paul is the Bole author, and would be understood see 1Th_2:18; 1Th_3:1-2; 1Th_3:5-6; 2Th_2:5; 2Th_3:17. Comp. 1 Cor., Phil., and Philem., in each of which Epistles the Apostle associates a companion with himself in the salutation, and then immediately proceeds throughout in the first person singular. Comp, also the Epistle to the Galatians, where it can scarcely be supposed that the writer meant to ascribe joint authorship to “an the brethren” of 1Th_1:2.—J. L.]

[10][After citing various explanations of the special mention of “the bishops and deacons” in Php_1:1, Eadie adds: “The opinion of Wiesinger is at least as probable, that the real reason is to be found in the circumstances of the church, and that there was a tendency to undue assumption on the part of some individuals, which needed such an effective check as was implied in the special acknowledgment of those who bore office in it.”—J. L.]

[11][Ellicott: “The variation is slightly noticeable; it does not however seem to point to gradually altered views with regard to the attributes of the church (Jowett), but merely to the present comparative paucity of numbers (compare Chrysost.), and their aggregation in a single assembly.” And the same considerations may perhaps account for the fact that only in these two earliest Epistles does Paul address the church as composed of persons belonging to the city, and not as established in the city itself. Comp. Col_4:16.—J. L.]

[12][Hodge: “Not one and the same person, but one and the same Being, in the Same sense in which our Lord says: ‘I and the Father are one.’ It is an identity of essence and of power.”—J. L.]

[13][German: dass man von der Kirche als Institution mässiglich halten soll. Das Neue Testament hat kein Wort für kirchlich. Nor has the N. T. any word for evangelical, trinitarian, &c.; The logic of this second inference, from which I beg leave to express my dissent, is quite as feeble, as its spirit would seem to be at variance with that of the N. T. throughout. It is surely of the Church as an institution that Christ speaks in Mat_16:18; Mat_18:17; and Paul, for example, in Eph_4:4-13; 1Ti_3:15; &c. Nor is there any good reason why we should shrink from acknowledging, that whatever plausibility there may be in this sort of indifferentism, which is indeed common enough, in regard to the outward constitution of the Church, is derived, not at all from the N. T., but from the historical, and, alas, still seemingly helpless, confusions of Christendom.—J. L.]

[14][Substituted by the Jews in the reading of the Scriptures for רְהוָֹה.—J. L.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Analysis and Annotations

THE CHURCH OF THE THESSALONIANS

AND ITS BLESSED CONDITION

CHAPTER 1

1. Greetings and thanksgiving 1Th 1:1-4)

2. The gospel and its blessed fruits 1Th 1:5-7)

3. The blessed condition of the Church 1Th 1:8-10)

1Th 1:1-4

Paul, Silvanus and Timotheus were known to the Thessalonians, for they had been with them, and were the instruments of God used in bringing the gospel to them. He does not speak of himself as an apostle. In nine of his Epistles, Paul uses his title as apostle. In Romans and Titus, he calls himself also “a servant of Jesus Christ and of God.” In Philippians, he speaks of himself and of Timothy as “servants of Christ Jesus.” In the Epistle to Philemon, he also omits his apostleship, because this Epistle was a private letter. He asserts his apostolic title and authority in the strongest way, when he addresses the Galatians and the Corinthians, because these churches were troubled with false teachers who impeached his apostolic calling. As this trouble did not exist in Thessalonica, he does not call to their remembrance that he is an apostle. He did not parade his title, and only mentions it when the truth he preached and which he had received from the Lord was questioned.

He addressed the church in Thessalonica as “the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The church in Thessalonica is the only one addressed in this manner. The church is looked upon as the family of God, as the children of God, and God their Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. They were the happy children of God and in simplicity of faith knew Him as their Father. What a transformation had taken place in these Thessalonians! They were idolators, worshipping idols; through believing the gospel, they were born again and now enjoyed the blessed relationship to God as Father. There is no other way into the family of God than the way by which these heathen had been brought there. We are sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 3:26). And John, in addressing the family of God wrote “I write unto you, little children (those born again), because ye have known the Father” (1Jn 2:13). The apostle, who had declared the gospel unto them, thanked God always for them, and with his fellow laborers made mention of them in prayer. The life which they possessed manifested itself in faith, love and hope. These are the principles which form our character as Christians. Theirs was a work of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and the Father, labor undertaken by love; all their labor in service flowed from love, and they endured because they possessed hope, waiting for Him. The objects of faith, love and hope are the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.

1Th 1:5-7

The apostle mentions next the gospel and what it had wrought among them. “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.” Paul, Silvanus and Timothy had preached to them the good news of a free and full salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel message came to them in power. He made the word effective in their souls and quickened them so that the great change took place by which they passed from death unto life; thus believing, the Holy Spirit was received by them, giving them full assurance. Here we have the divine order of salvation; the message of the gospel heard and believed; the Spirit of God manifesting His power in the conversion and the sealing of those who believed, and the consequence: the full assurance of the truth in all its blessed power and reality. But the gospel was not only preached by these messengers among the Thessalonians; the chosen instruments also witnessed to that gospel by their life and walk--”As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes.” They were living and blessed witnesses of the power of the gospel which they proclaimed. Their holy walk, their self-denial, their peace and quietness had its blessed effect on the Thessalonian believers, for they became imitators of the apostles. Inasmuch as the messengers followed closely the Lord Jesus Christ, the Thessalonians, being imitators of them, became thus imitators of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. And then in turn they became patterns to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia. In these simple statements, we have a blessed manifestation of the real power of the gospel.

1Th 1:8-10

There was no need for Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to say anything about these Thessalonian Christians. It was not necessary to speak to others of what God had wrought in Thessalonica or to declare the genuineness of these new converts. The Thessalonian believers gave such a strong and full testimony that it was wholly unnecessary for the laborers to say anything about them. The word of the Lord was sounded forth by them with no uncertain sound. They were true lights in the world-darkness and were holding forth the word of life. Their faith toward God became widely known in every place. Throughout that region it became known through their witness of what the gospel is and what the gospel produces in the hearts and lives of those who believe.

And what was their testimony? It is stated in the last two verses of this chapter. “For they, themselves, report concerning us what manner of entrance we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from among the dead, Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.” In these words we have the great essentials of true Christianity. The first is true conversion. They had turned to God from idols, not, as it is sometimes quoted, from idols to God; the power of God, in believing the gospel had turned them away from idolatry. They were now serving no longer dumb idols, but the true and living God. In this service they manifested the genuineness of their conversion. And there was another prominent characteristic: they waited for His Son from heaven, Jesus, whom God had raised from among the dead. They looked earnestly for Him, in whom they had believed, who had died for them and of whom they knew He had been raised from among the dead, being now, at the right hand of God. According to His own promise to come again, they were patiently waiting for His coming from heaven, though they were ignorant of the manner of His coming. How He will come again, and what is connected with this great event, they learned fully from the two Epistles they received from the inspired pen of the apostle. To wait for the coming of the Lord is a vital characteristic of true Christianity; it is a part of the gospel. A sad testimony it is to the superficial knowledge of the gospel when men say and teach that the belief in the second coming of Christ is unessential and of no practical value. It is most essential and of the greatest value to the true believer. It presents the gloryside of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He who died for our sins, who is the glorified Man, the firstborn among many brethren, has promised to have all His own with Him to be like Him and to share His glory. This is the true object of the believer’s expectation and hope. He has delivered us from the wrath to come. Therefore the Thessalonians, and all true believers as well, can wait without fear for that blessed event, for they know they are sheltered by Him from the wrath to come. Before this wrath comes He will take His own into His presence. He is our deliverer from the wrath to come.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th 1:1

I. Thessalonica was a populous and wealthy city of Macedonia. As an important seaport it was the meeting place of Greek and Roman merchandise, and consequently the centre of widespread and commanding influence. Paul had twice attempted to revisit his Thessalonian friends, but he had failed. He had been prevented from personally seeing them. He therefore sent Timothy to make inquiries and report as to their general condition. Timothy brought back a favourable report of their Christian progress and steadfastness, and of their strong, ardent attachment to Paul. On receipt of these welcome tidings, the Apostle now writes them in words which reveal the thankfulness and the yearning love of his heart. But as there were certain unfavourable features in the report—neglect of daily duty because of erroneous views about the second coming: ignorant anxiety lest friends who had died should have no share in the gladness and glory of that advent, wrong views about spiritual gifts as in the Church at Corinth; danger of falling back into the mire of heathen profligacy; proneness to faint in view of the persecutions at the hand of their countrymen. The Apostle has also to use words of reproof, correction, and encouragement. These, intertwined with many reminiscences of his personal intercourse with them, are the sum and substance of an Epistle fraught with many similar counsels to us, "upon whom the ends of the world are come."

II. Paul’s associating others with himself as he does in the text is a striking instance of the humility and tenderness of his heart. It is also a lesson of the fellowship of brethren one with another, of the brotherly kindness of one teacher towards another, and, last of all, of a teacher’s familiar relation towards his scholar, his son in the faith.

The Church of the Thessalonians is described as being in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the distinctive characteristic mark of a true church. There were heathen assemblies in the city, numerous and powerful. But the only true church was the Christian community. It had its hidden spiritual life with Christ in God.

J. Hutchison, Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 1.

1Th 1:1-3

I. Here we have the apostolic greeting in its most usual form—grace and peace—a blending of the ordinary Greek and Hebrew modes of salutation, "the union of Asiatic repose and European alacrity," which by apostolic use has become invested with a significance infinitely higher than that which was implied in the ordinary civilities of social life. These formulae of friendly intercourse familiar to the ancient world were like some precious antique vase, prized for their beauty more than for their use. They had become empty of significance, or, at all events, entirely empty of blessing. But now they are lifted up into a higher service, consecrated to the noblest purpose,—henceforth brimful of holiest meaning—filled with the very water of life.

II. But this grace and peace is from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes from God the Father as the Primal Source of all good, and it comes from Christ Jesus as the Mediating Source. Peace is the sign and seal of Christ’s kingdom. Its subjects call God Father, because they have first called Christ Jesus Lord.

III. The apostolic thanksgiving suggests an example which it must be ours to imitate. Constant giving of thanks to God, that is a priestly function which every believer must discharge; that offering must be laid on the altar of every renewed heart. Not at times only are we to thank God on behalf both of ourselves and others, but evermore. One of the old Puritans has said: "Grace (i.e., gratitude) is like a ring without end, and the diamond of this ring is constancy."

And as far the apostolic graces, faith and love and hope, have their several manifestations in work, toil, and patience, these suggest to us our duty and our dignity, till at length patience has her perfect work.

J. Hutchison, Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 13.

References: 1Th 1:3.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 115; Homilist, 4th series, vol. i., p. 46. 1Th 1:4.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 199.

1Th 1:4-6

I. The Apostle shows in these verses on what grounds his knowledge rested—his conviction of the Thessalonians’ election—the fact and mode of their being chosen for privilege and duty. He was fully persuaded of it, both on subjective and on objective grounds. The power and assurance with which he and his fellow-labourers preached in Thessalonica, on the one hand, and the eagerness and joyfulness with which the inhabitants of the city listened, on the other, these were to him evidences of divine grace working both in speaker and hearers, proofs of God’s having marked them out above others for His favour and service. The presence and energy of the Holy Spirit were recognised by him. Such was his sacred enthusiasm, that he felt his own words to be far more than the mere utterance of one earnest human spirit struggling to impress others; to be indeed nothing less than the urgent words of the Spirit Himself, the Spirit of all truth, witnessing through him, in behalf of Christ and His salvation.

II. The other evidence adduced for Paul’s knowledge of the election of the Thessalonian Church is their selection for privilege and duty. The first was subjective, the freedom, and fulness, and power in the Holy Ghost with which he felt he had preached to them. The other is objective, the eager, joyful readiness with which they had received his preaching. Their having been chosen of God is shown by their having themselves chosen God’s Gospel as offered to them. "Much suffering," indeed, in itself proves nothing in regard to Christian character and attainment. But much suffering with joy in the Holy Ghost does. The believer knows that the via dolorosa which he has to tread is a path of true joy when he recognises his Saviour’s steps in it. Melanchthon used to write in his students’ note-books "Kreutzesweg Lichtweg—the path of the cross the path of light"; and it was a favourite saying of Luther’s, "If Christ wore a crown of thorns, why should His followers experience only a crown of roses?" The stream of Christian life has two currents, distinct yet united, of tribulation and joy, ever wending its course, troubled and calm to the ocean of eternity beyond.

J. Hutchison, Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 25.

References: 1Th 1:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 648; E. White, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 344; Homilist, 2nd series, vol. vii., p. 102.

1Th 1:7-10

I. The Thessalonian converts, having received the Gospel so heartily and held it so firmly, and having shown the influence which it exerted over their hearts and lives by their joy in the Holy Ghost, became ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia. Collectively, for the word is in the singular, they became a pattern to others. Thessalonica was, as far as its Christian inhabitants were concerned, "a city set on an hill." A noble dignity, a sacred duty, a constant danger, all this is implied in such a coveted post of honour.

II. From some form or other of manifold idolatry every new man in Christ Jesus turns to God as the one blissful centre of his renewed life. Hence the Apostle proceeds to define the purpose of this conversion, or turning to God. It is twofold. It is (1) to serve the living and true God, and (2) to wait for his Son from heaven. The one clause distinguishes the Thessalonian Church from the heathen; the other from the Jews. But they do more. They represent the universal Christian life in its two most common aspects—service and expectation. It is a life of ceaseless action because it is also a life of patient waiting. It is a life of much affliction in the service of God, because it is also a life of joy in the Holy Ghost, joyful looking forward to the coming of the Son of God from heaven, bringing His reward with Him. It is this hope which, on the one hand, gives strength for service and perseverance in it, and it is the faithful engaging in this service which, on the other hand, justifies and consecrates this hope. Service without its accompanying hope would merge into dry and formal routine. Hope without its service, its ministry, and love, would pass into indolent sentiment, or into restless, hysterical excitement. While the faithful at Thessalonica did not in any way lose sight of the Saviour’s incarnation, and death, and resurrection, the "much affliction" of their present lot led them to live much in the future, to long and look for His coming again as the "just and gentle Monarch, to terminate the evil and diadem the right."

J. Hutchison, Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 38.

References: 1Th 1:8.—J. Owen, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 273. 1Th 1:9, 1Th 1:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx. No. 1806.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Division 1. (1Th 1:1-10.)

The Word in power introducing to the true and living God, the Father, and putting under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As this epistle is the first of those written by the apostle, at least of those in the wisdom of God come down to us, so it is in regard to doctrine the simplest. There is, in fact, little formal statement of doctrine at all. Though these underlie the whole, there is no mention of eternal life, of new birth, nor even of relationship of children to the Father. There is no difficulty in finding all this in it, but it must be by the aid of other scriptures.

1. Paul joins with himself, after his manner, those who had labored with him in the work among those he is addressing. He addresses the Thessalonians, as has been before remarked, in a different way from any other assembly. He does not speak of them as the assembly of God in Thessalonica, but as the assembly of Thessalonians, rather a company, one may say, than a body; and "in God the Father," a company of children who have received life from Him. Thus to the Athenians the apostle had declared that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being;" and adds in quotation from one of their own poets, "For we are also His offspring." There is certainly a great difference between what the apostle states as true of all men, and what he here clearly ascribes to a Christian assembly as such. For however Paul might make use of man’s place in creation to rebuke the folly and degradation of idolatry, he certainly would be one of the last to forget or ignore the fact that sin had come in and caused him to forfeit his natural right to claim this place so that when the Jews would have done so with the Lord, He answered, "If God were your Father, ye would love Me." But these very words show that for the Thessalonians this original right had been recovered.

Yet we must make no mistake. The original place is but the feeble image of what is now the Christian’s. The salvation of God has not simply set us back where we were before. Had it been our own work, that might indeed have been all that could be thought of; but it is the work of Christ, with all the value of His Person, His sufferings and death attaching to it. As the fruit of this, a new creation starts into being, and Christ as the last Adam has all things put into His hands, to renew after another and more glorious fashion all the promise of the first Paradise in the "paradise of God."

Thus appended to "in God the Father" we have here "in the Lord Jesus Christ;" for this is how a way into the family of God has been regained for us, -we are "alive unto God in Christ Jesus." As we were in Adam by virtue of the life received from him, so are we in the new Adam by a life we have received; only a life so much higher, as Christ is higher than our first father, and we are born of the Spirit, so as to be partakers of the divine nature, Christ becoming the "First-born among many brethren."

This prepares the way for what the apostle goes on with satisfaction of heart to dwell upon, the result in these Thessalonians of the new life they have received. The faith and love and hope manifested in them were its evidence; for which he continually thanked God. These things were not merely a profession, but living realities. Their work was a work of faith: its motives were in the unseen, in heaven where God dwelt, not unknown, but known in Christ, all being in the light of that light. Nor was it a cold illumination: love found here its objects, and made this work an energetic "labor." Hope yet was needed; for love itself would cease to labor, if once it were clear that there could be no result; and with the Thessalonians hope gave persistence to their labor of love. All was recognized and accepted with that Divine Father, before whom they acted (Mat 6:1; Mat 6:6; Mat 6:18); and the apostle realized in it their election in the love of Him who is love. Their life thus bore witness for them, but of a grace through which they had received life. All was of God, who of His own good pleasure had begotten them to Himself.

2. The apostle recalls to their minds bow these things had been wrought in them. It was the gospel which had been the fruitful seed of this bountiful harvest, -a seed having life in it: a gospel, or "good news," the testimony to His love from whom it came, winning the heart that believed the message; for "we love Him who first loved us," says the apostle (1Jn 4:19). Man has turned his back on God, having lent his ear to the devil; and the voice of recall must be a gospel that shall undo the work of Satan, while at the same time it reveals man to himself, and so humbles him in repentance before God. The Cross does both things. If it was the Son of God who hung there, for what did He hang? Was there no need for it? Nay, "the Son of man

must be lifted up." This is at once the remedy provided for man, and his conviction as one needing such a remedy. And who, one might ask, can resist the tender appeal of such an argument? If the Son of God is to endure the penalty, can it be more than absolute righteousness requires? Can it be a harsh estimate on the part of Him who gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins? Thus expiation and reconciliation are found together in the Cross: God is not against, but for us, in an infinite love, the only measure of which is an infinite sacrifice. Shall we not henceforth listen believingly, obediently, to Him whose whole heart has been told out in a way no human heart could have conceived, and which now surpasses human power to comprehend it as it is?

Yet even the gospel cannot work its way with man by all its competence to meet his spiritual need, nor by its display of divine goodness: "Our gospel," says the apostle, "came not unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance." Power there is not to change men’s hearts apart from the work of the Spirit of God; but thus also is the divine work, spite of the inherent weakness of him who might be the subject of it, stable through all trial, and above all adverse influences. Father, Son, and Spirit are all, indeed, thus united to effect the salvation of the poor and sinful sons of men, though only faith may be able to realize, under the veil of the natural, the Presence of Him to whom all nature is obedient.

In making known His gospel God is pleased to use, not the tongues of angels, but those of men, recipients themselves of the same grace; who can give testimony with their lives as with their lips. Upon this the apostle lays great emphasis: "even as ye know what sort of persons we were among you for your sakes." This had had its part in making the Thessalonians what they were: "and ye became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." Thus the work makes known the workman; while it is just as true that the more the workman is with God, the less of himself there will be in it. "Ye are our epistle," says the apostle to the Corinthians, "forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us; written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on fleshy tables of the heart" (2Co 3:2-3). And this is what makes the "imitation" of such workmen to be safe and right; for there is this qualification always in it, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ;" as here -"imitators of us and of the Lord." How good to be able to have a well-grounded confidence that these two things are one! The effect is manifest: "read and known of all men," is said of the Corinthians; and here the report went all abroad of these who had turned to God from idols, -to serve the living and true God. But beyond this, such was the freshness among these Thessalonians that they "became patterns to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia."

3. Thus the word of the Lord is published all around; the new life emphasizes the new doctrine from which it proceeded. "Blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation," they shone as "lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." The life and the word of life give fittingly their evidence together, and not otherwise; though Christ is the "Faithful Witness" when His people fail. The Thessalonians did not fail, but spoke out in such a way that those who had labored among them had no need to say anything with regard to their work. That which they were saying was sufficiently surprising: not only that there was one living and true God, in contrast with the idol-nothings of heathenism, and true service loyally given to Him, but that also the Son of God was coming in the clouds of heaven to inflict judgment for the sins of men. For Him they waited, but not in fear, though they themselves were sinners. On the contrary, they looked for Him with joy and thankfulness, as One who had come on earth to deliver them from the wrath to come, which all must meet who have not taken refuge in Him. Redemption, salvation became in this way the key-words of a new song, which those who knew it could sing in the midst of whatever difficulties, and in the face of whatever enemies.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 1

THE CHURCH OF THE THESSALONIANS

1Th_1:1 (R.V.)

THESSALONICA, now called Saloniki, was in the first century of our era a large and flourishing city. It was situated at the northeastern corner of the Thermaic gulf, on the line of the great Egnatian road, which formed the main connection by land between Italy and the East. It was an important commercial centre, with a mixed population of Greeks, Romans, and Jews. The Jews, who at the present day amount to some twenty thousand, were numerous enough to have a synagogue of their own; and we can infer from the Book of Acts {Act_17:4} that it was frequented by many of the better spirits among the Gentiles also. Unconsciously, and as the event too often proved, unwillingly, the Dispersion was preparing the way of the Lord.

To this city the Apostle Paul came, attended by Silas and Timothy, in the course of his second missionary journey. He had just left Philippi, dearest to his heart of all his churches; for there, more than anywhere else, the sufferings of Christ had abounded in him, and his consolations also had been abundant in Christ. He came to Thessalonica with the marks of the lictors rods upon his body; but to him they were the marks of Jesus; not warnings to change his path, but tokens that the Lord was taking him into fellowship with Himself, and binding him more strictly to His service. He came with the memory of his converts kindness warm upon his heart; conscious that, amid whatever disappointments, a welcome awaited the gospel, which admitted its messenger into the joy of his Lord. We need not wonder, then, that the Apostle kept to his custom, and in spite of the malignity of the Jews, made his way, when Sabbath came, to the synagogue of Thessalonica.

His evangelistic ministry is very briefly described by St. Luke. For three Sabbath days he addressed himself to his fellow countrymen. He took the Scriptures into his hand, -that is, of course, the Old Testament Scriptures, -and opening the mysterious casket, as the picturesque words in Acts describe his method, he brought out and set before his auditors, as its inmost and essential secret, the wonderful idea that the Christ whom they all expected, the Messiah of God, must die and rise again from the dead. That was not what ordinary Jewish readers found in the law, the prophets, or the psalms; but, once persuaded that this interpretation was true, it was not difficult to believe that the Jesus whom Paul preached was the Christ for whom they all hoped. Luke tells us that some were persuaded; but they cannot have been many: his account agrees with the representation of the Epistle {1Th_1:9} that the church at Thessalonica was mainly Gentile. Of the "chief women not a few," who were among the first converts, we know nothing; the exhortations in both Epistles make it plain that what Paul left at Thessalonica was what we should call a working class congregation. The jealousy of the Jews, who resorted to the device which had already proved successful at Philippi, compelled Paul and his friends to leave the city prematurely. The mission, indeed, had probably lasted longer than most readers infer from Act_17:1-34. Paul had had time to make his character and conduct impressive to the church, and to deal with each one of them as a father with his own children; {1Th_2:11} he had wrought night and day with his own hands for a livelihood; {2Th_3:8} he had twice received help from the Philippians. {Php_4:15-16} But although this implies a stay of some duration, much remained to be done; and the natural anxiety of the Apostle, as he thought of his inexperienced disciples, was intensified by the reflection that he had left them exposed to the malignity of his and their enemies. What means that malignity employed-what violence and what calumny-the Epistle itself enables us to see; meantime, it is sufficient to say that the pressure of these things upon the Apostles spirit was the occasion of his writing this letter. He had tried in vain to get back to Thessalonica; he had condemned himself to solitude in a strange city that he might send Timothy to them; he must hear whether they stand fast in their Christian calling. On his return from this mission Timothy joined Paul in Corinth with a report, cheering on the whole, yet not without its graver side, concerning the Thessalonian believers: and the first Epistle is the apostolic message in these circumstances. It is, in all probability, the earliest of the New Testament writings; it is certainly the earliest extant of Pauls; if we except the decree in Act_15:1-41, it is the earliest piece of Christian writing in existence.

The names mentioned in the address are all well known-Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. The three are united in the greeting, and are sometimes, apparently, included in the "we" or "us" of the Epistle; but they are not joint authors of it. It is the Epistle of Paul, who includes them in the salutation out of courtesy, as in the First to the Corinthians he includes Sosthenes, and in Galatians "all the brethren that are with me"; a courtesy the more binding on this occasion that Silas and Timothy had shared with him his missionary work in Thessalonica. In First and Second Thessalonians only, of all his letters, the Apostle adds nothing to his name to indicate the character in which he writes; he neither calls himself an apostle, nor a servant of Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians knew him simply for what he was; his apostolic dignity was yet unassailed by false brethren; the simple name was enough. Silas comes before Timothy as an older man, and a fellow labourer of longer standing. In the Book of Acts he is described as a prophet, and as one of the chief men among the brethren; he had been associated with Paul all through this journey; and though we know very little of him, the fact that he was chosen one of the bearers of the apostolic decree, and that he afterwards attached himself to Paul, justifies the inference that he heartily sympathised with the evangelising of the heathen. Timothy was apparently one of Pauls own converts. Carefully instructed in childhood by a pious mother and grandmother, he had been won to the faith of Christ during the first tour of the Apostle in Asia Minor. He was naturally timid, but kept the faith in spite of the persecutions which then awaited it; and when Paul returned, he found that the steadfastness and other graces of his spiritual son had won an honourable name in the local churches. He determined to take him with him, apparently in the character of an evangelist; but before he was ordained by the presbyters, Paul circumcised him, remembering his Jewish descent on the mothers side, and desirous of facilitating his access to the synagogue, in which the work of gospel preaching usually began. Of all the Apostles assistants he was the most faithful and affectionate. He had the true pastoral spirit, devoid of selfishness, and caring naturally and unfeignedly for the souls of Php_2:20 f. Such were the three who sent their Christian greetings in this Epistle. The greetings are addressed "to the church of (the) Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." No such address had ever been written or read before, for the community to which it was directed was a new thing in the world. The word translated "church" was certainly familiar enough to all who knew Greek: it was the name given to the citizens of a Greek town assembled for public business; it is the name given in the Greek Bible either to the children of Israel as the congregation of Jehovah, or to any gathering of them for a special purpose; but here it obtains a new significance. The church of the Thessalonians is a church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the common relation of its members to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ which constitutes them a church in the sense of the Apostle: in contradistinction from all other associations or societies, they form a Christian community.

The Jews who met from Sabbath to Sabbath in the synagogue were a church; they were one in the acknowledgment of the Living God, and in their observance of His law; God, as revealed in the Old Testament and in the polity of Israel, was the element or atmosphere of their spiritual life. The citizens of Thessalonica, who met in the theatre to discuss their political interests, were a "church"; they were one in recognising the same constitution and the same ends of civic life; it was in that constitution, in the pursuit of those ends, that they found the atmosphere in which they lived. Paul in this Epistle greets a community distinct from either of these. It is not civic, but religious; though religious, it is neither pagan nor Jewish; it is an original creation, new in its bond of union, in the law by which it lives, in the objects at which it aims; a church in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This newness and originality of Christianity could not fail to impress those who first received it. The gospel made an immeasurable difference to them, a difference almost equally great whether they had been Jews or heathen before; and they were intensely conscious of the gulf which separated their new life from the old. In another epistle Paul describes the condition of Gentiles not yet evangelised, "Once," he says, "you were apart from. Christ, without God, in the world." The world-the great system of things and interests separated from God-was the sphere and element of their life. The gospel found them there, and translated them. When they received it, they ceased to be in the world; they were no longer apart from Christ, and without God: they were in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing could be more revolutionary in those days than to become a Christian: old things passed away; all things became new; all things were determined by the new relation to God and His Son. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian was as unmistakable and as clear to the Christian mind as the difference between the shipwrecked sailor who has reached the shore and him who is still fighting a hopeless fight with wind and waves. In a country which has long been Christian, that difference tends, to sense at least, and to imagination, to disappear. We are not vividly impressed with the distinction between those who claim to be Christians and those who do not; we do not see a radical unlikeness, and we are sometimes disposed to deny it. We may even feel that we are bound to deny it, were it only in justice to God. He has made all men for Himself; He is the Father of all; He is near to all, even when they are blind to Him; the pressure of His hand is felt and in a measure responded to by all, even when they do not recognise it; to say that any one is αθεος, or χωρις χριστου, or that he is not in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, seems really to deny both God and man.

Yet what is at issue here is really a question of fact; and among those who have been in contact with the facts, among those, above all, who have had experience of the critical fact-who once were not Christians and now are - there will not be two opinions about it. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian, though historical accidents have made it less visible, or rather, less conspicuous than it once was, is still as real and as vast as, ever. The higher nature of man, intellectual and spiritual, must always have an element in which it lives, an atmosphere surrounding if, principles to guide it, ends to stimulate its action; and it may find all these in either of two places. It may find them in the world-that is, in that sphere of things from which God, so far as mans will and intent goes, is excluded; or it may find them in God Himself and in His Son. It is no objection to this division to say that God cannot be excluded from His own world, that He is always at work there whether acknowledged or not; for the acknowledgment is the essential point; without it, though God is near to man, man is still far from God. Nothing could be a more hopeless symptom in character than the benevolent is this truth; it takes away every motive to evangelise the non-Christian, or to work out the originality and the Christian life itself. Now, as in the apostolic age, there are persons who are Christians and persons who are not; and, however alike their lives may be on the surface, they are radically apart. Their centre is different; the element in which they move is different; the nutriment of thought, the fountain of motives, the standard of purity are different; they are related to each other as life in God, and life without God; life in Christ, and life apart from Christ; and in proportion to their sincerity is their mutual antagonism.

In Thessalonica the Christian life was original enough to have formed a new society. In those days, and in the Roman Empire, there was not much room for the social instincts to expand. Unions of all kinds were suspected by the governments, and discouraged, as probable centres of political disaffection. Local self-government ceased to be interesting when all important interests were withdrawn from its control; and even had it been otherwise, there was no part in it possible for that great mass of population from which the Church was so largely recruited, namely, the slaves. Any power that could bring men together, that could touch them deeply, and give them a common interest that engaged their hearts and bound them to each other, met the greatest want of the time, and was sure of a welcome.

Such a power was the gospel preached by Paul. It formed little communities of men and women wherever it was proclaimed; communities in which there was no law but that of love, in which heart opened to heart as nowhere else in all the world, in which there were fervour and hope and freedom and brotherly kindness, and all that makes life good and dear. We feel this very strongly in reading the New Testament, and it is one of the points on which, unhappily, we have drifted away from the primitive model. The Christian congregation is not now, in point of fact, the type of a sociable community. Too often it is oppressed with constraint and formality. Take any particular member of any particular congregation; and his social circle, the company of friends in which he expands most freely and happily, will possibly have no connection with those he sits beside in the church. The power of the faith to bring men into real unity with each other is not lessened; we see this wherever the gospel breaks ground in a heathen country, or wherever the frigidity of the church drives two or three fervent souls to form a secret society of their own; but the temperature of faith itself is lowered; we are not really living, with any intensity of life, in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we were, we would be drawn closer to each other; our hearts would touch and overflow; the place where we meet in the name of Jesus would be the most radiant and sociable place we know.

Nothing could better illustrate the reality of that new character which Christianity confers than the fact that men can be addressed as Christians. Nothing, either, could better illustrate the confusion of mind that exists in this matter, or the insincerity of much profession, than the fact that so many members of churches would hesitate before taking the liberty so to address a brother. We have all written letters, and on all sorts of occasions; we have addressed men as lawyers, or doctors, or men of business; we have sent or accepted invitations to gatherings where nothing would have astonished us more than the unaffected naming of the name of God; did we ever write to anybody because he was a Christian, and because we were Christians? Of all the relations in which we stand to others, is that which is established by "our common Christianity," by our common life in Jesus Christ, the only one which is so crazy and precarious that it can never be really used for anything? Here we see the Apostle look back from Corinth to Thessalonica, and his one interest in the poor people whom he remembers so affectionately is that they are Christians. The one thing in which he wishes to help them is their Christian life. He does not care much whether they are well or ill off in respect of this worlds goods; but he is anxious to supply what is lacking in their faith. {1Th_3:10}

How real a thing the Christian life was to him! what a substantial interest, whether in himself or in others, engrossing all his thought, absorbing all his love and devotion. To many of us it is the one topic for silence; to him it was the one theme of thought and speech. He wrote about it, as he spoke about it, as though there were no other interest for man; and letters like those of Thomas Erskine show that still, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. The full soul overflows, unaffected, unforced; Christian fellowship, as soon as Christian life is real, is restored to its true place.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy wish the church of the Thessalonians grace and peace. This is the greeting in all the Apostles letters; it is not varied except by the addition of "mercy" in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus. In form it seems to combine the salutations current among the Greeks and the Jews (χαιρειν and μωολς), but in import it has all the originality the Christian faith. In the second Epistle it runs, "Grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace is the love of God, spontaneous, beautiful, unearned, at work in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinful men; peace is the effect and fruit in man of the reception of grace. It is easy to narrow unduly the significance of peace; those expositors do so who suppose in this passage a reference to the persecution which the Thessalonian Christians had to bear, and understand the Apostle to wish them deliverance from it. The Apostle has something far more comprehensive in his mind. The peace, which Christ is; the peace with God which we have when we are reconciled to Him by the death of His Son; the soul health which comes when grace makes our hearts to their very depths right with God, and frightens away care and fear; this "perfect soundness" spiritually is all summed up in the word. It carries in it the fulness of the blessing of Christ. The order of the words is significant; there is no peace without grace; and there is no grace apart from fellowship with God in Christ. The history of the Church has been written by some who practically put Paul in Christs place; and by others who imagine that the doctrine of the person of Christ only attained by slow degrees, and in the post-apostolic age, its traditional importance; but here, in the oldest extant monument of the Christian faith, and in the very first line of it, the Church is defined as existing in the Lord Jesus Christ; and in that single expression, in which the Son stands side by side with the Father, as the life of all believing souls, we have the final refutation of such perverse thoughts. By the grace of God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, the Christian is what he is; he lives and moves and has his being there; apart from Christ, he is not. Here, then, is our hope. Conscious of our own sins, and of the shortcomings of the Christian community of which we are members, let us have recourse to Him whose grace is sufficient for us. Let us abide in Christ, and in all things grow up into Him. God alone is good; Christ alone is the Pattern and the Inspiration of the Christian character; only in the Father and the Son can the new life and the new fellowship come to their perfection.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

1:1 Ancient letters began with the name of the author, the name of the recipients, and a salutation. • Paul, Silas, and Timothy were the founders of this church (Acts 17:1-9). • The greeting grace and peace summarizes the believer’s experience of the Good News.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Th 1:1. Παῦλος, Paul) Paul, in this epistle, which was the first of all that he wrote, uses neither the title of an apostle, nor any other, because he writes most familiarly to the godly Thessalonians, who did not require a preface regarding his apostolic authority, ch. 1Th 2:6.

The divisions of the epistle are as follows:—

I. The Inscription, 1Th 1:1

II. In the course of the discussion, he celebrates (makes honourable mention of) the grace of God towards the Thessalonians, 1Th 1:2, et seqq.; adding a notice of the sincerity of himself and his colleagues, 1Th 2:1; and of the obedience of the Thessalonians, 1Th 2:13-14

III. He then declares

1. His desire, 1Th 2:17

2. His solicitude, 1Th 3:1

3. His joy, with his prayer, 1Thes 6, 7, 10, 11

IV. He exhorts them to progress,

1. In holiness, 1Th 4:1-2

2. In brotherly love, combined with prudence, 1Th 4:9-12

V. He teaches and exhorts them,

1. Concerning them that are asleep, 1Th 4:13-14

2. Concerning the times, 1Th 5:1-2

VI. He adds miscellaneous exhortations, 1Th 5:12-13

1Th 5:14-15; with prayer and consolation, 1Th 5:23-24

VII. Conclusion, 1Th 5:25-28

There is a kind of unmingled sweetness in this epistle, which, by a reader not accustomed to the expression of sweet affections, is less relished than the others, that act upon the palate with a certain degree of harshness. The expectation of the coming of Christ among the Thessalonians was unclouded. So exalted was their condition, and so clear of impediments and encumbrances (unencumbered) was the state of Christianity among them, that they were able hourly to look for the Lord Jesus. The epistles to them were written before the others; afterwards various evils crept into the churches.—Θεσσαλονικέων, of the Thessalonians) Jac. Mehrningius says, “In the memory of our fathers, there were two Greeks, first among the Moravian brethren, afterwards in Belgium, who asserted, that even now both of St. Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians are well preserved by them in autograph.”—Hist. baptismi, A. 1647, Germanice edita, p. 739.—ἐν, in) Union with God is indicated.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th_1:1. It is a mark of the very early composition of the Epistle, and consequently of its authenticity, that Paul does not call himself ἀπόστολος. For it was very natural that Paul, in regard to the first Christian churches to whom he wrote, whom he had recently left, and who had attached themselves with devoted love to him and his preaching, did not feel constrained to indicate himself more definitely by an official title, as the simple mention of his name must have been perfectly sufficient. It was otherwise in his later life. With reference to the Galatians and Corinthians, in consequence of the actual opposition to his apostolic authority in these churches, Paul felt himself constrained to vindicate his full official dignity at the commencement of his Epistles. And so the addition ἀπόστολος, occasioned at first by imperative circumstances, became at a later period a usual designation, especially to those churches which were personally unknown to the apostle (Epistles to Rom. Col. Eph.), among whom, even without any existing opposition, such a designation was necessary in reference to the future. An exception was only natural where, as with the Philippians and with Philemon, the closest and most tried love and attachment united the apostle with the recipients of his Epistles. The supposition of Chrysostom, whom Oecumenius and Theophylact follow, is accordingly to be rejected, that the apostolic title was suppressed διὰ τὸ νεοκατηχήτους εἶναι τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ μηδέπω αὐτοῦ πεῖραν εἰληφέναι, for then it ought not to be found in the Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians. Further, the view of Zwingli, Estius, Pelt, and others is to be rejected, that Paul omitted his apostolic title out of modesty, as the same title could not be assigned to Silvanus (and Timotheus); for, not to mention that this reason is founded on a distorted view of the Pauline character, and that the two companions of the apostle would hardly lay claim to his apostolic rank, such a supposition is contradicted by 2Co_1:1; Col_1:1.

καὶ Σιλουνανὸς καὶ Τιμόθεος] Both are associated with Paul in the address, not to testify their agreement in the contents of the Epistle, and thereby to confer on it so much greater authority (Zanchius, Hunnius, Piscator, Pelt), or to testify that the contents were communicated to the apostle by the Holy Ghost (Macknight), but simply because they had assisted the apostle in preaching the gospel at Thessalonica. The simple mention of their names, without any addition, was sufficient on account of their being personally known. By being included in the address, they are represented as joint-authors of the Epistle, although they were so only in name. It is possible, but not certain, that Paul dictated the Epistle to one of them. (According to Berthold, they translated the letter conceived in Aramaic into Greek, and shared in the work.)

Silvanus (as in 2Co_1:19) is placed before Timotheus, not perhaps because Timotheus was the amanuensis, and from modesty placed his name last (Zanchius), but because Silvanus was older and had been longer with Paul.

Ἐν Θεῷ πατρὶ … Χριστῷ is to be closely united with τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων: to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ,that is, whose being, whose characteristic peculiarity, consists in fellowship with God the Father (by which they are distinguished from heathen ἐκκλησίαι) and with the Lord Jesus Christ (by which they are distinguished from the Jewish ἐκκλησία). Erroneously, Grotius: quae exstitit, id agente Deo Patre et Christo. The article τῇ is neither to be repeated before ἐν Θεῷ, nor is τῇ οὔσῃ to be supplied (Olshausen, de Wette, and Bloomfield erroneously supply οὔσῃ by itself, without the article; this could not be the construction, as it would contain a causal statement), because the words are blended together in the unity of the idea of the Christian church (see Winers Grammar, p. 128 [E. T. 170]). Schott arbitrarily refers ἐν Θεῷ κ.τ.λ. to χαίρειν λέγουσιν, to be supplied before χάρις ὑμῖν; for χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρ. takes the place of the usual Greek salutation χαίρειν λέγουσιν. Hofmanns view (Die h. Schrift neuen Testaments zusammenhängend untersucht, Part I. Nördl. 1862) amounts to the same as Schotts, when he finds in ἐν Θεῷ κ.τ.λ. a Christian extension of the usual epistolary address, importing that it is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ that the writers address themselves by letter to the churches. Still more arbitrarily Ambrosiaster (not Theophylact) and Koppe, who erase the concluding words: ἀπὸ Θεοῦ κ.τ.λ. (see critical note), have placed a point after Θεσσαλονικέων, and united ἐν Θεῷ … Χριστῷ with χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη. For (1) the thought: χάρις ὑμῖν (ἔστω) ἐν Θεῷ κ.τ.λ., instead of ἀπὸ Θεοῦ κ.τ.λ., is entirely un-Pauline; (2) the placing of ἐν Θεῷ κ.τ.λ. first in so calm a writing as the address of the Epistle, and without any special reason, is inconceivable; (3) 2Th_1:1-2 contradicts the idea.

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη] See Meyer on Rom_1:7. As a Christian transformation of the heathen form of salutation, the words, grammatically considered, should properly be conjoined with the preceding in a single sentence: Παῦλος καὶ Σ … τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θ … χάριν καὶ εἰρήνην (sc. λέγουσιν).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th 1:1 . Greeting . As any trouble at Thessalonica had arisen over Paul’s character more than his authority, or rather as his authority had been struck through his character, he does not introduce his own apostolic rank or that of his colleagues (1Th 2:6 ) in the forefront of this letter, which is intimate and unofficial throughout. Silvanus is put before Timothy as an older man and colleague, and also as Paul’s special coadjutor in the local mission. Acts never mentions Timothy in the Macedonian mission till Act 17:14 , where he appears beside Silvanus. This does not mean (Bleek) that Timothy took no part in the work at Thessalonica; his intimate relations with the church forbid this supposition. Probably he is left unnoticed as being a junior subordinate, till the time comes when he can act as an useful agent of his leaders. ἐκκλ . a pagan term appropriated by Christianity. An implicit contrast lies in the following words (so in 1Th 2:14 ): there were ἐκκλησίαι at Thessalonica and elsewhere ( cf. Chrysostom and Orig., Cels . III. xxix. xxx.) which had not their basis and being ἐν … Χριστῷ . The latter phrase is a suggestive and characteristic periphrasis for “Christian,” and the omission of the ἐν before κυρίῳ , as of τῇ before ἐν , is enough to show that the seven words form a unity instead of a double antithesis to “pagan” and “Jewish” respectively. κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ , a new κύριος (= dominus) for people like the Thessalonians who were hitherto familiar with the title as applied to Claudius ( cf. Wilcken’s Griechische Ostraka , 1899, s.v.) the emperor, or to the God of the Jews ( cf. Knowling’s Witness of the Epistles , 260 f.). See the ample discussion in Kattenbusch, das Apost. Symbol , ii. 596 f., with his note (pp. 691 f.) on ἐκκλησία . The hope and help of God implied that Christians must hold together, under their κύριος . “No Christian could have fought his way through the great dark night of idolatry and immorality as an isolated unit; the community was here the necessary condition for all permanent life” (Wernle, Beginnings of Christianity , i. 189).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. DGgr read Σιλβανος, as regularly in the Papyri.

BG 47 73, and the Gr. text of Cramer’s Catena, g r vg syrr (except hclmg) basm aeth, conclude the greeting without the clause απο πατρος ημων και κυριου I. X., which is added in 2 Thess., and almost uniformly in later Epp. The shorter reading is sustained by Chr, in his Commentary ad loc., Thphyl, and expressly by Or4, 468 (Lat. interpr.): “Ad Thess. vero prima ita habet, Gratia vobis et pax, et nihil ultra”; similarly Luciferbrug, “Non addas, a Deo patre nostro et domino J. C.” The T.R., with minor variations, is found in all other witnesses, including אACDKLP, the old latt (except f g r) cop, &c. The tendency to assimilate formulæ of salutation was irresistible; cf. Col 1:2, where BD vg syrr (except hclmg) Or Chr, against the vast majority, support the shorter text. A case for the maxim, “Brevior lectio præferenda.”

§ 1. 1Th 1:1. Address and Greeting

1. Παῦλος κ. Σιλουανὸς κ. Τιμόθεος—so in 2Th 1:1—now together at Corinth (see Introd. pp. xxxii. f.), write as joint-founders and pastors of this Church: cf. 2Co 1:19. St Paul betrays himself as the actual composer in 1Th 2:18 and 1Th 3:5, and speaks in his own person again, with strong feeling, in 1Th 5:27. Timothy is distinguished from his senior companions in 1Th 3:6 ff.; Silvanus’ share throughout is passed over in silence. St Paul’s practice varies in the Letters of associate authorship: in 1 and 2 Thess. the body of the Epistle runs in the 1st person plural, and the 1st plural prevails in 2 Corinthians 1-9 (otherwise in 10–13); but 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, despite the associated names in the Address, run in the 1st singular. In the latter instances St Paul’s companions share in the greeting only; in the former they are parties to the matter of the Epistle. Cf. Note on the Plural Authorship, Introd. p. xxxix.

For the association of Silvanus with St Paul see Act 15:27; Act 15:40; Act 18:5; the Silvanus of 1Pe 5:12 is almost certainly the same person—an important link between St Peter and St Paul, and between the latter and the Judæan Church (cf. note on 1Th 2:14). Silvanus appears always as Silas in Acts: the latter name was supposed to be a Greek abbreviation of the former (Latin); but Th. Zahn makes out (Einleitung in das N. T.2, p. 23) that Σίλας is of Aramaic origin (שִׁילָא, שְׁאִילָא, or שִׁילַי,—Jewish personal names found in the Inscriptions, and in the Talmud: from root שאל), and that Silvanus was Silas’ (Shila’s) adopted name of Roman citizenship (see Act 16:37), chosen presumably from resemblance of sound; cf. Jesus-Jason, Joseph-Hegesippus, &c. Σιλουανός, shortened, should have made Σιλουᾶς or Σιλβᾶς (cf. Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 8), rather than Σίλας. His Roman surname, and his established position in the mother Church (Act 15:22; Act 15:32), suggest that Silvanus was amongst the ἐπιδημοῦντες Ῥωμαῖοι of Act 2:10 converted on the day of Pentecost; or possibly, had belonged to the συναγωγὴ Λιβερτίνων (Act 6:9) in Jerusalem. St Paul had “selected Silas” (ἐπιλεξάμενος, Act 15:40)—“elegit socium non ministrum” (Blass)—on setting out for his second Missionary Expedition; Timotheus was enlisted later (Act 16:1-3) to replace John Mark (Act 13:5), in a subordinate capacity; hence “Paul and Silas” figure in the narrative of Acts 16, 17. For Timothy’s relations with the Thessalonian Church see 1Th 3:2-6, and notes below.

In 1 and 2 Thess. St Paul distinguishes himself by no title; similarly in Php 1:1 he and Timothy are alike δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ; in Phm 1:9 he styles himself δέσμιος Χρ. Ἰησ.: in all other Epistles the designation ἀπόστολος, or κλητὸς ἀπόστολος, is attached to his name. He stood on a homelier footing with the Macedonian Churches than with others (see 1Th 2:7-12, and Introd. pp. xliii., lxii.). In 1Th 2:6 (see note) the three missionaries rank together as ‘apostles.’ The Judaistic attacks on St Paul’s authority, which engaged the Apostle on the third missionary tour, had not yet commenced: contrast Gal 1:1; Gal 1:11-20; 1Co 9:1 ff.; 2Co 10:8, &c.; Rom 1:1-6.

The three names—Paul, Silvanus, Timothy—typify the mixed condition of Jewish society at this time, and of the primitive Christian constituency. Paul and Silvanus are Jews (Hebrew Saul, and Sila or Shila), with Roman surname and citizenship; Timotheus had a Greek name and father, but a Jewish mother (Act 16:1). So the Church was a Græco-Roman superstructure, resting on a Jewish foundation.

The Letter is addressed τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ—a form of description confined to 1 and 2 Thessalonians, freely rendered: “To the assembly of Thessalonians acknowledging God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord, gathered in this twofold Name.” Τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ receives its local limitation; then τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων receives the necessary spiritual definition, ἐν θεῷ κ.τ.λ.

In later Epistles St Paul writes “To the church (or saints) in Corinth, Rome, &c.”; only in 1 and 2 Thess. does he use in his Address the name of the people (citizens)—in Gal 1:2, however, “To the churches of Galatia” (cf. Gal 1:22; 1Co 16:1; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 8:1). The later style of expression—“Church in,” &c.—superseded this as the Christian community spread and the Church came to be thought of as an extended whole ‘in’ many places: thus it is already conceived in 1Co 1:1; cf. 1Co 2:14 below.

ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ κ.τ.λ. might be attached grammatically to the predicate χάρις ὑμῖν κ.τ.λ.; so Hofmann construes, with a few others. But the ἀπό-clause following εἰρήνη, which is genuine in 2Th 1:2 (though spurious here), excludes the reference of ἐν θεῷ κ.τ.λ. to the predicate there, making it very unlikely here. Moreover, the foregoing designation requires this limitation; there were many ἐκκλησίαι Θεσσαλονικέων, meeting for manifold purposes—civil and religious (including the Synagogue), regular or irregular (cf. Act 19:32; Act 19:39); this “assembly of Thessalonians” is constituted “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is a stated religious society, marked off from all that is Pagan or Jewish as it is grounded “in God” confessed as “Father,” and “Jesus Christ” adored as “Lord”: cf. carefully 1Co 1:2 with 1Co 8:5-6. Everything this ἐκκλησία Θεσσαλονικέων rests upon and exists for is centred in those two Names, which complement each other and are bound by the vinculum of the single ἐν. “In God the Father,” its members know themselves to be His children (cf. 1Th 1:4, 1Th 2:12, 1Th 3:13, 1Th 5:23 f.; 2Th 2:16); “in the Lord,” discerning their Saviour’s divine Sonship and authority (1Th 1:10, 1Th 2:15, see note, 1Th 4:15-17, &c.); “in Jesus,” His human birth and history (1Th 2:15, 1Th 4:14, &c.); “in Christ,” His living presence and relationship to His people (1Th 2:7, 1Th 4:16, &c.).

The doubly anarthrous θεῷ παρτί (cf. 1Th 1:9, and contrast 1Th 3:13, &c.) is the rule in epistolary formulæ, occurring besides in Eph 6:23 and Php 2:11, where, as here, the phrase carries a quasi-confessional force: “in a God (known as) Father, and (as) Lord, Jesus Christ.” “In Christ,” “in the Lord,” is St Paul’s characteristic definition of Christian acts or states; “in God” occurs, in like connexion, only in 1Th 2:2 and Col 3:3 besides—the latter an instructive parallel.

χάρις ὑμῖν echoes, more in sound than in sense, the χαίρειν, χαίρετε, of every-day Greek salutation (cf. Act 15:23; Act 23:26; Jas 1:1, &c.), while εἰρήνη reproduces the Eastern שָׁלוֹם, salaam (cf., beside the Epp., Dan 4:1; Dan 6:25; Luk 10:5; Luk 24:36, &c.): here the Pauline greeting has its earliest and briefest form, enlarged already in 2 Thess. This formula may well have been St Paul’s own coinage, passing from him to other Christian writers (see the greetings of 1 and 2 Peter, 2 John, and Revelation); his whole gospel is enfolded in the wish χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη, as the whole faith of his readers in the definition ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ κ. κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. Χάρις is the sum of all Divine blessing bestowed in Christ on underserving men; εἰρήνη (the fruit of χάρις received in faith), the sum of all blessing thus experienced by man. “Grace,” in its full import, begins with the coming of Christ (Rom 5:15; Tit 2:11; Joh 1:17); “Peace,” including the inner tranquillity and health flowing from reconciliation with God, begins with the sense of justification (Rom 5:1; Eph 2:14). Both, received as bounties of God, become habits and qualities of the soul itself (see Rom 5:1-2; 2Co 8:7; Php 4:7); but χάρις naturally leans to the former (objective) and εἰρήνη to the latter (subjective) sense. Both centre in the cross of Christ, where God exhibits His grace and Christians find their peace (see 1Th 5:9 f.; Gal 2:21; Col 1:20; Eph 2:14-18; Rom 5:10: cf. Heb 2:9; Heb 13:20 f.). Grace is St Paul’s watchword, occurring twice as often in his writings as in all the rest of the N.T.; in this Epistle however it will only meet us again in the final greeting, 1Th 5:28. Cf. the note on χάρις in 2Th 1:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΙΣ Α

Chap.

1:1.] Address and greeting. The Apostle names Silvanus and Timotheus with himself, as having with him founded the church at Thessalonica, see Act 16:1: 17:14. Silvanus is placed before Timotheus, then a youth (Act 16:1 f., see further in Prolegg, to 1 Tim. § i. 3, 4), as being one ἡγούμενος ἐν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς (Act 15:22, Act 15:32; Act 18:5), and a προφήτης (ib. 15:32, see also 2Co 1:19; 1Pe 5:12). He does not name himself an Apostle, probably for (an amplification of) the reason given by De Wette,—because his Apostleship needed not any substantiation to the Thessalonians. For the same reason he omits the designation in the Epistle to the Philippians. This last fact precludes the reasons given,—by Pelt, al., ‘id ei tum non jam moris fuisse,’ by Chrys.,—διὰ τὸ νεοκατηχήτους εἶναι τοὺς ἄνδρας, κ. μηδέπω αὐτοῦ πεῖραν εἰληφέναι,—by Estius, Pelt (altern.), and Zwingl., out of modesty, not to distinguish himself from Silvanus and Timotheus,—by Jowett, “probably the name ‘Apostle,’ which in its general sense was used of many, was gradually, and at no definite period, applied to him with the same special meaning as to the Apostles at Jerusalem.”

τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ] So in 2 Thess., Gal., Corr., in the other Epistles, viz. Rom., Eph., Col., Phil., more generally, e.g.,—πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀγαπητοῖς θεοῦ, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις. This is most probably accounted for by the circumstances of the various Epistles. We may notice that the gen. plur. of the persons constituting the church occurs only in the addresses of these two Epistles. We may render ‘of Thessalonians,’ or ‘of the Thessalonians:’ better the former.

ἐν θεῷ πατρί] The construction need not be filled up by τῇ or τῇ οὔσῃ, as Chr., al.: nor with Schott, by understanding χαίρειν λέγουσιν, which would be unnecessary, seeing that the apostolic greeting follows. The words form a (“tertiary,” Ellic.) predication respecting τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, or Θεσσαλονικέων, which requires no supplementing. See Winer, edn, 6, § 20. 2.

ἐν θεῷ πατρί marks them as not being heathens,—κ. κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ χριστῷ, as not being Jews. So De W. after Chrys.: but perhaps the πατρί already marks them as Christians.

The ἐν, as usual, denotes communion and participation in, as the element of spiritual life.

χάρις ὑμῖν κ. εἰρήνη] “Gratia et pax a Deo sit vobis, ut, qui humana gratia et sæculari pace privati estis, apud Deum gratiam et pacem habeatis.” Anselm (in Pelt).

The words which follow in the rec. are not yet added in this his first Epistle. Afterwards they became a common formula with him.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

I. SUPERSCRIPTION (1:1)

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace.

1. The superscription, which is to be distinguished from the address written “on the outside or on the cover of the folded letter” (Deissmann, Light, 148), comprises, as in contemporary letters, the name of the writer in the nominative, the people addressed in the dative, and the greeting. Although it is the shortest of extant Pauline superscriptions, it contains the essential points of the more developed forms, not simply the names of writers and recipients but also the divine names God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the characteristically Pauline “grace and peace.” The Holy Spirit is mentioned in no superscription and in but one benediction (2Co 13:13).

The inscription ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΙΣ (אBAK, et al.), like the inscriptions and subscriptions in most mss. and like the introductions (ὑποθέσει) in some mss., is editorial and seems to presuppose a corpus Paulinum with some such title as ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ ΠΑΥΛΟ For elaborations of this briefest form of inscription (e. g. in DGF with a prefixed ἄρχετα; in P with a prefixed παύλου ἐπιστολη, or in G with a prefixed ἄρχετα and an added πρώτη ἐπιστολή). see von Soden, Schriften des N. T. I, 294 ff. For the influence of contemporary literature upon the general form and many phrases of the Pauline and other N. T. letters, see Deissmann, BS. 187 ff., EB. II, 1323 ff., and Light; Rendel Harris, Exp5 VIII, 161 ff., 401 ff.; Robinson, Ephesians, 275 ff.; Mill. 121 ff.; and Moff. Introd. 44 ff. Useful selections from contemporary letters may be found in Lietzmann, Griechische Papyri, 1905; Witkowski, Epistulae graecae privatae, 1906; and Mill. Selections from the Greek Papyri, 1910.

Since Silvanus and Timothy were with Paul in Thessalonica when the church was established and with him in Corinth when both our letters were written (Act 18:5; cf. 2Co 1:19), it is natural to find the three names associated in the superscription. Paul takes precedence as he is the leading spirit and the letter is his in a peculiar sense; Silvanus, the Silas of Acts, comes next; and Timothy, who was not only a helper but a preacher (2Co 1:19), as youngest comes last. While the letter is Paul’s, the exceptionally frequent appearance of “we” where it is natural to think primarily not of an epistolary plural but of Paul and his companions suggests an intimacy of association in writing which is not true of 1 Cor. where Sosthenes is joined with Paul in the superscription, nor of 2 Cor. Col. Phile. Phil. where Timothy is joined with Paul.

It is generally admitted that “we” may be used in various senses including that of the epistolary plural (cf. not only Paul (1Co 9:11 and 9:15), but also Polybius, Josephus, and the papyri); but it is observed with force by Mill. (131-132) that owing to the “special circumstances under which the two epistles were written, we shall do well to give its full weight to this normal use of the plural in them, and to think of it as including St. Paul’s two companions along with himself wherever on other grounds this is possible”; cf. Zahn, Introd. I 209 ff. On the other hand, Dob. thinks that thought the associated authors may be in mind they have no prerogatives whatever (67-68); see Dick, Der schriftstellerische Plural bei Paulus, 1900.

The form Σιλβανό (DG; cf. B in 1Pe 5:12) is regular in the papyri (Mill.); cf. P. Oxy. 335 (c. 85 a.d.) where Παῦλο sells Σιλβανό the sixth part of a house in the Jewish quarter. Our Silvanus is a Jew and a Roman citizen (Act 16:37); cf. Schmiedel, EB 4514 ff. Timothy was of mixed Gentile and Jewish blood; whether a Roman citizen or not is unknown; cf. Moff. EB 5074 ff.

The designation ἀπόστολο does not appear in the superscription of the Macedonian letters and Philemon; it appears in that of Gal 1:2 Cor. addressed to communities in which Judaists attacked Paul’s apostleship (Php 3:2 ff. refers to unbelieving Jews as Lipsius, McGiffert, and most recently Dob. (117) insist); in that of Rom., a community not founded by him and not sharing his distinctive views, to which he is presenting his gospel; and in that of Col. Eph., churches founded by his converts whose Christianity he vouches for.

τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέω. There is but one Christian group in Thessalonica; it is small numerically, unless πλῆθος πολυ (Act 17:4) is to be pressed, but intense in faith (v. 8; cf. Rom 1:8, Col 1:6, Col 1:23); and it assembles perhaps in the house of Jason.

The numerical strength of the church in the house of Prisca and Aquila (1Co 16:19, Rom 16:5) is computed by Gregory (Canon and Text of the N. T. 524) to be at least fifty. Whether the church in Thess. that Paul addressed was as large as that is quite unknown.

No good reasons have been adduced to show why we have here and in II 1:1 (cf. Col 4:16) the nomen gentilicium θεσσαλονικεύ instead of the name of the place (Gal 1:2, 1Co 1:2, 2Co 1:1). The view of von Soden (SK 1885, 274) that Paul “under the influence of the fresh impression of his success thinks of the inhabitants as already as a whole in touch with the church,” is unlikely in the light of the similar τῇ Λαοδικέων ἐκκλησίᾳ in Col 4:16. Equally obscure is the fact that I, II, Gal 1:2 Cor. Phile. are addressed to the “church” or “churches” (cf. Php 1:1 σὺν ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοι) while Rom. Col. Eph. are addressed to the saints and brethren.

ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰ. This phrase, found only here and (with ἡμῶ after πατρι) in II 1:1 and to be attached closely to the preceding as in 2:14, specifies the Christian character of the ἐκκλησί in contrast with the civic assembly of the Gentiles and the theocratic assembly of the Jews (Chrys.). The omission of τῇ after θεσς, which on the analogy of Gal 1:22 might have been retained, serves to accentuate the closeness of the attachment. Both the phrase as a whole and its component parts ἐν θεῷ πατρι (II 1:1) and ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰ. Χ (II 1:1, 3:12) are peculiar to our letters.

The ἐ, however, is the ἐ of the characteristic Pauline phrases ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησου (2:14, 5:18 and often in Paul), ἐν Χριστῷ (4:16 and often in Paul), ἐν κυρίῳ (3:8, 5:12, II 3:4 and often in Paul), ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησου (4:1, Rom 14:14, Eph 1:15, Php 2:19), ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶ (1Co 15:31, Rom 6:23, Rom 8:39, Eph 3:11, but not in I, II), ἐν πνεύματ (v. 5; Rom 8:9, Rom 9:1, etc.), and ἐν τῷ θεῷ (2:2; Col 3:3, Eph 3:9, but not Rom 2:17, Rom 5:11). The relation of the human and divine indicated by ἐ is local and realistic; the human is in the atmosphere of the divine. There is presupposed the indwelling of God (1Co 14:25, 2Co 6:16), Christ (Rom 8:10), or the Spirit (Rom 8:9, Rom 8:11) as an energising (cf. 1Co 12:16, Php 2:13) power both ethical and permanent. Hence when a man is in Christ or the Spirit, terms interchangeable as regards the operations, or in God, or when a man is possessed by them (ἔχει Rom 8:19, 1Co 7:40), he is as such under the control of a divine power that makes for newness of life (cf. ἐν δυνάμει πνεύματο Rom 15:13, Rom 15:19). The divine air which the human breathes is charged, so to speak, with ethical energy.

The new in these phrases with ἐ is neither the realism of the relation nor the grammatical form (cf. ἐν κυρίῳ Hab 3:18; ἐν πνεύματ Eze 11:24, Eze 37:1) but the combination of ἐ with Χριστῷ, a combination due to Paul’s experience of Christ as Spirit and Lord. For influences on Paul’s conception, see Gunkel (Die Wirkungen des Geistes, 1888, 100 ff.); Deissmann (Die neutestamentliche Formel in Christo Jesu, 1892); Volz (Der Geist Gottes, 1910, 198 ff.); Reitzenstein (Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, 1910) and a critique of the same in Schweitzer’s Geschichte der Paulinischen Forschung, 1911, 141-184, especially 170 ff.; Deissmann’s Paulus, 1911, 87 ff.; and Percy Gardner’s Religious Experience of St. Paul, 1911. An analogy to Paul’s phrase is found in ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ (Mar 1:23) and ἔχειν πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτο (Mar 3:30); the man is in the demon because the demon is in the man as an energising (cf. II 2:7, Eph 2:2; also II 2:9, 11) force; δαίμονος γὰρ οὐσία ἐνέργει (Reitzenstein, Poimandres, 35224).

θεῷ πατρι. The omission of the articles indicates that the phrase had long been fixed for Paul (cf. also II 1:2 (BD) Gal 1:1, Gal 1:3 (BD) Eph 6:23, Php 2:11). The name Father, inherited by the Master (cf. Bousset, Relig 432 ff.) and put into the central place in his teaching, is confirmed as primary in Paul’s redemptive experience. It is striking that this name occurs in passages giving fervent expression to his religious life, and that it is joined usually with the name Christ, e. g. in the superscriptions, thanksgivings (1:3, 2Co 1:3, Col 1:3, Col 3:17, Eph 1:3, Eph 5:20), prayers (3:11, 13, II 2:16, Rom 15:6, Eph 6:23), and the like (1Co 8:6, 15:24, 28, 2Co 11:31, Rom 6:4, Eph 2:18, Eph 4:6). It is probable that as Paul insists that no man can say κύριος Ἰησοῦ but in the Holy Spirit (1Co 12:3), so he would insist that no man can say Ἀββά ὁ πατή (Gal 4:6, Rom 8:15) but in the same Spirit. At all events, Paul’s specifically Christian name of the God of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 3:29) is “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “Our Father.”

κυρίῳ Ἰ. Χ. In these words both the primitive (Act 2:36) and the Pauline convictions about Jesus are summed up: he is Messiah and Lord. The Lordship of Jesus (1Co 12:3, Rom 10:9), Jesus Christ (1Co 8:6, Rom 13:14, Php 2:11), Christ Jesus (2Co 4:5, Col 2:6) is the essence of the Pauline experience; it receives conspicuous emphasis in the second epistle (see on II 2:13). While both Ἰησοῦς Χριστό and Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦ have already become proper names, the Messianic connotation of Χριστό is not lost (cf. Rom 9:5, 2Co 5:10, Php 1:15, Eph 1:10, etc.). It is Jesus the Messiah who is Lord.

On the divine names in I, II, see Mill. 135-140. Dob., (60-61) explains the placing of Χριστό before Ἰησοῦ (e. g. 2:14, 5:18), to which SH 3ff.) call attention, as due to the ambiguity of the casus obliqui of Ἰησοῦ; for apart from Rom 8:34, 2Co 4:5, Col 2:6, the order Χ. Ἰ appears only in the formulæ Χριστοῦ Ἰησου and ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησου, while Paul writes continually κυρίου Ἰ. Χ and ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰ. Χ

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήν. This phrase, common to all the ten Pauline superscriptions, bears, like the phrase έν Χριστῷ, the stamp of Paul’s experience. It is likewise the shortest Pauline præscript. χάρι, used here in its widest sense, is the favour of God by which he acquits all sinners, Jews and Gentiles, solely on the principle of faith and grants them freedom from the power of sin and newness of the life in Christ or the Spirit. εἰρήν is the spiritual prosperity enjoyed by the recipients of the divine favour. What is expressed in all the other letters of Paul (except Col 1:2 which adds only “from God our Father”), namely, that grace and peace come from God the (our) Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, is already implied in ἐν θεῷ κτλ There is, however, no reason either here or in Col. for attaching χάρι to the clause with ἐ

In coining, as he apparently does coin, this form of greeting, Paul is less influenced by current epistolary phrases than by his conviction that the blessings of the promised Messianic kingdom (Isa 9:5, Psa 72:3) are realised only through the grace of God in Christ.

It is generally assumed (cf. Fritzsche on Rom 1:7 or Zahn on Gal 1:3) that the Pauline greeting is suggested both by the Semitic and the Greek.

The influence of the Aramaic in εἰρήν (Ezr 4:17, Ezr 5:7, Dan. 3:31 (98), 6:26; see BDB sub שלם may have been felt (cf. also Apoc. Bar. 78:2 where Syriac suggests ἔλεος καὶ εἰρήν); but it is doubtful (Robinson, Ephesians, 141) whether χάρι has anything to do with χαίρει (Jas 1:1.Act 15:23, Act 23:26), for in some papyri at least (Witk., 22 ff. Ἀλκαῖος Σωσιφάνει χαίρειν. χάρις τοῖς θεοῖς πολλη or θεῷ πλείστη χάρι), χαίρει is the greeting and χάρι the thanksgiving. On the other hand, cf. 2 Mal 1:1 χαίρει … καὶ εἰρήνην ἀγαθή(Nestle, Exp. Times, 1911, vol. XXIII, 94).

The word χάρι is rare in the Prophets and Psalms but frequent in the Wisdom literature. Paul’s usage has affected Luke and First Peter. The Johannist prefers ἀλήθει to χάρι εἴ or (Since in later Gk. the optative tends to disappear) ἔστ is to be supplied, in accordance with Semitic (Dan. 3:98 Lxx 1Pe 1:2, etc.), not Greek (which demands χάρι sc. λέγουσι) usage. The position of ὑμῖ serves to distinguish both χάρι and εἰρήν (Bl 80:2). It is doubtless “pedantry to reflect on the fact that the readers as Christians possess already that grace, that hence only an increase of the same could be desired for them” (Dob.). Most editors omit with BGF Orig. Pesh, Arm, f g r, Vulg the usual clause with ἀπο The insertion of the same by אADKLP, et al., is more explicable than its omission.

II. THANKSGIVING (1:2-3:10)

In the thanksgiving (1:2-3:10; cf. 1:2, 2:13, 3:9) and closely related prayer (3:11-13) covering the major portion of the letter, Paul reviews his attitude to the church during his visit (1:2-2:16) and during the interval between his enforced departure and the writing of I (2:17-3:10). Though he praises without stint the faith and love of his converts, hardly mentioning the imperfections that exist (3:8, 10), and though his words pulsate with warmest affection, yet a tone of self-defence is heard throughout. The constant appeal to the knowledge or memory of the readers as regards his behaviour (1:5, 2:1-12), the references to oral reports which concern not only them but him (1:9), the insistence on the fact that the writers desired—Paul himself repeatedly—to return (2:17-20), the statement that the writers, Paul especially, had determined to send Timothy (3:1-5), and finally the prayer that the writers may return (3:11)—all serve to intimate that Paul is defending both his conduct during the visit and his failure to return against the allegations, not of the converts, not of Judaizers (for there are none in Thessalonica), not of the Gentile persecutors (2:14), for they are not attacked, but, as the ominous outburst (2:15-16) suggests, of the Jews.

It may be conjectured that the Jews, after Paul’s departure, were maligning his conduct and misconstruing his failure to return. Indeed they may well have been the real instigators of Gentile persecutions. Though it is unlikely that the converts actually distrusted Paul (3:6), it is not improbable that they were wrought up and worried by the representations of the Jews, especially since Paul did not return. Whether he had heard of the matter before he despatched Timothy is uncertain but altogether probable. That the self-defence arises purely from a suspicion of Paul without any basis of fact (Dob. 106-107) is unlikely. In the light of 2:15-16, the Jews not the Gentiles (cf. Zahn, Introd. I, 217-218) are the accusers.

(1) Visit and Welcome (1:2-10)

Paul thanks God, as he bears in mind the spiritual excellence of the readers, for their election, the certainty of which is inferred from the presence of the Spirit controlling not only the converts who welcomed the gospel in spite of persecutions (vv. 6-10; cf. 2:13-16), but also the preachers themselves (vv. 5, 9a; cf. 2:1-12).

2We thank God always for you all, making mention of you when we pray, 3bearing in mind continually your work resulting from faith, and your activity prompted by love, and your endurance sanctioned by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4because we know, brothers beloved by God, that you have been chosen, 5from the fact that the gospel we preach did not come to you with words only but also with power, and in the Holy Spirit and much conviction,—as you know the kind of men we became to you for your sake; 6and (from the fact that) you became imitators of us and of the Lord, welcoming the Word in the midst of great persecution with the joy that the Holy Spirit gives, 7so that you became a model community to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia: 8for starting from you the Word of the Lord has sounded out not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place your faith in God has gone out, so that we need not utter a word about you, 9for they themselves are reporting about us what kind of visit we paid you, and (about you) how you turned to God leaving behind those idols of yours, for the purpose of serving the living and genuine God 10and of awaiting his Son who comes down out of the heavens, whom he raised from the dead,—Jesus who delivers us from the judgment that is coming.

The epistolary arrangement of I (χάπι 1:1; εὐχαριστοῦμε 1:2-3:10; αὐτὸς δε 3:11-13; ἐρωτῶμε 4:1-5:22; προσεύχεσθ 5:25; ἀσπάσασθ 5:26; χάρι 5:28) may be compared with BGU, 423 (saec. ii, a.d., quoted by Robinson, op. cit. 276): πλεῖστα χαίρειν, εὔχομαι, εὐχαριστω … ὅτι, ἐρωτῶ, ἄσπασαι, ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὔχομαι Some of the phrases in v. 2 ff. may be compared with P. Lond. 42 (saec. ii, b.c., quoted by Deiss. BS 209 ff.): οἱ ἐν οἴκῳ πάντες σου διαπαντὸς μνείαν ποιούμενο … ἐπὶ μὲν τῷ ἐρρῶσθαί σε εὐθέως τοῖς θεοῖς εὐχαρίστου; with BGU, 632 (saec. ii, a.d., quoted by Robinson, op. cit. 276): μνίαν σου ποιούμενο; and with 1 Mac. 12:11.

As in the papyri, so also in Paul’s letters, there is freedom in the use both of the general epistolary outline and of the separate phrases. In Paul, the simplest thanksgiving is II 1:3, Rom 1:3. This is expanded in I 1:4, Col 1:4, Phm 1:5 by a causal participle without ὅτ; in 1Co 1:4 by clauses with ἐπι and ὅτ; in Php 1:3 ff. with two clauses with ἐπι and a causal participle. In Phil. and our letter, the thanksgiving is full, while Gal. has no thanksgiving. In 2 Cor. and Eph., the O. T. εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεό takes the place of εὐχαριστοῦμε

From Paul’s usage we may assume that περὶ πάντων ὑμῶ is to be taken not with μνείαν ποιούμενο but with εὐχαριστοῦμε (hence a comma after ὐμῶ), as the simpler form (1Co 1:4, Rom 1:8) suggests; that μνημονεύοντε is parallel to and an expansion of μνείαν ποιούμενοι as δεόμενο (Rom 1:10; contrast Phm 1:4, Eph 1:16) indicates; and that εἰδότε is a causal participle depending on εὐχαριστοῦμε, while ὅτ depends not on the latter but on the former. Doubtful is the reference of ἀδιαλείπτω and ἔμπροσθε; v. infra.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The address of the first Epistle is shorter than that of any of the Pauline letters. In the other Epistles Paul either indicates the contents of the letter, or adds details concerning the writer or his correspondents, or amplifies the apostolic greeting. The names of Silvanus and Timothy are added to that of Paul as the senders of the letter. They were with him at Corinth when it was written (Act 18:5; 2Co 1:19). They had assisted him in the foundation of the Thessalonian Church (Act 16:1 - 3; Act 17:4, 10, 14). Paul 's official title; "Apostle" is omitted in the addresses of both Epistles, although in 1Th 2:6 he uses ajpostoloi apostles, including Silvanus and Timothy under that title. The title appears in all the other Epistles except Philippians and Philemon. The reason for its omission in every case appears to have been the intimate and affectionate character of his relations with the parties addressed, which rendered an appeal to his apostolic authority unnecessary. Paul does not confine the name of apostle to the twelve. 7 Silvanus. The Silas of the Acts, where alone the form Silav occurs. By Paul always Silouanov, of which Silav is a contraction, as Loukav from Loukanov. Similar contractions occur in Class., as Alexav for Alexandrov for Alexandrov, and that for Artemidwrov. Silas first appears in Act 14:22, as one of the bearers of the letter to the Gentile Christians at Antioch. He accompanied Paul on his second missionary tour, and was left behind with Timothy when Paul departed from Macedonia after his first visit. He was probably a Jewish Christian (see Act 16:20), and was, like Paul, a Roman citizen (Act 16:37, 38). Hence his Roman name. He cannot with any certainty be identified with the Silvanus of 1Pe 5:12.

Timothy. Appears in all the Pauline Epistles except Galatians and Ephesians. He was associated with Paul longer than any one of whom we have notice. First mentioned Acts 16; 1, 2 comp. 2Ti 3:10, 11. He accompanied Paul on his second missionary tour (Act 16:3), and was one of the founders of the churches in Thessalonica and Philippi. He is often styled by Paul "the brother" (2Co 1:1; Col 1:1; 1Th 3:2; Phl 1:1); with Paul himself "a bondservant of Jesus Christ" (Phi 1:1); comp. 1Ti 2:18; 2Ti 1:2. Paul 's confidence in him appears in Phi 2:19 - 22, and is implied in his sending him from Athens to the Thessalonian church to establish and comfort its members (1Th 3:2). Paul sent him again to Macedonia in company with Erastus (Act 19:22), and also to Corinth (1Co 4:17). To the Corinthians he writes of Timothy as "his beloved and faithful child in the Lord" who shall remind them of his ways in Christ (1Co 4:17), and as one who worketh the work of the Lord as he himself (1Co 16:10). He joined Paul at Rome, and his name is associated with Paul 's in the addresses of the letters to the Colossians and Philemon. In every case where he is mentioned by name with Silvanus, the name of Silvanus precedes.

To the church of the Thessalonians. This form of address appears in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, 2nd Thessalonians. The other letters are addressed to "the saints," " the brethren, "" the saints and faithful brethren." The use of the genitive of the national name is peculiar. Comp. 1Co 1:22; 2Co 1:1; Gal 1:2; Phi 1:1; Col 1:2.

The church [εκκλησια] . From ejk out, and kalein to call or summon. Originally with a secular meaning, an assembly of citizens regularly summoned. So Act 19:39. LXX uses it for the congregation of Israel, either as convened for a definite purpose (1Ki 8:65; Deu 4:10; Deu 18:16), or as a community (2Ch 1:3, 5; 2Ch 23:3; Nehemiah 2Ch 8:17). The verbs ejkklhsiazein and ejxekklhsiazein to summon formally, which do not occur in N. T., are found in LXX with sunagwghn gathering, laon people, and presbuterouv elders. Sunagwgh is constantly used in LXX of the children of Israel as a body (Exo 7:6, 19, 47; Lev 4:13, etc.), and is the more common word in N. T. for a Jewish as distinguished from a Christian assembly; sometimes with the addition of the Jews (Act 8:5; Act 14:1; Act 17:1). It is once used of a Christian assembly (Jas 2:2). Episunagwgh gathering together, occurs 2Th 2:1; Heb 10:25. The Ebionites retained sunagwgh in preference to ejkklhsia. The LXX translators found two Hebrew words for "assembly" or "congregation," : 'edah and qahal, and rendered the former by sunagwgh in the great majority of instances. Ekklhsia does not appear as the rendering of edah. They were not as consistent in rendering qahal, since they used both sunagwgh and ejkklhsia, though the latter was the more frequent : see Lev 4:13; Deu 5:22, etc. The A. V. renders both words by "congregation" and "assembly" indiscriminately. Ekklhsia is only once used in N. T. of a Jewish congregation, Act 7:38; yet there are cases where there is an apparent attempt to guard its distinctively Christian sense against being confounded with the unconverted Jewish communities. Hence the addition; ejn Cristw in Christ, Gal 1:22; ejn qew patri kai, kuriw Ihsou Cristw in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 1Th 1:1; comp. 2Th 1:1. In both Hebrew and N. T. usage, ejkklhsia implies a community based on a special religious idea, and established in a special way. In N. T. it is also used in a narrower sense, of a single church, or of a church confined to a single place. So Rom 16:5, etc.

In God the Father, etc. Const. with the church, and comp. 2Th 1:1. The phrase "the church in God" is peculiar to the Thessalonian Epistles. Elsewhere "of God" (1Co 10:32; 1Co 11:16, 22; 1Co 14:9, etc.); "of the saints" (1Co 14:33). Lightfoot suggests that the word ejkklhsia can scarcely have been stamped with so definite a Christian meaning in the minds of these recent and early converts as to render the addition "in God the Father," etc., superfluous.

Grace to you and peace [χαρις υμιν και ειρηνη] . In Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, the salutation is, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ : Colossians omits the last five words of this : 2 Thessalonians omits our before Father. On the union of the Greek and Jewish forms of salutation, see on 1Co 1:3.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In this introduction we have,

I. The inscription, where we have, 1. The persons from whom this epistle came, or by whom it was written. Paul was the inspired apostle and writer of this epistle, though he makes no mention of his apostleship, which was not doubted of by the Thessalonians, nor opposed by any false apostle among them. He joins Silvanus (or Silas) and Timotheus with himself (who had now come to him with an account of the prosperity of the churches in Macedonia), which shows this great apostle's humility, and how desirous he was to put honour upon the ministers of Christ who were of an inferior rank and standing. A good example this is to such ministers as are of greater abilities and reputation in the church than some others. 2. The persons to whom this epistle is written, namely, the church of the Thessalonians, the converted Jews and Gentiles in Thessalonica; and it is observable that this church is said to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ; they had fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, Jo1 1:3. They were a Christian church, because they believed in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed the principles both of natural and revealed religion. The Gentiles among them were turned to God from idols, and the Jews among them believed Jesus to be the promised Messias. All of them were devoted and dedicated to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: to God as their chief good and highest end, to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Mediator between God and man. God the Father is the original centre of all natural religion; and Jesus Christ is the author and centre of all revealed religion. You believe in God, says our Saviour, believe also in me. Joh 14:1.

II. The salutation or apostolical benediction: Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the same for substance as in the other epistles. Grace and peace are well joined together; for the free grace or favour of God is the spring or fountain of all the peace and prosperity we do or can enjoy; and where there are gracious dispositions in us we may hope for peaceful thoughts in our own breasts; both grace and peace, and all spiritual blessings, come to us from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; from God the original of all good, and from the Lord Jesus the purchaser of all good for us; from God in Christ, and so our Father in covenant, because he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note, As all good comes from God, so no good can be hoped for by sinners but from God in Christ. And the best good may be expected from God as our Father for the sake of Christ.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle.

-Year of the Constantinopolitan era of the world, or that used by the Byzantine historians, 5560.

-Year of the Alexandrian era of the world, 5554.

-Year of the Antiochian era of the world, 5544.

-Year of the Julian period, 4762.

-Year of the world, according to Archbishop Usher, 4056.

-Year of the world, according to Eusebius, in his Chronicon, 4280.

-Year of the minor Jewish era of the world, or that in common use, 3812.

-Year of the Greater Rabbinical era of the world, 4411.

-Year from the Flood, according to Archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 2400.

-Year of the Cali yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 3154.

-Year of the era of Iphitus, or since the first commencement of the Olympic games, 992.

-Year of the era of Nabonassar, king of Babylon, 799.

-Year of the CCVIIth Olympiad, 4.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 799.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Frontinus, 803.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Fasti Capitolini, 804.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Varro, which was that most generally used, 805.

-Year of the era of the Seleucidae, 364.

-Year of the Caesarean era of Antioch, 100.

-Year of the Julian era, 97.

-Year of the Spanish era, 90.

-Year from the birth of Jesus Christ according to Archbishop Usher, 56.

-Year of the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 52.

-Year of Ventidius Cumanus, governor of the Jews, 4.

-Year of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 3.

-Year of Caius Numidius Quadratus, governor of Syria, 2.

-Year of Ananias, high priest of the Jews, 8.

-Year of the Dionysian period, or Easter Cycle, 53.

-Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, or Common Golden Number, 15; or the first after the fifth embolismic.

-Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 12, or the first after the fourth embolismic.

-Year of the Solar Cycle, 5.

-Dominical Letters, it being Bissextile, or Leap Year, BA.

-Day of the Jewish Passover, according to the Roman computation of time, the Calends of April, i.e. April 1st, which happened in this year on the Jewish Sabbath.

-Easter Sunday, April 2.

-Epact, or the moon's age on the 22d of March, or the Xth of the Calends of April, 4

-Epact, according to the present mode of computation, or the moon's age on New Year's day, or the Calends of January, 11.

-Monthly Epacts, or the moon's age on the Calends of each month respectively, (beginning with January,) 11, 13, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, 20, 20.

-Number of Direction, or the number of days from the twenty-first of March (or the XIth of the Calends of April) to the Jewish Passover, 10.

-Year of Claudius Caesar, the fifth emperor of the Romans, 12.

-Roman Consuls, Publius Cornelius Sylla Faustus, and Lucius Salvius, Otho Titianus; and for the following year, (which is by some supposed to be the date of this epistle,) Decimus Junius Silanus, and Quintus Haterius Antoninus.

CHAPTER I.

The inscription by Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, to the Church

of the Thessalonians, 1.

St. Paul gives thanks to God for their good estate, and prays

for their continuance in the faith, 2-4.

Shows how the Gospel came to them, and the blessed effects it

produced in their life and conversation, 5-7,

How it became published from them through Macedonia and Achaia,

and how their faith was everywhere celebrated, 8.

He shows farther, that the Thessalonians had turned from

idolatry, become worshippers of the true God, and were waiting

for the revelation of Christ, 9, 10.

NOTES ON CHAP. I.

Verse 1. Paul, and: Silvanus, and Timotheus] Though St. Paul himself dictated this letter, yet he joins the names of Silas and Timothy, because they had been with him at Thessalonica, and were well known there. See Ac 17:4; Ac 17:14.

And Silvanus] This was certainly the same as Silas, who was St. Paul's companion in all his journeys through Asia Minor and Greece; see Ac 15:22; Ac 16:19; Ac 17:4; Ac 17:10. Him and Timothy, the apostle took with him into Macedonia, and they continued at Berea when the apostle went from thence to Athens; from this place St. Paul sent for them to come to him speedily, and, though it is not said that they came while he was at Athens, yet it is most probable that they did; after which, having sent them to Thessalonica, he proceeded to Corinth, where they afterwards rejoined him, and from whence he wrote this epistle. See the preface.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The greater part of this Epistle consists of exhortations. Paul had instructed the Thessalonians in the right faith. On hearing, however, that persecutions were raging there, he had sent Timothy with the view of animating them for the conflict, that they might not give way through fear, as human infirmity is apt to do. Having been afterwards informed by Timothy respecting their entire condition, he employs various arguments to confirm them in steadfastness of faith, as well as in patience, should they be called to endure anything for the testimony of the gospel. These things he treats of in the first three Chapters.

In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, he exhorts them, in general terms, to holiness of life, afterwards he recommends mutual benevolence, and all offices that flow from it. Towards the end, however, he touches upon the question of the resurrection, and explains in what way we shall all be raised up from death. From this it is manifest, that there were some wicked or light-minded persons, who endeavored to unsettle their faith by unseasonably bringing forward many frivolous things. Hence with the view of cutting off all pretext for foolish and needless disputations, he instructs them in few words as to the views which they should entertain.

In the Fifth Chapter he prohibits them, even more strictly, from inquiring as to times; but admonishes them to be ever on the watch, lest they should be taken unawares by Christ’s sudden and unexpected approach. From this he proceeds to employ various exhortations, and then concludes the Epistle.

The brevity of the inscription clearly shews that Paul’s doctrine had been received with reverence among the Thessalonians, and that without controversy they all rendered to him the honor that he deserved. For when in other Epistles he designates himself an Apostle, he does this for the purpose of claiming for himself authority. Hence the circumstance, that he simply makes use of his own name without any title of honor, is an evidence that those to whom he writes voluntarily acknowledged him to be such as he was. The ministers of Satan, it is true, had endeavored to trouble this Church also, but it is evident that their machinations were fruitless. He associates, however, two others along with himself, as being, in common with himself, the authors of the Epistle. Nothing farther is stated here that has not been explained elsewhere, excepting that he says, “the Church in God the Father, and in Christ;” by which terms (if I mistake not) he intimates, that there is truly among the Thessalonians a Church of God. This mark, therefore, is as it were an approval of a true and lawful Church. We may, however, at the same time infer from it, that a Church is to be sought for only where God presides, and where Christ reigns, and that, in short, there is no Church but what is founded upon God, is gathered under the auspices of Christ, and is united in his name.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus,.... These are the persons concerned in this epistle, and who send their greetings and salutations to this church; Paul was the inspired writer of it, and who is called by his bare name, without any additional epithet to it, as elsewhere in his other epistles; where he is either styled the servant, or apostle, or prisoner of Christ, but here only Paul: the reason for it is variously conjectured; either because he was well known by this church, having been lately with them; or lest these young converts should be offended and stumble at any pompous title, which they might imagine carried an appearance of arrogance and pride; or because there were as yet no false apostles among them, who had insinuated anything to the disadvantage of Paul, as in other places, which obliged him to assert his character and magnify his office; or rather because this was the first epistle he wrote, and he being conscious to himself of his own meanness, and that he was the least of the apostles, and unworthy to be called one, chose not to use the title. Silvanus is the same with Silas, who was with the apostle at Thessalonica and at Corinth, when he wrote this epistle; he was originally a member of the church at Jerusalem, and was one of the chief of the brethren there, and a prophet; see Act 17:4, Timothy was also with the apostle at the same place, and was sent back by him from Athens to know their state, and returned to Corinth to him with Silas; he stands last, as being the younger, and perhaps was the apostle's amanuensis, and therefore in modesty writes his name last: the reason of their being mentioned was because, having been with the apostle at this place, they were well known by the church, who would be glad to hear of their welfare; as also to show their continued harmony and consent in the doctrines of the Gospel; they stand in the same order in Co2 1:19,

unto the church of the Thessalonians: which consisted of several of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, both Jews and Gentiles; See Gill on Act 17:4, who were called under the ministry of the word by the grace of God, out of darkness into marvellous light, and were separated from the rest of the world, and incorporated into a Gospel church state. This was a particular congregated church of Christ. Some have thought it was not as yet organized, or had proper officers in it; since no mention is made of pastors and deacons, but the contrary is evident from Th1 5:12, where they are exhorted to know, own, and acknowledge them that laboured among them, and were over them in the Lord, and esteem them highly for their works' sake. This church is said to be

in God the Father; were interested in his love and free favour, as appears by their election of God, Th1 1:4, and they were in the faith of God the Father, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the profession of it, and so were distinguished from an assembly of Heathens that were in the faith of idols, and not of the one true and living God, and especially as the Father of Christ; they were in fellowship with God the Father, and they were drawn by the efficacy of his grace to himself and to his Son, and were gathered together and embodied in a church state under his direction and influence; he was the author of them as a church, and they were plants of Christ's heavenly Father's planting, not to be plucked up; and they were, as the Arabic version renders it, "addicted" to God the Father; they were devoted to his service; they had his word among them, which they had received not as the word of men, but as the word of God; and his ordinances were duly and faithfully administered among them, and attended on by them:

and in the Lord Jesus Christ; they were chosen in him before the foundation of the world; they were chosen in him as their head and representative; they were in him as members of his body, and as branches in the vine; they were openly in him by the effectual calling and conversion, were in the faith of him, and in the observance of his commands, an in communion with him; and so were distinguished from a Jewish synagogue or congregation: all this being true, at least of the far greater part of them, is said of them all, in a judgment of charity, they being under a profession of the Christian religion:

grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the apostle's usual salutation and wish in all his epistles to the churches; See Gill on Rom 1:7, the words "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" are left out in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions; and the Arabic version omits the last clause, "and the Lord Jesus Christ"; and the Ethiopic version only reads, "peace be unto you and his grace".

(a) Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 10. (b) Ptolom. l. 3. c. 13. (c) Strabe, l. 7.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ver. 1. Paul and Sylvanus] Otherwise called Silas, Act 15:40, as Jehoshuah the high priest is called Joshua, Ezr 3:2; Ezr 5:2. It is not therefore unlawful to abbreviate names.

Unto the church of the Thessalonians] Thessalonica, the chief city of Macedonia, is now known by the name of Salonicks, and is under the Turk. For the plantation of a church here, see Act 17:1-9. {See Trapp on "Act 17:1"} &c. There are 30 churches of Christians in it this day, and but three of Mahometans.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Paul. It is observed that St. Paul never calls himself an apostle in either of the epistles to the Thessalonians. The reason why he deviates from his ordinary custom on this occasion, probably is, that joining his name with the other two, he did not like to assume a title, though his due, which the others did not possess. (Estius) --- Such condescension to your neighbours’ feelings, even in trifles, is highly delicate and praiseworthy. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Paul and Silvanus: why not Paul the apostle, as in some other Epistles? Because his apostleship was not doubted of by them, they had such an eminent seal of it upon their hearts; and there was no false apostles among them to question or deny it. And he joins Silvanus with him; whom Peter calls a faithful brother, 1Pe 5:12, and was a minister of the gospel joining with himself in that work among the Corinthians, 2Co 1:19, as also among these Thessalonians, as appears, Act 17:4, though there called by contraction of his name, or by another name, Silas; who is also mentioned, Act 15:22, as one chief among the brethren, and sent by the church of Jerusalem to accompany Paul and Barnabas to Antioch; and styled a prophet, Act 15:32; and chosen by Paul to accompany him rather than Mark, Act 15:40. And being an instrument with himself in converting these Thessalonians, and being also in their love and esteem, he joins his name with his own in the Epistle.

And Timotheus; his name is Greek, for his father was a Greek, but his mother a Jewess, Act 16:1, whose name was Eunice, 2Ti 1:5. He was brought up in the Jewish religion, instructed from a child by his parents in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, but instructed by Paul in the faith of Christ, whom therefore he calls his son in the faith, 1Ti 1:2, well reported of by the brethren, Act 16:2; whom Paul laid hands upon with other elders to separate him to the work of the ministry, and the office of an evangelist, and thereby had a gift of God bestowed upon him, 2Ti 1:6; called by Paul his συνεργος, or work-fellow, Rom 16:21, and particularly in the conversion of these Thessalonians, together with Silvanus, as appears, Act 17:14. He abode with them when Paul was persecuted from them, as there we find; and was sent to them from Athens afterwards by Paul to know their state, and strengthen their faith, 1Th 3:1,2. And thereupon, that his Epistle might obtain the greater respect, he joins his name also in it; as he doth also in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, in his Epistle to the Philippians, and to the Colossians. He being Paul's companion in his ministry among the Gentiles in their first conversion, and a man of great name in the churches, he therefore so frequently joins his name with his own. And also that he might show their consent in the truth they delivered to the churches, which might the more confirm their faith in theirs.

Unto the church of the Thessalonians; the church inhabiting Thessalonica, which was a chief city in Macedonia, a metropolis, famous for antiquity, largeness, pleasant situation, and commerce. Plin. lib. 1Th 4:10. First called Thessalia, and being conquered by king Philip, was called Thessalonica. Philippi was also another great city of Macedonia, where was planted another church, to whom the apostle writes; whereby we may see that God had a great work for Paul here, when he called him in a vision to go to Macedonia.

Which is in God the Father; not as the Son of God is in the Father, to be one substance and essence with him; nor as the human nature is in the Divine nature of Christ, to be one person with the Father; but it imports either their forsaking false gods and joining themselves to the worship of the true God, as in 1Th 1:9, ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God; called therefore in a distinction from them:

God the Father: or else their worshipping God according to the revelation made of him in the gospel, where he is called Father. But in a sense differing from what Plato or Homer, and other heathens, understood when they called the chief God, Father; either with respect to their inferior deities, of whom they styled him Father, or the works of creation proceeding from him as his offspring. And their being in him may yet imply more than this; which is their being joined to God in covenant, as their God and Father; and so believing in him, established upon him as their foundation, and as their centre resting in him. It may also further imply their union and communion with God through the Spirit, whereby the saints are said to abide in God, and to dwell in him, and he in them, 1Jo 2:27,28, yea, to be in him who is the true God, 1Jo 5:20.

And in the Lord Jesus Christ; these two are put together, because there is no access to God the Father, no true worship of him, no union or communion with him, and so no being in him, but through Jesus Christ. And by both they might see the blessed state they were now brought to by the gospel; being before strangers to God the Father and Jesus Christ, but now in them. And though being in God the Father is first mentioned, yet in the order of nature we are first in Christ, and through him in God the Father. And the apostle the rather asserts this of them, because the gospel came to them not in word only, but in power. And hereby he gives them the character of a true church of Christ, what it is, at least what it ought to be; for to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, imports more than literal knowledge, dogmatical faith, or outward profession.

Grace be unto you, and peace; this the apostle calls his salutation with his own hand, which is my token, saith he, in every epistle, so I write, 2Th 3:17. Read 1Co 1:3; 2Co 1:2, &c. And under the Old Testament the Jew's usual salutation was: Peace be to you; under the New it is: Grace and peace. Peace comprehends all blessings; and grace or favour, the spring out of which they flow. The grace of God is now said to have appeared and to shine forth, Tit 2:2, and the church of God to be blest with all spiritual blessings, Eph 1:3; so that now the apostle Paul salutes the churches with grace and peace; and the apostle Peter adds: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, 2Pe 1:2. Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied, Jud 1:2. Or if we take grace for grace inherent in us, as sometimes it is taken; and peace for the inward tranquillity of mind, heart, and conscience; the text may bear it. Yet the former rather meant to you, to you that are in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ: not to infidels out of the church; grace to you, and peace.

From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; wherein are showed grace and peace in their original, from God; and not from God absolutely considered, but as our Father: as a Father he conveys the blessings of grace and peace to his children; but yet not immediately, but through

Jesus Christ, as merited by his blood, and procured by his intercession. The Holy Ghost is not mentioned, though he must be understood; but he is rather considered as the actual conveyer of these blessings, than the original or procurer of them. And the three Persons work in the same order in the work of redemption as of creation, though more distinctly.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Paul - In this epistle St. Paul neither uses the title of an apostle, nor any other, as writing to pious and simple-hearted men, with the utmost familiarity. There is a peculiar sweetness in this epistle, unmixed with any sharpness or reproof: those evils which the apostles afterward reproved having not yet crept into the church.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Introduction and Thanksgiving.

v. 1. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you and peace from God, our father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

v. 2. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;

v. 3. remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

v. 4. knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

In this, probably the first letter written by St. Paul to any congregation, we find all the characteristics which give to his epistles the vigor and the charm that unfailingly impress the reader. Since his apostolic authority at this time had in no way been questioned or assailed, he opens his letter with the simplest form of salutation: Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the congregation of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Paul’s letter, dictated by him in his capacity as teacher of this second Macedonian congregation. And yet, so little of pride is found in him that he joins the names of Silvanus, or Silas, and Timothy, his two assistants in the work at Thessalonica, to his own, not as coauthors, but as fellow laborers. Silas was a Jewish Christian, originally one of the leaders and a prophet of the congregation at Jerusalem, Act 15:22. He had been one of the bearers of the resolutions which had been passed by the great church assembly in Jerusalem, to be delivered to the congregation at Antioch and to be brought to the attention of the Gentile Christians everywhere. After the altercation with Barnabas, Paul chose this man as his companion on the second missionary journey, Act 15:32. He was not bound by Judaistic scruples, but realized the necessity of entering upon the work among the Gentiles with all aggressiveness. He was at Paul’s side in work and suffering, before magistrates, in prison, in prayer, in miraculous deliverance, in flight, Act 16:19; Act 17:4; Act 18:5. Later we find him mentioned as a faithful brother, 1Pe 5:12, and an assistant of Peter in the work in Asia Minor. Timothy had been, ever since the second missionary journey, a faithful assistant and fellow-laborer of the apostle, whom the latter loved both as a brother and as a son in faith. No man was so near and dear to the great missionary of the Gentiles as Timothy.

Paul addressed his letter to the church, or congregation, of the Thessalonians, not merely to the officers, the presbyters and deacons, but to all the members. There were no hierarchical distinctions in those days, neither did men think of restricting the study of the Word of God to the preachers or priests. The entire congregation, all the true believers in Christ in the city, were in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This profound and stately expression does not denote merely a fellowship with God and the Savior Jesus Christ, but it emphasizes that the entire life of the believers is in God, that their entire sphere, their whole state of existence, is in the Lord, Rom 16:11; Joh 15:4; 1Jn 2:5; 1Jn 5:20. The fact that the Christians are in Christ and in God, the two persons of the Godhead being one in essence, makes them new creatures, separates them from the world and consecrates them to the Lord. The apostolic salutation to this congregation of consecrated believers is brief, but comprehensive: Grace to you and peace. He wishes that the kindness, the favor, the mercy of God may be theirs for the sake of Christ, and that thus they might enter into the right relation with God once more, a relation which had been torn asunder by the Fall. He that is the possessor of the grace of God through Jesus Christ will also be sure of the peace with God in Jesus Christ,

The first thought which Paul voices, as in most of his other letters, is one of thanksgiving to God: We give thanks to God always on behalf of all of you, making mention of you in our prayers without ceasing. See Php 1:3-4; Col 1:3. To the apostle the great works of God for man’s salvation, as they appear in the church at Thessalonica, seem ever anew great and worthy of praise and adoration. At the same time he wants every single one of his readers to understand that he is included in this prayer of thanksgiving, that the spiritual welfare of every single Christian engages his attention. He remembers them all in his prayer of thanksgiving, and that without ceasing, regularly. It had become habitual with the apostle to recall the state of every congregation and to lay the needs of every congregation before the Lord in prayer, never omitting the words of thanksgiving for all the spiritual favors of the past and for the many which would surely come through the Gospel in the future.

In this attitude Paul was strengthened by his knowledge of the spiritual condition of the brethren at Thessalonica: Remembering your work of faith and your labor of love and your patience of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father. Neither distance nor new interests made any difference in the love of the apostle, because he could not forget the faith, the love, and the hope of the Thessalonians, the three cardinal Christian virtues. Their faith in Jesus Christ, by which they had themselves firmly grasped their redemption, did not remain idle and dead, but became manifest in a course of action with all vigor and strength, as should ever be the case. Genuine faith always gives evidence of its existence in good works. Paul remembers also their toil of love, their strenuous, devoted, fatiguing labor. Faith has laid hold of the grace of God in Christ and breaks forth in action: love guides this action in the paths of unselfishness, it seeks ways and opportunities of serving the neighbor, of coming to his assistance, even if that course should demand some measure of real sacrifice. And so, finally, Paul can speak of their patience of hope, their unwearied constancy in suffering and affliction. Patience is the inseparable companion of hope, for it is only in view of the future glory that we Christians are able to bear the suffering of this present time, Rom 8:18; 2Co 4:17-18; Heb 11:26. This hope is based upon Christ, who is its object. He has given to His Christians the promise of eternal salvation, and His return in glory will result in our entering upon the inheritance of the saints in glory. Therefore the hope of the Christians persists in spite of delay and discouraging hardships. They hold it before God and their Father; sure of their adoption, of their sonship in Jesus Christ, they are looking forward to the inheritance promised to them by the gracious will of the Father.

By the side of his remembrance of the Christian virtues as they were practiced in the midst of the Thessalonians, which prompted him to raise his voice in thanksgiving to God, the apostle places another reason: Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election. He has the knowledge, the firm assurance, impressed upon him by the condition of affairs at Thessalonica, that these Christians, whom he designates as the beloved of God, are also the elect of God. Their faith and the evidences of their faith are to him a proof of their having been elected by God unto eternal salvation; the election of God has manifested itself in bringing about the change in their hearts which showed itself in their Christian virtues. That is the great comfort of every believer: the fact that he knows Jesus to be his Savior, the fact that God has wrought faith in his heart, is to him a guarantee of his election unto eternal life.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

St. Paul begins this epistle, as he does the rest, with a very kind and gracious salutation; in which we have observable, the persons saluting, the parties saluted, and the salutation itself.

Note, 1. The persons saluting, Paul, Silvanus and Timotheus: Paul only was the inspired writer of this epistle, the other two were his associates and assistants, instruments with him in converting the Thessalonians to Christianity, and whom they had a deservedly great affection for: he joins them therefore with himself, as asserters and approvers of the truth contained in this his epistle, that so he might procure the greater respect to the doctrines it contained ; he therefore names them with himself, Paul, Silvanus, or Silas, as he is called, Acts 17, and Timotheus:

But why not Paul an apostle, or Paul a servant of Jesus Christ, as in other epistles, but bare Paul only?

Ans. Because his apostleship was not at all questioned by them; the Thessalonians had a seal of it in their hearts; and there were no false apostles among them to deny his apostleship, as the Galatians and other churches had.

The prudent and faithful ministers of Christ know both how and when to use those titles of honour and respect which God hath given them, and also when it is convenient to forbear the assuming of them.

Note, 2. The persons saluted, The church of the Thessalonians. Thessalonica was the metropolis, or mother city of Macedonia, where a Christian church was planted by the ministry of St. Paul and Silas, but with great opposition from the Jews, who forced Paul to fly to Berea for his own safety, Acts 17, and Jason, with others that entertained him, had like to have been sacrificed in their own houses; yet there, in despite of the devil’s rage, and persecutor’s malice, doth God erect a glorious church, a Christian church, in honour of his son, who purchased it with his blood.

Learn hence, that when and where God will gather to himself a church, no opposition, either of men or devils, shall be sufficient to hinder it; as Rome itself, nay, in the court of Nero, under the very nose of that bloody tyrant, was a church collected, Php 4:22. No wonder the devil struggles, when his kingdom totters; it follows, which (church) is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, established in the knowledge, faith, worship, and obedience of God the Father; they were Gentiles, called off from their dumb idols, to serve the living and true God, and were distinguished from all other societies and communions whatsoever; they were in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, they enjoyed a blessed union with Jesus Christ by faith, and a sweet communion and fellowship both with Father and Son, by the bond of the Spirit.

Behold the high dignity and glorious privilege of the Christian church, to be thus knit and united both to the Father and the Son, by the agency of the Holy Spirit! To the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note, 3. The salutation itself, Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where observe, 1. The option signifies, first, the gracious favour of God towards us; and, next, all the gifts of grace, all benefits and blessings issuing forth and flowing from thence: peace, usually signifies in the scripture language, all manner of outward prosperity and happiness.

2. The author and fountain from whence these blessings flow.

1. From God the Father:

2. From the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ; intimating, that whatever spiritual grace or temporal blessing we now receive from God, is from him, not barely as a Creator, but as a Father, a gracious Father in Christ, in whom he pours out the immensity of his love upon us, and through whom he conveys all kinds of blessings unto us.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. “To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” How plain, explicit, and unmistakable is the New Testament! And what a contrast with the Churchism of the present day, in which we find dancers, card-players, theatergoers, horserace-goers, circus-goers, extortioners, swindlers, whisky-drinkers, and other sins too dark to mention! Common sense teaches the most stupid Bible-reader that none of these characters can possibly be members of God’s Church, the Ecclesia, who, responsive to the call of the Holy Ghost, have come out of the world, and separated themselves unto God. Here we see that all the members of the Thessalonian Church are “in God the Father and Jesus Christ.” Nothing but the genuine regeneration of the Holy Ghost can put the soul “in God the Father and Jesus Christ.” Yet we have preachers who stultify themselves by the assumption that these Thessalonians were not converted (in order to get rid of the second work of grace). O that they could only salute their own Churches “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. [In this salutation Silas and Timothy are united with Paul because they had aided Paul in founding the church at Thessalonica. The account of the founding of this church will be found in Acts 17. Silas is mentioned before Timothy because he is older, both in years and in service. Compare Act_15:22 ; Act_15:32 ; Act_15:40 with Act_16:1-3 . Silvanus is the full name, and Silas the abbreviation. The name is Roman, and Silas was a Roman citizen ( Act_16:37 ). Silas was now at Corinth with Paul, and Paul mentions his services there ( 2Co_1:19 ). Much of the opening part of this letter embraces Silas and Timothy in its thought, but in 1Th_2:18 Paul distinguishes himself from them, and from that time on the letter is wholly his. Neither in this Epistle nor in that to the Philippians does Paul speak of himself as an apostle. In other Epistles he affirms his apostleship because, in the case of the Epistle to the Romans, he wrote to strangers, and in other cases his apostleship had been challenged. As to Thessalonica, see the Introduction. The church is spoken of as being in God and in Christ because in this respect it differs from all other organizations. It is its privilege to dwell in fellowship with God, so that it may be, as it were, ensphered and encircled by him. Grace was the Greek and peace the Hebrew salutation; Paul here combines them. Grace indicates the favor of God and all the gifts which flow from it, while peace represents tranquility and prosperity, either inward or outward.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1 Thessalonians Chapter 1

The apostle, in declaring (as was his custom) that which he felt respecting them-the aspect in which they appeared to his heart and mind, speaks neither of gifts, as to the Corinthians, nor of the grand features of an exaltation that embraced the Lord and all saints, as to the Ephesians and even to the Colossians (with the addition of that which their state required); nor of the brotherly affection and fellowship of love which the Philippians had manifested in their connection with himself; nor of a faith that existed apart from his labors, and in communion with which he hoped to refresh himself, adding to it that which his abundant gifts enabled him to impart to them, as he writes to the Romans whom he had not yet seen.

Here it is the life itself of the Christian in its first fresh impressions, in its intrinsic qualities, as it developed itself by the energy of the Holy Ghost on earth, the life of God here below in them, which he remembers in his prayers with so much satisfaction and joy. Three great principles, he tells the Corinthians (l Cor.13) form the basis, and ever abide as the foundation of this life-faith, hope, and love. Now these three were the powerful and divine motives of the life of the Thessalonians. This life was not merely a habit; it flowed, in its outward activities, from immediate communion with its source. These activities were quickened and maintained by divine life, and by keeping the eye constantly fixed upon the object of faith. There was work, and labour, and endurance. There were the same in Ephesus, as we see it in Rev 2:1-29. But here it was a work of faith, labour undertaken by love, endurance fed by hope. Faith, hope, and love are, we have seen, the springs of Christianity in this world. The work, the labour, the endurance continued at Ephesus, but ceased to be characterised by these great and mighty principles. The habit continued, but the communion was wanting They had forsaken their first love.

The first to the Thessalonians is the expression of the living power in which the assembly is planted: Ephesus, in Rev 2:1-29, of its first departure from that state.

May our work be a work of faith, drawing its strength, its existence even, from our communion with God our Father! May it be, each moment, the fruit of the realisation of that which is invisible, of the life which lives in the certainty, the immutable certainty, of the word! May it thus bear the impress of the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ, and be a testimony to it.

May our labour in service be the fruit of love, not performed merely as duty and obligation, although it was this, if we know that it is before us to be done!

May the patience that we must have, in order to go through this wilderness, be, not the necessity we feel because the path is before us, but an endurance sustained by the hope that belongs to our view of Jesus by faith, and that is waiting for Him!

These principles, faith, hope, and love, form our character as Christians: [1] but it cannot, and ought not to, be formed in us without having objects. Accordingly the Spirit presents them here. They have a twofold character. The heart rests by faith on Jesus, waits for Him, counts upon Him, links itself with Him in its walk. He has walked here below, He represents us in heaven, He watches over us as the good Shepherd. He loves His own; He nourishes and cherishes them: our faith and our hope keep Him always in view. The conscience is before God our Father; it is not in the spirit of fear: there is no uncertainty as to our relationship. We are the children of a Father who lovesus perfectly; but we are before God. His light has authority and power in the conscience: we walk in the sense that His eye is upon us, in love but upon us. And light makes everything manifest. It judges all that might weaken the sweet and peaceful realisation of the presence of God, and our communion with Jesus, and our confidence in Him, the intimacy of the intercourse between our souls and the Lord. These two principles are of all importance for abiding peace, for the progress of our souls. Without them the soul flags. The one sustains confidence, the other keeps us in the light with a good conscience. Without the latter, faith (not to say more) loses its liveliness; without the former, the conscience be comes legal, and we lose spiritual strength, light and ardour.

The apostle reminds them also of the means used by God to produce this condition, that is, the gospel, the word, brought in power and in much assurance to the soul by the Holy Ghost. The word had power in their heart-came to it as the word of God; the Spirit Himself revealed Himself in it, giving the consciousness of His presence; and the consequence of this was the full assurance of the truth in all its power, in all its reality. The apostle’s life, his whole conduct, confirmed the testimony which he bore-formed a part of it. Accordingly (it is always the case) the fruit of his labors answered in character to him who laboured; the Christianity of the Thessalonians resembled that of Paul. It was like the walk of the Lord Himself whom Paul followed so closely. It was “in much affliction,” for the enemy could not bear so plain a testimony, and God granted this grace to such a testimony, and “with joy of the Holy Ghost.”

Happy testimony to the power of the Spirit working in the heart! When this is so, everything becomes testimony to others. They see that there is in Christians a power of which they are ignorant, motives which they have not experienced, a joy which they may scoff at but which they do not possess; a conduct which strikes them, and which they admire, although they do not follow it; a patience which shews the impotence of the enemy in striving against a power that endures everything, and that rejoices in spite of all his efforts. What can we do with those who allow themselves to be killed without becoming less joyful, nay, whom it makes more so; who are above all our motives when left to themselves, and who, if oppressed, possess their souls in perfect joy in spite of all our opposition; and who are unconquered by torments, finding in these only an occasion for bearing a stronger testimony that Christians are beyond our power? At peace, life is all of it a testimony; death even in torture, is still more so. Such is the Christian, where Christianity exists in its true power, in its normal condition according to God-the word (of the gospel) and the presence of the Spirit, reproduced in the life, in a world estranged from God.

Thus it was with the Thessalonians; and the world, in spite of itself, became an additional witness to the power of the gospel. An ensample to believers in other places, they were the subject of report and conversation to the world, which was never weary of discussing this phenomenon, so new and so strange, of people who had given up all that governed the human heart, all to which it was subject, and worshiped one only living and true God, to whom even the natural conscience bore testimony. The gods of the heathen were the gods of the passions, not of the conscience. And this gave a living reality, an actuality, to the position of Christians and to their religion. They waited for His Son from heaven.

Happy indeed were those Christians whose walk and whole existence made of the world itself a witness for the truth, who were so distinct in their confession, so consistent in their life, that an apostle did not need to speak of that which he had preached, of that which he had been among them. The world spoke of it for him and for them.

A few words on the testimony itself, which, simple as it may be, is of great importance,and contains principles of great moral depth. It forms the basis of the whole life, and of all the Christian affections also, that are unfolded in the Epistle, which, besides this development, contains only a special revelation of the circumstances and the order of the coming of Christ to call His people to Himself, and of the difference between that event and the day of the Lord to judge the world, although this latter follows on the former.

That which the apostle points out, as the testimony borne by the faithful walk of the Thessalonians, contained three principal subjects: 1st, they had forsaken their idols to serve the living and true God; 2nd, they were waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He had raised from among the dead; 3rd, the Son was a safeguard from the wrath which was to be revealed.

An immense fact-simple but of vast import-characterises Christianity. It gives us a positive object; and this object is nothing less. than God Himself. Human nature may discover the folly of that which is false. We scorn false gods and graven images; but we cannot get beyond ourselves, we cannot reveal anything to ourselves. One of the most renowned names of antiquity is pleased to tell us, that all would go well if men followed nature (it is manifest that they could not rise above it); and, in fact, he would be in the right if man were not fallen. But to require man to follow nature is a proof that he is fallen, that he has degraded himself below the normal state of that nature. He does not follow it in the walk that suits its constitution. All is in disorder. Self-will carries him away, and acts in his passions. Man has forsaken God, and has lost the power and centre of attraction that kept him in his place and everything in his own nature in its place. Man cannot recover himself, he cannot direct himself; for, apart from God, there is nothing but self-will that guides man. There are many objects that furnish occasion for the acting of the passions and the will; but there is no object which, as a centre, gives him a regular, constant, and durable moral position in relationship with that object, so that his character should bear its stamp and value. Man must either have a moral centre, capable of forming him as a moral being, by attracting him to itself and filling his affections, so that he shall be the reflex of that object; or he must act in self-will, and then he is the sport of his passions; or, which is the necessary consequence, he is the slave of any object that takes possession of his will. A creature, who is a moral being, cannot subsist without an object. To be self-sufficing is the characteristic of God.

The equilibrium which subsisted in the unconsciousness of good and evil is lost. Man no longer walks as man, having nothing in his mind outside his normal condition, outside that which he possessed; not having a will, or, which comes to the same thing, having a will that desired nothing more than it possessed, but that gratefully enjoyed all that was, already appropriated to its nature, and especially the companionship of a being like himself, a help who had his own nature, and who answered to his heart-blessing God for everything.

Now man wills. While he has lost that which formed the sphere of his enjoyment, there is in him an activity which seeks, which is become unable to rest without aiming at, something farther; which has already, as will, thrown itself into a sphere that it does not fill, in which it lacks intelligence to apprehend all that is there and power to realise even that which it desires. Man, and all that has been his, no longer suffices man as enjoyment. He still needs an object. This object will either be above or below the man. If it be below, he degrades himself below himself; and it is this indeed which has taken place. He no longer lives according even to nature (as he to whom I have alluded says), a state which the apostle has described in the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans with all the horrors of the plain truth. If this object be above himself and below God, there is still nothing to govern his nature, nothing that puts him morally in his place. A good being could not take this place to exclude God from it. If a bad object gains it, he becomes to the man, a god, who shuts out the true God, and degrades man in his highest relationship-the worst of all degradations. This too has taken place. And since these beings are but creatures, they only can govern man by that which exists, and by that which acts upon him. This is to say, they are the gods of his passions. They degrade the idea of the Divinity: they degrade the practical life of humanity into slavery to the passions (which are never satisfied, and which invent evil when they are surfeited with excess in that which is natural to them) and are thus left without resource. Such in fact was the condition of man under Paganism.

Man, and above all, man having knowledge of good and evil, should have God for his object; and as an object that his heart can entertain with pleasure, and on which his affections can be exercised: other wise he is lost. The gospel-Christianity-has given him this, God, who fills all things, who is the source of, in whom is centered, all blessing, all good-God, who is all love, who has all power, who embraces everything in His knowledge, because everything (except the forsaking of Himself) is but the fruit of His mind and will-God has revealed Himself in Christ to man, in order that his heart, occupied with with Him, with perfect confidence in His goodness, may know Him, may enjoy His presence, and reflect His character.

The sin and misery of man have but lent occasion to an infinitely more complete development of what this God is, and of the perfection of His nature, in love, in wisdom, and in power. But we are here considering only the fact, that He has given Himself to man for an object. Nevertheless, although the misery of man has but given room for a much more admirable revelation of God, yet God Himself must have an object worthy of Himself to be the subject of His purposes, and in order to unfold all His affections. This object is the glory of His Son-His Son Himself. A being of an inferior nature could not have been this to Him, although God can glorify Himself in His grace to such and one. The object of the affections, and the affections that are exercised with regard to it, are necessarily correlative. Thus God has displayed His sovereign and immense grace with regard to that which was the most wretched, the most unworthy, the most necessitous; and He has displayed all the majesty of His being, all the excellence of His nature, in connection with an object in whom He could find all His delight, and exhibit all that He is in the glory of His nature. But it is as man-marvelous truth in the eternal counsels of God!-that this object of God the Father’s delight has taken His place in this glorious revelation by which God makes Himself known to His creatures. God has ordained and prepared man for this, Thus the heart that is taught by the Spirit knows God as revealed in this immense grace, in the love that comes down from the throne of God to the ruin and misery of the sinner; he finds himself, in Christ, in the knowledge and in the enjoyment of the love which God has for the object of His eternal delight, who also is worthy of being so; of the communications by which He testifies that love (Joh 17:7-8); and, finally, of the glory which is its public demonstration before the universe. This latter part of our ineffable blessedness is the subject of Christ’s communications at the end of John’s Gospel. (Chaps 14, 16, and, in particular 17) [2] From the moment that the sinner is converted and believes the gospel, and (to complete his state, I must add) is sealed with the Holy Ghost, now that the blessed Lord has wrought redemption, he is introduced -as to the principle of his life-into this position, into these relationships with God. He is perhaps but a child; but the Father whom he knows, the love into which he has entered, the Saviour on whom his eyes are opened, are the same whom he will enjoy when he shall know as he is known. He is a Christian; he is turned from idols to God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.

We may observe, that the subject here is not the power which converts, nor the source of life. Of these other passages speak clearly. Here it is the character of the life in its manifestation. Now this depends on its objects. Life is exercised and unfolded in connection with its objects, and thus characterises itself. The source from which it flows makes it capable of enjoying it; but an intrinsic life which has no object on which it depends is not the life of a creature. Such life as that is the prerogative of God. This shews the folly of those who would have a subjective life, as they say, without its having a positively objective character; for this subjective state depends on the object with which it is occupied. It is the characteristic of God to be the source of His own thoughts without an object-to be, and to be self-sufficing (because He is perfection, and the centre and source of everything), and to create objects unto Himself, if He would have any without Himself. In a word, although receiving a life from God which is capable of enjoying Him, the moral character of man cannot be formed in him without an object that imparts it to him.

Now God has given Himself to us for an object, and has revealed Himself in Christ. If we occupy ourselves with God in Himself (supposing always that He had thus revealed Himself), the subject is too vast. It is an infinite joy; but in that which is simply infinite there is something wanting to a creature, although it is his highest prerogative to enjoy it. It is necessary to him on the one hand, in order that he may be in his place, and that God may have His place in regard to him, and on the other hand that which exalts him so admirably. It must be so; and it is the privilege given unto us, and given unto us in a priceless intimacy, for we are children, and we dwell in God, and God in us; but with this in itself there is a certain weight upon the heart in the sense of God alone. We read of “a far more exceeding and abundant weight [3] of glory.” It must be so: His majesty must be maintained when we think of Him as God, His authority over the conscience. The heart-God has so formed it-needs something which will not lower its affections, but which may have the character of companion and friend, at least to which it has access in that character.

It is this which we have in Christ, our precious Saviour. He is an object near to us. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. He has called us friends; all that He has heard from His Father He has made known to us. Is He then a means of our eyes being turned away from God ? On the contrary, it is in Him that God is manifested, in Him that even the angels see God. It is He who, being in the bosom of the Father, reveals to us His God and Father in this sweet relationship, and as He knows Him Himself. And not only this, but He is in the Father, and the Father in Him, so that He who has seen Him has seen the Father. He reveals God to us, instead of turning us away from Him. In grace He has already revealed Him, and we wait for the revelation of glory in Him. Already also on the earth, from the moment that He was born, the angels celebrated the good pleasure of God in man, for the object of His eternal delight had become a man. And now He has accomplished the work which makes possible the introduction of others, of sinners, into the enjoyment with Himself of this favour of God. Once enemies, “we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son.”

It is thus that God has reconciled us to Himself. By faith thus knowing God, we “turn from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.” The living and true God is the object of our joyful service. His Son, whom we know, who knows us, who will have us to be where He is, who has identified us with His own glory and His glory with us, He who is a glorified man for ever and firstborn among many brethren, is the object of our expectation. We expect Him from heaven, for our hopes are there, and there the seat of our joy.

We have the infinity of a God of love, the intimacy and the glory of Him who has taken part in all our infirmities, and, without sin, has borne all our sins. What a portion is ours!

But there was another side of the truth. Creatures are responsible; and, however great His love and His patience, God cannot allow evil nor contempt of His authority: if He did, all would be confusion and misery. God Himself would lose His place. There is a judgment; there is wrath to come. We were responsible; we have failed. How then shall we enjoy God and the Son in the way that I have spoken of?

Here comes in the application of the third truth of which the apostle speaks: “Which delivered us from the wrath to come.” The work of Christ has perfectly sheltered us from this wrath; He took our place in responsibility on the cross to put away sin for us by the sacrifice of Himself.

These then are the three great elements of Christian life. We serve the living and the true God, having forsaken our idols outward or inward. We expect Jesus for glory; for this sight of God makes us feel what this world is, and we know Jesus. As to our sins and our conscience, we are perfectly cleansed; we fear nothing. The life and walk of the Thessalonians was a testimony to these truths.

Footnotes for 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1

1: They are found oftener in Paul’s writings than is thought; as 1Th 5:8 and Col 1:4-5. In 2Th 1:3 we have faith and love, but he has to clear up their thoughts as to hope.

2: Compare Pro 8:30-31, and Luk 2:14, where read, “good pleasure in men.” It is beautiful to see the angels unjealously celebrating it. Love downwards in grace is great according to the misery and unworthiness of the object; upwards as the affection of the soul according to the worthiness; see both in Christ, Eph 5:2 In both in Christ self is wholly given up. He gave, not sought, Himself. The law takes self as measure as to the neighbor, and supposes him on the same footing. There is no love downwards.

3: Weight and glory are the same word in Hebrew- “Cabod”.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Silvanus is the same as the Silas of Acts. We learn from Acts (chapters 15 to 18) that both Silas and Timothy attended Paul on the second missionary journey during which the Epistle was written. Paul does not speak of his apostleship in this salutation, as in later epistles, because at this early period the Judaizing Christians had not begun to spread doubts whether he was an apostle. In God the Father. Hence, separated from the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, separated from the Jews.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

Paul identifies himself as the writer of the letter and greets the church at Thessalonica.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church

The UDB makes clear that it was Paul who wrote this letter. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

May grace and peace be to you

The terms "grace" and "peace" are metonyms for the person who acts toward people in a kindly and peaceful manner. AT: "May God be kind to you and give you peace" (See: Metonymy)

peace be to you

The word "you" refers to the Thessalonian believers. (See: Forms of You)

translationWords

Paul

Silas

Timothy

church

Thessalonica

God the Father

lord

Jesus

grace

peace

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.