1 Thessalonians 1:1 - Grace and Peace

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

Target Date: Sunday, 14 November 2021

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

Church – ekklesia – At the time of this epistle, the ekklesia was a generic name for the gathering of any society, particularly social or political associations. Paul qualified this name for the gathering by describing it as “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

In his homily on the epistle, Chrysostom comments, “For there were many assemblies, both Jewish and Grecian; but he says, ‘to the (Church) that is in God.’ It is a great dignity, and to which there is nothing equal, that it is ‘in God.’ ”

Χάρις is the source of all real blessings, εἰρήνη their end and issue” (Lightfoot, 8).

It did not express the wish that the other would have inner, emotional tranquility but rather points to the core of the saving relationship between God and a people or person. Paul, for example, tells the Roman church that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).We could say that the grace of God results in peace with God. Far from being a mere formality, in Paul’s hands the common letter greeting becomes a blessing that embraces the totality of the divine benefits he and his associates desire for the Christians in Thessalonica.

Thoughts on the Passage:

This was likely the earliest epistle of Paul and his team we have, since it was written during his Second Missionary Journey, generally not dated later than AD 50.

Much of the epistles to the Thessalonians do not have explicit doctrinal teaching; the doctrine is found as applied.

As such, this would make this epistle likely the first BOOK of the New Testament written.

Silvanus – the Latinized form of Silas.

Silas is first seen as one of the two brothers sent to Antioch with Paul to carry the decision of the Jerusalem Council:

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, - Acts 15:22

After the argument between Paul and Barnabas over whether John Mark would accompany them on their second missionary journey split them into two teams, Paul went on his journey with Silas:

 But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. – Acts 15:40

In Acts 16:22ff, Silas was beaten along with Paul in Philippi, and thrown into jail. It was there where they we both singing at midnight when the place was shaken, their bonds were loosed, and the glory of the gospel illuminated the jailer.

According to Acts 16:31ff, it was not Paul alone who spoke the gospel truth to the jailer, but both of them.

Silas, then, should not be seen as a “junior partner” nor a courtesy mention – he, and to some extent Timothy, likely had some responsibility in the letter.

We tend to think of Paul as the sole writer of these epistles, but in the letters written to churches (not individuals), 6 of the 9 letters include someone else in the authorial section of the greeting.

For all these epistles, it does not reduce the divine inspiration of these jointly-authored letters; it rather establishes the Spirit’s inspiration because it puts to flight the accusation that these are merely the opinions of a single man.

While it is ultimately unprovable (and highly speculative), the first letter recorded in the New Testament was carried by Silas from Jerusalem to Antioch. This outlined the decision of the Jerusalem council on the doctrine of the incorporation of Gentile believers to the church. We have no recorded epistles of Paul prior to the Jerusalem council, not even from Antioch following the Council’s decision. With the concern for the believers the team experienced, particularly the concerns that the church would lack some insight or fall in some error, it is possible that Silvanus initiated the writing of epistles that would become so much a part of Paul’s ministry and contribution to the church.

In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul wasn’t trying to write “the Bible”; he was writing instruction to people he cared deeply about.

The epistle to the Thessalonians definitely represents a change in the method of the gospel. To this point, the gospel has spread word-of-mouth, but with the sending of these epistles, the New Testament scripture is begun.

Jesus wrote nothing on papyrus (only on the ground in a disputed story in the gospel of John). Thus, He did not create a new scripture.

The church has exploded in growth by the preaching of the word.

But with the writing of epistles, the doctrines of the church were collected and disseminated among all the churches, becoming the New Testament scriptures we have today.

To the church: see ekklesia above.

This is addressed to the congregation, the assembly, of believers – not to a location or building.

God the Father—This marks that they were no longer heathen. the Lord Jesus Christ—This marks that they were not Jews, but Christians.

It should not be overlooked that the deity of the Son is taught here. Combining “God the Father” and “the Lord Jesus Christ” under one preposition demonstrates Jesus’ equality with the Father and consequently his deity. To deny this fact (Best, p. 63) is to approach v. 1 in an unnatural way, especially in light of kyriō (“Lord”—frequently used in reference to deity) and Christō (“Christ”—the title of Israel’s divine Messiah).

Sermon Text:

Let’s look this morning at the first verse of the epistle to the church at Thessalonica.

You will recall that Thessalonica was a major city in one of the four Roman districts that made up Macedonia.

And as we read this morning in Acts 17, the church had been formed from believers led to the gospel of Jesus Christ and trained by the three named authors of this letter:

Namely Paul, Silvanus (the Latin translation of Silas), and Timothy.

While I would not dispute that Paul was the primary author of the letter, neither do I think that these other two great men of the faith were merely included as a courtesy or an honor.

They were teachers in their own right, working with their gifts and talents to make disciples just like Paul was his.

In fact, it could be argued that Silvanus was more renowned in the church, particularly in Jerusalem, than was Paul at this time.

The first we hear of Silas is when he is sent with Paul and Barnabas to carry the first recorded letter of the New Testament to the church in Antioch (Acts 15:22)

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren,

The difficulties we remember Paul experiencing in Philippi, when he was beaten with rods and thrown into jail for the night – Silas suffered the same indignity.

And in the middle of the night, it was Silas singing hymns with Paul in that dark place, and the shackles fell from his hands and feet the same as Paul’s.

And when the Philippian jailer was intent on killing himself because he feared his prisoners had escaped, it was Paul and Silas who brought to him the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When Paul met opposition in Thessalonica after a period of time training new believers in the faith, we find that Silas and Timothy were there as well, teaching the new church to follow Jesus.

It was Paul and Silas who were again imprisoned until a man named Jason, their host in Thessalonica, put up a monetary security for their good behavior.

Silas was with Paul every step of the way, even staying in Berea with Timothy to continue training the believers there after the Jews from Thessalonica tracked the group down and began to go after Paul so much that he had to leave the city.

Silas and Timothy worked in Berea while Paul went on to Athens.

And then they reunited the team in Corinth some time later.

And it was from Corinth, during his 18-month work there establishing that church, that Paul wrote this letter to the church of the Thessalonians.

This makes the epistle to the Thessalonians, in many estimations, the very first words written of the New Testament.

You can find some who would dispute that claim, but we know almost to the year when this epistle was written – AD 50.

And here, if you will allow me, I would like to give praise to the Holy Spirit of God for what He began to do in this letter.

If you look at the entire Old Testament, or what Paul would have called “the Scriptures”, there is not a book that is simply a letter.

We have long books and short ones, but each of them is at least a sermon or a collection of sermons.

We see correspondence, such as the letters that passed back and forth to the king of Persia in Ezra, but these are not the entirety of the book.

There is law, history, poetry, and proverbial sayings,

But there is no letter that stands alone as a book.

There is no real precedent for the epistles that make up the New Testament.

Jesus never left a written word – the only record we have of Him writing is when he wrote in the dust at the trial of the woman caught in adultery.

He wrote no books, no new Scriptures.

What Jesus Christ left was His living disciples – now apostles – to carry His teaching to the world.

But in the concern Paul and his companions had for a very young church, the Holy Spirit made a new type of Scripture – the epistle.

And with the possible exception of the four gospels and the book of Acts, the entirety of the New Testament is formed of these epistles.

The great doctrines of the faith written down not on tablets of stone, but in letters sent to a particular church at a particular time for a particular purpose with the timeless and eternal doctrines preserved until the final day.

The Holy Spirit inspired these men to write the word of God in correspondence to the saints and churches of the world, and preserved them for us to this day.

He wrote His word on the hearts of these three men, and as they poured out their hearts of love for the church at Thessalonica, the word of God poured forth.

That was who they were writing to – the CHURCH of the Thessalonians.

I will apologize at this point because I will use just a bit of Greek here.

The word used here for “church” is ekklesia.

In the New Testament, it is most often translated “church”, but the meaning of the word is much more generic.

It was a fairly common word that simply meant an assembly of people, or a congregation of some sort.

Or, if you like, a gathering.

There were at that time political and social ekklesia (gatherings).

That is why the introduction doesn’t simply leave the descriptions of the recipients of this letter as the “gathering of the Thessalonians”:

They describe this unique gathering.

It was the assembly, the church, of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

This was no ordinary assembly – it was an assembly gathered in God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The fact that they gathered “in God the Father” showed they were no longer idolaters, no longer unbelievers who would face God’s wrath on the day of judgment.

And the fact they gathered “in the Lord Jesus Christ” proved they were not of the unconverted Jews, but had believed in Jesus Christ.

To this young church, where the eldest believer in Christ may have been in the faith two years, the apostle and his companions wrote out of their concern for their faith.

Because the Jews from Thessalonica had proven to be difficult to deal with.

They recruited the rabble from the city to cause trouble for the Christian converts:

But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. – Acts 17:5

And they had gone so far, as was mentioned earlier, to chase the team in the next city over – Berea:

But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. – Acts 17:13

It would be quite understandable that these men who had been relentlessly pursued by the Jews of Thessalonica would be concerned for those from Thessalonica who had believed.

The questions would rise in their hearts about the church:

Will they abandon the faith in the time of trial?

Will they fall to some heresy that might reduce the pressure they have on them?

Would they continue in the faith they had at the beginning and make good progress in their obedience to Jesus Christ?

Think about how you might feel – leading a few dozen of people to the Lord, but then, in the midst of teaching them, being forced to leave with very little wrap-up.

Not a planned departure, but one forced by the authorities in the middle of the night.

So it is important that when they address the church of the Thessalonians, it is addressed not as we see in other letters, to the “saints who are in Thessalonica”.

In many cases in those later letters, there are many house churches in a city that Paul desires the letter to be delivered to.

But this one is addressed to the church of the Thessalonians.

There are not many – there is one.

There were not a vast number of believers – there was a congregation the size of a mustard seed.

Yet even with their small numbers, they must not think stand in this place of persecution alone; they will stand as part of the church of Jesus Christ.

They are part of God’s congregation.

They are the representation of the finished work of Jesus Christ for the people of their city.

We have lost so much in our day of the comfort that should bring us – to be part of the church of Jesus Christ.

In our day of church-shopping and church-hopping, we often forget the sheer commitment we make when we are joined with a church congregation.

We are being built together with those brothers and sisters:

A family that should not be separated.

A temple of the Holy Spirit, to glorify God the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ.

I pray that if we do face days of persecution, that we shall find true comfort in one another.

That we would encourage each other to stand strong in our faith.

That we would find we hold all things in common to support the needs of our assembly.

That we would pray for each other powerfully to overcome the evil one.

So if Paul and the others had concerns for the church of the Thessalonians, we can understand where those may arise.

And so in addition to sending Timothy to teach more and to see how they were abiding in Christ,

They wrote this letter to encourage them to continue to do the things they had been taught when the team was among them.

And so with the authors understood and recipients named, we come to the blessing of the letter: Grace to you and peace.

This is the shortest benediction beginning any of Paul’s epistles.

The shortest primarily because it doesn’t contain any qualifying details like Romans 1:7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not an omission – Romans would certainly represent an enhancement of this benediction in 1 Thessalonians.

But let’s take a look at the blessing that is being given.

He is wishing them two things: Grace and peace.

Grace, as you likely know, is favor that is unmerited.

In this case, it is God’s favor they are praying for on behalf of the Thessalonians.

So often, we only equate grace with salvation, specifically justification.

And I will admit, that is probably where grace is so starkly present – when we were at one moment dead in our sin, and then in the next moment, we are made alive through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

One moment we are children of hell, destined for eternal punishment, but in the next, through no merit of our own, we are brought in, adopted, into God’s family.

In Romans 5:2, Paul speaks of a grace in which we stand.

By this he means a grace in which we remain, dwelling constantly, and cannot be separated from.

This state of favor from God that we cannot lose because we never earned it in the first place.

And it is in that same place, the beginning of Romans 5, that Paul links for us the other part of the blessing – peace.

This is specifically peace with God.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. – Romans 5:1-2

Do you have peace with God today?

Do you know that He is at peace with you because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, who died upon the cross to save you?

Grace, the grace of forgiveness and salvation, is a free gift of God through faith – and that results in every case in peace with God.

You don’t have to continue to fear His wrath or judgment –

He has made every preparation to clothe you with the divine righteousness of Jesus Christ,

Removing your sins from you and crushing them on the cross of Jesus Christ.

God is not your enemy if He is your Lord.

And He is your Lord if you place all your faith on His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for your salvation.

If you are waiting so you can be a little better, do a little better, clean up your life, you have not found that faith that receives God’s grace.

The faith that cries out to God is one that flows from a bankruptcy of spirit (Matthew 5:3), realizing you will NEVER have anything worthy to offer God.

It is the knowledge that there is nothing you can do to make yourself more worthy or more acceptable to God’s grace.

That is must simply be taken through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace – the beginning and the end.

Grace is the beginning, proceeding from the heart of God.

Peace is the result, bringing us into loving fellowship with God.