1 Thessalonians Part 1

1 Thessalonians setting review

Written not long after he left Thessalonians.

Written to encourage a church that was under persecution.

1 Thessalonians 1:1

“1 This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and peace.”

What we see in this first verse is the senders, the recipients, and a greeting.

Senders: Paul, Silas, and Timothy

Based on the use of “we” within the letter Paul wanted the recipients to know this letter was from all of them.

Also based on his use of “I” within the text, Paul was the writer of the text.

Silas was partner at the start of Pauls second missionary journey after he and Barnabas had a falling out over Mark.

The actual name in Greek is Silvanus and is the same person we read about in the book of acts.

Timothy was someone who joined Paul and Silas as they traveled through Lystra. You could almost say he was a jr member of the group, but one who would become prominent.

Recipients: The church in the city of Thessalonica

When Paul writes he uses a greek word that gets interpreted as church, that greek word is ekklesia, in it’s simplest for it just means assembly. A group that is meeting together. But when writing letters there is a deeper connection than just an assembly.

The LXX is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the OT. It uses both ekkleisa and synagoge and “each designates Israel both as a gathered assembly and as God’s people. As synagogue grew to designate local Jewish congregations, so in Paul’s writing ekklesia grew to mean those who share a common faith is Jesus.

Paul uses ekklesia to indicate individual house churches - Romans 16:5 “5 Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.

Paul uses it to indicate local congregations - Romans 16:1 “1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea.” As he does here in 1 Thess.

Paul uses it to indicate the Christian movement as a whole - 1 Corinthians 12:28 “28 Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.” and in Colossians 1:18 “18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.”

In his commentary on 1 Thess, Micheal Holmes says this about identifying the recepients using “you who belong to God the Father and The Lord Jesus Christ…

“…the close linkage of God and Jesus indicates their unity and purpose and action, without which and apart from which the Christian ekklesia does not exist. More over the full christological formula “the Lord Jesus Christ” brings to mind key aspects of God’s saving work in Christ that brought the church into existence: The name “Jesus” lays stress on his death, the title “Christ” emphasizes his resurrection, and “Lord” expresses the believer’s profession of faith in Jesus the Christ.”

Greeting: May God give you grace and peace

The best way to understand this phrase is “may God’s favor be upon you and may you live in his peace.”

After the greeting we see a prayer. The thanking of God for them and continual prayer for them.

1 Thessalonians 1:2–3

“2 We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. 3 As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul stresses three things they do that cause him to thank God.

faithful work is better understood as “Your work produced by faith”

loving deeds can be understood as “your labor prompted by love”

enduring hope as “your endurance inspirited by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”

We see this triad of faith, love and hope many times

Romans 5:1–5 “1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 “13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

Galatians 5:5–6 “5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us (or the hope of righteousness). 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”

Colossians 1:4–5 “4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.”

Hebrews 10:22–24 “22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him (full assurance of faith). For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”

I want to quickly look at something about love, agape.

This form of love was not used much in writings specifically and while there was a hint of unconditional aspects to love it was not overtly unconditional.

Agape became popular with the NT writers where it took on a dominant role with a purely unconditional aspect.

It’s use was started to replace and contradict the eros love found in many places amongst greek writers of the time.

Leon Morris in his commentary says this…

Perhaps as good a way as any of grasping the new idea of love the Christians had is to contrast it with the idea conveyed by eros…eros has two principal characteristics: it is a love of the Worthy and it is a love that desires to posses. Agape is in contrast at both points: it is not a love of the worthy, an dit is not a love that desires to possess. On the contrary, it is a love given quite irrespective of merit, and it is a love that seeks to give. God loves, not because people are withy of that love, but because he is that kind of God; it is his nature to love, he is love.