1 Thessalonians · chapter 1 of 5
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1 Thessalonians 1 is the greeting and thanksgiving of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the church in Thessalonica. They thank God for the believers' work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope, recall that the gospel came with power and the Holy Spirit, and describe how the Thessalonians, in the midst of affliction, turned from idols to serve the living God and wait for his Son from heaven.
This is probably one of Paul's earliest letters, written from Corinth to a church founded only a few months before in the capital of Macedonia. Most of its members were Gentiles who faced pressure from their fellow citizens. The first chapter assures them that God knows them, that he chose them, and that their faith is already known across the region.
Paul writes with Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and greets them with grace and peace. He says they always thank God for all of them and remember them in prayer, thinking of three things God has produced in them: their work of faith, their labor of love and their steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul knows that God loves them and chose them, because the gospel did not come to them in word only but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. He also reminds them of how he and his companions lived among them. In turn the Thessalonians became imitators of the missionaries and of the Lord: they received the word with the joy of the Holy Spirit, even in much affliction.
As a result they became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The word of the Lord rang out from them, and their faith in God is known everywhere, so that Paul does not even need to speak of it. Others report how the missionaries were received and how the Thessalonians turned from idols to God, to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Paul remembers before God the Thessalonians' work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope. Faith, love and hope sum up the Christian life, and each produces visible fruit: work, effort and endurance.
The gospel came not in words alone but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Paul says God's work accompanied his preaching, and that the lives of the missionaries matched what they proclaimed.
Paul sums up conversion in three movements: turning from idols, serving the living and true God, and waiting for his risen Son from heaven, Jesus, who delivers from the coming wrath. It is one of the shortest summaries of the gospel in the New Testament.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Paul, Silvanus and Timothy. — 1 Thessalonians 1:1
Answer: Their work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope in Jesus Christ. — 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Answer: With power, with the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. — 1 Thessalonians 1:5
Answer: With the joy of the Holy Spirit. — 1 Thessalonians 1:6
Answer: All the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. — 1 Thessalonians 1:7
Answer: They turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and they wait for his Son Jesus from heaven. — 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
Paul gives thanks for concrete signs: a faith that works, a love that tires itself for others and a hope that endures. In a small group you can ask where those three signs appear in your church and thank God for them by name and example, as Paul does.
The chapter also invites us to examine today's idols: money, success, comfort or approval. Conversion means leaving those behind to serve the living God, and also waiting for Jesus. Anyone who suffers for their faith can remember that the joy of the Spirit is possible under pressure, and that the life of a faithful congregation encourages other people without any need for grand speeches.
The first chapter shows a young church, chosen by God, tested by affliction and known for its conversion. In chapter 2 Paul looks back at how he and his companions lived and served among them when they first arrived in Thessalonica.
Paul says he knows God chose them because the gospel produced faith, joy and a changed life in them. Christians understand election in different ways, but here the purpose is pastoral: to encourage suffering believers to trust that God knows them and holds them.
Silvanus, called Silas in the book of Acts, was Paul's companion on his second missionary journey. Timothy was a young disciple from Lystra who joined Paul on that journey. Both were in Thessalonica, which is why they appear in the greeting of the letter.
It is God's judgment on sin at the last day. Paul affirms that Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, rescues from that wrath those who trust in him. For that reason the hope of his return does not bring terror to the believer, but comfort and patience.