Summary of 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 1

Paul, and his companions Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy wish grace and peace to the Thessalonians. They constantly thank God for them, and remember them in their prayers -- especially they recall their faith, love, and firm hope. God's call to them did not depend just on Paul's unsupported words, but on the showing of the power of the Holy Spirit. Then the Thessalonians imitated Paul -- and hence, indirectly, imitated Jesus, even though this got them into trouble with the Jews. But the Holy Spirit gave them His joy in all of this, so that their faith became a model for believers elsewhere in Macedonia and Greece, where others tell how Paul came into Thessalonika, how they gave up their idols, and began to serve the true God, and to await the return of His Son, whom the Father raised from the dead. They are confident He will save them from the wrath of the Day of the Lord, the time of reckoning at the end.

Comments on Chapter 1

Paul speaks of Jesus as Lord, rather than using the word God for Him. He does not deny His divinity. The most sacred Hebrew word for God -- the only one not ambiguous -- was Yahweh. But in the late Old Testament period people came to feel it was too sacred to pronounce, even in prayer, even in reading the Scriptures. So instead they said Adonai, Lord. Hence the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translated Yahweh by Greek Kyrios, Lord. In everyday Greek kyrios could be used even of a human master, but in a religious context, it meant a god. Acts 9:20 tells us that right after his conversion, Paul preached at once in the synagogues, and said of Jesus "This is the Son of God." All were astounded -- a devout Jew could be called a Son of God, but if Paul had meant it only in that broad sense, they would not have been astounded. So he did preach Jesus as God.

Early in the chapter we meet some key words -- chiefly, grace, peace, faith, love, call. Please do not forget to use the glossary for these. Grace is any gift from God to man. Peace means well-being in general; faith means total adherence of a person to God, so that if God speaks a truth, faith requires belief in the mind, if God makes a promise, faith calls for confidence, if God gives an order, faith calls for the "obedience of faith" (cf. Rom 1:5), all to be done in love (Gal 5:6).

Paul spoke of their call by God to be full members of the Church. (We speak of full membership, since as we shall see in connection with Romans 2:14-16, there can be lesser degrees). As 1 Timothy 2:4 will tell us: "God wills all men to be saved [to enter the Church formally] and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Yet, in the practical order, the Gospel could not reach everyone at once -- even centuries would be needed. So a decision was made by God as to where to send the missioners first. Hence we find that on his second missionary trip, Paul was told by the Holy Spirit not to go into the Roman province of Asia, or Bithynia (Acts 16:6-10). It is not that God did not want those people to hear the word -- no, but He judged there was more urgent need elsewhere. Full membership in the Church is a great help, but one can reach final salvation even without it, provided he has at least a minimum degree of membership.

We note too that Paul speaks of the Father as raising Jesus from the dead. If we think of His humanity, this is of course correct. If we think of His divinity, we say He rose by His own power. Both ways of speaking appear in the New Testament, and both are correct. The first preaching often used the human mode, to introduce the hearers gradually to the full truth.

At the end of this chapter Paul speaks of the Day of the Lord. In the Old Testament this expression referred to any time of reckoning, when God would rescue His people, and humble their enemies. This could refer just to some great battle -- but it could also refer to the final Day of the Lord, the day of Judgment. Paul means that here.

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