1 Thessalonians

1Chapter

Greeting

1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy: To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace.

Thanksgiving

2We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. 3We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, 6and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. 7As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead —Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
2Chapter

Paul’s Conduct

1For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result. 2On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition. 3For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. 4Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts. 5For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives —God is our witness — 6and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others. 7Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nurse nurtures her own children. 8We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you. 10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers. 11As you know, like a father with his own children, 12we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Reception and Opposition to the Message

13This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe. 14For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us. They displease God and are hostile to everyone, 16by keeping us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are constantly filling up their sins to the limit, and wrath has overtaken them at last.

Paul’s Desire to See Them

17But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart ), we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face. 18So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. 19For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20Indeed you are our glory and joy!
3Chapter

Anxiety in Athens

1Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. 2And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, 3so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened. 5For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.

Encouraged by Timothy

6But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you. 7Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith. 8For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 9How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you, 10as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?

Prayer for the Church

11Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you. 12And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. 13May he make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.
4Chapter

The Call to Sanctification

1Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God—as you are doing —do this even more. 2For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God. 6This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. 7For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. 8Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Loving and Working

9About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. 10In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, 11to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

13We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
5Chapter

The Day of the Lord

1About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. 9For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.

Exhortations and Blessings

12Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. 16Rejoice always, 17pray constantly, 18give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19Don’t stifle the Spirit. 20Don’t despise prophecies, 21but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22Stay away from every kind of evil.
23Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 25Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. 26Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. 28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
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Chapter 5
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TWISTED SCRIPTURE

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

What happens to souls that don’t go to heaven? Many people today say there is no such place as a literal hell. Those who wish to base this belief on the Bible commonly cite verse 13 and its use of the word asleep to argue that souls that are not accepted by God into heaven will remain unconscious for all of eternity. However, context shows that Paul was attempting to comfort readers who were sad about the passing away of their friends and relatives. Instead of being blunt and calling them “dead,” Paul used the softer term asleep. This was a common way of speaking of death in Paul’s day, and we sometimes do the same thing when we figuratively say someone “passed away” or was “called home.” Besides this important point, the deceased to whom Paul refers were Christians (“through Jesus . . . fallen asleep” in v. 14), not unbelievers headed for hell. Unbelievers face dire judgment after death, not eternal sleep (Mt 25:46; Rv 20:5).

FAST FACTS: How the Bible Came Together

  • ▶︎Much or all of our Old Testament was accepted as Scripture among Jews in Jesus’s day (see Lk 24:44); by the end of the first century, the consensus was final.
  • ▶︎New Testament books were recognized as Scripture for three reasons. (1) They were written by an apostle or his associate. (2) They were widely circulated in the early church. (3) They were consistent with apostolic teachings and Old Testament Scripture.
  • ▶︎Many New Testament books were accepted as Scripture and were in wide circulation very early (see Col 4:16; 1Th 5:27; and 2Pt 3:15-16).
  • ▶︎It was God who brought the canon of Scripture together through the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit at work in God’s people.

Christ died to save us, not from suffering, but from ourselves; not from injustice, far less than justice, but from being unjust. He died that we might live—but live as he lives, by dying as he died who died to himself.

—George MacDonald

ESV

These verses are closely linked to 4:13–18: both offer reassurance concerning the fate of Christians at the second coming, and 5:9–10 alludes back to 4:13–18. It seems that the Thessalonians either were worried that they might not be prepared for the day of the Lord or were insecure about their status on that day in view of the recent unexpected deaths.

ESV

Now concerning. Paul may be responding to a question from the Thessalonians communicated by Timothy. the times and the seasons. That is, when the day of the Lord will occur (cf. Acts 1:7). The Thessalonians’ question likely arose more from anxiety than idle curiosity, since Paul’s answer reassures rather than rebukes them and seems concerned with both the “how” and the “when” of the day of the Lord. you have no need to have anything written to you. In spite of what the Thessalonians apparently think, there is no real need for Paul to write them on this matter.

ESV

The phrase day of the Lord is common in the OT Prophets (see note on Amos 5:18–20). It refers to the great and terrible day when Yahweh will intervene to punish the disobedient (e.g., Isa. 13:6–16; Joel 1:13–15; 2:1–11; Obad. 15–20; Mal. 4:5) and to save the faithful (e.g., Isa. 27:2–13; Jer. 30:8–9; Joel 2:31–32; Obad. 21). In Paul’s letters it is equated with the second coming. like a thief in the night. Throughout the NT, the thief simile suggests unexpectedness and unwelcomeness (Matt. 24:43–44; Luke 12:39–40; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15). The negative aspect is clearly present in 1 Thess. 5:4, and there is no reason to think that it is absent here. However, although some have wondered whether Paul is threatening the Thessalonians with the prospect of final judgment, it seems more likely, in view of vv. 4 and 9, that he is actually reassuring believers who are insecure, perhaps as a result of the recent deaths in their midst. people. That is, unbelievers. peace and security. Possibly an allusion to imperial Roman propaganda or (perhaps more likely) to Jer. 6:14 (or Jer. 8:11), where similar language is used of a delusional sense of immunity from divine wrath. labor pains. An analogy referring to the judgment and destruction on the day of the Lord. Cf. Isa. 13:8; Jer. 6:24.

ESV

But you. The Thessalonian Christians are not among the people who say “peace and security” and upon whom sudden destruction will come (v. 3). in darkness. The realm of sin, evil, unenlightenment, and estrangement from God. surprise you like a thief. The day of the Lord will not be a “thief-like,” unwelcome surprise for the Thessalonian Christians, as it will be for unbelievers (see v. 2).

ESV

For. Paul grounds his assurance of v. 4 in the Thessalonians’ status and destiny. children of light. This phrase is used in Jewish literature and in the NT (e.g., Luke 16:8; John 12:36) of those who belong to the realm of God and his salvation (Col. 1:13). children of the day. This phrase, which is unique to Paul, seems to link the concepts of “light” and “day” together. Thus, because Jesus is “the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5), Christians are “children of the light”; but Christians are also those who are called to live a godly life as people who “belong to the day” (1 Thess. 5:8) and who are destined to inherit salvation on “the day of the Lord,” when Christ (the light of the world) will return in power and great glory (cf. Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). We. Paul shifts to the first person plural to reinforce his confirmation and perhaps to prepare for and soften the exhortation of 1 Thess. 5:6–8. night … darkness. The dominion of evil and enmity with God.

ESV

So then. Paul gives general exhortations based on the reassurances of v. 5. To sleep is to be morally and spiritually disengaged, and/or living without a consciousness of the coming day.

ESV

breastplate … helmet. Paul is drawing on Isa. 59:17, where the Lord is portrayed as a warrior wearing armor. Here Christians, as those destined to stand alongside the Lord on the last day, are called to put on his armor (see Eph. 6:10–20). faith and love … hope. The triad of essential Christian traits (see 1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thess. 1:3).

ESV

For connects this verse with either vv. 6–8 in general or the specific exhortation in v. 8 to put on the helmet of hope. Paul restates what he said in v. 4: the Thessalonians have nothing to worry about, because they are destined not for wrath but for salvation at the second coming.

ESV

awake or asleep. Alive or dead. “Awake” alludes to the concern of the living Christians regarding their destiny on the day of the Lord (vv. 1–11), while “asleep” alludes to the destiny of deceased Christians (4:13–18). live. At the second coming, Christians will experience a new quality of life in the company of Christ.

ESV

just as you are doing. As elsewhere (e.g., 4:1), Paul seeks to avoid looking as if he is criticizing the Thessalonians. As in 4:18, his purpose is encouragement.

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On Community Conduct. Paul gives exhortations on community life and relationships.

ESV

respect those who labor … admonish you. The young Thessalonian community was not adequately appreciating and respecting its leaders. are over you. The Greek term proistēmi here means “rule, direct, be at the head of,” and would refer to the elders in the church (see notes on Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). Be at peace among yourselves may suggest (though not necessarily) that there were tensions within the community.

ESV

idle (Gk. ataktos, “undisciplined, insubordinate”). Some Thessalonians were shirking their responsibility to work in accord with the creation mandate (Gen. 2:15). See 1 Thess. 4:9–12; also 2 Thess. 3:6–15. fainthearted. Due to persecution (1 Thess. 3:3–4) or the unexpected deaths (4:13–5:11). weak. Either those with weak consciences (see 1 Corinthians 8–9), those rattled by the ongoing persecution, or those anxious about the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:1–11).

ESV

Rejoice always. Joy in Paul’s letters is a basic mark of the Christian (Rom. 14:17) and a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is often associated with the firm hope of the Christian (e.g., Rom. 5:2–5; 12:12).

ESV

Pray without ceasing suggests a mental attitude of prayerfulness, continual personal fellowship with God, and consciousness of being in his presence throughout each day.

ESV

give thanks. Christians are to be marked by thanksgiving (Eph. 5:4, 20; Col. 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2). This probably refers to all of 1 Thess. 5:16–18.

ESV

Do not quench the Spirit. The manner in which the Thessalonians were extinguishing the Holy Spirit’s fire is specified in the next verse.

ESV

Do not despise prophecies. Believers are to be open to the disclosure of God’s will through fellow Christians exercising the gift of prophecy (see note on 1 Cor. 14:22–25). The Thessalonians apparently despised manifestations of prophecy and hence were cutting off a valuable source of encouragement and extinguishing the Spirit’s fire. test everything. Rather than rejecting prophecies outright on the basis of inferior prophetic words, the Thessalonians need to weigh prophecies to distinguish the true from the false. Tests presumably include the prophecy’s conformity with authoritative revelation, its value for edification, and its evaluation by those with spiritual discernment. See 1 Cor. 14:29–33 and the note on 1 Cor. 12:10 regarding the operation of prophecy in the church. what is good. In context, this most likely refers to prophecies that pass the test.

ESV

Abstain from. Paul now moves on to stress, more generally, the importance of rejecting every form of evil.

ESV

Prayer, Assurance, and Conclusion. Just as the first half of the letter ended with a pastoral prayer that the Thessalonians be marked by holiness at the second coming of Christ (3:11–13), this half does too. However, here Paul adds reassurance (5:24). God of peace. God initiated the reconciliation of Christians with himself and is now at peace with them. Spirit, soul, and body represent the entirety of human nature. It seems unlikely that this is a tripartite division of human nature into body, soul, and spirit, where “spirit” and “soul” would refer to different parts; more likely Paul is simply using several terms for emphasis. For similar ways of expressing the totality of human nature see Matt. 10:28; Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 7:34. There is no need for the Thessalonians to worry about whether they will be sufficiently holy and blameless at the coming of the Lord. God is faithful, and he will surely make it happen.

ESV

holy kiss. A symbol of Christian fellowship and holiness (see note on 1 Cor. 16:20; also cf. Acts 20:37; Rom. 16:16; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Pet. 5:14).

ESV

I. As usual, having dictated his letter to a secretary, Paul wrote the final greeting in his own handwriting as an authenticating mark (cf. 2 Thess. 3:17). have this letter read to all. The letter was to be read aloud to all community members, including the fainthearted and idle. See note on Col. 4:16.