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.

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

2We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and 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 delivers us from the wrath to come.
2Chapter

Paul's Ministry to the Thessalonians

1For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 3For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed— God is witness. 6Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
9For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 11For you know how, like a father with his children, 12we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
13And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Paul's Longing to See Them Again

17But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, 18because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 19For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20For you are our glory and joy.
3Chapter
1Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. 5For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

Timothy's Encouraging Report

6But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?
11Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
4Chapter

A Life Pleasing to God

1Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

The Coming of the Lord

13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are 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

1Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Final Instructions and Benediction

12We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.
23Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
25Brothers, pray for us.
26Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
27I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Study
Chapter 1
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Thanksgiving and Encouragement. It is typical for Paul to include a thanksgiving near the beginning of his letters (Galatians is a striking exception).

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Paul’s Confidence in the Election of the Thessalonians. Paul is confident that the Thessalonians are elect because of God’s blessing on the missionaries during the mission and the authenticity of the Thessalonians’ reception of the gospel and subsequent obedience.

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Opening. Paul makes no mention of his apostolic status, perhaps because there are no false teachers challenging it within the Thessalonian church. Silvanus and Timothy were coworkers with Paul during his second missionary journey. Silvanus, or Silas, was a Judean Christian (Acts 15:22) who joined Paul after he separated from Barnabas (Acts 15:39–40). Timothy, of Lystra in south Galatia, was a son of a Jewish mother and Greek father and became partners with Paul when Paul passed through his hometown early on his second journey (see Acts 16:1–4; Introduction to 1 Timothy). Timothy had just returned from a visit to the Thessalonian church (1 Thess. 3:6), and his report is Paul’s major source of information as he writes. While Silas and Timothy are included as co-senders, Paul was clearly the main author (see 2:18; 3:5; 5:27). in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers enjoy a mysterious union with both the Father and the Son and hence are supremely secure and safe from spiritual harm. Grace … and peace. See note on Rom. 1:7.

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Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith, Love, and Hope. Paul thanks God that the Thessalonians are evidencing the essential marks of the Christian life—faith, love, and hope.

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remembering. Paul may be recalling the events of his mission to Thessalonica, or this may just be standard prayer language. faith … love … hope. A common Pauline triad (cf. 5:8; Rom. 5:2–5; 1 Cor. 13:13; Gal. 5:5–6; Eph. 4:2–5). The prominent final position here belongs to hope, which seems fitting in a letter so concerned with the end times (1 Thess. 1:10; 2:12, 19–20; 3:13; 4:13–18; 5:1–11, 23–24). work … labor … steadfastness. These are the practical outworking of the Thessalonians’ conversion. The “work” the Thessalonians do is a result or consequence of their “faith.” So, too, their “labor” flows from “love,” and their endurance or “steadfastness” comes from “hope.”

ESV

The ultimate reason for Paul’s certainty regarding the Thessalonians’ election is that they are brothers loved by God. God’s love undergirds election (Eph. 1:4–5; cf. Rom. 1:7; 9:13) and is demonstrated by it (Rom. 8:35–39; 11:28). Chosen (lit., “elected,” using Gk. eklogē, “choice, selection, election”) refers to God’s antecedent sovereign act of appointing people for eternal life (see notes on Rom. 10:20–21; Eph. 1:4; 1:5; 1:11). Paul infers from the events of the mission that the Thessalonians were elect and therefore he can reassure them that they are forever secure.

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because. Paul grounds his confidence that the Thessalonians are elect in two things: the undeniable authenticity and authority of those preaching the gospel to them (v. 5) and the exemplary nature of the Thessalonians’ response to the gospel (vv. 6–10). First, he appeals to the fact that the missionaries’ preaching (our gospel) was characterized by power (miraculous power, or power in preaching, or both), the Holy Spirit (manifestations of the Spirit’s approving presence), and full conviction (transparent sincerity and integrity, bringing certainty to the hearers’ minds). You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. The genuineness of the gospel was reinforced, as it always should be, by the evident integrity of its preachers.

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imitators of us. The Thessalonians followed Paul’s example even as Paul followed Christ’s example. for you received the word in much affliction. See Acts 17:5–9; 1 Thess. 2:14. Suffering affliction is normal for those destined to be saved at the end (see Rom. 8:17–18; 1 Pet. 4:12–14). with the joy of the Holy Spirit. The remarkable joy in suffering that characterized the Thessalonian Christians was patterned after the joy of Jesus and Paul.

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Macedonia and Achaia were the two Greek provinces of the Roman Empire.

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not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth. This may refer to evangelistic activities or, more likely, news of the Thessalonians’ newfound faith. Either way, what transpired in Thessalonica resulted in the gospel being proclaimed far and wide, no doubt aided by the fact that Thessalonica was strategically located (see Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background).

ESV

The Greeks from other areas report that the Thessalonians had repented of their idolatrous past, had committed themselves to serve God, and were waiting for Jesus’ second coming—the key traits of genuine Christian conversion. living and true God. In contrast to idols, God is the only real Deity. wait for his Son. This is the first of many references to the second coming in this letter (cf. 2:12, 19–20; 3:13; 4:13–18; 5:1–11, 23–24). whom he raised from the dead. This may anticipate 4:13–18, where Paul affirms the Thessalonians’ hope for the deceased on the foundation of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (4:14). delivers us from the wrath to come. This may anticipate 5:1–11, where Paul emphasizes that the Thessalonians are not destined for wrath at the final judgment.