Introduction to  1 Thessalonians

In this day of intense interest in prophecy and the end times, there is a tendency to view the Thessalonian epistles merely as treatises on eschatology. But to do so is to overlook the fullness of the riches they contain. They do include important teaching on the end times (e.g., 1 Thess. 1:10; 2:19; 3:11–13; 4:13–5:11; 5:23; 2 Thess. 1:7–10; 2:1–12), but only in the context of Paul’s passionate pastoral concern for his beloved Thessalonian flock that they not lose the joy and hope of a sound eschatology (e.g., 1 Thess. 1:2–5; 2:7–8, 11–12, 17–20; 3:1–12; 4:1–12; 2 Thess. 1:3–4, 11–12; 2:13–14, 16–17; 3:5, 16, 18). Therefore, they could more accurately be categorized as church epistles.

Though he had ministered for only a brief time in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul was thrilled with what was happening in the church there. His letters reflect joy over the spiritual progress the Thessalonians had made in the short time they had been believers:

The Thessalonian epistles catalog the marks of a healthy, growing church. They give the responsibilities of the leaders to the congregation (1 Thess. 5:12, 14–15); the congregation to the leaders (1 Thess. 5:13, 25–28; 2 Thess. 3:1–2); of believers to grow spiritually (1 Thess. 5:16 –22), stand firm in the midst of persecution (1 Thess. 2:14–16), and live orderly lives (2 Thess. 3:6–13); and the church’s responsibility to discipline sinning members (2 Thess. 3:6, 14–15). They also emphasize the church’s responsibility to reach the lost world with the saving truth of the gospel (1 Thess. 1:8–10).

THE CITY OF THESSALONICA

Thessalonica, modern Thessaloniki (formerly Salonika), was the largest and most important city in the Roman province of Macedonia (the northern part of modern Greece). Located at the head of the Thermaic Gulf (the Gulf of Salonica), a branch of the Aegean Sea, Thessalonica was a thriving seaport. Spreading up the slopes of the hills overlooking the harbor, it had a cosmopolitan population of about a quarter of a million people, including native Greeks, Romans, sailors, travelers, tradesmen, and businessmen. Unlike Philippi, which did not have a large enough Jewish population to support a synagogue (cf. Acts 16:13), the Jewish presence in Thessalonica was significant and influential (cf. Acts 17:1, 5–9).

Perhaps Thessalonica’s greatest asset was its location astride the Egnatian Way, the major east-west highway of the Roman Empire, which ran from what is now Albania to Byzantium (Constantinople; Istanbul). Thessalonica’s main street was part of that great highway linking Rome with the eastern regions of the empire. Noting the importance of Thessalonica’s strategic location on the Egnatian Way to the spread of the gospel, William Barclay writes,

Thessalonica was founded about 315 B.C. by Cassander, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, who became king of Macedonia after the latter’s death. He named the new settlement, built on the site of an older town named Therme (presumably because of nearby hot springs), after his wife, the half-sister of Alexander the Great. When the Romans conquered Macedonia (168 B.C.) and divided it into four republics, they made Thessalonica the capital of one of them. And when all of Macedonia became a Roman province (148 B.C.), Thessalonica became its capital. The city was wise (or fortunate) enough to back Antony and Octavian in their successful campaign against Brutus and Cassius. As a reward, it was made a free city in 42 B.C. As such, although it was the seat of the Roman governor, the city was not occupied by Roman troops. It remained largely a Greek city, unlike Philippi, which was heavily influenced by Roman laws and customs. As a free city, Thessalonica also enjoyed freedom from certain taxes. But most important, the city was granted a large measure of self-government; its people chose their own magistrates, known as politarchs (“city authorities”; Acts 17:6). Though skeptics once questioned Luke’s use of that term, numerous inscriptions have verified its accuracy.

Thessalonica is one of the few cities visited by Paul that has existed continuously from his day to modern times. According to tradition, Paul’s traveling companion Gaius was the first bishop of Thessalonica. He is one of several Thessalonians mentioned in Scripture (Acts 19:29; the Gaius mentioned in Acts 20:4 is apparently a different individual). Other Thessalonians who ministered with Paul include Aristarchus (Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2), Secundus (Acts 20:4), and possibly Demas (2 Tim. 4:10).

Thessalonica was the second most important city in the Byzantine Empire, after Constantinople. A famous incident in the city’s history took place in A.D. 390 when Emperor Theodosius ordered the massacre of several thousand of its inhabitants following a riot. For that barbarous act the church father Ambrose denied him communion until he publicly repented. The city survived repeated attacks over the centuries from the Avars, Slavs, Arabs, Bulgarians, Saracens, Normans, and Ottoman Turks. The Nazis captured it in 1941, then deported and executed most of its 60,000 Jews. Today Thessalonica (Thessaloniki) remains one of Greece’s most important cities, with a population of nearly 400,000.

THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH AT THESSALONICA

Paul first came to Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. After traveling west across Asia Minor to the region known as Mysia, the apostle and his entourage reached an impasse. They had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach in the province of Asia (to the south of Mysia), and their attempt to turn north into Bithynia was similarly blocked. With no other way to proceed, they went to Troas, a city on the Aegean Sea. There Paul saw a vision of a Macedonian imploring him to come to that province and preach the gospel (Acts 16:6–10). Crossing the Aegean Sea, they came to Philippi, where Paul’s fearless preaching of the gospel sparked a riot. As a result, he and Silas were seized, beaten, and placed in stocks in the city’s jail. God miraculously released them by means of an earthquake, as a result of which the jailer came to faith in Christ. Horrified at the realization that they had beaten Roman citizens without benefit of a trial (an act that could have had serious repercussions both for them and their city), the magistrates begged Paul and Silas to leave Philippi.

In what must have been an excruciatingly painful journey, the battered preachers made the one-hundred-mile journey along the Egnatian Way toward Thessalonica. They apparently spent the night at Amphipolis and again at Apollonia, not preaching in those cities because there were no Jewish synagogues. As he customarily did, Paul began his ministry in Thessalonica by preaching the gospel in the synagogue there. He spent three Sabbaths arguing from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Messiah had to die and rise from the dead. Such revolutionary teaching contradicted the prevailing Jewish view of the Messiah as a political and military deliverer who would rescue Israel from her oppressors. Paul further proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. As a result of the apostle’s powerful preaching, some Jews, a larger number of Gentile proselytes, and even some of the upper-class Greek women believed the gospel.

Paul most likely stayed longer in Thessalonica than the three Sabbaths Luke mentioned (Acts 17:2). In 1 Thessalonians 2:9 and 2 Thessalonians 3:8, Paul reminded his readers that he had worked to support himself while in their city so as not to be a burden. He would not have needed to do that if he were only there for two or three weeks, nor would he have become a burden to them in such a short time. While some of the Gentile converts were Jewish proselytes who attended the synagogue, many others were converted directly from their pagan idol worship (1 Thess. 1:9). That implies that Paul had a ministry in Thessalonica outside of the synagogue, as he did in Corinth (Acts 18:4–7). The depth of the pastoral care Paul gave the Thessalonian converts (cf. 1 Thess. 2:11–12) and the deep affection that developed between them (cf. 1 Thess. 2:8; 3:6–10) also suggest a longer stay. The size and vitality of the church when Paul left implies that it had not just separated from the synagogue. Finally, and most significant, the Philippians twice sent Paul a gift during his stay in Thessalonica (Phil. 4:16). They would not likely have sent a second gift if he had only stayed a couple of weeks.

As they jealously watched Paul’s success at winning Gentile proselytes to Christ, the Jews’ smoldering resentment burst into flame. Gathering a gang of thugs from the marketplace, they assaulted Jason’s house, looking for the Christian preachers. When they could not find them, the frustrated Jews seized Jason and some of the other Christians and hauled them before the politarchs. The false charge of treason (“they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus”; Acts 17:7) was an exceedingly dangerous one, calculated to “[stir] up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things” (Acts 17:8). The people and the politarchs knew all too well that

The threat to Thessalonica’s status as a free city was significant; if they failed to maintain order, the Romans would intervene.

Showing a commendable concern for justice, however, the politarchs merely took a pledge, or bond, from Jason and the others and released them. Sir William Ramsay notes that “the step taken by the politarchs was the mildest that was prudent in the circumstances: they bound the accused over in security that peace should be kept” (St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, 230). Since Jason and the other believers would forfeit that bond if the Jews stirred up any more trouble, Paul and Silas had to leave Thessalonica.

THE OCCASION OF 1 THESSALONIANS

After being forced to leave Thessalonica, the missionary team traveled to Berea, about fifty miles away. There they had a successful ministry until Jews from Thessalonica arrived, stirred up trouble, and Paul was again forced to leave. This time, however, Silas and Timothy were able to stay behind. From Berea, Paul went to Athens, where they later rejoined him (cf. Acts 17:15).

Though forcibly separated from the Thessalonians, Paul was deeply concerned about them. The apostle expressed the anguish he felt in 1 Thessalonians 2:17–18: “But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us.” So great was his concern that he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica—even though that left him to face the formidable task of evangelizing Athens by himself (he also sent Silas from Athens to Macedonia, possibly to Philippi; cf. Acts 18:5):

To Paul’s immense relief and joy, Timothy brought an encouraging report about the situation in Thessalonica when he met Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:5), where the apostle went after he left Athens (Acts 18:1):

But though Timothy’s report was on the whole encouraging, there were some issues at Thessalonica that concerned Paul. Because the persecution that drove the missionaries out of Thessalonica had not abated, the church needed encouragement to stand firm (1:2–10; 2:13–16). Further, enemies of the truth were spreading lies and slander about Paul and his companions. They claimed the Christian preachers were only in it to make money and build their reputations. Further, they insinuated that after stirring up trouble the missionaries fled the scene, leaving their duped converts to face the consequences alone. They may even have argued that the missionaries’ failure to appear before the politarchs was a tacit admission of guilt. Paul’s failure to return to Thessalonica may have been advanced as proof that he really did not care about the Thessalonian believers. To counter their insidious lies and slander, Paul vigorously defended his, Silas’s, and Timothy’s integrity (2:1–12). He was also concerned that the new converts not slip back into the pagan immorality so prevalent in their culture (4:1–8). The apostle also was concerned about the Thessalonians’ reputation with those outside the church; therefore, he encouraged them to continue to love each other fervently and to work diligently (4:9–12). The letter also corrects a wrong understanding about the end times (4:13–5:11), and instructs the Thessalonian congregation in the basics of Christian living (5:12–22).

THE AUTHOR OF 1 THESSALONIANS

The letter twice claims to have been written by Paul (1:1; 2:18), harmonizes with the Acts account of his travels (2:1–2; 3:1–2; Acts 16–18), and contains many intimate details about him. The letter shows clear evidence of having been written early in church history, during Paul’s lifetime. There is no reference to church organization or a specialized ministry; only the general reference in 5:12 to “those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.” Nor would a forger, writing long after Paul’s death, have allowed for the possibility that Christ could return during the apostle’s lifetime (4:15, 17). The vocabulary is consistent with Paul’s other inspired letters (cf. William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of Thessalonians, Timothy and Titus [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981], 20–21).

The testimony of the early church also strongly supports the Pauline authorship of 1 Thessalonians. The Muratorian Canon (c. A.D. 170) and the church fathers Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria all affirmed Paul’s authorship. Even the heretic Marcion, who denied that Paul wrote several of his other letters, acknowledged the genuineness of 1 Thessalonians. The church historian Eusebius, writing early in the fourth century, also included 1 Thessalonians among Paul’s epistles.

THE DATE AND PLACE OF THE WRITING OF 1 THESSALONIANS

Paul wrote this epistle from Corinth where he went, as noted above, after he left Athens. Timothy, having been sent back to check on the situation at Thessalonica, met Paul in Corinth and delivered his report (Acts 18:5; 1 Thess. 3:6). Paul’s inclusion of Silas in the greeting of the letter indicates it was written on his second missionary journey, since Silas did not accompany him on his third journey (Silas is not mentioned in Acts after 18:5).

Paul’s stay in Corinth can be correlated with Gallio’s term as proconsul (Acts 18:12). An inscription found at Delphi, not far from Corinth, refers to Gallio as proconsul at Corinth in early A.D. 52. Since proconsuls took office during the summer, Gallio would have commenced his term in the summer of A.D. 51. Paul’s trial before Gallio (Acts 18:12–17) probably took place shortly after he assumed office. Since Paul had apparently been in Corinth for some time before Gallio arrived, and wrote 1 Thessalonians shortly after his arrival in Corinth, the epistle was probably written late in A.D. 50 or early in A.D. 51.

OUTLINE

1. Paul’s Salutation (1:1)

2. Paul’s Pastoral Care (1:2–3:13)

   1. Describing his thankfulness (1:2–10)

   2. Defending his integrity (2:1–16)

   3. Defining his concerns (2:17–3:13)

3. Paul’s Practical Instruction (4:1–5:22)

   1. Moral purity (4:1–8)

   2. Disciplined living (4:9–12)

   3. The Rapture (4:13–18)

   4. The Day of the Lord (5:1–11)

   5. Church relationships (5:12–15)

   6. Basic Christian living (5:16–22)

4. Paul’s Benediction and Closing Admonition (5:23–28)