THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE

THESSALONIANS

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

In Thessalonica, the most important city of Macedonia, situated on a gulf, and along the great Roman military road, was a busy commercial center Paul had a short time before established a Gentile Chris- 1 tian congregation. He had come to this place from Philippi in company with Silvanus, a member of the congregation in Jerusalem, and his associate Timothy. These accordingly join in the good wishes with which the Apostle begins his letter. He can give utterance to this wish because of the fact that God has made them the objects of His paternal affection, and because Jesus Christ, as the exalted Lord, has transmitted to them all the redemptive blessings of God. After Paul has made special mention of this, it is no longer necessary for him, in connection with the grace and

2

(2) We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; (3) remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and 1 patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father; (4) knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, (5) how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and

1 Or, stedfastness. Or, God and our Father. Or, because our gospel, &c. Gr. good tidings; and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Mt.4. 23.

the salvation which he wishes them, to add, as he does later, that these came from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle begins with a thanksgiving for what God has so far wrought in the congregation. He and his companions of that time can never in their prayer make mention of all of the individual church members without also rendering thanks to God, because, before 3 the presence of God, who, as their Father, has at all times blessed their work, they constantly recall the prosperous condition of the congregation. In particular the Apostle thinks of the work of their faith, which shows itself at all times as a confidence in the grace and in the promise of God, as also of their love, which spares no effort in its service to the brethren, and of their endurance, with which, even in oppressions, they cling to the hope that their exalted Lord will bring to them the consummation of their redemption. 4 He feels impelled to give thanks for this, because he sees in all of this the signs of their election, for which reason he calls them the brethren beloved of God, and hence can certainly count upon it, that God will bring to a final consummation the work that has been begun 5 in them. The fact that they were elected certainly appeared already at that time, when he and his companions were preaching the gospel among them. For, in their case, this preaching consisted not merely in a human speaking, but it exerted a power over them,

in the Holy Spirit, and in much 1assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake. (6) And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit; (7) so that ye became an ensample to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. (8) For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Mace

1 Or, fulness.

such as could only proceed from the Holy Spirit, and for this reason gave the missionaries such great confidence in their preaching. The Apostle can appeal to the experience of the readers themselves; for they know how gladly and effectively the messengers of the gospel preached among them. This, however, could only be the case if it was God's purpose, by this preaching, to call His elect to become living members of the Christian congregation, as which the Thessalonians still stand constantly before His eyes. But for the readers them- 6 selves, the fact that they were the elect showed itself in the circumstance that they, by virtue of the power that came from the proclamation of the gospel, had become imitators of the messengers of faith and of the Lord Himself in the joy that is worked by the Holy Ghost, with which they reeeived the word of this Spirit amid much affection. This remembrance of the experiences that they passed through, at the time when the congregation was established, evidently resulted in strengthening them in their Christian life, which at that time had so joyfully begun. The same purpose is subserved by their remembrance of the fact that they then became 7 the models for all the believers in Macedonia, where congregations had already been established in Philippi and in Bercea, as well as in Achaia, where Paul was just gathering a church in Corinth. For from them the 8 word of the exalted Lord had been widely re-echoed since the news of their reception of this word was

donia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth; so that we need not to speak anything. (9) For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, (10) and to wait for his Son from heaven, who he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come.

spread from them, not only into those two provinces of ancient Greece, but also beyond them, as the Apostle could readily learn in his intercourse with strangers in Corinth. Everywhere the report had spread concerning the faith with which the Gentiles in Thessalonica had been converted to God, for as God's message of redemption this faith had been preached. For this reason it was not necessary for him or his companions to say 9 anything about the matter. But rather of itself the report of their work in Thessalonica went forth. It was told how they had preached there, and how, in consequence thereof, the Gentiles had turned from their idols and to God, in order henceforth to serve the living God, who alone is such in truth. It was reported that these preachers expected that the Son of God, concerning whom they had preached that He had risen from the dead and been exalted to heaven, would return 10 from heaven again. But, as the Son of God, they expected none other than Jesus, whom all Christians recognize as the Deliverer from the approaching punishment of wrath. From this it is clear in what form the messengers of faith preached the gospel when they entered upon their work in Thessalonica.

This remembrance of their experience at the time when the congregation was founded, has also the purpose of defending the Apostle and his companions against the slanders by which the Jews in Thessalonica tried to make the young Gentile Christian congregations refuse