The First Letter of Paul to:
THE THESSALONIANS
AD 51: This is probably the very first letter of Paul, that he wrote to anyone. The AUTHENTICITY of this Epistle is attested by IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 5.6.1], quoting 1 Thessalonians 5:23 CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [The Instructor, 1.88], quoting 1 Thessalonians 2:7 TERTULLIAN [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 24], quoting 1 Thessalonians 5:1 CAIUS in EUSEBIUS' Ecclesiastical History [6.20]; ORIGEN [Against Celsus, 3].
CHAPTER 1
PAUL'S THANKSGIVING FOR THEIR FAITH:
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the LORD Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ.
NO TRINITY-DUALITY
2 We always thank God for all of you, keeping you in our prayers;
3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our LORD Jesus Christ.
4 We know that God loves you, dear brothers, and that He chose you to be His own people.
5 For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was the plain truth. And you know that the way we lived among you was further proof of the truth of our message.
6 You took us and the LORD as your example, after the word had come to you in much trouble, with joy in the Holy Spirit;
7 So that you became an example to all those who have faith in Christ in Macedonia and Achaia.
8 And now the word of the LORD is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Greece, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don't need to tell them about it,
9 for they themselves give the news of how we came among you; and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 2:
Paul did not ask for Money or Tithes:
1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain.
2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, even though we were surrounded by many who opposed us.
3 For our witness does not come from error or from an unclean heart or from deceit:
4 But even as the good news was given to us by the approval of God, so we give it out; not as pleasing men, but God by whom our hearts are tested.
5 For it is common knowledge among you that we never made use of smooth-talking deceiving words, and God is witness that at no time were we secretly desiring to enrich ourselves,
6 Or looking for any glory from men, from you or from others, when we might have made ourselves a care to you as Apostles of Christ.
7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
8 We loved you so much that we gave you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too.
9 Don't you remember, dear friends, how we worked among you? Night and day we worked very hard to earn a living so that our expenses would not be a burden to anyone there as we preached God's Good News among you.
Though but "three Sabbaths" are mentioned, Acts 17:2 , these refer merely to the time of his preaching to the Jews in the synagogue. When rejected by them as a body, after having converted a few Jews, he turned to the Gentiles; of these (whom he preached to in a place distinct from the synagogue- although still doing so, ON THE SABBATH DAY!) "a great multitude believed" ( Acts 17:4 , where the oldest manuscripts read, "of the devout [proselytes] and Greeks a great multitude"); then after he had, by labors continued among the Gentiles for some time, gathered in many converts, the Jews, provoked by his success, assaulted Jason's house, and drove him away. His receiving "once and again" supplies from Philippi, implies a longer stay at Thessalonica than three weeks ( Philippians 4:16 ). (Jamieson)
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;
11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children.
12 We did this so your lives might be pleasing to God, who has given you a part in His kingdom and His glory.
Inconsistency would cause God's name to be "blasphemed among the Gentiles"
13 And we will never stop thanking God that when we preached his message to you - you took it, not as the word of men but, as it truly is, the word of God, which has living power in you who have faith.
14 For you, brethren, became examples to the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus; because you underwent the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Jews;
15 Who put to death the LORD Jesus and the prophets, violently driving us out; who are unpleasing to God and against all men;
16 Who, to make the measure of their sins complete, tried to keep us from preaching the Good News to the Gentiles, for fear some might be saved. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.
17 But we, my brothers, being away from you for a short time, in body but not in heart, had all the more desire to see your face;
for a short time--literally, "for the space of an hour." "When we had been severed from you but a very short time (perhaps alluding to the suddenness of his unexpected departure), we the more abundantly (the shorter was our separation; for the desire of meeting again is the more vivid, the more recent has been the parting) endeavored," &c. (Compare 2 Timothy 1:4 ). He does not hereby, as many explain, anticipate a short separation from them, which would be a false anticipation; for he did not soon revisit them. The Greek past participle also forbids their view. (Jamieson)
18 Therefore we wanted to come to you--even I, Paul, time and again--but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you, before our LORD Jesus, at His coming?
20 For you are our glory and our joy.
1 Thessalonians 3:
1 Therefore, when we could stand it no longer, we decided that I should stay alone in Athens,
2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith,
3 So that no one would be shaken by these troubles; because you see that these things are part of God's purpose for us.
4 Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come -- and they did, as you well know.
5 That is why, when I could take it no longer, I sent for Timothy to see whether your faith was still strong. I feared that the Tempter had gotten the best of you and that all our work had been in vain.
6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has given us good news of your faith and love, and that you have happy memories of us, desiring greatly to see us, even as we do to see you;
7 For this cause, friends, in all our trouble and grief we were comforted about you because of your faith;
10 Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill up anything that may still be missing in your faith.
12 And may the LORD make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,
13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ with all His saints.
1 Thessalonians 4:
SEXUAL RELATIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS:
1 Finally then, dear brethren, we urge you in the name of the LORD Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You are doing this already, and we encourage you to do so more and more.
2 You know what Commandments we gave you through the LORD Jesus.
3 For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
4 So that every one of you may keep his body holy and in honor;
5 Not in the passion of evil desires, like the Gentiles, who have no knowledge of God;
6 Never cheat a Christian in this matter by taking his wife {or husband}, for the LORD avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.
7 Because it is God's purpose that our way of life may be not unclean but be holy.
8 Whoever goes against this word, goes not against man but God Himself, who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
9 But I don't need to write to you about the Christian love that should be shown among God's people. For God himself has taught you to love one another.
10 Indeed, your love is already strong toward all the Christians in all of Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we beg you to love them more and more.
11 This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we commanded you before.
The Thessalonian converts were, it thus seems, chiefly of the working classes. Their expectation of the immediate coming of Christ led some enthusiasts among them to neglect their daily work and be dependent on the bounty of others. See end of 1 Thessalonians 4:12 . The expectation was right in so far as that the Church should be always looking for Him; but they were wrong in making it a ground for neglecting their daily work. The evil, as it subsequently became worse, is more strongly reproved in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 . (Jamieson)
12 Then you may be respected by those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
CHRISTIAN “SLEEP” WHEN THEY DIE:
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.
The Christian dead are not in heaven, they are in the grave “sleeping.” and they do not rise again until Jesus comes back- see the next verse! Death is a calm and holy sleep, from which the resurrection shall waken them to glory. The word "cemetery" means a sleeping-place. Observe, the glory and chief hope of the Church are not to be realized at death, but at the LORD's coming; one is not to anticipate the other, but all are to be glorified together at Christ's coming ( Colossians 3:4 , Hebrews 11:40 ).
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
The facts of Christ's experience are repeated in the believer's. He died and then rose: so believers shall die and then rise with Him. But in His case death is the term used, 1 Corinthians 15:3 1 Corinthians 15:6 , &c.; in theirs, sleep; because His death has taken for them the sting from death. The same Hand that shall raise them is that which laid them to sleep. "Laid to sleep by Jesus," answers to "dead in Christ" 1 Thessalonians 4:16 .
15 For this we say to you by the Word of the LORD, that we who are still living at the coming of the LORD, will not go before those who are sleeping.
Those alive at the second coming change exactly when the dead awake!
Each successive generation in its time and place represents the generation which shall actually survive till His coming ( Matthew 25:13 , Romans 13:11 , 1 Corinthians 15:51 , 5:9 , 1 Peter 4:5 1 Peter 4:6 ). The Spirit subsequently revealed by Paul that which is not inconsistent with the expectation here taught of the LORD's coming at any time; namely, that His coming would not be until there should be a "falling away first" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:2 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ); but as symptoms of this soon appeared, none could say but that still this precursory event might be realized, and so the LORD come in his day. Each successive revelation fills in the details of the general outline first given. So Paul subsequently, while still looking mainly for the LORD's coming to clothe him with his body from heaven, looks for going to be with Christ in the meanwhile ( 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 , Philippians 1:6 Philippians 1:23 , Philippians 3:20 Philippians 3:21 , 4:5 ). EDMUNDS well says, The "we" is an affectionate identifying of ourselves with our fellows of all ages, as members of the same body, under the same Head, Christ Jesus. So Hosea 12:4 , "God spake with us in Beth- el," that is, with Israel. "We did rejoice," that is, Israel at the Red Sea ( Psalms 66:6 ). Though neither Hosea, nor David, was alive at the times referred to, yet each identifies himself with those that were present. (Jamieson)
16 Because the LORD himself will come down from heaven and shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the shofar (trumpet) of God. And the dead in Christ will arise first.
Michael is perhaps meant ( Jude 1:9 , Revelation 12:7 ), to whom especially is committed the guardianship of the people of God ( Daniel 10:13 ).
the trumpet blast which usually accompanies God's manifestation in glory ( Exodus 19:16 , Psalms 47:5 ); here the last of the three accompaniments of His appearing: as the trumpet was used to convene God's people to their solemn convocations ( Numbers 10:2 Numbers 10:10 , 31:6 ), so here to summon God's elect together, preparatory to their glorification with Christ - Psalms 50:1-5 , Matthew 24:31 , 1 Corinthians 15:52 (Jamieson)
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. And thus we shall always be with the LORD.
together with them--all together: the raised dead, and changed living, forming one joint body.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5:
THE DAY OF THE LORD:
1 But concerning the times and when all this will happen, my friends, there is no need for me to say anything to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the LORD comes like a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, "Peace and safety – all is safe!" then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And there will be no escape.
4 But you, my brethren, are not in the dark, for that day to overtake you like a thief:
5 For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night.
6 So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us be self-controlled and awake.
7 Night is the time for sleep and the time when people get drunk.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be serious, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and on our heads, the hope of salvation.
9 For God's purpose for us is not wrath, but salvation through our LORD Jesus Christ,
10 He died for us so that we can live with him forever, whether we are dead or alive at the time of His return.
11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
12 But we make this request to you: give attention to those who are working among you, who are over you in the LORD to keep order among you;
13 Think highly of them and give them your wholehearted love because of their work. And remember to live peaceably with each other.
14 We urge you, friends, to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are faint hearted. Take care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.
15 See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else.
16 Be Happy-always
17 Keep on praying!
18 In everything give praise: for this is the purpose of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not despise prophecies.
21 Test everything; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 And may the God of peace himself make you holy in every way; and may your spirit and soul and body be free from all sin at the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ.
24 God, by whom you have been marked out in His purpose, is unchanging and will make it complete.
25 Brothers, keep us in mind in your prayers.
26 Give everyone in the church a holy kiss.
27 I give orders in the name of the LORD that all the brothers are to be present at the reading of this letter.
28 The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you.
