A Commentary in Simple English on 1 Thessalonians

Chapter 1

Verse 1 - A blessing from Paul

Although Paul speaks kindly about Silas and Timothy, the letter is really from Paul alone. [1.1] The church at Salonika is in a city with busy streets, hard work, life and death. There are temples where ‘gods’ who are ‘no-gods’ are worshipped. At the same time the Jews are still stirring up trouble. But the church is also ‘in God the Father‘. It is in His care: He is the one Living God; all power is His and He was there before all things began and He will always be there. Then they are also ‘in the Lord Jesus Christ‘, the Son of God Who came into this world, Who worked hard and died in shame on the cross.

The church which we belong to is in a certain city or village. If it is a real church it is also in ’God the Father‘ and’ in His Son’ Who died for us. This God deals with us and this we call 'grace'. Grace is ‘what causes joy‘. We are sinners, yet God shows us His favour. It is made up of His love, His forgiveness of our sins, His care for us, and the gift of His Spirit. We still have the fight with sin and fear inside us. But now we know that we will win the fight. So it brings about peace inside us.

Verse 2-3 Paul thanks God for the Christians at Salonika

In these verses Paul gives thanks to God for the new church and then he prays for it. How often we promise to pray for someone and then quite forget to do it! (verse 2). Verse 3 brings together faith, love and hope. The best known verse in the New Testament which brings together faith, hope and love is 1 Corinthians 13: 13. We shall find the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5: 8. and in Hebrews 10 : 22 to 24. There are some other places where faith, love and hope, the three great Christian 'graces' are brought together. (See Romans 5: 2-5, Galatians 5: 5,6; Colossians 1: 4,5; Hebrews 6: 10-12 and 1 Peter 1: 21,22).

Now Paul says what the faith of the Thessalonians was like. It did not only believe the facts of the Good News. They had also trusted Jesus to save them: but there was more than that too. They had a faith which set them to work. A do-nothing faith is not a faith that will save us or anyone else. (See Galatians 5: 6; James 2: 17,26) Jesus saves us. Nothing we do will save us, but if our faith is right it will set us to work.

They had a love which kept them going. If we do not have love in us, we shall soon get tired of doing good. (See Romans 2: 7). Christian love is more than a feeling: It is planning and working for the good of other people. (See chapter 4: 9,10).

They had a hope, and that too kept them going when they grew tired in the work of Christ. They hoped for life without end, for glory with God when they died. They hoped for the coming again of Jesus. Hope filled every part of their lives. Hope is not as easy to understand as love and faith are, but Psalm 131 helps me as much as anything does. It tells us we must be like little children (Mark 10: 15). Also we must put our hope in the Lord ‘now’ It is no good waiting until things get better. Hope is ‘now’ however bad our troubles are. It is also ‘forever‘. Hope can leap over everything in between ‘now’ and ‘forever‘. People today talk about ‘hope’ when they are full of doubts. Christian hope is quite certain and sure. Faith and love fill in between ‘now’ and ‘forever‘. But our hope ‘now’ must be a good hope in Jesus.

Verse 4 - 10 How the Christians had listened to the Good News

In verse 4 Paul tells the new Christians that God had chosen them and loved them. This is true of us if we are real Christians. (See John 15: 16; 1 Corinthians 1: 27; Ephesians 1: 4; 2 Thessalonians 2: 13; 1 Peter 2: 9). How did Paul know this? How can we know whether God has chosen us? He goes on to explain in verse 5. Paul had preached the Good News and the people at Salonika had listened. The Good News had not been just so many words. There was power in the preaching and as people heard it the Holy Spirit was at work. Paul felt deeply the truth of what he said. No wonder, when we read what had happened to him at Philippi! But the people who heard Paul felt that what he said was also important to them. They knew it had the power to change their lives.

What happened at Salonika was the same sort of thing as what had happened at Philippi. The same power of the Holy Spirit would be with Paul and Silas at Beroea; yet when Paul preached the same message at Athens (Acts 17: 16-34) the power was not there. We can learn from this. Paul, no doubt, had high hopes of that sermon he preached in Athens, but few people who heard him believed. He had to move on to Corinth. We may find the same thing. We may give our very best in the service of Christ and yet people do not believe. We may need to move on, but we must be sure of God's will before we do so. We must not give up easily.

There were many religious teachers in those days. The Christians were not the only ones. [1.2] People expected their teaching to match the way that they lived. Paul matched his life to his teaching also to help the people at Salonika who heard him preach. It is a sign of God's goodness to us if He sends men who really fear Him and follow Him to teach us. They knew this; it changed their lives (verse 6.) so that they became like Paul. More than that, their lives were like the life of Jesus. Hard suffering did not stop them from receiving the Good News with joy. Only the Holy Spirit can help people to do that! So (verse 7.) first they followed the example of Paul: then they became an example to other people. ‘Macedonia’ means northern Greece, which included Philippi and Beroea; Achaia was southern Greece including Corinth and Athens. The news of the faith of the Salonikans had already gone further than that (verse 8.). Before Paul could preach the Good News, people started to talk to him about the great things God had done. Verses 9 and 10 tell what the Salonikans had done when they heard Paul preach the Good News: -

1 They had turned away from the false 'gods' they had worshipped before they knew the true God. God is true: what we say about Him must be true.

2 They now served the God who can give life. False 'gods' are dead. They have no life themselves and cannot give life to us.

3 They were waiting for Jesus Himself to come again. Men worship false 'gods' because they will not wait for the true God to speak to them or come to them.

These verses tell us too what God does.

1 He gives truth. Every false 'god' is a lie. (See Isaiah 44: 20)

2 He raised His Son, Jesus, from the dead. He gave life to Him, a real man, and He will give life to us when we have faith in Him.

3 Jesus rescues us. God is angry about the sin of men; this is His ‘wrath’ When Jesus died on the cross, He died so that we will be rescued. When God shows the world just how angry He is about sin, Christians will not share what happens to the world (Romans 1: 18; Romans 5: 9).

4 Jesus is now in heaven. He is God's Son and a real Man. When God is ready, Jesus will come again to this world. He will come in glory and He will be king; He will rule over all the world.