Let's STUDY 1 Thessalonians! (Gospel, church, preaching, believe)
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And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thes 3:12-13)
You can interpret this different ways, but the message needs to be heard here at CD.
Let's study 1 Thessalonians through sound hermeneutical principles and exegesis--(e.g. historical setting, date, authorship, audience relevance)!
Preterist
First Thessalonians was the first epistle that Paul recorded in 52 or 53 AD.
Thessalonica was a Roman colony. Colonization was the strategy that the Romans used to assimilate the people to Roman culture. Rather than conquering and directly changing the established culture of the people Rome would colonize which would then gradually adopt Roman laws, customs and behavior. Does this sound familiar at all?
The Roman colony of Thessalonica was an essential city in the Roman Empire, located fifty miles west of Philippi and about one hundred miles north of Athens. Thessalonica was right in the center or the heart of the empire and was the chief city of Macedonia. The city is still in existence and is now known as Salonika.
Paul established the church in Thessalonica during his second mission trip and was considered a model church. This is recorded in the first chapter verse 7; “So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia”. Paul also speaks of this church as being an example to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8:1–5.
Paul was forced leave Thessalonica quickly due to mounting opposition to the gospel. He was run out of town and went down to Berea. After some time Timothy and Silas came to Paul with news concerning the Thessalonians (see 1 Thess. 3:6). Timothy also brought some questions to Paul, problems troubling the believers in Thessalonica. Paul wrote this first epistle in response to their questions, to instruct them further and give them needed comfort.
The epistle has a threefold purpose:
· to confirm young converts in the elementary truth of the gospel
· to condition them to go on unto holy living
· to comfort them regarding the return of Christ.
Paul’s message offered a marked contrast to the paganism and heathenism which was present in Thessalonica.
First Thessalonians was the first epistle that Paul recorded in 52 or 53 AD.
Thessalonica was a Roman colony. Colonization was the strategy that the Romans used to assimilate the people to Roman culture. Rather than conquering and directly changing the established culture of the people Rome would colonize which would then gradually adopt Roman laws, customs and behavior. Does this sound familiar at all?
The Roman colony of Thessalonica was an essential city in the Roman Empire, located fifty miles west of Philippi and about one hundred miles north of Athens. Thessalonica was right in the center or the heart of the empire and was the chief city of Macedonia. The city is still in existence and is now known as Salonika.
Paul established the church in Thessalonica during his second mission trip and was considered a model church. This is recorded in the first chapter verse 7; “So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia”. Paul also speaks of this church as being an example to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8:1–5.
Paul was forced leave Thessalonica quickly due to mounting opposition to the gospel. He was run out of town and went down to Berea. After some time Timothy and Silas came to Paul with news concerning the Thessalonians (see 1 Thess. 3:6). Timothy also brought some questions to Paul, problems troubling the believers in Thessalonica. Paul wrote this first epistle in response to their questions, to instruct them further and give them needed comfort.
The epistle has a threefold purpose:
· to confirm young converts in the elementary truth of the gospel
· to condition them to go on unto holy living
· to comfort them regarding the return of Christ.
Paul’s message offered a marked contrast to the paganism and heathenism which was present in Thessalonica.
Thank you, Salt & Light. That was very informative. Such information is critical to a proper understanding of the book!
From the salutation, one wonders how much influence Silvanus (Latin for Silas) and Timothy had in the content of this letter. Since Silas accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey, it is likely that he had some influence on what Paul wrote. And no one was closer to Paul than Timothy, although at this time, he was still a relative newcomer. Of course, their joint interest in the life of the Thessalonian church is evident in their joint prayers and thanksgiving for them (vss. 2 and 3).
According to Paul's prayers for them, it is evident that the Thessalonians were those who worked out their faith, labored in love, and patiently hoped in the Lord Jesus. Paul does not state clearly the nature of this hope, but he does mention it again later in this epistle. In fact, "hope" (elpis) is a common term used by Paul in connection with the return of the Lord and the attendant circumstances (e.g resurrection).
Peter, quoting Psalm 16:8-11, used the term on Pentecost to express the hope of deliverance from Hades (Acts 2:26). Paul was judged by the Jewish council of preaching error concerning the "hope and resurrection of the dead" (Acts 23:6). In Acts 24:15 Paul, while before Felix, the governor, connects his own "hope in God" with the resurrection of the dead (see also Acts 26:1-8 where Paul make this same association when he is before King Agrippa).
The resurrection and release from the destination of Hades (Sheol) was first of all the "hope of Israel." Paul made it clear in Acts that his preaching concerning this very thing was the reason he was being judged. Paul persuaded many Jews of the truths of this hope (Acts 28:17ff). This "hope" would also be for the Gentiles as prophesied by Isaiah (Rom. 15:12, 13). They once had no "hope" because they were outside the commonwealth of Israel and were without God. In Christ Jesus, they were brought into the "household of God" (Eph. 2) and into "the hope of Israel."
To the Colossians, Paul spoke of the "hope" of their calling, the "hope" of the Gospel (Col. 1:5, 23), and the "hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).
Later in this first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul closely associates his hope and "glory and joy" at seeing those very Thessalonians in the "presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming" (1 Thess. 2:19, 20). In 1 Thessalonians 4:19, Paul teaches that the absence of this "hope" is found in the sorrow of unbelievers concerning death.
That Paul speaks of the "patience of hope" here in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 suggests to me that they and Paul were at the time waiting for and expecting the fulfillment of this hope sometime soon--in their lifetimes. There is rarely, if ever, patience or even the need for patience, if a thing hoped for is not to be realized in the lifetime of the one hoping for it. As Solomon so aptly stated it--"Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Proverbs. 13:12)! Paul, the Thessalonians, and all saints of that day hoped patiently for these things to occur in their lifetime!
The foundation for their hope rests in their "election by God" (verse 4). They have much assurance in that and in the fact that the gospel had come to them "in power" and "in the Holy Spirit." Their hope and patience is sure and steadfast because they rest in the promises and power of God!
Paul warns the Thessalonians of the suddenness of Christ's return.
1 Thess 5:1 (KJV)
1 Thess 5:1 could be taken differently:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 CLV (1) Now concerning the times and the eras, brethren, you have no need to be written to, (2) for you yourselves are accurately aware that the day of the Lord is as a thief in the night - thus is it coming! (3) Now whenever they may be saying "Peace and security,then extermination is standing by them unawares, even as a pang over the pregnant, and they may by no means escape." (4) Now you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day may be overtaking you as a thief, (5) for you are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. (6) Consequently, then, we may not be drowsing, even as the rest, but we may be watching and be sober." (7) For those who are drowsing are drowsing at night, and those who are drunk are drunk at night." (8) Yet we, being of the day, may be sober, putting on the cuirass of faith and love, and the helmet, the expectation of salvation, (9) for God did not appoint us to indignation, but to the procuring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
"4 The day of the Lord with its terrors and destruction is not for us. The cry of "peace and security" should not lull us to sleep. We should be on the alert, knowing the futility of all security and peace apart from Christ. And, though aware of the whirlpool into which this world is sweeping, we have no fear, for it will not engulf us. But, suppose that we, too, relax our vigilance and take a nap along with the rest. Will we be left for judgment? At His coming to set up the kingdom it is vital that they watch or they will lose their reward (Mt.24:42, 25:13; Mk.13:34; Lu.12:37; Un.3:3, 16:15). Not so here. Those who received Paul's gospel of faith apart from deeds, find their salvation a matter of pure unadulterated grace. This is true of the future as well as the past. The death of Christ, not our conduct, our watchfulness or the lack of it, is the foundation on which our future salvation rests just as really as the salvation which we already enjoy. This confidence will not lead to laxness." (A.E. Knoch, Concordant Commentary).
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1 thessalonians
