1 Thessalonians: An Overview

Founded in 316 BC, Thessalonica became an important harbor and leading city in the region. When the Romans built the Egnatian Way to connect Rome to its eastern interests, Thessalonica was a major stop and the first point of the road that reached the Aegean Sea. It was a natural stopping point also for the apostle Paul as he began mission work in Europe.

This blog post is adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion Volume 2: Intertestamental Era, New Testament, and Bible Dictionary.

Historical and Cultural Setting of 1 Thessalonians

The Letters to the Thessalonians are part of that history of the growth of the Word of the Lord which we commonly designate as Paul’s second missionary journey (AD 49–51). The heart of the second missionary journey was the apostle’s 18-month ministry in the great commercial center of Corinth.

Paul’s companions on the journey, Silas and Timothy, join in the sending of both letters. Paul knew from his own experience that the existence of the Church at Thessalonica was due not to human planning and devising, but to the elective love of God which had become history in Paul’s mission to Europe. Paul would recall, as he wrote these words, how he and his companions had been led, uncomprehending but obedient, by God’s own hand and by the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7) with illogical haste from Philippi to Thessalonica. When Paul spoke of the elective love of God to the Thessalonians, he was not uttering a theoretical tenet of his faith; he was uttering that which God had woven into the living texture of his faith by a history in which he, Paul, had himself acted and suffered.

The Paul and Silvanus [Simon] who took to “praying and singing hymns to God” in the jail at Philippi after being beaten by the magistrates (Acts 16:25) had learned to see in their sufferings not the defeat, but the triumph of the Word of the Lord; and they spoke the word in Thessalonica with the robust and confident courage of men who know that they are bearers of the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). They did not conceal from their Thessalonian hearers that their word would put the imprint of suffering upon the Church of God in Thessalonica too (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14; 3:3–4; 2 Thessalonians 1:4–7).

Paul experienced anew on this journey the power and activity of Satan, who plants weeds where the Lord plants good seed. Forced to leave Thessalonica before his work there was really finished, he tried again and again to return to the young church—“but Satan hindered us,” he writes (1 Thessalonians 2:18; cf 3:5).

The Founding of the Church at Thessalonica

Thessalonica was the kind of place that Paul usually chose for an intensive and prolonged ministry. It was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and the residence of the Roman proconsul, commercially important as a harbor town, and an important communications center. It was thus naturally fitted to become a missionary center, a point from which the Word of the Lord, once established in people’s hearts, might readily “sound forth” (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

Paul, with his companions Silas and Timothy, arrived at Thessalonica in AD 50 and began his work, as usual, in the synagogue. The break with the synagogue came early; the ministry among the Gentiles was perhaps prolonged for several months. The congregation at Thessalonica was therefore, as the Letters to the Thessalonians also indicate, pre-dominantly Gentile who turned away from idolatry (1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2:14; cf Acts 17:4). The life of that congregation was from the first a vigorous one. Paul says of them that they “became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia,” all Greece (1:7). Only, they were still little children in Christ, good and gifted children, but not mature and stable men, when Paul was forced to leave them (Acts 17:5–10; 1 Thessalonians 2:17).

Purpose/Recipients of 1 Thessalonians

While Paul was working at Corinth, the Church at Thessalonica remained in his thoughts and his prayers. Would they stand fast under the persecution which had come upon them? Would they misunderstand his departure and his continued absence from them? Paul in Thessalonica, c AD 49, was not yet the apostle Paul as the Church has learned to see him since; he was simply a hitherto unknown Jewish teacher who had come and gone. The Church of Thessalonica would of itself not be minded to classify Paul thus; but his enemies would, and they would thus undermine his apostolic authority and, with it, the faith in the Gospel with which he was identified as apostle.

Paul’s anxieties and fears were well founded. When he could no longer endure the suspense, he sacrificed the aid and companionship of Timothy and sent him to Thessalonica, both to strengthen the faith of the church and to learn firsthand how they fared (3:1–5).

When Timothy returned from Thessalonica to Paul at Corinth with the good news of the Thessalonians’ faith and love and fidelity to Paul (3:6), it meant for Paul the release from a long and agonizing tension. He threw himself with new vigor into his work at Corinth (Acts 18:5), and he wrote the letter which we call First Thessalonians. This letter is Paul’s response to Timothy’s report, a long thanksgiving for the good news that Timothy had brought. The thanksgiving is followed by a series of admonitions suggested by Timothy’s report. Paul is doing by letter what he could not do face-to-face; he is supplying what is lacking in their faith (cf 3:10). To these difficulties Paul’s warm and pastoral heart responded with a wisdom and a love that only the Spirit of God can bestow.

Summary of 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1 As a good shepherd, Paul wants to keep in touch with the flock of God. The Thessalonians become model Christians in words and deeds due to the impact of the Gospel in their lives and the fruit of the Spirit demonstrated in their faith, love, and hope.

1 Thessalonians 2–3 Paul’s experience, inner being, motives, and love toward the Christians is laid bare. He speaks about how he conducted himself (2:9–12). He commends the Thessalonians for receiving the Gospel preached by him as the Word of God and for enduring persecution for its sake (2:13–16). Paul is interested in the well-being of the Thessalonians, whether they stand firm in the Gospel or yield due to pressure from the opponents. When he can no more bear the lack of news, he decides to send Timothy, his co-worker and helper. Then Paul gives thanks and prays for the Thessalonians when he hears the good report from Timothy that they are standing in their faith and have the same kind of love for him as he has for them.

1 Thessalonians 4 Paul gives advice on some practical matters dealing with sanctification so that their witness for the Lord may go forward blamelessly. He comforts the Thessalonians, saying that the dead in Christ will be the first to taste the resurrection and come with the risen Christ. At the second coming, we will all be together once more.

1 Thessalonians 5 After describing the future glory of those who have died in Christ, Paul now proceeds to tell the Thessalonians about the coming Day of Judgment in which the Lord will give His final verdict. He gives both his final instruction about leadership and a benediction.

Martin Luther on 1 Thessalonians

St. Paul writes out of especial love and apostolic solicitude. For in the first two chapters he praises them because they received the gospel from him with such earnestness that they remained steadfast in it despite suffering and persecution, and became a beautiful example of faith to all congregations everywhere, and suffered persecution from their own kinsfolk like Christ and his apostles did from the Jews—as St. Paul by way of example had himself also suffered and led a holy life when he was with them. For this he thanks God, that his gospel had borne such fruit among them.

In chapter 3 he shows his care and solicitude that this labor of his and their praiseworthy beginning not be brought to nothing by the devil and his apostles through the doctrines of men. For this reason he sent Timothy to them beforehand to make sure about this. And he thanks God that things were still right among them and hopes that they continue to increase.

In chapter 4 he exhorts them to guard against sin and to do good to one another. He also answers a question which they had presented to him through Timothy concerning the resurrection of the dead, whether all would rise at once, or whether some after others.

In chapter 5 he writes of the Last Day, how it shall come suddenly and quickly. He gives them some good directions for governing other people and tells them what attitude they are to take toward the lives and teachings of others.” (AE 35:386–87)

Read the Lutheran Bible Companion to find more commentary on 1 Thessalonians or any book of the Bible.

Scripture: ESV^®.