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1
Thessalonians Chapter One
1 Thessalonians 1
The apostle, in declaring (as was his custom) that which
he felt respecting them-the aspect in which they appeared to his heart and
mind, speaks neither of gifts, as to the Corinthians, nor of the grand features
of an exaltation that embraced the Lord and all saints, as to the Ephesians and
even to the Colossians (with the addition of that which their state required);
nor of the brotherly affection and fellowship of love which the Philippians had
manifested in their connection with himself; nor of a faith that existed apart
from his labors, and in communion with which he hoped to refresh himself,
adding to it that which his abundant gifts enabled him to impart to them, as he
writes to the Romans whom he had not yet seen.
Here it is the life itself of the Christian in its first fresh
impressions, in its intrinsic qualities, as it developed itself by the energy
of the Holy Ghost on earth, the life of God here below in them, which he
remembers in his prayers with so much satisfaction and joy. Three great
principles, he tells the Corinthians (l Cor.13) form the basis, and ever abide
as the foundation of this life-faith, hope, and love. Now these three were the
powerful and divine motives of the life of the Thessalonians. This life was not
merely a habit; it flowed, in its outward activities, from immediate communion
with its source. These activities were quickened and maintained by divine life,
and by keeping the eye constantly fixed upon the object of faith. There was
work, and labour, and endurance. There were the same in Ephesus, as we see it
in Revelation 2. But here it was a work of faith, labour undertaken by love,
endurance fed by hope. Faith, hope, and love are, we have seen, the springs of
Christianity in this world. The work, the labour, the endurance continued at
Ephesus, but ceased to be characterised by these great and mighty principles.
The habit continued, but the communion was wanting They had forsaken their
first love.
The first to the Thessalonians is the expression of the
living power in which the assembly is planted: Ephesus, in Revelation 2, of its
first departure from that state.
May our work be a work of faith, drawing its strength,
its existence even, from our communion with God our Father! May it be, each
moment, the fruit of the realisation of that which is invisible, of the life
which lives in the certainty, the immutable certainty, of the word! May it thus
bear the impress of the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ, and be a
testimony to it.
May our labour in service be the fruit of love, not
performed merely as duty and obligation, although it was this, if we know that
it is before us to be done!
May the patience that we must have, in order to go through this
wilderness, be, not the necessity we feel because the path is before us, but an
endurance sustained by the hope that belongs to our view of Jesus by faith, and
that is waiting for Him !
These principles, faith, hope, and love, form our
character as Christians: [1] but it
cannot, and ought not to, be formed in us without having objects. Accordingly
the Spirit presents them here. They have a twofold character. The heart rests
by faith on Jesus, waits for Him, counts upon Him, links itself with Him in its
walk. He has walked here below, He represents us in heaven, He watches over us
as the good Shepherd. He loves His own; He nourishes and cherishes them: our
faith and our hope keep Him always in view. The conscience is before God our
Father; it is not in the spirit of fear: there is no uncertainty as to our
relationship. We are the children of a Father who lovesus perfectly; but we are
before God. His light has authority and power in the conscience: we walk in the
sense that His eye is upon us, in love but upon us. And light makes everything
manifest. It judges all that might weaken the sweet and peaceful realisation of
the presence of God, and our communion with Jesus, and our confidence in Him,
the intimacy of the intercourse between our souls and the Lord. These two
principles are of all importance for abiding peace, for the progress of our
souls. Without them the soul flags. The one sustains confidence, the other
keeps us in the light with a good conscience. Without the latter, faith (not to
say more) loses its liveliness; without the former, the conscience be comes
legal, and we lose spiritual strength, light and ardour.
The apostle reminds them also of the means used by God to
produce this condition, that is, the gospel, the word, brought in power and in
much assurance to the soul by the Holy Ghost. The word had power in their
heart-came to it as the word of God; the Spirit Himself revealed Himself in it,
giving the consciousness of His presence; and the consequence of this was the
full assurance of the truth in all its power, in all its reality. The apostle's
life, his whole conduct, confirmed the testimony which he bore-formed a part of
it. Accordingly (it is always the case) the fruit of his labors answered in
character to him who laboured; the Christianity of the Thessalonians resembled
that of Paul. It was like the walk of the Lord Himself whom Paul followed so
closely. It was " in much affliction," for the enemy could not bear
so plain a testimony, and God granted this grace to such a testimony, and
" with joy of the Holy Ghost."
Happy testimony to the power of the Spirit working in the
heart! When this is so, everything becomes testimony to others. They see that
there is in Christians a power of which they are ignorant, motives which they
have not experienced, a joy which they may scoff at but which they do not
possess; a conduct which strikes them, and which they admire, although they do
not follow it; a patience which shews the impotence of the enemy in striving
against a power that endures everything, and that rejoices in spite of all his
efforts. What can we do with those who allow themselves to be killed without
becoming less joyful, nay, whom it makes more so; who are above all our motives
when left to themselves, and who, if oppressed, possess their souls in perfect
joy in spite of all our opposition; and who are unconquered by torments,
finding in these only an occasion for bearing a stronger testimony that
Christians are beyond our power? At peace, life is all of it a testimony; death
even in torture, is still more so. Such is the Christian, where Christianity
exists in its true power, in its normal condition according to God-the word (of
the gospel) and the presence of the Spirit, reproduced in the life, in a world
estranged from God.
Thus it was with the Thessalonians; and the world, in
spite of itself, became an additional witness to the power of the gospel. An
ensample to believers in other places, they were the subject of report and
conversation to the world, which was never weary of discussing this phenomenon,
so new and so strange, of people who had given up all that governed the human
heart, all to which it was subject, and worshiped one only living and true God,
to whom even the natural conscience bore testimony. The gods of the heathen
were the gods of the passions, not of the conscience. And this gave a living
reality, an actuality, to the position of Christians and to their religion.
They waited for His Son from heaven.
Happy indeed were those Christians whose walk and whole
existence made of the world itself a witness for the truth, who were so
distinct in their confession, so consistent in their life, that an apostle did
not need to speak of that which he had preached, of that which he had been
among them. The world spoke of it for him and for them.
A few words on the testimony itself, which, simple as it
may be, is of great importance,and contains principles of great moral depth. It
forms the basis of the whole life, and of all the christian affections also,
that are unfolded in the Epistle, which, besides this development, contains
only a special revelation of the circumstances and the order of the coming of
Christ to call His people to Himself, and of the difference between that event
and the day of the Lord to judge the world, although this latter follows on the
former.
That which the apostle points out, as the testimony borne
by the faithful walk of the Thessalonians, contained three principal subjects:
1st, they had forsaken their idols to serve the living and true God; 2nd, they
were waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He had raised from among the dead;
3rd, the Son was a safeguard from the wrath which was to be revealed.
An immense fact-simple but of vast import-characterises Christianity.
It gives us a positive object; and this object is nothing less. than God
Himself. Human nature may discover the folly of that which is false. We scorn
false gods and graven images; but we cannot get beyond ourselves, we cannot
reveal anything to ourselves. One of the most renowned names of antiquity is
pleased to tell us, that all would go well if men followed nature (it is
manifest that they could not rise above it); and, in fact, he would be in the
right if man were not fallen. But to require man to follow nature is a proof
that he is fallen, that he has degraded himself below the normal state of that
nature. He does not follow it in the walk that suits its constitution. All is
in disorder. Self-will carries him away, and acts in his passions. Man has
forsaken God, and has lost the power and centre of attraction that kept him in
his place and everything in his own nature in its place. Man cannot recover
himself, he cannot direct himself; for, apart from God, there is nothing but
self-will that guides man. There are many objects that furnish occasion for the
acting of the passions and the will; but there is no object which, as a centre,
gives him a regular, constant, and durable moral position in relationship with
that object, so that his character should bear its stamp and value. Man must
either have a moral centre, capable of forming him as a moral being, by
attracting him to itself and filling his affections, so that he shall be the
reflex of that object; or he must act in self-will, and then he is the sport of
his passions; or, which is the necessary consequence, he is the slave of any
object that takes possession of his will. A creature, who is a moral being,
cannot subsist without an object. To be self-sufficing is the characteristic of
God.
The equilibrium which subsisted in the unconsciousness of
good and evil is lost. Man no longer walks as man, having nothing in his mind
outside his normal condition, outside that which he possessed; not having a
will, or, which comes to the same thing, having a will that desired nothing
more than it possessed, but that gratefully enjoyed all that was, already
appropriated to its nature, and especially the companionship of a being like
himself, a help who had his own nature, and who answered to his heart-blessing
God for everything.
Now man wills. While he has lost that which formed the
sphere of his enjoyment, there is in him an activity which seeks, which is
become unable to rest without aiming at, something farther; which has already,
as will, thrown itself into a sphere that it does not fill, in which it lacks
intelligence to apprehend all that is there and power to realise even that
which it desires. Man, and all that has been his, no longer suffices man as
enjoyment. He still needs an object. This object will either be above or below
the man. If it be below, he degrades himself below himself; and it is this
indeed which has taken place. He no longer lives according even to nature (as
he to whom I have alluded says), a state which the apostle has described in the
beginning of the Epistle to the Romans with all the horrors of the plain truth.
If this object be above himself and below God, there is still nothing to govern
his nature, nothing that puts him morally in his place. A good being could not
take this place to exclude God from it. If a bad object gains it, he becomes to
the man, a god, who shuts out the true God, and degrades man in his highest
relationship-the worst of all degradations. This too has taken place. And since
these beings are but creatures, they only can govern man by that which exists,
and by that which acts upon him. This is to say, they are the gods of his
passions. They degrade the idea of the Divinity: they degrade the practical
life of humanity into slavery to the passions (which are never satisfied, and
which invent evil when they are surfeited with excess in that which is natural
to them) and are thus left without resource. Such in fact was the condition of
man under Paganism.
Man, and above all, man having knowledge of good and evil,
should have God for his object; and as an object that his heart can entertain
with pleasure, and on which his affections can be exercised: other wise he is
lost. The gospel-Christianity-has given him this, God, who fills all things,
who is the source of, in whom is centered, all blessing, all good-God, who is
all love, who has all power, who embraces everything in His knowledge, because
everything (except the forsaking of Himself) is but the fruit of His mind and
will-God has revealed Himself in Christ to man, in order that his heart,
occupied with with Him, with perfect confidence in His goodness, may know Him,
may enjoy His presence, and reflect His character.
The sin and misery of man have but lent occasion to an
infinitely more complete development of what this God is, and of the perfection
of His nature, in love, in wisdom, and in power. But we are here considering
only the fact, that He has given Himself to man for an object. Nevertheless,
although the misery of man has but given room for a much more admirable
revelation of God, yet God Himself must have an object worthy of Himself to be
the subject of His purposes, and in order to unfold all His affections. This
object is the glory of His Son-His Son Himself. A being of an inferior nature
could not have been this to Him, although God can glorify Himself in His grace
to such and one. The object of the affections, and the affections that are
exercised with regard to it, are necessarily correlative. Thus God has
displayed His sovereign and immense grace with regard to that which was the
most wretched, the most unworthy, the most necessitous; and He has displayed
all the majesty of His being, all the excellence of His nature, in connection
with an object in whom He could find all His delight, and exhibit all that He
is in the glory of His nature. But it is as man-marvelous truth in the eternal
counsels of God!-that this object of God the Father's delight has taken His
place in this glorious revelation by which God makes Himself known to His
creatures. God has ordained and prepared man for this, Thus the heart that is
taught by the Spirit knows God as revealed in this immense grace, in the love
that comes down from the throne of God to the ruin and misery of the sinner; he
finds himself, in Christ, in the knowledge and in the enjoyment of the love
which God has for the object of His eternal delight, who also is worthy of
being so; of the communications by which He testifies that love (John 17:7,8);
and, finally, of the glory which is its public demonstration before the
universe. This latter part of our ineffable blessedness is the subject of
Christ's communications at the end of John's Gospel. (Chaps 14, 16, and, in
particular 17) [2] From
the moment that the sinner is converted and believes the gospel, and (to
complete his state, I must add) is sealed with the Holy Ghost, now that the
blessed Lord has wrought redemption, he is introduced--as to the principle of
his life-into this position, into these relationships with God. He is perhaps
but a child; but the Father whom he knows, the love into which he has entered,
the Saviour on whom his eyes are opened, are the same whom he will enjoy when
he shall know as he is known. He is a Christian; he is turned from idols to
God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.
We may observe, that the subject here is not the power
which converts, nor the source of life. Of these other passages speak clearly.
Here it is the character of the life in its manifestation. Now this depends on
its objects. Life is exercised and unfolded in connection with its objects, and
thus characterises itself. The source from which it flows makes it capable of
enjoying it; but an intrinsic life which has no object on which it depends is
not the life of a creature. Such life as that is the prerogative of God. This
shews the folly of those who would have a subjective life, as they say, without
its having a positively objective character; for this subjective state depends on
the object with which it is occupied. It is the characteristic of God to be the
source of His own thoughts without an object-to be, and to be self-sufficing
(because He is perfection, and the centre and source of everything), and to
create objects unto Himself, if He would have any without Himself. In a word,
although receiving a life from God which is capable of enjoying Him, the moral
character of man cannot be formed in him without an object that imparts it to
him.
Now God has given Himself to us for an object, and has
revealed Himself in Christ. If we occupy ourselves with God in Himself
(supposing always that He had thus revealed Himself), the subject is too vast.
It is an infinite joy; but in that which is simply infinite there is something
wanting to a creature, although it is his highest prerogative to enjoy it. It
is necessary to him on the one hand, in order that he may be in his place, and
that God may have His place in regard to him, and on the other hand that which
exalts him so admirably. It must be so; and it is the privilege given unto us,
and given unto us in a priceless intimacy, for we are children, and we dwell in
God, and God in us; but with this in itself there is a certain weight upon the
heart in the sense of God alone. We read of "a far [3] of
glory." It must be so: His majesty must be maintained when we think of Him
as God, His authority over the conscience. The heart-God has so formed it-needs
something which will not lower its affections, but which may have the character
of companion and friend, at least to which it has access in that character.
It is this which we have in Christ, our precious Saviour.
He is an object near to us. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. He has
called us friends; all that He has heard from His Father He has made known to
us. Is He then a means of our eyes being turned away from God? On the contrary,
it is in Him that God is manifested, in Him that even the angels see God. It is
He who, being in the bosom of the Father, reveals to us His God and Father in
this sweet relationship, and as He knows Him Himself. And not only this, but He
is in the Father, and the Father in Him, so that He who has seen Him has seen
the Father. He reveals God to us, instead of turning us away from Him. In grace
He has already revealed Him, and we wait for the revelation of glory in Him.
Already also on the earth, from the moment that He was born, the angels
celebrated the good pleasure of God in man, for the object of His eternal
delight had become a man. And now He has accomplished the work which makes
possible the introduction of others, of sinners, into the enjoyment with
Himself of this favour of God. Once enemies, "we are reconciled to God by the
death of His Son."
It is thus that God has reconciled us to Himself. By
faith thus knowing God, we " turn from idols to serve the living and true
God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." The living and true God is the
object of our joyful service. His Son, whom we know, who knows us, who will
have us to be where He is, who has identified us with His own glory and His
glory with us, He who is a glorified man for ever and firstborn among many
brethren, is the object of our expectation. We expect Him from heaven, for our
hopes are there, and there the seat of our joy.
We have the infinity of a God of love, the intimacy and
the glory of Him who has taken part in all our infirmities, and, without sin,
has borne all our sins. What a portion is ours !
But there was another side of the truth. Creatures are
responsible; and, however great His love and His patience, God cannot allow
evil nor contempt of His authority: if He did, all would be confusion and
misery. God Himself would lose His place. There is a judgment; there is wrath
to come. We were responsible; we have failed. How then shall we enjoy God and
the Son in the way that I have spoken of?
Here comes in the application of the third truth of which
the apostle speaks: "Which delivered us from the wrath to come." The
work of Christ has perfectly sheltered us from this wrath; He took our place in
responsibility on the cross to put away sin for us by the sacrifice of Himself.
These then are the three great elements of christian
life. We serve the living and the true God, having forsaken our idols outward
or inward. We expect Jesus for glory; for this sight of God makes us feel what
this world is, and we know Jesus. As to our sins and our conscience, we are
perfectly cleansed; we fear nothing. The life and walk of the Thessalonians was
a testimony to these truths.
[1] They
are found oftener in Paul's writings than is thought; as 1 Thessalonians 5:8
and Colossians 1:4, 5. In 2nd Thessalonians 1:3 we have faith and love, but he
has to clear up their thoughts as to hope.
[2]
Compare Proverbs 8:30,31, and Luke 2:14, where read, "good pleasure in
men." It is beautiful to see the angels unjealously celebrating it. Love
downwards in grace is great according to the misery and unworthiness of the
object; upwards as the affection of the soul according to the worthiness; see
both in Christ, Eph 5:2 In both in Christ self is wholly given up. He gave, not
sought, Himself. The law takes self as measure as to the neighbor, and supposes
him on the same footing. There is no love downwards.
[3]
Weight and glory are the same word in Hebrew- "Cabod".
── John Darby《Synopsis of 1 Thessalonians》
1 Thessalonians 1
Chapter Contents
The faith, love, and patience of the Thessalonians, are
evident tokens of their election which was manifested in the power with which
the gospel came to them. (1-5) Its powerful and exemplary effects upon their
hearts and lives. (6-10)
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
(Read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5)
As all good comes from God, so no good can be hoped for
by sinners, but from God in Christ. And the best good may be expected from God,
as our Father, for the sake of Christ. We should pray, not only for ourselves,
but for others also; remembering them without ceasing. Wherever there is a true
faith, it will work; it will affect both the heart and life. Faith works by
love; it shows itself in love to God, and love to our neighbour. And wherever
there is a well-grounded hope of eternal life, this will appear by the exercise
of patience; and it is a sign of sincerity, when in all we do, we seek to
approve ourselves to God. By this we may know our election, if we not only
speak of the things of God with out lips, but feel their power in our hearts,
mortifying our lusts, weaning us from the world, and raising us up to heavenly
things. Unless the Spirit of God comes with the word of God, it will be to us a
dead letter. Thus they entertained it by the power of the Holy Ghost. They were
fully convinced of the truth of it, so as not to be shaken in mind by
objections and doubts; and they were willing to leave all for Christ, and to
venture their souls and everlasting condition upon the truth of the gospel
revelation.
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10
(Read 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10)
When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned
from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus,
to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The
believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and
believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised
him from the dead, which is a full assurance unto all men that he will come to
judgment. He came to purchase salvation, and will, when he comes again, bring
salvation with him, full and final deliverance from that wrath which is yet to
come. Let all, without delay, flee from the wrath to come, and seek refuge in
Christ and his salvation.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Thessalonians》
1 Thessalonians 1
Verse 1
[1] Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of
the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul — In this epistle St. Paul neither uses the title of an
apostle, nor any other, as writing to pious and simple-hearted men, with the
utmost familiarity. There is a peculiar sweetness in this epistle, unmixed with
any sharpness or reproof: those evils which the apostles afterward reproved
having not yet crept into the church.
Verse 3
[3] Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and
labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of
God and our Father;
Remembering in the sight of God — That is, praising him
for it.
Your work of faith — Your active,
ever-working faith.
And labour of love — Love continually
labouring for the bodies or souls of men. They who do not thus labour, do not
love. Faith works, love labours, hope patiently suffers all things.
Verse 4
[4] Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
Knowing your election — Which is through
faith, by these plain proofs.
Verse 5
[5] For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake.
With power — Piercing the very heart with a
sense of sin and deeply convincing you of your want of a Saviour from guilt,
misery, and eternal ruin.
With the Holy Ghost — Bearing an outward
testimony, by miracles, to the truth of what we preached, and you felt: also by
his descent through laying on of hands.
With much assurance — Literally, with full
assurance, and much of it: the Spirit bearing witness by shedding the love of
God abroad in your hearts, which is the highest testimony that can be given.
And these signs, if not the miraculous gifts, always attend the preaching of
the gospel, unless it be in vain: neither are the extraordinary operations of
the Holy Ghost ever wholly withheld, where the gospel is preached with power,
and men are alive to God.
For your sake — Seeking your advantage, not our
own.
Verse 6
[6] And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having
received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
Though in much affliction, yet with much joy.
Verse 8
[8] For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only
in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is
spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
For from you the word sounded forth — (Thessalonica being a
city of great commerce.) Being echoed, as it were, from you. And your
conversion was divulged far beyond Macedonia and Achaia. So that we need not speak
anything - Concerning it.
Verse 9
[9] For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God;
For they themselves — The people wherever
we come.
Verse 10
[10] And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from
the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Whom he hath raised from the dead — In proof of his
future coming to judgment.
Who delivereth us — He redeemed us once;
he delivers us continually; and will deliver all that believe from the wrath,
the eternal vengeance, which will then come upon the ungodly.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Thessalonians》
Chapter 1. The Salvation of Coming
Again
Joy Given by
the Spirit
Welcome the Message
I. Work
Produced by Faith
II. Labor
Prompted by Love
III. Endurance
Inspired by Hope
── Chih-Hsin
Chang《An Outline of
The New Testament》
Chapter One General Review
OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER
1) To understand how the virtues of faith, hope, and love should express themselves 2) To notice the potential a new congregation has for spreading the good news of the gospel of Christ, and being a positive example to all believers SUMMARY
Joined by Silvanus and Timothy who had been with him when the gospelwas first preached in Thessalonica, Paul offers his salutation alongwith a petition for grace and peace. He follows with an expression ofthanksgiving for their work of faith, labor of love, and patience ofhope, knowing their election by God (1-4). His assurance of their election is bolstered by the manner in whichthey received the gospel. It had come to them not only in word, but inpower, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. Having imitated Pauland the Lord by receiving the word in much affliction and joy, they inturn had become examples to all the believers in Macedonia From them the word had sounded forth in every place, and the news oftheir own faith toward God had so spread that Paul did not need to tellothers about them. Indeed, others were telling Paul of theThessalonians' conversion from idols to serve the true God, and howthey were waiting for the resurrected Jesus to return from heaven whowould deliver them from the wrath to come (5-10). OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION (1-4)
A. SALUTATION (1) 1. From Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy (1a ) 2. To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1b) 3. Grace and peace from God and Jesus (1c ) B. THANKSGIVING (2-4) 1. Offered to God in their behalf, making mention of them in his prayers (2) 2. Mindful always of their: a. Work of faith b. Labor of love c. Patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ ...in the sight of our God and Father (3) 4. Knowing their election by God (4) II. REFLECTIONS REGARDING THEIR CONDITION (1:5-10)
A. THEIR RECEPTION OF THE GOSPEL (5-7) 1. The gospel came to them not only in word, but... a. In power b. In the Holy Spirit c. In much assurance ...for they knew what kind of men Paul and his companions had been for their sakes while with them (5) 2. They had become followers of Paul and of the Lord, having received the word... a. In much affliction (6a ) b. With joy of the Holy Spirit (6b) 3. They had became examples to the believers in Macedonia Achaia (7) B. THEIR REPUTATION IN EVERY PLACE (8-10) 1. From them the word of the Lord had sounded forth in Macedonia Achaia, and beyond (8a ) 2. Their faith toward God had gone out, so Paul did not need to say anything (8b) 3. Others were telling Paul... a. What manner of entry Paul had to them (9a ) b. How they had turned from idols to serve the living and true God (9b) c. How they were waiting for the resurrected Jesus to return from heaven, who delivers from the wrath to come (10) REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER
1) What are the main points of this chapter?
- Introduction (1-4) - Reflections regarding their condition (5-10) 2) Who joined Paul in the salutation of this epistle? (1)
- Silvanus and Timothy 3) How did Paul address the church? (1)
- The church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 4) What three things was Paul especially thankful for regarding the Thessalonians? (3)
- Their work of faith - Their labor of love - The patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ 5) What did Paul know concerning the Thessalonians? (4)
- Their election by God 6) How had the gospel come to the Thessalonians? (5)
- In Word, in power, in the Holy Spirit, in much assurance 7) How had they become followers of Paul and the Lord? (6)
- By receiving the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit 8) For whom had they became examples? (7)
- All the believers in Macedonia 9) What two things had sounded forth, or gone out, from theThessalonians? (8)
- The word of the Lord - Their faith toward God 10) What two things describe the manner in which they received Paul?(9-10)
- Their turning from idols to serve the living and true God - Their waiting for Jesus from heaven Introduction To The Epistle (1:1)
INTRODUCTION
1. A wonderful hope of the Christian is the promise of the Lord's return... a. A promise given when Jesus ascended into heaven - Ac 1:9-11 b. A promise designed to motivate Christians to live holy and godly lives - 2 Pe 3:10-14 2. How then should we live as we anticipate the Lord's return? This question is addressed in Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians a. In which every chapter has some mention of the Lord's return b. In which we find practical instructions for holy and godly living [That we might be ready for the Lord's return, we begin this series ofsermons based on First Thessalonians. In this lesson, we shall considersome background information on this epistle...]