Nearly all new believers have questions about their faith. As
a second missionary, Paul knew this. For this reason, he sent Timothy back to
Thessalonica shortly after establishing the church there. Timothy's job was to
find out how the young church was doing. When he returned, he was loaded down
with their questions. First Thessalonians is Paul's patient reply. He
reinforces the basic gospel message, instructs them further in the faith, and
provides practical applications for spiritual truths.
Author and Date: Paul's authorship of
First Thessalonians has not been seriously questioned except by a few modern
liberal scholars. Paul refers to himself as the author in the letter (1:1; 2:18), and the early church recognized him as
such. The canon of Marcion lists First Thessalonians as being a work of Paul.
Early church fathers such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria
also acknowledged it as being by Paul.
The letter
was probably written from Corinth
around A.D 51 and is considered to be one of Paul's earliest epistles. In fact,
Galatians maybe the only one written before it.
Historical Background: Thessalonica was
one of the first cities to be evangelized by Paul and Silas when they landed on
the continent of Europe. A divine vision of a man from Macedonia
inviting Paul to preach the gospel and had drawn the two missionaries to that
region (see Acts 16:9-10). After preaching in Philippi,
Paul traveled another 100 miles to Thessalonica. This was a port city and a
commercial center located in the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea.
The Egnatian Way linking Rome
to Byzantium passed through it.
This important highway and thriving port made Thessalonica one of the wealthiest
centers of the Roman Empire. It was the capital and the
largest city of the province of Macedonia,
with a population of about 200,000.
Because
of its strategic location, Thessalonica became the base for the spread of the
gospel to Macedonia
and Greece. This
was Paul's plan. A church planted in a geographic center would become the evangelistic
hub for the surrounding region. Evidently this was true of Thessalonica, for
Paul commends them for their evangelistic work (1:8).
Paul
started the Thessalonian church by preaching for three Sabbath days in the
Jewish synagogue. He had great success, not only among the Jews but also among
the God fearing Greeks. Paul had some Jews who rejected Paul's message and were
envious of his success and hired thugs to attack him. When Paul could not be
found, the Jews brought the owner of the house where Paul was staying, Jason,
before the magistrates. They charged him with treason because he was harboring
someone who was teaching that there was another king, Jesus. Then the magistrates
took a bond from Jason and let him go. Consequently, Paul and Silas considered
it best to leave immediately, and went to the next important town, Berea.
Here they also had a good reception. But when the Jews in Thessalonica hear of
it, they went there to stir up more opposition to Paul and Silas. Paul moved on
to Athens. After a brief stay
there, he went to Corinth, where he
was joined by Silas and Timothy (Acts 18:5). Concerned about the welfare of the
Thessalonians converts, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to see how the
believers were doing.
After a
brief, encouraging ministry in Thessalonica, Timothy rejoined Paul in Corinth
and brought a good report of the faithfulness of the Thessalonians even under persecution.
They did have some questions about the faith, and Paul undertook to answer
these.
Themes: First Thessalonians gives us an
intimate introduction to how Paul mentored young believers. As this epistle demonstrates,
his teaching for young converts was rich in the doctrine and application,
accurately describing salvation in its full dimensions.
In First
Thessalonians, Paul reviewed some of the basics of the faith and applied these
truths to the believers' lives. He challenged them to persevere in godly living
despite persecution. He extended the comfort of the Resurrection to those of
who were in mourning, and he spoke about details of the Second Coming. In
addition, Paul responded to the angry attacks of his Jewish opponents, who were
jealous because Christians were drawing God fearing Gentiles away from the
local synagogues. Paul's opponents may have charged that his failure to return
to Thessalonica proved that he was insincere. Paul devoted the first three
chapters of his letter to correcting this false impression.
In a brief
space, Paul covered a wide spectrum of the essential doctrines of Christianity.
These include such beliefs as the Trinity (1:5-6), the deity of Christ
(3:11-12), the power of the Holy Spirit (1:5-6), the nature of scripture (4:13-17;
5:23), the day of the Lord (5:1-3), assurance of salvation (1:5), conversion
(1:9), sanctification (4:3; 5:23), the Resurrection (4:14-18), the relation of
faith to works (1:3), the relation of love to service (1:3), and the relation
of patience to hope (1:3).
Because
First Thessalonians is one of Paul's earliest letters, it reveals much of what
Paul preached during his second missionary journey. Evidently, the return of
Christ was central to his message, for Paul answers many questions about the
Second Coming. In fact, perhaps the most significant doctrinal contribution of
this small letter is its detailed explanation of Christ's return.