1 Thessalonians 1

1 Thessalonians 1:1

The apostle Paul, after the usual salutations, expresses his joy in the character of the Thessalonians to whom he wrote, and in the credit they did to their Christian profession, by a behaviour so worthy of it. 1 Thess. I. 1, throughout.

1 THES. I. 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.

1 THESSALONIANS I. 1.

PAUL and Sylvanus, otherwise called Silas, and Timothy, all well known as the servants and ministers of Christ, join in this address to the beloved and happy church, which he by his grace hath lately founded among you of the Thessalonians, who have now the honour to stand in an intimate and dear relation to God, the Father of all true believers, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, our common and adorable Saviour. And we all most sincerely wish grace and peace unto you in the richest abundance, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 We give thanks

We think ourselves obliged to give thanks to God always with one accord for you all, making

i.

Thes i. 1.

St. Paul blesses God for the readiness wit

continual mention of you in our daily prayers. Incessantly remembering in every address to the Divine throne your work of faith, the readiness with which you embraced the gospel of Christ, the vigour with which you declared your dependence upon it; and, in consequence of that dependence, your labour of love, the charitable and affectionate zeal with which you embarked in the interests of his persecuted servants; and your patience in result of that blessed hope which was brought unto you by the gospel and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and solemnly professed before God, even our Father, who will not suffer the graces which he hath wrought in you by his blessed Spirit to fail of their proper rewards.⁴

And this we write with all freedom and endearment, knowing, beloved brethren, your participation in the election of God, and fully persuaded that you are in the number of those whom he will finally own as his chosen people, for whom before the foundation of the world he had prepared a kingdom. Of which, blessed be his name, we have the most important and satisfactory evidence; because our gospel, that is, the gospel which we preach, and which was solemnly committed to our charge, came not to you in word only, so as to be a mere empty sound, or to convey only amusing ideas to your mind, but also in power, so as to make very deep and powerful impressions on your hearts; and indeed such impressions as could only be the result of its coming to you in the power of the Holy Ghost, whose miraculous and gracious influence concurred to add force to it. And then it is no wonder that it came in much assurance, so that you could not possibly doubt of its truth, when you thus saw its evidence, and felt its efficacy. And its success was farther promoted by the good example which we who preached it were enabled to give; as you well know, and I am confident, will never forget, what manner of persons we were among you, what vigour and zeal we ex-

work of faith, labour of love, and patience hope, and might very ] All these are plainly Hebraisms so translated. love faith, laborious love, and atient

the Thessalonians received the gospel.

erted for your conversion, and how we conducted ourselves in the whole of our behaviour, with respect to you, and all around us, as well as with what fortitude we faced all the persecutions we were called to encounter for your sakes. And the happy consequence of all was, that you became imitators of us, and I bless God I may add, therein of the Lord Jesus Christ too, both in the holiness of your lives, and in the courage and patience with which you endured those sufferings which lay in the way of your duty; having received the word in much affliction, from the rage and fury of your unreasonable enemies, and yet with joy of the Holy Ghost; rejoicing, under his powerful influences, in the reception of that holy religion to which you were so early called to make such great and important sacrifices. So that indeed ye soon became eminent in the churches of Christ, and examples to all the believers in Macedonia, and in the more distant province of Achaia, where the Corinthian converts, famous as they soon were, (1 Cor. i. 7,) heard of your religious character with pleasure and emulation. For from you the word of the Lord sounded forth, and you were eager, by your messengers, to spread the joyful tidings of the gospel, not only in your own borders of Macedonia, and in Achaia, with which you had an easy correspondence, but also wherever Providence gave you any access; so that, in every remoter place, the fame and effect of your faith toward God and the Lord Jesus Christ came in such a degree as made it almost unnecessary for us particularly to recount any thing of your conversion, or progress in the truth. For they themselves, among whom we came, declare it to us concerning you, and make it the subject of their pleasing conversation with us, and with one another, what a wonderful kind of entrance we had among you, in our first visit, and what a reception you gave us; that is, how ye turned to God from those contemptible idols, in the worship of which ye had

b In Macedonia and Achaia.] The have shewn in the Introduction, p. 287. apostle mentions these parts, as he had just he wrote this epistle. Compare Acts xvii. en travelling through them before he 14, 15; xviii. 1. came to Corinth, from whence, (as we

Reflections on the conversion of the Thessal

seer. i. been educated, with a firm resolution at all events to serve the living and true God, with that diligence and zeal which his service so justly demands. And you found yourselves disposed, by your growing knowledge of him, to lay aside all immoderate attachments to the interests and concerns of this present life, that, with fixed faith, and cheerful expectation, ye might wait for the triumphant coming of his Son from heaven; of that illustrious Son, whom, as a proof of his Divine mission and designation to the office of universal Judge, he hath raised from the dead, and now exalted to his own right hand; [even] Jesus, the long expected and ever to be adored Saviour, who rescues us from the wrath which is assuredly to come upon all impenitent sinners, and makes us, in consequence of our faith in him, not only safe from that flaming ruin, but secure of possessing an happiness complete and eternal.

IMPROVEMENT.

verse 9 We see here a compendious view of the Christian character. It is to turn from idols, from every thing which we have loved and esteemed, from every thing which we have pursued and trusted in an irregular degree, to serve the living and true God; 10 under a real sense of his infinite perfections and glories. It is turning also to Jesus, his Son, as saving us from the wrath to come: from a deep conviction of our being justly exposed to wrath by our transgressions against God, to seek rescue and refuge in Christ, as delivering us from it, by his atonement and grace, and completing that deliverance by Almighty power, in the day of his 3 final triumph. It is to look and wait with unshaken faith and with holy joy for Jesus, the Son of God from heaven; keeping the eye of our soul habitually directed towards him, the loins of our mind continually girded up, and ourselves as servants who look for their Lord’s coming. In the mean time may we maintain the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God, even our Father.

If this be the effect of our receiving the gospel, it will evidently prove that it is come to us, not only in word, but in power, 4,5 and in the Holy Ghost; and it may give us abundant assurance of our interest in God, and cause us by the happiest tokens to know our election of him. Whatever afflictions may in that case be allotted to us, while we hereby become followers of the apostles and of Christ, we may rejoice in the Lord. The ministers of Christ

St. Paul preached the gospel among them with boldness.

will rejoice in such an entrance among their people, as shall produce these blessed consequences, and the word of God will be sounded forth with the greatest advantage by those who are pleading for its truth, efficacy, and importance, by this silent, but powerful eloquence. May this character be every where more prevalent among those that call themselves Christians, and may grace and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, be with all in whom it is found!