Exploring 1 Thessalonians

This week we are starting our exploration of 1-2 Thessalonians. And as good explorers, we need to get our bearings before we set off!

Thessalonica

As the names of these books suggest, they were written by Paul to the church in Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a coastal city in what is now northern Greece, but what was then the Roman province of Macedonia.

The city has its origins in the world conquest of Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedon, pupil of Aristotle. After he died and left no heir, his generals quickly divided up his kingdom into four and began fighting each other. One of his generals, Cassander, became king of Macedonia. He married the half-sister of Alexander, Thessalonike and founded Thessalonica in her honor. The city is still there to this day.

Thessalonica was situated on the coast of the Aegean sea, right next to the delta of the Axios river, which forms a wide and incredibly fertile plain to its west. It continued to grow and increase in significance during the Roman period. Thessalonica was situated on the Via Egnatia, the Egnatian Way, which was the primary Roman road connecting Byzantium to Rome. In other words, Thessalonica stood at the crossroads of the Empire.

It was made the capital of the Roman Province of Macedonia in the 2^nd century BC. During the Roman Civil wars that rocked the republic after Julius Caesar’s assassination, Thessalonica backed the winning side: Octavian, who would become Caesar Augustus. Because of this, it was granted the status of a free city in 42 BC, which allowed it a measure of self-rule and exemption from provincial taxes.

All of this combined to make Thessalonica an incredibly important city, both for economic and political reasons. It was a crossroads for trade and had a history of deep connection in Greek and Roman politics. At one point, it was even the second most prominent city in the Eastern Roman Empire, second only to the capital of Byzantium itself.

Paul’s Visit

The church in Thessalonica was founded personally by Paul. Luke tells us of Paul’s visit to Thessalonica on his 2^nd missionary journey in Acts 17:1-9. He arrived to with Silas and Timothy and preached the gospel in the synagogue for at least three weeks. His basic message was this, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ” (v. 3). We don’t know how much longer he stayed in Thessalonica, but the result of his preaching was the conversion of a few Jews, many God-fearing Gentiles, and a few of the leading women of the city.

However, many of the Jews were unpersuaded and some of them stirred up wicked rabble against Paul and Silas. They formed a mob, attacked the house of Jason (host of the church there), but, being unable to find Paul and Silas, dragged Jason before the city authorities. The charge they leveled against them both cultural and political. Culturally, they claimed Paul and Silas had overturned the established customs of the whole world; politically, they accused them of subverting Caesar’s rule by proclaiming Jesus as king.

And these charges are, at least on some level, true. The preaching of the gospel by Paul (and others) had indeed begun to turn the world upside down. The pitiful resistance by the Thessalonians would not hinder it and the gospel quickly advanced throughout the reaches of the Roman Empire and beyond. It was also true that the basic Christian message was, “Christ is King.” Certainly, the confession was misconstrued (perhaps intentionally) as if the Christians were setting up a rival earthly kingdom. This was indeed a radical message because it relativized the authority of Caesar and recognized Jesus as the true king.

The result of this angry mob is that the whole city is disturbed and the church there is concerned enough to send Paul and Silas away immediately for their own safety. The angry Jews from Thessalonica even pursued Paul to Berea and chased him out of there to Athens.

While he was at Athen’s, Paul’s heart was so concerned for the Thessalonian believers whom he had been violently and suddenly separated from, that he sent Timothy back to see how they were doing. He wrote 1 Thessalonians in Corinth after Timothy brought back his report (Acts 18:5, 1 Thess. 3).

Themes of 1 Thessalonians

Written as a response to Timothy’s report, 1 Thessalonians reflects the current realities present in the church, both their struggles and their successes.

A key theme of 1 Thessalonians is thanksgiving. Paul almost always begins his letters with thanksgiving, but in this letter the whole of chapter one is given to thanksgiving, and Paul returns to give thanks in chapter two (2:13ff) and chapter three (3:9ff)!

Another key theme is imitation. The Thessalonian church imitated Paul, Christ, and the church’s in Judea (1:6, 2:14) and themselves were an example to be imitated (1:7).

Another theme is perseverance in suffering. As you might expect given the tumultuous circumstances of this church’s birth, the Thessalonians Christians faced opposition from day one (1:6, 2:14). Yet, they have persevered in faith, hope, and love and Paul writes to encourage them to continue (3:8).

But the overarching theme of 1 Thessalonians is living in light of Christ’s return. Indeed, every chapter ends with a reference to Christ’s return (1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 4:16-17, 5:23), even if some of those division are less than natural (i.e. between chapters 2 and 3). In 1 Thessalonians, Paul essentially continues his ministry which had been interrupted, namely, to exhort the Thessalonian Christians to “walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”

How to Get the Most out of 1 Thessalonians

Heading into a new book, allow me to suggest diving into 1 Thessalonians headfirst. Here’s how you might do that:

1. Read and reread 1 Thessalonians many times; it will only take you 10-12 minutes. Read it in several translations (KJV, NASB, ESV, NIV, NET, CSB, etc.). Listen to it. Read it aloud.
2. Try your hand at making an outline of it. Write down a summary statement for each paragraph. Then group them together into larger sections and give those headings. Do it first without any reference to the English chapters or headings, then compare your outline with the headings in your Bible. This will help you not miss the forest for the trees and get a grasp on the whole book.
3. If you are really motivated, try copying out the book by hand. This will take longer than reading, but it will force you to pay attention to every word. Also, handwriting engages the mind in a way that reading and listening does not.