Bible Commentaries
1 Thessalonians

1 THESSALONIANS

VI

INTRODUCTION TO 1 THESSALONIANS

We shall now consider "the apostolic letters which made glad the young and foe-girt churches of the Lord." These letters of Paul constitute the richest legacy of inspiration and inestimable treasure – a sacred deposit of truth. The apostle Paul ’is connected directly with fourteen of the New Testament books and indirectly with four others, making eighteen in all. So that one may get a connected New Testament spirit of Paul by reading in the following order these eighteen books of the New Testament:

1. Luke, which is called the Pauline Gospel.

2. Acts.

3. 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

4. 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans.

5. Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews.

6. 1 Timothy, Titus, 2 Timothy.

7. James.

8. 2 Peter

The letters of Paul are divided into four groups. The first group was written on his second great missionary tour, and consists of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. The second group was written on his third great missionary tour, consisting of 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans. The third group consists of letters written when he was first a prisoner at Rome, viz.: Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews. The fourth group consists of letters written after his release from the first captivity at Rome, viz.; 1 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Timothy. These were written in the interval between his first and second imprisonments, and at Rome during his second captivity just before his martyrdom.

These groups differ from one another very much in the doctrinal matters discussed, and in style. The first group, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, discusses mainly what in theology is called Eschatology – the doctrine of the last things. The whole of these two letters is grouped around the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. The clearest teachings on the second coming of Christ are in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. There are other places where the doctrine is taught, particularly in our Lord’s great prophecy, 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Peter 3, but these letters were written specifically upon that subject.

The next group of letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans, was called forth mainly by the controversy between the Judaizing spirit in the churches, which would make Christianity a mere sect of the Jews, and the Pauline spirit in the churches, which would lead the churches away from the narrow Jewish limitations into a worldwide religion. In the third group, his doctrine goes to higher things, the controversy not being -on making Gentiles become Jews in order to be Christians, but shall Christians reject Christ and his gospel and relapse into Judaism?

Before commencing the study of Paul’s letters it is well to fix the following things in our minds about him:

1. His history from his birth to his conversion, that is, up to the time that he is thirty-three or thirty-four years old.

2. That nine years of his life from his conversion until he entered on his great missionary work. Three years of this period were devoted to the preparation in receiving the gospel and six years in preaching at Damascus, at Jerusalem, in Cilicia, and in Syria. There is very little history about that nine years in the Bible.

3. The period of active missionary labor, about fifteen years, covering the three great missionary tours described in Acts 13-21, and in which he wrote the letters to the Theasalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans.

4. The period of his imprisonment at Jerusalem, at Caesarea, on his voyage to Rome, and in Rome. In that time he wrote five great letters – Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews. We have very little account of this part of his life.

5. The period of his release from captivity, in which he wrote 1 Timothy and Titus. We gather the history of this period from his pastoral letters.

6. The period of his second captivity at Rome and his martyrdom. In this period he wrote 2 Timothy.

In the Acts we see Paul as he appears to the historian, Luke. In his letters we see him as he appeared to himself. These letters constitute a literature in themselves, of great variety in matter and style. Some of them, like Galatians, are a rushing, impetuous torrent; others, like Romans, Ephesians, and Hebrews, are calm, deliberate, logical, approaching the form of an elaborate treatise; some are personal and exquisitely tender, as Philemon; some are developments of the main thought ’in previous and more local letters, as Romans from Galatians, Ephesians from Colossians and Philippians, and all of them matchless, each of its kind.

In commencing this great series with 1 Thessalonians, we should fix in our minds the geographical place of the city, Thessalonica, and somewhat of its history. On the second great missionary journey Paul came to Troas, starting from Antioch. There he received a call to go into Macedonia and help the people there. At Philippi a church was established. That is the first place where he preached the gospel in Europe. There he strikes the Roman road which extends from Constantinople, or Byzantium, to Rome. That was one of the best worked roads in the world. It connected Rome, the Western Empire, with Constantinople, the Eastern Empire. When Paul left Philippi, he came to Thessalonica, passing two places on the way without stopping. The geographical position of that place in every age of history has been reckoned as very important, not only because it was on that great road, but because it was at the head of the commerce of the Aegean Sea, connecting with the Mediterranean Sea, and also because it commands the passes between the high mountains.

Every Bible student ought to know something about Thessalonica before Paul came there. Away back in Grecian history the name was Therma, or Hot Springs, just like Hot Springs, Arkansas. Three hundred and fifteen years before Christ, just after Alexander the Great died, Cassander, one of his generals, married Thessalonica, and made that Hot Springs a great city and named it after his wife, Thessalonica. She was the daughter of King Philip of Macedon, and the daughter of Alexander the Great. It became a very populous and very important city. About 168 B.C. Macedonia was conquered by Rome and divided into four districts, and the capital of one of these districts was Thessalonica. Afterward the districts were abolished, and they had just one province, and Thessalonica was the capital of that province. About A.D. 42, just after the great battle at Philippi between Octavius Caesar and Mark Anthony on the one side, and Brutus and Cassius on the other side, Thessalonica was made a free city. Strabo, the great geographer of the age about 24 B.C., said that Thessalonica was the most populous town in Macedonia, and the same thing was said in the second century after Christ, and in the fifth century after Christ it had 200,000 inhabitants. There are about 100,000 people there now. It is today the second city in importance in what is called Turkey in Europe, and the third in population. About a third of these people are Jews. Up to a short time ago three great cathedrals were there, built by Christians, but they have passed into the hands of Mohammedans and become mosques. Something over twenty years ago the chief one of these cathedrals, the Mosque of St. Sofia, was destroyed by fire, to the regret of the whole world on account of its magnificence and of marvelous relics of ancient times kept there.

This city was captured by the Saracens, or Mohammedans, in A.D. 934, after a long and desperate siege. These Saracens held it until A.D. 1185, when the Crusaders recaptured it. There are some marvelous things in the history of these two sieges. The Crusaders held it until 1430, not far from the time that Columbus discovered America, when the Turks captured it, and have held it ever since.

It was a favorite stopping place of Cicero. Some of his most famous letters were written from Thessalonica. He was there with Pompey’s army just before that army was defeated at the battle of Pharsolus. It is interesting to compare those letters of Cicero, written from Thessalonica, with those two letters that Paul wrote to the people of Thessalonica not more than 100 years later. (See introduction to Thessalonians in Cambridge Bible.)

The church established by Paul at Thessalonica, with all of its subsequent development down to the present time, has been a very famous theme in church history. It got the reputation of being called the orthodox city, and it became the center of the wonderful missionary activity when the Goths and the Slavs invaded that country. These Christian people determined to convert them, and Thessalonica headed the great missionary movement. It now affiliates with the Greek Catholic Church and has done so for many hundred years. A Greek Catholic Archbishop lives there,, and most of them haven’t much religion. This is a brief account of that place before and after the apostle Paul touched it.

But let us see how Christianity reached Thessalonica. Turn to Acts 17 and read carefully Acts 17:1-9 which give the histopical account of the establishment of the church at Thessalonica by Paul, Silas, and Timothy: "Now when they had passed through Amphiboles and Apologia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews." They always liked to commence their preaching at a synagogue because, first, they felt they ought to lead the Jews to Christ, and second, because grouped around the synagogue was always a large class of Gentiles who had been proselyted with different degrees of proselytism to the Jews. There were quite a number of them in Thessalonica who had become disgusted with the idolatry of the heathen and were attracted by the pure monotheism of the Jews. The gospel was received more readily by Jewish proselytes than by any other class. Then the synagogue gave them a house in which to preach, as well as a congregation, until the line had to be sharply drawn. "And Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and for three sabbath days [He met them on their own sabbath days.] reasoned with them from the scriptures." In their synagogue, on their sabbath day, out of their Holy Book he reasoned with them.

Let us see what he talked about: "Opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer." He showed that the Old Testament books taught that the Messiah must die, plainly as prophesied by Isaiah (Isa. 55), or typically, as in the sacrifices which foreshadowed his vicarious expiation. It was a hard thing to convince a Jew that when his Messiah came he must die. Then Paul had to prove his second position: "This Jesus whom I proclaim unto you is your Messiah." You see what a logician Paul was, and how tactful: "I will come to your house. I will come to your day of worship. I will take your own books and let them be my text-books, and prove from these Old Testament scriptures that the Messiah set forth in them was to die and rise again the third day. That is my first proposition. Then I will prove to you that Jesus of Nazareth, whom I preached unto you, is that Messiah."

That lasted three sabbath days. Let us see with what result: "And some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude [They always came in more readily.], and of the chief women, not a few." Notice how the gospel reaches women. See how it reached Lydia back yonder at the place for a prayer meeting in Philippi, where they did not have a synagogue. Notice how it reached them under the preaching of Christ. Imagine those chief Greek ladies in that city, those that thought and had hearts, and consciences, seeing the shameful degradation of woman under the heathen idolatries, how intently they listened to a religion that exalts woman, lifts her from slavery, makes her the companion and equal of man and the subject of divine grace.

"But the Jews [here we come to the struggle], being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble." We have them in every city, called the "riff-raff – toughs." What a mean thing it was to conspire with that kind of a crowd to raise a mob against those preachers! Yet, I have known similar things to be done. "And gathering a crowd, set all the city in an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them forth to the people. And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down have come hither also."

This is the accusation – that they were revolutionary; that they were guilty of treason against Caesar, since they set up another king, one Jesus. Precisely the same charges were brought against Christ – treason and sedition. "And they troubled the multitude and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things." Those Roman judges, however, were not very easily led aside to do a wrong thing. In jurisprudence, the Romans were the most just of all the governments of the ancient world. So they took security. Far back goes the custom of putting a man under bond: "And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go." That is the history in the Acts.

The first and second letters to the Thessalonians bring out many details of that work that Luke in his account in the Acts does not give. Let us see what Paul preached while he was there. First, as I have shown, he preached to the Jews, showing that the Old Testament Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead, and that Jesus was that Messiah. Then he set forth the purpose of that death. That was to the Jews. When they spoke to the Gentiles they told forth the falsity and the wickedness of idolatry. We learn that many of them turned from their idols and served the true and living God. They preached the glorious kingdom of God, and Jesus Christ the King. Here was one world empire, Rome. They preached another world empire and Jesus Christ as the King. And particularly did he emphasize that Jesus, who died, rose again, and ascended to heaven, will come a second time to judge the world in righteousness. I will show how this matter is brought out. In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 it says, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come."

Take 1 Thessalonians 2:19: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" Take 1 Thessalonians 3:13: "To the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints." Take 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; it is all about the second coming of Christ. Take 1 Thessalonians 5:23: your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." I have given you a passage in each chapter of that letter bearing upon the second coming of Christ. We will discuss these things more particularly when we go to discuss the letter itself. I am showing you what he preached at Thessalonica.

The doctrines that he preached were closely followed by moral applications. The morals of the poor people among the heathen were awful, and the upper classes were worse than they. Paul preached to them that they must be pure in life. The worship of their idols was accompanied with debasing forms of adultery and fornication. These people of Thessalonica were not half as moral in their lives as the lowest and most ignorant of the Negroes here in this country, with their crude ideas of the sanctity of marriage and the purity of life. Paul emphasized the doctrine of purity. Then he emphasized the doctrine of loving the brethren and, particularly, he struck them a hard blow on honest self-support. The streets of those old cities then were filled with idlers and loafers, hanging around and begging. If we were to walk through the streets of Thessalonica today, we would need a guard to keep off the professional beggars. Paul laid down the unwelcome proposition that professors of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who would not work, should not eat. What a wonderful doctrine for the time and place! What a reforming power it must have been with that kind of a population! It is a pity that the great cities of the Latin race and of the Orient do not now have the doctrine that a grown man who hangs around in rags and begs, without visible means of support, is not entitled to respect and ought not to be allowed to eat. It was on this account that he himself worked night and day to support himself. He wanted to give them an example. He writes to them and tells them that he had a right to demand a support from them, but he did not exact his right. He wanted to uphold the dignity and majesty and honor of good, honest, hard work. We ought not to have any respect for a religion that makes idlers now.

That is what he preached, and the results we have already seen: a few Jews, a great many proselytes, including the most honorable women in the city, were converted, and as soon as the line was drawn the Jews began to persecute, and he told them when he came back with his sores from stripes received at Philippi that there was nothing ahead of him but death, bonds, and imprisonment. He told these poor people, and reminded them of the fact that he had told them before, that they who follow Christ must suffer persecution. It was no easy path that he pointed out to them.

Now, compelled to leave there under the circumstances of that persecution, we want to know how long it was before he wrote this letter. Luke tells us that he went from there to Berea. He left that big road and went off to the quiet country. He stayed there until the Jews at Thessalonica followed him and raised a persecution against him. Then he left Berea and they took him to Athens. There he preached, and from Athens he went to Corinth. From Athens he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to find out how these people were getting along, and so we learn in Acts 18:5 that Timothy rejoined him at Corinth, and we learn from 1 Thessalonians 3:6, his first letter, the same thing: "But when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, longing to see us, even as we also to see you." There is the occasion of the letter. Who wrote it? Paul. Where? At Corinth. When? About five or six months after be left Thessalonica.

What is the character, or style, of this letter as a piece of composition? Everybody is glad that it is not a logical treatise; that it is not a sermon. Everybody is glad that it is a letter from the heart, Just as if he were speaking face to face with these people, pouring out his heart to them. The letter of a missionary to a church where he has labored with much pain and affliction, and yet with great success; full of love, full of consolation, full of exhortation, every line of it blazes with his own fiery impulse and passionate devotion to Christ, and love for them.

ANALYSIS OF DR. BROADUS
Introduction (1 Thessalonians 1:1).

1. Reminding them of the past (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3:13).

(a) When he was with them (1 Thessalonians 1:2-2:20).

(b) Since his departure (1 Thessalonians 3:1-13).

2. Exhortations for the future (1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:25).

Farewell Salutation (1 Thessalonians 5:26-28).

QUESTIONS

1. What is the comparative value of Paul’s letters?

2. What eighteen books must one read to understand fully the spirit of Paul?

3. How many and what groups of Paul’s letters, what the books of each group, and when and where was each book written?

4. Of what does each group treat?

5. What are the periods of Paul’s life?

6. What are the different views of Paul in the Acts and his letters?

7. What was the variety of style in his letters?

8. What was the geographical situation of Thessalonica, and what the land and sea advantages?

9. What was the history of Thessalonica before Paul went there??

10. What its history since Paul’s day, and what its present condition?

11. What distinguished Roman citizen wrote letters from Thessalonica, and how do they compare with Paul’s letters to the church there?

12. What the place of the church at Thessalonica in history, what its missionary activity, and with what church do the people there now affiliate?

13. Give briefly how Christianity reached Thessalonica, Paul’s method there, and the results?

14. What did Paul preach while he was there?

15. What of the moral condition of these people, and how did Paul deal with it?

16. What was the occasion of this letter?

17. Who wrote it?

18. Where did he write it?

19. When did he write it?

20. What is the character, or style, of this letter as a piece of composition?

21. Give the short analysis by Broadus.