Bible Commentaries
1 Thessalonians

INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE

On his second missionary journey Paul founded the first European church at Philippi. Continuing his journey one hundred miles farther, he came to Thessalonica, which was the capital of the second Roman district of the province of Macedonia. It was a large and important commercial city, containing much wealth and learning. To this day it is the second city in European Turkey, ranking next to Constantinople, and has between 75,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. It is now called Saloniki. When Paul entered it, A. D. 52, the Greek element preponderated, and Roman colonists were next in number. The Jews also were there, and had at least one synagogue. In this synagogue Paul and Silas and Timothy began their work, but after three Sabbaths they were apparently ejected from that place of worship. Then an uproar was raised by the Jews, and Paul and Silas were led out of the city by night, and conducted by brethren to Beroea. It is not unlikely that Paul was in Thessalonica longer than three weeks, for he succeeded in founding a church there before persecution compelled him to retire. Immediately south of Thessalonica were the snowclad slopes of Mount Olympus, the supposed seat of the mythical gods of Greece. The infant church was therefore not only endangered by the opposition of the Jews, but was also liable to assault on the part of the pagans, being so near one of their geographical centers. As might be expected, Paul felt keenly the perils of this small band of raw, half-instructed Christians, and (probably while in Beroea) he twice tried to return to them, but was hindered by Satan. Then trouble broke out in Beroea, and Paul was hurried off alone to Athens. Timothy, either after his arrival in Athens, or probably before he left Beroea, was ordered by Paul to go and visit the church at Thessalonica, and bring him word as to its condition. From Athens Paul came to Corinth, and here was joined by Silas and Timothy, the latter bringing the apostle a fairly good report of the church at Thessalonica. Timothy, however, seems to have reported that the Thessalonians had not wholly forsaken the sensuality and covetousness which had characterized them as pagans, and Paul exhorts them to forsake these sins. Then, too, the Thessalonians had a wrong view of the second coming of the Lord. They expected it to take place in the near future, and had gotten the notion that only those who were alive at the Lord’s coming would participate in the glories and joys of that hour. Paul corrects this idea also by showing that the resurrection of Jesus guarantees the resurrection of those who believe in him. The doctrines of the Epistle are simple and practical, for the Judaizing questions discussed in Galatians and Romans. and the Gnostic errors handled in Colossians and Ephesians, had not yet been raised. As a whole, the Epistle may be taken as an argument tending to confirm the faith of the Thessalonians in the divine origin of the gospel. That the gospel is of God is shown in four ways: 1. It had been attested by miracles. 2. It had been preached to the disadvantage of its ministers and despite bitter opposition. 3. It set forth precepts the sanctity of which were worthy of heaven. 4. Its author was divine, having risen from the dead and become the author of the resurrection. On his third journey Paul must have visited Thessalonica frequently, and these visits, together with his Epistles, were not without their fruits, for Thessalonica was for centuries the bulwark of Christian faith in the East, and long resisted the invading forces of the Mohammedans. When word went forth in A. D. 1430 that Thessalonica had fallen, all Christendom was dismayed.