Part 1
The message of 1Â Thessalonians
The gospel and the church
1 Thessalonians 1:1â10
1. Christian evangelism or How the church spreads the gospel
1. Introduction (1:1a)
It was customary in the ancient world for all letters to begin in the same way. Correspondents would announce first themselves, then the person(s) to whom they were writing, next a greeting, and lastly (though not always) either a thanksgiving or a wish for the readerâs welfare. Paul follows the same pattern, but Christianizes it.
As we have already seen, Paul, Silas [as he is called in Acts, although the Greek here has the Latin form âSilvanusâ] and Timothy were the missionary team who evangelized Thessalonica. It is natural, therefore, for Paul to associate Silas and Timothy with him in both his letters to the Thessalonians. This does not necessarily mean that they shared in composing them; it is more likely to have been a courteous gesture, since Silas and Timothy were so well known in the Thessalonian church, together with a general indication that they were in agreement with what Paul wrote. See the âAdditional noteâ on Paulâs use of âweâ (pp. 50â54).
We also notice that in associating Silas and Timothy with him, Paul does not distinguish himself from them by calling himself an apostle, which they were not. He probably omitted a reference to his apostleship here because what was being challenged in Thessalonica was his behaviour, not his authority. In other letters, however, if his special commission was being questioned, he both asserted and defended his apostleship, and in so doing distinguished himself from those he mentioned in the address. Already in Galatians, while including âall the brothers and sisters with meâ in his greeting, he called himself an apostle who owed his appointment not to any human source but to Jesus Christ and to God the Father.1 Similarly, in his two Corinthian letters he deliberately contrasted the designations âapostleâ and âbrotherâ. In both cases he styled himself âPaul, [called to be] an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of Godâ and then added âand our brother Sosthenesâ2 or âand Timothy our brotherâ.3 There is no reason to suppose that the situation was different in Thessalonica; it is simply that he saw no need to spell out the distinction.
In this first chapter Paul refers to both the church and the gospel. He begins by describing the church of God, which the gospel has brought into being (1â4), and goes on to describe the gospel of God which the church has received and is spreading (5â10). Thus the gospel creates the church, which spreads the gospel, which creates more churches, which in their turn spread the gospel further in a repeating cycle. This is Godâs plan for continuing evangelism through local churches.
2. The church of God (1:1bâ4)
It is truly remarkable to read Paulâs comprehensive picture of the Thessalonian church. It is only a few months old. Its members are newborn Christians, freshly converted from either Judaism or paganism. Their Christian convictions have been newly acquired. Their Christian moral standards have been recently adopted. And they are being sorely tested by persecution. You would expect it to be a very wobbly church in a very precarious condition. But no. Paul is confident about it, because he knows it is Godâs church, and because he has confidence in God. He sets it out in three ways.
a. The church is a community which lives in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1b)
We notice in passing the entirely natural way in which Paul brackets God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, as being together the source of the churchâs life. Later (in verse 10) he will call Jesus the âSonâ of God. Already within twenty years of the death and resurrection of Jesus the coupling of the Father and the Son as equal is the universal faith of the church. This simple fact is enough to undermine the teaching of those who claim that the New Testament nowhere attributes deity to Jesus.
The Greek word for church is ekkleĚsia, which means âan assemblyâ. In those days it was used in a variety of contexts, religious and secular. As Chrysostom wrote, âthere were many assemblies, both Jewish and Grecianâ.4 What, then, was distinctive about the ekkleĚsia to which Paul is writing? It is this. It is in the Father and the Son. What kind of relationship has he in mind by the preposition âinâ? It is certainly not spatial, as if the church were somehow âinsideâ God. Nor does it seem to mean that the church is âfounded onâ God (jbp) or that its members âbelong toâ God (reb) or simply that they âhave God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lordâ,5 true as all these statements are. Nor does it seem natural to take âinâ as instrumental and translate the phrase âbrought into being byâ God.6
If the phrase had been only âin the Lord Jesus Christâ, without reference to the Father, commentators would probably agree about its meaning because to be âin Christâ is a familiar and favourite expression of Paulâs, and because in 2:14 the churches of Judea are described as being âin Christ Jesusâ. Two New Testament metaphors explain this usage, the first developed by Jesus and the second by Paul. Jesus spoke of his disciples being âinâ him as branches are âinâ the vine,7 while Paul sees us as being âin Christâ as limbs are âinâ the body.8 In both cases the relationship in mind is a vital, organic union which makes possible the sharing of a common life. The fact that Paul here adds âin God the Fatherâ seems no reason why the âinâ relationship should mean something different. Elsewhere Paul describes our new life as âhidden with Christ in Godâ;9 is this not almost the same as saying that the church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? Perhaps, then, we should paraphrase the preposition âinâ as meaning âliving inâ, ârooted inâ or âdrawing its life fromâ.
In later letters Paulâs description of the church would be the other way round, namely âthe church of God in Corinthâ.10 He might therefore have written to âthe church of God in Thessalonicaâ, since he referred to âGodâs churchesâ in Judea (1 Thess. 2:14) and in other places (2 Thess. 1:4). Instead, he wrote to the church of the Thessalonians in God (see 2 Thess. 1:1 too). Both accounts of the church are true. For Godâs church was living in Thessalonica, and the Thessaloniansâ church was living in God. To be sure, the preposition âinâ has a different nuance in these statements, since the church is âinâ God as the source from which its life comes, whereas it is âinâ the world only as the sphere in which it lives. Nevertheless, it is still correct to say that every church has two homes, two environments, two habitats. It lives in God and it lives in the world.11
Why, then, did Paul choose to describe the Thessalonian church in the way he did? Since he does not tell us, we can only guess. But it is at least plausible to suggest that, because he knew the insecurity felt by a young and persecuted church, he wanted to remind them that in the midst of their trials their security was in God. It is from him, from the Father and the Son (âthrough the Spiritâ, we might wish to add), that every church derives its life, strength and stability.
To this church Paul now sends his greeting Grace and peace. It seems to be a combination of the Jewish greeting shalom (âPeace!â) and the Greek greeting chairein (âRejoice!â or âHail!â),12 now Christianized as charis, âgraceâ. It is as if Paul is saying âWe send you the new greeting with the old.â13 Still today we can desire for the church no greater blessings than grace and peace. Godâs peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the fullness of health and harmony through reconciliation with him and with each other. âThe entire gospel is involved in this word,â writes Ernest Best.14 And Godâs grace is his free, undeserved favour through Christ which confers this peace and sustains it.
b. The church is a community which is distinguished by faith, hope and love (1:3)
After identifying the letter-writer and the recipients, and sending a greeting, ancient correspondents, as we saw, normally continued with an expression of thanksgiving, a wish or a prayer. Paul Christianizes this custom too. He tells the Thessalonians that he, Silas and Timothy â whether together, separately or both â (1) always thanked God for them all, (2) mentioned them in their prayers, and (3) continually remembered them before God (i.e. in his presence). Thus memory, thanksgiving and prayer belong together. Perhaps we need to pray and work for better memories. For it is when we remember people (their faces, names and needs) that we are prompted both to thank God and to pray for them.
What Paul and his companions especially remembered about the Thessalonians were the three most eminent Christian graces (faith, love and hope) which characterized their lives. Apart from Galatians 5:5â6 where they are mentioned, though not in a recognizable triad, this verse (with 5:8) is their first occurrence in Paulâs letters. He will refer to them again in varying degrees of clarity,15 and elaborate them in 1 Corinthians 13. They also occur in Peterâs first letter and in the letter to the Hebrews.16 Two aspects of these Christian qualitie...