1 Thessalonians

 First Letter of St. Paul to Thessalonians  

Title: The congregation is founded by St. Paul, as Luke describes it in Acts 17:1-9. Therefore, it is not surprising to hear the fatherly tone of his affection toward them (2:7-8, 11-12).             

Date of writing: There are two possible dates for the letter. First, it is written in 51 AD while St. Paul was in Athens (cp. 2:2 and Acts 16:16-40; 3:2-6 and Acts 17). Second, taking 2:14-16 into an account it is possible that the apostle wrote his epistle later, around the time of Jewish revolt of 66-70 AD (St. Paul was released of his changes from Rome by that time).       

Structure:

a. 1:1, Greeting.

  b. 1:2-10, our example to you to imitate

    c. 2, Pauls’ ministry to Thessalonians

      d. 3:1-5, we sent Timothy

      d’. 3:6-13, Timothy’s report

    c’. 4, Their life pleasing to God

  b’. 5:1-27, how to imitate

a’. 5:28 final greeting

Main themes:

Purity and holiness of life of God’s people (2:10 and 4:3-5)

Day of the LORD (4:13 – 5:11). It might be helpful to read this section together with 1 Corinthians 15.

Daily godly habits – work, prayer, giving thanks in all circumstances.    

Main Characters: Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy.          

Reflection in other parts of the Bible:

St. Paul sets aside the power of the Word in comparison to the words of flattery. In a similar way he elevated the status of the Word vs. the wisdom of this world in his letter to Corinth (1 Cor. 1:18-25).

The ideas of purity and holiness are based on the Levitical instructions (Lev. 11 – 15 and 17 – 22).

If we believe that 1 Thes. is an early letter than it is worth noting that St. Paul gives more thought and devotion to the idea of the armor of God for a believer in the Letter to Ephesians 6:10-17.    

Respect for the leaders of the church (5:12-13a) is addressed in Heb. 13:17 and pastoral letters of St. Paul (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus).

Lutheran teaching:

Dr. Melanchthon uses 4:4 – control of one’s body in holiness and honor – as an illustration for the sanctity of marriage. Ap. XXIII (XI) 43, 65. 

5:17 is a valuable passage on prayer, LC II:19; III:24, 47; FC SD II:16. As a connection with God, as a thankfulness and praise, as a something we can exercise as a gift of relations with Him.

4:13-18 is used in the rite of Comforting the bereaved (Pastoral Care Companion, CPH [2007], 102)

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 801 – How great Thou art (v. 4 when Christ shall come, 4:16-17)

LSB 763 – When peace like river (v. 4, the Lord shall descend, 4:16)

Relevancy of the Book:   

The Epistle is a great reminder of the wholeness of our lives in Christ. The apostle shares the we are born into life through the work of His faithful ministers who “father” us to maturity. Therefore, we need to give them proper honor and support. Then, while we exercise our daily living, we need to maintain the godly standards of purity and holiness – for the sake of the communion of saints and for the positive witness to the outsiders. And, as we are loosing our brothers and sisters to eternal glory, we have a comforting promise from God – our resurrection in Christ. We know that we will be gathered by the throne of God with all the saints who preceded us for He is the Father of all.         

Memory verses:

4:14, for since we believe the Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.