1 Thessalonians 1
LenskiCHAPTER I
The Greeting
1 Thessalonians 1:1
1 In both epistles the greeting is succinct; in the second it is amplified by only a phrase. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of Thessalonians in connection with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace!
We read the latter as an exclamation and supply neither ἐστί, ἔστω, or εἴη. In ancient times letters always had these three parts in the opening address or greeting: 1) a nominative to indicate the writer; 2) a dative to indicate the person addressed; 3) a word of greeting. In secular letters the latter was the infinitive χαίρειν (which is used in Acts 15:23; James 1:1); Paul substitutes two nominative nouns in his letters: “grace and peace.” All three or any one of the three items may be amplified to accord with the nature of the letter. Here only the second has an amplifying phrase.
Comparison with other letters is instructive, most highly so a comparison with the greeting found in Gal. 1:1–5, Paul’s very first letter which was written, let us say, four to six weeks before First Thessalonians. See how he amplifies item one, leaves totally unmodified item two, again most strikingly amplifies item three and even adds a doxology. The greeting found in Galatians reflects its militant contents and the intense feeling of Paul. The greetings used in the two letters to the Thessalonians are in strong contrast to the one found in Galatians and reflect the most normal relation between writers and readers; they are introductory to simple instruction and admonition.
After having separated at Athens (see the introduction) the three workers are again together: “Paul and Silvanus and Timothy.” The first two had founded the congregation during their short stay of about four weeks. Paul is the leader and is thus mentioned first; Silvanus, his companion, is naturally mentioned next. Luke calls him Silas (Acts 15:22) which was his Hebrew name, Silvanus being his Roman name. He was a Roman citizen and thus had this second name just as Saul had the added Roman name Paul, both names having been given to him by his father at the time of his circumcision.
From Acts 16:37 we know that Silas was a Roman. The added Roman name of a native Jew was often chosen because of a similarity in sound. Silas was prominent in Jerusalem; he was chosen to help to convey the resolution of the Jerusalem conference to the church at Antioch and to other churches. Acts 15:36–41 reports that Paul chose him as his companion for his second great missionary journey. His name is properly second in this greeting. Timothy was the younger man; he had been with Paul since the events recorded in Acts 16:1, etc., and was as yet but little known to the Thessalonians.
The Thessalonians had come into personal contact with these three men. This letter is the voice of these three although Paul will at times speak alone and will also refer to Silvanus and to himself apart from Timothy. There is no indication as to who took the dictation of the letter, some think Timothy did so. It is well to note that no distinction between these three is made. Elsewhere Timothy is called “the brother,” Paul, “an apostle” or “a slave of Jesus Christ.” Paul wants no distinction made because the contents of this letter call for none. These three writers are men whom the Thessalonians know; that suffices.
The second member of the greeting is equally appropriate: “to the church of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Recently converted, these Thessalonians were a “church,” an assembly “in connection with” God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Ἐκκλησία always suggests to the Greek ear the idea of καλεῖν and ἐκ; yet to Christians, not the secular notion of calling out citizens for an assembly to transact the business of the commonwealth is prominent, but the spiritual implication that as believers Christians have received and accepted the κλῆσις or “call” of God and Christ unto life eternal, and that they thus form a spiritual body, an ecclesia under this permanent call. Hence we so often have the addition of a modifier to emphasize this spiritual nature of their ecclesia.
Here it is the ἐν phrase. We need not puzzle about the meaning of the preposition. It is neither mystical nor mysterious, nor profound. Ἐν is to be understood in its original sense: “in connection with,” and the evident connection is that involved in ecclesia, namely faith. The fact that this ecclesia is an organized body is not the thought but that it is a distinct spiritual body which is made thus by the fact that its members are in the connection indicated. R. 780 does not solve the question of the absence of the article with “of Thessalonians.” The article would be out of place, for not “the Thessalonians” but only a few “Thessalonians” formed the ecclesia; for this reason the Greek article is not used. Paul might have said: “to the church in Thessalonica,” but this would add another “in,” which the genitive avoids. Since these Thessalonians form the church, the ἐν may be construed with either noun, preferably with both as a unit: “the church of Thessalonians in,” etc.
Proper names need no article; hence we have none with “God Father” or “Lord Jesus Christ.” Both are soteriological, the first person of the Godhead and the second, incarnate in Jesus. Paul at times writes “our Father” and “our Lord Jesus Christ”; the pronoun emphasizes the relation to us and is thus confessional. Yet this relation lies already in the preposition ἐν. “Father” names the first person as such. But every one of the persons is named only in order that we may know how each together with the other two works out our salvation. This is the Father of the Son and through him our Father.
“Lord” is to be taken in the same soteriological sense: he who bought us, to whom we belong with body and with soul in blessedness forever. His significant personal name as man, “Jesus,” is joined with the name taken from his office, “Christ,” God’s Anointed. “Lord Jesus Christ” is the full designation and is always highly confessional, reverent, and worshipful. In 2 Thess. 1:2 both divine names are solemnly repeated. These two names occur so regularly in Paul’s epistolary greetings that we cannot accept the opinion: “God Father” is used in opposition to the pagan gods, and “Lord Jesus Christ” in opposition to the Jewish rejection of Jesus; or that “Lord” is a pointed reference in opposition to the pagan deification of the Roman emperor as “Lord” or against the pagan gods and their “Lord” titles.
Regarding “grace to you and peace” see the other epistles: all the grace of God with the bestowal of its unmerited favors upon which we constantly depend (John 1:16), together with the objective peace of God, the blessed condition when God is our friend and all is well with us in time and eternity, and both are mediated by Christ.
The Defensive Section of the Epistle
The Thanksgiving
1 Thessalonians 1:2
2 We thank God always concerning all of you when making mention (of you) in our prayers, unceasingly remembering your work of faith, and toil of love, and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father; having come to know, brethren beloved by God, your election, seeing that our gospel got to be for you not in connection with word only but also in connection with power and in connection with the Holy Spirit and much assurance, even as you know what kind (of men) we were among you for your sakes; and you, etc.
Also in other letters Paul begins with thanks to God. His first consideration is ever to fill the mind with all that God has so wonderfully bestowed and to let the heart overflow with gratitude. This letter is written in such a spirit. All that God has done for the Thessalonians the three writers regard as having been done for themselves. This is the purest, most unselfish gratitude toward God.
Construe together: “we thank God when making mention of you in our prayers” (ἐπί, “on the occasion”), i.e., whenever we pray we include you in our thanksgiving to God. There may be faults to be mended and further gifts to be asked of God, yet Paul and his helpers always keep in mind what God has already bestowed. To say that “distance lends enchantment to the memory of slight drawbacks” is to spoil the purity of Paul’s thanksgiving. To ask: “Did Paul have a prayer list of the Thessalonian disciples which he read over with Silvanus and Timothy?” is to attribute to Paul a mechanical system for intercessory prayer.
1 Thessalonians 1:3
3 Adverbs are generally placed next to the verb form they modify. Thus “unceasingly remembering” goes together; the adverb is not amphibolous, leaving us in doubt as to which participle it modifies. Paul, etc., give thanks whenever they pray; this they do because they ever remember what God has accomplished in the Thessalonians. The whole statement is strictly true and without the slightest hyperbole.
The arrangement of the objects has been made plain to the eye by the following diagram:
ὑμῶν
τοῦἔργουτοῦκόπουτῆςὑπομονῆς
τῆςπίστεωςτῆςἀγάπηςτῆςἐλπίδος
τοῦΚυρίουἡμῶνἸησοῦΧρτσγοῦ
ἔμπροσθεντοῦΞεοῦκαὶΠαγρὸςἡμῶν.
The participle has three genitive objects: “your work—toil—perseverance.” Each of these has a subjective genitive attached: the work done by the faith—the toil endured by the love—the perseverance shown by the hope. “Your” (ὑμῶν) belongs to all three. The objective genitive: “of our Lord Jesus Christ” belongs to all three subjective genitives: the faith—the love—the hope that embrace “our Lord Jesus Christ” and do this “in the presence of our God and Father.” The striking feature is this series of ten genitives with not a single other word breaking the line. Even the last phrase adds more genitives.
Here we have a summary of what fills the memory of Paul and of his companions. We note the trio: faith—love—hope. All of these are attached to “our Lord Jesus Christ.” We note how “work—toil—perseverance” rise to a climax. Finally, we see that all is placed “in the presence of our God and Father,” who as our Father will accept it all.
The attempt to restrict “your work of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” so that it shall be distinct from “your toil of love for the Lord Jesus Christ,” is misdirected. This love is itself the product of faith; this work is accomplished by the toil (κόπος) that fatigues. Plurals would not be in place, namely “works” and “toilings,” for the writers think of all the work and the toil as a unit and not as a multiplicity. The faith is manifested in work: in confessing its trust in the Lord in a thousand ways. As one looks at all this work, the faith that is back of it is seen. This is not self-chosen work but the work that the Lord wants and that the Father approves.
It is work full of toil, and this toil reveals the love that prompts it, love for the Lord, love and toil that he inspires and that please the Father. Hope looks forward to the last great day and to eternity. It is full of perseverance, ὑπομονή, remaining under any load the Lord imposes, ever looking with brave endurance to the day of fulfillment promised by the Lord, always holding out as in the Father’s presence.
The articles are in place with the nouns because ὑμῶν makes all the nouns definite as applying to the Thessalonians. Faith—hope—love are subjective: the Thessalonians believe with true confidence and trust in the Lord; they love the Lord with the love of intelligence and corresponding purpose (ἀγάπη, which is more than φιλία, see John 21:15–17); they hope in him with the sure hope that is based on who he is, what he has done and promised to do, a hope that will be more than fulfilled. The work, the toil, the perseverance are all centered on Christ and the Father. That means that all we do for others is done for Christ (Matt. 25:40). Faith, love, and hope are wrought in the Thessalonians by the Lord and the Father. The very thought that the Thessalonians produced them of themselves is impossible.
Even false faith, love, and hope are never self-wrought; they are the product of the deception that men offer to poor souls. By praising the Thessalonians, Paul does not fear that he will make them vain. Honest, sincere acknowledgment encourages and stimulates; censoriousness discourages.
1 Thessalonians 1:4
4 Construe: “unceasingly remembering—having come to know your election”; the latter is an in gressive aorist. This natural construction is better than to leap over the remembering and to connect with “we thank God.” In all that the writers remember about the Thessalonians the conviction is involved that the Thessalonians belong to God’s elect. Εἰδότες is the proper word (the relation of the object to the subject, C.-K. 388); the knowledge and the conviction came into the mind of the writers. How this came about is recorded in the following, namely through what they saw: that the power of the gospel was so effective in the Thessalonians.
These writers have no access to the throne room of God nor a special revelation about certain persons which shows them that these are God’s elect. The writers have what we all have, the plain evidence of faith, love, and hope (v. 3); where this is found, we know that we see God’s elect. So we judge also concerning ourselves (C. Tr. 1071, 28, etc.; 1083, 65). The fact that some after all fall away is evidence to us that they are not the elect. Our knowledge is thus not absolute but rests on such evidence as we have. It is like our knowledge of a person’s faith. We cannot look into his soul to see his faith, we are able to recognize it only by means of the evidence his faith furnishes.
Some take ἐκλογή in a double sense: at times it is dated in eternity (Eph. 1:4), but here it is dated in time and refers to the time when the Thessaloniana were converted. Paul, however, knows of no twofold act of election. If he had referred to an act in time he would have written κλῆσις, “the effective and successful call.”
When they make this statement about the election of the Thessalonians the writers address them as “brethren having been beloved by God,” true, spiritual brethren of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, and, like all such, loved by God and continuing in this love (the extensive perfect participle). We take this to be the love that embraced the Thessalonians when they came to faith and continued to embrace them ever after that even as they then came to be “brethren.” God’s love to believers is able to shower gifts upon them which he cannot bestow on others because they would not receive them. The fact that the election of all the elect is due wholly to God’s love that reaches out to them from eternity goes without saying; yet the perfect participle does not refer to this act of love, nor to the universal love of God for the whole world (John 3:16), but to the love of God for his elect children from the moment they are made his children.
1 Thessalonians 1:5
5 The alternatives usually discussed are causal ὅτι (A. V., “for”; R. V. margin, “because”) or declarative, “having come to know … that” (R. V., “how that”). We submit that we here have the ὅτι consecutivum (R. 1001) which is best rendered, “seeing that.” In consequence of the fact now stated the writers have come to know of the election of the Thessalonians. This evidential fact is that “our gospel got to be for (regarding) you not in connection with word only but also in connection with power and in connection with the Holy Spirit and much assurance.” Both verbs are historical aorists that report facts; the first may also be considered ingressive: “our gospel got to be regarding you,” etc. “Came to you” (our versions) is not the thought to be expressed; ἐγενήθη is not = ἧλθεν.
The gospel always comes with power, for it is power (Rom. 1:16). This statement deals with the effect which the gospel produced when it came to the Thessalonians. They were converted, and thus this gospel “got to be regarding (εἰς) them not in connection with (ἐν as in v. 1) word only but also,” etc. One could see this on the basis of what the gospel wrought in the Thessalonians.
“Our gospel”—Paul says also “my gospel”—is not a peculiar form of the gospel as though what Paul preached differed from what the other apostles preached; the pronoun merely indicates who the preachers were in this case. The noun simply means the gospel as to its contents and not the activity of εὐαγγελίζεσθαι as some suppose. The very nature of the εὐαγγέλιον is such that it must be told; good news is not news unless it is told. But when this gospel is rejected it gets to be in regard to those who reject it “word only.” They hear it as mere “word,” as something told, and stop with that and ignore what is told.
Not so the Thessalonians. When they got into connection with its “word” part through their ears and their minds, the gospel achieved a still greater connection; it got to be in their case “in connection with power,” etc., i.e., the power of the gospel got through to their hearts and converted them. To be sure, the gospel is itself power, and every time it is preached this power goes out to the hearer. Yet this power uses the ear by means of λόγος or “word”; hence a hearer may treat it as only “word,” may deny what the gospel says, argue against what it says, refuse to believe what it says, and may thus bar out of his heart the gospel’s “power.”
Not so the Thessalonians; all the saving power reached their hearts. This still leaves the thought incomplete; hence the epexegetical καί: “and in connection with the Holy Spirit (proper name, no article) and much assurance.” But one preposition is used with the two terms. The Holy Spirit explains “power,” he is its agent, the one who exerts the power. That makes plain the objective side of the reality of the gospel power. Coupled with this is the subjective effect in the Thessalonians themselves when this power and the Spirit reached their hearts: “much assurance,” much full conviction (C.-K. 931). This explains the power as a spiritual power, its effect regarding the Thessalonians being the mighty assurance of faith which is wrought in them.
“Power” has no connection with the miracles wrought in Thessalonica; nor does it refer to the powerful way in which Paul preached. It is the power mentioned in Rom. 1:16, the power of grace unto salvation. Πληροφορία is not the fulness of spiritual gifts bestowed on the Thessalonians; not the fulness and the completeness of Paul’s instruction; in fact, not “fulness” of any kind. It is the “assurance” or “confidence” produced by the Spirit’s power of grace in the hearts of the Thessalonians through the gospel word. Seeing all this, Paul and his companions knew that these Thessalonians were the elect of God.
The καθώς clause rounds out the thought: “even as you know what kind (of men) we were among you for your sakes.” “We got to know,” the writers say, “regarding you,” and you, they say, now know in regard to us “the kind of men we were among you (we read ἐνὑμῖν in preference to plain ὑμῖν) for your sakes.” The kind of men who preach the gospel means a good deal regarding the effect their preaching produces. This does not imply that they add to the power of the gospel, they may, however, decrease its all-sufficient native power. They may be a clogged channel through which only a little power can flow. The Thessalonians know the writers to be men who are wholly devoted to the gospel, totally unselfish, doing their work entirely for the sake of their hearers (διʼ ὑμᾶς). The Thessalonians had had them “in their midst” and thus know the kind of men they were. The more readily was “much assurance” regarding the gospel wrought in their hearts.
Some commentators connect this clause with v. 6 as though οὕτως followed. The terms εἰδότες and οἴδατε match: we have come to know, etc., even as you know, and what we got to know about you corresponds with what you continue to know about us since you had us in your midst. This last clause is not the main thought; it merely rounds out what precedes.
All that Paul says about the gospel’s power as this is evidenced in the Thessalonians, and about the kind of men the Thessalonians know him, Silvanus, and Timothy to be, carries an implication. The opposition in Thessalonica identified Paul and his companions with the roving charlatans of that day. Some of these practiced sorcery and claimed to possess occult powers, and all of them had their peculiar systems of doctrine which were composed of ideas that had been borrowed from the east and been dressed up to impress such people as they found susceptible. These quacks remained in a place as long as something was to be gained and then moved on to another place. They were of the type of Simon Magus (Acts 8:9, etc.) and of Elymas (Acts 13:8, etc.). Their quackery was “word only” over against which Paul places the gospel with power, the Holy Spirit, the great assurance, and thus the faith, love, and hope wrought in the Thessalonians.
Paul likewise points to the kind of men the Thessalonians know him and his companions to be, men whose whole work was διʼ ὑμᾶς, “for your sakes” alone without a trace of self-interest. More to this effect follows. Paul dwells on it in order to fortify the Thessalonians against the slanders of the opponents of the gospel in Thessalonica. He had been driven out of Thessalonica after a few weeks of work, but the gospel and its divine effects remained. This gospel and the kind of men who were spreading it attested themselves in a way that left no doubt for those who had received this gospel and had had these men in their midst. This is the point of all that Paul writes.
1 Thessalonians 1:6
6 So he continues: And you on your part became imitators of us and of the Lord by having received the Word in much affliction together with joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all those believing in Macedonia and in Achaia, for from you there has sounded forth the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith (directed) toward God has gone forth so that we do not need to say a thing, for they themselves are reporting concerning us what kind of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned toward God, away from the idols, to be slaves to a God living and genuine and to await his Son out of the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, the one rescuing us from the wrath to come.
The aorist states the fact that the Thessalonians “became imitators of us and of the Lord” (objective genitives.) Because the verb is placed between the two genitives, the second genitive is the more emphatic of the two. Paul and his helpers were themselves imitators of the Lord; hence those who imitate them imitate the Lord. Why, then, is the first genitive used, and why is it placed first? Because the Thessalonians came into contact with the model, Christ, through the model copies of Christ, Paul and his companions. If they had not been attracted by the latter they could not have known the former, the chief attraction. So it is the reflection of Christ in us that today induces others to become Christlike. The order and the position of Paul’s two genitives are most instructive.
“By receiving the Word in much affliction together with joy of the Holy Spirit” (genitive of source) indicates what likeness is referred to. The action of the participle is simultaneous with that of the main verb: when the Thessalonians received the Word, then began their great θλῖψις, Bedraengnis, the pressure of hostile opposition and persecution; yet this was accompanied by joy wrought in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. These two, affliction and joy, go together (μετά), for they rejoiced to be like the Lord in affliction. Note that the Holy Spirit (again no article) again mentions this person who was mentioned in v. 5 and thus continues the thought of experiencing his power and the resulting great assurance. The important matter that Paul says about the Thessalonians is the fact that from the very start, when they first came to faith in the Word, they were beset with “much affliction” and that they endured it with divinely wrought joy. Although they were so young and untried in the faith, they bore persecution with joy.
This is generally true in the case of converts from heathenism and from Judaism. The example of such converts shames many of us who, when we are finally called upon to bear a little persecution, take it with anything but joy. Paul refers to what John 15:19–21 states regarding the treatment the Lord received, which also his followers are bound to receive. “You became imitators” = you did this of your own will and under no compulsion.
1 Thessalonians 1:7
7 The result was that because of this joyful acceptance of affliction the Thessalonians became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia, an inspiring example, indeed. Τύπος is the blow struck so as to leave a mark as when a die strikes the image and the inscription on a coin and in this sense means a sample or an example to others. The present tense, “those believing,” is descriptive of continuing faith. Paul names only the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia because in this territory the story of the Thessalonians became known quite rapidly. We know about the planting of the gospel only in Philippi, Berea, Athens, and the start Paul was making in Corinth, where Paul is writing and had only recently begun work. As yet the believers in the two provinces mentioned were few; but the example of the Thessalonians was intended also for all who would yet come to faith as it stood for those already won.
Thessalonica was a great center for all of southern Europe. News from this great seaport spread rapidly. A joyfully suffering church in Thessalonica meant exceedingly much for believers elsewhere, who in most cases also had to face vicious opposition. We see the broadness of Paul’s view. The steadfast joy of one church means so much for others. When we suffer, let us think not only of ourselves but also of all the others whom our joy in endurance may aid.
When he says this to the Thessalonians, Paul is not only encouraging them to continue as they began, he is at the same time connecting them with all other believers and thus fortifies them against the slanders that Paul and his assistants are only roving religious quacks whom everybody ought to despise. The great gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit are building up the Church of God in many lands. The work has only begun in Macedonia and Achaia, but it is God’s work and will go on to divine success. The Thessalonians stand in the forefront and thus bear the brunt of opposition, their position is the more glorious for that very reason. The A. V. follows the variant reading τύπους, “ensamples”; this plural speaks of the individuals, the singular of the congregation as a unit.
1 Thessalonians 1:8
8 “For” elucidates what Paul means. “From you (Thessalonians) there has sounded forth the Word of the Lord (his gospel) not only in Macedonia and Achaia (in general)” so that near and far men are getting to hear about the Word and what it contains, which arouses their interest as being something entirely new. This is the first thought Paul intends to express by v. 6, 7. The position of the Thessalonians is strategic for the gospel. Word of the gospel planted in Thessalonica has run rapidly through both provinces; the perfect passive means that it is still doing this. “There has sounded forth” (and is still sounding forth) does not mean that the Thessaloniana are evangelizing Macedonia and Achaia (let us not strain the meaning of the verb); it means that reports are spreading. Some of the Thessalonian Christians had to travel and thus spread reports; other Thessalonians who knew what the Thessalonian Christians believed, including also such as opposed this faith, likewise spread their reports. Thessalonica was like a great sounding board (R., W.
P.); reverberations promptly reached in all directions. Smaller places that were differently located could not produce such an effect.
We may compare this city with Ephesus; news of what occurred there was rapidly carried throughout the great province of Asia and adjacent southern Gallatia. The greatest sounding board of all was Rome, the capital of the empire. It is not correct to call Paul’s statement hyperbolical; the perfect tense reports the literal fact: the sounding fortlf has begun and still continues wave upon wave.
Note that “but also” follows “not only.” This means that “but” (we might translate “yea”) adds another notable fact: “yea, in every place (in Macedonia and Achaia where the reports from Thessalonica spread) your faith toward God has gone forth,” i.e., all the reports about the Word of the Lord, this new religious gospel doctrine, include the report of your faith in the the God of this Word. The men who travel from Thessalonica, and the hundreds who also come there on business from the far parts of the provinces, carry away reports about this Christian church in the great city of Thessalonica.
Paul states it beautifully: “your faith has gone forth” like a traveler to all manner of places. Paul properly writes: this faith of yours πρὸςτὸνΘεόν, and not “in the Lord,” “in Christ,” or an objective genitive τοῦΘεοῦ. He is practically quoting the actual words of all these news carriers. Note the same phrase in v. 9; there it is used in contrast: “toward the (living and genuine) God, away from the idols.” Pagan news carriers would word it this way: “your faith toward the God,” the article to designate the God your faith embraces. In only a few instances is πρός construed with πίστις; R. calls it “the face-to-face preposition,” which brings out the idea; your faith and trust faces this God as he faces your faith. The tense is again perfect: has gone and still goes forth.
The result is that Paul and his helpers need to say nothing, λαλεῖν, to open their mouths. When people already have the news, it is not news to tell them again. Paul is not referring to his preaching but to the Thessalonians. He and his helpers did not need to say anything in Corinth, where this letter is being written, or in other places about the faith of the Thessalonians who give up idols for the true God, people had already heard the story. Paul means that the way is in no small degree already everywhere prepared for him to preach the gospel.
1 Thessalonians 1:9
9 Γάρ elucidates the extent of the information thus spread throughout the provinces: “for they themselves (αὐτοί ad sensum, the people in all these places) are reporting concerning us (what they have heard, namely) what kind of entering in we had (aorist to indicate the historical fact) unto you, and how you turned (the same aorist) toward God, away from the idols, to be slaves to a God living and genuine,” etc. This is what the people themselves “keep duly (ἀπό in the verb) reporting concerning us,” and they state it correctly. Paul does not say: “are reporting to us” so that we are surprised to hear what these people say about us. These people spread this report generally, and that “duly” as they have themselves heard it.
They tell “what kind of entering in we had to you,” one that was so different from that of the charlatans and religious quacks who try to steal people’s confidence to their own advantage. By εἴσοδος Paul refers to the whole approach to and dealing with the Thessalonians, which has already been touched upon in v. 5: “what kind of men we were among you for your sake.” In v. 5 he refers to character and motive; here he refers to the way of dealing, to which he adds the result. Πρός has the same face-to-face idea.
Yes, religious teachers who acted like these were a novelty, they became current news. Paul touches this point again for the same reason: the Thessalonians will not listen to any vilification, the purpose of which is to turn them against the gospel by discrediting its missionaries. At the same time the Thessalonians are to know how helpful to Paul’s work these reports are, coming, as they do, from the Thessalonians themselves and reaching so far. Yet this is only the preliminary and subordinate part of what people report.
The main part is the result of this eisodos, “how you turned,” etc., which elaborates what Paul has just said about the going forth of the faith of the Thessalonians. People speak of the radical turn the Thessalonians have made to the one great God, away from the many idols. The very fact that there is such a God is news to these people. This is not another god in addition to their host of gods but “the God” before whom all other gods are nothing. These “idols” are both the images and the beings they represent. This, however, is Paul’s own term which was not used by the people in their reports. The verb ἐπιστρέφω is used to designate conversion, and this is its meaning also here, save that here conversion from pagan idolatry is referred to. Acts 14:15.
The two infinitives are epexegetical: this turning means: “to be slaves to a God, etc., and to be awaiting his Son,” etc. The idea of “to be slaves” is not that of working for God (“to serve,” our versions). The fact that slaves work is self-evident although everybody ought to work (2 Thess. 3:10); the point is that slaves yield their will completely to that of their master. What people report is that the Thessalonians have cast off all subjection to idol gods and are now subject solely to “a God living and genuine.” This is the very reason for the turn they have made. It is silly to be subject to idols who are not living but imaginary beings and hence not ἀληθινός, real, genuine, but unreal, mere fiction. Perhaps for the first time the people who report this about the Thessalonians heard about this Christian God who lives and is really what the name “God” implies.
R., W. P., thinks the absence of the article makes no difference here, and that we should translate “the God living,” etc. But the absence of the article makes the noun qualitative, the two modifiers state the qualities, the whole expression thus justifies the action of the Thessalonians. Moreover, people are telling what the Thessalonians have done and the reason that the Thessalonians say they have done what they did. The good feature is the fact that the report thus spread has the facts quite correctly. These people thus will be interested to know more about this great God.
Should they not also turn to him and give up their idols? Also, when the Thessalonians read what Paul says about these reports throughout the whole country they will stand the more solidly against opposition, never shall the report go out that they after all turned back to the idols.
1 Thessalonians 1:10
10 But this report contains still more. The first great requirement made of pagans is that they give up idols and bow only to the one living and real God. With this goes the hope of eternal blessedness through God’s Son (see “the hope in the Lord Jesus Christ” in v. 3). So Paul adds by extending the epexegesis: “and to await his Son out of the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, the one rescuing us from the wrath to come.” This report states the main gospel facts correctly. This is, indeed, the Christian hope and its basis. The Thessalonians are, indeed, “awaiting his Son out of the heavens” (Acts 1:11).
This is a report that was spread by pagans, yet they state it correctly: “his Son,” the Son of the God who lives and is real. They also state correctly that his Parousia is connected with his resurrection. This Son became man, died on the cross, “whom he, the God living and real, raised from the dead.” They know his name: “Jesus,” which he bore on earth and still bears, to which is added the great apposition: “the one rescuing us (you Thessalonians and Paul and his helpers) from the wrath, the one coming” at the final judgment.
What a blessed report to come from the Thessalonians and to penetrate so far! What a help to Paul and to his assistants! It breaks the ground for their work among pagans. These will be eager to hear from Paul and from his assistants themselves all about this living God and his Son Jesus, all about his resurrection, his coming out of the heavens, his rescuing men from the final wrath. The Thessalonians will ever want to substantiate the report that they forsook the idols and put their trust in this God and his Son.
Paul might have worded the report differently, without placing such an emphasis on the Parousia and the deliverance from the wrath to come. For he is only summarizing, touching only a few items. This summary is not made with reference to the people who spread this report about the Thessalonians in the two provinces but with reference to the Thessalonians themselves. The two epistles show that the Thessalonians were especially concerned about the Parousia. Paul answers the questions they have regarding this subject, the one regarding those who die before the Son’s return and about those who are then still living (4:13, etc.) and the one about the time (5:1, etc.; 2 Thess. 2:3 etc.); he corrects also the mistake some are making by the way in which they live by expecting the Parousia so soon that they give up their daily work. True, we must ever be awaiting the Son from heaven; in this the Thessalonians were right, Paul does the same.
But this means constant readiness and not foolish conclusions and conduct which the Son cannot approve. We thus see the trend of this epistle. Paul will presently add his instruction; he has not reached that point as yet.
When we say that Paul’s summation is not made with reference to the people spreading the report we mean that it is not made in their interest. Paul does take the items from their actual report, but the Thessalonians are his interest. Some of the words here employed by Paul seem to be taken verbatim from the report as it was circulated, thus ἐπιστρέφειν, “a God living and real,” ἀναμένειντὸνυἱὸναὐτοῦἐκτῶνοὐρανῶν, “Jesus,” perhaps all the rest also.
Some, following the historical method, attempt to draw a summary of Paul’s missionary preaching from this chapter. In the writer’s judgment such procedure abandons the historical method. This epistle is written for a specific purpose, and the historical method ought to read the epistle in the light of that purpose. To seek for more than this is not warranted. We may get a few incidental hints on this or that but very little more. So the way in which Paul speaks of “your election” shows that during the few weeks he spent in Thessalonica he expounded this act of God’s most adequately.
Let us say that during those few weeks his teaching had very few gaps. Both of these epistles contain only a part of his teaching. The more important feature is the fact that in so few days he built up a congregation that was so firm, in a large city, amid strong opposition, that needed only two brief letters from Paul to keep it firm. Have other men duplicated this? The secret of it is revealed in these very letters. The man who handles the Word and men as this man did will show equal results.
R A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research. 4th edition..
C.-K Biblisch-theologisches Woerterbuch der Neutestamentlichen Graezitaet von D. Dr. Hermann Cremer, zehnte, etc., Auflage, herausgegeben von D. Dr. Julius Koegel.