Verses 1-10

Salutation and Thanksgiving

1. Salutation. For Silvanus (Silas) see Acts 15:22; Acts 16:20, Acts 16:37, Acts 16:38. Timothy was one of St. Paul's most constant companions (Acts 16:1; Romans 16:21; 1 Corinthians 4:14-17; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Philippians 1:1; Philippians 2:19-24; 2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 3:14). The church.. which is in God, etc.] a phrase peculiar to this Epistle. The Church is in living union with God and Christ (Colossians 2:19).

2-10. Fervent thanksgiving for their conversion and growth in grace.

4. Better, 'Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that,' etc. 'Election,' i.e. to Christian and Church privileges (2 Timothy 2:10).

5. Assurance] RV mg. 'fulness.' They preached with deep conviction of the truth and power of the message entrusted to them.

6. Affliction] referring to the persecution and suffering recorded in Acts 17:10-13.

Joy of] i.e. joy inspired by the Holy Ghost.

7. In Macedonia] of which Thessalonica was the capital. And Achaia] of which Corinth, where the Apostle was, was capital.

Achaia, the Roman province (= Greece).

8. To speak anything] i.e. to recount their faith.

9. They themselves] i.e. the dwellers in all the places the Apostle and his companions had visited or heard from. The living and true God] better, 'a living and true God.' The Thessalonian converts had, as a rule, been heathens, though some were proselytes (i.e. Jews by religion), Acts 17:4.

10. To wait] to look for the Second Coming. Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come] better, 'delivereth us from the wrath which is approaching.'