Book Overview - 1 Thessalonians

by Charles John Ellicott

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

The Epistle to the Thessalonians.

BY

THE REV. A. J. MASON, M.A., D.D.,

Canon of Canterbury.

INTRODUCTION

TO

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

IN the earlier part of the year 52, St. Paul, in the course of his second journey, arrived at Thessalonica, the modern Saloniki—then, as now, one of the largest and most important cities of the Levant. The wounds which the converted gaoler of Philippi and St. Lydia had tended (Acts 16:33; Acts 16:40) can hardly have been healed, when the Apostles Paul, Silas or Silvanus, and Timothy,(3) journeying rapidly through Amphipolis and Apollonia, came to found their second European Church (1 Thessalonians 2:2). The Jews (who to this day form, it is believed, a moiety of the population of Saloniki) were massed there in great numbers, and had there “their synagogue, ”—a kind of metropolitan church, contrasted with the mere chapels or “prayer-houses” of Philippi and other Macedonian towns. (See Note on Acts 17:1.) To this synagogue St. Paul repaired, and for “three Sabbath-days” reasoned, as usual, with the Jews (1) on the scriptural necessity for a suffering Messiah; (2) for a resurrection of the Messiah; and (3) on the claim of Jesus to the Messiahship. We are not informed how long the missionaries stayed at Thessalonica: probably a good deal more than the three weeks during which the preaching at the synagogue continued.(4) Their converts from among the Jews of the synagogue were few, though the proselytes and the ladies in connection with it joined them in large numbers.

We can draw from the Epistles, in connection with the Acts, a clear picture of the Apostles’ manner of life and preaching at Thessalonica. They lodged in the house of a believing Jew of the name of Joshua, or (in the Græcised form) Jason (Acts 17:5; Romans 16:21), but accepted nothing from him but their lodging. To none of the Thessalonians would they be indebted (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8), but maintained themselves, partly by the contributions twice forwarded to them from Philippi (Philippians 4:16), but chiefly by hard nanual labour, which occupied not the day only but extended far into the night to make up for daylight hours devoted to preaching. They were determined to be model operatives (2 Thessalonians 3:9), and not merely eloquent preachers. And this was not all; besides the work of public preaching and teaching, the Apostles followed their usual method of dealing individually with the converts’ souls. The Thessalonian Christians—“every one” in his turn—thus received the encouragements and warnings of their ghostly fathers (1 Thessalonians 2:11). If the presbyters whom they left to carry on this work of admonition (see Notes on 1 Thessalonians 5:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:14) continued it with the Apostles’ zeal, they might indeed well be described as “labouring among them.”

The preaching no doubt went on, not only on the Sabbaths, but on the week-days; for though the Acts tell us nothing of evangelistic efforts among the Gentiles, except among the “devout” (i.e., the proselytes), the whole tone of the Epistles proves that the Thessalonian Church was almost wholly Gentile. Besides which, the account in the Acts of the subjects of the three sermons preached on the three successive Sabbaths does not by any means include all that we find mentioned as the staple of the Apostles’ preaching there. Thus, it is clear that they had spoken strongly of the regal aspect of our Lord’s work. The charge on which they were arraigned was the charge of proclaiming “another king” (or emperor, for the word is the same in Greek), “one Jesus.” It was, in fact, the proclamation of what is specially distinguished as the “gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Matthew 13:19; Matthew 24:14; Luke 8:1, Greek; Luke 16:16), that is, not only the good news of Jesus Christ’s complete empire over the individual soul, but the good news that He has organised us all into a well-disciplined Church (Revelation 1:6, Greek; comp. John 11:52), which was to form an imperium in imperio within the Roman dominions. And accordingly we find the Thessalonians reminded that one of the best blessings which God had bestowed upon them was His calling them into “His kingdom” (1 Thessalonians 2:12), and encouraged by the thought of God’s counting them “worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they suffered” (2 Thessalonians 1:5). The full development of this “kingdom,” at the King’s return, was indeed very probably the main subject of the preaching. On this point the Thessalonians appear to have had the most accurate information (1 Thessalonians 5:2). St. Paul assumes that they thoroughly believed the doctrine (1 Thessalonians 4:14). They not only knew the very form in which our Lord Himself had taught (see Note on 1 Thessalonians 5:2) the impossibility of forecasting the date, but they had been told again and again (2 Thessalonians 2:5) what changes must take place before the Advent of the kingdom was to be expected. At every turn in the Epistle it is mentioned. And the moral laws of the kingdom of God had been taught in the most explicit. manner (1 Thessalonians 2:11), not only with regard to sins which the Gentile world permitted freely (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2), but also with regard to strenuous industry (2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:10). And as in Galatia (Acts 14:22) so here, the sufferings that fenced the entrance of that kingdom were fully prophesied (1 Thessalonians 3:3-4).

From Thessalonica St. Paul travelled to Berœa, from Berœa to Athens, and from Athens to Corinth. But though he had quitted Thessalonica, he had not forgotten his infant Church, and had not intended to be absent from it long. Twice at least (1 Thessalonians 2:18) he had seriously endeavoured to make his way back, “but Satan hindered” him. The persecution of the Church had by no means been appeased (as they had hoped) by the expulsion (see Note on 1 Thessalonians 2:15) of the missionaries; and St. Paul dreaded lest the temptation should have been too fiery for Christians so imperfectly taught and organised (1 Thessalonians 3:10). In his extreme agony of mind for them, unable himself to travel north-ward, he determined, at the cost of utter loneliness in a strange and most unsympathising town (Acts 17:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:1), to send St. Timothy to see how they fared, and to help them. To St. Paul’s great relief, the younger Apostle brought back, on the whole, an excellent report. True, there were several most grave faults to be found with the Thessalonian Church, which will be best understood from the table of the Epistle’s contents, but the practical St. Paul had evidently not expected even so much progress as had been made, and was overjoyed (1 Thessalonians 3:8). And this Epistle—the earliest of all that are preserved of its author, perhaps the earliest book of the New Testament—contains St. Paul’s comments on Timothy’s report.

The contents of the Epistle bear every sign of an early date. None of the great doctrines which are considered specially Pauline are touched upon in it, such as “faith,” in its special sense, or “justification.” There is no Judaic legalism to oppose, as in Galatians; St. Paul “can still point to them”—the churches of Judæa—“as examples to his converts at Thessalonica” (1 Thessalonians 2:14). There is no Gnosticism to confront, as in the Epistle to the Colossians or to St. Timothy. Again, the great prominence given to the doctrine of the Advent seems an indication of what St. Paul calls “the beginning of the gospel” (Philippians 4:15). The earliest gospel must needs consist in teaching that CHRIST was alive from the dead, and giving each Christian a vital interest in His present life, and this cannot be effected without much preaching of the Advent.

It has already been remarked that the Thessalonian Church consisted almost wholly of Gentiles. This may be easily seen from the Epistle. There are no quotations from the Old Testament, nor arguments founded upon it. The name of Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18) is the only approach to a reference to Scriptural knowledge. The earliest revelation with which the Church is supposed to be acquainted, and which forms the canonical standard of reference, is the tradition which the Thessalonians have received from their founders by word of mouth (2 Thessalonians 2:5). The Thessalonians are never credited with any experience like “turning from dead works,” but, on the contrary, they had “turned to God from idols” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). The fierce and bitter invective against the Jews is far different in its language from what it would have been had any large proportion of the Church been but neophytes from Judaism; and, indeed, the Jews are clearly distinguished from “your own countrymen” (1 Thessalonians 2:14). The difficulty with which the young Church accepted the doctrine of the resurrection also points in that direction, as well as the dulness of conscience with regard to the sinfulness of fornication (1 Thessalonians 4:5).

The Epistle, which is entirely practical throughout, divides itself more clearly into its component sections than perhaps any other of St. Paul’s Epistles. There are two main portions. The first (1 Thessalonians 1, 2, 3) is narrative and personal, designed to attach the Thessalonians more closely to the writers’ persons by the ties of common memories, of imparted information, and of sympathy over the news which had been brought from Thessalonica. Attention having been thus secured, the two remaining chapters are occupied with instructions upon special points in which the Church was deficient. The contents (after the salutation) may be tabulated thus:—

I. THE NARRATIVE PORTION (1 Thessalonians 1:2 to 1 Thessalonians 3:13).

A. Containing reminiscences of the apostolic sojourn at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:2 to 1 Thessalonians 2:16).

(1) Thanksgiving for the display of God’s power and love both in the missionaries and in the converts (1 Thessalonians 1:2-10).

(2) Reminder of the missionaries’ conduct there (1 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

(3) Acknowledgment of the Thessalonians’ hearty response (1 Thessalonians 2:13-16).

B. Containing an account of the Apostles’ (especially St. Paul’s) anxieties and efforts for the Thessalonians since they left them (1 Thessalonians 2:17 to 1 Thessalonians 3:10).

Then follows a prayer for them, which connects the first portion naturally with the first subject of instruction in—

II. THE EDUCATIONAL PORTION (1 Thessalonians 4:1 to 1 Thessalonians 5:28.)

(1) The necessity of abstaining from fornication (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8).