1 Thessalonians 1 Study Notes

1:5-6 The gospel is more than a message of words. It is a message that comes in power and in the Holy Spirit. The basic meaning of “gospel” (Gk euangelion) is “good news.” Paul further specified that it was not just any good news but the good news that came from God (2:2,8,13). Even though the church at Thessalonica was founded in the midst of severe persecution, the message was warmly received with joy that came from the Holy Spirit. That God was working there was also evident since Paul and Silas were able to stay only for a short time before they were forced to leave and yet the church started and flourished anyway (Ac 17:1-9). How we lived among you is further explained in 2:1-12.

1:7-9 The Thessalonians’ faith and gospel message spread throughout Macedonia and Achaia. These two Roman provinces—Macedonia in the north and Achaia in the south—make up a large part of modern-day Greece. In NT times, these provinces included major cities such as Philippi, Athens, and Corinth. Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia. It appears that Paul’s missionary strategy worked. He evangelized the major cities with the expectation that the gospel would spread from there into the surrounding areas. The Thessalonians’ predominantly Gentile background is evident from the false worship of lifeless idols, from which they turned to serve the living and true God.

1:10 While the Thessalonians were enduring persecution, they were also waiting for the coming Son from heaven—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. The “coming wrath” was not a persecution that Paul and the Thessalonians were experiencing or would experience from the unbelieving world, but a future time of God’s wrath against the unbelieving world. Christians will be rescued from this (5:9). Paul introduced the fact of Jesus’s resurrection here and later expressed the hope of the resurrection for Christians who had died (4:16).