1 Thessalonians: waiting for the Lord's coming
1 Thessalonians is Paul's letter to a young church under persecution. He gives thanks that they turned from idols to God, calls them to holy lives, and comforts them over those who have died: the Lord will come, and all who are his will be with him for ever.
About the book
Thessalonica was a large port city of Macedonia. Fresh from suffering at Philippi, Paul reasoned in its synagogue for three Sabbaths that Jesus is the Christ; some Jews believed, "along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women" (Acts 17:4). Then jealous opponents started a riot, and the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea by night (Acts 17:10).
Torn away so soon, Paul worried for the new church. From Athens he sent Timothy, who came back with "the good news about your faith, your love" (1 Thessalonians 3:6), and Paul wrote this letter with Silvanus, that is Silas, and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 1:1). That was in Corinth, where Silas and Timothy rejoined him (Acts 18:5), about AD 50–51. Many hold it the earliest of Paul's surviving letters, though some put Galatians first; hardly anyone, then or now, has doubted that Paul wrote it. It belongs to the era the map under the Jesus tab calls the church (c. AD 30–90).
How it unfolds
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | Thanks: a faith that turned from idols, how Paul lived among them, Timothy's good news |
| 4:1–12 | Holy living: purity, brotherly love, working with one's own hands |
| 4:13–5:11 | Those who have died and the Lord's coming; the day that comes like a thief |
| 5:12–28 | Last instructions and blessing |
Key passages
People everywhere, Paul says, are talking about how this church came to faith:
how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead — Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
To turn, to serve, to wait: that is the Christian life. Those who wait live holy lives: "it is God's will that you should be holy" (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
Yet the church was grieving: some had died before the Lord came, and what of them? Paul does not want them to "grieve like the rest, who are without hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13):
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Matthew Henry writes here that "the principal happiness of heaven is to be with the Lord, to see him, live with him, and enjoy him for ever" Matthew Henry. Christians read ‘caught up’ in more than one way. Dispensational premillennialists see in it a rapture of the church before a time of tribulation; many other churches and scholars read it as believers going out to meet the Lord on the day he comes visibly. These views, and the ways of reading the thousand years, are set out in Christ's return and the millennium, in the doctrine course.
When, Paul does not say: "the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2). Believers do not count days; as sons of the light they stay awake, and live this way:
Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
The book and Christ
The hope rests on Jesus' death and resurrection: "since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). He died for us "so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him" (1 Thessalonians 5:10).
The prophets spoke of the Day of the LORD as a day of judgment, "darkness and not light" (Amos 5:18). Paul reads it as the day of the Lord Jesus, and for those who are his it is not wrath but salvation: "God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9). The Heidelberg Catechism of the Reformed churches of continental Europe finds its comfort in the same place: the Judge who comes is "the self-same One who has before offered himself for me to the judgment of God" Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 52.
Reading it
1 Thessalonians takes about fifteen minutes. Read Acts 17:1-10 first, to see how the church began, then the letter at one sitting from 1 Thessalonians 1. Paul wanted it "read to all the brothers" (1 Thessalonians 5:27), so read it aloud.
Notice how each chapter comes round to the Lord's coming (1:10, 2:19, 3:13). Then go on to 2 Thessalonians, sent to the same church soon after.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
Why did Paul have to leave Thessalonica so suddenly?
- Practice 2 of 6
How does 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 describe the Thessalonians' faith?
- Practice 3 of 6
Why did Paul write 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18?
- Practice 4 of 6
Which view reads ‘caught up’ in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 as a rapture of the church before the tribulation?
- Practice 5 of 6
From "the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night", what does Paul draw?
- Practice 6 of 6
According to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, what is God's will for us in Christ Jesus?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.