1 Thessalonians 1:5
Not only in word
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction — just as you know we lived among you for your sake.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
because our good news did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, even as you have known of what sort we became among you for your sake,
이는 우리 복음이 말로만 너희에게 이른 것이 아니라 오직 능력과 성령과 큰 확신으로 된 것이니 우리가 너희 가운데서 너희를 위하여 어떠한 사람이 된 것은 너희 아는 바와 같으니라
이는 우리의 복음이 말로만 너희에게 이르지 아니하고 권능과 성령님과 큰 확신으로 이르렀기 때문이니라. 우리가 너희를 위해 너희 가운데서 어떤 사람이 되었는지는 너희가 아는 바와 같으니라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on 1Thess 1:1-5 as a whole
As all good comes from God, so no good can be hoped for by sinners, but from God in Christ. And the best good may be expected from God, as our Father, for the sake of Christ. We should pray, not only for ourselves, but for others also; remembering them without ceasing. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley 1Thess 1:5
With power - Piercing the very heart with a sense of sin and deeply convincing you of your want of a Saviour from guilt, misery, and eternal ruin. With the Holy Ghost - Bearing an outward testimony, by miracles, to the truth of what we preached, and you felt: also by his descent…
Read the whole commentary →
Note
First Thessalonians is often counted the earliest of Paul's letters. He opens by telling the believers that he knows God has chosen them (1 Thessalonians 1:4), and this verse says how he knows: by the way the gospel arrived among them.
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction — just as you know we lived among you for your sake.
1 Thessalonians 1:5Paul's stay in Thessalonica had been short. Acts tells how he reasoned in the synagogue on three Sabbaths, "explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead" (Acts 17:3). Some believed, a mob formed, and the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night (Acts 17:10). He left behind a young church under pressure, and writing to it he points back to what happened in those few weeks.
is the subject of the sentence. Its verb, ἐγενήθη, is an aorist of the verb "to become, to happen", used here for the gospel's coming to them. The same verb returns at the end of the verse, "what manner of men we were among you," as the KJV has it, which the BSB renders "we lived among you." The coming of the message and the conduct of the messengers stand in one sentence. "Our gospel" is the gospel they preached, not one Paul made up; in the next chapter he calls it "the gospel of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:2).
It came in word, but not in word only. Paul adds power, the Holy Spirit, and , fullness of certainty. The KJV and the LSV render it "in much assurance"; the BSB says "with great conviction". Either word can name the preachers' certainty as they spoke or the hearers' as they believed. The Greek does not say whose it was, and both may be meant: the same Spirit gave boldness to those who spoke and settled faith in those who listened.
Wesley takes it of the hearers, and calls it "the Spirit bearing witness by shedding the love of God abroad in your hearts, which is the highest testimony that can be given" Wesley. The "power" he explains as the word piercing the heart with a sense of sin and of the need for a Saviour. Matthew Henry puts the whole verse in a line: "Unless the Spirit of God comes with the word of God, it will be to us a dead letter" Matthew Henry. The Thessalonians, he adds, "were fully convinced of the truth of it, so as not to be shaken in mind by objections and doubts" Matthew Henry.
The gospel still comes first as words, read or heard. This verse tells the reader that those words can be more than words, because the Spirit can make them power and certainty. Anyone who so far has heard only the words may ask for that.