September
28th 1 Thessalonians, 1 A.
Prologue Greetings from – Paul,
Silvanus & Timothy
1: Paul, and Silvanus, and
Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
B.
The Christians Patience Thanksgiving
for your faith
2: We give thanks to God always for
you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3: Remembering without ceasing
your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 4: Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. 5: 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. 6: And ye became followers of us, and of
the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy
Ghost: 7: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 8: For from
you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in
every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to
speak any thing. 9: For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in
we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God; 10: And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the
dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
This letter of Paul to the
Thessalonians is one of the earliest, if not the first letter he wrote, that is
recorded in scripture. Paul had been in Thessalonica only for a few weeks and
they had heard Paul say that the coming kingdom was near. But in the mean while
some believers had died and they didn’t know whether they might miss out on the
coming kingdom. So they wrote to Paul asking him to clear up their questions.
So Paul writes this letter in part to explain what will happen to those who
have died as believers.
Paul begins this letter including
his co-workers Silas and Timothy and his customary greeting. Then he begins by
telling them, that whenever he thinks of the believers at Thessalonica he
always thanks God. And he always makes mention of them in his prayers. He says
l am constantly reminded of your faithful work for God, your loving service and
you patient assurance in Gods future blessing. Paul says, God has chosen you to
serve him like this. Then he reminds them that the Gospel that he brought to
them was not just words and speeches but it was a wonderful demonstration of
the power of the Holy Spirit at work. And our preaching was not expressed in
any doubt but was full of confidence in God. And you became our disciples in
the Lord because you received the gospel in the middle of great troubles but
full of joy in the Holy Spirit. Then Paul goes on to say, you became great
examples to all the christians of Greece because from you the gospel rang out clear
and true in the whole area were your faith to God became known. And because of
this we did not need to go and preach there. Your hearers tell us how
successful our ministry was and how that you turned away from idolatry to serve
the living true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, who he raised from the
dead – Jesus. Who delivered us from the wrath to come.
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