1 Thes 1:6. The outstanding fruit of faith in the gospel was the Thessalonians’ change of behavior. They became imitators of their spiritual parents, the missionaries. This is normal Christian experience. But they also went on to imitate the Lord. This too is natural, and the order is true to life as well. A new Christian first looks to other believers as his pattern, but then as he matures he realizes that Jesus Christ is his best “model” (cf. 1 Peter 2:21).
Despite severe suffering the Thessalonians welcomed the message. The Jews among them must have felt the hatred of their unbelieving brothers in the flesh who, as has been pointed out, were especially antagonistic to the gospel in that city. The Gentile converts must have had to swim against the swift current of paganism that flowed like a torrent through the conduit of commercial Thessalonica. And the city’s chief men’s wives, who had become Christians, had to go home to unbelieving husbands who would not have appreciated their newly sensitized consciences. Yet in spite of trials without, the Thessalonian believers possessed joy within, the joy of sins forgiven. It is interesting that Christians who have tribulations in their daily walks often seem to have greater joy in the Lord than those who live in more comfortable spiritual climates. A Christian’s joy should be determined not by his circumstances but by his relationship with Christ. This was true of the Thessalonians. The source of their joy was the indwelling Holy Spirit.
1 Thes 1:7. The testimony of these Christians did not burn brightly merely at home; it also shone abroad to other people in other parts of Macedonia, reaching even to Achaia, the neighboring province to the south. Having become imitators of the missionaries and their Lord (v. 6) they in turn became the object of imitation by other believers. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he pointed to these Macedonians as a model (typon; cf. 2 Thes. 3:9) of sacrificial giving (2 Cor. 8:1–8). He wrote that they had given money to help other believers even though they themselves were poor. One of the most revealing evidences of a Christian’s true spirituality is the way he manages his money. In this revealing test the Thessalonians emerged as gold tried in the fire.
1 Thes 1:8. This verse explains how the Thessalonians became examples to other Christians. Having received the gospel (v. 5) they passed it on to others. The word exēchētai, translated rang out, could be rendered “reverberated.” Paul saw the Thessalonians as amplifiers or relay stations that not only received the gospel message but sent it farther on its way with increased power and scope. Paul’s preaching in Thessalonica had the effect of speaking into a public address microphone; his words were received and repeated by many different “speakers” in many remote places where his unaided voice could not have reached.
Apparently it was not through an organized evangelistic campaign that their witness went forth, though Paul’s preaching in Thessalonica and elsewhere illustrates this approach. But it was through the personal lives and testimonies of these transformed individuals that neighbors heard about their faith in God. As they went the gospel was heard everywhere, so an apostolic missionary campaign was not needed.
1 Thes 1:9. Other people were telling Paul what had happened after he had preached the gospel in Thessalonica. The events of his visit had become well known in that part of the world, not because Paul had spread the word, but because of the outspoken Thessalonian believers’ witness. Their boldness should challenge every true child of God.
These believers had turned to God, the only true God, from idols. This strongly suggests that many of those believers had been pagan Gentiles. The Jews, of course, abhorred idolatry. Someone has observed that humans have the freedom to choose who their master will be, but they do not have the freedom to choose no master. The Thessalonians had chosen to serve the living and true God rather than God’s creatures or satanic powers (cf. Rom. 1:18–23). The fact that God is a living Person was precious to the Jews and to Paul; this is the characteristic by which God is most often distinguished from so-called gods in the Old Testament. He is the only living God; all other gods are not alive and therefore not worthy objects of worship.
1 Thes 1:10. Not only had the Thessalonians turned to God in repentance and begun to serve Him, but they were also awaiting the return of His Son from heaven. Paul may have had in mind the “heavens” (pl.) through which Jesus Christ passed when He ascended from the earth (Acts 1:9–11), rather than the seat of His heavenly rule at the right hand of the Father in “heaven” (sing., Rev. 4:2–11). If so, he said that the Thessalonians were looking for Jesus’ coming through the clouds, literally, “out of the heavens.”
But it was not the clouds, or the signs of His coming, or His deliverance which interested these believers; it was the person of Jesus, the Son of the living God. He was the object of their hope, the focus of their attention. May Jesus Himself, rather than anything that will accompany Him or characterize His return, always fill the hopes of His saints!
This reference to “Jesus,” His human name, is a strong claim to Jesus of Nazareth’s deity. He is further described as the Son of God, the One risen from the dead by the living God. The fact of the Resurrection is indisputable proof (cf. 1 Cor. 15:14–19) of the deity of Jesus.
The return of Jesus is a source of hope for Christians for several reasons, but the reason which Paul mentioned here was Jesus’ deliverance of the saints from the coming wrath of God. The wrath of God will be poured out on unrighteous people because of their failure to trust in Christ (John 3:36; Rom. 1:18). This happens at many times and in many ways, the great white throne judgment being the most awful occasion (Rev. 20:11–15). But the “time of trouble for Jacob” (Jer. 30:4–7), also called “the Great Tribulation” (Rev. 7:14), will be a period in history during which God’s wrath will be poured out on the earth as never before (cf. Rev. 6–19).
Was Paul thinking of a specific time in which God’s wrath would be poured out (1 Thes. 1:10), or was he referring to the outpouring of God’s wrath on unbelievers in a more general sense? Paul, the Thessalonian believers, and Christians today will escape all aspects of God’s wrath, general and specific, including the Tribulation period. The clear implication of this verse is that Paul hoped in the Lord’s imminent return. Otherwise Paul would have told his readers to prepare for the Tribulation.
In the phrase “from the coming wrath” the word translated “from” means that Christians are kept from it, not taken out of it. The same verb (rescues) and preposition (from) are used in 2 Corinthians 1:10 where Paul said he was delivered from a deadly peril. Obviously this does not mean Paul died and was resurrected. Christians will be kept away from God’s wrath, not just kept safe through it (cf. comments on Rev. 3:10).
This chapter, like every chapter in this epistle, closes with a reference to the return of Jesus Christ (1 Thes. 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13–18, 5:23).
pl. plural
sing. singular
Thomas L. Constable, “1 Thessalonians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 692–693.
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