Analysis Of The Chapter The first chapter of this Epistle embraces the following subjects: * The inscription by Paul, Silas, and Timothy, to the Thessalonians, and the usual salutations;1 Thessalonians 1:1. * An expression of thanks for their fidelity in the gospel; 1 Thessalonians 1:2. The apo... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL, AND SILVANUS, AND TIMOTHEUS - On the reasons why Paul associated other names with his in his epistles, see the 1 Corinthians 1:1 note, and 2 Corinthians 2:1 note. Silvanus, or Silas, and Timothy were properly united with him on this occasion, because they had been with him when the church was... [ Continue Reading ]
WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD ALWAYS FOR YOU ALL - see the notes, Romans 1:9. MAKING MENTION OF YOU IN OUR PRAYERS - See the notes at Ephesians 1:16. It may be observed here: (1) That the apostle was in the habit of constant prayer. (2) That he was accustomed to extemporary prayer, and not to written pra... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBERING WITHOUT CEASING - Remembering your faith and love whenever we pray. This is not to be understood literally, but it is language such as we use respecting anything that interests us much. It is constantly in our mind. Such an interest the apostle had in the churches which he had establishe... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING, BRETHREN BELOVED, YOUR ELECTION OF GOD - The margin here reads, “beloved of God, your election.” The difference depends merely on the pointing, and that which would require the marginal reading has been adopted by Hahn, Tittman, Bloomfield, and Griesbach. The sense is not materially varied,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUR GOSPEL CAME NOT UNTO YOU - When first preached; Acts 17:1. Paul speaks of it as “our gospel,” because it was the gospel preached by him and Silas and Timothy; comp 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Timothy 2:8. He did not mean to say that the gospel had been originated by him, but only that he had del... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE BECAME FOLLOWERS OF US - “You became imitators - μιμηταὶ mimētai - of us.” This does not mean that they became followers of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, in the sense that they had set themselves up as teachers, or as the head of a sect, but that they imitated their manner of living; see the no... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT YE WERE ENSAMPLES TO ALL THAT BELIEVE - Examples in reference to the firmness with which you embraced the gospel, the fidelity with which you adhered to it in trials, and the zeal which you showed in spreading it abroad. These things are specified in the previous and subsequent verses as cha... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR FROM YOU SOUNDED OUT THE WORD OF THE LORD - The truths of religion were thus spread abroad. The word rendered “sounded out” - ἐξήχηται exēchētai - refers to the sounding of a trumpet (Bloomfield), and the idea is, that the gospel was proclaimed like the sonorous voice of a trumpet echoing fr... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY THEMSELVES - They who have visited you, and they whom you have sent out; all persons testify of your piety. The apostle seems to refer to all whom he had met or had heard of “in all places,” who said anything about the Thessalonians They were unanimous in bearing testimony to their fidelity... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TO WAIT FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN - It is clear from this and from other parts of these two Epistles, that the return of the Lord Jesus to this world was a prominent subject of the preaching of Paul at Thessalonica. No small part of these Epistles is occupied with stating the true doctrine on this... [ Continue Reading ]