Bible Study on 1 Thessalonians - Part 1 Introduction

This study is an introduction to I Thessalonians. I chose this  portion of Scripture because I thought you might be ready for a shorter study than the long Mark study we just finished. This letter of Paul can also help us with some issues that seem very relevant to many these days. Some say that there is more persecution of Christians than ever before in some parts of the world - and more criticism of and attacks on Christian beliefs and morality. Because of this and other things going on, some also think that the second coming of Christ might also be soon. Paul deals with these concerns and others in I Thessalonians and how we can have hope and confidence in our Lord in spite of many challenges in our own lives.

We looked at the background of how Paul came to Thessalonica and why he wrote this letter later on to the church, the believers in that city. We looked especially at a portion of The Book of Acts, the history of the early church written by Luke, who also wrote the Gospel of Luke.

Paul was on his second missionary journey, sharing the Good News of Jesus with as many people as possible. Scholars date this as about 49-51 AD. Turn to Acts 16:6 and the verses that follow. Paul had plans for where he wanted to go, in the Roman province of Asia. (This is not Asia as we think of it today. Asia back then was a Roman province and a part of what is now the country of Turkey.) God directed Paul in a different direction, though, through His Holy Spirit and a vision of a man calling Paul to come farther west, into the Roman province of Macedonia, to help people there. This was the first time that Paul had gone to any part of what we now call Europe (Acts 16:6-10).

Paul then traveled by boat to Macedonia and soon to the city of Philippi. which is what we now call the country of Greece. You can read of the work there and people who came to faith and were baptized, including whole households. Paul also got in trouble there, by casting an evil spirit out of a slave girl and angering her owners. Paul and Silas, his co-worker, were beaten and thrown in prison. They befriended the jailer, and he and his whole household were baptized and became believers. City officials realized that they had badly mistreated Paul, who was a Jew, but also a Roman citizen. They asked Paul and Silas to leave their city, and they then moved on to Thessalonica (Acts 16:11-17:1).

Thessalonica was the largest city in Macedonia, about 200,000 people, and was the capital of that province. It was a busy seaport city. The Romans had also built an important highway through Thessalonica that linked them with Byzantium (later called Constantinople and now Istanbul) and places farther east, and with the Danube River to the North. The city was named for a relative of Alexander the Great. It seemed to be a good place for Paul and Silas to carry on their mission, even though they had been forced out of their previous work in Philippi.

For three Sabbath days, three weeks, Paul taught at a synagogue in the city. Though he was called to reach out to Gentiles, non-Jews, it was his custom to start out talking with fellow Jews, since they should have recognized the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures as the Word of God.

Paul taught from those Scriptures, showing that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah and Savior, sent from God, who had to suffer and die and rise again to do His saving work. Some Jews believed in Jesus, but many more Greeks, both men and women, also came to believe in Jesus. They became the core group, the believers in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-4).

However, the Jewish majority rejected Paul and his message about Jesus and were jealous of people going away to follow Paul. These Jews created a riot against Paul and Silas and anyone who helped him in any way, including a man named Jason. They accused Paul and the Christians of being anti-Roman and against Caesar, the Roman emperor (Acts 17:5-9).

Once again, Paul and Silas had to escape from this city, only being in Thessalonica for a short time, and went on to Berea, where the Jews were more open at least to hearing what Paul said and were searching the Old Testament Scriptures. Again, some Jews and non-Jews came to faith in Jesus. But again, Jews in Thessalonica heard of this and sent agitators to Berea to work against Paul and Christianity. Paul was quickly sent off to Athens, much farther south, since he was the prime target of the Jews. Silas and Timothy were able to stay on there for a while, though, helping the believers (Acts 17:10-15).

Paul spent some time in Athens, sharing the faith there, too. You can read about that in Acts 17:16-34. Athens was a heavily Greek city, with many temples of gods and goddesses and human philosophies very different from Christianity. Some came to faith in Jesus, but it was a tough, skeptical crowd to talk with.

Paul then moved on to Corinth (Acts 18:1). He stayed at least a year and six months there, sharing the Word of God (Acts 18:11). (There is a reference in Philippians 4:16 to help sent to Paul in connection with Thessalonica, but we don’t know just what that refers to or if Paul was able to get back there for a short time.)

It was most likely from Corinth that Paul then wrote the letter of I Thessalonians to the believers in Thessalonica. If you turn to I Thessalonians 1:1, right after Colossians in the New Testament, you will see mention of Paul and Silas (called here by his Roman name, Silvanus - Silas is his Hebrew name) and Timothy, who were also along with Paul on at least parts of his second missionary journey.

Turn briefly also to I Thessalonians 3:1-5, where Paul explained that he could not return to Thessalonica at that point, but was so concerned about the believers there, left alone so quickly, that he sent Timothy back to them to do more teaching and encouraging in God’s Word.

I Thessalonians 3:6 reports that Timothy then returned to Paul with news that the people were staying in faith, but had questions and concerns and were still being harassed and persecuted by others who did not believe. Paul then wrote the letter we will study in weeks ahead, helping them and us, still today, with the message God Himself gave him, centered in the hope found in the risen Lord Jesus. Every part of God’s Word is important, but may God bless us as we get into this letter and what God wants to tell us here, too.