1 Thessalonians

Waiting for His Son from Heaven

Paul had only a few weeks with the believers in Thessalonica before a mob drove him out of town. He left behind a brand-new church of mostly Gentile converts, facing persecution, with no Bible of their own and no pastor. He worried about them constantly. When Timothy finally brought back the news that they were standing firm, Paul sat down and wrote this letter, which may be one of the very first books of the New Testament ever written.

It is a warm letter, full of affection and encouragement. It is also a letter about the future. Every chapter ends with a look ahead to the return of Christ. These believers had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1:9–10). Serve and wait: that was the whole Christian life to them.

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Authorship & Setting

Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and a busy port on the Via Egnatia, the main Roman highway between east and west. It was a free city that governed itself through officials Luke calls “rulers of the city” (Acts 17:6). The Greek word Luke uses, politarchs, was once doubted by critics because it appeared nowhere else in ancient literature. Archaeologists have since found it on numerous inscriptions from Thessalonica.

Paul, Silas, and Timothy came to Thessalonica after being beaten and jailed in Philippi. Paul reasoned in the synagogue for three sabbath days (Acts 17:2). Some Jews and many God-fearing Greeks believed, including prominent women. Jealous opponents started a riot, dragged Jason and other believers before the rulers, and accused them: “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6). The church sent Paul away by night to Berea. From Athens he sent Timothy back to check on them (3:1–2).

Timothy rejoined Paul in Corinth with good news (3:6; Acts 18:5), and Paul wrote this letter from there, around AD 50–51, with Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy named alongside him (1:1). Along with Galatians, it is one of Paul’s earliest letters. Paul answers two worries that had come up: what happens to believers who die before Christ returns, and when the day of the Lord will come.

Key Figures

• Paul — the church’s spiritual father, who cared for them “even as a nurse cherisheth her children”(2:7).
• Silvanus (Silas) — Paul’s partner on the second journey, beaten and jailed with him at Philippi, and co-sender of the letter.
• Timothy — sent back to establish and comfort the church, who returned with “good tidings of your faith and charity” (3:6).
• Jason — the believer whose house was attacked by the mob, and who was dragged before the city rulers for sheltering Paul (Acts 17:5–9).
• The Thessalonian believers — former idol worshippers who became “ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia” (1:7).
• Those which are asleep — believers in Thessalonica who had died since Paul left. Their families feared they would miss the Lord’s return (4:13).
• The archangel — whose voice will be heard when the Lord descends from heaven (4:16).

Greek Word Study

παρουσία · parousia

“Coming,” “presence,” “arrival.” In the Greek world, it was the word for the official visit of a king or emperor to a city, which the citizens prepared for with great care. Paul uses it four times in this letter for the return of Christ (2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23). The King is coming, and His people should be ready to receive Him.

κοιμάομαι · koimaomai

“To sleep,” used for believers who have died (4:13–15). It is a gentle word, because death for a believer is not the end. You sleep expecting to wake. Our word “cemetery” comes from a related Greek word, koimētērion, a sleeping place.

ἁρπάζω · harpazō

“To catch up,” to seize suddenly and by force. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (4:17). When the Bible was translated into Latin, this verb was rendered rapiemur, from which comes the English word “rapture.” Believers hold different views on when this happens in relation to the tribulation, but every view agrees on the main point: we shall ever be with the Lord.

ἀπάντησις · apantēsis

“Meeting,” “to meet” (4:17). It was often used when citizens went out of a city to meet an arriving dignitary and escort him back in. Jesus’ parable uses the same word: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). Whatever else it means, it means believers will go out to greet their King.

Eight-Movement Outline

MOVEMENT ONE

Work of Faith, Labour of Love (1:1–10)

Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians, “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3). The gospel came to them “not… in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1:5). They received the word in much affliction, “with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1:6), and the news of their faith spread through the region. Everyone was talking about how they turned to God from idols to serve the living God and wait for His Son from heaven.

MOVEMENT TWO

Gentle as a Nursing Mother (2:1–16)

Paul reminds them how he came. He had just been shamefully treated at Philippi, yet he was bold to preach. His message did not come from deceit or impure motives. “Not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts” (2:4). “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness”(2:5). He didn’t seek glory or demand support. “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children” (2:7). He worked night and day with his own hands so as not to be a burden, and urged them like a father to walk worthy of God. They received his message “not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God” (2:13).

MOVEMENT THREE

What Is Our Hope? (2:17–3:13)

Paul was torn away from them and tried again and again to come back, “but Satan hindered us”(2:18). “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?” (2:19). Unable to bear it any longer, he sent Timothy to strengthen them, afraid the tempter had shaken them. Timothy came back with good news of their faith and love. “For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord” (3:8). Paul prays that the Lord would make them increase and abound in love, and establish their hearts “unblameable in holiness before God… at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints”(3:13).

MOVEMENT FOUR

This Is the Will of God (4:1–8)

Paul urges them to keep growing in how they walk and please God. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour” (4:3–4). In a pagan city where sexual immorality was common and even woven into religion, this was a radical call. “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness”(4:7). Anyone who rejects this rejects not man, but God, who has given His Holy Spirit.

MOVEMENT FIVE

Study to Be Quiet (4:9–12)

About brotherly love, Paul hardly needs to write, because God Himself has taught them to love one another. But he urges them to increase more and more, and to “study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands” (4:11). Some apparently had quit working, perhaps thinking the Lord was coming so soon that work no longer mattered. Paul says to walk honestly toward outsiders and depend on no one. Waiting for Christ is no excuse for idleness.

MOVEMENT SIX

Concerning Them Which Are Asleep (4:13–18)

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (4:13). Christians grieve, but not without hope. If we believe Jesus died and rose again, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (4:16–17). “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (4:18).

MOVEMENT SEVEN

As a Thief in the Night (5:1–11)

When will it happen? “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (5:2). “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them” (5:3). But believers are not in darkness. “Ye are all the children of light” (5:5). “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (5:6), putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:9). So comfort and build each other up.

MOVEMENT EIGHT

Rejoice Evermore (5:12–28)

Paul closes with a string of short commands. Honor those who labor among you and admonish you, and esteem them highly in love for their work’s sake. “Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men” (5:14). “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (5:16–18). “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil” (5:19–22). He prays that God would sanctify them wholly, spirit, soul, and body, blameless at the coming of the Lord. “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” (5:24).

Christ Typology

The Trump of God. When God came down on Mount Sinai, “the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud” sounded, and all the people trembled (Exodus 19:16). Israel kept a feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24), and trumpets announced the coming of kings and called the people to gather. Paul says the Lord will descend from heaven “with the trump of God.”The same God who came down at Sinai in fire and trumpet blast will come down again, this time in the person of His Son, to gather His people.

Enoch and Elijah. Two men in the Old Testament never died. “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him”(Genesis 5:24). Elijah “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). They are pictures of what Paul describes in chapter 4: believers who are alive when Christ returns, caught up to be with the Lord without passing through death.

The Bridegroom Coming. Jesus told of ten virgins waiting for a bridegroom who came at midnight: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). The word for “meet” is the same word Paul uses for meeting the Lord in the air. The church is the bride, waiting with her lamp trimmed for the Bridegroom’s arrival.

Coming on the Clouds. Daniel saw “one like the Son of man” coming “with the clouds of heaven” (Daniel 7:13). When Jesus ascended, “a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), and the angels promised He would come back the same way. In the wilderness, God’s presence went before Israel in a cloud. The cloud has always signaled the presence of God. Christ left in the clouds and will return in them.

The Day of the LORD. The prophets warned again and again of “the day of the LORD,” a day of darkness for the wicked and deliverance for the faithful (Joel 2:31–32; Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:14). Paul takes that phrase and applies it directly to the coming of Jesus. The day the prophets saw from far off belongs to Christ.

Personal Application

Grieve, but with hope. Paul does not tell the Thessalonians not to grieve. He tells them not to grieve like people who have no hope. If you have buried someone who belonged to Christ, they are not lost. They are asleep in Jesus, and you will see them again. Comfort one another with these words.

Holiness in the body matters. Thessalonica treated sexual immorality as normal. Our culture does too. Paul’s answer was not to fit in but to know how to possess your own body in sanctification and honor. This is the will of God, plainly stated.

Learn to tell a true shepherd. Paul gives a picture of faithful ministry in chapter 2: bold in the gospel, pleasing God rather than men, no flattering words, no cloak of covetousness, gentle like a nursing mother, working with his own hands rather than being a burden, and pointing people to the word of God rather than himself. Those marks still separate true shepherds from false ones.

Watch and work. Waiting for Christ is not sitting on a hilltop staring at the sky. It is living a quiet life, minding your own business, working with your own hands, and staying awake spiritually, sober and ready. The best way to be ready for His return is to be faithfully doing what He gave you to do.

Rejoice, pray, and give thanks. These three short commands in 5:16–18 come with a reason: “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” If you have ever wondered what God’s will is for your life, start there. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY · MARANATHA

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