Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians
November 16, 2020
Acts 17:16 – 18:3
1 Thessalonians 1:1 – 5:11
Without the courage and drive of the earliest missionaries, Christianity would have remained a small congregation of Jewish believers centered in Jerusalem. Of course, the Lord wouldn’t have allowed that to happen – but we can be thankful for those who first carried the Gospel to the world.
Paul was still recovering from being beaten with wooden rods in Philippi when he founded the churches in Thessalonica, Berea and Athens. He was severely cut and bruised down the length of his body and it was painful to move or wear clothes over his wounds. It would have been hard to find a comfortable position when he lay down to rest.
Silas was punished alongside Paul, and Timothy witnessed the horror of that injustice, but when it was over, they gathered themselves and went back to work and to win as many people as possible to Christ.
Not that Paul and his friends were impervious to suffering and pain. Paul despaired of life sometimes, but as long as he had breath in his body, he used it to preach the Gospel and win souls.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed . . . For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:9-12
The City of Athens
The city of Athens had been in existence for 3,000 years before Paul arrived there. It was the leading city of Greece in the first millennium BC and its cultural achievements were the foundation of western civilization. Ancient Athens produced more brilliant minds in the fifth century BC than any city before or since.
“All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.” Acts 17:21
As Atlantic magazine writer Eric Weiner wrote:
“The ancient Athenians enjoyed a deeply intimate relationship with their city. Civic life was not optional, and the Athenians had a word for those who refused to participate in public affairs: idiotes. There was no such thing as an aloof, apathetic Athenian. ‘The man who took no interest in the affairs of state was not a man who minded his own business,’ wrote the ancient historian Thucydides, ‘but a man who had no business being in Athens at all’ . . . A house was less a home than a dormitory, a place where most people spent fewer than 30 waking minutes each day. The rest of the time was spent in the marketplace, or working out at the gymnasium or the wrestling grounds, or perhaps strolling along the rolling hills that surround the city. Unlike today, the Greeks didn’t differentiate between physical and mental activity; Plato’s famous Academy, the progenitor of the modern university, was as much an athletic facility as an intellectual one. The Greeks viewed body and mind as two inseparable parts of a whole: A fit mind not attached to a fit body rendered both incomplete. And in their efforts to nourish their minds, the Athenians built the world’s first global city.”
Paul in Athens
Athens was the perfect place for a great debater like Paul. The citizens who met him were so impressed that they honored him with a hearing at the Areopagus, a prominent rock outcropping where they went to listen to ideas.
Paul preached one of the greatest sermons of all time in Athens. He began with the culture of the Athenians and commended them for their openness to ideas and religions. He focused on the altar inscribed To An Unknown God and invited them to learn from him about that God.
The pantheon of Greek gods didn’t have a single god “who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth . . . [who] gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17:24) This was a new idea for them.
Paul described the God of Scripture, who made people and placed them exactly where they were supposed to live. He wanted them to reach out for him and find him, which wasn’t difficult for them to do.
“He is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Acts 17:27-28
Paul acknowledged that people had been reaching out to God since the beginning by making idols and worshiping them.
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31
Some of the people sneered at the reference to the resurrection, but others listened and became believers in Jesus.
Paul Goes to Corinth
Paul was in Athens for about two months before he moved on to the port city of Corinth, where Silas and Timothy caught up with him and brought him news of the fledgling church in Thessalonica.
The Thessalonian church was barely two years old when Paul wrote his first letter to them. He was as concerned for them as if he was their father — they were so young in the Lord and they faced so much opposition. He wrote a tender letter affirming his love for them and encouraging them to stay strong and keep growing.
The Letter to the Thessalonians
Paul opened his letter with fond memories of their first meeting, when he, Silas and Timothy shared the Gospel and they responded.
“For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.” 1Thessalonians 1:4-5
Not only did the Thessalonians quickly adopt the faith, they modeled it to the rest of the believers in Macedonia and became the leading congregation in the region.
“The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia – your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven . . . ” 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
Let’s Pretend
How did the Thessalonians grow from idol-worshipers to widely recognized, effective witnesses for Christ in less than two years?
They were excellent imitators.
You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6
C. S. Lewis writes about this in his chapter in Mere Christianity titled “Let’s Pretend.” In the same way that little babies learn how to do everything by watching and imitating their parents, new Christians grow by watching and imitating mature Christians. The Thessalonians were very good at this, and in turn, they became examples to the churches throughout the region.
If you want to grow spiritually, find people whose lives you admire, observe them closely, and do what they do.
Practical Instructions
Paul was pleased that the Thessalonians were living according to what they had already been taught.
“Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1
Now he proceeded to give them fatherly advice about relationships. He urged them not to fall in to sexual sin. The pagans living around them were promiscuous, but God called his people to a different standard of behavior.
“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7
Paul commended the Thessalonians for their kindness and love for each other and he encouraged them to also live quiet, humble lives.
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
People who worked with their hands – planting, building, making clothes, and preparing food – were able to take care of themselves and contribute good things to the world around them. Other people admired them and liked to be near them. It was a great way to be a witness for Christ.
Resurrection and Eternal Life
Life expectancy in the Roman Empire was just 25 years because of the high infant mortality rate, but people who got safely through childhood might live into their late fifties. The Thessalonians had questions about what followed death for a believer.
Paul wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uniformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.“ 1 Thessalonians 4:13
The hope of the Christian was that Jesus conquered death and imparted eternal life to all who believed in him. Not only that, he’s going to come back to earth someday and take those who are still alive home to heaven with him. Whether the Thessalonians Paul wrote to were still alive or had died before Jesus came, he wanted them to know they had a home in heaven.
Their only job was to keep doing what the Lord gave them to do until he came.
“He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11
Follow this link to read the article on Athens by Eric Weiner: