1 Thessalonians - Intro

Though Paul ministered only a short time in Thessalonica, he was joyful as to the events happening in this church and the spiritual progress made by the believers there in a short period.

The city of Thessalonica was the largest and most important city in the Roman province known as Macedonia (in the northern part of what is today the nation of Greece). It was a harbor city on the Aegean Sea and was a cosmopolitan city of approximately 250,000 people who were Greeks, Romans, sailors, travelers, tradesmen, and businessmen. The Jewish portion of the city was significant and thriving as noted in Acts 17:1 & 5-9.

The best asset for the city was the fact that it sat on the major east west highway of the Roman Empire, known as the Egnatian Way, running from what is now Albania to Byzantium (now Istanbul). Such a position contributed strongly to the spread of the gospel.

The city was founded around 315 BC by Cassander, one of the generals for Alexander the Great, and he became king of the city after the death of Alexander. In 42 BC the city was named a “free” city meaning it was no longer occupied by Roman troops.

Paul came to the city on his second missionary journey after traveling west across Asia Minor, he came to a stopping point. Here we have one of the strongest moments of the direct work and guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. This incident is described for us in Acts 16:6-10. Paul wanted to travel onward toward Asia south of Mysia and was forbidden to do so by the Spirit. Next Paul wanted to turn north into Bithynia to preach and was again forbidden by the Spirit. With no other way to proceed, Paul went to Troas, a city on the Aegean Sea. There Paul was given a vision of a Macedonian exhorting him to come to that province and preach the gospel. Paul and Silas crossed the sea and landed at Philippi and began preaching. The preaching of the Word there caused a riot and Paul and Silas were beaten and placed in prison in stocks. God released them by means of an earthquake with one result being the jailer and his family being converted. When the locals found they had beaten Roman citizens without a trial they hurriedly begged the men to leave Philippi. The two men left and walked 100 miles along the Roman road to Thessalonica. Paul’s preaching there caused again an uproar and some converts were seized and charged with treason, believing now in a king other than Caesar.

Paul and Silas left and traveled to Berea and began a successful ministry until the same Jews from Thessalonica arrived causing more trouble and Paul then went onward to Athens, where Silas and Timothy later joined him. Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to determine the status of the church, and sent Silas possibly to Philippi, leaving himself alone to evangelize Athens.

Timothy brought a very encouraging report on the Thessalonica church to Paul when he later met Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:5). Even though the report was positive, Paul felt it necessary to write to the church to express his thoughts on some issues that needed to be brought forward and considered.

The persecution that caused the missionaries to leave had not diminished. Enemies of the truth were spreading lies and slander about God’s missionaries, claiming Paul was only preaching to enrich himself. These false accusers also said that Paul and his helpers had abandoned the new believers. They said that Paul had not returned which was proof that he was guilty of all they said about him.

Paul’s defense against all charges was one of the reasons for the letter to be written. Other reasons were to prevent backsliding, further encourage their love for one another, encouraging them to work diligently, and lastly to correct any wrong understandings about the end times.

The letter was sent from Corinth and Paul’s time there is upheld there by the correlation of his stay in the time of the Roman pro-consul Gallio (Acts 18:12). Stone inscriptions found at Corinth date Gallio to have ruled there around the early 50’s.

Now, let us begin the study into the mind and heart of Paul as he writes to those in the church at Thessalonica.