I Thessalonians 1:1-10
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. 9 For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Paul adopts elements of the classic Greek form of paraenesis, or moral exhortation, and weaves them into this letter. Chapters 1-3 emphasize the relationship between Paul’s team and the readers, providing a basis for his instructions to them in Chapters 4-5. This is the pattern of the paraenetic style, holding up an example and describing it in detail to list characteristics that the reader is to emulate. The difference is that the goal of the classic philosophical argument is to guide the reader into the good life, while Paul gentile moves his readers into the way that is appropriate to God (2:12).
Paul (1:1) identifies himself, Silvanus, and Tinothy as senders to the church at Thessalonica. Silvanus shared in evangelizing Corinth (II Cor 1:19, Acts 18:5), evangelizing Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9), and bringing the Apostolic decree to Antioch (Acts 15:27, 32). He may have been a Roman (Acts 16:37). Timothy is one in whom Paul had complete trust. They worked as a team as they introduced the gospel. They joined him in the initial work in Thessalonica and continue to join him in prayer and concern for the Thessalonians and their ongoing life as a Christian community. He refers to the church of the Thessalonians gathering as it centers around the presence of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus, around the God of Israel and Jesus as its Lord. He will greet them by wishing grace and peace upon them. This will become a common Christian greeting.
The letter opens (1:2-10) with a thanksgiving (Εὐχαριστοῦμεν) for them offered in the prayers of the missionary team. The thanks is for all of them, constantly remembering them before our God and Father. He wants them to know they are a regular part of the prayers by the missionary team, especially for their faith, hope, and love. The church must not shrink in its faith, hope, or love. Faith in the Christ event past and present, hope in the saving event yet to come, and love as the normative principle and realization of faith and hope, is the basis of New Testament ethics and become the now of ethical decision.[1] He refers to their work of faith, even as Jesus taught to have the faith of the grain of a mustard seed, their labor of love, even as Jesus taught to love God and neighbor, and the steadfastness of hope, even as Jesus pointed to the coming of the kingdom in judgment and grace. This hope is without delusion because it is in our Lord Jesus Christ. They are beloved by God. He uses language familiar within the Jewish tradition. In Deuteronomy 33:12, the text refers to the tribe of Benjamin as “the beloved of the Lord” and that “the beloved rests” on the shoulders of the Lord. Nehemiah 13:26 refers to King Solomon, despite his sin, as “beloved by his God.” To this group of largely Greek people, these authors affirm that God values and loves them. God has chosen (ἐκλογὴν, elected) them as a community that belongs to Christ.[2] He vividly recalls their response to our message of the gospel, to the preached word and in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. The word is never without its accompanying deed and the deed is never without the word that proclaims it.[3] While the gospel does make known the once-for-all act of salvation, the act of proclamation is itself an act of salvation on the part of God.[4] The gospel is not simply an abstract doctrine. It came in the preached word, of course. However, it also came with signs of divine activity, enthusiasm, and mighty works. The point here is that the apostolic message mediates the glorifying of Jesus by the Spirit, for its content goes out in the power of the Spirit.[5] Paul reflects the Hellenistic notion of the individual participation in the Holy Spirit present in his preaching,[6] Paul vividly recalls the experiences of his hearers being convicted by his preaching, consistent with the widespread recognition of the creative power of the word preached.[7] Such conviction or supreme fullness, refers to the great richness of the divine work in the present life of the community.[8] Such conviction is necessary to generate the enthusiasm and energy necessary to sustain vigorous communal life. Such vitality leads to the will and ability to teach the gospel to the next generation. Such vitality sees the danger presented by the challenges of this moment and re-thinks the message of the gospel in a way that leads to authentic discipleship. Such convictions sees through the idolatry presented in every political ideology and embraces Jesus as Lord. Such conviction leads to a communal life that will still command attention.[9] Their response was not only full commitment, but to become imitators of Paul and of the Lord Jesus, suggesting there was an established set of counsels from Jesus of Nazareth that formed the ethical life of the church. They accepted the authority of the apostolic word preached, committing themselves to Paul and to the Lord.[10] Such imitation is a pledge to an attempted ethical conformity to Christ, especially in the act of love.[11] Despite persecution from the community, they received the word (τὸν λόγον, a technical term for the gospel in the earliest communities[12]) with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, showing the Spirit led individual persons to accept the message of the gospel,[13] becoming examples (mark, figure, model, type, pattern) to other communities. First, even today, the mood of joy characterizes the possibility of authentic existence. Joy is the mood in which the freedom of the human existence finds expression and has a liberating effect.[14] Second, such an example results from being molded by the word, lived out in freedom and y faith.[15] The word of the Lord (ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου), the word of preaching, expressed their faith and made God known to others. Paul includes a description of the kerygma, with a condensation of the preaching of the Hellenistic Jewish-Christian church.[16] This included a strong affirmation of monotheism, urging gentiles to turn from idols to the God of Israel,[17] and thus to serve a living and true God. Belief in the one God leads to the question of the totality of the world and the totality of a human life.[18] This belief did not come easily, for even Israel moved from monolatry to monotheism, which prepared the way for the preaching of the team led by Paul. In addition, Greek philosophical theology made such preaching intelligible to non-Jews.[19] This means that Christian mission to the Jewish people must begin with the recognition that they already believe in the one true God, but this God has offered a definitive revelation of who God is in Jesus Christ.[20] This God is also the Father of Jesus Christ. The Christian nature of the kerygma is that it includes waiting for the Son of God (II Cor 1:19 also) from heaven to earth. The Parousia as a movement from above downwards.[21] The destiny of Jesus is to be the future, eschatological Son of God. [22] He stresses that Jesus is the Son of the Father. Another echo of this belief: “the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you” (II Cor 1:19). Yet, reconciling this belief with the Christian confession of the divine sonship and deity of Jesus Christ would be a central theme of the message of the gospel and a problem in early Christian thought as it developed beyond Paul.[23] Human beings need rescue because human beings are in the power of an evil that reigns in this age, which in relation to the imminent final struggle seeks to drag humanity down to eternal perdition and from which humanity has no power to resist.[24] The role of the returning Christ is the salvation of believers from future judgment that puts the present age to an end.[25] The Father raised Jesus from the dead (as an aside, not mentioning the appearance tradition), and Jesus rescues believers from the wrath that is coming. The returning Jesus as the Son signals the end of this age. Note the intimate connection between resurrection of Jesus and his identity as Son.[26]
Here are some theological questions this passages raises.
Does the Christian community today believe that the God of Israel is the one living and true God?
Does the Christian community today believe Jesus is the Son of the Father?
Does the Christian community today have a vigorous Christology rooted in the Father, the God of Israel, raising Jesus of Nazareth from the dead?
Does the Christian community believe that divine judgment or wrath is coming, from which the returning Christ saves us? The scientific account of the universe suggests that this statement is incredibly naïve. To continue believing such things would require some re-thinking.
[1]
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 456.
[3]
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 458.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 395.
[6]
[7]
[8] Delling, TDNT, VI, 311.
[9] Though addressing a different issue, this paragraph receives inspiration from Benton Johnson, Dean R. Hoge, and Donald A. Luidens, "Mainline Churches: The Real Reason for Decline," First Things, March 1993, p. 18.
[10] Michaelis, TDNT, Vol IV, 670.
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15] Goppelt, TDNT, VIII, 249-50.
[16]
[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 393, Volume 3, 245.
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[19] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 72.
[20] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 475.
[21]
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[23] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 278.
[24] Kasch, TDNT VI, 1003.
[25] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 400; Volume 3, 613.
[26]
Liked the emphasis on thankfulness I think we miss this to our determinant.
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