◄ 1 Thessalonians Devotional Commentary ►
1 Thessalonians 1:1
Both Silas and Timothy were at Thessalonica with Paul on his 2nd missionary journey when he wrote this letter to the Thessalonian Church, and despite differences in ages and backgrounds, they worked closely together in sharing the gospel of grace for the glory of God, and to exalt the person, work, and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is lovely that these two fellow-labourers in the gospel were included in Paul's opening read more...
1 Thessalonians 1:2
It was in the city of Berea and in the company of Silas and Timothy, that Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians. He had founded the church at Thessalonica during his second missionary journey, and was greatly encouraged by their positive response to the good news of the gospel of grace.
He began his letter with a long, personal paragraph giving thanks for their witness and work. He told them of the joy he felt when he read more...
1 Thessalonians 1:3
Paul prayed often for the saints in Thessalonica and gave joyful thanks as he recalled, unceasingly, the godly characteristics they displayed that so honoured the Lord. He thanked God for their work which was energised by faith, their service which was motivated by love, and their unwavering hope in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul constantly kept this little community of maturing Christians in his heart, and it was with read more...
1 Thessalonians 1:4
Following his initial greeting, Paul plunges into praise and thanksgiving to God for the faithful works and loving deeds of the dear believers in Thessalonica, and for their continual anticipation of Christ's return for His people: "We know that God loves you, dear brothers," he continues, "and that He chose you to be His own people."
I am sure that Paul had a special place in his heart for these brothers and read more...
1 Thessalonians 1:5
Paul began his epistle to the Thessalonians with much rejoicing and thanksgiving. He gave thanks for the good news of their eternal salvation and rejoiced over their work of faith, their labour of love, and the steadfast hope they had in Christ.
He also expressed joy that they were beloved by God and chosen in Christ Jesus. But he also showed his delight that the gospel he taught didn't simply come by word-of-mouth, but also came read more...
1 Thessalonians 1:6
Everyone has to make a decision - to believe the gospel of Christ or to reject it. Those in the church at Thessalonica heard the gospel, were ready and willing to turn from their former ways, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They responded to the good news Paul taught, by placing their faith in the Lord Jesus. The apostle brought them the gospel of grace, and they received his teaching with the joy of the Holy Spirit - despite the difficulties they faced, and read more...
1 Thessalonians 1:10
What a joy it was for the apostle Paul to see that the Christians at Thessalonica had turned away from their worldly ways and worship of idols, and were looking to Christ. What a thrill to see them growing in grace, maturing in the faith, and serving the true and living God in spirit and in truth.
Like us, these believers had come to faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They knew He was the eternal Son of God read more...
1 Thessalonians 2:3
Paul always kept the believers at Thessalonica in his prayers because he was well-aware of their work of faith, their labour of love, and their patience in hope.
They had formerly been idol worshippers, but had responded to the good news of the gospel of grace and were wonderfully born again into the Body of Christ and the kingdom of God.
However, there were those that questioned Paul's read more...
1 Thessalonians 2:12
A Christian should be more concerned with the development of personal character, growing in grace, maturing in the faith, and the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit, than engaging in a ministry of activities, however valuable it may seem to us or to others. The latter can only flow from the former.
The gracious attitude and godly conduct of a believer is of more significance to our Heavenly Father than the good works that we read more...
1 Thessalonians 2:19
Paul had a great affection for the Christians in Thessalonica. They were a young Church, who were growing in grace, maturing in the faith and making steady progress in their Christian walk. And although there were a few dissenters who tried to undermine Paul's authority and others who had regressed in their spiritual growth, their enthusiastic response to the gospel of Christ was a great joy and encouragement to Paul, and his fellow-labourers in Christ.
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1 Thessalonians 3:12
Paul made no secret of His great love and concern for the believers in Thessalonica. Indeed, throughout all His writings, this dear apostle had a deep affection and sincere concern for all the Body of Christ.
This particular letter holds a very special place in the canon of Scripture, as it is said to be the first letter of instruction and encouragement that the apostle Paul wrote to any Church. In it, he set out the principles and practice for a good read more...
1 Thessalonians 3:13
Paul was deeply concerned for the spiritual wellbeing of all who trusted Christ for salvation. His first epistle to the Thessalonians included important information for their ongoing, spiritual development. He prayed earnestly for the Thessalonian believers: "That the Lord may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints."
read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:1
Paul begins this chapter appealing to the Thessalonian believers to continue to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, to grow in grace and to walk in spirit and truth: "Finally then, brethren," he writes, "we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction, as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), and that you excel still more."
read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:3
Having prayed very specifically that the Thessalonian believers would increase in faith, abound in love, and live blamelessly before the Lord, Paul urged each one towards practical sanctification and godly living: "For this is the will of God," he writes, "even your sanctification that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality."
He exhorts each of us to live holy lives that are well-pleasing to the read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:4
Paul was given a unique place in the Church because he was the one who was called and chosen by God to have a special ministry to the Gentiles.
Paul had been halted in his anti-Christian rampage on the road to Damascus. His objective had been to exterminate every Christian man, woman, and child from the face of the earth. But he was arrested in his heart by Jesus of Nazareth and his zealous hatred was turned into a passionate read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:5
As he is drawing his letter to a close, Paul gives some practical instructions on life and living. The Thessalonians were new believers who needed encouragement to stand firm in the faith. Like all believers, they needed instruction in Christian virtue and godly morality. In this passage, Paul reminds all of us how to walk in a way that pleases the Lord, "not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God." Having been saved by grace through read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:6
The word 'defraud' has many synonyms or words that mean exactly the same or are nearly the same in meaning. Words that come to mind are swindle, cheat, rob, and deceive. They include dupe, hoodwink, double-cross, fool, and trick.
When we consider a person who has stolen something, defrauded another person, or double-crossed them, we generally think of thieves who break in and steal. We think of rogue workmen, internet scammers, read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:7
In this Church age, we do not live under the Law but under Grace. Unlike Israel, who lived during the Pre-Cross, 'Dispensation of LAW', we are not commanded to adhere to a specific set of rules, regulations, laws, and legislation, feast days, and sabbath days. We live during the Post-Cross, 'Dispensation of the Grace of God'.
Living during the Church Age, however, does not mean that godly standards in life and living should be read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:13
There are a number of areas in our Christian walk of which we should not be ignorant. We should not be ignorant of the spiritual gifts relating to the Church age nor the cunning devices of Satan who seeks to entrap us in worldly pursuits, fleshly activities and cunning lies.
We should not be ignorant of God's past and future work in connection with the nation of Israel nor of God's dealings with the Body of Christ (the Church) in read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:14
When we first heard the good news that Jesus died and rose again to pay the price for our sins and that salvation is God's gift of grace to all sinners who believe in His only begotten Son, our hearts rejoiced with great joy. But our whole life should be lived in the knowledge that we really do have the most wonderful eternal hope, prepared for us in heaven.
Our salvation is the first step on our Christian journey through this read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:16
'In the midst of life we are in death,' is a well-known saying that is very true of every member of the human race, for we are born dead in our sins and we are spiritually separated from God. Death in the Bible means separation, and although we live in physical bodies on this terrestrial plane, physical death is everyman's eventual destiny, when our spirit and soul are separated from our material body. Physical death is the point where we are transferred forever read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Paul was keen to explain what will happens to Christians at the end of the Church age, as well as instructing us on how to live godly lives during this present dispensation. He did not want believers to remain uninformed about our future destiny, but was eager to enlighten us about the blessed hope we have in Christ.
As children of the light, we are to be alert to the times in which we live and rest our trust in Christ. We are not read more...
1 Thessalonians 4:18
The Church at Thessalonica were commended, by Paul, for their work of faith and their labour of love. But he also recognised that they held a steadfast hope in the return of the Lord Jesus - a blessed hope that He would come in the clouds to take them to be with Himself, into the presence of God the Father.
These Christians believed in the resurrection of the dead, but they also believed in the Rapture of the Church for they had read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:2
There are many prophecies in the Old Testament that foretell of this future time of judgement called the 'Day of the Lord'. The Thessalonian Christians knew all about the coming 'Day of the Lord', a time of great trouble for Israel when God's wrath is poured out on a Christ-rejecting sinful world. But like us, they were unaware of the timing that this event, only knowing that it would descend upon an unprepared world as a thief in the night, for as the Lord Jesus read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:5
Paul longs to be with the Lord, knowing that the suffering and pain of this present age will one day give way to the unimaginable glory of being with Christ forever. And having detailed the return of the Lord in the air for His Church "with a loud shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet-call of God," when we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, Paul then outlines how we should behave as we wait for Christ's glorious and imminent read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:6
The coming Day-of-the-Lord is a future period of time when God will intervene in the history of mankind once again. This prophesied 'Day' is not a 24-hour long period, but a specific season in the history of the world.
As Christians, we are exhorted to be alert and sober as we see this 'Day' approaching. We should not to allow this 'Day' to creep up on us unawares, or sleep as others do. We should not be indifferent or lukewarm read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:8
Both the Corinthian and Thessalonian Christians received some important and complimentary teaching on the Rapture and the resurrection of believers. The Corinthians received detailed facts on the resurrection of the body and our future, immortal state, while in Thessalonians we are given encouraging revelation about the end times and the moment when we, who are alive and remain, will be caught up in the clouds with the resurrected saints - to be with the Lord, read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:9
The wrath of God must be poured out on ALL sin, and the wages of sin is death. For the Christian, the full force of God's wrath was poured out on Christ instead of on us. He was punished in our stead. He was made sin for us. He shed His blood on our account. The wrath of God was poured out in fullest measure on Christ so that your sin and mine could be forgiven by grace through faith in Him.
God's wrath was poured out on Christ in read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:10
There is no solitary place to which we can go, nor a single state in which we find ourselves, that is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He died that we could be united to Him by faith, and live together with Him, forever. This extraordinary knowledge is beyond our understanding. This truth is so majestic that we are unable to fathom it, in our limited comprehension.
Clearly, the wages of read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:11
1 Thessalonians holds a special place in the canon of Scripture, as this was the first epistle the apostle Paul wrote and it contains a significant amount of Church-age doctrine, including much notable information about the Rapture of the Church and Christ's Second Coming to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Unlike many of his other epistles, there are no controversies to correct or false teachings to refute in this book. 1 read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:16
Having just told us the glories of our bodily resurrection and the Rapture of the Church (which is the believer's confident hope), and also having given us full assurance that we are not appointed to go through the coming period of Great Tribulation (when the wrath of God is poured out on a Christ rejecting sinful world, and Israel is restored to their God-appointed position of supremacy on earth), Paul gives us some wise instruction on how to live godly lives that read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Knowing that the Day of the Lord is fast approaching, and also knowing that our citizenship is reserved for us in heaven by grace through faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, Paul outlines what sort of life a believer should live.
Close to the top of his list of godly instructions on how to live a fruitful Christian life is: "Pray without ceasing;" pray continuously, pray and keep on read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:18
In summing up his first epistle to the believers in Thessalonica, Paul admonishes them (and us) to live a life that is pleasing in the sight of the Lord; a life that glorifies our Father in heaven. He calls us to encourage the fainthearted, to support the weak, to show goodness and grace to all people, and not to return evil with evil.
He exhorts us to engage in ongoing rejoicing and ceaseless prayer, as we take every thought read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Although the heavens declare the glory of God and creation shouts abroad the wonders of His name, only the Word of God gives us a full and final revelation of the Father, in the face of Jesus Christ. And we discover that by faith in Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, the Holy Spirit of God does many wonderful things in our hearts.
We are born from above, regenerated, sealed, adopted, baptised into the Body of Christ, and permanently read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:21
In his final greeting to the Church at Thessalonica, Paul gives various warnings and exhortations to the Body of Christ on how to live a godly life that is worthy of our position in Christ. Here we are called to: "Test all things, examine everything carefully, and to hold fast that which is good, genuine, and true." In order to do so we need to be like the Berean believers who searched the Scriptures daily to see if the things they were being read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:22
So often as Paul draws his epistles to a close, he gives a list of wise instructions on godly living with the view to developing a Christ-like nature, where the man or woman of God may learn to grow in grace and mature in the faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit. One such instruction, which follows a call to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, is: "To abstain from all sorts of evil."
To separate ourselves read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Full maturity and the complete sanctification of each and every believer (spirit, soul, and body) is Paul's earnest desire for all Christians. Some incorrectly consider that we can reach sinless perfection in this life, but this is unbiblical, for our old sin nature which resides within this mortal body, lusts against our new life in Christ. This will continue until we discard this fallen, earthy, mortal frame and are taken to be with the Lord forever: "For read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:24
Down through the generations, God has proved Himself faithful. Down through those same ages, God has been working towards His perfect plan and purpose for humanity, which is that Christ is all and in all. And the work that He wants to do in the lives of each of His children, is to transform us into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ - spirit, soul, and body.
God has set out in His Word how this is to be read more...
1 Thessalonians 5:25
Prayer has been called 'the breath of the soul' and expresses the very essence of faith in our Heavenly Father. Prayer is the fruit of a humble and helpless heart that comes before the Lord in loving trust.
It is the means of two-way fellowship between the Lord of heaven and earth and His helpless child, and it is a most precious tool that God has given to each of His children. Prayer is the tool that encourages our continuous appeal to His Father-heart read more...