1 Thessalonians

Thessalonians

I. Date:

a. The date is placed at 51 A.D. for the following reasons:

i. Internal evidence:

1. The church was established in Ac 17:1-4, during Paul’s second

missionary journey, the dates of which being between 48-50 A.D.

a. Cf. Ac 16:16-24.

b. 1 Thess 2:1-2.

2. Written after Paul’s stay at Athens—1 Thess 3:1-2.

a. Ac 17:16-34.

b. 1 Thess 3:1—when they came to Paul at Athens, he sent

Timothy to Thessalonica.

3. Written after Timothy returned to Paul—1 Thess 3:6.

a. At this time Paul was at Corinth—Ac 18:5, the date of which

being 50-51 A.D.

b. It is also evidence from 1 Thess 2:17 that Paul had been away

from them for a short time (1-3 years); hence the writing was not

long after the church was established.

ii. External evidence:

1. In 1909 an inscription was discovered from the Hagias Elias quarries

near Delphi, which was a letter from Claudius Caesar to the citizens of

Delphi, which contained the name Gallio (Ac 18:12), identified as the

proconsul of Achaia.

a. It contained a date of the twelfth tribunian year of Claudius, for

the twenty-sixth time acclaimed emperor.

i. Thus we are looking at the year 52 A.D.

ii. Proconsuls were only appointed for one year at a time,

and seldom two.

b. History reveals to us that once a proconsul was appointed, he

left Rome no later than April 15.

c. Thus, Gallio came to Corinth sometime in late April, but before

May of 52 A.D.

d. Paul arrived six months earlier, hence in 51 A.D. (perhaps in

November of 51).

e. Paul wrote as soon as Timothy brought word (Ac 18:5),

sometime later in 51 A.D..

b. The date is assigned, then, at 51 A.D.

i. This makes the epistle for first written by Paul.

ii. And, besides that of Ac 15, the first recorded epistle of the New Testament,

the first New Testament writing preserved by the providence of God.

iii. Note what Conybeare & Howson say in this regard:

“The correctness of the date here assigned to this epistle may be proved as follows:

(1) It was written not long after the conversion of the Thessalonians (1 Thess 1:8, 9),

while the tidings of it were still spreading (the verb is in the present tense) through

Macedonia and Achaia, and while Paul could speak of himself as only taken from

them for a short season (1 Thess 2:17). (2) Paul had been recently at Athens (1

Thess 3:1), and had already preached in Achaia (1 Thess 1:7, 8). (3) Timothy and

Silas were just returned (1 Thess 3:6) from Macedonia, which happened (Ac 18:5)

soon after Paul’s arrival at Corinth.” [Pg. 304].

II. Purpose:

a. Comfort, Edify & Clarify (4:18; 5:11).

i. The clarification speaks of Paul’s teachings while there, which Timothy

reported as having caused some confusion.

ii. The comfort was a result of the clarification, in that now knowing the truth of

the returning of the Lord, and the resurrection and ascension of the saints, the

Thessalonians could rest assured that those who had died in the Lord would

not miss the event.

iii. The edification speaks of the continual encouragement Paul give them

helping them look to heaven, despite their present condition (cf. Ac 17:5-9; 1

Thess 3:1-5).

b. Purpose Passages—4:1, 9-18.

c. Things to note:

i. Beginning of congregation: 1:6, 9; 2:1, 2, 13, 14.

ii. Expectation—1:3, 8, 10; 3:3, 4.

iii. Purpose of evangelism—2:19.

iv. Faith of others encourages all the faithful—3:7.

v. To reject the messenger is to reject God—4:8.

vi. Be prepared—5:2, 4.

III. Interesting Facts:

a. There are no quotes from the Old Testament (1 & 2 Thess are the only two books

with none).

b. The location of Thessalonica is today called Salonika.

c. 1 Thess 1:8 shows that how establishing a church here fulfilled a strategic goal.

i. Ac 17:1—over passed Amphipolis & Apollonia.

ii. Thessalonica was the capital city of the second division (there were four) of

Macedonia. Thessalonica eventually became the capital of the entire

province. The name at first was Therma, but when Cassander, the brother-in-

law of Alexander the Great, reconstructed the city he renamed the city after his

wife.

iii. The city shared the commerce of the Aegean Sea with Corinth and

Ephesus, and it had a great deal of political influence.

d. A great catalog of “do’s” and “don’ts” ends the book.