Introduction to 1 Thessalonians

Introduction

A NOTE BEFORE WE BEGIN

This study material can be very enriching either for small-group Bible Study or for personal study and growth. We will occasionally offer instructions that would be useful for a small-group study.

Introductions for a Small-Group Bible Study

If you are studying as a group, it is important to build community, beginning with ensuring that everyone knows everyone else’s name.  If you are either (a) starting a new year, or (b) have several new members, begin with introductions.  One way to do this would be to ask everyone in the group to answer these questions:

Share with the group:

• Your name.

• Your connection to the church or parish or this group.

• Why you are interested in studying the Bible with other people.

Thessalonica

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians is probably the oldest surviving piece of Christian writing (although some scholars think Paul’s Letter to the Galatians came first).  Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to a group of Christians he had converted to Christ in the city known today as Thessaloniki [pronounced with the last two syllables sounding like KNEE-key].  In the English-speaking world, this city has traditionally been called Thessalonica, with the accent usually placed on the fourth syllable: thess-uh-luh-NIGH-kuh (although some people put the accent on the third syllable: thess-uh-LAHN-ih-kuh).

Paul preached the gospel of Christ in Thessalonica and made some converts – some were Jews but far more were Gentiles (i.e., not Jews).  This stirred up a lot of opposition from the Jews.  He wrote this letter around AD 50, which is around 20 years after Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.  Soon after, he wrote a second letter to the Thessalonians that is also in the New Testament.

Thessalonica was an important city.  It was founded in 316 BC by a political leader who named it after his wife, who was a half-sister of Alexander the Great.  When Rome conquered Macedonia in 146 BC, this city was made the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, and it was still the capital when Paul arrived there nearly 200 years later.  Besides being an important political and military center, it was also a major commercial city.  It had a harbor on the Aegean/Mediterranean Sea and was on the Via Egnatia or Egnatian Way, the major road the Romans built from the west coast of Greece all the way to Byzantium (Constantinople or Istanbul) to help them conquer and control all the nations that bordered the north coasts of the Mediterranean.  That road was a central trade route.

Paul’s Backstory

Acts of the Apostles gives us some of the backstory of Paul’s visit to Thessalonica.  Acts was probably written around 30 years after Paul first preached in Thessalonica (or 12 years if, as a minority of scholars believe, Acts was written immediately after the last event it describes).

We are going to look at that backstory to give us some insight into who Paul is and how he became connected to the church in Thessalonica.  We will do that in two parts: first, by summarizing the background we have about Paul before the journey that took him to Thessalonica, and second, by reading the portions of Acts of the Apostles that describe Paul’s journey.

Paul’s background:

Paul was not originally a follower of Jesus.  He was born in Tarsus, a port city on a river that had access to the Mediterranean Sea.  Tarsus was a major commercial center and the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia.

Paul, originally known by his Hebrew name Saul, was a devout Jew.  He was partly raised in Jerusalem, where he was taught by the great Jewish rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) (a grandson of Hillel).  He could speak and write Greek as well as Aramaic (George Martin, “Paul: Apostle of the Cities,” God’s Word Today, February 1981 (Vol. 3, No. 2), p.47).

After Jesus rose from the dead and the first Christians began to spread the message of Christ, Saul persecuted Christians, whom he thought were spreading heresy.

He had a conversion experience, became a Christian, and took the name Paul.  He immediately started preaching about Jesus, disrupting things everywhere he went, until the Christians sent him back to his hometown of Tarsus.

Paul’s preaching journeys:

When Gentiles turned to the Lord in Antioch, a town in ancient Syria that is now part of Turkey (Türkiye), Barnabas went and got Paul from Tarsus and brought him to Antioch to help teach the new Christians.  After a year or more there, the church at Antioch commissioned Barnabas and Paul to go on a missionary journey – the first of three missionary journeys that Paul eventually took.

In each town they went to, Barnabas and Paul went to the local Jewish synagogue and preached to the Jews about Jesus, who was a Jew.  In each town, the Jews rejected them, and each time, they then preached to the Gentiles of the town.

Take a look at a map of Barnabas and Paul’s journey (check the table of contents of your Bible for a map section, look for a map in the pages of Acts of the Apostles, or look on online).  The map might be called Paul’s first missionary journey or Paul’s first journey.  See how Barnabas and Paul traveled from Antioch to the island of Cyprus and then north into Asia Minor.  They then went to a different Antioch, which is called Pisidian Antioch to distinguish it from the Antioch in Syria, and then to Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.

In some towns, they encountered such violent threats and attacks that they were forced to leave or be killed.  Acts of the Apostles tells us that in the town of Lystra, the Jews stoned Paul, and then dragged his body out of town, thinking he was dead.  However, after being surrounded by the disciples, he got up and went back into town before moving on (Acts 14:20).

Paul and Barnabas then returned to the cities where they had made disciples, appointed elders to lead each church, and returned to Antioch.

At this point, a major controversy erupted.  Jewish Christians from Judea (the province that included Jerusalem) began to teach that Gentile believers in Jesus had to submit to the Jewish practice of circumcision in order to be saved.  Paul and Barnabas totally disagreed, and they decided to bring the question to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.  The gathering there came to be known as the Council of Jerusalem.

The church leaders listened to the conflicting views and concluded that the Holy Spirit was leading them to welcome Gentiles as Christians without requiring them to be circumcised (Acts 15:22-30).  This ratified Paul and Barnabas’s ministry to the Gentiles.

What do you think Paul thought about the opposition he was facing as he preached to the Gentiles?

How do you decide when criticism is to be heeded and when you need to stand your ground?

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the Church?  How can we be more open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and not just break into party factions?

Paul’s Journey to Thessalonica and Beyond

Now we are going to read parts of Acts of the Apostles to explore what happened to Paul on his second missionary journey, which ultimately led him to Thessalonica.

Acts 15:36-16:5 Paul and Barnabas separate, and Paul journeys with Silas and Timothy

What happens as Paul and Barnabas plan for a second missionary journey?

What two companions does Paul now have traveling with him?

We will see in 1 Thessalonians that when Paul writes the letter to the Thessalonians, he says the letter is from Paul, Timothy, and Silas.  (The letter calls him Silvanus, the Latin form of the Greek name Silas.)

Paul has just gained the approval of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for his view that Gentile Christians don’t have to circumcised.  Why do you think he has Timothy circumcised anyway?

Jewish teaching at least back to around the time of Paul and possibly to the time of Ezra hundreds of years earlier held that Jewish identity is passed through the mother (matrilineal descent.)  However, many Jews may not have been willing to associate with Timothy because he had a non-Jewish father and was not circumcised.  Many Jews considered circumcision to be a necessary requirement for being a Jew.

Paul never said that Jewish Christians should not be circumcised; he only argued that circumcision should not be required of Gentile Christians as a matter of salvation.  Circumcision would not have been a repudiation of Timothy’s Christian faith but merely an affirmation of his status as a Jew.  It would open doors for him to interact more easily with Jews, which would give him opportunities to preach about Jesus.  (However, some people might have accused Paul of being inconsistent if they did not think the issue through carefully or did not see the distinction Paul saw.)

When you are trying to move forward on something you think God wants you to do, how do you decide when to stand on principle and when to acquiesce to what might make other people more open to what you are trying to accomplish?

Acts 16:6-10 Paul is called by the Holy Spirit to preach in Macedonia

What happens?

Look at a map of Paul’s second journey to understand what is going on here.  Paul has only preached in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey/Türkiye).  Macedonia is in Europe.  It is the northern part of what is now known as Greece.  Paul is being called to cross into Europe and preach the gospel there.

If you were Paul, how would you feel about being called across the sea to a far-off land through a dream?

When have you felt a calling from God to do something that took you outside your comfort zone?  What happened?

Acts 16:11-24 Paul and Silas make converts in Philippi and are flogged for it

What good things happen in Philippi?

What bad things happen to Paul and Silas in Philippi?  What suffering do they endure?

How do you think Paul is feeling about his missionary journey at this point, considering that he had a vision of being called to come to Macedonia and now is being beaten badly?

Acts 17:1-10 Paul and Silas establish a church in Thessalonica in the face of opposition

What do Paul and Silas do in Thessalonica?

What trouble do they encounter?

Is the persecution directed only at Paul and Silas, or also at the new believers who lived in that city?

What can we learn from Paul’s persistence in the face of persecution?

Acts 17:10-15 Paul and Silas in Beroea

What happens to Paul and Silas in Beroea?

Who stirs up trouble for them in Beroea?

We have now seen that the Christians in Thessalonica have endured persecution, and the Jews of Thessalonica have been so zealous in their opposition to Gentiles embracing the faith Paul preaches that they have even traveled to other towns to try to stop it.

What do you think Paul is thinking at this point?

How do you think Paul feels about the suffering of the people he has led to become Christians in these towns?  How concerned do you think he is?  Do you think he feels responsible for their suffering?

We are told in Acts 17:15 that Paul next goes south to Athens.  The First Letter to the Thessalonians tells us that Paul is so concerned about the Thessalonians that when Timothy connects with him in Athens, he sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to find out how they are doing (1 Thess. 3:1-2).  Paul, meanwhile, moves on to Corinth.  When Timothy brings good news about the Thessalonians to Paul in Corinth (1 Thess. 3:6), Paul writes his first letter to them there.  In that letter, we will see that he is very concerned about the Thessalonians.

Now we are ready to dive into the First Letter to the Thessalonians, which we will do in the next session.

Based on what we have read in Acts of the Apostles, what do you think of Paul?

What kind of person does Paul seem to be?

From what you see here, why do you think God might have chosen Paul to do this missionary work?

Why would God have guided Paul to come to Macedonia, knowing that Paul would suffer so much?

How do Paul’s experiences resonate with some part of your life?  What can you learn from him?

Take a step back and consider this:

We have finished the entire first session of our study of 1 Thessalonians without looking at a single word of that letter.  Why?  Because backstories are sometimes very important.  Where a person is from matters.  The things that have happened to them that led them to where they are now can have a huge effect on what they do now.  Paul’s backstory is important to understanding the letters he wrote to the Thessalonians.

In a particular way, places matter.  We might have a better understanding of Paul if we know that he grew up in a cosmopolitan city; that Thessalonica and his hometown are both capitals of Roman provinces; that even though he appears at first to be a narrow-minded, over-zealous Jew, he has lived in Gentile places and appreciates people who are not Jewish.

How have the places where you lived shaped you?  How has where you grew up or spent time affected your outlook on the world, your openness to other people who are different from you, your ways of thinking?

How has God used the places you have lived and the experiences you have had, as steppingstones to later opportunities to serve him?