Along with teaching about daily Christian living and ready preparedness for Jesus’s pending return, 1 Thessalonians also includes content on the Trinity and on prayer to this triune God. The letter (and its partner, 2 Thessalonians) are immersed in direct and indirect prayers. Moreover, the letter includes some of the New Testament’s most prominent examples that prayers can be addressed to God the Son as much as to God the Father. Those of us trained to pray “to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit” find in 1 Thessalonians (and 2 Thessalonians) ample reasons to rethink our habits.

Note: This article is part of the Distinctive Theology series.

The Contributions of 1 Thessalonians

I recently encountered my first micro story. At just forty-two words long, it carried sufficient plot, character development, and intrigue to invite readers to imaginatively reconstruct the inevitable gaps. At just five chapters long, 1 Thessalonians offers a similar attraction. We glimpse a condensed summary of some of the themes amplified in Paul’s later and longer letters. It’s a pity that those later letters—by virtue of being longer—precede the two Thessalonian letters. For such reasons and others, many Christians are more familiar with Romans through Colossians, leaving 1 and 2 Thessalonians as overlooked “early drafts” of what would become the more established entries in Paul’s portfolio.

Yet the circumstances that elicited 1 Thessalonians give us a snapshot of a vibrant fledgling church. It’s like those classic examples of an insect immortalized in amber, or a village perfectly preserved when overtaken by a volcanic eruption. The church in Thessalonica was only a few months old when Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy wrote to continue the new Christians’ formation. The Thessalonians had much to learn about the Christian journey ahead. Thus, the letter happens to capture helpful statements about each stage of that Christian journey. We can use those stages to understand the key contributions of 1 Thessalonians and to adapt its teaching for modern believers.

Starting the Journey

The authors recount the Thessalonians’ recent conversions, spotlighting both the efforts of human evangelists and the divine interventions of the triune God, so we thus find a good amount of autobiographical material from Paul and his team. There are ample references to God’s “gospel” and “word” which the evangelists bring. The church planters rehearse their selfless and self-supporting ministry, especially in 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12. Indeed, as we study this passage and others, we can detect tactful rhetoric at work. God’s leaders are thoughtful in using human words when conveying God’s message.

Simultaneously, we read of the triune God’s actions in “calling” and “choosing” and “destining” people for salvation (e.g. 1 Thess. 1:4; 1 Thess. 2:12; 1 Thess. 4:7; 1 Thess. 5:9, 24). Relative to length, the Thessalonian letters have more to say about such matters of election than any other letter associated with Paul! So the Thessalonian correspondence drives us to explore the age-old enigma concerning divine and human wills. Many questions are raised, and no simple or simplistic answers are offered. The very circumstances of 1 Thessalonians foreground the challenge: even as Paul celebrates God’s work in the new believers, he worries about the durability of their faith (1 Thess. 2:17–3:5).

The Thessalonian letters even drive us to recognize that Pauline language of salvation is not solely an accomplishment of God consigned to the past. The three “tenses” of salvation are on full display in 1 Thessalonians, reminding us that believers must continue to put faith into practice—and even to develop it—until salvation is completed at our lives’ end (e.g. 1 Thess. 3:6–13; cf. Heb. 5:11–6:3; 1 Pet. 2:1–3). As C. S. Lewis phrases it, “How little they know of Christianity who think that the story ends with conversion.”

Faithfully Persisting in the Journey

As in Romans and James and other letters, God is praised when the Thessalonians’ faith bears fruit in good works. “We always thank God for all of you, [recalling] your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:2–3 CSB).

The theme of obediently walking in ways that honor and please God echoes throughout Paul’s writings, right through to some of his latest letters (e.g. Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:9–12). Yet we find it equally prominent in 1 Thessalonians, which is widely accepted as the apostle’s first or second extant writing. The holy status God bestows on believers must be matched by a holy lifestyle.

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