CHAPTER 1

(A.D. 54)

INTRODUCTION

¹Paul and Silas, and Timothy, unto the Church of the Thessalonians (this is probably the second Epistle written by the great Apostle) in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (God is our Father, by Virtue of Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross):

²Grace unto you, and Peace (Sanctifying Peace), from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (all made possible by the Cross).

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

³We are bound to thank God always for you, Brethren, as it is meet, because that your Faith grows exceedingly (Faith grows as the Word is properly applied, with the Cross ever being the Object of Faith), and the charity (love) of every one of you all toward each other abounds (presents the first hallmark of Christianity, that we love the Brethren);

⁴So that we ourselves glory in you in the Churches of God (they had taken what little teaching Paul had been able to give them, which was, no doubt, the Cross, and used it to its full extent) for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure (suggests continued and repeated sufferings which were still going on):

⁵Which is a manifest token of the Righteous Judgment of God (the sense of this phrase is that the endurance of affliction by the Righteous, in a proper manner, is a proof that there will be Righteous Judgment of God at the last day), that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer (could be translated, God purposes to account His Children worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which they also suffer [Acts 5:41; I Pet. 4:12-16]):

⁶Seeing it is a Righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them who trouble you (we are not to attempt to defend ourselves as it regards getting even, but must leave such in the hands of the Lord);

THE SECOND COMING

⁷And to you who are troubled rest with us (unfortunately, the trouble will continue until Jesus comes; we will then rest), when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty Angels (refers to the Second Coming, which is different from the Rapture),

⁸In flaming fire taking vengeance on them who know not God (gives us the manner of the Second Coming), and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (who have rejected Christ and the Cross):

⁹Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord (pertains to the Lake of Fire, which will be everlasting), and from the Glory of His Power (power to save, but rejected, and, therefore, the end is everlasting destruction);

¹⁰When He shall come to be Glorified in His Saints (all Saints will praise Him, and will do so continually), and to be admired in all them who believe (Christ will be the Center and Focal Point of all Things) (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (They believed the Testimony of Paul regarding Christ and the Cross and, therefore, will be with Christ forever.)

PRAYER

¹¹Wherefore also we pray always for you (presents the idea that the hope of Believers cannot be realized except through supernatural help), that our God would count you worthy of this calling (presents the fact that it is Holy Character as evidence of Saving Faith which will qualify men that day), and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness (refers to all the wonderful things the Holy Spirit desires to do for us and, in fact, will do for us if we will only cooperate with Him), and the work of Faith with power (Faith in the Cross, which gives the Holy Spirit the latitude to work, in Whom is the Power):

¹²That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you (presents the object of the Holy Spirit), and you in Him (in Christ), according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (All are made possible by the Cross, which are then freely given to us by the means of Grace.)