1 Thessalonians 1:2 - Meaning and Application

Paul begins with thanksgiving to God. He is about to speak of the things that gave him joy, showed the Thessalonians’ good character, and helped them greatly, so he first thanks God. God is the source of every good thing that comes to us or is done by us. He is the one we worship in prayer and praise. Thanksgiving to God is a constant duty. Even when we are not speaking words of thanks, we should keep a thankful heart for God’s kindness.

This thanksgiving should be repeated often. We should thank God not only for the blessings we receive ourselves, but also for the good given to others, including fellow believers. Paul was thankful not only for his closest friends or for those who seemed most highly favored, but for all of them. Along with praise, he joined prayer. When we make our requests known to God in prayer and supplication, we should do so with thanksgiving too (Philippians 4:6). In the same way, when we thank God for a blessing, we should also pray.

We should pray always, without ceasing, and we should pray not only for ourselves but for others too. That includes our friends. We should remember their names, their needs, and their situation. Even when we do not mention every detail aloud, we should keep them in mind and remember them before God. There is much to thank God for in our own lives and in the lives of our friends, and there is also much reason to keep asking him for more good gifts.

Paul then names the things that moved him to thanksgiving. First, he thanks God for the saving graces given to them. Their faith, love, and hope were the main reasons for his gratitude. Their faith had become well known and had spread widely (1 Thessalonians 1:8). Faith is the root grace, and theirs was a living faith because it was active. True faith always works. It shapes the heart and life, and it leads us to work for God and for our own salvation. We can take comfort in our own faith and in others’ faith when we see the work that grows from it. “Show me your faith by your works” (James 2:18).

He also mentions their love and the labor that came from love. Love is one of the chief graces. It is useful in this life and will remain and be perfected in the life to come. Faith works through love. It shows itself in love to God and love to our neighbor. Since love is active, it makes us willing to take pains and make effort in religion.

He next speaks of their hope and the patience that came from hope. We are saved by hope. Hope is like a soldier’s helmet and a sailor’s anchor, because it helps us in danger and trouble. Where there is a true hope of eternal life, it will show itself in patience, both in bearing present troubles and in waiting for the glory yet to come. If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Romans 8:25).

Paul does more than list faith, hope, and love. He also points to their object and source, our Lord Jesus Christ. He notes their sincerity as well, saying they stood in the sight of God our Father. A strong motive for sincerity is the thought that God’s eye is always upon us. We are sincere when we aim to please God in all we do, and what is right in God’s sight is truly right. The work of faith, the labor of love, and the patience of hope are sincere when they are done before God.

He also traces these graces back to their fountain, God’s electing love, that is, God’s choosing love. Some have understood election here as only the Thessalonians’ being set apart from unbelieving Jews and Gentiles when they became believers. But Paul’s words reach back to God’s eternal purpose, by which he works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). He calls them “brethren beloved,” because the brotherhood among Christians comes from God’s choice and love. That is a strong reason for us to love one another too, since we are all loved by God and were loved by him before there was anything in us to deserve it.

The apostles knew the Thessalonians were chosen by God, and so the Thessalonians could know it too, by the fruit that came from it. Their sincere faith, hope, and love, together with the success of the gospel among them, showed it. All who are truly called and made holy in time were chosen for salvation from eternity. God’s choice is his own good pleasure and pure grace, not something earned by human merit. And his choice can be known by its fruit. Whenever we thank God for grace, in ourselves or in others, we should trace the gift back to its source and thank him for his electing love, by which we differ from others.

Another reason for Paul’s thanksgiving was the success of his ministry among them. He was thankful on his own account as well as theirs, because he had not labored in vain. Their ready welcome of the gospel was proof of his apostleship and encouragement in his work and suffering. It was also evidence that they were chosen and loved by God. That was how he knew their election. He had been taken up to heaven in vision, but he had not searched eternity’s records. He knew it from the gospel’s success among them (1 Thessalonians 1:5).

He gives thanks that the gospel came to them not in word only, but in power. They did not just hear the sound of it. They submitted to its force. It did more than please the mind or entertain the ear. It reached their hearts, convicting their consciences and changing their lives. We may know our election in the same way, if we do not merely repeat God’s truth like parrots, but feel its power in our hearts, putting our sins to death, loosening the world’s hold on us, and lifting us toward heavenly things. It came also in the Holy Spirit, that is, with the strong working of God’s Spirit.

Wherever the gospel comes with power, we should credit the work of the Holy Spirit. Unless God’s Spirit goes with God’s word and makes it effective, the word is only a dead letter. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The gospel also came to the Thessalonians with strong assurance. They received it by the power of the Holy Spirit and were fully convinced it was true. So they were not easily shaken by objections and doubts. They were willing to give up everything for Christ and to trust their souls and their eternal future to the truth of the gospel.

The word was not just one more set of opinions, like the ideas of philosophers about uncertain matters. It was the object of their faith and confidence. Their faith was the proof of things not seen. In this way, the Thessalonians knew what kind of men Paul and his fellow workers were among them, what they had done for their sake, and how God had blessed their work.