What the book is
Paul, Silvanus and Timothy brought the good news about Jesus to Thessalonica, the chief city of Macedonia, but had to leave in a hurry when opposition broke out (Acts 17:1–10). Anxious for the new believers, Paul sent Timothy back to them, and when Timothy returned with good news of their faith and love, Paul wrote this letter. It is warm and personal: he recalls how they turned “to God from idols”, how he cared for them “like a nursing mother”, and how he longs to see them again. And he answers their grief over believers who had died:
The Lord Himself will come down from heaven at a shout of command, at an archangel’s call and the sound of God’s trumpet, and the dead who belong to Christ will rise first. Then those of us still living, who are left, will be swept up with them into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. From then on we will be with the Lord always.
Who wrote it, and when
The letter is from “Paul, Silvanus and Timothy” (1:1), and almost all scholars agree that Paul wrote it. It was written from Corinth around AD 50, a few months after Paul left Thessalonica, which makes it one of the earliest writings in the New Testament, perhaps the earliest of all, about twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
How the book is laid out
- Thanks for the Thessalonians’ faith (1): they turned to God from idols to wait for his Son from heaven.
- Paul’s conduct among them (2:1–16): gentle, working night and day so as not to be a burden, and their suffering at the hands of their own people.
- Paul’s longing to see them (2:17–3:13): Timothy’s visit and his good report.
- How to live (4:1–12): holiness in sexual conduct, love for one another, and a quiet life of work.
- Those who have died, and the day of the Lord (4:13–5:11): the dead in Christ will rise first, and the day will come like a thief in the night.
- Closing instructions (5:12–28): “Be joyful at all times. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, give thanks.”
How Open Word Bible translates 1 Thessalonians
Gentle, or infants? (2:7). Paul says that he and his companions were “gentle among you, like a nursing mother”. In Greek the words for “gentle” and “infants” differ by one letter, and many early manuscripts read “infants”. The draft follows its Greek text, marks the decision uncertain, and footnotes the other reading.
The Jews (2:14–16). Paul speaks harshly of “the Jews” who killed the Lord Jesus and drove him out. A decision reads this as those in Judea who persecuted the churches there, not the Jewish people as a whole, marks it uncertain, and footnotes the other reading.
Caught up to meet the Lord (4:16–17). Those still living “will be swept up with them into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”. This passage is at the centre of debates about the “rapture”. The draft translates it as it stands, and decisions explain the picture: the word for “meeting” was used of a city’s people going out to welcome an arriving ruler and escort him in. In 4:14, whether “through Jesus” goes with “God will bring” or with “those who have fallen asleep” is marked uncertain and footnoted.
With all his holy ones (3:13). The decision notes that the words echo Zechariah 14:5, and that the holy ones may be angels or God’s people who have died; the footnote gives both.
One’s own body (4:4). Paul tells each believer to learn “to control one’s own body”; the Greek word can also mean “a vessel”, and some read it as “take a wife for oneself”. The decision is marked uncertain and footnoted.
Brothers and sisters. Paul calls the believers “brothers” more than a dozen times, a word that in Greek can include women. The draft uses a reader setting for it. See “Brothers” or “brothers and sisters”?.