1 Thessalonians Chapter 1

• 1Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need all that God gives us. We need the Father of course, because from Him proceeds all the rest. To be saved from sin, we need the Son who died for our sins and we also need the most neglected of all, the Holy Spirit. To neglect this part of God's gift is to deny ourselves of the power to even present the gospel that will save men's souls. Verse one also shows us that they are writing this letter to them showing them the way of grace and peace which procedes from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are inseparable.

• 1Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;

What a wonderful thought. To be thankful for our brothers and sisters in the Lord and praying for them always that God's will is done in their lives as well as in our own that the work of God goes forth unhindered. One sign of a true believer is the love they have for fellow believers even when another believer disagrees with them on some point of doctrine. We don't have to compromise on important doctrines of the faith but we must be patient and love those who disagree with our doctrine. We must be careful to avoid false accusations.

Another thought is that new believers and those that first come to the Lord may not even know the basics of the bible and much love and patience has to be shown to them also.

• 1Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

We should rejoice in the faithfulness of other believers and never be envious. We should share in their burdens and never harden our hearts toward them.

• 1Thessalonians 1:4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

Election means chosen of God. Like God chose Abraham, God chose Israel to become the means by which He sent His Son into the world. He chose Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. When we receive the gospel, we also become part of God's elect. This never means an exclusive group apart from everyone else. This means that we are called according to His purpose to receive God's way of salvation through Jesus and abide in the calling His calls us to. All who believe becomes part of this elect group. It is not closed to anyone. It is only closed to those who refuse to receive the gospel and refuse to believe the gospel. I would say that it is closed only to those who have already refused and are dead physically. As long as any group of people are still alive upon the face of the earth, they still can become part of the elect of God.

If this election was only for certain people and we had no way of knowing for sure who those people where, why even preach the gospel but, we know from the words of Jesus Himself that we are commanded to take the gospel to the entire world.

The elect after Christ came, are simply those that believe in Jesus and have trusted in Him to save them of their sins. In other words, they have been born again by God's spirit and have been baptized into the body of Christ by the same Holy Spirit.

We are elect or chosen because God chose us but I believe God has chosen all to become that elect. If any refuse then naturally they are not part of the elect of God but it is by their own choice. I realize that God knows ahead of time who will be saved and who will refuse but the opportunity is for all.

The original elect of God was of course Israel. They were the elect of God as a nation to bring forth the savior who was to save us from sins. The Gentile believers in Jesus, become part of the elect when they receive Jesus Christ. Unbelieving Jews are cut off because of unbelief but the scriptures are clear in the fact that they will again become the elect of God in latter days.

• 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God wants to save all who will believe.

• John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

God has always preferred salvation instead of judgment. Judgment comes as a last resort.

• John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
• 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

I don't get from the above scriptures any thought of anyone being predestined to be lost and have no chance of salvation.

• 1Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
• 6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

The Holy Spirit brings joy. He is the one Jesus sent to us when He went back to the Father. He is our witness to all that Jesus taught and said. We need the written word and the Holy Spirit to confirm the word and help us to teach the word to a lost and dying world.

• 1Thessalonians 1:7 So that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
• 8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
• 9 For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to convict of the sin of idolatry or any other sin. It took power to have made these people who once served idols into people that love the real true God. True conversion is by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we try to operate without Him, we are not going to see any change in anyone's life. They may receive a religion we call Christianity but they will not have any power to overcome sin or love their neighbors, much less their enemies. Jesus said to love our enemies. We can't do this if we do not have the Holy Spirit. Conversion to Jesus  is more than just a religion. We need to be born again by the Holy Spirit by repenting of sin and turning to Jesus Christ. After we are changed by the spirit of God as a result of our faith in Jesus Christ we then need to be fully baptized in the Holy Spirit to be able to spread the gospel to others.

• 1Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Now our hope is His return. We should desire His return. He is coming again and this should motivate us to spread the gospel and occupy ourselves by doing His will until He returns and He can say to us that we are good and faithful servants and tell us to enter into the joy of the Lord forever.

There is a lot of good things in the bible if we would just study and seek understanding. The bible is exciting to those that desire to know the Lord. DC

1 Thessalonians 2