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Intro to 1 Thessalonians.pdf

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Who Are the Thessalonians?

Paul's Arrival and Method (Acts 17:1–3)

• Paul entered the synagogue in Thessalonica during his second missionary journey.
• His audience was primarily Jews and Gentile proselytes.
• He reasoned with them out of the Old Testament Scriptures.
• Paul proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ—the promised Messiah of Israel.
• This was not the full revelation of the mystery or the gospel of grace to the uncircumcised.

Response to the Message (Acts 17:4)

• “Some of them” (Jews of the synagogue) believed.
• A great multitude of “devout Greeks” also believed—Gentiles already aligned with Jewish worship.
• “Not a few of the chief women” believed—likely women associated with the synagogue, though their ethnicity is unspecified.

Opposition and Departure (Acts 17:5–10)

• Hostility forced Paul and Silas to leave the city.
• Jason received them into his house—possibly where the assembly began meeting.
• Paul later returned to the region.
• Aristarchus of Thessalonica accompanied Paul to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4) and later to Rome (Acts 27:2).

Summary Conclusions

• The church in Thessalonica was composed of Jews and Jewish converts.
• There is no evidence of pagan Gentile converts in the early Thessalonian church, though some of the “devout Greeks” may have previously come from a pagan background before converting to Judaism.