The Thessalonians are a people in the Bible who made me say, "Wow."
Not the Thessalonian church, but the people of Thessalonica in general.
It is their vicious tenacity that stands out to me the most.
Acts 17 tells us that the Jews of Thessalonica formed a riot against Paul and Silas. When they did not find Paul and Silas they sort to make an example of the man Paul was staying with, a Christian called Jason.
Jason was released eventually, and Paul and Silas escaped to Berea.
This is where the "wow" comes in.
Paul found good success in Berea, and when the Jewish Thessalonians heard this, they followed Paul to Berea and started another riot; vicious tenacity.
It is not surprising therefore that Paul later saw it fit to send Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on the health of the church there and to build up the faith of the people there (explained in 1 Thess 2:17 - 1 Thess 3:2).
1 Thessalonians 3 goes on to say that Timothy brought back an encouraging report on the church in Thessalonica. Despite living in a hostile environment, the church held on with faith to the word they had heard and were living in love.
Paul spends the rest of the letter reassuring the Thessalonian church and teaching them on key subjects including living like Christ, the end times, and honoring their spiritual leaders.
1st Thessalonians is considered to be one of the earliest letters Paul wrote. It is believed that he wrote this letter while he was in Corinth (Acts 18) only a few months after he escaped Thessalonica.
It is a short book: 3 chapters.
It is preceded by Colossians and followed by 2 Thessalonians (surprise, surprise).
I believe this book to be an encouraging one for those of us today who are forced to worship in oppressive cultural settings. Our brethren before succeeded and so can we, by the grace of God.
FUN FACT: Thessalonica still exists today. Google Thessaloniki. It remains a major city. It is the second largest city in Greece. Its city center has a population of about 320,000 and the entire metropolitan area is home to more than a million people.
Thessaloniki is the capital of the Macedonia region. Remember how in Acts 16:6, Paul gets a vision of a man of Macedonia asking him to come there...
This was just a short overview of the book. I will be writing follow-up posts diving into individual chapters and verses. I look forward to seeing you there.
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