Introduction to I Thessalonians

 Dr. Gail E. Terrell
Pastor, Grace Baptist Church , Hamilton , Ohio

  1. Author.   Paul wrote I Thessalonians (1:1) in about 52 A.D. from Corinth during his second missionary journey.   Paul also mentions Timothy and Silas, but his use of the first person pronoun shows that Paul was the author ( 2:18 ; 3:5; 5:27 ).
     
  2. Recipients.   I Thessalonians is written to the church of the Thessalonians (1:1).
     
  3. Theme.   The second coming of Jesus and the rapture of the redeemed.
     
  4. Key verses.   I Thessalonians 4:15-18 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.   16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.   18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
     
  5. Key words used in I Thessalonians: comfort – 6 times; coming [of the Lord Jesus] – 4 times.
     
  6. References to the Lord’s church in I Thessalonians:
    1. The word church appears 2 times in I Thessalonians:
      1. 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, 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.
      2. 2:14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.
  7. I Thessalonians has 5 chapters, 89 verses, and about 1,857 words.

Notes