King James Version
1 Thessalonians
1 Thessalonians in the King James Version (1769), public domain in the United States.
Background and History
The chapters above are the King James text. This essay is the setting of 1 Thessalonians: who is said to have written it, when and where, what happens in it, and how the text has been copied.
At a Glance
| Author | Paul, with Silvanus and Timothy in the greeting. Scholars of every school accept Paul as the author. |
|---|---|
| Date | About AD 50–51 in one survey. It is often called Paul’s earliest surviving letter. |
| Place written | Not named in the letter. Corinth, near modern Corinth, Greece, is widely inferred from Acts. |
| Genre | A pastoral letter of encouragement. |
| Chapters | 5 |
| Verses | 89 in the King James Version |
| Key verse | 1 Thessalonians 4:16–171 Thessalonians 4:16 · King James VersionFor 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:1 Thessalonians 4:16 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
Who Wrote It
1 Thessalonians 1:11 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionPaul, 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.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source (1) names Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. The letter speaks in a shared we but also in Paul’s own voice, as in 1 Thessalonians 2:181 Thessalonians 2:18 · King James VersionWherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
1 Thessalonians 2:18 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Eusebius counts Paul’s letters undisputed. (2) The Muratorian fragment lists letters to the Thessalonians. (3) Athanasius lists two. (4) Pauline authorship is almost universally accepted.
Who It Is Not
Silvanus and Timothy are co-senders. Silvanus is often identified with the Silas of Acts.
When and Where
Bible Gateway gives AD 50–51. (5) 1 Thessalonians 3:1–61 Thessalonians 3:1–6 · King James Version3:1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;
3:2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:
3:3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
3:4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
3:5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
3:6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:
1 Thessalonians 3:1–6 · King James VersionOpen the Source (1) says Paul stayed at Athens and sent Timothy, who has now returned. Acts 17–18 has Paul move from Thessalonica to Athens to Corinth, where Silas and Timothy rejoin him.
Audience and Setting
A young, mostly Gentile church at Thessalonica, who turned to God from idols according to 1 Thessalonians 1:91 Thessalonians 1:9 · King James VersionFor they themselves shew 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;
1 Thessalonians 1:9 · King James VersionOpen the Source. The purpose is encouragement under persecution and teaching about believers who have died before the Lord’s coming.
Rulers at the Time
The letter names no ruler. This page adds none.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Founding | Paul preaches three sabbaths and is forced out. Acts 17:1–10Acts 17:1–10 · King James Version17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,17:3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.17:4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.17:5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.17:8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.17:9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.Acts 17:1–10 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
| Athens | Timothy is sent back. 1 Thessalonians 3:1–21 Thessalonians 3:1–2 · King James Version3:1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;3:2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:1 Thessalonians 3:1–2 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
| The letter | About AD 50–51. (5) |
Places in This Book
| Ancient name | Modern-day location | References |
|---|---|---|
| Thessalonica | Thessaloniki, Greece. | 1 Thessalonians 1:11 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionPaul, 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.1 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
| Athens | Athens, Greece. | 1 Thessalonians 3:11 Thessalonians 3:1 · King James VersionWherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;1 Thessalonians 3:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
| Macedonia and Achaia | Roman provinces in northern and southern Greece. | 1 Thessalonians 1:71 Thessalonians 1:7 · King James VersionSo that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.1 Thessalonians 1:7 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
What Is Happening
1 Thessalonians 1–3 give thanks for the church’s faith, recall Paul’s conduct among them, and report Timothy’s good news. 1 Thessalonians 4–5 urge holiness, explain the resurrection of the dead at the Lord’s coming, and close with practical exhortations.
Key Themes
Hope in the Lord’s return in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–181 Thessalonians 4:13–18 · King James Version4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
4:15 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.
4:16 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:
4:17 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.
4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Holiness in 1 Thessalonians 4:31 Thessalonians 4:3 · King James VersionFor this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1 Thessalonians 4:3 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Faith, love, and hope in 1 Thessalonians 1:31 Thessalonians 1:3 · King James VersionRemembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1 Thessalonians 1:3 · King James VersionOpen the Source.
Apologetics Questions
1 Thessalonians 2:14–161 Thessalonians 2:14–16 · King James Version2:14 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:
2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
2:16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 · King James VersionOpen the Source (1) speaks harshly of Jews who killed the Lord. Some scholars think it is a later addition, but it is in all manuscripts. Readers note that Paul is himself a Jew and that the passage concerns persecution in Judea. The letter is often cited as early evidence of belief in Jesus’ resurrection, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:101 Thessalonians 1:10 · King James VersionAnd to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 · King James VersionOpen the Source and 1 Thessalonians 4:141 Thessalonians 4:14 · King James VersionFor if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 · King James VersionOpen the Source.
How the Book Points to Christ
1 Thessalonians 1:11 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionPaul, 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.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source names God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ together as the source of the church’s life. 1 Thessalonians 3:111 Thessalonians 3:11 · King James VersionNow God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
1 Thessalonians 3:11 · King James VersionOpen the Source addresses a prayer to God the Father and the Lord Jesus with a singular verb in Greek. The day of the Lord in the prophets becomes the day of Christ’s coming in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Thessalonians 5:2 · King James VersionFor yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Jesus is God.
Text and Manuscripts
Codex Sinaiticus contains the letter. (6) No major variant changes the argument.
Canon Reception
Received without dispute. (2) (3) (4)
Further Reading
What Is the Resurrection of Jesus? and Who Wrote the Bible?.
References
- First Letter to the Thessalonians, 1:1; 2:14–16; 3:1–61 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James Version
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.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source. King James Version - Church History, Book 3, 3.3.5; 3.25Papias, in Eusebius, Church History 3.39.15 · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, New Advent
Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord's discourses, so that Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.
Papias, in Eusebius, Church History 3.39.15 · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, New AdventOpen the Source (Eusebius, Church History 3.3, 3.24–25, and 3.39, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 1, on New Advent. Chapter 25 sorts books into acknowledged, disputed, and rejected. Chapter 39 reports Papias on Mark and Matthew.) - Muratorian fragment, 1 ThessaloniansMuratorian fragment, on Acts · Roberts-Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers 5
Moreover, the Acts of all the Apostles are comprised by Luke in one book, and addressed to the most excellent Theophilus, because these different events took place when he was present himself; and he shows this clearly-i.e., that the principle on which he wrote was, to give only what fell under his own notice-by the omission of the passion of Peter, and also of the journey of Paul, when he went from the city-Rome-to Spain.
Muratorian fragment, on Acts · Roberts-Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers 5Open the Source (Roberts-Donaldson translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5. The Latin is damaged and the English follows restorations. The fragment lists the books read in the church and those rejected.) - Festal Letter 39, 39.4–5 (Athanasius of Alexandria, AD 367, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 4, on New Advent. The letter lists twenty-two Old Testament books and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, and places Esther among books to be read rather than in the canon.)
- When Was Each Book of the Bible Written?, 1 Thessalonians (Jacob Edson, Bible Gateway, 16 September 2024. The survey gives 1 Thessalonians as AD 50–51. It is one editor’s approximation, not a manuscript date.)
- Codex Sinaiticus, About the manuscriptCodex Sinaiticus: content · Codex Sinaiticus Project
Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament.
Codex Sinaiticus: content · Codex Sinaiticus ProjectOpen the Source (The Codex Sinaiticus project’s description of the manuscript, a fourth-century Greek Bible with the earliest complete copy of the New Testament.)
The King James Version (1769) is in the public domain in the United States.