Footsteps #89

For the writers of the New Testament, Isaiah 53 was the key to the Messiah’s role. Paul would certainly have preached this text in Thessalonica. According to Isaiah 53, the Messiah would not appear kingly or powerful at the time of His first appearance. In fact, He would be rejected by many of His own people. But that rejection would be the prelude to the glorious Messiah of Jewish expectation. With this in mind, Paul was able to show that the Jesus he had come to know was, in fact, the Messiah whom the Old Testament had foretold.

During Paul’s ministry, the Jews regularly received the first opportunity to hear and accept the gospel. And the fact is that, according to the Bible, many Jews in Paul’s time did accept Jesus as the Messiah.

The Jewish, and relatively wealthy, character of the original church plant in Thessalonica is emphasized in Acts 17 (such as in v12), in which “prominent” Greeks also became believers. It is clear, however, that by the time 1 Thessalonians was written, the church to which Paul was writing had grown and was largely made up of Gentiles “or they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.” NLT (1Thess.1:9) from the labouring classes “Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.” NLT (4:11).

What we can see here is the universal character of the gospel – that it is for all people, all classes, all races; rich or poor, Greek or Jew, it doesn’t matter – Christ’s death was for the whole world -no exceptions based on ethnicity, nationality, caste, or economic standing. How important it is that we keep that mandate always before us. How important it is that we not become insular, self-absorbed, and more interested in sustaining what we have than in reaching out beyond the comfortable boundaries that we, perhaps even subconsciously, have set for ourselves. As we read Thessalonians (in the context of Acts 17) we should come away knowing how important the word of God is to our lives, and particularly these end times where false theories abound.

In the first 3 chapters of 1Thess we see that Paul is focused primarily on the relationships that he had developed with members of the new Christian community in Thessalonica.