The Nature of the Impression Made Upon the World by the Spectacle of Thessalonian Piety
1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10
For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had to you…


It was a truly providential foresight that led the apostles at the beginning of the gospel to plant it first in the great cities of the world. Thus it first appeared at Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Rome, and Corinth.

I. THE WORLD WAS FIRST IMPRESSED BY THE RAPID AND IMMEDIATE SUCCESS OF THE APOSTLES. "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you." The world seemed to appreciate the boldness, the sincerity, the uprightness of the preachers, as elements of their success; for there was no dexterous flattery, there was no spirit of self-seeking, there was no guileful strategy, in the proclamation of the gospel.

II. THE WORLD WAS STILL MORE DEEPLY IMPRESSED BY THE BLESSED EFFECTS OF THE APOSTLES' PREACHING, "And how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."

1. It was a conversion from idolatry, Immediately and at once they received converting grace, under the influence of which they turned to the Lord from their dead and fictitious deities.

(1) Idolatry is apostasy from God. These Thessalonians" had changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things" (Romans 1:23). They had been "joined to their idols" for ages (Hosea 4:17). They had been hitherto walking just like other Gentiles, in all moral blindness and carnality of heart (Ephesians 4:17, 18).

(2) Their conversion was a repudiation of idolatry. It was not mere proselytism. It was the bursting asunder of ties which had an immense social as well as religious weight in pagan life.

(3) It was a thorough consecration to the service of the living and true God. As their God was true God and living God, having life in himself and a true and faithful relation to his worshippers, they could give him the living service of faith, obedience, and dependence.

2. Another effect of the apostles preaching was their expectation of our Lord's coming. The doctrine of the advent occupies the foreground in the thoughts of the Thessalonians, as in the two Epistles addressed to them. As faith underlies the service of the true God, so hope underlies the expectation of the Lord's coming. "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to conic."

(1) This implies the belief that Jesus is in heaven, to reign, to plead, to prepare a place for us.

(2) It implies the belief that he will return from heaven. The Thessalonians may have believed that he would return in that age, but all Christians live in the "blessed hope" of his second coming.

(3) This waiting attitude implied the recognition of a certain connection between Christ's resurrection and our deliverance from the wrath to come. They were not waiting for a dead man lying in a Jewish grave, but for One raised from the dead, and living in the power of an endless life. His resurrection implied the completion of his atoning work, as the work of atonement supplies the ground for our continuous deliverance from the wrath that is coming. There is a wrath coming upon disobedient sinners, but there is a way of deliverance provided in the Word of Jesus Christ ratified by his resurrection from the dead. - T.C.



Parallel Verses
KJV: For 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;

WEB: For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,




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