Page 14 - Pauline Epistles Student Textbook

Spirit guides us into all the truth (John 16:13) and reveals the redemptive plan of God through the
complete work of Christ on the cross (1 Cor. 2:10, 12-13). We know that the gospel is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).

God’s Word came to them with deep conviction. Paul ends v5b with “you know how we lived among
you.” How does this sentence relate to what Paul has already said? It suggests that one’s conduct
either bad or good has a huge impact on the people’s response to the gospel. It is difficult for the
gospel proclamation to be believed by people if its proclaimer is not walking in accordance with it.
The proclaimer’s conduct should demonstrate a visible evidence of Christ in his life. Paul and his
companions’ character made the gospel believable and life-transforming because they were living
what they proclaimed.

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1 Result (1 Thess. 1:6) And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word
in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (ESV)

The church became imitators of the apostles and the Lord. Ultimately, they became imitators of the
Lord because Paul was imitating Christ. The fact that his life was Christ-like gave him confidence to
fearlessly affirm that they were to imitate him because he was a godly (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:11). They
were on a great platform to be imitators of both the apostles and the Lord because they had already
welcomed the message amidst severe suffering (v6b). Notice that the Holy Spirit was a crucial help
to their reception of the message with joy. Of all the fruit of Holy Spirit’s fruit, joy was demonstrated
by this church (Gal 5:22). It is no wonder that Paul cautions believers in Philippi, “Be imitators of me .
. . and watch carefully those who are living this way . . . For many live (as [ESV]) enemies of the cross
of Christ” (Phil 3:17-18).

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2 Result (1 Thess. 1:7-10) so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in
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Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but
your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves
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report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the
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dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)

This church became a model for all other churches in Macedonia and Achaia in several ways: 1) The
Lord’s message rang out/sounded forth from them, and 2) their faith in God became known
everywhere. “Sounded forth” could possibly mean the report concerning what the Lord did among
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them. In v8b, the meaning of the phrase, “so that we have no need to say anything” should not be
extended to the heralding of the gospel, but to the proclamation concerning the conversion of the
Thessalonian believers. This interpretation is confirmed by the Macedonians’ and Achaeans’
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reports, and those from “everywhere” (1 Thess. 1:8b); “they tell how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from Heaven. . .who rescues us from the
coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1:10). We can read and see clearly that there was a huge difference
between the Thessalonian believers’ past lives without Christ and then their lives with Christ. It was
publicly substantiated by the outsiders in Macedonia and Achaia.

Can you observe any differences between your past life without Christ and the now life with Christ
Jesus? Can people around you publicly bear witness to your transformed life? Today we have
musicians in different categories of music genre as models. We also have actors or actresses

26 Wanamaker, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the
Thessalonians, 83.

27 Ibid.

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