Page 7 - Pauline Epistles Student Textbook

About the City
The city itself was populated by a large group of Gentiles. But the city also attracted Jewish
merchants of the dispersion from Jerusalem and they had established a synagogue within it (Acts
17:1). It was a free city ruled by its own council of citizens. Since 146 BC it was established as the
seat of the Roman government for Macedonia. The city was known as the “mother of Macedonia.”
The city was administered by five officials called “politarchs.” (Acts 17:6). The presence of the
synagogue offered Paul an obvious place to begin sharing the Gospel. He shared with the Jewish
groups that the Messiah must suffer and be raised from the dead and that Jesus Christ is the
Messiah. For three consecutive Sabbaths Paul spoke at the synagogue but met with strong Jewish
resistance. Paul then, as was his custom, turned away from sharing with the Jews, and began to
preach the Gospel to the Gentile majority in the city.

We know Paul was by trade a tent maker. He probably engaged in his trade to provide necessary
funds for his own keep and that of Silas. Upon his departure from the city, Paul left a sizable thriving
church of believers fresh from their heathen idolatry (I Thess. 1:9). Therefore, he was probably in
Thessalonica for some time, more than a couple of weeks.

Addressees
The letter was written “to the church of the Thessalonians. . .” (1 Thess. 1:1b). Based on Dr. Luke’s
account, the majority of believers in the church at Thessalonica appear to be Greeks [Acts 17:4; cf. 1
Thess. 1:9b]). Leon Morris maintained also that “the largest group among the converts was thus
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derived from the Gentiles.” Commenting on the response to the proclamation of good news to the
Thessalonians, Gene L. Green explains that “only a few Jews were persuaded,” however, “the

14 Leon Morris, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The First and Second
Epistles to the Thessalonians, eds. Ned B. Stonehouse, F.F. Bruce, and Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids, MI:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), 4.

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