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Thessalonica, Paul was sent as far as Athens and instructed that Silas and Timothy should rejoin him there (Acts
17:13, 15-16). While waiting for them, Paul proclaimed the good news in Areopagus and “some men joined him

and believed . . . Dionysius . . . and a woman named Damaris and others with them” (Acts 17:19, 34).
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However, 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 explains that Timothy and others were with Paul in Athens for a time.
Charles Wanamaker argues that the book of Acts did not emphasize the missionaries’ movements in Greece or
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who was there in Athens with Paul. Wanamaker’s argument toward the credible historian, Luke, who, while
being “carried along by the Holy Spirit,” appears to be too radical based on Acts 17:15. It could be that Luke did
not just include that account. It appears Timothy and Silas rejoined Paul in Athens from Berea, but then, Timothy

(because he is mentioned as the one who brought the report to Paul concerning the church at Thessalonica [1
Thess. 3:1-2]) was sent back to Macedonia to find out how the new church maturing in Jesus. For the second

time, Silas and Timothy had to rejoin Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:5). After hearing the Lord speak to him at night in a
vision, “do not be afraid; keep on speaking . . . because I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:5, 9-10), Paul

“stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the Word of God” (Acts 18:11). Most scholars believe that

it was during that long stay in Corinth when Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians.
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Date

First Thessalonians is understood to be the earliest of the Pauline Epistles, perhaps the first written by

Paul. Paul was hindered by divine intervention from going south into the province of Asia and north into Bithynia
(Acts 16:6,7). He arrived at Troas probably in late March or early April A.D. 49. From Troas, the westernmost city
in Asia Minor, he was directed in a vision to cross the Aegean Sea into Macedonia and take the gospel there for

the first time (Acts 16:9). This was the continuation of the western movement of the gospel across Europe. Paul

arrived at the port of Neapolis after a two-day journey. Accompanying him were Silas, Timothy, and Luke.
Almost immediately, they left for a single-day journey to Philippi to the north.

The successful mission in Philippi lasted about two months. Leaving Timothy and Luke behind, Paul and
Silas left Philippi under pressure from the city officials and journeyed westward toward Thessalonica, a major

center about a five-day walk. En route, they followed the famous Egnatian Way, which crossed Macedonia from
east to west, passing through Amphipolis and then through Apollonia (Acts 17:1), and finally arrived at

Thessalonica. There, they stopped and began to share the Gospel with the Jews and Gentiles living there.
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The dating of 1 Thessalonians is approximate. Internal evidence derived from 1 Corinthians 18:12-17
during the reign of Gallio as proconsul of Achaia approximates the date. Tenney maintains that the epistle could

8 Charles A. Wanamaker, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the Thessalonians,
eds. I. Howard Marshall and W. Ward Gasque (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 127.

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