1 Thessalonians 1:1

DGgr read Σιλβανος, as regularly in the Papyri.

BG 47 73, and the Gr. text of Cramer’s Catena, g r vg syrr (except hclmg) basm aeth, conclude the greeting without the clause απο πατρος ημων και κυριου I. X., which is added in 2 Thess., and almost uniformly in later Epp. The shorter reading is sustained by Chr, in his Commentary ad loc., Thphyl, and expressly by Or4, 468 (Lat. interpr.): “Ad Thess. vero prima ita habet, Gratia vobis et pax, et nihil ultra”; similarly Luciferbrug, “Non addas, a Deo patre nostro et domino J. C.” The T.R., with minor variations, is found in all other witnesses, including אACDKLP, the old latt (except f g r) cop, &c. The tendency to assimilate formulæ of salutation was irresistible; cf. Colossians 1:2, where BD vg syrr (except hclmg) Or Chr, against the vast majority, support the shorter text. A case for the maxim, “Brevior lectio præferenda.”

§ 1. 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Address and Greeting

1. Παῦλος κ. Σιλουανὸς κ. Τιμόθεος—so in 2 Thessalonians 1:1—now together at Corinth (see Introd. pp. xxxii. f.), write as joint-founders and pastors of this Church: cf. 2 Corinthians 1:19. St Paul betrays himself as the actual composer in 1 Thessalonians 2:18 and 1 Thessalonians 3:5, and speaks in his own person again, with strong feeling, in 1 Thessalonians 5:27. Timothy is distinguished from his senior companions in 1 Thessalonians 3:6 ff.; Silvanus’ share throughout is passed over in silence. St Paul’s practice varies in the Letters of associate authorship: in 1 and 2 Thess. the body of the Epistle runs in the 1st person plural, and the 1st plural prevails in 2 Corinthians 1-9 (otherwise in 10–13); but 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, despite the associated names in the Address, run in the 1st singular. In the latter instances St Paul’s companions share in the greeting only; in the former they are parties to the matter of the Epistle. Cf. Note on the Plural Authorship, Introd. p. xxxix.

For the association of Silvanus with St Paul see Acts 15:27; Acts 15:40; Acts 18:5; the Silvanus of 1 Peter 5:12 is almost certainly the same person—an important link between St Peter and St Paul, and between the latter and the Judæan Church (cf. note on 1 Thessalonians 2:14). Silvanus appears always as Silas in Acts: the latter name was supposed to be a Greek abbreviation of the former (Latin); but Th. Zahn makes out (Einleitung in das N. T.2, p. 23) that Σίλας is of Aramaic origin (שִׁילָא, שְׁאִילָא, or שִׁילַי,—Jewish personal names found in the Inscriptions, and in the Talmud: from root שאל), and that Silvanus was Silas’ (Shila’s) adopted name of Roman citizenship (see Acts 16:37), chosen presumably from resemblance of sound; cf. Jesus-Jason, Joseph-Hegesippus, &c. Σιλουανός, shortened, should have made Σιλουᾶς or Σιλβᾶς (cf. Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 8), rather than Σίλας. His Roman surname, and his established position in the mother Church (Acts 15:22; Acts 15:32), suggest that Silvanus was amongst the ἐπιδημοῦντες Ῥωμαῖοι of Acts 2:10 converted on the day of Pentecost; or possibly, had belonged to the συναγωγὴ Λιβερτίνων (Acts 6:9) in Jerusalem. St Paul had “selected Silas” (ἐπιλεξάμενος, Acts 15:40)—“elegit socium non ministrum” (Blass)—on setting out for his second Missionary Expedition; Timotheus was enlisted later (Acts 16:1-3) to replace John Mark (Acts 13:5), in a subordinate capacity; hence “Paul and Silas” figure in the narrative of Acts 16:17. For Timothy’s relations with the Thessalonian Church see 1 Thessalonians 3:2-6, and notes below.

In 1 and 2 Thess. St Paul distinguishes himself by no title; similarly in Philippians 1:1 he and Timothy are alike δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ; in Philemon 1:9 he styles himself δέσμιος Χρ. Ἰησ.: in all other Epistles the designation ἀπόστολος, or κλητὸς�, is attached to his name. He stood on a homelier footing with the Macedonian Churches than with others (see 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12, and Introd. pp. xliii., lxii.). In 1 Thessalonians 2:6 (see note) the three missionaries rank together as ‘apostles.’ The Judaistic attacks on St Paul’s authority, which engaged the Apostle on the third missionary tour, had not yet commenced: contrast Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:11-20; 1 Corinthians 9:1 ff.; 2 Corinthians 10:8, &c.; Romans 1:1-6.

The three names—Paul, Silvanus, Timothy—typify the mixed condition of Jewish society at this time, and of the primitive Christian constituency. Paul and Silvanus are Jews (Hebrew Saul, and Sila or Shila), with Roman surname and citizenship; Timotheus had a Greek name and father, but a Jewish mother (Acts 16:1). So the Church was a Græco-Roman superstructure, resting on a Jewish foundation.

The Letter is addressed τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ—a form of description confined to 1 and 2 Thessalonians, freely rendered: “To the assembly of Thessalonians acknowledging God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord, gathered in this twofold Name.” Τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ receives its local limitation; then τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων receives the necessary spiritual definition, ἐν θεῷ κ.τ.λ.

In later Epistles St Paul writes “To the church (or saints) in Corinth, Rome, &c.”; only in 1 and 2 Thess. does he use in his Address the name of the people (citizens)—in Galatians 1:2, however, “To the churches of Galatia” (cf. Galatians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 16:1; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Corinthians 8:1). The later style of expression—“Church in,” &c.—superseded this as the Christian community spread and the Church came to be thought of as an extended whole ‘in’ many places: thus it is already conceived in 1 Corinthians 1:1; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14 below.

ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ κ.τ.λ. might be attached grammatically to the predicate χάρις ὑμῖν κ.τ.λ.; so Hofmann construes, with a few others. But the ἀπό-clause following εἰρήνη, which is genuine in 2 Thessalonians 1:2 (though spurious here), excludes the reference of ἐν θεῷ κ.τ.λ. to the predicate there, making it very unlikely here. Moreover, the foregoing designation requires this limitation; there were many ἐκκλησίαι Θεσσαλονικέων, meeting for manifold purposes—civil and religious (including the Synagogue), regular or irregular (cf. Acts 19:32; Acts 19:39); this “assembly of Thessalonians” is constituted “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is a stated religious society, marked off from all that is Pagan or Jewish as it is grounded “in God” confessed as “Father,” and “Jesus Christ” adored as “Lord”: cf. carefully 1 Corinthians 1:2 with 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. Everything this ἐκκλησία Θεσσαλονικέων rests upon and exists for is centred in those two Names, which complement each other and are bound by the vinculum of the single ἐν. “In God the Father,” its members know themselves to be His children (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23 f.; 2 Thessalonians 2:16); “in the Lord,” discerning their Saviour’s divine Sonship and authority (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:15, see note, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, &c.); “in Jesus,” His human birth and history (1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:14, &c.); “in Christ,” His living presence and relationship to His people (1 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, &c.).

The doubly anarthrous θεῷ παρτί (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, and contrast 1 Thessalonians 3:13, &c.) is the rule in epistolary formulæ, occurring besides in Ephesians 6:23 and Philippians 2:11, where, as here, the phrase carries a quasi-confessional force: “in a God (known as) Father, and (as) Lord, Jesus Christ.” “In Christ,” “in the Lord,” is St Paul’s characteristic definition of Christian acts or states; “in God” occurs, in like connexion, only in 1 Thessalonians 2:2 and Colossians 3:3 besides—the latter an instructive parallel.

χάρις ὑμῖν echoes, more in sound than in sense, the χαίρειν, χαίρετε, of every-day Greek salutation (cf. Acts 15:23; Acts 23:26; James 1:1, &c.), while εἰρήνη reproduces the Eastern שָׁלוֹם, salaam (cf., beside the Epp., Daniel 4:1; Daniel 6:25; Luke 10:5; Luke 24:36, &c.): here the Pauline greeting has its earliest and briefest form, enlarged already in 2 Thess. This formula may well have been St Paul’s own coinage, passing from him to other Christian writers (see the greetings of 1 and 2 Peter, 2 John, and Revelation); his whole gospel is enfolded in the wish χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη, as the whole faith of his readers in the definition ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ κ. κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. Χάρις is the sum of all Divine blessing bestowed in Christ on underserving men; εἰρήνη (the fruit of χάρις received in faith), the sum of all blessing thus experienced by man. “Grace,” in its full import, begins with the coming of Christ (Romans 5:15; Titus 2:11; John 1:17); “Peace,” including the inner tranquillity and health flowing from reconciliation with God, begins with the sense of justification (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:14). Both, received as bounties of God, become habits and qualities of the soul itself (see Romans 5:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:7; Philippians 4:7); but χάρις naturally leans to the former (objective) and εἰρήνη to the latter (subjective) sense. Both centre in the cross of Christ, where God exhibits His grace and Christians find their peace (see 1 Thessalonians 5:9 f.; Galatians 2:21; Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 2:14-18; Romans 5:10 : cf. Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 13:20 f.). Grace is St Paul’s watchword, occurring twice as often in his writings as in all the rest of the N.T.; in this Epistle however it will only meet us again in the final greeting, 1 Thessalonians 5:28. Cf. the note on χάρις in 2 Thessalonians 1:12.