1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

Thanksgiving for the origin and achievements of the church.

1 Thessalonians 1:2. Whenever Paul was at his prayers, he remembered his friends at Thessalonica; and whenever he recalled them his first feeling was one of gratitude to God (see 1 Thessalonians 3:9) for the Christian record which, as individuals and as a church (πάντων) they displayed of active faith (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16), industrious love (1 Thessalonians 4:9 f.), and tenacious hope (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). And not Paul alone. The plural implies that all three missionaries prayed together. εὐχαριστοῦμεν. The greeting is followed, as in ordinary letters of the period, by a word of gratitude and good wishes. εὐχ. is common in votive inscriptions, in connection with thanksgiving to a god. But while Paul, in dictating his letter, starts with a conventional epistolary form, the phrase immediately expands loosely into μνημ … θεοῦ (μνείαν π. as frequently in ethnic phraseology).