1 Thessalonians
The earliest Christian letter we have, to a church a few months old.
Who wrote it: Paul, with Silas and Timothy, from Corinth around 50 or 51 AD. Undisputed, and probably the oldest book in the New Testament.
What it is
Paul was in Thessalonica for a few weeks at most before a riot forced him out (Acts 17). He left behind a group of new believers with almost no training and a hostile city, and he could not get back. So he sent Timothy, and when Timothy returned with the news that they were holding on, Paul wrote this. The first three chapters are mostly relief: he keeps telling them how glad he is, how he thinks about them constantly, how they became an example to the whole region.
The problem the letter answers comes in chapter 4. Some members had died since Paul left, and the church was frightened that they had missed out. Paul had taught them Jesus would return; nobody had told them what happened to the ones who died first. His answer is the passage read at countless funerals: we do not grieve like people without hope, because if Jesus died and rose, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. The dead in Christ will rise first. Then, he says, comfort each other with these words. Not argue. Comfort.
What is distinctive is how young everything is. There is no church structure, no fully worked theology, just an apostle telling people who had known Jesus for a few months to live quietly, work with their hands, stay away from sexual immorality, respect their leaders, and not be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. The ending is a rapid list of one-liners: always rejoice, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything, don't quench the Spirit, test everything, hold on to what is good.
Verses worth keeping
13But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsFriends, we don't want you in the dark about the people who have died, so that you don't grieve like everyone else, the ones who have no hope. Because if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then in the same way God will bring back with Jesus those who died trusting him.
It does not say don't grieve. It says don't grieve like people without hope. The grief is assumed.
- Gen Zsame meaning, your words
So encourage each other and build each other up, which you're already doing.
Paul's response to a church that was scared. Turn toward each other.
16Always rejoice. 17Pray without ceasing. 18In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
Gen Zsame meaning, your wordsAlways be glad. Never stop praying. Give thanks whatever happens, because this is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.
'In everything', not 'for everything'. You are not asked to be thankful for the bad thing, only inside it.
Read 1 Thessalonians
The full text, every chapter, from the World English Bible, a modern public-domain translation. Pick a chapter below. The highlighted verses are the place to start if you have never read it.
1 Thessalonians 4
1Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God, 6that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
9But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, 10for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; 11and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you, 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
13But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Questions about 1 Thessalonians
Is 1 Thessalonians 4 about the rapture?
The word 'rapture' comes from the Latin translation of 'caught up' in 4:17. Whether that describes believers being removed from the earth before a tribulation (a view that dates from the 1830s), or meeting Jesus to welcome him as he arrives, the way a city went out to meet a visiting ruler, is disputed among Christians. Most of church history read it the second way. Paul's own stated purpose for the passage is comfort about the dead, not a schedule.
Did Paul think Jesus would come back in his lifetime?
He says 'we who are alive' in 4:15 and 4:17, which suggests he hoped so. He also says in chapter 5 that nobody knows the timing. Christians disagree about whether Paul was mistaken about timing or simply speaking as any believer of any era would. Either way, his instruction is the same: live ready, work honestly, don't panic.