1 Thessalonians 1:9

1:6-10 When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from the dead, which is a full assurance unto all men that he will come to judgment. He came to purchase salvation, and will, when he comes again, bring salvation with him, full and final deliverance from that wrath which is yet to come. Let all, without delay, flee from the wrath to come, and seek refuge in Christ and his salvation.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 . Περὶ ἡμῶν , concerning us ) both teachers and believers [both us who taught, and you who believed].— δουλεύειν Θεῳ , to serve God ) The Thessalonians are thus distinguished from the Gentiles; so also from the Jews, in the following verse.— καὶ ἀληθινῷ and true ) This denotes the truth of [His] nature.

For {d} they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, {5} and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; (d) All the believers. (5) It is no true conversion to forsake idols, unless a man in addition worships the true and living God in Christ the only Redeemer.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 . The positive and negative aspects of faith: “Videndum est ut ruinam errorum sequatur aedificium fidei” (Calvin).— ἀληθινῷ = “real” as opposed to false in the sense of “counterfeit”.— ζῶντι , as opposed to dead idols (see above, p. 5) impotent to help their worshippers. Elsewhere the phrase ( cf. 1 Timothy 3:15 ; Hebrews 3:12 ) “implies a contrast with the true God made practically a dead deity by a lifeless and rigid form of religion” (Hort, Christian Ecclesia , 173). Nothing brings home the reality of God ( i.e. , as Father, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3 ) to the Christian at first so much as the experience of forgiveness.

They themselves shew (αὐτοὶ ἀπαγγέλλουσιν) They themselves in contrast with we, 1 Thessalonians 1:8. We need not speak of anything: they themselves volunteer testimony to your faith. Shew, more correctly announce or report. Entering in (εἴσοδον) Comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:1. The thought of 1 Thessalonians 1:5 is resumed. The repetition of the word in 1 Thessalonians 2:1, and of in vain in 1 Thessalonians 3:5, may point to expressions in a letter of the Thessalonians. Unto you (πρὸς) The preposition combines with the sense of direction that of relation and intercourse. Comp. Matthew 13:56; Mark 9:16; John 1:1; Acts 3:25; Colossians 4:5; Hebrews 9:20. Ye turned unto God (ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν) Comp. Acts 14:15. The exact phrase only here. The verb is common in lxx, with both κύριον Lord and θεὸν God. Idols See on 1 Corinthians 8:3. The word would indicate that the majority of the converts were heathen and not Jews. Living and true (ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ) The only instance in N.T. of this collocation. It does not occur in O.T. For ἀληθινὸς genuine, see on John 1:9; see on John 4:37; see on John 7:28. Mostly in the Johannine writings.

Verse 9. - For they themselves ; that is, the reporters, those in Macedonia, Achaia, and every other place. Show of us ; or, report concerning us (R.V.) in regard to our preaching or entrance among you. Instead of questions being asked of us by them, as would naturally be expected, they of their own accord give information. What manner of entering in we had among you. "Entering" here evidently refers, not merely to the outward entrance, the mere preaching of the gospel among the Thessalonians; but to the access, the internal entrance, which the gospel found into their hearts; that is, with what power and fullness of the Holy Ghost we preached the gospel unto you, and with what joy and confidence and contempt of danger ye received it. And how ye turned to God from idols. This, as already remarked, is one of the proofs that the Church of Thessalonica was chiefly composed of Gentile converts, though, of course, not to the exclusion of the Jewish element ( Acts 17:4 ). To serve the living and true God. Two epithets there employed in contrast to the idols of the heathen: " living ," in opposition to dead idols, which were nothing in the world; "true," not in the sense of veracious, but of real in opposition to the imaginary gods of the heathen. 1 Thessalonians 1:9

9. Strictly there should follow, "For they themselves show of you," &c.; but, instead, he substitutes that which was the instrumental cause of the Thessalonians' conversion and faith, "for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you"; compare 1Th 1:5, which corresponds to this former clause, as 1Th 1:6 corresponds to the latter clause. "And how ye turned from idols to serve the living … God," &c. Instead of our having "to speak any thing" to them (in Macedonia and Achaia) in your praise (1Th 1:8), "they themselves (have the start of us in speaking of you, and) announce concerning (so the Greek of 'show of' means) us, what manner of (how effectual an) entrance we had unto you" (1Th 1:5; 2:1). the living and true God—as opposed to the dead and false gods from which they had "turned." In the English Version reading, Ac 17:4, "of the devout Greeks a great multitude," no mention is made, as here, of the conversion of idolatrous Gentiles at Thessalonica; but the reading of some of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate singularly coincides with the statement here: "Of the devout AND of Greeks (namely, idolaters) a great multitude"; so in Ac 17:17, "the devout persons," that is, Gentile proselytes to Judaism, form a separate class. Paley and Lachmann, by distinct lines of argument, support the "AND."

(9) They themselves — i.e., the inhabitants of those countries. “Wherever we go we find our own story told us.” Shew.—Rather, announce. Both sides of the story are told: (1) of us—what kind of entry we made among you, explained in 1Thessalonians 2:1-12 to mean with “the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness” (Psalm 45:5); (2) of you—how truly converted you were, as he proceeds to show further in 1Thessalonians 2:13 to 1Thessalonians 3:13. Living and true God.—In contrast to the lifeless and false idols. The Thessalonians had been Gentiles, Perhaps St. Paul was thinking of his own speech on Mars Hill, which had been recently uttered.

For they themselves show of us, what manner of entering in we had unto you: the believers of Macedonia and Achaia do speak of these things apaggellousin, openly, whereby it is evident the word of the Lord sounded forth to them from you, and they, without any information from us, declare the great entertainment you gave us and our gospel at our first entrance among you. And how ye turned to God from idols; particularly your forsaking your former idolatry, when you worshipped idols, that were either the images or shapes of the true God, formed by men; or men whom they deified, and set up as gods, and worshipped them and their images; or inanimate creatures, as sun, moon, and stars, or whatever creature they found beneficial to them, the heathens made idols of them. These ye turned from: though it was by the power of God and the gospel upon your hearts, yet it was an act of your own. And though it was the worship of these idols you had been trained up in, and wits generally practised, yet you turned from it. And as to the manner of it, how ye turned from these idols, as in the text; that is, how readily, how sincerely, how speedily, with a holy indignation of them: or, pwv, how, that is, by what means; meaning by our entrance amongst you, and the power of our gospel upon your hearts, according to that prophecy, Isaiah 2:20,21 , which refers to gospel times.

To serve the living and true God; to serve with religious worship proper to God; though the papists would confine the Greek word douleuein to some lower worship they give to saints or angels; or it may signify the whole service of God. And here the apostle speaks of their religion in the positive part, the former being negative. The living God, so called in opposition to idols, which were either images without life, or inanimate creatures, or men that were dead whom they worshipped; or living, because God is so eminently, being life essentially, originally, eternally, immutably, and derivatively to all things that live. As I live, saith the Lord, as if none had life but himself, Isaiah 49:18 , &c. And called the true God in opposition to false gods. The heathen gods had no deity but what men gave them by worshipping them. They were not gods by nature, Galatians 4:8 , and so not true. And as these things are spoken to show the power of the gospel, so in a way of commendation, that they did not only turn from idols, but did serve the true God; many profess the true God, but serve him not. As also they denote their privilege, that they served a God that could save them, which their idols could not.

For they themselves - They who have visited you, and they whom you have sent out; all persons testify of your piety. The apostle seems to refer to all whom he had met or had heard of "in all places," who said anything about the Thessalonians They were unanimous in bearing testimony to their fidelity and piety. Show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you - The testimony which they bear of you is, in fact, testimony of the manner in which we preached the gospel, and demeaned ourselves when we were with you. It shows that we were intent on our Master's work, and that we were not actuated by selfish or sinister motives The argument is, that such effects could not have been produced among them if Paul, Silas, and their fellow laborers had been impostors. Their sound conversion to God; their change from idolatry to the true religion, and the zeal which had been the result of their conversion, was an argument to which Paul and his fellow-laborers might appeal in proof of their sincerity and their being sent from God. Paul often makes a similar appeal; compare notes on 2 Corinthians 3:2-3. It is certain that many of the Jews in Thessalonica, when Paul and his fellow-laborers were there, regarded them as impostors Acts 17:6, Acts 17:8, and there is every reason to suppose that after they left the city, they would endeavor to keep up this impression among the people.

To meet this, Paul now says that their own undoubted conversion to a life of holiness and zeal under their ministry, was an unanswerable argument that this was not so. How could impostors and deceivers have been the means of producing such effects? And how ye turned to God from idols - That is, under our preaching. This proves that the church was to a considerable extent composed of those who were converted from idolatry under the preaching of Paul; compare Intro. 4. The meaning here is, that they who came from them, or they who had visited them, bore abundant testimony to the fact that they had turned from idols to the worship of the true God; compare notes 1 Corinthians 12:2; Galatians 1:8. To serve the living and true God - He is called the "living God" in opposition to idols - who are represented as dead, dumb, deaf, and blind; compare Psalm 135:15-17; notes, Isaiah 44:10-17; Matthew 16:16; John 5:26; Acts 14:15.