1 Thessalonians 1:1

1. Paul Notes Romans 1:1, and Acts 13:9. For the first time this memorable name heads an apostolic epistle to a Church, and omitting his title of apostle. This omission arose from the fact, that no opposition to his claim existed, as at Galatia; for the stronger ever the denial of his claim, the stronger his assertion. And as but a few months ago he had bidden farewell reluctantly to his dear Thessalonians, and had longed to revisit them, so this epistle, his only substitute for that visit, needed not display his official rank. Modesty is the rule where no necessity requires self-assertion. The triad of names, Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy, are here associated because the apostolic trio that bore them had together proclaimed the gospel to the Thessalonians, and were together preaching the gospel now in Corinth. Paul adds their names courteously as being his aids; and their names, like the names of two witnesses signed to a legal document, were a voucher of the authenticity of the epistle. Yet the authorship of the epistle is wholly his; it was in no way the epistle of Sylvanus, but of Paul alone; and his we, which may indicate that they were his penmen, inferentially includes or excludes them, or signifies himself alone, as in 1 Thessalonians 3:1.

Sylvanus Called by Luke Silas, but by both Paul and Peter by the full name. Silas was an abbreviation of Sylvanus (sylvan or, woodland) as Lucas was of Lucanus, so that Luke may have used the briefer form from fellow feeling. See note on Acts 13:1. Silas or Sylvanus appears first as delegate from Jerusalem to Antioch escorting home the delegates from Antioch. There, when, after a sad separation from Barnabas, Paul started upon his second missionary tour, he took Silas as a substitute for John Mark, and comrade with Timothy, as his attendants. Thence passing through Asia Minor over the Hellespont into Europe, Paul had the faithful Silas as his aid. Together they sung at midnight in the jail at Philippi. Together they laboured at Thessalonica, and were driven thence by the mob to Berea. There Paul left them, departed to Athens and thence to Corinth, where Silas and Timothy joined him, and whence they now join him in this epistle to Thessalonica. As elder, and more prominent as yet, (see note Acts 17:10,) Silas is mentioned before Timothy.

Timotheus See introduction to 1 Timothy Church of… Thessalonians. The the is not in the original. Wordsworth ingeniously conjectures that St. Paul does not say the Church in Thessalonica, because Paul, having preached there but three weeks, and not having been able to return, it was not so much an organized Church in that city as a congregation consisting of Thessalonians. But Silas and Timothy remained some time, and there is every appearance that it was a formed and established Church. The Bourbons were kings of France; the Bonapartes were emperors of the French. The difference is a matter of taste.

In God Within whom all things, including the Church, are; the living all-pervading Omnipotence. But the Church is in God as nothing else is, namely, as our Father. It is in the bosom of his parental love.

Grace Note, Ephesians 1:2.

As regards the omission of St. Paul’s apostolic title, Wordsworth says: (1) He begins all his epistles with his own name “Paul,” except the epistle to the Hebrews. See Hebrews 1:1. (2) He adds to his own name the official title of apostle in all his epistles, except the two earliest, and in the epistles to Philemon, the Philippians, and the Hebrews, where it is omitted for special reasons. (3) In his five earliest epistles he addresses himself “to the Church,” etc., but in no others. (4) In his two earliest epistles he addresses himself to the Church of persons in the city, and not “to the Church” in the city, and in no others. (5) In all the other epistles he commences with the salutation “to the saints,” etc. (6) In all his epistles he commences with the salutation, “Grace and peace.” In all his pastoral epistles, “Grace, mercy, and peace.” (7) In his earliest epistles he uses the first person plural, “we;” in his later epistles the first person singular, “I.” (8) As to his usage at the close of his epistles, see on 1 Thessalonians 5:28. (9) All these minute incidents indicate a well-prepared and well-digested plan in the composition of his epistles, even in the details of diction, and much more in the delivery of doctrine.