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THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.
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CHAPTER 1.
AUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians
which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of
you in our prayers;
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of
love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight
of God and our Father;
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent (Jno., 6:29)."
"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor
uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love (Gal., 5:6)."
"Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us (Rom., 16:6)."
4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering
(Col., 3:12)."
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall
(II. Pet., 1:10)."
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as ye know
what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and
also to the Greek (Rom., 1:16)."
"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God (I. Cor., 2:4, 5)."
6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having
received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit:
7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia.
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8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in
Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to
God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any
thing.
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we
had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God;
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the
dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you
(Acts, 3:20)."
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the
firstfruits of them that slept (I. Cor., 15:20)."
"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him (Rom., 5:9)."
CHAPTER 2.
OR yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not
in vain:
2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were
shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in
our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness,
nor in guile:
4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the
gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which
trieth our hearts.
"For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for
necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the
gospel!
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my
will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me
(I. Cor., 9:16, 17)."
5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know,
nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
"I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my
necessities, and to them that were with me (Acts, 20:33, 34)."
"And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified (I. Cor., 2:1, 2)."
6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of
others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of
Christ.
7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her
children:
8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to
have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our
own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for
labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto
any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be
formed in you (Gal., 4:19)."
10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly
and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every
one of you, as a father doth his children,
12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto
his kingdom and glory.
"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord (I. Cor., 1:9)."
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because,
when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth,
the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that
believe.
"But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the
word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and
bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty
(Matt., 13:23)."
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God (Rom., 10:17)."
"He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me (Matt., 10:40)."
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you
(Jno., 15:3)."
"And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power (Eph., 1:19)."
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure (Phil., 2:13)."
"For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and
in the Holy
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Spirit, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake (I. Thess., 1:5)."
"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the
work, this man shall be blessed in his deed (Jas., 1:25)."
14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God
which in Judæa are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered
like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the
Jews:
15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and
have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to
all men:
"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by
him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain
(Acts, 2:22, 23)."
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be
saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon
them to the uttermost.
"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of
them which killed the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers (Matt., 23:31, 32)."
17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in
presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see
your face with great desire.
18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and
again; but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are
not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his
coming?
"But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they
that are Christ's at his coming (I. Cor., 15:23)."
20 For ye are our glory and joy.
CHAPTER 3.
HEREFORE when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left
at Athens alone;
2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our
fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to
comfort you concerning your faith:
3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for
yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we
should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to
know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you,
and our labour be in vain.
6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us
good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good
remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also
to see you:
7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our
affliction and distress by your faith:
"Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands;
and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be
not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed (Jno., 20:27-29)."
"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory
(I. Pet., 1:8)."
8 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all
the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your
face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
"For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of
his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my
prayers (Rom., 1:9)."
"And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught
many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and
Antioch,
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to
continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter
into the kingdom of God (Acts, 14:21, 22)."
"For I long to see you, that I may impart
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unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith
both of you and me (Rom., 1:11, 12)."
"That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you
be refreshed (Rom., 15:32)."
11 Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
direct our way unto you.
12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one
toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in
holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ with all his saints.
"And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee
(Zech., 14:5)."
CHAPTER 4.
URTHERMORE then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the
Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to
please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that
ye should abstain from fornication:
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth (Jno., 17:17, 19)."
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honour;
"I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your
flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and
to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness (Rom., 6:19)."
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which
know not God:
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry (Col., 3:5)."
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in
any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all
such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
"Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages
of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the
morning (Lev., 19:11, 13)."
"Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God
(I. Cor., 6:8, 9)?"
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto
holiness.
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord (Heb., 12:14)."
8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who
hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
"He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth
me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me (Luke, 10:16)."
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own
(I. Cor., 6:19)?"
9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto
you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another (Jno., 13:34, 35)."
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all
Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more
and more;
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business,
and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and
that ye may have lack of nothing.
"Let us walk honestly, as in the day (Rom., 13:13)."
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope.
"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print
any marks upon you: I am the Lord (Lev., 19:28)."
"Ye are the children of the Lord your
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God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your
eyes for the dead (Deut., 14:1)."
"But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that
the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the
child dead? And they said, He is dead.
Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed
himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the
Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he
required, they set bread before him, and he did eat
(II. Sam., 12:19, 20)."
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
"But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen
(I. Cor., 15:13)."
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first:
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other (Matt., 24:30, 31)."
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats (Matt., 25:31, 32)."
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed (I. Cor., 15:51, 52)."
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
"He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will
wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people
shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath
spoken (Isa., 25:8)."
"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall
also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father
honour (Jno., 12:26)."
CHAPTER 5.
UT of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write
unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child;
and they shall not escape.
"For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under
heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also
the Son of man be in his day (Luke, 17:24)."
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the
day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch
and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be
drunken are drunken in the night.
"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake
out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light
(Rom., 13:11, 12)."
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of
salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling (Phil., 2:12)."
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should
live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves
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together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour
among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's
sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
"I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for
that which was lacking on your part they have supplied.
For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: therefore acknowledge ye
them that are such (I. Cor., 16:17, 18)."
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly,
comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all
men.
15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever
follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all
men.
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matt., 5:39)."
16 Rejoice evermore.
"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in
heaven (Matt., 5:12)."
17 Pray without ceasing.
"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy
to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
the Son of man (Luke, 21:36)."
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you.
"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph., 5:20)."
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Col., 3:17)."
19 Quench not the Spirit.
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption (Eph., 4:30)."
20 Despise not prophesyings.
"Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they
shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether
there be knowledge, it shall vanish away (I. Cor., 13:8)."
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things
are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things
are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if
there be any praise, think on these things (Phil., 4:8)."
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
"For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it
(I. Pet., 3:10, 11)."
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before
God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all
his saints (I. Thess., 3:13)."
"Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (I. Cor., 1:8)."
24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all
the holy brethren.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
¶ The first epistle to the Thessalonians
was written from Athens.
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