31.  THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS was written during the apostle’s second missionary journey, the same journey in which he first visited Thessalonica.  This we gather from the fact that Silvanus (Silas) was with him (chap. 1:1), for Silas was Paul’s travelling companion only during that journey (Acts 15:40; 16:19, 25, 29; 17:4, 10, 14, 15; 18:5); also from the notice of his being at Athens (chap. 3:1 compared with Acts 17:15, 16).  He did not, however, write from Athens, as the subscription erroneously states, but from Corinth; for it was at this place that Silas and Timotheus rejoined him, bringing good tidings from Macedonia respecting the church in Thessalonica.  Chap. 3:1-6 compared with Acts 18:1-5.  This is, then, the earliest of Paul’s epistles, having been written about A.D. 53.

32.  The epistle clearly indicates its occasion.  In consideration of the brief time which the apostle had been able to spend at Thessalonica, and of the severe persecution to which the converts in that city were exposed, he was very desirous to make them a second visit.  But having been twice frustrated in this purpose, he sent Timothy and Silas to learn the condition of the Thessalonian church and bring him word concerning it, which they did while he was at Corinth.  Chaps. 2:17-3:6.  The letter is an affectionate outpouring of his heart in view of the good tidings received through these brethren, into which are interwoven encouragements, instructions, and admonitions adapted to the circumstances of the brethren at Thessalonica, with abundant references to the apostle’s own labors there.  In the first chapter he commends, with devout thanksgiving to God, the faith and love and patience of the Thessalonian Christians.  The second and third chapters are mainly occupied with a notice of his own labors and those of his colleagues at Thessalonica, of his strong desire to revisit them which he had thus far been hindered from carrying into execution, and of his joy at the good tidings brought by Timothy, the whole closed with a fervent prayer in their behalf.  The two remaining chapters contain miscellaneous instructions suited to the condition of a church that had been recently gathered in great part from the ranks of heathenism.  In the course of these he corrects an error into which the Thessalonian believers had fallen from the idea that they who should die before Christ’s second coming might fail of their share in its glory and blessedness.  Chap. 4:13-18.  In both of the epistles he admonishes the Thessalonians against the neglect of their proper worldly business, a fault that was apparently connected with visionary ideas respecting the speedy second coming of our Lord, and which he rebukes in severe terms. 1 Thess. 4:11; 2 Thess. 3:10-12.