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 1 Thessalonians Overview

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LaRosa
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LaRosa



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PostSubject: 1 Thessalonians Overview   1 Thessalonians Overview EmptyThu Jun 04, 2009 8:13 am

1 Thessalonians Overview
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Thu, 06/04/2009

Now that we've taken an adequate amount of time doing the background work and have set the scene, we are now ready to begin taking a look at Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians, which is also believed to be his first epistle overall. But we aren't ready to dive into the verse-by-verse study just yet. First, we want to take time to look at the letter as a whole and become familiar with the overarching themes so that we don't lose our context when we're looking intently at single verses of Scripture. To do that, we're going to start with a broad overview of the epistle, and then we will outline each chapter individually, which will then have us prepared to start the in-depth study of the text. If you haven't already read through 1 Thessalonians in its entirety, I recommend that you do so before continuing with the rest of this devotion. If you have, then let's dive in.

As we read through the text of this epistle, especially the first few chapters, one thing in particular should become evident: Paul is writing a big thank you note. In this epistle, Paul is praising God the Father for the growth of Thessalonica Bible Church[1] and for allowing for this young body of believers to persevere in the midst of persecution. Along with that, another thing that we take notice of is the training ground that Thessalonica proved to be for Timothy after he was sent back to the city to reinforce the doctrine that Paul had taught to them before being kicked out of the city by unbelieving Jews. Those are just a few observations that should be obvious, but there is so much more to this letter.

1 Thessalonians has a lot of information in it, but in general, it can be broken down into two primary focuses: 1) reflection on the Thessalonians (1 Thess 1:1-3:13), and 2) instruction and teaching (1 Thess 4:1-5:28). In the first half of the letter, Paul spends his time reminiscing about these believers and his time with them, while the second half consists of a vast array of doctrinal teaching, all of which is applicable to present day believers. But, we can also break these two focuses down further, into multiple divisions per focus. Let's take a moment to look at the divisions for each of these focuses.

The first focus, Paul's reflection on Thessalonica Bible Church, contains at least three divisions. The first division can be found in 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 and details Paul's commendation for the growth of these believers. It's here that he praises them for their faithfulness and growth, even during a time of persecution. Secondly, Paul spends time writing about the founding of the church and the circumstances surrounding that, which can be found in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16. The final section gives details of Timothy's strengthening of the church after his return; this is found in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13. Much of this portion of Scripture reads like a personal letter to this church, as it is such, but it also provides much detail concerning Paul's time in Thessalonica that we do not get in Luke's account in Acts (Acts 17:1-10). Even though this section is narrative, of sorts, there is still a wealth of application that we will glean from these chapters, so we will be no means rush through them.

The second focus is where Paul answers some of the questions that Timothy brought back with him, as he provides instruction and teaching. This section can be broken down into four divisions. The first division can be found in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, which consists of direction for the growth of these believers and how they conduct themselves. They are doing well, but Paul encourages them to excel all the more. He then moves on to teach and give revelation concerning the dead in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, which will serve as a great bit of comfort to them. He follows this with the third division as he speaks on the coming Day of the Lord and the orientation that they should; this can be found in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. Paul then ends the letter with instructions for holy living, with a barrage of imperatives in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28. Overall, even with its four divisions, the two overarching themes of this section are the practical exhortation for these believers to continue growing and to look forward to future events. This is likely where we will spend the bulk of our time in studying this epistle, as there is so much doctrine contained within these two chapters.

This provides a very broad overview of the epistle and what we can expect to study. Before we close, I also want to share a general outline that I've put together for our study, which will help guide you along the way as we begin to dive into the depths of Paul's teaching. This will help to keep you properly oriented to the context of the material that we're going to be studying, as well as serve as a means for memorizing the material contained in this epistle. You'll want to bookmark this so that you can constantly refer to it.


  1. General Reflections (1 Thess 1:1-3:13)

    1. Chapter One

      1. Greeting (1 Thess 1:1)
      2. Thanksgiving for a Good Example (1 Thess 1:2-10)

    2. Chapter Two

      1. Paul's Conduct & Example / Founding the Church (1 Thess 2:1-12)
      2. The Gospel: Received & Opposed (1 Thess 2:13-16)
      3. Longing to Visit the Church (1 Thess 2:17-20)

    3. Chapter Three

      1. The Ministry of Timothy (1 Thess 3:1-5)
      2. Timothy's Encouraging Report (1 Thess 3:6-10)
      3. Prayer for the Church (1 Thess 3:11-13)


  2. Instructional Teaching (1 Thess 4:1-5:28)

    1. Chapter Four

      1. Sanctification and Purity (1 Thess 4:1-Cool
      2. Disciplined Living (1 Thess 4:9-12)
      3. Rapture Doctrine (1 Thess 4:13-18)

    2. Chapter Five

      1. The Day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:1-11)
      2. Instructions on Holy Living (1 Thess 5:12-22)
      3. Benediction (1 Thess 5:23-28)




As we close, you can see that there's a lot of material to cover in these five small chapters. Don't get overwhelmed though, because we're going to take our time walking through it and make sure that we walk away with a proper understanding of what it is that the Holy Spirit will have us to learn through this study. Next time, we will continue to focus our lens as we begin a series of five devotions that will give a chapter-by-chapter outline of the epistle. Once we've done that, we will finally be ready for the verse-by-verse teaching. Until then, keep your armor on!

Footnotes

[1] Thessalonica Bible Church is the name that we will use from now on to refer to the group of believers in Thessalonica. This nickname was coined by my pastor, Bob Bolender of Austin Bible Church, who uses such names to refer to the local church where an epistle was written (i.e. Corinth Bible Church for the Corinthian believers).

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/devotions/1thess004
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