I. Salutation (1:1-2)

Though this Epistle is later than the other, it is not much later. The Apostle has still the same companions, Silas and Timothy, to join in his Christian greeting. The greeting with which the Epistle opens is almost word for word the same as that of the First Epistle. It is a church which is addressed. A church subsisting in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul desires that the Thessalonians would enjoy the grace and peace of God which is the end of our calling.

1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Paul. Paul greets the believers in Thessalonica. His name being listed first is a sign that he was the primary author of this letter though certainly in agreement with Silvanus and Timothy.

Silvanus, and Timothy. Paul presents himself along with his two co-workers, Silas and Timothy, who played a key role in founding this church. One would likely have been Paul's amanuensis while the other one would have been the letter carrier.

To the assembly of the Thessalonians. By a Church in God and Christ is meant one that has not merely been gathered together under the banner of faith, for the purpose of worshipping one God the Father, and confiding in Christ, but is the work and building as well of the Father as of Christ, because while God adopts us to himself, and regenerates us, we from him begin to be in Christ. Therefore we ought not to look in the Christian assembly for what it was never meant to be: for a society to further the temporal interests of its members; for an educational institution, aiming at the general enlightenment of those who frequent its meetings; for a purveyor of innocent amusements. All these are simply beside the mark; the Church is not called to any such functions; her whole life is in God and Christ.

In God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. An apostolic interest in the Church is the interest of one who cares only for the relation of the soul to Christ; she can say nothing and do nothing for any man until his life has been brought to this source and centre. John demonstrates this attitude when he says to Gaius, "Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."

2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace. It is in accordance with this Spirit that the Apostle wishes the Thessalonians not any outward advantages, but grace and peace. Grace and peace are related as cause and effect. Grace is God’s unmerited love, His free and beautiful goodness to the sinful; and when men receive it, it bears the fruit of peace. Peace is a far bigger word in the Bible than in common usage; and it has its very largest sense in these salutations, where it represents the old Hebrew greeting "Shalom." Properly speaking, it means completeness, wholeness, health-the perfect soundness of the spiritual nature. This is what the Apostle wishes for the Thessalonians.

Of course, there is a narrower sense of peace, in which it means the quieting of the perturbed conscience, the putting away of the alienation between the soul and God; but that is only the initial work of grace, the first degree of the great peace which is in view here. When grace has had its perfect work, it results in a more profound and steadfast peace, -a soundness of the whole nature, a restoration of the shattered spiritual health, which is the crown of all God’s blessings. There is a vast difference in the degrees of bodily health between the man who is chronically ailing, always anxious, nervous about himself, and unable to trust himself if any unexpected drain is made upon his strength, and the man who has solid, unimpaired health, whose heart is whole within him, and who is not shaken by the thought of what may be.

It is this radical soundness which is really meant by peace; thorough spiritual health is the best of God’s blessings in the Christian life, as thorough bodily health is the best in the natural life. Hence the Apostle wishes it for the Thessalonians before everything else; and wishes it, as alone it can come, in the train of grace.

From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The free love of God is all our hope. Grace is love imparting itself, giving itself away, as it were, to others, for their good. Only as that love comes to us, and is received in its fulness of blessing into our hearts, can we attain that stable spiritual health and peace which is the end of our calling.

1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Background from Acts about the Thessalonians:

"Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. Paul, as was his custom, went in to them; and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.'

Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas: of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, 'These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!' The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things. When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes. Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there. But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed." (Acts 17:1-15).