PeacePage
1Thessalonians
Chapter 1
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ¶ Grace to you and peace.
2 We always give thanks to God for
all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering
before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and
steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we
know, brothers and sisters beloved by
God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our message of the
gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit
and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be
among you for your sake.
6 And you became
imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the
word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you
became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For
the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and
Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have
no need to speak about it. 9 For the people of those
regions report about us what kind of
welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a
living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is
coming.
Chapter 2
1 You yourselves
know, brothers and sisters, that our
coming to you was not in vain, 2 but though we had already
suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had
courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great
opposition. 3 For our appeal does not spring from deceit or
impure motives or trickery, 4 but just as we have been
approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we
speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 As
you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or
with a pretext for greed; 6 nor did we seek praise from
mortals, whether from you or from others,
7 though we might
have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for
her own children. 8 So deeply do we care for you that we are
determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own
selves, because you have become very dear to us. 9 You
remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you
while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are
witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was
toward you believers. 11 As you know, we dealt with each one
of you like a father with his children, 12 urging and
encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you
into his own kingdom and glory.
13 We also constantly
give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you
heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is,
God's word, which is also at work in you believers. 14 For
you, brothers and sisters, became
imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you
suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15 who
killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets,
and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone 16 by
hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they
have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God's wrath has
overtaken them at last.
17 As for us,
brothers and sisters, when, for a short
time, we were made orphans by being separated from you—in person, not in
heart—we longed with great eagerness to see you face to face. 18 For
we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, wanted to again and again—but Satan
blocked our way. 19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of
boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 Yes,
you are our glory and joy!
Chapter 3
1 Therefore when we
could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone in Athens; 2 and
we sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in proclaiming 0 the gospel of Christ,
to strengthen and encourage you for the sake of your faith, 3 so
that no one would be shaken by these persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know
that this is what we are destined for. 4 In fact, when we
were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer persecution; so it
turned out, as you know. 5 For this reason, when I could
bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith; I was afraid that
somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain.
6 But Timothy has
just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith
and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to
see us—just as we long to see you. 7 For this reason,
brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been
encouraged about you through your faith. 8 For we now live,
if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. 9 How can we
thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God
because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that
we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God
and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And
may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all,
just as we abound in love for you. 13 And may he so
strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and
Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Chapter 4
1 Finally, brothers
and sisters, 2 we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from
us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you
should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions
we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will
of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; 4 that
each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, 5 not
with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that
no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister
in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just
as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For
God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore
whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his
Holy Spirit to you.
9 Now concerning
love of the brothers and sisters, you
do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by
God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do love all the
brothers and sisters throughout
Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to
do so more and more, 11 to aspire to live quietly, to mind
your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, 12 so
that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.
13 But we do not want
you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,
about those who have died, so
that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For
since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God
will bring with him those who have died.
15 For this we declare to you by the word of the
Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by
no means precede those who have died. 16 For
the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the
sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be
caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so
we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one
another with these words.
Chapter 5
1 Now concerning the
times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,
you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For
you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief
in the night. 3 When they say, "There is peace and
security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains
come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But
you, beloved, are not in darkness, for
that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all
children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of
darkness.
6 So then let us not
fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for
those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But
since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of
faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For
God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are
awake or asleep we may live with him.
11 Therefore
encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. 12 But
we appeal to you, brothers and sisters,
to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord
and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because
of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge
you, beloved, to admonish the idlers,
encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15 See
that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one
another and to all.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray
without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not
quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of
prophets, 21 but
test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from
every form of evil.
23 May the God of
peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be
kept sound and blameless at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is
faithful, and he will do this. 25 Beloved, pray for us. 26 Greet all
the brothers and sisters with a holy
kiss. 27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter
be read to all of them. 28 The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
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This page maintained by
Robert Lee Foster, rfoster@wbcoll.edu
Last revised: February 8, 2003