: F.F. Bruce
: Paul and His Converts How Paul Nurtured the Churches He Planted
: Kingsley Books
: 9781912149087
: 1
: CHF 8.30
:
: Christentum
: English
: 160
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
In this commentary on five of Paul's letters- to the churches in Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi-F.F. Bruce focuses on Paul's pastoral care and the growth of the people he loved so much. Since we face today so many of the problems and issues Paul and his converts faced, this book acts as a guide for growth. How can we encourage and build up fellow believers? How can we correct their shortcomings? How can we fulfill the desire to see them become 100% Christians? Professor Bruce explains that this book 'serves as an introductory handbook to the whole of Paul's surviving correspondence with his converts in Europe.'

CHAPTER 2


A WORD OF HOPE
1 THESSALONIANS


THE PLAN OF 1 THESSALONIANS

The city of Thessalonica


 

THESSALONICA IS AN ANCIENT CITY of Macedonia, also known today by its shorter name Salonica. In earlier days it was known as Therme, from the hot springs in its neighbourhood, but it was refounded in 315 B.C. by Cassander, king of Macedonia, and given the name Thessalonica after his wife, who was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. When the Romans established their dominance in that area and made Macedonia a Roman province, Thessalonica became the capital of the province, and that was its status in New Testament times. The city was free to administer its own municipal affairs. This municipal administration was in the hands of a board of five or six chief magistrates known as politarchs (the technical title of the chief magistrates of several Macedonian cities).

The church of Thessalonica


Christianity was first brought to Thessalonica in A.D. 50. Early in that year the apostle Paul had sailed across the Aegean Sea from Asia Minor and landed on its European shore, accompanied by three colleagues. After visiting Philippi, another leading city of Macedonia, and planting a Christian church there, Paul continued his journey westward along the Egnatian Road until he came to Thessalonica. He had left one of his companions, Luke, behind in Philippi; the other two, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, accompanied him to Thessalonica.

In Thessalonica they visited the local Jewish synagogue on three successive Sabbath days, and as the Old Testament lessons were read Paul endeavoured to show from them that the Messiah whom they foretold was destined to suffer death and rise again from the dead, and that Jesus, who had within recent years died and risen again, was therefore the expected Messiah. Some of his hearers believed him. Among these there were not only Jews but a considerable number of “God-fearers”, that is to say, Gentiles who were loosely attached to the Jewish worship and way of life. It was such God-fearing Gentiles that formed the nucleus of the Christian church in city after city which Paul and his companions visited in the course of their missionary campaigns.

After three Sabbath days the synagogue authorities decided that Paul could no longer be permitted to use their building for what they regarded as subversive propaganda. Paul accordingly detached his converts from the synagogue and formed them into a separate community, the church of Thessalonica. He remained with them for some time, giving them such basic teaching as a young church required. But before he was able to