Deeper Reflection
PAUL INCLUDED SILVANUS (SILAS) AND TIMOTHY IN HIS epistolary greeting (v.1), because they were his fellow-workers in his ministry, who accompanied him in his travels (Acts 15:40-20:2; note 15:40 and 16:1-3), preached the Word of God alongside him (2 Cor 1:19) and “may have had some part in writing this letter”¹⁸. The theological expression, “the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v.1), points to the fundamental twofold nature of the church, which is reflected in another similar way: “the church of God that is at Corinth” (1 Cor 1:2). This means the church of God was living in Thessalonica/Corinth and the Thessalonian/Corinthian church was living in God. “Every church has two homes, two environments and two habitats”: It lives in God and it lives in the world.¹⁹ The church “in” God and Christ points to the “vital, organic union” the church has with God and Christ “which makes possible the sharing of a common life”²⁰ between the two. It means the church is “rooted in” and “living in” God and Christ, and “drawing its life from” Them.²¹ Paul was keenly aware of the insecurity felt by this young church suffering “much affliction” in being persecuted by their own countrymen (1 Thess 1:6; 2:14). He wanted to remind them that in the midst of their fiery trials, their security, strength and stability were “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”, that they were “now standing in the realm where God and Christ dominate”²².

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¹⁸ G. K. Beale, 41 ¹⁹ John R. W. Stott, The Message of Thessalonians, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP, 1991), 28 ²⁰ John R. W. Stott, 28 ²¹ John R. W. Stott, 28 ²² G. K. Beale, 43