1 Thessalonians 1:1 Commentary and Bible Study

By way of introduction let us look at this little phrase, ‘which is in God the Father’. What an interesting form of expression. He means which has been established in God the Father. He might say that it has been established in that city, the city of the Thessalonians. Or he might say, your church which has been established in Macedonia, that great Roman province there and is part of that. But he is not speaking geographically, he is speaking spiritually. The church has been established in God the Father. That is much more important than the location, the place. So it is not in Macedonia or anywhere else, it is in God the Father. The church has been established or grounded in God, in the Father, and in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.It was a proud city, an unusual city. It had an unusual constitution under the Roman authority as a Greek city. It was a city of some two hundred thousand people. It was however a free city, free to rule itself, under its own politarchs or elders, and that was a great privilege at that time. It sat right on the great east-west highway through which all the trade from the province and the region came. So it was a wealthy city. It had its finger on the commercial pulse, on the political pulse. It was a proud city for the time, and secure.But though they may be very pleased with themselves and say, ‘We are established in Thessalonica.’ No, you are established in God the Father and the Son, under God’s protection. You are one of God’s special interests. You are under his rule. You are receivers of his assistance. He has accepted you, accepted by God. And you have security and grace in him. And that is the great thing for every church. Whether we are in an almost unreachable place in a Himalayan village or whether we are here in the centre of London, what counts is to be in God the Father and in Christ, established in him, as individuals and as a church.