1 Thessalonians setting & dates

The setting

The letter is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, the capital and largest city of the Roman province of Macedonia in northern Greece. Strategically located on the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road linking the Adriatic to the Aegean and beyond, and possessing a fine harbor, Thessalonica was a thriving commercial and political center with a mixed population of Greeks, Romans, and a Jewish community. Paul had come there on his second missionary journey after being beaten and imprisoned in nearby Philippi, and had preached in the synagogue and among the God-fearing Greeks before jealous opponents drove him out (Acts 17).

Paul wrote this letter, however, not from Thessalonica but from farther south, most likely from Corinth in the province of Achaia, around AD 51. Between the founding of the church and the writing of the letter lies a geography of anxious separation and welcome news: Paul had gone on to Athens and then Corinth, unable to return to the church he loved; from there he had sent Timothy back north to Thessalonica to strengthen the believers; and it was Timothy’s return with an encouraging report that prompted this letter. The map of 1 Thessalonians thus traces the bonds of a missionary and his young church stretched across Macedonia and Achaia: bonds of prayer, concern, and joy that reached from Corinth back to Thessalonica and turned, at the letter’s climax, to the far greater reunion of all God’s people with the Lord at His coming.

Where the letter went

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Timeline

• c. AD 50 - Paul preaches in Thessalonica on his second journey and is forced to leave (Acts 17).
• c. AD 50-51 - Paul goes on to Athens and Corinth, anxious for the young church.
• c. AD 51 - Timothy returns with good news of the Thessalonians’ faith; Paul writes 1 Thessalonians from Corinth.
• Shortly after - Continuing concerns prompt Paul to write 2 Thessalonians.