Paul and Pleasing God; the Message of 1St Thessalonians

On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.

1st Thessalonians 2:4

Paul sits in Corinth having been joined by his student, Timothy, and writes a letter to the church in Thessalonica. The date is sometime between 50AD and 52AD. Paul is currently in the middle of his second missionary journey. The letter Paul writes is likely the first of all his great letters. 

Since Paul’s conversion experience on the road to Damascus, he has spent three years in the wilderness; met with Peter and the early church in Jerusalem; waited in Taurus for a way to help spread the good news about Jesus; finally called to work with Barnabas in Antioch; and complete his first missionary journey. And now is in the second of his three missionary journeys to spread the Good News of Jesus. A time frame that has spanned around fifteen years. 

Paul has endured a lot and his trials along the way have become legendary. Now, he sits peacefully in Corinth. Timothy has returned from Thessalonica with good news about the church they helped create. Paul is overjoyed and relieved; his work is bearing fruit. Through his many struggles and travels he has worked very hard to spread the message about Christ throughout the Gentile world, now it seems it has been worth the effort.

Now begins the time Paul uses his extraordinary literary skills and writes the Letter to the Thessalonians. The first of many that would not only encourage and help those he visited, but resonate throughout the ages for many others. These letters would become his other mission. Letters so skillfully written that their messages are still relevant for Christians centuries later.