1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father. 4We know, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen, 5and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake. 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we need not to say anything. 9For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
The greeting of grace and peace is used by several authors of the New Testament. Paul begins each of his letters with the greeting (see 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2), but to Timothy (his son in the faith) he adds also the word mercy. Peter uses the greeting in both his letters, John in his second letter, and Jude in his letter.
The words are found a number of places in the ancient world. The word "grace" (charis, χάρις) is a Greek greeting, as found in the papyrus from Philadelphia, Egypt, more than two centuries before Paul uses the word. The expression "peace" is common in the Jewish culture (shalom, שׁלום), as is found in the letter (6th cent B.C.) from Lachish, the second most important city in Israel, located in the Shephelah region of Israel.