1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds, 4so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure. 5This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of God’s Kingdom, for which you also suffer. 6For it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, 7and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 8punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, 9who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
11To this end we also pray always for you that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith with power, 12that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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.