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.
Thessalonica, today known as Thessaloniki, received two letters from the Apostle Paul. Unlike many ancient cities, Thessalonica survived the centuries, and has become the second largest city in modern Greece.
When the Apostle came to the city, he befriended a Jew named Jason (Jesus in Hebrew) and worked at his trade of tent-cloth making. Paul’s strategy of spending time in the important trade centers of his day was once again demonstrated in Thessalonica. The city was a bustling hub of mercantilism, with the important Via Egnatia trade road running through the city and a busy harbor shipping goods all over the Mediterranean.
Unlike nearby Philippi, there was a large Jewish population in the city (which continues to this day), which may have necessitated the three consecutive Sabbath visits Paul made to the synagogue when he came to Thessalonica.
Because the city has been continuously inhabited for almost 2500 years, and is to this day built on the same site it has occupied for its whole history, archaeological investigation in Thessalonica has been sparse. However, archaeological finds at Thessalonica have exonerated Luke’s accuracy. At one time scholars disparaged Luke’s use of the word “πολιτάρχης” (“politarches,” - ruler or chief magistrate) because the word was not found in Greek literature. However, archaeological finds in Thessalonica have found nearly twenty inscriptions with the word in them,including inscribed on a still extant arch over a street, known as the Vartar Gate.