The Divine Lamp

I will begin by providing the reader with links to several translations of the passage. I will then offer a brief summary of the text, then move onto a more detailed examination of individual sections. For this purpose I will be providing my own interpretive translation (Note: Although I will only be looking at the opening address in this post, I have chosen to summarize the whole of Chapter 1. Notes on the rest of Chapter 1 will be posted later today or tomorrow.)
Read the text:

According to the RSV –Douay-Rheims–Latin Vulgate–NAB

Summary:

Following the standard epistolary format of hellenistic times, the letter opens with an address consisting of three elements: 1. the senders; 2. the addressees; 3. a wish or blessing. This is then followed by a prayer of thanksgiving, which was also typical of ancient letters. The authors of the NT letters, and especially St Paul, often use these prayers (or blessings; see Eph 1:3-14) to indicate major themes or ideas dealt with and expressed in the body of the missive; therefore, readers should pay special attention to them.

Calling to mind the church’s origin in Thessalonica, the prayer celebrates the three theological virtues so active among the people (2-3). This prayer is motivated by Paul’s (and his companions) knowledge of how the church was elected or chosen through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in their mission (4-5). This knowledge is confirmed by the fact that, in spite of all the troubles and afflictions which came upon the people due to their acceptance of the gospel, they have not only remained faithful in imitation of the missionaries, but, like the missionaries, they have themselves become witnesses to the gospel as they await the return of the risen Jesus.

NOTES:

Vs 1 Paulos (Paul) and Silouanos (Silvanus,aka Silas) and Timotheos (Timothy) to the ekklesia (church; those called together; an assembly) of (i.e., made up of) the Thessalonians in (or “assembled by”) God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ: grace and peace to you. (Some texts add: “From God our father, and the Lord Jesus Christ)

Paul is, of course, the Apostle Paul; an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin (Rom 11:1); a rigid Pharisee and one time persecutor of the Church (Phil 3:5-6). While on the road to Damascus, “breathing murderous hatred” and seeking to arrest and imprison Christians (Acts 9:1), he was converted by by the risen Christ himself, manifesting God’s mercy towards this one time blasphemer and persecutor of the Church of God (1 Tim 1:12-17). Coming to realize that he had been chosen from his mother’s womb for the task to which he was called (Gal 1:15), he became the Church’s most zealous missionary by the grace of God (1 Cor 15:10).

Silvanus is most certainly to be identified with Silas, who is mentioned in the Acts of Apostle. A Christian prophet, he appears to have been an influential member of the church in Jerusalem. Along with a certain Judas/Barsabbas, he was chosen by the twelve apostles to accompany Paul and Barnabas to the churches of Antioch to make known the decrees of the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:22-35). Having fulfilled this function Judas and Silas returned to Jerusalem, while Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch for a time, possibly to deal with some difficulties. after this they decided to go to Syria and Cilicia to deliver the council’s decision and strengthen the churches they had founded. However, a dispute arose between Paul and Barnabas and the two men parted company; as a result, Paul decided to choose Silas as his companion on the mission(Acts 15:36-41). (He must have sent word back to Jerusalem of what had transpired between him and Barnabas. Recall that Barnabas was from Jerusalem and provided a “Jerusalem connection” with the pagan-in-origin people who were predominant in the churches founded by Paul). Silvanus worked with Paul throughout much of the so-called second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-21:14), but disappears from Luke’s narrative after (18:5). Besides here, his name appears twice more in Paul’s letters; in the opening address of 2 Thess and in 2 Cor 1:19. He at some point joined up with St Peter in Rome, and may have acted as his amanuensis (1 Pt 5:12).

Timothy was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father (Acts 16:1; 2 Tim 1:5). He was probably a native of Lystra or Iconium, and may have been converted by the preaching of Paul and Barnabas on the so-called first missionary journey. Though young (1 Tim 4:12), and apparently rather timid (1 Cor 16;10), he was well spoken of and respected by the Christians of the two cities just mentioned, this no doubt helped determine Paul’s decision to ask Timothy to accompany him on the mission (Acts 16:1-5). With Silvanus, he remained at Beroea for some time after Paul was forced to leave the city(Acts 17:10-15), rejoining him at Corinth (Acts 18:5), where the three men spent a year and half evangelizing (Acts 18:11). It was during this period that Paul sent him back to Thessalonica to ascertain the situation which is dealt with in the letter we are examining (see 1 Thess 3:1-8). Later, he, along with a certain Erastus, was sent by Paul into Macedonia, apparently to prepare for further mission work (Acts 19:22). It is rather clear from Scripture that Timothy became Paul’s right-hand man. At some point and time he was sent by Paul back to Corinth to deal with some troubles that had arisen there (1 Cor 4:17). Apparently, a second visit by Timothy was planned (1 Cor 16:10), but we do not know if it ever happened. The Same can be said of a planned visit to Philippi (Phil 2:19). Finally, two letters in the Pauline corpus are addressed to him. The words which St Paul uses to describe Timothy are full of affection and respect, I’ve always considered it unfortunate that we do not know more about him.

To the ekklesia (church) made up of Thessalonians… This is an odd way for Paul to describe the church, at least in comparison to his other letters; for Paul usually speaks of “the church of God” at such and such a place (see 1 Cor 1:2). Perhaps Paul speaks of the Church in this fashion here in order to emphasize the fact that one does not have to be a circumcised Jew to be a member of the people of God. Recall that this letter was written not long after the Jerusalem council.

Ekklesia is a Greek term designating a group called together:

751 The word “Church” (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to “call out of”) means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. ¹³⁹ Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as his holy people. ¹⁴⁰ By calling itself “Church,” the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is “calling together” his people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means “what belongs to the Lord.”

752 In Christian usage, the word “church” designates the liturgical assembly, ¹⁴¹ but also the local community ¹⁴² or the whole universal community of believers. ¹⁴³ These three meanings are inseparable. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body. (Cat. Cath. Ch.)

The church is called together by God, through Christ, by the power of the Spirit at work in the Church’s ministry (see Col 1:3-8).

Which is in (or “assembled by”) God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… I accept Earl J. Richards view that the workhorse Greek dative en, which has many possible nuances, should be translated as “assembled by”. Grammatically and contextually, the dative could qualify any of the three parts of the salutation. It could relate to the missionaries, in which case it would be a witness to their authority “in” or “by” God. It could relate to the wish/blessing of grace and peace, denoting the origin of these gifts. In this regard it should be noted that in other letters Paul often speaks of the origin of the gifts as being “in” or “by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (see 1 Cor 1:3). No such phrase occurs here except in a few manuscripts. Scholars consider the phrase a gloss, not original. Also, as Richards notes, in the other Pauline letters, the phrase is introduced with the preposition apo followed by a genitive. He takes the dative en here in an instrumental sense and translates “assembled by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In doing this he sees the dative as related to the phrase “the church (ekklesia, assembly) of the Thessalonians”, thus emphasising the initiative of the Father and Christ in establishing the church in that city. The fact that the letter associates both the father and Christ in this, using the single cunjunctive kai (and) strongly suggests the divinity of Christ.

grace and peace- Typically, letters written in Greek contained the wish charien (rejoice, have joy), but Paul replaces it with the related word charis, (grace). For Paul the word has the sense of “the saving will of God executed in Jesus Christ and communicated to men through him” (Dictionary of the Bible John L. McKenzie, S.J.). For more on grace, see here. And a more technical treatment here. See also these articles in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Peace reflects the Hebrew word shalom, meaning a total state of well being, especially in relation to God and Man.