Paul's Letters are More Important Than You Think - Here's What He Wrote First

Indiziert: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]This is Paul the Apostle, author of half of the New Testament writings, planter of churches that still exist today, and a brilliant systematic theologian. Now, as a professional chef myself, game recognizes game, and Paul absolutely cooked while he traveled the Mediterranean world of the 1st century AD, securing the ultimate collab with Peter, and building up and encouraging the young churches to keep the faith of Christ. But, why did Paul write these specific letters he did? And what can it show us about the sprawling, often dangerous world of the New Testament era? Let's explore the first of these letters to be written in this video. Oh, and if you think this series is a good idea and want to see an episode on each of Paul's letters, let me know in the comments.

[00:00:40]Let's start squarely in the middle of the Book of Acts, where we get a crash course on Paul's presence in three elite Greco-Roman cities: Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. According to Paul's custom upon entering a city, he would first make for the synagogue to reason with the Jews from scripture that the Messiah would need to suffer, die, and rise.

[00:00:59]Concluding his case by pointing to Jesus as fulfilling these things. Some believed, some didn't. But, as you'd expect, Paul had great success in each of these locations. Even Luke records the following. Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a great multitude of God-fearing Greeks, and a number of the leading women. All in his crew were only in Thessalonica for 3 weeks, meaning our apostle extraordinaire probably preached very much and slept very little. Many pious Greeks in Thessalonica received the gospel gladly, and the kingdom of God made one of its first real dents into Europe. Now, Paul wrote two letters to the churches he built up in Thessalonica, and they're important for several reasons. First, it is the scholarly majority that 1 Thessalonians is the very first of Paul's epistles to be written, and the first New Testament book to be written altogether, dating this letter's composition to circa 50 AD. To be fair, many have also asserted that Galatians was written first, but I mean, don't worry about it. Second, Thessalonica itself was the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia.

[00:02:01]Macedon was the traditional homeland of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great four centuries earlier. Everybody knew these beloved heroes. Alexander especially was revered in Paul's time, and I'm sure Paul respected the great's achievements in a way. Since Alexander is alluded to in the prophetic utterances of Daniel, he's a significant part of how God moved through men in the past. Anyways, the city of Thessalonica was founded in 316 BC by Cassander, one of Alexander's closest friends and successors after the great shocking young death. Cassander was married to Thessalonike, Alexander's sister, hence the name of the city. It sat on a crucial trade route connecting the southern Greek states with broader Europe and Asia Minor to the east.

[00:02:40]Thessalonica also contained a large cosmopolitan population, including a generous Jewish population, Paul's original audience. So, Paul's success in this city was inevitable success elsewhere for the spread of the gospel.

[00:02:52]Unfortunately, success is only half of Paul's custom. Nearly everywhere he went, he was met with massive resistance to what he was preaching. Some Jews saw the fulfillment of a crucified and resurrected Messiah as an apocalyptic offshoot of the Second Temple Judaism system, while some Greeks saw Paul's message as a new unauthorized religion offering up the title of Lord to someone other than the Caesar. That was a pretty big no-no in the established Roman cultic system of Paul's day. You can't just assert someone like Jesus has a higher authority than the emperor. That splits loyalties both spiritual and political, and anyone found this was in danger of punishment. It's in these New Testament adventures we find Paul and the other apostles in, where the spiritual war between Jesus or Caesar takes root. No one really cared if you worshipped whatever you wished, so long as you were a good citizen who gave your imperial cult system the proper reverence you were expected to. When you embrace Jesus as Lord, as Paul was teaching others to do, you refused that title of Lord to anyone else.

[00:03:51]So, that's what Paul did in Thessalonica before he wrote them letters. He was driven out of town for promoting the controversies I just stated, and he traveled further south with his crew until he eventually made it to Corinth around 52 AD, another major hub for the early church.

[00:04:05]From Corinth is where Paul pens his famous first letter to the Thessalonians, an epistle filled with hope and good exhortation, even explaining what Jesus' second coming would look like. It's honestly impressive to read how the Thessalonians received and circulated the gospel in such a short amount of time, and you can hear Paul's joy in his letter to them.

[00:04:23]He says, For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. But, since Paul and his crew were ripped out of Thessalonica after just a short amount of time there, he was apparently so vexed that the young congregation may be dissuaded and eventually fall from the faith. It's not hard to feel for them, given the political and spiritual resistance that the gospel attracted.

[00:04:55]So, Paul sends his disciple and spiritual son Timothy back to Thessalonica to check up on them and to get a report of their well-being. Paul says, For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out [music] about your faith for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor would be in vain. Paul elsewhere in this letter attributes his inability to return to Thessalonica as a hindrance from Satan. Your guess is as good as mine as to what Paul precisely meant when he says this, but I would imagine that this is a calculated remark. After all, we're talking about the displacement of powers, principalities, and evil beings in the heavenly places, as Paul would later remark on in Ephesians chapter 6. But, the good news is that Timothy eventually returns from Thessalonica with glad tidings. The church there has remained steadfast, hopeful, and constantly remembering Paul and his crew. This is a massive relief for Paul, who says, "But now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord." Even the church in modern Thessaloniki still stands firm, by the way. According to local tradition, the area around the modern Vlatadon Monastery marks the place where Paul once preached in Thessalonica. Whether exact or symbolic, the city still remembers him nearly 2,000 years later.

[00:06:07]Thanks for watching.