1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:12

Easy-to-Read Version

1 Greetings from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

To the church of those in Thessalonica, who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace be yours.

The Life and Faith of the Thessalonians

² We always remember you when we pray, and we thank God for all of you. ³ Every time we pray to God our Father, we thank him for all that you have done because of your faith. And we thank him for the work you have done because of your love. And we thank him that you continue to be strong because of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ Brothers and sisters, God loves you. And we know that he has chosen you to be his people. ⁵ When we brought the Good News to you, we came with more than words. We brought that Good News with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with the sure knowledge that it was true. Also you know how we lived when we were with you. We lived that way to help you. ⁶ And you became like us and like the Lord. You suffered much, but still you accepted the teaching with joy. The Holy Spirit gave you that joy.

⁷ You became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord’s teaching has spread from you throughout Greece and beyond. In fact, your faith in God has become known everywhere, so we never have to tell anyone about it. ⁹ People everywhere are already telling the story about the good way you accepted us when we were there with you. They tell about how you stopped worshiping idols and changed to serve the living and true God. ¹⁰ And you began waiting for God’s Son to come from heaven—the Son God raised from death. He is Jesus, who saves us from God’s angry judgment that is coming.

Paul’s Work in Thessalonica

2 Brothers and sisters, you know that our visit to you was not a failure. ² Before we came to you, people in Philippi abused us with insults and made us suffer. You know all about that. And then, when we came to you, many people there caused trouble for us. But our God gave us the courage we needed to tell you his Good News. ³ When we encourage people to believe the Good News, it’s not out of wrong motives. We are not trying to trick or fool anyone. ⁴ No, we did it because God is the one who gave us this work. And this was only after he tested us and saw that we could be trusted to do it. So when we speak, we are only trying to please God, not anyone else. He is the one who can see what is in our hearts.

⁵ You know that we never tried to influence you by saying nice things about you. We were not trying to get your money. We had no greed to hide from you. God knows that this is true. ⁶ We were not looking for praise from people—not from you or anyone else.

⁷ When we were with you, as apostles of Christ we could have used our authority to make you help us. But we were very gentle^[a] with you. We were like a mother caring for her little children. ⁸ We loved you very much, so we were happy to share God’s Good News with you. But not only that—we were also happy to share even our own lives with you. ⁹ Brothers and sisters, I know that you remember how hard we worked. We worked night and day to support ourselves, so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we did the work of telling you God’s Good News.

¹⁰ When we were there with you believers, we were pure, honest, and without fault in the way we lived. You know, just as God does, that this is true. ¹¹ You know that we treated each one of you the way a father treats his own children. ¹² We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we told you to live good lives for God. He calls you to be part of his glorious kingdom.