Book of Common Prayer

The Gospel comes to Thessalonica

1 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the assembly of Thessalonians in God the father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Grace to you and peace.

² We always give thanks to God for all of you, as we make mention of you in our prayers. ³ We constantly remember the accomplishment of your faith, the hard work of your love, and the patience of your hope in our Lord Jesus the Messiah, in the presence of God our father.

⁴ Dear family, beloved by God, we know that God has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel didn’t come to you in word only, but in power, and in the holy spirit, and in great assurance. You know what sort of people we became for your sake, when we were among you.

The Thessalonians’ faith

⁶ And you learned how to copy us—and the Lord! When you received the word, you had a lot to suffer, but you also had the holy spirit’s joy. ⁷ As a result, you became a model for all the believers in both Macedonia and Achaea. ⁸ For the word of the Lord has resonated out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaea; your faith in God has gone out to people everywhere. This means that we haven’t had to say anything. ⁹ They themselves tell the story of the kind of welcome we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who delivers us from the coming fury.

¹¹ “Blessings on you, when people slander you and persecute you, and say all kinds of wicked things about you falsely because of me! ¹² Celebrate and rejoice: there’s a great reward for you in heaven. That’s how they persecuted the prophets who went before you.”

Fulfilling the law

¹³ “You’re the salt of the earth! But if the salt becomes tasteless, how is it going to get salty again? It’s no good for anything. You might as well throw it out and walk all over it.

¹⁴ “You’re the light of the world! A city can’t be hidden if it’s on top of a hill. ¹⁵ People don’t light a lamp and put it under a bucket; they put it on a lampstand. Then it gives light to everybody in the house. ¹⁶ That’s how you must shine your light in front of people! Then they will see what wonderful things you do, and they’ll give glory to your father in heaven.