EXPANDED BIBLE STUDIES FROM TUESDAY-THURSDAY PROGRAMS
A Summary o f First Thessalonians^ by
Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church, I, W est Covina, .¿ m S F
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or our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance . . (I Thessalonians 1:5a). ERDMAN — “In writing the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, St. Paul was reliving the experience of founding a church in the first century. Paul was living at Corinth (Acts 18:1, 3) near the end of his second missionary jour ney. Timothy had just returned from a mission . . . of instruction to the in fant Thessalonian church and had brought . . . the good tidings of their faith, their love of St. Paul . . . As a result, the encouraged Apostle preached the Word with great liberty at Cor inth, and almost simultaneously sat down to write the Epistle to the Thes salonians in which he thanked God for their faith . . This church was as im portant to St. Paul as a newborn baby is to its parents. NEWMAN — “This Epistle is the first writing of St. Paul which is con tained in our Bible and it is possibly
the first of all our New Testament writ ings. The only possible exceptions are the Epistle of James and the Gospel of Matthew. . . . This brings us in close touch with the doctrine and life of the primitive church . . .” NEIL —- “Here the mystery religions thrived . . . and, as Lightfoot suggests, . . . may have included foul orgies in connection with the worship. The pag an attitude to sex relations was ex tremely tolerant . . . and in some re ligious societies, sacramental fornica tion was a part of the worship, for it was supposed to lead the participant into mystical union with the Deity.” The city was a free city, ruled over by those who were elected by the peo ple. Into this heathen community of mor al indifference, materialism, and false religion, came the Gospel to create a holy Christian community — doubtless small at first but influential, for not only common people, but some of the leading personages of the city believe 18
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