1 Thessalonians 1:2-5
Paul’s Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5 (ESV) 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. Commentary: After the initial greeting, Paul moves on to a prayer of thanksgiving. Beginning a letter with a thanksgiving is a common feature of letter writing of the time. In fact, Paul included a thanksgiving in all his letters except Galatians (see Galatians 1:6-10) which shows that Paul was sincere i...