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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Th_1:1-2
1Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th_1:1 "Paul" Saul of Tarsus is first called Paul in Act_13:9. It is probable that most Jews of the "diaspora" had a Hebrew name and a Greek name. If so, then Saul's parents gave him this name but why, then, does "Paul" suddenly appear in Acts 13? Possibly
1. others began to call him by this nickname
2. he began to refer to himself by the term "little" or "least"
The Greek name Paulos meant "little." Several theories have been advanced about the origin of his Greek name.
1. the second century tradition that Paul was short, fat, bald, bow-legged, bushy eye-browed, and had protruding eyes is a possible source of the name, deriving from a non-canonical book from Thessalonica called Paul and Thekla
2. passages where Paul calls himself the "the least of the saints" because he persecuted the Church as in Act_9:1-2 (cf. 1Co_15:9; Eph_3:8; 1Ti_1:15)
Some have seen this "leastness" as the origin of the self-chosen title. However, in a book like Galatians, where he emphasized his independence and equality with the Jerusalem Twelve, this is somewhat unlikely (cf. 2Co_11:5; 2Co_12:11; 2 Cor. 15:10).
▣ "Silvanus" Silas
1. He is called Silas in Acts and Silvanus in the Epistles
2 He, like Barnabas, was a leader in the Jerusalem Church (cf. Act_15:22-23)
3. He is closely associated with Paul (cf. Act_15:40; Act_16:19 ff; Act_17:1-15; 1Th_1:1)
4. He, like Barnabas and Paul, was a prophet (cf. Act_15:32)
5. He is called an apostle (cf. 1Th_2:6)
6. He, like Paul, was a Roman citizen (cf. Act_16:37-38)
7. He, like John Mark, is also associated with Peter, even possibly acting as a scribe (cf. 1Pe_5:12)
▣ "Timothy"
1. His name means "one who honors God."
2. He was the child of a Jewish mother and a Greek father and he lived in Lystra (cf. Act_16:1). The Latin translation of Origen's commentary on Rom_16:21 says Timothy was a citizen of Derbe. This is possibly taken from Act_20:4.
3. He was instructed in the Jewish faith by his mother and grandmother (cf. 2Ti_1:5; 2Ti_3:14-15).
4. He trusted Christ during Paul's first missionary journey (cf. Act_13:49 to Act_14:25).
5. He was asked to join Paul and Silas' missionary team on the second journey (cf. Act_16:1-5). He was confirmed by prophecy (cf. 1Ti_1:18; 1Ti_4:14).
6. He was circumcised by Paul in order to work with both Jews and Greeks (cf. Act_16:3).
7. He was a dedicated companion and co-worker of Paul. He is mentioned by name more than any other of Paul's helpers (17 times in 10 letters, cf. Rom_16:21; 1Co_4:17; 1Co_16:10; Php_1:1; Php_2:19; Php_2:22; Col_1:5; 1Th_1:1; 1Th_2:6; 1Th_3:2; 1Ti_1:2; 1Ti_1:18; 1Ti_4:14; 2Ti_1:2; 2Ti_3:14-15).
8. Paul affectionately calls him "my child in the faith" (cf. 1Ti_1:2), "my beloved son" (cf. 2Ti_1:2), and "my true child in a common faith" (cf. Tit_1:4).
9. He was apparently in Rome when Paul was released from prison and accompanied him on his fourth missionary journey (cf. Col_1:1; Phm_1:1).
10. He is called an "apostle" (cf. 1Th_2:6).
11. Two of the three Pastoral Epistles are addressed to him.
12. He is last mentioned in Heb_13:23.
▣ "church" The Greek term ekklesia means "the called out ones." The same term signified called town meetings in Greek cities (cf. Act_19:32). It was used in the Septuagint to translate qahal (BDB 874, i.e., Exo_12:6; Lev_16:17; Num_20:4; Deu_31:30) or "congregation" of Israel. The early Christians saw themselves as the fulfillment and extension of OT Israel. See Special Topic at Gal_1:2.
▣ "in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" This phrase is one of the few differences between the introduction in 1Th_1:1 and 2Th_1:1. Believers can call God "our Father" (cf. Mat_6:9). Of course, God is not our father in a physically generative or chronological sense, but in the sense of a familial relationship. See Special Topic at Gal_1:1.
The grammatical structure (one preposition "en" with two objects "Father" and "Lord") is one of the ways that NT authors linked the Father and the Son (cf. 1Th_1:1). This construction would assert their equality and thereby Jesus' deity.
Paul's favorite way of designating believers is "in Christ," but here he asserts that believers are also in the Father.
2Th_1:2 "Grace to you and peace" Many see this as a combination of the Greek and Jewish greetings. The repeated phrase "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" links the Father and Son by the conjunction "and" and the Single preposition, showing Paul's theology of Jesus' deity (just like 2Th_1:1). Theologically grace always precedes peace.