Thessalonians 1

This is Paul's first epistle, probably written around 52 A.D. Greece was divided by Rome into two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia. Thessalonica, named after the sister of Alexander the Great around 350 B.C., was the capital of Macedonia. During Paul's second mission, he had been driven from Thessalonica by Jews but the church took hold and Paul later sent Timothy and Silvanus (Silas) back to see how the saints were. They found that the members of the church were being persecuted but remaining faithful. Evidently, the saints in Thessalonica were a model for all believers throughout all of Greece. So Paul praises them in this first chapter.

Verse 5 teaches a very important principle. Anyone can have the word of the gospel. It can come in the form of words spoken or from books. But the gospel must come in power also and power can only come to man from God. Without power, there is no scripture given, no new revelation. Without power, there are no saving ordinances making salvation possible. The Savior gave is apostles and prophets sealing power to bind in earth and in heaven. If there are no sealing powers, there are no eternal families. Anyone can claim to have the gospel in an intellectual sense, and even have spiritual confirmation as to their belief. But the fulness of the gospel can only exist where the power of God has been given.

Thessalonians 2
The first verses in this chapter describe how the gospel was brought to the people by Paul and his associates. They were gentle, affectionate, fair, holy and upright. As Elder McConkie points out, this is quite a contrast to the way the gospel was taken by force during the apostasy. It was taken through civil war in England, through the Inquisition in Spain, through the sale of indulgences in Europe, through the swords of Cortez in Mexico. Crusaders killed non-believers and burned their villages. Christians were kept in darkness and were refused access to the scriptures. It was against the law to read them. But Paul's efforts were similar to the words in D&C 12:8 where the Lord says, "No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble, and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care."

Paul talks of how the saints in Thessalonica are their hope, their joy, their glory and crown of rejoicing. Elder McConkie says this; "No man can conceive how great is the worth of souls. One soul saved which would have been lost means added kingdoms and worlds, added spirit children born to exalted beings, added hosts of intelligent beings going forward everlastingly in eternal progression."