Christian teaching

A True Gospel Transformation

Opening

¹Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

Thanksgiving

²We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,

A. For their Christian lives: ³remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

B. For God’s work in them: ⁴For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction,

B¹. For their faithfulness in suffering: knowing what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

A¹. For their Christian witness: ⁸For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. ⁹For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

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– A and A¹ – focus on their Christian lives, giving a threefold descriptions of this: faith, love, hope/turned to God, serve God, wait for Jesus.

– B and B¹ – begin with a form of the word “to know.” Both focus on their receiving the gospel; both mention the work of the Holy Spirit in them.

– Also, vs. 2-5 are one sentence structured around three participial constructions – “mentioning,” “remembering,” “knowing.”