X-Dreamers
Bible chapter guide
1 Thessalonians 3
Unable to bear the separation, Paul stayed alone at Athens and sent Timothy to strengthen them. Timothy's good news of their faith and love has comforted him, and he prays to see them again and that they may abound in love.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
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The letter: who wrote it, where and when
These questions are debated; the views are shown side by side with how sure each is, as in Paul's Roads.
- Strongly supported
1 Thessalonians written from Corinth
Timothy has just come back from Thessalonica (3:6), which fits Silas and Timothy joining Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:5). Probably Paul's earliest surviving letter.
- Strongly supported
1 Thessalonians is probably the earliest of Paul's letters to survive.
Its setting (Acts 18:5) dates it to about AD 50–51, unless Galatians was written earlier still.
- Plausible
1 Thessalonians written from Athens
3:1–2 mentions being left at Athens and sending Timothy from there, which some take as the place of writing; but 3:6 reads as later.