1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 - Thanksgiving For The Thessalonian Believers

² We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers. ³ We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ knowing your election, brothers loved by God. ⁵ For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we were among you for your benefit, ⁶ and you became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. ⁷ As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God ¹⁰ and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

³ We must always thank God for you, brothers. This is right, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore, we ourselves boast about you among God’s churches—about your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you endure. ⁵ It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering, ⁶ since it is righteous for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you ⁷ and to reward with rest you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful angels, ⁸ taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His glorious strength ¹⁰ in that day when He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be admired by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed. ¹¹ And in view of this, we always pray for you that our God will consider you worthy of His calling, and will, by His power, fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.