1 Thes 1:1 ...to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ... 1:10 And await His Son from the heavens... 1:6 ...having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.
In chapter one of 1 Thessalonians the Triune God is revealed. In this chapter we have the Triune God--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At the time of Paul, any typical Jew would have been offended by the expression "His Son." This was offensive to Jews because they believed in the true God, but did not realize that He has a Son. To a certain extent, the Jews believed that God has a Spirit. However, they did not have the understanding that the Spirit is the same in rank as God Himself. Rather, they believed only that God has a Spirit and that this Spirit is subordinate to Him. According to Jewish belief concerning God, God is unique and yet this unique God has a Spirit. The Jews certainly did not believe that God has a Son; neither did they believe that both the Son of God and the Spirit of God are on the same rank as God. This is altogether contrary to the Jewish concept. Hence, for Paul to speak of the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit is to utter something very basic.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Thessalonians, pp. 31-32. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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