There has been quite a difference of opinion over where Paul’s thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians ends. Some scholars would end the thanksgiving section after 1 Thessalonians 1:3,1 others would end it after 1 Thessalonians 1:10,2,3,4 and still others see it extending all the way to 1 Thessalonians 3:13.5,6,7 For the following reasons it is difficult to exclude 1 Thessalonians 1:4–10 from the thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 are part of the same Greek sentence as 1 Thessalonians 1:2–3. Verse 2 provides the main clause of the sentence (
We always thank God for all of you
). Verse 3 begins with the participleremembering,
and indicates Paul’s first reason for giving thanks to God. Verses 4–5 are also grammatically dependent on verse 2, and specify the ultimate cause of Paul’s thanksgiving:For we know…that [God] has chosen you.
There is a clear flow of thought throughout the whole section: verses 2–3 give thanks for the fruit in the Thessalonian believers’ lives, verses 4–5 thank God for their election, and verses 6–10 recall their remarkable conversion. There is a spirit of joy and thankfulness that pervades the whole section.
Although verses 6–10 consist of three sentences, they all deal with the same subject matter: the Thessalonian Christians’ conversion, resulting in their persecution, yet making them an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia (which constitute more or less what we would call Greece today). This provides an additional reason for Paul to give thanks to God.
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,