‘Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.'
This was a typical form of greeting by a letter writer of the day, indicating the author's name, the recipient's name, a reference to a deity and a hope for their well-being. It is noteworthy that Paul does not see it as necessary to refer here to his Apostleship (contrast Galatians 1:1). Instead he wrote confident of a warm reception from the church because of what he had heard about them from Timothy.
He included Silas (his Latin name Silvanus) and Timothy in his greeting. Silas they knew from his being a companion of Paul in the founding of the church (Acts 17:1-10 compare Acts 15:40). Timothy had recently visited them, and had probably been with Silas and Paul in their ministry there, but not prominent.
‘The church of the Thessalonians.' The same as in 1 Thessalonians. Compare ‘the churches of Galatia' (Galatians 1:2) and contrast ‘the church of God which is at Corinth' (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1), and the later ‘to the saints at --' (Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:1. See also Romans 1:1). In this there is a growing awareness of the universal church as seen as one whole, composed of all those set apart for Himself (‘saints') by God.
The difference in the use of ‘church' is one of emphasis only. Each church in a city (Romans 16:4; Romans 16:16; Romans 16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:2 and often), and the local branches within that church (Philemon 1:2; 1 Corinthians 11:18), as well as the universal church (1 Corinthians 10:32; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 3:21; Ephesians 5:23-32), can be called ‘the church'. Thus reference can be made to ‘the churches' and to ‘the church', and the latter often wider in meaning than the former. In all cases it refers to a group of believers, whether local, city-wide or worldwide.
‘Church' (ekklesia) was used in LXX to translate ‘the assembly' of Israel, the gathering together of His people to Sinai to receive the covenant (Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 18:16) and to the Tabernacle (Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 23:1-3; Deuteronomy 23:8; Deuteronomy 31:30) and the Temple (1Ki 8:14; 1 Kings 8:22; 1 Kings 8:55; 1 Kings 8:65) and in response to the covenant (Judges 20:2; Judges 21:5; Judges 21:8; 1 Samuel 17:47). In a religious context it thus indicated ‘the people of God gathered for worship and response to the covenant'. This was the sense in which Jesus used it (Matthew 16:18). The more general ‘congregation' of Israel was translated as ‘synagogue'.
‘In God our Father.' Every Christian dwells ‘in God' (1 John 4:15), and our lives are ‘hid with Christ in God' (Colossians 3:3). The thought is of being enveloped in the love, mercy and care of a gracious God, and of seeking to walk as those who are His, and is in contrast with those who are ‘in the world' (Ephesians 2:12; 2 Peter 1:4; compare 1 John 2:15-16; 1 John 4:3-4), who walk as the world walks. Unlike in 1 Thessalonians Paul calls Him ‘God our Father.' The ‘our' emphasises the relationship factor. Not only the Creator but our Father, to whom we are adopted and reborn sons.
Christians are ‘in the world' (John 17:11-12) but only as strangers and pilgrims (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:13). They are not ‘of the world' (John 15:19). And this is because they are now ‘in God our Father'.
‘And the Lord Jesus Christ.' This linking of our Lord Jesus Christ with ‘our Father' using a single preposition, as being the One in Whom we are, (‘in God -- and the Lord' and not ‘in God -- and in the Lord') is a clear declaration of His equality with the Father. No other could have been so combined. It indicates that we must give full significance to the title ‘the Lord' as meaning ‘Yahweh' (the name of God in the Old Testament), which to the Jew was the name above every name, which is represented in LXX (the Greek Old Testament) as ‘Lord' (kurios). Compare Philippians 2:11 where this is clearly indicated, and see Matthew 28:19.
‘In Christ' is one of Paul's favourite descriptions. Christ is the body and we are members of that body (1 Corinthians 12:12-14), Christ is the vine and we are the branches of the vine (John 15:1-6), because we are in Him we are declared righteous in God's sight (Romans 3:24), in Christ we are accepted as holy in God's sight (1 Corinthians 1:2), in Christ the veil on our hearts is done away (2 Corinthians 3:14), in Him we are created unto good works (Ephesians 2:10), in Him we have been made alive, and raised and seated with Him in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 2:5-6), there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Thus when we enter into Christ He is made to us wisdom from God, even righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). How much more the blessing then to be both ‘in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'.
‘The Lord Jesus Christ.' The title ‘the Lord Jesus Christ' contains three elements. Firstly He is Lord (kurios), the One Whose Name is above every name, Yahweh Himself (Philippians 2:9). To the Jew and to Paul the Name above every name was Yahweh and in the Greek Old Testament Yahweh is represented by kurios. He is also elsewhere the great ‘I am' (John 8:58, compare Exodus 3:14), another name for Yahweh (which means ‘the One Who is'), and thus ‘the Word', Who existed in the beginning, through Whom God created the worlds (John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9), the Lord of all.
Secondly He is ‘Jesus'. He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He was truly man and yet in His manhood epitomised all that man was meant to be. He hungered as a man (Matthew 4:2). He grew thirsty as a man (John 4:7; John 19:28). He suffered as a man. And His death was the death of a man, and yet it was of more than a man, for He was ‘the Lord'. He was ‘the Christ (Messiah)'. And the name Jesus means ‘Yahweh is salvation'.
Thirdly He is ‘the Christ, the Messiah.' By His death and resurrection He is declared to be ‘both Lord and Christ' (Acts 2:36). He is the expected King Messiah, the One appointed to eternal Rule (2 Peter 1:11; compare Psalms 145:13; Daniel 4:3; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 7:14), the One Who both sits on His own throne and also uniquely shares His Father's throne (Revelation 3:21), the One before Whom every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:10).
And because of this He is the powerful One (Romans 1:4). He is the One worthy of worship and honour. He is the Lord of glory.
‘Grace to you, and peace.' ‘Grace to you.' Nothing can be more desirable than to have God looking on us in active love and favour without our deserving, and this is what is signified by grace. Thus Paul wants the Thessalonians to know that he desires for them only that they enjoy the experience of the grace of God.
‘And peace.' Peace results from grace, but this kind of peace is also God's gift, flowing from Him to us. Once we know that we are right with God, and experience His graciousness towards us, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1) and enjoy such peace, prosperity and success of spirit that our hearts can only overflow. For however things may seem to smile on us, if God is not pleased with us, we cannot fully know peace. The very foundation then of peace in our hearts is the favour of God, by which we enjoy true and genuine prosperity of spirit through the work of His Spirit, and find the peace of God which passes all understanding guarding our thoughts and hearts (Philippians 4:7). And this is what Paul wished for, and prayed for, for the Thessalonians.
‘Grace to you' represented a general greeting in the Gentile world, and ‘peace to you' in the Jewish world. The combination thus emphasised the unity of the church, both Jew and Gentile, as one. It was seemingly a regular combination in the Christian church (2Pe 1:2; 2 John 1:3; Revelation 1:4).
‘From God the Father.' There is in this phrase a recognition of ‘the Father', the Creator, in contrast with the earlier ‘our Father', which is more personal (2 Thessalonians 1:1). Jesus constantly spoke of ‘the Father' in this distinctive way (Matthew 28:19; Mark 13:32; Luke 10:22; John 4:21; John 4:23; John 5:19-45; John 6:27-57; John 8:16-29; John 10:15; John 10:36-38; John 13:16 constantly). He is the prototype and perfect exemplar of all fatherhoods (Ephesians 3:14-15), the one ‘of Whom are all things' (1 Corinthians 8:6), the One Who raised Christ from the dead, and is thus the Source of all future life (Galatians 1:1), the One whose foreknowing results in the gathering of His elect (1 Peter 1:2), the source of all Light (James 1:17). And His people are ‘in Him'. He, with the Lord Jesus Christ, is the source of grace revealed to us and our peace.
‘And the Lord Jesus Christ.' Once again we have one preposition joining God and the Lord. All we have is in them and from them. No greater testimony to their co-equality and oneness in action could be given.