For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
Strictly there should follow, 'For they themselves show of YOU,' etc. Instead, he substitutes that which was the instrumental cause of the Thessalonians' conversion. "For they themselves show of US what manner of entering in we had unto you." Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:5, which corresponds to this former clause, as 1 Thessalonians 1:6 to the latter, "And how ye turned ... from idols to serve ... God," etc. Instead of our having "to speak anything" to them (in Macedonia and Achaia) in your praise (1 Thessalonians 1:8), 'they themselves (have the start of us in speaking of you, and) report х apangellousin (G518)] concerning us, what manner of (how effectual an) entrance we had unto you' (1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:1).
The living and true God - as opposed to the dead and false gods [Acts 14:15; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Galatians 4:8; 1 John 5:20-21, 'ªliyliym (H457)] from which they "turned." Had they been Jews, it would have been, 'ye turned to the Lord' (Acts 9:35). In the reading, Acts 17:4, "of the devout Grecian a great multitude," no mention is made of the conversion of idolatrous Gentiles at Thessalonica: but A D d, Vulgate, singularly coincides with the statement here: 'Of the devout AND of Greeks (namely, idolaters) a great multitude:' so 1 Thes 1:17 , "the devout" - i:e., Gentile proselytes to Judaism, form a separate class. However, B E 'Aleph (') omit 'and.' Luke, even if not stating explicitly the conversion of idolaters at Thessalonica, states what accords with it, the conversion of 'not a few chief women,' and the rising of a tumult instigated indeed by Jews, but carried on by others, which could not have reached such a height if the preaching had not reached the Thessalonian Gentiles (Acts 17:5-8).