Verse 5
But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
About this time, probably as soon as Silas and Timothy had brought Paul word of the churches in Macedonia, Paul wrote 1Thessalonians. "The news Timothy brought to St. Paul caused him to write those beloved converts ... which is the first of his epistles to be preserved to us."[14] (Note: Howson accepted the later date of 55 or 56 A.D. for Galatians; but this writer prefers the earlier date, understanding it to have been written to the south Galatians, making it perhaps the oldest of Paul's letters which have come down to us.) "Harnack placed the date of First Thessalonians at 48 A.D., and Zahn placed it at 53 A.D.; and it is likely that these two dates represent the extreme limits."[15]
Constrained by the word ... "This means that Paul was engrossed by the word or engrossed by the preaching of the gospel."[16]
[14] J. S. Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1966), p. 303.
[15]; ISBE, Vol. V, p. 2966.
[16] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on the Acts (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1953), p. 287.
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