Verse 4
4. Some of them Of Jews a small minority; of the Gentiles a multitude became Christians; so that at Thessalonica there was mainly a Gentile Church. “Ye turned from idols,” says he to them, (1 Thessalonians 1:9,) “to serve the living God.”
Devout Greeks Literally, worshipping Greeks. (See note on Acts 13:16.)
Chief women (See note on Acts 13:50.) From their gallery or separating lattice these eminent ladies could hear the apostle’s Gospel, and whether Jew or Gentile, like the certain women of Luke 8:2-3, (where see notes,) they accepted the crucified Messiah. Yet while the apostle thus demonstrated a suffering Messiah, he must, as a counterpart, have drawn pictures of the Messiah on his throne of glory (Matthew 25:31) so vivid as to leave a most solemn expectation of an immediate second advent on the minds of the young Church. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.) Of this error, the pernicious effect then, as in all ages, even our own, was great. There were some who neglected the duties of this life, (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12.) and the apostle was obliged to write his second epistle to them in order expressly to correct the conception that that day was at hand. (2 Thessalonians 2:10.)
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