| Geneva Study Bible For {d} they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, {5} and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; (d) All the believers. (5) It is no true conversion to forsake idols, unless a man in addition worships the true and living God in Christ the only Redeemer. People's New Testament 1:9 For they themselves. The people every place (1Th 1:8). How ye turned to God from idols. Most of them had been heathen. See the accounts in Ac 17:4. Wesley's Notes 1:9 For they themselves - The people wherever we come. Scofield Reference Notes [2] how ye turned The tenses of the believer's life here indicated are logical and give the true order. They occur also in 1Th 1:3. The "work of faith" is to "turn to God from idols" (cf) Jn 6:28,29 the "labour of love" is to "serve the living and true God"; and the "patience of hope" is to "wait for his Son from heaven" (cf) Mt 24:42 25:13 Lk 12:36-48 Acts 1:11 Phil 3:20,21. Paul repeats this threefold sequence in Ti 2:11-13. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 9. Strictly there should follow, "For they themselves show of you," &c.; but, instead, he substitutes that which was the instrumental cause of the Thessalonians' conversion and faith, "for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you"; compare 1Th 1:5, which corresponds to this former clause, as 1Th 1:6 corresponds to the latter clause. "And how ye turned from idols to serve the living . God," &c. Instead of our having "to speak any thing" to them (in Macedonia and Achaia) in your praise (1Th 1:8), "they themselves (have the start of us in speaking of you, and) announce concerning (so the Greek of 'show of' means) us, what manner of (how effectual an) entrance we had unto you" (1Th 1:5; 2:1). the living and true God-as opposed to the dead and false gods from which they had "turned." In the English Version reading, Ac 17:4, "of the devout Greeks a great multitude," no mention is made, as here, of the conversion of idolatrous Gentiles at Thessalonica; but the reading of some of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate singularly coincides with the statement here: "Of the devout AND of Greeks (namely, idolaters) a great multitude"; so in Ac 17:17, "the devout persons," that is, Gentile proselytes to Judaism, form a separate class. Paley and Lachmann, by distinct lines of argument, support the "AND." Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 1:6-10 When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from the dead, which is a full assurance unto all men that he will come to judgment. He came to purchase salvation, and will, when he comes again, bring salvation with him, full and final deliverance from that wrath which is yet to come. Let all, without delay, flee from the wrath to come, and seek refuge in Christ and his salvation. | 
