1 Thessalonians 1:4

Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Knowing	εἴδω eídō	G1492	used only in certain past tenses
brethren	ἀδελφοὶ adelphoi	G80	a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (m… · noun — vocative plural masculine
beloved	ἠγαπημένοι ēgapēmenoi	G25	to love (in a social or moral sense) · verb — perfect passive participle, vocative plural masculine
your	ὑμῶν hymōn	G5216	of (from or concerning) you
election	ἐκλογὴν eklogēn	G1589	(divine) selection (abstractly or concretely) · noun — accusative singular feminine
of	ὑπὸ hupo	G5259	under · preposition
God	θεοῦ, theou	G2316	figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvat…
Titus 3:4-5 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Romans 9:25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Romans 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

I. The apostle begins with thanksgiving to God. Being about to mention the things that were matter of joy to him, and highly praiseworthy in them, and greatly for their advantage, he chooses to do this by way of thanksgiving to God, who is the author of all that good that comes to us, or is done by us, at any time. God is the object of all religious worship, of prayer and praise. And thanksgiving to God is a great duty, to be performed always or constantly; even when we do not actually give thanks to God by our words, we should have a grateful sense of God's goodness upon our minds. Thanksgiving should be often repeated; and not only should we be thankful for the favours we ourselves receive…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Knowing--Forasmuch as we know. your election of God--The Greek is rather, "beloved by God"; so Rom 1:7; Th2 2:13. "Your election" means that God has elected you as individual believers to eternal life (Rom 11:5, Rom 11:7; Col 3:12; Th2 2:13).

Adam Clarke on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Knowing your election of God - Being assured, from the doctrine which I have delivered to you, and which God has confirmed by various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, that he has chosen and called the Gentiles to the same privileges to which he chose and called the Jews; and that, as they have rejected the offers of the Gospel, God has now elected the Gentiles in their stead. This is the election which the Thessalonians knew; and of which the apostle treats at large in his Epistle to the Romans, and also in his Epistles to the Galatians and Ephesians. No irrespective, unconditional, eternal, and personal election to everlasting glory, is meant by the apostle. As God had chosen the Jew…

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John Gill on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Which intends not an election to an office, for this epistle is written not to the officers of the church only, but to the whole church; nor to the Gospel, the outward means of grace, since this was common to them with others, and might be known without the evidence after given; nor does it design the effectual calling, sometimes so called for this is expressed in the following verse as a fruit, effect, and evidence of the election here spoken of, which is no other than the eternal choice of, them to everlasting life and happiness: this is of God, an act of God the Father, made in Christ Jesus before the world began, and which springs from his…

The Church Fathers

"Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves among you for your sake." Knowing what? How "we showed ourselves among you"? Here he also touches upon his own good actions, but covertly. For he wishes first to enlarge upon their praises, and what he says is something of this sort. I knew that you were men of great and noble sort, that you were of the Elect. For this reason we also endure all things for your sake. For this, "what manner of men we showed ourselves among you," is the expression of one showing that with much zeal and much vehemence we were ready to give up our lives for your sake; and for this thanks are due not to us, but to you, because ye were elect. On this account also he says elsewhere, "And these things I endure for the Elect's sake." (2 Tim. ii. 10) For what would not one endure for the sake of God's beloved ones? And having spoken of his own part, he all but says, For if you were both beloved and elect, we suffer all things with reason. For not only did his praise of them confirm them, but his reminding them that they too themselves had displayed a fortitude corresponding to their zeal.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Thessalonians 1

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Predestination — This word is properly used only with reference to God’s plan or purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered “predestinate” is found only in these six passages, Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29, 30; 1 Cor. 2:7;…
Assurance · .Of their election — .Of their election
Election · Of saints, is: Of God — Of saints, is: Of God
Predestination · 1:4,5,9-11;2:10;3:11; — 1:4,5,9-11;2:10;3:11;

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Thessalonians 1:4

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Adam Clarke on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

John Gill on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Thessalonians 1:4

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

Adam Clarke on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

John Gill on 1 Thessalonians 1:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Thessalonians 1:4