1 Thessalonians - Chapter 4

After Paul started the church in Thessalonica, he wrote this first letter to the believers there. Many Gentiles in the church there had come out of idolatry. Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonian church from the city of Corinth around 51 AD, a few months after having preached in Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. First Thessalonians provides Christians with the clearest biblical passage on the coming rapture of believers, an event that will inaugurate the seven-year tribulation. Impressed by the faithfulness of the Thessalonians in the face of persecution, Paul wrote to encourage them with the goal that they would continue to grow in godliness.