Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. It stood, like Philippi, on the Via Egnatia, the great road across northern Greece which linked Rome with the east; and its population, though predominantly Greek, included a Jewish community (Acts 17.1).

Since much of the letter is inspired by Paul's personal recollections of his visit to Thessalonica, it is possible to reconstruct most of the circumstances from his own words. The account in Acts 17 adds little to our knowledge, and is not always consistent with what Paul says himself; but it does help us to decide the place and (within certain limits) the date of writing. According to Acts, the only time when Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy were all together was during Paul's eighteen-month stay in Corinth (Acts 18.5); and this period, since it followed soon after Paul's visit to Thessalonica, seems the most appropriate one for the writing of a letter that is full of vivid reminiscences. If this is correct, and if this letter was written while Paul was in Corinth (say in the year 50 or 51), then it has some claim to being the earliest of Paul's surviving letters, indeed the earliest complete writing in the New Testament.

Thanksgiving and prayer

The first three chapters conform, in effect, with the usual form of opening and consist of thanksgiving leading into prayer; but the sequence is broken by a long section of personal reminiscence and self-vindication, and the prayer itself is not reached until 3.11.