This verse reminds us that Paul is not writing to the whole population of Thessalonica, but to the church in that city (cf. v. 1). Those who are now members of the Christian community made Paul and his companions welcome, but others created an uproar (see Acts 17.5-9).

All those people are the people in the various places loosely referred to as everywhere, perhaps mainly the people in the towns and villages visited by Paul, Silas, and (especially) Timothy in their travels between Thessalonica and Corinth. All is not explicit in the Greek, which means literally “themselves” (emphatic).

Those people, whoever they are, are talking about (1) the visit of Paul and his companions to Thessalonica and (2) how the Christian community in Thessalonica was born and grew. Paul’s main concern at the moment is with the second point. He will return in chapter 2 to the subject of his visit.

How you received us when we visited you is literally “what kind of an entry we had to (wards) you.” The word for “entry,” in Greek as in English, can mean either (1) a place through which one enters or (2) the act of entering. The first is impossible here. The second can be extended to include “visit,” and this seems to be the meaning of the same word in 2.1; that meaning is also possible here (cf. New English Bible Translator’s New Testament Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Some authorities claim that the word can mean “reception” or “welcome,” and this sense is chosen by Barclay Revised Standard Version (cf. Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale) Bible en français courant Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. However, this third meaning of the Greek word is not certain in any text in the New Testament or the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament). The word for “entry” itself seems to refer to the evangelists’ entering the city of Thessalonica (cf. Revised Version Jerusalem Bible Luther 1984 Zürcher Bibel) rather than to the way in which the Thessalonians received them. However, the word for “what kind of,” together with the rest of verses 9-10, suggests that Paul’s deepest concern is neither with the fact of their entering Thessalonica, nor with anything special about the way in which they entered, nor even with the personal friendliness with which some of the Thessalonians welcomed them, but with the results of their visit, that is, with what happened as a consequence of their entering. This is specified by New English Bible (“our visit to you and its effect”), and it is confirmed by what follows in chapter 2.

In some languages how you received us when we visited you may be appropriately rendered as “how kind you were to us when we came to you,” or “how friendly you were when we came to your city.” In translating the word visited, it is important to avoid a term which would imply that Paul and his companions had already established friendly relations with the Thessalonians and so were on “visiting terms” with them. In other words, Paul was not making a “return visit” but an initial proclamation of the Good News.

The second how, before you turned away from idols to God, may mean simply “that.” If so, Paul would be speaking, not of the manner, but simply of the fact of the Thessalonians’ conversion. This makes good sense, since Paul says nothing more in this context about the manner of their conversion.

Acts 17.1-4 mentions Jews and Greek adherents to Judaism among the people Paul met in Thessalonica, but Paul here lays more stress on those who had been converted to Christianity from paganism and who thus come to faith in God for the first time. The language of this verse recalls the speech of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra (Acts 14.15) and certain Old Testament passages (e.g. Jeremiah 10.10 and context). In the Septuagint, the word for idols refers not only to images, but to the pagan gods themselves like the German Gutzen (Luther 1984 Zürcher Bibel Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Idols may be translated as “images of God” or “likenesses of God.” Sometimes idols are simply called “wooden gods” or “stone deities.”

You turned away from idols to God must often be made more explicit, since two different directions of movement, or types of behavior, are indicated. Moreover, it is often impossible to use an expression such as “turned away from,” which indicates physical motion, when what is meant is really a change of allegiance. Hence, in some languages one must translate “how you refused to worship idols any longer and began to worship God.”

The contrast which Paul makes here between idols and the true and living God shows that he is thinking primarily of the pagan gods themselves. To serve … God indicates a total state of belonging to God, as a slave belongs to his master, but with the added element of willingness, so that the relationship includes not only obedience but worship. True does not mean only that what God says is true, or that he is “a God who really exists” (Knox), but that he is the only being who is really God (cf. Barclay “real and living God”). Paul never (not even in 1 Corinthians 8.4-5) clearly states that other deities do not exist; what he is concerned to deny is their right to men’s obedience and worship.

To serve the true and living God expands the preceding expression you turned … to God. Many languages have appropriate terms for “serve” which are approximately equivalent to “worship” or “acknowledge as God,” but in some languages it may be better to identify both aspects of “serve,” which would then be rendered as “to obey and to worship.” The true … God is often equivalent to “the only one who really is God.” The … living God not merely expresses the fact that God is alive, but serves to reinforce the concept of “true.” In other words, true and living God may be rendered in some instances as “the God who really exists.” The focus of meaning in living is on existing and giving life, not merely on being alive.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .