1 Thessalonians 1:7

Ensamples. Gr. tupoi, singular tupos, “type,” “example” (see on Rom. 5:14).

These believers had patterned their lives after the apostles and the Lord, and now they in turn had become patterns, or examples, for other Christians to follow. They were examples with reference to the firmness with which they adhered to Christianity, and the zeal with which they spread its teachings. That the Thessalonians became examples to others so soon after their own conversion, speaks highly of the quality of their Christian witness.

Macedonia and Achaia. The two provinces into which all Greece was divided when it was brought under the Roman yoke in 146 B.C. (see The Journeys of Paul). Paul’s testimony shows how widespread was the influence of the faithful Thessalonians among their fellow Christians.