What is the context?
Paul’s confidence that these believers are loved and chosen by God follows his thanksgiving for their faith, love, and hope. He points to the gospel’s arrival with the Holy Spirit’s power, the messengers’ conduct, and the hearers’ response.
The believers welcomed the message with joy despite suffering. Those who first imitated the messengers and the Lord have themselves become examples to others. The evidence Paul names concerns the gospel taking hold of an actual community.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians differ over how God’s choosing relates to faith. Westminster Confession 3.5–6 describes God’s choice as preceding and producing faith, rather than resting on foreseen faith. Wesley’s note on verse 4 describes election as through faith and points to the following evidence. These are different accounts of God’s choice; both attend to the transformed lives Paul describes.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.