What does 1 Thessalonians 1:9 mean?
Paul has been hearing good news about the Thessalonian Christians from many people. Perhaps the Thessalonian Christians had visited their seaport and shared the gospel with sailors. Likely they had also shared the gospel with travelers on the highway that ran through their city. As a result of their faithful sharing the good news about Christ, a number of sailors and travelers had trusted in Christ and had subsequently spread the gospel to near and far destinations. In doing so they must have spoken about the faith of the Thessalonians.After their conversion to Christ, these Thessalonians abandoned their pagan ways. They no longer worshiped idols. Now they worshiped and served the true God who lives eternally. The practice of idolatry stands in stark contrast to the worship of the living and true God, but was prevalent in the first century. The apostle John issued a clear warning to Christians: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).