Whence is proved that they have ever been depicted, out of the volume of the divine Scriptures, as guilty of the crime of idolatry; whereas our "less"-that is, posterior-people, quitting the idols which formerly it used slavishly to serve, has been converted to the same God from whom Israel, as we have above related, had departed. For thus has the "less"-that is, posterior-people overcome the"greater people," while it attains the grace of divine favour, from which Israel has been divorced.
For we read: "How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus." And again: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, at His coming? " Likewise: "Before God, even our Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the whole company of His saints.
By what means do we become Christians? Through our faith would be the universal answer. And in what way are we saved? Plainly because we were regenerated through the grace given to us in our baptism. How else could we be? And after recognizing that this salvation is established through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, shall we fling away “that form of doctrine” which we received? Would it not rather be grounds for great groaning if we are found now further off from our salvation “than when we first believed,” and deny now what we then received?… What if one does not always and everywhere keep to his initial confession and cling to it as a sure protection?… What if one, having been delivered “from the idols,” to the “living God,” now constitutes himself a “stranger” from the “promises” of God? He fights against his own handwriting, which he put on record when he professed the faith. To me my baptism was the beginning of life and that day of regeneration the first of days. It is plain that the utterance confessed in the grace of adoption is the most honorable of all.
What means, "What manner of entering in we had unto you"? That it was full of dangers, and numberless deaths, but that none of these things troubled you. But as if nothing had happened, so you adhered to us; as if ye had suffered no evil, but had enjoyed infinite good, so you received us after these things. For this was the second entering. They went to Beroea, they were persecuted, and when they came after this they so received them, as though they had been honored by these also, so that they even laid down their lives for them. The expression, "What manner of entering in we had," is complicated, and contains an encomium both of them and of themselves. But he himself has turned this to their advantage. "And how," he says, "ye turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God"; that is, that ye did it readily, that ye did it with much eagerness, that it did not require much labor to make you. "In order to serve," says he, "a living and true God."
Here also he introduced an exhortation, which is the part of one who would make his discourse less offensive.
That is, that our coming to you was joined with a thousand deaths, and yet nothing turned you against us. On the contrary, you yourselves, having been exposed to dangers on our account, did not reject us, but treated us as though you had enjoyed countless blessings. This was the second entrance. For the apostle, having departed from Thessalonica to Berea, was persecuted, and having come from there to the Thessalonians, was so received by them that they were ready to lay down their lives for him.
That is, you turned easily and with greater readiness. And here he very aptly inserted an exhortation as well, skillfully reminding them of what they had turned from and to what they had turned, so that they might live worthily of it.
Then when Paul says: “for they themselves report concerning us,” he remarks on the praise which they had received from others, because, “they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you.” A similar point is made in Proverbs (31:31): “Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” Those who commend you praise my preaching and your conversion. “They themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you,” since our entry was visited with great difficulty and genuine tribulations; but they also praise your conversion.
Finally, Paul makes known how, from whom, and to what they have been converted. In regard to the first point Paul says: “and how you turned to God,” that is, how readily and completely. “Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). “Do not delay to turn to the Lord, nor postpone it from day to day” (Sir. 5:7). In regard to the second point, Paul says, “from idols,” as is mentioned in 1 Corinthians (12:2): “You know that when you were heathens, you were led astray to dumb idols.” In regard to the third point he says, “to serve a living and true God” by the practice of adoration, not of creatures, but of God, which is in contrast with what is stated in Romans (1:25): “They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” And Paul says, “living,” in order to exclude the cult of idolatry, because the idolators worshipped certain dead people whose souls they regarded as deified, such as Romulus and Hercules. And so Paul insists on “living.” “As I live forever” (Deut. 32:40). Also, since the Platonists considered some separate substances to be gods by participation, he says “true,” meaning, not by participation in the divine nature.
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Thessalonians 1:9