Bible Strands
1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Thessalonian church within an eschatological passage (5:1–11), immediately after urging sobriety and the armor of faith, love, and hope (v. 8).
The words — ἔθετο (etheto, aorist of τίθημι) literally means "has set" or "has placed"; the aorist marks a completed divine act, not a pending decision. The phrase εἰς ὀργήν (eis orgēn) is accusative of purpose: "for wrath," a destination God did not set.
The thread — The same contrast between wrath and deliverance appears in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (Jesus as "deliverer from the coming wrath") and 2 Timothy 2:10 (salvation "that is in Christ Jesus"). 1 Peter 2:10 echoes the shift from exclusion to inclusion as God's people.
Why it lands — The verse fixes a boundary: the believer's end is not wrath, and that is a matter of God's setting, not of human performance. It asks the reader to stop treating their standing as conditional.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Cross-references
- 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.
- 1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- 2 Timothy 2:10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
- Acts 13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
- Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.
- Romans 9:11 Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
- 1 Thessalonians 3:3 so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this.
- Exodus 9:16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.
- 1 Timothy 1:16 But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.