For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,
from idols: "The verb ’turned’ is in the aorist tense, indicating completed, punctilliar, point action. They did not half turn. They turned once for all from idols" (Fields 40). The revolutionary change in the Thessalonians is not some spur of the moment emotional response. It is, as Paul explains here, "a change immediately consequent upon a deliberate choice" (Hogg and Vine 43).