Tommy Hendricks

New Testament Theology

Dr. Lorin Cranford

November 19, 2002

 

Theology of the Thessalonian Letters

 

About the city of Thessalonica

 

Thessalonica was in its day an important commercial center located in the best harbor in all of Macedonia.  The Egnatian way went right through the middle of town.  The population of Thessalonica when Paul found the church there was approximately 65-100 thousand.[1]

Literary and Critical Issues Surrounding the Text

Author:  Paul is generally uncontested as the author of 1 Thessalonians, but there are a number of scholars who doubt Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians.[2] 

Date:  1 Thessalonians is considered the earliest of Paul’s writing by many and dated around A.D. 50, with the second coming a few months or even weeks later.[3] 

Textual Questions:  1 Thessalonians has a section (2:13-16) that may have been added later.  The section is not typical of Paul because it has a vindictive tone.  2 Thessalonians has three major textual variants.  2:3 reads ‘man of sin’ rather than ‘man of lawlessness’ in many manuscripts, 2:13 has different readings attached to ‘God choose you’ including ‘as first fruits” and ‘from the beginning,’ 3:16 reads ‘in every way’ in some manuscripts and ‘in every place’ in others.[4]

Major Themes:

Judeo-Christian Understanding of God as found in the Thessalonian letters:  The recipients of these letters had a faith in which they turned away from the pagan gods and false idols towards the living God and now wait upon the return of his Son (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).  The people constitute a congregation that is in God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:1).    I. Howard Marshall gives three distinct points concerning this.  First, God is referred to as ‘father’, a term stemming not out of the OT but the language of Jesus.  Second, the church is in God, much the way the believers are in Christ; that is just as the believer’s salvation is dependent upon Christ and they in turn are committed to him, so the church is dependent upon God and has that same commitment to him.  Third, Paul places Jesus along side God the Father “without suggestion of novelty or tension; by the time that he writes this letter the fact that God and Jesus are ranked alongside each other on the divine side of reality has become for him a self-evident truth, and one which he does not need to demonstrate to his readers.”  Dr. Marshall goes on to describe how Paul’s use of the phrase “Day of the Lord” and “the word of the Lord” hold OT phraseology and therefore transfer the powers of God to Jesus, further setting him beside God in divine terms.[5]  The Spirit is active in the spread of the Gospel and in the sanctification of the believers.  2 Thessalonians echoes its predecessor but adds a new sense of the evil forces that are at work in the universe and how God combats those forces, especially in terms of the end times.

Imitation of the Apostle by the believers:  Having grown up in a multi-cultural context, Paul would have known the best way to teach was to be authentic as a teacher.  Paul describes himself as both the mother (1 Thessalonians 2:7) and father (1 Thessalonians 2:11) of the congregation, providing all forms of guidance and support.  Paul is assuming the role of the parakletos to the church and is in a loving relationship filled with deep concern for those who are a part of the church.  But he realizes that he is not the model.  Christ, whom he models his life after, is their model as well. [6]

Suffering:  Suffering is only a minor issue as far as amount of time given to the topic.  However, it does have some importance to it.  Since the believers of Thessalonica were to model themselves after Paul, who models himself after Christ, they are to suffer just as Christ has suffered (1 Thess. 1:6, 2:15) which gave rise to our salvation (1 Thess. 5:10, 17) and helps spread the Gospel.[7]  The section in 2:14-16 of 1 Thess seems to be a direct response to Jews who have persecuted both the Thessalonian congregation and Paul along with all the believers.[8]  2 Thess. l1:3-10 describes how those who persecute will get their punishment from God just as those who suffer will have a reward.

Sanctification:  Paul urges the congregation to refrain from activities that will damage their Christian life.  These activities include Sexual immorality (1 Thess. 4:1-8) and idleness (1 Thess. 2:8-9, 2 Thess. 3:6-15).  Mutual Love is also part of living a Holy life (4:9-12).  Chapter 5 verses 12-22 of the first letter have simple instructions of discipleship and further proper behavior of the believers as does 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:6.


End Times:  One of the things the Thessalonian correspondence is most popular for is its reference to the end times and the coming of the Lord.  The Greek word Parousia is used to describe the coming of the Lord.  The literal definition is ‘coming’.  The differences between the first and second letter are one of the reasons people have attributed 2 Thessalonians to a different, unknown author.  I am assuming the difference to be because of the questions that may have been sent back to Paul from the congregation and/or his own views may have matured.  One characteristic concerning these letters in relation to the rest of the Pauline corpus is where Paul usually writes his letters in Faith, Hope, and Love, he here writes in Faith, Love, and Hope, emphasizing the Hope in the coming of our Lord by placing it last.[9]  The issues Paul points out in the 1st letter are that those who are asleep will not miss out (4:13-15), the order of the things to come (4:16-17), the day and hour is unknown (5:1-3), and preparation for that day (5:4-11). 2 Thessalonians adds that the day has not come (2:1-3) and that the man of lawlessness must come first and describes the events around his coming 2:3-12).

Bibliography

 

Borchert, Gerald L.  “Thessalonians, First and Second, Theology of.”  In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. by Walter A. Elwell, 771-773.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 1996.

 

Marshall, I. H. “Thessalonians.”  In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.   ed. by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, 326-330.  Downers Grove:  InterVarsity Press, 2000.

 

Morris, Leon L.  “Second Coming of Christ.”  In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. by Walter A. Elwell, 719-723.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 1996.

 

Perkins, Pheme. “1 and 2 Thessalonians.”  In The Harper Collins Bible Commentary, ed James L. Mays, 1131-1136.  San Francisco:  Harper Collins, 2000.

 

Polhill, John B.  “Thessalonica:  Hope in the Lord”  In Paul and His Letters, 180-201.  Nashville:  Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1999.

 

Simpson, J. W. Jr.  “Thessalonians, Letters To The” In Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. by Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin, 932-939.  Downers Grove:  Intervarsity Press, 1993.

 

Unger, Merrill F. “Thessalonians, First Epistle to,” Unger’s Bible Dictionary.  Chicago:  Moody Press, 1973.

 

Unger, Merrill F. “Thessalonians, Second Epistle to,” Unger’s Bible Dictionary.  Chicago:  Moody Press, 1973.

 

 

 


[1] Polhill, John B.  “Thessalonica:  Hope in the Lord” In Paul and His Letters, 180-201.  Nashville:  Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1999, 180-181.

[2] Polhill, John B.  “Thessalonica:  Hope in the Lord” In Paul and His Letters, 180-201.  Nashville:  Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1999, 186. 

[3] Polhill, John B.  “Thessalonica:  Hope in the Lord” In Paul and His Letters, 180-201.  Nashville:  Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1999, 188.

[4] Perkins, Pheme. “1 and 2 Thessalonians.”  In The Harper Collins Bible Commentary, ed James L. Mays, 1131-1136.  San Francisco:  Harper Collins, 2000, 1131-1132.

[5] Marshall, I. H. “Thessalonians.”  In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.   ed. by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, 326-330.  Downers Grove:  Intervarsity Press, 2000, 327.

[6] Borchert, Gerald L.  “Thessalonians, First and Second, Theology of.”  In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. by Walter A. Elwell, 771-773.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 1996,772.

[7] Simpson, J. W. Jr.  “Thessalonians, Letters To The” In Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. by Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin, 932-939.  Downers Grove:  Intervarsity Press, 1993, 928.

[8] Perkins, Pheme. “1 and 2 Thessalonians.”  In The Harper Collins Bible Commentary, ed James L. Mays, 1131-1136.  San Francisco:  Harper Collins, 2000, 1131.

[9] Morris, Leon L.  “Second Coming of Christ.”  In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. by Walter A. Elwell, 719-723.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 1996, 772.