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Introduction
to the First and Second Books of Thessalonians
I.
Writer
Paul the apostle (1Thess. 1:1; 2Thess. 1:1).
He jointly signed with Silvanus, and Timothy In the beginning of the letter,
however, the letter was written by Paul himself (See 1Thess. 2:18; 3:2;
5:27-28; 2Thess. 2:5; 3:17).
According to the
records of the Bible, Paul was formerly called Saul (Acts. 13:9), an Israelite,
of tribe of Benjamin (
II.
The Time and Location the Books were Written
It is generally acknowledged that the first and
second books of Thessalonians were the first two books among Paul’s epistles.
Since these two books were sent out in the name of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy
(1Thess. 1:1; 2Thess. 1:1), they were supposed to be together before the letter
was written. According to the records of the Bible, they met each other in
Some Bible scholars
held that the first and second books of Thessalonians were in reverse order and
therefore the first should be the second and the second should be the first.
Now their reasons are listed as follows:
1) The past tense is
used to mention the tribulation they suffered in the first book (1Thess. 1:6;
2:14) and the present tense is used in the second book (2Thess. 1:4-7).
2) Usually “the
salutation of Paul with my own hand” was in the first epistle (1Cor. 16:21;
Col. 4:18; Philem. 19) in order to make the pattern of his letters to them. And
Paul mentioned it in the second book when he wrote to the church in the city of
3) The teachings of
“the day of the Lord” in the second book (2Thess. 2:1-12) should be first and
therefore there is “concerning the times and the seasons, you have no need that
I should write to you” in the first book afterwards (1Thess. 5:1).
4) “The love of every
one of you all abounds toward each other” (2Thess. 1:3) in the second book
should be first and “concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should
write to you” (1Thess. 4:9) in the first book afterwards.
5) Paul mentioned in
the first book that he wanted to visit the church in the city of
6) It is mentioned in
the first book that some believers in the church at the city of
7) The contents of the
first book are quite detailed and the second book is brief, showing that the
first book is an additional remark of the second book.
The above-mentioned
reasons of guess are quite farfectched and they cannot be used to prove that
the second book was before the first book and the first book was after the
second book. Now we retort them one by one:
1) “Having received…in
much affliction” and “suffered the same things from your own countrymen” which
were in the past tense in the first book refer to their sufferings when they
believed in the Lord. Actually when Paul wrote the first book, their sufferings
had not been the past and there were “afflictions” awaiting them (1Thess. 3:3).
And therefore the present tense is used to describe their sufferings they shall
face after they had been saved.
2) “The salutation of Paul with my own hand” in the
second book is used to deal with the problem of “letter, as if from us” in the
same letter (2Thess. 2:2). It cannot be used to deduce that all the letters
with the salvation with his own hand are the first letters.
3) The reason why it is mentioned in the first book
that Paul did not need to write to explain the day of the Lord to them is that
he had told them when he was there (2Thess. 2:5). In the second letter he had
to mention it again to correct the false explanation in the church in the city
of
4) Actually from the
first day, the condition that believers loved one another in the church in the
city of
5) Though it is not
mentioned in the second book whether Paul had returned to visit the church in
the city of
6) The death of
believers is not related to the length of time that they need and Paul always
appointed elders who were over them when he departed from the churches in
various churches (See Acts. 14:23).
7) The length of the
books is not related to the order of the books, for example, the first book of
Corinthians is longer than the second book of Corinthians.
The conclusion is that
the first book is still the first and the second book is still the second. And
the order is right.
III.
The Recipients
This
book was written to the church in
Thessalonica (1Thess. 1:1; 2Thess. 1:1). She was established by Paul on the
second journey, however, soon Paul suffered persecution and the groundless
accusation and had to leave in a hurry. And therefore he cannot stay there for
a long period to shepherd and build the church (Acts. 17:1-9).
The city of
Some bible scholars,
according to the seventeenth chapter of the Acts, deduced that Paul the Apostle
stayed at Thessalonica for a short time and even it was less than a month.
However, we thought that Paul at least stayed at the city of
1) “for
three Sabbaths” which was mentioned in the Acts only referred to the time he
preached the gospel in the synagogue of the city of
2) more
than half of believers in the church at Thessalonica were the Gentile pagans
who worshiped idols formerly (1Thess. 1:9) instead of the Greek proselytes
(Acts. 17:4). And therefore they should be the fruits of the gospel that Paul
bore outside of the synagogue.
3) When
Paul stayed at the city of
4) When
Paul was at the city of
5) Paul
recounted by himself that he taught them concerning many topics during the
period that he stayed at the city of Thessalonica (1Thess. 2:11; 3:4; 4:1-2,
11; 5:1-2; 2Thess. 2:5, 15; 3:4, 10).
6) Paul
had established the intimate relation with the local believers and they were
quite familiar with each other (1Thess. 1:2, 6; 2:7-8, 11, 17, 19-20; 3:6-10)
In addition, some
Bible scholars, considering that there was much grammar of the Old Testament in
the wordings of the second book of Thessalonians, advocated that there were two
groups of believers in the church at Thessalonica: one was the group of the
Gentiles and the other was the group of the Jews. And the first book was
written to the Gentiles and the second book to the Jews. However, Paul
constantly firmly believed that there was neither Greek nor Jew in the church
(Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11), especially at that time the so-called bill of the
apostles that “putting no difference between us and them” had been adopted soon
(Acts. 15:9). If Paul indeed allowed the existence of two groups of believers
in a local church, that was quite unbelievable. And therefore the saying that
the first and second books were written to different recipients cannot stand.
IV.
The Motivation for Writing these Epistles
After Paul and the fellow-workers left
Thessalonica, this rising church was also persecuted. And immediately Paul sent
Timothy, the young fellow-worker, to return to visit and help the Saints there.
Afterwards, from the mouth of Timothy, Paul knew that they did not yield to the
persecution and contrarily stood firmly (1Thess. 1:6-7; 2:14; 3:4-6; 2Thess.
1:4). Paul was gratified and he still cared for their spiritual future because
he did not work for a long period among them and he was afraid that their
foundation of the truth was not firm and they might be influenced by various
kinds of outside teachings. And therefore he wrote the first book to exhort
them and here were the main points:
1) he reminded them to remember how he taught them
among them and the example of his walkings (1Thess. 1:5-6; 2:1-12).
2) he
exhorted them to abstain from the local evil and licentious custom and possess
their own vessels in sanctification and honor (1Thess. 3:13-4:8).
3) he
exhorted them to work with their own hands and be a normal man before the
world, besides loving one another (1Thess. 3:12; 4:9-12).
4) he clearly explained the conditions of the
coming of the Lord and the experiences of believers in future and he exhorted
them to watch and be sober for these (1Thess. 4:13-5:11).
5) he exhorted that they should not despise
prophecies (i.e. the teachings and doctrines of the Lord’s workers), however,
they should test all things and it is inappropriate for them to swallow the
teachings up (1Thess. 5:20-21).
However, not long after Paul wrote the first book
of Thessalonians, some outside false teachers appeared and some people wrote to
them in the name of Paul. They especially brought in some false doctrines and
teachings concerning the coming of the Lord (2Thess. 2:1-2) so that Paul had to
write the second book. He corrected the false teachings on one hand and on the
other he exhorted them to live the normal life of waiting for the coming of the
Lord and not to live in idleness before the Lord comes.
V.
Importance
Among Paul’s epistles,
the first and second books of Thessalonians, the book of Romans and the book of
Ephesians are called the tree doctrinal books in the New Testament and they
stress on the three virtues of believers “faith, hope and love” respectively:
1) the book of Romans stresses on “faith”------“justification by faith”; 2) the
book of Ephesians stresses on “love”------“building in love”; 3) the first and
second books of Thessalonians stress on “hope”------“hoping for the coming of
the Lord”.
Christians should have
the right knowledge and attitude to the coming of the Lord. The Lord Jesus set
the desk of the Lord to make believers remember Him in breaking the bread and
drinking the cup for the purpose of reminding us to wait for His coming (1Cor.
11:26). Paul said that if we believers do not have the hope that we shall rise
and be with the Lord when He comes and “in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (1Cor. 15:19). And therefore we
should search and read the first and second books of Thessalonians carefully
and then we shall exactly know the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord
and have the normal attitude and life of waiting for the coming of the Lord.
VI.
General Description
God the Father has chosen and kept us, the
Lord Jesus Christ came to the world to save us and shall come again to receive
us and the Holy Spirit moves us to make us receive the grace and guides us. The
Holy Trinity works to make us have faith, love and hope.
Believers, in the
local churches, should walk worthy of God who calls us into His own kingdom and
glory. And the will of God is our sanctification and blamelessness. And
therefore we should possess our own vessels in sanctification and honor; love
one another in the church; work with our own hands in the society and walk
properly toward those who are outside.
We are not those who
do not hope on earth because our Lord Jesus Christ will come again to receive
us. And therefore we shall not move though we suffer tribulation and are evilly
treated by others. Contrarily our faith is much firmer, our love is more
abundant and we have more endurance because of hope; we live the remainder of
our life by rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in
everything. The Holy Trinity Himself will sanctify us completely.
VII.
Special Points
There are at least the following five
special points in the first and second books of Thessalonians:
1) three “triplets” are clearly mentioned in the
first book: a) the Holy Trinity------God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit (1Thess. 1:9-10; 3:11; 4:8); b) faith, love and hope (1Thess.
1:3; 5:8); c) spirit, soul and body (1Thess. 5:23).
2) Since our salvation is of God (1:1, 4), all our
walkings, works and pursuits after we have been saved should be responsible to
God and we should please Him in everything (1Thess. 1:9-10; 2:4, 12; 4:6-8;
5:18).
3) The Holy Trinity is the reason and reliance of
all our spiritual virtues: a) patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Chris (1Thess.
1:3); b) joy of the Holy Spirit (1Thess. 1:6); c) stand fast in the Lord
(1Thess. 3:8); d) the Lord makes you increase and abound in love (1Thess.
3:12); e) God called us in holiness (1Thess. 4:7); e) God Himself sanctifies us
completely (1Thess. 5:23).
4) Paul showed the deep sense of shepherding in
these two books and he even regarded the spiritual states of believers as his
matter of life and death (1Thess. 2:8; 3:7-8).
5) Every chapter in the first book of Thessalonians
concluded with the second coming of the Lord (1:9-10; 2:19-20; 3:13; 4:13-18;
5:23-24); the detailed explanations were stated aiming at the day of the Lord
in the second book of Thessalonians. And therefore if we want to have a full
view of the second coming of the Lord, we should research these two books
carefully.
VIII.
Key Verses
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of
love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and
Father” (1Thess. 1:3)
“For now we live, if
you stand fast in the Lord” (1Thess. 3:8).
“For the Lord Himself
will descend from heaven... And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1Thess.
4:16-17).
“Rejoice always, pray
without ceasing, in everything give thanks;” (1Thess. 5:16-18).
“Now may the God of
peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and
body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thess.
5:23).
“Let no one deceive
you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes
first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition” (2Thess. 2:3).
IX.
Key Words
“Coming” or “the day of
Christ” (1Thess. 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23;
2Thess. 1:10; 2:1, 2).
“Gospel” (1Thess. 1:5; 2:2, 8, 9; 2Thess. 1:8;
2:14).
“Faith” (1Thess. 1:3, 5, 8; 3:5, 6, 7, 10; 5:8;
2Thess. 1:3, 4, 11; 3:2).
“Love” (1Thess. 1:3; 3:6, 12; 3:9; 5:8, 13; 2Thess.
1:3).
“Hope” or “wait” (1Thess. 1:3, 10; 2:19).
“Devoutly” or “sanctification” (1Thess. 2:10; 3:13;
4:3, 7; 5:23, 25; 2Thess. 2:13).
“Much affliction”, “suffer” or “tribulation”
(1Thess. 1:6; 2:14; 3:3, 4; 2Thess. 1:4, 6, 7).
X.
Outlines of the Book
The Outlines of the First Book of
Thessalonians
I. Foreword (1:1-2).
II. Thanksgiving and stating his feelings
(1:3-3:13):
A.
Thanking God that the church normally received God’s grace (1:3-10).
B.
Recounting by himself how he preached the gospel to the church (2:1-12)
C.
Caring for the state of the church after his parting (2:13-3:10).
D.
Making intercession for the church (3:11-13).
III. Exhortation and consolation (4:1-5:22):
A.
Exhorting believers to abstain from sexual immorality and be sanctified
(4:1-8).
B.
Exhorting believers to work with their own hands and walk properly (4:9-12).
C.
Exhorting believers not to sorrow because the Lord shall come (4:13-18).
D.
Exhorting believers to watch and be sober and wait for the coming of the Lord
(5:1-11).
E.
Exhorting believers to deal with each other kindly and respect the Lord’s
servants (5:12-22).
IV. Epilogue (5:23-28):
A.
Blessing (5:23-24).
B.
Advising and urging (5:25-27).
C.
Blessing again (5:28).
The Outlines of the Second Book of
Thessalonians
I. Foreword (v.1-2).
II. Thanksgiving and intercession (1:3-12):
A.
Thanking God for the church (1:3-10).
B. Making intercession for the church (1:11-12).
III. Correction and exhortation (2:1-3:15):
A.
Correcting the fallacious ideas concerning the second coming of the Lord
(2:1-12).
B.
Exhorting them to stand fast by relying upon the Holy Trinity and make
intercession for the Lord’s workers (2:13-3:5).
C.
Correcting the fallacious idea of being unwilling to lead a quiet life and work
(3:6-12).
D. How
to deal with believers who were unwilling to hear the teachings of the Lord’s
workers (3:13-15).
IV. Epilogue (3:16-18):
A.
Blessing (3:16).
B.
Advising and urging (3:17).
C.
Blessing again (3:18).
──
Caleb Huang《Christian Digest Bible
Commentary Series》
Translated by Mary Zhou