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TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

2 Thessalonians 1

Before you read 2 Thessalonians: who, when, why

BOOK 53 OF 66 · NEW TESTAMENT · LETTER

Not Yet

AUTHOR
Paul, with Silvanus and Timothy, 1:1. Paul signs it in his own hand, 3:17. Many scholars think a follower wrote it later, because it sounds different about the end than 1 Thessalonians.
WRITTEN FROM
Corinth, where Paul, Silas and Timothy were together, Acts 18:5.
DATE WRITTEN
About AD 51, a few months after 1 Thessalonians.
WRITTEN TO
The same young church in Thessalonica, still under persecution, 1:4.
WHY HE WROTE
A fake message said the Day of the Lord had already come, 2:2. Some believers had quit working, 3:11. Paul wrote to calm them down and set them straight.
KEY VERSE
2 Thessalonians 2:3. Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.
AN EARLY COPY OF 2 THESSALONIANS

An Early Copy of 2 Thessalonians

A page of Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest complete Bibles, copied about AD 300 to 350, in the Vatican Library. The left column ends 2 Thessalonians, 3:11 to 18, with Paul's signature line, 3:17. The next columns start Hebrews. Older still is Papyrus 30, from the 200s, which holds a few verses of 2 Thessalonians.

The Setting

Paul had written 1 Thessalonians to comfort a church that was afraid their dead would miss the return of Jesus. Then things got worse. The persecution kept going. And someone, maybe a prophet in the church, maybe a fake letter signed with Paul's name, told them the Day of the Lord was already here. Some were so shaken that they quit their jobs. Paul writes back fast, from Corinth, to say: calm down, not yet, and get back to work. For the first letter, see 1 Thessalonians.

What Thessalonica Was Up Against

  • Persecution. They were still suffering for their faith, 1:4 to 6.
  • Panic. They were told the Day of the Lord had already come, 2:2.
  • A Fake Letter. Someone may have used Paul's name to spread it, 2:2 and 3:17.
  • Idle Believers. Some were not working, just being busybodies, 3:11.

Where to Find Jesus

  • 2 Thessalonians 1:7 to 10. The Lord Jesus revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in blazing fire. Still to come.
  • 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The Lord Jesus will slay the lawless one with the breath of His mouth. Echoes Isaiah 11:4. Still to come.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

  • Paul'S Signature. Paul usually dictated his letters to a helper, then signed the end himself, 3:17. Romans even names the writer, Tertius, Romans 16:22.
  • Antichrist?. The word antichrist is never used in this letter. Paul says the man of lawlessness. The word antichrist only shows up in 1 and 2 John.
  • The Most Argued Over Verses. Who the restrainer is in 2:6 to 7 may be the most debated question in all of Paul's letters. See The Big Question pages.
  • The Work Rule. 3:10 became a common saying. Captain John Smith used it in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608 to make lazy colonists work.

Did Anybody Listen?

It seems so. When Paul passed through Macedonia again a few years later, the churches there were so generous that they begged to give to the poor in Jerusalem, even in deep poverty, 2 Corinthians 8:1 to 4. Thessalonica stayed a strong Christian city for centuries, and its church of Saint Demetrius, first built in the 400s, is one of the largest in Greece.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

The church is still getting hammered, and Paul is still bragging on them. Hang on. When Jesus is revealed from heaven with blazing fire, He will make things right. The people hurting you will pay, and you will get relief.

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Greetings to the Thessalonians// 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10

1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing. 4That is why we boast among God’s churches about your perseverance and faith in the face of all the persecution and affliction you are enduring.

Christ’s Coming

5All this is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment. And so you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels 8in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might, 10on the day He comes to be glorified in His saints and regarded with wonder by all who have believed, including you who have believed our testimony.

  • 2TH 1:7[PROPHECY]The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel → STILL TO COME
  • 2TH 1:8[ALLUDES TO]Refers to ← IS 66:15
  • 2TH 1:9[NOTE]ETERNAL DESTRUCTION. Most churches through history read this as eternal punishment, a conscious separation from God that never ends, Matthew 25:46. Some, like the British pastor John Stott, leaned toward annihilation: the lost are destroyed for good and cease to exist. A few hold that in the end all will be saved, a view tied to Origen. Whatever view, Paul's point is that God will make things right, 1:6 to 7.

11To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith, 12so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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