SUMMARY
Written to a community of believers beset from without by persecution and from within by misunderstanding, the letter gives instruction about living faithfully in light of Jesus’ promised return. Promises, correction, and encouragement aim to comfort the church and strengthen its members’ ability to withstand their current crises. Those who endure will be vindicated, because God is just. The day of the Lord has not yet come for it must follow a time of rebellion against God and the revealing of “the lawless one.” Disruptively idle Christians damage the fellowship of believers and its ability to embody the gospel in the world.
SO WHAT?
Amid the traumas wrought by persecution against people of faith and the destructive reality of evil, 2 Thessalonians insists that God is just and that faithful living will result in glory being ascribed to JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God’s saving act for humanity More Christ. The sometimes harsh and dire language of this letter continues to remind Christians in perilous circumstances that the church’s witness is of utmost importance, that faithful obedience is part of the calling that God empowers believers to fulfill. The book presses readers of every age to consider what it means for them to live in light of the promise that Christ will return.
WHERE DO I FIND IT?
The Second Letter to the Thessalonians is the fourteenth book in the New Testament. Adjacent to 1 Thessalonians, it stands in the midst of the “Pauline corpus,” the collection of letters attributed to the ApostleDerived from a Greek word meaning “one who is sent,” an apostle is a person who embraces and advocates another person’s idea or beliefs. At the beginning of his ministry Jesus called twelve apostles to follow and serve him. Paul became an apostle of Jesus… More PaulA Christian missionary who once persecuted the church More (the books of Romans through Philemon).
WHO WROTE IT?
The opening words of 2 Thessalonians identify its authors as the coworkers Paul, Silvanus (identified as SilasChristian missionary who was imprisoned with Paul at Philippi More in the book of Acts), and TimothyThe companion on Paul’s later journeys for whom two pastoral epistles are named More, and the letter’s penultimate verse claims to come from Paul’s own hand. However, pivotal interpretive issues–particularly the curious relationship between the format and content of this epistleAn epistle, simply, is a letter or message. As many as twenty-one of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are epistles, letters written to churches or persons for instruction, pastoral care, or discipline. More and 1 Thessalonians–give good reason to suppose that 2 Thessalonians was composed by an unknown person writing in a later generation in the name of Paul and his colleagues.
WHEN WAS IT WRITTEN?
Determining when this letter was written relates to determining who wrote it and what was taking place among the addressees. If Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy wrote it soon after 1 Thessalonians, that would place it in the mid 50s. If an admirer of Paul wrote it at a later time and invoked the apostle’s reputation to address new circumstances, it likely comes from between 80 and 100 C.E.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The letter tells a community of Christians facing persecution to cling to what they have previously been taught, to refrain from disorderly behavior, and to wait faithfully for the return of Jesus Christ.
HOW DO I READ IT?
This letter speaks sharply about vengeance, punishment, evil, and exclusion. Its harsh language can shock readers who do not live in places where Christians experience persecution or who question whether assurances of retribution can really bring comfort to the afflicted. Read 2 Thessalonians in light of other biblical books’ teaching about the end time and with eyes to imagine how the gospel gives assurance to embattled and vulnerable communities of faith. Consider how language of “grace” and “peace” (1:2; 3:16-18) also shapes the letter.
