Introduction to Second Thessalonians

This is the first of four lessons taught at our evening service from Second Thessalonians. Each person received a copy of each lesson. I didn't talk about everything in each lesson. I simply highlighted the main points and encouraged those in attendance to continue their study with the notes beyond the class.

1. General Information

For a description of the city of Thessalonica, the establishment of the church there, and the problems and issues unique to that city, see notes and introduction to the first epistle.

2. Time and Place of Writing

This letter seems to have been written soon after the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians and from the same place: the city of Corinth. Though this conclusion is not certain since there is no internal evidence to verify it, it rests nonetheless on the following grounds:

A. The same persons – Paul, Timothy, and Silas – are mentioned as being together at the time of its writing as were together when First Thessalonians was written. (See 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1) There is reason to believe that these three did not continue to stay together in the same place very long. Therefore it is presumed that the two epistles were written close to the same time – while they were still together.

B. Paul refers to an error that had crept into the church, apparently a consequence of a misunderstanding of the first letter. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3) It is reasonable to believe that Paul would hasten to correct it as soon as possible.

C. There is some probability that the letter was written before the troubles came upon Paul at Corinth under the administration of Gallio (See Acts 18:12-16) yet that he saw the storm approaching and hints at it in 2 Thessalonians 3:2:"…and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith."

If the reasons above are sound we can place the writing of this epistle at the later part of AD 53 or the early part of AD 54.

3. Occasion for Writing and Design of Letter.

Little doubt exists as to Paul’s reason for writing this epistle. Either by an error of interpretation of his former letter or by a letter forged and sent in his name (see 2 Thessalonians 3:17) the opinion had become prevalent in the church at Thessalonica that the Lord was about to appear and the end of the world was at hand. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:2) The leading purpose of the letter was to correct this wrong impression. Some had apparently become anxious about this pending return on Christ and had even stopped working at their jobs and occupations, believing that it would soon no longer be necessary. (See 2 Thessalonians 3:10-11) As usual, Paul also used the letter to touch on needed additional topics.

5. Value of the Epistle.

This letter, though short, is of great value to us when it comes to a proper understanding of the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ. It was written to correct an error in a single church in Paul’s day, yet history has shown that there is a tendency toward the same error in the church since then. It was inferred from the first epistle that Paul had meant to teach that the Lord’s return was imminent. Had not this second letter been written to correct that false interpretation and show what was Paul’s believe, it would have been charged that he was mistaken and the natural inference to follow would have been that all the prophecies were suspect. Paul’s prompt attention to correcting the Thessalonians’ error arrested that danger then and now.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

[Archive]    [Home]   [Comments]   [Search]