THESSALONIANS
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THESSALONIANS
and Corinthians and Galatians, for instance — we
miglit not look for the juxtaposition of Jewish with
Gentile Christians; but the Judaizers were not so
troublesome to Paul when he wrote to the Thessa-
lonians a-s when he wrote to the Romans.
(iii) The expression «c/>9o(re de iir airois t] dpyr) els T^Xoj, "the wrath hath come upon them unto the end" (ii, 16), naturally refers to the destruction of Jerusalem (a. d. 70) !us an accomplished punishment of the Jews for killing the Lord Jesus. This is an unwarranted assumjition. The phrase els t/\os is indefinite; it has no definite article nor any defining qualificative; it modifies e<p9a<re and refers to no defi- nite end either accomplished or to be accomplished. St. Paul indefinitely but surely sees the oncoming end, reads the easily legible writing on the wall, and interprets that writmg: "The wrath [of God] hath come upon them even unto making an end of them", (iv) Baur (op. cit., 48.5) finds the eschatology of the Epistle un-Pauline. In the Epistles to the Corin- thians, Romans, and Galatians, for instance, there is no diving into the future, nothing said of the Parousia, or second coming of Jesus. But the reason is clear, — those to whom Paul wrote his great and later Epistles had not the eschatological difficulties of the Thessa- lonians to meet. He adapted his letters to the wants of those to whom he wrote. The very fact that the apprehension of an inmiediate Parousia is not men- tioned in the later letters would have prevented a forger from palming off as Pauline such an unusual topic.
B. Canonicily. — The two Epistles to the Thessa- lonians are included among the canonical books ac- cepted by the Councils of the Vatican, of Trent, and of Florence, and are among the homologoumena of all early lists of canonical Xew-Testament Scriptures; for instance, to mention only such early lists as accord with the received canon of Trent, these two Epistles are listed in the Muratorian Fragment (a. d. 195- 205), in the canons of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (a. d. 373), of the Third Council of Carthage (a. d. 397), in which Saint Augustine took part, of St. Epiphanius (a. d. 403), of Innocent I (a. d. 405), and of (ielasius (a. d. 492). In fact there can be no rea- son whatsoever to doubt the canonicity of either letter.
C Time and Place. — The texlus recepliis, at the end of the two Epistles, gives a subscription stating that they were written from Athens [iypdipri dirA 'AStjcuv); and this same subscription is contained in the great uncial codices A, B-, K-, L- — that is, Alexandrinus (fourth century), Vaticanus (fifth-century corrector), Mosquensis, and Angelicus (both of the ninth cen- tury); it is likewise translated in important Latin, Syriac, and Coptic MSS. None the le.?s, there can be no doubt but that the letters were written during Pavil's first stay in Corinth. Timothy had been sent to Thessalonica by Paul from Athens (I Thess., iii, 2). Hence some Fathers inferred that, on this mission, Timothy brought along I Thess. The inference is wrong. As Rendel Harris -says in "The Expositor" (1898), 174, Paul may have sent another letter from Athens by Timothy to the Thessalonians. He cannot have sent I Thess. from there by him. Paul clearly states that Timothy had returned from Thessalonica before the WTiting of I Thess. (cf. iii, 6). Whither did he return? I Thess. does not state. Acts, xviii, 5, supplies answer. When Timothy returned from Macedonia with Silas to Paul, the Ajjostle was at Corinth. The news brought him by Timothy was the occasion of I Thess. Moreover, in the greeting with which each letter begins, the names of Paul, Silvanus (i. e. Silas), and Timothy are grouped to- gether; and we know that the three were together at Corinth (.Vets, xviii, 5) during Paul's first visit to that city (cf. also II Cor., i, 19). We have no proof that they were ever elsewhere together. I Thess., then,
was written during the eighteen months Paul stayed
at Corinth, i. e. in the year 48 or 49, according to the
chronolog}' of Hamack, "Chronologic der altchrist-
lichenLitteratur" (Leipzig, 1897), I, 717; in the year
53 or 54 according to the commonly received scheme
of Pauline chronology. Both letters are generally con-
sidered to be the earliest extant writings of St. Paul.
Some few now deem it proved that Paul wrote to the
South Galatians even before he wrote to the Thessa-
lonians, cf. Zahn, "Einleitung in das Neue Testa-
ment" (Leipzig, 1897), I, 138.
D. Occasion. — Having arrived at Athens, Paul at once set himself to convert the Jews, proselytes and Gentiles of that city. Among the latter he met with unusually small success. The Epicureans and Stoics for the most part rated him as a talkative lounger in the agora and either berated him with ridi- cule upon the Hill of Ai-es or waved him aside (Acts, xvii, 16-32). Meanwhile he trembled for the Church of Thessalonica. So long as he had been there, only the Jews strove to set his work at naught ; now in his absence, the Gentiles joined the Jews (I Thess., ii, 14), and made a vigorous onslaught upon the faith of his children. Paul yearned mightily to see their face once more. In his intense affection and concern, he breaks away from his wonted first plural : ' ' We willed to have come to you, even I, Paul, and that once and again; but Satan hindered us" (ii, 18). The hindrance wrought by Satan was probably a security against his return given by Jason and some friends (Acts, xvii, 9). Being unable to follow the yearnings of his heart, Paul sent Timothy to save the flock from the ravening wolves (I Thess., ii, 2). The Acts make no mention of this legation of Timothy from Athens to Thessa- lonica. Not long after, Paul left for Corinth (Acts, xviii, I). Thither Timothy, who returned from Thessalonica, brought back an eyewitness's testi- mony as to the conditions of the faithful of that city. Rendel Harris, in "The Expositor" (1898), 167, thinks that the Thessalonians sent Paul a letter by Timothy and, to make good his theory, appeals to I Thess., i, 2, 5; ii, 1, 5, 9-13; iii, 3-6. There may be .some ground for such conjecture in "We also" (to! ■ijliets) of I, ii, 13; "Also I" (iciyd) of I, iii, 5, and in "you have a good remembrance of us always" (eX^Tf p-vtlav ifixwv aya6-^v) of I, iii, 6. Be this as it may, whether by letter or by word of mouth, Tim- othy fully informed Paul of the needs of the Christian community at Thessalonica; and these needs were the occasion of the first Epistle to that community.
E. Conlenl.'i. — No other letter of Paul to a Church is so free and ea.sy and epistolary as is this letter; it defies .strict doctrinal analysis, and is far more per- sonal than doctrinal. Merely for the sake of some division, we may consider chapters i and iii as personal, chapters iv and V as doctrinal. (1) Per.sonal part — a missionary's free outpouring of a noble heart's yearn- ings. — He is filled with joy at hearing how they stand fast by the faith which he preached to them (i, 2, 8); fondly talks about his labours and about his stay with them (i, 9-ii, 12); thanks God for the way they received from him the word of God (ii, 13-16); deli- cately hints at his apprehensions for them, by telling how at Athens he yearned to see them, how he sent Timothy in his stead, how relieved he now is a* Tim- othy's message has brought him peace of mind (ii, 17-iii, 10). Then follows a brief and beautiful prayer which sums up the yearnings of the great soul of the Apo.stle (iii, 11-13). "
(2) Doctrinal part. — With this prayer ends what is meant to be free and epistolary. Now follows a little phrase of transition — "For the rest, therefore, brethren" — and a thoroughly Pauline and direct ex- hortation upon how they "ought to walk and to please God" by purity (iv, 1-8), brotherly love (iv, 9-10), and peaceful toil (verse 11). The peace of everyday toil had been disturbed by a fanatical
