SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS
INTRODUCTION.
That the second Epistle to the Thessalonians
was written very soon after the first is apparent from the fact that the two
Epistles show that practically the same conditions existed in that church, and
also from the fact that Silas and Timothy join with Paul in both letters; and it
can not be shown that these three men were ever together after the earlier part
of Paul's ministry in Corinth. We would therefore date this letter in the latter
part of A. D. 52 or the early part of A. D. 53. Jesus had left the world about
twenty-three years before, promising to return at an indefinite date. This
indefiniteness gave free scope to the conjectures of his early followers, until
the clear teaching of his apostles brought about a better understanding. There
are evidences in the first Epistle that the Lord's coming was a subject of great
interest to the Thessalonians. It seems likely that at the date of that Epistle
the disciples there were expecting the Lord's return in the near future; for
they were grieving over the thought that their loved ones who died would thereby
be cut off from all participation in the joys of that coming--a joy which those
still living fully expected to realize. In correcting this false view as to the
dead, Paul had not thought it needful to specify that all would likely die
before the Lord came, since in his teaching while in Thessalonica he had shown
that the events which God had decreed should intervene before the coming of the
Lord, were of such a nature as to necessarily require much time. Thus the idea
that the Lord's return would take place in the near future remained uncorrected
by him, for he was not really aware that it prevailed. Moreover, certain
passages in his first Epistle could be, and evidently were, misconstrued [28]
to favor the idea, and were used to foster and strengthen it. See 1
Thess. 4:15, 17; 5:4, 6. Again, traditional sayings of the apostle were
appealed to in confirmation of this erroneous notion, and, as a consequence of
all this, the church was excited and troubled. The design, therefore, of this
second Epistle was to correct the error as to the Lord's coming, and thus
restore tranquility to the church. To do this the apostle reminds them of his
former instruction, wherein he showed that the rise and fall of the man of sin
must precede the coming of the Lord. Having corrected the doctrinal error, he
closes his Epistle, as usual, with prayer and admonitions and a benediction.
[29]
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