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1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians. BI 192W, Paul’s Letters and Mission David J. Lull (Scripture quotations are from the NRSV.). Thessalonica. It is “the mother of all Macedonia” (Antipater, Greek Anthology , 9.428 LCL).

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1 Thessalonians

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  1. 1 Thessalonians BI 192W, Paul’s Letters and Mission David J. Lull (Scripture quotations are from the NRSV.)

  2. Thessalonica • It is “the mother of all Macedonia” (Antipater, Greek Anthology, 9.428 LCL). • It has one of the best harbors in the Aegean and four major highways in all four directions cross through it. • The estimated population within the city walls was 65-80,000 and up to 100,000 when “those immediately outside the wall were included” (Malherbe 14). • Paul founded the church (ca. 50 CE) after troubles in Philippi (2.2). See Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, Anchor Bible 32B (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 14-15.

  3. Occasion and Purpose • Paul wrote this letter about four months after his founding visit (Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 72). • The church in Thessalonica has suffered persecution (2.14). • Paul, in Athens (3.1), yearns to return to them (2.17-20), but sends Timothy in his stead (3.2), “so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions” (3.3). • Paul prays that he may see them “face to face and restore whatever is lacking in [their] faith” (3.10). • 3.13 and 5.23 bracket the body of letter!

  4. 1.1 Epistolary Prescript: Senders Addressees Greeting 1.2-3.13 Thanksgiving: Autobiographical Parenetic 4.1-5.22 Exhortation 5.23-28 Epistolary Postscript: 5:23-24 Prayer 5.25 Request 5.26 Greeting 5.27 Closing command 5.28 Benediction Outline Adapted from Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 78-81.

  5. Rhetorical Style • 1 Thess 1.2-3.13: Epideictic (Praise) • 1 Thess 2.1-12 is not forensic/juridical (past, innocence/defense) but epideictic (present, ethos). • 1 Thess 4.1-5.22: Deliberative (Future, Persuasion) See James L. Bailey and Lyle D. Vander Broek, Literary Forms in the New Testament (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1992), 31-37.

  6. Rhetorical Elements • Ethos (character) = 1.2-3.13 • Logos (proof) = 4.1-8, 4.9-12, 4.13-5.11 • Pathos (emotion) = 2.2, 7-8, 11-12, 17-20 See Bailey and Vander Broek, Literary Forms in the New Testament, 31-37.

  7. Paul’s Preaching • 1.2-7 • “. . . you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for God’s Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming” (1.9-10, adapted from the NRSV). • Acts 17.1-9

  8. Thessalonian Deities

  9. Mount Olympus, Greece

  10. Paul and Moral Philosophers (2.1-12) • “though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ” (2.7a). • “But we were gentleamong you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children” (2.7b). • “we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you” (2.9). • “we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that [telic] you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (2.11-12).

  11. How to Live and Please God (4.1-12) • “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication [sexual immorality]” (4.3). • “that each one of you know how to control your own body” (4.4). • “Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters,you do not need to have anyone write to you” (4.9). • “to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one” (4.11-12).

  12. About Those Who Have Died(4.13-18) • “. . . so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (4.13). • “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died” (4.14). • “For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died” (4.15). • The Apocalyptic scenario and its goal: union of all with Christ forever (4.16-17 and 5.10). No car and plane crashes!!

  13. Paul’s Apocalyptic Eschatology • “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead -- Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming” (1.10). • “the coming of the Lord . . . the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever” (4.15-17). • A thief in the night . . . labor pains . . . children of light and day/night and darkness . . . keep awake and be sober (5.1-11). • “9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (5.9-11).

  14. 2 Thessalonians • Outline: • 1.1-2 Prescript • 1.3-12 Thanksgiving • 2.1-3.15 Body • 3.16-18 Postscript • Authorship: Disputed Passages • 1.6-10 • 2.3-12 • 3.6-15

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