1 Thessalonians 2 is the second chapter of the

First Epistle to the Thessalonians The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among t ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It is authored by Paul the Apostle, likely written in

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...

in about 50–51 CE for the church in

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. This chapter includes a review of Paul's previous

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

in Thessalonica and records his desire to visit them again.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 20 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 46 (c. AD 200; extant verses 1–3) * Papyrus 65 (3rd century) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. 450; extant verses 1–8) *

Codex Freerianus Codex Freerianus, designated by I or 016 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1041 ( von Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles'', is a 5th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum in Greek. It is named afte ...

(c. 450; extant verses 7–9, 14–16) * Codex Claromontanus (c. 550)

The divine basis for Paul's initial visit (2:1–4)

Paul reminds the believers about the fruitful works he started in Thessalonica, despite the suffering (Greek: ''hubristhentes'', "physically assaulted and dishonored") he and his co-workers (presumably Silvanus and Timothy) experienced in Philippi, that with the help of God (lit. 'in our God') the gospel was preached in the midst of opposition (Greek: ''agōn''). The persecution in Philippi may be the same as that noted in , where Paul and Silas (same as 'Silvanus') were dragged "into the marketplace to the authorities", and "the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods", then after "they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison", "put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks". In the account in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Silas reach Thessalonica at the start of chapter 17.

Verse 1

:''For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain.'' Theologian

Philip Esler Philip Francis Esler (born 27 August 1952) is the Portland Chair in New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire. He is an Australian-born higher education administrator and academic who became the inaugural Chief Executive of th ...

describes the reference to "brethren" ("brothers and sisters" in the

New Revised Standard Version The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.fictive kinship". The words "you yourselves know" are followed up three more times within the first few lines of this section (verses 2, 5 and 11). Protestant theologian

Heinrich Meyer Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer (10 January 1800 – 21 June 1873) was a German Protestant divine. He wrote commentaries on the ''New Testament'' and published an edition of that book. Biography Meyer was born in Gotha. He studied theology at Jena, ...

thinks the words are "involuntarily added by Paul, by reason of the lively feeling with which he places himself, in thought, in the time whereof he speaks".

The behavior and example of the people (2:5–12)

Verse 10

: ''You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;'' * "You are witnesses, and God also": the church is the witness for the more open part and God for the more secret part of all their actions. Gill, J.
''Exposition of the Bible''
on 1 Thessalonians 2:10 * "How devoutly KJV; KJV: 'holily' and justly, and blamelessly KJV; KJV: 'unblamably'we behaved ourselves among you who believe": The Syriac version combines the verses to read, "ye are witnesses, and God also, how purely and justly we preached unto you the Gospel of God, and how unblamable we were among all that believed"; referring the former part to the purity and integrity in which they preached the Gospel, and the latter to their unblemished conduct among the believers; and it was likewise "just", that is, righteous in the sight of God through the justifying righteousness of Christ, and in consequence of this lived righteously before men; as well as "unblamable"; not without sin, but by the grace of God, there was nothing material to be alleged against them, or any just cause of blame to be laid either on their persons or their ministry.

The response of the Thessalonians (2:13–16)

Paul gratefully recalls the acceptance of God's words by the Thessalonians, but condemns some Jews, classified as 'the

Judeans Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

' (Greek: ''Ioudaioi''; specifically for a group of Jews who was oriented to Judea, to Jerusalem and the temple within it), who persecute Christians and were connected by Paul to the killing of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

and the prophets.

Authenticity

The authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 has been disputed by some. The following arguments are made against its authenticity based on its content: * It is perceived to be theologically incompatible with Paul's other epistles: elsewhere Paul attributed Jesus's death to the "rulers of this age" rather than to the Jews, and elsewhere Paul writes that the Jews have not been abandoned by God, for "all Israel will be saved". According to 1 Thes 1:10, the wrath of God is still to come; it is not something that has already shown itself. * There were no extensive historical persecutions of Christians by Jews in Palestine prior to the first Jewish war. * The use of the concept of imitation in 1 Thes. 2.14 is singular. * The aorist ''eftasen'' ("has overtaken") refers to the

destruction of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Jud ...

. * The syntax of these verses deviates from that of the surrounding context. However, the authenticity of the passage has continued to find defenders over the last two centuries, and in the last thirty years the common opinion has swung decisively in favor of authenticity.

Paul's desire to visit the Thessalonians (2:17–20)

In these verses, Paul expresses his eagerness to be physically with the Thessalonians again, even as he was hindered to do so on a number of occasions.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{First Epistle to the Thessalonians 02