gratitude on receiving this welcome news. At the same time there report of Timothy was not
unmixed with alloy. There were certain features in the condition of the Thessalonian church which
called for St. Paul’s interference and to which he addresses himself in his letter.
•The very intensity of their Christian faith, dwelling too exclusively on the day of the Lord’s coming,
had been attended with evil consequences. On the other hand, a theoretical difficulty had been
felt. Certain members of the church had died, and there was great anxiety lest they should be
excluded from any share in the glories of the Lord’s advent. ch. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
•The Thessalonians needed consolation and encouragement under persecution. ch. (1 Thessalonians
2:14; 3:2-4)
•An unhealthy state of feeling with regard to spiritual gifts was manifesting itself. ch. ( 1
Thessalonians 6:19,20)
•There was the danger of relapsing into their old heathen profligacy. ch. (1 Thessalonians 4:4-8)
Yet notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the condition of the Thessalonian church was highly
satisfactory, and the most cordial relations existed between St. Paul and his converts there. This
honorable distinction it shares with the other great church of Macedonia, that of Philippi. The
epistle is rather practical than doctrinal. The external evidence in favor of the genuineness of the
First Epistle to the Thessalonians is chiefly negative, but this is important enough. There is no
trace that it was ever disputed at any age or in any section of the Church, or even by any individual
till the present century. Toward the close of the second century from Irenaeus downward. we find
this epistle directly quoted and ascribed to Paul. The evidence derived from the character of the
epistle itself is so strong that it may fairly be called irresistible.
Thessalonians, Second Epistle To The
appears to have been written from Corinth not very long after the first, for Silvanus and
Timotheus were still with St. Paul. (2 Thessalonians 1:1) In the former letter we saw chiefly the
outpouring of strong personal affection, occasioned by the renewal of the apostle’s intercourse with
the Thessalonians, and the doctrinal and hortatory portions are there subordinate. In the Second
Epistle, on the other hand, his leading motive seems to have been the desire of correcting errors in
the church of Thessalonica. We notice two points especially which call for his rebuke:— First, it
seems that the anxious expectation of the Lord’s advent. Instead of subsiding, had gained ground
since the writing of the First Epistle. Second, the apostle had also a personal ground of complaint.
His authority was not denied by any, but it was tampered with, and an unauthorized use was made
of his name. It will be seen that the teaching of the Second Epistle is corrective of or rather
supplemental to that of the first, and therefore presupposes it. This epistle, in the range of subject
as well as in style and general character closely resembles the first; and the remarks made on that
epistle apply for the most part equally well to this. The structure is somewhat similar the main body
of the epistle being divided into two parts in the same way, and each part closing with a prayer. ch.
(2 Corinthians 2:16,17; 3:16) The epistle ends with a special direction and benediction. ch. ( 2
Corinthians 3:17,18) The external evidence in favor of the Second Epistle is somewhat more definite
than that which can be brought in favor of the first. The internal character of the epistle too, as in
the former case, bears the strongest testimony to its Pauline origin. Its genuineness, in fact, was
never questioned until the beginning of the present century.
Thessalonica
The original name of this city was Therma; and that part of the Macedonian shore on which it
was situated retained through the Roman period the designation of the Thermaic Gulf. Cassander
frankie
(Frankie)
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