the imitation hypothesis 199
ταχέως σαλευθῆναι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ νοὸς μηδὲ θροεῖσθαι, μήτε διὰ πνεύματος
μήτε διὰ λόγου μήτε δι ̓ ἐπιστολῆς ὡς δι ̓ ἡμῶν, ὡς ὅτι ἐνέστηκεν ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ
κυρίου (“as to the coming of our lord Jesus christ and our being gathered
together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken
in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from
us, to the effect that the day of the lord is already here”).4 The content
of this request is the preservation of orthodoxy, namely the right belief
concerning the parousia. The following verses in chapter 2 mark the idea
that the day of the lord has already come as a “heretic” belief from which
the community shall distance itself.5
Requests with ἐρωτῶ in Documentary Papyri
In documentary papyri, ἐρωτῶ is widely used for requests and personal
desires, most frequently within letters of personal interest (“private
letters”) concerning interpersonal relationships, everyday issues, legal and
business matters.
among letters with interpersonal concerns are those in which the sender
requires a letter or information about certain matters. examples are
sB I 3939.23–25 (no date), p.mich. VIII 502.5 (II ce), where the sender asks
his brother for forgiveness, p.oxy. XlI 2980.3–6 (II ce), when the sender
wants to know why he does not receive any letter from the recipient, and
Bgu XV 2492.3–4 (II ce), begging a mother to write about herself. further-
more, a certain ammonios asks his brother in o.claud. I 155.5–6 (II ce)
to forward him a letter from his wife. In p.col. VIII 215.15–16 (ca. 100 ce)
apollonous asks her mother to write to her as soon as she has word from
a certain Thermuthas.
next to these requests for letters, concerns about the health of the
recipient and the recipient’s relatives and requests for information about
the health of others also belong to the sphere of the interpersonal context.
The request to write περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας can be found in p.col. VIII 215.17–20
(daughter to mother; ca. 100 ce), p.mich. VIII 465.35–37 (son to mother;
february 20, 108 ce), o.claud. I 168.5–6 (to a “brother”; ca. 100–120 ce),
p.wisc. II 72.23–26 (II ce), where a certain kaikilis wants to know more
about the health of his sister and her children, and Bgu II 423.11–14
4 Biblical translations follow the new revised standard Version.
5 Because of its structure carl J. Bjerkelund, Parakalô: Form, Funktion und Sinn der
parakalô-Sätze in den paulinischen Briefen (Bibliotheca Theologica norvegica 1; oslo: uni-
versitetsforlaget, 1967), 13–19, 136–38, counts 2 Thess 2:1 among his παρακαλῶ-sentences
and thereby overlooks the different contents for which ἐρωτῶ and παρακαλῶ are used in
2 Thessalonians (which Bjerkelund takes as a genuine pauline letter).