1. Our first impression may indeed be a correct impression. 2 Thessalonians begins very similarly to 1 Thessalonians, with the names of Paul, Silas, and Timothy as authors.
Indeed, 2 Thessalonians 2:2 warns about the possibility of fake letters that are not really from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. 3:17 emphasizes that Paul is writing the closing greeting with his own hand. He emphasizes his signature for comparison with any other letter that might claim to be from him.
This is a very strong argument for the literal Pauline authorship of the letter. If it were not the case, would we not have to conclude that 2 Thessalonians was a forgery? There is debate over whether there are letters in the New Testament that were "allonymous"-- written by someone other than the name on them. [1] Some have argued that the recipients might have known that these letters were not directly from the person named in the greeting.
We will return to this question under the heading of genre below. Nevertheless, the impression we get is that Paul, Silas, and Timothy are the co-authors. Similarly, the impression we get is that the Thessalonian church is once again the audience of the letter.
Date and Situation
2. We do not find Silas as an author on any of Paul's other letters. Timothy is mentioned in the greeting of Colossians. The specific names of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, as well as the Thessalonian audience, thus suggest that we might think of this letter in the same general time frame as 1 Thessalonians. The impression we get is that 2 Thessalonians must have also been written from Corinth to Thessalonica around the years AD50-52.
Paul's letters are arranged in the canon by length, so it is at least theoretically possible that 2 Thessalonians was written before 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians is first because it has 5 chapters, while 2 Thessalonians only has 3. Nevertheless, the current order seems to be the correct one. The story of the founding of the church and Timothy's recent return suggests that 1 Thessalonians is Paul's first contact with the church since he left.
1 Thessalonians addresses the matter of Christians who die before the Lord returns. 2 Thessalonians seems to address those who might believe the judgment has already begun. Some have also argued that an immanent expectation of Christ's return might explain the idleness addressed in 2 Thessalonians 3. If you believe the Lord is coming back immediately, why work?
The impression we thus get is that 2 Thessalonians was written to indicate events that would take place before the second coming. The point was to indicate that the Lord had not yet returned. Nor would he would return immediately, for some of the key signs had not yet happened. There is still a near expectation, just not an immediate expectation. Some things still had to happen. There was reason to keep working as usual.
Genre
3. Above you find the impressions we get from a surface level reading of the letter, and these impressions may indeed be the correct ones. However, a close reading of the letter also finds a number of curiosities. They have led some to wonder if more is going on with this letter than we might get from our first impressions.
For one, the content of 2 Thessalonians 2 is unique to Paul's letters. Nowhere else does he speak of a man of lawlessness or a rebellion. The impression we get from 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians is indeed that the Lord could return at any time. Indeed, even the eschatological passages of the Gospels hardly speak of such things. Mark 13:14 does speak of an "abomination of desolation," presumably in the temple, which Luke 21:20 interprets in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem.
At the same time, the form of 2 Thessalonians is very close to that of 1 Thessalonians. The greeting is very similar. Elements of the thanksgiving section are very similar to those of 1 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians even has a second thanksgiving (2:13) in the same general location as 1 Thessalonians (2:13).
Yet the language of 2 Thessalonians is more formal and the general feel less relational. Some have wondered if someone was following the form of 1 Thessalonians and yet writing for a quite different situation. It could of course have been Paul himself, writing a kind of code letter at a much different point in his ministry. The hand could have been Silas or Timothy, either before or after Paul's death. Then of course some suggest it could be someone else entirely, either an allonymous author or even a forger. [2]
4. The form and style of 2 Thessalonians alone would not be sufficient to push us in a different direction than our first impressions. However, there are other curiosities. For example, by almost all reckonings, 2 Thessalonians is a candidate to be either the second or third letter Paul wrote. It would thus be highly curious for Pauline forgeries already to be in circulation, as 2 Thessalonians 2:2 seems to suggest. Such an occurrence seems much more likely after Paul became known as a letter writer and several of his letters were known. In other words, 2:2 does not fit as nicely into the time frame of Paul's time at Corinth as it would fit a time either later in Paul's ministry or beyond it.
Another example of possible context misfit is the mention of traditions the Thessalonians received from Paul, Silas, and Timothy (3:6). They were only there for less than two months and they had one letter from them, 1 Thessalonians. One verse hardly seems a tradition (5:14). Tradition sounds like a word that implies more time than the default dating of 2 Thessalonians might suggest.
Similarly, we find what at least sounds like code language, "tells" that more is going on here than meets the eye. "You know what is restraining him" (2:6). "Do you not remember that, while still being with you, I used to say these things to you?" (2:5). It sounds like there is an understanding between authors and audience that they do not want to put down in writing. The audience knows what is going on--there is no deception. But someone may read Paul, Silas, and Timothy's letter, so they are intentionally cryptic.
What if Paul or Silas or Timothy wished to speak about the events of their time using their own voice from over fifteen years earlier? They take 1 Thessalonians, a letter that explicitly addressed the second coming. They follow its form, not to deceive, but because it fits the form of what they wish to say and because a letter from the past might pass a Roman filter more easily. If Silas were the primary writer and Paul were already gone, it would be all the less threatening.
The intended audience would thus not be the Thessalonians specifically, but all Christians of that moment. the Thessalonians would be a literary representative for all Christians. If Silas were writing soon after Paul's passing, the words, "while still being with you" become even more poignant. Paul could thus be the one "restraining" these events, though now with him removed they might take place.
The most difficult piece of this hypothesis is Paul's signature in 3:17. But perhaps Paul is about to die at the hands of Nero. Perhaps Silas could be writing for him with him giving the signature. Or perhaps the audience knows that what the letter is saying is that Silas is the one who can give the authentic voice of Paul, as opposed to other voices for him that were not authentic. Since 2 Thessalonians is in Scripture, we would assume that 2 Thessalonians gives an authentic voice.
Situation 2
6. We assume the inspiration of 2 Thessalonians, whether our first impression is correct or if something deeper was going on. In either case, it is difficult to know what the events of 2 Thessalonians 2 were addressing. The mention of the temple probably suggests that the events in view were to take place while the temple was still standing, that is, before AD70. We note the similar language again to Mark 13:14 and the "abomination of desolation." No mention is made either of the temple being destroyed or being rebuilt.
As with Mark 13, it is thus likely that we have some blurring between events that took place in the first century and events surrounding the return of Christ. The phrase, "man of lawlessness" could refer either to an external or an internal figure. Among external figures, a Roman emperor or general seems quite possible.
Ample precedents for foreign powers defiling the temple were at hand. In 167BC, it was Syrian representatives of Antiochus Epiphanes (cf. Dan. 11:31). In 63BC it was the Roman general Pompey. In AD38 the Roman emperor Caligula tried to set up a statue of himself in the temple. When a first century Jewish audience heard talk of someone setting themselves as God in the temple, surely the Romans would be the first thing to come to mind.
At the same time, mention of leading those who do not believe astray could suggest a Jewish leader (2:10-12). Could the rebellion against Rome in the Jewish War be seen as an inappropriate falling away? Might a revolutionary leader or a high priest be seen as a "man of lawlnessness"? Or are those who do not believe Gentiles rather than Jews?
The idea that Nero might return after his apparent suicide was known in Jewish circles, and there were some pretenders. A Jewish writing called the Sibylline Oracles refers to this legend. [3] Some have suggested that 2 Thessalonians alludes to this concept. It is sometimes suggested that this concept also stands in the background of Revelation 13:3 and 18:9-11. If we consider Nero as a type of one who is yet to come, the imagery need not be problematic.
For this reason, the balance seems to point more toward an external, Roman figure as the basis for the man of lawlessness imagery. There might be many enamored by such a figure, whether Jewish or Gentile. However, those who believe would not be deceived. For us there is but one king on earth, and it is Jesus.
[1] The more conventional term is pseudonymous, but I. Howard Marshall suggested we use a different term because it might imply a value judgment that the name on the letter is "false." See A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2004), 84. An allonymous author would thus be an "other" author writing under the authority of someone else's name.
[2] See n.1.
[3] Cf. Sibylline Oracles 4.119-24; 5.137-41, 361-96.
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