1 & 2 Thessalonians 1573128228, 9781573128223

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1 & 2 Thessalonians

Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Thessalonians Publication Staff President & CEO Cecil P. Staton Publisher & Executive Vice President Lex Horton Vice President, Production Keith Gammons Book Editor Leslie Andres Graphic Designers Wesley Crook Dave Jones Assistant Editors Betsy Butler Kelley F. Land

Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc. 6316 Peake Road Macon, Georgia 31210-3960 1-800-747-3016 © 2008 by Smyth & Helwys Publishing All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-57312-822-3

SMYTH & HELWYS BIBLE COMMENTARY

1 & 2 Thessalonians Linda M c Kinnish Bridges

PROJECT EDITOR R. SCOTT NASH Mercer University Macon, Georgia

OLD TESTAMENT GENERAL EDITOR SAMUEL E. BALENTINE Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education

NEW TESTAMENT GENERAL EDITOR R. ALAN CULPEPPER McAfee School of Theology Mercer University Atlanta, Georgia

Richmond, Virginia AREA OLD TESTAMENT EDITORS MARK E. BIDDLE Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia KANDY QUEEN-SUTHERLAND Stetson University Deland, Florida PAUL REDDITT Georgetown College Georgetown, Kentucky Baptist Seminary of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky

AREA NEW TESTAMENT EDITORS R. SCOTT NASH Mercer University Macon, Georgia RICHARD B. VINSON Salem College Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Dedication

For Tilden, my dear husband, and for Kyle, our cherished son, my soul companions for the journey




Contents

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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SERIES PREFACE

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HOW TO USE THIS COMMENTARY

1

INTRODUCTION

1 Thessalonians Paul’s Words of Beginning

1 Thess 1:1-10

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Paul’s Words of Endearment

1 Thess 2:1-16

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The Theme of Friendship

1 Thess 2:17–3:10

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Paul’s Words of Instruction

1 Thess 3:11–4:12

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Paul’s Words of Comfort

1 Thess 4:13–5:11

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Paul’s Closing Words: A Code of Ethics for Artisans

1 Thess 5:12-22

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Paul’s Final Words: A Prayer of Blessing

1 Thess 5:23-28

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2 Thessalonians The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

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The Opposition in Thessaloniki

2 Thess 1:1-12

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A Preview of the End

2 Thess 2:1-17

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Pray and Work (and in That Order!)

2 Thess 3:1-18

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INDEX OF MODERN AUTHORS

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INDEX OF SIDEBARS

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INDEX OF SCRIPTURES

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INDEX OF TOPICS

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ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS COMMENTARY Books of the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament are generally abbreviated in the Sidebars, parenthetical references, and notes according to the following system. The Old Testament Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1–2 Samuel 1–2 Kings 1–2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalm (Psalms) Proverbs Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth Song of Solomon or Song of Songs or Canticles Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah

Gen Exod Lev Num Deut Josh Judg Ruth 1–2 Sam 1–2 Kgs 1–2 Chr Ezra Neh Esth Job Ps (Pss) Prov Eccl Qoh Song Song Cant Isa Jer Lam Ezek Dan Hos Joel Amos Obad Jonah Mic

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Abbreviations Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi

Nah Hab Zeph Hag Zech Mal

The Apocrypha 1–2 Esdras Tobit Judith Additions to Esther Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach Baruch Epistle (or Letter) of Jeremiah Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Daniel and Susanna Daniel, Bel, and the Dragon Prayer of Manasseh 1–4 Maccabees

1–2 Esdr Tob Jdt Add Esth Wis Sir Bar Ep Jer Pr Azar Sus Bel Pr Man 1–4 Macc

The New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1–2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1–2 Thessalonians 1–2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1–2 Peter 1–2–3 John Jude Revelation

Matt Mark Luke John Acts Rom 1–2 Cor Gal Eph Phil Col 1–2 Thess 1–2 Tim Titus Phlm Heb Jas 1–2 Pet 1–2–3 John Jude Rev

Abbreviations Other commonly used abbreviations include: AD

BC

C. c. cf. ch. chs. d. ed. eds. e.g. et al. f./ff. gen. ed. ibid. i.e. LCL lit. n.d. rev. and exp. ed. sg. trans. vol(s). v. vv.

Anno Domini (“in the year of the Lord”) (also commonly referred to as CE = the Common Era) Before Christ (also commonly referred to as BCE = Before the Common Era) century circa (around “that time”) confer (compare) chapter chapters died edition or edited by or editor editors exempli gratia (for example) et alii (and others) and the following one(s) general editor ibidem (in the same place) id est (that is) Loeb Classical Library literally no date revised and expanded edition singular translated by or translator(s) volume(s) verse verses

Selected additional written works cited by abbreviations include the following. A complete listing of abbreviations can be referenced in The SBL Handbook of Style (Peabody MA: Hendrickson, 1999): AB ABD ACCS ANF ANTC BA BAR CBQ HTR HUCA ICC

Anchor Bible Anchor Bible Dictionary Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Ante-Nicene Fathers Abingdon New Testament Commentaries Biblical Archaeologist Biblical Archaeology Review Catholic Biblical Quarterly Harvard Theological Review Hebrew Union College Annual International Critical Commentary

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Abbreviations IDB JBL JSJ JSNT JSOT KJV LXX MDB MT NASB NEB NICNT NIV NovT NRSV NTS OGIS OTL PRSt RevExp RSV SBLSP SP TDNT TEV WBC

Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible Journal of Biblical Literature Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the Old Testament King James Version Septuagint = Greek Translation of Hebrew Bible Mercer Dictionary of the Bible Masoretic Text New American Standard Bible New English Bible New International Commentary on the New Testament New International Version Novum Testamentum New Revised Standard Version New Testament Studies Orientis graeci inscriptiones selectae Old Testament Library Perspectives in Religious Studies Review and Expositor Revised Standard Version Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers Sacra pagina Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Today’s English Version Word Biblical Commentary

Acknowledgments To write a commentary is to engage the many voices of the past and present into one conversation. As I write these words about Paul, I am keenly aware of the many conversations that have swirled around in my experiences, creating new paths of knowledge for me. I honor those voices as I write these words. The first acknowledgement is to the ancient community of believers in first-century Thessaloniki. What a community of faith! I am glad that I was able to listen in on their conversation, which began about 1,955 years ago, between young believers and their leader, Paul. For seminary students at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, especially those who studied Thessalonians with me during 1991–2001, Mary Ellers, Amy Constantini, Habacuc Diaz Lopez, Brian Harfst, Timothy Jones, Margaret Konigsmark, Timothy Mathia, Martha Williams, Michael Boyd, Brian Burnette, Christie Decker, and Robbie Durvin, I am especially thankful. Together we considered many of the ideas presented in this work. Their energy for Paul and the community of believers in Thessaloniki was contagious. For editor, teacher, and dear friend, Alan Culpepper, I will always be indebted for his faith in me and for his editing pen. For colleagues in the Office of the Dean of the College at Wake Forest University, who provided silent space so that I could hear those voices, both ancient and modern, in order to write the final draft of this work, I am especially thankful. For colleagues, Joan Habib, administrative assistant in the Department of Sociology of Wake Forest College, and Carolyn Ashburn, 2008 graduate of the WFU School of Divinity, who assisted in the typing and editing phases, I am very grateful. And for the Smyth & Helwys staff who worked closely with my words and images, I am truly honored for their time and energy devoted to this project. And now, let the conversation continue.

Linda McKinnish Bridges June 2008

SERIES PREFACE The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is a visually stimulating and user-friendly series that is as close to multimedia in print as possible. Written by accomplished scholars with all students of Scripture in mind, the primary goal of the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is to make available serious, credible biblical scholarship in an accessible and less intimidating format. Far too many Bible commentaries fall short of bridging the gap between the insights of biblical scholars and the needs of students of God’s written word. In an unprecedented way, the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary brings insightful commentary to bear on the lives of contemporary Christians. Using a multimedia format, the volumes employ a stunning array of art, photographs, maps, and drawings to illustrate the truths of the Bible for a visual generation of believers. The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is built upon the idea that meaningful Bible study can occur when the insights of contemporary biblical scholars blend with sensitivity to the needs of lifelong students of Scripture. Some persons within local faith communities, however, struggle with potentially informative biblical scholarship for several reasons. Oftentimes, such scholarship is cast in technical language easily grasped by other scholars, but not by the general reader. For example, lengthy, technical discussions on every detail of a particular scriptural text can hinder the quest for a clear grasp of the whole. Also, the format for presenting scholarly insights has often been confusing to the general reader, rendering the work less than helpful. Unfortunately, responses to the hurdles of reading extensive commentaries have led some publishers to produce works for a general readership that merely skim the surface of the rich resources of biblical scholarship. This commentary series incorporates works of fine art in an accurate and scholarly manner, yet the format remains “user-friendly.” An important facet is the presentation and explanation of images of art, which interpret the biblical material or illustrate how the biblical material has been understood and interpreted in the past. A visual generation of believers deserves a commentary series that contains not only the all-important textual commentary on Scripture, but images, photographs, maps, works of fine art, and drawings that bring the text to life.

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The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary makes serious, credible biblical scholarship more accessible to a wider audience. Writers and editors alike present information in ways that encourage readers to gain a better understanding of the Bible. The editorial board has worked to develop a format that is useful and usable, informative and pleasing to the eye. Our writers are reputable scholars who participate in the community of faith and sense a calling to communicate the results of their scholarship to their faith community. The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary addresses Christians and the larger church. While both respect for and sensitivity to the needs and contributions of other faith communities are reflected in the work of the series authors, the authors speak primarily to Christians. Thus the reader can note a confessional tone throughout the volumes. No particular “confession of faith” guides the authors, and diverse perspectives are observed in the various volumes. Each writer, though, brings to the biblical text the best scholarly tools available and expresses the results of their studies in commentary and visuals that assist readers seeking a word from the Lord for the church. To accomplish this goal, writers in this series have drawn from numerous streams in the rich tradition of biblical interpretation. The basic focus is the biblical text itself, and considerable attention is given to the wording and structure of texts. Each particular text, however, is also considered in the light of the entire canon of Christian Scriptures. Beyond this, attention is given to the cultural context of the biblical writings. Information from archaeology, ancient history, geography, comparative literature, history of religions, politics, sociology, and even economics is used to illuminate the culture of the people who produced the Bible. In addition, the writers have drawn from the history of interpretation, not only as it is found in traditional commentary on the Bible but also in literature, theater, church history, and the visual arts. Finally, the Commentary on Scripture is joined with Connections to the world of the contemporary church. Here again, the writers draw on scholarship in many fields as well as relevant issues in the popular culture. This wealth of information might easily overwhelm a reader if not presented in a “user-friendly” format. Thus the heavier discussions of detail and the treatments of other helpful topics are presented in special-interest boxes, or Sidebars, clearly connected to the passages under discussion so as not to interrupt the flow of the basic interpretation. The result is a commentary on Scripture that

Series Preface

focuses on the theological significance of a text while also offering the reader a rich array of additional information related to the text and its interpretation. An accompanying CD-ROM offers powerful searching and research tools. The commentary text, Sidebars, and visuals are all reproduced on a CD that is fully indexed and searchable. Pairing a text version with a digital resource is a distinctive feature of the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Combining credible biblical scholarship, user-friendly study features, and sensitivity to the needs of a visually oriented generation of believers creates a unique and unprecedented type of commentary series. With insight from many of today’s finest biblical scholars and a stunning visual format, it is our hope that the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary will be a welcome addition to the personal libraries of all students of Scripture. The Editors

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HOW TO USE THIS COMMENTARY The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary is written by accomplished biblical scholars with a wide array of readers in mind. Whether engaged in the study of Scripture in a church setting or in a college or seminary classroom, all students of the Bible will find a number of useful features throughout the commentary that are helpful for interpreting the Bible. Basic Design of the Volumes

Each volume features an Introduction to a particular book of the Bible, providing a brief guide to information that is necessary for reading and interpreting the text: the historical setting, literary design, and theological significance. Each Introduction also includes a comprehensive outline of the particular book under study. Each chapter of the commentary investigates the text according to logical divisions in a particular book of the Bible. Sometimes these divisions follow the traditional chapter segmentation, while at other times the textual units consist of sections of chapters or portions of more than one chapter. The divisions reflect the literary structure of a book and offer a guide for selecting passages that are useful in preaching and teaching. An accompanying CD-ROM offers powerful searching and research tools. The commentary text, Sidebars, and visuals are all reproduced on a CD that is fully indexed and searchable. Pairing a text version with a digital resource also allows unprecedented flexibility and freedom for the reader. Carry the text version to locations you most enjoy doing research while knowing that the CD offers a portable alternative for travel from the office, church, classroom, and your home. Commentary and Connections

As each chapter explores a textual unit, the discussion centers around two basic sections: Commentary and Connections. The analysis of a passage, including the details of its language, the history reflected in the text, and the literary forms found in the text, are the main focus

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of the Commentary section. The primary concern of the Commentary section is to explore the theological issues presented by the Scripture passage. Connections presents potential applications of the insights provided in the Commentary section. The Connections portion of each chapter considers what issues are relevant for teaching and suggests useful methods and resources. Connections also identifies themes suitable for sermon planning and suggests helpful approaches for preaching on the Scripture text. Sidebars

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Additional Resources Study

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Introduction There is neither a first nor a last word and there are no limits to the dialogic context (it extends into the boundless past and the boundless future). Even past meanings, that is, those born in the dialogue of past centuries, can never be stable (finalized, ended once and for all)—they will always change (be renewed) in the process of subsequent, future development of the dialogue. At any moment in the development of a dialogue there are immense boundless masses of forgotten contextual meanings, but at certain moments of the dialogue’s subsequent development along the way they are recalled and invigorated in a new form (and a new context). Nothing is absolutely dead; every meaning will have its homecoming festival. —Mikhail M. Bakhtin1

You and I have a unique opportunity to listen to the multiple voices of a dialogue belonging to the first-century Mediterranean world. We are invited to view the conversation among a devoted church leader, the Apostle Paul, and his beloved friends, who belong to one of the first groups of Jesus’ followers. When we read the Thessalonian correspondence, we usually think of these words as belonging exclusively to Paul, the young missionary evangelist. This commentary, however, is devoted to listening for the complex dialogue that occurs in these letters among at least three parties—the speaker-writer and missionary-apostle Paul; the believers of the first-century community in Thessaloniki; and you, the reader of the twenty-first century. If Mikhail M. Bakhtin is correct in saying that at any given moment “there are immense boundless masses of forgotten contextual dialogues,” then Paul’s words, as we read them in our New Testament, truly cannot stand alone. The simple but guiding thought of this commentary is that words are always responses to other words—“there is neither a first word nor a last word.” Dialogue always exists. [The Environment of Paul’s Words] Some of the work of this commentator is to describe the environment of words and ideas that called forth Paul’s words, written as a response to the community of faith in Thessaloniki. To imagine this environment is no simple task. These questions, however, guide our thinking: What community fears, joys, The Environment of Paul’s Words or trauma give rise to their words? What Paul’s words are born into an environsocial worlds did their words create? ment in which the air is already filled What is the community of faith with words and ideas.

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Introduction

experiencing in this first-century setting? ca lis T H R A C E IA ni ia ipo N How are they dealing o a l o n h Philippi ss oll mp e with the daily presNeapolis Th A p A sures of life? How do Berea they understand the as s Tr o A s s o life of faith? A S I A AEGEAN I am also interested Mitylene SEA in Paul’s responses to s Chios esu this particular comEA Eph H munity of faith. Paul’s Corinth Miletus word choices and Athens Samos Cnidus images reveal his perCenchrae spective on leadership, Cos Rhodes death, ethics, and community life. Why did he write in this C R E T E manner? What motivated him to choose particular and unusual metaphors, such as nursing mother and teaching father (1 Thess 2:7-11), to express his relationship to members of the church in Thessaloniki? How did Paul view his role as leader among the members of the community? What theological assumptions did he have when he wrote these words? What theological assumptions did not govern Paul, the wordsmith? I quickly admit that a commentary is only a small resting place in the ongoing conversation, which stretches from the community of believers in the first century and their faithful apostle, Paul, through a range of scholars, preachers, and teachers over the centuries. Bakhtin writes, “Therefore, there can be never a first or last meaning; it always exists among other meanings as a link in the chain of meanings.”2 You are invited to take this commentary as a blacksmith would use iron to forge a new tool or a painter would use a brush and paint to create a new piece of art. Use these words in your preaching and teaching in order for others to know the world of faith. In that manner, this sacred dialogue will continue for many generations to come. Words reveal complex worlds. Written words, formed from vowels, consonants, diphthongs, placed in the peculiar syntax of a non-pictograph language, innocuously appear to the reader as a simple, almost primitive form of communication. This linear communication formula, writer to reader, does not appear complex. These words are simply a visual composition of lines, with IA

G

RY

PH

AC

MA

CE

D

O

Map of Aegean Sea

Introduction

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Words and Meanings occasional curves, on a page that provide a vehicle of “Words are like the god Janus. communication between author and reader. Simply They face outwards and inwards stated, one knows that the author writes; the reader at the same time.” reads. Traditionally, we assume that meaning occurs John O’Donohue, Anam Cara (London: Bantam Press, 1997), 14. when the reader understands the writer’s intent. The author, in this perspective, is the host; the reader is “Books are like a picnic to which the author the invited guest. [Words and Meanings] brings the words and the reader the This theory of interpretation, which features a meaning.” simple two-way communication between an author Northrup Frye, Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (Boston: Beacon Press, 1967), 427. and a reader, does not adequately explain the complex web of conversation. Words are not the one-dimensional, flat vehicles of communication that quietly appear on the printed page; they can be heavy with the weight of connotation, of shades of meaning, and dense interpretative possibilities. Carl Sandburg, master wordsmith of the last century, describes the beauty and power using powerful metaphors belonging to the created world. [“Little Girl, Be Careful What You Say”] The position of the word in a sentence, the sound of the vowels, diphthongs, and consonants, even the word itself, all tremble with complex patterns of communication. Words have the power to reveal worlds past and present—and to create new worlds. Although Paul’s words appear deceptively simple on the pages of our sacred text, the Bible, Little Girl, Be Careful What You Say in neatly framed modern by Carl Sandburg English translations or Little girl, be careful what you say ancient Greek manuwhen you make talk with words— scripts, these words are for words are made of syllables, anything but flat and and syllables, child, are made of air— unadorned. M. M. and air is so thin—air is the breath of God— Bakhtin describes this air is finer than fire or mist, phenomenon: finer than water or moonlight,

If we imagine the intention of such a word, that is, its directionality toward the object, in the form of a ray of light, then the living and unrepeatable play of colors and light on the facets of the image that it constructs can be explained as the spectral dispersion in an atmosphere filled with alien

finer than spider-webs in the moon, finer than water-flowers in the morning: and words are strong, too, stronger than rocks or steel, stronger than potatoes, corn, fish, cattle, and soft, too, soft as little pigeon-eggs, Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), soft as the music of hummingbird wings. American poet So, little girl, when you speak greetings, (Credit: Barclay Burns) when you tell jokes, make wishes or prayers, be careful, be careless, be careful be what you wish to be. Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg, ed. Frances Schoonmaker Bolin (New York: Sterling Publishing Co., repr. ed., 2008).

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Bakhtin and Paul M. M. Bakhtin, a leading Russian thinker of the 20th century who wrote during a period of Russian political instability and who often worked while in exile, poses an interesting concept of language transmitted between sender and receiver. Bakhtin’s “basic scenario for modeling variety is two actual people talking to each other in a specific dialogue at a particular time and in a particular place.” The communication, however, is not at all simple and uncluttered. “My voice,” according to Bakhtin, “gives the illusion of unity to what I say; I am, in fact, constantly expressing a multitude of meanings, some intended, others of which I am unaware.” This commentary is dedicated to the task of unveiling the “multitudes of meaning”— some written, some unwritten—that reside in the correspondence between Paul and the members of the church at Thessaloniki.

words, value judgments and accents through which the ray passes on its way toward the object; the social atmosphere of the word, the atmosphere that surrounds the object, makes the facets of the image sparkle.3 [Bakhtin and Paul]

Paul writes within the swirl of voices in the “social atmosphere” of Greek philosophy and Jewish tradition, offering polemics and exhortation. The believers in Thessaloniki contribute to this stream of discourse, making comments to Paul, the young missionary, and through his coworker, Timothy. Paul talks back. The discourse moves back and forth until it appears to be frozen, canM. M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination (Austin: University of Texas onized, a fixed literary form. Even though Press, 1981), xx. the New Testament canon appears to have frozen the conversation, an intricate dialogue goes on with each and every reading, making “the facets of the image sparkle.” The dialogue between Paul and the people, between text and the reader are limitless. First-century voices belonging to Cynic philosophy, ancient voices from the Jewish tradition, voices from the marketplace and the world of trade, voices from the workshop where skilled labor is a valued asset, voices from Jesus remembered and worshiped by first-generation apostles all belong to this mighty discourse directed to the young believers of the first-century Mediterranean world. To write a commentary on the Thessalonian correspondence is to attempt to graph this web of dialogue. Like the old-fashioned telephone operator, who sits at the control booth with wires, cables, and connections and attempts to place the correct line in the appropriate slot in order to facilitate conversation, this commentary attempts to place a few lines in the right slots so that conversations may occur. Follow the line of thought that extends to Paul, the young missionary, who with zeal and passion leads a group of new believers. Follow another possible line that introduces the context of this community. Could they have been artisans, belonging to the same professional association, perhaps even living in the same workshop where they worked and worshiped? Connect those lines, and more, and watch the level of dialogue increase.

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Introduction to the First Letter As I have worked on this project, five important patterns of thought have guided my reading of the Thessalonian correspondence. First Thessalonians reveals somePaul’s Leadership Style This picture shows a style of collaborative leadership thing extraordinary about Paul and described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted, Apollos his style of leadership. [Paul’s Leadership watered, but God gave the growth.” Style] When I read this letter, I see Paul’s leadership style, which has been described as authoritaPaul and his particular style of tive and demanding, appears in the Thessalonian correspondence dealing with people. I want to as people centered and consensus building. In this letter, Paul’s know more about Paul’s view of manner of leading is by affirmation and encouragement. People matter. The work is done collaboratively. Paul does not have to leadership from his own words. I wield a stick of authority; he leads by adding value to the lives of need to see this apostle with new the young believers. eyes. I must be truthful and tell you that I have not always admired Paul. I grew up in small churches belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention. In those places, Paul’s voice was extolled, admired, and used over and over again—often for the gain of the ones speaking and for loss to those who were having to listen. The power of Paul’s voice, as used by Baptist church leaders in my experience, kept women from participating fully in church leadership. Paul’s words were used by members of powerful deacon boards and misogynist pastors who Sir Edward Poynter (1836–1919). Paul and Apollos. 1872. Fresco on plaster, General deemed it more appropriate for Collection of Tate Museum, London, England. women to teach children, prepare church dinners, and arrange flowers for the Communion table than to preach the Bible to adults. I thought this apostle was arrogant, crude, manipulative, and misogynistic! Later in life, I began reading Paul’s words on my own, without the narrow interpretive sieve with which I’d grown up. In this first letter written by Paul, I see a different leader than the one I had imagined in my young adulthood. This Paul is not the Paul I faced when the deacons said I could not attend seminary to study preaching or pastoral leadership. Those deacons would only sign the recommendation form if they could add the words “only to work with children,” because, as they argued, “Paul says that a

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‘woman should not speak in church, should remain silent in public assembly’” (1 Cor 14:34-36). Those church leaders of my youth also said, “Paul says ‘that a woman should not usurp authority from a man’ (1 Tim 2:12), and that is why you cannot lead the sanctuary choir when male members are singing.” They admonished me, saying that to use a woman’s hands to direct musical patterns for male voices was contrary to Paul’s Paul teaching! I did not want to know any more about this Paul whom they all seemed to know so very well. The Paul writing the letter to the believers in Thessaloniki does not now appear to me this way— thanks be unto God! Now when I read Paul in Thessalonians, I do not see the Paul that those church leaders of my youth knew and used against me and all the other young women yearning to serve the church in the last third of the twentieth century. I met Paul again “for the first time.” This is a softer Paul, accessible to all people, both male and female. This Paul, the one reflected in the Thessalonian correspondence, loves people more than he loves doctrine. This Paul Diego Rodriguez Velázquez (1599–1660). Saint Paul. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. is a leader who sees himself not [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, qQF0928Pjk5chA at Google Cultural Institute / PD-Art (PDold-auto)] above others but standing with them. Paul’s leadership style is one that women can emulate and follow. You cannot read this letter expecting a developed theological treatise. You probably cannot read any letter of Paul and discover precise theological systems. In time, as his ministry matured, Paul did develop more theological form and sophistication. For example, Romans provides an eloquent presentation of theological thought in epistolary form. Similarly, Paul’s letters to the Corinthians reveal theological insight as applied to practical problems of the church. In the Thessalonian correspondence, however, Paul writes with intimate language, as in Philippians, but with much greater passion. To read these letters, especially

Introduction

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1 Thessalonians, is to overhear an intimate dialogue between people who know one another very well. No other place in Paul’s correspondence do we see such words of affection and care. These words reveal much about Paul as a leader. Paul, the leader, speaks with tenderness and affection, gently nudging Paul’s Letter of Friendship the young believers to increased faith and Ancient letters were divided into types faithful living with affirmation and love. or categories. Ancient epistolary theoSecond, Paul writes a letter of friendship to the rists, such as Cicero, Pseudo Demetrius, Philostratus, suggested that particular forms and members of the Thessalonian congregation. [Paul’s themes accompany letter types, such as letters of Letter of Friendship] Some scholars will disagree with praise, introduction, blame, reproach, consolation, this simple notion of epistolary and rhetorical criticism, interrogation, apology, gratitude, and theory. Discussions about literary genres and friendship. rhetorical styles have dominated Pauline scholarSome scholars suggest that Paul’s letter to the ship in recent years. So in order to establish a Philippians contains themes and language from the friendly letter tradition. more objective interpretation, some scholars try For general discussion, see John T. Fitzgerald, to determine the ancient epistolary model that Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Paul used for this letter. The idea is that with a Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World fixed form of literary convention used by Paul, (New York: E. J. Brill, 1996); Greco-Roman there is less opportunity for the modern reader Perspectives on Friendship (Society of Biblical to “infiltrate” the reading with the personal Literature Resources for Biblical Study 34; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997). biases of the reader, and the letter will have greater meaning. Ancient models are used, therefore, to label Paul’s letter style and rhetorical patterns. The line of discussion varies. Did Paul write with the rhetorical pattern of epideictic, which seeks to persuade listeners to reaffirm some present point of view? Koester on 1 Thessalonians Or did Paul write using the rhetorical pattern of All that is to be learned is that this earparaenesis, a kind of instruction and teaching liest Christian letter is neither a reflection of a fixed form nor a quarry of informathat provides ethical standards for the life of the tion for pieces of a genre or established traditions. community? Or was Paul’s style of writing that Rather, it is a composition using inherited themes of deliberative rhetoric, which exhorts and comin the context of a new counterpoint. mands the Thessalonian believers to stand fast in Helmut Koester, “1 Thessalonians: Experiment in Christian the Lord (3:8)? [Koester on 1 Thessalonians] Writing,” Continuity and Discontinuity in Church History: Essays Presented to George Hunston Williams on the Occasion of his If the goal is to establish meaning by arranging 65th Birthday, ed. F. F. Church and T. George (Leiden: E.J. Brill, Paul’s words in a fixed, stylistic frame familiar to 1979), 44. first-century readers, then the determination of epistolary style and rhetorical pattern is important. Meaning can be enhanced if one knows the outline form—sometimes, but not all the time! Meaning can sometimes be missed if a foreign configuration, such as an ancient literary convention or even a modern one, harnesses the possibility of the limitless dialogue by constricting the words to a predetermined genre or literary box. The physical

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Introduction

arrangement of the words in a superimposed outline form enforces a singular interpretation of the words. The vitality of the discussions regarding the form of the epistle and the pattern of rhetoric wanes when these questions are considered: Was Paul influenced by Greek literary conventions? How did this happen? Did Paul deliberately model his letters on an ancient epistolary style found in a Greek handbook for letter writing? Is the letter shaped by literary or rhetorical conventions? Is the discussion of form even necessary for exegesis? To be so concerned with the precise literary form or rhetorical pattern limits the dialogue. While aware of this scholarly discussion of epistolary genre and rhetorical strategies, I have chosen not to confine Paul’s words to any single genre or theory, ancient or modern. As a pastor-friend, Paul writes a friendly letter that persuades and encourages the believers of Thessaloniki. His ancient words create this world of friendship; they point more to the The Artisan Church quality of leader and the shape of the relationH. W. Janson writes, ships within the community than to the style of Less elegant than the domus [house dwelling], writing or genre of work. and decidedly urban from the very start, is the A third pattern of thought that governs this insula, or city block, which we find mainly in commentary is the assumption that the believers Rome itself and in Ostia, the ancient port of Rome in Thessaloniki were artisans who lived, worked, near the mouth of the Tiber. The insula anticipates many features of the modern apartment house; it and worshiped in their workshop. [The Artisan Church] is a good-sized concrete-and-brick building (or a I tentatively place this here with full realization chain of such buildings) around a small central that archaeological evidence from the actual site court, with shops and taverns open to the street that would confirm this hypothesis is not availon the ground floor and living quarters for numerous families above. Some insulae had as able. No excavations in Thessaloniki reveal this many as five stories, with balconies above the possibility to date. Unfortunately, no one has yet second floor. The daily life of the craftsmen and worked with the idea of architecture and house shopkeepers who inhabited such an insula was oriented toward the street, as it still is to a large church in Thessaloniki, as Jerome Murphy extent in modern Italy. The privacy of the domus O’Connor has done with the church in was reserved for the minority that could afford it. Corinth.4 We do not have floor plans of possible church sites as we do for the community in H. W. Janson, History of Art, 4th ed. (New York: Harry Abrams, Corinth. However, we do have a growing 1991) 226–27. number of scholars who tentatively suggest models other than the house for church structures in the first century. Since there are no artifacts visible for historical reconstruction, we try on this thesis as one would try on a pair of new eyeglasses. I ask this question: If one imagines the community reading Paul’s words as a group of artisans linked by common vocation and workspace, is one able to understand this text more clearly? I believe so. The passages related to work, to community living, to physical labor have much more meaning when the com-

Introduction Paul’s Words on Work for the Artisan Community But concerning the love of the brethren you have no need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brethren throughout Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you, so that you may command the respect of outsiders, and be dependent on nobody. (1 Thess 4:9-12) But we beseech you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that none of you repays evil with evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give

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thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:12-18) Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you. It was not because we have not that right, but to give you in our conduct an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If anyone will not work, let him not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living. Brethren, do not be weary in welldoing. (2 Thess 3:6-13 RSV)

munity is visualized as a working community of manual laborers. [Paul’s Words on Work for the Artisan Community]

The artisan workshop provides a unique venue for the dialogue between Paul and this community of faith. Scholars such as Robert Jewett, Ronald Hock, Wayne Meeks, Peter Lampe, Richard S. Ascough, and Lone Fatum suggest that first-century communities of faith may have been organized around the model of a professional guild, or voluntary association, This Commentary’s Assumptions about rather than the traditional model of house Thessalonians church as provided by wealthy patron or bene(1) This early letter reveals Paul’s style factor.5 This commentary is written with the of leadership. (2) This is a letter of friendship. idea that the church in Thessaloniki is not based (3) The addressees, or recipients of the letter, are in the home of a wealthy patron, like Gaius in artisans who lived, worked, and worshiped in a the Corinthian church: I am going to proceed workshop in Thessaloniki. with the premise that the house church in (4) The recipients are male. Thessaloniki was actually an artisan church, a community shaped by manual laborers who most likely meet in a workshop or tenement house. [This Commentary’s Assumptions about Thessalonians]

Richard S. Ascough’s work is most convincing toward this theory of the artisan church. Ascough places not only the passages about work and labor within a community of artisans but also shows that the concerns regarding death and life after death are intrinsically related to the purposes of first-century, voluntary associations. In other words, the members of the community of believers in

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Introduction

Paul’s Words on Death for the Artisan Community But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fall asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess 4:13-18)

Thessalonki have gathered together because of their common trade and their common faith in Jesus Christ, formally organized around the structure of a first-century voluntary association, professional guild, or artisan club.6 Ascough’s research reveals that one of the primary functions of professional guilds in the first century was to provide for the death, burial, and memorial of association members. Hence, the predominance of apocalyptic thought in the words of the community and Paul relates not only to their concern over the death of loved ones, but also to one of the primary concerns of their professional artisan guild. [Paul’s

Words on Death for the Artisan Community]

Paul, the apostle and tentmaker, knows the world of the artisan. He knows how to work with his hands, and that knowledge forges an immediate connection between Paul, the manual laborer, and these Thessalonian believers. With this particular lens of vision, Paul’s words, “work with your own hands,” have special meaning (1 Thess 4:12; see also 2 Thess 3:7-11). The social world of artisans creates a new Male Members Only! backdrop for understanding these letters. As I Voluntary associations are well attested read Paul’s words, I see a community of skilled in Macedonia. R. S. Ascough documents artisans who have gathered in their workroom to texts and translations of 75 Macedonian inscriphear his letters read. They pause from their task, tions (“Voluntary Associations and Community Formation: Paul’s Macedonian Christian wipe the dust from their hands, and listen to Communities in Context,” unpublished Ph.D. distheir artisan-colleague, Paul, who in earlier days sertation [University of St. Michael’s College, shared their same tools and workspace. In that Toronto School of Theology, 1997]). At least two context of dust and death, craft and faith, the types of voluntary associations existed in the firstmembers of the community learn how to live century Macedonian world—religious and more closely in relationship to God and to one professional. These professional associations were responsible for the burial of their members. another. Ascough notes that a good number of associaThe fourth assumption is that the first-century tions were involved in the burial of their members, recipients of this letter, the members of the artisan which included setting up inscriptions in memory community, were primarily male. [Male Members of their deceased. A few examples include the Only!] Paul’s words are from a male point of view. professional association of donkey drivers from If the members of the congregation are primarily Beroea, who established a memorial to one of the members, and the association of purple-dyers in artisans, then most likely they are male, Thessalonica, who remembered their deceased according to our knowledge of first-century member in the same manner. Some associations professional guilds. Women may have been would even be involved in the burial rites.

Introduction

present, but only in a subordinate role of domestic service. They may have provided meals and cleaning service to the artisans in the workroom. To see the church as a group of artisans enhances our understanding of Paul’s words; to understand that this group likely would not have included women, however, challenges our interpretations on a complex scale. What happens in the first-century artisan community when the population is only one gender? What happens to our reading in this century when men and women read the same text that originally held the values, linguistic currency, and cultural scripts of male members only? This conundrum is not to be overlooked. I acknowledge that this correspondence bears witness to the values, the point of view, the logic of an androcentric perspective, not unlike most of the New Testament and most of Christianity, in general. For example, Paul addresses the brothers seen in 1 Thessalonians 2:1, 9, 17; 4:1, 9, 10, 13; 5:1, 12, 14, 26, just to name a few. Unlike Romans (16:1) and Philippians (4:2) where a few names of women are mentioned, in Thessalonians only the names of men are called. Women are mentioned nowhere in the entire Thessalonian correspondence. Although some modern English translations help by rendering the pronouns inclusively as friends or brothers and sisters, the challenge of the Greek language remains. The Greek pronouns and gendered nouns are masculine in form. The letter is written from a man to a group of men. Women may have been listening, but they were not the intended recipients. What does an androcentric point of view, communicated from a man in the first-century world to a group of men in the first-century world, have to say to women in the twenty-first-century world? This is not a new dilemma. But with the advent of women participants in church and academia, the question has become significant and instructive. What are we to do with an important piece of our religious tradition that does not attempt to include women? How do we handle sacred texts that are written with only men in mind? What normative value might they possibly have to women, excluded then—and now? We cannot go back in time and rewrite those verses in order to make them sound better (although I do appreciate and use the gender-sensitive Bible translations). How do we construct meaning from ancient texts that were written to men? Some interpreters, male and female alike, refuse to consider those passages that are damaging to women and create a more acceptable, although smaller canon of sacred texts within the larger canon of Scripture; others continue to wrestle with the “damaged” texts until

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Introduction

Feminist Scholars and “Damaged” Texts The following texts provide further study of this topic: Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad, 1983); Searching the Scriptures, Volume 1: A Feminist Introduction (New York: Crossroad, 1993); Searching the Scriptures, Volume 2: A Feminist Commentary

(New York: Crossroad, 1994); But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992); Bread Not Stone; The Challenge of Feminist Biblical Interpretation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984). Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (Philadelphia: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1978) and Texts of Terror: Literary Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Philadelphia: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1984).

they find blessing from them. Feminist scholars, such as Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza and Phyllis Trible, have modeled these methods for us. [Feminist Scholars and “Damaged” Texts] Nonetheless, the problem remains even in the silent places of the sacred canon. What do we do with those passages that overtly neither condemn nor damage, but simply remain silent on the roles of women in the church? Sometimes the silence can be far more damaging. Furthermore, why must we do so much to discover so little? To create an inclusive space in ancient texts with androcentric values takes much exegetical effort and contextual analysis, aptly described by Trible as “wrestling with the text.” The androcentric perspective encoded in the Thessalonian correspondence raises issues of hermeneutics. On one level, if this letter is written to men only, what might these words mean to women? On another level, are we to minimize the gendered value system of the letter in order to form a more egalitarian reading? Can that even be done with integrity to first-century notions of gender? What kind of interpretative tool might we create that would transcend—if transcendence were the goal—the single-gendered perspective of the words? Women reading ancient biblical texts or participating in modern liturgy want to know that they belong to the world of the words. If a feminine presence is absent, either by force or ignorance, then the interpreter is faced with the challenge of creating new worlds of meaning that will be more inclusive and available to all of the readers. That is the purpose of this commentary. To write a letter is to engage in a “dialogic context.” In this dialogue, there are no bounds of past and future. Paul speaks; we hear. The community of believers speaks; we hear. God speaks through Paul and the believers in Thessaloniki; we hear. We listen and we speak. The words are dislodged from the printed page. These words can have meaning, even when they are dislocated from their original moorings. These first-century words, once they were written

Introduction

on the page of parchment, were dislodged from any single vehicle of ownership of meaning. The words are alive and creative, calling forth new meanings all along the way. Paul’s words, even though written by a man to a group of men surrounded by a culture that elevated man in every way, are only one link in the long chain of the “boundless mass” of meaning. The first-century and the twenty-first-century reader add additional and legitimate meaning and links to the chain of meaning, “which in its totality is the only thing that can be real.” Let us continue this boundless dialogue!

Notes 1

M. M. Bakhtin, “Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences,” Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, ed. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist, trans. Vern W. McGee, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986), 170. 2 M.

M. Bakhtin, “From Notes Made in 1970–71,” Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, 146. 3 M.

M. Bakhtin, The Dialogical Imagination, ed. M. Holquist, trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), 277. 4

See Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archaeology (Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1983). 5 Robert

Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Communal Meals in the Early Church: The Implications of a Form-Critical Analysis of 2 Thessalonians 3:10,” Biblical Research 38 (1993): 23–43; “Tenement Churches and Pauline Love Feasts,” Quarterly Review 14 (Spring 1994): 43–58; Ronald Hock, “The Workshop as a Social Setting for Paul’s Missionary Preaching,” CBQ 41 (July 1979): 438–50; Peter Lampe, “‘Family’ in Church and Society of New Testament Times,” Affirmation 5 (Spring 1992): 1–20, “The Family of New Testament Times,” Church and Society 84 (December 1993): 18–38; Wayne Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), 27–43; Richard S. Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association,” JBL 119/2 (Summer 2000): 311–28, “Paul’s ‘Apocalypticism’ and Christian Community Formation at Thessalonica,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins Seminar, Denver, 19 November 2001; Lone Fatum, “Brotherhood in Christ: A Gender Hermeneutical Reading of 1 Thessalonians,” in Constructing Early Christian Families: Family as Social Reality and Metaphor, ed. H. Moxnes (London: Routledge, 1997), 183–97. 6 John S. Kloppenborg and Stephen G. Wilson, eds., Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World (London: Routledge, 1996).

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1 Thessalonians

Paul’s Words of Beginning 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Beginnings are important. I listened carefully as the etiquette teacher instructed my young son in the art of personal introductions. As the teacher described the importance of introductions and first impressions, a class of giggling, awkward preteens squirmed in their seats. She carefully choreographed the art of the first introduction: “When you meet someone for the first time, look at the person in the eye, state your own name clearly, extend your hand for a handshake, and repeat the person’s name aloud immediSt. Paul ately after hearing it. Introductions are very important.” Just as verbal introductions are important beginnings to personal relationships, so are literary beginnings crucial to written texts. Paul’s beginning Image Not Available words are important. We will pay close due to lack of digital rights. attention to how Paul begins his letter. Please view the published These introductory lines contain Paul’s commentary or perform an initial thoughts regarding his work, his Internet search using the credit below. dear community of friends in Thessaloniki, and his passion for the gospel. These beginning sentences not only reveal Paul’s first words to the congregation but also his first written words in his career as a missionary Giovanni Battista Pittoni (1687–1767). St. Paul. Cassa di author. Risparmio, Ferrara, Italy. (Credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY)

COMMENTARY We wait and listen, like new parents keeping vigil over the crib waiting to hear the first sounds uttered from the mouth of their new baby. What is this young missionary evangelist going to say? How is he going to say these words? What will he say first? [“like shooting with a rifle”] The epistolary, or letter, form enables us to read Paul’s words with great intimacy, much like a personal conversation between two old friends rather than a formal treatise or dogmatic presentation.

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1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

These words of introduction between Paul and the members of the Thessalonian congregation become the archaeological mound from which we attempt to extract literary artifacts to describe Paul and his ministry. Regarding the top layer of the literary mound, these words of salutation, we ask, What is first on Paul’s mind as he begins to describe his feelings? Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., 1889), 28. The single theme that appears to occupy Paul’s mind, as evidenced in this first chapter, is thanksgiving. [Thanksgiving] The first ten verses of this letter are an outpouring of praise and thanksgiving for the readers. Paul’s future writings lack this amicable beginning: To the churches in Galatia and Corinth, he would, with caustic pen and angry speech, use this same salutary space in the correspondence to Thanksgiving defend his calling and personhood against The modern church, much like many interthe vocal opposition of his opponents. In the preters of 1 Thessalonians, is quick to espouse exhortation and eschatology. While these are opening to 1 Thessalonians, however, Paul two important issues, we Christians often overlook gently pours out words of kindness, praise, affirmation, and encouragement. It would be affirming the believers in Thessaloniki with easy to gloss over these elements in our Scriptures or his heart through his pen. see them merely as ways of manipulating favorable “like shooting with a rifle” Writing or printing is like shooting with a rifle; you may hit your reader’s mind, or miss it; but talking is like playing at a mark with the pipe of an engine; if it is within reach, and you have time enough, you can’t help hitting it.

responses if this is what we are accustomed to doing in our experience. Too often, we forget the important tool of affirmation in community building. . . . First Thessalonians, especially in the opening chapter, provides an excellent model for incorporating sincere community-building and self-building affirmation.

The Salutation, 1:1

Who is sending the letter? Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are responsible for this letter in some way. [Silvanus and Timothy] We know that Brian Harfst, “Affirmation in Community Building: A Look at the Paul is the letter writer; perhaps Silvanus and Thanksgiving of 1 Thessalonians,” paper submitted to Thessalonian Correspondence Seminar, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Timothy are the couriers, delivering the Spring 2000, p. 9. manuscript by hand or reading Paul’s words aloud to the Thessalonian congregation. With the attachment of the names Silvanus and Timothy to Paul’s name, the letter’s safe reception is secure. The members of the community will value the letter in the same manner that they honor the people, Silvanus, Timothy, and Paul. Elizabeth Struthers Malbon suggests that the very structure of the letter aims to establish relationships, “to fill an absence with a ‘presence.’”1 In other words, this letter becomes an “anticipatory surrogate” for Paul’s presence.2 R. Funk suggests that both apostle and congregation need to have this literary connection, which substitutes for their physical presence. Malbon further suggests that the greater sense of urgency in relationship is not from the perspective of the needs of the congregation but from Paul’s desire for intimacy with them. Malbon states, “I judge that in

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Silvanus and Timothy Silvanus is probably the Silas reported in Acts 15:22, 27, 32; 15:40–18:5. A companion to Paul, Silas was also sent bearing a letter to the Gentile converts in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia with a report from the Jerusalem Conference as recorded in Acts 15. Paul also chose Silas as a traveling companion in Acts 15:36-41. Timothy is mentioned in all of Paul’s letters, except Galatians and Ephesians, as Paul’s coworker (1 Cor 1:1; Phil 1:1; Col 1:1; 2 Thess 1:1). Timothy is also a special assistant to Paul. He travels when Paul cannot (1 Cor 4:17; 16:10; Phil 1:19-23). Timothy was a disciple from Lystra who had a Jewish Christian mother and Gentile, perhaps nonbeliever, father. On Paul’s second missionary journey, Timothy was circumcised. Timothy was also with Paul in prison in Rome (Acts 20:4).

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Tim Mathia, paper submitted to the Thessalonian Correspondence Seminar, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Spring 2000. Saint Paul. Detail from Saint Paul handing over the letters to Timothy and Silo. Byzantine mosaic, Duomo, Monreale, Italy. (Credit: Scala/Art Resource, NY)

1 Thessalonians greater weight is given to the significance of the ‘presence’ of the congregation to the apostle. The Thessalonians may have ‘no need to have any one write,’ but Paul has a great need to write!”3 This letter is a “performative text.” The meaning of the letter transcends the content by revealing the intimate relationship of the letter writer to the recipients. Paul writes because he wants to be close to these people. Timothy and Silvanus bring Paul’s presence mediated through this letter to their beloved friends in the congregation in Thessaloniki. To suggest that Paul desires to write out of a need for friendship weakens the traditional argument that says Paul wrote Thessalonians as an apologia, or apostolic defense, to defend his role as leader, a role that was being challenged by opponents in the congregation in Thessaloniki.4 Features of an intensive, masterful apologetic directive are evident in Galatians, for example, as Paul begins the letter by almost shouting: “Paul an apostle—not from a person, not through a person, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father . . .” (1:1). The same defensive posture is evident in Romans where Paul opens the letter by giving a brief defense of his calling: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God . . .” (Rom 1:1). In the same manner, Paul introduces the letter to the church in Corinth with a polemical sound: “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus . . .” (1 Cor 1:1).

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Thessaloniki Known today as Salonica, this seaport city is built on the ancient site of Therme, the best natural harbor of the Aegean Sea. This city is strategically loacted on the Egnatian Way, the main land route for trade and military between Asia Minor and the Adriatic port of Dyrrachuim. Built by Cassander in 315 BC and named for his wife, Thessaloniki, the daughter of Philip II of Macedon and halfsister of Alexander the Great, Thessalonian cityscape. (Credit: Todd Bolen, “Thessalonica from north,” [cited 3 June 2008]. Online: this city was the capital within http://www.bibleplaces.com.) the Roman province of Macedonia. A free city, with limited autonomy, the city was free from Roman military occupation, able to make their coinage, and granted tax benefits. Paul visits Thessaloniki on his second missionary journey (Acts 17:1). At this time in the city’s history, the population has absorbed many Greek immigrants from the south. The city has a Greek, rather than Roman, character. A significant Jewish community is present. Unfortunately we do not have many significant archeological remains from the first century. A massive fire in the nineteenth century burned all the remains of the Roman period. We cannot uncover the remains of the city as it appeared during the time of the Paul’s ministry. Some general assumptions can be made, however, regarding the religious and political character. Mystery cults, such as the state-sponsored cults of Dionysius, Sarapis, and Cabirus, dominated the religious scene. Thessaloniki also sponsored followers of the imperial cult. Recovered coinage reveals the heads of Julius Caesar and Augustus. C. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, The New International Greek New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 3–8.

In the introduction of the first letter to the Thessalonians, however, Paul does not consider it necessary to provide additional information regarding his vocational aspirations or personal mission statement. Missing from this salutation is Paul’s own selfidentification or defense of his apostolic status. Perhaps Paul does not need to add personal verification for these readers because they know him well. Perhaps his reputation is not under fire here. Paul will, at a later date, encounter tremendous opposition in the other churches. But in this congregation, at this very moment, Paul is known and loved, accepted and honored. He can express himself in clear and personally vulnerable ways that will be directed to the reader and not written to deflect the darts of opposition forces. Who is receiving the letter? Paul writes to a first-century church belonging to the Thessalonian people who have been brought into being by God (1:1b). [Thessaloniki] Paul gives a standard liturgical greeting, although abbreviated, to the recipients of the letter: “Grace to you and peace” (1:1c). The words describe a world that belongs to an ancient epistolary style of Greek letter writing; a

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world belonging to the life and ministry of the young missionary, Paul; of years of labor with friends, Timothy and Silvanus; of newfound faith and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. These very words also shape a new world. Paul’s words become literary anchors for the spiritual development of this young community of faith. From this verse, however, we do not know the exact date of the writing or the precise time and place of those receiving the letter. We have no physical descriptions of the recipients, other than the name of the city where they live. We can infer that they are Gentiles. We will learn later in the letter that this group is most likely a group of artisans, primarily male, who meet together for worship and work. They have a high regard for Paul, their brother in fellowship and co-laborer in vocation. Paul, likewise, has an extreme affection for them. A strong sense of brotherhood emerges from this community of faith. Paul’s opening words help to forge that new world of intimate friendship. Words of Thanksgiving and Memory, 1:2-8

Paul’s first words to the community (and first written words of his missionary career) are affirming words of thanksgiving. While these words may be crafted using a known literary convention, these words also describe the deep relationship between Paul and the members of the Thessalonian community. The syntactical kernel of the single, long, sentence that runs through vv. 2-10 is simply, “We give thanks.” Those three words form the basic unit of thought; vv. 3-10 are clauses that modify this basic subject/verb/direct object clause in v. 3. A world of affirmation, belonging, connections—a world of friendship—resides behind these words between Paul and the church in Thessaloniki. Paul “makes memory” by remembering unceasingly the group of believers in his prayers (1:2). He “makes memory” by remembering their faithful work, their loving labor, and their hopeful patience (1:3). Paul’s signature trilogy—faith, hope, and love—are distinguishing marks of the community of faith (see also 1 Cor 13:13; Col 1:5; 1 Thess 5:8). [Faith, Hope, and Love: A Catena of Nouns in Genitive Case] These attributes, found in triadic form only in Paul’s writings, are the values of the believers of Thessaloniki. Not simply abstract slogans prepared for publicity purposes, these attributes identify the collective. Faith, not just for personal edification of individuals but also for action within the collective, is the base for productivity. Faith produces works. Works do not produce faith. Furthermore, love also has a social effect. Paul describes the second member of the

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trilogy as love that produces labor, not labor that produces love. The third attribute of the community is hope, the kind of hope that provides steadfastness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hope produces steadfastness, not vice versa. Important to the community are these three hallmarks of good living. Paul remembers the community by affirming these attributes of their corporate life. He remembers and affirms their faith. As Paul writes and the members read, they are being drawn into closer relationship with him as well as with one another. These words reveal a world; they also shape the world of faith in this young community of believers. More intimate, relational language follows. Paul gives thanks (v. 2) since he knows of their calling, or election. [Election: A Word Study] They have been chosen. Although this term has been used in modern ecclesiastical circles to debate forms of predestination or free will that are manifest in self-contained ecclesiastical traditions, such as Presbyterianism and Methodism, it is not fair to read those polarities—God’s sovereignty or our ability to choose—into Paul’s use here. To write that the believers have been chosen is not to establish a precise doctrine of election but rather to shape individual people into a collective community of faith. Election: A Word Study Charles Wanamaker maintains that The Greek word eklog∑ means election, selection, or this word functions in what Wayne choosing. Meeks calls the “language of Used in secular documents to describe choices in property disbelonging.”5 Wanamaker suggests putes, marriages, and other contracts, this word does not appear that this language “helps to create a in the Septuagint. When this idea of election appears in Hebrew sense of group identity and, one and Greek texts, there develops a theological tension between might add, superiority for a commuGod’s sovereign action and human responsibility. In Thessalonians, however, the concept of chosenness is not used to separate a nity setting itself over against the group of people from another group of people. Rather, Paul’s use wider society of which it is a part.” of election here underscores the close ties of friendship that Paul The sociological significance of the is forming with this community. This term clearly belongs to Paul’s linguistic world—the language of belonging. The Thessalonian use of the term election cannot be believers belong to God; they also belong to Paul. Solidarity overlooked. With these words, Paul between writer and reader is formed when the world of relationclearly creates a community, a world ship is affirmed. of solidarity, and not a presentation of doctrinal purity. While mainBrian Harfst, “Word Study on Election,” paper presented to the Thessalonian Correspondence Seminar, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Spring 2001. taining this sociological function in Faith, Hope, and Love: A Catena of Nouns in Genitive Case The famous trilogy of faith, hope, and love reveals an interesting but complicated grammatical detail. All of the words in the phrase “work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope” (1:3) are nouns in the genitive case. The translator/interpreter must decide how to render these nouns with their genitive attributes into good English. The dilemma, as most always, is both grammatical and theological: Does work produce faith, or does faith produce work? Does labor produce love, or does love produce labor? Does hope produce Christ, or does Christ produce hope? The subjective genitive is best rendered here, where the genitive noun functions as the subject of the noun of action. The NIV renders the Greek most clearly into English: “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Amplified Bible, although clear in translation, adds an eschatological phrase not present in the Greek text: “your work energized by the faith and service motivated by love and unwavering hope in [the return of] our Lord Jesus Christ.”

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higher regard than the theological debate related to predestination and free will, it then becomes clear that the use of the term endears the community to the one who is using the term. In other words, Paul creates a world of confident believers and simultaneously endears those same believers to him. Like a parent who speaks affirming words to the child, Paul speaks. The child’s image of self is boosted and simultaneously the child is bonded to the parent. Paul’s words of belonging create community; they also create space for Paul’s leadership among them. Paul, the astute leader, affirms the people of the congregation. A brief glimpse into Paul’s self-understanding of leader is given in v. 5: “you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake.” The verse stands as an explanation to the word election as stated in v. 4. This explanation, technically called an epexegetical function, provides further explanation of the concept of election and is introduced by the causal use of the connective particle, hoti. Paul understands how special they are (election) because the gospel came to them through Paul, not only in word, but also in power, in spirit, and with great conviction (1:5). Paul also knows how to present his role as leader among them. Paul, using words of belonging and personal pronouns, continues to rekindle memories of their relationship. Personal pronouns supplement the language of belonging: “our gospel came to you . . . just as you know what kind of people we were among you.” The words of affirmation continue in v. 6: “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction.” Elizabeth Montgomery Barrett, the first woman to publish a translation of the New Testament from the Greek text, and who also served as the president of the American Baptist Convention in 1921, renders v. 6 in this manner: “Moreover, you began to follow the pattern I set before you, and the Lord’s also, receiving the word with joy in the Holy Spirit, although amid severe persecution.” Montgomery’s English rendering of this verse provides clarity of interpretation lacking in the King James translation: “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.” The stumbling block for postmodern readers is this: how can a person demand that anyone imitate, or follow, someone else when the one doing the leading is much like the one doing the following? [Imitation: A Word Study] Both leader and follower are only human. Furthermore, only deranged leaders of totalitarian regimes and autocratic governments demand full imitation. Paul does not demand that the members of the congregation become robotic

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clones of himself, speaking as he speaks or dressing as he dresses. Rather he is affirming their role, to place the relationship in contemporary terms, of mentor and mentee. Paul has been the mentor; the members of the congrePlato uses the word for comparison and analogy. gation have imitated his pattern. They have This usage usually implies copying an original. The words also suggest ethical directives, that of imitadone it well. Like Paul, the believers have tion as willfully following a human or divine example. endured much for the sake of the gospel. This idea of imitating the example of God or heroes What are they imitating? The remainder of in the faith is absent in the Old Testament. Paul, v. 6 provides the manner of imitation. Paul has however, uses the idea of imitation to reinforce his mentoring relationship with the members of the endured much distress (thlipsis); in like Thessalonian congregation. In sharing his life with manner so has the community. Paul has the people, Paul not only taught the faith with his endured the distress with the joy of the Lord; words but he also modeled Christian ethics with his the community has responded similarly. The life. imitation results from the way both Paul and Brian Harfst, “Word Study on Election,” paper presented to the the community steadfastly endure hardship. Thessalonian Correspondence Seminar, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Spring 2001. The distress associated with the gospel noted in v. 6 is not clearly identified. What kind of stress were they experiencing? At least two options exist. On one hand, Paul perhaps is referring to the physical persecution that later he would write about in graphic terms (1 Cor 1:8-11; 2 Cor 11:24-29). Perhaps the persecutors are identified in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 and Acts 17:5-9. On the other hand, suggests A. Malherbe, perhaps Paul understands the distress to be more emotional rather than physical. Malherbe states that “it is reasonable to understand thlipsis in 1:6 as the distress and anguish of heart experienced by persons who broke with their past as they received the gospel.”6 This inward angst would be the kind of psychological distress when a group changes social status. The suffering could be the result of the decision made by the community to become believers of Christ in the midst of a pagan culture. Or the source could have been angry religious leaders as the Acts account suggests: “But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked fellows of the rabble, they gathered a crowd, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason and some of the brethren . . .” (17:5). Perhaps these “Jews” represented the traditionalists from Jerusalem who in many ways continued to disagree with Paul’s Gentile mission and liberal understanding of the religious tradition. Todd Still connects the opposition not to Paul’s fellow Jews but suggests that the members of the Thessalonian community were “troubled by unconverted Gentiles, precisely the people who persisted in worshiping the ‘idols’ from which the Thessalonian Christians had turned.”7

Imitation: A Word Study The Greek word mim∑tai is related to the verb mimeomai, which is translated as “imitate, emulate, follow.”

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Even though the specific event of persecution or the precise identity of the opponents may never be clear, one way of understanding the situation of Paul and the community is to understand the persecution as both outward and inward. Perhaps both physical persecutions as well as emotional trauma are challenges for Paul and the members of the congregation. Whatever was the locus of the suffering, the community and Paul are able to handle the opposition with maturity and faithfulness. The way the community manages its adversity becomes a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia (1:7). The church is a model community for all other believing communities in the region. As the community imitates Paul, so will other communities of faith imitate the Thessalonian community. David Stanley observes, “As Paul’s living out of the gospel had, under God and Christ, been efficacious in bringing the Thessalonians to faith, their existence as a community of faith in its turn served as a means of spreading the gospel, since from it the ‘word of the Lord rang out.’”8 Words of Thanksgiving for Their Faith and Eschatological Community, 1:9-10

The praise for this community flows from Paul’s pen. They are affirmed in every way. Because of them the word of the Lord has been proclaimed to the wider community—first in the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Achaia, then in every place (1:8). The reason for their fame is twofold. One, the community’s reputation has been increased because of the manner in which they received Paul. Two, word has gone out regarding how the community of faith was willing “to turn from idols and serve the living and genuine God and wait for God’s son from heaven . . .” (1:9-10). C. Wanamaker notes, “the way in which the Thessalonians had received and responded to the Pauline mission under very trying circumstances had probably become a piece of missionary propaganda used to demonstrate the truth of the Christian message to others.”9 Some scholars suggest that Paul’s affirmation of the community in vv. 9-10 may have had a literary history before Paul. Paul’s affirmation may reflect early Christian preaching to the Gentiles. These words may have been used in homilies of the early believing community before Paul began his ministry. The outline, in four points, frames early Christian teaching: (1) turn to God; (2) wait for God’s son; (3) whom God raised from the dead; (4) Jesus the deliverer.10

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The homiletical, or didactic, quality of this passage cannot be overlooked. With an adept use of embedded clauses, Paul (and perhaps preachers prior to Paul), clearly presents the message of the gospel to unbelievers. Paul’s words are powerful. His skill at affirmation creates solidarity between people. Paul’s lavish praise creates a close bond of relationship for him and the believers in Thessaloniki. Koester astutely observes an additional dimension to Paul’s creative words in this passage. When Paul writes about how they have turned from idols to serve a living God and to wait for Jesus, who will deliver God’s people from the wrath to come, an even stronger bond is created between writer and readers. Koester states that in these verses “the characterization of the church moves this church out of the realm of personal relationship with the apostle into a universal horizon of participation in an eschatological event.”11 This relationship is in many ways truly independent of the writer when seen in the context of this larger, universal, eschatological event. The members of the community are not only connected to Paul, they are also connected to a faith that extends beyond time and place. While they serve and wait for this universal deliverance, they are close to one another and to their leader. The readers belong to a grand plan of salvation and deliverance. They are connected to Paul, to one another, to the past and to the future. Paul has the gift of using words to create worlds that did not exist before the words, worlds of connection between people, of solidarity between individuals in a time of personal and community crisis. Words, especially beginning words, are powerful.

CONNECTIONS From these words of Paul we learn a great deal about his leadership style. These observations on leadership provide inspiration even in the twenty-first century. In the midst of the massive swirl of discussions and finely tuned definitions of good leadership, one observation I continue to remember is this: A good leader knows how to add value to others. John Maxwell clearly states that “leadership is influence instead of position . . . . You don’t strive to be a leader; you strive to add value to people, and they’ll let you be the leader.”12 Paul was an effective leader not because he demanded his way with an autocratic hand but because of the way he sought to affirm and add value to the people with whom he served. The congregation of believers in Thessaloniki followed Paul’s leadership

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because he added value to their lives. This section of the first letter to the Thessalonian congregation clearly makes this point—Paul adds value to the people with his leadership style of affirmation. In families, corporations, and churches, models of leadership have changed dramatically in recent years. Traditionally, an exemplary leader appeared in the form of a stern taskmaster, distant in relationship and space from subordinate workers. The boss who is rarely seen, whose lifestyle differs from the subordinates, who sits at the top, barking orders from behind closed doors to a humble and subordinate group of workers, represents the traditional style of leadership. This tough kind of leader is seen as capable of maneuvering through structures like a military general in a combat zone. This autocratic model, although most prominent in corporate offices, has similar models in the structures of church and home. The dictatorial pastor who demands that he (gender specific usually) make all of the decisions is a similar model of leadership to the husband who requires unquestioned submission and obedience from his wife and children. All three models, corporate, church, and family, operate from the premise that the more you can persuade your inferiors that they are neither worthy nor intelligent enough to be leader, then the more power is available to you, the leader at the top of the pyramid. The one in charge works hard to put people in their place—at the bottom—while he remains at the top. The hierarchy demands that the stern taskmaster in charge rarely offers positive words—only goading ones that insult and demoralize in order to ensure greater productivity. The guiding myth looks like this: the most powerful leader wields the greatest control; the greatest control over the more inferior underlings produces greater productivity. Often, this directive rules our relationships from large world governments to small family systems. The costs of this model, however, are dramatic and often tragic. The family with the leader father, who wields control of family members, suffers tremendously. Independence and self-worth are stripped from children and women when the father’s authority reigns unchecked. If the autocrat’s power is expressed as violence, women and children are wounded or killed. In the world of corporate life, loss of morale among the workers because of an authoritarian boss also means loss of productivity, which in turn means loss of revenue. The laity in ecclesiastical structures, likewise, remains impotent when church leadership is from the top down. The gospel message becomes garbled when only offered from one voice. Dialogue and negotiation, primary engines of theological

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vitality, are not present. Growth and vitality are squelched. The structures groan and travail. Self-defeat and sorrow replace personal confidence and joy. The system of hierarchy causes great suffering. Life is snuffed out. The primary, emotional glue that holds this patriarchal system intact is simple but powerful: the leader must withhold affirmation from the subordinates. The thesis is that if you can make the workers realize that they are unworthy and incompetent, the leader can then build the base of control needed to direct the organism from the top down. If the subordinates think they have nothing to offer, they will become fully passive and wholly compliant with the one in control. Remember the military tactics of new governments that take control by force. The new regime will use force to intimidate the citizens into submission. In the structure of family, this is domestic abuse, where the husband abuses the wife to maintain his authoritarian control. This model, when seen in educational settings, does not create healthy, independent thinkers in the classroom. Rather, when the teacher uses this model of classroom leadership, the students strive to be exactly like the teacher, emulating the teacher’s style and patterns of thought rather than creating their own. Individual creativity is stamped out. Authoritarian leaders often rationalize that this kind of relationship is necessary in order to implement control. For example, if a country is without law and order or perhaps facing some major crisis, then a frequent response to that chaos is to introduce a heavy-handed regime, where civil liberties are bypassed and power rests in the hands of a few. The argument is that in crisis there is not time for slow-moving democratic processes with many levels of checks and balances. Totalitarian regimes thus are often welcome when people are without jobs and are hungry. Meg Wheatley, in Leadership and the New Science, however, cautions that when we use hierarchy to harness chaos, we are confusing control with order. She contends that our quest for control, even in the midst of chaos, only engenders more chaos and not true order and productivity. She reasons, “If organizations are machines, control makes sense. If organizations are process structures, then seeking to impose control through permanent structure is suicide.”13 Tighter control does not necessarily create greater productivity. Often, the opposite happens—more control, lesser production; lesser control, greater production. Organizations, be they family, church, or market, are process structures, not machines. Another way of leading becomes essential where order rather than control is the goal. [We Confuse Order with Control]

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We Confuse Order with Control What is it that streams can teach me about organizations? I am attracted to the diversity I see, to these swirling combinations of mud, silt, grass, water, rocks. This stream has an impressive ability to adapt, to shift the configurations, to let the power balance move, to create new structures. But driving this adaptability, making it all happen, I think, is the water’s need to flow. Water answers to gravity, to Grand Canyon downhill, to the call of ocean. Toroweap Point. (Credit: Nick Schlax, istockphoto.com) The forms change, but the mission remains clear. Structures emerge, but only as temporary solutions that facilitate rather than interfere. There is none of the rigid reliance on single forms, on true answers, on past practices that I have learned in business. Streams have more than one response to rocks; otherwise, there’d be no Grand Canyon. Or else Grand Canyons everywhere. The Colorado realized that there were ways to get ahead other than by staying broad and expansive. Meg Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1992), 15–16.

Many people have understood Paul to be a control freak—domineering and exerting power for the sake of the gospel. Calvin J. Roetzel acknowledges that some interpreters have portrayed Paul as a “dogmatic grouch.”14 His fits of anger; his harsh polemic against his own people, the Jews; his authoritarianism that calls for silent women and uncircumcised men; and his personal conflict with John Mark and Barnabas have caused some readers to consider Paul to be an authoritarian leader in the manner described above. What I suggest, however, is that at least in the Thessalonian correspondence, Paul exhibits another style of leadership. Paul, in this letter, does not structure control through non-negotiated moral dictums; rather, he enables natural growth in the believers of Thessaloniki through words of affirmation and trust. This is a major difference. Paul’s language in the Thessalonian correspondence is the language of leadership through affirmation. His abundant use of personal pronouns, such as “our,” “we,” “us,” creates solidarity. Paul gives thanks for them (1:2). He remembers their work of faith, their labor of love, their steadfast hope (1:3). Paul praises the believers with these very personal words: “God has chosen you” (1:4). Paul continues these words of affirmation with

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even more extravagance when he says that the believers in Thessaloniki have become an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia (1:8). In other words, Paul says they are so wonderful that there is no need for him to have to write anything (1:8). This literary style does not belong to the linguistic universe of an autocratic dictator. Of course, even political strategists know how to use positive words for the purpose of manipulation and seduction. Some scholars suggest that Paul’s words of affirmation are a learned rhetorical feature, developed by ancient rhetoricians to persuade an audience. In other words, if the speaker can create a sympathetic and captive audience, then the speaker can more easily move the group to the speaker’s point of view. The strategy is clearly manipulative and works to create an intentional end. I contend, however, that Paul’s words are less indicative of a manipulative, rhetorical strategy and more indicative of a genuine manner of relating to people for whom he cared deeply. These words become the visible manifestations of Paul’s heart. Paul affirms and praises his audience here because he genuinely believes in them and cares for them—not because he needs their attention or wants to manipulate their emotions. Some see Paul’s leadership style as weak and ineffective and believe that “too much” praise results in sloppiness and slowdown. Paul’s words are not so ethereal that they lack boundaries of personal expectation. Just as Paul praises the readers, he will also remind them of their ethical responsibilities in the paraenetical section of chapters 4–5. This intimate relationship has warm connections and high moral expectations. While a graduate student, I studied with a master teacher. I will always remember his “sandwich” grading style, as well as a few of those low grades I received. The “sandwich” consisted of opening remarks of affirmation, followed by words of negative critique, concluding with remarks of affirmation. His evaluation style was predictable: affirmation, critique, followed by affirmation. I would enter his office. He would sit down at his desk, then pull out the small table from the underside of the desktop. With his red pen remaining in his left hand from his morning of grading, he prepared to make his oral evaluative comments. The paper had been stained with many red marks that I would read later at home, in my room, alone. I quietly waited for his response. As always, he began with praise. “Linda, you have chosen a very interesting topic,” or “you did a good job with your research.” Whatever the content of the

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comment, the first response was always affirmation; even if sometimes he had to stretch to make an honest, praiseworthy assessment! He would then begin turning the pages of my manuscript, selectively reading his marginal notes, pointing out the strong arguments, the creative turns of phrases, and the solid use of resources. Then, after a momentary pause, just at the moment that I thought I must be really good at this, he would say, “But we have a few things to work on there.” My body would stiffen. I would then try to receive every word of what I knew was going to be a meticulous and thorough critique of the paper’s weaknesses. He would proceed to unearth every obtuse sentence, red-lining every split infinitive, noting every incorrect verb tense shift, pointing to the spot where the argument fizzled or failed. As we concluded, he would offer his final comment—another encouraging word about my work. The affirming comment would once again remind me that there was some hope—that my work was not all in vain. Words are important; words of affirmation are very important. Paul leads through his words of affirmation and encouragement. In addition, Paul leads through mentoring relationships. Paul applauds the willingness of the believers to imitate him: “you became imitators of us and the Lord” (1:6). The act of imitation, mimesis, becomes important for the young believers. They are to imitate the leaders, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, as well as the Lord. Most postmodern readers can appreciate Paul’s gentle words of affirmation, but to suggest that imitation of another person might be a noble act is another matter. We reject the idea that anyone would be worthy enough, superb enough, moral enough, equipped enough to be considered a prototype of Christian discipleship. Why in the world would a person establish one individual as the exemplary model to be followed? Especially oneself? Who does Paul think he is? How can he assume that he could be worthy of imitation? Who among us, human folk, is worthy of imitation? Our heroes are dead. The post-World War II boomers can list those fallen leaders who sent us to a war that we did not win (Vietnam), who used dishonest tactics to gain information (Watergate), who traded government secrets for money, who unsuccessfully tried to separate their private and public lives. We know leaders are human, easily influenced by people and money, with political goals often related to reelection rather than to the collective good. The question for most of us is this: How can we trust any one individual to be our ultimate guide and exemplar for

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our behavior? Heroes for most postmodern readers are dead. We balk at the thought of emulating heroes. We have no heroes to emulate. How are we to appropriate Paul’s thought about imitation for twenty-first-century living? Even Paul’s own words seem to be in conflict. Paul, on the one hand, applauds the believers who imitate him (2 Thess 3:9; Phil 3:17; 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1). On the other hand, in another letter, he explicitly repudiates the opposition who accused him of trying to make his own group of disciples by saying, “We do not proclaim ourselves but Jesus as Lord, with ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus” (2 Cor 4:5). How does one reconcile these two statements intimated in Paul’s own writing: “Imitate me but do not follow me?” Scholars are divided on the function of imitation in Paul’s leadership style. Elizabeth Castelli suggests that Paul’s use of mimesis, or imitation, was an extension of power, a way to control the disruptive elements in the church. Paul says he imitates Christ, thereby securing his position as leader and muting the dissident voices in the community.15 In contrast, David Stanley suggests that “Paul’s use of imitation excludes any notion of a deliberate or extrinsic copying of an example.”16 Leander Keck understands that Paul wished “his life to be transparent enough that his hearers could glimpse the power of the gospel. This transparency is what Paul wants the believers to imitate.”17 I contend that Paul’s use of the concept of imitation is a result of the strong and intimate relationship he had with the members of the Thessalonian community. The mimetic quality of the life of faith moves in concentric circles: Paul imitates God; the young believers imitate Paul; the believers of Macedonia and Achaia imitate the believers of Thessaloniki (1:7). Paul’s use of mimesis points to a “reality transcending merely human exemplarity, moral influence, or external simulation. Nor can Pauline imitation be reduced to obedience to the apostle’s authority.”18 Paul wants to lead the believers in Thessaloniki to share his own experience, which is to “rely with full confidence on the divine power graciously offered through his ‘gospel.’”19 In the first year of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, a student asked me if I would be her spiritual director. I listened carefully to her request. At that time, although I had heard the term used before, I was not comfortable with how I understood the concept. I questioned, “How could anyone else lead the spiritual life of another?” I am not sure I can identify the genuine source of my resistance. Perhaps my reluctance to embrace

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the idea was due to my Baptist sensibilities that boasted of the priesthood of all believers. Individual soul competency means that I am able to discern spiritual matters on my own—that I do not need another person to do that for me. Perhaps a more honest, yet difficult, assessment of my reluctance was due in part to my personal fears and insecurities. I did not feel adequate to guide the spiritual life of another. And I certainly did not want my spiritual inconsistencies and weaknesses laid bare before another person. I assumed that a spiritual director belonged to a higher spiritual stratosphere—much too high for me to reach. I was afraid of the concept and most honestly afraid of the commitment. In many ways, I regret that I refused her request that day. Only gradually, however, did I understand my reluctance to say yes to her request. In the following months, I found a path that led to my own personal search for the meaning of spiritual director. I even chose one for my life’s journey, meeting with her weekly for prayer and conversation. The path for my understanding began with the IrishChristian saint, Brigid, a fifth-century Anam Cara—Soul Friend bishop and leader of the double In everyone’s life, there is great need for an anam monastery in County Kildare, Ireland. cara, a Gaelic word translated as “soul friend.” Ascribed to this influential church John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom for the Celtic World (London: Bantam Press, 1997), 36. leader of ancient Ireland is this saying: “Pity is the one without an anam cara [Gaelic for soul friend].” [Anam Cara— Soul Friend] In this tradition, such soul-friend relationships were created and treasured. To these ancient people, the faith was best lived in relationship with a friend who would be teacher, companion, and spiritual guide. An anam cara was a person whose life with God was open to the intimacies of relationship with another. With an anam cara you could confess, share the hidden intimacies of your life, be held responsible for your actions, and know that you had a friend who would listen to your heart and your mind. John O’Donohue describes this anam cara experience as God’s gift: “it is precisely in awakening and exploring this rich and opaque inner landscape that the Saint Brigid of Ireland in stained glass. anam cara experience illuminates the Saint Brigid of Kildare. (Credit: Jaroslaw Baczewski, istockphoto.com)

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A Friendship Blessing May you be blessed with good friends. May you learn to be a good friend to your self. May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness. May this change you. May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in you. May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship, and affinity of belonging. May you treasure your friends. May you be good to them and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth, and light that you need for the journey. May you never be isolated; but may you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara.

mystery and kindness of the divine.”20 [A Friendship Blessing]

I am suggesting that Paul’s use of mimesis in this letter to the believers in Thessaloniki does not exhibit the authoritarian strategy of leadership by demands. Paul is not requiring that all of the young believers become Pauline clones, for example. In offering his life as a model, Paul invites these young believers into a relationship with the depth of the anam cara experience.21 Paul wants to serve as a mentor to this congregation, offering his soul to them (2:8). As a soul friend, Paul will praise their world, offering words of affirmation and encouragement. He will also hold them accountable for their actions. His most important work, however, will be to model for them an authentic relationship with God—transparent, vulnerable, raw, and rich—that will invite others to join him in that new John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom for the Celtic World (London: Bantam Press, 1997), 60. world of faith. Paul becomes a spiritual director for the believers in Thessaloniki. His words reveal his care for them. His frequent flow of letters exhibits his persistent nurturing of their lives. He tends to the believers as a midwife carefully tends to the awakening of new life at the moment of birth. Perhaps it is time for some of us to acknowledge that we need one another in the life of faith. Perhaps we need to reposition our Reformation-induced doctrines of the priesthood of believer and individual soul competency to allow room for a soul friend on the journey of faith. No, we do not have to employ a priest or even a Baptist clergy to reach God; we are capable of accomplishing that alone. However, we do not need to walk alone. God’s gift to us is friendship. God, the great anam cara, has luxuriously provided for each of us a soul friend—one who will walk this journey with us. We need not be afraid of finding that anam cara.

Notes 1 Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, “‘No Need to Have Anyone Write?’ A Structural Exegesis of 1 Thessalonians,” Semeia 26 (1983): 57. 2 Robert Funk, “The Apostolic Parousia: Form and Significance,” Christian History and

Interpretation: Studies Presented to John Knox, ed. William R. Farmer, C. F. D. Moule,

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 and R. Richard Niebuhr (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 266–327, as noted by Malbon, “No Need to Have Anyone Write?” 70–71. 3 Malbon,

“‘No Need to Have Anyone Write?’” 71.

4 Helmut

Koester and James M. Robinson, Trajectories through Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 112 f.; Robert Jewett, The Thessalonian Correspondence: Pauline Rhetoric and Millenarian Piety (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 92, 102–104. 5 Charles

A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (New International Greek New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 77. 6 Abraham

J. Malherbe, Paul and the Thessalonians (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987),

48. 7 Todd Still, Conflict at Thessalonica: A Pauline Church and Its Neighbors (Sheffield England: Sheffield Press, 1999), 226. 8 David Stanley, “Imitation in Paul’s Letters: Its Significance for His Relationship to Jesus and to His Own Christian Foundations,” in From Jesus to Paul: Studies in Honour of Francis Wright Beare, ed. P. Richardson and J. Hurd (Ontario: Louvier University Press, 1984), 135. 9 Wanamaker,

Epistles to the Thessalonians, 84.

10

For a brief summary on the recent German scholarship that investigates the passage as a pre-Pauline homiletical formulation, see Stanley E. Porter, “Developments in German and French Thessalonians Research: A Survey and Critique,” Currents in Research: Biblical Studies 7 (1999): 320. 11 Helmut

Koester, “1 Thessalonians: Experiment in Christian Writing,” Continuity and Discontinuity in Church History: Essays Presented to George Hunston Williams on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, ed. F. F. Church and T. George (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1979), 36. 12 John

Maxwell, Leadership 17/4 (Fall 1996): 25.

13

Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1992), 23. 14

Calvin J. Roetzel, The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998), 4. 15 Elizabeth

Castelli, Imitating Paul: A Discourse of Power (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1991), 112, as quoted by Roetzel, Letters of Paul, 187. 16 David

Stanley, “Imitation in Paul’s Letters,” 133.

17 Leander Keck, “The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians,” The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971), 867. 18 Stanley,

“Imitation in Paul’s Letters,” 141.

19 Ibid. 20 John

O’Donohue, Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World (London: Bantam Press, 1997), 36. 21 Linda

McKinnish Bridges, “Terms of Endearment: Paul’s Words of Comfort in First Thessalonians,” RevExp 96/2 (1996): 218–19.

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Paul’s Words of Endearment 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 We have already seen how Paul uses words of thanksgiving and praise to endear a group of people to God, to himself, and to one another. With these words of encouragement, Paul creates a world of solidarity in which people are joined by a common purpose and guided by a trusted leader.1 In this chapter, you not only hear Paul’s thoughts; you can also see them! Paul’s words of encouragement in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians, identified by warm language filled with personal pronouns and layers of affirmation, quickly morph into clear visual illustrations of emotion in the second chapter. In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, Paul describes his style of leadership with vivid, compelling metaphors, precise images that illustrate his care for the believers in Thessaloniki. The reader cannot miss the clarity of presentation in the brilliant images of Paul’s loving leadership style. Paul loves the members of the Thessalonian community as a nursing mother feeds her children (1 Thess 2:7). Paul also cares for the congregation like a father who teaches his children (2:11). In addition, when Paul is not with them, he feels as lonely as an orphaned child Paul as a Nursing Mother (2:17). Paul’s words of encouragement have deepened in chapter 2. The ideas have evolved into metaphors that are Image Not Available easily accessible and due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published understood. They are commentary or perform an stark. They are clear. Internet search using the You will not forget credit below. them.

Francesco Albani (1578–1660). Fertility. Oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris, France. (Photo Credit: Jean/ Lewandowski. Credit: Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY)

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COMMENTARY First-century readers, as well as twenty-first-century ones, know the important functions of nursing mothers and teaching fathers. The third image of a lonely orphan also communicates across cultures and time. We can see these pictures when reading Paul’s words; we can also feel the passion in Paul’s heart when he uses these images. These images, drawn from the domestic roles of father, mother, and child, reveal his intense love for the young believers in Thessaloniki and create a deepened sense of family among the members of the first-century community. The gender inclusivity of these images is startling for those of us who have tended to read Paul as one prone to autocratic and androcentric language. To appreciate these metaphors fully, readers must also consider the stockpile of images that Paul could have used instead of these simple and gentle domestic ones. To accomplish his literary goal, which is to create a clear picture of his leadership style for the community, Paul could have used metaphors from the world of military life. For example, Paul could have said, “I take care of you as a captain tends to the needs of his military corps.” Or Paul could have used a metaphor from the world of politics: “I care for you as a Roman politician cares for the needs of the citizenry.” Or Paul could have used an image from the first-century world of patrons and artists: “I care for your needs as a patron cares for the financial needs of a young painter.” These metaphors would have been culturally appropriate and understood by the first-century reader, yet he chose not to use them. Rather, he uses images from the private world of family— nursing mothers, teaching fathers, and lonely orphans—to describe his feelings for the believers in Thessaloniki. Why does Paul choose images that belong to the periphery and not the center of power and leadership in the first-century world? Most likely, all three images—military, politics, and patronage— would have referred to a male leader (although some women did serve as financial patrons, as seen in Luke 8:3). Why does Paul select images that ignore the vast repertoire of power brokers centered in the linguistic currency of military, political, and financial structures and opt for descriptions of marginal power within the walls of the private home?2 Paul chooses images intentionally from the family, the “domestic church.”3 Those images are not limited to the male member of the first-century home but also involve the mother. These metaphors of nursing mother, teaching father, and lonely orphan begin to modify many traditional images of Paul.

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Paul’s Itinerary before Thessaloniki Paul and Barnabas preach in Antioch (Acts 15:35). Paul and Silas travel through Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:41). They travel to Derbe and Lystra (Acts 16:1), then through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. At Troas, Paul and Silas change their itinerary and began to travel toward Macedonia (Acts 16:10). They go to Philippi, the leading city in Macedonia (Acts 16:12). Passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Paul and Silas travel to Thessaloniki, where according to the Acts account, they remain for three weeks (17:2).

Paul’s Style of Leadership, 2:1-7a

Paul’s visit (eisodon, lit., “entrance” or “into a way”) to the church in Thessaloniki is introduced in 1:9. Paul was well received by the members of the community as he also reports in 2:1. The visit was not empty (ou ken∑ ), translated “in vain” (NSRV); “fruitless” (REB); “without effect” (NAB); or “pointless” Manner and Character of Paul’s Visit to (NJB). Paul’s visit to Thessaloniki had been Thessaloniki good. [Paul’s Itinerary before Thessaloniki] Paul calls on • preceded by suffering; the Thessalonians to verify the fact. The • distinguished by boldness of utterance; • identified by absence of deceit, of uncleanness, description of Paul’s visit in this section has less and of guile; to do with the actual accomplishments of the • identified by fidelity, gentleness, and by disinterThessalonian believers and more to do with ested self-denying love; the manner and character of his time spent • marked by continuous and affectionate labor and with them. [Manner and Character of Paul’s Visit to toil. Thessaloniki] In 1:9 Paul reports that his visit Karl P. Donfried, “The Epistolary and Rhetorical Context of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12,” in The Thessalonian Debate: enabled the believers to turn to and begin Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis, ed. Karl P. serving a living God. In 3:9 he reports that his Donfried and Johanned Butler (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000), 47. visit is important for encouraging the commu-

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nity “for fear that somehow the tempter has been tempted.” In this description, however, Paul considers the character of his visit with them rather than relating the nature of his accomplishments. Paul arrived in Thessaloniki tired. Paul and Silas were previously in Philippi where they had been physically attacked. Luke recalls their visit: Who Are the Detractors? Members of the Jewish opposition? • Against libertarianists • Against compromises with the tradition Members of the Gentile opposition? • Itinerant preachers (perhaps Cynics) • Peripatetic philosophers • Representative of diverse religious cults Members of the Jerusalem church? • Even perhaps “the work of Silas who represented the Jerusalem Church, so that the Thessalonian letters are the first evidence of the profound cleft that existed between the Pauline and the Jerusalem mission” See Michael Goulder, “Silas in Thessalonica,” JSNT 48 (1992): 94, as quoted by Jeffrey A. D. Weima, “The Function of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 and the Use of Rhetorical Criticism: A Response to Otto Merk,” in The Thessalonian Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis, ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johanned Butler (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000), 120, n 19.

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Staircase of the synagogue of Beroea, Greece, to which Paul and Silas fled when the Jews of Thessalonica turned against them. Saint Paul preached here. 1st–3d C. Synagogue, Beroea, Greece. (Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

The crowd joined in attacking them; and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave order to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (Acts 16:20-24)

Paul reports the incident in summary fashion and minimalist detail: “we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi . . .” (2:2). In the face of that agony (agøni ), Paul still had the courage to speak the good news of the gospel to the believers in Thessaloniki. Paul has opposition, or agony, almost everywhere he goes. A great Pauline mystery is the exact identity of the opponents who provide this agony. [Who Are the Detractors?] Are they the traditionalists from Jerusalem who appear at Paul’s every stop and create havoc among the crowds? Are they angry Gentiles who do not appreciate Paul’s missionary fervor? Opposition to Paul’s ministry cannot be underestimated. A brief survey of Luke’s summary statements affirms the opposing forces that dogged Paul’s ministry before and after the Jerusalem Conference in Acts 15. In Iconium, “unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren” (Acts 14:2). Then while in Lystra, “Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium; and having persuaded the people, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city” (Acts 14:19). While in Antioch, “some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’”

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(Acts 15:1). Paul and Barnabas had “no small dissension and debate with them” (Acts 15:2). And in Thessaloniki, after Paul and Silas had been preaching for several weeks, “the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked fellows of the rabble, they gathered a crowd, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the people” (Acts 17:5). While we may never know the true identity of the opposition, we know that Paul is aware that there are serious detractors to his ministry. The distraction is so great that at times Paul must secretly leave town at night for fear of his life. He is beaten, imprisoned, and punished for his work. At the end of his ministry, the resistance has grown so strong that he is counseled not to return to Jerusalem for fear that he will be killed (Acts Martyrdom of St. Paul 21:12). With echoes of Jesus’ own words before his final journey to Jerusalem, Paul, with the same kind of resoluteness, does not question his desire and determination to visit Jerusalem one more time and, if necessary, even to die, “For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). And he returns into what appears to be the hot seat of the resistance movement— the holy city of peace, Jerusalem. Of course, he is arrested and his traveling ministry comes to an end. The story of Paul’s ministry closes in Acts with Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, where he is under house arrest but still preaching (Acts 28:30). Although immobile, not able to travel by foot or boat, Paul is still working. People are Saint Paul being led toward martyrdom. Detail of relief from the lower panel of the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. 4th C. now coming to him. The gospel is being Museum of the Treasury, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican State. (Credit: Miguel Hermosos Cuesta / Wikimedia Commons, CCpreached freely without the obstacles of sufBY-SA-3.0) fering and impending death! Who are these people who make it so hard on Paul and the others? Why do they resist Paul with such deep animosity and frenetic energy? Does 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 function as Paul’s personal apology, his defense against the accusations of the opponents?4 [Apology] Or does the passage function less as a defense for Paul and more as a letter directly written for the Thessalonians, who have now become imitators of Paul? Paul’s coming to them, following his own suffering and mistreatment, prefigures what will be expected of the Thessalonian congregation, who also will endure the same hardship. In other words, Paul writes not in personal defense, or apology, but in personal encouragement for the

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members of the community who need a model of strength to follow in the midst of A work can be called an apology provided its content throughout aims at presenting a their own persecution.5 This section appears defense in answer to accusations against a certain less as a direct response to the attacks on person or groups of persons or at overcoming or prePaul’s personhood and more as a veiled venting opinions adverse to them. statement of encouragement to the J. A. Goldstein, The Letters of Demosthenes (New York: Columbia, believers. Paul relates that he has endured 1968), 98. persecution and they, the members of the church, will be able to withstand the agony as well. His example of faithfulness in the midst of pressure will enable them to respond in like manner. I am not sure that we can read vv. 3-12 as an exact, mirror-like image of the accusations from the opposition. Are they the exact words of the opponents in reverse as stated by Paul, or are they simply Paul’s overt manner of encouraging a persecuted group of people? We may never know for sure. I would like to read them less as a direct response to his opposition and more Communities and Leadership as a reflection of Paul’s philosophy of leadership. Richard S. Ascough contends that the I assume, then, that Paul is not just parroting Thessalonian community was similar to the accusations of his opponents in reverse a professional voluntary association, a profesorder; rather, Paul is presenting a firm ground sional grouping of male members very common in Greco-Roman antiquity. In this manner, Paul is the for his view of leadership. Those words of leader, one among equals, of manual laborers, chapter 2, therefore, are similar in function to who all share the same trade. Leaders of volunthe words of affirmation and encouragement in tary associations were chosen by the members of the preceding chapter. The function is to create the association who worked with the group and community. Communities are created when who had special authority in official matters of the members are encouraged by leaders who are association. honest and transparent with their lives as well as R. S. Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association,“ JBL 119/2 (2000): 318. with the information and knowledge that they possess. [Communities and Leadership] Paul is cultivating a community. Paul trusts his life with theirs. A good leader makes an appeal (parakl∑sis) neither from error nor impure motives nor deceit (2:3). [Parakl∑sis: A Word Study] Some scholars have suggested that Paul had a parallel text in mind when he wrote these words, such as the following passage from the Wisdom of Solomon: “Then it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but through living in great strife due to ignorance they call such great evils peace” (Wis 14:22). The common thread, perhaps, is the Hellenistic Jewish perspective against Gentile idolatry that Paul also may have in mind as he writes to the Thessalonians. On the other hand, perhaps Paul is not speaking antithetically against anyone else, neither a group of Jewish opponents from Apology

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 Parakl∑sis: A Word Study The Greek word, parakl∑sis, encompasses a constellation of possible English renderings, such as encouragement, appeal, comfort, and consolation. What is most interesting in Paul’s use of this word, however, is the lack of judicial force. Paul is not making an appeal as in a courtroom, with polemical demands. Rather, Paul is stating that his comfort, his peace of mind, comes not from error, insincere motives, or deceit, but from a genuine desire to please God. Paul will also use this same term in repetitive fashion in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (italics added):

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort [parakl∑sis], who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comforts with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort. . . . you will also share in our comfort.

Jerusalem nor Hellenistic Jews opposing Gentile ways. As George Lyons states, “antithetical constructions require a literary and rhetorical rather than historical explanation.”6 Steve Walton says it this way: “The antithetical style used in 2:1-12 does not necessarily mean that the views on the ‘not’ side actually exist: opponents are an unnecessary hypothesis.”7 Perhaps Paul is stating in antithetical rhetorical fashion his own understanding of leadership. Paul may have used this impressive literary tool, shaping an idea in an antithetical way, to impress his understanding of the role of the leader in the community. In positive terms, Paul is stating that a good leader leads from pure motives and honesty. In addition, Paul’s teachings never came with pretty words or because of greed (2:5). This antithetical form, “not . . . but . . .,” bears the marks of effective rhetorical speech. The negative frame heightens the reader’s interest and reveals the emotional intensity of the writer. In positive terms, Paul is stating that Words of Truth Not Just Flattery a good leader speaks words of truth not just Let no idle or random word escape your lips. Let us consider first whether what words of false flattery. [Words of Truth Not Just Flattery] we say can be of any benefit and can provide ediA good leader strives for a larger vision not just fication for those who hear it; then let us say for the purpose of human glory (2:6). The what we have to say with great clarity, just as if NRSV translates 2:1-7a in this manner: someone were standing by and writing down our words.

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions (Ancient Christian Writers) (Mahwah NJ: Paulist Press, 1962), 75 coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.

Verse 7a, “being able to insist on one’s authority as apostles of Christ,” belongs to the ideas found in the preceding six verses. Although several English translations place the phrase “able to wield authority [or insist on one’s importance] as an apostle” with the second thought unit beginning in v. 7, I suggest that the phrase most appropriately belongs to the end of the vv. 1-6. [English Translations of 1 Thessalonians 2:6] This construction as seen in the RSV is where v. 7a summarizes the preceding unit rather than beginning the next section. In other words, the funcEnglish Translations of 1 Thessalonians 2:6 tion of v. 7a is to conclude or echo the Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, sentiments of vv. 1-6 rather than to intronor yet of others, when we might have been duce a new topic. burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. (KJV) Paul states that he did not seek glory from people. He is not a people-pleaser (v. 6). Nor did we seek to extract praise and honor and glory from men, either from you or from anyone else, though Nor did he use his words just to offer flatwe might have asserted our authority [stood on our tery to make people feel good (v. 5). Paul is dignity and claimed honor] as apostles (special missionimplying that others used the office of the aries) of Christ (the Messiah). (The Amplified Bible) first-century apostle to wield personal power—that he could have used those Nor sought we glory of men, neither of you, nor of tactics and perhaps not even been quesothers. (Rheims New Testament) tioned because of the highly esteemed role Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or of the office of apostle. Paul is saying, in from others, even though as apostles of Christ we summary fashion, that he could have might have asserted our authority. (NASB) wielded authority with a firm, autocratic hand. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you Who are these apostles? Who are these or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you. (NIV) who can wield authority because of their office? The role of the office of apostle in Nor did we seek praise from human beings, either from the first century remains unclear. Later, in you or from others. (New American Bible) the second and third century, the role of the apostle would become more structured and organized in the life of the church. However, in these early hours of the movement, Paul uses the word to describe those who are working with him. One of the most comprehensive treatments on the subject of apostles is Walter Schmithals’s The Office of the Apostle in the Early Church. Schmithals asks, “Whom does Paul number with certainty among the apostles?”8 Certainly Paul considers himself to be an apostle (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:1). In addition, Junia and Andronicus receive the title (Rom 16:7). Peter is

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also considered an apostle (Gal 1:18-19), although perhaps not fully accepted by Paul. Barnabas may have also been considered an apostle, although not directly identified by Paul (1 Cor 9:6). Silvanus, too, may have been considered to be an apostle by Paul (2 Cor 1:19). Paul, interestingly enough, never provides the traditional list of the twelve apostles, as later Gospel evangelists would carefully record. They are not in Paul’s list of leaders, according to Schmithals. Of whom, then, is Paul speaking? What apostle, known to Paul and to the members of the community in Thessaloniki, is able to wield authority or insist on his importance in order to gain a following? Obviously Paul is using this apostle (or apostles) as a foil to describe his own, more positive, view of leadership. Could Paul be describing the group of leaders who have come from Jerusalem, maybe even led by Peter, in order to challenge his ministry among the Thessalonian believers (Acts 17:5)? Could Peter have been this apostle who, while trying to align with Paul’s Gentile ministry, becomes discouraged and identifies himself with The Parting of Peter and Paul the Judaizers (Gal 2:11-14)? That these early hours of the Pauline mission may have been plagued with leadership divisions between many leaders is attested later by Paul’s writing to the Corinthians, when he says, “Some of you say, ‘I belong to Paul,’ . . . ‘I belong to Apollos,’ . . . ‘I belong to Cephas [Peter] . . .’” (1 Cor 1:12). Image Not Available Michael Goulder develops a compelling argudue to lack of digital rights. ment for this Paul/Peter controversy in St. Paul Please view the published versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions.9 Perhaps commentary or perform an Internet search using the behind the writing of this letter stands the credit below. beginning of the polarization of church leadership styles and of internal theological debate. Perhaps this passage reveals the early dissension between Paul and Peter that would eventually create two mighty factions within the early church: those who accepted religious hierarchy and privilege (Peter and the Petrine school) conFrancois Perrier (1590–1650). The Parting of St. Peter and St. Paul. c. 1647–1650. Oil on canvas. (Credit: Réunion des Musées trasted with those who followed the teachings of Nationaux/Art Resource, NY) Paul (Pauline school). The strands of this debate are even present today within the various expressions of Christendom. For example, the Catholic Church represents the structured, more hierarchical response to Christianity; the churches of the Reformation present the less structured, less hierarchical response.

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First Thessalonians 2:1-7a, therefore, is a description of those who are leading the believers from the outside. Their leadership style, according to Paul, lacks integrity. They receive self-glory for their work. They are willing to make demands on others, to throw their apostolic weight around (2:7a NRSV). They desire to use their apostolic office for personal and economic gain. Paul says, “I am not like that; I am different.” Verses 7-12 will be a carefully crafted presentation of how Paul’s leadership style is different from those who are creating disorder in the community. Paul’s Images of a Gentle Leader, 2:7b-12

Following the lead of the English translation committee of the RSV, I contend that this new section of thought begins with these words: “But we were gentle among you . . .” (2:7 RSV; 2:7b NRSV). The theme of gentleness will be Paul’s primary description of his relationship with the believers in Thessaloniki in this new unit of thought. While the location of this phrase moves around in various versions of English text (for example, seen as v. 7b in the NRSV and then used as the beginning of v. 7 in the RSV), an even larger textual discussion concerns the use of the word gentle. In the Greek text, or at least in a few of the 5,000 extant Greek manuscripts, the word in this verse is ∑pioi (“gentle”), so v. 2:7 is translated as “But we were gentle among Scribes Copying Texts you.” However, in other Greek manuscripts, the word is n∑pioi (“infants”), so v. 2:7 is translated as “But we were infants among you.” The original manuscript has not been found, so we are left with an interesting conundrum. Which word did Paul really write in the original letter—gentle or infants? It is not uncommon to discover slight variations of Greek text in the 5,000 manuscripts. The context of scribal copying and text transmission in a cold, dimly lit scriptorium created possibilities for mistakes. One scribe would read the text aloud while the others would listen and copy, often in unheated rooms lit with only a candle. As you can see in this example, a mistake could have been made in the hearing of the Greek words for gentle (∑pioi ) or infants (n∑pioi). In Master of Parrall. St. Jerome in the Scriptorium. Museo Lázaro addition, the scribe could have made the Galdiano, Madrid, Spain. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art (PDold-100)]

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Scriptorium error from sight. The preceding word in the Greek manuscript ends with the Greek letter n, the first letter in the Greek word for infant. The scribe, with a glance of the eye, could have recopied or omitted the initial letter of the following word based on the ending letter of the preceding word. The external evidence, which weighs the greater reliability based on the quantity and quality of manuscripts, seems to favor the word infants. However, the Forge of Fontenay Abbey of Marmagne in the Côte-d’Or department (France) (Credit: Harmonia Amanda / Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-3.0) internal evidence seems to favor choosing the word gentle, determining that this word provides greater consistency with the meaning of the surrounding passages in chapter 2. Based on the argument for internal consistency, I choose to use the word gentle. If the word infants is used, the Our Mother, St. Paul metaphor simply is not clear: “But we were O St. Paul, where is he that was called infants among you, like a mother nursing her the nurse of the faithful, caressing his children.”10 How is an infant like a mother? Is sons? Paul saying that he is the child or the mother? Who is that affectionate mother who declares everywhere Choosing the word gentle, however, eliminates that she is in labor for her sons? the mixed metaphor: “We became gentle like a Sweet nurse, sweet mother, mother nursing her children.” Paul is describing who are the sons you are in labor with, and nurse, his role as a gentle leader. [Our Mother, St. Paul] but those whom by teaching the faith of Christ

A Nursing Mother (2:7-10) The first example of gentleness in leadership comes from the image of nursing mother (v. 7b). Abraham Malherbe contends that Paul uses the image of nurse in the same way that early philosophers used the image to differentiate true philosophers from charlatans. For example, Dio Chrysostom describes a conversation between Diogenes and Alexander. Diogenes, who has been harsh with Alexander, tells Alexander a story in order to comfort him, as a nurse would tell the child a story after a whipping.11 Another philosopher, Plutarch,

you bear and instruct? Or who is a Christian after your teaching who is not born into the faith and established in it by you? And if in that blessed faith we are born and nursed by other apostles also, it is most of all by you, for you have labored and done more than them all in this; so if they are our mothers, you are our greatest mother. —St. Anselm Benedicta Ward, trans., The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm (London: Penguin Books, 1973), 152, quoted by B. Gaventa, “Our Mother, St Paul: Toward the Recovery of a Neglected Theme,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin 17/1 (1996): 29.

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uses the image of nurse to describe the aspects of the philosopher’s relationship to the students. Beverly Gaventa, who has written extensively on this subject, suggests that while Malherbe may have identified a topos, or theme, that contrasts the ideal philosopher to the charlatan, the idea of nurse, as used by Paul, is used more fully than a simple apologetical line of defense against his opponents.12 Gaventa suggests that early Greek literature portrays the nurse as a slave: “Within the household, the nurse not only had the responsibility for the care of infants and small children, but often continued as the attendant for the young woman and remained in the affection of young men who were her former charges.”13 Gaventa considers that “Paul’s metaphorical use of the nurse would conjure up in the minds of his audience an important and beloved figure. Whatever the social status of the Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). Madonna and Child. Red Thessalonian Christians, they could understand and Black Chalk Drawing. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art this reference to an important social relation(PD-old-100)] ship—one proximate to kinship itself.”14 What is striking about this is that a male speaker, employing the image of nursing mother, is speaking primarily to a male audience. The image of nursing mothers used by male speakers has been seen before, however. Gaventa notes that Moses uses the imagery of nursing mother when he cries out to God in frustration saying, “Did I conceive all of these people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors?” (Num 15:12). In addition, the Teacher of Righteousness, in the community at Qumran, describes his role as a foster-father and a nursing mother: Nursing Madonna

Thou hast appointed me to the service of thy covenant, And through thy promise I stand firm therein. Thou hast made me to be a father to all the children of piety, A foster-father to men of good omen. They open their mouth as the nursling [to his mother’s breast] And rejoice like a child in the lap of his foster-father.15

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The Odes of Solomon, a Christian source collected around AD 100, describes the Godhead with the images of breast, milk, and the motherly role of nursing: I fashioned their members, and my breasts I prepared for them, that they might drink my holy milk and live by it. (8:14, 16) The Son is the cup, and the Father, is he who was milked; and the Holy Spirit is she who milked him; Because his breasts were full, and it was undesirable that his milk should be released without purpose. The Holy Spirit opened her bosom, and mixed the milk of the two breasts of the Father. (19:2-4)

New Testament scholar Walter Wink, commenting on these feminine images of the Trinity, writes that “ I find myself wishing that Christian theology had moved more in this direction and less in that of an all-male Trinity, a dark and abusive blood-atonement theory, and an at times doctrinal and moral rigidity.”16 The image of Paul, the “dogmatic grouch,” who speaks with loud and authoritative voice, admonishing all of his churches to strict obedience to the gospel, stands in stark contrast to Paul the mother who cuddles and breastfeeds her children to full spiritual maturity. This passage, however, is not the only place where Paul identifies himself as mother. For example, Paul uses the same image in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2: “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people but as to fleshly people, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and even yet you are not ready.” In Galatians 4:19 Paul writes, “My little children, with whom I am again in travail [lit., birth pains or labor] until Christ be formed in you.” Even if this passage, and those like it, were to change our image of Paul from a misogynistic, dogmatic grouch to a more loving, egalitarian leader, we are still faced with this interesting question: How did the male members of the community in Thessaloniki hear these words of feminine affection? Why would Paul have even used such terms in a predominantly male congregation? What was Paul trying to create in the community with this linguistic currency of feminine values? In other words, what is the social function of Paul’s language?

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Wayne Meeks notes that Paul’s familial imagery functions to create bonds of solidarity within the communities of faith who receive Paul’s letters.17 The recipients of the letter, after hearing Paul’s words of gentleness and mothering, could have formed even closer bonds, similar to the sibling relationships between children who are birthed by the same mother. Or the recipients of the letter, the male members of the community, could have responded with disgust. Gaventa notes that “when Paul presents himself as a mother, he voluntarily hands over the authority of a patriarch in favor of a role that will bring him shame, the shame of a femaleidentified male.18 Could the readers have used this image to ignore Paul even more? Could Paul’s identification with the feminine have alienated his listeners? Probably not. Paul, the skilled communicator, would not have taken such a great risk. Paul uses these metaphors because he knows they will communicate to this audience. The more troubling aspects of the role of gender in this community of believers is the reality that Paul’s image may have been even more effective because he, the authoritative male, was able to subvert the norm successfully by identifying with a role of women, due in large part because he was an authoritative male. In other words, the communicative success of the feminine metaphor depends precisely on the androcentric nature of the receptors. Gaventa writes, “Still, the maternal imagery becomes effective precisely because it plays on hierarchal expectations: Paul presents himself as the authority that does not conform to standards of authority.”19 If my conjecture is correct regarding the presence of men in this Thessalonian congregation, then it is precisely the gender configuration of this all-male community that provides the context for Paul’s successful communication. Paul successfully communicates his understanding of apostleship through the image of a nursing mother to male artisans. Although Paul’s image of nursing mother creates new avenues of thought for the meaning of leadership in our modern world, this image may not have provided any new paths for women in the first-century world, especially in the church in Thessaloniki. Rather, Paul’s use of the image of nursing mother may have only strengthened the presence of men in the congregation and increased the imprint of androcentric values within this letter. Paul uses the image with purposeful intent. If the recipients had been women, the reception of the metaphor would not have been as striking. The metaphor would have been nice but less startling. That Paul uses feminine imagery strengthens the conjecture that male members were the

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primary constituents of the church in Thessaloniki. This metaphor used among women would not have the same communicative potency as when used within a community who share only androcentric values and concerns. Therefore, the image of a leader as a nursing mother communicates in a powerful manner because the listeners are men, not women! Paul’s affective and effective language continues in v. 8: “Therefore, having a longing [yearning, kindly feeling] for you all, we are resolving to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become dear to us.” [Examples of Paul’s A(E)ffective Language] As in v. 7 where the image for gentleness comes from a picture of a nursing mother, in v. 8 the intimate word that Paul uses is omeiromenoi, rendered as kindly Examples of Paul’s A(E)ffective Language trophos—a nurse mother who breastfeeling, yearning, longing. This word also comes feeds her children (v. 7) from the nursery, or perhaps from the intimacy thalpein—to cuddle or to pet, like a loving of the bedroom. Paul’s “gentleness is not a husband to his wife, or wife to husband (v. 7) device, but the first step in establishing a new omeiresthai—a deep longing, only attested elserelationship between apostle and church,” says where other than here in Paul in a fourth-century H. Koester. To imprint that relationship of gentomb inscription. The word describes an intense, deep longing for the child. (v.8) tleness, Paul uses a word that “establishes a H. Koester, “1 Thessalonians—Experiment in Christian Writing,” relationship between partners who are tied Continuity and Discontinuity, ed. Forrester Church and T. George together by an almost embarrassingly intimate (Leiden: Brill, 1979), 42, n20. bond of affection.”20 Verse 8 reinforces Paul’s deep affection for the Thessalonians. He has not remained aloof or distant. He is involved in their struggles. He has not only preached and presented the good news of the gospel to them; he has also given them his whole being—his self (pysch∑ ). The believers in Thessaloniki are his beloved ones (agap∑toi). And Paul tells them so over and over again. The sacrifices of a leader are tremendous. Paul tells the members of the community how he has toiled “working day and night in order not to be a burden to them” (2:9). Paul, a hard worker, supports his ministry financially through his own vocational choices. He works with his own hands rather than making financial demands on the converts. According to Acts 18:3 Paul was a tentmaker (sk∑nopoios). Just like the members of the congregation, Paul works for his living. He works alongside them, perhaps even in the same room, as the believers share their skills with one another in this artisan community. Paul becomes one of them. The believers in the church in Thessaloniki are skilled artisans. Perhaps they belong to their craft guild or professional association. Richard S. Ascough contends that “Paul and the Thessalonians worked at the same trade, or at least trades within the same general

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area, thus facilitating contact between Paul and the Thessalonians. And it was while at work that Paul preached the gospel and presumably made his initial converts.”21 He may have worked side by side with the artisans in the workshop. In that manner, a close bond of affection is created from their common labors. Paul can say with assurance to his colleagues, “You yourselves are witnesses, also God, as how we were devout, upright, and blameless among you, the believing ones” (2:10). Paul and these men have been together “day and night, working side by side.” These artisans know Paul’s work, and they know him. A Teaching Father, 2:11-12 The second example of Paul’s gentle leadership is in v. 11: “ . . . like a father with his children.” In this section, Paul continues his litany of images for successful leaders. A good leader gently cares for the followers, like a father who cares for his children (2:11). Verses 11 and 12 should be read together as a unit: “Just as you know that we treated each one of you as a father would treat his own children, by exhorting, consoling, and affirming you, so that you might walk worthy of God, who calls you into God’s own reign and glory.” Paul leads the young believers in the church in Thessaloniki as a father would lead his children. Verse 11 is missing the main verb in the sentence, providing a translation challenge. Not uncommon in Greek syntax, and even frequent in Paul’s language, is the occasional tendency to omit verbs, assuming that the reader will know what is intended. Sometimes the mind works faster than the pen! The three participles belonging to v. 12—exhorting, consoling, affirming—give further explanation to the missing verb of v. 11. Paul is saying that he has come to the young believers in Thessaloniki in the same manner as a father in the first-century world would treat, counsel, train, deal with, or bring up (options for the missing verb) the child through the acts of exhorting (teaching), consoling, and affirming. The father-child metaphor parallels the mother-child metaphor of v. 7. This father-child image can be seen in Paul’s other writings (Gal 4:19; 1 Cor 4:14-21; 2 Cor 6:11-13). In the first-century world of family structure, the father was responsible for the moral and religious instruction of the children, socializing them to the demands of the religious culture. Paul, likewise, assumed this role as father for the young converts in the church. C. Wanamaker writes, “Paul of necessity took responsibility for resocializing his ‘children in the faith’ to the sometimes radically different demands of their new social existence as Christians.”22

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Norm Peterson points to the use of the father image as a hierarchical relationship that serves to underline Paul’s authoritarian position as leader.23 Within this hierarchical relationship, the rules are clear. The children are expected to be submissive and obedient to the father. Likewise, Peterson suggests that Paul wants the young believers to look to him as father, obeying him while he guides them to spiritual maturity. This authoritarian position does seem to be what Paul has in mind when he speaks of the role of father and child in 1 Corinthians: I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me . . . . For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (4:14-16, 20-21)

This tone of patriarchal power seen in 1 Corinthians is missing in 1 Thessalonians. First Thessalonians is not 1 Corinthians. We do not have to read the metaphor of father-child in the same way in both letters. Paul writes with a different context in mind each time he composes a new letter. This context, as revealed in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, does not have the strident tone that will develop later in his writing, reflected in the letters to the church in Galatia or Corinth, for example. Paul writes to the young believers in Thessaloniki with these words as his primary theme: “But we were gentle among you . . .” (1 Thess 2:7). A. Malherbe expresses this same idea: “Unlike 1 Cor 4:15, 21 where he [Paul] uses the father image to pose punishment or gentle treatment as options, here Paul thinks of a father in different terms, a figure, not of authority, but of understanding.”24 The gentle aspect of the teaching father is the theme of this section. Malherbe suggests that Paul’s use of this affective language was very appropriate to young converts “whose recent conversion had resulted in strained family relationships (cf. Luke 12:51-53; Mark 10:29-30).”25 Fathers exhort or teach (parakalountes). John D. Hendrix describes the role of fatherly exhortation: Exhortation is a powerful summons or appeal. It is a word that penetrates with warnings, consolations, and encouragement. The purpose of exhortation is to arouse out of indifference and to overcome the resistance of the will. Here it carries with it a direct and personal

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 force toward quality spiritual living. Exhortation helps people envision, or get a picture of, the persons God wants them to be.26

Fathers console or encourage. The word paramythoumenoi in another form is also used in John 11:19 when Martha and Mary need consolation during their grief over the death of their brother, Lazarus. When children are in need of consolation, fathers provide comfort and care. Fathers also affirm (matyromenoi). The word means to bring forth a witness or testimony. Fathers can announce that which is good as well as challenge their children to even greater growth and opportunities. Hendrix says, “Fathering is the difficult task of providing both affectional warmth and challenge. Fathering that promotes high expectations without warmth and instruction often produces children who are ambitious but angry that they are not recognized but unable to be productive enough to gain recognition.”27 Paul strives to find that kind of balance. Words of affirmation and praise, balanced by clear instruction for daily life, fill this letter to his beloved brothers—his children in Thessaloniki. Paul’s Words—A Velvet Sword, 2:13-16

What thoughts guided Paul’s words in these next three verses? We will never know. We do not have access to the world of Paul’s mind, only his words. Perhaps the literary change of voice and mood was occasioned by his thoughts on the role of father, the one who can teach, comfort, and affirm, all at the same time. Maybe Paul is attempting to model the “tough love” of the father, who can provide tones of positive affirmation as well as honest appraisals of weaknesses. Whatever the reason, Paul’s soft voice becomes harder in the next three verses. The velvet drops and a sword is revealed. With loud, vitriolic tones, Paul lashes out at someone. Paul first pauses to praise the believers one more time (see 1:2). He writes, “And we also thank God continually because you received the word of God that you had heard from us; you accepted it not as the words of humans but just as it is a word of God, which is also at work in you, the believing ones” (2:13). Paul’s words are full of thanksgiving and praise for these believers. Then the scene shifts. Paul’s tone changes in v. 14. Verses 14-15 have been called the “dreadful text.” These two verses contain a “passionate, generalizing, hateful diatribe against the Jews for having killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and for interfering with Paul’s mission to the Gentiles.”28 These verses have been embarrassing to Jews and Christians, who have been

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trying for a long time to “exorcise the demons of antisemitism.”29 Paul writes, “For you, brothers, became imitators of God, of the ones being in Judea in Jesus Christ, for you suffered the same things from your own country people, just as they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out and were not pleasing to God and hostile to all people” (2:1416). What are we to do with this vitriolic, anti-Jewish voice of Paul? We must give it our full attention. These words, and others like them, have fueled the Holocaust and countless hate crimes through history. These words continue to be heard today, and they create harsh walls of division between Jews and Christians. Many scholars have determined that vv. 14-16 form an interpolation, inserted text not written by Paul but added by someone later after Paul’s letter had been written. Scholars such as Birger Pearson, Hendrikus Boers, and Helmut Koester have tried to settle this issue by pointing to the disruption in the flow of the text as seen in the second introductory section of v. 13. Pearson, likewise, shows the variation of syntax in vv. 14-16, pointing to the difference in form from the preceding verses in the letter. Daryl Schmidt states, “In summary, the content of 2:13-16 does not fit well into 1 Thessalonians, not into Pauline thought in general: formally this section intrudes into the overall structure of the whole letter.”30 To see the passage as an interpolation is not sufficient. The reader still must contend with the harsh sounds of Paul’s words in this passage. Frank Gillard chooses to settle the dilemma by erasing the comma between vv. 13 and 15.31 In most English translations, a comma has been inserted: “ . . . as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets.” Gillard suggests that the comma should not be observed because no punctuation was used in the early manuscripts. Without the comma, according to the rules of English, Paul is using a restrictive modifier that speaks specifically about a particular group of Jews. The text, then, with no comma, reads in this manner: “. . . as they did from the [group of ] Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets.” This sentence does not isolate a whole category of people but singles out a particular few. Paul is not providing fuel for hatred—neither for the first century nor for the twenty-first. Rather, Paul is speaking harshly to a particular group of Jewish people, the Jewish Christians who have opposed his ministry to the Gentiles at every turn. Wherever he has gone, they have been there before, inciting riots and creating tension between the believers and Paul. These opposing forces have been against Paul’s ministry, making public claims that Paul had

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neither integrity nor the call of God on his life. Paul is angry, and his language is harsh and negative, hurtful and spiteful. This is language, however, from the inside to the inside. These words come from one faction of the Jewish-Christian debate to another in the first-century world. Language used by family members against other family members can often be more violent and harmful than language used by outsiders. These words belong to family conflict in the world of Paul. These words are not an interpolation; they are Paul’s. This extreme language, according to Carol Schlueter, deals “a major blow to Judaism by admitting Gentiles without circumcision and calling the new creation the ‘sons of Abraham.’”32 This extreme language is from Paul, the Jew, to a group of Jews who are followers of Christ, who are perhaps living in Jerusalem and are opposing Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles (Acts 15). And Paul is very angry!

CONNECTIONS A few years ago, a meeting was called by the New York Academy of Sciences to address the issue of gentleness from a physiological, scientific perspective. The focus of the meeting, called “The Integrative Neurobiology of Affiliation,” was to discuss the “biology of benevolence.”33 The group of scientists met to discuss the rituals of reconciliation and solace related to the lives of chimpanzees. The scientists discovered that these animals, after intense fighting, often provide gestures of reconciliation, such as holding out a hand, hugging, grooming, or mouth-to-mouth kissing. This group of scientists also explored the world of humans, particularly those who are unable to love or connect with others, such as people who have had neuropsychiatric disorders like autism or schizophrenia. In their deliberations this group discovered what seems simple to most of us: The capacity to be pleasant toward a fellow creature is in a sense hard work. It is not the default mode. Instead, affiliate behavior requires a hormonal and neural substrate, an activation of circuitry every bit as intricate as the mechanisms controlling the body’s ability to fight an opponent or flee from danger.34

In other words, it is not easy to be gentle! We know that, but to see this proven in the world of science provides some startling revelations. One scientist, Dr. Kirstin Uvnas-Moberg of the Karolinska

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Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, showed two slides, one of a “fierce, snarling, battle-ready man, fists cocked.” The other slide showed a picture of a nursing Virgin Mary, with “the exposed breast and the benignant mien.”35 The professor offered a physiological description of the warrior’s stress circuitry. At the state of fight, the warrior’s cortisol and epinephrine surge. Blood pressure and blood sugar soar. Gastrointestinal activity that could divert energy from his muscles ceases. He is in a state of physiological catabolism, the breaking down of the body for the work of attacking the enemy. By contrast, the stress circuitry of a lactating woman, although less researched, is equally interesting. Because women are just now entering the world of medicine and medical research, women’s health concerns that have been traditionally ignored are now receiving more attention—finally. In the nursing woman, the insulin levels mount. The cortisol levels subside. Blood pressure drops. The woman experiences a sense of relaxation that keeps her quiescent for as long as it takes her to sate her child. Her blood vessels dilate. Her body becomes a living space heater to warm the feeding infant. The contrast between the two pictures is striking. If the fight-or-flight response is seen as a strengthening of the distinction between self and the other—a tightening of the body’s response mechanisms, like springs compressed into a box—then the affiliative, nurturing circuitry suggests an opening up, an expansion of self toward others, and a trading of anxiety for at least a momentary state of quiet joy.36 Those who say that violence is the preferred manner of relating because it is more productive, more dominant, and more demanding are challenged by the findings of the “biology of benevolence.” The body works hard to create a physiological response to caring. It is not an easy task. The body is very involved in creating physiological shifts for the posture of nursing just as in the position for battle. The difference in result, however, is remarkable. The warrior’s system works to dismantle; the nursing mother works to build up. While I am not out to prove the superiority of one mode over the other, for we need both fighting warriors and nursing mothers, I am amazed that the work of the one we have often minimized and devalued—placed in closed rooms and almost totally clothed in shame—is an equally demanding function. It takes just as much energy, if not more, to be nice as it does to kill. While we have been proud to offer pictures of tired soldiers in trenches, cinematic warriors with guns on city streets, Saturday afternoon wrestling warriors, elevating these images as heroes for our young children, we are reluctant to present pictures of gentleness, like that

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of a nursing mother, as a model for one’s living. Too soft, too ineffective, not strong enough is our rationale for excluding gentleness as an attribute worthy of emulation. Nursing, being gentle and offering care, often seen as unimportant and insignificant, takes work. To be gentle is not to take the path of least resistance. To offer kindness is not just for the weak-hearted. Being gentle is hard work! Paul writes, “We were gentle among you . . .” (2:7). Augustine echoed Paul’s sentiments in the fifth century when he preached that apostles are to be “full of genuine, juicy feelings of love.”37 In the sixteenth century, John Calvin suggested that Paul’s image of nursing mother had two meanings as applied to pastoral leadership. First the leader needed to have a lack of pride, seen in a nursing mother who shows nothing of dignity, power, or self-preservation. The second attribute of a pastoral leader received from the image of nursing mother, surmised Calvin, was that of affection. Calvin stated that a mother in nursing her infant children manifests a certain rare and wonderful affection, inasmuch as she spares no labour or trouble, shuns no anxiety, is wearied out by no assuidity, and even with cheerfulness of spirit gives her own blood to be sucked. In the same way, Paul declares that he was so disposed toward the Thessalonians that he was prepared to lay down his life for their benefit.38

I remember the first time I preached a sermon from 1 Thessalonians 2:7. The sermon was preached to mark the occasion of installation for the new male pastor in town. I used Paul’s image of the nursing mother as my text for his installation sermon and proceeded to describe the nuances of this metaphor in the life of a pastor. Into this sermon I wove some of my own experiences of nursing our baby Kyle and also my knowledge of life lived in Baptist parsonages. Being a pastor is like being a nursing mother. You are always on call. While nursing our son Kyle, I was writing a doctoral dissertation. I remember trying to leave the house for the library in the evening after Tilden, my husband, would come home from work. He cared for Kyle while I spent the evening in the library. Just about the time I made the drive to campus, walked to the third floor of the library, settled in the comfortable reading/writing chair, and was ready to go to work, the hall phone would ring. Tilden would be on the other end with a distressed sound in his voice: “Can you come home now, Linda? I cannot find out why Kyle keeps crying.” I would pack my books and drive home as fast as I

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could. By the time I arrived home, my body was telling me that I needed Kyle just as much as he needed me. Our bodies needed one another. I needed to feed him just as he much as Kyle needed to be fed. So it is with being a pastor, church leader, or any leader, for that matter. The planned vacation is suddenly interrupted by the unexpected death of a church member. You pack up your bags from the beach cottage and go home. When you arrive on the scene, in the middle of the grieving family, you realize that you need to be there not only for them but also for you. You are there because of your need to grieve as well as to help those who are grieving. Being a pastor is like being a nursing mother. Your job is to provide the nourishment. While nursing Kyle, I had a voracious appetite. I could eat, then eat again within an hour, and still be hungry. I increased calories, including vegetables and fruits, as well as lots of dairy products. I was amazed how my body worked not only to give new life but also to sustain it. If Kyle and I had been on a tiny island, far away from bottled baby formula and no Gerber products in sight, if I could find a little food to eat, Kyle would survive—simply because of me. The mother’s body is amazingly wonderful! So it is with being a church leader. Your job is to keep yourself nourished so that you can nourish others. The pastor’s diet is carefully selected. Good books, good conversation, good friends, and cultivation of appreciation for the arts become food for the soul, which will, in turn, feed others. An intellectual Infants, Nursing Mother, and Father appetite for ideas, an appreciation for beauty, a For further study of relating the images cultivation of matters of the heart, an ability to of infants, nursing mothers, and father to worship on Sunday as well as Monday, are all the role of pastor or church leader, see Jeffrey A. important aspects of the daily diet of the pastor, D. Weima, “Infants, Nursing Mother, and Father,” Calvin Theological Journal 37 (2002): 209–229. the one who nourishes a congregation Sunday Weima states that, “it is striking that Paul, a single after Sunday. [Infants, Nursing Mother, and Father] man who elsewhere argues in favor of celibacy, Being a pastor is like being a nursing mother. chooses to portray his pastoral labors among the The world of the new mother is hectic. The Thessalonian Christians with the family metaphors simple tasks of life appear daunting while of an infant, a nursing mother, and a father” (229). nursing. How to schedule a quick trip to the store becomes a major task. A mother’s choice of clothes needs to be studied as she decides what will be comfortable, fashionable, affordable, and accommodating to nursing the baby. In the midst of all of the stress, when the moment of nursing finally comes, the rocking chair is in sight, and she has her arms around the hungry little baby, all of those anxieties disappear almost like magic. A peculiar quietness envelops the room. The loud noises, both

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internal and external, fade into the background. The body lets down. The milk comes in. The baby feeds. All is well with the world. Nothing else matters except that little baby in her arms. Perhaps this slowing down process is the body’s way of making sure the baby has adequate time for nourishment. The mother gives herself to the state of relaxation. Both baby and mother are in one of the most comfortable places on earth. All is well. So it is with being a pastor. The roles are varied. The tasks are limitless and often thankless. The pastor administrates the work of the church as an executive. The pastor also cares for the details of the church’s life from Sunday morning liturgy to the choice of Communion table linens. The leader must contend with volunteer committees who are often too busy and Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). Madonna of the Stairs. not well prepared for their tasks. It is a hard job. 1489–92. Marble relief. Florence, Casa Buonarotti. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art (PD-old-100)] There is a moment in all of this, however, that leaders know well (and nursing mothers, too). Mothers know it this way—that special moment. That moment when your body is aching; your breasts are painfully full, the dirty clothes are scattered on the floor, You reach for your baby and peace settles in the room, the neighborhood, and the world; That moment when the dryer has died, supper is boiling over on the stove, the phone is ringing, and the doorbell too, And the toddler wants you to color in the floor and you do, And the world becomes suddenly defined by the colors in the box of Crayolas and the shape of the little hand nestled in yours; That moment when the teenager who has headphones on for four straight hours on the trip, then finally opens his mouth and all you hear are laments about how his parents are so uncool, how all of the other parents in the world are cooler, When in the next stretch of the long highway the nowunplugged teenager leans over to the driver’s side of the car and, without prompting, places his monster-sized teenage hand on yours, and says, “Thanks, Mom, for taking me to summer camp today.” That moment often goes without a name, but we know when it happens. And so it is with church leaders. Madonna of the Stairs

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

It is that moment in the middle of the sermon, when your eyes look up from your manuscript and you have lost your place, But it does not matter, because your words continue to pour forth with passion and clarity; That moment when you do not even notice that the parishioner in the back row slept through your sermon until the end, But it is okay because you have three more sermons to go before this Sunday is over; That moment in the middle of a counseling session when you find yourself lost in the story of the other person, so lost that you forget to look at the time, and your tears mingle with their tears, And with amazement and gratitude you realize that your life and their lives have really touched; That moment when, in the midst of a busy day, filled with shallow voices and empty platitudes with discussions over the color of the church carpet and the placement of sanctuary flowers for Sunday, You see a rainbow arch across the sky as you travel to the next appointment and you realize that in the midst of all this pastoral stuff of life, Life is good and being a pastor is really real. Paul was right. There is something similar between mothers and church leaders. We need more leaders who lead like mothers; we need more mothers who are church leaders!

Notes 1 Linda McKinnish Bridges, “Terms of Endearment: Paul’s Words of Comfort in First Thessalonians,” RevExp 96/2 (1999): 211–32. 2 Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel critiques the inadequacy of the familial metaphor in describing the role of the church. She calls for a new image that moves beyond the patriarchal boundaries of the home. Even with the brother-sister language of a Pauline formation of community, there remains the dominant image of father, submissive wife, and servile children. One must ask how this image works for familial groups who are not organized with mother-father-children, but feature multiple variations of the vision of family in contemporary society. See E. Moltmann-Wendel, Rediscovering Friendship: Awakening to the Promise and Power of Women’s Friendships (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001). 3 Marjorie

Thompson, Family, the Forming Center: A Vision of the Role of Family in Spiritual Formation (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1989), 23. Thompson quotes Edward Hays, Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home (Easton KS: Forest of Peace Books, 1979), 7, who uses the term “domestic church” to identify the family.

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Traugott Holtz considers that Paul is writing an apology here in defense of the attacks on his personhood by his opponents in “On the Background of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12,” in The Thessalonian Debate: Methodological Discord of Methodological Synthesis (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000), 69–80. 5 Otto

Merk, who contends with Holtz that Paul writes an apologia in 2:1-12, relates the work of W. Stegeman in Thessalonian Debate, 101. 6 George

Lyons, Pauline Autobiography: Toward a New Understanding (Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 73; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985), 184, as quoted by Jeffrey A. D. Weima, “The Function of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12,” in Thessalonian Debate, 119. 7 Steve

Walton, “What Has Aristotle to Do with Paul? Rhetorical Criticism and 1 Thessalonians,” Tyndale Bulletin 46/2 (1995): 244, as quoted by Weima, “The Function of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12,” 119. 8 Walter

Schmithals, The Office of the Apostle in the Early Church, trans. John E. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1969), 62. 9

Michael Goulder, St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994). 10 For

an opposing view, read Stephen Fowl, “A Metaphor in Distress: A Reading of nhvpioi in 1 Thessalonians 2.7,” NTS 36 (1990): 469–73. 11 Abraham

Malherbe, “Gentle As a Nurse: The Cynic Background to 1 Thess 2,” NovT 12 (1970): 203–17. 12 Beverly Gaventa, “Apostles as Babes and Nurses in 1 Thessalonians 2:7,” in Faith and History: Essays in Honor of Paul W. Meyer, ed. John T. Carroll, Charles H. Cosgrove, and E. Elizabeth Johnson (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 193–207; “Our Mother St. Paul: Toward a Recovery of a Neglected Theme,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin 17/1 (1996): 29–44; “The Maternity of Paul: An Exegetical Study of Galatians 4:19,” in The Conversation Continues: Studies in Paul and John in Honor of J. Louis Martyn, ed. Robert Fortna and Beverly Gaventa (Nashville: Abingdon, 1990), 189–201. 13 Gaventa, 14 Ibid.,

“Apostles as Babes and Nurses,” 201.

202.

15

1QH 7:19-23, 25 as quoted by Gaventa, “Apostles as Babes and Nurses,” 202–203. 16

Walter Wink, The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of Man (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), 61. 17 Wayne

Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), 84–94. 18 Gaventa,

“Apostles as Babes and Nurses,” 44.

19 Ibid. 20 Helmut

Koester, “1 Thessalonians—Experiment in Christian Writing,” Continuity and Discontinuity, ed. Forrester Church and T. George (Leiden: Brill, 1979), 42. 21 Richard

S. Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association,” JBL 119/2 (2000): 315. 22 C. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 106.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 23

Norm Peterson, Rediscovering Paul: Philemon and the Sociology of Paul’s Narrative World (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 128–31. 24 Abraham

Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (AB; New York: Doubleday,

2000), 163. 25 Ibid. 26 John

D. Hendrix, To Thessalonians with Love: An Interpersonal Commentary on 1 Thessalonians (Nashville: Broadman, 1982), 57. 27 Ibid. 28 M.

Barth, “Was Paul an Anti-Semite?” Journal of the Evangelical Society 5 (1969): 98, quoted by Frank Gillard, “The Problem of the Antisemitic Comma Between 1 Thessalonians 2.14 and 15,” NTS 35 (1989): 481. 29 Ibid. 30 Daryl

Schmidt, “1 Thess 2:13-16: Linguistic Evidence for and Interpretation,” JBL 102/2 (1983): 276. 31 Frank D. Gillard, “The Problem of the Anti-Semitic Comma Between 1 Thess 2:14 and 15,” NTS 35 (1989): 481–502. 32 Carol Schlueter, Filling Up the Measure: Polemical Hyperbole in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 (JSNT Supplement Series 98; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994): 197. 33 Natalie

Angier, “Gentleness Important Not Only for the Human Species,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26 December 1996, E4. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37

John E. Rostelle, ed., The Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. 2, trans. and notes by Edmund Hill (Hyde Park: New City Press, 2001), 56. 38 John

Calvin, Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, trans. John Pringle (Edinburgh: T. Constable, 1851), 252.

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The Theme of Friendship 1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:10 Paul has much to say to the members of the congregation in Thessaloniki. He does not write as a powerful apostle wielding his personal authority with autocratic words in order to command respect from the new believers. Rather, Paul communicates to the members of the fellowship with words of friendship, words carefully crafted by a personal friend who genuinely cares for the well-being of the recipients. In this section (2:17–3:10), Paul continues to use the language of emotion to reveal his feelings of affection for this congregation. The explicit language of love weaves an even tighter bond of friendship between Paul and the believers. Paul does not stand over them or under them; he does not desire to control them or to be controlled by them. Paul stands with these believers. They are his friends. Recent scholars have discovered similar patterns in theme and literary style between ancient philosophical notions of friendship and Paul’s writings in the New Testament. Paul’s use of friendship language, with echoes of influence from ancient philosophical schools, has been carefully studied in the letter to the Philippians.1 John T. Fitzgerald suggests that Paul writes to correct the Philippians’ view of friendship. Their reason for friendship may have been solely utilitarian, a model that exists only for benefit and gain (described by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics). Paul, however, according to Fitzgerald, writes the letter to the church in Philippi to encourage a model of friendship based on virtue and higher good, a model of friendship also described by Aristotle. This non-utilitarian model appropriates conduct that seeks not one’s own advantage but serves to enhance the position of the other person in the relationship.2 Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves” (Phil 2:3). As Paul writes about friendship in Philippians in order to correct their utilitarian view of relationships, he models a more noble way of relationship. He exhorts the Philippian readers to be of “one mind, one love, one accord” (2:2). Paul provides a visual illustration of the kenotic (selfgiving) dimension of friendship when he quotes the hymn, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself . . .” (2:6-7). For Paul and the

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Philippian reader, Jesus becomes the model of the form of friendship that Paul advocates for the members of the community in Philippi. The word is clear: Jesus did not engage in relationships for gain; believers, likewise, give more than they receive in the bonds of friendship. With this same frame of reference, Paul writes to the Thessalonians that friendship means more than self-service. In framing his words to the believers in Thessalonians, he writes as a dear friend to dear friends, seeking not to receive personal benefit of political or economic value from them but to create closer bonds of relationships in order to strengthen their lives in the faith. Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers, “We were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess 2:8). Therefore, the theme of friendship between Paul and the believers in Thessaloniki becomes the lens with which we can view this letter, the apostle, and the young believers. First Thessalonians 2:17–3:10 reinforces the theme of friendship in the letter with microscopic precision. The structure of this section is simple. Paul wants to be physically present with his dear friends (2:17-20). For some reason, however, Paul must remain in Athens. Paul sends his dear friend, Timothy, in his stead (3:1-5). When Timothy returns to Paul, Paul receives communication from his beloved believers in Thessaloniki (3:6-10).

COMMENTARY This section, 2:17–3:10, while continuing the theme of friendship, also promotes an intense relationship of brotherhood among the first-century readers. This literary and sociological device of uniting the readers into a sense of brotherhood creates intimacy between Paul and reader and directs and sustains the reader’s attention to important sections in the letter. The literal, gender-specific use of “brother” is most likely here. The word is to be translated not as “friends” or even “brother and sister” but simply “brother.” The troubling aspect of the use of the address “brothers” is that as these bonds of intimacy between Paul and the brothers are opened, other bonds of relationship are closed. The brothers are in; the sisters are out.

1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:10 Paul and the Brothers, 2:17

This section, 2:17–3:10, is introduced with the word adelphoi, which means brothers. This word appears when Paul begins a new section or introduces an important theme. For example, Paul uses this word in 2:1 to introduce a new topic that describes his relationship to the believers. In a similar manner, the word “brother” also appears in 2:17. Paul addresses the brothers again in 4:1 to mark an important structural shift; the tone and style of Paul’s writing changes from praise of the believer to practical, ethical admonitions, from the language of encomium (praise) to paraenesis (instruction). In 4:13 Paul uses the word again, with the introduction of a new theme, to address the grieving brothers who struggle to understand the relationship of their dead relatives to the promised return of Christ (4:13-18). Paul’s admonitions are further directed to the brothers in 5:1; Paul affirms that the brothers do have knowledge of Christ’s return. The word “brothers” marks another thematic transition in 5:12 as Paul’s writing shifts from the theme of death of believers and Christ’s return to the issue of work in the artisan community (5:12). At this point of transition, Paul once again addresses the listeners as brothers. When Paul wants to introduce a new subject, shifting the focus to another paragraph or significant idea, Paul will directly address the first-century reader— the brothers. The function of the word has both literary and sociological value. To use an intimate address with tones of familial relationships, such as “brothers,” indicates close connection and bonding between Paul and the reader. A special relationship of intimacy exists between Paul and his first-century readers. They are brothers. They are friends. In addition, Paul, the communicative artist, knows how to capture their attention as he artfully moves from subject to subject, taking the attention of the “brothers” with him at every step. Paul calls the readers to listen. The use of “brother” invites them into the moment of communication. The physical distance between writer and reader fades. Paul is there in their midst when they read the word “brother.” That observation is only partially satisfying. What are the historical realities behind the literary tool of using familial language in addressing readers in order to bind them to the reading as well as to the author? In asking this question the interpreter moves beyond the realities of epistolary style and begins to inquire about the historical context of the letter. Questions related to feminist sensibilities of Christian values, androcentric values of ancient and modern texts, the politics of interpretation, male domination of the

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Questions Surrounding Paul’s Use of the Word “Brothers” (adelphoi) (1) Where are the sisters? (2) Is Paul writing to males only in this first-century community of faith? (3) If the letter is from a male to males, are there any feminine values inherent in the text? (4) How would a first-century Christian female appropriate this first-century, male-oriented letter? (5) How do we, as women and men in the twenty-first century, read material that is clearly permeated with androcentric biases?

church, and on and on flow from the observation of Paul’s language toward the addressee. While this commentary will not be able to respond to all of these questions in totality, the androcentric nature of the Thessalonians letter demands careful attention to the socio-sexual values embedded in Paul’s letter to the church, especially as the question relates to Paul’s consistent naming of the readers as “brothers.” [Questions Surrounding Paul’s Use of the Word “Brothers” (adelphoi)]

Danish feminist and New Testament scholar Lone Fatum establishes the boundaries of the problem: Though the Christian brotherhood is a voluntary grouping, based on a voluntary commitment, Paul seems intent on pressing upon it a binding commitment characteristic of the kinship group, defined as a non-voluntary association; he strives in fact to organize the brothers according to the social and moral institution of the patriarchal family.3

“Thus,” continues Fatum, “Paul’s frequent and ostentatious use of familial epithets and his highly affective expressions of fatherly concern and devotion carry a literal or invoking meaning.” The more the “Thessalonian sons adhere to his fatherly authority and imitate his example, the more they will be united like brothers in their Christian development, and Paul will be affirmed in his patriarchal role as the mediator of Christ.”4 Fatum’s description of the patriarchal worldview embedded in the Thessalonian text assumes that women were not full and equal members of the community—the Christian brotherhood. Women may have been converts in the Thessaloniki (Acts 17:12). Fatum asks, “But were they also among the Christians, i.e. did they really count, individually, as members of the community, the quorum of the brothers, identified with Christ?”5 Some readers of this commentary might be asking why it is not possible to consider an inclusive, first-century readership that includes both male and females when we read the word “brothers” in Paul’s text. The request is not new or unusual. Women have been doing this for centuries, sitting in worship and unconsciously and sometimes consciously changing the meaning of androcentric language and cultural assumptions. At the same time, some women have not. Some have just assumed that they are outside the boundaries of religious meaning—that “brothers” mean males and

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women are not included. It is time that we consider those boundaries, name them, label them, and provide help to women who have had to provide private, individual translations just to participate in the liturgy of the church. The message of the gospel does not have to be that cryptic. As a first step, the historical realities that contain the inclusive gospel need to be acknowledged. The second phase will open the way for meaningful and liberating reading. While many women have had to translate liturgies, hymns, and sacred texts in that private, individual manner, hearing the gender exclusionary words and then making quick inclusive adaptations, the time has come to acknowledge the limitations of the original source—that is our first and very painful task. It is simply the honest way of treating biblical texts. To expose the androcentric nature of Thessalonians is to acknowledge that women were not even considered in the development of the community and the writing of this letter. The honest realization that our biblical tradition was birthed in patriarchy is not a new thought for most of us—but a thought that we have kept hidden, quietly murmuring the Jorunn Økland realization to ourselves and not to others. In this Norwegian scholar Jorunn Økland of letter, the language and values of a male comSheffield University contributes to the munity are so stark that the realization cannot discussion of Paul, gender, and ritual space in her be denied. Women, as well as Jews and devout University of Uppsala dissertation, Women in Their Place: Paul and the Corinthian Discourse of Greeks, may have been converts in the Gender and Sanctuary Space (2000). She reviews Thessalonian community (Acts 17:4). The sacred sites for Jewish and Christian worship, letter, however, is written to the male members determining the myriad ways that female worof the artisan community and upholds the shipers belonged to a male religious cosmos. Her values and interests of the male community. primary research focus centers on Paul’s letter to Women are not among the “brothers” of this the Corinthian community. She does not deny the presence of women in that community, unlike the church. Women may have been present, but community formation in Thessaloniki. Økland, they were there to serve the daily needs of the however, does suggest that Paul conforms to the community. [Jorunn Økland] society’s ordering of gender even in this newly The community of worshipers and workers organized gathering of Christian believers. Women are described in various ways in recent scholarhave their place in the ritual space, must keep ship on Thessalonians. Richard Ascough labels their heads covered and maintain silence (1 Cor 11–14). In this study of New Testament texts the community as a “professional voluntary 6 using feminist and ritual theory based on strucassociation.” Robert Jewett uses the words, tural analysis, Økland confirms the power of the “tenement church,” to describe the community culture to determine gender roles even in new in contrast to “house church.”7 Ronald Hock religious movements. uses the label, “workshop.”8 Whatever the name of the social group, voluntary association, tenement church, or workshop, the professional guild in the first-century world have

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primarily only included male members. “Women would not be members of an association of artisans in a trade dominated by males, even if they worked in the same occupation.”9 Therefore, we can assume that if this community is an artisan church, consisting of members who belong to a professional guild, sharing a common craft, perhaps even the same as Paul’s, then the members are all men. In addition, Paul’s letter, which employs language of solidarity and encouragement given to his colleagues, upholds the conventional values of a male, first-century community, both in content and form. The androcentric nature of this correspondence is exposed. Then what do we do? How do we, those of us who are not men, then read? E. Schüssler Fiorenza, who has spent an entire professional career trying to answer the question above, admits that “Christian women have found that the Bible has been used as weapon against us but at the same time it has been a resource for courage, hope, and commitment in this struggle.”10 The task to understand both the oppressive and liberating power of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian artisan church is a tremendous challenge. That the original intent was to write a letter by a male laborer to a group of male laborers in the middle of the fifth decade of the first century cannot be denied. But what does that mean for women and men in the beginning of the twenty-first century? A helpful example comes from our understanding of the United States Constitution. Presented on September 17, 1787, the words of this important document, which shaped our republic in the early hours of formation, were really intended for a particular group of people—male, land-owning gentry. The original setting of author and audience included educated male landowners writing to another group of educated male landowners. Women and slaves were not included as official recipients in the minds of the framers. Does that make the United States Constitution less applicable today to women and descendents of African slaves in our country? No, inherent in the document itself was a structure that would allow flexibility and reinterpretation through time with the possible creation of amendments. The viability of our Constitution not limited by its original setting of author and audience remains open to the possibility for change and interpretation, allowing basic principles to be adapted through time to various circumstances and maturing wisdom. To acknowledge the first task, which is to uncover the historical realities surrounding the writing of 1–2 Thessalonians, need not deter participation in the current reading. Contemporary readers,

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both men and women, read Paul’s letter searching for a word of hope, for an understanding of the way young believers appropriated their new lives of faith in a world not supportive of their newly-discovered way of life. We read, looking for the difference that faith in Christ brings to the regular working world, that one can be a person of faith and remain in the marketplace, that faith and work are related. We read, even through the prism of androcentrism, that faith creates a new world view that informs how we view our bodies, our families, our colleagues. We read this letter, understanding that the words are formed for a different place, long, long ago, for men who were crafting products in their workshop to sell to the market, intending to create a brotherhood centered on their craft and Christ. And in that reading find help and hope for our own world, whatever those worlds may be. Because of this letter, I must ask: How do the world of faith and my profession connect? Do I see my profession apart from my calling? What kind of witness do I bring to the marketplace? Is it enough to be a quiet, faithful worker in the office, on the assembly line, “working with my own hands, minding my own business,” as Paul exhorts. How do I understand time? Am I so caught up in the future eschaton, waiting for some cataclysmic event, whether it is the Rapture or just the next promotion or pay raise, that I cannot appreciate the very moment? These lessons, and more, are clear and available to all of us who will take the time to read this letter. These life lessons are universal, not limited to men or women, and are open for multiple interpretations through out the span of time, regardless of the limitations of the historical setting. The reader does have the last word always; but the author still has control of the first word. The first word is formed in a value system that controls, in some degree, the boundaries of interpretation even for the last word. The textual strategies (Wolfgang Iser) that are formed from the author’s historical worldviews limit the value of women.11 The communities that produce the meaning (Stanley Fish) can do something about those limiting textual boundaries.12 But we need to know what we are doing. Nonetheless, it is not fair or just when we, as believers, assign the entire responsibility of the production of meaning to women, who know that they must constantly be making huge interpretative leaps in order to be fully present in any gathering where patriarchal codes remain, either in ancient texts or modern-day liturgy. It is much simpler to say that when Paul wrote “brothers,” he really meant women. That puts the onus of responsibility on the last reader. The tradition, which has produced, transmitted, elevated,

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and employed the patriarchal perspectives, is totally off the hook. The ecclesiastical tradition, therefore, does not have to be responsible if we simply demand that modern readers do all of the bilingual work. Furthermore, it is simply not honest. The first communities of faith were produced in patriarchy. Sacred texts of all kinds, from ancient commentaries and liturgies to Holy Scripture, have been mediated in a historical, cultural reality that worked diligently to elevate men and devalue women. We must acknowledge that troubling assertion. To refuse to consider the inadequacies of the historical context in the shaping of the communities of faith, in order to preserve a pristine text or an unstained church, is to prevent major opportunities for repentance and redemption. Although difficult to appropriate, it is important to acknowledge that when Paul writes the word “brothers,” he means brothers, men, males in the community—not women, not females. Paul is not thinking about the women who may or may not be present in the community of faith. They are invisible to him, if present at all. If no women are present, if Paul is not thinking about the inclusion of women, if Paul is using male values and patriarchal perspectives to communicate his message, then where is the value for women both then and now? This is not an easy question. But we must ask it. We must face it. It is time to note the limitations of the original text and then to determine more beneficial ways of appropriating meaning even when the reader’s values are intentionally ignored.13 This task is not easy. To sweep the problem under the rug, however, is far more troubling. Paul is speaking to men, for men, about men, with men. What does that mean for the women, then and now? Without His Brothers, Paul Is an Orphan, 2:17-20

Although the use of the word “brother” attempts to disguise the large chasm of time and space that separates Paul from his readers, the reality of distance remains. The readers are living in Thessaloniki and Paul is not! Paul is not present with them. If he were, there would be no need of a letter to substitute for his presence. Paul describes the feeling of being apart from his friends with another metaphor. Just as the visual illustrations of nursing mother and teaching father in the first half of chapter 2 enhance our understanding of Paul’s vision of leadership, so does the metaphor of an orphaned child increase our knowledge of Paul’s feelings for this group of people.

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Paul feels as if he is made an orphan (aporphavisthentes) when he is separated from his friends (2:17a). Paul assures the readers that this separation is only in face (prosøpø) and not in the heart (kardia) (2:17b). This physical separation, however, increases Paul’s desire to see the faces of his friends with even more longing (epithymia) (2:17c). The language here is strong and strange. We are not accustomed to thinking about friendship with such intensity, especially from Paul. On one level, we are uncomfortable overhearing such passion. Paul is supposed to be the stern, autocratic leader who demands precision and eager submission. We are not accustomed to hearing Paul gush in a language that many of us have relegated to a level of inferior communication belonging only to the feminine. Girls can gush, but boys remain cool and calm, as ascribed by the emotional gender code. But Paul, the male, is transparent with his emotions. One another level, we can honestly acknowledge that Paul is not writing for us to read these intimate words. If Aporphanizø: A Word Study Paul had realized that he was writing for all The only New Testament occurrence of aporphanizø, which means “to make an readers through time, both known and orphan,” or figuratively “to deprive, bereave,” is unknown ones, with words that would be read found in 1 Thessalonians 2:17 in the form of an continuously for 1,900 years, perhaps he would aorist participle, aporphanisthentes. The separahave toned down his discourse. That would be a tion Paul implies by using this word is the intense great loss the readers, however. We would not separation an orphan feels when torn from have access to the intimate moments between parents. Paul builds on the body of metaphors that describe his relationship to the Thessalonian friends, between an apostle and members of a congregation. He has already compared himself church, between a church leader and the people. to a nurse or nursing mother (2:7) and to a father You and I are given a privileged position as the (2:11-12). Now he likely compares himself to an unknown reader. We are overhearing an intiorphaned child. The word, however, can also be mate conversation, not intended for our ears, used of the parent who is separated from a child but for the “brothers” of Thessaloniki. With revor a loved from his beloved so that we cannot be sure what exact role Paul is implying. Whatever erence and gratitude, we listen. the thought behind the use of this word, the First, Paul identifies his place without the apostle indicates the intense separation anxiety physical presence of his friends as the role of a that was felt at the moment he and the parentless child—an orphan. The English lanThessalonians were forced to part, a situation guage borrowed the word “orphan” from the that Paul has tried to undo and still hopes will be Greek word aporphanizesthai (lit., “being torn reversed. away from”). [Aporphanizø: A Word Study] Paul is the Brian Harfst, “The Language of Thessalonians,” paper presented to the New Testament seminar, “The Thessalonian orphan, the one who has been torn away from Correspondence,” 4 May 2001, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, 9. his source of love, his family, his dear friends in Thessaloniki. Second, Paul is an orphan only because of the physical separation, not because of severed emotional ties. Paul makes the point clear that the separation involves physical distance and not heart

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connections: “But we, ourselves, brothers, were made orphans from you for a time of hour in face not in heart [kardia]; we were more anxious to see you face to face with much longing” (2:17). A common motif of friendship language as discovered in Philippians by Fitzgerald is the idea of presence and absence. Fitzgerald quotes an ancient epistolary theorist, known as Ps.-Libanius, who writes about friendship in aphoristic form: “One will speak in [a letter] as though one were in the company of the absent person. . . . For it is a holy thing to honor genuine friends when they are present, and to speak to them when they are absent.”14 Paul reminds the believers in Philippi that he cannot be present with them at the moment but will send Timothy to fill the gap made by his absence (Phil 2:19-24). Paul states, Parallels between Thessalonians and “I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I Philippians see how it will go with me; and I trust in the Expression of desire to see readers Lord that shortly I myself shall come also” (1 Thess 2:17//Phil 2:24) (vv. 23-24). Paul uses Timothy as his emissary to Circumstances responsible for the delay the Thessalonians. Later, Paul will send Timothy (1 Thess 2:18//Phil 2:23) to other places because of the success experiThe sending of emissaries enced in Thessaloniki. [Parallels between Thessalonians (1 Thess 3:1//Phil 2:19-25) The description of the converts as a crown of boasting (1 Thess 2:19//Phil 2:16)

and Philippians]

Friends want to be together. Paul wants to be present in Thessaloniki. Fitzgerald observes that The Day of the Lord (1 Thess 2:19//Phil 2:19) “one of the mechanisms for dealing with the From Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians problem of absence was the letter, which func(Anchor Bible Commentary, vol. 32B; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 180–81. tioned as a substitute for physical presence.”15 When he cannot be present, Paul writes a letter. He then sends an emissary to represent him in his absence. The anxiety caused by the separation becomes bearable because of letter writing and the oral report given by the emissary. When he receives the report, Paul writes. In his response, it becomes clear that he misses his friends with great longing. The depth of Paul’s passion is revealed in this intimate tone of conversation. Although Paul wanted to return to Thessaloniki on more than one occasion, something or someone prevented him. Paul writes, “It is for this reason we wished to come to you, I myself, Paul, time and time again, but Satan hindered us” (1 Thess 2:18). What is the obstacle here? What prevents Paul from being with his dear friends? We may never discover the exact reason. Paul does not give the precise details. Was it the possibility of persecution? We know from reading Acts 17 that Paul did not leave Thessaloniki on friendly terms. The city was in an uproar and Paul and Silas left in the darkness of night after they were accused of “turning the city upside

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Satan: Cosmic Reality of Evil down” (Acts 17:1-9). Was it Paul’s physical condition? In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul calls his “thorn in his flesh” a “messenger of Satan.” Perhaps Paul’s failing eyesight, as many have interpreted the “thorn,” is the major obstacle that prevents his return. Was it weather conditions? Did the lack of willing travel companions prevent his trip? We do not know. What is clear, however, is that Paul does not want to be the one responsible for the obstacle. The reasons are out of his control; they belong to Satan. Beyond the “devil made me do it” rationale, the interpreter is left with little help in understanding Paul’s meaning. Could it be that Paul resists personal Jean-Jacques Feuchere (1807–1852). Satan. C. 1836. Bronze. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, US. (Credit: LACMA Image Library / Wikimedia Commons, PD responsibility for his actions? US) On one hand, Paul could simply be taking the easy road, excusing his behavior in a manner similar to the way comedian Flip Wilson used to delight audiences with his famous one-liner—“The devil made me do it!” On the other hand, Paul appears to be establishing a rationale for his absence that is unrelated to physical illness or weather, reluctant travel partners, or fear of persecution. From the material world of flesh where the specific conditions of the obstacle can be named, Paul appears to move the reasoning to another level—to a supernatural world where obstructions are so complex that they cannot even be itemized. Paul describes Satan in the Corinthian correspondence as one who is a crafty deceiver (2 Cor 11:14), who desires to destroy believers (1 Cor 5:5; 2 Cor 2:11) by tempting them through lack of self control (1 Cor 7:5). In Thessalonians, Paul believes Satan hinders (1 Thess 2:18) and tempts people of faith (3:5). The struggle is cosmic. To limit the description to any earthy reason is not to fully describe the enormity of the battle. Discussion of the great struggle between good and evil can become mired in temporal realities. Perhaps for Paul it is not enough to say that his travel plans were changed because of the

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weather or shifting itineraries. To lay the blame at the feet of the townspeople who wanted to persecute him is in similar ways a simple response—too facile. Perhaps Paul understands that nothing in life happens by accident. Forces beyond our control are at work in our lives. Paul’s shift of responsibility from his own actions to that of a cosmic force, Satan, is not a sign of a weak character that refuses responsibility for one’s own actions. Perhaps Paul is aware that he is guided by unseen principalities and forces that create paths and designs that cannot be so easily described by material artifacts or human response. Paul’s community affirms this idea later in the writing of Ephesians: “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:6). Walter Wink asserts that we “contend not against human beings as such (“flesh and blood”) but against legitimations, seats of authority, hierarchical systems, ideological justifications, punitive sanctions which their human incumbents exercise and which transcend their incumbents in both time and power.”16 Paul moves the struggle from the realm of earthly reasoning and places the dilemma in a cosmic dimension. Paul cannot return to Thessaloniki because forces, unnamed by him and perhaps even unknown to him, prevent his return. To position the struggle for authentic relationships in some cosmic realm of unseen principalities and powers, like those of Satan, prepares the way for legitimate responses. To rebel against the material manifestation of the evil power is to acknowledge the absolute nature of the power with one’s own attempts to seize it. For example, says Wink, when early Christians refused to worship the emperor, they quietly prayed to God instead. No militia was needed; no zealot uprising ensued. They just acknowledged the supernatural force of the evil as primary and used supernatural forces in order to resolve the dilemma. Wink writes, “rebellion simply acknowledges the absoluteness and ultimacy of the emperor’s power, and attempts to seize it. Prayer denies that ultimacy altogether by acknowledging a higher power.”17 For Paul to declare that Satan kept him from being with his dearly beloved brothers in Thessaloniki is not the easy way out of personal responsibility. Rather, Paul places his work in a more realistic stratosphere. His life, his work, his actions, even his thoughts belong to a world that is often unseen and unacknowledged. There is more to Paul’s mission than what can be seen with one’s own eye. Although Paul will move back and forth from

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earthly to heavenly realities in his understanding of his calling, one temporal point remains constant. He dearly loves the members of this worshiping, working community of faith—the brothers in Thessaloniki. Negative forces of resistance can be labeled cosmic, but positive forces of love and acceptance have a human referent for Paul. The positive forces of goodness are illustrated by his beloved brothers in the church in Thessaloniki. The Thessalonians are Paul’s hope, joy, and crown of boasting (2:19). This is the reason he wants to be with them. If broken syntax implies an excited writer/speaker, then this sentence is a stellar example of an extremely excited speaker who tries to communicate with three choppy, incomplete thought forms. Paul first interrupts his own rhetorical question, “Who is our hope, joy, crown of boasting?” with another question, “Is it not in fact you?” Then, without even a slight pause, he concludes the thought with a sentence fragment describing the moment in time when this relationship will be clear—at the time when the Lord Jesus comes. The ones who are the hope, the joy, and the crown of boasting will be made clearly manifest at the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus. Paul uses two brief interrogative sentences and one prepositional phrase, with no grammatical connections, to communicate his emotion. If there is any doubt where Paul’s thoughts are, even in this disjointed sentence, the concluding thought in v. 20 becomes the point of summation, as if to underline the main point one more time: “For you, yourselves, are our glory and joy” (2:20). This conclusion in v. 20 answers the rhetorical question in v. 19 with vibrant energy that demands a graphic artist for appropriate visual clarity. To communicate the energy in this verse, the visual artist would employ huge uncial letters, boldfaced fonts, exclamation points, and letters in large pitch and varying degrees of intensity. Perhaps it would appear in this manner: YOU, YOURSELVES, are our GLORY and our JOY !!!!! The words in this section, reveal the pathos of Paul’s inner feelings: brothers (2:17); orphaned from separation (2:17); not in heart (2:17); most earnestly endeavored (2:17); to see you face to face (2:17) with great longing (2:17); we resolved to come to you (2:18); I, Paul, did so on more than one occasion (2:18); Satan hindered us (2:18); hope (2:19); joy (2:19); crown of boasting (2:19); glory (2:20). Paul chooses words and a manner of writing that reveal his most intimate thoughts—he cares deeply for the Thessalonian believers, and he is not afraid to show it!

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Athens

(Credit: Jim Pitts)

Paul exclaims, “We could not hold out any longer, so we decided to send Timothy, even if meant being alone in Athens.” Timothy is Paul’s official representative and close confidant (1 Cor 4:17; 16:10; Phil 2:19). Paul cannot return, but he can send his closest friend, Timothy, to represent him with his dear friends in Thessaloniki. Paul is probably alone even though he writes with plural personal pronouns. Paul has been saying consistently, “but we, brothers” (2:17); “we resolved” (2:18); “our hope” (2:19). In familiar form, Paul continues the use of the plural pronoun in 3:1, “we could not hold out.” Does Paul have traveling companions? Is there a group of people living with Paul as he writes this letter? Most scholars assume this is the epistolary use of the pronoun, sometimes called the “editorial we.” The use of the plural pronoun offers a more polite, less individually focused attention on the views of the writer. When Paul wants to spotlight his own perspective, however, it is grammatically clear. He will use the intensive personal pronoun, as seen in 2:18, “I, myself, Paul, did so . . . .” Paul is not always reluctant to hide behind polite grammar. With personal pronouns, Paul sometimes can be in the background with the use of the epistolary pronouns, his own individuality fading into the background of the collective pronoun. Then at other times, Paul employs intensive pronouns that direct even greater attention to Paul, the author. Why Athens? This reference does not necessarily mean that Paul was writing the letter to his Thessalonian friends from Athens, as some scholars have suggested. Paul sends Timothy, “our brother and coworker of God in the gospel of Christ” (3:2). To the ear of the ancient scribe, this phrase was theologically inappropriate. Perhaps the scribe who was writing in the cold, damp scriptorium of some ancient monastery, attempting to serve God through sacrifice of time and energy of hand and eye, thought it too bold to name Timothy as a “coworker of God.” To call

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Timothy a servant of God, rather than a coworker with God, would be more appropriate theological modesty. Some scribes emended the text in order to place Timothy in an appropriate theological position, as servant of God rather than coworker with God.18 Reliable manuscripts, with literary integrity and age, attest to the textual variation of servant (diakonon) rather than coworker (synergon). Translation committees working on English versions, therefore, had to decide if Timothy should be considered as a servant (or minister) of God or a coworker with God. English variations multiplied. The strongest opinion, however, establishes that the original text most likely gave Timothy the title of “coworker with God” rather than servant. The most Timothy’s Titles in English Translations of difficult or problematic reading is often the 1 Thessalonians 3:2 closest one to the original. [Timothy’s Titles in KJV: “minister of God and our fellow laborer in English Translations of 1 Thessalonians 3:2]

the gospel of Christ” RSV: “God’s servant in the gospel of Christ” NRSV: “coworker with God” Montgomery: “God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ” Jerusalem Bible: “God’s helper in spreading the gospel” TEV: “who works with us for God”

Timothy is sent, in lieu of Paul, to the members of the church in Thessaloniki. A special relationship exists between Paul and Timothy, perhaps like that between a father and a son. In Philippians 2:19-24, Paul introduces Timothy to the members of the church in Philippi. Paul recommends Timothy in this manner: “I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare. They all look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But Timothy’s worth, you know, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.” Timothy represents Paul. The purpose of Timothy’s visit is clearly stated (3:2). Timothy will strengthen and encourage the brothers. Just as the letter serves as an intermediary, substitute presence for Paul’s own coming, Timothy also serves as an ambassador, representing Paul and his concerns for the community of believers. Timothy will do what Paul would have done if he could have traveled to Thessaloniki. The Greek syntax is instructive in vv. 2-3. The purpose clause in v. 2, “in order to strengthen and encourage,” introduces a second purpose clause that narrows the reason and purpose for Timothy’s visit, “in order that no one would be shaken by these tribulations” (3:3). Paul’s goal in sending Timothy, written with more specificity in the second purpose clause, is to prevent increased agitation (sainesthai) within the Thessalonian community. [Sainesthai: A Word Study]

Paul adds parenthetically, “For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this” (3:3b). Suffering was already appointed for

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Sainesthai: A Word Study This Greek word, seen only in the New Testament and not found in other Greek manuscripts, originally referred to the wagging of a dog’s tail, which usually shows affection or attention between dog and owner. The word was also used in a metaphorical sense to indicate fawning or flattery. The word was also used to describe agitation. Older translations and commentaries interpret this word

to mean that Paul’s opponents were, with seduction and beguiling actions, leading the Thessalonian converts astray. More recent commentators understand this word in relationship to the anxiety and agitations caused by some disturbance within the community. Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (Anchor Bible Commentary, vol. 32B; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 192.

Paul (2:14); suffering, therefore, was also already appointed for the believers in Thessaloniki. The community’s unrest is to be expected. Paul’s ministry has been continually dogged by agitators and characterized by restless agitation. Why would it be different for the believers? Paul reminds them that he has been telling them over and over again that they were going to be persecuted (3:4). The verb proelegomen, translated as “we kept telling,” is in the imperfect tense, with iterative force, literally rendered in this manner, “we kept on warning you over and over again . . . .” Paul quotes his own words, spoken on several occasions before the appearance of these written words to the believers. The use of hoti in v. 4 introduces a quotation in the Greek text, which features Paul’s own words: “For even while we were with you, we kept on telling you [hoti], ‘We are going to be persecuted,’ just as also you know that it came to pass” (3:4). Paul has been warning the believers that persecution would be inevitable. What is the persecution? Are they experiencing physical persecution from the religious leaders, perhaps those in Jerusalem, such as that Paul endured while in Thessaloniki (see Acts 17)? Is the persecution related to their radical theological position that differed from the religious establishment? Or perhaps the persecution is more of an inward psychological or sociological phenomenon? Perhaps the believers are experiencing the anxiety, the internal angst that comes from personal disorientation. The young believers have set themselves counter to the culture and the establishment. They are alienated from their friends and alliances. Perhaps their “present difficulties” (3:3) are the result of their “new value system which dramatically changed their social, cultic, and religious affiliation and loyalties.”19 Suffering, from whatever source with whatever manifestation, is inevitable in Paul’s mind. It is going to happen. It did happen, as in Paul’s testimony. It will happen, as indicated by Paul’s admonition to the young believers. The young believers may experience

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physical abuse, as Paul did when visiting their city. The young believers may also experience the emotional discomfort when neighbors do not agree, when a minority group determines to break with the herd, when one group establishes norm and values apart from the established group. In some ways, these internal places of discomfort may even be more troubling than serving jail sentences or enduring public flogging. With whatever anxiety that may be unfolding, Paul writes the believers to remind them that they are not alone. Paul’s letter continues to sustain them in the time of crisis. In addition, Paul’s dear colleague, Timothy, comes to stand beside them in their agitation and pain. The reason for Timothy’s visit becomes even more narrow and focused. Already Paul has stated that Timothy is coming so that (1) the believers will be strengthened and encouraged (3:2); (2) no one will be shaken by these difficulties (3:3); and (3) Timothy can return to Paul with a report about the faith of the Thessalonian believers. This final and most honest reason, perhaps, reveals Paul’s own anxiety about the welfare of the believers. Of course, he wants to help them by sending Timothy and by writing words of encouragement to them. The greatest reason for sending Timothy is, however, that Paul needs to know what is going on in the congregation. He is concerned about their well-being. Paul needs a report—badly. Paul writes, “Because of this, I could endure it no longer and I sent Timothy so that he could come to learn about your faith . . .” (3:5). Paul’s genuine apprehension is evident here. The use of the Greek phrase m∑keti (lit., “not still”) helps to express Paul’s mood as he sent Timothy to Thessaloniki. The use of the negative expression when combined with the subjunctive mood expresses anxiety that is directed toward warding off something that is still dependent on the will.20 Paul fears the result of their agitation will be their unfaithfulness. Paul fears that in the persecution the believers may be tempted to renounce their newfound beliefs and lives. If that happens, then the Tempter will have been more successful than Paul. Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers that he is sending Timothy to see if “the Tempter tempted you and our toil became for nothing” (3:5). Timothy’s Comforting Report, 3:6-10

Paul writes the letter to the Thessalonians after Timothy has returned with the report. Timothy reports that the believers have successfully weathered the storm; they have not wavered in their

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belief, in spite of the persecution. In addition, the believers still hold Paul in high regard (3:6). Paul has reasons to doubt their acceptance of him. First, he and Silvanus had to leave Thessaloniki unexpectedly, in the dark of night, according to Acts 17. Paul did not say appropriate farewells to the congregation. Second, he may have feared that the group resented their situation, blaming Paul rather than praising him for their new way of life, especially when it drew negative responses from others, such as persecution and stress. Third, Paul may have been afraid that the community resented his failure to return for a second visit.21 Whatever the exact reason, Paul is relieved to hear Timothy’s report that the community still thinks of him with affection (3:6). The report brings comfort to Paul: “Through this reason we are being comforted, brothers, because of you in all of our anguish and distress through your faith” (3:7). The word for comfort, paraklesis, is a familiar concept to Paul. Perhaps best remembered in the letter to the Corinthians, the concept becomes one of the guiding verbs in Paul’s writing. Read the section aloud and listen for the redundant theme of comfort: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort” with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Cor 1:3-7)

Abraham Smith contends that the letter to the Thessalonians is a letter of consolation. For Smith, two levels of distress are reached in the Thessalonian community. One level is the stress of bereavement. Paul writes to comfort the loved ones of those who have died (4:18). Most commentators acknowledge that the community is dealing with the pain of death. The grief of death is made even more troublesome by the theological confusion. Those who are left behind attempt to understand the chronology of the dying of their relatives and the promised return of Christ. Jesus was supposed to return quickly as promised. A generation is passing with no parousia. The community needs consolation and comfort. Timothy comforts the believers (3:2, 7). The missionaries also comforted the

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believers at their initial visit (2:1-12). Paul will also exhort the members to comfort one another (4:13; 5:11) with the same practices of comfort that they have been shown (4:1, 9). On another level, Paul’s separation anxiety creates stress for Paul and the members of the community. Paul’s separation from his dear friends creates an anxiety almost equal to the anxiety felt by those who face the death of loved ones.22 Paul writes to the believers in Thessaloniki: “For now we live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord” (3:8). Paul’s need for consolation, not unlike the consolation required for bereavement, is unnecessary as long as the believers stay faithful to the community. Paul’s sense of well-being is connected to the faithfulness of the community in Thessaloniki. He lives if they are faithful. If they are not faithful, Paul does not live. They are connected. Paul receives comfort when he realizes that his work is not in vain; the believers are standing firm. He also is comforted by the report from Timothy that the believers still remember him with affection. Paul is comforted with the same kind of comfort that he uses to comfort others. In 3:9-10, Paul returns to his language of praise, first noted in 1:2 and again in 2:13, and asks a rhetorical question, “For what thanksgiving are we able to return to God for you for all the joy with which we rejoice on account of you in the presence of our God, begging day and night with the utmost earnestness to see your face and to restore what is lacking in your faith?” Paul has two goals. He wants to see the Thessalonians face to face and to complete what is lacking in their faith. Timothy’s report brings much joy to Paul. In response he writes the letter that we know as 1 Thessalonians. In response to this very positive report, Paul praises the work of the church, commends their example in the entire region, and builds their confidence in their new way of life. In keeping with the positive tone of the letter of friendship, Paul employs words that continue to endear these people to him. This section will lay the careful foundation for words of ethical admonitions that will follow in the letter. From the vantage point of friendship, Paul can correct and inform their behavior. Friendship becomes the primary focal point of Paul’s ministry with the young believers in Thessaloniki.

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CONNECTIONS Aristotle called friendships the basis of the polis, or the foundation of society. Until recently, however, modern intellectual discourse avoided the subject of friendship. Relegating conversations about friendship to women and afternoon tea, Girl Scouts around campfires, or to another era belonging to sentimental, stiff-necked Victorians, most intellectual conversationalists minimized, if not altogether ignored, discussions of friendship. In the last decade, however, numerous studies have emerged from various sectors.23 From philosophy these volumes emerge: Neera Kapur Badhwar, Friendship: A Philosophical Reader and Allan Bloom, Love and Friendship.24 Classical studies in ancient history offer a recent study by David Konstan, Friendship in the Classical World.25 In the early 1990s a group of scholars called the Hellenistic Moral Philosophy and Early Christianity Group (related to the Society of Biblical Literature) began a study of friendship in the philosophical traditions of Greek authors and documents, including the New Testament. That research produced two volumes of essays that offer a rich source of conversation on friendship, edited by John T. Fitzgerald: Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship and Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World.26 Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel recently published her research suggesting that the image of God as Friend be used as a healing image for our time. In addition, Moltmann-Wendel affirms that the whole notion of friendship—the pastor as friend, God as friend, women as friends, men as friends—offers a new way of providing vitality to outdated, hierarchical images of the church.27 Even a Norton’s anthology, edited by Eudora Welty and Ronald Sharp, has been published, providing an indispensable reference on friendship.28 Paul’s letter to the Philippians stands in the center of the discussion regarding friendship in the New Testament. Limited attention, however, is given to the friendship themes or the friendly-letter style exhibited in Thessalonians. Nonetheless, Klaus Thraede in the 1970s produced research that studied the elements of ancient friendship letters and discovered those elements in several passages in Paul’s letters. Abraham Malherbe and Abraham Smith continued that work.29 Johannes Schoon-Jansen, likewise, shows that the theme of friendship is an integral setting for the writing of Thessalonians.30 Schoon-Jansen writes, Concerning the probable Sitz im Leben of 1 Thessalonians, it can be asserted that 1 Thessalonians is essentially a letter of friendship from

1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:10 Paul to his church in Thessalonica. It is a letter in which the apostle praises the church greatly, yet simultaneously admonishes it to pursue honorable work and, with pastoral concern, also provides consoling new information regarding the fate of the dead at the time of the parousia. In this way, Paul presents himself not as an exceptional teacher, but rather as a pastoral friend.31

Paul is a pastoral friend to the members of the church in Thessaloniki. That model of leadership challenges our traditional notion of lofty, disengaged ecclesiastical authority. As traditional hierarchical leadership pyramids begin to fall in all sectors, from the Vatican to Wall Street, a new model of leader and organizational structure is absolutely necessary. The old way is simply not working. Moltmann-Wendel asks the probing question, “Are we on the way towards a friendly culture which will see the replacement of domination, hierarchy, and violence, along with a pattern of pastoral care which involves too much supervision and too little independence?”32 She quotes an article written by Hans Van der Geest, who writes that the pastor need not be a preacher or helper, but it is essential for the leader to be friendly: Friendship is a better pattern of orientation for the pastor than preaching or ministry . . . . In a gathering of a friendly kind there is room both for interest in fellow human beings and also a desire and the readiness to proclaim the gospel. The concepts of kerygma and diakonia tend to introduce constraints.33

In the midst of pseudo-friendships, like those “network” alliances that exist for economic gain or the “schmoozing” of friends for political benefit, perhaps a reexamination of the meaning of friendship is important for us. When we look closely at the anatomy of friendship, we will not be satisfied with simply understanding friendship for the purpose of utilitarian gain. In the same manner, we will not be content to understand friendship simply as a phenomenon of deepest intimacy, where friends, uninterrupted by life’s demands, use their relationships to open their hearts to one another. Friendship does not always bring warm therapeutic functions, nor does it always produce economic or political gain. Although friendship may be utilitarian at times and intimate at other times, this description is too narrow. Enlarge the view. For the Greek philosophers, friendship was serious business, central to life, not just for mutual gain or simply for psychological intimacy. For Aristotle, friendship is the glue that holds states together. Friendships join uncommon people into a common people,

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disparate views into common discourse. Friendship is one of the supreme intellectual virtues. As the church struggles for new language to explain relationships, both vertical and horizontal, between people and God and between people and people, the language of friendship becomes crucial as a new metaphor. The traditional ones are wearing thin. MoltmannWendel challenges us to think when she states, “In my view, a cultural change is taking place in which family ties and family norms are fading into the background and Zora Neale Hurston on Friendship being replaced by the most diverse kinds of “Make the attempt if you want to, but you groups of friends, on the same footing as the will find that trying to go through life family or as a substitute for it.”34 A theology without friendship is like milking a bear to get cream of friendship offers a fresh way to understand for your morning coffee. It is a whole lot of trouble, and then not much after you get it.” relationships for the church. MoltmannZora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Chicago: Wendel states, University of Illinois Press, 1978).

A theology which develops around friendship, which again experiences God as friend, is interested in salvation and well-being and justice for all. . . . Reflecting on God in terms of friendship can perhaps also enrich our own capacity for friendship. . . . Friendship is a broad sphere which unites heaven and earth, which makes it possible to think of God and the divine in both immanent and transcendent terms.35 [Zora Neale Hurston on Friendship]

(Credit: Barclay Burns)

Richard Groves offers a personal story to describe his friendship with Henri Nouwen.36 Richard and wife, Rosie, became friends with author, teacher, preacher, and spiritual director Henri Nouwen during their years in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Nouwen was on the faculty at Harvard Divinity School. Rosie was an administrator in the divinity school, while Richard was a pastor in Cambridge. Richard and Rosie were helping Nathan, a nephew from Louisiana who, after a suicide attempt, had come to live with them in Cambridge to find new direction for his life. One day Rosie shared the story of Nathan with Professor Nouwen. Henri, without fanfare, quietly asked Nathan to be his personal assistant—to pick up his mail, help drive the car, and perform other personal tasks. High school student Nathan and seminary professor Henri became good friends. In time, Nathan completed his GED at the community college, regained his life focus, and returned to Louisiana to marry.

1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:10

The last time Richard saw Henri Nouwen was at Nathan’s wedding. Nouwen, although weak and frail from a recent car accident, had traveled to Louisiana to participate in the wedding of his dear friend, Nathan. Soon after, on September 21, 1996, Henri Nouwen, the wounded healer, died. Because of that friendship, however, Nathan lived. Henri Nouwen knew that authentic ministry rested within the relaxed bonds of friendships. It was there where the transforming power of the gospel could work most effectively. Robert Durback writes about Nouwen, ministry, and friendship: His gift was consistently to convert strangers into friends. It was the hallmark of his ministry. It is a theme evident in his lectures, books, and articles, a thread binding all his teaching, preaching and writing about ministry. His own definition of ministry involved friendship: “Whatever form the Christian ministry takes, the basis is always the same: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”37

Current theological formation for clergy often The Pasture teaches that pastors are to be effective adminisby Robert Frost trators who know how to read budgets, raise I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; money, and organize committee structures. I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away Other models assure that the newly graduated (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): seminary student will excel in preaching, I shan’t be gone long.—You come too. funerary oratory, and baptismal rituals. Lessons in counseling are given, with careful attention to I’m going but to fetch the little calf That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young hospital room decorum as well as home visitaIt totters when she licks it with her tongue. tion. Rarely, however, is attention given to the I shan’t be gone long.—You come too. role of pastor as friend. We tend to overlook the power of this role. [“The Pasture”] from North of Boston (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1915). I will always remember young Barry Lin, the first young Chinese person I met while living in Taipei, Taiwan, in the early 1980s. I had been commissioned by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to be a foreign missionary to Taiwan. What grand plans I had for myself! I knew that because of my dedication, millions would know Christ. I even imagined the evenings of preaching in Chinese to the masses, of leading Bible studies to the people in the villages, of creating lists of names of new Christians. I just knew that I would be successful as I accomplished all of the missionary functions of preaching and teaching. It took a youthful Chinese man to teach me a new lesson on ministry and friendship. Barry visited our home often. Ready to teach him a lesson or two, I would place the Chinese Bible on the

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table before he arrived. He insisted on taking us to the Chinese opera instead. He would call again asking if he could visit. While he traveled across town to our apartment, I would prepare the room by placing the hymnbook on the piano in anticipation of teaching him some Christian hymns from the Chinese hymnal. After tea, we moved to the piano, and it became clear that he preferred to teach me Chinese folk tunes. Not one to give up too easily, I again invited him for dinner, anticipating that, at the dining room table, we could share our faith with our friend over a meal. Somehow the conversation would shift and Barry would be giving me another lesson in Chinese history before the dessert course. This went on for about three years. I would try to offer the work of a missionary to Barry. Barry would politely change the subject. I was discouraged. I had nothing to report at mission meeting. No success story of dramatic Chinese conversions. I was trying to be faithful to my calling—preaching, teaching, and visiting. But it was not working. Barry finally told me that he just wanted to be my friend. He said that he wanted to introduce me to his culture; in turn, he wanted to learn mine. He wanted to become friends. Although I cherished him and his enthusiasm, I had to learn that what we were experiencing was perhaps the closest to authentic missionary living that I would be able to Quotations on Friendship discover. At first glance, just to be friends Friends cherish each other’s hopes. They are kind was not enough—not missionary enough, to each other’s dreams. —Henry David Thoreau not evangelistic enough. I felt that I was not an authentic missionary. Greater love has no person than this, that one lay down At some point in our relationship, one’s life for one’s friends. —John 15:13 however, I began to rest. I just lived. I Flowers are lovely. Love is flower-like; began to relax. I began to see that to Friendship is a sheltering tree. —Samuel Taylor Coleridge attend a Chinese symphony concert with Barry was also to fulfill the Great I loved my friend. Commission. To learn Chinese folk songs, He went away from me. to eat Chinese noodles, to play Chinese There’s nothing more to say. The poem ends, folk tunes, to meet Barry’s Buddhist Soft as it began— family, to attend his sister’s beautiful I loved my friend. —Langston Hughes wedding, to spend hours in the car, around the dining room table, was just as Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole significant as revivals and evangelistic of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of meetings. Barry was my friend. We shared friends. —Epicurus one another’s culture. [Quotations on Friendship] Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not The month before we returned to the born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a United States, Barry asked to be baptized. new world is born. —Anaïs Nin There was no pressure on our part. We

1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:10

had let that rest months earlier. Surprised but delighted, we had shared not only our cultures and our lives, but also our faith within the context of friendship. Barry’s newfound faith rested in the friendship of God and of his new foreign friends. This transformation of faith was not the result of a fancy religious curriculum, well-crafted homiletical experiences, well-honed pastoral care skills, or even carefully constructed theological education. Friendship, says Aristotle, is the basis of the polis. Friendship, says Paul, is the basis of the ecclesia. And to that end we all need to be challenged.

Notes 1 See John Reumann, “Philippians, Especially Chapter 4, as a ‘Letter of Friendship’: Observation on a Checkered History of Scholarship,” in Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World, ed. John T. Fitzgerald (New York: E. J. Brill, 1996), 83–106; Ken Berry, “The Function of Friendship Language in Philippians 4:10-20,” in Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech, 107–24; Abraham J. Malherbe, “Paul’s Self-Sufficiency (Philippians 4:11),” in Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech, 125–40; John T. Fitzgerald, “Philippians in the Light of Some Ancient Discussions of Friendships,” in Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech, 141–60. See also David Konstan, Friendship in the Classical World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). 2 Fitzgerald, “Philippians in the Light of Some Ancient Discussions of Friendships,” 157. 3

Lone Fatum, “Brotherhood in Christ: A Gender Hermeneutical Reading of 1 Thessalonians,” in Constructing Early Christian Families; Family as Social Reality and Metaphor, ed. Halvor Moxnes (London: TJ International, 1999), 189. 4 Ibid.,

190.

5 Ibid.,

192.

6 Richard

S. Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association,” JBL 119/2 (2000): 311–328. See also John S. Kloppenborg and Stephen G. Wilson, eds. Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World (London: Routledge, 1996). 7 Robert

Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Pauline Love Feasts,” Quarterly Review 14 (Spring 1994): 43–58. 8 Ronald

Hock, “The Workshop as a Social Setting for Paul’s Missionary Preaching,” CBQ 41 (July 1979): 438–450. 9

Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association,” 324. 10

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Feminist Interpretation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984), x. 11 Wolfgang Iser, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response (Baltimore MD: John Hopkins Press, 1978), contends that “reading is an activity that is guided by the text” (163).

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Stanley Fish, Is There a Text in This Class: The Authority of Interpretive Communities (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), asserts that readers, and not texts, make meaning (14). 13 Elisabeth

Schüssler Fiorenza, Rhetoric and Ethic: The Politics of Biblical Studies (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999). 14 Fitzgerald,

“Philippians in the Light of Some Ancient Discussions of Friendships,”

147. 15 Ibid. 16 Walter 17 Ibid.,

Wink, Naming the Powers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1984), 85.

111.

18 Bruce

Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (New York: United Bible Society, 1971), 631. 19 Earl

Richard, First and Second Thessalonians (SP; Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1995), 149. 20 F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and Robert W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), 188. 21 Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 134. 22 Abraham

Smith, Comfort One Another: Reconstructing the Rhetoric and Audience of 1 Thessalonians (Louisville: Westminster, 1995), 54. 23

See Gilbert Meilaender, “One Soul in Bodies Twain: The Lure of Friendship,” Christian Century (3 November 1993): 1092–95. 24 Neera

Kapur Badhwar, ed., Friendship: A Philosophical Reader (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Allan Bloom, Love and Friendship (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993). 25

David Konstan, Friendship in the Classical World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). 26 John

T. Fitzgerald, Greco-Roman Perspectives on Friendship (SBL Resources for Biblical Study 34; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997); John T. Fitzgerald, ed., Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech. 27 Elisabeth

Moltmann-Wendel, Rediscovering Friendship: Awakening to the Promise and Power of Women’s Friendships (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001). 28 Eudora

Welty and Ronald A. Sharp, eds., The Norton Book on Friendship (New York: W. W. Norton, 1991). 29 Abraham

Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 32B (New York: Doubleday, 2000); Abraham Smith, Comfort One Another. 30 Johannes Schoon-Jansen, “On the Use of Elements of Ancient Epistolography in 1 Thessalonians,” The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis, ed. Karl P. Donfried, Johannes Butler (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000). 31 Ibid., 32 E.

190.

Moltmann-Wendel, Rediscovering Friendship, 4.

1 Thessalonians 2:17–3:10 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid.,

3.

35 Ibid.,

7.

36

Richard Groves, “Remembering Henri Nouwen: Pastor and Friend,” Christian Century (16 October 1996): 956–57. 37 Robert

957.

Durback, “Ministry and Friendship,” Christian Century (16 October 1996):

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Paul’s Words of Instruction 1 Thessalonians 3:11–4:12 A transition occurs in 3:11-13 that marks a beginning and an end. Verses 11-13 become a literary bridge that contains a prayer blessing separating two major sections of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. The first section of the letter, 1:1–3:10, closes at this bridge of literary transition, and a new thought unit begins at 3:11. Prior to 3:11, Paul has been writing with words of personal affirmation and deep affection. He praises the believers for their faithfulness. He wants them to know how proud he is of their accomplishments. One would think just by reading Paul’s first words that the readers are absolutely perfect, flawless in every way. Paul gushes in the first two chapters, praising the young believers by saying, “You are our glory and joy” (2:20). Keep reading, however, and you will discover this community’s flaws. This section, 3:11–4:12, introduced by a prayer in 3:11-13, becomes the place where the community’s shadows are revealed. Paul writes in a literary form called paraenesis, a style that instructs the readers in matters of ethics. In this paraenetical tone, Paul writes to correct “what is lacking in them” (3:10). Their weaknesses include lack of knowledge on the relationship between faith and ethics (4:1-2); lack of personal sexual boundaries (4:3-8); and lack of an adequate work ethic (4:9-12). Paul knows how to affirm the Thessalonian believers as evidenced in the first half of the letter. Paul, however, also knows how to admonish them. The words belonging to this part of the letter are words of instruction, pushing the reader toward higher standards of ethical behavior.

COMMENTARY Paul concludes the previous section, 2:17–3:10, by identifying two reasons he wants to return to Thessaloniki. One, he wants to see his friends “face to face” (3:10). Two, Paul wants “to restore what is lacking in their faith” (3:10). Only now in the second half of the letter is he prepared to acknowledge their weaknesses. He has already

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written that the members of the community have been a model of faith for the entire region because they have turned from idols to God (1:8-10). Even with this momentous decision made by these bold believers, a few weak areas of spiritual development remain. If Paul could see them face to face, he is convinced that he could help strengthen these areas of weakness. These areas are not related to their decision to become believers—they have done that well, and Paul has applauded their decision to follow God. The areas of weakness deal with their daily responses to life: their ethics, their sexual behavior, and the way they perceive their work. Paul writes to restore these weak areas to positions of strength. Paul’s assumptions here are clear. Even though the believers have made the first step in following God by turning away from pagan traditions, they are still not fully formed in Christ. Charles Wanamaker acknowledges this important point: Contemporary Christians can learn from Paul’s missionary practice by recognizing that meaningful evangelism must aim for more than acceptance of Christian beliefs by converts. Evangelical Christianity needs to strive to create a social context or community in which converts may be resocialized into a new and distinctively Christian pattern of behavior and practice. Without this, conversion is not complete and has little chance of being genuinely transformative in the long term.1

Paul’s goal for spiritual formation is not, however, simply to offer a list of rules, although rules (parangelias) do exist for the community (4:2). Paul is not simply offering a creedal formulation or a belief system for the members to memorize in order to enhance their spiritual growth. Paul embeds clear ethical instruction within the loving walls of a deep and abiding personal friendship. Because of such friendship and because he loves them, Paul earns the right to identify their weaknesses with candor. They trust him, and they will listen. Before Paul offers this ethical instruction, however, he pauses to pray. Right in the middle of his letter writing, Paul offers a prayer to God on behalf of his beloved friends in Thessaloniki. This is a common tendency of Paul’s doxological writing style (see also 2 Thess 2:16-17; 3:11-13). His use of prayer language has a grammatical marker. [Greek Grammar and Prayer: The Optative Mood] Paul shifts into the language of prayer in v. 11; the grammar changes from the indicative to the optative mood of Greek grammar:

1 Thessalonians 3:11–4:12 And God himself and our Father and our Lord may direct our way to you. And may the Lord increase and make you rich in love to one another and to all, even just as we, ourselves, are to you, so that you may strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when the Lord Jesus comes with his holy ones. (3:11-13)

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Greek Grammar and Prayer: The Optative Mood Paul places the verbs in the optative mood in 3:11-13, thereby using an unusual Greek verb construction (also in 2 Thess 3:16). This optative mood is usually used to indicate a wish or a prayer. Not often found in the New Testament, this construction was probably never common in the vernacular and certainly rare in Koine Greek, the predominant Greek dialect found in the New Testament. Not used much in common conversation in ancient Athens, the mood has fully disappeared in modern Greek. Paul, however, uses the optative mood more than any other New Testament writer (Rom 15:5, 13; Philemon 20; 2 Tim 1:16, 18; 4:16; 1 Thess 3:1113; 2 Thess 3:16). Paul’s use of the optative mood indicates prayer language.

Paul’s prayer request comes in the form of three verbs, all in the optative mood— kateuthynai (direct), pleonasai (increase), perisseusai (make rich). Paul prays that God may direct his way to the believers and that the Lord will increase and make the believers rich in love for one another, just as his love has increased and become richer for the A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1934), Thessalonian believers (3:11-12). F. Blass, A. Debrunner, and R. Funk, A Greek Grammar of Some scholars suggest that this section forms 935–40; the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: the closing of Paul’s first letter to the University of Chicago Press, 1961), 194–95; J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek (Prolegomena, vol. 1; Thessalonians. Paul’s prayer words in vv. 11-13 Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1908), 194–99. may have formed the final words of benediction in the first document. The second letter, perhaps, begins at 4:11. These two documents may have been collated later by Paul’s followers and compiled into one letter.2 Another option is to see this section not as a marker dividing two letters but as a literary bridge between two divisions of the same letter. Verses 11-13 serve as a transition between the praise section, where Paul extols the virtues of the believers, and the paraenesis section, where Paul speaks to their weaknesses. Paul makes this abrupt transition work by creating a bridge of prayer. Verses 11-13 may be that holy pause, where the writer knows that the next chapter is going to take a lot of energy. And in anticipation of that moment, the writer takes a break, stands up, stretches, gets a fresh cup of coffee, organizes the new file, takes a deep breath, and then fires up the creative processes one more time. Rather than drinking coffee, however, Paul prays. Paul prepares for the next stretch of text by offering a prayer of blessing. This creates creative space for the words that will follow. Paul provides a helpful model of communication for us. How improved would our conversations be if we began with words of affirmation that culminated in a moment of prayerful blessing, all to occur before the moment of frank discussion of unethical behavior? Even our parenting practices might benefit from such a

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method of instruction. The child comes home. The school has sent a report of her misbehavior. You, the parent, are angry and embarrassed, harboring a host of other emotions felt but not even acknowledged, much less understood. You have two options. You can begin the conversation by shaming the child who has misbehaved, detailing all of the places of incorrect behavior, clearly showing your disappointment. We all know the results that this method brings. The child is shamed; the parent ventilates. A pathway for redemption and restoration, however, is closed. The unchecked emotions of the angry parent lead to more chaos. No resolution is in sight. Another option might be to pause your emotional roller coaster, consider the places of goodness that exist in the life of your child, and acknowledge those places. Pause. Take a deep breath. Breathe a prayer, centering yourself and grounding the words that you are about to say. Then in that moment of clarity of vision and thought, acknowledge those places where the child has been faithful and where goodness has reigned. Then verbalize the place of transgression that has brought you both to this moment. Acknowledge the wrong that has been created but not without a balanced view of the goodness that has also been exhibited in your child. Both sides exist. The Thessalonians were Paul’s glory and joy; they were also not living in accordance with the rules of ethical behavior. Paul wants to affirm them; he also wants to admonish them. What results might be gained from that manner of relating? A soft beginning does not negate an honest and clear appraisal of negative behavior. Rather, a preamble of positive affirmation can establish the setting for even more direct and focused confrontation. Candor is important in relationships. Honesty is essential in authentic friendships. Often, however, in our anxiety over confrontation, we lack graceful skills in communication. We come across as demanding, without interest in the transgressor and interested only in correcting the transgression. Perhaps Paul’s model of frank and open conversation that follows a preamble of praise and blessing should be remembered in our personal relationships, especially in our parenting. Therefore, Walk, 4:1-2

All that Paul has been saying prior to this section is rolled into this one transition word, “therefore.” The intent of this important conjunction is to weave the previous thoughts into the present reading moment. The reader holds on to what has already been said while

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she reads what Paul is saying now. The past words are not to be forgotten! The preamble of friendship given in the first half of Paul’s letter is a necessary beginning to this new section of honest discussion of the inappropriate behavior exhibited by the Thessalonian Christians. The important central point for Paul in this paraenesis section is this: “It is necessary to walk and please God.” Paul’s voice is urgent when he writes these words: “Therefore, finally, brothers, we beg you . . . to walk and please God” (4:1). In other words, their walk up to this point has not been pleasing. They are in need of some correction. Paul’s anxiety cannot be hidden. He is deeply concerned about the behavior of the new believers in Thessaloniki. Michael Goulder notes that “Paul’s anxieties show themselves in advance, like the preview of a film.”3 Early in the letter, according to Goulder, the careful reader notes Paul’s “ethical nervousness.”4 Paul writes about faithfulness and patience (1:3), walking worthy of the Lord (2:12), establishing unblamable hearts in holiness before God (3:13), revealing his concern for their ethical behavior even while effusively praising the young believers in Thessaloniki. Paul’s “ethical nervousness” for the Thessalonian believers comes from his theological assumption that theology and praxis are inextricably linked. Talking about God is not enough; we are to walk in ways that are pleasing to God. Paul has taught the believers about God, and now they must walk in that knowledge. The believers in Thessaloniki have been taught the rules given to them through Paul from the Lord Jesus (4:2), and they were On Paraenesis expected to follow them. Their walk must match Paraenesis addressed themes of topics their talk. Paul has some corrections to make. of moral concern, such as friends, sex, Paul enjoys giving ethical advice. The techmoney, parents, food, etc., offering clear, downnical term, paraenesis, describes sections of text to-earth counsel. J. I. H. McDonald and D. E. Aune characterize paraenesis as (1) consisting of present in the following letters written by Paul: traditional, ethical material, expressing convenRomans 12:1–15:13; Galatians 5:1–6:10; tional wisdom approved by society; (2) general in 1 Thessalonians 4:1–5:22; Colossians 3:1–4:6; nature, applicable to many situations; (3) so Ephesians 4:1–6:20. [On Paraenesis] These passages familiar it is often presented as a “reminder”; (4) are easy to recognize. The verbs in the paraenetillustrated by the use of individuals as examples or ical section are often found in the imperative models of virtue; and (5) given by persons who claim to be more experienced than their audience. mood, offering a command, such as “Abstain M. B. Thompson, “Teaching/Paraenesis,” in Dictionary of Paul from evil” (1 Thess 4:3). Paul knows that theand His Letters, ed. Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph Martin, Daniel G. ology and ethics belong together. They cannot Reid (Downer’s Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 1993), 922. David E. Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment be separated in the life of the believer or in the (LEC; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987), 191. world of the community. J. I. H. McDonald, The Crucible of Christian Morality (London: Routledge, 1998).

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The primary rule that introduces the paraenetical section, the ethical advice given from the Lord Jesus, then to Paul, and now to the believers, is simply this: “Abstain from evil.” To abstain from evil is the will of God and leads to sanctification. In other words, the believers are to lead lives with sexual purity Parangelias: A Word Study because God demands it and the community needs it. Literally, the word parangelias Sanctification, to be made holy, is to share in the means a message (angelias) that is passed along (para) like comgoodness of Christ, which will increase the depth of mands passed along a line of soldiers. community between the believers. Ethical behavior The Greek word is usually translated to contains both the vertical and horizontal dimension. English as “order,” “command,” We do what is right to please God; we do what is “precept,” “advice,” “instructions,” or right because our community will be strengthened. “rule.” The noun is rare in the New The second point is related to the first but often overTestament, only used in 1 Thessalonians 4:2; 1 Timothy 1:5, 18; Acts 5:28; 16:24. looked. Rules are intended to make our relationship with God stronger; we all know that. [Parangelias: A Word Study] We, however, forget that we lead lives of honor because honorable lives make better people and better people make better places to live. Ethical rules are imporSkeuos: A Word Study tant for the sake of the community, In general, skeuos means “object” or thing, and in not simply for individual purity. This everyday secular life and work, it means “vessel,” “container,” “dish,” or “instrument.” The word appears in a is the circle that needs to be explained variety of settings. It is sometimes used for goods, furniture, or to the believers in Thessalonians. Paul clothing. It is used literally to hold household utensils, agriculwill be explicit with the rules in the tural implements, baggage, military equipment, nautical gear, following verses because he knows that and cultic vessels. In addition, the word takes on metaphorical the health and well-being of the commeanings in the Greek world. It sometimes refers to people as munity of believers in Thessaloniki “tools of others” or to the body as “the vessel of the soul.” It even serves as a euphemism for the reproductive organ. depend on it. In rabbinical Judaism, the word comes to refer to women, particularly in marital and sexual terms. The woman was a “vessel” and “using a vessel” was a euphemism for intercourse. Paul employs the word, found elsewhere in Judaism, to describe people as “vessels” or “instruments” chosen and used by God in Romans 9:19ff and refers to himself as a chosen skeuos in Acts 9:15. Scholars question whether Paul uses the word in 1 Thess 4:4 metaphorically for “body” (even with the implication of the genitals) or for “wife.” The context certainly suggests that it has to do with sexual conduct. New Testament scholars F. F. Bruce and C. Wanamaker and others point out that although Augustine as well as modern scholars argue for the use of “wife,” this seems unlikely for the more natural Greek use of the “body.” Brian Harfst, “Skeuos,” paper presented to the Thessalonian Correspondence Seminar, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, March 2001; Harfst cites Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 150–158 and F. F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (WBC; Waco TX: Word Books, 1982), 80–88.

Sexual Ethics, 4:3-8

The first rule (parangelia) is a general one: “Keep from evil” (4:3). Verses 4-8 describe the details and answer this basic question: How do you abstain from evil? The first step is that “You learn how to control your own vessel [skeuos] in holiness and honor and not in passionate lusts” (4:4-5). [Skeuos: A Word Study] Second, “you do not go beyond and take advantage of the affairs of your brother” (4:6). Additional rules are available as seen in Paul’s other writings. But for the

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Thessalonian community at this point in their history, these are the most important ones to remember, according to Paul. Paul wants them to avoid sexual immorality. What does Paul mean specifically when he admonishes the members of the church in Thessaloniki to control their own vessel? A brief survey of selected English translations of 4:4 reveals the interpretation challenges: • American Standard Version (1900): “that each of you know to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor.” • New American Bible (1941): “that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor.” • New American Standard Bible (1959): “that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.” (A footnote explains that vessel may mean “body, or perhaps, wife.”) • New International Version (1965): “that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.” • Today’s English Version (1966): “Each of you men should know how to live with his wife in a holy and honorable way.” • New Revised Standard Version (1974): “that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor.” What is the vessel that is to be controlled? Some versions read “body,” as NIV and RSV. The word “body” or “self ” is also implied in the AS, NAS (although suggested in the footnotes), NIV, and NRSV. In this brief survey, two versions, NAB and TEV (or Good News Bible), render the word “vessel” as “wife.” An interesting dilemma exists. Does Paul use the word “vessel” in a literal sense or as a metaphor with an unnamed referent? In other words, is Paul referring to a vessel as found in the first-century household that collects water or holds dough for bread? That option lacks appeal, for how does one keep such an inanimate object holy and honorable? Surely Paul would not be referring to keeping household vessels pure for Jewish food rituals. To interpret the word in a literal fashion is not sufficient. Is Paul using the word “vessel” to mean body? Many early church leaders, such as Tertullian, Chrysostom, Ambrosiaster, Pelagius, Theodoret, and John of Damascus, understood the word “vessel” to refer to one’s body, such as “Control your body so that your sexual behavior is characterized by holiness and honor.”5 [Historic Voices and 1 Thessalonians 4:4]

Some have even interpreted this verse as a positive injunction for celibacy for both unmarried and married men.6 While I do not

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Historic Voices and 1 Thessalonians 4:4 For every vessel or every instrument becomes useful by external manipulation, consisting as it does of material which is quite extraneous to the substance of the human owner or employer. However, the flesh, being conceived, formed and generated along with the soul in its earliest existence in the womb, is mixed up with the soul in all of its operations. —Tertullian, The Resurrection of the Flesh Let each one know himself and possess his vessel, and when the soil of his body has been ploughed, let him wait for the fruit in due season. Let his hand not cultivate thorns and thistles. Rather let him, too, say, “Our earth has yielded her fruit” and in the bodily passions that might once have been seen as being like thick and wild woods, let there be seen the calm order of virtues that have been grafted onto each tree. —Ambrose, Letters 15 We must diligently learn to avoid sexual immorality. But we possess our vessel, when it is pure; when it is impure, sin possesses it. . . . By moderation we should channel the passions of lust. —Chystostom, Homilies on 1 Thessalonians Everyone should “learn how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the

Gentiles who do not know God.” Any such person would prefer, if this were possible, to beget his children without suffering disordered passion. He could wish that, just as all his other members obey his reason in the performance of their appointed tasks, so the genital organs, too might function in obedience to the order of will and not be inordinately excited by the ardors of lust. —Augustine, The City of God, 14.16 As for the expression, that every one of you may know how to possess his vessel, some would explain it as referring to a wife, as though it had been said, “Let husbands dwell with their wives in all chastity.” As, however, he addresses husbands and wives, indiscriminately, there can be no doubt that he employs the term vessel to mean body. For every one has his body as a house, as it were, in which he dwells. He would, therefore, have us keep our body pure from all uncleanness. —John Calvin, Commentary on the First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians Collected by Brian Burnette, “The History of Interpretation of the Thessalonian Correspondence,” unpublished paper presented to the Thessalonian Correspondence Seminar, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (2 May 2001).

think that Paul was suggesting celibacy as the highest ideal for the Thessalonian brothers, this option does suggest the idea of sexual appropriateness, which appears to be the focus of the larger context of the passage. If one understands the word “vessel” to be translated as “body,” then an appropriate rendering might be “to master one’s sexual drives with respect—for others as well as for one’s own body.” Early church leaders, such as Basil, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, and others translate the word “vessel” (skeuos) as “wife.” Perhaps the early church leaders who thought “vessel” should be interpreted as “wife” were influenced by the misogyny exhibited in 1 Peter 3:7, “Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, bestowing honor on the woman as the weaker vessel . . . .” If skeuos refers to a woman, then the unmarried men are advised to marry as a remedy against lust and fornication, or those who are married are told how to possess their wives.7 This option is weakened by the context. Paul in the preceding verses does not deal with marriage, husband or wife. The following passages also do not

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concern marriage. To interrupt the discussion on sexual boundaries with a brief statement on controlling wives seems incongruent with Paul’s thematic style of presentation. Many scholars, however, have chosen this option. C. Maurer, who writes the entry for skeuos in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, chooses to render “vessel” as “wife.”8 This option clearly reflects the patriarchal worldview that understood women in utilitarian and unequal terms, much like a household artifact. Neither translation option—body nor wife—appears plausible. The option that seems the most crude and direct appears to be the most suitable rendering. That skeuos, literally meaning “vessel,” could be a euphemism for the male sexual organ is the most likely rendering. I contend that Paul is instructing the Thessalonian males to control their own penises in holiness and honor. A passage from the Old Testament may have been the background material for Paul: “David answered the priest, ‘Indeed women have been kept from us as always when I go on expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?” (1 Sam 21:5). In addition, another text has been discovered as a possible literary influence for Paul. A paraenetic text from Qumran, only unofficially published, Sapiential Work A, preserved in seven fragmentary copies from Cave 1 and 4, teaches the Essene followers: “Also, do not humble your soul before someone who is not your equal, otherwise you will be his servant . . . . Do not fill yourself with bread when you lack clothing . . . . Do not boast about your lowly estate . . . . Do not dishonor the vessel of your bosom.”9 In this text, the word “vessel” is used as a euphemism for the male organ, similar to the Hebrew word in 1 Samuel 21:5. In this context, the writer is urging decency in dress and behavior. The Qumran document, composed around the second century BC, was still in use in Paul’s time, reflecting a Hebrew vernacular spoken in Judea until the fall of the temple.10 Paul could have been familiar with the use of this word. Thus, in 1 Thessalonians, I contend that he uses the Greek word as a euphemism for the male sexual organ, as reflected in the Hebrew language of 1 Samuel and the Qumran documents. How does one abstain from evil (4:3)? First, one learns how to control one’s own sexual behavior with holiness and honor (4:4). The second step is to avoid taking advantage of other members of the community (4:5). Paul is not speaking against sexual activity, as some scholars propose. Paul is not advocating celibacy and denial

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of our sexual selves. Paul acknowledges the fully human, fully Godgiven desires of our bodies. Paul, however, establishes boundaries to those relationships. The first boundary is that sex is to be placed in the context of holiness and honor. That means that sexual activity should not be conducted as a manner of recreation or unwholesome sexual passion, like those who do not know God (the Gentiles). Paul sets up a clear contrast between those who enjoy sex in a manner that is holy and honorable (the believers) and those who engage in sex with passionate, uncontrolled lust (the nonbelievers). The label “Gentiles” is used by Paul to identify a collective group as opposed to the believers, even though the Thessalonian congregation includes Gentiles. Paul’s penchant for grouping individuals collectively is seen in his tirade against the Jews in 2:13-16. Paul groups behavior by collective labels, although acknowledging that the behavior is not consistent with everyone in the group.11 Paul’s penchant for identifying groups rather than individuals is a result of his cultural conditioning. The culture that Paul represents recognized people not based on their individual merit or accomplishments but by their group.12 The Mediterranean consciousness saw life in terms of the collective rather than individuals. Thus Paul writes to the “foolish Keltoi” (Gal 3:1), an entire group of people, perhaps even a large Celtic tribe, living in the province of Galatia. In addition, the author of Titus quotes a familiar saying that shows the stereotyping of groups in the Mediterranean first-century world: “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (1:12). The Gospel writers also represent this first-century cultural mindset: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida” (Matt 11:21). In this worldview, individuals are embedded in groups often related to geographical location or family grouping. Another example is found in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus’ opponents claim, “Is not this the carpenter, son of Mary and Joseph?” (Mark 6:3). When Paul uses the term “Gentiles” in 4:5, he does not refer to a race but labels a group based on the behavior of a few people. The second boundary or step that should not be crossed according to Paul concerns the well-being of the community (4:6). A crucial point, although often overlooked, is Paul’s admonition for appropriate sexual activity for the sake of the community. Paul writes to the believers that they need to learn to control their own vessels (their sexual appetites) for holiness before God and honor for one’s self (4:4). Paul adds in v. 5 that they should control their sexual urges so they, the believers, can be distinguished from the nonbelievers (the Gentile pagans) who have no sexual boundaries. In addition, the believers are to control their sexual urges for the

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sake of the life of the community: “so that you do not go beyond and take advantage of the brother’s affairs” (4:6). Sexual boundaries are important for the life of the individual; they are also important for the well-being of the community. This concept is crucial to Paul. One does not live alone, as in the seclusion of an island. For Paul, the believer lives within and has responsibility to the group. One’s actions always affect the community. Paul knows that those boundaries for sexual activity circle much more than the individuals, or even their relationship to God. The community is blessed or cursed by the actions of the few. Decisions regarding individual sexual activity are made with self, God, and others in mind. We do not know what specific boundaries of sexual activity were broken in the Thessalonian community. Specific behaviors related to incest and sex for hire, are clearly noted in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. We do not have that kind of specificity in the Thessalonian letter. We do know, however, that the situation is serious. The impropriety is severe enough for Paul to write in strong language, admonishing them to change their behavior immediately. Paul warns them with a sense of urgency and persuasion: “the Lord is an executor of justice concerning all of these things” (4:6b). Paul keeps the pressure on as he continues to make his point clear: “Abstain from immorality . . . because God has not called us for uncleanness but for holiness” (4:7). As if the former statements are not convincing enough, Paul heightens the pressure and adds a new tone of urgency and reprimand: “Consequently the one who disregards this, disregards not just people but also God, who gives the Holy Spirit to you” (4:8). This is serious business. The consequences for disregarding God are grave. Responsible sexual behavior is linked to one’s relationship with others, with self, and with God. That circle of influence, Paul admonishes, must be considered in making decisions related to one’s sexual activity. This wider context provides a helpful guide for ethical imperatives. Paul is not providing explicit guidelines in either direction, either for restrictive celibacy or libertarian adultery. There will be no explicit rules establishing the distance in inches between young girls and boys who sit together on the same bench on the school campus. There will be no suggestion of specific punishment for couples who break marriage covenants. Paul does not speak to the particular transgressions, nor does he give suggestions for restoration and redemption. The lack of attention to the specifics seems to increase the power and volume of his beginning statement. The

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minimalist language increases the potency of the admonition. And Paul simply says clearly and without fanfare: “Abstain from sexual impropriety . . . control your own sexual urges . . . it is crucial for your relationship to God . . . it is essential for the good of the entire community.” Ethics of Relationships, 4:9-12

In this perhaps oldest Christian text of social ethics, Paul continues to draw attention to the communal aspects of life together in the Thessalonian community. Being in relationship with God means that one is also in relationship with others. This reality is not only placed into words by Paul; he also lives it! He treats the believers with the same consideration that he urges them to show one another. He uses the power of affirmation in 4:9 when he writes, “Concerning brotherly love, you have no need for me to write this to you . . . .” Paul has been making that point for some time both in word and deed. They know the message. They do not need to hear the speech again. Paul reminds them that they have not only heard the message from him but they have been taught by God to love one another. Paul begins a new thought with the words “now concerning” (peri de), a literary form employed to indicate that he is responding to a question posed previously by the recipients of the letter. For example, in 1 Corinthians Paul makes frequent use of the construction “now concerning” (1 Cor 7:1; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1). Most interpreters think Paul is directly answering a question or concern posed by the Corinthian church members in a previous letter or from the oral report given by Chloe. The literary construction “now concerning” used in 1 Thessalonians 4:9, likewise, may indicate a previous conversation or a particular line of questioning posed by the believers in Thessaloniki. Perhaps the members of the community have asked Timothy about the role of brotherly love (philadelphia) in the fellowship. Paul responds to them in a letter implying that they really do not need to hear more on the subject from Paul; they have been taught by God (theodidaktoi) how to love one another. The word for “taught by God” (theodidaktoi) cannot be found in any other literature.13 Most likely coined by Paul, the word does not appear in the literature prior to or after his writing. Paul’s new word, this neologism, describes his interest in this community with particular poignancy. The theme of God’s teaching is simply to love one another. Paul underlines again and again the importance of the

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community. The bonds that hold them together tightly as one group are to be found in the love of God and the mutual love they share with one another that comes from God. The Hebrew Bible states, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself ” (Lev 19:18). Jesus takes those teachings and teaches them again, this time recorded in Mark: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (12:29-32). Paul cannot refrain from boasting about the believers in Thessaloniki even while giving them ethical instructions. Like a proud father, Paul says, “For even you practice it [love] to all the brothers in the whole of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to excel [in loving] even more” (1 Thess 4:10). Paul continues his teaching in vv. 11-12. The language, however, is more specific. As mentioned above, the exact case of sexual impropriety is unknown. We only know what Paul said, not what the believers have done. In like manner, vv. 11-12 speak of a context that is not clearly revealed. We know, however, that there is a context. Georgia Masters Keightley reminds us that “all human knowledge is developed, transmitted and maintained in social situations.”14 A social context (or more accurately, multiple social contexts) is behind everything Paul says in this letter. Our job as interpreter is to attempt to establish that context. Sometimes we can only interpret the setting in broad principles without great specificity. For example, Paul’s words on sexual behavior must indicate sexual misbehavior in the community, even though we may not be able to determine the exact nature of the sexual impropriety. We can establish, however, that the behavior was not self-disciplined nor a source of good for the community. In similar manner, when Paul writes, “And have as one’s ambition to be quiet and practice one’s own affairs and to work with your hands,” we can surmise that a social context has shaped Paul’s idea. The specific social world belonging to this admonition is less clear, however. What does it mean when Paul says to be quiet and work with one’s own hands? What is the context behind these words? What have the believers been doing? What have they not been doing? Before we pursue those answers, however, it is important to underline the significance of this section, vv. 10-12, from a grammatical perspective. An analysis of the Greek syntax reveals the significance of Paul’s injunction. In 4:1 Paul encourages (parakaloumen) the believers to consider the way that they are behaving in their world. It is important to walk (peripatein) as well as talk. Paul admonishes the

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followers to abstain from sexual immorality (4.3) by controlling their sexual urges (4.4) and being mindful of their brothers. A new thought unit appears in 4:9 marked by the use of the words “now concerning.” The shift in 4:9 is also marked by the reintroduction of the important word “encourage” (parakalomen) in v. 10. Paul urges, encourages, and comforts the believers Roycrofters with three important injunctions located in vv. Elbert Hubbard, a successful soap 10 and 11: (1) to excel more in love; (2) to be salesman for J. D. Larkin and Co., left his business in 1895 and began a handicraft commuquiet and practice one’s own affairs; (3) and to nity, called Roycrofters in East Aurora, New York. work with your own hands. All three infinitive The artisan community flourished and by 1915 verbs serve as objects to the main verb, had reached great success. This artisan colony, parakalomen? which reinforces the carefully conformed in part as a resistance movement to the structed pattern of the unit. Industrial Revolution, featured artists whose The entire thought unit, spanning three trades were bookbinding, metal smithing, and furniture makers. Handcrafted items from this verses, hinges on Paul’s trilogy of admonishment community are much in demand by collectors to the believers: to love, to be quiet, and to work because of their superior quality and design. The with your own hands. [Roycrofters] To follow these community lived and worked together, sharing three injunctions is to ensure that one will walk common meals and lodging, honoring the life of properly in the eyes of those outside of the comthe artisan, and the superior quality of products munity. The theme of walking in v. 12 made by hand and not machine. For this community love and work went hand in hand. completes the idea of walking, used as the metaphor for appropriate ethical behavior, as introduced earlier in 4:1. Therefore, the words used by Paul are not to be taken lightly. They are tightly constructed, providing a concise presentation of ethical instruction for the Thessalonian believers. The question becomes what occasion or circumstance necessitates Paul’s injunction to work quietly, manage one’s own business, and work with one’s own hands (4:11)? Commentators have offered multiple responses. Walter Schmithals believes Gnostic enthusiasts had entered the congregation and were infecting the members with their teachings about the Spirit. The members then were providing spiritual enthusiasm at the expense of their employment and daily living. However, as Wanamaker points out, Paul gives scant attention to correcting false teaching about the Spirit.15 Other commentators think that perhaps Paul’s converts have refused to work Printing press at the Roycroft Community campus because they are waiting for Jesus to appear. (displayed in the Copper Shop). Their eschatological expectation of future events (Credit: Dave Pape / Wikimedia Commons, PD-user)

1 Thessalonians 3:11–4:12

is so focused that there is no need to work in the present. If this is the social setting behind Paul’s admonition, then why does Paul not connect their improper work ethic with their eschatological thought? Paul will talk about the parousia as it relates to the death of their loved ones (4:13–5:11). At this point, however, Paul does not connect their work ethic with eschatology. A more recent perspective on the social setting for this section is from Ronald Hock, who argues that Paul was offering occupational advice to the young believers. Perhaps he was also making a general suggestion that Christians should engage in manual labor.16 Because Hock does not accept Paul as author of 2 Thessalonians, he does not have the collaborating evidence of 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 to support the idea of a real problem and concern in the community. That there were some real problems in the community related to a work ethic cannot be overlooked. The evidence in 2 Thessalonians as well as the concern over idleness in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 support the fact that Paul was addressing a real situation in the community and not just giving general vocational advice. The social setting for Paul’s injunction in 4:11 becomes clearer if one considers the Thessalonian community as a group of artisans who are living, working, and worshiping together. If this community is a group of artisans, then Paul’s injunctions become clearer. Paul is not talking to a group of Gnostic enthusiasts, nor is he giving general occupational instruction to young converts. I do not think Paul is attempting to make a theological connection between a solid work ethic and eschatological hope. Rather, Paul is simply providing instruction to a group of artisans who need some reminders about their own style of work within the community. Perhaps this community is a group of men who share a similar trade and live together in a workshop. This workshop or insula had shop space on the ground floor and living quarters upstairs.17 The artisans worship together. They are dependent upon one another for their income. One person’s work influences another person’s work. If one person becomes lazy, the entire community suffers. If one person becomes less productive, interfering in the affairs of another worker and forgetting his own job, then chaos results. Paul, therefore, provides careful injunctions against a work ethic that would not benefit the good of the working community. Paul wants them to conduct their business in ways that strengthen the community. Paul directs them to do what he has done while he was with them—“work with your own hands so that you are not a burden to the community” (2:8-9). If their craftwork is sufficiently

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sturdy, created with care and attention to detail, then they will be able to conduct a solid business with the outside community (4:12). If, however, their work is sloppy, then their very existence may be threatened (4:12b).

CONNECTIONS Walking is an interesting metaphor to describe ethical behavior. The parallels are instructive. For example, an infant is not born walking; one learns how to walk with time and practice. In addition, one’s walking Walking ability depends on one’s environment. It is much easier to walk on asphalt than on a rocky path. Furthermore, a good diet builds sturdy bones that support strong legs, Image Not Available which are essential for due to lack of digital rights. walking. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet In similar ways, an search using the credit below. infant is not born with full knowledge of the rules for appropriate ethical behavior. Gradually the toddler becomes nurtured into the acceptable ethical Hermann Sondermann (1832–1901). Her First Steps. Coll. Heck (Credit: Fine Art Photographic Library, London/Art Resource, NY) conventions. I do not think a baby is tainted by original sin, as an Augustinian perspective would promote. Nor do I think a baby has all the knowledge at birth to make good and just ethical decisions. We grow, as Jesus did, in “wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52). Just as the baby develops from crawling to walking, the person also grows and learns from those around her how to set appropriate ethical boundaries. Those boundaries are influenced by context, culture, and chronology, just as successful walking is conditioned by good genes, a smooth surface, a good diet, and age. Those ethical boundaries are relative in some ways. For example, the beer in the hand of an adolescent is detrimental to our society, but a beer in the hand of an adolescent living in medieval London,

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for example, might not have the same effect. It is disingenuous to think that the standards governing behavior in medieval London would be the same standards that govern behavior in twenty-first century America. Boundary markers for ethical behavior can shift, depending on the context. Some ethical boundaries are unchanging. For Paul and this young community, however, the boundary markers for ethical behavior need to be fixed more concretely for the sake of the wellbeing of the community. The ethical boundaries have become blurred or perhaps have not even been constructed fully. Paul needs to remind them of their transgressions. They are not controlling their sexual passions. Paul does not give multiple sets of rules for controlling sexual urges, but he gives them the basic rule of ethics that is unchangeable, even with the possibility of shifting boundary markers. Paul’s constant and consistent rule is that we are to love one another. That marker is permanent in Christian communities. And from that unchanging point, Paul provides moral directives customized for the Thessalonian community. Paul admonishes the Corinthians because the church is filled with leadership factions (1 Cor 1:12-13). To the church at Philippi, Paul writes that the root of all ethical conduct is to be of one mind (Phil 2:5 ff ). But in the letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes that minding one’s own business and working with one’s own hands are ethical responses to life (1 Thess 4:11-12). All of these are important ethical imperatives. Paul, however, chooses the injunctions that fit the particular need of the community at that given moment. Paul places their shadows in the open light. The believers must confront their behavior; they must self-inspect. They must decide if they are going to maintain control of their sexual urges. Paul gives them the opportunity to consider their actions and make appropriate changes. Most of us live our lives unaware of those subterranean places of our own existence. It is not that the Thessalonians needed correction and now we are off the hook of responsibility. The difference is the level of reflection. For that first-century community, Paul, the nursing mother and teaching father, was able to lead the people by the hand to the “cellar of their souls.” But who leads us? Certainly sacred texts, religious leaders, and dear friends can all help in the journey to that interior level of understanding. But even those worthy companions can only lead us to a place that may be close to the final destination, but not fully there. Who can enable us to see and hear the wolves howling deep within our subterranean selves so

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that we can know who we are and why we make ethical decisions in the manner that we do? We are the only ones who can make that journey. In an era in which faith in authority figures of all kinds has withered, we are finally left with only one source of authority—ourselves. For some of us, that is a scary thought. We are not truly honest with our life partner, much less with ourselves. The key question for each of us is, Can I trust my innermost self to be my moral compass? The early church of the second century was divided on this issue. The theological issue, stated simply, was this: Can individuals be trusted to make their own ethical decisions? Orthodox Christians said no and described rules for the whole community to follow, complete with a tightly knit ecclesiastical hierarchy to make sure no one got out of line. Religious superiors, a complicated system of penance, and an intensive program of sacraments were put in place to ensure appropriate rule keeping for the community. Religious patriarchy worked because individuals could not The Gospel of Philip be trusted. On the other hand, another group of The author of The Gospel of Philip conChristians, called Gnostics (who were later tends, contrary to orthodox Christian labeled heretics) took an opposing position. thinking, that individuals can best deal with evil as it exists in oneself: Gnostic Christians suggested that one can deal with evil only in oneself. Elaine Pagels writes, As for ourselves, “let each one of us dig down “What transforms one spiritually, according to after the root of evil which is within one, and let the Gospel of Philip, is continual self-awareness one pluck it out of one’s heart from the root’. It will and acknowledging the evil within oneself wherbe plucked out, if we recognize it. But is we are ever one finds it.”18 [The Gospel of Philip] This ignorant of it, it takes root and produces its fruit in our heart; it masters us . . . . [I]t is powerful opposing voice, even though discounted as because we have not recognized it” (The Gospel heresy in orthodox minds, provided a check and of Philip 83, 18–29 non-italics belong to Elaine balance to institutional arrogance. Pagels) Relegating ethical decision-making to the individual rather than the institution challenged Quoted by Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), 72. religious authority. Pagels suggests that “the Valentinian Christians indeed may have rejected the bishop’s commands, ignored community regulations, and followed their inner guidance, insisting that moral acts are essentially private matters that every person, or at least every mature person, must deal with independently.”19 This attitude was a direct threat to the church order and authority. They would be accused of having no respect for the church, of using theology for their own spiritual advantage, and of thinking they were superior to other Christians who followed the rules of the church for ethical decision-making. Limiting the freedom to decide one’s own sense of ethical imperatives was not simply a theological matter but also

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bore the imprint of a political debate. The echoes are heard today in the discussion of clergy and laity. Can laity really know theology? Can a layperson really decide right from wrong without the assistance of organizational structure and external rules? If we are talking about individual rules of behavior, external realities still provide the pressure to conform. Fearing the penalties of violation, we adhere to the strict standards of behavior. In other words, we obey stop signs and traffic patterns. The rote obedience to the externals often gives the appearance of order. On the surface, the traffic patterns may be followed. But what happens if you are in another region with different traffic patterns, with different rules for an orderly society? Do we have the adaptability needed to shift the boundaries of right- and left-side driving? Or is one set of rules so ingrained that we lack the flexibility to navigate within other patterns? The only way the driving rules can change effectively is to ensure the driver understands the underlying, basic rule as this: Traffic patterns exist to provide an orderly flow of transportation for safety and productivity. If one understands that reasoning, then driving on the left, driving on the right, driving down the center lane will not be a major obstacle. Life is not just lived by memorizing the rules; life is best lived when one understands those rules. The challenge for all of us is to get to a level of understanding of the self that rests beneath the layer of external realities. The spiritual journey does not discount rules of behavior; rather, that quest is made in order to understand them more fully. If we want an authentic understanding of our self, the base of our behavior, then much intensive work is to be done. Parker Palmer quotes Vaclev Havel, who spoke these words before the United States Congress: The specific experience I’m talking about has given me one certainty: consciousness precedes being, and not the other way around, as the Marxists claim. For this reason, the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and in human responsibility. Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being as humans, and the catastrophe toward which this world is headed—be it ecological, social, demographic or a general breakdown of civilization—will be unavoidable.20

Palmer underlines these words—“consciousness precedes being.” Palmer says, “We share responsibility for creating the external world by projecting either a spirit of light or a spirit of shadow on

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that which is ‘other’ than us. Either a spirit of hope or a spirit of despair. Either an inner confidence in wholeness and integration, or an inner terror about life being deceased and terminal.”21 We must go to the cellar of our souls to understand ethical behavior on a deep and lasting level. Annie Dillard writes, In the deeps are the violence and terror of which psychology has warned us. But if you ride these monsters deeper down, if you drop with them farther over the world’s rim, you find what our sciences cannot locate or name, the substrate, the ocean or matrix which buoys the rest, which gives goodness its power for good, and evil its power for evil, the unified field: our complex and inexplicable caring for one another, and for our life together here.22

This inward journey is a prerequisite for authentic leadership. As I write, the economic health of our nation appears to be at low tide. A huge fissure in our economic system has occurred. Although many factors contribute to a country’s economic health or ill health, one of the leading factors is related to the lack of honest, ethical practices of corporate executives. International instability will also, no doubt, be a predominant factor in the downward surge. Headlines frequently point the finger to the greed and unscrupulous practices of corporate leaders. Corporate executives have been arrested on fraud charges. Huge corporations, having profited from questionable mortgage deals that are suddenly going bad, are filing for bankruptcy. In recent years, executives have illegally adjusted account ledgers, pocketed money, inflated income, and cheated the common worker out of earned salaries and pension funds. The economic landscape looks discouraging at this very moment. Another news-making event in recent years has been the pedophile scandal of priests in the Catholic Church. The transgressions are enormous. Lives of hundreds of boys and girls have been traumatized by a so-called representative of God. The lives of these young people have been permanently altered because of church leaders who never paused to delve into the spiritual journey to confront their own shadows. The entire ecclesiastical system lacks ethical integrity when church leaders choose to keep allegations quiet and protect religious leaders in order to preserve the order and reputation of the religious body. Palmer asks, “Do you know the tragedy I see in our institutions when leaders operate with a deep, unexamined insecurity about their own identity? These leaders create institutional settings which deprive other people of their identity as a way of dealing with the

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unexamined fears in the leaders themselves.”23 Hard workers lose their pensions and young children lose their innocence when leaders refuse to examine their own fears and inner shadows. Palmer cautions us, The problem is that people rise to leadership in our society by a tendency toward extroversion, which means a tendency to ignore what is going on inside themselves. Leaders rise to power in our society by operating very competently and effectively in the external world, sometimes at the cost of internal awareness. I’m suggesting that leaders, in the very way they become leaders, may tend to be people who screen out the inner consciousness that Vaclev Havel is calling us to attend.24

“A leader,” says Palmer, “is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow, or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being—conditions that can be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell.”25 Paul exhorts, “Abstain from evil” (1 Thess 4:3). But how? Are we to make more rules so that we can be sure to meet the challenge? Are we to create more hierarchy to ensure appropriate conduct? Hierarchy implies that the ones on the lower “levels” have the greatest propensity to sin. This logic supports the false assumption that, in order to do away with evil, you need a superior over you with a big stick to make sure you behave. Thus, the inferior must be accountable to a superior and on and on up the line. But who is watching out for the one at the top of the pyramid? The CEOs have sleepy members of corporate governing boards, members whose own economic security comes from the success of the leader who selected them. The religious authorities at the top of the ecclesiastical ladder have uninformed and impotent laity, whose religious security comes from the top who represents God to them. Where do we go from here? We go down. We travel to a deep recognition of our shadowy selves. In that journey we see the shadow of fear that creates our behavior of destruction. We see the shadow of what Palmer calls “functional atheism”—where we think everything that happens must begin with us. “Nothing can occur without my involvement,” we think. Our busyness masks our fear of not being important. Workaholic behavior leads to dysfunction of individuals and companies. The journey downward takes us to a place of quietness where we can see the world as it really is, not as we have pretended

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it to be. That place is a place where our actions are put in slowmotion time. We can see the complexities of our decision-making at the same time we begin to see the simple mechanism needed to make things whole again. That place of reflection is a quiet place—not often discovered or even ventured into in our loud, busy world. I wish that we would go there willingly, without pressure, without crisis. In these days when righteousness seems to wane, when leaders fail miserably to do the right thing, when we feel that all of the givens have disappeared, when economic and religious systems seem to share this same ungodly nature, perhaps it is time to stop, pause, and learn to control our own vessels. The life of faith is not just walking by rules and regulations. The rules will shift and we will fail. The life of faith is the willingness to walk into the pain, sit quietly, and listen to that deep howling of the wolves of our souls. In that journey we will be confronted with monsters, and we will be scared. But in that journey we will also find goodness, grace, and courage for bold and righteous living. In that journey, the reasons behind the rules become clearer. The driving forces of our destructive behavior become visible. If we can stand the pain and the sound of the wolves, we will be able to see as we are and not just through a “glass darkly.” Let us walk onward—together!

Notes 1 Charles

A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (The New International Greek New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 139. 2 For

a helpful summary of the various compilation theories in 1 Thessalonians, see article by Raymond F. Collins, “A propos the Integrity of 1 Thess,” Ephemerides thelogicae lovanienses 55/1 (1979): 67–106. The most interesting option, as presented by Walter Schmithals, is that 1–2 Thessalonians contains four separate documents, written between AD 54–56: Thess A= 2 Thess 1:1-12; 3:6-16; Thess B= 1 Thess 1:1–2:12; 4:2–5:28; Thess C= 2 Thess 2:13-14; 2:1-12; 2:15–3:5; 3:17-18; Thess D= 1 Thess 2:13–4:1. Schmithals contends that Thess B was written shortly after the writing of Thess A. Thess D was written shortly after the writing of Thess C, which was written after Paul’s interim visit from Ephesus to Corinth and the return of Timothy from Thessaloniki (Collins, “A propos the Integrity of 1 Thess,” 90). 3 Michael

Goulder, “The Pauline Epistles,” in The Literary Guide to the Bible, ed. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1987), 480. 4 Ibid.,

481.

5 Torleif

Elgvin, “‘To Master His Own Vessel: 1 Thess 4.4 in Light of New Qumran Evidence,’” NTS 43 (1997): 609, n17.

1 Thessalonians 3:11–4:12 6 J.

Whitton, “A Neglected Meaning for skeuos in 1 Thessalonians 4.4,” NTS 28 (January 1982): 142–43. 7 Ibid.,

609.

8 C. Maurer, “Skeuos,” in TDNT, vol. 7, ed. Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, trans.

Geoffrey Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1971), 358–67. 9 Elgyin, 10 Ibid.,

“To Master His Own Vessel,” 606.

617.

11 Bruce

J. Malina, “Dealing with Biblical (Mediterranean) Characters: A Guide for U.S. Consumers,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 19/4 (October 1989): 127–41. 12

Ibid., 134–39. See also Bruce J. Malina, Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical Models for Biblical Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox, 1986); Wayne Meeks, The First Urban Christians (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983); Bruce J. Malina and Jerome H. Neyrey, Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996). 13 Wanamaker,

Epistle to the Thessalonians, 160.

14 Georgia

Masters Keightley, “The Church’s Memory of Jesus: A Social Science Analysis of 1 Thessalonians,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 17 (1987): 149. 15 Wanamaker,

Epistle to the Thessalonians, 162.

16 Ronald

Hock, The Social Aspect of Paul’s Ministry: Tentmaking and Apostleship (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), as summarized by Wanamaker, Epistle to the Thessalonians, 163. 17 Robert

Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Communal Meals in the Early Church: The Implications of a Form-Critical Analysis of 2 Thessalonians 3:10,” Biblical Research 38 (1993): 23–43; Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Pauline Love Feasts,” Quarterly Review 14 (Spring 1994): 43–58; Peter Lampe, Die stadtromischen Christen in den ersten beiden Jahrhunderten: Studien zur Sozialgeschichte (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1987). 18 Elaine

Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), 72.

19 Ibid. 20 Parker

Palmer, Leading from Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership (Washington, D.C.: The Servant Leadership School, 1990). 21 Ibid.,

4.

22 Annie

Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (New York: HarperCollins, 1999), quoted by Palmer, 6. 23 Palmer, 24 Ibid.,

5.

25 Ibid.,

4.

Leading from Within, 10.

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Paul’s Words of Comfort 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 If Elizabeth Struthers Malbon is correct when she says “that the act of Paul in writing to the Thessalonians is more important than the ‘facts’ the letter contains; the letter is more something done than said,” then this section, 4:13–5:11, is the premier illustration of this quote.1 Paul is doing more with his writing than he is saying in these verses. Paul’s attempt to comfort the bereaved members of the community who are mourning the deaths of their loved ones is more potent than his poetic recital of intricate details that accompany the end of time. In other words, in this section Paul is not writing an exact historical overview of the expected events prior to the end of time. Rather, he is offering consolation to members of the community whose relatives have recently died before the promised coming of Jesus Christ. Most interpreters, however, have focused on what Paul is saying, namely, the facts of the passage, rather than why he is saying these things. This section has traditionally been the hallmark illustration to underscore Paul’s apocalyptic viewpoints. [Apocalypticism] Paul’s images of Christ’s coming, vividly explained with the call of an archangel, trumpets, and dramatic heavenly ascensions have drawn special Apocalypticism Apocalypticism is a type of religious thought that apparently originated in Zorastrianism, the ancient Persian religion. It was taken over by Judaism in the exilic and postexilic periods and mediated by Judaism to early Christianity. Taking firm roots there, it has remained an important element in popular belief down to the present. It may be defined as the dualistic, cosmic, and eschatological belief in two opposing cosmic powers, God and Satan; and in two distinct ages—the present, temporal, and irretrievably evil age under Satan, who now oppresses the righteous but whose power God will soon act to overthrow; and the future, perfect, and eternal age under God’s own rule, when the righteous will be blessed for ever.

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Vision of the Apocalypse, tympanum. St. Pierre, Moissac, France. (Credit: Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY)

M. Rist, “Apocalypticism, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 157.

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interest from interpreters. For many interpreters of Thessalonians, Paul’s words about the end of time, even though the word count remains scanty, have overshadowed any other interpretative possibilities for this passage, and in many ways for the entire letter. First Thessalonians is noted for its high-powered eschatological energy. [Eschatology] Using eschatology as the sole angle of vision for this letter suggests that Paul and the members of the community were controlled by apocalyptic thinking, that the members Eschatology of the community were more concerned about the end of The study of last things or time than the past or present, and that the sole purpose of the end of human history. this letter was to respond to heightened anxiety about the coming of Christ.2 I conclude, as Malbon does, that there is more to this letter than just the facts. Reasons for the heightened apocalyptic perspective of Thessalonians come from numerous sectors. One reason for the overwhelming number of eschatological interpretations was that New Testament scholarship went through a Eschatological Perspectives on the Setting period when scholars thought they saw an eschaof 1 and 2 Thessalonians tological explanation under every bush. J. C. Two recent works on Thessalonians Beker, in the 1980s, advocated that apocalyptishare this eschatological perspective on cism was the controlling factor in Paul’s thought the setting of the Thessalonian correspondence: and missionary activity.3 Others followed that path. A second reason, perhaps, for the eschatoG. K. Beale, 1–2 Thessalonians, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, Grant Osborne, logical frenzy in studies on Thessalonians is the ed. (Downer’s Grove IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003). parallel mode of research in Jesus studies. While Pauline scholars were viewing Paul’s writings Colin R. Nichol, From Hope to Despair in Thessalonica: Situating 1 and 2 Thessalonians through this eschatological lens, Jesus scholars (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). had been doing the same since the work of Albert Schweitzer in the early 1900s. Paul’s These two volumes stand in contrast to three eschatological fervor was inherited from an major commentary projects, which focus on eschatological Jesus.4 A third reason that Greco-Roman sources and the socio-economic explains the eschatological focus in contempobackground of the Thessalonian community rather than the apocalyptic emphasis: rary scholarship relates to the increased apocalyptic fervor of the end of the second milCharles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the lennium. Political tensions in the Middle East Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text and the fear of economic instability have con(The New International Greek New Testament tributed to a general surge in the apocalyptic Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, industry.5 People want to know the future, espe1990). cially in times when the present looks bleak. Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the And so we turn to the Bible—to Daniel, to Thessalonians (Anchor Bible Commentary; New Revelation, and to Thessalonians—hoping we York: Doubleday Press, 2000). can find the key that will unlock the mysteries as Gene L. Greene, The Letters to the Thessalonians to when it all will end. [Eschatological Perspectives on (Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).

the Setting of 1 and 2 Thessalonians]

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 Parousia: A Word Study This Greek word has been adopted as a technical term indicating the future. The word literally means “presence.” Parousia has been used to refer to the coming of Christ, and in classical Greek it was used to indicate the visit of an official ruler or the coming of a deity. Paul uses the term “parousia” to indicate the coming of Christ. See Rom 2:16; 8:18; 13:11; 1 Cor 1:7; 4:5; 5:5; 11:36; 15:20-28, 51-57; 16:22; 2 Cor 4:14; Phil 1:6, 10; 2:16; 3:20-21; 4:5; Col 3:4; 2 Thess 1:5-10; 2:1-12. The term is also found in the Gospels and Acts. Jesus teaches that his parousia is imminent. See Mark 8:38–9:1; Luke 12:8; Matt 10:23. In similar manner, John’s Gospel carries the same meaning. See John 5:28-29; 6:39-40; 21:22-23.

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The Empty Throne (Second Coming of Christ). Detail from the mosaic of the Dome of the Arian Baptistry. Ravenna, Italy. [Credit: Georges Jansoone / Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art (PD-old)]

Maybe the secret code is locked within this letter. Maybe there are secret meanings that would unravel the mystery of past and future. Perhaps if we had the magic wand to wave over Paul’s ancient letter, we could know for certain when things are going to wind down. We could at least know when to begin to turn the lights out. But as Malbon suggests, Paul’s writings are not necessarily intended to provide a secret code for us, not even particular facts. Paul’s words are intended to create a space for comfort for his grieving friends, not a millennial event chart for eager sky watchers. Paul’s words are written to create a sense of presence, apostolic parousia (Paul’s coming), as he Grief describes the parousia (the coming) of Jesus Christ. [Parousia: A Word Study] Malbon writes, “It is as if Paul answers the questions and comforts the anxieties of the Image Not Available Thessalonians concerning the due to lack of digital rights. absence of those who have died on Please view the published the basis of his own experience of commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below. questions and anxieties brought about by his absence from the Thessalonians.”6 Paul uses his friendship and presence in this letter to comfort his friends who Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945). Pietà. Lithograph. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen are grieving over the recent deaths zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. (Credit: Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY) of their loved ones (4:18; 5:11).

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COMMENTARY Paul continues to offer ethical advice in this paraenetical section, which began in 4:1. Just as Paul has instructed the believers to abstain from evil (4:3), he now offers advice on how to deal with the death of loved ones. These words are given within the tight bonds of brotherly love (friendship). The words of instruction are embedded between two poles of consolation in 4:18 and 5:11. Paul writes to console the grieving believers. Two sections, 4:13-18 and 5:1-11, both with summaries of consolation and containing the word “comfort” (parakl∑sis), appear in this unit. Comfort One Another with These Words, 4:13-18

Paul introduces his thoughts about death with these words of hope: But we wish you not to be ignorant, brothers, concerning [peri] those who have fallen asleep [koimømenøn] in order that you may not be grieving just as even the rest, those who do not have hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose, truly even God will bring those who have fallen asleep with him. For you we say this by the word of God that we, the living ones, the ones remaining in the parousia [parousia] of the Lord shall not precede, by any means, those who have fallen asleep. (4:13-15)

Eugene Peterson, writer, poet, professor, scholar, retired pastor, translates this passage from Greek to English in a fresh and colloquial way: And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus. (4:13-15)

Why does Paul interrupt his earlier thoughts related to ethical living with these words on dying and hope? Some scholars suggest that this was a topic that the members of the community had previously addressed to Paul. The Greek word peri in 4:13, which means “concerning,” suggests that Paul is responding to a matter that has been raised by the believers in letter form or even an oral report from Timothy (see the use of the peri de construction in

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

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4:9). Perhaps they have asked Timothy to explain the fate of their loved ones who have died before the coming of Jesus. H. Koester adds, “That this question was raised by the Christians in Thessalonica demonstrates that they had very well understood Paul’s message and the aim of his missionary work, namely the founding of communities who are united in their expectation of the arrival of the Lord.”7 Koester suggests that the question posed by the believers was not a religious one—“Will there be a resurrection of the dead?” Rather, they were asking a communal question—“Will the dead be united with us in Koimømenøn: A Word Study order to meet the Lord when he arrives?”8 Koimømenøn literally means to fall A euphemism for death is employed in v. 13: asleep, although it is widely used as a “concerning those who have fallen asleep term for death. Used in ancient Greek texts such as Homer and Sophocles, as well as in Jewish [koimømenøn].” [Koimømenøn: A Word Study] and Christian writing such as Gen 47:30; Deut Common to the vernacular of the day was the 31:16; 1 Kgs 2:10; Job 14:12; 2 Macc 12:45; tendency to avoid the stark sound of the word John 11:11-13; Acts 13:36; 1 Cor 11:30. death (apothn∑sko) when applied to loved ones. Paul will use a more direct and factual word for death when describing the death and resurrection of Jesus in 4:14. Paul avoids the harsh reality of the word “death” in 5:10, where he uses the euphemism meaning “sleep” (katheudømen). Our current English vocabulary is likewise filled with euphemisms for death. Rather than say the word “death,” we speak around the idea with more gentle phrases that attempt to soften the harsh finality of dying, such as “she passed” or “he went home,” “she has gone on to glory” or “he gave it up.” Barnabas Lindars comments, “Their [the believers in Thessaloniki] newly-acquired faith carried with it the expectation of the imminent coming of Jesus, and did not allow for the death of any of their members before the event should take place.”9 Paul’s words of consolation include the following points: (1) Those believers who have died before the coming of Jesus will not be at a disadvantage when Jesus finally comes; and (2) the exact time of Jesus’ coming cannot be worked out in advance. For these reasons, the believers do not have to grieve. Verse 14 explains why they do not have to be sad—Jesus died and rose. The familiar resurrection story that became Paul’s homiletical focus during his ministry was the foundation of their hope. Since Jesus died and rose, then God, who empowered Jesus’ resurrection, will also empower the resurrection of loved ones who have died. Jesus died; Jesus rose. The loved ones died (are sleeping); the loved ones will rise again. Important to v. 14 is a seemingly insignificant preposition (syn) rendered in English as “with.” The

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phrase in translation is “Truly God, through Jesus, will bring those who have fallen asleep with him” (4:14). This small word “with” carries the force of the letter and especially this section (see also 4:17). Paul writes to the believers in Thessaloniki because he wants to be with them. Paul’s letter becomes a medium or channel that enables Paul, in his physical absence, to be with them. In addition, Paul’s words are given to assure the mourners that their loved ones are with Jesus. Paul’s words concerning the events of the last days are enveloped in this small preposition. The consolation that Paul is able to offer is simply this—your loved ones are with Jesus. Paul emphasizes that from the moment their loved ones have died, they have been with Jesus. Paul has answered their question—“Will we be with our loved ones when the Lord comes?” And Paul says, “Yes, by all means, yes.” Paul assures them that they will be with Jesus and with their precious loved ones. Paul may be repeating an early Christian formula in 4:14 when he writes, “We believe that Jesus died and rose.”10 Perhaps this phrase is an abbreviation of the longer version Paul writes later in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. The original text, however, may not have belonged to Paul but to the formulation of common liturgy belonging to early Christians. Stylistic features of v. 14 point to non-Pauline authorship. Paul seldom uses the Greek verb anastanai, the verb meaning “to rise,” which is used in v. 14. Rather, Paul uses egeirein, the verb meaning “to raise,” 37 times in his letters. The verb is used to explain that the God who raised Jesus will also raise his followers (Rom 6:4, 9; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Cor 15:12, 20; Gal 1:1). Furthermore, Paul usually uses the word “Christ” rather than “Jesus” in his writings. In v. 14, however, the word “Jesus” is used rather than “Christ.” Perhaps, as Wanamaker suggests, “the designation ‘Jesus’ in the formula without any titular qualifications is atypical of Paul and may go back to a stage before other Christological titles were associated with Jesus.”11 If this phrase, “we believe that Jesus died and rose” is an expression from the early church, then this is one of the earliest creedal formulations or belief statements recorded in the New Testament. Paul uses familiar words from the earliest believers to comfort the young believers in Thessaloniki during their moments of deep bereavement. Paul can respond to the believers with a voice of assurance because of his confidence in the resurrection of Jesus (4:14) and

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

also because of the “word of the Lord” (4:15). With confidence Paul writes, “We, the ones who are remaining, will not be with the Lord before those who have already died.” In other words, to his grieving friends who are mourning over the separation of their loved ones in death, Paul assures them that they will not, by no means, see the Lord without the presence of their loved ones beside them. This word of comfort takes precedence over any of the attempts to establish a calendar of events for future happenings. Paul writes not to provide an eschatological almanac; rather, he writes to provide a manual of pastoral care. Paul writes about the event in poetic form so that those who are sad will be comforted. The emphatic force of Paul’s voice is seen in the phrase “by no means.” Paul emphasizes that “we, the living ones who are remaining will not, by no means, precede those who have already fallen asleep” (4:15). Paul’s certainty is informed by a background source: “For we say this by/in the word of the Lord” (4:15a). Could Paul be quoting a saying of Jesus? If Paul is quoting a dominical saying, the source of the passage is something other than the collection of the sayings of Jesus located in the New Testament. No similar saying spoken by Jesus is recorded anywhere in the Gospels. The words could be an agraphøn, a saying of Jesus not preserved in written canonical sources and yet to be discovered in some other written form. The materials could be lost or perhaps not even written down. Perhaps Paul is thinking about Jesus’ teachings in general, namely the words of Mark 13 or Matthew 24. Paul could be using the phrase “in the name of the Lord” to give a sense of authority to his response. Furthermore, Paul could also be using the voice of the Lord to differentiate this saying from his other words, which he considers to be mere human statements and not divinely inspired. In other words, Paul may be attempting to underline this point so strongly for the benefit of his grieving friends that he attributes the power of his words to a source outside of himself. To his dear friends, he offers assurance in the word of the Lord that they will see their loved ones again. They will be with them, together with Jesus. To prove that the dead loved ones are truly with the Lord, Paul describes the event poetically, describing in detail the safety and security of the departed loved ones. The next two verses, vv. 16-17, although slight in word count, have been featured in many descriptions of the end of time, or what some term the Rapture.12 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the

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1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. (4:16-17 RSV)

The Rapture refers to the time when believers will be taken up or away to meet Jesus. The term is a translation of Arpag∑sometha the verb in v. 17: “we, the living ones, shall be To snatch or take away in such a way caught up, seized, snatched [arpag∑sometha] at that no resistance is offered. the same time with them.” [Arpag∑sometha] The details of the Rapture are taken seriously. In this perspective they are not to be read poetically but literally.13 They are facts—to be viewed as a farmer would consult an almanac for planting season. The events that surround the coming of Jesus have literal meanings in this particular viewpoint. Thus, the preceding events to the Rapture will feature a voice of an archangel, a trumpet sound, descending deity, and ascending dead ones. The next stage will include those who have not yet died, who will at the same time be with the dead ones and will be caught up in the clouds into a meeting in the air. Finally we will be all together with one another (vv. 16-17). For the literalist reader, these events are to occur prior to Jesus’ return. What do these details mean? If we do not understand them to be literal events, how do we interpret these specific details? First, the Lord himself will come down (v. 16). Imagery surrounding the majestic triumph over Qumran Scroll evil and final victory when the Deity who has resided on high descends abounds. R. Otto suggests a parallel image that comes from Qumran document, the War Scroll (1QM), where God appears with all of the angels of the dominion to bring doom upon the sons of darkness (i. 4-17).14 Another possible literary influence on Paul’s thinking may be found Portion of a photographic reproduction of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls in Zechariah 14:1-5 found at Qumran. Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel. [Credit: Ardon Bar Hama / Wikimedia Commons, PDArt (PD-old-100)]

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

where the idea of descent is implicit: “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives” (14:4). The imagery from the Hebrew Bible and Qumran provides a picture of the final day of battle between good and evil, light and darkness, when the Lord descends from a high place and establishes a footing on the ground in order to fight all vestiges of evil in the world for the very last time. This is a powerful image. Perhaps the Johannine author was invoking the same powerful image for the community with Jesus’ words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Humankind” (John 1:51). God leaving heaven is a powerful image. Any time the Transcendent Deity leaves the place of heavenly abode and joins in the mortal experience signals a major, seismic shift. This image alone signals power, authority, expectancy, traumatic changes. Accompanying God’s descent, however, are equally powerful symbols—the voice of the archangel and the sounds of the trumpet of God. The second image is the voice of the archangel. Perhaps not intended to signal a second, independent phase but most specifically related to God’s descent, the cry of command is also God’s voice, invoking power and majesty. The third image is the sound of the trumpet. In Hebrew texts, God’s voice is associated with the sound of a trumpet (Exod 19:1-16; Isa 27:12-13). Otto suggests that the trumpet functions in Qumran documents “to assemble the community, to advance and marshal the troops, to sound the charge, to denote carnage and ambush, and to recall the troops from battle.”15 The trumpet assembles the saints. The dead will be raised at the same time with the sound of the trumpet (1 Cor 15:52). This is no ordinary event. The accompanying images of the voice of the archangel and the sound of the trumpet signify a special occasion. Paul writes that all believers, both dead and alive, will be taken together. Otto notes that there is no “precedent in biblical or pseudepigraphical literature for the rapture or assumption of believers in general.”16 In the biblical tradition, only Enoch (Gen 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kgs 2:11) are taken to heaven without death. Otto explains that Paul is not placing the Thessalonian believers in the same category as Enoch and Elijah. Paul is not even describing a literal assumption or rapture. Rather, Paul, according to Otto, is using metaphorical language, prevalent in apocalyptic discourse, to describe the protection and victory in Christ. Paul describes the scene that follows the Lord’s descent, accompanied by the archangel’s cry and a voice of a trumpet, as a

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“meeting in the air.” Imagine the picture. The dead loved ones have risen. The living ones have risen. The Lord has descended. The angels are shouting; the trumpets are blaring. And there is one great big homecoming festival. Just to imagine such an event could have brought great comfort to the mourners who belonged to the Thessalonian community. The meeting in the air, the fourth image, may have had symbolic significance to the reader. In Jewish thought, air was the domain of the evil spirits. The ground was the place where the spirits of good and evil fought. The air, however, held demonic forces. To meet loved ones in the air, accompanied by the Lord God, with acoustic flair of voices and trumpets, signaled complete mastery over the forces of evil. Hence, these images are not historical referents, with calendar-like precision; they are symbolic. They suggest an event far greater than their words can truly convey. Paul is doing more here than he is saying, as E. Malbon suggests. The words are conduits or limited artifacts that can only partially give witness to the reality and drama of the moment. Otto writes, “The ‘meeting in the air’ is not a literal snatching away of believers in the air, but a metaphor describing what Christ and his hosts will accomplish in the day of his coming, vanquishing the gods and demons which the Thessalonians feared had jeopardized their own salvation and that of their departed loved ones.”17 The thought of a grand “homecoming” lifted the grieving heart of a first-century believer. Robert Gundry posits that Paul portrays Christ’s return in this passage as a “festive imperial visit in which deceased as well as living Christians will participate.” Gundry contends that Paul is writing to correct a wrong belief that the return will not involve the deceased. Paul is also, according to Gundry, attempting “to cool down an overheated belief in the immediacy of Christ’s return, the wish for quick release from persecution having fathered the thought of such a release.”18 I contend, however, that Paul is less concerned with didactics and more concerned with pastoral care. Paul is not as concerned with correcting false beliefs or even teaching new ones in this passage. Paul is creating space for healing from disappointment. Disappointment that loved ones have died draws Paul’s heart and words to this scene of apocalyptic proportion. Paul is not opposed to paraenesis, as we have seen earlier. Paul will take many opportunities to provide new teaching about morals and nonnegotiable standards of behavior and reaffirm old ones for these young believers. But not here in this passage. He rests from those roles of teacher and preacher and focuses solely on their bereavement. Paul

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uses poetic words to heal sad hearts. In doing so, teaching occurs, of course. But that is not his primary motive. This is pastoral care at its best. Paul’s vision and mission is clear—to comfort. The scene Paul paints with literary energy and flair in vv. 16-17 is a dramatic reminder that God is present. God is present in the midst of the demonic world. God is present in the middle of death. God is present in the midst of loneliness and sorrow. God is present and powerful. The members of the community of believers in Thessaloniki, therefore, need not be afraid. They will always be with the Lord; they will always be with their loved ones. This is the comfort that Paul provides. The highly dramatic metaphors and symbols help Paul to articulate that assurance—that God is always present, even in death. Verse 18 summarizes the section: “Therefore, comfort one another with these words.” Paul does not say to memorize these words, as if they were a magical formula for happiness. Paul does not say to recall these words in liturgy, as if they were a doctrinal, creedal position statement. Paul does not even admonish the readers to bring these words into remembrance. Paul says to use these words. These words, filled with drama, imagery, metaphor, symbols, are to be employed. They do not stand alone. They are only signposts to a reality far greater than the words themselves reveal. Use the words. Let them fill your senses. These words will shape a reality and consciousness in the listener Carl Sandburg and Poetry that will not be shaken by external realities. “Poetry is the synthesis of biscuits and These words move the listener to a realm that hyacinths.” belongs not to the world of human artifacts but to spiritual matters. These words are mere con“Poetry is the tracing of the trajectories of a finite duits that have the capacity to transport the sound to the infinite points of its echoes.” listener to another place. “Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading This is poetry. Poetry can move the world. off into horizons too swift for explanations.” Paul’s language here smacks of earthly focus: his loved ones mourn the deaths of their loved ones. “Poetry is the silence and speech between a wet Paul’s language here also reverberates with flutstruggling root of a flower and a sunlit blossom of tering sounds of angel wings and flower stems: that flower.” God provides a safe place for those who grieve. “Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a The realities of both worlds intersect in Paul’s story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting ordinary, but not so ordinary, language of during a night.” chapter 4. [Carl Sandburg and Poetry] Carl Sandburg, “Tentative (First Model) Definitions of Poetry,” in Selected Poems, George and Willene Hendrick, eds. (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1996), 269–271.

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Just as the first section, 4:13-18, concludes with words of comfort, so does the following unit, 5:1-11. Paul concludes the thought unit with these words: “Therefore, comfort one another and build up one another, just as you are also doing” (5:11). This section has the same primary focus as the preceding unit, namely, to provide comfort to the grieving mourners in Thessaloniki. Paul uses various literary modes to convey his message of comfort. In the preceding section, Paul moves the reader to a level of comfort with metaphor and image, literary conventions more at home in a poem than in a letter. The reader is transported to another place while reading or hearing Paul’s beautiful words. In the first eleven verses of chapter 5, Paul writes in his more familiar epistolary style, almost as if he is responding to a letter previously received from the believers. His language is not less warm and consoling, but more focused and grounded. Paul suggests with the use of the Greek phrase peri de that he is about to address concerns of the community, which have been given to him either in a previous letter or relayed in Timothy’s oral report concerning their welfare. The believers have been instructed that Jesus is coming again soon—the imminent parousia. They know that Jesus will return. They have heard that message in Paul’s preaching and they patiently wait for Jesus’ arrival. The believers, however, want to know the exact time (cronøn kai kairøn) of Jesus’ return. The two references to time are chronos and kairos. Most likely both words are used to convey the same meaning—time. In 5:1 Paul states that he really does not need to remind them about the time of Christ’s coming; they already know. Nonetheless, he proceeds to remind the believers anyway. In 4:9 Paul says that he really does not need to write to them concerning brotherly love. The idea here is that they have already been instructed in the topic and do not need more teaching. Paul’s words here are contradictory. Although his words are intending to affirm, his continuing to teach that very topic implies that the believers have yet to master the entire theme. They do need to be reminded how to love one another; hence, Paul’s letter. They also need to be reminded of Paul’s previous teaching on the coming of Christ; hence, Paul’s letter. Although Paul will say they do not have to be reminded concerning the time of Jesus’ return, they do; otherwise, Paul would not have written. They do need to be reminded that they cannot know when Jesus will return. They know perfectly well that the “day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night” (5:2).

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

The metaphor of “thief in the night” used to describe the timing of Jesus’ return was a common one in Scripture tradition. In Matthew 24:43 and Luke 12:39 (also belonging to an even older tradition, a collection of Jesus’ sayings known as the Q-source, only found in the Gospel texts where Matthew and Luke agree), the unexpected coming of the Son of Man is compared to the arrival of a thief in the night. Jesus’ arrival is not compared to that of the function of a thief. Rather, the unexpected arrival of an uninvited, unplanned visit is the primary point. Jesus will come when the owners of the house least expect an intruder. The lull of peace is enticing. Paul writes, “When they say, ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden destruction approaches them, as one having birth pains in the womb, and they will by no means escape” (5:3). Those who become settled and comfortable in their lives are those who are going to be the most surprised by Jesus’ coming. H. Koester thinks these words, “peace and security,” were not coined by Paul.19 For example, the word peace, although used frequently by Paul, is never used to imply a false illusion. The second term, security, does not appear anywhere in Paul’s writings. Perhaps there are those who are using the words “peace and security” as a political slogan. Paul borrows the slogan to make his point. The political setting of the day was that of pax romana. Paul may be speaking to those who are sitting comfortably in the Roman Empire, not concerned about matters beyond political realities. Those who are not concerned about spiritual matters, therefore, will be greatly surprised at Christ’s return. In poetic form, James Weldon Johnson captures that moment when Christ comes unexpectedly on the scene. [“The Judgment Day”] Paul stops his train of thought regarding the trauma awaiting those who are not prepared for Jesus’ return and pauses as he remembers to affirm the readers. In the same tone of affirmation and benevolence, Paul tells the readers that they are not like those who are going to be surprised when Jesus returns. Paul writes, “But you, yourselves, brothers, you are not in darkness, for that day to take you as a thief “ (5:4). In other words, the brothers are prepared. They are not rocking in their hammocks, comfortably lulled to sleep, citing the popular political words of the day, “peace and security.” The believers in this artisan community are called “sons of light and sons of day” (5:5a). They are not sons of the night or of darkness (5:5b). The opposition between sons of light versus sons of darkness describes a larger cosmic dilemma for Paul and firstcentury believers. The struggle for faith in Paul’s understanding did

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The Judgment Day by James Weldon Johnson In that great day, People, in that great day God’s a-going to rain down fire, God’s a-going to sit in the middle of the air To judge the quick and the dead Early one of these mornings, God’s a-going to call for Gabriel. That tall, bright angel, Gabriel; Blow your silver trumpet, And wake the living nations. ... Then Gabriel’s a-going to ask him: Lord How loud must I blow it? And God’s a-going to tell him: Gabriel, Like seven peals of thunder. Then the tall, bright angel, Gabriel, Will put one foot on the battlements of heaven And the other on the steps of hell, And blow that silver trumpet Till he shakes old hell’s foundations. And I feel Old earth a-shuddering— And I see the graves a-bursting— And I hear a sound, A blood-chilling sound, What sound is that I hear? It’s the clicking together of the dry bones, Bone to bone, the dry bones. And I see coming out of the bursting graves; And marching up from the valley of death, The army of the dead. And the living and the dead in the twinkling of an eye Are caught up in the middle of the air, Before God’s judgment bar.

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), American poet (Credit: Barclay Burns)

... And I hear a voice, crying, crying: Time shall be no more! Time shall be no more! Time shall be no more! And the sun will go out like a candle in the wind, The moon will turn to dripping blood, The stars will fall like cinders, And the sea will burn like tar; And the earth shall melt away and be dissolved, And the sky will roll up like a scroll. With a wave of his hand God will blot out time, And start the wheel of eternity. . . Excerpted from “The Judgment Day,” God’s Trombones (New York: The Viking Press, 1969).

not simply reside in weak and unstable political regimes. Nor could the struggle be fully defined as persecution from a rigid religious system in Jerusalem or an apathetic Christian community in Antioch. The battle for the believer has cosmic dimensions. The “sons of the day” (5:5) belong to the “day of the Lord” (5:2). Those who are of the “day” (5:8) have a special destiny. J. Plevnik states that Paul is speaking about the eschatological day, where “Paul associates the believers and himself with this day and removes

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all threat of that day for them.”20 In that day—a future day— believers will reach their full destiny. Paul uses the phrase “sons of light” only once in his writings. The phrase, however, occurs in the Gospel narratives. In Luke 16:8 the “sons of light” are opposed to the “sons of this age.” In John 12:36, the phrase “sons of light” is used to describe believers. The term is also found in Ephesians 5:8, although the word “children” is used instead of “sons.” In this passage the term also refers to the life of faith. The life of darkness refers to one’s existence prior to the life of faith. To walk in the light, therefore, is to walk in the light of faith in Jesus Christ. The expression “sons of light and darkness” abounds in other literature outside the New Testament. The Qumran community frequently used the expression “sons of darkness and light” to explain the battle between good and evil (1QS and 1QM). Paul’s play on words here is instructive. Plevnik observes Paul’s use of light and dark in this passage.21 Paul states that the believers know that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night (5:2). But Paul plays on the idea of darkness and night when he says the believers are not in darkness, so that the day of the Lord will not come as a thief in the night for them (5:4). Even though Jesus will come as a thief in the night, the Thessalonian believers will not be as easily surprised because they are “sons of the light not sons of the darkness.” Paul cautions, “So then [since we are sons of light and not sons of darkness] let us not sleep as the remaining ones, but let us be watchful (katheudømen) and be well-balanced (5:6). Another Greek word meaning sleep is used here. The Greek word in 4:13, koimømenøn also rendered “sleep” in English, is used as a euphemism for death. In 5:6, however, the Greek word changes, although rendered in English as “sleep.” Paul is not referring to death in this verse. Rather, Paul is using the Greek word for sleep to mean spiritual laziness or indifference. The opposite of sleep in this verse is morally alert and self-controlled or well balanced. Paul continues his ethical instruction here in familiar paraenetical style. A. Malherbe contends that the two terms, “alert” and “selfcontrolled,” actually combine two ideas, one from Epicurean traditions and the other from traditional Jewish patterns, to form a combination unique to Paul. To be self-controlled (to be sober) is rooted in Epicurean thought, a philosophical school contemporaneous to Paul. In the Epicurean way of life, to be sober was to seek a kind of pleasure cultivated with friends and friendship. To be sober was to be strict and sparing in the goal of pursuing

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pleasure.22 Paul, according to Malherbe, is using “sober” in this manner. In 5:7 Paul seems to interrupt the thought of v. 6 with a proverb, “For the ones who sleep, sleep at night, and the ones who get drunk, get drunk at night.” Paul reinforces the metaphorical language of darkness introduced in 5:2 and 5:5 and combines the images of sleep and lack of sobriety with this truism. Night is the time for slothful behavior illustrated by sleep and drunken states. Paul has already informed the believers that they are the “sons of the day” and do not belong to the night. In the midst of his affirmation, however, he tends to place an exhortation, just in case they might be considering changing their course. This paraenetical asides couched between words of affirmation challenge the listener to action. They are affirmed and cautioned all in the same breath. Paul says they are sons of light, but then he says the ones who are of the night are lazy and drunk. The cautionary, push-pull, affirmation-exhortation manner of speaking implies that not all of the believers were awake. Perhaps not all of the believers were alert and sober. They needed to be reminded. Paul does not use a negative tone for long, however. For just as he has praised the people, then exhorted them to greater ethical behavior, Paul in v. 8 reverts to his position of affirmation: “But we ourselves, being of the day, let us be self-controlled, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet—hope of salvation” (5:8). The images of breastplate and helmet allude to Isaiah 59:17 where the warrior God and God’s intervention are described in anthropomorphic terms: “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury like a mantle.” God comes to battle with full armor, although in unconventional military dress. Similar images appear in Ephesians 6:13-17: Therefore take on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Koester states, “At this point, Paul has moved beyond the implications of the traditional apocalyptic language with which he started the passage. . . . ‘The day’ is realized in the presence of faith, hope, and love in the community; these are the weapons of

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God.”23 The focus has shifted from “Armor of God” the future back to the present. Not only is faith an advantage for loved ones who have died and for the benefits available in the future coming of Jesus Christ, but the life of the believer in the present is enriched because of faith in Christ. Faith is not just eschatological thought, reserved Image Not Available for some future event. Faith is for the due to lack of digital rights. now, the present moment—for the Please view the published life of the living, loving, working commentary or perform an Internet community in Thessaloniki. Koester search using the credit below. notes, “‘The children of the day’ or ‘the children of light’ in their work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope are the architects of the new eschatological community in which the future is becoming a present reality.”24 Scholars have debated Paul’s escha- Derek Lucas (20th C.). Roman Soldiers in Armour. Museum of London, London, tological thought in this letter for Great Britain. (Credit: HIP/Art Resource, NY) many decades. The questions have centered on Paul’s developing view of eschatology as revealed in a chronological study of Paul’s letter writing. Some scholars are convinced that they can document theological changes or shifts in Paul’s thinking about Jesus’ return. Some locate the shift in Paul’s thinking at the end of his career. They contend that as Paul matured so did his eschatology. The eschatological move was from future to realized eschatology, a shift from a future focus to a present concern. The delay in the parousia, along with Paul’s increased sense of justice issues related to Jew-Gentile relations, prompted Paul to change his understanding of the focus of Jesus’ return. Another scholar, C. L. Mearns, contends that Paul’s greatest ideological shift came before the writing of 1 Thessalonians, perhaps even at the beginning of his missionary career. Mearns suggests that before Paul wrote Thessalonians, Paul was convinced that through Jesus’ death and resurrection the new age had arrived.25 This mode of thought is often characterized as realized eschatology—that Jesus had already come and was present in the world as it now existed. Mearns contends that Paul shared the view of those early believers who had been with Jesus. They too were convinced that the new

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life had entered with the death and resurrection of their friend and Savior, Jesus Christ. The deaths of the earliest Christians related to the church in Thessaloniki, however, began to change this view. The Christian converts kept dying. Realized eschatology “was losing some of its luster.”26 As Paul faced this challenge in Thessalonians, he began to shift his eschatological focus. Mearns suggests that Paul did this “by re-conceptualizing the Parousia in the form of the ‘Second Coming,’ together with a final resurrection. Therefore the survivors would have no advantage over the deceased at the Second Advent.”27 The context, therefore, shaped Paul’s perspective. The words he was hearing from the community informed his own perspectives. The words of the community helped to shape Paul’s view of the world. Questions remain regarding Paul’s eschatological position. Did Paul believe that Jesus had already come in the death and resurrection event? Or did Paul believe that the second coming of Christ would signal the end and beginning of a new standard of time? Was Paul’s focus on ethics for present community living or only for preparation for future heavenly existence? These are noble questions. Specific answers, however, are not possible. This debate can be visualized best in 5:10-11, with particular focus on the word “sleep” in v. Christ Waking the Dead 10: “Because God did not appoint us for the purpose of wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one dying on behalf of us, so that whether awake or asleep we shall live together with him.” Notice that the same Image Not Available Greek word is used in 5:6-7 as due to lack of digital rights. in v. 11 above. In vv. 6-7, sleep Please view the published (katheudømen) implies lazy or commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below. slothful habits, lack of attention, not alert. The other Greek word rendered as sleep in 4:13-14 (koimømenøn) is used as a euphemism for death. The interpreter then is faced with a translation challenge in 5:10: What is the meaning of sleep— Life of Christ: Christ in Limbo Resuscitates the Chosen Ones. Fresco, 15th C. Chapel of St. to be lazy or to be dead? If the Sebastian, Villard de Lans, France. (Credit: DeA Picture Library/Art Resource, NY)

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

interpreter understands the word “sleep” in 5:10 as meaning lazy or ethically irresponsible, then Paul is saying that both those who are awake (morally alert) or asleep (morally irresponsible) will live together with the Lord. This, of course, represents the realized eschatological focus of Paul’s argument. This interpretation reinforces Paul’s position that focuses more on the work of the community in the present than the future coming of Christ. If one translates the word in this manner, then the day of the Lord includes both kinds of believers. The net of acceptance is wide. The community is large. Those who have missed the mark as well as those who have hit it perfectly belong equally to the community, both present and future.28 If, however, the word “sleep” is interpreted as in 4:13-14 where Paul talks about those who are dead, then the meaning of 5:10 shifts to a future eschatological concern. If Paul is using the word as a euphemism for death, then he is once again talking about life in the parousia. He is retracing his words from 4:13-18, which deal with the events preceding the coming of the Lord. These words then become summary for his future eschatological focus that emphasizes that the loved ones who have died will be united with the ones who are awake (still alive), and both will be together with the Lord.29 Which one is it—death or ethical irresponsibility? I choose to follow Paul’s train of thought in the preceding verses of chapter 5. In this section, Paul’s conversation about future events has softened. Paul appears to be more focused on the paraenetical teachings as seen in 4:1-12. The images of “sons of light and darkness” are metaphors for life lived in the present community. The labels are not reserved for behavior at the time of Christ’s return but intended to describe the present world. I contend that Paul is not once again referring to the relatives who have died; he has already made that point in the preceding verses. I think Paul is speaking directly to the community as it stands in the present moment. The quality of life in the Thessalonian church is the primary focus. Paul says to the community that there is a standard of behavior for those in the community who walk as sons of light. But if you happen to walk on a given day, for a specific occasion or period of time, as a son of the darkness, there is also hope. For in that last day, those who are awake (the sons of light) and those who are asleep (the sons of darkness) will live together with him. Remember that the sons of darkness are still members of the Christian community. They are not on the outside. They still belong. Paul is not suggesting that nonbelievers are a part of the

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gathering. Paul is suggesting, however, that those who have transgressed and not lived in the light as constantly and consistently as they should have will also be included in the final homecoming. Paul’s eschatological focus, therefore, shifts from realized to future and back to realized eschatological thought in the course of the letter. Therefore, it is not possible to frame Paul’s view of eschatology in one freeze-framed slide. Paul’s view moves back and forth. Sometimes it is hard to tell if he is speaking about present possibilities or about future hope. The confusion is ours alone. In Paul’s writing, the present and future dimensions blur into one reality. To be with Christ is to be both in the present and in the future. There are no boundary markers. The reality of the present informs the possibility of the future. The promise of the future gives the power to the present. Eschatology shapes ethics, and ethics shape eschatology. There are no boundaries. To be in Christ means to live a morally responsible life, which prepares one for the life to come. Preparing for the life to come means one lives a responsible moral life in the present. Christ has come; Christ is here; Christ will come. As difficult as it is to imagine, all three states are fluid and interchangeable. Because Paul believes so strongly that Christ’s coming informs one’s lifestyle in the present as well as future, he can once again remind the believers that the primary focus is to “comfort one another and build up one another, just as you are doing” (5:10). Paul’s summary words of admonition lack specific future reference. The energy is on the present, although the expenditure of energy in the now does affect the energy used in the future. In other words, it does make a difference how we treat one another in this life. The quality of life in the future world is influenced by the quality of living in this one. So live well! Paul’s literary mission has not wavered. He has stayed on task. His role is to comfort, to encourage, to provide solace, to build up the members of the community in Thessaloniki. He has done that and he will continue to do so. After all that he has taught and preached, both while he was present with them and then through this letter, his proxy, he still admonishes them to comfort one another. The goal is not to prepare for Christ’s future coming by watching the stars or counting down numbers. The task is not to figure out the dates or the anticipatory events of Jesus’ return. Paul says the primary task of the believer is to “comfort one another and build up one another.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

CONNECTIONS I remember one Easter morning in my youth. The sun had yet to come up over the majestic North Carolina mountains. The air was cold. A quiet, eerie hush hovered over the dark cemetery, which flanked the entire right side of the church property. Way in the back at the bottom of the ridge were the oldest stones, the ones with names dimmed by time. Row after row of tombstones stood tall like trained sentries, facing east and waiting, like me, for the sun to rise that cold Easter morning. The church members would soon gather to stand beside the tombstones, careful not to walk on top of the graves because of respect or maybe due to old-world superstitions. In a few minutes an entire crowd of people would gather to sing and pray. A preacher (my dad) would kneel beside a stone to pray and then stand with Bible in hand to preach about Jesus and his empty tomb. Later in the morning at the regular service, the congregation would stand, dressed in Easter finery, to sing the favorite Easter hymn “Up from the Grave He Arose,” complete with gospel piano, Hammond organ, guitars, drums, bass fiddle, and trumpets. But right now, in the early morning, things started off slowly and quietly—with a reverential hush. I walked down the path that connected the church parsonage to the church and then to the cemetery. I walked in anticipation of something about to happen. I thought, This could be the day! This could be the day of the great Rapture! This could be the day that it would happen. In the morning twilight I could see a small sea of tombstones marking graves of church members, including my own paternal grandfather and dear friends of my great-grandmother. Some of the dirt had been recently disturbed. The funeral home had recently dismantled the tent from a funeral on Saturday. The flowers were still fresh. I stopped walking and paused beside a new grave. What would it be like if this grave exploded right here before my eyes? I thought while leaning against a brand-new tombstone. I chose to rest beside the new grave, thinking I might be less scared than if I stood by an older grave when the explosion occurred. I was thinking that maybe newer corpses were not as scary as older ones. What did I know? I simply knew that I had been told through years and years of Sunday school and preaching in those Baptist mountain churches how it was going to happen. I knew the Rapture routine by heart. First, Jesus comes down. That was going to be exciting to watch. Then I would hear the loud voice of an angel and the blare of a trumpet, and it would all happen in the flash of an eye. The dead

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people would burst out of their graves, with dirt flying everywhere. Bodies would be all over the place. People would be crying and shaking hands with loved ones whom they had not seen in years. We even had a favorite choir song, sung in Stamps-Baxter rhythm and harmony, titled “We Shall Rise” that described the whole thing. When someone requested that song for the monthly Sunday night gospel sing, I knew we were in for a treat. People would start to shout and the music would get louder and louder. The bass part was the best. I quietly hummed a few lines while I waited beside the tombstone on that early, dark Easter morning: “In that resurrection morning when the trump of God shall sound, we shall rise. Hallelujah. We shall rise. Amen!” I was hanging around those tombstones wanting to see it happen. I waited in the quietness of the early Sunday morning. I fixed my eyes on the graves. My ears were alert for trumpet sounds. I just knew it was going to happen on this Easter Sunday. I would be able to see the Rapture—right before my eyes. I waited. I began to see cars turning into the driveway. Soon my privacy would be invaded by a host of sleepy-eyed church members carrying their Bibles and coffee mugs, and by groggy children still in their pajamas. I waited and kept my eyes open. One time I thought I heard sounds in the air, like fluttering wings. But on second look it was just a bird waking from a night’s sleep. Nothing happened. The day had not yet begun and the sun was still patiently waiting to appear over the range of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I strained to listen, but I heard nothing—just the quiet hush of a cold mountain morning. To my utter disappointment, I heard no subterranean rumblings from the gravesites. No trumpet calls. No cry of the archangel. No heavenly descent. Nothing. Then the church people started getting out of their cars. I realized that my time was almost over. Sure, Jesus could have come when all of the people were there. But that was not what I hoped. I planned to see it alone. I wanted to see it just for myself—by myself. The people gathered one by one. As the group gathered on the crest of the little hill in the middle of the graveyard, surrounded by tombstones, they began to sing softly, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Then Dad led the band of morning worshipers in prayer. We stood close to each other for warmth and support. Some of the members of the group scanned the rows of stones, sadly looking for their own family names. Some people cried as they remembered the last time they stood in the church graveyard, when they said goodbye to a parent or friend.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

Sometime during the long prayer, the sun began to climb over the top of the Blue Ridge. The mountains changed colors from black to dark blue and green. The birds began to sing in the far distant pines. The preacher began to speak about Jesus and empty tombs on resurrection morning. We sang again. We prayed again. The sun climbed higher. Children began to think of the afternoon Easter egg hunt. Mothers began to think about the ham that was cooking in the oven. The crowd began to disperse, huddled in quiet conversation about afternoon plans for Easter Sunday. The cars left the parking lot. I remained. Not this year, I thought. Maybe next year. As I got older and moved away from home, fewer churches had sunrise services. I was glad to sleep in for a change. But now, I am convinced that I did see it. Oh, not in the way that I was anticipating. No trumpets—and I really wanted to hear those peal through the mountain gaps. No bursting of the graves—and I really wanted to see that frightening event. But nothing like that happened at all. No spectacular sites. No Disney World magic. No George Lucas animation. It was simply an ordinary frosty mountain morning on a Sunday in early spring. Or was it? I think I saw on that morning what Paul was trying to say to the first-century believers in Thessaloniki. What I saw at the Easter sunrise service of the Ebenezer Baptist Church was a faithful group of followers of Jesus who early on Sunday morning were willing to leave the warm comfort of their beds and venture out into a cold mountain morning to pray, sing, and think about death and resurrection. They stood there with their arms around each other for warmth and support, thinking about their loved ones who had been buried in the very graveyard where they were standing. They remembered their faces. They touched the arms and embraced the shoulders of the “ones remaining.” Church members leaned on one another for comfort. They heard the Scripture reading from 1 Thessalonians. They heard the apocalyptic events recited once more—archangels, trumpets, the dead rising, and the ones alive joining them in the meeting in the air. The preacher reminded them again of the “future hope which is to come to those who wait.” We listened, we prayed, we sang, we cried. Although there were no spectacular eschatological events in that holy little huddle, Christ did come down. Trumpets did sound, and angels cried with delight. And yes, we had a meeting—a grand, glorious meeting. The meeting, although not suspended in the air as Paul wrote, was just right. We met one another, our feet planted in the ground shared by relatives and friends who had gone before

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us, our eyes on the eastern skies with hope for what might be in store for us in the future, and our hearts sailing high in the mountain morning mist. God was present. Christ did come. And we were transported! While we waited for it to happen, it happened! It must have happened in similar form for the members of the Thessalonian church. They were sad. They were grieving over the deaths of their loved ones. They needed words of comfort. Paul’s words provide solace. And in that moment, they learned that heaven and earth are connected—that what is to be seen can be seen; that the future is present; that Christ is coming and has come. And Paul reminded them, “while you are waiting for it to happen, look around you: it is already happening.” George McLeod, Church of Scotland pastor who established a retreat center on the sacred island of Iona, Scotland, in the 1940s, called the holy place “a very thin place.” This Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland, which bears imprints of religious activity from ancient Druidic groves to fifth-century Celtic missionaries from Ireland, from a fourteenth-century Benedictine Modern Celtic Cross monastery to modern-day missions by Church of Scotland young people in impoverished Glasgow, is called a “a thin place.” The description defines a place and time where heaven and earth seem to meet; where time has no markers; where the boundaries of past, present, and future melt into one dimension. The thinness does not describe inadequate theology, as has often been used in the contrast of thin and dense faith. The thinness does not describe the air in higher altitudes where breathing is more difficult. To say that the church cemetery on that mountain ridge was a thin place is to say that on that morning, just as Paul predicted, heaven and earth connected. There was a meeting in the air, even though it appeared on the ground, right smack in the soil of the graveyard. Paul’s admonition to his beloved friends in Thessaloniki is just that. The future focus, which has often been interpreted as Paul’s only focus, was a way to direct attention to the present. The future focus, the eschatological Modern Celtic cross in Père Lachaise cemetery vision that introduced infinite possibilities of life (Credit: Rama / Wikimedia Commons, CeCILL) after death, had a finite sound. Paul acknowledges that Jesus is coming. Paul consoles the

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

living that the dead will not be disadvantaged at Jesus’ coming. Nor will the living be left out. The great comfort is that all will be with Jesus. And in that holy huddle belonging to the members of the Thessalonian community, as they hold hands and comfort one another while they hear Paul’s words, they are transported to a thin place. The future becomes present; the past becomes future. The barriers to time are demolished. These words are instructive to us. My colleague at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Elizabeth Barnes, taught her theology students these words about apocalypticism: Apocalyptic eschatologies generally tend to eclipse the question of what is lasting in favor of the question of what comes last. An adequate Christian eschatology will seek to give appropriate attention to both sides of the coin. In my considered opinion, an adequate and faithful Christian eschatology will emphasize that which is lasting and trust God to reveal in due time what comes last.30

How is it all going to end? What will come last? In 1999 a Christian group from Denver, Colorado, was arrested in Jerusalem. They were accused of planning a provocation on the Temple Mound to incite Jews and Arabs to begin war that would result in the final battle of Armageddon. They believed the world would come to an end at the battle of Armageddon, and they wanted to hasten the time line.31 Thoughts of the end of the world ruled their minds. They were willing to kill to hasten the final days. The intensity of apocalyptic thought is not to be underestimated. I grew up with a Scofield Bible always close at hand. Time (both kairos and chronos, salvation and judgment events as well as historical dates) was marked neatly in the footnotes. The details of the end were very clear. I was intrigued by the details of the seven years of tribulation, the theories of the antichrist, the Rapture of the church, etc. In the church songbook I marked all of the songs that were written about heaven. More than one-half of our small church’s musical repertoire talked about the rewards of heaven. We sang them with great gusto. We sang them with purpose and conviction because life was hard on Monday for most of those people. Life in the South Carolina textile mills of the 1950s would make anyone want to long for home. We sang about the “roll called up yonder,” the “sweet by and by,” and “the mansion just over the hilltop.” Singing about heaven on Sunday somehow made the hell that was endured on Monday a bit more bearable. Those church folk who worked hard for so little created a space for one another that was gracious and hospitable. In their singing

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about the “beautiful isle of somewhere,” their voices blended and they created a group harmony unheard in their work world, where their mill bosses lived in lavish homes and the company store took its share of employees’ payroll checks before the checks were even cashed. Apocalyptic thought creates a group language in order for the members of a community to strengthen their bonds of internal solidarity. It worked for the little mill church in Greer, South Carolina, in the 1950s. And it worked for the first-century church in Thessaloniki. Paul’s images of archangels, trumpets, and airborne meetings created a space of solidarity for this special community of faith. In addition, the apocalyptic vision of the future on a Sunday morning provided a brief respite from the grief of their present condition. The toil of twelve-hour days interrupted only by bell whistles, the substandard housing owned by the mill that provided temporary shelters for dazed families to create disorderly lives in between cotton lint, low lighting, and impoverished conditions, slightly paled when one could consider that soon it would all be over. To mark time so as to see the end of time clearly was a great relief. Otherwise, the incessant, boring hum of the spinning machine and the textile prison would have been more than anyone could bear in a lifetime. So they sang with gusto, “I’ll Fly Away in the Morning” and “I’ll Meet You in the Morning” until their voices grew hoarse. One of the favorite songs of this little band of followers, made tired by the vicissitudes of life lived in poverty, “The Homecoming Week” mill lint, and daily drudgery, was the song that Family tradition says the song “The described the coming of Jesus as a great big Homecoming Week” was written by a homecoming. The pain of earthly life is comrelative of my great-grandfather, W. A. Pace of pared to Jesus’ own life of thorns and crosses. Saluda, North Carolina. Often sung at camp meetAnd the joy of the life to come is described as a ings in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North grand homecoming, where heaven is inside “the Carolina, this song was popular in Southern mountain churches where singers could read gates of pearl” and believers will be granted a shaped notes only. The songwriter, Adger Pace, gigantic golden harp with “perhaps a thousand also wrote “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,” “Glad strings.” Life in the future world will be one of Reunion Day,” “I Can Tell You Now the Time,” and “singing, shouting, and dancing about.” Jesus, many others. Pace worked for many years with the Lamb, will be there to dry our tears. The the Vaughn Music Company in Lawrenceburg, sadness of the present moment can be forgotten Tennessee. Many of the songs in this particular shaped-note form contain lyrics that speak of while picturing the image of a grand homefuture life in a beautiful, poetic manner. This song, coming festival that continues for at least ten written in 1927, was often sung in the small thousand years. This song worked for the South mountain churches of my youth, particularly on Carolinians in the same way that Paul’s worked Homecoming Sundays when the entire church for the tired Thessalonian community. [“The gathered for a picnic lunch and preaching and singing throughout an afternoon.

Homecoming Week”]

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

Indeed, the work of that Thessalonian community was arduous. Their hope was tentative. Their loved ones were dying. Their decision to become believers resulted in great political costs and hardships. They tried desperately to hold on to Paul’s teachings, to believe that Jesus would come again as promised. Paul wanted them to be comforted in their intense grief. Paul wanted to encourage them to have faith and hope. Paul reminded them that this is not the end of the story. More is to come. Paul’s details become poetic reminders of the great universal truth—that God is present with us always, then and now, now and then. In the words of W. B. Yeats, “things fall apart; the centre cannot hold /. . . . And what rough beast, its hour come around at last, / Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?” [“The Second Coming”] Incarnation is eschatological hope. The God-become-flesh resides in the church community huddled around graveyard tombstones with one eye on the others and the other eye looking toward the eastern sky. The incarnation is eschatological hope expressed best when the motley crew of mill workers gathered to worship on Sunday, faces scrubbed, their lives owned by the mill boss but their hearts given to Jesus. They stood and sang about the one who is “coming soon, morning or night or noon.” The worlds collapse in this time zone. To the believer, the charts that document the minute-by-minute play of the last events are less than satisfactory. It is not enough. To mathematically compute numbers, 666, and have them attached to everyone and everything, including one’s own forehead, is to miss this major point. To wade through time with one’s eyes longingly focused on the sky is to forfeit all reality. It is in the now that the future has life. It is in the future that the now has life. The realms of time cannot be separated. What is the believer to do? Some of us will read all ten-plus volumes of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’s Left Behind series. And that is okay. Some of us will make charts that cover the wall, filled with prophecies and expected fulfillments of prophecies. Some of us will dust off the Scofield Bible and read the footnotes while we watch the evening news. And that is okay. Some of us will become so fanatic that we join cults (like Heaven’s Gates or Jonestown) or military factions in order to hasten the last day with our own suicides or planned killings. And that is not okay. That is apocalyptical thinking run amuck. Some of us will try to focus on what Professor Barnes says: “what comes last and what is lasting.” She writes,

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The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Blake (1757–1827). A Vision of the Last Judgement. Pen and watercolour. 1808. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art (PD-old-100)]

from The Yeats Reader: A Portable Compendium of Poetry, Drama, and Prose of William Butler Yeats, ed. Richard J. Finneran (New York: Scribner, 1997), 68–69.

Eschatology is not merely the summation chapter of Christian theology. It is the systematic counterpart to creation. The same God who creates the world and redeems it from its fallen state is the God who wills its completion and draws it toward its final destiny. In the sense, therefore, that all life is lived toward its end, every moment has eschatological significance. In the homespun words of another, “we write our own epitaph” by the lives we live moment by moment. Fraught with eschatological meaning, our decisions and actions have eternal significance. They either enact that which is ultimately lasting, or they do not.32

Paul’s words to the members of the Thessalonian community are instructive for us. While we are gazing upward looking for the skies to split with Christ’s descent, stretching to hear the blast of the trumpet and the cry of the archangel, waiting for some supernatural event to occur, we are reminded to look around us in the here and now. While we are glued to the television and wondering when the next terror will strike, we are reminded to be comforted and to

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11

comfort one another with the present reality. God is here already. Look around you and find God’s presence. Even in this moment of anxiety, frantic worry, insecurity, and loss, heaven and earth have already begun to connect. This world is a thin place—heaven and earth are meeting. God has already come, and God will come again soon. Comfort one another with these words.

Notes 1

E. S. Malbon, “‘No Need to Have Anyone Write?’: A Structural Exegesis of 1 Thessalonians,” Semeia 26 (1983): 71. 2 Linda

McKinnish Bridges, “Paul’s Words of Comfort in First Thessalonians,” RevExp 96/2 (Spring 1999): 213–16. 3 J.

C. Beker, Paul, the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980). 4 Bridges,

“Paul’s Words of Comfort,” 214.

5 For

an interesting article on the rise of the apocalyptic industry, particularly in the publishing sector with the advent of The Late Great Planet Earth (1970s) written by Hal Lindsey and the Left Behind Series (2000), with authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, see Paul Boyer, “Apocalypticism Explained: America’s Doom Industry,” . 6 Malbon,

“No Need to Have Anyone Write?” 71.

7 Helmut Koester, “Imperial Ideology and Paul’s Eschatology in 1 Thessalonians,” in Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society, ed. Richard A. Horsley (Harrisonburg PA: Trinity Press International, 1979), 159. 8 Ibid. 9 Barnabas Lindars, “The Sound of the Trumpet: Paul and Eschatology,” Bulletin of the

John Rylands University 7/2 (Spring 1985): 766–82. 10 Ivan

Havener, “The Pre-Pauline Christological Credal Formulae of 1 Thessalonians,” Society of Biblical Literature Special Papers 20 (1981): 105–28. 11 Charles

A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 168. 12 John

F. Walvoord contends, “Although the rapture of the church was introduced by Christ the night before His Crucifixion, as recorded in John 14:1-3, the details of the rapture were not revealed in Scripture until 1 Thessalonians was written. It is not too much to say that 1 Thessalonians 4–5 is probably the most important passage dealing with the rapture in the New Testament” (“Posttribulationism Today: Part VIII: The Comforting Hope of 1 Thessalonians,” Bibliotheca Sacra 133 [January 1976]: 11). 13 John

F. Walvoord, “Posttribulationism Today: Parts 1–8,” Bibliotheca Sacra 132 and 133 (1975/1976): 16-315; 11-311. 14

Randall E. Otto, “The Meeting in the Air (1 Thess 4:17),” Horizons of Biblical Theology 19 (December 1997): 200.

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1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 15 Ibid.,

201

16 Ibid.,

202.

17 Ibid.,

205–206.

18 Robert

H. Gundry, “The Hellenization of Dominical Tradition and Christianization of Jewish Tradition in the Eschatology of 1–2 Thessalonians,” NTS 33 (1987): 172. 19 Helmut

Koester, “Imperial Ideology and Paul’s Eschatology in 1 Thessalonians,” in Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Harrisburg PA: Trinity Press International, 1997), 161–62. 20 J.

Plevnik, “1 Thess 5, 1-11: Its Authority, Intention and Message,” Biblica 60/1 (1979): 79. 21 Ibid.,

80.

22 A.

Malherbe, “Anti-Epicurean Rhetoric in 1 Thessalonians,” in Text und Geschichte, Festschrift fur Dieter Luhrmann (Marburg, Germany: N. G. Elwere Verlag, 1999), 141. 23 Koester,

“Imperial Ideology,” 163.

24 Ibid. 25 C.

L. Mearns, “Early Eschatological Development in Paul: The Evidence of I and II Thessalonians,” NTS 27 (January 1981): 138. 26 Ibid.,

139.

27 Ibid. 28 Thomas

R. Edgar, “The Meaning of ‘Sleep’ in 1 Thessalonians 5:10,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 22/4 (December 1979): 345–49. 29 Tracy

L. Howard, “The Meaning of ‘Sleep’ in 1 Thessalonians 5:10: A Reappraisal,” Grace Theological Journal 6/2 (Fall 1985): 337–48. 30 Elizabeth

Barnes, “Unit IV: Eschatology: The Doctrine of Last Things, Topic 2: Theories in Eschatology,” lecture notes printed for “Christian Theology” course, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (Course no. HT 2312), 2000. 31 Lisa

Beyer, “Target: Jerusalem,” Time, 18 January 1999, 67.

32 Barnes,

“Unit IV.”

Paul’s Closing Words: A Code of Ethics for Artisans 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 First and last words are often the most significant ones in human relationships as well as in literary documents. Saying hello and goodbye are sometimes more important than what is said in the middle. So it is with reading and writing. As readers of Paul’s written letters, we pay close attention to the beginning and ending words. In this section, we strain to hear Paul’s Beginnings and Endings final thoughts in the last chapter of We shall not cease from exploration 1 Thessalonians. [Beginnings and Endings] And the end of all of our exploring When Paul begins his letter, he offers Will be to arrive where we started thanksgiving for the reader’s faith, hope, And to know the place for the first time. and love (1 Thess 1:3). He praises the Excerpted from T. S. Eliot, “Little Giddings,” in Four Quartets (New York: Harvest Books, 1968), pt. v, ll. 27–30. members of the community for their model faith, which has been an example for all of the region and beyond (1:8). The readers are prepared to hear more. And they do. In between flowery words of praise, Paul introduces teaching materials (paraenesis) that give ethical guidelines as well as theological instruction. With praise and paraenesis, Paul also adds words of consolation (parakl∑sis) that reveal Paul’s pastoral care ability as well as his intent for communication in the letter. In traditional Interwoven Celtic Circle alliterative form, we can describe Paul’s communicative strategy in 1 Thessalonians as a composite of words of praise, paraenesis (ethical teachings), and parakl∑sis (words of encouragement). All three forms enable Paul to communicate a sense of friendship and apostolic presence in this letter. When Paul closes his letter, however, he chooses only one of these forms—paraenesis; Paul’s closing words in this letter are clear and simple directives for moral living. Last-minute ethical instruction is given to the Thessalonian community in 5:12-22. Verses 23-28

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provide the closing prayer to the entire letter. Thus, of these three—praise, paraenesis, parakl∑sis —the greatest of these, for Paul, is paraenesis. If closing words are the ones closest to the mission and goal of the writer, namely those words that in the last minute the author feverishly writes to ensure that the most important details are not forgotten, then these final words of Paul to the believers warrant scrutiny. Like a doting mother who yells final warnings to the teenage son who walks out the front door with car key in hand, about to embark on a Saturday evening adventure—“Be home on time; drive carefully; observe the speed limits; buckle your seatbelt!”—Paul writes these last-minute words of instruction. Paul continues to teach the believers how to live together. It is not enough to discuss the coming of Christ, as Paul wrote in the preceding verses. It is important for Paul and the first-century readers that the members of the community who wait for Jesus’ coming know also how to live together as they wait. Paul gives lastminute reminders of practical instruction for ethical living in the final words of the first letter to the Thessalonian community.

COMMENTARY Two subunits function within this final section, 5:12-28. The first unit deals with Paul’s final instructions, or paraenesis, in 5:12-22 to the members of the Thessalonian community. In the following material, the social setting of the Thessalonian community as a workshop of artisans will be explored. Paul’s own occupational status as a fellow laborer or artisan will also be discussed. Finally, Paul’s words of instruction, which form a code of morality for the first-century artisan, will be noted from vv. 12-28. The second unit, 5:23-28, uses prayer language to conclude Paul’s first letter. Paul’s words of prayerful benediction form the conclusion to the first letter to the Thessalonians. Life Lived in the Artisan Church, 5:12-22

The form of 5:12-22 has a parallel unit in 4:1-12. Both units are written for the purpose of establishing a standard of ethical living for members of the community. The exhortations in chapter 4 provide two important and general admonitions for appropriate sexual behavior: abstain from evil (4:3) and learn to control your own vessel (sexual urges, 4:4). The list of ethical guidelines includes practical reminders of life within the community: live quietly, mind

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your own affairs, and work with your own hands. The male artisans need to be reminded of boundaries for personal and professional ethics—codes for sexual behavior and also the rules of ethics for their industry. Paul’s words speak directly to their work ethic. To the group of male artisans who perhaps are crafting vessels out of clay or sewing leather hides (sharing Paul’s vocation as tentmaker) in the workroom, Paul teaches the importance of working with one’s hands (4:11). The role of the laborer in the artisan community usually depends on independent solitary moments of productivity. Paul offers practical advice to the artist who makes crafts for a living: “quietly do your work with your own hands.” This admonition ensures greater productivity in the workshop as well as stronger social relationships among the workers. [Consumer Goods in the First-century World]

Thus, Paul begins the final words of the letter to the Thessalonians by once again addressing the needs of this workingclass congregation: “We beg you, brothers, to appreciate the laborers [kopiøntas] among you and those who lead [proistamenous] and admonish you in the Lord” (5:12). Paul begs the readers to acknowledge and appreciate the laborers who work in the community. A general exploration of the role of manual laborers in the first century and Paul’s specific role in the artisan church is necessary for our interpretation of this passage. Background information conConsumer Goods in the First-century World It must be remembered that overland transportation of consumer goods was very expensive. Only special industrial products were not manufactured locally: textiles from Patrae and Tarsus, for example, or glass products from Egypt, which were exported even into distant areas. But, as a rule, each city had a large number of factories. Some were small shops with only one or two employees; larger plants employed dozens of slaves or paid laborers. These workshops could produce all the goods necessary for local consumption, while at the same time they provided jobs and income for the majority of the city’s population. Owners and workers, craftsmen and businessmen, merchants and even slaves constituted the large middle class of the cities. Helmut Koester, Introduction to the New Testament Volume One: History, Culture, and Religion in the Hellenistic Age (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 334.

Sarcophagus. The panel on the left shows a shoemaker at work. A Greek inscription names the man, his wife and a friend. The prosperity brought to Ostia by the construction of the great harbours attracted immigrants from all parts of the Mediterranean world. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, Italy. (Credits: Carole Raddato / Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-2.0)

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cerning the first-century artisan is a key to understanding the meaning of this paraenetical section and conclusion to Paul’s letter. The Thessalonian Church as a Group of Laborers

Many interpreters have understood the word “laborers” to represent spiritual leaders who are working in the church community. This interpretation ignores the point that the designation “laborer” could simply refer to the people who produce goods for the society. The spiritual, nonmaterialist interpretation locks in a particular view that obscures the economic, social, and gender realities of the social world of biblical texts. In this spiritual and more traditional perspective, to labor is to teach or preach the gospel, not a simple designation for an occupation or specific type of employment. For example, according to New Testament interpreter David Black, the laborers mentioned by Paul are a group of elders who exercise oversight in the congregation, much like the model of a Jewish synagogue.1 Black assumes that the laborers are spiritual guides who “toil continuously in the service of the church by exercising leadership in the practical affairs of the congregation and by admonishing its members in the ways of the Lord.”2 Why does the word “laborer” need to be a circumlocution or metaphor for describing a minister or a church leader? Does the word need to be spiritualized in order to have meaning? Why can we not view the economic and social realities of the contexts of the first-century communities of faith? To understand Paul’s view of work in physical and spiritual terms opens new Trades and Artisans avenues of thought. To offer such a vista does not deny the spiritual emphasis of the community; rather, it allows for a more complete understanding of the way faith is understood in this setting. The members of the early community of faith were not just spiritual bodies, quietly waiting around for Jesus to return. They were real people who created as well as prayed, who worked as well as witnessed. These people belonged to the world of work, the production of goods, barter, and profit. Visualizing the Thessalonian church members meeting in a workshop rather than a house church—filled with church members who are Krater with tuna fish seller. Red-figure vase painting on a siciliotic crater. (Credit: Gmihail / Wikimedia Commons, CC-BYartisans and led by a master craftsman, the SA-3.0-RS) apostle-tentmaker Paul—has many benefits.

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That window allows new avenues for various worship venues for first-century as well as twenty-first-century faith communities. Joan Peterson and others suggest that the kind of Christian house churches in Rome were mixed: What kind of houses contained the house-churches at Rome? One’s impressions tend to be mixed. On the one hand, they seem to have been the houses of wealthy persons, with large rooms decorated lavishly with paintings, on the other, they have connection with the world of craftsmen and artisans; the house of Clement was in close proximity to a tenement-house; the house of Pammachius contained various tanks and basins suggestive of industrial activity, and its ground floor consisted of shops; the house of Cecilia included a granary; and that attributed to Equitius looks like a barn or storeroom.3

Peter Lampe, who also investigates architectural structures of faith communities in Rome, considers the benefits of revisiting the issue of first- and twenty-first-century house churches: [Lampe’s Work in Rome]

Here the early Christian model of church life in private houses poses the question: Should the church increasingly go back to and use structures that already exist in the society (i.e., private homes); should it manifest itself more and more Lampe’s Work in Rome there and reduce its own institutional For additional reading, see Peter Lampe, From Paul to weight a little? Would this foster a Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two better integration of the church in the Centuries, trans. Michael Steinhauser (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2003), and Philip Harland, Associates, Synagogues, and society? Private homes could be increasCongregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean ingly used for all kinds of church Society (Fortress Press, 2003). activities, where it is appropriate. They are, however, not the only institutional structures in the society on which the church might want to ride. Even factories could be considered, in which working priests laboring at the assembly-line serve their fellow workers by showing Christian love and (pastoral) care in an inconspicuous way, doing ministry more by how they act than by what they proclaim in words. This would be church in and not beside the fabric of the people’s everyday lives.4 Roman insula

That perspective might also engender conversation regarding

(Credit: Lalupa / Wikimedia Commons, PD-user)

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the role of bi-vocational clergy, an important discussion in this post-denominational era. If the Apostle Paul mingled his occupation of tentmaking with his calling of apostle, then another model for ministerial vocation becomes available for clergy who struggle with employment issues in waning denominational structures. Paul’s world was not simply divided into sacred (church) and secular (tentmaking). The two worlds converged. The early church was not just a mysterious, spiritual entity within a tightly knit mystical cocoon. The church was in the world. The world was in the church. We can benefit from exploring alternative first-century models for church structures, both in terms of architecture and clergy preparation. B. Ehrman imagines Paul’s mission and church setting in this manner: Paul and his companions arrived in the city and as a first step rented out a room in a downtown insula. Insulae were the ancient equivalent of apartment buildings, packed close together in urban areas. They had a ground floor containing rooms that faced the street for small businesses (grocers, potters, tailors, cobblers, metal workers, engravers, scribes, and so forth), while the upper two or three stories served as living quarters for the people who worked below and for anyone else who could afford the rent. Shops were places not only of commerce but of social interaction, as customers, friends, and neighbors would stop by and talk. Given the long workdays and the absence of weekends (Jews, of course, took the Sabbath off; and everyone else closed up for religious celebrations), the workplace was much more an arena of social intercourse than most business establishments are today.5

Insula Gismondi (20th C). Reconstruction of an insula in Ostia with a large house and apartments in 2d C., Museo della Civilta Romana, Rome, Italy. (Credit: Scala/Art Resource, NY)

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Ehrman also asks, “Did Paul and his companions set up a small business, a kind of Christian leather goods shop, in the cities they visited?” “If so,” says Ehrman, “this would explain a good deal of what Paul recounts concerning his interaction with the Thessalonian Christians in the early days.”6 In order to follow this line of thinking, it is important to understand Paul’s own vocational formation more clearly. Although this idea of artisan community and tenement church is just now gaining support in Pauline scholarship via studies in archaeology and sociology, earlier scholars provided insight into Paul’s vocational status. Adolf Deissmann, writing in the early 1920s, was one of the first scholars to acknowledge the importance of Paul’s vocation for his apostolic mission. Deissmann described Paul as belonging “to the artisan class of the Imperial Age.”7 Deissmann saw Paul as one “whose trade was the means of gaining his first acquaintance in a strange city; of one whose ethics could be described as workshop morality.”8 Robert Jewett advances the possibility that Paul, the laborer, may have joined the existing community of laborers in Thessaloniki to form a “tenement church.”9 To posit that the social location of the Thessalonian church may have been a space other than a house is to add another possible venue for the structure of the early church, thereby challenging traditional Pauline scholarship that presents the house church as the only structural model.10 Jewett’s research is advanced by the archaeological findings of Peter Lampe. Lampe has investigated the areas of Christian house churches in Rome using literary and archaeological evidence. He discovered that the two most likely areas for early Christian house churches were in Travestere and in the area around the Appian Way, near Porta Capena. The poorest people in Rome lived around these two areas. Early Christians also lived there. Lampe discovered that the area in the first century most likely did not contain huge private villas that would have housed early Christian worship. Rather, Lampe found places of impoverishment, high-rise slum dwellings occupied by laborers from many warehouses: seamen, brick and tile workers, potters, tanners, and leatherworkers. This area, densely populated by early Christians, would have had its own dwellings, which would have been more like an insula, a tenement apartment or workshop, rather than a domus, a private home.11 “It is likely that the majority of early Christian converts lived in the insulae of the inner cities rather than in private villas,” echoes Jewett. This arrangement, unlike the house church that required a wealthy patron who hosted the members within a private villa, was

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possible through a lease or rental by the members themselves. The quarters were used as living and working space. Jewett proposes that we begin thinking about the possibility of “tenement churches,” in addition to the traditional concept of “house churches,” as forms of early Christian communities. “The upper portions of the four- and five-story apartment blocks,” describes Jewett, “typically contained tiny cubicles of about ten square meters, representing the space for one family. These slum buildings contained no central heating, no running water, no toilet facilities. Occupants were often fed from a common kitchen; others cooked on charcoal braziers in their rooms.”12 Ronald Hock proposed a similar idea in the 1970s, when he published “The Workshop as a Social Setting for Paul’s Missionary Preaching.”13 Hock notes that scholars have occasionally suggested that Paul used the workshop for missionary activity, but the “thesis has never been developed in detail.”14 Hock gathers his research from the evidence in Paul’s writings and Acts. Paul worked as a tentmaker in Corinth and Ephesus (Acts 18:3; 20:34). In addition, Paul also speaks of his work in 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 9:15-18; and 2 Corinthians 12:14. Paul’s work, according to Hock, may have been that of a tentmaker. Most likely, Paul was responsible for cutting and sewing leather.15 With this vocation, Paul would have entered various workshops for employment and also for missionary activity. Hock finds in ancient philosophical tradition possible precedent for using workshops as places for intellectual discourse. Ancient philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Antisthenes, held intellectual conversations in the gymnasium, the marketplace, the courts, public baths, taverns, and Olympic games. Socrates discussed philosophy in the workshop of Simon the shoemaker.16 Other workshops were also used, such as those belonging to saddlers, painters, sculptors, and armorers. Hock suggests that Paul may have preached and worked in the workshop, perhaps even sponsored by patron, Jason (Acts 17:5).17 Abraham Malherbe adds that the insula or workshop apartment would most likely be in a dense urban center, containing a row of shops on the ground floor, facing the street. Accommodations for the owner and their families would be upstairs or in the rear of the shop. Malherbe contends, On the premises would be space for the manufacturing of goods sold in the shops, and living quarters for visitors, employees, and servants or slaves. These households were therefore quite unlike the modern nuclear family. They represented a considerable cross section of a

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 major portion of society, made up of manual laborers and tradespeople. Such households were part of an intricate social network, being linked to other households by ties of kinship, friendship, professional advantage, and so on. Paul’s strategy of initiating his work in such households was a sound one, because the household provided him with a relatively secluded setting and a ready-made audience as well as a network along which his influence could spread.18

Paul as an Artisan Missionary

To visualize the believers in a workshop, or insula, is predicated on understanding Paul’s role as a bi-vocational apostle, or artisan-missionary. How confident can we be that Paul belonged to the working class of manual laborers? Ronald Hock, acknowledging the work of Deissmann, is the leader in the current scholarly conversation concerning Paul’s vocational status. He offers the first book-length study of the subject.19 Hock writes, The importance of Paul’s having plied a trade during this period is suggested by the fact that tentmaking was his primary means of livelihood in the various cities on his missionary journeys. More specifically, our evidence allows us to picture Paul at work in Thessalonica (1 Thess 2:9) and at Corinth (1 Cor 4:12; Acts 18:3), later at Ephesus (Acts 19:11-12; 20:34), and once again at Corinth (2 Cor 12:14).20

Hock contends that Paul was a tentmaker, a manual laborer who diligently worked “day and night” cutting and sewing leather for his economic sustenance, wherever he was preaching the gospel. This artisan missionary was working in Thessaloniki. That he joined with a group of fellow artisans in a workshop church is likely. Paul’s instructions, therefore, to these male artisans, related not only to theological affirmations or religious perspectives, but also to real-life issues of communal life and efforts for greater productivity and corporate gain. In the tentmaking trade, Paul would have started work as an apprentice at the age of thirteen and would have spent much of his day in a workshop. After two or three years, Paul would have been as skilled as his trainer. He would have been given a set of tools at the end of his apprenticeship. He would have only needed a minimum of tools for his work—a stool, a table, a sharpening stone, and oils for the leather products.21 Paul could have even borrowed these tools from the artisan group. James Jeffries suggests that “it seems likely that Paul used his workshop when possible to

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carry out missionary activity. The relatively quiet nature of leatherwork could have been the context for discussions with fellow workers and customers.”22 Richard S. Ascough adds to the discussion of the social setting of the Thessalonian congregation by suggesting that the “Thessalonian Christian community founded by Paul was similar in composition and structure to a professional voluntary association.”23 Presuming that Paul and the Thessalonians worked at the same trade, Paul joined the group, which had already formed into a voluntary association, a group or guild of artisans who gather together sharing a common occupation or purpose. Ascough suggests that Paul joined the group of manual laborers, an association of skilled artisans who made their living by working as tentmakers or leatherworkers, and worked within this setting for his preaching and teaching. Ascough also suggests that the group was most likely composed of men only. Women would not have been members of an association of artisans in a trade dominated by males even if they worked in the same occupation.24 Women could serve as patrons of all-male guilds but would not have participated in them.25 Code of Morality for Christian Artisans

Paul has already introduced the theme of brotherly love in 1 Thessalonians 4:9. Paul assumes that the brothers understand the term but are having difficulty implementing the actions. These brothers are living close to one another as they work, perhaps replacing their own families of origin with the work relations. Their relationships with one another are also unique in their position as new believers. They have chosen to be together not only because of a shared trade but also because they have found a common belief in Jesus Christ. Paul has been responsible for the formation of this young Christian community of artisans. His words to them are from a father figure to a group of sons. Perhaps this association was not functioning well. Jewett suggests that “at least some of the Christian groups in Thessalonica were having difficulty maintaining support for the tenement church system.”26 Paul’s words are moral directives that have at least two functions: (1) to teach the brothers about the life of faith and (2) to enhance their productivity as artisans as well as believers in Christ. Paul writes a code of ethics for his brothers in the workshop. Like a company that broadly boasts of their mission and code of ethical conduct with a framed document that hangs on the wall for

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all customers to view, this group of laborers is also challenged to follow its own artisan code of ethics. These words remind the workers of their commitment to one another and to God. This artisan morality that Paul prescribes is simple yet profound. The artisan code of ethics as stated in 5:12-22 is as follows: (1) Recognize and respect the laborers and leaders among you (vv. 12-13a). (2) Live at peace with yourselves (v. 13b). (3) Correct the idle, encourage and help the weak, be patient to everyone (v. 14). (4) Be good to one another (v. 15). (5) Rejoice always; pray unceasingly; give thanks in everything (vv. 16-18). (6) Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophecy (vv. 19- 20). (7) Examine everything; hold fast to beauty (v. 21). (8) Keep away from every kind of evil (v. 22). (1) Recognize and respect the laborers and leaders among you (vv. 12-13a). Paul begs (erotomen) the brothers: “Appreciate the laborers who work hard among you and those who lead and care for you in the Lord; consider them in love beyond all measure because of their work.” The word under most scrutiny in these two verses is “laborers” (kopiøntas). The Greek lexicon give two definitions of “labor”: (1) “to become weary, tired”; (2) “to work hard, toil, strive, struggle, of physical, but also mental and spiritual exertion.”27 Wanamaker concedes that køpian (lit., “to labor”) is used generally of physical labor (2 Thess 3:8; 1 Cor 4:12) but more commonly in Paul’s letters of his own activity in spreading the gospel (1 Cor 15:10; Gal 4:11; Phil 2:16; Col 1:29) or the efforts of others on behalf of the gospel (1 Cor 16:16; Rom 16:6, 12).28 If one chooses to see the artisan church as the social setting of this letter with members of the same trade living, working, and worshiping together, then the word “labor” in this verse is not a metaphor for spiritual exertion, as some commentators explain, but actually refers to the physical expenditure of energy. Labor means physical, manual labor. Paul is speaking of the kind of labor that is done with one’s hands, intensive labor that uses muscle and energy. Although this interpretation does not discount the reality that there were those who were also spiritual leaders within the community, the focus is on the manual labor performed by members of the artisan church.

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Paul is calling for an attitude of appreciation for the manual workers in the congregation. The men living in the worshiping community work very hard. Paul challenges the others in the community to respect, appreciate, and acknowledge those people. Could this group of men be the senior laborers, the seasoned workers who are responsible for training the young apprentices? Perhaps Paul is requesting that the young interns or apprentices, who are being mentored by senior craftsmen, respect those who have already spent years working at their trade. Paul also challenges the members of the Thessalonian church to appreciate those who stand in front, the ones who are the leaders (proistamenous) of the group. The word does not refer to a particular ecclesiastical office of leader; the church is too young for structured hierarchy. That will develop later in Paul’s writings and in post-Pauline churches. This word “leader,” only used eight times by Paul in all of his writings, perhaps refers to the senior men in the association who manage the affairs of the group. Perhaps the leaders are the master craftsmen who help train young apprentices and maintain the working and selling environment of the shop. Perhaps they are the ones who judge the quality of the product before the goods are finally sold to the public. They are the ones who carry the responsibility of the larger group. They are to be appreciated, says Paul. The role of these men, who stand out in front, is that of adviser. Paul urges the brothers to give respect to those leaders, who are also manual laborers, the ones who lead and also advise (vouthetountas) the group. Perhaps the other members of the group are, by primary disposition, independent and creative artisans. They work their craft usually in solitude; perhaps their attitude is less than collegial. However, they have chosen to belong to this collective of artisans perhaps for economic support as well as Christian fellowship. Leaders emerge from the group to organize the affairs of the collective and to ensure the productivity and longevity of the occupation. Paul wants those leaders to be respected by the often independent group of laborers. Respect for the senior craftsmen will ensure greater productivity. Not only are the leaders to be respected and appreciated, but they are to be loved beyond measure (5:13). The first step is to exhort the members to respect the work and leadership of the ones who are the experts of the trade. In addition, they are to “consider them in love beyond measure because of their work [ergon].” Paul’s point is even clearer here than before. This admonition is not simply to the spiritual leaders of the group, those who are teachers and

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preachers of the gospel. Paul refers to those who are the senior craftsmen, who have the experience and knowledge of the trade. The other brothers are to respect that position, loving them beyond all measure for the years of work they bring to the artisan community. Paul is developing a brotherhood centered on Jesus Christ, which also functions as working community that needs reminders of ethical standards to enhance their communal and working life. (2) Live at peace with yourselves (v. 13b). Eugene Peterson’s The Message translates v. 13 in this way: “Overwhelm them with appreciation and love! Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part.” Paul has birthed a faith community whose roots belong in the real world of economic trade and the production of goods. Their faith rests in Christ, but their work production rests in one another. If one person is disagreeable, the work of the entire group is affected. If one person does not pull his weight, then overall production is diminished. Perhaps in the tight quarters of the workshop, where space is a luxury, and most of the time is spent in production, the greatest challenge is in positive personal relationships. How to avoid quarrels as the group begins and ends the workday in the same room, eating together and worshiping together, is one of Paul’s primary tasks. And so he reminds them that one of the greatest challenges of faith is to live in peace with yourselves (eautois)—at least these are his words as found in some Greek manuscripts. An interesting textual variant occurs with the pronoun “yourselves.” Some Greek manuscripts contain the word “yourselves” (eautois); others have the word “them” (autous). Textual Variants in 1 Thessalonians 5:13 Both pronouns appear in various Greek manueautois (yourselves)—This word scripts. [Textual Variants in 1 Thessalonians 5:13] Which appears in the following Greek manuscripts: A B D2 K L 33.365. 630. 1241. 1739. word is closest to the original manuscript (of c 2495c 1881 which no copy exists)? Some important and reliable Greek texts include the Greek word autois (them)—This word appears in the foltranslated as “them.” This word seems to retain lowing Greek manuscripts: P30 D4 F G P y 81. 104. the force of the preceding verses. In this 1881. 2464. manner, Paul admonishes the brothers to appreciate the laborers, who are leaders and advisers, and because of their work to consider them in love beyond measure (vv. 12-13). Paul adds in v. 13b: “Live in peace with them.” This variant reading needs to be seriously considered as a viable option. The other option might work just as easily in grammatical terms; however, the meaning shifts slightly. If the word “yourselves” is the original thought, then Paul is shifting the focus from the leaders to the individual members of the community, admonishing them to

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“live at peace with yourselves.” This admonition then is directed to the welfare of the entire group and not just to the leaders. Both options appear to be compatible with the internal sense of the large passage. The majority of translators/interpreters, however, have chosen the reflexive plural pronoun “yourselves.” This moves the focus away from the leaders and places the responsibility for ethical conduct in the hands of the artisans. Be at peace with one another, says Paul. Collegial relationships in the workroom are essential to economic productivity. (3) Correct the idle; encourage and help the weak; be patient to everyone (v. 14). Paul writes, “We encourage [parakaloumen] you, brothers, to admonish the idle [ataktous], comfort the faint hearted [antechesthe], help the weak [asthenøn], be patient toward everyone.” [The Four Imperatives in 1 Thessalonians 5:14] The Four Imperatives in 1 Thessalonians The primary questions are, Who are these 5:14 people? Why is Paul commanding the Admonish the idlers Comfort the fainthearted Thessalonians to encourage, admonish, and help Help the weak them? What is happening in the community Be patient toward everyone that warrants Paul’s admonishment of patience? First, Paul wants to make sure that the brothers correct the ones who are not taking their work seriously—the idlers. Who are they? Many commentators claim that the idlers are community members who are spiritually lazy, unruly, and undisciplined in the faith. Some interpreters see the idlers as those who are resistant to the authority of the church. Others conclude that members of the group are “enthusiasts who because of the nearness of the parousia are no longer taking seriously the things of everyday life.”29 The idle ones are also mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, where it appears that various members have given up jobs and require financial support from the congregation. Some interpreters consider this group to be those who have claimed special spiritual status rather than their normal employment as they wait for Jesus’ return. Most commentators choose to describe the group as the rebellious or insubordinate few who refuse to follow the authority of the group.30 Why work so hard to negate the most obvious meaning, however? The simple rendering appears to be the most probable. Paul is talking about a group of artisans who are not producing or creating. They are not necessarily the spiritually lazy ones but are the ones who are actually wasting time in the workshop. Time is valuable to a craftsman. If one does not work, one does not eat (2 Thess 3:6-11). One cannot be lazy or carefree with time and also produce and support the work of the group. If one artisan refuses

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to work, then the laziness of that one affects the productivity of the entire group. They are not necessarily waiting for the end of the time; they are simply just not working. Second, Paul commands the brothers to encourage the faint hearted. The Greek word oligopsychous, rendered “faint hearted,” literally means “small soul” (oligos + psyche). Perhaps these are the members of the community who have lost themselves in grief (small souls) over the deaths of their loved ones (1 Thess 4:13). Those who are sad need to be carefully observed by the members of the community. According to Paul, the community has an ethical responsibility to care for members who are lost in sadness.31 The third imperative reminds the brothers to help the weak ones in the community. Who are the weak ones? Perhaps they are the ones who are physically sick or whose faith is weak. The word could even refer to members who are having difficulty producing an appropriate craft—those who are weaker in their abilities to work with their hands, for example. For Abraham Malherbe, however, the weak refer to people in the community “who find it hard to live virtuously.”32 Perhaps Paul is describing a condition or general disposition rather than a particular situation or experience. Cicero says “weakness is the inability of the rational faculty to bear virtue’s hardships.”33 Paul commands the brothers to help those members of the community who are having difficulty bearing hardships. Pastoral care is to be extended to those brothers who are weak in whatever manner. The fourth and final imperative exhorts the members of the community to be patient toward one another. Paul’s interest continues to be in sustaining relationships within the community. The state of the artisan guild depends on a collective spirit. Better relationships mean greater productivity. Paul’s interest in community formation, however, is not simply for the purpose of production for good or economic gain. Paul’s interest is much more focused. Paul, the apostle, teaches the young communities of faith how to live together in their faith in Jesus Christ. For Paul, believers are to live together in harmony (1 Cor 1:12-13; Phil 2:1-11). This injunction does not simply imply patience toward the believer but also toward the unbeliever. Paul desires that the brothers in Thessaloniki live patiently with everyone. (4) Be good to one another (5:15). The Common English Bible translates this verse as, “Don’t be hateful to people just because they are hateful to you but rather be good to each other and everyone else.” Do not return evil for evil. Retaliation is a familiar theme in the Hebrew Bible (Lev 24:19-21; Deut 19:21; Prov 21:22-25),

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although repudiated in the Wisdom tradition of Proverbs (20:22; 24:29; 25:21). In Romans 12:17a Paul speaks again of non-retaliation. Paul’s understanding of communal living comes from Jesus’ own teaching. Jesus clearly speaks against the common tradition of retaliation and creates a new worldview for righting wrongs. Rather than taking an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, Jesus teaches, “if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt 5:38-42). Paul brings that ethical tradition to the Thessalonian community. The Greek word for “good” (agathon) is different from our understanding of the English word “good.” The concept is not limited simply to random acts of kindness or elaborate displays of niceness. Paul exhorts the brothers to seek to establish a life for one another that is filled with goodness. Seek to live life in such a way that it is beneficial to others. The ramifications are wide. Paul’s injunction challenges everything from the way we use natural resources to how we drive in traffic; from our strategies for sharing economic aid with developing countries to our lack of attention to recycling the daily garbage. The injunction is powerful—live life filled with goodness for one another. This code for artisans announces that a spirit of competition will not be tolerated, that selfish acts that empower one individual while taking power from another will not be accepted. The artisan community who followed Paul’s injunction would be seeking to establish a communal life where everyone looked for the well-being of the group. Eugene Peterson in The Message renders this verse in a most colloquial and beneficial manner: “And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and do your best to bring it out.” (5) Rejoice always; pray unceasingly; give thanks in everything (5:16-18). These two words, “rejoice always,” have often been misunderstood. Many literal readers understand the verse to mean that the believer is in a giddy state of gladness all the time. How did a first-century artisan hear this verse? Perhaps he thought, “Is Paul telling me if I mess up an expensive sheet of leather by sewing the wrong side first, then I am supposed to be happy?” Or maybe he thought, “Am I supposed to rejoice when my working arm is injured and I am not able to work?” Paul frequently urges other believers to rejoice (Rom 12:12; 2 Cor 13:11; Phil 2:18; 3:1; 4:4). However, Paul does not imply that rejoicing depends on particular events or situations. Rejoicing is an attitude, not a response to individual circumstances.

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We know that one cannot always rejoice over every event of life. Just like the life of the first-century Christian, sometimes our life is hard and all of the time life is not fair. And we are not always happy. What then is Paul saying? The Greek word for “rejoice” (chairete) was also used in greetings. For example, the phrase chaire, chairete means “Welcome, good day, I am glad to see you.” The word was used much like our English greeting of “Hello,” except the word itself had even deeper meaning. In Greek, the word of greeting is a word of joyful acknowledgment. Perhaps Paul is using this ancient form of personal greeting to teach the believers that everything must begin with joy. The reality is that everything will not end there. But what might happen if we began at the point of joy? In other words, Paul may be admonishing believers to begin with the cup half full rather than half empty. Greet the day with joy. Greet your brother with joy. Make your craft with joy. Worship and pray with joy. Of course, the day will bring sorrow; the brother will disappoint; the craft will not be perfect; and the day may bring an earthquake or storm. Nonetheless, begin everything with a positive sense of wellbeing and happiness. The believer can begin with the confidence that all will be well—in due time. The code of ethics continues for the artisan believers when Paul admonishes the believers to pray without ceasing. Paul writes about prayer in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; 2:13; 3:10; 5:17. Prayer is integral to Paul’s understanding of the life of the believer. Paul challenges these young believers who are artisans working daily in the shop to practice their faith while they work. While one is working with one’s hands, the very act of creating is a prayer. While one is preparing the noonday meal for the brothers, the very act of preparing food can be a prayer. Even sweeping the floors of debris from the day’s work can be a prayer. Prayer, according to Paul, is not unlike breathing. It happens to a person who is alive. The person often is unaware of the many breaths unless, of course, one is out of shape and must run to catch the bus in the morning. Then the runner notices all too easily the hardships of breathing. The believer is the same way. Prayer becomes as reflexive as breathing. In the moments of crisis, however, for those who are not in shape, the discipline of prayer takes on a new meaning. The third admonition to the believers is to give thanks in all things (5:18). The last injunction in the trilogy of admonitions for prayer reminds the believers that the attitude of joy and thanksgiving is the primary directive for life. Giving thanks is more than a nice social gesture expressed to the cook after the evening meal or

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to the person at the ticket counter. Paul Tillich describes Paul’s admonition to the believers as an invitation to a state of silent gratefulness: In all expressions of gratitude toward others, the object of our thanks is usually visible. We know at least whom to thank, and what for, although we often do not know how to thank. But there is also gratefulness that is, so to speak, without a definite object towards which to turn. This is so not because we do not know the object, but because there is no object. We are simply grateful. Thankfulness has taken hold of us, not because something special has happened to us, but just because we are, because we participate in the glory and power of being. It is a mood of joy, but more than a mood, more than a transitory emotion. It is a state of being. And it is more than joy. It is a joy that includes the feeling that it is given, that we cannot accept it without bringing some sacrifice—namely, the sacrifice of thanks. But there is no one to whom we can bring it. And so it remains within us, a state of silent gratefulness.34

(6) Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophecy (5:19-20). In the language of Plutarch and Cicero, Paul may be referring to the creative spirit as well as to the Holy Spirit that resides in the lives of the creative artisans in Thessaloniki. According to Cicero, the inspiration of the oracle of Delphi was “effected by a subterranean spirit or vapor that entered the prophet as she sat on a tripod over a crack in the earth.”35 Plutarch thought the spirit came from the gods.36 Malherbe describes this ancient understanding of spirit and prophecy as a psychology of inspiration: Souls have an innate capacity to prophesy, but they prophesy when they are withdrawn from the body. A temperament or disposition must be attained “through which the reasoning and thinking faculty of the souls is relaxed and released” before they can prophesy (Plutarch, On the Obsolescence of the Oracles 432 C). The prophet withdraws from the present “by a temperament and disposition of the body as it is subjected to a change [called] inspiration” (432 DEF). What foretells the future is irrational and indeterminate in itself; it receives impressions when the prophetic spirit enters the body. Then the “soul becomes hot and fiery, and throws aside the caution that human intelligence lays upon it, and thus often diverts and quenches the inspiration.” The prophet can be imposed upon to prophesy, but when she does not first attain the appropriate disposition, the results are likely to be disastrous and even fatal. (Plutarch, On the Obsolescence of the Oracles 438 A-D; Lucan, Civil War 5.120-97)37

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

Paul’s admonition not to quench the Spirit has traditionally been used in some religious circles as a rationale against formal liturgy and a justification for informal worship, as if prepared pastoral prayers or finely rehearsed Bach anthems might quench the spirit of worship. In addition, this verse has also been used to speak against an educated clergy, admonishing those considering ministerial vocation not to attend seminary or divinity school, lest the “spirit be quenched.” Anything that attempted to harness the mind or bridle the emotions was suspect, lest the freedom-loving energy of the Spirit be dampened or, even more frightening, removed completely. This narrow interpretation did not fully eradicate the church’s need for seminary training for clergy, well-written public prayers, or well-rehearsed liturgical form (thanks be unto God). This interpretation, however, does give us pause. While a finely rehearsed Bach anthem or a well-disciplined divinity school curriculum does not necessarily quench the Spirit, there is some merit in this analysis according to Plutarch and Paul. What does Paul mean when he says that the spirit can be quenched? Is there a way to stop the flow of creative energy, to prohibit free thinking, or to deaden the imagination? Could Paul be saying to this group of male artisans that the craft of one’s hands should match the depth of one’s soul? Could Paul be saying to these men that creative people need creative space? Could Paul be admitting that there are structures, people, and events that block creative freedom—that the Spirit needs to move and have freedom in order to create something new from something old? Perhaps Paul suggests that the hand and soul are connected, that the Holy Spirit and the creative spirit are also linked, that God’s spirit of holiness works in us to create beauty. The goal, therefore, is to create spaces for the flow of the Spirit. In that creative space, new understandings of the future will be created. The Spirit works silently to create paths of understanding both past and future. In that creative space, artists can create, believers can truly worship, and what has not been seen finally can be seen. Paul’s words speak directly to the artisan church. This group of believers is cautioned to keep their minds free from clutter, to work quietly, to listen for the creative flow of the Spirit, to find that place of inspiration that will enable them to create with their hands and at the same time bring them closer to God. Their life together as well as their work together are products of the creative movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They are to cherish that Holy

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Space, rather than suppressing or despising the work of the Spirit in their lives. (7) Examine everything; hold fast to beauty (5:21). Not everything that is created, however, is of the Spirit. Rationality also belongs to the creative process. A path of discernment, therefore, was appropriated in Paul’s code of artisan ethics. There are markers or standards even with the fluid movement of the Spirit. Paul cautions the believers who are working and worshiping in the workshop to “examine [dokimazete] everything.” Every clay object created in the workshop had to be carefully examined. If flaws were apparent, the object would have to be made again. If the craft lacked beauty or functionality, the artist, after careful examination, would place it in the discard pile and then work to create an improved product. Examination, or wide discernment, is crucial in the workshop as well as in religious movements. The message of the prophet must be analyzed. The teachings of the philosopher cannot go unchallenged. Even the wisdom of Jesus is to be carefully examined. Paul urges the believers to think. In the same breath, however, Paul admonishes them “to hold to that which is beautiful [kalon].” Paul is not referring to good dogma, or even to good behavior. Good dogma is historically conditioned and relative, and good behavior is often erratic and uncontrolled. Paul speaks about beauty in terms that transcend dogmatic treatises or even strict moral codes. The beauty that Paul is seeing here may be the essence of the community. That these brothers are banding together to worship and work in the midst of a nonbelieving culture is a sign of great beauty. In addition, these brothers are creating products of beauty, products not simply of their hands but also of their hearts and souls. Beauty transcends. Margaret Miles, using the work of third-century philosopher Plotinus, states that “contemplation is the spiritual discipline by which a person creates and cultivates the capacity to see as beauty.”38 Although artwork can help to train the eye, Miles states that Plotinus insisted that “even the aesthetically challenged can cultivate the capacity to see one another and objects in the world as beauty. Seeing the beauty in the ordinary is the first step toward taking responsibility for what we see.” Paul’s words to the Thessalonians are words especially crafted for artisans who are in the business of creating beauty. Paul urges them in his ethical exhortations to create space for the inspiration, the movement of the Spirit (vv. 19-20), to examine that which has been created, and to hold on to the beautiful (v. 21).

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(8) Keep away from every kind of evil. In summary form, Paul concludes the list of ethics for the artisans in Thessaloniki by commanding them to keep away from every kind of impurity. Paul repeats himself. The message must be important, for Paul has already used the same words in 4:3—stay away from evil (porneias). In that passage, Paul cautions the believers against undisciplined sexual behavior (4:4). In these concluding words of the paraenetical section of the letter, Paul again urges the brothers to keep away from every kind of evil (pon∑rou). The advice is more comprehensive; Paul is urging the brothers to stay away from every kind (eidous) of evil, not simply sexual misconduct. Paul requires holiness. A strict code of behavior is requisite to life in the community. The code, however, is not intended to weed out the bad people and only preserve the good ones, but to create a community of creativity and goodness where the lives of the believers may be strengthened. In order for that to happen, the ethical code has to be displayed and utilized. These eight principles are to be in effect for the community. One’s behavior does matter. Leaders or senior craftsmen are to be respected. The community is to work to live peacefully with one another. Those who are not carrying their weight, the idlers in the group, are to be corrected. Those who are not as good in their work, the weak in spirit or body, are to be encouraged. Everyone is to be treated with patience. Everyone is to be treated with goodness. A spirit of joy, prayer, and thanksgiving is to permeate the workroom. The creative movement of the spirit is to be implored. Inspiration and beauty are treasured hallmarks of the community. In addition, critical thinking and rationality are not to be ignored. Finally, the community is to avoid evil in any form.

CONNECTIONS Max Ehrmann, poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, who lived from 1872 to 1945, wrote a poem in the early 1920s that sounds strangely similar to Paul’s code of ethics for the Thessalonian artisans. The poem titled “Desiderata” was printed in the late 1950s on church letterhead belonging to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland, by the rector, the Reverend Frederick Ward Kates, and placed in the pews for church members to read. The poem entered circulation as belonging to the church and encumbered with an incorrect publication date of

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Desiderata by Max Ehrmann Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have a story, Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here, And whether or not it is clear to you, No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, It is still a beautiful world, Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

1692, the actual date of the founding of the church, not the composition of the poem.39 Later, the poem was used as material for greeting cards and recitations for weddings and funerals. In 1971 the poem was set to music and recorded by Les Crane. The words are worthy of our attention as we think about connections between Paul’s code of ethics for artisans and our own need for a code of behavior. [“Desiderata”] Successful companies have codes of behavior (or mission statements) that often are placed on the walls of their establishments. Some churches of my youth proudly displayed the Baptist Church Covenant in a large glass frame at the front of the sanctuary. Sometimes they would also paste a mimeographed copy in the front of every church songbook. The goal was to display publicly the rules of the group—for both members and nonmembers—for everyone to see. The covenant not only described the function of the collective but also steadily shaped the group into a stronger community by constantly reminding them of their common

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The Church Covenant Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God, to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God, and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ. We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations. We also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale of, and use of, destructive drugs or intoxicating drinks as a beverage; to shun pornography; to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior. We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly

love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay. We moreover engage that when we remove from this place we will, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.

No one knows the origin of this covenant. The document was widely known among Baptist church members in the early 1900s. Records show that in 1920 the Baptist Sunday School Board formalized the text, which had been in use from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and made the covenant available in various written forms for churches to purchase. The churches of my youth placed these words in a huge black picture frame, placed either on the front wall behind the choir, beside the baptistery, or in the front church foyer positioned over the table of flowers and missionary literature. Some churches even pasted these words into the front cover of the church hymnal found in the pew rack. These words were to be remembered.

behavior. The framed covenant was displayed so prominently at the front of many such churches that it could not be ignored. [The Church Covenant] As a girl in my church, I passed the time through many boring sermons by reading the church covenant mounted high on the wall. The document had dual functions; it both described the ideal of communal living and also compelled the readers to stretch to meet the challenges of the words stated in the covenant for communal living. Paul’s code of ethics, likewise, has these same functions. Paul urges his beloved brothers to ascribe to a code of ethics. He provides words to remind them of their previous agreement with one another—to work and worship together. The words also establish a high standard for them to keep. The community is strengthened by this code of ethics. Paul is clear. The community knows the rules. The rules are not made to exclude those who do not follow them; the rules are made to strengthen communal life, which in turn will be a deterrent to improper behavior. Ethics are given for the productivity of the community. The brothers in Thessaloniki are urged to be successful. For the sake of the gospel and for the sake of their employment, their community must function well. Paul works to make that happen with his letter writing and his final words of paraenetical instruction.

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Elbert Hubbard

The Roycrofters, a group of artisans living near Aurora, New York, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, developed a community for five crafts in response to the poor workmanship of the Industrial Revolution. People joined their energies and produced valuable, handcrafted items, from books to furniture. Elbert Hubbard, the group’s leader, wrote these guiding words for the community: Wisdom tells that life and life in abundance lie only in work, love, and laughter—and work. And when I use the word work I mean work with head, heart, and hand. Humanity is changed as you change the environment.

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) (Credit: gutenberg.org [cited 3 June 2008]. Online: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12933/12933-h/12933-h.htm)

The more points you touch humanity the greater the influence.40

To posit that the community in Thessaloniki was composed of artisans creates a new angle of vision for this passage, 5:12-22, and for the entire letter. Several important insights emerge. The first important concept is that Paul’s words have a double meaning. If the social context is simply that of a house church where various kinds of people are gathered in a house and hosted by a rich patron, then Paul’s words carry a particular focus of spiritual direction. However, if the social context can be established as a particular working congregation that lives and works in a tenement house, perhaps even rented, where the first floor is devoted to the production and selling of goods and the top floors are used as residences, then the words have a different meaning. When Paul speaks of leaders in the house church, he is referring to those who have emerged as political figures, with perhaps some economic influence. When Paul speaks about leaders in the artisan church, he is referring to the senior craftsmen who are responsible for teaching the younger men the craft. When Paul teaches communal responsibility in Corinth, the focus is on righteous living for the sake of Christian principles and community reputation. In the letter written to the artisan church in Thessaloniki, however, Paul urges group solidarity not only for the sake of Christian principles but also because their economic existence depends on solid community

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

formation. If they all work, they will all be able to eat. If they do not work, they cannot eat (1 Thess 4:11-12; 2 Thess 3:7-12). Although much more work needs to be done on social analyses of artisan guilds belonging to the first century, tentatively positioning the church in Thessalonians as an artisan community brings Paul’s words to life in a very different manner.41 That Paul works hard to convey the spirit and teachings of Jesus to this community remains the basic reason for his correspondence. But there is more. Paul has attached himself to this group of men because they share a trade. They know the social codes of artisan life. They know the roles of craftsmen. Paul and the artisans in Thessaloniki share a unique bond, not shared in the same way with any other congregation in Paul’s correspondences, with the exception of the working couple Priscilla and Aquila, who are in Corinth from Rome. Paul is intimately connected to this group of working men. They understand one another. New Testament scholar Richard S. Ascough sees the writing of Thessalonians through the social setting lens of a professional voluntary association. Ascough studies the role of the association in the first century and ascribes Paul’s language about death, burial, and memorial to the social context.42 Paul’s eschatological concerns, writes Ascough, “are brought into contact with the larger database of group discourses and practices among the dead as found among voluntary associations.”43 Voluntary associations were concerned with providing appropriate burial services, monuments, and rituals for their dead. That the artisan community was concerned about the deaths of members who were waiting for the return of Christ is thus no surprise when one learns that a primary function of a professional guild in the first century was to provide burial rituals for members. Why is it important to explore this likelihood of a social setting of artisan church for Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians? The new lens does expose new meaning to Paul’s words. In addition, a new link is formed between then and now. Peter Lampe asks a penetrating question: “Should the church increasingly go back to and use structures that already exist in the society (e.g., private homes); should it manifest itself more and more there and reduce its own institutional weight a little? Would this foster a better integration of church and society?”44 Remember that Lampe adds that firstcentury house churches are not the only institutional structures available for emulation in the twenty-first century: “Even factories could be considered, in which working priests laboring at the assembly-line serve their fellow workers by showing Christian love

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and (pastoral) care in an inconspicuous way, doing ministry more by how they act than by what they proclaim in words.”45 The model of artisan church works. My understanding of the artisan church has been shaped by my reading of Jewett, Lampe, Ascough, and others. The most vivid connection, however, was made by the bright and energetic students in the New Testament seminar, “The Thessalonian Correspondence,” taught at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond in May 2001. Their ideas and much of their work fill the pages of this commentary. One student in particular, Habacuc Diaz Lopez, and his careful research on the Thessalonian workshop-church from a Hispanic perspective, convinced me that the energies to uncover a new social setting for the first-century church, other than that of a house, would be profitable for fresh images of church in the twenty-first century. Habacuc Diaz Lopez, a student from Mexico, read Thessalonians from this perspective because of his own experience. I use his words to describe the social setting of an artisan church in Mexico: In several regions of Mexico, the workshop-house is a common place. They represent a clear example of religious communal life. In my own experience, at the age of twelve, I had the opportunity not only to watch, but also to participate in a workshop-church. While living in San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato, I learned how to produce different handicrafts in a carpenter shop that provided me with both a regular wage and spiritual nourishment. During the week, I would work following the direction of an elder artisan who would assign me an easy task, explaining to me step by step how the work should be done. It provided also an opportunity to share my Christian faith with my co-workers. On Sunday mornings I would clean the workshop which later would be used to gather during the worship service. I remember that months later we were allowed by the family of the workshop to use a separate room that was dedicated for the only purpose of worshiping God. Our workshop-church had developed and now had a new configuration.46

The new configuration, according to Habacuc, grew into the Primera Iglesia Bautista of San Miguel de Allende with a building of its own. The Artes de Mexico workshop is still in use, however, at 49 Calzada de la Aurora Avenue, employing people to make crafts to sell, though no worship is involved. When I shared the material prepared for this commentary regarding the social setting of the church in Thessaloniki with the New Testament seminar students, I noticed that Habacuc’s eyes brightened. This student from Mexico was finding new validation

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for his former experiences of worship and work in the Mexican artisan church—experiences that he later told me he had devalued since arriving in the United States. He recognized the value of the Mexican workshops for the spiritual and physical development of his people. Without money, many people believed that churches could not be built. Without land, many Christians were discouraged, thinking they would never be able to find enough money to “build a church.” However, by resurrecting an older model of church structure, the artisan church, the possibility exists that even in impoverished places, where land and money are scarce, new ways of working and worshiping together can emerge. Where one generation of Mexican Christians saw the artisan church model as an inferior one, a first stage toward the development of a big church with much brick and mortar, Habacuc became convinced that artisan churches might be a future development of Christian activity in his country. Habacuc asked, “What is, then, the significance of the Thessalonian church for the Hispanic community?” He explained that many Christian communities are very poor. They do not have money to build fancy churches and elaborate programs. Sometimes it seems like there is no way to strengthen the church. Habacuc adds that it is necessary to remember the example of the Thessalonian workshop-church: “The Thessalonian Christians learned to support each other. The church in Thessalonica makes us consider that ministry is a responsibility and a privilege of God’s laos, and does not belong to a privileged group.” “The Thessalonian church exhorts us to proclaim the Community Covenant for the Thessalonians’ Word of God in a society where oppression is Workshop present. It invites us to practice a pastoral work Recognize and respect the laborers and based upon a spirit of solidarity with those who leaders among you. have nothing,” said Habacuc. For this reason Live at peace with yourselves. and many, many more, the social setting of the Correct the idle; encourage and help the weak; be patient to everyone. Thessalonian congregation needs to be pursued. Be good to one another. The artisan-church setting makes Paul’s words Rejoice always; pray unceasingly: give thanks in more understandable. The artisan-church everything setting also opens new vistas for understanding Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise ecclesiastical structures both then and now. prophecy. [Community Covenant for the Thessalonians’ Workshop]

Examine everything; hold fast to beauty. Keep away from every kind of evil.

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Notes 1 David

Alan Black, “The Weak in Thessalonica: A Study in Pauline Lexicography,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 25/3 (September 1982): 311. 2 Ibid. 3 Joan

M. Peterson, “House-Churches in Rome,” Vigiliae Christianae 23 (1969): 270.

4

Peter Lampe, “The Family of New Testament Times,” Church and Society 84 (November/December 1993): 32. 5 Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 279. 6 Ibid. 7 Adolf

Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (New York: Harper, 1927), 314, as quoted by Ronald F. Hock, “Paul’s Tentmaking and the Problem of His Social Class,” JBL 97/4 (1978): 556. 8 Ibid. 9 Robert

Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Communal Meals in the Early Church: The Implications of a Form-Critical Analysis of 2 Thessalonians 3:10,” Biblical Research 38 (1993): 23–43. 10 For

a survey of studies on house churches, see Jewett, “Tenement Churches,” 24,

n5. 11 Peter

Lampe, Die stadtromischen Christen in den ersten beiden Jahrhunderten: Studien zur Sozialgeschichte (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1987), quoted by Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Communal Meals,” 27–31. See Jewett’s use of Lampe’s work also in “Tenement Churches and Pauline Love Feasts,” Quarterly Review 14 (Spring 1994): 43–58. 12 Jewett,

“Tenement Churches and Pauline Love Feasts,” 49.

13

Ronald F. Hock, “The Workshop as a Social Setting for Paul’s Missionary Preaching,” CBQ 41 (July 1979): 438–50. 14 Ibid.,

439.

15 Ibid.,

441, n8.

16 Ibid.,

444.

17 Ibid. 18 Abraham

J. Malherbe, Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 17–18. 19 Ronald

F. Hock, The Social Context of Paul’s Ministry: Tentmaking and Apostleship (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980). 20 Ibid.,

26.

21 James

S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Explaining the Background of Early Christianity (Downer’s Grove IL: Intervarsity, 1999), 28. 22 Ibid.,

29

23 Richard

S. Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association,” JBL 119/2 (2000): 311–28. 24 Ibid.,

324.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 25 Ibid.,

325–25, n65.

26 Robert

Jewett, “Tenement Churches and Communal Meals,” 39.

27

kopiavw in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 443. 28 Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians

(New International Greek New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 192. 29

Robert Jewett, The Thessalonian Correspondence: Pauline Rhetoric and Millenarian Piety (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 104. 30 Ibid.,

105.

31 Raymond

F. Collins, “The Function of Paraenesis in 1 Thess 4, 1-12; 5, 12-22,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 74/4 (1998): 412. 32 Abraham

Malherbe, The Letters of the Thessalonians (Anchor Bible Commentary, vol. 32B; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 318. 33 Ibid. 34 Paul

Tillich, The Eternal Now (New York: Charles Scribners, 1963), 176–77.

35 Malherbe,

The Letters to the Thessalonians, 335.

36 Ibid. 37 Ibid.,

335–36.

38

Margaret R. Miles, “Becoming Answerable for What We See,” presidential address prepared for the American Academy of Religion, 20 November 1999. See also Margaret Miles, Reading for Life: Beauty, Pluralism, and Responsibility (New York: Continuum, 1997) and Plotinus on Body and Beauty: Society, Philosophy, and Religion in Third-Century Rome (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999). 39 Barbara

J. Katz, “Popular Prose-Poem Is No Work of the Ages: ‘Desiderata’: A Product of an Obscure Lawyer,” Washington Post, 27 November 1977. 40

Elbert Hubbard, “Roycrofters Exhibit,” Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 19 December 1995. 41 Historian

Michelle Gillespie, Free Labor in an Unfree World: White Artisans in Slaveholding Georgia, 1789–1860 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2000), studies the role of artisan guilds in the antebellum South. She asks pertinent questions, such as “What kinds of roles did white male artisans play in antebellum politics? How much autonomy to shape and define their own lives did the men experience as skilled free laborers in a maturing slave labor society?” (xxi). Gillespie seeks to understand the experiences of white craftsmen in the Georgian towns and countrysides in light of a changing cotton economy. Another study focuses on the role of artisan Methodist communities in American society in the nineteenth century; see William R. Sutton, Journeymen for Jesus: Evangelical Artisans Confront Capitalism in Jacksonian Baltimore (State College: Penn State Press, 1998). 42 Richard

S. Ascough, “Paul’s ‘Apocalypticism’ and Christian Community Formation at Thessalonica,” unpublished paper originally presented as “Paul’s ‘Apocalypticism’ and Christian Community Formation at Thessalonica and Corinth” at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins Seminar, Denver, 19 November 2001. 43 Ibid. 44 Lampe,

“The Family of New Testament Times,” 32.

175

45 Ibid. 46

Habacuc Diaz Lopez, “The Thessalonian Workshop-Church from a Hispanic Perspective,” unpublished paper presented to the New Testament seminar, “The Thessalonian Correspondence,” 4 May 2001, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.

Paul’s Final Words: A Prayer of Blessing 1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 The television series The Waltons closed every week with a familiar litany of “Good night, Ma . . . Good night, Pa . . . Good night, John Boy.” Garrison Keillor concludes his weekly radio program, Prairie Home Companion, with these benedictory words: “Be well, do good work, and stay in touch.” Baby Boomers fondly remember Saturday morning cartoons and Porky Pig’s stammering farewell, “Tha-thathat’s all folks!” Closing words are memorable. The way that a writer of novels or letters ends the story or letter gives us information about the author. For some authors, farewells, or literary conclusions, are insignificant and simply do not appear; the reader is left frustrated, just hanging at the end of the reading, waiting for some sense of resolution. For some writers, the end is too predictable; the reader yawns sleepily while reading the anticipated conclusion. Somewhere in the middle of these two descriptions belongs the genre of closing seen in 1 Thessalonians. Paul’s words conclude the letter with the same sensibility and integrity as the beginning words, with a sense of optimism and hope that everything is going to be just fine. Paul’s closing words of encouragement, affirmation, and blessing assure the reader that all is well with the world. Paul’s language of praise and thanksgiving that marks the beginning of the letter is also used to announce the end of his correspondence. Other words and stories are found in the middle between the literary start and finish line of this Thessalonian letter. The reader winds through words spoken about community conflict, words used to clarify leadership values, words that function as reminders of ethical behavior, and words of gentle reprimands for the less productive community members. Nonetheless, the beginning and ending are clear visions of a world made right by the power of the Spirit. Both the beginning and ending tell us something about the young missionary-apostle Paul. Paul’s life and his letters reveal that life is best lived sandwiched between two bookends of praise and blessing. Life is just better that way. Paul begins the letter with prayer—“we thank God for you” (1:2). Paul ends the letter with prayer—”May the God of peace make you completely holy” (5:23). An inclusio is formed, suggests Jeffrey

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Weima: “By including the peace benediction here in the letter closing, Paul creates an inclusio with the letter opening: the salutation ‘grace to you and peace’ that appears at the opening of 1 Thessalonians is echoed in chiastic fashion at its close, first by the peace benediction and then by the grace benediction.”1 When the reader finally arrives at the end of the letter, Paul’s special words of prayer entice the reader to join him in prayerful words of benediction, with the same manner of joy and praise as in the beginning. We might learn to live with the same bookends of life. To begin and end a day, a letter, or a life with praise and thanksgiving is a worthy model for emulation. Dag Hammarskjold shares this sentiment with these simple but elegant words: “Night is drawing nigh / For all that has been—Thanks! / To all that shall be—Yes!”2

COMMENTARY The structure of 5:23-28 reveals common epistolary conventions for letter closings. Weima suggests that vv. 23-28 begin with a peace benediction and conclude with a grace benediction in v. 28. [Outline of Epistolary Conventions in 5:23-28] Paul, Outline of Epistolary Conventions in 5:23-28 according to Weima, uses traditional epistolary v. 23 Peace Benediction conventions from Greco-Roman letter writing v. 24 Word of Encouragement to close his important letter to the v. 25 Hortatory Section v. 26 Kiss Greeting Thessalonians. At the point of divergence, v. 27 Hortatory Section (Autograph) however, we observe Paul’s distinctive homiletv. 28 Grace Benediction ical features to this particular community. Paul From Jeffrey A. D. Weima, Neglected Endings: The Significance will deviate from prescribed epistolary convenof the Pauline Letter Closings (Sheffield England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 176. tions in order to strengthen the specific themes already mentioned in the letter. The Peace Benediction, v. 23

Paul prays, “May the God of peace sanctify you completely, and may your spirit, soul, and body, even the whole of you, be kept without blame in the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ” (5:23). Paul’s use of the optative mood in the Greek verb “sanctify” for this final prayer emphasizes a shift of focus. The grammatical changes, seen in the use of the optative mood in the verbs “sanctify” and “be kept” suggest that Paul is moving from declarative and imperative speech evident in the earlier paragraphs to a prayerful mode of reflection and blessing (the Greek optative) in this closing section. Paul’s shifts into this prayerful mode earlier in the letter, in

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3:11-13, where he prays with similar intensity for the wellbeing of the community: “Now may God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you; and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all people, as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” The verbs, likewise, are in the optative mood. The form of the peace benediction is not characteristic of epistolary closings in Hellenistic letter writing.3 Raymond Collins contends that the “presence of the peace blessing at the conclusion of the Pauline letter may reflect the apostle’s expectation that this letter be read to the assembly and his desire to impart a final blessing on the community.”4 In this manner, the closing resembles the function of the Jewish homiletic benediction.5 Paul explodes into prayer language in other letters, such as Romans 15:33, 2 Corinthians 13:11, and Philippians 4:9b. The literary pattern appears fixed as Paul prays in formulaic fashion, “May the God of peace be with you.” In 1 Thessalonians, however, an unusual form is introduced. The prayer is longer and contains more words of encouragement than the other places of prayer language in Paul’s epistles. Paul prays specifically for the whole believer—all of him. The inclusive nature of Paul’s prayer for the believers is signified by the tripartite description of the individual as spirit, soul, and body. This tripartite description is not new. Hear the echoes of the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the LORD with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all your might.” Jesus’ words also acknowledge this triad: “He [Jesus] said to them, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind’” (Matt 22:37). These words continue to stretch the young believers to a higher calling. Paul’s words, although fashioned in prayerful benediction, also quietly instruct the members. In other words, even Paul’s closing prayer resounds with the force of paraenesis, seen earlier in the letter. Paul does not miss an opportunity for teaching the artisans in the community. Paul is praying to God, but he is also teaching the listeners. The specifics were articulated in the code of ethics for the artisan community in the preceding section, 5:12-22. Paul continues the theme, now embedded in the letter’s benediction. Paul wants the young community to continue their walk in Christ; thus, he uses his final words to squeeze out one more teachable moment. First, Paul emphasizes that the calling of faithfulness

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is for the whole person—the mind, body, and soul. Second, Paul emphasizes that God is the one who provides the impetus of the action. The God of peace makes one holy. The God of peace also keep one’s mind, body, and soul blameless. The primary energy rests with God, not us; we respond to that which has already begun. The third lesson is that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. Paul’s eschatological focus is not forgotten at the end of his letter. Rather, this focus, although in the background while Paul concentrates on ethics for earthly living, is once again introduced as a declarative statement. Jesus is coming. Paul does not waver on this. He considers the coming of Jesus as the incentive for ethical behavior. One lives faithfully in a community with appropriate actions and attitudes while one waits for Jesus’ return. Paul prays that the believers will be kept blameless while they wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul has adapted a traditional closing peace benediction to suit his pedagogical needs in order to continue teaching the young believers in Thessaloniki—even at the moment of his farewell. The Word of Encouragement, v. 24

Paul reassures the reader that this is all possible because “the one calling you is faithful, who will indeed do this” (5:24). Ethical living is mandated while waiting for Christ to return. Faithful living is possible because the God who calls believers to faith is also faithful. The Thessalonians can be confident that their lives will be enriched, guided, and guarded by the faithful God who has called them into relationship. Paul’s words of encouragement continue to develop confidence and hope in believers. As Paul closes the letter, his words work to encourage a group of people for whom he cares deeply. The Hortatory, v. 25

The relationship is mutual. Just as Paul has been willing to give himself as well as the gospel message to the Thessalonians (2:8), Paul now asks the believers specifically for prayer. With imperative force, Paul says, “Brothers, pray for me” (5:25). All along the way, the leadership style of reciprocity has been used to mark the relationships between Paul and the men in Thessaloniki. Paul could wield his apostolic authority (5:6), yet he chooses to lead the people from a position of equality. Thus, it is a natural request for Paul to ask for their prayers. For Paul, needing prayers is not a sign

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of weakness but rather is a natural result of his intimate relationship with the people. He has been praying for them; therefore, he wants them to pray for him. Leadership, for Paul, is to be one among many, rather than a leader above the people. The Kiss Greeting, v. 26

Paul challenges the members of the congregation to “greet all of the brothers with a holy kiss” (5:26). This demand might appear awkward for churches of North America in the twenty-first century, without cultural conventions to encourage public displays of affection. For the first-century Mediterranean world, however, kissing was an accepted cultural gesture and adopted by the church for liturgical functions. The gesture was so rooted in cultural acceptance that some scholars consider that public kissing in firstcentury Christian worship signaled a shift in the order of service, a liturgical move that identified a new worship theme or phrase. By the second and third centuries, the kiss of love had become a fixed liturgical ritual or gesture.6 “Justin, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Cyprian in the East and Origen and Cyril in the West make reference to the ‘kiss of peace,’” according to R. F. Collins. The kiss of peace followed the common prayers in the order The Kiss of Peace of worship. This gesture also signaled the beginning of the Eucharist. With this historical evidence, some scholars suggest that v. 26, “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss,” is actually a code used to signal liturgical movement. This direction may have been given by Paul to use the kiss as a signal that the Eucharist celebration would follow the reading of his letter, similar to the way a stage director indicates physical movements or gestures for actors in a play. Other scholars suggest that although the kiss was a liturgical gesture, it was not necessarily used to signal the beginning of the Eucharist but to mark the end of any service, even the nonsacramental service where no Eucharist was served. Perhaps based in the services of the synaThis illustration of the kiss of peace is from gogue, the kiss was used simply to signal the end Howard Pyle’s 1889 article, “A Peculiar People,” of worship. which described the Dunkers (a German Baptist A third option is that the injunction to greet sect), who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. one another with a holy kiss was Paul’s intimate Howard Pyle, “A Peculiar People,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 79/473 (October 1889): 776–85.

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manner of closing his personal letter. Not necessarily signaling a liturgical function, the greeting may have simply been Paul’s way of giving his greetings to the members by encouraging them to give best wishes to one another. Collins states, “The greetings are to be transmitted from the reader of the letter to others on behalf of the letter writer. Thus the verse has an epistolary function which gives it a meaning similar to the words which a modern letter writer imparts to his own words when he writes, ‘Please give my best wishes to so and so’ (Col 4:15-16; Rom 16:16).”7 Nonetheless, the reading of Paul’s letter, according to Collins, was an “ecclesial event.”8 Reading Paul’s letter aloud in the artisan workshop was one of several events that helped to form the believers into an ekkl∑sia. Collins summarizes, “Nevertheless, the public reading of 1 Thess allowed the believers the Thessalonica to come into existence as the church of God” (1 Thess 2:14).9 For this reason, perhaps the kiss as well as the entire letter signals an important liturgical event. Hortatory Section, v. 27

Paul commands, “I adjure you by the Lord to read this letter to all of the brothers” (v. 27). Paul stated earlier in the letter that he really did not need to write anything (4:9; 5:1). Paul uses this statement to flatter and affirm the believers in Thessaloniki. The reality, however, exhibits that Paul did have a need to write. And write he did! Here in the last few lines of the letter, Paul exhorts the readers not only to read the letter but to read the letter aloud to all of the brothers. The letter is a sacred act, not that different from his presence with them (1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 3:1; 7:8, 12; 10:9-11). Collins suggests that the use of the verb in the first person singular (“I adjure you”) suggests that Paul dictated this letter to the Thessalonians.10 The letter was written by someone who spoke these words aloud before they were written. The goal was to read these same words aloud in a public gathering of believers in Thessaloniki. The oral/aural character of this process cannot be underestimated. The words were alive in the active hearing not simply in the passive reading. Why did Paul give this forceful command, namely, that his letter be read aloud to all of the brothers? Commentators have given numerous reasons. Perhaps the church was divided and Paul wanted all of the brothers to hear his words. Or perhaps not all of the members could read; Paul ensures that everyone will know his words through the public reading. Maybe Paul was aware that

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letters, not written by him, were circulating through the region with his name attached. This command, therefore, authenticates this letter and denies the validity of the others. Perhaps Paul’s primary communicants were the church leaders. In this letter, however, he wants the entire church to hear his words. Another possibility is that Paul was speaking not only to the believers in Thessaloniki but also to the neighboring areas. He desires that this letter be read to all of them in the surrounding areas. Some suggest that there were separate Gentile and Jew churches and that Paul wanted this letter to be heard by both Jews and Gentiles (“all of the brothers”). Although we cannot determine with certainty the reason for the command that the letter be read aloud to all of the brothers, the possibility remains that if this congregation is located in an artisan workshop setting, perhaps divided among the lines of senior craftsmen and junior apprentices, then Paul desires that all of the brothers hear his words. In addition, if one reads the Greek pronoun adelphous, which is in the masculine plural, in a less gender-specific and more inclusive manner, Paul could be referring to the entire group, meaning both the male artisan community and the women who support the group through their domestic activities. The women may have not belonged to the artisan workshop, as most first-century guilds would have only admitted men. The women or wives, however, may have maintained residences on the floor above the workshop, providing meals and domestic chores for the male artisans below. If this is the social setting, Paul then encourages everyone present to listen to these words. Women also hear Paul’s words of encouragement and exhortation as stated in Paul’s final blessing to the members of the community in Thessaloniki. The Grace Benediction, v. 28

Paul’s last words are words of blessing: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (v. 28). The “God of peace,” mentioned in v. 23 of this closing section, is co-joined with the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” in this final verse. The formula “grace and peace,” also used as a literary unit in 1:1 (“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace”) may have been a liturgical formula used in the bi-cultural community of Thessalonica. The peace, so expressed in the Greek rendering of the Hebrew concept of shalom (peace), is a borrowed term from Jewish thought.

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The Gift of Language by James Helvey Humans enjoy the benefits of many gifts in the experience of living imparted to us by our Creator by family and friends. None is greater than the reassurance of words in speech or given in inscriptions to guide and encourage us in the journeys of life with a sense of eternity. Often coming from others in past generations offering enlightenment for our present situations of uncertainty and death with the confidence of hope and with the expressions of love Or in daily greetings and kindly advice helping us through difficult moments in our labors and decisions with insights of thoughtfulness reminding us of obligations and pointing us to opportunities

“Grace,” however, is a Greek concept, framed in ancient Greek philosophy. Paul combines these two concepts, “peace and grace” (and these two groups of people—Jews and Gentiles), and uses this powerful combination to speak truth and offer blessing from both sides of the face of God. The God of peace (v. 23) is the same deity as the Lord of grace (v. 28). The letter closes on the note of inclusivity in blessing. As Paul began his letter with “grace and peace,” so Paul ends his letter with the same blessing. Paul’s words have created new worlds for the listeners. Paul’s words of blessing in the opening and closing create a world of faith that cherishes fellowship, brotherly love, and high standards for community living. Without Paul’s words, the world of faith in Thessaloniki would have been less dynamic. In similar manner, our own world of faith would also be much less vibrant without these ancient words of Paul to the Thessalonian believers. [“The Gift of Language”]

CONNECTIONS

The significance of words cannot be underestimated. [“One of the Few Havens Remaining”] A classic example of the power of reading is seen in cultures That keep us where illiteracy is used as a means of domination. on the pathways of truth Women and young girls in Afghanistan and other with revelations Middle Eastern countries who live under strict that illumine our souls Islamic rule are not allowed to attend school. At the by filling our minds most simplistic level, they are not allowed to with the mysteries of the divine beyond the literalness of the mundane. strengthen their minds with new words or new ideas. Their words do not matter—or perhaps they The Reverend James Helvey, member of First really do matter. The strategy of domination is Baptist Church, Lexington, North Carolina, clear. In order to control the minority group, the shared his poem with me while I was leading majority group withdraws words from the subjua study of 1 Thessalonians in his church on gated people. Without words, the minority group September 21, 2002. has no power. To promote illiteracy is to promote subjugation. In similar manner, African slaves were not permitted to learn to read in colonial America. Without words, the enslaved had no power. Wise

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plantation owners knew that the power of “One of the Few Havens Remaining” the word created desire for freedom from “A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or the shackles of slavery. If the slave could explore an explosive idea without fear that it will go off in read, new worlds would open. He would your face . . . . It is one of the few havens remaining find a universe outside his shackles and where a person can get both provocation and privacy.” grow discontent with bondage. Women, —Edward P. Morgan, American journalist historically, have been denied access to higher education. We often forget The People of Mitylene that schools like Princeton and When the people of Mitylene ruled the sea the penalty they laid on any of their allied who revolted was that they the University of Virginia only forbade their children to be taught letters or music, for they believed opened their doors to women in the heaviest penalty which could be inflicted was to condemn people 1970.11 To withhold words is a to a life without music and without letters. strategy of control and domiWilliam Barclay, Educational Ideals in the Ancient World (London: Collins, 1959), 78–79. nance. That this subjugation of women is not new is revealed by startling historJanus: God of Beginnings and Endings ical statistics that reveal the slow struggle of Janus, the Roman god of gates and doors, beginnings and endings, is women in higher education in this country, as represented with a double face, each looking in recent as the last century. [The People of Mitylene] opposite directions. The Romans believed good Conversely, Paul lavishly uses words to create endings were ensured by prayers to the god positive worlds of community and strength for Janus. One mythological tradition says that he the readers of his letter. His words are so imporcame from Thessaly where he had a large family tant that he demands that they be heard by all of and ruled the region, bringing peace and great wealth to the kingdom. the people (5:27). Paul knows that these words Janus is represented with two faces, one can change the quality of life in the community facing forward and the other backward. This of believers in Thessaloniki. Paul’s words bring image is fitting for the closing words of Paul’s comfort and hope, incentive for ethical behavior letter to the Thessalonians. These words form the and moral living, and encouragement for excelend; they also shape the beginning. lence and greater productivity in their work. Paul’s words are important in creating the community of faith in Thessaloniki. John O’Donohue says words are like the god Janus. Like Janus, whose face looks forward and backward, words also face outward and inward at the same time.12 [Janus: God of Beginnings and Endings] This image of words facing past and future is a powerful image for our perspective of Paul’s letter writing. Paul’s powerful words written in the past created communities of life and faith inside the artisan church, among the brothers of the working community in Thessaloniki. These same words also create Bust of Janus, Vatican Museum power for those outside, who face the future, (Credit: Fubar Obfusco / WIkimedia Commons, PD-user)

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readers not living in that same ancient community of faith, namely, us and the readers to come! Paul’s final words in 1 Thessalonians are words of blessing. Weima is correct when he states that “Pauline closings are carefully constructed units, shaped and adapted in such a way that they relate directly to—sometimes, in fact, even summarize—the major concerns and themes previously addressed in the body sections of their respective letters.”13 More than simply thematic summary resides in these final words of blessing, however. The manner in which Paul ends is the manner in which Paul begins. He offers a blessing. Claus Westermann, in Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church, presents the phenomena of blessing as a cultic act in detail in both Old and New Testament texts.14 Westermann relates that “the act of blessing, berekh, means imparting vital power to another person. The one who blesses gives the other person something of his own soul. The handing on of blessing from father to son is a result of its being a power of the soul. It must continue in the family because the family is a spiritual unit.”15 Westermann contends that “we must therefore be aware that what both Testaments say about blessing preserves the memory of a procedure that was once central to religion. It is then clear that what the Bible says about blessing involves not something that still survives somehow on the periphery of the biblical message but something that was once of all-encompassing significance for religion.”16 This significant ritual in the life of religion is evident in Hebrew Scriptures and words of Jesus in the New Testament. Hear the blessing in the words that Yahweh instructs Moses to say to Aaron and his sons: Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, “The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them. (Numbers 6:22-27)

Jesus blesses the little children by laying hands on them (Mark 10:16). Jesus blesses the bread and cup (Luke 9:16; 22:17; 24:30). Jesus also offers a blessing at his leaving when he says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27). The German word for blessing (segnen) is derived from the Latin signare, “to make the sign of the cross.” This ritual expresses the meaning of blessing in visual and symbolic form. To cross oneself (to draw the lines of the cross across your chest or in the air or to

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receive the symbol from a priest), is a bestowal of blessing. This signare, however, mentions Westermann, “had an effect far beyond the purely cultic activities. Members of the community crossed themselves not only during worship but in everyday activities, especially when in fear or danger or when otherwise threatened.”17

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Blessing and the Word The blessing of Christ with fingers outstretched forms a suitable ending to the conclusion of Paul’s words in the Thessalonian correspondence. Christ depicted as the Wisdom of God from the end of the fourteenth century. Note that he is offering a blessing with the right hand and holding a Gospel in his left. The icon is located on the iconostasis of the Church of Agia Sophia in Thessaloniki.

[Blessing and the Word]

In ancient Ireland, blessings were often repeated at the beginning of a journey. Sometimes blessing prayers were even “written on paper or parchment, often illuminated and ornamented in Celtic design, and the script was placed in a small bag of linen and sewn into the waistcoat of a man and the bodice of a woman under the left arm, or for a child, suspended from the neck by a linen cord.”18 [Traditional Celtic Journey Blessing]

Pastoral counselor Myron Madden writes about the power of Mosaic Image of Jesus Christ at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul Turkey. blessing.19 Madden writes of chilMosaic image of Jesus Christ. (Credit: Yusuf Anil Akduygu, istockphoto.com) dren who grow to be adults without having received a parental blessing. Even Traditional Celtic Journey Blessing though parent and child live together in the same Bless to me, O God, The earth beneath my foot, household, some children grow up without the Bless to me, O God unspoken or spoken blessing of a parent. The results The path whereon I go; are obvious in the adult child. Chaos and distrust are Bless to me, O God evident. Even in the same household some children The thing of my desire; are blessed and some are not. Sibling rivalry reigns Thou Evermore of evermore, supreme with unblessed adult children, often seen in Bless Thou to me my rest. land settlements at the death of a parent. Siblings Bless to me the thing who have not been blessed fight with blessed Whereon is set my mind, brothers and sisters over inherited but often insignifBless to me the thing icant pieces of real estate. The property may not Whereon is set my love; even have much economic significance; yet the Bless to me the thing unblessed child fights to receive it. The plot of land Whereon is set my hope; O Thou King of kings, Bless Thou to me mine eye!

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becomes the symbol for the parental blessing not received in childhood. What would life be like if we really knew how to bless one another? In the language of the church of my childhood, the words “bless you” were familiar words of greeting and farewell. Perhaps as part of southern culture, or maybe the Appalachian mountain religion of the Baptist variety, the church folk would always speak with greeting words of blessings: “Hello, Linda Kay! Bless you, sister”; “You are looking fine this morning! Bless you, Linda”; “God bless you, Linda.” During the service, prayer requests for others become moments of blessing. In the middle of service when Sister Sue’s imminent surgery was explained, the one leading the prayer would also use the words, “And now, dear Lord, just bless Sister Sue in a mighty, mighty way.” At the end of an unusually warm service where the singing was good and the preaching was heavy, the extemporaneous greetings among the congregants always included “Bless you, my brother; bless you, my sister.” To this day, after I pack the car at the end of a visit with my parents, both will signal the end of the visit with a “Bless you, Linda.” It is a deeply engrained ritual to use words of blessing in saying hello and goodbye. Perhaps we need to rekindle some of those simple greetings in our fast, technological world. From the perspective of faith it is clear that these powerful words of blessing, energized with the presence of the Spirit, infuse the space with goodness. That new space then creates the possibility for new creative acts. To bless someone means to accept and affirm the person. That affirmation, in turn, becomes the foundation for multiple acts of goodness. For example, if the child in the home lives with the constant awareness of love and blessing then that child, in turn, is able to offer life’s blessings to others. On the other hand, the child who lives striving diligently for parental approval grows to model that behavior in personal and professional relationships. Nervous, irritable, impulsive, self-conscious, unsettled are words used to describe those individuals who never received a blessing in childhood. Words such as calm, confident, focused, caring, other-centered are descriptions of those who did receive it. Blessing one another is a simple but powerful act. What if this economy of words was used not only to improve family relationships but also to strengthen groups of people, such as churches or larger communities? How would it work? How would the institutional church appear if providing words of blessing were the primary mission? I remember a sad conversation one Sunday

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morning, while I waited in the pastor’s study in preparation to preach during the worship hour. I was the guest preacher and was using the last few minutes of the Sunday school hour to prepare for the service. A woman came to the study door hoping to see the pastor. I invited her in. Obviously she was distraught. She sat in the chair. I began to ask her if I could help. She was leaving the church, she explained. She was coming by the church office to say goodbye to the pastor. Willingly, she told me her story. Her son was in prison. She would never dare to tell anyone, not even the members of her Sunday school class. She feared that they would expel her socially from the class and treat her as a religious outcast. With great sadness, she was announcing that she was resigning from her leadership position and leaving the church. She feared being ostracized by the members of the church, sure that they would not try to understand her situation. She did not want to face their judgment and condemnation. I left church that day very sad. This church leader was expressing one of the great shadows of religious experience. She was not the first; she will not be the last to fear exclusion from a religious tradition because she failed to meet their “standards.” The very religious tradition that offers hope and reconciliation also excises imperfections and stains. Someone said it this way: “Christians are sometimes best known by how they shoot their wounded.” An open examination and confession of this shadow can change hardened, exclusive religious systems into lively, inclusive communities that bless others. I hope that somewhere this young woman found a community of faith who could bless her in spite of her great pain—a place that would accept her and her sadness, where blessing would take precedence over judgment. Only through careful self-examination of individuals and institutions will the cycle be broken. Careful introspection and self-analysis will guide us. Are we repeating words of blessing, which open and include? Or are we repeating words that make tight boundaries for exclusion? Paul’s words of blessing created a world of community for the believers in Thessaloniki. Paul’s words enabled the members to find places of creativity for themselves and others. Paul’s words gave them hope in the midst of times of mourning and funeral planning. Paul’s words created rules for relationships that made for stronger community life and better living for all. Paul’s words, saturated with the aroma of blessing and affirmation, created space for growth. Because of these words, the gospel message took root in these people and continued to shape a people way beyond the time

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and place of first-century Thessaloniki. We are the beneficiaries of the world created by Paul’s words of blessing. We, in turn, create other worlds with Paul’s words. Paul blessed the members of the church in Thessaloniki. Those words bless us, the readers of these commentary words. The world of faith grows stronger.

Notes 1 Jeffrey Weima, Neglected Endings: The Significance of the Pauline Letter Closings (Sheffield England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 175. 2 Dag Hammerskjold, Markings, trans. Leif Sjoberg and W. H. Auden (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966), 89. 3 Raymond

F. Collins, “‘I Command That This Letter Be Read’: Writing as a Manner of Speaking,” The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis?, ed. Karl P. Donfried and Joannes Butler (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000), 333. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. See also Robert Jewett, “The Form and Function of the Homiletic Benediction,”

Anglican Theological Review 51 (1969): 18–34. 6 Raymond

F. Collins, “I Thess and the Liturgy of the Early Church,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 10 (April 1980): 52. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid.,

62.

9 Ibid. 10 Raymond F. Collins, “‘I Command That This Letter Be Read’: Writing as a Manner of

Speaking,” The Thessalonian Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis, ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Butler (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000), 332. 11 Barbara Miller Solomon, In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 134. 12 John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom (New York: Harper Collins, 1998). 13 Jeffrey

A. D. Weima, “The Pauline Letter Closings,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 5

(1995): 197. 14 Claus

Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church, trans. Keith Crim (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978). 15 Ibid.,

19.

16 Ibid.,

42.

17 Ibid.,

40.

18 Esther

De Waal, The Celtic Vision: Prayers and Blessings from the Outer Hebrides (Petersham MA: St. Bede’s Publications, 1988), 143. 19 Myron

Madden, The Power to Bless (San Francisco: Insight Press, 1999).

2 Thessalonians

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting The second letter to the Thessalonians is not simply secondary or subsidiary thoughts salvaged from 1 Thessalonians. The second letter features another author, new church leaders, and new challenges in the community of believers living in Thessaloniki. Second Thessalonians does not belong to Paul; the letter is the work of another person with different concerns than those recorded in the first letter. The author writes within the same time frame as Paul’s ministry but not concurrent with the setting of the first letter. The author of 2 Thessalonians uses a similar epistolary style as the first letter but with a different emotional tone, vocabulary, and syntactical structure. This author knows Paul well, but the writer is not Paul. He or she also knows the members of the community of believers. The author of the second letter, however, writes the words to the community as if he or she were Paul. An acceptable literary convention in the first century, this technique was used to garner a more respected hearing and to continue the Apostle Paul’s legacy in the community of faith. An honest discussion of authorship for the Thessalonian correspondence is not to be muted for fear of disrespecting sacred texts or contributing to the erosion of authoritative reliability. Even if Paul did not write the second letter, the words are still authoritative for the Christian community—both then and now. Discussion of the authorship question, rather, enhances our understanding of these two important letters. To search for the historical context of these early letters of the church, which includes authorship concerns, strengthens our understanding of this community in Thessaloniki as well as the Apostle Paul, and the complex lives of the Jesus followers in the first-century world. In this second letter to the believers in Thessaloniki, we enter the mysterious world of apocalyptic thought and pseudepigraphical literary conventions. The historical setting shifts from the first to the second letter. In the second letter, the setting most likely involves the same intimate group of artisan believers. Now, however, they are

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Important Terms for 2 Thessalonians Apocalypticism—“A worldview held by many ancient Jews and Christians that maintained that the present age is controlled by forces of evil, but that these will be destroyed at the end of time when God intervenes in history to bring in his [sic] kingdom, an event thought to be imminent” (Ehrman, 451).

more concerned about maintaining their tradition, as taught by Paul, than grieving over the deaths of their loved ones. This community faces threats of theological heresies, and they want to keep their traditions as introduced to them by Paul. [Important Terms for 2 Thessalonians]

Pseudepigrapha—Literally the word means writings that have been falsely attributed to an author. This was a common literary phenomenon and an accepted tool to gain political authority in the ancient world when original leaders were being replaced by lesser-known figures with limited name recognition. Paul’s work, as well as his epistolary model, was emulated by the authors of the so-called deutero-Pauline letters of 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, the Pastoral Epistles (1–2 Timothy, Titus). These letters were written with Pauline authority, although Paul did not write them. As the Christian tradition moved into the early second century, new leaders received name recognition and gradually attached their own names to their letters to the churches, such as Clement, the bishop of Rome, and Ignatius of Antioch. Pseudonymity is an important feature in apocalyptic literature.

Apocalyptic Thought in the Second Letter and Communal Concerns in the First

The first and second letters to the Thessalonians are both concerned about the end of time but each from a different perspective. In the first letter, we know that dear relatives of the artisan community have died. The members of the community are grieving. The bereaved ones are not questioning when they will see the Lord; they are questioning when they will see their loved ones. The concern in 1 Thessalonians is intimately related to the personal lives of the members of the community. They are asking, “When will the dead be united with us in order to meet the Lord when he arrives?” Paul’s answer has eschatological focus, but his words ring with deeper tones of pastoral care and comfort: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Heresy—“any worldview or set of beliefs deemed even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him by those in power to be deviant, from a Greek those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess 4:14). word meaning ‘choice’ (because ‘heretics’ have In 2 Thessalonians, however, the question is ‘chosen’ to deviate from the ‘truth’)” (Ehrman, 455). very different. The atmosphere appears more religious, with more concern for religious strucBart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to ture and the tradition, more focus on dogma the Early Christian Writings (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). and doctrine. In the second letter, the artisans are asking questions related not to their personal grief but to broader areas of theological concern: “Will there even be a resurrection of the dead? If so, when will it come?” In response, the author of 2 Thessalonians draws a complex picture of the last days cautioning them not to be too “shaken in mind and spirit” because preliminary, complex events will take place first (2 Thess 2:1). The intricate response to their questions demands apocalyptic imagery, a fixed timetable of events, and a specific outline of the judgment (2 Thess 2:1-12).

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting Apocalypse

Icon, Apocalypse c. 16th Century. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD old)

The author of 2 Thessalonians wants to maintain orthodoxy and provide a corrective to the readers’ previous understanding of the coming of Christ. While the language of 1 Thessalonians is personal and deeply affective, focusing on compassion and encouragement, the language of 2 Thessalonians is sharp, precise, and lacking in affection. Using apocalyptic language, the author of

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2 Thessalonians establishes a precise eschatological timetable, which suggests that either Paul has changed his mind from the time of writing the first letter or the letter is not from Paul. Gerhard Krodel supports the latter option and contends that The problem does not lie primarily in the concepts found in 2 Thess. 2:1-10 which are absent in all other letters bearing Paul’s name; nor does it lie in the fact that the End appears suddenly and unexpectedly in 1 Thessalonians while in 2 Thessalonians it appears in connection with signs. The problem lies in the direction in which the apocalyptic argument of 2:1-10 points the reader—a direction which is the very opposite from that found in 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11.1

The direction of the eschatological thinking in 1 Thessalonians looks forward to the imminent coming of Christ—the Lord is at hand. In other words, in 1 Thessalonians, Jesus is coming soon. In 2 Thessalonians, however, this eschatological vision changes direction. The motion slows; the action shifts into low gear. The author of 2 Thessalonians states that a series of selected events must first take place before the end. The list is long, systematic, and highly descriptive, using stock imagery from the world of apocalyptic language. Krodel states, “Before the Day of the Lord comes there must first take place a series of events; the apostasy, the manifestation of the Rebel, and before these can take place, there must be the disappearance of the katechon, whatever and whoever that might be.”2 In 1 Thessalonians the end is near. In 2 Thessalonians, however, the end is way out of sight! Helmut Koester succinctly describes this problem of eschatological distance used to differentiate between the two authors: “While in the first letter, the building of the community is authorized by the eschatological role ascribed to the community, in the second letter it is authorized by the distance to the events of the future which will ultimately lead to the parousia.”3 Furthermore, the author of 2 Thessalonians appears to chide those who consider that the end is near by saying, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (2 Thess 2:2). The eschatological distance is wide, thereby suggesting that two authors are at work. This point alone, however, would be insufficient data to claim that Paul is not the author of 2 Thessalonians. More details are needed. Daryl Schmidt marshals the linguistic arguments

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

that support the argument that Paul was not the author of 2 Thessalonians.4 Using quantifiable research via computer analysis of vocabulary frequency, structures of embedded clauses, and the use of conjunctions, Schmidt suggests that significant linguistic differences exist between 1 and 2 Thessalonians. For example, in 1 Thessalonians, no sentence contains more than four embedded clauses (except 2:13-16, which is often seen as an interpolation). In contrast 2 Thessalonians contains twenty embedded clauses in the opening paragraphs alone. This writing style closely resembles the literary form of Ephesians and Colossians, letters also considered to be written by a disciple of Paul. The state of the authorship question for 2 Thessalonians has reached some consensus. The agreement is such that those scholars who continue to maintain Pauline authorship for 2 Thessalonians can no longer consider it as a given; rather it is a stance to be defended, summarizes Raymond Collins.5 I have assumed the position for this commentary that Paul did not write 2 Thessalonians. To say that Paul is probably not the author of this letter does not diminish the credibility or authority of the letter. This correspondence between a leader, no doubt closely related to Paul, and members of a community of artisans in Thessaloniki who are following Jesus Christ while producing crafts for a living does not weaken the position of this letter in the canon of sacred texts for Christians. Even with this position on the pseudonymity of 2 Thessalonians, however, I still hold questions related to the relationship between the two letters. How are these letters related? What new context, if any, does the second letter reveal? Does the second letter attempt to correct or clarify the first letter? What is the relationship between the settings of the two letters? Is the community in 2 Thessalonians more theologically refined, thus demanding an elaborate apocalyptic schema of the end of time? Perhaps for many of the readers of this commentary, however, a more pressing question surfaces: How can a letter that purports to be a letter from Paul not be written by Paul? That question first deserves a most careful response. Pseudepigraphical Writing and Second Thessalonians

With our modern understanding of copyright laws, individual intellectual property matters, and publishing rights, it is almost inconceivable to consider that pseudonymous writings would be ethically acceptable in the first-century world. We are most cau-

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tious, even in this commentary, to label thoughts that do not belong to this author with the owner’s name and book title. Harsh penalties result for the university student who claims that a piece of writing belongs to her when the professor discovers that the material has been lifted from another source. University suspension is promised for students who break time-honored honor codes that protect intellectual property in academic communities. Likewise, the reputations of contemporary famous authors have been irrevocably damaged when readers discover that they have included material, even small details, without appropriate authorial attribution. Words like dishonest, careless, poor scholarship describe the modern author who creates such havoc in our literary world. We must ask why the same havoc was not created by issues of plagiarism or forgery in the first century. Obviously, the same copyright laws did not exist then as now. In fact, there were no copyright laws. Few written texts existed. Books were handmade with labor-intensive skill requiring much time and expense to complete. Monk Copying a Manuscript For most people, Burgundian scribe (portrait of Jean Miélot, from Miracles de Notre Dame), 15th C. The picture is greatly detailed in its rendering of the room’s furnishings, the writer’s books were heard, not materials, equipment, and activity. read. Books were simply too expensive to purchase. One listened to the oral reading of a manuscript belonging to another rather than Image Not Available owning a personal due to lack of digital rights. copy. Paul’s world of Please view the published words, a world not commentary or perform an Internet that distant from the search using the credit below. world of orality or preliteracy, where books were rare and illiteracy not uncommon, had not yet formed legal standards of protection Flanders. Jean Mielot works in his scriptorium. “Vie et Miracles de Notre Dame”, 1465. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France. (Credit: Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY.) for words and authors. Another rationale also explains the acceptability of forgeries. A basic supposition of master and student governs these acceptable literary standards. The work of the first, or the master, was considered more valuable than the work of the student. One of my favorite memories of living in Taiwan was walking into an art

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

studio in China and observing that every student artist in the room was working on the same picture, copying brush strokes and design from a master copy painted more than 1,000 years ago. When asked where the work of the individual student artists was located, I was informed that none existed. These artists would not be creating original work, for it would have no value. They were copying ancient work that had value beyond description. The studio artists explained to me that a new artist was deemed good only if he or she could copy exactly the work of the master artist from the distant past. Individual creations, unique to the mind of the young artist, were not cherished as in Western art values. In this cultural system, they explained, the work of the ancient master is always superior to the work of the young student. Old is better! Westerners, who typically value whatever is new, have great difficulty understanding this concept. The Eastern principle goes against the Western grain of our modern notion of creativity that prefers the advancement of the student over the master as a valued signal of progress. This idea that the work of the master is always to be emulated, not exceeded, could also have been at work in Paul’s community of disciples. To copy the work of Paul was more important for the success of the faith than to insert one’s own name into the emerging literary canon of Christian documents. To place the name of the missionary leader Paul on the letter assured the letter’s delivery and acceptance by the anxious congregation. To place Paul’s name on the document not only honored the apostle but also ensured the longevity of the tradition. The fact that the real author’s name was omitted was inconsequential. Ownership was not important to the author. The delivery of the message was the most important task. To make sure the members of the community received the words of instruction and admonishment was the central mission. The early church may have ignored the letter, perhaps, had the letter been attached to the name of the author and Paul’s name not listed. In our way of thinking, falsely attributed writings lack credibility. The term “forgery” (or “pseudepigraphy”—false writings) connotes dishonesty and corruption. For the first-century Christian, however, pseudoepigraphy was a way of writing that honored the master teacher and brought continuity to the tradition. The ancient tradition mattered more than the youthful creativity of the emerging artist, even for first-century literary documents belonging to the church. Thus, to forge a name on a piece of work did not signal dishonesty; rather, to place a name other than your own on

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the work was a way of honoring the past, of creating additional authority for the name and readers. Furthermore, it continued the tradition of the master in ways that would have been lost without the “forged” document. Pseudepigraphy was a special literary feature of apocalyptic writings. Second Thessalonians bears the marking of an apocalyptic writing. Some scholars understand that the The Book of Daniel apocalyptic thought expressed in Paul’s first Daniel 7:1-5 letter to the Thessalonians is more gentle and In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions in his genteel—more like an intense discussion of the head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the end of time but with a stately air. In sharp condream: I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the trast, the apocalyptic imagery of 2 Thessalonians four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, is more frenzied, bearing close affinity with and four great beasts came up out of the sea, difJewish apocalypticism, illustrated in our Hebrew ferent from one another. The first was like a lion Bible in the book of Daniel. [The Book of Daniel] and had eagles’ wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from The author of Daniel actually writes the book in the ground and made to stand on two feet like a the second century BC but uses the name of a human being, and a human mind was given to it. “famous wise man of four centuries earlier.”6 Another beast appeared, a second one, that The style of pseudepigrapha was a common looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, way of writing in our Jewish-Christian literary had three tusks in its mouth among its teeth and tradition. For example, 1 Enoch, written about was told, “Arise, devour many bodies!” 225 BC when Jews were ruled by Greeks, is in the same genre of literature, apocalyptic in form and considered pseudepigraphical (although not found in our biblical canon). [First Enoch] Other literature belonging to early Jewish apocalyptic tradition and written late third century BC to AD 70, First Enoch bears the same mark of apocalyptic thought and Chapter 18:12 pseudepigraphy, such as the Book of Jubilees, And I saw a deep abyss, with columns the Sibylline Oracles, the Testament of the 12 of heavenly fire, and among them I saw columns of fire fall, which were beyond measure alike Patriarchs, the Psalms of Solomon, and the towards the height and depth. And beyond that Testament of Moses. The same genre emerges abyss I saw a place which had not firmament of from texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the heaven above, and not firmly founded earth written from the second century BC to around beneath it; there was no water upon it, and no AD 70. The authors of these texts use the names firmly founded earth beneath it: there was not of Abraham (the Testament of Abraham), Moses water upon it, and not thirteen birds, but it was a waste and a horrible place . . . . (the Apocalypse of Moses), and Enoch (Book Secrets of Enoch), long after these figures of religious authority had died. Glenn Holland settles the question of authorship and the issue of apocalypticism in 2 Thessalonians in this manner: In any event, 2 Thessalonians as a letter containing an apocalyptic scenario, and itself serving an apocalyptic function, is more readily

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting understood within the context of the apocalyptic tradition if its author is not Paul but another author who cites Paul as the authority for the information about the future that the letter provides.7

If one accepts that the second letter to the Thessalonians bears clear literary markings of apocalyptic literature, and was, most likely, written by someone other than Paul, the undisputed author of the first letter, then one must ask, What is the setting (Sitz im Leben) of the second letter? Furthermore, what is the relationship between the two letters? The Threat of Heresy in the Setting of the Second Letter

Was the second letter written by a disciple of Paul? Was this author the one who worked to continue Paul’s ministry in Thessaloniki but also seized an opportunity to clarify and adapt Paul’s teaching for the promotion and preservation of community orthodoxy? If one accepts that Paul did not write this letter and acknowledges that the writer is communicating to the same community of believers named in the first letter, then it is likely that the second letter was written by a disciple of Paul who continues to minister in the Thessalonian community after Paul’s ministry has ended. After Paul’s departure, the members of the church became even more enthusiastic about the coming of Christ. Perhaps they listened to other leaders who were teaching about Jesus’ imminent return. They could not contain their excitement over the Christ’s coming. Eschatological enthusiasm, however, often induces a lackadaisical faith. The attitude of the believers as reflected in the second letter can be described in this manner: “If Jesus is coming soon, why bother?” And to that setting the writer of 2 Thessalonians writes. The author must convince the readers of two important points: (1) Jesus is not coming soon; and (2) while you wait, you must work! Life simply cannot be suspended while you wait for Jesus’ return. Get on with life! A. G. Van Aarde suggests that Paul’s leadership style as revealed in 1 Thessalonians becomes the tool of persuasion for the author of the second letter. Paul, in writing 1 Thessalonians, refers to his own exemplary life as a model of faithful living for the young believers (1 Thess 1:6; 4:1). Paul announces that he is unwilling to use his weighty apostolic authority to demand their attention (2:7). His models of leadership are a nursing mother and a teaching father. He encourages the readers to adopt those same models for their own faith development.

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The author of 2 Thessalonians takes these same points shared by Paul in the first letter and uses them in the second letter. These references in the first letter serve as a convenient starting point to refute heresy in the church. Paul’s own words, name, and reputation are used by the writer of 2 Thessalonians to refute the false teachings. Van Aarde writes, To the author of 2 Thessalonians, this reference serves as a starting point to employ the theme of apostolicity (as in the Pastoral Letters, 1 Peter and particularly 2 Peter) to combat heresy. Whereas the body’s main argument in 1 Thessalonians (see 1 Thess 2:1-5, 11), based on the example-motif, has an extra-community objective (respect from outsiders—1 Thess 4:1-12) and an intra-community objective (inward comfort—1 Thess 4:13–5:11), the main argument of 2 Thessalonians revolves around the combating of heresy (2 Thess 2:112).8

Teachers, perhaps using Paul’s own words in both oral and written forms, have been teaching false traditions (2 Thess 2:2). The teachers did not love or believe the truth (2:10). These teachers were spreading false assumptions about the return of Christ. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul encourages the believers to wait patiently for Jesus’ coming so that they will soon be reunited with their loved ones. However, as they wait they are also to work. Life does not stop while believers wait for Jesus and their relatives to return. The false teachers who have heard Paul’s teaching, however, continue to advance the notion that Jesus’ return is imminent, even suggesting ways believers can passively wait for the return. Perhaps they are teaching ideas such as these: “No need to work for perhaps tomorrow will be the day. No need for ethical standards for it all will be over soon.” The author of 2 Thessalonians, in order to combat the false assumptions, slows the eschatological pace considerably with a longer time line of events than evident in Paul’s first teaching (2:3-12), fashions a polemic against the “deceivers” (2:3-4), and works diligently to preserve the traditions introduced earlier by Paul against the heretical challenge of the opponents (3:1-3). The writer of 2 Thessalonians, using Paul’s example-motif as the place of authority, speaks against those who wait passively and become a burden to the community as idlers and busybodies (2 Thess 3:6-12). Therefore, the warnings given closely parallel the language of the Pastoral Epistles, which are focused on holding forth a position of orthodoxy in a religiously challenging environment of second-generation faith. The writer of 2 Thessalonians is

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

not concerned with the deaths of relatives or even the fine points of ethical living. Rather, the writer of the second letter works diligently to bring the believers in line by warning them to hold fast to the apostolic tradition (2:15-17); calling for prayer for the spread of the tradition (3:1-5); and admonishing the believers not to cease doing good (3:6-15). The believers are instructed to combat the heresies by following the teaching that has been passed on to them (2:15). The author of 2 Thessalonians, therefore, uses Paul’s own words and Paul’s own name to help the believers stand against the false teachings. The words and the setting of the letter are similar to the context of the letters of 1–2 Timothy. All three epistles, 2 Thessalonians and 1–2 Timothy, seek to sustain orthodoxy and maintain order when challenged by different teachings, heresies, in the community of faith: “Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us” (2 Tim 1:13-14). In similar manner, 2 Thessalonians and 2 Peter also share close parallels; both letters chide false teachers who slip into the community to challenge the tradition: But false teachers also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. (2 Pet 2:1-3)

If one contends that Paul did write both letters to the Thessalonians, then the question becomes even more focused: Why or how did Paul’s ideas change so quickly? If Paul composed the letter, then his writing style and also his affective tone diminished quickly. If Paul wrote this letter, his concern about the pastoral realities of dying loved ones has been forgotten or intentionally ignored. If Paul wrote this letter, his tendency to promote people over doctrine has definitely been inverted. For in this second letter, the end will not come as a “thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2) but will come with a successive string of visible events (2 Thess 2:1-12). The people within the community are no longer models of faith because of their example of faithful living (1 Thess 1:7-10); they are examples because they hold fast to the traditions that were

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taught them (2 Thess 2:15). In 2 Thessalonians, the weaker person within the community is to be ostracized and shamed; however, in 1 Thessalonians the weaker brother is to be helped and encouraged (1 Thess 5:14). In the second letter, the Thessalonian community is little older, bolder, and more organized. The people are still related to one another through their work as artisans and their faith in Christ (2 Thess 3:6-12). With the passing of time the believers have become even more preoccupied with thinking about the time of Jesus’ return. They are so focused on thinking about the end of time that they are not producing their crafts. With the influence of false teachers, the sounds of the busy workshop have ceased while they wait. And the writer of 2 Thessalonians fiercely warns them of the consequences: And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thess 2:9-12)

The times have changed since the few years since 1 Thessalonians. Paul is absent. Paul’s words given in absentia through the voice of his disciple, however, are given even greater authority than what Paul intended from his writing. Paul, in the first letter, uses his words to bring consolation and encouragement to a group of new believers. In the second letter, the writer faces a group of people who have passed beyond the stage of grief. They now need doctrinal correction and admonishment. They are not given soft words of compassion and tenderness; they hear stern words of rebuke and force. The community is different, and the leadership has shifted. The story continues. A new leader, invoking the name of an old leader, the Apostle Paul, wrestles with the same issues but with different results. Jesus is still coming, but it is going to take a while. So make sure that you work while you wait.

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

CONNECTIONS What about the story of the community? How do ideas shift from one letter to another from the perspective of the believers in Thessaloniki? What can we learn about them from these two letters? Attempts at community reconstruction using biblical texts are conjectures at best. Without access to archaeological data or historical narrative, we only have this epistolary text as a literary artifact and guide. Other attempts have been made to reconstruct community development of New Testament communities through close readings of literary texts. For example, J. L. Martyn and Raymond Brown have added much to our historical imagination through their reconstructions of the history of the Johannine community.9 Using close readings of the Gospel of John and the first Epistle of John, we are given a glimpse into the nature, character, and development of the community that surrounded the formation of John’s Gospel. Less attention, however, has been given to a reconstruction of the social history of the Thessalonian community of faith. Although this commentary does not attempt such a comprehensive historical reconstruction, I do suggest that such an attempt by others might be fruitful. Granted, the collection of data given for understanding the community in Thessaloniki is scarce. Two letters, perhaps two authors, the same first-century reading audience, and similar but slightly variant themes certainly give a major challenge to the imagination and work of the biblical scholar. I contend, however, that a careful consideration of both letters, even with their distinctive traits, can lead us to a more complete understanding of one of the earliest churches mentioned in our New Testament canon—the church in Thessaloniki. What was going on in this community of faith in the middle of the first century that created the volley of correspondence and shared thought in these two letters? Simply stated, the community was changing. The old concerns were being supplanted by new thoughts. The early ideas were losing their luster and strength. The next wave of community living demanded a new set of tools. The author of 2 Thessalonians seizes the second wave of community faith development and desperately seeks to maintain the orthodoxy of the group. The methods, however, are different from those of their first leader—the Apostle Paul. The lessons learned are many. First, change happens. It does not take decades or centuries to occur. Sometimes, it even happens within a few months or days. Loren Mead tells the story of the Lutheran conference that used author Thomas Kuhn’s thoughts on

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shifting paradigms to discuss the dynamics of change. The conference was held in the sanctuary of a Lutheran church. A large banner, used to announce the conference theme, was prepared to drape over the front wall of the church. In huge bold print, with dark, bold colors, these words were written on the banner: “SHIFT HAPPENS.” The conferees got the point and so do we! Things change. And so it was in the community of artisans living in Thessaloniki. The community reached stasis only for a brief moment of time. Something in their beliefs and in their behavior changed between the writing of the first and second letters. Many of us mourn the loss of equilibrium in community formation or personal development. A friend of mine, however, constantly reminds me of lessons learned in our natural environment. In the animal or plant world, the moment of equilibrium, or stasis, is also the moment of atrophy, or the beginning of the end. That is why my friend says, “When you are in the moment of equilibrium, sister, you need to shift your weight.” Change is good! The ideological balance shifted in the artisan community in Thessaloniki. And the second letter records it! For many of us who are literal readers of New Testament texts, this idea is difficult to grasp. How could the writers and the communities of faith, as recorded in our Christian documents, truly reveal different truths about different concerns at different times and still belong in the Christian canon of sacred texts that are perceived as authoritative and normative for the church today? It is easier to understand how Old Testament texts reveal various stages and plural forms of faith; no thinking person can consider it appropriate to take people as spoils of war, to smash babies, or to do horrendous acts of injustice in the name of the Lord. Literal readers of those texts are hard pressed to accept such actions as fixed standards to live by (although in fact many readers still do). We rationalize by saying those actions and beliefs belonged to the nation of Israel only at a certain period in their history. As Christian readers, we explain that the religious norms and faith maturity shifted with the prophets and then again with the coming of Jesus. In this manner, we can accept gradual development of faith traditions through time and culture, even as the stories remain frozen within the literary walls of our Jewish-Christian canon of sacred texts. In other words, ancient nomads in relationship with God who live in tents in the desert are expected to live life differently than those who live in split-level homes in modern suburbia.

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

However, most readers are less generous with interpretations of New Testament texts. Perhaps it is because these texts are closer to us—or so we think. We have heard the stories of Paul, the early churches, the disciples, etc., so often and for so long that we have not developed a respectful sense of sacred distance. We cannot see the plurality of faith or the various stages of religious maturity within the walls of the New Testament canon. Most of us see the stories between Matthew and Revelation as a unified whole. Much of our Christian theology derives from these stories of the New Testament. We cannot allow for too much divergent thought or we would lack a coherent theology, so we think. We strain to understand how the theological positions of the New Testament could be changing, dynamic. If there is not one major, central, focused story in the New Testament, then how can we live? But what if there were multiple stories, many realities, several different cultural contexts, various ways of organizing faith and religious structure reflected in the New Testament? Would that mean we are doomed to moral relativity and theological strife? For many of us in Christendom, we constantly lament, “If we could just get back to the days of the early church . . . .” The thought haunts us, as sometimes weary, modern believers, and we try to recapture the fresh vitality of the early church in our present setting. We long to get back to the real New Testament church. This nostalgic view appears most often in the midst of church crisis and shifting paradigms. The irony of this position is that those who are fleeing from the present crisis of plurality would really not be any more settled if one were to go back in time to the New Testament church. The bottom line is that the early church was just as chaotic and challenging as the modern church. The very first church, even the church in Thessaloniki, was filled with contrasting ideologies and competing values just as the church of today. We usually do not think of the early church in those terms. Our nostalgic longing for one thought, one church, and one way of thinking and doing clouds our minds. Our pining for a stabilized past somewhere back yonder creates the illusion that if we could just go back to the way it used to be, then we would find the key to theological serenity and peace everlasting. It does not work that way, however! Various congregations, theological realities, and doctrinal positions are represented within our Christian canon. And they all are very different. The churches in Corinth, Laodicea, Ephesus, Athens, Philippi, and others all had different struggles and developmental crises. The church in

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Corinth was not the same community as the church that surrounded the writing of Mark’s Gospel. The community that gave shape to the writing of 1–2 Timothy was not the same group of people who met regularly for worship to hear the book of Revelation read aloud. If you get the basic idea that different churches are represented in the New Testament canon, then you are ready for the next one. And this is it: Those communities revealed in the New Testament canon did not stop growing the moment that their documents were read by other church members in later times. The canonical words did not freeze their lives or their theological thoughts. Just as Paul changed his message and his tone of writing from 1 Thessalonians to Romans, so did the churches in the first-century world shift and develop. Why would we expect the members of the Thessalonian community to have the same theological interests, personal concerns, and faith questions that are revealed in the first letter? Shift happens, always. Nothing stays the same unless in a state of death. The Thessalonian church changed. Their foci shifted. They became comfortable. They took Paul’s teachings to another level of understanding. At first look, the members of the church are simply concerned about their separation from loved ones at death. They listened to Paul’s teachings on the imminent parousia of Christ and took them to heart. They believed him. They became excited about Jesus’ return. On second look, a little later in time, they were admonished for using too much attention waiting and looking for Christ to return. They were corrected because they made a minor point the major one. If you understand the fluidity of the community life and the pluralistic worlds represented in the New Testament, then you are ready to open the next window. The members of the church in Thessaloniki misunderstood Paul’s words. In the energy and enthusiasm for the gospel message, they pushed too hard. They did not get the point, at least not the major one. The New Testament lovingly and unashamedly records their gross faux pas. Paul offered words of comfort to grieving mourners in the first letter. Then after the intensity of the pain of loss diminished, the fresh graves were covered in new grass, and the funerary flowers wilted in the sun, the members of the community remembered Paul’s words. While they remembered them, however, they could not recover the tenderness of the moment and they etched those ideas in permanent marks that would not wear away. What was warm and alive became dogmatic and fixed. What began as words

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting

to unite the worlds of the living and the dead were turned into statements of strict doctrine and eventually used to separate the ones inside the tradition from those outside. Paul’s words were warm gifts of inclusion and hope. The words of 2 Thessalonians were stone monuments given from isolation and fear. Ever played the Gossip Game? The first person whispers the story or sentence that is to be repeated around the circle. With each successive retelling a new idea is added or an old idea dropped, until the last person repeats a phrase only slightly familiar to the first player in the circle. Each performance shifts the message in some way. As the words move around the circle, the story becomes larger and more complex, with added details and special effects. Most of the time, by the end of the circle, the first storyteller does not even recognize her own story. The members of the church have forgotten the meaning of Paul’s words as written in the first letter. They remember the large concepts but they have forgotten the context. The tragedy of the story of the church in 2 Thessalonians is that they did not remember the essence of Paul’s words, and so they focused only on the form. After the pain of death wore off, they recaptured Paul’s comforting words about the parousia and made strict doctrinal monuments out of them. Margaret Mitchell, author of an interesting article on apocalypticism in the first century, makes this point clear. She compares two contemporaneous apocalyptic texts, Matthew and 2 Thessalonians, searching for distinguishing features of a changing apocalyptic tradition within the early church of the first century. She suggests that in 2 Thessalonians, “salvation depends upon fidelity to tradition and obedience, not a particular moral code.”10 In Matthew, however, individual ethics are paramount to adherence to the tradition. Mitchell suggests that there are tendencies of revision evident in apocalyptic thought. She contends that although no exclusive rules of transmission and transformation occur, the apocalyptic message does change within the larger community. Although persecution may be one of the most familiar external catalysts for changing perspectives, the force behind the change of apocalypticism in 1 and 2 Thessalonians may be the false teachers who are working within the community. Mitchell asserts that We also here must reckon with the real possibility that the “new edition” in each case was not intended to replace the original, which was destroyed but rather to stand beside it. In that case, perhaps these texts, because they would presuppose the precursor apocalypse, naturally turned their emphases in ways which, their authors thought,

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The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting complemented the original and updated it for their community’s particular needs. And in the case of 2 Thessalonians those perceived needs were defined by the outside persecutors of the church, whereas in Matthew’s community it was the problem of complacency and ethical sloth in the face of a delayed parousia.11

The lessons for the church are many. First, theological thought grows and adapts with each generation. The way we describe God simply cannot stay the same. We do not. Our hair changes, our body shape shifts, and our knowledge of life and people grows. Why would we expect our understanding of God to remain static and fixed? How can we understand matters divine in the same way as ancient communities when the entire social and cultural context is different with each generation? If we allow the growth of faith between ancient, nomadic tent dwellers and modern, lawn-cutting homeowners, we can also face the shifting sands of theological thought as revealed in two letters belonging to one community of faith existing in the middle of the first century. Something changed between the writing of the first and second Martin Luther Martin Luther began a new paradigm for the letters to the believers in Thessaloniki. Their church and ushered in the Protestant views changed. Shift happened. Reformation. The church is forever reforming. A second dynamic of community life is that change, although inevitable, does not go unchecked. It does not matter how strong the dominant culture or how strong the pull of nostalgia; nothing stays the same. Change, however, always needs evaluation. The key point is this: Reformation is an absolute necessity in any organization. Even reformers need reforming! The thinkers of the society, the creative dissidents, are necessary in order to evaluate the direction of the shift. The natural tendency of the generations that follow is to stabilize the former tradition in such a way that the original form is barely recognizable. In that tendency to codify the tradition, reformers are always needed Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553). Martin Luther. c 1528. Painting on beech wood. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art to revitalize the stagnant and dusty thoughts of a (PD-old-100)] fixed piety. This is the point to remember. As the church left the genesis hours of the life of faith, an inevitable rule of transmission of the tradition was carved into the walls of the ecclesiastical tradition. Those words that had created the tradition would take on new meaning with each successive community. The tendency would be to institutionalize the words.

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If in the beginning the theological words were metaphorical, wispy, and full of meaning, by the time the story moved to the end of the circle, the words began to lose their life-giving power, while being carefully chiseled in stone. For example, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” These words created Ecclesia Reformata; Semper Reformanda space, a path, for all of those who wished to THE CHURCH REFORMED; THE CHURCH follow. For the next 2,000 years, however, the ALWAYS REFORMING. church worked hard to create walls to keep out those who could not repeat these exact words. This wonderful slogan is at the heart of Presbyterian polity, recorded in chapter 2 of The The original words were intended to usher in Book of Order—“The Church and Its new life, to create paths of inclusion. As time Confessions,” G-2.0200. moved, the same words became strict boundaries of exclusion. The words were simply not Hear the tension between institutionalized the same without the personal manifestation piety and openness to the Spirit: and spirit of the one saying them. [Ecclesia Reformata; Semper Reformanda]

The church is prepared to counsel with or even to discipline one ordained who seriously rejects the faith expressed in the confessions. Moreover, a more exacting amendment process is required to change the confessions of the church than is required to change the Constitution in matters of government, worship, or discipline. Yet, the church, in obedience to Jesus Christ, is open to the reform of its standards of doctrine as well as of governance. The church affirms “Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda,” that is, “The church reformed, always reforming,” according to the Word of God and the call of the Spirit.

In similar manner, Paul tells the community in the first letter that Jesus is coming soon. His words are intended to be paths to comfort and hope. As the church moves to the next level, however, Paul’s very words are used to distort, to wall out those who do not accept the tradition and to keep in those who do, as evidenced in the second letter. The original words have lost their salvific power. The ones repeating them cannot replicate the spirit of the words, only the words. And the words, encased in dogma and doctrine, do exactly the opposite from their original intention. The new words build worlds of exclusion and isolation. The old words are lost. As you read the following pages of the commentary on the second letter, note that these words represent another stage of the life of faith for the Thessalonian community. As you read, evaluate what parts of the earlier tradition, as represented by Paul in the first letter, the community as seen in the second letter rejected. What did they accept? What did this apocalyptic shift do for the churches that were to follow? On a personal level as well, as you read ask yourself, how does one stay current with the fresh vitality of the gospel message? What happens when the gospel message becomes encased within cultural accretions and political entanglements? Raymond Brown describes this moment in time evidenced in the Pastoral Epistles as more concerned with the “deposit of doctrine” than the vitality of faith:

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The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting The great danger, with an exclusive stress on officially controlled teaching, however, is that, having been introduced at moments of crisis, it becomes a consistent way of life. The Pastoral Epistles, shaped by doctrinal crisis, are often read without contact as offering universal and unconditioned policy. Truly pastoral policy, rather requires a relaxation of such stringent controls when the crisis has passed.12

Stabilized piety is that moment when a fence is built around the law, when faith becomes concretized, fixed, and not very exciting! The nature of development of theological words is to fix them into a neat system of organized thought. The nature of the life of faith is to question continually the fixed boundaries. The secret of a happy Christian life is to be able to keep the words of faith fresh and vital. The secret of a happy Christian church is to organize faith in such a way that the words of the gospel of Christ can tremble with meaning, allowing various interpretations and responses and encouraging the following generations to stay fresh and light in their ever-abiding but ever-changing faith. How do we work to keep the ancient gospel tradition alive and vital in the midst of changing realities of culture and faith?

Notes 1

Gerhard Krodel, “2 Thessalonians,” Proclamation Commentaries, Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, the Pastoral Epistles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 75. 2 Ibid. 3

Helmut Koester, “From Paul’s Eschatology to the Apocalyptic Schemata of 2 Thessalonians,” in The Thessalonian Correspondence, ed. Raymond F. Collins (Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1990), 458. 4 Daryl Schmidt, “The Authenticity of 2 Thessalonians: Linguistic Arguments,” SBLSP (Chico CA: Scholars Press, 1983), 289–96. 5 Raymond

Collins, “Introduction,” in Thessalonian Correspondence, xi.

6 Bart

Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 342. 7 Glenn

Holland, “‘A Letter Supposedly From Us’: A Contribution to the Discussion About the Authorship of 2 Thessalonians,” in Thessalonian Correspondence, 401. 8 A. G. Van

Aarde, “The Struggle Against Heresy in the Thessalonian Correspondence and the Origin of the Apostolic Tradition,” in Thessalonian Correspondence, 423. 9 J.

L. Martyn, History and Theology in The Fourth Gospel (New York: Harper and Row, 1968); Raymond Brown, The Community of the Beloved Disciple: The Life, Loves, and Hates of an Individual Church in New Testament Times (New York: Paulist Press, 1979).

The Writing of the Second Letter: Author, Style, and Setting 10 Margaret

Mitchell, “A Tale of Two Apocalypses,” Currents in Theology and Mission 25 (June 1998): 207. 11 Ibid.,

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12 Raymond

1984), 39–40.

Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind (New York: Paulist Press,

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The Opposition in Thessaloniki 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 The writer of the second letter traces the footprints of the first apostle missionary, Paul, in Thessaloniki, successfully emulating Paul’s writing style, and gaining the respect of the believers in the congregation. This new leader, the author of the second letter, builds on the traditions established by Paul in the first round of church leadership while simultaneously and creatively adding a new agenda to the concerns of the congregation. To Paul’s warm affectionate style of pastoral leadership, the author of the second letter adds admonitions for doctrinal purity and ideological room for the apocalyptic imagination of the community. This new leader, much like Paul, responds to the community by writing a letter of instruction. The leader, whose name is unknown, uses Paul’s reputation and name to gain a hearing in the community, revealing that the author’s identity is less important than the care and development of the community. The new leader remains anonymously cloaked in the image and memory of Paul. In order to continue Paul’s legacy, the author of 2 Thessalonians writes in a familiar Pauline epistolary style, with adaptations revealing distinctions belonging to the new leader. The new leader-author also employs Paul’s peculiar style of writing while introducing new, emerging theological controversies into the community. Exact replication of the first letter by the author of 2 Thessalonians is impossible; the authors are different people, and the community is in a different phase of its life. One epistolary theme, however, emerges in both letters—the theme, or literary convention, of thanksgiving. Both authors know how to persuade readers with praise and thanksgiving, using a literary convention common to ancient Greek letters. Unique to the second letter, however, is the energy used to delineate the community’s opposition early in the opening of the letter. In this second letter, the words of praise to the community are secondary in importance to the primary task of identifying the opposing forces at work within the community in this second stage of development. Encased in the first chapter of 2 Thessalonians are Paul’s familiar words of praise and affirmation (2 Thess 2:1-4) but with a different slant. The new idea not found in Paul’s letter but

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dominant in the second letter is this: Enemies of the Thessalonian community exist; God will punish the opposition (2:5-11).

COmMENTARY Salutation, 1:1-2

The salutations belonging to both letters share similar themes. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are the ones bringing greetings through this letter (2 Thess 1:1). Salutation The main distinctive, when com2 Thessalonians 1:1-2 1 Thessalonians 1:1 pared with the thanksgiving Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, Paul, Silvanus, and section of the first letter, is in the Timothy, To the church of the use of the first-person plural To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father Thessalonians in God the Father pronoun in the phrase “our and the Lord Jesus Christ: and the Lord Jesus Christ: Father.” This pronoun is not used Grace and peace to you from Grace and peace to you. in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, although God the Father and the Lord some manuscripts have added the Jesus Christ. pronoun, possibly as an attempt to connect the two epistles. In the first letter, Paul writes, “Grace and peace to you.” In the second letter, the author expands the simple phrase to “grace and peace to you from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” [Salutation] Thanksgiving, 1:3-4

To give thanks for the believers in Thessaloniki is not a new concept. Paul’s first letter overflowed with gratitude for the believers: “We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers . . .” (1 Thess 1:2-10). In the second letter, the thanksgiving section is smaller, less effusive, more stilted in form, but with equal intensity. The author states, “We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brothers, as it is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you is increasing. Therefore, we take pride in you in all of the churches of God for your patience and faith in all of your persecutions and tribulations that you have suffered” (2 Thess 1:3-4). Although the common theme in both letters is praise, the second letter introduces the idea of obligation in the phrase, “we are bound to give thanks” (1:3). This language of obligation for thanksgiving (opheilomen) is not used by Paul in the first letter or in any other writing attributed to Paul in the New Testament. [Opheilø—The Word of

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Opheilø: The Word of Obligation author of the second letter has a Used literally, the word opheilo indicates sense of responsibility or obligation to offer financial debts—to owe something to thanksgiving for the believers in Thessaloniki. someone (Luke 7:41; 16:7; Matt 18:30). In a figuThis idea will be repeated in 2 Thessalonians rative sense, the word implies indebtedness of 2:13: “But we are bound [opheilomen] to give various kinds, such as holy deeds, good will. The word is used as a euphemism for marital duties in thanks to God always for you, brothers . . . .” 1 Cor 7:3. The word is also used in Rom 15:1, 27; Numerous reasons have been given for this 1 Cor 7:36; 9:10; 11:10; Eph 5:28, 2 Thess 2:13. unusual idea of thanksgiving by obligation. Perhaps the members of the congregation had been embarrassed by Paul’s flowery words in the first letter. This author states that the leader is obligated to offer praise for the members of the church. The word “ought” or “bound” may indicate liturgical rhetoric, suggesting that the phrase “necessity of giving thanks” could have been used regularly in a service of worship. The phrase could also be used didactically, to model a style of prayer for the later communities. This phrase gives evidence of non-Pauline authorship. In 1 Thessalonians Paul did not use the language of obligation when speaking about praise; however, the author of this second letter does so without apology. The word “ought” does not necessarily imply that the writer is less enthusiastic about the work of the community. The writer chooses to affirm the congregation, just as Paul had in the first letter. The difference, however, resides in the tone of voice and choice of words. For this author, the praise does not gush forth, but is offered quietly and resolvedly, with calculating accuracy: “We ought to give thanks to God . . . .” The reasons for the thanksgiving are noteworthy. The members of the church are to be praised because they have remained faithful, with a “faith that is beyond measure” and a “love for one another that continues to increase” (2 Thess 1:3). The author boasts about the church members, just as Paul had written in the first letter. Boasting is relevant because the believers have been faithful in persecutions and afflictions (1:4). This church continued to be a model for others who were also enduring persecution. We do not know the source of the persecution for the church. Was it political? Was it social? Was it psychological? Were the political authorities making life difficult for this small artisan community? Were the social demands of their newfound faith creating anxiety among other groups in the city? Did the members struggle with their identity as believers when they were such a small minority in the community? Whatever the source, we may never know with certitude. However, in this letter, we are given additional information that increases our knowledge.

Obligation] The

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This second letter clearly reveals that there are strong forces at work to oppose this community. The Evidence of the Righteous Judgment of God, 1:5-10

This is the evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering—since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (2 Thess 1:5-10)

Verse 5 is integral to the interpretation of the entire letter: “Evidence [endeigma] of righteous judgment of God, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, on behalf of which you also suffer.” The phrase is grammatically awkward. Because the verse lacks a subject and verb common to a main clause, the translator/interpreter has to make several important decisions for interpretation. First, where is the main kernel of the sentence? The phrase, “evidence of righteous judgment of God,” can either be nominative or accusative (the subject or the object) in grammatical form. The entire verse could be read as an accusative of apposition, used to illustrate tribulations that the members were suffering as described in v. 4: “. . . and in tribulations that you were suffering, namely, the evidence of the righteous judgment of God.” Or the phrase in v. 5 could be the subject belonging to the thought unit in vv. 5-6: “The evidence of the righteousness of God is (verb not present in Greek text) to repay with affliction those who have afflicted you.” Is the phrase, “evidence of righteous judgment of God,” an object belonging to the subject in v. 4 or a subject belonging to the object in v. 6? How one answers this question informs the interpretation of the entire letter. The two options create two separate meanings. Which one is the most accurate? Verse 4 appears to be a complete thought unit. The author has provided a litany of reasons for boasting. The believers have exhibited patience and faith in persecutions and tribulations. To add the phrase “evidence of righteous judgment” as another description of tribulations appears cumbersome and disjointed. I vote against

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translating the phrase as an accusative of apposition, used to provide greater detail to the meaning of tribulations. Therefore, the tribulations of the members of the church are not the evidence of God’s righteousness. Even though the interpretation remains problematic, I choose to understand that the evidence of God is the manner of God’s retribution for the suffering of the believers. I prefer to read the phrase as the subject. To read v. 5 as the beginning of a new thought, rather than the end of v. 4, appears less disjunctive, even though one must add a verb to smooth out the translation. This “evidence of the righteous judgment of God” becomes a new idea introduced in v. 5, a theme not found in the first letter that must be understood in this section in order to understand the place of this letter in the history of the community. The evidence of the righteous judgment of God is not just the suffering of the believers but the judgment against those who inflict the suffering (vv. 5-8). Even though the grammatical puzzle is solved, a theological dilemma exists. Do we really know God best by the manner in which God avenges our enemies? This is a sobering thought, demanding much careful reflection. What is the evidence of the righteous judgment of God? The word “evidence” (endeigma) is a hapax legomenon in the New Testament—a word that is only used once in the entire New Testament. [The Evidence (endeigma) of God’s The Evidence (endeigma) of God’s Righteousness] This word, not found in Paul’s Righteousness other writings, gives additional support to the The word endeigma and its derivatives non-Pauline character of the second letter. The form the kernel of thought in 2 Thess 1:5-9. The author uses variations of words from grammatical and theological puzzle remains, the Greek stem dik to explain God’s righteoushowever, regardless of the authorship concerns. ness. In vv. 4-5, the significant words are dikaias This author advocates a theological position and dikaion (both are rendered as “righteous”). In that places punishment as well as salvation into vv. 8-9, the words are ekdikesin and diken (both the future eschaton. A clear theology of sufare rendered as “punishment”). These words and fering is espoused here that culminates in the their parallel stems connect the mystery of the phrase, the evidence of God’s righteous judgparousia of Christ. ment. Punishments of those who afflict the The first topic addressed in this letter is believers provide that evidence, not just the sufperhaps the most important one to the author fering of the believing community. Divine and to the community—how will God treat the eschatological retribution for those who oppose community’s opposition? The believers are sufthe faithful is the governing theology of the author fering at the hands of the opponents—the of this second letter. non-Christians (2 Thess 1:4, 8; cf. 2:12). Although the faithful response of the Thessalonian community has won much applause from both Paul and this new leader, the author wants to assure them that their offenders are not worthy of commendation and are far from God’s righteousness. Those who

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oppose the believers in Thessaloniki are going to be justly punished by God in the present and in the future. This thought is intended to give comfort to those afflicted and fear to those who have done the afflicting. J. Bassler states, “There is also a future component to this justice, when the afflicted will be refreshed and the afflicters themselves afflicted on the great and terrible—and future—Day of the Lord.”1 This idea that “God will take care of one’s enemies” is not uncommon in Hebrew thought. Hear the words of a psalm composed in the first century BC: For the Lord spareth his pious ones, And blotteth out their errors by His chastening. For the life of the righteous shall be forever; But sinners shall be taken away into destruction. And their memorial shall be found no more. But upon the pious is the mercy of the Lord And upon them that fear Him His mercy. (Psalms of Solomon 13:9-10)

Another parallel is seen in 2 Maccabees 6:12-16: Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by such calamities, but to recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people. In fact, not to let the impious alone for long, but to punish them immediately, is a sign of great kindness. For in the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins; but he does not deal in this way with us, in order that he may not take vengeance on us afterward when our sins have reached their height. Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us.

The fact that God punishes the opposition is indeed related to the righteousness of God in the mind of the writer of 2 Thessalonians (1:6). This is written so that the readers may rest, or relax (anesin) in the revelation of the Lord Jesus, accompanied by the mighty angels in flaming fire. This is pure apocalyptic language. Angels are always present at divine theophanies (1 Thess 3:13; Exod 19:13, 16, 19; Ps 68:18; Mark 13:26f ). The symbolic use of angels and flaming fire underscores the apocalyptic message. Edgar Krentz states that that “the theology of 2 Thessalonians arises out of the interplay between the negative situation of the community addressed and the writer’s response in terms of apocalyptic eschatology. All theological themes are viewed from the

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writer’s headland through the lens of apocalyptic thought.”2 To suppose an apocalyptic vision, however, does not deny the reality or diminish the power of the present suffering of the believers. The persecution of the believers is not something they will experience in the future; rather, it is happening now. The present tense of the Greek participle for suffering, thlibomenois, in John Calvin and 2 Thessalonians 2:8 v. 7 underscores the present reality of pain and It may be asked whether it is lawful for suffering. In response, the author calls upon a us to seek revenge, because Paul promlong and ancient tradition of rhetoric that ises revenge as something that may rightfully be soothes and offers comfort—apocalyptic sought. My answer is that it is wrong to seek revenge from any man, because we are bidden to thought. The persecution is in the present; wish all men well. Then too, though we in a God’s punishment reserved for the persecutors is general way long to take vengeance on the in the future. The apocalyptic words bring wicked, yet since we do not as yet know who comfort and assurance that all will be better in they are, we should desire the welfare of all. the future. John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, trans. Ross McKenzie (Grand Rapids: Wm. To those who are being persecuted, the words B. Eerdmans Press, 1960), 392. of 2 Thessalonians are intended to bring comfort. God will punish those who do not know God, who are not obeying the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and who are persecuting the believers (1:7-9). The punishment is huge— “eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of the Lord’s strength” (1:9). The coming of Jesus is not offered as a moment of reunion with dead relatives as Paul wrote in the first letter. Rather, for the author of 2 Thessalonians Jesus’ coming represents retribution and punishment. This view represents a major shift in theological thought between the two letters. Between the writing of the two letters, the community has experienced tremenEngraved from the original oil painting in the dous suffering. The author of the second letter University Library of Geneva, this is considered leans heavily on ancient echoes of a wrathful Calvin’s best likeness. Jean Calvin (1509–1564) as a young man. Protestant reformer. and vengeful God who stands with God’s chilBibliothèque publique et universitaire, Genève. [Credit: dren against the opposing forces. [John Calvin and Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art (PD-old)] 2 Thessalonians 2:8]

Prayer and Thanksgiving—Again, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

The last two verses of this section move back into a season of prayer, as did the section begun in v. 3: “To this end we always pray for you, in order that you might be worthy of our God’s calling filled with all desire of goodness and work of faith in power, so that

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Outline of 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 A vv. 3-4 Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Progress B vv. 5-7a Eschatological Retribution C vv. 7b-8a Revelation of the Lord Jesus B' vv. 8b-10 Eschatological Retribution A' vv. 11-12 Prayer

the name of our Lord Jesus might be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:11-12). The prayers of vv. 3-4 and 11-12 form doxological bookends to the apocalyptic language of God’s response to persecution experienced by the Thessalonian believers. [Outline of 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12] The details of the language are cosmic although they emerge from a local reality. The believers are experiencing opposition. They are in pain. The panacea to the pain, however, comes from the comfort that a God who belongs to the great universe will someway, somehow, correct the local injustice. God from on high will reveal the Lord Jesus Christ, who will, in turn, punish those who have offended the believers. The author moves the readers from the concerns of the present to a future when all will be well, where wrongs will be right, and where their present sufferings will be avenged. The point of apocalyptic thought is to bring future distance to the present moment. In that frame of time, the reader can momentarily be lifted from the reality of the present suffering and take comfort in future hope—that all will be better one day. That small glimpse of future hope enables the present reality, the sufferings of the present moment, to recede for just a little while. The eschatological content of 1–2 Thessalonians differs so greatly that some scholars have posited that 2 Thessalonians was written before 1 Thessalonians. For scholars such as Charles A. Wanamaker, this theory enables the preservation of Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians, thereby preserving the authenticity of the writings. The argument is not unconvincing. Was 2 Thessalonians written prior to 1 Thessalonians? Wanamaker suggests that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians first, before he wrote 1 Thessalonians, to a community with whom he had minimum contact. The second letter, which is actually 1 Thessalonians in our canon, was written, according to Wanamaker, in an attempt to clarify the readers’ misunderstanding of the first letter (2 Thessalonians): For example, the Thessalonians might have believed that the day of the Lord had come for their deceased loved ones. They may have evolved this belief to explain how their dead loved ones could share in the assumption to heaven that was to occur at the coming of Christ. Paul’s lack of knowledge about this at the time of 2 Thessalonians failed to address the matter and why he needed to speak again to the issue in 1 Thess 4:13-18.3

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Although Wanamaker presents an interesting hypothesis, the guiding energy used to refute the canonical sequence appears to be derived from the need to defend Paul as the author of 2 Thessalonians. Does Paul have to be the author of 2 Thessalonians? Is the authority or authenticity of the letter diminished if another leader works in the Thessalonian church? If one does not have to defend that position, and if one can maintain that authenticity of sacred texts does not depend on the authorial attribution (at least from our contemporary understanding of authors and intellectual property), then the chronological sequence discussion is not warranted or even necessary. Paul wrote first. He wrote a letter of pastoral concern, giving guidance to a group of grieving believers who were confused about the coming of Christ. In the second letter, the author, not Paul, deals with a maturing community of faith who understand Paul’s teachings literally and believe Jesus is coming soon. In the meantime, their ecstatic teachings have been the magnet for persecution. The author of the second letter wants the community to understand that their position will be vindicated in due time—in the future—at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who will punish all those who have offended the believers in Thessaloniki.

CONNECTIONS How do you explain the vengeance of a wrathful God who awards the righteous and punishes the unrighteous? I continue to struggle with this idea as found in the first chapter of 2 Thessalonians. The argument is crucial to this letter and cannot be overlooked. How do you reconcile that the author of this letter is attempting to comfort troubled believers by announcing that the ones who gave them the trouble are going to experience even more trouble? How do you reconcile the fact that comfort is given at the expense of another? Am I really to feel better when I know that the perpetrator is going to “get it” in greater measure than I received it? This theology is troubling, to say the least. Think about it from God’s perspective for a moment. How do you know what side is which and when? I remember being in Sunday school class as a girl and being troubled with this idea. I wondered how God knew whom to zap. When reading the Hebrew texts of a warrior God who preserved the innocent and punished the evildoers, I thought, even then, how does God know who is who? For example, if I asked God in prayer to zap Hilda,

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who had taken my third-grade boyfriend, and then Hilda, my enemy, likewise prayed to God to zap me, who had taken back the same third-grade boyfriend, then which of us is God going to zap? Our prayers would cancel us both right off the face of the earth. With that cause-and-effect logic, neither Hilda nor I deserved to live, only the boyfriend. With our prayers, we both should have been punished and eternally damned. (However, both of us survived, including the third-grade boyfriend!) In another manner, much less trivial and both more ancient and current, the enemy of the Jewish nation is Palestine. For the Palestinians, the enemy is Israel. In the political rhetoric of this moment, the current enemies of the United States are Iran and North Korea. For a host of Middle Eastern sympathizers, the enemy is the United States. The situation is far more serious than Hilda, me, and our third-grade boyfriend. But the question is still the same—from God’s eyes here, who is the enemy? From an eternal perspective, who deserves mercy and who deserves punishment? Which ones are to be punished? Whose prayers will be answered? Let us look to another historical moment when enemies were even closer. For those living in this country in the mid-1800s during the time of the Civil War, the enemy of the South was the North; the enemy of the North was the South. Common sense, and even the pre-theological sensibility of an adolescent girl, tells us that if God heard the prayers of all those who were asking God to punish their enemies, then everyone would be wiped out. The South prayed that God would avenge the North; and the North prayed that God would avenge the South. Who received God’s wrath? If we are all, friend and foe alike, praying for God’s retribution of our enemies, who is going to remain? How do we become more interested in our being on God’s side than God’s being on our side? Does God truly desire to zap those who oppose us? Many of us think so. That is why we build up military power, command posts, and war chests. We are confident that we are the ones on the side of right and those who oppose us are on the side of wrong. And our dear God is brought along for the ride. God is present with us in the bunker as we fight our enemy, and we know that God is surely absent in the bunker of our enemy. God is always on our side. God is going to make our enemies pay—big time—for what they have done to us. Recently in a discussion with a professor in the Asian Language and Literature Department, I asked him about the sense of divine

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retribution in the religious tradition of Chinese Buddhism. He described the philosophy of karmic retribution, present in Buddhist philosophy, that promises that one’s enemies will be punished in another life, that justice will always take place, even though one cannot see it. The sense of future karmic retribution, explained my friend, enables the followers of Buddha to rest in the present moment, knowing that all will be balanced in another life. One can then live life more confidently with assurance that one does not need to take revenge in this life. The Divine will take care of that later, in a life to come. This religious thought relates to the biblical tradition of apocalyptic thought. Revenge belongs to God. And the enemies will suffer consequences brought on The Psalmist at Rest by God, in God’s time, with God’s hand. The Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry; believer need not plan individual acts of give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit. revenge. In essence, the role of the believer is From you let my vindication come; to rest and leave all acts of retribution in the let your eyes see the right. hands of God. Perhaps the idea of rest, then, is the key to If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, understanding this theological crisis. Perhaps if you test me, You will find no wickedness in me; the linchpin of the chapter, and perhaps the My mouth does not transgress. As for what others do, by the word of your lips entire letter, resides in v. 7 of chapter 1: “. . . I have avoided the ways of the violent. and you, the afflicted ones, might rest [relax] My steps have held fast to your paths; with us in the revelation of the Lord Jesus my feet have not slipped. from heaven with his mighty angels . . . .” I cannot understand the actions of a God Guard me as the apple of the eye; who would punish Hilda because I prayed hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who despoil me, that God would avenge my enemies. I cannot my deadly enemies who surround me, understand a God who kills nations just They close their hearts to pity: because I ask God to take revenge on those with their mouths they speak arrogantly . . . . who persecute me. I cannot understand a God who wants blood because I need to be Rise up, O LORD, confront them, soothed from my troubles. What I do underoverthrow them; By your sword deliver my life from the wicked . . . . stand, however, is how a believer who is When I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your suffering and in need desperately needs to likeness. find rest (avesis). [The Psalmist at Rest] (Ps 17:1-5, 8-10, 13, 15) The hope that God will return to this world with the Lord Jesus Christ and create a The psalmist can rest knowing that God will take care world of justice where there has been injusof the enemy. tice brings rest to the weary believer in the present moment. That is what the believer needs the most—rest. To pray for revenge only aggravates the sense of unsettledness. To pace the floor, praying that God will save you and destroy your enemies only creates more stress. To relax, however, with the promise that the God who is capable of creating harmony out of

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Abuna Elias Chacour

(Credit: Barclay Burns)

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chaos will somehow also create justice from injustice enables the believer to take a deep breath and live with peace. I saw that kind of peace on the face of Abuna Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian ordained priest in the Milkite Church. He tells his story in his autobiography, We Belong to the Land: The Story of a Palestinian Israeli Who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation.4 Chacour, nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, has spent his life working to achieve peace between Israeli Jews, Christians, and Muslims. His own boyhood home was destroyed in the war by Israeli Zionists, yet he has spent a lifetime building homes and schools, libraries and summer camps for children of all religions. While visiting the school in Ibillin a few miles north of Nazareth in Galilee, which was established with the stamina of this one man, Abuna Chacour, who has the audacity to envision peace between enemies, I asked him to autograph his book. He looked at me and wrote these simple but profound words on the top of the first page of his life story: “GOD DOES NOT KILL.” He signed his name under those words. While leaving the school grounds, I looked back over my shoulder to see teenage girls, one Christian and the other Muslim, sitting together on a bench eating their noon lunch in the sunshine, and I started weeping. This is what it takes, I thought. Peace comes from knowing that God is in control, that one does not need to kill or be killed, and that God is not anxious to take sides even in battle. God does not kill, simple as that. All of my complex theological meanderings of a just, vengeful God faded away. It is not complex. It is not hard. Although he has seen the tragedy of war and hostility between enemies, Chacour holds firmly to the reality, simply stated, that “God does not kill.” God does not heed my prayers for vengeance. Nor does God heed the prayers of my enemies. To reside in Ibillin while the guns of enemies swirled overhead and say that God does not kill perhaps is a test of faithfulness that you and I will never have to take. The testimony of resting in the midst of crisis, however, was most clear in the face and faith of Abuna Chacour. He continues to build; he continues to work for peace, even in the midst of apparent violence and destruction. He has faith in a God who is in control of the universe. God did not

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need Chacour’s avenging prayers to be motivated to work for good. Chacour was free from the bondage of revenge and retribution. Apocalyptic language helps to create space for that rest. If God is in control, which is the large, neon-sign, announcement made by apocalyptic writers, then I do not have to calculate the wins and losses of my life. God is at work to bring justice to pass. Furthermore, I do not even need to know how it will all occur. Will God zap Hilda? Of course not. I am asked simply to trust in the God of the universe who has created the world and who will bring the future to pass. I do not need to be concerned with retribution. The future orientation that enables the rest is crucial here. It is not a copout to say that the books will be balanced later. Karmic retribution, in the Buddhist sense, only enables the follower to breathe deeply and meditate more confidently in the present moment. Christian apocalyptic thought, likewise, enables the believer to rest, knowing that the God of the future will bring justice to pass. The Christian believer does not need to be anxious, but to rest. This very idea, that the believer needs to turn one’s face to the future, is the unique contribution of the anonymous writer of 2 Thessalonians. While Paul taught and preached the gospel of Christ, the one who was crucified and arose from the dead (1 Cor 1:23; 15:11-12), it is clear that “the death and resurrection of Jesus constitutes the ground of the Christian life.”5 This ground of Christian hope focuses on the past event of Christ’s life and death and is the “linguistic register” of Paul’s preaching seen in the undisputed Pauline letters as well as in the first letter to the Thessalonians (2:6; 3:2; 4:16). In the second letter, however, the “linguistic register” shifts. R. F. Collins writes, In sum, 2 Thessalonians really represents a paradigmatic shift away from the past and the Pauline proclamation to the future and the expectation of the parousiac Lord. The shift is symbolically represented by the 2 Thessalonians’ omission of Paul’s synthetic expression to euaggelion tou christou and the introduction of a neologism, to euaggelion tou kyriou hymøn I∑sou which is not only novel, but also hapax in the entire New Testament, let alone the Pauline corpus.6

This shift brings healing. This leader knows that rest will only come if the believers in Thessaloniki can relax in the knowledge that the God who raised our Jesus from the dead, as articulated so well in Paul’s teachings, is the same God who will bring future justice to their world.

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The function of the second letter is not unlike that of the first. Both strive to comfort hurting people. In the first letter, Paul comforts the ones grieving over the deaths of the loved ones, assuring them that reunion with one another and Jesus is imminent. In the second letter, the author also offers comfort but with a different perspective. The author of 2 Thessalonians promises that in time, perhaps a long season of time, but in due time, all will be well. Both visions belong to God. Both words offer hope. Both Paul and the writer of 2 Thessalonians construct worlds of hope with their words. The author of the second letter will make the long waiting appear to be shorter by providing the signs to Jesus’ coming. To those signs and the second chapter of the second letter, we now move.

Notes 1 Jouette M. Bassler, “The Enigmatic Sign: 2 Thessalonians 1:5,” CBQ 46 (July 1984): 509. 2 Edgar Krentz, “Traditions Held Fast: Theology and Fidelity in 2 Thessalonians,” The Thessalonian Correspondence, ed. Raymond Collins (Belgium: Leuven Press, 1990), 550. 3 Charles

A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B Eerdmans, 1990), 62. 4 Elias

Chacour, We Belong to the Land: The Story of a Palestinian Israeli Who Lives for Peace and Reconciliation (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992). 5 Raymond

F. Collins, “‘The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus’ (2 Thess 1.8): A Symbolic Shift of Paradigm,” in Thessalonian Correspondence, 435. 6 Ibid.,

439–40.

A Preview of the End 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 Apocalyptic descriptions of future events in 2 Thessalonians are similar to movie previews, those short clips of future attractions shown before the main feature. Sometimes overwhelming in sound and scope, these “trailers” have a definite purpose. They do not run for twenty minutes before the feature so that you can go to the snack bar and buy popcorn and a drink before the movie. The previews are shown in order to entice you to return to the theater in the future. The theater manager knows that if you see a tantalizing clip of coming attractions, then you will likely return to the theater—soon. The verses of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 function like the movie trailers that give you a sneak preview of coming attractions. The believer reads these words that mark future happenings and is compelled to stay focused, waiting on the future events to unfold. The apocalyptic writer knows how to use the reader’s time wisely. The believer reading 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 is encouraged to think about the future while living in the present, sit tightly, and patiently wait for the events of the future to begin to unfold. We are told to stay focused.

COMMENTARY Bonnie Thurston avows that 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 “is full of interpretive problems and has been a subject of discussion since the writings of the Apostolic Fathers.”1 Some of the problems deal with the identification of central figures, such as the “person of lawlessness” and “the son of perdition” (2:3). In addition, what is the “mystery of lawlessness” (2:7)? What does it mean that God sends an intentional lie “to make them believe what is false” (2:11)? Thurston suggests that her contributions to the conversations “may be able to do no more than to outline some of the difficulties and to present some of the suggested solutions.”2 I concur. The most important task of this commentary may simply be to ask the right questions so that together, you and I can attempt to understand this section.

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Several units of thoughts are displayed in 2:1-17. First, the author introduces the main theme of the letter in the opening verses of chapter 2, vv. 1-2. The second section, vv. 3-12, explains the events of the last days with important but cryptic concepts, such as the person of lawlessness, the restraining one, and the mighty delusion. The third thought unit, vv. 13-17, reflects a change in tone from the preceding section. The intense concern for a listing of events, seen in the second unit, 2:3-12, gives way to a language of prayer and thanksgiving for the believers in Thessaloniki in the final section in 2:13-17. The Main Theme of the Letter, 2:1-2

The author of 2 Thessalonians writes, We beg you, brothers, concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our coming together with him, so that you are not so quickly shaken from your mind and not continually inwardly disturbed through the spirit nor through the word, nor through a letter supposedly written by us, as if the Day of the Lord has come. (2:1-2)

The phrase, “we beg you, brothers,” signals a transition in thought. The intercessory prayer begun at the end of chapter 1 has concluded (1:11-12). The writer of 2 Thessalonians moves into the heart of the letter in chapter 2. This transition phrase, “we beg you, brothers,” seen also in 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 4:13; 5:1, 12 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6, marks a new beginning of thought. The Greek word hyper, best translated as “concerning,” clues the reader that the forthcoming topic may be a response to a question asked by the addressee. The author perhaps is writing directly to a question that has been posed by members of the community. The preposition “concerning” marks the author’s response and reveals the reader’s concern. The community remains troubled over the idea of the coming of Christ. Is Jesus coming soon or what? Thus, these first two verses of chapter 2 reveal the main idea of the letter, the coming of Christ, which may have been a primary question or concern of the addressees that precipitated the writing of the letter in the first place. The Thessalonians perhaps were still asking about the coming of the Lord, eager to know the time and the manner of the coming. The concern over Jesus’ return continues in this letter with even greater intensity and confusion than revealed in the first letter to the community of believers.

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The members of the community in this moment of time have been shaken and disturbed by those who have taught the imminent return of Christ (2:2). The members of the faith community are confused. They think the day of the Lord has already arrived. This author writes to respond to their confusion, to let them know that the day of the Lord has not yet come. In fact, the author is clear that there will be much to happen before that day arrives. The reader is urged to be calm, to sit down, to listen to what will take place prior to the Lord’s arrival. Definite signs will signal the arrival of the day of the Lord. They have yet to be fulfilled, says the writer—so stay tuned. The demand for this discussion has come from the community. The author’s concern is that the believers maintain composure and confidence. An outside force of some kind has been operating in the community to create the confusion. Although the author cannot fully identify the source of the confusion, three options are given. Perhaps the readers have been disturbed by a spirit (dia pneumatos), through an oral word (dia logou), or through a letter (di’ epistol∑s). This first option suggests that a spirit may be the source of the confusion. This reference may suggest the use of Spirit-filled utterances or the prophetic activity of some of the members of the community. Paul understands the important role of the Spirit within the community (see 1 Thess 5:19-20). Paul, in fact, encourages members of the community to respect the Spirit-filled utterances, while examining them with rationality and discernment. Could the members of the community, or perhaps someone from outside, be expressing views within the framework of apocalyptic utterances, similar to those mentioned in Revelation? The author of Revelation admits to being “in the spirit” on the Lord’s Day (1:10; 4:2). In this moment (being in the spirit), ecstasy gives way to rational discourse, and future visions are seen that otherwise in a normal state are not visible. The author of 2 Thessalonians understands that this may have been an influence that confused the members of the community. The second option, oral words, although less ecstatic, is still within the frame of Spirit-filled utterances. Oral words, such as those found in the preaching event, may have created the confusion. The views of the members of the community may have been shaped by the presence of preaching, or a distinct oral tradition from within or without the congregation. Perhaps apocalyptic preachers or teachers infiltrated the community with new

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teachings, warning the members that the end was coming soon. This oral teaching began to confuse the community. The third possibility is that a letter, supposedly from the leader of the congregation, may have been sent to the Thessalonians. In this letter, inappropriate teachings were transmitted, perhaps by spirit, word, or letter, that perplexed the readers and heightened their sense of anxiety about future events. The author of 2 Thessalonians, therefore, wants to assure the readers that these three sources are inappropriate and deceitful. Spirit-filled utterances, preaching, or a letter will not give the correct perspective concerning the end of time, says the author. Rather, this author purports to have the true knowledge, which is clearly revealed in this particular, genuine letter—2 Thessalonians. In 2:3-12 the author begins to correct the inappropriate views given by these sources. The members of the community have been deceived. They are in need of correction and knowledge. The author provides the correct information. The end is not going to happen as quickly as the sources have predicted. Some events must unfold first, warns the author. Eschatological events that precede the end of time, therefore, are carefully presented in the following section of 2:3-12. The Lawless One, a Restraining Force, and a Lie, 2:3-12

The author cautions at the beginning of v. 3, “Let no one deceive you in any manner (whether by spirit-filled utterance, preaching, or a letter).” The parousia, the coming of Christ, has not yet come! How does one know? The author assures the reader that it is simple. One knows that the day of the Lord has not yet arrived because the many events that are to accompany the arrival have not yet happened. “Apostasy will come first, revealed in the person of lawlessness, the son of destruction,” cautions the author (2:3b). The members are still waiting for the main event. Sit back and watch the previews while you rest and wait! The author in this section, 2:3-12, attempts to describe and clarify the preview events, although not in chronological sequence. First, a person of lawlessness will appear (3:3, 8, and 9); second, a restraining force will be in operation (3:6-7); third, the big lie will be revealed (3:10-12). This section does not bear the marks of a clear, rational presentation of events for two important reasons. First, the Greek syntax is irregular. Gaps, missing clauses (anacoluthon), exist in the text that must be filled by the translator/interpreter. For example, the

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sentence of v. 3 is left incomplete at v. 4. No kernel clause can be detected; only a series of embedded clauses links the ideas in vv. 3 and 4. Another incomplete thought is seen at v. 7. The second phrase, v. 7b, appears to dangle without a modifier. The interpreter must supply a verb in order to make a complete sentence: “Only the one who prevails is now at work until he is out of the way.” The second reason that this section does not appear to be a clear, rational presentation of ordered happenings is that the events are not placed in chronological order. For example, vv. 5-7 discuss the time prior to the coming of the Lord. Verses 9-12, however, describe the period of time before the appearance of the lawless one, as described in vv. 3-4. If this section is to be understood as a calendar of anticipated events, then one must assume that the timetable has not been carefully prepared. These two reasons, the irregularity of Greek syntax and the lack of chronological sequence, need not invalidate the significance of the words. The manner of presentation, however, does give pause and cause us to question the exegetical purpose of the passage. Are these events to be read as singular moments in time that are to be calibrated on a chronological timetable, complete with graphs and charts, even when the author did not intend such an interpretation? Are these events to be marked as having a beginning and end that can be viewed then marked off, like dates on a child’s Advent calendar? Every child (and adult) knows the anticipation of watching a holiday parade in December. The floats are beautiful and the bands are energetic, but they are just an interesting prelude . . . the grand finale of Santa Claus is the best. The floats and bands march by, but everyone is waiting for the end. Are we to read this passage and click off these events as marked, even though the events are not listed in timetable fashion and certainly not even written with precision and detail? Or are we to read this passage as large, brushstroke descriptions of general knowledge that are not time focused but are universal and descriptive of all time prior to the coming of the Lord? This is the huge interpretation question of the passage. C. L. Mearns presents a complex and thought-provoking argument by suggesting developing stages of Paul’s eschatological thought. The guiding directive is instructive for us. Mearns suggests that Paul did not respond to the members of the congregations “from a settled and static theological position.”3 Mearns writes, “It is more humanly likely that Paul’s theology developed in a dynamic fashion in response to different situations

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which challenged him.”4 In the beginning, Paul’s thoughts were more oriented toward “a thoroughgoing realized eschatology”— that Christ had already come into the world. The future coming was not the present focus; rather the first coming (Incarnation) was the primary emphasis. In 1 Thessalonians, Mearns suggests that Paul moved to an “imminentist Christian apocalyptic”—that Jesus Christ was coming very soon. Then in 2 Thessalonians, Mearns, who considers Paul to be the author of the second letter, suggests that a shift is made from an imminentist position to a “signssequence as a prelude to the final Day of the Lord.” “Each state of Paul’s eschatological development is conditioned by experience of life in his congregations, which taught Paul the need to combat different extreme positions,” says Mearns.5 The developmental scheme for Paul’s eschatological thinking, while extremely compelling, does not solve all of the interpretation concerns. For example, if Paul did not write 2 Thessalonians, then how does one describe such a detailed evolutionary schema? In addition, how can one speak with certitude about Paul’s thoughts, those not written down and considered prior to his missionary letter writing days? The most important contribution Mearns offers, however, is to encourage readers to think of the congregation as being an energetic catalyst for Paul’s theological reflection. Dogma is rarely, if ever, presented without some historical or social connection. One does not simply develop theological insights without some contextual reality. Paul’s thoughts are not abstract impressions of a divine message. Paul and his followers develop theological understandings in relationship to people. The concerns of the people, the members of the church in Thessaloniki, become the focal point of theological reflection. As they grow and mature, Paul’s thoughts change and shift. This fact does not make Paul’s work less reliable but more real. Paul’s theology is shaped by the people! To those members who are concerned about the deaths of loved ones, Paul writes that Jesus is coming very soon. To those members who later become convinced that Jesus is coming very soon and cannot focus on anything else, the word of instruction changes. The pace slows. Jesus Christ will come after some important previews and announcements. The viewer keeps his or her place. No one wants to move. The previews are instructive. I do not read the events in this section as a parade of precise details that mark time like the crystal ball in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Rather the presentation appears as general depictions of life before the full revelation of Christ. I am inclined to follow the

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leading of the textual strategies, where discernible, as presented by the author. The lack of attention to chronological presentation and the more emotional presentation of material, without the sustained linguistic attention to Greek syntax, create the impression that the events described in vv. 3-12 are universal descriptions of the atmosphere and quality of life that occurs before the final day of the Lord. In other words, I cannot see how anyone could develop a graph or timetable for the Lord’s return from these words. They do not appear to ask for such an interpretation. Paul has already reminded the Thessalonian congregation and modern readers as well: “But as to the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you, yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:1). And a thief in the night does not send a preparatory letter to the chosen victims announcing the specific events prior to the robber’s entrance. The thief who surprises the victim is the most successful. The material, therefore, in this chapter is to be viewed more as a general description of a large condition of life that will culminate in the full revelation of Christ. These events have been at work, are also present, and will continue to exist until the day of the Lord appears and Christ returns. We do not await their arrival, for they have already arrived. As I write, they have arrived and are arriving. In other words, “it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” The Person of Lawlessness, 2:3 The author challenges the reader, “Don’t be deceived. Before the Lord returns, apostasy will appear, perhaps revealed in the person of lawlessness, the son of destruction” (2:3). Further details are given in vv. 8 and 9: This person of lawlessness is perhaps the same one as the “rebel who will be revealed, the one whom the Lord [Jesus] will slay with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him by the manifestation of the Lord’s presence, the one who is coming according to the action of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders” (2:8-9). Who is this person of lawlessness, the son of destruction? The first question to ask is, Is this a literal, historical person or simply a figurative and symbolic manner of describing the abstract concept of evil? Common to the biblical tradition is the manner of describing large abstract ideas in the form of a person. For example, the anthropomorphic description of the large, abstract concept of Wisdom resides in the character and person of a woman, named Lady Wisdom (Sophia), in the Wisdom tradition of Proverbs and

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Ecclesiastes. Could the author be using the attributes of a person, the person of lawlessness, to describe rampant chaos and disobedience in the world prior to the coming of the Lord? Or is there a real person, perhaps known to the firstcentury readers, that represents this chaos? Representative historical figures have been suggested. If the writer of 2 Thessalonians has been influenced by the same apocalyptic energy that is seen in the book of Daniel, for example, then the person of lawlessness could possibly refer to Antiochus Epiphanes IV. [Antiochus Epiphanes IV] This historical person most likely influences the writing of chapters 9, 11, and 12 in the book of Daniel. [Maccabean Revolt] This ruler for Jewish people living in the second century BC became the epitome of evil. No one else could have conjured up a better description of evil and rampant chaos than to give the name of the ruler Antiochus Epiphanes IV. The first reader, the Gentile and Jewish reader of the first century, would have known about this historical figure and understood this time in history as being wild and chaotic. Or is the person Pompey? In 63 BC ruler Pompey defied religious tradition and entered the holy of holies in the temple, something only a Jewish priest could do and only one time during the year. [Pompey the Great] Parallels between 2 Thessalonians and Psalms of Solomon 17:11-22 can be seen. The historical figure behind the writing of Psalms of Solomon is Tetradrachm of Antiochus IV Epiphanes Pompey, a traditional apocalyptic figure who (175–163 BC), Seleucidan king of Syria who, represents the lawless one because of his subjugaby his imposition of Greek law and customs in tion of Palestine and desecration of the temple. Judea, caused the Macabeean Revolt (167 BC). Some suggest that the person of lawlessness Coin of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. (Credit: CNG / Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-2.5) refers to Caligula, emperor of Rome, another evil and despotic ruler. [Caligula] Caligula made the claim for divine kingship. He desired to have a statue of himself placed in the temple (AD 40) and would have been a contemporary political figure, whom they would all recognize by the author’s description. Perhaps Caligula and his open defiance of religious custom and disobedience would have been Antiochus Epiphanes IV A king of the Seleucid dynasty of Syria from 175 BC to 163 BC, nicknamed “Epiphanes” (the one made manifest [God]), son of Antiochus III the Great, was one of the cruelest leaders of the era. Intent on spreading Hellenism (the Greek way of life) throughout his empire, he brought great affliction to the Jews who would not follow the Greek way. He issued a famous edict that all peoples in the kingdom should be one in religion and law. Antiochus mandated laws that defiled the Jewish laws related to Sabbath observance, circumcision, and food. The greatest violation to Jewish sensibilities was his act of placing the altar of Zeus in the middle of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. He placed pressure on Jewish believers to deny their faith until an open rebellion broke out in 167 BC in a hill village of Modin, near Jerusalem. The Jews revolted. A revolution called the Maccabean Revolt began in response to the bitter rule of Antiochus Epiphanes.

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Maccabean Revolt When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he determined to become king of the land of Egypt in order that he might reign over both kingdoms. So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet. After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lamp stand for the light, and all its utensils. He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures that he found. Taking them all, he went into his own land. He shed much blood, and spoke with great arrogance. But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Very great wrath came upon Israel. (1 Macc 1:16-17, 20-24, 62-63)

Image Not Available due to lack of digital rights. Please view the published commentary or perform an Internet search using the credit below.

Antiochus and the seven Macabee brothers. From an illustrated edition of Josephus Flavius, The Jewish War. Ms.776/1061, fol. 21. 15th C., Musée Condé, Chantilly, France. (Credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

Pompey the Great Pompey the Great was one of the most famous of the Roman imperators. The imperators were not officially emperors, nor did they have any real legal standing. They were simply strong generals who had managed to amass enough power to take over actual control of the government, even though the Senate was officially responsible for governing Rome and her conquered provinces. Pompey was born about 106 BC and gained the title of Maximus or “The Great” after successfully waging a war in Africa in 81 BC. In 67 BC, he hunted down the pirates who had been such a great menace in the Mediterranean for the previous several years. Their presence there had almost brought commerce to a standstill, and they were even kidnapping wealthy Romans on the roads outside of Rome. Pompey executed the pirates he caught and drove the rest into hiding or forced them to adopt lawful seafaring pursuits. In 60 BC, Pompey joined Julius Caesar and Crassus to form the First Triumvirate, Marble bust of Pompey the Great a group of powerful generals and politicians who took over the government of Roman statesman and general. Pompey Rome in fact if not in name. As Julius Caesar became more powerful and began the Great (106–48 BC). Augustean copy of a 70–60 BC original. Venice Museo behaving more and more like an emperor, Pompey joined others in rebellion. Archeologico Nazionale. (Credit: Carole Caesar’s forces and political allies proved to be too powerful, however. In 48 BC, Raddato / Wikimedia Commons. CC-BYPompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus. Julius Caesar stated that he SA-2.0) wanted to pardon his old friend, and most historians believed he was sincere. Such was not to be the case. After Pompey escaped from the battlefield at Pharsalus, he landed on the coast of Egypt. Some petty politicians, knowing how powerful Caesar was in Egypt and wishing to ally themselves with him, murdered Pompey and made Caesar a present of his head.

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the exemplar of evil for the readers of Caligula was Rome’s third emperor and known for his 2 Thessalonians. madness, desire for murder, and his All of these historlavish lifestyle. He ruled Rome from ical figures desecrated 37 BC–41 BC, when members of his the temple in some own praetorian guard assassinated way. Perhaps the him. Caligula believed he was divine. author had one of He established temples and built statues in his own honor. He ordered these persons in mind that his own statue be placed in the when these words Holy Temple of Jerusalem and that were written: “. . . the all Jews must worship him. His person of lawlessness, beard, as depicted in this bust, was the son of destruction, a sign of mourning for the death of the one opposing and his sister Drusilla in 38 AD. being exalted over Bust of Gaius Caligula. Marble, c. everyone called god or 39–40 AD, found in Thrace. object of worship, so Bust of Gaius Caligula. Marble, c. 39–40 AD, that he [the person of found in Thrace. (Credit: ChrisO / Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-4.0) lawlessness] takes his seat in the temple of Apocalyptic Language in Mark’s Gospel God, proclaiming himself that he is God” (2:3bBut when you see the desolating sacri4). These three rulers, Antiochus Epiphanes, lege set up where it ought not to be (let Pompey, and Caligula, also represent the the reader understand), then let those who are in usurping of the power of God. God’s power, Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down, or enter his house, to however, reigns above their dark deeds. Their take anything away; and let him who is in the field demise inaugurates a new beginning for the not turn back to take his mantle, and alas for people of God. God destroys their power and a those who are with child and for those who give new age begins. [Apocalyptic Language in Mark’s Gospel] suck in those days! Pray that it may not happen in The thought is interrupted with a personal winter. For in those days there will be such triburemark in the form of a rhetorical question: “Do lation as has not been from the beginning of creation which God created until now, and never you not remember that while I was still with you will be. (Mark 13:14-19) I used to tell you these things?” (2:5). The author uses his personal relationship with the members of the congregation to reinforce this teaching. The use of the imperfect tense implies that the teachings happened more than once. In other words, “while still with you, I was saying over and over again these same words.” This teaching is not new to the community. Caligula

The Restraining One, 2:6-10 The words become even more difficult to understand and the sentence even more complex when the author writes, “And now you know the restraint [or the restraining one (to katechon)], so that it

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might be revealed in its own time. For the mystery [myst∑rion] of rebellion is already at work, until the restraining one comes out of the midst” (2:7). Who or what is the mystery of rebellion? How does this restraining one or force work? Who is the restraining one? When is the restraining one revealed? Perhaps these words were clear to the first readers. For us, however, they produce more questions than answers. Some scholars have suggested that vv. 6 and 7 are the most problematic in the entire Pauline corpus! I contend that those scholars are correct. We have already heard about the person of lawlessness, the epitome of evil, who has been introduced in the preceding vv. 3-4. In v. 6, however, another figure (or force) is introduced, the one who restrains (or the restraining force). The grammatical challenge of vv. 6 and 7 is in the shift of gender that describes the restraining one or force. In v. 6, the neuter is used, suggesting an idea or force, and not a specific human referent: “And now you know the restraint, or what is holding back [to katechon], so that it might be revealed in its own time.” In v. 7b, the same word appears in masculine form, with a masculine, singular article, suggesting an historical referent or more personal agent (ho katechøn): “ . . . only the restraining one until out of the midst he comes.” Some commentators have suggested that the restraining force (in the neuter) refers to the Roman Empire—that political force that hid and protected the greatest person of evil, the emperor. In this understanding v. 6 (in the neuter) refers to the whole political structure of the Roman Empire; v. 7 (in the masculine) then speaks with historical specificity to the emperor, who comes from the empire to unleash the power of evil on the whole earth. A very different possibility is suggested by some commentators who understand v. 6 to identify the restraint imposed by the preaching of the gospel. In this interpretation, the preaching of the good news is the restraining force, capable of keeping back the onslaught of evil. That restraining factor, preaching the good news, as seen in v. 6 then gives way to the coming of the Apostle Paul, the one who restrains evil, revealed in the masculine use of the word in v. 7. Is the restraining force the evil Roman Empire or the lavish preaching of the gospel? Is the one who restrains the destructive emperor or the faithful apostle? We cannot be sure. It is almost impossible to be able to interpret this passage with certitude. Some generalizations for interpretation, however, can be observed. A common and elementary concept is found in both interpretations, namely, Jesus’ coming will experience delay! Whether the restraint is

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the force of the evil Roman Empire or the successful preaching of the gospel message, the coming of Jesus will not happen quickly. The underlying theological assumption is clear—God is in control. The great mystery of lawlessness is already at work (2:8). Edgar Krentz states that the mystery is found in the “ironic fact that the deception practiced by the persecutors and the man of lawlessness will ultimately insure their destruction and the vindication of the persecuted. This is a source of encouragement and comfort to the church.”6 The mystery is the plan that is both destructive and constructive. The irony is that God’s power will destroy the persecuted and vindicate the righteous. In other words, God is the one in charge here. For the author and also for the members of the community, God is a God of justice. The suffering that is being endured at the present is temporary. In time events will unfold that will “balance the books,” so to speak. Krentz contends that the members of the church are experiencing tremendous persecution. Theirs is a life of waiting under great pressure: they are waiting for the persecution to cease, for God to “repay those causing the tribulation, with tribulation, but the persecuted with refreshment” (2 Thess 1:6-7). Krentz comments, The Thessalonians are suffering persecution (2 Thes 1,4) from nonChristians (2 Thes 1,8; cf. 2,12) because of the “royal rule of God” (2 Thes 1,5). Persecution is the grim reality out of which the letter arises. The writer is himself experiencing such opposition; he asks for prayers that he might be delivered from “evil and pernicious people” (2 Thes 3,2), clearly opponents of the “word of the Lord” (2 Thes 3,1) and without faith, as are the persecutors who are not obedient to the gospel. The situation is one of external opposition to the community and the good news that called it into being.7

God will take care of God’s people. In due time, “the rebel [or the person of lawlessness] will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with his breath of wrath and will annihilate with the manifestation of his presence” (2:8). The restraining force cannot hold the person of lawlessness back any longer; the evil will be revealed. And in that revelation, God’s power will also be seen. With God’s breath and mere presence, the person of lawlessness will be made extinct. The person of lawlessness is a tool of Satan. The coming of the lawless one is a parody on the true coming of Christ. This person is not Satan (2:9), but perhaps considered to be a rival Messiah, a kind of antichrist. The coming of the lawless one is a manifestation

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of the power of Satan. This manifestation is accompanied with power, signs, and false wonders. Divine miracles are imitated by the lawless one. However, even the work of deception is under God’s control. The Big Lie, 2:10-12 Those who have believed in the person of lawlessness have been deceived. They have fallen captive to the big lie: “And with all deception of wickedness to those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of truth so that they could be saved” (2:10). People who do not receive the gospel and fall for the deceptions of the lawless one are the ones who perish (1 Thess 2:13; Rom 1:2b): “For this reason [therefore] God sends to them a deceiving power [or a strong delusion] so that they might believe the lie, in order that they all might be judged, not the ones believing the truth but those pleasuring in unrighteousness” (2:10-12). This section invites even more theological questions. How can God intentionally send a situation that will lead to the deception of people, which eventually leads to their condemnation? Does God trick people into faithlessness? No, I do not think so. The author writes with two primary concerns, namely, (1) the members of the church are being persecuted and (2) Jesus is not coming soon. This section, 2:10-12, seeks to explain why the people outside the community of faith are perishing. They have chosen to reject the gospel. They believe the lie. They “delight in unrighteousness” (2:12). To delight in unrighteousness does not indicate a momentary frolic of disobedience. Rather, the phrase implies an actively chosen state of refusing God’s will. God does not send lies in order to trap people into sin. However, as God’s righteousness is revealed, unrighteousness is equally revealed. As truth becomes known, so does the untruth become manifest. God’s way draws unrighteousness to the surface. In the midst of God’s light, the injustices of life, the lies and delusions, become even more visible. God does not send the lie to trap people into destruction. God comes and people still would rather choose the lie. Those who choose the delusion choose a life that will perish. Those who choose God will live. In this section, two groups clearly emerge, those who love the truth (2:10) and those who love the lie (2:11-12). This simple way of describing the cosmic conflict of good and evil brings clarity to the difficult situation experienced by the members of the community. The faithful believers have opposition. They know that there

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are people who are persecuting them for their faith. They can rest knowing that God is in control of even those who are unbelievers. The good news is that God will preserve those who love the truth. God will bring victory for those who continue to live faithfully in a hostile environment. God judges the oppressors. Krentz states, “In this context, salvation is equivalent to escaping the condemnation of Jesus at the appearance of his coming. Salvation for the Thessalonians then is vindication at the parousia of the Lord Jesus.”8 This brings hope to the believers. God, then, is seen as a God of justice. The believer can trust God to correct the injustices of the present moment. God’s actions, however, are to be fully completed in the future. The series of events, which include the coming of the lawless one, the time of the restraint, and the arrival of the big delusion, will unfold as God’s justice is enacted on behalf of the believers in the Thessalonian congregation. That promise of future vindication creates creative space in the present for the believer. The believer can rest knowing that in the future all will be made right. Prayer and Thanksgiving, 2:13-17

This section closes with a familiar theme—prayer and praise. After several paragraphs giving vivid details of punishment and lies, the author breaks forth in praise. Much to the author’s relief and ours too, the tone of the second chapter shifts from heavy, doctrinaire response to light, prayerful doxology. Perhaps the prayerful pause is intentional. The author can reflect, and the reader can take a deep breath. We all can use this quiet interlude to take stock of what has been said and what it means for the believing community, both then and now. The third movement of chapter 2 begins at v. 13: “But we ought to give thanks to God always for you all, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning into salvation by sanctification of the spirit and belief in truth.” Perhaps this author is simply trying to emulate Paul’s moments of thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians. If so, this is a poor emulation. Although intended to be light and positive, even the prayers belonging to the author of 2 Thessalonians sound laborious and unlike Paul. Compare Paul’s praise section in 1 Thessalonians: We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers, beloved of God, that he has chosen

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 you, for the gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. (1 Thess 1:2-5a)

The author of 2 Thessalonians “ought” to give thanks. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians, simply gives thanks. Paul states that the members of the community have been chosen (1 Thess 1:4). The author of 2 Thessalonians specifically states that they have been “chosen into salvation by sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess 2:13b). More elaborate modifiers, such as salvation, spirit, belief, and truth, are added by this author and not used by Paul. Paul does not write in this way in 1 Thessalonians. This linguistic detail is more evidence that 2 Thessalonians was written by a leader in the church using Paul’s authority and epistolary style in order to gain credibility in the congregation. The theological focus, however, is common to both letters. Even though the writing style may reveal two authors, both writers are grounded in the understanding that the beginning action, the first energy, belongs to God. God is the primary catalyst of all things. God chooses; we respond. The author confirms that the Thessalonians have been chosen by God, in the same manner that Paul affirms God’s action in 1 Thessalonians 1:4—“For we know . . . your calling.” The reason for God’s choice is made clear in 2 Thessalonians 2:14. The main subject-verb-object kernel of the sentence is found in v. 13b: “God chose you” (v. 13b) “. . . to this the one who called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 14). God chooses, then calls, and then gives the glory of Christ to those who respond. Therefore, the believer’s response to all of this is simply (or not so simply, perhaps) “to stand firm and hold fast the traditions that you have received either from word or from letter” (2:15). The coming of Christ is going to take some time. The believer is going to have to wait. What is she or he to do in the meantime? Perhaps the theater analogy is again helpful to us here. We are in the theater, waiting for our movie to appear. We know the movie will come; we have been given the promise. However, the chosen film has yet to appear on the screen. What do we do? Do we leave? Do we go home and then return? No, we sit and wait. We buy a bag of popcorn, drink some soda, and relax in the chair, knowing that in the end we will eventually see what we have come to see. All will be well. The author of 2 Thessalonians writes with this kind of full assurance. Stay in your seat. Hold fast, don’t move. You don’t need to go

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“Hold Fast the Traditions” (2 Thess 2:15) What are the traditions that the members of community are asked to keep? Perhaps Paul understands three kinds of tradition. First, the tradition of the central gospel message (1 Cor 15:1-3). Second, the church tradition is to be honored (1 Cor 11:23-25). The third tradition that the Pauline communities are urged to keep is related to the standards of ethics or norms of conduct known and shared by the firstcentury believers. In 2 Thessalonians 2:15 the central gospel message may be the meaning of the word tradition. In 3:6, however, ethical teachings may be the reference.

back to your car or return home. Just stay focused. The end is near but not yet. As you wait, therefore, stay firm and hold fast to the promise that you have been given. The author uses the word “traditions” (paradoseis) twice in 2 Thessalonians (2:15; 3:6). The word is not found in 1 Thessalonians. [“Hold Fast the Traditions” (2 Thess 2:15)] The word is used in 1 Corinthians 11:2 when Paul praises the Corinthians because they have maintained the traditions. In Galatians 1:14 Paul speaks of the “traditions of my fathers.” In 2 Thessalonians 2:15 the author uses a double imperative to Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: emphasize the importance of maintaining the Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990), 268. tradition of the gospel message: “Stand firm and hold fast the traditions which you have received from word or from letter.” Prayer language flows in the remaining verses. The author begins the prayer in didactic fashion: “Our Lord himself Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, may comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (2:16-17). Using the Greek optative mood, the author is clear that these last few verses belong to prayer language. The author prays for the reader. Two forms of the word “comfort” (parakl∑sis) are used in vv. 16-17. The reader is once again reminded of the pastoral nature of the writing, also seen in 1 Thessalonians. The thoughts coded in this letter, although more doctrinally interesting than 1 Thessalonians, are focused more on comforting the reader than exhorting the reader. Similar to the vision of 1 Thessalonians, this author writes with special interest in the people who are reading the letter. The reader is always central to the thought of this author.

CONNECTIONS What is the passage teaching us? What are the larger issues connected to life that can be learned here? [The Message of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17] I have already confessed that we may never The Message of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 really understand the meaning of the terms conThe end is going to be bad, but you can tained in the chapter, such as the full identity of make it if you stand firm and hold the the person of lawlessness, the restraining one, or traditions. God is in control, but you’d better do a the big lie. We may always be searching for the lot of praying.

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exact referents to these concepts. Larger issues, however, speak to us as we read this second chapter of 2 Thessalonians. The broader issues of this chapter are simply, but yet not so simply, that the end is going to be bad, but you will be able to make it if you stand firm and hold the traditions; God is in control, but you’d better pray a lot. To these larger concerns we turn our attention. First, the end is going to be bad. Even with all the confusion related to the interpretation of this chapter, the author has given us a helpful template for the discussion of evil. The anticipation of the end of time demands a conversation about evil. We cannot ignore it. A vocabulary of evil is important for the life of the believer. Beverly Gaventa says that “texts such as 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, however they make us squirm, call us away from Personifying Evil a white-bread Christianity, in which neither Was Hitler an example of the world’s greatest God nor the gospel has much depth or subevil? Or was it Caligula? Maybe Nero? Perhaps stance, to a recognition of the presence of evil in Saddam Hussein? Or Idi Amin? These were evil the world.”9 W. B. Yeats’s poem, “The Second men, ranging from the first century to the twentyfirst century. Their deeds were atrocious. Coming,” describes the depth of distress and evil 10 Unfortunately, they are probably not the last of that “slouches towards Bethlehem.” (See [“The the evil dictators. Evil exists, and people of evil Second Coming”].) The time of evil is best described continue to practice evil deeds. as that moment when “things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” We need to pay attention to the evil around us. We need words to talk about what it looks like, what it feels like, and how we should respond. For people who knew the stories of the Jewish fight for independence during the Maccabean Revolt in 168 BC, the epitome of evil was Antiochus Epiphanes. The ruler had taken away their freedoms. This evil one had desecrated their temple, in the same manner that later generations would remember Pompey and even Caligula as greater examples of evil in the world. For people living during World War II, the epitome of evil was not Antiochus Epiphanes but another ruler, this time from Germany, named Adolf Hitler. For many, Hitler was the greatest example of evil in the world. For some, he remains the greatest example of pure destruction and evil in his maniacal schemes of genocide, persecution, and extinction. Drawing of Hitler, 1923 George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress

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Other names have been suggested for the identity of the greatest evil person. A pastor tried to convince me in the late 1970s that the real identity of the person of lawlessness was John F. Kennedy. This pastor had been studying the Bible texts and was convinced that President Kennedy was still alive, living in a remote island near Greece, and would soon be returning to take over the world. His evil rule would be in collaboration with the Vatican and the world would be destroyed before Christ’s return. No amount of reason would change this pastor’s mind. He was convinced that he had accurately labeled the antichrist. He spoke with passion and conviction, but he was wrong. All of these attempts to describe evil speak more about us than they do about the evil person we are trying to identify. We seem to need to personify the evil forces in this world; we cannot leave the evil energy nameless or faceless. We must give it a name in order to be able to have appropriate discussions. In some ways, that is helpful. Generalizations can remain abstract unless we have an appropriate example or illustration. For example, one cannot fully know the abstract concept of love until one has been loved by another human being. We need the incarnated version of the story in all directions. The anthropomorphic nature of apocalyptic language is helpful. After the tremendous loss of life in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, our political leadership quickly turned to the direct naming of the evil. President Bush and his administration responded quickly in the media, rushing to identify and name the enemy. As the search for the perpetrator was carried out, there was much discussion regarding the difficulty of naming the enemy in this conflict. Accustomed to fighting specific countries or leaders, we were suddenly faced with an attack on our own soil and we did not have a clear identity of the responsible nation, ethnic group, or leader. These were not the Communists of the Cold War period, or the Nazis of Germany, who could easily be identified with names and geopolitical borders. We did not know them. We could not label them. While the towers of death and rubble were cleared and families mourned their loss of loved ones, the government searched to identify the evil source. Soon, the evil of that terrible event boiled down to one man and into one massive manhunt for Osama bin Laden. The energies derived from anger and loss went into bombing the territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan that provided refuge to this enemy. Our retaliation could be clean and precise because we had named the enemy, or so we thought. That rhetoric of evil simply

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shifts from naming one enemy to another, from Hitler to Hussein. Peace seems far away. Evil is so powerful that we are not content to live with a generalized abstraction or theory. Evil is personal. Evil has a name. It is not enough to go to war to fight an abstract theory such as evil or domination. We do best when we can label evil with a name, racial description, and address. And the name of evil is usually the name of our most current enemy. Naming evil in this manner has some advantages. The rhetoric has focus. But personifying evil as something or someone out there is a dangerous thing! Walter Wink cautions us against turning all of our attention on evil as an outside force. Even cartoonists know that “I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is me.” If evil is seen only as an outside force, then it becomes an even more dangerous and personal state with greater negative consequences. Evil is not just outside of us; evil is a part of us, in us, and with us. We cannot kill all of our enemies and then look at each other with smugness, thinking that we have finally eradicated evil. Selfreflection is a necessary prerequisite to a discussion of evil. The collective voice speaks, “What did we do to contribute to an environment of hate so that our planes would be used to kill us?” The individual voice speaks, “What evil do I contribute in small but significant ways that cause destruction of ideas as well as lives?” Evil is not simply out there waiting to snatch and control the life of a willing political leader. Evil is in here waiting to work its way into my daily life, with family and friends, at the job or the home dinner table. I, too, am responsible for the evil, not just someone out there. The second concern of this chapter is that, in the midst of all this confusion, the best thing that we can do is “stand firm, and hold fast the traditions.” These are good words. In the midst of crisis, most us want to flee. We want to run away from the pain. The author of 2 Thessalonians gives counsel to do the exact opposite. Sit tight, don’t move, and hold on to what you have been taught. You know what to do. The moment of decision comes. You can decide to stay or flee. The context does not matter. The chaos can be a soured relationship that is bringing disharmony. The crisis can be academic failure. The distress can be from the loss of a job. Sometimes our response to these terrible moments of distress is to withdraw and give up. Most likely, the Thessalonian Christians were experiencing persecution of both physical and emotional degree. The counsel

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that they are given is worth our attention—stay put and remember the past. Hang on; don’t run! Portraits hang on the walls of the first floor of our home. In the music room, framed pictures of five generations of family members—the families of Harris, McKinnish, Griffin, Wagoner, and Baldwin—are displayed. The clothes and the settings reveal a span of almost three centuries of living. My great-great-greatgrandmother Wagoner never knew the thrill of a laptop computer. My great-grandfather Griffin never knew the power of a cell phone. But they both knew the challenges of life in their own way. The Wagoners knew the mountain soil and the value of farming in the late 1800s; the Griffins knew how to weave and make money in the Depression of the 1930s. Although they lived in different contexts, I face similar challenges as they did. They persevered and left behind the rich legacies of hard work, self-sacrifice, love of family, and care for others and the land. I look at their faces and remind myself to “hold fast the traditions.” Up the stairs more portraits are found. Faces from the Hebrew Bible are seen in framed portraits to remind us of our biblical tradition. Elijah, the bold and wise one; Esther, smart and thoughtful; and Ruth, the rational and visionary one, stare at us as we go up and down the hall stairs several times daily. These people who have gone before us have established a rich tradition that we will remember if we are wise. Knowing their stories of success in the face of adversity enables us to hold fast and stand firm in the midst of chaos and distress. Third, the author wants us to know that God is firmly in control of this time. The great feature of apocalyptic language is that regardless of the severity of the situation, God is working in the mess all the while. And God will bring victory over evil. The message of the book of Revelation is less a description of the corruption of the last days and more a victorious description of a God who is and will defeat all evil powers. That notion of a God who wins enlivens us. We know the last chapter even before the book is completed. We know the end before it is even written! We can rest even though we are in the middle of the battle. God will reign; we are assured of that. Finally, the concern of this chapter in Thessalonians challenges us to pray often. I remember my response to reading Walter Wink’s Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination.11 Wink had convinced me that there were evil forces all around—personal and institutional. I had followed every chapter that he wrote on the domination system. My eyes were

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open to the evil forces all around me, in me, and through me in new ways that I had never thought about before. I read his words, and I wanted to go to work right away to eradicate evil. I wanted to roll up my sleeves, put on my jeans, and join some group—nonviolent, of course—but some kind of group that would work for institutional change. Then I came to part 4 of his book, chapter 16, titled “Prayer and the Powers.” I was mad. My first thought was that Wink has worked me up to this point of wanting to do something about the evil forces in this world and now he was just telling me to pray. I had heard all of that before, or so I thought. My first response was, how much more passive and ineffective can you get? Prayer, before I read Wink’s words, had seemed the last resort for change, not the first option. In other words, I was not against praying, but I simply assumed that one prayed after one had done all that could be done, not the other way around. Through these years, however, I have continued to listen to Wink. Prayer is the first place to begin to deal with the power of lawlessness, the restraining forces, and the big delusion. Prayer is where we start, not where we end the battle with evil. Prayer is never a private act. It may be the interior battlefield where the decisive victory is first won, before engagement in the outer world is even attempted. If we have not undergone that inner liberation, whereby the individual strands of the net in which we are caught are severed, one by one, our activism may merely reflect one or another counterideology of some counter-Power. We may simply be caught up in a new collective passion, and fail to discover the transcendent possibilities of God pressing for realization here and now. Unprotected by prayer, our social activism runs the danger of becoming self-justifying good works, as our inner resources atrophy, the wells of love run dry, and we are slowly changed into the likeness of the Beast.12

Paul and the author of 2 Thessalonians know how to pray. Prayers break forth and interrupt their speech, appearing more like liturgical cues for a worship service than lines belonging to personal correspondence. Praying is akin to breathing, or talking, or writing. The community of believers in Thessaloniki is also urged to pray. The times are hard. The evil forces are unleashed. It is going to become worse before it gets better. Jesus will come in due time. In the meantime, however, much more suffering will occur. What is the believer to do? Create a social action team? March on Washington? Write a letter to one’s political representative? Vote in

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The Subversive Nature of Prayer Prayer is never a private act. It may be the interior battlefield where the decisive victory is first won, before engagement in the outer world is even attempted. —Walter Wink

a church business meeting? All of these responses are appropriate, but the first response is best. And the first response is simply this— pray, pray, pray! Wink offers these closing words: “We pray to God not because we understand these mysteries, but because we have learned from our tradition and from experience that God, indeed, is sufficient for us, whatever the Powers may do.”13 [The Subversive Nature of Prayer]

Notes 1 Bonnie Thurston, Reading Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Thessalonians: A Literary and Theological Commentary (New York: Crossroad, 1995), 175. 2 Ibid. 3 C.

L. Mearns, “Early Eschatological Development in Paul: The Evidence of I and II Thessalonians,” NTS 27/2 (1981): 137. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid.,

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6 Edgar

Krentz, “Traditions Held Fast: Theology and Fidelity in 2 Thessalonians,” in The Thessalonians Correspondence, ed. R. F. Collins (Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1990), 507, n10. 7 Ibid.,

507.

8 Krentz,

“Traditions Held Fast,” 509.

9

Beverly Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching; Louisville: John Knox Press, 1998), 120. 10 W.

B. Yeats, “The Second Coming,” in The Yeats Reader: A Portable Compendium of Poetry, Drama, and Prose of William Butler Yeats, ed. Richard J. Finneran (New York: Scribner, 1997), 68–69. 11 I suggest reading Walter Wink’s important trilogy on evil. Although 1–2 Thessalonians are not given much attention, Wink has provided for us a most helpful book. Read the volumes in this order: Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984); Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986); Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986). 12 Wink, 13 Ibid.,

Engaging the Powers, 297–98.

317.

Pray and Work (and in that order!) 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 This final chapter of the Thessalonian correspondence closes on a balanced note of “spiritual pragmatism.” Prayer and work are comingled within this community of artisan believers. The first focus is on prayer. The author asks for prayer from the first-century readers (3:1-4). In addition, the author prays for those readers (3:5). The words create a world of prayer that easily moves from the first to the twenty-first century, inviting us as current readers into a world of prayer as well. The second focus is on work, the kind of manual labor that is a practical concern for the first-century community (3:6-12). Although prayer is important for the health of the artisan community, the author knows that work is also. Without work there is no economic development. Without economic develPrayer and Work opment there is no food to eat. Prayer and work are the two poles of the life of faith. Injunctions regarding an appropriate work ethic are given. The closing words of the letter provide additional instructions for the community life and offer a prayerful benediction (3:13-18). The life of faith has always rested between these two poles—prayer and work. Symbolized in the later development of the church as roles belonging to Mary and Martha, or in the more abstract, modern terms of worship and social action, the believer is suspended between these two crucial points of faithful living—prayer and work. One can be so spiritually charged that one is no earthly good. Or one can be so focused on material things that spiritual matters do not matter! The community of believers in Thessaloniki is challenged Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto (1518–1594). Christ with Mary and to do both—to pray and to work. To Martha. c. 1580. Oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany. [Credit: Wikimedia Commons, PD-Art (PD-old-100)]

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that end this letter now moves in the concluding words of the Thessalonian correspondence.

COMMENTARY The author writes, “Finally, pray, brothers, for us, so that the word of the Lord might run (speed on and triumph) and be honored, just as also by you” (3:1). The word “finally” marks the closing of the letter as well as a transition to another style of writing. The author is preparing to move into the instruction section of the letter. Paul is known for this literary shift about halfway through his letters. Most of Paul’s writings contain a section devoted to ethical instruction, called paraenesis. The last third of this letter is devoted to practical instructions for daily living in the community. The life of faith is not a mere abstraction or nice idea. Pragmatic roots, or fruit of ethical character, are visible signs of a vibrant world of faith. Praying people do good things! The Prayer, 3:1-5

Some commentators see this section as the concluding paragraph to the prayer mode begun at 2:13. The word “finally” directs the reader to the last prayer thoughts of the writer. Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for they do not have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. (3:1-5)

This section introduces the concluding thoughts of the writer, which are shaped into a combined language of prayer and instruction (paraenesis). The first-century readers are asked to pray for the progress of the gospel, so that the word of the Lord might run as a runner speeds on to the finish line. The Thessalonians are also asked to pray for the messengers. The specific prayer is for the author and colleagues that they might be delivered from wicked and evil people (3:2). The stark reality is that “faith is not the response of all to the word of God” (3:2b). Everyone will not respond to the message of the gospel. The lack of

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overwhelming success, however, is not totally discouraging. The Lord is faithful and will strengthen and guard the Thessalonians from evil (3:3). Opposition is obvious here. The exact kind of opposition or persecution, however, is not clear. What is clear is that the community of believers has encountered people who would do them harm. Words of affirmation, in typical Pauline fashion, are given to the members of the community when the author writes, “We have confidence in the Lord concerning you” (3:4a). The community will persevere in the midst of the struggle. God’s faithfulness and the faithfulness of the community are the reasons for the confidence. Following close on the heels of the affirming words, however, are words of exhortation. The author, using words of praise, also admonishes them to follow the teachings that have already been presented to them. The author is confident that “they are doing and will do the things that they have been previously instructed to do” (3:4b). Having made the introductory remarks to the ethical section, the author then closes the introduction with a prayer: “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the perseverance of Christ” (3:5). This benedictory wish-prayer serves to mark the bridge from the remarks of praise and affirmation to the important and serious section on instructions for ethical living (3:6-12). The Work, 3:6-12

Although prayer is work, the author is requesting more than just prayer from the members of the congregation. They are expected to be spiritually aware, of course. They are also expected to be working—doing something good for the sake of the group! Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying, but with toil and labor we worked day and night, that we might not burden any of you. It was not because we have not that right, but to give you in our conduct an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work let him not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in

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This kind of “spiritual pragmatism” has been the center of discussion in this commentary. This attribute is a special characteristic of the first-century community of faith in Thessaloniki. It is only in the Thessalonian correspondence that we can see this feature of faith most clearly. In Corinthians, for example, we are not as aware of the social or economic aspects of the community. In Romans, physical realities seem to pale in light of theological truths. Galatians is about shifting social values that relate to religion and race. But in Thessalonians, if we understand the community to be a working-class group of artisans who are committed not only to their God but also to their craft, then we see a community of faith unique in the New Testament. Within this world of words, it is absolutely necessary to confront the so-called bipolar dimensions of faithful living—work and prayer, prayer and work. Paul has already suggested a code of ethics for the artisans in his letter (1 Thess 5:14f ). This letter is another reminder of the importance of work and industry in the community. Their idleness need not be explained by eschatological expectations. A simpler, more pragmatic rationale exists. If their weak productivity is not connected to eschatological projections, then what is the reason? Is this a theological or a social problem manifest in vv. 6-12? Are the members of the community not working because they are waiting for the Lord to return? Are they not working because they are lazy? What is the setting for this problem in the community? The author “instructs the brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every friend living idly [ataktos] and not according to the traditions that they have received” (3:6). This is a social rather than simply a theological problem among the community of artisans. This problem is severe. The economic realities are harsh; the rules of the professional group are clear. The economic structure of the artisan community demands that every member work. If one member fails, the entire project deteriorates. If a member of the guild is not properly carrying one’s own weight, or handling one’s own portion of the load, the entire workshop suffers. The working group depends on the productivity of each member. If, for example, the production is divided among the workers, with some members being responsible for the preparation of the raw goods, such as wood or leather, with another member being responsible for crafting the product, and yet another for cleaning and finishing the product at the final stage of production,

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“If you don’t work, then you don’t eat” then all the members have an important role in Perhaps this slogan was placed for the the work production of the community. If one members of the first-century artisan member fails to fulfill his role, the entire group group in Thessaloniki to see. The advice is pracsuffers. [“If you don’t work, then you don’t eat”] tical. The consequences are severe. The group is Perhaps the members of the artisan commudependent on the production of every member. Each member has to contribute or the group nity are simply tired—tired from too much cannot survive. work. Perhaps they have taken a sabbatical from their labor. They have given themselves too many breaks and holidays. Or perhaps personal squabbles have lessened their enthusiasm for cooperative work. A sour personality or two can affect the productivity of a large group. Maybe they have been having tense disagreements and some of the members have just “thrown in the towel.” Maybe they want to quit and go do something else. Maybe they have lost their zeal for the creation of their product. We do not know the exact reason why they have quit working. We do know, however, that their lack of productivity affects the well-being of the entire group. And they have forgotten that most important point. The members of the group need to be reminded of the responsibilities that each member brings to the success of the group. This group needs to function well in order to succeed economically as well as spiritually. The community is an important site of economic sustenance as well as spiritual formation. This community needs to survive. For Paul and the church’s leaders, their goal for the group is to see them thrive—both spiritually and economically! The author reminds the members of the community of the Apostle Paul’s example of industry (3:7). Paul, the tentmaker, and the founding leaders of the church worked, showing the others the appropriate model of combined prayer and industry. This author refers to Paul’s example but does not refer to Paul’s previously given instruction on work in 1 Thessalonians 4:11. The model is clear. The leaders did not expect free handouts. Rather, they led the same kind of life as the artisans, working and worshiping together. They bore their portion of the workload for the sake of the group. If everyone did their part, the entire group would prosper. The assumption behind these words reveals the church leaders who have participated in a level of hierarchical leadership, living with the community, perhaps, but not soiling their hands with the work of the industry. The function of the office of apostle would have also allowed that (3:9). They had the authority. Yet Paul and his coworkers chose to live among them as one of the many members of the community. Because Paul and his colleagues were

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one of the group, rather than above the rest, they chose to live in the community as artisans rather than as paid apostles. Paul and his colleagues consistently refused to take material support for their ministry (1 Cor 9:1-18; 2 Cor 11:7). They did not eat bread without paying for the food (2 Thess 3:8a). For this community, this action would be just as instructive as the apostolic words. Paul’s example of bivocational ministry often spoke even louder than his words (3:9). With personal authority and seasoned experience, the church leaders could quote a familiar maxim to the believers, saying, “If anyone wishes not to work, neither let that person eat” (3:10). The problem was not simply lack of industry, however. The believers were not only living in an idle manner; they were also being busybodies (or meddling, 3:11). A creative word play is seen in 3:11. The two Greek words for working and meddling are similar in sound and spelling. The author writes, “We hear that some of you are living in an idle manner, not working [ergazometous] but meddling [periergazomenous].” The artisan without any work to do created a nuisance in the community. We are not given any detailed information as to the exact meaning of “meddling.” Perhaps they are busy looking “over their shoulders” to see the progress of their neighbor and neglecting their own production. Their minds are not on their work. They are concerned about other things, perhaps their neighbor’s business. The language of correction directed to these meddlers is strong. They are instructed and encouraged in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quietness and eat their own bread (3:12). Isolation from the group appears to be the recommendation until they can calm themselves. To work in quietness is the instruction. Without more detail surrounding this dilemma, we can only conjecture at best. Artisan work demands quiet, creative space. A person who is busily talking in the workshop, chatting mindlessly about the affairs of others, is a deterrent to the creative productivity of an artist colony. The work of the group depends on a calm environment where distractions are minimal and intense focus can be sustained. Perhaps the younger apprentices who are just being trained as craftsmen are the ones needing this instruction. Those who cannot refrain from mindless chatter are to withdraw from the group at mealtimes and maintain a quiet composure for the well-being of the entire artisan community.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 Final Words, 3:13-18

The final thoughts are words of encouragement: “But you, brothers, do not grow weary of doing good” (3:13). The living, working, growing, creating community of artisans, who were attempting to follow God in a society that did not favor their faith, needed to be encouraged to keep on keeping on. They were tired, weary from their work—both inside the tenement church and outside on the street. The personal address, “brothers,” marks a new section at 3:13, even though many translators tag the verse as the conclusion to the preceding paragraph of vv. 6-12. I contend, however, that this address of personal nature to the male artisans marks the final words of this church leader to the members of the congregation. This verse is the beginning of the end. If this is a correct assumption, that v. 13 announces the end of the letter, then these final words are extremely important. These words may unveil one of the primary reasons for writing the letter in the first place. These final words reveal the reasons for the author’s previous exhortations to the community for greater work productivity and more urgency in prayer. Simply stated, this community is weary! And this letter is written to encourage the weary ones in the artisan community. The artisans have been faithful. Paul, in the first letter, made that clear. They are seen as an example of faithful living to believers in the region and beyond. But by the writing of this second letter, and perhaps with the leadership of another apostle (other than Paul), the members of the community are in a moment of pause, of slow productivity, of discouragement, of retrenchment. To that end, this author wants the words to move them to another place. The primary word from the leader to the follower is this: “Don’t grow tired of doing good work.” The words have a sting to them, however. It is not enough simply to say, “Don’t get tired.” The author has to uncover the root of the problem. In the tight group of artisans, one person who chooses not to follow the will of the group can create havoc for the entire system of production. To this concern, the author writes, “If anyone does not obey our word through this letter, let this one take special note, don’t associate with him in order that he might be ashamed. But do not consider him as an enemy, but admonish him as friend” (3:14-15). Isolation, or exclusion from the group, becomes the form of punishment for those artisans who cannot abide by the laws of the group. Shaming an individual by isolating one from the group was a tremendous form of punishment for the first-century citizen. In a

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first-century society where the group mattered more than the individual, to be disenfranchised from the collective was a major tragedy of great shame and loss of face. Isolation in this tenement setting results in not only psychological punishment but also economic sanctions. The artisan needs the working colony for the sharing of tools as well as the division of labor. Without the colony, the first-century worker is less likely to thrive. The industry of the artisan’s craft depends on tools, which are often too expensive for one person to purchase, and on the volume of goods, which cannot be fulfilled by a single artist. The artist needs the company of like-minded craftsmen who can help his business expand. Without the community, a single artist cannot make a decent wage. Isolation would be a most tragic punishment for the first-century artist. The injunction to isolate, however, does not include friendship. The punishment only relates to the world of work. Friendship still holds the door open for the one who does not follow the will of the group. In that manner, rehabilitation can come more quickly. Even though the punishment affects the environment of work, the offender is still connected to the group through friendship. The one who cannot obey the rules of the community cannot be allowed to weaken the productivity of the community. The offender, however, is not to be considered an enemy but a friend. Productivity of the group depends on the full involvement of everyone in the tenement. However, friendship can always hold on even to miscreants. These final words are intended to encourage the weary believer. The closing words break into a benedictory blessing: “And may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all” (3:16). This blessing has no specific Pauline parallel, suggesting that these words do not belong to Paul, the author of 1 Thessalonians, but to a disciple or another leader closely related to Paul’s leadership. The closing section (3:16-18) contains few of the standard features of Paul’s epistolary closing style. For example, this closing does not contain personal greetings as seen in the letters written to the Philippians and Romans. This personal element, so often the closing thought of Paul’s other letters, is missing in the final words of 2 Thessalonians. It appears that the concern here is more to authenticate the message of the letter than to offer personal greetings. Something has occurred that demands that the author validate this epistle.

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The closing words are intended to provide authenticity for the letter: “The greeting, with my own hand, from Paul, which is a sign in every letter of mine; this is the way I write” (3:17). This author wants to ensure that this letter is from the writer. The most common practice for letter writing would be through dictation, words spoken aloud to a scribe, or amanuensis, who is responsible for writing the words down. This letter, however, is not written through the hand of the scribe but bears the original mark of the author. The authorship question emerges again. If 2 Thessalonians is genuinely from Paul, then why is v. 17 necessary? Why would Paul need to “prove” that this was his letter? The first letter did not require such a concern. If 2 Thessalonians is not written by Paul, then the author goes to a great deal of effort here to assert his Pauline connection by validating the authenticity of the letter with Paul’s own imprint. This kind of authentication would be necessary in order to gain a hearing in the Thessalonian community of believers. This print of authenticity may have also been necessary to refute the credibility of other letters purporting to be authentic. Bonnie Thurston comments, Indeed, if 2 Thessalonians is genuinely Pauline, why is v. 17 necessary at all? If the epistle is pseudonymous (as I am inclined to think it is), then the writer must give his work the stamp of Paul’s authority. And, in addition, he is distinguishing his authentic and authoritative letter from those proposing to be but which are not.1

The last words of this letter are recorded in 3:18: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all.” This closing grace wish is common in Paul’s letters. (See 1 Cor 16:23; Gal 6:18; Phil 4:23; Rom 16:20; 1 Thess 5:28; Phlm 25.) In Romans 16:20 Paul writes, “The grace of our Lord Jesus [be] with you.” In 1 Corinthians 16:23 Paul writes, “The grace of our Lord Jesus [be] with you.” A similar pattern appears in 1 Thessalonians 5:28: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you.” Unique to the grace wish in 2 Thessalonians, however, are these two words: “Christ” and “all.” This literary addition to the grace wish does not bear enough weight to assert non-Pauline authorship. However, this variation of pattern, when combined with all of the information regarding variations between 1 and 2 Thessalonians in vocabulary and style, with emotional tone, personal intensity, and shift in eschatological focus, strongly suggests that someone other than the Apostle Paul has written 2 Thessalonians.

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The desire to encourage, exhort, and bless, however, is common to both letters and authors. This community of believers in Thessaloniki is doubly blessed to have these two leaders (and more, including Timothy and Silvanus) who are working side by side with the artisan Christians, leading them into greater understanding of the faith and offering support and friendship for the work of the community and their journey of faith.

CONNECTIONS Ronald Russell asks a question in the title of a helpful journal article in New Testament Studies: “The Idle in 2 Thess 3.6-12: An Eschatological or Social Problem?” The article provides a clear and concise view of the issue of idleness from the perspective of the social conditions of work within the community. The members of the community, says Russell, are not idle because of eschatological concerns as some commentators have surmised. Nor are they idle because they have a disdain for manual labor, as other commentators have suggested. Russell, leaning heavily on the work of scholars who have explored the social world of Pauline Christianity, such as Wayne Meeks, Helmut Koester, Gerd Theissen, E. A. Judge, and others, suggests, If Pauline churches are composed primarily of believers from a lower social position (the poor, slaves, artisans, freedmen) with a minority from higher social levels in positions of leadership, then the idleness is more likely expressed by believers who are manual laborers from a lower social class. Paul urges these idle poor, caught up as beneficiaries of Christian love, to work, being self-sufficient and constructive in their relationship with others.2

I concur with Russell’s conclusion and understand the idleness primarily in terms of the demands of labor and production within the community of artisans in Thessaloniki. The challenge, however, remains. How does one connect the dots between low labor production and frenzied eschatological expectations? Are they related? For so long, readers of the Thessalonian correspondence could only see the eschatological focus. The general idea was simply that this was a community who had gone off the edge in their eschatological expectations and needed to be reminded of the specific events in order to create a more orderly environment. No account was given to the actual, material concerns of the community, such as low pro-

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duction, diminished profits, loss of economic gain, etc. This commentary has attempted to outline the community in its most earthly form. To see these male artisans at work in the tenement church, trying to meet the demands of church and work, sacred and secular, chapel and street, has been an exciting venture. They, the artisans of the tenement church in Thessaloniki, were real people, just like you and me. They had jobs. They had to work hard in order to create economic gain. Their work hours were long and their pressures intense. They had families to feed. They were not so spiritually minded that they had no earthly intentions. They were grounded in their craft; they were also grounded in their faith. Somewhere along the way, they realized that there is more to life than the experiences they were having. They were introduced to the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, most likely for the first time from the Apostle Paul. They were exemplary in their faith. That faith expression did not exist apart from their job. Somehow they wrapped it all together, lumping their work in with their faith, their faith with their work. No divisions existed between sacred and secular. They went to church where they worked. And they worked where they went to church. Their work and their faith connected the members of the congregation to one another and to God. The challenge for us in this our time of faithful living and living faith is to listen to these ancient voices, which have been deeply hidden within the years of ecclesiastical interpretations and church readings. This ancient community of faith compels us to consider the structure and vitality of our own communal faith experience once again. Although many important messages have been heard from this first-century community, I’m left with two lasting impressions that I leave with you. One, the church changes. I know that the sentence conveys a “no-brainer.” But I want to explore the idea with the artisan church in Thessaloniki in the background. The thought has encouraged me in the last few years while thinking about the believers in Thessaloniki and the believers in my own denomination of Baptists in the South. Two, the reality of life is often discovered in the compact contradictions. For example, the Thessalonian community was both secular and sacred. The members had not withdrawn from the world in order to create spiritual space. They maintained their space in the world as they reflected on the world to come. They knew the realities of sweat and hard work. They also knew the intangibles of prayer and spiritual dimension of faith. The members of the artisan church worked as they prayed. And they prayed as they worked.

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The spiritual pragmatists knew that life was lived best in the midst of both prayer and work. This ability to hold the tension fascinates me. Other communities of faith that would follow in history would be confronted with issues of secular and sacred. Some believers would easily mark boundaries between the two. Vocations would either be in the church or in the world. Life would be understood as either for now or later. The life of faith would either be one destined for this world only or the next. It would be more and more difficult for us to live in the middle. I was impressed with a response of one of my students, Habacuc Diaz Lopez, several years ago while studying the proposal of the artisan church in Thessaloniki. Planning to return to Mexico to serve as pastor, Habacuc was eager to learn more about the workings of the church. When I presented the possibility of the church in Thessalonians as a church of artisans who met in a tenement house, his eyes lit up with enthusiasm. Through the course of the semester, I would learn why. For Habacuc, this style of church validated his own experience of collective faith in his hometown in Mexico. Furthermore, finding this kind of church model in the New Testament enabled him to return home, as he said, and defend the artisan church model to those colleagues who felt that building a huge church, even with great expense for the Mexican people, was the only way to validate their experience of faith. Discovering these artisans in Thessaloniki affirmed for Habacuc that worship or church structures need not be confined to a particular model or frame—that faithful worship could occur within the walls of a house or a workshop, in town or in a suburb. I watched the wheels of thought move in his mind. He read all that he could in order to present his case to his missionary colleagues, hoping to convince them that church architecture need not have to be in the form of American mainline denominations. The artisan community of faith in first-century Thessaloniki witnesses to the reality that ecclesiastical structures are always changing. Models of worshiping communities are as diverse as people’s personalities. First-century believers gathered to worship in homes of wealthy patrons and workshops of artisans. We are not surprised to watch the transformation of organized religious life in the twenty-first century. People gather to worship God in large, public stadiums, informal community centers, small storefronts, and suburban homes as well as in traditional cathedrals and churches. Worship style, likewise, is more diverse than ever before. From praise singing to traditional hymns, the liturgy of the church is also changing.

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You and I sit in a particularly interesting time in ecclesiastical history. We have been told that we are in a period of denominational decline. Statistics reveal that fewer people are interested in supporting traditional denominational structures. A quick glance at any mainline denominational church service on any given Sunday morning will affirm that fewer young people are choosing to attend either traditional worship or traditional church. Many of us have been riding this stream for what seems like forever. For those of us who are of the tradition of Southern Baptists, we have been watching the dismantling and rebuilding of our denomination for a long, long time. Moments have been sad and scary as we have watched the familiar ecclesiastical landscape change. The old structures have been dismantled before our eyes. Church just looks different now! That is only one tiny example of what time will reveal to be a larger movement of ecclesiastical shifting and defining. In the last few years, Catholics in America and around the world have experienced seismic shifts in organizational structure due to moral abuses and top-heavy hierarchal structures. The bottle is spinning on church life and no one knows where it will stop. We can be certain, however, that when the pause occurs and dust has settled, the landscape will be different from the one we remembered. Change happens. It must in order to live. The church scandals contribute to the demise of the structure, as in the case of the Catholic Church. Political movements and cultural challenges make their contributions to the ideological landscape of theological communities. The church is not isolated from the problems and challenges of the real world, no matter whether sect or mainline denomination. In many ways, one of the best mirrors of the culture is the church. For example, the organizational structure of faith often best resembles the given cultural code of the moment. If the faith community is located in fourthcentury Rome, then the church looks like the most significant collective group of the historical moment—the military. If the faith community is located at the turn of the twentieth century, in the moments of industrialist expansion and corporate growth, the church assumes the business model. The church does not exist in a vacuum and will conform to the most predictable and visible pattern of the culture. It is inevitable. But what is happening now? We are too close to see for sure. We can know, however, that the way we have always done it (the work of the church) has really not been the way it has always been done. We can also know for sure that it is not the way that will always be.

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A shift is happening. Just as sure as Martin Luther’s era brought change, so is this particular period of history creating massive shifts of religious form. One of the best gifts we can give to ourselves and to our children is the ability to be flexible in the midst of change and to be willing to adapt and welcome that which is new. Even though we cannot predict the political future, much less the future of organized religion in this country, we can remind ourselves and our children that change is happening. The familiar hymnals, as wonderful as they are, will not always provide the standard, hymnic form. The worn pews, as soft and comfortable as they are, may need replacement. The pulpit may move to one side or the other, maybe even be absent altogether from the sanctuary. Men will not always dominate the leadership roles in organized religion. Male pronouns for God and people will not always be heard in worship gatherings. The large church edifice, with its beautiful Alfred North Whitehead on Change and Corinthian columns and grand staircase Revision entrance, may not always be the architectural The art of free society consists first in the maintenance of the symbolic code; standard that will meet God’s approval for and secondly in fearlessness of revision, to secure future generations. The style of God’s meetingthat the code serves those purposes, which house will change. Other styles will emerge; satisfy an enlightened reason. Those societies, other plans will be created; other people will which cannot combine reverence to their symbols become leaders. with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay What are we to do in the meantime? How do either from anarchy, or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows. we live with this that has passed and that which Alfred North Whitehead, Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect is yet to come? How do we acknowledge that (New York: Capricorn Books, 1959). church perhaps can be just as legitimate and powerful when located in a house, a workroom, or an industry as when encased in majestic trappings of Rome—whether in Italy or in Georgia, USA? The theologian and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead challenges our thinking when he states that successful change occurs when we revere the sacred symbols from the past and ruthlessly revise them.3 [Alfred North Whitehead on Change and Revision]

A. N. Whitehead, c. 1924 (Credit: Barclay Burns)

We cannot replicate the model of the firstcentury tenement church, nor can we continue the architectural or organizational structures of the twentieth century. The most we can do for our future is to revere the symbols of our past and remember to revise them—ruthlessly. God meets God’s people beside burning bushes,

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inside mountain brush arbors, in majestic Gothic cathedrals, and in white-columned Greek revival churches of the American South. God cannot be confined to tightly managed, neatly arranged, hierarchal charts of religious leadership. God’s spirit manages to leave when the religious institution becomes so top heavy that the ecclesiastical structure cannot bear the burdens of the people. This work is about people, not about buildings or organizational flow charts. That is the good word coming from the religious community in Thessaloniki. God resides in the everyday affairs of life, not simply in the religious incense and fine ecclesiastical garments of religious finery. God can be worshiped in a workshop. God can be worshiped while creating a ceramic vase, mending a leather garment, or building a wooden table. God can be worshiped in a busy workshop as well as in a quiet cathedral. We may need to know these things in the days ahead. As we shift into a new mode of organized faith, one that has now come in contact with the whole world, we may need to remember that form matters far less than substance. We may need to be reminded that it is not necessary to create huge icons for God’s glory—whether they be majestic church spires or highly functioning denominational offices. We are God’s icons. We are the church. We are God’s people. We are God’s dwelling place. God is in us, the hope of glory. Therefore, where then is the truth? As one who has not been a “both-and” thinker for most of my life, I have been challenged with the form and essence question for as long as I can remember. The second message from the artisan church in Important Messages Thessaloniki is that truth is best revealed in compact 1) The Church Changes! contradictions. [Important Messages] This is a hard pill to 2) Truth is “Both-And”! swallow for many of us. “Surely, truth is more stable than that,” you may be thinking. This thought is a challenge for those who live in a “either-or” world of thought. In this frame of reference, life is either all bad or all good; it certainly cannot be both. The members of the community in Thessaloniki, however, affirm that life is best lived in the realm of “both-and” rather than “either-or.” For example, the members of the artisan community were reminded that the coming of Christ was imminent in the first letter. In the second letter, however, the community faced the reality that the return of Christ would take more time to occur than they had previously thought. The return of Jesus was a reality best lived in the middle of both worlds—now and the one to come, whenever the final return would occur.

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As I have written this commentary these months, I have tried to imagine myself in this first-century community of life. What would I have been able to contribute? How would I have navigated the worlds of work and prayer? How would I have understood the great theological challenges of the deaths of loved ones? I would have been one of the ones on the front seat as the Apostle Paul preached the imminent return of Christ. I would have believed every word. Then when a dear aunt or uncle died, I would have also been the first to ask, “What is happening here?” I would have wanted to know how this faith teaching connected to my real-life situation of the death in my family. I would have not been content just to sit and mimic the teaching back to the apostle. I would want to know what is happening to my family members in death. How does what I have been taught connect to my real-life situation? I am not sure that I could have made the connection very easily. Yes, Jesus is coming soon. No, we do not know when Jesus will return. Already I am confused. The reality is somewhere in the middle of the time line. Paul writes that the primary concern is to have faith that I will be reunited with Jesus and with my loved ones. And that is good news. The community that heard those words from Paul, however, soon moved to the other side. They could not hold the contradiction any longer than I am able to hold it. For sometime between the writing of the first and second letter, the members of the church had already pushed the theological pendulum to the far side. The members of the church had lost their theological balance. Jesus’ return was imminent. They were convinced by it; they even worked themselves into a frenzy thinking about it. The writer of the second letter had to remind them that the coming will have order and delay. Events will take place that will precipitate the Lord’s arrival. Again they were instructed to find the balance. Jesus is coming; and it is going to take a while. How can reality be in two places at the same time? The community lived within the eschatological balance of “both-and.” They struggled to find it, but they got there. The challenge of the “both-and” was given by their leaders. The same community lived within the seemingly contradictions of work and prayer. This “spiritual pragmatism” defied theological gravity that would tend to pull people and communities into only one side of life. They understood the reality of their world that contained both the seen and the unseen. They were aware of the power of prayer. They knew that Paul and his colleagues prayed for them; they also heard Paul’s request to pray for him. They under-

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stood that prayer is a good word (2 Thess 2:17). They also knew how to do a good work (2:17). The members of the community of faith in Thessaloniki lived within the tension of work and prayer, then and now, spiritual and earthly, theological and financial. These tensions of faith became the important drivers of their lives lived together as a model for first-century faith and an inspiration for those of us in the twenty-first century. We read their story with deep gratitude. Their story becomes our story!

Notes 1 Bonnie

Thurston, Reading Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Thessalonians: A Literary and Theological Commentary (New York: Crossroad, 1995), 196–97. 2 Ronald Russell, “The Idle in 2 Thess 3.6-12: An Eschatological or a Social Problem?”

NTS 34 (1988): 113. 3 Alfred

North Whitehead, Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect (New York: Capricorn Books, 1959).

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Bibliography Ascough, Richard S. “Paul’s ‘Apocalypticism’ and Christian Community Formation at Thessalonica.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins Seminar, Denver CO, November 19, 2001. ———. “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association.” JBL 119/2 (Summer 2000): 311–28. Angier, Natalie. “Gentleness Important Not Only for the Human Species.” Richmond Times-Dispatch, December 26, 1996, E4. Badhwar, Neera Kapur, ed. Friendship: A Philosophical Reader. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. Bailey, John A. “Who Wrote II Thessalonians?” NTS 25 (1978): 131–45. Bakhtin, M. M. The Dialogical Imagination. Edited by Michael Holquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson and M. Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981. ———. “Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences.” Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Translated by Vern W. McGee. Edited by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986, 1970. Balch, David, Everett Ferguson, Wayne Meeks, eds. Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990. Barnes, Elizabeth. “Unit IV: Eschatology: The Doctrine of Last Things, topic 2: Theories in Eschatology.” Unpublished lecture notes for “Christian Theology” course, The Baptist Theological Seminary (HT 2312), 2000. Bassler, Jouette M. “The Enigmatic Sign: 2 Thessalonians 1:5.” CBQ 46 (July 1984): 496–510. Beale, G. K. “1–2 Thessalonians.” Intervarsity Press New Testament Commentary. Downer’s Grove IL: Intervarsity, 2003. Beker, J. C. Paul, the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980. Berry, Ken. “The Function of Friendship Language in Philippians 4:10-20.” In Friendship, Flattery and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald. New York: E. J. Brill, 1996. Best, Ernest. “The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians.” Harper’s New Testament Commentaries. New York: Harper and Row, 1982. Beyer, Lisa. “Target: Jerusalem.” Time (January 18, 1999): 67. Black, David Alan. “The Weak in Thessalonica: A Study in Pauline Lexicography.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 25/3 (September 1982): 307–21. Blass, F., A. Debrunner, and Robert W. Funk. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961. Bloom, Allan. Love and Friendship. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. Bridges, Linda McKinnish. “First Thessalonians.” In Mercer Commentary on the Bible. Edited by Watson Mills. Macon GA: Mercer University Press, 1995. 1241–51.

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Bibliography Malbon, Elizabeth Struthers. “’No Need to Have Anyone Write’? A Structural Exegesis of 1 Thessalonians.” Semeia 26 (1983): 57–83. Malherbe, Abraham J. “Anti-Epicurean Rhetoric in I Thessalonians.” In Text und Geschichte. Festschrift fur Dieter Luhrmann. Marburg, Germany: N. G. Elwere Verlag, 1999. ———. “Gentle as a Nurse: The Cynic Background to 1 Thessalonians 2:7.” NovT 12 (1970): 203–17. ———. “The Letters to the Thessalonians.” Anchor Bible Commentary. New York: Doubleday, 2000. ———. Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987. ———. “Paul: Hellenistic Philosopher or Christian Pastor?” American Theological Library Association Proceedings 39 (1985): 86–98. ———. “Paul’s Self-Sufficiency (Philippians 4:11).” In Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald. New York: E. J. Brill, 1996. Malina, Bruce. Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical Models for Biblical Interpretation. Atlanta: John Knox, 1986. ———. “Dealing with Biblical (Mediterranean) Characters: A Guide for U.S. Consumers.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 19/4 (October 1989): 127–41. Malina, Bruce and Jerome H. Neyrey. Portraits of Paul: An Archeology of Ancient Personality. Louisville KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1996. Manus, Chris Ukachukwu. “I Thessalonians 2:17-20, A Reflection on Paul’s Use of the Plural Number and Its Significance for Ministry in the African Churches.” African Theological Journal 12/2 (1983): 76–87. Marshall, I. Howard. 1 and 2 Thessalonians. The New Century Bible. Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1983. Martyn, J. L. History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel. New York: Harper and Row, 1968. Mauer, C. “Skeuos.” TDNT. Volume 7. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Goeffrey Bromiley. Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1971. Maxwell, John. “On Leadership.” Leadership 17/4 (1996): 25. Mearns, C. L. “Early Eschatological Development in Paul: The Evidence of I and II Thessalonians.” NTS 27 (January 1981): 137–57. Meeks, Wayne. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983. Meilaender, Gilbert. “One Soul in Bodies Twain: The Lure of Friendship.” Christian Century (November 3, 1993): 1092–95. Metzger, Bruce. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. New York: United Bible Society, 1971. Miles, Margaret. Plotinus and Body and Beauty: Society, Philosophy and Religion in the Third-Century Rome. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. ———. Reading for Life: Beauty, Pluralism, and Responsibility. New York: Continuum, 1997.

Bibliography Mitchell, Margaret. “A Tale of Two Apocalypses.” Currents in Theology and Mission 25 (June 1998): 200–209. Moltmann-Wendel, Elizabeth. Rediscovering Friendship: Awakening to the Promise and Power of Women’s Friendships. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001. Murphy, Cullen, “Is the Bible Bad News for Women?” The Wilson Quarterly 22/3 (Summer 1998): 14–33. Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archeology. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1983. Nicholl, Colin R. From Hope to Despair in Thessalonica: Situating 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2004. O’Donohue, John. Anam Cara: Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World. London: Bantam Press, 1997. Økland, Jorunn. Women in Their Place: Paul and the Corinthian Discourse of Gender and Sanctuary Space. JSNT Supplement Series 269. London: T. & T. Clark, 2004. Otto, Randall E. “The Meeting in the Air (I Thess 4:17).” Horizons of Biblical Theology 19 (December 1997): 192–212. Pagels, Elaine. Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. New York: Vintage Book, 1989. Palmer, Parker. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. ———. Leading From Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership. Washington: The Servant Leadership School, 1999. Perkins, Pheme. “I Thessalonians and Hellenistic Religious Practices.” In To Touch the Text: Biblical and Related Studies in Honor of Joseph A. Fitzmeyer. Edited by Maurya P. Horgan and Paul J. Kobelski. New York: Crossroad, 1989. 325–34. Peterson, Joan M. “House-Churches in Rome.” Vigiliae Christianae 23 (1969): 264–72. Peterson, Norm. Rediscovering Paul: Philemon and the Sociology of Paul’s Narrative World. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985. Plevnik, Joseph. “I Thess 5,1-11: Its Authority, Intention, and Message.” Biblica 60/1 (1979): 71–90. Polhill, John. “ Hope in the Lord: Introduction to 1–2 Thessalonians.” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 3/3 (Fall 1999): 22–44. Porter, Stanley E. “Developments in German and French Thessalonians Research: A Survey and Critique.” Currents in Research: Biblical Studies 7 (1999): 309–34. Richard, Earl. “Contemporary Research on 1 (& 2) Thessalonians.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 20 (Fall 1990): 107–15. ———. First and Second Thessalonians. SP. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press, 1995. Roetzel, Calvin. The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context. Louisville KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1998. Rostelle, John E., ed. The Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Volume 2. Translated by Edmund Hill. New York: New City Press, 2001. Ruemann, John H. P. “Philippians and the Culture of Friendship.” Trinity Seminary Review 19 (Fall 1997): 69–83.

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276

Bibliography ———. “Philippians, Especially Chapter 4, as a ‘Letter of Friendship’: Observations on a Checkered History of Scholarship.” In Friendship, Flattery, and Frankness of Speech: Studies on Friendship in the New Testament World. Edited by John T. Fitzgerald. New York: E. J. Brill, 1996. 83–106. Russell, Ronald. “The Idle in 2 Thessalonians 3.6-12: An Eschatological or a Social Problem?” NTS 34 (1988): 105–19. Schleuter, Carol. Filling Up the Measure: Polemical Hyperbole in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15. Journal for the Study of New Testament Supplement Series 98. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994. Schmidt, Daryl, “I Thess 2:13-16: Linguistic Evidence for an Interpretation.” JBL 102/2 (1983): 269–79. ———. “The Authenticity of 2 Thessalonians: Linguistic Arguments.” SBLSP. Chico CA: Scholars Press, 1983. Schmithals, Walter. The Office of the Apostle in the Early Church. Translated by John E. Steeley. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1969. Schoon-Jansen, Johannes. “On the Use of Elements of Ancient Epistolography in 1 Thessalonians.” In The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis. Edited by Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Butler. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000. Simpson, John W. “The Problems Posed by 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 and a Solution.” Horizons in Biblical Theology: An International Dialogue 12 (June 1990): 42–72. ———. “Shaped by the Stories: Narrative in 1 Thessalonians.” Asbury Theological Journal 53 (Fall 1998): 15–25. Smith, Abraham. Comfort One Another: Reconstructing the Rhetoric and Audience of 1 Thessalonians. Louisville KY: Westminster, 1995. Solomon, Barbara Miller. In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985. Stanley, David. “Imitation in Paul’s Letters: Its Significance for His Relationship to Jesus and to His Own Christian Foundations.” In From Jesus to Paul. Edited by P. Richardson and J. Hurd. Ontario: Louvier University Press, 1984. 127–41. Still, Todd. Conflict at Thessalonica: A Pauline Church and Its Neighbors. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Press, 1999. Sutton, William R. Journeymen for Jesus: Evangelical Artisans Confront Capitalism in Jacksonian Baltimore. State College PA: Penn State Press, 1998. Thompson, Marjorie. Family, the Forming Center: A Vision of the Role of Family in Spiritual Formation. Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1989. Thurston, Bonnie. Reading Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Thessalonians: A Literary and Theological Commentary. New York: Crossroad, 1995. Thurston, Robert. “The Relationship Between the Thessalonian Epistles.” The Expository Times 85 (1974): 52–56. Tillich, Paul. The Eternal Now. New York: Charles Scribners, 1963. Torrence, T. Romans and Thessalonians. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995. Van Arde, A. G. “The Struggle Against Heresy in the Thessalonian Correspondence and the Origin of the Apostolic Tradition.” In The Thessalonian Correspondence. Edited by Raymond Collins. Belgium: Leuven University Press, 1990.

Bibliography Walton, Steve. “Leadership and Lifesyle: Luke’s Paul, Luke’s Jesus and the Paul of 1 Thessalonians.” Tyndale Bulletin 48 (1997): 377–80. ———.“What Has Aristotle to Do with Paul? Rhetorical Criticism and Thessalonians.” Tyndale Bulletin 46/2 (1995): 229–50. Walvoord, John F. “Posttribulationism Today: Part 5.” Bibliotheca Sacra 133 (January 1976): 11–18. Wanamaker, Charles A. “The Epistles to the Thessalonians.” The New International Greek New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1990. Weima, Jeffrey A. D. An Annotated Bibliography of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Leiden: Brill, 1998. ———. “An Apology for the Apologetic Function of 1 Thessalonians 2.” JSNT 68 (1997): 73–99. ———. “The Function of 1 Thessalonian 2:1-12.” In The Thessalonian Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000. ———. “Infants, Nursing Mother, and Father: Paul’s Portrayal of a Pastor.” Calvin Theological Journal 37 (2002): 209–29. ———. Neglected Endings: The Significance of the Pauline Letter Closings. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994. ———. “Pauline Letter Closings: Analysis and Hermeneutical Significance.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 5 (1995): 177–98. Welty, Eudora and Ronald A. Sharp. The Norton Book on Friendship. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991. Westermann, Claus. Blessings in the Bible and the Life of the Church. Translated by Keith Crim. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978. Wheatley, Margaret J. Leadership and the New Science: Learning About Organization from an Orderly Universe. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1992. Whitehead, Alfred North. Symbolism, Its Meaning and Effect. New York: Capricorn Books, 1959. Whitton, J. “A Neglected Meaning for skeuos in 1 Thessalonians 4.4.” NTS 28 (January 1982): 142–43. Wink, Walter. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986. ———. The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of Man. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002. ———. Naming the Powers. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1984. ———. Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986. ———. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986. Winter, Bruce W. “‘If A Man Does Not Wish to Work . . .’ A Cultural and Historical Setting for 2 Thessalonians 3:6-16.” Tyndale Bulletin 40 (November 1989): 303–15.

277

index of modern authors

A Angier, Natalie 63 Ascough, Richard S. 9, 10, 13, 42, 51, 62, 69, 89, 156, 171, 175 Aune, David E. 97

B Bakhtin, Mikhail M. 1, 2, 3, 4, 13 Barclay, William 185 Barth, M. 63 Bassler, Jouette M. 220, 228 Beale, G. K. 118 Beker, J. C. 118, 145 Berry, Ken 89 Beyer, Lisa 146 Black, David Alan 150, 174 Blass, F. 90, 95 Bloom, Allan 84 Boers, Hendrikus 55 Boyer, Paul 145 Brown, Raymond 205, 212 Bruce, F. F. 98 Burnette, Brian 100

C Calvin, John 63 Castelli, Elizabeth 32, 35 Chacour, Abuna Elias 226, 228 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 88 Collins, Raymond F. 114, 175, 179, 181, 190, 212, 227, 228

D De Waal, Esther 190

Debrunner, A. 90, 95 Deissmann, Adolf 153, 155, 174 Dillard, Annie 112, 115 Donfried, Karl P. 39 Durback, Robert 87, 91

E Edgar, Thomas R. 146 Ehrman, Bart 152, 153, 174, 194, 212 Ehrmann, Max 167-68 Elgvin, Torleif 114, 115 Eliot, T. S. 147

F Fatum, Lone 9, 13, 68, 89 Fish, Stanley 71, 89 Fitzgerald, John T. 7, 65, 74, 84, 89, 90 Fowl, Stephen 62 Frost, Robert 87 Funk, Robert W. 18, 34, 90, 95

G Gaventa, Beverly 47, 48, 62, 250 Gillard, Frank 55, 63 Gillespie, Michelle 175 Goldstein, J. A. 42 Goulder, Michael 40, 62, 114 Greene, Gene L. 118 Groves, Richard 86, 91 Gundry, Robert 126, 146

H Hammerskjold, Dag 190 Harfst, Brian 18, 22, 24, 73, 98 Havener, Ivan 145

280

Index of Modern Authors

Helvey, James 184 Hendrix, John D. 54, 63 Hock, Ronald F. 9, 13, 69, 89, 115, 154, 155, 174 Holland, Glenn 212 Holmes, Oliver Wendell 18 Holtz, Traugott 62 Howard, Tracy L. 146 Hubbard, Elbert 175 Hughes, Langston 88 Hurston, Zora Neale 86

I Iser, Wolfgang 71, 89

J Janson, H. W. 8 Jeffers, James S. 155, 174 Jenkins, Jerry 143, 145 Jewett, Robert 9, 13, 35, 89, 115, 154, 174, 175, 190 Johnson, James Weldon 130 Judge, E. A. 260

K Kapur Badhwar, Neera 84, 90 Katz, Barbara J. 175 Keck, Leander 32, 35 Kloppenborg, John S. 13, 89 Koester, H. 7, 26, 35, 51, 55, 62, 121, 132, 133, 145, 146, 149, 196, 212, 260 Konstan, David 84, 89, 90 Krentz, Edgar 220, 228, 240, 250 Krodel, Gerhard 196, 212 Kuhn, Thomas 205

L LaHaye, Tim 143, 145 Lampe, Peter 9, 13, 151, 153, 171, 174, 175 Lindars, Barnabas 121, 145 Lyons, George 43, 62

M Madden, Myron 187, 190 Malbon, E. 126, 145 Malherbe, Abraham J. 24, 35, 53, 62, 63, 74, 80, 84, 89, 90, 118, 131, 132, 154, 174

Malina, Bruce J. 115 Martyn, J. L. 205, 212 Masters Keightley, Georgia 105, 115 Mathia, Tim 19 Maurer, C. 101, 115 Maxwell, John 26, 35 McDonald, J. I. H. 97 McKinnish Bridges, Linda 35, 61, 145 Mead, Loren 205 Mearns, C. L. 133, 146, 233-34, 250 Meeks, Wayne 8, 13, 50, 62, 115, 260 Meilaender, Gilbert 90 Merk, Otto 62 Metzger, Bruce 90 Miles, Margaret S. 166, 175 Miller Solomon, Barbara 190 Mitchell, Margaret 209-10, 212 Moltmann-Wendel, Elizabeth 61, 84, 86, 90 Montgomery Barrett, Elizabeth 23 Moulton, J. H. 95 Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome 8, 13

N Nichol, Colin R. 118 Nouwen, Henri 86

O O’Donahue, John 3, 33, 34, 35, 185, 190 Økland, Jorunn 69 Otto, Randall E. 125, 126, 145

P Pagels, Elaine 110, 115 Palmer, Parker 111, 113, 115 Pearson, Birger 55 Peterson, Eugene 120, 159, 162 Peterson, Joan M. 174 Peterson, Norm 53, 63 Plevnik, J. 146 Porter, Stanley E. 35

R Reumann, John 89 Richard, Earl 90 Rist, M. 117 Robertson, A. T. 95 Robinson, James M. 35 Roetzel, Calvin J. 29, 35

Index of Modern Authors Rostelle, John E. 63 Russell, Ronald 260, 267

S Sandburg, Carl 3, 127 Schlueter, Carol 56, 63 Schmidt, Daryl 55, 63, 196, 212 Schmithals, Walter 44, 62, 106, 114 Schoon-Jansen, Johannes 84-85, 90 Schüssler Fiorenza, Elizabeth 12, 70, 89, 90 Schweitzer, Albert 118 Sharp, Ronald 84, 90 Smith, Abraham 82, 84, 90 Stanley, David 25, 32 Still, Todd 35 Struthers Malbon, Elizabeth 18-19, 34, 117, 118 Sutton, William R. 175

T Theissen, Gerd 260 Thompson, M. B. 97 Thompson, Marjorie 61 Thoreau, Henry David 88 Thraede, Klaus 84 Thurston, Bonnie 229, 250, 259, 267 Tillich, Paul 164, 175 Trible, Phyllis 12

U Uvnas-Moberg, Kirstin 56

V Van Aarde, A. G. 201, 202, 212 Van der Geest, Hans 85

W Walton, Steve 62 Walvoord, John F. 145 Wanamaker, Charles A. 20, 25, 35, 52, 62, 90, 94, 98, 106, 114, 118, 145, 175, 222, 223, 228, 244 Ward, Benedicta 47 Weima, Jeffrey A. D. 40, 59, 62, 178, 190 Welty, Eudora 84, 90 Westermann, Claus 186, 190 Wheatley, Margaret J. 28, 29, 35 Whitehead, Alfred North 264, 267

281

Whitton, J. 115 Wilson, Stephen G. 13, 89 Wink, Walter 49, 62, 76, 90, 247, 248, 249, 250

Y Yeats, W. B. 143, 144, 245, 250

index of sidebars and illustrations

Text Sidebars Alfred North Whitehead on Change and Revision 264 Anam Cara—Soul Friend

33

Antiochus Epiphanes IV

236

Apocalyptic Language in Mark’s Gospel Apocalypticism Apology

238 117 42

Aporphanizø: A Word Study 73 Arpag∑sometha

124

Artisan Church, The

8

Bakhtin and Paul

4

Beginnings and Endings

147

Blessing and the Word

187

Book of Daniel, The

200

Caligula

238

Carl Sandburg and Poetry 127 Church Covenant, The Communities and Leadership

169 42

Community Covenant for the Thessalonians’ Workshop 173

“Gift of Language, The”

184

Gospel of Philip, The

110

Consumer Goods in the First-century World

149

“Desiderata”

168

Ecclesia Reformata; Semper Reformanda

211

Election: A Word Study

22

Historic Voices and 1 Thessalonians 4:4

English Translations of 1 Thessalonians 2:6

44

“Hold Fast the Traditions” (2 Thess 2:15) 244

Environment of Paul’s Words, The

1

118

Evidence (endeigma) of God’s Righteousness, The 219 Examples of Paul’s A(E)ffective Language 51 Faith, Hope, and Love: A Catena of Nouns in Genitive Case 22 Feminist Scholars and “Damaged” Texts First Enoch Four Imperatives in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, The Friendship Blessing, A

100

“Homecoming Week, The” 142

Eschatological Perspectives on the Setting of 1 and 2 Thessalonians 118 Eschatology

Greek Grammar and Prayer: The Optative Mood 95

12 200

160 34

“If you don’t work, then you don’t eat” 255 Imitation: A Word Study

24

Important Messages

265

Important Terms for 2 Thessalonians

194

Infants, Nursing Mother, and Father

59

Janus: God of Beginnings and Endings

185

John Calvin and 2 Thessalonians 2:8

221

Jorunn Økland Koester on 1 Thessalonians

69 7

Koimømenøn: A Word Study

121

Lampe’s Work in Rome

151

284

Index of Sidebars

“like shooting with a rifle”

18

“Little Girl, Be Careful What You Say” 3 Maccabean Revolt

37

Male Members Only!

10

Manner and Character of Paul’s Visit to Thessaloniki 39 Message of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 244 “One of the Few Havens Remaining” On Paraenesis Opheilø: The Word of Obligation Our Mother, St. Paul

185 97 217 47

Outline of 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 222 Outline of Epistolary Conventions in 5:23-28 178 Parakl∑sis: A Word Study

43

Parallels between Thessalonians and Philippians 74 Parangelias: A Word Study Parousia: A Word Study “Pasture, The” Paul’s Itinerary before Thessaloniki Paul’s Leadership Style Paul’s Letter of Friendship

98 120 87 39 5 7

Paul’s Words on Death for the Artisan Community 10 Paul’s Words on Work for the Artisan Community 9 People of Mitylene, The

185

Pompey the Great

237

Psalmist at Rest, The

225

Illustration Sidebars

Questions Surrounding Paul’s Use of the Word “Brothers” (adelphoi) 68

Aegean Sea, Map of the Apocalypse

195

Quotations on Friendship

Apocalypse, Vision of the

117

Roycrofters Sainesthai: A Word Study

88 106 80

Athens

2

78

Blessing and the Word

187

Salutation

216

Caligula

238

“Second Coming, The”

144

Calvin, John

221

Silvanus and Timothy

19

Chacour, Abuna Elias

226

Skeuos: A Word Study

98

Christ with Mary and Martha (Tintoretto) 251

Subversive Nature of Prayer, The 250 Textual Variants in 1 Thessalonians 5:13 Thanksgiving “Judgment Day, The”

159

Coin of Antiochus IV Epiphanes

236

Empty Throne, The

119

18

Fertility (Albani)

37

130

Grand Canyon

29

Her First Steps (Sondermann)

108

Hitler, Adolf

245

Hubbard, Elbert

170

Hurston, Zora Neale

86

Insula (Gismondi)

152

Traditional Celtic Journey Blessing 187

Janus, bust of

185

Johnson, James Weldon

130

We Confuse Order with Control

29

Kiss of Peace, The

181

Who are the Detractors?

40

Thessaloniki This Commentary’s Assumptions about Thessalonians Timothy’s Titles in English Translations of 1 Thessalonians 3:2

Words and Meanings

20

9

79

3

Last Judgement, The (Blake) 144 Life of Christ: Christ in Limbo Resuscitates the Chosen Ones

134

Words of Truth, Not Just Flattery

43

Maccabean Revolt

237

Zora Neale Hurston on Friendship

86

Madonna and Child (Michelangelo)

48

Index of Sidebars Madonna of the Stairs (Michelangelo) Martin Luther (Cranach) Martyrdom of St. Paul

60 210 41

Modern Celtic cross

140

Monks Copying a Manuscript

198

Parting of St. Peter and St. Paul, The (Perrier) 45 Pietà (Kollwitz)

119

Pompey the Great

237

Qumran scroll

124

Roman insula

151

Roman Soldiers in Armour (Lucas)

133

Roycrofter’s printing press 106 Saint Brigid of Kildare

33

Saint Paul (Velazquez)

6

Saint Paul Sarcophagus

19 149

Satan (Feuchere)

75

Scriptorium

47

Scriptorium of a monastery (Anonymous) 46 St. Paul (Pittoni)

18

Staircase

40

Thessaloniki

20

Trades and artisans

150

Whitehead, Alfred North

264

285

index of scriptures

GENESIS 5:24 EXODUS 19:1-16 19:13, 16, 19 LEVITICUS 19:18 24:19-21 NUMBERS 6:22-27 15:12

125 220

105 161

132

ZECHARIAH 14:1-5 14:4

124 125

WISDOM OF SOLOMON 14:22

42

24:30

186

JOHN 1:51 11:19 12:36 14:27

125 54 131 186

MATTHEW 5:38-42 11:21 22:37 24 24:43

162 102 179 123 129

MARK 6:3 10:16 10:29-30 12:29-32 13 13:26

102 186 53 105 123 220

ACTS 14:2 40 14:19 40 15 40, 56 15:1 41 15:2 41 16:20-24 40 17 74, 80 17:1-9 75 17:4 69 17:5 41, 45, 154 17:5-9 24 17:12 68 18:3 51, 154, 155 19:11-12 155 20:34 154, 155 21:12 41 21:13 41 28:30 41

LUKE 2:52 8:3 9:16 12:39 12:51-53 16:8 22:17

105 38 186 129 53 131 186

ROMANS 1:1 1:2b 6:4, 9 8:11 10:9 12:1–15:13 12:12

2 MACCABEES 6:12-16 220 186 48

DEUTERONOMY 6:5 179 19:21 161 1 SAMUEL 21:5

59:17 125

101

2 KINGS 2:11

125

PSALMS 68:18

220

PROVERBS 20:22 21:22-25 24:29 25:21

162 161 162 162

ISAIAH 27:12-13

125

19, 44 241 122 122 122 97 162

12:17a 15:33 16:1 16:6, 12 16:7 16:16 16:20

162 179 11 157 44 182 259

1 CORINTHIANS 1:1 19, 44 1:8-11 24 1:12 45 1:12-13 105, 161 1:23 227 3:1-2 49 4:12 155, 157 4:14-16, 20-21 53 4:14-21 52 4:15, 21 53 4:16 32 4:17 78 5:5 75 5:9 182 7:1 104 7:5 75 8:1 104 9:1-18 256 9:6 45 9:15-18 154 11:1 32 11:2 244 12:1 104 13:13 21 14:34-36 6 15:3-4 122 15:10 157

288 15:11-12 15:12, 20 15:52 16:1 16:10 16:16 16:23

Index of Scriptures 227 122 125 104 78 157 259

2 CORINTHIANS 1:1 44 1:3-7 82 1:19 45 2:11 75 3:1 182 4:5 32 6:11-13 52 7:8, 12 182 10:9-11 182 11:7 256 11:14 75 11:24-29 24 12:7 75 12:14 154, 155 13:11 162, 179 GALATIANS 1:1 44, 122 1:14 244 1:18-19 45 2:11-14 45 3:1 102 4:11 157 4:19 49, 52 5:1–6:10 97 6:18 259 EPHESIANS 1:1 4:1–6:20 5:8 6:6 6:13-17

44 97 131 76 132

PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11 161 2:2 65 2:3 65 2:5 109 2:6-7 65

2:16 2:18 2:19 2:19-24 3:1 3:17 4:2 4:4 4:9b 4:23

157 162 78 74, 79 162 32 11 162 179 259

COLOSSIANS 1:5 21 1:29 157 3:1–4:6 97 4:15-16 182 1 TIMOTHY 2:12

6

2 TIMOTHY 1:13-14

203

PHILEMON 25

259

1 PETER 3:7

100

2 PETER 2:1-3

203

index of topics

A Adelphoi 67–68 Affection 6–7, 21, 48–49, 51–52, 58, 65, 80, 82–83, 93, 168, 181, 195 Affective Language 53 Affirmation 5, 7, 13, 18, 21, 23, 25–31, 34, 37, 42, 54, 93, 95–96, 104, 129, 132, 177, 188–189, 215, 253, 273 Affliction 23, 43, 82, 218, 236 Anam cara 3, 33–35, 190, 275 Androcentric 11–12, 38, 50–51, 67–70 Angel (s) 124–127, 130, 137, 139, 218, 220, 225 Antioch 19, 39–40, 130, 194 Antiochus Epiphanes 236, 238, 245 Antisemitism 55 Apocalypse 117, 145, 195, 200, 209 Apocalyptic thought 10, 141–142, 193–194, 200, 209, 221–222, 225, 227 Apocalypticism 13, 117–118, 141, 145, 175, 194, 200, 209, 269 Apologia 19, 62 Apostle 1–2, 5, 10, 13, 18–19, 26, 32, 44–45, 51, 62,

65–66, 73, 85, 145, 152, 155, 161, 179, 193, 199, 204–205, 215, 221, 239, 255, 257, 259, 261, 266, 269, 274, 276 Apostolic parousia 34, 119, 271 Armageddon 141 Artisan church 8–9, 70, 148–149, 157, 165, 170–173, 185, 261–262, 265 Artisan colony 106

45–46, 50–55, 65–67, 69, 71, 74–75, 77, 79–83, 93–95, 97–98, 102–103, 104–107, 109, 120–122, 124–133, 135–136, 139, 142–143, 148, 155–156, 161–167, 179–180, 182–185, 189, 193, 201–205, 207, 210, 215–223, 227, 230–231, 236, 241–242, 244, 249, 251, 253, 256–257, 259–262

Artisan missionary 155

Benediction 95, 148, 178–180, 183, 190, 251, 272

Authoritarianism 29

Biology of Benevolence 56–57

Authority 5, 27, 32, 42, 44–45, 50, 53, 65, 68, 76, 85, 90, 110, 123, 125, 146, 160, 180, 194, 197, 200–202, 204, 223, 243, 255–256, 259, 271, 275

Blessing(s) 11, 34, 93, 95–96, 177–179, 183–184, 186–190, 258, 270, 277 Book of Daniel, The 200, 236 Brigid, St. of Kildare 33

Barnabas 29, 39, 41, 45, 121, 145, 273

Brother(s) 9, 11, 21, 43, 49, 54–55, 66–69, 71–74, 76–79, 82, 97, 98, 100, 103, 105–106, 120, 129, 149, 156–163, 166–167, 169, 180–183, 185, 187, 188, 196, 204, 216–217, 230, 235, 237, 242, 252–253, 254, 257

Beauty 3, 59, 157, 165–167, 173, 175, 274–275

Brotherhood 13, 21, 66, 68, 71, 89, 159, 271

B Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond 18–19, 22, 24, 32, 73, 98, 100, 141, 146, 172, 176, 273

Believer(s) 2, 4–10, 12, 18, 21–26, 29–34, 37–40, 42,

290

Index of Topics

C Celtic 33–35, 102, 140, 147, 187, 190, 270, 275 Cemetery 137, 140 Chacour, Abuna Elias 226 Child(ren) 3, 5, 23, 27, 37–38, 47–54, 57–58, 61, 72–73, 96, 100, 113, 131, 133, 138–139, 168–169, 185–188, 221, 226, 233, 238, 264 Children of the Day 133 Church covenant 168–169 Cicero 7, 161, 164 Code of ethics 147, 156–157, 163, 167–169, 179, 254 Comfort 10, 35, 43, 47, 54, 61, 82–83, 90, 117, 119–120, 122–123, 126–128, 136, 139–141, 145, 160, 169, 185, 194, 202, 208, 211, 220–223, 228, 240, 244, 270, 276 Coming 10, 41, 43, 77, 79, 81, 117–119, 121, 124, 126, 128–130, 133–136, 140–144, 148, 178–180, 184, 189, 195–196, 201–202, 204, 206, 211, 221–223, 228–236, 239–243, 245, 250, 265–266 Community 2, 4, 7–13, 17–18, 20–26, 32, 37–40, 42–43, 45–46, 48–51, 61–62, 66–70, 72, 76–77, 79–80, 82–83, 86, 89, 93–94, 97–99, 101–110, 117–118, 120, 125–136, 141–144, 147–150, 153, 156–162, 166–171, 173–175, 177–180, 183–187, 189, 193–194, 196–197, 199, 201–206, 208–212, 215–223, 230–232, 238, 240–244,

249, 251–263, 265–267, 269–270

Epistle 7, 63, 100, 115, 205, 258–259, 270

Consolation 7, 43, 54, 82–83, 117, 120–122, 147, 204

Epistolary style 7–8, 20, 67, 128, 193, 215, 243

Corinthians 5–6, 43, 45, 49, 53, 75, 82, 104, 109, 122, 154, 179, 244, 254, 259

Eschatological community 25, 133

Crafts 149, 170, 172, 197, 204 Craftsmen 8, 149, 151, 158–159, 167, 170–171, 175, 183, 256, 258

D Darkness 74, 76, 124–125, 129, 131–132, 135, 144 Death 2, 9–10, 41, 54, 59, 67, 82–83, 107, 120–121, 123, 125, 127, 130–131, 133–135, 139–140, 171, 184, 187, 208–209, 227, 238, 246, 261, 266 Death of loved ones 10, 83, 120 Deliberative rhetoric 7 “Desiderata” 167–168, 175 Dialogue 1–2, 4, 6–8, 12–13, 27, 276 Domestic church 38, 61, 272 Domus 8, 153

E Easter 137–139 Encourage 9, 54, 65, 79, 105–106, 136, 143, 157, 160–161, 173, 180–181, 184, 234, 257–258, 260 Encouragement 5, 18, 31, 34, 37, 41–43, 53, 70, 81, 147, 177–180, 183, 185, 195, 204, 240, 257 Encouraging 31, 39, 42, 182, 212 Epideictic 7

Eschatology 18, 107, 118, 133–134, 136, 141, 144–146, 212, 220, 234, 269, 272–273 Ethical imperatives 103, 109–110 Ethics 2, 24, 65, 93–94, 97–98, 104, 109, 134, 136, 147, 149, 153, 156–157, 163, 166–169, 179–180, 209, 244, 254 Ethics of relationships 104 Euphemism 98, 101, 121, 131, 134–135, 217 Evil 9, 75–76, 97–98, 101–102, 110, 112–113, 117, 120, 124–126, 131–132, 148, 157, 161, 167, 173, 194, 235–236, 238–241, 245–250, 252–253

F Faith 2, 7–10, 21–22, 24–26, 29, 32–34, 47, 50, 52, 62, 66, 68, 71–72, 75, 77, 81–83, 88–89, 93–94, 110, 114, 121, 129, 131–133, 140, 142–143, 147, 150–151, 156, 159–161, 163, 169, 172, 180, 184–186, 188–190, 193, 199, 201–208, 210–212, 216–218, 221, 223, 226, 231, 236, 240–242, 251–252, 254, 257, 260–263, 265–267, 271 Fallen asleep 10, 120–123, 194 Father 2, 19, 27, 37–38, 43, 48–49, 52–54, 59, 61,

Index of Topics 72–73, 79, 82, 95, 105, 109, 156, 169, 179, 183, 186, 201, 216, 242, 244, 277

291

Idle, idleness 9, 43, 107, 157, 160, 173, 203, 253–254, 256, 260, 267, 276

Laborers 8–9, 42, 70, 149–150, 153, 155–159, 173, 175, 260

First Enoch 200

Idols 24–26, 94

Lady Wisdom 235

Friend(s) 1, 11, 17, 19, 21, 33–34, 59, 65–67, 72–74, 78, 80, 83–89, 91, 93–94, 97, 109, 119–120, 123, 131, 134, 137, 139–140, 149, 152, 184, 206, 247, 224–225, 237, 254, 257–258, 272

Imitation 23–24, 31–32, 35, 276

Lawless One 204, 232–233, 236, 240–242

Infant(s) 46–48, 57–59, 108, 277

Laziness 131, 161

Friendship 7–9, 19, 21–22, 34, 61, 65–66, 73–74, 83–91, 94, 97, 119–120, 131, 147, 155, 258, 260, 269–271, 273–277

Instruction(s) 7, 43, 52, 54, 67, 93–94, 96, 98, 106–107, 120, 131, 147–148, 155, 169, 199, 215, 234, 251–253, 255–256 Insula 8, 107, 151–155 Ireland 33, 140, 187

J G Galatians 19, 49, 62, 97, 244, 254, 271 Gentle 31, 34, 38, 46–47, 52–53, 56, 58, 62, 121, 168, 177, 200, 274 Gentleness 39, 46–47, 50–51, 53, 56–58, 63, 269 Gospel of Philip 110 Graveyard 138–140, 143 Grief 54, 82, 119, 142–143, 161, 194, 204 Guild(s) 9–10, 51, 69–70, 156, 161, 171, 183, 254

H Heresy 110, 194, 201–203, 212, 277 Hermeneutics 12 Holy kiss 181 House churches 151, 153–154, 171, 174

I Iconium 40 Idle ones 160

Jason 24, 41, 154 Jesus 1, 4, 9–10, 19, 21–22, 25–26, 32, 35, 41, 43, 53–55, 62, 65–66, 77, 79, 82, 95, 97–98, 102, 105–106, 108, 115, 117–125, 128–129, 131, 133–134, 136–143, 148, 150, 156, 159–162, 166, 169, 171, 175, 178–180, 183, 186–187, 193–194, 196–197, 201–204, 206, 208, 211, 216, 218, 220–223, 225, 227–228, 230, 234–235, 239–244, 249, 253–254, 256, 259, 261, 265–266, 273, 276–277

K Karmic retribution 225, 227 Kiss 178, 181–182 Kiss of peace 181

L Labor 4, 8–9, 21–22, 29, 39, 47, 49, 107, 133, 150, 157, 175, 242, 251, 253, 255, 258, 260, 271

Lazy 102, 107, 132, 134–135, 160, 254 Leader 2, 5–6, 8, 19, 23, 26–29, 32–33, 37–38, 42–43, 46–47, 49, 51–53, 58–60, 73, 85, 113, 150, 155, 158, 170, 181, 189, 197, 199, 204–205, 215, 217, 219, 223, 227, 232, 243, 246–247, 257–258 Leadership 2, 5–6, 9, 23, 26–30, 32, 34–35, 37–39, 42–43, 45–47, 50, 52, 58, 72, 85, 109, 112–113, 115, 150, 158, 177, 180–181, 189, 201, 204, 215, 246, 255, 257–258, 260, 264–265, 274–275, 277 Left Behind Series 143, 145 Letter of friendship 7, 9, 83–84, 89, 276 Light 3, 34, 89–90, 95, 109, 111, 113–114, 125, 129, 131–133, 135–136, 174–175, 212, 237, 241–242, 254, 270–271 Love 7, 9, 13, 21–22, 29, 34, 38–39, 53–54, 56, 58, 63, 65, 73, 77, 84, 88–90, 95, 104–106, 109, 115, 120, 128, 132–133, 147, 151, 156–159, 168–171, 174, 179, 181, 184, 187–188, 202–204, 216–217, 241–242, 246, 248–249, 252–253, 260, 269, 272 Lystra 19, 39–40

292

Index of Topics

M Madonna 48, 60 Male(s) 5–6, 9–11, 21, 38, 42, 48–50, 58, 67–70, 72–73, 101, 149, 155–156, 165, 175, 183, 257, 261, 264 Manual labor(ers) 8–9, 42, 107, 149, 155–157, 251, 260 Mediterranean 1, 4, 102, 115, 149, 151, 181, 237, 272, 274 Meeting in the Air 124, 126, 139–140, 145, 275 Mentor 24, 34 Mentoring relationships 31 Metaphor(s) 2–3, 13, 37–38, 47, 50–53, 58–59, 61–62, 72–73, 86, 89, 99, 106, 108, 126–129, 135, 150, 157, 271 Mexico 172, 262 Mimesis 31–32, 34 Misogynistic 5, 49 Misogyny 100 Missionary(ies) 1, 4, 13, 17, 19–21, 25, 40, 44, 82, 87–89, 94, 118, 121, 133, 140, 154–156, 169, 174, 199, 215, 234, 262, 272 Mother 2, 19, 37–38, 47–51, 57–60, 62, 72–73, 87, 109, 148, 201, 271, 277

N North Carolina 137, 142, 184 Nursing mother 2, 37–38, 47–48, 50–51, 57–59, 72–73, 109, 201, 277

O Odes of Solomon 48–49 Opposition 18, 20, 24–25, 32, 40–43, 129, 215–216, 219–220, 222, 240–241, 253

Optative mood 94–95, 178–179, 244 Orphan 38, 72–73

P Paraenesis 7, 67, 93, 95, 97, 126, 147–148, 175, 179, 252, 270

248–252, 266 Prayer 33, 76, 93–96, 138–139, 148, 163, 167, 169, 177–180, 188, 203, 217, 221–223, 225, 230, 242, 244, 249–255, 257, 261–262, 266–267 Professional associations 10

Paraklesis 82

Professional guilds 9–10

Parousia 34, 82, 85, 107, 119–120, 128, 133–135, 160, 196, 208–210, 219, 232, 242, 271

Pseudepigraphical writing 197

Pastor 27, 58–61, 84–87, 91, 120, 140, 189, 246, 262, 272, 274, 277

Quiet 57, 71, 105–106, 112, 114, 137–139, 156, 242, 256, 265

Patriarchy 69, 72, 110

Qumran 48, 101, 114, 124–125, 131, 270

Paul 13, 17–27, 29–32, 34–35, 37–56, 58–59, 61–63, 65–85, 89, 93–107, 109, 113–115, 117–136, 139–171, 173–175, 177–187, 189–190, 193–194, 196–205, 207–209, 211–212, 215–217, 219, 221–223, 227–228, 231, 233–235, 239, 242–244, 249–250, 252, 254–261, 266, 269–277 Paul’s view of leadership 5 Pax Romana 129 Person of Lawlessness 229–230, 232, 235–236, 238–241, 244, 246 Peter 8, 13, 41, 44–45, 62, 100, 115, 151, 153, 171, 174, 202–203, 271, 273 Philippi 39–40, 43, 65–66, 74, 79, 109, 207 Plutarch 47, 164–165 Poetry 3, 127, 144, 250 Pray 9, 94, 137, 139, 157, 162–163, 173, 180–181, 221, 225, 238, 245,

Pseudepigraphy 199–200

Q

R Rapture 71, 123–125, 137–138, 141, 145 Realized eschatology 133–134, 234 Reconciliation 56, 169, 189, 226, 228, 270 Reflection 7, 42, 109, 114, 178, 219, 234, 274 Resurrection 100, 121–122, 133–134, 138–139, 194, 227, 261 Rhetoric 7, 12, 35, 90, 146, 175, 217, 221, 224, 246–247, 271–272, 274, 276 Rhetorical Strategy 30 Rituals of reconciliation 56 Roycrofters 106, 170, 175 Rules 27, 53, 55, 94, 96–98, 103, 108–111, 113–114, 149, 168–169, 189, 209, 254, 258

Index of Topics

S Saint 6, 19, 33, 40–41, 47 Sanctification 98–99, 242–243 Second Coming 119, 134, 143–144, 245, 250 Separation anxiety 73, 83 Sex 97, 102–103 Sexual boundaries 93, 101–103 Silvanus 18–19, 21, 31, 45, 82, 183, 216, 260 Sister(s) 11, 43, 66, 68, 88, 187–188, 206, 238 Skeuos 98, 100–101, 115, 274, 277 Sleep 121, 129, 131–132, 134–135, 138–139, 144, 146, 270, 272 Slogan 129, 211, 255 Social ethics 104 Sons of Darkness 124, 129, 131, 135 Soul Friend 33–34 Southern Baptist Convention 5, 87 Spiritual director 32–34, 86

T Taiwan 87, 198 Teacher 17, 28, 30, 33, 48, 85–86, 126, 199, 275 Teacher of Righteousness 48 Teaching father 2, 38, 52–53, 72, 109, 201 Tenement church 69, 153, 156, 257, 261, 264 Tentmaker 10, 51, 149, 154–155, 255 Terms of endearment 35, 61, 270 Thanksgiving 18, 21, 25, 37, 54, 83, 147, 163, 167,

177–178, 215–217, 221–222, 230, 242 Thessalonian community 21, 24–25, 32, 37, 42, 69, 79, 82, 99, 103–104, 107, 109, 118, 126, 141–144, 147–148, 162, 201, 204–205, 208, 211, 216, 219, 259, 261 Thessalonian Correspondence 1, 4–6, 11–12, 18–19, 22, 24, 29, 35, 73, 98, 100, 118, 172, 175–176, 187, 193, 212, 228, 251–252, 254, 260, 270, 272–273, 277 Thessaloniki 2, 4, 8–9, 12, 17–21, 26, 29–30, 32, 34, 37–41, 45–46, 49–54, 65–66, 68–69, 72–74, 76–83, 85, 93–94, 97–99, 104–105, 114, 121–122, 127–128, 133–134, 136, 139–140, 142, 153, 155, 161, 164, 167, 169–172, 180, 182–185, 187, 189–190, 193, 197, 201, 205–208, 210, 215–217, 220, 223, 227, 230, 234, 249, 251, 254–255, 260–262, 265, 267 Thief in the night 128–129, 131, 203, 235 Timothy 4, 18–19, 21, 31, 66, 74, 78–79, 81–83, 98, 104, 114, 120–121, 128, 183, 194, 203, 208, 216, 260 Trades 51, 106, 150 Trumpets 117, 126, 137, 139, 142

V Vessel 57, 98–102, 114–115, 148–149, 237, 270

293

W Walk 34, 52, 96–97, 105–106, 108, 114, 131, 135, 137, 169, 179 Woman 5–6, 23, 48, 57, 98, 100, 187, 189, 235 Women 5–6, 23,10–12, 27, 29, 38, 48, 50–51, 57, 61, 68–72, 84, 90, 98, 100–101, 156, 183–185, 187,190, 235, 271, 275–276 Work 1, 5, 8–10, 17, 21–22, 29, 31, 34, 40–42, 46, 52, 54, 56–58, 60, 62, 67, 71–72, 76, 83–85, 87–88, 93–95, 98, 101, 105–108, 111, 118, 121, 133, 135, 142–143, 149–151, 154–163, 165–167, 169–175, 177, 180, 185, 188, 193–194, 196, 198–202, 204–205, 207, 212, 215, 217–218, 221, 226–227, 233–235, 239–242, 244, 247–249, 251, 253–263, 265–267, 277 Work ethic 93, 107, 149, 251 Work with your own hands 10, 106–107, 149 Workshop 4, 8–9, 13, 52, 69, 71, 89, 107, 148–150, 153–156, 159–160, 166, 172–174, 182–183, 204, 254, 256, 262, 265, 272–273 World of work 150, 258