Corpus-Paul

[Jeff Peterson <peterson AT mail.ics.edu>]

At 2:33 PM -0700 4/29/99, John M. Contabile II wrote:
>Jeff,
>
>What if 2 Thessalonians was written prior to 1 Thessalonians?  Do you think
>that this is possible?  Would that smooth out or complicate things in your
>estimation?
>
>John Contabile

In at least one respect it would complicate matters, since 2 Thess 2:15
refers to matter (previously) taught DI' EPISTOLHS hHMWN; putting 2 Thess
before 1 Thess would thus require a lost letter ("Thessalonians A"). The
rehearsal of Paul's history with his Thessalonian converts after his
founding visit in 1 Thess 2:17-3:8 makes no mention of such a letter,
though I suppose it's possible that Paul sent one with Timothy on the
embassy mentioned in 1 Thess 3:2; so this is presumably where a prior 2
Thess would be situated, and  the TO MHDENA SAINESQAI EN TAIS QLIYESIN of
3:3 might be taken as a reflection on 2 Thess ch. 1. But as the endurance
of tribulation was a theme of Paul's preaching from the time of the
community's founding (3:4; cf. 1:6; 2:14-16), and as the eschatological
misinformation dealt with in 2 Thess 2 can be accounted for as a
misconstrual of statements in 1 Thess 4-5, I prefer the economy of the
traditional order.

Jeff

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Jeffrey Peterson
Institute for Christian Studies
Austin, Texas, USA
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