Введение

1. Reason for writing and content of the Message It is not known how long after sending the first letter to the Thessalonians, but it is very likely that a little, the Apostle Paul received new news about the state of the Thessalonica Church, worthy of attention and requiring his participation. One of the believers in Thessaloniki came either on his own business, or was deliberately sent by the local guardians of Christians, and told about what was happening there. Although it was a rumor, for he says: “I heard” (2 Thessalonians 3:11), it was furnished with such evidence that Saint Paul had no reason to doubt his faithfulness and therefore could not help but be concerned about the position of the Christians there. What exactly this rumor was about can be guessed from the contents of the message, as all interpreters do. It was said that the Thessaloniki Christians approximately keep themselves in Christian rules, their faith is strong, their love is flaming and expanding, and they, despite persecution and oppression, remain unshakably devoted to the Gospel of Christ; but that there are wrong thoughts circulating among them regarding the second coming of Christ, which disturb and confuse them. Previously, they were worried about the dead, not understanding what would happen to them at the coming of the Lord. The message of the holy Apostle dispelled these worries. But they found another source. The opinion has arisen that the coming of the Lord is already present, that the day and the hour are about to be revealed. This probably struck some with fear, from the imagination of those amazing phenomena that would accompany this coming, and in others, perhaps, it irritated a strong desire to quickly see the glory of the kingdom of Christ; and everyone was put in such a mood that one could say about them: “they were moved by their minds” (2 Thess. 2:2). This opinion became all the more persistent and all the more alarming because people appeared who claimed that they had received a revelation of this kind; others referred to the fact that they heard this from the lips of the Apostle himself; others even presented a message as if it had been written by the Apostle Paul himself. It is not surprising that the first epistle made this idea at least probable where the Apostle speaks of the unexpectedness of the appearance of the Lord. At the same time, it was also said that that old shortcoming of Thessalonians - a passion for a carefree, idle and restless life, which was noticed by the Apostle during his personal stay in Thessaloniki and about the correction of which he then insisted and wrote, moreover, in the first letter - remains among Christians. Some indulge in it in the old way, without thinking about correcting their behavior. Having received such news, Saint Paul could not help but be concerned to bring order to the mood there, calm minds, dispel wrong thoughts, and correct bad morals. Why is he writing a second letter to them? He was prompted to this by apostolic zeal and fatherly love for those converted. He could not bear for any stain to be visible on Christians, and he was jealous to present every Church to the Lord as pure, without any filth or blemish. This is the reason for writing the message. But as we infer about it from the content of the message, there is no need to remember that such is its content, which this occasion suggests. In it, Saint Paul: 1) thanking God for the success of the Thessalonians in Christian virtues, encourages them to further success, especially to endure persecution and sorrow with the hope of future blessings (Chapter 1); 2) dispels wrong thoughts that the day of Christ has already arrived, predicting that the day of the Lord will not come until the enemy of truth appears - the Antichrist (chapter 2); and 3) encourages the correction of those who walk disorderly both by conviction and by the severity of the apostolic authority (chapter 3). But it is not difficult to notice that the main thing in this message is the establishment of precise concepts about the signs of the second coming of Christ. Praising the good qualities of the Thessalonians and encouraging them to be patient is, as it were, only an introduction to the presentation of these concepts, and the instruction on the correction of disorderly persons is a private addition, although edifying for everyone, it does not concern everyone, because only some people were faulty. Blessed Theodoret does not give precedence to any of the subjects shown, but Saint John of Damascus, and then Ecumenius and Theophylact, consider the teaching about the signs of the second coming of the Lord to be the main subject and purpose of the message. In this case, other objects and goals, naturally, should already be located in the order shown. 2. Time and place when and where the Message was written Christian antiquity, not without reason, conveyed to us that the second epistle was written after the first, and the content of the epistle irresistibly impresses the conviction of this. Meanwhile, there were people who guessed that the second message was written before the first. How much weight there is in this fortune-telling can be judged by the grounds on which they want to approve it. One, for example, says: in verse 17 of chapter 3 of the second epistle in the words: “I am writing to this place,” (2 Thess. 3:17), a sign is indicated by which it was necessary to distinguish the true epistles of St. Paul from the forged ones; It is appropriate for such an instruction to appear in the first, and not in the second, message. But such a sign was indicated by Saint Paul due to the fact that an attempt was made to publish messages that were not his under his name (2 Thess. 2:2), and such an attempt already presupposes the existence of at least one true message, which was the first one. In addition, the Apostle himself in this second letter makes it clear that one of his epistle was already in the hands of the Thessalonians when he says: “Keep the traditions which you have learned either by word or by our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Therefore, the second message can no longer be considered the first. It seemed to another that the very content of the second epistle might suggest that it was written before the first. Leaving aside its presentation in this sense, we remind everyone that the content of the second epistle is most tangible and shows that it was written after the first, and precisely to supplement it, to further clarify and most accurately define some of the objects contained in it. While the first message only mentions how and under what circumstances the Thessalonians accepted the Christian faith, the second speaks of their success in Christianity, the growth of their faith and the increase of love (2 Thessalonians 1:3). While the first epistle speaks of the suddenness of the appearance of the Lord and the need therefore to always be ready to meet Him, due to the unknown time when He will come, the second eliminates the false conclusion that the day of the Lord has already arrived, which determined the indeterminable time (chapter 2). While the first expresses only the general rule about a quiet, serene and hardworking life (1 Thessalonians 4:10ff), the second extensively denounces the contrary behavior of some individuals (2 Thessalonians 3:6–16). Moreover, when Saint Paul says in his second letter: “We pray for the coming of our Lord and for our meeting about Him, not to quickly strive with our minds” (2 Thess. 2:1, 2), without any explanation of what our meeting about Him is; then one must think that he did this because it was first definitely stated what this meeting means; it is said in the first epistle - (1 Sol. 4:16). So it is clear from everything that the second epistle to Thessaloniki was written not before, but after the first, as it has always been and is accepted by everyone. When exactly? - A little after the first, in the same year, when Saint Paul was still in Corinth and, probably, before the end of his stay there. That Saint Paul was still in Corinth at that time is evident from the fact that in writing this epistle he includes his companions with him - Silas and Timothy, and they were both with him only in Corinth. After the departure of Saint Paul from this city, we meet Saint Timothy with him in Ephesus (Acts 19:22); but Saint Silas is not mentioned anywhere later as a companion of Saint Paul. Therefore, it is impossible to attribute the writing of the second letter to Thessalonians to any time after the stay of St. Paul in Corinth and to any other place other than Corinth. That it was written toward the end of St. Paul’s stay in Corinth can be inferred from what is in it (2 Thess. 3:2) The Apostle asks to pray for his deliverance from evil and crafty people, which he probably hints at an uprising against him in Corinth (Acts 18:12–17); and it happened before the end of his stay there (Acts 18:18). Thus, if the first epistle was written in the year 54, then there is no reason to attribute the writing of the second to a later year. From the contents of this message it is already clear what its composition is and what parts it contains. After the usual inscriptions and greetings - (2 Thessalonians 1:1, 2), Saint Paul first praises the good in the Thessalonians and encourages them to be patient - (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12); then he dispels their wrong thoughts about the second coming of Christ with moral lessons from that - chapter 2; finally he denounces those who walk disorderly and convinces them to correct themselves, inserting this denunciation into the final speech - chapter 3. Let us designate these parts as follows: part one - an inspiring essay on the bright side of Thessalonians; the second is religious; the third is moral. A more detailed development of the thoughts of each part will be placed in the Interpretation itself. You might be interested in: