Commentary on the 2nd Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians

Reason for writing the second letter to the Thessalonians Time and place of writing the message By whom and how the first letter of the Apostle Paul was delivered to F., one can only guess about this. The state post office, introduced by Emperor Augustus, served only the needs of officials and authorities; from here, private correspondence could reach recipients only through the hands of special messengers or friends and random travelers. One must think that the message of the Apostle Paul was delivered to F. through the medium of some Christian, since entrusting it into the wrong hands would be very dangerous. Now, as for the effect of this message on F-v, we can judge this by the content of the second message. The first message undoubtedly eliminated the main difficulty for F-v - it was the Apostle who resolved the question of the fate of those who died before the parousia. There is no indication in the second letter of a lack of discipline in relation to the primates, etc. But, on the other hand, the person who delivered 1 F. to Thessalonica could, in turn, bring information about the situation in which the church in F. found itself after receiving the letter. The Apostle could receive information regarding this subject through strangers (2 Thess. 3:11), who were in the church, or persons who came from there for the special purpose of informing the Apostle about the state of affairs in the young church. The information obtained in this way was far from favorable. The 2nd epistle in F. is an attempt on the part of the Apostle Paul to make the necessary adjustments to the alarming and dangerous state of affairs in F. The Apostle praises the faith and love of F. Christians (2 Thess. 1:3), and speaks of their patience in persecution (2 Thess. 1:4-12). The latter, apparently, not only did not stop, but on the contrary intensified. The evil of Thessalonian Judaism infected the entire population and Christians found themselves in the most terrible situation. The Apostle consoles them, praises their steadfastness, and speaks of the salutary significance of suffering for them, pointing out that “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven,” they will receive joy for this. But here, apparently, the pleasant side of the picture ends. The question of the fate of those who died before the parousia receded into the background, but the “parousia” itself turned into an extremely burning question of life. The belief that this parousia has already arrived, that its hour has already struck, and that even if it remains invisible for now, it can nevertheless appear before the eye at any moment, captured the community of believers and caused a complete disruption of the normal course of life. “Disorderliness” developed to the widest extent, expressed in the fact that many, in anticipation of the immediate coming of the Lord, abandoned the normal way of life, indulged in “ideological” idleness in view of the imminent passing of the image of this world, and began, although b. m. and not always consciously, a burden for workers in the Christian community. But they not only indulged in ideological idleness, but even went further: they began to “fuss”; “having abandoned their own business, these “disorderly men” began to go from house to house, spreading and discussing the latest and most sensational rumors on the question of the parousia, and thus disturbed the peace of the church and interrupted the work among the working brothers.” The Apostle already touched on the first beginnings of this internal disorder in his first epistle (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12). Evil, however, not only did not disappear, but even increased to an unprecedented degree. The result was dangerous “mind hesitation and confusion.” It was necessary to take measures against this “eschatological turmoil,” which, while disturbing the internal peace of the church, also violated external relations, presenting Christians in a very unfavorable light before the pagan population of F-ki. This disorder could only be beneficial to the Jews, who undoubtedly looked at this turmoil not without pleasure. Thus, the reason for writing the second letter to F. was the unrest in the F. church that arose in connection with the question of the parousia and the signs of its onset. In this letter, the Apostle Paul makes an attempt to draw the attention of F Christians to that side of his eschatology, which he told them about while he was still with them (2 Thess. 2:5), but which, apparently, was completely lost sight of in F. Having introduced the greeting, the Apostle proceeds to express gratitude to God for the continuous growth of F-v in faith and love, which is noticed among them, and which serves for the Apostle as a subject of praise in the churches of God (2 Thessalonians 1:1-3). But the Apostle especially praises their patience in tribulations and persecutions. The latter should not only not serve as a means of turning them away from God, but, on the contrary, should encourage them - to stand firm, in view of the coming “delight” for them at the coming of the Lord. Then the Apostle describes the latter, as well as the fate of believers and unbelievers after the “parousia” (2 Thess. 1:4-10). He ends his thoughts with a prayer that God will arrange F.’s fate “in the day” of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:11–12). After this, the most important and essential part of the message begins (2 Thess. 2:1-12). The Apostle asks F. not to waver in mind and not to be embarrassed regarding the coming of the day of the coming of the Lord. That day will not come, he says, until certain certain events take place - signs before its onset. Such will be the apostasy and appearance of the man of sin with his acts of combat against God. The mystery of lawlessness is already being done, but for now the full manifestation of evil is delayed by the presence of a force opposed to evil - το κατέχον. Once this power is removed, the reign of the wicked will begin, whose coming will be accompanied by the manifestation of all kinds of false wonders and signs. Deception will be sent to those who have not accepted the truth. But finally, the appearance of the Lord Jesus will abolish this bacchanalia of evil. At the end of the chapter (2 Thess. 2:13–17), the Apostle again exhorts F. to stand firm, and to keep the traditions that they have been taught, and to trust in God, from whom alone they can receive consolation and strength to do every good thing. The third Chapter of the letter begins with a request that F., in turn, pray for a favorable progress in the work of preaching among the evangelists (2 Thessalonians 3:1-5). Then the Apostle addresses words of exhortation to the “disorderly”, asking them to work and not to fuss (2 Thess. 3:6-10). Those of them who prove stubborn, he commands to be excommunicated, but not for the purpose of punishment, but correction (2 Thessalonians 3:11-15). The message ends with wishes for peace. Attached to the end of the message was a greeting and blessing written by the Apostle Paul in his own hand. Time and place of writing the message. To determine the time and place of writing of the second letter, it is necessary to clarify the following data: a) the letter is again addressed on behalf of three evangelists, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy; the last two were with the Apostle Paul on his second Apostolic journey. b) General state of affairs; the position of both the church and the Apostle, although they differ somewhat from those described in 1 F., on the whole, remain largely identical. c) The Temple of Jerusalem, judging by 2 Thessalonians 2:4, was not yet destroyed. d) In 2 Thess. 2:15 and 2 Thess. 3:14, the Apostle apparently hints that he had already written once to the church of Thoi. All these considerations taken together indicate that F.’s second letter could only have been written during the second Apostolic journey, and, of course, in Corinth, from where the first letter was written. How soon the second message appeared after the first is very difficult to say with sufficient accuracy. Usually they see something like the date of writing in 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, where the Apostle asks F-v to pray for him, so that God would deliver him from disorderly and wicked people. This is sometimes seen as an allusion to the explosion of Jewish hatred and fanaticism that took place just towards the end of the Apostle Paul's stay in Corinth (Acts 18:12–13). But we must admit that the hint is too vague for us to draw any conclusions regarding the time of writing our message. As we saw above, 1 F. was written either at the end of 50, or at the beginning of 51; if we now assume that some time was necessary both for the mutual exchange of news and for the development of internal structure in the F-th church, then it will be possible to attribute the writing of the second epistle either to the end of 51, or to the beginning of 52 (in April 52, the Apostle Paul left Corinth; see N. N. Glubokovsky, chronology, pp. 131–132). Attributing the writing of our epistle to the time after 70 is not allowed by consideration c), as well as 2 Thessalonians 2:7, where “holding” is undoubtedly Roman power, the view of which, after the persecution of Nero, changed radically among Christians. There is absolutely no basis for the opinion (Grotius, Baur, Ewald) that the second epistle is essentially the first in time of origin (according to Ewald, it was sent by the Apostle Paul from Berea; and our first, the second in time of appearance, was written in Corinth). To be convinced of this, it is enough just to compare the entire second letter with 1 Thess. 2:17, 3:6. The most superficial comparison will show that 1 Thess. 2:17, 3:6 could in no way be written by the Apostle Paul, since he had already written F.’s second epistle. On the contrary, once we accept the traditional order of messages, both of them will become clear to us and will perfectly complement each other. “The first epistle describes how the F. received the Gospel, while the second indicates their progress in faith and love; the former hints at the beginning, the latter at the growth of the Christian life. The first indicates the beginning of eschatological unrest, the second describes them in all their development. Finally, 2 Thess. 2:15 and 2 Thess. 3:15 will be difficult to explain on the assumption that the second message is the first, and not the second, in time of its appearance. So - the second epistle was written in Corinth, at the end of 51, or at the beginning of 52, and was written after the first epistle. There is evidence of the second letter to the Thessalonians from the first centuries. St. Polycarp of Smyrna was familiar with this letter, who, in his letter to the Philippians, writes the following: “sobrii ergo estote et vos in hoc; et non sicut inimicos tales existimetis, sed sicut passibilia membra et errantia eos revocate, ut omnium vestrum corpus saluetis.” Here the words “non sicut ininucos tales existimetis”…reminiscent of the words of the second epistle to Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 3:15. In the same chapter, St. Polycarp writes a little higher: “de vobis etenim gloriatur (Paulus) in omnibus ecclesiis”... which strongly resembles 2 Thessalonians 1:4 of our epistle. One must think that here St. Polycarp borrows words from the Apostle Paul, spoken by the latter about the Church of F., and applies them to the Church of the Philippians, with which the Apostle was on particularly good terms. Echoes of our message can be found in St. Justin Martyr (140 A.D.) in his Dial. cum Tryph. Chapters XXXII, CX, SKhII. The 2nd epistle is directly quoted from St. Irenaeus of Lyons (eg in Adv. haeres. V:25, I: “in epistula, quae est ad Thessalonicenses secunda”...), from Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. It is found in the canon of the heretic Marcion and in the Muratorian canon. If we assume that our epistle is not authentic, then the fact that it is already in Marcion’s canon speaks against any decisive hypothesis relating the writing of our epistle to 100–120 AD. As for the internal data in favor of the authenticity of the second epistle, they are sufficient to attribute the epistle specifically to the Apostle Paul. It bears the imprint of the character of the Apostle Paul; here we find his lively sympathy for his disciples (2 Thess. 1:4), and his gentle reproaches to them (2 Thess. 3:14–15) and his praise (2 Thess. 1:5), as well as the Apostle’s characteristic way of referring to himself (2 Thess. 3:7–9) and his desire for the Physicians to pray for him and his preaching work (2 Thess. 3:1). 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