2 Thessalonians

Published on: Author: everton

During 1 Thessalonians Paul speaks of the end time as if it is going to be a sudden event. He tells the congregation in Thessalonica to be ready for an end that would be like “A thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2). During 2 Thessalonians his tone changes telling them that the end time will be preceded by specific events leading up to it. He negates his previous stance but why? The author of 2nd Thessalonians was answering a specific question for the people of Thessalonica. During this time the people of the Christian community thought that the end was nearly upon them. Many of them had quit their jobs and were now freeloading off those in the community who had not done this in preparation for the end. They where simply sitting around waiting for it to happen. A situation like this would become annoying for those supporting the christians without Jobs. The author of 2 Thessalonians adds these details about events leading up to the end time in order to calm the people of his community who had given up on the world. These events were never mentioned in the first letter and this is simply because their is no similarities in the author. He attempts to imitate Paul but it is through these minor details that we can determine what the purpose of the letter was. For a community that had lost hope in their future he wrote it in order to calm them and allow them to continue to live their live with all the hopes and dreams that they once had about the future, and still be able to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ. Choosing Paul as an author had become very popular during this time because he was the Hero and the founder of many of the Churches across Europe. Christians had began to face persecution during this time, and many had assumed that this meant the end time was near. By telling them that the anti-christ must appear first he attempts to calm their fears in order to allow them to continue to live peacefully and prosperously. Along with the false prophets that will appear first so will persecution and “Desolating Sacrilege,” all of which hadn’t happened to the extent that the Author expected before the true ending time. The point of 2 Thessalonians was to speak to a community who had not yet seen the end time and at any sign of hardship assumed that it was coming. Through these letters he hoped to allow the Community of Thessalonica to return to their normal lives and stop fearing the end time but rather focus on the personal transformation that would lead to the kingdom of god on earth.