There are a handful of passages where Paul uses kinship language. Examples include 1:4, “For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God..,” 5:5 “for you are children of the light and children of the day..,” 2:9 “You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day..,” and 3:11 “Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you.” He also discusses love as mainly shown in 4:9-12. Paul uses the kinship language mostly out of the act that he has solid relationships with the people he is writing to. It would be different if Paul was using this language to smooth over the Thessalonians to his message, but they have already accepted it, so that gives me the indication it is just how he speaks with his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. That is not to say however that he was not intentionally using more positive and friendlier language so that the message in his letter, mainly in chapters four and five, would be received openly. Lastly, not as crucial but still relevant, is Paul’s un-common education and training in literature to even be able to write down his thoughts.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians reveals that the dynamic between Paul’s Christians and the Romans surrounding them is tense, but also that this was to be expected, as Jesus and the apostles knew well that their message would spark anger in people. Paul’s most clear advice to the Thessalonians on how to ease the tension comes in 5:12-22 where he says thing like ‘see that none of you repays evil with evil,’ ‘encourage the fainthearted, help the weak,’ and ‘give thanks in all circumstances.’ Paul’s message is to encourage the people in their time of persecution and remind them that if they stay true to God in the face of obstruction while on earth, he will provide a seat for them in his kingdom in the after-life.

The most ‘clear’ (yet still subliminal) jabs that Paul takes at the Roman Empire is in 5:3 “When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them…and there will be no escape!” The reason it is not clear at first is because the reader may not know that ‘peace and security’ was somewhat the motto of the Romans, especially within authority. So Paul takes a pretty clear jab at the Roman leadership essentially telling the Thessalonians that the Roman leadership is wrong when they promise peace and security (as they promised as long as taxes were paid) and that the only true peace and security is in God through his son Jesus Christ. The language Paul uses when describing Jesus also jabs at the political realm. When Paul refers to Jesus as the good news, the son of God, and Lord of the world, this sounds like Caesar to most Romans. And when Paul says through Jesus justice and salvation will be spread throughout the world, this sounds very similar to Caesar’s message that he would spread those throughout the world. So there is this subliminal message from Paul that Caesar is a false prophet or a false God, and that true salvation occurs by the one true God through his divine son that he sent, not some mere mortal.

-Grant Giraldi

Group 3