Delve Into Luke-Acts & Paul's LettersSample

DAY 4 – 2 THESSALONIANS

Apparently only a short time after he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul needed to write to them again. Whoever carried his first letter to Thessalonica (probably Timothy) brought back more news of the believers there. A rumor was circulating that Paul claimed the “day of the Lord” had already come. The “day of the Lord” was a phrase the Hebrew prophets used to describe the time when God would defeat all of his opponents and reward his faithful followers. The Thessalonians’ concern doesn’t seem to have been that this “day” had come and gone, and that they had missed it. Rather, they were concerned that it was now present, meaning that they couldn’t expect God to do anything more to deliver them from their enemies. As they were still suffering “persecutions and trials,” this was a depressing prospect.

Even before he corrects this false report, Paul reassures the Thessalonians that God will indeed “pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled.” (He gives this reassurance in his opening thanksgiving and prayer, where he often introduces the main themes of his letters.) Paul then corrects the report by reminding the Thessalonians what he told them when he was with them about how the “day of the Lord” will arrive. It seems he’s about to bring his letter to a close, but he then repeats an admonition from his earlier letter (perhaps in response to a further report about their situation). He urges them at greater length not to live in idleness, but to work hard and earn their own livings. 

As was common at the time, most of this letter was written down by a scribe, who recorded Paul’s words as he spoke them out loud. But at the end, Paul adds a greeting in his own handwriting, to prove that this letter is genuinely from him. He doesn’t want his name attached to any more misrepresentations of his teaching!

PRAYER: Thank You for seeing and encouraging me in my suffering. I trust in You.