Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought— Part Twelve

Last updated on: February 8, 2017 at 1:32 am by Ben Witherington

Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought— Part Twelve 2017-01-17T13:38:31-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

p. 175— The M.O. for each following chapter will be: 1) explain the form of the letter; 2) reconstruct the sequence of events which led up to the letter; 3) identify the presuppositions of the letter; 4) listing Paul’s standard views and presuppositions which will let the individuality of each letter stand out.

p. 176— all Paul’s letters have the same basic parts except Galatians which is missing the thanksgiving: 1) addressor and colleagues and addressees; 2) opening benediction; 3) thanksgiving which always provides a preview of coming contents; 4) the body, in the case of 1 Thess. 2.1-5.11; 5) closing admonitions 5.12-13; 6) concluding benediction 5.23-28. All of Paul’s letters except Romans [also Colossians] are part of a continuing conversation hence the need to reconstruct the history of Paul’s relationship with the audience.

p. 177— 1) the founding visit— 1 Thess. 1.5-10;2.1-13; 2) Paul had learned the Thessalonians were suffering (2.14) and he had long wished to visit (2.17-18); 3) Paul sent Timothy to encourage them fearing their faith was shaken (3.1-5); 4) Timothy reported back that all was well (3.6-8); but 4) Paul kept worrying (3.10), so then Paul wrote and sent 1 Thess. we don’t know who delivered it.

p. 178 one must distinguish between what is specific and what is general, the latter being things Paul frequently says in the letters, but are not situation specific. He divides Paul’s statements in the letter into 1) those that are doubtless of specific importance in 1 Thess; 2) those that are probably situation specific; 3) those that are possibly situation specific, and 4) those which are standard or general.

p. 179— From 1 Thess. 1.9-10 we learn: 1) the converts were pagans, converting from the worship of Greco-Roman gods; 2) they had converted by turning from idols and turning to the God of Israel; 3) as part of their conversion they accepted Jesus as God’s Son; 4) they thought Jesus would return soon; 5) they thought this meant God’s wrath and judgment would soon visit the world; 6) Paul had taught them and they believed that accepting the true God and his Son they would be saved from the wrath to come. Points 4-6 are further supported by 4.16, 5.2, 5.9.

p. 180-81— From 1 Thess. 1.6-3.4 we learn Jesus and the earlier prophets had been killed, Jewish Christians in Judea had been persecuted by non-Christian Jews there, that Paul was persecuted on the mission field, specifically in Philippi (see 2.2 and 2.16), from which we may conclude that some local Jews in some cities made trouble for Paul when he preached there. Sanders translates 1.6 which says the Thess. had become ‘imitators of us and of the Lord for in persecution they received the Word with joy inspired by the H. Spirit.’ After the Thess. accepted Paul’s message, they were persecuted by unconverted Gentiles. Paul construes there and his own suffering as imitation of Christ and the Christians in Judaea. 1 Thess. is sent to ‘restore whatever was lacking in their faith.’ (1 Thess. 3.5-10).

p. 181— From 1 Thess. 4.13-18 Sanders deduces that Paul had not told them that if they died before the return of Christ they would still be saved. So his initial message was believe in Christ and when he returns you’ll be saved, rather than believe in Christ and when you die you will be saved. Here it is clear says Sanders, that Paul thought Christ would return very soon.[See the critique of this view in subsequent posts].

p. 182— He thinks 4.11-12 and 5.14 tells us that Timothy had told Paul that some of the Thess. had stopped working, and were begging or being dependent on others. Sanders assumes the stopped working is because of imminence of the return. Possibly situation specific is 2.3-12 where Paul defends himself against the charges of greed, trickery, deceit. Maybe someone there had accused Paul of this after he left, but this may reflect a more general complaint against Paul, or he had heard this was true of other missionaries, or he was just hyper-sensitive on these issues dealing with money and motives. He finds it puzzling that Paul is defensive here when he is still on good terms with the Thess. Maybe his mentioning his working was to motivate some of them to keep working. 1 Thess. 4.1-8 may be a general reminder about sexual ethics or may deal with a more specific problem but the phrase ‘as you are already doing’ suggests the former. 5.12-13 indicates there are local leaders and they should be respected.

p. 184-85— habitual or standard views—Spirit is active in the congregation, and inspires prophecy (5.19-20). Paul assumes existence of Satan as well as God—1.1-5, 2.18. Paul assumes both God’s control over human lives and also that humans were responsible for their decisions. Both/and which was a common view in antiquity. He says almost everyone assumed both is true. Command to love one another in 4.9-10. Salvation applies to both the living and the dead 4.14-16;5.10; people should work and not be idle (5.14; 4.11-12). The end is near so we must be prepared (5.1-11). The Lord will return without advance warning. People should live in peace and not repay evil for evil (5.12-24). 1 Thess. 1.7-9 indicates others in the region have heard of their conversion, Paul does not refer to the Thess. converts evangelizing. Apparently that is left to the apostles. Local leaders and local prophets should guide the local church. The apostles are the church planters (p. 185).

p. 189— Paul’s basic Gospel is simple. But what is complicated is his mode of argumentation especially when he is fending off attacks, and it is Jewish mode of argumentation.

p. 190— it was the turning from idols that led to persecution.

p. 192— Two key words that do show up in 1 Thess. are words with the pist—root (faith, believe, trust) and words with the dikai—root (righteous, righteousness, justify).

p. 193— “The principle point of this exercise is to show what has not yet happened: ‘faith’ and ‘righteousness’ and their cognates are used in 1 Thessalonians in very ordinary ways: fidelity, trust, trustworthiness, lack of doubt, and holding a firm conviction are meanings of ‘faith’…and ‘uprightly’ is the only example of ‘righteousness’ [2.10—justly language]… The two words are not closely connected (as in ‘righteousness by faith’). They do not yet carry the special significance and meanings that they will acquire in Galatians, Philippians, and Romans, where they are terms by which Paul sets his gospel over against that of some of his opponents.”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 7, 2017

Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought--- Part Eleven

Next Post

February 9, 2017 Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought--- Part Thirteen

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz