privileges extended to apostles to be free from manual labor so as to devote his full attention to preaching the gospel and equipping churches (see 1 Cor 9:6–7). Paul even goes so far as to say that the Lord Jesus commanded the apostles to take gifts from believers to support their daily needs—and Paul sometimes chose to “disobey” that command! But why? Why did Paul work? From his ministry in Thessalonica we learn that he wanted to stay above reproach when it came to money. So many con men paraded through town and took money from gullible locals. Paul wanted to protect the integrity of the gospel.
Another key point that Paul underscores is the importance of daily work in order to continue to be productive in the community and to care for any needs. Some lagged on their work, perhaps even began leeching off of wealthy, sympathetic fellow-believers. As generous as this might be, Paul wanted to encourage each person to be responsible and productive as they are able. Paul tells the Thessalonians to put their hands to good use, to focus on being a contributor to the community “so that you may command the respect of outsiders, and be dependent on nobody” (4:11–12). Raymond Collins offers a salutary reminder that Paul teaches us what it means to be human in his work.
How we work is a matter of imitating the example of the apostle Paul and his companions. Working is a way of being a responsible co-citizen within society. How we work is also a matter of responsible participation in the ongoing creation of God, whose own tale of creation is cast in the form of a story about someone at work (Gen 1).63
Hope and Endurance
This introduction began with a reflection on “hope” (elpis) as a central theme for 1–2 Thessalonians. I will only briefly touch upon this again. Paul mentions that he gives thanks for their “endurance of hope”—the perseverance and tenacious forward-march that is produced by a hunger to embrace God’s promised future. Interestingly, Paul says that his hope is the Thessalonians (2:19). How can he say this? Because he sees the power of God at work in their trust in God and believing allegiance to the Messiah, and he foresees God’s validation of his ministry work as God judges their lives. Paul’s hope wasn’t “blind.” He could see it in the lives of his children.
Paul was a bit fearful that they might lose their hope, having lost loved ones and beginning to lose their focus (4:13). Paul does not tell them to stop grieving. He does not tell them to “put on a happy face.” Grieve, yes. But grieve with hope. Grief with hope is lament without despair.
I am reminded of Hosea 6:1–3.
Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord, his appealing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.
His appearing is a sure as the dawn. He will heal us. He will raise us up. Paul may have even been thinking about such verses when it came to the death of some beloved Thessalonians. Hope is walking in the light of the future dawn. Christian hope is anticipatory imagination. Christian hope is the capacity to actualize and embrace the power of God’s promised (and, thus, certain) future in the present through Jesus. Hope is less a wish and more a muscle that must be exercised (see Rom 5:3–5). And we exercise hope by enduring trust and hard work.
Thanksgiving and Joy
In light of the perilous ministry life that Paul endured, it is striking that his letters, not least 1 Thessalonians, are characterized by thanksgiving: he is thankful for his Thessalonians brothers and sisters who accepted the gospel with joy and faith (1:6; 2:13) and who show great resilience in affliction (1:2–3). Paul himself rejoiced in their life (2:19–20). They became a source of deep happiness for him (3:9). He passed on a ministry of thanksgiving to them as well (5:18).
Thanksgiving and joy require faith and hope. It is easy to wallow. It is convenient to complain. It is a discipline to release oneself from worldly comparison, from “keeping up with the Joneses,” and to learn to live a quiet life (4:11). Paul tells the Philippians, writing to them from prison, that he has learned how to be content; sometimes you have a little and sometimes you have more (Phil 4:11–12). He trained himself not to wager his joy on stuff so that he could always be thankful.
Love
I would be remiss not to include love (agapē) in the list of themes for 1 Thessalonians. This completes our discussion of the faith-hope-love triad, and it also represents well the emphasis Paul places on love as the deepest expression of true discipleship. Love, for Paul, is not mere sentimentality, nor a fleeting or occasional emotion. He basically commences the letter by reference to how love can inspire labor—we are most motivated to work hard on behalf of what we love (1:3). Reference to their steadfast love appears in 3:12. But I wish to focus on 4:9–10. Here Paul reminds them of how they should love one another like family (philadelphia—“sibling love”). David deSilva offers a nice, succinct illustration of what this kind of sibling love looks like: “Rather than insisting on having one’s own way at the cost of a brother or sister’s well-being, the loving sibling will forgo his or her rights in order to safeguard the well-being of the other.”64
At the end of 1 Thessalonians, Paul offers a few instructions to the Thessalonians, one of which especially captures his understanding of love—dedicate yourself to caring for the weak (5:14). In the competitive Greco-Roman world it only paid off to help those who can help you. Paul radically cuts through this quid pro quo mentality to focus on cruciform love, a kind of pure generosity that places an interest and care on the other. The Messiah would, of course, have served for Paul as the prime model (see Rom 15:3)—just as Matthew points to the fulfillment of Isa 53:4, “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases” (Matt 8:17 NET). To care for the weak (1 Thess 5:14) is to live out the ministry of love demonstrated by Jesus.
2 Thessalonians: The Story Continues65
First and Second Thessalonians is not the only example of a set of texts written to the same church. We have two letters that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, for example. However, those Corinthian letters are quite different, dealing with a separate (though not unrelated) set of problems. The challenge we face with 2 Thessalonians, in relationship to 1 Thessalonians, is that these two letters are very similar. Also, we do not have further information (e.g., from Acts) to fill the modern reader in on what happened after 1 Thessalonians. Again, we are left to read 2 Thessalonians and try to guess how the story continued after the first letter. At the very least we can say confidently that things did not get better for the Thessalonians after Paul’s first letter; rather, they worsened.66 It appears that they are experiencing even more persecution. Furthermore, they appear to need teaching on how things will happen and turn out at the Lord’s impending intervention. David deSilva summarizes aptly the probable situation that gave rise to this second letter to the Thessalonians.
The believers had made some positive progress in the direction that 1 Thessalonians has urged them, as Paul affirms their growing mutual love and the steadfastness of their faith. Relationships with the community are sufficiently strong and have become sufficiently primary for most members that Paul believes the Christians can now use shaming and shunning within the group to reinforce certain believers (2 Thess 3:14–15). Nevertheless, the pressures from outside the group continue to demand Paul’s attention—he continues to encourage the Christians to resist that pressure.
A second issue revolves around a misunderstanding of Christian eschatology, thinking that “the Day of the Lord has arrived” (2 Thess 2:2). Indeed, it is possible that such a misunderstanding arose from the discussion of 1 Thess 5:1–11 and perhaps from
