A Study in Second Thessalonians. INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Probably within weeks of writing First Thessalonians Paul gets a report on how they are doing and writes his second letter.

The return of the Lord is of central importance in both letters. First Thessalonians reveals that some believers were perplexed over the death of loved ones and whether they might miss the Lord's return.

In Second Thessalonians a different problem surfaces, but one still related to the coming of the Lord.

Since Paul's first letter, the seeds of false doctrine have been sown among the Thessalonians, causing them to waver in their faith. Paul removes these destructive seeds and again plants the seeds of truth. He begins by commending the believers on their faithfulness in the midst of persecution and encouraging them that present suffering will be repaid with future glory. Therefore in the midst of persecution, expectation can be high.

Paul then deals with the central matter, a misunderstanding spawned by false teachers regarding the day of the Lord. There were still, in this church, clear concerns over imbalanced attitudes related to Christ's coming. "We hear," said the apostle (3:11), "that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all...." Work stoppage it seems was prompted by an erroneous teaching that "the day of the Lord had already come" (2:2). Whatever the source of this erroneous teaching, Paul quickly wrote Second Thessalonians to round out the proper way to understand the return of the Lord.

Understand that in First Thessalonians the believers were concerned about what would happen to their loved ones who had died with regard to the benefits that the living would receive at the coming of Jesus. What would become of them they wondered, since Jesus had not yet come.

Here in this letter, they had been told that the day of the Lord had already come. They understood from Paul's teaching that when Jesus came the dead in Christ would rise first then, both the raised dead and the surviving living would be caught up at the same time to be forever with the Lord. "Hey Paul, you told us that we would be united with our dead loved ones and then we would be raptured together to go to be with the Lord. Now we have been told by teachers (false), that the day of the Lord has all ready come. Now you told us that after Jesus comes, the day of the Lord begins, the day of the Lord is here, our loved ones are still dead and we are not raptured, now what is going on?"

Paul corrects this false teaching by telling them, that day (the day of the lord) will not come until certain events take place. First, there will be a falling away, and second, the Man of Sin will be revealed. Paul admonishes them to believe the traditions and fixed beliefs that he taught them about the coming of Jesus as a check upon all teaching concerning that event.

He also gives strong warnings about and to people who would teach anything different than what he taught concerning the coming of Jesus.