This is the oldest preserved Christian writing. Biblical scholars have sometimes overlooked this letter because it does not deal with the great Pauline theme of justification by faith apart from the works of the law. Can our assessment of the importance of a Pauline letter be independent of the relationship of that letter to the life situation for which and in which it was composed? Is the expression of Pauline thought not shaped by the needs of the particular community (perhaps, in this case, a community that was unaffected by the dispute over the works of the Law)? Or, if Paul's thought has developed, are we not hearing here of a younger Paul, still very much in touch with his experiences in the church at Antioch, but not yet refined by the crisis at Galatia which brought the question of justification to the forefront of his thinking?

1. The Background

   Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, had moved from the province of Asia (Asia Minor or Turkey today) to Macedonia (Europe, northern Greece today) around the year 50 AD. In a relatively short time he passed through Macedonia to Achaia (southern Greece), stopping at Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens and Corinth. Missions from Jerusalem may have already brought the name of Christ to Europe, but this was a major step in Paul's proclamation of the gospel, and his concern in the years that followed would often be with the churches established in the evangelization of Greece.

   His first preaching took place in Philippi, where he "suffered and was shamefully treated" (1 Thess 2:2). Then, traveling some 100 miles west along the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road that crossed northern Greece, Paul and his companions arrived in Thessalonica, where he preached the Gospel. It is not known how long he stayed there. In a compressed and highly stylized picture, Acts 17:2 mentions three consecutive Sabbaths in the synagogue, and then indicates a ministry in Jason's house (17:5-9), followed by a hasty departure. In addition to preaching, Paul (1 Thess 2:9) remembers that he worked and toiled, toiling night and day, so as not to be a financial burden; and in Phil 4:16 he recalls that the Philippians sent him money to Thessalonica on several occasions - a description that suggests more than a few weeks' stay.

   Thessaloniki was a city with a Jewish community but marked by a multiplicity of cults, reflecting the mixed population. Archaeology and historical documents indicate places of worship for the Roman pantheon and the emperor, as well as a host of oriental deities, e.g. Cabires, Isis, Sarapis and Osiris. Paul's letter to his converts in Thessalonica who "broke with the worship of false gods" (1:9) implies that they were pagans and (4:1) that they were largely working class. Acts 17:4 is therefore perhaps not too distorted in reporting that in Thessalonica, although Paul initially preached in the synagogue, converting some of those who heard him, he eventually attracted many God-fearing people and pagans. Likewise, Paul's occupation of tentmaking and leatherworking would have brought him into contact with Gentiles who made their living in the same way. In 1 Thess 2:2, Paul speaks of "great opposition" in Thessalonica. This could be related to Acts 17:5-10, where Paul's success with the Gentiles angered a group of Jews who in turn stirred up the market crowds against him, forcing him to flee the city with Silas. Such a hasty departure, leaving things unfinished, could explain why Paul wrote after leaving a short time before (1 Thess 2:17) and why he had an intense desire to return, so that, having been upset (2:18), he sent Timothy back from Athens to Thessalonica to avoid the Christians there being destabilized by the trials (3:2-5) and by what they were suffering at the hands of their "fellow countrymen" (2:14-15). What were these trials and sufferings? It is not unlikely that the opposition Paul faced from Gentiles and Jews continued after his departure and afflicted his converts. One can assume that the "countrymen" he speaks of were Gentiles, yet Paul also compares the sufferings of the Thessalonian Christians to what the churches of God in Judea suffered at the hands of the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets. In the Gospel picture, the Jewish authorities proceeded to kill Jesus with the cooperation of the Roman magistrate, just as in Acts 17:5-6:13, some Jews in Thessalonica stirred up the mob and the street magistrates (presumably Gentiles) against Paul.

2. General Analysis of the Message

   Let us quickly go through 1 Thessalonians to get a general impression of the content, which will introduce some questions.

   It is clear that Paul was concerned about the Thessalonians. He addresses them as his "brothers" (= brothers and sisters) about fourteen times - in proportion to the length of the letter, this is an intense usage. One way to translate 2:8 is, "Separated from you, we were willing to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves." Sometimes Paul flatters his recipients with goodwill, but one gets the sense that he was genuinely relieved when Timothy returned to him (in Corinth) with the good news that the Thessalonian Christians had not been thrown off balance by affliction (3:3) and were holding fast in the Lord (3:6-8). "How can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we experience before our God because of you?" (3: 9). Indeed, they seem to have taken up the challenge of spreading faith in Christ by spreading the word of the Lord elsewhere in Macedonia and Greece (Achaia; 1:7-8; see 4:10). So Paul, who cannot come to them soon and perhaps feels less need to do so, can write this gentle letter in which there is encouragement to do more (4:10) but little expressed reproach or major new instruction. In fact, for most of the letter, Paul uses an oratorical style to appeal to what the Thessalonians already know. A major exception is 4:13 - 5:11 where he teaches something new. Presumably his reminders and/or new teaching respond to the problems pointed out by Timothy and the questions proposed by the Thessalonians. However, to what extent precisely is Paul motivated by specific dangers or trends present in Thessalonica and by the religious, political and cultural background of those who had come to believe in Jesus in that city? Let us examine this situation under the rubric of two questions.

   1. First question: Why does Paul remind them of things they already know?

      At the simplest level, the community, largely composed of Gentile converts after a relatively brief missionary visit by Paul, had gone through a tremendous change in accepting belief in the one God of Israel who was also the Father of Jesus Christ - and so reinforcement by reminding them of what had been preached was appropriate. This would be more understandable if frenetic pagan religious celebrations existed in Thessalonica (4:3-8: "Keep away from impurity"; "not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God"; "God has not called us to impurity but to holiness"). Unfortunately, most of the archaeological evidence relevant to pagan religions comes from a later time.

      It is possible that Paul had to support a community that was marked by affliction and opposition. For, having abandoned public religion, was it a problem for others? In particular, did Paul's proclamation of the gospel of the one God of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ cause affliction and persecution in a city where Roman civic worship was so strong? Does Paul need to remind the Thessalonians that he himself suffered when he preached there (2:2) because he is accused of cowardice for fleeing the city and leaving others to face the results of his preaching (Acts 17:9-10)? In the short time after Paul's departure from Thessalonica, were believers put to death, hence the question of the fate of the dead in Christ (1 Thess 4:16)? In reviewing his activity a few years later (2 Cor 11:23-27), Paul speaks of physical blows, attempts on his life and external dangers, both from Jews and Gentiles. Physical harassment and persecution had taken place in the early years of Paul's mission.

      There is yet another possibility for what Paul calls affliction. For Paul must remember that he does not evangelize from impure motives or by deceit, nor by flattery or greed, nor by seeking praise, but with gentleness like a nursing mother (2:7) and like a loving father (2:11), preaching without reproach not a human word but the word of God. Was this reminder prompted by the accusations brought against him by those who were afflicting the local church? Was he being compared to the stereotype of the wandering, crude, miserly cynical philosopher who peddled his message? This accusation would have been particularly galling to Paul, who claimed to be an apostle of Christ who preached the gospel or the word of God.

   2. Second question: in 4:13 - 5:11 why do they indicate that they need further clarification?

      For Paul, since the resurrection of Christ, all were now living in the time of the end, and the ultimate fulfillment of this time of hope was the second coming of Christ from heaven to be seen by all (1:10; 4:16-17). As they suffered affliction and pain, this expectation gave them strength. Yet, probably because he thought it would happen soon, Paul did not address the issue of believers who would have died before that coming. Perhaps he did not foresee how quickly some would be put to death for Christ. Now, perhaps because the Thessalonians asked for instruction, Paul wants to be specific, building on what he had taught about the saving value of Jesus' death and resurrection. Christians can mourn their dead, but not like "others who have no hope" (4:13). Once the parousia begins, "those who have fallen asleep in Christ" will be resurrected and, together with the living, will be taken up to meet the Lord in the air (4:14-17). There is no time or date for all this; indeed, it will happen suddenly, so we must be careful to stay wide awake and sober (5:1-11). Yet, on the whole, the thought of the parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ is encouraging: "Whether we are awake or asleep [in death], we shall yet live united to him" (5: 10). Notice that the Paul of 1 Thessalonians is not interested in the details of the parousia as such; his pastoral concern is to calm any disturbance in the community he has evangelized.

3. Issues and Problems for Reflection
   1. Paul mentions the cosenders Silvanus and Timothy in the opening formula, but does not identify himself (or them) as an apostle or servant of Christ, as he will frequently do in the following letters. The thanksgiving begins in 1:2. Does the expression of thanks in 1 Thess 2:13 belong to the body of the letter, constituting a second thanksgiving after 1:2? Or does the thanksgiving of the letter extend to the end of chapter 3? In part, this question is related to the one that follows.

   2. Is 1 Thess 2:13-16 an original part of 1 Thessalonians written by Paul or was it added by a later editor? This passage refers to "the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus" and generalizes about them in hostile terms. If it was written by Paul, who was certainly in Jerusalem in the 30s, it is a major and very early refutation of the revisionist theory that the Romans were almost exclusively responsible for the death of Jesus.

      The arguments against the Pauline authorship of 1 Thess 2:13-16 are the following:

      1. this is a second thanksgiving in the letter;
      2. the statement that the Jews "are the enemies of the whole human race" sounds like a general pagan polemic, hardly characteristic of Paul;
      3. The statement that the Jews "fulfill their sins" and that "divine wrath has finally reached them" contradicts Rom 11:25-26 that "all Israel will be saved.

      Arguments in favor of the Pauline authorship of 1 Thess 2:13-16:

      1. All ancient manuscripts contain this passage.
      2. Paul speaks hostilely of "the Jews" as persecutors in 2 Cor 11:24, and he is not without polemical hyperbole;
      3. In Romans (2:5; 3:5-6; 4:15; 11:25) Paul speaks of God's wrath against the Jews, so that the hope of their final salvation does not preclude the depiction of divine disfavor.

      In Paul's mind, the jealous Jews of Thessalonica who harassed him and those who came to believe in Jesus represented what Rom 11:25 calls the part of Israel upon which the "hardening" (= the "wrath" of 1 Thess) had come. If, before Paul's arrival, the law-abiding Jews had attracted some God-fearing Gentiles and prominent women (Acts 17:4), it is understandable that they were furious when their converts switched to Paul's proclamation of the Messiah, in which observance of the Law was not required.

   3. The description of the parousia given in 1 Thess 4:16-17 involves the voice of the archangel, the signal of the heavenly trumpet, and being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In 5:1-2, there is a blurring of times and seasons. Some of these elements echo both the language of Jewish apocalyptic and the language attributed to Jesus in the apocalyptic discourses of the Gospels. Did Paul intend some or all of these elements as a literal description? Whether he did or not, should modern readers expect it to be literal? If not, to what extent is the parousia a symbolic way of saying that, in order to realize the kingdom, God still has something to do that cannot be done by human beings but only by Jesus Christ? How important is the expectation of the parousia for Christians after two thousand years of waiting for the return of Jesus? That Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead is part of both the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

   4. If 1 Thessalonians 4:13 means that some Thessalonian Christians have grieved over those who are asleep as if there were no hope, is it because they make the expected encounter with Jesus at the parousia the moment of receiving the gift of life from God? In 4:14, Paul speaks of Jesus who "died and rose again"; thus, the death and resurrection of Christ is the moment when life is given to all those who are "in him" (including the dead: 4:14). What does being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord add?

   5. At most, Paul was only in Thessalonica for a few months before he had to leave. Yet, shortly thereafter, when he writes 1 Thessalonians, he exhorts the Thessalonians to be mindful of those who watch over them in the Lord with the task of admonishing them (5:12). What are the possible ways in which these figures could have acquired this position/function of authority? Did Paul appoint leaders before leaving a community he had founded, as indicated in Acts 14:23? How should the Thessalonian figures be related to the overseers/bishops and deacons who were in place in Philippi at about the same time (Phil 1:1) and to those whom God would appoint in Corinth as prophets, teachers and administrators (1 Cor 12:28-30)?

   6. 1 Thessalonians is the earliest surviving Christian writing; Paul was surely not aware that he was composing a work that would have this distinction. Nevertheless, the status of this letter offers some interesting reflections. If it were the only Christian work to survive from the first century, what would it tell us about Paul's working style, his understanding of himself, his Christology, his conception of the church or Christian community? Given that most Christians claim to adhere to the apostolic faith, it is interesting to imagine being transported to the year 51 and entering the meeting hall in Thessalonica where this letter of the apostle Paul was first read. In the first ten verses, one would hear references to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, as well as to faith, love and hope. This is a remarkable testimony to how quickly the ideas that became the norm in Christianity were already in place.