An Early Document – 1 Thessalonians
1 Thessalonians may be the first document chronologically in the entire New Testament. It was probably written in the year 50 by Paul and is considered an authentic letter of Paul. According to the record in the book of Acts, Paul’s mission to Europe began with a vision of a man in Macedonia urging Paul to come and help him (Acts 16.9), afterwhich Paul went to Philippi, and then stopped in Thessalonica. According to the record in Acts, Paul went to the local synagogue and taught some Jews and Greeks that loved the Jewish scriptures, and then after a period of time some riots broke out because of Paul’s teaching and so he left and went south to Athens and Corinth (Acts 17.1-15).
From Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians we learn that while he was in Athens Paul sent his companion Timothy back to Thessalonica (a journey of about 300 miles) to see how the Christians there were doing (1 Thessalonians 2.17-3.6). It probably took Timothy about 3 weeks to get to Thessalonica if he went by foot, and so after a long journey Timothy returned to Paul in Athens or in Corinth with his report. Paul’s letter to the saints in 1 Thessalonians is his response based on Timothy’s report.
The letter is full of love and affection, with Paul referring to the saints as family, calling them his brothers and sisters. Though in the Greek it says only “brothers” the text meant “all of you as siblings in the family of Jesus”… the message was one of love for his family in Christ.
Second Coming Theology
1 Thessalonians records Paul’s thoughts that Jesus was coming soon. Paul says:
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18)
This text deals with the second coming of Jesus Christ, something Paul basically tells the saints in Thessalonica is going to happen soon. It is clear that in this text in its historical context that Paul meant that these people would be around when Jesus came back in this triumphant second coming. In another letter written to the saints in Corinth Paul even goes so far as to tell the saints not to bother getting married because Jesus is coming soon! (1 Corinthians 7.29) 1
According to the bulk of Christian scholars studying the text of 1 Thessalonians, the consensus is that Paul believes that the Second Coming of Jesus would be imminent, and that knowing this would be a comfort to them. They would see Jesus when he comes again, and those that died prior to his coming would meet them at that day (1 Thessalonians 4.17). 2
Why It Matters
Early Christians believed Jesus would come again – and in this text, it seems they believed it would happen in their lifetimes. Knowing that their expectations were not correct should give modern Christians pause. How do we read texts? How do we see prophecy? A patriarchal blessing that promises numerous children and long life may be interpreted many ways. Could the promise be that in the next life some of these promises would be fulfilled? Knowing and understanding how prophecy works can be useful here.
We see this in many other Old Testament prophecies, such as the promises made to Abraham. The promises made to Abraham are fulfilled in the lives of his descendants, but were not necessarily fulfilled in his lifetime. One such example is the land promise made to him (Genesis 17.8). He was promised that he would possess all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession! Abraham didn’t even have land to bury his wife when she died and had to negotiate for a piece of land in Hebron to bury her (Genesis 23). Yet Abraham pressed on in faith, knowing that the promises were sure and God would keep his word, even if he (or we) don’t totally see the entire picture.
Notes
- This is more complicated than at first glance. The text may be saying something else entirely. It may be referring to an impending crisis rather than the second coming. The word for “time” that Paul is using in 1 Corinthians 7 is not χρόνος (chronos), a word describing time in terms of specific hours and minutes, but rather καιρός (kairos), a word denoting a critical period of time where much is at stake. For more discussion on Paul’s use of Kairos, see Richard Draper and Michael Rhodes, Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, BYU Studies, 2017, p. 388-389. It is also important to note that the Joseph Smith Translation of 1 Corinthians 7 changes the entire argument in the text. Essentially Paul is reworked in this text, giving advice to those “sent forth unto the ministry” or missionaries laboring in the field. These individuals are in a totally different set of circumstances from the everyday Christian believer.
- Marcus Borg writes, “Paul expected the second coming soon, and it didn’t happen… The fact that Paul was wrong about the nearness of the second coming does not invalidate his thought as a whole. Nevertheless, the conclusion of most modern mainstream scholars is that Paul and many early Christians thought Jesus would return soon to complete what he had begun. Marcus Borg, Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written, Harper One, 2012, , p. 39.