2 Thessalonians 1:1-Identification of Authors and Recipients of the Letter
Second Thessalonians Chapter One • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:20:37
0 ratings
· 290 views2 Thessalonians 1:1-Identification of Authors and Recipients of the Letter
Files
Notes
Transcript
2 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV)
2 Thessalonians 1:1 From Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the congregation composed of the Thessalonians in union and fellowship with God our Father as well as the Lord Jesus Christ. (My translation)
Second Thessalonians begins almost exactly as First Thessalonians with the exception of the inclusion of the personal pronoun hēmōn (ἡμῶν) after patri (πατρὶ).
As was the case in First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians identifies the authors of this epistle and its recipients in the very first verse.
Also, just as First Thessalonians 1:1-2 contain a description of the recipients of this epistle and a greeting from the author so does Second Thessalonians 1:1-2.
Lastly, as was the case in First Thessalonians, the recipients of Second Thessalonians are identified as a congregation composed of individuals who lived in the largest city of the Roman province of Asia in the first century A.D., namely Thessalonica.
Like First Thessalonians, they are described here in Second Thessalonians as being in union and fellowship with God the Father as well as the Lord Jesus Christ.
As was the case in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, here in 2 Thessalonians 1:1 we have Silvanus and Timothy identified here with Paul as the authors of these two epistles.
Thus, many expositors and scholars have surmised that Silvanus and Timothy took part in the writing of these two epistles and were thus co-senders.
However, others dissent asserting that Paul is the sole author of these two epistles and that the plurals in this epistle should be interpreted as being used “literarily” rather than “literally.”
This raises two questions: (1) What role, if any, did Silvanus and Timothy play in the writing of this letter? (2) If Paul is the true author of the letter, why did he present Silvanus and Timothy as cosenders?
I believe that Silvanus and Timothy are not co-senders and that Paul is the true author of this epistle.
This is indicated by the fact that in 2 Thessalonians 3:17, Paul and not Silvanus and Timothy says that he writes a greeting with his own hand in order to authenticate that this letter originates from him and not someone posing as him.
Therefore, this would strongly suggest that the first-person plurals in the letter ought to be taken not literally but literarily and this is also called an “editorial we” or a “epistolary plural.”
Thus, it would not be an “exclusive we” which would include Paul with his associates as distinct from the audience.
Lastly, in 2 Thessalonians 3:17, Paul mentions his “signature” which serves to authenticate that he is the author and was used to protect the Thessalonians from those who sought to forge his name.
This leads us to the second question; namely why did Paul include Silvanus and Timothy as cosenders even though he is the real author of the epistle?
I believe that these two men are included by Paul in the greeting as cosenders because they played a significant role in ministering to the Thessalonian Christian community.
Acts 17:1-9 reveals that Silvanus played a key role in establishing this community with Paul and Timothy is identified as a cosender because 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 reveals that he was instrumental in strengthening the Thessalonian Christian community.
This verse also reveals that Timothy was sent by Paul and Silvanus to ascertain as to whether or not the Thessalonians were remaining faithful to the gospel.
Thus, because of this, Timothy after delivering 1 Thessalonians came back with a report regarding the Thessalonians and some of their problems they were having which are revealed in the contents of Second Thessalonians.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:1, the personal name Paulos, “Paul” is used by the author when writing to the Thessalonian Christian community rather than his Jewish name Saul since this community was predominately Gentile and Paulos was his name he used among the Gentiles.
The Lord Jesus Christ authorized him to be the apostle to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 11:13; 15:16; Galatians 1:15-16; 2:2, 7-9).
Silas or Silvanus appears to have been an early convert since he appears in Acts 15:22 among the early converts at the council of Jerusalem which was convened in ad 49.
He evidently was already a leader since he was said to have “risked his life” for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 15:22, 26) and he is called a prophet (Acts 15:32) and a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37).
On his second missionary journey Paul met Timothy at Lystra (Acts 16:1-5).
Timothy, who may have been converted as the result of Paul’s first visit to Lystra, was highly regarded by the body of Christ at Lystra and Iconium.
His Jewish mother had become a believer with his grandmother (2 Tm. 1:5) but yet his father is described as a Greek (Acts 16:1) and thus would have belonged to the small elite class of Lystra who had been educated in the Greek language and culture.
Paul links Timothy’s name with his own in saluting the churches in: (1) Corinth (2 Cor. 1:1). (2) Philippi (Phlp. 1:1). (3) Colossae (Col. 1:1). (4) Thessalonica (1 Th. 1:1; 2 Th. 1:1).
The term ekklēsia, “congregation” in 2 Thessalonians 1:1 describes the Thessalonian Christian community as a totally unique group of believers who were declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.
Consequently, they were identified with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand.
The term speaks of those individuals who had entered into an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Trinity through faith in Jesus Christ.
The recipients of First and Second Thessalonians were new converts to Christianity who lived in the city of Thessalonica (cf. 1 Thess. 1:1).
Acts 17:1-10 records Paul establishing the church in this city and reveals that Paul taught in the Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica.
Consequently, “some of the Jews” and a “large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women” were converted.
This passage teaches that eventually Paul and Silas had to leave Thessalonica because the Jews were jealous and incited the populace to turn against them.
This text would indicate that the church in Thessalonica was primarily Jewish, however, this passage does not tell the entire story.
Undoubtedly, as the text says, the Jews were jealous of this response by their fellow Jews to Paul’s gospel, however, 1 Thessalonians 2:14 would indicate that they were also jealous of the Gentiles in this city trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
This verse records Paul telling the Thessalonians that they became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.
Then, he says that they suffered the same things from their own countrymen as the saved Jews in Judea did from their own countrymen!
Notice the distinction Paul makes between the Thessalonians suffering persecution at the hands of their own countrymen and the Jewish believers suffering at the hands of their fellow Jewish countrymen and this makes clear that the Thessalonians were primarily Gentile.
Thus, the Jews in Thessalonica would have also been jealous of the Gentiles in this city responding favorably to Paul’s gospel.
Indeed, Paul teaches in Romans 11:13-14 that he magnifies his ministry to the Gentiles in order to make his fellow Jewish countrymen jealous and thus save some of them.
Another clear indication that Thessalonian Christian community was in fact primarily Gentile rather than Jewish is Paul’s statement in 1 Thessalonians 1:9, which records Paul asserting that the Thessalonians turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
The Jewish people were no longer practicing idolatry upon their return from Babylon in the fifth century B.C. and the gospels make clear that the practice of idolatry was no longer found among the Jewish people.
However, the pagan Gentiles living in the first century A.D. were totally and completely immersed in the practice of idolatry.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:1, the apostle Paul describes the Thessalonian Christian community as en theō patri kai kyriō Iēsou Christō (ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ), “in union and fellowship with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
This prepositional phrase is describing the Thessalonian Christian community as experiencing their sanctification and thus experiencing their position in Christ, which constitutes experiencing fellowship with God.
They were in union with the Father because they were in union with Jesus Christ.
They were able to experience fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ and specifically through their union and identification with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.