How does eschatology function in 2 Thessalonians?

By appropriating and extending imagery from the same genres as 1 Thessalonians, the eschatology of 2 Thessalonians both corrects and consoles its audience, in order to engage with the developing Thessalonian situation. By comparing 2 Thess. 1.5-2.12 to 1 Thess. 4.13-5.11 this next series of columns will explore three areas of interest to better understand the function of eschatology in 2 Thessalonians. First, we will outline the developed situation in the Thessalonian community. Secondly, we will use intertextual analysis to examine how the eschatology of 2 Thessalonians employs imagery from similar genres of literature as 1 Thessalonians. Finally, using evidence from rhetorical and discourse analysis, we will explore how the eschatological imagery functions to engage with the emerging situation.

Historically, scholars have struggled with the eschatology of 2 Thessalonians, noticing a significant change from 1 Thessalonians in its tone and style, and in the content of the writer’s eschatological vision. In summary, the two main contentions are:

1. The eschatology of 1 Thessalonians focuses on the unity that believers will have with the Lord, whilst the eschatology of 2 Thessalonians is preoccupied with the judgement of non-believers.
2. 1 Thessalonians suggests that the arrival of the Parousia will be sudden and imminent, whilst 2 Thessalonians introduces a schedule of warning signs.

Some scholars, such as Willi Marxsen, find the differences in the letters’ eschatologies too great to reconcile and therefore argue that the letters are written to ‘entirely different congregational situations’[1] or to different Thessalonian churches. Others such as Gerhard Friedrich, Victor Furnish, John A. Bailey and Beverly Gaventa, who see the eschatologies as intrinsically incompatible, use them as arguments against Pauline authorship. T. D. Still and A. J. Malherbe agree that 2 Thessalonians would be relevant or convincing to a different congregation, years after Paul’s death.[2] Other scholars, such as Robert Jewett or Gordon Fee, argue in favour of Pauline authorship, interpreting the eschatological passages of 2 Thessalonians as expansions or condensations of those of 1 Thessalonians.[3] Others see the eschatological passages as interpolations of pre-Pauline material.[4] Finally, another group of scholars, including R. Scott and Karl P. Donfried, argue for the participation of Timothy and Silvanus as possible reasons for the variations in style. The eschatology of 2 Thessalonians has traditionally been the battleground in the debates over the letters’ authorship.

The general consensus amongst scholars is that 1 Thessalonians was produced either in the late fifth or early sixth decade of the first century CE, based on the chronology of Acts 17.1-14 and references to Timothy at Thessalonica in 1 Thess. 3.1-2.[5] The dating of 2 Thessalonians is varied amongst scholars and dependant on views as to its authorship. Those who believe that 2 Thessalonians is Pauline view its production as following shortly, even months after 1 Thessalonians.[6] Those who conclude it is a pseudonymous letter argue for later dates, mainly in the last two decades of the first century CE, due to the renewed interest in apocalyptic writings.[7]

A major occasion of 2 Thessalonians is persecution. In 1 Thessalonians the recently converted Christians are encountering hostility from their countrymen (1 Thess 1.14, 2.3) but in 2 Thessalonians they are suffering ‘afflictions’ from people who are ‘not acknowledging God’ (1.8, 2 Thess 1.4, 5, 6). Donfried remarks that the progression from qli/yij (affliction) to diwgmo,j (persecution) ‘reveals a continuance and intensification of the persecution attested to in 1 Thessalonians.’[8]

As well as persecutions, the intended audience of 2 Thessalonians is also suffering from false teachings. Whereas in 1 Thessalonians the community seems anxious about the security of those who have died before the day of the Lord, in 2 Thessalonians it is troubled by ‘a slogan bandied about urging that the day of the Lord had already arrived.’[9] Whereas the community in 1 Thessalonians is suffering from incomplete teaching, [10] the community in 2 Thessalonians is suffering from misunderstood teaching. In facing this false teaching the author seems unsure of its origins (2.2).[11] Some scholars have theorised that the teaching has grown out of Gnostic trends in the Thessalonian assembly, similar to the situation in 1 Cor. 15.12-28.[12] Others hold that it is the result of a local messianic pretender or false prophet.[13] The simplest explanation seems to be a genuine misunderstanding of the eschatology of 1 Thessalonians as evidenced by the writer’s repetition of ‘the day of the Lord’ from 1 Thess. 5.2 (2 Thess. 2.2) and his playing on day and night themes (2 Thess. 2.3-8).[14] Furthermore, in discussion with C.L. Mearns, J. Plevnik utilises a study of ‘translation-accounts’ within apocalyptic literature to demonstrate the likelihood of a misunderstanding of Paul’s teaching rather than of a lack of teaching altogether.[15]

There is also the issue of ethics. The first letter suggests that there is sexual immorality amongst community members and possibly drunkenness (1 Thess. 4.3, 5.7). In the second letter, the false teaching that the day of the Lord has come has led to some members becoming ‘unruly’ (2 Thess 3.6, 11).