2 Thesalonians

Summary (church, strengths and weaknesses, reference to Acts):

We read Luke’s account of Paul in Thessalonians in Acts 17:1-9. This church, before addressed by Paul is mostly gentile. Some false reports about the 2^nd coming had come to the Thessalonians and had been troubling them. Due to this situation and some other reasons some people had stopped working and were depending on others rather than providing for themselves (3:11-12).

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Main ideas, key words and repeated ideas:

The main theme of 2 Thessalonians is steadfastness in waiting for the coming of Christ. Paul encourages them under persecution, corrects their understanding about imminence of Gods return, and instructs them on what to do with those who won’t work. A key verse is in 2 Thes 2:15-17,”With all these things in mind…Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.”

·       Character and nature of God:

God’s justice is prominent in this epistle which would have been encouraging to the people being unfairly persecuted at the time. They needed to see that He would bring ultimate justice as seen in 1:5. God’s peace and grace can also be seen in 1:2 and 1:12.  There are several verses which clearly display God’s character in this letter. They Thessalonians would need to be holding onto the truth of who God is and so it is put out clearly as seen below:

1:7 –God is the provider

1:9 – He is the one who punishes and has all glorious power

2:16 – God is shown as loving, the ultimate comforter, hope and strength

3:3 – He is our strength and He is faithful

3:5 God patiently endures and is loving