Perhaps more than any other believing community that Paul served, the believers at Thessalonica misunderstood what would occur at Jesus’ second coming. Consider for a moment that, when the Lord would return, he would have done so to be admired in the saints (2Thessalonians 1:10). If this is so, why would believers be troubled over the idea that day was near (2Thessalonians 2:2)?[1] Most modern translations have Paul writing the Thessalonians thought the day had already arrived. In other words, some were arguing that Jesus had already come and the Day of the Lord had begun. With this as the argument, it is understandable why the believers at Thessalonica would be troubled and why Paul would be concerned over their state.
Remember, when Paul was at Thessalonica, one of the charges submitted against him by the lewd fellows of the baser sort (Acts 17:5) was that “they who have turned the world upside down… and who are saying that there is another king, one Jesus, are come hither also…” (Acts 17:6-7). It was common knowledge at this time that Claudius Caesar had expelled the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2) due to Jewish debates over one, Chrestus[2] (Christ) that spilled over from the synagogues into the streets of Rome, causing unwanted civil concern. No doubt this event was in mind with the mention of “they who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” Moreover, at the same time in Jerusalem a number of messianic hopefuls had arisen, which the presiding Roman procurators had to put down. Jesus, himself, had predicted there would be a time of many false claims to the messianic office, vying for a following in order to shake off the Roman yoke (cp. Matthew 24:24). Therefore, considering the fact that the Thessalonian church was a young church, and one which Paul had hoped he could have taught longer, it is easy to understand how confusion over the coming of Christ might occur, especially if such confusion was orchestrated by an enemy, who knew how to manipulate the innocent, who were ignorant at least to some degree.
It seems that false doctrine and manipulation might have taken one or more of three different forms according to Paul’s epistle (2Thessalonians 2:2). First of all, false doctrines may have come through the spirit of prophecy. That is, someone, claiming to be led by the Spirit of God could begin to lead other folks astray (cp. 1Timothy 4:1), but Paul tells us elsewhere that, while there are folks able to speak by the spirit, those spirits need to be properly discerned by others (1Corinthians 12:10), so the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, not the other way around. Secondly, false doctrine might come in the form of a false teacher (2Peter 2:1) or someone fluent in the Scriptures, but, once more, discernment is needed. Finally, a false doctrine may come in the form of a forged letter supposed to have come from Paul or another Apostle. Nevertheless, Paul had a unique way of signing his epistles (cp. 2Thessalonians 3:17), so forgery would have been difficult, coming from an enemy who had never seen Paul’s signature. Moreover, the apparent ignorance of the Thessalonians of Paul’s signature might be an indication that what is termed Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians was actually his first.[3]
We are only able to speculate what might have prompted the Thessalonian believers’ confusion over the Lord’s coming. However, if the accusations against Paul, while he was yet at Thessalonica (cp. Acts 17:7), are any indication of what confronted them, then perhaps their confusion stemmed from reports of one or more of the messianic uprisings in Judea that were occurring about this time. If Christ had already come (2Thessalonians 2:2), why haven’t the believers’ persecutors been punished? What happened to believers who had died recently, but after the so-called arrival of the messianic figure in Judea (1Thessalonians 4:13-18)? How Jesus’ second coming would play out was, apparently, clouded, probably by certain Jewish myths that concerned the time of the resurrection. Such myths may also have been behind the confusion over the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:22-23), if, as I have noted in earlier studies about the identity of the fourth Gospel writer, John is really Lazarus who had been resurrected by Jesus (John 11:43-44). If this is what occurred, then it is perfectly understandable why believers should question the deaths of certain disciples that occurred after the arrival of the presumed Messiah in Judea. Therefore, if false brethren were able to get even a small part of the believing community to think Jesus had already arrived in Judea, great confusion could have occurred over Paul’s claims versus the arrival of the assumed messianic figure in Judea.
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[1] This idea is expressed in the Diaglott; Douay Rheims; Geneva; Hebraic Roots; Jubilee; KJV; Lamsa; Murdock; Vulgate; Webster translations. Most of the modern translations have it that that day is: present, already come, or is here.
[2] See Suetonius, Life of Claudius, 25. See also my earlier study in Acts: Claudius Expels the Jews from Rome.
[3] Paul’s epistles are arranged according to size, not chronology. Galatians was probably Paul’s first epistle, followed by first and second Thessalonians, with 2Thessalonians coming before 1Thessalonians in my opinion.
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