The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians Online Commentary (9)

 The study of 1 Thessalonians offered here is in the form of a traditional commentary, although secondary scholarship is engaged more intermittently than would be the case in a commentary published in a regular print series. This is the eighth entry in the online commentary on 1 Thessalonians. In the first entry I began by looking at introductory matters, comprised of comments on the nature of a Greco-Roman letter and the background of Paul’s activity in Thessalonica, which we know primarily from Acts of the Apostles and partially from Paul’s letters. In the second entry, I gave a basic overview of the content found in the whole letter and then discussed the very short salutation. In the third entry, I discussed the Thanksgiving for the letter. In the fourth post, I started to discuss the Body of the Letter, particularly the parental affection Paul, Silvanus and Timothy have for the church in Thessalonica, which was continued in the fifth post in the series. The sixth entry in the online commentary examined the love Paul, Silvanus and Timothy have for the community, which is expressed to some degree as anxiety for the Thessalonian Christians they had to leave behind when they were forced to leave the city. In the seventh blog post, I examined Paul and his co-workers’ exhortations to the Thessalonians to behave ethically in sexual matters, though we have had no previous information that there have been sexual indiscretions in the community. In the eighth entry, I began to study Paul’s teaching for the Thessalonians regarding the coming of the Lord and how those who have died will still participate in the resurrection. In this, the ninth blog post, we will look at the second part of the teaching on the coming of the Lord, that is, when will it take place?  Please do follow the links above to see my definition of a Greco-Roman letter, how I have divided this letter in particular and to catch up on the previous entries in general.

4. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians:

c) Body of the Letter: Theological teaching: The Coming of the Lord part 2 (5:1-11): 

1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. (NRSV)

After teaching that the dead are not separated from new life in the kingdom of God at the resurrection, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy turn to a straightforward question: when will all this take place? It seems clear that the Thessalonians themselves have asked about this since they write to them “concerning the times and the seasons,” but also saying that “you do not need to have anything written to you” (5:1). This shows that the Thessalonians have had oral teaching on this matter, but the fact that Paul and the others go on to teach about the time of the end belies the claim that the Thessalonians “do not need to have anything written.” They have been taught, but they need more!

Again, the oral tradition is referenced in 5:2, when they write that “you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,” which points to the earlier teaching, since the adverb translated as “very well” (akribôs) could also be translated as “precisely” or “exactly.” Still the continuing teaching does indicate that this was a point of contention or confusion in the Thessalonian church. The image of the “thief in the night” is a common one in Christian teaching (Matt 24:43-44; Lk 12:39-40; 2 Peter 3:10) and the image evokes the unknown and sudden coming of the day of the Lord, which cannot be determined in advance.

Paul and his co-workers continue with this image and the mysterious nature of Jesus’ coming, for “when they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!” (5:3). The pregnancy motif with respect to the coming of the day of the Lord is used in other Jewish apocalyptic literature (see 4 Ezra 6:43f) and in Christian literature, such as the Gospel of John 6:21. In the passage in John, the labor creates pain, but this pain dissipates with the coming of new birth and the joy that life entails. It is a powerful picture, encompassing a sense of the sudden, impending birth of a new world - whose exact time no one knows though it is imminent - with the knowledge that the pain of birth will gave way to joy. While Paul, Silvanus and Timothy do not draw out the implications of the labor pains, it is not a stretch to see this whole picture nascent in the image of the pregnant woman.

The negative picture of the thief in the night, however, is modified by the fact that those who are prepared for the coming of the Lord, those who “are not in darkness,” will not be surprised by the thief (5:4). The Christians of Thessalonica are not in darkness for they “are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness” (5:5). This phrase, “children of the light,” also used in the Qumran, or Dead Sea Scroll, documents (see 1QS 1:9-10) indicates a category difference in those who expect and await the coming of the Lord. The preparation is not exactly calendrical – no one knows when the day will come – but moral. Proper preparation for the coming end is in some sense mundane and normal, for it is found in how one lives life day to day.

The military imagery, also associated with apocalyptic scenarios, has to do with alertness and attentiveness not with actual battle. This is only partially true, actually, for the spiritual battle is considered a genuine battle. Paul and his co-workers exhort the Thessalonians to be vigilant: “let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (5:6-8). Once again, the three theological virtues, faith, hope and love, appear as the basis of the Christian life, asthey did in chapter one. To prepare for the end of time simply means that one lives the Christian life.

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wrap up their teaching with encouragement for the church. They comfort them by stating that all of these questions about who will be saved and when they will be saved find their answer in God’s love, “for God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (5:9-11). As they wrote earlier in the letter, the Thessalonians are on track in building each other up and in encouraging each other. Preparing for the end means that one continues to live a life of daily virtue. The cosmic end has more to do with faith, hope and love than epic apocalyptic battles.

Next entry, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy begin to give practical exhortation to the church.

John W. Martens

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @Biblejunkies

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Thisentry is cross-posted at America Magazine The Good Word

Carol Newsom on Qumran

While I still have notes on the conference on Peter that I will continue posting, I would like to start sharing some notes from the International SBL, which was held at St. Andrews, Scotland.

The opening lecture was actually a set of five short lectures covering the status quaestionis on several topics.  It was entitled, 'What biblicists need to know about....,' and covered the topics of Qumran, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, Rabinnic Judaism, and New Testament Textual Criticism.

Here, I am going to focus on the first lecturer, Carol Newsom of Emory, who discussed Khirbet Qumran.  She began her brief lecture by reviewing five points of consensus from the early days of Qumran excavations and study following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Briefly,

1. The site of Qumran and the scrolls are related
2. Both the site and scrolls are related to the Essene sect
3. Occupation at the site began in the mid 2nd c. BCE, probably with the usurpation of the temple by one whom they viewed as an illegitimate priest (perhaps Jonathan or John Hyrcanus of the Hasmonean dynasty)
4. Pharisees are the enemy of the Essene sect
5. Qumran was the center of the Essene movement

The proximity of the site to the caves makes the relationship between the two apparent.  While some of the caves (follow link for a list of caves) are found north of the site, half a dozen are found in the immediate vicinity of Qumran.  The early excavators and scholars of the site, primarily Fr. Roland de Vaux of Ecole Biblique, very quickly saw this relationship and, based on readings of sectarian literature in the scrolls, identified the inhabitants as members of the Essene Jewish sectarian group.  It was asserted that the separatists encamped in the wilderness because of what they considered to be the illegitimate temple leadership in Jerusalem.  Perhaps, even, the usurpation was the displacement of their own teacher (the Teacher of Righteousness) by a member of the Hasmonean dynasty (perhaps Jonathan or John Hyrcanus).  From Josephus and the sectarian literature found in the caves, such as the Damascus Document and the Community Rule, one gets an understanding of the Essene sectarian group.  It is understood that they had very specific concerns regarding purity, Jewish law (halakhah) and the calendar regulating religious festivals and observance.  These concerns put them at odds with the Pharisees regarding differences in halakhah and calendar.  Due to these disputes with both the priests and the pharisees, the Essenes retreated to the wilderness and settled down in a communal life in Qumran.  

Prof. Newsom then turned to the more recent discussions regarding the site.  Much of her lecture was shaped by the work of UNC's Jodi Magness and Yale's John J. Collins.  In more recent discussions, some of the original five conclusions need revision, while others have been rejected.  

Cave 4. Photo by Isaac M. Alderman

1. The assertion that site and the scrolls are related remains unsuccessfully challenged.  The proximity of the majority of the caves to Qumran makes it very difficult to those who claim they are unrelated.  In fact, the cave with the greatest number of fragments found is cave 4 (pictured here), a man made cave which is accessible only by passing through the site.
2. The conclusion that the site and the scrolls are related to the Essenes is also still the consensus.  Some, however, prefer not to call them the Essenes, but the more generic term, the Qumran Community.  
3. The third point, that the community's objection was temple leadership, no longer enjoys consensus status. The major issues are now viewed more likely to be disputes about halakhah and the calender.  Also, primarily due to the work of Jodi Magness, the dates of occupation of the site has been down dated, which would steer them clear of some of the earlier disputes over temple leadership.  
4. It is still consensus that the primary opponents of the Essenes were the pharisees. In fact, this may be strengthened by the previous point, the added emphasis on halakhah and calendar.
5. Finally, Qumran is no longer seen as the center of Essene movement.  Rather, it is now believed that the movement was dispersed throughout the region and not concentrated in the wilderness.  

It was a very interesting lecture, due primarily to how succinct and pithy it was. While I was familiar with most of its content, it was so clearly expressed that I immediately realized that utilizing these five points is how I will be covering this topic in my classes this fall. 

Below is a slideshow of my own photos from Qumran. 

The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians Online Commentary (8)

The study of 1 Thessalonians offered here is in the form of a traditional commentary, although secondary scholarship is engaged more intermittently than would be the case in a commentary published in a regular print series. This is the eighth entry in the online commentary on 1 Thessalonians. In the first entry I began by looking at introductory matters, comprised of comments on the nature of a Greco-Roman letter and the background of Paul’s activity in Thessalonica, which we know primarily from Acts of the Apostles and partially from Paul’s letters. In the second entry, I gave a basic overview of the content found in the whole letter and then discussed the very short salutation. In the third entry, I discussed the Thanksgiving for the letter. In the fourth post, I started to discuss the Body of the Letter, particularly the parental affection Paul, Silvanus and Timothy have for the church in Thessalonica, which was continued in the fifth post in the series. The sixth entry in the online commentary examined the love Paul, Silvanus and Timothy have for the community, which is expressed to some degree as anxiety for the Thessalonian Christians they had to leave behind when they were forced to leave the city. In the seventh blog post, I examine Paul and his co-workers’ exhortations to the Thessalonians to behave ethically in sexual matters, though we have had no previous information that there have been sexual indiscretions in the community. Please do follow the links above to see my definition of a Greco-Roman letter, how I have divided this letter in particular and to catch up on the previous entries in general.

4. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians:

c) Body of the Letter: Theological teaching: The Coming of the Lord part 1 (4:13-18): 

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. (NRSV)

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy turn from teaching about sexual behavior to theological teaching regarding the resurrection. While this seems like the most basic of Christian teaching, resurrection would have been a particularly difficult concept for non-Jews to comprehend, as the Greco-Roman notion of life after death more readily posited a separation of body and soul in the afterlife. Add to this the fact that the Christian teachers had to leave town rapidly, under threat of persecution, and the confusion about the return of Jesus, the end of the current age and the resurrection itself makes sense.

The initial point that Paul and his co-workers make, a point that is lost in many English translations, is that those who have died physically with faith in Christ are not dead but asleep. The Greek participle used in 4:13, translated as “those who have died” is based on the verb koimoô, which translates literally as “those who have fallen asleep.” There are good Greek words for death and dying in Greek, so if Paul and his friends are using “sleep,” there is a reason for it: physical death is not the end of life.

Their exhortation that the Thessalonians “may not grieve as others do who have no hope,” indicates a strong possibility that some Thessalonians have already died since Paul and the others were there. Scholars have speculated that members of the church might have died in the persecution which chased Paul out of town. This is possible, though by no means certain, although there is good reason to think that some Thessalonians have died, even if the reasons are unrelated to the mob scene described in Acts 17. The issue, whatever the reasons for the deaths, is that grieving is unnecessary since there is a spiritual hope for life after death.

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy explain that this hope is based on Jesus’ resurrection: “for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died” (4:14). Jesus is said to have died, but the second verb, speaking of “those who have died,” is once again koimoô, “to sleep.” It is important to stress that Jesus’ conquering of death is the entire basis for saying these people have not died but are “asleep.”

 Verse 15 makes a central theological point about those who are "sleeping," for the issue might have been for the Thessalonians that they believed only those alive at the coming (parousia) of the Lord could share in the world to come. Paul and his co-workers write that “by the word of the Lord,” that is, with full authority of Jesus’ teaching, “that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died” {koimoô, “those who have fallen asleep”} (4:15). Whether alive or dead, Paul and the others stress, Christ’s return will include all of his faithful.

They then invoke a typical Jewish apocalyptic scenario for the coming of the Messiah and the judgment to follow (see Is 27:13; Joel 2:1; Zeph 1:14-16): “for the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven” (4:16). The trumpet blast proclaimed earthly battles and was imagined as the herald of the Judgment. The "ascending" into the air also plays on ancient notions of God's heavenly dwelling in the sky. In the early Christian understanding, as expressed by Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, “the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever” (4:16-17). The significant issue here, though, is not the ascension into the air or the battle with the forces of evil – a foregone conclusion and so not even discussed – but the Thessalonians’ concern about whether those who have died will share in God’s kingdom. In fact, Paul and his co-workers say, it is “the dead in Christ” who will rise first; in this case the term is not “those who are asleep,” but “the dead,” hoi nekroi. Note, however, that “the dead” are qualified by being “in Christ,” which is to indicate they are those who have been “sleeping.” Not only do those who have died in Christ have nothing to worry about regarding the afterlife, they will be taken before those who are alive at the time of Christ’s coming.

It was an early Christian hope that Christ’s return would happen soon, so perhaps Paul, Silvanus and Timothy see themselves among the living when Christ returns, but this hypothesis is not essential. The basic belief expressed here is simple: Jesus will return for those who have died and those who are alive at the time of his return. Whatever category of person you belong to, dead or alive, is not significant as long as you are a part of the faithful. These words are intended for a simple purpose, namely, to “encourage one another with these words” (4:18).

Next entry, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy continue to teach the Thessalonians about the return of Jesus, specifically, when will it occur?

John W. Martens

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @Biblejunkies

Feel free to“Like” Biblejunkies on Facebook.

This entry is cross-posted at America Magazine The Good Word

Sphinx found at Tel Hazor

UPDATE: ASOR blog has posted a photo gallery of Hazor.



Tel Hazor is a very significant archaeological site in Northern Israel.  Its excavators even believe it is the most significant site, although those at Tel Megiddo might disagree! There is no disagreement, however, that it is the largest, at around 200 acres.  The city of Hazor is very ancient (from the 3rd millenium to 732 BCE) and was, throughout much of its history, the most powerful city of the region, perhaps ten times larger than Jerusalem.  This all came to an end at the hands of the Assyrian Tiglath-Pilesser III.

Hazor has been in the news lately as the excavators,  Amnon-Ben Tor and Sharon Zuckerman of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have announced the discovery of a fragment of a monumental sphinx (NPR has an interview with Ben-Tor, good photos of the fragment and excavation can be found at NY Daily News). 

According to the excavators, the sphinx comes from the time of Pharaoh Mycerinus (or Menkaure), one of the great pyramid builders. Ben-Tor suggests that the statue likely came to the Galilee long after Mycerinus' time and was probably a gift to the king of Hazor during the time when Egypt controlled the region from the 15th to the 13th centuries BCE.  We know these types of gifts traveled back and forth; for example, we see in the Amarna letters announcements  of loyalty from the king of Hazor to the king of Egypt, we have Egyptian statuary at Tel Beit She'an, etc.  (Incidentally, this raises questions regarding the historical issues surrounding the Exodus.  Since it is absolutely clear that Egypt controlled Canaan during this time, how is it the Moses and his people were escaping from Egypt to enter a land controlled by Egypt?)

The discovery of the sphinx doesn't really change any views regarding the history of Hazor, but it does add more to our understanding of the relationship between Canaanite city states and Egypt, demonstrating that even monumental statues weighing up to half a ton were transported into the region.  

I have included a slide show of photos I took at Hazor in 2010.

The Vatican Bank and Early Christian Charity

A few days after the Peter in Earliest Christianity conference at the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at Edinburgh University finished, I still have more notes than time to share them with you. However, I do hope to write a few more posts before turning my attention to the International SBL conference. 

On the Last day of the conference, patristics Professor Sara Parvis (Edinburgh) delivered a very fun and informative paper on banking among early Christians.  Easily the most original and creative presentation of the conference, Prof. Parvis shared several parallels between the contemporary Vatican Bank, which is called the Institute for the Works of Religion, and the ancient role of the bishop as the one to collect, maintain, and disperse funds to those in need.  In light of Pope Francis' attempts to clean up the Vatican bank, she even spoke of the first attempt to do so, the return of Marcion's donation of 200,000 sesterces.  

Much of Prof. Parvis' lecture was drawn from Irenaeus.  One such quote from Against Heresies (3.4.1), 

Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life.

Despite the mixed metaphor, the parallel is clear.  Like a bank, the apostles deposit their treasure, which is later dispensed by the apostles' successors.  The metaphor works particularly well considering the role of the bishops as the treasurer and dispenser of the common funds.

While Irenaeus lists only one bishop of Rome at a time, he lists dozens of presbyters.  Parvis suggests that the presbyters were running the individual churches of Rome while the early strong centralized bishop was primarily dedicated to administering the funds.  This collective administration of funds was a uniting factor among the disparate churches.  From St. Dionysius of Corinth's letter to the Romans, we get further support regarding the bishop's role as the distributor of funds, as the Church of Rome assisted those suffering elsewhere. 

For this has been your custom from the beginning, to do good to all the brethren in various ways, and to send resources to many churches which are in every city, thus refreshing the poverty of the needy, and granting subsidies to the brethren who are in the mines. Through the resources which you have sent from the beginning, you Romans, keep up the custom of the Romans handed down by the fathers, which your blessed Bishop Sorer has not only preserved, but added to, sending a splendid gift to the saints, and exhorting with blessed words those brethren who go up to Rome, as an affectionate father his children.

Recognizing that it is a bit anachronistic, Parvis suggests that Ireneaus' list might be a list of the first heads of the Vatican Bank. 

More on Day 1; Peter in Earliest Christianity

While International SBL has already begun, I still have more notes to share on the conference Peter in Earliest Christianity, held by the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at Edinburgh University.

There were several very good papers on the first day of the conference (I already wrote a brief note about a paper given by Larry Hurtado), but the one I found most interesting was given by Prof. Margaret Williams (Edinburgh). Her paper, entitled "The Nomenclature of Peter - A Brief Enquiry," examined the three names of the Apostle: Simon, Peter, and bar Jonah.

Simon. Noting that Shimon was by far the most common male name among Jews at the time, owing to the popularity of Shimon Maccabee, we can assume that Simon's family was patriotic.  Additionally, if we add the others of the Maccabean family (Judas, John and perhaps Joseph), the names associated with the Hasmonean dynasty might make up 40% of all male names.  You can imagine then, how many 'Judas son of John son of Judas' or 'John son of Judas son of Simon' there were. The assumption that Simon was the name given to Simon Peter by his parents, according to Williams, is a near certainty.


Bar Jonah.  Simon's patronymic name is either 'bar Jonah' (Matt 16:17) or 'bar John' (John 1:42; 21:15).  While John is much more common, given the affinity for Hasmonean names, Prof. Williams argues that bar Jonah is more likely.  In the Galilee, still quite distinct from the south, the emphasis on Hasmonean names was less and the name Jonah was used a little more often.  Add to that the likelihood that the name would change over time from Jonah to John rather than the reverse, and one can assume that the earlier reading is the correct one.  It is important to note that with a more unusual name patronymic name, it is likely that there was not another with the name Simon bar Jonah in the fishing village of Bethsaida, and so he may not have required a nickname to distinguish himself.


Peter.  Peter (also Kepha and Cephas), of course, means 'rock.' Williams, with several points of justification, is quite confident that this supernomen was actually assigned to Simon by Jesus (note that this is not the same as believing that Jesus assigned any sort of papal commission to Simon).  It was very common for Jews at the time to adopt Aramaic nicknames, given the confusion due to so few Jewish names.  These Aramaic names could easily be translated or transliterated into Greco-Roman names in the concern of integration.  Life changes often brought about a supernomen; joining a regiment, a household or religious conversion could bring about such a change.  One reason that we can be confident that Peter's name was given to him is because the three closest to Jesus have experienced this transition.  Along with Peter, James and John were designated boanerges, sons of thunder.  Finally, it is important to note that 'rock' is attested to as a nickname in Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Latin, so it is not a problem to imagine this as a likely nickname.

It was a very interesting overview of the onomastic issues surrounding Peter.  While it seems at first to simply confirm much of what we find in the Gospel account (aside from the confusion regarding 'bar Jonah' or 'bar John'), Dr. Williams provided an excellent overview of the context and the issues and practices of names, patronyms and supernomens.  

The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians Online Commentary (7)

The study of 1 Thessalonians offered here is in the form of a traditional commentary, although secondary scholarship is engaged more intermittently than would be the case in a commentary published in a regular print series. This is the seventh entry in the online commentary on 1 Thessalonians. In the first entry I began by looking at introductory matters, comprised of comments on the nature of a Greco-Roman letter and the background of Paul’s activity in Thessalonica, which we know primarily from Acts of the Apostles and partially from Paul’s letters. In the second entry, I gave a basic overview of the content found in the whole letter and then discussed the very short salutation. In the third entry, I discussed the Thanksgiving for the letter. In the fourth post, I started to discuss the Body of the Letter, particularly the parental affection Paul, Silvanus and Timothy have for the church in Thessalonica, which was continued in the fifth post in the series. The sixth entry in the online commentary examined the love Paul, Silvanus and Timothy have for the community, which is expressed to some degree as anxiety for the Thessalonian Christians they had to leave behind when they were forced to leave the city. In this, the seventh blog post, Paul and his co-workers exhort the Thessalonians to behave ethically in sexual matters, though we have had no previous information that there have been sexual indiscretions in the community. Please do follow the links above to see my definition of a Greco-Roman letter, how I have divided this letter in particular and to catch up on the previous entries in general.

4. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians:

c) Body of the Letter: Ethical Exhortation: “Control Your Own Body” (4:1-12): 

1 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; 4 that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. 9 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, 11 to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, 12 so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.  (NRSV)

As I mentioned in the last entry, some scholars see Paul, Silvanus and Timothy transitioning to the end of the letter in chapter three and that is a possibility. Perhaps the better way to put it would be that such a transition “was” a possibility, as I do not see this letter being composite in any way. Instead, it gives us a clue to the fact that Paul wrote actual letters, responding to information as it came in and as he and his companions felt it was necessary to reply to new situations. The fact that chapter four begins with “finally” (loipon) might mean that this was a new idea which had come to the authors or also, since loipon can mean “from now on,” “beyond that,” or “as for the rest,” that Paul and friends were simply moving on to the final topics. Since it is likely that letters were not written in one setting, there might have regularly been shifts in topics or themes. Whatever the case, the integrity of the letter seems beyond question.

As to why the discussion turns to sexuality, that is a more difficult question to answer on a specific level. Paul and his co-workers gave no sense in the first three chapters that anything was amiss in Thessalonica with respect to sexual behavior. In fact, this section of chapter four indicates that the behavior of the Thessalonians is rather exemplary, as they write “you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more” (4:1). Here, then, they are not only encouraged to act morally, but acknowledged for acting morally. There is not necessarily a problem in the Thessalonian church with sexual behavior, but the stress is intended, as I mentioned at the end of entry 6, so that they might increase holiness. This is why “you should do so more and more” is important: Holiness is a matter of habit.

 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy mention the oral tradition – “for you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus” (4:2) – and it is certain that they spoke to the Thessalonians in general about sexual behavior when they were with them. A major difference between Jews and Christians on the one hand and other Greco-Roman religions on the other was sexual morality. Most “pagan” religions accepted a double standard for men, allowing sexual behavior prior to marriage and outside of marriage, with men or women. The regulations were highly socially constructed. Adultery (moicheia) was forbidden and it is a broader category than just sex with a married woman, for it also included the unmarried women under the potestas or power of a male, not just his wife. The similar Latin term was stuprum and this included women and also boys. The issue was not who men had sex with, male or female, but to whom those people belonged. It was fine, for instance to have sexual relations with one’s male or female slaves, with prostitutes (who were often slaves), or with those who had the ability to freely make their own choices in these matters. As a result, sexual behavior was more acceptable outside of marriage for those who were not Christians (or Jews). This is not to say that pagans were all engaged in numerous sexual relationships, or that Christians were all free of them, only that the social standards were defined differently for different groups. Certainly, the Jews and Christians of antiquity were highly critical of Greco-Roman sexual behavior in general.

It is this general attitude, or suspicion, which probably informs this teaching in 1 Thessalonians. The Thessalonians are encouraged to avoid porneia, a notoriously difficult word to translate, broader than moicheia, but dependent upon what a culture or religion sees as “pornographic” or forbidden.[1] For the early Christians, as for the Jews, this would include all sex outside of marriage. So Paul, Silvanus and Timothy state that

this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication (porneia); that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. (4:3-7)

We learn again in 4:6 that they had already instructed the Thessalonians in this matter and were stressing it again to promote their holiness (4:3: hagiasmos; 4:4: en hagiasmô; 4:7: en hagiasmô) and to discourage them from “lustful passion” (4:5: a good translation of epithymias) which “the Gentiles (ethnê) who do not know God” indulge in. It is not so much that they are aware that the Thessalonians Christians have engaged in such behavior, they are worried or suspect that they might do so. Whether this is fair to the Thessalonian church specifically is impossible to know since we were not there when Paul, Silvanus and Timothy arrived, but this attitude would mark Christian criticism of sexual practices outside the Church.

There is an important matter of translation in this passage, too, which must be discussed. The NAB translates 4:4 as “that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor,” while the NRSV, which I am using, translates the verse as “that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor.” The verse is fairly straightforward except for the use of the word skeuos, which generally means something like “vessel” or “utensil.” How does it become “wife” or “body”? The “wife” translation emerges from 1 Peter 3:7, where women are called the “weaker sex” and “sex” is a translation of skeuos. Translators, wondering how to make sense of skeuos in 1 Thessalonians have thought that perhaps Paul intended “vessel” to mean a wife. It is possible, but I opt for the meaning of “body,” which is more like an idiom for genitalia. Skeuos does have the metaphorical sense of an implement or utensil used for bad purposes. This is the sense I think is more likely and I believe Paul and the others are telling the Thessalonians, perhaps using slang, to keep “control of your own  skeuos.”

Behind all of this exhortation is the pressing goal of holiness (4:3,4,7), which is contrasted with “impurity” (akatharsia). Paul, Silvanus and Timothy remind them that this directive is not from “human beings” but from “God,” which means that rejecting it is not a matter of personal preference, but a necessity for their holiness (4:8).

That this is an exhortation to “keep on keeping on,” as it were, and not a response to unbridled sexuality in the community is certified by the final verses of this passage. The Thessalonians are  congratulated for their “love of the brothers and sisters” and told “you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia” (4:9-10). Once again, the issue is to grow in holiness. And when we reflect that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy consider the Thessalonians their spiritual children, it makes sense, as we saw in the fourth post and in the fifth post, that their focus is on continual spiritual growth. Parents, including spiritual parents, want their children to continue on the proper path and to grow in the faith to maturity. So the issue is not that they have gone astray, but they have been developing properly and that they want them "to do so more and more” (4:10). The final advice is general advice to “aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one” (4:11-12). We will consider this advice more fully when we examine chapter five, for it fits with some other instructions given there.

Next entry, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy teach the Thessalonians about the return of Jesus.

John W. Martens

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Thisentry is cross-posted at America Magazine The Good Word

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[1] Please see the excellent new book by Kyle Harper on these issues: From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity (Revealing Antiquity).