A AUTHOR Paul identi ed himself by name in 1:1 and 3:17 The vocabulary, style, doctrine, and atmosphere all indicate that this epistle is as Pauline as the first letter B ORIGINATION AND DATE Both of the Thessalonian epistles were written from Corinth, during Paul’s eighteen-month stay there, on his second missionary journey The second letter followed the rst by no more than a few months, or around A.D 52 This was before the are-up at Corinth, recorded in Acts 18:5-17 C IMMEDIATE OCCASION AND PURPOSES Whoever delivered Paul’s rst letter probably remained at Thessalonica long enough to view the conditions at the church and to bring back a report to Paul The good parts of the report are the subjects of Paul’s commendations in Thessalonians A negative report was that the Christians were believing the false word that the “day of the Lord” had already come, and therefore the end of all things was upon them This even caused some of the believers to give up their daily occupations and professions, in anticipation of the shout and trump of heaven heralding the Lord’s return Those were some of the things that Paul wanted to write about in a second, brief letter So the purposes of the letter were (1) commendation and (2) doctrinal and practical correction D THE TWO EPISTLES COMPARED Some of the main di erences of the two epistles are shown on Chart 93 These will become apparent as you survey Thessalonians CHART 93: FIRST AND SECOND THESSALONIANS COMPARED It will be seen from these comparisons that the two epistles di er mainly over which phase of the Lord’s return is in view In Thessalonians, the rst phase (rapture) is the main subject In Thessalonians, attention is focused on the second phase (revelation) In order to see if the above distinctions are justi ed it would be necessary for you to analyze carefully the text of the Thessalonian letters Such analysis is beyond the scope of these survey studies As a background for examining whether the two epistles are emphasizing ... the Christians were believing the false word that the “day of the Lord” had already come, and therefore the end of all things was upon them This even caused some of the believers to give up their... for you to analyze carefully the text of the Thessalonian letters Such analysis is beyond the scope of these survey studies As a background for examining whether the two epistles are emphasizing... remained at Thessalonica long enough to view the conditions at the church and to bring back a report to Paul The good parts of the report are the subjects of Paul’s commendations in Thessalonians