HPT-03 Paul and the Thessalonians

Recently I heard about a father who attended his son’s university graduation. After the ceremony, he proudly approached his son and asked, “So what are you going to do with the rest of your life?” The graduate smiled broadly and said, “Well, Dad, I’ve given my future a lot of thought, and I think I’m just going to head straight for retirement.” Now most of us can sympathize with that young graduate. But nearly everyone realizes that, for many years, almost all of us have to fulfill many responsibilities before we can retire.

As strange as it may sound, that young man’s attitude came very close to the attitudes of some Christians living in the city of Thessalonica in the first century. They became so preoccupied with wanting to experience the glory at Christ’s second coming that they failed to realize the many responsibilities God had called them to fulfill before that glorious day.

This third lesson of our series on The Heart of Paul’s Theology is entitled, “Paul and the Thessalonians.” In this lesson, we’ll see how some first-century Christians in the city of Thessalonica faced serious problems because they thought that Christ’s return was extremely close at hand. We’ll also look at how Paul responded to this misguided belief.

As we learned in our earlier lessons, all faithful Jews in Paul’s day believed that when the Messiah came, he would fulfill all of God’s purposes for his creation. Now, on the basis of Christ’s teaching, Paul taught that Christ had inaugurated the last days in his first advent. He also taught that the last days in Christ would continue throughout the history of the church. And he explained that Christ would complete the transformation of creation at the consummation in his second advent. For the most part, early Christians understood that Christ’s kingdom would unfold in this way, but many were still confused. How much had Christ already accomplished? How soon would he return?

We saw in a previous lesson that the churches of Galatia were tempted to force Gentile Christians to be circumcised because they underestimated how much Christ had already transformed the world. But in this lesson, we’ll see a different problem. Many Christians in the city of Thessalonica had come to believe that Christ’s return was very near. They became so preoccupied with this belief that they no longer saw any reason to fulfill their daily responsibilities as Christ’s followers. So, Paul wrote letters to the Thessalonian Christians to call them back to faithful Christian living.