Second letter to the Thessalonians . It presents a fairly large parallelism with the first letter to these, but it further develops the return of the | Lord . In this letter, Paul intends to correct some errors that arose in the community, since some apparently said, based on a supposed teaching of Paul, that the return of the Lord had already taken place.
Summary
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- 1 Place and time of writing
- 2 Contents
- 3 Outline of the letter
- 4 Sources
Place and time of writing
The lack of reference to the first letter, and other literary and content characteristics have led some to believe that this letter, despite parallelism with the first to the Thessalonians, may have been written by some disciple of Paul, after the death of this. If Paul was the author, he wrote it shortly after his first letter.
Content
The letter begins with an introduction containing the greeting (1.1-2), followed by a thanksgiving to God and a request by the Christians of Thessalonica (1.3-12).
In the central part, the subject of the Lord’s return is first discussed (2.1-12).
Next, the attitudes that Christians should have are taught (2.13-17), prayers are requested for Paul and his collaborators (3.1-5), and finally the community is put on guard against some who lead an undisciplined and idle, based, it seems, on false ideas about the coming of the Lord (3.6-15)
It ends with a brief farewell (3.16-18).
Chart Outline
Salutation (1.1-2)
God will judge sinners at the coming of Christ (1.3-12)
Manifestation of the man of sin (2.1-12)
Chosen for salvation (2.13-17)
May the word of God be glorified (3.1-5)
The duty to work (3.6-15)
Final blessing (3.16-18)
