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Loading...I now move on in my “New Testament in a Nutshell” series to the letter of 1 Thessalonians, which for-roughly-ever has been one of my favorite books of the New Testament. It is not one of the most widely read as a rule, but I think it is both unusually important and interesting. For one thing, it is the first letter of Paul that we have and, therefore, the very first piece of Christian writing of any kind that we have. That in itself makes it unusually significant in my view. THE earliest words from any Christian! Whoa.
When I taught Greek at Princeton Theological Seminary (some millennia ago) this was the book we had beginning students first translate once they had all the important elements of Greek grammar down. It’s not excessively hard Greek, but it is challenging for first-timers, and it’s the kind of book that if you read carefully – as you have to do when you’re basically going one word at a time trying to figure out the Greek – you find all sorts of interesting features and puzzles. You can read in five minutes or so in English (and should!); even so, this afternoon when I reread it in Greek I actually came to understand parts of it better than ever before – after knowing it well for, uh, 50 years!
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Is the concept of the “rapture” supported by any other NT writing or is this something Paul made up to reassure the Thessalonians?
Ah — I have a post on that coming soon.
Greeting, Bart. At times, Paul plays down his own oratory skills and his physical presence. Yet, to your point, he was clearly a persuasive fellow. Do you believe Paul was just being self effacing or might he have had some other super power?
I don’t think he had any super power. He may well have been one of those people who was convincing even thogh he was not a great rhetorician.
Dr. Ehrman:
Which Greek New Testament bible do you read? Also, do you recommend the Nestle Aland 28th edition as excellent?
Yes, that’s the standard, and just about everyone uses it. I have about 28 copies lying around for some reason….
Dr. Ehrman,
What makes you think that Paul wrote 1 Thess.? There was a school of critics who only allowed Gal., 1 & 2 Cor., and Rom. as authentic.
It’s a probability judgment, but given the issues, themes, concerns, vocabulary, writing style, presupposed historical situation and so on, it looks authentic. The four you mention are sometimes called the Hauptbriefe because they were thought to form the core of Pauline teaching.
The Judeans who “drove us out, and displease God, and oppose all people”
While Acts depicts the Jews in Jerusalem as suspecting and opposing Christians, being “driven out” puts a different spin on that, for sure. Do we have collaboration for this depiction of Christian position in Judea?
Also, Paul convincing gentile pagans that Jesus will save them from the coming Wrath of God implies that gentiles were open to the idea that judgment was coming. How widespread was “apocalypticism” in the Roman world?
I’ve never been able to figure out what Paul is talking about. And how did these Judeans prevent him from preaching to gentiles??
Re: apocalyptic thinking: Paul first had to convince these gentiles about the coming end of all things, and then explain that Jesus was soon to return to save them from it all. It’s like when someon invents a product no one has thought of before: they have to convince them of the need they have for it (say a dishwasher) and *then* meet the need by making it available. Paul first had to convince them that destruction was coming and then provide the solutio they needed to escape it.
“And how did these Judeans prevent him from preaching to gentiles??”
In Galatians they were able to extend their influence to Peter and Barnabas in Antioch. Prevent? Maybe not. Harass? Apparently!
Paul is talking about Judeans who killed Jesus, not to his apostles.
What is the consensus among critical scholars on Jewish persecution of the followers of Jesus in the first century CE, in the years and decades after Jesus’s death? To what extent is it historical?
There almost certainly was some, but it’s hard to know what forms it took or how severe it was. Paul indicates himself that he was flogged five times by synagogue authorities, and I don’t think there’s any good reason to think he was making it up.
With this knowledge is there any method & order to reading these 4 letters to best understand St Paul’s essential teachings- Gal., 1 & 2 Cor., and Rom.
I haven’t read any book in the Bible for at least 2 decades as I was accustomed to church prudes telling me to just open the Bible& read & you will find the answer. That’s why I placed so much importance on “The New Life” by Andrew Murray as the S African Preacher from 150 years ago vetted a system to achieve Overcomer status as only mentioned & qualified in Revelation
Most any sequence will work!