2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction.
Our Non-Pauline letter for today is 2nd Thessalonians. Since it is a very short letter and won’t take that long to review. I thought it would be interesting to take a few minutes first and place ourselves and our letter writers into a wider world picture.
One problem with doing an intense study – of virtually anything – is that we can become so tightly focused we forget that there is a wider world still in existence “out there”. When we read the gospels we were totally enwrapped in Jerusalem and Galilee and little else mattered to us.
Last year, with Paul’s letters, we moved northward into modern day Syria and Turkey and up into Greece and eventually, Rome – but it was still a pretty limited, insular world.
With 2nd Thessalonians we’ve reached, roughly, the year 110 – almost 80 years after the life and death of Jesus. The reach of our study has extended far beyond the concerns of a small group of Galilean fisherfolk. As I said earlier, I thought it would be interesting to check in briefly with what the rest of the world is doing – because nothing ever happens in a vacuum and there is, at this time, a whole lot of world that neither knows nor cares about some folks who call themselves Christians.
The first is the perceived delay in Jesus’ second coming. In First Thessalonians, the real Paul expected that event to come at any moment, and eagerly awaited it, but it’s now 60 years since that first letter was written, 80 years since Jesus left us here -- and the believers are still waiting, and they’re not happy about it. They are beginning to have questions that Paul never had.
But this writer assures them all will be well and that God will “repay with affliction those who afflict you, and give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God.” This is definitely getting into Revelations territory. It also does not sound like any teaching I remember from Paul – and it certainly doesn’t sound like Jesus, threatening dire retribution on those who simply do not know him. This is not the voice of a loving teacher. This is the voice of a frightened and beleaguered church.
The second anachronism we find here is the question concerning “freeloaders.” In Paul’s time the Jesus people were so new they were just beginning to form themselves into actual communities of believers, with organizational rules and such.
By the time of this second letter, many had formed themselves into something similar to the utopian co-ops of 1800’s America – where everyone worked and fed into a common pool for the upkeep of all -- all that is, who are within the group. Here in the 2nd century, outsiders were joining these Jesus-groups, not from any particular belief, but simply to be fed and cared for by the others. A valid problem, but not one that existed in Paul’s day. The writer of this letter should have known that. We’ll run into this same issue again in 1st Timothy.
It is interesting – and sad – to see just how far Jesus’ gospel of love and acceptance has drifted in the years since he walked with and among his people. Now we share only with those who can “pay” with their work, and we wait, smacking our lips with anticipation, for the punishment to come upon those who do not follow our path.
If we naively accept this teaching as genuinely Pauline it carries a great deal more weight than if it’s written by who-knows-who? These letters give us a accurate picture of much of 2nd century Christianity, and they sound a lot like Paul’s teachings but they are neither Paul-like nor Jesus-like. They are, in fact, harmful, when they claim to pass on an altered and misshapen message as coming from Jesus.
What has happened to the Good News?
One problem with doing an intense study – of virtually anything – is that we can become so tightly focused we forget that there is a wider world still in existence “out there”. When we read the gospels we were totally enwrapped in Jerusalem and Galilee and little else mattered to us.
Last year, with Paul’s letters, we moved northward into modern day Syria and Turkey and up into Greece and eventually, Rome – but it was still a pretty limited, insular world.
With 2nd Thessalonians we’ve reached, roughly, the year 110 – almost 80 years after the life and death of Jesus. The reach of our study has extended far beyond the concerns of a small group of Galilean fisherfolk. As I said earlier, I thought it would be interesting to check in briefly with what the rest of the world is doing – because nothing ever happens in a vacuum and there is, at this time, a whole lot of world that neither knows nor cares about some folks who call themselves Christians.
- Back in the year 66 AD – Judea rose in rebellion against Rome. At about the same time when both Peter and Paul were being martyred in Rome, the Zealot uprising managed to throw the Romans out of Jerusalem and for four years Jerusalem was free. All this was going on while the emerging Christianity was focused on expanding into Europe. Unfortunately, Jerusalem was recaptured in 70 AD and this time the Temple was destroyed. Three years later the last of the insurgents committed mass suicide at Masada and ended any hope of Jewish rule – at least for the time being. In the 130’s there was another revolt that again succeeded briefly but ended with the Jewish people being decimated and scattered and Jerusalem pretty well wiped off the map.
- At this same time, Buddhism – which began in India -- begins to spread – east into China where it would find its strongest base, but also, interestingly, west into Persia, replacing Zoroastrianism as the primary religion. [Just as a side note, not that it particularly has anything to do with our timeline, but just because I think it’s interesting: Zoroastrianism – which still is practiced today - is a dualistic faith with equal and opposing forces of good and evil. In reading our scriptures, Satan really is mentioned very rarely – and really seems quite easily vanquished by Jesus when he does show up. We find an opposing force of evil but no real thought that it is in any way equal to God. Much of our Christian idea of the power of Satan comes, not from Judaism or the teachings of Jesus, but were absorbed straight out of Zoroastrianism.]
- Into the 100’s – the 2nd century – the Romans continue to rule – expanding into both the near east and northern Europe, building outposts of their empire as far as Celtic Britain
- Mecca starts to become a major pilgrimage site – not yet Islam as we think we know it today because Mohammed won’t come along for another 500 years, but a holy place of pilgrimage
- In the as yet “undiscovered” Americas, Teotihuacan, the center of one of the great mesoamerican cultures, introduces the god Quetzalcoatl - the feathered god
- Scotland (Caledonia) is first mentioned in Roman writings about now
- Paper is invented in China
- Egypt continues as an influential empire – not on its earlier scale, but still there – and always important as an artistic influence
- Japan sends an ambassador to China – two fully established countries beginning diplomatic relations
- Around the year 150, which is after the timeframe we’re interested in here, but not by far, London emerges as a major mercantile center, thanks to advances in shipping and the Roman roads that crisscrossed the country.
The first is the perceived delay in Jesus’ second coming. In First Thessalonians, the real Paul expected that event to come at any moment, and eagerly awaited it, but it’s now 60 years since that first letter was written, 80 years since Jesus left us here -- and the believers are still waiting, and they’re not happy about it. They are beginning to have questions that Paul never had.
But this writer assures them all will be well and that God will “repay with affliction those who afflict you, and give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God.” This is definitely getting into Revelations territory. It also does not sound like any teaching I remember from Paul – and it certainly doesn’t sound like Jesus, threatening dire retribution on those who simply do not know him. This is not the voice of a loving teacher. This is the voice of a frightened and beleaguered church.
The second anachronism we find here is the question concerning “freeloaders.” In Paul’s time the Jesus people were so new they were just beginning to form themselves into actual communities of believers, with organizational rules and such.
By the time of this second letter, many had formed themselves into something similar to the utopian co-ops of 1800’s America – where everyone worked and fed into a common pool for the upkeep of all -- all that is, who are within the group. Here in the 2nd century, outsiders were joining these Jesus-groups, not from any particular belief, but simply to be fed and cared for by the others. A valid problem, but not one that existed in Paul’s day. The writer of this letter should have known that. We’ll run into this same issue again in 1st Timothy.
It is interesting – and sad – to see just how far Jesus’ gospel of love and acceptance has drifted in the years since he walked with and among his people. Now we share only with those who can “pay” with their work, and we wait, smacking our lips with anticipation, for the punishment to come upon those who do not follow our path.
If we naively accept this teaching as genuinely Pauline it carries a great deal more weight than if it’s written by who-knows-who? These letters give us a accurate picture of much of 2nd century Christianity, and they sound a lot like Paul’s teachings but they are neither Paul-like nor Jesus-like. They are, in fact, harmful, when they claim to pass on an altered and misshapen message as coming from Jesus.
What has happened to the Good News?
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