Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read
Apostle Paul, Jan Lievens, 1627, Nationalmuseum

Apostle Paul, Jan Lievens, 1627, Nationalmuseum. Public domain.

New Testament · Book 53 of 66

2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians is Paul's second letter to the church in Thessalonica. He corrects the claim that the day of the Lord had already come and tells idle believers to work for their own bread.

Start Reading
Apostle Paul, Jan Lievens, 1627, Nationalmuseum

Apostle Paul, Jan Lievens, 1627, Nationalmuseum. Public domain.

What is 2 Thessalonians about?

2 Thessalonians is a short second letter from Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the church at Thessalonica, a church under persecution. He thanks God that their faith and love are growing and promises relief when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. Someone had told them the day of the Lord had already come, so he sets out what must happen first: the rebellion and the man of lawlessness, whom the Lord will destroy. He tells them to “stand firm and cling to the traditions we taught you” (2:15). Then he commands the idle to work and signs the letter in his own hand.

All 3 chapters

Every chapter of the book, in one grid. Each cell opens that chapter.

  • Relief at his revealingChapter 1
  • The man of lawlessnessChapter 2
  • Work in quietnessChapter 3

The colour is the movement of the letter the chapter stands in, one chapter to each movement, and every cell opens that chapter's Study level.

1Relief from heaven2The rebellion first3Work quietly

Who wrote it, where, when, for whom, and why?

The letter names Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as its writers (1:1), the same three who open the first letter. Paul speaks in his own voice at 2:5 and writes the greeting with his own hand as the mark of every letter he sends. Peter names Paul's letters beside the other Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15 to 16).

This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. This is my mark in every letter; it is the way I write.

2 Thessalonians 3:17, Berean Standard Bible.

The letter goes to the church of the Thessalonians (1:1). Acts tells how Paul and Silas preached three Sabbaths in the synagogue at Thessalonica and were sent away by night to Berea after a riot (Acts 17:1 to 10).

The letter follows Paul's stay in the city, where he had already taught them about the end (2:5), and it points back to a letter of his (2:15). The first letter was written after Timothy came back from Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 3:6), and Acts places Silas and Timothy with Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:5).

The readers are a young church suffering persecution and affliction (1:4), shaken by a report that the day of the Lord had come (2:2). Some among them had stopped working and were living as busybodies (3:11).

Paul writes to comfort a suffering church with God's justice, to correct the report about the day of the Lord, and to order the idle back to work. His answer to the report is the order of events he had taught them in person.

not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come.

2 Thessalonians 2:2, Berean Standard Bible.

Sources. 2 Thessalonians 1:1, 1:4, 2:2, 2:5, 2:15, 3:11, 3:17; Acts 17:1 to 10, 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Peter 3:15 to 16. Every verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible.

How is 2 Thessalonians arranged, and what is it for?

The three movements the letter falls into, then what it teaches and what it was written to do.

  1. Relief at his revealingChapter 1, 12 verses, the turn at 1:7

    Thanks for a church that endures, and God's righteous judgment when Christ comes from heaven.

  2. The man of lawlessnessChapter 2, 17 verses, the turn at 2:3

    The rebellion and the lawless one come before the day, and Christ will destroy him.

  3. Work in quietnessChapter 3, 18 verses, the turn at 3:10

    Prayer for the word, a command to the idle, Paul's own labor as the pattern, and peace.

The theme

God is just, and He will set things right when Christ returns. Until that day His people live between two claims: the false word that the day has already come, and the true word that certain things come first. The letter meets both with the same answer, the teaching Paul gave in person, and it asks the church to hold that teaching, to endure affliction, and to keep working while it waits.

The purpose

Paul wrote so a church under pressure would not be shaken by a false report (2:2). He wants them steady in hope, faithful in prayer, and at work with their own hands, each earning his own bread (3:12), and the Lord's name is glorified in them (1:12).

The order of 2:1 to 12, station by station

  1. 1. The report2:2

    “the Day of the Lord has already come”

    A message claims the day is here, and Paul tells them not to be alarmed.

  2. 2. The rebellion2:3

    “the rebellion occurs”

    The rebellion comes first, and the day after it.

  3. 3. The man revealed2:3

    “the man of lawlessness”

    The man of lawlessness is revealed, called the son of destruction.

  4. 4. The seat2:4

    “he will seat himself in the temple of God”

    He exalts himself above every god and claims to be God.

    Beside it, Daniel 11:36:“exalt and magnify himself above every god”

  5. 5. What restrains2:6

    “what is now restraining him”

    The readers know what holds him back until his proper time.

  6. 6. Taken away2:7

    “until he is taken out of the way”

    The one who restrains holds on until he is removed.

  7. 7. The lawless one2:8

    “the lawless one will be revealed”

    Then the lawless one comes out into the open.

  8. 8. Slain2:8

    “slay with the breath of His mouth”

    Christ ends him at His coming.

    Beside it, Isaiah 11:4:“slay the wicked with the breath of His lips”

Read from left to right, or from the top on the phone. Paul answers the report that the day has come with an order of events: the rebellion and the revealing of the man of lawlessness come first, what restrains holds him back until it is taken away, and Christ ends him at His coming. The Old Testament passage set beside a station is one whose words it takes up. Who or what restrains is taken up under Where do readers disagree. Sources: 2 Thessalonians 2:2 to 8 and the two passages beside it in the Berean Standard Bible; the store's cross references for 2:4 and 2:8.

Relief at his revealing, 2 Thessalonians 1

What chapter 1 says, and the pages it opens on.

Paul, Silvanus and Timothy greet the church and give thanks that its faith is growing and its love increasing. They boast of its perseverance in the churches of God. The suffering is evidence of God's righteous judgment, for He will repay those who afflict and give rest to the afflicted. That will happen when Christ comes from heaven with His angels in fire, to punish those who do not obey the gospel and to be marveled at among all who believe. Paul closes with a prayer that God will count them worthy of His calling and that the name of the Lord be glorified in them.

and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels
2 Thessalonians 1:7, Berean Standard Bible. The promise of relief at His coming turns the church's suffering into a sign of God's justice.
  • 2 Thessalonians 1thanks for endurance, God's just repayment, and the prayerShow summary, 3 pages

    Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy greet the Thessalonians. Their faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one toward each other abounds. They endure persecutions with patience and faith. This is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. You will be counted worthy of the kingdom. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God. Paul prays they be counted worthy of this calling, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in them. Henry reads the chapter as eschatology's comfort in suffering.

    On this chapter (3)

    Read 2 Thessalonians 1 verse by verse

    Study

The two outcomes of 1:5 to 10

The moment1:7“when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven”

  1. Repaid
    Those who afflict

    1:6“repay with affliction those who afflict you”

    Those afflicted

    1:7“grant relief to you who are oppressed”

  2. The verdict
    Those who afflict

    1:8“inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God”

    Those afflicted

    1:5“counted worthy of the kingdom of God”

  3. The end
    Those who afflict

    1:9“the penalty of eternal destruction”

    Those afflicted

    1:10“glorified in His saints”

  4. The presence
    Those who afflict

    1:9“separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might”

    Beside it, Isaiah 2:10:“from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty”

    Those afflicted

    1:10“regarded with wonder by all who have believed”

Each row sets what Christ's coming brings to those who afflict the church beside what it brings to the afflicted. One event divides them. The passage from Isaiah stands beside the row whose words take it up. Sources: 2 Thessalonians 1:5 to 10 and the passage beside it in the Berean Standard Bible; the store's cross references for 1:9.

Characters (4)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • Paul

    The apostle who writes to the church he founded.

  • Silvanus

    Paul's companion, named with him in the greeting.

  • Timothy

    The third name in the greeting, sent before to the church.

  • The believers

    A church that keeps faith under persecution.

Places (1)

Where the chapter stands.

Themes (2)

What the chapter raises; a theme with a page carries its door.

  • Endurance under affliction

    Faith that holds while the church suffers.

  • The second coming

    Christ revealed from heaven with His angels.

Where these chapters take up the Old Testament (1)each marked from the store, with 1 Thessalonians and Matthew 24 beside it
  • Probable allusionIsaiah 2:10 at 2 Thessalonians 1:9. A cross reference in the store with 4 votes, marked a probable allusion.

Beside it in the first letter and in Matthew 24: 2 Thessalonians 1:3 with 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:10 with Matthew 24:36, the store's cross references with the most votes.

The man of lawlessness, 2 Thessalonians 2

What chapter 2 says, and the pages it opens on.

A report, perhaps by a spirit, a message or a letter claiming to be Paul's, had told the church that the day of the Lord had come. Paul says it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, who sets himself up in the temple of God as God. They know what restrains him now; the mystery of lawlessness is already at work until the restrainer is taken away. Then Christ will destroy the lawless one, whose coming brings false signs and deceives those who refused the love of the truth. Paul thanks God that He chose the Thessalonians, and tells them to hold the traditions they were taught.

Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
2 Thessalonians 2:3, Berean Standard Bible. The rebellion and the revealing come first, so the report that the day has come cannot be true.
  • 2 Thessalonians 2the false report, what comes first, and the command to standShow summary, 7 pages

    Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be not soon shaken in mind. That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. The mystery of iniquity is already at work; only he who now restrains will restrain, until he be taken out of the way. Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth. Paul charges them to stand fast and hold the traditions they have been taught. Calvin reads the chapter as the apostolic anchor against eschatological alarm.

    On this chapter (7)

    Show the next 1

    Read 2 Thessalonians 2 verse by verse

    Study

After the order of events: the charge and the prayer, 2:15 to 17

  1. The command, 2:15

    “stand firm”

    Stay upright against the report that shook them.

  2. The command, 2:15

    “cling to the traditions we taught you, whether by speech or by letter”

    Hold what Paul taught in person and in the first letter.

  3. The prayer, 2:17

    “strengthen you in every good word and deed”

    Christ and the Father give the strength the command asks for.

The order of events is drawn in The book as a whole, above. Paul follows it with two commands and a prayer: the church answers the false report by holding what it was taught, and the strength to hold it is asked of Christ and the Father. Sources: 2 Thessalonians 2:15 to 17 in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (3)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

Places (1)

Where the chapter stands.

Themes (4)

What the chapter raises; a theme with a page carries its door.

  • The day of the Lord

    The day the report claimed had come.

  • The rebellion

    The rebellion that comes first (2:3).

  • The love of the truth

    What the perishing refused.

  • The traditions

    The teaching Paul gave by word and by letter.

Where these chapters take up the Old Testament (2)each marked from the store, with 1 Thessalonians and Matthew 24 beside it
  • Probable allusionDaniel 11:36 at 2 Thessalonians 2:4. A cross reference in the store with 8 votes, marked a probable allusion.
  • Probable allusionIsaiah 11:4 at 2 Thessalonians 2:8. A cross reference in the store with 13 votes, marked a probable allusion.

Beside it in the first letter and in Matthew 24: 2 Thessalonians 2:13 with 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:3 with Matthew 24:4 to 6, the store's cross references with the most votes.

Work in quietness, 2 Thessalonians 3

What chapter 3 says, and the pages it opens on.

Paul asks the church to pray that the word of the Lord will spread and that he will be kept from wicked men, and he reminds them that the Lord is faithful. Then he commands them to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life. Paul and his companions had worked night and day so as to burden no one, as an example, and had given the rule that whoever will not work shall not eat. The idle are told to work quietly and earn their own bread. Anyone who will not obey is marked and shamed, yet warned as a brother. The letter ends with peace and a greeting in Paul's own hand.

For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”
2 Thessalonians 3:10, Berean Standard Bible. Paul's rule of 3:10 gives the command to the idle its ground in what he had already taught.
  • 2 Thessalonians 3prayer for the word, the idle, and the greeting in Paul's handShow summary, 2 pages

    Finally, brethren, pray for us. The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. Even we are to be imitated: we were not disorderly among you; neither did we eat any man's bread for nought. If any will not work, neither let him eat. Be not weary in well doing. Count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The Lord of peace himself give you peace always. JFB reads the chapter as the apostolic discipline of work and brotherly rebuke.

    On this chapter (2)

    Read 2 Thessalonians 3 verse by verse

    Study

The idle, in four cards

  1. The example3:7 to 9

    “we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate”

    Paul and his companions worked night and day and paid for their food.

  2. The rule3:10

    “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat”

    Paul gave this rule while he was still with them.

  3. The command3:12

    “to begin working quietly to earn their own living”

    The busybodies are told to settle down and earn their bread.

  4. The discipline3:14 to 15

    “warn him as a brother”

    The church keeps apart from him so he is ashamed, and still calls him brother.

Paul's word to the idle in 3:6 to 15, in the order he gives it: his own example, the rule he had given in person, the command, and the discipline. Each card holds the same parts: its name, its verses, the store's words and one line. Sources: 2 Thessalonians 3:7 to 15 in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (2)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • The idle

    Believers who stopped working and became busybodies.

  • Wicked and evil men

    Those Paul asks to be delivered from.

Places (1)

Where the chapter stands.

Themes (2)

What the chapter raises; a theme with a page carries its door.

  • Work and bread

    Earning one's own living as the Lord's command.

  • Church discipline

    Keeping apart from a brother to win him back.

Where these chapters take up the Old Testament (0)each marked from the store, with 1 Thessalonians and Matthew 24 beside it

Beside it in the first letter: 2 Thessalonians 3:3 with 1 Thessalonians 5:24, the store's cross references with the most votes.

Where do readers disagree?

One list: the readings with their holders, and what the evidence does not settle.

  • Who or what restrains the man of lawlessness in 2:6 to 7?

    The restrainer→
    • The Roman order and its rule of law. Held by Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 210), chapter 24, and by John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Thessalonians (c. 400), Homily 4.
    • The Holy Spirit, at work through the church. Held by Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology (1948), and by John F. Walvoord, The Rapture Question (1957).
    • The preaching of the gospel to the nations. Held by John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to the Thessalonians (1551), on 2:6, and by Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time (1946).

    What the evidence does not settle: What the readers already knew of the restrainer from Paul's teaching in person (2:5 to 6). Augustine, in The City of God, book 20, confessed that Paul's meaning here was beyond him.

    The argument in full

    The Roman order and its rule of law. Paul wrote under a government that restrained evil, and he would say such a thing in person and keep it out of a letter others might read.

    The Holy Spirit, at work through the church. Only God is strong enough to hold back the working of Satan, and the Greek speaks of the restrainer as a thing in 2:6 and as a person in 2:7.

    The preaching of the gospel to the nations. The gospel must be preached in the whole world before the end comes (Matthew 24:14), so the mission holds the end back.

    This site's tradition, pre-tribulation and premillennial, reads the restrainer as the Holy Spirit at work through the church, and holds the other readings as fair readings of a verse whose answer Paul gave the church in person (2:5).

  • Who is the man of lawlessness, and which temple is meant in 2:4?

    The Antichrist→
    • A person still to come, seated in a temple in Jerusalem. Held by Hippolytus in his On Christ and Antichrist, and by Irenaeus in his Against Heresies, book 5.
    • A figure of the first century and the temple then standing. Held by Kenneth L. Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell (1989).
    • A claim to deity made inside the church, God's temple. Held by Augustine in The City of God, book 20.

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether the temple of 2:4 is a building or a people, and when the man is revealed; the text describes him by his acts (2:4, 2:9).

    The argument in full

    A person still to come, seated in a temple in Jerusalem. Paul speaks of one person who is revealed and then destroyed at Christ's coming (2:8), and the temple of Daniel's abomination is a building.

    A figure of the first century and the temple then standing. The temple stood when Paul wrote and was destroyed in AD 70, and the first readers could see the powers that claimed to be divine.

    A claim to deity made inside the church, God's temple. Paul calls the people of God His temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), so the seat of 2:4 can be a claim made among His people.

    This site's tradition reads the man of lawlessness as one person still to come, revealed before the day of the Lord (2:3) and destroyed at Christ's coming (2:8).

  • Did Paul write this letter?

    • Paul wrote it, and signed it in his own hand. Held by Irenaeus, Against Heresies (c. 180), book 5, and by Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (2000).
    • A later writer used Paul's name. Held by Wilhelm Wrede, Die Echtheit des zweiten Thessalonicherbriefs (1903), and by Bart D. Ehrman, Forged (2011).

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether likeness in wording shows one writer or a copyist; the ancient writers who cite the letter, Irenaeus among them, name Paul.

    The argument in full

    Paul wrote it, and signed it in his own hand. The letter names Paul twice (1:1, 3:17), the early church received it as his, and two letters to one church within months will share their words.

    A later writer used Paul's name. The letter follows the first so closely in wording, and its signs before the day read so differently from the thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2), that an imitator seems the cause.

    This site takes the letter's own claim at 1:1 and 3:17 as it stands: Paul wrote it.

  • Which of the two letters was written first?

    • 1 Thessalonians first. Held by Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (2000).
    • 2 Thessalonians first. Held by Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (1990).

    What the evidence does not settle: The order of the letters in the canon follows their length; both readings place them within months of each other.

    The argument in full

    1 Thessalonians first. The first letter teaches the coming as new ground (1 Thessalonians 4:13), while this letter says the readers had already been taught (2:5) and points back to a letter (2:15).

    2 Thessalonians first. The persecution here sounds present while the first letter looks back on it, and the signature of 3:17 reads like a mark set for the first time.

  • What is the "eternal destruction" of 1:9?

    • Everlasting punishment, away from the presence of the Lord. Held by John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Thessalonians (c. 400), Homily 3.
    • Destruction that ends in the loss of being. Held by Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes (1982), and by John R. W. Stott in David L. Edwards and John Stott, Essentials (1988).

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether the word eternal describes an unending experience or an unending result; both readings hold that the judgment is final.

    The argument in full

    Everlasting punishment, away from the presence of the Lord. The destruction is called eternal, as the life of the saints is eternal, and it is described as separation from the presence of the Lord.

    Destruction that ends in the loss of being. Destruction names an end, and eternal names the result that cannot be undone.

  • What was the letter "seeming to be from us" of 2:2?

    • A forged letter in Paul's name. Held by John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to the Thessalonians (1551), on 2:2, and by John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on 2:2.
    • The first letter, misread. Held by F. F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (1982), on 2:2.

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether a false letter existed or only a claim about a real one; Paul answers both with the order of 2:3 to 8 and his signature.

    The argument in full

    A forged letter in Paul's name. Paul warns of a letter seeming to be his and then points to his own hand as the mark of every letter (3:17).

    The first letter, misread. The words can mean a report that claims to come from Paul's letters, and the first letter had spoken of the day coming like a thief.

The Text and the Spade

Rulers who took divine titles and entered sanctuaries

Hellenistic and Roman167 BC for Antiochus IV; AD 40 for the order of Caligula

The parallel

Antiochus IV struck coins calling himself God Manifest and desecrated the Jerusalem sanctuary in 167 BC, the event Daniel's abomination language stands behind. In AD 40 the emperor Caligula ordered his own statue set up in the same sanctuary. Josephus tells the story at length and Philo, who led an embassy to the emperor, wrote his own account. The order was delayed by the governor of Syria and lapsed when Caligula was killed in AD 41. Paul is writing about ten years after that crisis to people who had heard of it.

Read honestly

A real and close background for 2:4, and it fixes the register of the verse. A ruler installing himself as God in the sanctuary was a thing that had happened once and had almost happened again inside living memory, so Paul's readers took the sentence as a description of an event. Paul writes of a figure still to be revealed (2:3).

The autograph greeting at the end of a dictated letter

Greco-Roman, attested in thousands of papyrus letters3rd century BC to 3rd century AD

The parallel

Letters were normally written by a secretary, and the sender added a closing line in his own hand as proof that the letter was his. Surviving papyri show the change of handwriting on the page. Paul does exactly this at 3:17 and calls the greeting in his own hand 'my mark in every letter; it is the way I write' (3:17), and the same practice shows at Galatians 6:11, 1 Corinthians 16:21 and Colossians 4:18.

Read honestly

An ordinary commercial and personal security measure, and its presence here is pointed. Paul has just warned the church about a letter 'seeming to be from us' (2:2). The autograph is the practical answer to that problem, given in the same letter that raises it, which is a fit between the crisis and the remedy that a later imitator would have had to construct deliberately.

Second Temple and early Christian traditions of a lawless deceiver

Jewish and early Christianthe Jewish material from the last centuries BC; the Ascension of Isaiah in its Christian form probably 2nd century AD

The parallel

Jewish writings of the Second Temple period expected a final adversary, and some of them name him Beliar. The Ascension of Isaiah, a Christian work in its present form, describes Beliar descending in the likeness of a lawless king and demanding worship, in language close to 2:4. This site labels them study resources.

Read honestly

Useful with a clear caution about direction. The Ascension of Isaiah in its Christian shape is later than Paul, so it shows how the expectation was received after Paul. The genuinely earlier Jewish material establishes that the expectation of a final lawless figure was in the air Paul's readers breathed, which is why he could write 2:3-4 as a reminder (2:5).

The pages 2 Thessalonians opens on

Studies18

Show the next 6 titles
Show the next 6 titles

People and groups2

Places3

Words6

Books beside it6

Sources for this page

The movements, the chapter entries, the figures and the Context are read off the text of 2 Thessalonians. The 3 Old Testament passages listed under the movements are the store's cross references, each marked a probable allusion, and the lines to 1 Thessalonians and Matthew 24 are the cross references with the most votes. The works behind the readings under Where do readers disagree are Irenaeus, Against Heresies (c. 180); Hippolytus, On Christ and Antichrist (c. 200); Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 210); John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Thessalonians (c. 400); Augustine, The City of God (c. 426); John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to the Thessalonians (1551); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755); Wilhelm Wrede, Die Echtheit des zweiten Thessalonicherbriefs (1903); Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time (1946); Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology (1948); John F. Walvoord, The Rapture Question (1957); F. F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (1982); Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes (1982); David L. Edwards and John Stott, Essentials (1988); Kenneth L. Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell (1989); Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians (1990); Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (2000); Bart D. Ehrman, Forged (2011). Every verse quoted on this page is the Berean Standard Bible, read from the store.

Start 2 Thessalonians at chapter 1 →