Introduction

In order to determine whether the situations underlying 1 and 2 Thessalonians can reasonably be regarded as compatible, we must reconstruct the eschatological dimension of the situation underlying 1 Thessalonians. That requires that we focus particularly on 1 Thess. 4:13–5:11, where Paul explicitly turns his attention to the community's eschatological concerns. In this chapter we shall examine 4:13–18.

Paul has just received a report concerning the Thessalonian church from Timothy (1 Thess. 3:6), which presumably included an account of the situation underlying this section. Some members of the Thessalonian community have unexpectedly died and the others have apparently responded by ‘grieving’. Paul writes to comfort the Thessalonians by removing the cause of their distress, which he presupposes is reflective of a defective eschatology. Precisely how their eschatology is deficient has been the locus of significant debate among exegetes. Gnostic, enthusiastic and chiliastic notions have all been proposed as keys to the Thessalonians' eschatological confusion; other explanations have included Jewish assumption theology and over-imminentist expectation. We shall attempt to mark a path through this labyrinthian puzzle by raising and answering questions of the text, thereby moving steadily to a clearer understanding of the nature of the eschatological confusion underlying 4:13–18.

Our initial three questions relate to verse 13.