Introduction

How Pauline is the Miletus speech? We shall now consider this question by evaluating possible parallels to the speech in one Pauline letter. Several scholars have drawn attention to the numerous parallels in the Pauline letters to individual points in the speech, but a systematic comparison ofthe speech with an individual letter has not previously been made.

Why 1 Thessalonians?

At first glance the Miletus speech and 1 Thessalonians look different; in particular, the eschatological material in the letter (1 Thess. 4.13–5.11) has no obvious parallel in the speech, and the letter is about five times the length of the speech. In addition, the occasions of the two appear different: the Miletus speech has a strong ‘farewell’ colouring, which 1 Thessalonians lacks, as a pastoral letter from the founders of a church to their converts. So why consider this letter for possible parallels to the Miletus speech?

First, since our concern is to see how Pauline the speech is, it is vital to work with a document which is acknowledged to be from the hand of the apostle. As we shall see, this is not in dispute for 1 Thessalonians. This concern eliminates two obvious candidates for parallels, namely Ephesians and 2 Timothy, since the authorship of both is disputed. In both case one natural link is with Ephesus, and 2 Timothy has a ‘farewell’ sense similar to the Miletus speech.