Introduction

Having offered a reading of the situation underlying 1 Thessalonians, we now turn to examine 2 Thessalonians in order to determine the nature of the eschatological problems it confronts. Our starting-point is 2 Thess. 2:1–3:5, which explicitly and directly confronts the eschatological idea which has gained currency among ‘the Thessalonians’ – namely ἐνέστηκενἡμέρατοῦκυρίου (2:2c). Unfortunately, what precisely ‘Paul’ and ‘the Thessalonians’ understood this claim to mean is unclear and has been much debated. Most reject the literal meaning of the statement as impossible, choosing instead to avoid the perfective sense of ἐνέστηκεν and/or to soften the meaning of ἡ ἡμέρα τῦο κυρίου.

How was ἐνέστηκεν ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου understood?

It has been suggested by some that ἐνέστηκεν should be translated ‘is imminent’ rather than ‘has come’. However, the perfect tense represents a present state resulting from a past action. Moreover, the perfect of ἐνίστημι always seems to function perfectively. Certainly Paul used it thus, as indicated by Rom. 8:38 and 1 Cor. 3:22, where it contrasts with μέλλοντα (see also Gal. 1:5; 1 Cor. 7:26; Heb. 9:9). And it was employed in this manner by Philo, Josephus and the Epistle of Barnabas, and in the LXX, classical literature and the papyri.