Thessalonians

We are surveying Paul's letters in chronological order, or at least in a likely chronological order. The letters are actually ordered in the Bible by length. That places Romans at the beginning, which is appropriate as it conveys a broad explanation of Paul's theology.

In Acts 16:9 and 10 we read of Paul's vision of a man in Macedonia calling to him. This led Paul to Thessalonica which was the capital and largest city of the Roman province of Macedonia. There he preached in the synagogues, saw conversions of Jews and Gentiles, and his preaching provoked some riotous responses. He left for Athens and Corinth where he received reports that the Thessalonians were grappling with perplexing questions.

Some of the Thessalonian believers were concerned about the fate of loved ones who were believers that had died before the return of Christ. I Thessalonians addresses these concerns in 4:13-5:11. II Thessalonians reiterates some of the points Paul made in those chapters and also addresses the misunderstanding that "the day of the Lord" had already occurred.

One general lesson we can take from these books is not to be overly concerned about the end of time, but concentrate on leading holy lives here and now.