1–2 Thessalonians. Nijay K. Gupta
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Wissenschaft
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBR Currents in Biblical Research
CTJ Calvin Theological Journal
DPL Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
EBC Expositor’s Bible Commentary
EKKNT Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament
ExpTim Expository Times
HTR Pearson Harvard Theological Review
HTS Hervormde Teologiese Studies
ICC International Critical Commentary
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
IVPNTC InterVarsity Press New Testament Commentary
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series
JTI Journal of Theological Interpretation
L-N Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
LNTS Library of New Testament Studies
NCB New Century Bible
NIB New Interpreter’s Bible
NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament
NIDB New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary
NIVAC New International Version Application Commentary
NTL New Testament Library
NTR New Testament Readings
NTS New Testament Studies
NTT New Testament Theology
PAST Pauline Studies
PNTC Pillar New Testament Commentary
RHPR Revue d’Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SoGBC Story of God Biblical Commentary
SHBC Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary
SNTSMS Society of New Testament Studies Monograph Series
SP Sacra Pagina
TLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung
WBC Word Biblical Commentary
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Introduction
“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope” —Luther
“Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless” —G.K. Chesterton
“Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the windows which hope has opened.” —Charles Spurgeon
Paul’s message to the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians can be summarized in one word—“hope.” Hope, for Paul, was not a word representative of mere longings or wishful thinking. It was, not unlike we see in Hebrews, something certain, but invisible. Hope was the word Paul used to talk about the invisible (but real) future promised by the invisible (but real) God who gave the most certain assurances of the fulfillment of his promises in the death and resurrection of Messiah Jesus as well as the “deposit” of the Holy Spirit.
The word “hope” only appears a handful of times in these letters (1 Thess 1:3; 2:19; 4:13; 5:8; 2 Thess 2:16), but it represents well Paul’s central emphasis: in the tumult, chaos, confusion, and rough-and-tumble of life, you must trust God and God’s future by moving forward in faith and faithfulness. Hope is his word for a targeted faith, anticipatory faith, quite similar to what we see in Heb 11:13. According to Hebrews, the Old Testament people of faith did not live in the world of the final fulfillment of God’s promises, but “saw it all from a distance and welcomed it” (NLT). Another translation says they “greeted it from afar” (RSV). While they obviously never reached it, they mapped their journey towards it, as it were, and ran with outstretched arms. Their job, in their time, was not to get to the destination, but to live their present life in the light of that hope, to navigate their vessel (to change the metaphor) according to that beacon.
Hope, in the Christian vocabulary, is a worldview word. If “faith” represents the reliance on an alternative reality based on the revelation of God according to his work and words vis-à-vis the past and present, then “hope” involves the sustaining of a present alternative view of reality based on what God has promised to do in the future. Christians do not look ahead simply in order to be done with life and float away to eternal bliss in heaven. They lean on hope to survive, live, and even thrive in the present by seeing through God’s eyes, and particularly God’s promises about what he is going to do.
We might better understand what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, and why he says it the way he does, by thinking through the social nature of how we understand reality. Social anthropologist Clifford Geertz explains that all humans develop “webs of significance” that sustain a larger world around us. It is that intertexture of symbols, relationships, and frameworks that give us stability and comfort in life.1 However, there are always threats and challenges to our world-structure. The question that remains is whether or not one’s symbolic world-system can accommodate and maintain its integrity in light of perplexities. Geertz goes on to argue that religious systems are particularly designed to secure and stabilize the human and community under just such circumstances if they are fit for the task.
What does this have to do with Paul? It is easily recognized that Paul writes 1 Thessalonians to a community that is beginning to lose its confidence and foundation of its faith. There are problems, questions, and perplexities on many levels and in a variety of areas. This triggers a kind of “fight or flight” reaction that could cause serious problems in the future. Paul, though he was not a modern social anthropologist, knew that he had to help them re-establish terra firma beneath their feet and their weak knees. He did so by anchoring their faith to the past (and their exemplary reception of the gospel), to the present (as they have shown ongoing resilience and love in recent times), and especially their future (as their hope is in a coming Lord Jesus).
This letter, 1 Thessalonians, is Paul’s work as a master-builder who shapes a distinctly Christian worldview that profoundly brings together heaven and earth. Christians live in “waiting” (1:10), as they have one eye on the sky and anticipate the descending rider-of-the-clouds (4:17). They do this, not to abandon the physical earth, but to await the Sovereign and Judge who will finally bring justice to an unjust and cruel world. However, if one eye looks up and forward towards the future return of the Lord, the other eye is fixed on the earthly work of today. Paul uses the language of work throughout the letter—the Thessalonians’ work (1:3), Paul’s unending manual labor (2:9), the ministry of the apostles (3:5), and the expectation that all Christians will live daily lives of honest and fruitful productivity (4:11; 5:13). Christian hope is not star-gazing. Christian hope is not lazy—Paul made sure of it. Martin Luther echoes a Pauline conviction when he writes that “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope,” but that hope is seen in the doing of life.2
Christians live in hope, an idea captured remarkably well by Aristotle’s pithy saying, “Hope is the dream of a waking man.”3 I think Paul would have adjusted this a bit to say, “Hope in Jesus is the vision that drives believers who work and witness in a dark world as they dream of a redeemed tomorrow” (1 Thess 5:8; 2 Cor 5:7).
Thessalonica