2 Thessalonians is a real letter sent to real people in a real place, and it addresses real problems that arose at a specific point in history (mid-first century AD). Although the Thessalonian believers lived in a time and place far removed from ours, we can be confident that they trusted in the same God, the one true God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As John Stott writes, “the God of the Bible is the God of history”.[1] In fact, the God of the Bible has been working out his purposes in human history for millennia. He called Abram to leave his home in ancient Mesopotamia, Israel to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the promised land, and Judah to wait expectantly for God’s Messiah to come.

And it is through the Lord Jesus Christ that God’s purposes in history are most clearly revealed, through his incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension (Acts 2:22-24, 32-33). The Bible declares unequivocally that he is endpoint towards which all things are heading. For at a time of his choosing, God himself will “bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Eph. 1:10).

For this reason, throughout the ages God’s people have sought to understand history from his sovereign perspective—as purposeful, linear and unbroken. And Scripture asserts that history “will come to a planned end, a grand finale, consisting of the Parousia, the Resurrection, the Judgment and the Kingdom. That these events are history’s goal is plain in both Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians”.[2]

In his second letter to the Thessalonian believers, the apostle Paul writes in response to news of trouble within their community. False teachers are causing confusion and division in the church about the timing of the parousia (Jesus’ return). So, Paul addresses this issue head on, at length, and with apostolic authority. He exposes the deceptive teaching and exhorts the believers to remember what he has already taught them (2 Thess. 2:5).

With this same authority, Paul singles out two other groups of people who in different ways have disrupted the Thessalonian church community: persecutors from without, and idlers from within. Again, these are issues he addressed in his first letter to them and so he writes forcefully, to warn and remind them.

Even then, Paul’s loving concern for this little community under siege is obvious throughout. He comforts and exhorts them, and overflows with thanks and praise to God for their resolute faith, even as he senses their struggle to stand firm for Jesus amid trials and trouble. It is a timeless message that still speaks in a time like ours.

[1] John Stott, The Message of Thessalonians, BST commentary; IVP: Leicester, 1991, p.139

[2] Stott, p.140