Episode 169 – Paul’s Places – Part 10: Thessalonica Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God's trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, Contemporary English Version ******** VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re so grateful we have the opportunity to be with you today. We have been working on a series we call “Paul’s Places” for several weeks now. In fact, this is our 10th lesson in this series. By “Paul,” of course, we’re referring to the Apostle Paul who wrote almost half of the books in the New Testament. In this “Paul’s Places” series we are taking a look at Paul’s letters to the churches that are identified in our Bibles by geographic names – mostly of cities such as Rome or Corinth. But the book of Galatians is named for the province of Galatia which was a region in what is now in modern-day Turkey. Anyone who has missed any of the previous lessons can find them on our website, crystalseabooks.com, or on their favorite podcast app. Today In the studio we have RD Fierro, the author of a number of great Christian books and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, what was the major reason you wanted to do this “Paul’s Places” series? RD: Well, I’d like to start by thanking our listeners for joining us here today. The reason we undertook this “Paul’s Places” series is really quite simple – to help our listeners formulate a better answer to the question: “are the New Testament documents historically reliable?” The New Testament documents are the documents from which we get our information about Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. These are real events that occurred within real history. So, it is reasonable for people to wonder how we can be sure that we have an accurate record of their occurrence. VK: We are now 2,000 years removed from the time that Jesus walked on the earth, performed His miracles, died, and rose again. And we are almost 2,000 years removed from the time when people began hearing about those events and either accepting or rejecting the meaning of what had occurred. Many of those early hearers celebrated the fact that Christ Jesus the Messiah had come and they became the first Christians. But we tend to forget in our day and age that those first Christians – even though they believed – had questions about exactly what had taken place. So, the Apostles began writing and sending documents to some of those first groups and churches to provide answers to questions and encourage their recipients. And later many of those early documents were gathered into the compilation that we call our New Testament. RD: Right. And the Apostle Paul was one of the hardest working of the Apostles and one of the most prolific writers. Almost half of our New Testament came from his hand. VK: And among the letters that Paul sent that have been preserved for us are the letters he sent to churches in various cities – or in one case – several churches in a region known as Galatia. We call those letters by the name of the group that received them – such as Romans, Corinthians, or Thessalonians. And today we want to take a closer look at the letters Paul sent to the Thessalonians. RD: Yes. Among Paul’s letters that have been preserved for us nine of those letters are identified by place names. There are six cities named and, as you said, one region called Galatia. Two of those cities, Corinth and Thessalonica, have more than one letter preserved in our Bible. So, we call those 1 and 2 Corinthians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. In our Bibles 1 and 2 Corinthians are placed earlier in the order of arrangement within the compilation. But most scholars believe that 1 and 2 Thessalonians were actually the earliest of Paul’s letters that have been preserved.
VK: The one possible exception to 1 and 2 Thessalonians being the earliest of Paul’s letters that were preserved is the letter to the Galatians. Scholars are pretty much evenly split on the date of the composition of Galatians. Some scholars believe Galatians was written as early as 49 AD right after Paul’s 1st missionary journey. Other scholars place it several years later after or during Paul’s 3rd missionary journey – possibly as late as 57 AD. Since most scholars date 1 and 2 Thessalonians around 51 or 52 AD it is quite possible they were the earliest of his letters, or epistles, that have been retained. RD: Yes. And for anyone who would like more information about the dating of Galatians question they can visit our website, crystalseabooks.com, and listen to the episode in this “Paul’s Places” series that covers Galatia. For today we want to turn our attention to the letters to the Thessalonians. And that first thing that I want to notice is that we know exactly where the city of Thessalonica is located because it is in the same place today as it was in Paul’s time. Today, Thessalonica, is also known as, Thessaloniki, Saloniki, or Salonica. VK: Today, Thessalonica is the second-largest city in Greece, with over 1 million inhabitants. In Paul’s day it’s thought that Thessalonica had about 200,000 residents. Thessalonica is a sea-port. It is at the head of the bay which is on the Gulf of Thessalonica. As a sea port is ideally situated for commerce. Thessalonica was founded by one of Alexander the Great’s successors named Cassander in 315 BC. Cassander named the city for his wife who was also a half-sister of Alexander. Today, Thessalonica is the capital of the geographic region of Macedonia and it pretty much served that same purpose in Paul’s day when Macedonia was a Roman province. The Romans had taken charge of Macedonia and Thessalonica in 148 BC. So, it is fair to say that in Paul’s day was a very important city. Right away it makes sense that Paul would have gone there to preach and establish a church when he had the opportunity. RD: And even more than being an important city Thessalonica was located on what is called the Egnatian Way. The Egnatian Way was a very important transportation artery the Romans had built in the 2nd century BC. It ran through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a continuation of the Appian Way. Essentially the Egnatian Way was the main line of overland travel through Macedonia (northern Greece) all the way from the west coast of Greece to western Turkey. Both Thessalonica and Philippi were on it. So, it makes sense that when Paul was mistreated in Philippi he would have followed the Egnatian Way to the next major city to the west which was Thessalonica. VK: We hear about that in the book of Acts, chapter 17, verses 1 through 3. “Now when [Paul and Silas] had traveled through Amphipolis [AM-PHIP-AH-LIS] and Apollonia [APP-AH-LOAN-EE-UH], they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And according to Paul’s custom, he visited them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.’” RD: Essentially, Paul skipped two smaller towns on the Egnatian Way, Amphipolis and Apollonia, and made his next ministry stop after Philippi in Thessalonica – which we have said was a far more important city. Plus, it is quite likely that there may not have been a synagogue in either Amphipolis or Apollonia, so that would have limited Paul’s normal approach to preaching the gospel when he entered a new area. VK: And here that was Paul’s custom from the section of Acts. When Paul came to a new area he would start preaching the gospel at the local synagogue. Paul was a Jew so he would start at the place where it was most likely he would find people who would know the Jewish scriptures, our Old Testament, and with whom he had a natural bond. If Paul didn’t get a positive response from the Jews in the synagogue he would find a place to preach to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Then, he would stay, as long as it was profitable for him to be there. All too often the resentment of the local Jewish community would create problems for Paul and his new converts. That’s what happened here. In verses 5 and 6 from chapter 17 of Acts we hear, “But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and they attacked the house of Jason and were seeking to bring [Paul and Silas] out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; …” RD: Right. This little vignette that we get from Acts is actually very helpful in giving us insight into the content of the letters that Paul sent to the Thessalonians. So, let’s dig into that a bit. It doesn’t seem like Paul got to spend too much time in Thessalonica before he had to move on. Compare a time period that sounds like it was 2 to 3 months with the 18 months Paul spent in Corinth when he founded the church there and the nearly 3 years he spent in Ephesus. But the church he founded in Thessalonica continued on despite Paul’s limited time there. VK: Possibly because there were some influential people within Thessalonica who had begun to believe when they first heard the gospel. Acts, chapter 17, verse 4 tells us that “a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a significant number of the leading women” had become believers. RD: Quite possibly. I think that reference to “leading women” is particularly important. “Leading” in this context likely means influential, important, and rich. That’s a pretty good start for a church to have a group of influential and wealthy women who have discovered the truth. They would not be easily pushed aside or dissuaded. And, oddly enough, the fact that the Thessalonian church included a large number of wealthy and influential women may give us an interesting clue into one of the primary subjects that Paul addressed in his letters to the Thessalonians. VK: An interesting clue huh? I can’t wait to see where you’re going with this. RD: Yes. It’s sanctified imagination time. A couple of times in this “Paul’s Places” series we’ve mentioned that we can learn more and understand better the content of Paul’s letters, his epistles, if we not only study the individual letters themselves but also look across the letters to see where they compare and contrast. Well, we’ve noticed in the letters that we’ve covered so far that Paul has covered a wide variety of subjects. VK: He covered the relationship between the Jews and Gentiles both before and after Jesus’ coming in the letter to the Romans. Rome had a lot of both Jews and Gentiles in its congregation. He covered how to deal with sexual temptation in his letter to the Corinthians. The city of Corinth contained a temple to the Roman goddess Venus that employed as many as a 1,000 prostitutes. Sexual temptation was a real problem there. In his letter to the Colossians Paul was very emphatic that Jesus was superior to all other supposed gods, goddesses, and celestial powers. Colossae was located in a region that had worshipped the goddess Cybele that some thought had become an astral power. RD: Right. Up to this point we have seen that Paul covered a wide variety of subjects in his letters along with a continuous emphasis on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies contained in the Old Testament, which were the Jewish scriptures, about the Messiah. Evidently part of Paul’s evangelistic strategy was to start out by proclaiming that the Messiah had come and that this meant that the major event necessary for redemptive history to proceed to its conclusion had been completed. VK: The New Geneva Study Bible’s introductory section on 1 Thessalonians says this. “… the Thessalonian letters, Paul’s preaching at Athens, recorded in Acts 17, confirms that [Paul’s] strategy among non-Jewish audiences at this time was to stress the coming judgment that God has placed in the hands of the risen Christ.” RD: And, of course, that makes sense. With Jewish audiences Paul had a point of connection that he did not have with non-Jewish audiences. With Jewish audiences Paul could refer to their scriptures which, for most of his listeners, were in the form of the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. But with non-Jewish audiences referring to the Septuagint would have been meaningless. Even if they had a copy they would have had little or no familiarity with its content. But one place Paul could start his evangelistic message was with the fact that all human beings have an innate sense of right and wrong and that the fact that we all know we have done things that are wrong means that someday we are going to face judgment. VK: But, naturally, at the same time that Paul confirmed his audiences fears about the coming judgment he gave them the good news that anyone who placed their trust in Jesus, the Messiah who had come, would have no reason to fear that judgment. The consequences of judgement for those who believed in Christ had already been placed on Christ. Believers, therefore, need have no fear of judgment. Jesus has been judged in our place. We can look forward to eternal life because he paid the penalty for our sin. RD: Amen. And Paul covers this good news in one way or another in every one of his letters. But among all the other subjects we have seen that Paul has covered there is one very obvious subject that we have not mentioned because, surprisingly enough, it is only covered in depth in 1 and 2 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians. VK: And that subject is? RD: The question of the order and timing of when judgment and our own resurrection will occur. Think about it. A man has just told you about this prophet in Judea that preached about the kingdom of heaven, claimed he was God in the flesh, and performed miracles to validate his claim. Then that prophet was killed by the Romans … VK: And everybody in Paul’s day knew that the Romans were very good at executing people they thought were criminals ... RD: … and they knew how they executed them. But then you hear that the prophet who said He was the Son of God didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead by His own power, appeared to hundreds of people for a period of 40 days, and then ascended back into heaven. And you are told that someday this prophet is coming back to earth to judge everyone who has ever lived. That whole message is startling and amazing so naturally you have questions. So, what is the first question most people would ask when they hear the prophet is coming back? VK: When. I would want to know when the prophet is coming back. And I would want to know how I’ll be able to recognize that we’re getting close to that time. RD: Exactly. But the only place in his many letters when Paul spends much time on the question of the how and when of Jesus’ return is in 1 and 2 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians. Well, one reason this question seems to have been particularly important to the Thessalonians is that evidently between Paul’s time with them around late 50 or early 51 AD and when he wrote 1 Thessalonians, a number of the Thessalonian believers had died. And evidently the question of what would happen to believers who had died before Christ’s return had become important in the Thessalonian church. Evidently, after Paul left them someone inside or outside the church had started circulating the idea that believers who were still alive when Christ returns would get better treatment than those who had died. So, remember what we said about the church at Thessalonica having started with a number of the “leading women.” VK: Oh. I see where you’re going with this line of thinking. You’re thinking that it would be quite common for wealthy, influential women to be, shall we say, more mature. Or said plainly – a lot of years often pass before people acquire substantial amounts of money, influence, or wisdom. Not always – but it’s certainly not uncommon. RD: And what do older women have? VK: Older husbands. And we all know it’s very common for men not to live as long as women. So, it’s not a stretch to think that some of the concern about the treatment of dead believers may have arisen among some of the older women who had helped found the church. That actually makes good sense. Those women had been early converts. And even though Paul had only been gone from Thessalonica for a year or two before he wrote 1 Thessalonians it’s easily possible some of those early converts had already experienced the loss of the most important person in their life. Naturally, they would want to be sure that if Jesus came back before they died that they would be reunited with their lost loved one. Grief has a way of bringing certain questions into sharp relief. Wow. You don’t think about that when you read those epistles. To us these are letters long dated and established. But when Paul was writing to the Thessalonian church he may very well have been writing to a church where some of his first converts had only recently become widows. RD: The question of the timing of Jesus’ return gets sensationalized in our day and time. There are countless books, movies, and TV dramas that have contemplated the question in one form or another. But we know with absolute certainty that 2,000 years will have elapsed between Jesus’ first and second coming. VK: But those 1st century believers had no way of knowing that. For all they knew it might have been just a matter of a few decades that would elapse. So, to a widow in Thessalonica who had just lost her life partner the question of the treatment of a dead believer would have had a great sense of immediacy. RD: Yep. And remember that those 1st century believers not only didn’t have the benefit of our 2,000 years of hindsight but they also didn’t have any easily accessible resources to get answers to their questions. So, when Paul sent them a letter that said in effect, “don’t worry. If your husband or wife has just died they will also be raised to new life when Jesus comes” that would have been like eating cold watermelon on a hot day. VK: Yes. I recognize that line from your book The Prodigal’s Advocate. RD: Well, for anyone who wants to deepen their faith or help someone else find theirs The Prodigal’s Advocate is a great resource. At any rate, wanting to know how and when Christ will return is still a subject of interest in our day and age. And it would have been a natural question for Paul’s first converts. In a way it is remarkable that after Paul wrote the letters to the Thessalonians Paul only spent much time addressing the question in 1 Corinthians. VK: Well, as we’ve noted 1 and 2 Thessalonians are quite possibly Paul’s earliest epistles that have been preserved. It may be that as Paul moved through his ministry career he began covering Christ’s return so thoroughly in person he no longer had to spend much time on it in his written correspondence. RD: And that is actually a very important observation. One of the topics that Paul does cover in 1 Thessalonians is the divinity of Christ. Paul strongly affirms Christ’s divinity in 1 Thessalonians. So, this tells us that the doctrine that Christ is both fully divine as well as fully human was not a much later development in the Christian faith as is sometimes alleged. Right from the beginning the earliest Christians knew that Jesus was “God in the flesh.” And the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead is also addressed in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. VK: Those verses say, “But we ought always to thank God for you, … because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you … that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” RD: This demonstrates that rather than such doctrines as dual nature of Christ and the Trinitarian nature of God were well understood from the earliest days of Christianity. Critics will sometimes allege that the belief that Christ was truly God was a later addition to the Christian faith. The critics will assert something like “Christ was a good man and a great teacher but he never claimed to be God.” But as C.S. Lewis pointed out in his well-known discussion of “Lord, liar, or lunatic,” that kind of assertion is just silly. Anyone who reads the gospels carefully knows that Jesus quite clearly claimed to be God and to possess prerogatives that only God possesses such as the authority to forgive sins. So, as Lewis noted any man who believes he is God may be a liar trying to deceive others or he might be a lunatic who is simply crazy. But neither a liar nor a lunatic should be considered a “good man or a great teacher.” But if Jesus is who He claimed to be, God incarnate, then the only appropriate response is to fall on our knees in abject awe and worship Him. VK: Well, that’s a good place to end for today. Again, this “Paul’s Places” series is all about helping people see more clearly that the Pauline epistles, the letters contained in the New Testament written by the Apostle Paul, are exactly what they claim to be. They are letters written by one of Christianity’s first evangelical preachers to convey important truths to those who had begun to place their trust in Jesus. Those letters most certainly assert Christ’s divinity but far from that assertion being some kind of myth it is backed up by solid historical evidence and testimony. Paul’s letters are not only spiritually informative but historically accurate and reliable. The critics who assert that the divinity of Christ was a legendary attribute added hundreds of years after Christ’s death simply do not have truth or evidence on their side. Paul’s letters fit perfectly into an inspired, inerrant, and infallible scripture. Let’s close with prayer as we always do. Today let’s listen to a prayer for our young children and let’s always remember that if we do not train them up in the word of the Lord others will train them up in the way of the world. ---- PRAYER FOR YOUNG CHILDREN VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Opening Bible Quotes from the Good News Translation) Philippians, chapter 1, verses 18 thru 20, Good News Translation paultanner.org/English Docs/SpecialArt/Pauline Chronology.pdf
