Key Facts:

1. Paul is second only to Jesus in his contribution to the development of Christianity.

2. Paul is the first great interpreter of the life and teaching of Jesus.

1. Eschatology:

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have ushered in a NEW AGE. Jesus will soon return to deliver the faithful.

2. The Centrality & Preeminence of Jesus; For Paul, Jesus is:

a) God’s revealed wisdom

b) the divine Lord through whom God rules

3. CHRIST IS THE NEW SYMBOL FOR HUMANITY; ADAM IS THE OLD SYMBOL.

CHRIST REPRESENTS THE NEW COVENANT; ADAM THE OLD COVENANT.

4. The faithful as Christ’s body.

5. Christ as the liberator from sin, Torah, and death: freedom in Christ means deliverance from the old order of sin, punishment, redemption and the Jewish Law.

6. Christ’s universal sufficiency: "one way" to salvation; no other religions!!!

7. Justification by Faith: a person is "made right only through faith in Jesus = "faith over works."

8. Paul’s views profoundly shape the future of Christian thought!

• One of the most powerful ideas in history; provides the philosophical underpinnings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Characteristics:

1. The Divine is separated in terms of "being" from the creation (earth, human activity) - the source of being is "outside" human experience; God does control the course of human history.

Characteristics:

2. Usually, earthly existence is seen as inferior or, at best, a stage to prepare humans for their eternal reward or punishment; some interpretations see the Earth as Satan’s realm; the "wilderness."

Characteristics:

3. Nature is devalued; a meer prop for the Divine plan; "man" has dominion over the "dead matter" of nature; sets up a manipulative, exploitive attitude towards the natural environment.

Characteristics:

4. In the apocalyptic view, human existence becomes the stage for the great cosmic battle between the forces of good (Heaven, God, Christ) and the forces of evil (Earth, anti-Christ, Satan, body).

1. GREEK PHILOSOPHY

a. material realm

b. spiritual realm

2. Jewish apocalyptic thinking:

a. forces of Good (Christ)

b. forces of evil (anti-Christ)

Opening - 1:1

Thanksgiving - 1:2 - 3:13

Main Body - 4:1 - 5:11

a) exhortations - 4: 1-12

b) teaching section - 4:13 - 5:11

c) Eskaton concerns - 5:1

Exhortations - 5:12-22

Closing - 5:23-28

Central Issue:

• 2 Thess. Repeats many of the same phrases as 1 Thess. Why?
• The somber tone of 2 Thess. Suggests that it was wrtten much later, after 70 c.e. Why didn’t the Parousia occur?