Second Thessalonians: Introduction-Origin, Destination and Date of Second Thessalonians

The city of Thessalonica belonged to the Roman province of Macedonia, which lay on the Balkan peninsula north of Greece, south of Illyria and Thrace, and East of Epirus.

Its territory included Haliacmon and Axius rivers and their tributaries, which flow southeast to the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.

Most of the country is mountainous, cut by great river valleys, and remote from the sea.

Unlike peninsular Greece, its climate is much more eastern European than Mediterranean, with summer and winter rains, severe winters, and very hot summers.

This makes it suitable for most horses, cattle, sheep, cereals, and European fruits, but not for olives or figs.

It is very important that we understand the background of the city of Thessalonica in order to understand this city’s inhabitants.

As we noted, it was located in Macedonia and was the largest and most important city in the Roman province of Macedonia, which was divided in four regions with Thessalonica was the capital city of this region.

It was also located along the Via Egnatia and as a port city on the Aegean Sea, which thus made it strategic for trade.

During the first century A.D., Thessalonica was inhabited by Greeks, Romans, Jews and a Christian population which was growing (Acts 17:4-5).

Ben Witherington writes “The city’s location was excellent, at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, which provided one of the best harbors in the Aegean Sea. The city was also on a major trade route running north to south and so was of military as well as commercial importance. ‘It was the key to the whole of Macedonia.’ It is not a surprise that the poet Antipater in the first century b.c. called the city ‘the mother of all Macedonia’ (Anthologia Palatina4.428). Cicero was impressed enough by his time in Thessalonike to say that the city’s inhabitants were ‘lying in the lap of the Roman Empire’ (De Provinciis Consularibus 2).”[1]

Thessalonica rapidly became populous and wealthy.

In the war between Perseus and the Romans it appears as the headquarters of the Macedonian navy and when, after the battle of Pydna (168 BC), the Romans divided the conquered territory into four districts, it became the capital of the second of these, while later, after the organization of the single Roman province of Macedonia in 146 BC, it was the seat of the governor and thus practically the capital of the whole province.

In 58 BC Cicero spent the greater part of his exile there, at the house of the quaestor Plancius.

In the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Thessalonica took the senatorial side and formed one of Pompey's chief bases (49-48 BC), but in the final struggle of the republic, six years later, it proved loyal to Antony and Octavian, and was rewarded by receiving the status and privileges of a ‘free city’.

Strabo, writing in the reign of Augustus, speaks of it as the most populous town in Macedonia and the metropolis of the province, and about the same time the poet Antipater, himself a native of Thessalonica, refers to the city as ‘mother of all Macedon’; in the second century of our era Lucian mentions it as the greatest city of Macedonia.

It was important, not only as a harbor with a large import and export trade, but also as the principal station on the great Via Egnatia, the highway from the Adriatic to the Hellespont.

The city of Thessalonica served as the junction of major land and sea trade routes which included Via Egnatia, which was one of the Roman Empire’s major east-west highways.

The city still remains an important port in Greece.

Acts 17 and 18 present evidence which indicates that Paul wrote First Thessalonians from the city of Corinth between 49-52 A.D. and sometime after planting the church in Thessalonica.

This is indicated by the fact that Paul mentions Timothy rejoining him at Corinth from Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:1-2, 6; cf. Acts 17:13-15; 18:1, 5).

While in Corinth, Paul appeared before the proconsul Gallio (Acts 18:1-7) whose reign as proconsul was between 51-52 or 52-53 according to Fee (Thessalonians).

Corinth was an influential Graeco-Roman city in the Peloponnesus where Paul spent 18 months on his second missionary journey.

The church at Corinth was the recipient of two canonical Pauline works, namely First and Second Corinthians.

Corinth was about 48 miles west of Athens and was founded by Dorian Greeks in the tenth century B.C. and had established colonies at Corfu and Syracuse (Sicily) by the eighth century B.C. Corinth was destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C.

It was rebuilt about a century afterwards and was populated by a colony of freedmen from Rome.

In 44 B.C. Julius Caesar undertook to refound the city name it Colonia Laus Julia Corinthiensis.

Thus, it was a fairly new city in the days of Paul.

It was the third-largest city of the Roman Empire.

Under the Romans, Corinth became the seat of government for Southern Greece or Achaia (Acts 18:12-16).

During this time, the city was well-known for its wealth as well as for the immoral and vicious habits of its people.

It had a large population which was composed of Romans, Greeks as well as Jews.

As we noted in our study of First Thessalonians, this epistle was written in approximately 49 A.D. shortly after Paul’s arrival in Corinth (Acts 17:1-10; 18:1).

This indicated is indicated by comparing Acts 18:1-17 with ancient secular inscriptions.

The former mentions Paul in Corinth meeting a man named Gallio who was said to be the proconsul of Achaia.

The latter mentions this man’s proconsulate in Corinth.

Most conservative scholars date First Thessalonians between 50-54 A.D. which would make this epistle one of the earliest of Paul’s inspired writings.

Now, if one accepts the accuracy of the Acts account, it appears therefore that Second Thessalonians must have been written during Paul’s stay in Corinth because he, Silvanus and Timothy were together after that according to the accounts in the New Testament.

The contents of Second Thessalonians reveal that the conditions in Thessalonica are the same as described in the contents of First Thessalonians.

Therefore, this would indicate that Second Thessalonians was sent within a year of First Thessalonians or more than likely, the former was sent even within months of the latter.

D.E. Hiebert writes “The date assigned to 2 Thessalonians will depend upon the time interval assumed between the two epistles. This has variously been given as being only a few days to a whole year. Either suggestion seems extreme. It is generally accepted that some two or three months elapsed between the writing of the two letters. Then, in harmony with our dating of the first epistle, 2 Thessalonians may be dated in the fall or early winter of either a.d. 50 or 51.”[2]

[1] Witherington, B., III. (2006). 1 and 2 Thessalonians: a socio-rhetorical commentary(p. 2). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [2] Hiebert, D. E. (1996). 1 & 2 Thessalonians(Revised Edition, p. 292). Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books.