Hello everyone,
I am wondering why Acts 28 people consent to the widely held idea of 1st Thessalonians as an early letter by Paul. Chapter 2:16 indicates the great dispensational event of Acts 28:25-28 had already taken place when this letter was written. There are no sign gifts in 1st Thessalonians as in Romans, Corinthians and Galatians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians are grouped in our Bibles with the other post-Acts letters between Colossians and 1st Timothy. First Thessalonians 4:13-18 had to be written after 1st Corinthians because, according to Paul, the mystery of many being changed without dying was first made known by him in 1st Cor. 15:51. Thus, 1st Thes. 4:13-18 could not have been written before Paul said "behold, I show you a mystery" and made that mystery known by writing about it in 1st Cor. 15. Further, Paul's "but now" in 1st Thes. 3:6 easily reads as years later after the many other things remembered by Paul in the letter and Timothy's report in this verse that they "always" (i.e., at the various times Timothy had visited them) remembered Paul and desired to see him fits well with a later writing. It also seems to me that 1st Thes. 1:8 says way too much for the letter to have been written soon after Paul had first been there. They also seem to know far too much for such a short time as is so widely thought and there are difficulties in squaring Timothy at Athens in Acts 17 with 1st Thes. 3:1,2. I can understand most students following the almost universally held idea of an early date for Thessalonians but I am wondering why people of a post-Acts persuasion have not seemed to notice these things and have not challenged the commonly held idea of an early date for the Thessalonian letters. What am I missing?
Art |
