Description: First and Second Thessalonians are the only two epistles of the Apostle Paul that mainly focus on eschatology, and in these twin epistles we get a glimpse of Paul’s definitive thoughts on what the Second Coming was originally thought to mean, when it was intended to happen, and what it was supposed to accomplish. By comparing and paralleling the teachings of Paul in the first of these epistles with what he describes in the second we are able to form a wholistic picture of an event firmly rooted in the contextual milieu of a Second Jewish Commonwealth civilization that was aggressively militant but on its way out—not by natural processes, but by a direct intervention against it hopes, ambitions, and plans by our risen Lord Jesus within the very lifetime of some who lived and suffered persecution in that Macedonian province so long ago. This essay entertains questions about what validity Paul’s expectations could have if they were his own thoughts and his erroneous ideas and not actually Holy Spirit inspired? What practical consequences would that possibility have for the truth claims of Christianity? This study also explores the attitudes of today’s Christians to any confessional insistance that the Second Coming of our Lord only belongs to the original century of the first Christians and how fallout from that confession reveals a deep ambilance about the truth and integrity of New Testament eschatology.
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