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Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Did First or Second Thessalonians get sent and received first?

from DICTIONARY OF Paul 

and his Letters (Second Edition : 2023)

Article by N.K. Gupta Page 1054 :

Because I Thessalonians was longer 

by words/size, not necessarily number

of chapters, the canonical ordering and

grouping is by pairing of the letters of

the same church together.

Argument in favor of placing 2 Thess.

as the earlier letter are:

mention of past persecution in First

Thess. could fit with the "present

persecution" mentioned in 2 Thess.

1:4 - 7.

problem of idle troublemaking is

explained in more detail in 2 Thess.

3:11 - 15 but almost taken for

granted in First Thess 4: 10 - 12.

The mention of Apostle Paul's

authenticating signature in all his

letters 2 Thess. 3:17 makes sense

as a future warning, with First Thess.

coming later.

when Paul mentions that the Thessalonians

need no further teaching (I Thess. 5:1),

this could be taken as a reference to his

instruction in 2 Thess. 2:1 - 12.

the teachings in I Thess. 4:9,13 and 5:1

("now about. . .") could be interpreted

as a reference to earlier instructions given

in 2 Thessalonians.


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