2 Thessalonians background

2 Thessalonians

Author: Paul
[See Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; Book 3, Chapter 25, Verse 2.]

Date: Possibly 51 (1)

Language: Greek

Place: Writing from Corinth

Purpose: Some people thought Christ's Second Coming was imminent, thus they quit their occupations. Paul tells them to carry on with work.

What kind of book?: Letter re: a certain occasion

Reflection: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father"(Matthew 24:36 NIV).
Yet there is consistently someone who gets notoriety for stating that the time will be during this year or that. Yes, I think the ripeness of the fig tree for the conclusion of the `last days' (not the end times) was evident with the Holocaust. Six million people were murdered, a horror beyond human comprehension. Yet remember that a thousand years is like a day for God, thus it is trying to play God by pinpointing the time of his Second Coming.
Hunter Irvine
(1) J.B. Phillips, Letters To Young Churches (New York: The Macmillian Company, 1947).