Morna Hooker: Introducing Paul, part 2b - 1 Thessalonians

Paul’s pretty tactful in his ethical exhortations. He talks about sanctification, which is a very Jewish theme. He starts out by talking about what the Thessalonians shouldn’t do i.e. sexual immorality, i.e. the pagan sexual behaviour they were into until recently. Interestingly, Paul encourages the Thessalonians to ‘live quietly’ - not exactly what he did while in Thessalonica, but he’s special, right? He encourages them to work with their hands which maybe suggests that they were all so excited about their new faith that they were sitting round chatting theology rather than going to work.

Some of the Thessalonians have died already and they’re a bit worried about this – clearly Paul hasn’t had a chance to talk to them about death yet. One of the big Paul debates is about whether Paul was expecting Jesus to come back at any moment (instead of in, say, 2,000 years and counting), and this bit suggests that he might. He plays down the significance of death because it’s not final, and he clearly imagines the believers being with Jesus in some sense even after their death.

In chapter 5, Paul returns to ethics. There’s another summary of the gospel message. Paul likes saying that God and/or Christ did something in order that something might happen to believers – in this case, life. What does it mean that Christ died for us? It can’t be a straightforward substitution (he died, we live), because Paul say we live with Christ.

The final section of 1 Thessalonians offers some general ethical advice. Paul refers to particular people who, while without official titles, are clearly leaders in the Thessalonian community. This probably refers to these leaders. Paul ends with a nice summary of the letter’s theme in 5:23:

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.