2 Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians.
§ 265. The occasion for the writing of 2 Thessalonians was this: Some of the Thessalonians were understanding what the apostle had written in c. 3-4 of the first Epistle regarding the immediate coming of Christ as if the Day of the Lord were already upon them. In this Epistle, the apostle wanted to resist this false opinion.
It consists of three chapters and the same number of parts. The first of these is of praising, in which the apostle commends the Thessalonians for their faith, love, constancy, and patience and offers them comfort for opposing persecutions. The second part is of correcting, in which he forewarns against the error that Christ’s coming would happen soon and teaches that the Antichrist must be revealed first. The third is of disciplining, in which he urges them toward Christian virtues.