Author's Preface to the First Edition
When the first edition of this commentary appeared in 1959, it was introduced by Dr. Ned Stonehouse. Even then Dr. Morris was by no means unknown in the theological world. His great introduction to the doctrine of atonement, The Apostolic Teaching of the Cross, had been published in 1955, and he had already given evidence of his quality as a commentator on Thessalonians in the first edition of the Tyndale commentary on these epistles. Reviewing that commentary in The Expository Times for April 1957, Dr. Vincent Taylor expressed the wish that Dr. Morris had written "a full-scale commentary on the Greek text." If the NICNT commentary that appeared two years later was not exactly "on the Greek text," it was certainly "a full-scale commentary."
Since then Dr. Morris's literary output has continued to increase, combining high theological scholarship with rare readability. In addition to works on biblical doctrine and Christian faith and life, he has produced important commentaries on the Gospel of John (NICNT), on the Gospel of Luke (TNTC), 1 Corinthians (TNTC), and Revelation (TNTC).
This productivity has been maintained along with the demanding responsibilities of the Vice-Principalship of Ridley College, Melbourne (1954-59), the Wardenship of Tyndale House, Cambridge (1961-63), and the Principalship of Ridley College (1964-79). A well-earned retirement from public duties has meant no cessation of activity: his latest commentary, an impressive volume on Romans, won a Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association of America in 1989. By the spoken and written word, and not least by his personal leadership, Dr. Morris has proved himself a great contemporary Doctor of the Church.
This second edition of the Thessalonians commentary does not depart in any essential from the first edition. But Dr. Morris has given fresh and mature consideration to all the issues raised by these two primitive Christian documents. His revision takes account of nearly everything of relevance and significance that has been published during the past thirty years, not only exegetical works but also studies in early Christian sociology, such as those by R. E Hock and, outstandingly, A. J. Malherbe. Here, in short, we have a thoroughly up-to-date and reliable commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians for students in the 1990s, and indeed well into the twenty-first century.
The English text on which the first editions of many of the NICNT volumes were based was the American Standard Version (ARV) of 1901. Dr. Morris has, with good reason, chosen to use the NIV for this revised edition.
F. F. BRUCE