Iii. The Occasion And Place Of Writing
III. THE OCCASION AND PLACE OF WRITING
In comparison with all the later Pauline letters, 1 Thessalonians has two remarkable features not found in any of the others. First, whereas most of the other letters begin with an opening thanksgiving and prayer report, in this letter that material extends through chapter 3, and thus covers nearly 60 percent of the entire letter — although the majority of this material does not technically belong to these two matters. Put another way, the thanksgiving, which begins in the “normal way” at 1:3, shows no clear evidence of coming to a full stop along the way, as thanksgiving for past relationships (apparently) spins off into a long narrative regarding the history of that relationship, before it concludes with a prayer report in 3:11-13. In later letters, when a prayer report occurs, it does so immediately after the thanksgiving report.
Second, the greater part of this letter — all but 4:13-18 — reflects a return to issues that Paul had previously spoken to when he was present among them. Thus the letter is full of information that is either reminding them of what they had already been taught or reinforcing what they already know. Indeed, there are no fewer than eleven “you already know” kinds of reminders in this letter (1:5; 2:1 [2x], 5, 9, 10, 11; 3:3-4; 4:2, 9; 5:1), and in two of these instances (4:9 and 5:1) he insists that he has “no need to write.” Yet he writes anyway! So the “why” question simply must be dealt with, especially since Timothy has returned with what appears to have been an essentially good report about them.
Trying to answer the “why” question is what leads one to a proposed occasion for the letter. A careful reading of 1 Thessalonians causes several matters to emerge. First, the majority part of the “recall” language is to remind them of his earlier time among them, where two matters stand out: their conversion and his manner of life while among them. Second, his and his companions’ hasty departure from the city had led to some obvious anxiety about the Thessalonians in the meantime. The reasons for his anxiety are three: (a) From Paul’s point of view, he had left Thessalonica before his work there had been brought to its proper conclusion, especially his concern to see them fully established in Christ. The hint of this emerges in 2:17 (“we were torn away from you for a short time”). (b) Meanwhile, evidence from 2:14-16 indicates that they had become a suffering community, which 1:6 implies was there from the beginning. The cause of the “suffering” in this case is related to some form of persecution. (c) These two matters become for Paul matters of some anxiety, based almost certainly on his sudden departure from them (“we were orphaned”! [2:17]), his subsequent inability to return, and their own persecution. Indeed, this latter item joins the first two, not only to fuel the arguments from the opposition but also to increase his own level of anxiety about them.
The letter itself was thus written on the return of Timothy from Thessalonica and his essentially good report about them as a community of believers. At the same time three matters need to be spoken to, which ultimately accounts for the letter: a question related to the sanctity of the marriage bed; the refusal to work by some who were able to, but chose rather to live off the largesse of others; and questions about the nature and timing of the Lord’s return. These issues, besides being addressed directly, seem also to be summarized at the end by the “staccato” imperatives of 5:14.
The place of writing the letter was certainly Corinth. The evidence for this comes from the mention of Athens in 3:1-2, where the implication of the reference is that Paul had waited in Athens but was no longer there; and since, according to the account in Acts, Corinth was not only the next city he visited, but it was also the first one where he stayed for a considerable length of time (18 months, according to Acts 18:11), this seems the most likely place for him to have written back to the Thessalonians.