The Second Letter to the Thessalonians

The church. Thessalonica was a chief city of Roman Macedonia, a port on the Via Egnatia, the great road across the Balkans. Paul founded the church there about the year 50 and had to leave in a hurry (Acts 17:1 to 10). This letter is addressed to that same community as 1 Thessalonians, and it shares many expressions with it, some word for word.

Three troubles. The letter meets them in order. First, persecution: they are suffering from those outside, and they are enduring it with growing faith and love (1:3 to 5). Second, alarm: a spirit, a word or a letter "as though from us" was saying that the day of the Lord had already come (2:2). This may have come through a prophecy spoken in the assembly, or a forged letter. Third, idleness: some were "living in idleness, mere busybodies" (3:11). The letter does not say why. A common guess connects this with the rumours about the end, but this is only a guess.

A letter that protects itself. Paul ends with the mark of his own hand: "This is the mark in every letter of mine" (3:17). In the world of the time, a writer often dictated a letter to a scribe and added the last lines himself (compare 1 Cor 16:21; Gal 6:11; Phlm 19).

The Church's tradition. The letter names Paul and closes with his own greeting, and it was received as his from early times. St Irenaeus, in the second century, quotes it by name when he speaks of the Antichrist: "in the Second to the Thessalonians" (Against Heresies 3.7.2). The traditional view is that Paul wrote it shortly after the first letter, when the first had not settled every question or had even been misunderstood.

A scholarly note. Traditionally by Paul; some scholars think a later disciple wrote it in his name, perhaps in the last decades of the first century. They note a cooler tone than the first letter, close copying of its phrases, and a different emphasis: 1 Thessalonians says the day comes like a thief, while this letter lists things that must come first. Others answer that these are two sides of one teaching, as they are in Mark 13, and that the situation had changed. Scholars remain divided. The New American Bible's introduction reports both views. Whichever is correct, the Church receives this letter as inspired Scripture (Dei Verbum 11), and it must be read in the light of the first letter and of the whole Bible.

• Do not be shaken. The letter's first word about the end is a word against panic (2:1 to 2). Anyone who announces a date, or that the last days have definitely arrived, should be tested against this letter. "Let no one deceive you in any way" (2:3).
• What must come first. The rebellion and "the lawless one", who sets himself in God's place (2:3 to 4). Benedict XVI notes that tradition later called this figure the Antichrist (12 November 2008). The Catechism teaches that before Christ's coming the Church must pass through a final trial, and that the supreme deception is one by which man glorifies himself in place of God (675). The letter's main point is his defeat: the Lord Jesus destroys him "with the breath of his mouth" (2:8). The "mystery of lawlessness" (2:7) is real, but it is not the last word (Catechism 385). Nothing here allows us to name a living person as the Antichrist, or to fix a time.
• What holds him back. "You know what is now restraining him" (2:6). They knew; we do not. St Augustine says plainly, "I frankly confess I do not know what he means" (City of God 20.19, Dods translation), and goes on to list what others had guessed. Some said the Roman Empire. Others have said angelic powers, or the preaching of the gospel, which must first reach all nations (Mark 13:10). The Church has not defined it. Honest uncertainty here is the right spirit.
• God's justice. God will give relief to the afflicted and will judge those who oppress them (1:6 to 9). This is meant as comfort for the persecuted, and not as a licence for Christians to hate or to take revenge; judgment belongs to God. The Last Judgment calls all to conversion while there is still time (Catechism 1041), and God wills that no one should perish (Catechism 1037).
• Tradition, spoken and written. "Hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter" (2:15). The Second Vatican Council cites this verse when it teaches how the apostolic preaching is handed on (Dei Verbum 8; see Catechism 76 to 83). Note the contrast: a false letter on one side (2:2), and the apostolic teaching on the other.
• Work is a duty. Paul earned his keep (3:7 to 9). "Anyone unwilling to work should not eat" (3:10). The Catechism quotes it: work honours the Creator's gifts (2427). Notice the word: unwilling, not unable. The verse is about those who could work and choose to live on others. It gives no ground for neglecting the sick, the jobless or the poor, and the very next counsel is "do not be weary in doing what is right" (3:13).
• Waiting and working. Benedict XVI draws this out: expecting Christ's return does not dispense us from working in this world; it increases our responsibility. Discipline in the community is for healing: "do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers" (3:15).
• Prayer. Paul prays for them (1:11 to 12; Catechism 2636) and asks for their prayer in turn (3:1 to 2), so that the word of the Lord may spread.

• The Lord who comes in glory. He "is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels" (1:7) and comes "to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at" (1:10; Catechism 1041). For believers that day is one of wonder.
• The one who defeats evil without effort. The lawless one, with all his signs, is undone by a breath of his mouth and by the very appearance of his coming (2:8).
• The Lord, with the Father. Grace comes from God our Father "and the Lord Jesus Christ" (1:2). In 2:16 to 17 Paul names "our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father" together, as the one source of comfort and strength.
• The Lord of peace. The letter that begins with persecution and alarm ends with this: the Lord of peace himself give you peace, "at all times in all ways" (3:16).

The Catechism. The mystery of lawlessness, 385; the final trial, 675; the Last Judgment, 1041; work, 2427; intercession, 2636. On Tradition, 76 to 83.

Dei Verbum. Article 8 cites 2 Thess 2:15: the apostles warn the faithful to hold fast to the traditions they have learned by word of mouth or by letter.

The Fathers, in substance. St Irenaeus uses the letter on the Antichrist and names it (Against Heresies 3.7.2). St Augustine, in City of God 20.19, reports what people guessed about the restrainer and refuses to choose, while holding firmly that Christ will come and that the deceiver will be defeated.

Benedict XVI. On 12 November 2008 he contrasts the two letters: the first with its consoling message; the second warning believers not to be agitated, and to go on working. He notes how the Christian waits with responsibility.

In the liturgy.

• Latin. The Thirty-first to Thirty-third Sundays in Ordinary Time of Year C read 1:11 to 2:2, 2:16 to 3:5 and 3:7 to 12. It is also read on weekdays of the Twenty-first Week in Year II.
• Syro-Malankara. In the calendars we examined, 2 Thess 3:6 to 15 and 3:16 to 18 on weekdays, at the Holy Qurbono.
• Syro-Malabar. In the calendars we examined, 2 Thess 3:6 to 15 on the Third Sunday of the Dedication of the Church; 2:13 to 17 and 1:3 to 10 in the season of the Apostles; 3:1 to 5 on a weekday of Denha.

It takes about five minutes. Read 1 Thessalonians first if you can, then this one. Then three days:

• Day 1: chapter 1. What suffering do you need to hand over to God's justice?
• Day 2: chapter 2. Do not try to decode it. Hold on to 2:8 and 2:15.
• Day 3: chapter 3. Is there a piece of work you have been putting off? Do it today, and pray 3:16.