Who wrote 2 Thessalonians:
While scholars nearly unanimously agree Paul, with the assistance of Silas and Timothy, wrote 1 Thessalonians, the same cannot be said about 2 Thessalonians. Many critical scholars point to the writing style, vocabulary, and structure of 2 Thessalonians as evidence the book is a forgery, dated shortly after the end of the first century.
Oddly enough, scholars do not suggest the writing style, vocabulary and structure of 2 Thessalonians is too different from 1 Thessalonians to have been written by the same author. Instead, they suggest it is too similar. Arguing 2 Thessalonians must have been crafted by an anonymous author 50 years after the death of Paul, using 1 Thessalonians as a guide.
To determine whether or not 2 Thessalonians is a fraud, we should consider the motive of the two proposed authors: Paul in 51 A.D., or an anonymous author in the early second century:
Motive of Paul to write 2 Thessalonians:
Thessalonica was a thriving economic powerhouse of Macedonia. Pagan beliefs and traditions dominated private and political life. The political leaders of Thessalonica honored the imperial cult of Rome to maintain good relations with the empire.
The preaching of the Gospel in Thessalonica by Paul, Silas, and Timothy in 48 A.D. was perceived as a threat to the pagan way of life and led to many arrests. After converting a great number of people and establishing a church, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were forced to leave Thessalonica or potentially cause the death of their new followers.
Shortly after leaving, Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica to check on the status of the new church. Timothy returned to Paul with very positive news. Despite increased persecution, the church in Thessalonica was growing. However, the church had some questions regarding the return of Christ and the Day of the Lord.
Pleased with this news, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica with a letter (known as 1 Thessalonians) praising them for their faith and addressing their questions. Upon Timothy’s return to Paul, he reported some of the members of the church in Thessalonica were so certain of Christ’s immediate return they quit their Jobs to await his coming.
Paul then wrote a second letter (2 Thessalonians) for Timothy to deliver clarifying the coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord, stressing that they not become lazy.
Motive of an anonymous author to write 2 Thessalonians:
The motive of an anonymous author of 2 Thessalonians is difficult to assess. Clearly, if the letter is not legitimate, the author meant for people to believe the letter was legitimate. Repeatedly, the author identifies himself as Paul. The author addressed the same audience as 1 Thessalonians. The author even created a believable reason for Paul to write 2 Thessalonians. The author’s desire to pass the letter as being from Paul suggests the author’s motive must have been one of the following:
- To pass a controversial theological belief as being endorsed by Paul.
- To introduce a new theological belief using Paul’s name as a Trojan-horse.
- To discredit the church by deceptively causing them to canonizing a forged document.
The last of the potential motives seems unlikely as the author left us no ability to clearly identify the letter as being a fake. If the author meant to discredit the church he would have made some attempt to reveal (or allow someone to discover) the letter as a forgery.
This leaves us with the first and second potential motives. The problem with these motives is the length of 2 Thessalonians. The letter only consists of 3 chapters. The only theological issue addressed within these chapters is regarding the return of Christ and the Day of the Lord. However, if this letter was created in the early second century (as proponents of the anonymous author theory suggest) these issues were already addressed in the book of Revelation. The teachings presented within 2 Thessalonians regarding the return of Christ and Day of the Lord are the same as what is found in the book of Revelation. Nothing new and controversial is presented in 2 Thessalonians.
The motive of an anonymous author of 2 Thessalonians is very unclear. No person, group, religion, or belief, would have benefited from this forgery. Meaning, while one cannot prove 2 Thessalonians was not written by an anonymous author in the early second century, one must conclude this theory is very unlikely to be true. Therefore, unless we can find a believable reason for someone other than Paul to create this letter, we must conclude Paul, with the assistance of Silas and Timothy, is the most likely author of 2 Thessalonians.