THESSALONIANS, FIRST EPISTLE TO THE. The Apostle Paul visited the important city of Thessalonica and made converts there, especially among the Gentiles. He left Thessalonica and went to Athens (I. Thess. 1). Thence he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica (iii. 2), and Timothy rejoined him at Corinth (iii. 6; Acts xvii. 5). From Corinth, it would seem, was sent the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. It was written soon after his visit, but probably not until about six months had elapsed. It was written at a time when Paul believed that he himself might live to see the sudden realization of the Second Coming of Christ. He assures those to whom he writes that if this should happen in his and their lifetime, their friends who had already died would not be at a disadvantage. " The difficulty created with reference to the destiny of those members of the Church who had died before the Second Coming points to a very early stage in the history of the Thes salonian Church. The question must have been obsolete long before Paul's death. . . . The organisation is in
a rudimentary stage; we meet with no technical titles for the officials " (A. S. Peake). Prof. Peake thinks that " the Epistle must have been written in Paul's life time, and it may therefore be taken for granted that it was written by Paul himself." The external evidence for the Epistle is sufficiently adequate. It was included in the Canon of Marcion, and is found in the Muratorian Canon. Irenaeus definitely quotes it as one of the letters of Paul. It is included in the Syriac and Old Latin Versions. Naturally such an early letter differs in some respects from those that followed. But it contains, as Currie Martin says, " the germ of many ideas which were afterwards more fully developed in later communications of the Apostle." See R. J. Knowling, Witness; J. A. M'Clymont; G. Currie Martin; Arthur S. Peake, Intr.; J .Moffatt, Intr.