A Treatise Concerning a Possible Relationship Between the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians and the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, As Investigated by a Humble Sinner

Section	1 Thessalonians (NRSV, modified)	1 Corinthians (NRSV, modified)
Salutation	To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ	To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus
Thanksgiving	We always give thanks… remembering your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ	I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus… you are not lacking in any gift
Foundational Issue: The Gospel Message and its Impact	Our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit   Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts   You became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets….   We wanted to come to you… I sent to find out about you, and Timothy has now come and told us that you remember us	My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries….  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court….  It is the Lord who judges me… who will disclose the purposes of the heart Already you have all you want!  Already you have become rich!  Quite apart from us you have become kings!…  I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death… we labour, working with our own hands….  I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me I sent you Timothy, who will remind you of my ways… I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills
Ethical Exhortation, Following Paul’s Usual Ethical Flow	Abstain from sexual immorality;… control your own body [skeuos] in holiness and honour, not with lustful passion like the Gentiles;… Don’t be greedy or wrong a brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.  Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters…	It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among the Gentiles… Brother goes to court against brother!… The… greedy… will not inherit the kingdom of God Shun fornication!… Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God   Now concerning food sacrificed to idols… knowledge puffs up, but love builds up
The Gospel and the Plight of the Dead at the Eschaton	We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died….  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing	Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters…. Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died… as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ   For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed Therefore… be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord
Closing	Respect those who labour among you in the Lord The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you	Obey those who labour in the service of the saints The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you

From a College Window: On Academic Withdrawal

This morning I found myself at a little tucked-away display case at the University of Nottingham, in which were housed some of D.H. Lawrence’s draft poems, written while he was a student here.  One in particular caught my eye, reminding me of how comfortable it is to be on this side of the College window.  The later revised version was published in 1916, as follows:

From a College Window

The glimmer of the limes, sun-heavy, sleeping,
Goes trembling past me up the College wall.
Below, the lawn, in soft blue shade is keeping,
The daisy-froth quiescent, softly in thrall.

Beyond the leaves that overhang the street,
Along the flagged, clean pavement summer-white,
Passes the world with shadows at their feet
Going left and right.

Remote, although I hear the beggar’s cough,
See the woman’s twinkling fingers tend him a coin,
I sit absolved, assured I am better off
Beyond a world I never want to join.