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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 |
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ἀπεκδέχομαι τό λοιπόν.
Ja.. ich auch!
Clearly the same person wrote both in similar contexts. Is that a revolutionary deduction? Umm – no!
True… but I wonder if there’s even more to it than that – a few things provoke me to wonder:
- there are terms and phrases that are strikingly similar, in similar contexts (and which don’t appear elsewhere in Paul)
- No other NT letter follows this pattern of topics (apart from the “ethical” section)
- Certain themes are covered in both of these letters, but nowhere else in Paul (eg. the problem of those who have ‘fallen asleep’ in relation to those who are still alive at the time of the eschaton)
So what am I saying? That one is a copy of the other? No; I’m simply wondering whether Paul followed the usual convention of keeping professionally-made copies of his own dispatched letters; and – again, as was the practice of contemporary letter writers such as Seneca – made use of his prior material in subsequent letters. 1 Thessalonians was probably written from Corinth; and it’s possible that Paul revisited this letter when engaging with the Corinthians via letter 5 years later.
Of course, this is by no means certain – but perhaps it’s worth pondering…
I think it means that these two letters were not written by Paul, but were written by Timothy!
Actually, I don’t think that, but I found the post, and your subsequent comment, to be quite interesting.
…Hmm… we could call that “The Timothean Hypothesis” and all of a sudden it sounds respectable!
Of course, one major difference between the two letters is the tone – in pretty much every issue, Paul is commending and encouraging/comforting the Thessalonians; but chiding and correcting the Corinthians. So I wonder if 1 Thessalonians might be thought of as a letter to a church that was, in Paul’s view, largely maintaining his gospel & ethics; while 1 Corinthians might be thought of as a letter following a similar pattern but addressed to a church that was, in Paul’s view, significantly departing from his gospel & ethics.
For example:
- The Thessalonians recognise the Pauline gospel as God’s word rather than human words; the Corinthians are more interested in human words.
- The Thessalonians are pursuing love of one another, and need to continue; the Corinthians are trying to compete with each other, and need to learn cruciform love (thus this section in 1 Cor is significantly longer – several chapters)
- The Thessalonians are grieved over those who have fallen asleep and need to be assured; the Corinthians are proud and disdainful, and need to be convinced.
It occurred to me that Paul’s non-extant previous letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:9) might have been more or less a copy of 1 Thessalonians, which he deliberately echoed when writing the extant letter. I’m not sure how that fits in with dating ideas.
matt, this is awesome… and exactly what i want to be reading on a 1 cor PhD dude’s blog…
p.s. tag http://www.theologer.com/2008/10/big-sin-meme.html
Peter: That’s an interesting thought – I have been wondering about that previous letter, but hadn’t considered a similar connection to 1 Thessalonians.
Roger: Ooh bold meme… I’ll get onto it soon… if I dare!