In our quest to ascertain whether the situations underlying 1 and 2 Thessalonians are compatible, we have first turned our attention to 1 Thessalonians and specifically the eschatological section of the letter, 4:13–5:11. The hypothesis we formulated concerning the eschatological problems underlying 1 Thess. 4:13–5:11 must, of course, satisfactorily accommodate the data from the rest of the letter. In this chapter we shall examine the remainder of 1 Thessalonians to see whether and how it confirms and develops or contradicts our conclusions regarding the situation reflected in 4:13–5:11.

Specific features of the text confirming our hypothesis regarding the eschatological situation

1 Thess. 1:10b and c

In verse 10b and c there is a notable shift from the Greeks' report concerning events at Thessalonica (verses 9–10a) to dogmatic statements relating to the eschaton, the second-person plural being replaced by the first-person plural. It is worth asking why. Although many claim that verses 9–10 constitute a largely pre-formed, ‘pre-Pauline’ Jewish-Christian or Christianised Jewish tradition, whether missionary sermon, baptismal hymn or credal statement, this claim is built on weak foundations, as Hooker has demonstrated. She rightly concludes, ‘There are one or two unusual phrases, one unique verb – but any passage in Paul could easily provide as many oddities. The Pauline material we have available is too scanty for us to be able to conclude that certain words and phrases are non-Pauline.’