PAUL’S IDENTITY IN THE 1 AND 2 THESSALONIANS

INTRODUCTION

The person of Paul could be clearly brought out in his epistles and letters, just as the identity of a person can be seen in what he does or say. Paul who was also Saul wrote extensively, mostly composed of letters to where he had evangelized. His presence at the cities of Macedonia is as a result of his vision to “come over to Macedonia and help us”.

Moving away from Philippi, he went into Thessalonica. His letter to them was informed by the encouraging report of Timothy.

Let us dissect and explore his letter to the church at Thessalonica in order to identify the person of Paul. Thus, I would try to solve the puzzle of Paul’s identity in his letter to the Thessalonica.

PAUL’S IDENTITY IN THE 1 AND 2 THESSALONIANS

One of the essential qualities of Paul in this letter is that he values thanksgiving to God. He obviously began the letter with thanksgiving to God for the constant growth found among the Thessalonians despite the shortness of his stay as noticed in Acts 17:1-9. The report from Timothy (1Thess. 3:6) noted that there was obvious growth of faith and love. With that, this letter was founded mainly to encourage them and to correct certain situations of despair caused by death. He even admonished them to give thanks in all circumstances (1Thess. 5:18)

Paul also exhibited a high sense of appreciation, placed side by side with his oratorical qualities. I can find Paul in this letter as one who is appreciative for efforts made by people (Gentiles) towards embracing the faith. This is obviously oratorical method (not rhetoric), in appreciating one who has done right thus urging him to do more and more (1Thess. 4:1, 10). He was an orator which is obvious on the ways he made use of the fact of improvement to encourage them to do more, reminding them of the truth which they had been taught. Of course, he was convincing enough with those words.

The letter looks to me as a personal letter written by one with passion. It had a tone of real personal experience with the Thessalonians. This establishes this essential quality of affection and passion for the people of God and for the message at Thessalonica. Paul was so affective in the letter that he wished to make his presence obvious to them severally if not for the obstruction by the Satan. (1Thess. 2:17-18)

Paul was a man of strong will and action. This appeared more vivid in this letter. He was bent to preach the gospel, thus, he was not even discouraged by persecutions and trial. His persecution at Philippi because of delivering the possessed girl did not bring much discouragement to him. He persisted and was consistent in his missionary work. He gave his whole self for this work which he was called, with strong will that they are doing the mandate of Lord. (1Thess. 2:1-3; 3:7)

In his admonitions, Paul paired the existence of life with the future life which would be a reward for their good life. He is a man of eschatological realities, with much level of vigilance. As he was living a holy life inspired by the kingdom of God, he also urged them not to neglect their good deeds since the parousia is imminent. He is mindful of the last things. His discourse on eschatology was of the ultimate goal of existence conditioned by some probable despair among the people because of the death of the love one. They should be ever vigilant.(2Thess.2)

Finally, Paul lived as a model to the Church in Thessalonica as regards self control and avoiding laziness. He was a model to purity of life. In Thessalonica, Paul did not constitute a burden to the people, but he found himself a trade, thus he was working and earning what he eats. In this way, he exhorts the people to be helpful to themselves in order to realize their social existence. (2Thess 3:6-12)

Paul was a man of prayer for the way he couched the message was prayerful. The letter was communicated prayerfully as the fruit of Paul’s won life in Christ and as an expression of his apostolic concern for those invited to belief.

CONCLUSION

As I said earlier, one could decipher the identity of a person from what comes from him. In Pauline letter, He assumes certain characters which would identify whether a text is Paul’s or not, just as in the case of identifying the writer of Hebrew.