Date It is widely agreed that 1 Thessalonians is one of the first books of the
New Testament to be written, and the earliest extant Christian text. during Paul's 18-month stay in Corinth coinciding with his
second missionary journey. The reference to
proconsul Gallio in the inscription provides an important marker for developing a chronology of the life of
Apostle Paul, since he presides over the trial of Paul in
Achaea mentioned in
the Acts of the Apostles (
Acts 18:12-17). 1 Thessalonians does not focus on
justification by faith or questions of
Jewish–Gentile relations, themes that are covered in all other letters. Because of this, some scholars see this as an indication that this letter was written before the
Epistle to the Galatians, where Paul's positions on these matters were formed and elucidated.
Authenticity gives its title as προς θεσσαλονικεις, "To the Thessalonians." The majority of New Testament scholars hold 1 Thessalonians to be authentic, although a number of scholars in the mid-19th century contested its authenticity, most notably
Clement Schrader and
F.C. Baur. 1 Thessalonians matches other accepted Pauline letters, both in style and in content, and its authorship is also affirmed by
2 Thessalonians.
Integrity The authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 has been extensively discussed. Though an interpolation hypothesis was proposed in the past based mostly on internal arguments on the text such as anti-Semitic, grammatical, or time period approximation concerns, since the late 20th century, the scholarly consensus view is that the passage is authentically Pauline for multiple reasons such as: there is no manuscript evidence of these verses missing and no alternative placement either, rhetorical connection between verse 13 and 14 makes it clear that these verses are not out of place, Paul in other letters such as Romans believed God's wrath was being manifested in the present, Paul was writing to Thessalonians (which included non-Jews) when he wrote about "Jews" in this letter, and Paul wrote in a diverse fashion not in a censored modern-anachronistic fashion. It is also sometimes suggested that
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 is a post-Pauline insertion that has many features of
Lukan language and theology that serves as an apologetic correction to Paul's imminent expectation of the
Second Coming in
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18. Some scholars, such as Schmithals, Eckhart, Demke and Munro, have developed complicated theories involving
redaction and interpolation in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. ==Contents==