King James Version
2 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians in the King James Version (1769), public domain in the United States.
Background and History
The chapters above are the King James text. This essay is the setting of 2 Thessalonians: who is said to have written it, when and where, what happens in it, and how the text has been copied.
At a Glance
| Author | Paul, with Silvanus and Timothy in the greeting, and a signature in Paul’s hand. Many critical scholars regard it as by a follower of Paul. Others accept it. |
|---|---|
| Date | About AD 51–52 in one survey, soon after 1 Thessalonians. |
| Place written | Not named. Corinth, Greece, is commonly inferred. |
| Genre | A pastoral letter correcting a mistaken view of the day of the Lord. |
| Chapters | 3 |
| Verses | 47 in the King James Version |
| Key verse | 2 Thessalonians 2:152 Thessalonians 2:15 · King James VersionTherefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.2 Thessalonians 2:15 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
Who Wrote It
2 Thessalonians 1:12 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionPaul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source (1) names Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. 2 Thessalonians 3:172 Thessalonians 3:17 · King James VersionThe salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.
2 Thessalonians 3:17 · King James VersionOpen the Source says the salutation in Paul’s own hand is the token in every letter. 2 Thessalonians 2:22 Thessalonians 2:2 · King James VersionThat ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2 Thessalonians 2:2 · King James VersionOpen the Source warns against a letter as from us claiming the day of Christ was at hand. Eusebius, the Muratorian fragment, and Athanasius receive it. (2) (3) (4) Some critical scholars argue that its teaching on signs before the end differs from 1 Thessalonians and that its similar wording suggests imitation. Defenders answer that the letter responds to a new misunderstanding, and that the overlap fits a second letter to the same church soon after.
Who It Is Not
The forged letter mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:22 Thessalonians 2:2 · King James VersionThat ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2 Thessalonians 2:2 · King James VersionOpen the Source is not this letter.
When and Where
Bible Gateway gives AD 51–52. (5) Scholars who doubt Paul’s authorship place it later in the first century.
Audience and Setting
The same church at Thessalonica, now unsettled by the claim that the day of the Lord had come and by members who stopped working, addressed in 2 Thessalonians 3:112 Thessalonians 3:11 · King James VersionFor we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
2 Thessalonians 3:11 · King James VersionOpen the Source.
Rulers at the Time
The letter names no ruler. This page adds none.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 1 Thessalonians | About AD 50–51. (5) |
| Confusion about the day of the Lord | 2 Thessalonians 2:1–22 Thessalonians 2:1–2 · King James Version2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.2 Thessalonians 2:1–2 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
| The letter | About AD 51–52. (5) |
Places in This Book
| Ancient name | Modern-day location | References |
|---|---|---|
| Thessalonica | Thessaloniki, Greece. | 2 Thessalonians 1:12 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionPaul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:2 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source |
What Is Happening
2 Thessalonians 1 encourages the church under persecution with the hope of Christ’s revelation from heaven. 2 Thessalonians 2 says the day will not come before the falling away and the man of sin are revealed. 2 Thessalonians 3 asks for prayer and rebukes idleness.
Key Themes
Justice at Christ’s coming in 2 Thessalonians 1:6–102 Thessalonians 1:6–10 · King James Version1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
2 Thessalonians 1:6–10 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Standing firm in the traditions taught, in 2 Thessalonians 2:152 Thessalonians 2:15 · King James VersionTherefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 · King James VersionOpen the Source. Work, in 2 Thessalonians 3:102 Thessalonians 3:10 · King James VersionFor even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 · King James VersionOpen the Source.
Apologetics Questions
The man of sin and the restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–72 Thessalonians 2:3–7 · King James Version2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:3–7 · King James VersionOpen the Source have been read many ways, and churches that confess the Trinity disagree on them. This page does not choose. The authorship question is a real one and is stated above.
How the Book Points to Christ
2 Thessalonians 1:122 Thessalonians 1:12 · King James VersionThat the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 1:12 · King James VersionOpen the Source can be read as the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:16–172 Thessalonians 2:16–17 · King James Version2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2:17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 · King James VersionOpen the Source joins the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father as one source of comfort, again with singular verbs in Greek. Jesus is God.
Text and Manuscripts
Codex Sinaiticus contains the letter. (6) No major variant changes the argument.
Canon Reception
Received without dispute in the early lists. (2) (3) (4)
Further Reading
References
- Second Letter to the Thessalonians, 1:1; 2:2; 3:172 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James Version
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Thessalonians 1:1 · King James VersionOpen the Source. King James Version - Church History, Book 3, 3.3.5; 3.25Papias, in Eusebius, Church History 3.39.15 · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, New Advent
Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord's discourses, so that Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.
Papias, in Eusebius, Church History 3.39.15 · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, New AdventOpen the Source (Eusebius, Church History 3.3, 3.24–25, and 3.39, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 1, on New Advent. Chapter 25 sorts books into acknowledged, disputed, and rejected. Chapter 39 reports Papias on Mark and Matthew.) - Muratorian fragment, 2 ThessaloniansMuratorian fragment, on Acts · Roberts-Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers 5
Moreover, the Acts of all the Apostles are comprised by Luke in one book, and addressed to the most excellent Theophilus, because these different events took place when he was present himself; and he shows this clearly-i.e., that the principle on which he wrote was, to give only what fell under his own notice-by the omission of the passion of Peter, and also of the journey of Paul, when he went from the city-Rome-to Spain.
Muratorian fragment, on Acts · Roberts-Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers 5Open the Source (Roberts-Donaldson translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5. The Latin is damaged and the English follows restorations. The fragment lists the books read in the church and those rejected.) - Festal Letter 39, 39.4–5 (Athanasius of Alexandria, AD 367, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 4, on New Advent. The letter lists twenty-two Old Testament books and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, and places Esther among books to be read rather than in the canon.)
- When Was Each Book of the Bible Written?, 2 Thessalonians (Jacob Edson, Bible Gateway, 16 September 2024. The survey gives 2 Thessalonians as AD 51–52. It is one editor’s approximation, not a manuscript date.)
- Codex Sinaiticus, About the manuscriptCodex Sinaiticus: content · Codex Sinaiticus Project
Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament.
Codex Sinaiticus: content · Codex Sinaiticus ProjectOpen the Source (The Codex Sinaiticus project’s description of the manuscript, a fourth-century Greek Bible with the earliest complete copy of the New Testament.)
The King James Version (1769) is in the public domain in the United States.