Bible Commentaries
2 Thessalonians

The second letter to the Thessalonians was written shortly after the first one. It was written to the same people, from the same place and by the same author as the first letter. Therefore, rather than duplicating information here, we would simply ask our readers to go back and review the introduction to the first letter.

The Apostle Paul wrote Second Thessalonians from the city of Corinth. We mentioned in the first letter that Timothy and Silas had also joined him there prior to its writing. However, many scholars feel they did not help in writing the letter. It appears that after they had returned from Macedonia, other problems had arisen with the church. These problems seem to have fallen into three categories: The persecution spoken of in the first letter had gotten worse, bringing its victims close to despair. London pastor and Bible teacher, John Stott, feels that some may have begun to question the rationale of their afflictions.^(F1) Apparently a pseudo-Pauline letter had been circulated (2:2) telling believers that the end-time was already present. Finally, the old problem of waiting on the Lord's appearing while shirking vocation and other responsibilities was still plaguing them.^(F2)

With all this in mind we can understand that this second letter was probably also written sometime in AD 50, likely in the summer or latter part of the year. The letter certainly had to be written during the time of Paul's stay in Corinth, since both Silas and Timothy were not with him after that period.^(F3)

We should point out that Second Thessalonians has even greater evidence of Pauline authorship than First Thessalonians. Both the Apostolic Fathers and church fathers bear witness to its authenticity.^(F4)