Let's separate the issue of (1) the death and resurrection of Jesus, an already witnessed event for Paul in 1 Thessalonians, from (2) the anticipated general resurrection that will attend the parousia.
(1) Death and Resurrection of Jesus
John2 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:41 pm Without resurrection, how did Jesus get to heaven...?
It is not clear that, for all NT texts, the Lord Jesus Christ had already come to earth once, as a historical man, had died and been resurrected, and was now expected to return to earth from heaven. Earl Doherty:
Epistle writers from Paul on make frequent reference to the arrival of the Son at the End-time. But is this a second coming? ...If readers can free themselves from Gospel preconceptions, they should find that [some NT epistles] convey the distinct impression that this will be the Lord Jesus' first and only coming to earth, that this longing to see Christ has in no way been previously fulfilled. We keep waiting for the sense of "return" or the simple use of a word like "again." We wait for these writers to clarify, to acknowledge, that Jesus had already been on earth, had begun the work he would complete at the parousia; that men and women had formerly witnessed their deliverance in the event of Jesus' death and resurrection; that he had been revealed to the sight of all in his incarnated life as Jesus of Nazareth. But never an echo such ideas do we hear in the background of these passages.
(The Jesus Puzzle, p. 50)
Paul affirms a death and resurrection of Jesus in 1 Thessalonians, but of course it is a point of great contention (at least for those who take mythicist arguments into account) what manner of event that was for Paul, and where and when it occurred.
Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:53 pm1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 is all about the concern of the living on behalf of the dead; of course it is going to talk explicitly about resurrection. 2 Thessalonians 2.1-12, on the other hand, concerns only the living.
In fact 1 Thessalonians refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus in three separate places. First, in a general way at 1:9-10:
...for they themselves [believers in Macedonia and Achaia] report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Then at 4:14, and then again, in light of the concern in 4:13-18, Paul articulates an idea of atonement at 5:9-10:
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
In line with Paul's theology in other letters, then, 1 Thessalonians refers explicitly and repeatedly to the Lord JC's death and resurrection as a cardinal event that has already set in motion the end times, generating expectation of an imminent parousia both for Paul and for his eager disciples in Thessalonica.
By contrast, 2 Thessalonians seems to go out of its way not to refer to Jesus' death and resurrection. For this author, the Thessalonians have been saved not by Jesus' death, but by their own belief in "our gospel" and through the sanctification of the spirit. Theirs is not a faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but merely "faith of/in the truth" (πίστει ἀληθείας).
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth [εἰς σωτηρίαν ἐν ἁγιασμῷ πνεύματος καὶ πίστει ἀληθείας]. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2:13-14)
(2) The General Resurrection
John2 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:41 pm
But "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him" [καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπισυναγωγῆς ἐπ’ αὐτὸν] seems to require resurrection to me (2 Thessalonians 2:1).
Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:53 pm...the regathering of Israel generally included the resurrection of the dead in Jewish thought. It was a matter of theodicy: it would be unjust for those who had died in the struggle not to share in the rewards once God had set things right and inaugurated the age to come....So my position is that the resurrection
is (probably) referenced, both in Matthew 24 = Mark 13 and in 2 Thessalonians 2, in the form of the gathering together of the faithful.
I trust you will agree that the word ἐπισυναγωγή by itself carries no connotation of resurrection. In context, it is a "gathering of us" to the Lord, and hence a gathering of the living merely. The author could easily have added καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, i.e.,
the coming of our LJC and the gathering of us and of all his holy people to him, but he didn't.
Compare the two epistles regarding the language of "the holy people" (or "saints") at the parousia:
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 |
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 |
Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ ἡμῶν καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς κατευθύναι τὴν ὁδὸν ἡμῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς· 12ὑμᾶς δὲ ὁ κύριος πλεονάσαι καὶ περισσεύσαι τῇ ἀγάπῃ εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας καθάπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς ὑμᾶς, 13εἰς τὸ στηρίξαι ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας ἀμέμπτους ἐν ἁγιωσύνῃ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ, |
6εἴπερ δίκαιον παρὰ θεῷ ἀνταποδοῦναι τοῖς θλίβουσιν ὑμᾶς θλῖψιν 7καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς θλιβομένοις ἄνεσιν μεθ’ ἡμῶν, ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ μετ’ ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ 8ἐν πυρὶ φλογός, διδόντος ἐκδίκησιν τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσιν θεὸν καὶ τοῖς μὴ ὑπακούουσιν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ, 9οἵτινες δίκην τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, 10ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ καὶ θαυμασθῆναι ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη τὸ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. |
Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. |
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. |
In the second letter, Jesus does not come "with his holy ones," but with the angels. He is instead glorified "in his holy people," in "those who have believed, including you."
What is the meaning of these changes? I am not suggesting that this author positively seeks to deny a general resurrection at the end time, only that, for some reason, he goes out of his way not to affirm what is explicitly affirmed by Paul in the first letter. I assume that the author is well acquainted with the first letter, and makes the changes he does with a purpose. These questions about resurrection in 2 Thessalonians cannot be shrugged off as an
argumentum ex silencio, at least not if we are interpreting this letter in relation to Paul and to the NT canon. If one simply falls back on the general trend of Jewish belief about resurrection in the Hellenistic era, as Ben seems to do, that seems to remove 2 Thessalonians from the NT context.