Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

The author's intended audience is predominantly or entirely gentile. It could be residents of the same imperial city where Paul founded one of his earliest churches, or it could be Rome and the Greek cities more generally (assuming that it was a letter to be circulated). Such an audience would not ...

There probably is nothing I can say to disprove your assertion that 2 Thessalonians 2:4 is a reference to the second temple, but at the same time I think you should accept that there are reasons to be skeptical, and plausible alternative explanations. 1) The author's intended audience is predominant...

My point, again, is that the author of the epistle does not think of the day of the Lord as an imagined and/or possible event; he thinks of it as a future and certain event. To deny this is to refuse to read the epistle. Yes, but so what? Preachers in every age have been "certain" of the ...

Any attempt to determine the date and authorship of 2 Thessalonians should deal with the fact that this letter contains no mention of that theme that is most dear to the Paul of 1 Thessalonians, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, & Philippians: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. ...

It appears that this post was never addressed. 2 Thessalonians 2.1-4: 2.1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a lett...

My point, again, is that the author of the epistle does not think of the day of the Lord as an imagined and/or possible event; he thinks of it as a future and certain event. To deny this is to refuse to read the epistle. Yes, but so what? Preachers in every age have been "certain" of the ...

You're claiming that this reference to the temple of God indicates pre-70 composition. I'm saying that it doesn't, because the assertion about "the temple of God" is presented as part of the "necessary condition" of the parousia, both of which are nothing more than imagined possi...

Do you really think that the author is contemplating the reality of option A, that the day of the Lord is not going to happen? He seems committed enough to it in 1.6-12 and in 2.6-12. But, if the author thinks that the day of the Lord is going to happen, then he must also think that the man of sin ...

The "as God" you have included in your boldfaced italics (for reasons unclear to me) in the KJV is a Byzantine variant (ὡς θεὸν). The standard Greek texts, as well as most of the earlier manuscripts (including Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus), lack it. It is not in the Greek text ...

The more I consider 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the less confident I am that the author is referring to a contemporaneous standing temple. Parsing the sentence itself: ὁ ἀντικείμενος καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καθίσαι, ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἔστι...