Arguments that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians

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gryan
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Arguments that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians

Post by gryan »

What is the best scholarly argument (in print, in English) that, although Paul did write Galatians and some other NT epistles, Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians?
gryan
Posts: 1120
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:11 am

Re: Arguments that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians

Post by gryan »

According to Nijay Gupta, who is convinced that Paul wrote 1 Thessalonias:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cg ... ntext=gfes

"The most well-known advocate of the exclusion of 1 Thessalonians
from a genuine Pauline corpus
is F. C. Baur.

He argued that the similarities between 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians
are too great
not to assume dependence.

Baur pointed out, as another concern, discrepancies between 1 Thessalonians and Acts.

There have also been concerns raised on occasion with the vocabulary of
1 Thessalonians, though it is commonly recognized today that playing the
hapax legomena game leads to all manner of fallacies."

Footnote: "See H. W. Hoehner, "Did Paul Write Galatians?" in History and Exegesis: New Testament
Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for His 80th Birthday, ed. S.-W. (Aaron) Son (New York: T&T
Clark, 2006), 150-69. See too the discussion by F. W. Hughes, "Thessalonians, First and Second
Letters to the," in New Testament: History of Interpretation, ed. J. H . Hayes (Nashville: Abingdon,
2004), 111-16."
gryan
Posts: 1120
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:11 am

Re: Arguments that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians

Post by gryan »

gryan wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:23 am According to Nijay Gupta, who is convinced that Paul wrote 1 Thessalonias:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cg ... ntext=gfes

"The most well-known advocate of the exclusion of 1 Thessalonians
from a genuine Pauline corpus
is F. C. Baur.

He argued that the similarities between 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians
are too great
not to assume dependence.
Re: the similarities between 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians

Table 1. Eschatology in the Corinthian and Thessalonian Letters

Judgment of human works
1 Cor 3:13–15
2 Cor 5:10
2 Thes 1:6–9
Return of Christ
1 Cor 4:5
1 Thes 1:10; 2:19; 3:13;
4:16
2 Thes 1:7, 10; 2:1, 8
Day of Christ/Day of the Lord
1 Cor 5:5
2 Cor 1:14
1 Thes 5:2–11
2 Thes 2:2
Resurrection of the body
1 Cor 6:14; 15:12–58
2 Cor 5:1–2
1 Thes 4:13–16
Destruction of the world
1 Cor 7:31
Expectation of perfect state
1 Cor 13:10
Reign of Christ
1 Cor 15:24–28
Defeat of death
1 Cor 15:26, 54–55
2 Cor 5:4
Transformation of the body
1 Cor 15:46–54
Deliverance from wrath
1 Thes 1:10; 5:9
Rapture of living saints
1 Thes 4:15–17

2 Thes 2:1
Tribulation: man of sin, apostasy
2 Thes 2:3–12
https://seminary.bju.edu/files/2021/11/ ... r_Hand.pdf

imho there are a lot of similarities suggesting dependence, but this part found only in 1 Thes does not sound like Paul; instead, it sounds like someone who is making the END so literal and obvious that there is no chance for a realized eschatology:

Rapture of living saints 1 Thes 4:15–17
"By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord."
gryan
Posts: 1120
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:11 am

Re: Arguments that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians

Post by gryan »

No doubt, Paul used the death-metaphor of κοιμάομαι/sleep:
Original Word: κοιμάομαι
Part of Speech: Verb
Phonetic Spelling: (koy-mah'-o)
Definition: sleep, fall asleep, die
Usage: I fall asleep, am asleep, sometimes of the sleep of death.

κοιμάομαι is found both in Corinthians and in 1 Thessalonians:
https://biblehub.com/greek/2837.htm

13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep (περὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων), that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep (τοὺς κοιμηθέντας). 15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep (τοὺς κοιμηθέντας). 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.

But I notice that 1 Thessalonians is like Ephesians (but unlike Paul elsewhere) in the use of another word for "sleep", katheudó, as death-metaphor. katheudó may suggest a later time period, after Paul's death/sleep:

katheudó: to sleep
Original Word: καθεύδω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: katheudó
Phonetic Spelling: (kath-yoo'-do)
Definition: to sleep
Usage: I sleep, am sleeping.
https://biblehub.com/greek/strongs_2518.htm

1 Thes 5:1f
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers,
Περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων
https://biblehub.com/greek/chrono_n_5550.htm
καὶ τῶν καιρῶν
https://biblehub.com/greek/kairo_n_2540.htm
you have no need to have anything written to you.

Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:21 N-AFS
GRK: τῇ χειρί Χρείαν σου οὐκ
NAS: the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you";
https://biblehub.com/greek/chreian_5532.htm

Sounds like words written by someone other than Paul who has been studying Paul's words in Galatians, eulogizing Paul:

ἐφ’ ὅσον χρόνον ὁ κληρονόμος νήπιός ἐστιν
And I say, so long time as the heir is a babe, he differeth nothing from a servant -- being lord of all,

ἡμέρας παρατηρεῖσθε καὶ μῆνας καὶ καιροὺς καὶ ἐνιαυτούς.
You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!

Thes
For you yourselves are fully aware that
the day of the Lord will come
like a thief in the night.
a metaphor found in 2 Peter but not elsewhere in Paul
https://www.openbible.info/topics/as_a_ ... _the_night

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,”
then sudden destruction will come upon them

as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman
ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶν τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ
(note the use of a Pauline metaphor in an unPauline way that sounds to me like an homage to Paul)
Cf:τέκνα μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω μέχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν·
(My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,)

and they will not escape. 4But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
6So then let us not sleep (καθεύδωμεν),

as others do,

but let us keep awake and be sober. 7For those who sleep (καθεύδοντες), do their sleeping (καθεύδουσιν) at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us so that whether we watch or sleep (ἵνα εἴτε γρηγορῶμεν εἴτε καθεύδωμεν) we might live with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
gryan
Posts: 1120
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:11 am

Re: Arguments that Paul did not write 1 Thessalonians

Post by gryan »

I Thessalonians is "from Paul, Silas/Silvanus, and Timothy".
Παῦλος καὶ Σιλουανὸς καὶ Τιμόθεος

The influence of other authors may explain some of the differences between 1 Thess and the other Pauline letters.

This is a theory put forward by History Valley host Jacob Bermon:
At min. 19:55 and min. 55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE-uL8KFZwI
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