Persecution

2 Thess 1:3-4 – Paul’s Debt of Thanksgiving

Paul normally opens his letters with a prayer of thanksgiving, conforming to the rhetorical style of the first century.  In this introductory section, an author would normally praise his readers and introduce to them something of the plan of the letter.   The “praise” section of the letter intends to put the readers in a positive frame of mind, more likely to accept the teaching that follows (see Wanamaker, 1-2 Thessalonians, 215). In this case, Paul praises his readers and then introduces the idea of the return of the Lord, the subject of the main section of the book

Paul begins by saying “we ought to always thank God for you….”  The use of the word “ought”  in this thanksgiving section is quite unique in Paul.  ὀφείλω means “to be indebted” and it appears here in the thanksgiving section and in again in 2:13, another prayer of thanksgiving,   This world therefore “frames” the first major section of the book.

Why would Paul say that he is obligated to praise the readers?  It sounds a bit cold and perfunctory, especially in contrast to the warm praise offered in the first letter. It is possible that the praise Paul gave them in the first letter embarrassed them, they did not feel they were worthy of the high praise that Paul used in 1 Thessalonians 1.

The debt owed is not to the congregation, but rather to God.  Since God is working in their church to develop fruit from the seeds he planted, it is his responsibility to praise God for the growth. Two specific areas are mentioned, faith and love.  The third part of the familiar Pauline “faith-hope-love” is present in the next section when Paul outlines the hope of the believer in the soon return of Christ.

Their faith is growing.  The verb for growing in this verse (ὑπεραυξάνω) is an intensive form of the normal word for growth.  The word has a nuance of exceeding or abundant growth.  The verb is in the present tense, indicating on-going growth.  The church did not think that they had arrived spiritually and were no longer in need of any further growth. What growth that has occurred has been abundant, beyond expectations perhaps, but not yet perfection.

Their love is increasing.   Like “growing,” increasing is a word which highlights the abundance of the growth (πλεονάζω). In 1 Thessalonians 3:12 Paul prays that the church experience an increase in their love “to the point of overflowing.”  To some extent Paul is thanking God for answering his prayer, the church has continued to grow in love to the point of abundance. They are increasing in love for one another.  The growth that is happening is drawing them closer together, the persecution that they are facing is making their congregation much more loving and supportive of the individual elements within the group.

The basis for this growth is that the church as endured trials (v. 4).   As in the first letter, Paul makes a point of telling the congregation that he boast of them to other churches.  Perhaps a church like Corinth did not prosper in faith and love because they had not experienced external persecution.

Paul’s boast, therefore, may be an instruction to churches which have not yet been persecuted.  When the difficult times come, be like the Thessalonians, whose faith grew stronger during times of persecution.  The fact that their faith grew stronger during persecution should not surprise us.  It is always the case that Christians in persecuted countries have a stronger faith that Christians in countries were Christianity is legal and popular.  The persecution serves to focus the attention on what is important rather than on petty differences and minor points.

How would the church in America be different if it was facing a serious persecution?  My guess is that it would be stronger, growing in love and faith.  I also doubt we would be renovating malls or sports arenas either.

The Social Status of the Thessalonians

What was the ‘social setting” of the church at Thessalonica?  John Polhill has a good summary of the usual arguments for the church being primarily Gentile (P&HL, 185).  But this is problematic because Acts tells us that the congregation was formed after a period of time teaching in the Synagogue. In addition, Jews stirred up trouble for Paul out of jealousy – presumably because of his success in their synagogue.

The argument that the recipients of the letters are Gentiles rests on three observations.  First, they are said to have turned “to God from idols.”  Paul would not describe a Jewish convert as “turning from an idol.”   Second, 1 Thess 4:1-8 describes some sexual ethics problems in the church.  This would be more typical of a Gentile congregation than Jewish. Third, 1 Thessalonians does not quote from the Old Testament,  although 2 Thess seems to allude to the Hebrew Bible.  If the church were written to a Gentile audience with very little synagogue training and knowledge, we would expect few biblical quotations.

So where to these Gentiles come from? If the Gentile converts were God-fearers from the synagogue, then it is also unlikely that they would have “turned from idols” since they were worship God in the synagogue.  In addition, a Gentile God-fearer might be expected to know as much of the Hebrew Bible as a Jewish person.  The fact that the second letter is laced with allusions to the Hebrew Bible makes me think that there are other reasons for the lack in 1 Thessalonians.  Paul was only in the city for a short time and there is no reference to evangelism in the marketplace, but he may have made contacts there which Luke chose not to report.

I think that the answer goes back to the persecution faced by the church.  If they are persecuted for “rejecting Rome,” perhaps some of the “prominent people” Luke mentions in Acts 17:4 left the Christian church and returned to the synagogue, or to secular life.  Those who remained “turned from idols,” specifically the national Roman cult.  Someone like Jason was able to use wealth and power to deal with the court system in the city, so there is at least an implication that he was wealthy and connected politically.  Perhaps Jason or other wealthy persons had left  the church by the time Paul writes (suggested by Adolf Deissmann, c.f., Malherbe, Thessalonians, 65).

The letter itself seems to praise the church for their strength in persecution, so maybe it is not wise to make too much of this alleged defection of some prominent converts, but it might explain the last of Jewish allusions in the letter.  This is also the point where the letter is most challenging to the modern church.  If attending Church cost social status or hurt the ability to earn a good wage, or even hold a job in the community, would people still be interested in attending church? I suppose with many younger people choosing not to attend church it might not make much of a difference.

The Thessalonians endured economic persecution and remained faithful, I suspect the American church would shrink dramatically.

Acts 12 – Persecution in Jerusalem

If Luke has been tracking the story of the movement of the Spirit to the “fringes” of Judaism, then we might wonder what the point of chapter 12 is in that development.  It is possible to see persecution from Herod (Agrippa I) as a demonstration of how far out of step the leadership of Israel was with the movement of the Holy Spirit.  Herod was considered to be the best of his line with respect to Jewish roots.  But as we shall see, he was quite Roman in his thinking. With this story, we have in many ways crossed the line to “outsiders,” and it is therefore quite surprising to find the “King of the Jews” on the outside of the growing movement of the Spirit.

Because the death of Herod Agrippa is well know from Josephus, we can date the events of this chapter fairly precisely to A.D. 43-44, some 14 years after Pentecost.  If Herod is celebrating Claudius’ birthday, then he died about Aug 1, 44 and Peter was arrested in April of 44.  If Herod was celebrating the founding of Caesarea, then he died about March 5 and Peter would have been arrested the previous year at Passover (April 43).

The king Herod of Acts 12 is Agrippa I.  Later in Acts we meet Agrippa II (Acts 25-26; Agrippa II’s full name was Marcus Julius Agrippa).  Born about 10 B.C., Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great, the son of Aristobolus and Bernice. He was raised in Rome, and was a friend of Caligula and Claudius as well as Tiberius’ son Drusus. He was able to exploit the relationships in order to gain wealth and power. He sought the favor of Caligula to the point that the Emperor Tiberius imprisoned him for six-months on charges of treason.  In A.D. 41 Agrippa used his relationship with Caligula to help prevent the installation of a statue of the emperor in the Temple in Jerusalem. When Caligula was assassinated, Claudius made Agrippa ruler over considerable territory in Judea.

We are not told why he persecuted the church in Jerusalem, although it may be that Agrippa was in some respects interested in his Jewish roots.  This piety was demonstrated upon his return to Judea.  He donated a golden chain, given to him by Caligula when he was freed from his imprisonment, to the Temple.  In addition, he undertook the sponsorship of a large number of Nazarite vows in the temple (Antiq., 12.6.1, Schürer 2:155).  During a Sabbath year, Agrippa read from the book of Deuteronomy and was moved to tears when he read the words of Deut 17:15, forbidding the appointment of a stranger over the “brothers” (i.e., a non-Israelite over Israel.)  The crowd which witnesses this responded “Thou art our brother!” (See m.Sota 7.8).  According to Josephus:

“He loved to live continually at Jerusalem, and was exactly careful in the observance of the laws of his country. He therefore kept himself entirely pure; nor did any day pass over his head without its appointed sacrifice.” Antiq. 19.7.3

Schürer argues that Agrippa was favorable to Pharisism and even to some extent a Jewish nationalism (2:159).  This may be plausible given his zealous persecution of the Jewish Christians in Acts 12.

James’ death is about eleven years after the martyrdom of Stephen.  It therefore appears that the people of Jerusalem no longer support the Jewish Christians. Witherington makes this point:   the city of Jerusalem has “turned against” the Jewish church (Acts, 386 ).   Agrippa is therefore demonstrating his piousness by pursuing the leaders of the Christian community.  Luke demonstrates that the leadership of Israel has rejected the gift of the Spirit.

Bibliography: David C. Braund, “Agrippa” ABD 1:98-99; Schürer , 2:150-159.