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1 and 2 Thessalonians

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of 1 and 2 Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1–3)
    20 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    Christ's Return (1 Thessalonians 4–5)
    22 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    The Man of Lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 1–2)
    19 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    Work (2 Thessalonians 3)
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Author and Audience (Review 1 and 2 Thessalonians)
    17 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

Participants 20

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1 and 2 Thessalonians Work (2 Thessalonians 3) In | Workbook: Diversity and Layers in Paul’s Letters, Part 1
Lesson 4, Activity 9

In | Workbook: Diversity and Layers in Paul’s Letters, Part 1

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[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

Paul can frustrate us with his seeming inability to be definitive with some of his subjects. He’ll make seemingly incompatible statements, sometimes in the same letter. Because of this we need to be thoughtful in processing each verse within the spirit of his message as a whole.

The direction of Paul’s thought, and even his terminology, varies according to the situation and needs of his audience. Paul was obviously a serious theologian, but his ministry was practical and shaped by specific concerns for the believers in his care.

Consider these passages:  

According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 NIV

 

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:10 NIV

  1. In no more than two or three sentences, describe any tensions you observe between the two passages (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; Philippians 3:10).