>RH
>No problem as far as you go. However, why would the Thessalonians be
>alarmed or troubled over a prophecy that the Day of the Lord was
imminent. If
>they anticipated a rapture, it would seem that they would be excited.
If
>they believed themselves to be in the tribulation, why would they be
>troubled at the prospect of the Lord's soon return and their joining
Him. I do
>not understand the cause for the agitation over the prospect of Christ
>soon returning to get them. Would you get upset if you were convinced
that
>Christ was to return in a short time for you? The ending phrase in v 2
does
>not seem to fit there but seems to fit very well as the intro to v 3
(yet
>this apparently is not allowed by the Greek). Do you see the problem I
am
>having here?
>
Roger:
If they believed the Lord's return was "at hand" (KJ) and if they
believed the great tribulation immediately preceded that event, then this
was indeed cause for alarm. They would then be in the great tribulation,
along with all the severe persecutions and martydoms associated with it.
Their belief that Christ's return was "at hand" then would not
necessarily mean they believed it would take place at any moment, but
that it was very near, yet that they should expect severe persecutions
even sooner. This view differs, of course, from the modern day view of
imminency which sees the rapture as occurring before the great
tribulation, in which case your point would carry. A belief that Christ
was indeed going to return at any moment would not cause one to be
concerned about tribulations.
But, the alarm may be more than just the concern over the sufferings. It
may be that some of these reports they were getting were to the effect
that Christ was already here (if we take ENESTHKEN as "has come"). This
may have been what Christ warned against in Mt 24:23ff, "Then if anyone
says unto you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it
...for false Christs and false prophets will rise to deceive, if
possible, even the elect."
The parallel between Mt 24:15 ff and 2 Thess 2:1ff is too obvious to
ignore. In both passages the tell-tale sign preceding the coming of the
day of the Lord is the abomination of desolation (Mt 24:15), that is, the
revelation of the man of lawlessness (2 Thess 2:4).
No, I don't see the problem you're having. If we take hWS hOTI ENESTHKEN
hH hHMERA TOU KURIOU with the preceding, it makes excellent sense. It
explains the content of what they had been lead to erroneously believe.
Verse 3, then, is an expectant exhortation from Paul not to be deceived
by such and why.
But, even if you do take it with verse 3, how does that solve your
problem?
Paul Dixon