Emil Schürer

“ The objections to the second epistle are much weightier, though here also not all the arguments adduced by hostile critics are valid. It has been often said that the author, like the author of the Apocalypse, regards Nero as the Antichrist, expecting him to reappear as the arch-enemy of Christ. ”

“ But Paul had also converted a not smaller number of real heathens. Indeed, they must have constituted the majority of the Christian church there formed, for in his first epistle he says quite generally that his readers, in consequence of his preaching, had turned from idols to the one true God (1 Thess. i. 9) . Paul's stay in Thessalonica was short. The plots of the Jews soon obliged him to leave the town, and he betook himself to Beroea (Acts xvii. 10) , thence to Athens (Acts xvii. 15) , and finally to Corinth (Acts xviii. 1) . ”

“ The assumption that before the dawn of salvation godlessness would reach its height, through the appearance of an arch-enemy of God and His church is, so to speak, a dogmatic postulate which rests on the prophecies of Daniel and other prophets of the Old Testament. ”

“ It must therefore be admitted that weighty if not conclusive considerations have been produced against its genuineness. (E. S*.)
↑ According to Acts xvii. 14-15 and xviii. 5, Silas and Timotheus had remained behind in Berœa, and first met Paul again in Corinth. But according to 1 Thess. iii. 1-5 it must be understood that Timotheus was in Athens with Paul, and had been sent thence to Thessalonica. ↑ Paulus der Apostel Jesu Christi, 1845, and Theologische Jahrbücher, 1855, p. ”