stry in the city. Nevertheless, a fledgling church was established in Thessalonica, although it, too, was subject to much persecution by the Jewish religious establishment (see I Thes. 1:6; 2:14; 3:3).
Although the epistle does not distinguish itself on the basis of Pauline doctrine, it is nonetheless an eloquent revelation of Paul's "pastoral zeal and his intense interest in the spiritual well-being of his converts" (Morris, 1956, p. 19). Rolston (1963) believes that the tone of the epistle "does not deal with [an individual's] conduct in terms of moralism or legalism but insists that Christians should live in a manner that is worthy of their high calling as children of God" (p. 12).
According to Morris (1956), there was some confusion in the understanding of Paul's message about the second coming (p. 19). Considering that the Thessalonian church was composed largely of Greeks, it is understandable how this could have become a problem. The Greeks held certain beliefs regarding the immortality of the soul, but they did not include a bodily resurrection, which has always been a part of Jewish orthodoxy (Kac, 1975, p. 286). For many Greeks, "death was believed and feared to be 'one unbroken night of sleep' from which there was no awakening" (Saunders, 1973, p. 25, quoting Aeschylus, The Eumenides, p. 651). Kac observes that Paul's "casual manner" in referring to the resurrection of Jesus in v. 14 serves to "show how soon belief in the resurrection of Jesus had become an integral element in the Christian faith" (p. 286).
The deaths of some of the church's members follow
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