1 and 2 Thessalonians (Believers Church Bible Commentary | BCBC)

by Jacob W. Elias

Publisher:

Herald Press

, 1995

Overview

The Believers Church Bible Commentary Series is published for all who seek more fully to understand the original message of Scripture and its meaning for today—Sunday school teachers, members of Bible study groups, students, pastors, and other seekers. The series is based on the conviction that God is still speaking to all who will listen, and that the Holy Spirit makes the Word a living and authoritative guide for all who want to know and do God’s will.

Each volume illuminates the Scriptures; provides historical and cultural background; shares necessary theological, sociological, and ethical meanings; and, in general, makes "the rough places plain." Critical issues are not avoided, but neither are they moved into the foreground as debates among scholars. The series aids in the interpretive process, but it does not attempt to supersede the authority of the Word and Spirit as discerned in the gathered church.

The Believers Church Bible Commentary is a cooperative project of Brethren in Christ Church, Brethren Church, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Brethren Church, and Mennonite Church.

Overall Outline

The commentaries are organized into sections according to the major divisions of the text. Each section comprises five parts:

• An introductory preview
• A summary outline of the section
• Explanatory notes
• The text in its biblical context
• The text in the life of the church

1 and 2 Thessalonians

Jacob W. Elias invites us to listen in while Paul and his missionary companions encourage and warn believers in ancient Thessalonica. Elias shows Paul dealing pastorally with everyday concerns of church life while reminding his converts about the big picture. What God has done through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will yet be brought to glorious completion. The church has an active role to play in God's redemptive mission in the world.

Today, apocalyptic biblical texts are often ignored or misused. But Elias tells how the gospel proclaimed to the Thessalonians undergirds the nurture of churches marked by faith, love, and hope.

Contents

Top Highlights

“What the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes did in 167 b.c. impressed itself indelibly on the inner consciousness of the Jewish people, including Jesus himself. This king was eager to integrate the Jews into the culture of his Greek empire and probably also to identify the Greek god Zeus with himself. He erected an altar to Zeus over the altar in the court of the Jerusalem temple and there sacrificed unacceptable offerings (likely pigs; 1 Macc. 1:54–61; 2 Macc. 6:1–6; cf. 6:18–23). This came to be known as ‘an abomination that makes desolate’ (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11), since such action defiled the temple and rendered it unclean for worship of the God of gods.” (Page 279)

“They also explain why they do so: in order that you might not grieve like the others who do not have hope. In their grief over the death of loved ones, the Thessalonian believers are urged to differentiate themselves from the others. In 4:5 these others are described as the Gentiles who do not know God. Here they are depicted as those who do not have hope. The text does not prohibit expressions of grief as such. However, the Thessalonian believers’ grief need not be characterized by the kind of hopelessness typically felt by their nonbelieving neighbors in the face of death.” (Page 170)

“Election therefore does not give privileged status to one ethnic group but designates a particular people as a channel for service and witness to all the world.” (Page 52)

“There is a remarkable consensus among scholars that 1 Thessalonians was written in the year 50.” (Page 28)

Praise for the Print Edition

Elias's technique of 'listening in' on the conversation between Paul and the Thessalonian congregation is innovative, effective, and engaging. Students and pastors seeking a fair presentation of various sides of the scholarly debate will be rewarded, and the believers church movement will find much here to sustain its efforts.

—Robert Jewett, Harry R. Kendall Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Elias has done an impressive job of remaining faithful to the text while making 1 and 2 Thessalonians accessible to pastors, teachers, and lay Christians. I recommend Elias's commentary.

—Reta Halteman Finger, Eastern Mennonite Seminary

Product Details

• Title: 1 and 2 Thessalonians
• Author: Jacob W. Elias
• Publisher: Herald Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Pages: 400

About Jacob W. Elias

Jacob W. Elias is the author of 1 & 2 Thessalonians in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series. He studied at the University of Saskatchewan and, later, at Mennonite Biblical Seminary, graduating in 1968. He began pastoral ministry at Mountainview Mennonite Church, Vancouver, and in 1978 earned a ThD in New Testament from the Toronto School of Theology. He has been teaching at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary since 1977. Since 2001, Jacob and his wife, Lillian, have worked as copastors of Parkview Mennonite Church in Kokomo, Indiana.