The life and work of St. Paul

344 THE LIFE AND WORK OP ST. PAUL.
devoted to practical exhortation ; v. a section composed of personal details
and greetings ; and, vi. the final autograph benediction which served to mark
the authenticity of the Epistle. We have already noticed that this is the
general structure of the First Epistle, and it will be observed no less in the
outline of the Second. 1
subjoined
After the greeting,
in which, as in the last Epistle,, he associates Silas and
Timothy with himself,* he thanks God once more for the exceeding increase*
of their faith, and the abounding love which united them with one another,
which enabled him as well as others * to hold them up in the Churches 6 of God
as a model of faith and patience, and that, too, under special tribulations.
Those tribulations, he tells them, are an evidence that the present state of
things cannot be final ;
that a time is coming when their persecutors will be
punished, and themselves have relaxation from endurance 6 which time will
7 be at the Epiphany, in Sinaitic splendour, of the Lord Jesus with His mighty
angels, to inflict retribution on the Gentile ignorance which will not know
God, and the disobedient obstinacy which rejects the Gospel. That retribution
shall be eternal* cutting off from the presence and glorious power of
Christ e when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be wondered
1
i. The greeting, 2 Thesa. i. 1, 2. li The thanksgiving, or Eushariitie section,
mingled with topics of consolation derived from the coming of Christ, i. 3 12.
iii. The dogmatic portion, which, in this instance, is the remarkable and indeed unique
section about the Man of Sin, ii. 1 12 ; the thanksgiving renewed with exhortations
and ending in a prayer, ii. 1317. iv. The practical part, consisting of a request for
their prayers (iii. 1 5). v. Exhortations, and messages, also ended by a prayer, iii. 616.
vi. The autograph conclusion and benediction, iii. 17, 18. These divisions, however, an
not rigid and formal ; one section flows naturally into another, with no marked separation.
Each of the prayers (ii. 16 ; iii. 1C) begins with the same words, Avrtt 6
Kv'pip?.
2 This accurately marks the date of the letter, as having been written at Corinth
shortly after the former. Silas ceases to be a fellow-worker with Paul, and apparently
loins Peter, after the visit to Jerusalem at the close of the two years' sojourn at Corinth.
It is probable that the mental and religious affinities of Silas were more closely in accordance
with the old Apostles who had sent him to Antioch than with St. Paul.
a
vrr.-pavfayci, It is a part of St. Paul's emphatic style that he delights in compounds
of a*
i"fep, virtpax^, vrrspXfav, virepjSaXAw, vrreptxvtpitrffov, &C,
4 2 Thess, i. 4, nitis avrovt.
6 This is a strong argument against Ewald's view that the Epistle was written from
Ecvoea ; but it does not prove, as Chrysostom says, that a considerable time must have
elapsed. Writing from Corinth, there were Churches both in Macedonia and Achaia to
which St. Paul alludes. There can be little doubt that the Epistle was written late in
A.D. 53 or early in A.D. 54.
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