Ethics in Context: The Thessalonians and their neighbours

Abstract

Ethics in Context: The Thessalonians and their neighboursFirst Thessalonians was written within a few months, following the conversion of Paul's Greek readers, and reflects how his ethical teaching was part of his proclamation. Paul's preaching of the gospel, intimately connected with the kind of person he was, brought about a close personal relationship between him and his converts. Whilst he stood as a moral model for them, he nevertheless spoke for God, and thus, his ethical instruction was grounded theologically. His converts would have understood how moral dicta, with which they were familiar, were derived from philosophy, but not from religion, as Jews and Christians held. In the overtly paraenetic sections of the letter (ch. 4 and 5), Paul was at great pains to underline this connection, which was the main point he was making.

The radicality of early Christian oikodome: A theology that edifies insiders and outsiders

“…Abraham Malherbe illustrated that there is a significant parallel between Paul's teachings and that of pagan moral philosophers, as he so elegantly illustrated in his classical commentary on Thessalonians (Malherbe 2000) and elsewhere (Malherbe 2014).…”

“…Another example is the respect for Seneca, as we see from Tertullian's work. For (Hellenistic) Jewish traditions, seeThompson (2011), Niebuhr (1987:70-72, 2011 and alsoAmeling (2011) as referred to byMalherbe (2014).…”

Ethics of prayer and work in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

“…Du Toit 2007;Tsui 2013:314), contribute to confirm the role of the exemplars and to strengthen the group identity. The author(s) of 1 and 2 Thessalonians have been living up their role models vis-à-vis their group-members for whom they are instilling the ethics of constant thanksgiving prayer and work, as Malherbe (2012) asserts with regard to the leading exemplar:…”