Publication Date

7-1987

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Joseph Trafton, Ronald Nash, William Lane

Degree Program

Department of Philosophy & Religion

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

This thesis examines the composition of 2 Thessalonians 2 and focuses specifically on the relationship of the participles Τό Kαtεxov and Ό Kαtεxwv to the chapter's main theme, the Parousia of Jesus Christ. The study begins with a discussion of the various interpretations given to solve the referential meanings of the participles (chapter one). This exploration of the various attempts of scholars to account for the participles concludes with the challenge to seek answers elsewhere.

To help situate and evaluate what the writer says in regard to the participles, it was necessary to reassess the role of 2 Thessalonians 2 in the epistle as a whole (chapter two). This broader compass of the letter contributed to an understanding of the author as engaged in practical admonitions of several different concerns. It exposed the myth of centrality surrounding 2 Thessalonians 2 and thereby warned of determining the meanings of the participles except from the immediate thought of the context wherein they are found. A detailed exegesis of 1 Thes 2:1-15 was presented in order to confirm and clarify the specific nature of verses 2:6-7 (chapter three). This made familiar the context in which the participles are located. Particularly, it established the limit of the passage as extending to v. 15 rather than v. 12. In addition, the flow of thought contained in the text was demonstrated to center on the appearing of Christ, a significant point of perspective for interpreting the two participles and other elements in the passage.

With the literary and exegetical foundation lai., it was left to deal witn the participles themselves. k guiding principle in their interpretations was the that thr should be understood from a strict relationship to their context. It was shown that the technique of an inverted parallelism at the climax of the first pericope (2:1-6) helped explain the meaning of the neuter participle as signifying the two preliminary events of the apostasy and the revelation of the Man of Lawlessness. This interpretation was based on a correlation in the parallelism between tαϋtα (v. 5 and Τό Kαtεxov (v. 6). An important ramification was that the personal pronoun αύtόv in v. 6 must then refer to Christ and not the Man of Lawlessness. It was the Day of the Lord that was being restrained because the two pre-signs of the apostasy and the revelation of the "Antichrist" had not yet occurred. Accordingly, the masculine participle Ό Kαtεxwv was a particularization of the content of the neuter participle; thus, it was shown that Ό Kαtεxwv represented the Man of Lawlessness.

The thesis concludes with a brief review of each of the chapter studies and underscores the present need for scholars to give more attention to the proposed meanings of the participles, especially in light of there having been other advocates of interpretations for the participles that are similar to the one this thesis develops--most notably, N. F. Freese, P. Andriessen, Joseph Coppens.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Biblical Studies | Christianity | European Languages and Societies | Religion

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