The relation between 1 Thessalonians and 2· Thessalonians is a disputedquestion. Many scholars argue that 2 Thessalonians is pseudepigraphic,written one or more decades after 1 Thessalonians. Others defendthe authenticity of 2 Thessalonians. Wanamaker argues in his recentcommentary that 2 Thessalonians was written before 1 Thessalonians. Inthis way the problems raised by the complicated relation between the twoletters would be solved. Wanamaker argues that TImothy on his visit toThessalonica (1 Thes 3:1-5) brought the letter we call 2 Thessalonians.Lecompte argues that Silas wrote 1 Thessalonians and that Paul himselfis the author of 2 Thessalonians, so he could correct the misunderstandingscaused by Silas's writing. Or perhaps Silas did not exactly writewhat Paul had agreed with his co-workers. I will argue in this articlethat the arguments used by Wanamaker and Lecompte are invalid forgrammatical reasons. The great resemblance between 1 Thessaloniansand 2 Thessalonians in spite of these different opinions, is best explainedif we see 2 Thessalonians as a pseudepigraphic epistle.
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