Greetings to the church (1:1 – 2)
The debt of praise that we owe (1:3 – 4)
Faith as the greatest mark of salvation (1:5)
The righteous judgment of God (1:6 – 10)
Paul’s prayer for the church (1:11 – 12)
That they will be sure to be saved (1:11)
That God’s goodness would abound to us (1:11)
That his work in building us up would abound (1:11)
The signs of the end (2:1 – 12)
The believer’s protection (2:1 -2)
Two events which precede the coming of Christ (2:3 – 12)
The contrasting blessedness of the elect (2:13 – 17)
Our indebtedness (2:13)
The Christian’s experience (2:13 – 14)
Our lifelong duty (2:15)
Our assured blessedness (2:16-17)
Four marks and duties of true believers (3:1 – )
The authentic believer prays for the gospel (3:1 – 3)
The authentic Christian is delivered in the way (3:4)
The authentic Christian loves and waits (3:5)
The authentic believer recognizes the authority of the word of God (3:6)
Following the apostolic example (3:7 – 11)
Bible Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians
by Dr Peter Masters, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London (adapted from sermons)
Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians is a remarkable source of end time doctrine for us. Paul reveals future things in a very special way. It has vital information for us and encouragement concerning trust and faith, and even instruction on church purity and the attitude to wrong doers.
Two thirds at least of the second epistle is new material which is more than a repetition of the first epistle. One third in 2 Thessalonians you will find in 1 Thessalonians, but two thirds is fresh and important. So there is iteration and revision, and also the new exhortations and material
The epistle has three writers: Paul really inspired of God, and two fellow workers are with him, both of whom have been with him some seven to nine months previously in the second missionary journey, when the church of the Thessalonians was founded. Luke had been with them too. Paul and Luke, Silvanus, Timotheus, but Luke is serving elsewhere and the three other are still together.
And they are writing about the year AD 51, perhaps just a little after into AD 52. They are writing from Corinth, not from Athens as the little note says which is added at the end of the epistle, which is no part of the Bible, no part of the inspired Word. That was added centuries later by somebody who just did not follow the information in the Scriptures itself and in the book of Acts. It was written from Corinth about AD 51.