The Heart Of Paul’s Theology: Paul And The ThessaloniansSample

False Prophets in Thessalonica: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

In addition to suffering persecution, the Thessalonian church had also come under the influence of false prophets. In some ways, this is not surprising. In the first place, throughout history, when Christians have suffered persecution for long periods of time, they have often longed for Jesus to return to deliver them from their trials. Simply put, suffering Christians tend to orient their entire lives toward the second coming of Christ. When this life offers little more than disappointment and suffering, we turn our eyes toward the day when Jesus will rescue us.

In the second place, when Christians are highly concerned with the return of Christ, they often become susceptible to false teachers or false prophets who have extreme views regarding the second coming. And this is precisely what happened to the Thessalonians. False teachers came into the church with misguided beliefs about the nearness of Christ’s return. 

To appreciate how much trouble the false teachers in Thessalonica stirred up, we will touch on two matters: the conflict that developed between the false prophets and Paul, and the content of the false prophets’ teaching. Let’s look first at the challenge of false prophecy.

It is apparent in many sections of 1 and 2 Thessalonians that false teachers strongly opposed Paul’s teaching. For example, when he received Timothy’s reports on the condition of the Thessalonian church, Paul learned that false prophets had entered the fellowship of believers and had spoken against some of his teachings. One of Paul’s responses to this problem was to remind the Thessalonians to examine every prophecy they heard. Consider his words in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21:

Do not despise prophecies. Test everything; hold on to the good (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21).

Paul instructed the Thessalonians to “test everything” and to “hold on to the good” because he wanted them to evaluate the content of every instruction they received. They were to retain only the good, disregarding everything that did not comport with what they knew to be true from the Scriptures and from Paul’s teaching. 

This conflict with the false prophets raises another issue for us as we read Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. What were these false prophets teaching? We cannot be sure of everything they taught, but when we recall the ongoing persecution in Thessalonica and examine the content of Paul’s Thessalonian epistles, we may surmise that the false prophets had a variety of misconceptions about the second coming of Christ. Their central problem, however, was that they believed that Jesus would return almost immediately. In fact, as incredible as it may seem to us, some false prophets had even proclaimed that Christ had already returned. Consider 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3:

With respect to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask, brothers, that you not be easily unsettled or alarmed by a spirit, report or letter … saying that the day of the Lord is already here. Do not let anyone deceive you (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).

Evidently, at least some of the false prophets had taught that the church of Thessalonica had already missed Christ’s return. It is possible that they drew these ideas from the civic cult of Thessalonica that worshiped Cabirus, a murdered local hero who was said to return to the world periodically. The false teachers may have applied this kind of outlook to the Christian faith by telling the Thessalonians that Christ had already returned.