Who wrote the book of 2 Thessalonians? Who was the author of 2 Thessalonians?

This second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written at Corinth by the Apostle Paul and in the joint names of Silvanus and Timotheus. How long after the first epistle cannot be correctly ascertained. It was probably a year after they had received the first document.

The second epistle to the Thessalonians begins with almost the same wording as the first epistle. Timothy and Silas/Silvanus who were the apostle's companions on his second missionary journey (51 to 54 AC) were with him now also. Paul refers to an earlier epistle (chap. 2:15). He reminds the Thessalonians of his habitual way of writing (chap. 3:17) and he mentions that he has received fresh news of some that walked among them (chap. 3:11). From these references one concludes that Paul wrote this second epistle after the first and probably still during his 18 month stay in Corinth in the year 52 AC (Acts 18:5-11).

While we find reminiscence of the second epistle with Polykarp (around 70 – 155) and Justin (around 100 – 165) the first explicit quotation of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is found with Irenaeus (around 140 – 202 AC). Clemens of Alexandria (around 150 – 215), Tertullian (around 160 – 220) and the Muratori Canon (end of 2 nd century) all confirm Paul's authorship.

(1:1–2) ‘Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.’

Although the letter begins and ends with Paul (see also 3:17–18), he links Silas and Timothy with him as witnesses and as sharing the greetings he sends. It would surely have been a joy to the Thessalonians to receive such a message from such servants. These were men whose love for the brethren had been proved by their conduct amongst them. They had devoted their time — their lives — to the encouragement of the Lord’s people. The Thessalonians could not possibly have received this as a cold, hard information brochure. It was a personal letter written by men whose personal affections were already known and treasured.

There is a saying that conduct is a mirror in which we show ourselves. In Paul’s conduct we get to know how deeply he was influenced by the Spirit of Christ. We observe this in apparently little things as seen in the epistles. For instance, most men in his exalted position as the apostle to the Gentiles would not dream of associating smaller and younger men with himself in his inspired epistles. Whoever heard of a Pope associating any other name with his own when issuing an encyclical letter; or the Archbishop of Canterbury in delivering a charge to his clergy? That Paul should mention other names than his own in his inspired epistles denotes humility, large-heartedness, consideration for others and fellowship. Here are the examples: “Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and Sosthenes our brother” (1 Cor. 1:1). “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother” (2 Cor. 1:1). “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:1). “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother” (Col. 1:1). “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians” (1 Thess. 1:1). “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians” (2 Thess. 1:1). “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow-labourer” (Philemon 1).

Well, you see the word "sanctified" may be correct in itself, but the word here should be, "to those that are called, beloved," etc. You observe that the word "called" occurs at the end of the verse. This word "called" is very emphatic. Then he describes them in two different ways. First, here, in the A.V., it is "sanctified," but as now generally accepted by those who have studied the text fully, it is "beloved in God the Father." "In" is very often equivalent to (indeed, it is a stronger expression than) "by." But I now give it literally, "beloved in God the Father." I confess myself that not only is this reading the most ancient, the best approved by the highest witnesses that God has given to us of His word, but it is beautifully appropriate to the Epistle. The assurance of being "beloved in God the Father," or "by God the Father," comes into special value under two sets of circumstances. If I am a young man very young in the faith, when one is proving the persecution of the world, the hatred of men, Jews full of jealousy, the Gentiles full of scorn, and both animated by hatred against the Lord and those that are the Lord's — what a comfort it is to know that I am beloved "in God the Father." This is the way the apostle Paul addressed the Thessalonians as a company, the only one that he ever addressed in this way. They were experiencing persecution, not in a gradual way as most of the other assemblies had done, but from the very start, from their conversion. We know the apostle himself had to flee because of the persecution that had set in there. "These men that have turned the world upside down have come here also," and a deadly set was made upon them, and so the apostle had to escape. The church there had to bear the brunt of it, and in the very first Epistle that Paul ever wrote, the First to the Thessalonians — that was his first inspired writing — you will find that such is the manner in which he describes them. "Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God [the] Father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 1:1). And that this was studiously meant is shown by the same presentation of the truth in the opening verse of the Second Epistle, where we find there was still the persecution and the danger of their being shaken by that persecution and the error that had come in through false teachers taking advantage of it to pretend that "the day of the Lord" was actually on them, making out that this persecution was the beginning of that "day," and so greatly alarming the young believers there.

Hence the apostle had to write a second letter to establish them clearly in the bright hope of Christ's coming, and in the lower truth of the day of the Lord. Well, in that Second Epistle we have "Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our Father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 1:1). Now I conceive that the object of the Spirit of God there, by the apostle, was, that as they were so young and so exposed to such an assault upon themselves, which reminded the apostle of the assault which had been made upon himself and his friends, that they should be comforted by the reminder that they were "in God the Father." What could harm them if this were the case? The apostle would not have ventured from himself to say such a thing. None upon earth would have done so. It was God Who inspired the apostle to let them know that wonderful comfort. There are many people who read this and do not get any comfort from it, because they do not apply it to themselves. They have no idea what it means. You will remember that John, writing in his First Epistle, separates the family of God into three classes — the fathers, young men and the babes (for I give the last word as it should be, literally). They are all "children" of God, but the babes are the young ones of the children of God. The young men are those that have grown up, and the fathers are those that are mature and well established in Christ. Well, it is to the babes — and this will help us to understand what I have been saying — he says, "I write unto you babes" (the proper full force of the word), "because ye have known the Father" (1 John 2:13).

1 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God (the) Father and (the) Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-2. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our Father, and Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

(2 Thess. 3:17). The Thessalonian assembly had, apparently, been disturbed by a letter professing to come from the Apostle. Hence, in his closing salutation, he tells them they may be assured of the authority of his letters by finding the salutation attached in his own handwriting.

As the Thessalonians had been troubled with an epistle falsely represented as coming from Paul, he was very careful that there should be no doubt about the authenticity of this epistle which really did come from him. This explains verse 17.

There is another notable link of connection with the close of the first epistle, though each perhaps has, as usual, its own distinctive traits. "The salutation by the hand of me Paul, which is a mark in every epistle: so I write." How in keeping with a very early communication of the apostle, called to write not a few thus carefully to authenticate his letters to the Gentile saints! Still more solemnly in the first had he adjured the Thessalonians by the Lord that the letter be read to all the (holy) brethren. The notion that scripture, addressed even to the whole assembly, was not to be read to or by all, was an interference with divine authority as well as divine grace, which could only be conceived in a degenerate and rebellious age, verging to apostacy. That Paul's epistles are, as truly as any other of the holy writings, accredited as scripture, 2 Peter 3:16 makes sure and plain. And it was the more necessary that they should have in all the mark of his hand in saluting the saints, as he usually employed an amanuensis. (Compare Rom. 16:22, 1 Cor. 16:21, and Col. 4:18, with Gal. 6:11.)

Take the N.T. facts. Did the church of the Thessalonians doubt the first of Paul's Epistles, unexampled as it was? Did they not accept without question his written testimony, as they had his oral a little before, not as men's word — but just as it truly is — God's word, which also works in the believer, certainly not in the doubter? It is the more pertinent, because the Second of these Epistles exposes the fraud of a letter pretending to have come from the apostle, which had imposed on some at least. Thenceforward his salutation with his own hand in every Epistle is the token to guard the saints; yet far from him, or even them, the pestilent and unbelieving thought that their church, or any other church, was temporarily to suspend judgment, — no, not even when they, or some of them, had just been drawn into error by a deceiver.