Jensens survey of the old testament adam 523
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twofold outline of the letter begin? What is
the opening word of this division?
12. What subject is common to the end of
each chapter?
13. In what chapters does Paul write
much personal testimony about his ministry?
14. Where is the classic rapture passage?
IX. FURTHER STUDY OF 1 THESSALONIANS
1. Using outside sources as guides,8 study
what the Bible teaches about the following:
a. the rapture of the church
b. the Millennium
c. the Great Tribulation
d. Christ’s return to earth
(epiphany, revelation).
2. Study the di erent views regarding the
time of the rapture (i.e., before, during, or
after the Great Tribulation on earth). One of
the
main
di erences
between
premillennialists who believe in a rapture
before (pre) the Tribulation period and
premillennialists who hold to a rapture after
(post) that Tribulation period arises out of
the interpretation of the action aspect of the
rapture (4:17). Pretribulationists believe
that at the rapture, the Lord does not come
to the earth, but only to the air and clouds
above the earth, and that He returns to
heaven immediately with the raptured
saints. This view sees in the sharp phrase
“caught up” the meaning of being
transported from one place to another,
which in this case is from earth to heaven.
(Cf. Acts 8:39; 2 Cor. 12:2, 4; Rev. 12:5.)
Posttribulationists, on the other hand,
believe that the saints will be caught up to
meet the Lord in the air, but that they will
immediately escort Him to earth. F. F. Bruce
gives the background of such a view:
When a dignitary paid an o cial
visit or parousia to a city in
Hellenistic times, the action of the
leading citizens in going out to
meet him and escorting him on the
nal stage of his journey was
called the apantesis; it is similarly
used in Mt. xxv. 6; Acts xxviii. 15.
So the Lord is pictured as escorted
to the earth by His people — those
newly raised from death and those
who have remained alive.9
X. OUTLINE
XI. BACKGROUND OF 2 THESSALONIANS
A couple of months after Paul had written
his rst letter to the Thessalonian church,
various circumstances led him to write
again. This later epistle has been described
as “a second prescription for the same case,
made after discovering that some certain
stubborn symptoms had not yielded to the
rst treatment.”10 But the epistle is more
than that. It answers new questions that
have been raised, and it extends Paul’s
earlier instruction and exhortation to deeper
and higher levels. The keynote of the Lord’s
second coming, as taught in 1 Thessalonians,
is also the keynote here. The importance of
such a doctrine in the lives of the
Thessalonian believers is emphasized.
Much of the background of this epistle is
common to that of the rst letter. Review
the earlier section before studying the new
descriptions given below.
