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IVP New Testament Commentary #13
1-2 Thessalonians
Fascination with the end times is not just a recent phenomenon. The young church at Thessalonica, having taken root during Paul's brief stay there, pondered when the end might come as well. Paul, in order to instruct them more fully, wrote them two letters, which taken together expound the "already-and-not-yet" character of his views of the end times. His instruction and counsel can serve us well today. In this careful study of 1-2 Thessalonians, G. K. Beale offers an introduction that sets the letters in context and surveys their general content, highlighting issues surrounding their occasion and purpose. His passage-by-passage commentary seeks to explain what these letters mean to us today as well as what they meant for their original hearers. Students, pastors, Bible teachers and everyone who wants to understand Paul's message for the church will benefit from this excellent resource.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2003
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78 people want to read
About the author
Gregory K. Beale
43 books208 followersG. K. Beale (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the coeditor of the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and the author of numerous books, including A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 27, 2023
I really like Beale in some of his other writing, but I thought this one was a miss. Comments on 1 Thessalonians were okay, but on 2 Thessalonians I was pretty disappointed. The most helpful part was the introduction. He does well framing an eschatological lens for reading the letters.
February 7, 2017
Scholar G.K. Beale fulfills the designs of the IVPNT series and writes for preachers, teachers, and Bible students rather than scholars. That is not to say that there isn’t careful scholarship behind what he says, but that great care is given in being accessible for readers.
In his Introduction of the Thessalonian letters he explains the historical context of Paul establishing churches at Thessalonica around A.D. 49 or 50. While he feels it’s hard to explain “the exact composition of the Thessalonian congregation”, he is much more certain about why he feels Paul wrote the epistle. Paul defends his apostleship in order that they may follow the Christian teaching he shares. With that apostleship defended, he can branch out into other areas where they are struggling as Christians.
He explains in a few paragraphs the scholarly debate on the sequence of First and Second Thessalonians. He even provides what strikes me as the silly arguments of scholars who think Second Thessalonians should come first. He follows the traditional viewpoint. When he discusses the theological context of these letters, he rightly sees the eschatological emphasis that is given. Both here and in the commentary proper, your evaluation of this commentary will likely be influenced by your own prophetic viewpoint. Frankly, I do not subscribe to Mr. Beale’s viewpoint, but I don’t want to review the work based on agreement with myself. The truth is, there was still much insight to be gained by reading here. His opinion that the “last days” encompasses all the New Testament age, and not only the last few years of it, is one that I agree with. Beale loves to write on the prophetic parts of New Testament and I always gain something from him even if I find much to disagree with.
The commentary itself is quite helpful. Before I received my copy for review, I had read where some other reviewers said this work didn’t live up to other volumes in the series, but I personally don’t see how that could be true. Again, you may disagree with him on the prophetic passages, but at least he will give me something to think about and you will be a better Bible student for it. This book is worth having.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
In his Introduction of the Thessalonian letters he explains the historical context of Paul establishing churches at Thessalonica around A.D. 49 or 50. While he feels it’s hard to explain “the exact composition of the Thessalonian congregation”, he is much more certain about why he feels Paul wrote the epistle. Paul defends his apostleship in order that they may follow the Christian teaching he shares. With that apostleship defended, he can branch out into other areas where they are struggling as Christians.
He explains in a few paragraphs the scholarly debate on the sequence of First and Second Thessalonians. He even provides what strikes me as the silly arguments of scholars who think Second Thessalonians should come first. He follows the traditional viewpoint. When he discusses the theological context of these letters, he rightly sees the eschatological emphasis that is given. Both here and in the commentary proper, your evaluation of this commentary will likely be influenced by your own prophetic viewpoint. Frankly, I do not subscribe to Mr. Beale’s viewpoint, but I don’t want to review the work based on agreement with myself. The truth is, there was still much insight to be gained by reading here. His opinion that the “last days” encompasses all the New Testament age, and not only the last few years of it, is one that I agree with. Beale loves to write on the prophetic parts of New Testament and I always gain something from him even if I find much to disagree with.
The commentary itself is quite helpful. Before I received my copy for review, I had read where some other reviewers said this work didn’t live up to other volumes in the series, but I personally don’t see how that could be true. Again, you may disagree with him on the prophetic passages, but at least he will give me something to think about and you will be a better Bible student for it. This book is worth having.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
October 28, 2017
Just excellent. Made me want to check out more volumes in this series. Beale was constantly focused on the author's main point. Good observation, interpretation, and application. Simply a rare gem as far as commentaries go.
My only beef was that the font and typesetting were not the easiest to read.
2017 update: read again, and still very good. Reading in conjunction with Stott, I did find Beale's writing to be a bit less comprehensible than the lucid Stott. But quite worth the effort.
My only beef was that the font and typesetting were not the easiest to read.
2017 update: read again, and still very good. Reading in conjunction with Stott, I did find Beale's writing to be a bit less comprehensible than the lucid Stott. But quite worth the effort.
September 28, 2017
Beale's work is a thorough study of Paul's letters to the young Thessalonian church. One of his strengths is setting forth multiple different viewpoints then walking through them to offer the best possible interpretation. While one may not always agree it is nonetheless helpful to have all the views laid out on the table and to have the ability to chose from them.
His illustrations are generally solid. I noticed in reading Richard Phillips work that Phillips often borrowed from Beale.
Given the eschatological focus of 1 & 2 Thessalonians Beale was the right person (given his work on Revelation and eschatology in general) to write this commentary.
My only challenge, not owing to the book itself, was that being a Kindle book I found it more difficult to process and carefully think through. I prefer hard copies especially for sermon work.
His illustrations are generally solid. I noticed in reading Richard Phillips work that Phillips often borrowed from Beale.
Given the eschatological focus of 1 & 2 Thessalonians Beale was the right person (given his work on Revelation and eschatology in general) to write this commentary.
My only challenge, not owing to the book itself, was that being a Kindle book I found it more difficult to process and carefully think through. I prefer hard copies especially for sermon work.
March 16, 2023
Detailed and thorough commentary. Some commentaries tend to be verbose and tedious but this one gives good coverage of various interpretations and solid arguments for the preferred ones. Got the entire NT series for about $4 per volume and you just can't beat that!
December 7, 2022
Great commentary I used preaching/teaching through both books. It is primarily pastoral but it gets into the exegetical weeds when it needs to.
May 29, 2023
Mr. Beale is no slouch when it comes to bible commentaries. This was helpful in my studies.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews