Claudius had recently expelled from Rome Jews who may have been members of the Jesus movement, because, the historian Suetonius explained, they were agitating in the name of one “Chrestus.” But Paul was not in favor of such overt action. Instead, the Thessalonians should wait peaceably for Jesus’s return. In this interim period, he told them, “live quietly and attend to your own business . . . so that you may command the respect of those outside your own numbers.”46 Yes, they were indeed the children of light grappling with the forces of darkness, but they were armed only with spiritual
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