page_title: First Epistle to the Thessalonians
section_title: Authenticity
hierarchical_section_title: First Epistle to the Thessalonians / Composition / Authenticity
caption_attribution_description: English: Folio 18 recto, beginning of the First Epistle to Thessalonians, decorated headpiece
context_page_description: The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, commonly referred to as First Thessalonians or 1 Thessalonians, is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely the first of Paul's letters, probably written by the end of AD 52. However, some scholars believe the Epistle to Galatians may have been written by AD 48.
context_section_description: The majority of New Testament scholars hold 1 Thessalonians to be authentic, although a number of scholars in the mid-19th century contested its authenticity, most notably Clement Schrader and F.C. Baur. 1 Thessalonians matches other accepted Pauline letters, both in style and in content, and its authorship is also affirmed by 2 Thessalonians.
  1 Thessalonians 2:13–16 have often been regarded as a post-Pauline interpolation. The following arguments have been based on the content:
  It is perceived to be theologically incompatible with Paul's other epistles: elsewhere Paul attributed Jesus's death to the "rulers of this age" (1  Co 2:8) rather than to the Jews, and elsewhere Paul writes that the Jews have not been abandoned by God, for "all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26). According to 1 Thes 1:10, the wrath of God is still to come; it is not something that has already shown itself.
  There were no extensive historical persecutions of Christians by Jews in Palestine prior to the first Jewish war.
  The use of the concept of imitation in 1 Thes. 2.14 is singular.
  The aorist eftasen ("has overtaken") refers to the destruction of Jerusalem.
  The syntax of 1 Thes. 2:13–16 deviates significantly from that of the surrounding context.
  It is also sometimes suggested that 1 Thes. 5:1–11 is a post-Pauline insertion that has many features of Lukan language and theology that serves as an apologetic correction to Paul's imminent expectation of the Second Coming in 1 Thes. 4:13–18.
  Other scholars, such as Schmithals, Eckhart, Demke and Munro, have developed complicated theories involving redaction and interpolation in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
caption: The first page of the epistle in Minuscule 699 gives its title as προς θεσσαλονικεις, "To the Thessalonians."
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