1 Thessalonians 5
1 Thessalonians 5 is the fifth (and the last) chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle, likely written in Corinth in about 50-51 CE for the church in Thessalonica. This chapter contains a message about Christ's second coming, and various final exhortations and greetings. Text. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 28 verses. Textual witnesses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: The Need for Wakefulness (5:1–11). Paul reminds  the Thessalonians that "the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (verse 2), that is, quite unexpectedly, so they should be sober and put on "the breastplate of faith and love" and "the helmet of hope of salvation". According to the Jerusalem Bible, Paul asserts here that "he has no idea when the Last Day will come, and he merely repeats what the Lord said ... about having to stay awake until it comes". Verse 8. In this verse, Paul exposes the triad of faith, love and hope (in this specific order), which he introduced in  1 Thessalonians 1:3. Final Exhortations and Greetings (5:12–28). This final section contains various pieces of advice, greetings, prayers, Paul's own handwriting and a closing benediction. Verse 27. Theologian Philip Esler suggests that Paul "has taken the stylus in his own hand to write the last few words (as at and )". The audience is referred to as "the brethren" or "the brothers" (τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, "tois adelphois") in critical texts; the word "holy" also appears in the Textus Receptus, and as "all the holy brethren" ("omnibus sanctis fratribus") in the Latin Vulgate.