6 Value of the Epistles.-d) 'Ihe The.-siUonian Eiiistles are proliably the earliest extant Christian writings. They present to us a primitive stage in the growth of ^'C Church, and an early foini of Christian teaching. They may be comjiared with Paul's speeclies at Lyslra (Ac 14'"^-) and at Athens (n-'-"-) as examples of his preaching to the heathen world. Though tlieir teaching is simple and undeveloped, it is thorou"hly Pauline in tone, and latent in it we may find the germs of the luU- 1 grown Pauline theology. _ .
(O) These letters are an interesting expression ol I the'writer's personality. They show us Paul the
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THESSALONICA
pastor and his metlioil of treating newly-made con- verts, his self-sacrilicing devotion, his gentle deal- ing with personal dillieulties and temptations, his continual yearning for his children in the faith. Thoy show vis Paul the Hebrew, saturated with the esehatolo^'ical ideasof his own race and age, though for him all the esohatology that matters is summed up in the words : ' Whether we wake or whether we sleep, we live together with Christ' {cf.
1 Th 5'").
(3) They help us to supplement the incomplete account of the founding of the Thessalonian Church given by the Acts.
LiTRRATDRB.— (1) Artt. 'The The3a.alonian Epistles,' 'Anti- christ,' 'Man of Sin.' ' Apocalyptic Literature,' in Smith's DB, BDB, EBi, and EBrW.
(2) General works on the NT, especially the Introductions ofT. Zahn (Eng. tr., 3 vols., EdiiiburKh, 1909); A. Julicher (En?, tr., London, 1904); B. W. Bacon (New York, 1900); J. Moffatt, Historical N7\ Erliiihnrgh. 1901. LA'T, do., 1911 ; K. Lake, The Earlier Epistles of St. J'aul, London, 1911.
(.3) Commentaries : (ii) German : P. Schmidt, Der erste Thessalonicherbrief, Berlin, 18S5; W. Bornemann, Die Thes- salonicherhriefe (.Me,ver'8 Kommentar iiber das NT), Gbttingen, 1894 ; B. Weiss, Brief an . . . die Thessalonicher^, Leipzig, 1902 ; G. Wohlenberg, Der erste und zweite Thessalonicher- brief ausgelegt (Zahn's Koimnentar zmn i<T), do., 1903.
(b) English : H. Alford, The Greek Testament'^, London, IS.*)?, iii. ; B. Jowett, Thessalonians, Galatians, Romans^, do., 1S59; J. B. Lightfoot, Notes on Epistles of St. Paul, do., lS9o ; J. Denney. Thes^nlonians (Expositor's Bible), do., 1892 ; J. Drummond, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle (International ll.iivihooks to t/ie NT), New York, 1899; G. G. Findlay, Tltci^mlonians (Cambridge Greek Testament), Cambridge, 1904 ; G. Milligan, Thessalonians, do., 1908; Jf. Moffatt, EGT, • Thessalonians,' London, 1910; J. E. Frame, ICC, 'Thessa- lonians,' Edinburgh, 1912.
(4) Special Studies : E. H. Askwith, Introduction to the Tliessalonian Epistles, London, 1902 ; F. Spitta, ' Der zweite Brief an die Thessalonicher,' in 2ur Geschichte mid Li.tteratiir des Urchrislentums, i. [Gottingen, 1893]; W. Wrede, 'Die Echtheit des zweiten Thessalonicherbriefs,' in TU, new ser. ix.
2 [Leipzig, 1903]; A. Harnack, 'Das Problem des zweiten Thessalonicherbriefs,' in SB A W, 1910.
(5) Historical and doctrinal : J. B. Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, London, 1893, pp. 263-269 ; W. M. Ramsay. St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, do., 1895: H. St. J. Thackeray, St. Paul and Contemporary Jewish Thought, do., 1900; R. J. Knowling, The Testimony of St. Paul to Chri.lt, do., 1911 ; H. A. A. Kennedy, St. Paul's Conceptions of the Last Thinm, do.. 1904 ; W. Bousset, The Antichrist Legend, Eng. tr., do., 1898.
A fuller list of authorities will be found in J. Moffatt, LNT,
pp. 61-66. F. S. Marsh.
THESSALONICA [Qe<T<Ta.\ovU-n, now Salonika). — Thessalonica was a large and important Mace- donian city, whose original name of Therme, derived from the hot siirings found in the vicinity, was preserved in the Thermaicus Sinus, the bay at the head of which the city stood. Refounded by Cassander about 315 B.C., it was named after his wife Thessalonica, the sister of Ale.xander the Great. ' He pulled down the cities in the district of Crucis and on the Thermaic Gulf, collecting the inhabitants into one city' (Strabo, VII. fr. 21). The site was well chosen alike for defence and for commerce. Kising in tiers of houses from the sea- margin to the top of rocky slopes, and surrounded by high white walls, the city presented a striking appearance from the sea. Keceiving the products or the vast and fertile plain watered by the A.\ius and the Haliacmon, it was the most popu- lous city in Macedonia (Strabo, vil. vii. 4) and had a large share in the commerce of the ^Egean. Under the Romans it became the capital of one of the four districts into which Macedonia was divided, and afterwards the virtual capital of the whole province. It was made a strong naval station, and during the first Civil War became the headquarters of Pompey and the senate. Having afterwards favoured the side of Octavian and Antony in the struggle with Brutus and Cassius, it was rewarded by being made a free city of the Empire. Cicero, who spent seven months of exile in it, was struck by its central position, the Thes-
salonians seeming to him ' positi in gremio imperii nostri ' {de Prov. Consul, ii. 4).
With unerring judgment St. Paul chose Thes- salonica as the scene of one of his missionary campaigns. He must have seen its strategic im- portance. If his aim was to establish Christianity in the governing and commercial centres of the Empire, in order that the light might radiate over the widest areas, his choice of Thessalonica was justiKed by an immediate and signal success. From the Christians of this city the word of the Lord sounded forth like a trumpet (f'fvjx')rai) not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but ' in every place ' (1 Th 1»).