Research and write a 2,000-word formal essay in which you

(1) state the guidelines (rules of interpretation) you would use to interpret 2 Thess. 2:1-12,

(2) defend your guidelines, and

(3) illustrate how your guidelines have proven useful in other passages.

State as many guidelines as you find significant for getting at the meaning of the text.

Examples of guidelines:

1. Material found within an epistle should be accepted in a straight-forward manner as part of letter-writing, unless something within the letter indicates it should be treated as another genre.

2. An explanation of a text should be assumed to be in harmony with other texts that deal with the same topic.

3. Texts that deal with the same topic routinely show some differences because of the circumstances surrounding them and the goal of the composition.

Examples of defending guidelines:

1. Since the primary character of New Testament writing is intended to understood as factual rather than myth or allegory, the content of the epistles should be understood as factual. Even those parts that speak of the ethereal realm are presented as fact. Nothing in this passage casts suspicion on its factual nature.

2. While 2 Thess. 2:1-12 elaborates on 1 Thess. 4:13-17, the second passage adds explanation, not contradiction. The latter passage rebukes what pretenders at Thessalonica have advanced.

3. The New Testament obviously associates Christ with the judgment. In concept, however, the coming of Christ and the day of the Lord have in common the aspect of judgment that is spelled out in the Old Testament where the day of the Lord ties in with Yahweh's action.

The reason for judgment is the same--evil. The specific occasion, people groups, and events differ.

Examples of usefulness:

1. When a composition is written in historical narrative, the integrity of a passage does not have to be questioned. Taking the Acts account of Paul's expulsion from Thessalonians provides a smooth continuation of the story of Paul's mission by connecting the places he visited and giving reason for his actions after arriving in Acts and Corinth on the same journey.

Otherwise, if the Acts account is a fable, a parable, or an allegory, the usefulness of the Acts account would be subject to some unfounded interpretation and completely out of character for the book of Acts.

2. Paul's discussions of the resurrection and coming of Christ occur in other places in the New Testament. Each account is presumed to be complete within itself, but the fact that discussion appears elsewhere adds weight to the truth of the matter.

3. Differences in the Gospels should be anticipated; otherwise, there is no reason for more than one. When each author's unique purpose and organization of topics are considered, the differences are more easily explained. The result is a strengthening of the witness accounts.

When you have composed your essay, submit it at the prompt located on the Course Menu under Module 3.

1. Historical setting

2. Cultural setting

3. Compare scripture with scripture

4. Classification of the scripture

5. Language-figurative