understood it, and they ought to be credited with a fair interpretation. We find that they discontinued their ordinary employment, "working not at all,"[1] in expectation of the event. Dr. A. Clarke notices this circumstance as a reason for the Apostle's writing this second epistle. He remarks: "It appears that the person who carried the first epistic returned speedily to Corinth, and gave the Apostle a particular account of the state of the Thessalonian Church; and, among other things, informed him that many were in expectation of the speedy arrival of the day of judgment, and that they inferred from his epistle already sent, chap. iv. 15, 17, and v. 4, 6, that it was to take place while the Apostle and themselves should be yet alive. And it appears probable, from some parts of this epistle, that he was informed, also, that some, expecting this sudden appearance of the Lord Jesus, had given up their secular concerns as inconsistent with a due preparation for such an important and awful event; see chap. iii. 6—13. To correct such a misapprehension, St. Paul would feel himself constrained to write immediately, and this is a sufficient reason why these epistles should appear to have been written at so short a distance from each other."[2] There is then both critical and practical evidence to show that the language of the Apostles respecting the second coming of the Lord, very fairly admits of the interpretation that we have given it. There can be no reasonable doubt that they all so spoke of the event as to imply that they expected its occurrence within the period of their own lifetime in the world.
But is not such a view detrimental to the authority of the Apostles? Certainly not. The Lord had said to them, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man;" it was one of those
- ↑ 2 Thess. iii. 11.
- ↑ Preface to the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.
