The twenty-fifth episode of the seventh season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (December 6, 2023). It tells the story of something that happened just before the Thessalonians received their first letter from Paul and how that affected their understanding of what they read.
This story should help you understand why Paul was not describing anything like the concept of the Rapture that is sometimes preached today.
You can listen to the episode right now and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:
Show Notes about the Episode
The story is based on the First Letter to the Thessalonians and specifically on the passage 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.
The Occasion of the Letter
The First Letter to the Thessalonians is generally accepted by scholars as being genuinely written by the Apostle Paul.
In the opening lines, the writers are identified as Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, but Paul seems to be the chief author (even if he likely dictated it to someone).
Silvanus is probably another name for the character who is known as Silas in the Book of Acts, as a comparison between Acts 18:5 and 2 Corinthians 1:19 would seem to indicate.
After establishing the church in Thessalonica, Paul and the others moved on to what we know as Greece. Sometime later, Paul sent Timothy back to visit the Thessalonian Christians. This visit is referred to in the third chapter of the letter. Apparently, Timothy brought back some questions and concerns, and Paul is seeking to address them in this letter.
Parousia
The Greek word παρουσία (parousia) appears in the 15th verse of the fourth chapter of the First Letter to the Thessalonians. In the NRSVue it is translated as coming. While this is an accurate translation, it masks the fact that there was an entire protocol that was associated with a parousia, particularly when an important figure, such as an emperor visited a city.
I was inspired by and took my description of the protocol from the excellent book, Render Unto Caesar by John Dominic Crossan (HarperOne, 2022). He describes the protocol and how it would have been experienced in Thessalonica in the second chapter.
Rapture
The notion of the Rapture was formulated by John Nelson Darby (1800 – 1882). He popularized the idea as a part of a dispensationalist view of biblical prophecy starting in the 1830s.
There are various interpretations of the Rapture and when it is supposed to happen. The most common interpretation sees it as taking place before a seven-period of tribulation which comes before a millennium of Christ’s rule on earth.
The idea is based entirely on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 which speaks of believers being “caught up in the clouds.” I hope this episode has demonstrated that the original readers would not have understood it that way.
The idea is not a historic part of Christian tradition and was unknown before Darby’s work.
Claudius
Emperor Claudius ruled from 41 to 54 CE. Since the Letter to Thessalonians is generally thought to have been written between 49-51 CE, so he would have been emperor at the time. I invented an imperial visitation and parousia to Thessalonica around that time to illustrate the protocol.
There is no evidence of such a visit at that time.
Media in this Episode
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: AhDah by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3345-ahdah
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com
Music: I’ll Never Forget by Michal Mojzykiewicz
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/11916-ill-never-forget
Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sound effect from pixabay.com.
Support Retelling the Bible
If you would like to support the work that I do creating these stories, go to patreon.com/retellingthebible and choose a level of support!
At the end of my episode, I mentioned some of the creative projects of a couple of my patreon supporters.
You can find out more about the work of John Borthwick at www.ministryforum.ca.
You can find out more about the work of Mat Meyer at churchoftheaffirmation.wordpress.com.
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