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00:00How are you?
00:28Okay, so let's now look at the purpose of the letter.
00:33We have already outlined some elements of this, but let's go a little deeper into this topic.
00:40The letters to the Thessalonians have basically three purposes.
00:46First, to share Paul's joy and gratitude to God for the Thessalonians' faithfulness and Christlikeness,
00:56Even in the midst of persecution, it is something important; that is, he writes to thank God.
01:05Second, respond to the reasons and criticisms that speak against him.
01:12We will see this in several of his letters; that is, the Lord had already said it there.
01:18If they persecuted me, then they're going to persecute us too.
01:22So, all this, and he has to keep guaranteeing that he truly is an apostle.
01:28We will see this much more clearly when we study the letter to the Galatians.
01:33where the disrepute of the Judaizers had already grown greatly,
01:39And they were trying above all, there in Galatia, to destroy the evangelizing force of the apostle Paul,
01:47And that is why we will see that one of the important reasons for writing to the Galatians,
01:52Well, don't let yourselves be convinced by the Judaizers.
01:55and that he truly is, therefore, a messenger of the Lord.
01:59So much so that he goes so far as to say in his letter, "Whoever does not follow this gospel, let him be anathema."
02:04In other words, it doesn't belong to the kingdom, right?
02:07A third reason for writing this letter was to discuss the Lord's return.
02:14As we were saying, there were many doubts about this topic, right?
02:18This eschatological element of Paul's preaching generated two questions
02:24in the understanding of the Christians of Thessalonica.
02:28What happens to believers who died before the Lord's return?
02:32Are they already dead? Are they already buried? Or what's going to happen?
02:36Remember that we have, I mean, we are in this culture where, well, like even now, right?
02:41We see people dying, being buried, disappearing,
02:45And well, they would think that only when the Lord returns, well, those who are alive, right?
02:51The others, well, as I said, right? What a shame, Margarito, isn't it?
02:55So, they're already dead, right?
02:58He's going to write to give them clear information about this.
03:02This also shows us that in the original preaching, when one preaches at the beginning,
03:08It cannot cover all topics and leave total clarity in what is being said.
03:14One knows what one is saying, but one never knows what the other person understands.
03:18So, precisely for that reason, when Paul returns to Timothy with the information,
03:24He realizes that there are gaps left on some topics,
03:28And this is one of the significant gaps.
03:31Another question is, what would happen to the believers in the congregation?
03:35who stop working and are idle waiting for the Lord's return?
03:41Well, certainly this, that is, the arrival of the Lord, the imminent arrival of the Lord,
03:45This caused many to stop working.
03:49So, Paul is going to have to write a second letter to tell them,
03:53Well, if someone doesn't want to work, then they shouldn't eat either, right?
03:56So yes, we are waiting for the Lord to return, something he surely expected in his first letter.
04:03that it was already imminent, but as time went on, surely, because he realized
04:08As for this, well, we don't know when it might be.
04:11So, he had to correct some statements that the Thessalonians might have been led to believe.
04:19that the Lord's arrival was imminent, and well, if He's coming, then we don't have to work anymore, right?
04:26Much of what was mentioned earlier can be explained by the fact that it was a very young and very zealous church, right?
04:36But given the circumstances, they were trained and underwent discipleship.
04:44which perhaps in this situation, turned out to be a bit inappropriate, didn't it?
04:52Let's assume that Pablo is also new to this, right?
04:56And we evangelists see that perhaps we don't manage to say things correctly, completely.
05:05And that doesn't mean the Spirit isn't inspiring.
05:08It means that we are human and that we try to say things as we understand them.
05:15They try to understand them, but in the end, well, we're talking about mysteries.
05:21And that's where interference occurs in our human nature.
05:26And well, we should also give credit to the devil who is generating noises within us.
05:32And it makes us understand things that were never meant to be said, right?
05:35The problems, then, expose what we would expect from a church of this nature.
05:42Of the new believers, the weak, the idle, the visionaries, the confused, right?
05:52All of this is part of a Christian community, isn't it?
05:58Especially in its first stage of evangelization.
06:01And this helps us understand many of the problems we encounter in groups today.
06:07in different situations, which perhaps you yourself have experienced in your own group, in your own parish,
06:13but it is part of this evangelization process.
06:16Remember that we are being re-evangelized, that is, this element of evangelization has been lacking in the church.
06:23And so, when evangelization begins, a series of problems can arise.
06:28And that is why it is important to have on hand not only the Holy Scriptures,
06:33but also the teaching authority of the church, which is what Paul exercises.
06:37He exercises the teaching authority of the church, explaining the profound meaning of the word of God.
06:43from his teaching perspective.
06:45Today we also have the teaching authority of the Church.
06:48Paul's letters, which we could initially call magisterial teachings from the church.
06:55to clarify the doctrine, because, over time, they became the word of God.
07:03Today we also need the teaching authority of the Church.
07:08Okay, let's now get into the content of the letter.
07:13There is no doubt about the epistolary nature of this first letter to the Thessalonians.
07:21It is addressed to the church in Thessalonica and begins with a rather lengthy greeting
07:27and ends with farewell greetings framed with blessings.
07:32Let's look at this topic a little.
07:35I invite you, now, to take out your Bible and let's get down to business.
07:43Begin with a greeting, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians,
07:51which belongs to God the Father and Jesus Christ the Lord.
07:54Lord, grace and peace be with you.
07:58It continues with thanksgiving and, as we said, ends again with thanksgiving.
08:07Again, at the end, in verse 23 of chapter 5, it says
08:11Okay, it ends with the prayer request.
08:32Pray also for us, greet all the brothers with the holy kiss.
08:38I beg you in the Lord to read this letter to all the brothers.
08:42The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
08:45We see here, then, the beginning and the end of a beautiful letter.
08:51Reading this last part is truly heartwarming, isn't it?
08:56And, furthermore, it leaves the instruction there that this, therefore, has to continue.
09:02In other words, make sure the letter is read by all the other brothers.
09:09As is typical of any letter, the heading is followed by a certain appeal for goodwill.
09:16which, in Paul's case, takes the form of thanksgiving to God
09:20because of the progress that has taken place in that community.
09:23Let's continue our letter now.
09:27how we find that the next element, then, is precisely
09:33the acquisition of goodwill.
09:36It says, let us continually give thanks to God for you
09:39and we always remember him in our prayers.
09:42before God, who is our Father.
09:45We remember the vitality of their faith,
09:48from the effort of their love,
09:50of the firm hope they have placed in our Lord Jesus Christ.
09:53So, if you think about it, well, it makes you look good, right?
09:57I mean, you guys are really cool, really awesome, right?
10:01That's what we would say today, right?
10:03In other words, you have to open your heart.
10:06so that the word of God can enter with all its power, right?
10:11Already in the body of the letter, as is typical of the pastoral letter and constantly in Paul's letters,
10:20We will find narrative sections, doctrinal sections, and exhortative sections.
10:26Precisely because narration, instruction, and exhortation are usually found in this order,
10:35It is very easy to recognize in Paul's letters a scheme that is an exordium,
10:41narration, argumentation,
10:44peroration and, therefore, end.
10:48This is characteristic of Latin discourse, that is,
10:51That's how these types of documents were usually done, right?
10:58We can see, then, that in this, which is the first writing of the New Testament,
11:03The novelty of the Christian message, yes?
11:07Christ, a new anthropology, a new cosmology,
11:11a different worldview
11:14And this, Pablo had already fully assimilated,
11:19I had assimilated it very well.
11:20And this is what he conveyed to the community.
11:25Let's see, then,
11:27the most important topics,
11:29the fundamental themes that Paul used to evangelize
11:33and that in this letter, therefore, he reminds them.
11:36So, seeing all that it reminds them of,
11:38we will find that he continually says,
11:41I remind you, remember,
11:43As I have said,
11:44Anyway, let's see
11:47how Paul,
11:48What were the fundamental teachings?
11:51that Paul had given them.
11:53These will also be useful to us
11:55to have more clarity on some issues,
11:58at the same time as we are going to see
12:00how the evangelizations were structured,
12:03what were the fundamental issues
12:05that had to be proposed to the community.
12:08And this is important.
12:09for all those who also dedicate themselves
12:11to evangelization.
12:13Obviously what we are going to see,
12:15Well, it's not an exhaustive situation.
12:17We can't see everything,
12:19but it lets us see the themes
12:20who were the most important
12:22and that they shouldn't...
12:25This is very important for us
12:28because we must not forget either.
12:30And here we go in now
12:32to our truly pastoral part,
12:34to the part that interests us in making life,
12:38to bring the word of God to us
12:40that we also have to be good Christians.
12:44Okay, we'll be back in a moment.
12:45to see the main topics of evangelization
12:48and make some notes
12:50about some of the instructions
12:52most important of Paul.
12:54We're back.
12:54Thank you.
12:56Thank you.
12:57Thanks for watching the video.