1. To purity, 4:1-8.
2. To brotherly love, 4:9-10.
3. To honest industry, 4:11-12.
4. To be comforted in the loss of their dead in Christ, 4:13-5:11.
Conclusion, 5:12.
For Study and Discussion. (1) Things in the church for which Paul is thankful, 1:2-6. (2) What is said about how the gospel was preached to them, 2:1-16. (3) Paul's longing to know about them, 3:1-9. (4) The duties enjoined, 4:1-12. (5) The second coming of Christ and the resurrection, 4:13-18. (6) How we are prepared for the great day of his coming, 5:3-10. (7) The several exhortations in 5:12-22. (8) The human elements or explanation of Paul's power as a preacher Ch. 2. (9) The deity of Jesus seen in the book.
Second Thessalonians.
This letter was also written from Corinth and during the same year. It is the shortest letter Paul wrote to any church and is characterized by its lack of special salutations and for its general idea of patient waiting for our Lord. The occasion seems to be to correct their wrong views of the second coming of Christ and the errors of life growing out of it. It may be that they had misunderstood his own teaching to be that the day of the Lord was already at hand (2:2).
Analysis.
Introduction, 1:1-2.
I. Thanksgiving and Prayer for in View of The Second Coming of Christ, 1:2 end.
II. Warnings about Christ's Second Coming. 2:1-12.
III. Their Escape at His Coming, 2:13 end.