THE new congregation in Thessalonica has experienced opposition ever since it was formed when the apostle Paul visited there. So when Timothy—perhaps in his 20’s—returns from there with a good report, Paul is moved to write the Thessalonians a letter to commend and encourage them. Likely composed late in 50 C.E., that letter is the first of Paul’s inspired writings. Shortly thereafter, he writes the Christians in Thessalonica a second letter. This time, he corrects an erroneous viewpoint held by some and exhorts the brothers to stand firm in the faith.
About ten years later, Paul is in Macedonia and Timothy is in Ephesus. Paul writes to Timothy, encouraging him to stay in Ephesus and carry on spiritual warfare against false teachers inside the congregation. When a wave of persecution is unleashed upon Christians in the wake of a fire that ravages Rome in 64 C.E., Paul writes his second letter to Timothy. It is the last of his inspired writings. We today can benefit from the encouragement and counsel given in these four letters of Paul.—Heb. 4:12.
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