Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 04:1 (NA 1994)
Article: Hellenistic Formal Receptions and Paul’s Use of ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΙΣ in 1 Thessalonians 4:17
Author: Michael R. Cosby

BBR 4:1 (1994) p. 15

Hellenistic Formal Receptions and Paul’s Use of ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΙΣ in 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Michael R. Cosby

Sioux Falls College

In 1930 Peterson published “Die Einholung des Kyrios,” an article providing quotations from ancient papyri, inscriptions and literature in order to demonstrate that behind Paul’s words in 1 Thess 4:17 stands the custom of the Hellenistic formal reception of a dignitary. This viewpoint, widely held among biblical scholars, states that Paul presupposed that his readers in Thessalonica would understand his description of the Parousia in light of such receptions. Thus the formal elements of these welcoming celebrations are unstated parts of the text because of Paul’s use of the technical term ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΙΣ.

The present study, which ironically began as an attempt to strengthen Peterson’s case, reveals that ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΙΣ was not a technical term and that all of the main elements of Hellenistic receptions are missing from 1 Thess 4:15-17. An analysis of the ancient descriptions of these receptions shows that most of their usual elements are actually the opposite of what we find in Paul’s description of the Parousia. Instead of being a cipher for understanding what Paul meant, they function more as a foil—a loose pattern to play against when describing the coming of the heavenly king.

Key Words: Apantesis, 1 Thess 4:17, Hellenistic Receptions, Parousia, Second Coming

For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (εἰς ἄπᾴντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα); and so we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thess 4:15-17).

BBR 4:1 (1994) p. 16

Paul’s description of the Parousia reverberates with megadecibel blasts of sound. Although many scholars today readily acknowledge multiple readings of texts,1 one can hardly imagine any envisioning Paul’s words as describing a secret rapture of Christians into the sky. Yet �...