Wolfgang Trilling

An exception among commentaries on 2Thess in that it examines and interprets the text on the assumption that its author is not Paul.
A common observation, made by Best and others, is that while most introductions to the NT conclude that the writing is likely pseudepigraphy, most critical commentaries assume Pauline authorship. The implication is that those who deal most closely with the text conclude it is by Paul. However, there is another way to look at this: those who conclude that it is not Pauline feel it is therefore less important and turn their attention to writing more worth their time.
Trilling did several studies on 2Thess before embarking on his commentary. Those written prior to 1972 are collected in his Untersuchungen zum 2. Thessalonicherbrief.
2Thess is no less important for being non-Pauline. It offers the chance to explore an essential aspect of the early Christian movement: its expectation of an imminent parousia. If this is an integral part of the message, how do you deal with those who believe that it is . . . well, imminent?
A second question, if it’s not by Paul: Within the broader question of pseudepigraphy in the ancient world, there is the particular problem of pseudepigraphic religious and philosophical writings (which presumably make truth claims). Even among those writings, 2Thess is a special case. While Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastorals show evidence of a creative development of Paul’s proclamation by subsequent followers (a Pauline “school”), 2Thess is a close imitation of 1Thess, created to embody one new thought (the signs that must precede the parousia—involving a lawless one and one who holds him back). Paul’s teaching of an imminent end did not refer to this.
Trilling treats these issues in Part A, “Einleitung (21–32),” and returns briefly to this in Part C, “Ausblick” (161–3). Part B is the commentary itself (35–160). The format of the comments is similar to that of other volumes of the EKK. The treatment of each major section begins with analysis, treated in “Gliederung” and “Formkritik.” Each subsection begins with Trilling’s translation of the passage, followed by analysis and explanation.
This volume differs in one respect to the others in this series, however, in that it devotes little attention to Wirkungsgeschichte. The influence on subsequent Christian teaching results primarily from two sections: the eschatological teaching in 2:1–10a and the use of 3:6–12 as the founding text of a Christian work ethic. Trilling justifies this neglect in his “Vorwort”by referring to the extensive and “weit verzweigte” literature devoted to the first topic and the risk he saw that treating it would overshadow the interpretation of the text (9). He does however treat it in an excursus “Papsttum und Antichrist” (105–9), valuable in a commentary series that is avowedly ecumenical. There is also an excursus on the crux interpretum “katechon” (94–105).
This volume is slimmer than the others in the EKK series, but that is appropriate for the writing. It is a commentary worth consulting whenever one deals with 2Thess.… (meer)