Paul first speaks of indebtedness (here is how election should influence us); then of our experience of the call of God; then of our duty to hold the faith; then of the forms God’s blessing takes, and finally of the kind of strength God imparts.
Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians is a remarkable source of end-time doctrine for us. Paul reveals future things in a very special way. It has vital information for us, and encouragement concerning trust and faith – even instruction on church purity and the attitude to wrongdoers.
At least two-thirds of the second epistle is new material compared to the first epistle. One third of 2 Thessalonians you will find in 1 Thessalonians, but two thirds is fresh. So there is iteration and also new exhortations and material.
As with all Scripture this epistle is directly inspired by God. But it had three human writers: Paul and two fellow workers, Timothy and Silvanus. Both have been with him around seven to nine months previously in his second missionary journey, when the church of the Thessalonians was founded (Luke had been with them too, but now he is serving elsewhere and the three other are still together).
They are writing about the year AD 51, perhaps just a little after into AD 52. They are actually writing from Corinth, not from Athens as the little note says at the end of the epistle (not part of the inspired Word – it was added centuries later by someone who did not follow the information in the book of Acts.)
Many glorious themes are present in this wonderful epistle – how to view and deal with trials, the nature of grace, and how believers and workers in the Lord should conduct themselves. Most prominent of all is information about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ – and how we as believers should respond.