1 Thess 4:13-18 not only falls within the earliest text in the New Testament, it also appears to reflect the existence of two still earlier traditions: 1) a tradition that gave rise to the Thessalonians' grief over those who had died; 2) a tradition described as a 'word of the Lord' in Paul's pastoral response. In a paper entitled, 'The tradition behind 1 Thess. 4.13-18: a new text identified', delivered at the Philadelphia meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in November 2005, I argue that these two traditions are in fact one and the same and, as a consequence, that the single tradition in question exhibits some very distinctive properties. On the basis that these remarkable properties are also exhibited by Didache 16, this paper concludes that Didache 16 preserves the tradition behind 1 Thess. 4.13-18.

Full text of 'The tradition behind 1 Thess. 4.13-18: a new text identified'

This paper plays a crucial role in my larger project of seeking to demonstrate that the base layer of the Didache preserves a version of the Apostolic Decree (composed in c.49 CE). This latter thesis was first proposed at the Edinburgh meeting of the British New Testament Society in September 2004.