WE WORKED DAY AND NIGHT NOT TO BE A BURDEN ON YOU

WE WORKED DAY AND NIGHT NOT TO BE A BURDEN ON YOU

By Fr. Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

This final reading from Thessalonians makes

two points, first Christianity should not be an

excuse for idleness.

Possibly they had laid off work in expectation of

the imminent coming of Christ, which would

make all such work superfluous and useless.

Alternatively, the mutual support given by the

Christians to one another may have been so

generous that some were contented to live on

hand-outs without the need to do any work

themselves.

Finally Paul signs the letter himself, which

confirms that he has been using a secretary as

he often did. Some, however, find the strong

assertion of his authorship suspicious, too

strong to be genuine.

In other letters where this same signature

occurs Paul signs in order to stress a particular

final point, or to confirm his affection for the

community, rather than asserting the

authenticity of the letter. The signature may be

a sign that an unknown author is asserting that

this is what Paul would have written in the

circumstances.