Arguing for possible quotations of the Matthean tradition in Paul, Bernard Orchard, a proponent of a very early dating of Matthew, wrote the following about parallels between 1-2 Thessalonians (*) and Matthew:
The case of 1 and 2
Thessalonians offers the best and clearest example of Paul’s adaptation of the
eschatological teaching found chiefly in Matthew, and we call that the
Thessalonian letters were composed during Paul’s second missionary journey
within a few weeks of each other and that they cannot be dated later then A.D.
51-52. The diagram given below indicates the range and quality of the possible
Pauline indebtedness to the synoptic tradition in general. Although the
references to Luke and Mark are also given for the sake of completeness, nobody
credits either of them with having been written before Thessalonians, so that
the problem is simply one of deciding whether the teaching of our Greek Matthew
could be a true source of Paul’s teaching here.
|
1, 2 Thessalonians |
MT |
LK |
MK |
|
|
1, 2:14-16 |
αποκτειναντων τους προφητας
κλτ. |
23:31-39 |
11:49-40; 13:34-35 |
---- |
|
4:16 |
σαλπιγγι θεου |
24:31 |
---- |
---- |
|
4:17 |
απαντησιν |
25:6 |
---- |
---- |
|
5:1 |
περι δε των χρονων
κτλ. |
24:36 |
---- |
13:32 |
|
5:1, 3 |
περι δε . . . λεγωσιν
. . . αυτοις, κτλ. |
24:36, 38 |
---- |
---- |
|
5:2 |
λλεπτης τν νυχτι, κτλ. |
24:42, 43 |
13:39-40 |
---- |
|
5:3 |
αιφνιδιος . . . εφισταται,
κτλ. |
---- |
21:34-36 |
---- |
|
5:6 7 |
γρηγορωμεν . . .
μεθυουσιν |
24:42, 49 |
12:37, 45 |
[13:35] |
|
2, 2:1,
7ff. |
οταν . . . ενδοξασθηναι |
24:30; 25:31ff. |
21:27 |
[13:26-32] |
|
2:1 |
επισυναγωηγς |
24:31 |
---- |
13:27 |
|
2:2 |
μηδη θροεισθαι |
24:6 |
---- |
13:7 |
|
2:3 |
μη τις υμας εξαπατηση |
24:4 |
[21:8] |
13:5 |
|
2:7-10 |
της ανομιας, κτλ. |
24:12 |
---- |
---- |
|
2:8 |
επιφανεια της
παρουσιας |
24:27 |
---- |
---- |
|
2:9-10 |
τερασιν ψευδους, κτλ. |
24:24 |
---- |
13:22 |
|
N.B.: References in brackets indicate a
weak or complete parallel. It sometimes happens that Mark or Luke is parallel
to Matthew without being parallel to Paul, for example, Lk 17:24 = Mt 24:27,
but while MT 24:27 = 2 Thess 2:8 there is no direct parallel between Lk 17:24
and 2 Thess 2:8. In such cases the parallel is not given here since we are
only concerned with direct parallels between Thessalonians and each gospel. |
||||
(Bernard Orchard in
Orchard and Harold Riley, The Order of the Synoptics: Why Three Synoptic
Gospels? [Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1987], 119)
(*) even if one accepts 2 Thessalonians not to be “Proto-Pauline,” the parallels in 1 Thessalonians are still interesting to note.