THE WRITING OF A COMMENTARY is in significant respects a collaborative effort. I am grateful, therefore, for this opportunity to acknowledge those who have assisted me as I worked on this volume. Because I have learned far more from others who have studied these two letters than the format of the series allows me to indicate, I would first like to express my appreciation for all those whose work has informed and illuminated my own, unacknowledged though they must often remain.
I would like to thank Jay Barnes, Provost of Bethel College, for his steady encouragement and for granting a reduction in course load that facilitated the completion of the commentary, as well as all the students in my Greek, Exegesis, and Senior Seminar classes at Bethel who studied 1 Thessalonians with me over the years. I also wish to thank Craig and Vicki Dahl—Craig for encouraging me throughout the project and Vicki for reading and commenting on the draft version. Her many thoughtful observations and questions helped me clarify at a number of points what I was trying to say. During our walks together my wife, Molly, helped me talk through thoughts and ideas in various stages of development. Tom Wagner, my fishing partner, both listened patiently as I occasionally vented some of my frustrations during the writing process and helped distract me from them by guiding me to some outstanding crappie and muskie action.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to my friends and fellow believers at Trinity Baptist Church, which this year celebrates its 125th anniversary. Over the last five years they provided opportunities for and encouraging support of a series of lessons and sermons on the Thessalonian letters. I wish to mention in particular the Beta, Becomers, and Sojourners classes for their enthusiastic discussion and feedback, as well as the congregation for allowing me the privilege of serving as interim pastor.
Terry Muck offered steady encouragement and helped keep matters in perspective by asking about fishing nearly as often as he asked about progress on the commentary. My classmate from TEDS days, Scot McKnight, now an associate editor of this series, read the initial draft of the commentary and offered valuable suggestions. Verlyn Verbrugge’s careful editing of the manuscript made it a better commentary than it would otherwise have been. Beverly Roberts Gaventa graciously provided advance page proofs of her own recent commentary on the Thessalonian letters, and Jeffrey A. D. Weima kept me informed of some of his work on Thessalonians. Jennifer Schmit, my former teaching assistant, helped verify references. Together they have saved me from many slips and errors; the responsibility for those that remain (however much I might wish otherwise) is, of course, mine alone.
The last person I wish to acknowledge is my colleague, John Herzog, chair of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel. Though he had no direct input into the commentary, John nonetheless played a critical role in its completion. We came to Bethel during the 1981–82 school year—he the seasoned teacher and I the rookie fresh out of graduate school. By the way he has led the department—relieving the rest of us of administrative concerns, for example, and consistently arranging schedules and other assignments in a way that permits us both to fulfill our classroom responsibilities and to pursue other interests—John has created an environment that has encouraged, stimulated, and enabled his department to flourish both in and out of the classroom. His is, for example, the only department to win all three of the college’s faculty excellence awards (for teaching, service, and scholarship—the last one twice); furthermore, in the last decade his six colleagues in Bible and theology have (to mention only one area of activity) now published seventeen books (and several more are underway). In his own quiet and unassuming, yet clearly effective way he has substantially contributed to my own success as a teacher and a scholar. As a token of my gratitude and appreciation I would like to acknowledge John’s contributions by dedicating this volume to him.
Michael W. Holmes
Lent, 1998