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Fourth Plenary
The Slaying of Satan's Superman and the Sure Salvation of the Saints
(2 Thess. 2:1–17): Paul's Apocalyptic Word of Comfort
—Jeffrey Weima
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Note: The full text of this plenary address is published in the April 2006 issue of Calvin Theological Journal.

Quipping that pastors tend to regard preaching apocalyptic texts as they regard bungee jumping—"it's exciting to watch others do it, but I wouldn't want to try it myself"—Jeffrey Weima established the importance of seeing 2 Thessalonians 2, a passage that is confusing and often misconstrued, in the context of Paul's entire message to Thessalonika and the church at large.

Weima's address followed this outline, with his paraphrases of the headings:

1. Introduction ("Don't be scared off from preaching on this and other apocalyptic texts!")

2. The Boundaries of the Passage ("Don't stop reading too soon!") [The passage should be read as a continuous whole from verses 1 through 17, not truncated after verse 12. Weima included with his handout a grammatical outline of this entire passage using the Greek text.]

3. The Structure of the Passage ("Don't miss the forest for the trees!")
      Verses 1-2: Crisis
      Verses 3-12: Correction
      Verses 13-14: Comfort
      Verse 15: Command
      Verses 16-17: Closing

4. The Interpretation of the Passage ("Don't calculate the future but comfort the church!")

5. Conclusion

Weima said in conclusion that the complexity of apocalyptic texts may require us to settle for what Al Wolters calls "a well-informed ignorance"—but we must nonetheless seek to be "well-informed."

—Nathan Bierma