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The phrase 'Peace and security' in  Thess . has traditionally been understood as an echo of the OT prophetic warnings (Jer .; Ezek .; Mic .) against false claims of peace. Stronger evidence exists, however, that the apostle is making use of a popular theme of the imperial Roman propaganda machine. The Romans vigorously promoted themselves through various public media as those who provided not only 'peace' but also 'security', thereby providing a closer parallel to Paul's statement in . than any OT text. This essay reviews four kinds of evidence-numismatic, monumental, inscriptional and literaryin order to demonstrate in a decisive fashion that the phrase 'peace and security' involves an allusion not to prophetic warning but to Roman political propaganda.Paul, attempting to comfort the Christians in Thessalonica about their eschatological fate on the coming day of the Lord, states the following in  Thess .: 'Whenever people say, "Peace and security", then sudden destruction comes upon them, like birth pangs come upon a pregnant woman, and they will certainly not escape'. All translations place the brief phrase 'Peace and security' (ϵἰρήνη καὶ ἀσϕάλϵια) in quotation marks because it is clear from the introductory formula 'whenever people say' that the apostle here is not creating but citing these words.  This raises the question, then, as to the source or identity of Paul's quotation.The traditional answer is that the phrase 'Peace and security' echoes the OT prophetic warnings against false claims of peace uttered by wicked leaders or  Two additional factors indicate that this brief phrase stems not from Paul himself but from some other source: first, the word ϵἰρήνη which, elsewhere in the apostle's writings always has a religious meaning, has here a secular sense such that it is paralleled with the word ἀσϕάλϵια; second, the word ἀσϕάλϵια occurs nowhere else in the apostle's writings. New Test. Stud. , pp. -.

Modem interpreters have too quickly abandoned the long-held view that Paul in 1 Thess. 2.1-12 is in some real sense defending himself. Despite the widespread claims of recent exegetes that this passage functions only as implicit parenesis in which Paul presents himself as a model for the Thessalonians to imitate, evidence from the thanksgiving section (1.2-10), the apostolic parousia (2.17-3.10), the anti thetical statements of 2.1-12, and the repeated appeals in this passage to the Thes salonians' first-hand knowledge about Paul's original ministry in their city strongly suggest that the primary function of 2.1-12 is defensive or apologetic. This apologetic function can be more fully appreciated in the light of a reconstruction of the passage's historical context.

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