La venida de Cristo y todos sus santos (1Tes 3,12-13)

The first letter to the Thessalonians is considered the most eschatological of Pauline writings. In fact, this letter is the one that uses the term parousia the most when referring to Jesus Christ. One of them is 1 Thes 3:11-13. It is a prayer addressed to God the Father and the Lord Jesus. In these verses, we find two striking peculiarities. Firstly, Saint Paul sets himself as a model of the love that the Lord has to grant to the Thessalonians. Secondly, he affirms that Jesus, in his glorious coming, will be accompanied by “all his saints”; i.e., all the Christian faithful. Such a statement has no parallel in the Pauline writings or in the other books of the New Testament. In this article, we will try to shed light on these expressions and to elucidate the concept of eschatology of Saint Paul.