Stepanchenko S. Inculturation in the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians

The dissertation is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the text of the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Thessalonians 4: 4. The main achievements were presented in argumentation of three key approaches to understanding the studied text were presented and a critical analysis of the argumentation of the main interpretations of the passage under study was presented. As a result of the study, it is clear that the text of 1 Thess. 4: 4 should be understood as “so that each of you knows how to control/own your own body”, where “body” refers to the male genitals. This reading was provided by the literary aspects of the text, namely word usage, syntax, and context. Reconstruction of the local religious history of the city of Thessaloniki and the social location of the Pauline community there limited the range of interpretations and additionally confirm the proposed interpretation. Paul and the Thessalonian community were engaged in the same type of activity, at least they worked in the same area, namely, they were manual workers, which greatly simplified the contact between them. It became clear that the Christian community in Thessalonica was like a professional voluntary association or association. He uses the language of voluntary association to create different behaviors within his already Christian community. This indicates that the Christian community of Paul in Thessalonica fits perfectly into the social framework of the ancient associations of that time and is best viewed in this way. Paul, being a Jew, but writing the text to the Thessalonian pagan convert community, would be more likely to express the instructions in the text in a language that would be natural for him and rooted in the language of the Tanach and Jewish tradition, but at the same time understandable to his pagan convert community. The best in this sense to express in the context of sexual instruction is the word for male genitals and will be the Hebrew "כלי" and the ancient Greek "σκεῦός".