Florence M. Gillman, Mary Ann Beavis, and HyeRan Kim-Cragg, 1-2 Thessalonians, Wisdom Commentary 52 (Liturgical Press, 2016), 55-56.
Some commentators hold that Paul’s thought in 1 Thess 2:13-16 may be illuminated through a postcolonial interpretation. From that perspective Paul is understood to have been aware that he was spreading a subversive movement that was “an alternative to the Roman imperial order,” which, as he saw it, was subject to God’s negative judgment. Paul’s critique is seen as lodged against the pro-Roman elite in Thessalonica who had successfully sought Roman favor. Abraham Smith points out that “there is ample literary, numismatic, epigraphic, and statuary evidence for a rich history of honor given to the Romans by the city of Thessalonica and particular figures of wealth and power.” Those data make it clear that imperial ideology, including various forms of emperor cults, would have been rampant in Thessalonica. From this perspective Paul draws an analogy in 2:13-16 in which he is probably critiquing the oppression caused by the pro-Roman powerful in Thessalonica by comparing them with the negative impact of the pro-Roman elite in Judea.
The Amateur Exegete 