“While people are saying, 'Peace and security'”
1 Thessalonians 5:3
Cultural referenceWell-supportedPaul
While people are saying, 'Peace and security,' destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3 BSB)
* Pax et Securitas was a Roman imperial slogan stamped on coins; Paul turns the empire's own promise into a warning.
What it sounds like today
A generic phrase for complacency.
The cultural key
'Peace and security' (pax et securitas) reads like a quotation of Rome's own brand: the empire's benefactions were advertised in exactly this vocabulary on inscriptions and coins, the promise the legions and the emperor made to the world. Thessalonica, a favored city with much to thank Rome for, knew the slogan well. Paul lifts the empire's ad copy and files it under famous last words.
Recovered meaning
The day of the Lord arrives mid-slogan: precisely while the greatest security apparatus in history is reciting its guarantee. Paul's audience is told to stay awake not because Rome's peace is fake, but because it is not the last word it claims to be.
Parallels: Jeremiah 6:14; Luke 21:34–35