an advantage over its religious competitors like the mystery religions and philosophical competitors like the Stoics and Cynics, who were not exclusivistic and therefore generally failed to create a strong sense of community identity among their adherents (cf. Gager, Kingdom and Community, 131f.). Thus the belief of the Thessalonians in their election by God was of tremendous social significance, since on the one hand it gave them a new identity and sense of belonging to the saved community of God,