Peter Thiel said the political slogan of the Antichrist is "peace and safety," citing, he thought, 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

True: 1 Thessalonians 5:3 contains the phrase 'peace and safety' (or 'peace and security'), and the verse in context, or an established strand of Christian exegesis, links that saying to the Antichrist or the end-times deceiver. Mostly true: the verse contains the phrase and is eschatological, and some interpreters link it to the Antichrist, but this is a minority reading rather than mainstream. Mixed: the phrase is in a nearby verse rather than 5:3, or the link to the Antichrist is only loosely attested. Mostly false: the verse contains the phrase, but the passage says nothing about the Antichrist and no recognised interpretive tradition makes that link. False: the verse does not contain the phrase.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 ‘Peace and Security’ (1 Thess 5.3): Prophetic Warning or Political Propaganda? | New Testament Studies | Cambridge Core Cambridge University Press (New Testament Studies) · 8 June 2012

   “The phrase ‘Peace and security’ in 1 Thess 5.3 has traditionally been understood as an echo of the OT prophetic warnings (Jer 6.14; Ezek 13.10; Mic 3.5) against false claims of peace.”

2. E2 ‘Peace and Security’ (1 Thessalonians 5.3): Is It Really a Roman Slogan? | New Testament Studies | Cambridge Core Cambridge University Press (New Testament Studies) · 10 June 2013

   “According to a growing number of scholars, when Paul makes use of the phrase ‘peace and security’ in 1 Thess 5.3, he is alluding to a well-known slogan in Roman propaganda that summed up the benefits of the Pax Romana.”

3. E3 Peter Thiel Has Spent Three Years Lecturing on the Antichrist. Here's What He's Saying. - RELEVANT RELEVANT · 22 October 2026

   “His argument hangs on 1 Thessalonians 5:3, where Paul warns about people proclaiming “peace and safety.” Thiel reads that as the Antichrist’s slogan.”

4. E4 1 Thessalonians 5:3 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary Bible Study Tools (reprinting John Gill's Exposition of the Bible) · 31 March 2023

   “and as was the destruction of literal Babylon, so of Babylon in a mystical sense, or antichrist and his followers: and which will be”

Two peer-reviewed abstracts confirm that 1 Thess 5.3 contains the phrase "peace and security" [E1, E2]. They describe the main scholarly readings as an echo of Old Testament prophetic warnings against false claims of peace [E1], or as an allusion to Roman Pax Romana propaganda [E2]. Neither reading involves the Antichrist. John Gill's exposition does tie the destruction in this verse to "antichrist and his followers" [E4], so some interpreters make the link, but the scholarly abstracts in E1 and E2 describe other readings as the traditional or growing ones, which suggests the Antichrist link is a minority reading.