1 Thessalonians 1:7

τυπον in BD* 17 47 67** latt vg sah cop. τυπους, in אACGKLP, &c., assimilated to υμας. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:9; but the plural in 1 Peter 5:3.

The T.R. omits second εν (τῃ Αχ.) after KL and many minuscules; other minuscules omit τῃ also—in both instances assimilating 1 Thessalonians 1:7 to 1 Thessalonians 1:8. See next note.

7. ὥστε γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς τύπον πᾶσιν, κ.τ.λ. Infinitive clause of result, heightening the appreciation of the Thessalonian Church in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, and thus adding to the evidence of its “election” (1 Thessalonians 1:4). The readers had followed the example set them so well, that they had become in turn “a pattern to all” Christians around them. Τύπον is intrinsically better than τύπους (see Textual Note); for the Church collectively—not its individual members—was known at a distance.

πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, a substantival designation (cf. note on τὸν ῥυόμενον, 1 Thessalonians 1:10)—to all believers—naming Christians from the distinctive and continuous activity which makes them such (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 4:11; 1 Corinthians 14:22 &c.); οἱ πιστεύοντες = οἱ ἐκ πίστεως (Galatians 3:7). Had the “imitators” of 1 Thessalonians 1:6 been such in respect simply of their “receiving the word,” they would have been a pattern not τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, but rather τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, in respect of the initial act, not the continued life of faith: cf. τύπος γίνου τῶν πιστῶν in 1 Timothy 4:12; also 2 Thessalonians 3:9; Philippians 3:17, where μιμέομαι and τύπος are associated.

ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀχαίᾳ, the two European provinces now evangelized: see the Map, and Introd., pp. xi., xv., xxxiii., xxxix. We know of Churches at Philippi and Berœa in Macedonia, while 1 Thessalonians 4:10 implies their existence in other parts of this province: “many of the Corinthians” by this time were baptized (Acts 18:8); and some of “the saints,” outside of Corinth, “that were in the whole of Achaia” when 2 Corinthians 1:1 was written, beside the handful of Athenian disciples (Acts 17:34), are doubtless included in this reference. 2 Corinthians 8:1-6; 2 Corinthians 11:9, and 1 Corinthians 16:5 f., illustrate the close connexion and Christian intercourse of the two regions.

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 explain and re-affirm, with emphatic enlargement, the assertion of 1 Thessalonians 1:7, which might otherwise appear to the readers over strong.