§ 3. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. The Conduct of the Apostles at Thessalonica The thanksgiving just offered to God for the conspicuous Christian worth of the Thessalonians reflects upon _the work of the writers_ as the instruments of their conversion. The whole heart and interest of St Paul and his compa... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΤΟῚ ΓᾺΡ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ, ἈΔΕΛΦΟΊ, ΤῊΝ ΕἼΣΟΔΟΝ ἩΜΩ͂Ν ΤῊΝ ΠΡῸΣ ὙΜΑ͂Σ. _For yourselves know, brothers, that entrance of ours unto you_—resuming the thread of 1 Thessalonians 1:9. This αὐτοὶ γάρ is antithetical to that of 1 Thessalonians 1:9—“you know on your own part” what “they report upon theirs”; the inde... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓ ΚΕΝῊ ΓΈΓΟΝΕΝ (1 Thessalonians 2:1), ἈΛΛᾺ … ἘΠΑΡΡΗΣΙΑΣΆΜΕΘΑ ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ΘΕΩ͂Ι ἩΜΩ͂Ν Κ.Τ.Λ. The Apostles’ παρρησία ἐν θεῷ excluded the thought of a κενὴ εἴσοδος: utterance so confident, and so charged with Divine energy, betokened a true mission from God. The aorists ἐπαρρησιασάμεθα … λαλῆσαι signify... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡ ΓᾺΡ ΠΑΡΆΚΛΗΣΙΣ ἩΜΩ͂Ν ΟΥ̓Κ ἘΚ ΠΛΆΝΗΣ ΟΥ̓ΔῈ ἘΞ�. _For our appeal (is) not of (does not proceed from) error, nor from impurity, nor (is it made) in guile_. Παράκλησις may denote any kind of _animating address_ (see 1 Corinthians 14:3; 1 Timothy 4:13; Acts 13:15), then the _encouragement_ which such a... [ Continue Reading ]
4. τῳ prefixed to ΘΕΩΙ ΤΩΙ ΔΟΚΙΜΑΖΟΝΤΙ by אCADCGKL (Syrian witnesses), against א*BCD*P 67** (Pre-Syrian): the first τῳ due to the presence of the second. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:15 for anarthrous θεῳ in this connexion; also 1 Thessalonians 4:1, and Romans 8:8. 4. Base motives and methods were excluded... [ Continue Reading ]
B precedes the later codd. in spelling κολακειας—its favourite itacism (-ει-). Etymologically -ει- is correct, the noun being derived from κολακευω: cf. βασιλευω, βασιλεια; see Winer-Schmiedel _Grammatik_, § 1 Thessalonians 2:13 _c_, for this point of orthography. The omission of ΕΝ before ΠΡΟΦΑΣΕΙ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓́ΤΕ (ἘΓΕΝΉΘΗΜΕΝ) ΖΗΤΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ ἘΞ�. Along with _fawning lips_ and _covert selfishness_, the writers disclaim _the pursuit of human reputation_; the three kinds of conduct are closely allied—flattery cloaking greed and ambition. The transition from the prepositional (1 Thessalonians 2:5) to the parti... [ Continue Reading ]
7. Evidence for ΝΗΠΙΟΙ: א*BC*D*G, some dozen minuscc., latt vg (_parvuli_) cop aeth, Clem Or Cyr. Origen, on Matthew 19:14, writes: Παυλος ως επισταμενος το Των γαρ τοιουτων εστιν η βασιλεια των ουρανων, δυναμενος εν βαρει, κ.τ.λ., εγενετο νηπιος κ. παραπλησιος τροφῳ θαλπουσῃ το εαυτης παιδιον. To t... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΜΕΙΡΟΜΕΝΟΙ, in all uncials and many minuscc. Theophylact writes, τινες δε ιμειρομενοι ανεγνωσαν, αντι του επιθυμουντες· ουκ εστι δε. WH (see _Appendix_, p. 144) give ομειρομενοι the _smooth_ breathing; other editors have written it with the rough breathing, following the erroneous derivation from ο... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΝΗΜΟΝΕΎΕΤΕ ΓΆΡ, ἈΔΕΛΦΟΊ. _For you call to mind, brothers_: for μνημονεύω with accus., cf. 2 Timothy 2:8; Matthew 16:9; Revelation 18:5; with the _genitive_ it has a less active sense, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (see note). Referring to the same matter in 2 Thessalonians 3:7, the Apostles use the str... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ ΜΆΡΤΥΡΕΣ, ΚΑῚ Ὁ ΘΕΌΣ. In 1 Thessalonians 2:5 the witness of men and that of God were separately invoked (see note); here jointly, for the writers’ pastoral ministry, described in 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12, was the subject both of Divine and of human observation: cf. 1 Samuel 12:3; 1 Samuel 12:5... [ Continue Reading ]
11, 12. ΚΑΘΆΠΕΡ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ ὩΣ ἝΝΑ ἝΚΑΣΤΟΝ … ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ κ.τ.λ. The ὡς … παρακαλοῦντες sentence is not completed, and ἕνα ἕκαστον remains in suspense, an object with no verb to govern it. The participial clause begins as if leading up to a finite verb, such as ἐνουθετοῦμεν (Acts 20:31), or ἀνετρέφομεν... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ … ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΟΎΜΕΝΟΙ … ΜΑΡΤΥΡΌΜΕΝΟΙ, _exhorting … encouraging … testifying_. Παρακαλέω is the general term for animating address (cf. note on παράκλησις, 1 Thessalonians 2:3, also 1 Thessalonians 3:2); παραμυθέομαι denotes exhortation on its soothing and consoling side (see 1 Thessalonian... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΕΙΝ, in all pre-Syrian witnesses. The ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΗΣΑΙ of Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10, may have determined the Syrian reading here. καλεσαντος: אA, six minuscc., f vg (_qui vocavit_) syrr cop sah go, Ambrst. ΚΑΛΟΥΝΤΟΣ: BDGHKLP, &c., latt (generally) syr hcl mg. Both have good parallels in Paul... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ, אAB cop (א* omits αληθως, by _homœoteleuton_ after καθως): all other codd. reverse the order; cf. John 4:42; John 6:14; John 7:40. 13. ΚΑῚ ΔΙᾺ ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΚΑῚ ἩΜΕΙ͂Σ ΕΥ̓ΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΥ͂ΜΕΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ΘΕΩ͂Ι�. _And on this account we also give thanks to God unceasingly_. At the beginning of the Epistle th... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 4. 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16. Fellowship in Persecution with the Judæan Churches The rich fruits of the Gospel in the Thessalonian Church, for which the writers thank God (§ 2), led them to dwell, in the tone of self-defence, on their own signal and devoted work (§ 3), which had this happy result. ... [ Continue Reading ]
A and a few minn. write the Attic ταὐτὰ for ΤΑ ΑΥΤΑ. G reads απο twice, D* in the first instance, instead of ΥΠΟ. 14. The effective power of the readers’ faith in God’s word was shown in that which it enabled them to suffer (cf. Colossians 1:11):— ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ ΓᾺΡ ΜΙΜΗΤΑῚ ἘΓΕΝΉΘΗΤΕ, ἈΔΕΛΦΟΊ, ΤΩ͂Ν ἘΚΚΛΗΣ... [ Continue Reading ]
15. ιδιους (before ΠΡΟΦΗΤΑΣ): a Syrian insertion. 15. ΤΩ͂Ν ΚΑῚ ΤῸΝ ΚΎΡΙΟΝ�, _who both killed the Lord, even Jesus_. To have “slain _the Lord_,” who bears the title of God, “Him whom they were bound to serve” (Jowett)—the most appalling of crimes (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:8, τὸν κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσα... [ Continue Reading ]
BD* alone have preserved ΕΦΘΑΚΕΝ—the less obvious, but intrinsically better reading; cf. Ephesians 1:20, ενηργηκεν (-σεν). DG latt vg Ambrst, with Western license, gloss ΟΡΓΗ by του θεου. 16. ΚΩΛΥΌΝΤΩΝ ἩΜΑ͂Σ ΤΟΙ͂Σ ἜΘΝΕΣΙΝ ΛΑΛΗ͂ΣΑΙ ἽΝΑ ΣΩΘΩ͂ΣΙΝ, _forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles in order that... [ Continue Reading ]
ἩΜΕΙ͂Σ ΔΈ, ἈΔΕΛΦΟΊ, ἈΠΟΡΦΑΝΙΣΘΈΝΤΕΣ�ʼ ὙΜΩ͂Ν. _But we on our part, brothers, torn from you in bereavement—desolati a vobis_ (Vulg.), _orbati vobis_ (Calvin, &c.)—“sicut parentes filiis absentibus” (Bengel). Ἀπ-ορφανίζομαι (_hap. leg._ in N. T., only found besides in Æschylus, _Choeph_. 246) is derive... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 5. 1 Thessalonians 2:17 TO 1 Thessalonians 3:5. The Separation of the Apostles from their Converts After the pause for thanksgiving to God, which in its turn led up to the stern denunciation of Jewish persecutors in 1 Thessalonians 2:15 f., the Letter resumes the strain of 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΟΤΙ: so in all pre-Syrian uncials. 18. ΔΙΌΤΙ ἨΘΕΛΉΣΑΜΕΝ ἘΛΘΕΙ͂Ν ΠΡῸΣ ὙΜΑ͂Σ, _because we had resolved to come to you_: place a colon only at the end of 1 Thessalonians 2:17. The A.V.—“Wherefore we would have come”—confounds διότι with διό (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:1, &c.): for διότι, which regularly i... [ Continue Reading ]
19. The T.R., following GL, most minn., and all versions except latt and vg (purer copies), adds Χριστου to ΙΗΣΟΥ. Later mss. habitually fill out the names of Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ ΓΆΡ ἘΣΤΕ Ἡ ΔΌΞΑ ἩΜΩ͂Ν ΚΑῚ Ἡ ΧΑΡΆ. _Yes, truly, you are our glory and our joy_. In this reply to the rhetorical question of 1 Thessalonians 2:19, δόξα covers ἐλπίς and στέφανος καυχήσεως, while χαρά is repeated. The emphasis on ὑμεῖς, and the close correspondence of 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, sc... [ Continue Reading ]