Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Thessalonians 2:10

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.

ὡς ὁσίως κ. δικαίως κ. ἀμέμπτως ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἐγενήθημεν, how religiously and righteously and in a manner beyond blame we devoted ourselves to (or bore ourselves toward) you that believe. The construction of this clause is not quite obvious in point of grammar. (a) Ὑμῖν might be attached to ἐγενήθημεν, or to ἀμέμπτως singly, as a dative of opinion (see Winer-Moulton, p. 265): “how holily &c.… we behaved, in the estimation of you that believe”—or “how holily …, and unblamably in the eyes of you that believe (tametsi aliis non ita videretur, Bengel), we bore ourselves”: an interpretation condemned by Lightfoot as “inconceivably flat and unmeaning,” after ὑμεῖς μάρτ. κ. ὁ θεός and in view of 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12. (b) Or ὑμῖν is connected with ἐγενήθημεν as a dativus commodi: “how holily, &c., … we behaved to you that believe.” The adjectives ὄσιοι κ.τ.λ. would suit this sense better than the adverbs used. (c) Bornemann’s explanation is perhaps the best. He combines ὑμῖν with ἐγενήθημεν as a dative of close relationship, or of the (ethical) possessor, making this dative convey the main assertion and reading the adverbs as qualifications of the whole predicate thus formed: “how holily &c … we made ourselves yours that believe.” For this dative, somewhat rare with γίνομαι, cf. Romans 7:3, γενομένην�; and for the adverbs with γίνομαι, 1 Corinthians 16:10. The interest of the paragraph centres in the close ties which bound the Apostles to the Thessalonians as Christian believers (see especially note on 1 Thessalonians 2:7). To the fact that this relationship was contracted on the part of the Apostles in a godly, blameless fashion, the readers themselves, together with God, are summoned as witnesses.

Δίκαιος is distinguished from ὄσιος as when Marcus Aurelius (Medit. vii. 66) describes Socrates as δίκαιος τὰ πρὸς τοὺς�; similarly Plato writes in Gorgias 507 a, b; Polybius, Hist. xxiii. 10. 8, &c. In Deuteronomy 32:4, &c., Psalms 145:17; Revelation 16:5, the double term is applied to God: see also Ephesians 4:24; Titus 1:8; Luke 1:75, for the combination. In distinction from ἅγιος, the characteristic N.T. word for ‘holy,’ ὅσιος signifies holy in disposition and attitude toward God,—godly; ἄγιος, holy in relationship and duty to God,—consecrated (see note on ἁγιάζω, 1 Thessalonians 5:23). Ἄμεμπτος appears in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23,—passages indicating that “blamelessness” is asserted before God (see θεὸς μάρτυς, 1 Thessalonians 2:5, and note just above) as well as men, so that ἀμέμπτως is not to be limited by ὑμῖν.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Thessalonians 2:10

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