1 Thessalonians 2:12

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. It is a question whether the aorist partic. should be explained as an Alexandrian corruption of the present, or the present as a Western corruption of the aorist.

12. εἰς τὸ περιπατεῖν ὑμᾶς�. The sublime turn now taken by the participial clause carries the Apostle away from the scheme of sentence beginning at ὡς ἕνα ἕκαστον; he forgets what he and his comrades did, as he thinks of what God is doing for the readers: cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7. Εἰς τό with infin. is synonymous with πρὸς τό, 1 Thessalonians 2:9; the former carries one on to the purpose (or sometimes result) aimed at (“in order to”), while πρός contemplates and points to it (“with a view to,” “with reference to”): cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:5. Περιπατεῖν, a familiar Hebraism (הִתְהַלֵּךְ) = ἀναστρέφεσθαι, 2 Corinthians 1:12, &c.

That they should “behave worthily of God” is the proper aim of those who “have turned to God from idols” (1 Thessalonians 1:9), and the aim on their behalf of those who “were entrusted by God” with “the gospel of God” to convey to them (1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:8 f.): ἀξίως has τοῦ θεοῦ for its fitting complement here (only in 3 John 1:6 besides in N.T.),—τοῦ κυρίου in Colossians 1:10, τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ χριστοῦ in Philippians 1:27, τῆς κλήσεως in Ephesians 4:1 (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 below). For other references to God as the standard of the religious life, see Ephesians 5:1; 1 Peter 1:15; Matthew 5:48; Leviticus 19:2; Genesis 17:1. For parallels to ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ, see Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 248.

ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ καλοῦντος ὑμᾶς κ.τ.λ., worthily of the God who calls you: for it is “the God (living and real,” 1 Thessalonians 1:9), whom the Thessalonians have come to know through His gracious “call” and “choice” (1 Thessalonians 1:4) of them for salvation, of whom they are urged to “walk worthily,”—i.e. in a manner befitting the relationship in which God places them to Himself and the glorious destiny to which He summons them. The present participle may intimate the continuousness of the call (cf. note on τὸν διδόντα, 1 Thessalonians 4:8); or rather—since God’s call is commonly conceived as the single, initial manifestation of His grace to Christians (see 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 1:9, &c.)—τοῦ καλοῦντος is substantival, like τὸν ῥυόμενον in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (see note): “God your caller” (similarly in 1 Thessalonians 5:24); St Paul and the rest are only κήρυκες, bearers of the summons from Him.

εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείαν καὶ δόξαν, (who calleth you) into (i.e. to enter) His own kingdom and glory,—the kingdom of which God is the immediate Ruler, entering which men become His acknowledged and privileged servants. “Kingdom and glory” form one idea (observe the single article and preposition): “God’s own kingdom” culminates in “His own glory,”—viz. the splendour of the revelation attending the return of Christ, which will exhibit God in the full glory of His accomplished purposes of salvation and of judgement (John 17:1; 1 Corinthians 15:21-28; Philippians 2:11); hence kingdom and glory match the serving and waiting of 1 Thessalonians 1:9 f. The Christian’s “hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2) is one with his “hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3), and is the crown of his service in God’s kingdom.

The idea of the kingdom of God was developed in the teaching of Jesus, and lies at the basis of St Paul’s doctrine. The announcement of it had been a leading feature of his preaching at Thessalonica (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:5; see Introd. pp. xviii. ff.); in his missionary work, like John the Baptist and Jesus Himself, the Apostle Paul “went about heralding the kingdom” (Acts 20:25; Acts 28:31). He designates it sometimes “the kingdom of the Son” (Colossians 1:13), “the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5; cf. Revelation 11:15), since God rules in it through Christ; and, in 2 Timothy 4:18, as “His (the Lord’s) heavenly kingdom” (cf. Matthew 4:17; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 13:24, &c.). The Kingdom is represented as future and yet present, existing hidden as “the leaven in the meal,” “the corn in the blade,” ever struggling and growing towards its ripeness: see especially Luke 17:21; Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 13:31 ff., Matthew 13:38, &c., for our Lord’s view of the Kingdom, which is indeed virtually comprised in the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth.” The kingdom is realized in its essence and potency wherever there is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17); but whatever of it men now possess the Apostle regards as only the “earnest of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:13 f.; Romans 8:17; Titus 3:7). His appeals, consolations, and protestations to his Thessalonian converts point to the sublime issue of their admission into the perfected kingdom of God; he adjures them to be worthy both of the God who had set His love upon them and of the wondrous future assured to them as His sons in Christ.