1 Thessalonians 2:18

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 introduces an antecedent ground, not a consequence, see 1 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:6; Romans 1:19; 1 Corinthians 15:9, &c.; it is an emphasized causal ὅτι. The R.V. also fails to do justice to θέλω here, which signifies will rather than wish (see Buttmann’s Lexilogus, Lidd. and Scott’s Lexicon, Tittmann’s Synonyms, sub voce: Grimm in his Lexicon seems to be at fault); had St Paul meant “we would fain have come” (R.V.), or “were fain to come,” he would presumably have written ἐβουλόμεθα, as in 2 Corinthians 1:15 or Philemon 1:13. This rendering, moreover, makes ἠθελήσαμεν but a weakened repetition of ἐσπουδάσαμεν … ἐν πολλῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ. The Apostles had “made up their minds to come”—they were resolved and bent upon it; hence their strenuous effort (1 Thessalonians 2:17). Θέλω (ἐθέλω), with θέλημα, in the N.T. as in classical Greek, always implies, more or less distinctly, active volition,—even in Matthew 1:19; “auf das entschiedene Wollen, den festen, bestimmten Vorsatz und Entschluss geht” (Bornemann ad loc.).

ἐγὼ μὲν Παῦλος καὶ ἄπαξ καὶ δίς. I, Paul, indeed both once and twice. The plural of 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18 a shows that the three writers—at any rate more than one of them (see 1 Thessalonians 3:1)—shared in this strong desire and determined attempt; St Paul, on his part, had “twice” definitely “resolved to come.” Perhaps the former of these plans to revisit Thessalonica was formed at Berœa, while Paul and Silas were together (Acts 17:10-14); and the second at Athens, which Paul reached alone (1 Thessalonians 2:15), or on the way from Berœa to Athens. The phrase καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δίς is found in Philippians 4:16, where it is rendered as here, “once and again (you sent to relieve my need)”: cf. Nehemiah 13:20; 1Ma 3:30 (LXX), where ἅπαξ κ. δίς, like our “once or twice,” means “several times” indefinitely; but the definite numerical sense is appropriate here and in Phil., and with repeated καί—“not once only, but twice,” “as often as twice.” For the double καί, cf. Matthew 10:28; 1 Corinthians 10:32. The μέν solitarium connotes a tacit contrast, scil. “but the others once”; see Blass’ Grammar of N.T. Greek, p. 267.

καὶ ἐνέκοψεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς. This clause coordinates itself by καί (not δέ) quite appropriately to 1 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:18 a being subordinate and parenthetical; the entire sentence reads thus: “But we, brothers, … made extraordinary efforts to see your face, in our great longing (for we had set our minds on coming to you,—I Paul, for my own part, not once but twice); and Satan hindered us.” The “hindering” did not obstruct the “willing” (ἠθελήσαμεν, 1 Thessalonians 2:18 a), but the “endeavouring” (ἐσπουδάσαμεν, 1 Thessalonians 2:17). If this interpretation be right (see Bornemann at length ad loc.), the punctuation both of A.V. and R.V. is misleading; cf. the two foregoing notes.

Ἐνκόπτω (see Galatians 5:7, and Lightfoot’s note; Romans 15:22) is a military term of later Greek, signifying “to make a break in (the enemy’s way),” to “cut up (the road).” Ὁ Σατανᾶς (Heb. הַשָּׂטָן, Aramaic סָטָנָא), “the Adversary,” is the Captain of the powers of evil,—undoubtedly a personality, not a personification, to St Paul; the same as ὁ πειράζων of 1 Thessalonians 3:5, ὁ πονηρός of 2 Thessalonians 3:3. This O.T. name recurs in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (see note); it is frequent in St Paul, along with ὁ διάβολος, and is used by most N.T. writers as the proper name of the great spiritual Enemy of God and man. What form the hindrance took is not stated; Jewish malice probably supplied a chief element in it (see 1 Thessalonians 2:16, κωλυόντων ἡμᾶς κ.τ.λ.); most likely an order had been procured from the magistrates of Thessalonica forbidding the return of the missionaries. For similar references by Paul to the personal hostility of Satan, see 2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Corinthians 12:7.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 go to explain the great eagerness of St Paul and his companions, and the repeated attempt of the former, to get back to Thessalonica.

1 Thessalonians 2:19 is best punctuated—after WH, Lightfoot, Nestle, and others—by reading ἤ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς; as a parenthesis: For what is our hope or joy or glorying’s crown (or is it not you indeed?) before our Lord Jesus in His coming?” as much as to say, “What else than you?” Not that other Churches fail to afford such hope; “alios non excludit, hos maxime numerat” (Bengel): cf. Philippians 2:16; Philippians 4:1; John 15:11; John 17:10; 3 John 1:4. The Apostles’ “hope,” like that of their readers (1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 3:13), is fixed on the glorious return of the Lord Jesus; then their work will be appraised (see 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:9 f.), and “joy” or “grief” (Hebrews 13:17), “glorying” or shame, will be theirs, as the objects of their care prove worthy or unworthy (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 f.). Hence all their prayers and efforts look to this end, as in 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23 f.; Colossians 1:28 to Colossians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 11:2. At Christ’s coming St Paul expects his “crown” (2 Timothy 4:8; cf. 1 Corinthians 9:25; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4, &c.).

στέφανος καυχήσεως—corona gloriationis (Calvin, Bengel), not gloriœ (Vulg.)—renders צֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת in Isaiah 62:3; Ezekiel 16:12; Ezekiel 23:42; Proverbs 16:31—the crown which a king or hero wears on some day of festal triumph; cf. Sophocles, Ajax 465. St Paul anticipates a consummation of the καύχησις which he already enjoys: see 2 Thessalonians 1:4; Romans 15:17; 1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 7:4, &c. The appealing interrogative (ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς;) is characteristic: cf. Romans 9:21; 1 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 6:19, &c.

Note the first appearance here of the word παρουσία, which plays so large a part in the two Epistles: see 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9; once besides, in 1 Corinthians 15:23; also in 1 John 2:28. It stood for the “coming,” or “presence,” of the expected (Jewish) Messiah, His advent and accession to power and glory. Since Jesus had claimed to be this Messiah, but had not in the first instance “come in power” or “in His kingdom” or “in the glory of His Father” (Matthew 16:28; Matthew 24:30; Mark 8:38; Mark 9:1, &c.), this remained to be realized at His future παρουσία, to which the term thus came to be specifically applied (Matthew 24:3, &c.); it is synonymous in this sense with ἐπιφάνεια (1 Timothy 6:14, &c.), and ἀποκάλυψις (1 Corinthians 1:7).