1 Thessalonians 4:1

ουν (WH, margin)—wanting in B, some dozen minn., syrpesh cop, Chr—may easily have slipped out, after the -ον of λοιπον. The combination λοιπον ουν occurs nowhere else in the N.T.

ινα καθως παρελαβετε …—ινα περισσευητε: BD*G* 17 37 73, latt vg cop syrpesh. The first of the two ινα’s is omitted as superfluous by אA (an example of Alexandrian editing) and the Syrians. The clause καθως και περιπατειτε is wanting in DcKL and most minn., followed by the Greek commentators, and T. R. This looks like a deliberate erasure on the part of the Syrian editors, attempting to rectify the sentence. When the former ινα had been struck out—as appears in אA—the true construction of the sentence was lost, and the second καθως clause became intolerably awkward.

1. The adverbial λοιπόν, or τὸ λοιπόν, for the rest and so finally (de cœtero, Vulg.; or quod superest), is similarly used, to attach an addendum, in 2 Thessalonians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 1:16; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:8 : this verse covers all the writers have further to say.

ἐρωτῶμεν ὑμᾶς καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ. We ask you and exhort (you) in the Lord Jesus. Ἐρωτάω, in classical Greek used only of questions (interrogo), in later Greek is extended to requests (rogo), like the Eng. ask and Heb. שָׁאַל—e.g. in 1 Thessalonians 5:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:1—a usage frequent in St John. Ἐρωτάω conceives the request in a questionform (“Will you do so and so?”)—in Luke 14:18 f., John 19:31; John 19:38, e.g., the interrogative note is quite audible—and thus gives a personal urgency to it, challenging the answer as αἰτέω does not (cf. the Note under αἰτέω in Grimm-Thayer’s Lexicon, correcting the distinction laid down in Trench’s Syn., § 40). Παρακαλέω (see note on 1 Thessalonians 2:12 above) connotes possible slackness or indifference in the party addressed.

Ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ belongs to the latter verb (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:2; 2 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 5:4; Romans 12:1; Ephesians 4:17; Philippians 2:1; Philemon 1:8, &c.); for it is on the Divine authority of Jesus, recognized by the readers, that the apostolic παράκλησις rests (1 Thessalonians 2:3 f.; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 2 Corinthians 10:8; 2 Corinthians 13:3 : cf. note on ἐκκλησία … ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ, 1 Thessalonians 1:1; and for the title “Lord Jesus,” 1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:19): as much as to say, “We appeal to you, servants of Christ, in His name and as men bearing His commission.” The exhortation is urgent (ἐρωτῶμεν), rousing (παρακαλοῦμεν), and solemnly authoritative (ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ). Its general matter is stated in the remainder of the verse:—

ἵνα καθὼς παρελάβετε παρʼ ἡμῶν τὸ πῶς κ.τ.λ … ἵνα περισσεύητε μᾶλλον, that, according as you received from us how you ought to walk … that you abound (therein) more (than you already do), or more and more (R.V.). The first ἵνα—which is dropped in the T.R. along with the second καθώς clause of the verse—is naturally repeated on resuming the thread of the protracted sentence after the parenthesis. The parenthetical καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε (see Textual Note; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:4, for the commendation), as indeed you do walk, gives a new turn to the principal verb, which is accordingly qualified by μᾶλλον, whereas the first καθώς clause suggests ἐν τούτῳ or οὕτως for complement (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4); so περισσεύειν μᾶλλον follows καὶ γὰρ ποιεῖτε αὐτό in 1 Thessalonians 4:10. On παραλαμβάνω, see 1 Thessalonians 2:13 : in that passage it relates to the primary message of the Gospel (λόγον�); here it includes the precepts of life based thereon (τὸ πῶς δεῖ περιπατεῖν). For the use of περισσεύω, see note on 1 Thessalonians 3:12. For the sub-final use of ἵνα after ἐρωτῶμεν κ.τ.λ.—the content of the request or appeal stated in the form of purpose—cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Colossians 1:9, &c.,—also note on εἰς τό with infinitive, 1 Thessalonians 2:12 : on this idiom of N.T. Greek, see Winer-Moulton, p. 420, or A. Buttmann, N.T. Grammer, pp. 236 f. That the readers had “received παρʼ ἡμῶν” the instructions recalled, gives the Apostles the right to “ask and exhort” respecting them.

τὸ πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καὶ�, how you ought to walk and please God. Τό grasps the interrogative clause and presents it as a single definite object to παρελάβετε, giving it “precision and unity” (Lightfoot); for τό before the dependent sentence in such construction, cf. Romans 8:26; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; Luke 1:62; Acts 4:21 : see Winer-Moulton, pp. 135, 644, Goodwin, Greek Grammar, 955. The Apostles had instructed their disciples in Christian practice as well as belief, the ἔργον πίστεως (1 Thessalonians 1:3) consequent on πίστις. Δεῖ denotes moral necessity, lying in the relationship presupposed (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:7; Romans 1:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Timothy 3:15, &c.). “To walk and please God” is not a hendiadys for “to walk so as to please God”: the Christian walk (moral behaviour) was first described and in culcated, then the obligation to please God by such a walk was enforced; contrast 1 Thessalonians 2:15, also the subsequent warning of 1 Thessalonians 4:6-8.

Ἀρέσκειν θεῷ, a leading Pauline, and Biblical, conception of the true life for man (1 Thessalonians 2:4; Romans 2:29; Romans 8:8; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 7:32 ff.; Galatians 1:10; 2 Timothy 2:4; Hebrews 11:5 f.; also John 8:29; 1 John 3:22), combining religion and morals as they spring from the personal relations of the believer to God. This representation is parallel to that of 1 Thessalonians 2:12, τὸ περιπατεῖν�; cf. Colossians 1:10, περιπατ� … εἰς�.