1 Thessalonians 5:8

ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας ὄντες νήφωμεν: but let us, since we are of the day (not qui diei sumus, Vulg., &c., as if οἱ … ὄντες; but quum diei simus), be sober. The νήφω of 1 Thessalonians 5:6 is resumed, with the added force gathered from 1 Thessalonians 5:7, and to be supported by the participial clauses that follow. “As the metaphor of sleep is applied to the careless and indifferent, so that of drunkenness to the reckless and profligate. The one is to the other as positive to negative sin” (Lightfoot): νήφωμεν forbids everything wild or unbridled (cf. ἐκνήψατε in 1 Corinthians 15:34). The simile of the sequel identifies the Christian’s “soberness” with that of the soldier under arms and on guard, in whom drunkenness, or sleep, would be a crime. The same association of thought appears in Romans 13:12, and again in 1 Peter 1:13,—ἀναζωσάμενοι … νήφοντες τελείως ἐλπίσατε κ.τ.λ.

ἐνδυσάμενοι θώρακα πίστεως καὶ�, καὶ περικεφαλαίαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας: putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and (by way of) helmet the hope of salvation. The aorist partic. attached to the cohortative present specifies an act that forms a part of the exhortation: νήφωμεν enjoins a state; ἐνδυσάμενοι an act belonging to the state, and that goes to determine and characterize it. The daylight rouses the soldier: if he has slept, with the dawn he is awake and alert; if he has spent the night in carousals, he is instantly sobered; at the bugle-call he dons his armour, and steps out to his post vigilant and steady. In Romans 13:12 f. the same figure is still more graphically applied. Cf., for the military style of the passage, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and notes. The θώραξ κ.τ.λ. form the day-dress of the Christian warrior. Πίστεως καὶ�, genitives of apposition. “Veluti ad arma conclamat, ut ostendat non esse dormiendi tempus. Belli quidem nomen subticet; verum dum nos armat thorace et galea, proeliandum esse admonet” (Calvin). The armour-simile (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 10:4 ff; Romans 6:13; Romans 13:12; Ephesians 6:11 ff.) is not original in St Paul, but only its application and working out. Its use is based, doubtless, on Isaiah 59:17 (LXX): ἐνεδύσατο δικαιοσύνην ὡς θώρακα, καὶ περιέθετο περικεφαλαίαν σωτηρίου ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς; cf. also Wis 5:19; Bar 5:2. In Isaiah God is the warrior, girding Himself to fight for the salvation of His people.

St Paul developes the above image with greater completeness, and somewhat differently, in a much later passage, Ephesians 6:13-17. He thinks here only of defensive weapons—breastplate and helmet—since the soldier is guarding himself against surprise. “The breastplate of faith and love” protects the heart, the centre of life and spring of the vital forces; to this quarter Faith and Love are assigned. These virtues are divided in Ephesians between “shield” and “breastplate.” The “helmet” is alike in both passages—there styled “salvation,” here the “hope of salvation,” Hope being a key-note of this Epistle. For this last defence the next two verses supply the ground. The correspondence of “hope” with the “helmet” lies in the place of the helmet as the crown of the soldier’s armour, its brightest and most conspicuous piece, covering the head which invites attack; cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:19, where ἐλπίς is associated with στέφανος καυχήσεως; also Romans 5:2; Hebrews 3:6. Hope is held high, and shines out.

Σωτηρία (cf. σώζω, 1 Thessalonians 2:16) embraces, in St Paul and the N.T., the entire well-being that the Gospel brings (2 Thessalonians 2:13 f.; Ephesians 1:13), both to the individual man and to the world. It is identified specifically with its two essential elements or moments—of ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν (Luke 1:77, &c.), and of deliverance from the grave and from the condemnation of the Last Day (Philippians 1:19; 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 1:5, &c.): in the synonymous ἀπολύτρωσις this double reference is conspicuous; see Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:14. Σωτηρία here stands opposed to ὀργή, as in Romans 1:16-18; Romans 5:9, since the present salvation from sin effected in believers by God’s “grace,” and realized in “forgiveness” (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 3:1-8), gives assurance of eventual salvation from sin’s future penalties and fatal consequences in another world (Romans 5:9 f., Romans 6:22 f., &c.).

Faith, love, hope—the Apostle’s triad of graces; see notes on 1 Thessalonians 1:3. “Faith” is directed especially toward God and Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 John 5:4 f., &c.), “love” toward one’s neighbour (1 Thessalonians 4:9 f.; 2 Thessalonians 1:3, &c.); “hope” concerns oneself. Ἐλπίς seems here to be the μείζων τούτων (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:13).