1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
An _apologia pro vita et labors suo_.... [ Continue Reading ]
An _apologia pro vita et labors suo_.... [ Continue Reading ]
αὐτοί, as opposed to the α. of 1 Thessalonians 1:9. γέγονεν κ. τ. λ., our mission was a vital success, as its results still show. For its motives and methods were genuine (1 Thessalonians 2:2-12).... [ Continue Reading ]
“Though we had suffered aye and suffered outrage” in one town, yet on we went to another with the same errand; a practical illustration of Matthew 10:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
γάρ : Our mission (whatever that of others may be) is not the outcome of self-seeking, otherwise it would readily be checked by such untoward circumstances. Our confidence is in _God_, not in ourselves; our work is not self-appointed but a sacred trust or commission, for which we are responsible to... [ Continue Reading ]
“As God, who tests our hearts, has attested our fitness to be entrusted with the gospel,” a characteristic play on the word. The definite commission of the gospel excluded any weak attempt to flatter men's prejudices or to adapt oneself to their tastes. Hence the thought of the following verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
“Never did we resort to words of flattery” (in order to gain some private end); _cf._ Arist., _Eth. Nik._, iv. 6. As self-interest is more subtle than the desire to please people (which may be one form of self-interest), the appeal is changed significantly from κ. ο. to θεὸς μάρτυς (Romans 1:9): “au... [ Continue Reading ]
To put a full stop after ἄλλων, and begin a new sentence with δυνάμενοι (so _e.g._, Vulgate, Calvin, Koppe, Weizsäcker, H. J. Gibbins, _Exp. Ti._, xiv. 527), introduces an awkward asyndeton, makes ἀλλὰ follow a concessive participle very awkwardly, and is unnecessary for the sense.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν βάρει ἶναι = “be men of weight,” or “be a burden” on your funds. Probably both meanings are intended, so that the phrase (_cf._ Field, 199) resumes the ideas of πλεον. and ἀνθ. δόξαν (self-interest in its mercenary shape and as the love of reputation) which are reiterated in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-1... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁμειρόμενοι (_cf._ Job 3:21, LXX; Psalms 62:2, Symm.) = “yearning for, or, over”. εὐδοκ., for absence of augment _cf._ W. H., ii. 161, 162. διότι causal (“for as much as”), almost = γάρ (as in Modern Greek).... [ Continue Reading ]
“Paul means by the phrase, _night and day_, that he started work before dawn; the usage is regular and frequent. He no doubt began so early in order to be able to devote some part of the day to preaching” (Ramsay, _Church in Roman Empire_, p. 85). Paul, to the very last (_cf._ Acts 20:29 f.), seems... [ Continue Reading ]
“We made ourselves yours” (_cf._ 8), the dative going closely (as Romans 7:3) with the verb, which is qualified (as in 1 Corinthians 16:10) by the adverbs; so Born., Findlay. ὑμῖν κ. τ. λ. (dative of possession). Paul had met other people at Thessalonica, but only the Christians could properly judge... [ Continue Reading ]
καθάπερ, sharper than καθώς. Viteau (ii. 111) suggests that κ. ο. is a parenthesis, and ὡς a causal introductory particle for the participles (“heartening,” “encouraging,” “adjuring”) which in their turn depend on ὑμῖν … ἐγενήθημεν, but the likelihood is that in the rush of emotion, as he dictates,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀξίως in this connection (see references) was a familiar ethnic phrase. C. Michel (in his _Recueil d'inscriptions grecques_, 1900, 266, 413) quotes two pre-Christian instances with τῶν θεῶν. εἰς τὸ, κ. τ. λ., grammatically meaning either the object or the content of the solemn charge (_cf._ Moulton,... [ Continue Reading ]
“And for this we also render thanks, _viz._, that;” the καί, by a loose but not unusual (_cf._ 1 Thessalonians 3:5; Romans 3:7; Romans 5:3, etc.) construction, goes not with the pronoun but with the verb, or simply emphasises the former (_e.g._, Soph., _Oed. Col._, 53, 520, etc.). τοῦ θεοῦ comes in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Further thanksgiving for their endurance of trial_.... [ Continue Reading ]
μιμηταί, and soon helpers (Romans 15:26). The fact that they were exposed to persecution, and bore it manfully, proved that the gospel was a power in their lives, and also that they were in the legitimate succession of the churches. Such obstacles would as little thwart their course as they had thwa... [ Continue Reading ]
“The Lord, even Jesus” (_cf._ Acts 2:36). προφ. may go either with ἀποκτ. or with ἐκδιωξάντων.... [ Continue Reading ]
κωλυόντων κ. τ. λ., defining (Luke 11:52) from the Christian standpoint that general and familiar charge of hatred to the human race (ἐναντίων κ. τ. λ.) which was started by the exclusiveness of the ghetto and the synagogue. ἔφθασε κ. τ. λ., “the Wrath has come upon them,” apparently a reminiscence... [ Continue Reading ]
πρὸς κ. ὥ., as we both expected, but, as it turned out, for much longer. προσ. οὐ κ., “not where I breathe; but where I love, I live” (Southwell, the Elizabethan Jesuit poet, echoing Augustine's remark that the soul lives where it loves, not where it exists); _cf._ Eurip., _Ion_, 251. The next parag... [ Continue Reading ]
to 1 Thessalonians 3:13. Paul's _apologia pro absentia suâ_.... [ Continue Reading ]
“We did crave to reach you,” διότι (= because) not being required with the English stress on _did_. The whole verse is parenthetical, syntactically. καὶ … Σατανᾶς. The mysterious obstacle, which Paul traced back to the ultimate malice of Satan, may have been either (_a_) an illness (_cf._ 2 Corinthi... [ Continue Reading ]
Of course we wanted to come back, for (γάρ), etc. The touch of fine exaggeration which follows is true to the situation. Paul's absence from the young church was being misinterpreted in a sinister way, as if it implied that the Achaian Christians had ousted the Thessalonians from his affections. _Yo... [ Continue Reading ]