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CAMBRIDGE GREEK TESTAMENT FOR
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
General Editor :— F. H. CHASE, D.D.
PRESIDENT OF QUEENS' COLLEGE AND NORRISIAN PROFESSOR
OF DIVINITY

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE
TO THE
THESSALONIANS

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THE EPISTLES OF PAUL THE APOSTLE
TO THE
THESSALONIANS

Edited by
G. G. FINDLAY, D.D.
Professor of New Testament Language and Literature
at the Wesleyan College, Headingley

WITH MAP, INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES

Cambridge :
At the University Press
1904

(SEambriuge:
PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CI.AY,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

PREFACE
BY THE GENERAL EDITOR.
The General Editor does not hold himself re
sponsible, except in the most general sense, for the
statements, opinions, and interpretations contained in
the several volumes of this Series. He believes that
the value of the Introduction and the Commentary
in each case is largely dependent on the Editor being
free as to his treatment of the questions which arise,
provided that that treatment is in harmony with the
character and scope of the Series. He has therefore
contented himself with offering criticisms, urging the
consideration of alternative interpretations, and the
like; and as a rule he has left the adoption of these
suggestions to the discretion of the Editor.
The Greek Text adopted in this Series is that of
Dr Westcott and Dr Hort. For permission to use this
Text the thanks of the Syndics of the University
Press and of the General Editor are due to Messrs
Macmillan & Co.

The Lodge,
Queens' College, Cambridge.
27 October, 1904.

EDITOE'S PEEFACE.
This is substantially a new work, designed for the
Greek Testament student as the previous volume
from the same hand, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools
and Colleges (1891), was written for the student of
the English Bible. The first four chapters of the
Introduction, and the Appendix, bear indeed identical
titles in each book ; but their matter has been re
written and considerably extended. The Exposition is
recast throughout. Literary illustration from English
sources has been discarded, so that full attention might
be given to the details of Greek construction and
verbal usage. The train of thought in the original
text is tracked out as closely as possible — the analyses
prefixed to the successive sections will, it is hoped,
be useful for this purpose; and the historical and
local setting of the Epistles is brought to bear on their
elucidation at all available points. In particular, the
researches made of recent years into Jewish apocalyptic
literature have thrown some fresh light on the ob
scurities of St Paul's eschatology.
Two Commentaries of first-rate importance have
appeared during the last dozen years, of which the
writer has made constant use : viz. the precious Notes

EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii
on ihe Epistles of St Paul bequeathed to us by the
late Bishop Lightfoot, in which 123 out of 324' pages
are devoted to 1 and 2 Thessalonians ; and Bornemann's
interpretation contained in the fifth and sixth editions
of Meyer's Kommentar, a work as able and judicious
as it is laborious and complete. At the same time,
one reverts with increasing satisfaction to the old
interpreters; frequent quotations are here made from
the Latin translators — Erasmus, Calvin, Beza, Estius,
Bengel, beside the ancient Versions — who in many
instances are able to render the Greek with a brevity
and nicety attainable in no other tongue.
GEORGE G. FINDLAY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGES
Map  [To face Title-page
Preface  vi
I. Introduction I. The City of Thessalonica  ix
II. The Coming of the Gospel to Thessalonica xiv
III. The Gospel of St Paul at Thessalonica xxiii
IV. The Origin and Occasion of the Epistles xxxii
V. The Authorship of the Epistles ... xiii
VI. Vocabulary, Style, and Character of the
Epistles  Iv
VII. The Greek Text of the Epistles ... Ixv
VIII. Analysis of the Epistles  lxix
II. Text  1—11
III. Notes  13—214
IV. Appendix  215 — 232
V. Indices  233 — 248

ERRATUM.
P, 29, 1. 4. For HE IS read HE WILL BE—

INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I.
The City op Thessalonica.
Amongst the great cities of the ancient world in which the
Apostle Paul lived and laboured, two still remain as places of
capital importance — Kome and Thessalonica. The latter has
maintained its identity as a provincial metropolis and an em
porium of Mediterranean traffic, with singularly little change,
for above two thousand years. Along with its capital, the
province of Macedonia to this day retains the name and the
geographical limits under which St Paul knew it sixty genera
tions ago. At the present moment (May, 1903) " Salonika" (or
Saloniki, 'SdKovUrj in vulgar Greek, Turkish Selanik) supplies a
conspicuous heading in our newspapers, being the focus of the
renewed struggle between the Cross and the Crescent, and a
mark of the political and commercial ambitions which animate
the Great Powers of Europe and the Lesser Powers of the Balkan
Peninsula, in the disturbed condition of the Turkish Empire.
This town first appears in Greek history under the name of
Therma (Qippa, Qepfirj), " Hot- well," having been so entitled from
the springs found in its vicinity (cf. 'Kptjvio'es, the older name of
Philippi). According to Herodotus (vn. 121), Xerxes when in
vading Greece made its harbour the head-quarters of his fleet.
On the site of Therma Qeo-o-aXovUrj (&eo-cra\ovUeta in Strabo)
was built in the year 315 B.C. by Cassander, the brother-in-law
of Alexander the Great, who seized the throne of Macedonia
soon after the conqueror's death. Cassander named the new
foundation, probably, after his royal wife (see Diodorus Siculus,
Thess. b

x INTRODUCTION.
xix. 52). The new title first appears in Polybius' Histories
(xxiii. 4. 4, &c, as eeTTaXovUrj). On the Boman conquest of
Macedonia in 168 b.c, the kingdom was broken up into four
semi-independent republics, and Thessalonica was made the
capital of one of these. In the year 146, when the province was
formally annexed to the Empire, the four districts were reunited,
and this city became the centre of Boman administration and
the prjTpoircikis of the entire region. The Bomans made of its
excellent harbour a naval station, furnished with docks (Livy
xliv. 10). Through this city passed the Via Egnatia, the
great military highway from Dyrrachium which formed the land-
route between Borne and the East, and ran parallel to the
maritime line of communication crossing the mid-iEgean by
way of Corinth. On the termination of the civil war which
ended with the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in
42 B.C., when it had fortunately sided with the victors, Thessa
lonica was declared a libera urbs, or liberce condicionis (Pliny N. H.
iv. 10 [17]); hence it had its recognized o%or and its elective
TcoXtTcipxcu1 (Acts xvii. 5-8). Its coins bear the inscription
Oea-a-dKovLKiioyv iXevdepia. "The whole city was essentially
Greek, not Boman as Philippi was" (Lightfoot). At the same
time the city depended on the imperial favour, and was jealous
of anything that might touch the susceptibilities of the Govern
ment; the charge of treason framed against the Christian
missionaries was the most dangerous that could have been raised
in such a place.
At this epoch Thessalonica was a flourishing and populous
city. The geographer Strabo, St Paul's contemporary, describes
it as the one amongst Macedonian towns i) vvv fioXiora t&v
aXKav evavSpel (vii. 7. 4) ; and Lucian writes, a century later,
n-oAeaj twv iv MaxeoWa rrjs fieyi'orijs &ecriTaKoviKrjs (Asimis, 46);
1 On this term see the article "Rulers of the City" in Hastings'
Diet, of the Bible, and E. D. Burton, "The Politarchs," in Amer.
Journal of Theology, July 1898. The title was one of limited appli
cation ; it appears on the inscription still to be seen on the arch at
the western gate of the city, which is given in Bbckh's Corpus Inscr
Graec. n. p. 53 [1967]. Its use affords a fine test of the circum
stantial accuracy of St Luke.

POSITION OF THESSALONICA. xi
Theodoret refers to it in similar terms in the fifth century. At
the beginning of the tenth century it is computed to have held
200,000 souls. To-day its population numbers something under
100,000 ; but it is in size the third, and in importance quite the
second, city of Turkey in Europe. The Jews count for more
than half its inhabitants, and have about 30 synagogues ;
Thessalonica is, in fact, the most Jewish of all the larger towns
of Europe. The bulk of these however form a modern settle
ment, dating from the expulsion of this people by Ferdinand of
Spain toward the end of the 15th century. The Christians —
mainly Greeks or Bulgars — amount to only a fifth of the present
population, the Turks being equally numerous. The people, are
largely occupied, as in the Apostle's time (I. iv. 11), in small
manufactures along with commerce.
Thessalonica owes its commercial and political importance to
the 'coign of vantage' that it holds in the Balkan peninsula.
"So long as nature does not change, Thessalonica will remain
wealthy and fortunate." Situated midway by land between the
Adriatic and the Hellespont and occupying the sheltered recess
of the Thermaic Gulf (now the Gulf of Saloniki) at the north
western corner of the iEgean Sea, it formed the natural outlet
for the traffic of Macedonia, and the point toward which the
chief roads from the north through the Balkan passes converged
(hence supplying the terminus of the modern line of railway
running south to the Mediterranean from Vienna through
Belgrade). This was one of those strategic points in the Gentile
mission whose value St Paul's keen eye at once discerned and
whose occupation gave him the greatest satisfaction— " Thessa-
lonicenses positi in gremio imperii nostri," says Cicero. Erom
Thessalonica " there sounded out the word of the Lord in every
place" (I. i. 8); here many ways met, and from this centre "the
word of the Lord" was likely to "run and be glorified"
(II. iii. 1).
The site of the town is fine and commanding. It rises from
the harbour like an amphitheatre, covering a sloping hill-side
from which it looks out to the south-west over the waters of
the Qulf, with the snowy heights of Mount Olympus, the fabled
62

xii INTRODUCTION.
home of the Greek gods, closing its horizon, while it is guarded
by high mountain ridges upon both sides.
From the time of its occupation by the Bomans, the historical
associations of the city become numerous and interesting.
Cicero spent some months at Thessalonica in exile during the
year 58 B.C., and halted here on the way to and from his pro
vince of Cilicia (51—50 A.D.), dating from this place some
characteristic letters, which might profitably be compared with
these of the Apostle addressed to the same city. At Thessalonica
he was found again in the winter of 49 — 48 with Pompey's army,
which pitched its camp there before the fatal battle of Phar-
salus. Six years later Octavian and Antony encamped in the
same spot, preparing to encounter the republican leaders, whom
they defeated at Philippi. The most notable disaster of Thessa
lonica was the massacre of 15,000 of its inhabitants ordered by
Theodosius the Great in revenge for some affront inflicted upon
him during an uproar in the city (390 a.d.), for which crime
St Ambrose, the great Bishop of Milan, compelled the Emperor
to do abject penance, refusing him absolution for eight months
until he submitted.
In Church history Thessalonica bears the honourable name of
"the orthodox city," as having proved itself a bulwark of the
Catholic faith and of the Greek Christian Empire through the
early middle ages1. It was an active centre of missionary
labour amongst the Goths, and subsequently amongst the
Slavonic invaders of the Balkan peninsula, from whose ravages
the city suffered severely. In the roll of its Bishops, there is
one name of the first rank, that of EvMaihiiis (+ 1198 a.d.), who
was the most learned Greek scholar of his age and an en
lightened Church reformer ; it is still a metropolitan Greek see,
claiming a succession continuous from the Apostolic days.
The Norman Crusader, Tancred of Sicily, wrested the city from
the Greek Emperor in 1185, and it remained for a considerable
i It must be said, however, that Tafel (de Thessalonica ejusque
agro, 1839), the chief authority on the history of the city, conjec
tures that this epithet was conferred on Thessalonica because of its
obstinate defence of image-worship in the 8th and 9th centuries.

HISTORY OF THESSALONICA. xiii
time under the Latin rule ; in 1422, after several vicissitudes, it
passed into the hands of the Venetians. They in turn were com
pelled in 1430 to yield it to the Turks, who effected here their
first secure lodgement in Europe half a century before the fall of
Constantinople. The city had been captured by the Saracens,
in a memorable siege, as early as the year 904, but was only held
by them for a while.
Thessalonica till lately possessed three ancient and beautiful
Greek churches turned into mosques, — those of St Sophia,
St George, and St Demetrius. The first of these, which as a
monument and treasury of Byzantine art was inferior only to
St Sophia of Constantinople was destroyed in the great fire of
September 4th, 1890.

CHAPTER II.
The Coming op the Gospel to Thessalonica.
It was in the course of his second great missionary expedition
that the Apostle Paul planted the standard of the Cross in
Europe, in the year of our Lord 51 x or thereabouts. Setting out
from Antioch in Syria, he had taken the prophet Silas of Jerusalem
(Silvanus of the Epistles) for his companion, on the occasion of
the Trapogvirp.6s between himself and Barnabas which arose at
this juncture (Acts xv. 32 — 41). The young Timothy was
enlisted as their assistant, in place of John Mark, a little later
in the journey (Acts xvi. 1 — 3). The province of Asia, with
Ephesus for its capital where St Paul afterwards spent three
fruitful years, was the primary objective of this campaign. But
after traversing South Galatia and revisiting the Churches
founded in this region (by Paul and Barnabas) on. the previous
journey, the Apostles were "forbidden by the Holy Ghost to
speak the word in Asia," so that, instead of continuing their
travels further west, they struck across the peninsula to the
north ; and being again checked by the Spirit when crossing into
Bithynia, they changed their route a second time and finally
arrived at Troas, the north-western port of Asia Minor. It has
been commonly supposed that during this part of his travels
St Paul founded in Galatia proper (i.e. in the north or north
west of the extensive Boman province then known by this
1 The date " 53 (or 52) " was given in the Gamhridge Bible for
Schools (1890); but the writer has since been led to believe that
the Conference of Paul and Barnabas with the " pillars " of the
Judean Church at Jerusalem took place in the year 49 rather than
51, so that all the Pauline dates from this point onwards to the
release from the imprisonment at Koine are thrown back two years
in comparison with the former estimate. See the article on Paul
the Apostle in Hastings' Diet, of the Bible, i. 5, Chronology.

THE JOURNEY TO THESSALONICA. xv
name1) the Churches addressed in the Epistle irpbs TaXaras ; but
St Luke's indications in Acts xvi. 6—8 are slight and cursory,
so that both the route followed and the time occupied on this
part of the tour are uncertain. If the evangelization of the
" Galatians" of the Epistle was effected at this period, through
the delay caused by the illness of the Apostle Paul in their
country (Gal. iv. 12 — 15), we must allow for a considerable
period, perhaps the winter of 50 — 51, spent in North Galatia
before the three missionaries reached the terminus of their
journey through Asia Minor and St Paul heard the cry of the
"man of Macedonia" which summoned him to cross the sea
into Europe (Acts xvi. 9 — 12). It was at Troas that the true
goal of this decisive journey disclosed itself, the reason of God's
repeated interference with His servant's designs. In Macedonia
the Gospel was to find a congenial soil and a prepared people ;
and Thessalonica was to furnish a centre, far in advance of
any post hitherto occupied by the Gentile mission, from which
the new faith would spread widely and rapidly through the
adjacent provinces situated at the heart of the Boman Empire.
The story of the missionaries' voyage across the jEgean, their
journey inland to Philippi, their success and their sufferings in
that city, so graphically related by St Luke who had joined the
company at Troas and writes Acts xvi. 10 — 40 as an eye-witness,
need not be repeated. Only one reference the Apostle makes in
these Letters to his experience at Philippi ; it is such as to show
that he and Silas, instead of being daunted by their rough
handling in that town, entered on their mission at Thessalonica
with high spirit and in the assurance that the hand of God was
with them (I. ii. 1, 2). From the allusion made in Phil. iv. 16,
written many years later, we gather that St Paul received help
twice over from his friends in Philippi during the time of his
first visit to Macedonia. "Even in Thessalonica," he writes,
"you sent to supply my need both once and twice."
Thessalonica lay a hundred miles west of Philippi along the
1 See W. M. Ramsay's Historical Geography of Asia Minor, pp.
252 ff., 453; or his Church in the Boman Empire*, pp. 13 ff. ; or article
Galatia in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible.

xvi INTRODUCTION.
Via Egnatia, a distance of three days' journey. "Amphipolis
and Apollonia" appear in Acts xvii. 1 as the chief towns and,
halting-places on the way. These were both inland towns, — the
former a place of importance, which had played a considerable
part in earlier Greek history. Probably neither contained a Jewish
colony, such as might have supplied a starting-point for mis
sionary work. Entering the streets of Thessalonica the Apostle
found himself in a Greek commercial city with a large infusion
of Jewish immigrants, resembling Tarsus, his native town, and
Antioch where he had ministered for so long. At the western
(Vardar) gate, by which the travellers must have left the city,
an arch may still be traced1 commemorating the victory of
Philippi ; this monument, if not so old as St Paul's time, dates
but little later.
We have described in chapter I. the position of Thessalonica
and its growing importance as a centre of trade and population.
There was another circumstance which gave the missionaries of
Christ a vantage-ground here. At Philippi the Jews were not
numerous or wealthy enough to boast a synagogue : they only
had a -npoo-evxf], a retired oratory, " by the river-side," probably
open to the air (Acts xvi. 13). But in Thessalonica " there was
a synagogue of the Jews"; and the Israelite rTS&TmmurnTiy' Had
gathered about it a number of attached proselytes, and exerted
considerable influence over its compatriots in other districts of
the province : see Acts xvii. 1 — 4, 13. Paul and Silas might
not expect to gain many converts from the synagogue itself;
the readiest hearers of the Gospel were found in the circle of
devout and enlightened Gentiles who had been attracted toward
Judaism, and yet were only half satisfied by it, men weary of
heathen superstition and philosophy and more or less instructed
in the Old Testament, but not prepossessed by the ingrained
1 This triumphal arch, now built into the city street, bore an
inscription, which has been removed to the British Museum, giving
the names of the Politarchs in office when it was erected. It is
curious that three of these are identical with names of St Paul's
Macedonian friends, Sopater of Bercea, Gaius the Macedonian, and
Secundus of Thessalonica (Acts xix. 29, xx. 4) : see Conybeare and
Howson's Life and Epp. of St Paul, new ed. (1880), pp. 258 f.

CONVERSION OF THE THESSALONIANS. xvii
prejudice, the pride of Abrahamic descent, and the scorn of a
crucified Messiah, which closed the ears of the Jews everywhere
against the apostolic message. From this outlying constituency
of proselytes and synagogue-frequenters, amongst which not
seldom there were found, as at Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 4), a
number of the more refined and intelligent Greek women of
the upper classes, St Paul gathered the nucleus of his Churches.
His success in this field and the fact that he robbed Judaism
thereby of its most valued and liberal adherents, who were
the evidence- of~Jts~power and religious value to the eyes of
the Gentile world, explain the bitter resentment, the blind hatred
and rancour, with which St Paul was pursued wherever he
moved by the Hellenist Jews (see Acts xxi. 28, xxiv. 5). Here
in Thessalonica, while " some " of the Jews " were persuaded and
consorted with Paul and Silas," a " great multitude of the devout
Greeks1" accepted the Gospel, "and of the first women {the
ladies, as we should say, of the city : yvvamiov t&v irpwrav)
not a few." The Apostles felt it a duty — and to this they were
prompted by the best feelings of their hearts (Bom. ix. 1 — 3) —
to appeal " to the Jew first," however often they were repelled
in doing so ; hence " according to Paul's custom he went in unto
them [the Jews], and for three sabbaths discoursed with them
from the Scriptures" (Acts xvii. 2). Considering the three
heads of discourse indicated by the historian in conjunction with
1 Ramsay prefers here the reading of AD, the Coptic, and Latin
Vulgate, which distinguish "the devout" (or "God-fearing": i.e.
the Proselytes) and " the Greeks " (t&v oepo/iifoiv Kal 'EXX^kwc), the
latter being understood as mere heathen, previously unattached to
the Synagogue. 1 Thessalonians certainly implies that most of
the readers had been brought out of idolatry into the knowledge
of Christ by the ministry of Paul and Silas (I. i. 9f.). But v. 4 of
Acts xvii. does not sum up the whole result of the mission in
Thessalonica; it describes the immediate effect of the three weeks'
preaching in the Synagogue, which resulted in the adhesion to Paul
and Silas of a few only of its Jewish members, but of quite a crowd
of Greek proselytes. The extension of the Apostles' work amongst
the Greeks outside the synagogue naturally followed upon this sepa
ration. The text of the great mss., t&v re oe^ouinav 'EXK-^visiv,
therefore approves itself ; while the reading of AD, cop vg, appears
to be an emendation due to the very reflexion which leads Ramsay
to prefer it as the original.

xviii INTRODUCTION.
the "three sabbaths" over which St Paul's Scriptural argument
extended (eVi <rd#3ara rpla), it looks as though he had advanced
his proof in three successive stages : " opening and laying before"
his fellow Israelites (1) the general doctrine of a suffering Messiah
(on tov xpt-vrbv edet ira6eiv), and (2) of the Messiah's resurrection
(na\ dvao-Trjvai 4k ve<pS>v) ; then proceeding (3) to identify "this
Jesus whom I proclaim to you" with the suffering and risen
Christ, whose image he had drawn from Scripture (kcu oti ovtos
iomv 6 xpicrrdr, 6 'hjaovs bv eym KarayyeXKa vpiv). For two
sabbaths the synagogue listened with toleration, perhaps with
curiosity, to the abstract exegetical theorem ; but when it came
to clinching the matter by evidence given that the suffering and
rising Christ of the prophets is none other than Jesus of Nazareth,
the man who was twenty years before condemned by the Sanhe
drin at Jerusalem as a blasphemer and crucified by the Boman
Governor at the people's request, their patience was at an end.
Yet it was not so much the advocacy of the claims of the
Nazarene addressed to themselves, as the successful proclama
tion of His name to the Gentiles and the alienation of their own
proselyte supporters, which inflamed "the Jews" to the pitch of
anger described in Acts xvii. 5 : they " burst into jealousy, and,
enlisting certain scoundrels amongst the loafers of the city, they
gathered a mob and raised a riot." The house of Jason (this
name is probably equivalent to Jesus), where St Paul and his
companions lodged, was attacked with a view to seizing the
Apostles and "bringing them before a public meeting" (irpoa-
yayetv eis tov Srjp.ov). Jason was, presumably, a Jew of property
who had accepted the faith of Christ. Failing to find the leaders,
the mob "dragged Jason," and certain other Christians who came
in their way, " before the politarchs " (eVi rois nokirdpxas).
The accusation brought against the Apostles was adapted to
prejudice the magistrates of an imperial city like Thessalonica;
they were charged (1) with being revolutionaries — "these that
have turned the world upside down (ol rijv otKovpevriv dvacrra™-
o-avres, v. 6)1 have come hither also" ; and (2) with rebellion against
1 This charge is easy to understand in the light of subsequent
events; it is not easy to see what suggested it to St Paul's opponents

IMPEACHMENT OF THE APOSTLES. xix
the Emperor— " the whole of them contravene the, decrees of
Csesar, asserting that there is another king, namely Jesus" (v. 7).
On these outrageous charges legal conviction was of course
impossible ; but the mere bringing of them " alarmed the multi
tude and the politarchs" (v. 8), knowing as they did with what
undiseriminating severity the Bomans were accustomed to
suppress even the appearance of rebellion. The Politarchs were,
however, content with "taking security from Jason and the rest"
for their good behaviour, and so dismissed the complaint (v. 9).
Paul and Silas were compelled by these proceedings to leave the
city at once (i\10) — probably the security given by their friends
included a promise to this effect ; they had become marked men,
in the eyes both of the Government and of the populace, in such
a way that their return was barred for many months afterwards
(I. ii. 18). "The brethren immediately, by night, sent away
both Paul and Silas to Bercea" (v. 10).
The impeachment for treason against Borne reminds us of
the charge brought against our Lord Himself by the Jews before
Pilate : " If thou release Him, thou art not Caesar's friend.
Every one who maketh himself a king, contradicteth Csesar"
(John xix. 12). Csesar was the master of the world, and could
brook no rival kingship. To employ the terms " king" or "king
dom," in any sense, within his empire was calculated to rouse
fatal suspicion. The accusations were a distortion of what Paul
and Silas had actually preached. They did publish a " kingdom
of God" that claimed universal allegiance (I. ii. 12, II. i. 5, 8),
in Thessalonica at so early a date as this. The disturbance in Phi
lippi was not serious enough to give colour to language of this kind,
nor to lead any one to think of "the world" (rt)v olKovptvnv) as
affected by the preaching of these wandering Jewish visionaries. If
however the news had recently come to Thessalonica of the riots at
Rome resulting in the expulsion of the Jews from that city, on the
occasion of which Aquila and Priscilla migrated to Corinth (Acts
xviii. 2), and if, as the words of Suetonius suggest (Claudius, 25:
" Judaeos impulsore Chresto [Christo] assidue tumultuantes Roma
expulit "), these dangerous riots were connected with the preaching
of Christianity in Rome and had advertised there its existence as a
disturbing force in the Empire, we can better account for the adoption
of this sweeping indictment and for the sensitiveness of the public
authorities in the provincial capital.

xx INTRODUCTION.
and " another king " than the world-ruler of Borne, " even Jesus,"
whom God had set at His right hand and crowned with glory
and honour, who should one day "judge the world in righteous
ness" (Acts xvii. 31). The language of II. ii. 3—12 (see Exposi
tory Notes) indicates certain aspects of St Paul's eschatological
teaching in Thessalonica out of which a skilful accuser would
not find it difficult to make political capital against him. The
prejudice excited against the Gospel at Thessalonica by the phrase
"the kingdom of God" or "of Christ," and by the forms of
doctrine connected with it, suggests a practical reason for the
comparative disuse of this terminology in St Paul's Epistles,
which is often thought surprising and is mistakenly alleged as a
fundamental contrast between the doctrine of the Apostle and
that of Jesus Himself.
The work accomplished by the missionaries in Thessalonica,
and the nature and extent of the opposition they had aroused,
imply a period of labour of greater duration than the three
weeks referred to in Acts xvii. 2. St Luke surely intends
that datum to apply only to the preaching of St Paul in the
Synagogue, leaving undefined the much longer time over which
his ministry outside the Synagogue was extended. The two
Epistles indicate a degree of Christian knowledge and a settled
fellowship and discipline among St Paul's adherents, and moreover
a close personal acquaintance and attachment between them
selves and him, which presuppose months rather than weeks
of intercourse1. The allusion of Phil. iv. 16, already noticed,
implies a continued sojourn. Paul and Silas left their infant
flock prematurely, under circumstances causing them great
concern as to its safety and an intense desire to return and
complete its indoctrination (I. ii. 17 — iii. 13). But the work,
though wrought in a comparatively brief time and so hurriedly
left, was well and truly done. The foundation laid was sure,
and bore the shock of persecution. The visit of Timothy, sent
1 "Paul evidently refers to a long and very successful work in
Thessalonica... December 50— May 51 seems a probable estimate" of
the length of his residence there (Ramsay, St Paul the Traveller, &c,
p. 228). This is, perhaps, an extreme view.

LATER VISITS TO THESSALONICA. xxi
from Athens soon after St Paul's arrival from Bercea, found
the Church unshaken in its faith and loyalty and abounding in
works of love, while it was strengthened and tested through trial,
so that it was able to send back to the Apostle on Timothy's
return, with expressions of regret for his continued absence,
assurances which were to him as life from the dead (I. iii. 8)
amid his heavy trials and toils at Corinth.
Of St Paul's later associations with Thessalonica the traces
are slight. This city had, doubtless, a principal place in his
thoughts when in 1 Cor. xvi. 5 f. he speaks of " passing through
Macedonia" on the way from Ephesus to Corinth toward the
close of the third missionary tour, and when in 2 Cor. viii. and
ix., written a few months later (56 A.D.), he commends to the
Corinthians the signal liberality of "the churches of Macedonia"
amongst whom he was travelling at that time. During this
visit, as in his first residence at Thessalonica, the Apostle's life
was one of peril and agitation : he writes of this period in 2 Cor.
vii. 5, iv wavri 6\iji6jxevoi • e£a()ev fiaxcu, eiradev cpofioi ; cf. the
¦noKis ayav of I. ii. 2. On his return from Corinth eastwards,
in the spring of 57, St Paul again traversed Macedonia (Acts
xx. 3 — 6) and associated with himself, in carrying the collection
made by the Gentile Churches for the Christian poor in Jeru
salem, two Thessalonians named "Aristarchus and Secundus."
The former of these remained with the Apostle for several years,
sharing in his voyage to Borne (Acts xxvii. 2) and in his im
prisonment there. In CoL iv. 10 and Phm. 24 the Apostle sends
greetings from Aristarchus, calling him 6 cruvai^/iaXoTor pov.
During his latest travels, in the interval between the first and
second Boman imprisonment, St Paul describes himself as " on
my journey (jropeud/iewos) to Macedonia" (1 Tim. i. 3) on the
occasion of his meeting Timothy shortly before writing the first
extant Epistle to him, when the Apostle gave him orders "to stay
on (irpoo-peivai) in Ephesus " as his commissioner. Thus a third
time, as it appears, St Paul crossed from Asia Minor into Mace
donia. Once we have clear evidence of his traversing the same
route in the opposite direction (Acts xx.) ; in all probability he
did so a second time, on his release from the first Boman

xxii INTRODUCTION.
captivity, if he fulfilled the intention, implied in Phil. ii. 24
and Phm. 22, of revisiting the Churches of Macedonia and Asia
so soon as he should be set at liberty.
The last reference to this city in St Paul's history is the sad
note of 2 Tim. iv. 10 : " Demas hath forsaken me, having loved
the present world, and hath taken his journey to Thessalonica."
This deserter is referred to at an earlier time in Col. iv. 14, and
therefore was with St PauT in his former imprisonment. Whether
Demas was a Thessalonian or not we cannot tell. His name
is probably short for Demetrius. A martyr of the latter name,
suffering in the reign of Maximian, has become the patron saint
of the city.

CHAPTER III.
The Gospel op St Paul at Thessalonica.
It is now time to ask, What, precisely, was the Gospel brought
by Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to Thessalonica, which pro
duced amongst its people so powerful and enduring an effect?
Was there anything, we may further enquire, that was special to
the place and the occasion in the form which their message
assumed, anything that may explain the peculiar tone of Chris
tian feeling, the mould of thought and of experience revealed
by the two Letters and characterizing the faith of this great
Macedonian Church in its beginning ? The data of the Epistles,
compared with the hints given us by the story of the Acts,
enable us to furnish some answer to these questions.
(1) The starting-point of St Paul's teaching, as it addressed
itself in the first instance to orthodox Jews, must be found in
the proof of the Messiahship of Jesus, which was derived from the
prophecies of Scripture compared with the historical facts of
the life, death and resurrection of the Saviour. The method of
this proof, briefly but very significantly indicated in Acts xvii. 3
(see p. xviii. above), is largely set forth in St Luke's report of
the Apostle's discourse at the Pisidian Antioch (Acts xiii.).
(2) But in turning to the Gentiles, and especially when their
preaching caught the ear of Greeks hitherto uninfluenced by
the teaching of the Synagogue— and this seems to have been the
case to a remarkable degree at Thessalonica — the missionaries of
Christ had much to say about the falsity and sin of idolatry.
This fact is strongly reflected in the account given by the writers
in I. i. 9 f. of their readers' conversion : errearpe^rarf npbs rbv
dibv dnb t&v el8a\av k.t.\. Their faith was emphatically a "faith

xxiv INTRODUCTION.
toward God" (17 irltrris vp&v 17 irpbs rbv Beov, I. i. 8) ; see Exposi
tory Notes. As " God's Son, whom He raised from the dead," they
recognized Jesus; in this character they "await Him from the
heavens" for their "deliverer." The gods of their forefathers,
whose images occupy the temples and public places of the city,
and other minor deities adored in domestic or more private wor
ship, they renounced as being " nothing in the world " (1 Cor.
viii. 4), mere "shows" (Abuka) of Godhead. Henceforth they
acknowledge bat " one God the Father, of whom are all things
and we for Him" (1 Cor. viii. 6). That they "know not God" is
the misery of the heathen ; with this guilty ignorance their base
moral condition, and the peril of eternal ruin in which they
stand, are both connected (I. iv. 5 ; II. i. 8 f.). This "living and
true God," the Father of the Lord Jesus, they had come to know
and to approach as "our Father" (I. i. 3, iii. 11, 13; II. ii. 16);
He is to them "the God of peace" (I. i. 1, v. 23 ; II. i. 2), who
had " loved them and given them eternal comfort and good hope
in grace" (II. ii. 16), had "chosen" them and "called them to
enter His own kingdom and glory" (I. i. 4, ii. 12), who "would
count them worthy of their calling and accomplish in them every
desire of goodness and work of faith" (II. i. 11), whose "will"
is their " sanctification " and who had " called them in sanctifi
cation" and "not for uncleanness" (I. iv. 3, 7), whose "word" is
now " working " in them to these great ends (I. ii. 13), who can and
will " comfort and strengthen their hearts in every good work and
word," so that they may be found "unblamable in holiness" before
Him at the Bedeemer's coming (I. iii. 13; II. ii. 17), who "will
bring" back "with Him" and restore to their communion those
who have fallen asleep in death (I. iv. 14 — 17), who will recom
pense those who have " suffered for His kingdom " with " rest " at
the last while He sends " affliction on their afflicters " (II. i. 5 — 7).
Such was the God and Father to the knowledge of whom the
readers of these Epistles had been brought a few months ago
out of the darkness and corruption of Paganism ; it must be
their one aim to serve and to please Him ; the Apostle's one desire
for them is that they may " walk worthily " of Him who called
them (I. ii. 12, iv. 1 ; II. ii. 13 f.). The good news brought to

CONTENTS OF ST PAUL'S GOSPEL. xxv
Thessalonica is spoken of repeatedly, and with peculiar emphasis,
as "the gospel of God"; at the same time, it is "the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ" (II. i. 8), since He is its great subject
and centre: cf. Bom. i. 3, "the gospel of God... concerning
His Son."
In this typical Grseco-Boman city there were evidently in
various ranks of society, both within and without the range of
Jewish influence, a large number of minds prepared for "the
good news of God." While the ancestral cults long maintained
their hold of the rural population, in the great towns of
the Empire scepticism was generally prevalent. The critical
influence of philosophy, the moral decay of Paganism and the
disgust excited amongst thoughtful men by many of its rites,
the mixture and competition of conflicting worships tending to
discredit them all, the spread of a uniform civilization breaking
the spell of the old local and native religions, had caused a
decided trend in the direction of monotheism and laid the more
receptive natures open to the access of a simpler and purer
faith. It is interesting to observe the prominence of God in
these -Epistles, and the manifold ways . in which the Divine
character and the relations of God to Christian men had been
set forth to the Thessalonian Church. Such teaching would be
necessary and specially helpful to men emerging from heathen
superstition or unbelief; these Letters afford the best example
we have of St Paul's earliest instructions to Gentile converts.
The next report furnished to us in the Acts of his preaching to
the heathen (xvii. 22—31 : the discourse at Athens), represents
the Apostle as dwelling mainly on two things— the nature of the
true God, and the coming of Jesus Christ to judge the world.
(3) In proclaiming to the Jews a suffering and dying Messiah,
the Apostle Paul must needs have shown how "it behoved the
Christ to suffer" (Acts xvii. 3). The purpose of tlie Redeemer's
death, its bearing upon human salvation, was explained by him
" to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." This we infer from the
central position of this topic in other Epistles, and from the
prominence given to it in the Address of Acts xiii. 38 f., where
the announcement of the forgiveness of sins and of justification
Thess. c

xxvi INTRODUCTION.
by faith forms the climax of the sermon, belonging to St Paul's
earlier ministry, and where these great gifts of salvation are
referred to the dying and rising from the grave of the rejected
" Saviour, Jesus." The language of 1 Thess. v. 8—10 leaves us
in no doubt that the same "word of the cross" was proclaimed
at Thessalonica as everywhere else. Here "salvation" comes
" through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us" — a salvation
in part received already, in part matter of "hope," and which
belongs to those who "have put on the breastplate oi faith and
love." This salvation is the crying need of the Gentile world,
which in its ignorance of God is enslaved to idolatry and shameful
lusts, and is exposed to the "anger of God" that is "coming"
and will break suddenly upon the " sons of night and of dark
ness," who are "perishing" in their refusal to "receive the love
of the truth " (cf. I. i. 9 f., iv. 5, v. 2—9 ; II. i. 8 f., ii. 8—12).
We can understand all this in the light of the evangelical
teaching of the Epistle to the Bomans (see i. 16 —25, iii. 23 — 26,
v. 1 — 11, &c. : cf. the kindred passages in Galatians and 2 Corinth
ians) ; but without such knowledge the Apostle's allusions in
these Letters would have been unintelligible to ourselves; and
without oral instruction to the same effect, they would have been
meaningless to Thessalonian readers. It must be admitted — and
the fact is remarkable — that very little is said here upon the
subject of the Atonement and Salvation by Faith. To suppose,
however, that the Apostle Paul avoided such themes in his
first ministry in Macedonia, or that, before the outbreak of
the Legalist controversy, he had not yet arrived at his distinctive
doctrine of Justification by Faith, is the least likely explanation
of the facts. It stands in contradiction with the testimony given
by 1 Cor. ii. 1 f., i. 17 — 24, where, referring to his work at Corinth
going on at the very time when the Thessalonian Epistles were
written, the Apostle tells us that "Jesus Christ crucified"
formed the one thing he "had judged it fit to know," finding in
this "the testimony of God" charged with "God's power and
God's wisdom " for men ; and where he identifies " the gospel
Christ had sent" him "to preach" with "the cross of Christ,"
for which he is supremely jealous " lest it should be made void.??

CONTENTS OF ST PAUL'S GOSPEL, xxvii
As in Corinth later, so amongst the Galatians earlier in the same
missionary tour1, " Jesus Christ had been placarded (or painted
up), crucified" (Gal. iii. 1). That in the interval the Apostle
should have lapsed at Thessalonica into another gospel— that
of the Second Coming substituted for the gospel of the Cross
(Jowett) — is historically and psychologically most improbable.
In justice to the writer we must bear in mind the limited
scope of these seemingly unevangelical Letters, and their strictly
"occasional" nature. From the absence of argument and direct
inculcation on the theme of the Atonement and the Forgiveness
of Sins we should infer, not that St Paul was indifferent to these
matters when he thus wrote, nor that these were points of minor
importance in his preaching at Thessalonica, but that they were
here received without demur or controversy and that the vo-re-
prjpara ttjs iria-Tecas (I. iii. 10) which he desired to make good in
this community lay in other directions — that in fact the Thessa
lonian Church was not less but more loyal to the cross of Christ
than some others. This conclusion is in harmony with the
general tone of commendation characterizing both Epistles.
(4) The most conspicuous and impressive theme of the Apo
stolic preaching in Thessalonica, so far as it is echoed by the
Letters, was undoubtedly the coming of the Lord Jesus in His
lieavenly kingdom. These writings are enough to show that the
second advent of Christ was an important element in the original
Gospel, the good news which God has sent to mankind concerning
His Son. " One is apt to forget that the oldest Christianity was
everywhere dominated by eschatological considerations " (Borne-
mann). The religion of the Thessalonian Christians is summed up
in two things, viz. their "serving a living and true God" and
"awaiting His Son from the heavens" (I. i. 9f.). In the light
of Christ's parousia they had learned to look for that " kingdom
and glory of God" to which He had called them, for the sake
of which they are so severely suffering (I. ii. 12; II. i. 5, 10 — 12,
ii. 13 f.). "The coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints"
1 Or, according to W. M. Ramsay, earlier still, in St Paul's first
missionary journey along with Barnabas, when the Churches of South
Galatia were founded (Acts xiii., xiv.).
c2

xxviii INTRODUCTION.
was an object of intense desire and fervent anticipation to the
Apostle himself ; he had impressed these feelings on his disciples
at Thessalonica to an uncommon degree. His appeals and
warnings throughout rest on this "hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ " as upon their firmest support. " Each section (of the
First Epistle) in turn runs out into the eschatological prospect "
(Bornemann). It was, moreover, upon this subject that the
misunderstandings arose which the Apostle is at so much pains
to correct — the first (in I. iv. 13) touching the share of departed
Christians in the return of the Lord ; the second (in II. ii. 2)
concerning the imminence of the event itself.
What may have been the train of thought in St Paul's mind
which led him to dwell on the parousia with such emphasis at
this particular time, we cannot tell. There were however two
conditions belonging to his early ministry in Europe that might
naturally suggest this line of preaching.
For one thing, the Christian doctrine of final judgement was
calculated to rouse the Greek people from its levity and moral
indifference and to awaken in sleeping consciences the sense of
sin ; moreover, it had impressive analogies in their own primitive
religion. Hence the Apostle, with a'practical aim, advanced this
truth at Athens, declaring that "God, having overlooked the times
of ignorance, now commands men that all everywhere should
repent ; because He has appointed a day in which He will judge
the world in righteousness, by the man whom He ordained."
From such passages as 1 Cor. i. 7f., iii. 12 — 15, iv. 3 — 5, ix. 27,
xv. 23—28, 51—57, 2 Cor. v. 10, it appears that the thought of
the Second Coming and the Last Judgement had been impressed
with similar force on St Paul's Corinthian converts ; this ex
pectation was a fundamental axiom of the earliest Christianity.
To the busy traders of Corinth and Thessalonica, or to the
philosophers and dilettanti of Athens, he made the same
severe and alarming proclamation. Indeed, St Paul regarded
the message of judgement as an essential part of his good tidings:
" God will judge the secrets of men," he wrote, " according to my
gospel, through Jesus Christ " (Bom. ii. 16). But the announce
ment of Christ's coming in judgement involves the whole doctrine

ST PAUL AND THE EMPIRE. xxix
of the Second Advent. In what they said on this solemn subject,
the writers tell us, they had been both exact and full (I. v. 2,
II. ii. 5f.). Yet its bearings are so mysterious and its effect on
the mind, when fully entertained, is so exciting, that one is not
surprised at the agitations resulting from this teaching in the
young Christian community of Thessalonica.
But further, it should be observed that the Apostle Paul, as
he entered Macedonia and set foot on the Via Egnatia, was
brought more directly under the shadow of the Boman Empire
than at any time before. Philippi, a Boman colony and a
memorial of the victory by which the Empire was established ;
Thessalonica, a great provincial capital of Western aspect and
character ; the splendid military road by which the missionaries
travelled and along which troops of soldiers, officers of state with
their retinues, foreign envoys and tributaries were going and
coming — all this gave a powerful impression of the "kingdom
and glory " of the great world-ruling city, to which a mind like
St Paul's was peculiarly sensitive. He was himself a citizen of
Borne, and by no means indifferent to his rights in this capacity ;
he held a high estimate of the prerogatives and functions of the
civil power (Bom. xiii. 1 — 7). As the Apostle's travels extended
and his work advanced, he became increasingly sensible of the
critical relations that were coming into existence between Chris
tianity and the Boman dominion and state-fabric ; he recognized
the powerful elements both of correspondence and of antagonism
by which the two systems were associated.
What the Apostle now saw of the great kingdom of this world,
prompted new and larger thoughts of that spiritual kingdom
of which he was the herald and ambassador (cf. 1 Tim. ii. 7 ;
2 Tim. iv. 17 ; Acts ix. 15, xxiii. 11, xxvii. 23). He could not
fail to discern under the majestic sway of Rome signs of moral
degeneracy and prognostics of ruin. He remembered well that
by the sentence of Pontius Pilate his Master had been crucified
(1 Tim. vi. 13) ; in his own outrageous treatment by the Boman
officials of Philippi, as in the sufferings that the Christian flock of
Thessalonica endured from their avpfyvKiTai (I. ii. 14), there were
omens of the conflict that was inevitable between secular tyranny

xxx INTRODUCTION.
and the authority of Christ. The charge made against himself
and his fellow-believers, hke that framed against our Lord before
Pilate, put Ocesar and Jesus in formal antithesis (see p. xix., above ;
and notes on II. ii. 3 — 9, bearing upon the Caesar-worship of the
Provinces). At the bottom, and in the ultimate verdict of
history, the accusation was true ; the struggle between Christ
ianity and Cfesarism was to prove internecine. If the Apostles
preached, as they could do without any denunciation of the
powers that be, a universal, righteous and equal judgement of
mankind approaching, in which Jesus, crucified by the Boman
State, would be God's elected Judge ; if they taught that " the
fashion of this world passeth away" (1 Cor. vii. 31), and that
the world's enmity to God would culminate one day in the rule
of a universal despot aping Divinity, the master of Satanic im
posture, whom the Lord will swiftly " consume by the breath of
His mouth and the manifestation of His coming" (II. ii. 3 — 11),
there were grounds plausible enough for accusing the preachers
of treasonable doctrine, even though no overt political offence
had been committed. The prophetic portrait too closely ap
proached historic actuality. That such a judgement was re
served, in the near or farther future, for "the man of lawlessness"
and his like, was " good news " for all good and honest men ; but
it was of fatal import to the imperialism of the Caligulas and
Neros, and to much that was flourishing in the social and
political order of which the deified Csesars were the grand im
personation. In this far-reaching consequence lies the most
significant and distinctive, though not the most obvious, feature
of the Gospel of St Paul at Thessalonica.
In its more immediate bearing, it is manifest that the hope of
Christ's return in glory was the consolation best suited to sustain
the Church, as it sustained the Apostle himself, under the "great
conflict of sufferings " through which both are passing.
(5) The moral issues of the Gospel inculcated by St Paul aifa
his companions at Thessalonica, the new duties and affections
belonging to the life of believers in Christ, are touched upon at
many different points and brought out incidentally in a very
natural and instructive way ; but they are not developed with

MORAL ISSUES OF ST PAUL'S GOSPEL, xxxi
the fulness and systematic method of subsequent Epistles. Most
prominent here are the obligation to chastity, as belonging to the
sanctity of the body and dictated by the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit (I. iv. 1 — 8) ; and the claims of brotherly love, with the
good order, the peace, and mutual helpfulness that flow from it
(I. iv. 9 f., v. 12 — 15 ; II. iii. 14 f.). What is singular in these
Epistles is the repeated and strong injunctions they contain on
the subject of diligence in secular labour and in the common
duties of life (I. iv. 10—12 ; II. iii. 6—15).
A striking moral feature of the Gospel taught in Thessalonica
is manifest in the conduct of the missionaries of Christ themselves,
— their incessant toil, their unbounded self-denial, the purity and
devoutness of their spirit, and their fearless courage (I. i. 6 f.,
ii. 1 — 12 ; II. iii. 7 f.). Chiefly in order to spare expense to the
Christian society, but partly also by way of example, they
maintained themselves during this mission by manual labour
(I. iL 9 i II. iii. 9).

XXXII

CHAPTER IV.
The Origin and Occasion op the Epistles.
I. When St Paul and his companions left Thessalonica, they
counted upon it that the separation would last only "for the
season of an hour," diropcpavurdevTes dcp' vp&v irpbs naipbv &pas
(I. ii. 17 f.). The Apostle had laid his plans for a prolonged
sojourn in this important centre, and greatly wished to have
given his converts a more complete course of instruction (I.
iii. 10). He had removed to Beroea, which lay 50 miles to the
south-west, with the full intention of returning so soon as the
storm blew over. But the Thessalonian Jews, instead of being
appeased by his removal, pursued him, and he was compelled to
quit the Province altogether (Acts xvii. 13 f.). Silas and Timothy
were however able to remain in Beroea, while the Apostle sailed
from the Macedonian coast to Athens. On landing at Athens,
he appears to have sent enquiries again to Thessalonica to see
if the way was open for his return, which received a discouraging
reply ; or Silas and Timothy, arriving from Bercea, brought un
favourable news from the other city ; for he relates in I. ii. 18 that
"we had resolved to come, both once and twice, but Satan
hindered us " — a hindrance doubtless found in the malicious in
fluence of the Jews, at whose instigation the Politarchs still kept
"Jason and the rest" bound over to prevent Paul and Silas again
disturbing the peace of the city. On the failure of this second
attempt and now that the three missionaries are reunited at
Athens (Acts xvii. 15), since their anxiety for the Thessalonians
is so keen, the other two send Timothy thither (his presence had
not been proscribed: see I. iii. 1—5), in order to comfort and

TIMOTHY'S REPORT. xxxiii
strengthen the infant Church in its distress. Silas must after
wards have left St Paul's side also while he was still in Athens,
possibly revisiting Philippi or Bercea, for we find "Silas and
Timothy" a little later "coming down" together "from Mace
donia" to rejoin their leader at Corinth (Acts xviii. 5). It seems
that some members of the Thessalonian Church, listening perhaps
to malignant insinuations and not appreciating St Paul's con
sideration for "Jason and the rest" who would have suffered
if he and Silas returned to the forbidden city, had complained of
the Apostle's failure to keep his promise ; he dwells on this
failure at such length and so earnestly in 1 Thess. ii. and iii.,
that one feels sure there was a very definite reason for the
exculpation. St Paul soon left Athens, which he found a sterile soil for his
Gospel, and he had been but a short time in Corinth (for he was
still preaching in the synagogue : Acts xviii. 4 — 6) when Timothy
in company with Silvanus reached him. The report he brought
was a veritable evayyeXtov to the much-tried Apostle, who had
entered on his mission at Corinth under an unusual dejection of
mind (cf. 1 Cor. ii. 3). He was relieved and cheered ; the en
couragement gave new life to his present work (cf. Acts xviii. 5
and 1 Thess. iii. 8). The Thessalonians are "standing fast in
the Lord " ; they " long to see " him as much as he does to see
them (I. iii. 6). They continue to be "imitators of the Lord"
and of His Apostles, following steadily the path on which they
had so worthily set out (I. i. 5 ff.). Their faith has stood
without flinching the test of prolonged persecution. By their
activity and courage, and their exemplary Christian love, they
have commended the Gospel with telling effect throughout Mace
donia and Achaia (I. i. 7 ft'., iv. 10 f.). The expectations the
Apostles had formed of them have been even surpassed ; they
know not how to thank God sufficiently " for all the joy where
with" they "rejoice before Him" on this account (I. iii. 9). The
New Testament contains nowhere a more glowing or unqualified
commendation than that bestowed on the character and behaviour
of the Thessalonian Church at this time.
What Paul and Silas have heard from their assistant increases

xxxiv INTRODUCTION.
their longing to see the Thessalonians again ; for if their anxiety
is relieved, their love to this people is greatly quickened, and they
"are praying night and day with intense desire" that the obstacle
to their return may be removed (I. iii. 10). Indeed St Paul's
primary object in writing the First Epistle is to express his eager
wish to revisit Thessalonica. This purpose dominates the first
half of the Letter (chh. i. — iii.). Associated with this desire, there
are two aims that actuate him in writing. In the first place,
the Apostle wishes to explain his continued absence as being in
voluntary and enforced, and in doing so to justify himself from,
aspersions which had reached his readers' ears. Ch. ii. 1 — 12
is a brief apologia. We gather from it that the enemies of
Christianity in Thessalonica (Jewish enemies1, as the denun
ciation of vv. 14 — 16, together with the probabilities of the
situation, strongly suggests) had made use of the absence of
the missionaries to slander them, insinuating doubts of their
courage (I. ii. 2), of their disinterestedness and honesty (vv. 3,
6, 9), and of their real affection for their Thessalonian converts
(vv. 7 f., 11 f). The slanderers said, "These so-called apostles of
Christ are self-seeking adventurers. Their real object is to
make themselves a reputation and to fill their purse at your
expense2. They have beguiled you by their flatteries and pre-
1 The opponents whom St Paul denounces in I. ii. 15 f. are uncon
verted Jews, altogether hostile to the Gospel he preaches. The Jews of
Thessalonica, after driving him from their own city, followed him
to Beroea and attacked him there; their compatriots at Corinth
imitated their example, though fortunately not with the same success
(Acts xvii. 5, 13, xviii. 12 — 17). Of the Jewish Christians opposed
to the Apostle's Gentile-mission, the "false brethren" who afterwards
troubled him at Corinth and in Galatia, we find no trace whatever
in these Epistles. They were written in the interval between the
first rise of the legalist controversy, composed by the Council of
Jerusalem (Acts xv; Gal. ii. 1 — 10), and its second outbreak some
years later. To this renewed crisis probably the contention of St
Paul with St Peter, as well as the four Epistles of the Second Group,
belongs. See A. Sabatier's The Apostle Paul, pp. 10 f. ; also the writer's
Epistles of Paul, pp. 61 — 64, and the article in Hastings' Diet, of the
Bible on 'Paul,' i. 4 (a).
2 One is at a loss to think what can have given any handle to the
reproach of irKeove^la, unless it were that St Paul had during his stay
at Thessalonica on two occasions received contributions of some kind
from Philippi (Phil. iv. 15).

MOTIVES OF THE FIRST EPISTLE. xxxv
tence of sanctity (vv. 4f., 10) into accepting their new-fangled
faith j and now that trouble has arisen and their mischievous
doctrines bring them into danger, they creep away like cowards,
leaving you to bear the brunt of persecution alone. And, likely
enough, you will never see them again ! " Chapter ii. is a reply
to innuendoes of this kind, which are such as unscrupulous Jewish
opponents were sure to make. Timothy reported these charges
floating about in Thessalonian society ; perhaps the Church,
while earnestly disowning them, had made in writing some
allusion to the taunts levelled at its Apostles, which rendered
it still more necessary that they should be confronted1. Con
sidering the short time that Paul and Silas had been in this
city, and the influence which the synagogue-leaders had formerly
possessed over many members of their flock, considering also the
disheartening effect of continued persecution upon a young and
unseasoned Church, one cannot wonder at the danger felt lest
its confidence in the absent missionaries should be undermined.
Happily that confidence had not been shaken, — " You have
good remembrance of us at all times " (I. iii. 6) : so Timothy
had assured the Apostle ; so, it may be, their own letter now
testifies for the Thessalonians. Yet it is well that everything
should be said that may be to repel these poisonous suspicions.
In the second place, and looking onward to the future, the
Apostles write in order to carry forward the instruction of their
converts in Christian doctrine and life — KarapTiiicu ra iiarepri para
rijr iriarecis vp&v (I. iii. 10). With this further aim the First
Epistle is extended to chh. iv. and v. (Aombv ovv, dSeXcbot, iv. 1),
when in its first intention it had been already rounded off by the
concluding prayer of iii. 11—13. In passing westward from Asia
Minor into Europe, St Paul's mission has entered upon a new
stage. He is no longer able quickly to visit his Churches, now
numerous and widely separated, and to exercise amongst them
a direct oversight. The defect of his presence he must supply
1 On the probability that the Thessalonian Church had written
a letter to St Paul, to which he is replying in 1 Thessalonians, see
J. Rendel Harris, "A Study in Letter-writing," Expositor, V. vm.,
pp. 161—180.

xxxvi INTRODUCTION.
by messenger and letter. Moreover, he may have found in the
case of the Macedonian, as afterwards in that of the Corinthian
Church (see 1 Cor. vii. 1, &c. ; cf. Phil. iv. 15; also 1 Thess.
iv. 9, v. 1 — passages which almost suggest that the Thessalonians
had ashed the Apostles to write to them if they could not come),
that the Greek Christian communities were apt for intercourse
of this sort and took pleasure in writing and being written to.
Anyhow, these (with the possible exception of the Epistle of
James) are the earliest extant N.T. Letters ; and when the
writers describe themselves as "longing to see you and to
complete the deficiencies of your faith," we perceive how such
Epistles became necessary and to what conditions we owe their
existence. The Apostle Paul found in epistolary communication
a form of expression suited to his genius and an instrument
that added to his power (see 2 Cor. x. 9ff.), while it extended
the range and sustained the efficacy of his pastoral ministry.
The vo-TeprjpaTa which had to be supplemented in the faith of
this Church, were chiefly of a practical nature. (1) On the moral
side, St Paul emphasizes the virtue of chastity, notoriously
lacking in Greek city-life, in respect of which the former
notions of Gentile converts had commonly been very lax ; and
brotherly love, with which, in the case of this Church, the duty
of quiet and diligent labour was closely associated (iv. 1 — 12).
(2) On the doctrinal side, a painful misunderstanding had arisen,
which Timothy had not been able to remove, touching the re
lation of departed Christians to Christ on His return ; and there
was in regard to the Last Things a restlessness of mind and an
over-curiosity unfavourable to a sober and steadfast Christian
life (iv. 13 — v. 11). (3) With this we may connect symptoms of
indiscipline in one party, and of contempt for extraordinary and
emotional spiritual manifestations in another, which the closing
verses of the Epistle indicate (v. 12—22). These latter con
trasted indications resemble the antagonisms which took a more
pronounced and reprehensible form in the Corinthian Church
some six years later.
II. After writing their First Epistle, " Paul and Silvanus and
Timotheus" received further tidings from Thessalonica (by what

TOPICS OF THE SECOND EPISTLE, xxxvii
channel we know not) which moved them to write a Second.
The Second is a supplement or continuation, and in many of its
phrases almost an echo, of the First. (The relations of the two
will be discussed more narrowly in the next chapter.) The
freshness of colouring and liveliness of personal feeling which
characterize the former Epistle are comparatively wanting in
this. We gather from the opening Act of Thanksgiving that
the storm of persecution is still more violent and the fidelity
of the Church even more conspicuous than when the Apostles
wrote some months before : " Your faith grows exceedingly,
and your love multiplies. We make our boast in you among
the churches of God, because of your faith and endurance
in persecution " (i. 3 f.). St Paul says nothing further, how
ever, of his intention to return ; his hands are by this time
tied fast at Corinth (Acts xviii. 5 — 18), and his thoughts
preoccupied by the exacting demands of his work in this
new sphere : he commends them to " the Lord, who will
stablish them and keep them from the Evil One" (iii. 3—5)
Nor does he enter on any further defence, nor indulge in renewed
reminiscences, of his conduct toward the Thessalonians and his
experiences amongst them. It is almost entirely the latter
(chh. iv., v.) and not the earlier part (chh. i. — iii.) of 1 Thessa
lonians that is reflected in 2 Thessalonians.
There are two topics of the former Epistle to which it is
necessary to advert again ; on these the writers find that they
must be more explicit and more urgent than before. First and
chiefly, about the Second Advent — iirep rijs irapovulas tov nvpiov
fip&v 'lr/irov Xpiirrov Kal fjptav iirurvvayayqs iir' avrov (ii. 1). A
rumour is abroad, claiming prophetic origin and alleged to be
authenticated by the fouuders of the Church, to the effect
that " the day of the Lord has arrived " and He must be looked
for immediately (v. 2). The report is pronounced a deception (v. 3).
St Paul states reasons, partly recalled from his oral teaching,
why so speedy a consummation is impossible. This gives
occasion to his memorable prediction of the advent of 6 av-
6pairos rrjs dvopias, whose appearance and rise to supreme
power will give, he predicts, the signal for Christ's return

xxx viii INTRODUCTION.
in glory (vv. 3—12). This prophecy is the one great difficulty
which meets the student of these Epistles, and is amongst the'
most mysterious passages in the Bible. It will be dealt with
at length in the Notes, and further in the Appendix to this
volume. The other object the Apostles have in writing this Letter is to
reprove the disorderly fraction of the Church (ch. iii. 6 — 15).
The First Epistle intimated the existence of a tendency to
idleness and consequent insubordination (I. iv. 11 f., v. 12 — 14),
to which reference was there made in a few words of kindly and
guarded censure. This gentle reproof failed to check the evil,
which had become aggravated and persistent, endangering the
peace of the whole Church. It was connected, presumably, with
the excitement on the subject of Christ's advent. This ex
pectation furnished an excuse for neglecting ordinary labour,
or even an incentive to such neglect. The Apostles take the
offenders severely to task, and direct the brethren to refuse
support to such as persist in idleness and to avoid their company.
This discipline, it is hoped, will bring about their amendment.
That this Letter is the second of the two, and not the first
(as Grotius, Ewald, F. C. Baur, and some others, have contended),
is apparent from the course of affairs and the internal relation
ship of the two documents, as we have just examined them.
2 Thessalonians, whoever wrote it, presupposes and builds upon
1 Thessalonians. It deals more fully and explicitly with two
principal points raised in the former Letter, as they present
themselves in their further development. Certain disturbing
influences, which had begun to make themselves felt when
Timothy left Thessalonica bringing the news that elicited the
former Epistle, have by this time reached their crisis. The
thanksgiving of II. i. 3 — 12 implies an advance both in the
severity of persecution, and in the growth and testing of Thes
salonian faith ; for which faith acknowledgement is made to
God in terms even stronger than before. The personal recollec
tions and explanations, which form so interesting a feature of
the other Epistle, are suited to St Paul's first communication
of the kind with this beloved Church. The absence of such

PLACE OF COMPOSITION. xxxix
references in the shorter Epistle marks it as a supplement
to the other, following this after a brief interval. The ex
pression of ch. ii. 2, "neither through word nor through letter,
as on our authority " (i>s 6V fip.S>v), is most naturally explained
as alluding to some misunderstanding or misquotation (see
Expository Note) of the language of 1 Thessalonians on the
subject of the Parousia.
The two Epistles were written, as we have seen, from Corinth;
not " from Athens," as it is stated in the " subscription " attached
to each of them in the mss. followed by the Authorized English
Version : Upbs &eo-cra\oviKeis...iypd(pr) dirb 'Adrjv&v. They were
both composed during St Paul's residence of eighteen months in
Corinth (Acts xviii. 11), extending perhaps from Autumn 51 to
Spring 53, a.d. They belong, therefore, as nearly as we can
judge, to the winter of 51 — 52, A.D., in the eleventh or twelfth
year of the Emperor Claudius ; being twenty-one years after
our Lord's Ascension, two years after the Council at Jerusalem,
five years before the Epistle to the Bomans, fifteen years,
probably, before the death of St Paul, and nineteen years before
the Fall of Jerusalem.

Note on the Plural Authorship.
The question of the use of the pluralis auctoris in St Paul's
Letters is one of considerable difficulty ; no summary answer
can be given to it. It is exhaustively discussed in the Essay
of Karl Dick (Halle, 1890), entitled Der schriftstellerische Plural
bei Paulus, who comes to the conclusion that the authorial " we "
(for a singular ego) was a recognized usage of later Greek, and may
therefore be looked for in St Paul ; that one cannot without vio
lence or over-subtlety force upon the we a uniformly multiple
significance ; that St Paul's use of the first person plural is not
stereotyped and conventional, and must be interpreted according
to circumstances in each case ; that the context frequently indi
cates a real plurality in his mind — and this with various nuances
of reference and kinds, of inclusion ; and that the inclusive (or

xl INTRODUCTION.
collective) and the courteous " we " shade off into each other,
making it impossible to draw a hard and fast line between them.
In the Thessalonian Epistles one would suppose the plural
of the first person to have its maximum force. Three writers
present themselves in the Address, who had been companions
in their intercourse with the readers; and while the third of the
trio was a junior, the second had an authority and importance
approximating to that of the first. IlauXo? Kal ICkavavas stood
side by side in the eyes of the Thessalonian Church (cf. Acts xvi.,
xvii.); and nothing occurs in the course of either Epistle to
suggest that one of the two alone ia really responsible for what
is written. In other instances of a prima fade joint author
ship (viz. 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Philippians),
there existed no such close associations of the persons appearing
in the Address, and no such continuous use of the plural is found,
as we recognize here. The two Letters give utterance, for the
most part, to the recollections, explanations, and wishes of the
missionaries and pastors of the Thessalonian Church as such;
and their matter was therefore equally appropriate to Paul and
Silas, if not to their attendant Timothy in the same degree.
The distinction between prjKen uriyovres k.t.X. and iyi> prjKiri
aTeyav k.t.X., in I. iii. 1 and 5 (see Expository Notes), can
hardly be explained without assuming Paul and Silas to be
intended in the former instance ; and if so, then in the general
tenor of the Epistle. Against the prevailing jjpeis, the iyib pev
UavXos of I. iii. 18, and the rfj ipy x«p* TLavXov of II. iii. 17,
stand out in relief; with less emphasis, the first singular of
II. ii. 5 betrays the individuality of the leading author, as it
recalls doctrine of a pronounced individual stamp ; and the
ivopKi£a> vpds tov Kvptov k.t.X. of I. v. 27 is the outburst of
strong personal feeling.
The master spirit of St Paul and his emotional idiosyncrasy
have impressed themselves on the First Epistle, of which we
cannot doubt that he was, in point of composition, the single
author, though conscious of expressing and seeking to express
the mind of his companions, and more particularly of Silas,
throughout. In the less original paragraphs of the Second

THE PLURAL AUTHORSHIP. xii
Epistle, there may be some reason for conjecturing (see the next
chapter) that one of the other two — Silas more probably than
Timothy— indited the actual words, while St Paul supervised,
and endorsed the whole with his signature.
In the exposition the plural authorship will be assumed, for
the most part, to embrace St Paul's companions.

Thess.

xiii

CHAPTER V.
The Authorship op the Epistles.
That these Letters were written by the author whose name
heads the Address of each, was doubted by no one until the
beginning of the last century. The testimony of the Early
Church to their antiquity, and to the tradition of Pauline
authorship, is full and unbroken ; it is even more precise and
emphatic in the case of the Second Epistle than in that of the
First. See the catena of references given by Bornemann in the
Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar, pp. 319 f. 2 Thessalonians was
used by Polycarp (ad Philipp. xi. 4) and by Justin Martyr
(Dial, xxxii., ex.), — in iii. 15 and ii. 3 ff'. respectively; Justin's
references touch its most peculiar and disputed paragraph.
There are passages moreover in the Epistle of Barnabas (iv. 9,
xviii. 2), and in the Didache" XII. Apostolorum (v. 2, xii. 3,
xvi. 3 — 7), in which the ideas and imagery of this Epistle seem
to be echoed.
The German writer Christian Schmidt first raised doubts
respecting 2 Thessalonians in the year 1801, and Schrader
respecting 1 Thessalonians in 1836. Kern, in the Tubingen Zeit-
schrift fiir Theologie (1837), and de Wette in the earlier editions
of his Exegetisches Handbuch des N. T. (retracting his adverse
judgement in the later editions), developed the critical objec
tions against the Second Epistle. F. C. Baur, the founder of the
' Tendency ' School of N. T. Criticism, restated the case against
the traditional authorship of both Epistles, giving to it extensive
currency through his influential work on " Paul the Apostle of
Jesus Christ " (1845 : Eng. Trans., 1873). Baur supposed the two
Letters to have been written about the year 70, the "Second"

1 THESSALONIANS A HOMOLOGUMENON. xliii
earlier than the "First," — by some disciple of St Paul with the
Apocalypse of St John in his hand, wishing to excite renewed
interest in the Parousia amongst Pauline Christians, in whose
minds the delay had by this time bred distrust.
In their rejection of 1 Thessalonians Schrader and Baur have
remained almost alone ; Holsten and Steck in Germany, van der
Vies, Pierson-Naber, and van Manen 1 in Holland, are the only
names of note amongst their supporters. Along with Philippians,
1 Thessalonians may be added to 1 and 2 Corinthians, Bomans,
and Galatians, as counting for all practical purposes amongst
the undisputed Epistles of St Paul. Not only Lightfoot, Bamsay,
Bornemann, Zahn, Moffatt, but critics who are most sceptical
about other documents — such as Hilgenfeld, Weizsacker, Holtz-
mann, Pfleiderer, Jiilicher, Schmiedel — pronounce this Letter to
be unmistakably St Paul's.
I. The internal evidence for the authorship of 1 Thessa
lonians is such as to disarm suspicion.
(1) The picture the Apostle Paul gives of himself and of his
relations to the Church in chh. i. — iii. is a delicate piece of
self-portraiture ; it bears the marks of circumstantial truth and
unaffected feeling ; it harmonizes with what we learn of St Paul
and his companions from other sources (see the Expository Notes
for details) ; and it is free from anything that suggests imitation,
or interpolation, by another hand. Nemo potest Paulinum pectus
effcngere (Erasmus).
(2) The same air of reality belongs to the aspect of the Thes
salonian Church, as it here comes into view. It exhibits the fresh
ness, the fervour and impulsive energy of a newborn faith, with
much of the indiscipline and excitability that often attend the
first steps of the Christian life, so full at once of joy and of
periL The Church of Thessalonica has a character distinctly its
own. It resembles the Philippian Church in the frankness, the
courage, and the personal devotion to the Apostle, which so
greatly won his love ; also in the simplicity and thoroughness of
1 See the article of the last-named on " Paul" in the Encyclopaedia
Biblica. d'A

xliv INTRODUCTION.
its faith, which was untroubled by the speculative questions and
tendencies to intellectual error that beset the Corinthian and
Asian Churches. These traits agree with what we know of the
Macedonian temperament. At the same time there was at
Thessalonica a disposition to run into morbid excitement, and
an unpractical enthusiasm, that we do not find in any other
of the communities addressed in the Pauline Epistles.
(3) The absence of any allusion to Church organization and to
the existence of a specialized ministry, beyond the general category
of the officers who are spoken of in I. v. 12 — 14, points to a
simple and elementary condition of Church-life. This remark
applies to both documents ; and the Thessalonian are parallel
to the Corinthian Epistles in this respect. Both at Thessa
lonica and Corinth difficult points of discipline had arisen,
which would surely have involved reference to the responsible
officers of the community, had these possessed the established
status and well-defined powers which accrued to them in early
Post-apostolic times.
(4) The attitude of the writers toward ihe Parousia is such
as no disciple or imitator, writing in St Paul's name, could
possibly have ascribed to him after his death. He is made to
write as though Christ were expected to come within his own
lifetime : " we the living, we who survive until the coming of
the Lord," I. iv. 15, 17. Taken in their plain sense, these words
at least leave it an open question whether the Lord would not
return while the writers and their readers yet lived. That
a later author, wishing to use the Apostle's authority for his own
purposes, should have ascribed such words to his master is
hardly conceivable. In doing this he would be discrediting the
very authority on which he builds ; for by this time St Paul had
died, and Christ had not returned.
(5) Observe the manner in which the writer speaks in the
passage just referred to of "those falling asleep" (ol Koipapevoi :
see Expository Note upon the tense), in such a way as to show
that the question concerning the fate of believers dying before
the Lord's return is a new one, that has arisen in the Thessalo
nian Church for the first time. This being the case, the Letter

DOUBTS RESPECTING 2 THESSALONIANS. xiv
can only have been written within a few months of this Church's
birth. For it is never long in any community, of size beyond
the smallest, before death has made its mark.
II. The suspicions against the authenticity of 2 Thessa
lonians are more persistent ; they are not so ill-founded as in
the case of the First Epistle. Baur maintained that the two
Letters are of the same mint, and that both must be regarded as
spurious or both authentic ; his followers have generally separated
them, regarding the Second as a reproduction of the First,
dating about twenty years later and addressed to an altered
situation, composed by way partly of imitation and partly of
qualification and correction of 1 Thessalonians (see pp. xxxvii. ff).
H. J. Holtzmann, however, the most eminent of Baur's succes
sors, admits in the last edition of his Einleitungs (p. 216) that
"the question is no longer as to whether the Epistle should be
pushed down into the Post-apostolic age, but whether, on the
other hand, it does not actually reach back to the lifetime
of the Apostle, in which case it is consequently genuine and
must have been written soon after 1 Thessalonians, about the
year 54."
Julicher, a pupil of the same school, concludes his examination
by saying (Einleitung1, p. 44), " If one is content to make fair
and reasonable claims on a Pauline Epistle, no occasion will be
found to ascribe 2 Thessalonians to an author less original or of
less powerful mind than Paul himself.'' Harnack and Moffatt
(The Hist. New Testament) decide for authenticity. Bahnsen
(in the Jahrbuch fur prot. Theologie, 1880, pp. 696 ff.) advanced a
theory which identified 6 dvriKelpevos and 6 avBpairos rrjs dvopias
with the antinomian and libertine Gnosticism of the period
of Trajan (about 110 A.D.) ; he saw r6 Kcn-eYoi» in the rising
Episcopate of that epoch. Bahnsen had been anticipated by
Hilgenfeld, in his Einleitung, pp. 642 ff. (1875), and was followed
by Hase (Lehrbuch d. Kirchengeschichte, I. p. 69), and Pfleiderer
( Urchristenthum, pp. 78, 356 ff.) ; but this far-fetched and
artificial construction has found few other adherents. The
opinion prevalent amongst those who contest the Pauline
authorship (so Kern, in the work above specified ; Schmiedel,

xlvi INTRODUCTION.
in the Handcommentar ; Holtzmann's Einleitung, and article in
the Zeitschrift fur N. T. Wissenschaft, 1901, pp. 97—108) is that
2 Thessalonians dates from the juncture between the assassination
of the emperor Nero in June 68 a.d. and the fall of Jerusalem in
August 70 (cf. Expository Note on II. ii. 4), and is contemporary
with and closely parallel to Bev. xiii., xvii., and that by 6 dvriKci-
pevos and 6 dvBpairos rrjs dvopias is meant the dead Nero, who
was then and for long afterwards supposed by many to be living
concealed in the East, the fear of his return to power adding
a further element of horror to the confusion of the time (cf. pp.
222 f. in the Appendix). The readers of the first century, had
they suspected the Nero redivivus in the Antichrist of ch. ii. 3 f.,
would hardly have given unquestioning circulation to a prediction
that had thus missed its mark, and whose supposititious character
a little enquiry would have enabled them to detect.
The above theory brings the origin of the document to within
a very few years (or even months) of the Apostle's death. Now
the Apostle Paul had not spent his days in some corner of the
Church, amongst a narrow circle of disciples ; no Christian
leader was known so widely, none at that time had so many
personal followers surviving, so many intimate and well-informed
friends and acquaintances interested in his work and his
utterances, as the martyr Apostle of the Gentiles. There is
a strong antecedent presumption against the possibility of any
writing otherwise than genuine finding currency under St Paul's
name at this early date, especially one containing a prediction
that stands isolated in Pauhne teaching, and that proved itself
(ex hypothesi) completely mistaken. Were it conceivable that
a composition of this nature, invented throughout or in its
principal passages, could have been accepted in the second
century, that it should have been palmed upon the Thessalonian
Church within six years of St Paul's death — for this is what we
are asked to believe, on the assumption of non-authenticity —
is a thing incredible in no ordinary degree. Wrede, the latest
opponent of the traditional view, admits the fictitious author
ship to be incompatible with the date 68—70 (see his pamphlet
Die Echtheit des zweiten Thessalonicher-briefes, pp. 36  40).

DEFENCE OF PAULINE AUTHORSHIP, xlvii
The nearer this Epistle is brought to St Paul's lifetime, the
more improbable and gratuitous becomes the theory of spurious
authorship. Moreover, the language of ch. ii. 2 and of iii. 17
makes an explicit protest against literary personation — a protest
which at least implies some measure of conscience and of critical
jealousy on such points in early Christian times. Professing in
his first word to be " Paul " and identifying himself in ii. 15 with
the author of the first Epistle, the writer warns his correspond
ents against this very danger; to impute the Letter to some
well-meaning successor, writing as though he were Paul in
the Apostle's vein and by way of supplement to his teaching,
is to charge the writer with the offence which he expressly con
demns. The Epistle is no innocent pseudepigraph. It proceeds
either from " Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus," or from some
one who wished to be taken for these authors, and who attempts
to cover his deception by denouncing it ! Schmiedel's apology
for this " abgefeimten Betriiger " (Handcommentar zum N. T., il.
i., p. 12) is more cynical than successful.
The fact is that no real trace of the Nero-legend is discover
able in 2 Thessalonians (see Weiss' Apocalyptische Studien, 2, in
Studien und Kritiken, 1869) ; this groundless speculation of Kern
and Baur should be dismissed from criticism. As Klopper says
in his able defence of the authenticity (Essay on 2 Thessalonians
in the Theolog. Studien aus Ostpreussen, 1889, Heft 8, p. 128):
" Nothing has done more to confuse the situation than the idea
that the author of our Epistle could not have conceived and
propounded his prophecy, in the form which it assumes, without
having before his eyes by way of historical presupposition the
person of Nero, or (to speak more precisely) the figure of Nero
redivivus as this is incorporated in the Johannine Apocalypse."
Granting that the traits of the personality of the emperor Nero
have left their mark on the Apocalypse of St John, they are not
to be found here. 2 Thessalonians belongs to pre-Neronian Apo
calyptic, and falls therefore within the period of St Paul's actual
career. The true historical position is that of Spitta ( Urchristen-
thum, i. p. 135 ff. ; similarly von Hofmann in his Commentary,
Klopper in the Essay cited above, Th, Zahn in his Einleitung),

xlviii INTRODUCTION.
viz. that in 6 avopos of ch. ii. the image of Antiochus Epiphanes
idealized in the Book of Daniel, and of Gaius Caligula as known
to St Paul, have been " smelted together " (see Appendix,
pp. 217 — 222), and that the emperor Gaius represented to the
writers the furthest development which "the mystery of lawless
ness" in its continuous " working " had attained up to their time.
Spitta's hypothesis, propounded in the first volume of his
valuable Essays Zv/r Geschichte und Litteratur des Urchristen-
thums (1893), pp. 109 — 154, proceeds upon the datum just
stated. He conceives the real author of 2 Thessalonians to
have been Timothy, writing by St Paul's side at Corinth under
the Apostle's suggestion and in his name, but writing out of
his own mind and as the member of the missionary band who
had been most recently present and teaching in Thessalonica.
Spitta thus seeks to account both for the singular resemblance of
the Second Epistle to the First, and for its singular difference
therefrom. (1) Under the former head, it is observed that, out
side of ii. 2 — 12, there are but nine verses in 2nd which do not
reflect the language and ideas of 1 Thessalonians. In its whole
conception as well as in vocabulary and phrasing, apart from
the peculiar eschatological passages, the later Epistle is an echo
of the earlier ; the spontaneity and freshness that one expects
to find in the Apostle's work are wanting ; indeed it is said that
St Paul, had he wished to do so, could not have repeated himself
thus closely without reading his former Letter for the purpose.
Such imitation, it is argued, would be natural enough in Timothy
with the First Epistle before him for a model, when writing
to the same Church shortly afterwards on his master's behalf
and in their joint name. Amid this sameness of expression we
miss the geniality and lively play of feeling, the Paulinum
pectus, which glows in the First Epistle and which vindicates it so
strongly for the Apostle. The tone is more cool and official
throughout. There is a measured, almost laboured and halting
turn of language, which (it is said) betrays the absence of the
master mind and the larger part played by the secretary —
presumably Timothy — in the composition of this Letter. In
comparing II. i. 3—7, ii. 13 f., with I. i. 2—5, iii. 9 f. -f II. i. 1Q—

CONTRAST BET WEEN THE T WO EPISTLES, xlix
12 with I. ii. 19 f., iii. 11 ff. ; II. iii. 7 ff. with I. ii. 7 ff, one
cannot escape the impression of a certain blunting of St Paul's
incisive touch and a weakening of his firm grasp in passing from
one Letter to the other. Wrede (op. cit.) finds in this effacement
of style the chief reason for denying the Pauline authorship ; he
regards the Second Epistle as a carefully adapted imitation of
certain sections of the First.
Bornemann accounts for the contrast thus described by point
ing out that by the date of the Second Epistle St Paul was
immersed in Corinthian affairs, and that his heart was no longer
away at Thessalonica as when he first wrote ; moreover, the
intense and critical experience out of which the First Epistle
sprang had stamped itself deeply on the soul of the Apostle,
so that in writing again, after a brief interval, to a Church
whose condition gave no new turn to his reflexions, the former
train of thought and expression recurred more or less uncon
sciously and the Second Letter became to a certain extent a
rehearsal of the First. To this explanation may be added
two considerations : (1) That the occasion of this supplement,
viz. the continuance of the unwholesome excitement about the
Parousia and of the disorder touched upon in I. iv. 10 ft'.,
v. 14, involved a measure of surprise and disappointment,
which inevitably chilled the writer's cordiality and made the
emphasis of affection and the empressement of the First Epistle
impossible in this. Galatians, with I or 2 Corinthians, exhibits
fluctuations of feehng within the same Letter not unlike that
which distinguishes the two Epistles to the Thessalonians. (2) The
visions rising before the Apostle's mind in II. i. 5 — 10, ii. 2 — 12,
were of a nature to throw the writer into the mood of solemn
contemplation rather than of familiar intercourse.
When all has been said, the suspicion remains, strengthened
by renewed and closer comparison of the parallel verses of the
two Epistles, that some other hand beside St Paul's had to do with
the penning of 2 Thessalonians. Since three writers address the
Thessalonians in these Letters, and the matter-of-fact plurality
of the prevailing "we" on their part is vouched for by the
passages in which the chief author speaks for himself as "I " or

1 INTRODUCTION.
"I, Paul" (I. ii. 18, iii. 5, II. ii. 5, iii. 17), it is a possibility
conceivable under the circumstances and consistent with the
primary authorship on St Paul's part, that one of his companions
— preferably Silvanus, as the coadjutor of the Apostle — was the
actual composer of the large portion of 2 Thessalonians which
traverses the ground of 1 Thessalonians, and in which the
language is moulded on that of the earlier Letter with added
touches of a more prolix style. Silas was an inspired "prophet"
(Acts xv. 32 ; cf. 1 Pet. v. 12).
When Spitta comes to the original part of 2 Thessalonians —
ch. ii. 1 — 12 (the signs premonitory of the Day of the Lord) and
iii. 6 — 15 (the excommunication of idlers) — his theory breaks
down. He sees in ii. 5 a reminder of Timothy's teaching at
Thessalonica, supposing that St Paul's young helper had views
about the Last Things more definite in some respects, and
more Jewish in their colouring, than those of his leader who
had spoken of the coming of "the day" as altogether inde
terminate in time (see I. v. 1 f.). He suggests that Timothy had
adopted some Jewish apocalypse of Caligula's time (he was
conversant with " sacred writings," 2 Tim. iii. 15, — an expression
possibly including non-canonical books ; and 2 Thessalonians,
though quotations are wanting in it, is steeped in O. T. language
beyond other Pauline Epistles) ; and that he gave to this a
Christian turn, shaping it into his prophecy of " the mystery of
iniquity," which lies outside St Paul's doctrine and is nowhere
else hinted at in his Epistles. But considering the chasm sepa
rating the Pauline mission from Judaism, it is improbable that
either Timothy should have borrowed, or St Paul endorsed, a
non-Christian apocalypse ; granted that the conception of vv. 3 — 5
goes back to the epoch of Caligula, there is no reason why it should
not have originated either in St Paul's mind, since by the year 40
he was already a Christian, or amongst the numerous " prophets
and teachers " at Jerusalem and Antioch between 40 and 50 a.d.
Caligula's outrage on the Temple l was a sign of the times that
could hardly fail to stir the prophetic spirit in the Church, while
it roused the passionate anger of the Jewish people.
1 40—41 a.d.

ANTICHRIST IN CHRISTIAN APOCALYPTIC. Ii
The expressions of 2 Thess. ii. 5 — 7 suggest that 6 avdpcoiros
rijs dvopias was no new figure to Christian imagination; his
image, based on the Antiochus-Caligula pattern, had become a
familiar object in Christian circles before the Apostles preached
in Thessalonica. Jewish Apocalyptic had produced from its
own soil, it seems likely, representations parallel to that of d
avTuceipevos in the 2nd Thessalonian Epistle and of not dissimilar
features : so much may be granted to Spitta's theory. The fact
that "Antichrist" does not appear in his subsequent Epistles,
does not prove that St Paul at no time held the doctrine
attaching thereto, nor even that he ceased to hold it at a later
time. The circumstances calling for its inculcation at Thessa
lonica were peculiar to the place and occasion. In later Epistles,
from 2 Corinthians v. onwards, the Parousia recedes to a distant
future, and a glorious intervening prospect opens out for humanity
in Bomans xi. ; but this enlargement of view in no way forbids
the thought of such a finale to human history and such a
consummate revelation of Satanic power preceding the coming
of the Lord in judgement, as this Epistle predicts. Our Lord's
recorded prophecies of the end of the world cannot be understood
without the anticipation of a last deadly struggle of this
nature. Chap. ii. 1 — 12 supplies the crucial test to every hypothesis of
the origin of 2 Thessalonians. Timothy being the last of the
trio whose names figure in the Address and quite the subordi
nate member of the party (see I. iii. 2 ; Acts xvi. 2 f. ; 1 Tim. i. 2,
&c.), had this young assistant written v. 5 propria persona, he
would have been bound to mark the distinction — by inserting
iya> Tipodeos or the like (cf. I. ii. 18) — the more so since this
Letter expressly purports to come from the Apostle Paul himself
(hi. 17). The whole dehverance is marked by a loftiness of
imagination, an assurance and dignity of manner, and a concise
vigour of style, that one cannot well associate with the position
and the known qualities of Timothy. Whatever may be said
of other parts of the Letter, this its unique paragraph and
veritable kernel comes from no second-hand or second-rate
composer of the Pauline school, but from the fountain-head.

Iii INTRODUCTION.
The other original section of the Epistle, ch. iii. 6—15 (where,
however, echoes of Epistle I. are not wanting), speaks with the
decision and tone of authority characteristic of St Paul in
disciplinary matters. The readers could never have presumed
that a charge so peremptory proceeded from the third and least
important of the three missionaries ostensibly writing to them,
that "we" throughout the passage meant in reality Timothy
alone, and that St Paul, who immediately afterwards puts his
signature to the document, had allowed his assistant to give
orders — and to advance eschatological speculations — which did
not in reality issue from himself.
The alleged discrepancies between the two Epistles present no
very serious difficulty. It is true that 1 Thessalonians seems to
represent the Parousia as near and sudden, 2 Thessalonians as
more distant and known by premonitory signs. But the latter is
written on purpose to qualify the former and to correct an erro
neous inference that might be drawn from it (II. ii. 2 : see Ex
pository Note) ; this being the case, & prima facie disagreement
on the point is only to be expected. The premonitory sign afforded
by the coming of Antichrist shows that the end, though it may be
near, is not immediate. On the other hand, no date is given for
the appearing of Antichrist, so that "the times and seasons"
remain uncertain after the 2nd Epistle as before it ; it is still
true that " the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night,"
though the first alarm of the thief's coming has been particularly
described. The like contrast, easily exaggerated into discrepancy,
is found in our Lord's predictions recorded in St Matthew : on
the one hand, uncertainty of date (ch. xxiv. 36); on the other,
a premonitory sign for the faithful (v. 33).
There is not even the appearance of contradiction between
the reason given in II. iii. 9 and that stated in I. ii. 9 (as else
where—Acts xx. 34 ; 1 Cor. ix. 15—19 ; 2 Cor. xi. 7 ff.) for the
practice of manual labour on the part of the missionaries. To
save expense to his converts was always an object of importance
with St Paul ; at Thessalonica another necessary end was served
by this policy, viz. to set an example of hard work and inde
pendence. In Acts xx. 33—35 the second of these motives is

THEORIES OF INTERPOLATION. liii
again hinted at, though with a somewhat different application,
along with the first ; later, in 2 Cor. xi. 12, St Paul discloses a
third motive for this self-denying rule. There are minor dif
ferences of expression distinguishing the two Letters— such as
the reference to " the Lord " (Christ) in a series of expressions
ofthe 2nd Epistle where "God" appears in the parallel sentences
of the 1st Epistle; but each of St Paul's Epistles has idiosyncra
sies due to passing circumstances or moods of thought too fine
for us to trace ; the variations of this kind here occurring are
in consideration of the pervasive resemblance of the two docu
ments, of a nature altogether too slight for one to build any
distinction of authorship upon them.
Outside ch. ii. 1 — 12 there is nothing to lend colour to the
notion of a post-Pauline origin for the Second Epistle ; and
there is nothing in that central passage that can with plausi
bility be set down as later than 70 A.D. The directions given
for the treatment of the " brother walking disorderly" (iii. 6 — 15)
belong to the incipient stage of Church organization. To suppose
this passage written in the second century, or even in the last
quarter of the first, is to attribute to the author a peculiar
power of ignoring the conditions of his own time. But these
instructions harmonize well enough with those addressed to the
Corinthians (1 Cor. v.) respecting the extreme case of disorder
in' that Church.
The theories of interpolation have found but little acceptance.
They account for the striking difference between 2 Thess. ii.
2—12 (to which i. 5—12 might be added) and 1 Thessalonians,
and the equally striking correspondence to the 1st which the
2nd Epistle in other parts presents, by attributing to the two
sections an entirely different origin. Thus P. W. Schmidt (in his
Der 1 Thess.-Brief neu erklart, nebst Excurs uber den 2ten gleich-
namigen Brief; also in the Short Protest. Commentary, by Schmidt
and others, translated) would distinguish a genuine Epistle of
Paul consisting of II. i. 1—4, ii. 12 a, ii. 13— iii. 18, treating the
rest as an interpolation made about the year 69 by some half-
Judaistic Christian akin to the author of Eev. xiii., who wished
to allay the excitement prevailing in his circle respecting the
Parousia, and who worked up the idea of the Nero redivivus into an

liv INTRODUCTION.
apocalypse, employing an old and perhaps neglected letter of the
Apostle as a vehicle for this prophecy of his own. S. Davidson,
in his Introduction to the Study of the N.T.2, vol. I., pp. 336—
348, elaborated a similar view. But this compromise, while open
to most of the objections brought against the theory of persona
tion, raises others peculiar to itself. It ascribes to St Paul a
Letter from which the pith has been extracted— little more than
a shell without the kernel — weak and disconnected in its earlier
part, and a Second to the Thessalonians following hard upon the
First yet wanting in reference to the Parousia which fills the
horizon of the previous Letter. If a partition must be made
upon these lines, one would rather adopt Hausrath's notion (in
his Die Zeit der AposteP, II., p. 198 ; translated under the title
History of the Times of the Apostles), that 2 Thess. ii. 1 — 12 is a
genuine Pauline fragment, which some later Paulinist has
furnished with an epistolary framework in order to give it circu
lation amongst his master's writings.
The text and tradition of the Second Epistle afford no
ground for conjecture that it ever existed in any other form than
that which we know. Where the Apostle has the same things
to say and the same feelings to express which found utterance in
the First Epistle, he writes (or one of his companions for him) in
the same strain, but in a manner more ordinary and subdued as
the glow of emotion which dictated the first Letter has cooled,
and his mind has become engrossed with other interests.
Where new ideas and altered needs on the part of his readers
require it, as in II. i. 5 — 12, ii. 2 — 12, iii. 6 — 15, he strikes out
in new directions with characteristic force and originality.
On the whole subject, comp. the articles on Thessalonians I. and
II. in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, vol. iv. The article in
Smith's Diet, of the Bible, ad rem, by J. B. Lightfoot, is still
valuable. Bornemann, in Meyer's Kritisch-exegetischer Kom-
mentare, gives a complete and masterly discussion of the above
questions, summing up decisively in favour of the authenticity
of both Epistles. See also Askwith's vindication of the genuine
ness of the 2nd Epistle : Introduction to the Thess. Epistles, ch. v.
As to the relations of 2 Thess. ii. 1—12 to the Apocalypse,
there will be something to say in the Appendix.

lv

CHAPTER VI.
Vocabulary, Style and Character op the Epistles.
Vocabulary. There are, as nearly as possible, 5,600 Greek
words used in the New Testament. Out of these, 465 are in
requisition for the Epistles to the Thessalonians, — a fairly
extensive vocabulary, considering their limited scope and the
amount of repetition in them. To this total of 465, the 2nd
Epistle contributes 105 words, out of its 250, wanting in the 1st ;
half of these appearing in the two peculiar eschatological sections
(in chh. i. and ii.); not a few of the remainder — such as alpiopai,
aTaKTio), Siuiypos, (kSIksjo-is, ivKavxdopai, cv8okIo, KXr/iris, Kparea,
irepiepyd£opat, virepav£dva> — are variants or synonyms of ex
pressions employed in Epistle I. That, notwithstanding, 2 Thes
salonians should be distinguished from 1 Thessalonians in
two-fifths of its vocabulary, is a fact somewhat singular in view
of the large measure of dependence it exhibits (see pp. xlviii. ff.
above), while e.g. Galatians holds all but a third of its lexical
content in common with Bomans, and Colossians shares its
words with Ephesians and Philippians jointly in almost the
same proportion. 1 Corinthians with its 963, and 2 Corinthians
with its 762 words, disclose however a greater verbal dissidence.
These Epistles contain but a small proportion of hapax-lego-
mena — 21 in the First and 9 in the Second, amounting to less than
a fifteenth of their entire vocabulary and an average of rather
more than four to the chapter. It is observable that the habit
of using new and singular words grew upon St Paul; this
tendency is most marked in his latest writings, the Epistles to
Timothy and Titus, with a proportion of some thirteen hapax-

Ivi INTRODUCTION.
legomena to the chapter, constituting a fifth of their lexical
contents ; these ratios steadily increase as we proceed from the
earlier to the later groups of Epistles. To the Thessalonian hapax-
legomena 24 words may be added which are peculiar in the N.T.
to these with the other Pauline Epistles (including the Pastorals) :
4 of these occur in both Letters, 14 in First, and 6 in Second
Thessalonians. This raises the total number of Pauline hapax-
legomena found in 1 and 2 Thessalonians to 54, out of the 848
words specific to St Paul amongst New Testament writers — a
fraction not much smaller than the relative length of the two
Epistles would lead us to expect. Of the above 54 locutions, it
may be noted that 13 range no further than the second group of
the Epistles (viz. 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Bomans) — dyua-
uvvr], dSiaXdirTcos, e/cSiKoy, iirifiapico, evo-Y^fioVnir, pox^os, irXeoveK-
Teto, irpoXiyia, oreyft), iTTeWopai, uvvavapiyvvcQai, virepalpopai,
(piXonpeopai ; Spa ovv, so characteristic of Bomans, is only found
once (in Ephesians) outside the first two groups ; dyadmo-vvri and
irddos each occur in the first, second, and third groups ; ivcpyeia
is the one prominent word peculiar to the first with the third
(Eph., Col., Phil., Phm.) groups ; virepeKirepuTuov recurs only in
Eph. iii. 20 ; ii-airarda, SXedpos, irpoiaTrjpt. are found, outside
of 1 aud 2 Thess., in the second and fourth (1 and 2 Tim.,
Titus) groups ; pveia in the third and fourth ; iiricpdveia and
rjirios (? I. ii. 7) reappear only in the fourth, and form a signifi
cant link between the first and last of Paul's extant Letters.
The hapax-legomena proper to the two Epistles present no
marked peculiarities. The majority of them are compounds of
the types prevailing in later Greek. 'ApipirTms recurs twice (or
thrice), and is paralleled by apepwros in Philippians and else
where ; evbeiypa is a variant of ivSeUvvpi, evdeigis, both Pauhne,
and all classical; virepeKnepuTiT&s (eminently Pauline) is all but
the same as -oO ; dvapeva, UraKTOs &c, ckSkokoj, Kekevupa, KoXaxla,
bo-las, irepiepyd£opat, irepiXe in opal, irpoirdcrxio, tIvio, virepPalva are
classical words of everyday speech, incidentally employed here ;
diropcbavigco, ivopKifa, virepavgdvco are rare intensives, due to
the occasion; ivxavxdopai, igt)xeo>i KaXonoUa, dXiyo^vxaS, SXore-
Xr)s, irepiKfCpaXata, irrjpeioa, uvp^vXirns, may be distinguished as

VOCABULARY. lvii
words of the koivt), most of them found in the LXX but not
confined to Bibhcal Greek. Of iv8o£d£a> there is no other
example outside the LXX. Saiveadai, if meaning "to be shaken,"
would be a hapax-legomenon in sense ; but see the Expository
Note on I. iii. 3. The only absolutely unique expressions of the
two Epistles are dpeipopai — supposed to be a dialectic variant of
Ipelpopcu (see Expository Note on I. ii. 8) — and the obvious com
pound 6eo8l&aKTos, the elements of which are given by Isaiah liv.
13 (Jo. vi. 45 ; cf. Expository Note on I. iv. 9). There is nothing
in the Greek of these Epistles that would present any diffi
culty to a contemporary reader moderately acquainted with the
Hellenistic phraseology of the Jewish synagogues and schools
of the Diaspora. Beyond a few Hebraistic locutions, such as vibs
o-kotovs, diraXeias, &c, cTecpavos Kavxilireas, 8oKipd£ebv and 0TJ7-
pi£eiv ras KapSias, and perhaps els diravrno-iv, there is little or
nothing of distinctively " Biblical " Greek to be found in them,
and few technical terms of theology : in this respect they
resemble 1 and 2 Corinthians, and differ from Bomans and
Galatians. As Deissmann shows in his "Bible Studies," the
amount of this element in the language of the N.T. has been
exaggerated ; many expressions formerly supposed to be pecu
liar to the Greek of the Bible are proved by Inscriptions and the
Papyri to have been current in the vernacular of New Testament
times. The Epistles betray no special linguistic associations with
other N.T. writings beyond St Paul's, apart from the connexion
of certain passages in 1 Thessalonians with the prophecies of
Jesus, to which reference will be made later, and the striking
manner in which the Apocalyptic imagery and phrases of O. T.
prophecy are woven into the tissue of 2 Thessalonians. The
difficulties of structure and expression marking II. i. 6 — 10
indicate the introduction by the original writer of some non-
Pauline, and probably liturgical, sentences (see Expository
Notes). I. iv. 13 — 18 has a number of verbal correspondences
with the parallel passage in 1 Corinthians. In point of syntax,
there is nothing reaUy exceptional to note. The Pauline periodic
structure of sentences prevails throughout both Epistles.
Thess. e

lviii 1NTR0D UC TION.
In Style the Epistles are almost identical — a statement to
be understood, however, with the qualification stated in the pre
vious chapter, that in the large part of the 2nd Epistle in which
it repeats the substance of the 1st, the freshness and point of
the earlier Letter are somewhat to seek. The characteristic
features of St Paul's dialect and manner are very apparent;
but they have not yet assumed the bold and developed form
presented by the Epistles of the second group. In wealth of
language, in rhetorical and literary power, as in force of intellect
and spiritual passion, these writings do not rise to the height of
some of the later Epistles. Nor should we expect this. The
Apostle's style is the most natural and unstudied in the world.
It is, as Benan said, "conversation stenographed." In Galatians
and 2 Corinthians, where he is labouring under great excitement
of feeling, face to face with malignant enemies and with his
disaffected or wavering children, his language is full of passion
and grief, vehement, broken, passing in a moment from rebuke
to tenderness, from lofty indignation to an almost abject
humility — now he " speaks mere flames," but the sentence ends
in pity and tears; "yea, what earnestness, what clearing of"
himself, " what indignation, what yearning, what jealousy, what
avenging !" In Bomans and Galatians, again, you watch the
play of St Paul's keen and dexterous logic, sweeping and massive
generalization, daring inference, vivid illustration, swift retort,
and an eagerness that leaps to its conclusion over intervening
steps of argument indicated by a bare word or turn of phrase in
passing. But these Epistles afford little room for such qualities
of style. They are neither passionate nor argumentative, but
practical, consolatory, prompted by affection, by memory and
hope. Hence they represent " St Paul's normal style" (Lightfoot),
the way in which he would commonly talk or write to his
friends. For this reason, as well as for their historical priority,
1 and 2 Thessalonians form the best introduction to the writings
of St Paul.
In general character and tone, in the simplicity and ease of
expression which especially marks 1 Thessalonians, and in the
absence of the dialectic mannerisms, the apostrophes and

STYLE. Iix
ellipses, distinguishing the polemical Epistles, these Letters
resemble that to the Philippians. But it is remarkable that the
Epistle to the Philippians, without any cause for this in its
subject-matter, contains twice as many hapax-legomena to the
chapter as are found in our Epistles. For Philippians was
written nearly ten years later (see pp. Iv. f.).
I. i. 2 — 5, ii. 14: — 16, II. i. 6 — 10, ii. 8 — 10, are good examples
of St Paul's characteristic practice of extending his sentences to an
indefinite length in qualifying and explanatory clauses, by the use
of participles and relative pronouns and conjunctions. Later
Epistles (Ephesians especially) show how this feature of style
also grew upon him. In the third of the above instances the
paragraph is so disjointed, that some further explanation appears
necessary (see p. lvii. above, and Expository Notes). In I. i. 8, ii.
11, iv. 4: — 6, 14, II. i. 9, ii. 7, iii. 6, we find instances oi ellipsis and
anacoluthon — of those altered or broken sentences, and dropped
words left to the reader's understanding, to which the student
of St Paul is accustomed. II. ii. 7 gives an example of inverted
structure resembling Gal. ii. 10. I. ii. 14, 15 (the Jews — who
killed the Lord Jesus, &c.) ; v. 8, 9 (salvation — for God did not
appoint us to wrath, &c); II. i. 10 (that believed — for our
testimony addressed to you was believed), illustrate St Paul's
curious fashion of " going off upon a word," where some term he
happens to use suddenly suggests an idea that draws him aside
from the current of the sentence, which he perhaps resumes in
an altered form. In I. ii. 4, 19—20, iii. 6—7, iv. 3 and 7, v. 4,
5, II. ii. 9 and 11, 10 and 12, we see how expressions of the
Apostle are apt to return upon and repeat themselves in a
changed guise. In 2 Thessalonians the repetition of the same
word or phrase is so frequent as to constitute a distinct manner
ism of the Epistle ; 42 doublets of this nature are counted.
1. iii. 5, v. 23, II. iii. 2 — 3, iii. 11 (ipya£op4vovs...irepiepya£op.ivovs)
exemplify the fondness, shared by St Paul with many great
writers, for paronomasia.
Beside the hapax-legomena enumerated on pp. lvi. f., there are
a number of verbal usages characteristic of these Letters and not
recurring later in St Paul's writings : viz. airos 8i 6 Beds (or Kvpios)
e2

Ix INTRODUCTION.
at the beginning of prayers (I. iii. 11, v. 23, II. ii. 16) ; the use
of the bare optative in prayers to God (add II. iii. 16 to the
above), Bom. xv. 5 affording the only other Pauline example ;
outoi oihare, Kadas (KaBdirep) olbare (I. i. 5, ii. 1 f., 5, 11, lli. 3 f.,
v. 2, II. iii. 7); epyov irio-Teas (I. i. 3, II. i. 11); eivai irpos (I. iii.
4, II. ii. 5, iii. 10: elsewhere •yirop.at and irapeivai irpos); o-Ttya
in the sense of I. iii. 1, 5; KarevBivat (I. iii. 11, II. iii. 5); apa
ovv (I. iv. 17, v. 10); irapaKaXi-iTe dXXrp\ovs (I. iv. 18, v. 11);
tovto yap (ia-Tiv) BiXrjpa (tov) Beov (I. iv. 3, V. 18) ; UTrjpi^eiv ti)v
KapUav (I. iii. 13, II. ii. 17 : the verb St Paul only uses in Bomans
besides); dtpci\a> evxapioreiv (II. i. 3, ii. 13) ; ireptiroir]cris in the
active sense (I. v. 9, II. ii. 14) ; ¦n-apovo-ia (of the Second Advent),
only in 1 Cor. xv. 23 besides. Phil. iv. 3 gives the only other
Pauhne instance of ipardai employed in the sense of I. iv. 1, v. 12,
II. ii. 1.
Not one quotation from the Old Testament, nor from any other
literary source, is found in the Thessalonian Epistles. The writers
are addressing Gentile converts, and in such a way that Scriptural
proof and illustration are not required. But allusions to 0. T.
teaching are rife. The writer of 2 Thessalonians has his mind
full of the apocalyptic ideas of the Books of Isaiah and Daniel,
to a less extent of Ezekiel and the Psalter ; his prophetical and
hortatory passages are so steeped in the O. T., beyond what
is common with St Paul, that this fact is even urged as evidence
for inauthenticity. Compare
1. ii. 4 with Ps. xvi. 31, &c. ;
ii. 12 with 4 (2) Esdras ii. 37 ;
ii. 16 with Gen. xv. 16 ;
ii. 19 with Isai. lxii. 3, Ezek. xvi. 12, Prov. xvi. 31;
iv. 5 with Ps. lxxviii. 6, &c. ;
iv. 8 with Isai. lxiii. 11 ;
v. 8 with Isai. Iix. 17 ;
v. 22 with Job i. 1, 8.
II. i. 8 with Isai. lxvi. 15 ;
i. 9, 10 with Isai. ii. 10 f., 17, 19—21 ;
1 The Old Testament references in this list are made to the Greek
Version.

VERBAL PARALLELS. lxi
also with Isai. xlix. 3, Ps. lxxxviii. 8 ;
and Mai. iii. 17 (in that day) ;
i. 12 with Isai. lxvi. 5 ;
ii. 4 with Dan. xi. 36, Isai. xiv. 14, Ezek. xxviii. 2, &c. ;
ii. 8 with Isai. xi. 4, Dan. vii. 9 — 11 ;
ii. 11 with Ezek. xiv. 9;
ii. 13 with Deut. xxxiii. 12 ;
iii. 16 with Num. vi. 26.
Bornemann traces through 2 Thessalonians a chain of resem
blances in language and idea to Isai. xxiv. ff., also to Ps. lxxxviii.,
xciii., cv.
Quite unusual in St Paul are the repeated and sustained echoes
of the words of Jesus to be found in 1 Thessalonians in the
passages relating to the Judgement and Second Coming.
Compare I. ii. 15 f. with Mat. xxiii. 29—39, Lk. xi. 45—52, xiii. 33 ff;
iv. 16 f. with Mat. xxiv. 30 f.;
v. 1—6 with Mat. xxiv. 36—44, Lk. xii. 38—40, 46;
also II. ii. 2 with Mat. xxiv. 4 — 6.
The general form of the Letters of St Paul is moulded on the
Epistolary style of the period ; and this is especially evident in
their commencement and conclusion. The Egyptian Greek
Papyri afford numerous parallels to his opening evxapurria, in
which pvela, irpoo-evxfi, dSiaXetiTTas recur — the two former words
passim. In ordinary correspondence it was a usual thing to
begin with pious expressions of gratitude and references to
prayer. The Apostle fills out the conventional formulae of
greeting, giving to them a new sacredness and weight of meaning.
See Deissmann's Bible Studies, pp. 21 ff.; and J. Eendel Harris
in Expositor, V. viii. 161—180, "A study in Letter-writing."
The argumentative and hortatory parts of his Epistles resemble
the 8taTpipTj of the contemporary Stoic schools, and may be
illustrated from the Dissertationes of Epictetus.
In their Character these oldest extant Epistles of the Apostle
Paul may now be easily described. They are the letters of a
missionary, written to an infant Church quite recently brought

Ixii INTRODUCTION.
from heathen darkness into the marvellous light of the Gospel.
They lie nearer, therefore, to the missionary preaching of St
Paul (Acts xiv. 15 — 17, xvii. 22 — 31, &c.) than do any of the
later Epistles. This accounts for their simplicity, for the
absence of controversy and the elementary nature of their
doctrine, and for the emphasis that is thrown in 1 Thessalonians
upon the relation of the readers through the gospel to God.
They are addressed to a Macedonian Church, and they mani
fest in common with the Epistle to the (Macedonian) Philippians
a peculiar warmth of feeling and mutual confidence between writer
and readers. The first of the two is a singularly affectionate Letter.
(For the second, see the observations on pp. xlviii. ff.) From
2 Cor. viii. 1 — 6 we gather that the generosity which endeared
the Phihppians to St Paul (Phil. iv. 14 — 17) distinguished Mace
donian Christians generally. The writers can hardly find words
tender enough or images sufficiently strong to express their
regard for the Thessalonians (I. ii. 7, 11, 17, 19, 20, iii. 9). St Paul
feels his very life bound up with this community (iii. 8). The
missionaries boast of their Thessalonian converts everywhere
(II. i. 4). If they exhort them, their warnings are blended with
commendations, lest it might be thought there is some fault to
find (I. iv. 1, 9f., v. 11 ; II. iii. 4). Again and again the Apostle
repeats, more than in any other Letter, " You yourselves know,"
"Bemember ye not?" and the like, — so sure is he that his readers
bear in mind the teaching at first received and are in hearty
accord with it. In like fashion, when writing to the Philippians,
the Apostle gives thanks to God "for your fellowship in the
Gospel from the first day until now " (Phil. i. 5).
Further, these two are especially cheering and consolatory
letters. St Paul had sent Timothy to "encourage" the Thessa
lonians " concerning their faith " (I. iii. 2) ; in writing the First
Epistle on Timothy's return he pursues the same object. Perse
cution was the lot of this Church from the beginning (I. iii. 4 ; Acts
xvii. 5 — 9), as it continued to be afterwards (2 Cor. viii. 2 : cf.
what was written to Philippi ten years later, Phil. i. 28 ff.) ;
death had visited them, clouding their hopes for the future lot of
departing kindred. The Apostle bends all his efforts to en-

CHARACTERISTICS. lxiii
courage his distressed friends. He teaches them to glory in
tribulation ; he makes them smile through their tears. He
reveals the "weight of glory" that their afflictions are working
out for them ; he describes the Christian dead as " fallen asleep
through Jesus," and coming back to rejoin their living brethren
on His return (I. iv. 13 ff). He shows them— and to a generous
Christian nature there is no greater satisfaction — how much their
brave endurance is furthering the cause of Christ and of truth
(I. i. 6 — 8 ; II. i. 3 f.), and how it comforts and helps himself
and his companions in their labours. The Second Epistle is
designed to allay causeless agitation respecting the advent of
Christ, to recall to the ranks of industry some who had taken
occasion to neglect their avocations, so disturbing the peace of
the community and burdening it with their support. But along
with these reproofs, and with the most solemn denunciation of
future judgement for persecutors and rejecters of the truth, the
commendatory and consolatory strain of the First Epistle is
maintained in the Second.
Finally, these are eschatological Epistles : they set forth " the
last things " in Christian doctrine— the Second Coming of the
Bedeemer, the restoration of the dead and transformation of
the living saints, the final judgement of mankind ; they an
nounce the coming of Antichrist as the forerunner and Satanic
counterpart of the returning Christ. Chap. ii. 1 — 12 in 2 Thes
salonians is called the Pauline Apocalypse, since it holds in
St Paul's Epistles a place corresponding to that of the Book of
Bevelation in the writings of St John. We have previously
suggested (chap, in.) circumstances which may have led the
Apostle Paul to dwell upon this subject. The prolonged per
secution under which the Thessalonians laboured, served to
incline their thoughts in the same direction — toward the heavenly
kingdom which, they hoped, would soon arrive to put an end to
the miseries of "this present evil world." In the comparative
ease and pleasantness of our own lives, we perhaps find it diffi
cult to understand the degree to which the minds of Christians
in early times were absorbed in thoughts of this nature.
By their eschatological views and teachings these Letters are

lxiv INTRODUCTION.
linked to chap. xv. of 1 Corinthians, the next of the Epistles
in order of time. Subsequently the subject of the parousia
retreats into the shade in his writings. For this, two or three
causes may be suggested. Between the writing of 1 and 2 Corin
thians St Paul suffered from a sickness which brought him to the
gates of death (2 Cor. i. 8 — 10, iv. 7 — v. 8), and which profoundly
affected his inner experience : from this time he anticipated that
death would end his earthly career (Phil. i. 20 f. ; Acts xx. 24 ;
2 Tim. iv. 6—8, 18). Beside this, the disturbing effect of pre
occupation with the Second Advent at Thessalonica, and the
morbid excitement to which it gave rise in some minds, may
have led him to make this subject less prominent in later teaching.
As time went on and the kingdom of Christ penetrated the
Boman Empire and entered into closer relations with existing
society, the Apostle came to realize the need for a longer de
velopment of Christianity, for a slower and more pervasive action
of the "leaven" which Christ had put into "the kneading" of
human life, than could be counted upon at an earlier stage.
In St Paul's last Letters, however, to his helpers Timothy and
Titus, he reverts frequently and fondly to "that blessed hope
and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus
Christ" (Tit. ii. 13). Long ago he had reconciled himself, with
reluctance, to the fact that he must first indeed be " absent from
the body" in order to be "present with the Lord." Still "the
coming of the Lord Jesus," whether it should be in the first or
fourth watch of the night, was the mark of his labours ; it
was the summit, to his eyes, of all Christian hope. These two
fervent Epistles, with their bright horizon of promise crossed by
lurid thunder-clouds, breathe the constant desire of the Church
with which the book of Scripture closes :
Come, Lord Jesus !

Ixv

CHAPTER VII.
The Greek Text op the Epistles.
The text of 1 and 2 Thessalonians stands on the same footing
as that of the other Pauline Epistles. It has been faithfully
preserved, and comes down to us amply attested by witnesses
of the first rank in each of the three orders — Greek Codices,
Versions, and Patristic writers. Westcott and Hort find occasion
in their critical edition to mark only a single word, viz. iirujTevBr)
in II. i. 10, as a case of "primitive corruption" which raises
suspicion of error in all the oldest witnesses. The five primary
Greek Uncials, of the fourth and fifth centuries, are available :
the Vaticanus (B), the Sinaiticus (S), the Alexandrinus (A),
Codex Ephraemi rescriptus (C) — this with lacunae, and Codex
Claromontanus (D). Of secondary but considerable importance
are Boernerianus (G) ; H, surviving in detached leaves variously
designated, extant here only in two fragments, viz. I. ii. 9 — 13
and iv. 5 — 11 ; Porfirianus (P), defective in I. iii. 5— iv. 17. The
inferior uncials — Dc, Moscuensis (K), and Angelicus (L) — contain
a text purely of the later ("received") type. E (Sangermanensis)
is a mere copy of D and its correctors ; F ( Augiensis) is practi
cally identical with G above : it is idle to quote these two, where
they bring no new evidence. Amongst the Minuscules several
are approved by the critics as containing ancient readings, and
deserve to rank with GHP above-mentioned; 17, 37, 47, 73
are those chiefly adduced in the Textual Notes below, along with
the precious readings of the annotator of 67, known as 67**.
The various copies of the pre-Hieronymian Latin Version and
recensions (latt) come into court along with the Vulgate (vg):

lxvi INTROvuOTIOjx.
mss. of special note are occasionally discriminated —as am,
the Codex Amiatinus ; fu, Fuldensis ; harl, Harleianus, &c. The
three Egyptian Versions appear as cop (Coptic or Memphitic),
sah (Sahidic or Thebaic), and basm (Bashmuric). In Syriac,
there is the Peshitto (pesh) or Syriac Vulgate, conformed to the
later, settled mould (called by Westcott and Hort the "Syrian"
recension) of the Greek original; and the Harclean (hcl) — later
in date but largely older in substance — with its text and margin.
The Gothic (go), ^Ethiopic (aeth), and Armenian (arm) are out
lying Versions, which furnish readings of confirmatory value,
as they indicate the trend of the Greek text in different regions
at the time of their making. The Greek Fathers — Irenaeus
(through his Latin interpreter), Clement of Alexandria, Hippo-
lytus, Origen, Didymus, Eusebius, Euthalius, Athanasius, John
Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, Cyril of Alex
andria, Theophylact, Oecumenius; and the Latins — Tertullian,
Cyprian, Ambrose, ' Ambrosiaster,' Jerome (Hieronymus), Da-
masus, Augustine, Lucifer of Calaris, Vigilius — are cited by the
recognized abbreviations.
The characteristics of the different groups, and of the more
strongly featured Codices and Versions, stand out with some
prominence in the text of these Epistles1. I. iii. 2 (the de
scription of Timothy) affords a signal example of the "conflate"
nature of the Syrian recension, exemplified in KL and prevailingly
in P, in the bulk of the minuscules, in the Peshitto Syriac and
Chrysostom; I. iv. 1 (the omission of KaBas kcu irepmaretTc)
illustrates its tendency to smooth out the creases of St Paul's
style. The idiosyncrasies of the "Western" clan (DG, latt, and
Latin Fathers frequently) reveal themselves again and again:
see, in this connexion, the Textual Notes on I. ii. 12, 14 (djrd),
16 (opyi) tov Beov), iii. 2 (where the Western recension is sus
pected of having caused the confusion by adding tov Beov to
o-vvepyov), iv. 13, 16, 17, v. 13 (iv airois), II. i. 4 (Kavx&irBai), ii. 2
(repeated prj8c), 3 (dpaprlas), 8 (dvaXoi), 10 (dXrjBetas Xpio-Tov),
iii. 4, 14 (-pluyeo-Bai), 16. G has some glaring Latinisms, in
dicating a reaction of the Western versions on the Greek text :
1 In regard to the examples here given, see the Textual Notes.

DIFFICULT READINGS. lxvii
see I. ii. 3, 17, v. 12, II. ii. 4. Erroneous Syrian readings are
often traceable to a "Western" invention. Instances may be
noted in which the tendencies of Alexandrian copyists to
smoothness and classicalism of expression, and to harmonistic
agreement, seem to be in evidence: I. i. 1 (the completion of
the form of salutation, Alexandrian and Western), 5 (tov Beov),
ii. 2 (the reading (a) of the Textual Notes), iv. 1 (cancelling of
first ha), 8, 11, v. 12, 21, 27 (insertion of dyi'ots), II. iii. 6
(? -oo-av1, belonging to the Alexandrian vernacular). The unique
value of B is shown by the fact that it records alone, or nearly
alone, a series of readings which intrinsic and transcriptional
probability point out as possibly original, notwithstanding the
solitary attestation: see I. ii. 16 (etpBaKev), iii. 2, iv. 9, v. 9
(d Bebs rjpas and omission of XpioroO), II. i. 4 (ivixeo-de), ii. 8
(om. 'Irjirovs), iii. 4 (ko\ iiroirjiraTe koX iroirjcreTe), 6, 13. On the
other hand, the palpable mistakes of B in iii. 1 (8i6ri), 9 (t)p&v),
iv. 17 (e'v for <rvv Kvpim), II. iii. 14 (iiriarToXrjs vp&v), prove this
great MS. to be far from impeccable. It is betrayed in I. v. 12,
II. ii. 2, by its habitual itacism, -e for -at.
Decision between alternative readings of the Greek text is
very difficult in the case of jjinoi — vrjiriot, I. ii. 7; awepyov —
avvepybv tov Beov — Sidicovov tov Beov, iii. 2; ivixetrOe — dvexeo-Be,
II. i. 4; iv (pXoyl irvpds — iv irvpl cpXoyos, i. 8; the omission or
retention of 'lijo-ovs in ii. 8; dvaXoi — dveXel in same verse; the
retention or omission of <ai in ii. 14 ; the reading of the duplicate
»roie<D-forms in iii. 4 ; irapeXdfiocrav — irapeXdjieTe in iii. 6. There
is hesitation or difference amongst the critics in some other
instances'-; e.g. in I. i. 5 (ev before vpiv), 7 (rvirov — tvitovs),
9 (t)p&v — vp&v), ii. 12 (koXoiivtos — KaXicravTOs), 16 (ecpBaKev —
i'cpBatrev), iii. 4 (the augment of nv8oKr)o-apev), 13 (dpipirrovs
or -as, and the final dprjv), iv. 1 (? ovv), 10 (1 tovs), v. 3 (? Se'),
4 (KXeirrr]S — icXeirras), 10 (irepl — virep), \Z(virepeKirepiutrov or -&s),
15 (? Kal), 21 (1 8i), 25 (1 Kal), 27 (? iylois) ; in II. i. 10 (iicixxTevBin—
iiriVTaBri), ii. 3 (dvopias — dpaprlas), 12 (airavres — irdvres), 13 (air'
apxrjs — dirapxvv), iii- 6 (? t)p&v after Kvplov).
1 On the ending -ooav, see J. H. Moulton in Expositor, May 1904,
p. 366; and Classical Review, March 1904, p. 110.

lxviii INTRODUCTION.
The conspectus of readings furnished in the Textual Notes
hereafter will indicate the grounds of judgement in disputed
cases ; it may serve also to illustrate the peculiarities of the
chief ancient witnesses, and, as it is hoped, to interest the
student in questions of the Lower Criticism. The material is
drawn mainly from the digest of critical evidence found in
Tischendorf's 8th edition. Kenyon's or Nestle's Manual will
supply a full Introduction to the science of N. T. Textual
Criticism ; on a smaller scale, Warfield's Introduction lays down
clearly and skilfully the leading principles. Scrivener's Intro
duction (the last edition), and C. E. Gregory's Prolegomena to
Tischendorf's Novum Testamentum Grwce, contain the best acces
sible catalogues and descriptions of the documents.

CHAPTER VIII.
Analysis op the Epistles.
I. Ix 1 Thessalonians there are two clearly marked main
divisions : chh. i. — iii., personal ; iv., v., moral and doctrinal.
(1) The first and chief part of the letter is an outpouring of
the heart of the writers — i.e. of St Paul's own heart especiaUy —
to their brethren in Thessalonica. The Apostle tells them what
he thinks of them, how he prays for them and thanks God for
what they are, for all they have attained and all they have
endured as Christian believers. Then he talks about himself and
his fellow-missionaries, reminding the readers of their work and
behaviour at Thessalonica, informing them of his repeated
attempts to return thither, of the circumstances under which
had been sent Timothy instead, and the inexpressible delight
given to himself and Silvanus by Timothy's good report of their
state and of their love for the absent Apostles.
(2) In v. 1 of ch. iv. the author passes from narrative and
prayer to exhortation. His homily bears chiefly on Christian
morals, — "how you ought to walk and to please God." In
the midst of this condensed and powerful address there is
introduced the great, passage relating to the irapova-ia (ch.
iv. 13 — v. 11), informing the readers more definitely what
they should believe on this vital matter of faith, to them so
profoundly interesting, respecting which they had gathered de
fective and misleading notions. The misunderstandings and
the agitations existing in the Church upon this subject affected
its "walk"; they were disturbing to the Church's peace and
prejudicial to its soberness of thought and joy of faith. Hence

Ixx INTRODUCTION.
the introduction of the doctrinal question at this stage and
in this form.
II. The Second Epistle contains but little personal matter,
and is in this respect strikingly different from the First. After
the Thanksgiving, occupying the first chapter, which enlarges
on the punishment in store for the Church's persecutors in
contrast with the rest and glory destined for Christ's faithful
sufferers, the author proceeds at once to the questions of doctrine
and discipline which called for this further instruction. This
Epistle bears therefore a supplementary character, dealing more
at large with certain matters that were treated incidentally in
the First and setting them in a somewhat different light.
Chaps, ii. and iii. of the 2nd Epistle correspond to chaps, iv.
and v. of the 1st ; but they do not range over the same variety
of topics. (1) Ch. ii. 1 — 12 disposes of the false alarm about
the parousia, which was producing, it appears, quite a de
moralizing excitement; (2) ch. iii. 6 — 15 is addressed to the
case of certain idlers and busybodies, whose obstinate indisci
pline compels the Apostles to take severe measures for their
correction. The intervening part of the Letter, ch. ii. 13 — iii. 5,
is taken up with thanksgiving, prayer, and exhortation of a
general character; these paragraphs echo the thoughts and
expressions of 1 Thessalonians in a manner quite unusual with
the Apostle Paul, even in the case of Epistles most nearly allied
in their subject and time of composition.
The exposition of the two Letters is based upon the following
plan: 1st Epistle.
§ 1. Address and Salutation, i. 1.
§ 2. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonian Church, i. 2—10.
§ 3. The Conduct of the Apostles at Thessalonica, ii. 1 — 12.
§ 4. Fellowship in Persecution with the Judaean Churches,
ii. 13—16.
§ 5. The Separation of the Apostles from their Converts,
ii. 17— iii. 5.

ANALYSIS. lxxi
§ 6. The Good News brought by Timothy, iii. 6—13.
§ 7. A Lesson in Christian Morals, iv. 1 — 12.
§ 8. Concerning them that Fall Asleep, iv. 13—18.
§ 9. The Coming of the Day, v. 1—11.
§ 10. The Church's Internal Discipline, v. 12—15.
§ 11. Directions for Holy Living, v. 16 — 24.
§ 12. The Conclusion, v. 25—28.
2nd Epistle.
§ 1. Salutation and Thanksgiving, i. 1 — 4.
§ 2. The Approaching Judgement, i. 5 — 12.
§ 3. The Bevelation of the Lawless One, ii. 1 — 12.
§ 4. Words of Comfort and Prayer, ii. 13 — iii. 5.
§ 5. The Case of the Idlers, iii. 6 — 15.
§ 6. Conclusion of the Letter, iii. 16 — 18.
The scheme of Epistle IL, it will be observed, is much simpler
than that of Epistle I. In other words, 1 Thessalonians is an
vmconstrained, discursive letter; 2 Thessalonians is more of a
calculated homily.

TTPOS OESSAAONIKEIS A
1 1IIat)Xo5 Kal ZtXovai/o? Kal Tifi60eo<; ttj eK-
KX/qa-ia ®eo-o-aXovtKecov ev 0eq> traTpl Kal KvpUo 'Irjcrov
Kpta-Too* %a/M? vfuv Kal elptjwr).
^ir^apiaTovfjbev rip 6e<p iravTore irepl TravTtov
xifimv fweiav troiovfievoi eVt t&v irpoo-eir)(&v r)p,&v,
ia8iaXei'irTo)<; //,vr)fiovevovTe<; vfiwv tov epyov rr)<i •kI-
<7T6(B9 Kal TOV KOTTOV tt)? dyLVK-tfi Kal tt)? virofiovrj<! T1J9
eXmBoi; tov Kvptov r)fiwv 'Itjctov XptcrTot) efiirpoaBev rov
deov Kal 7TOT/JO? r)fj,&v, ielS6re<s, dSeXtpol r)ya7rrjfiivoi
inrb [tov] 0eov, rr)v iK\oyr)v v/n&v, Bon to evayyeXtov
r)fi&v ovk iyevrjdr] et? vfids ev Xoyq> fiovov dXXd Kal
ev hvvdfjtet Kal ev irvevfiaTt dyiw Kal irXrfpotpopia
troXXfj, Ka^cb? otSare oioi iyevijdrjfiev vfuv oV ifiaf
6 Kal v/ieis fitfjbrjTal r)/j,&v iyevrjOrjre Kal rov Kvpiov,
Be^dfievoi tov Xoyov ev dXlyfrei iroXXrj fierd ")(apa<;
•7rvevfj.aTo<; dylov, ' &o~Te yeveaOat vfids tvttov trdo'tv
rots moTevovo-iv ev Trj M.aKeSovta Kal iv rrj 'Ayaia.
sd(j> vfi&v yap i^rjy^rjTat, 6 Xoyos tov Kvpiov ov fiovov
iv rrj Ma/eeSoyta Kal ' Kyala, dXX' ev travrl tottw
r) 7rt'o-Tt? vfi&v r) 7T/30? tov deov egeXtjXvdev, Sare fir)
Xpetav efteiv r)/id'; XaXelv Tt' 9ai)Tol ydp irepl r)fi&v
dirayyeXXovcriv otroiav eio-oBov eo-j^ofiev 71730? vfi&s,
Kal 7rw? iTreo-Tpeyjrare 7T/30? rbv 6ebv dtrb t&v elSdoXmv
Thess. A

ETTIITOAH [lg

BovXeveiv dew %&vti Kal dXrfdivw, 10Kal dva/ievetv
tov viov avrov eK t&v ovpav&v, ov r)yeipev ix \r&v\
veKp&v, 'lr/aovv tov pvofievov r)fia<} e'« rr}? 00777? tj}?
ip%o/ievrj<;. 2 1Avrol yap o'iSare, dBeXcf>oi, rr)v e'laoBov r)fi&v
rr)v 7rpo? vfids oti ov Kevrj yeyovev, 2dXXa irponradovrei;
Kal vftpio-devres Kaddx; o'lBare iv <$>iXitnroi<; i-rrappr)-
o-iacrdfieda iv rm dea r)fi&v XaXrjcrai 7roo? v fid's to evay
yeXtov tov deov iv iroXXm dy&vi. sr) yap 7rapaKXrjat<;
r)fi&v ovk iK 7rXdvr)<; ovBe if; aKadaprrias ovBe ev BoXa,
4dXXa Ka6a><; BeBoKi/idcrfieda vtrb tov deov TritTrevdrjvai
rb evayyeXiov ovt&j? XaXov/iev, ov-% eo? dvd pwiroii; dpe-
<TKOVTe<; dXXd deep tc3 Aokimazonti tac KApAiac r)fi&v. &ovre
ydp 7roTe iv Xoyco /eoXa/aa? iyevrjdrjfiev, Kadd><; o'lBare,
ovre Trporpdaei trXeove^ia<i, deoi fiaprvs, 6ovre ^titowtc?
eg avopoyirwv oo^av, ovre a<p vficov ovre air aXXcov, ovva-
fievoi iv fidpei eivai a>? X.pio~rov dtroo-roXoi' 7dXXa
eyevrjdrjfiev vryinoi iv fiecrcp vfi&v, a>? idv rpotpb<; ddXtrrj
rd eavrr)<; rexva' sovtg>? ofieipofievoi vfi&v rjvBoKov/iev
fieraBovvai vfiiv ov fiovov to evayyeXiov tov deov 'dXXd
Kal Ta? eavT&v -tyvyds, Biori dyarrrfrol r)filv iyevijdrjTe'
9fivrjp,ovevere ydp, dBeX<f>oi, tov kottov r)fi&v Kal rbv
fioy^dov vvkto<; Kal r)fiepa<; epya%6fievoi trpbq to fir)
itrifSaprfaai Tiva vfi&v eKrfpvfja/iev ei? vfias rb evay
yeXiov tov deov. 10vfiei<; fidprvpe<; Kal 6 deos, to?
oo-ico? Kal BiKaiay; Kal dfiefnrra><i vfiiv Tot? irtcrrevovaiv
iyevrjdrjfiev, ^Kaddtrep o'lBare to? eva mao-rov vfi&v
&>? rrarrfp rexva eavrov irapaKaXovvreis vfid<s Kal rrapa-
fivdov/ievoi Kal fiaprvpofievoi, 12et? to irepiirarelv vfid<;
a£teo? toO deov tov KaXovvro<; vfid<; ei? rr)v eavrov
j3acriXeiav Kal Bolfav.

3 4] TTPOS 0EIZAAONIKEI2 A

13 Kat Bid rovro koX rffieis evyupio-rovfiev rdi dea>
aotaXei7rTa>?, oti irapaXa/36vTe<; Xoyov aKorj'i trap' r)fi&v
rov deov eBeljaude oi) Xoyov dvdpomroiv dXXd Kadd><;
dXi)8&<} ierriv Xoyov deov, o? Kal ivepyeirai iv vfiiv
rol<; trio-revovcriv. uv/iei<; ydp fiifirjral iyevrjdrfre,
dBeXcpoi, r&v iKKXrfa-i&v rov deov t&v ova&v iv rfj
lovBaia iv Xpto-Tai 'Irjtrov, on rd avra irrddere Kal
v/iet? vtto r&v IB'icov o-vp,<pvXer&v Kadm<i Kal avrol vtrb
r&v 'lovBaicov, lsr&v Kal rbv Kvpiov diroKreivdvraiv
\r)o~ovv Kai tov? Troo^T/Ta? Kal r)fid<s eKBimtjdvrcov, Kal
de& firj dpea-Kovrcov, Kal trdo-iv dvdpwiroi? evavrimv,
wKaXv6vra>v r)fid<; rot? edveaiv XaXrjq-ai iva o-wd&o-iv,
et? ro AN<\rrAHpd>c<M avr&v tac AMApTi'&c irdvrore. eipda-
o-ev Be eV avTov? r) opyr) et? TeXo?.
17 H/iet? Se, dBeXdjoi, aTroptyavio-divre'} d<p' i/fimv
7T/oo? Kaipbv &pa<s, trpoo-coTrtp oi KapBia, irepicro-orepox;
io-trovBdo-afiev rb Trpotrcoirov vfi&v IBeiv iv troXXfj
iiridvfiia. 1&Biori r)deXrj<rafiev eXdeiv tt/jo? vfids, iyw
fiev IlavXo? Kal airatj Kal St?, xal iveKtytyev r)fid<;
o 2,arava<$. Tt? yap r)fiwv eATrt? r) %apa r) oretpavo<i
Kavyrfcrea><; — f) ovj(l Kal v/xet? — efiirpoo'dev rov Kvpiov
rjfitov xrfo-ov ev rrj avrov •jrapovcria; '"vfieis yap etrre
r) Bofja fffi&v Kal r) %apd. 3 1Ato fir] Ken
OTeyovre<s TfvBoKrjo-a/iev KaraXeicpdrjvai ev 'Adrjvai<;
fiovoi, 2Kal irrefiifrafiev Tifiodeov, rov dBeXcf>6v r)fi&v
Kal BiaKovov rov Qeov iv r& evayyeXia tov %pi<Trov,
et? to artfpi^ai v/ta? Kal irapaKaXeuai virep tt}? Tri
o-Tea)? hfi&v srb firjBeva aalveadai iv rats dXiyjreaiv
ravrais. avrol ydp o'lBare on et? rovro Keifieda-
iKal yap ore 7rpo? vfid<; rjfiev, rrpoeXeyofiev vfiiv oti
fieXXofiev dXi^eo-Qai, Kaddts Kal iyevero Kal o'lBare.
A2

ETTIZTOAH [3 5

5 Bid rovro xdyd> fir/Ken crreymv eir&fitya et? to yv&vai
rr)v iriariv vfi&v, fir] 7r&>? itreipacrev hfid<; 6 ireipa%mv
Kal et? Kevbv yivrjrai 6 KOiros r)fi&v. 6"Apri Be
eXdovros Tifiodeov 7rpo? r)fid<; dtp' vfi&v Kal evayye-
' Xiaafievov r)fiiv rrjv iticttiv Kal rr)v dydirrjv vfi&v, Kal
oti e%eTe fiveiav r)p,&v dyadr)v irdvrore err0rodovvre<s
r)fid<; IBeiv Kaddirep Kal r)fiei<i vfia<;, 7Bid rovro irape-
xXrjdrjfiev, dBeXcpoi, i<p' vfiiv iirl irdo-rj rfj dvayxy Kal
dXi-tyei r)fi&v Bid rrj<; v/i&v 7rto-Te&>?, 8oti vvv %&fiev
idv vfiei<s tTTrJKere iv xvpico. 9riva ydp ev%apio-riav
Bvvdfieda r& de& dvrairoBovvai irepl vfi&v iirl irao-p
TV XaP<2' V Xa''P0lJLev &1' v^-ds efiirpocrdev rov deov
r A 1A \ XII I r. I\ I
rjficov, vvktos Kai r)/iepa<; virepexirepiacTov oeofievoi
et? to IBeiv vfi&v to irpoo-coirov Kal Karapricrai rd
vareprffiara rrj<; iriaretas v/i&v; nAvTO? Be
6 Beds Kal irarr)p r)fi&v Kal 6 xvpio<s r)fi&v 'I^o-ov?
xarevowai rr)v ooov r)p,wv irpo<; vfia<;' ^vfiai oe o
Kvpio<: irXeovdaai Kal irepuraevcrai rrj aydiry et? aX-
X97X0V? xal et? irdvra<;, Kaddirep xal r)fiel<; et? v/ia?,
13 et? to o~T7)pil;ai vfi&v Ta? xapBiai dfikfiirrovi iv
dyicotTvvrj efiirpocrdev rov deov xal irarpb<s r)fi&v iv rfj
jrapovcria rov xvpiov r)fi&v l-r/aov fiera irdvrcov tcoi'
ayimv ai>Tovlk^^ ^ „t(,^
4

KaXov/iev ev Kvpiq> Ino-ov, \ival xada><; irapeXaBere
trap -hwiwTo ira><s Oct v«a? irepiirareiv xal apeaxeiv
de&, Kadd><i Kai irepiirareire^iva^irepto-aevrjTe fidXXpv.
2 o'lBare ydp riva<s irapayyeXiai iB&xafiev vfiiv Bid 'roij
xvpiov lrjcrov. ,,,<, - ° lovro iyao ecrnv veX-ntia rov
a - ' ' "y <:« > / ¦'" A^H- -Ik , vfu^r
oeov, g ayiao-fios v/ia>v, aire-yeaaai vu.a<S airo tjj?
iropveia<s, ieiBevai exaurov v/i&v rb eavrov trxevos

4 17] TTPOZ 0EZZAAONIKEIZ A 5
Cc" pj^£ - , 1 t -,.^f-.r,.^ — ^p< — Hs+nJ- y^-1  ¦¦- ';. J
xrao-dai ev ayiao-fico xai nun, 5 ii-n iv iradei eiridvtiiav
e«*-ttf., v ', -"V «i..r *"(.,., H&.,, . ¦ ¦¦' , ,
Kayqrrep Kai ta 66nh ta mh. 6iAota ton 6eoN, 6to utj
virepBaiveiv xal , irXeoyeKreiv ev r& irpdyaari rbv
aoeKcpov avrov, diort gkAikoc Ivrpioc, 7rept iravrmv rov-
~r'a>v, xaqa$\xak jrrpoeiirafiey ujiiv xal Biefiaprvpdfieda.
ov yap eicaXeo-ev fffias o deo<s e7rt axqffapcrta aXX ev
ayiacffiw. roiwapovv o aoerwv ovx avapmirov aoerei
dXXd rbv deov rbv AiAonta to TTNefMA AyTof to ayibv
eic YMAC.u-'•', 9IIent Be 'tt)? cbiXaBeXcbias ov
s^kc- „ W»v "",,' ^f^'. , \ x- ^ J „,,
Xpeiay e-^eje ypacpeiy vfiiv, avrol yap v/iei<s oeooi-c
tsh&i r*r*-1M ' i- > li-st- '$¦-• i,-"-^-iV\ ,.. 10 \ M- \
oaxroi ecrre et? to, ayairav aXXriAov?* luKal yap
rorotetYe avrb et? irdvras rov<s dSeXrf>ov? [t,ov?] eV 0X77
rrf M.aKeBovia. , ], ^prJlapaKaXov/iev> Be v fid's,
dBeXcpoi, irepio-Q-eveiv fidXXov, 1:t/cat cpiXorifieicrdai r}<rv-
Xd^eiv xal irpdaaeiy rd 'IBia xal ipyd^eadai Tat?
-)(epo~lv v/i&v, xadd><s v/ilv irapr/yyeiXafiev, 12iva irepi-
irarr)re evcr^ffibvm<s irpo<; Toil's efjw xal fij]Sevb<s ypeiav
exvre. 130i3 deXo/iev Be v/xa? dyvoeiv, dBeXcpoi,. irepl t&v
xoifKOfievav, iva firf Xvirrjcrde xada><s xal oi Xoiirol oi
fir) ej(pvTe<s iXiriBa. uel yap iriurevofiev on 'It/o-ou?
diredavev xal dvearrf, ovrco<s xal o deo<s robs xoifirj-
devras Bid rov 'Irjo-ov afjei o~vv avrm. 15Tovto ydp vfiiv
Xeyofiev iv Xdyto xvpiov, on r)fiei<s 01 £aWe? oi irepi-
Xeiirofievoi et? rr)v irapovcriav rov Kvpiov ov fiij tfidd-
o-(Ofiev tov? Koifirfdevrais' 16ori avrb<s o xvpios iv xeXev-
sTfian, iv (bwvfj dp%ayyeXov xal iv crdXiriyyi deov,
xaraBrjo-erai air ovpavov, xal oi vexpol iv XptcrTft)
dvaarrjaovrai irp&rov, 17 eireira r)fiei<s oi %&vre<s oi
irepiXeiirofievoi dfia aiiv avrol'i dpirayrjcrofieda ev ve-
<ie\at? et? dirdvTrfcriv rov xvpiov et? depa' Kal ovraxs

ETTIITOAH [4 17

irdvrore crvv xvp'iw icrofieda. 18"Oo"Te irapaxaXeire
aXXT^Xov? ev Tot? XoYot? tovtoi?.
5 1IIept Be r&v yjpbvasv Kal r&v Kaip&v, dBeXcpoi,
oil -%peiav e^ere ifiiv ypdcheadai, 2ai)rol ydp aKpiB&<s
o'lBare on r)/iepa Kvptov to? xXeirrrfs iv vvxrl ovtuks
epyerai. s6rav Xeycoo-iv JLiprjvr) xal ducpdXeia, rore
alcpv'iBio<s airoi<s eirtcTTarai 6Xedpo<s &trirep ff coBlv rfj
iv yaarpl i-^pva-n, xal oil fir) ixcpvycocriv. ivfiel<s Be,
dBeXcpoi, ovx core iv cxorei, iva r) r)fiepa vfid<s a>?
xXeirras xaraXdBy, 5irdvreis yap vfieis viol <£a>To?
iare xai viol r)fiepa<s. Oiix io-fiev vvxrb<s oiiBe ctxo-
tov<s' 6apa odv fir) xadevBcofiev ays 01 Xoiiroi, dXXa
yprjyop&fiev xal vrjcpcofiev. ' oi ydp xadevBovre<s vvxros
xadevBovcriv, xal oi fiedvcrxbfievoi vvxrb<s fiedvovaiv
sr)fiei<s Be r)fiepa<s ovre<s vrjcpm/iev, eNAycAMeNOi GcbpAKA
iria-rews xal dydirr)? xal nepiKechAAAiAN iXiriBa coith-
' „ Qrf > sin r « I ft \ » » \ >-\ -\ \ >
piAC JoTt ovk evero r)/ia<s o ueo<s et? opyrjv aXXa et?
irepiironjcTiv amrrfpla's Bid rov Kvpiov r)fi&v 'lrfcrov
[X-pio-TOvl, 10rov dirodav6vro<s irepl r)/i&v iva e'lre
yprjyop&fiev e'lre xadevBwfiev Hfia crvv air& tflcrcofiev.
uAto irapaxaXeire aXX7;Xov? xal oixoBofieire et<s rbv
eva, xadd><s xal iroielre.
12 'JLpcor&fiev Be v fid's, dBeXcf>oi, elBevai robs koiti&v- .
Ta? ev vfiiv Kal irpo'io-rafievovs vfi&v ev xvpico xal
vovderovvras , vfid<s, lsxal r)yeicrdai airoii<s virepex-
irepiuaov iv dydirn Bid rb epyov air&v. elprjvevere ev
eavTot?. uHapaxaXovfiev Be v/xa?, dBeXcpoi, vovde-
reire rov<s araKrovs, irapafiv0eio-0e tov? oXiyo-drvyovs,
dvre-yeo-0e r&v dcrdev&v, fiaKpo0vfieire irpb<s irdvra's.
v'6pdre fir] Tt? KaKov dvrl xaxov nvl diroBw, dXXd
irdvrore rb dyadbv Biwxere et? dXXr/Xov<s xal et?

5 28] TTPOZ 0EZSAAONIKEII A 7
irdvra<s. wYldvTore %atpeTe, 17aStaXet7rTa)? irpocrev-
-yecr0e, 18iv iravrl eiyapicrreire' rovro ydp 0eXrj/ia
0epv iv XptcrTft) 'Itio-ov et? vita?. 19rb irvevfia fir)
crBevvvre, 20irpocprireia<s fir) i^ov0eveire' 21irdvra [Be]
BoKifid&re, to KaXbv Kare-y^ere, 22atto ttantoc etSov?
noNHpoy AnexecQe. 23Avto? Be 6 0eb<s tt}? eiprjvw's
dyidaai vfid<s oXoTeXet?, xal oXoxXtjpov bfi&v to irvevfia
xai r) ¦yjrvyr] xal to cr&fia dfiefiirrws ev rfj ¦ irapovaia
rov xvpiov r)fi&v 'Irjo-ov X.piurov rifpr]0eir]. 2iiricrro<s
0 xaX&v vfia's, o? xal iroirjcrei.
2S'ABeXcpoi, irpoo~evyeo-0e [xal] irepl fjfi&v.
2&,Ao-irdaau0e rov<s aBeXc\>ov<s irdvra's iv cpiXrjfiari
dyia>. 27 'Evop/etfa) "vita? rbv xvpiov avayvcocr0r)vai
rr)v eiricrroXr)v irdcriv roi<s d8eXcpoi<s.
28 'H %apt? rov xvpiov r)fi&v 'Irjaov XptcrTov fie0
v/i&v.

TTP02 0E2SAA0NIKEI2 B

1 1UavXo<s xal %iXovavbs xal Ttito^eo? tt} ix-
xXrjaia, ®eaaaXovixeoov iv 0e& irarpl r)fi&v xal^xvpim
Irjaov Xpto-ToS* 2,ydpi<s vfiiv xal eipr/vrj dirb 0eov
irarpo's xal xvpiov 'Irjaov XptcrTov.
3Ev;^apt<7TetV bcpeiXofiev r& 0e& irdvrore irepl bfi&v,
dBeXcpoi, xa0d><s a%iov ianv, on virepav^dvei r) irian<s
vfi&v xai irXeovd^ei r) dydirrj evo? exdarov irdvrcov
iifi&v et? dXXrjXovs, iSare avTov? J7p;a? iv vfiiv ivxav-
¦yaa0ai iv rai<s ixxXqaiai's rov 0eov virep tt}? vtto-
fiovrfs v/i&v xai iriarews ev iraaiv roi<s Bitoyfioi<s vfi&v
xal Tat? 0Xtyeaiv ah dveyea0e, &ev8eiyfia tt}? hixaias
Kpicrews rov 0eov, et? ro Karaljicodrjyai vita? tt}?
BacrtXeias rov deov, virep 77? Kal irda-yere, 6e'lirep Bi---
Kaiov irapa 0e& avrairoBovvai roi<s 0XlBovaiv vfias,
0Xtyiv ' xal vfiiv Tot? ffXiBqfievoi<s dveaiv ue0' r)fi&v ev
rj) airoxaXirtyei rov xvpiov 'Irjaov air oipavov fier dy-
yeXcov Bvvdfieoxs airov en rrypi cbAordc, 8AiAdNjoc ekAi'-:
khcin to?c mh" eiAda GeoN «at to?c mh yttakoy'oycin t&
eiayyeXiai tov xvpiov r)fi&v 'irjaov, 9oirive<s Blxrjv
riaovaiv oXe0pov ai&viov atto npocojnoy Toy Kypi'oy kai
And THC AoShc thc icxyoc AyToy, 10otan eAGH InAoIa-
cBhnai cn toic Ari'oic AyTof xal 8aymac6hnai ev irdaiv

2 ii] nPOZ OEZSAAONIKEIS B

Tot? iriarevaaatv, on iiriarev0rf rb fiaprvpiov r)fi&v
icfV bfias, In th HMepA Ikci'imh. uEt? o Kal irpoo-evyp-
ue0a irdvrore irepl vfi&v, iva ifid<s d^iway tt}? KXrjaewsT'
6 deb's rffi&v xal irXr/pwarj traaav eiBoxiav dr/a0wawr)<s\
xal epyov iriarews ev Bvvdfiei, 126irw<s eNAoiAcSiH Td/
(Jnoma tov xvpiov r)fi&v 'Irjaov en ymTn, xal bfiei<s ev
avrw, xard rrjv %dpiv rov 0eov r}/i&v xal xvpiov Irjaov
X-piarov. 2 1'Epo»Ta>p;6i' Be v/id<s, dBeXcpoi, virep tt}? irapov-
aia<s tov xvpiov [rjfi&v] 'l77<rov Xpiarov xal rju&v
iiriavvaycoyr)<s iir avrov, 2et? rb fir) ra-yews aaXevdfjvai
vfia's dirb rov vob<s firjBe dpoeiadai firjre Bid irvevfiaro<s
urjre Bid Xoyov firjre Bi iiriaroXffs a>? Bi rjfi&v, at?
6Vt evearrjxev r) rjfiepa rov xvpiov. s fir) n<s v fid's
i^airarrjarj xard firjBeva rpoirov on edv fir) eX0rj
r) diroaraaia irp&rov xal diroxaXvcpdfj 6 avdpcoiro<s
tt}? dvofiia<s, 6 vlb<; tt}? a7ratXeia?, i6 dvnxeifievo<s kai
YnepAipOMeNOC enl ttanta Xeyofievov 6eoN r) aeBaa/ia,
ware avrbv etc ton vabv Toy 6eoy kaOi'cai, diroBeixvvvra
eavrov on eanv 6eoc — . 6Ov fivrj/iovevere on en wv
Trpo? v/ia? TavTa eXeyov . iifiiv ; 6xal vvv to xareypv
o'lBare, et? rb diroxaXvcpdrjvai avrbv iv tg3 avrov xaipw'
' rb yap fivarrjpiov rjBrj ivepyeirai tt}? dvofiia's' fiovov
6 xareywv apn ew<s ex fieaov yevrjrai. sxal Tore*
diroxaXvcpdrjaerai 6 anomoc, bv 6 xvpio<s ['I170-0V?]
ANeAeT to TTNefMATi toy ctomatoc aytoy «at xarapyrjaei
tt} iiricpaveia tt}? irapovaia-s avrov, 9ov iarlv 77 7ra-
povaia xar ivepyeiav rov %arava iv irdarj Bvvdfiei
xal arjfieioi<s xai repaaiv •y-evoov? '¦"xai ev traarj airarrj
dBixla'S toi? diroXXvfievoi<s, dvff &v rrjv dyairrjv tt}?
dXr)0eia<s ovk iSe^avro et? rb awdrjvai avrov'S' nxal

io tlll2.T0AH [2 n
Sta rovro irefiirei avroi<s o 0eo<s ivepyeiav irXavrps et?
rb iriarevaai ayrov<s r& yfrevBet, 12iva xpi0&aiv irdvre<s
oi fir) iriarevaavre<s rfj aXrj0eia dXXd evBoxrjaavre<s
tt) aoixia. *'--,.,i;
13'Hyttet? Be ocpeiXofiev ev-yapiareiv r& 0e& irdvrore
irepl v/i&v, dBeXcpoi HrATTHMeNOi yrrd Kypi'oy, on eiXaro
v fid's 6 0eb<s air ap%T}? et? aarrjpiav ev dyiaaaw
irvevfiaro<s xal iriarei aXrj0eia<s, 14et? o ixdXeaev v fid's
Bid rov evayyeXiov rjfi&v, et? irepiiroirjaiv B6^rj<s tov
xvpiov rjfi&v 'Irjaov Xptarov. 1B"Apa ovv, dBeXcpoi,
arrjxere, xal xpareire rd<s irapaB6aei<s a? eBiBd-y0rjre
e'lre Bid Xoyov e'lre Bi iiriaroXfj<s rjfi&v. 16Avt<5? Be
o Kvpio<s rjfi&v 'Irjaov<s XptcrTO? xal [6] 0e6<s 6 irarrjp
rjfi&v, 6 dyairr]aa<s r)fid<s xal Boirs irapdxXrjaiv alw-
viav xal iXiriBa dya0rjv ev j^aptTt, 17 irapaxaXeaat
vfi&v ra<s xapBia<s xal arrjpifjai iv iravrl epycp xal
Xoycp aya0&.
3 1To Xoiirbv irpoaev,yea0e, dBeXcpoi, irepl rjfi&v,
iva o Xoyo's tov xvpiov rpe)(rj xal Bo^dtyjrai xa0oas
xal irpb<s vud<s, 2xal iva pva0&fiev dirb r&v drb-
irwv xai irovrjp&v dv0pwirwv, ov ydp irdvrwv r)
irian<s. 3IIio-to? Be iariv 6 xvpio<s, o? arrjplljei
vfid<s xal cpvXa^ei diro rov irovrjpov. iireiroi0afiev
Be iv xvpico icp' vud<s, on d irapayyiXXofiev [xal]
iroieire xai iroirjaere. 5 O Be Kvpio<s Karev0vvai vfi&v
to? KapBia<s et? rrjv dyairrjv rov 0eov xal et? rrjv
viro/iovrjv rov ypiarov.
6TIapayyeXXofiev Be vfiiv, dBeXipoi, ev ovo/ian rov
xvpiov 'Irjaov Xpiarov are\Xea0ai vud<s dirb iravrb<;
dBeXcpov ardKrws irepiirarovvro's xal fir) xard rrjv
irapdBoaiv rjv irapeXdBere irap' r]/i&v. 7 avrol ydp o'l-

3 i8] TTPOI 0EZZAAONIKEII B ~ ti
 — <=  . ¦Sfa-r>-f^'' *? - - ~J?>~^~-> - *«- -%vfc^ 
Bare ir&<s Bji /iifieia0ai r)ud<s, on ovx r'jraKrrjaauev
iv vfiiv sovBe Bwpedv aprov itfidryofiev irapa nvo<s,
aXX' iv xoircp xal fioydcp vvxrbs xal rjfiepa? ipya^b-:
fievoi irpo<s rb fir) iiriBaprjaai riva vfi&v 9ov;j£ on
ovk eyofiev il-ovalav, dXX' iva eavrov<s rvirov B&fiev
vfuv et? rb /iifieiadai r)ud<s. 10xal ydp ore rjuev irpbs'
v/ia<s, rovro iraprjyyeXXofiev vfiiv, on et Tt? ov 0eXet
ipyd^eadai firjBe iadierw. ^dxovofiev ydp riva? irepi-
irarovvra's iv vfiiv araxrws, firjBev ipya^o/ievovs dXXd
irepiepya^ofievovs' 12Tot? Be roiovroi<s irapayyeXXo/iev
xal irapaxaXovuev iv xvpiw 'Irjaov XpttrTW iva fierd
rjo-v^ta? ipya^bfievoi rov eavr&v aprov iadiwaiv.
13'T/iet? Be, dBeXcpoi, fir) ivxaxrjarjre xaXoiroiovvre<s. uel
Be Tt? ovx b'7raicovei r& Xoyw rju&v Bid tt}? 67Tio"toXt}?,
tovtov arjfieiovade, fir) avvava/iiyvvadai avrw, 'iva ev-
Tpairfj' 1Bxal ur) a>? e^dpbv r)yeia0e, dXXd vov0ereire
to? dBeXcpov. 16Avto? Be 6 xvpios tt}? eiprjvrjs Bcprj
vfiiv rrjv elprjvrjv Bid iravrb<s iv iravrl rpoirw. b xv
pios fierd iravrwv vfi&v.
17 'O dairaaub's rfj i/ifj j^etpl IlavXov, o ianv
« > I 1 -\ * fl IS SQ I I
arjfieiov ev iraarj eiriaroKrj' ovrws ypacpw. Larj %apt?
rov xvpiov rjfi&v 'Irjaov XptcrTov fiera iravrwv vfi&v.

NOTES.
1 THESSALONIANS.
CHAPTER I.
Title. The received form of the titles of St Paul's Epistles has no
ms. authority. It appeared first in Beza's printed editions, and was
adopted by the Elzevirs ; the A.V. took it from Beza. irpos 0«ro-o-
Xovikeis a' is the heading of the Epistle in KABK 17, also in cop basm
goth ; similarly throughout the Pauline Epp. in SAB and C (where
extant) ; D prefixes apxerai, from 2 Cor. onwards. This form of title
beloDgs to the earliest times, when St Paul's Epistles formed a single
and separate Book, entitled O ATTOCTOAOC, within which the
several Letters were distinguished by the bare address. The two to
the Thessalonians appear to have always stood last in the second
group of those addressed to Churches, consisting of smaller Epistles
(Eph. Phil. Col. 1 and 2 Thess.).
B* spells 9e<r<ra\o>'«K«s, a characteristic itacism ; G -vikcuovs.
1. DG81, read XtXplavos, as regularly in the Papyri.
BG 47 73, and the Gr. text of Cramer's Catena, g r vg syrr (except
hol^s) basm aeth, conclude the greeting without the clause airo irarpos
i)iumi km Kvpiov I. X., which is added in 2 Thess., and almost uniformly
in later Epp. The shorter reading is sustained by Chr, in his Com
mentary ad loc, Thphyl, and expressly by Or4' 4ea (Lat. interpr.): "Ad
Thess. vero prima ita habet, Gratia vobis et pax, et nihil ultra " ;
similarly Luciferbrus] "Non addas,_a Deo patre nostro et domino J. C."
The T.B., with minor variations, is found in all other witnesses, in
cluding XACDKLP, the old latt (except f g r) cop, <fcc. The tendency to
assimilate formuUe of salutation was irresistible ; cf. Col. i. 2, where
BD vg syrr (except hclms) Or Chr, against the vast majority, support
the shorter text. A case for the maxim, "Brevior lectio praferenda."
2. KCCDKP &o., latt cop syrr, add to pvaav the complement viuav,
which is wanting in X*AB 17 67** — a Western and Syrian insertion.
Cf. Eph. i. 16, where D* is against the addition, and X shows no
variation. In each of these instances the pronoun has just previously

14 1 THESSALONIANS. [1
occurred. Versions are of little or no weight where points of gram
matical usage are involved.
3. The reading tov epyov. ..tov kottov...ti]v viro/tovriv, of D*, ex
hibits the carelessness of Western transcribers ; G has the accusative
throughout, et laboris et caritatis (as if t. kottov Kai r. ayairrj':) in vg.
4. BDG omit, KACKP insert, the article tov before 6eov : cf. ii. 4.
Possibly the art. is an Alexandrian insertion, due to v. 3 (ep.irpoo-8ev
tov 6eov). See the note next but two; cf. II. ii. 13 ; also Heb. vi. 18,
where the same group (K*ACP) insert the article.
5. C reads tvayy. tov Beov (instead of i]p,<ov) ; K tov 8eov r\v.av, by
conflation : this aberrant variation may be due to the influence of
ii. 2, 8 f.
ACDGKP, &c, influenced by the context, repeat ev before -n-X-qpo-
(popia — wanting in KB 17.
ev before vp.iv is supported by BDG and the T.B., against NACP
17 67** in which it is wanting ; cf. note on v. 4 above. Here ev
might easily be dropped after eyevr]8r|pev, and would hardly be offi
ciously inserted : transcriptional probability favours its genuineness.
In ii. 10 ev is absent in construction with this verb ; but eyevr]6T]p,Ev
is there qualified by adverbs which the bare dative suits, while in this
place 8V vp.as suggests the antithetical ev wp.iv : see iii. 7, iv. 14 ;
2 Cor. i. 11, 20, iii. 18; Bom. i. 17, for the like Pauline play upon
prepositions. 7. totov in BD* 17 47 67** latt vg sah cop. tvttovs, in KACGKLP,
&c, assimilated to vpas. Cf. II. iii. 9 ; but the plural in 1 Pet. v. 3.
The T.B. omits second ev (t[| A\.) after KL and many minuscules;
other minuscules omit tt| also — in both instances assimilating v. 7 to
¦v. 8. See next note.
8. On the other hand, KACDGP, &e., latt vg, insert ev tt) before
Axauj, copying v. 7 ; while B 17 37 47 sah cop preserve the shorter
reading. On the grammatical difference see Expository Note.
ex«LV rjpas (in this order) : all pre-Syrian uncials ; B* reads v/ias, as
in next note.
9. B, with 20 minuscules, sah cop, Thdrt Dam Oec, reads irepi
vpjsiv (for iflxav), a mistake due perhaps to the prominent vpov of v. 8 ;
WH place vpunv in the margin.
The exop.ev of T.B. is found only in a few minuscules; eo-xopev
in all uncials and best versions. Present and 2nd aorist forms of
this verb are often confused through the resemblance of uncial e
and c.

1 1] NOTES. 15
10. ACK omit twv before veKpwv : Pauline usage varies.
Before rqs opyns, eK is read by KABP 17 73 : airo by CDGKL, &o.,
Western and Syrian ; vg ab ira.

§ 1. i. 1. Addkess and Gueeting.
1. IlavXos k. SiXovavos k. TipoSeos — so in II. i. 1 — now together
at Corinth (see Introd. pp. xxxii. f.), write as joint-founders and pastors
of this Church : cf . 2 Cor. i. 19. St Paul betrays himself as the actual
composer in ii. 18 and iii. 5, and speaks in his own person again, with
strong feeling, in v. 27. Timothy is distinguished from his senior
companions in iii. 6 ff. ; Silvanus' share throughout is passed over in
silence. St Paul's practice varies in the Letters of associate author
ship : in 1 and 2 Thess. the body of the Epistle runs in the 1st person
plural, and the 1st plural prevails in 2 Cor. i. — ix. (otherwise in x. —
xiii.); but 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, despite
the associated names in the Address, run in the 1st singular. In the
latter instances St Paul's companions share in the greeting only ; in
the former they are parties to the matter of the Epistle. Cf. Note on
the Plural Authorship, Introd. p. xxxix.
For the association of Silvanus with St Paul see Acts xv. 27, 40, —
xviii. 5 ; the Silvanus of 1 Pet. v. 12 is almost certainly the same
person — an important link between St Peter and St Paul, and between
the latter and the Judsean Church (cf. note on ii. 14). Silvanus
appears always as Silas in Acts : the latter name was supposed to be
a Greek abbreviation of the former (Latin) ; but Th. Zahn makes out
(Einleitung in das N.T.2, p. 23) that 2(Xas is of Aramaic origin
(N?,B' NTNB* or v'E' — Jewish personal names found in the
Inscriptions, and in the Talmud : from root 7KC), and that Silvanus
was Silas' (Shila's) adopted name of Boman citizenship (see Acts xvi.
37), chosen presumably from resemblance of sound; cf. Jesus- Jason,
Joseph-Hegesippus, &c. 2iXovav6s, shortened, should have made
SiXouas or SiX/3Ss (cf. Josephus, Jewish War, vn. 8), rather than
SlXas. His Boman surname, and his established position in the
mother Church (Acts xv. 22, 32), suggest that Silvanus was amongst
the iiriSiipioDvTes 'Pwficuoi of Acts ii. 10 converted on the day of
Pentecost ; or possibly, had belonged to the o-vvayuyi] AifiepTtvwv
(Aots vi. 9) in Jerusalem. St Paul had "selected Silas" (iiriKe-
Z&pievos, Acts xv. 40) — " elegit socium non ministrum " (Blass) — on
setting out for his second Missionary Expedition; Timotheus was
enlisted later (Acts xvi. I — 3) to replace John Mark (xiii. 5), in a

16 1 THESSALONIANS. [1 1
subordinate capacity ; hence ' ' Paul and Silas " figure in the narrative of
Acts xvi., xvii. For Timothy's relations with the Thessalonian Church
see iii. 2 — 6, and notes below.
In 1 and 2 Thess. St Paul distinguishes himself by no title;
similarly in Phil. i. 1 be and Timothy are alike SoOXoi XpicrTofl TijcroC;
in Phm. 9 he styles himself SeV/uos Xp. 'li)S. : in all other Epistles the
designation airbaToXos, or /cXijros airbo-ro\os, is attached to his name.
He stood on a homelier footing with the Macedonian Churches than
with others (see ii. 7 — 12, and Introd. pp. xliii., lxii.). In ii. 6 (see
note) the three missionaries rank together as 'apostles.' The Judaistic
attacks on St Paul's authority, which engaged the Apostle on the
third missionary tour, had not yet commenced: contrast Gal. i. 1,
11—20; I Cor. ix. I ff . ; 2 Cor. x. 8, &c. ; Bom. i. 1—6.
The three names — Paul, Silvanus, Timothy — typify the mixed
condition of Jewish society at this time, and of the primitive
Christian constituency. Paul and Silvanus are Jews (Hebrew Saul,
and Sila or Shila), with Boman surname and citizenship; Timotheus
had a Greek name and father, but a Jewish mother (Acts xvi. 1). So
the Church was a Grasco-Boman superstructure, resting on a Jewish
foundation. The Letter is addressed ttj 4kkXt]o-Co. 6eo-o-a.Xovi.KeW Iv 8e(J irorpl
koV Kvpta 'Iiio-oS XpKrrcjS — a form of description confined to
1 and 2 Thessalonians, freely rendered : " To the assembly of Thessa
lonians acknowledging God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord,
gathered in this twofold Name." Tjj iKKX-qala receives its local
limitation ; then tj kKKXyo-lq, QeaaaXovmiuv receives the necessary
spiritual definition, h 8ei# k.t.\.
In later Epistles St Paul writes " To the church (or saints) in
Corinth, Borne, &c"; only in 1 and 2 Thess. does he use in his
Address the name of the people (citizens) — in Gal. i. 2, however, " To
the churches of Galatia" (cf. i. 22; 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 19; 2 Cor. viii. lj.
The later style of expression — " Church in," &c. — superseded this as
the Christian community spread and the Church came to be thought
of as an extended whole ' in ' many places : thus it is already conceived
in I Cor. i. 1; ef. ii. 14 below.
ev 9e<J iraTpl k.t.X. might be attached grammatically to the pre
dicate %o\pis v/mv k.t.X. ; so Hofmann construes, wilh a few others.
But the dxi-clause following elptyi\, which is genuine in 2 Thess. i. 2
(though spurious here), excludes the reference of iv deQ k.t.X. to the
predicate there, making it very unlikely here. Moreover, the fore
going designation requires this Umitation ; there were many iKKXijo-lai
OeffffaXovixeW, meeting for manifold purposes — civil and religious

1 1] NOTES. 17
(including the Synagogue), regular or irregular (cf. Acts xix. 32, 39) ;
this "assembly of Thessalonians" is constituted "in God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ." It is a stated religious society, marked
off from all that is Pagan or Jewish as it is grounded "in God"
confessed as "Father," and "Jesus Christ " adored as "Lord": cf.
carefully 1 Cor. i. 2 with viii. 5, 6. Everything this iKKXricta Oeo-ira-
XoviKiav rests upon and exists for is centred in those two Names,
which complement each other and are bound by the vinculum of the
single iv. "In God the Father," its members know themselves to be
His children (of. v. 4, ii. 12, iii. 13, v. 23 f. ; II. ii. 16) ; "in the Lord,"
discerning their Saviour's divine Sonship and authority (v. 10, ii. 15,
see note, iv. 15 — 17, &c.) ; "in Jesus," His human birth and history
(ii. 15, iv. 14, <fec.) ; "in Christ," His Uving presence and relationship
to His people (n. 7, iv. 16, &c).
The doubly anarthrous 6e$ irarpi (cf. v. 9, and contrast iii. 13, &c.)
is the rule in epistolary formula), occurring besides in Eph. vi. 23
and Phil. ii. 11, where, as here, the phrase carries a quasi-confes-
sional force : " in a God (known as) Father, and (as) Lord, Jesus
Christ." "In Christ," "in the Lord," is St Paul's characteristic
definition of Christian acts or states; "in God" occurs, in like con
nexion, only in ii. 2 and Col. iii. 3 besides — the latter an instructive
parallel. X<ipis vp.iv echoes, more in sound than in sense, the x«'p«",
Xatpere, of every-day Greek salutation (cf. Acts xv. 23, xxiii. 26;
James i. 1, &c), while clprjvi] reproduces the Eastern Dipt?, salaam
(cf., beside the Epp., Dan. iv. 1, vi. 25 ; Lk. x. 5, xxiv. 36, &c.) : here
the Pauline greeting has its earliest and briefest form, enlarged
already in 2 Thess. This formula may well have been St Paul'B own
coinage, passing from him to other Christian writers (see the greetings
of 1 and 2 Peter, 2 John, and Bevelation) ; his whole gospel is en
folded in the wish x<£pts i/juv Kal elp-t\vi\, as the whole faith of his
readers in the definition iv 8eip irarpi k. Kvplip 'LjeroB Xpurrif. Xdpis
is the sum of all Divine blessing bestowed in Christ on undeserving
men; elpi)vi) (the fruit of x<ip« received in faith), the sum of all
blessing thus experienced by man. " Grace," in its full import, be
gins with the coming of Christ (Bom. v. 15 ; Tit. ii. 11 ; Jo. i. 17) ;
"Peace," including the inner tranquillity and health flowing from
reconciliation with God, begins with the sense of justification (Bom.
v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 14). Both, received as bounties of God, become habits
and qualities of the soul itself (see Bom. v. 1, 2; 2 Cor. viii. 7;
Phil. iv. 7) ; but x<fy"! naturaUy leans to the former (objective) and
Thess. B

18 1 THESSALONIANS. [1 1—
elp^vij to the latter (subjective) Bense. Both centre in the cross of
Christ, where God exhibits His grace and Christians find their peace
(seev. 9f.; Gal. ii. 21; Col. i. 20; Eph. ii. 14—18; Bom. v. 10: cf.
Heb. n. 9, xiii. 20 f.). Gbace is St Paul's watchword, occurring twice
as often in his writings as in all the rest of the N.T. ; in this Epistle
however it wUl only meet us again in the final greeting, v. 28. Cf.
the note on x&pis in II. i. 12.
§ 2. i. 2 — 10. Thanksgiving fob the Thessalonian Chuech.
This evxapurHa is one long sentence spun out in a continuous
thread (cf. Eph. i. 3 — 14; and see Introd. p. Ux.). It affords a good
example of the writer's characteristic style (see Jowett's or Lightfoot's
Commentary ad loc.) ¦ St Paul's sentences are not built up in orderly
and balanced periods (as e.g. those of the Epistle to the Hebrews) ;
they grow like living things, putting forth processes now in this
direction now in that, under the impulse of the moment, and
gathering force as they advance by the expansion in each successive
movement of the thought of the previous clause. On the epistolary
form of Thanksgiving, see Introd. p. lxi.
Evxapio-Toiipev is buttressed by three parallel participles (vv. 2 — 4),
in which p.ve(av iroiovpevoi supplies the occasion, pvijpovevovTes the
more immediate and elSoTes k.t.\. the ultimate ground of the Apostle's
thanksgiving; "We give thanks... in making mention... as we re
member... since we know,'' cfec. The above fundamental ground of
thanksgiving is made good by proof in the 6Vi-sentence beginning in
v. 5, which, covering the rest of the chapter, gives an account (a) of
the bringing of the gospel to Thessalonica (v. 5), (6) of its reception
by the readers (v. 6) ; finally, of the effect of aU this upon others, as
evidenced (c) in the impression made on them by the conversion oi
the Thessalonians (vv. 7 f.), and (d) in the report which is everywhere
current of the success of the Apostles' mission in this eity (vv. 9 f.).
We are thus brought round at the conclusion to the starting-point
of the doxology, viz. v/mZv toB ipyov rijs irlareuis.
2. evxapio-rovp,ev t<S 8eu>. Except in writing to "the churches of
Galatia," the Apostle always begins with thanksgiving (cf. v. 18);
here expressed with warmth and emphasis: see Jnirod.-pp. xxxiii.,
lxii. EixapitrTiu (classical x^P" %Xa> 1- Tim. i. 12, &c.) — with its
cognates in -tos, -Ha, confined to St Paul's amongst the Epistles — is
infrequent in the N.T. elsewhere ; the compound first occurs in De
mosthenes, de Corona p. 257, with an earlier sense, 'to do a good
turn to ' (Lightfoot).

1 3] NOTES. 19
pvftav iroioipevoi, making mention rather than remembering ;
mentioncm (Beza), not memoriam (Vulg.), facientes — the latter the
sense of u,vi)iu>veiu in v. 3 • cf. Plato, Protag. 317 E and Phaedrus
254 A (Lightf.); also Bom. i. 9; Eph. i. 16; Phm. 4. Mvdav tya, in
iii. 6, is different (see note). M. w irpoo-evx<3v ijpuv, °>l occasion
of our prayers ; so ir' i/tov, in my time (Herodotus); iir' iu.ijs vebrqTos
(Aristophanes) ; iirl Selirvov (Lucian) : ' recalling your name when we
bend before God in prayer'; observe the union of prayer and thanks
giving in v. 17 f.
3. aSiaXeCirrcDS pvT|povevovTes : indesinenter memores (Calvin) — or
stiU better, indesinenter memoria recolentes (Estius : for iivqu.oveiiii
= iivi)iwiv eifi.1), being unremittingly mindful of your work, &c. The
rhythm and balance of the participial clauses seem to speak, however,
for the attachment of the adverb to v. 2— making mention of you in
our prayers unceasingly ; St Paul uses dSiaX. characteristically of
prayer : see U. 13, v. 17 ; Bom. i. 9 f . ; 2 Tim. i. 3. Mvvu.oveioi is
capable of the same double use as fivelav iroiovu-at. above ; but it is-
construed with irepl in the sense of mentioning (cf. Heb. xi. 22) ; the
bare genitive suits the sense remembering : cf . Gal. ii. 10 ; Col. iv. 18 ;
and note the different shade of meaning conveyed by the accusative
in ii. 9. On the grammatical construction, see Winer -Moulton,
Grammar, pp. 256 f.
tpirpoo-8ev tov 6eov k.t.\. at the end of this clause balances tu> de£
and eVI t&v irpotrevx£>v of the preceding clauses : " in the presence (or
sight) of our God and Father " St Paul and his companions ever bear
in mind the Christian worth of the Thessalonians. "Epnrpotrdev in
this connexion is peculiar to this Epistle: ii. 19, iii. 9, 13; cf. 2 Cor.
v. 10 ; Acts x. 4 ; 1 Jo. iii. 19- Grammatically, the l/iirpoffOev clause
might adhere to the nearer verbal nouns Zpyov, k6tov, iiro/i.ovTJs, or to
the last alone (so Lightf. : cf. iii. 13 ; and, for the idea, 2 Cor. iv. 18 ;
Heb. xi. 27), much as iv dey irarpi is attached to iKKK-qo-lq. in v. 1 ; but
¦hvMv points back to the subject of p.vnpu>veiovTes, and through the first
part of the Letter there runs a tone of solemn protestation on the
writers' part (see Introd. pp. xxxiv. f.) with which this emphatic ad
junct to the participle is in keeping: see ii. 4ff., 19 f., iii. 9; and cf.
Bom. ix. 1 f. ; 2 Cor. i. 23, xi. 31.
vpwv tov epyou ttjs irCo-Tews Kal tov kottov ttjs dyttirris Kal rrf|S
viropovTJs ttjs eXirCSos tov Kvpiov k.t.X. On occasion of mentioning
persons (v. 2), one recalls their character and deeds. The three objects
of remembrance — £07011, k67tou, iirop.ovijs (for the trio, cf. Bev. ii. 2) — are
parallel and collectively introduced by the possessive i/uav, each being
B2

20 1 THESSALONIANS. [1 3—
expressed by a verbal noun with subjective genitive, on which genitive
in each case — trlo-reus, dydirijs, i\irl8os — the emphasis rests : " remem
bering how your faith works, and your love toils,, and your hope
endures " ; see Blass' Gram, of N.T. Greek, p. 96. The third of the
latter three is defined by the objective genitive, toO Kvpiov iifitiv 'Inaov
XpuTTov: Hope fastens on "our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Jo. iii. 3) —
thus named under the sense of the majesty of His rapovala (cf. v. 10,
v. 9, 23; II. i. 12, ii. 14, 16; also 1 Cor. i. 7—9, &c.)— while in this
context Faith looks, through Christ, " toward God " (v. 8 f .), and
Love has "the brethren" for object (iv. 9f.; II. i. 3). The familiar
Pauline triad first presents itself here— -fides, amor, spes: summa
Christianismi (Bengel); they reappear in v. 8: cf. the thanksgiving
of II. i. 3 f. ; also 1 Cor. xiii. 13 (where love predominates, as against
Corinthian selfishness and strife; here hope, under the pressure of
Thessalonian affliction); Gal. v. 5 f.; Col. i. 4 f . ; in 1 Pet. i. 3 ff.
hope again takes the lead. Faith and Love are constantly associated
(see iii. 6, &c), Faith and Hope frequently (Bom. v. 1 ff., xv. 13, &c),
Love and Hope in 1 Jo. iv. 17 f. These formed the three "theological
virtues" of Scholastic Ethics, to which were appended the four
"philosophical virtues," Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Justice.
tov epyov ttjs tt£o-t6«s, faith's work (activity ; cf. Ja. i. 4) — a wide
expression (cf. ii. 13 below ; II. i. 11, ii. 17 ; Gal. v. 6) corresponding
to " the fruit of the Spirit " or " of the light " (Gal. v. 22; Eph. v. 9),
which embraces the whole practical outcome of Thessalonian faith
indicated immediately afterwards in vv. 7 — 10. The commendation is
characteristic of this Church (see Introd. p. xxxiii.). This connexion
of "faith," on its first appearance in St Paul's writings (cf. rltms
ivepyovu-ivrj, Gal. v. 6) with " work," shows that he waB as far from
approving a theoretical or sentimental faith as St James (see Ja. ii.
14 ff.). In the second group of his Epistles "faith" indeed is op
posed to (Pharisaic) " works of law " (see Bom. iv. 1 — 5 ; Gal. ii. 16,
iii. 10—14), for these " works " were put by the legalists in the place
of faith and were built upon as affording in their own right a ground
of salvation; the "work" of this passage and of James ii. is the
offspring of faith, and affords not the ground but the aim and evidence
of salvation. The distinction comes out very clearly in Eph. ii. 8 — 10 :
ovk ii i/twv, Beov rd d&pov ovk eg Zpywv... aorod ydp itru-ev iralnpM...
eirl ipyois AyaBois. Since rims is the root-virtue of Christianity,
Christians as such are styled oi irio-TeiioxTes (ii. 13; II. i. 10, &c).
tov kottov tijs aydinis k.t.X. The faith of this Church shone in
its toil of love (see iv. 9 ff. ; II. i. 3) and endurance of hope (vv. 6, 10,

1 4] NOTES. 21
ii. 14, v. 4 f. ; II. i. 4 ff., ii. 14). K6tos signifies wearing toil, labour
carried to the limit of strength, and differs from Ipyov as effort and
exertion from activity: St Paul refers both to his manual labour
(ii. 9; H. iii. 8) and to his missionary toil (iii. 5; 2 Cor. vi. 5) as
Koros ; cf. Koirida, Jo. iv. 6 ; Bev. ii. 3. In 1 Cor. iii. 8 k<Wos gives
the measure for Divine reward : here it is the expression of human
love ; thus parents task themselves for their children (cf. ii. 7 — 9 ; also
Eph. iv. 28, KoriaTa). On dydrn, the specific N.T. word for (spiritual)
Love) — to be distinguished from 0iX(a and epius— see Trench's N.T.
Synonyms, § 12, or Cremer's Bibl. -Theological Lexicon.
'Trou-ovf/ is a more positive, manful virtue than patience^see Trench,
Syn. § 53) ; it corresponds to the classical Kaprepla or KapTe/n;<ns (Plato,
Aristotle), and embraces perseverantia as weU as patientia (Old Latin)
or sustinentia (Vulg.) ; hence it suits with Ipyov and k6tos : see Bom.
ii. 7, ko0' viropiovty Ipyov dyaBov ; cf. also H. i. 4 — 7, and (including
iirofiivu) II. ni. 5 ; Bom. v. 4, viii. 25 ; Col. i. 11 ; Heb. xii. 1 ff. ;
Matt. x. 22. Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ inspired the brave patience
in which Thessalonian virtue, tried from the first by severe persecution
(v. 6, iii. 2 — 6), culminated.
V. 4 discloses the deeper ground of the Apostles' thanksgiving, lying
in their conviction, formed at the beginning of their ministry to the
Thessalonians (v. 5) and confirmed by subsequent experience (vv. 6 ff.,
ii. 13), that the readers are objects of God's electing love. elStfres —
siquidem novimus (Estius) — implies settled knowledge ; contrast this
with yviavat. of iii. 5 (see note).
aSeXcpol Tpyainipe'voi viro [tov] 6eov. The parallel construction of II.
n. 13 (see note) proves iri Beov to belong to the participle, for which
otherwise dyar-nrol would have served (see ii. 8; Phil. iv. 1, and
passim; cf. Bom. i. 7); the ordo verborum forbids attachment to tt/i>
iKXoyi)v (A.V.). This phrase occurs in Sirach xiv. 1, used of Moses
(with Kal dvBpibmav added) ; cf. Bom. ix. 25 (Hos. ii. 23, LXX). The
perf. partioiple marks the readers as objects of an abiding, determinate
love (cf. 1 Jo. iii. 1, AyAmiii diduKtv), which has taken expression in
their election.
etSoTes...TT|V eKXoy«iv vp«5v. St Paul's doxoiogies commonly look
behind the human worth of the subjects to some gracious action or
purpose on God's part towards them ; cf. e.g. 1 Cor. i. 4 ff. ; Phil. i. 6;
Col. i. 4 f. 'BKXoyi} (picking out, selection), from iKXiyo/iat ( = alpio/iai,
II. ii. 13), denotes the act of God in choosing a man or community
to receive some special grace, or to render some special service (e.g.,

22 1 THESSALONIANS. [1 4—
in Acts ix. 15), or for both intents at once; more particularly, as here
and in II. ii. 13, to salvation in Christ (see Bom. ix. 11, xi. 5, 28).
In Bom. xi. 7, by metonymy, it signifies a. body of chosen persons
(=iK\eKTol: for which usage cf. Bom. viii. 33; Tit. i. 1). Bom. xi.
shows how St Paul's doctrine of " election," " the elect of God," grew
out of the O.T. conception of Israel as "the people of Jehovah"
chosen and separated from the nations : see e.g. Ps. xxxni. 12,
cxxxv. 4; Deut. xiv. 2; Isai. xliii. 1 — 7; and cf. further with these
passages Bom. viii. 28 — 39; 1 Cor. i. 26 — 31; Eph. i. 4 ff., also
1 Pet. ii. 9'f. This election, in the case of Israel or of the N.T.
Churches, implied selection out of the mass who, for whatever reason,
are put aside — " the rest " (iv. 13, v. 6, below) ; and appropriation by
God. Under the " call " of the Gospel the national gives place to a
spiritual election, or iKXoyi) xdp«-os (Bom. xi. 5), of individual believers
who, collectively, constitute henceforth "the Israel of God" (Gal.
vi. 16) ; this is formed oi phvov i% 'lovdatuv (\eT/j./ia, xi. 5) dXXd Kal
i£ iBvdv (Bom. ix. 24 ; Eph. iii. 6), the latter being grafted into
the "garden-olive" (Bom. xi. 24) of God's primitive choice. In
Bom. viii. 28 — 30 the Divine iKhoyi) is represented as an orderly
rpbBetns— love planning for its chosen — with its successive steps of
rpoyvwins, irpobpitns, &c. ; in Eph. i. 4 it is carried back to a date
rpb KOTa/3oX^s Kbau-ov (see note on II. ii. 13 below). Our Lord's
parable of the Marriage-Supper (Matt. xxii. 1 — 14) distinguishes the
i«\eKTol from the kXvtoI, 'the invited'; otherwise in the N.T. the
two terms are equal in extent : see note on ii. 12 ; and cf. kXtjcis and
iKXiyo/uu as they are associated in 1 Cor. i. 26 ff. God's choice of
men does not preclude effort on their part (see v. 3), nor even the
contingency of failure; though the Apostle " knows the election" of
his readers, he "sends in order to know" their " faith... lest " his
" toil should prove vain " (iii. 5 ; cf. 2 Tim. ii. 10; Jo. vi. 70). The
missionaries are practically certain that their converts are of God's
elect, not absolutely sure of the final salvation of every individual thus
addressed. Of God's special favour to this people the writers were persuaded
(a) by the signal power attending their ministry at their first preaching
to them (v. Si), and (6) by the zeal and thoroughness with which they
had accepted the gospel (vv. 6 ff.).
5. oti to evayyeXiov T)p.wv ovk eyevijBT] els vpas k.t.X. "Oti — intro
ducing the coordinate and corresponding sentences of vv. 5, 6 (rb
eua77. Tju-dv oiK iyevtjBij els ifi.as...Kal vfieis ficfi. ijfiwv iyevi)BvTe) — is
explicative of elSbres, not rriv iKkoyipi, signifying in that, seeing that,
rather than how that (B.V.); for Sri of the ground, not content, of

i £>J NOTES. 23
knowledge, cf. Jo. vii. 29, xviii. 2 ; otherwise in 1 Cor. i 26. The
other view is strongly stated in Lightfoot's Note ad loc.
For yivonat. els of local direction, of. Acts xx. 16 ; but ethical direc
tion (of. iii. 5) is implied: "our Good News reached you, arrived at
your hearts." The "good news" is ours as "we proclaim" it (ii. 4, 9 ;
II. ii. 14; 2 Cor. iv. 3; Bom. i. 15, ii. 16, &c), but God's as He
originates and sends it (ii. 2, 9, 12 ; Bom. i. 2, &c), and Christ's
as He constitutes its matter (iii. 2; II. i. 8; Bom. i. 2; 1 Cor.
i. 23, &c). 'EyevtjBiiv, the Doric aorist of the koivi), is frequent in
this Epistle.
ovk.. Iv X6y<p povov dXXd Kal ev Svvdpei k.t.X. Eis gives the persons
to whom, iv the influence in which the eiayyiXiov came. Its bearers
in delivering their message at Thessalonica were conscious of a super
natural power that made them at the time sure of success. For the
antithesis X070S — Stivapus, familiar in the Epistles, see 1 Cor. ii. 1, 4f.,
iv. 19 f. ; 2 Cor. x. II (tpyov) , 1 Jo. iii. 18 ; in ii. 13 below the same
contrast appears in the form X670S avBpdiroiv and 0eoB (see note). For
the phrase iv Svvdu.ei, cf. II. i. 11, ii. 9.
Behind the effective power (Siva/us) with which the Good News
wrought on its Thessalonian hearers there lay certain personal
influences operative therein, ev irvevpan dyCo) Kal irXr|po(|>opCq. iroXXfl :
the single iv (cf. note on iv, v. 1) combines these adjuncts as the two
faces, objective and subjective, of one fact. The rvev/j.a a7ioi< reappears
in v. 6, iv. 8, v. 19 ; the Thessalonians knew " the Holy Spirit " as an
invisible power attending the Gospel and possessing the believer with
sanctifying effect, which proceeds from God and is God's own Spirit
(rb rveu/na airov rb dyiov, iv. 8). See 1 Cor. ii. 9 — 16 ; 2 Cor. i. 22 ;
Bom. viii. 1—27; Gal. iii. 14, iv. 4—7; F>ph. iv. 30, for St Paul's
later teaching ; and Lk. xi, 13, Jo. xiv. — xvi., for the doctrine of our
Lord respecting the Spirit. The power of the Gospel was ascribed to
the Holy Spirit in the original promise of Jesus (Lk. xxiv. 49 ; Acts
i. 8) ; cf. Lk. i. 35, iv. 14 ; Matt. xii. 28 ; Acts x. 38 ; Gal. iii. 5 ;
Bom. xv. 13, 19, for various powerful activities of the Spirit. Physical
miracles (dwdpeis, see note, II. ii. 9) are neither indicated nor
excluded here.
UXripotpopia has two meanings : (a) fulness (B.V. marg.), i.e. full
issue or yield, as from r\r/potpopio> in 2 Tim. iv. 5 or Lk. i. 1 ; (b) or
fall assurance (A.V. B.V. text, much assurance ; certitudo et certa
persuasio, Erasmus), as from rXnpotpopita in Bom. iv. 21, xiv. 5.
According to (a) the thought is that the Good News came to the
hearers "in the plenitude" of its effect and bore rich fruit (of. ii. 13);
according to (o), that it came with " fuU conviction " and confidence

24 1 THESSALONIANS. [1 5—
on the part of preachers and hearers (cf. ii. 2 ff.). The foregoing
subject, eiayyiXiov foiiv, sustained by olot i)U.eis iyevr/B-np-ev in the
sequel, speaks for the latter interpretation, which accounts for the
combination iv rv. 07. Kal r\npoip. (see note above) in this connexion:
"We delivered our message and you received it under the mighty
influence of the Holy Spirit, and so in fuU assurance of its efficacy."
TiXnpoipopla bears the subjective sense in the other N.T. exx. — Col.
ii. 2; Heb. vi. 11, x. 22; so in Clemens Bom. ad Cor. xiii, fierd ttXi7-
potpoplas rveifiaros dylov i^XBov eiayye\i£bfievoi, which echoes this
passage ; to the like effect rv. dyiov is associated with rappno-la in
Acts iv. 81, and with fiaprvpla in Acts i. 8 and Jo. xv. 26 f. The warm
convictions attending the proclamation of the Gospel at Thessalonica
reflected themselves in the xaP& rveiaaros dylov of its recipients (v. 6).
For confirmation of what the writers assert about their preaching,
they appeal, in passing, to the knowledge of the readers : KaStos otSaTe
otoi eyevij6i]pev [ev] vptv 8i* vpds, as you know the sort of men that we
proved (were made to be) to [or amongst] you on your behoof, — how con
fidently full of the Spirit and of power. In this connexion, Si ifids
refers not to the motives ofthe preachers (shown in ii. 5 — 12), but to
the purpose of God toward their hearers, who for their sake inspired
His servants thus to deliver His message (cf . Acts xvin. 9 f. ; also 1 Cor.
iii. 5 f., 21 f.; 2 Cor. i. 6, iv. 7—15) : proof is being adduced of God's
electing grace towards the Thessalonians (v. 4). For collocation of
different prepositions (iv, did) with the same pronoun, cf. iv. 14 ; see
Textual Note, preferring iv ipuv. The repeated and varied references
made in the Epistle, by way of confirmation, to the readers' knowledge
(ii. 1 f., 5, 9 f., iii. 4, iv. 2, v. 2) are explained in the Introd. p. lxii.
The relative oZbs should be distinguished from the indirect interro
gative 67ro!bs, as used in v. 9 : there strangers are conceived as asking,
" What kind of entrance had Paul, &c?" and receiving their answer;
here it is no question as to what the Apostles were like at Thessa
lonica, but the fact of their having been so and so is reasserted from
the knowledge of the readers. For sinular exx. of the relative pro
noun apparently, but not really, substituted for the interrogative, cf.
2 Tim. i. 14; Lk. ix. 33, xxii. 60; Mk v. 33: see Kiihner's Ausfiihrliche
Grammatik d. griech. Sprache*, n. § 562. 4, " Dass das Belativ (8s, oJos,
6Vos) in abhangigen Fragesatzen an der Stelle des Fragepronomens
firms oder rls, broios oder roios, u. s. w., gebraueht werde, wird mit
Unrecht angenommen " ; also Butherford's First Greek Syntax, § 251.
A colon, not a full-stop, should close v. 5.
V. 6 supplies the other side to the proof given in v. 5 of the election
of the readers (v. 4), 8Ti....Kal vpeis (in contrast to rb eiayy. i)u.<iv,

1 7] NOTES. 25
v. 5) pipt|Tal t]\xav eyevTJ8T]Te k.t.X. The internal construction of the
verse is open to doubt, as to whether the 8e£du.evoi clause (a) explains
the pupiriral, — " in that you received the word, &c." ; or (6) supplies the
antecedent fact and ground of the imitation, — "after that," or "in
asmuch as, you had received the word," &c. Acoording to (a), the
Thessalonians imitated the Apostles and their Lord in their manner of
receiving the word: such a narrowing of puu-nral is not in keeping
with v. 3 nor vv. 9 f., which describe the general Christian behaviour
of the readers, as in the parallel instances of fuu.nn]S — ii. 14 ; 1 Cor.
iv. 16, xi. 1; Eph. v. 1; Ph. iii. 17 — 20. According to (b), the Thessa
lonians in their changed spirit and manner of life, on receiving the
Gospel, had copied "the ways in the Lord" (1 Cor. iv. 14 — 17) of
their teaoherB (1 Cor. xi. 1 ; of. Eph. iv. 20 — 24, 1 Jo. ii. 6, Jo. xiii.
34, &c.) — since you gave a welcome to the word: the good begin
ning accounts for the worthy course. By their cordial reception of
the Divine message they entered bravely and joyfully upon the way
of life marked out by the example of the Apostles and their Lord —
a decisive evidenoe of God's loving choice of this people (v. 4).
Segdpevoi tov Xoyov ev SXftjici iroXXjj perd xapds irvevpaTos dyCou.
The welcome given to the Gospel was enhanced at once by the ad
verse conditions attending it (in much affliction) and by the gladness
which surmounted these conditions (with joy of — inspired by — the Holy
Spirit). Cf. the case of Beroea : idi^avro tov \byov /*erd rdo-tis rpo-
Sv/itas, Acts xvii. 11. For the warmth of reception implied in Sixo/iai,
see ii. 13, and note ; also H. ii. 10, 1 Cor. ii. 14, Lk. viii. 13, Ja. i.
21, &o. For the association of joy with receiving the word, see Lk. ii. 10,
viii. 13, Acts viii. 8, 39, xiii. 48; of Christian joy with affliction. Bom.
v. 3, xii. 12, 2 Cor. vi. 10, Col. i. 24, Acts v. 41, &c. ; of joy with the
Holy Spirit — a conjunction as characteristic as that of power and the
Spirit (v. 5)— Bom. xiv. 17, xv. 13, Gal. v. 22, PhU. iii. 3, Lk. x. 21,
Acts xiii. 52. The genitive is that of source connoting quality — a joy
that comes of the Spirit and is spiritual. Acts xvii. 5 — 13 shows the
kind of 0Xl\j/is " amid" which this Church was founded.
7. wore yeveo-Sai vpds tvttov irdo-iv, k.t.X. Infinitive clause of
result, heightening the appreciation of the Thessalonian Church in v.
6, and thus adding to the evidenoe of its "election" (v. 4). The
readers had foUowed the example set them so well, that they had
become in turn "a pattern to all" Christians around them. Tirov
is intrinsically better than rirovs (see Textual Note) ; for the
Church coUectively — not its individual members — was known at a
distance.

26 1 THESSALONIANS. \i- 1—
irdo-iv tois mo-Tevovo-iv, a substantival designation (of. note on
rbv pvbu.evov, v. 10) — to all believers — naming Christians from the
distinctive and continuous activity which makes them such (cf. v. 3,
ii. 10, 13; Bom. iv. 11; 1 Cor. xiv. 22 &c); ol riaTeiovres=ol ix
rlo-reois (Gal. iii. 7). Had the "imitators" of v. 6 been such in
respect simply of their "receiving the word," they would have been
a pattern not tois rusreiovinv, but rather tois rio-Teiaamv, in respect
of the initial act, not the continued life of faith : cf. tiJttos 7(cou tCiv
rio-Tuv in 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; also H. iii. 9, Phil. iii. 17, where /jup.4ou.ai
and riros are associated.
ev ttj MaxeSovia Kal 4v ttj 'A;<a£a, the two European provinces
now evangelized: see the Map, and Introd., pp. xi., xv., xxxiii., xxxix.
We know of Churches at PhUippi and Beroea in Macedonia, while
iv. 10 implies their existence in other parts of this province : ' * many
of the Corinthians " by this time were baptized (Acts xviii. 8) ; and
some of "the saints," outside of Corinth, "that were in the whole
of Achaia" when 2 Cor. i. 1 was written, beside the handful of
Athenian disciples (Acts xvii. 34), are doubtless included in this
reference. 2 Cor. viii. 1-6, xi. 9, and 1 Cor. xvi. 5 f., illustrate the
close connexion and Christian intercourse of the two regions.
Vv. 8-10 explain and re-affirm, with emphatic enlargement, the
assertion of v. 7, which might otherwise appear to the readers
over strong.
8. dip' vuuv yap e^xTrai <5 Xoyos tov KvpCov. For from you
hath rung out the word of the Lord : ioarep adXrtyyos Xafiwpbv rjxoio-qs
b rXnfflov aVas 7rXT/pourai rbros (Chrysostom); longe lateque sonitus
(Estius) ; exsonuit, sive ebuccinatus est (Erasmus). The verb i^nx^
— a hap. legomenon for N.T. — belongs to later Greek ; used in Joel
iii. 14 (LXX., in military context), Siraoh xl. 13 (of thunder), it denotes
a lond, resonant sound, like a trumpet-call. '0 X670S tou Kvpiov, while
redolent of O.T. associations (of. Bom. x. 18 ; Ps. xviii. 5), denotes
here, definitely, the message which " the Lord " Jesus (v. 6) speaks
through His servants : of. iv. 15, II. iii. 1 ; Col. iii. 16 ; Bom. i. 5.
This reference is perfectly congruous with ii. 2, 13, for "the Lord"
authoritatively brings word from God to men (Jo. xvii. 8, &c.) ; it
accords with rlans irpos rbv Bebv in the sequel, for Christ's word brings
men to God (cf. Eph. ii. 17 f . ; Jo. xiv. 6, &c). The effect, rather than
the mere fact, of the conversion of the Thessalonians made the Good
News "ring out from " them (vv. S, 6 ; cf. iv. 10, II. i. 3f.).
The range of this sound is widened from " the Macedonia and
Achaia " of v. 7 (the provinces being here united, as one area, by the

1 8] NOTES. 27
single iv ttJ) — ov povov ev ttj MaKeSovCq, Kal 'Axafa, dXX' ev iravrl
t6tt<j> ; and with this enlargement of the field in view the main asser
tion is restated — t^ tt£o-tis vpwv rj irpos t6v 8eiv e|eXTJXv8ev. This
results in a curious anaooluthon, to which no exaot parallel is forth
coming ; it gives a sense natural and clear enough, as presented in
the English Version. To this construction most interpreters, with
EUicott, Lightfoot, Sohmiedel, WH, adhere. But Calvin, Hofmann,
Bornemann, and others, divide the verse by a colon at Kvpiov : " For
from you hath rung out the word of the Lord ; not only in Mace
donia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God hath
gone abroad " — which makes an awkward asyndeton, out of keeping
in a paragraph so smoothly continuous as this (see Note introd. to
v. 3). 'E!-eXi)Xv8ev is synonymous with i^-rixv™ (minus the figure),
while ri rims k.t.X. is practically equivalent to 6 X670S tou Kvpiov,
since the Gospel has spread in this manner by the active faith of the
readers (7) rlcms ip.(ov); such faith is "the word of the Lord" in
effect : cf. 2 Cor. iii. 3 ; Phil. ii. 15 f. ; Matt. v. 14-16. What the
Apostle affirms in this sense of the Thessalonians, he questions, in
another sense, of the Corinthians: r) dip' i/j.wv 6 X670S tou Beov igqXBev;
(1 Cor. xiv. 36).
ev Tran-l tottu signifies "in every place (that we visit or com
municate with " : see v. 9 a); cf. 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; 1 Tim,
ii. 8. Aquila and his wife had just come from Bome (Acts xviii. 2),
and may have brought word that the story was current there ; the
charge of treason against Csesar (xvii. 7) would surely be reported at
Borne. The three missionaries were, most likely, in correspondence
with the Churches in Asia Minor, Antioch, and Jerusalem (of. note
on II. i. 4), and had received congratulations from those distant spots.
jThe commercial connexions of Thessalonica (see Introd. p. xi.) faciU-
I tated the dissemination of news. The work of St Paul and his
companions here bad made a great sensation and given a wide
J advertisement to Christianity; cf. Bom. i. 8, xvi. 19.
ij ttCo-tis ij irpos tov 6eov. A unique expression, indicating the
changed direction and attitude on the part of the readers, which
vv. 9, 10 set forth — your faith, that is turned toward God : cf. 2 Cor.
iii. 4 ; Phm. 5 ; and see note on iii. 4, for the force of rpbs.
wore pi) xPe'av %Xav li^ds XaXetv ti. This report preceded the
missionaries in their travels ; they even found themselves anticipated
in sending the news to distant correspondents. Xpelav ex<*> with
dependent infinitive recurs twice in this Epistle (iv. 9, v. 1), — only
here in St Paul ; similarly in Matt. iii. 14, &o. ; the phrase is

28 1 THESSALONIANS. [1 8—
complemented by the infinitive with toO in Heb. v. 12; by tva and
subjunctive in Jo. ii. 25, <fec. In Plato Sympos. 204 c it bears the
opposite sense, to be of service ; but see Aeschylus Prom. V. 169,
i/iov... xpelav <?!«, for the use of this idiom in earlier Greek, "Clare /it;
and infinitive, of negative result contemplated ; contrast ware oi and
indicative, of negative consequence asserted, in 1 Cor. iii. 7 ; Gal. iv. 7.
AaXeix ti, loqui quidquam, to be saying anything — to open our mouths
on the subject ; of. note on XaXrjo-ai, ii. 2.
The uio-Te-clause is supported by the reassertive and explanatory
7dp of v. 9, just as in the sequence of vv. 7, 8.
9. avrol ydp irepl T)p(ov dirayye'XXovo-iv oiroCav, k.t.X. For of their
own accord they (the people we meet with in Macedonia or Achaia,
or hear from "in every place ") report about us (or you : see Textual
Note). It must be remembered that these are the statements (vv. 7-9)
not of St Paul alone, but of SUvanus and Timothy besides, who had
newly joined the Apostle at Corinth after separately visiting Macedonia
and traversing a wide extent of country.
oiroCav (the proper indirect interrog. : of. note on oTot, v. 5) eio-oBov
— qualem ingressum (Calvin, Beza), rather than introitum (Vulg.) —
what sort of an entrance, how happy and successful (v. 5 ; ii. 1 f.,
where eftroSos recurs ; ii. 13 : cf. also Heb. x. 19). The noun nowhere
implies reception.
Kal ttos eireo-TpeipaTe irpos ti5v fleov diro k.t.X. completes the
report of the success of the writers, just as v. 6 completed the
description of the conversion of the readers given by v. 5. Ilffls —
the direct for indirect interrogative (oras in this sense only in Lk.
xxiv. 20 in N.T.; otherwise telic) — impUes the manner as well as
the fact of conversion : see v. 6, ii. 13. 'E?r- in the verb marks not
regression (as in Gal. iv. 9, &c), but direction (as in Acts ix. 40) ; irpos,
as in 2 Cor. iii. 16, gives the object toward which "you turned,"
resuming the phrase of v. 8 — oftener iri in this connexion (aa in Gal.
iv. 9 ; Acts xiv. 15) ; els, with characteristic difference, in Matt. xii. 44,
Lk. ii. 39, &a.
The aforesaid report describes a conversion from Paganism to
the service of "the (one, true) God" — 7rpos rbv Bebv. The Thessa
lonian Christians had been mainly heathen, "not knowing God"
(H. i. 8 ; Gal. iv. 8 ; cf. ii. 14 below) ; there was, however, a sprink
ling of Jews among them, with "a great multitude" of proselytes
more or less weaned previously from idolatry, according to Acts
xvii. 4. "The God" whom they now "serve," is a God living and

1 10] NOTES. 29
real (vivo et vero). This is the dialect of O.T. faith; so much might
have been said of converts to Judaism.
|<Svti Kal dXr|6ivu> is categorically opposed to r&v elSiiXuv : Jahveh
(Jehovah), the HE, IS (see Ex. iii. 13 f., for the Israelite reading of
the ineffable Name; and cf. Isai. xiii. 8, xiv. 5 ff., 18, 21 ff., for its
controversial use against heathenism), is by His very name " the true
God and the living God " (Jer. x. 10) ; aU other deities are therefore
dead and unreal — mere Xeyb/u-voi Beol (1 Cor. viii. 4ff.). In this sense
they are stigmatized as elSwXa, the Septuagint rendering of D,?'I^X
(nothings, Ps. xovii. 7, <fec), or Dv3n (vapours, emptinesses, Deut.
xxxii. 21, &c). EtSwXov denotes an appearance, an image or phantom
without substanoe : the word was applied by Homer to the phantasms
of distant persons imposed on men by the gods (Iliad v. 449 ; Odyssey
iv. 796) ; cf. Bacon's idola tribus, specus, &o. In the Theatetus
150 ace and 151 c, Plato identifies etSiaXov with \j/evdos (of . Bom.
i. 23, 25) and contrasts it with what is dXndivbv, yvr)m.ov, dXnBis.
Similarly, heathen gods and their rites are styled rd fidraia in Acts
xiv. 15, as occasionally in the LXX. (cf. Bom. i. 21 ; Eph. iv. 17 :
for the O.T., see in illustration Ps. oxv. 4 — 8 ; Is. xliv. 9 — 20 ; Jer.
x. 1 — 11). St Paul was powerfully impressed by observation with
the hollowness of (fee Paganism of his time. 'AXtiSivbs, verus— to be
distinguished from &XvBi)s (of. Bom. iii. 4), verax — denotes truth of
fact, the correspondence of the reality to the conception or the name
(see e.g. Jo. xv. 1, xvii. 3 ; 1 Jo. ¦/. 20) ; Bebs dXijBivbs is the ' ' very
God " of the Nicene Creed.
With SovXeveiv, to serve as bondmen, cf. St Paul's habitual designa
tion of himself as SoOXos XpioroO, once cSoCXos Beov (Tit. i. 1), — the
O.T. 1TI1V 131?. BeligiouB obligation was conceived under this usual
form of personal service, which implied ownership on the master's
and absolute dependence on the servant's part. Elsewhere St Paul
corrects the term in contrasting Christian and pre-Christian service
to God — " no longer a slave but a son " : Gal. iv. 1 — 10 ; Bom.
viii. 12—17 ; cf. Jo. viii. 31—36 ; 1 Jo. iii. 1 f.
10. Kal dvapeveiv tov viov avrov ex t<5v ovpavuv. (You turned to
God from idols, to serve.. .God) and to await His Son (coming) out
of the heavens. The emphasis laid on " hope" at the outset of the
evxapioTia prepared us for this culmination. The mind both of
writers and readers was full of the thought of Christ's glorious
return (of. iv. 13 — v. 11; II. i. 7 ff., ii. 1 — 14; and see Introd.
pp. xxvii. ff., lxiii. f.) ; St Paul's first preaching had given to Thessa
lonian faith this outlook. The farther we go back in the history of

30 1 THESSALONIANS. L1 1U
the Apostolic Church, the more we find it intent upon the coming of
its Lord. It held freshly in mind the promise of Acts i. 11, and
set great store by such assurances as are recorded in Lk. xii. 36,
xix. 12 ; Matt. xxvi. 64, &c. Cf. Acts iii. 21 ; 1 Cor. i. 7 ; Phil. iii.
20 f. ; Col. iii. 1—4 ; Tit. ii. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 7 ; Heb. ix. 27 f . ; 1 Jo. ii. 28,
iii. 3 ; Eev. i. 7, for the dominance in N.T. thought of this " blessed
hope." 'AvapJveiv is a hap. leg. in the N.T. : dva- implies sustained expecta
tion; cf. dreKSixe<r8ai in * Cor. i. 7; Phil. iii. 20. Twy oipavQv, plural
after DJDB' heaven being conceived in Hebrew thought as multiple
and various — rising tier abQve tier: cf. 2 Cor. xii. 2; Heb. iv. 14, &c. ;
also Eph. i. 3, &c. ; and see the article " Heaven " in Hastings' Dic
tionary of the Bible.
Jewish hope was looking for a glorious descent from heaven of the
Messiah, who was sometimes designated " the Son of God"; the
added ov TJyeipev eK t»v veKpwv, 'Itjo-ovv — whom He (God) raised from
the dead, even Jesus — discloses the chasm parting the Church from
the Synagogue : cf. the account given of St Paul's preaching to the
Jews at Thessalonica in the Introd., pp. xvii. f. The resurrection
of Jesus was the critical fact in the controversy; the moment he
was convinced of this fact, Saul of Tarsus becafce a Christian (see
Gal. i. 1, 12, &c. ; cf. Bom. x. 9; 1 Cor. xv. 3 ff.). God's raising of
Him from the dead gave evidence that Jesus was " His Son" (cf. Bom.
i 4), and Saviour and Lord of men (Bom. iv. 24 f., xiv. 9; 1 Cor.
xv. 20 ff., &c; also Acts ii. 32 ff., <fcc). The resurrection, proving
Jesus to be Lord and Son of God, preludes HiB return in glory ; for
such glory is promised and due to Him in this character (see Phil. ii.
9ff. ; Acts iii. 21, xvii. 31; Matt. xxvi. 63 f.; Lk. xxiv. 26 f.; Eev.
v. 12). "Jesus" always stands with St Paul for the historical person:
see iv, 14, and note.
The Thessalonians await Jesus as our rescuer from the wrath that
is coming — t6v pvopevov r]pds Ik rijs opyrjs ttjs epxopevrjS. As the
glorious return of Jesus fiUed the horizon of this Church, so the
question of final salvation or perdition engrossed their thoughts re
specting themselves and their feUows : see iv. 13, v. 3 ff. ; H. i. 5 ff.,
ii. 12 ff. Accordingly, the Apostle dwells in these two Letters on
the consummation of salvation, not its present experience as he did
afterwards, e.g., in Bom. v. Iff. ; Gal. iv. 6f.; Eph. i. 4 ff., ii. 5ff.;
cf. v. 9 and note below, II. ii. 13 — 16. In the religion of the readers
he emphasizes two things, serving the true God in place of idols and
awaiting the return from heaven of the risen Jesus ; but the doctrine
of the forgiveness of sins, as that is expounded in the second group

1 10] NOTES. 31
of the Epistles and hinted in v. 9 f. below, is reaUy implied by the
description of Jesus as the DeUverer from God's wrath ; for that
" wrath " is directed against human sin, and sin is only removed by
forgiveness (justification) : see iv. 6 ff. ; II. i. 8 f. ; cf. Eom. i. 18,
ii. 5 fl., iv. 15, &o. The assurance of Eom. v. 9, o-u8r]irbu.e8a Si airov
[XpioToC] drb rrjs dp7i)s, belongs to those SiKaioiBivres vvv iv rip atfiari
airov. See on this point Introd., Chap. in. (3).
The fuU manifestation of God's judicial anger is reserved for " the
day of the Lord " (v. 2 ; see note), which the Apostle associates with
the return of Jesus, who will bring at once punishment for the im
penitent and deliverance for the faithful (II. i. 7 — 10 : cf. 1 Cor. i. 7 ff.,
xv. 23 ff.; 2 Cor. v. 10; Acts xvii. 31; Jo. v. 27 ff.; Heb. ix. 27 f.).
"The wrath" is described here not as "to come" (ttjs u.eXXoio-ns,
Matt. iii. 7), as though referred to a future separated from the present,
but as "coming" (so Eph. v. 6; Col. iii. 6 : for the same participle,
of. Heb. x. 37; Bev. i. 4) — a future continuous with the present —
since the conclusive punishment of sin is already in train : see Bom.
i. 18 ff. ; also ii. 16 below, and note. " The present ipxeaBai is
frequently used to denote the certainty, and possibly the nearness,
pf a future event, e.g. Matt. xvii. 11 ; Jo. iv. 21, xiv. 3 " (Lightfoot).
'0 f>vb/j.evos is a timeless present participle, equivalent to a noun
(Winer-Moulton, p. 444), like 6 KaXuv (v. 24; cf. Gal. i. 23 ; Eph. iv. 28);
and pvopiat, as distinguished from i£ayopdfa (Gal. iii. 13) or Xvrpbouat
(Tit. ii. 14), means deliverance by power, not price, indicating the
greatness of the peril and the sympathy and might of the Bedeemer :
cf. the use of this verb in Eom. vii. 24 ; 2 Cor. i. 10 ; 2 Tim. iv. 17 f.
The participle stands for 7N3n; the redeeming Hnsman, in Gen. xlviii.
16 (LXX.) and often in the Deutero-Isaiah ; but such passages as Ps.
vii. 1, lxxxvi. 13 — where the Hebrew verb is Wjri — represent the
prevailing associations of the word. Under Vas the writers include
themselves with their readers, in the common experience of sin and
salvation : cf. v. 8 ff., II. i. 7 ; Eom. v. 1—11.

CHAPTER II.
4. rip prefixed to 8e<p Tip SoKipa^ovn by N°ADCGKL (Syrian wit
nesses), against K*BCD*P 67** (Pre-Syrian) : the first rip due to the
presence of the second. Cf. v. 15 for anarthrous Beip in this con
nexion ; also iv. 1, and Bom. viii. 8.
5. B precedes the later codd. in spelUng KoXaKeias — its favourite
itacism (-a-). Etymologically -ei- is correct, the noun being derived
from KoXaKevoi : cf. fSatnXevu, (SacriXeia ; see Winer - Schmiedel
Grammatik, § v. 13 c, for this point of orthography.
The omission of ev before irpo<|>ao-ei is based on BS° 17 39 47,
against all other witnesses — an attestation scarcely decisive. The
shorter reading might be preferred, intrinsioaUy, as the more diffi
cult ; on the other hand, as Weiss observes, the familiarity of the
bare (adverbial) dative rpotpaaec (pretendedly : of. Phil. i. 18) would
tend to the dropping of the preposition.
7. Evidence for vrpnoi : K*BC*D*G, some dozen minuscc, latt vg
(parvuli) cop aeth, Clem Or Cyr. Origen, on Matt. xix. 14, writes :
IlavXos ws erio-ra/ievos to Twk 7ap toiovtuv earai i) /SairiXeia rwv
ovpavav, Svva/ievos ev /3apei, k.t.X., eyevero vijrios K. raparXnffios Tpotpip
daXirovo-Q to eavrns raiSiov. To the like effect Augustine (De catech.
rudibus, 15) : " Factus est parvulus in medio nostrum tamquam
nutrix fovens filios suos. Num enim delectat, nisi amor invitet, de-
curtata et mutilata verba inmurmurare ? " Forrprioi: AXcCbDcKLP,
most minn., cat. txt, syrr sah basm, Clem Bas Chr. v-qrioi has
by far the better attestation ; yet it is rejected by most editors and
commentators in favour of i)7rioi as alone fitting the context, since
gentleness is the opposite of the arrogance disclaimed in v. 6, while in
the next clause the writer describes himself as a nurse, not a babe : the
mixture of metaphors involved in the reading of KB is violent, despite
Origen's explanation. WH (with whom Lightfoot agrees), on the other
hand, denounce nrioi as a "tame and facUe adjective" characteristic

2] NOTES. 33
of " the Syrian revisers" (Appendix, p. 128). In the continuous uncial
writing N (after ereNH9HM6N) might be insinuated or dropped with
equal ease. . The rarity of T/n-ios (only 2 Tim. ii. 24 besides in N.T.),
and the frequency of v-nrios (esp. in Paul), tell for the former in point
of transcriptional probability, vnmoi. is clearly the older extant
reading : we must either regard nnoi. as a corruption, or a happy
correction, of vnnoi. on the part of the Syrian revisers. On the latter
view, vnri.01. must be attributed to a primitive and widely spread
dittography of the final v of eyevnBnp-ev, which however, as A and
the Sahidio Version testify, was not universal. The confusion of
these two words is rather common in the mss. : see 2 Tim. ii. 24 ;
Eph. iv. 14 ; Heb. v. 13.
8. opeipopevoi, in aU uncials and many minuscc. Theophylact
writes, rives Se ip.eipop.tvoi aveyvwffav, avn tov eriBvp-ovvres' ovk
ean Se. WH (see Appendix, p. 144) give ou-eipo/ievoi the smooth
breathing ; other editors have written it with the rough breathing,
foUowing the erroneous derivation from o^ou and eipo/xai.. In all
Ukelihood, as WH suggest, this form was a local or vernacular
variation of ip.eipou.evoi, which later copyists substituted for the almost
unexampled form in o-. See Expository Note.
yeyevijo-Be (for e-yevr|BT|Te) : K, and most minuscc. — a Syrian emen
dation, due seemingly to reading evSoKovftev as present instead of
imperfect (see Expository Note) ; so the latter verb is rendered in
deg, Ambrst (cupimus), Aug (placet). ijvSoKovpev is aotuaUy read here
in B ; f vg give volebamus ; cf. iii. 1, and note on nvSoK-qo-anev.
Iiaprvpovpievoi. (for -ou.evoi) : so T.B., after D*G 37 and other inferior
minn. (but not in HKL Chr — Syrian) ; a bad Western corrup
tion. 12. irepiiraTeiv, in aU pre-Syrian witnesses. The repirarnaai of
Eph. iv. 1, Col. i. 10, may have determined the Syrian reading here.
KaXecraj-Tos : KA, six minuscc, f vg (qui vocavit) syrr cop sah go,
Ambrst. koXowtos: BDGHKLP, <fcc, latt (generally) syr M mK Both
have good parallels in Paul. It is a question whether the aorist
partio. should be explained as an Alexandrian corruption of the
present, or the present as a Western corruption of the aorist.
13. oXt|8<i)S eo-Tiv, N'B cop (S* omits aXr/Bias, by homaoteleuton
after koBois) : all other codd. reverse the order ; of. Jo. iv. 42, vi. 14,
vii. 40.
14. A and a few minn. write the Attic raird for Ta aura.
G reads aro twice, D* in the first instance, instead of viro.
Thess. 0

34 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 1—
15. iSiovs (before irpocpT|Tas) : a Syrian insertion.
16. BD* alone have preserved «p6aKev — the less obvious, but
intrinsicaUy better reading ; cf. Eph. i. 20, evvpyvev (-irev).
DG latt vg Ambrst, with Western Ucense, gloss opyii by rov Beov.
18. Sioti : so in all pre-Syrian uncials.
19. The T.B., foUowing GL, most minn., and all versions except
latt and vg (purer copies), adds Xpicrov to li\a-ov. Later mss. habi-
tuaUy fill out the names of Christ.

§ 3. il. 1 — 12. The Conduct of the Apostles at Thessalonica.
The thanksgiving just offered to God for the conspicuous Christian
worth of the Thessalonians reflects upon the work of the writers as
the instruments of their conversion. The whole heart and interest
of St Paul and his companions are bound up with the welfare of this
Church (iii. 8) ; their thoughts in the previous paragraph (vv. 4 — 9)
were constantly vibrating between "you" and "us," as in the
ensuing paragraph between "us" and "you." This section is, in
truth, an expansion of v. 56 in chap. i. : olSare otoi iyev-i]Bnu.ev \iv\
vjuv Si ipias. Starting from the etiroSos referred to in i. 9, the train
of reflexion on the spirit and character of the past ministry of the
writers amongst the Thessalonians, pursued through twelve verses
with emphasis and relish, brings them back in v. 13 into the vein of
thanksgiving from which they set out. The Introd., pp. xxxiv. f.,
suggested some reasons for the writers' dwelling thus on themselves
and their own behaviour. The section may be analysed as follows : —
The mission of St Paul and his comrades at Thessalonica exhibited
the. true power of the Gospel (v. 1) ; which was manifest (1) by the
boldness they showed on its behalf in the face of persecution (v. 2) —
(2) the boldness of religious sincerity untainted with personal ambition
(vv. 3 — 6), (3) united in their case with a tender parental devotion
toward their charge (vv. 7 — 9), and with (4) a solicitous fidelity to the
high aims of the Christian calling (vv. 11, 12). Four words resume
the whole — courage, purity, tenderness, fidelity ; cf. 2 Cor. v. 20 —
vi. 10.
1. AvtoI ydp ol'SaTe, d8eX<f>oC, ttjv efrroSov Tgpaiv rrjv irpos vpds.
For yourselves know, brothers, that entrance of ours unto you —
resuming the thread of i. 9. This avrol ydp is antithetical to that
of i. 9 — "you know on your own part" what "they report upon
theirs "; the indefinite e'to-oSov of the former sentence is now recalled

2 2] NOTES. 35
to be defined, tt)v...tt)v irpos iuJds; and the historical (aorist) laxopiev
becomes the perfect yiyovev, of the abiding effect. For the sense of
efooSos, see the previous note ; for the ordo verborum, cf. tt]v vianv
vu.Giv ttjv irp6s rbv Bebv of i. 8. Here rpbs has its primary local
meaning ; there it carried an ethical sense.
ol8aTe...TTjV e?o-o8ov...bri ov Kevrj -yeyovev. You know. ..our entrance
...that it has proved no vain (entrance) — i.e. far from vain. Oi
negatives the whole predicate Kevi) yiyovev, making it synonymous
with iv 8vvdp.ei. eyevr)Bi) (i. 5) or ivepyovptivn (-etrai.) of v. 13 ; cf. 1 Cor.
xv. 10, 58; Phil. ii. 16. Kevbs (empty, hollow) signifies in this context
"void " of rgality and power, as the entry of the Apostles would have
proved had they "come in word" (i. 5), with hollow assumptions and
Ktvotpwvla (I Tim. vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. ii. 16), like " wind-bags " (cf. 1 Cor.
ii. 1, 4, iv. 19 f.).
OtSare claims beforehand the subject of yiyovev for its object,
according to the Greek idiom which extends to all dependent sen
tences, but prevails with verbs of knowing : see Winer-Moulton, p. 781,
Butherford's Syntax, § 244 ; and cf. II. ii. 4, dirooeiKeiWa iavrbv,
k.t.X. ; 1 Cor. iii. 20 ; 2 Cor. xii. 3 f. ; Lk. iv. 34.
2. ov Kevr] yiyovev (v. 1), aXXd...eirappT|o-i.ao-dpe6a ev ra 6e<5 ijpuv
k.t.X. The Apostles' rappiyjia iv Beip excluded the thought of a koit\
e&rooos : utterance so confident, and so charged with Divine energy,
betokened a true mission from God. The aorists irapprt[o-iaadu.eBa...
XaXrjffai signify "We took courage. ..to speak," &c. — "waxed bold"
(B.V.)— -fiduciam sumpsimus (Calvin) rather than habuimus (Vulg.),
gewannen wir in unserm Gott den Muth (Schmiedel) ; for in verbs of
state, or continuous action, the aorist denotes inception (see Buhner's
Ausf. GrammatiW, n. § 386. 5 ; or Butherford's Syntax, § 208), and
the " entrance " of the missionaries is in question : contrast the
imperfect as used in Acts xix. 8. Commonly St Paul grounds his
"boldness " iv Kvplip, as in iv. 1 ; II. iii. 4; Phil. ii. 24, &c, or iv
XpitTTip, as in Phm. 8 ; here he is thinking much of his message as
to eiayyiXiov roi) Beov — in our God the glad courage is grounded
with which he speaks "the good news of God," who entrusted him
therewith (v. 4) : cf. iv Beip, i. 1 ; Col. iii. 3 ; iv Svvdu.ei Beov, 2 Cor.
vi. 4 — 7. Thus Jesus encouraged His disciples : " The Spirit of your
Father speaketh in you  Fear not therefore" (Matt. x. 20 ff.). In
this joyful mood, shortly before, Paul and Silas " at midnight sang
praise to God " in the stocks at Philippi.
Happytridfatuu occurs only here and Eph. vi. 20 in St Paul, in Acts
frequently ; the noun rappnaia (rav-pncia) passim. Denoting first
C2

36 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 2—
unreserved speech, it comes to mean confident expression, freedom of
bearing, frank and fearless assurance (German Freimuth) — the tone
and attitude suitable to Christ's servants (see 2 Cor. iii. 12 ff.; Lk. xii.
1 ff.) ; for the wider use of the term, cf. Phil. i. 20 ; Acts iv. 13 ; Heb. x.
35 ; 1 Jo. iii. 19 — 22, &c. AdXijaai fills out the sense of irappniriao-dpieBa,
as it denotes utterance, form of speech; while Xiyeiv (elreiv) would
point to definite content, matter of speech (see iv. 15, v. 3, cfec).
XaXfjcrcu is qualified by ev iroXX^ dyoavi, in much contention : dyibv
— a term of the athletic arena (cf. 1 Cor. ix. 25 ; Heb. xii. 1) — may
denote either external or (as in Col. ii. 1) internal conflict ; cf. 1 Cor.
xvi. 9, for the situation — dvriKeiu.evoi roXXol. The circumstances
antecedent to their ettroSos, described in the introductory participial
clause, Trpoira8ovTes...ev ^iXCirirois, enhanced the courage shown by
the missionaries in preaching at Thessalonica, making it the more
evident that the power of God was with them. Their Philippian
experience is graphically related in Acts xvi. ; for the connexion of
the two cities, see the Map, and Introd. pp. x., lxii. Ilpoirdcrxw, only
here in the N.T. : for irpo- of time, cf. iii. 4, iv. 6 ; for rdtrxoi in Uke
connexion, v. 14, II. i. 5. ippio-BevTes shows the "suffering" to
have taken the shape of outrage, criminal violence, as was the case
in the imprisonment of Paul and Silas (Acts xvi. 37) ; fi/3pts denoted
legally an actionable indignity to the person : the expression indi
cates "the contumely which hurt St Paul's feelings, arising from
the strong sense of his Boman citizenship" (Lightfoot). What the
Apostles suffered in Philippi was calculated to damage their character
and arrest their work ; their deliverance by so signal an interposition
of Divine Providence emboldened them to proceed. KaSus olSare
appeals to the familiarity of the readers with aU that had transpired ;
cf. c. 1, and note on i. 5.
Vv. 3, 4 are attached by •ydp to the object of the sentence immedi
ately foregoing, viz. rb eiayyiXiov tov Beov : the religious sincerity of the
Apostles went to show that it was indeed " the gospel of God" that
they brought, and that accordingly in their " entrance " there was no
false pretence (v. 1). The note of contradiction, oik...dXXd, is repeated
from vv. 1, 2; and the main repudiation includes a minor in v. 4 6.
3. ri ydp TrapdKXr|o-i.s rjpuv ovk ex TrXdvr)S ovSe e£ aKa6apo-Cas ovSe
ev 86X(<>. For our appeal (is) not of (does not proceed from) error, nor
from impurity, nor (is it made) in guile. HapdKXijo-is may denote any
kind of animating address (see 1 Cor. xiv. 3 ; 1 Tim. iv. 13 ; Acts I
xiii. 15), then the encouragement which such address gives (II. ii. 16 ; I
2 Cor. i. 3 ff., &o.) ; here it is not " exhortation " to those aheady

2 4] NOTES. 37
Christians, but " the appeal " of the Gospel to those who hear it ; it
includes the totum prceconmm evangelii (Bengel). It corresponds to
JSiSaxi) (Chrysostom's gloss, as in Bom. vi. 17, &o.) or SiSao-KaXia
, (2 Tim. iii. 10) on one side — "from both of which it is distinguished as
I being directed more to the feelings than the understanding" (Ellicott)
— and on another side to Krjpvy/M (2 Tim. iv. 17) ; it always con-
: templates the benefit of those addressed : cf. for rapaKaXia in like
connexion, Acts ii. 40 ; Lk. iii. 18 ; and for other uses of the verb,
v. 11 below, and II. ii. 17. The writers deny that they had been
actuated by delusion or by impure motives (in other words, that they
were either deceived or deceivers), or that tbey acted in crafty ways :
ek points to source, iv to manner of proceeding.
nXdvi) signifies (objective) error, as in II. ii. 11; Eom. i. 27, &c.,—
the opposite of "the word of the truth of the gospel " (Col. i. 5 ; cf.
2 Cor. iv. 2, vi. 7; Eph. i. 13 ; 1 Jo. iv. 6; II. ii. 10-13 below);
dKaBaptria, (subjective) personal uncleanness. The latter expression
commonly implies bodily defilement, as in Eom. i. 24, &c, and may
have this reference here ; but the term, on occasion, includes u.oXvap.bs
rvei/iaros as well as o-apxbs (2 Cor. vii. 1). There is no bint anywhere
else in the Epistles that St Paul was taxed with fleshly impurity;
and uncleanness of spirit (sordid and mercenary aims, the alcrxpoKepSia
of 1 Tim. hi. 8, &c.) seems more to the point here. Against this re
proach the Apostle jealously guarded himself (see 2 Cor. xi. 7 — 12,
xii. 14 — 18) ; possibly he is taking the word dKaBaptria in this passage
from the mouths of his gainsayers. In classical Greek it denotes
moral foulness, dirty ways, of any sort. Cf. note on iv. 7; also 1 Tim.
vi. 5, where i% dKaBapclas is recalled by SierpBappUviavrbv vovv, and ix
rXdvijs by dretrrepTjpiivav ttjs dXnBelas. For ev SbXip, cf. 2 Cor. xii. 16 ;
Mk xiv. 1 ; Jo. i. 47.
4. Base motives and methods were excluded, once for aU, by the
nature of the apostolic commission : dXXd KaBus 8e8oKipdo-pe6a viro
tov Beov irio-TevBijvai to evayyeXiov, k.t.X. But according as we have
been approved by God to be put in trust with the Good News, we thus
speak — quemadmodum probati fuimus a Deo, ut crederetur nobis Evan-
gelium, sic loquimur (Calvin). AeSoKipi.do-u.eBa (in the perf. tense, of
settled and resultful fact), which is echoed by SoKi/tdfovTi t&s xapStas in
the appended clause, is the decisive word : God's approval, shown by
the conferment of this lofty commission, certifies the honesty of the
Apostles and supplies its standard : cf., on this latter point, v. 12,
els rb repiraTe?v...d^im, k.t.X.; and II. i. II. There is a play on the
double sense of SoKiuAfa (based on SbKipios — see e.g. Bom. xvi. 10 — ac
cepted, approved, with its root in Sexop-ai), which means first to assay,

38 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 4—
put to proof, as one does metal, coin, &c. (see Jer. xi. 20, LXX, Ki5pie
Kpivusv SiKaia, SoKiu.dfav vetppoiis xal KapSias : cf. Prov. xvii. 3 ; Zech.
xiii. 9, &c. ; also 1 Cor. iii. 13, and 1 Pet. i. 7, ii. 4), then to approve
on testing, as in 1 Cor. xvi. 3 : in the latter sense synon. with dfiow,
II. i. 11, in the former with ireipdfa ; see Trench's Synon. § 74. St
Paul makes a similar appeal, in the face of disparagement, to the
Divine judgement respecting himself in 1 Cor. iv. 1 ff. ; and again
in 2 Cor. i. 12, 17—23.
For irio-Tev8iivai to evayyeXiov, cf., both as to sense and grammatical
form, Gal. ii. 7 ; 1 Tim. i. 11 ff. : as to the fact, in St Paul's own case,
see Gal. i. 12, 15 f., ii. 8 f.; Acts ix. 15 f., xxii. 14 f., xxvi. 16 ff.;
Eph. iii. 2 ff. ; 2 Tim. i. 11. • Iltareiio/uu with nomin. of person (repre
senting the dative after the active verb) and accus. of thing follows
a sound Greek construction, occurring, for this particular verb, only
in St Paul in the N.T. : add to the examples above given Eom. iii. 2,
1 Cor. ix. 17 ; consult Winer-Moulton, p. 326, Eutherford, Syntax, §201,
Goodwin's Greek Grammar, 1236. For XaXov/xev, see note to v. 2.
o'vrus XaXovpev is defined a second time, by oi\ us dvSpuirois
dpe'a-KovTes dXXd 8ea> k.t.X., not as (though we were) pleasing men, but
(as pleasing) God who tries our hearts. The sentence ' ' doubles back on
itself " in true Pauline fashion (cf. e.g. Col. i. 5 6, 6), the &s clause
putting over again, in another light, what the KaBiis clause had as
serted. Those who serve human masters " speak " in a manner cal
culated to "please" them; the Apostles preach in a spirit accordant
with their responsibUity to God, whom they felt to be ever " trying "
their "hearts." "'Apio-Keiv Beip can only be spoken de conatu, as in
Gal. i. 10 " (Schmiedel) : for this idiom of the pres. and impf. tenses,
see Buhner2, n. § 382. 6, Eutherford, Syntax, § 210, Goodwin's Greek
Grammar, 1255. For " pleasing God," cf. ii. 15, iv. 1 ; Bom. viii. 8 ;
1 Cor. vii. 32: for "men," Eph. vi. 6 — and in a good sense, 1 Cor.
x. 33 ; Eom. xv. 1 ff.
For SoKipd^u, see note on p. 37 ; the phrase comes from Jer. xi. 20.
tos KapSCas, plural (cf. iii. 13 ; H. ii. 17, iii. 5), shows that St Paul
carries his companions with him in aU he writes (ttjv KapSlav would
have suited the conventional pluralis auctoris) ; see note on the Address
(i. 1), and Lightfoot's note ad hoc. " The heart " in Scripture is not
the seat of mere emotion, as when in modern usage it is opposed to
" the head," but of " the inner man " comprehensively (see Eph. iii.
16 f.) ; it is the centre and meeting-point of the soul's movements.
There the real self is found, which God sees (see Acts i. 24 ; 1 Sam.
xvi. 7; Mk vii. 21, &c.) — hence contrasted with "the mouth" or "lips"
or "body" (Bom. x. 10; Matt. xv. 8; Prov. xvi. 23 ; Heb. x. 22, &c).

2 5] NOTES. 39
Vv. 5 — 8 contain a third apologetio denial, introduced by ydp, and
stated once more in the ofc...dXXd form of contradiction. The negative
half consists of three members, as in v. 3, but is more extended; these
are distinguished by otfre, not oiSi as before, since they are more
closely kindred.
5. oUri ydp irore Iv Xoy<p KoXaxCas lyevrfBripev. For neither at any
time did we fall into the use of speech of flattery — sermone assentatorio
usi sumus (Beza) ; were we found using (employed in, Lightfoot) words
of flattery (B.V.) — but "found" suggests detection, which is not
in question. For ylvou.ai ev, versari in, to be engaged in, see Liddell
and Scott, s. v. II. 3b; and of. 1 Tim. ii. 14 ; Lk. xxii. 44. The
aorist, pointed by TroTe*, implies falling into or resorting to the prac
tice in question ; cf. note on erappno-iatrdfieBa, v. 2. Bornemann
notices how the use of the paraphrastic ylvou.ai, so frequent in this
context, enables the writer to combine the grammatically hetero
geneous predicates of vv. 5 and 6.
KoXaKlas (classical speUing, KoXaKela, from KoXaKeia) is genitive of
content rather than characteristic — "speech that flattered you" (cf.
1 Cor. xii. 8; 2 Cor. vi. 7, for similar genitives with X070S). This
term, hap. leg. in N.T., always implies sinister, self-interested com
pliment ; Aristotle (Eth. Nic. rv. 12) defines the KbXal- as h Smas
ditpiXeid ns airy ylyvijrai els xP^^ara k. Sua Sid xpnp-dTav (sc. Xiyuv) :
accordingly the X070S KoXaKias would serve as a rpbipatns rXeove^las.
The slander against the missionaries on this particular head is con
tradicted more distinctly in vv. 10 — 12.
ovTe (eyevi]8r|pev ev) irpo<pdo-ei irXeove£Cas, nor (did we make use of) a
cloak of covetousness— i.e. any pretext, whether in the shape of
flattering speech or otherwise, serving to hide a selfish purpose.
" Hp6c4a(ns (from rpoipalvoi) signifies generally the ostensible reason for
which a thing is done ; sometimes in a good sense (Thuo. 1. 23, vr. 6,
dXvBeo-TdTri rpbipao-is), but generally otherwise, the false or pretended
reason as opposed to the true " (Lightfoot) : hence in Phil. i. 18
rpotpdaei. is contrasted with ev dXnBela ; cf . Lk. xx. 47. HXeove£ia
means greed of any kind — oftenest, but not always, for money ; it is
the spirit of self-aggrandizement, selfishness as a ruling motive : see
Trench's Synon. § 24 ; and of. Col. iii. 5 ; Eph. v. 3 ; 2 Cor. ix. 5 ;
Lk. xii. 15 ; also rXeoveKriia in iv. 6, and note ; 2 Cor. xii. 17 f.
As to the X670S KoXaKi'as the readers were good judges (KaBws
otSare : see note on i. 5) ; but " God " is cited as " witness " to the
absence of 7rpo0. rXeove£las, since this concerns "the hidden man of
the heart " (see notes on v. 4) : Beos (anarthrous) pdpTvs, (there is)

4o 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 5—
God (as) witness; cf. Bom. i. 9; Phil. i. 8. For the twofold sin
repudiated, cf. Ps. xii. 2, •• A flattering lip and a double heart."
6. olire (eyevfjflripev) ^Tovvres 4£ avflpumov Sdgav. Along with
fawning lips and covert selfishness, the writers disclaim the pursuit of
human reputation; the three kinds of conduct are closely allied —
flattery cloaking greed and ambition. The transition from the
prepositional (v. 5) to the participial construction distinguishes the
third vice as a practice rather than a disposition : nor did we become
seekers of (or fall into the pursuit of) glory from men. To "men"
God is tacitly opposed as the proper source of "glory": cf. v. 4,
SeSoKiv.do-p.eBa irb tov Beov...8etp dpio-Kovres; also Jo. v. 41 ff., vii. 18;
1 Cor. iv. 3 ff. ; Bom. ii. 7 ; and v. 19 f. below. That the Apostles
have e£ dvBp&riav Sbi)av, was stated in i. 9; but they never "seek" it.
ovre a<t>' vpuv ovre air' ct'XXuv. The missionaries might conceivably
have sought reputation either from their converts, or "from others"
at a distance hearing about them (cf. i. 8 f.) ; but this object
never influenced their work. If ef and drb may be distinguished
here (this however is questioned), ef points to the general source
of such " glory" and indicates its nature, while dri marks out the
particular quarter from which it might be derived — glory such as
men could give, whether you or others supplied it : cf. Eom. ii. 29
for e'f ; for drb in like connexion, Lk. xi. 50 f. , xii. 20 ; also i. 8 above.
As to the relations of diro and eV in N.T. Greek, see A. Buttmann's
N.T. Grammar, p. 324.
SvvapevoL ev pdpei elvcu cos Xpio-roO dirdcrToXoi is added to sustain
the disavowal of ambition; accordingly /3dpos signifies not so much
the "weight" of expense that the " apostles of Christ" might have
thrown on the Church for their maintenance (see 1 Cor. ix. 14, &c),
to which eri/3apr)o-ai refers a little later (v. 9, see note ; and cf. 2 Cor.
xi. 9, dfSapTJ eu.avrbv eroinna), as the "weight" of authority and
personal importance with which they might have imposed themselves
on disciples — so Chrysostom paraphrases iv tiu.^ eivai, Erasmus in
dignitate, Schmiedel in Ansehen, &c. The latter sense is borne out
by the immediate context in v. 7. But the two meanings are com
patible; for official importance was measured by stipend, by the
demand made for personal support (cf. 2 Cor. xi. 7, ipavrbv rareivuv
...Sri Supedv ...einyyeXindu-nv, and the whole context); and it is just
in St Paul's manner to play on the double sense of such a phrase :
when we might have sat heavily ore you as Christ's apostles re
produces, somewhat rudely, the double entendre ; similarly Lightfoot
ad loc. Polybius and other writers of the koivt) use /3dpos in these

2 6] NOTES. 41
two senses. With the locution ev fSdpei etvai cf. ev vrepoxv ovtuv,
1 Tim. ii. 2 ; also ylvop.ai ev, v. 5 above; see Liddell and Scott s. v. ev,
n. 2. For the connexion of /3dpos with Sb£a, see 2 Cor. iv. 17 ; both
ideas are contained in the Hebrew 1133.
SUvanus and Timotheus are included in the plural XpioroD drbo-ro-
X01 (not, however, as driaroXoi 'Ino-ov XpicrroC). The term diroerroXos,
nyt£>, was in current Jewish use (see Schiirer's History of the Jewish
People in the Time of Christ, 11. ii. pp. 269, 290) as signifying emissary,
commissioner ; it was the title given to the delegates who conveyed to
Jerusalem the contributions levied for sacred purposes from Jews
of the Dispersion (cf. 2 Cor. viii. 23 ; Phil. ii. 25), but in all probability
was not confined to this application. In Christian usage it took a
narrower and a wider sense, as it denoted primarily "the Twelve,"
"the Apostles," commissioned in the first instance and from His
own person by Jesus Christ, and as it was subsequently extended to
others "sent out" from particular Churches, — either for general
service in the Gospel or on some specific Christian errand. These
were " apostles of the churches," but also, in » derivative sense,
" apostles of Christ," since they belonged to Him and were despatched
on His service : see further, for this larger use of the word in which
it corresponds to our missionary, Acts xiv. 4, 14 ; Eom. xvi. 7 ; 2 Cor.
xi. 13 ; Eev. n. 2 ; also DidacM, xi. 2. Jo. xvii. 18 and xx. 21 give
the fundamental Christian conception of the "apostle's" calling, and
the basis of the wider application of the title. It appears always to
imply a travelling commission, and an authoritative mandate. In
later Epistles (2 Cor. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1) St Paul distinguishes himself as
"the apostle" from "Timothy the brother," whose function was
that of "an evangelist " (2 Tim. iv. 5 ; of. Eph. iv. 11) ; he claimed
the Apostleship in its higher and exclusive sense (see Gal. i. 1, 12, 17,
ii. 6 — 8; Eom. i. 1—5; ICor. ix. Iff., xv. 9— 11; 2 Cor. xii. 11 ff., Ac).
The Judaistio controversy, which arose subsequently to the writing of
the Thessalonian Epistles, compelled St Paul to assert his plenary
authority and his place by the side of the Twelve ; in this sense, he
then became eV /3dpet. But for the present, and at Thessalonica, there
is no necessity for him to assume more than the common apostleship,
nor to raise himself by way of prerogative above his companions.
See the Excursus of Huxtable on The name and office of an Apostle
(Pulpit Commentary: Galatians); Lightfoot, Galatians, pp.92 — 101;
Hort, Ecclesia, pp. 22 ff. ; Weizsaoker's History of the Apostolic Age,
Vol. 11. pp. 293 — 296 ; also Smith's a and Hastings' Dictionary of the
Bible, o.v. Apostle.

42 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 7—
7. dXXd eyevTJ6r|pev vfjirioi ev pio-cp vpwv. See Textual Note
above, (a) According to the reading cTjirioi, the Apostles were simple,
guileless, and unassuming (vv. 3 — 7) as "babes": cf. dKipaioi, riicva
Beov, in Phil. ii. 15; dKepatovs els rb KaKbv and ry Kaxia vnrid^ere,
Bom. xvi. 19 and 1 Cor. xiv. 20 ; also Matt, xviii. 4, and 2 Cor. xi. 7,
1 Pet. n. 1 f., for the various Christian qualities represented by
vnribrns. This wider interpretation of vf/rioi is demanded by the
contrast with vv. 5, 6 ; cf. that derived by Origen and Augustine
from the clause which follows, given in the note below. (6) The
reading r)rwi presents the apter contrast to v. 6 ; and it traverses the
rXeovegla, if not the KoXada, of v. 5. 'Ev piio-ip iu.wv puts the iv v/mv
of i. 5 more vividly (cf. Matt, xviii. 2 — 4), — as dv etroi ns 'Qs ets ii-
vpiQv, oixi Ti)v &voi Xaflbvres rd%iv (Chrysostom) ; non agebant quasi ex
cithedra (Bengel): cf. 1 Pet. v. 1; Bev. i. 9; Lk. xxii. 27; Heb. n. 12,
— the two latter passages relating to the Great Example.
vtjttioi (if this reading be genuine) iv peVo> k.t.X. leads on to the
comparison, us edv Tpotpos BaXirrj rd eavrfjs reKva, as haply a nurse
might be cherishing her own children; for the skill of a nurse lies
in her coming down to the level of her babes, — as Origen puts it,
XaXoCcra Xoyous ais raiSiov Sid rb raibiov ; Augustine, delectat...decurtata
et mutilata verba inmurmurare. But this is only a single trait of
the picture: the nurse-mot/icr (BdXrei ri iavrr)s riKva) is child-like
with her children, — as far from selfish craft as they, and fiUed besides
with a care for them (see v. 8) which they cannot feel nor reciprocate
toward her. Here St Paul paints himself as the mother rpitpovo-a
Kal BdXvovo-a, while in Gal. iv. 19 he is the mother ibSlvovo-a. 'Us dv
(later Gr. ed?), like other relative pronouns and adverbs with dv and
subjunct., implies a standing contingency, — "as it may be (may be
seen) at any time " : of. Gal. v. 17, Lk. ix. 57, See., for the construction ;
the temporal Cos dv of 1 Cor. xi. 34, &c, is different. GdXirto, only
here and in Eph. v. 29 (inrpiipei Kal BdXrei) in N.T. ; in LXX, Deut.
xxii. 6. 'Enbrns however (if we prefer to read ¦fjrioi) is a conspicuous
trait of the rpoipbs with her riicva.
8. The figure of v. 7 c, while it looks back to vi)rioi (iinoi), in its
turn suggests another side of the relation of the Apostles to their con
verts: they had been as nursing mothers to their spiritual children
not only in homely simplicity (or gentleness), but in self-devotion: —
<os...Tpo<f>os...oiSTus opeipdpevoi {ipuv, (like a nurse). ..so tenderly
yearning over you. 'Ou.eipop.ai, a hap. leg. in Greek — except that it
occurs as a varia lectio in Job iii. 21 (LXX) and in Ps. lxn. 2 (Sym-
machus) — is taken to be an obscure dialectic variation of l/ielpopai,

2 8] NOTES. 43
a verb common in poetry from Homer downwards (not extant in
Attic prose), which is spelt also by Nicander (c. 160 b.c.) /telpo/iai.
As a verb of feeling, it is oonstrued with genitive of the object.
'1/j.elpopiai describes in Odyss. I. 41 Odysseus' yearning for his native
land ; in classical Greek it implies absence of the beloved object, like
iriroBia in iii. 6 below; otherwise here, — ivravBa tt)c tpiXoo-ropylav
SeUvvo-i (Chrys.). On the spiritus (asper or lenisl), see Textual
Note. TjvSoKovpev peraSovvat vp.iv k.t.X. We were well-pleased (or thought
good) to impart to you not only the Good News of God, but also our own
souls. SiSoKovfiev impUes not something that the Apostles were
willing to do (A.V.), or would have done if occasion had arisen — as
though they had written niSoKovu.ev (or niSoK^trapiev) av — but what they
actuaUy did with hearty good-will : so eiSoKia with the infinitive in
iii. 1 ; cf. Eom. xv. 26 ; 1 Cor. i. 21 ; Gal. i. 15 ; Col. i. 19 ; Lk. xii. 32.
The idea is not that the missionaries were ready to lay down their
lives for their converts — as though the words were Sovvai, or Beivai,
irep vp.Giv ras t/ivxds (of. Mk X. 45; Gal. i. 4; 1 Jo. iii. 16) — but
that they gladly communicated (piera-Sovvai ; cf. Eom. i. 11) their very
selves to them, — in other words, they gave with their message the
best and utmost that was in them, for the reason that (Sibn) the Thes
salonians had grown (iyevf/B-qTe) dear to them.
On ij/vxi), see note to v. 23. It denotes the personality, the living self
(hence plural, as including the three), and is synonymous with KapSia
(v. 4, see note) ; KapSia is the inner man by contrast with the outer,
while ij/vxi) is the man himself as feeling and acting through the outer
organs, the soul within the body : cf . Col. iii. 23 ; Lk. xii. 19, 22 f. ;
1 Pet. i. 22, ii. 11. St Paul and his fellows imparted themselves to this
Church as the nursing-mother to her offspring (v. 7), with a tender
ness in which one's very soul goes out to the beloved. Of this
unstinting, uncaloulating devotion (how opposite to all rpbtpaais
irXeoxeffas, v. 5) the kAitos k. fibxBos of v. 9 gave evidence ; the saying
of 2 Cor. xii. 15, ijSurra iKSaravnBijo-ofiat irip r&v tyvx&v ipi&v, is a
striking parallel to niSoKovu.ev /ieraSovvai ras ifivxds i<u.wv. Bengel aptly
paraphrases, " Anima nostra cupiebat quasi immeare in animam
vestram"; and Calvin, more at length, "Mater in liberis suis edu-
candis...nullis parcit laborious ac molestiis, nullam solicitudinem
refugit, nulla assiduitate fatigatur, suumque adeo sanguinem hilari
animo sugendum praebet." The 3rd personal reflexive, iavruv, is
freely used in later Greek for all three persons in plural; see Winer-
Moulton, pp. 187 f.

44 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 8—
Sioti (cf. v. 18, iv. 6) = Sid roCro Sri, a more distinct causal than Sri.
dyairTiTol TJplv eyevrjflT]Te, beloved to us, — in our eyes. This adjective
has in effect the force of a substantive (cf. v. 19 f.); elsewhere St Paul
uses it of his people by way of endearing address, along with or in
place of dSeXipol, or in describing their relation to God (Eom. i. 7;
Eph. v. 1; cf. i. 4 above). Christ Himself iB b dyarnrbs (Matt. iii. 17)
or 6 i)yarnp-ivos (Eph. i. 6). 'T&yevfiBnTe, you became after your
conversion and our acquaintance with you ; cf.. (8<rre yevicBai vpas,
i. 8. 9. pvT)poveveTe ydp, dSeX<j>oC. For you call to mind, brothers : for
u.vnp.oveia with accus.., cf. 2 Tim. ii. 8; Matt. xvi. 9; Eev. xviii. 5; with
the genitive it has a less active sense, as in i. 3 (see note). Eefer-
ring to the same matter in H. iii. 7, the Apostles use the stronger
expression, avrol 7ap otSare, as in v. 1 above; here they speak as
though the facts mentioned might not be at once present to the
minds of the readers and would need to be recalled : cf. II. ii. 5.
On kottos, see note to i. 3. poxBos (kindred to ^6715, ,11670s) implies
outward difficulty, as k6itos personal strain, — "toil and moil" (Light
foot) ; so u.bxBos is used of the labours of Hercules in Sophocles, Trach.
1101, 1170. The combination recurs in II. iii. 8; 2 Cor. xi. 27.
vuktos Kal rjpepas epya£opevoi...eKrjpv£apev k.t.X., by night and day
working, See. : an explanatory sentence abruptly apposed to Kbrov Kal
fxbxBov, much as ths idv rpoipbs k.t.X. to vr)rioi (tJiroi) in u. 7. The
order "night and day" was common in Greek and Boman, as weU
as Jewish, usage (see Pliny, Nat. Hist. n. 77 [88] ; Cicero, De Finibus r.
16. 51; Caasar, De Bell. Gall. v. 38. 1); "day and night" is the order
in Luke and John. 'Epydfop.ai bears the specific sense of manual
labour also in classical Greek; so our "working man'': cf. II. iii. 8;
1 Cor. ix. 6 ; Acts xviii. 3. The last of these paraUels, which refers
to St Paul's employment at this time, informs us of the nature of his
handicraft ; he was " a tentmaker by trade," aKvvoiroibs rg rixvy.
Jewish fathers, even if well-to-do (as St Paul's family probably was,
judging from the fact of his being Bent to study at Jerusalem), had
their sons taught some mechanical art as a remedy against poverty or
idleness. St Paul had probably learnt at Tarsus the business of
cutting out and stitching the coarse goats'-hair cloth (cilicium) used
for making tents, also for shoes, mats, and other rough fabrics,
which was a staple industry of Cilicia ; and this skill proved a great
resource to the wandering Apostle. An irksome labour it was, and
iU-paid, most like the work of a shoemaker or carpet-sewer. " These
hands," as the Apostle held them up to the view of the Ephesian

2 10] NOTES. 45
Elders (Acts xx. 34) hard and blackened with their daily task, told
their tale of stern independence and exhausting toil. Silvanus and
Timothy had probably other trades of their own. Yet the Apostle
during his residence at Thessalonica more than once reoeived help
from his friends at Phuippi, who would not be denied the privilege
of relieving his wants : see Phil. iv. 10 — 16. This Churoh was com
posed mainly of working-class people (see iv. 11 f.), and demands soon
began to be made by the Christian poor — in some oases, probably,
deprived of their living by their ohange in religion — on the resources
of its few wealthier members (including the yvvaiKes rpurai of Acts
xvii. 4) ; the Apostles acted therefore in the manner described irpos
to pr) empaprjo-aC nva vpuv, so as to avoid laying a burden upon any
of you — words repeated in II. iii. 8, where vv. 9 f. add another reason
for the mode of Ufe pursued at Thessalonica : of., to the Uke effect,
1 Cor. ix. 1—19 ; 2 Cor. xi. 7—12 ; Acts xx. 33 ff. This went to show
not only the love of the Apostles toward their converts, but their
disinterestedness, the absence in them of rXeove^ia in any shape
(vv. 5 ff. : see note on iv j3dpei). 'Empapia has an ethical force in
2 Cor. n. 5 ; the stronger Karafiapiti) is used in the sense of this
passage in 2 Cor. xn. 16.
eKT|pv£apev ets upas to evayyeXiov tov Beov. We brought to you as
heralds the Good News of God : cf . 6 X670S i)u.Siv iyeirfBw els iu.as, i. 5.
Kijpiio-ffw eis (elsewhere with dative, Acts viii. 5 ; 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; and
frequently with iv, as in 2 Cor. i. 19) impUes entrance amongst those
addressed (eta-oSos, v. 1); cf. Mk i. 39; Lk. xxiv. 47, &c. MeraSovvai
rb eiayy. (v. 8) indicates the charity of those who bring the Gospel,
iKi}pii;ap.ev the dignity of their office. For the third time in this
context (vv. 2, 5) the Gospel is called "the good news of God" (cf.
i. 9) ; elsewhere only in Bom. i. 1, xv. 16. As God's heralds, bearing
so lofty a commission and so welcome a message, the Apostles might
have looked for some return in the supply of their bodily needs from
those to whom they devoted themselves unsparingly (see 1 Cor. ix
7-14) ; but they forbore, for the reason given. Jason's house, referred
to in Acts xvii. 5 f., was probably the place of assembly for the
Church; the Apostles, if they regularly lodged there, were not at
Jason's charge for their maintenance.
10. vpets pdprvpes, Kal 6 Beds- In v. 5 the witness of men and
that of God were separately invoked (see note) ; here jointly, for the
writers' pastoral ministry, described in vv. 10 — 12, was the subject
both of Divine and of human observation : cf. 1 Sam. xii. 3, 5.
us 60-Cws k. SiKaius k. dpe'pirrais vpiv tois mo-Tevovo-iv eyevTJ8r|pev,

46 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 10—
how religiously and righteously and in a manner beyond blame we
devoted ourselves to (or bore ourselves toward) you that believe. The
construction of this clause is not quite obvious in point of grammar.
(a) ''iuXv might be attached to iyevi<8ript.ev, or to. du.ip.rras singly, as a
dative of opinion (see Winer-Moulton, p. 265): "how holUy Ac. . . .we
behaved, in the estimation of you that believe"— or "how homy...,
and unblamably in the eyes of you that believe (tametsi aliis non
ita videretur, Bengel), we bore ourselves": an interpretation con
demned by Lightfoot as "inconceivably flat and unmeaning," after
i/ieis /tdpr. k. 6 Bebs and in view of vv. 11, 12. (6) Or i/xiv is connected
with iyevr)$vfi-ev as a dativus commodi: "howholily, &c.,...we behaved
to you that believe." The adjectives So-ioi k.t.X. would suit this sense
better than the adverbs used, (c) Bornemann's explanation is per
haps the best. He combines vpiiv with iyevi^Bnu-ev as a dative of close
relationship, or of the (ethical) possessor, making this dative convey
the main assertion and reading the adverbs as qualifications of the
whole predicate thus formed: "how holily &o....we made ourselves
yours that beUeve." For this dative, somewhat rare with yivo/iai,
cf. Eom. vii. 3, yevop.ivijv dvSpl; and for the adverbs with ylvou,ai,
1 Cor. xvi. 10. The interest of the paragraph centres in the close ties
which bound the Apostles to the Thessalonians as Christian believers
(see especially note on v. 7). To the fact that this relationship was
contracted on the part of the Apostles in a godly, blameless fashion, the
readers themselves, together with God, are summoned as witnesses.
Aikoios is distinguished from So-ios as when Marcus Aurelius
(Medit. vn. 66) describes Socrates as SiKaios rd rpbs rois dvBpdrovs Kai
curios rd irpos roi)s Beois ; similarly Plato writes in Gorgias 507 A, B ;
Polybius, Hist. xxm. 10. 8, &c. In Deut. xxxii. 4, &c., Ps. cxlv. 17,
Eev. xvi. 5, the double term is applied to God: see also Eph. iv. 24;
Tit. i. 8; Lk. i. 75, for the combination. In distinction from 0710$,
the characteristic N.T. word for 'holy,' 8010s signifies holy in dis
position and attitude toward God, — godly ; dyios, holy in relationship
and duty to God, — consecrated (see note on dyidfa, v. 23). "Apieu-rros
appears in iii. 13 and v. 23, — passages indicating that "blameless-
ness" is asserted before God (see Bebs uAprvs, v. 5, and note just
above) as weU as men, so that diii/irrois is not to be limited by iu.1v.
11, 12. KaBdirep oi'SaTe us Iva eKao-TOv...TrapaKaXovvTes k.t.X.
The <Js...7rapaKaXoi>Tes sentence is not completed, and iva iKaorov
remains in suspense, an object with no verb to govern it. The
participial clause begins as if leading up to a finite verb, such as
ivovBerovaev (Acts xx. 31), or dverpitpojiev (see rpotpbs, v. 7), or eV?j-

2 11] NOTES. 47
poB/tev (v. 23); but the writer is carried away by the extension of his
third participle, iw.pTvpbp.evoi, and in rounding off this clause forgets
the missing verb, the sense of which is however practically supplied
by the full import of the three participles. SimUarly Sid robs rapeio-dK.
sj/evSaSiXipovs is left suspended in Gal. ii. 4, and to dSivarov tov vbp.ov
in Bom. viii. 3; for a like participial anacoluthon, see 2 Cor. vii. 5 6.
It is more natural, and much more after St Paul's manner, to admit
such a lapse than to suppose that iyevi)6nu.ev (v. 10) is resumed in
thought across the intervening KaBdrep otSare to support the parti
ciples, and that eW iKaarov is conceived as object to rapaKaXovvres
k.t.X. , to be quickly foUowed by the pleonastic vu.ds : see Ellicott ad loc.
KaBdrep is more emphatic than KaBus otSare (v. 2, etc.), — " as verily,"
" even as " ; cf. hi. 6, &o. Oi'dare us — for tin, as often in classical
Greek — implies the manner as well as the bare fact: "you know the
way in which (we dealt with) each one " ; cf. irlaraaBe irffis, Acts
xx. 18, and see note on oloi (roioi), i. 5, for the difference between
lis and irSs. For Iva eKao-rov, asserting the individualizing care of
these true pastors, cf. Acts xx. 31; Jo. x. 3 6.
us iraTTJp TeKva eavroi) adds the father's heedful oversight to
the mother's tender self-devotion (v. 7 ; cf. rd eai/rfjs riicva) : with
every kind of solicitude the missionaries " imparted their souls "
(v. 8) to this Church and made themselves over to it (vpXv...iyevi)-
Bnpiev, v. 10). St Paul calls the Corinthians also (I. iv. 14, II. vi. 13),
and the Galatians (iv. 19), and Timothy (I. i. 2, &c), his riKva; so in
1 John reicvia, passim. 1 Cor. iv. 14 — 21 gives a different turn to the
figure. 11. TrapaKaXovVTes...Trapapv8oi!pevoi...papTup6pevoi, exhorting...
encouraging ...testifying. IlapaKaXio) is the general term for ani
mating address (cf. note on irapdKXrjo-is, v. 3, also iii. 2) ; rapau.vBio-
pai denotes exhortation on its soothing and consoling side (see v. 14 ;
Jo. xi. 19), suitably to the afflicted state of the Thessalonians (i. 6) :
iv. 13 ff. and II. i. 5 ff. are specimens of Pauhne rapa/ivBia (Light
foot, however, in his note ad loc. questions this distinction). Hof-
mann thus defines the three terms : " rapaKaXelv is speech that
addresses itself to the wiU, rapap.vBeio-Bai to the sensibilities, while
u.apTvpeo-Oai signaUzes the impressive seriousness with which the
speaker personaUy vouches for what he says." For iMpripo/mi, to
protest, give solemn witness, cf. Eph. iv. 17; Gal. v. 3; Acts xx. 26,
xxvi. 22 : to be oarefuUy distinguished from ptaprvpiu (-iop.ai ; see Bom.
in. 21). The Vulg. reads, " deprecantes vos, et consolantes, testificati
sunius," turning the last participle into a finite verb to complete the

48 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 11—
sentence, and confusing papripopai with u.aprvpioi ; Erasmus and Beza,
more correctly, obtestantes; Estius, contestantes.
12. els to irepiiraTeiv vpas dgfus tov Beov. The subUme turn now
taken by the participial clause carries the Apostle away from the
scheme of sentence beginning at uis iva 'iKaarov ; he forgets what he and
his comrades did, as he thinks of what God is doing for the readers :
cf . 1 Cor. in. 7. Eis rb with infin. is synonymous with 7rpis rb, v. 9 ;
the former carries one on to the purpose (or sometimes result) aimed at
("in order to"), whue irp6s contemplates and points to it ("with a
view to," "with reference to ") : cf . iv. 9, II. i. 5. Ilepiirareiy, a familiar
Hebraism CtQT\T\T\\= dvaaTpiij>eo-Bai, 2 Cor. i. 12, &c.
That they should "behave worthily of God" is the proper aim of
those who "have turned to God from idols" (i. 9), and the aim on
their behalf of those who "were entrusted by God" with " the gospel
of God " to convey to them (vv. 2, 4, 8 f.) : d£lus has tou Beov for its
fitting complement here (only in 3 Jo. 6 besides in N.T.), — tov Kvpiov
in Col. i. 10, roD evayyeXiov tov xp'froC in Phil. i. 27, rr}s KXi)o-ews in
Eph. iv. 1 (of. II. i. 11 below). For other references to God as the
standard of the religious Ufe, see Eph. v. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 15; Matt. v. 48;
Lev. xix. 2; Gen. xvii. 1. For paraUels to d|ius toD Beov, see Deiss-
mann, Bible Studies, p. 248.
dfjCus tov Beov tov kuXovvtos vpds k.t.X., worthily of the God who
calls you : for it is " the God (living and real," i. 9), whom the Thessa
lonians have come to know through His gracious " oaU" and " choice"
(i. 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 sum
mons them. The present participle may intimate the continuousness
of the call (cf. note on rbv SiSbvra, iv. 8); or rather — since God'B
call is commonly conceived as the single, initial manifestation of His
grace to Christians (see iv. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 9, See. ) — tov KaXovvros is
substantival, like rbv pvbu,evov in i. 10 (see note) : " God your caller "
(similarly in v. 24); St Paul and the rest are only Ki)pvKes, bearers
of the summons from Him.
els rrjv eavToO pao-iXeCav Kal Soijav, (who calleth you) into (i.e. to
enter) His own kingdom and glory, — the kingdom of which God is the
immediate Buler, entering which men become His acknowledged and
privUeged servants. "Kingdom and glory" form one idea (observe
the single artiole and preposition) : " God's own kingdom " culminates
in "His own glory," — viz. the splendour of the revelation attending

2 1.2] NOTES. 49
the return of Christ, which will exhibit Gqd in the fuU glory of His
accomplished purposes of salvation and of judgement (Jo. xvii. 1 ;
1 Cor. xv. 21 — 28; Ph. ii. 11) ; hence kingdom and glory match the
serving and waiting of i. 9f. The Christian's "hope of the glory
of God" (Bom. v. 2) is one with his "hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ" (i. 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 Ues at the basis of St Paul's doctrine. The announce
ment of it had been a leading feature of his preaching at Thessalonica
(cf. II. i. 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 xx. 25, xxviii. 31). He desig
nates it sometimes "the kingdom of the Son" (Col. i. 13), "the
kingdom of Christ and God" (Eph. v. 5; cf. Eev. xi. 15), since God
rules in it through Christ; and, in 2 Tim. iv. 18, as "His (the
Lord's) heavenly kingdom " (cf. Matt. iv. 17, vi. 10, xiii. 24, <fco. ). 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 Lk. xvii. 21 ; Matt, v
3, 10, xiii. 31 ff., 38, See., 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 wUl 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 " (Eom. xiv.
17) ; but whatever of it men now possess the Apostle regards as only
the"earnestof our inheritance "(Eph. i. 13 f.; Bom. viii. 17; Tit. iii. 7).
His appeals, consolations, and protestations to his Thessalonian con
verts point to the subUme 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.

§ 4. ii. 13 — 16. Fellowship in Persecution with the Jtjd^an
Churches.
The rich fruits of the Gospel in the Thessalonian Church, for
which the writers thank God (§ 2), led them to dwell, in the tone of
self-defence, on their own signal and devoted work (§ 3), which had
this happy result, (a) The recital brings them back, in renewed
thanksgiving, to the thought of the full acceptance on the readers'
part of the message of God (v. 13, resuming i. 2 — 10). (6) In this
Thess. D

go 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 13
acceptance, the Epistle goes on to say, the Thessalonian believers
identify themselves with the mother Churches in Judcea (v. 14 a).
(c) This fact is evidenced by the persecution undergone at the hands
of their fellow-countrymen (v. 14 b). (d) At this point the Letter
breaks out into a stern denunciation of the Jews, who have been
persecutors of God's servants all along (v. 15), (e) and by obstructing
the salvation of the Gentiles have made themselves the objects of
a settled wrath, that is bringing upon them a conclusive judgement
(v. 16).
The passionate note of vv. 15, 16 is singular in St Paul's Letters ;
nowhere else does he assail the Jewish nation in this way (see the
Introd. pp. xviu. f.). In Bom. ix. 1 — 5 the Apostle writes of his
"kindled" in quite another mood. On this ground, and since
vv. 15, 16 form a parenthesis and might be removed without injury
to the context, Schmiedel, with a few other critics, regards the passage
as an interpolation due to some anti-Jewish editor, dating from a
time subsequent to the faU of Jerusalem, to which he supposes v. 16 c
to refer as a fait accompli (see note below) ; A. Bitschl would excise
the last clause only. It must be borne in mind, however, that St
Paul was pursued from the beginning of his work in Thessalonica
up to the time of writing with peculiar virulence by the Jews (Acts
xvii., xviii.), that the troubles of the Thessalonian Christians had
their origin in Jewish envy and intrigue (Acts xvii. 5), and that the
slanderous insinuations brought against the missionaries at the
present time in Thessalonica almost certainly proceeded from the
same quarter ; there was cause enough for severe resentment and
condemnation. Moreover, Silvanus, who had a share in the Epistle
(see note on i. 1), was a Judsan Christian ; some recent news of
persecution suffered by his brethren at home may have added fuel to
the flame of righteous anger and awakened his prophetic spirit (Acts
xv. 32).
13. Xal Sid tovto Kal ijpeis evxapio~Tovpev tu 8eu dSiaXeCirTus.
And on this account we also give thanks to God unceasingly. At the
beginning of the Epistle the Apostles gave thanks to God in remem
brance of the worth of their readers ; they find a supplementary
ground of thanksgiving in the fact that these had "received as God's
word " " the word of hearing " coming from themselves : hence the
emphatic Tju-els Kai ebxapio-rovixev instead of the bare evxapiurovp-ev of
i. 1, and the pecuUar phrase Xbyov aKoijs rap' -i)u.wv toO Beov. Aid
rovro gathers its meaning from the previous paragraph : all the toil
and sacrifice of the missionaries contributed to their satisfaction over

2 13] NOTES. Si
the result accomplished ; their consuming devotion to the Thessa
lonians made the thanksgiving a thoroughly personal matter : see
vv. 19 f., iii. 8f^
Accordingly the clause 8ti irapaXapdvres Xdyov aKorjs irap' ijpuv
tov 6eo0, k.t.X., does not sup'ply the correlative to Sid tovto (as if St
Paul meant "on this account, viz. that," &c.) ; but it gives the subject-
matter of eixapurrovpiev (cf. II. i. 3, ii. 13; 1 Cor. i. 4 f., Sec.) : that (or
in that) when you received the word of hearing from us — God's word
— you accepted (in it). ..a word of God. HapaXafibvres, denoting the
objective fact of receiving — by way of information, tradition, or the
like (cf. iv. 1 ; H. iii. 6 ; 1 Cor. xv. 1 ; Gal. i. 9, See.) — leads up to
eSe£acr8e, which indicates subjective acceptance (see i. 6, and note ;
II. ii. 10 ; 1 Cor. ii. 14), the inner apprehension and appreciation of
the message for what it truly is. The X670S aKorjs is the "word " as
it came to the rapaXa§bvres (cf. Ph. iv. 9, rapeXd^ere k. -^Koiaare), and
from the XaXovvres (vv. 2, 4) and Knpio-aovTes (v. 9), — the word of God
sounding in the ears of the Thessalonians from the writers' lips ; the
phrase occurs again in Heb. iv. 2, " where, as here, it stands in con
trast to the faithful reception of the Gospel " (Lightfoot). For aKorjs
(dmiw) rapd, implying a "word" lodged with the speakers (v. 3), cf.
2 Tim. i. 13, ii. 2 ; Acts x. 22, See. ; Jo. xv. 15. Others connect irap'
t\u.usv with rapaXapbvres. In Eom. x. 17 it is said, i) rims il; dKoijs,
where rims corresponds to SixeaBai in this passage ; an dKor/ driarias
is desoribed in that context. 'Akot/s Bhould probably be read, like its
counterpart in Eom. x. 8 — (to pi)u.a) ttjs rio-reus — as a lax genitive of
the possessor, "the word which belongs to (or is for) hearing"; as dmi)
is Sid pi)u.aros (Eom. x. 17), so X670S is els dKor)v. For aKor/, see further
Gal. iii. 2 ; Jo. xii. 38 ; Isai. liu. 1 (LXX). ToO 0eoO is genitive of
subject denning the noun-phrase Xo7oj< dKoijs and correcting irap' r/jaflc,
— " God's word given you to hear from us " ; cf. Col. i. 6 6, 7 ; 2 Cor.
iii. 5 f., v. 19 f. ; Eph. iii. 7 f. ; Acts xv. 7: "the Apostle betrays a
nervous apprehension that he may be unconsciously making claims
for himself ; the awkwardness of the position of the words tou Beov is
the measure of the emphasis of his disclaimer " (Lightfoot).
eSljjao-Se ov Xdyov dvBpwirwv dXXd, KaBus dXr)8us ecrrCv, Xdyov 8eoB :
you accepted no word of men, but, as it truly is, God's word. No need
to understand His before X67oi< in either instance : the Thessalonians in
point of fact did not accept a human but a Divine word ; they were
listening to Another behind Paul and SUas. Of the kind of hearing
negatived St Paul's Athenian audience gave an example (Acts xvn.
18—21). With oi Xbyov dvBp. k.t.X. cf. 1 Cor. iii. 5—9, oilre b ipvTeiiav
D2

52 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 13—
io-rlv ti k.t.X. ; also 1 Cor. i. 12 — 17, 29 — 31. The phrase dXnBSis iarlv
is hap. leg. in St Paul ; rather frequent in St John.
8s Kal evepyei/rai ev vptv tois irio-reiovo-iv, whicn (word) is also
made operative (or is working effectually) in you that believe. The
active of ivepyiu has in St Paul a personal subject ; the passive (or
middle) voice is used of personal powers, influences, as in II. ii. 7 ;
Gal. v. 6, See. This relative clause carries the readers from past to
present time : "God's word," which they had accepted as such at the
mouth of His Apostles, from that time "also works on in" their
hearts and lives. 'Ei'ep7errai recalls the ipyov rirrews (i. 1; see note),
— the primary matter of thanks to God. This verb ( = ivepyr)s elpj.)
signifies effective, fructifying operation (cf. Bom. vii. 5 ; Phil. ii. 13) ;
see J. A. Bobinson on Ephesians, pp. 241 ff., who gives reason for
rendering ivepyiouAu aspassive in the N.T. The "word is made to work
in " those " that believe," since faith is the operative principle of the
new life, — rlo-ns...ivepyovpiivri (Gal. v. 6 ; cf. Jam. ii. 22 ; Heb. iv. 2).
A second time iu.tv rois rio-reiovaiv serves to designate the Christian
readers (v. 10 ; see note) ; in i. 7 rao-iv tois rurreiovoiv denoted
Christians at large.
14. The effective power of the readers' faith in God's word was
shown in that which it enabled them to suffer (cf. Col. i. 11) : —
vpeis ydp pipr|Tal eyevTJBrjre, dSeXipoC, tuv eKKXr|o-iuv tov Qeov
k.t.X. These "believers" had "become imitators" of the Apostles
and their Lord through " receiving the word in much affliction with
joy " (i. 6) ; they were thus identified with the original believers : for
you became imitators, brothers, of the ckurches of God that are in
Judma in Christ Jesus. SUvanus belonged to the Jerusalem Church,
of which he would be often thinking and speaking : this allusion may,
possibly, be due to him (see Introd. to § 4 above). " The churches...
in Judsea " — in the plural, as in Gal. i. 22, " the churches of Judaea
that are in Christ " : the Palestinian Christian communities, as we
gather from the notices of the Acts, formed a unity under the direct
oversight in the first instance of the Apostles. They are identified
with the Thessalonian Christians (i. 1 ; see note) as "churches of
God. ..ire Christ Jesus"; this adjunct differentiates them from the
Synagogue. A " church of God" is a sacred and august fellowship :
cf. II. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. i. 1 ; Gal. i. 13. For the double iv, of local and
spiritual sphere, both depending on t£>v oiowv, cf. Phil. i. 1, 13; Col.
i. 2, Sec. In this connexion " Christ" or " Christ Jesus "—not " Jesus
Christ " — is appropriate, pointing to the Uving Head of the Church ;
v. 18 (where the reading, however, is doubtful) supplies the only other

2 15] NOTES. S3
example in these Epistles of the familiar Pauline combination
" Christ Jesus."
oti Ta avTa eirdSeTe Kal vpets vird k.t.X., in that you also suffered
the same things from your fellow-countrymen. "On defines fuuvTat
(of. i. 5), showing in what specifically the resemblance lay, — it was a
avp.icdo-%eiv : of. Phil. i. 29 f., rbv airov ayiSva exopres; 2 Cor. i. 6f.;
2 Tim. ii. 3 ; 1 Pet. v. 9, &c. o-vpcpuXeVris (cf. , for the form of
compound, 0-vu.roXlTns, Eph. ii. 19), contribulis (Vulg.), fellow-tribes
man, replaces the older tpvXirns (Plato, Legg. 955 D ; Aristophanes,
Acharn. 568) ; signifying properly a member of the same tpvXi), sept
or clan, it grew wider in use ; hap. leg. for N.T. Greek, ndox"" *'r0
is the regular construction (so in Matt. xvii. 12 ; Mk v. 26), dir6 in
Matt. xvi. 21. Tuv iSlav, antithetical to airol of the next clause.
Ka8o5j Kal avTol vird tuv 'IovSaCuv. The doubled Kal in compari
sons is an emphasizing idiom characteristic of St Paul : cf. Bom.
i. 13 ; Col. iii. 13. Airol refers, by a constructio ad sensum, to the
men of " the churches of God which are in Judaea." From Acts xvii.
5 ff. it appears that the native Thessalonian mob were the actual
persecutors, and used a violence similar to that directed against the
Judsean Christians at the time of Stephen (Acts vi. — viii.) ; but the
Jews prompted the attack. Hence it is against their own 0-vp.tpvXiTai,
not those of the readers, that the anger of the Apostles is directed.
This is the earliest example, and the only instance in St Paul, of the
designation "the Jews" appUed in the sense made familiar after
wards by the Gospel of St John, as opposed to Christians — " the
disciples," "the believers," See. ; in Gal. ii. 13 — 15, Bev. iii. 9, it has
no such connotation, lav 'lovSaluv is qualified by the following
participial clauseB, showing how the nation is fixed in its hostiUty
to God's purpose in the Gospel ; vv. 15 f. justify the use of the
phrase "the Jews" in its anti-Gentile and anti- Christian sense.
IB. tuv Kal Tdv Kvpiov diroKTeivaVTiiw 'Itjo-ovv, who both killed the
Lord, even Jesus. To have "slain the Lord," who bears the title of
God, "Him whom they were bound to serve" (Jowett) — the most
appalling of crimes (cf. 1 Cor. ii. 8, rbv Kipiov rr)s Sb^ijs iaraipacrav) ;
that "Lord," moreover, Jesus, their Saviour (Matt. i. 21; Acts iv. 12),
and such as " Jesus " was known to be. The emphasis thrown by
the separation on the double name brings into striking relief the
Divine glory and the human character of the Slain ; cf. Acts ii. 36.
These words echo those in which Jesus predicted His death in the
Parable of Lk. xx. 9—18 and Mk xii. 1—11.
Kal tovs TTpoi|>rJTas Kal Tjpds eKSiufjdvTuv. Jesus had represented

54 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 15—
His murder as the culmination of that of "the prophets " (Lk. xi.
47 — 51, xiii. 33, xx. 9 — 16), a charge repeated by St Stephen in Saul's
hearing (Acts vii. 52) ; cf. also Bom. xi. 3 ; 1 Kings xix. 10, 14 ; Jer.
ii. 30 ; Neh. ix. 26 : these parallels support the usual construction of
the clause, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove
us out. But "the prophets " here follow " the Lord Jesus," making
something of an anti-climax if governed by droKreivdvTav. Gram
matically this object may just as well be attached to eVcSiwfdprwc and
coordinated to iiu,ds, with the comma placed after 'Ino-ovv : who both
killed the Lord Jesus, and drove out (in persecution) the prophets and
ourselves. Our Lord identified His Apostles with the 0. T. prophets
in persecution (see Matt. v. 12) ; in the Parable of the Wicked Hus
bandmen (Matt. xxi. 33 ff. ; cf. xxiii. 34), it was "some" of the
servants that "they slew," as they did "the Son" at last, while all
were persecuted (cf. again Acts vii. 52). "The prophets" and the
Apostles were alike bearers of "the word of God" (v. 13), and received
the same treatment from His unworthy people. 'Ek-SioJkw, "to perse
cute out (of a place)," is the verb found in many ancient copies in
Lk. xi. 49, with the same twofold object : " I will send to them
prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kUl and will
persecute"; see also Ps. cxviii. 157, Sir. xxx. 19 (LXX). This is
precisely what befell St Paul at Thessalonica and Beroea in turn.
Kal 8eu pi) dpeo-KovTuv. To "please God," to "walk worthily of
the Lord unto aU pleasing," is a favourite Pauline definition of the
true religious life (see v. 4, iv. 1 ; also Eom. viii. 8, xii. 1 ; 2 Cor.
v. 9, &c, and Heb. xi. 5f.), — to which the behaviour of "the Jews"
stands in glaring contrast. A tragic meiosis, — to describe as "not
pleasing" the conduct of those on whom God's heaviest "wrath"
descends (v. 16). The participle after the article is regularly nega
tived by uri) (see A. Buttmann, N. T. Grammar, p. 351), which tends
to oust oi with all participles in later Greek ; cf . Td u.i) eiSbra, iv. 5.
For the sentiment, cf. Isai. Ixv. 5 ; Jer. xxxii. 30.
Kal irdo-iv dvBpuirois IvovtCuv, and (are) to all men contrary. So
the terrible indictment of "the Jews" culminates. The two participles
and the adjective ivavriav, under the regimen of the single article,
form a continuous, closely linked statement. Tacitus and Juvenal,
who knew the Jews at Borne, speak of their sullen inhumanity as a
notorious fact, the former referring to their " adversus omnes alios
hostile odium" (Hist. v. 5), and the latter to their rule, "Non
monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti, Qusesitum ad fontem solos
deducere verpos " (Sat. xiv. 103 f.). Testimonies to the Uke effect

2 16] NOTES. 55
may be gathered from Philostratus, Vita Apoll. Tyan. v. 33 ; Dio-
dorus Siculus xxxiv. 1; Josephus, contra Apion. n. 10, 14. The offer
of "the good news" of Christ to the heathen provoked Jewish jealousy
and contempt to fury : when the Gentiles flocked to St Paul's preach
ing in the synagogue of Pisidian Antiooh, the Jews present, ISbvres
tovs SxXovs, irX-qo-Bno-av fr)Xou (Acts xiii. 45) ; when the Apostle in his
speech of defence at Jerusalem appealed to the Lord's command,
" Go, for I wUl send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," hearing
him &xp' roiirou too Xbyov, they burst out, Aipe diro rijs 717s rbv
toiovtov (Acts xxii. 22). These were incidents in a constant experi
ence. There is a connexion in the nature of things between the two last
clauses. The sense of God's displeasure sours a man's temper toward
his fellows ; unbelief breeds cynicism. The Judenhasse of modern
times is a lamentable result of the ancient feud of Jew and Gentile, of
which the figure of Shylock and his part in Shakespeare's Mercliant of
Venice afford a classical illustration.
16. kuXuo'vtuv r)pds tois SAveo-iv XaXfjcrai Jva cru8uo-lv, forbidding
us to speak to the Gentiles in order that they may be saved. As
much as to say, " These Jews would stop our mouths if they could,
and prevent us uttering a single word to you about the Gospel ; they
would gladly see all the Gentiles perish." While many individual
Jews were of a humaner spirit, this was the dominant feeling and the
cause of the murderous enmity that pursued the Apostle Paul, bringing
about his long imprisonment and finally his death. Here he exposes
the motives of his traducers : they poisoned the minds of the Thessa
lonians against him to rob them of the Gospel of salvation ; cf. the
denunciation of Jewish Christian proselytizers in Gal. vi. 12 f.
KwXvbvruv, anarthrous participle, in explanatory apposition to the
last clause (or, perhaps, to the two last clauses, 8etj>...ivavTluiv).
This verb in pres. and impf. is regularly tentative: "being fain to
forbid." "Iva is so weakened in later Greek, that XaXijo-ai iva k.t.X.
might mean "to tell the Gentiles to be saved — to bid them be saved" ;
"a periphrasis for eiayyeXlfecrBai tois iBvemv" (Ellicott). This usage
is clear in the case of the verb elreiv in Lk. iv. 3, x. 40; but it
does not occur elsewhere with XaXe'iv, the force of which here lies in
its connexion with tois iBveaiv (cf. v. 2 ; also Acts iv. 17, xi. 19 f., Jo.
iv. 27, 1 Cor. iii. 1, for the stress on the person addressed in construc
tion with XaXeiK ; and Eph. iii. 8, for tois iBveaiv in like emphasis) :
the Jews would not have a word said to the GentiUs "with a view to
effect " their salvation. For ha tro>8t2o-iv, cf . 1 Cor. x. 33 ; 2 Tim. ii. 10,

56 1 TUEiSSALUJS'lAJSIlS. \2 lb-
els to dvairXripucrai avruv Tas dpapTCas iravTore states the issue
for the Jews of their sustained and violent resistance to the word
of God, now consummated by their rancorous opposition to the
Gentiles' receiving it. On els rb, see note on v. 12 ; the preposition
may signify consequence here, as in 2 Cor. viii. 5 f., Heb. xi. 3, but with
a. meaning akin to purpose (a blind aim), — "to the effect that," "in
a manner calculated to " — whereas do-re (i. 8, &o.) expresses bare conse
quence ("so that," "so as to"). EUicott and Bornemann may be
right, however, in seeing here the purpose of God, " which unfolds itself
in this wilful and at last judicial blindness on the part of His chosen
people": of. Bom. i. 24, Sib rapiSaKev airois 6 Bebs. ..els dKaBapoidv,
where sin is declared to be punished by further and more flagrant
sin. The phrase "fill up their sins " recalls Gen. xv. 16, otfirw dxa-
rerXi)pojvTai al au-aprlai ruv ' Apofipaliov — an omiuous and humili
ating parallel for Israelites ; cf. also Dan. viii. 23. Still more dis
tinctly the words of Jesus are echoed (Matt, xxiii. 31 f.) : viol io-re tuv
tpovevffdvTOiv roiis rpot/)r)Tas • Kal ifieis rXnpihaare rb fiirpov ruv raripuv
viitov. ' Ava-rXnpbu, "to fill up (to the brim)," implies a measure quite
complete : cf. II. ii. 6 — 8 ; Bom. ii. 5 f. Udvrore covers the whole
ground of v. 15,. indicating a course of misdoing repeated at every
turn. That God's purpose was at work in the above di-airXijpwo-ai is shown
by the last clause, e'dtBao-ev Se Iir' avTovs rj op-yrj els re'Xos, but the
(Divine) wrath lias hastened (to come) upon them, to (make) an end.
Whose wrath goes without saying ; cf. t) Spyr) in i. 10, and Bom. v. 9.
In i. 10 " the wrath " was contemplated in its approaching mani
festation to the world ; here in its imminence upon the Jewish people :
there it is " coming " (ipxopivij) ; here it "has arrived." $8dvu— con
strued with eis in Bom. ix. 31, Phil. iii. 16 ; with iri in Matt. xii. 28, Sec.
— signifies reaching the object aimed at, with the associated idea of
speed or surprise; with a direct object, it means to overtake, anticipate
(see iv. 15). For the element of unexpectedness in the judgement, cf.
v. 2 f., and Matt. xxiv. 50, Lk. xxi. 34 f. , See., in our Lord's prophecies ;
this sense of ipBdva is unmistakable in Matt. xii. 28, and accords with
the emphatic position of the verb here. The sentence is prophetic,
resembling in its aorist (or perfect: see Textual Note) the Hebrew per
fect of prediction (where the certain future is realized in thought) ;
the Apostles infer this from the facts before their eyes. " The Jews "
have rejected the Name in which alone there is salvation (Acts iii. 19 ff.,
iv. 12) ; by their crime in killing the Lord Jesus, and by forbidding
His Gospel to the world, they have sealed their doom. The tragedy
of Israel's fate hurries visibly to its pre-determined close.

2 17] NOTES. " 57
And this calamity will be final — tyBaaev (or id>8aKev)...els riXos.
In former threatenings God had said, " Yet wUl I not make a full
end " (Jer. iv. 27, &c.) ; this time He does make an end — of the Old
Covenant and of national Israel. Still Bom. xi. opens out a new
prospect for the Jewish race ; after all it is eis riXos, not els rb riXos,
that is written. For St Paul's use of r<!Xos as implying the goal and
terminus of some Divine dispensation, cf. Eom. x. 4 ; 1 Cor. x. 11,
xv. 24; also Lk. xxii. 37. In Lk. xviii. 5, Jo. xiii. 1, els riXos has
much the same force as here, meaning not at last, but finally (so as
to reach an end), by way of crown and finish to the matter in hand.
Within twenty years of the writing of this Letter Jerusalem fell,
after the most dreadful and calamitous siege known in history ;
and the Jewish people ever since have wandered without a home and
without an altar. "Tristis exitus," writes Bengel: "urgebat miseros
ira Dei, et eis riXos urbem cum templo delevit."

§ 6. Ii. 17 — iii. 5. The Separation op the Apostles erom their
Converts.
After the pause for thanksgiving to God, which in its turn led up
to the stern denunciation of Jewish persecutors in vv. 15 f ., the Letter
resumes the strain of v. 13. The happy intercourse between the
Apostles and their newly-won converts (vv. 10 — 12) had been broken
off by the assault just alluded to ; the missionaries had left Thessa
lonica prematurely and in grief, planning a speedy return (v. 17).
St Paul in particular had twice resolved on this, but in vain (v. 18).
For the Thessalonian Church gave its ministers the greatest joy and
hope (v. 19 f.). Failing to return themselves, the other two had sent
Timothy, to cheer the Thessalonians and sustain their faith in the
present trials, of which indeed they had been forewarned (iii. 1 — 4) ;
especially on St Paul's motion had Timothy gone, to enquire how the
Church fared under this prolonged and anxious trial (v. 5).
17. 'Hpets 8e, dSeXcpoC, diropipavio-flevTes dip' vumv. But we on
our part, brothers, torn from you in bereavement — desolati a vobis
(Vulg.), orbati vobis (Calvin, See.) — "sicut parentes filiis absentibus"
(Bengel). 'Ar-optpavlfrfiai (hap. leg. in N. T., only found besides in
^Ischylus, Choeph. 246) is derived from ipipavbs (orphan, Lat. orbus ;
cf. Jo. xiv. 18 ; Jam. i. 27), a term applying to the loss of any near
relation or friend ; it describes here the severing of new-found and
tenderly attached "brothers," or of parents from children (v. 11) :
similarly in Pindar, ipipavbs eralpuv (Isthm. 7. 16), as well as bpipavol

58 ' 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 17—
7eveas (01. 9. 92) ; Hesychius defines bpipavbs as 6 yovioiv io-Tepnu.ivos
xal riKvwv. The doubled diro- emphasizes the separation. "&u.eis Si,
in contrast with ipieis ydp, v. 14 : the last paragraph has thrown into
relief the worth of the Thessalonians as dSeXtpol.
irpos Kaipdv upas, irpotruiru oi KapSCa. Mitigating circumstances
of tbe bereavement (cf. Jo. xiv. 18 ff., xvi. 16 ff., &c): the parting was
expected to be brief ; while it lasted, there would be no severance of
heart. Ilpbs Kaipbv upas, ad momentum horce (Beza) ; cf. Horace, Sat.
i. i. 7 f. : irpds Kaipbv occurs in 1 Cor. vii. 5, Lk viii. 13 ; irpds Sipav in
2 Cor. vii. 8, Gal. ii. 5, Phm. 15, Jo. v. 35 — the former- implying
a passing crisis, the latter a brief interval ; the combination is unique ;
see however Kard Kaipois tbp&v in Exod. xiii. 10. The antithesis rpba-
urov... KapSia is found in 2 Cor. v. 12 ; it contrasts the apparent and
real in the case, the outer aspect with the inner mind of those con
cerned — aspectu non corde (Vulg.) : cf., for a Uke antithesis in rpbo-to-
mm, Matt. vi. 16 ff . ; in KapSia, Bom. ii. 28 f.
irepio-o-oTepus eo-irovSdorapev to irpdo-uirov vpuv ISeiv ev iroXXrj
eiriBupCa, made more earnest endeavours to see your face in great
longing. The comparative adverb, according to its use elsewhere
(2 Cor. i. 12; Gal. i. 14, See.), signifies not "the more abundantly"
(because of our strong affection, because of the anxious circum
stances, or the like), but "more abundantly" (than otherwise, than
in ordinary circumstances) — "in no small degree"; it is explained
by iv iroXXi? in8vu.la: the "abundant desire" filling the souls of
the Apostles stirred them to an uncommon zeal in the attempt to
get back to Thessalonica. Parted from their brethren "in face not
in heart," the writers longed and strove "to see" their "face."
'Eri8vu,ia denotes intent desire, and most often bad desire, lust : cf.
for its good sense, Phil. i. 23 ; Lk. xxii. 15 ; and for the verb iriBvpiia,
Gal. v. 17 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1 ; Matt. xiii. 17, Sec.
18. 8ioti T|8eXf|a-apev eXfletv irpds vpds, because we had resolved to
come to you : place a colon only at the end of v. 17. The A. V. —
" Wherefore we would have come" — confounds Sibri with Sib (cf. iii. 1,
- See.) : for Sibri, which regularly introduces an antecedent ground, not
a consequence, see v. 8, iv. 6, Eom. i. 19, 1 Cor. xv. 9, Sec. ; it is an
emphasized causal Sri. The E.V. also fails to do justice to BiXui 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" (B.V.), or "were fain to come," he would presumably
have written if3ovXbp.e8a, as in 2 Cor. i. 15 or Phm. 13. This rendering,

2 18] NOTES. 59
moreover, makes i)8eXt)aaiJ.ev but a weakened repetition of eVirouSd-
<rapiev...ev iroXXij iriBvpia. The Apostles had "made up their minds
to come " — they were resolved and bent upon it ; hence their strenuous
effort (v. 17). QiXia (iBiXia), with BiXi/aa, in the N.T. as in classical
Greek, always implies, more or less distinctly, active volition,- — even
in Matt. i. 19; " auf das entschiedene Wollen, den festen, bestimmten
Vorsatz und Entschluss geht " (Bornemann ad loc).
eyu pev TLavXos Kal arra| Kal Si's. I, Paul, indeed both once and
twice. The plural of vv. 17, 18 a shows that the three writers — at
any rate more than one of them (see iii. 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 Bercea, whUe Paul and Silas were
together (Acts xvii. 10 — 14) ; and the second at Athens, which Paul
reached alone (v. 15), or on the way from Bercea to Athens. The
phrase Kal diraf Kal 31$ is found in Phil. iv. 16, where it is rendered
as here, "once and again (you sent to relieve my need)": cf. Neh.
xiii. 20, 1 Mace. iii. 30 (LXX), where diraj k. Sis, like our " once or
twice," means " several times " indefinitely ; but the definite numerical
sense is appropriate here and in PhU., and with repeated Kal — "not
once only, but twice," "as often as twice." For the double Kal,
cf. Matt. x. 28 ; 1 Cor. a. 32. The fiiv solitarium connotes a tacit
contrast, scil. "but the others once"; see Blass' Grammar of N.T.
Greek, p. 267.
Kal eveKot|/ev TJpas 6 Saravds. This clause coordinates itself by Kal
(not Si) quite appropriately to v. 17, v. 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 " (i)BeXi)o-anev, v. 18a), but the "endeavour
ing" (io-rovSdo-a/nev, v. 17). If this interpretation be right (see
Bornemann at length ad loc.), the punctuation both of A.V. and B.V.
is misleading ; cf . the two foregoing notes.
'EvKbrrw (see Gal. v. 7, and Lightfoot's note ; Bom. xv. 22) is
a military term of later Greek, signifying "to make a break in (the
enemy's way)," to "cut up (the road)." '0 Sararas (Heb. lO'BTI
Aramaic WED), "the Adversary," is the Captain of the powers of
evil, — undoubtedly a personality, not a personification, to St Paul ;
the same as 6 reipdfav of iii. 5, d rovnpbs of H. iii. 3. This 0. T. name
recurs in H. ii. 9 (see note) ; it is frequent in St Paul, along with £

6o 1 THESSALONIANS. [2 18—
StdpoXos, 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 maUce probably supplied a chief element
in it (see v. 16, KuXvbvruv fyids k.t.X.); 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 Cor. ii. 11, xii. 7.
Vv. 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.
V. 19 is best punctuated — after WH, Lightfoot, Nestle, and others —
by reading ^ oiix' ko! ipiels ; 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 ex-
cludit, hos maxime numerat " (Bengel) : of. Phil. ii. 16, iv. 1 ; Jo.
xv. 11, xvii. 10; 3 Jo. 4. The Apostles' "hope," like that of their
readers (i. 4, 10, iii. 13), is fixed on the glorious return of the Lord
Jesus ; then their work will be appraised (see 1 Cor. iv. 1 — 5 ; 2 Cor.
v. 9f.), and "joy" or "grief" (Heb. xiii. 17), "glorying" or shame,
will be theirs, as the objects of their care prove worthy or unworthy
(cf. H. i. 11 f.). Hence all their prayers and efforts look to this end,
as in iii. 13, v. 23 f. ; Col. i. 28— ii. 2 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2. At Christ's
coming St Paul expects his "crown " (2 Tim. iv. 8 ; cf. 1 Cor. ix. 25 ;
Jam. i. 12 ; 1 Pet. v. 4, See.).
o-re'cpavos Ka«xi10'««>s — corona gloriationis (Calvin, Bengel), not
glories (Vulg.) — renders rQSBPl T\yiV in Isai. Ixii. 3 ; Ezek. xvi. 12,
xxiii. 42 ; Prov. xvi. 31 — the crown which a king or hero wears on
some day of festal triumph ; cf. Sophocles, Ajax 465. St Paul antici
pates a consummation of the Kaixnas which he already enjoys : see
II. i. 4 ; Bom. xv. 17 ; 1 Cor. xv. 31 ; 2 Cor. vii. 4, Sec. The ap
pealing interrogative (ij oixl Kal iu.eis;) is characteristic : cf. Bom.
ix. 21 ; 1 Cor. vi. 2, 19, Sec.
Note the first appearance here of the word rapowla, which plays so
large a part in the two Epistles : see iii. 13, iv. 15, v. 23 ; II. ii. 1, 8, 9 ;
once besides, in 1 Cor. xv. 23 ; also in 1 Jo. ii. 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"

2 20] NOTES. 61
(Matt. xvi. 28, xxiv. 30 ; Mk vin. 38, ix. 1, &c), this remained to be
reaUzed at His future vapovo-la, to which the term thus oame to be
specifically apphed (Matt. xxiv. 3, &o.) ; it is synonymous in this
sense with irupdveia (1 Tim. vi. 14, See.), and diroKdXi/^is (1 Cor. i. 7).
20. vpets ydp lore tJ 8d|a ijpuv Kal r) \aPa- ^es> Iruty, you are
our glory and our joy. In this reply to the rhetorical question of
v. 19, Sofa covers iXrts and ariipavos Kavxtitrews, while x°pd is repeated.
The emphasis on ipteis, and the close correspondence of vv. 19 and 20,
soarcely admit of our reading iori as a distinctive present — as
though the sentence meant, " You are now, as you will be then, our
glory. " The 5<Sf a, hke the ariipavos of Christians, belongs to the future
(see Eom. xiii. 18, &c.) ; and yet, hke their Kaixnais (see note above),
it is begun aheady (see Bom. viii. 30).
The division of Chapters is misjudged here ; v. 17 above supplies a
much better break.

CHAPTER III.
1. For 810 B has the impossible Siori, probably through trans
criptional assimilation to u.-nKeri.
r|uSoKT]o-apev, in NBP. Cf. nvSoKovpiev, the reading of B in ii. 8 ;
also Bom. xv. 26, 27, 1 Cor. x. 5, where WH adopt vvS- from SB*, KA,
and AB*C respectively ; and 1 Cor. i. 21, where these editors retain
end'., C alone of the uncials having nvS. ; in Gal. i. 15, A alone has
nvb. Outside of Paul, the augment in this verb is ill-attested.
2. The verse presents a complicated and difficult problem :
(a) tov aSeXcpov t)puv Kai Siaxovov too Beov is the reading of NAP
67** 71 and several other minn. , vg cop basm syr hcl tat, Bas Euthal
Pelag ; the sah and the Harleian* copy of the vg omit dei.
(b) tov aSeXipov npuav k. avvepyov tov Beov: so D*d e, Ambrst — clearly
the Western reading. B gives, barely, tov aSeXipov ijpuv k. o-vvepyov
(minus tou Beov). C is wanting here.
(c) G contains a conflate text : tov aSeXipov vp-av k. SiaKovov *.
avvepyov tou Beov ; while the T.B. (Syrian) furnishes another com
bination, tov aSeXipov np,wv k. Sulkovov tov Beov k. avvepyov nu-oiv — so in
DCKL, most minn., syrr, Chr Thdrt, &c.
Manifestly (a) and (b) are the parents of the two forms of (c).
Which of the former is the original, it is hard to say. The substitu
tion of avvepyov for the smooth and unexceptionable ciiaKoi'oj' in
conjunction with rov Beov is not transcriptionally likely ; and NAP
(NBP in Tischendorf 8 is a misprint), with the cop, have the look of an
Alexandrian group. 1 Cor. iii. 9 may have suggested the added
genitive, tov Beov after avvepyov (as in D), which is less relevant here
(see Expository Note); and the Syrian reading points to an earher
avvepyov unqualified by tov Beov ; observe also the absence of dei in
sah and harl*, under (a) above. It is noticeable that in the other
ten Pauline instances of awepyos, the aw- refers to the writer himself
(see the Concordance) ; cf. also 1 Cor. xvi. 16, avvepyovvri. The history
of the text may thus be construed : B preserves the original reading,

3 1] NOTES. 63
that intrinsicaUy probable here, viz. TipioBeov to>» aSeXipov npiuv k.
avvepyov. The Western scribe, or editor, added tou 0eou, recalling
1 Cor. in. 9. The Alexandrian editor, reasonably stumbling at this,
smoothed down avvepyov tov Beov into SiaKovov rov 8eov. The copyist
of G combined the 3rd and 2nd, the Syrian editors the 3rd and 1st
of the above readings. See on this passage B. Weiss, Textkritik der
Paulinischen Briefe, p. 13.
3. to (o-aiveo-6ai) in all uncials. G has the Latinism iva ; latt vg,
ut nemo moveatur.
5. ttjv vpuv itio-tiv (WH, margin), B 37 73 116 : this (for Paul)
unusual order (cf. e.g. vv. 2, 6) may be original. On the other hand,
v. 7 may have deflected the reading of B here.
7. avayKj] Kai BXiipei (in this order): all uncials except KL, and
the best minn. and versions. QXufas is much the more famihar word
of the two ; see v. 3, i. 6.
8. o-TT|KeTe, rather than -lyre : all uncials except N*D, and many
good minn. See Expository Note.
9. tu Kvpiu, instead of Tip Beu, X* (also ep.rpoaBev tov Kvpiov later)
D*G (the Gothic Version has domino deo, by conflation) : an aberrant
Western reading — perhaps determined by ev Kupiu at the end of v. 8.
B reads irepi np*ov, for irepi vpuv.
11. xP'o-tos supplements 0 Kvpios Tjptav Ino-ovs in DCGKL : a charac
teristic Western and Syrian addition ; see note on ii. 19 above.
13. apepir-rus, for -tovs, BL : perhaps due to ii. 10, v. 23. See
Expository Note.
ayioawy : this unusual spelling in B*DG — a frequent itacism (0 for
u). So DG in 2 Cor. vii. 1.
The closing api|v (WH, margin) is found in N*AD 37 43 d e vg cop : a
strong combination of evidence ; and transcriptional probability teUa
in support of the reading, for the " Amen " would seem premature in
the middle of the Epistle. " Videtur au.-nv hoc loco offendisse "
(Tisch.). BG and the Syrian witnesses, with some Latins, omit.

(§ 5, continued.)
1. Aid pT|KeTi oreyovTes. Wherefore no longer bearing (it) — viz. the
pain of bereavement, the hindering of their return (n. 17 f.), and
the concern the Apostles felt for their converts left under a storm of
persecution (v. 3) and with a still imperfect faith (vv. 2, 10). Aid

64 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 1—
has a like comprehensive reference in v. 11. On jar) with participles,
see Lightfoot ad loc. ; the clause does not state a bare fact, as
oukcVi ariyovres would have done, but the fact which motived the
action taken ; cf. Winer-Moulton, pp. 606 ff. On ariyu, repeated
in v. 5, see Lightfoot again. Kindred to Latin tego, to cover, the
verb means both to hold in one's feelings (Plato Gorgias 493 c),
and to hold out against the pressure of circumstances : either sense is
appropriate here ; the latter accords with 1 Cor. ix. 12, xiii. 7 — the
other N.T. exx. — and with later Greek usage, exemplified by Philo
in Flaccum 974 o (§9), /MjKeVi ariyeiv Svv&fievoi ras ivSelas.
ijvSoKfJo-apev KaTaXeupBrjvai ev 'ABrjvais pdvoi, we thought good
(or determined) to be left behind in Athens alone : censuimus ut (Calvin),
or optimum duximus ut (Estius) Athenis soli relinqueremur. For the
force of the plural we, and for the movements of the missionary party
at this time, see Introd., pp. xx. f. EiSoKiu implies not the bare
determination (ido^ev i)aiv), but a conclusion come to heartily and
with goodwill (cf. ii. 8; 2 Cor. v. 8, Sec.) — often used of God's " good
pleasure" in His saving acts and choices (Lk. xii. 32, Sec). Kara-
adds intensity to Xehru ; the simple verb however only occurs
intransitively in the N.T. Mbvoi indicates that Timothy was missed;
Paul and Silas were " lonely" without him : cf. Phil. ii. 20 ; 1 Tim.
i. 2 ; 2 Tim. i. 2 ff ., iv. 9 ff. , indicating the value set upon Timothy's
company. To give up Timothy, their vrnpirns (cf. Acts xiii. 5), was
a sacrifice ; both the older men, probably, found a comfort in his
presence which they could not in the same way give to each other.
Timothy, as well as Silas, must previously have rejoined St Paul
at Athens, according to the instructions of Acts xvii. 15.
2. Kal eire'pilrapev TipdBeov, tov d8eX<j>ov ijpuv k. SiaKovov tov
Beov. For the name Tiu.b8eos, see note on i. 1. This description of
Timothy — our brother, and God's minister (or fellow-worker, avvep-
ybv) — raises the question whether he had been at Thessalonica ; for it
looks as though he were being introduced to the readers, and only Paul
and Silas are actually named in St Luke's account of the mission at
Thessalonica in Acts xvu. 1 — 10, Timothy appearing on the scene
at Bercea just when Paul is departing for Athens (vv. 14 f.). On the
other hand, Timothy shares in the greeting, from which point the
Epistle proceeds in the 1st pers. plural ; and there is no hint of his
exclusion from the reminiscences of chaps, i. and ii. The sending
of this young and somewhat timid helper probably dictates the
commendation, designed to obviate any disparagement of Timothy
on the part of the Church : cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 10 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12. It

3 2] NOTES. 65
seems that in Thessalonica, as previously in Philippi, Timothy had
not been marked out for attack in the same way as his leaders;
he could return when they could not, Cf. the eulogy upon Epaphro-
ditus (Phil. ii. 25), who is going back to Philippi ; also 2 Cor. viii. 23,
referring to Titus, who was already well known to the Corinthian
Church. The surpassingly high epithet avvepybv tov Beov (cf. 2 Cor. vi. 1)
was calculated (if this reading be genuine: see the Textual Note)
to exalt Timothy in the eyes of the readers and to silence complaint
about his being sent. But the adjunct iv rip eua77eXI<j> roO xpio-rov
hardly suits awepybv tov Beov, since God's part has been emphatically
contrasted with that of His servants "in the good news of the Christ"
(see ii. 4 ; 1 Cor. xu. 6) : the reading SidKovov tov Beov iv rip eiayy.
is preferable, assuming tou 0eou authentic ; cf. Bom. i. 9 ; Phil. ii. 22 ;
Phm. 13. For the bare avvepybv (without tou 0eou), see 2 Cor. viii. 23;
in 1 Cor. iii. 9 aw- probably conjoins Paul and Apollos, and Beov is
genitive of possession. For SidK. tov Beov, et. 1 Cor. iii. 5 ; 2 Cor. vi. 4.
As distinguished from douXos, expressing the personal relation binding
the " slave " to his master, didKoyos connotes the help or service ren
dered. To eua77t'Xioi' tou xPt0"r°v, "the good news about the Christ,"
who is the object of the Divine proclamation (see Eom. i. 3 ;
1 Cor. i. 23 ; &c.) ; previously rb eiayyiXiov tov Beov in this Epistle
(ii. 2, cfec. ; see note), with the subjective genitive: The phrase
"servant of God," or "our fellow- worker," requires the definition
iv t$ eiayy. (see Eom. i. 1 f., 9, xv. 16, 19 ; and Ph. ii. 22, iv. 3),
which reminds the Thessalonians of their indebtedness to Timothy.
The elder missionaries had sent Timothy els rd o-njpCgai vpds Kal
irapaKaXeo-ai iirep tijs irCo-reus vpuv, in order to establish you and
encourage (you) in furtherance of your faith. The two infinitives
(arripll-ai k. rapaKaXiaai), with a single article, form one idea, the
latter being the means to the former : they are coupled in the reverse
order in II. n. 17 ; cf. also v. 13 below. On rapaxaXiu, see notes to
ii. 12, and rapdKXnais, ii. 3. Timothy's presence and exhortations, it
was expected, would steady and strengthen the buffeted faith of the
Thessalonians. In its primary meaning (cf. Lk. xvi. 26), arnplfa goes
back to Homer ; its ethical use belongs to later Greek, occurring e.g.
in Epictetus, Gnomologium Stobcei, 39 (ed. Schenkl), roiSs ivoiKovvras
eivoia k. rlarei k. tptXia awrjpifc. For els rb with infin., see note on
ii. 12. 'trip signifies more than about (repl, as in i. 9, iii. 9, Sec),
rather ore behalf of, in the interest of (ei. II. i. 5, ii. 1) ; somewhat
differently used in H. i. 4.
Thess. E

66 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 3—
3. to pijSeva o-aCvco-8ai ev tois OXCipeo-iv TavTais. To wit, that no
one be shaken in mind (or befooled) amid these afflictions. " These "
are the BXtyeis of i. 6 and ii. 2, 14 (cf. II. i. 4ff.), from which Timothy
would find the Thessalonians stiU suffering. 2alvu is a N.T. hap.
leg. ; its sense is doubtful. It does not seem to be cognate with aeiu,
to shake, disturb, as commonly supposed, but signifies to move quickly,
to swish or wag (as the dog his tail : so in Homer and Hesiod) ;
then, in the Attic poets, to fawn upon, wheedle, greet pleasingly, and
so to befool, cozen. The latter meaning is put upon the word here by
Hofrnann, Lightfoot, Schmiedel, after Beza (adblandiri), supposing
that St Paul regards the persecuted Thessalonians as in danger of
seduction by the arts of the enemies of the Gospel, who would know
how to flatter the Apostle's converts (cf. Gal. iv. 17), while they
vilified himself (see ii. 3 — 12; Introd. pp. xxxiv. f.). But the verb
is read by the Greek interpreters as synonymous with <roXei5w or
rapdrrw ; cf. Diogenes Laertius, vin. 41, ol Si aaivbu-evoi tois Xeyo/iivois
iSdupvbv re Kal <pp,u£ov, where aaivbpevoi signifies "moved" in feeling,
" affected " in mind ; also raiSbs fie aalvei ipBbyyos, Sophocles, Antig.
1214. Thus aalveaBai is in contrast with arnpliiai, v. 2, and with idv
arTiKere iv Kvplu, v. 8 : cf. 1 Cor. xv. 58 ; Col. i. 23 ; Eph. vi. 11 ff., See.
The phrase rb... aalveaBai, of which tQ aalveaBai (T.B.) is a clumsy
emendation, stands in the accus. case, in loose explanatory apposition
to e(s rb arnpi^ai k.t.X., as though St Paul had written Tovriari rb
pi-nSiva k.t.X.; similarly to /if/ ireppalveiv in iv. 6 (see note). Some
commentators suppose els to be repeated in thought — an unlikely
ellipsis ; others (ElUcott, Hofrnann, A. Buttmann) regard the clause
as an accus.aof the object (content) to irapaKaXeVai — a forced con
struction. avTol ydp oiSare. Almost a formula of this Epistle : see note
on ii. 1.
oti els tovto KeCpeBa, that we are set (appointed, destined) for this :
els tovto, scil. eh rb BXlfieaBai. . " We " includes readers with writers ;
the BXlif/eis of the latter were alluded to in ii. 2, again in II. iii. 2.
For St Paul's destination in this respect, see Acts ix. 16, and 2 Cor.
xi. 23 — 33 : and for Christians generaUy, Acts xiv. 22 (where the
characteristic expressions of this passage — arnpltu, rapaKaXtu, iriaris,
BXlipeis —appear : St Luke was recalUng the actual words of the
Apostle) ; Jo. xvi. 1 ff., 33, &c. ; 1 Pet. n. 21 (els tovto iKXi)Bi)Te).
Kei/iai is a virtual passive to rlBvpa, to set, or to rlBepai (middle), to
appoint (see v. 9) ; for Keip.ai els, cf. Phil. i. 16, Lk. n. 34. To
"know" that one's sufferings belong to the Divine order of things

3 5] NOTES. 67
and are proper to the Christian calling, is to be assured not only
of their necessity but of their beneficial purpose and joyful issue : see
the Beatitudes in Matt, v.; also Eom. viii. 17 f.; 2 Tim. ii. 11 f.;
1 Pet. iv. 12 ff.
4. Kal ydp ore irpds i\m% TJpev, irpoeXeyopev k.t.X. In support of
the rule just stated, the Apostles recaU their own definite and repeated
warnings. For elpl rpbs — the "with" of personal converse — cf.
II. ii. 5, ui. 1, 10 ; also Gal. i. 18 ; Jo. i. 1. The impf. rpoeXi-
yo/Mev, like iXiyop.ev in II. ii. 5, supposes reiterated warning; the
language of the sequel, uJXXo/iev k.t.X., sustains the sense "fore-tell"
for this verb — otherwise it might be rendered, " we told you openly
(or plainly)," as in E.V. margin; cf. rpbxeipM in 2 Cor. viii. 12.
The same ambiguity attaches to rpo-Xiyu in 2 Cor. xiii. 2; Gal. v. 21.
oti peXXopev BXCpetrBai, that we are to be afflicted (writers and
readers; see note on xeipieBa, v. 3). The persecution of the mission
aries and their converts sprang from the same source (see ii. 14 f. ;
Acts xvii. 5), the malignity and persistence of which were patent from
the first in Thessalonica.
"Oti u.iXXop.ev, not fttXXoipiev : the moods of oratio recta are almost
always in N.T. Greek taken over unchanged in the subordinate clause,
whether the verbum dicendi be primary or historical in tense ; see
Winer-Moulton, p. 376.
Kaflus Kal eyevero Kal otSare, as indeed it proved, and you know :
an appeal to the facts of the case and the experience of the readers.
On the latter point, and the recurrence of this appeal (cf. v. 3), see
notes to i. 5 and ii. 1. The reminder should help to prevent the
Thessalonian believers from being "shaken amid these afflictions":
what had happened was natural and expected ; it is " no strange
thing " (1 Pet. iv. 12).
5. Sid tovto xdyu pt|KeTi areyuv eirepipa k.t.X. On this account I
myself also, no longer bearing (it), sent, Sec. -. a re-assertion, in the
singular number, of what v. 1 related in the plural, with an
additional reason brought into view — did touto, scil. els rb yvuvai
k.t.X. Some suppose (a) that the plur. and sing, of vv. 1 and 5 are
used indifferently, that indeed the 1st plur. throughout the Epistle is
a conventional pluralis auctoris ; but this is improbable, on general
grounds (see Introd. pp. xxxix. f.). (6) Hofrnann and Spitta (Urchrist-
enthum, Band 1., pp. 121 f.) draw quite another inference from the
discrepancy of number ; they conclude that St Paul in his impatience
sent a second messenger, on his own account, with the enquiry stated
E 2

68 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 5—
in this verse, after Timothy had been despatched by himself and
SUas (v. 1). But the words of v. 1 are deliberately resumed, as
if expressly to identify the two (quite congruous) purposes stated in
vv. 2 and 5 ; moreover it is Timothy (v. 6) who returns with the
report that allayed St Paul's anxiety, (c) Assuming, then, that
vv. 1 and 5 refer to one and the same visit, and that the distinction
of number in the double grammatical subject is not otiose, we must
understand that, while the two chiefs concurred in sending Timothy
to Thessalonica from Athens, the action was St Paul's principally;
and that, while both the senders were wishful to strengthen the
faith of the Thessalonians, St Paul attributes to himself, rather than
to Silas, the apprehension that this faith might have given way.
In ii. 18 St Paul distinguished himseU as having made a second,
unshared, attempt to get back to Thessalonica ; and here, as being
actuated by a second motive, that was perhaps not at the time so .
explicit, in directing Timothy's errand. If did tovto be prospective
to els rb yvuvai, the construction resembles that of 1 Tim. i. 16,
2 Tim. ii. 10, Phm. 15; but the above interpretation is consistent
with the more usual retrospective reference of the prepositional
phrase — scil. to rpoeXiyou.ev k.t.X. — the purpose of Timothy's visit
being understood as growing out of the prevision expressed in
v. 4 : " expecting this continued trial for you, I sent, in some appre
hension, to see how you were bearing it."
els to yvuvai ttjv itCo-tiv vpuv. (Ore this account I indeed sent
Timothy), so that I might ascertain your faith : to learn its condition — •
whether, and how, you are maintaining it. YivuaKu, in distinction
from oTJa, to be aware of, acquainted with (v. 4, &e.), means to
get to know, perceive, recognize: cf. Col. iv. 8, and the two verbs
as associated in Eph. v. 5 ; also 2 Cor. U. 9. " The brevity of the ex
pression shows how entirely r) rlans forms the all-comprising and
fundamental concept for the whole life of Christianity as it is caUed
into existence by the Gospel " (Bornemann).
prj irus eireCpairev vpds d ireipdijuv Kal els Kevdv yeVijTai d Koiros
T^puv, lest (fearing that) somehow the Tempter had tempted you, and
our toil should prove in vain. Upon this, the generaUy accepted,
construction, the ytiij of apprehension is followed by the aorist indica
tive in the first clause inasmuch as the reipdfeiv belongs to the sphere
of historical facts, while the eis Kevbv yeviaBai was matter of eventual
contingency (aor. subjunctive) : see Winer-Moulton, pp. 633 f., Blass,
Grammar, p. 213, Ellicott ad loc. : the opposite transition  from
subjunctive to indicative, after /wjirws — is observed in Gal. ii. 2 (see

3 6] NOTES. 69
Lightfoot ad loc). It is possible, however, both in this passage and in
Gal. ii. 2, to read u.i)rus as the indirect interrogative, in which case
yeVijrai (subj.) impUes contingency in the matter of enquiry (see
Winer-Moulton, pp. 373 f.; and the exx. in LiddeU and Scott, s.v. u.i),
C.II. 1): (enquiring), Had the Tempter anyhow tempted you, and
would our toil prove in vain? ut cognoscerem.. .num forte tentator vos
tentaverit, adeo ut labor meus (rather noster) irritus fieri possit
(Schott). See Grimm-Thayer, Lexicon, s.v. u.i)rus; also Hofmann's,
Bornemann's, or Lunemann's (Meyer's Commentary) note ad loc.
"EreuApa els rb yv&vaj. describes an act of virtual interrogation ; in the
two members of the question united by Kal, upon this construction,
irelpaaev relates to (presumable) fact, and the dubitative yivnrai to
the possible consequence thereof. Eph. vi. 21 (iva effiijre rd kot' ipii,
rl rpdaau) and Acts xv. 36 (iriaKe^(iuu.e8a rods dSeXtpobs..., rus ix0""1")
afford similar instances of the indirect question attached to the accu
sative after a verbum cognoscendi. Only one other instance is quoted
of interrogative p.i)rus, viz. Iliad x. 101, while p.t)rus of apprehension
is frequent in St Paul (1 Cor. viii. 9, ix. 27 ; 2 Cor. ix. 4, xi. 3, xii. 20,
&c); but there is nothing in the added irus inconsistent with interrog.
p.i) • cf. efrrws in Bom. i. 10, xi. 14, Acts xxvii. 12. The practical
difference between the two constructions is small.
'0 reipdt;uv (for the substantival participle see note on d pvbfievos,
1. 10) is d Haravas of ii. 18, in his characteristic activity : cf. Matt.
iv. 3, vi. 13; Mk i. 13; 1 Cor. vii. 5. God is d SoKiuAfav (ii. 4), "the
Prover (of hearts)": the difference of the verbs lies in the bad or
good intent of the trial ; see Trench's Synon. § 74. The repe
tition of the verb in subject and predicate almost assumes the fact
of temptation ; the stress of the apprehension (or interrogation : see
previous note) rests on the second half of the sentence. For els Kevbv
(to a void issue), cf. note on Kevi), ii. 1 ; also 2 Cor. vi. 1 ; Gal. ii. 2 ;
Phil. ii. 16; in the LXX, Isai. Ixv. 23, Jer. xxviii. (Heb. or Eng. Ii.)
58, Mic i. 14. For Kdiros, see note on i. 3. '0 Kdiros i)piuv closes
the question with emphasis : that " our toil " — such labour as i. 9 —
ii. 12 described, and attended with such success — " should prove
abortive," was a fear that wrung St Paul's soul.
§ 6. Hi. 6 — 13. The Good News brought by Timothy.
Timothy has just returned from Thessalonica; and his report is
entirely reassuring (v. 6), so that it gives new life to Paul and Silas
(vv. 7, 8). They know not how to be thankful enough to God
for the joy with which their breasts are filled by this good news

70 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 6—
(vv. 9, 10), which revives their yearning for the sight of Thessalonian
faces. They offer now a solemn prayer that the way may be opened
for this journey (v. 11); and that meanwhUe the readers may grow
in love and be made blameless in holiness, gaining thus a steadfast
heart in view of the Lord's expected coming (vv. 12, 13).
6. "Apn Se IXBovtos TipoBeov irpos ijpds dtp' vpuv. But now that
Timothy, at this moment, has come to us from yon. From Acts xviii. 5
it would appear that Timothy had joined Silas before arriving at
Corinth, where the two found St Paul (see Introd. p. xxi.). "Apn (*Jap-,
as in dpaplaKu, to fit or join) means just now or then, at this, or that,
juncture ; cf. II. ii. 7 ; 1 Cor. xiu. 12, xvi. 7 ; Gal. iv. 20, See. The
temporal adjunct qualifies the two participles jointly, iX8bvros...Kal
eiayyeXiaauJvov ; it is needless and awkward to carry it past them to
rapeKXi}8ijp.ev : Timothy had come with his tidings at the nick of
time, just when such refreshment was needed ; see note on v. 7, and
the Introd., pp. xxxiu., lxiii. 'Atp' vpiuv bears emphasis; it was news
' ' from you " that St Paul was pining for ; cf. v. 8, and ii. 19 f.
eX8dvros...Kal evayyeXurapevov rjpiv tt)v itCo-tiv Kal ttJv dydinjv
vpuv, has come. ..and brought us the good news of your faith and
love. Nowhere else in the N.T. is eua77eXifojaai (eiayyiXiov) used
of any other but " the good news"; see, however, in the O.T. (LXX)
1 Ki. xxxi. 9 ; 2 Ki. i. 20 ; 1 Paral. x. 9. There is a fine play upon
the word : Timothy's report was, in effect, gospel news, as it
witnessed to the power of God's message (Xd7os Beov 8s ivepyeirai
iv vu.iv, ii. 13) ; and it was the best of news to Paul and SUas —
a very "gospel " coming to them in return for the Gospel they had
brought to the readers (i. 5, ii. 2, Sec.). For rims Kal a7diri7,
comprising together the whole Christian life, cf. i. 3 (and note),
H. i. 3 ; Eph. i. 15 ; Phm. 5—7 ; 1 Jo. in. 23, &c.
Kal oti ?xeT£ pveCav ijpuv dyaBijv irdvroTe, and (reporting) that
you keep a good remembrance of us at all times : this was reciprocal
(cf. i. 2 f.). "A good" is a weU-disposed, kindly "remembrance"
(cf. notes on d7a0ds, v. 15 ; II. ii. 16) ; and fyeiv p-veiav (cf. 2 Tim. i. 3)
is "to hold, maintain a recollection" — so of other faculties or
exercises of mind (iv. 13 ; PhU. i. 23 ; Col. iii. 13 ; 1 Tim. i. 19,
&c); /iveiav roiov/iai, "to express the recollection" (scil. in word),
i. 2. Bound up with the concern of the Apostles for the faith of
the persecuted Thessalonians was the fear, dictating the self-defence
of n. 1 — 12 and the explanations of ii. 17 — Ui. 5, lest the attachment
of the latter to their fathers in Christ should have been weakened
through absence and by the detractions of the enemies of the Gospel

3 8] NOTES. 71
(see Introd. pp. xxxiv. f.). It was a great relief to find that this
goodwiU had never wavered. The tin clause is co-ordinate with
ri)v rlariv k. tt)v dydrijv vu.uv, and serves to expand ttjv dyaBijv repl
rip.Qiv u,velav ipiGtv.
This " good remembrance " the Thessalonians cherish, eiriiroBovvTes
rjpds IBeiv KaSdirep k.t.X. — while you long to see us, just as we
indeed (to see) you; cf. ii. 17 f., for this latter longing. 'EmroBiw
(cf. Eom. i. 11; Phil. i. 8, n. 26 ; 2 Tim. i. 4; only in Jam. iv. 5,
1 Pet. ii. 2, in the N.T. outside St Paul) denotes a tender yearning
towards an absent beloved. The affection as well as the esteem of
their disciples remained with the Apostles ; the longing for reunion
was equal on both sides. For KaBdrep, see ii. 12; and for the
antithetic ijpeis vpds (thrice in this verse), cf. i. 6, ii. 17—20.
7. Sid tovto irapEKXij8i|pev, dSeXtpoC, ec(>' vptv Iirl irda-r| ttj dvdyKrj
k.t.X. On this account we were encouraged, brothers, over you in all
our necessity and affliction. Aid tovto is resumptive, as commonly.
For rapaxaXia, a characteristic word of the Thessalonian Epistles,
see note on U. 12. Cf. with this occasion that of 2 Cor. vii. 6 f,
when Titus' return to the Apostle Paul relieved his fears for the
loyalty of the Corinthian Church. 'Erl with dative follows verbs,
and verbal nouns, of emotion, giving the occasion "at" or "over"
which the feeling arises ; cf. v. 9 ; 2 Cor. i. 4, vii. 4, 7; Eom. vi. 21,
<Sc: here a double iri, since there were coincident occasions (see
note on dpri, v. 6) of comfort — in the perilous condition of the Thes
salonians {vv. 3 — 5), and in the troubles surrounding the missionaries
at Corinth. Encouragement on the former account (itp' iu.lv) heartened
the Apostles to encounter the latter (iri rdan ry dvdyKn k.t.X.); this
happy effect appears to be hinted at by St Luke in Acts xviii. 5.
'AvdyKn signifies outward constraint, whether of circumstances or
duty (1 Cor. vii. 26, ix. 16, <ftc); 8Xl\pis, trouble from men (i. 6,
hi. 3 f., &c). For similar combinations, see 2 Cor. vi. 4, xii. 10—
bearing on St Paul's hardships at Corinth, where he is now writing ;
1 Cor. iv. 11, ix. 12, and 2 Cor. xi. 6 (iarepriBels) show that there
St Paul was in pecuniary straits : dvdyKn includes this, and more.
(irapeKXr(Br|pev)...8id ttjs vpuv irCo-reus. "Your faith" conveyed the
needed solace : here lay the critical point (vv. 2, 5 ; cf. Lk. xxii. 32) ;
for the readers' "faith" the writers first gave thanks (i. 3; see
note; also on v. 5 above). In the conception of rians the thought
ol fidelity often blends with that of belief and trust.
8. oti vvv t,au.ev edv ipets o-ttjk6T6 ev KvpCtp. For now we live, if

72 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 8—
you are standing fast in the Lord. NOV is temporal (cf. note on dpri,
v. 6) — under these circumstances. Zupiev, " we live indeed I" — in the
full sense of the word ; " vivimus, hoc est recte valemus " (Calvin) ;
" vivere mihi videor et salvus esse, si res vestrse salvas sunt " (Estius):
cf. 2 Cor. vi. 9, for this rhetorical usage (r) tivrus fair) in 1 Tim. vi. 19 .
is quite different); also Ps. lxxi. 20, cxix. 77, &c, cxxxviii. 7. But
St Paul is thinking of something beyond his own revived energy;
the persistence of Thessalonian faith reveals the vitality of the '
Gospel itself, the Xdyos ivepyoipievos eV...rois iriareiovaiv (ii. 13)
ministered by Christ's servants. They " live " to purpose, in so
far as their message lives on in others. 2 Cor. iv. 7 — 16 supplies a
commentary upon this text : d Bdvaros iv r\pXv ivepyeirai, r/ Si fair)
iv i/uv...Sib oiK iyKaKovp.ev ; cf. also Phil. i. 21 — 26; Jo. iv. 31 — 34.
St Paul felt as though the defection of the Thessalonians would
have killed him. 'T/ieis is emphatic — "if you are standing fast" —
since the cause of the Gospel depends in a peculiar sense upon the
Thessalonian Church, the point d'appui of the present mission (i. 8).
'Ed? ari)Kere has grammatical parallels in idv otSau.ev (1 Jo. v. 15),
tirav arrjKere (Mk xi. 25) See. ; classical sequence in the use of idv (as
of el) was not strictly maintained in N.T. Greek ; this is true of later
Greek generally (Winer-Moulton, p. 369). The indicative (for sub
junctive : if -ere be not an itacistic writing) states the hypothesis more
assertively ; and idv ari/Kere is a virtual appeal : " You must show
that my misgiving was needless ; you wiU go on to justify my con
fidence." For iv in this connexion, cf. i. 1, iv. 1, v. 12 ; and for
otijkw (a late verb based on £art\Ka), cf. Phil. iv. 1 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 13.
To " stand fast in the Lord " implies an obediently steadfast faith.
9. TCva ydp evxapiorCav SvydpeSa rb) @eb) dvTairoSovvai irepl
vpuv... ; For what due thanksgiving can we render to God for you... ?
'AvtI in dvraroSovvai implies correspondence between the boon and
its acknowledgement (cf. II. i. 6; Lk. xiv. 14; Col. iii. 24, &c);
droSowai, to give back, repay, appears in v. 15, Bom. ii. 6, xiii. 7,
Lk. xx. 25, See. For eixapiarla, see note on -ria, i. 2. Ydp, of
explanation, naturally introduces this question : the fact that the
writers cannot thank God enough for "the joy" given to them by I
Timothy's report, shows how greatly they were encouraged by it
(v. 7), and how vital to them is the fidelity of this Church (v. 8).
This inexpressible thanks is due to God, who upholds the readers
under the storm of persecution : see ii. 12, v. 24 ; II. iii. 3 ; and cf.
Jo. x. 29, xvn. 11, See.
Iirl Trdo-jj TJJ xaP? ll xa'P°ruv &i* if-is epirpoo-Bev tov Beov ijpuv, for

3 10] NOTES. 73
all the joy with which we rejoice because of you before our God. For e'lre
in this connexion, see note on v. 7. llao-a i} xaP& is "the sum of joy"
collectively: cf. v. 7; 1 Cpr. xiii. 2; Phil. i. 3. *H, perhaps by attrac
tion for the cognate accus. r\v, as in Matt. ii. 10 ; yet xaP? xatpeiv in
Jo. iii. 29 (cf. 1 Pet. i. 8): Hebraistic feeling favoured suoh emphatic
assonant combinations (see e.g. Isai. xxxv. 2, lxvi. 10), but they were
idiomatic in Greek poetry. Xalpeiv Sid, as in Jo. iii. 29, xi. 15 ;
while the ordinary iri (as with rapaKaXovpiai, eixapiarla above) would
give the occasion of xalpeiv, and iv the ground (Phil. i. 18, iii. 1, &c),
Sid introduces the reason of joy, that to which it is referred on
reflexion: when the Apostles consider what this news from Thes
salonica means and aU it implies in their converts (of. i. 4), their
hearts overflow with gladness before God. For the iu.rpoa8ev clause,
cf. i. 3 ; sinoe " our God " — the God of the Christian faith and
revelation — sent His servants on the errand of the Gospel (ii. 2, 4, &c),
"to" Him "thanks" are "rendered back," and "before" Him "the
joy " is testified which its assured success awakens. Ten times, with
an emphasis of affection, is the pronoun ipteis repeated in vv. 6 — 10.
10. vvktcs Kal tjpepas virepeKirepio-o-ov Sedpevoi els to ISeiv vpuv
t4 irpdo-uirov, by night and day making supplication in exceeding
abundant measure, to the end that we may see your face. On the
temporal expression, see note to ii. 9 ; it repeats more graphicaUy
the dSiaXelrrus of i. 3 (or 2), ii. 13: " night and day " the Apostles are
"working" and "praying " at once ; they could pray while occupied
with manual labour. For the union of thanksgiving and prayer, ai.
i. 2, v. 17 f. 'Trep-eK-repiaaov (cf. v. 13, -us ; Eph. iii. 20) is an
almost extravagant intensive, plusquam abunde, found outside St Paul
(who affects iirep- compounds) only in Dan. iii. 22 (Theodotion),
and in Clemens Eom. ad Corinth, xx. 11 ; it surpasses repiaaoripus
(u. 17) : cf. 2 Cor. i. 8 o ; Eph. iii. 8 ; 1 Cor. iv. 13, xv. 8, for like
ardours of hyperbole. Aiopiai is to beg, as for some personal boon,
something that one ' ' wants for oneself " ; cf . Bom. i. 10 ; Lk. ix. 38,
xxii. 32, &c. Eis rd ISeiv k.t.X. expresses the ulterior aim of these
importunate supplications (cf. Phil. i. 23, ti)v imBopXav i%uv els to
avaXvaai) ; the writer's prayers touched on intervening objects — the
removal of hindrances (ii. 18), the progress of the work in hand
(n. in. 1 f.) — but this longing always animated them : cf. for els
Tb with infin. U. 12, and note. For ISeiv rb rpbaurov ip.uv, see
ii. 17.
The aim of the above SeiaBai is twofold : " to see the face " of their
beloved Thessalonians would be an extreme gratification to the writers;

74 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 10—
and this satisfaction is identified, by the vinculum of a single article,
with the blessing thus brought to their readers, — ets to... Kal Karap-
TCo-ai Td do-TepijpaTa ttjs irCo-reus vpuv, in order to (see your face) and
make good the deficiencies of your faith: "ut suppleamus" (not
" compleamus, " as in Vulg.) " quse vestroe fidei desunt " (Calvin),
"ut sarciamus, &c." (Beza). 'H rlaris ifiuv, just as in vv. 2, 5 (see
notes), stands for the whole Christianity of the Thessalonians. Td
iarepfipara points to what was lacking not in but to " the faith "
of the readers. Strong and steadfast in itself (see i. 3, 8, ii. 13,
iii. 6 — 8 ; H. i. 3), that faith required more knowledge (see e. g.
iv. 13), more moral discipline and sanctity of life (iv. 1 — 12) and
practice in the ways of piety (v. 12 — 22), more sobriety of temper,
more steadiness and self-possession (v. 1 — 8; H. ii. 1 ff.). For the
objective genitive to iaripvp-a, cf. Col. i. 24 ; 2 Cor. viii. 13 f . ; also
Mk x. 21, iv ae iarepei. Karaprifo) means to set right, correct — not
to complete something defective in itself, but to make good and fit
out that which lacks the resources or conditions necessary to its
proper action or destination : cf. Bom. ix. 22 ; Heb. xiii. 21 ; Matt.
iv. 21, — " repairing their nets"; and see Lightfoot's note ad loc.
Verses 11 — 13 breathe out the prayer which the writers, as they
have just said, are continually making, v. 11 corresponding to eis Td
ISeiv k.t.X., and vv. 12 f. to the Karaprlaai rd iarep^p.ara of v. 10.
11. Avrds Se d Beds Kal iraTijp ijpuv Kal d Kvpios rjpuv 'Iijo-ovs
KaTevBuvai ttjv dSdv rjpuv k.t.X. Now may our God and Father
Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way unto you. The Apostles
appeal to " God Himself and Christ " to clear their way to Thessalonica,
hitherto obstructed by Satan (ii. 18 ; cf. II. iii. 3, 5). So many prayers,
however, in these two Epistles begin with the formula Avrds Si d Bebs or
d Kiipios, which is pecuUar to them (v. 23 ; II. ii. 16, iii. 16), that one
hesitates to lay stress on the airbs here : this may mean only, as
Lightfoot puts it, that " After all said and done, it is for God
HimseU to direct our path." From " our God and Father " (see i. 3,
and note) the Apostles crave the help which, in this sovereign and
gracious character, He is surely bound to give (cf. II. n. 16 ; Matt.
vi. 8 f. ; Lk. xi. 13 ; Jo. xvii. 11). KarevBvvu, to make straight — a
classical verb, found only here and in II. iii. 5, Lk. i. 79, in the
N.T. ; a common O.T. word (see e.g. Ps. v. 8, cxviii. 5, LXX) : it is
the opposite of ivKbrru, u. 18 (see note).
The association of "our Lord Jesus" with "God the Father"
in acts of prayer and thanksgiving is a very noticeable feature
of these two Letters ; it affords impressive evidence, coming from

3 12] NOTES. 75
the oldest N.T. writings, of the deity of Jesus Christ as this was
conceived by the first Christians ; the two are so identified that
they count as one (cf. the words of Jesus in Jo. x. 30, iyw Kal d
irarfjp e» ia/nev), blending in the singular optative predicate, Karev-
Bvvai: see also U. ii. 16 f., and note. The petition of v. 12 is
addressed to " the Lord" solely,
12. ipas Se d Kvpios irXeovdo-ai Kal irepio-o-evo-ai tjj dydirrj els
dXXijXovs Kal els iravras. But you may the Lord make to increase
and overflow in your love toward one another and toward all. Verse
12 passes from writers to readers with the contrastive Si. " The
Lord," in St Paul's general usage — above all, where it directly
follows d Ki5pios ti/iuv T. X. — means Jesus Christ, not the Father:
cf. v. 8, i. 6, iv. 15 ff., v. 27, and the ijpiiv...els Kipios of 1 Cor. viii. 6 ;
Eph. iv. 5. In H. iii. 5 and 16 "the Lord" is again addressed,
quite unreservedly, in prayer: cf. 2 Cor. xii. 8; 2 Tim. i. 16, 18;
Acts i. 24, vii. 59 f. The Lord Jesus is asked, in effect, to aid the
fulfilment of His own command of love (Jo. xiii. 34, See.) and to
perfect in His disciples the grace of which He is the example and
channel (see Gal. U. 20; Eph. v. 2, See.).
Hepiaaeiaai (make abundant) caps rXeovdaai (make more): of. the
variation in Bom. v. 20 ; 2 Cor. iv. 15. Elsewhere in the N.T. the
latter verb is always, the former usually, intransitive — the original
usage in each case ; rXeovdfa (n3"1!1) has the active sense in Num.
xxvi. 54 ; Ps. Ixx. 21 ; 1 Mace. iv. 35 : cf. the double usage of the
Eng. increase, multiply. In iv. 10 the wish is expressed that the
Thessalonians may "abound (still) more in love " ; in II. i. 3 thanks
are given because their "love multipUes." The passages just referred
to speak of 07010; els dXXijXovs, iv. 10 embracing "aU the brethren in
aU Macedonia " ; but here, as in v. 15, ko! els rdvras is added : cf.
Bom. xii. 16, 18; Gal. vi. 10; 1 Tim. ii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 17. For
the crueUy persecuted Thessalonians this wider love was pecuUarly
difficult — and necessary ; it meant loving their enemies, according to
Christ's command (Matt. v. 44).
KaBdirep Kal rjpets els vpds, as verily we also (do) towards you —
i.e. "as we increase and abound in love toward you " ; for the Apostles'
love to their flock was not stationary, nor limited ; the evayyiXiov of
v. 6 gives it a new impulse. This clause (repeated from v. 6) rests
naturally upon the foregoing verbs, mentaUy resumed in their, intran
sitive sense ; or, after Theodoret, we may supply SieriBvp-ev, affecti
sumus erga vos (Calvin) ; see also Lightfoot ad loc. In support of this
claim of the writers, cf. the statement of i. 5 6, and the language

76 1 THESSALONIANS. [3 12—
of ii. 7 — 12, 17—20 : for similar references on St Paul's part, see
II. iii. 7—9 ; Phil. iii. 17, iv. 9 ; 1 Cor*, iv. 16, xi. 1; Acts xx. 35 ; cf.
also the appeal of Jesus in Jo. xiii. 15, 34, See.
13. els to o-TT|pCgai vpuv ras KapSCas dpepirrovs Iv dyiuo-vvrj k.t.X.,
to the end He may establish your hearts, (made) unblamable in
holiness, See. : the ultimate end (see note on els rb with infin. v. 10)
of the prayer for increased love in v. 12 ; such love will lead to
confidence of heart in view of the coming of Christ in judgement. A
like connexion of thought appears in 1 Jo. iii. 18 — 21 and iv. 16 f. :
" Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgement.... Perfect love casts out fear." The prayer for
improved faith (v. 10) leads to prayer for increased love (v. 12), and
now for assured hope (cf. i. 3). "Love" prepares for judgement
as it imparts " holiness " ; in this Christian perfection lies (see v. 23).
Love and holiness are associated in the apostolic prayer, as (with
reversed order) in the apostoUc homily of iv. 1 — 12. 'A/ii/irTovs is
attached, proleptically, as an objective complement to ari)pl%ai rds
KapSias vpJiv, "found unblamable": cf. for the construction, 1 Cor.
i. 8 ; Phil. iii. 21 (aip.u.optpov). Clearly some of those addressed in
the exhortations immediately following (iv. 1 — 8) were not yet ap.ep.rToi
iv dyiuaiv-g, as they must be ir rS rapovala.
dpepirrovs... epirpoo-Bev tov Beov Kal irarpds rjpuv imports freedom
from blame in God's eyes, before whom believers in Christ will be
presented at His coming : see Col. i. 22, 28 ; 1 Cor. xv. 24 ; and cf.
Phil. ii. 15; Eph. i. 4; 1 Cor. i. 8; 2 Pet. iii. 14. "Our God and
Father " listens to the Apostles' prayers for the welfare of His chosen
(v. 11 ; i. 4), and will delight hereafter to recognize them as His holy
children. While d7idrr;s (2 Cor. i. 12 ; Heb. xu. 10) denotes the
abstract quality of "holiness," dyiaapis the process, and then the
result, of "making holy" (iv. 3; frequent in St Paul), dyiuaivn is
the state or condition of the 0710s (see note on this word below) :
cf. Bom. i. 4 ; 2 Cor. vu. 1. This holy state is that toward which
the love now vigorously active in the Thessalonians must grow and
tend, so that their holiness may at Christ's coming win God's
approval, the anticipation of which wiU give them a calm strength
of heart in prospect of that tremendous advent (cf. i. 10; II. i.
7 ff.). On arypltu, see note to v. 2. The phrase arinplieiv KapSlav is found
in Jam. v. 8, and in the O.T. (LXX) in Ps. ciii. 15; Siraoh vi.
37 : it means not the strengthening of character, but the giving of
conscious security, of a steady, settled assurance — the opposite of the

3 13] NOTES. 77
condition deprecated in v. 3, or in II. ii. 2. On KapSia, see note
to ii. 17.
The last clause, ev ru irapovo-Co. k.t.X., might be attached gram
matically to arnpll-ai, as by Bornemann, the whole sentence being thus
rendered : " so as to give you steadfast hearts — hearts unblamable in
holiness before our God and Father — in the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all His saints "; the words implying that the desired as
surance is to be realized at the hour of the Lord's appearing. But
this is somewhat forced in construction ; and the arnplfciv thought of
in v. 2, as in H. ii. 17, relates to no future and prospective assurance
of heart, but to that which is needed now, in the midst of present
trials and alarms (vv. 3 ff. ; II. u. 2, &c). " The coming " of the Judge
will reveal the blamelessness in question — dpepirrovs... ev tjj irapovo-ia
(cf. Eom. vin. 18 f. ; 1 Cor. iii. 13, iv. 5; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; Col. iii. 4), un
blamable. ..in the appearing, See.; but the holy character then dis
closed exists already in the saints, who thus prepared joyfully await
their Lord's return (see Lk. xii. 35 — 46). St Paul was sensible of such
readiness in his own case (2 Cor. i. 12 ; PhU. i. 19 — 21 ; 2 Tim. iv. 7 f. ;
cf. 2 Pet. Ui. 14). The rapovala is the goal of all Christian expec
tation in the N.T. — the crisis at which character is assayed, and
destiny decided ; see, in particular, H. i. 5 — 12, ii. 13 f. ; and our
Lord's parables of the Wedding Feast and Eobe, and of the Lighted
or Unlit Lamps (Matt. xxu. 11 — 13, xxv. 1 — 13).
That " our Lord Jesus comes (attended) with all His saints " —
uerd irdvTuv tuv dyCuv ovtov — is explained in iv. 14 — 16. These are
not the "angels" of II. i. 7 (see note); oi 07101 denotes always with
St Paul holy men (II. i. 10, and passim) : here the holy dead, who
wiU " rise first " and whom " God wUl bring with Him " — with Jesus
—when He returns to His people upon earth. To be fit for this
meeting (¦hauv iriavvayuyi), II. ii. 1), Christians must be "blameless in
holiness " ; only the holy can join the holy. Hofrnann, and a few
others, connect p.erd tuv dyiuv with du.iu.rrovs iv dyiuaivn instead
of rapovala — "blameless in hoUness... along with His holy ones";
but this construction appears artificial, and misses the thought
developed in iv. 13 — 18, which is already in the writer's mind, viz.
that Christ wUl be attended in His rapovala by the sainted Christian
dead. For the word rapovala, see note on ii. 19 ; and for the name
" Lord Jesus," see ii. 15 and 19.

CHAPTER IV.
1. ow (WH, margin)— wanting in B, some dozen minn., syri*"11 cop,
Chr — may easily have slipped out, after the -ov of Xoiirov. The com
bination Xoirov ovv occurs nowhere else in the N.T.
iva KaSus TrapeXa|3eTe... — iva irepio-o-evr|Te : BD*G* 17 37 73, latt vg
cop syri,esh. The first of the two ira's is omitted as superfluous by KA
(an example of Alexandrian editing) and the Syrians. The clause
KaSus Kai irepiiraTeire is wanting in DCKL and most minn., followed
by the Greek commentators, and T. E. This looks like a deUberate
erasure on the part of the Syrian editors, attempting to recthy the
sentence. When the former iva had been struck out — as appears in
KA — the true construction of the sentence was lost, and the second
KaBus clause became intolerably awkward.
6. Kvpios, anarthrous, K*ABD*H 17 ; o is a Syrian addition.
-eirrapev becomes -eirop.ev passim in the T. E. These 1st, for 2nd,
aorist endings, in certain verbs of common occurrence, were charac
teristic of the vernacular; they occur to a Umited extent in the
literary koivi), and prevaU in contemporary Papyri.
7. Tjpas is vp.as in several minn., as in cop syrPesl1 ; but in no uncial.
8. SiSovTa: X*BDG, Or Ath Did. Sovra : AKL, See., latt vg (qui
dedit) ; the aorist in this connexion in 2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5; Acts xv. 8.
See Expository Note.
Kai (before the partic.) wanting in ABDb' c 17 73 cat'1', cop syri>BSh go,
Or0"' Ath, &c; found in K*D*GKL, most minn., vg syrhcl, Clem.
Evidence fairly divided : the conjunction seems to be either a
Western wordy insertion, or an Alexandrian severe omission. The
motive for insertion is not obvious, and k before AiAont*. might
easUy have been overlooked : transcriptional probability favours
retention. vpas is nu.as in A and many minn., two good copies of vg, syrhcUx',
and later Fathers.

4 1] NOTES. 79
9. exopjev (for ex*™) in K^D'G 67**, latt vg syr1101, Chr Ambrst ;
whUe B, am, Pelag read eixopjev — probably a Western emendation,
pointing to an older exo/*ei\ Weiss, however, and Tregellesms prefer
eixopiev as the hardest reading, regarding e%ere as conformed to v. 1 ;
see Expository Note. exeTe, in K*ADCHKL, Sea., cop syrPMh aeth. The
1st plural looks like a stylistic assimUation to rapaKaXovp.ev Se, v. 10.
10. tovs (before ei< 0X17) wanting in K*AD*G, and presumably in
codd. followed by latt vg, Ambrst. On the one hand, the article may
have been lost by homceoteleuton after aSeXipovs ; or on the other,
supplied (as in BHKL) by way of grammatical improvement.
11. iSiais is supplied by K*AD°KL, &c. — an Alexandrian emenda
tion (? harmonistic : see 1 Cor. iv. 12 ; Eph. iv. 28), adopted by the
Syrians. WH relegate the adjective to the mg in Eph. iv. 28, where
it is attested by the same chief uncials as here, with the additional
support of the versions.
13. OeXopev in aU uncials, latt vg ; BeXu in many minn., syrr cop.
Koipupevuv, NAB 67** and other minn., latt vg (dormientibus) syrr.
KeK01u.np.evwv is a patent Western and Syrian emendation, conformed
to 1 Cor. xv. 20 ; it is found in DGEL, die. See Expository Note.
Xuiretcrde, AD'GL, and many minn. : itacistic.
IB. For (ttjv irapovo-iav) tov Kvpiov B has tou Inaov (? taken up
from v. 14) ; Marcion (apud Tert5. 15), Christi.
16. irpuTov : D*G and many Fathers, rpuroi ; latt. vg, primi.
17. For airavTrpriv, uir- in D*G. For tov Kvpiov Db, latt vg, most
Lat Fathers, read tu Kvpiu (obviam domino) ; D*G, with some Latins,
tu xpi-aru. The dative may be a Latinism ; but cf. Acts xxvni. 15.
Instead of otiv B reads ev Kvpup : ' ' ganz gedankenlos " (Weiss).

§ 7. Iv. 1 — 12. A Lesson in Christian Moeals.
We pass from the first to the second half of the Letter, from narra
tion to exhortation. Chh. i. — iii. are complete in themselves, setting
forth the relations between the writers and the readers since their
first acquaintance, and explaining the fatture of the former to return
to Thessalonica as they had promised. The Thanksgiving and Prayer
of the last section would have fittingly closed the Epistle, had no
admonition been necessary. But v. 10 of ch. iii. indicated certain

8o 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 1—
iareprl\p.aTa rlareus in this Church (see note ad loc), which Timothy
had reported to his leaders, having found himself unable to supply
them from his own resources, especiaUy in so short a visit. These
defects must be remedied by letter. Hence the addition of chh. iv.
and v., which attach themselves by Xoiirdy to the main portion of
the Epistle. The iaTepi)u.ara were chiefly twofold — lying (a) in a
defective Christian morality (iv. 1 — 12), and (6) in mistaken and un
settling notions about the Lord's advent (iv. 13 — v. 11). (c) Brief
and pungent exhortations are further appended, of a more general
scope, bearing on Church life and personal character (v. 12 — 22).
Exhortation (a) covers three topics : (1) social purity (vv. 3 — 8) ;
(2) brotherly love (vv. 9 f.) ; (3) diligence in secular work (vv. 11 f.).
1. The adverbial Xoiirdv, or rd Xoirbv, for the rest and so finally
(de ccetero, Vulg.; or quod superest), is similarly used, to attach an
addendum, in 2 Thess. ui. 1; 1 Cor. i. 16; 2 Cor. xiu. 11; Ph. Ui. 1,
iv. 8 : this verse covers all the writers have further to say.
epuTupev vpds Kal irapaKaXoipev ev KvpCu Tijcrov. We ask you and
exhort (you) in the Lord Jesus. 'Epardu, in classical Greek used only
of questions (interrogo), in later Greek is extended to requests (rogo),
like the Eng. ask and Heb. 5KB' — e.g. in v. 12, H. ii. 1 — a usage
frequent in St John. 'Epurdw conceives the request in a question-
form ("WUl you do so and so?") — in Lk. xiv. 18 f., Jo. xix. 31, 38,
e.g., the interrogative note is quite audible — and thus gives a personal
urgency to it, challenging the answer as alriu does not (cf. the Note
under aire's) in Grimm-Thayer's Lexicon, correcting the distinction
laid down in Trench's Syn., § 40). IlapamXiu (see note on ii. 12 above)
connotes possible slackness or indifference in the party addressed.
'Ev Kvplu 'InaoO belongs to the latter verb (cf. v. 2; H. iii. 12;
1 Cor. i. 10, v. 4; Bom. xii. 1; Eph. iv. 17; Ph. ii. 1; Phm. 8, Sec.) ;
for it is on the Divine authority of Jesus, recognized by the readers
that the apostoUc rapaKXvais rests (ii. 3 f. ; 1 Cor. ix. 1 ; 2 Cor. x. 8
xiii. 3: cf. note on iKKXnala...iv Kvplu Tijoou, i. 1; and for the title
"Lord Jesus," ii. 15, 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 (ipuruu.ev), rousing (irapaKaXou>e>'), and
solemnly authoritative (iv Kvplu'Inaov). Its general matter is stated
in the remainder of the verse : —
Hva KaBus TrapeXdBeTe irap" ijpuv rd irus k.t.X.. ..tva irepio-o-emjTe
pdXXov, that, according as you received from us how you ought to
walk. ..that you abound (therein) more (than you already do), or more

4 2] NOTES. 81
and more (B.V.). The first Iva — which is dropped in the T.B. along
with the second xadus clause of the verse — is naturaUy repeated on
resuming the thread of the protracted sentence after the parenthesis.
The parenthetical KaSus Kal irepiiraTeiTe (see Textual Note ; cf . v. 10,
v. 11, II. in. 4, for the commendation), as indeed you do walk, gives
a. new turn to the principal verb, which is accordingly qualified by
/iSXXox, whereas the first xadus clause suggests iv roiru or ovrus for
complement (cf. ii. 4); so repiaaeieiv paXXov follows Kai 7dp iroieiTe
adrd in v. 10. On rapaXau.(3dvu, see ii. 13 : in that passage it relates to
the primary message of the Gospel (Xdyoy dKoiJs) ; here it includes the
precepts of Ufe based thereon (Td irus Set repirareiv). For the use of
repiaaeiu, see note on ui. 12. For the sub-final use of iva after
ipurupiev k.t.X. — the content of the request or appeal stated in the form
of purpose — cf. H. Ui. 12, 1 Cor. i. 10, Col. i. 9, See., — also note on eis rd
with infinitive, ii. 12: on this idiom of N.T. Greek, see Winer-
Moulton, p. 420, or A. Buttmann, N.T. Grammar, pp. 236 f. That the
readers had " received irap' i)u.uv " the instructions recalled, gives the
Apostles the right to " ask and exhort " respecting them.
to irus Set vpds TrepirraTetv Kal dpeo-Keiv Beu, how you ought to walk
and please God. Td grasps the interrogative clause and presents it
as a single definite object to rapeXdpere, giving it "precision and
unity " (Lightfoot) ; for Td before the dependent sentence in such
construction, cf. Bom. viii. 26, xiii. 9 ; Gal. v. 14 ; Lk. i. 62 ; Acts iv. 21 :
see Winer-Moulton, pp. 135, 644, Goodwin, Greek Grammar, 955.
The Apostles had instructed their disciples in Christian practice as
weU as belief, the ipyov rlareus (i. 3) consequent on rirns. Ae?
denotes moral necessity, lying in the relationship presupposed (cf. II.
iii. 7; Eom. i. 27; 2 Cor. v. 10; 1 Tim. iii. 15, Sea.). "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 ii. 15, also the subsequent warning of vv. 6 — 8.
'ApioKeiv 8etp, a leading PauUne, and Biblical, conception of the true
life for man (ii. 4 ; Bom. n. 29, viii. 8 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5, vii. 32 ff. ; Gal. i. 10 ;
2 Tim. ii. 4 ; Heb. xi. 5 f. ; also Jo. vui. 29 ; 1 Jo. in. 22), combining
religion and morals as they spring from the personal relations of
the believer to God. This representation is parallel to that of ii. 12,
to repirareiv d£iws roufleou; cf. Col. i. 10, repirar. d£itos...eis dpeadav.
2. olSaTe ydp fCvas irapayyeXCas eSuKapev vp.iv. For you know
what charges we gave you. See notes on this characteristic otSare,
i. 5, ii. 1, above. OiSare rds rapayyeXids as k.t.X. (cf. ii. 1 ; 2 Tim. i. 12,
Thess. F

82 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 2—
iii. 15 ; 2 Cor. ix. 2) would have meant, "You are acquainted with the
charges we gave you" — you could describe them; but ofdare rlvas
rapayy. (with dependent interrogative ; cf. 2 Tim. iii. 14, elSus irapd
rlvuv ip-aBes) is, "You know what the charges are"— you could
define them <Sic. ; cf . note on otSare oToi, i. 5. The rapayyeXlai origi
nally given by the Apostles (cf. II. iii. 4, 6, 10 ; Eph. iv. 20— v. 2 ;
Tit. ii. 11 — 14) were not bare rules of conduct (eVroXai), but injunc
tions drawn from the nature of the Gospel and urged affectionately
and solemnly, doctrine and precepts forming one rapdKX-nais (ii. 3) or
rapayyeXla (1 Tim. i. 5). In classical Greek rapayyiXXa, irapa77eXia,
are used of commands or watchwords transmitted along (irapd) a line
of troops (see Xenophon, Anab. i. 8. 3 ; Cyrop. n. 4. 2), then of
military orders in general, of pedagogic precepts, &c. ; in distinction
from KeXetiw (which St Paul never uses), rapayyiXXu connotes moral
authority and earnestness in the command, — a " charge " not a mere
"order," "praicepta" (Vulg.) rather than "mandata" (Beza). The
1st plur. iSuKap.ev is rare, but not unknown, in Attic Greek; see
Winer-Moulton, p. 102.
The defining 8id tov KvpCov 'Itjo-ov recalls iv Kvpiu 'Inaov of v. 1
(see note) : Sid points to the name and authority of "the Lord Jesus"
as the sanction " through" which the "charges" were enforced (scarcely
"prompted by the Lord Jesus," as Lightfoot puts it), while iv k. T.
implied that the apostolic precepts moved "in the sphere of" His
rule : cf., not overlooking the difference of title, did tou xp"""0" in
2 Cor. i. 5, and Bom. i. 8, v. 11 ; somewhat similarly, did Beov in
1 Cor. i. 9, Gal. iv. 7, Sea. ; and rapaKaXelv Sid, Eom. xu. 1, xv. 30,
1 Cor. i. 10, 2 Cor. x. 1.
3. Tovto ydp ea-nv Be'Xijpa tov Beov, d dyiao~pds vpuv, direxeo-Bai
k.t.X. For this is God's will — (it is) your sanctification — that you
abstain Sea. The usual construction which makes d dyiaapibs ip.uv,
anticipated by roOVo, subject of iarlv BiXnpa tov Beov, is not satis
factory : to say that " the sanctification " of Christians " is God's
will," is almost tautological (to be sanctified is to be subject to God's
will, which the readers already are: cf. Heb. x. 10); while, on the
other side, to identify dyiaap.bs with drixeaBai k.t.X. is to narrow
and lower the idea of Sanctification. What these Greek Christians
do not sufficiently realize is that the " will of God," having aheady
taken effect in their "sanctification" (see II. ii. 13 ; cf. 1 Cor. i. 2, 30,
vi. 11, Sea., and v. 7 below), requires in them a perfect chastity. This
was the specific matter of the apostolic irapa77eXia ; tovto points on,
not to d ayiaap.bs ip.uv (which is assumed by the way), but to the
infinitives drixeaBai, elSivai, k.t.X., — as much as to say, "This is

4 3] NOTES. 83
God's wiU for you, on this your sanctification turns, viz. that you
keep dear of fornication, &c." QiXnp.a tou 0eou and d dyiaa/ibs ipwv
constitute a double predioate, setting forth the objective and subjective
ground respectively, of the pure family and social life inculcated;
the apostolic "charges" enforced clean Uving as being "God's wiU"
for His chosen (i. 4; cf. v. 8 below ; 1 Pet. i. 14 ff.), and accordingly
a condition essential to personal hoUness (KaBios rpirei aylois, Eph.
v. 3 ; Col. Ui. 9, 12).
The anticipation of the anarthrous infinitives by toOto has a parallel
in 1 Pet. n. 15 (ouVws) ; similarly in Jam. i. 27; see the examples
in Kriiger, Griech. Sprachlehre, 1. § 51. 7. 4. QiXnp.a, anarthrous,
since "God's wUl" is the general conception under which these
irapay7eXiai faU (cf. v. 18; 1 Pet. iv. 2); d dyiaau.bs i/iuv, because
chaste living is the critical factor in Thessalonian sanctification.
Since aytaap.bs attaches to the body along with the spirit (v. 23),
ropvela directly nuUifies it : see 1 Cor. vi. 15 — 20. So prevalent was
this vice in the Pagan citie3 (cf. did rds ropvelas, 1 Cor. vii. 2), so
little condemned by public opinion — it was even fostered by some
forms of reUgion as a sort of consecration — that abstention became a
sign of devotion to a holy God, of possession by His Holy Spirit (v. 8).
The temptations to licentiousness, arising from former habits and
from the state of society, were fearfully strong in the case of the
first Christian converts from heathenism ; all the Epistles contain
warnings on this subject : see e.g. 1 Pet. iv. 1 — 4, and the relapses
at Corinth (1 Cor. v. 1 ; 2 Cor. xu. 21, Sea.) ; also Acts xv. 29. The
very sense of pudicity had in many instances to be re-created. The
Christian doctrine of Holiness is the surest prophylactic against social
evUs ; in the maintenance of personal purity it is our best support to
know that God calls us to holiness of Uving, and that His almighty
wUl is pledged to help our weak resolves.
'A7iao-,uds (from dyidfa) denotes the act ox process of making holy,
then the resulting state, as in II. ii. 13 ; Bom. vi. 22 ; Heb. xii. 14, Sea.
"A710S (B'niJ) is the word which in Scripture denotes the character of
God as He is made known by revelation, in its moral transcendence,
infinitely remote from all that is sensuous and sinful (see 1 Sam. ii. 2 ;
Ps. xcix., cxi. 9; Isai. vi. 3, 5, lvu. 15, See.). Now it is the revealed
character of God, "the Holy One of Israel," that constitutes His
claim to human devotion; our " sanctification " is the acknowledge
ment of God's claim on us as the Holy One who made us, whom
Christ reveals as our Father looking for His image to be reproduced
in us : see Matt. v. 48 ; 1 Pet. i. 14 ff. In God, first the character
disclosed, then the claim enforced; in us, first the claim acknow-
F2

84 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 3—
edged, then the character impressed. See, further, notes on v. 7
and v. 23 ; also on U. 10, for the synonyms of 07105.
4. elSevai e'Kacrrov ipuv to eavTov o-Kevos KTao-flai ev dyiao-pu Kal
nprj — the positive irapa77eXia completing the negative (drixeaBai...
ropvelas)- — that each of you know how to win his own vessel in sancti
fication and honour. KrdaBai always signifies to acquire, get possession
of (see Lk. xviii. 12, xxi. 19, See.), — the perfect KeKrijaBai, to hold
possession of (not occurring in N.T.) ; and olda with the infin. signifies
not only a fact (to know that; as in 1 Pet. v. 9), but more frequently
a possibility (to know how to, to have skill, aptitude to do something :
cf. Ph. iv. 12; Matt. vu. 11; Jam. iv. 17). The difficulty of the
passage Ues in rd iavrov aKevos, which (a) the Greek interpreters
(except Theodore of Mopsuestia), as also TertuUian, Calvin, Beza,
Bengel, Meyer (on Bom. i. 24 ; cf. Camb. Bible for Schools on this
verse), refer to the body of the man as "the vessel of himself," — that
in which his personality is lodged: 2 Cor. iv. 7 ("this treasure iv
iarpaKlvois aKeieaiv" ; ei. 2 Cor. v. 1 — 4) and Bom. i. 24 (where "the
body" is the subject of "dishonour" through sexual vice; cf. iv
ri/ij below, also Col. ii. 23) are passages which afford an approxi
mate paraUel to this reading of the sense. The comparison of the
human body to a vessel (aKevos, dyyelov, vas — of the soul, spirit, ego)
was common enough in Greek writers; it occurs also in Philo Ju-
dasus, and in Barnabas (Ep. vii. 3, xi. 9), and Hermas (Hand. v. 2).
1 Pet. iii. 7 may be fairly claimed as supporting this view rather
than (6) ; for St Peter does not call the wife a aKevos in virtue of
her sex, but he regards man and wife alike as aKein of the Divine
Spirit, the latter being the daBeviarepov of the two. The idea of this
interpretation is certainly Pauline, viz. that mastery of bodily passion
is a point of "honour" and of "holiness" with the Christian (see
1 Cor. vi. 15 — 20). Nor is the verb Krdo/tai incongruous with aKevos
in this sense, if "winning a vessel" can be understood to mean
"gaining" the object in question for this purpose, — in other words,
getting possession of one's body in such a way that it becomes one's
instrument for God's service ; thus interpreted, KrdaBai rb aKevos is
nearly synonymous with douXa7w7eu' rd aup.a, 1 Cor. ix. 27 ; similarly
KrdaBai in Lk. xxi. 19 is synonymous with repiroietaBai tt/v ipvx^v of
xvii. 33. Chrysostom writes, 'H/ieis airb (scil. rd awu.a) KrupieBa tirav
uAvtj KaBapbv Kai ianv ev dyiaapjp, tirav Si dMaprov, au.aprla ' elKoras,
oi ydp a flovXbp.e8a rpdrrei Xoirbv, dXX' d iKelvn iriTdrrei. No other
example, however, is forthcoming of KraaBai in the signification
required ("to gain the mastery of"); and it must be admitted that

4 5] NOTES. 85
iavrov aKevos would be an awkward and obscure expression for the
body as the vessel of the man's true life.
But the decisive objection against (a) lies in the pointed contrast
in which KTaffoV Td davrou aKevos is placed to ropveia. This forces
upon us (b) the alternative explanation of aKevos, expounded by
Augustine and Theodore and adopted by most modern interpreters, —
viz. that "his own vessel," to be "won" by "each" man, means his
own wife : cf. the parallel irapayyeXla of 1 Cor. vii. 2, did rds ropvelas
eKaoros Tty iavrov 7woiko eJxeVw. For Christian wedlock as being iv
dyiaau.Q, see 1 Cor. vii. 14; and iv Tiurj, Heb. xiii. 4 (rlpaos b ydp.os
iv rdaiv). KrdaBai, however, seems to describe courtship and the
contracting of marriage, rather than the married state : the position
supposed is that of a man at the outset of life deciding whether he
shall yield himself to a course of Ucense or engage in an honourable
marriage ; this was the choice lying before the readers. To say
that iKaarov upon this view precludes the celibate state commended
by St Paul in 1 Cor. vu., is an insufficient objection ; for v. 2 of that
chapter reoognizes ceUbacy as being practically out of the question,
though preferable on some religious grounds. The verb Krdou.ai is
appropriate to the winning of a bride (see Buth iv. 10 ; Sirach xxxvi.
29, in LXX; also Xenophon, Symp. u. 10). Babbinical writers afford
instances of the wife described as a " vessel " (see Schottgen, Horce
Hebraicce, 1. 827; also Bornemann or Lightfoot ad loc, for full ex
amples); the last-named cites Shakespeare's Othello, rv. 2, 1. 83, "to
preserve this vessel for my lord" (Desdemona). The figure indicates
the wedded partner as instrumental to the sacred purposes of marriage,
whereas fornication is the debasement of sexual affection severed
from its appointed ends.
The above KrdaBai to aKevos is ev &yiaap.b), as it is conducted by
the i)yiaau.ivos under the sense of his devotion to God, and of the
sanctity of his body (see note on dy iaap.bs, v. 3: cf. 1 Cor. vi. 15 — 20;
also Gen. ii. 21 — 24; Eph. v. 28 — 31). It is accordingly iv...riu.y
•(note the single preposition), since the "honour" of the human
person has a religious basis in the devotion of the body and its
functions to God (cf. 1 Cor. xii. 23 f.). Perhaps the thought of
"holiness " attaches rather to the wooer in his Christian self-respect,
while the "honour" is paid to the object of his courtship (1 Pet.
iii. 7).
5. pr) ev irdBei eiriBvpCas KaBdirep Kal to e'Bvij rd u.i\ elSdra tov Beov,
not (to do this) in passion of lust, even as the Gentiles also (do), who
know not God. 'Ev irdBei iriBvuias, " in a state of lustful passion " :
where the man's action is dominated by animal desire, there is

86 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 5—
no sanctity nor honour in the union ; even a lawful marriage so
effected is a ropveia in spirit. Ild0os is synonymous with dKaBapaia
and iriBvuia kuki) in Col. iii. 5, and is qualified by dn/xias (see iv
Tiu.rj above) in Bom. i. 26 ; the ra8i)u.aTa of Bom. vii. 5, Gal: v. 24,
are particular forms or kinds of irdflos. This word signifies not, like
Eng. "passion," a violent feeling, but an overmastering feeling, in
which the man is borne along by evil as though its passive instru
ment ; in this sense Bom. vii. 20 interprets the raB^u.ara of vii. 5.
For in8vu.la, ei. ii. 17 ; this sinister sense of eri8vp.iu (-la) prevails.
For KaBdrep, cf. ii. 11, iii. 6, 12 ; used freely by St Paul in the
two first groups of his Epistles, but not later. "The Gentiles that
know not God," is an O.T. designation for the heathen, whose ir-
religion accounts for their depravity (Ps. lxxix. 6 ; Jer. x. 25) ; it
recurs in II. i. 8 (see note), Gal. iv. 8. Unchastity, often in abomin
able forms, was a prominent feature of Gentile life at this time;
honourable courtship and fidelity in wedlock were comparatively rare.
In Bom. i. 24 ff. St Paul points to this sexual corruption, by which in
fact the classical civilization was destroying itself, as a punishment
inflicted upon the heathen world for its idolatry and wilful ignorance
of God, and a terrible evidence of His anger on this account. Man
first denies his Maker, and then degrades himself. The God, whom
these lustful "Gentiles know not," is "the Uving and true God" to
whom Thessalonian beUevers had "turned from their idols" (i. 9).
Obeying the call of His gospel, they had consecrated themselves to
His service (iv dyiaapuf), and so they were redeemed from shame ;
their affections were hallowed, and their homes founded in the
sanctities of an honourable love.
To "know God" is more than an intellectual act; it implies
acknowledgement and due regard, — the esteeming Him for what He
is (see.e.g. Jer. ix. 23 f. ; Tit. i. 16). YiviiaKeiv is the commoner verb in
affirmative statements with God for object (Jo. xvii. 3 ; Gal. iv. 9, Sec),
as it implies tentative, progressive knowledge; cf., for elSivai, v. 12
below. Bornemann proposes a new interpretation of the whole passage,
vv. 3 — 6, placing a comma at aKevos, thus made the object of elSivai,
and reading KrdaBai in the absolute sense, "to make gain," with
rd yul) vrepfialveiv k.t.X. placed in apposition to the latter. So he
arrives at the following rendering: "that you abstain from forni
cation, that each of you know his own vessel (i.e. acknowledge,
appreciate and hold to, his own wife: cf. 1 Pet. iii. 7), seek gain in
sanctification and honour, not in the passion of covetousness as the
GentUes cfec, that he do not overreach and take advantage of his

4 6] NOTES. 87
brother in business." But elSivai rb iavrov aKevos, thus taken by itself,
forms a very obscure clause, and an inadequate complement to
direxeo-0ai...iropi'eias; nor is the use of KrdaBai without an object
sufficiently supported by the parallels drawn from Ezek. vii. 12 f.
(LXX) and Thucyd. 1. 70. 4. Moreover the transition to the new topic
of fairness in business dealings would be abrupt and unprepared for,
if made by KrdaBai without a mediating conjunction ; while iv rdBei
iri8vu.ias is an expression decidedly suggesting lust and not avarice.
This construction introduces more difficulties than it removes.
V. 6 appears to stand in apposition to vv. 3 — 5, drixea8ai...eiSivai
k.t.X. Td irpo7/«t, on this interpretation, is the matter of the marriage
relationship expressly violated by ropveia (v. 3), which must be
guarded from every kind of wrong (v. 6). In acts of impurity men
sin against society ; while defiling themselves, they trick and defraud
others in what is dearest. To this aspect of "the matter" rd /ir)
vrepplalveiv k.t.X. seems to point. For the use of to irpo7,ua as relating
to "the matter" in hand, cf. 2 Cor. vu. 11. ev ti£ rrpdypaTi gives a
wide extension, under this veiled form of reference, to the field of
injury. No wrongs excite deadlier resentment and are more ruinous
to social concord than violations of womanly purity ; none more justly
call forth the punitive anger of Almighty God (see the next clause).
On the above view, the article in to \xr] virepfiaCveiv Kal irXeoveKTeiv
has an emphatic resumptive force, as in Td u.nSiva aalveaBai (Ui. 3 ;
see note) : (I say, or I mean) that none (understand nra, in view of
the following airov, rather than iKaarov as carried' over from v. 4)
transgress (exceed the limit), and take advantage of his brother in
the matter. The verbs vrep^alveiv and rXeoveKrelv are quite as
appropriate to adulterers, and the like, as to perpetrators of com
mercial fraud ; rXeove^la includes sins of lust as weU as greed
(Eph. iv. 19). 'Treppalveiv, " to step over " — a good classical com
pound, hap. leg. in N.T. — governs, in this sense, an object of the thing
(law, limit, See.), not the person; it is probably intransitive here.
nXeopeKTeij' in earlier Greek took a genitive of comparison, " to have
advantage over"; in the koivi) it adopted an accusative, — "to take
advantage of " any one. tbv dSeXtpbv appears to denote the wronged
person not specifically as a Christian brother, but in his human claim
to sympathy and respect : cf. Matt. v. 23 f., vu. 3 ff. ; 1 Jo. n. 9 ff. ;
also v. 15 below.
The interpretation just given is that of the Greek Fathers, followed
by Jerome ; and of many moderns, including Estius, Bengel, Alford,
ElUcott, Lightfoot, Schmiedel. Most of the Latin interpreters (Vulg.

88 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 6—
in negotio), with Erasmus, Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Winer, de Wette,
Hofmann, Liinemann, Bornemann, understand covetousness to be
denounced in theBe words. They take iv rip rpdyp-an to signify "in
business " generaUy, like the plural rd rpdyu,ara; or " the (particular)
business" in hand, each matter of business as it arises — cf. iv rip
dvBparu in Jo. ii. 25 (rip cannot be read as tu=tivI — so in A.V. ; this
usage is foreign to N.T. Greek). But there is no example of rpaypa
(singular) used in the sense supposed; and in view of the strong
emphasis thrown on the question of sexual morals in vv. 4 f., the
transition to another subject should have been clearly marked.
Besides, dKaBapaia (v. 7) is applied elsewhere to sins of the flesh
(with the possible exception of ii. 3 above), and this topic covers
the whole ground of the preceding vv. 3 — 6.
Sion JkSikos Kvpios irepl irdvTuv tovtuv, because the Lord is an
avenger respecting all these things — everything that concerns the
honour of the human person and the sacredness of wedded life ;
cf. Heb. xiii. 4, rbpvovs k. poixois Kpivei b Bebs. For §kSikos, see Bom.
xiii. 4; Wisd. xii. 12; Sir. xxx. 6; in earlier Greek the adjective
signified unjust (exlex). For the maxim, cf. Eom. xii. 19 ; Gal. v. 21 ;
Eph. v. 5f. ; Col. iii. 6; and in the O.T., Deut. xxxii. 35 (Heb.),—
the original of St Paul's allusions. "All these things" lie within
the scope of that vengeance of God which jpursues the wrongs
of men toward each other ; cf., in this connexion, Prov. v. 21 f.,
vi. 32 ff., vii. 22—27. For didri, see note on u. 18. There is no
reason to suppose that Kupios means any other than " the Lord Jesus
Christ," through whom God judges the world at the Last Day : cf.
II. i. 7—9; Acts xvii. 31, Sea.
KaBtos Kal irpoeCirapev vptv Kal SiepapTvpdpeBa, as indeed we foretold
you and solemnly protested. As to the indispensableness of chastity
to the Christian Ufe and the fearful consequences of transgression
against its laws, the Thessalonians had been plainly and impressively
instructed in the first lessons of the Gospel. For rpoelrau.ev — in the
1st aorist form, which many familiar 2nd aorists assumed in the
koivi) (see Winer-Moulton, pp. 86 f., Blass, Grammar of N.T. Greek,,
p. 45)— cf. irpoXiyu, iii. 4 and Gal. v. 21 ; irpo-, "before" the event.
The liapripopiai of ii. 12 (see note) is strengthened by Sid, which
impUes the presence of God, or the Lord, "through" whom— scii.
in whose name — this warning is given ; cf. did rou Kvpiov 'Inaov, v. 2,
and the references there supplied.
7. ov -ydp eKdXeo-ev ijpds d Beds Iirl dKaBapo-Ca dXX' ev dyiao-pu.
For God did not call us for (with a view to) uncleanness, but in

4 8] NOTES. 89
sanctification. A further reason (yap), put by way of explanation at
the close, for chastity amongst Christians. That purity of life was
God's purpose for us in sending the Gospel-message, explains in part
the peculiar anger with which a departure from it will be visited.
The A.V. misrenders both iri and iv here. 'Eiri with dative may
signify either on terms of or with a view to, according as the reference
is subjective or objective — i.e. as the intention implied was in the
mind of the caUed themselves, or of God who called them ; the latter
rendering is preferable in this connexion (cf. Gal. v. 13 ; Eph. ii. 10).
'Ec dyiaapip, as in v. 4 and II. ii. 13, marks out " sanctification " not
as the ultimate aim, nor as a gradual attainment, of the Christian
life, but as its basis and ruUng condition, the assumption on which
God's dealings with Christian men rest, — viz. that they are 1x7101,
consecrated persons; cf. note on d dyiaap.bs iu.uv, 0. 3. Accordingly
iKdXeaev bears the emphasis of the sentence (cf. ii. 12, and note ;
also i. 4 and H. ii. 13). God's call in the Gospel, from which the
Christian status of the readers took its rise, would be frustrated
by any relapse into the filthiness of heathen life.
V. 8 concludes the rehearsal of the apostolic rapayyeXla on this
subject by an appeal to God, such as Siep.aprvpdu.e8a in v. 6 already
imphed (see note above) : —
Toiyapovv d dfleruv ovk dvBpuirov dflerei dXXd tov fledv. Wherefore
then the rejector is not rejecting a man, but God. The compound
particle roi-yap-ovv, "collective and retrospective" (Ellicott), "intro
duces its conclusion with some specific emphasis or formality "
(Grimm, in Lexicon), in a style suitable to the solemn language of
vv. 6b, 7: Heb. xii. 1 supplies the only other example of this con
junction in the N.T. ; it is common in Epictetus. ' ABeriu (a- privative,
and *J Bn- of rl8nu.i, through dBeros) means to set out of position, to
make void (a promise, law, or the Uke; see Gal. iii. 15; Heb. x. 28),
to set aside, deny, in his authority or rights, a person (Mk vi. 26;
Lk. x. 16; Jude 8). For the antithesis of man and God, ei. n. 13 6;
Gal. i.- 10; Acts v. 4. While dvBpuros is anarthrous (indefinite)
in the negative clause, the articular d Bebs signifies the (one, actual)
God; ei. Gal. iv. 31, for the article.
Bomanist divines (e.g. Estius), foUowing the received Latin read
ing of the two last words of the verse (in nobis), quote this text in
proof of the Divine sanction of ecclesiastical authority. The Apostles,
however, are insisting not on their own commandment as Divine,
but on God's commandment as distinct from and immeasurably above
theirs. That the " charge " of vv. 3 — 6 comes from God is evidenced

9o 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 8—
(1) by the nature of the injunction itself, (2) by the moral purpose
of the Gospel (v. 7), and (3) by the witness of the Holy Spirit given
to the readers (v. 8 6) : —
tov SiSdvTa to irvevpa avTOv to ayiov els vpds, (God) who gives
His Spirit, the Holy (Spirit), to be within you. Even if eis i/pas were
the true reading (see Textual Note, and last paragraph), this would
refer not to the writers specifically or officially, but to writers and
readers communicatively; cf. the 1st plural in the same connexion
in Eom. viii. 15 f., Gal. iv. 6. Lightfoot sees in the participle diddxro
an indication of " ever fresh accessions of the Holy Spirit " (cf. Gal.
iii. 5 ; 1 Cor. xii. 11) ; it is, perhaps, better conceived as a substan
tival present, like rbv pvbpevov in i. 10 or rep BoKipdfovTt in U. 4 — " the
giver of His Holy Spirit " ; for this bestowment is God's prerogative,
and sets Him in an abiding relation of inward guidance and command
toward believers : cf. Lk. xi. 13 ; Jo. iii. 34, vii. 38 f. ; 2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5 ;
Eom. viii. 9, 14f. ; Gal. iii. 2, iv. 6, v. 25 ; 2 Tim. i. 7; 1 Jo. Hi.
24, iv. 13. The epithet 07101" is emphasized by its position, in ac
cordance with the stress thrown on holiness throughout (vv. 3, 4, 7).
(Tbv SiSbvra) els vpas means not "to you" (ip.lv) but " into you," so as
to enter your hearts and dwell within you : Ezek. xxxvii. 6 (Suau
rvevpd pov els ipas, (TIT D33 ^HJ) probably suggested the phrase;
cf. SISupi els in Acts xix. 31; Heb. viii. 10; also eis in Eph. ni. 16 ;
Mk n. 1, Sea. That God who called us to a pure life, puts His Spirit
in us, is a consideration heightening the fear of Divine vengeance
upon sins of inchastity; for they affront God's indwelling Presence
and defile " God's temple " : cf. 1 Cor. iii. 16 f., vi. 19 ; Eph. iv. 30.
Seen in this light, uncleanness is profanity.
9. Ilepl 8e Trjs <piXa8eX(f>Cas ov \pelo.v ?x€Te ypdipeiv vpiv. About
love of the brethren, however, you have no need that one (or that we)
write to you. There was need (note the contrastive Si) to write on
the former subject. The introduction of a fresh topic by irepl Si, as
in v. 1 below, prevails in 1 Corinthians (irepi piiv, 2 Cor. ix. 1), and
then drops out of use in the Epistles.
<$iXaSeXtpla is enjoined, as a distinctive Christian virtue arising out
of the relation of believers to each other in " the household of faith,"
in Bom. xii. 10, Heb. xiii. 1 (see also 1 Pet. i. 22, and Hort's Note).
It is distinguished from d7diri7, the general principle of spiritual love,
in 2 Pet. i. 7 : cf. iii. 12 ; II. i. 3 ; Gal. v. 13 ff. ; Phil. ii. Iff. ; also
Jo. xiii. 34 f., xv. 17; 1 Jo. ii. 9ff., Ui. 14 ff., 23, iv. 11. In 1 Jo. iv.
19— v. 2 love to God in Christ, and love to the children of God,
are shown to be an identical affection devoted to kindred objects.

4 10] NOTES. 91
In common Greek the word tpiXdbeXtpos, -la, did not go beyond the
literal sense.
There is a slight laxity of expression in the words ou xpelav exere
ypdipeiv. either ix0^" ¦ ¦ ¦yp6<t>ea' (°f- *• 8; also Acts xxv. 26 ; 2 Jo. 12),
or exere... ypdtpeaBai (v. 1), would have been more exact. On the
constructions of xp^av exeiK, see note to i. 8. Cf. repiaabv pol iariv
rb ypdipeiv, 2 Cor. ix. 1.
avrol ydp vpets BeoSCSaKToC lore els to dyairav dXXrjXous, for of
yourselves you are God-taught, to the end you should love one another.
Not simply " taught to love," as though this were the one lesson of
God's grace, "but taught of God that you may love," this being rd
riXos rijs rapayyeXlas (1 Tim. i. 5); "doctrinal divinse vis confluit in
amorem" (Bengel): cf. oi...iKdXeaev.. iri dKaBapaia, v. 7. God's own
teaching (scil. through His Spirit, v. 8, and His word) had been
received by the readers so abundantly and directly, that further
advice on this subject seems superfluous. Adroi . . . bails presents a
tacit contrast to ijpeis, much as in i. 8 f., ii. 1. For the idiomatic
use of eis rd with infinitives, see note on ii. 12.
Oeo-didaKTos is a hapax leg. in Scripture (cf. Beo-arvyfis, probably
passive, in Bom. i. 30; Beb-rvevaros in 2 Tim. iii. 16); its elements
are found in Jo. vi. 45, which rests upon Isai. liv. 13, Jer. xxxi. 33 f., —
passages probably in the Apostle's mind here : cf. Psalms of Solomon
xvii. 35 ; and Matt, xxiii. 8. The phrase didoKrois rveiparos in 1 Cor.
n. 13 is very simUar. The compound word was naturalized in the
Greek Fathers.
V. 10 proves that the Thessalonian Christians are " God-taught " to
the above effect : for indeed you are doing that (showing mutual love)
toward all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia.
iroieiTe avTo is a chief instance of the Ka0i!>s...irepiirareire credited
to the readers in v. 1; this agrees with the testimony of i. 3, 7ff.,
H. i. 3, hi. 4. els irdvras tovs aSeXipovs tovs ev oXtj tjj MaKeSovCa
extends the dXXijXous of v. 9 beyond the bounds of Thessalonica;
a close intercourse and friendship linked the Macedonian Christians,
including those of Philippi (see Ph. iv.- 16) and Bercea along with
other Christian communities that had by this time sprung from
these, — or the writers could hardly have said, " in the whole oi Mace
donia " ; see Introd. pp. xv. f. , lxii. Eis signifies direction oi effort (cf.
Eph. i. 15: Phm. 5 f.). If the second rois be inauthentic (see Textual
Note), iv tiXn k.t.X. must be attached to iroieire as denoting the region
"in" which the readers display their "love of the brethren." Thes-

92 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 10
salonica, being the capital and commercial centre of Macedonia, was
a place of constant resort; and the Christians there had frequent
opportunities of giving hospitality to those of other towns ; this was
a chief form of brotherly love in the primitive Church (see Bom. xii.
13; 1 Tim. iii. 2; Tit. i. 8; Heb. xiii. 1; 1 Pet. iv. 9). Tloieire con
veys a slight contrast to -SlSaKroi of the last clause: "you are not
only taught, for indeed you do it": cf. v. 24; 2 Cor. vin. 10 f. ;
Matt. vii. 21, 24; Jam. i. 23 ff., for similar antitheses to roieiv.
As roielre airb repeats the Ka&us irepiirareire of v. 1, so irapaKa-
Xovpev. . .irepio-o-eveiv pdXXov resumes the rapaKaXovpev . . Xva repiaaeinre
paXXov of that context : see notes above. In d7diri; there is always
room for increase and growth: cf. Eph. iii. 19; Bom. xiii. 8 (a debt
never quite discharged). II. i. 3 shows that the present exhortation
was acted upon. The infinitive is the more regular construction after
rapaKaXiu ; Xva in v. 1 (see note).
11. (irapaKaXovpev 8e vpds)-..Kal (piXonpeto-Bai rjo-vxa'jjeiv Kal
irpdo-o-eiv rd ISia, and to be ambitious to keep quiet and to attend to
your own business. This somewhat surprising turn to the irapa77eX(a
was due to an element of restlessness in the Thessalonian Church,
of which the 2nd Epistle, in ch. iii. 6—16, wiU give emphatic evi
dence ; the symptoms indicated in vv. 12 ff. below may be traced
to the same cause ; see Introd. pp. xxxvi. , xlui. f. The association of
this appeal with the topic of tpiXaSeXipla suggests that the disorder
hinted at disturbed the harmony of the Church.
^iXoTipelaBai (ut operam detis, Vulg. ; better, ut contendatis, Beza) is
to act as a tpiXb-npos, a "lover of honour," — which signifies in common
Greek a man ambitious, whether in a good or bad sense (oftener
the latter), of public distinction ; in later Greek the word became
synonymous with faXwrijs or irpbBvpos, denoting a man eager and
restless in any pursuit ; but there clings to it the connotation of
some desire to shine or pursuit of eminence : see Eom. xv. 20, 2 Cor.
v. 9, for the only other N.T. examples. In the combination tpiXorip.
¦qavxdfeiv there is an oxymoron, a touch of Pauline irony, as though
it were said, " Make it your ambition to have no ambition ; be
eminent in unobtrusiveness 1 " The love of distinction was universal
and potent for mischief in Greek city Ufe, and the Thessalonians
betray something of the uneasy, emulous spirit which gave the
Apostle subsequently so much trouble at Corinth : cf . also Gal. v. 26 ;
Ph. ii. 3. For rd i!dia, " one's own (private or home) affairs," cf. Lk.
xviii. 28 ; Jo. xix. 27, See. Lightfoot refers in iUustration to Plato's
Repub. 496 d, describing the philosopher who escapes from the

4 12] NOTES. 93
turmoil and degradation of political affairs, as iv iiavxla dytuv Kal
rd airov rpdrruv; similarly Dio Cassius lx. 27.
The closing admonition, Kal epyd£eo-6ai tois x6P°^v vpuv (cf.
II. iii. 8 — 12; Eph. iv. 28), implies that some of those reproved
forsook their daily work in pushing themselves into public activity
and notoriety. Most of the Thessalonian Christians practised some
handicraft; they belonged to the lower walks of social life (cf.
1 Cor. i. 26 ff.). 'H.avxd£eiv...Kal ipydfraBat k.t.X. are combined in
the perd fyavxlas ipyafbpevoi of II. in. 12 ; cf. also 1 Tim. ii. 2, 11 f. ;
1 Pet. Ui. 4. For the use of ipydfeaBai, see note on ii. 9. Christianity
through such precepts as these, and through the example of Jesus and
the Apostles, has given a new dignity to manual labour, ennobling the
Ufe of the great bulk of mankind in a manner very contrary to the
sentiments of classical culture and philosophy.
To "work with your hands" had been matter of a special " charge"
on the part of the missionaries — KaBus vplv irapijvyeCXapev — a rapay?
yeXta supported by the example of the rapayyiXXovres: see II. iii.
8—12; cf. Eph. iv. 28 f.; Acts xx. 34 f.
12. It is especiaUy to the last particular of the lengthened rapay-
yeXia that the final clause, Iva irepnraTTJTe evo-xT)pdvus k.t.X., applies:
that you may walk honourably (honeste, Vulg. ; Old Eng. honestly)
toward those without, and. have need of nothing. Eiaxnpbvus (cf.
Bom. xiii. 13 ; 1 Cor. vii. 35) means in decent, comely fashion, in
such manner as to "adorn the doctrine of our Saviour God" (Tit.
ii. 10) and to win respect for the faith from those who had not
embraced it. For such regard shown by St Paul to oi ?|w (Heb.
D'ilV'nn), "the outsiders," cf. Col. iv. 5 (identical with this, except
that iv ootpla replaces eiaxnpbvus), 1 Tim. Ui. 7, Tit. ii. 8; and for
the phrase oi 'i£u elsewhere, 1 Cor. v. 12 f., Mk iv. 11. On its dis
tinction from oi Xoirol, see note to v. 13 below. For repirareiv, see
note on U. 12. Ilpds, "in your attitude towards, converse with the
outsiders " ; cf. note on irpds ipds rtpev, iii. 3. In a thriving com
mercial city like Thessalonica, indolence or pauperism, and unfitness
for the common work of Ufe, would bring peculiar disgrace on the
new society.
pr|Sevds is ambiguous in gender; some interpreters render it, " may
have need of no one": the fact that xpelav exeie is frequently used
with a genitive of the thing (e.g. in Matt. vi. 8, Lk. x. 42, Heb. v. 12;
1 Cor. xii. 21 is not really different) " turns the scale in favour of the
neuter" (Lightfoot); the context (ipydfraBai k.t.X.) suggests "need"

94 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 12—
of sustenance, — dpros (II. iii. 8, 12; cf. 1 Jo. iii. 17; Jam. ii. 15). The
repetition of xpelav ixeiv (v. 9) is accidental. The sense of honourable
independence, which was so strong in the Apostle (see ii. 6, 9, &c),
he desires his converts to cultivate. The Church was from the first
in danger of having its charities abused by the idle.

§8. iv. 13 — 18. CoNCEBNING THEM THAT FALL ASLEEP.
Thessalonian faith had its " deficiencies " on the doctrinal as well as
the practical side (see note introductory to last section). In regard
to the coming of the Lord Jesus, which filled a large place in the
missionary preaching of the Apostles and in the thoughts and hopes
of their converts (see i. 3, 10, ii. 12, iii. 13; Acts xvii. 30 f.), there
was misgiving and questioning upon two points ; and about these the
Thessalonians appear to have sent enquiries to St Paul (see Introd.
p. xxxvi.) : (a) as to the lot of those dying before the Lord's return— would
they miss the occasion, and be shut out of His kingdom? (iv. 13 ff.);
(6) as to the time when the advent might be expected (v. 1 — 11).
The two subjects are abruptly introduced in turn by irepi, as matters
in the minds of the readers ; they are treated in an identical method.
With the former of these questions, made acute by the strokes of
bereavement falling on the Church since St Paul's departure, the
Letter proceeds to deal. The readers (1) are assured that their
departed feUow-beUevers are safe with Jesus, and wiU return along
with Him (vv. 13 f.); (2) they are informed, by express revelation,
that these instead of being excluded wUl have the first place in the
assembling of the saints at Christ's return (vv. 15 — 17) ; (3) they are
bidden to cheer one another with this hope (v. 18). Lightfoot quotes
from the Clementine Recognitions, i. 52, the question, " Si Christi
regno fruentur hi quos justos invenerit ejus adventus, ergo qui ante
adventum ejus defuncti sunt, regno penitus carebunt?" showing that
the difficulty raised by the Thessalonians was felt elsewhere in the
Early Church. This passage stands by itself in Scripture, containing
a distinct Xd7os Kvpiov (v. 15), in the disclosure it makes respecting
the circumstances of the Second Advent ; it is on this account the
. most interesting passage in the Epistle. The discussion of the subject
(iv. 13 — v. 11) reflects with a directness unusual in the Apostle the
personal teaching of Jesus, and wears the colours of Jewish escha-
tology. 13. Ov BlXopev Se vpds dyvoeiv, dSeXtpoC. But we would not have
you to be ignorant, brothers. The impressive phrase oi BiXa... dyvoeiv

4 13] NOTES. 95
(cf. Eom. i. 13, xi. 25; 1 Cor. x. 1; 2 Cor. i. 8) calls attention to a
new statement which St Paul is anxious that his readers should well
understand ; it disappears after the second group of the Epistles :
cf. the similar expressions of 1 Cor. xii. 3; Ph. i. 12; Col. ii. 1.
Such formulas are common in the Epistolary style of the period. Ad
follows ou BiXopev, which form practically one word, Nolumus (Vulg.).
irepl tuv Koipupevuv, concerning them that are falling asleep; "are
asleep" (A.V.) represents the faulty reading of the T. B., KeKoipn-
pivuv. The present participle denotes what is going on. This
trouble had now arisen for the first time; see Introd. p. xliv. So
vivid was the anticipation of the Parousia conveyed to the minds
of St Paul's converts, that the thought of death intervening to blot
out the prospect had scarcely ocourred to them. Now that some of
their number have died, or are dying, — what about these ? have they
lost their part in the approaching diroKdXu^is tov xvpiov 'Inaov (1 Cor.
i. 7)? There entered, further, into the sorrow of the bereaved some
doubt as to the future resurrection and eternal blessedness of those
prematurely snatohed away ; for the sentence continues, in order that
you may not sorrow (Xvirfjo-Be, continue in sorrow : pres. subjunctive)
as the rest (of men) who are without hope. The grief of some of the
readers bordered on extreme despair (cf. 1 Cor. xv. 18) ; yet they had
been taught from the first the Christian hope of the resurrection
(see i. 10 ; Acts xvn. 18, &c). We must allow for the short time
that the Thessalonians had been under instruction and the many
new truths they had to master, for the stupefying influence of grief,
and for the power with which at such an hour, and amid the lamen
tations of unbelieving kindred, the darkest fears of their pre-Christian
state would re-assert themselves. This dread was vaguely felt by the
mourners; what they distinctly apprehended was that those dying
beforehand could not witness the return of the Lord Jesus to His
people "living "on the earth (vv. 15, 17). This impUed a material
istic conception of the Parousia — almost inevitable in the first instance
— which is tacitly corrected in v. 17, and more fully rectified in the
later teaching of 1 Cor. xv. 42—55: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God"; "we shaU be changed." Sorrow over the
departed is not forbidden, but the dark sorrow of oi Xoiiroi: "Per-
mittantur itaque pia corda de carorum suOrum mortibus contristari
dolore sanabili, et consolabUes lacrimas fundant, quas cito reprimat
fidei gaudium " (Augustine).
KoipaaBai (the synon. KaBeiSeiv in v. 10, see note; Matt. ix. 24, and
parallels) represents death as sleep, after the style of Jesus (see Jo. xi.

96 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 13—
11 f. ; 1 Cor. vii. 39, Sea.), the term indicating the restful (and perhaps
restorative) effect of death to the child of God, and at the same time
its temporary nature, — "I go," said Jesus' of Lazarus, "that I may
awake him from sleep. " So the early Christians caUed their burial-
places KoipnTi)pia, cemeteries, or dormitories. In the O.T. (Isai. xiv.
18, xliu. 17; 1 Ki. ii. 10, xi. 43), and occasionally in classical Greek,
the same expression is found, but by way of euphemism or poetical
figure; its use in 2 Mace. xii. 44f., however, clearly impUes a doctrine
of the resurrection. This truth is assumed, to begin with, by the
expression irepl tuv Koipupivuv in reproof of despondent mourning.
One does not grieve over "the sleeping."
ol XonroC, the rest, the lave — as in Eph. ii. 3 — synon. with o! ffw
of v. 12: that expression implies exclusion, this implies deprivation.
oi prj exOVT€s eXrriSa are the same as rd 'iBvv rd pi) elSbra rbv Bebv,
v. 5; Eph. ii. 12 identifies Gentile hopelessness and godlessness.
Despair of any future beyond death was a conspicuous feature of
contemporary civUization. The more enlightened a Greek or Boman
might be, the less belief he commonly held in the old gods of his
country and in the fables of a Ufe beyond the grave : see the speeches
of Cato and of Caesar in the Catiline of Sallust, and the quotations
given by Lightfoot or Bornemann ad loc. from ancient elegiac poetry
and sepulchral inscriptions. The loss of Christian faith in modern
times brings back the Pagan despair, — "the shadow of a starless
night." Against this deep sorrow of the world the word sleep, four
times applied in this context to the Christian's death, is an abiding
protest. Vv. 14—17 will give the reasons why the Thessalonians
should not sorrow over their dead, as they are tempted to do.
14. el ydp Trio-Tedopev oti Ttjo-ovs dire'flavev Kal dveo-TT]. For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again : the faith of a Christian in
its briefest statement (ef. 1 Cor. xv. 3f.) ; the form of supposition, el
with pres. indicative, assumes the fact, — for writers and readers alike
(we believe : cf. 1 Cor. xv. 11). In Bom. x. 9 St Paul declares the
faith that "saves" to be the heart-belief that "God raised Jesus our
Lord from the dead"; in 1 Cor. xv. 13 — 19 he argues that "if Christ
hath not been raised" the whole Gospel is false, affording no sal
vation from sin, and no assurance that dying Christians do not perish
in the grave. Granted this one certainty, and these consequences are
reversed. See 1 Cor. vi. 14, xv. at large ; 2 Cor. iv. 14 ; Eom. iv. 24,
v. 10, vni. 11, xiv. 7—9 ; Ph. iii. 10 f., for other teaching of St Paul
bearing on the momentous and manifold effects of the resurrection of
Jesus. In this connexion the Eedeemer is "Jesus," being thought of

4 14] NOTES. 97
in His human person and in the analogy of His experience to our
own ; hence ovVws Kai in the apodosis. What we believe of this
"firstborn amongst many brethren, firstborn out of the dead" (Eom.
viii. 29 ; Col. i. 18), we trust to see fulfilled in His brethren : drapxh
Xpiarbs, lireiTa oi tou xpwroC iv rrj rapovala airov (1 Cor. xv. 20 — 23).
ovtus Kal d Beds tovs KOipT)6eVTas Sid tov Tijo-oO afjei o-vv avrtp.
So also will God, (in the case of) those who fell asleep through Jesus,
bring (them) along with Him : this awkward rendering reproduces
the order of the Greek words, which throw emphasis on the action
of God, who is conceived as the Baiser-up of the Lord Jesus, and
associate Christ's people with Him in this restoration (cf. i. 10 ;
1 Cor. vi. 14 ; 2 Cor. iv. 14 ; Gal. i. 1 ; Eph. i. 19 f.). The aorist
participle, rods KoipnBivTas, looks back to the "falling asleep" from
the standpoint of the Parousia (&£ei aw avrip).
The did clause may belong grammatically either to the participle or
to the principal verb d£ei (note the article, rou 'Irjcrou, " the Jesus" who
" died and rose again," Sea.) : two considerations make for its associa
tion with KoiunBivras — the occurrence of the like combination in v. 16,
oi vexpol iv Xpiari} ; and the fitness of the adjunct as an explanation
of the emphatically reaffirmed KoipdaBai. "Through Jesus" (per
Jesum, Vulg. ; not in Jesu, as in Beza) the Thessalonian Christians
had " fallen asleep " : death in their case was robbed of its terrors, as
the survivors would remember, and transformed into sleep ; clinging
to the name of Jesus, they defied death (cf. Bom. viu. 38 f.). Such
faith in Him whom He raised from the dead, God wiU not disown ;
He "wUl bring them (back from the unseen world) with Him."
" Jesus ! my only hope Thou art,
Strength of my failing flesh and heart ! "
(Charles Wesley's Dying Hymn.)
The argument of this verse is elliptical, its compression being due
to the vivacity and eagerness of the Apostle's mind, especially
manifest under strong emotion. More completely expressed, his
syUogism would read thus : " If we believe that Jesus died and rose
again on our behalf, we are bound to believe that He wiU raise up
those who feU asleep in death trusting in Him, and will restore them
to us at His return." St Paul leaps over two steps in drawing out
his conclusion : (1) he argues from belief in the fact in his protasis
to the fact itself in the. apodosis ; (2) he tacitly assumes the immediate
consequence, viz. the resurrection of the KoipnBivres guaranteed by the
resurrection of Jesus, in his haste to anticipate the ultimate conse
quence, their return along with Jesus ; for it was about the share of
Thess. G

98 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 14—
their beloved dead in the Advent that the readers were anxious.
Underlying this assurance we trace St Paul's deep and characteristic
doctrine of the union between Christ and Christians. This unity
becomes clearer as we proceed : see vv. 16 f. (oi veKpoi iv Xpiarip,
rdvrore aim Kvplu iabpeBa) ; v. 10 ; II. i. 12, ii. 14 ; cf. 1 Cor. xv. 23 ;
2 Cor. iv. 10 ; Bom. vi. 5 ; Col. iii. 1—4 ; 2 Tim. ii. 11, Sea. The
nerve of the Apostle's reasoning lies in the connexion of the words
" died and rose again": Jesus has made a pathway through the grave;
by this passage His faithful, fallen asleep but still one with Him,
are conducted to appear with Him at His return. "Afei, "ducet,
suave verbum : dicitur de viventibus " (Bengel). Cf. Heb. ii. 10,
iroXXods ulous els Sbgav dyaybvra ; but the thought here is that of
reunion with the living saints, rather than of guidance to heavenly
glory (see II. ii. 1).
15. Tovto ydp vpiv Xeyopev iv Xdyu Kvpiov. For this we say to
you, in a word of the Lord, — i.e. in the character of a message coming
from " the mouth of the Lord " : cf. 1 Cor. vii. 10, " I give charge, —
not I, but the Lord"; also v. 8 and n. 13 above ; = nirv "Q"T3 1 Ki.
xiii. 17 f., xx. 35, Sea.; "quasi Eo ipso loqliente" (Beza). St Paul
reports an express' communication from Christ on the question : while
the language of v. 16, tin airbs...oipavov, reflects the predictions of
Jesus reported in Matt, xxiv., xxv., See., there is nothing in the
record of the Gospels which covers the important statement made
in this verse. The Apostles are either quoting some dypaipov of Jesus,
known through tradition, like the memorable dictum ofActs xx. 35 ;
or they are disclosing a new revelation made to themselves — either
to St Paul (cf. Acts xviii. 9 f., xxvii. 23 ; 2 Cor. xii. 1 ff. ; Gal. ii. 2),
or to Silas (see Acts xv. 82), or to some other Christian prophet of
their acquaintance (cf. Acts xx. 23, xxi. 10 f.). The brief, authori
tative form of statement leads us to suppose that the writers are
speaking out of their own inspiration ; they seem to be giving a
message from the Lord received at the time and to meet this specific
case. on rjpets ol Juvtcs oi irepiXeCiropevoi els ttjv irapovo-Cav rov KvpCov,
that we who are alive, who survive until the coming of the Lord.
The second designation, carefully repeated in v. 17, qualifies and
guards the first— "we the living,— those (I mean) who remain, Sec."
St Paul did not count on a very near approach of the Second Advent
(cf. II. ii. 1 f.) ; but his language implies the possibility of the event
taking place within his lifetime or that of the present generation
-(this is obviously a comprehensive "we"). Christ had left this an

4 16] NOTES. 99
open question, or rather a matter on which questioning was for
bidden (Acts i. 7 ; Matt. xxiv. 36) ; cf. v. 1 ff. below. The Apostles
"knew in part" and "prophesied in part," by piecemeal (eV pipovs),
about the mysteries of the Last Things ; until further light came, it
was inevitable that the Church, with its ardent longing to see its
Lord, should speak and think as St Paul does here. The same
expectant " we " is found in this connexion in 1 Cor. xv. 51 ; cf.
Jam. v. 8 f . ; 1 Pet. iv. 5 f. But from the time of the crisis in his Ufe
alluded to in 2 Cor. i. 8 f. , the prospect of death occupied the fore
ground in St Paul's anticipations of his own future ; he never after
wards writes "we that remain." Bengel minimizes the significance
of the plural when he writes : " Sic Td nos hie ponitur, ut alias nomina
Gajus et Titius" ; more justly he continues, "idque eo commodius
quia fideUbus Ulius setatis amplum temporis spatium ad finem
mundi nondum scire Ucuit." YLepiXelreaBai, here and in v. 17 only in
N.T. ; a classical word. For rapovala, see note on iii. 13.
ou prj 4>8do-upev tovs KoipriflevTas, shall by no means precede (or
anticipate) those that fell asleep, — "that had fallen asleep" before the
Coining. The shadow cast over the fate of the sleeping Thessalonian
Christians is imaginary. Instead of their having no place, these will
have, it is now revealed, a foremost place in the Lord's triumphant
return. Though dead, they are "the dead in Christ" (v. 16) ; they
departed to "be with the Lord" (v. 17, v. 10) — "absent from the
body," but "at home with the Lord," as St Paul subsequently ex
pressed it (2 Cor. v. 6ff. ; PhU. i. 23). If so, it is impossible that
those remaining in the flesh when Christ returns should be before
hand with them. " God wiU bring them with Jesus," for they are
with Him already — the tacit link of thought connecting vv. 14 and 15.
Od pi) with aorist subj. appears in its weU-known use as an intensive
negative ; see Winer-Moulton, pp. 634 ff. ; Goodwin, Gr. Grammar,
1360. For ipBdvu, oi. ii. 16 ; this transitive force of the verb is as old
as Homer, — Iliad xi. 451, xxi. 262.
That the sleeping saints wiU be found aheady " with the Lord,"
when He returns to "those living" on earth, is shown by the de
scription of the Advent in vv. 16 f. (note the order rpurov, ireira) : —
16. oti ovtos d Kvpios ev KeXevo-paTi, ev (pwvfj dpxayyeXov Kal Iv
crdXiriyyi Beov, KaTaPijo-eTai dir' ovpavov. For the Lord Himself with
a shout-of-command, with the archangel's voice and with the trumpet of
God, will come down from heaven ; ei. i. 10 (and note) ; Acts i. 11.
Adrds d Kipios: "in His personal august presence" (EUicott); cf.
Ui. 11, v. 23 ; II. u. 16, iii. 16, for this kind of emphasis, — particularly
G2

ioo 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 16—
frequent in these Epistles. In each context the "grandis sermo"
(Bengel) indicates the majesty with which "the Lord," or "God,"
rises above human doings and desires.
The three prepositional adjuncts prefixed to Karaj3i)irerai depict the
Lord's descent from heaven under the sense of its Divine grandeur.
In this Kardfiaais the Koipupevoi are to participate : how glorious, then,
how far from sorrowful their lot ! 'Ev is the preposition of "attend
ant circumstance " (Lightf.) ; cf. II. i. 8, ii. 9 f. (see notes) : its repe
tition adds vividness and rhetorical force ; the second and third
particulars, apparently, explicate the first. We must not look for
literal exactness where realities are described beyond the reach of sense.
The three phrases may express a single idea, that of " the voice of the
Son of God" by which the dead wUl be called forth (see Jo. v. 25 — 29),
His "command" being expressed by an "archangel's voice," and that
again constituting the "trumpet of God." Christ predicted His re
turn attended by " angels " (Matt. xxv. 31 ; cf . II. i. 7) ; and the
Divine "voices" of the Apocalypse are constantly uttered by "an
angel," or "mighty angel" (Eev. v. 2, vii. 2, Sea.). In the same
Book, voice and trumpet are identified in the description of the glori
fied Son of Man : " I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet
talking with me" (Bev. i. 10, 12, iv. 1); cf. Matt. xxiv. 31, "He shaU
send forth His angels with a trumpet of great voice." In 1 Cor. xv.
52 the whole accompaniment is gathered into one word, aaXrlaei
(impersonal). This vein of description, in its vocabulary and colour
ing, is derived from the Theophanies and Apocalyptic of the Old
Testament : see Exod. xix. 11, 13, 16 ff. ; Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; Joel ii. 1 ;
Mic. i. 3 ; Zech. ix. 14 ; Isai. xxvii. 13 ; Ps. xviii. 9 — 11, xlvii. 5.
KiXevapa (hap. leg. in N.T.; Prov. xxiv. 62 [xxx. 27], LXX; see
Lightfoot's illustrations from classical Greek) is the "word of com
mand" or "signal" — the shout with which an officer gives the order
to his troops or a captain to his crew. Such "command " he might
utter either by "voice" — his own or another's — or through a "trum
pet"; the " archangel" in this imagery stands by the Lord's side as
the aaXnyKri)s beside his general, to transmit His KiXevapa. The
aaXriyl- is the military trumpet of the Lord of Hosts, mustering His
array; cf. v. 8, with its "breastplate" and "helmet" (see note).
" As a commander rouses his sleeping soldiers, so the Lord eaUs up
His dead, and bids them shake off the fetters of the grave and rise
anew to waking life " (Hofmann) ; cf. with this, in view of the words
dfei ovv airip of v. 14, the scene imagined in Eev. xix. 14 and its
context. $uvfi dpxayyiXov (not tj tpuvy tou dpxayy., as though some known

4 17] NOTES.

101

angelic chief were intended) is added in explanation of iv KeXeiauari,
and to indicate the majesty and power of the summons. This is
the earUest example of the title dpxdyyeXos. In Jude 9 we read of
"Michael the archangel" — an expression probably based on the
Greek of Dan. xii. 1, MixaijX d oTyeXos (Apxuv) A piyas ; cf. Eev. xu. 7.
Banked with Miohael was Gabriel, the angel of comfort and good
tidings in Dan. viii. 16, ix. 21, and Lk. i. 19, 26. The miUtary
tenor of this context suggests Michael. Next to these two, amongst
the seven chief angels recognized in Jewish teaching, stood Raphael,
"the affable archangel" (Milton) ; of. Tobit xii. 15. St Paul doubt
less ranked the dpxd77e\oi amongst his heavenly dpxai : cf. Eom. vin.
38 ; Eph. i. 21, hi. 10 ; Col. i. 16, u. 10, 15. See the articles on
Angel in Hastings' Diet, of the Bible and Smith's Diet, of Christian
Antiquities. Kal oi vexpol ev Xpioru dvaa-rrjcrovTai irpuTov, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. Ol vexpol iv Xpiar$ are ol KoipnBivres did tou
"Itjoou of v. 14 (see note) — tbis phrase defining their present situa
tion as "the dead," that their past experience in dying. Being "in
Christ " (cf. notes on the eV of i. 1 and iv. 1 ; and see Winer-Moulton,
p. 486, note 3), nothing can part them from Him, — death no more
than life (Bom. viii. 38 f ). Oi vexpol iv Xpiarip forms a single idea in
this context; hence ol is not repeated: see Winer-Moulton, p. 169.
"WiU rise first" — not before the other dead rise, as though theirs
were a select and separate resurrection of the elite (cf. Jo. v. 28 f.),
but before "the living" saints are "caught up to meet the Lord"
(v. 17) : rpurov is antithetical to ftreiro ijpeTs ol fuvres.
V. 17 resumes in its subject, under the aforesaid antithesis, the rjpets
oi £uvt6s ol irepiXeiirdpevoi of v. 15 (see notes above). For rpurov —
freira, apposing things consecutive either in time or in importance,
cf. 1 Cor. xii. 28, xv. 46 ; 1 Tim. iii. 10 ; Mk iv. 28 ; Jam. ui. 17.
dpa o-vv avrols dpirayr|0-dpE8a ev veipeXais, together with them will
be caught up in (the) clouds. "Apa abv airois bears the stress of the
sentence, explaining definitely the od pii tpBdawpev of v. 15, which
formed the central word of the Xdyos xvpiov ; of. imavvayuyi), 11. ii. 1
(see. note). The combination apa aiv, denoting full association (una
cum ; rather than simul cum, Vulg.), recurs in v. 10, where, as here, the
temporal sense of dpa is inappropriate; cf. Bom. iii. 12, 1 Tim. v. 13,
Acts xxiv. 26, in which passages dpa signifies not simultaneity but
conjunction : " we the Uving shaU join their company, who are aheady
with the Lord."
'Apirdfu implies a sudden, irresistible force : " we shaU be seized,

io2 1 THESSALONIANS. [4 17—
snatched up. ..into the air"; cf. 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4 (of St Paul's rapture
into the third heaven) ; Matt. xi. 12, xiii. 19 ; Acts viii. 39 ; Bev. xii. 5.
'Ev veipiXais, not " into " but " amid clouds,"— surrounding and up
bearing the rapt " like a triumphal chariot " (Grotius). Christ Him
self, and the angels at His ascension, spoke of His coming thus
attended (Matt. xxiv. 30, xxvi. 64 ; Acts i. 9 ff . ; cf. Eev. i. 7, x. 1,
xi. 12, xiv. 14 ff.). The Transfiguration gave an earnest of Christ's
heavenly glory, when " a bright cloud overshadowed " those who were
with Him, and "a voice" spake "out of the cloud" (Matt. xvii. 5).
There is something wonderful and mystical about the clouds, — half of
heaven and half of earth ; their ethereal drapery supplies the curtain
and canopy of this glorious meeting.
The raising of the living bodies of the saints along with the risen
dead implies a physical transformation of the former ; this the Apostle
sets forth later in 1 Cor. xv. 50 ff. : " We shall not all sleep, but we
shall aU be changed," See. (cf. 2 Cor. v. 1—4 ; Phil. iii. 21). Some
mysterious change came upon the sacred body of Jesus at His resur
rection, for it was emancipated from the ordinary laws of matter.
Such a metamorphosis St Paul seems to have conceived as possible
without dissolution.
' ' ApraytjabpeBa is qualified further by two eis- clauses of direction :
els dirdvTT|o-iv tov KVpCov, els de'pa, to meet the Lord, into (the) air.
" The air," like the "clouds," belongs to the interspace between the
heaven from which Christ comes and the earth which He visits. He
is represented as met by His Church, which does not wait tiU He
sets foot on earth, but ascends to greet Him. The somewhat rare
(Hebraistic?) idiom els drdvrnaiv (cf. DWKH TltOR?, Exod. xix. 17) is
found in Matt. xxv. 1 (vrdvrnaiv), 6, with reference to the Virgins of
Christ's parable, "going forth to meet the Bridegroom"; our Lord's
words are running in the writer's mind. This prepositional phrase
occurs with the dative in Acts xxviii. 15. Chrysostom finely says :
Kal 7dp fiaalXeus els rbXiv elaeXaivovros, oi piv ivripoi rpbs drdvTnaiv
i^iaaiv xal irarpds ipiXoarbpyov rapayivopivov, ol pev raiSes Kal d£ioi
iraides eivai iir' bxvparos i^dyovrai, uare ISeiv xal KaTatpiXijaai... iri tov
bxflP-aros tov irarpds <pepbpeBa...iv veipiXais dpraynabpeBa " bpg.s tt\v
Tiprjv Savv Kal ttjv drdvrnaiv Karafialvovri roioipeBa' Kal rb rdvruv
paxapiiirepov, oStu abv airif iabpeBa. Whether St Paul imagined that
after this meeting Christ and His people would return to earth, or
move upwards to heaven, he does not indicate.
Kal oiStus iravTore o-vv KvpCu eo-dpe8a, and so we shall be always
with the Lord. This last word of consolation addressed to the sor-

4 18] NOTES. 103
rowing bereaved of Thessalonica, includes their sleeping beloved with
themselves. Toward this conception of future happiness St Paul's
mind gravitates, rising clear of all images of place and circum
stance in its view of the state of the departed and the glory of the
redeemed: cf., to the like effect, v. 10; II. ii. 1; Bom. viii. 17, 39;
2 Cor. v. 8; Eph. ii. 6; Col. iii. 1—4; Phil. i. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 18;
also Jo. xii. 26, xiv. 3, xvii. 24 ; Acts vii. 59; 1 Jo. iii. 2; Bev. xxii. 4.
"The entire content and worth of heaven, the entire blessedness of
life eternal, is for Paul embraced in the one thought of being united
with Jesus, his Saviour and Lord" (Bornemann).
18. "fiore irapaKaXeire dXXrjXovs ev tois Xdyois tovtois. Therefore
cheer one another in these words, — the Xdyos Kupiou which vv. 15 — 17
have communicated, and the other apostolic words accompanying it.
"Bore with imperative, or cohortative subjunctive, is an idiom St Paul
often uses at the point where argument or explanation passes into
appeal ; cf. 1 Cor. iii. 21, iv. 5, v. 8, Sea. -. the present imperative
enjoins habitual comforting. For rapaKaXiu, in its varied uses, see
note on ii. 12 ; here synonymous with rapapvBiopat, as it stands
opposed to Xu7refffd'ai (v. 13). 'Ev rots Xbyois roirois, " in (the use of)
these words," — at their public reading in the Church assembly (cf.
v. 27 ; see note) ; then, presumably, in the repetition of their teach
ing by Thessalonians to each other when need occurred. 'Ev is
perhaps instrumental (see EUicott ad loc ) — " with these words " :
later Greek tended to prefix iv to the bare dative thus. To this
message of their Letter the Apostles attach great weight ; they expect
it to be distinctly remembered and often recalled: ef. v. 11, 14, and
notes.

CHAPTER V.
1. For exere, exopev in Aug6? 199 • " non opus habemus vobis scribere,
vel sicut alii codices habent, non opus habetis voids scribi." The
same variation in iv. 9 (see note above) ; other latt non est necesse
vobis scribere (Tert non est necessitas scribendi vobis), vg non indigetis
ut scribamus vobis. The Greek idiom makes ungrammatical Latin.
2. AKL introduce i) before Tjpepa Kvpiov: cf. v. 4; II. ii. 2, Sea.
3. (a) orav alone : K*AG, 17, 47, latt syi'P»»h, Tert Cyp Or1-'.
(b) otov Se, KCBD, cop syrhcl.
(c) orav yap, KLP, &c, vg, Dam Ambrst.
This grouping of witnesses is peculiar, (c) may be ruled out as
a Syrian emendation; cf. 1 Cor. xi. 31. (6) makes a rather difficult
sense (see Expos. Note) ; and with cop and Harclean syr testifying
in its favour, and G and the latt against it, the de can hardly be
a Western addition. Moreover Ae before Aerobe IN might easUy
escape the eye of the copyist ; cf. Se SoKipafrre, v. 21, and note.
For aupviSios AD*G read, itacistically, etpviSios.
eirio-raTai in KB 17 37, against the eipiararai of DKP, Sea.; see
Expository Note.
4. vpas i) npepa (in this order), ADG latt vg Ambrst; a Western
deviation. The case of (a) KXeirTas in AB cop, versus (b) KXeirTr|S in KDGKLP
and every other witness, is one of crucial difficulty. Is -T|s a conforma
tion to v. 2, or -as to the foregoing vpas (et. rvrovs, for -ov, i. 7)? The
change of metaphor involved in (a) is so oddly abrupt as to amount to
almost a levity of style ; nor is there anything in the context to bear
out the idea of Christians being, conceivably, in the position of thieves ;
intrinsic probability Bpeaks strongly for (6). Vet the external attesta
tion of (a) is weighty; the group AB cop bears a high character.
KXeirTas, if not the original, is a very ancient reading.

5] NOTES. 105
5. (iravres) yap in all uncials except (probably) K, and all versions.
vioi tjpepas : several latt read filii dei, instead of diei, — a slip easily
made in Latin.
D*G and latt read eare (bis) for eo-pev.
6. us without koi, K*AB 17, cop syri"*: koi belongs to the Western
and Syrian witnesses; cf. iv. 13, Eph. ii. 3.
9. 0 0eos vpas (in this order) B 37, 116 ; similarly in ii. 16 B dis
tinguishes itself by the order etpBaKev i) opyn er' aurous.
B aeth omit xPl<r'rov: the general probability of the insertion of
Xpiaros by copyists where it was previously absent, must be weighed
against the special probability of its omission in this Epistle where
the combination o Kupios Inaovs prevails.
10. irepi in K*B 17, against aU other codd., which have uirep: cf.
the variants in 1 Cor. i. J3, Gal. i. 4 ; and see Expository Note.
12. irpoiaravopevovs in KA (? Alexandrian); cf. Bom. xu. 8, and
1 Tim. in. 4, for the reading of K.
13. For ijyeio-Bai, B cop go syrhcl aeth have iryeiaBe— an error partly
of itacistic confusion, and partly of misinterpretation. B shows the
same trick in II. ii. 2, BpoeiaBe (-ai) ; cf . the double alternative of im
perative or infinitive in II. iii. 14.
virepeKirepio-o-u$ : so in BD*G (WH margin), -cro-ov in the rest may
be due to iii. 10 and Eph. Ui. 20; cf. Mk xiv. 31 (eKirepiinrws).
(a) (eiprjveveTe ev) aurois, KD*GP, some minn., f vg cum eis ;
probably Western : (b) eavTois, ABDCKL. The harshness of (a) appears
in the rendering of ev by cum in the vg : the reading avrois has
been "mechanically conformed to aurous and avruv" in the same
verse (Weiss).
15. For airoSu, airodoi in K*DbG; in D", airodoir;: these latter
are not optatives, but subjunctives of the koivi) ; see Winer-Moulton's
Grammar, p. 95, note 3.
Kai before eis oXXtjXovs given by BK°KLP, <fec. (so WH margin) : omit
ted in K*ADG, 17, 37, 67**; iii. 12 may have prompted the omission.
18. D*G and several minn. insert eariv in 2nd clause (tovto -yap
eanv) — an example of seeming Latinisms in the Western text ; cf.
note on iv. 17 above. Or is eanv due to the parallel in iv. 3?
K*A, tou 0eou for Beov.
19. i^evvvre : so spelt in B*D*G. See WH Appendix, p. 148.

To6 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 1—
21. Se in the first clause is omitted by K*A and many minn., cop
syrP°"h, Or Bas Chr Tert Ambrst, probably through confusion with
the following syllable in the continuous uncial script : TT6.NTo.AeAo-
KiMAZSTe; cf. note on disputed de in v. 3. Intrinsic probability
speaks for the antithetic conjunction: the sense seems to be, "Do
not despise. ..but test..." (see Expository Note). K, followed by many
minn. and several Fathers, after dropping the Se alters SoKipa£eTe
to Soxipa^ovres— a change due, perhaps, to loose quotation; Dam gives
doKi/iairai'Tes. The participle employed in Eph. v. 10 may have
furthered this corruption.
25. BD*, and some good minn., insert Kai after irpoo-evxEO-8e.
27. evopKii>, as against opKifw, is preserved in ABD* 17: a hapax
legomenon for the N.T., and rare in Greek; see Grimm- Thayer,
Lexicon s.v.
07101s, before aSeXipois, in AKCKLP &c, cop syrr vg go, wanting in
K*BDG latt. The only parallel to 07101 aSeXipoi in Paul is 07101s
airocrroXois of Eph. iii. 5 (see Expository Note ; cf. Heb. iii. 1) ; the
copyists were more Ukely to add 07101s to the text than to cancel it.
Weiss suggests that it was lost in KB through homceoteleuton.
28. apnv wanting in BD*G 17 67** latt; stands in ADV KLP &c.
Is this a Western omission, or Alexandrian supplement to the text?
Cf. iii. 13, and note above: the case for retention is stronger there
than here.
In the subscription : KB* read irpos Oecra-aXoi'iKeis a (B -veixeis).

§ 9. v. 1 — 11. The Coming, oe the Dat.
The second misgiving of the Thessalonians respecting the rapovala
(see Introd. to § 8, and general Introd. p. xxxvi.) was closely connected
with the first (iv. 13 ff.). If only "the Uving, oi repiXeirbpevoi,"
might count on witnessing the rapovala, then any uncertainty about
its date throws a cloud upon the prospects of all believers ; if the
season was delayed, any of those living might be cut off before the
time and no one could count on seeing the wished-for day ! This
apprehension made the desire of the Church to know irepl tuv xpfouv
k.t.X. painfully keen ; no mere curiosity prompted the question, but
a practical motive, a natural fear arising from the very loyalty of
the Thessalonians to Christ and the "love" of "His appearing"
which the Gospel awakened in them. The Epistle has allayed the

5 2] NOTES. 107
main cause of disquiet by showing that there will be no essential
difference in the lot of those found " sleeping " and those "waking"
at the Lord's return (cf . v. 10 below) ; it goes on to remind the readers
of what they had been taught already, viz., that "the day of the Lord "
is to come by way of surprise to the wicked, for whioh reason its date
must be hidden (vv. 2 f.). The "sons of Ught and of day" will be
ready for "the day" whenever it dawns (vv. 4f.). Their duty and
safety is to be wakeful and sober, arming themselves with faith and
hope (vv. 6 — 8) — a hope grounded on God's purpose of salvation re
vealed in the Gospel, which assures to them through Christ's death
a, life of union with Him remaining unchanged in life and death
(vv. 9 f.), and secure whether His coming be earlier or later.
1. Ilepl Se tuv xpovav Kal tuv Kaipuv, dSeXipoC. But about the
times and the seasons, brothers.
Xpbvos signifies time as duration, xaipbs as a specific point, occasion:
asking irepl tuv xpbvuv, one wants to know the length of the periods
that may elapse before the Advent ; asking irepi tuv Kaipuv, the number
and nature of the critical events that must intervene and lead up to it ;
de temporibus et momentis (Vulg.). '0 pev xaipbs S-nXoi roibrnra, xpbvos
Si roabriyra (Ammonius). For the association of these terms, cf. Tit.
i. 2 f. ; Acts i. 7, iii. 20 f . ; also Dan. ii. 21, vii. 12 ; Eccles. iii. 1 ; Wisd.
viii. 8: for Koipds further, ii. 17 above; II. ii. 6; Eom. iii. 26; Gal.
vi. 9 f . ; Lk. xxi. 8, Sec. 'ASeXtpol is repeated in v. 4, as though the
Apostles instinctively drew their friends near to themselves under
the shadow of the solemn future; cf. ijpuv imavvayuyijs, II. ii. 1.
Chrysostom attributes the inquisitiveness irepl tuv xpovuv x.t.X.
to an idle, restless disposition (cf. iv. 11; II. iii. 11) : iroXXd irelyerai
pavBdveiv ijSn xal KaraXapfidvecv ijpuv 1) Sidvoia us repUpyos xal Xlxvos
rpbs rrjv tuv atpavuv xal xexaXvppdvuv pdBnaiv tovto Si avpalvei dirb
tov BpirreaBai xal drb rov pijSiv ixeiv roieiv.
On ou xpeio^ k.t.X., see note to iv. 9.
2. avrol ydp aKpi(3us otSaTe. For of yourselves you know pre
cisely. On adrol otSare, see ii. 1 ; and cf. again iv. 9. The readers
"know," because they have been already told (of. iii. 4; II. ii. 5);
their question was needless, if they reflected on what they had
previously learned respecting "the day of the Lord." The allusions
in the sequel to our Lord's discourse on the Judgement imply that
the Apostles had quoted His sayings on this mysterious theme.
While in regard to the matter of § 8 a new revelation was required
(iv. 15), on this question the Lord's own well-remembered words were
sufficient.

108 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 2—
The word axpifius is puzzling here: "perfectly" (A.V., E.V.) is
not a strict equivalent; in Matt. ii. 8 it is rendered "carefuUy," in
Lk. i. 3 "accurately," and so on; the Vulg. turns it into diligenter;
Erasmus and Estius, better, exacte. The adverb seems out of place,
until one remembers that the Apostles are replying to enquiries
from their readers, and that in such correspondence St Paul is fond
of retorting words addressed to him (see J. Bendel Harris in the
Expositor, V. vm. 161 — 180; also W. Lock in Expositor, V. vi. 65 ff.).
Probably the Thessalonians in sending their query bad used this very
word : ' ' We should like to know more precisely about the times and
seasons, and when the day of the Lord wiU be. " The Apostle replies,
with a touch of irony (cf. note on iv. 11): "You already know
precisely that nothing precise on the subject can be known — the Great
Day will steal on the world like a thief in the night ! " II. ii. 1 — 3
shows that even after this caution the Church continued to entertain
speculations about the details of the Advent.
6Vi rjpe'pa Kvpiov us KXeTrrris ev wktI ovtus epxerai, that the day
of the Lord, as a thief in the night, so is coming. 'H/iepa Kupiou —
anarthrous (cf. Ph. i. 6, 10, ii. 16), as a sort of proper noun— the
weU-known prophetic "Day of the Lord" (PIW DV). It "is coming,"
— is on the way (cf. notes on i. 10, ii. 16 ; also Eph. v. 6; Eom. i. 18 ;
2 Pet. ii. 3, &c). Even in the act of departing Jesus said repeatedly,
"I come," "I am coming to you " (John xiv. 3, 18, 28, See.). Light
foot, Winer-Moulton (pp. 331 f.), and others, read this as a prophetic
present: " cometh "=" will surely come." The event is certain and
in preparation ; when it wiU arrive none can tell.
The figure of the xXirrns iv vvxrl points (v. 3) to the unhappy sur
prise that " the day" brings to the wicked. This simile of Jesus (cf.
Matt. xxiv. 43; Lk. xii. 39 f.; see note above, on adrol ofdare) recurs
in 2 Pet. ni. 10; Eev. ni. 3, xvi. 15. It gave rise to the tradition
that the Advent would take place on the night before the Passover,
through which therefore vigil was wont to be kept (see Jerome on
Matt. xxv. 6 ; Lactantius Instit. vn. 19). The metaphor possibly
implies, beside the unexpectedness, the bereaving effect of the Coming :
that Day wiU rob the wicked of ease and wealth (cf. Lk. xii. 20, 33).
There is a certain incongruity in the representation of » "day
coming" (breaking in upon evildoers) "as a thief in the night"; but
it is the Lord Himself who "comes" on this great day of His (II. i.
7ff.; cf. Eev. iii. 3, Sea.).
The doctrine of "the day of Jehovah" may be traced through the
O.T., in Joel i. 15, ii. 1 ff., &c, iii. 14; Am. v. 18 ff.; Isai. ii. 11 ff.,

5 3] NOTES. 109
xiii. 6, &c, xix. 16 — 25, xxvi. 1, xxvii. Iff.; Zeph. i. 7 ff., See.; Jer.
xxxi. 31 ff., xlvi. 10; Ezek. xiii. 5, xxxix. 8, Sea.; Mai. iii. 2, See.
It denotes the great epooh of judgement impending over Israel and
the surrounding nations, which dominated the prophetio horizon ; it
had a further outlook, however, of blessing and restoration for God's
people (see Zech. xiv. 7ff.). The judicial aspect of the Day of the
Lord in the O.T. was carried over into the New, mutatis mutandis.
The Judgement now assumes a more spiritual and supernatural
character; it is individuaUzed, bearing no longer on nations and their
destiny, but on men universally — on personal character and relations
to God; it follows upon the resurrection of the dead; and, above all,
Jesus Christ is disclosed as the Judge of "that Day": see, amongst
many other passages, Matt. xxv. 31 — 46 ; Jo. v. 21 — 29, vi. 39 f. ; Lk.
xvn. 24, 26, 30; Acts xvii. 31; Eom. ii. 16; 1 Cor. iv. 3ff.; 2 Cor. v. 10,
&c. Hence this Day of the Lord is caUed by the Apostle " the day
of Jesus Christ" (PhU. i. 6, Sea.); sometimes "that day" (2 Tim. i.
12, die), since it is the finale to which all Christianity points, St
Paul loves to regard it on its brighter side, as the time when Christ's
glory wiU be revealed in His saints (iii. 13; II. i. 10; Phil. ii. 16 ;
Eom. vih. 19, Sec). Now the world has its day; "this is your hour,"
said Jesus to the Jewish officers, "and the power of darkness" (Lk.
xxii. 53) : then comes the Lord's day, when He wUl be vindicated both
in salvation and in judgement, when " the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together" (Isai. xl. 5). At a later
period the weekly day of Christ's resurrection received this name (see
Bev. i. 10; cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 2) — this is also a day of Divine vindication,
and thus a pledge and anticipation of the great Day ; cf . the connexion
between the resurrection of Jesus and the Last Judgement indicated
in i. 10, Acts xvn. 31.
3. arav Xeyuo-iv KlpTJvr| Kal do-<pdXeia. When they are saying,
(There is) peace and safety (security). This verse stands in abrupt
(asyndetic) explanatory relation to oTi..Jpxerai (v. 2). Once more the
prophetic language of the O.T. is drawn upon : see Mic. iii. 5 f. ; Jer.
vi. 14 f., vin. 11 ; Ezek. xiii. 10 — where the false assurances of lying
prophets are denounced. "It seems not unUkely that this sentence,"
continuing as it does verse 2 without a break, "is a direct quotation
from our Lord's words " unrecorded elsewhere (Lightfoot) : cf. notes
above on adrol...ofdare and us xXirrns iv wxrl; also note below on
rdTe altpvlSios x.t.X. The subject of Xe7a>o-ix is given by the con
text, viz., the men "of night" and "of darkness." Elp^vn k.t.X.
forms an elliptical clause — the utterance of those cherishing a false

no 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 3--
security. At the very moment when men of the world are wrapped
in ease and are assuring each other that aU is well, the ruin breaks
upon them, — e.g. in the case of the irXodtnos dtppuv of Lk. xii. 16 ff.
Periods of self-complacent prosperity are pregnant with calamity,
and prelude some awful "Day of the Lord."
roTe alcpvCSios ovtois eirCo-TaTai oXeSpos: then suddenly over them
stands destruction. Tunc repentinus eis superveniet interitus (Vulg.),
imminet excidium (Beza) — not seen approaching, but first visible as it
presses close upon the doomed transgressors and is on the point of
overwhelming them. The words of Jesus reported in Lk. xxi. 34 are
distinctly echoed, not in thought only but in phraseology: rpoaixere
eourois jtir; irore j3apn8uaiv al xapSiai vpuv iv xpairdXi] Kal piBn (ei. v. 7
below) ko! peplpvais jSiwriKais, Kai eirio-rij iip' vpas alipvCSios (in these
two places only in N.T.) rj ijpepa iKelv-n us rayls; cf. , besides Matt.
xxiv. 38 ff. , Lk. xvii. 26 ff. " One out of several special points of
coincidence between St Paul's Epistles and the Third Gospel, where
it diverges from the others" (Lightfoot); cf. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 26, xv. 5,
1 Tim . v. 18. AlipvlSios bears emphasis by its place at the beginning,
and SXeBpos at the end of the sentence ; being a secondary adjectival
predicate, the former is best rendered by the English adverb. For
SXeBpos, see note to II. i. 9.
'Eiricrrarai stands for itplararai in the best mss. (see Textual Note
above). The earlier Greek Codices show considerable variation and
uncertainty in regard to the aspirate: "the spiritus asper tended
gradually to disappear" (Winer-Schmiedel, Grammatik, p. 38). Here
the form of the cognate verb irlarapai probably reacted on the
middle voice of iipiarnpi; "aspiration is" almost "universal in the
other 14 examples of compounds of iarnpi with a preposition capable
of showing aspiration" (WH). The same double spelling appears in
the mss. of Wisdom vi. 8 (9) ; and D makes the opposite confusion,
itp- (for ir-)laraa8e, in Acts x. 28.
cuo-rrep ij uSlv tu ev yaorpl exodcjj, as the birth-pang (comes on) her
that is with child: another O.T. simile (Isai. xiii. 6 — 8, xxxvii. 3;
Hos. xiu. 13 ; Mic. iv. 9 f . ; thrice in Jeremiah) ; used by Jesus, on the
happier side of its application, in Jo. xvi. 21 ; also in Gal. iv. 19. 'Ev
yaorpl exec, or ipipeiv, is an established Greek locution for pregnancy.
There lie in this comparison the three points of inevitable certainty,
suddenness, and intense pain. Hence the added clause, Kal ov pij
eK<pvyuo-iv, and they shall in no wise escape : a further reminiscence of
the warning of Lk. xxi. — 'Iva Kanaxianre iKtpvyeiv raiira rdvra (v. 36) ;
for iK<peiyeiv in similar threatenings, cf. Bom. ii. 3; Heb. ii. 3, xii. 25.

5 4] NOTES. in
Verses 4 — 6 contrast the outlook of the readers, in view of the
dread "day" — so certain in itself, so uncertain in its date — with that
of the careless world around them.
4. ipeis 8e, dSeXipoC, o4k lore Iv o-KOTei, Iva ij ijpepa k.t.X. But
you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as
thieves (or as a thief). With the opening ipeis Se oix cf. Eph. iv. 20 ;
and for iv axbrei, see 2 Cor. vi. 14; Eph. v. 8; Col. i. 12 f. In the
last of the above passages also "darkness" and "light" are conceived
as two opposite regions or realms, dividing men between them; cf.
Jo. iii. 19 ff.; 1 Jo. i. 5 ff. " In darkness" one may be " surprised" —
one is sure to be so if asleep, or iv peB-g (v. 7) — by the breaking in of
"the day." 'H ijpepa is "the day" whose coming was described in
v. 2 ; for this emphatic brevUoquence, cf. Bom. xiii. 12, 1 Cor. iii. 13,
Heb. x. 25; similarly "the wrath" in i. 10 above.
We have preferred in the Textual Note the Beceived reading KX'errijs
to KXerras, which is adopted by WH and Lightfoot. The inversion
involved in KXeirros, transforming the "thief" from the cause of the
surprise (v. 2) into its object, abrupt as it is, one might admit as
possible in St Paul; but it seems incongruous here, and such in
congruity is un-Pauline : the subsequent context describes the " sons
of night" as sleeping or drunken, quite otherwise than as thieves,
who are alert and careful. Moreover, KaTaXaprj bears a stress which
should have fallen upon us KXerras in the ordo verborum, if the meta
phor had been turned about and a new bearing unexpectedly given
to it. It is a thief-like surprise that "the day" brings with it; not
such a surprise as falls upon thieves at their night's work. For
KaraXappdvu in this hostile sense, cf. Jo. xii. 35, Mk ix. 18; in its
good sense, Phil. ni. 12. With the reading us KXerras, the verb would
have a shade of detection in it ; cf. [Jo.] viii. 3.
The strict telic force of Iva might be maintained by conceiving the
clause as a statement of God's purpose "in His merciful dispensation
implied in oix iari iv axbrei " (Ellicott) ; or better, according to Borne
mann, as the purpose of God for the opposite class of men who are iv
axbrei, as though the Apostle meant, "Tou are not in darkness, — not
so placed that the day may surprise you." "But the word is better
taken here as simply expressing the result or consequence [of being in
darkness], a meaning which, in the decline of the Greek language,
gradually displaced the original signification of Iva" (Lightfoot); of.
Gal. v. 17. This conjunction in the koivi) was slipping down from the
final (telic), through the eventual (ecbatic), sense into the use assigned
to it in Byzantine and Modern Greek, where, in the form vd, it serves

na 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 4—
as a bare infinitive particle. See Winer-Moulton, pp. 572 ff. ; A. Butt-
mann, pp. 235 ff. The iva after rapaKaXovpev (iv. 1) is somewhat
different (see note).
6. irdvTes ydp vpets viol cpurds lore Kal viol tjpepas : for you are all
sons of light and sons of day. More than a denial of eVre iv axbrei :
the "son of light'' is not merely "ire the light," he is "ofthe light,"
possessed by it and of its nature ; he "is light in the Lord" (Eph. v.
8: cf. Eph. ii. 2 f.; Eom. xiii. 11 ff.; Lk. xvi. 8; Jo. xii. 36; 1 Pet. i.
14; 2 Pet. i. 19). In Hebrew idiom, one is "a son" of anything that
determines or distinguishes his character ; cf . " sons of Belial," "sons
of the resurrection," Sec. " Light " is the pervading element of the
Christian's life; " day" is the sphere in which the light-possessed men
move; it culminates in "the day of the Lord." This figure is even
more familiar with St John than with St Paul. Christ applies it to
His own person as well as His doctrine (Jo. viii. 12, ix. 5 ; cf . Ps.
xxxvi. 9). The metaphor signifies (1) moral purity (see vv. 71.),
(2) saving effect (see Ps. xxvii. 1; Isai. Ix. 1 ff. ; Jo. viii. 12, xi. 9;
2 Cor. iv. 6, See.), (3) mental enlightenment (Eph. i. 17 f. Ac).
ndvTes...d/ieis (of. v. 27) : the Apostles know of no exception ; there
are weak and faulty individuals in this Church (see v. 14), but all
are claimed as true Christians and counted upon for the maintenance
of the watchful hope which becomes the sons of light and day. Note
the sustained emphasis on ipeis, vpas, ipeis in vv. 4 f., by contrast to
odrois in v. 3.
Ovk eo-pev vvktos ovSe o-kotovs. We are not of night nor of darkness.
This sentence forms the negative counterpart of the last, and
translates its Hebrew idiom (" sons of light," &c.) into the Greek
genitive of characteristic. At the same time it looks forward, and
belongs strictly to v. 6 instead of v. 5. It exchanges the 2nd person of
the previous context for the 1st, in which the exhortation continues
through vv. 6 — 10. This transition is a feature of St Paul's hortatory
manner: he identifies his readers with himself as he proceeds,
drawing them along with him into the trials and hopes common to
the Christian life (cf. ii. 14). The same sUent and almost un
conscious change of grammatical person is observed in i. 9 f., iii. 2 f .,
iv. 6 f., 13 f .
Night, in contrast with day, is the period, and the state, of igno
rance and estrangement from God (cf. iv. 5 ; Eom. xiii. 12 f.) ; whUe
"darkness" is the element or empire of "night," the evU condition
in which "the rest" (v. 6) live and act, and find their doom (of. Eph.
iv. IS, v. 8; Col. i. 13; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Jo. xii. 35; Matt. xxv. 30).

515] NOTES. 113
6. dpa ovv pr] KaBevSupev us oi XoiiroC, dXXd ypijyopupev Kal
vrjipupev : accordingly then let us not sleep on like the rest, but let us be
wakeful and sober. This consequential clause should be separated
from the last (v. 5 6) by a colon only, whUe the full-stop is placed in
the middle of v. 5: "We are not of night, cfco....; so then let us not
sleep" (see the last note). ""Apa in classical usage never oommences
an independent sentence. But in later Greek it assumes a more
strictly argumentative sense than in the earlier language, and so
frequently occupies the first place" (Lightfoot). The combination dpa
oiv is peculiar to St Paul (the interrogative apa ouV..; occasionally in
classical authors), occurring eight times in Bomans, and once each in
Galatians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (also in Ignatius ad
Trail, x.); it brings in the conclusion with a full and round emphasis, j
as though enforcing what reason and duty both demand. "Apa connotes
a logical inference, a conformity of thought : ovv draws the practical
consequence, and is as freely used in exhortations as in statements ;
cf. roiyapovv in iv. 8.
"Sleep" is natural to those who are "of the night" (cf.Eph. v.
11 ff.); it symbolizes the moral insensibility and helpless exposure
to perU resulting from sin : cf. Bom. xiu. 11 f., " The night is far
spent. ..it is high time to awake out of sleep," &c; also Ps. xiii. 3.
For xaBeiSu in this ethical sense, cf. Eph. v. 14, Mk xiii. 36; dis
tinguish the verb from xoipdopai, iv. 13, Sea. (see note above). On
ol Xoirol, see iv. 13.
Tprjyopiu, the antithesis of xaBeiSu, is a verb of later Greek, a new
present formed from iypiryopa, the perf. of iyelpu. The word occurs
many times in the warnings, of Jesus — Matt. xxiv. — xxvi., Mk xiii. f.,
and Lk. xii. ; in Acts xx. 31 ; thrice in Bevelation ; twice besides in
Paul ; and once in Peter (I. v. 8) coupled, as here, with vi)<pu. It
enjoins the continued wakeful activity of a mind given to Christ's
service and occupied with the thought of His coming. The Lord's
return is the chief object of this "watching" (v. 2; 1 Cor. i. 7 ; 2 Pet.
iii. 12 ; Lk. xii. 37) ; prayer is specified as its accompaniment in Col.
iv. 2, Mk xiv. 38, See. Watching protects against the "thief"
(vv. 2 f . ; Lk. xii. 39) : thus Chrysostom, 'Eirl 7dp tuv iypijyopbruv xal
iv tpurl tivTUV, k&v y'evnral tis etaoSos Xvarov, oiSiv XvpaveiaBai Svvi)-
aerai. ~Ni)ipupev prescribes the moral, as ypnyopupev the mental, side of the
attitude and temper befitting the "sons of day." In vfjipeiv the literal
and ethical senses are combined; the word excludes, with actual
drunkenness (cf. v. 7; Lk. xii. 45 f. , xxi. 34; Eom. xiii. 12, See.), aU
immoderation and self-indulgence (cf. 1 Pet. iv. 7, auippoviaare xal
Thess. H

ti4 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 6—
v/ppare eis irpoo-euxds; vnipdXios, 1 Tim. iii. 2, Tit. ii. 2, &c). In this
connexion, the term deprecates excitability and credulity about the
Parousia (cf. II. U. 1 ff.) Kal 7ap iv ijpepq., av ypijyopfj pev ris /it)
yr)0B de, pvplois repireaeirai Seivois, uare iypijySpaeus iriraais ij v%\pls
iariv (Chrysostom).
7. The uloi ijpipas must be ypijyopovvres and vijtpovres, for the
opposite conditions belong to the o-Kdros and are proper to its children:
ol ydp KaBedSovTes vuKrds KaflevSovo-iv, Kal oi peSvo-Kdpevoi vvktos
peBvovcriv, for those that sleep, sleep by night, and those who get drunk
are drunken by night, — day is no time for such indulgences. To be
drunk by day was a monstrous, unheard-of thing (Acts ii. 15). "Me0d-
axopca notat actum, peBiu statum vel habitum " (Bengel) ; for the
former — " to make oneself drunk," sich betrinken — cf. Lk. xii. 45, Eph.
v. 18 ; for the latter, Acts ii. 15, Bev. xvii. 6. The genitive of time
is partitive, signifying a whole within which something happens or
is done : vvKrbs, by night ; but vvktI, at night ; vixra, through the
night, all night (Lk. xxi. 37; Acts xxvi. 7). The verse is an adage,
adduced in its literal sense.
8. rjpeis Se rjpepas ovres viftpupev : but let us, since we are of the day
(not qui diei sumus, Vulg., &c, as if ol... ovres ; but quum diei simus),
be sober. The vytpu of verse 6 is resumed, with the added force
gathered from verse 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): vijipupev
forbids everything wUd or unbridled (cf. ixvijipare in 1 Cor. xv. 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 Bom. xiii. 12, and again in 1 Pet. i. 13, — dva$uadpevoi...vij<povTes
reXelus iXrlaare k.t.X.
evSwdpeyoi Siupaxa ma-Tews Kal dydirT|S, Kal irepiKetpaXaCav eXirCSa
o-UTTjpCas : 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 exhorta
tion : v-qipupev enjoins a state ; ivivadpevoi 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 vigi
lant and steady. In Eom. xui. 12 f. the same figure is still more

5 8] NOTES. iiS
graphically applied. Cf., for the military style of the passage, iv. 16
and notes. The 8upa§ k.t.X. form the day -dress of the Christian
warrior, niorews ko! dydrns, genitives of apposition. "Veluti ad
arrna conclamat, ut ostendat non esse dormiendi tempus. Belli
quidem nomen subticet; verum dum nos armat thorace et galea,
proeUandum esse admonet " (Calvin). The armour-simile (cf. 2 Cor.
vi. 7, x. 4ff.; Eom. vi. 13, xiii. 12; Eph. vi. 11 ff.) is not original in
St Paul, but only its application and working out. Its use is based,
doubtless, on Isai. Iix. 17 (LXX) : iveSiaaro SiKatoaivijv us Bupaxa, xal
repiiBero repixeipaXalav au-njpiov iri -rijs xetpaXijs; ei. also Wisd. v. 19;
Baruch v. 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, Eph. vi. 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 Ufe 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 ahke 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.
ii. 19, where dXiris is associated with aritpavos xavxiaeus ; also Bom.
v. 2 ; Heb. in. 6. Hope is held high, and shines out.
'Zurnpia (cf. au'i'u, ii. 16) embraces, in St Paul and the N.T., the
entire well-being that the Gospel brings (H. ii. 13 f.; Eph. i. 13),
both to the individual man and to the world. It is identified specific-
ally with its two essential elements or moments — of dtpeais apapriuv
(Lk. i. 77, Sea.), and of deliverance from the grave and from the
condemnation of the Last Day (Ph. i. 19; 2 Tim. ii. 10; 1 Pet. i. 5,
See.): in the synonymous diroXdrpwiris this double reference is con
spicuous ; see Eph. i. 7, 14. Surnpla here stands opposed to ipyyj,
as in Bom. i. 16 — 18, v. 9, since the present salvation from sin effected
in believers by God's " grace," and realized in " forgiveness " (Eph. i.
7, 13, Ui. 1 — 8), gives assurance of eventual salvation from sin's
future penalties and fatal consequences in another world (Eom. v. 9f.,
vi. 22 f., Sec).
Faith, love, hope — the Apostle's triad of graces; see notes on i. 3.
"Faith" is directed especially toward God and Christ (i. 9, iv. 14;
H2

n6 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 8—
1 Jo. v. 4 f., &c), "love" toward one's neighbour (iv. 9f.; II. i.
3, See.) ; " hope " concerns oneself. 'EXiris seems here to be the pelfav
roiruv (cf. 1 Cor. xui. 13).
9. oti ovk SBcto ijpds d Beds els dpyijv dXXd els irepiiroCTJo-iv
0-uTijpCas k.t.X., because God did not appoint us unto wrath, but to
(the) securing of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. "On is
read by Hofmann as explicative not causative, as stating the content
of dXirls auTijplas (v. 8) rather than the reason for it — " a hope that God
did not appoint us," See. ; cf. 2 Cor. v. 11, where iXrifrpev is comple
mented by a perfect infinitive. But the common interpretation is
more natural. "BSero eis has "a partially Hebraistic tinge" (Ellicott);
the idiom is paraUel to 7 DW, ? IVS?, ? \)li ; but this is not in
correct Greek: see 1 Tim. i. 12; 2 Tim. i. 11 ; Acts xin. 47; 1 Pet.
ii. 8 — the last the only precise parallel ; and of. Jer. ii. 7, xxv. 12,
See. (LXX). Cf. with eis dp7V BioBai Bom. ix. 22, axeiij Spyijs Karijp-
napiva els druXeiav : in the (hypothetical) event of " appointing unto
wrath" the Divine foreordination supposes foresight, and takes into
account all the moral conditions of the case; see Bom. viii. 29, for
the opposite case of predestination to life. That God cherishes no
angry purpose toward the Thessalonians, that there is no Bijaavpbs bpyijs
(Bom. ii. 5) laid up for them in His plans, but an opposite destiny
(i. 4; II. ii. 13 f.), of this the writers are assured by all that they
know of them (see i. 5 ff., See.). On this ground (oti k.t.X.) the readers
may with a joyful confidence "put on" the "helmet of iXrls
aurijpias ": cf. Bom. v. 2 — 11 ; 2 Cor. i. 7, 21 f., iv. 16 ff., &o. Bom.
viii. 31 — 39 is a virtual commentary on this passage. "E0ero...eis
repirolnaiv aurijpias reminds us of ixXoy^ (i. 4) ; the verb implies the
authority with which God "called" the Thessalonians (U. 12), and
His gracious intentions towards them : cf. iii. 3 ; also 1 Tim. i. 12,
Bipevos els SiaKovlav.
Hepirolijais (from repiroiiopai, to make (to remain) over for
oneself) signifies in its primary active sense obtaining permanently,
making secure some desired object (in the 0. T. frequently, preserving
alive) — so here "in acquisitionem salutis" (Vulg.), "ad salutem
obtinendam " (Beza) ; see II. ii. 14 ; Heb. x. 39 ; 2 Paral. xiv. 13 ;
for the verb, 1 Tim. iii 13 ; Lk. xvii. 33 ; Acts xx. 28 ; Isai. xliii. 21 ;
1 Mace. vi. 44: this usage is also classical. The noun acquired a
further passive meaning, and represents in Mai. iii. 17 (LXX) n^Jp(
peculium, u treasure, prize — foovrai pot. ..els repirolnaiv; hence Xods
eis repirolnaiv, in 1 Pet. ii. 9 (=Xabv pov Sc repieroiiiadpijv, Isai.
xhn. 21); the like signification is found in Eph. i. 14, els droXi-

5 10] NOTES. 117
rpuaiv rijs irepiiroirio-eus (see J. A. Bobinson's Commentary). Lightfoot
regards the repiroiijats as God's act, and so renders, after the Old
Latin, "for the adoption of (consisting in) salvation," thus making
repiroiijats synonymous with iKXoyi) (i. 4) ; as though the Apostle's|
thought were that God has destined the Thessalonians not to bei
objects of His anger but of His appropriative and saving grace. The|
parallel passage in Ep. II. does not seem, however, to admit of this
interpretation of repirolijais, and it is far from obvious here ; vv. 6 — 8
incite the readers to a wakeful, soldierlike activity, such as will be
crowned by the " winning of salvation," the glorious end for which
" God destined " them when He first " oalled them to His own king
dom and glory" (ii. 12), — the soldier's prize; cf. 1 Tim. vi. 12, dyuvlfav
tox KaXdp d7w»a...eViXa|9o5 ttjs aiwxiou fwrjs. This final attainment
of salvation, like its beginning (Eom. v. 2 ; cf . v. 9—11), comes through
Christ : see II. i. 7 ff. ; 2 Tim. iv. 18 ; 1 Cor. xv. 57. For " the Lord
Jesus Christ " is the Mediator of salvation, from the first step to the
last. The whole basis of redemption, the ground of the believer's
hope of its accomplishment, is laid down in the next verse : —
10. tov diroBavdvTOS irepl ijpuv, ?va...dpa crvv avTiS £rjo-upev, who
died for us, that. ..together with Him we might live. Jlepl ijpuv speci
fies " us " as the objects of the Saviour's death, those " about " whom
He was concerned in dying; the reading direp rjpuv, as those "for the
good of" whom He died — but "this distinction is growing dull" in
the koivij (J. H. Moulton) ; dvH would have been required to signalize
the vicarious nature of the death, as in 1 Tim. ii. 6, Matt. xx. 28.
The main point is that His death secures our life ; thus it gives a
sure warrant for the cherished Airls aurijpias (v. 8). Further, the
" life " which Christ's death secures for those resolved to " win " it
(v. 9), is a life associated, indeed identified, with His (dpa aiv airip:
cf. for the phrase, iv. 17) ; He died for the very end that we might
partake of His deathless life : cf. Jo. vi. 51, x. 10 f., 18 ; also Eom. v.
10, vi. 4 ff. ; 2 Cor. iv. 10 ff., v. 14 ff. ; Eev. i. 5 f., 18, &c. In His
" dying that we might live along with Him," Christ's own resurrection
is taken for granted (cf. iv. 14). The principle which connects the
Saviour's death with the life, present and ultimate, of His people
is assumed, but not drawn out, in this passage; it was present to
the mind of the readers, or these words would have been meaning
less. The propitiatory atonement which Christ made upon the cross
for the sins of mankind, constitutes the indispensable Unk ; this
clause involves the teaching about redemption by the death and
resurrection of Jesus, which is distinctive of the second group of the

n8 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 10—
Pauline Epp. : see Bom. iii. 21—26, iv. 25 — v. 11, vi. 1 — 11, vni.
1—4 ; Gal. ii. 10—21, iii. 9—14 ; 2 Cor. v. 14— vi. 2. The whole
theology of the Cross is latent here. In writing to the Corinthians
and referring to his preaching at the very time when the Thessalonian
letters were penned, St Paul calls his doctrine simply " the word of
the cross" (1 Cor. i. 17 f., 23, u. 2) ; cf., for an earlier period, Acts
xui. 38 f., Gal. iii. 1, vi. 14. "In his earliest writings this doctrine
was present to St Paul's mind, though he has busied himself generally
in these Epistles with other matters. It was not, therefore, as has
been maintained, an aftergrowth of bis maturer reflexions " (Light
foot). See further the Introd. pp. xxv. ff.
In apa civ airif lies St Paul's other fundamental doctrine of the
believer's union with Christ in His heavenly life, which is the comple
ment of his doctrine of union with Christ in His sacrificial death for
sin : see, on this correspondence, 2 Cor. v. 15, 21 ; Bom. vi. 5 — 11 ;
Gal. ii. 19 f. ; Bom. xiv. 8 f. Bisen from the grave, our Saviour
"lives" evermore "to God"; "death no longer lords it over Him."
And those who are Christ's, being "cemented to the Lord in one
Spirit " (1 Cor. vi. 17), share the life which flows from the Head
through aU His earthly members. This "life hid with Christ in
God" (Col. iii. 3), is, in St Paul's view, "life indeed" (1 Tim. vi. 19);
ftaupev is emphatic: "that... together with Him we might live," —
not dying even though we " sleep " ; cf. Jo. vi. 50 f., xi. 25 f.
The parenthetical clause, elre -ypTjyopupev elrc KaBevSupev, takes
up into this sentence the comfort the Apostles had given their
readers in § 8. The life of union with Christ which He died to
procure for men, is untouched by mortality: He "died for us, in
order that, whether we be waking or sleeping, together with Him we
should live." Just as our natural life holds its course unbroken
through waking or sleeping hours, so our spiritual life in Christ con
tinues whether we are awake to this world or the body lies asleep in
the grave (cf. Matt. xxii. 32) ; the Christian dead are oi vexpol iv
Xpiarip, iv. 16, and return to us aiv airip, when " God shaU bring "
Jesus back to the world He left (iv. 14 ; see notes). Hence we gather
that "the sleeping " are living somewhere with and in Christ; their
"sleep" makes no vital difference : cf. Bom. viii. 38 f.; Jo. xiv. 19 6.
The verbs ypijyopiu and xaBeiSu, understood ethically in vv. 6 f., by
a change of metaphor become synonyms for natural life and death ;
see note on Koipdopai, iv. 13. This figurative use of KaBeibu ( = koi-
pdopai) is a BibUcal hap. legomenon (cf. raXds viKvs, oio xaBeiSuv,
Bion 1 71) ; it is suggested by the context (vv. 6 ff.), and yprjyopiu
matches it in meaning. See Eom. xiv. 7 ff., where Christ's lordship

5 11] NOTES. 119
over His people is declared to extend to the world beyond death :
idv re £upev idv re drodvijaxupev, rod Kvptov iapiv els rovro ydp
Xpiarbs dridavev xal dviarij, iva xal vexpuv xal %uvtuv xvpieian ; of.,
in this light, Eph. iv. 9 f. and Bev. i. 18 with the passage before us.
The subjunctive after etre, in place of indie, occurs also in 1 Cor.
xiv. 5, Phil. iii. 11, and might be justified by later Greek usage;
but here it appears to be due to the influence of Iva just preceding,
the subordinate conditional clause being let into the final clause;
see Winer-Moulton, p. 368. The aorist t;i)aupev is antithetical to diro-
BavbvTos, denoting the "Ufe" which "Christ died" to procure "for
us," not as a continued state but as a single fact, a definite attain
ment won for us by Christ's death and holding good alike in our
" waking "or " sleeping. " For the aorist of fdw, of. Lk. xv. 24 ; Bom.
vii. 9 (contrast ifuv with avifraev), xiv. 9 ; Gal. ii. 19 ; Tit. ii. 12 ;
1 Jo. iv. 9 ; Eev. n. 8, xx. 4 f. : the present, on the other hand, in
iii. 8, iv. 15 above ; Eom. xiv. 8 ; 2 Cor. v. 15, See.
11. Aid TrapaKaXeiTe dXXrjXovs, a repetition of iv. 18, showing that
the matter of this section is closely bound up with that of the last ;
their misgiving about the lot of Christians dying prematurely before
the Lord's return, and their uncertainty about the precise time of
the return, were troubling the Thessalonian believers in the same
way. Aid however (cf. iii. 1) replaces wore : the former throws the
reader back upon the ground of encouragement just given (vv. 9 f .) ;
the latter particle carried him onward to the encouragement to be
gathered from the previous words.
Kal oiKoSopeiTE ets tov iva, and edify each the other — lit. " one the
one." Eis rbv iva ( = dXXr/Xous) is "a rather late, though not unclassical
expression " : so Lightfoot, who finds the idiom in Theocritus xxii. 65,
eis ivl xeipas deipoK ; 1 Cor. iv, 6 affords the only N.T. paraUel, where,
however, the addition of Kard rou erdpou makes the phrase eis irip tov
eVds run more smoothly. In later Epp. iavrois serves as the variant for
dXXijXous : see Col. iii. 13 ; Eph. iv. 31 f. ; Phil. ii. 3 ; of. v. 13 below.
There is no occasion to refer the repetition of the numeral to Syriac
(Aramaic) idiom ; still less to turn els into eis rbv iva, making the
prepositional phrase equal to tus ivbs, Eom. iii. 12 ("to the last man"
— a harsh and unsuitable expression here), or rendering, as in Eph.
ii. 15, " into the one " (the new Christian man, in whom aU differences
are reconcUed) — which again is incongruous and far-fetohed.
This is the first appearance of the Christian figure olKoSopiu (oIko-
Sopi)), which plays so large a part in St Paul's writings (cf. however
Matt. vii. 24 ff.), and contains implicitly his great conception of the

120 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 11—
Church as the oIkos or pads fleou : see 1 Cor. iii. 9 — 17 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ;
Eph. ii. 20 ff. ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; 2 Tim. ii. 19 ff.
KaBus Kal iroieiTe. Cf. iv. 1, 9 f., and notes; also II. iii. 4; and
simUar expressions in Eom. xv. 14, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 2 Pet. i. 12.
§ 10. v. 12 — 16. The Chukch's Internal Discipline.
The specific varep^jpara of this Church's faith (iii. 10) are now made
good, in ch. iv. 1 — v. 11, so far as they can be by Apostolic admonition
and comfort. On the basis of the instruction thus given, the readers
were urged to ' ' encourage 'i_and4e-""edify one another " (iv. 18, v. 11).
But (Si, v. 12) the office of exhortation, while devolving on any
Christian brotber who can speak a word of comfort to the sorrowing
or of help to the feeble and timid, falls chiefly on the leaders of the
community (ol rpdiardpevoi, v. 12). Thus the writers, in drawing their
Letter- to a close, find occasion to speak of these, (a) bidding the
Church recognize their position and lovingly appreciate their work
(vv. 12 f.). Having commended to the goodwill of the Church its
officers, the Apostles (b) turn to the latter and charge them, on their
side, to be faithful, helpful, and patienl toward the more__iro.ublesome
or weak members of Christ's flock, to prevent the retaliation of evil
and to promote every kind of well-doing, both within and without the
Christian fellowship (vv. 14 f.). The distinction just drawn between
(a) and (b), which is insisted on by the Greek interpreters and recog
nized by the paragraph-division of WH. is indeed doubtful ; but the
varied expression, ipurupev Se d/ids and irapoKoXoDyuei' Si ipds, of vv.
12 and 14 is best explained by supposing that the writers-appeal, with
conversational freedom, first, to th° ^>"-"-"k at large respecting its
rpoiardpevoi, and t.Vipn, fo tbp la.t,t,er respecting the difficult part of
their duties to the former. This tacit distinction between the vpas
of v. 14 and that of v. 12 accounts for the formal repetition of
phrase with which the two short sections are introduced ; the vovBereiv,
moreover, required in v. 14, should, in consistency, be expected from
the vovBerovvres of v. 12. The four hortatory offices prescribed in v. 14
would, in the nature of the case, devolve chiefly, though not exclusively,
on the rpoiardpevoi. In v. 15 the exhortation reverts without formal
transition to the body of the Church addressed throughout the Letter.
At the same time, the whole of vv. 14 f. might be addressed suitably
to "the brethren" at large; in favour of this construction the re
peated, and unquahfied, dSeXtpot of vv. 12 and 14 seems to speak.
Upon this view of the connexion — preferred by recent interpreters —
v. 14 resumes, after the introductory reference to the Church-offioers

5 12] NOTES. 121
in vv. 12 f., and particularizes the irapaKoXefre k. olxoSopetre of v. 11,
as though the Apostles wrote : " Now while we bid you respect your
Church leaders, cfec, we urge you on your own part to admonish the
disorderly and console the sad, See., amongst yourselves"; but would
not adroi, or the like, have been attached to vovBereire (by way of dis
tinction from xoud'eroCi'Tas, v. 13) in this case ? See the discussion of
Bornemann on the connexion of thought, in pp. 228 — 231 of Meyer's
Kommentar6. On this section see Hort's Christian Ecclesia, pp. 125 ff.
12. 'Epurupev Se vpds, dSeXcpoC, etSevai rods Komuvras Iv ijptv
k.t.X. But we ask you, brothers, to know those that toil among you, die.
For the epurdv of request, and its difference from rapaxaXeiv (v. 14), see
note on iv. 1. The note of personal urgency in this word indicates
some difficulty existing at Thessalonica on the point in question ;
certain members of the Church lightly regarded the rpoiardpevoi, —
scil. " the disorderly " (v. 14 ; cf. iv. 11 f. ; II. Ui. 11 ff.), men disposed
to resent admonition.
ElSivai bears a pregnant force in this connexion — "to know those
that toil, &C, as such, to know them for what they are" (cf. 1 Cor. xvi.
15) ; or, more generally, " to know them properly, to know what you
possess in them," much as in 1 Cor. U. 2, 12, Jo. vii. 28 f., viii. 19,
55. There is no need to import the looser Hebraistic use of olSa, and
its synonyms, from the LXX rendering of JH\
(tovs KoiriuvTas ev iu.lv) Kal irpoiorape'vovs vpuv ev KvpCu Kal vov-
8eTOvvTas dpds, (those that toil amongst you) and preside over you in the
Lord and admonish you. The three participles, bound by the vinculum
of the single article, describe cme and the same set of persons. — pro
bably the irpeo-jSdrepoi who figure in the earliest Church organization
carried over from the Judsean to the Pauline Christian communities :
see Acts xi. 30, xiv. 23, xx. 17 ; Tit. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. v. 1, <fec. ; Jam.
v. 14 ; 1 Pet. v. 1. These are included in the ijyoipevoi of Heb. xiii.
7, 17, 24. Approved "elders" are described in 1 Tim. v. 17 as oi
koXcjs rpoearures rpeajSirepoi (amongst whom " those who labour in
word, Sea." are "especiaUy" distinguished), their function being com
pared to that of a good father "presiding well over his own house"
(1 Tim. iii. 4 f., 12). Like ijyoipevos, however, wpo'Cordpevos is not
a technical term of office implying stated presidency in Church
meetings ; it is " a word usually applied to informal leaderships and
managements of all kinds " (Hort), as in Eom. xii. 8, xvi. 2 (rpoardris ;
ai. Tit. iii. 8, 14). The existence at Thessalonica, so early, of distinct
Church-offioers may be probably, but not certainly, inferred from this
passage ; these irpoiord/iei/oi, like the family of Stephanas in Corinth

1 fESSALOj0NIANS. [5 12-

(1 Cor. xvi. 15 ff.), may have " presided " only in the sense that they
took spontaneously a leading part in Church business and disoipUne
(but see note on iv xvplu below) : this appeal is parallel to 1 Cor. xvi.
15 f., and has the words elSivai and koitiok in common with that
passage. St Paul emphasizes the service done to the community by
these leaders — oi K07riw>'Tes...did rd ipyov airuv — not their authority.
For Komav, see note to Kdn-os, ii. 9. 'Ev vpiv might signify "on,"
rather than "among you" (so Winer-Moulton, p. 483), as denoting
the matter, substratum, of the labour, but less suitably here ; the toil
exercised amongst the Thessalonians (cf. i. 5, ii. 7) should be " known "
to them. For iv xvplu, see note, iv. 1 : this adjunct attaches to the
position of the rpoiardpevoi a more weighty and solemn character ;
it appears to connote authority upon their part, since it bases their
relation to the Church upon the connexion of both parties with " the
Lord " : His Lordship underlies their leadership.
In the third place, the Church-leaders are commended to esteem as
vovBeTovvres vpds. SovBeala is the primary duty enjoined upon them
in v. 14 (supposing these to be specifically addressed there) ; it comes
last here, being that in which the offence of their service lay. So
Theodore paraphrases eideVai...Tous vovB. x.t.X., "non resultantes illis,
quando vos eorripere volunt." NouSere'w ( = eV rip vip rlBvpi) means "to
put one in mind of " (ans Herz legen) that one has forgotten or
might forget ; it bears an ethical, sometimes a disciplinary, sense (cf.
vovBereiv rXnyoXs, in Aristophanes) ; hence its application to ' ' the
unruly " in v. 14 and II. iii. 15 (of. 1 Cor. iv. 14) ; it impUes
kindly, hopeful " admonition." The word is confined to St Paul (in
cluding Acts xx. 31) in the N.T. Nouflereii' is distinguished from didd-
axeiv in Col. i. 28, iii. 16, the latter appealing to the understanding,
the former to the conscience and wiU ; it is the function of the roipijv
as distinguished from the SiSdaKaXos of Eph. iv. 11.
13. Kal TjyeitrSai ovtovs direpeKirepio-o-ov ev dydirr| Sid Td epyov
avTuv, and to regard them in love in the most supereminent degree
because of their work. The words T)7eio-0ai...eV d7airi; (put last for
emphasis) may be read as one complete expression — so Chrysostom
and Theodore, the Vulgate (habeatis ..in charitate), Beza (charos du-
catis), Hofmann, Ellicott, Liinemann, Schmiedel ; most other in
terpreters, with the Eng. Ver. , treat iv dyarn as a detached adjunct
to ijyeiaBai. The verb by itself hardly bears the sense of " esteem"
(Lightfoot thinks that the adverb vrepexr. supplies this connotation) ; it
can be read in malam or in bonam partem according to the definition :
hence us ixBpbv ijyeiaBai in II. iii. 15 ; cf. Phil. n. 6, iii. 8, 1 Tim. i.
12, Heb. x. 29, xi. 11, cfcc.

5 13] NOTES. 123
For ijyeur$e...iv dydirj), cf. Jo. xv. 9 f. ; Jud. 21 : the construction of
Phil. ii. 29, ivrlpovs ( = <¦» npfj) exere, and Phm. 17, resembles that
here employed; so Eom. i. 28 (ixem iv inyviiaei); and Thuc. n. 18. 3,
21. 3, cfec. ((xetv iv bpyo, Sec). Schmiedel supplies the parallels
roietaBat iv dXiyupta from Thuo. iv. 5, vn. 3. 2 ; Xapfidveiv iv rbBu,
from Sophocles Oed. Col. 1679 ; see also LiddeU and Soott on roieTaBai
iv (s.v. iroieio0ai, A. v.), the classical equivalent of ip/eioBai iv. 'Ev dyarn
= the predicate -qyarijpivovs (ai. Eom. ix. 25), and something more : the
rpoiardpevoi sere to be " held dear " in that sphere and upon that ground
of love wherein the Church has its being : cf. iii. 12 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 14.
'H7e?ff0ai...di> d7dirg is qualified by the triple Pauline intensive
vrep-ex-repiaaus, "beyond-exceeding-abundantly" (cf. note on uirepeK-
repiaaov, ni. 10 — this preoise form is hap. leg. ; also repiaaoripus,
ii. 17) ; and by did rd ipyov airuv, stating the special reason for the
extraordinary regard of love due to the Thessalonian leaders, in
accordance with the character given to them as Koiriwi'Tes in •«. 12.
In "work" this Church excelled, and work it knew how to appreciate;
see note on tov Ipyov k.t.X., i. 3. »
This clause has given occasion to some caustic observations, such
as that of Erasmus ad loc : " Hunc locum oportet annotare diligenter
episcopos... Paulus jubet eos haberi in honore propter opus, non
propter inanem titulum"; and Calvin, stiU more sharply, "TJnde
sequitur e numero Pastorum excludi omnes otiosos ventres." Wyolif
inferred from the text that tithes might be refused to idle or incompe
tent priests, — an inference which the Eoman Catholic Estius earnestly
contests. elpijveveTe ev eavrois, be at peace amongst yourselves ; cf. Mk ix. 50.
Supposing iavrois (or adrois) to be genuine (see Textual Note), then
the general " peace " is to be kept through affeotionate loyalty to
the approved leaders ; it was disturbed by the draxroi, whom the
Church-officers had to "admonish" (vv. 12, 14). A sense not dis
similar is given by the harder reading iv airois, if this be understood,
with Bornemann (who cites 1 Cor. vi. 2, xiv. 21, Mt. ix. 34, in illus
tration), as signifying " through them," — on the basis of their leader
ship — " find your peace in them " ; on this appUoation of iv, see Winer-
Moulton, pp. 485 f. The common rendering of iv airois by cum eis
(Vulg. ) — as though equivalent to per' airuv (see Bom. xii. 18) — or in
eos (toward them), is ungrammatical and inappropriate; the "min
istry" exists to bind together the whole body of Christ, irpds rbv
xarapriapbv tuv dyiuv (Eph. iv. 12 ; cf. v. 16). The present imperative
enjoins not the making of peace, Uke the aorist in 1 Mace. vi. 60, but
the maintaining of it.

124 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 14—
14. IJapaKaXoSpev 8e vpas, dSeXipoC. But we exhort you, brothers.
Upon the analysis suggested at the head of the section, ipjds is dis
tinctive: the writers now speak to those 'pnkfVs of in it. 1 ft f , viz.
the Church-officers ; ivravBa rpbs robs dpxovras SiaXiyerai (Chrysostom).
They need to be "encouraged " (see notes on rapaxaXiu, ii. 12, iv. 1,
and irapdK\r/(ris7iir3)-to.the duties imposed on them, while the Church
is " asked "_(see note, v. 12) to pay them deference. HapaKaXiu is not
often^omplemented by a sentence in "direct narration ; 1 Cor. iv. 16
and Acts ix. 38 give instances of this.
Three classes needing special pastoral care at Thessalonica — or, on
the other view ol the'"eonnexion, a speciaUyTnterested attention on
the part of the Church — are oi otoktoi, ol dXiyd<|n>xoi, and oi
do-8evets — the unruly, the pusillanimous, and the weak. The first
category_jhe.Ja:eJhren are to admonish, the second to comfort, the
third to hold to or help.
The attitude and disposition of the draKToi in this Church come to
light in II. Hi. 6 ff. — on which passage see the notes ; see also Introd.
pp. xxxi., xxxviii. ; ch. iv. 11 f. already gave some hint of trouble of
this sort. For vovBereire, see note to v. 12 : the recurrence of this
verb suggests that oi vovBerovvres of the former verse are the persons
addressed in this ; the disorder described in Ep. II. is of such a kind
that those directing the business of the Church were bound to come
into conflict with it. 'OXiyb<pvxos is a LXX word, used to render
Beveral Hebrew phrases denoting "broken in spirit" and the like
(Isai. liv. 6, lvii. 15, &c). St Paul's bXiyb-pvxos is not therefore the
piKpbipvxos of Aristotle (Nic. Eth. iv. 7 — 9), the opposite of the latter's
peyaXbipvxos — "the magnanimous, high-spirited man" so much com
mended by the philosophers ; not generosity nor self-respect, but
courage, confidence are wanting to him ; oh. iv. 13 ff. iUustrate this
condition, and again II. ii. 2. On rapapvBiopai, see note to ii. 11
above. ' AvrixeoBai uniformly means elsewhere "to hold by," "cleave
to " a person or thing (Matt. vi. 24 ; Luke xvi. 13 ; Tit. i. 9), and
bears this sense here: "the feeble" are apt to be neglected, or even
cast off, through contempt and impatience of the trouble they give ;
attaching oneself to them is the way to help them and give them
strength; cf. the synon. dvriXapjSdveaBai, e.g. in Acts xx. 35, eiri-
XappdveaBai in Heb. ii. 16. These daBeveis are men " weakjn faith-U-
(Eom. xiv. 1), nai. " thejsick " (as in 1 Cor. xi. 30) or ^'.weakiHu.
worldly resources .(Acts xx. 35).
The bXiybipvxoi and do-oWis stand contrasted with the otoktoi.
The latter are overbold, and need to be checked ; the former are
despondent, and need stimulus and help. " Fainthearted " men think

5 15] NOTES. 125
themselves " weak " when they are not so ; encouragement may make
them bold.
If the instructions of this verse apply to the rpoiardpevoi (see note
on UapaxaXovpev Si ipds above), paKpoBvpeire irpos iravras refers con
sequently to the body*of the Church, in contrast with the three faulty
classes already noticed; whereas els irdyTas in the next verse, con
trasted with eis dXXijXous, looks to the world outside. The duties
of Church office require in him who exercises them good temper and
patience all round (irpds rdvras), even where infirmity or disorder
is not in question. The paxpb8vpos, longanimis, is the opposite of
the 6(i0vpos (short-tempered) : paxpoBvpla implies personal relation
ship — patience (on the part of God or man) toward the troubles and
provocations arising in human intercourse ; whereas iropovi) (i. 3, cfec.)
is a brave endurance of the ills of life generally, of trying things ; see
Trench's Syn. § 53.
15. dpare pij tis kokov dvrl kokov tivI diroSu. See (to it) that
none pay back evil in return for evil to any one. This further direc
tion seems tojje addressed, in keeping with the last, to the rpoiardpevoi :
it is their duty to check and prevent every act of retaliation ; they are
responsible for the conduct of their brethren. On the other hand, the
wide bearing of the antithetical (dXXd) clause which follows suggests
the same comprehensive reference here. Had the writers, however,
intended to warn individual members of the Church about their own
conduct, they would, presumably, have used the 2nd person, dpaVe
pij droSure (cf. Matt. viii. 4, xvni. 10, xxiv. 6 ; Matt. ix. 30 resembles
this passage), or written ns vp&v instead of the bare tis. For KaKbv,
see note on rovijpbv, v. 22. The same command, in general terms, is
given in Bom. xii. 17 and 1 Pet. iii. 9 ; it echoes the teaching of our
Lord in Matt. v. 43 ff.
dXXd irdvTore to dyaBov Siukctc [Kal] eis dXXrjXovs Kal els iravras,
but always pursue that which is good, [both] toward one another and
toward all men. This last injuncHjcinJs_not,.by_ita.natui:e,-specific to
Church^afiicers : if the five^revious- imperatives-have -been addressed
to the3e,_we_must suppose the writers to turn herebya, kind of mental
gesture, dispensing witlTany particle"of transition, to their readers at
large, who were virtuaUy (if not directly) admonished in pi) tis kokok
...dirodip. For Siilixeiv in the sense oi practising, pursuing u, line of
conduct, ai. Bom. xii. 13, xiv. 19 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 1 ; 1 Tim. vi. 11 ;
2 Tim. ii. 22 : it implies persistence in good — not only in the way of
reciprocity (by antithesis to KOKdc dvrl kukov), but in all other respects
and contingencies. Td d^vao'd;' is "the beneficial "; while denoting the

126 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 15—
morally good in chief, the term is not limited to this : cf. Bom. ii. 10,
xiii. 3 f. ; Gal. vi. 10 ; Eph. iv. 28 ; Phm. 14 ; Lk. vi. 35, d7o9oiroieTre
Kai Savl^ere. For eis dXXijXovs k.t.X., see iU. 12 and note; also note on
irpds rdvras, v. 14.
TLdvTore — occurring six times in this Letter, oftener than anywhere
else in St Paul — means " on every occasion " (of. i. 2) ; while del
means "perpetuaUy" (2 Cor. vi. 10) : dSiaXelrrus in v. 17, i. 3, &c,
is the negative equivalent of either.

§ 11. v. 16 — 24. Directions fob Holy Living.
In § 7 (iv. 1 — 12) the saintship of the Thessalonians supplied the
basis and the nerve of the Apostles' charge. The virtues of chastity,
brotherly affection, and dUigence in labour were enforced on the
readers under the sense of their consecration to God ; the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit supplied the most powerful motive for the leading
of a pure life (see iv. 3, 7 f.). The closing exhortations of the Epistle
rest on the same principle. The appeal to " quench not the Spirit"
forms their centre; and this leads up to an impressive prayer for the
complete sanctification of those addressed (vv. 23 f.).
The last section was occupied with social and comparatively external
duties ; this deals with personal obligations and exercises of internal
piety, which may be distinguished, (1) as they are of a general religious
character (vv. 16 — 18), and (2) as tbey arise specifically from the new
endowments of the Spirit enjoyed by the Church (vv. 19 — 22). In
Bom. xiii. 6 — 21 there is found a similar but much longer train of
hortatory epigrams.
16 — 18. IldvTOTe x^CpeTe, dSiaXeCirrus Trpoo-evx«r6e, ev iravTl edx*-
purreiTe. Always rejoice ; unceasingly pray ; in everything give thanks.
The adverbs, emphatically prefixed to the three imperatives, continue
the strain of v. 15 in its wide inclusiveness ; see the note there on
rdvrore. The command to "rejoice always" is notable in a Letter
addressed to a suffering people (see i. 6, ii. 14, iii. 2 — 4) ; it must have
struck the readers as a paradox. St Paul had learnt the secret, which
he thus virtually teaches — as he does expressly in Bom. v. 3—5 — that
Borrow endured for Christ's sake opens a new spring of joy : cf. 2 Cor.
xn. 10; Col. i. 24; 1 Pet. iv. 12—14; also the Beatitudes of Matt/
v. 10 — 12. St Paul's subsequent Letter, dated from prison, to the
neighbouring PhUippian Church (see PhU. iv. 4f, also i. 29) is a
descant on this theme.
The Christian's constant joy puts him in the mpod to ¦' pray with-

5 18] NOTES. 127
out ceasing." Twice the Apostles have used the adverb ddiaXeiirrws
concerning their own grateful remembrance of their readers before
God (i. 3, U. 13): a crowd of other objects occupied their minds
through the hours of each day ; they could not be continuously
thinking of this one Church, nor presenting it distinctly to God in
every act of devotion ; but they felt that it was never out of remem
brance ; thankfulness on its account mingled with and coloured
all their thoughts at this time. In like manner Prayer is the
accompaniment of the whole life of Christians — a stream always
flowing, whether sensibly or in the background of consciousness;
it forms the undercurrent of thought, which imparts its direction and
tone to everything upon the surface. This unbroken course of prayer
belongs to the "life hid with Christ in God " (Col. iii. 3).
18. ev iravrl evxapioreiTe contains the same paradox, for the Thes
salonians, as rdvrore xaipere (see note above). "In everything," —
even in persecution and shame; cf. again Ph. i. 29, 2 Cor. xii. 9f.,
&c. This too St Paul taught by example : see i. 2, iii. 9 f. ; Acts
xvi. 25. 'Ev ravrl differs from irepl ravrbs (i. 2, Sea.) as denoting the
circumstances, not the object, nor the occasion (iri), of thanksgiving.
For the phrase iv ravrl (not to be limited by Kaipip), cf. 2 Cor. vii.
5, 11, 16 ; Ph. iv. 6, 12. On eixapiariu, see note to i. 2. Chrysostom's
comment, rd del SnXovbri eixapiareiv, tovto ipiXoabipov ypvxijs, is very
characteristic ; to the Greek Christian, an intelligent piety was the
true tpiXoaotpia.
Prayer and Thanksgiving are companions in the language of
Scripture and counterparts, as the two wings of the soul by which
it rises toward God. The latter, however, may be tacitly included in
rpoaeixopai, — a comprehensive term for devout address to God : see
Ph. iv. 6, "In everything by prayer and by supplication, along with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God," where Siijois
(ei. Siopai, in. 10 above) is distinguished from rpoaevxi) as the
"petition" for some specific boon, while "thanksgiving" for past
blessings and for promised good accompanies both.
tovto ydp BeXrjpa Beov ev Xpurru 'Iijo-ov eis vpas, for this is
God's will in Christ Jesus with regard to you. The three foregoing
precepts are thus linked together; they constitute one habit and
temper, the spirit of a true devotion to God, so that rouro includes
them collectively. Iovto yap BiXijpa k.t.X. adduces not so much a
reason for obedience to Divine commands, as an assurance of their
practioabiUty ; the argument is not, "You must do it, for God so
wiUs," but " Knowing that it is God's will, you can do it " : cf. v. 24

i28 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 18—
below; also iv. 3 (see note), of which this sentence is a repetition; and
Ph. H. 13; 2 Cor. in. 5, See. As though the Apostles said: "You
Thessalonian believers, so greatly afflicted and tempted to murmuring
and despondence, are the objects of a special and gracious purpose
on God's part. God intends your life to be one of constant prayer,
constant joy and thanksgiving ; and this is made possible for you in
Christ." In Christ Jesus (the living, reigning Saviour : cf. note on
this locution in n. 14) the basis is laid and the sphere is found of all
saving purpose and action on God's side (see e.g. 2 Cor. v. 19 ; 1 Cor.
i. 30), and of all experience and attainment of Divine grace on man's
side (Gal. Hi. 14 ; Eph. ii. 13, &c). This BiXnpa is not a mere "resolve
of God" made known through Christ, but a "volition" operative and
effective- "in" Him, like "aU the promises of God" (2 Cor. i. 20).
Eis ipds, " (going out) unto you," " (directed) towards you ": for els
denoting the direction of mind or moral activity, cf. v. 15, II. i. 11,
Ph. i. 23, Acts xxvi. 6, Sec ; and see Winer-Moulton, p. 495.
19, 20. to irvevpa pr) crBevvvre, irpoipTjreCas pr) e£ov8eveire. The
Spirit do not quench; prophesyings do not despise. From joy, prayer,
and thanksgiving it is a natural transition to the Spirit and pro
phesying (see i. 6; also Bom. viii. 26; Eph. vi. 18; Jud. 20).
" Praying " and " prophesying " are kindred exercises (1 Cor. xi. 4).
The B.V. reduces the stop between these injunctions to a semi-colon :
they are paraUel, the second explaining the first. Possibly, as
Lightfoot says, " there was the same tendency amongst the Thessa
lonians to underrate prophecy in comparison with other more
striking gifts of the Spirit, which St Paul condemns in writing to
the Corinthians " ; see 1 Cor. xiv. 1, ^nXovre rd rvevparixd, p.dXXov
Si Iva rpoipijTeiijTe, and the discussion which follows. But the
warning against quenching the Spirit is directed, surely, against
rationalism rather than fanaticism, against the chill distrust of the
more fervid spiritual manifestations which was excited in sober
minds at Thessalonica by the extravagance, or insincerity, of such
rvevpanxol as e.g. the "prophets" who are virtually censured in
the warning of H. H. 2, pifre Sid rveiparos. The agitation and
morbid anxiety respecting the Parousia, which both Epistles seek to
aUay, was fed by " prophesyings " upon this subject ; in such prophesy
ings MiUenarianism has at aU times abounded. The scepticism thus
awakened tended to discredit prophecy generally in this Church,
and with it the whole supernatural agency of the Spirit. That this
counsel has in view the reflective and critical part of the Church,
is strongly suggested by the SoKipdfcre of the next exhortation. But

5 21] NOTES. 1 29
this caution is one which St Paul's general observation of the Greek
temper might suggest, without any local occasion.
For rpotpnrela, of. Eom. xu. 6 ; 1 Cor. xni. 2, xiv. 6 : it comes by
diroKdXu^is, as SiSaxi) by yvuais. Prediction is only one branch of
"prophecy," which means etymologioally the forth-speaking of that
which was hidden in the mind of God and which comes to the
rpoipijrtjs, for communication to others, through the specific inspira
tion of His Spirit ; see Lightfoot's note ad loc. , and Cremer's Lexicon
s.v. rpotpijTns. As to the dependence of rpotpiyrela on rd 7T!/eu/ia, see
further Joel ii. 28 f. (iii. 1 f., in Hebrew text) ; Aots ii. 17, xix. 6,
xxvHi. 25 ; Lk. i. 67 ; Eev. i. 2 and 10, Sea. Zpivvvre is a N.T. hap.
legomenon: since the Holy Spirit is a "fire" (Aots ii. 3; cf. Bom.
xu. 11; Acts xviii. 25; Lk. xii. 49), the arrest of His action is de
scribed as a "quenching." As "resisting the Holy Spirit," in Acts
vii. 51 (Isai. lxiii. 10), describes a perverse unbelief, so " quenching the
Holy Spirit" describes a cold scepticism. Prophecy exhibited His
working in its vehemence and ardour.
'Et^ovBev-iu (also in the forms QovSeviu, -du), a word of the koivi),
"to make utterly nothing of," "reduce to nought," is frequent in
St Paul (see 1 Cor. i. 28, 2 Cor. x. 10, Sec). This verb denotes con
tempt objectively, as it bears on the person or thing despised ; while
Karaippoviu (1 Cor. xi. 22) describes contempt subjectively, as it is in
the mind of the despiser.
21. irdvra [Be] 8oKipd£eTE, t<5 KaXdv Karexere : [but] everything
put to proof; the good hold fast, — pres. imperative of settled rule and
practice. Mark off this verse, again, from the foregoing by a colon
or semi-colon: while "prophesyings" are not to be "despised,"
neither are they to be accepted wholesale and because of their
pretensions. The chaff must be sifted out from the wheat. Prophecy
is brought under a universal Christian rule laid down in ravra
' Soxipdfere, which vindicates "private judgement" in religion, vv. 19,
20 having warned us beforehand against its sceptical or prejudiced
use. For the purpose of discriminating true and false inspiration,
the faculty of Sidxpiais rvevpdruv (1 Cor. xn. 10) had been given by
"the one and self-same Spirit," side by side with rpotpiyrela. In
1 Cor. xii. 3 St Paul supplies a criterion for exercising this Siaxpiais
or Soxipaaia; 1 Cor. xiv. 29 exhibits this very faculty in exercise, —
rpotprfrai Sio ij rpeis XaXeiruaav, xal oi dXXoi Siaxpiviruaav. Similarly
St John bids his readers pij ravrl rveipari mareieiv dXXd SoxipA^eiv
rd irveip-ara in his First Epistle, iv. 1, furnishing his test of "the
spirits" in the context. Claims to inspiration, supernatural pheno-
'i'hess. I

130 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 21—
mena, are therefore chiefly, though not exclusively, aimed at in rdvra
SoKipdfere. For the meaning of SoKipdfav, Bee note on ii. 4. For the
reading irdera Si — on the whole the more likely — see Textual Note.
CyrU of Alexandria quotes this passage several times, combining
with it the famous apophthegm, ylveaBe Sbxipoi rpairefirai, "Be ye
approved money-changers" (testers of current coin), credited by other
Fathers to our Lord, which is now generally ascribed to Him as a
traditional dypaipov. Possibly, this saying of Jesus was in the writers'
mind ; if so, the aUusion helps to elucidate the next clause (see note
following). See Lightfoot's note ad loc.
Td KaXbv signifies what is good or fine in quality, and is so con
trasted with rd xaKbv, the base, in Bom. vii. 21 ; Heb. v. 14 (see also
2 Cor. xiii. 7; Gal. vi. 9), while d7aflds (see note on v. 15) is opposed
to rovnpbs, and to 0auXos besides. For xarixu in its other (adverse)
sense, see II. ii. 6; in this sense, 1 Cor. xi. 2, xv. 2.
Verse 22 completes negatively the exhortation of v. 21 : testing
results in holding fast or abstaining from (xarixeiv or drixeaBai drb)
the good or evil offered for choice. From the antithesis thus pre
sented, in view of the application of Soxipdfeiv to the testing of coin
(see note to ii. 4, and foregoing note on v. 21), it has been argued that
diro iravTds elSovs irovrjpoii signifies " from aU bad coinage," as though
eidos were synonymous with vbpiapa (oi. specie, from Latin species), —
prevalent doctrines or moral practices being thus represented, it is
supposed, under the figure of currency. But lexical evidenoe is
wanting for such a use of eidos. This word denotes (a) visible form,
appearance (as in Lk. iii. 22, ix. 29, (fee.) ; or (6) sight, appearance in
the abstract, as contrasted with faith (2 Cor. v. 7) ; or (c) show,
appearance, in contrast with reality (like etdwXoc, i. 9, e.g.) — the
rendering of the A.V., which, beside its lack of paraUels, gives a
sense intrinsically weak, as it would recommend the studying of
appearances (see, against this, Matt, xxiii. 5); (d) kind, sort, the
most obvious rendering — a sense perfectly familiar in the xoivij though
hap. leg. in Biblical Greek, and derived originally from philosophical
usage. Our choice lies between (a) and (d). The former appears
to be intended in the ab omni specie mala of the Vulgate, as though
the Apostles meant : " Keep away from every evil sight," or " show,"
from all that is evil in the aspect of things about you, from the
fleeting shows of the world. A better turn is given to the species
mala by understanding it to mean that which appears evil in the eyes
of others and would cause needless offence (cf. 1 Cor. viii. 13, x. 32 f.).
The common rendering (as in B.V.), on which we must fall back,

5 23] NOTES. 131
faiUng (a)— from every kind of evil — is open to the objection that
rovnpov, thus rendered as a neuter (abstract) substantive, requires
the article (like to xaXbv ; ei. Eom. xii. 9). But this is not an in
variable rule ; " in Plato the anarthrous neuter singular for abstract
ideas frequently occurs " (Kiihner's Grammatik3, 11. § 462 I) : see e.g.
eldos dyaBov in Plato Bepub. 357 c. Thus rovijpbv stands for " evil "
collectively, evil qua evil : cf. irpds Sidxpiaiv xaXov re xal kokou in Heb.
v. 14 ; also, for the use of eiSos, Josephus Ant. vn. 4. 2, x. 3. 1, eidos
piXovs, rovnplas.
Td KoXdc is opposed by rovijpbv, as Kaxbv in v. 15 by Td dyaBbv.
The phrasing was perhaps suggested by Job i. 1 , 8, ii. 10, — drexbpevos
dird iracrds rovijpov (kokou) rpdyparos ; widening the prohibition to
include the manifold rovijpd enticing their readers, the Apostles insert
efdous into then sentence. For drixopai drb, see note on iv. 3, — a
passage perhaps intentionally recalled in this dehortation ; certainly
ropveia was one eldos rovijpov to be shunned at Thessalonica. The
notion of rovijpbs is that of " irredeemable badness, " " intrinsic absolute
badness " (see F. H. Chase : Essay on The Lord's Prayer in the Early
Church, pp. 89 ff.) ; while Kaxbs (v. 15) signifies base, malicious,
cowardly (bad in quality and disposition).
23. Avtos Se d Beds rijs eiprjvns — . But may the God of peace Him
self... : cf. iii. 11 (see note), and II. ii. 16, where a like contrast seems
to be impUed, under Adrds_ Si, between human wish or effort and
Divine power. Ph. ii. 12 f. ("Work out your own salvation, for God
it is that worketh in you ") illustrates the connexion between vv. 22
and 23: "Keep yourselves from... evil. But may God... sanctify you."
'0 0eds rf)s elpijvijs, a favourite designation with St Paul in pious
wishes (see H. iii. 16 ; Bom. xvi. 20, Sec), found also in Heb. xiii. 20.
For elpijvv, see note on i. 1 : God's distinguishing gift in the Gospel,
that by which he signalizes His grace in the hearts of men ; as the
Christian God is d 0eds rijs etfn)vijs, so the Christian peace is ij
elpijvn tou Beov (Ph. iv. 7). The epithet recalls v. 13, elpnveiere iv
iavrois ; the directions of the previous context, from v. 12 onwards,
are rd tt)s elpnjvijs' k. ra rijs olxoSoprjs (Bom. xiv. 19); when the Church
is at peace, the work of sanctification goes on. As from this gift of
Peace, so God is specifically named from other of His xapiapara in
Eom. xv. 5, 13, 2 Cor. xiii. 11, 1 Pet. v. 10 ; in each place suitably
to the wish expressed. The prayer for Sanctification in iii. 11 — 13
above had love for its basis ; this prayer rests on the tnought of
peace. dyido-ai vpas dXoreXets, sanctify you to full completeness, — per
12

132 1 THESSalOjsiaais. [0 23
omnia (Vulg.), <7<ui3 und gar (de Wette), macft eurer ganzen Person
(Schmiedel). 'OXoreXris, hap. leg. in N.T., is a coinage of late Greek,
found occasionally in Plutarch, and in Aquila's rendering of Deut.
xiii. 17 (for 7v3). It does not appear to be quaUtative, as though
denoting the completeness of sanctification by way of degree, but
quantitative as signifying its range and unlimited comprehension ;
dXoreXeis is expounded by bXbKXijpov...To rvevpa xal r) ipvxh k.t.X. in
the sequel; thus (Eeumenius, dXoreXeis* tout' eVn aiipari x. ipvxv-
'OXoTeXris and bXbxXrjpos are closely synonymous, both insisting on the
wholeness of the process : the former is collective, the latter dis
tributive — the one implying a totality from which no part is excluded,
the other an integrity in which each part has its due place and
proportion (vollsttiiidig and vollkommen respectively, Hofmann) ; for
bXbxXijpos, see Trench's Syn. § 22, and cf. Jam. i. 4, Acts iii. 16.
In the LXX and in PhUo, bXbKXnpos /rendering the Hebrew DJB')
is regularly used of the sacrificial victims, which were required to be
sound and perfect in every part, bXbKXnpos k. riXeios or ravreXijs. The
doubling of dXo- sustains the rhetorical effect of the seven times
repeated ira?- of vv. 14 — 22.
For dy id fu, cf. notes on a-yiuaivn, iii. 13, and dyiaapbs, iv. 3. The
readers are already, by their calling and relations to God as believers
in Christ, 07101, ijyiaapivoi; what the Apostles ask in this closing
prayer, up to which all the exhortations and warnings of the Epistle,
and especially those of the last eleven verses, lead, is a sanctity
impressed on the readers by God Himself, of such thoroughness
moreover that it shall embrace and gather up into the integrity of
S, complete manhood every element and function of their nature, in
which, that is to say, the soul and body shall participate no less
than the spirit.
So the parallel clause, carrying forward the sanctification into
preservation (note the reverse order in the prayer of Jo. xvii. 11 — 19),
runs Kal dXdKXr|pov dpuv to rrvevpa Kal rj »pvx',i Ka^ ™ o-upa...TT|pT|-
6eCr|, and in full integrity may your spirit and your soul and your
body. ..be preserved! 'tpuv, standing in the Greek at the head of
the triple subjeet_and;belonging to each member of it, we represent
by the repeated (jjony in order to bring out the distinctness, marked
by the tripled article, with which the three several subjects are stated.
The verb at the end is singular, in consonance with bXbKXvpov at the
beginning; there is one "keeping," embracing the totality of the man,
but a keeping in which each of the three constituents has its place
and share.

5 23] NOTES. 133
Over this passage the Triohotomists and Dicbotomists wage war,
who maintain respectively that Scripture distributes man's nature
into three or two elements — spirit, soul, and body, or spirit and fiesh
(body). For the former theory, see Heard's Tripartite Nature of
Man; Ellicott's The Destiny of the Creature, Sic, and the note in his
Commentary on this passage ; or Delitzsoh's Biblical Psychology :
for the latter, Laidlaw's Bible Doctrine of Man, or Beok's Biblical
Psychology ; also the art. Psychology in Hastings' Diet, of the Bible,
and Cremer's Biblico-Theological Lexicon s. w. The nature of this
passage forbids our finding a logical analysis in the three terms;
they serve to make the wish exhaustive in its completeness.
The Apostles begin with the inmost — rd rvevpa, nearest to God
who " is spirit " (Jo. iv. 24) ; for with man's spirit the Holy Spirit
directly associates Himself (Bom. vin. 16, Sec), and it is the primary
object of Divine salvation (cf. II. ii. 13; also 1 Cor. v. 5, xv. 45).
They end with " the body," the vessel and envelope of the spirit (see
2 Cor. iv. 7, v. 1, See. ; if not iv. 4 above), the man's outer part, through
which he belongs to the Kbapos and communicates with it. " The
soul," poised between these two, is the individual self, the living
personality in which flesh and spirit, common to each man with his
fellows, meet and are actualized in him. When St Paul in 2 Cor.
vii. 1 bids his readers "cleanse" themselves "from all defilement of
fiesh and spirit," that phrase covers the same ground as this, but
contrasts the man's inner and outer relations ; while the expression of
1 Pet. i. 22, " having purified your souls," fastens upon the individual
man and bis personality in its distinctive impulses and habits ; here
the entire man is surveyed, with his whole nature in its manifold
aspects and functions, as the subject of sanctifying grace. The
rvevpa is "kept," when no evU reaches the inner depths of our
nature or disturbs our relations to God and eternity; the ^uxi?,
when the world of self is guarded and every personal motive and
activity is holy; and the aupa, when our outward life and partici
pation in the material world are sacred. The connexion between
sanctity and safety Ues in the fact that what is sanctified is given
over to God, to be " kept " by Him for His own uses. The thought
that Christ's disciples, ol iv Xpiarip as St Paul would say, belong to
God the Father and are therefore cast upon His almighty protection,
is at the basis of our Lord's parting prayer in Jo. xvii. (see also
Jo. vi. 37 — 45, x. 26 — 30) ; it comes out in the iriords d KaXuv of the
next verse: cf. i. 4; II. U. 13; Eph. i. 18 b; 2 Tim. i. 12, also
Ps. exxi. ; Isai. xxvH. 3; "He wiU keep the feet of His saints,"
1 Sam. ii. 9.

i34 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 23—
Between subject (rd rvevpa k.t.X.) and verb (TijpijBeiij) comes in the
adverbial adjunct, dpe'pirrus ev ttj irapouo-Cg. tov KvpCou r)paiv 'Irjo-oii
Xpio-Tov : (may your spirit, Sea. , be preserved) without blame in the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Ev rrj rapovala qualifies dpifirrus:
the blamelessness (" in holiness," iii. 13 ; see 07100-01 ipds above) is to
be manifest "in," certified at, "the iropoucrio" (cf. iii. 13, also H. 19
and parallels) ; " the day will disclose it," 1 Cor. Hi. 13. For rapovala,
see notes on ii. 19, Sec. ; and for tou Kup. T. X., i. 1, 3, &c. The gram
matical attachment of dpiprrus is not so obvious. The Apostles do
not write dpeprrov, which would give the "preserved blameless" of
the A. V., as though they were defining the state in which the readers
should be kept "unto the coming" (a gross misrendering of iv), but
dpiprrus, ' ' blamelessly," using the adverb of manner. Now this
qualification can hardly apply to rijfrnBelij by itself (for the writers
could not think of blame as attaching, conceivably, to God's keeping
of His saints) ; it defines the foregoing bXbxXnpov, which is gram
matically dependent on TijpijBeiij as its secondary predicate, but
logically dominates the sentence. The interjected adverbial ad
junct indicates the manner in which the desired integrity of sanc
tification, for whose maintenance prayer is made, is to be realized
at last. We may render the whole sentence thus : "In full integrity
may your spirit and your soul and your body be preserved, — found
blamelessly so at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." From iv.
13 — 18 it might be inferred, as 1 Cor. xv. abundantly shows, that
in St Paul's teaching the body, along with the spirit, of the saints
participates in the glory of the Parousia ; see Ph. iii. 20 f.
24. Trio-Tos d koXuv vpds, ds Kal iroiijo-ei. Faithful is He that
calls you, wlio also will do (it). The Thessalonians are conscious
that God is calling them to a life of consecration to HimseU, to be
crowned by heavenly glory (see ii. 12, iv. 3, v. 18, and notes) ; He
speaks in the Gospel as d xaXuv : the " oaU " proves the possibUity
of the complete sanctification prayed for, since it pledges God's aU-
sufficing aid to this effect. See 1 Cor. i. 9 ; Ph. i. 6 ; Bom. xi. 29 ;
2 Tim. H. 13 ; Ps. lvii. 2, cxxxviu. 8, for similar assumptions and
tacit arguments. Elsewhere the Apostle points to the atppayls, or
the dppapuv, or the drapxi), "of the Spirit" as warranting the same
certainty: see 2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. i. 13 f., iv. 30; Bom. viH. 14—17, 23.
Under the formula maris b Bebs (or xipios) St Paul appeals to God's
fidelity, in various ways : see II. iii. 3 ; 1 Cor. i. 9, x. 13 ; 2 Cor. i. 18 ;
2 Tim. ii. 13 ; cf. Deut. vu. 9, Isai. xUx. 7, cfec. For the timeless
present, d koXwp, see note on ii. 12 : it implies God's abiding character.

5 26] NOTES. 135
Xloiijaei is elUptioal and without expressed object : the verbs are
apposed in their bare idea — " Your Caller will do " ; God will put His
summons into execution, He will not let it remain futile not leave its
fulfilment to man's weakness. " Hath He said, and shall He not
dot" Num. xxiii. 19; of. Ps. xxii. 31; Isai. xliv. 23, lv. 11; Lk.
i. 37, See. § 12. v. 25—28. The Conclusion.
The conclusion of the Epistle is very brief. It makes no reference
to the autograph signature, which the Apostle Paul in II. iii. 17, and
in subsequent letters, is careful to notify. The request "that the
Epistle be read to all the brethren" (v. 27), is its notable feature.
25. *A8eX<poC, irpoo-ei)ieo-Be [Kal] irepl ijpuv. Brothers, pray [also]
for us. The koi of the B.V. margin (see Textual Note) is appropriate ;
since the Apostles have just prayed for their readers (v. 23), their
prayers for the writers are due in turn ; for similar reciprocity in
dicated by Koi, see iii. 6 b above, and Col. i. 8. The absence of Kai in
the parallel H. iii. 1 and Heb. xiii. 18 (where it is not required) might
occasion its omission by copyists here. For the general wish, beside
II. iii. 1 f. where it is expanded, cf. Eph. vi. 19 ; Col. iv. 3 f. ;
Ph. i. 19 ; Eom. xv. 30 — " that you strive together with me in your
prayers to God for me." St Paul, in aU the strength of his gifts
and office, felt his dependence on the prayers of the Church, and
realized through this means his feUowship with distant brethren in
Christ. 2S. 'Ao-irdcrao-Be rods aSeXipovs irdvTas ev duXrjpaTi dyCu. Salute
the brothers all in u, holy kiss. In 1 Pet. v. 14 the kiss is defined, by
its quality, tpiXijpa dydrrjs : love and holiness were identified in the
prayer of iii. 12 f. above (see notes) ; the injunction of the iplXijpa is
followed by words upon love, and of love, in 1 Cor. xvi. 20 — 24;
cf. also 2 Cor. xiii. 11 — 13. Such love was implied in the feUowship
of prayer expressed in the verses just preceding. The "kiss" is 07101'
as the token of love amongst the 07101 (iii. 13, iv. 7 f.) ; it is called in
the Apost. Constitt., ii. 57, rd iv Kvplu ipiXnu.a, and by Tertullian, for
the Latin Church, osculum pads, by St Augustine osculum sanctum.
The Apostles wish the tpiXijpa to be given in conveying their "greeting,"
and by way of signifying their love to "aU" the Thessalonian
believers ; its communication in this form pre-supposes, and simul
taneously expresses, the mutual love reigning in the Church (i. 3;
II. i. 3). The direction is presumably given, as Lightfoot and Borne
mann point out, to the primary receivers of the Letter — probably the

136 1 THESSALONIANS. [5 26—
rpoiardpevoi, scil. Elders, spoken of in v. 12 above and addressed in
vv. 14 f. (see notes) ; these are to give the kiss in the name of the
writers to the Church at large. Such a salutation they were probably
accustomed to bestow at Church gatherings ; on the occasion of
reading this Letter, it is to be given and received as from Paul and
his companions.
The kiss, as the natural sign of affection amongst kindred and
near friends in meeting or parting, was common in the primitive
Christian assemblies, with their strong sense of fraternity. It is still
a usage of the Greek and Oriental Churches at Holy Communion ;
but the ceremony died out in the West during the Middle Ages, being
less suitable to the colder manners of the Germanic races. The
custom fell into suspicion as the simplicity of Christian feeUng
declined ; it was the subject of numerous regulations in early Councils.
See the article Kiss in the Diet, of Christian Antiquities, and tplXnpa
in Suicer's Thesaurus.
27. 'EvopKCjJu vpds tov Kvpiov dvayvuo-Brjvai ttjv eirio-ToXTJv,
k.t.X. I adjure you by the Lord that the letter be read to all the
brothers. Observe the 1st person singular, previously occurring only
in ii. 18 and iii. 5, which gives to the wish, on St Paul's part, an
emphatic personal note ; cf. the concluding note on v. 28. This
appeal unmistakably implies, as probably does the direction of v. 26
(see note above), certain responsible persons to whose address the
Epistle was sent and who had it in charge for the Church. That the
request should take the form of a solemn adjuration, is surprising.
The tenor of the Epistle (see Introd. pp. xxxiii., lxii.) indicates no
contention or jealousy that might occasion the withholding of the
Letter from one party by another. It must be remembered (1) that
this is the earliest ApostoUc Letter extant, and that the custom of
reading such Epistles had yet to be established. The appeal gives
expression to the authority of the communication, and the importance
attaching to it in the writers' minds (of. iv. 1, 15). (2) The desire felt
for St Paul's presence, and the disappointment of the Church at his
failure to return (iii. 6), to which he addresses himself in chaps, ii.
and Hi., might lead some to say, "0, it is only a letter from him!
we do not want that 1 " (3) Further, amongst the bereaved members
of the Church whom the writers are wishful to console (iv. 13 ff.),
some in consequence of their recent and deep sorrow might be absent
when the Epistle was read ; the Apostles wUl make sure that these
shall not lose its benefit. Lightfoot suggests (4) that St Paul had
" a sort of presentiment or suspicion that a wrong use might be made

5 28] NOTES. 137
"of his name and authority " in some quarters in regard to the
matters agitated touching the Parousia — as appears, from the subse
quent aUusion of II. ii. 2, to have proved the case ; and that be
therefore takes care that no one shall misunderstand his meaning
from merely hearing it at second-hand and by report. Or, finally,
(5) the draxroi (v. 14) might escape hearing the Letter, unless they
were sought out and had it brought to their knowledge. A somewhat
similar injunction is found in Col. iv. 16.
evopKiJw — " probably stronger than bpxlfa, I bind you by an oath "
(Lightfoot) — appears to be found otherwise only on one or two
Inscriptions, and probably (by emendation) in Josephus Antiq. viii.
15. 4 ; bpxlfa in Mk v. 7 ; Acts xix. 13. Like verbs of its class, it
takes two accusatives. 'Opxbu is the correct Attic form. Tt/p iriaroX-tjv
refers to the Letter now complete. The benediction paxdpios b dvayi-
vuaxuv x. ol dxaiovres, of Eev. i. 3, says much the same thing as this
verse in another way. Bengel remarks, in regard to the reading of
Scripture on the part of the laity : " Quod Paulus cum adjuratione
jubet, id Boma sub anathemate probibet."
28. 'H xdpis tov Kvpiov rjpuv 'Iijo-oO Xpio-Tov peB' vpuv. The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (be) with you. St Paul's customary
form of final benediction, which he expands later into the full
Trinitarian blessing of 2 Cor. xiii. 13, or shortens into the brief t)
xdpis peB' vpuv of Col. iv. 18 ; cf. 1 and 2 Tim. and Titus besides.
It contains all good that Christians can wish each other ; see notes
on xdp«7 i- 1> aQd II. i. 12. "Grace" is "with" us, when it con
stantly attends us, when it forms the atmosphere we breathe, the
guiding and sustaining influence of life.
From H. Hi. 17 f. we learn that the Apostle Paul, using an
amanuensis, was accustomed to write the benediction with his own
hand as a characteristic token — perhaps in this case the whole post
script (vv. 26-28 : the sing. ivopdfu — see note above — speaks for this
inclusion) ; cf. Gal. vi. 11-18. This formula " was adopted after
him by those especially who were his companions or disciples, as
by the inspired writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 25), and
by Clement in his Epistle to the Bomans. Compare likewise the
conclusion of the Epistle of Barnabas, d Kipios rijs Sb^ns xal riaijs
Xapiros perd rov rveiparos bpuv. Afterwards it became the common
salutation or benediction of the Church in her Uturgies " (Lightfoot).

2 THESSALONIANS.
CHAPTER I.
On the Title, see note to Epistle I.
1. SiXovavos is spelt XiXpavos in DGer 67**; cf. note on I. i. 1.
The Latin v is ambiguous in its Greek transliteration.
2. This whole verse is omitted by 177 and Damasus, probably
through homceoteleuton with v. 1.
KAGKL (fee, vg cop syrr, Or (expressly), add ijpuv to iraTpos;
BDP 17, Thphyl Pelag, dispense with the pronoun. The latter group
outweigh the former ; the addition is suggested by v. 1 and by Pauline
usage in such formula;: 2 Tim. i. 2, Tit. i. 4, Eph. vi. 23 afford
exceptions parallel to the shorter reading here.
3. Minuscule 17 and vg (in good copies), with Aug, omit ravruv,
while S* omits third vpuv : in either case probably through homcBO-
teleuton, the duplicate final -uv misleading the copyist's eye.
4. avTOvs ijpas (in this order), NBP 17 73 syrhcl; rjpas avrovs, in
ADGKL Ac— a Western emendation, followed by the Syrians.
evKavxao-8ai, in NABP 17 Chr Euthal (P 17 adopt the classical
spelling e7-). xavxaaBai is read by DEL, cfec. (6, xavxnaaaBai), discard
ing the exceptional compound, or omitting the initial ev- through
confusion with the final -iv of the foregoing vpiv.
evexeo-8e is found in B alone — henoe rejected by all the editors ex
cept WH (margin) : a not improbable reading, since it yields a
forcible and fitting sense, and constitutes a solitary usage in this
connexion ; whereas the smooth and obvious avexeaBe is common in
St Paul, and is exchangeable with eve%ea8e by an easy itacism. See
Expository Note.
7. iv tpXoyi irupos is the reading of BDG 47 71, vg cop syrP",b' hcl ut,
Tert ; it appears to be a conformation to Isai. lxvi. 15, Ex. Hi. 2
(Hebrew) : so Acts vii. 30, with a varia lectio ; Heb. i. 7 ; Bev. i. 14, ifec.
Weiss, on the other hand, supposes ev irvpi <pXoyos (given by NAKLF

1 2] NOTES. 139
See. , and adopted by other critics) to be due to assimilation of ev ipXoyi
rvpos to the LXX text of Ex. Hi. 2.
8. didous, for 8i8ovros, D*G latt.: a. false concord; of. Bev. passim,
and Papyri.
Xpiarov added to Irjo-ov by NAG &o. ; see note on I. ii. 19.
10. tois mo-revo-ao-iv in all uncials. The Eeoeived marevovaiv rests
on the testimony of a handful of minuscules.
For eirio-Tev8T|, two minn. — 31 and 112, of no special value— furnish,
whether through accident or design, the reading emaruBn desiderated
by Hort. The rendering of Ambrst, fidem habuit, may have been
based on eriaruBij. See Expository Note.
12. AGP 17 Sec, add Xpiarov to the first Itjo-ov. Cf. v. 8 above.

§ 1. i. 1—4. Salutation and Thanksgiving.
1. This Address differs from that of Epistle I. (see notes in
extenso) only in the addition of ijpuv to iraTpi : " in God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ " — Father of us, whom He loves and calls
into His own family : cf. ii. 16 ; I. i. 4 ; Eom. i. 7, viii. 15, 29 ;
Gal. iv. 4 — 7 ; Eph. i. 5 ; Lk. xii. 32, Sea. This appropriative ijpuv
is usual in later epistolary forniulsB ; cf. vv. 11 and 12, and notes.
2. The greeting is more considerably enlarged. The reference of
Xapis vpiv Kal elpf)vr| (see notes to I. i. 1) to their double source —
diro Beov irarpos Kal KvpCov 'Itjo-ov Xpio-Tov— unauthentic in the T.E.
of Epistle I., is amply attested here, and prevails in subsequent
Epistles. " God the Father " is the ultimate spring, " the Lord
Jesus Christ" the mediating channel of "grace and peace"; cf.
1 Cor. i. 30, i% airov (i.e. rod Beov) ipeis iare iv Xpiortp 'lijaov.
Vv. 3 f. The Thanksgiving, resembling that of Epistle I., has at
the same time a stamp of its own. The Apostles dwell (a) on the extra
ordinary growth of the Thessalonian Church in faith and love, v. 3 ;
(6) on their own boasting over their stedfastness in other Churches ;
(c) on the token given by this fidelity of God's righteous judgement as
between the persecuted Church and its oppressors, which will take
effect, with glorious results for the former, at the approaching
rapovala, vv. 5 — 12. On this third, ulterior motive for thankfulness
the writers dUate in such a way that it detaches itself from the evxa-
piaria and becomes an integral and prominent topic of the Epistle.
We therefore treat it separately in the foUowing section.

i4o 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 3—
3. Evxapurreiv oipeCXopev ris) 8eu irdvTore irepl vpuv, dSeXipoC,
KaBus dfidv eomv. We ought to give thanks to God always for you,
brothers, as it is befitting. For eixapiareiv, see note on parallel in
Ep. I. 'OipelXopev is repeated in this connexion in H. 13 — nowhere
else in St Paul. As I. iii. 6—9, ii. 18 f., show, the writers felt them
selves under a peculiar debt of gratitude on their readers' account —
hence this turn of expression. For bipelXu in matters of affection, seel
Eom. xiii. 8, xv. 1, 27 ; Jo. xiii. 14 ; and of debt to God, Matt. vi. 12,
xxHi. 16, 18. KaSus di-ibv iariv, " ut par est " (Erasmus, Beza), adds
the human side of this claim ; "it is also merited by your conduct "
(Lightfoot) : cf., for the use of the adjective, Lk. xxiii. 41, 4|ia uv
irpd£apev, " the due reward of our deeds " ; and Ph. i. 7, Ka0iis iariv
Sixaiov x.t.X., for the Pauline sentiment. "A£ios recurs twice in the
sequel, referring to the Thessalonians, in KOTafidw and d£idw, vv. 5, 11.
There is nothing pleonastic, and nothing constrained or formal, here ;
St Paul was under abiding and warmly felt bonds of gratitude for the
timely comfort administered by this Church, which had given "life"
to his ministry at Corinth ; see note on I. iii. 8. Bengel's question
is apposite: "Tuine Christianismi specimina digna sunt, quorum
nomine gratias Deo agant, qui te norunt ? "
8ti virepav£dvei ij ttCo-tis vpuv. The ground and subject-matter of
thanksgiving : in that your faith grows mightily (or more and more) —
vehementer augescit (Calvin, Beza). Earlier, St Paul had been anxious
" about the faith " of his Thessalonian converts (I. ii. 2, 5) ; he had
written the former Letter partly to remedy their iareprjpaTa rijs rlareus
(iii. 10). Since that time it has grown in a degree beyond his hopes ;
this is his first ground of thankfulness. Timothy's report had been
reassuring on this vital point (iii. 6) ; subsequent tidings had arrived to
the same effect (see Introd. p. xxxvii.). The compound brep-avl-dvu is
^hap. leg. ; St Paul is fond of the prefix direp- (cf. ii. 4 ; I. iii. 10, v. 13).
Kal irXeovdtjei r) dydirij evds eKao-rov itovtuv vpuv els dXXrjXous,
and the love of each single one of you all to one another multiplies.
This the First Epistle marked as the shining excellence of the Thes
salonian Church (iv. 9 f.) ; for its increase the Apostles had prayed
(iii. 12) : this prayer is fulfilled, and thanksgiving is therefore due.
UXeovdfu, an active verb in I. iii. 12 (see note), is neuter here. 'Exds
iKdarov (also in I. ii. 11), uniuscujusque (Vulg.), pointedly individual
izes the statement, which rdvruv vpuv extends to the entire com
munity. To the Thessalonian faith and love hope was added, com
pleting the matter of thanksgiving, in I. i. 3 ; hope is implied here by
direp tt}s iropiovTJs ipuv below.

1 4] NOTES. 141
4. uo-re ovtovs ijpds Iv vpiv evKavxdo-Bai ev rats eKKXijo-Cats tov
Beov. So that we on our own part are boasting in you in the Churches
of God, — scil. in Corinth and the neighbouring Achaian Churches
springing up round that city (see 2 Cor. i. X, ix. 2 ; Bom. xv. 26,
xvi. 5) ; and in other Churches with which the Apostles were in com
munication at the time (Paul e.g. with Antioch, Sec, Silvanus with
Jerusalem, Timothy with S. Galatia). 2 Cor. viii. 1 — 6 affords an
example at a later date of St Paul's boasting over the Macedonians
to their neighbours.
The emphatic adrods marks this " boasting " as unusual on the
writers' part — perhaps in view of their known reluctance (cf. I. ii. 6 f .)
to dweU on anything redounding to their own credit (cf. Gal. vi. 14 ;
2 Cor. xii. 1 — 6 ; yet see Bom. xv. 18 f., 1 Cor. xv. 10, showing how
St Paul would sometimes " glory" in his work), despite which they
are bound to make God's grace in this instance, and at this stage,
known throughout the Christian brotherhood. From I. i. 8 f. it
appears that up to a certain point the Apostles refrained from
speaking publicly of the success of their mission to Thessalonica,
which had advertized itself in the best possible way ; but now, out
of gratitude to God, and from the sense of what is due to their
Thessalonian brethren, they can no longer refrain : " while others
have been telUng about our work, we ourselves are now constrained
to glory in it." 'Evxavxdopai, another N.T. hap. leg. ; but this com
pound is used in the LXX. 'Ei»KauxdV0ai iv, of the general ground oi
boast (cf. Bom. ii. 17 ; Gal. vi. 13, &c.) ; direp, of its specific subject-
matter (2 Cor. xii. 5), or that in the interest of which one boasts —
see rapaKaXiaai irip, I. Hi. 2 ; ipurupev irip, ii. 1 below. But
ivKavx^aBai iv may be Hebraistic (iv = 3) ; see Ps. U. 3, cv. 47 (LXX).
On " churches of God," see I. ii. 14.
direp tijs vTropovrjs vpuv Kal irCo-T£a>s, over your endurance and
faith. For iropovij, see note to I. i. 3. Since rims follows iropav-tj
here, and under the vinculum of the single article, it might appear
to denote the moral virtue of faithfulness to the Christian cause,
rather than the religious principle ol faith out of which the Christian
Ufe springs (v. 3); so Bengel, Liinemann, and Bornemann interpret
the word. But it is arbitrary to give it, with no mark of distinction,
this double sense in two consecutive clauses ; indeed it is questionable
whether riaris anywhere in Paul— even in Gal. v. 22 or Bom. iii. 3
— means fidelity in distinction from faith. The prepositional adjunct
attached to riaris gives appropriateness and force to the repetition of
this fundamental word: the Apostles "glory," in the case of the

i42 2 THESSALONIANS [1 4—
Thessalonians, "over" their "endurance and faith (maintained) in
all" their "persecutions and afflictions" ; so that ttCo-tcus iv irdo-iv
rots Siu-ypois vpuv k.t.X. is explicative of vropovijs and forms one idea
therewith ; cf. Acts xiv. 22. The maintenance oi faith amid affliction
was the crucial trial of this Church (see I. iii. 2 — 5); and the trial
was endured unflinchingly. Well might the missionaries be proud
of such converts 1 For the anarthrous prepositional adjunct, of. iv
Beip, I. i. 1, iv Xpiorip, I. iv. 16, and notes.
Aiuypois (cf. ix-Siu^dvruv, in connexion with rd aura irddere, I. ii.
13 f. ; and the combination in Bom. viii. 35, (fee.) refers to the specific
attacks made on the Christians in Thessalonica, commencing with
the assault on the Apostles related in Acts xvii.; BXlfeaiv, compre
hensively, to the various injuries and vexations attending the perse
cution ; on the latter word, see note to I. i. 6.
f~ ais dvexeo-fle affords a unique example of relative attraction, suppos
ing dvixopai to govern the genitive, as uniformly in the N,T. (see 2 Cor.
xi. 1, &c.) ; classical rule limits such attraction to the accusative, the
case governed by this verb sometimes in older Greek — a regimen con
ceivably occurring here for once in the N.T. (so Winer-Moulton,
p. 204; and Ellicott in loc). Since, however, the reverse attraction,
from dative to genitive, occurs elsewhere, one does not see any
objection of principle to the attraction here supposed upon the usual
construction of dvixopai with genitive (so A. Buttmann, N.T. Grammar,
and others). Probably vernacular idiom was not over nice in points
like these. The grammatical anomaly may have occasioned the
variant reading of B, als eve'xeo-fle (cf. Gal. v. 1), in which you are
involved (see Textual Note). But this gives after aU a very suitable
sense ; and the dative would then be regularly governed by iv-. The
present tense shows the persecution to be going on ; it seems to have
£, been continuous from the foundation of this Church.
§ 2. i. 5—12. The Approaching Judgement.
The thought of the recompense awaiting the persecuted Thessalonian
Church and its persecutors, respectively, swells the opening thanks
giving of the Epistle, and leads up to its introductory prayer (vv. 11 f.).
The writers enlarge, however, upon this diKoia Kpiiris in a sense that
exceeds the bounds of the eixapiarla, and constitutes this section
a distinct item in the teaching of the Epistle, a new and express
assurance conveyed to the readers. The doctrine it contains is con
tinuous with that of I. v. 1 — 11, as it describes the issue of Christ's
parousia, the time and circumstances of which were there referred to ;

1 5] NOTES. 143
in so doing it supplies a starting-point for the further discussion
about the parousia arising in the next section. At v. 6, where the
Apocalyptic description begins, the composition assumes a Hebraistic
style and rises into a kind of chant, as is frequently the case with
St Paul's loftier contemplative passages ; at the same point O.T.
allusions and snatches of prophecy crowd into the page. So
marked is the liturgical rhythm of vv. 6 — 10, that Bornemann con
jectures this passage to be borrowed from some primitive Christian
psalm or hymn : cf. Eph. v. 14 ; 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; Eev. i. 5 ff., iv. 8,
11, cfec, for passages of a similar complexion.
Analysis : The brave endurance of persecution by the readers
affords a token (enhancing thankfulness on their behalf) of retribution
awaiting them, and in justice awaiting their persecutors on the
contrary part, at the advent of the Lord Jesus. In the view presented
of this judgement we observe — (1) its essential righteousness, vv. Si.;
(2) its dependence upon Christ's promised advent, vv. 7, 9 f.; (3) that
the vindication of Christ's faithful people forms the proper purpose
of the advent — to this the vengeance visiting their oppressors is
incidental, vv. 6, 8, 10 ; and (4) that the personal glory of the
Redeemer is its supreme and most desired outcome, vv. 7, 10, 12.
5. eVSeiypa rfjs SiKaCas KpCo-eus too Beov, a plain token of the
righteous judgement of God. "EvSeiypa, not exemplum, as in the Vulg. —
this renders rapdSeiypa; but indicium (Beza), or better still, argu
mentum et indicium (Estius). The sufferings of the righteous afflicted
do not " exemplify " Divine justice ; they seem to contradict it. They
do not exhibit, but "point to" a future readjustment. In what
sense ? (a) By way of moral argument, on the principle of Lk. xvi. 25 ;
thus many interpreters, with Calvin, e.g. : " Nam si Justus est mundi
judex Deus, restitui oportet quas nunc sunt oonfusa." But this
cannot be got out of the word ivSeiypa, which implies evidence to
the point in question lying in the facts stated (vv. 3 f.), not argument
upon them ; the affliction taken in itself affords no proof of retri
butive justice — rather an occasion for it. (b) The true answer is
supplied by the paraUel in Phil. i. 28 : pij wrvpbpevoi iv pijSevl...7jTis
iariv airois erdeijis diruXeios, vpuv Si aurijpias. The heroic faith of
the Thessalonians shows that God is on their side, since He mani
festly inspires it (cf. I. i. 6) ; so it gives token of His final judgement
in their case and is a kind of drapxv thereof (cf. Eom. viii. 15—23).
This prophetic sign, joyously evident to the Apostles, ought even to
impress the persecutors at Thessalonica; perhaps St Paul remembered
some misgivings due to. the like cause in Saul the persecutor ! The

i44 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 5—
joy of St Stephen before the Jewish CouncU (Aots vi. 15), the triumph
of Paul and Silas singing in the PhiUppian prison, the rapture of
later Christian martyrs and the impression often made by it, are
instances of such eVdeifis. "EvSeiypa then refers neither to the subject,
nor even to the object of the verb dvixeaBe — as though one should
render, " which you endure by way of token (in exemplum, Vulg.) of
God's righteous judgement " ; but to the main purport of v. 4, viz.
the vropovij k. riaris iv tois Siuypois of the readers. The noun may
be construed as accusative of apposition to the previous sentence (cf.
Bom. xii. 1 : so Lightfoot ; A. Buttmann, p. 153), or, better, as an
elliptical nominative, for 0 eVnx ivSeiypa, which in full expression
would be awkward after ais dvixeaBe (of. Phil. i. 28 ; Eph. iii. 13 :
so Winer-Moulton, p. 669, Schmiedel, Blass, Bornemann). The verb
ivSelxvvpai (middle) signifies to point out (something) in oneself, to
give ostensible evidenoe (see Eom. ii. 15 ; 2 Cor. viii. 24). "EvSei&s
(Phil, i. 28 ; Bom. iii. 25) is the evidencing action, ivSeiypa the evi
dence in act. There may be in the term a lingering, to the perse
cutors an ominous, suggestion of its Attic legal sense of incriminating
statement (see Lidd. and Scott, s.v. eVdei|is) ; the constancy of the
Christians was, virtually, an indictment of their injurers before the
Great Judge.
els to KaTagiuBrJvai vpas ttjs Bao-iXeCas tov Beov, so that you may
be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God. For eis rb with infin.,
see note to I. ii. 12. Here again the construction is somewhat loose.
The adjunct, expressing half purpose and half result, belongs to
Kplaeus — God's " righteous judgement " aiming at the admission to
His "kingdom" of its destined heirs (cf. Matt. xxv. 34), who are
now giving ' ' token " of " worthiness " by their faithful ' ' suffering
on " its " account." The construction of ivSeiypa above adopted
forbids our attaching this clause to dvixeaBe, as though it expressed
the aim of the sufferers (which would, moreover, render d7rdp ijs k.t.X.
superfluous). And to make the clause depend on ivSeiypa itself is to
treat it as synonymous with ttjs Sixalas xplaeus (" God's righteous
judgement... viz. that you be counted," &c), an apposition of which
els rb does not admit.
Kar-ajidu (cf. v. 11 ; the intensive compound also in Lk. xx. 35 ;
Aots v. 41) is a judicial term, hke the Pauline diKaidw, specifying a
kind of xpiais, and denotes "to reckon (not to make) worthy"; so in
Lk. vii. 7 ; 1 Tim. v. 17, See. There must be apparent a fitness of
character in those admitted to God's heavenly kingdom, if His judg
ment in their favour is to be recognized as "righteous"; see the-

1 6] NOTES. 145
opposite case in Matt. xxii. 8, and the warning of Bev. xxii. 10 — 15.
God is "calUng" the Thessalonians now to "His kingdom and
glory"; they are "walking worthily" in the courage and patience
of faith (cf. I. ii. 12) ; on such conditions, He cannot fail to " account "
them " worthy " at the last. Acting otherwise, He would repudiate
His own call (cf. I. v. 24), and would be no longer a righteous God
(cf. 1 Cor. i. 9 ; Heb. vi. 10). " The kingdom of God " includes the
"kingdom and glory" of I. ii. 12; His kingdom, already present in
its spiritual principles and hidden operation (Bom. xiv. 17 ; Lk. xvii.
20 f.), is " coming " to its fulfilment and manifestation (Matt. vi. 10 ;
Lk. xiii. 29 ; 1 Cor. xv. 24 f.).
In virep ijs Kal irdo-x«T6 — for which sake indeed you are suffering —
raaxere resumes ttjs iropovijs k.t.X. of v. 4, whUe direp r)s indicates
the motive of the Church's endurance, — a further reason for the
aforesaid Kptaeus : such suffering loyally endured out of faith in
God's kingdom, it is but just that God should approve and crown
at last (v. 6) ; cf. I. Hi. 4 ; 2 Tim. ii. 12 ; Acts xiv. 22.
6. elirep SCxaidv eoriv irapd fleu, if to be sure it is righteous with
God. Etrep is siquidem (Ambrose, &c), not si tamen (Vulg.) ; cf.
Bom. iii. 30, viii. 9, 17 ; 1 Cor. viii. 5 : the particle states rhetorically,
in the form of hypothesis, a recognized fact ; so Theodoret, odK iri
dptpijUoXtas riBeixev dXX' iri fiefSaiootus ; " veluti verum inferens de
quo nefas sit dubitare" (Erasmus). Alxaibv k.t.X. repeats the Sixatas
Kptaeus of v. 5 ; justice one certainly expects from God (Bom. iii. 5 f.,
26, ix. 14): "a token," I say, "of God's righteous judgement. ..for
righteous it is with Him to pay back the afflicters with affliction, Sec"
Ilapd deip, apud Deum, in His sight, or estimate, at His tribunal;
ai. Bom. ii. 11, 13; Lk. i. 30, Sea.
dvTairoSoivai tois BXCfJovo-iv vpas BXCijuv, to recompense to those
that afflict you affliction. For BXiflu, BXlipis, see notes to v. 4 and
I. i. 6 ; and for dvraroSiSupi, on I. iii. 9. Tois BXiflovaiv ...BXlipiv
follows the jus talionis, an axiom of justice inculcated by the Law
of Moses in Lev. xxiv. 20, and generalized by St Paul in Col. iii. 25
as the principle of God's future retributions ; our Lord pictures its
appUcation in the story of Dives and Lazarus (Lk. xvi. 25) ; see also
Matt. xxvi. 52 ; Bev. xiu. 10. QXi\pis is used once besides of the future
pains of the wicked, in Eom. ii. 9 : 8Xi\pis «. arevoxupla iri raaav
r'uxV dvBpiirov tov Karepyafopivov rb xaxbv ; it represents their anguish
as a personal infliction, that which God Himself lays upon them.
; 'AvraroSiSupi (or droSlSupi), with its derivatives, is found in a series
of O. T. sayings relating to God's vengeance on the enemies of Israel,
Thess. K

i46 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 6—
or upon His enemies within Israel (the idea pervades prophecy) : see
Is. lxvi. 4 ff., 14 ff., lxiii. 4, 7, xxxiv. 8, xxxv. 4, Iix. 18 ; Jer. xxviii.
(LXX) 6, 24, 56; Thren. iii. 63; Obad. 15; Sirach xxxii. (xxxv.) 13,
23 ff. (LXX). The first of the above passages is evidently before the
writers' mind ; the context supplies other paraUels to it, in the Kpiaeus
(xpiBi)aovrai) of the last verse, the iv rvpl ipXoybs, ixSlxrjaiv, and rots /it;
uiraKodouoii/ (oix irrjxovaav, rois dreiBovatv) of -v. 8. The whole
Isaianic passage should be read in the LXX, also Ps. lxxviii. 6, and
Jer. x. 25, xxv. 12 (els dtpaviapbv uluviov), along with Is. lxi. 2, in order
to realize how St Paul's conception and imagery of the future judge
ment are steeped in the O.T. Apocalyptic. Other parallels will appear
when we come to vv. 9 ff.; cf. Introd. pp. Ix. f.
7. Kal iptv rots BXiPopevois dveo-iv peB' ijpuv, and to you that
are being afflicted rest with us : the other and principal side of the
coming reversal. "Aceois, here opposed to BXiipis (pressura), is com
monly the antonym of iriraais (tension, strain) ; it signifies relaxa
tion, relief, as of a tightly strung bow, or of the paroxysms of fever ;
cf. 2 Cor. ii. 12, vu. 5, viii. 13. The synonymous dvdipv&s (iots
iii. 19 ; 2 Tim. i. 16) is refreshment as from a cooling wind, a breath
of fresh air ; while dvdirauffis (Matt. xi. 29, cfec.) is cessation, the
stopping of labour or pain. Job iii. 17, " There the wicked cease
from troubling; and there the weary are at rest," resembles this
text in the Hebrew, but is discrepant in the Greek : that passage
relates, as this does not, to rest in death. St Paul says "with us,"
for his life was full of harassing fatigue — a sigh on his own account 1
cf. Gal. vi. 17 ; 2 Cor. v. 2 ; 1 Cor. iv. 9 ff. In the Apostle's visions
of glory and reward his children in Christ were always present to his
mind; cf. " with you," 2 Cor. iv. 14 : also 2 Cor. i. 7, 2 Tim. iv. 8.
/ ev tij dTroKaXd>(#ei tov KvpCov Tijo-ov dir' ovpavov peT* dyylXuv
Svvapeus avTov, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven
(attended) with angels of His power. This means more than " at the
revelation " ; the retribution just spoken of is a part of the Lord's
"revelation," it belongs to the programme of the diroKdXv^is. It
suits the O.T. imagery, in which the thought of the Epistle here
moves, that the coming of the Lord is styled diroKoXu^is, not rapovala
as heretofore (I. iii. 13, See.) and afterwards in ii. 1 : see also 1 Cor.
i. 7; Lk. xvii. 30; 1 Pet. i. 7, 13, iv. 13. 'Erupdveia is its synonym
in the Pastoral Epistles (cf. ii. 8). St Paul uses diroKdXur'is (-7rrw) of
the extraordinary manifestation of Jesus Christ to himself at his con
version (Gal. i. 12, 16); this Bibhcal term implies always a super-
natural disclosure, whether inward or outward in its sphere • cf *

1 8], NOTES. 147
further, note on ii. 6. On dir' odparau, of. I. i. 10, and note. This
" unveiling from heaven " affords a complete contrast to the lowly
and obscure first coming of the Eedeemer ; see His own words in
Matt. xxvi. 64.
For the office of the " angels " at the Advent, see note on I. iv. 16.
These beings attend the judicial Theophanies of the O.T., as con
tributors to God's glory and ministers of His power: see Ps. lxviii. 17,
oui. 20 ; Deut. xxxiii. 2. It is significant that " in some cases the
very expressions used in the Hebrew prophets of God have been
adopted by St Paul in speaking of Christ " (Lightfoot).
Adrou, qualifying Svvdpeus, forbids our reading the latter in the
abstract, as a mere (Hebraistic) epithet of dyyiXuv ; so the A.V.,
"mighty angels," and Beza, " potentibus." The Sivapis of this
sentence and the laxis oi v. 9 form a part of the consolation : now
"power" belongs to the wrongdoers (cf. Lk. iv. 5 f., xxii. 53 ; Eph.
vi.l2,&o.); with this attribute, on "the day ofthe Lord," His "angels"
wiU be clothed.
ev irvpl cpXoyds has been wrongly carried over to v. 8; the clause
qualifies droxaXi^et (v. 7), and completes the foregoing description
given in terms of local movement (drb), personal accompaniment
(perd), and material surrounding (iv). Fire of flame is Christ's awful
robe : cf. Bev. i. 13 — 16 ; Is. Ixvi. 15. nOp ipXoybs (or ipXd| rvpbs) was
a recognized sign of miraculous, especially judicial, theophanies ; it
attends angelic mediations, in such a way that the " angel " and the
" flame " are more or less identified : see on the latter point, Ps. civ. i
(as read in Heb. i. 7) ; Is. vi. 2, 4 ; and, generally, Ex. iii. 2 — 6 ; Is. iv.
4 f., xxx. 27, 30, lxiv. 1 f. ; Dan. vii. 9 f. ; also reff. under v. 7 (angels).
This " fire of flame " surrounding the returning Jesus may have been
associated in St Paul's mind with the ' ' light from heaven surpassing
the brightness of the sun," which flashed on him in the " revelation
of Jesus Christ " that brought about his conversion (Acts xxvi. 13) ;
that first appearance to himself unmistakably colours his prediction
of the final irupdveia in PhU. iii. 20f. "Fire" symbolizes Divine
anger and majesty ; "flame" is fire in motion, leaping and blazing.
In 2 Pet. Hi. 7, 10, " fire " is the predicted means of destruction for
the material world at the Day of the Lord (a conflagratio mundi was
anticipated by Stoic philosophy) ; St Paul in 1 Cor. Hi. 13 ff. makes
this fire, symbolically, the means of final judgement.
8. SiSovtos eKSCKijo-iv tois prj elSdo-i Beov, rendering vengeance to
those that know not God : see the reff. under v. 7. 'Ex-Slxn-ais, derived
from iKdiKos (I. iv. 6; see note) through ixSixiu, carries no thought
K2

i48 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 8—
of vindictive passion ; it is the inflicting oi full justice on the criminal
(echoing diKalas xplaeus, dfcaioi', vv. 5 f.; and eohoed by Slxijv in v. 9)
—nothing more, nothing less : cf. for the noun, frequent in the O.T.,
Bom. xii. 19, 2 Cor. vii. 11, Lk. xviii. 3, 7 ; add to the O.T. parallels
above, Is. Ixvi. 15 (droSovvai...iKSlxijaiv airov), Ezek. xxv. 14. AtSupi
ixSixnaiv is Hebraistic (= nftft) \ty). Aiddpros transfers to the Lord
Jesus the dread prerogative reserved in the O.T. for God alone:
"Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord"
(Deut. xxxii. 35, quoted in Eom. xii. 19 and Heb. x. 30) ; as Jesus
himself declared, "The Father hath committed all judgement unto the
Son" (Jo. v. 22) ; cf. Acts xvii. 31 ; Eom. ii. 16, <&c.
The objects of the Divine anger were styled in Jer. x. 25 i8vn rd
pi) elSbra ae, and in Ps. Ixxviii. 6 'iBvij rd pi) ireyvuxbra ae ; but
ixSixnais does not occur in that O.T. connexion (only Spyi), Bvpbs) ;
and it may be doubted whether Gentiles as such are intended here.
If they are (cf. I. iv. 5, and note), the co-ordinate clause, Kal rols pr)
vTraKodouo-iv TijI edayyeXCu k.t.X., must apply, by contrast, to Jewish
rejecters of the Gospel; but the distinction seems out of place,
and would be inadequately expressed for its purpose. Moreover dis
obedience was a form of sin common to Jewish and GentUe perse
cutors ; with this St Paul taxes rejecters of Christ indiscriminately
in Bom. a. 12 — 16, and even Gentiles specifically in Bom. xi. 30 (of.
Acts xiv. 2, xix. 9) ; the fundamental Isaianic passage — see note above
on v. 7 — speaks of "the disobedient" without distinction. On the
other hand, ignorance of God can be with equal force ascribed to
Jewish misbelievers : see Jo. vui. 54 f., and passim; Tit. i. 16 ; 2 Cor.
iv. 4 — 6. In a Hebraistic strain like this, despite the distinguishing
articles, the conjoined, parallel datives may be read as synonymous,
the second enhancing upon the first. So conceived, the two form
one extended category including, with the Thessalonian oppressors,
all who in their estrangement from God (cf. Eph. iv. 18) disobey His
message conveyed in the Gospel of Christ, their disobedience being
the consequence and full expression of a wilful ignorance. If it be
insisted, however, that the double article marks off distinct categories,
these must be represented by the Gentile and Jewish elements re
spectively of the anti-Christian agitation at Thessalonica. Bom.
i. 18 — 25 shows how Gentile idolatry sprang from a self-chosen
ignorance of God, and brought on itself a "revelation of wrath" in
the frightful immorality of contemporary Paganism ; in I. ii. 14 ff., it
was indicated how Jewish resistance to the Gospel, by its spitefulness,
was bringing down a great ixSixnais on the nation: this text pursues
the penal consequences of those sins to the Last Day. Supposing rd

1 9] NOTES. 149
pij elSbra Bebv to designate Gentile idolaters, it is not meaut that
Divine " vengeance " will fall on the heathen as such and for the
mere fact of their "not knowing God" as Christians do; St Paul
speaks quite otherwise in Eom. ii. 14. It is due to men who " do
not think God worth having in their knowledge " (Bom. i. 28), and
who show their hatred toward Him by their hatred of His children
(cf. Jo. xv. 24 ; 1 Jo. iii. 13). Each will be judged according to his
personal responsibility and share in the common offence (see 2 Cor.
v. 10) ; this we may argue from diKala xplais (v. 5). The men de
nounced at Thessalonica (v. 6) definitely refused to know God. For
pij with participles, see note on I. H. 15.
" The gospel (good news)" is a " call," a summons of God as well
as a message from God (cf. I. ii. 2 and 12, See.) ; therefore faith in it
takes the form of obedience, which is faith in exercise; see Bom. i. 5,
xvi. 19, 26, vi. 16; 1 Pet. i. 2, 14, &c. Such obedience had for its
testing point the acknowledgement of Jesus as " Lord" (1 Cor. viii. 6,
xii. 3 ; Ph. ii. 10 ; Acts ix. 5 ff.). In the First Epistle the Apostles
spoke repeatedly of " the gospel of God" ; here it is " the gospel of
our Lord Jesus, " partly to balance the parallel expression referring to
" God " (see v. 1, (fee), and partly in keeping with the eschatological
context (see v. 7, and note on I. iii. 13). " Of our Lord Jesus" is
subjective, while " of God " is objective genitive in this connexion ;
see note on I. ii. 2, and Bom. i. 1 f.
9. oirtves SCkijv tCctovo-iv oXeBpov aluviov, who shall pay a just
penalty, even eternal destruction. "Ootis, generic and qualitative, im
plying a reason in stating the fact — " qui (quum ita sint) poenam
pendent." AIkij means first right, legality, in the abstract ; then a
suit for right, an action at law ; then the right determined or exacted,
penalty, See. It connotes justice in the penalty, punishment deter
mined by a lawful process; whereas KdXaais (Matt. xxv. 46; Acts iv.
21 ; 2 Pet. H. 9 ; 1 Jo. iv. 18) denotes chastisement of the wrong-doer,
remedial or otherwise ; and npupia (Heb. x. 29), satisfaction de
manded by the injury. Punishment is diKi; from the point of view of
the dispassionate judge ; KdXoois from that of the criminal ; npupia
from that of the injured party. Acts xxviii. 4 and Jud. 7 (SIkijv
rvpbs aluviov) furnish the only other N.T. examples of a word exceed
ingly common in Greek. Tivu is also a judicial term, a N.T. hap. <
legomenon ; dro-rlvu is preferred, with finesse, in Phm. 19.
St Paul uses the term SXeBpos respecting the adp£ of a gross sinner
in 1 Cor. v. 5; in 1 Tim. vi. 9, along with diri&Xeio (the commoner
word, marked by the intensive diro-), of the "destruction and perdition

i5o 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 9—
into" which riches "plunge" those resolved at all costs on having
them. Here, and in I. v. 3, SXeBpos signifies the ruin falling on the
ungodly at Christ's coming.
As altivios, affecting the man for ever, this SXeBpos exceeds any
rpboKaipos, or "temporal ruin," that might befall in this fleeting
visible world (see the antithesis in 2 Cor. iv. 18). The phrase SXeBpos
aluvios is found in 4 Mace. x. 15, where the "eternal destruction" in
flicted on a heathen tyrant is contrasted with "the happy death" of a
martyr. St Paul does not contemplate under SXeBpos the annihilation
of the reprobate; the sinner of 1 Cor. v. 1 — 5 was not to suffer
"destruction of the flesh" in such a way that his "saved spirit"
would be bodiless in its future state. Nor does aliivios suggest any
periodic limitation (age-long destruction) ; it lifts the SXeBpos out of
time-conditions; like the k6Xoois aliivios of Matt. xxv. 46, this SXeBpos
aliivios is the antithesis of fur; aiuvios.
diro rrpoo-uirov tov KVpCov Kal diro ttjs Sdfrjs ttjs io"Xvos avrov,
from tlie face of the Lord and from the glory of His strength. 'Arb is
ambiguous in its connexion with SXeBpos: (a) If the sense be deter
mined by Isai. ii. 10, (fee. (cf. Eev. vi. 15 f.), from which this double
phrase is manifestly borrowed, then dird is local and pregnant in use,
representing the ruin as consisting in " being driven from," or in
" exclusion from, the face of the Lord," Sea. (ai. ii. 2, below, and note) ;
but the verb of Isaiah (LXX), viz. KpurreaBe, "hide yourselves," con
notes motion from as SXeBpos does not. The preposition loses its
contextual force by its severance from the original context ; the idea
of separation is not obviously relevant here, (b) Others give to dird
a temporal sense, "from (the time of) the Lord's appearance" (cf.
Eom. i. 20) : this is easier grammatically, but does not suit rpbaurov
and is pointless in sense, (c) The preposition is most appropriate
in the causal, semi-local significance it bears in v. 2 and so often —
"proceeding from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His
strength" — thus recalling in a striking figure, and with impressive
repetition, the SiSbvros eKSiKijaiv of v. 8; cf. Acts iii. 20, Kaipol dva-
\pi£eus drb rpoaurov rov Kvpiov. The aptness of rf}s iaxios airov is
evident on this construction. " The strength " of the Judge, glorious
in itself, by supplying executive force to His decisions doubles the
terror that His "face" wears for the condemned; cf. Jo. xix. 37,
Eev. vi. 16. To the enemies of Christ, by whom He was " crucified
in weakness, " His return as Judge in glorious strength must be in
expressibly dreadful (cf. Matt. xxvi. 64). 'Taxis is strength resident
in a person; Sivapis, power relevant to its use. For the (hostile)

1 10] NOTES. 151
"face of the Lord," of. Ps. xxxiv. 16, Ixxvi. 7: "Who may stand
in Thy sight, when once Thou art angry?" Estius remarks: "Si
enim daemones praesentiam Christi versantis in terris non sustine-
bant, quanto minus praesentiam ejus cum tanta majestate venientis
ad judicium impii sustinere poterunt ! "
The "affliction" of the persecutors and the "relief" of the per
secuted, contrasted in themselves (vv. 6f.), are identified in their
occasion ; for justice will overtake the former —
10. otov ISXBrj evSo£ao-6rjvai Iv tois dyCois avrov Kal 8avpao-Br)vai
iv irdoriv Tots irio-Tevo-ao-iv, when He comes to be glorified in His
saints and wondered at in all those who believed. EvSo£ao8ijvai, bare
infin. of purpose, common after verbs of coming and the like (Winer-
Moulton, pp. 399 f.). 'Exdoifdfu, to make eV-do£os, a compound only
found besides in LXX. Is. xlix. 3, or Ezek. xxviii. 22, is running in
the writer's mind; perhaps along with Isai. iv. 2f., which combines
do£dfuj (relating to God) and 07101 in one context; cf. also Ps. lxxxviii.
8 (a Messianic Psalm, of which other traces might be noted in the
context), d 0eds ivSo^a^bpevos iv /3ouXij 071011'. 'Ev rois dytois...8avpa-
aBijvai, with its context, reflects the magnificent close of Ps. lxvu. (LXX),
vv. 35 f. : ddre 8b£av Tip 0e<p ¦ iri tov 'lapaijX ij peyaXorpireia airov, Kal
t/ Sivapis airov iv rais veipiXais' Bavpaarbs b Bebs iv rois dcriois adrou.
To this ddfa of the Lord Jesus (see Jo. xvii. 10) v. 12 reverts (cf. note
also on H. 14). For ev tois 07/015 outou, see note on I. iii. 13.
With the latter phrase iv raaiv rois mareiaaaiv is synonymous ;
they run in Hebraistic parallels, like the double dird clauses of v. 9,
and like the double dative and articular clauses of v. 8 (cf. note on
rois pi) elSbaiv k.t.X.). "In all that believed," not "beUeve" (as in
I. ii. 10, &c), for we anticipate in imagination "that day"; the be
holder, as he views the glory won by the Lord Jesus in His saints,
traces it back to the faith which was its source ; he wonders at the
mighty growth from so smaU a seed, and gives the praise to Christ
(of. Matt. xiii. 31 f. ; Jo. v. 24, vii. 38, Sea.). If the "glory of His
strength " is terrible to the persecutors (v. 9) ; in His saints " the glory
of His grace " is seen (v. 12 : of. Eph. i. 3 — 14 ; also Eom. viii. 28 — 30,
marking the steps of its progress). Their character as " saints "
redounds to the Eedeemer's honour : see I. iii. 13, v. 23 f. ; and of. Bom.
viii. 29; Col. i. 22, 28f.; Eph. v. 27 (Iva rapaaTi)arj...evSol-ov rrjv eV
KXnalav); Eev. i. 5f., vii. 14; Heb. ii. 10; 2 Cor. viii. 23; Tit. ii. 10,
See. The Bavpdfovres St Paul would find in the dpxal k. i(ovaiai iv
rois irovpavlois, who are represented in Eph. Hi. 10 as learning " now
through the Church" lessons of "the manifold wisdom of God,"—
lessons which wiU "on that day" be finished; cf. also 1 Pet. i. 12.

IS2 2 THESSALONIANS. [I 10—
The last clause of the verse, ev ttj r)plpa eKeCvjj, belongs to ivSofa-
aBipiai Kal BavpaaBijvai : for the phrase itself, identically recurring in
2 Tim. i. 18, iv. 8, see note on I. v. 4; and for its emphatic detach
ment, cf. Eom. ii. 16. The intervening sentence, on eTrio-TedBij k.t.X.,
is difficult. Some critics would strike it out as a marginal gloss;
but there is nothing to allege against it on textual grounds. It can
only be read as a parenthesis, — an interjeotional outburst of the
author occurring as he dictates to his secretary, or possibly a note in
serted on re-reading the Letter by way of comment on rois mareiaaaiv,
and thrown in without strict regard to grammatical connexion. The
conspicuous success of the Gospel at Thessalonica had, for various
reasons (see Introd. pp. xxxiii., lxii.), given extreme satisfaction to
St Paul; as he imagines the glory accruing to his Lord "in that
day " from the multitude of sanctified believers, the joyous thought
rises in his breast, that "our testimony addressed to you" (Thessa
lonian heathen) contributed to bring about this result ! The paren
thesis is an echo of I. ii. 13, iii. 13, ii. 19 f., — rls ijpuv... ariipavos
Kavxfjaeus . . .ij oixl Kai ipeis; Very similarly in Ph. ii. 16 St Paul
identifies his personal Kabxnpa with the ijpipa and ddfo Xpiarov; at.
1 Pet. v. 4, for this association of ideas. We must remember that the
whole passage is a thanksgiving, swelled at the outset by a glorying
(v. 4) on the writers' part. It is as though they said: "Admired in
all that believed : yes, for the testimony we brought to you won your
faith; and in your faith, bearing fruit in holiness, we see the pledge
of Christ's glorification." In I. i. 8, it is "the faith" ofthe Thessa
lonians that has " gone abroad," and vindicates the Apostles' mission ;
such faith inspires the confidence respecting the final outcome, which
is explicitly stated in Ph. i. 6, and is tacitly implied here.
, to papTvpiov ijpuv eip' dpds presents a unique construction : irpds,
[of address, is usual in such connexion (of. iii. 1; I. ii. 2), or the
)dative (as in Matt. viii. 4, xxiv. 14, Sec). In Lk. ix. 5 paprip. iri is
"a witness against," coming "upon" its hearers by way of accusation
/ (of. Acts xiv. 15 if . ) : here it signifies a ' ' testimony accost ing (assailing,
'challenging) you"; cf. 1 Tim. i. 18, Eph. ii. 7, Eev. xiv. 6, where the
use of iri is more or less parallel to this; also I. ii. 2, where irap-
pijaiaadpeBa ...iv iroXXp dyuvi describes the effort and struggle hinted
at in papripiov iri. For the non-repetition of the article, see note
on rlareus iv, v. 4, and cf. I. iv. 16. Mapripiov ijpuv, in respect of
its medium ; but papripiov rov xpiarov, 1 Cor. i. 6, in respect of its
contents; papripiov rod Beov, 1 Cor. ii. 1, in respect of its authorship:
the synonymous eda77^Xio>' shows the same variety of usage (I. i. 5,
ii. 2, v. 8 above).

1 11] NOTES. 153
Hort (in Westcott-Hort's N.T. in Greek, Appendix, p. 128) finds Iri-
areiBij in this passage (to which he needlessly attaches itp' vpas) so
impracticable, that he proposes the conjectural emendation eirio-ruBr]
(see Textual Note above), teas confirmed (made good, verified) to
ward you (cf. I. i. 5, H. 13). This verb is synonymous with ifJepaiuBij
of 1 Cor. i. 6; and it is found with Td papripia for subject, and a
similar context, in Ps. xcii. 4 f. (LXX) ; also with iri as complement
in 1 Paral. xvii. 23, 2 Paral. i. 9; but nowhere in N.T. This
smooths out the sentence, but loosens its connexion with the fore
going Trioredcraoiv, and makes it a tame observation. Bengel renders
iri locally, "ad vos usque, in occidente" (of. 2 Cor. x. 14), a con
struction that strains the preposition and gives an irrelevant sense.
11. Eis d Kal irpoo-evxdpeBa rravrore irepl vpuv. To which end
we are also praying always about you: see notes on I. i. 2, v. 17;
and for the contents of the prayer, cf. I. iii. 12 f., v. 23, and ii. 16 f.
below. Prayer rises out of thanksgiving (v. 3), as in ii. 16 ; I. iii. 11 ;
Eph. i. 17; Ph. i. 9; Col. i. 9. The Kai indicates that the papripiov
is carried on into rpoaevxi)-
Eis o (cf. Col. i. 29; also eis rouro in Bom. xiv. 9, 2 Cor. v. 5, 1 Pet.
iv. 6) points to the Divine end of Christ's advent (v. 10), ivSofaoBijvai
k.t.X., which is again recalled in v. 12 ; but it embraces the whole of
vv. 5 — 10, looking back through the immediate context to the disoia
Kplais els rb KaTa%iu8i)vai ipas of v. 6. It is only through Christ's
verdict at the Judgement that God's approval of the readers ('Iva ipas
di-iuay d 0eds) will be made duly manifest : " we pray that God may
deem you worthy, so that you may contribute to the glory of the
Lord Jesus, when He comes in judgement and finds you amongst
God's approved saints."
iva vpds d£it6o-r| d Beds t)p»v ttjs KXijcreus, that our God may count i
you worthy of (His) calling. For iva after a verb ot praying, cf. iii. 1;
ICor. xiv. 13; Ph. i. 9; Mk xiii. 18; and see note on I. iv. 1. For the
sense of dfidw, — " to reckon," not to make, " worthy " — see note on/
Karafideo, v. 5; and of. 1 Tim. v. 17; Lk. vii. 7; Heb. iii. 3, x. 29.
KoXe'u, kXijtSs, KXijais, elsewhere (see .particularly note on I. ii. 12 ;
also iv. 7, v. 24; 1 Cor. i. 2, 26, vii. 18—24; Bom. viii. 28, xi. 29;
Gal. i. 6, 15; Eph. iv. 1; 2 Tim. i. 9) point not to the Christian "vo
cation " as a continued state, but to the "call" of God which first
makes men Christians, the invitation and summons to enter His
kingdom. Of this " high calling " (Ph. iii. 14) those who receive it
are, to begin with, utterly unworthy (Gal. i. 13 — 15); henceforth it
is the rule of their life to "walk worthily" of it (I. ii. 12); their

,54 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 11—
own highest aim, and the best hope of those who pray for them, is
that "God may count" them "worthy," through His grace taking
effect in them (see the next clause). To be " reckoned worthy of
God's calling" is in effect to be " reckoned worthy of His kingdom"
(v. 5), to which He " calls " men from the first (I. ii. 12) ; and this
" kingdom and glory of God" are realized in the glorification of the
Lord Jesus, the goal now immediately in view : see note on els ti
above; and cf., in view of the identity assumed, 1 Cor. xv. 24 and Ph.
ii. 9 ff. The Thessalonian believers have been called to glorify their
Saviour on the day of His appearing by the final outcome of their
faith; "from the beginning God chose" them to be participators in
the glory and honour won by the Lord Jesus (ii. 13 f.), and thus
to add lustre to His triumph (see v. 12): this is a privilege of which
the ApostleB pray that " God may count " their disciples " worthy."
This estimate — God's tacit judgement on the desert of individual
men — precedes Christ's public and official verdict pronounced at
His coming (see I. ii. 4 6; and cf. 1 Cor. iv. 5 with 2 Cor. v. 10 f.).
The emphatic dp.Ss at the beginning of the clause explains the
added ijpuv at the end. The personal relation of writers and readers
prompts the prayer : cf. the juxtaposition of tJ/owc i<p' vpas in v. 10;
and the play on these pronouns in I. i. 5f. , ii. 13, 17 — 20, iii. 6 — 13;
also Ph. iv. 19; 2 Cor. iii. 2, xii. 21.
Kal irXr|puo-r| irdcrav edSoxCav dyaBuo-dviJS Kal epyov irCorreus ev
Swdpei, and may fulfil every good pleasure of goodness and work of
faith in power: in other words, "May God mightily accomphsh in
you aU that goodness would desire, all that faith can effect." This
second half of the prayer links together the kXtjois and the dl-tuais of
the first. By the ipyov rlareus, in which they " walk worthily " (I. ii.
12 f.), Christian men carry out the call of God received in the
Gospel, so that He counts them worthy of having received it and
fit to contribute to the glory of His Son. But this very eiSoxia and
ipyov of theirs, their consent and effort of obedience, are wrought in
them by God — He must "fulfil" it all; see Ph. ii. 12 f. For rXijpbu
with objects of this kind, cf. Ph. ii. 2; Matt. iii. 15; Acts xiii. 25.
The best commentary on this prayer is the CoUect for Easter Week :
"That as by Thy special grace preventing us Thou dost put into
our minds good desires, so by Thy continual help we may bring the
same to good effect."
The contents of the worth to be approved by God, as above implied,
are defined by the parallel terms, rdaav eiSoxtav dyaBuaivrjs xal ipyov
rlareus. Iloffai' covers both eiSoxtav and Ipyov ; the latter interprets

1 12] NOTES. 155
the former. EddoKia is not therefore, as in most other places, God's
"good pleasure" (so the older commentators. generally), but (as in
Bom. x. 1 ; Ph. i. 15) the " good-wiU " or " delight " of the readers, —
of "goodness" itself in them. The parallelism suggests, if it does not
require, that d7adWdvr;s be read as a subjective genitive (of source,
cause) — "every delight of goodness," rather than "delight in well
doing" (as Lightfoot, e.g., would have it, referring by contrast to
Bom. i. 32) ; cf. ii. 12 (eudoKe'u) ; Eph. i. 5: in Sirach xviii. 31, eiSoxiav
imOvplas, " desire of lust," supplies an apposite parallel (cf. irddos
inBvplas, I. iv. 5 above). The Apostles thankfully recognize the
"goodness " of their readers (see vv. 3f. ; I. i. 3, ii. 13, iv. 9 f.),
and could say of them what St Paul afterwards says to the Bomans
(xv. 14), rireiapai...repl ipuv, 8n...pearol iare dyaBuaivrjs ; they pray
that every desire which such goodness prompts may by God's help
be realized. See also note on eddoKew, I. ii. 8; eiSoxla connotes a
hearty consent, good will added to good feeling. ' AyaBwaivn — used
by St Paul besides in Bom. xv. 14, Gal. v. 22, Eph. v. 9 — in each
instance denotes a human quality ; it is a broad N. T. expression for
moral excellence, like the open) of the philosophers (once in St Paul,
Ph. iv. 8), but implies specifically an active beneficence; goodness is
the expression of love. More narrowly taken, dyaBuaivij, bonitas, is
distinguished from xpno-Tbrvs, benignitas (cf. Gal. v. 22 ; see Trench's
Syn. § 63), which denotes the kindly temper of the 0700^5. The
abstract dyaBuaivij becomes in the concrete irap dyaBbv to iv ijpiv, to
dyaBSv aov, of Phm. 6, 14.
For ipyov rlareus, see note on I. i. 3. This double parallel repeats
the triple parallel of that passage, with the order reversed, " goodness "
balancing " faith,'' as "love " and " hope " there balance it together.
'Ev Swdpei belongs to rXijpaan, indicating the manner and style
of God's working in this behalf : see I. i. 5 (and note), ii. 13 (ivep
yeirai) ; Col. i. 29 ; Bom. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. iv. 20. The prayer is addressed
rip Svvapivu.. .roirjaai (Eph. iii. 20).
12. 8irus evSo^do-flrj to ovopa tov KvpCov ijpuv 'Itjo-ov ev vpiv, so
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you : the purpose
of the prayer just tittered ; Srus k.t.X. (avoiding the repetition of Iva:
cf. 1 Cor. i. 28 ff. ; 2 Cor. viii. 14) expounds the els S of v. 11 (see note).
" The glory of our Lord Jesus" was the aim of the Father in the
entire dispensation of the Gospel (see Ph. ii. 9 — 11, and ii. 14 be
low), and is therefore the governing object of the Apostle's prayer
Land work (Ph. i. 20). For eVdo£dfw, see note on v. 10.
To "glorify the name of the Lord Jesus" is to exalt Him to the

156 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 12
height of His character and attributes, or, more definitely, to show
that "Jesus is Lord," giving Him rd Svopa rb irip rdv Svopa (Ph. ii.
9 ff.). In the final revelation (v. 7), His redeemed people will supply
the best reason for calling Jesus " Lord " : of. 1 Pet. i. 7; Bev. i. 5 f.,
v. 9 f., cfec. The general description of the ground of Christ's Advent
glory in v. 10 — iv rois dylois airov, iv raaiv rois riareiaaaiv — is now
translated into the specific and consoUng iv ipiv (ei. 1 Pet. i. 4f.).
The Thessalonian Church was to supply its missionaries with their
dd£a Kal xapd (I. ii. 20)— nay, it wiU supply this to the Lord Jesus
Himself; all beholders will praise Him, on seeing His completed
work "in you"!
Kal ipeis ev adr(p is added, since the glory accruing to the name
of Jesus in the Thessalonians will shine in their own character, now
that they are "presented perfect" in Him (see Col. i. 22, 28; Eph.
v. 26 ff.; Bom. viii. 29 f., rodrous ko! iSol-aaev), so that His highest
glory carries with it theirs. They will be not merely " glorified with
Him" (of. I. v. 11; 2 Tim. ii. 11 f.; Eom. viii. 17), but "ire Him"
(see note on iv Xpiarip, I. i. 1 and iv. 16; and of. 1 Cor. i. 30, Gal. i.
20) : this implies the intrinsic union of Christ and His own, set forth
by St Paul in his next Epistle under the figure of the body and its
members (1 Cor. xii. 12 — 27) — a union brought to its consummation
in the Second Advent (1 Cor. xv. 23, 45—49; Col. iii. 1—4; Ph. iii.
21) , which the Apocalypse represents under the emblem of ' ' the
marriage of the Lamb" (Eev. xix. 7; cf. Jo. xiv. 3, xvii. 24).
"Oirus ivSol-aaBy to Svopa rod Kvplov...iv ipiv is part of the web of
O.T. prophetic sayings woven into this section. The writer of Is. Ixvi.
5 (as in the LXX; cf. the references under v. 8 above, and Introd.
pp. Ix. f.) comforts the persecuted and fearful remnant of Israel
with the anticipation, Xva rb Svopa xvpiov So^aaBy xal StpB-g iv ttj
eitppooivn avruv. See, besides, Isai. xlix. 3, Ezek. xxviii. 22, xxxviii.
23, xxxix. 21, — in which last passage ev ipiv appears, and the verb
ivSol-dfypai (with God, the Lord, for subject) in the other three.
That the ddfa Kvpiov is to be manifested to the whole world in
Israel's redemption from her oppressors, was the grand consolation
of exUio prophecy.
The adjunct Kard tt)v x<*Plv k.t.X. belongs to the entire qualified
predicate, ivSoZaaBij . . .iv airi}; it is in accordance with the grace of
our God (ours, as thus caring for us) and the Lord Jesus Christ,
that the glorification of Christ and Christians in each other should
come about. That Christ should find His glory in men, and share
His glory with them, is the greatest conceivable favour (xdpis)— a

1 12] NOTES. 157
favour on God's part to begin with, since "He gave up His own
Son" (Eom. iv. 24 f., vui. 32; Jo. iii. 16; 1 Jo. iv. 9, See.) for this
end: for i) xdpis tou 0eou in this connexion, see particularly U. 16
below; Eom. iii. 24 f., v. 15—21; Eph. i. 6—14, ii. 4—10; 2 Tim. i.
9; Tit. ii. 11, iii. 7; Heb. ii. 9 f.; 1 Pet. i. 13. As to t; xdpis rod
Kupiou, see 2 Cor. viii. 9 : " You know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, how that on your account He became poor when He was
rich, that you through His poverty might become rich." In His
grace our Lord prayed to the Father's grace for His disciples, "that
they may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory "
(Jo. xvii. 23 f.). To ask this was the highest possible mark of regard
that our Lord could pay to His servants.
Grammatically, rjjiuv and KvpCov 'Iijo-oS Xpurrov might be parallel
complements to tov Beov, — God of us and of the Lord, Sea.; but
Pauline usage forbids this construction (of. vv. 1 f., I. i. 1, &c). The
grand expression "our Lord Jesus Christ" (in full style and title)
heightens the emphasis of xdpis. More plausible, in view of the
anarthrous xvpiov and the rule prescribing the reference of two co
ordinate nouns prefaced by a single article to the same subject (A.
Buttmann's Gram, of N.T. Greek, pp. 97 — 101), is the rendering
(grace) of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, adopted by Hofmann
(cf. 2 Pet. i. 1, 11 ; Tit. H. 13). The Apostle Paul appears to call
Jesus Christ expUcitly 6"eds in Bom. ix. 5 and Tit. ii. 13 (cf. Jo. xx.
28), as he does implicitly in Col. i. 15 ff., ii. 9, Ph. ii. 6, Sea. ; but his
habitual discrimination between "the Father" as Bebs and "Jesus
Christ " as Kdpios (vv. 11, 12 a, ii. 16, cfcc. ; also 1 Cor. viii. 6 ; Eph.
iv. 5; Ph. ii. 11) makes the identification improbable in point of usage;
the context in no way suggests it. The absence of the article is
accounted for by St Paul's frequent use of Kdpios as a proper name
of Jesus Christ (Winer-Moulton, p. 154).
For xdp's, see note on I. i. 1, to which the following observations
are added : — (1) The radical sense of xdpis is pleasingness. From
the artistic feeling of the Greek nature, this came to be synonymous
with loveliness, gracefulness, which was variously personified in the
three Xdpires, divinities idealizing all that is charming in person and
in social intercourse. Such was the connexion of the term with
religion in classical Greek. (2) Ethically applied, xdpis denoted
pleasingness of disposition, favour — both (a) in the active sense of
obligingness, graciousness ; and (b) in the passive sense of acceptable-
ness: Ps. xliv. 3 (LXX) iUustrates the former use, similarly Col. iv.
6; while (6) is exemplified in the familiar phrase, to "find grace in
the eyes of " so and so (cf. Lk. ii. 52). On (2) (a) is based the specific

i58 2 THESSALONIANS. [1 12
N.T. signification of xdpis, so conspicuous in St Paul. It denotes,
therefore, (3) the favour of God towards mankind revealed in Jesus
Christ, which stands in contrast with human ill-desert, and seeks
to overcome and displace sin (see Bom. v. 20 f., &c). It proceeds
from the fatherly nature of God Himself (v. 2, ii. 16; Jo. i. 14, die);
His grace is His redeeming love to sinners. Mercy (not grace) is the
nearest O.T. counterpart to the N.T. xdpis: the former expresses
God's pitiful disposition towards man as weak and wretched ; the
latter, His loving, forgiving disposition toward man as guilty and
lost. Xdpis acts in the way of forgiveness (cf. the use of xapifrpai
in Eph. iv. 32, &c), and makes a free gift of the blessings of salva
tion (Bom. iii. 24, v. 17, Sea.). Hence it is opposed, in Pauline
teaching, not only to sin which it abolishes, but to human merit
which it sets aside— to "works of law" regarded as means of salva
tion, and to everything that would make God's benefits, conferred
in Christ on mankind, matter of ' ' debt " on His part : see Eom. iii.
19—21, iv. 4—15 ; Gal. ii. 15—21 ; Eph. ii. 1—10. (4) Xdpis may
signify a specific act or bestoivment of Divine bounty, "grace" in
some concrete form (Eom. i. 5; Eph. iii. 8, &c); with this applica
tion is connected the use of xdpiapa for a specific endowment, or
function, imparted in the order of Divine grace (1 Cor. vii. 7, xH. 4ff.,
&c). (5) Sometimes, again, xdpis denotes a state of grace in man, —
God's grace realized and operative in the Christian, as in Eom. v. 2 ;
2 Tim. ii. 1; 2 Pet. iii. 18. (6) Lastly, xdpis bears in the N.T., as in
\;common Greek, the sense of thanks, gratefulness ; so in 2 Tim. i. 3.

CHAPTER II.
1. The first rjpuv (after Kvpiov) is wanting in B and syihd. It may
have come in from I. Hi. 13, v. 23, Sea. : rjpuv appears slightly to
weaken the collocation of irapouffio tov xvp. Irja. Xp. and rjpuv emaway.
eir' outop, and is better left out.
2. For pr|Se (Bpoeio-Bai) the T.B., after the Syrian uncials (ELP), has
ixijTe by assimilation to the context. Per contra, some Western
copies read pijSe for pijre in the sequel. B 37 present the itacistic
BpoeiaBe (-ai) ; of. note on iii. 14, also on I. v. 13.
The latest uncials (D-K) and most minn. substitute (tj ijpepa) tov
Kvpiov by tou xpwrov ; cf. Phil. ii. 16. GP omit too.
3. ttjs avopias, in KB with ten minn., cop sah arm, Tert Amb
Ambrst : tijs apapnas, ADGLP &c. latt vg syrr. The consistency of the
former reading with tijs avopias and o avopos in vv. 7f., which are not
very likely to have influenced the copyist at this earlier point (as
these expressions might have done if preceding our text), lends in
trinsic probability to the well-attested reading of XB and the
Egyptian versions. If avopias be rightly preferred, apapnas must be
set down as a Western paraphrase ; it is curious that the three Latin
Fathers above-named here oppose themselves to the reading of the
Latin versions. Avopta is a comparatively rare word in the N.T.
4. The gloss us Beov is interpolated before Ka8io-ai in DTS'GKL
and most minn., in syrpc,h and g [lat] ; it was incorporated on this
quite insufficient evidence in the T.B. G* employs in this phrase the
extraordinary Latinism u/a Beov (g* ut, in the sense of quasi).
AG 37 put airodeiMiuoi/To for -vvto.
5. D* Ambrst, eri epov ovtos, for en uv.
6. avrov, in N*AKP 17 37, and some others: eourou, BDGL See. —
The latter seems to be a Western and Syrian emendation : or is ourou
an assimilation to avrov occurring just above?

i6o 2 THESSALONIANS. [2
8. Itjo-ovs, after o Kvpios, is wanting in B and the Syrian witnesses,
followed by the T.B. WH query the word, despite the almost
unanimous support of the pre-Syrian witnesses (including the ver
sions), to which other editors defer. WH rely on the authority of B,
and on the preferability, high in the case of the names of Christ,
of the brevior lectio. The O.T. complexion of the passage favours
the bare Kupios ; see Expos. Note. Moreover the frequency of o Kupios
Irjaovs in 1 and 2 Thess. would prompt insertion on the part of
copyists ; cf. second note on I. v. 9 above. The Fathers quote
this sentence somewhat loosely : "Christ," "the Lord Christ," "the
Lord Jesus Christ," but oftenest " the Lord Jesus."
aveXei in ABP and some minn. ; o»<aXoi, N* Or (probably) ; aveXoi,
D*G 17 67** — latt and vg, however, have interficiet, which points to
apeXei ; avaXuaei in DCKL Sea. ; the cop and syrr indicate avaXoi or
¦Xuaei. On the whole, avaXoi commends itself as the mother reading,
from which apaXwcrei sprang by way of grammatical emendation, and
aveXei partly by itacism, or paraphrase, and partly by correction after
Isai. xi. 4. See Expository Note.
10. To the Syrian editors appear to be due the article with
aSiKias, and ev before tois airoXXvpcvois- D also reads tijs.
Xpiarov niter aXrjBeias, in D*, is an example of Western license.
11. repipei in KCDCEKLP, most minn., and the verss. (except am fu
of the Vulgate) — a tame correction of irepirei (X*ABD«'*G«r 17 67**
cat'"', Or Bas Cyr Dam, &c.) —originating perhaps with the versions.
12. airavTes, NAG ; iravres, BDKLP ifec. The pecuUar force of
diracres does not lie on the surface (see Expos. Note) ; there was no
obvious temptation to copyists to insert the d-, otherwise rare in N.T.
ev is prefixed to ttj aSiKia by AK and the Syrians, conforming to
the ordinary construction : see 1 Cor. x. 5 ; 2 Cor. xii. 10.
/ 13. eiXero, for -oto : grammatical correction of K and the minus
cules ; see note on rpoeirapev (-opev), I. iv. 6.
aTrapxHV, in BGs'P 17, f vg syrhcl, TJIcT Euthal Cyr Dam (uarep
arapxnv) Amb : certainly a favourite expression of St Paul's, and
not inappropriate, nor out of keeping with I. i. 4. air' apxijs, which
is strongly attested by KDKL (A latet) (fee., d e g syri"*11 cop arm aeth,
Chr Thdrt Ambrst Vig, is a hap. leg. for St Paul; it well accords
with the parallel representation in I. i. 4 ff . : cf . Ph. i. 5 and iv. 15 ;
and see Expository Note.

2] NOTES. 161
14. koi is inserted between eis o and CKaXeo-ev in KGP 37 and
several minn., latt syr — a group resembling that which reads arapxn"
An v. 13; against ABDKL &c, for omission. On the other hand, as
Weiss points out, the conjunction in its contracted form might easily
slip out in writing eicoK,eKo.Xec6N, as it did between xaBus and
exXijBriTe in Eph. iv. 4 (B). Cf. Textual Note on I. iv. 8 above.
/ ABD* and several minuscc. meohanioaUy conform vpas to evayy.
rjpuv, writing -ijpas.
16. For Iijo-ovs Xpio-Tos, A 47 read Irjaovs o xpioros ; and B,
Xpioros Irjaovs — an order of the names found seven times in B where
no other us. presents it.
BDK 17 omit o before fleos — a letter easily overlooked in uncial
writing before 8. Instead of o ttottip rjpuv A and the Syrian un
cials, with latt and vg, read koi rarijp ijpuv, squaring with I. i. 3,
iii. 11, 13, cfec.
17. o-Ti|pi|ai vpas, in the latest uncials, and cop ; cf. Ui. 3.
epyu Kai Xoyu, transposed by G and the Syrians, in conformity
with Bom. xv. 18 ; 2 Cor. x. 11 ; Col. iii. 17, cfec. Lk. xxiv. 19 gives
the only N.T. parallel to the order of this passage.
§ 3. u. 1 — 12. The Eevelation of the Lawless One.
In this Epistle, as in the First, the principal aim of the Letter
discloses itself in the second chapter, after the opening act of praise.
The writers' thoughts gravitate towards it in their thanksgiving, from
v. 5 onwards. The near coming of Christ preoccupies both themselves
and their readers (see §§ 8, 9 of Epistle I., and pp. xxvii. ff. of Introd.).
To the preceding section this is related (see Introd. to § 2) as I. v.
1 — 11 to iv. 13 — 18 ; in each instance the writers pass, by the con-
trastive Si, from consideration of the import of the Parousia to that
of its time, — there insisting on its uncertainty of date as a reason for
watchfulness, here giving »¦ premonitory sign as evidence that "the
day " is not yet in sight and by way of dissuasive from premature
excitement on the subject. Cf. Introd. pp. Hi., lxiii. f. Chapters 1
and 2 are closed by Prayer and Thanksgiving, as they commenced
with Thanksgiving and Prayer (of. Eph. i. — iii.), being thus rounded
off into a whole by themselves, like chaps, i. — iii. of Epistle I. (cf. rd
Xoiirdx, Hi. 1 below, with Xoiirdp oiv, I. iv. 1) ; but the secondary topic
of Epistle I. becomes the primary topic of Epistle IL, — a reversal
due to the increased acuteness of the questions connected with the
Parousia. The Thessalonian Church was too eager and credulous in
Thess. k

162 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 1 —
its expectation of the Lord's advent ; the Apostles beg them " for the
sake of [that] advent " to be cautious (v. 1). Some went so far as
to declare that "the day of the Lord is already come" (v. 2). To
enable the readers to " prove the prophesyings " (I. v. 20 f.) addressed
to them on this matter, they are furnished with a token, or omen,
of the Second Advent, which indeed St Paul had virtually supplied be
forehand (v. 5). Preceding Christ's return in judgement (i. 5 ff.),
there must be a supreme manifestation of evil (vv. 3 — 10). This de
velopment, as it seems to be represented, wUl be twofold, producing
(1) "the apostasy"; and (2) "the revelation of the man of lawless
ness" (or "of sin"), in whom the sin of humanity will culminate,
assuming an absolutely Satanic character (vv. 3, 4, 9, 10). This
gigantic impersonation of evU is exhibited as the antagonist and
antithesis of Christ in such a way that, while St Paul does not give
to his conception the name Antichrist, yet this designation correctly
sums up his description ; the term dvrlxpiaros (the climax of the
ipevSbxpiaroi of Matt. xxiv. 24), subsequently made familiar by
St John's use of it (1 Jo. ii. 18 ff.), was not improbably derived in
the first instance from this passage. Meanwhile, we are told, there
exists (3) a " withholding " influence, which delays the appearance of
Antichrist, though the lawlessness that comes to its height in him " is
already at work" (vv. 6f.). When the "revelation" of this "mystery"
at last -takes place, whUe it heralds the return of the Lord Jesus (v. 8),
at the same time it will prove for His rejecters a signal means of
judgement, captivating by its magical delusions all who are not armed
against them by " the love of the truth " (vv. 9 ff. ).
This paragraph is the most obscure in the whole of the Pauline
Epistles. It is composed in a reserved, elUptical fashion and bears
reference to St Paul's oral communications, without which indeed
he does not expect what is here written to be understood. In their
recollection of his spoken words the Thessalonian readers had a key,
which was soon lost, to the words of the Letter. We must grope for
the interpretation as weU as we can. Considerable Ught is, however,
thrown on this dark passage by its relation to O.T. prophecy, and
by the historical events and current ideas of the apostolic age. An
Appendix will be added on the subject.
1. 'EpuTupev Se vpds, dSeXipoC, virep ttjs irapovo-Cas rov KvpCov
[ijpuv] Ttjo-ov Xpiorov Kal rjpuv eTrio-wayu-yrjs iir' airov. But we ask
you, brothers, on behalf of the coming of the [or our] Lord Jesus Christ
and our gathering together to (meet) Him. By Si of contrast we pass
from the certainty and blessedness of the rapovala (i. 5 ff.) to the

2 2] NOTES. 163
state of disquiet about it into which this Church is in danger of
falling. For ipurdu in requests, see I. iv. 1, v. 12, and note on the former
verse; as in the above instances, dSeXipol is naturaUy . interjected
where common Christian interests and sentiments are involved.
'trip may be nothing more than an equivalent for irepi (about, con
cerning), stating the matter of request (see, for irepi in like con
nexion, I. v. 10, and note; 1 Cor. vii. 1 ; Phm. 10, cfec.) ; but it may
be questioned whether direp in St Paul ever quite loses the stronger
meaning, on behalf of: cf. I. iii. 2; 2 Cor. i. 6, xiii. 8; Ph. ii. 13.
"In the interest of" that very advent, in which their future happiness
is wrapped up (i)puv iriavvayuyi)s), the Apostles warn their readers
against deception. The Latin rendering, foUowed by the A.V., per
adventum, is certainly erroneous : this dirdp obtestationis, frequent in
Homer after Xlaaopai (see e.g. Iliad xv. 660), is rare otherwise. The
full title, "our Lord Jesus Christ," heightens the solemnity of the
appeal ; see note on I. i. 1; also I. v. 9 ; and, for rapovala, I. H. 19. .
The writers add xal ijpuv iriavvayuyrjs eir' adi-dc, remembering
what tbey had said in I. iv. 17 and v. 10 concerning the reunion of
departed and living saints at Christ's coming ; perhaps also under
the painful sense of continued separation from their "brothers" in
Thessalonica and the uncertainties of meeting in " this present
evil world" : see I. ii. 17 ff., Hi. 6, 11, II. i. 4f, ; and the pathetic
"rest with you" of i. 7. 'EiriowayuTij (the noun in Heb. x. 25, dis
Xeybpevov in N.T. ; also 2 Maco. ii. 7, iriavvayuyi)v tov XaoC) recalls
the prophetic words of Jesus in Matt. xxiv. 31 f., Mk xiu. 27, diroo-reXe?
Tods d77dXous x. imawdS-ei rods ixXexrovs ix tuv reaadpuv dvipuv k.t.X.,
which rest on the promise of Deut. xxx. 4 respecting the Siaaropd of
Israel ; cf. the echoes of our Lord's sayings on the Last Things noted
in I. iv. 13 — v. 11. The diri- in this compound — a word of the koivt),
which loved cumulative prepositional compounds — impUes " con
vening upon" some centre: Christ supplies this mark, — ir' airbv
(as in Mk v. 21) ; cf. note on itp' ipas, i. 10. Under the single article,
rapovala and imavvayuyi) form one object of thought, the latter ac
companying the former (I. iv. 14 — 17) ; cf. els tt\v §aaiXetuv...Kal Sb£av,
I. ii. 12.
2. In I. v. 12 ipurdu was construed, in the regular classical way,
with the infinitive; in I. iv: 1, according to commoner N.T. usage
with verbs of asking, it was followed by iva and subjunctive; here,
more loosely, by eis t6 with infin., stating the matter of .the request
as its aim : see note on this usage, I. H. 12.
els to pij raxeus o-aXevBrjvai upas dird tov vods pijSe Bpoeto-Bai, to
L2

164 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 2
the end you be not quickly shaken from your mind (out of your wits :
ut non cito moveamini a sensu vestro, Vulg. ; ne cito a mente dimove-
amini, Beza ; prcecipitanter for raxfus, de Wette — more vividly),
nor be kept in agitation. SaXeiu (see Lk. xxi. 25, adXos BaXdaaarjs,
"tossing of the sea") denotes a rocking motion, a shaking up and
down: cf. Matt. xi. 7; Lk. vi. 48; Acts xvi. 26; Heb. xii. 26 f.
Lightfoot quotes in illustration from Plutarch's Moralia n. 493 d,
dpefiv rod koto tpiaiv droaaKeiovaav ...lis ir dyxipas tijs ipiaeus aa-
Xeiei, suggesting that St Paul's o-aXeud,r)>'ai drb (dro-aaXeieiv) iB the
opposite of aaXeieiv iri (ayxipas), so that the figure intended would
be that of a ship loose from her anchor and at the mercy of the
waves. But vovs scarcely holds the office of an anchor to the soul
(in Plutarch, as above, the ope%is, not the man himself, diroiraXedei ;
and the verb is intransitive) ; it signifies rather the mental poise and
balance, off (drb) which the Thessalonians might be thrown by the
shook of sensational announcements. Taxdws does not require a
terminus a quo in point of time (cf. Gal. i. 6) ; it implies a speedy
disturbance, a startled movement. For j<ous, the regulative intel
lectual faculty, cf. Eom. vii. 25, xii. 2 ; 1 Cor. i. 10 ; Ph. iv. 7 ; Tit.
i. 15 : it is here virtually contrasted with rvevpa (see next clause)
as its check and counterpart, much as in 1 Cor. xiv. 14 f., 19. The
Soxipd^eiv of I. v. 19 — 21 involves the application of vovs to "prophe
syings." Nods, vot (1 Cor. xiv. 15, 19) are 3rd declension forms, such
as were assumed, on the analogy of /3ous, by two or three 2nd deol.
nouns in later Greek (of. irXods, Acts xxvii. 9), and to some extent in
the earlier vernacular ; see Winer-Moulton, p. 72.
Qpoeio8ai (the verb found besides in Mk xiii. 7, in like connexion ;
cf. Lk. xxiv. 37, Cod. B), signifies in the present tense an excited con
dition of mind foUowing the shock of agitating news (craXeud'fii'ai,
aorist). The former clause describes the overthrow of mental equi
librium, this the nervous, fluttered state supervening. Hence prjSi,
"nor indeed": some might have already experienced a odXeucris, but
even they should not be kept in Bpbnais, in continued discomposure.
QpoeiaBai may be used of any agitating emotion (cf. Cant. v. 4, LXX) 
not fear in this instance—" terreamini " of the Vulg. is misleading;
in classical Greek, where the verb is chiefly poetical, it signifies to cry
or tell aloud.
pijre Sid irvedparos pTJTe Sid Xdyov pTjTe 8i* eirio-ToXrjs us Si' ijpuv,
neither through spirit, nor through word, nor through letter as (coming)
through us. The writers suppose three various means by which the
report about the Advent may have been set on foot. It could not be
traced to a definite and single source; the information forthcoming

2 2] NOTES. 165
led the Apostles to think that each of these oauses may have been at
work. If e.g. it were believed in some part of the Church — through
misunderstanding either of Epistle I. or of some other Letter of
the Apostles, or from some Letter falsely circulated in their name
— Sri iviarrjxev 1) ijpipa, both prophets and teachers would be found
to enforce, and probably exaggerate, the epistolary statement or
inference. Uvevpa and Xd7os are distinguishable in the light of 1 Cor. xii.
8 — 11, xiv. 6, 26 : they denote the agencies by which diroKdXu^is
and SiSaxi respectively are communicated; Xdyos aotplas and Xdyos
yviiaeus are there contrasted with rpotpirrela, which was the mark
of possession by the irveu/oa in the highest sense (1 Cor. xiv. 1,
&c). WhUe Xdyos means "discourse of reason," the expression of
rational thought and judgement (proceeding in this oase upon the data
of revelation), rvevpa apphes to the ecstatic or prophetic utterances
of supernaturaUy inspired persons.
'fis di' ijpuv — parallel to di' dirioroXf/s ; or to did Xdyou (see ii. 5)
and 81' eVio-ToXf/s together (cf. H. 15) — indicates not a fact per se, but
as subjectively conceived (of., for the use of us, Eom. ix. 32; 2 Cor.
ii. 17 ; Eph. vi. 5 ; Phm. 14), — " supposing that it is through us," viz.
that the announcement of the arrival of "the day" comes from the
Lord through His Apostles and has their authority. The deception
in the case is implied not by the adverb lis, but by the context.
Whether this impression was derived from an actual ApostoUc Letter,
or from a supposititious Letter, either circulated in the Church or
only alleged to be in existence, it is impossible to say ; the curious
ambiguity of the words suggests that the writers were at a loss on
this point. The language of Ui. 17 suggests that spurious Letters
of St Paul were in existence; the mere suspicion of this would be
enough to dictate the precaution there taken. On the other hand,
judging from the words of I. v. 27, it appears to have been possible
that some members of the Church knew the First Epistle only by
report and at second-hand, in which case its expressions on the
subject might be distorted to the effect described. The plainest
words will be misinterpreted by prepossessed minds.
us on eveo-TTjKev t) rjpe'pa tov KvpCov, supposing that the day of the
Lord is now present. For us on, ei. 2 Cor. v. 19, xi. 21; "the idea
of misrepresentation or error is not necessarily inherent in this com
bination of particles; but the (is points to the subjective statement
as distinguished from the objective fact, and thus the idea of untruth
is frequently implied" (Lightfoot) : the Thessalonians are being
alarmed and distracted "under the idea that the day of the Lord

j.66 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 2—
has arrived" (see note on ibs Si ijpuv above : of. also Eom. v. 16; 1 Cor.
iv. 7, viii. 7 ; 2 Cor. x. 14 ; Col. ii. 20). For r) ijpipa tov xvpiov, see
note on I. v. 2. 'Evianjxev, the perfect, with present sense, of ivlarrjpi,
signifies more than nearness, more even than imminence (irlararai,
I. v. 3) ; it means to be in place, in course — not merely approaching
hut arrived — and is regularly contrasted with piXXa (see Bom. viii. 38;
1 Cor. vii. 26 ; Gal. i. 4 ; Heb. ix. 9). " The day," it was affirmed,
had so come that while it was not actuaUy visible, its hour had struck,
and its light might break any moment on the eyes of men : " Christ
has come," was the cry — d xipios rdpean, though His rapovala is not
manifest (cf. Matt. xxiv. 26 f., xxv. 6).
3a. pij tis d|ias e£aTraTijo-Tj Kara pr|Seva rpdirov. Let no one deceive
you in any kind of way — i.e. in the way of rvevpa, Xdyos, erirroXi), or
otherwise. The warning conveyed by pr)...i^araTi)aii seems to be
directed against a wilful, dishonest deception : cf. v. 10 ; also (for this
verb) Bom. vH. 11, xvi. 18 ; 2 Cor. xi. 3. Kard...Tpd7rox (of. Bom. Hi. 2;
Aots xxvii. 25) differs slightly from iv...Tpbrii>, iii. 16, the former im
plying a more definite "way" or "ways" before one's mind. For
Uke warnings, from St Paul, of. 1 Cor. vi. 9, xv. 33; Gal. vi. 7;
Col. ii. 4, 8 ; 1 Tim. iv. 1 ; 2 Tim. iii. 13 ; Tit. i. 10 ; from our Lord
on this very subject, Matt. xxiv. 4 f., 11, 24 ; Lk. xxi. 8.
iWH, in the margin of their text, place a comma, instead of the
full stop, after xvpiov, thus connecting v. 3 a (elliptically) with v. 2,
through the pt) of apprehension : (I say this) lest any one should, in
any kind of way, deceive you; cf. I. iii. 5, upon the common construc-
' tion of the pi) in that passage.
3 o. on Idv pij ?X0rj ij dirotrrao-Ca irpurov — , because (it will not be)
unless there come the apostasy first : " first," i.e. before the Lord comes.
Hpurov, for rpbrepov, of two events, in I. iv. 16 ; Lk. vi. 42, cfec.
The ellipsis is natural, the matter of deception, stated in v. 2 b,
being in every one's mind ; after v. 3 a a formal contradiction of the
announcement iviarrjKev r) ijpipa is needless. Probably the writer
meant to insert the contradiction after the idv clause ; but this
sentence so runs on that its intended apodosis drops out of mind.
We shall find a similar lapse in v. 7. St Paul is liable to gram
matical anacolutha (incoherences) in passages of excited feeling : cf.
Gal. ii. 4, 6, v. 13 ; Eom. iv. 16, v. 12 ff. ; see Winer-Moulton, p. 749.
His style is that of a speaker, not of a studied writer ; such broken
sentences are inevitable, and explain themselves, in animated con
versation.

2 3] NOTES. 16)
Judging from the difference of oontents in the two members of the
idv pi) clause, it seems Ukely that the Apostles conceived of two dis
tinct and olosely connected historical conditions precedent to the
Lord's rapovala, both of which St Paul had set forth in his original
teaching at Thessalonica (v. 5). First, the "coming" of "the apos
tasy" : the definite article marks this out as a known futurity, 6\e?
fined by evidence either from the O.T. or from current Christian
prophecy, — the latter, if we must be guided by analogy (of. i. 8 — 12),
being grounded upon the former. ' Aroaraala in classical Greek denotes
a military or political revolt, defection ; in the O.T., specifically, a
revolt from the theocracy (from "the Lord"): see- e.g. Jos. xxii. 22
(iv aroaraala... ivavn tou xvpiov, JVPP3...TID3); also 1 Mace. ii. 15
(ol xaravayxdfavres rijv droaraalav . . .tva Bvaidauaiv) ; so in Acts xxi. 21,
"thou teachest apostasy from Moses"; and the verb dtplarapai in
1 Tim. iv. 1 ; Heb. iH. 12 (Td diro(n-i7Vai dird 0eou £uvtos). Correspond
ingly, in the Christian Church the term (here first appearing) signifies
revolt from Christ, the defection of men " denying the Lord that
bought them " (2 Pet. ii. 1). " The apostasy " is surely no other than
that foretold by Jesus in His great prophetic discourse (so much in
St Paul's mind when he wrote these Letters) : see Matt. xxiv. 10—13,
24: "Then shaU many stumble.. .Many false prophets shall arise
(cf. did rveiparos above), and shall mislead many... Because iniquity
(1) dvopla) shaU abound, the love of the many shall wax oold.. .There
shall arise false Christs and false prophets... so as to lead astray, if
possible, even the elect " ; cf. Matt. xiii. 24 — 30, the parable of the
Wheat and Tares. This sad forecast of their Lord weighed on the
hearts of the early Christians ; the presentiments arising from it
grew in distinctness in St Paul's mind as time went on, and were
expressed with increasing emphasis : see Bom. xvi. 17 — 20 ; Acts
xx. 29 f. ; Eph. iv. 14. In his last Letters (1 Tim. iv. 1—3 ; 2 Tim.
Hi. 1 — 9, iv. 3f.) he defines "the apostasy" as it took shape toward
the close of his own career, in language portending a full develop
ment, which he seems to have thought might not be far distant. The
false teachers portrayed in the Pastoral Epistles as belonging to " the
last times," supply a link between St Paul's r) aroaraala and the
avrlxpiaroi roXXol of St John (see Appendix, pp. 223 f.). Such words
as those of 1 Cor. xU. 3, xvi. 22, Col. ii. 19, show that, in the
Apostle's view, personal loyalty to Christ was the safeguard of
Christianity. " Apostasy " leads the way in the supreme mani
festation of evil here predicted, as though the infidelity of Christians
supplied the occasion for the final eruption of wickedness ; see, by
contrast, Matt. v. 13 — 16. H aroaraala gave the Latin translators

1 68 2 THMSSALONIANS. [2 3—
much trouble : abscessio (Tertullian) ; discessio (Vulg.) ; defectio (Am-
brosiaster, Beza, Estius) ; refuga (Augustine), as if for droardrns.
3 c, 4. Kal diroKaXvcj>6ij 6 dvBpuiros ttjs dvopCas, 6 vids ttjs a'iru-
XcCas, d dvriKeCpevos Kal drrepaipopevos eirl rrdvra Xeydpevov Beov rj
o-lpao-pa : and there be revealed the man of lawlessness, the son of per
dition, the adversary and exalter of himself against every one called god
or (that is) an object of worship (aut numen, Beza). The emphatically
prefixed droxaXvipBy (substituted for iXdji of the parallel clause),
which is repeated in vv. 6 and 8 (see notes ; and cf. note on diroKd-
Xu^is in i. 7), gives to the coming of d dvBpuros rrjs dvoplas a super
human stamp (of. v. 9). He is identified in v. 7 (see note) with rd
pvarr)piov rrjs dvoplas ; he comes kot' ivipyeiav rov Xaravd — dvBpuros
rr)v tpiaiv, rdaav iv iavrip tov SiafibXov Sexbpevos rrjv ivipyeiav (Theo
dore) — and attended with manifold miracles (v. 9). The terms de
scribing his appearance and action are borrowed throughout from
those belonging to the Parousia of the Lord Jesus, whose dvnxelpevos
he is to be, — a Satanic parody of Christ, His counterpart in the realm
of evil.
This fearful personality is described by three epithets, the last of
the three consisting of a double participle, and all three Hebraistic
in form: (a) b dvBpuros rijs dvoplas (see Textual Note) — "the man"
in whom "lawlessness" is embodied, "in quern recapitulatur sex
millium annorum omnis apostasia et injustitia et dolus" (Ireneeus),
who takes this for his r&le (of. "man of God," "man of Belial [worth-
lessness]," " man of war," cfec, in O.T. idiom) ; more simply named
d dvopas in v. 7.' As "the man of lawlessness," Antichrist concentrates
into himself all that in human life and history is most hostile to God
and rebeUious to His law ; he is the ne plus ultra of rd ippbvrjpa rrjs
aapxbs (Bom. viu. 7). (6) The first epithet refers to the nature, the
second to the doom oi Antichrist ; he is d uids rrjs druXelas : at. vibs
Bavdrov, 1 Sam. (Kingd. : LXX) xx. 31 ; similarly in Deut. xxv. 2 the
man "worthy of stripes" is called, in Hebrew, "a son of smiting";
in Isai. Ivii. 4 the LXX reads rixva druXelas, arippa dvopov, for
"children of transgression, a seed of falsehood" (in the Hebrew).
To Judas Iscariot alone this name is elsewhere given in Scripture
(Jo. xvii. 12); but "whose end is perdition" (Ph. iii. 19), and "he
goeth to perdition " (els dmiXeiav irdyei, Eev. xvn. 8, 11 ; said of the
seven-headed Wild Beast), affirm virtually the same thing, (c) Of
the two terms of the third title, d dvnxelpevos (cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 9, 1 Tim.
v. 14) is familiar, being equivalent to t^'^D. ° 2aravds, Satan, whom
this " man of lawlessness " is to represent and whose power has its
ivipyeia in him (vv. 9 f .) : see note on I. U. 18 ; cf. also Zeoh. iii. 1

2 4] NOTES. 169
(LXX), d Sid/9oXos elariJKei...Tov dvrtKeiaBai ainp. This participle might
be complemented, along with the foUowing irepatpbpevos, by dirl rdvra
k.t.X. ; but it is a quasi-substantive, with a recognized and complete
sense of its own. It is Christ to whom "the adversary " dxriKeiTai.
In the second and extended participial olause of (c) — identified with
d dvnxelpevos by the single article — irepatpbpevos has a parallel in
2 Cor. xii. 7 (" exalted above measure " : St Paul is fond of direp-
compounds). 'Eiri as distinguished from direp, and in this context,
is against. ndcTa Xeybpevov Bebv (iUustrated by 1 Cor. vni. 5 6)
embraces the entire Pan-theon of mankind, deposed by this Great
Usurper in favour of himself ; while koI aifiaapa extends the previous
term, already so wide, by way of including every conceivable object
of reUgious reverence. So aefidapara in Acts xvii. 23 embraces the
religious monuments and emblems of Athens generally — shrines,
altars, images, and the like: the only other NT. instance of the
word, which occurs besides in Wisd. xv. 17.
4 (continued), wore ovtov els tov vadv tov Beov KaBCcrai, diroSeuc-
vvvTa eauTov on eoriv Beds, so that he takes his seat within the temple
of God, showing himself off (to the effect) that he is God ! "Slare (withl
infin. of result) brings in the climax of the self-deification of the
Antichrist. KaBlaai (the verb is here intransitive, as in 1 Cor. x. 7,
Matt. v. 1, and commonly) is the aorist of the single (inceptive), not
continuous, act (cf. Matt. xix. 28, cfec.) ; eis is suitable to the aorist,
as implying motion towards, — putting himself "into" God's seat in
the vabs. By their several positions airbv and xaBlaai are both
emphasized: "He in the temple of God takes his seat," as though
that throne were his 1 Nads, as distinguished from lepbv, is the
temple proper, the inner shrine of Deity. For droSeixvivai, cf. 1 Cor.
iv. 9 ; it implies a public display, a show — spectandum aliquid pro-
ponere (Winer) ; but the verb, as Lightfoot proves, bears in later Greek
the technical sense, to nominate or proclaim one who accedes to office :
so e.g. Philo, in Flaccum, § 3, Yaltov Si droSeixBivros adroKpdropos.
The verb thus read is construed with Sti quite easily — " proclaiming
himself that he is God" — with attraction of the dependent subject
(see Winer-Moulton, p. 781). The present participle, qualifying the
aorist infinitive (for indicative), denotes a course of conduct that
attends and centres in the principal act. On the ordinary rendering
of droSeixvivra, the on clause forms a second explanatory object,
by a kind of synizesis: "showing himself off, (declaring) that he
is God." The rendering of Beza, " prse se ferens se esse Deum,"
corrects the Vulg. translation, "ostendens se tanquam sit Deus,''
which misses the essential point : dvrlBebs ns iarai (Chrysostom).

170 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 4
The latter part of the description of the Antichrist, from ko! direp-
aipbpevos onwards, is based on Dan. xi. 36 f. : koI vipuBtjaeTai iri rdvra
Bebv xal iri rbv Bebv tuv Beuv i£aXXa XaXr)aei...Kal iri tovs Beois tuv
raripuv airov oi pi) rpovorjB%...Sn iv ravrl v^/uBijaerai ; ei. Dan. vii. 25,
ix. 27 ; Isai. xiv. 13 f. ; Ezek. xxvin. 2 (viptiBn aov i) xapSia, xal etras
Qebs etpi iyii, xaroixlav Beov xaTipKijKa...Kal iSuxas rijv KapSlav aov lis
KapSlav 8eov). In the above prophetic sketches the monarchic pride of
the ancient world-rulers is seen rising to the height of self-deification ;
these deUneations adumbrate the figure which St Paul projects on to
the canvas of the Last Times. That self-deification forms the govern
ing feature in this description of Jesus Christ's Satanic counterfoU,
presupposes the assumption of Divine powers on the part of Jesus;
cf. note below on d pads rov deov.
St Jerome gave the two possible interpretations of eis tov vabv tov
Beov, writing in Epist. 121: "in templo Dei — vel Ierosolymis, ut
quidam putant [so the older Fathers — Irenasus, Hippolytus, cfec] ; vel
in ecclesia, ut verius arbitramur" (so the later Greek interpreters).
Chrysostom presents the latter view less exactly (for St Paul refers
to the entire Church as d vabs tov Beov in 1 Cor. iii. 16 f., 2 Cor.
vi. 16 ; cf. Eph. ii. 21 ; Eev. iii. 12, vii. 15), when he Bays, Ka8eSr)aerai
els rbv vabv tov Beov, oi rbv iv 'lepoaoXipois dXXd KaB' iKdarijv ixxXij-
alav. When the Apostles speak of " the sanctuary of God " without
other qualification, they might be supposed to refer to the existing
Temple at Jerusalem (cf. the usage of the Gospels, as respects d vabs
and the wider rd iepde, which includes the courts and precincts ;
similarly in Acts, rb lepbv), to which the kindred passages in Daniel
(xi. 31, xii. 11), cited in our Lord's prophecy (Matt. xxiv. 15; Mk
xiii. 14), unmistakably apply. Attempts have been made to show
that their words were practically fulfilled soon after this date by
certain outrages committed by Nero, or Vespasian, upon the sacred
building. But this is not clearly made out ; and even the worst of
the Emperors was but an adumbration of St Paul's Antichrist. On
the other hand, we have learnt from I. ii. 16 that St Paul believed
national Judaism to be nearing its end, — the Temple presumably
with it. Our Lord had predicted the speedy destruction of the
Jerusalem Temple (see Lk'. xxi. 6, 32, cfec), which, forsaken by the
Son of God, could no longer be viewed by Christians as properly
His "Father's house" (see Matt, xxiii. 37—39, xxi. 13; Jo. ii. 16).
Along with the terms ixxXnala tov Beov (I. H. 14), 'lapaijX tov Beov
(Gal. vi. 16), oi 07101 and the like (of. Phil. iii. 3; 1 Pet. ii. 4—10),
the presumption is that d cads rod 0eou belonged statedly, in
Pauline dialect, to the new kingdom of God and had its "founda-

2 4] NOTES. T71
tion " in " Jesus Christ " ; this transference of the xads-oonoeption is
assumed in 1 Cor. iii. 10 — 17, the next Epistle to ours in point of
date, as a recognized fact (odK ofdore tin vabs Beov core; v. 16); the
true »ads is marked out by the indwelling of "the Spirit of God"
(cf. I. iv. 8 above). It is true that there is nothing in our context
to identify d vabs with i) ixKXrjala; but we must remember that we
have an incomplete context before us; the paragraph is throughout
allusive to previous teaching (v. 5). The doctrine that the Christian
community constitutes the veritable shrine of God on earth, may have
been as familiar to the Thessalonian as it certainly was a few years
later to the Corinthian Christians. Granted this equivalence, the
connexion between diroo-rao-io and dvBpuros ttjs d^o/tias becomes ex
ceedingly close : the Lawless One, in superseding all forms of religion
except the worship of himself, assumes to sit within the Church of
God, abetted by its apostates, and proclaims himself its supreme Head,
thus aping the Lord Jesus and playing his anti-Christian part to the
uttermost, — " quasi quia ipse sit Christus " (Theodore).
Further Note on vv. 3, 4 : The premonition of the Lord's advent
the Apostle finds, therefore, in a previous counter-advent, and this
is twofold: the coming (a) oi "the apostasy," (b) of "the man of
lawlessness, cfec." — (a) a movement, (6) a personality. The former
element in the representation remains in shadow, and is developed
by the Apostle in later Epistles ; the image of " the lawless one '
dominates this passage, but forthwith vanishes from the Pauline
writings, to reappear, considerably altered, in St John's Apocalypse.
Three chief factors go to furniBh the conception these verses give of
the final manifestation of evU : (1) Its foundation lies in the data of
O. T. prophecy, more particularly in the Apocalypse of. Daniel, to which
our Lord attached His own predictions of the Last Things and with
whose " son of man coming in the clouds of heaven " He identified
Himself. "The apostasy" and "the lawless one," since they em
body ideas from this source, appear to signify two distinct but
co-operating agents, as distinct as were e.g. the apostates of Israel
from the heathen persecutor, Antiochus Epiphanes, for whose coming
their appearance gave the signal at the Maccabean epoch. The dis
tinction is one pervading Pauline thought and teaching, viz. that
between existing Jew and Gentile (Israel and the nations), which
are reconciled on the true basis in the Church of Jesus Christ ; the
corresponding evil powers unite to form the conspiracy of Satan.
The new Messianic community, of Jews and Gentiles in one body,
has become " the Israel of God " (Gal. vi. 16), defection from which

i72 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 3, 4
is " apostasy " (see 1 Tim. iii. 15 — iv. 1 : droaT-fjaovrai drb rijs rlareus) ;
the old antagonism of Jew and Gentile has been resolved into the
opposition of the people of God and the world — the antithesis, in
short, of Christian and un-Christian. St Paul, to speak in modern
phrase, appears to foresee the rise of an apostate Church paving the
way for the advent of an atheistic world-power. So it is "out of
the " restless, murmuring " sea " of the nations and their " many
waters" that " the Wild Beast" of Eev. xiii. 1, xvii. 1, 15, "comes
up." This combination Dan. viii. 23 already presents : "When the
transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance. ..shaU
arise"; cf. 1 Maoo. i. 10 — 15, for the parallel earlier situation.
(2) While, for Christian believers, " apostasy " means revolt from
Christ, by the same necessity the figure of the atheistic world-king,
transmitted from the Book of Daniel and from the struggle with
Antiochus, is clothed with an Antichristian character ; " the lawless
one" becomes from point to point the antithesis of the Lord
Jesus, — a Satanic caricature of the Messiah-king, a mock-Christ.
But (3) contemporary history supplied a powerful stimulus to the
prophetic spirit of the Church, which already dimly conceived its
Antichrist as the counterpart in the kingdom of darkness to the true
Christ reigning in God's kingdom of light. The deification of the
Eoman emperors, from Julius Caisar downwards, was a rehgious
portent of the times. This cultus must have forced itself on the
notice of St Paul and his companions in their recent journey through
the north-west of the peninsula of Asia Minor (Aots xvi. 6 — 10),
where it already flourished ; not improbably, then route led through
Pergamum, a city which boasted, in its magnificent Augusteum, the
chief seat of Cesar-worship in the whole empire (of. Eev. ii. 13:
dirou d Bpbvos tov 2arava). The attempt of the mad emperor Gaius
(Caligula), made in the year 40, to place his statue in the temple
of Jerusalem for Divine worship, an attempt only frustrated by his
death, compelled the attention of the entire Jewish people whom
it filled with horror, and of the Christian Church with them, to this
blasphemous cult. The event was typical, showing to what lengths
the intoxication of supreme power in an atheistic age might carry a
man inspired by Satan. This attempt was, in CaUgula's case, but the
last of a series of outrages upon "every so-called god." Suetonius
relates that this profane monster transported the statue of Olympian
Zeus to Eome, displacing its head for the image of his own ; also,
that he built his palace up to the temple of the old Eoman gods
Castor and Pollux, and made of this a vestibule where he exhibited
himself standing between the twin godships to receive the adoration

2 3, 4] NOTES. 173
of those who entered (De Vita Ccesarum, iv. 22). The Apostles are
only projecting into the future the development of a "mystery of
lawlessness" — a tendency of inscrutable force, springing from un
sounded depths of evil in human nature — that was " already at work"
before the eyes of all men, masquerading in the robes of Godhead on
the imperial stage at Eome. So far-reaching was the impression
produced by the Emperor- worship, that Tacitus represents the
German barbarians speaking in ridicule of " ille inter numina dieatus
Augustus " (Ann. 1. 59). The effect of this new Government cultus
on what remained of natural religion in the rites of Paganism is
indicated in the pregnant words of Tacitus (Ann. 1. 10), the first
clause of which might have been borrowed from St Paul: "Nihil
deorum honoribus reUctum, cum se tempUs et effigie numinum per
flamines et saoerdotes coli vellet [Augustus]." Nor was the exaltation
of the emperors to deity an act of mere autocratic blasphemy and
pride of power. Borne and the provinces spontaneously gave Divine
honours to Julius Caesar at his death ; and Augustus promoted the
new worship out of poUoy, to supply a religious bond to the Empire
and to fill up the void created by the decay of the old national
religions, the very want which Christianity was destined to meet.
In relating the obsequies of JuUus Csesar Suetonius says (Ibid. 1. 84,
88): "Omnia simul ei divina atque humana decreverat [senatus]...
Periit sexto et quinquagesimo setatis anno, atque in deorum numerum
relatus est, non ore modo decernentium sed et persuasione volgi."
The unconscious irony of the above passage is finely pointed by the
exclamation which the same historian puts into the mouth of the
dying Vespasian (viii. 23) : " Vae, puto deus fio I " Cf. the tragic
scene of Acts xii. 20 — 23, d Srjpos ireipiivei ' Qeov. tpuvij n.. oix dvBpii-
rov... xal yevbpevos axuXijxbj3puros i^iipv^ev (Herod Agrippa I.). The
shout of the Csesarean Srjpos shows the readiness of a sceptical and
servUe heathenism to deify its human rulers, whUe the language of
St Luke reflects the loathing stirred thereby in Christian minds. The
Apostle Paul realized the significance of the Caesar-worship of his
time ; he saw in it Td pvarrjpiov rijs dvoplas at work in its most typical
form. Antiochus Epiphanes and Gaius Caligula have sat as models
for his Antichrist ; the Emperor Elagabalus (218 — 222 a.d.), in more
Oriental fashion, subsequently reproduced the type. The struggle
between heathen Bome and Christianity was to turn, in reality, upon
the alternative of Kdpios Ka«rap (Martyr. Polycarpi 8) or xipios 'Irjaovs
(1 Cor. xU. 3), — the point already raised, with a strange instinct (like
that of Caiaphas respecting the Atonement, Jo. xi. 50 ff.), by the Jews
when they cried to PUate, " If thou let Him [Jesus] go, thou art not

i74 . 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 4—
Caesar's friend " (Jo. xix. 12). Caesar-worship being the state-religion,
and the worship of Christ admitting of no sharer, Christianity be
came a religio illicita and its profession, constructively, high treason.
"Opoaov rr)v Kalaapos rixv was the test put to Polycarp by the
Proconsul of Asia in the stadium of Smyrna (Martyr. 9) ; and this
challenge, with the martyr's reply — irus Sivapai pXaatprjpijaai rbv
fiaaiXia pov ; — is typical of the entire conflict of the Christian faith
with its dxriKEiiuepos, the veritable Bebs tov aiuvos tovtov enthroned on
the Palatine. Csesar's titular name 2e/3oo-rds, the Greek rendering of
Augustus (cf. d vrepaipbpevos iri rdv...aij3aapa above) — to which Divus
was added at death — was itself a blasphemy to Jewish and Christian
ears. With aefiaarbs the title uids Beov was associated in popular use
and even in business documents (see Deissmann's Bible Studies,
pp. 166 f., and Dalman's Words of Jesus, p. 273), a circumstance
that gave additional point to the rivalry, which forced itself on
Christian thought, between the deified Csesar and Christ.
5. Od pvTjpoveveTe oti 'in d)v irpds upds ravTa 2Xeyov -ipiv ; Do you
not remember that when I was still with you, I used to tell you these
things ? cf. 1 Cor. xi. 23, xv. 1 f. ; Ph. iii. 18. With od pvrjpo*
veiere (wrongly rendered in Vulg. " Num retinetis? " — Ambrose, Beza,
"Annon meministis?") cf. in Pauline usage I. ii. 9; Acts xx. 31.
For uv rpbs ipas, see note on I. Hi. 4, also Hi. 1 below. "En iSv implies
that St Paul had spoken of these matters, as we should expect,
toward the end of his ministry, when he had not "as yet " left them ;
cf. Acts xviii. 18, Jo. xx. 1, See., for in. On the probable duration of
/the mission in Thessalonica, see Introd. p. xx. "EXe7oi', imperfect, of
{repeated discourse ; cf. I. Ui. 4.
The first person singular in this reminder interrupts the plural
pervading the Letter, and only appears again in iii. 17. St Paul's
self-consoiousness comes to the surface. What had been said on
this mysterious and awful subject came from the principal writer
(see i. 1), who had dealt with it on his own distinct authority;
whereas in I. iii. 4 and in I. iv. 15 — passages in different ways
parallel to this — the communicative plural was used, no such personal
distinctiveness of teaching being implied : cf. notes on the singular of
I. ii. 18, iii. 5, v. 27 ; and Introd. pp. xxxix. f.
The reminder gently reproves the readers, who should not have
been so easily disturbed by the alarmists, after what the Apostle had
told them ; it obviates further explanation in writing on a subject
bordering upon politics, the more expUoit treatment of which might
have exposed the missionaries to a renewal in more dangerous form

2 6] NOTES. i75
of the charges that led to their expulsion from Thessalonica: see
Aots xvi. 6 f. ; Introd. pp. xxix. f. St Paul's enemies would be quick
to seize on anything calculated to compromise him with the Eoman
Government. 6. Kal vuv to Karexov olSaTe. And for thl present, you know
the thing that withholds. Kai vvv might be construed with olda, or
the like, describing a present knowledge due to past instruction,
whether immediate or more distant : of. Jo. viii. 52, xvi. 30 ; Acts
xu. 11, xx. 25 ; also I. iii. 8. At the same time, vvv rb xarixov does not
stand for rd vvv xarixov, as some read it (d xarixuv apn, v. 7, is differ
ent) ; but practically the same sense is arrived at by reading ko! vvv
as equal to koI Td vvv (cf. Acts iii. 17 with iv. 29, v. 38 ; xx. 22 with 32 ;
Td vvv is never found in St Paul), and for the present, in contrast
with the future droxdXvipis iv rif xaipif airov of vv. 3, 6, 8. The
stress thrown by v. 7 on the actual, contemporary working (r)Srj,
&pn; see notes) of rd pvarijpiov tijs dvoplas points decidedly to this
rendering of the emphaticaUy placed temporal adverb (cf. Jo. iv. 18) ;
see Lightfoot and Bornemann ad loc.
'To xarixov otSare, — not "you know what it is that withholds"; but
"you know the withholding thing" : the restraint is something within
the range of the readers' experience ; they are acquainted with it, apart
from their having been told of it by the Apostle; cf. I. H. 1 f., iU. 4;
1 Cor. xvi. 15, cfec. We have not, therefore, to look far afield for the
bar then in the way of the Man of Lawlessness. Further definition
is needless, and might have been dangerous on the writers' part ;
verbum sapientibus sat. Td xarixov becomes d Karixuv in v. 7 — here
a principle or power, there a personal agency, as with Td pvarrjpiov
and d dvBpuros rrjs avopias. For the interpretation of the phrase, see
the next verse. For the adverse sense of Karixu, see note on I. v. 21
(otherwise appUed in that passage); cf. Eom. i. 18, vii. 6. The
classical use of the neuter participle as a substantive is elsewhere
confined to St Luke in the N.T. ; see Lk. i. 35, ii. 27, iv. 16, cfec.
els to diroKaXv<f>8rjvai avTov ev tu avTOv Kaipu, to the end that he
(viz. d dvBpuros tijs dvoplas, vv. 3 f.) may be revealed in his season.
For els to with infinitive, blending purpose and result, cf. v. 2, and
note on I. ii. 12. For xaipbs, see I. v. 1, and note: "the Lawless
One" has "his season," the time fit and appointed for him in the
development of events and in the counsels of God — one of the series
of Kaipoi of which the Thessalonians had vainly desired to have the
chronology. Antichrist has his set time, corresponding to that ttjs
eiriciaeeias rod xvpiov ijpuv 'Iijoov Xpiarov, ijv xaipois ISiois deifei d

176 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 6—
paxdpios xal pbvos Svvdarrjs, 1 Tim. vi. 14 f. The restraining power
so operates as to hold back and put bounds to human lawlessness,
untU the hour strikes for its final outbreak in the Man of Law
lessness and the revelation of all its hidden potencies. This order
of things belongs to God's purposes. If He allows moral evil
to exist in His creatures (and its possibility is inseparable from
moral freedom), yet He knows how to control its activity, till the
time when its fuU manifestation will best subserve its overthrow and
judgement. The Jewish Law had also been in the Apostle's view, and
under the same theory of a Divine control and overruling of sin for
its final extinction, a xarixov and yet a Sivapis rijs ajxaprlas for its
sphere and age, preparing for and leading up to the Kaipds tou
Xpiarov: see Gal. iii. 19—24; Eom. v. 13, 20 f.; 1 Cor. xv. 56. The
Kaipds tou dvbpov will be the last and worst of many such crises, chief
amongst which was that of Lk. xxii. 53 : " This is your hour (ipuv r)
wpa) and the power of darkness"; cf. again 1 Tim. iv. 1.
7. to ydp pvTTijpiov i']St) Ivepyeirai ttjs dvopCas. For the mystery
is already working (or set in operation) — (that) of lawlessness. For
ivepyeirai, see note on I. ii. 13. Verse 7 explains (7dp) v. 6; at
present the Lawless One is held back till the fit time, "for he is
already here in principle, operative as a mystery awaiting revelation,
and checked so long as the withholder stands in the way" (see notes
on v. 6). NDk is nunc, now, at this time ; rjSrj, jam, already, by this
time ; dpn, in prcesenti, just now or then, at the moment : tor rjSrj, of.
further 1 Cor. iv. 8, v. 3 ; Phil. iii. 12 ; 2 Tim. ii. 18, iv. 6 ; 1 Jo.
iv. 3. The sentence identifies the present hidden with the future
open and unrestrained working of the forces embodied in d dvopos.
Td pvorijpiov, correlative with droxaXvtpBrjvai (as in Eom. xvi. 25 ;
1 Cor. ii. 7—10, xiv. 2; Eph. iii. 3, 9 f.; Col. i. 26; Bev. i. 1, 19 f.),
is, like that, a term proper to the things of God and the manifestation
of Christ, appropriated here to the master-work of Satan and the ap
pearing of the Man of Lawlessness ; cf. note on v. 3 (diroKoXu^dJ).
(Td pvarrjpiov, in St Paul's dialect, is not something strange and hard
ko understand; nor is it some secret reserved, like the Mysteries
/of Greek Paganism or of Jewish Alexandrian or Essenic esoteric
/ systems, for the initiated few ; it denotes that which is by its nature
I above man's reason, and is therefore known only as and when God
/ is pleased to reveal it (vv. 6, 8) ; 1 Cor. ii. 6 — 16 sets the PauUne
use of the word in a full light : see the Note ad rem in J. A.
Eobinson's Ephesians, pp. 234 ff. In the Book of Daniel, pvarijpiov
(LXX : rendered "secret") first appears in its distinct BibUcal sense;

2 7] NOTES. 177
then in Wisdom ii. 22, vi. 24, cfeo. In the Gospels (Matt. xiii. 11 and
paraUels) the word is once cited from the lips of Jesus, referring to the
truths conveyed to disciples but veiled from others by His parables.
So monstrous and enormous are the possibilities of sin in humanity,
that with all we know of its working the character of the Man of
Lawlessness remains incomprehensible beforehand. The history of
Sin, hke that of Divine Grace, is fuU of surprises.
pdvov d Ktxri\av apn eus Ik plo-ov ylvijTai : only (there is) the
withholder for the present, until he be taken out of the way. Again
a hiatus in the Greek, as in v. 3, an incoherence of expression very
natural in a letter written by dictation, and due seemingly to the
excitement raised by the apparition of d dvBpuros rijs dvoplas before
the writer's gaze. "Apri quaUfies d xarixuv : the restraint at present
in exercise holds down (xarixu, as in Bom. i. 18) lawlessness, and veUs
its nature by limiting its activity, until d Kaipds rod dvbpov (v. 6)
shall arrive. "Apri (see note on rjSn above; also on I. iii. 6) indicates*
a particular juncture, or epoch ; it suggests a brief transitional period, J
such as St Paul, without claiming certain knowledge, was inclined to
suppose the current Christian dispensation to be ; see note on I. iv.
15, also 1 Cor. vU. 29, cfec "Eus and synonymous conjunctions, often
in classical Greek and more often than not in the N.T., dispense with
dv in governing the subjunctive of contingency, — perhaps after the
analogy of iva ; see Winer-Moulton, p. 371, A. Buttmann, N. T.
Grammar, pp. 230 f. For ix piaov, et. 1 Cor. v. 2; 2 Cor. vi. 17;
Col. ii. 14 (ix tov piaov, classical) ; and contrast I. ii. 7.
On d xarixuv, see note to rb xarixov, v. 6. WhUe the restrainer
and the object of restraint are each expressed in both personal and
impersonal form, it is noticeable that the former appears as pri
marily impersonal, while the latter is predominantly personal : the
writers contemplate the power of lawlessness in its ultimate mani
festation, as embodied in a supreme human antagonist of Christ ;
whereas the restraint delaying Antichrist's appearance appears to be
conceived as an influence or principle, which at the same time may be
personally represented. It is better therefore to render d xarixuv "he
that restraineth," rather than "one that restraineth" (E.V.); the ex
pression seems to signify a class, not an individual : cf . Eph. iv. 28.
Where then are we to look, amongst the influences dominant at
the time and known to the readers, for the check and bridle of
lawlessness? where but to law itself,— Staat und Gesetz (J. A. Dorner) ?
For this power the Apostle Paul had a profound respect ; he taught
that al ovaai i^ovalat were dird 0eou reraypivai (Bom. xiii. 1 — 7).
Silvanus and himself were citizens of Borne, and had reason to value
Thess. M

178 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 7—
the protection of her laws ; see Aots xvi. 35—39, xxii. 23—29, xxv.
10 — 12. About this time he was finding in the upright Proconsul
Gallio a shield from the lawlessness of the Jewish mob at Corinth ;
the Thessalonian "politarchs" at least made some show of doing him
justice (Acts xvii. 5—9). St Paul's political acumen, guided by his
prophetical inspiration, was competent to distinguish between the
character and personal action of the Emperor-god and the grand
fabric of the Eoman Empire over which he presided.
As head of the civil State, the reigning Augustus was the im
personation of law, while in his character as a man, and in his
assumptions of deity, he might be the type of the most profane
and wanton lawlessness (witness Caligula, Nero, Elagabalus). Eoman
law and the authority of the magistrate formed a breakwater against
the excesses of autocratic tyranny as well as of popular violence.
The absolutism of the bad Caesars had after all its limit; their
despotic power trampled on the laws, and was yet restrained by
them. Imagine a Nero master of the civilized world and adored as
a god, with all respect for civU justice destroyed in the action of the
powers of the State, and St Paul's "mystery of lawlessness" would
be amply "revealed." Despite rd xarixov apn, the reign of Nero,
following in a few years the writing of this Letter, showed to what
incredible lengths the idolatry of a wicked human will may be carried,
in the decay of religion and the general decline of moral courage which
this entails. This monster of depravity, " the lion " of 2 Tim. iv. 17,
stood for the portrait of "the wild beast" in St John's Apocalypse,
which carried forward St Paul's image of "the lawless one," even as
the latter took up Daniel's idea of the godless king impersonated in
Antiochus Epiphanes. Dollinger, seeing in Nero St Paul's d dvBpuros
rrjs avopias, regarded Claudius, the reigning emperor, as d xarixuv —
scil. preventing, while he lived, Nero's accession — because of the re
semblance of his name to claudens, a Latin equivalent for xarexuv :
but this ascribes to the Apostle an unlikely kind of foresight ; and
it credits him with a pun (made in Latin too, though he is writing
in Greek) quite out of keeping with the solemnity of the subject.
(Askwith identifies Claudius and his policy with d xarixuv, rb xarixov,
inasmuch as he rescinded the edict of Caligula.) Nero feU ; and the
Boman State remained, to be the restrainer of lawlessness and, so far,
a protector of infant Christianity. Wiser rulers and better times were
in store for the Empire. Through ages the xarixov of the Apostolic
times has proved a bulwark of society. In the crisis of the 8th century
"the laws of Borne saved Christianity from Saracen dominion more
than the armies.... The torrent of Mohammedan invasion was ar-

2 8] NOTES. 179
rested" for 700 years. "As long as Boman law was oultivated ¦ in
the Empire and administered under proper control, the invaders of
Byzantine territory were everywhere unsuccessful" (Finlay, History
of Byzantine Empire, pp. 27 f.). Nor did Boman Law fall with the
Empire itself, any more than it rose therefrom. It allied itself with
Christianity, and has thus become largely the parent of the legal
systems of Christendom. Meanwhile Casarism also survives, a
second legacy from Borne and a word of evil omen, the title and
model of iUegal sovereignty. The lawlessness of human nature
holds this "mystery" in solution, ready to precipitate, itself and
" to be revealed at the last season." The mystery betrays its working
in partial and transitional manifestations, untU "in its season" it
crystaUizes into its complete expression. Let reverence for law
disappear in public Ufe along with reUgious faith, and there is
nothing to prevent a new Caesar becoming master and god of the
civilized world, armed with immensely greater power. For other
interpretations given to d xarixuv, see the Appendix.
8. Kal Tore dxroKaXvcpdijcreTai d dvopos. And then (not before) shall
be revealed the Lawless One : this sentence resumes vv. 3, 4, in the
light of v. 7 b. Kal rdre, — by contrast with the foregoing vvv, rjSrj,
dpn, as in 1 Cor. iv. 5 (note also the previous eus), xiii. 12 ; with
vvv following, Eom. vi. 21, Gal. iv. 8f., 29. '0 dvBpuros ttjs dvoplas
(v. 3), the principle of whose existence operated in rd pvartjpiov rrjs
dvoplas (v. 7), is briefly designated d dvopos, just as the heathen,
genetically, are oi dvopol (Acts ii. 23 ; 1 Cor. ix. 21, cfec). For
droKaXvipBrjaeTai, see notes on vv. 3, 6 ; and in its relation to pvavtj-
piov, v. 7. Thrice, with persistent emphasis, diroKaXdm-eo-flai is as
serted of d dvopos, as of some portentous, unearthly object holding
the gazer spell-bound. His manifestation will be signal, and un
mistakable in its import to those whose eyes are not closed by "the
deceit of unrighteousness" (v. 10); "the mystery of lawlessness" will
now stand "revealed."
ov d Kdpios ['It|o-ovs] dveXei (or dvaXoi) Tip irvedpaTi tov ordpaTos
avTov, whom the Lord [Jesus] will slay (or consume) by the breath
of His mouth. So that d dvopos has scarcely appeared in his full
Satanic character and pretensions, when he is swept away by the
Eedeemer's advent. The sentence is a reminiscence of Isai. xi. 4,
where it is said of the " shoot from the stock of Jesse," irardf ei yijv rip
Xbyu tov arbparos airov (Heb. l'S D3B>3, " by the rod of His mouth")
xal iv rveipan did x«XeW dveXei daefiij (LXX) — the daej3r)s of that
passage becomes the dco/ios of this : cf. Job iv. 9, dird rveiparos ipyrjs
airov dtpaviaBrjaovrai ; also Isai. xxx. 33, JV}B| 71133 fllPP flDBO
M2

i8o 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 8—
("the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone"), Ps. xvin. 8,
xxi. 9, for theophanies of fiery destruotiveness. Later Jewish teach
ing identified the daej3rjs of Is. xi. 4 with Armillus (or Armalgus), the
Anti-messiah ; see Appendix, pp. 218 f. The terrible metaphor is in
keeping with the language of i. 7 f. above, droKdXvipis ...iv rvpl
ipXoybs. Td rvevpa (synon. with Xd7os of Isai. xi. 4) rod arbparos
airov is not conceived as a physical agent: "the word" or "breath"
— the judicial sentence — issuing " from the mouth" of the Lord, has
an annihilating effect on the power of the dvopos, even as the O.T.
Xdyos Kupiou, or irveuua tou arbparos airov (Ps. xxxii. 6, LXX ; cf.
Ps. oiii. 30), operated creatively in the making of the world. As
the sight of the Lord Jesus brings punishment on the cruel perse
cutors of His saints (i. 9), so the breath of His mouth suffices to lay
low the Titanic Antichrist ; " a word shall quickly slay him."
Kal Karapyrjcrei tjj liri<paveCa ttjs Trapouo-Cas avTov, and will abolish
by the apparition of His coming. 'Erupdveia denotes a signal, often
a sudden appearance, the coming into sight of that which was pre
viously, or commonly, hidden. The word recurs in the Pastoral Epp.,
appUed once to the First Advent, 2 Tim. i. 10 ; and four times to the
Second (in place of rapovala), 1 Tim. vi. 14, Tit. ii. 13, 2 Tim. iv. 1, 8.
'Eiri^oKiis, in Acts H. 20 (from the LXX, Joel ii. 31), is rendered
"notable"; the verb iritpaivopai occurs in Tit. ii. 11, iii. 4, in like
connexion. Bengel paraphrases the expression, "prima ipsius ad-
ventus emicatio," — "the first dawn of the advent." This noun belongs
to later Greek: it is used of the "dawning of day" (Polybius), of
the starting into sight of an enemy, of the apparition of gods to
their worshippers, &o. ; " dictum de Imperatoris, quasi dei appari-
tione, aocessione ad regnum" (Herwerden, Lexicon Gracum supple-
torium) ; much employed by the Greek Fathers in appUoation to the
various appearances of Christ. The Latin translators see in irupdveia
the brightness of the Advent (cf . iv rvpl ipXoybs, v. 7) : " illustrations
adventus sui" (Vulg.), "illuminatione prassentiae suae" (Augustine);
simuarly Erasmus, "ut accipias claritate Christi advenientis obscura-
tum iri Antichristum." For rapovala, see note on I. U. 19.
KaTapyeu, a favourite word of St Paul's — found once in Euripides,
then in Polybius, four times in 2 Esdras (LXX) — signifies by ety
mology to make idle (dpybs, d-epybs), inoperative, so to bring to
nought, destroy, a thing or person in respect of power and efficacy,
to make void, annul : cf., besides instances above, Lk. xiii. 7; Heb.
ii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 24; Gal. v. 11. Severianus aptly says, recalling
Col. iii. 4, fuf)s oipavbBev tpavepovpAvrjs, dSivarov pij KarapyrjBrjvai rbv

2 9] NOTES. 181
rod Bavdrov rpb^evov. For the whole verse, of. the description of
Christ in Eev. i. 16 f. : ix rod arbparos airov bopipala Slaropos d|eid
ixropeuopivrj, xal i) oipis airov us d rjXios tpalvel iv t-q Swdpei airov'
xal tire etSov ainbv ireaa...i)s vexpbs; for the former part of it, Eev.
xix. 15. St Paul may be thinking here, as in i. 7 f. (see note), of
the sudden light and arresting voioe by which the Lord Jesus was
revealed to himself (Acts ix. 3, xxH. 6). Theodore paraphrases the
verse in a striking fashion : i^aiipvijs dir' oipavuv ipavels d xp'o-rbs xal
pbvov impoijaas raiaei Ttjs ipyaalas, SXov airov dvaXtiaas (ei. dvaXoi in
text above).
9. od IcttIv t) irapouo-Ca Kar Ivipyeiav tov Saravd, whose coming
is (or who has his coming) according to Satan's working. The rapovala
of the Lord Jesus (v. 8 b) recaUs the rapovala of His "adversary"
and false counterpart (see v. 4 and notes), which is further set forth
in its manner (Kard), and accompaniments (iv), as "in accordance
with (in the way or fashion of) a working of Satan" — being such
a rapovala as might be expected from such a source — and "in aU
manner of power and signs and wonders. ..and in all deceit," Sec.
The ivipyeia tov 2arava (in respect of its agent) is an ivipyeia rXdvrjsA
in respect of its method, v. 11 ; Antichrist's rapovala is, on the part f
of "the god of this world," a kind of mocking prelude to Christ's.
This noun and the corresponding verb ivepyiu (-iopai, I. ii. 13 : see
note) frequently have God or Divine powers for subject : see 1 Cor.
xn. 6; Gal. U. 8, Ui. 5; Eph. i. 11, 19 f., iii. 20; Phil. U. 13, Sec
As distinguished from Sivapis and ioxds (see note on v. 9), ivipyeia ,
means power in operation ("efficaoia Satanae," Beza). " Satan" holdsy
toward Antichrist a relation analogous, in a shocking sense, to that
of God toward Christ; the systematic and, as one might suppose,
calculated adoption by Antichrist of the attributes of Christ is the
most appaUing feature in the whole representation. Even as God iv-
i)pyi)Kev iv rip xpwrip (Eph. i. 20), "by powers and wonders and signs "
crowned in His resurrection (Acts n. 22 — 24), Satan will find his
supreme droxdXvpis in the Antichrist ("diabolioam apostasiam in se
reoapitulans," Irenaeus ;" medius inter Satanam et perditos homines,"
Bengel), and wUl furnish him with Sivapis Kal arjpeia k.t.X. to match.
With d Sotokos we must associate d dvriKelpevos of v. 4 ; see note.
The series of terms in which the counterfeiting of Christ by Anti
christ is indicated (see droSeiKvivra iavrov tin iariv Bebs, droKaXvipBrjvai,
u,vaTijpiov , ivepyeirai, rapovala) concludes Iv irdo-rj Swdpei Kal cnjpeCois
Kal Te'pao-i, — the three expressions applied to the miracles of our
Lord and His Apostles: see Mk vi. 2; Lk. xix. 37; Jo. iii. 2;

182 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 9—
Acts ii. 22; Bom. xv. 19; 2 Cor. xii. 12; Heb. ii. 4, where they
are variously combined. Of the three, aijpeiov is commonest, esp.
in St John's Gospel; occasionally arjpeia and ripara are coupled
together, somewhat frequently in Acts — ripara is never used in the
Gospels of the actual works of Jesus; Sivapis {-eis, rendered in the
plur., by B.V., "mighty works") is most frequent in the Synoptics.
Aivapis names the miracle from its cause, the supernatural force acting
in it; anpeiov from its meaning, its significance; repas, portentum,
prodigium, miraculum, from its abnormal nature and the astonishment
it arouses. It is unfortunate that the "miracles" of Divine revelation
have taken their modern name (through the Latin) from the last, which
is the rarest and least characteristic of these synonyms ; see Trench's
Syn. § 91, also Ore the Miracles, chap. i. The three terms might
constitute a collective idea, with roan at the beginning indicating the
number and variety of Antichrist's "signs," and ^eddous at the end
qualifying them unitedly (Lightfoot) ; but — since Sivapis is singular,
and rarely has this concrete sense except in the plural — we may
better render the phrase : in all power — both signs and wonders of
falsehood (cf. Eom. xv. 19, iv Swdpei arjpeluv xal repdruv; also i. 11,
I. i. 5, Bom. i. 4, Col. i. 11, 29, for iv Swdpei). 4reiSovs, the genitive
noun of quality, does not (like ipeiSeaiv) stigmatize these as "false,"
i.e. pretended miracles (with no supernatural Sivapis behind them) ;
but as "of falsehood," belonging to this realm, to the sphere of him
who is speiarns xal ra-rijp airov (Jo. vin. 44), and serving his ends ;
they are signs attesting and suitable to a \pevSos, as our Lord's miracles
attest and are suitable to i) dXijBeia : ei. Jo. Ui. 2, x. 32, xiv. 10 f.,
xx. 30 f. These marks of Antichrist's coming were predicted by Jesus
of the \pevSbxpiaTOi and ipevSorpotpryrai (Matt. xxiv. 24 f. ; Mk xiii. 22), —
arjpeia peydXa xal ripara uare rXavijaai, el Svvarbv, xal tovs ixXeKrois.
The Apocalypse ascribes them, in ch. xiii. 11 — 14, to the second WUd
Beast with his "lamb-like horns" and his dragon-like speech, — the
Dragon aping the Lamb. Miracles are never in Scripture made as
such — apart from their moral character and aim — the proof of a
Divine mission; see Deut. xiii. 1 — 5. This weighty iv clause must be
attached to eVri;', not to ivipyeiav, and forms indeed its principal
complement. 10 a. Already cumulative, the predicate is further extended by Kal
ev irdo-rj drrdTi) dSiKCas tois diroXXvpevois (this clause belongs to v. 9),
and in all deceit of unrighteousness for the perishing, — words describ
ing the subjective effect, as iv rdan Swdpei k.t.X. describes the ob
jective nature, of Satan's working in the Antichrist. Ildarj indicates

2 10] NOTES. 183
a manifoldness of deception corresponding to the manifold forms of
the deceiving agency, rdarj Swdpei k.t.X. 'Ardrn aSixlas, construed
simUarly to eiSoxla dyaBuaivrjs in i. 11 (see note), means such "deceit"
as belongs to "unrighteousness," as it is wont to employ — subjective
genitive, not unlike cn;ueia...r'ed8ous above. 'Airdrij is the active and
concrete "deceit," not " deoeivableness " (A. V.), nor " deceitfulness "
(elsewhere in A.V.): see Matt. xiii. 22; Eph. iv. 22 ; Col. ii. 8; Heb.
iii. 13. On dSixia, the comprehensive term for wrong, wrong-doing,
as between persons — synon. with dvopla (v. 8), which is wrong as
committed against sovereign law — see further v. 12 ; it is oonneoted
with \pevSos, as violation of conscience with perversion of intellect,
and opposed to dXijdeia here, much as in Bom. i. 18, ii, 8 ; 1 Cor.
xiu. 6.
Tois diroXXuueVois is the dative to drdrrj, of the persons concerned;
of., for the construction, 1 Cor. i. 18, rois d7roXXu/ieVois pupla iariv.
For the sense of drbXXvpai, cf. i. 8 f . ; also 1 Cor. xv. 18 ; 2 Cor. iv. 3 f.
(iv oh 0 Bebs tov aiuvos tovtov iritpXuaev rd vorjpara ruv drlaruv); Ph.
iii. 19. Oi diroXXu>evoi (see els to auBijvai foUowing), the opposite of oi
aufopevoi (1 Cor. i. 18 ; 2 Cor. ii. 15) ; the present participle connotes
their perdition as commenced and going on, in the loss of the sense
for truth and right and of receptiveness for God: cf. Bom. i. 18 ff.,
28 ff.; Eph. iv. 18 ff.; 1 Tim. vi. 5; 2 Tim. iii. 8; Tit. i. 15 f.; Heb.
x. 26 f. ; Jude 10 — 13. They foUow the guidance of d uids ttjs dirwXeios
(v. 3), and share his ruin. Satan's devices are deceit for the perishing,
for men without the life of God, whose spiritual perceptions are
destroyed through sin ; whUe the children of God escape the decep
tion, knowing how to "prove all things" (I. v. 21): cf., as to this
contrast, I. v. 4 f . ; 2 Cor. iv. 2 — 6 ; 1 Jo. iv. 1 — 6.
10 b. dvB' uv tt)v dydirnv ttjs dXrjBcCas ovk ISefjavro els to crwdrjvai
avTovs, because they did not receive the love of the truth to the end
they might be saved ; or "in requital of their refusal to entertain the
love of the truth," cfec. For Art?' ur (pro eo quod, Calvin), see Lk. i. 20,
xii. 3, xix. 44 ; Acts xii. 23 (also 3 Kingd. xi. 11, Joel iii. 5, in LXX ;
Xenophon); for drri of correspondence ('tit for tat'), cf. I. v. 15, cfec.
The dupes of Antichrist are treated after their kind ; as they would
not love truth, they shall not have truth, lies must be their portion :
cf. the lex talionis in i. 6f. ; also Ps. xviii. 26, cix. 17 ff.; Bev. xvi. 6,
and Matt. xxv. 29. For Sixopai, implying welcome, the opening of the
heart to what is offered, cf. I. i. 6, ii. 13, describing the .opposite
conduct of the Thessalonian readers.
'H dXr)6eia is not the moral quaUty, " truth " as sincerity in the

1 84 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 10—
person, but the objective reality — "the truth" coming from God in
Christ, viz. the Gospel, cfec: see vv. 12 f. ; Bom. i. 18, 25, ii. 8;
2 Cor. iv. 2 ; Gal. v. 7 ; Eph. iv. 24 ; Col. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; Jo. vin.
32, cfec. 'H dydrrj rrjs dXrjBetas is the bent of the mind toward the truth,
the setting of the heart upon it (of. Prov. ii. 2 ff., iv. 6, 13, Sec);
this affeotion those condemned oix iSi£avro, inasmuch as they refused
to entertain it, — they had no predilection for truth; "they loved
the darkness rather than the light " (Jo. iii. 19). 'A7oirT; in this
connexion is synonymous with eiSoxla (i. 12 : of. eddoKi/o-oi'res rjj
ddiKio, v. 12 below), but denotes the principle of affection, the radical
disposition of the mind, while eiSoxla signifies its consent and ex
pressed inclination; of. Bom. i. 32. For eis Td K.T.X., see notes on
v. 6 and on I. U. 12 : " that they should be saved " (see note on
auTijpla, I. v. 9) is the result of that embracing of " the truth "
offered in the Gospel, which these men refused to give; and such
refusal marks them out as ol droXXipevoi.
Verses 11, 12 draw out the consequence of the criminal unbelief
desoribed in dvB' uv k.t.X., affirming the terrible delusion above
described to be a visitation on God's part, and a Sixaiov irapd Beif
(ei. i. 6) — in fact a judicial infatuation. And since this fatal and
wide-spread deception is effected by the rapovala of Antichrist, that
coming, while it is the consummate manifestation of human sin and
Satanic power, is brought within the scope of the Divine counsels ;
it proves to be an instrument in God's sovereign hand. Cf. the
conclusion of Bom. ix. — xi., setting forth the judicial mipuais of
Israel : *0 j3dBos rXoirov koi aotplas Kal yvuaeus Beov' lis dve^epaivrjra
rd xplpara airov xal dve&xvlaoTOi al ddol airov.
11. Kal Sid tovto irlpirei avrois d Beds Ivipyeiav irXdvrjs. And
on this account God sends them a working of error. For did tovto,
and its backward reference, cf. I. ii. 13, iii. 5; xal consecutive,—
almost "so for this cause" (EUicott). Hiprei, present (see Textual
Note), by anticipation of the predicted certainty; or rather, as the
affirmation of a principle already at work (see v. 7) — what takes
place in the victims of Antichrist is seen every day on a smaller
scale. Adrbis is dative of persons concerned : irpds (or eis) with accus.,
in such connexion, denotes motion towards. '0 Bebs is emphatic by
position ; see note below. 'Evipyeta rXdvrjs is parallel to ivipyeia rod
"Sarava. v. 9, "Satan" being d rXavuv rijv olxovpivrjv (Bev. xii. 9,
xiii. 14, xx. 10; cf. Jo. viii. 44). On rXdvrj, see I. ii. 3; it is an active
principle, the opposite in its "working" of the Xdyos deov (I. ii. 13);
for ivipyeia, see note on v. 9. This rXdvv is the drdrrj dSixlas of v. 10

2 12] NOTES. 185
operative and taking effect, — the poison running in the veins ; it is
the ^eudos of Antichrist (see next clause) believed and followed.
What "God sends" is not "error" as such, but error used for cor
rection and with the train of moral consequences included in its
ivipyeia. This effeotual delusion God sends on wicked men to the very end,
foreseen by Him, ets to irio-Tevo-ai ovtovs ™ ipevSei, that they should
believe the lie. The question of Is. lxiii. 17 is inevitable : "0 Lord,
why dost Thou make us to err from Thy ways?" Td ipevSos — the
opposite of i) dXrjSeia (v. 10), the truth of God in the Gospel (cf. Eph.
iv. 25 ; 1 Jo. ii. 21) — in Bom. i. 25 taking the form of idolatry, is here
" the lie " par excellence, the last and crowning deception practised by
Satan in passing off the Lawless One as God (vv. 4, 9 f.). This pas
sage, in fact, ascribes to God the delusion that we have hitherto been
regarding as the masterpiece of Satan (cf. the contradiction of 2 Sam.
xxiv. 1 and 1 Chron. xxi. 1). Three things must be borne in mind in
reflecting upon this : (1) that Satan is never regarded in Scripture as an
independent power or rival deity of evil, like the Ahriman of Parsism.
However large the activity allowed him in this world, it is under
Divine control; see Job i., ii. ; 1 Cor. v. 5, x. 13, &c. (2) St Paul
teaches that sin works out its own punishment. In Eom. i. 24 ff. he
represents the loathsome vice of the Pagan world as a Divine
chastisement for its long-continued idolatry: "For this cause God
sends effectual delusion," is paraUel to "For this cause God gave
them up to vile passions." In each case the result is inevitable,
and comes about by what we call a natural law. That a persistent
rejection of truth destroys the sense for truth and results in fatal
error, is an ethical principle and a fact of experience as certain as
any in the world. Now he who believes in God as the Moral Buler of
the universe, knows that its laws are the expression of His wiU.
Since this delusion, set on foot by Satan, is the moral consequence
in those who receive it of previous and wilful refusal of the light of
truth, it is manifest that God is here at work ; He makes Satan and
the Lawless One instruments in punishing false-hearted men ; cf.
Ezek. xiv. 9, and 1 Kings xxii. (3) The advents of Christ and of
Antichrist are linked together (w. 3, 9) ; they are parts of the same
great process and drama of judgement, and the deceivers will suffer
heavier punishment than the deceived: cf. Eev. xx. 10. God, who
" sends a working of error " in the Antichrist, will quickly send the
Christ to put a stop to the delusion and to "destroy" its author by
His sudden and glorious coming (v. 8, i. 7 — 9).
12. I'va KpiBucriv iraVTes, that they might be judged, all (of them) —

i86 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 12—
or, all (of them) together (drravTes). "Iva xpiBuaiv is parallel to eis
rd eii'ai...di'airoXo7T)Tous of Bom. i. 20 (this whole passage, as Borne
mann points out, is full of parallels — some manifest, others recondite
— with Bom. i. 18 — 32, both in expression and thought). For the
opposite purpose on God's part, see vv. 13 f., i. 10 ; I. v. 9, cfec All
God's dispensations, in dealing both with good and evil men, have
this aim, and find their terminus in "the day of the Lord": cf.
Eom. ii. 5—16, xiv. 10 f. ; 1 Cor. iv. 5 ; 2 Cor. v. 9 f . ; Acts xvii.
30 f., cfec
Hdvres : " late ergo et diu et vehementer grassatur error ille "
(Bengel). If the ivipyeia rXdvrjs and the \peSSos in question belong
specifically to the rapovala of Antichrist, Bengel's diu is scarcely
justified : Antiohrist is but " revealed," when his destruction comes
(v. 8); his appearance signals to the Church her Lord's approach
(v. 3). Granting dravres the true reading (see Textual Note), then
this judgement comes sweepingly, it descends on the deceived all
together, in a body; for the delusion of Antichrist takes effect every
where; this is the one thing in which the enemies of Christ agree,
and serves as a crucial test of their character : of. rd xdpaypa rod
Bijplov (Bev. xiii. 3, 16, See.), and its universal currency.
* "Judgement" implies here condemnation, as in Bom. ii. 1, 3, iii. 7,
1 Cor. xi. 31 f., &c; the point of the statement Ues not in the nature
of the sentence passed, but in the judicial purpose of God's control
ling action in the case. The subjects of this judgement of God are
defined almost in the terms of v. 10 : oi pij irio-Tedo-avTes TJJ dXr|9e£a.
recalls rrjs dXrjBelas; tjj dSiKCa repeats rrjs dSixlas of that passage;
while dXXd evSoKijcraVTes x.t.X. echoes oix iSQavro rrjv dydrrjv : who
did not believe the truth, but had a good-will toward unrighteousness.
Cf. with the two clauses respectively, Bom. i. 18, 28, and 32 (edSoKri-
aavres k.t.X., the climax of the denunciation) ; also Bom. ii. 8, for the
whole expression. EddoKeu is construed elsewhere with iv, importing
the element in which the satisfaction lies ; here only in N.T. with
dative (soil, of interest, i.e. favour, inclination to, being parallel to
mareiaavres rrj dXrjB.) : the same construction is found in 1 Mace.
i. 43, and in Polybius. "Obedience to unrighteousness," instead of
"truth" (Bom. n. 8), is the practical expression of "favour (inclina
tion) toward unrighteousness," which excludes "faith in the truth."
The men described are such as sin not through force of passion or
example or habit, but out of deUght in wrong ; " the light that is in "
themhas "become darkness "; evil is their good. They are credulous
of what falls in with their inclination: "the Man of Lawlessness"
is welcomed as their Messiah and God ; his advent is the Avatar of

2 U3J NOT JUS. I»7
their hopes. Their reception of "the adversary" is itself a terrible
judgement upon misbelievers, proving a touchstone of their falsehood
of heart and leaving them open, without excuse, to the speedy con
demnation of Christ's tribunal. Men without love of truth naturally
believe the lie when it comes ; there is nothing else for them. As
Christ came at first "for judgement into this world" (Jo. ix. 39, cfec),
by His presence discriminating the lovers of truth and falsehood, so
will it be, in the opposite sense, at Antichrist's coming. He attracts
his like ; and the attraction is evidenoe of character. This is not,
however, as yet the Last Judgement ; it is possible that some, under
this retribution, may repent even at the eleventh hour, seeing how
shameful is the delusion into which they have fallen by rejecting
Christ. § 4. U. 13 — Hi. 5. Words of Comfort and Prayer.
Solatium post prcedictionem rerum tristium (Bengel). Turning from
the awful apparition of Antichrist, the writers with a sigh of relief
join in thanksgiving for those who will " prevail to escape all these
things that shaU come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man "
(Lk. xxi. 36). (a) Thanksgiving for the happier lot awaiting the j
Christian readers (vv. 13 f.) passes (6) into exhortation that they j
should hold fast the treasure they possess (v. 15), which is followed j
(c) by prayer to this effect (vv. 16 f.). With this supplication the \
Letter, in its main intent, is complete and might have appropriately
closed at the end of chap. ii. But in praying for their readers the
Apostles are reminded (d) of their need for prayer on their own behalf,
to which they exhort the readers in turn (iii. 1 f.) ; and this appeal for
prayer throws the writers' thoughts (e) upon the fidelity of God to His
purpose of grace in the readers (vv. 3 f.), for whom (/) the Apostles'
intercession is renewed (v. 5). Discursiveness is natural in the free
outpouring of heart between friends and friends ; it is a sign of
unstudied epistolary genuineness. There is nothing incoherent, nor
an irrelevant word. The passage grows out of the last section, to
which it forms a counterpart, beginning with Si of contrast and
marked by a train of expressions antithetical to those there occur
ring. The contrast delineated between the foUowers of Antichrist
(vv. 10 — 12) and of Christ (vv. 13 f.) is paraUel to that exhibited in
I. v. 1-11.
13. 'Hpets Se dipeCXopev edxapiareiv ™ fleu iravroTe irepl vpuv.
But, for our part, we are bound to give thanks to God always for you :
a nearly verbatim reproduction of the opening words of the Epistle ;
see notes on i. 3. The repeated StpelXopev betrays in the missionaries

i88 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 1 13
a keen sense of personal debt for the support given them at t/iu's
juncture by the faith of the Thessalonian Church ; cf., in explanat^ ioa
of this, I. i. 8, Hi. 8 f. Hence also the emphatic ijpeis prefacing.
btpeiXopev, where we might have looked for irepi Si ipuv at the head of
the sentence, to supply the main subject of the paragraph in contrast
with o! droXXipevoi, ol pi) riareiaavres x.t.X., of the foregoing: cf.
I. v. 4 ; Eph. iv. 20 ; also Heb. vi. 9. Contemplating the revelation
of the Lawless One and the multitude of his dupes, the Apostles
reaUze their deep obligation to God for the certainty that their Thessa
lonian brethren are of another disposition and have a happier destiny
assured them. Ilepl vp&v is emphasized by the terms that foUow : —
dSeXipol r)7aTn]plvoi vird Kvpiov, brethren beloved by the Lord. In
the eixapiarla of I. i. 2 — 4, cfec — and precisely at the same point, viz.
in grounding their position as Christians upon the Divine ixXoyt)
(etXaro...b Bebs. ..els aurnplav) — the Thessalonians were addressed as
"brethren beloved by God." " The Lord" is Christ, as distinguished
from " God" in the adjoining clauses ; see notes on I. ii. 1, and i. 12
above. Appalled by the thought of Antichrist, the Church finds in the
love of Christ her refuge (cf. Bom. viii. 35 — 39) ; since He is Kdpios,
His love has at its command Divine power (i. 7 f.) ; to " the Lord "
(Jesus), their strong Protector, the Apostles forthwith commit these
persecuted "brethren" (see vv. 16 f., Hi. 3,5). St Paul is probably
reminding himself in this expression of the ancient blessing upon
Benjamin, his own tribe, pronounced in Deut. xxxiii. 12 : " The
beloved of the Lord (ijyarrjpivos dird Kupiou, LXX) shall dwell in
safety by Him ; He oovereth him aU the day long, and he dwelleth
between His shoulders."
on etXaro ipds d Beds dir dpxrjs (or dTrapxijv) els o-uTijpCav, in thal\
God chose you from the beginning (or as a firstfruit) unto salvation : a
reaffirmation of elSbres...Trjv iKXoyijv vpuv, I. i. 4; see notes. EiXaro
is used of the "choice" of Israel for Jehovah's people in Deut.
vii. 6 f. and x. 15 (rpoelXero) ; in xxvi. 18 f. (LXX) it stands, Kdpios_
etXoTd ae aijpepov yevioBal ae airf Xabv repioiaiov ...elval ae Xabv ayiov ,
Kupiu rip Beip aov. Deut. vii. 8 accounts for this in the words, irapd rd
d7airoi' Kipiov ipas (of. previous note). As respects the purpose of the
choice (els aurnplav), the verse is parallel to I. v. 9, oix. ..els ipyijv dXXd
eis repiroiijaiv aurrjplas ; see the note there on aurrjpla. Hence those
whom "God chose for salvation" are set in contrast with "the perish
ing," with those to whom "God sends an ivipyeiav rXdvijs in order
that they may be judged" (vv. 10 f.). Cf. with this also the paragraph
on "God's elect" in Bom. viii. 33 — 39. For on after eixapiariu, ei.

2 13] NOTES. 189
i. 3, I. ii. 13; for the hybrid aorist eiXaro — with its strong stem and
weak ending — see note on rpoelrapev, I. iv. 6.
. It is doubtful whether dir' dpxijs looks further back than to the
time when God's call in the Gospel reached the Thessalonians (cf.
Ph. iv. 15, iv dpxv T°d edaTyeXiou ; also 1 Jo. ii. 7, 24, iii. 11 ; Jo.
vi. 64, xv. 27, xvi. 4) ; without some indication in the context, the
readers would hardly think here of a pretemporal election. The
iKXoyi) of I. i. 4 was associated with the arrival of the Gospel at
Thessalonica (I. i. 5, 9). Then, practically and to human view,
"God chose" this people — i.e. tooA; them for His own out of tho evil
world in which they moved : of. the eiXoro a-ijpjepov of Deut. xxvi. 18.
Such " choice " is intrinsioaUy, and as the act of God's loving will,
'dir' aiuvos (Acts xv. 18). Hence in later Epp. the "beginning" is
traced to its spring, and its origin is seen in the Divine love "predes
tinating " its chosen " before the foundation of the world " (Eph. i.
4, cfec.) ; the relative is grounded in the absolute dir' dpxijs (1 Jo. i. 1) :
cf. the double dir' dpxrjs of 1 Jo. ii. 7, 13 f., 24. But the Apostles
speak here in the language of grateful remembrance, not of theological
contemplation. The marginal reading of WH, drapxrjv (primitias,
Vulg. ; see Textual Note), gives a thoroughly Pauline word — appUed
to persons in Bom. xi. 16, xvi. 5, 1 Cor. xv. 20, 23, xvi. 15 (also in
Jam. i. 18, Bev. xiv. 4) — and is quite suitable to the Thessalonian
Christians, since they were along with the Philippians the " first
fruit," in comparison with Achaia and Corinth (cf. I. i. 7 ff.), of the
present mission.
iv dyuurpiji irvevparos Kal rrCo-rei dXr|6e(as, in sanctification of spirit
(or of the Spirit) and faith in (the) truth: an adjunct not to eHXaro, '
/hut to aurnplav (for simUar iv clauses attached to verbal nouns, see
LJ^ljjy^l^y^JJj^mjy J7f above). " Salvation " is defined in its
subjective ground and factors — "God chose you to a salvation opera
tive and realized in sanctification and faith " : by the same signs the
Apostles "know the election " of their Thessalonian converts (I. i. 3 —
\7 ; cf. iv. 7) ; on these conditions rests the aurrjpla spoken of in
I. v. 9. 'Edv pelvuaiv iv rlarei...Kal dyiaapip, 1 Tim. ii. 15, presents
the same conditions in the reverse order. For dyiaapbs, see notes on
L_Hi_J3 (dyiuo-iii'ri) and iv. 3, 7.
ILved/iaTos may be (a) subjective genitive — " sanctification proceeding
from (wrought by) the Spirit (of God) " : cf. I. iv. 7 f., Eom. xv. 16,
1 Cor. iii. 16 f. ; and the formal parallel in 1 Pet. i. 2. See I. i. 6,
Bom. v. 5, vUi. 2, 23, 1 Cor. vi. 11, xii. 3, 13, 2 Cor. i. 22, Gal. iii.
3, Eph. i. 13, iv. 30, Tit. Ui. 5, for the offices of the Holy Spirit in
the initiation and first movements of the Christian Ufe. But (6) the

i9o 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 13-
word gives a sense equaUy good in itself if understood as objective
genitive — "sanctification of (your) spirit": thus read, the phrase
recaUs the memorable prayer of I. v. 23, d 0eds...d7id(rai vpas. ..Kal...
bXbKXnpov vpuv rb rvevpa k.t.X. dpiprrus. ..TijpnjBelr) ; on this construc
tion, sanctification is viewed as an inward state of the readers, leading
them to complete salvation at the coming of Christ, just as "unbelief
of the truth and delight in unrighteousness " (v. 12) wiU bring " the
perishing" to ruin through the fascination of Antichrist. This patent
antithesis inclines one, after Estius (" annua, in qua sanctitatis donum
principaliter residet "), to adopt (ft), notwithstanding the preference of
most commentators for (a) : contrast poXvapov aapxbs xal rveiparos,
2 Cor. vii. 1 ; and of. Eph. iv. 23. Add to this ruling consideration
the probability that the writer, if intending the Holy Spirit by irved-
paros, would for clearness have prefixed the article or attached to the
generic noun some distinguishing term ; and observe the fact that the
genitive is objective in the paraUel rlarei dXrjBelas. This ayiaapbs
rveiparos is complementary to the 07. aapxbs implied in I. iv. 3 — 8.
The objection that (interior) "sanctification of spirit" should follow
and not precede "faith in the truth," applies with equal force to
" sanctification by the Spirit " (cf. Gal. iii. 2) ; on the other hand,
" faith in the truth " in this context involves more than the initial faith
of conversion (I. i. 8, cfec), or "the reception of the truth on the part of
the person influenced " (Lightfoot) ; it signifies that habit of faithjby
which one adheres to the truth and so escapes the aVdr7f"adiKias
and ivipyeia rXdvrjs (vv. 10 f.), and includes the vropovij xal rlans (i. 4)
by virtue of which beUevers (oi iricrredoires) " staud fast": see next
verse; and cf. 2 Cor. i. 24, Col. ii. 5, cfec. Such abiding faith leads to
ultimate salvation ; it is co-ordinate with, not anterior to, sanctification.
14. els 0 eKaXeo-ev dpds Sid tov edayyeXCou rjpuv, to which end He
called you through our good tidings, i.e. "through the good news we
brought" : cf., for this genitive, I. i 5, and i. 10 above; also I. ii. 13,
Xdyox dxorjs rap' ijpuv tov Beov. Since "through our gospel" the
Thessalonians were called to salvation, "we are bound to give
thanks" on this behalf (v. 13: see note). FoTthe thought of God
s$. " caller " of men in the Gospel, see I. H. 12, v. 24, and notes.
God's summons gives expression and effect to His choice (elXaro, v. 13) ;
see note on ixXoyrj, I. i. 4; also Bom. viii. 30, 1 Cor. i. 26 f, for the
1 connexion of election and call. Eis S resumes eis aurrjpiav iv ayiaapip
'•k.t.X. , having the whole of this for its antecedent ; the Divine caU
that brings men into the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. i. 9) includes
" sanctification " among its primary objects (see I. iv. 7, v. 23 f.).

2 15] NOTES. 191
els TTEpiirovrjo-iv Sdfijs rov Kvpiov ijpuv 'Iijcrov Xpiorrov, unto the
securing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ: cf. 1 Pet. v. 10,
d KaXeVas...eis...dd|a;> iv Xpiar$ ; and 2 Tim. ii. 10, auTijplas rrjs iv
X. T. perd 8d£ijs aluviov. This is an end not lying beyond or arising
out of aurrjpla (v. 13), but virtually identical with it, so that the
second els clause is explicative of the first (v. 13) and represents ob
jectively what eis aurnplav (els 0) states subjectively ; the Christian's
ultimate salvation lies in the "glory " won by his Eedeemer, wherein
he shares : see Bom. viu. 17, tva avvSo^aaBupev ; 2 Tim. ii. 11 f. ; Eev.
Hi. 21. Eis repirolijaiv Sb£rjs tov xvpiov k.t.X. is therefore identical in
substance with eis irepiir. aurrjplas, I. _v._9_: see note there on irepi-
rolrjais. The " Sb£a of our Lord Jesus Christ " is the "glory " proper
and due" to Him as our Lord, to be received on "the day of the Lord,"
when the winning of His kingdom is complete (see Matt. xix. 28,
xxv. 31 ; Lk. xxiv. 26, cfec; Phil. H. 9—11 ; Tit. ii. 13) ; its chief matter
will be found "in His saints" (i. 10). God intends the glory of
Christ in all that He does for men through Him ; and Christ's glory
is in turn the heritage of those who are Christ's (oi rod xp'orod iv
tt) rapovala, 1 Cor. xv. 23 : cf. avyxXijpovbpoi, Eom. viii. 17 ; also Jo.
xii. 26, xiv. 3; Bev. xxii. 3ff.). To this end "God called" them in
calling them to their own salvation; of. notes on eVdoifaod'f/i'ai k.t.X.,
ivSo%ao8rj, i. 10, 12 above ; also on I. H. 12 6. The dd|a is already
won in principle, and its repiroiijats is guaranteed : see i. 7 — 12, v. 8
above ; Matt. xxiv. 30 ; Phil. Hi. 20 f. ; Eph. v. 26 f. ; Col. i. 22, iii. 4 ;
Bom. viii. 18 f. ; 1 Cor. xv. 24—28 ; Jo. xvii. 24 ; Bev. i. 5—7, See.
15. 'Apa ovv, dSeXcpoi, o-TTJKCTe. So then, brothers, stand firm: the
practical conclusion of all that has been said, from v. 2 onwards.
" Since the Lord's return is delayed and its date uncertain, and in
prospect of the coming of Antichrist whose deceptive influence is
already at work, — inasmuch as God by our means has made you heirs
of His kingdom and sharers in the promised glory of Christ, we bid
you stand fast 1 " For dpa_om, see note on I. v. 6. Xtijxu, formed
from earrjxa (of. ypnyopiu, I. v. 6), is a derivative of the xoivij. The
verb occurs seven times in Paul, thrice in John (including Eev.),
twice in Mk ; cf. note on I. iii. 8, also its hortatory use in 1 Cor. xvi.
13; Gal. v. 1 ; Phil. iv. 1 : the opposite of craXeudVai, v. 2. Similarly
in 1 Cor. xv. 58, Col. i. 23, hope is the incentive to steadfastness.
Kal KpareiTe rds irapa8do-eis &% !Si8axAr|Te, and hold fast the tradi
tions which you were taught. XIapaSbaeis (of. iii. 6, for one particular
here included ; 1 Cor. xi. 2 ; also Eom. vi. 17, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 23, xv. 3,
for St Paul's use of rapaSlSupi in referring to his teaching) em-

i92 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 15—
braces aU that the readers "had been taught" of the Gospel received
through St Paul and his companions, whether on points of faith or
conduct (of. I. i. 5, ii. If., 9—14, iii. 3f., iv. If.; ii. 5 above). The
rapdSoais (aeis) of earUer Epp. becomes the rapaBrjxrj, deposit, of the
Pastorals ; it is, on its practical side, a rapayyeXla (-oi) : see I. iv. 2,
and note. On irapddoo-is, see Lightfoot's note ad loc. He observes
that this term in the N.T. connotes "an authority external to the
teacher himself." What these Apostles " hand on " to the Thessa
lonians is not their own doctrine as such, but the facts and teachings
about Christ coming from Himself and belonging to all Christians.
>For the accusative of thing retained with passive of a verb governing
two accusatives, see Winer-Moulton, p. 286, and the ordinary Greek
Grammars.
i For xpariu (xpdros) — to have or apply strength, to grip, master, hold
[firmly— with like object, cf. Mk vii. 3 ; Eev. ii. 14 f. Elsewhere in
St Paul the synonymous xarixu, as in I. v. 21 ; 1 Cor. xi. 2, xv. 2.
etre Sid Xdyov elTe Si' eirio-ToXrjs ijpuv, whether through word or
through letter of ours — ijpuv qualifies both nouns; in v. 2 the pronouni'
has, less certainly, the same twofold reference. The writers put their
' ' epistle " on the same level with their spoken ' ' word " ; they bid the
readers hold by what they had learned from their fathers in Christ,
whether through this channel or that, thus guarding themselves
against every attempt to " deceive " them (v. 3) : of. 1 Cor. xi. 2, for
the emphasis thrown on adherence to Apostolic teaching; sirmlarly
in Bom. vi. 17 ; Eph. iv. 20 f. ; Phil. iv. 9 ; Col. ii. 6f. ; 2 Tim. ii. 2 ;
1 Jo. ii. 24 ; Matt, xxvni. 20, See. For the importance now beginning
to be attached to St Paul's Letters, see notes on v. 2 and iii. 17;
and for the possibUity that an epistle might be undervalued at Thes
salonica, see note on I. Vj__2J.
16. Adrds 81 d Kdpios rjpuv Tt|o-ovs Xpio-rds Kal [d] Beds d iranjp
ijpuv — . But may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father —
For adrds Si, and this form of prayer, of. I. iU 11, v. 23, and notes. '
This invocation corresponds in its position to that of I. in. 11 ff., com
pleting the Epistle in its first and main part, the sequel in each case
being appended by (rd) Xoirbv (see iii. 1 below). But while the cor
responding petition of Ep. I. bears on love and holiness as needed for
the Church's perfectness at Christ's coming, this bears on strength
and steadfastness of heart as needed for present duty; arrjpl^ai (v. 17)
is common to both passages. Here Christ's name precedes the Father's
(as later in the benediction of 2 Cor. xiii. 13), which leads Chrysostom
to exclaim, IIou vvv elaiv ol rbv vlbv iXarrowres ; " Our Lord Jesus

2 16] NOTES. 193
Christ" is foremost in the writers' thoughts; He in whose "glory"
the readers were "called" by God to take part at the "winning" of
His kingdom, is invoked to help them toward this end. Christ and
the Father are one in love to this Church (I. i. 4, and v. 13 above),
and in all saving action ; so the singular predicate, irapoKaXeVai k.t.X.
(v. 17), is natural, as in I. iii. 11. There is a chiasmus, or crossing,
in the arrangement of the parallel names, d rarijp ijpuv balancing
d Kdpios ijpuv, while d Bebs is set over against 'Irjaovs Xpiarbs.
d Beds d iraTijp rjpuv is described as d dyairrjVas rjpds Kal Sods
irapaKXijo-iv aluvCav Kal IXirCSa dyaBrJv Iv \cipiTi, who has loved us
and given (us) eternal encouragement and good hope, in grace. The
readers have just been told that they are "beloved by the Lord"
(Jesus : v. 13) ; that reference is complemented by their inclusion,
along with the Apostles, in the special love of God the Father. Now
God's love, in view of His "call" and its purpose stated in v. 13,
carries with it a rapaxXnaiv and iXriSa which minister the very
strengthening of heart the readers require. 'Ayair^iros and dods are
bound in one by the single article, the second being, as the case
stands, the necessary outcome of the first. For God's loving and
giving, cf. Jo. iii. 16, 35, 1 Jo. iv. 10 ; also Matt. vii. 11, Lk. xu. 32,
for the fatherly regard which prompts God's gifts ; similarly of
Christ, in Gal. H. 20, Eph. v. 2, 25. These parallels support Light
foot's observation, that "the aorist d7airijcras (not cvyairfflc) refers to
the act of God's love in giving His Son to die for us": this is
borne out by iv xapln, qualifying dods ; for it is in this act above all
that " God commends His own love to us," and in it " the grace of
God, and His gift in grace, overflowed " (Eom. v. 8, 15). From the
supreme evidenoe of God's love an " eternal comfort " is derived ; see
the way in which St Paul draws out this rapaKXijais, and buUds up this
eXiris, in Bom. vni. 31 — 39. Though the cross of Christ is never men
tioned in the two Letters, and His death but twice (I. iv. 14, v. 10) in
cursory fashion, " the grace of God" therein displayed furnishes the
basis and fulcrum of the entire system of doctrine and life impUed
in the Epp.; cf. the notes on I. v. 9f., to the same effect. In the
passage just referred to the essential connexion is assumed, that is
latent here, between God's purpose of salvation for men and the
death of Jesus Christ on their behalf.
For the term irapdKXrjoiSjjsee note on I. ii. 3. For God as d iropo-
KaXfix, of. Bom. xv.Tf. ; 2 Cor. i. 3—7 ; PhU. ii. 1 ; Heb. vi. 18, xii.
5 ; Acts ix. 31. God's rapaKXijais foUows up His xXrjats (v. 14). The
"comfort" is "eternal," inasmuch as it continues unshaken by the
Thess. N

I94 2 THESSALONIANS. [2 16—
losses and sorrows of life, rising above all temporal conditions and
defying death : see Bom. viii. 35—39, 1 Cor. xv. 55—58, 2 Cor. iv.
16  v. 8, for the scope of the Christian consolation. Here only and
in Heb. ix. 12, in N.T., has aliivios a distinct feminine ending ; also
in Num. xxv. 13, and elsewhere in LXX; otherwise, according to rule
for adjectives in -ios, the -os is common in gender.
The added Kal iXriSa dyaBrjv shows that the Divine cordial here
held out lies in the prospect of faith : see the parallels above given ; to
which add I. ii. 19, v. 8—11; Bom. v. 2—5, 17, 21, viii. 17—25,
xv. 13 ; Tit. i. 2 ; Heb. iii. 6, vi. 17—20, vii. 19 ; 1 Pet. i. 3—9, v. 4,
10, cfec. A hope is " good " (dyaBijv ; cf. note on I. v. 15) as it is
sound in itself and salutary in its effect — a hope which it is good to
have. This is amongst the best of God's "good gifts" (Lk. xi. 13;
Jam. i. 17). The same adjective is attached by St Paul to rims (Tit.
H. 10), and to avveiS-nais (1 Tim. i. 5, 19 ; Acts xxiii. 1), as human
faculties. For xdpis as the sphere and basis, of God's gifts in the
Gospel (iv xdpiri qualifies dods, not iXriSa), see note on this word in
i. 12 : along with d7airdw (see previous note), xdpi' points to the work
of Divine Eedemption, on which Christian "hope" specifically rests;
see Eom. v. 2, 15—21; Eph. i. 7 ; Tit. ii. 11 ff., iii. 7 ; Sea.
17. rrapaKaXe'crai vpuv rds KapSCas Kal crTijpi^at Iv rravrl epyu Kal
Xdyu dyaBu, (may our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father...) en
courage your hearts, and establish (them) in every good work and word.
For the sense of rapaxaXiu, see note on I. ii. 11 ; for God as subject,
of. references under rapdxXrjais, o. 16 ; see note on I. Hi. 11 for the
singular predicate. For KapSia, note on I. ii. 4. The emotional sense
of "heart" in modern English, and the rendering of rapaKXijais by
"comfort," suggest consolation as the blessing desired in these words;
rather it is the rousing and cheering of the whole inner man which
the Apostles pray for, — that the Thessalonians may be animated to
brave endurance and vigorous activity : see the words anjpi^ai iv
ravrl Ipyu k.t.X. foUowing ; and of. I. iii. 2 f. above ; 2 Cor. xiH. 11 ;
/Col. iv. 8, ii. 2. For arrjpi^u, see notes on I. iii. 2, 13 (where arnpl^ai
ipuv rds XapSias was anticipated), also iii. 3 below. St Paul uses this
word four times in these two Letters, and only in Eom. i. 11, xvi. 25
besides. The phrase arnpiieir ttjv xapSiav occurs in Jam. v. 8, and
somewhat frequently in the LXX — Ps. oiii. 15, cxi. 8 (ioT-rjpixTai i)
jxapSta airov, oi pij tpofirjB-y) ; Sirach vi. 37, cfec. It is the opposite of
j aaXevBijvai, v. 2 ; God's arrjplfriv makes possible the arrjxeiv and
xpareiv enjoined in v. 15.
The terms of the antithesis ipyu *. Xdyu are usually in the re-

2 17] NOTES. 195
yerse order (Bom. xv. 18 ; 2 Cor. x. 11 ; Col. iii. 17) ; but where
the thought of strength is present, ipyov naturaUy precedes (Lk. xxiv.
19). Adyos must not be confined to doctrine, as when it is opposed to
rvevpa (v. 2) or associated with iriaroXr) (v. 15) ; coupled with ipyov,
it oovers the whole business of life: "May God give you courage and
confidence of heart in aU the good that you do and say." The Apostles
know that then readers are busy in doing good (I. i. 3, iv. 10) ; they
would have them do it with a good and cheerful heart (cf. I. v. 17 f. ;
Eom. ii. 7 ; Col. i. 10 ; 2 Tim. U. 21, Ui. 17).

CHAPTER III.
3. For o Kvpios, AD*G 71, with some latt, Ambrst, have o Beos —
conformed to I. v . 23 ; 1 Cor. i. 9, cfec
Baljon proposes for vpas the emendation i?p;as (of. 2 Tim. iv. 18),
which gives a smoother sense after v. 2 (see Expository Note)'; he
quotes Bentley in favour of the change. The confusion of these pro
nouns being so very common, it is curious that no ms. evidence is
forthcoming for the 1st plural here, where it is plausible.
4. DCG, verss. (except d e vg), add vpiv to irapayyeXXopev (of. v. 2).
The double form of rroieu has occasioned a crop of various readings :
(a) iroieire koi Troir|o-eTe, in X*A d e ; (6) roiene koi roirjaare, D*er ;
(c) koi roiene xai roirjaere, NlD°KLP cfec, f vg et facitis et facietis ;
(d) koi eroirjaare xai roieire xai roirjaere, B ; cop fecistis et facitis ;
(e) xai eroirjaare alone, (Fr, several minn. ; g et fecistis et facietis.
The early (itacistie) corruption of Tronjo-ere into roirjaare (D) appears
to have bewildered the copyists. Is it not just possible, however, that
BG cop have preserved a true reading, and that in (a) roieire was an
assimilation of koi eironicrare to v. 1 above, and to I. iv. 10 ? eroirjaare
is commended by its difficulty (after reroiBapev), and by the fact that
its priority might best explain the genesis of the other readings. The
initial koi of B and G seems original.
6. tijv before VTropovTjv in all uncials ; omitted in a few minn.
6. vpuv, after Kvpiou, supplied by NADCGKLP cfec, is wanting in
BD*, Cyp : a suspicious complement ; cf. H. 1.
(a) irapeXapere, in BG 43 73 80 go syr1"", Or Thdrt Ambrst ;

(6) irapeXapWav, K*A,D* (without irap-),
17, Bas ; WH margin.
(c) vapeXajSov, XcDb.°KLP ;
(d) rapeXaj3e, in a few minn., syrP°,h, Oec

The Latin Versions
and Fathers, generally,
read the 3rd plural ;

3 1] NOTES. 197
rapeXapoaav (see Expos. Note on the grammatical ending) is the
hardest reading, and best accounts for the others. Weiss, however,
says it " betrays the Alexandrian emendators."
rapeXapere, obvious in itself, may have been further suggested by
I. iv. 1. On the other hand, WH, who agree with Weiss in pre
ferring (a), think that -oo-ai> may be due to an "ocular oonfusion with
-oaiv (rapaSoaiv) in the line above" (Appendix, p. 165).
For irap' T|puv B has aip' rjpuv, which Weiss deems original, ex
plaining irap' as an assimilation to the verb, and to I. ii. 13, iv. 1.
8. vvktos koi ijpepas, KBG and six minn.; vvxra xai ijpepav,
ADELP &c. See Expository Note.
12. The Syrian text reads dia rou for ev (k. I. X.), after I. iv. 2.
13. evKaKTjo-T|Te in B* (e7K- KA 37 39 47), evxaKeire in D* ; exKaKij-
arjre in DCGKLP &c, with exKaxetre in Dam. Cf. note on evxavxaaBai,
i. 4. 14. B and a number of minuscules read (X07W) vpuv tor ijpuv ;
Thphyl quotes Chr, seemingly by error, to the same effect. B makes
the same senseless mistake in 2 Cor. vi. 11.
anpeiovaBai, in XD*GP 17, cop go. The confusion of -e and -ai is
the commonest of itaoisms ("innumeris loois promisoue ponuntur,"
Tisohdf ) ; the spelling of such verb-forms is no index to their gram
matical meaning.
o-vvavapiyvvo-flai : so in NABGsr 17 (Ds**, which must be peculiar,
¦piayeaBai) ; -aBe, in Db'cKLP cfec, and versions. DCGKLP cfec. intro
duce koi before pij cruvavap., understanding the verb surely as impera
tive, despite the -oBai of D* and G. Cf. the notes on ii. 2 and I. v. 13
above, and the Expository Note on this verse below.
16. For Tpoiru A*D*G 17, latt vg, Chr Ambrst, read roiru, after
I. i. 8 : cf. 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; 1 Tim. ii. 8.
18. The liturgical aprjv iB appended in SCADGKLP, and most verss.,
due to the Western and Syrian copyists, as in Ep. I.
Subscription : KB* read irpos QeaaaXovixeis y3 (B* -veixeis).

1. The introductory phrase to Xoirrdv, For the rest (see note,
I. iv. 1), indicates that the writer, though he may afterwards digress,
is drawing to a close. The main purpose of the Epistle is accom
plished (see Introd. pp. xxxvii. f., and the special Introd. to this
section) ; what follows, however important, is comparatively inci
dental. But the thoughts immediately following are suggested by

i98 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 1 —
those of ii. 13 — 17 ; and ii. 13 — iii. 5 forms in substance a single
paragraph : of. inter alia aTrjpli-ei vpas (v. 3) with ii. 17 ; v. 4 with
ii. 15 ; eis ri)v dydrijv rov Beov (v. 5) with ii. 16.
The request irpoo-evxeo-fle, dSeXipoC, irepl rjpuv— Pray, brothers, for
us (who have prayed for you) — arises out of the prayer of ii. 16 f., as
in the case of I. v. 23 — 25 : see note on the last-mentioned passage.
The intercession requested by the Apostles has two specific objects
in view : first, tva d Xdyos tov KvpCou Tplxxi Kal Soijd^ijrai, that the
word of the Lord may run on and be glorified (may have a triumphant
career, Lightfoot). "The word of the Lord" (see notes on this ex
pression in I. i. 8, and on Kdpios, ii. 13 above) is the word of Christ,
proclaimed by His messengers far and wide (as e.g. in Acts i. 8; cf.
Jo. xvii. 8, 18) ; the expression is synonymous, from a different point
of view, with rd eda77<-Xioi' rod d"eoO, I. ii. 2, &c To " the Lord " the
writers are servants (cf. 2 Cor. iv. 5) — four times in vv. 1 — 5 Christ
bears this name (cf. v. 6 besides) ; and they desire prayer for them
selves on His business, in the service of His kingdom.
The figure of the Xd7os rpixuv comes from Ps. xviii. 5 f. (LXX: v. 5
quoted in Bom. x. 18) ; cf. cxlvi. 15 (cxlvii. 4), d diroore'XXwi' rd
Xd7ioi> airov tjj 75, ius t&xovs Spapeirai b Xdyos adrou ; also Is. Iv. 11 ;
Acts xii. 24. Cf. Vergil's splendid lines on Fama (Mneid rv. 173 ff.),
" Mobilitate viget, viresque adquhit eundo," &c The spread of the
Gospel was remarkably rapid in Macedonia (of. I. i. 8 f., and the
impression given by Aots xvi. 11 — xvii. 12) ; but a check ensued at
Athens, and in the early weeks of the mission at Corinth. The great
success finally achieved in the latter city, from which the Apostles
write, cost eighteen months to win (Acts xviii. 11). The metaphor
of rpixeiv is complementary to that of the 0dpa dveuypivrj used in
1 Cor. xvi. 9 ; 2 Cor. ii. 12. This " glorifying " of "the word of the
Lord " is not subjective — the lauding, exalting of it by men — as in
Acts xiii. 48 ; but objective) — the display of its glory by its saving
effects: cf., for this use of the verb, 2 Cor. iii. 10, Matt. v. 16, Jo.
xn. 28, xvii. 10 cfec ; also i. 10, 12, and ii. 14 above ; and I. i. 7 ff.,
ii. 13 f., 20, for the "glory" thus achieved in Thessalonica. The
"glory" of God's word shines in the character and worth of those
who have received it, and who " adorn the teaching of our Saviour
God " (Tit. ii. 5, 10, cfec). Observe the present tense of the two sub
junctives: a continuously swift advance and rich illustration of the
Gospel is to be prayed for. For tva in this connexion, see notes
on i. 11 and I. iv. 1.
KaSus Kal irpos vpas, as indeed (is the case) with you. In both the
above respects — in the swift progress and fair fruit of the Gospel —

3 2] NOTES. 199
the Thessalonian mission was conspicuous ; see note on the last
clause and references there given, to which add i. 3 f. above, I. iii.
6—9, iv. 9 f.; and cf. Phil. i. 5—7 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14—16, iii. 2 f . ; 1 Cor.
i. 4—7 ; Eom. i. 8 ; Col. i. 5 f.
2. Kal tva pvo-Bupev dird tuv aToiruv Kal irovijpuv dvBpuiruv, and
that we may be delivered from the perverse and wicked men : the
second object of the prayers solicited ; SirXfJ pev i) atrijais eivai SoKei,
pia Si opus iariv tuv ydp rovrjpuv dvBpiiruv rjrrupivuv, dxuXirus xal d
tou KrjpiypaTos awrpixei Xdyos (Chrysostom) Cf. Edm. xv. 31, tva
pvoBu arb tuv dreiBoivruv k.t.X., both passages recalUng Is. xxv. 4,
dird av&piiruv rovrjpuv pia-g airois. TuV points to a definite body, or
class, of such men : these were, in ohief, the Jewish enemies of the
Gospel in Corinth, from the outset violent opponents of St Paul's
work (Acts xviii. 6, 12 — 17), from whom the Apostles were in fact
" delivered " by the sentence of the Proconsul GaUio. Of the same
breed were the adversaries who in vain combated the progress of the
Gospel in Macedonia (Acts xvii. 5, 13 ; cf. I. ii. 14 — 16, and notes).
"A-toitos is hap. leg. in N.T. as applied to pej'sons; of things, Lk.
xxiii. 41 ; Aots xxv. 5, xxviii. 6 : it signifies place-less, out-of-the-way,
out of court ; and so eccentric, absurd, ineptus ; then, in a moral sense,
ill-bred or ill-conditioned, stupid, perverse, importunus (Vulg.) — the
common meaning of droiros in later Greek (Lightfoot) : of. Demo
sthenes 439. 26, droiroi Kai Svaxepeis. For rovrjpbs, see note on I. v. 22 ;
rovrjpol dvBpuroi appear in 2 Tim. Hi. 13 in company with ybijres ; see
also note on d irocrjpds in next verse.
For piopai, see I. i. 10, and note ; the word points to enemies who
seemed to have the Apostles in their grasp : of. also 2 Tim. iv. 17 ;
and the catalogue of perils in 2 Cor. xi. 23 — 33.
od ydp irdvTuv tj ttCo-tis, for not to all does the faith belong. Cf .,
for the form of the sentence, the proverb, Od ravrbs dvSpbs is KbpivBbv
ioB' b rXoSs. This expression does not refer, like the similar denuncia
tion of Acts viii. 21 ff., to pretended Christian beUevers, but to those
" who do not obey the Gospel " and have become in consequence its
bitter, unscrupulous opponents (i. 6 — 10), — the dirio-roi of Corinth
(2 Cor. iv. 4, vi. 14 f. ; 1 Tim. v. 8), and such as the dreiBovvres of
Bom. xv. 31. 'H rlans, in this context, signifies not the moral quality
of faithfulness, fidelity (a very questionable sense for rlans in the
N.T. : cf. note on i. 4), but " the (Christian, true) faith "; cf. r) dXiifleia
in ii. 10, and the rims dXij8elas of ii. 13. The Apostles put their
meaning in a pathetically softened way (of. note on "not pleasing,"
I. ii. 15) : "Alas, all do not share our faith (cf. Acts xxvi. 29) ; many

2oo 2 TUJSSSALONTANS. [3 2—
are its enemies and bear us a fierce hatred on its account. Will you
pray that we may be delivered from their power ? " There is a like sad
litotes in Bom. x. 16 : od rdvres vrrJKovaav tu eiayyeXlu. Their un
belief in Christ brought out the drorla and rovrjpla of the Corinthian
opposers, who "loved the darkness rather than the light, for their
deeds were evil" (Jo. iii. 19) : hence the explicative ydp clause.
Schmiedel gives a different explanation : " Only deliverance from
them is to be prayed for, since their conversion is hopeless." For the
genitive of the possessor, with similar subject, of. Acts i. 7 ; Heb. v. 14.
3. IIio-tos 81 Icttiv d Kdpios. But faithful is the Lord — scil. Jesus
(see note on v. 1) : from the un-faith of men the Apostles turn to the
fidelity of Christ their Lord, who has sent His servants into a hos
tile world and will stand by them. Observe the fine coincidence
between this verse and Acts xviii. 9 f. : " The Lord said to Paul in
the night by a vision " (under the discouragement of his early experi
ences at Corinth), "Fear not, but speak on and be not silent; for I
am with thee, and none shall set upon thee to do thee hurt ; for I
have a numerous people in this city." This probably happened before
Ep. H. was written. Cf. also I. v. 24 ; 1 Cor. i. 9, x. 13 ; 2 Tim.
iv. 17 ; for the contrast implied, Bom. iii. 3, 2 Tim. ii. 13. St Paul
plays on the kindred (not identical) senses of rlans — marbs (re
sembling our faith— faithful, trust — trusty) : ei. v. 11, Eph. iii. 14 f.,
Gal. iv. 17, 1 Cor. iii. 17, for Pauline word-plays; also Jo. ii. 23 f.
(riareiu). os o-Tr)pC£ei vpds Kal <j>vXd£ei drrd rod rrovTjpov, who shall establish
you and guard (you) from the evil one (or from evil). After v. 2, one
expects rjpds (see Textual Note) as the object of protection (this object
would not be, however, so congruous with orr/pifei) ; but St Paul
characteristically forgets his own peril in that of his flock, as Calvin
observes : "Ceterum de aliis magis quam de se anxium fuisse Paulum,
ostendunt haac ipsa verba. In eum maligni homines improbitatis
suae aculeos dirigebant, in eum totus impetus irruebat ; curam interea
suam ad Thessalonicenses convertit, ne quid haec illis tentatio noceat."
For oTrjpi%ei, see notes on ii. 17 ; I. iii. 13. For the connexion of the
two elauses, of. 1 Cor. x. 13 : reipaapbs ipas oiK etXrjtpev el pij dvBpu-
mvos' marbs Se b Bebs, 8s odK idaet k.t.X.
$uXd|ei dird tov rovijpov recalls Matt. vi. 13, pu<rai...d7rd tov rovijpov
(of. tva pvaBupev just above, v. 21), a sentence which in all likelihood
was in the writers' mind. If so, the question of the gender of the
adjeotive turns on its interpretation in the Lord's Prayer. Ch. ii. 17
and I. v. 22 are not decisive for the neuter; against Bom. xii. 9, in

3 4] NOTES. 201
St Paul, may be set Eph. vi. 16, where rov rovijpov is certainly mascu
line and a designation of Satan ; so Matt. xiii. 38 f., 1 Jo. ii. 13, v. 18 f.
In Lk. xii. 15, 1 Jo. v. 21 — the only other N.T. examples of ipvXdaaeiv
dird — the object of precaution is impersonal. On the other hand,
the prayer of Ps. exxxix. 5 (LXX: of. Ps. oxl. 9), tpiXa^bv pe, xipie,
ex x^'pds d,uapruXou, dird dvBpiirov dSlxov pvaal pe, in view of the
parallel tva pvaBupev drb rCv... rovrjpuv dvBpiiruv of v. 2, suggests a
personal enemy — as though the Apostles meant: "We have asked you
to pray that we may be rescued from the power of wicked men ; and
we trust that our faithful Lord wUl guard you from the Wicked One "
("improborum omnium capite," Calvin); of. Bom. xvi. 20, d 9eds...
awrpiipei rbv Zaravdv x.t.X. Satan overshadowed the recent context
(ii. 9), as the instigator and inspirer of Antichrist. The passage
depicts a personal conflict, not a war of principles. On the whole,
the masculine rendering seems the more fitting. See Lightfoot's full
note ad loc, referring to Matt. vi. 13, also bis Fresh Revision of. the
Eng. New Test.3, pp. 269 f.; and the exhaustive discussion of the
subject by F. H. Chase, Tlie Lord's Prayer in the Early Church, in
Texts and Studies, i. 3, pp. 70 — 167.
4. The Apostles, trusting fir the safety of their flock to " the
Lord," are at the same time well assured of the faithfulness of the
Thessalonians themselves : rreiroCBapev Se iv xvplu lip' vpas, But we
confidently rely, in the Lord, upon you. Heroi8ivai erl with accusa
tive occurs besides (for the N.T.) only in 2 Cor. ii. 3 and Matt, xxvii. 43
(the better reading) : cf. iri with dat., 2 Cor. i. 9, Heb. ii. 13, Lk.
xi. 22, xviH. 9 ; and els with acous. after the same verb, Gal. v. 10.
The preposition signifies — as after Trioredw, rians, in Acts ix, 42,
xi. 17, Heb. vi. 1 ; or iXrl^u in 1 Tim. v. 5, 1 Pet. i. 13 ; or xpi/-
crrdrijs in Eph. ii. 7 — a confidence directed towards and resting upon
its object. The simple dative, according to classical regimen, follows
this verb in 2 Cor. x. 7, Phil. i. 14, Phm. 21 ; dative with iv in Phil.
Hi. 3f. ; riroiBa has much the same variety of construction as
riareiu. The perfect is of the type of otdo, 'iarijxa, x.t.X.: "I have got
the persuasion," so "I have confidence"; cf. rireiapai, Bom. viii. 38,
xiv. 14, cfec. 'Ev xvplu is related to reroiBapev. ..iip' vpas, as to its
sentence in I. iv. 1 (see note): "the Lord (Jesus Christ)" and His
service supply the sphere of all Christian relationships ; St Paul's
confidence toward the Thessalonians is grounded ultimately in Christ :
ei. Gal. v. 10, iyia riroiBa els ipas iv xvplu.
The matter of confidence is thus stated : on d irapayylXXopev
[koI] iroieiTe [or eiroirjoare] Kal iroirjo-eTe, that the things which we

zo2 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 4—
charge (you), you (both) are doing [or have done] and will do. For
rapayyiXXu, thrice repeated in the sequel, see notes on I. iv. 2 (irap-
a77eXia) and 11. Under the present tense the verb brings forward
no general directions respecting the Christian life, such as were in
cluded in the rapaSbaeis of ii. 15, nor does it recall the irapoy7eXioi of
I. iv. 1 — 12; it urges the injunctions presently given — in the first
place, the appeal of v. 1 f., and then the charge immediately to follow
in vv. 6 — 15 : cf. 1 Cor. vii. 10, xi. 17. The reading e'jroii)irore (for
iroieire : see Textual Note) would imply assurance on the writers' part
that their commands had been obeyed in time past, and accordingly
will be in time to come. For the fact stated by iroieire, cf. I. iv. 10 ;
also Eom. xv. 14. IlerolBapev bears specially on the future, roirjaere;
had the present (or past) only been in view, the writers might have
used otSapev: see 2 Cor. ix. 2; eidus tin,..roir)aeis, however, of certain
expectation, in Phm. 21 ; cf. also Phil. i. 6, 19, and I. v. 24 above.
5. 'O Se Kdpios KOTevflvvai vpuv Tds icapSCas els tt)v dydirr|v rod
Beov Kal els ttjv viropovTjv tov yjpumov. But may the Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. A
prayer significantly interjected between vv. 4 and 6 : one might expect
the important irapa77eXio of vv. 6 ff. to follow at once upon the
rapayyiXXopev of the last sentence. But the Apostles' confidence in
their readers' obedience is grounded " in the Lord." They know how
critical the charge they have to give will be for the temper of this
Church. So another word of prayer must be uttered before the
admonition is delivered. Under the sense of " God's love " and in the
spirit of "Christ's patience" matters of Church discipline are fitly
undertaken. The Apostles have given directions to their Thessalonian
flock, — "but" above both is the Supreme Director of hearts, whose
guidance they invoke. For the verb KarevBivu, and for the transi
tional Si, see note on I. iii. 11. The idiom KarevBiveiv ttji/ KapSlav
(rpbs: Heb. bvt D3^ |'?n) occurs in the LXX— 1 Paral. xxix. 18;
2 Paral. xii. 14, xix. 3, xx. 33, cfec; Sir. xlix. 3, li. 20 (rrjv tpvxrjv) —
where the phrase implies an inward movement of the soul drawn to
seek and find its Divine object : cf. also Ps. lxxvii. (Heb. Ixxviii.) 8,
cxviii. 5 ; Prov. xxi. 2. " The Lord " is Christ throughout this pas
sage ; see note on v. 3.
In the latter of the two parallel clauses of direction (eis... Kal eis), the
genitive toD xp^frov is certainly subjective : iropovrj is misrendered
"patient waiting for" (A.V., after Beza, " patientem exspectationem " ;
so Erasmus, Calvin, Estius; although the Vulg. had "patientiam
Christi"; Chrysostom is undecided), as though the noun represented

3 6] NOTES. 203
ivapivu (I. i. 10). 'Tropovrj is used over thirty times in the N.T. —
fifteen times by St Paul ; in every case it means endurance (of trial,
evil), as e.g. in i. 4 ; I. i. 3 (see note) ; so in olassioal Greek, with the
additional sense of " remaining behind." "The endurance of Christ,"
or "the Christ," includes more than the patience of Jesus historically
viewed (of. Eev. i. 9 ; Heb. xii. 2 f . ; Gal. vi. 17 ; see note on Tijo-ous,
I. iv. 14) ; d xpwrds is " the " patient " Christ," who in enduring the
cross and the contradiction of sinners, and the whole burden of His
mission, fulfilled the prophetic ideal of Jehovah's suffering Servant
(Isai. liii.): cf. the allusions of Bom. xv. 3 ; 1 Pet. ii. 21 — 25 ; Matt.
xi. 29 f ., cfec. The previous genitive has the same kind of signification ;
rj dydirr; tou 0eou denotes "God's love (to you)," not "(your) .love to
God": so everywhere else in St Paul, — Bom. v. 5, viii. 39; 2 Cor.
xiu. 13. It is in the deepened sense of God's love and in the following
of Christ's patience that the admonitions of the context will be rightly
received and carried into effect ; so from " God who loved us " com
fort and hope were expected in ii. 16 f.

§ 5. Ui. 6 — IB. The Case of the Idlebs.
This section contains the chief matter pointed to in to Xoirrdv of
v. 1 (see note above). But the added homUy is no afterthought ; it is
of only second importance to the topic of ii. 1 — 12. In the former
Ep. the writers had occasion to exhort their readers to a quiet life
and to the •continued pursuit of their secular avocations (I. iv. 11 f.).
The caU to enter the kingdom of God and seek its glory brought men
of a naturally idle or restless disposition under temptation upon this
score. To such natures the rumours current about the Day of the
Lord (ii. 1 f. ) would appeal with particular force. " If Christ is on the
point of appearing and the end of this evil world is so near, of what
use are worldly occupations ? " they would say ; " to prepare to meet
Him is the only business now worth minding. How can a Christian
man interest himself any longer in the market or the field, in the
tradesman's books or the craftsman's tools, when to-morrow the
Lord may be here and the whole ' fashion of this world ' may have
passed away?" (cf. 1 Cor. vii. 29 — 31). Their conduct tended to
general disorder (v. 11), and brought reproach on the Christian com
munity at Thessalonica. Moreover they did the Church a material
injury, by throwing the burden of their maintenance on their in
dustrious brethren, who would not see them starve. These drdKrus
repirarovvres were called oi draKroi in I. v. 12 ff. (see note intro-

204 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 6
ductory to § 10) ; they had given trouble to the rpoiardpevoi, whom
the body of the Church were bidden loyally to support. The mild
and somewhat indirect reproofs of the former Epistle had been in
sufficient to check this mischief, which was subsequently aggravated
by the false announcements about the Parousia. Such wild reports
were calculated to disturb even those most regular and conscientious
in following their daily duties. So the Apostles, having calmed the
agitation of the readers by what they have said in ch. ii., proceed to
rebuke in strong terms the irregularity thus unhappily stimulated.
The Trapa77eX(o runs as follows : (1) First, and last, the avoidance
is enjoined of those persistent in disorder (who are, notwithstanding,
"brethren" still, vv. 6, 15), vv. 6, 14; (2) the missionaries recall
their personal example and instructions bearing upon this matter,
vv. 7 — 10; (3) the "idlers and meddlers" are solemnly required to
amend, and the rest to avoid their example, vv. 11 — 13 ; (4) the
Church is urged, while eschewing fellowship with the wrong-doers,
to seek their reformation, vv. 14, 15. It is to be observed, in com
paring this instruction with I. v. 12 ff., that no further mention is made
in this connexion of the rpoiardpevoi (Elders) ; the Church as a whole
is charged with the discipline necessary ; the disorder has grown to
larger proportions and become more acute : cf. 1 Cor. v. 4 ff . ; 2 Cor.
ii. 6, ij iriTipla..,ij bro ruv rXeibvuv.
6. IlapayylXXopev Se vp.lv, dSeXcpoC, ev dvdpari tov KvpCov [ijpuv]
'Iijo-od Xpio-rov. But we charge you, brothers, in the name of the [or
our] Lord Jesus Christ. The general d rapayyiXXopev (ii. 4 : see note) is
particularized ; and the confidence in the loyalty of the readers there
expressed is put to proof. The charge is addressed to "brothers";
it is not the mere command of a superior, but appeals to the sense of
a common duty in the readers. At the same time, it is a command —
not a personal wish, nor advice open to debate and qualification;
it is delivered iv bvbpan tov xvp. 'Irjaov Xpiarov — on the authority of
"Jesus Christ" as "Lord" of His people, by those who have the
right to speak " in " His "name ": see note on iv Kvplu 'Irjaov, I. iv.
1, and cf. v. 12 below ; also Bom. i. 5 ; 1 Cor. v. 4 ; Ph. ii. 9 ff. ;
Col. iii. 17 ; Jam. v. 10. After the disregard of their admonition in
Epistle I., the writers feel they must speak in the most peremptory
and solemn tone ; they pronounce as judges in the Sovereign's name.
They speak collectively, since the action taken devolves on them in
their joint responsibility for the well-being of the Church.
o-TlXXeo-flai vpas dird rravTos d8eX<j>ov draKTws irepiiraTovvTOS, that
you hold aloof from every brother walking in disorderly fashion. Hapay-

3 6] NOTES. 205
7dXXu takes the regular infin., as in 1 Tim. i. 3 and often in St Luke ;
construed with IW of the thing commanded in Mk. vi. 8 ; with d'n in
v. 10, by way of apposition to the immediate object rouro. The verb
ariXXopai (middle) — synon. with pi) avvavaplywaBai (v. 14) — signifies
(transitively) to avoid in 2 Cor. viii. 20, the only other N.T. example;
of. however diroordXXo/iai, iroaroXij, Heb. x. 38 f., Acts xx. 20, 27.
Apparently this meaning, to contract, to draw within oneself — some
times to shrink, flinch — is derived from the maritime figure of furling
or shortening sail — icrrio crre'XXeli' (lit. to set, fix in position) or ariX-
XeaBai (Homer, cfec. : see examples in Liddell and Scott) ; it is com
plemented by dird also in Mai. H. 5 (LXX). 'Aird...ddeXcpou : for this
is a matter between "brethren" (of. v. 15; 1 Cor. v. 11 f.). The
general avoidance of the man wiU be at onoe a punishment for him
and a safeguard to the rest (v. 13), who might be infected by his com
pany. This implies surely exclusion from Church-meetings, including
the Agapd and the Lord's Supper ; but it is not an absolute bar to
personal intercourse : cf. v. 15. For drdxrus, see note on I. v. 14 —
the adverb is a N.T. hap. leg. — also vv. 7, 11 below; for repirareiv,
I. ii. 12. Bengel observes on drdxrus, " Igitur Ordo mendicantium
non est ordo, sed gravat rempublicam ipsam" (v. 8).
Kal pr) Kara ttjv irapdSoo-iv ijv rrapeXcipere [or -ocrav] irap' ijpuv,
and not in accordance with the tradition which you [or they] received
from us. Mtj (irepiiraTOuxros) koto rijv rapdSoaiv x.t.X. — not od — for
this is an assumed condition of the ordXXeirdai : see Winer-Moulton on
pij with participles, pp. 606 ff. (prj encroaches on od in this con
nexion in later Greek : cf. i. 8, ii. 12) ; for od with participles, cf. 2 Cor.
iv. 8, Col. H. 19, See. For irepiirareij' KOTd k.t.X. (Hebraistic), of. Mk
vii. 5; the phrase is elsewhere only Pauline in N.T. — Bom. viii. 4,
xiv. 15, 1 Cor. iii. 3, 2 Cor. x. 2, Eph. ii. 2. For irapddoo-is, see
note on ii. 15 ; this includes irapa77eXia as well as SiSaxh : cf. 1 Cor.
iv. 17, xi. 2 ; I. iv. 1 above.
The irregular rapeXdj3oaav is strongly attested (see Textual Note) :
the harshness of the concord (the third plural referring to ravrbs
ASeXipov), beside the anomalous ending, makes the substitution of -oaav
for -ere on the part of copyists unlikely. At the same time the 3rd
plural -oaav, for imperfect and. strong aorist indicative (also for
optatives), is established in the koivi) (LXX; rare in Papyri: see
Winer-Schmiedel, Grammatik, pp. 112 f.) ; Bom. iii. 13 (from LXX)
and Jo. xv. 22, 24, in the critical texts, afford examples. The
termination is an iEolio (Boeotian) contribution to the mixed ver
nacular Koivrj, favoured perhaps by the tendency to parisyllabic in
flexional endings. On rapaXappdvu, see I. ii. 13.

206 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 7—
7. avrol ydp olSaTe. For i/o« ftreoio o/ yourselves — " without our
needing to tell it again" : see notes on xaBus otSare, I. i. 5f., ii. 1, Sec
irus Set pipeio-Bai ijpas, in what manner you ought to imitate us —
" an abridged expression for irus Set ipas repirareiv uare pipeiaBai
ijpds" (Lightfoot). Ilfis (quali ratione, Bengel) quaUfies pipeioBai
rather than Sei (cf. I. iv. 1 ; Eph. v. 15 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15) : not urging
the grounds of this duty, but showing the direction in which it lies,
the true line of imitation. For pipeiaBai, see notes on I. i. 6, and
v. 9 below.
on ovk ijTaKTrjo-apev Iv vpiv, for we did not act a disorderly part
among you. 'SraxTrjaapev is misrendered in the Vulg. "inquieti
fuimus"; Erasmus better, "praeter ordinem viximus"; Beza, "in
ordinate nos gessimus"; Calvin, "inordinate egimus." Another
meiosis (cf. od rdvruv r) rlans, v. 2 ; and Betp pij dpeaxbvruv, I. ii. 15) :
how far the Apostles were from conduct like this! 'Araxriu (=draKTus
repirariu, v. 6 ; cf. drdxrovs, I. v. 14) — hap. leg. in N.T. — a mUitary
term, applied e.g. to soldiers out of rank : cf. Col. ii. 5, rijv rd^tv
vpuv Kai rb arepiupa k.t.X., "your order and the solid front of your
faith in Christ." Officers are as much subject td discipUne as the
rank and file ; it was due to their Churches that the Apostles should
set an example of a strictly ordered life ; with this example before
them, which bore exactly upon the point in question, the readers
"know" what the nature of their "imitation" should be. "On
governs along with oi)k ijiaxTrjaapev the following oddd clause, which
should have been included in the same verse, for it brings out the
kind of disorder reproved : —
8. ovSe Suped v dpTov eipdyopev irapd tivos, nor indeed ate bread for
nought at the hand of any one : whereas the otoktoi would not work
for their bread, and expected the Church to support them. For
duped? (advbl. accus.), gratis, byway of gift, cf. 2 Cor. xi. 7; Matt.
x. 8; Exod. xxi. 2 ; Isai. 1H. 3 (LXX) ; in Gal. ii. 21, cfec, the phrase
gets a further meaning. "Aprov iaBleiv (Matt. xv. 2 ; Mk iU. 20 ;
Lk. xiv. 1) renders the Heb. Dfl^ baS (Gen. xliii. 15; 2 Sam. [Kingd.]
ix. 7, cfec), to get food, have one's maintenance (rpiipeaBai) ; similarly
iaBleiv alone in v. 10, 1 Cor. ix. 4. For irapd tikis, " acceptum a
quoquam" (Beza) — "from" of the bestower — cf. Eph. vi. 8; Ph. iv.
18 ; Aots ii. 33, cfec There was a manly pride about St Paul in this
matter ; cf. 2 Cor. xi. 10 f., ij Kaixnais aiir-n oi tppayijaerai.
dXX' Iv kottu Kal pdxCw vvktos Kal ijpe'pas lpya£dpevoi, but in toil
and travail, by night and day working. 'Ev xbru xal pix^V forms one

3 9] NOTES. 207
adjunct, vvrTbs...ipya£6pevoi another, both qualifying itpdyopcv and
negativing Supedx (cf. the connexion in v. 12). Along with the clause
that follows, this reminder is almost a repetition of I. U. 9 : see notes
on that verse for the identical words. With hard, exhausting labour
the Apostle Paul earned his daUy bread ; " tent-making " (Acts xviii.
3) was a poorly paid handicraft. His companions, if not pursuing
the same trade, acted on the same principles.
rrpds to pr] tirifiapTJcraC riva vpuv, in order not to put a burden on
any one amongst you. For irpds with infinitive, and for irij3apiu, see
notes on I. H. 9.
9. odx oti ovk exopev 4fr>wr£av, not that we are without right (to
act otherwise, to claim our maintenance: scil. i^ovaiav tov Supedv
Aprov ipayeiv ' tou tpayeiv xal reiv, tov pij ipydfeaBai — see 1 Cor. ix. 4,
6. For this elliptical, corrective use of odx dVi (non quasi, Vulg. ;
rather non quod, Beza) — "it is not the case that," or "I do not mean
that"— cf. 2 Cor. i. 24, Phil. iii. 12, iv. 11, cfec This dfouoio St Paul
carefuUy demonstrates, on behalf of the ministry of the Gospel, in
1 Cor. ix. 3 — 14, tracing it back to the Lord's ordinance (Lk. x. 7) ;
of. also Heb. xiii. 10. 'E£oucria is moral power, right, authority (jus, I
Beza correctly; not potestatem, as in Vulg.), in distinction from )
Sivapis (i. 7, 11, H. 9), actual power, force.
dXX' Iva eavrovs rvirov Supev vptv els Td pipefrrBai rjpds, but (we
did tliis — iv xbru k.t.X.. . ,elpya'(bpeBa, v. 8 ; or, we waived this right —
1-17 i%avala oix ixpnadpeBa, 1 Cor. ix. 15), that we might give ourselves
to you by way of example, so that you might imitate us. The ellipsis
after dXXd resembles that following Sri in ii. 3, or pbvov in ii. 7
(see notes). 'Eourods (for its use in 1st person, see I. H. 8) is thrown
forward with emphasis — the writers would themselves exemplify the
life they preach ; from the first they impressed their message on the
Thessalonians in this living, practical fashion (I. i. 6): cf. 1 Cor.
iv. 17 ; Ph. Hi. 17, where rdiros appears in the same connexion — for
this word, see note on I. i. 7. To "give oneself (as) an example " is
more than to " make oneself an example " (as though SISupi had the
twofold sense of Heb. ]T)i\ ¦ it impUes sacrifice, self-surrender, re
sembling /*era5oui'ai...Tds daurwi' ipvxds, I. ii. 8: of. d Sous iavrbv
dvTiXvrpov, 1 Tim. ii. 6; Eph. i. 22, v.' 2; Eom. vi. 16. On els rb with
infinitive, see I. H. 12: the els tS clause (of issue) is consecutive to
the tva clause (of purpose), as in I. H. 16 ; the consecution of u. 11 f.
above was the reverse of this (els rb..., tva).
In vv. 8 and 9 the Apostles give two reasons for their practice of
manual labour, — the former alone stated in I. ii. 9. The second reason

2o8 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 9—
— less complimentary to the readers, but on which the conduct of
the draxToi now compels insistence— was however half imphed in the
context of the parallel passage (Ep. I.), scil. in p;eradoucai...Tds iavruv
ipvxds (ii. 8) and ws...diKaius...d/iiv...e'7ei'?)d'r/1ue>',...ws rarrjp rixva iavrov
...paprvpbpevoi x.t.X. (vv. 10 f.) : of. 2 Cor. xi. 11 f., xii. 14 f. (St Paul
an example of self-denial) ; see note on I. U. 9 above.
10. Kal ydp ore rjpev irpos vpas, tovto iraprjyylXXopev vptv. For
indeed when we were with you, we used to give you this charge : of. I.
iv. 11. Kal 7dp is parallel to the ydp of v. 1 ; it sets the Apostolic
rapayyeXla side by side with the Apostolic rdiros in the matter of
ipydfroBai xal iaBleiv (et. ydp. ..xal ydp in I. iv. 9 f.) : together these
constitute t) irapddoois of v. 6. This sentence almost repeats I. iii.
4, only substituting touto raprjyyiXXopev (after v. 6) for rpoeXiyopev.
On the use of rpbs, see note to I. Hi. 4, and ii. 5 above.
on et tis od Be'Xei !pyd£eo-8ai pijSe IctBiItu. 'If any one refuses
(nonvult, Vulg.) to work, neither shall he eat! ' a Jewish proverb, based
upon Gen. iii. 19. For the apodosis, thrown into the lively impera
tive mood, cf. 1 Cor. xi. 6. For the on recitative oi direct narration,
cf. Gal. i. 23, Acts xiv. 22; and see Winer-Moulton, p. 683, note.
For tovto. ..tin, ei. I. ii. 13, iv. 15. Od BiXu is not the mere contra
dictory, but the contrary of BiXu — "if any one won't work" — not
a negative supposition (ei pr)), but the supposition of a negative :
see Winer-Moulton, pp. 597, 599 ; cf. Bom. vii. 19 f., 1 Cor. vH. 9,
1 Tim. iii. 5, Sec, and v. 14 below. "Nolle, vitium est" (Bengel).
Note the present of continuous action (habit or rule) in the verbs : of.
for the last verb, 1 Cor. x. 18, 25, cfec, xi. 22—34. The neglect of
this stern but necessary rule makes charity demoralizing. This law
of Christ touches the idle rich as well as the poor ; it makes that a
disgrace which one hears spoken of as though it were a privilege
and the mark of a gentleman, — "to Uve upon one's means," fruges
consumere natus: see v. 11. This rule is forcibly applied in the
following direction of the Didache, xii. 2 — 5 : el BiXei [rapbSios b ipxb-
pevos] rpbs vpas xaBlaai, Texvlrrjs uv, ipyatiaBu xal cpayirw el Si oix
?X« r^X""!", Kara ttjv aiveaiv ipuv rpovorjaare irus pij dpybs peB' ipuv
irjaerai Xpianavis- el Si oi BiXei oilru roieiv, xpioreTiiropds iariv
rpoaeyere drb tuv toiovtuv. Cf. the quotation cited below, on v. 12.
11. dKovopev ydp Tivas irepirraTovvTas ev dplv aTaKTUs- For we
hear of certain persons walking amongst you in disorderly fashion. On
the last word, see v. 6. 'Ev ipiv (cf. odK ijTaxTrjaapev iv ipiv, v. 7),—
for their relations with the Church were irregular. Not "that there
are some " (A.V. ; after the Vulg., " inter vos quosdam ambulare in-

3 11] NOTES. 209
quiete"; Beza, "inordinate"): the Apostles do not simply know
that such people are to be found in this Church ; they know about
them — who they are, and how they are behaving. For Axoiu with
acous. of the content or matter of report, cf. Gal. i. 13, Eph. i.
15, iii. 2, Aots xvii. 32, cfec ; and for nvis relating to persons known
but not named (quosdam), 2 Cor. ii. 5, x. 2, 12, Gal. i. 7, ii. 12,
Col. ii. 8, 1 Tim. i. 3, Tit. i. 12. The writers state this on hearsay
(of. 1 Cor. i. 11, v. 1, xi. 18) ; the matter was not officially com
municated to them, though probably letters had passed to and fro
(see Introd. p. xxxv., and note on I. v. 2). This verse gives the
reason (ydp) for recaUing the severe maxim of v. 10, or perhaps for
the entire reproof (vv. 6 — 10). In the DidacM (i. 10—12), probably
the oldest Post-apostoUc document extant, there is a warning addressed
both to givers and receivers of alms, which shows how prevalent was
the danger of simUar abuse of Church charities : MoKdptos d didods
Kara rrjv ivToXrjv...oial Tip XapjSdvovn' el piv yap xPe^av ix<w Xap-
j3dvei ns, dBuos iarai • b Si pij xp^av ixuv Siiaei Sixrjv, Ivan iXaj3e xal
els rl- iv awoxv dd yevbpevos i^eraaBrjaerai irepl uv irpa^ev, xal oix
O-eXeiaerai ixeiBev ptxP1* ™ droSip rbv iaxarov xuSpdvrnv dXXd xal
irepi roirov Sij etprjrai' 'ISpurdru ij iXerjpoaivrj aov els rds xeipds aov,
oexpis dv yvips rlvi Sips — " let thine alms sweat into thine hands, tUl
thou knowest to whom thou shouldst give."
pijSev epya^oplvovs dXXd irepiepya£oplvovs, working at nothing, but
being busybodies ; or — to imitate the play on ipydfrpai—" whose one
business is to be busybodies," "minding every body's business but
their own." Lightfoot quotes the same verbal play from Demos
thenes, Philip, iv., p. 150. 21 f, <rol piv i% uv ipydfa xal repiepyd^ei
Tods eoxdrous oxtos xivSivovs; the Uke appears in Quintilian's Latin,
Instit. Orat. vi. 3. 53 : " Afer venuste Mallium Suram, multum in
agendo discursantem, salientem, manus jactantem, togam dejicientem
et reponentem, non agere dixit sed satagere." So Calvin and Beza
here: "nihU agentes, sedcuriose (inaniter) satagentes"; Vulg., "nihil
operantes, sed curiose agentes." The verb repiepydfrpai is hap. leg.
in N.T. ; but the adj. replepyos — associated with dpyal, tpXiapoi and
repiepxbpevai — is applied in 1 Tim. v. 13, in its well-estabUshed sense,
to good-for-nothing, gossiping women ; rd reptepya, in Aots xix. 19,
signifying impertinent, superfluous, describes the magic ("curious")
practices prevalent in Ephesus. So in Polybius xviH. 34. 2, Antiochus
protests against the Bomans "meddling" (iroXuirpay/ioeeie) with
affairs in Asia, oiSi yap adrds irepiep7afeTai tuv xard rijv 'IraXlav drXus
oiSiv, " for he does not on his part interfere in the least with Italian
Thess. O

2io 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 11—
politics." In earlier Greek the verb meant to overdo things. For
similar epigrams of St Paul, of. vv. 2 f. above (rlans, riarbs), Bom. i.
20, 1 Cor. vii. 31, 2 Cor. vi. 10, Phil. iii. 2 f; see also Heb. v. 8.
This troublesome activity of the draxroi was probably connected
with the agitation about the Parousia censured in ii. 2. Having
thrown up then: proper work, the mischief-makers went about venti
lating the latest sensational rumours on this subject, and thus
disturbing the quiet of the Church and interrupting their diligent
brethren. 12. rois Se toiovtois irapayylXXopev Kal rrapa.KaXoOu.ev Iv KvpCu
'Itjo-ov Xpio-ru. But those that are such we charge and exhort in the
Lord Jesus Christ : the rapayyeXla of v. 6 was given to the Church
respecting the offenders ; now the Apostles turn to address, in the
same authoritative and solemn manner, the draxTm and irepiepyafd-
ptvoi themselves. With the definite rois roioirois — "the men of this
sort," "those who answer to the above description" — cf. Bom. xvi. 18 ;
1 Cor. v. 11, xvi. 16 ; 2 Cor. ii. 6 ; Gal. v. 23 ; Ph. ii. 29 ; Tit. in. 11 :
it is the quaUtative of nvis above (v. 11). The third instance of
rapayyiXXu in this homily (vv. 6, 10). But rapaxaXovpev is added
(see I. ii. 11 on the word) with a softening force ; cf. the transition in
Phm. 8 f., also the combinations of I. ii. 11, iv. 1, and 2 Tim. iv. 2.
For iv xvplu T. X., see note on the threefold Name, I. i. 1; also on iv
bvbpan k.t.X., v. 6.
tva perd rJcruxCas epya£dpevoi rov eavruv aprov !o~8Cuo-iv, that with
quietness, keeping to their work, they eat their own bread : cf. I. iv. 11
(and notes), closely echoed here. Merd ijavxlas ( = ijavxd^ovTes, I. iv.
11) — in contrast with repiepya^bpevoi (v. 11) — appears to qualify the
whole clause, whUe ipya^bpevoi stands in the same relation to eaBluaiv
as to iipdyopev in v. 8: "that they eat their own bread quietly, by
working," not by going about in idleness and taxing the community.
For tov eavruv dprov, see v. 8 — "their own bread," not the bread of
others received Supedv (v. 8) ; "a Babbinical phrase " (Lightfoot).
For the use of tva after rapaxaXiu and the like, see note on I.
iv. 1. For perd of the attendant disposition, ei. I. i. 6 ; Eph. iv.
2, 1 Tim. ii. 15, cfec ; cf. iv rjavxla, 1 Tim. H. 11 f.
13. 'Ypets Se, dSeXipoC, pr) evKaKTJo-T|Te KaXoiroiovvTes. But for
yourselves, brothers, do not falter in right-doing. The writers turn
from the offending section to the body of their readers : cf. the
(supposed) opposite transition in rapaxaXovpev Se vpas, dSeXipol, I. v.
14, and note. 'Ev-KaKiu (not ix-xaxiu) is a favourite PauUne term —
2 Cor. iv. 1, 16 ; Gal. vi. 9 ; Eph. iii. 13, also Lk. xviii. 1 — to become

3 14] NOTES. 211
xaxbs, to flag, fail in a thing. KaXo-iroiouKTes (hap. leg. for the com
pound ; Bom. vii. 21, 2 Cor. xni. 7, Gal. vi. 9, Jam. iv. 17 exhibit
the components) points to a quality of conduct— " doing the fair,
noble thing" — as distinguished from d7O0o-7roieij', "benefiting," Mk
iii. 4 ; cf. notes on d7o0ds and KaXds, I. v. 15, 21. PhU. iv. 8 supplies
a rich enumeration of the Christian KaXd. The above rebuke of repiep-
ydfreaBai and the commendation of ijavxla, if not thus guarded, might
have damped the ardour of some whose activity was praiseworthy.
The misconduct of the unruly was of a nature to discourage zealous
friends of the Gospel.
The present participle with ivxaxrjaijTe is of the type of that fol
lowing raiopai (cf. Eph. i. 16, cfec.) and other verbs signifying a,
moment of action, the participle stating that in the course of which
the condition denoted by the principal verb arises. Mr) is construed
in prohibitions with subjunctive aorist (but impv. present ; see v. 15) ;
cf. ii. 3. Another paronomasia (see v. 11) is traceable in ivxaxijanre
— KaXoiroioOpTes: of. Bom. vU. 21, Gal. vi. 9, Heb. v. 14; also Gal.
iv. 18, 1 Tim. Hi. 13, Matt. xxi. 41.
14. el 81 tis odx diraKodei tu Xdyu ijpuv Sid rrjs iTria-ToXrjs. But
if any one is disobeying our word (sent) through this letter, llernem.
bering the neglect of the former admonition (I. iv. 11 f.), the writers
anticipate that this remonstrance may be disregarded by some of the
offenders. The matter is put, according to Greek epistolary idiom,
from the readers' standpoint — in present time. The Letter has been
read in the assembly ; the draxroi have received the ApostoUc message ;
the Church appeals to them ; some acknowledge their fault and
promise amendment ; one or more, it is feared, will prove refractory,
giving no sign of obedience : the Church must now deal with these.
Ei with present indicative assumes an existing case; see note on ei!
ns od BiXei, v. 10 — also on the use of od rather than pr) : the stronger
particle assumes a positive refusal of obedience.
Aid rrjs eVioroXijs qualifies the verbal noun Xd7<p — " our word
(spoken, addressed to him) through the Epistle" : cf. note on the two
nouns in ii. 15. The Xdyos in question is specificaUy the pointed
command and appeal of the last verse. 'H iriaroXij, " the (present)
letter," as in I. v. 27 ; Eom. xvi. 22 ; Col. iv. 16, cfec
Aid rrjs iriaroXrjs is attached by some of the older commentators to
aijpeiovaBe — "note this man through letter (sell, to us)," as though
the Thessalonians were instructed to send to the Apostles the names
of recusants in writing ; "eos vult apud se deferri" (Calvin). But
the position of the clause, the use of the definite article, and the
02

2I2 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 14—
scope of the context are against this reading of the verse. The purpose
of the anp.eiovaBai is not to inform the Apostles at a distance, but to
prevent owavaplyvvaBai on the spot. The did clause insists that the
"word conveyed by letter" shall take effect just as though it were
directly uttered ; see again note on ei're did Xd70u elre Si' iriaroXijs
ijpuv, ii. 15.
tovtov o-rjpeiovo-Be, pij crvvavapCyvvo-flai adru, take note of this
man, not to associate with him — literally, " not to mix-up-along with
him " : the same double compound is used in 1 Cor. v. 9, 11 ; dvapl-
yvvaBai is classical Greek in this sense ; awavaplyvvoBai appears in
the Koivrj. XvpeiovaSai (middle), N.T. hap. leg. — "to. put a mark
upon", or "make a note of, for oneself" — is another word of the
xoivij (Attic droanpalveaBai). The "noting", one imagines, would
be effected by publicly naming the culprit in the Church as thus
under censure.
I'va IvTparrij, that he may be abashed. 'Evrpiropai (cf. 1 Cor. iv.
14 ; Tit. ii. 8 ; Lk. xviii. 2, Sea.) is passive, signifying "to be turned
in (upon oneself)"; the idiom only appears in later Greek. This is
all the punishment desired, at least in the first instance ; the door is
left open for repentance. The direction of 1 Cor. v. 13 is far sterner,
as the offence was more heinous. Cf. the treatment of the later
case of discipline (surely different from that of 1 Cor. v.) at Corinth
in 2 Cor. ii. 6—8.
15. Kal pr) us IxBpdv ijyeicrBe, dXXd vovBeTetre us dSeXtpdv. And do
not regard (him) as an enemy, but admonish (him) as a brother. The
E.V. retains the intruded "yet" (after "and," Kai) of the A.V.; but
the contrast thus implied was not in the writers' thoughts any more
than in their language. The action dictated in v. 14 is kindly and
saving in intent ; the man who could be " put to shame " by censure
was not lost to the Church. This added sentence deprecates any
hostile manifestation, such as would provoke suUenness instead of
compunction, thus defeating the Apostles' purpose. HlovBeala is a
friendly act, associated with brotherhood and tenderness : see e.g.
Acts xx. 31 ; 1 Cor. iv. 14 ; Eph. vi. 4. For the verb vovBeriu, see
note on I. v. 12 ; and for ijyiopai, on I. v. 13 : cf. ijyeiaBai uarep
in Job xix. 11, xxxiii. 10. For dSeXipbv in this connexion, cf. 1 Cor.
viH. 11 ; Gal. vi. 1 ; 1 Tim. v. 1 ; Jam. iv. 11 ; I Jo. Hi. 15 ; Matt.
vii. 3 ff., xviii. 21—35.
The general instruction of v. 6, ariXXeaBai ipas x.t.X., which applied
to any kind of dra^la, is thus combined with the direction of I. v. 14,
vovBereire tovs drdxrovs ; and the combined injunctions are enforced

3 16] NOTES. 213
in the instance of those Thessalonian idlers who shall after the
reproof now given persist in their misconduct. In such a case the
disorder takes the form of open disobedience to Apostolic command,
and must be dealt with publioly and put an end to. But even
so expulsion is not so much as named.

§ 6. 1U. 16 — 18. Conclusion of the Letter.
This brief but pregnant conclusion consists of prayer (v. 16 a);
benediction (v. 16 6) ; and autograph salutation, with precaution against
forgery (v. 17), including a second benediction (v. 18).
16. Avtos 8e d Kdpios ttjs etprjvr|S Sutj iv.lv ttjv etpT|VT|V Sid iravTOS
Iv iravTl Tpdiru. But may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace
continually in every way. For AdTos Si, ei. ii. 16 above — the fourth
recurrence of this phrase in the prayers of the two Epistles : from
their own attempts to preserve the Church's peace and to remedy
disorder the Apostles turn to the Author and Disposer of peace,
invoking this aU-eomprising blessing from His hand. For elprjvrj,
ei. I. i. 1; with d xipios rrjs elpijvijs of. d 0eds tt)s elprjvijs, I. v. 23,
and note: similarly in II. ii. 13 the ijyarrjpivoi dird deou of I. i. 4
become the ijyarrjpivoi vrb Kvpiov. "The Lord of peace" is surely
Christ, as in the whole context (see note on xipios, v. 1 above), and
regularly with St Paul. The previous context — v. 14 especially —
suggests this prayer ; the " peace " desired has reference to the Church
troubles of the hour. But the supplication is broadened to its widest
extent by Sid iravrds x.t.X. , including e.g. peace with heathen neigh
bours and reUef from persecution (see i. 4, I. ii. 14, iii. 3 f., con
trasting I. v. 3 ; Acts ix. 31) ; and it comprises beneath all this the
" peace with God" which is the basis of Christian happiness (I. i. 1 ;
II. i. 2 ; Bom. v. 1, cfec), whereof Christ is administrator and " Lord":
see Eph. ii. 13 — 18, where peace amongst brethren (between Jew and
Gentile) centres in Christ and is grounded on the peace between God
and man effected by the cross ; also Jo. xiv. 27, xx. 19, 21, 26 ; Bom.
xv. 5 ff., 13, illustrates the double reference of elprjv-n. Cf. Num. vi. 26,
Kdpios.. Siprj aoi elprjvrjv, — the high-priest's blessing upon Israel.
Aid ravrbs, "through all," is better rendered (as in Lk. xxiv. 53,
Heb. ix. 6, xiii. 15) " continually" — lasting unbroken, despite trouble
— than "at all times" (B.V.), which represents irdvrore (i. 3, cfec).
For iv ravrl rpbru, cf. ii. 3; also Ph. i. 18, iravrl rpbru, — a form
of phrase sufficient here but for the foregoing did ravrbs, suggesting
the corresponding iv: for such balanced prepositions, of. I. iv. 14;

2I4 2 THESSALONIANS. [3 16—18
Eph. iv. 6, cfeo. This phrase impresses on rijv elprjvrjv the manifold
aspect above described.
Nor is it the Lord's "peace" alone, but "the Lord" Himself,"
in His personal presence and authority (see Matt, xxviii. 18, 20), and
protection (see v. 3 above), whom the Apostles invoke : d Kvpios peTa
ttovtuv vpuv, (May) the Lord (be) with you all (ei. Eom. xv. 33) — as
in v. 18 — not excluding the ASeXipol draxroi, who even more than
others need the control of "the Lord" and the calming effect of
His "peace." In the Benedictions of 1 Cor. xvi. 24, 2 Cor. xiii. 13,
rdvruv has the like pointed significance. See also note on I. v. 27.
17. 'O do-rrao-pds tjj ep-jj XelP' — IIAYAOY. The salutation with
my own hand — of PAUL. In the last word the Apostle Paul's formal
signature is attached, which endorses the Epistle as proceeding from
him and expressing his mind, though another hand had held the pen
(of. Eom. xvi. 22), and although his two companions were partners
in the Letter and may, either or both of them, have personally con
tributed to it; see Introd., pp. xlviii. — Hi., Uv. In Gal. vi. 11 and
Phm. 19 St Paul again notifies the inscribing of certain words sua
manu, implying that the body of the Epistle was indited through an
amanuensis. This was, presumably, the Apostle's habit. In other
Epistles we find the autograph conclusion (d denroir/ids) serving as
signature without the name, which in ancient writing was given at
the head of the letter. There was no reference to this signature at
the close of the former Epistle ; but since its dispatch the written
authority of the Apostles has been quoted for statements they
repudiate (ii. 2; see note). St Paul is now guarding against such
misrepresentation. St Paul caUs attention in penning the attestation to his hand
writing, and gives notice that no document claiming his authority wUl
be genuine without this seal : o eoriv o-r/peiov Iv irdcrij eTrioroXfj ¦
ovtus ypdcpu, which is a token (sign) in every letter — so I write. In
St Paul's extant Letters, while it is the exception for him to sign his
name in the closing salutation, he appears regularly to have written
out the daraapbs with his own hand. There was something peculiar
and noticeable in the Apostle's script. Some infer from Gal. vi. 11
that he wrote an unusually large, bold hand; but the ypdppara
peydXa of that passage may have been employed there for emphasis.
His handicraft of tent-cloth stitching would inevitably make his
fingers stiff and inapt for the use of the pen.
18. ij xdpis tov KvpCov rjpuv Ttjo-ov XpioroS peTd ttovtuv vpuv.
Tlie grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (be) with you all : cf. note on I. v.
28, to which only rdvruv is added (see concluding note on v. 16).

APPENDIX.
The Man of Lawlessness ('O avOpomos t>Js dVo/uas).
2 Thessalonians ii. 1-12.
A fuU account of the exegesis of 2 Thess. H. 1-12 would embraoe
tthe history of the critical epochs and decisive conflicts of Christen-
•dom. This prophecy has constantly recurred to the mind of the
'Church and its meaning has been anxiously scanned in hours of
trial. To such seasons, indeed, we should look for its interpretation.
History is the expositor of prophecy. The seeds of the future lie in
.the past; and not the seeds alone, its buddings and forthputtings
are there; for "that which is hath been aheady, and that which is
ito be hath already been." "First the blade," said Jesus, "then the
«ar, then the fuU corn in the ear." The development of God's
kingdom, and of Satan's, is in either case continuous untU full
ripeness. "Let both grow together until the harvest."
It may be worth our while, therefore, to trace in its historical
outline the development of the doctrine of Antichrist — as it appears
in Scripture, and as it has been unfolded in the belief of the Church,
1. The Apocalypse of Daniel.
The origin of St Paul's conception of d dvBpuros rijs dvoplas,
with that of the kindred visions of St John, is to be found in the
Book of Daniel1. Daniel's Apocalypse has its starting-point in the
dream of Nebuchadnezzar (oh. ii.) : the fourfold metal image, with
its feet of mixed iron and clay, broken in pieces by the " stone cut
out without hands," which " becomes a great mountain." This dream
takes an enlarged form in Daniel's first Vision, that of the four wild
beasts (ch. vii.). Amidst the " ten horns" of the fourth Beast there
Bhoots up " a little horn," before which " three of the first horns were
plucked up by the roots," having "eyes like the eyes of a man,
and a mouth speaking great things" (v. 8). In a moment the scene
1 See the penetrating and suggestive article in Smith's Dictionary of the
Bible, by Westcott ; also Hastings' Diet, of the Bible, on the Book of Daniel \
and Driver's Daniel in the Cambridge Bible for Schools.

216 APPENDIX.
changes: the "thrones" of the Last Judgement are "placed"; the
"Ancient of Days" is beheld sitting; and there is "brought near
before Him" the "one like unto a son of man, coming with the
clouds of heaven," with whom the Lord Jesus at the High Priest's
tribunal identified Himself. To this true king the prophet assigns
universal and ever-during dominion (vv. 9-14). As the Judgement
proceeds, and before the appearance of the glorified Son of Man,
the fourth Wild Beast is slain, and " his body destroyed and given
to be burned with fire" (v. 11), "because of the voice of the great
words which the [little] horn spake." The idea is here presented of
a cruel, haughty, and triumphant miUtary power, to be overthrown
suddenly and completely by the judgement of God, whose fall, ap
parently, wiU give the signal for the establishment of the kingdom
of heaven ; and this kingdom, in contrast with the previous mon
archies symbolized by the "wild beasts," is to be ruled by "one like
unto a son of man " — a king of ideal human character, yet clad with
Divine glory and "brought near before" God Himself.
In the next Vision, ch. vin., that of the duel between the Bam and
the He-goat, the Little Horn reappears (vv. 9 ff.), and assumes a
distinct personal shape. He becomes " a king of fierce countenance
and understanding dark sentences," who will destroy (or corrupt) the
people of the saints... and stand up against the Prince of princes;
but he shaU be broken without hand" (vv. 22-25).
The third Vision, ch. xi., viz. of the wars of North and South, leads
to a further description of the great Oppressor looming through the
whole apocalypse, in which his atheism forms the most important
feature : " Arms shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the
sanctuary.. .and they shall set up the abomination that maketh
desolate. . . . And the king shall do according to his will ; and he shaU
exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak
marveUous things against the God of gods ; and he shall prosper
tiU the indignation be accomplished" (vv. 31-36).
This series of tableaux, notwithstanding the obscurity of their
details, gives in broad outline a continuous view of a polity or empire
evolved out of the warring kingdoms of this world, from which
emerges at last a monster of wickedness armed with aU earthly
power and bent on the destruction of Israel's God and people, who
is suffered by God in His anger to bear rule for a brief space, but in
whose person the realm of evU suffers a conclusive judgement and
overthrow.

JEWISH APOCALYPTIC. 217

2. The Messianic Times and Jewish Apocalyptic
Antiochus Epiphanes1, it is agreed, was the primary subject of the
Visions of judgement on the great enemy of Israel contained in
the Book of Daniel. In his overthrow, and in the Maocabean re
surrection of the Jewish nationality, this Apocalypse received its
proximate fulfilment. But when the period of the Maocabees was past
and the nation fell again under a foreign yoke, while no further sign
appeared of the Messiah, it was plain to believing readers that the
revelation had some further import. In this faith the sufferings of
the people of God under the Herodian and Boman oppression were
endured, as "birthpangs of the Messiah"; it was felt that Israel's
hope was even at the doors.
In this expectation the patriotism of Israel lived and glowed;
it is vividly expressed in the extant Apocryphal literature of the
pre-Christian times, — in the Sibylline Oracles ; the Book of Enoch,
oh. xc. ; the Psalms of Solomon, especially xvii., xviii. Of less im
portance in this respect are the Assumption of Moses and the Booh
of Jubilees, contemporaneous with the Christian era. The 2nd (Latin
4th) Book of Esdras, and the kindred Apocalypse of Baruch, though
dating probably from the close of the first century a.d., reflect the
eschatology of Jewish nationalists during the struggle with Borne2.
These witnesses confirm and illustrate the indications of the Gospels
as to the keenness and intensity of the Messianic outlook at the time
of the appearance of Jesus, and as to the political and materialistic
nature of the popular ideal, which was animated by antipathy to
Borne on the one side, and to sceptical or heretical movements
within Judaism upon the other. Our Lord in assuming the title
Son of Man appealed to, while He corrected, the anticipation of
those who "looked for Israel's redemption" — an expectation largely
founded upon the Apocalypse of Daniel and coloured by its imagery.
Before long, as He foretold, " the abomination of desolation, spoken
of by Daniel the prophet," would again "stand in the Holy Place"
1 Antiochus IV., or Antiochus Epiphanes— i.e. the Illustrious or Manifest
(soil. Oeos inityavqs), nicknamed Epimanes, the Madman — waa the seventh king
of the Graco-Synan dynasty of the Seleucids, and reigned from 175 to 164 B.C.
His father was Antiochus III. (the Great), after whose defeat by the Romans in
the year 188 he was given to them as a hostage, and brought up at Rome.
He returned to take his father's throne, full of wild ambition and of reckless
impiety and prodigality. On the career of Antiochus IV. , see Stanley's History
of the Jewish Chmrch.voi. III.; Ewald's History of Israel, vol. v. (Eng. Trans.);
Smith's, and Hastings', Diet, ofthe Bible: Driver's Daniel, Introd. § 2.
2 See, on the whole subject, Schurer's The Jewish People in the Time of Christ
(Eng. Tr.), Div. II. Vol. II. pp. 128 ff.. The Messianic Hope.

218 APPENDIX.
(Matt. xxiv. 15); thereafter "the sign of the Son of Man" would be
" seen in heaven," and at last the Son of Man Himself was destined
to " come with the clouds of heaven" (Matt. xxiv. 30, xxvi. 64).
The Messianic forecasts of our Lord's time, being drawn from the
above Danielio source, could not fail to bring along with them as
their counterpart, and in their shadow, the image of Daniel's Anti
christ ; it may be seen in the rapdvopos-ISeXlap of the Sibylline
Oracles (of. St Paul's 6 dvopos, and the BeXiap-Antichrist of 2 Cor.
vi. 15). The direct evidence of this fact is only slight ; the existence
of the Jewish doctrine of Antichrist anterior to the Christian era
depends for proof, as appears in M. Friedlander's recent monograph
on the subject (Der Antichrist in den vorchristlichen jiidischen Quel-
len), upon the data of the Midrash and Talmud, from which one has
to argue back to antecedent times (see also Weber's Jiidische Theo-
logie, 4(e Abthellung). Bousset has however shown, by the researches
summarized in his Essay on Antichrist1, that the roots of this con
ception run far back into esoteric pre-Christian Jewish teaching ; and
Gunkel, in his striking work, Schopfung und Chaos in Vrzeit und
Endzeit, has even attempted to find its origin in primitive Baby
lonian cosmogony. This last theory would carry us into very distant
and speculative regions. In later Judaism — certainly before the
eighth century — Antichrist became a familiar figure under the name
Armillus (?=Bomulus: the designation is aimed at Borne, which was
also cryptically known as Edom). Under this name he figures in the
Jewish fables of the Middle Ages, in a variety of forms partly analo
gous and partly hostile to the Christian doctrine. "Armillus" appears
in the Targum of Jonathan upon Isai. xi. 4, the passage quoted by the
1 Der Antichrist in der Ueberlieferung des Judentums, des neuen Testaments,
und der alten Kirehe (Gbttingen, 1895). Following Guukel, Bousset writes (p.
93): "In the literature of the O.T., and in some passages of the New, we find
abundant traces of a primeval Dragon myth, which in later times took the
form of an eschatological anticipation. . There subsisted in popular Jewish
belief the expectation , which can be recognized in the Apocalypse, of an uprising
at the end of the days of the old Sea-monster with whom God strove in the
creation, who will assault heaven in his war with God... The legend of Anti
christ appears to me to be no more than an anthropomorphic recasting of this
myth. ..The Dragon is replaced by the Man, armed with miraculous powers,
who deifies himself. For the Jews, this personality was necessarily identical
with the Pseudo-Messias." See also Guukel, op. cit., pp. 221 f. : "It is well
known that Judaism expected a great and general apostasy in the last times.
After the age of Daniel it was understood that this consummation of wickedness
would incorporate itself in a man, who would wantonly assail everything holy,
and even the temple of God in Jerusalem. ..The Avojlos proclaims himself God, in
the temple of God; and this deification of a man is the crowning sin wh'ich
Judaism imputes to the kings of the Gentiles... The ai/o/Aos-prophecy of 2 Thessa
lonians is no arbitrary invention of an individual ; it gives expression to a belief
which had behind it a long historical development, and was at that lime uni
versally diffused."

THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 219
Apostle in II. ii. 8 : " With the breath of his lips shaU he (Messiah)
slay Armillus, the wicked one." The currency of an arohaio Jewish
doctrine, or legend, of Antichrist makes it easier to understand the
rapid development which this conception received in the New Testa
ment, and the force with which it appealed to the mind of the
Apostolic Church.
The words of Christ fixed the attention of His disciples upon the
prophecies of Daniel, and supplied the dtpopprj from which proceeded
the revival of Old Testament Apocalypse in the prophecies of St Paul
and St John, where this movement took a direction and an ethical
character very different from that of non-Christian Judaism. Beside
His express citations of Daniel, there were other traits in our
Lord's pictures of the Last Things — the predictions of national
conflict, of persecutions from without and defections within His
Church (Matt. xxiv. 3-13) — which reproduced the general character
istics of this prophet's visions, and which lent emphasis to His
specific and deliberate references thereto. The use made by Jesus
Christ of this obscure and suspected Book of Scripture has raised
it to high honour in the esteem of the Church.
3. Antichrist in the Book of Eevelation.
St Paul treats the subject of Antichrist's coming incidentally in
this passage, and never again in his extant Letters does he revert
to it. But his language, so far as it goes, is positive and definite.
There is scarcely a more matter-of-fact prediction in the Bible.
WhUe the Apostle refuses to give any chronological datum, and
posits the event in question as the issue of an historical develop
ment — as the unfolding of " the mystery of iniquity already working,"
whose course is in the nature of things contingent and incalculable
in its duration — his delineation of the personality of Antichrist, in
whom he sees the culmination of Satanic influences upon humanity, is
vividly distinct. He asserts the connexion between the appearance
of this monster and the reappearance of the triumphant Christ from
heaven with an explicitness which leaves no room for doubt. It
may suit us to resolve these reaUstic figures and occurrences into
a pictorial dramatization, to see in them no more than an ideal
representation under conventional symbols of the crucial struggle
between the Christian and the Antichristian principle operative in
mankind; but the Apostle was not dealing with abstract principles
and ethical forces — he knew these in their actuality and conceived
them, alike in the present and in the future, as they take shape in

220 APPENDIX.
personal character and action and display themselves, under the
Divine order of human history, in living encounter and fuU-bodied
antagonism upon the field of history, where they fight out their duel
to its appointed end.
St John's Apocalypse was cast in a different mould from that of
St Paul. Like that of the Book of Daniel, his revelation came
through visions, received apparently in a passive and ecstatic mental
state, and clothed in a mystical robe of imagery through which at
many points it is impossible certainly to distinguish the body and sub
stance of truth, which one feels nevertheless to be everywhere present
beneath it. St John's visions border upon those dpprjra of " the
third heaven," which the soul may descry in rare moments of ex
altation, but which "it is not allowed to utter" in discourse of
reason (2 Cor. xii. 2-4). The prophecy of 2 Thessalonians, on the
other hand, was given in sober waking mood, and states what is to
the writer matter of assured foresight and positive anticipation.
The visions of the Wild Beast contained in Eevelation xiii.— xx.
present, however, a tolerably distinct and continuous picture ; and it
is just in this part of the Apocalypse that it comes into line with
the Apocalypses of Daniel and of St Paul, and, as at least it seems
to us, into connexion with contemporary secular history. It is
characteristic of the two seers, that St John's mind is possessed by
the symbolic idea of the Horned WUd Beast of Daniel vii. and viii.,
while St Paul reflects in his Man of Lawlessness the later and more
concrete form assumed by the Danielic conception of the enemy of
God in ch. xi. But the representations of the two Apostles coincide
in some essential features. The first Wild Beast of St John, seven-
headed and ten-horned, receives " the power and throne of the Dragon
and great authority" from " him that is called AidfioXos xal 6 "Zaravds,
the deceiver of the whole world" (Bev. xii. 9, xiii. 1, 2), just as
St Paul's Lawless One comes " according to the working of Satan "
and " in aU deceit of unrighteousness" (II. ii. 9 f.). He " opens his
mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His
tabernacle" and everything Divine ; and " all that dwell upon the
earth will worship him," whose names were "not written in the
book of life of the slain Lamb"; and "torment" is promised to
them, who " worship the Beast and his image " and " receive the
mark of his name" (Bev. xiii. 5-8, xiv. 11) : so the Man of Lawless
ness "exalts himself against all that is called God or worshipped";
he " takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as God";
and men are found to "believe the Ue," who wUl thus "be judged"
for their "pleasure in unrighteousness," being of "them that perish"

THE JOHANNINE APOCALYPSE. 221
(2 Thess. ii. 4, 10-12). Again, the authority of the Wild Beast
is vindicated by means of "great signs," through which "they that
dwell on the earth are deceived" (Bev. xiii. 13 f.); and by this means
" the kings of the whole earth" are to be " gathered for the war of the
great day of God the Almighty" (xvi. 14) : similarly, with our Apostle,
Satan's great emissary " comes in all power, and signs and wonders
of falsehood," deluding all those who have not " the love of the
truth" and leading them to ruin under the judgement of God (2 Thess.
ii. 9 ff.). The same token, that of false miracles, was ascribed by
our Lord to the " false Christs and false prophets" predicted by Him
(Matt. xxiv. 24). The name of " faithful and true" given to the Eider
on the White Horse in Eev. xix 11 ff., the " righteousness" in which
" He judges and makes war," and " the righteous acts of the saints"
constituting the " fine linen, clean and white," that clothes His army,
are the antithesis to the picture of Antichrist and his followers in
2 Thess. ii. 10-12. Finally, having " come up out of the abyss," the
Wild Beast "is to go away els driiXeiav" (Bev. xvn. 8), like the Law
less One, with his rapovala Kar' ivipyeiav tov Surcwa, who was intro
duced as 6 vibs rrjs druXelas (2 Thess. ii. 3, 9).
The ten-horned Wild Beast of John is set forth as the secular
antagonist of the Man-child, Son of the Woman1, who was born
" to rule aU the nations," as His would-be destroyer and the usurper
of His throne; by whom at last, when He appears as conqueror
upon the "white horse," the Beast is taken and cast with his
followers "into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone"
(comp. Bev. xii. with xiu., and then see ch. xix. 11-21). This battle-
picture expands and translates into Johannine symbolism the conflict
between the Lord Jesus and the Lawless One, which animates the
condensed and pregnant lines of 2 Thessalonians U. The outlines
etched in rapid strokes by St Paul's sharp needle are thrown out
upon the glowing canvas of the Apocalypse in idealized, visionary
form; but the same conception dominates the imagination of the
seer of Patmos which haunted the writer of this measured and
calm Bpistle.
The first Wild Beast of Bev. xiii. forms the centre of a group of
symbolical figures. There "comes out of the earth another Wild
1 W. H. Simcox with good reason sees in the woman who brings forth the
royal man-child, and then "flies into the wilderness unto her place" till the
appointed time, tlie Jewish Church: see his Notes in Camb. Greek Test.
on Rev. xii. Cf. Rom. ix. 5, e£ iSe 6 xpiarbs to ko.to. aapxa. Gunkel however, in
Schopfung und Chaos, pp. 173 ff, contests this application, deriving this scene
from Jewish mythology, as representing an attack of the Ancient Dragon on the
pre-existent Messiah.

222 APPENDIX.
Beast" kindred to the former, caUed afterwards "the false prophet,"
who aots as his apostle and re-establishes his power after the "deadly
wound" he had received, performing the "signs" by which his
worship is supported and enforced. To this second actor, therefore,
a religious part is assigned, resembling that of a corrupt Church
serving a despotic State. The False Prophet of St John supplies
a necessary link between the Apostasy and the Lawless One of
2 Thess. ii. 3 (see notes above, ad loc); by his agency the "lying
miracles" of v. 10 appear to be performed — in other words, super
stition is enlisted in the service of atheism.
While St John's first Wild Beast has the False Prophet by his side
for an ally, he carries on his back the Harlot-woman, who is the
antithesis to the Church, the Bride of Christ. She is identified, in
the plainest manner, with the imperial city of Borne. On her fore
head is the legend, "Mystery; Babylon the great, the mother of the
harlots and the abominations of the earth." This is but St Paul's
"mystery of iniquity" writ large and illuminated. What Babylon
was to Old Testament prophecy, that Borne became to the prophets
of the New and to the oppressed Jewish Church, being the metropolis
of idolatry, the active centre of the world's evil and the nidus of its
future development. Further than this, the imperial house of Rome —
Nero in particular for St Paul, and Domitian (possibly, as Nero
redivivus) for St John — held to the prophetic soul of the Apostles
a relation similar to that of the Syrian monarchy and Antiochus
Epiphanes toward the prophecy of Daniel, serving as a proximate
and provisional goal of its presentiments, the object around which
the Satanic forces were then gathering and the fittest type of their
ulterior evolution. But as history pursued its course and the Church
passed beyond the Apostolic horizon, the new Apocalypse, like the
old, was found to have a wider scope than appeared at its pro
mulgation. The Wild Beast has survived many wounds ; he survived
the fall of the great city, mistress of the earth — the Woman whom
St John saw riding upon his back. The end was not yet ; the word
of prophecy must run through new cycles of accomplishment.
It is only in bare outline that we may pursue the later history
of the doctrine of Antichrist1. It has passed through four prinoipal
stages, distinguished in the sequel.
1 For the history of this question, see the articles Antichrist in vol. I. (2nd ed.)
of Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, and in Hastings' DB., also in Herzog's
Beal-Encyklopddie (3rd ed.). There are valuable dissertations on "the Man
of Sin": by Liinemann, in Meyer's N.T. Commentary (earlier edd.), Riggenbach
in Lange's Commentary, Olshausen in his Commentary, ad loc. ; also in Aliord's
Prolegomena to the Thess. Epp. Dollinger elucidates the subject with learning

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION. 223

4. Antichrist in the Eably Church.
During the earliest age of the Church's History, ending with the
dissolution of the Western Empire in the fifth century, one con
sistent theory prevailed respecting the nature of Antichrist, — viz.
that he was an individual destined one day to overthrow the Boman
Empire and to establish a rule of consummate wickedness, which would
quickly be terminated by the appearance of the Lord Jesus from heaven,
coming to effect the Last Judgement. After the downfall of Borne,
Greek theologians saw in the Eastern Empire, with its Christian
capital of Constantinople (the New. Bome), the fabric which Antichrist
would destroy. In later ages this role was assigned to the Holy Boman
Empire, resuming the part of imperial Eome in the West. The Eastern
Empire succumbed in the fifteenth century; but this remained the
most imposing bulwark of society. When the Western Empire in
its turn became a shadow, its office was transferred — especially by
Eoman expositors — to the Christian State in general. Here "the with-
holder " (6 Karixuv, to xarixov) was found by the Fathers, in the power
of the Eoman government and the civil polity of the Empire —
Romanus status, as Tertullian says ; its dissolution imported the end
of the world to the mind of the Church of the first three centuries.
The above view was not inconsistent, however, with the recognition
of the features of Antichrist in particular imperial rulers. Chrysos
tom probably echoes a popular belief when he speaks of Nero as
"a type of Antichrist," and as embodying "the mystery of iniquity
akeady working." The resemblance of Nero to St John's first Brjplov
probably favoured this identification. The idea of Nero's return and
re-enthronement, so long current in the East, was associated with this
tradition and kept it alive.
Many leading Patristic writers however — including Theodore of
Mopsuestia, Theodoret, Augustine, Pelagius, John of Damascus —
sought rb pvaTijpiov rrjs dvopias not in the political but in the
religious sphere, foUowing the intimation of 1 Jo. ii. 18 — 22 ; they
saw it continuously working in the progress of heresy and schism;
and exactness in Appendix I. to his First Age of the Church (translated); and
Eadie in the Appendix to his Commentary on Thessalonians. For the inter
pretation of the parallel texts in the Apocalypse, see Simcox's Notes in Comb.
Greek Test., and his interesting Introduction; also C. A. Scott's Revelation,
in the Century Bible. As to the bearings of this topic on Eschatology at large,
see the profound remarks of Dorner in his System of Christian Doctrine,
vol. iv., pp. 373—401 (Eng. Trans.); also H. A. A. Kennedy, St Paul's Concep
tions of the Last Things, pp. 207-221. We find ourselves in agreement, as to
the main lines of interpretation, with Dorner, Olshausen, Riggenbach, Alford,
Ellicott, Eadie. Bornemann, in Meyer's Kommentar6, discusses the subject
comprehensively.

224 APPENDIX.
some attempted to combine the two factors, detecting a. common
leaven of Satanic evil in civil and in ecclesiastical rebellion. Greek
interpreters made faith, or the gifts of the Spirit, the xarixov.
As to the meaning of i) aroaraala in this context, opinions were
divided upon much the same lines. It was revolt from the Catholic
Church, ox from the Imperial State, or from both at once. Immorahty
was a feature regularly attached to doctrinal aberration by orthodox
exegetes in their treatment of this point; and contemporary illustra
tion was not wanting. The vabs tov Beov of II. ii. 4 was usually re
garded as the Christian Church; but a few scholars (Cyril of Jerusalem,
Pelagius ; and in later days, Nicolas de Lyra and Cornelius a Lapide)
adhered to the literal reference of this expression to the Jewish
Temple, supposing that this must be rebuilt, to become Antichrist's
seat, before the end of the world. In connexion with the latter
opinion, a Jewish origin, from the tribe of Dan (Gen. xlix. 17)1 —
the genealogy of Antichrist suggested by Babbinical interpreters — was
assigned to the Man of Lawlessness. Many patristic and medieval
interpreters confess themselves at a loss on this subject.
5. Antichrist in the Middle Ages.
The old Borne and its vast dominion in the West were submerged
under the tide of barbarian conquest. But the framework of civilized
society held together ; the rude conquerors had already been touched
by the spell of the Grssco-Boman civilization, and by the breath of the
new Christian life. Amid the wreck and conflagration of the ancient
world, precious and vital relics were spared; a "holy seed" survived,
in which the elements of faith and culture were preserved, to blossom
and fructify in the fresh soil deposited by the deluge of the northern
invasions. Out of the chaos of the early Middle Ages there slowly
arose the modern polity of the Eomanized European nations, with
the Papal See for its spiritual centre, and the revived and consecrated
Empire of Charlemagne — magni nominis umbra — taking the leadership
1 From this text, in conjunction with Deut. xxxiii. 22 and Jer. viii. 16 (Lev.
xxiv. 10 ff. and Jud. xviii. 80 f. helped to blacken Dan's character) , an astonishing
vein of Jewish speculation and allegory has opened out. Dan has served as the
bete noire of Rabbinism, being made to play amongst the sons of Jacob a part
resembling that of Judas amongst the twelve Apostles. With its ensign of the
serpent, Dan stood for the antithesis and would-be supplanter of the royal tribe
of Judah ; it belonged to the dark north of the land, and supplied the seat of
Jeroboam's apostate and idolatrous worship. Dan, to be sure, is wanting in
the Apocalyptic list of the Tribes (Rev. vii.). See Friedlander's work above
cited, ch. ix., Die Abstammung des Antichrist aus Dan; also Bousset's Anti
christ, pp. 112 ff. Amongst the Fathers, this tradition goes back to Irenaeus and
Hippolytus.

EASTERN AND WESTERN ANTICHRISTS. 225
of the new world (S00 a.d.). Meanwhile the ancient Empire main
tained a sluggish existence in the altera Boma of Constantine upon
the Bosphorus, where it arrested for seven centuries the destructive
forces of Muhammadanism, untU their energy was comparatively spent.
This change in the current of history, following upon the union of
Church and State under Constantine, disconcerted the Patristic read
ing of prophecy. The awriXeia tou aiuvos appeared to be indefinitely
postponed, and the clock of time put back once more by the Over
ruling Hand. After the fifth century, moreover, the interpretation
of Scripture, along with every kind of human culture, fell into a deep
decline. Things present absorbed the energy and thought of religious
teachers to the exclusion of things to come. The Western Church
was occupied in Christianizing the barbarian hordes ; the Eastern
Church was torn by schism, and struggling for its very existence
against Islam; while the two strove with each other, covertly or
openly, for temporal supremacy. Medieval theologians did little more
than repeat and systematize the teaching of the Fathers respecting
Antichrist, which they supplemented from Jewish sources and em
broidered with fancies of their own, often childish or grotesque.
Gradually, however, fresh interpretations came to the front. The
Greeks naturally saw 6 vibs rijs druXelas and 6 dvopos in Muhammad,
and r) droaraala in the falUng away of so many Eastern Christians
to his delusions. In the West, the growing arrogance of the Eoman
bishops and the traditional association of Antichrist with Borne
combined to suggest the idea of a Papal Antichrist, which had been
promulgated here and there, and yet oftener whispered secretly,
long before the Beformation. This theory has, in fact, high Papal
authority in its favour ; for Gregory I. (or the Great), about 590 a.d.,
denouncing the rival assumptions of the contemporary Byzantine
Patriarch, wrote as follows : " Ego autem fidenter dioo quia quisquis
Be universalem saoerdotem vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione sua
Antiohristum prsecurrit " ; he further stigmatized the title of Universal
Priest as " erroris nomen, stultum ac superbum vocabulum. . .nomen
blasphemiae." By this just sentence the later Eoman Primacy is
marked out as another type of Antichrist.
In the 13th century, when Pope Gregory VII. (or HUdebrand, 1073
— 1085 a.d.) and Innocent HI. (1198 — 1216 a.d.) had raised the power
of the Eoman See to its climax, this doctrine was openly maintained
by the supporters of the Hohenstaufen Emperors. Vindicating the
divine right of the civil state, they stoutly resisted the claims to tem
poral suzerainty then asserted by the Pope in virtue of his spiritual
authority over all nations as the sole Vicar of Jesus Christ, who is
Thess. P

226 APPENDIX.
" the ruler of the kings of the earth." The German Empire claimed
to succeed to the office ascribed by the Fathers to the old Eoman
State as "the restrainer" of the Man of Sin. Frederic H. of
Germany and Pope Gregory IX. bandied the name of "Antichrist"
between them. That century witnessed a revival of religious zeal,
of which the rise of the Waldenses, the theology of Thomas Aquinas,
the founding of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders, the im
mortal poem of Dante, and the wide-spread revolt against the
corruptions of Eome, were manifestations in different directions.
This awakening was attended with a renewal of Apocalyptic study.
The numbers of Daniel xii. 6 — 13, Bev. xii. 6, &c., gave rise to the
belief that the year 1260 would usher in the final conflict with Anti
christ and the end of the world ; while the frightful invasion of the
Mongols, and the intestine divisions of Christendom, threatened the
latter with destruction. Simultaneously in the East by adding 666,
" the number of the Wild Beast " in Bev. xiii. 18, to 622, the date of
the Hejira (the flight from Mecca, which forms the starting-point
of Mussalman chronology), it was calculated that Muhammadanism
was approaching its fall. This crisis also passed, and the world
went on its way. But it remained henceforward a fixed idea, pro
claimed by every dissenter from the Eoman See, that Antichrist
would be found upon the Papal throne. So the Waldenses, so Hus,
Savonarola, and our own Wyolif taught1.
6. The Lutheran Doctrine op Antichrist.
Martin Luther's historic protest adversus execrabilem bullam Anti-
christi inaugurated the Beformation in 1520 a.d. It was one of
Luther's firmest convictions, shared by all the leading Beformers
of the 16th century, that Popery is the Antichrist of prophecy; Luther
expected that it would shortly be destroyed by Christ in His second
advent. This belief was made a formal dogma of the Lutheran
Church by the standard Articles of Smalkald in 1537 a.d.2 It has
a place in the English Bible ; the translators in their address to
James I. credit that monarch with having given, by a certain tractate
he had published against the Pope, " such a blow unto that Man
of Sin, as wiU not be healed." Bishop Jewel's Exposition of the
1 We must distinguish, however, between an Antichrist and the Antichrist.
A sincere Roman Catholic might assign to this or that unworthy Pope a place
amongst the " many Antichrists."
2 Melanchthon admitted a second Antichrist in Muhammad. He distinguished
between the Eastern and Western Antichrists. The conjunction of Pope and
Turk was common with our Protestant forefathers.

THE OLDER PROTESTANT THEORY. 227
Thessalonian Epistles, delivered in the crisis of England's revolt from
Borne, is the most characteristic piece of native Beformation exegesis,
and gives powerful expression to the Lutheran view. In the 17th
century, however, this interpretation was called in question amongst
English Divines. The late Christopher Wordsworth, in his Lectures
on the Apocalypse, and in his Commentary on the New Testament, has
contributed a learned and earnest vindication of the traditional Pro
testant position.
This theory has impressive arguments in its favour, drawn both
from Scripture and history. It contains important elements of
truth, and applied with great cogency to the Papacy of the later
Middle Ages. But many reasons forbid us to identify the Papal
system with St Paul's dvBpuros rijs dvoplas. Two considerations
must here suffice: (1) the Apostle's words describe, as the Fathers
saw, a personal Antichrist; they cannot be satisfied by any mere
succession of men or system of Antichristian evil. (2) His Man of
Lawlessness is to be the avowed opposer and displacer of God, and
had for his type such rulers as Antiochus Epiphanes and the worst
of the deified Cssars. Now however gross the idolatry of which the
Pope has been the object, and however daring and blasphemous the
pretensions of certain occupants of the Papal Chair, Bomanism does
not, either openly or virtuaUy, exalt its chief ^7rl rdvra Xeybpevov Bebv
r) aijSaapa; one must seriously weaken and distort the language
of the Apostle to adjust it to the claims of the Eoman Pontiff.
The Boman Catholic system has multiplied, instead of abolishing,
objects of worship ; its ruling errors have not been those of atheism,
but of superstition. At the same time, its adulation of the Pope and
the priesthood has debased the religious instinct, of Christendom; it
has nursed the spirit of anthropolatry —the man-worship, which
St Paul believed was to find in the Man of Lawlessness its cul
minating object. 7. Antichrist in Modern Times.
It would occupy several pages barely to state the various theories
advanced upon this mysterious subject in more recent times.
Not the least plausible is that which saw rb pvarrjpiov rrjs dvoplas
in the later developments of the French Revolution at the close of the
18th century, with its apotheosis of an abandoned woman in the
character of Goddess of Beason, and which identified 0 dvopos with
Napoleon Buonaparte. The empire of Napoleon was essentially a.
restoration of the military CaBsarism of ancient Eome. He came
P2

228 APPENDIX.
within a little of making himself master, like Julius Csesar, of the
civiUzed world. This unscrupulous despot, with his superb genius
and insatiable egotism — the offspring and the idol, till he became the
scourge, of a lawless democracy — is, surely, in the true succession of
Antiochus Epiphanes and Nero Cassar. Napoleon has set before our
times a new and commanding type of the Lawless One, which has had,
and may have hereafter, its imitators.
Nor is the godlessness of St Paul's vibs rijs druXelas wanting in a
bold and typical modern expression. Following upon the negative
and destructive atheism of the 18th century, the scientific, constructive
atheism of the 19th century has built up an imposing system of
thought and Ufe. The theory of Positivism, as it was propounded
by its great apostle, Auguste Comte, culminates in the doctrine that
" Man is man's god." God and immortality, the entire world of the
supernatural, this philosophy abolishes in the name of science and
modern thought. It sweeps them out of the way to make room for
le grand etre humain, or collective humanity, which is to command
our worship through the memory of its heroes and men of genius,
and in the person of woman adored within the family. This scheme of
religion Comte worked out with the utmost seriousness, and furnished
with an elaborate hierarchy and ritual based on the Boman Catholic
model. Although Comte's religion of humanity is disowned by many
positivists and has only come into practice upon a limited scale, it is
a phenomenon of great significance. It testifies to the persistence of
the religious instinct in our nature, and indicates the direction which
that instinct is compelled to take when deprived of its rightful object
(see the Apostle's words in Bom. i. 23). Comte would have carried
us back, vntually, to the Pagan adoration of deified heroes and
deceased emperors, or to the Chinese worship of famUy ancestors.
Positivism provides in its Great Being an abstraction which, if it
should once take hold of the popular mind, must inevitably tend to
realize itself in concrete individual shape. It sets up a throne of
worship within "the temple of God," which the man of destiny will
be found "in his season" to occupy.
Since the time of Hugo Grotius (1583 — 1645 a.d.), the famous Dutch
Protestant scholar, theologian, and statesman, numerous attempts
have been made to demonstrate the fulfilment of N.T. prophecy within
the Apostolic or post-Apostolic days, upon the assumption that the
rapovala of Jesus was realized in the judgement falling upon the
Jewish nation and by the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 a.d.
This Une of interpretation was adopted by Bomanist theologians, as
by Bossuet in the 17th century and DolUnger in the 19th, partly by

PRMTERIST VIEWS. 229
way of return to the Patristic view and partly in defence against Pro
testant exegesis. These prceterist theories, restricting the application
of St Paul's prediction to the first age of the Church, in various ways
strain and minimize his language by attempting to bring it within
the measure of contemporary events. Or else they assume, as rational
istic interpreters complacently do, that such prophecies, proceeding
from a subjective stand-point and being the product of the passing
situation, were incapable of real fulfilment and have been refuted
by the course of history. Almost every Boman Emperor from
CaUgula down to Trajan — some even of later times — has been made
to serve for the Man of Sin, or the Eestrainer, by one or other of the
commentators ; Nero has figured in both oapacities ; so has Vespasian1.
Others hold — and this theory is partly combined with the last, as e.g.
by Grotius — that Simon Magus, the traditional father of heresy, was
6 dvopos; while others, again, see to pvarrjpiov tijs dvoplas in the
Jewish nation of St Paul's time2. Outside the secular field, the power
of the Holy Spirit, the decree of God, the Jewish law, the believing
remnant oi Judaism, and even Paul himself, have been put into the
place of to xarixov by earUer or later authorities. But none of
these suggestions has obtained much acceptance. A small group
of critics — Bahnsen, Hilgenfeld, Pfleiderer — who date 2 Thessalonians
in the reign of Trajan and after the year 100 (see Introd. p. xiv.),
explain rb pvarijpiov -rqs dvoplas as the heretical Gnosticism of that
period, and to xarixov as the Episcopate, or the like. Apart from
the assumed date, Bahnsen's interpretation is a return to the view of
Theodore and Augustine.
The tendency of recent critical interpretation is to ascribe to this
passage, and to the prophetic eschatology of the N.T. generally,
a purely ideal or " poetic " and parsenetic value8. The rise of Anti
christ, along with the rapovala of the Lord Jesus and the judgement-
1 On the relation of contemporary Emperors to 2 Thess. ii. 8ff., see Askwith's
Introduction to the Epp. to the Thessalonians, pp. ISO ff.
2 So Tjightfoot: "It seems on the whole probable that the Antichrist is repre
sented especially by; Judaism" (Smith's DB., art. 2 Thessalonians).
8 C. L. Nitzsch (in his Essays De revelatione, 1808) was the first to give this
theory systematic expression. The following sentences, quoted by Bornemann,
indicate his position: the napovaia "est factum ideale, non certo loco ac tem
pore, sed ubicumque et quandocumque opus fuerit ad connrmanda pietatis
studia, cum fiducia exspectandum." The prediction of the Parousia is "mere
moralis qua materiam, et poetica qua formam.. .Apostolus, cum ilia scriberet,
parum curavit aut sensiit discrimen quod poeticsB rerum divinarum descriptioni
cum historia intorcedit. Ex instinctu morali ac divino docebat omnia, accom
modate ad usum practicum ; non ut scholse praiceptis atque ita ut theologicis
usibus inserviret." As to the Man of Sin: "Homo iste malus, cujus futura
revelatio describitur, nusquam quisquam fuit nee in posterum futurus esse
videtur." As much as to say, the Apostle Paul aimed at edification in his
prophecies, with very little regard to fact and truth!

23o APPENDIX.
scene of the Last Day, are taken to be no literal occurrences of tho
future, but " super-historical " events of the kingdom of God — in
other words, to be imaginative representations, under their symbolic
Biblical dress, of spiritual conflicts and crises which will find their
issue in modes determined by conditions remote from those existing
in the first ages and far beyond the horizon of the New Testament.
The N.T. fulfilment, it is pointed out, set aside in what appeared to
be essential particulars the concrete terms of O.T. prophecy, so that
the interpreters of the latter were thrown quite off the track in their
forecast of the Messianio days ; and the like fate, it is said, wiU over
take the expositors of N.T. eschatology, who moreover are at complete
discord amongst themselves. No doubt, the Apostles expected, and
that Bhortly, a visible return of the glorified Jesus and the gathering
of mankind in judgement before Him. But this mode of conceiving
the consummation belonged to the mental furniture of their times ;
it was supplied them by the prophetic imagery of the Old Testament
and by Jewish Apocalyptic ; only the spiritual ideas expressed under
this conventional dress were truly their own, and are essential to the
Christian faith and of unchanging worth.
The above mode of treating N.T. prophecy faUs in with the spirit
of our times, and escapes the difficulties pressing on those who main
tain a belief in definite prediction. But, in consistency, it must be
apphed to the words of our Lord as weU as to those of His Apostles,
and to the thoughts which lay behind His words. The Day of the
Lord and the Second Coming were matter of positive expectation on
His part. However mistaken Jewish eschatology had been in respect
to the circumstances of His first coming, that proved a matter-of-
fact event and not a mere regulative or edifying idea ; it realized in
historical form the deeper sense and true burden of O.T. prophecy.
Ancient Israel was right in the main fact. The Church should be
wiser by the experience of Judaism; it has been cautioned by the
faUure of so many presumptuous deductions from the words of Christ
and His Apostles respecting the last days. To evacuate their pre
dictions of all definite meaning because that meaning has been over-
defined, to suppose that what they foresaw was a mere exaggerated
reflexion of the circumstances of then own age and is without
objective warrant or reality, is an act of despair in the interpreter.
The ideal and the abstract, U they be living forces, are bound to take
a real, determinate shape. History requires another coming of Jesus
in His glory to crown human development, and to complement His
first coming in lowliness and for rejection. On the other hand, the
powers of evil at work in humanity tend, by a secret law, to gather

PROGRESSIVE FULFILMENT. 231
themselves up at one crisis after another into some dominant and
representative personality. The ideal Antichrist conceived by Scrip
ture, when actualized, will mould himself upon the lines of the
many Antichrists whose career the Church has already witnessed.
Like other great prophecies of Scripture, this word of St Paul has
a progressive fulfilment. It is carried into effect from time to time,
under the action of Divine laws operating throughout human affairs,
in partial and transitional forms, which prefigure and may contribute
to its final reaUzation. For such predictions are inspired by Him
who " worketh all things after the counsel of His own wUl " ; they
rest upon the principles of God's moral government, and the abiding
facts of human nature. We find in Antiochus IV. and in Gaius Cassar
examples, present to the minds of inspired writers, of autocratic
human power animated by a demonic pride and a desperate spirit
of irreligion. We accept, with Chrysostom, an earnest of the embodi
ment of St Paul's idea in the person of Nero, who furnished St John
with an apt model for his more extended and vivid delineations.
We recognize, with the later Greek Fathers and Melanchthon, plain
Antichristian tokens and features in the polity of Muhammad. We
recognize, with Gregory I. and the Protestant Beformers, a prelude
of Antichrist's coming and conspicuous traits of his character in the
spiritual despotism of the See of Eome; and we sorrowfully mark
throughout the Church's history the tares growing amid the wheat,
the perpetuation and recrudescence in manifold forms of "the
apostasy " which prepares the way of Antichrist and abets his rule.
We agree with those who discern in the Napoleonic idea an ominous
revival of the lawless absolutism and worship of human power that
prevailed in the age of the Csesars ; while positivist and materialistic
philosophy, with sensualistio ethics, are making for the same goal1.
1 The following extract from Comte's Catichisme Positiviste is a striking
proof of the readiness with which scientific atheism may join hands with
political absolutism: " Au nom du passe et de l'avenir, les serviteurs theoriques
et les serviteurs pratiques de L'Humanite viennent prendre dignement la
direction generate des affaires terrestres, pour construire enfln la vraie providence,
morale, intellectuelle, et materielle; en excluant irrevocablement de la supr6-
matie politique tous les divers esclaves de Dieu, Catholiques, protestantes, ou
deistes, comme etaut a la fois arrieres et perturbateurs."— The true Pontifical
style 1 It is not a very long step from these words to the situation which the
Apostles describe in 2 Thess. ii. 4 and Rev. xiii. 16 ff. It is significant that
Comte issued his Catechism of the new religion just after the com) d itat of
Louis Napoleon, whom he congratulates on " the happy crisis I In the same
preface he glorified the Emperor Nicholas I. of Russia, as "the sole truly
eminent chief of which our century can claim the honour, up to the present
time." Comte's ignorance of politics is some excuse for these blunders ; but the
conjunction remains no less portentous. I'aith in God and faith in freedom are
bound up together. See Arthur's Physical and Moral Law, pp. 231—237; and
his Religion without God, on Positivism generally.

232 APPENDIX.
The history of the world is one. The first century lives over again
in the twentieth. All the factors of evil co-operate, as do those of
good. There are but two kingdoms behind the numberless powers
contending throughout the ages of human existence, that of Satan and
that of Chiist ; though to our eyes their forces lie scattered and con
fused, and we distinguish iU between them. But the course of time
quickens its pace, as if nearing some great issue. Science has given
an immense impetus to human progress in almost aU directions, and
moral influences propagate themselves with greater speed than here
tofore. There is going on a rapid interfusion of thought, a unifying
of the world's life and a gathering together of the forces on either
side to "the valley of decision," that seem to portend some world
wide crisis, in which the glorious promises or dark forebodings of
revelation, or both at once, will be anew fulfilled. Still Christ's
words stand, as St Augustine said, to put down " the fingers of the
calculators1." It is not for us to know times or seasons. What back
ward currents may arise in our secular progress, what new seals are
to be opened in the book of human fate, and through what cycles the
evolution of God's purpose for mankind has yet to run, we cannot
guess. 1 "Omnes calculantium digitus resolvit"; on Matt. xxiv. 36.

I. GENERAL INDEX.

Such references are omitted as are sufficiently indicated by chapter
and verse of the two Epistles. To other Books of Scripture
only the principal references are indicated, and those involving
quotation.

Achaia, 141, 189
Aots of Apostles; compared with
1 and 2 Thess., xiv — xxxix
passim, lxu, 15 f. , 25, 28, 50,
59, 198; other reff., x, 35, 41,
44 f., 51, 64, 71, 98, 109, 121,
129, 147, 150, 167, 169, 173,
178, 200, 207
address of Epp., 15—18, 139
advent of Christ (see coming
and rapovala)
.Egean Sea, xi
^Ischylus, 28, 57
affection, mutual, of Paul and
Thess., lxn, 42 ff., 57 ff, 70 ff.
Agrapha of our Lord, 98, 109,
130
Alexandrian readings of Text,
lxvii, 62 f., 78, 79, 106
Ambrose, St, xii, 174
Ambrosiaster, 139
Ammonius, 107
Amos, Bk of, 108
Amphipolis and Apollonia, xvi
anacolutha in PauUne style, Iix,
46 f., 166, 177
analysis of the Epp., lxix ff. ;
of their sections, 34, 49 f., 57,
69 f., 79 f., 94, 106 f., 120 f.,
126, 139, 142 f., 161 f., 187,
203 f.
Antichrist, of Paul, xxx, li, 162,

168—187; of John, 167, 219—
223; of Daniel, 170 ff., 215—
219; of the Early Church,
223 f.; of the Middle Ages,
224 ff. ; of modern times,
227—232; bearing on date of
2 Thess., xiv — liv
Antioch, Pisidian, sermon at,
xxiii, xxv f., 55
Antioch, Syrian, 141
Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes), xlviii,
171 f., 217 f., 222, 228, 231
Apocalypse, of Daniel (see Da
niel); of John (see Bevela-
tion); of Paul, 29 ff., 94—
103, 161—187, 215 ff. (Ap-
pendix)
Apocalyptic, of the O. T., Ivii,
lx, 100, 143, 146; Jewish and
Christian, 1 f., 217 ff.
apostle, apostleship (see drb-
aroXos)
Apostolic Constitutions, 135
Aquila and Priscilla (Prisca),
xix, 27
Aristarchus, xxi
Aristophanes, quoted, 19, 53,
122
Aristotle, quoted, 39, 124
Armillus (Armalgus), 180, 218 f.
Arthur, W., on Positivism, 231
Asia, province of, xiv, 172

234

GENERAL INDEX.

Askwith, E. H„ liv, 178, 229
Assumption of MoseB, 217
asyndeton, 27
atheism, 228
Athens, xxxii f., xxxix, 64 ; dis
course at, xxv, 51
atonement, doctrine of, xxvi f.,
31, 117 f., 193
Augustine, St, quoted or referred
to, 32, 42, 95, 104, 135, 168,
180, 229, 232
Augustus, the Emperor, 173
Augustus, the title, 174
AureUus, Marcus, quoted, 46
authenticity of Epp. : 1 Thess.,
xliii ff.; 2 Thess., xiv— liv
authorship, plural, xxxix ft., 15,
67
Babylon, and Bome, 222
Bacon, Francis, 29
Bahnsen, F., xiv, 229
Baljon, J. M. S., on Text, 196
Barnabas, Ep. of, xiii, 84, 137
Baruch, Apoo. of, 115, 217
Baur, F. Chr., xxxviii, xiii, xiv
Beasts, the Wild, of Daniel,
215 f.; of Eevelation, 178,
220 ff.
Bengel, J. A., quoted, 20, 37,
42, 43, 46, 57, 60, 91, 98, 99,
114, 137, 140, 153, 180, 181,
186, 187, 205, 208
Beroea, xxxii f., 25, 26, 54, 59,
91
Beza, Th., quoted or referred to,
13, 58, 66, 74, 92, 98, 110,
116, 164, 169, 174, 202, 206,
209
Biblical Greek, Ivii
Bion, quoted, 118
Blass, F., quoted or referred to,
15, 20, 59, 68, 88
body, the human, sanctification
of, 82—90, 133
Bornemann, W., quoted or re
ferred to, xxvii, xxviii, xlix,
liv, 39, 46, 56, 59, 68, 69,
77, 86 f., 103, 143, 223

Bossuet, J.B., on Antichrist, 228f.
Bousset, W., on Antichrist, 218,
224
brotherly love (see tpiXaSeXtpla),
xxxi, xxxvi
Buttmann, A., Grammar of N. T.
Greek, 40, 54, 142, 157, &a.
Byzantine Empire, 179 f., 223
Cassarism, xxx, 227, 231
Cassar-worship, xix f., 172 ff.,
178, 228
Caligula, Emperor Gaius, xlviii,
172 f., 231
Calvin, John, quoted, 19, 35,
37, 43, 72, 74, 75, 115, 123,
143, 200, 201, 202, 206, 209,
212
Canticles, Bk of, 164
Cassander, ix f.
Charlemagne, the Emperor, 224 f.
Chase, F. H., quoted or referred
to, 131, 201
chastity, xxxi, xxxvi, 82 — 90
Chronicles (Paralipomena), 1 and
2 Bk of, 153, 185, 202
Chrysostom, St John, quoted,
26, 37, 40, 42, 43, 84, 102,
107, 113, 114, 124, 127, 169,
170, 192, 199, 223, 231
church (see ixxXijala), 16 f.
church-officers and organization,
xUv, liii, 120 ff.
Cicero at Thess., xii; quoted,
xi, 44
Claudius, the Emperor, xix,
xxxix, 178
Clemens Eomanus, 24, 73, 137
Clementine Eeoognitions, 94
Codices, Greek, of Epp., Ixv ff.,
and Textual Notes passim
Colossians, Ep. to, xxii, 15, 30,
38, 48, 84, 86, 93, 103, 118,
137, 156, 206
coming, the second, of Christ
(see rapovala), xxvii — xxx,
xxxvi ff., lxiii f., 29 ff., 95—
103, 146—152, 162 f., 165 f.,
179 ff., 229 f.

/. GENERAL INDEX.

235

Comte, A., his new religion,
228 ; calgchisme positiviste,
quoted, 231
conflate readings, Ixvi, 62, 63
Constantinople, 223, 225
Conybeare and Howson, Life of
St Paul, xvi
Coptic Version, xvii, Ixvi, Textual
Notes
Corinth, Paul at, xxxiii, 71,
140 f., 178, 189, 199 f. ; Thess.
Epp. written from, xxxix
Corinthians, 1 Ep. to, xxi, xxvii,
xxviii, Ivii, lxiu, 15, 16, 23,
27, 30, 42, 45, 46, 47, 51 f.,
60, 62, 65, 83, 84, 85, 90, 91,
95, 96 f., 98, 99, 102, 114,
118, 119, 120, 128, 129, 134,
139, 147, 149 f., 153, 156,
164 f., 170 f., 176, 183, 200,
207, 212, 214
Corinthians, 2 Ep. to, xxi, xxvi,
U, lviii, Ixiv, 15, 23, 37, 40,
41, 43, 45, 47, 60, 65, 71, 72,
87, 91, 99, 102, 118, 133,
137, 141, 165, 169, 183, 190,
204, 206, 214, 218
cross of Christ, the, preached
at Thess., xxvi f.
CouncU of Jerusalem, xiv, xxxix
Cyril of Alexandria, 130
Dalman, G., Words of Jesus,
174
Dan, associated with Antichrist,
224
Daniel, Bk of, lx f., 101, 170 ff.,
176 ft., 219 f., 226; the Visions
of, 215 f.
date of Thess. Epp., xxxix,
xiu f. , xUv, xiv — lUi
Davidson, S., liv
day of the Lord (see ijpipa),
xxxvii, 108 f.
death of Christ and human sal
vation, xxv ff., 117 f., 193
deification of Cfflsars, xxx, 172 f.
Deissmann, G. A., Bible-Studies,
lxi, 48, 174

delusion, punitive purpose of,
185 ff.
Demas, xxii
Demetrius, St, xiii, xxii
Demosthenes, 18, 199, 209
Deuteronomy, Bk of, lxi, 29, 88,
147, 148, 163, 182, 188 f.,
224
De Wette, W. M. L., xiii
Dichotomists and Triohotomists,
133
Dick, Karl, on plural authorship,
xxxix ff.
Didache XH Apostolorum, xiii,
41, 208 f.
diligence, duty of, xxxi, xxxvi,
92 f., 208 ft.
Dio Cassius, 93
Diodorus Sioulus, x, 55
Diogenes Laertius, 66
discipline, need of (see indisci
pline)
divinity of Christ, 17, 74 f.,
157, 170
Dollinger, J. J. L, 178, 222 f.,
228 f.
Domitian, the Emperor, 222
Dorner, J. A., 177, 223
doublets, verbal, in 2 Thess., Iix
Elagabalus, the Emperor, 173
EUicott, C. J., quoted or re
ferred to, 37, 56, 89, 99, 111,
133, 184
ellipses, in Pauline style, Iix,
97 f.
Emperors, the Boman, 170, 178,
222, 229
Empire, the Boman, xi, xv,
xixf., 174 f., 178, 223 f.
Enoch, Bk of, 217
Ephesians, Ep. to, Iix, 20, 22,
33, 35, 42, 73, 83, 87, 96,
112, 113, 116 f., 122, 143, 151,
189, 213
Epictetus, quoted or referred to,
lxi, 65, 89
episcopate, the (supposed) with-
holder, xiv, 229

236

/. GENERAL INDEX

epistle to Paul from Thess.,
xxxvi, 108, 209
Epistles of Paul, their origin,
xxxv f. ; arrangement of, 13 ;
style of, lriii, lxi; reading of,
enjoined, 136 f. ; authenticity
of, guarded, 214; signature
of, 214; written by secretary,
137, 214; share of compan
ions in, xxxix ft., 50, 141 ;
(possible) abuse of, 165
epistolary formulas, lxi
Erasmus, Desid., quoted, xliii, 26,
108, 123, 145, 180, 202, 206
eschatology of Paul (see 7rapov-
ala, Antichrist, Apocalypse,
ijpipa Kvpiov), xx, xxvii ff.,
xxxvii f., Ii f., lxiii f. , &c.
Esaras, 4 (2) Bk of, lx, 217
Estius, G., quoted or referred to,
19, 26, 72, 89 f., 108, 123,
143, 151, 190, 202
ethics (see morals)
Europe, Pauline mission to, xv
Eustathius, Bp of Thess., xii
Ewald, H., xxxviii
Exodus, Bk of, 29, 58, 100,
102, 138 f., 147
Ezekiel, Bk of, lx f., 60, 87, 90,
109, 151, 156, 170, 185
Fathers, the ancient, on Anti
christ, 223 ft., 231 ; as textual
witnesses, Ixvi, and Textual
Notes passim
Finlay, G., on Boman law,
178 f.
forgiveness of sins, xxv f., 30 f.
Frederic II., German Emperor,
226
French Bevolution and Anti
christ, 227 f.
Friedlanrler, M., on Antichrist,
218, 224
Gabriel, the archangel, 101
Galatia, xiv f., 141
Galatians, Ep. to, xv, xxvi, xlix,
lviii, 15, 16, 20, 23, 29, 30,

41 47, 52, 55, 68 f., 86, 118,
137, 142, 171, 176, 201, 214
Gallio, the Proconsul, 178, 199
Genesis, Bk of, lx, 31, 48, 56,
85, 206, 208
GentUes, the Epp. addressed to,
xxv, lx, 28 f., 53, 55
Gnosticism and Thess. Epp.,
xiv, 229
God, doctrine of, xxiv f., 28 ft.,
83 f.
Gospel, the, its coming to
Thess., xiv ff. ; Pauline, at
Thess., xxiii ft., 96 f., 117 f.;
of Christ's peeond coming,
xxvii f., xxx, 30 f. (See ebay-
yiXiov)
gospel, a, to Paul from Thess.,
xxxiii, 70
Gregory I., Pope, on Antichrist,
225, 231
Gregory VII., Pope, 225
Gregory IX., Pope, 226
Grotius, Hugo, xxxviii, 88, 102;
on Antichrist, 228 f.
Gunkel, H.,'218
hapax legomena, Iv ft., 26, 36,
53, 91, 100, 106, 118, 130,
149, 160, 199, 205, 206, 211
Harnack, A., xiv
Harris, J. Eendel, xxxv, lxi,
108
harlot-woman, the, of Eevela
tion, 222
Hase, K., xiv
Hausrath, A., liv
Hebraisms, of grammar or ex
pression, in Thess. Epp., Ivii,
17, 30, 41, 48, 59 f., 93, 102,
112, 116, 141, 148, 168, 179
Hebrews, Ep. to, 18, 33, 51, 60,
82, 85, 88, 98, 130, 131, 137,
163, 167, 182
Hejira, the, of Muhammad, 226
heresy and Antichrist, xiv,
2231, 229
Hermas, Shepherd of, 84
Herodotus, ix, 19

/. GENERAL INDEX.

237

Herwerden, Lexicon Grcecum sup-
pletorium, 180
Hesychius, quoted, 58
HUgenfeld, A., xliu, xiv, 229
Hippolytus of Borne, 224
history and prophecy, xxix f. ,
215, 229—232
Hofmann, von, J. C. K., quoted
or referred to, xlvii, 16, 47,
67, 69, 77, 100, 116, 132
Hohenstaufen Emperors, 225 f.
holiness, holy (see 01710s, k.t.X.);
holiness and bodUy purity,
82—90; holiness and love, 76 f.
Holsten, C, xliii
Holtzmann, H. J., xliu, xiv f.
holy living, directions for, 126 —
135
Holy Eoman Empire, 223
Holy Spirit, The (see rvevpa
dyiov), 23
Homer, quoted, 29, 43, 69, 163,
205
homceoteleuta, 33, 79, 106, 138
hopelessness of Pagan world,
95 f.
Horace, 58
Horn, the Little, in Daniel,
215 f., 220
Hort, F. J. A., quoted or re
ferred to, 41, 90, 121, 139, 153
humanity, worship of, 228
Hub, John, 226
Huxtable, E., 41
idealistic eschatology, 219 f.,
229 ff.
idleness at Thess., xxxviii,
203—213
idolatry, xxiii ff., 28 f.
Ignatius, St, 113
indiscipUne at Thess., xxxvi,
xxxvin, xUii, liii, 124, 204 ff.,
211 ff.
Innocent HI., Pope, 225
inscriptions, Greek, xvi, Ivii
interpolation, in 2 Thess., theory
of, liiif.
Irenaaus, 168, 181, 224

irony in Paul, 92, 108, 209
Isaiah, Bk of, lx f., 22, 29, 31,
60, 83, 91, 96, 100, 108 1,
110, 112, 115, 135, 138, 146,
147, 150, 156, 160, 170, 179 f.,
185, 203, 218 f.
itacism, lxvii, 63, 105, 159, 160,
197
James, Ep. of, xxxvi, 20, 76, 189,
194
Jason of Thess., xviii f., xxxii f.,
45
Jehovah (Jahveh), the name, 29
Jeremiah, Bk of, 29, 38, 57, 86,
91, 109, 116, 146, 148, 224
Jerome (Hieronymus), St, quoted
or referred to, 87, 108, 170
Jerusalem, 15, 52, 141; fall of,
xxxix, 50, 56 f., 228; temple
of, 170
Jesus, words of, used by Paul,
lxi, 95 f., 98, 107, 109 f., 112,
113, 130, 163, 164, 167, 182
Jewel, Bp, on Antichrist, 226 f.
Jewish Antichrist, 218 f.
Jewish nation, attitude of, to the
Gospel, xvi ft., 50, 53 ff.
Jews, the, in Thess., xi, xv — xviii,
xxxiv f., 50, 60
Job, Bk of, lx, 131, 146, 179,
185
Joel, Bk of, 100, 108, 129, 180
John, Apocalypse of (see Revela
tion)
John, 1 Ep. of, 30, 47, 60, 76,
87, 90, 111, 162, 167, 189,
223; 2 Ep. of, 17, 91; 3 Ep.
of, 48
John, Gospel of, xix, 23, 29, 41,
53, 60, 72, 75, 76, 80, 86, 91,
95 1, 101, 108, 109, 111, 112,
118, 133, 148, 170, 173, 182,
189, 213
Josephus, quoted, 15, 55, 131
Joshua, Bk of, 167
Jowett, B., quoted, xxvu, 18,
53
Jubilees, Bk of, 217

238

/. GENERAL INDEX.

Judsean Churches, 52 f.
Judaistic controversy, xxxiv, 41
Judas Iscariot, 168
Jude, Ep. of, 101
Judenhasse, 55
Judgement, the Last, Paul's
preaching of, xxviii ff. ; doc
trine of, in Thess. Epp., 30 f.,
108 ft., 145—151, 179—187
Judges, Bk of, 224
Jiilicher, A., xUii, xiv
JuUus Cassar, 173
Justin Martyr, xiii
Juvenal, quoted, 54
Kennedy, H. A. A., 223
Kern, F. H., xiii, xiv ft.
Kingdom of God, of Christ (see
fiaaiXela), xix f., 48 f.
kiss, the holy (see ipiXrjpa)
Klopper, A., xlvii
Buhner, B., Grammatik der
giiech. Sprache2, quoted, 24,
131
Laotantius, 108
Lamentations, Bk of, 146
Later Greek (koivij), language of,
lvi f., 23, 41, 87, 105, 111, 117,
164, 191, 205, 212
Latinisms in Greek text, Ixvi f.,
63, 105, 159
law, the withholder, 177 ff.
Leviticus, Bk of, 48
Lightfoot, J. B. , quoted or referred
to, x, liv, 18, 31, 36, 39, 41,
46, 51, 60, 74, 81, 82, 90, 108,
109, 110, 111, 113, 114, 117,
118, 122, 135, 136 f., 140, 147,
155, 165, 182, 190, 201, 206,
229
litotes (or meiosis), 54, 199 f.
liturgical rhythm, Ivii, 143
Livy, quoted, x
Lock, W., 108
Lucian, quoted, x, 19
Lucifer of Calaris, quoted, 13
Luke, St, associated with Paul,
xv

Luke, Gospel of, lxi, 23, 30, 49,
53, 54, 55, 57, 74, 77, 84, 108,
109, 110, 130, 135, 143, 175,
176
Liinemann, G., 69
Luther, Martin, on Antichrist,
226 f.
Maccabean times, 171, 217
Maccabees, 1 Bk of, 59, 123, 167,
172, 186
Maccabees, 2 Bk of, 96, 163
Maccabees, 4 Bk of, 150
Macedonia, Province of, ix, x, xv,
xxi, 198 f. ; see map
Macedonian Churches, xxi, xliii f.,
lxii, 91 f.
Malachi, Bk of, lxi, 109, 116,
205
Manen, van, xliii
manual labour, 44 f., 93 f.,
207 f.
manuscripts, Greek, of the Epp.
(see uncial, minuscule)
Mark, Gospel of, 53, 61, 74, 113,
163, 164, 182
Matthew, Gospel of, lxi, 22, 30,
35, 42, 49, 53, 54, 56, 61, 67,
74, 75, 77, 87, 100, 102, 108,
113, 125, 127, 150, 163, 167,
170, 182, 200, 217 1, 218, 221,
232
Melanohthon, Philip, on Anti
christ, 226, 231
Messiah, the suffering, xviii
Meyer, H. A. W., 84
Micah, Bk of, 100, 109
Michael, the archangel, 101
military metaphors, 100, 114 f.
ministry of Thess. Church, xliv,
120—125
minuscule mss., Ixv, and Textual
Notes passim
miracles of Antichrist (see arj-
peiov)
Moffatt, J., xliii, xiv
morals, Christian, xxx f. ; defec
tive at Thess., 79 f.
Moulton, J. H., lxvii, 117

/. GENERAL INDEX.

239

Muhammadanism and Antichrist,
225
Napoleon Buonaparte, 227 f ., 231
Nenemiah, Bk of, 59
Nero, the Emperor, xlvi f., 178,
222, 223, 228, 231; redivivus,
xlvi f., Uii f.
Nestle, Eb., on Greek Text of
N.T., 60
Nitzsch, C. L., quoted, 229
number, the, of the Wild Beast,
226
Numbers, Bk of, lxi, 135, 194,
213
Obadiah, Bk of, 146
(Ecumenius, 132
Old Testament, use of, in Thess.
Epp., Ivii, lx f.
Olympus, Mt, xi f. ; see map
Origen, quoted, 13, 32, 42
Paganism, condition of, xxv,
xxviii, 83, 86, 96, 173 f., 178
Papaoy, the, and Antichrist,
225 ff., 231
Papyri, the Egyptian-Greek, Ivii,
lxi, 205
paronomasia and word-plays, Ux,
200, 209
pauperism, danger of, at Thess.,
208 ff.
Pergamum, 172
persecution at Thess., xviii — xxi,
xxxvii f., 52 ff., 66 f. ; at Beroea,
xxii, 54 ; at Philippi, xv, 36 ;
at Corinth, 71, 199 f.
Peter, 1 Ep. of, 15, 17, 66, 67,
83, 84 f., 113, 114, 116, 126,
133 191
Peter,' 2 Ep. of, 17, 108, 147,
167
Pfleiderer, O., xUii, xiv, 229
PhUemon, Ep. to, xxi, xxU, 149,
155, 214
Philippi, xv f., xxix, 36, 91, 144 ;
bounty from, sent to Paul,
xxxiv, 45

PhiUppians, Ep. to, its relation
to Thess. Epp., lviii f., lxii;
other reft., xxii, xxxiv, lx, lxii,
lxiv, 15, 30, 42, 45, 51, 53, 59,
60, 65, 96, 102, 103, 108, 131,
143, 155, 168
Philo Juclaus, 64, 84, 132,
169
Pindar, quoted, 57 f.
Plato, quoted or referred to, 19,
28 f., 46, 53, 64, 92 f., 131
PUny the younger, Nat. History
of, x, 44
Plutarch, 132, 164
Politarchs, the, at Thess., x,
xviii f., xxxii, 60, 178
Polybius, Histories oi, x, 46, 180,
209 f.
Polycarp, St, Ep. of, xiii ; Martyr.
of, 173 f.
Pompey, at Thess., xii
Positivism and Antichrist, 228,
231
prffiterist theories of Antichrist,
229
prayer and thanksgiving, 127,
135, 153, 161
preaching, Paul's, at Thess., xvii
— xx, xxiii — xxxi, 23 f., 28 f.,
35—49, 51, 67, 80 f., 174, 191 f.,
205, 208
prophecy (see rpotprjTela), in
ApostoUo Cburch, 98, 128;
progressive fulfilment of, 231 f .
Prophet, the False, of Eevelation,
222
proselytes, Jewish, and Chris
tianity, xvii
Proverbs, Bk of, lx, 60, 88,
100
Psalms, Bk of, lx f ., 22, 29, 31,
40, 72, 74, 76, 83, 86, 100, 112,
135, 147, 148, 151, 180, 183,
194, 198, 201, 202
Psalms of Solomon, 91, 217
purity of motive, Paul's, xxxiv f.,
36—40
Quintilian, quoted, 209

240

/. GENERAL INDEX.

Eabbinical phrases, 85, 210;
teaching on Antichrist, 224
Bamsay, W. M., quoted or re
ferred to, xv, xvn, xx, xxviii,
xliii
Eaphael, the archangel, 101
readings of Greek text, the more
noticeable, lxvif.
Eeformers, the Protestant, on
Antichrist, 226 f.
relative attraction, 142
resurrection, the Christian, xxiv,
30, 97, 101 ; of Jesus, 30, 96 f.,
117 f.
retaliation forbidden, 125
retribution, Divine, 145 f., 184 ff.
revelation (see d7ro/cct\u^is)
Eevelation, Bk of, its relation to
2 Thess., xiii f., xlvi f., liii f.,
219—222; other reff., 17, 19,
30, 100, 108, 109, 143, 145,
147, 150, 156, 168, 172, 181,
184, 186, 224, 226
right of maintenance, Apostolic,
40 f.
riot at Thess., xviii ff.
Eitschl, A., 50
Eobinson, J. A., on Ephesians,
quoted, 52, 117, 176
Boman iaw and Christianity,
179
Bomans, Ep. to, xxvi, xxix, li,
lviii, lx, 20, 22, 23, 27, 31, 41,
46, 50, 51, 56, 84, 86, 91, 96,
115, 116, 118 f., 121, 131, 148,
149, 167, 176, 177, 182, 184,
185, 186, 188, 193, 199, 200,
201, 213, 221
Borne, city of, ix, xix, 27, 218,
222
Euth, Bk of, 85
Sabatier, A., quoted, xxxiv
Sahidio Version, Ixvi, 33
Saint Sophia, mosque of, at
Thess., xUi
saints, the (see ciyioi)
SaUust, Catilina, 96
Saloniki, ix

Samuel, 1 and 2 Bks of (1 and 2
Kingdoms hi LXX), 38, 45, 70,
83, 133, 168, 185, 206
Saraoens, masters of Thess., xiii;
assault on Eastern Empire,
178 f.
Savonarola, 226
Schmidt, J. C. Chr., xiii
Schmidt, P. W., liii f.
Schmiedel, P. W., in Hand-
commentar, xliii, xiv ft., 35, 38,
50, 132, 200
Schrader, K., xUi
Schiirer, E., 41
self-defence of Paul, xxxiv f., 34
—48, 57—61
Severianus, 180
Shakespeare, quoted, 55, 85
Sibylline Oracles, 217 f.
Silas (Shila, Silvanus ; see also
'ZiXovavbs), xiv f., xxxii f., 15 f.,
28, 50, 52, 98, 141; his pos
sible share in 2 Thess., xl f.,
xlix f.
Simcox, W. H, on Eevelation,
221
Simon Magus, and Antichrist,
229
Sirach, Bk of, 21, 54, 76, 85, 146,
155, 194, 202
Sophocles, 44, 60, 123
soul, the (see fvxrj)
spirit (see rvevpa)
Spirit, the Holy (see rvevjM
dyiov, and Holy)
Spitta, F., xlvU f., 1, 67 f.
Steck, B., xliii
Stephen, St, 54, 144
Strabo, quoted, x
style of the Epp., lviii ff. ; of
2 Thess., xlviu ft., Ivii, Iix f.,
143
subscription to Epp., xxxix
Suetonius, De vita Ccesarum, xix,
172 f.
synagogue, the Jewish, its Gentile
adherents, xvi f . ; Paul preach
ing in, xvii f.
Syrian readings and recension of

/. GENERAL INDEX.

241

Text, Ixvi f., 33, 62 f., 78 f.,
104, 159, 161, 197
Tacitus, quoted, 54, 173
Tafel, de Thessalonica ejusque
agro, xii
Tancred, the Crusader, xii
Targum of Jonathan, 218 f.
Tarsus, 44
'tendency' school of criticism,
xUi f., xiv
tent-making, Paul's trade of,
44 f., 206 f., 214
Tertullian, quoted or referred to,
84, 104, 135, 223
Theocritus, 119
Theodore of Mopsuestia, 84, 122,
168, 171, 181, 229
Theodoret, xi, 75, 145
Theodosius the Great, Emperor,
xii
Theophylact, 33
Therma, ix
Thermaic Gulf, xi; see map
Thessalonian Christians, cha
racter of, xlni f., 19 ff., 28 f.,
45, 51, 60 f., 74, 81, 91 f., 95,
112, 140—145, 164, 187—191,
198f., 201 f., 210 f. ; sufferings
of, xviii, xxxiii, xxxvii, lxii f.,
21, 25, 49 ft., 67, 125, 126 f.,
141—146
Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Ep. to,
mutual relations of, xxxvii ft.,
xlviiiff., 161, 164 f.; order of,
xxxvni f. ; genera] character
of, lxi ff .
Thessalonica, history of, ix, xirf.;
position of, xi f., xvi, 92, 198,
— see map ; Paul's connexion
with, xiv — xxii, xxxii — xii,
lxi ft., 16, 28, 34 ft., 72 ft.,
152 f., 174, 1901; his wish to
return to, xxxiv ff., 57 ff., 71;
Paul's sermon at, xvii f. (see
preaching)
Thucydides, quoted, 39, 87, 123
Timothy, with Paul at Thess.,
xiv ff., 15 f., 64* his visit to
Thess.

Thess. and report, xxxiii, 57,
63—73, 79 f., 140; his share
in the Epp., xlf., xlviii — Ui;
other reff., 28, 64, 65, 141
Timothy, 1 Ep. to, xxi, 37, 91,
93, 117, 118, 121, 143, 149,
167, 172, 175 f., 180, 209
Timothy, 2 Ep. to, lxiv, 33, 60,
82, 91, 109, 167, 178, 180, 191,
199
Tisohendorf, C, quoted, 63, 197
title of Epp., 13
Titus, Ep. to, lxiv, 29, 86, 180,
189
Tobit, Bk of, 101
treason, charge of, against Paul,
xviii ft., 174 f.
Trench, B. C, on N.T. Synonyms,
passim
Troas, port of, xiv f.
Turks, at Thess., xi, xiii
uncial mss., the Greek, Ixv ff.,
and Textual Notes passim
union with Christ, 102 f., 117 f.,
156, 191
Van Manen, xliii
Vergil, quoted, 198
versions, ancient, of Epp., Ixv ff .,
Textual Notes passim
Vespasian, the Emperor, 173, 229
Via Egnatia, x, xvi, xxix
vocabulary, the Greek, of 1 and 2
Thess., Iv ff.
Vulgate version, the Latin, quoted
or referred to, xvii, 47, 58, 87 f.,
89, 107, 122, 123, 130, 163, 164,
169, 174, 180, 202, 209
Waldenses, the, on Antichrist,
226
Weber, F., on Antichrist, 218
Weiss, B., on Text of Thess.
Epp., 32, 63, 79, 105, 161,
197 ; on Apocalyptic, xlvii
Weizsacker, C., 41
Wesley, C, quoted, 97
Westcott, B. F., on Daniel, 215
Q

242

/. GENERAL INDEX.

Westcott-Hort, N.T. in Greek
(WH), Ixv ff., 32 f., 60, 160,
166, 197, and Textual Notes
generaUy
Western readings of Greek Text,
Ixvi 1, 63, 78 f., 104, 106, 159,
160, 197
Winer-Moulton, Grammar of
N.T. Greek, passim
Winer-Schmiedel, Grammatik d.
n.-t. Sprachidioms (incomplete),
32, 110, 205
Wisdom, Bk of, 110, 115, 150,
169, 177

women of Thess., the Greek, xvii
word-plays (see paronomasia)
Wordsworth, Chr., 227
worship, objects of (see aipaapa)
Wrede, W., on authenticity of
2 Thess., xlvi, xlix
Xenophon, quoted, 82, 85
Xerxes at Thess., ix
Zahn, Th., xliii, xlviii, 15
Zechariah, Bk of, 38, 100, 109
168 f.
Zephaniah, Bk of, 109

II. INDEX OF GREEK WORDS AND
PHRASES.

Words specially defined or discussed are marked with an asterisk,
with the specific reference in thicker type.

dyaBbs, 70, 125 f., 194 ; -uavvrj,
lvi, 154 f.
dyardu, d^dr?;, 20 f., 70, 91,
114 f., 122 f., 188, 193, 202 ;
dyanjrbs, 44
oyyeXos, 101, 147
dyidfa, *-apbs, 76, 83, 89, 131 f.,
189 f. ; "d'-yios, -uaivrj, lvi, 46,
76, 90 ; a-yioi (ol), 77, 151
dyvoeiv, ob BiXu..., 94 f.
dyu, 97
dyuv, 36
aSeXipbs (b), -ol, 21, 57, 87, 107,
135, 163, 188, 198, 205, 212
dSiaXelrrus, lvi, lxi, 19, 126
dSixia, 183, 186
dip, 102
HBeriu, 89
alpiopiai, 188
aiipviSios, 110
*a'aivios, 150, 193 f.
*dxa6apala, 37, 88 f.
aKorjs, Xbyos, 51
dxo6u, 209
*dxpiJ3us, 108
*dXi)Beia (i)), 183 f., 186, 189 f.
dXijBivbs, 29
dXrjBus, 51 f.
dXXrjXovs, 75, 103, 125 f.
dpaprla, 56

dpa ativ, 101, 118 f.
dpeprros, -us, lvi, 46, 76 f., 134
dprjv, 63, 106, 197
dvayiviiaxu, 136 f.
*dvdyxrj, 71
dvaipiu, or dvaXlaxu, 160, 179,
181
dvapivu, lvi, 29 f.
dK07rXi;p6i<j, 56
*&veais, 146
dviarij b 'Irjaovs, 96 f.
dvixopai, 142
dvBpuros (see dp^ff/rw)
*dvBpuros (6) r?)s dvoplas (dpap
rlas), xxxvii f., xlvf., Ii, 159,
168-174, 175 ff., 179 ff., 186 f;
the Appendix
dvB' uv, 183 f.
dvioTijpi, '96 f., 101
dvopia (ij), dvopos (6), xlviii,
176 f., 179-183; the Appendix
dvrarobldupi, 72, 145 f.
dvrixopiai, 124
dvrl, 125
dvrixelpevos (6), xiv f., 168 ff.
«|ios, -us, 48, 140; d|i6u, 38, 153 f.
a7rdl'T7;o'i!', els, lvU, 102
a7ra£ Kal Sis, 59
a7ra/)X'7, 160, 188 f.
d7r' dpxrjs, 160, 188 f.

244

//. INDEX OF

dras, 160, 185 f.
*drdTij, 183, 220
driBavev 6 'Iijo-oOs, 96 f., 117 f.
drixopai, 82, 130 f.
drb, 58, 147, 150, 164; dwb—ix,
40
droSelxvvpi, 169
droSlbupi, 105, 125
d7TOKa\i)7rTU, *-ipis, 61, 146, 168,
175 f., 179
droXXipevoi (ol), 182, 184, 220
droptpavl^u, lvi, 57 f.
*droaraala (rj), 167, 224
*drbaroXos, 41
driiXeia (see vibs)
dpa ovv, lvi, 113, 191
dpiaxu dvBpiirois, Beip, 38, 54, 81
dprd^u, 101 f.
*dfrn, 70, 176, 177
Sot-ov &r0£w, 206, 210
dpxdyyeXos, 100 f.
doBevrjs, 124
dordfrpai, -apJbs, 135, 214
do-0dA«a, 109 f.
draKriu, -ros, -rus, lvi, 124,
204 ff., 213
*droros, 199
aurof.. .otSare, 34, 66, 107, 206;
avrbs b Bebs, 6 Kdpios, 74, 99,
131, 192, 213
*j3dpos, 40 f.
*j3aaiXela (rj) tov Beov, 48, 49,
60 f., 144 f.
BeXlap, 218
yaarpl, iv, ixovaa (i)), 110
ylvopai els, 23, 68 ; * — ev, 39 ff.
yiviiaKU, 68, 86
*yjy*jyopiu, 113, 118
8*, 58, 75, 95, 104, 106, 162, 202
Sei, 81, 206
Siopai, 73
Sixopai, 25, 51, 183
Sid, with genitive, 71, 82, 97,
211 f. ; with aoous., 24, 73;
Sid ravrbs, 213 ; Sid tovto, 50 f.,
67, 71

Siikovos, 62 f., 64 f.
Siapapripopai, 88
SISupi, 148, 193, 207; SISupi els,
90
*5lxaios, -us, 46, 145
*Slxijv rlvu, 149
Sib, 63 f., 119
*Sibri, 44, 58, 88
Sis, 59
Siuypbs, 142
Siuxu, 125
*Soxipdiu, 37 f., 106, 129 f. ; So-
xipd£uv (o) rrjv KapSlav, Ivii, 38
S6fa, 40, 48 f., 61 ; — Xpiarov, 151,
155 f., 191
5o|dfw, 198
SovXeiu, 29
Sivapis, 147, 155, 181 f. ; Sivapis —
rvevpa, 23
dupiav, 206
eaurotfs (1st person), 43, 207;
(2nd person), 123
iyu IlaOXos, 59
iBvrj (rd), 55
el, 96; — ob (ovX), 208, 211; etrep,
145
*«oos, 130 f.
*elSuXov, 28, 29
elpijvebu, 123
*elprjvn, 17 f., 109 f . ; elprjvrjs
(Trjs), b Bebs, b Kvpios, 131, 213
ets, 91, 128, 169, 191; els rb
(infinitive), 48, 56, 73, 91,
144, 163, 183 f., 207
els— els, 119; els imaros, 47, 140
e&roSos, 28, 35
etre — elre, 118
ix (e|), 37, 40; ix piaov, 177
*ixSlKijois, ixbixos, lvi, 88, 147 f.
ixSiiixu, lvi, 54
*ixxXrjala, 16 f.
*ixXoyrj, 21 f.
iXeyov (rpo-), 67, 174
iXrls, 19 ff., 60, 96, 115 f, 193 f.
iprpoaOev tov Beov, 19, 73, 76
iv, 37, 77, 89, 100, 102, 103,
122 f., 134, 141, 147, 181,
194; iv Oeip, Kvplu, Xpiarf,

GREEK WORDS AND PHRASES.

2 45

x.t.X., 16 f., 52, 72, 80, 101,
127 f., 201, 204, 210; iv piau,
42
ivdvnos, 54 f.
*ivSeiypa, lvi, 144
ivSo$d£u, lvn, 151, 155 f.
ivSiu, 114 f.
*ivepyiu (in passive), "-7eio, 52,
176, 181, 184
ivia-njxa, 165 f.
iviXu, 138, 142
*ivxaxiu, 211
evxavxdopai, lvi, 141
*ivKbrru, 59
ivopKliu, xl, lvi, 106, 136 f.
ivrpiru, 212
£|a7raTciw, lvi, 166
ii)ipXopai, 27
i$VXt»>, lvi, 26
ejouffe^w, 128 f.
*<?£owia, 207
*l£w (ol), 93, 96
ireira, 101
eirl, with genitive, 19 ; with da
tive, 71, 73, 89 ; with accusa
tive, 152 f., 163, 201
injSapiu, lvi., 45, 207
*inBvpla, 58, 85 f.
eriroBiu, 71
erlarapxu (iiptarapai), 104, 110
iriaroXr), 136, 164 f., 192, 211, 214
eriarpiipu, 28
iriavvayuyrj, 103
"iriipdveia, -ijs, lvi, 61, 180, 217
ipydfrpat, 44, 93, 207, 208, 209
ipyov, 123; — xal Xbyos, 194 f.;
— rlareus, 20, 154
ipxopuu, 31, 108
'ipurdu (in requests), 80, 121,
163
e<r0i«, 208; see fioroi'
Jn, 174
ebayyeXl^opai, 70
"eikyyAioe (to), 23, 38, 65, 148f.,
190; — tov Beov, 35, 43, 45
*ebSoxiu, -la, 43, 64, 154 f., 186
evaxnpbvus, lvi, 93
ebxapiariu, -la, lxi, 18 f., 72,
1261, 140, 187

exfipbs, 212
ius, 177
Jaw, 72, 98 f., 101, 117 ff.
*ijyiopai iv, 122 f. ; — lis, 212
*i)Sij, 176
rjpets—bpeis, 24, 57 f., 61, 71, 73,
75, 152, 154, 187 f., 190, 207
*ijpipa, 112, 114 i.j *— Kvpiov,
108 f., Ill, 152
Ijnos, lvi, 32 f., 42
ijavxdi^u, ijavxla, 92 f., 210
BdXru, 42
Bavpd^u, 151
8iXrjp.a (tov) Oeov, 82 f., 127 f.
*BiXu, 58 f.
0eo5iSa/cTos, Ivii, 91
9e6s (o), 65, 169-174, 193, 202
Brjplov (rb), of the Apocalypse,
220 ff.
BXipu, -ipis, 25, 145 f.
*Bpoiu, 164
Bupai, 114 f.
tSia (rd), 92
'I7;<ro0s, 17, 30 f., 53, 97
Iva, 55, 78, 81, 111 f., 153, 210
"louoaia (i)), 52
'louScuoi (oi), 53
*iaxvs> 150
xaBdrep, 47, 71, 75, 86
xaBeiSu, 113, 118
xaBl$u els, 169
Kai, 135, 212 ; doubled, 53, 59
*raip6s, 58, 107, 175 f.
KaKbv (rb), 125
KaXiu, 48, 89, 134 f., 190
KaXbv (rb), 130; *KaXoroiiu, lvi,
211
*KapSia, 38, 58, 76, 194, 202
KaTd, 181
KaraXappdvu, 111
KaTaXei7rw, 64
*KOTa|i6w, 144
*Karapyiu, 130
*KarapTi£u, 74

246

II. INDEX OF

KarevBbvu, 74, 202
Karixu, 129 f. ; "Karixov (rb),
Karixuv (6), 175, 177—179,
223 f., 229
xeipai, 66
*xiXevapa, lvi, 100
*xevbs, els xevbv, 35, 68 f.
xrjpioou, 45
xXirr-ns—xXirras, 104, 108, 111
nX^tris, 153 f.
*xoipdopui, ol xotpiipevoi, xliv f.,
95-98
koivij (see later Greek)
xoXaxia, lvi, 39
xondu, *xbros, 21, 44, 68 f, 121,
206 f.
Kpariu, 191 f.
xpivu, -ais, 143, 186
*Krdopai (aKevos), 84 f.
Kupios (6), 17, 53, 75, 88, 136,
188, 202, 213 f.
xbpios (b) 'Irjaovs, 53 f., 77, 82,
105, 146, 149, 155 f., 160, 179
xbpios (b) 'Irjaovs Xpiarbs, 16 f.,
116 i, 137, 139, 157, 192 f.,
204, 210
KuXbu, 55
XaXiu, 28, 36, 55
Xeybpevos Bebs, 29, 169
X670S Beov, 51 ; — (rod) Kvpiov,
26 f ., 98, 198 ; Xbyos—Svvapis,
23 ; X670S — rvevpa, 165 ; X6yos
—iriaroXr), 164, 192, 194 f.,
211; see ipyov
*Xoiroi (oi), 96, 113; Xoirbv (rb),
78, 80, 197
Xvriu, 95
* paxpoBvpiu, 125
imXXov, 80 f., 92
* papripiov (rb) iri, 152 f.
*papripopai, 47
pdprvs, 39 f., 45
*pe6baxu, *peBiu, 114
piXXu, 67
piv, 59
p.erd, 25, 77, 146, 210
ueradiSupt, 43

pij, with participles, 64, 205 ; with
subjunctive, 166, 211 ; prj rus,
68 f. ; prjSi, pijre, 159, 164
prjKiri, 64, 67
pipiopai, piprjTijs, 25, 206 f.
pveia, lvi, 19, 70
*pvrjpoveiu, 19, 44, 174
pbvov, pbvos, 64, 177
*pbxBos, lvi, 44, 206 f.
*p.vaTijpiov, 176 f. ; pvarijpiov (rb)
¦rrjs dvoplas, xlvui, 162, the
Appendix
*vabs (6) too Beov, 169—171, 224
vexpol (ol), 101
veipiXn, 101 f.
vrjrioi — ^7riot, the various reading,
32 f. ; interpretation of, 42
vijtpu, 113 f .
*vov6eriu, 122, 124, 212
vovs, 164
*vvv, 72, 175, 176
vv£, 112 f. ; vvktos xal ijpipas, 44,
73, 206 f.
o75a, 121, 175; with infin., 84;
— Bebv, 86, 148 f.; oi"8aTe,24,<Src.
olxoSopiu, 119
olos — broios, 24, 28
SXeBpos, lvi, 149 f.
bXiybspvxos, lvi, 124
*6XokXt;pos — *bXoTeXrjs, lvi, 132
bpeipopai, Ivii, 42 f.
6vopa tov xvpiov 'Irjaov (Xpiarov),
155 f., 204
Srus, 155
bpare pij, 125
*bpyr) (i)), 81, 56 f., 116
*6o-ius, lvi, 46
Sans, 149
&ti, 22 f., 53, 70 f., 169, 208
ou BiXu, 94 f., 208; ov—prj, 64,
205; ou pij, 99; oix o'r'i 2u7
^oupa^oi (oi), ovpavbs, 30, 147
outus ypdtpu, 214 ; olirus xai, 97 ;
koi ovtus, 102
b-peiXu, 140, 187 f.
'"rdBos, 85 f.

GREEK WORDS AND PHRASES.

247

rdvTore, 56, 70, 126
jrapd, with genitive, 51, 80 f,
206; with dative, 206
'rapayyiXXu, *-Xla, 82, 93, 201 f.,
204 f., 208
rapabiSupu, rapdSoais, 191 f., 205
*rapaxaXiu, 47, 65, 80, 92, 103,
119, 124, 210; *rapdxXijais,
36 f., 193
rapaXaupdvu, 51, 81, 205
*rapapv8iopai, 47, 124
rapdvopos (6), 218
*rapovala (ij), xxvii f., lxiv, 60,
77, 95-103, 134, 180 f. ;— tou
avbpov, 181 ff.
*rapprjatd£opai, 34 f.
iros, 112, 125, 127, 136 f., 182, 199,
213 f.
rdaxu irip, 145 ; — brb, 53
rairjp, 47 ; rartjp (6), 6 Bebs, 16 f .,
74 f, 139, 157, 192 f.
HauXos, 16, 214
reipd^u, -0716s, 38, 68; reipd^uv
(b), 59, 68 f.
Treiroiv'a, 201 f.
jrepi, 117, 163; Trepi Si, 90, 107
*repiepyd£opai, lvi, 209 f.
repixeipaXala, lvi, 115
repiXetrbpevoi (ol), xliv, lvi, 98 f.,
101
repirariu, 48, 81, 93, 204 f.
*repirolijais, 116 f . , 191
repiaaeiu, 75, 92
repiaaoripus, 58
Trioreuoi'Tes (oJ), 26, 52; riarei-
aavres (oi), 151 ; nareiu, 38,
96 ff., 152, 186 ; ttIittis (rj), 20,
27, 68, 70, 71, 74, 114 f., 140,
1411, 154, 189 f., 199
narbs, 134 f., 200
*narbu, 139, 153
rXdvrj, 37, 184
rXeovdl'u, 75
rXeoveKriu, *-(la, xxxiv, lvi, 39, 87
*rXrjpoipopia, 23
rXrjpbu, 154
'rvevpa, 133, 164 f., 179 f., 189 f. ;
rvevpa (rb), 128 f. ; rvevpa S71-
ov, 90 ; see Sivapis ; also Xoyos

roiiu, 91 f., 135, 201 f.
rovijpbv (rb), 131 ; rovrjpbs, 199 ;
rovrjpbs (6), 59, 200
ropveia, 82 f.
*rpdyp& (rb), 87 f.
rpdaau rd idia, 92
*irpoibrd/iei'oi (oi), xliv, lvi, 121 f. ,
135 f.
rpoXiyu, -eira, lvi, 67, 88
rpordaxu, lvi, 36
rpbs, 27, 45, 93, 198, 207
*y>6s, elpl, 67, 174, 208
rpoaevxij, 19; rpoaeixopai, 126 f.,
135, 198
rpbaurov, 58, 73
rpbtpaais, 39
*rpotpirrela, 129
rpotprjrai (oi), 54
rpurov, 166; rpurov — Ireira, 101
irup, 147
rus, 28, 81, 206
piopai, 199 ; *pvbpevos (b), 31
"aalvu, lvU, 66
aaXeiu drb, 164
*o-dX7ri7|, 100
SaToi'Ss (6), 59 f., 168 f., 181,
220 f.
ajSivvvpi, 105, 128
aij3aapa, 169, 174
2ej3aaTbs (6), 174
*aijpe~iov, 182, 214, 221
aijpeibu, lvi, 212
SiXSs, ZiXovavis, 15 f. , 138
*aKevos, 84 f.
CTKOTOS, 111 f.
arovSd^u, 58 f.
*ariyu, lvi, 64, 67
errAXo/iiai drb, lvi, 204 f.
aritpavos xavxijoeus, Ivii, 60
arrJKU, 72, 191
aTrjptfu, 65, 200; — tV xapSiav,
Ivii, 76, 194
avptpvXirrjs, lvi, 53
(ri)!/, 97, 102 f. ; see apa
avvavaplyvvpai, 212
avvepybs, 62 f., 64 f.
atifa, 55; aunjpla, 115, 188 f.

248 //. GREEK WORDS AND PHRASES.

*aupa, 133
Taxtus, 164
rlxvov, 42, 47
riXos, eis, 56 f.
*Tipas, 182, 221
rrjpiu, 134
rlBepai els, 116
Tipij, 84 f.
TipbBeos, 15
Tivis, 209
rlvu, lvi, 149
roiyapovv, 89
toioutos (b), 210
rbrw, iv ravrl, 27
t6te, 110, 179
Vpexw, 198
Tpdiros, 166, 213
rpoipbs, 42 f.
tuttos, 251, 207
vjSplfu, 36
u!6s (6) rrjs druXelas, 168; — ijpi-
pas, x.t.X., Ivii, 112; vios (6)
tou Beov, 29 1
braxoiu, 211 ; — Tip eiayyeXlu,
148
uWp, 141, 145; irip — irepi, 65,
163
irepaipu, 168 1
brepav^dvu, lvi, 140
brepj3aivu, lvi, 87

brepexrepiaaov, -us, lvi, 73
*bropovr), 21, 141 1, 202 1
iarepijpaTa (rd) rrjs rlareus,
xxvii, xxxv ft., 74
ipBdvu, 34, 56 f. , 99
ipiXaSeXtpla, 90 f.
tplXrjpa, 135 f.
*tpiXoripiopai, 92
0X6?, 147
tpvXdaau, 200
*0£s, 112
Xaipu, xapd, 61, 73, 126
**dpis (r)) tou 0eoD,_17l, 1561,
1571, 1931 ; — tou xvpiov 'Iijaov
Xpiarov, 137, 1561, 214
%dpiapa, 158
Xeipl, t$ ipij, xl, 214; xepalv (rats)
ipydteoBai, 93
Xpelav lXu, 90, 93 1, 107
Xpiarbs, 17; xpwos (6), 203;
Xpiffrts 'Ivaovs, 52 1, 127 f.
*Xpbvos — xaipbs, 107
ipevSos, 182, 185, 221
*fvxr), 43, 133
liSix, 110
li'pa, 58
lis, 47, 165 ; — idv, 42 ; — on, 1651
ware, 28, 103, 119, 141, 169

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