Bible Commentaries

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. προς Θεσσαλονικεις αʹ is the heading of the Epistle in אABK 17, also in cop basm goth; similarly throughout the Pauline Epp. in אAB and C (where extant); D prefixes αρχεται, from 2 Cor. onwards. This form of title belongs to the earliest times, when St Paul’s Epistles formed a single and separate Book, entitled Ο ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΣ, 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. Colossians 1 and 2 Thess.).

B* spells Θεσσαλονεικεις, a characteristic itacism; G-νικαιους.

§ 1. 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Address and Greeting

1. Παῦλος κ. Σιλουανὸς κ. Τιμόθεος—so in 2 Thessalonians 1:1—now together at Corinth (see Introd. pp. xxxii. f.), write as joint-founders and pastors of this Church: cf. 2 Corinthians 1:19. St Paul betrays himself as the actual composer in 1 Thessalonians 2:18 and 1 Thessalonians 3:5, and speaks in his own person again, with strong feeling, in 1 Thessalonians 5:27. Timothy is distinguished from his senior companions in 1 Thessalonians 3:6 ff.; Silvanus’ share throughout is passed over in silence. St Paul’s practice varies in the Letters of associate authorship: in 1 and 2 Thess. the body of the Epistle runs in the 1st person plural, and the 1st plural prevails in 2 Corinthians 1-9 (otherwise in 10–13); 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 15:27; Acts 15:40; Acts 18:5; the Silvanus of 1 Peter 5:12 is almost certainly the same person—an important link between St Peter and St Paul, and between the latter and the Judæan Church (cf. note on 1 Thessalonians 2:14). 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 Σίλας is of Aramaic origin (שִׁילָא, שְׁאִילָא, or שִׁילַי,—Jewish personal names found in the Inscriptions, and in the Talmud: from root שאל), and that Silvanus was Silas’ (Shila’s) adopted name of Roman citizenship (see Acts 16:37), chosen presumably from resemblance of sound; cf. Jesus-Jason, Joseph-Hegesippus, &c. Σιλουανός, shortened, should have made Σιλουᾶς or Σιλβᾶς (cf. Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 8), rather than Σίλας. His Roman surname, and his established position in the mother Church (Acts 15:22; Acts 15:32), suggest that Silvanus was amongst the ἐπιδημοῦντες Ῥωμαῖοι of Acts 2:10 converted on the day of Pentecost; or possibly, had belonged to the συναγωγὴ Λιβερτίνων (Acts 6:9) in Jerusalem. St Paul had “selected Silas” (ἐπιλεξάμενος, Acts 15:40)—“elegit socium non ministrum” (Blass)—on setting out for his second Missionary Expedition; Timotheus was enlisted later (Acts 16:1-3) to replace John Mark (Acts 13:5), in a subordinate capacity; hence “Paul and Silas” figure in the narrative of Acts 16, 17. For Timothy’s relations with the Thessalonian Church see 1 Thessalonians 3:2-6, and notes below.

In 1 and 2 Thess. St Paul distinguishes himself by no title; similarly in Philippians 1:1 he and Timothy are alike δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ; in Philemon 1:9 he styles himself δέσμιος Χρ. Ἰησ.: in all other Epistles the designation ἀπόστολος, or κλητὸς ἀπόστολος, is attached to his name. He stood on a homelier footing with the Macedonian Churches than with others (see 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12, and Introd. pp. xliii., lxii.). In 1 Thessalonians 2:6 (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 Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:11-20; 1 Corinthians 9:1 ff.; 2 Corinthians 10:8, &c.; Romans 1:1-6.

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 Roman surname and citizenship; Timotheus had a Greek name and father, but a Jewish mother (Acts 16:1). So the Church was a Græco-Roman superstructure, resting on a Jewish foundation.

The Letter is addressed τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ—a form of description confined to 1 and 2 Thessalonians, freely rendered: “To the assembly of Thessalonians acknowledging God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord, gathered in this twofold Name.” Τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ receives its local limitation; then τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων receives the necessary spiritual definition, ἐν θεῷ κ.τ.λ.

In later Epistles St Paul writes “To the church (or saints) in Corinth, Rome, &c.”; only in 1 and 2 Thess. does he use in his Address the name of the people (citizens)—in Galatians 1:2, however, “To the churches of Galatia” (cf. Galatians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 16:1; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Corinthians 8:1). 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 1 Corinthians 1:1; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14 below.

ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ κ.τ.λ. might be attached grammatically to the predicate χάρις ὑμῖν κ.τ.λ.; so Hofmann construes, with a few others. But the ἀπό-clause following εἰρήνη, which is genuine in 2 Thessalonians 1:2 (though spurious here), excludes the reference of ἐν θεῷ κ.τ.λ. to the predicate there, making it very unlikely here. Moreover, the foregoing designation requires this limitation; there were many ἐκκλησίαι Θεσσαλονικέων, meeting for manifold purposes—civil and religious (including the Synagogue), regular or irregular (cf. Acts 19:32; Acts 19:39); 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 Corinthians 1:2 with 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. Everything this ἐκκλησία Θεσσαλονικέων rests upon and exists for is centred in those two Names, which complement each other and are bound by the vinculum of the single ἐν. “In God the Father,” its members know themselves to be His children (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 f.; 2 Thessalonians 2:16); “in the Lord,” discerning their Saviour’s divine Sonship and authority (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, see note, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, &c.); “in Jesus,” His human birth and history (1 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, &c.); “in Christ,” His living presence and relationship to His people (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, &c.).

The doubly anarthrous θεῷ παρτί (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, and contrast 1 Thessalonians 3:13, &c.) is the rule in epistolary formulæ, occurring besides in Ephesians 6:23 and Philippians 2:11, where, as here, the phrase carries a quasi-confessional 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 connexion, only in 1 Thessalonians 2:2 and Colossians 3:3 besides—the latter an instructive parallel.

χάρις ὑμῖν echoes, more in sound than in sense, the χαίρειν, χαίρετε, of every-day Greek salutation (cf. Acts 15:23; Acts 23:26; James 1:1, &c.), while εἰρήνη reproduces the Eastern שָׁלוֹם, salaam (cf., beside the Epp., Daniel 4:1; Daniel 6:25; Luke 10:5; Luke 24:36, &c.): here the Pauline greeting has its earliest and briefest form, enlarged already in 2 Thess. This formula may well have been St Paul’s own coinage, passing from him to other Christian writers (see the greetings of 1 and 2 Peter, 2 John, and Revelation); his whole gospel is enfolded in the wish χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη, as the whole faith of his readers in the definition ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ κ. κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. Χάρις is the sum of all Divine blessing bestowed in Christ on underserving men; εἰρήνη (the fruit of χάρις received in faith), the sum of all blessing thus experienced by man. “Grace,” in its full import, begins with the coming of Christ (Romans 5:15; Titus 2:11; John 1:17); “Peace,” including the inner tranquillity and health flowing from reconciliation with God, begins with the sense of justification (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:14). Both, received as bounties of God, become habits and qualities of the soul itself (see Romans 5:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:7; Philippians 4:7); but χάρις naturally leans to the former (objective) and εἰρήνη to the latter (subjective) sense. Both centre in the cross of Christ, where God exhibits His grace and Christians find their peace (see 1 Thessalonians 5:9 f.; Galatians 2:21; Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 2:14-18; Romans 5:10 : cf. Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 13:20 f.). Grace 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 will only meet us again in the final greeting, 1 Thessalonians 5:28. Cf. the note on χάρις in 2 Thessalonians 1:12.

2. εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ. Except in writing to “the churches of Galatia,” the Apostle always begins with thanksgiving (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:18); here expressed with warmth and emphasis: see Introd. pp. xxxiii., lxii. Εὐχαριστέω (classical χάριν ἔχω, 1 Timothy 1:12, &c.)—with its cognates in -τος, -τία, confined to St Paul’s amongst the Epistles—is infrequent in the N.T. elsewhere; the compound first occurs in Demosthenes, de Corona p. 257, with an earlier sense, ‘to do a good turn to’ (Lightfoot).

μνείαν ποιούμενοι, making mention rather than remembering; mentionem (Beza), not memoriam (Vulg.), facientes—the latter the sense of μνημονεύω in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 cf. Plato, Protag. 317 e and Phaedrus 254 a (Lightf.); also Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; Philemon 1:4. ΄νείαν ἔχω, in 1 Thessalonians 3:6, is different (see note). ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν ἡμῶν, on occasion of our prayers; so ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ, in my time (Herodotus); ἐπʼ ἐμῆς νεότητος (Aristophanes); ἐπὶ δείπνου (Lucian): ‘recalling your name when we bend before God in prayer’; observe the union of prayer and thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 f.

§ 2. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonian Church

This εὐχαριστία is one long sentence spun out in a continuous thread (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14; and see Introd. p. lix.). 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.

Εὐχαριστοῦμεν is buttressed by three parallel participles (1 Thessalonians 1:2-4), in which μνείαν ποιούμενοι supplies the occasion, μνημονεύοντες the more immediate and εἰδότες κ.τ.λ. the ultimate ground of the Apostle’s thanksgiving; “We give thanks … in making mention … as we remember … since we know,” &c. The above fundamental ground of thanksgiving is made good by proof in the ὅτι-sentence beginning in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, which, covering the rest of the chapter, gives an account (a) of the bringing of the gospel to Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:5), (b) of its reception by the readers (1 Thessalonians 1:6); finally, of the effect of all this upon others, as evidenced (c) in the impression made on them by the conversion of the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:7 f.), and (d) in the report which is everywhere current of the success of the Apostles’ mission in this city (1 Thessalonians 1:9 f.). We are thus brought round at the conclusion to the starting-point of the doxology, viz. ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως.

3. ἀδιαλείπτως μνημονεύοντες: indesinenter memores (Calvin)—or still better, indesinenter memoria recolentes (Estius: for μνημονεύω = μνήμων εἰμί), 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 1 Thessalonians 1:2—making mention of you in our prayers unceasingly; St Paul uses ἀδιαλ. characteristically of prayer: see 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Romans 1:9 f.; 2 Timothy 1:3. ΄νημονεύω is capable of the same double use as μνείαν ποιοῦμαι above; but it is construed with περί in the sense of mentioning (cf. Hebrews 11:22); the bare genitive suits the sense remembering: cf. Galatians 2:10; Colossians 4:18; and note the different shade of meaning conveyed by the accusative in 1 Thessalonians 2:9. On the grammatical construction, see Winer-Moulton, Grammar, pp. 256 f.

ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ κ.τ.λ. at the end of this clause balances τῷ θεῷ and ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν 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. Ἔμπροσθεν in this connexion is peculiar to this Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 1 Thessalonians 3:9; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10; Acts 10:4; 1 John 3:19. Grammatically, the ἔμπροσθεν clause might adhere to the nearer verbal nouns ἔργου, κόπου, ὑπομονῆς, or to the last alone (so Lightf.: cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:13; and, for the idea, 2 Corinthians 4:18; Hebrews 11:27), much as ἐν θεῷ πατρί is attached to ἐκκλησίᾳ in 1 Thessalonians 1:1; but ἡμῶν points back to the subject of μνημονεύοντες, 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 adjunct to the participle is in keeping: see 1 Thessalonians 2:4 ff., 1 Thessalonians 2:19 f., 1 Thessalonians 3:9; and cf. Romans 9:1 f.; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 11:31.

ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως καὶ τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ κυρίου κ.τ.λ. On occasion of mentioning persons (1 Thessalonians 1:2), one recalls their character and deeds. The three objects of remembrance—ἔργου, κόπου, ὑπομονῆς (for the trio, cf. Revelation 2:2)—are parallel and collectively introduced by the possessive ὑμῶν, each being expressed by a verbal noun with subjective genitive, on which genitive in each case—πίστεως, ἀγάπης, ἐλπίδος—the emphasis rests: “remembering 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, τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ: Hope fastens on “our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:3)—thus named under the sense of the majesty of His παρουσία (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; also 1 Corinthians 1:7-9, &c.)—while in this context Faith looks, through Christ, “toward God” (1 Thessalonians 1:8 f.), and Love has “the brethren” for object (1 Thessalonians 4:9 f.; 2 Thessalonians 1:3). The familiar Pauline triad first presents itself here—fides, amor, spes: summa Christianismi (Bengel); they reappear in 1 Thessalonians 1:8 : cf. the thanksgiving of 2 Thessalonians 1:3 f.; also 1 Corinthians 13:13 (where love predominates, as against Corinthian selfishness and strife; here hope, under the pressure of Thessalonian affliction); Galatians 5:5 f.; Colossians 1:4 f.; in 1 Peter 1:3 ff. hope again takes the lead. Faith and Love are constantly associated (see 1 Thessalonians 3:6, &c.), Faith and Hope frequently (Romans 5:1 ff; Romans 15:13, &c.), Love and Hope in 1 John 4:17 f. These formed the three “theological virtues” of Scholastic Ethics, to which were appended the four “philosophical virtues,” Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, Justice.

τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως, faith’s work (activity; cf. James 1:4)—a wide expression (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 below; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:17; Galatians 5:6) corresponding to “the fruit of the Spirit” or “of the light” (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9), which embraces the whole practical outcome of Thessalonian faith indicated immediately afterwards in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10. 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. πίστις ἐνεργουμένη, Galatians 5:6) with “work,” shows that he was as far from approving a theoretical or sentimental faith as St James (see James 2:14 ff.). In the second group of his Epistles “faith” indeed is opposed to (Pharisaic) “works of law” (see Romans 4:1-5; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:10-14), 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 2 is the offspring of faith, and affords not the ground but the aim and evidence of salvation. The distinction comes out very clearly in Ephesians 2:8-10 : οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον· οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων … αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα … ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς. Since πίστις is the root-virture of Christianity, Christians as such are styled οἱ πιστεύοντες (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:10, &c.).

τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης κ.τ.λ. The faith of this Church shone in its toil of love (see 1 Thessalonians 4:9 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:3) and endurance of hope (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:4 f.; 2 Thessalonians 1:4 ff; 2 Thessalonians 2:14). Κόπος signifies wearing toil, labour carried to the limit of strength, and differs from ἔργον as effort and exertion from activity: St Paul refers both to his manual labour (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8) and to his missionary toil (1 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 6:5) as κόπος; cf. κοπιάω, John 4:6; Revelation 2:3. In 1 Corinthians 3:8 κόπος gives the measure for Divine reward: here it is the expression of human love; thus parents task themselves for their children (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9; also Ephesians 4:28, κοπιάτω). On ἀγάπη, the specific N.T. word for (spiritual) Love—to be distinguished from φιλία and ἔρως—see Trench’s N.T. Synonyms, § 12, or Cremer’s Bibl.-Theological Lexicon.

Ὑπομονή is a more positive, manful virtue than patience (see Trench, Syn. § 53); it corresponds to the classical καρτερία or καρτέρησις (Plato, Aristotle), and embraces perseverantia as well as patientia (Old Latin) or sustinentia (Vulg.); hence it suits with ἔργον and κόπος: see Romans 2:7, καθʼ ὑπομονὴν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ; cf. also 2 Thessalonians 1:4-7, and (including ὑπομένω) 2 Thessalonians 3:5; Romans 5:4; Romans 8:25; Colossians 1:11; Hebrews 12:1 ff.; Matthew 10:22. Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ inspired the brave patience in which Thessalonian virtue, tried from the first by severe persecution (1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 3:2-6), culminated.

1 Thessalonians 1:4 discloses the deeper ground of the Apostles’ thanksgiving, lying in their conviction, formed at the beginning of their ministry to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:5) and confirmed by subsequent experience (1 Thessalonians 1:6 ff., 1 Thessalonians 2:13), that the readers are objects of God’s electing love. εἰδότες—siquidem novimus (Estius)—implies settled knowledge; contrast this with γνῶναι of 1 Thessalonians 3:5 (see note).

ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸὁτοῦ] θεοῦ. The parallel construction of 2 Thessalonians 2:13 (see note) proves ὑπὸ θεοῦ to belong to the participle, for which otherwise ἀγαπητοί would have served (see 1 Thessalonians 2:8; Philippians 4:1, and passim; cf. Romans 1:7); the ordo verborum forbids attachment to τὴν ἐκλογήν (A.V.). This phrase occurs in Sirach 45:1, used of Moses (with καὶ ἀνθρώπων added); cf. Romans 9:25 (Hosea 2:23, LXX). The perf. participle marks the readers as objects of an abiding, determinate love (cf. 1 John 3:1, ἀγάπην δέδωκεν), which has taken expression in their election.

εἰδότες … τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν. St Paul’s doxologies 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 Corinthians 1:4 ff.; Philippians 1:6; Colossians 1:4 f. Ἐκλογή (picking out, selection), from ἐκλέγομαι (= αἱρέομαι, 2 Thessalonians 2:13), denotes the act of God in choosing a man or community to receive some special grace, or to render some special service (e.g., in Acts 9:15), or for both intents at once; more particularly, as here and in 2 Thessalonians 2:13, to salvation in Christ (see Romans 9:11; Romans 11:5; Romans 11:28). In Romans 11:7, by metonymy, it signifies a body of chosen persons (= ἐκλεκτοί: for which usage cf. Romans 8:33; Titus 1:1). Romans 11 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. Psalms 33:12; Psalms 135:4; Deuteronomy 14:2; Isaiah 43:1-7; and cf. further with these passages Romans 8:28-39; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Ephesians 1:4 ff., also 1 Peter 2:9 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” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, below); and appropriation by God. Under the “call” of the Gospel the national gives place to a spiritual election, or ἐκλογὴ χάριτος (Romans 11:5), of individual believers who, collectively, constitute henceforth “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16); this is formed οὐ μόνον ἐξ Ἰουδαίων (λεῖμμα, Romans 11:5) ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν (Romans 11:24; Ephesians 3:6), the latter being grafted into the “garden-olive” (Romans 11:24) of God’s primitive choice. In Romans 8:28-30 the Divine ἐκλογή is represented as an orderly πρόθεσις—love planning for its chosen—with its successive steps of πρόγνωσις, προόρισις, &c.; in Ephesians 1:4 it is carried back to a date πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου (see note on 2 Thessalonians 2:13 below). Our Lord’s parable of the Marriage-Supper (Matthew 22:1-14) distinguishes the ἐκλεκτοί from the κλητοί, ‘the invited’; otherwise in the N.T. the two terms are equal in extent: see note on 1 Thessalonians 2:12; and cf. κλῆσις and ἐκλέγομαι as they are associated in 1 Corinthians 1:26 ff. God’s choice of men does not preclude effort on their part (see 1 Thessalonians 1:3), 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” (1 Thessalonians 3:5; cf. 2 Timothy 2:10; John 6:70). 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 (1 Thessalonians 1:5), and (b) by the zeal and thoroughness with which they had accepted the gospel (1 Thessalonians 1:6 ff.).

4. BDG omit, אACKP insert, the article του before θεου: cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4. Possibly the art. is an Alexandrian insertion, due to 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (εμπροσθεν του θεου). See the note next but two; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:13; also Hebrews 6:18, where the same group (א*ACP) insert the article.

5. ὅτι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐγενήθη εἰς ὑμᾶς κ.τ.λ. Ὅτι—introducing the coordinate and corresponding sentences of 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6 (τὸ εὐαγγ. ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐγενήθη εἰς ὑμᾶς … καὶ ὑμεῖς μιμ. ἡμῶν ἐγενήθητε)—is explicative of εἰδότες, not τὴν ἐκλογήν, signifying in that, seeing that, rather than how that (R.V.); for ὅτι of the ground, not content, of knowledge, cf. John 7:29; John 18:2; otherwise in 1 Corinthians 1:26. The other view is strongly stated in Lightfoot’s Note ad loc.

For γίνομαι εἰς of local direction, cf. Acts 20:16; but ethical direction (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:5) is implied: “our Good News reached you, arrived at your hearts.” The “good news” is ours as “we proclaim” it (1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 4:3; Romans 1:15; Romans 2:16, &c.), but God’s as He originates and sends it (1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Romans 1:2, &c.), and Christ’s as He constitutes its matter (1 Thessalonians 3:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Romans 1:2; 1 Corinthians 1:23, &c.). Ἐγενήθην, the Doric aorist of the κοινή, is frequent in this Epistle.

οὐκ … ἐν λόγῳ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν δυνάμει κ.τ.λ. Εἰς gives the persons to whom, ἐν the influence in which the εὐαγγέλιον came. Its bearers in delivering their message at Thessalonica were conscious of a supernatural power that made them at the time sure of success. For the antithesis λόγος—δύναμις, familiar in the Epistles, see 1 Corinthians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 2:4 f., 1 Corinthians 4:19 f.; 2 Corinthians 10:11 (ἔργον), 1 John 3:18; in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 below the same contrast appears in the form λόγος ἀνθρώπων and θεοῦ (see note). For the phrase ἐν δυνάμει, cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

Behind the effective power (δύναμις) with which the Good News wrought on its Thessalonian hearers there lay certain personal influences operative therein, ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πληροφορίᾳ πολλῇ: the single ἐν (cf. note on ἐν, 1 Thessalonians 1:1) combines these adjuncts as the two faces, objective and subjective, of one fact. The πνεῦμα ἄγιον reappears in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 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 (τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον, 1 Thessalonians 4:8). See 1 Corinthians 2:9-16; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Romans 8:1-27; Galatians 3:14; Galatians 4:4-7; Ephesians 4:30, for St Paul’s later teaching; and Luke 11:13, John 14-16, 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 (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8); cf. Luke 1:35; Luke 4:14; Matthew 12:28; Acts 10:38; Galatians 3:5; Romans 15:13; Romans 15:19, for various powerful activities of the Spirit. Physical miracles (δυνάμεις, see note, 2 Thessalonians 2:9) are neither indicated nor excluded here.

Πληροφορία has two meanings: (a) fulness (R.V. marg.), i.e. full issue or yield, as from πληροφορέω in 2 Timothy 4:5 or Luke 1:1; (b) or full assurance (A.V. R.V. text, much assurance; certitudo et certa persuasio, Erasmus), as from πληροφορέω in Romans 4:21; Romans 14:5. According to (a) the thought is that the Good News came to the hearers “in the plenitude” of its effect and bore rich fruit (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13); according to (b), that it came with “full conviction” and confidence on the part of preachers and hearers (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:2 ff.). The foregoing subject, εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν, sustained by οἶοι ἡμεῖς ἐγενήθημεν in the sequel, speaks for the latter interpretation, which accounts for the combination ἐν πν. ἁγ. καὶ πληροφ. (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 full assurance of its efficacy.” Πληροφορία bears the subjective sense in the other N.T. exx.—Colossians 2:2; Hebrews 6:11; Hebrews 10:22; so in Clemens Rom. ad Cor. xlii., μετὰ πληροφορίας πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐξῆλθον εὐαγγελιζόμενοι, which echoes this passage; to the like effect πν. ἅγιον is associated with παρρησία in Acts 4:31, and with μαρτυρία in Acts 1:8 and John 15:26 f. The warm convictions attending the proclamation of the Gospel at Thessalonica reflected themselves in the χαρὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου of its recipients (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

For confirmation of what the writers assert about their preaching, they appeal, in passing, to the knowledge of the readers: καθὼς οἴδατε οἶοι ἐγενήθημενὁἐν] ὑμῖν διʼ ὑμᾶς, as you know the sort of men that we proved (were made to be) to [or amongst] you on your behoof,—how confidently full of the Spirit and of power. In this connexion, διʼ ὑμᾶς refers not to the motives of the preachers (shown in 1 Thessalonians 2:5-12), but to the purpose of God toward their hearers, who for their sake inspired His servants thus to deliver His message (cf. Acts 18:9 f.; also 1 Corinthians 3:5 f., 21 f.; 2 Corinthians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 4:7-15): proof is being adduced of God’s electing grace towards the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:4). For collocation of different prepositions (ἐν, διά) with the same pronoun, cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:14; see Textual Note, preferring ἐν ὑμῖν. The repeated and varied references made in the Epistle, by way of confirmation, to the readers’ knowledge (1 Thessalonians 2:1 f., 5, 9 f., 1 Thessalonians 3:4, 1 Thessalonians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:2) are explained in the Introd. p. lxii.

The relative οἶος should be distinguished from the indirect interrogative ὁποῖος, as used in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 : 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 Thessalonica, but the fact of their having been so and so is reasserted from the knowledge of the readers. For similar exx. of the relative pronoun apparently, but not really, substituted for the interrogative, cf. 2 Timothy 1:14; Luke 9:33; Luke 22:60; Mark 5:33 : see Kühner’s Ausführliche Grammatik d. griech. Sprache², ii. § 562. 4, “Dass das Relativ (ὅς, οἶος, ὅσος) in abhängigen Fragesätzen an der Stelle des Fragepronomens ὅστις oder τίς, ὁποῖος oder ποῖος, u. s. w., gebraucht werde, wird mit Unrecht angenommen”; also Rutherford’s First Greek Syntax, § 251.

A colon, not a full-stop, should close 1 Thessalonians 1:5.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 supplies the other side to the proof given in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 of the election of the readers (1 Thessalonians 1:4), ὅτι … καὶ ὑμεῖς (in contrast to τὸ εὐαγγ. ἡμῶν, 1 Thessalonians 1:5) μιμηταὶ ἡμῶν ἐγενήθητε κ.τ.λ. The internal construction of the verse is open to doubt, as to whether the δεξάμενοι clause (a) explains the μιμηταί,—“in that you received the word, &c.”; or (b) supplies the antecedent fact and ground of the imitation,—“after that,” or “in-asmuch as, you had received the word,” &c. According to (a), the Thessalonians imitated the Apostles and their Lord in their manner of receiving the word: such a narrowing of μιμηταί is not in keeping with 1 Thessalonians 1:3 nor 1 Thessalonians 1:9 f., which describe the general Christian behaviour of the readers, as in the parallel instances of μιμητής—1 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Ephesians 5:1; Philippians 3:17-20. According to (b), the Thessalonians in their changed spirit and manner of life, on receiving the Gospel, had copied “the ways in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:14-17) of their teachers (1 Corinthians 11:1; cf. Ephesians 4:20-24, 1 John 2:6, John 13:34, &c.)—since you gave a welcome to the word: the good beginning 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 evidence of God’s loving choice of this people (1 Thessalonians 1:4).

δεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον ἐν θλίψει πολλῇ μετὰ χαρᾶς πνεύματος ἁγίου. The welcome given to the Gospel was enhanced at once by the adverse 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 Berœa: ἐδέξαντο τὸν λόγον μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας, Acts 17:11. For the warmth of reception implied in δέχομαι, see 1 Thessalonians 2:13, and note; also 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Luke 8:13, James 1:21, &c. For the association of joy with receiving the word, see Luke 2:10; Luke 8:13, Acts 8:8; Acts 8:39; Acts 13:48; of Christian joy with affliction, Romans 5:3; Romans 12:12, 2 Corinthians 6:10, Colossians 1:24, Acts 5:41, &c.; of joy with the Holy Spirit—a conjunction as characteristic as that of power and the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:5)—Romans 14:17; Romans 15:13, Galatians 5:22, Philippians 3:3, Luke 10:21, Acts 13:52. The genitive is that of source connoting quality—a joy that comes of the Spirit and is spiritual. Acts 17:5-13 shows the kind of θλίψις “amid” which this Church was founded.

7. ὥστε γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς τύπον πᾶσιν, κ.τ.λ. Infinitive clause of result, heightening the appreciation of the Thessalonian Church in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, and thus adding to the evidence of its “election” (1 Thessalonians 1:4). The readers had followed the example set them so well, that they had become in turn “a pattern to all” Christians around them. Τύπον is intrinsically better than τύπους (see Textual Note); for the Church collectively—not its individual members—was known at a distance.

πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, a substantival designation (cf. note on τὸν ῥυόμενον, 1 Thessalonians 1:10)—to all believers—naming Christians from the distinctive and continuous activity which makes them such (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 4:11; 1 Corinthians 14:22 &c.); οἱ πιστεύοντες = οἱ ἐκ πίστεως (Galatians 3:7). Had the “imitators” of 1 Thessalonians 1:6 been such in respect simply of their “receiving the word,” they would have been a pattern not τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, but rather τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, in respect of the initial act, not the continued life of faith: cf. τύπος γίνου τῶν πιστῶν in 1 Timothy 4:12; also 2 Thessalonians 3:9, Philippians 3:17, where μιμέομαι and τύπος are associated.

ἐν τῇ ΄ακεδονίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀχαίᾳ, the two European provinces now evangelized: see the Map, and Introd., pp. xi., xv., xxxiii., xxxix. We know of Churches at Philippi and Berœa in Macedonia, while 1 Thessalonians 4:10 implies their existence in other parts of this province: “many of the Corinthians” by this time were baptized (Acts 18:8); and some of “the saints,” outside of Corinth, “that were in the whole of Achaia” when 2 Corinthians 1:1 was written, beside the handful of Athenian disciples (Acts 17:34), are doubtless included in this reference. 2 Corinthians 8:1-6; 2 Corinthians 11:9, and 1 Corinthians 16:5 f., illustrate the close connexion and Christian intercourse of the two regions.

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 explain and re-affirm, with emphatic enlargement, the assertion of 1 Thessalonians 1:7, which might otherwise appear to the readers over strong.

8. ἀφʼ ὑμῶν γὰρ ἐξήχηται ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου. For from you hath rung out the word of the Lord: ὥσπερ σάλπιγγος λαμπρὸν ἠχούσης ὁ πλησίον ἅπας πληροῦται τόπος (Chrysostom); longe lateque sonitus (Estius); exsonuit, sive ebuccinatus est (Erasmus). The verb ἐξηχέω—a hap. legomenon for N.T.—belongs to later Greek; used in Joel 3:14 (LXX., in military context), Sirach 40:13 (of thunder), it denotes a loud, resonant sound, like a trumpet-call. Ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου, while redolent of O.T. associations (cf. Romans 10:18; Psalms 18:5), denotes here, definitely, the message which “the Lord” Jesus (1 Thessalonians 1:6) speaks through His servants: cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Colossians 3:16; Romans 1:5. This reference is perfectly congruous with 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13, for “the Lord” authoritatively brings word from God to men (John 17:8, &c.); it accords with πίστις πρὸς τὸν θεόν in the sequel, for Christ’s word brings men to God (cf. Ephesians 2:17 f.; John 14:6, &c.). The effect, rather than the mere fact, of the conversion of the Thessalonians made the Good News “ring out from” them (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:3 f.).

The range of this sound is widened from “the Macedonia and Achaia” of 1 Thessalonians 1:7 (the provinces being here united, as one area, by the single ἐν τῇ)—οὐ μόνον ἐν τῇ ΄ακεδονίᾳ καὶ Ἀχαίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ; and with this enlargement of the field in view the main assertion is restated—ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐξελήλυθεν. This results in a curious anacoluthon, to which no exact parallel is forthcoming; it gives a sense natural and clear enough, as presented in the English Version. To this construction most interpreters, with Ellicott, Lightfoot, Schmiedel, WH, adhere. But Calvin, Hofmann, Bornemann, and others, divide the verse by a colon at κυρίου: “For from you hath rung out the word of the Lord; not only in Macedonia 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 1 Thessalonians 1:3). Ἐξελήλυθεν is synonymous with ἐξήχηται (minus the figure), while ἡ πίστις κ.τ.λ. is practically equivalent to ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου, since the Gospel has spread in this manner by the active faith of the readers (ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν); such faith is “the word of the Lord” in effect: cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3; Philippians 2:15 f.; Matthew 5:14-16. What the Apostle affirms in this sense of the Thessalonians, he questions, in another sense, of the Corinthians: ἣ ἀφʼ ὑμῶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν; (1 Corinthians 14:36).

ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ signifies “in every place (that we visit or communicate with”: see 1 Thessalonians 1:9 a); cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:8. Aquila and his wife had just come from Rome (Acts 18:2), and may have brought word that the story was current there; the charge of treason against Cæsar (Acts 17:7) would surely be reported at Rome. The three missionaries were, most likely, in correspondence with the Churches in Asia Minor, Antioch, and Jerusalem (cf. note on 2 Thessalonians 1:4), and had received congratulations from those distant spots. The commercial connexions of Thessalonica (see Introd. p. xi.) facilitated the dissemination of news. The work of St Paul and his companions here had made a great sensation and given a wide advertisement to Christianity; cf. Romans 1:8; Romans 16:19.

ἡ πίστις ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. A unique expression, indicating the changed direction and attitude on the part of the readers, which 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 set forth—your faith, that is turned toward God: cf. 2 Corinthians 3:4; Philemon 1:5; and see note on 1 Thessalonians 3:4, for the force of πρός.

ὥστε μὴ χρείαν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς λαλεῖν τι. This report preceded the missionaries in their travels; they even found themselves anticipated in sending the news to distant correspondents. Χρείαν ἔχω with dependent infinitive recurs twice in this Epistle (1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:1),—only here in St. Paul; similarly in Matthew 3:14, &c.; the phrase is complemented by the infinitive with τοῦ in Hebrews 5:12; by ἵνα and subjunctive in John 2:25, &c. In Plato Sympos. 204 c it bears the opposite sense, to be of service; but see Aeschylus Prom. 169, ἐμοῦ … χρείαν ἕξει, for the use of this idiom in earlier Greek. Ὥστε μή and infinitive, of negative result contemplated; contrast ὥστε οὐ and indicative, of negative consequence asserted, in 1 Corinthians 3:7; Galatians 4:7. Λαλεῖν τι, loqui quidquam, to be saying anything—to open our mouths on the subject; cf. note on λαλῆσαι, 1 Thessalonians 2:2.

The ὥστε-clause is supported by the reassertive and explanatory γάρ of 1 Thessalonians 1:9, just as in the sequence of 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8.

9. αὐτοὶ γὰρ περὶ ἡμῶν ἀπαγγέλλουσιν ὁποίαν, κ.τ.λ. 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 (1 Thessalonians 1:7-9) not of St Paul alone, but of Silvanus and Timothy besides, who had newly joined the Apostle at Corinth after separately visiting Macedonia and traversing a wide extent of country.

ὁποίαν (the proper indirect interrog.: cf. note on οἶοι, 1 Thessalonians 1:5) εἴσοδον—qualem ingressum (Calvin, Beza), rather than introitum (Vulg.)—what sort of an entrance, how happy and successful (1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:1 f., where εἴσοδος recurs; 1 Thessalonians 2:13 : cf. also Hebrews 10:19). The noun nowhere implies reception.

καὶ πῶς ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ κ.τ.λ. completes the report of the success of the writers, just as 1 Thessalonians 1:6 completed the description of the conversion of the readers given by 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Πῶς—the direct for indirect interrogative (ὅπως in this sense only in Luke 24:20 in N.T.; otherwise telic)—implies the manner as well as the fact of conversion: see 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Ἐπ-in the verb marks not regression (as in Galatians 4:9, &c.), but direction (as in Acts 9:40); πρός, as in 2 Corinthians 3:16, gives the object toward which “you turned,” resuming the phrase of 1 Thessalonians 1:8—oftener ἐπί in this connexion (as in Galatians 4:9; Acts 14:15); εἰς, with characteristic difference, in Matthew 12:44, Luke 2:39, &c.

The aforesaid report describes a conversion from Paganism to the service of “the (one, true) God”—πρὸς τὸν θεόν. The Thessalonian Christians had been mainly heathen, “not knowing God” (2 Thessalonians 1:8; Galatians 4:8; cf. Galatians 2:14 below); there was, however, a sprinkling of Jews among them, with “a great multitude” of proselytes more or less weaned previously from idolatry, according to Acts 17:4. “The God” whom they now “serve,” is a God living and real (vivo et vero). This is the dialect of O.T. faith; so much might have been said of converts to Judaism.

ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ is categorically opposed to τῶν εἰδώλων: Jahveh (Jehovah), the HE IS (see Exodus 3:13 f., for the Israelite reading of the ineffable Name; and cf. Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 45:5 ff., Isaiah 45:18; Isaiah 45:21 ff., for its controversial use against heathenism), is by His very name “the true God and the living God” (Jeremiah 10:10); all other deities are therefore dead and unreal—mere λεγόμενοι θεοί (1 Corinthians 8:4 ff.). In this sense they are stigmatized as εἴδωλα, the Septuagint rendering of אֱלִילִים (nothings, Psalms 97:7, &c.), or הֲבָלְים (vapours, emptinesses, Deuteronomy 32:21, &c.). Εἴδωλον denotes an appearance, an image or phantom without substance: the word was applied by Homer to the phantasms of distant persons imposed on men by the gods (Iliad 449; Odyssey iv. 796); cf. Bacon’s idola tribus, specus, &c. In the Theœtetus 150 a c e and 151 c, Plato identifies εἴδωλον with ψεῦδος (cf. Romans 1:23; Romans 1:25) and contrasts it with what is ἀληθινόν, γνήσιον, ἀληθές. Similarly, heathen gods and their rites are styled τὰ μάταια in Acts 14:15, as occasionally in the LXX. (cf. Romans 1:21; Ephesians 4:17 : for the O.T., see in illustration Psalms 115:4-8; Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremiah 10:1-11). St Paul was powerfully impressed by observation with the hollowness of the Paganism of his time. Ἀληθινός, verus—to be distinguished from ἀληθής (cf. Romans 3:4), verax—denotes truth of fact, the correspondence of the reality to the conception or the name (see e.g. John 15:1; John 17:3; 1 John 5:20); θεὸς ἀληθινός is the “very God” of the Nicene Creed.

With δουλεύειν, to serve as bondmen, cf. St. Paul’s habitual designation of himself as δοῦλος Χριστοῦ, once δοῦλος θεοῦ (Titus 1:1),—the O.T. עֶבֶד יהוה. Religious 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”: Galatians 4:1-10; Romans 8:12-17; cf. John 8:31-36; 1 John 3:1 f.

10. καὶ ἀναμένειν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν. (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 εὐχαριστία prepared us for this culmination. The mind both of writers and readers was full of the thought of Christ’s glorious return (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:7 ff; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-14; and see Introd. pp. xxvii. ff., lxiii. f.); St Paul’s first preaching had given to Thessalonian faith this outlook. The farther we go back in the history of the Apostolic Church, the more we find it intent upon the coming of its Lord. It held freshly in mind the promise of Acts 1:11, and set great store by such assurances as are recorded in Luke 12:36; Luke 19:12; Matthew 26:64, &c. Cf. Acts 3:21; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 3:20 f.; Colossians 3:1-4; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:7; Hebrews 9:27 f.; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:3; Revelation 1:7, for the dominance in N.T. thought of this “blessed hope.”

Ἀναμένειν is a hap. leg. in the N.T.: ἀνα-implies sustained expectation; cf. ἀπεκδέχεσθαι in 1 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 3:20. Τῶν οὐρανῶν, plural after שָׁמַיִם, heaven being conceived in Hebrew thought as multiple and various—rising tier above tier: cf. 2 Corinthians 12:2; Hebrews 4:14, &c.; also Ephesians 1:3, &c.; and see the article “Heaven” in Hastings’ Dictionary 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 ὅν ἥγειρεν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, Ἰησοῦν—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 became a Christian (see Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:12, &c.; cf. Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:3 ff.). God’s raising of Him from the dead gave evidence that Jesus was “His Son” (cf. Romans 1:4), and Saviour and Lord of men (Romans 4:24 f., Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:20 ff., &c.; also Acts 2:32 ff., &c.). The resurrection, proving Jesus to be Lord and Son of God, preludes His return in glory; for such glory is promised and due to Him in this character (see Philippians 2:9 ff., Acts 3:21; Acts 17:31; Matthew 26:63 f.; Luke 24:26 f.; Revelation 5:12). “Jesus” always stands with St Paul for the historical person: see 1 Thessalonians 4:14, and note.

The Thessalonians await Jesus as our rescuer from the wrath that is coming—τὸν ῥυόμενον ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης. As the glorious return of Jesus filled the horizon of this Church, so the question of final salvation or perdition engrossed their thoughts respecting themselves and their fellows: see 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:5 ff; 2 Thessalonians 2:12 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 Romans 5:1 ff.; Galatians 4:6 f.; Ephesians 1:4 ff; Ephesians 2:5 ff; cf. Ephesians 5:9 and note below, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-16. 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 of the Epistles and hinted in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 f. below, is really implied by the description of Jesus as the Deliverer from God’s wrath; for that “wrath” is directed against human sin, and sin is only removed by forgiveness (justification): see 1 Thessalonians 4:6 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:8 f.; cf. Romans 1:18; Romans 2:5 ff; Romans 4:15, &c. The assurance of Romans 5:9, σωθησόμεθα διʼ αὐτοῦ [Χριστοῦ] ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς, belongs to those δικαιωθέντες νῦν ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ. See on this point Introd., Chap. iii. [3].

The full manifestation of God’s judicial anger is reserved for “the day of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 5:2; see note), which the Apostle associates with the return of Jesus, who will bring at once punishment for the impenitent and deliverance for the faithful (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 : cf. 1 Corinthians 1:7 ff; 1 Corinthians 15:23 ff.; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Acts 17:31; John 5:27 ff.; Hebrews 9:27 f.). “The wrath” is described here not as “to come” (τῆς μελλούσης, Matthew 3:7), as though referred to a future separated from the present, but as “coming” (so Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6 : for the same participle, cf. Hebrews 10:37; Revelation 1:4)—a future continuous with the present—since the conclusive punishment of sin is already in train: see Romans 1:18 ff.; also 1 Thessalonians 2:16 below, and note. “The present ἔρχεσθαι is frequently used to denote the certainty, and possibly the nearness, of a future event, e.g. Matthew 17:11; John 4:21; John 14:3” (Lightfoot).

Ὁ ῥυόμενος is a timeless present participle, equivalent to a noun (Winer-Moulton, p. 444), like ὁ καλῶν (1 Thessalonians 5:24; cf. Galatians 1:23; Ephesians 4:28); and ῥύομαι, as distinguished from ἐξαγοράζω (Galatians 3:13) or λυτρόομαι (Titus 2:14), means deliverance by power, not price, indicating the greatness of the peril and the sympathy and might of the Redeemer: cf. the use of this verb in Romans 7:24; 2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:17 f. The participle stands for הַגֹּאֵל, the redeeming kinsman, in Genesis 48:16 (LXX.) and often in the Deutero-Isaiah; but such passages as Psalms 7:1; Psalms 86:13—where the Hebrew verb is הִצִּיל—represent the prevailing associations of the word. Under ἡμᾶς the writers include themselves with their readers, in the common experience of sin and salvation: cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ff., 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Romans 5:1-11.