Bible Commentaries

1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

3. b. The Apostle now on his part also reminds the Thessalonians, with thanksgiving to God, that they had received his word as the word of God, as they have since continually experienced in themselves God’s mighty working ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13). They could not otherwise have endured such vexations from their countrymen, as the brethren in Judea had from the Jews ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14), whose enmity to the truth and the Apostles, moreover, need give the less offence, that they are thereby rather only filling the measure of their sins, and ripening rapidly for judgment ( 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16)

13For this cause⁵⁹ also thank we [we also give thanks to]⁶⁰ God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us [received from us the word of preaching that is of God],⁶¹ ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God [ye accepted, not men’s word, but, as it is in truth, God’s word],⁶² which effectually worketh also [also work eth]⁶³ in you that believe 14 For ye, brethren, became followers [imitators, μιμηταί] of the churches of God which in Judea are [which are in Judea, τῶν οὐσῶν ἐν τῇ Ιουδαὶα] in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered [suffered, ἐπὰθετε] like things [the same things, τὰ αὐτά]⁶⁴ of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; 15who both killed the Lord [also killed the Lord]⁶⁵ Jesus and their own prophets,⁶⁶ and have persecuted [and persecuted, ἐκδιωξάντων] us,⁶⁷ and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, 16forbidding us to speak [hindering us from speaking, κωλυόντων … λαλῆσαι] to the Gentiles, that they might [may] be saved, to fill up their sins always: for [but, δἐ] the wrath⁶⁸ is come [came]⁶⁹ upon them to the uttermost [to the end, εἰς τέλος].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13.) For this cause we also give thanks.—Διὰ τοῦτο: Because it is God who calls you to His kingdom, therefore we thank Him that ye received our word, not as man’s word, but God’s.⁷⁰—Καὶ ἡμεῖς stands opposed to αὐτοὶ γἁρ οἴδατε ( 1 Thessalonians 2:1)⁷¹ and means Paul and his attendants, who now, in further explanation of 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and πῶς ἐπεστρέψατε of 1 Thessalonians 1:9 sq, remind the Thessalonians of their lively reception of the word of God, just as the Thessalonians were appealed to, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, as witnesses of the pure and powerful ministry of the Apostle among them; see on 1 Thessalonians 1:8, Exeg. Note1. We have mutually received from one another the deepest impressions of an operation of the Divine Spirit: that is the third argument, adduced in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16, whereby Paul seeks to convince the Thessalonians of the reality of their faith. So deep an impression did he retain of the faith of the Thessalonians, with which they received his word as the word of God, that he has ever since felt himself moved to unceasing thanksgiving to God. If he speaks of the matter to God, and here repeatedly emphasizes this fact (comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:2), they may at once herein recognize a new indication, how little the question is about something merely human (comp. on διὰ τοῦτο). So far τῷ θεῷ answers both to the previous τος͂ θεοῦ ( 1 Thessalonians 2:12) and to the subsequent λόγον θεοῦ. The discourse thus turns back here, at the end of the entire section, to the beginning ( 1 Thessalonians 1:2. Ewald).

2. When ye received from us the word of preaching that is of God.—Παραλαβ., the objective, outward, matter-of-fact reception, in distinction from δέχεσθαι, the subjective, inward acceptance (comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:6.)⁷²—ἀκοή=שְמֻעָה, Isaiah 53:1; Romans 10:14-17=pass, what one hears, a report, announcement, preaching, message. Λόγος ἀκοῆς (comp. Hebrews 4:2) is one of those genitival connections, which we in German are accustomed to express by a combination of nouns: Botschaftswort; Ewald: Predigtwort [as if we should say in English, message-word, preaching-word]. The addition of ἀκοῆς marks the audible, oral announcement, coming to men as a (new, hitherto unknown) message: comp. Romans 10:17, where ἀκοή is distinguished from ῥῆμα θεοῦ, the latter going forth from God to His messengers, the former from the messengers to the rest of men. The anarthrous λόγος ἀκοῆς should perhaps be translated a message, to indicate it as unknown, new; comp. λόγος κυρίου of 1 Thessalonians 4:15 with ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κ. of 1 Thessalonians 1:8, With this message Paul appeared among the Thessalonians; he knew that it was from God; they could not yet of themselves know that. This he here represents to us in a measure by the purposely anomalous arrangement, παῤ ἡμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ: they received the word of the message immediately from him, but behind him stood God as the Author and Sender of the message. Παῤ ἡμῶν naturally depends on παραλαβ., to which also the preposition expressly points back (De Wette, Koch [Ellicott, Webster and Wilkinson], &c.), [not on λόγος ἀκοῆς (Beza, Pelt, Olshausen, Lünemann, &c.), whereby the construction becomes very harsh and clumsy withal, since τοῦ θεοῦ would have to be a closer definition of the composite idea, λόγος ἀκοῆς παῤ ἡμῶν.—Riggenbach.]; τοῦ θεοῦ, on the other hand, depends on λόγος ἀκοῆς, and is a gen. autoris, as in εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ of 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:8-9, ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρὶου of 1 Thessalonians 1:8, (see there Note4). It comes last with emphasis, the point in the subsequent context being that the preaching was the word, not merely of the man Paul, but of God. Thus the participial clause, παραλαβόντες—παρ’ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, takes in once more the contents of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12; for there, from the beginning to the end (see especially 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:12), it is shown that Paul had not labored among the Thessalonians in his own name or in an egotistic manner, but, as an agent of God, had brought them His message and call.

3. Ye accepted it, not as men’s word, &c. [Ye accepted, not men’s word, &c.].⁷³—The Thessalonians, then, understood and acknowledged the real nature, the Divine character and origin, of the apostolic preaching. They perceived in the word such a supernatural, essential power, as can proceed from no mortal man, himself involved in the disorder of the world’s sin. They felt the Godhead drawing near to them in the word of life; for the Holy Spirit was thereby active in their souls. And as the inward sense and instinct of the Divine light in the consciousness opened to, and allowed itself to be intimately pervaded by, the concurrent light in the word, mightily judging and irradiating their previous darkness ( 2 Corinthians 4:4-6; John 3:19-21), they therefore accepted the preached word for what it is, as the word of God.—Ἐδέξασθε, comp. δεξάμενοι 1 Thessalonians 1:6—a text for general comparison. As immediate object, λόγον ἀκοῆς τοῦ θεοῦ must be supplied out of the participial clause; οὐ λόγον ἀνθρ &c. is a second accusative of the predicate: to accept something as—Winer, p 203 sq.—Λόγον ἀνθρ, in opposition to θεοῦ indicates the origin, and at the same time the quality, which necessarily passes over from the source to what springs therefrom (Olshausen). The plural ἀνθρώπων stands with reference to the plurality of the preachers, and also indeed generically; comp. Matthew 9:8. Winer, p158. Λόγον θεοῦ, the word which God Himself causes to be proclaimed by men, whom He by His Spirit equips as His instruments; comp. Romans 10:17. Rieger: An expression of God’s heart concerning us.—Καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς: a simple, forcible testimony to inspiration.

4. Who [which] also worketh in you that believe.—Ὅς can be referred either to λόγον (Œcumenius, Olshausen, Lünemann, &c. [Conybeare, Peile, Jowett, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, &c]; comp. Winer, p231), and in favor of this it is alleged that elsewhere the active ἐνεργεῖν is used of God, and the middle ἐνεργεῖσθαι only of things (yet comp, for example, Colossians 1:29; Ephesians 3:20)⁷⁴; or to θεοῦ (Theodoret, Luther, Bengel, &c), and this is preferable, because the context treats, not of an energetic operation generally, but specially of a Divine operation;⁷⁵ Bengel: Deus ostendens, verbum vere esse verbum Dei ( 1 Thessalonians 4:8-9; Acts 14:3). On the former view the meaning must be: which also shows itself as such, &c. [comp. Acts 20:32].—Καί adds to the acceptance of the word as God’s word on the side of the Thessalonians the effective, and that a continuous, confirmation of it on the side of God (ἐδέξασθε, aorist; ἐνερλεῖται, present).⁷⁶ From that time onward you are in real communion with God, who shows Himself operative in you by the power of His heavenly Spirit, overruling everything human, as may be seen in the fact that even the strongest human ties cannot bind you, since you have suffered severely from your own relations and countrymen ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14). Τοῖς πιστεύουσιν: so far is faith from being some empty thing, that it is rather the organ for God’s operations in us (comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:10 and Exeg. Note26; for the topics, Ephesians 1:19).⁷⁷

5. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14.) For ye, brethren, became imitators, &c.—On γάρ, see Note4. ὑμεῖς resumes the immediately preceding ἐν ὑμῖν 1 Thessalonians 2:13, and stands with honorable distinction foremost. Μιμηταὶ ἐγενήθητε, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:6. There the Thessalonian believers are described as followers of the Apostle and of the Lord Himself; here, in terms of scarcely less honor and encouragement, as followers of the original Christian churches in Judea. The Apostle points out historically a fundamental law of the kingdom of God, that is now fulfilling itself in the case of the Thessalonians: The bearers of the Divine are always expelled by the natural community to which they belong (comp. Matthew 10:35-37). Thus the Thessalonian Christians by their associates of their own race, and the Jewish Christians by the Jews, who in like manner killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and now also have driven out the Apostle. So little need the Thessalonians allow themselves to be disconcerted by the injustice done them by their compatriots, that herein rather lies the evidence of the reality and power of the Divine influences present with them; for only that which is really Divine is hated by the world (comp. the forcible word of Jesus, John 7:7; John 15:18 sq.), just as the strength to endure this enmity likewise rests on God’s operation in believers. Ἐπάθετε denotes strictly nothing more than the actual experience (there has befallen you), but according to the connection it includes the inward endurance of what has happened. For in no other way can πάσχειν serve to establish the efficiency of the Divine word in them, and in no other way, especially, can the preterite ἐπάθετε, which, being parallel to the ἐδέξασθε of 1 Thessalonians 2:13, has primary reference to the time of their conversion, serve to confirm the present ἐνεργεῖται, than as implying that the Thessalonians have really encountered the enmity of their fellow-countrymen, and do not allow themselves to be thereby driven into apostasy. Taken together, 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 thus answer pretty closely to the parallel statement in 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:13 to δεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον μετὰ χαρᾶς πνεύματος ἁγίου 1 Thessalonians 5:14 to ἐν θλίψει πολλῇ; comp. there Exeg. Note14.

6. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14.) Of the churches of God which are in Judea, &c.—Τοῦ θεοῦ answers to the threefold mention of God in 1 Thessalonians 2:13; τῶν οὐσῶν has ἐν twice connected with it: in the first instance, ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, it denotes the external, geographical sphere; in the other, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, the inner, essential life-sphere, on which see 1 Thessalonians 1:1, Exeg. Note3, and Doct. and Eth1. By the latter specification the Jewish-Christian congregations are distinguished from the Jewish, which also εἶναι δοκοῦσι congregations of God (Œcumenius).—Τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν is also to be noted in this respect, that the Thessalonians were the first church out of Palestine that was persecuted as a church.

7. Countrymen.—Συμφυλ., those of the same tribe, exhibits the natural connection (Luther only too strongly: blood relations), and the epithet ἰδίων gives it additional force, in order the more clearly to show the gospel’s penetrating, overcoming power as supernatural, Divine. By the συμφυλέται, therefore, as the contrast τῶν Ἰουδαίων shows, are meant chiefly [only] Gentiles (Olshausen, De Wette, Lünemann, Ewald, [Alford, Ellicott, &c.] &c), because the Thessalonian church was composed almost entirely of Gentile Christians ( Acts 17:4). [Not Jews (Chrysostom, &c.): Calvin, Bengel, &c, think of Jews and Gentiles both.—Riggenbach.]—Αὐτοί are the members of the churches in Judea; constructio ad sensum.

8. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:15.) Who also, &c.—Καί is not perhaps to be connected with the καί following=as well—as also, since several καί follow one another in simple series: it rather adds to what precedes something new and correspondent: The Jews have not only persecuted the Christian churches in Judea, but also killed the Lord Jesus, &c. The subsequent strong expressions respecting the Jews are at first sight somewhat strange, indeed almost displeasing, especially because one does not well see, at least not at once, how the Apostle was led to them by the context. Looked at more closely, they fall apart into two divisions, the first consisting of past participles (ἀποκτεινάντων, ἐκδιωξάντων), the second of present (ἀρεσκόντων with ἐναντίων, κωλυόντων). Both divisions end in something that has reference to the Apostle: ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξ 1 Thessalonians 2:15, κωλυόντων ἡμᾶς 1 Thessalonians 2:16. Thus, the point in question is the relation of the Jews to the Apostle, on which comp. Acts 17:5. This seems also to have been used against the Apostle by the countrymen of the Thessalonians. They might say: “How can you still believe that stranger? His own people, in fact, have driven him out, and are utterly unwilling to have him draw you over to his side;”—an objection which might have the more weight for the Thessalonian Christians, because most of them had previously been proselytes ( Acts 17:4), and so accustomed to seek and find the truth among the Jews. To this Paul now answers: “Yes, they have persecuted me, but no otherwise than they did the Lord Jesus and their own prophets; nor are they willing to endure it, that I should publish salvation to you, and the Gentiles generally; but in this they are merely contrary to God and men, and fill up the measure of their sins.” Thus regarded, 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 have a meaning and significance in where they stand, and thus also is set aside the offensive harshness that seems to lie in the words; it is set aside from the same point of view, which in the earlier sections removes the offence of self-praise or of the praise of the Thessalonians. But the treatment of this matter is attached to this particular context for the reason that it falls under the same law as the suffering of the Thessalonians from those of their own race (see Exeg. Note5): Paul had the same experience from his countrymen, as they from theirs: and as they were preceded by the Jewish Christians, so he himself by the Lord and the prophets. With such predecessors, and with this uniformity of experience, the offence must surely cease. It is moreover evident that the example in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 is there selected with an eye to the fact, that Paul means presently to speak of the Jews. And this point he has kept to the close of the entire section; for having fully reestablished his own authority with his readers, he can the more powerfully subvert their earlier authority, the Jews. [While expositors generally deal with the difficulty, some of the expedients adopted by them in accounting for 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 are very far fetched. Olshausen: “Paul foresaw that the Judaizers, standing on the same level as the Jews, would damage him in this Church also, and therefore, by way of precaution, he here expressed himself on the points in regard to which he was usually blamed.” But would any one attack the Jews beforehand, in order to resist a possible, later incursion of Judaizing Christians, to whom, besides, several things are here inapplicable, whilst their characteristic peculiarities, especially their legality, are wanting? Von Hofmann, on the contrary, supposes that some desired to persuade the Thessalonians, that the gospel was purely a Jewish affair, and that it is in opposition to this notion that Paul here speaks. But one cannot understand how this objection could arise, since the Jews were certainly the first and most vehement adversaries of the gospel in Thessalonica; and then an attack on the Jews would still have been a very indirect and extravagant way of defending himself against that objection. De Wette contents himself altogether with the remark, that the Apostle seizes the opportunity to give vent to his displeasure with the Jews. Lünemann is correct in finding the occasion of the philippic, 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16, in the fact, that in Thessalonica the Jews were the real instigators of the persecutions of the Christians, and that in other places likewise they manifested the same obdurate spirit of contradiction; but with this generality he stops, and so fails to account for the complexion of the entire passage, as well as its particular phrases, and overlooks the reference to Paul. Calvin, who is followed by Calixtus;, comes nearest the truth: Poterat Thessalonicensibus hoc venire in mentem: si hæc vera est religio, cur eam tam infestis animis oppugnant Judæi, qui sunt sacer Dei populus? Ut hoc offendic-ulam tollat, primum admonet, hoc eos commune habere cum primis ecclesiis, quæ in Judæa erant, postea Judæos dicit obstinatos esse Dei omnis sanæ doctrinæ hostes. The only mistake here is, that Calvin, whilst he too overlooks the special reference of 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 to Paul, and understands συμφυλετ. 1 Thessalonians 2:14, principally of the Jews, brings to bear on 1 Thessalonians 2:14 the point of view, that is applicable to 1 Thessalonians 2:15 sq.—Riggenbach.]

9. The Lord Jesus and their own prophets, &c.—Τὸν κύριον stands emphatically first, and is still more marked in being separated by ἀποκτειν, from Ἰησοῦν: Yea, the Lord Himself they killed (comp. 1 Corinthians 2:8); is it to be wondered at, if they persecute the servant (comp. John 15:20)? What is expressed in the case of Ἰησοῦν by the prominent putting forward of τὸν κύριον is in the case of τοὺς προφήτας expressed by the addition of ἰδίους: their own prophets, ὧν καὶ τὰ τεύξη περιφέρουσι (Chrysost.), they treated no better than they have done the Gentile Apostle. This internal evidence is favorable to the genuineness of ἰδίους; if regarded as spurious, this makes no change whatever in the thought; we lose merely that particular stroke. Τοὺς προφήτας might grammatically be connected, as Koch would have it, with what follows; but com mentators correctly refer it to what goes before, both because in other places also mention is made of the Jewish murder of the prophets ( Matthew 23:31; Matthew 23:37; Luke 11:47 sq.; Luke 13:34; Acts 7:52), and on account of ἐκδιωξάντων, of which presently.—When Paul now proceeds: καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκ διωξάντων, we are by this time so well prepared for it, that it can no longer furnish an objection to him, but rather an argument for him and against the Jews. ̔Εκδιώκειν is no doubt in the Sept. Psalm 44:17 [ Psalm 44:16]; Psalm 119:157 the strengthened διώκειν (De Wette, Lünem.); but the proper meaning of the word (see, for instance, Passow, who indeed gives no other meaning) is to pursue forth, chase out, expel, persequendo ejicere (Bengel, who adds: frequens verbum apud LXX.), and so the word stands in the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament, Luke 11:49 (in the parallel passage, Matthew 23:34, διώξετε ἀπὸ πάλεως εἰς πόλιν)—a point of so much the more importance, as Paul probably has here in his eye that expression of Christ. In this case we are (with J. Mich. Hahn, Baur, &c.) to think simply of the expulsion of Paul and his companions from Thessalonica (see Acts 17:5; Acts 17:13), the very thing at which many believers might stumble. [Bengel, Pelt, Schott, Lünemann, (Ellicott,) think of the persecutions of Paul and the Apostles generally; but this extension of ἡμᾶς is against the context, see 1 Thessalonians 2:16-17, as well as 1 Thessalonians 2:13; besides, the aorist participle leads us the more readily to think of a single Acts, since the Jewish persecutions of the Apostles in general still continued (see Acts 17:13; Acts 18:6; Acts 18:12), so that it must have been ἐκδιωκόντων as well as afterwards κωλυόντων—Riggenbach.]

10. And they please not God, &c.—The participles now pass from the aorist [Alford: definite events] into the present [Alford: habits] and, as τῶν καὶ τὸν κύριον—ἐκδιωξάντων hangs closely together, so again does all that follows as far as σωθῶσιν. For not to please God and to be contrary to all men are correlatives, and κωλυόντων, &c. adds to it nothing new and independent, but, having no καί before it like all the previous participles, is to be subordinated to ἀρεσκ, and ἐναντίων [with Lünem, though he makes it depend only on ἐναντίων (and so Alford.—J. L.).—Riggenbach.], comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:6 sq.; 11sq. The subordinate clause shows to what extent the Jews displease God, and are contrary to all men; and thus at the same time these strong expressions lose much of their harshness.—Θεῷ μὴ ἀρεσκόντων: the Jews were jealous at Thessalonica ( Acts 17:5), as they were elsewhere both before and afterwards ( Acts 13:45; Acts 18:6-13; comp. Acts 22:21 sq.; Acts 26:19 [ Acts 26:21]), because through Paul so many Gentiles were converted, and this jealousy was with them a zeal for God and His kingdom in Israel ( Romans 10:2), whereby they thought to please Him (comp. John 16:2). In opposition to this Paul now says; they please not God. Thus the subjective negative μή does not imply placere non quærentium (Bengel, &c.); but, on the contrary, it denies the ἀρέσκειν as conceived by the Jews and also by the Thessalonians (Winer, p428 sq.)⁷⁸ Ubi dicit non placere Deo, hoc vult, indignos esse, quorum ratio inter Dei cultores habeatur (Calvin). The very softness of the expression has a peculiar force.—Πᾶσιν ἄνθρ. ἐναντίων: as contrary to God, so contrary to men; but the former passively=objects of the Divine displeasure, the latter actively=hostile to all men. πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, of course, excepting themselves, and Song of Solomon, as to the sense,=τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ill the explanatory clause. But Paul purposely holds up to view the inhumanity of this state of mind. When heathen writers, as interpreters are here in the habit of reminding us, reproach the Jews with adversus omnes alios hostile odium (Tac. Hist. 1 Thessalonians 2:5; Juv. Sat. 14:103 sqq.; Jos. c. Revelation 2:10-14, etc.), they do not at any rate properly distinguish in this thing the Divinely sanctioned particularism of Israel, and the proud, narrow-minded exclusivism of the Jews. Paul, of course, blames only the latter, which would not acknowledge that God Himself had now abolished the former.

11. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:16.) Hindering us, &c.—Κωλυόντων, see Exeg. Note10. Δαλῆσαι ἴνα σωθῶσιν, either: to preach to the Gentiles, in order that they may be saved, (Bengel, Olshausen, De Wette; thus taking λαλ. as a meiosis or tapeinosis for εὐαγγελίζεσθαι); or ἵνα is weakened, as in the New Testament it so often is, and marks the object (Winer, p299 sqq.)=λαλῆσαι περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας, λαλῆσαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον 1 Thessalonians 2:2 (Lünemann, [Ellicott, Webster and Wilkinson], &c.). The latter method is the more simple.

12. To fill up their sins always.—Εἰς τό, &c, belongs, not merely to κωλυόντων, but to the whole description from 1 Thessalonians 2:15. The result is here presented as an unconscious purpose, just as we say: to fill up the measure [De Wette). [εἰς then, is not=ὤστε, of the result as such (Pelt, &c.); but neither does it mark God’s purpose in the sins of the Jews (Olshausen, Lünemann)1Th ⁷⁹: the expression belongs not so much to the Pauline style of thought, as to ordinary speech.—Riggenbach]:—αὐτῶν stands emphatically before τὰς ὰμαρτ: their sins, while they are persecuting others, God’s messengers, as sinners.—̔Αναπλμρῶσαι, comp. Matthew 23:32, καὶ ὑηε͂ις πληρώσατε τὸ μὲτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑηῶν [also Genesis 15:16]. The compound ἀναπληρ. means to fill up to fill again higher, so that, as it were, the still empty space in the vessel becomes ever smaller. We thus get a simple explanation of πάντοτε (which is thought to be difficult by De Wette, and strange by Olshausen, who, with Bretschneider, would take it as=πάντως, παντελῶς). The subsequent clause likewise with its εἰς τελος, will in this connection obtain its natural interpretation. Πάντοτε means always, at every time, by the persecution of the prophets, of the Lord, of the Apostle, the sins were always again filled up, filled higher, till now the measure is full.

13. But the wrath came upon them to the end.—Δέ opposes to the sin its punishment, and to the ever fresh increase the end. Parallel to the heaping up of the sin went the heaping up of the judicial wrath of God ( Romans 2:5), which now, however, is come to the end, to the uttermost, where it must discharge itself (Lünemann). On ἡ ὀργή [Jowett: either the long-expected wrath, or the wrath consequent upon their sins.—J. L.] see 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Exeg. Note14. Εἰς τελος is to be connected with ἔφθασε, which means simply pervenit (Vulgate, Calvin, De Wette, Lünemann, &c.), not prævenit (Beza, Schott, Pelt, &c.), since in the New Testament, with the exception of 1 Thessalonians 4:15, φθάςειν occurs only in the later, weakened sense of reaching to, with εἰς ( Romans 9:31; Philippians 3:16), ἐπί τινα. ( Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20; comp. Daniel 4:25), ἄχρι τινός ( 2 Corinthians 10:14). Here it is connected with two prepositions of the direction, one of which (εἰς τέλος) indicates the inward development to the end; the other (ἐπʼ αὐτούς), the outward movement. [At this many interpreters needlessly stumble, and have either taken εἰς τέλος adverbially (=finally or totally), or have thought it necessary to refer it to ἡ ὀργή: the wrath which lasts to the end of the world, or for ever (Theodoret, Theophylact, Œcumenius, &c.), or till its full manifestation (Olshausen),⁸⁰ or to the destruction of the Jews (Grotius, Pelt, Flatt, &c.). The last view is shared also by De Wette, Ewald, &c, who connect εἰς τέλος with ἔφθασε in the sense of 2 Chronicles 31:1; Daniel 9:27,=to utter ruin, to complete extinction.—Riggenbach.]—Paul knows that the Jews, having likewise rejected the Messiah and the spiritual witness of his Apostles, are now ripe for judgment, which accordingly followed soon after in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. He neither appeals to any revelation that he had received on this subject, nor does he merely draw inferences from the political situation of the Jews [Jowett: “To the Apostle, reading the future in the present, the state of Judea at any time during the last thirty years before the destruction of the city, would have been sufficient to justify the expression, ‘wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.’ ”—J. L.], but in the light of prophecy of the Old Testament and of the Lord Himself (Ewald mentions Matthew 23:37-39; Matthew 14:16 sqq.; Daniel 9:24 sqq.) he discerns with clear spiritual glance the interpretation of the signs of the time. With this earnest word on the near imminence of the Divine judgment on the principal adversaries of the gospel the section closes, and so again in a measure with an eschatological prospect (comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12). While the Jews fall under wrath, Christians are saved from wrath ( 1 Thessalonians 1:10), and called to God’s kingdom and glory ( 1 Thessalonians 2:12).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13.) It may seem strange that Paul should thank God for something that the Thessalonians had done (ἐδέξασθε). We are not to infer from this, that their acceptance of the word, or their faith, is thought of as an operation of God to the exclusion of man’s free receptivity. Had Paul meant to say this, he must have expressed himself otherwise, as thus: We thank God that He wrought the acceptance, or faith, in you. But the indication in ἐδέξασθε of free receptivity is the more marked, as it is only afterward that the operation of God in them is named in confirmation of the Divine character of the freely accepted word (ὃς καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν).⁸¹ Nevertheless, Paul can and must thank God for the faith of the Thessalonians, partly because it would not have existed but for His preparative grace, and the accompanying influence of His Spirit, whereby the Thessalonians were convinced that Paul’s word was God’s word, and thus faith is no independent act of man (Olshausen), but really rests on a Divine causality; partly because for every good thing that happens to the Christian, and makes him glad—and the faith of the Thessalonians was for Paul something in the highest degree exhilarating ( 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20)—he gives thanks and honor to the Father of lights, under whose providential guidance and control stand even the free actions of men (Lünemann). Comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:6, and its Exegetical Note14, and Doctrinal Principles, No3.

2. Paul calls his word God’s word. To what extent he knew himself to be justified in doing so has been shown already, especially in 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:4 and 1 Thessalonians 1:5. God Himself, by a miraculous call and the light of revelation had entrusted him with the proclamation of His glad tidings to the world (comp. Galatians 1:11-16; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; Colossians 1:25-29; Ephesians 3:1-12), and now in Thessalonica, as in Corinth and elsewhere ( 1 Corinthians 2:4-5; Romans 15:18-19), he has preached the gospel in the energy of the Holy Ghost. There are thus two essential points in the case: 1. The apostolic call and illumination (inspiration), which, effected by special acts of God, concerns the whole man, and assigns to him an official mission, a fundamental position and significance in the kingdom of God (comp. Ephesians 2:20); 2. the separate acts of proclamation, performed on the ground of that general inspiration, and yet again in every particular instance, “in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance,” or “in demonstration of the spirit and in power.” Now what is true of the oral proclamation of Apostles holds good of the written. “For the relation between word and writing is ordinarily this, that the writing compresses the copiousness of the spoken word into a settled elementary form—the final expression, made clear and strong by deliberate reflection, of the inspired thought—and so in Holy Scripture we have the ripe, developed fruit of inspiration” (Martensen, Dogmatik, 2d ed, p455). We are therefore at liberty, and are bound, to call also the written word of Apostles (and Prophets) the word of God. And down through all centuries the Church has borne to it in the power of the Spirit the same witness, that the Thessalonians did to Paul’s oral proclamation; she has freely recognized and accepted it as God’s word. The testimonium Spiritus Sancti continually asserts itself as the subjective correlative and living evidence of inspiratio—But now, as regards the uninterrupted oral proclamation of the word of God in the preaching of the Church, on that point Paul says in the Pastoral Epistles, which may be regarded as his legacy to the Church in its gradual transition from the first age of the Apostles into the common course of history: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me,” and: “The thing that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” ( 2 Timothy 1:13; 2 Timothy 2:2). He will thus have the Church’s doctrine and preaching expressly bound to the fundamental apostolic word, and, though here too the reference is to what is spoken and heard, yet we properly may and ought once more to think of the written word, which, indeed, is the only authentic tradition of the oral for later generations ( 1 John 2:7; 1 John 2:24; 1 John 1:3-4; 2 Peter 1:13-15). Essentially, therefore, the Church’s doctrine and preaching is a propagation, reproduction, an ever new appropriation of the apostolic word. But as the preaching Apostles would not have fulfilled their task by a mere dry communication of God’s Revelation, but for every announcement they had to be freshly endued with the Spirit from on high, that the gospel might be brought powerfully to bear on the heart and conscience of the hearers according to their general and special needs, as, for example, on the Jews otherwise than on the Gentiles, so likewise for our preaching the objective agreement with apostolic, orthodox doctrine does not suffice, but there must always be a subjective fulness, and that in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. It is not the preaching, but the preacher, that preaches (comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:5, and its Exegetical Note12, and Doctrinal Principles, No4). This, in fact, is precisely what is proposed in the oral word, to bring near to men in a human way the objective gift of God—to convey it to them with a spiritual, personal vivacity. The preacher is not a mere messenger, who may have no interest in the intelligence he has to bring; he is a witness, guaranteeing what he says by all that he is ( John 15:27; Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8; Acts 1:22; 1 John 1:2). And, accordingly, he too can and should testify to his hearers the one apostolic truth in the freedom of the spirit, ever according to their needs, in this or that form, from this side or from that. The more these two elements mutually interpenetrate, the objective agreement with the apostolic doctrine and the subjective, spiritual fulness of the individual, so much the more may even the preaching of the Church be called the word of God. At the same time we here perceive that the Divine does not in its revelation and communication exclude or suppress the human, but assimilates it, fills it with itself, and so consecrates it for its own organ. [When our Confessions teach: “Sacramenta et verbum propter ordinationem et mandatum Christi sunt efficacia, etiamsi per malos exhibeantur” (Conf. Aug. 8; comp. Hebrews 1.), this contains a truth, no doubt; and yet there is here a somewhat hasty making of a virtue out of necessity, and especially the difference between the word and sacrament, in relation to the personality of the minister, is not duly considered. Comp. 1 Corinthians 1:14-17—Riggenbach.] Thus, in the connection of our passage with earlier statements in the Epistle, and in its harmony with expressions of the Apostle elsewhere, it furnishes essential features to the doctrine of the verbum divinum, both as written and as preached.

3. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16.) At that time there had arisen even among the heathen a searching after truth. The great world-empires had along with the populations shaken also the gods and the religions. Light and happiness were sought in schools of philosophy, in the renewal of the mysteries, from the Goëtæ, &c. There had ensued, as in our day, a dissolution of the spiritual life—a confused, conflicting throng of all possible standpoints and attempts at deliverance. The point then was, to discriminate between man’s word and God’s. For this end the conscience is of service ( 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 5:11), which is given to us as a compass on the swelling sea of life. When it is aroused, a separation is made between what is Divine and what is human. At this time many, at Thessalonica also, had already attached themselves as proselytes to the Jews, because even in the preparatory revelations of God they found the best satisfaction of their needs of conscience. Such were in a peculiar degree prepared, inwardly and outwardly, to accept the Gospel as the word of God. They were so more than the Jews, because the latter generally held the law and the prophets in the way merely of outward tradition, whereas the former consented thereto with heart and life. Thus frequently upright men, belonging as to their external position to the world, are nearer to the kingdom of God than others, who have perhaps from their youth up been associated with the pious. In like manner churches, which assume to be those in which alone salvation is to be had, or which boast of their orthodoxy, are not exactly those which bring forth the most children to the Lord, because the Spirit departs in a measure proportioned to the reliance placed, as by the Jews, on institutions, the form of doctrine, &c. ( Romans 2:17 sqq.)

4. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16.) We can here almost perceive the growth in Paul of his leading view of the position of Gentile Christians in relation to Jewish Christians and Jews. The latter are the proper enemies of the gospel, not only amongst those of their own nation, but also in the Gentile world; for this reason he sees the judgment now breaking in on them. On the other hand, he recognizes in the Gentile Christians the followers of the Jewish Christians, of the true congregation of God in Israel. They belong—this thought here presents itself as a matter of course—to the genuine seed of Abraham, and take the place of the exscinded branches ( Romans 4, 11). The condition for this is simply faith, on which such special stress is laid in 1 Thessalonians 2:13; through faith a man quits his natural connections, and enters the circle of the Divine operation in the world (the connection of 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14). To the Jews were entrusted the λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ ( Romans 3:2); to believers from among Jews and Gentiles is not merely entrusted outwardly the λόγος θεοῦ, but God thereby works in them with a living power ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13). We have thus here, in regard to the history of the kingdom of God, the genesis of Paul’s objective, fundamental view respecting the setting aside of the Jews and the participation of the Gentiles in that kingdom, just as in Acts 13:38-39 we have the genesis of his fundamental view of subjective salvation, of the doctrine of justification by faith. Then in the Epistle to the Romans both views are developed jointly.

5. But it must not be forgotten, that our text is not the last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting the Jews. It is rather in the Epistle to the Romans ( Romans 9-11) that he has uttered this. There, with an extreme, self-denying love, he expresses his profound, continual sorrow on account of the rejection of Israel ( Romans 9:1-3; Romans 10:1-2). He places the ultimate aim of his Gentile apostleship in this, that by means of the converted Gentiles the Jews should be provoked to emulation ( Romans 11:13-14). He makes it the duty of Gentile Christians not to be proud and severe in regard to the Jewish branches broken off on account of their unbelief, because otherwise the same fate awaits us ( Romans 11:17-22). To his Gentile Church, accordingly, which has so often, alas, actually fallen into that spirit of arrogance toward the Jews which he repudiates, and is still for the most part ensnared therein, he has rather bequeathed it a her task, by means of her walk of faith before Israel, and her loving sorrow in their behalf, to win over the blinded people. The Church has a mission of faith and love to the Jews; she has and should have a Jewish mission. If among us evangelicals this obligation is again here and there acknowledged and discharged, yet these efforts are but feeble, slight germs and beginnings. The Jewish mission is still far too much a thing singular, peculiar; it is too little sustained by the intercessory sympathy of the believing Church. We must in this thing learn to walk more fully in the steps of our Apostle and of the Lord Himself, of whom in reference to this very people Matthew 9:36-38 stands written. The Jewish mission, moreover, is in a quite special sense the mission also of hope. For the very last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting Israel is this, that the entire people shall yet be saved, and from the receiving of them again shall a new life stream forth to the nations of the world ( Romans 11:12; Romans 11:15; Romans 11:23 sqq.). This national conversion of Israel is, indeed, not a matter that we can introduce; with other developments in the kingdom of God, it is connected with the coming of Christ ( Matthew 23:39; Acts 3:19-21) 12, 13, 14.—J. L.]. But in order to this, to say nothing of the salvation of individual souls, the Jewish mission has to perform the office of a forerunner, and prepare the way.

6. The result of the entire development of the Jewish people during more than fifteen centuries was their division into a believing minority ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14) and an unbelieving majority ( 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16), which oppressed and persecuted the former. Already, indeed, had the prophets prophesied of the remnant which alone should be converted (comp. Romans 9:27-29; Romans 11:1-10). This division [Scheidung] being completed, there came the crisis [Entscheidung], the judgment (κρίσις includes both) in the destruction of Jerusalem, from which the believers were delivered (Pella, &c.), whereas ruin befell the unbelieving people. The same result will follow the development also of the New Testament Church and of the Christian nations. On this rests the deep, biblical truth of the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church. We too stand in the time of separation, and are advancing toward the crisis.

7. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16.) It is worthy of notice that the ideas of 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 obviously lean on a sentence of the Lord, and are evolved from it. Comp. with 1 Thessalonians 2:15, Matthew 23:34; Luke 11:49 : ἀπαστελῶ προφήτας καὶ ἀποστόλους καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενοῦσι καὶ ἐκδιώξουσιν and, with 1 Thessalonians 2:16 Matthew 13:32 : καὶ ὑμε͂ις πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὐμῶν, and2:36: ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην. We thus see how, under the illumination of the Spirit, the words of the Lord and the Apostle’s own experiences originated his thoughts. At another time it was words of the Lord, which the Apostle received in immediate revelations from heaven. In his eschatological teachings which we shall have later to consider, we shall see both kinds of words coöperating, and along with them Old Testament prophecy. The sayings of Jesus were evidently not unknown to Paul. With him they frequently sound still in a freer form (preceding the written determination of them).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1 Thessalonians 2:13. Rieger: Where we said: I am glad, I ever think of it without joy, there the spirit, in which Scripture is written, impels us to say: We thank God, that He may ever be acknowledged as she Giver of these joyful providences, and that joy itself may be so seasoned with salt, that the flesh shall be less able to attribute aught to itself.—J. Mich. Hahn: How greatly must it rejoice a servant of the Lord, when he is permitted also to see fruits of his labor! Or are we going to find fault with this joy, even though it be a joy in the Lord? Or have we perchance any cause to blame the Apostle, when, for the strengthening of the faith of those dear to him, he exhibits to them something of the fair fruits of the Spirit? Did not Jesus Himself first tell His churches of whatever good things they had, and then of their evil, if they had any?—Rieger: Perhaps some one thinks, it was possible for the Thessalonians at once to accept as the word of God the word from the mouth of such a gifted Apostle; but who will require of us now, that we accept for God’s word everything that sounds from pulpits? That time also had its own difficulties. Paul was not regarded at Thessalonica with quite the same degree of respect that we can now feel toward him. Outwardly he was to be looked upon as a mechanic ( 1 Thessalonians 2:9); inwardly the opposition he had to endure gave him great trouble. The acceptance in these circumstances of his word as the word of God was promoted by means, that would still be effective in the case of our expositions at the present day—by searching the Scriptures, whether those things are so ( Acts 17:11). That at least accept as God’s word, which thou canst so accept with the concurrence of thy conscience.—The apostolic word (the word of the Bible) is God’s word, and certifies itself as such by its Divine, spiritual working in us (the witness of the Holy Ghost).—Roos: You experience a Divine working within you. Before you believed, there was none of this Divine working. It exists while you believe, and ever since you believe. You feel it, and may thence infer that what you believe is the word of God.—The Same: Is it not the effect of the Divine working, that you can allow yourselves to be harassed by people of your nation, without becoming thereby disheartened or enraged? Who has at any time seen this fruit of the Spirit in an unbelieving Gentile or Jew? Thus the patience and faith of the saints ( Revelation 13:10; Revelation 14:12)—these two main elements of the suffering and contending Church—are likewise the main proofs of the Divine character of her foundation, as laid in the apostolic word. In this sense the Church is the proof of the Divine character of Scripture (comp, at 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7, Doctrinal Principles, No5). This is, indeed, no glorious proof, such as might strike even the natural sense, the merely logical or mathematical understanding. On the contrary, it is a proof from her humiliation. But the very fact that the Church of Jesus amidst all depressing and adverse circumstances, and while having the whole world opposed to her, still endures, is a proof that supernatural, Divine powers here rule—that Jesus has given to her the glory which He received from the Father ( John 17:22; 1 Peter 4:14).—The preached word as God’s word (comp. Luke 10:16): What this includes, 1. for preachers (see Doctrinal Principles, No2), 2. for hearers: a. the obligation not to carry themselves with indifference or even offensively toward the word, but to receive it as a real message from God attentively and willingly; b. the blessing, that from the word thus received there proceed Divine influences upon us.—Pfaff: God’s word cannot be without stir and fruit, wherever it is but allowed to rule, any more than fire and light in cold and darkness.—Zwingli: The persecutors of God’s word, in order to render it odious, put forward the name of Luther or Zwingli. The believer alone can decide whether it is God’s word or man’s; that is when God works in the hearers, and arouses and quickens within them the external, preached word, so that a new man is born.

1 Thessalonians 2:14. See on 1 Thessalonians 2:13.—Roos: Novices in Christianity are commonly spared by the Lord sharp trials; but this was not the experience of the Thessalonians, the Lord often indeed showing that He does not always act according to one rule.—Though in our Christian world relations are in part changed from what they were then, yet even now also the convert has often to suffer, and that severely, from kinsmen and other companions. But let us be thoroughly penetrated by the power of the Divine word, and we are thereby enabled to hearken unto God more than unto the dearest of men. Then too have we the best hope of drawing after us those connected with us, when they see how the truth is sacred and precious to us above all things else; this inspires them first with respect for it, and afterwards perhaps with love to it.—Bengel: The same fruits, the same afflictions, the same experiences of believers of all places and times afford an excellent criterion of evangelical truth.—Roos: A congregation or a household of believers may take comfort from the example of others, and, in particular, converts in Christianity may do so from the example of older Christians.—Zwingli: The churches in Judea believed first on the Lord Jesus, and then the Gentiles also followed them; they did not, therefore, follow the Roman church or the Pope. [Moreover, the promise given to Peter, Matthew 16:18 sq, was fulfilled in Jerusalem at Pentecost and afterwards, Acts 2sqq, not in Rome.—Riggenbach.]

[Matthew Henry: The cross is the Christian’s mark: if we are called to suffer, we are called only to be followers of the churches of God; so persecuted they the prophets that were before you, Matthew 5:12.—J. L.]

1 Thessalonians 2:15-16. On the Jews, see Doctrinal Principles, Nos3–6.—The sin of the Jews was peculiarly grievous, and more grievous than that of the Gentiles; for it consisted not merely in the doing of evil, but in the rejection of the help offered them against the evil, in their hostility to the messengers of salvation, in hardening themselves against the ever new and higher revelations and more urgent invitations of God ( Matthew 21:33 sqq.; Matthew 22:3-7). Indeed, the real sin is unbelief ( Mark 16:15 sq.; John 16:9; John 5:46 sq.). What was true, therefore, at that time of the Jews is now true of Christians; since the light shines now for us, for us is the day of salvation.—Bengel: Stubborn resistance to the word is that which most of all fills up the measure of sin. And Rieger: He who neglects his own salvation grudges to see in others greater zeal for their salvation; and so by the persecution of others is the measure of sins commonly filled up.—Diedrich: To love Christ, and that alone, is truly to love humanity; for true humanity is in Him alone, and by His word it is propagated and trained.—There is among us Christians also a Jewish illiberality, which thinks to please God by drawing the circle in some one sense very tight. This is a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge ( Romans 10:2), a zeal which, as with the Jews, is ever connected somehow with self-righteousness ( 1 Thessalonians 2:3), and does not duly understand Christ as the end of the law ( 1 Thessalonians 2:4). Let us allow grace to be really grace, and we shall recognize it also in its universality, nor will we make the strait gate still straiter. We learn to unite with a strict conscience a wide heart and a free vision.—Pfaff: God seldom punishes the first sin, but He suffers iniquity to mount for a certain period and to a certain pitch. When it has reached the measure fixed by Him, He breaks in with His judgment; but this limit is not very discernible before the event. Foretokens of it, however, are not obscurely to be inferred from, for example, the long duration and heinousness of the sins, from contempt of the richly proffered means of grace, from obduracy, &c.—Burkitt: It is a singular support to suffering saints, to consider that Christ and His Apostles suffered before them, and by His sufferings has sanctified a state of affliction and persecution to them.—A spirit of persecution seems ofttimes to run in a blood, and passes from parent to child through many generations. The Jews killed Christ, stoned the prophets, and persecuted the Apostles.—Paul ranks them that are enemies to the preaching of the gospel with the obstinate shedders of Christ’s blood; they are enrolled amongst the capital enemies of mankind.—J. L.]

Footnotes

II

1 Thessalonians 2:17 to 1 Thessalonians 3:13

What Paul did for the Thessalonians after his departure

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

1. He had once and again earnestly purposed to come unto them, but was hindered

17But we, brethren, being taken [having been bereaved by separation] from you⁸² for a short time, in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly18[the more ab. end.]⁸³ to see your face with great desire. Wherefore⁸⁴ we would have [wished to, ἠθελήσαμεν] come unto you, even I Paul, once and again [both once and again, καὶ ἄπαξ καὶ δίς]; but [and, καί] Satan hindered us 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]⁸⁵? Are [Or are]δίς]; but [and, καί] Satan hindered us 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]⁸⁶ not even ye [ye also, καὶ ὐμεῖς], in the presence of [before, ἔμπροσθεν] our Lord Jesus Christδίς]; but [and, καί] Satan hindered us 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]⁸⁷ at His coming? 20For ye are our glory and joy.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:17.) But we.—̔Ημε͂ις, emphatic in itself and by its position in front: As to what concerns us. Having spoken, 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, of the Thessalonians (comp. the ὑμε͂ις standing foremost with like emphasis in 1 Thessalonians 2:14); Paul again reverts to himself, in order to do away with a second imputation or doubt, as if, since he has been gone from the Thessalonians, after they had been readily persuaded and won over, he had left off caring for them. Suspicionem contemtus et negligentiæ prævenit (Calvin; similarly Pelt and others). Thus, as the first section ( 1 Thessalonians 1:2 to 1 Thessalonians 2:16) sketches for us a lively picture of Paul’s ministry at Thessalonica and of the founding of the church there, a like sketch is given in the second section ( 1 Thessalonians 2:17 to 1 Thessalonians 3:13) of the manner in which, during the interval of some six months that has since elapsed, the founder of the church has cared for it and been active in its behalf. This authentic information respecting the Apostle’s doings in the establishment and rearing of churches is of high value.—[ἡμε͂λς, resumed from 1 Thessalonians 2:13, and now contrasted—δέ—with the persecuting Jews of 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16. So Lunemann, Alford, Ellicott.—J. L.]

2. Bereaved of you.—Chrysostom: Paul does not say separated, but more than that. ̔Ορφανός and ὀρφανίξω are even in the classics used, not merely of children bereaved of their parents, but also of parents bereaved of their children, and in other similar relations. The expression is one of tenderness, and belongs to the same category as the figure of the mother ( 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8) and of the father ( 1 Thessalonians 2:11) [so that Paul does not really compare himself to a child, as Chrysostom &c. improperly assume.—Riggenbach]. The Apostle would, first of all, intimate to his readers, that, so far from having forgotten them, his separation from them has been for him a painful experience. Hence also the two additions: for the space of an hour, that is, only a very short time, as we say: for a moment (elsewhere πρὸς ὥρας, for a short time, Philemon 1:15; Galatians 2:5; 2 Corinthians 7:8, or προς καιρόν, for a time at least limited, Luke 8:13; 1 Corinthians 7:6; here both are strengthened by being joined together), and: in presence only, not in heart, which ever remained with you (dative of reference, comp. 1 Corinthians 5:3; and, on the opposition between πρόσωπον and καρδία, 2 Corinthians 5:12; 1 Samuel 16:7, LXX.). Thus: We had almost no sooner been parted from you, and that only outwardly, not inwardly, than we again had a great longing to see you. [Πρὸς καιρὸν ὥρας does not state that the separation altogether lasts but a short time, as if Paul here anticipated the fulfilment of the wish expressed in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 (De Wette, Koch), or even thought of the reunion at the approaching parousia (Olshausen).—Riggenbach].

3. Endeavoured quite earnestly [the more abundantly endeavoured].—When the idea, with which the comparison exists, is at once understood from the context, it is not uncommon for the comparative to stand alone, and it then has the force of a positive, as in Acts 17:21; especially does this happen with the comparative of adverbs, as τάχιον, μᾶλλον, περισσοτέρως.δίς]; but [and, καί] Satan hindered us 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]⁸⁸ Alex. Buttmann, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Sprachgebrauchs, 1859, p72 (on the form περισστέρως, ibid, p61). If it is desired to specify the idea round which the comparison turns, it is evidently from the connection the πρόσωπον purposely repeated in opposition to καρδία: Because the Apostle was not separated from them in heart, though in face [presence], he therefore strove the more keenly to see again their face also.δίς]; but [and, καί] Satan hindered us 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]⁸⁹ Less suitable supplements are introduced by others⁹⁰ ̓Εν πολλῇ ἐπιθομίᾳ is a reiterated confirmation of ἐσπουδάσαμεν. The one confirmation stands at the beginning, the other not less emphatically at the close, of the sentence. Here also the Apostle’s love again shows itself so fervent, and as it were that of a bridegroom, that Chrysostom, impressed thereby, remarks: ἐρώμενος ἦν μανικός τις καὶ ἀκάθεκτος καὶ ἀκαρτέρητος εἰς φιλίαν.—To see your face is a select phrase of love, instead of the more prosaic to come unto you of 1 Thessalonians 2:18; comp. 1 Thessalonians 3:10.

4. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:18.) Wherefore we wished to come unto you.—From the general disposition, 1 Thessalonians 2:17, proceeded positive resolutions, for the non-fulfilment of which Paul is not to be blamed.—̔Εγὼ μὲν Παῦλος: μέν solitarium for the greater prominence of the subject. From this too we see, as from καρδίας 1 Thessalonians 2:4, and ψυξάς 1 Thessalonians 2:8, that in the first person plural Paul intends to include Silvanus and Timothy (Lünemann). Had he meant himself alone by it, the addition of ἐγὼ μὲν Παῦλος would have been unnecessary. But here especially he had to distinguish himself, because indeed Timothy had in the meanwhile come to Thessalonica. But having once singled himself out, he afterwards speaks even of himself alone in the plural; so even in our verse ἡμᾶς, and with peculiar distinctness in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2.—καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δίς, not simply δις, nor yet ἅπαξ καὶ δίς (which is used indefinitely=more than once), but stronger than the former expression and more precise than the latter: both once and twice, not only once but twice (comp. Philippians 4:16): “testatur non subitum fuisse fervorem, qui statim refrixerit, sed hujus propositi se fuisse tenacem, quum varias occasioned captaverit’ ’ (Calvin).

5. And Satan hindered us.—Instead of δέ, Paul chooses the Hebraistic connective, which in this case is almost the more energetic.—Satan, the personal devil (comp. 1 Thessalonians 3:5), in whose existence, therefore, Paul not merely believes, but refers to his agency even such comparatively trifling and external matters, because therein there lies prepared a hindrance to the kingdom of God (comp. Ephesians 6:12; otherwise at Romans 1:13; Romans 15:22; Acts 16:6 sq.). The Apostle, then, does not everywhere, and as a matter of course, speak of Satan, but he knows how with testing insight to distinguish. There is nothing about him of mere cant. In what the restraint consisted, we know not; only it cannot have been an accumulation of business, or anything of that sort, but must have been something of evil—whether on the side of the Thessalonians or on that of Paul. In the first case we should have to think with De Wette &c. of the enemies of the gospel at Thessalonica, whose hatred had been a source of danger to the Apostle on his arrival in Thessalonica; in the other case, either, with Chrysostom and others, of trials in the churches where Paul had since been, which rendered a removal from them impossible for him, or, perhaps better, of some sickness of the Apostle, and in connection with this we might think of Satan’s messenger, 2 Corinthians 12:1—a topic, it is true, on which we know just nothing very clear and certain. (Comp. also 1 Thessalonians 3:1.) It is even very possible that both kinds of reasons concurred; that the first time, for example, and this would best agree with 1 Thessalonians 2:17, Paul desired to turn back again to Thessalonica from Berœa, but was hindered in that by the Thessalonian Jews ( Acts 17:13.—See Calvin, Bengel, and others.)

6. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:19.) For.—Paul gives the reason of his longing after the Thessalonians, and of his repeated purpose to come unto them. Illum desiderii ardorem inde confirmat, quia in ipsis felicitatem suam quodammodo repositam habeat; perinde enim valet hæc sententia ac si dixisset: Nisi me ipsum obliviscar, necesse est ut vos expetam (Calvin).

7. Who⁹¹ [What] is our hope, &c.—Ἤ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμε͂ις belongs to τίς, and it is, of course, merely incidental that ἤ is coincident with the ἤ before χαρά and στέφανος; ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ κυρίου &c. belongs to ἐλπὶς ἤ χαρά &c.⁹² But ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμε͂ις is purposely put between, so that ἔμπροσθεν &c. attaches itself immediately to these words, because the Apostle would have it observed that, so far from his relation to them being a transient one, it is rather to reach on to the coming of Christ, and verify itself before the eyes of the Lord.—Hope and joy, here, of course, objective=the subject of hope and joy. This the Thessalonians are not, in so far as Paul hopes in regard to them that they shall be found blameless (Lünemann), but in so far as they are the fruits of his ministry, after which the Lord at His return will inquire (see Luke 19:15). To this also there is special reference in στέφανος καυχήσεως, an

expression derived from the garland that crowns the competitor at the goal in the successfully contested race ( 1 Corinthians 9:23; 2 Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:8). Καύχμσις, moreover, is not glory in the objective sense, but glorying; not gloria, but gloriatio; and so a crown for glorying=in which I may glory (comp. Ezekiel 16:12; Ezekiel 23:42; Proverbs 16:31; LXX.). Roos: We hope on your account to have some great experience at the coming of Christ; we shall then be able to rejoice over you; we shall be able to parade with you, as one parades with a crown won in a contest of the games.—Ye also, as well as other churches; those, for example, in Philippi or Corinth (see Philippians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 1:14—parallelisms also for the expression).

8. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:20.) Ye are verily⁹³ [For ye are], &c.—Τάρ confirms and strengthens the readily understood affirmation in the oratorical question of 1 Thessalonians 2:19 (comp. Winer, p396). Our glory and joy. The expression glory [Herrlichkeit] is properly retained in translation here also by Ewald and J. Mich. Hahn, and is by the latter emphasized in a theosophic way. Δόξα is weakened, when rendered merely by renown or honor [Lünemann: Ruhm; Luther, De Wette: Ehre.—J. L.] (Comp. 1 Corinthians 11:7, where the woman is called the δόξα of the man, the man the εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα of God; and 2 Corinthians 8:23, where approved brethren are distinguished by the title, δόξα Χριστοῦ.) As δόξα in God Himself is His life-impression, life-form (see at 1 Thessalonians 2:12 Doctrinal Principles, No8), so with such genitives it denotes the representation of the life, resting on the communication of life,—the copy, standing in essential connection with the original, belonging to it, and forming as it were one whole with it, so that the latter is surrounded by it with a halo, as the sun by its beams, as the head by the crown (δόξα parallel with στἐφανος κανχήσεως). Thus it is with the man and the woman taken from him; with Christ and believers; with Paul and the spiritual children begotten by him.—That such objective, actual glory then becomes in the subjective experience a matter of joy, lies in the nature of the case.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:18.) Satan appears in Scripture in a threefold activity; as tempter and seducer, as accuser, as destroyer. In the first relation he is the first and perpetual author of sin amongst men (ὀ πειράζων, 1 Thessalonians 3:5; Matthew 4:3; ὁ λανῶν, Matthew 12:9). As accuser (κατήγωρ, Revelation 12:10), he seeks, when the sin is accomplished, to make the most of it with lying exaggeration before the Divine Judge ( Zechariah 3:1), and also to exhibit it in the worst possible colors before our inner Judges, the conscience, in order to bind the sinner inwardly, rendering him fainthearted and paralyzing his resistance to sin. Here belong the two most common names of the devil, the Hebrew הַשָּׂטָן, properly adversary, especially in court (comp. לְשִׂטְנוֹ, Zechariah 3:1, and ἀντίδικος, 1 Peter 5:8), and the Greek διάβολος, informer, slanderer, defamer, properly one who strikes through with words. As destroyer (comp. Ἀπολλύων, Revelation 9:11) Satan works, in so far as Hebrews, as prince of the fallen world, sets in motion all the powers of physical and moral evil against salvation, the kingdom of God, and in behalf of mischief, which in the last instance is ἀπώλεια, eternal damnation. It is thus that lie appears in our text. In the two first relations he is a liar; in the last, and—in so far as that lies as the ultimate aim at the bottom also of the earlier—in all three, a murderer ( John 8:44). In the case of Judas he succeeded first in his trade as a seducer, then in that of an accuser; hence the end of the former in despair and suicide, whereby he fell a prey to the destroyer.

2. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20.) Paul’s hope is to be adorned with the fruits of his ministry before the Lord at His coming. Holy Scripture everywhere lays stress on this point, that every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor ( 1 Corinthians 3:8). The fundamental relation of every man to God in respect of faith or unbelief decides the question of his happiness or misery ( Ephesians 2:8; Mark 16:16; John 3:18; John 3:36; John 5:24). But within these two great classes there is still possible an extraordinary diversity in the life-acting of faith or unbelief—in practical honesty and dishonesty. Through faith we are become children of God; but now we must yield ourselves to be also trained as such, and renewed ever more and more into the image of the Father and of our First-born Brother (χάρις παιδεύουσα, Titus 2:11-12; comp. Hebrews 12:7-10; Colossians 3:10; Romans 12:2; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18), that we remain not weak, new-born children, but grow to the ripe age of a perfect man ( Hebrews 5:13-14; comp. Ephesians 4:13-14). We are rooted in the right ground and soil, and bear within us the full germ of life; but for that very reason it concerns us now to grow and bring forth fruit ( Colossians 2:7; Colossians 1:10-11; Matthew 13:23; Mark 4:26-28; John 15:2; Philippians 1:9-11). The whole walk of a man contributes to the formation of his disposition and character; all the issues of the life exert a formative reacting influence on our inner man—impress and stamp themselves also in ourselves (character from χαράσσω). In the Divine judgment, therefore, justification and condemnation are made to depend even on our words ( Matthew 12:36-37); but especially is our fate determined according to our works, or (in the singular) our work, life-work, so far as therein is exhibited the total result of the religious and moral life, rearing itself on the foundation of faith or unbelief ( Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 2:23; Revelation 20:12 sq.; Revelation 22:12; Matthew 16:27; John 5:29). As a man walks, so he becomes; and as he becomes, so is he also in death; his works do follow him ( Revelation 14:13), and agreeably thereto his destiny in that other world spontaneously shapes itself; on which account there will be among the blessed and among the lost very different degrees of glory or of torment (comp, for example, Luke 19:17-19; Luke 12:47 sq.; Matthew 11:22-24; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. Of course, this is not the place to go into more precise definitions respecting heaven, hades, hell, the first and second resurrections, &c.). By this view justice is done also to the scriptural idea of reward, without our falling into the Catholic idea of merit. And in this way, especially, sanctification, a spiritual walk, inward growth, and the outward activity of the life, here acquire an importance which in the original Protestantism was not duly recognized and acknowledged—a defect, that has been in many ways prejudicial, and here and there is so still, to our evangelical doctrine and practice. It is true, our Confessions teach emphatically, that faith by an inward necessity brings forth good works; and yet the main point of view, from which they had to handle this doctrine over against Catholicism, was the negative one: that righteousness and salvation depend neither for their attainment nor their preservation on good works. For this reason, and the kindred one, that for the doctrine of faith and justification that of regeneration was neglected, it was impossible for the idea of sanctification, and what is connected therewith also in eschatology, to reach fully its positive, scriptural development and significance. Meanwhile, there is by no means any want of good suggestions, particularly in Melancthon’s excellent discussion de dilectione et impletione legis in the Apology for the Augsburg Confession.

3. ( 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20.) Whatever work we perform in an earthly calling, even in art and science as such, belongs to the domain of the perishable—of means, not of everlasting ends. Only what of good or evil is wrought in the souls of men is of eternal import. And the highest service is to help a soul to the life in God. On this rests the singular dignity, and also the responsibility, of the ministerial office. In an altogether peculiar sense, this is work for the day of Jesus Christ, whether we are now good shepherds or hirelings.

4. Paul hopes on the day of the Lord to be surrounded by those converted through him, as by a glory. This δόξα, this crown of glorying, is the true halo, when, coming into the presence of the heavenly Judges, one is able to say: Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me. At His coming the Lord will present to Himself His entire Church glorious, without spot or wrinkle ( Ephesians 5:27; 2 Corinthians 11:2). But the Church is an organism, not merely in the sense that the body as a whole depends on the head, but also in that it is composed of various members, the weaker depending on the stronger. Thus do spiritual children hang on their spiritual fathers, and are as it were embraced in them, and ruled by them. In this sense Paul hopes to be surrounded by his Gentile churches; in this sense is the promise made to the Twelve of ruling the twelve tribes of Israel ( Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:29-30). This agrees with the fundamental view which Scripture, in this case also the true interpreter of experience, takes of humanity. It regards it, not as an atomic mass of individuals, but as an organism, depending for its natural life on Adam, for its spiritual life on Christ; and that in such a manner, that from these two genealogical heads the membership branches off to every single individual. Hence the importance of progenitors and their primitive doings in the sphere itself of nature and of race (Adam, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Abraham, David, &c.; Adam’s fall, Ham’s misdeed, Abraham’s faith, the gracious treatment of David’s descendants for David’s sake, &c.), just as prominent prophetic and apostolic persons are centres of light and union in the spiritual sphere. The case is similar with the Lord of the world’s history.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1 Thessalonians 2:17. The Apostle’s loving union with his churches even when absent from them. J. Mich. Hahn: In the Apostle, who certainly loves all the children of God, and even all the Lord’s dearly redeemed, with a priestly, cordial love, there is yet a predilection for his spiritual children ( 1 Corinthians 4:15; Galatians 4:19). The reason of that is the closer affinity of spiritual kindred. If it is so in the earthly nature, and cannot be said to be improper, who then shall blame it in the spiritual? Whoever blames it, would mend an arrangement of the Creator, who is also our Redeemer.—Rieger: As matters now stand with us, we are unable to estimate what a benefit it was to come together in person, and strengthen one another concerning the common faith.—Diedrich: Christians may well even long to see one another, whilst they are in the flesh; worldlings are soon fain to get out of one another’s way.—[The same principles of the new creature, that led the primitive Christians to delight in personal intercourse with one another (comp. Acts 4:23; Acts 20:38; Romans 1:11; Romans 15:24; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Timothy 1:4; 2 John 1:12; 3 John 1:14), were still more powerfully operative in their relations to their Lord (comp. John 14:3; John 14:19; Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 John 3:2; &c.—J. L.]

1 Thessalonians 2:18. Calvin: It is certain, that whatever opposes the work of the Lord proceeds from Satan. Would that it were a firmly settled conviction in all pious souls, that Satan is continually making every effort to retard or hinder the edification of the Church! We should certainly be more intent on resisting him; we should have more at heart the preservation of sound doctrine, of which Satan takes such eager pains to rob us.—A part of that Bound doctrine is the doctrine of Satan himself.—[Bishop Wilson: Non-residence. N. B. It is the work of Satan, and his desire, to keep a pastor from his flock.—J. L.]

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20. It is important that a man should not merely be assured of his gracious standing and salvation, which, indeed, is the first thing and most important, but should also be zealous to bear fruit for the day of the Lord, and to be able hereafter to say to the Loud: Lord, my pound hath gained ten pounds ( Luke 19:16). He can also set his aim too low, and cover with false humility his own drowsiness and sloth.—A great and main point for the preacher, that he appear not empty before the Lord in His day.—Calvin: At the last day Christ’s servants will obtain glory and triumph according as they have spread abroad His kingdom. Therefore should they even now rejoice and glory in nothing save the blessed result of their labor, in seeing the glory of Christ advanced through their service. In this way also they will attain to a true love for the Church.—Theodoret: Paul has compared himself to a mother ( 1 Thessalonians 2:1), and mothers are wont to call their young children their hope, joy, &c.δίς]; but [and, καί] Satan hindered us 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]⁹⁴—Chrysostom: Who would not exult in such a numerous and well-bred troop of children?—To whose lot fall these joys of spiritual paternity? Do we even know any thing of them?—The Apostle’s joys and cares of spiritual fatherhood are a pattern for us also in regard to our children after the flesh, how we should be faithful in our families, and should carefully engage that not one of the members be lost.—To keep the coming of the Lord at all times before our eyes, that is to be likeminded with the Apostles.—Rieger: In the gospel the Lord’s coming shines in upon us so near, that it affords us already at every step much light for our feet.—[ Matthew Henry: The Apostle here puts the Thessalonians in mind, that though he could not come to them as yet, and though he should never be able to come to them, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come; nothing shall hinder that.—Benson (Macknight, Barnes, &c.): Paul expected to know his own converts again in the great day; and particularly to rejoice in them. We may, therefore, hope to know our friends in the future state.—J. L.]

Footnotes