« ^sc Jf M, ^Mi\ _,,rf*»*9to,4^-?'' PRINCETON, N. J. %. S/teH/.. Division JD O^.W^ 1 Seciion ... t^. >P . .1 _j). But it is the moral and religious life of the Thessalonian city tliat is of chief interest to the reader of these letters. Many questions spring up in the mind that require for their discussion a larger space than would here be appropriate, ^\^as Thessalonica. like Athens, a "religious" city, and "full of idols"? What type of Paganism did the apostle find here? what standards of social morality? what basis in the life and character of this population for Christian instruction? or what providential preparation for the reception of the gospel? Some of these points will be briefly touched upon in the following pages both of the Introduction and of the Commentary. The inquiry concern- ing the ijreparation for the gospel, as has already been shown, finds partial answer in the presence of the Jewish colony and its synagogue. Speaking generally, however, Thessa- lonica was a city of Greeks — Greeks of the north, a race hardier, less effeminate, and less sensualized than the bulk of the population in Ephesus or in Corinth. Their religion was that pagan idolatry which adored the gods of Olympus, the sacred and majestic mountain which, on clear days, was in full view as one looked across the bay. This legendary faith of their ancestors still kept its hold upon the imagination, and to an extent upon the heart. That they "had long lost all practical belief in the Pagan religion," as Farrar assumes, we cannot admit to be true of the mass of the people. Tiie Olympian system of the poets was no longer an object of faith, if, indeed, it ever had been ; but local superstitions, and the worship of native demi-gods and deities, did not so easily vanish before philosophy and doubt. To the poor and the uncultivated, Paganism was still a worship, and wlien they became Christians, it was to "turn from idols," and to offend demoniac powers, who, they perhaps thought with dread, could hurt if they could not help. That they worshiped the deities of their race with a certain sincere faith and fear, there is every reason to believe. Yet the idolatry of the age was itself frightfully im- moral ; a wealthy commercial city like Thessalonica revealed much that was worst in the national religion. Its household art ; its legends ; its public festivals and processions ; its encouragement of nameless vice and sensuality— are familiar to readers of classical litera- ture, and have been treated at length by many writers. What might have been seen in Corinth of the Fourth Century B. c, has been told by Becker in his Charides ; Corinth was no better four centuries later,— only worse, — and Thessalonica would not fail to im- port its fashions and its follies. Prof Fisher' has clearly and candidly set forth the leading features of the popular religion at this time in Greek and Roman communities, touching also upon the morality of ancient heathenism. Others, as Tholuck and Fried- lander, have exhibited more fully, and in still darker colors, the debasement.and degra- dation entailed by the Paganism of the classical world. One of the saddest phases at the period when Christianity came was the moral hopelessness which shut in those who felt most deeply the evils of their life. This feature impressed the Apostle Paul, who again and again characterizes the Gentiles as men who have no hope. This is, indeed, the most striking ethical phenomenon of the age : the sense, in some of its noblest spirit.s, of the burden of life, the utter emptiness of existence, and the impenetrable darkness of the future. * " Beginnings of Christianity," chapters 3, 4, and 6, 8 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. From the opening paragraph in the twentieth of Acts, it appears that Paul revisited Thessalonica during his second missionary' journey, both going and returning, A. D. 53, 54. It is supposed, also, from allusions in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, that there were subsequent visits (see 1 Tim. 1:3; Titus 3 : 12 ; 2 Tim. 4:13) while journeying in that region after his return from the imprisonment in Rome, A. D. 61-63. II. THE CHURCH. The Thessalonian Church was founded A. D. 52, only a few months before the writing of the First Epistle. Paul, Silas, and Timothy, had come directly from Philippi, leaving Luke behind, it appears, to have oversight of the recently established church. Though still suffering from his injuries, Paul proceeds at once to his task. The story of his ministry in Thessalonica occupies but one short paragraph in Acts. Luke was not here an eyewitness ; his narrative is no longer in the first person, as in the preceding chapter, and lacks somewhat the graphic circumstantiality with which he recounts their Philippian experiences. He relates (we render freely) : "They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. Paul, according to his custom, went in, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Old Testa- ment Scriptures, explaining the prophecies and showing that it was necessary, for their fulfillment, that the Messiah should suffer and arise from the dead; and 'this Jesus,' said he, 'whom I am proclaiming unto you, is the Messiah.' And some of the Jews were persuaded, and attached themselves to Paul and Silas ; likewise a great number of devout Greeks, and of women of high rank, not a few. " But the Jews, moved with jealousy, and taking with them some of the city rabble, gathered a crowd and set the city in an uproar. And they assaulted the house of Jason, and sought for them, to bring them into the Assembly of the people. But, not finding them, they dragged Jason and certain brethren to the Politarchs, shouting : 'These men who have turned the world upside down are come hither also ; Jason has entertained them ; and all of them are acting contrary to the decrees of Cfesar, declaring that there is another king, Jesus.' And the multitude and the Politarchs were alarmed when they heard these things ; and they took security from Jason and the rest, and then dismissed them. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea." From this account of its origin, and from the two short letters written a few months later, not very much can be gained concerning the history and distinctive features of the little community which the apostle addresses as The congregation of the Thessalonians that is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. A few features appear, however, that interest us at once in this young church, Paul's pride and joy. It had for the most part a Gentile membership. A few of the first converts were Jews; a larger number (including the above-mentioned women of rank) Gentiles, pre.sum- ably Greeks by race. The latter, although not, strictly speaking, proselytes, had been worshipers with the Jews in their synagogue. All these converts Avere the fruit of three Sabl)aths" or weeks' proachitig. Afterward a much larger number of converts were won directly from the Pagan community ; for we find Paul, in the First Epistle, addressing his readers as those who had under his preaching turned from the worship of idols to that of the true God. It is commonly taken for granted that the three or four weeks spoken of in Acts em- brace the whole period of the apostle's sojourn at this time in Thessalonica. Riggenbach controverts the supposition tliat Paul remained longer; more recently, Godet also assumes INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. that he " left the city and its beloved church after a stay of about four weeks." ^ But both of Paul's letters imply a longer period of personal labor and instruction. He verifies certain facts of his ministry by appealing to the personal knowledge of his readers in a way which fully justifies the inference that he had been with them for a longer time than the mere week or two following the conversion of the most of those whom he addressed. For example, he reminds them of his freedom from mercenary motives and the man- pleasing spirit, of his daily labor for self-support, and how he instructed them one by one in the ways of Christian duty. The latter reminiscence (compare 1 Tiiess. 2 : 11, 12) of itself implies a period of continued personal labor. And the whole appeal to their personal testimony on the points referred to would lose much of its force if Paul had left the city after the third Sabbath, when the majority of his Gentile converts could have known him but a very few days. Still more decisive is the allusion to these Gentile con- verts as having, at the time of his arrival among them, "turned from idols." This cannot be meant of the "devout Greeks" mentioned in Acts 17 : 4, for, as the term "devout" {(Teponeyiov) ImpHes, they were already worshipers of the God of the Jews. They must have been subsequent accessions from the Pagan population. We are driven, therefore, to the conclusion that the apostle remained at least several weeks after his three Sabbaths of synagogue work before he was driven from the city by the Jews. That Luke does not mention it in the passage in Acts, a second-hand and closel}' condensed account, is not surprising, and forms no serious objection to the supposition. It was composed of the poor. It is to men who "work with their hands" that the letters are written — tfadosmen and mechanics, who would become dependent upon others if they neglected daily labor. (Compare 1 Thess. 4 : 11, 12 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 12.) This, how- ever, would not distinguish it from others among the early churches. "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God," expresses the constitutive principle that has ever prevailed in the history of the Church of Christ. But it was no ordinary jMjverty that tested the patience and fidelity of the Thessalonians. It is, doubtless, of them, as well as of the Philippian and other Macedonian churches, that Paul writes to the Corinthians "that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep povertj/ abounded unto the riches of their liberality." (2 Cor. 8 : 2, Rev. Yer.) The whole of the fine tribute to the zeal and liberality of the Macedonian Christians, contained in the chapter cited, belongs in no slight part, one is impelled to think, to the Thessalonians, of whom Paul could emphatically say, they "gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God." The prominence of women in its membership is a feature mentioned by Luke wliich marks the Thessalonian Church in common with others of Macedonia. Here, as at PhiUppi and Berea, women of rank and influence early identified themselves with the new movement. Bishop Lightfoot is undoubtedly correct in assuming that the apo.stle's work was thus strongly reinforced. The conditions of life in Northern Greece were in this respect verj' favorable as comjiared with the cities of Asia Minor, where Paul had labored hitherto. "The extant Macedonian inscriptions," says Lightfoot, ■* "seem to assign to the sex a higher social influence than is common among the civilized nations of antiquity. In not a few instances a metronymic takes the place of the usual patronymic, and in other cases a prominence is given to women which can hardly be accidental. But, whether I am right or not in the conjecture that the work of the gospel was in this respect aided by » " Expositor," Feb., 1885. » " On Philippians," page 56. 10 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. the social condition of Macedonia, the active zeal of the women in this country is a remarkable fact, without a parallel in the apostle's history elsewhere, and only to be com- pared with tbeir prominence at an earlier date in the personal ministry of our Lord." Like the sister church at Philippi, it had sprung up amid persecution. Expressions in both letters to the Thessalonians show that the persecuting activity of their enemies continued after the apostle's departure. It could hardly be otherwise. The number of Jews was probably larger than in any other Macedonian city, and their malignity was unrelenting. Thus the church was from the very first a suffering church, to whom "it had been granted" not only to believe on Christ, "but also to suffer in his behalf" The praise of its fidelity and its heroism speedily went abroad among all the churches of the empire. The Saviour's message to the church at Smyrna is strikingly applicable to the case of the Thessalonians, and reads, indeed, like a summary of the apostle's letter at this time : " I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blas- phemy of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer." (Rev. 2 : 8, 9, Rev. Yer.) We come now to an inquiry equally important for our insight into the inner life of the church, and for the proper understanding of the letters addressed to it ; namely, as to the basis of its faith. The letters assume an instructed faith, a more or less fully developed body of Christian teaching ; in other words, a theology. Now what was the elementary theology that the church had received — the doctrinal basis of its faith and life? The epistles themselves have been made to deliver one-sided testimony on this point ; they have been interpreted as didactic and theological documents, rather than as personal, casual letters, — quite perversely, as will appear evident when we come to consider their occasion and object. The inquiry must take into account other sources than the letters alone, and is a necessary requisite to a proper understanding of their contents. It is apparent, from the account in Acts, that, on entering Thessalonica, Paul took as his main theme the supremacy of the slain and risen Jesus — of him who had been proven l)y his death and resurrection to be the Christ-king of prophecy. The two letters also dwell upon a second theme — the Parousia — Christ's return to pronounce judgment upon his foes and to establish his kingdom. On these considerations is founded the theory that the religion of the Thessalonian Church at this period was a "Messianic Christianity." It is supposed not only that their faith was rudimentary as regards their conscious appro- priation of the gospel (Paul refers, in the third chapter of the First Epistle, to what "was lacking" in this respect), but that the gospel message itself as delivered to them was of a peculiarly Messianic type ; that they had but one article of fiiith, — Jesus is the Messiah, — with emphatic stress laid upon his promised return. To serve God and to await his return from heaven — these were "the two poles of their Christian life." ^ This view bases itself mainly upon the observed contrast between the doctrinal topics of these two, and of the subsequent epistles of Paul, especially Romans and Galatians, but including First and Second Corinthians. In what he writes to the Thessalonians, the apostle does not once mention the law, nor allude to the hopeless bondage of the soul under its dominion. The reign of grace and the glories of the new free life in Christ are not dwelt upon. In fact, according to Sabatier, Paul had taught them nothing more than what he terms "primitive Paulinism." "The apostle of the Gentiles began, like the others, by preaching the impending judgment of God, and portraying, as did John * See Immer, " Theologie des Neuen Testaments," 1877, page 217. INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. 11 the Baptist, the wrath to come."' Professor Jowett has supported this view at some length.^ He finds allusions in the Epistles to the Corinthians to a change in the apostle's teaching. In the earlier stage of his miuistrj% his conceptions of the kingdom of God clothed themselves in the traditional imagery of Judaism. It is to this stage of his experience that he refers when he writes : " Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, j'et now we know him so no more." (2 Cor. 5 : IG, Rev. Ver.) Thus the church in Thessalonica had received from him a Judreo-Ciiristiau gospel ; and this is the phase of Christianity which is reflected in the First Epistle. Jowett even seems to suppose that, when Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (4 : 15), refers back to "the beginnitig of the gospel," he has in mind this rude and undeveloped type of Christian doctrine ; that, within the four or five years after the writing of First Thessalonians, and before either First or Second Corinthians was written, he had broken away from these trammels, and attained to larger and more spiritual conceptions. There are others who would scarcely assent to the principles of interpretation followed by the above critics, but who, notwithstanding, admit' this theory of a marked and notable progress in doctrine on the part of the Apostle Paul during the interval in question. Principal Edwards, in the Introduction to his Commentary on First Corinthians, writes : ''Daring the four or five j'ears that have elapsed, few stirring events have occurred. The apostle has spent a large portion of the time at Ephesus, with Apollos for his companion. AVhether the influence of Alexandria, or closer acquaintance with Greek ideas, or his own insight, gave him the clue, the result is the growth of a peculiar theology, which mainly rests on the conception of a mystical union between Christ and the believer. Never for a moment wavering in his belief in the supernatural facts of Christianity, which have brought to pass so great a revolution as the conversion of the persecutor into an apostle, and always acknowledging their authority over his spirit, he has at length discovered a principle that will explain their inner meaning, transform his hopes of the speedy return of Christ in his kingdom from earthly to spiritual, and render love to Christ — not a short- lived afl"ection or a mere feeling of thankfulness, but an undying, holy well-spring of zeal and absolute consecration to the service of the living and glorified Jesus, into communion with whom he has entered, and from whose abiding presence he derives all grace. In short, the difference between the two Epistles to the Thessalonians and the less simple and j)athetic, but more profound, Epistles to the Corinthians, lies in the new conception that sustains the keenly philosophical reasonings of the apostle in the latter concerning Christ, whom he knows no more after the flesh, but after the spirit."' To allow this position is to put the interpretation of the two epistles before us on a false footing. For we have to do not merely with the explicit doctrinal teachings of two or three paragraphs, but with the terms and phraseolog.v employed by the ajiostle throughout them both. If the church and its teacher were still in the swaddling clothes of a "Messianic Christianity," the letters take on a different tone — the force of the words is other than it has usually been considered, and even the ethical j)recepts belong to a different plane of Christian thought. The question is not merely the historical one as to the status of one or more of the apostolic churches at a gi^en epoch ; it is indispensably requisite to the elucidation of these two first documents from the hand of Paul that they be viewed 1 Sabatier, "L'Apbtre Paul," 1881, page 93. 2 "Epistles of St. Paul," 18.59. sPrincipal Edwards, "Commentary on First Corinthians," Introd., page xix.; »ee also Farrar, ''Messages of the Books," pages 185, 186. 12 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. against the proper background — that background of faith and doctrine which may reason- ably be presupposed in the persons addressed. It is difficult to see how the above-mentioned view can be held without impugning the historical authority of the Acts of the Apostles, and reconstructing the entire narrative of Paul's missionary life. The apostle was not now in the beginning, but in the middle of his missionary careei". In A. D. 52, when .he entered Thessalonica, he had been preaching the gospel for fifteen or sixteen j^ears. He had founded churches in Cilicia and in Central Asia Minor. In his first preaching at Antioch, in Pisidia, he emphasized the distinctive truths of the Pauline gospel : " Ee it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins : and by him every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13 : 38, 39, Rev. Ver.) But, turning from Acts to the later epistles, there we find equally convincing testi- mony. The Gralatian churches had been founded before Paul came to Philippi and Thes- salonica. In writing to the Galatians, he gives no hint that he is presenting to them a phase of the gospel in any wise difierent from that which he had first taught them, or even an advance upon previous teaching. He defends the gospel that he. Jiad preached among them. (1 : 11.) He relates his controversy at Antioch with Peter, which is prob- ably to be placed before the second missionary journey, and thus before the foundation of the Galatian churches. He had made known to them the crKciJitd Jesus and the "message o^ faith'' (3:1, 2) ; he reminds them that they had " begun in the Spirit," not "in the flesh." In other words, the doctrine of the Epistle to the Galatians is not an outgrowth of, or an advance upon, his preaching in the year 51 or 52, but a re-affirma- tion and vindication of it. Again, in writing to the Romans five or six years subsequent to the foundation of the Thessalonian Church, Paul expresses his gratitude to God that the Roman Church had accepted his exposition of the gospel: "But thanks be to God . . . that ye became obedient [the context implies at the time of their conversion] to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered." (Rom. 6:17.) The "form" referred to denotes "the distinct expression which the gospel had received through Paul "; see Meyer, De Wette, Philippi, Godet. It is the "form" of that gospel whose free individualism and high spirituality he is engaged in expounding in chapters six to eight of the Epistle. Now these Romans are not addressed as recent converts ; if the faith of this large and widely known Christian community was known to be of this type, it certainly was not in conse- quence of some recent change. It is only reasonable to infer that this had been the. Christianity taught at Rome for at least several years. Not to pursue this inquiry farther, we assume that the Thessalonian Church had already been taught the essential principles of what Paul called his gospel — taught, that is to say, as fully as his brief sojourn, and the limited capacities of his converts, permitted. He had to them, as to the Corinthians, preached Christ crucified, as their righteousness, their sanctification, and their final redemption. Compare 1 Cor. 1 : 30. That which is expounded in Romans as the central truth of the Christian system, is in First and Second Thessalonians implied as its central truth — namely, the vital union of the believer with Christ, a union already established and to be perfected in eternity. Of the history of the church subsequent to these epistles, the New Testament furnishes little or no trace. The probability that he visited it on various occasions, both before and alter the Roman imprisonment, has already been referred to. Several of its INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. 13 members became active participants in the apostolic missionary work. Jason is not after- ward mentioned, unless he be supposed to be identical with the apostle's kinsman who sends salutations from Corinth to the Roman Church. (Rom. J 6 : 21.) Gaius and Secundus were assistants of Paul in his third missionary journej'. Aristarchus also, who accompanied Paul on the same journey, has honorable mention. He and Gaius fell into the hands of the mob that gathered in the great theatre at Ephesus. In Colossians 4:10, he is named by the apostle as his " fellow prisoner," having become, it would seem, a voluntary sharer of Paul's exile and captivity. III. OCCASION AND OBJECT. The letter itself explains the immediate occasion. After his departure from Thessa- lonica, the welfare of the newly formed church had been constantly on the apostle's heart. He made two attempts to return — each in vain; "Satan hindered" him. (2 : 18.) From Athens he sends Timothy back to comfort them, establish them more firmly in the faith, and bring report of their state. He himself soon goes from Athens to Corinth, and there awaits the return of Timothy from Thessalonica, and of Silas from Berea, or some other of the Macedonian churches. The interval was one of those periods of "distress and affliction" (3:7) which seem often to have characterized the experience of the apostle, particularly during these more active and laborious years of his missionary career ; similar, perhaps, to a subsequent experience in Macedonia, of which he speaks in 2 Cor. 7:5: " For even when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side ; without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, he that comforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus." While he is in this state of depression, Timothy arrives, bringing relief and joy. He is tlie bearer of good news from the Thessalonians — of their faith and love, of their affection for Paul, and of their steadfastness in persecution. This was comfort indeed ; "unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness." The " even now " of 3 : 6 shows that this was the occasion on which the letter was written, immediately after Timothy's arrival He obeys the impulse, seizes the hour of his own revived hope and courage, and, sending back cheer and uplifting to the hearts whence it had come to himself, writes this inspir- ing exhortation. The writer's object is equally manifest. He writes for the same reason that he had sent Timothy before, for the same reason that he would now have come himself— he is with them "in heart," and can "no longer forbear" (2 : 17, seq.); he desires "to comfort them concerning their faith," "to estabhsh " them, "to perfect that which was lacking in their feith." (3:2, 10.) The effect, when read in the church at Thessalonica, can easily be imagined. Paid's generous praise and recognition of their fidelity ; the winning unreserve with which he takes them into his confidence ; his ardent affection to them personally ; and his inspiring tone of courage and hope — all this, as well as the closing words of instruction and kindly admonition, would enkindle the like ardor and zeal, and arouse the enthusiasm of the little community to the highest. The natural tendency of expositors to lay stress on the didactic element has thrown the personal and historical substance of the Epistle into the background, and the reader is liable to pass rapidly over the early chapters as if they were merely introductory to the writer's main theme. The Epistle is classified as "e.scha- tological," and the fourth and fifth chapters are regarded as the body of it. "The main object of the apostle in writing this Epistle," says Bishop Ellicott, "can easily be gathered 14 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. from some of the leading expressions; it was designed alike to console and to admonish," etc.; see the whole paragraph in the Introduction at the beginning of his excellent gram- matical commentary on the Greek text. Dr. SchaiF summarizes the Epistle thus : "The theoretical theme : The Parousia of Christ. The practical theme : Cliristian Hope in the Midst of Persecution " ' But neither the didactic nor the admonitory motive furnishes the key to the letter. The instruction given concerning the Parousia is principally a reminder, in order to remove misapprehension concerning instruction previously given. The ethical precepts are, for the most part, repetitions of his previous oral exhortations. Both these hortatory portions, moreover, belong to the closing section of the letter, introduced by "Finally"; this conjunction, as EUicott properly says, "marks the transi- tion to the close " of the Epistle ; it indicates that he had now written what it was his principal object to say. An ethical motive, indeed, pervades the entire letter ; but it is partly unconscious, and finds expression in but few direct precepts. It aims higher. A letter will be Paul's other self, and do, in part, what he wished to do in person : promote mutual knowledge and confidence between himself and the church, develop the self- consciousJiess of the church as a body, and animate it with his own holy ambition. IV. GENERAL CHARACTER AND CONTENTS. 1. We ate to remember^ Jirst of all, that it is a letter — a genuine letter in motive and mhstance, as well as in form. "All the writings of Paul which have come down to us," says Reuss, "are not only in the epistolary form, but are actual letters addressed to par- ticular and definite readers." Some of them, however, are of a more general character than others. The Epistles to the Romans and Colossians were addressed to churches that he had never visited. The Epistle to the Ephesians is supposed to have been intended, not for that church exclusively, but for a circle of churches in that region. Both the Epistles to the Thessalonians have the best characteristics of the epistolary style. The true letter is personal, spontaneous, vivid. It is born of the moment ; it is the flash of intelligence and feeling from soul to soul, aa in an instant of electric contact. Letters are the most personal of all writings ; their form and texture allow the fullest revelation of individual traits. They often of themselves constitute a biography, as in the case of Cicero or of Carlyle. This significance depends not only on the facts or truths of which they are the vehicle, but on the weight and worth of the writer's individuality. Such are Paul's letters to the Thessalonian Church. So much is it the custom to read them by chapters, or to resolve them into "lessons," or to study them in single " texts," RO seldom is one of them read at a single sitting as one piece of writing, that this prime characteristic needs the utmost emphasis. This First Epistle is anything but "an open letter"— a public tract in epistolary form, as, for instance, the once famous Junius Letters, or Pascal's Provincial Letters, nominally addressed to definite persons, but really intended for a wider and quite different public. It is not a doctrinal treatise, though often so treated, and labeled, accordingly, " Eschatological," a title which lends its aid toward rendering both of these two Epistles the least read of the Pauline writings. " In the study of the Scripture," says Bengel, "the reader ought to put himself, as it were, in the time and place where the words were spoken or the thing was done, and to consider the feelings of the writer and the force of the words." Once back to the time and place, and he has gained for himself the interpreter's true standing point and centre > «' History of the Christian Church," I., page 757. INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. 10 of vision, and has more than lialf accomplished the interpreter's task. The field of vision, however, in the case of a real letter, hke an ellipse, has two centres, two times and places — that of its writer and that of tiie persons addressed. So he who will for himself "feel the force of the words," must take his place, first, with Paul in Corinth, and then in the assembled Thessaloniau Church when the letter is read. 2. It IS a page of Fauls experience while in Corinth. We have already seen how erroneous it is to regard it as marking a stage in his theological development, or as furnishing a transcript of his theology at a given epoch. It is a transcript of himself It is a spontaneous letter, struck off at an hour when, to use his own expression on another occasion to the Corinthians, " his heart was enlarged," and his soul flowed forth like a river in conscious joy and strength. No one of his epistles abounds in warmer expressions of affection. The first three chapters glow with a father's love ; nay, the apostle boldly likens his own love to these children of his soul to a mother's yearning tenderness as she presses her babe to her bosom. It is an hour, also, of fresh assurance and courage. The contempt shown him at Athens, the disheartening prospect in Corinth, were for a moment forgotten. His paralyzing depression has vanished, and his soul is alive again (3:8); he is on heights of glory and joy. (2 : 20.) The contrast is touching, between his downcast mood just before and the rebound after Timothy's arrival. Even at the distance of eighteen centuries one can scarcely view without tears the overflowing, grateful joy of the heroic apostle, as he receives the messages from his converts in Thessa- lonica. A man of many enemies, " alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake " — " Bruised of his brethren, wounded from within " — so much the stronger was the tie that bound him to the souls he had won for Christ. We see, from such a letter, not only how he himself could love, but how he prized and hun- gered for the love that others gave. 3. It contains Paul's oion account of his ministry in Thessalonica. This is found in the first and second chapters — the most interesting, perhaps the most instructive, portion of the Epistle. The reminiscences are the more valuable, considered as autobiography, because they seem not to be written in the way of personal vindication. They are rather to remind the church of its glorious beginning, and to inspire it anew with his own aims and spirit. His history is in part theirs. It rehearses suffering, conflict, toil b}' day and by night, but a ministry wrought in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in strong conviction — a ministry that had not been found "vain." 4. It is a picture from life of a newly formed Gentile church in the apostolic age. In the earnest endeavor of modern thought to realize to itself the true character of primi- tive Christianity, a document like this is of inestimable value — second, in this respect, only to the Corinthian Epistles. Its testimony is the more valuable from its being a casual production, so slightly dogmatic, and, in its retrospect, so recent. We get glimpses into the interior of a society of Christian believers which has just separated itself from Pagan fellowship, as well as from the synagogue of Jews, and to which the new life is gradually giving form and character. The heaven-born principle of faith working by love has already begun to produce the fruit of righteousness, not only transforming individual life, but organizing its diverse and antagonistic elements till they are already one body in Christ. In truth, it is a spectacle of thrilling interest— this church in the fresh beauty of its first love. It is "m the Lord Jesus Christ." It has evidently, like the Galatian Church, "begun in the Spirit." Each member has received the Holy Spirit (compare 16 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. 1 : 6 ; 4:8); still more, some have received his charismatic gifts, for the church has its prophets. (Compare 5 : 20.) Its ideals of duty are not yet the highest, as regards either the individual or the church. It has its special temptations, as has already been ob- served. Especially is it suffering the fiery trial of persecution, and tempted to think some strange thing has happened to it. But thus far its escutcheon is unstained by apostasy ; it is steadfast in the Lord — a church of faith, of love, above all, of hope. This last — "queen of the virtues," as Chrysostom calls it — is the jewel that shines brightest in its diadem. It confronts its foes clad in the breastplate of faith and love, and helmeted with hope — the hope ready to be revealed in the last time, the hope of the Saviour's appearing. 5. Its doctrinal section (4 : 13-5 : 11) treats of Christ^ s second coming. It forms but a small part of the Epistle (about a sixth), and is chiefly designed to recall instructions previously given. Even here the explicitly doctrinal element is but slight. Some of the church were in distress lest their friends — believers who had recently died — should not arise from the dead in time to share the glories of the Lord's coming. On this point Paul gives assurance and comfort, declaring in unmistakable terms that the Christian dead should arise hefore the saints who might then be alive should gather to meet the Lord. The other points are scarcely more than re-affirmations of our Lord's own teaching to his disciples before his crucifixion and his ascension. The "Day of the Lord," as in Old Testament phraseology he terms the time of Christ's return, cannot be definitely pre- dicted. It will come suddenly ; it will come unexpectedly ; it will come with terror to the enemies of God. Although himself evidently under the personal impression that the Parousia was not far off, and would probably come within the lifetime of some then living, he nevertheless refrains from affirming this, or in any way suggesting it as a matter of faith. He shows that the chief significance of the doctrine is its practical significance. It teaches spiritual vigilance and sobriety. The decree of God hath appointed them to salvation ; it is theirs to watch and wait until his salvation be revealed. 6. The fourth and fifth chapters are principally ethical. There are a number of specific precepts — terse, pointed, and evidently adjusted with accuracy to the immediate needs of the church. Especially characteristic are the injunctions regarding chastity, industry, order, and subordination in church relations, constant joy and unceasing prayer, recognition of the Holy Spirit's presence and work — the latter particularly in respect to the deliverances of those who had the gift of prophecy. Here occurs the memorable exhortation "to be quiet, to do your own business, and to work with your hand"; and parallel with it, in the Second Epistle, "If any will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." " Few persons, perhaps, have remarked how significant this style of exhortation is of a new world and a new order of ideas. For, in spite of ultra- democratic appearances, there was in Greek society an ultra-aristocratic spirit in its mo.st evil form — the ultra- aristocracy of culture as well as of social position. As regards the former, tradesmen and mechanics were held to be incapable of true philosophy or spiritual religion or refined thought. As regards the latter, one of the worst influences of slavery was the discredit which it threw upon free labor, and all the smaller forms of commerce. Aristotle treats with cold cynicism everything of the sort. Tli* tradesman or mechanic is but a higher kind of slave, — differing from him in kind, not in degree,^ — bearing the same relation to INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSALONIANS. 17 the public which the slave bears to the individual. To do any Work which marks or curves the body ; to live upon daily pay ; to be connected with the detail of fabrications, or with sales in the public markets — this was to degrade a freeman, and io plebeian ize. his spirit as well as his body. Such were the ideas of Aristotle, who knew Macedonia so well, and had lived iu it so long — such the ideas which were in the very air of Tliessalonica wheu St. Paul wrote his epistles. It is full of significance that the first apostolic epistle speaks out so boldly and earnestly upon the dignity and becomingness of industry, the nobility of working with our own hands, though they may be blackened by the work — the duty of preferring our own coarse bread, wou by the sweat of our brow, to the precarious food of the beggar, or the ignominious luxury of the parasite. This was one great social and moral result of the message, which, if its origin was in God's eternal counsels, came from a carpenter's shop, and was published by a company of fishermen, among whom a tent- maker of Tarsus had obtained admission." But the Epistle, as a whole, is ethical. It is the ethical motive that gives tone to the earlier as well as to the later chapters. One desire evidently controls the writer : the desire for the spiritual welfare of his readers, that he may "establish their faith" — in other words, that he may strengthen and develop their Christian character. But he relies less upon precepts and instruction than upon the impact of his own personality. He takes them into his spiritual embrace. He points them to his own example. He will transfuse their souls with his own vitality and enthusiasm. It is evident how perfectly he apprehends the nature of his task as a moral teacher. High attainments in character are possible only through energetic effort ; there must be an arousal of spiritual ambition and enthusiasm. But the effort must be directed to the highest moral ends; clearly conceived ideals are prerequisite to the highest excellence. Thus the apostle sedulously seeks to correct and to perfect their conceptions of the life that is in Christ. It is a fundamental misconception of the scope of the Epistle to regard it as pointing only or chiefly to a Messianic deliverance. It points upward to higher ideals of character, and not merely for- ward to a final redemption. There is a deliverance from sin to be striven for now, as well as a deliverance from wrath to be attained hereafter. God calls them to be holy here. Much stress, it will be observed, is laid upon sanetification and holiness. God's will and purpose is their sanetification— the work of the Holy Spirit, but not less truly their work. Thus the general drift of the Epistle allies it very closely to that written to the Philippians about ten years later. There are many points of contact between the two. Indeed, the latter is a constant commentary upon the earlier letter, containing, as it does, a richer development of the same ethical ideas. Its keynote, as has often been said, is ho2^e. It is thus a message from Christ to the suffering Christian and to the suffering church in all ages. As to his people under the Old Covenant, so here, under the New, he speaks "to her heart" (compare Hosea 2 : 13) words of unspeakable comfort and cheer in the midst of conflict or distress or temptation — to the heart of a man in the tones of a man. And the supreme comfort to his people will ever lie in "the promise of his coming." What has well been said of the Apocalypse applies to each of these epistles. "It calls the Church to fix her ej'es more intently upon her true hope. For what is that hope? Is it not the hope of the revelation of her Lord in the glory that belongs to him ? No hope springs so eternal in the Christian breast. It was that of the early Church, as she be- lieved that he whom she had loved while he was on earth would return to perfect the happiness of his redeemed. It ought not to be less our hope now. ' Watching for it, waiting for it, being patient unto it, groaning without it, looking for it, hasting unto it' — B 18 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EPISTLE TO THESSAL0NIAN8. these are the phrases which the Scripture uses concerning the day of God. And surely it may well use them, for what, in comparison with the prospect of such a day, is every other anticipation of the future? " * 7. Anali/sis. It readily divides into two portions : chapters 1-3, Personal and Retro- spective ; chapters 4, 5, Hortatory and Didactic. Topically, it may be divided as follows : 1:1, Address aud Salutation. 1 : 2-10, Grateful recollection of their steadfist hope. 2 : 1-16, Review of his ministry in Thessalonica. 2 : 17-3 : 13, Assurance of affection, desire to visit them, Timothy's mission, prayer in tlieir behalf 4:1-12, Exhortations to chastity and love. 4: 13-5 :11, The Parousia. 5 : 12-28, Closing exhortations, and Benediction. 1 Milligan, " Revelation of St. John," page 191. THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIAJ^S. CHAPTER I. PAUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, uQto the church of the Thvs»alouianit which is in (jod the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace fee unto you, and peace, from Grod our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Tiraotliy, unto the church of the Thessaloiiians in God the Father and the Iiord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. Ch. i : 1. Address and Salutation. 1. Paul. It was Greek and Roman usage for the writer of a letter to put his name at the be- ginning, insteadof, as is our custom, atthech)se. Next came the name of the person addres.sed, then the .saiuUxtion. Thirteen of the epistles of the New Testament begin with ' Paul.' The title prefixed in our printed editions formed, of course, no part of the original document; the opening sentence of each letter formed its only title. Silvanus and Timotheus. The 'Silvanus' of this letter is the Si las of Acts 15 : 22, and other subsequent pa?.«ages in that book. He was one of the three whose arrival at Thessalonica with the gospel message Luke has recorded in Acts 17. His part in New Testament history is known to us chiefly in connection with the council at Jerusalem, and the second mission- ary journey of Paul. A Hellenistic Jew, it would seem, from his name, and as appears from Acts 16 : 37, a Romsin citizen. He was a prophet, and one of the leaders in the Jerusa- lem church. Timothy was Paul's own "son," in the faith, converted at Lystra, his native place, about seven j-ears previous to the writing of this letter. From the time of his ordination until the close of the period embraced in the book of Acts, he appears to have been the almost constant companion of the apostle. Various interesting glimpses of his person appear in the two letters addressed to him by Paul. Thej' are associated by Paul in his salutation, but not as joint authors of the letter. The apostle writes independently, as will be seen from 2: 18, and the openingof chapter 3. Compare also2The8S. 2- 5 and 3: 17. Unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the liOrd Jesns Christ. The word rendered 'church' {iKK\r,iTia) did not of itself, at this period, denote a Christian body. It was simply equivalent to "assembly" or " congregation." Tliis " congregation of Thessalonians" (no article in the original before the name Thes?a- lonians) is therefore described as being 'in God' — 'in Christ' The latter qualif3'ing phrase would particularly distinguish them from the synagogue, or any other association of Jews, that was to be found in Thessalonica. But the Pagans also had their assemblies and associations, religious, political, and .social. One or another of these various societies, guilds, or fraternities might 'also be desig- nated in the same Greek word; the phrase- ology of this address individualizes the Thes- salonian Church as distinct from all these. Both the Christian Church, and its members individually, are declared by the Scriptures to be in Christ. ' Compare 2 : 14 ; 4 : 16. The phrase is especially frequent in Paul's later epistles. They are in spiritual organic union with Christ, as set forth by Christ himself in his parable of the vine and the branches, in the fifteenth chapter of John. Grace be unto you, and peace. We have here the apostolic epistolary salutation in the earliest and simplest form found in the New Testament. The Epistle of James, though written earlier than this, simply em- ploys the usual Greek greeting. I'aul's epistles all open with the salutation above, or an expanded form of the same. It seems indeed to have been the inspired coinage of the apostle himself, suggested, it may well have been, by the Aaronic benediction that he had been wont from childhood to hear from priestly lips, in temple and synagogue. We are scarcely warranted, however, in considering it a modification of the former, as Otto and others have argued. The Roman, in writing, wished his reader health (sahts); the Greek uttered as his best wish— ;;Vi.v (xaipetv — to rejoiee) ; the Hebrew, peace ^Q'hlil), meaning prosperity, well-being. The Pauline salutation is con- ceived from a point of view distinctively Christian. Beautiful in form, it is peculiarly 19 20 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. I. 2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making nifiition of you in our prayers; 3 Kemembering without ceasing your work of faith, 2 We give thankx to God alwnys for you all, making 3 mention of you in our prayers; reiueniberiug with- out ceasing your work of faith and labour of love full and rich in meaning: "May God's grace flow in upon you, and may his peace be in you!" 'Grace' is God's redeeming love — the divine favor as manifested toward sinful man in and through Christ. 'Peace' is the beatific effect of that grace in the soul of the believer — the inward harmony, the peaceful well-being, produced by the Spirit of grace. As compared with the greeting that was cur- rent in his da3' — the greeting ordinarily pre- fi.\ed to letters, Paul's salutation is expanded in form ; is of larger, richer import ; and is substantially a prayer, not a mere wish. The remainder of the verse, as found in the Com- mon Version, From God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, formed, it is prob- able, no part of the original text, though form- ing a part of the salutation in Rom. 1 : 7, and elsewhere. But the salutation itself turns the thought of its readers at once to him who is alike "the God of all grace'" (iPeter5:io) and " the God of peace." (Roni.i5:33.) As in the beginning, so also at the close of the Epistle, the writer invokes grace upon the church. See note there. 2-10. Grnteful Recollection of the Stead- fast Hope in Christ which has characterized this Church.— We thank God for your faith, your love, and especially for your hope, assured as we are of your divine election to eternal life. Your joy amid affliction, and your faith toward God have already made your life eloquent for Christ throughout both the provinces of Greece and in other lands. You are known as men who are await- ing our Lord Jesus Christ's return from heaven. 2. We give thanks to God always for you all. ' We,' obviously the persons named in the salutation, Paul, andSilvanus, and Timo- theus. Piml is the writerof the letter, but here and several times afterward speaks in the name of his two companions. Many exposi- tors, Chrysostom, Conybeare, and others, im- dorstand the plural to refer only to Paul him- self. But it is not his style to use the plural in designating himself; the use of the literary 'we' was rarer among ancient writers than modern. Tlie only instances (at least, that seem clearly to be such) in which Paul uses this plural are in 2: 18, and 3 : 1 of the pres- ent Epistle, and each of these is sufficiently explained from the context. Here it would be quite arbitrary to disconnect this verb from the authors of the immediately preced- ing joint salutation. For you ail. Paul's thanksgiving, in the case of this church, em- braces its whole membership. There is no in- dication in the letter that there were any known to him who would have to be excepted. The few months that had elapsed since the apostle's departure had witnessed no feuds in the church, no lapses from the faith on the part of its members. A church in the bright beauty of its first love ! See Introduction, pages 15, 16. Making mention of you in our prayers. This clause is not a mere repetition, nor is it a needless addition. Their gratitude found articulate expression in their prayers. The words suggest a practical les- son. We ought not only to feel, but to give utterance to our gratitude toward God, and to our aifectionate remembrance of our brethren. " Prayer without words" will have little sub- stance or vitality. The only method of prayer recognized by some modern novelists is " silent aspiration," apparently little else than a vague emotional fervor. This will not meet the ne- cessities of a Christian's experience, and does not answer to the Scriptural conception of prayer. Paul assures the Thessalonian Church that it is constantlj' and individually inen- tioned in his prayers. 3. Remembering without ceasing — or, for vie call to tnind vnthoiit ceasing. Thus he explains how natural and spontaneous is his praj'er. It springs of necessity, as it were, from his aflfectionate remembrance. The word 'remembering' is often taken as equivalent to " making mention," asifit were but another designation of the prayer itself. See Alford, Liinemann. But it means simply "remem- bering," or " calling to mind." See Grimm, Thayer's "Greek and English Lexicon, of the New Testament," Ellicott, and others. Your work of faith, etc. In each of these three ])hrases the second term is the leading one; it is their 'faith,' 'love,' 'hope' that are promi- nc^nt in the apostle's thought. They designate tho principles in which the work, labor, Ch. I.] L THESSALONIANS. 21 and labour of love, and patience of Impe in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father: 4 Kuowiug, lirethreu beloved, your election of God. 5 For our gospel came not uuio you in word only, and 'patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 before -our God and Father; knowing, brethren be- 5 loved of God, your election, ^how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, 1 Or, sted/aatneaa 2 Or, God and our Father 3 Or, became our goipel, etc. patience originate. 'Your work of faith' is the working, the activitj' of your ftiith — that moral conduct in whicli your faitii finds ex- pression. It is the work that faith does. Not then as Mason : " Ahnost equivalent to a very emphatic adjective — that is, faithful activ- ity." Compare 1 Tim. 6:12. "The good fight of faitli.'' See also Cremer, " Biblico- Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek," third edition, page 258. Labour of love — "the labor which love undergoes, a love that avoids no sacrifices and shuns no toils for the good of others. Such as their own Jason had shown amid persecutions, in Acts 17." (Juwett.) Patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Better, "the stedfast- ness of your hope" (as recommended by the American Revisers), or "constancy." This noble word {vno/jLovri) is frequent with Paul. It is fortitude in suffering, endurance in toil or trial; " the queen of the virtues," Chrysosto'm calls it. "Patience is the last and highest," says Auberlen ; " riglitly to suffer is more and harder tlian rightly to work." The persecu- tions to which theThessalonians had been and were still exposed gave large room for the exercise of steadfastness. Faith, love, hape; this shining grace is here made last and prominent. Compare 1 Cor. 13 : 13. It is the keynote of these two epistles to the Thessalonians. In this verse it is speci- fied as tlie hope "of our Lord Jesus Christ" — that is, as afterward explained in verse 10, the hope of Christ's return. Nowhere in Paul's letters is hope made so prominent a character- istic of the Christian life as in this. Naturallj', for it was only a few months before that these Greeks had been " without hope." Having no hope is a distinguishing term applied by Paul to the heathen. See Eph. 2 : 12 ; 1 Thess. 4 : 13. God as manifest in Christ became to them pre-eminently a " God of hope." (Rom. 15 : 13.) On the other hand, we are told that to the Jews the gospel came bringing in " a better hope." (Heb.7:i9.) In the sight of God and our Father. Most expositors connect these words with the beginning of the verse, "re- membering without ceasing." Those who un- derstand "remembering" to mean "making mention" (see note above), would naturally adopt this interpretation ; others, also, as Ellicott, prefer it. But from the position of the words it seems more natural to connect them with the immediately preceding phrases : 'Your work of faith,' etc. These manife.>5ta- tions of the Christian life of the Thessalonians are thus viewed in their immediate relation to God; God is made a witness of tiieir conduct. Compare 3 : 13 ; Rom. 4 : 17 ; 14 : 22. The pas- sage is'thus understood by Chrysostom, Theo- doret, Theophylact; among the moderns by Auberlen, Jowett, and others. If this be the correct explanation, the comma just preceding the words should be omitted. 4. Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. The apostle continues to amplify the main thought; his gratitude and unceasing remembrance spring from his as- sured confidence in their election, from his confidence that they have been chosen to eternal life by the electing grace of God. This is the chief ground and theme of his gratitude. So also in 2 Thess. 2: 13. The word rendered "election" (ckAoy^) occurs onlj- seven times in the New Testament (Acts 9: 15: Rom. 9: 11; 11 :5, 7, 28; 2Peieri:io); the adjectivc and verb are more frequent. It properly denotes a choosing or selecting of some from among others not thus selected. The noun here is transitive, the 'your' (Greek, of yon) containing the object. The Scriptural significance and implications of the word are given more full3' in Rom. 9 : 11-15; compare also Eph. 1:4 with 2 Peter 1 : 10. The present passage plainly assumes a doctrine of election, but says nothing of the extent or objects of electing grace in general, nor how it is conditioned. Paul himself is called by our Lord "a chosen vessel" — liter- ally, "a vessel of election." 5. For our gospel came not unto you in word only. 'For,' the rendering of the Common Version, is retained as ever^'^ way preferable. See the Revisers' margin, where it is "because." Paul states the reasons on wliich his conviction of their divine election chiefly rests; first, "because he and his com- 22 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. I. but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. and in the Holy Spirit, and in much i assurance ; even as ye know what manner of men we shewed 1 Or, /ulnest. pan ions were enabled to preach the gospel among them with such power, and secondly (as in verse 6), because they received it with such joy.'.' (EUicott.) Bengel, Hofnumn, Vaughan, and others, with Luther's transla- tion, and the text of the Kevision, as above, inal For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad ; so that we need not to speak any thing. 7 Spirit ; so that ye became an ensample to all that 8 believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to (jod-ward is gone forth ; so that we need "Joyful and strong" is the ideal temper for the Christian. 7. So that ye were {became) ensamples. According to the preferable reading the word is singular, and thus properly signifies the example set by the Church as one body, the natural and beautiful order of things in the development of the organic Christian life. Those who had imitated the apostles became at once examples for the imi- tation of others. Macedonia and Achaia were at this period the names of the two Ro- man provinces into which the major portion of ancient Greece was divided. " In the divi- sion of the provinces, made by Augustus, the whole of Gj-eece was divided into the pro- vinces of Achaia, Macedonia, and Epirus, the latter of which formed part of Illyris." [Equivalent to the " Illyricum" of Rom. 15 : 19.] (Smith's "Dictionary of Greek and Ro- man Geograpliy." Article, " Achaia.") Ath- ens and Corinth were both in Achaia. The province of Achaia included the Peloponnesus together witli a considerable portion of the adjacent territory and the neighboring islands — most, indeed, of ancient Hellas proper. The principal towns and districts of the rest of Greece were included under the name Mace- donia. So far as known to us from Acts, the only churches at this time in Macedonia were those founded by the apo'stle at Pliilippi and Berea; the only ones in Achaia were those at Athens and Corinth. But when the next Epistle was written (see 2 Thess. 1 : 4) it is not unlikely that churches had been established in the towns adjacent to Corinth ; the church at Cenchrea is mentioned in the letter to the Romans. (i6:i.) Observe that this example was to all that believe. Christians need to set a good example to one another, as well as to unbeliever!?. It has been well said that "it requires higher grace and is a more important duty to be an example to believers than to the world." " Believers" is the name principally given to Christians in these two Epistles, and, indeed, in Paul's writings genondly 8. For from you hath sounded out, etc. 'From you' — that is, from among you. The Greek word here (efijxe'fu) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Its cognate noun is our word echo. It strikingly describes the re- port that spread far and wide from Thessa- lonica— a ringing blast as of a trumpet. And observe, the story of what had taken place among the Thessalonians, not onlj- prepared the way for the gospel : it was tlie gospel ; hath sounded out the word of the Lord. On this phrase, 'the word of the Lord,' see note on 2 Thess. 3:1. The thought of the sentence is perfectly clear, notwithstanding a slight irregularity in its logical form, occasion- ing a difference of punctuation in editions. Two separate thoughts, as frequently in Paul's writings, are imperfectly blended into one. His thought is: " For the word of the Lord hath sounded forth from you into Macedonia and Achaia; and not only in these provinces, but abroad into every other region j'our faith toward God is gone forth." Liinemann has an elaborate discussion of the logical connection. In every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad. In every place where there are Christians or Christian churches, as the context implies; thus, in fact, in every quarter of the Roman world. It is not implied that the apostle had been out of Greece to know whereof he affirms. "Ewald and others call attention to the fact that precisely in Corinth where Paul wrote our Epistle, witli trade con- verging there from all quarters of the Roman world, was it possible for him to give such as- surance. . . . The words also indicate an intercourse of the liveliest kind among the Christians." (Auberlen.) Your faith to God- ward — faith "toward." The preposition (n-pds) indicates the direction of their faith, and ac- cords with the description in the following verse of their turning away /rom idols toward God. In New Testament phraseology we also find faith ^lpon (ini) God spoken of in Hcb. 6: 1 ; Rom. 4 : 5, 24 ; more frequently faith r?i God or Christ (Greek, e^ or (U). So that we need not to speak anything. How satisfactory the condition of that church of which the pastor need not say anything, either to defend or to praise it! Its own life is trumpet-tongued. Ch. I.] I. THESSALOXIANS. 25 9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we bad unto yoa, aud how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true Uod ; 10 Aud to wait for his !^on from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, ecen Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. 9 not to speak anything. For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you ; and how ye turned unto God from idols, 10 to serve a living and true God, aud to wait for his .Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, eien Jesus, who delivcreth us from the wrath to come. 9. For they themselves shew of {report concer)dng) us. 'They themselves' — thatis, in Macedonia and Achaia and elsewhere, without its being neces.*ary for us to speak of it ; ' con- cerning us' — that is, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. So Ellicott and Alford ; the view of LUnemann and Auberlen is far less probable, that it includes the Thessalonians also, so as to embrace ilie topic of tlie whole remaining sen- tence. What manner of entering in — that is, how we lived and preached among you, as described in verse 5 above, and to be described more fully in the following ciiapter; with what energy and spiritual might we preached to 3'ou. And how ye turned, etc. Report- ing not merely the fact, but 'how'; they de- scribe what has been going on among you. Repentance and conversion are often described in Scripture as a turning to God, or, to the Lord. See Acts 15 : 19 and 11:21; compare also Acts 26:17, 18. "Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light," etc. Their turn- ing was 'from idols,' image-deities — deities only in form or representation. At Lj-stra, Paul exhorted his hearers "to turn from these vain things" — that is, false deities, such as Ju- piter and Mercury, unto the living God. See Acts 14:15. To the Galatians he writes: "Not knowing God ye were in bondage to them which by nature are no gods." See Gal. 4:8. Paul is evidentlj' addressing Gen- tile converts. The .subsequent tenor of the Epistle confirms the view that the Thossalonian Church was mostly composed of converts from Paganism, and to the same effect is the account in Acts of the origin of the church. Compare Introduction, page 8. To serve the (a) living and true God. Their idol deities | were as deities simjily non-existent, without life, without reality. The God to whom they had now turned was living, was real. "And this is life eternal that they should know thee, the only true God," etc. (Johni7:3.) The word rendered "true" (aAjjeifd?) mQwn?. real, genu- ine, as opposed to that which is pretended, which has no real objective existence. 'Liv- ing' and 'true' are especially frequent in the Old Testament, as applied to God ; the Old Dispensation was chiefly a revelation of the one true God, as over against all the false deities of Paganism. ' True,' in the sense of truthful, is also applied to God in John 3 : 33, and elsewhere. Paul specifies two characteristics of the new religious life which the Thessalonians have entered upon, and by which they are distin- guished from their fellows: First, they have become servants of the one true God made known to them in the gospel ; second, they are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. 10. And to Avait for his Son from heaven — the prediction of Christ's return was an in- tegral part of the gospel message as delivered by the apostles. " I will come again and will receive you unto myself " (John u: 3); he "shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation." (Heb. 9:28.) This was the constant posture of the little band of believer.s— waiting for Christ, looking for the day of the Lord. " They each i"rom each took courajre, and with prayer Made ready for the coming of a king." His personal, visible coming was a daily hope and expectation. " Till he come "—how often must this priinitive echo of our Lord's own words have been upon their lips ! " I wait for the Lord, and in his word do I hope." (r». 130:5.) Intothese words of the Psalmist Christ's promise had put a new meaning, and fortified the hearts of his people with a fresh and living hope. Paul had evidently laid special stress upon this prophetic element in the gospel during his teaching in Thessalonica — the more, perhaps, because of persecution and other environing spiritual perils to the church. It is plain that they on their part interpreted too literally the promise of a speed3' Advent; in the light of subsequent history we bnve the means of understanding the prediction some- what better, and have less reason to subject ourselves to the bondage of literalism in the 26 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. II. interpretation of Biblical prophecy. Even the apostles evidently looked for the final con- summation of the kingdom in their own time, though they did not announce or teach it. But however mistakenly these early 'believers in Thessalonica (as so many since) may have fi.ved the date of fulfillment, none the less was the promise a sure and valid hope, transfusing their souls through the agency of the Spirit with motives and energies that Pagan life never knew. Jesus which delivered us — rather, who delivereth us; the participle has its general, substantive force, and thus is not merely past in its reference, nor present " is delivering," but future also. The following words show that the deliverance here promi- nent in the mind of the writer was the future and final deliverance in "the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." See the same participle in Kom. 11 : 26, cited from Isa. 59 : 20. Vaughan remarks: "The three phrases are equally Scriptural (1) Christ saved, (2) Christ saves, (3) Christ will save." In illustration of the first he cites K.mi. 8 : 21; Eph. 2:5; 2 Tim. 1:9; of the second, 1 Cor. 1 : 18 ; 15 : 2 ; of the third. Matt. 24: 13; Mark 13 : 13; Phil. 2 : 12 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 10; Heb. 9 : 28; 1 Peter 1 : 5. The word ' delivereth ' (pvoixevov) as distinguished from other terms applied to Christ's work, save, ran- som, or redeem, and others, describes it more graphically as an act of rescue, by an exertion of power. It is the same word in the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6: is), "Deliver us from evil," or "the evil one." From the wrath to come — 'to come,' like 'delivereth,' is a participle in the Greek, but the English rendering gives its proper force. The Speaker's Commentary errs when it says, that there is "no tinge of the future" in the Greek participle here — that it "answers to the permanent government of God by punishments." On the contrary, the future is its natural and most frequent use. There is a wrath future, as well as a wrath present, against sin, and the context here re- quires the former reference. In the first chap- ter of the next epistle Paul refers to this out- break of wrath as the antithesis to the believer's reward. Over against the believer's hope the Scriptures set the unbeliever's foreboding — "a certain fearful exjiectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries." (Heb. lO; 27, Rev. Ver.) Ch. 2 : 1-16. Keview of his Ministry IN Thessalonica.— Still speaking in the name of his two companions as well as himself: You know the suffering and outrage we ex- perienced at Philippi; yet we entered upon our work among you with boldness, though met by violent opposition. Our teaching was the truth of God, proclaimed with all honesty and purity of motive, and with a sense of per- sonal responsibility to God only. In our rela- tions with you we were frank and outspoken ; we sought neither money nor recognition of our personal authority; it was a labor of love — a mother's love; for we were ready to give our own souls to you. Hence we labored for our own support so as not to burden you; and, not only by preaching but by example, we sought to lead you into the way of a holy Christian life. As a result, thanks to be God, you received our message as an authentic word of God — which indeed it is ; it became a power in you, transforming you into heroic witnesses for the truth, amid persecutions no less severe than have fallen to the lot of your fellow churches in Judea. The section expands the thought of ver. 5 and 6 in the preceding chapter. In ver. 1-12, which correspond to ver. 5, he shows how signally the advent of the gospel among them had been marked by manifestations of personal power and confidence on the part of the messengers, and the presence in them of the Holy Spirit; in ver. 13-16, which correspond to ver. 6, he re- peats with strong feeling their grateful joy in view of the reception their word met with, and its effect upon those who believe. The apostle's design is not so much vindication (of himself or others), as commemoration. It is a reminis- cence adapted to confirm faith, to kindle hope, to quicken and deepen the consciousness of the church. For as a church they have a history, brief (covering perhaps not more than six months) but glorious, and one in which there is manifest the hand of God. The retrospect fills his own soul with joy, and with fresh assurance that an enterprise that had had such a beginning is marked for success. Witli the same joy and assurance he will inspire his converts. Notable in this First Epistle is the frank setting forth of his aims and methods, which also charactei'izes the subsequent letters to churches that looked to him as their founder. This earnest, affectionate self-disclosure effectu- Ch. II.] I. THESSALONIANS. 27 CHAPTER II. FOR yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain : 2 But even after tliat we liiid suifered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Pliilippi, we were liold in our tiod to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. 1 For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in 2 unto you, tliat it tiatli not been found vain: but having suffered before, and been shanielully en- treated as ye know, at I'liilippi, we waxed l)old iti our Uod to speak unto you the gospel of (jud iu much ally anniliilates whatever distance there might be felt to exist between himself and his readers, binds their hearts to himself in closer fellow- shij), and animates them with his own spirit. H.)wson's admirable lectures on the Character of St. Paul find ample illustration in these verses ; especially the two lectures on the apostle's "Tenderness and Sympathy," and his "Conscientiousness and Integrity." 1. For yourlselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you. " For" introduces an explanatory confirmation of the fact alluded to in ver. 9, and before in ver. 5. "Well may they tell the storj' of our meinorable appear- ance in Thessalonica, bringing the message of the gospel, and in this letter to you we may ourselves be allowed to dwell upon it; for you yourselves know it all, and the history is yours too. The frequent appeal to their personal knowledge — '^you know" and "you yourselves knoiv" (1:5; 2: 11) — is natural in a letter written so soon after the events referred to, when all was fresh in the memory of his readers. That it Avas not in vain — or, "void of power"; 'vain,' applying both to their preaching and to its results; it was not feeble, void of earnest- ness and energ}', nor was it fruitless, unat- tended with success. This latter is the usual meaning of the Greek word icei-ot (i cor. is : lo, 58^, and is understood to be included in the use of the word hereby DeWette, Pelt, Vaughan, and others. Many, however, understand it as ref(>r- ring only to the manner of their preaching and work, that it was not feeble, destitute of energy; soEllicott, Alford, Liinemann, Auberlen. Of some weight against this interpretation is the fact that the verb is perfect (vtyo"" having only very rarely an aoristic sense). 2. But even after that Ave had suffered before. The clause is concessive : "Although we had experienced suflfering and outrage." At Philippi Paul and Silas (the Silvanus of this Epistle) had been scourged with many blows from the rods of Roman lictors, and then thrown into the inner dungeon, chained in the stocks. In Paul's case his Roman citi- zenship had added illegality to the outrage. Straight from these scenes of danger, of physi- cal i)am und exhaustion, they seem to have entered upon the work in Tl)es.salonica with- out any delay. A clear proof that Paul was not the physical weakling described by Farrar. A man constitutionally nervous and of feeble body could scarcely have taken the fatiguing land jouriiej' of a hundred miles immediately after an unusually severe Roman scourging, and then proceeded at once to raise the stand- ard of the gospel in a strange cit^-, exposed to new enemies and new persecutions. We Avere (waxed) bold in our Gcd. The verb hero rendered 'were bold' or ^ waxed bold' in every instance of its occurrence in the New Testa- ment, except Acts 18 : 26, is used as descrip- tive of Paul's preaching. The noun from which it is derived denotes " outsixiken free- dom and boldness of speech " ; Demosthenes, akin to Paul in energy, intensity, and moral earnestness, often applies it to his own speeches. 'In our God,' from our living union and fel- lowship with him; our courage and strength lay not in ourselves, but in God ; so to the Philippians: " I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me." The gospel of God — that is, of God as the author and sender of the message. See Rom. 1 : 1, 2; "the gospel of God which he promised afore by his propliets," etc. The gospel is thus designated, ver. 8, 9 below, also Mark 1 : 14 (Revised Text), 1 Peter 4 : 17, and in several other passage.?. See Cremer, p. 82. The gospel of Christ, on the other hand (3:2) refers to the subject or theme of the message— that is, the good news of the salvation by Christ. With much contention, or, conflict. Here, as in Phili])j)i, they were be- set bj- difficulties and dangers and by fresh foes. His bitterest enemies were the Jews. They met the progress of the gospel with malignant, re- lentless opposition at ever3' step. Of inward conflict, as in his ministry at Corinth, nothing seems to be said here; compare 2 Cor. 7:5; "without were fighting.s, vnthin were fears.' ^ 3. The following verses (3-12) are explained by Auberlen as designed to counteract mis- representations of enemies. But of such a 28 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. II. 3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of un- cleanuess, uor in guile: 4 Bui as we were allowed of God to be put in trust 3 conflict. For our exhortation is not of error, nor of 4 imcleanness, noi in guile: but even as we have been approved of God to be intrusted with the gospel. motive there is no trace. It was the presence of opposers within the church tliat called forth such self-vindications as we subsequently find in Galatians and Corinthians. In Thessa- lonica, fortunately for the young church, its enemies were outside of it. Paul's object, and so it is understood by Calvin and the majority of commentators, in these earnest, aftectionate reminiscences addressed to these new, ignorant converts, is rather to interpret to them his own work, and the gospel method generally. For our exhortation, etc. "For" in its very common introductory use, wlien one be- gins a fuller statement or explanation of some thing that has been said. Many writers omit any such connecting link, but Paul (in this respect a true Greek in his style) usually in- serts it. 'Exhortation' — that is, our preaching of the gospel. The original word, both verb and noun (wapaKaAfo) and TrapaxATjo-i?) is one of rich and varied meaning. The noun, mean- ing a "summons" or "entreaty," is in Paul's vocabulary rather an "animating appeal" or "charge," as of a leader to his followers, a snldierto his comrades. The word itself throws a flood of light on the characteristic features of the apostolic preaching, and especiallj^ upon the preaching of the great apostle to the Gen- tiles, to which the word is oftene>t applied in the New Testament. It was eminently di;;- conrse with power — power to penetrate the heart with its warning, consolation, and en- couragement, to arouse out of indifference, and to overcome the resistance of the will. The word is used for one of the specific "spiritual gifts" mentioned in 1 Cor. 14 : 3. Barnabas was a "son of exhortation," as his name sig- nified; see Acts 4 : 3G, Kevised Version. "We should be wrong in supposing, nor is it sug- gested by this word, that Paul's preaching was deficient in the element of instruction. "Warn- ing every man and teaching every man," he says in Col. 1 : 28; "by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience." (2Cor. 4:2.) It was f\ir enough from being mere hortatory, persuasive appeal, such as depended mainly for its effect upon aroused feeling. Instruction was from first to last a prominent feature of his ministry. But in the word by which he here and often d(?scribes his preaching of the gospel we have pictured to us somewhat of the directness, personal force, and spiritually "living" quality (Heb. 4: 12) by which in the power of the Holy Paraclete himself he guined men for Christ. Was not of deceit {error) nor of uncleanness, etc. Our preach- ing does not originate in a delusion of which we are the victmis — it is " the gospel of God " — nor yet in impure motives, nor do we use 'deceit' in ensuring its success. We have not surrendered ourselves to delusion, nor are we seeking for selfish ends to ensnare others in delusion. It is a question whether 'unclean- ness' here refers to unchaste aims or to im- pure, unworthy motives generally, especially ambition and covetousness. In that age of sen- suality the priestly attaches of many of the Pagan temples not only led corrupt lives, but were well known as the panders to the foulest vice. Such also was the character of many of the wandering magi and sorcerers. " Of these are they that creep into houses and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by divers lusts." (2 Tim. 3:6.) But it is probable that it is used in the general sense of moral impurity, as in Rom. 6 : 19, where it is opposed to " righteousness ' and " sanctification." It then refers particularly to the ambitious and covetous motives which he so earnestly dis- claims in ver. 5, 6, below. So most expositors; see also Cremer, " Biblico-Theological Lexi- con," p. 320. 4. But as we Avere allowed of God. Bet- ter, as in Revised Version, But even ns we firire been approved of God. 'Allowed ' and 'trieth' (in Revised Version, "approve" and "prov- eth") in this verse are the same word in the original. It has, however, twodistinctly recog- nized senses : first "to prove," "test," "exam- ine." So in the latter clause, " proveth our hearts," and 5: 21, "prove all things." Second, "to approve," after a trial or examination, Phil. 1 : 10 : "that ye may approve the things that are excellent." The word 'allowed,' of the Common Version, in its old English n)ean- ing, was synonj'mous with "approved." The apostle in this verse states two great facts which were ever present and controlling to his con- sciousness, and which alone almost give us the key to his ministry ; first, he had a divine Ch. II.] I. THESSALONIANS. 29 with the giispel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, «h.ch trieth our liearts. 5 For ueiiher at any time used we fialtering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness ; UoU tVs wii- uess: li Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor so we speak; not as pleasing men, but (iod who 5 proveth our hearts, tor neither at any time were we found using words of flaliery, as ye know, nor 6 a cloak of covetousness, (jod is witness; nor seeking glory of men, neither from you, nor from others. commission ; second, lie was constantly sub- ject to divine scrutiny. On the first point, it is as if the words of the Lord Jesus were ever ringing in his ears: "/te is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name," etc. " We are ambassadors for Christ," he says. (2 Cor. 5:20.) As such it is a high and holy trust with which lie has been charged. We bear the king's message, a royal word of grace to men. Hence, " Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." In virtue of this trust, I am debtor to all men, but it is "for Jesus' sake" ; it is not my business to be pleasing men. For — and this is the second great fact — it is God, which trieth {proveth) our hearts. I am subject to his scrutiny ; his eye is upon my work ; it is to him that the final account is to be rendered. " Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God ; .... he that judgeth me is the Lord." See 1 Cor. 4 : 1— t; compare Gal. 1 : 10; 1 Tim. 1 : 11, seq. Paul exem- plifies the spirit of King Richard the Second's exhortation to his followers, in one of the noblest senses in which it can be applied : " Ourselves are high. High be our thoughts." The facts on which he next proceeds to dwell (ill the verses immediately following) admir- ably confirm and illustrate this verse. 5. For neither at any time used Ave flattering words. 'For,' use'd as in ver. 3. We had no ends that we sought to compass by flattery, no covetousness to cloak. 'Used' of the Common Version represents the Greek phrase rather better than the " were we found using" of the Revision; the verb is not passive in signification. On the former point he had appealed to his readers — as ye know; on this latter point the apostle solemnly calls God to witness. Nor (did we use) a cloak ot covet<»usness — that is, n cloak for covetous- ness. 'Cloak' (Greek, vpo^aai';, "pretext") is something put forward to conceal what is behind it. But for the context it might be uncertrtin whether a show of covetousness was thought of as hiding something worse, or covetousness itself was the thing to be con- cealed. Evidently the latter ; "covetousness" stands in an objective relation to the preceding word. AVe used no cloak for covet(jusness ; and that for the reason that we had no such aim to conceal. We did not u.se our preaching to enrich ourselves. In that age, as jierhaps in our own age and country, there could be no stronger proof of pure, noble aims. Greed of gain was a besetting sin of the Greeks, an evil trait that had come into offensive prominence after tliey lost their freedom and came under the Roman dominion. Many of the Greek teachers who came to Rome became known as ambitious, greedy adventurers. The peripa- tetic Jewisii magi, such as the Simon whom Philip met in Samaria, and Elymas whom Paul found with Sergius Paulus, were even more rapacious than the Greeks. In the later years of Paul's ministry some of the bitterest opposition he experienced came from those who were preaching the gospel with mercenary and selfish motives. Such are referred to in Phil. 1 : 16; 1 : 17, in Revised Version ; " but the other proclaim Christ of faction (or more accurately 'self-seeking,' Greek ipieda) not sincerely, thinking to add affliction to my bonds." That the apostle calls God himself to witness on tills point is an indication of the stress he lays upon it — of the importance he attaches to his being clean from even a suspi- cion of gain-seeking in his ministry. 6. Nor of men sought we glory. See John 5 : 44, where Christ reminds the Jews that they "receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not." (Revised Version.) The honor, the approval that men bestow was not what we sought ; even your approval, with all our love for j'ou, was as nothing oompjired with that of God who proveth our hearts, (ver. 4.) To the Corinthians Paul writes in a similar strain : " But with me it is a verj' small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment ; yea, I judge not mine own self; .... he that judgeth mo is the Lord." (i Cnr. 4:3. 4.) Nor yet of others — other men, whether in Thessn- lonica or elsewhere. When we might have 30 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. II. yel of others, when we luight have been burdeusome, as the apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her ehildren : when we might have 'claimed authority, as apostles 7 of Christ. But we were '^gentle iu the uiidst of you, I Or, heen burdensome 'I Most of the auciuut authorities read babes. been burdensome — or, "though we might have been," the clause heiug properly con- cessive, as the context clearly shows. On the latter part of the clause expositors are by no means agreed — namely, whether the phrase in the original means (1) "to be burdensome," or (2) "to claim honor" or "authority." Compare the margin of the Common Version, "used authority," and of the Revised Ver- sion, "claimed honour." The question is one of Greek lexicography and the discussion of it is not here in place. The latter of the above two interpretations seems to me the true one. "Authority" is preferred by EUicott, Au- berlen, Grimm (" CLavia Nuoi Testanie?iti" ) ; "honour" by Calvin, De Wette, Liinemann, Alford. "Claimed honour," given in the margin by the English Revisers, best ex- presses the manifest antithesis of the sentence, and is strikingly accordant with the writer's course of thought; I prefer therefore to ren- der: when we might have cinhned honour ; ob- serve particularly the following words, as the apostles of Christ. It is, moreover, amply justified by Greek usage. The thought then is: As Christ's official messengers we might have claimed deference to our position and dignity; but we did not seek the kind of per- sontil influence that depends on men's recog- nition of place or power. Paul's forbearance to insist on a deference, or acknowledgment of superiority that was really due, illustrates par- tially his own precept in Phil. 4:5: "Let your moderation {forbearance) be known unto all men." In the word 'apostles' Paul includes his two co-laborers in Thessalonica. Silas and Timothy were apostles in the wider sense of the word ; so both Paul and Barnabas are termed apostles in Acts 14 : 4, 14. The term is no proof that Paul in this whole passage, though using the plural, refers to himself only; that he is himself the author of the Epistle ap- pears manifestly as he proceeds, but thus far he speaks for his companions also; see vcr. 4, "our hearts," and ver. 8, "our own souls." 7, 8. After describing, verses 5 and 6, what they were not, the apostle goes on to set forth what the}"^ were, and sought to be, among the Thessalonians. But we were gentle among you.i Gentleness, forbearance to seek or assert 1 J7Trtot in the Received Text, also in that of the Re- visers, with Alford, Tregelles, Tischendorf. Westcott and Hort, with Lachniann, read i-ijTiot, babes; Vulgate, parviUi. Both readings are very old. The external testimony is strongly preponderant for vrfmoi: X (Arst hand) B C (first hand) D (first hand) F G and several cursives; the Latin, Memphitic, Ethiopic versions; also the Fathers for the most part, though Clement and Origen render divided witness. For iJTrioi: X (third hand) A C (second hand) D (third hand) E K L P and most cursives; both Syriac versions, the Thebaic, fol- lowed by the Bashmuric and Armenian. There are thus first-class witnesses for the antiquity of the read- ing ^5^rlOl) "gentle," though it ilmst be admitted that the weight of external authority is against it. On the other band, transcriptional probability is perhaps Rligblly in its favor, since the repetition of a letter is a sufficiently frequent phenomenon when the word thus formed was more familiar to the scribe than the one rejected. The intrinsic evidence, however, comes in with great weight in favor of the latter, and seems practically decisive. " Gentle" is the appropriate anti- thesis to what has just been disclaimed in the preceding verse, the assertion of bis apostolic dignity or authority, while in connection with the following clauses it is im- measurably preferable to "babes"; for tlie following words (to the end of verse 8) are so closely adjoined as evidently to be meant for illustration of the term just used. Dr. Hort argues that this "bold image" [babes] is preferable to " the tame and facile adjective " [gentle], and he furnishes an interpretation of the preceding context to answer to it: " It is not of harshness (hat St. Paul here declares himself innocent, but of flattery and the rhetorical arts by which gain or repute is procured, his adversaries having doubtless put this malicious in- terpretation upon his language among the Thessalo- nians." But this is to sever verse 7 from its immediate predecessor and carry the connection further back. Besides, while it is quite true that Paul does not dis- claim " harshness," he does disclaim the assertion of his apostolic rank in order to compel deference or obedi- ence, which in other churches he sometimes found it necessary to do; compare 1 Cor. 4 : 21 ; 2 Cor. 13 : 10. Again the "bold image" [babes] is not only dissonant in form from that which follows, but expresses an alien thought. To be a babe would have been for the purpose of putting himself on their level in understanding; this gentleness was something else— the compulsion of a mature and powerful love brought to bear upon their wills ; so that we cannot at all agree with A Lapide, that either reading cimes to the same thing. " Further," Dr. Hort continues, "the phrase iv ixiaf xiy.i>v exactly Ch. IL] I. THESSALONIANS. 31 8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unlo you, nut the gospel of God only, but also our owu souls, l>eeau»e ye were dear unto us. 9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail : 8 as when a nurse cherislietli her own children: even so, being atl'eelionaleiy desirous of you, we were well pleased to imparl unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were 9 become very dear to us. For ye remember, bfelUreu, authority, is put in contrast with the self-seek- ing and self-assertion just disclaimed. Compare 2 Tim. 2 : 2-t: "And the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle toward all." These are the only two instances of the use of this word (^irio?) in the New Testament. In the Kiiemish translation of the Latin Vulgate: "But we became children" (instead of gentle) etc. ; and so in many texts and versions. But this reading mars the beauty of the compari- son, and can only be ticcepted on overwhelm- ing evidence. One can liardly agree with A Lapide, that both readings really come to the same thing. See critical note. Even as a nurse cherisheth her children. It is not easy to decide whether this clause is to be joined immediately to the preceding or the following. By the Common and the Revised Versions, and by Lillie, it is punctuated as belonging to the preceding. But most com- mentators understand ver. 8 as the second member of the comparison begun in ver. 7. If so, whatever the punctuation, it is prefer- able to make the longer pause after "in the midst of you," the shorter after "children": as when a nurse cherishes her own children, so, etc. Thus the rest of the sentence furnishes an illustration and expansion of the first clause. Paul's converts were his children; he looks upon them with the unutterable tenderness of a mother gazing into tlie face of the child at her breast. In one other passage (ghi. 4:i9) he uses the same figure to express his affection for the souls God had given him; elsewhere he compares himself to a father. See ver. 11 below; 1 Cor. 4:15; Philemon 10. So being affectionately desirous. The Greek does not require "even so." The clause should be separated by a comma only from the preced- ing, the 'so' corresponding to the foregoing "as." The word rendered 'being affection- ately desirous' occurs onlj"^ here in the New Testament. It means "to love tenderly,'' "to have a fond aflection for." We were will- ing (pleased) to have imparted unto you. The rendering of the Revised Version is better, " We were well pleased," not merely ' we were willing,' but "we were glad," "were cheer- fully ready." Our own souls— better, "our own lives," which is the rendering preferred by Davidson, Lijnemann, Vauglian, and by the lexicons of Crenier and Thayer. It tends only to confusion of thought to attach, with EUicott, a deeper meaning than "life" to the Greek word ('pv^v) in this and similar connec- tion. It does not mean "our lives and souls, our very existences." Compare Matt. 20: 28; John 10 : 11, 15, 17; and other similar pas- sages in which the Revisers have properly (as they have not done in this case) rendered " life.'" Such labor as the apostle's in and for the church was reall3' an iinpurtation of his life. Health and energy and life were given out constantly in his preaching and his suffer- ings from persecution, along with exhausting manual labor day and night. To use his ex- pression in Phil. 2 : 17, he was pouring out his life as a drink-offering upon tlie sacrifice and service of their faith. And wh}-? Because ye were (become) dear to us — because of the love we bore you ; the word ' dear' might be rendered beloved; in the original it is the adjective derived from the word rendered " love." In reading these verses belonging to the earliest of Paul's recorded words, we begin already to feel the sweep and swell of that Christlike love, whose tide rolls on with gather- ing force through to the end of his ministry. His thought is a tide freighted with divine truth, but impelled by an energy more resist- less than logic, the fervent, passionate love of a great heart. 9. For ye remember. Confirmation of the general fact dwelt upon in the preceding suits vriffiot, and would be an unlikely periphrasis for ei« u^io? with ^JTiot." But there is no apparent reason for considering the phra.sc a periphrasis for t'i<: vixat. The force of Dr. Ilort's suggestion lies wholly in the assumption that ^moi is ordinal ily transitive, requiring to be supplemented by an objective word or phrase. On the contrary, it is in most instances used absolutely. If any objective supplement were employed, it would rather be irpbt ti/Lta9, as in 2 Tim. 2 : 24, than «is «/*«. But ijjrtoi quite as suitably as mijitioi may be followed by the prepositional adjunct. There arc few passages in which the entire context so manifestly prefers one reading to another. 32 I. THESSALONIANS. [Cii. 11. for labouring night and day, because we would not be cbargealile unto any of you, we preached uuto you the gospel of (jod. 10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameabiy we behaved ourselves among you that believe : 11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father dolh his children. our hibour and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached 10 unto you tlie gospel of God. Ve are witnesses, and GoU «/io, how bolily and righteously and imblanie- ably we behaved ourselves toward you who believe: 11 as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and verses, natnely, the spirit of love and self- sacrilice in which they had preached the gospel among tlie Thessalouians. This is probably the connection indicated by ' for.' See note on ver. 1. Our labour and travail. While the apos- tolic company were in Tliessalonica they were partly supported by gifts received from the recent converts at Philippi; for the rest they depended on their manual labor — labor and toil — niglit and day; Paul refers again to this fact in almost the same words. (iTheas. 3:r.) From Acts 18 : 3, we learn that his htindicraft was tent making. As some explain, tent cloth mak- ing; or, rather, as is probable, the working up of haircloth into such articles as were manu- factured from it, especially tents. The word rendered 'working' is that commonly ap- plied to manual labor. Five years later Paul speaks of this as still his htibit: "Even unto this present hour .... we labour working with our own hands." (i Cor. ■» : ii, 12.) Because we would not be chargeable unto (or, be a charge upon) any of you. In his letter to the Corinthians, among whom he pursued a similar course, he explains more fully his motive in this matter. It was " that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ." See 1 Cor. 9 : 7-12. To " cut off occasion from them which desire an occasion " {i Cor. it :7-i2) ; that is, to silence misrepresentations of his own aims, as well as to prevent others from turning the apostolic office into a money- getting profession. Compare also 2 Cor. 12 : 13-18. He was determined above all things to be absolutely free from suspicion of mercenary motives. Later on in his ministry he showed the same care, after he began to give much attention to collecting money from the Gentile churches for the relief of their suffering brethren in Judea. We preached unto you the gospel of God. This three times re- peated phrase, 'the gospel of God,' is not redundant. It emphasizes the significant ele- ment of their mission — thtit which most of all marked their advent in Thessalonica as event- ful ; they were the bearers of ti proclamation from God. Compare ver. 2 above, and ver. 13 below. We preached— the word thus rendered means simply heralded, pro- claimed; it has neither here nor elsewhere in the New Testament any formal, ecclesi- astical sense, and denotes merely such procla- mation of the way of salvation, as was in- cumbent on every believer according to his gifts or opportunities. 10. Ye are witnesses, etc. — earnest re- iteration in summary of what he has just been setting forth in detail — namely, that their work in Thessalonica had been wrought in holiness, love, and fidelity. Holily and justly are terms that describe the same c(mduct in two aspects, the former as conformed to God"s character in itself, the hitter as conformed to his law; thej"^ are both positive; unblame- abiy expresses the same idea negatively. Among (or, toward) you that believe. Al- ford, Liinemann, and others render "to you " — that is, in your view, but without sufficient reason. It is sometimes forgotten that the utmost fidelity in word and deed is due to Christians, as well as to unbelievers. Our ex- ample is potent for good or evil in the church as well as out of it. 11. As ye knoAV how we [dealt ivith] every {each) one of you. The language of this verse is not grammatically reguhir; in this outpouring of the heart, the writer bretiks free from the rules of colder speech ; the omitted verb (supplied by "dealt with" in the Revised Version) is naturally suggested by the " behaved ourselves " of ver. 10. The turn of thought now naturallj' suggests a father's love (as in ver. 7, it was a mother's to which the apostle would compare his own), the incit- ing, encouraging, admonishing oversight of a father. Exhorted and comforted and charged. Exhorting you and encouraging [you] and testifying. 'Exhorting' is the cor- responding verb to "exhortation" in ver. 3, on which see note above. Encouraging. "This denotes the soothing, as the former word the animating side of Christian encouragement." (Yaughan.) More than the former word it seems to imply an appeal to the feelings. Ch. II.] I. THESSALONIANS. 12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath I 12 eucoiirascing you, and testilving, to the end that ye called you uuto his kiugdoiu and glory. should walk worthily uf God, who 'calleth you iuio I his owu kingdom aud glory. 1 Some aucieot autboritiea road called. Testifying: "adjuring," "earnestly charg- ing," as if in the presence of God as witness. This is the meaning according to Grimm, Eilicott, Liinemann, and others. The apos- tles urged home their message to the hearts and consciences of those who would hear, with all the force and momentum that an intense earnestness could impart, and that not only to audiences, but to individuals, man by man, each one of you. So Paul to the Ephesians: "By the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears." (Aot»20:3i.) la. That ye would walk, etc. This clause contains the substance of their exhortation, not merely it?, purpose, as the Kevised Version renders it. Butter: "E.vhorting you and en- couraging and earnestly charging j'ou to walk worthily," etc. In Eph. 4:1, "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called," the exhortation is followed (s:'). by its more definite explanation, " Be ye tliere- fore followers (imitators) of God .... and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you." Compare also Col. 1:10; lJohn2:f). "Walk- ing" is a figure " used fifty times in the New ' Testament for the habitual conduct and daily life of man." The specific exhortations in the later part of each of the two epistles— to purity, chastity, industrj% prayer, teachableness, rev- erence. Christian aflTection, against covetous- ness, idleness, etc. — show what topics were embraced in these earnest exhortations. To train these newly-won converts from Pagan- ism in the duties of the new life enli-sted the apostle's utmost zeal and energy. He was not content to gain great numbers of converts, or merelj' to found a church, but wished to plant it on the permanent foundation of an instructed faith, and to see it walking in the ordinances of the Lord blameless. The stand- ard set is infinitely high : they are to live in a manner "worthy of God." "Ye there- fore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5: 48.) Who hath called you into his kingdom and glory. This added clause forcibly brings to mind the great reward of which the believer has the promise — the motive fitted to stimulate him to the most earnest endeavor. " Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Matt, is : 34.) Hath called, rather, calleth, as rightly in the Kevised Version. It is understood by most commentators as a progressive present, is calling; "uninter- ruptedly continued" (Liinemann); "a reiter- ated sound, continued through the individual life." (Vaughan.) But is it not simply the general present? It ascribes the call which the believer has heard to God ; he is the caller — "he who calls," as in Kom. 9:11; Gal. 5:8. So also he is the Giver of the Holy Spirit, as in 4 : 8 of this Epistle, where the present is used as here. The princi- pal "ancient authorities" for "called" (icaAe- o-ai/ro?), to which the margin of the Kevised Version refer.s, are the two uncials, Sina- iticus and Alexandrinus, and six or more, cursives, to which are to be added a number of versions — at least their apparent testimony. Call (called, calling) is a somewhat frequent term in the writings of Paul. He never uses it, however, in the broader sense which it frequently has elsewhere in Scripture, as de- noting that universal invitation of the gospel, which is accepted by some, refused by others. It is al waj's the heard call of which he speaks. "Only those are spoken of as called by God who have listened to his voice addressed to them in the gospel, hence those who have en- listed in the service of Chri.st." (Thayer.) It is correct to define "calling" as the ef- ectual working of divine grace upon the elect, by which they are made regenerate; or in "Weiss' statement as "the divine act of grace through which God cflTectually calls the elect to faith, and thereby to participation in the fellowship of salvation " (" Bib. Theol. of the New Testament," I., p. 206). EffirtiiaUy, however, is not in the word itself, and forms no prominent element in its meaning. As a matter of fact to call is to call effectually. This arises from the point of view of the 34 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. II. 18 For this cause also ihank we God without ceasing, | 13 And for this cause we also thank God without because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is iu truth, the word of God, which etlectually worketh also iu you that believe. ceasing, that, wheu ye received froiu us tlie i word of the message, eien the ivord of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, whicli also worketh in you that be- 1 Gr. the word of hearing. writer, who is addressing Christians, or those whom he assumes to be such. But the idea of efficaciousness is not contained in the term as such: it only follows from the character of the persons who are viewed as having become the subjects of the call. See remarks on this point in Philippi, "Commentary on Romans," 8:28. Due attention to Paul's language in Rom. 8 : 30, will suggest the limitation of the term as emploj'ed in his epistles: "whom he foreor- dained, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified.'' The divine caU in the realization of the plan of redemp- tion is conditioned by election, and is followed by justification. "In Paul's epistles," says Ellicott, "the gracious work of calling is always ascribed to the Father." " 'Tis God's all-animating voice That calls thee from on high." In 5 : 24, at the close of the letter, he refers again to this call, of which he and his com- panions had been bearers, and stamps it with the seal of an apostolic promise : " Faithful is he that calleth j-ou, who will also do it." His kingdom is the kingdom of Christ to be established in its final glory at his appearing. In the gospels, and elsewhere in the New Testament, "Kingdom of God," "Kingdom of Heaven," " Kingdom of Christ," are sy- nonymous terms. 'And glory' — "his own eternal glory of which all true members of the Messianic kingdom shall be partakers." Vaughjin : "Glory is the fffxlgence of light. Applied to a person it is the manifestation of excellence." This disclosure of God in his holiness and excellence is the goal of the Christian's hope. " Let us rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Rom. 5:2.) The reader will 'lose the full significance of the apostle's words here, if with Olshausen he takes 'his king- dom and glory' to be merely equivalent to "his glorious kingdom.'' "Glory" leads our thoughts forward to the filial consummation of the Messianic kingdom, when "every tongue shall ciinfesis that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (J'hii.2:n.) The glory which believers are to inherit is the glory which Christ had with the Father "before the world was." See John 17 : 5; compare ver. 22 in the same chapter. 13-16. Thus far as to the manner in which the gospel was delivered to them ; the apostle now reminds them once more how they re- ceived it. The reminiscence of the latter is equally significant and encouraging. It in- s{)ires him anew with grateful joy. The secret of the gospel's success among them, so far as they were concerned, was that they re- ceived it as the word of God, not as the word of men. 13. For this cause — in view of the loving desire and labor for your salvation (referring lo the theme of the preceding paragraph) — also . . . we. You remember with gratitude our efforts in 3'our behalf (compare "yourselves," "ye remember," "ye are witnesses," ver. 1, 9, 10) ; we on our part are grateful. Thank God without ceasing — an illustration of the precept he gives at the close of the Epistle, "Pray without ceasing." Because (that) when ye received the word of God, etc.; or received from us the word of the message, [even the word] of God — that is, "when ye received from us God's word spoken in your hearing." The position of the latter phrase in the original is such as to indicate a slight em- phasis. See note on "gospel of God," ver. 9 above. Word of message is literally "the word of hearing," or "the word heard": it describes a spoken message. See the same phrase in Heb. 4:2, where the Common Ver- sion has "the preached word," rendered in the Revised Version "the word of hearing." Thus far in the history of the church the gospel was for the most part a spoken gospel. There is no mention in any of the apostolic epistles, of any written account of our Lord's ministry or teachings. During thirty years or more after Christ's ascension the teaching "of all nations" was done by the living jireachcr, not by the circulation of apostolic books among the heathen. Ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of Ch. II.] I. THESSALONIANS. 35 14 P'or ye, brethren, became followers of the churches I 14 lieve. For ye, brethren, became imitators of the of God which ill Jiulea are ill Christ Jesus: for ye also cuurches ol Uod which are iu Jiidu:a iu Christ have suffered like things of your owu countrymeu, even Jesus: for ye also suttered the same things of your as they luivc of the Jews: | God. When ye received or heard the word, you did not close j'our souls against it, but you accepted it. 'Keceived,' properly "ac- cepted," a different word from the previous ' received.' Accepted implies not only a hear- ing of the gospel, but its acceptance into mind and heart. The supplying of 'it' and 'as' in the Common Version is necessary, in order to show what is probably the true sense of the original. Ellicott interprets otherwise, con- sidering 'the word of men' to be the first ob- ject "accepted." The apostle again lays stress upon tlie point already made prominent in this chapter. His message was no human word, but God's word. See 4 : 15, " For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord," with which compare 4 : 2. His message is a com- munication from God to men through Christ and the Holy Spirit ; " Belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Rom. 10 : 17, Rev. Ver.) "Wilich tilings also WC speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth." (icor. 2:13.) This must have been a vital ques- tion with these converts just won from Pagan- ism, or in many instances from Jewish prose- lytism, now cut off from all share in the world about them and environed with hatred and persecution. They might well ask them- selves: Are we relying on the mere word of an enthusiast, or can we trust his promises and predictions as the unerring certain- ties of a supernatural I3' attested revelation from the one living and true God, and the risen king Jesus Christ? Paul assures them that his message, not cnntaina, but is in truth the word of God, and pours forth unceasing gratitude to the Revealer of the word that it was accepted as such by the Thessalonians. Them it profited, being "mixed with faith." Whicli effectually workcth also in you that believe — it has become in j'ou an in- working force or energy; the Greek verb is cognate with our word "energy." The word of God received as such became a word living and active. (Heb.i:i2.) It was transmuted into right living, holy character, and in par- ticular, as he goes on to state, into heroic en- durance for Christ. It wrought thus in the hearts of those who believed ; in such the Holy Spirit made it his instrument "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness," the means of bringing about "the will of God" alluded t<> in 4: 3, namely, their sanctification. To go back to the apostles' starting point at the opening of the chapter, his gospel was not found vain. Preached in power, received in faith as the word of God, it became the power of God unto salvation. The word here ren- dered " worketh," expressive of the action of an inworkirig force quite different from "working," ver. 9 above, is used to denote the overcoming energy of believing jjrayer (James 5: 16); but also ou the othcr hand the destructive energy of sin in the soul. (RoQi. 7: 5.) 14. For ye . . . became followers (^imi- tators), etc. No stronger proof could be ad- duced of the renewing transforming energy of the gospel in them than their endurance of per- secutions such as the Judean Christians had been called upon to endure. The churches in Palestine were the earliest sufferers. "\Ye can scarcely take it for granted with Lunemann that the Thessaloniiins imitated their Judesiu brethren "not in intention or design," hut merely " in actual fact or result." There was doubtless much inter-communication among the newl^'-formed Christian communities; and from Paul himself, if from no other, they would learn the martyr history of the Palestine churches — an example to kindle like courage and nerve them to like fortitude. In Christ Jesus : added to define these churches or assemblies as distinctiveli' Chris- tian. As the terms were then used, " a congre- gation of God in Judea" might be under- stood to mean a synagogue of Jews. For ye also have suffered like things, etc. The membership of this Church being mainly Gen- tile (see Introduction), it was their oirn countrymen, — namely. Pagans of Thcssah'- nica, — not Jewish residents, from whom they most suffered, though, as we learn from Acts 17 :5, the Jews were often the prime instigators of persecution. Similarly also at Iconiuiu {Act« 14: 2), and in Lystra (Acts i*. 19). "The re- 36 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. II. 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not Uod, and are coulrary lu all men : Its Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they uiight be saved, to fill up their sius always: for the ■wrath is to couie upon them to the utteriuost. 15 own countryman, even as they did of the Jews ; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drave out us, aud please not God, and are contrary 16 to all men ; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to till up their sius alway : but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. mark of Tertullian seems to have ever been very true in reference to the early church — '' synngogas Judceorum, fontes persecution- urn' ; The synagogues of the Jews, founts of persecutions." (EUicott.) That by the fellow- countrynieu here spoken of Jews are not in- tended is shown by the evidently intentional contrast between "you" — "your own" and "they" — "the Jews." 15, 16. The mention of the Jewish perse- cution diverts the apostle for a moment from his main thought. With fervid indignation he breaks away to rehearse the awful crimes of the Jews, culminating in the desperate attempt they were now making to shut the door of hope and of salvation to the Gentiles. His words recall — perhaps he himself had them in mind — our Lord's own utterances of denunciation and warning. In one brief phrase he refers to their treatment of himself and his companions, " and drave us out," but in no tone of revengeful anger for that. It ■was not that which kindled his indignation. He never forgot that he had himself been a persecutor; his own sufferings did not quench his passionate desire for the salvation of his own people. On this point the eloquent argu- mentin Romans,chapters9-n, speaksfor itself The capital count in the indictment against them, and that which most of all fires his soul with holy anger, is their opposition to the sal- vation of the heathen. Who both killed. " Both " does not correctly represent the force of the Greek connective; here, as elsewhere, it marks an explanatory correspondent clause. If rendered at all into English, n/so is the word ; or we may omit it, and render the clause "they who killed," etc. The Lord Jesus, and their own prophets. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets." (Matt. 23:37.) "I will scnd unto them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute." (Luke ii: 49.) And hare persecuted us (and drave ns, out). "Some (if them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them frotn city to qity." {M.itt. 2:1 31.) The word translated by the Revisers "drave out" is rendered 'persecute' in our text and in the passage from Luke cited above. The general sense is the same, but primarily, as tlie use of the satne word in the Septuagint shows, the thought is of driving forth from city to city. This had been the exjierience of the apostles; thus it had been with Paul from the time of his first preaching in Damascus. By "us" he doubtless means particularly himself and his companions known to his readers. And they please not God, and are contrary to all men. In tohat respect this applies to the Jews he explains in the following verse; namely, in their opposition to the conversion of the Gentiles. Herein lay their impiety and their inhumanity. Observe also that Paul does not here characterize the Jewish nation and policy in their original and proper charac- ter ; he refers particularly taviau. la : 3.) Ch. 3.- 1-10. Timothy Sent to Confit-m their Faith. Paul' s Rejoicing over the Good News he has Just Brought Back. These and the following verses to the end of the chapter stand in close connection with the preceding paragraph. The third chapter should properly have begun with ver. 17 above. 1-2 Wherefore when Ave could no longer forbear — literally, no longer hearing it. By 'we' here Paul probably means him- self, falling back (from ver. 18 above) into the plural form that prevails throughout this letter. This is the opinion of most commenta- tors. Bengel and others, however, consider it to include Silas; and Bishop Lightfoot con- siders it "at least doubtful whether St. Paul ever uses the plural of himself alone." We thought it good to be left . . . and sent Timothy. It will be seen from Acts 17 : 14, 15, that Silas and Timothy did not accompany Paul from Berea to Athens, but that they after- ward rejoined him at Corinth. If Timothj' was sent back to Thessalonica, /rom .^^Aens, we are to suppose a visit of Timothy (and per- haps of Silas also) to Athens that Luke has passed over in silence. There are two arrange- ments of the recorded facts, either of which will bring Luke's narrative and the allusions here into full accordance. "(1) Tirnotheus Wits despatched to Thessalonica, not from Athens but from Beroa, a supposition quite consistent with the apostle's expression of 'consenting to be left alone at Athens.' In this case Tirnotheus would take up Silas some- where in Macedonia on his return, and the two would join St. Paul in company ; not, however, at Athens, where he was expecting them, but later on at Corinth, some delay having arisen. This explanation, however, supposes that the plurals 'mjc consented,' 'we sent' [rivSoKrii//a/u.e>'), caii refer to St. Paul alone. The alternative method of reconciling the accounts is as follows : (2) Tirnotheus and Silas did join the apostle at Athens, where we learn from the Acts that he was ex- pecting them. From Athens he despatched Timotlieus to Thessalonica, so that he and Silas (iii^eU) had to forego the services of their fellow-laborers for a time. This mission is mentioned in the Epistle, but not in the Acts. Subsequently he sends Silas on some other mission, not recorded in either the history or the Ei)istle; probably to another Macedonian church, Philipiji for instance, from which he is known to have received contributions about this time, and with which, therefore, he was in communication, 2 Cor. 11 : 19; compare Phil. 4 : 14-16. Silas and Tirnotheus returned to- gether from Macedonia and joined the apostle at Corinth." (Smith's "Dictionary of the i Bible," Vol. IV., p. 3225.) See also Cony- 1 beare and Howson's "Life and Epistles of ' Pt. Paul," ch. XI. Our brother, and minister of God. The word "tninister" (Siaxovo^) might appropri- ately be rendered "servant" ; compare Matt. 20: 26, Revised Version. " But whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister" (margin, "servant"). "The con- stant practice of the apostle when he had occasion specially to mention his faithful associates to designate them by some honora- ble appellative." (Liinemann.) Years later Paul writes from his Roman prison to the Philippians of Timothy, "For I have no man lil«) its in- ward operation. The word here rendered 'affliction ' {avayKri) occiirs six times in 1 and 2 Corinthians and is there rendered five times "necessity" or "necessities" both in the Com- 42 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. m. 8 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, lor all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God ; 10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith? 8 faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the 9 Lord. For /what thanksgiving can we render again unlo (iod for you, for all tlie joy wherewiih 10 we joy for your sakes, before our God ; night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith? niijri and the Revised Versions. AVhat special afflictions were the lot of Paul during the first part of the sojourn in Corinth, we are not informed beyond what is stated in Acts 18:6, seq. He tells the elders of Ephesus: "The Holy Ghost testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." (Acts 20: 2-.!.) See also the passage cited above (acor. 7;5): "We were afflicted on every side; without were fightings, witliin were fears. Nevertheless, he thatcomforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus," etc. 8. For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. "Our God be thanked that Satan has not prevailed against you. You do still believe and love. Our fears have fled — again we live. Ah, could you but know it, our very life, all the hopes and rewards that make life of any worth to us, hang on your fidelity." Observe that the 'if does not imply doubt of their continued steadfastness; rather that the former fact, 'now we live,' is conditioned in thought (hence 'if is almost equivalent here to "since") upon the latter, namely, ' that ye stand fast in the Lord.' We have here a typi- cal utterance of the great apostle. But who can fully apprehend it except he who has had like experience ? These are words of one who not only seeks the eternal salvation of men, but loves them as men, and covets their love. "The man whose picture this is," says Bunyan's Interpreter, "is one of a thousand; he can beget children, travail in birth with children, and nurse them himself, when they are born." These words are significant as a self- revelation. Similar are 1 Cor. 4: 14, 15; 2 Cor. 7 : 2, 3 ; Phil. 1:7; 3 : 17, and the clos- ing verses of chapter 3 above, wherein all purely personal consciousness and motives seem utterly extinguished by his absorbing solicitude and aflToction for his converts. It is only the superficial reader who finds in these verses but the lightly uttered sentiments of a transient hour, and fails to discern the meaning of this transcript of spiritual his- tory. They do 'ndeed make heart-music to doctrine and precept; they warm and enliven didactic discourse. But more. As the gos- pels set before us, not a body of doctrine, but a living Christ, the Jesus of history, so the epistles of Paul bring before us a living apostle, in whom Christ was revealed as a personal, visible example to the church. It may be questioned whether the apostolic writ- ings convey any facts or truths of profounder interest and importance, than are wrapt up in these and other similar heart-utterances of the great apostle. A careful study will show that they are not the ordinary com- monplaces of emotional rhetoric. They are the singularly exact and truthful expressions of an inward life, made more impressive from known details of external history, such as in the present instance are furnished us in tlie seventeenth of Acts, and in the letter itself. 9. For what thanks can Ave render, again to God for you. Tur' — to justify the bold figure he had just emi)l()ycd by call- ing to mind the greatness of the blessing. This is the third outburst of thanksgiving we find in the letter; especially' called forth by the intelligence just now received of their steadfastness. "As he still thinks of it his emotions deepen and swell into a flood of joy which can only utter itself in praise." Prayer and thanksgiving are inseparable in the apostle' s practice, as they are in his precept ; See Phil. 4 : 6. We joy for yonr sakes before our God — a pure, holy joy, which is not hindered, but heightened, because it is in his presence; standing in full view of God, his exultation only swells in a higher, stronger tide. 10. Night and day praying exceedingly. The participle 'praying' follows the verb 'joy,' and has a descriptive force ; his rejoic- ing issues in prayer all the more constant and earnest (compare 2 : 17), that he may again bo with them, not in heart only, but in person. 'Exceedingly' is an emphatic compound, ren- dered by two words in Eph. 3 : 20: "that is able to do exceeding ahundnntly nhove all that we ask or think." Might perfect that which Ch. III.] I. THESSALONIANS. 43 11 Now God hiiuself antl our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way uiilo you. 12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, aud toward all Men, even as we ur Lord Jesus Christ and himself and God v-ar Father," etc. In both places the double subject is followed (in the original) by a singular verb, a fact, however, on which the latitude of Greek usage forbids us to lay spe- cial stress. Direct our way — 'direct' in its original sense — opeji, make straight and clear a way by which we maj' come. Compare with this and the preceding two verses, Rom. 1 : 9, 10: "Always in my praj'ers making re- quest, if by any means now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you." 12. And the Lord make you to increase and abound. 'You' (at the beginning of the sentence in Greek) has a slight emphasis. 'The Lord,' meaning Christ. For Christ is natned " tiie Lord" in the context immedi- ately befoi-e and after (ver. u, 13) ; moreover, this is the prevailing usage in Paul's writings. The first person of tiie Trinity is expressly dis- tinguished in the verse just named as "our God and Father." Blunt, "Annotated Bible," following Basil and Theophylact, understands 'Lord' as referring to the Holy Spirit, "the gift of love," he says, "being always regarded as a gift bestowed especially by him." But there is no intimation in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit is the giver of love in distinction from joy, peace, and other gifts, which are ascribed both to Christ and the Spirit as their source. On 'abound,' see note on ver. 1 of the next chapter. In love to one another and toward all. Below (* ■ 9.) they are directly exhorted to abound in brotherly love. Here the apostle's desire views it as the result of the divine agency in the soul : 'Mixy the Lord "give the increase." Love not only to believers but to all. Christian love widens so as to take in all men, even one's enemies. A universal Christian experience. Even as we — that is, even as we increase and abound in love toward you. 13. To the end he may establish, etc. Holiness is viewed as the goal of their spirit- ual career. Toward the goal of being finally unblamable in holiness their faith is to make constant progress "working through love.'' This consummation is to be a matter of revelation and attestation before God even {and) our Father. See this same phrase in 1:3; and with its use in this connection com- pare 2: 19: "before our Lord Jesus at his coming." At the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. See note on 4 : 1'). The first occurrence of the word coming (napovi\aSe\(jiia) is elsewhere found in his epistles onl^' in Rom. 12 : 10; it also occurs in Heb. 13 : 1; 1 Peter 1 : 22; 2 Peter 1 : 7. Ye have no need that I (one) write unto you — the language of courtesy and true Christian tact, quick to recognize the basis of good in those whom it exhorts. Com- pare 5 : 1 ; 2 Cor. 9:1. It was no empty com- pliment. The testimony of history is ample as to the extraordinary mutual aft'ection that characterized the early churches. "Behold how these Christians love one another! " was the wondering exclamation of unbelievers and enemies. It was thus in Jerusalem: "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul." (Acts 4: 32.) The testimony of Lucian, the Voltaire of the second century, who lived for many years in Antioch, is em- phatic on this point. Though an undisguised enemy of Christianity, he bears witness to the generous beneficence of the Christians toward one another. "Thej' give lavishly' all that they have . . . For their first lawgiver has persuaded them that they are all brothers." (" Concerningthe Death of Peregrinus,'' chap. 13.) The new life in Christ began at once to bear fruit in works of love and charity. Uhl- horn has freshly illustrated this subject in his "Christian Charity in the Ancient World" (English translation. New York, 1883), and hae brought together much valuable historical ma- terial. Compare particularly the chapter "A "World Without Love," and the contrast there drawn between Pagan liberality and Christian charity. For ye yourselves are tau|;ht of God to love one another — you know the paramount obligation of this duty without in- struction from us; the Holy Spirit himself teaches you this. Compare 1 John 2 : 27, "And as for you, the anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any Ch. IV.] I. THESSALONIANS. 51 10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye itierea.-e more and more: 11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we coiumauded yi>u ; 10 taught of God to love one another; for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more 11 and more; and that ye ^sludy to be quiet, and to do your own business, atjd to work with your hands, 1 Gr. 6« ambiliouM. one teach you." The whole of this Epistle in- deed is a commentary on Christ's new com- niaiidiiiciit, to love one another. 10. And indeed ye do it toAvard all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. This implies, as remarked by Riggenbach, "a lively intercourse with the Christians in Philippi, Berea, and perhaps at small scattered stations, offshoots from the central churches." Their poverty, and the environment of persecution, had operated, in a very short time, to develop their s^'mpathy and active beneficence. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye increase (or, abound) more and more. On 'abound,' see note on ver. 1 above. Paul's letters every- where reveal the intensest solicitude tliat this grace of love one to another might flourish ; it was vital to the welfare of the church. Clirj'sostoin remarks on another passage: "If we confine to one or two the love which ought to be extended to the whole church of God, we injure both ourselves and them and the whole." Tlie following extract, part of the religious experience of Adoniram Jutlson during the last years of his life, is itself a commentary on this passage; it is taken from one of Mrs. Judson's letters ("Wayland, "Life of Judson," Vol. II., p. 338): "Another sub- ject which occupied a hirge share of his atten- tion, was that of brotherly love. You are per- haps aware that, like all persons of his ardent temperament, he was subject to strong attach- ments and aversions, which he sometimes had difficulty in bringing under the controlling influence of divine grace. He remarked that he had alwaj's felt more or less of an affec- tionate interest in his brethren, as brethren, and some of them he had loved very dearly for their personal qualities ; but he was now awiire that he had never placed his standard of love high enough. He spoke of them as children of God redeemed by the Saviour's blood, watched over and guarded by his love, dear to his heart, honored by him in the election, and to be honored hereafter before the assembled universe; and he said it was not sufficient to be kind and obliging to such. to abstain from evil speaking, and make a general mention of thein in our prayers; but our attachtnent to them sliould be of the most ardent and exalted character: it would be so in heaven, and we lost immeasurably by not beginning now. 'As I have loved you, so ought ye also to love one another,' was a pre- cept continually in his mind; and he would often murmur, as though unconsciously, ' As 1 have loved you, as I have loved you' ; then burst oiit with the exclamation, 'Oh, the love of Christ! the love of Christ! ' " 11, 12. In the same breath Paul sends ad- monition on several points, regarding which there evidently was ' need that one write' unto them. He enjoins to lead a quiet, orderly life, — to mind their own business. — to be in- dustrious in their daily labor. These admo- nitions^ though so briefly thrown off (forming, apparently, a mere addenditm to a niore im- portant exhortation) were especially required by the existing circumstances of the Thessa- lonian Church. This is manifest from their emphatic repetition in the next epistle. See 2 Thess. 3 : 6-15. And that ye study. For 'study' the margin lias "be ambitious.'' They were zealously to aspire and strive — after what? First, to be quiet. It is evi- dent from this and from what immediately follows, that the Thessalnnian Christians were in danger of being diverted from the ordinary duties of life. Expecting the speedy end of the world, that the hour of their deliverance was drawing nigh, they were becoming rest- less and impatient. Perhaps, already influ- enced by false prophets and teachers (see 2 Thess. 2 : 2), they were neglecting to watch in the spirit enjoined by Christ. They were ceasing to "rest in the Lord and wait pa- tiently' for him,'' and to work out their salva- tion "with fear and trembling." This excite- ment would f<)steridleness,spiritiuil dissipation, and also incline them to meddle with matters beyond their proper sphere, whether those of the church at large or the jirivate concerns of their brethren. Hence, first of all, the apostle admonishes to quietness, not to sleep, — that is, 52 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. IV. 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, auU tkai ye muy have lack ol uothing. 12 eveu as we charged you ; that ye may walk becom- ingly toward them tt\at are without, and may have need of nothing. spiritual indifference, or torpor, — but to a quiet, orderly (compare the "honestly" in ver. 12) Christiiin life. Secondly, to do your own business. See 2 Thess. 3 : 11, " For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busy bodies ; also 1 Peter 4 : 15, *' For let none of you suffer ... as a meddler in other men's matters." "Mind your own business" is a precept or rebuke of Scriptural authority, and (^f large legitimate application. It niaj'be misapplied, however, and especially to excuse indifference to the spiritual welfare of our neighbors. Liinemann's comment on this verse perhaps opens the way for such mis- application. He infers that Paul had in mind the "unauthorized zeal" of some who "had used the advent as a means of terror, in order to draw before their tribunal what was a mat- ter of individual conscience," and in this zeal had assumed a care for the salvation of their neighbors " with an objectionable cuijjosity." This view of the case is hardly to be derived from the passage itself. Thirdly, to work with your own hands. The daily labor of most of the members, that \>y which they earned their livelihood, was doubt- less manual labor. In orderly industry from day to day— thus they would best obey the precept, "Watch!"; thus employed, they would rightly be waiting their Lord's coming. Paul could point to his own example: "We toil, working with our own hands." (' cor. 4 : 12.) Compare Kom. 12: 11, Kevised Version, "In diligence not slothful ; fervent in Spirit, serv- ing the Lord." Christ himself had set this example, and, as the carpenter of Nazareth, had sanctified hand labor, which, among the Greeks and Romans, was held in great con- tempt. A])art from the special reasons men- tioned in the next verse, which apply to us as well as to Paul's readers, it is not to be for- gotten bow great a safeguard against manifold t(!riii)tations habits of dail3' industry have alwaj's been found. See further notes on 2 Th(rss. 8 : 10. 12. That ye may walk honestly toward them that are withont. 'Honestly' (ren- dered " decently " in 1 Cor. 14 : 40), in a be- coming, honorable manner; the oi)posite of " disorderly " in 2 Thess. 3:6. ' Them that are without,' including all unbelievers, whether Jew or Gentile. The honor of Christ and his cause was at stake in this matter. Compare Col. 4:5, " Walk in wisdom toward them that are without." In Eph. 4 : 28, another motive for one to work with his hands is men- tioned — namely, "that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need." And that ye may have lack of nothing — that your proper wants may be supplied. In this need are, of course, included the wants of those who are providentially dependent upon us, " But if any provideth not for his own, aitd specially his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Tim. 5 : 8.) We have in the present passage a correlate to the precepts of the sermon on the mount, "Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat or what j-e shall drink.'' See Matt. 6 : 25, and others. The Christian is not to dissociate faith and forethought. The exhortations of the eleventh verse are in close accordance with the Saviour's teach- ing concerning the spirit in which his disciples, after his departure, were to await his second coming. He warned them against undue alarm and excitement; there would be need of jtatient endurance. The parable of the Ten Minae, or Pounds (Lukew), was spoken in cir- cumstances analogous to those which occa- sioned these two epistles—" because they .sup- posed," says Luke, "that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear." In that, as in the parable of the Talents, he warns against indolence and negl-^ct of one's out- ward vocation and work. He enjoins activitj-, productive labor. The viinnc were delivered to the servants with the command to "oc- cupy" them — that is (see Revised Version), employ them in trade or bu.siness "till I come." 4 : 13-5 : 11. The Pnrousin, or Christ' s Sec- ond Coming. ~T\iO particulars of the subject are treated of in this section. The first con- cerns the resurrection of deceased believers. The Thessalonians were anxious tm behalf of their brethren who were passing away, lest their death should deprive them of participa- tion ii» the glorious events of the Second Ad- Ch. IV.] I. THESSALONIANS. 53 vent — le^t they should thereby be prevented from beholdinj^ the iiiaugiinil glories of the Messianic kingdom. Thequestion thus arose: When in the new order of things will their resurrection occur? To this the apostle makes specific reply, communicating facts made known to him by special revelation. The next question concerned the time of the advent: When shall the Parousia take place? In re- ply to tills, tile apostle merely repeats the teaching of Ciirist, and enfoi'ces it with appro- priate exhortations. In the Second Epistle he adds furtlier instruction upon this point, and communicates facts not found elsewhere in the Scriptures. The section is one of importance in its es- chatologicul bearings, and requires for its thorough elucidation the closest grammatical analysis of the original, as well as an extended comparison witli parallel Scriptures. It is dis- tinctly prophetic and predictive; as has been pointed out in the Introduction, Paul's thought in these epistles, more than in any other, dwells upon the future of the church and the world. The principal eschatological passages in the other epistles are tiie following: Rom. 2: 5-16; 8: 1-39; 1 Cor. 13: 9-12; ch. 15; 2 Cor. 5 : 1-10; Col. 3 : 3, 4. Before proceeding to the detailed exposition of this section, it may be well to state several general principles and assumptions on which the exposition is based : (1) Scripture prophecy, in so far as it pre- dicts the future of the kingdom of God, in or- ganically one. It constitutes a progressive, germinant unfolding of the divine plan of salvation. Its predictions have been revealed by the Holy Spirit to prophets, from first to liist, under substantially the same conditions; the revelation has been through the medium of vision and dream, or by direct word com- munication. Scripture prophecy is therefore subject throughout to the same general laws of interpretation. (2) The lanfjiiafje of prophecy is of necesnity symbolic. Typical events, such as the deliver- ance out of Egypt, contributed largely to the symbolic diction of the prophets. Familiar i ritual ideas, and of events tran- scending human experience. Thus "the trumpet of God" denoted some signjil, divine, audible cull or warning. As remarked by Wem^ss (" Clavis Symbolica," Preface), "the symbolic language of the prophets is almost a science in itself." Tiie interpretation of par- ticular prophecies must therefore recognize and lake careful account of the poetic and symbolic imagery common to all prophec\'. (3) New Testament prophecy also ha^ an or- ganic unity of its own. Its main theme is the destinies of the people and kingdom of Christ subsequent to the incarnation. Its ground- work is laid in our Lord's teachings, especially the great prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives. (Matt. 24, a.) That discourse, though itself needing the key afforded by apostolic exposition and by later revelations to the New Testament prophets, constitutes the proper point of departure, as well as the most certain basis, for the interpretation of the epistles and the Apocalypse. (4) Prophetic prediction is not designed to enable the reader to anticipate the external and secular phases of history. Its geography cannot be traced in advance upon the map; its chronology cannot be adjusted in advance to the standards of human measurement. Near and/ar are relative and ethical terms iu prophecy. It is addressed not so much to the rational understanding as to the ear of hope and faith. We are not considering here its value as evidence after fulfillment. Previous to fulfillment, its mission is for the warning and encouragement of believers, especially in the more trying periods of the church's his- tory; it is then indeed "a lamp shining in a dark place." (5) We are to distinguish between the posi- tive teaching of the apostles ami their personal hopes and impressions. From them, as from the Old Testament prophets who predicted the first advent, it was hidden "what titne or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto." (i Peter i : n. Riv. ver.) How carefully, and with what providen- tial skill, they were restrained from erroneous teaching is strikingly illustrated in ver. 15 of the present chapter. Their language could not but be colored by their human expecta- tions, but the auctor primariv s of their writ- ings preadjusted their language to broader truths and a larger future than they them- selves knew. The postulates briefly laid down in the fore- going paragraphs are assumed once for all as 54 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. IV. 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, l>reth- ren, coucerniug theui which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even an others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 33 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow 14 not, even as the rest, who have no hoi)e. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep ' in Jesus will God bring 1 Gr. through. Or, will God through Jesua. tlie basis of tlie present exposition. It would be aside from the purpose of the commentary to illustrate them at length, or to vindicate them. One other consideration is also to be emphasized ; natnelj', that the section coiitains only frngmentary instructions on the subject in hand; it is but supplementary to a much fuller body of oral instruction v)hich fie had given them months before. This appears from 2 Thess. 2 : 5 and 1 Thess. 5 : 1. Paul simply deals in the briefest terms with the two points noticed above: (1) the resurrection of deceased believers prior to the Lord's descent upon the earth, and (2) the time when he should thus come. The information given claims to be a revelation from the Lt)rd ; when received, does not appear from the letter, but probably long before. 13-18. The Christian dead — are they to miss the glories of the Lord s coming ? 13. But I would not have you to be ig- norant. So Paul frequently introduces an important topic or earnest statement; some- times it is, "I would have you know"; see Rom. 1 : 13 ; Phil. 1 : 12. Here it brings for- ward with emphasis a subject of immediate interest to his correspondents — of importance to all: the prospect of the Christian dead. The words "that ye sorrow not" show that the Thessalonians were distressed on this mat- ter. "The Thessalonians perhaps had asked a question, or Timothy may have given infor- mation respecting their uneasiness about some of their number who had died." (Riggen- bach.) Concerning them which are (or, that fall) asleep — present tense, denoting what is now or from time to time taking place; those who are from time to time dying. The immediate reference was evidently to mem- bers of the Thessalonian Church, but the truth enunciated to meet this case was such as ap- plied to all deceased believers. Ellicott calls attention to the fact that to fall asleep is a fre- quent Scriptural term for die, but not peculiar to Scripture. That ye sorrow not. Let the message from the Lord which I sent you banish your sorrow; not the natural sorrow over the loss of loved ones, but the sorrow that is dis- tressed about their future. Such sorrow be- longs not to you, but to others (the rest) which have no hope. A broad characteristic of all who are not Christ's; they have no hope, no positive, definite hope embracing the future life. Especially true of the Gentiles ; see Eph. 2 : 12: "having no hope, and without God in the world." "The true hopelessness of the old heathen world," says Ellicott, "finds its sad- dest expression in the Eumenides of ^schy- lus" : " Once dead there is no resurrection." 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. This clause states the pre- mise on which the following conclusion and assurance is based — the great major premise of faith. One is as sure as the other; "as Christ the head died and rose agtdn, even so shall all the members of his body." In the words of Gambold's hymn, which Rowland Hill Used often to quote : " We two are so joined, He'll not live in glory, and leave me behind." See 2 Cor. 4 : 14. "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus." (i Cor. i5:20.) "But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are asleep." Even so cer- tain is it that them also Avhich sleep in Jesus, or, that are fallen asleep. The words 'them that are fallen asleep' are in Greek an aorist participle with the prefixed article; so also the same expression at the end of A-er. 15. Being joined to a future verb, it would be, if rendered with strict grammatical accuracy : "them that shall have fallen asleep "; that is, previous to the time implied in the predicate, when God "shall bring" Jesus and his saints to glory. The proper understanding of this participle will aid in dispelling the confusion and misconception that has gathered about the apostle's words in ver. 15. "It is noticeable," says Ellicott, "that the apostle here, as always, uses the direct term (iireflavcv) [died] in reference to our Lord, to Ch. IV.] I. THESSALONIANS. 55 15 For this we say unto you liy the word of the Lord, [ 15 with him. For this we say unto you by the word tliiit we wliich are alive, «/«/ reniuiii unto llie eoiuiug of the l^ord, that wu who are alive, who are left of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. | unto the ' coming of I he Lord, shall lu no wise pre- I Gr. pretence. obviate all possible misconception; in refer- ence to tlie faithful he appropriately uses the consolatory term (KoiiiiaOai.) " [faU adleep]. ' In Jesus' — literally, through Jesus. The phraseology here, it will be seen, is not pre- cisely the same as in 1 Cor. 15 : 18; "they also which are fallen asleej) m Ch7-ist"; "in Christ" in this latter passage, as also in ver. Itj below, "tile dead in Christ," has the prepo- sition 'in' ((") ; here it is "through" (5"i). But what is it to have 'fallen asleep through Jesus'? They have died trusting in Jesus — in the faith of Jesus ; "sustained and soothed by an unfaltering tru.st" in him, they have lain down to the sleep of death. This is the sense suggested bj' Chrysostom and Theophy- lact among the Greek Fathers; it is preferred by Kiggenbach, and by Webster and Wilkin- son in their Greek Testament. It must be admitted that there is no precisely analogous case of the preposition being used in this large meaning — a meaning nearly equivalent to the Greek for 'in' {iv), and therefore Ellicott and many others interpret: "those who, through his mediation, are now rightly accounted as sleeping." Still others, and perhaps the ma- jority, reject the above construction and read witii the Kevisers' margin : " will God through Jesus bring with him," thus attaching the phrase to the principal verb of the sentence. But the order of the words in the original seems rather to favor the former construction ; moreover, the context requires some such qual- ifyingphrase, either in thought or expressed, to the words ' them that are fallen asleep.' Com- pare ver. Ifi below and the passage from 1 Cor- inthians previously cited. With our present knowl"dge of Greek usage a clear decision can liardly be reached, but in my judgment the construction and interpretation first given are to be preferred. Will God brin^ with him — 'bring,' literally lead, will not only raise them from the dead, but add them to the triumphal procession of the advancing King. The same word is appropriately used in Heb. 2: 10: "For it became him ... in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author \copfnin] of their salvation perfect through suflerings." 15. By (literally in) the word of the Lord — the precise phrase employed in the Septuagint (i King»20;3o) to denote a prophetic communication. The following statements (contained in 15-18) are manifestly presented as authorized by, and proceeding directly from, our Lord. But was it si communication made to his disciples previous to the ascension, or to Paul himself subsequently? If the for- mer, it must be from some unrecorded dis- course, since no passage in the gospels fur- nishes the facts here stated. One of Jesus' sayings is preserved in the New Testament outside of the gospel history — in Acts 20 : 35; others that rest only on the authority of later tradition are given in Appendix C to West- cott's "Introduction to the Studj' of the Gos- pels." To some such discourse of Christ, of which no record has been made by the gospel writer-s, Calvin supposes the apostle to refer. But the present passage contains a definite, positive prediction concerning future events, adapted to meet an inquir\' peculiar to this church and this juncture; in the absence of any intimation that our Lord had communi- cated special teaching on this point, we are certainly warranted in understanding it to have been an express revelation made to Paul himself, or to his companions; Silas, it will be remembered, was a prophet. (Act8i5:32.) That Paul did from the beginning of his ministry' receive special communications from Christ, one can scarcely doubt who accepts the his- torical trustworthiness of the book of Acts (see Acts 9 : 5, seq. ; 22 : 17-21) or of the epis- tles (see Gal. 1 : 12; 2:2; also 1 Cor. 11 : 23). ' In the word of the Lord' is thus understood by Chrj'sostom, De Wette, Kiggenbach, Liine- mann, Alford, Ellicott, and others. The diflRculty wliich the apostle now pro- ceeds to remove from the minds of his readers was not a doubt concerning the certainty or reality of the resurrection, or concerning the blissful future of those believers who should be dead before the Lord's coming, but concern- ing their participation in the glories of that coming. "The idea that perplexed and dis- tressed the Thessalonians seems to have been 56 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. IV. Hi For the Lord himself shall descend fioiu heaven with a shuui, with the voice of the archangel, and with IG cede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself sliall descend Irom heaven, with a shout, something of this soil; that wiien the Lord came, tlieir deceased friends would be found to have suffered serious loss, in that, while thej' would ultimately, no doubt, be raised again, they would yet have no part in the joy of welcoming him back to his inheritance of the redeemed earth, and in the triumphant inauguration of his reign. The songs of the living saints would mingle with the acclama- tions of angels, as, clad in 'the visible robes of his imperial majesty,' the Saviour-King took his seat on his blood-bought throne. But what if in the rapture of that hour, and for ages after, the lowly tenants of the tombs should be forgotten alike by all, and no beam from the crown of Jesus — no thrill of ecstacy of the new creation should reach death's dark domain? Would not this be for the time, and so long as it lasted, all one as if 'they also which had fallen asleep in Christ were per- ished' ? Certainly by a church so full of the bright prospect of Christ's coming kingdom, as was this of Thessalonica, it could not be regarded as anj' common calamity. It was just as if, on the very eve of the day of the expected return of some long-absent father, a cruel fate should single out one fond, expect- ant child, and hurry him to a far distant and inhospitable shore." (Lillie, pp. 247, 248.) We \«hich are alive, and remain (or, are left) unto the coining of the Lord. To reproduce the original more nearly: '^We, the living^ the survivors at tJie coming of the Lord.' The first inquiry is, who are included in the apostle's 'we'? Plainly, all other be- lievers than the class named at the end of the verse; namely, those who have already or shall have fallen asleep before the Advent. This is clear from the context; compare the note on the phrase as it first occurs in ver. 14. But any possible misunderstanding of the apostle's language is obviated by the limit- ing phrases apjiendod to the 'we.' In the Greek the^^ are present participles having the force of relative clauses (oi i^vrc;, oi ireptAeirrdfievoi tit thv Ttapovaiav), and, according to well-known Greek usage, refer to future time, as does the predicate to which they are jf)ined; the sense of the original, therefore, is: '■we who shall he fiihe — who shall be left unto the coming of the Lord.' Thus the scope of the 'wo' (so far as the apostle's thought is concerned) is precisely determined. It includes ' the living,' but lest this phrase should occasion misunderstanding, a restrictive qualification is immediately added: those 'who shall be left,' etc. But the ques- tion arises, Does not Paul necessarily include himself (as well as some of his readers) in this first personal pronoun? Yes, if he or tliey prove to be of the number expressly named 'who shall be left' at the Lord's Com- ing. A careful analysis of the original will show the error of those who assert with Jowett that the apostle "says that men living in his own day will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air"; or with Liinemann, that "Paul here includes iiimself along with tne Thessalo- nians among those who will be alive at the advent of Christ." ' The coming of the Lord' means here, as elsewhere in these two epistles, his Second Coming; namely, (in its highest and final sense) his visible return from heaven to raise the dead, hold the last judgment, and to establish in its eternal glory the kingdom of God. Shall not prevent {jjrecede) them which are asleep—shall not be before them in meet- ing the coming King; he explains more defi- nitely in the next two verses. "Precede" in the Revision properly translates the archaic "prevent" of the Common Version, the latter having the same meaning in Jeremy Taylor, for example: "Your messenger prevented mine but an hour." IG. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. 'Himself — that is, in his own person. "This Jesus," said the angels to the disciples on the Mount of Ascension, "shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven." Or, the emphatic pronoun may be designed to turn our thoughts to Christ as the central figure of the scene. Shall descend from heaven with a shout. His approach will thus be signaled with 'a shout,' a loud word of command. No silent unobserved coming, but heard far before. In Luke 17:20, "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation," the reference is not as here to the "great day." The signal shoni will not necessarily be the voice of the Lt)rd himself, as the English rendering might seem to imply (literally, "in a shout," or " in shout- Ch. IV.] I. THESSALONIANS. 57 the trump of God : and the dead iu Christ shall rise first : wiih the voice of the archangel, and with the trump ing"), but will be one of the attendant oir- curnstances of his coming. The term properly denotes a word of command, as lo a ship's crew, for example, or a band of soldiers. In the following words we have not additional circumstances (the omission of a conjunction shows the next two phrases to be not co-ordi- nate with the first, but rather in apposition with it), but a description of this signal shout. It shall be with the voice of the archangel^ and with the trump of God — or, better, ad- hering more nearly to the original, ^'with voice of archangel and with trumpet of God." Who this archangel is — whether, indeed, in the heavenly host there is more than one so styled — belongs to the unrevealed lore of heaven ; in Jude 9 we are told of ''Michael the arch- angel," and some suppose Michael to be des- ignated here ; Olshuusen considers the arch- angel to be Christ himself. The 'trumpet of God' "is the trumpet belonging to God, or "used in his service." Such .a trumpet was heard from the heights of Sinai. Exod. 19 : 16: "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud " ; ver. 19: "And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." In 1 Cor. 15 : 51, 52, Paul reaffirms the present statement: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a mo- ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be chfinged." This signal shout will not only announce to the living their Lord's approach, but will be a resurrection call; it will summon the dead from their tombs. See John 5 : 28, 29. So the third stanza of the Dies Tree: " The last loud trumpet's wondrous sound Shall through the rending tombs rebound, And wake the nations umierground." — Roscommon's Translation. The actual, audible phenomena here pre- dicted in, the terms "shout," "trumpet." a discreet exegesis will not attempt to define. "The sound of a trumpet," says Fairbairn, "is employed in the Scriptures as a s3'mbol of the majestic, omnipotent voice or word of God" ("Typology," II., p. 452); see Isa. 27 : 13. Olshuusen needlessly restricts it: "The term is chosen to designate the mighty ivfiu- ence which will penetrate the universe, and which will be connected with Christ's appear- ance," etc. Tiie language is undoubtedly symbolic; Paul is not giving details in the literal style of a chronicler; yet by a single stroke he lifts the whole transaction out of and above the plane of human events and natural causes, at the same time assisting the imagi- nation, and elevating our conceptions of the transcendently sublime event. The signal shout to announce the coming King of the Redeemed is from no human voice, no earthly trumpet; an archangel's voice shall sound it, a "trumpet of God" shall blazon it abroad. As it is declared elsewhere that "every eye shall see him" (Rev.i-.i), so likewise every ear shall hear him ; there shall be an audible call, that shall be heard by the living and shall awaken the dead. Compare Jolin 5: !28, '29: "Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment." The dead in Christ — same as 'Hhose who have fallen asleep through Jesus," in ver. 14. The dead in Christ are those who when alive were in Christ. These shall rise first — that is, previously to the ascension into the air of the living saints. 'First' and 'then' (in the next verse) belong together 8s first in order, and next in order. There is apparently no reference, to a first as distinguished from a second resurrection — a distinction which is entirely foreign to the apostles present pur- pose, and to which as little regard is paid in the passage cited above from 1 Cor. 15. The latter is properlj' a parallel passage to the one before us, only that in this he is concerned not so much to assert the resurrection hope of the believer, as to assure him that in case of death before the Advent he will not fail to partici- pate in its inaugural triumph. The passage in Rev. '20 : 1-10 is not, in my judgment, a proper parallel to this. 58 I. THESSALONIANS. [Cii. V. 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up tugether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 17 of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we who are aiive, who are left, shall together with theiu be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with 18 the Lord. Wherefore i comfort one another with ihese words. CHAPTER V. B UT of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. I 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, breth- ren, ye liave no need that augut be written unto you. 1 Or, exhort. ■ 17. Then— that is, next afterward. Whether immediately after is not said; it is, however, the second scene in the drama here described. Shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. 'Together with them' is the important point; the risen dead and the living shall meet and join company. 'Caught up' ; compare 2 Cor. 12 : 2. "I knew a man in Christ fourteen years ago . . . caught up to the third heaven." ' In clouds' (the Greek omits the article); so wrajjt in clouds, Christ as- cended. (Acts 1: 9.) To meet the Lord in the air — that is, rising into the air io meet the Lord. Most commentators explain the words 'in the air' or 'into the siir' as belonging properly to 'caught up.' But Greek usage will equally allow the phrase where our translators (also the Revisers) have placed it, after the verbal noun rendered 'to meet.' The saints then living, with glorified bodies ("changed," 1 Cor. 15 : 52), shall be gathered together by the angels (Mau. 24:3i); with them shall also be the risen saints; all together shall ascend from the earth's surface to join the celestial ho.st — our Lord accompanied by his angels. Here Paul's apocalypse to the Thessalonians (so far as concerns the events of the Parousia) breaks off, adding only the glorious assurance, and so — that is, these tilings being so — shall we ever be with the Lord. John 14 : 3 : "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I Will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." See also John 17 : 24. Forever with the Lord— the Chris- tian's immortality — the eternal life of his hope and his inheritance. " The Life that hath no ending, But la.steth evermore." — " The Celestial Country." 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. As you stand by the bed of death, and for the last time on earth look into a dear face; as you clasp hands for the last farewell, let these assurances comfort your hearts; speak them to one another. And when you stand over the graves of your dead, do not sorrow as those who have no hope, but encourage each other with what I have writ- ten. When the Lord comes we shall meet one another again, and we shall meet him, and we shall be with him in glory forever. Of other facts concerning the Second Ad- vent, elsewiiere revealed in the Scriptures, we have here no word : the transformation of the living, the resurrection of the wicked, the holding of the last judgment, the destroying of the Man of Sin, and the punishment of the enemies of God, the purification of the earth and the final consummation of all thing.<. Nor are we told concerning the state of the dead immediately after death. In the next epistle some additional facts are given, but Paul here and elsewhere states only enough to meet the necessitie's of the actual experience of his readers at the time. Ch. 5: 1-11. The apostle now anticipates another question, and in answering it turns quickly and with graceful courtesy to urge the claims and duties of the hour. "When shall these things be," do you ask? This question was certain to be asked — the very question put by the disciples to Christ as he sat on the sun- set slope of the Mount of Olives, after he had gone out from the temple for the last time be- fore his crucifixion. The same inquiry in sub- stance recurs after the resurrection : Acts 1 : 6 : " Wilt thou at this ti-tne restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Paul's answer here is an echo of our Lord's replies on the occasions above named, and of his teachings elsewhere. First glancing at the fact that the eras and epochs of the great consummation are not re- vealed, he then enforces the practical precept si)ringing from the fact: namely. Watch and be sober. 1. The times and the seasons — that is, of Ch. v.] I. THESSALONIANS. 69 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so Cometh as a iliiel in the iiighi. 3 For wlifU they shall say 1 eace aud safety; then sudden desi ruction coinelh upon theiu, as travail upon a woujau with child ; aud they shall not escape. 2 For yourselves know j)erreetly that the day of the 3 Lord so coiueih as a thief in tue night. \> lien tuey are saying, I'eace and saiely, ilieii sudden liistruc- liou coiueth upon them, as travail upon a woman the events belonging to the Parousui — the Lord's Coming. The word rendei-ed 'si-asons' ordinarily denotes a definite limited period of time. Christ uses the same words in his reply to the question above mentioned, Acts 1:7: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power" — that is, as Vaughan paraphrases: "It is not for you to know the time that will elapse before my kingdom will be established, nor the season in which it will be established." Ye have no need. Wiiy? The next verse answers, and the answer should still suffice for us. Biblical interpretation transcends its func- tion when it sets about forecasting the calendar of the future. More than that which you al- ready know, says tiie apostle, you do not need to know. The Saviour's admonition and the apostle's hint have been alike lost ujion soine of the wisest and best among Ciiristians and Biblical scholars; witness, for instance, Ben- gel, who predicted that Christ's millennial reign would begin in the year 1830. 2. For yourselves know perfectly. Yon know just how the case stands; you are already perfectly well informed as to this matter. The day of the Lord — the day when the Lord Jesus Clirist shall come as above described. The term can have no other meaning in the present connection; see 2 Tliess. 2 : 1, 2, where "the coming of the Lord" and "the day of the Lord" are plainly interchangeable. The term itself belongs to the language of Old Testament prophecy, and there has a wider signification. See Crelmer, " Biblico-Tiieological Le.\icon," pp. 275.276. In the New Testament it refers specifically to Messianic manifestations. Cometh as a thief in the night— ' cometh,' .shall come, a prophetic pre.sent, the future sense similar to "send" in Mark 1:2. 'As a thief is a familiar Old Testament comparison. Chri.st says (Matt, u : •(2, 43) ; " Watch therefore : for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was com- ing, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through." So 2 Peter 3 : 10: "But the day of ihe Lord will come as a thief" The point of comjjari- son is its unexpectedness. That it will be ter- rible also is suggested alterward, but does not lie in the comparison itself, either here or in Rev. 16 : 15: "Behold 1 come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth," etc. Chrysos- tom adds: "On this account he so cometh as a thief in the night, that we may not abandon ourselves to wickedness, nor to slolii, that he may not take from us our reward." Lillie: "You will notice the stealthiness of that ap- proach. It is always thus spoken of in Script- ure, as a surprise Jind sudden catastrophe. It is compared to the breaking forth of the del- uge; to the rain of lire on Sodom and Gomor- rah; to. the unannounced return of a house- holder to his servants; to a cry at midnight; to the falling of a snare on an unwary bird; to the lightning's flash. But the image most frequenfly employed is the one before us — the coming of a thief in the night, unheralded, unlooked for, imthought of, at the time when deep sleep falleth on men.'' 3. When they shall say (or, are saying) — when the language of men's hearts is: "Wo are secure and prosperous. • The language, not of all, but of the careless and unbelieving; so the rest of the verse implies. And compare Matt. 24 : 38, 39. Then sudden destruc- tion. The original is more vivid and em- phatic, something like this: 77*^/?., suddenly is desi ruction upon thryyi. See 2 The>s. 1 : 9. As travail upon a Avoman with child— an image of sudden, inevitable, dreaded anguish. Frequent in the writings of Lsaiah and the other Old Testament prophets (ian» is :«.«). pre- dicting the destruction of Babylon: "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand ; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. . . . And they shall be afraid; pangs and sf)rrows shall take hold of them ; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth." And they shall not (or, in no wise) escape. Com- pare 2 Thess. 1:6-9; Heb. 2:3. 'i How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" 60 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. V. 4 But yo, brethren, are not iu darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ve are all uie children of light, and the children of the day : we are nut of the nighi, uor of darkness. (i riierefore let us uol sleep, as do others ; Out let us watch aud he sober. 4 with child ; and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not iu darkness, that that day 5 should overtake you ' as a thief; for ye are all sons of lighi.aud soiisof the day : we are not of the niylit, 6 nor of uarkuess; so then let us not sleep, as do the 1 Some uucieuL ;iuthoruie:i read as thieves. 4. But ye — distinguished from the general subject of the preceding verse— are not in darkness, — that is, the season for thieves to come,— that that day should overtake you as a thief. W)U are not iu such a mural con- dition (of ignoran<:e, unbelief, and hardness of heart) as that the sudden dawning of the great day should lind you unprepared, off your guard. Tlie clause introduced by 'that' (Iva) is one of result, denotingnot an «c, Lord's desire to find ready at his coming a prepared people. The precept is twofold : 1. ' Watch ' (liter- ally, he vjakcful) is the figure that enjoins un- remitting Christian readiness. We are to be spiritually open-eyed, keeping an unslumber- ing sense for things divine. Faith will sing: "I sleep, butmj- heart waketh" (soi. sougS: 2), or with a modern poet: "Great King, we await thee! From watch-towers of prayer Expectant we gaze through the sin-troubled air." 2. 'Be sober,' that is, "free from the stupe- pefying effects of self-indulgence and sin." So our Lord, Luke '21 : 34: "But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be over- charged with surfeiting and drmikenness and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly, as a snare."' Ch. v.] I. THESSALONIANS. 61 V For they tliat sleep sleep in the night; and they that he drunken are drunken in the night. S But let us, who are of the day, he soher, putting on the hreaslplate of faith and love; and lor a heliuet, the hope of salvation. 9 For (.iod halh not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation hy our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with hiui. 7 rest, hut let us watch and he sober. For they that sleep sleep in the nighl ; and they that are drunken 8 are drunken in the night. Hut let us, sinee we are of the day, be sober, pulling on the breastplate of laith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salva- 9 lion. For (iod appointed us not unto wrath, hut unlo the obtaining of salvaiion ihrough our Lord 10 Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we 1 wake or sleep, we should live logolher with him. 7. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, etc. If you do not mean to be wakeful, but to sleep, or if, on the other hand, you do not mean to be sober, but to give yourselves to drinking and revelry, then night is the time for it, as all men know. But your time is not night; you belong to a different time — j-ou are of a wholly different nature. The words 'sleep' and 'drunken' are in this verse evidently to be taken in their literal sense, the reference being to existing customs. 8. This verse repeats the argument and ex- hortation of ver. 6, then adds : putting on the breastplate of faith and love, etc. It is now a soldierly watchfulness that is en- joined; so also Rom. 13: 12: "The night is far spent and the day is at hand; ... let us put on the armour of light." The Christian is to be constantly in readiness to defend himself against the foes of his soul and of the gospel. Paul's piety was in a marked degree of the agonistic type. It is to be remembered, also, that in ancient times all male citizens capable of bearing weapons were trained to arms. He could scarcely fail to think of the Christian graces under the figure of soldierly equip- ments, even had Isa. 59 : 17 not suggested it to him. In tliis earliest passage he names only two pieces of spiritual armor; for the fullest description, see Eph. 6 : 13-17. Compare How- son's "Metaphors of St. Paul," Chap. I., "Roman Soldiers." The main piece, the 'breastplate,' is made 'of faith and love.' Is thine a believing and loving heart, O Chris- tian? it is clad in mail of sure i)roof. The helmet is of hope, the hope of salvation. In the list of pieces mentioned in Ephesians the breastplate is of "righteousness" and the helmet of "salvation." Our present passage serves to define the terms there used. Observe that the helmet of the ancient soldier was the brightest and most conspicuous part of his armor. 9. 10. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but, etc. This hope of which I si)eak is "both sure and steadfast," /o?- God appointed us to be saved ; this seems to be the course of the apostle's thiught as shown in the Revised Version : "For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salva- tion." The emphasis in reading should be not on 'us,' but on the antithesis of wrath and salvation; we are not to suffer his wrath as "by nature" (Eph. 2:2) we should have done, but to obtain salvation — deliverance from wrath; this salvation is already potentially an accomplished fact, it being obtained by (throiigJt) our Lord Jesus Christ. In clos- ing, the ajiostle reverts to the same conclusion as was rea(!hed in tlie preceding paragraph, repeating the animating assurance that, whether living or dying, we are the Lord's, and shall at last meet in his presence to go out no more forever. lO. Who died for us — 'for,' that is, for our advantage, on our behalf. The same preposition is found in Matt. 26:28: "My blood of the covenant which is shed for many unto the remission of sins." "When the sense is died "in our stead," another prci)()silion is used (afTi), as in Malt. 20 : 28. That whether we wake or sleep — whether at his coming we be among the living or the dead. ' Wake' is the word rendered 'watch' in ver. 6 above, and in the margin of this verse the Revisers have given it as an alternative rendering. But it can scarcely be questioned that llie figurative sense of the words ' wake ' and 'sleep,' signifying live and die (certainly not the ethical senile of spii-ituol waking and sleep- ing), is that which here belongs to them. If Paul had used the ordinar}- words, the sen- tence would have read: "That whether we be living or dead, we should live together with him" — an awkward repetition of the same word in a different sense, and liable to .suggest an antithesis foreign to his purpose. It thus happens that the word 'sleep' is used in this paragraph in three senses : in ver. 7 of literal 62 I. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. V. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 11 Wherefore 'exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do. 1 Or, comfort. sleep; in ver. 6 of moral or spiritual sleep; and in the present cluuse figuratively for death. Rom. 14 : 8 in its general meaning is a parallel passage: "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord ; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lords." On the double prep- osition 'together with,' which according to many interpreters means "at the same time with," tlie same remarks apply as in 4 : 17, above. II. Wherefore comfort yourselves to- gether (or, one another). The word 'com- fort' seems preferable here to 'exhort,' of the Revised Version, as the verse stands in the closest parallelism with ver. 18 above. The strain of admonitory exhortation has glided over into one of encouraging exhortation — a closing refrain of comfort and bracing hope. And edify one another (or, Oiuld each other up). " Paul considers the Christian church, as also the individual Christian, as a holy building, a holy temple of God which is in the course of construction." (Liineraann.) So Peter also (i Peter 2: 4,5), "unto whom coming as unto a living stone, ... ye also as living stones are built up, a spiritual house," etc. The word here rendered 'build up' {oUoSoixelv) usmiUy appears in the Common Version as 'edify,' a translation to which the Revisers have in most cases adhered, the instance in the present verse being an inconsistent exception. The verb and its corresponding noun (in Eng- .lish. edification) occur in tlieir figurative sense more than twenty-five times in the New Testa- ment, and usually in Paul's writings. "With him it is always," says Howson, "a social word, having regard to the mutual improve- ment <»f members of the church and the growth of the whole body in faith and love." "We give it an individual application. We say that this or that, a book read in private, a sen- tence from a sermon, a jirovidential occur- rence, is edifying to the individual Christian, without reference to his social position in the ciiurch." ("Metaphors of St. Paul," Chapter on "Classical Architecture.") It may be added that our word 'edify' has taken on a too exclusively sentimental sense; it has been diluted into a term descriptive of devout and fervent discourse, with the idea of substance left out. To edify one another, as Paul here uses the word, is evidently to assist one another in the upbuilding of character upon the foun- dation laid by Christ, upon which there grow- eth "a holy temple in the Lord." (Eph.2:2i.) Our word "brace" has acquired a similar figurative sense from the Latin brachia, "arm," then derivatively, something which supports or binds together the parts of a struct- ure ; "brace one another up" would well ex- press one phase of the apostle's thought here. General Note. — The Parousia, as set Forth in this Section. Christ's Second Advent is the chief theme of doctrinal instruction in the two epistles. The details of the foregoing section are ex- pounded in the notes already given. The following points bear upon its theoretical and practical import as a whole : The word Parousia. — The Greek word has several significations. In Biblical Greek the prevailing signification is arrival, advent. The verb from which it is derived denotes, prima- rily, to be by, or, be present; secondai'ily, and more frequently, to arrive, or, to have arrived at a place. The noun Parousia likewise, in its earlier and etymological sense, meant pres- ence, but afterward became the usual equiv- alent for our arrival. It was also sometimes used to denote substance, and abundance. See Liddell and Scotfs "Lexicon." The word occurs seven times in these two epistles, twen- ty-four times in the entire New Testament. In seventeen out of these twenty-four instances, it refers to the Advent of Christ. It is the u.sual New Testament word to denote Christ's Second Coming — his return to earth, when he shall call the dead to life, hold the last judg- ment, and establish the kingdom of God in the fullness of its glor3-. The seven passages where it is otherwise used are the following, as rendered in the Revision: 1 Cor. IG : 17, "And I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas," etc. ; 2 Cor. 7 : 6, 7, "comforted us bj' the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but also by the com- fort wherewith he was comforted in you"; Ch. v.] I. TIIESSALONIANS. 63 2 Cor. 10: 10, "but his hodWy presence is weal<, and his speech of no account" ; Phil. 1 : 20, "that your glorying may abound in Christ Jesus through my presence with you again" ; Phil. 2 : 12, "not as in my presence onl^', but now niucli more in my absence " ; 2 Thess. 2, 9, "even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan." Even in these seven in- stances it is evident, either from the context or from the prepositions employed, that it is not so much the presence that is thought of— a being with the person referred to — as tiie arrival, the coming to be with them. Other Scriptural terms to designate the epoch of the Advent are: "Appearing" (iTTL6.vii.a), as in 1 Tim. 6:14; "revelation" (airoicaAui/d?), as lu 2 Thcss. 1:7; "coming" (cA«i.riie in mind in the reading of this section, tiiat the Apostle Paul's expectation of a .speedy Parousia was, in one sense, justified by the event. The threatened judgment on the Jew- ish Theocracy, the awful outpouring of divine wrath upon an apostate nation (compare 1 Thess. 2 : 10) was indeed nigh at hand. Practical Import. — Important lessons de- rivable from the doctrine are enforced by the apostle himself Note the exhortations: 'Watch and be sober' ; 'Put on the breast- plate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hojie of salvation.' Other practical truths will come to view in every age as corollaries from the doctrine. A few words will suggest will move onward to a better day. 2. The doctrine of the Parousia marks the ]} resent order of things as the Church's proba- tion. — "A state of probation," says Bishop Butler, "implies particularly trial, difficulties, and danger, and has for its end moral disci- pline." The kingdom of God has not yet fully come. The present world is still a world of death and of sin; it " lieth in the Evil One." The Christian life must for the present continue to be an unremitting conflict with the powers of evil : " Thou must watch and combat Till the day of the new earth and heaven." It is clearly revealed in the doctrine of the Advent that this is not an accidental, or even a remediable, condition of things during the existing historical Dispensation. No progress of truth, no industrial reform, no scheme of national co-operation, no social or moral de- several which are particularly applicable to ! velopment of humanity, will eradicate this our own time. disorder of human life. Not even the diffu- 1. 'The doctrine of the Parousia aligns the '• sion of the gospel and the universal sway of true cou)-se of hitman progress. — According i Christianity will suffice. Each new genera- to the Stoic philosophj', man was to attain his highest moral destiny by enthroning his own reason, and by bringing himself into conform- ity with nature. The Epicurean tauglit him to appropriate the world, and make the niostof its present enjoyments. Other schools of thought have looked to the progress of the sciences and the development of earth's material resources; others, still, insist on the inherent irnprovable- ness of man. " From what has already gcme on during the historic period of man's exist- ence, we can safely predict a change that will by-and-by distinguish him from all other creatures even more widely and more funda- mentally than he is distinguished to-day." (Prof. John Fiske, "Destiny of Man," p. 73.) Alas! on either of these lines man's course will only be downward, and his phi- losophy end in pos.simism. The Christian doctrine of the future is far different. A tion must renew the contest, and repel fresh assaults from the powers of evil. Only the Coming of the world's King unto salvation will banish them forever. Hence: 3. Christ s return is the goal of the Church's hope. — "Till I come" (Luitei9:i3), "until the Lord come" (iCor. 4:5), are words that from age to age sound in theear of the church. The crown of righteousness is to be finally be- stowed upon "all them that have loved his appearing." The heart of a true and loyal church is ever with her absent Lord. To Christian thought the vista of human history closes with the person of the returning Re- deemer as the satisfaction of the world's hope, the realization of every ideal, the solution of all human problems. "Set j'our hope perfectly," the Apostle Peter writes, "on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (I Peter l :13. Rev. Ver.) It is by HO Deliverer has descended into the world for its j moans imperative that the subject of the Ad- rcdomption from the bondage of moral evil ; I vent should occupy the same relative promi- humanity is to co-operate in the furtherance j nence in the thought of our own daj' that it did of the enterprise, but its full realization awaits j in theearly part of the apostolic age. Butprom- the return of the same Deliverer. It is by inent it must be in the thought of everj' one loyal service to the crucified and risen Jesus, ! who has truly learned to pray "Thj^ kingdom by preparing the soul and the worldfor the I come."' The wider the spiritual vision of the Ch. v.] I. THESSALONIANS. 65 12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, aud are over you iu the Lord, aud udiuonisli you ; 13 And to es'ieeiu them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 12 But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and arc over you iu the Lord, 13 and admonisU you; aud to esteem them exceeding high iu love lor their work's sake, be at peace believer the more thorouglily his personal life is identified with the life of the church, the more eagerly will he look forward to the dawn of the millennial morning. "My soul looketh for the Lord, more than watchmen look for the morning." (,ps. i30:6, rcv. ver.) " Great Kiug, we await thee ! From watchtowers of prayer Expectant we gaze through the sin-troubled air, And with far-reaching vision we see That thy throne standeth firmly, eternal, sublime, While still through the mists aud confusions of time The earth climbeth upward to thee." 12-28. Closing Exhortations mid Benedic- tion. Having given instruction on the prin- cipal point which he had in view in the writing of the Epistle, Paul now closes with a few practical precepts appropriate to the con- dition of the young'church. Beginning with duties to superiors in the church, he speaks next of duties toward all Christian brethren, then toward other persons, finally of matters that pertain to their own inner life. 12. And (^but) we beseech you. The transition is a sudden, but necessary, one. With lifted finger he has pointed to glories beyond. But there are duties here. Until he come there is a settled order and constitu- tion of things, with corresponding obligations. KnoAV them which labour among you. 'Know,' recognize and regard them as such ; as their labors, their official position, and their monitory responsibilities entitle them to be recognized. When writing to the Philippians of Timothy, Paul reminds them : "Ye know his worth" — that is, his tried character. Of Epaphroditus he says: "Receive him there- fore in the Lord with all joy ; and hold such in honour. ^^ The persons designated are evi- dently the office-bearers of the church, in par- ticular the elders (7rperial nature. So Ellicott: " Dis- tinct eniinciatiVith us, who write to you ; it^eare to bo with Christ and share his glory ; so are yon. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed — literally, at the revelation, etc. The time of the final itward — that is, when the Lord shall come in visible form from the heavens. '■Revelation,'' tis in 1 Cor. 1 : 7, is one of the New Testament terms used to designate Christ's Second Coming. He is to come from heaven (see also 1 Thess. 4 : 10) Avith his mighty angels, or, angels of his poioer — the angels who are the ministers of his power, to manifest it and to be its agents in the universe— in flaming fire — tiie visible manifestation of his divine glorj". Such in the Old Testiiment also was the mode of God's appearances. "And the Angel of the Lord 78 II. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. I. 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus C'hri.st: y Who shall lie punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power: 8 Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming tire, rendering vengeance to them that know not (jod, and to them that obey not the 9 gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall sutTer punish- ment, even eternal destruction from the face of the appeartid to him in aflame of fire out of the midst of a bush." (Exod.3:2.) " And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.'' (Exod. i9: is.) Compare Rev. 19: 12, where the "King of kings and Lord of lords," he who is called the " Word of God," is described. "And his eyes are aflame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems." The verse-division here tends to obscure the connection ; this phrase properly belongs to what precedes, not to the words fol- lowing, and should be made part of ver. 7. 8. Taking vengeance on (literally, ren- dering vengeance to) them that know not God. "Vengeance belongeth unto me." (Rnm. 12: 19 aud Heb. 10; 30.) The citation is from Deut. 32 : 35, " tome belongeth vengeance and recompense." The objects of the divine ven- geance are mentioned in two separate classes— to them that know not God, and {to them) that obey not the gospel. The former are the Gentiles. See Note on 1 Thess. 4 : 5, "The Gentiles which know not God"; also Gal. 4:8; the guilt of such ignorance Paul establishes in Rom. 1 : 18, seq. The latter are the Jews. See Rom. 10 : 16 (Common Ver- sion), "But they have not all obeyed the gospel" ; also ver. 21 of the same chapter. To the Jewish mind every revelation of God pre- sented itself prominently as a manifestation of his will, as something to be obeyed. Hence their rejection of the gospel was emphatically & disobedience. Tiieir punishment is pictorially represented; both these divisions of the great army of wicked men arrayed against Christ and his church will then be driven back with overwhelming disaster before the advancing King and his angelic host. 9, 10. These verses set forth still more defi- nitely and vividly the contrasts of the great day. The King at his appearing will flash forth upon his foes eternal ruin, but transfigure his friends into his own glory. Who shall be punished. Both classes of the wicked shall be punished. The suff'ering of a ]\\si penalty, not correction (mere chiistisement for the pur- pose of discipline or reformation) is clearly the metuiing of the Greek phrase (h^Kr)v riaovaiv]. The idea of God's punishment being reforma- tory in its design finds no countenance in the language by which Paul describes it. It is a recompense righteously bestowed; it is & ven- geance (see the verses above) ascribed to God's justice. One of the most powerful sermons of Jonathan Edwards has for its theme "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners." Everlasting destruction, etc., in tipposition with punishment. The retribution inflicted upon them shall bean endless and irremediable ruin, consequent upon the glorious, mighty appearing of the Lord. Let us notice first the descriptive phraseology that follows, and then (at the end of ver. 10) consider the proper force of the term 'everlasting destruction.' The sense in which ' destruction ' is to be taken depends in part on the interpretation of the next verse. From the presence (face) of the Lord and from the glory of his power. 'From' may be understood as causal, "proceeding from," or local, "away from." Which of these two is the meaning here, is mainly to be determined from the use of the phrase ' from the face of in Jewish speech. It is a frequent Hebraism, and may be taken in either a causal or local sense, according to the verb or principal word on which it depends. In Isa. 2 : 10 (compare ver. 19, 21) the verb "hide" requires the latter. In Jer. 4 : 26 (Septuagint) both verbs "burnt with fire" and "utterly destroyed" require the former; so also Acts 3 : 19, "that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." In the presentver.se the following considerations are decisive in favor of the former. (1) The causal force "proceeding from" furnishes the only proper complement to "destruction" (oAeflpoi/) "ruin," this being a verbal ntmn which does not of itself suggest the separation of, but rather an effect ivrought upon the object. The entire context, indeed, suggests a representation of that whence the destruction proceeds, not of that of which it consists; this is one of the effects of the Lord's manifest presence. Precisely similar is the setting forth of the destruction of the Lawless Ch. I.] II. THESSALONIANS. 79 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, I 10 Lord and from the glory of his might, when he and to be admired in all ihein thai believe (because shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be our testimony among you was believed) in that day. | marvelled at iu all inem that believed (because our One, a few sentences further on (in ver. 8 of the following chapter). (2) The following co-ordinate chiuse, 'and from the glory of his power,' seems to require it. This describes not the issuing of an edict of banishment (as in Matt. 25 : 41), but sets forth pictorially an outgt)ing of ^jower, effect- ing, as it were, the instant overthrow and ruin of opposers. (3) This mode of representation harmonizes with other descriptions of the effect of Jeho- vah's face, look, or presence. See Ps. 104 : 32. "He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth ; he toucheth the hills, and they smoke." (Hab. 3:6.) So also Christ's coming is described in the next chapter, 2 : 8. The latter passage furnishes the elue to Paul's conception here. (4) In reply to Lianemann's objectipn that on this interpretation ver. 9 contains (with the exception of 'everlasting') only a repetition of what has already been said in ver. 7, 8, it may be answered, that the instant and eternal ruin, on the day of judgment, of all the ene- mies of God and his gospel, is the fact which the writer is intent on bringing into special prominence; hence its repetition in the vivid language of prophecy. The manifestation of Christ's coming shall itself bring everlasting ruin upon his foes. This is the leading thought and source of encouragement in chapters first and second. 10. When he shall come to be glorified iu his saints — that is, when he shall come from heaven in order to be 'glorified in his saints.' His 'saints' shall in that day shine forth with a glory that sliall glorify Christ who bestre«ene«. ness"; the word denotes a rational desire, as distinguished from a mere impulse or instinct- ive feeling, and might be rendered, ''aspira- tion after goodness." The rendering of the Common Version corresponds to that of Wic- lif, Calvin, and other of the older expositors. But the word here rendered 'goodness' is not applied in the New Testament to God, but only to men ; besides, the next member of tlie sentence — work of faith— must necessarily apply to the Thessalonians. On this latter phrase, see note on 1 Thess. 1 : 3. With power— powerfully, to be connected with 'fulfil.' It is characteristic of the ardent apostle that nothing less than a mighty work of grace will satisfy him. To Paul's concep- tion the gospel of Christ was "the power of God." (Rom. 1:16.) Our aspirations, our good intentions, are not self-fulfilling. Nor can we of ourselves realize tiiem. They will be unrealized, unproductive, except as God shall fulfill them. Tliey must be energized with his power; he must work both tlie willing and the doing. 12. That the name of our Lord Jrsus, etc. "The name" of Jesus in Biblical lan- guage, here and often, denotes Jesus as rei^ea led to men. One of the primitive designations of Christians was "those who call on the name of Jesus" ; that is, pray to him. See Acts 9: 14. And ye in him. See John 17 : 22, "And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them " ; Rom. 8 : 30, " And whom he jus- tified, them he also glorified"; 2 Cor. 3 : 18, " But we all with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the .same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit." According to the grace, etc. Recurring, as he closes this section of the Epistle, to the ground-thnuglit embodied in the apostolic salutation— the eter- nal purpose of grace revealed to the world in the gospel of Christ. Ch. 2 : 1-12. — Christ's Coming, and the Man of Sin. Course of Thought. — But, brethren, as re- gards the Day of the Lord, the day that shall bring requital, and the consummation of our hopes, let no one persuade you that it is already here. Do. not be driven from your steadfast course of daily faith and duty ; do not become restless and excited, even if a prophet appear, or a message come purporting to be from us,, asserting that the end of the world has come, and the Day of the Lord has dawned. Two events are to precede the Advent: the great Apostasy, and the Manifestation (diroicoXi/i^/ei;) of the Man of Sin. Have you forgotten inj- iii- strtictionson this point? You know tiie Power that now restrains the arrogant and lawless Ad- versary. This Restrainer shall continue for a while to hold him in check. But as soon as he shall be removed, then the Adversary shall be manifested. Afterward Jesus shall appear, and his appearing shall be the destruction of this foe, whose wiles and lying wonders are deluding the unbelieving and disobedient. 1. Now we beseech you. 'Now '{a pre- ferable translation would be but) marks a quick transition to the topic that forms the leading tliemeof tlie latter; namely, the question as to the time of our Lord's return. This he intro- duces, not in a cold, didactic manner, but with affectionate urgency, suitable to its practical importance in their case; similarl3' in 1 Thess. 4 : 1. The toj)ic had for them more than a theoretical interest, and bore directly on their daily life. By (or, touching) : The rendering 'by' makes Paul adjure his readers in view of this event. This explanation was common in the older expositors, but is not according to New Testament usage. The coming . . . and our gathering together unto him. ' Coming,' here as in 2 : *20; 3 : 13, etc., of the previous letter, is Parouaia. Oti the general I subject of the Advent he' had taught them F 82 II. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. n. 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, i 2 iiig together nolo biiu; to the end that ye be not neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, quickly shaken I'roiu your uiiud, nor yet be as thai the day of Christ is at hand. troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle I as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at orally, as well as in the previous letter, and on 'the giitliering together' he had given special instruction in 4 : 13-18 of that letter. 2. That ye be not, etc. The clause thus introduced simply states what the entreaty is: we beseech you that ye be uot soon shaken. The question as to the proper translation is similar to that in ver. 5 of the previous chap- ter, where the Revisers use the same phrase, '•to the end that"— that is, whenever an ap- parent occasion presents itself, whoever shall seek to induce you; be slow to hear the " Lo here," or the " Lo there" (see Mark 13 : 21 and Matt. 24 : 23, seq. ) of rash and mistaken hsaders, whose errors will "lead astray, if pos- sible, 'even the elect." The history of the church, from Paul's time to this, shows how frequent have been the times of religious e.\citeinent, when men renounced settled con- victions and neglected daily duty at the an- nouncement of the arrival of the Advent. Shaken in (from your) mind — unsettled in mind — distracted. The word properly denotes the agitation of a stormy sea. James (1 : 6) describes unsettled or wavering faith by a similar figure: "He that doubteth is like the ."-urge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed." Neither be troubled. This is a still stronger expression tlian the preceding, do not be disturbed or terrified. Our Lord had en- joined vigilance in view of his return, but not restless instability. Steadfast faith, and fidelity in daily duty; each man at his post and ful- filling his trust; not being ever on the qid vive lest the Lord come and others know it sooner than we. Tiie danger to their steadfastness in connec- tion with this subject might come, or had come, in three wa\'s: by spirit — that is, by any sup- posed prophetic communication. See note on 1 Thess. 5 : 19-21. Any deliverance, pur- porting to be on the authority of the Holy Spirit, that contradicted the apoower, but iiis public visible appearance in the arena <»f history — the disclosure of his real character. The apostle then goes on to name and to describe him. According to the preferable reading (ifOMios, "lawlessness," in- stead of a/iapriaf, "sin"), he is the Man of Lawlessness,^ or Iniquity. See the margin of the Revision. The Revisers have rendered the word (avouia) by "initjuity" in every pas- sage where the word occurs in the New Testa- ment except two: Ver. 7, below, and 1 John 3 : 4, " Every one that doeth sin, doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." (Revised Version.) The apostle's phrase designates the character of this person; iniquity or law- lessness is his distinguishing characteristic; in him it is, as it were impersonated and incar- nate. Whether 'man' here denotes an indi- vidual, or has a collective sense, will be considered below. At all events, the apostle is \\i:re picturing i\r\ individual. It is signifi- cant tliat Paul, who a few j'ears later was to expound the relations of Sin and Law in his letter to the Romans, singles out this as the distinguishing feature of the Antichrist, and brands him Lawless. The son of perdi- tion — or, destruction. So rendered in various passages, both in the Common and Revised Versions. The word (oirresses one's nature, or one's distinguishing charaeteri-stic, in the .strongest manner. See note on 1 Thess. 5 : 5. Here it denotes the destiny of the Lawless One. See ver. 8, below. Compare John 17 : 12, where our Lord i)lainiy refers to Judas Iscariot as a "6f)n of perdition " ; also 2 Peter 2 : 12. 4. Who opposeth. As this clause is to be taken absolutely, the verb having no object (so most of the recent commentators), the sense will be more plainly given thus: t/ie I'Man of Lnirlessnesx,' ofojuiot. So Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf, Tregelles; Zockler also ("Kiirzge- fasster Couinientar," rendi-red Rurhlo.eiiian, Tcrtulliaii, Ambrose, Cyril of Jerusalem, and Oripcn, who, however, also qiiote.s the other reading. Both readinjrs are early— traceable hack to the sceond oeii- tury. For a/xapria? are A D and the later uncials ; the Syriac, lyatin, (Jothie, and ,1-:thi..]iie Versions; Origeii, Hipjiolytus, and Tlioodoret, with other patristic testi- monies. It certainly cannot lie assumed diriiand. with Liineniann and luany, tliat a»o/iiaf is taken from ver, , 7 and 8; for it is quite as likely that aiiaprria^ should have been an early gloss on avoixiav. as tlie reverse. It may lie noted that avoiiia. and airujAtia are eoiiple^l to- gether in Wisdom 5:7 (a well-known passagei, and in the same order as here. Intrinsically, aiojiia would seem entitled to the preference. 'The Man' of this passage inipemonates not .so much sin as such, but the pride, power, and resistance of sin — its opjKwilion to the divine law, for which avoiiia. was the familiar term in Biblical (ireek. It may be that the phrase 'Man of Sin' was also Pa\iline, and l>y oral transmission had become familiar in the early church asasyuouyui for Antichrist. 86 II. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. II. is called Cioii, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the teu pie of (jod, shewing himself that he is God. that is culled God or 'that is worshipped; so th:il be sitteth in the ^ temple of God, setting himseif 1 Gr. an object of worship 2 Or, eanctuary. Opposer, the ExaLter of himself against every one that is called God. 'Opposeth' whom? Primarily, Christ and his kingdom; so we may infer from the proper meaning of Anti- christ, the name applied to this or a similar arch-adversary by John. "This is the Anti- christ, even he that denieth the Father and his Son." (1 John 2 : 22.) The verb 'opposeth' liLVTiKeiinevoi!), it Will be observed, has the same preposition {avri). That the context also spe- cially points to the opposer o/ Christ has been shown by Lunemann : "For the Man of Sin stands in the closest and strictest parallelism with Christ. He is the forerunner of Christ's Advent, and has, as the Caricature [Zerrbild) of Christ, like him an advent and a manifes- ttition ; he raises the power of evil, which ex- alts itself in a hostile manner against Christ and his kingdom to the highest point: his working is diametrically the opposite of the W(^rking of Christ, and it is Christ's appear- ance which destroys him." Following upon the assertion of his hostility, we have next that of his arrogant pretension. This is especially tnanifested in that he exalt- eth himself above {against) all that is called God, or that is worshipped. He is not only an antagonist to Christ : he is a counter-Christ; he sets himself up as a rival to God and Christ. He exalts himself above every object of worship, against every one to whom deity is ascribed. This feature in the characterization is taken directly from the description, in Daniel 11 : 36, 37, of Antiochus Ei>iphanes, the Old Testament type of Anti- christ: "And the king shall do according to his will ; and he shall exalt himself and mag- nify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods: and he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God. Literally, ".so that he hath seated himself, ^^ or, perhaps, "so that he seateth hitnself." The clause ap- parently describes something that has taken place — a fact of the writer's own time. The aorist here, compared with the present tenses in ver. 7, would seem to settle this point be- yond question. Not that the entire delinea- tion is comprised within the apostle's own time; descriptive and predictive elements are blended I;! the present passage; but there is a manifest reference to existing phenom- ena known to his readers, opposing forces and manifestations of evil concerning which he had found it necessary' to instruct and en- courage them. Hence, the very form of Paul's statement forbids us to inquire with Hutciii- son, in what sanctuary or inmost shrine "he is to take his seat." The question is, in what temple he had taken his seat. In its primary and historical reference, therefore, we under- stand by 'the temple of God' the temple at Jerusalem. Antiochus Epiphanes, who fur- nishes the traits in this description of the Man of Sin, had actually desecrated the Jewish temple. The Tliessalonian readers would un- derstand the temple in Jerusalem to be meant, unless a remoter, figurative meaning were plainly indicated. If the temple at Jerusalem be meant, it suggests at once that Paul is de- scribing a Jewish foe, Jewish opposition to the kingdom of Christ. Of no other malig- nant and defying agency of evil, known to be in existence at that time as an arch foe of tbe church of Christ, can it be said that it had enthroned itself in the temple at Jerusalem. Caligula, shortly before his assassination in the year 4T, had commanded the erection of a statue to himself in the Holy Place, but Calig- ula at the time of this writing could scarcely have been in Paul's mind as the veritable Man of Sin. By many expositors, however, 'the temple' here is taken as meaning the Christian Church or n Christian Church, the figurative sense in which Paul uses the word temple in 1 Cor. 3 : 17. Compare 1 Cor. 6 : 19; Eph. 2 : 21. This was the interpretation cur- rent among the Greek Fatliers, in modern times adopted by Calvin, Pelt, Olshausen, Alford, and many others. In the compre- hensive inter]iretation of the prophecy, in- cluding both its immediate and its remoter reference, the latter signification would not Ch. II.] XL THESSALONIANS. 87 5 Renieniber ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told yoii thoseihiugs? ti And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his liiue. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work : 5 forth asCiod. Ueaicmher ye not, that, when I nas yet with yiMi, 1 told you thoe tilings? And imw ye know that which lestraiiietli, to the end tlial lie 7 may be revealed in his own season. For the mys- tery of lawlessness doth already work: 'only l/tcre 1 Or, only untii he that nam rettraiHeth ba taken, etc. necessarily be excluded; but in deciding upon its primary and immediate reference, we are forced, with Ellicott, to decide in favor of tlie former, wliicli is also, according to the state- ment of Irenseus, the earliest traditional inter- pretiition. Showing himself that he is God — or, more literally and in more explicit English, di'cliirinrf that he khnself is God, the emphasis being on 'himself;' not on 'is,' as Alford lias it. This is the climax of human sin ; it is self-assertion in its ftilsest, most im- pious and defiant form — a colossal, monstrous lie. As Julius Miiller suggests, it is conscious falsehood; he cannot really believe his own assertion. 5. I told yon. The itiiperfect tense of the verb nattirally implies instruction more or less continuous. Thus the present chtipter simply embraces the heads of considerable oral teaching on the subject during the few weeks or months immediately following their conversion. This teaching, as remarked tibove, seems not unlikely to have been in connection witii readings or lessons in the Book of Dsiniel. 6. And now ye know. 'Now' hits almost the sense of accordingly — that is, having had such oral instruction, thin heinrj the case. On this subject also of the Re.straitier, they had been taught, and the apostle merely calls to mind the main points: What withholdeth— or, that which restraineth, neuter; below it is ma-sculine, "he who now letteth," or "one who restraineth." ' Restraineth ' what? The next clause suggests the answer: a premature revealing of the Lawless One; 'restraineth' him from being revealed, until the divinely- ordained time shall have come. What or ivho it is that restrains— as to this we have abso- lutely no infortnation other than the designa- tions themselves, and what is implied in ver. 7-11, immediately following. "The neuter in ver. 6 denotes the power, the principle; the masculine in ver. 7, a personality at the head of that power; at least this \s a priori the most natural suggestion." (Riggenbach.) That the restraining power denotes the Roman Empire, and the 'one who restraineth' tlie Roman Emperor, is the judgment of almost all interpreters at the present time. That he might (or, ynay) be revealed. The pttr- pose of this dela}' is that in his a|)pointed tine (both the delay and the time are divinely ordained) he may be full^' revealed, may stand forth in his true character. In his time (or, his own season) — that is, when his titiie shall come. 'Own,' in the Revised Version, might well be omitted — pmbablj', even fol- lowing the text used by the Revisers; cer- tiiinly, according to the Greek te.xt of Tisch- endorf, and of Westcott and Hort. 7. For the mystery of iniquity (laioless- ness), etc. AVhat follows is exi)lanatory, hence the ' for' — a restatement of the presetit posture of the matter, and of the future event. Aow, this lawless one is active, but mysteriously disguised; his essential falsehood undisclosed or repressed; then, in due season, he shall stand forth recognized and consi)icuous, but not until the power appointed of God to pre- vent that manifestation shall be taken out of the way. ' Mystery of lawlessness' — evidently the inner, animtiting principle of that which in its etnb()diment is desigiuited above jnan of lawlessness; mysterious because of its unir the sake of rhetorical vividness. It seems distinctly to indicate a personality as wielding this power of restraint. The history of the times leads to the obvious inference that Paul is guardedly referring to the einperor, the personal repre- sentative of the existing civil power. Until he be taken out of the way. This transla- tion goes a little beyond the original, which does not at all necessarily imply a removal of the Restrainer by any other agency than his own. More literally, until he be out of the way ; that is, until his power shall terminate, nothing at all being said as to whether this should take place by a peaceful transition, or be the result of an overthrow by some agency from without. Farrar is also wrong: "until he be got out of the way." Hofmann con- siders the phraseology as more likely implying a voluntary withdrawal of the Restrainer from the scene of action, or from participation in the events spoken of. 8-10. And then shall that Wicked (lawless one) be revealed. Paul's language ri.ses, as this vision of the future opens befora him, into the majestic sublimity of Hebrew poetry. The parallelism and rhetorical full- ness of diction, the rhythm and imagery of this brief prophetic strain, reflect the exulta- tion with which he sees, as if near at hand, the swift destruction of this malignant and terrible embodiment of sin. The emphasis is on 'then'; then, as soon as the Restrainer's power shall be withdrawn. The Lawless One is undoubtedly identical with the Man of Lawlessness above. Whom the Lord (Jesus) shall consume (Revised Version, slay). The Christ shall slay the Antichrist. A speedy downfall and de- struction of this empire of sin, for the Lord shall then come, and his Coming shall be the destruc- tion of the Lawless One. IShall slay with the spirit (breath) of his mouth — prophetic dic- tion of the Old Testament. Compare Isa. 11 : 4: " With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked" ; Job 4:9: "By the brcatii of God thoy perish, and by the blast of his anger are they consumed.'" There will be no struggle, no laborious contest witli this Anti- christ; the might of God will simply breathe destruction upon him. Far different that other " breathing forth " (see John 20 : 22) by which our Lord symbolized the giving of the Holy Spirit to his disciples. And destroy with the brightness (or, by the manife.stn.tion) of his coming — that is, as soon as his Coming shall be made manifest. 'Brightness of his coming,' though poetically suggestive (com- pare Milton: "Far off his coming shone"), was not quite correct as a translation. The ver3' sight of the advancing King shall carry terror to the heart of his adversary and bring annihilating ruin. The vision of him from afar shall be, as it were, instant destruction to his foes. See ver. 9 in the preceding chapter : "Destruction [proceeding] from the face of the Lord." 9. Even him — supplied in English in order to show tiiat (whose) the pronoun ft)lh)\ving, refers to the first and main subject of the sen- tence, "the Lawless One." Whose coming — whose Parousia, the same word being used Ch. II.] II. THESSALONIANS. 89 10 And with all tU'Cuivablencss of iinrighteousiiL-ss [ 10 'power and sijjiis and lying wonders, and willi in them that jierish ; because they received not the love all deceit i>t unrighteoiisiie'-..s l.ir lUeui that -perish ; of the truth, that they uiigUt be saved. | because they received uul the love of the truth, 1 Gr. power and sign* and uondtrt o/ /altehood 2 Or, are periihiug. that is iipplied to the Advent of Clirist (his first as well as his second Cuming to etirth ; see 2 Peter 1 : 16) ; the Advents of tlie Ciirist and the Antichrist are heie placed in close and striking contrast. Is after (accordiaff to) the working of Satan. ' Is ' (present tense) asserts a general attribute of the Antichrist's Paroiisia. It is not to be taken as referring to the future alone, but a])parently includes as well existing manifestiitions of his power at the time of the writer. A comparison with ver. 7 — ' working' (ivepynav) with 'doth already work' (exepyeirat) — sliows plainly that the ajjos- tle is describing not merely future, but ex- isting phenomena of Antichrist's activity. Notice also in the following verses — "that perish," or, are perishing, and "shall send," or, sendeth. See also remarks on "sitteth in the temple of God," ver. 4. Ellicott and the great majority interpret otherwise. "The (ethical) present marks the certainty of the future event." So also Litnemann, Riggen- bach. But such interpretation strains both text and context. The characteristic elements of his coming are such as Paul discerns already in active operation. The final cen- tralized and incarnated force of evil, while yet future is, however, described as seen in its existing manifestation.s. In the first place, there is seen in his working an "energy of Satan." Satan will enter into him as into liis typical predecessor, Judas. (Joim i3:2, ?7.) He will be a suj^erhuman incarnation of evil. "In Antichrist, Satan's masterpiece, will Satan, so to speak, exhaust himself, putting forth through him all his own resources of strength and skill, and that in both spheres of his operation, the external and the spiritual." (Liliie.) With all power and .signs and lying wonders — literally, "ail i)owor and signs and wonders of false/iood ;" 'lying,' or 'falsehood,' applies not merely to the last noun named, but to all three— his power, signs, and wonders. In this interpretation Ellicott, Alford, and indeed most expositors are agreed. It is worthy of notice that these tUroo—pnirer, sign, wondei — are precisely the three terms most employed in the gospel history to denote our Lord's supernatural deeds. But his were true miracles, these of the Antichrist are false ; tiie latter are lying, counterfeit, powers and signs and wonders. "Antichrist's coming is brought into comparison with the earthly ministry of Christ, as exhibiting itself also as surrounded with all forms of wonderful action, which, however, are grounded, not like Christ's miracles, in truth, but in falseh(M)d, in that they are performed, not in God's powi-r, but in Satan's." (Olslniusen.) Assuming that it is the .Iewi<»h enmity to tlie gospel, to which the apo.stle has alluded as the mystery of lawless- ness which is already active, it is not ditficult to see the historical basis for this part of the description. See the ticcount of Simon ilagus in Acts 8 : 9, 10, " who used sorcery and amazed the people of Samaria, giving out that he iiim- self was some great one ; " also Acts ];i : 0-12, concerning Btir-jestis the "sorcerer and false prophet," "full of all guile and villainy,'' etc. As Israel turned awtiy from God and his law, it became the dupe of ftilse prophets and pre- tended miracle-workers. One of the qualifi- cations to a seat in the Sanhedrin, it is sttiti-d on the authority of Jewish writers, was to be skilled in magic. 10. With all deceivableness (deceit) of unrighteousness. A notable proof of the 'power' just spoken of is his success in deceiving men ; he is mighty to deceive. Sin is essentially deceitful; "exhort one another daily, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:i3), the siime word in the original as 'deceit' liere. Compare Christ's prediction : " For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." (.m»ii. S4:i4.) In (or, for) them that perish. It is for, it reaches and affects 'them that perish,' or, art perishing, not true believers. Why it de- ceives the 'perishing,' and not all, is indi- cated: because they received not the love of the truth — 'the truth.' having a somewhat definite reference to the moral and religious truth comprised in Christ'sgospel. The catise, observe, is not merely rejection of the truth, 90 11. THESSALONIANS. [Ch. IL 11 And for this cause God shall send tbeni strong delusion, that lliey should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but bad pleasure in unrighteousness. 11 that they might be saved. And for this cause (iod sendeth them a working of eri-or, that they should 12 believe a lie: that Ibey all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- eousness. but aversion to it. "Men loved the darkness rather than the light." (Johii3:i9.) They not only ".believed not the trutli, hut had pleasure in unrighteousness'' (ver. V2, below); "tliey hold down the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. 1:18.) Tile jipostlc's words also hint at a criminal indifference to tlieir eternal welfare ; the gospel, offered them that they might be saved, they rejected. Truth does not become saving truth unless it be loved. It will be loved, if the heart but open itself, or if the Lord but open it, as in the case of Lydia at Philippi. And he will open it, if he gain con- sent. In this incidental phrase, 'received not the love,' there is certainly profound sug- gestion as to the nature of unbelief. Religious truth does not compel the will, nor is the assent of the intellect altogether independent of the feelings. On this point, compare A. S. Farrar, "History of Free Th(night," pp. 14, 15. 11. God shall send them strongdelusioii. Revised Version reads, Sendeth them a work- ing of error, stating, as in ver. 9, 10, not only a principle containing the germ of a proph- ecy, but what was actually going on at the time of writing. To consider this merely "a vivid prophetic present," as Hutchison and many, requires a strained reading of the whole passage. The apostle, writing under the evi- dent impression that the Coming of the Lord was not far off, sees already the tokens of Anti- christ's presence and power, and the phrase- ology of the paragraph from ver. 4 to ver. 12 naturally adjusts itself to this fact. The ne.vt paragraph strongly confirms this interpreta- tion ; it takes its tone from the vivid contrast between the deluded and perishing adherents of Satan, and the believing church to whom he was writing. Upon tho.se who reject and repress the truth God sends "an energy of error" (^ivipytiav) . Falsehood begets falsehood. Sin is punished by sin. This is the divine order of things, rt is involved in the nature and constitution of moral beings. It is thus, espe- cially, that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and un- righteousness of men." (Rom. i: is.) The en- tire paragraph (Rom. i: is-si.) is an illustrative commentary upon the present declaration. That they should believe a lie — literally, the lie or falsehood (the word is the same as that rendered 'falsehood ' in margin of ver. 9), the falsehood which the Man of Siu as&erts and embodies. 12. That they all might be damned — properly, judged. The clause properly de- pends on the preceding verse taken as a whole. This revelation uf God's wrath against conscious and deliberate sinners, while they are yet on the earth, prepares the way for the fuller disclosures of the day of judgment. The lines of providential retribution are already seen converging toward the final crisis of doom. This line of thought reap- pears more fully and distinctly in the first two chapters of Romans. The phrase, 'Might be damned' —that is, condemned (though the con- text implies a condemnatory judgment), ex- presses more than the original. Who believed not, etc. Here, as implied in ver. 10, the oppo- site of belief is vie wed, not merely as intellectual non-belief, or even disbelief, but as a desire of unrighteousness. "Had pleasure" (euSoK^o-ov- T€s) is a word cognate with that translated "desire" in 1 : 11. General Note on Yerses 1-12. The Man of Sin.' I. In the notes introductory to the section, I have pointed out its organic relation to the whole body of Biblical prophecy, and par- ticularly its place in New Testament prophecy. It remains, in the present note, to summarize the traits of this great enemy of Christ and his kingdom, upon whose revelation and de- struction the Apostle Paul's prophetic gaze is fixed. What are the prominent features of "this terrible image, which Christ's apostle, standing in the bright Pentecostal morn of Christianity, already saw casting a baleful shadow across the heavens and lifting looks of proud defiance even in the temple of God"? 1. Lawlessness. — Its distinguishing feature 1 In part from the " Baptist Quarterly Review," July, 1889 ; article, " The Man of Sin.' Ch. II.] 11. THESSALONIANS. 91 is Anomla, iniquity or lawlessness. He is the •'Man of Lawlessness," the " Lawless One" ; bis working is "a mystery of hiwk-ssness." This triple repetition lends signiticance and emphasis to the name of the Pauline Anti- christ. It designates the most obvious as- pect of his sin. The term is not a weak negation, marking lapse from hiw, mere mural defect; it is rather resistance, deliberate disobedience, and transgression. The seat of tlie antagonism is tiie will ; tliis incarnate iniquity is self-will raised to its highest power. 2. (Jppusltioii to Clirist and his Kingdom. — This is the notable mark. He is the Opposer. He represents the chief human force arrayed against Christ. His sin is not merely un- governable defiance of moral law, bursting through all restraint, but is a definite antag- onism to Christ and his redemptive work. 3. 6'e//-rfe(/ica