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Rian Guutuite ts an a ey sang Ge he beers + Faberstptat ys i ν᾿ ee Ῥ vets atta gate ρον Δ telat aly set atatatatotete hr ‘ ne UU GaGuG Ra cr eta tag caer tty Hit “ eae ἢ ἈΝ ΒΗ ΡΝ ἘΡΡΕΡΡΡΡΗΝ ΜῊΝ eee rae! i BORCOGLEK ἈΜΉΝ PPE ESE Sete ty Bon ΡΣ δ. δ ρα δ ΣΕΡ a Caneel RG ΕΣ hina ΚΉΒΗΙ ἘΠΕ ies pobre ( Wala Kein PEPER PPP Pa Brel Ἂ ᾿ i CPD Weecokaracaeeh Bet Rss ΠΗΓΗ͂Σ ee terete oy Ode Gat CCA ΡΝ AHA ttt Saag Ἦν ἀρ με ἅ ἐ Mle AL eed Te dade ni aie NS AAL A AAAS ERE KASS ΤΡ εν ἢ εν» Hy AACR CAM MAA LEA ote: ie Aya SEs te WI IIIS PACA ELAS ede, CALA, δεν» is ᾿ς - Sates Yeoreesy| ELSES oA μὴν SELLA LES Be ᾿ δ ¥ wy) re fe ‘ at i ‘ cag Ms i ἢ es PSEA SSA SEALE ALLEGE Se ἣν ἥ ΡΨ RE: tH Hee ee Hees AK Corts » ay ify ‘Ms ν᾽ ay, CEA EAL BEBE MEE A cs FASS sites vet ( Pe) 6 OG ‘i (edad i CELE Ἢ ἰὴ γεν νη Eye ive etree faeces Spe Crs horny City reer thee Git att rity ae see ey ΚΑΤ ΟΡ στον ie co Meo icy he Ae ately me epee egestas Ὡς ΟΜ ΚΑΙ ind eS ccbeparejessyt tr ate phreees CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Barnes Hall Library -==- gy - PRESENTED BY ALFRED C. BARNES. NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM. Ii ii 3 1924 092 344 393 Cornell University The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092344393 A COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL, =e WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MINISTERS AND STUDENTS BY JOHN PETER LANGE, D.D. IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF EMINENT EUROPEAN DIVINES. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS, BY PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D. IN CONNECTION WITH AMERICAN DIVINES OF VARIOUS EVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS. VOL. VIL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: CONTAINING THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS, TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON AND THE HEBREWS. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, 1887. THE TWO EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS BY C. A. AUBERLEN, AND C. J. RIGGENBACH, ὍΣ OF PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY, LATE EXTRAORDINARY DR. OF THEOLOGY, AND PROFESSOR IN OB\.eAaRT PROFESSOR IN BASEL. IN BASEL. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, WITH ADDITIO.VA&, BY JOHN LILLIE, D.D. FIFTH EDITION, NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, Ewrersp, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1368, by CHARLES SCRIBNER ἃ CO., ft the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Distr of New York, TRow’s PRINTING AND BooksinpInG Company, 205-213 Hast 12th St, NEW YORK, LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL COMMEN: TARY ON THE BIBLE. GENERAL EDITORS: Rev. JOHANN PETER LANGE, D.D., Oonsistorial Counselor and Professor of Theology in the University of Bonn, Rey. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Sacred Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. 1, CONTRIBUTORS TO THE GERMAN EDITION. Rev. 0. A. AUBERLEN, Ph.D., D.D., Rev. CHRIST. FR. KLING, D.D., Professor of Theology δὰ ine ΤΌΥΘΕΒΗΣ of Basle, Dean of Marbach on the Neckar, Wirtemberg. witzerland. ως Rev. GOTTHARD VIOTOR LECHLER, D.D., Rev. KARL CHR. W. F. BAHR, D.D., Professor of Theology, and Superintendent at Leipaig. Ministerial Counselor at Carlaruhe. Rev. CARL BERNHARD MOLL, D.D., Rev. KARL BRAUNE, D.D., General Superintendent in Kénigsberg. General Superintendent at Altenburg, Saxony, Rev. 0. W. EDWARD NAEGELSBAOH, Ph,D., Rev. PAULUS CASSEL, Ph.D., Dean at Bayreuth, Bavaria. Professor in Berlin. Rev. J. J. VAN OOSTERZEE, D.D., Rev. OHR. FR. DAVID ERDMANN, D.D., Professor of Theology in the University of Utrecht, Gen. Superintendent of Silesia, and Prof. Honorarius of Theology in the University of Breslau. Rey. 0. J. RIGGENBAOH, D.D., Rev. F. R. FAY, Professor of Theology in the University of Basle. Pastor in Crefeld, Prussia. Rev. OTTO SCHMOLLER, Ph.D., B.D., Rev. G. F. C. FRONMULLER, Ph.D., Urach, Wirtemberg. Pastor at Kemnath, Wiirtemberg. Rev. FR. JULIUS SCHROEDER, D.Dy Pastor at Elberfeld, Prussia. Rev. KARL GEROK, D.D., Prelate and Chief Chaplain of the Court, Stuttgart. Rev. FR. W. SCHULTZ, D.D., Professor of Theology in Breslau, Rev. PAUL KLEINERT, Ph.D., B.D., i i Ὁ ZOECKLER, D.D. ft of Old Testament Exegesis in the Universit; Rev. OTT’ pe eee of Berlin.” " Professor of Theology in the University at Greifswald, Il. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ANGLO-AMERICAN EDITION. Rev. CHARLES A. AIKEN, Ph.D., D.D., Rev. JOHN A. BROADUS, D.D., Professor of Christian Ethica and Apologetics at Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Louisville, Ky. igen Rev. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D.D., Rev. SAMUEL RALPH ASBURY, M.A., Pastor of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, Philadelphia. ‘New York. EDWIN CONE BISSELL, D.D. Rev. THOMAS J. CONANT, D.D., Professor in the Theol. Seminary at Hartford, Ct. Brooklyn, N. Y. Rev. GEORGH R. BLISS, D.D., ἢ ἢ . Ἐ. R. CRAVEN, D.D.. Professor in Crozer Theological Seminary, Upland, Pa. Rev. newark, dh ᾽ ᾿ Rev. CHAS. A. BRIGGS, D.D., ‘ δ SBY, D.D., LL.D.., i in the Union Theological Rev. HOWARD ORO , D.D., LU.D., aac ee dear New York a Chancellor of the University of New York. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. Rev. GEO. E. DAY, D.D., Professor in Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn. Rey. CHAS. ELLIOTT, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, Chicago, TL Rev. L. J. EVANS, D.D., Professor of New Test. Exegesis in Lane Theol. Seminary, Cincinnati. Rev. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D.D., Principal and Professor of Divinity in the Free Church College, Glasgow. Rev. WILLIAM FINDLAY, M.A, Pastor of the Free Church, Larkhall, Scotland. Rev. JOHN FORSYTH, D.D., LL.D., Chaplain and Prof. of Ethics and Law in U. 8, Military Academy, West Point, N. Y. Rey. FREDERIC GARDINER, D.D., Prof. of the Literature of the O. T. in Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Ct. Rev. ABRAHAM GOSMAN, D.D., Lawrenceville, N. J. Rev. W. HENRY GREEN, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Oriental Literature in the Theol. Seminary at Princeton, N. J. Rev. JAMES B. HAMMOND, MLA, New York. Rev. HORATIO Β. HACKETT, D.D, Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the Theological Seminary, Rochester, N. Y. Rev. EDWIN HARWOOD, D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, New Haven, Conn. Rey. W. H. HORNBLOWER, D.D., Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, etc., in the Theol. Seminary at Alleghany, Pa. Rev. JOHN F. HURST, D.D., President of the Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J. Rev. A, C. KENDRICK, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Greek in the University of Rochester, N. Y. TAYLER LEWIS, LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages in Union College, Schenectady, N. ¥. Rev. JOHN LILLIE, D.D., Kingston, N. Y¥. Rev. SAMUEL T. LOWRIE, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa. Rev. J. FRED. McCURDY, M.A., Asst Profeseor of the Hebrew Language in the Theol, Sem. at Princeton, N. J. Rev. CHARLES M. MEAD, Ph.D., Profesor of the Hebrew Language and Literature in the Theol, Sem,, Andover, Masa, br Rev. J. ISADOR MOMBERT, D, Ὁ.» Philadelphia, Pa. Rev. DUNLOP MOORE, D.D.,. New Brighton, Pa. Miss EVELINA MOORK, Newark, N. J. JAMES G. MURPHY, LUL.D., Professor in the General Assembly’s and the Queen’s College at Belfast. Rev. HOWARD OSGOOD, D.D., Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Test. in the Theol. Sem., Rochester, N. Y. Rev. JOSEPH PACKARD, D.D. Professor of Biblical Literature in the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Va. Rev. DANIEL W. POOR, D.D., Professor of Church History in the Theological Seminary at San Francisco, Cal. Rev, MATTHEW B. RIDDLE, D.D., Professor of New Testament Exegesis in the Theol. Seminary at Hartford, Conn. Rev. CHAS. F. SCHAEFFER, D.D., Professor of Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia. Rev. WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Systematic Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Rev. CHAS. C. STARBUCK, M.A., Formerly Tutor in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass. Rev. P, H. STEENSTRA, Professor of Biblical Literature at Cambridge, Masa, Rev. JAMES STRONG, D.D., Professor of Exegetical Theology in the Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J. Rev. W. G. SUMNER, M.A., Professor in Yale College, New Haven, Conn, Rev. Ο. H. TOY, D.D., Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, Rev. E. A. WASHBURN, D.D., LL.D., Rector of Calvary Church, New York. WILLIAM WELLS, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Modern Languages in Union Collega, New York. Rev, 0. P. WING, D.D., Carlisle, Pa. Rev. E. Ὁ. YEOMANS, D.Dy Orange, N. J. EDITOR’S PREFACE. Tas eighth volume of the English edition of Dr. Lancn’s “Bible-Work” contemns the exposition of seven Epistles of the New Testament, by the combined labor of ten European and American scholars, as follows: I, and I. Epistles to the Taessanonrans, = Drs, AUBERLEN and RIGGENBACH Translated by Dr. Liwim. 1. and Il. Epistles to Trworay. By Dr. Van Oosterzer. Translated by Drs. WasH: - BURN and Harwoop. Epistle to Trrus. By Dr. Van Oosrzrzun. Translated by Dr. Day. Epistle to Pamemon. By Dr. Van Oosrerzer. Translated by Dr. Hackurr, Epistle to the HesREws. By Dr. Mou. Translated by Dr. ΚΈΝΡΕΙΟΚ. These authors and translators represent five countries—Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Scotland,* and the United States; and seven communions—ithe Evangelical Lutheran, Swiss Reformed, Dutch Reformed, Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal, Congregational, and Baptist. The reader may therefore look for a considerable variety of talent and difference of opinion in minor points of doctrine and polity. But in all essential articles of faith, he will find a striking degree of unity—a unity more spiritual and free, and for this very reason more deep and real than the consensus patrum, so called, by which the Roman Church would fain prevent or obstruct all further progress in working the inexhaustible mines of revealed truth. Far above all sectarian steeples rises the hill of Zion, where the discords of human creeds are solved in the divine harmony of “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.” The numerous additions of the translators, from their own researches, and from leading English commentators, will be found to raise the value of the American edition far above the German original. As general Editor, I wish here publicly to congratulate the translators on the suc 4 The late Dr. 1.1111Ὲ was a Scotchman by birth and education. All the other translators are A vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. cessful completion of their laborious task, and to express my grateful appreciation of their hearty and efficient co-operation in this noble work. I only regret that one of them—the late lamented Dr. Linum, like the like-minded Dr. AUBERLEN— was not permitted to see the volume which owes so much to his accurate scholarship and faithful study. The Epistles to the Corinthians are nearly ready for the press; as is also the volume on Genesis. The remaining books of the New Testament, excepting the Apocalypse, which has not yet appeared in Germany, are all in course of preparation by able and competent: scholars, PHILIP SCHAFF., δ Beatz House, New Pork, £ed. 20, 1068, BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE COMMENTARY ON THE THESSALONIANS. BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Onartzs Avevstus AUBERLEN, to whose competent hands the Commentary on the Epistles’ to the Thessalonians was first intrusted, and who would have prepared other parts of Lange’s Bibelwerk (probably the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse of John), had not a premature death removed him from his earthly labors, was born Nov. 19, 1824, at Fellbach, near Stutt- gard, in the kingdom of Wirttemberg, which for its small size has given rise to an unusual number of distinguished divines, philosophers, and poets. He was educated at Esslingen, Blaubeuren, and at the University of Tubingen, where he stood among the first in his class. For a short time he was in danger of being carried away by the enthusiasm then prevailing among German students for the humanitarianism of Goethe’s poetry and Hegel’s pantheistie philosophy. But his pious education and associations, the influence of his teachers, Drs, Schmid, Landerer, and Beck, and the diligent study of the Bible and the older Wiirttem- berg divines, especially Bengel and Oetinger, guarded him against serious error. After a lit erary journey through Germany, Holland, and Belgium, and a second residence at Tubingen as Repetent (Fellow or Tutor) of the Theological Seminary, he accepted a call as professor extra- ordinary of theology at the University of Basel in 1851, and was happily married in the same year to a daughter of Dr. Wolfgang Menzel, the well-known author of a History of Germany, a History of German literature (translated into English by the late President Felton of Harvard University), and other works. In 1860 the University of Basel, at its fourth centenary, con- ferred on him the honorary degree of Ὁ. Ὁ. In that post he labored with great acceptance and rising fame to his death, May 2, 1864. As his theology, so his departure was full of joyfal hope. Dr. Auberlen was one of the most gifted and promising of the present generation of evan- gelical divines in Germany, combining thorough learning with devout piety and profound rever- ence for the Word of God. He had imbibed the spirit of Bengel and Oetinger, but was fully at home in all the modern systems of theology and philosophy. He devoted special attention to the prophetical portions of the Scriptures. Characteristic for his standpoint is the following passage from the preface to the second edition of his work on Daniel: ‘The elevation on which Scripture places us is one, not merely of the life, but also of knowledge, and to descend from it is likewise to suffer a mighty loss in ideas, especially in the moral sphere. Here that word holda good: ‘In Thy light we see light.’ . . . Here is a real solution of the problems of life—here areal answer to the questions of existence, so far as one can be given at all for beings, who ag: yet walk not by sight.” viii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. The principal works of Dr. Auberlen, besides a part of the Commentary on the Thessaloni ans, are the following: The Theosophy of Friedrich Christoph Octinger in its leading features. With Preface by Dr. R. Roth (of Heidelberg). Tubingen, 1847. The Prophet Daniel and the Revelation of John, Basel, 1854; 2d edition revised, 1857. A very superior work, which has been translated into English (for Clark’s Foreign Library), and into French. It is not a full commentary, but a comparative exposition of the chief sections of the two books as a basis for a Biblical philosophy of history. The Divine Revelation, Basel, 2 vols. 1861-64. The second volume, in the preparation of which he died, is unfinished, and was published after his death by Prof. Gess. Comp. the Biographical Notice in the second volume of Auberlen’s work on Revelation, and an article of Dr. Fazer in Henzoe’s Theol. Encycl., vol. xix. p. 789 sqq. Dr. 0. J. Riagensacu, who completed the Commentary on the Thessalonians after the death of his friend and colleague, is a native of Switzerland, completed his studies at Berlin during 1839-41 (simultaneously with the writer of this notice), and, after laboring as pastor for some time, was elected professor of theology at the University of Basel, where he labors still and enjoys the full confidence of the Christian community, He was once a follower of the Hegelian philosophy, but became a thorough convert to orthodox practical Christianity. He is the author of a valuable work on the Life of Ohrist, and of several popular lectures against modern infidelity.—P. 5 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DR. LILLIE. Ψ it becomes my sad duty, as the general editor of Lange’s Commentary, to send out thia part of the work with a biographical notice of the translator. A few weeks before his death, Dr. Lillie paid me a visit, in excellent health and spirits, and intrusted to me the manu- script of his translation, after having put to it his last touches in my study. We settled the form of the title page and several matters relating to the final revision. At his request I prepared the biographical notice of my friend Auberlen, who was called hence while engaged in this same Commentary. How little did I dream at that time that I would have so soon to add his own obituary, and to finish his work, as a labor of love to a departed friend and esteemed co-laborer ! The Rev. Jonn Lire, D.D., was born, December 16, 1812, at Kelso, Scotland, the youngest of a family of six children. He entered the University of Edinburgh in 1828, and was graduated in 1831, with the first honors of his class. During his course he re- ceived several prizes, among which was the gold medal given annually by the “ Writers to the Signet” to the best Latin scholar. I well remember in what high terms his Latin Professor, James Pillans, to whom he gave me a letter of introduction in 1854, spoke of the classical scholarship, talent, and industry of his former pupil. His Alma Mater publicly recognized his merits, by conferring on him, in 1855, the diploma of Doctor of Divinity. From 1881 to 1834 he studied theology, taught a classical academy at Edinburgh, and . travelled in England. In August, 1884, he sailed, in company with elder members of his family, for the United States, and completed his theological studies in the Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church at New Brunswick, N. J. In February, 1836, he was ordained and installed minister of the Reformed Dutch church at Kingston, Dutchess Co., N. Y., where he labored with ability and fidelity till August, 1841, when he was invited to the Presidency of the Grammar Schoo) connected with the University of the City of New York. Shortly afterwards he took charge of a church in Stanton street, New York, and edited the Jewish Chronicle (from 1844 to 1848) in behalf of missions among the Jews. In 1852 the “American Bible Union,” which was organized in 1850 in the city of New York, engaged his services, and subsequently those of Drs. Conant, Hackett, Ken- drick, Rédiger, Forsyth, and other scholars of various denominations, for the difficult work of preparing a new or revised version of the Holy Scriptures. He assisted the Society in collecting for the purpose one of the most complete and valuable exegetical and critical libraries extant, including a rare set of the best editions of the Greek and Latin fathers, and all the German commentators of note. He went into this arrange- ment as an enthusiast for Biblical studies, and in full sympathy with the movement for such a revision of the authorized English Version of the Scriptures as would correct admitted errors, and embody the approved results of modern textual criticism and bit x BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DR. LILLIE. lical research for the benefit of all the Protestant churches of the English tongue. His part in the work, however, like that of several other scholars, was merely of a preliminary and strictly literary character; the final revision, for popular use, being reserved for a special commission, which has since completed the revision of the New Testament. In this connection Dr. Lillie labored for five years with great zeal and energy. He fixed up a study with exquisite scholarly taste in the venerable Baptist church in Broome atreet, and felt perfectly happy in the company of all the great Bible translators and com mentators, whose stately folios and handy octavos were laid out before him, together with grammars, dictionaries, and other auxiliary works of ancient and modern lore. He prepared in the service of the Bible Union new versions and philological commentaries on the Epistles to the Thessalonians, the Epistles of John, the Second Epistle of Peter, the Epistle of Jude, and the Revelation ;* which were published in 1854 and 1856 in beautiful quarto style in three columns, containing the Greek text, King James’ Version, and the Re vised Version, the greater part of the page being occupied with learned notes, and the amplest references to former versions and commentaries. They were published, however, merely as literary works, with the express declaration of the Bible Union “that the trans lation is not final.” These philological commentaries, together with the similar works of Dr, Conant on Job and on Matthew, and of Dr. Hackett on the Epistle to Philemon, are undoubt- edly the most scholarly publications of the “ American Bible Union,” and have a perma- nent exegetical and critical value. The late Dr. Joseph Addison Alexander, of Princeton, often spoke in very high terms of Dr. Lillie’s commentaries, and expressed to him the wish that he might treat in the same thorough manner all the books of the New Testament. Dean Alford, of England, was stimulated by them to write his article on “Bible Revision” in the Edinburgh Review. Close application to study somewhat weakened the otherwise vigorous health of Dr. Lillie, In June, 1854, he sailed for Europe and returned in October, fully restored for his work. In 1857, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian church at Kingston, N. Y., where he labored faithfully and acceptably till his death. In January, 1867, he paid a visit to New York, and was hale and strong and in excellent spirits. On his return, Saturday, January 19, during a snow storm of unusual severity, he caught a cold, but recovered, and attended to his pastoral duties till the week of his death. On Sunday, the 17th of February, he preached his last sermon with unusual vigor and solemnity; on the day following he was taken sick with inflammation of the lungs, and on Saturday, the 23d, in the fifty-fifth year of his life on earth, he peacefully fell asleep to awake in his heavenly home. He bore the severe pains of his illness without a murmur,—so completely had his naturally irritable temper been softened and subdued by Divine grace. He left behind him a most amiable and worthy wife (a daughter of A, Bruyn Hasbrouck, LL.D., late President of Rutgers College, N. J.), and six promising sons and daughters. His funeral was largely attended, the church being insufficient to accommodate the assemblage of ministers and people. On March 17, 1867, the Rev. W. Irvin, of Rondout, N. Y., at the request of the First Presbyterian church of Kingston, preached an appropriate memorial sermon in the Reformed Dutch church of that place, to which he had devoted the first years of his ministry. The session of his church, as also that of the Reformed Dutch church of Kingston, the Ulster County Bible Society, and the higher ecclesiastical courts with which he was connected, gave fit expression to their high 3ense of esteem and affection, in a number of highly complimentary resolutions, Besides the exegetical works already mentioned, Dr. Lillie wrote a volume of Expository Practical Lectures on the Epistles to the Thessalonians (published by his friends and country- men, Messrs. R. Carter & Brothers, N. Y., 1860), and occasional sermons and pamphlets, which are all written with great care and some of which were published by request. He finished in raanuscript a Commentary on the First Epistle of Peter, which he regarded as his best work, and which we hope will before long be given to the public, * Also the First Evistle of Peter and the Epistle of James; but tnese were never printed. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DR, LILLIE, xn The last work of his life was the translation of the Commentary on the Thessalonians fo1 the American edition of Lange’s Bible-Work. I could not have found in America a scholar better qualified for this task than Dr. Lillie, who had made the Epistle to the Thessalonians the subject of repeated and thorough study, and had already published on this portion of the Scriptures a philologico-critical commentary with a new translation, and a volume of Prac- tical Expository Lectures, He finished the manuscript of the translation a few weeks before his death, but read the proof only of the first sixteen pages. The task of completing his work fell upon me, as the responsible editor. I read the proof with scrupulous regard to his copy. Lillie’s Thessalonians will be found to be one of the best executed portions of the American edition of Lange. The translation is remarkably accurate and elegant, and the additions from his own researches and the best English commentaries are carefully selected and valuable. He took great delight in this task, especially in the critical notes below the text, and would have contributed other portions to this Biblical work, had Providence spared his life. I had already assigned to him the Apocalypse (for which, by his previous labors and his deep interest in eschatology, he was likewise thoroughly prepared), and the books of Leviticus and Numbers. Dr. Lillie was undoubtedly one of the first classical and Biblical scholars in the United States. He would have adorned a chair of Biblical Literature in any of our Theological Seminaries, although his difficulty of hearing might have interfered somewhat with his efficiency as a teacher. He was naturally a close student, and had rare opportunities for culti- vating his talents in the best institutions of his native Scotland. He was remarkably accu- rate and nice, even to the smallest minutiz of Greek accents and punctuation. Besides the Latin, Greek and Hebrew, he had mastered the French, German and other modern languages, He was at home in the ancient and the English classics, and in the vast field of Biblical riterature, especially in the critical department. He was, moreover, an earnest, solemn, and impressive preacher, a faithful pastor, a con- scientious and devout Christian, a genial, hospitable companion, with a stout Scotch heart, an ardent temper, strong affections, and a frank, social disposition. In his theology he waa thoroughly orthodox and evangelical, but with a strong leaning to millennarianism, and considerable sympathy with the spiritual and devotional (but not with the hierarchical and ritualistic) features of the Irvingite movement. He admired the writings of Auberlen, the author of a portion of the commentary on the Thessalonians. Much as he cherished the hope of the second coming of Christ, he knew how to subordinate disputed eschatological opinions to the great central truths of the gospel, on which the churches are agreed. In personal appearance, Dr. Lillie was a fine-looking, robust gentleman, with a genial face and manly bearing, very neat in his dress and methodical in all his habits. He was called away in the midst of his usefulness to see his Lord and Master face to face, for whose com ing he had so often and so earnestly prayed. To this notice Iam happy to add a tribute to the memory of Dr. Lillie from the pen of his countryman, fellow-student, and life-long friend, the Rev. Jamus Ineaiis, whe edits in this city a highly spiritual and devotional periodical, The Witness. The letter, which I subjoin, with his kind permission, breathes the spirit of a sweet and holy friendship that was made in heaven and for heaven, and outlives the fleeting changes of earth. It reminds me of those beautiful lines in which Gregory Nazianzen, in a sad moment of temporary alienation, describes his friendship with Basil, which commenced in the community of literary study at Athens, and culminated in the consecration of their souls to Christ and the service of His Church : τοιαῦτ᾽ ᾿Αϑῆναι, καὶ πόνοι κοινοὶ λόγων, ‘Oudareyéds τε καὶ συνέστιος Bios, Νοῦς εἷς ἐν ἀμφοῖν, οὐ δύω, ϑαῦμ᾽ Ἑλλάδος, Καὶ δεξιαὶ, κόσμον μὲν ὡς πόῤῥω βαλεῖν, Αὐτοὺς δὲ κοινὸν τῷ Θεῷ ξῆσαι βίον, Adyous τε δοῦναι τῷ μόνῳ σοφῷ Λόγῳ xii BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DR. LILLIE. New York, October 12, 1867. REV. DR. SOCHAFF: Dear S3r° Any of the early and intimate friends of Dr. Lillie would be embarrassed in speaking pub nely of his memory ; I most of all, who, in the intimate associations of our college life, when I shared the same room with him, knew him best. Our embarrassment arises from his superiority as known to us, to all that he ever made bimself publicly known to be; so that our severest estimate of him might be regarded as the partial judgment of affection. Professor Pillans in his old age stated to me that John Lillie was the most accomplished scholar of all the pupils who had passed from his care in a professional career, which, at Eton and Edinburgh, extended over more than half a century. Probably any member of the Faculty of Let- ters in the University of Edinburgh at that day, would have endorsed this testimony. His attainments at the age of twenty-one, were not those of a precociously brilliant or a merely studious youth, but rather those of a vigorous and cultivated mind in its maturity. When from this distance of time 1 recall them, they seem more wonderful to me now than they did then. If he did not fulfil all the high expectations which we cherished of his future eminence in the world, his was not the. failure of a superficial precocity which had awakened hopes which it could not make good, but the sacrifice of worldly ambition to the higher aims of an office to which he was called by the Lord, by whose blood he was redeemed, and by whose love he was constrained. We are more than content with his loss of an earthly crown, since we know that ‘when the Chief Shepherd shall appear,” the loss will be compensated by a crown of glory which fadeth not away. The life of such a student as he was, was necessarily far apart from the vices and follies which dis honored the name of student in that day. But besides the habits which kept him aloof from ignoble dis- sipations, he was distinguished by a peculiar sensitiveness of honor, truthfulness and purity which gained involuntary respect even from those who were irritated by its living reproof. The tone of his mind was indicated by an enthusiastic admiration of the prose works of Milton, upon which his early style and use of English were moulded. The inspiration of liberty from that source determined him to seek a home in America. After years of separation I saw what the grace of God could effect even in such a character as his; I saw the difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the highest human virtue. He was what is styled a Calvinist, not as a mere theologian, but as a Christian whose soul yielded a reverent and uncavilling submission to what God has been pleased to reveal of Himself, and what to many are mere speculations or party distinctions, were to him divine and influential verities. He was clear and uncompromising in his testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus, in whose glorious person and perfect work he found life and all that satisfies life. To him it was evidently a small matter to be judged of man’s judg- ment, and so he was often found on the unpopular side with the truth of God. He was the earnest advocate of Millennarianism, when to be a Millennarian was to expose himself to ecclesiastical ostracism. He dared take the attitude of a candid enquirer into the claims of the self-styled “ Catholic Apostolic Church.” But when it is said that ‘‘ he sympathized with some features of the Irvingite movement,” it should be known that it was not with the doctrinal system nor with the ritualism of that Church that he sympathized, His sympathy, so far as it went, arose from his exalted conception of what the Holy Scriptures teach of the Church as the temple of the Holy Ghost, the body of Christ, invested, as the representative of her Head, with His authority and endowed with His ascension gifts; and from his convictions regarding the destiny of the Church as the bride, the Lamb’s wife—in the words of one of his published sermons, ‘“ The Queen- consort of a renewed and emancipated world,” in which the everlasting purpose of Divine love will be ac- complished and the manifold wisdom of God will be displayed. He could not be satisfied with low views of the Church as a voluntary association of men, defining its own prerogatives, framing its own laws, choosing its own ministry, whose qualifications and functions it prescribes, adapting itself to the expediencies of the hour, and renouncing a heavenly destiny for the empty boast of a temporal triumph. He was attracted by the pretensions of a body which claimed to realize his august conception, or, permit me to say, the divine revelation of the Church’s existence, and which, in its testimony, gave great prominence to the Church’s glorious destiny. But the fact that he did not die in the communion of ‘ the Catholic Apostolic Church,” is the proof that, on careful examination, he did not find its pretensions substantiated. Pardon me that I have written at such length on these points to you who are so much more capable than I am to do justice to the character, gifts and views of my friend. I know what your friendship was to him in his lifetime, and Iam happy that it is your hand that is to pen the brief record which will associate his memory with the enduring work in which he counted it a privilege to be your fellow-laborer, For me t would perhaps have seemed more fitting that I should speak only of the generosity and tenderness of hia BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DR. LILLIE. xu unfailing friendship, and the disinterestedness of his brotherly love. The memory of these is rather to be cherished as a solace of the “little while”? which separates me from him who was the last of the friends of life’s spring-tide who remained to be the companion of its autumn days, and the only one of them whose sympathy relieved “ the sear and yellow leaf” with the light of that blessed hope in which he sleeps, and in which Tt am, Dear Sir, Yours, with high respect, JAMES INGLIS. PREFACE. Tux exposition of the two Epistles to the Thessalonians was at first undertaken by my deat colleague, Professor Dr. AUBERLEN, who, however, was able to complete only the first two chapters of the First Epistle, A disease, which unhappily compelled him for years to forego severe labor, led him, on an understanding with the esteemed editor, to commit to my hands the continuation of the work. It grieves me that he was not to live to see the task accom- plished. On May 2d of the present year he entered into rest. For the Introduction to the First Epistle and for the last three chapters of the same, as well! as for the whole of the Second, I alone am to be held responsible. The two chapters executed by my predecessor I went over along with him; but here, with the exception of a few addi- tions* to which he assented, every thing is from his hand. May the reader not find in what follows too great a contrast. Some points in which I slightly differ from the view of my late friend are in part too unimportant to require alteration, as, for example, the way in which ἔμπροσϑεν is connected with what precedes (i. 8); the view of the dative ὑμῖν (ii. 10); the question to what és refers (ii. 18); in other cases subsequent opportunities were found of recur- ring to them; thus, in regard to ἔργον τῆς πίστεως (i. 8) I refer to the note on 2 Thess. i, 11, and a small supplement in reference to the handicraft of the Apostle is furnished at 2 Thess. iii. 7-9, For what help 1 am indebted to Dr. Srooxmeyer, Pastor of St. Martin’s, Basel, is men- tioned in the Homiletical and Practical Notes to 1 Thess. iv. 1-8. In now sending forth, along with the legacy of an honored divine, the first fruits of my labor in this department, I can but wish and pray God, that the joint work may promote the understanding of these glorious Epistles, love to the truth therein proclaimed, and the edificy tion of the Church of Christ. Dr. O. J. RieaenBaon. Base, June, 1864. ® [Distinguished in the original by brackets, and hero by also appending the name of the writer.—J, fai THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. INTRODUCTION, —+— $1. TO WHOM THE EPISTLE WAS ADDRESSED, THESSALONIOA (see Winer, Realwérterbuch), called Therme by Herodotus and Thucydides, lies at the head of the Sinus Thermaicus. The later pame was given to it by Cassander ir honor of his wife Thessalonica, a daughter of Philip. (Others allege that the name was intended to commemorate a vietory over the Thessalians.) Under the Romans Thessalonica was the chief city of the second region of the province of Macedonia, and the residence of 4 Roman Praetor and Questor. Pliny mentions it as libera. Subsequently it is called Metropolis, and that not only for Macedonia, but also for Achaia. Throughout the whole medieval period it is a city of importance, belonging for a time to Venice, but since 1430 to Turkey.* At present it bears the slightly abbreviated name of Saloniki, and still, as in the time of the Romans, the population is large, and includes thousands of Jews. What was wanting in Philippi Paul found in this flourishing capital and emporium—namely, a synagogue. The founding of the church in this place is related in Acts xvii. 1 sqq. It was one of the fruits of the second missionary journey, Acts xv.-xviii., and the second church { that arose ou the European continent. First in Philippi (where perished republican Rome a century before) had the Apostle had fulfilled to him the promise implied in that vision of the man of Macedonia (Acts xvi. 9). And there too he had had his first experience of a persecution springing alto- gether from heathen motives. The selfishness of those who made their gains by soothsaying: had turned against him the pretext of the religio illicita. After the bloody violence, and: while his wounds could scarcely yet have been healed, he had in company with Silas, his fellow~. sufferer, and with Timothyt, on whom the persecution had not fallen, repaired in joyous elevar. tion of spirit to Thessalonica. * [Cowyzearz and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Pawl,c. ix.: ‘‘ The heroic age of Thessalonica was the thira century. It was the bulwark of Constantinople in the shock of the barbarians ; and it held up the torch of the truth to the successive tribes who overspread the country between the Danube and the Mgean,—the Goths and the Sclavos, the Bulgarians of the Greek Church, and the Wallachians, whose language still seems to connect them with Philippi and the Roman colonies. Thus, in the medieval chroniclers, it has deserved the name of ‘the Orthodox City’ "— J. 1.1 t (Or possibly the third. It is not improbable that the church at Rome, as well as that of Philippi, precedod:it,— J LJ 1 [That is not equally certain. Only Paul and Silas are mentioned at the departure from Philippi, and during the stay at Thessalonica. Timothy may for some reason have been left behind at the former place, as he was atter- wards at Berea. Or the omission of his name may be accounted for as in Doctrinal Note 2 on 1 Thess. iii. 2.-α El 1 2 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. He made his appearance in the synagogue, where he found ready such a point of attachment as it was his principle to avail himself of (agreeably to Rom. i. 16; ix. 4, 5, and not at variance with the geographical partition of Gal. i. 9). Starting from the Scriptures of the Old Testa- ment, he sketched the full prophetic image of the suffering and risen Messiah, and then he set forth the fulfilment, to wit, that in Jesns the predicted Christ had appeared. The Second Epistle shows us how he especially expounded to them the prophet Daniel. Some (not many} Jews were convinced, together with a great multitude of devcut Greeks (proselytes) ;—the {insufficiently attested reading καὶ Ἑλλήνων would distinguish between devout persons (prose- lytes) and Greeks (still altogether heathen); that some had been idolaters is presupposed also at 1 Thess. i. 9 ;—and, lastly, special prominence is given to the fact that not a few of the most honorable women believed ; not that a higher value is put upon their souls on account of their rank, but they had more opposition to overcome than others. It is moreover implied in the exhortations of 1 Thess. iv. 6-11 that the majority of the converts consisted of tradesmen and mechanics, All these by God’s appointment fell to the Apostle’s share,* after he had preached in the synagogue only three sabbaths, though no doubt he did so in the intervals also, as his custom was, to wit, within doors while working with his hands (1 Thess. ii. 9). But that he still labored on in the young separated church for some time after the three sabbaths is improb able (against W1EsELER, Chronol. des apost. Zeitalters, p. 40; and otherst); for the Apostolic History, without giving the least hint (as in Acts xviii. 7; xix. 9) of such a continuance of labor, connects immediately with the mention of the three sabbaths the account of the uproar that drove the Apostle away. Again, that the Apostle worked at his trade proves nothing for a longer stay; and quite as little does the statement (Phil. iv. 16), that the Philippians had sent him presents once and again to Thessalonica. It may even be questioned whether Paul here refers to his first residence in Thessalonica; but even so, the two communications may have followed quickly one on the other. Thus within scarcely three weeks{ was formed a numerous and flourishing congregation. The time, indeed, was fully occupied, the people in a susceptible state of mind, and Paul fervent in spirit, as also the Epistles show ; but the phenomenon is still an extraordinary one, and Pata himself holds it up as such. The powerful movement was met by a powerful hostility. The unbelieving Jews knew how to use idle people in stirring up a tumult. The Apostle himself they did not find, but his host Jason and some other Christians they dragged before the Prefectus urbis on a charge slan- derous, but crafty, and adapted to Roman ears, These seditious men, they said, who had agitated the whole orbis Romanus, incited to revolt against the Empero: by proclaiming Jesus as king. Just at that time the Jews (assidue tumultuantes, Sueton.) had been expelled from Rome by Claudius (Acts xviii. 2), and found themselves everywhere jealously watched as disturbers of the peace. How gladly did they now seize on the pretext, for the sake of clearing them- selves, and fastening an effective calumny on those they hated! The reproach that is cast at us‘lights only on them. So they feigned loyalty, and betrayed their dearest religious hopes to the princes of worldly empire; precisely like the accusers of Jesus before Pilate (Luke xxiii. 2; John xix. 12sqq.). The Apostle is struck by the resemblance, 1 Thess. ii. 14 sqq. It is com- monly supposed that the peculiar emphasis laid by Paul in his preaching on the βασιλεία σεοῦ (1 Thess. i. 10, and elsewhere)§ had given occasion to this perversion. But it is no less true that the wickedness of the Jews, of which he had already had manifold experience, impelled the Apostle, as being itself a momentous sign of the time, to proclaim the nearness of the judg- *[“ Fuelen dem Apostel von Gott als sein Loos zu ;’—so the author would give the peculiar force of προσεκληρώθησαν Acts χυΐ!. 4.-ἶἰ, L.] t [Including Benson, Pater, Davinson, ΟΟΝΎΒΒΑΒΕ and Howson, &c.—J. L.] t [Aurorp: “ We are hardly justified in assuming, with Jowett, that it was only three weeks, For ‘three Sab. baths’, even if they mark the whole stay, may designate four weeks: and we are not compelled to infer that a Sabbath may not have passed at the deginning, or the end, or both, on which he did not preach in the synagogue.”— J. LJ § [This idea ts favored also by the special charge urged at Thessalonica against the preachers, to wit, that they were revolutionary propagandists, ‘doing contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying, that there ia another kirg, Jesus,” Acts xvii. 7.—J..L.] § 2. PLACE, TIME, AND OCCASION OF WRITING. ΕἼ ment. Thot Israel is filling up the measure of his obduracy, is an idea with which he is fully impressed. Therefore does he proclaim the coming of the Lord, but, of course, in a manner remote from all political offence. The Roman magistracy is spiritually incapable of investigating the matter; the people are alarmed by fears about the uproar and Roman vengeance; but the course of the authorities is moderate. They take security that no disturbances are meditated ; and Paul, to spare the young church a renewal of the storm, withdraws to Bera. From this place, which lay not two days’ journey to the south-west, he might still work in the direction of Thessalonica. But the Jews of this city showed themselves to be peculiarly implacable adver- saries (as Saul had been before the day of Damascus). They drove him also from Berma, and he, leaving behind his two attendants, set off for Athens, The Apostolic History makes no mention at all of Timothy as having come to Paul at Athens, and as having been sent from there to Thessalonica (1 Thess. iii. 1, 2), but only that he came again to him from Macedonia, Acts xviii. 5; comp. 1 Thess. iii. 6. Where Paul was at that time, the Epistle does not tell us. According to the Acts, the meeting took place at Corinth, and indeed along with Timothy Silas also came from Macedonia. And so it appears likewise from 1 Thess. i. 1, that both of his assistants were with the Apostle when he wrota the letter. As to whether and how the accounts from these two sources may be more closely adjusted, see the note on 1 Thess. iii. On the whole it is evident that, while independent of one another, they agree well together. § 2, PLACE, TIME, AND OCCASION OF WRITING. From what was last mentioned we may gather that the subscription in old manuscripts: “Written from Athens,” is not only (as are all these subscriptions) spurious, but also incorrect. It arose probably as a hasty inference from 1 Thess. iii. 1, as if the place where Paul wrote must have been the same as that from which he sent Timothy. In Corinth rather was our Epistle written, and indeed at the time when Paul was commencing his [abors in that city; not very long after the conversion of the Thessalonians (1 Thess. i. 9); immediately after Timothy’s return to Paul (1 Thess. iii. 6, ἄρτι) ; consequently in the year 53 * (prior to 54 when Claudius died, comp. Acts xviii. 2; and see Wizsexer, Chronol. des ap. Zeitalters, p. 253). Such is also the old and generally received opinion. That in favor of its later composition (WuRM: at the date of Acts xviii. 22; ScurapER: at that of xx. 2; Kouzer, on account of 1 Thess, ii. 14 sqq.: not till the time of the Jewish war, later than Acts xxviii.) rests on untenable grounds. The mention of presidents (1 Thess. v. 12)—and that without any official title—does not disprove the recent establishment of the church. Though at a later period, when a selection could be made, no novices were chosen (1 Tim. iii. 6), yet Acts xiv. 28 shows that Paul left no church without presidents. Further on we shall meet with still other considerations that are supposed to support a later composition, and shall find them equally invalid. But what it was that prompted the Apostle to write is easily explained from the condition of the church. The faithful pastor could not but be deeply concerned about it. He knew that quick conversion is not experience and confirmation. Except where circumstances prevented, he always spent considerable time on the firm settlement of a church (Acts xviii. 11,18; xix. 8,10). But driven as he had been so soon from Thessalonica by violence, he sought from a listance to provide against the noble church being again torn from him by persecution or seduction (1 Thess, iii. 5). Twice he sought to return in person (1 Thess. ii..18); once perhaps from Bercea. And when this, probably on account of the threatening malice of his enemies, could not be accomplished (Satan hindered us, he says), he sent Timothy in his stead (1 Thess, iii. 2). Nor was this any light task for his still youthful associate, who seems, indeed, thus far to have less attracted the enemies’ notice. Through the reports of Timothy the Apostle wag greatly rejoiced (1 Thess. iii. 6 sqq.); he was able to thank God that under all persecutions (ch. i. 6; ii. 14 sqq.; iii. 8) they were steadfast in the faith, an example to all (ch. i. 7) in brotkerly love (ch. iv. 9). and in the Christian walk generally (ch. iv. 1 sqq.). Still his longing to be able * [Sonarr dates both Hpistles in 53; ConyBEARE, ALFORD, and Exvuioort, in 62-58 ; Longmans, in 53-64, Lancs sbout 54-55. —J. 1,1 4 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. to visit them himself is not at all abated (ch. iii. 10 sqq.); rather it was just what he had learned through Timothy that induces him in the mean time to commune with them at least by letter. He will thereby yet further strengthen what Timothy has wrought, draw ever tighter the bond between himsel and te church, and by his exhortation supply what he had observed to be wanting in them. As the readers of the Epistle are there represented, they appear to us throughout standing in the freshness of their faith and first love, but yet as beginners, in need of establishment ; troubled, on the one hand, by a want of clear apprehension, and in danger, on the other, from the terrors of persecution and the power of delusion. The Apostle, however, treats them with a noble tenderness, without expressing distrust on account of their inexperience, and knows how to combine in the wisest way encouragement with admonition. § 8. GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. What OxsHavsen wrote as early as 1840 about the First Epistle to the Thessalonians being one of the few New Testament Epistles, that have had the good fortune to be attacked neither formerly nor in recent times, was not quite correct even then. For already in 1835 had Baur (die Pastoralbriefe) and in 1886 SonrapEr (der Apostel Paulus) brought forward at least sus- picions against its genuineness. Since then Baur (Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi, 1845, p. 480; with corroborations in theol. Jahrbdb., 1855, II.) has decided against the authenticity not only of the Second, but also of the First Epistle; not, however, that this was any misfortune for it; for the result can only be the recognition so much the more thorough of its peculiar character and high value. The evidence of antiquity for our Epistle is neither stronger nor weaker than it is, e.g., for the Epistle to the Galatians, and the so-called internal grounds are all that Baur urges against it. He finds the contents unimportant ; there isan utter lack of special interest, of precise motive ; mere general exhortations, instructions, wishes, which in other Epistles occur incidentally, are here the main thing. Besides, the Epistle shows itself to be dependent on the book of Acts and on other Epistles; especially do we meet with many things to remind us of the Epistles to the Corinthians. The very detailed statement of the conversion of the Thessalonians appears to be altogether aimless; why write to a church everything that it knows from its own experience ? Moreover, it is assumed that the church has not been long in existence, and yet it is asserted that in every place it is commended as an example of faith (ch. i. 7, 8); that it has already rhown its brotherly love to the brethren in all Macedonia (ch. iv. 10); that withal there is aready imminent danger of the prevalence of an idling disposition (ch. iv. 11); and already has Paul once and again desired to return to Thessalonica (ch. ii. 17 sq.). That the Epistle speaks of the coming of the Lord in a very familiar way, Baur is compelled to allow; essentially as 1 Cor. xv.; and then again, he thinks, quite otherwise, far more in the style of the Jewish Rabbis than in that place. So also the way in which it speaks of the sufferings of the Jewish Christians, and already takes for granted the destruction of Jerusalem (ch. ii. 14, 16), is quite unpauline; and equally so 1 Thess. v. 27. Bavr’s attack has met with nothing but contradiction: from Koon (1848), then especially from Linnemann (1850-59),from Witrs. Grinm (Stud. und Hrit., 1850, iv.), Lanex (das ap, Zeitalter, 1. 108; 1853), Reuss (Gesch. der heil. Schriften des Neuen Testam., 20 ed., 1858; 8d ed., 1860. “The suspicion appears to be arbitrary, got up to favor a historical system.”), GuenixeE (Isagogik, 2d ed., 1854), Lipstus (who indeed sets up untenable fictions of his own, Stud. und Krit., 1854, IV.; against him Liinemann and others), Hormann (die heil. Schrift Neuen Testaments, I. 270; 1862), Brerx (Hinleitung in’s Neue Testament, 1862), and even (as regards the First Epistle) from HineEnFreip (Zeitschrift fiir Wissensch. Theologie), 1862, ΠΙ. That the contents of the Epistle are unimportant can be affirmed by Baur only from his having an eye exclusively for abstract ideas, and not for living personal interests. He partly contradicts himself, when in the section on the Parousia he finds the (solitary) dogmatic idea that had led to the composition of the Epistle. At the same time, on the affinity and the differ ence of this idea, compared with the teaching of the Apostle elsewhere, he decides just as he § 3. GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. δ does on the questions of style. When a resemblance presents itself, it must be a servile imita tion; but let a peculiar thought or an original application occur, then it is said: That is unpauline. In truth, the points of agreement with other Epistles are not more marked than, for example, between the Epistle to the Romans and that to the Galatians, and in every instance the word suits the connection. On the other hand, what there is of peculiar is by nu means unapostolic. The exposition will have to show how very Pauline the whole is, even to the niceties of thought and style. On the whole, it must be said that Baur even precludes himself from understanding the Epistle. What he urges with most plausibility is, the features that seem to be inconsistent with the composition of the Epistle soon after the establishment of the church. But if we reckon the Apostle’s ministry in Bercea, in Athens, and now also in Corinth at about half a year, and represent to ourselves, moreover, the unusually striking character of the conversion that had here taken place, we perceive that a speedy and widespread propagation of the im- portant news is fully explained ; and nowhere more easily than at a maritime emporium, like Corinth, might people come from all sides to whom Paul had no need to tell the story of Thes- salonica, as the report thereof had already reached them. As to Paul’s having by this time desired once and again to visit Thessalonica, on that point after what was said before not another word need be wasted. That the church should already have shown its brotherly love towards the Christians in Macedonia, and that, on the contrary, there were faults to be cen- sured, such as a fanatical indolence, how long time after its establishment was required for that? Indeed, of the latter fact it is to be said, that it is more easily accounted for at the beginning, immediately after the conversion, than subsequently at a time of quiet composure. Still more is that the case in regard to the doctrine of the resurrection. To be sure, Baur thinks that the anxiety about the Christians who had fallen asleep cannot be conceived as existing only a few months after the founding of the church, but rather implies that nearly a generation of Christians had already died. But could there not be anxiety as to the fate of the departed, though there were but a few of them? some perhaps martyrs? or even though none had died? if only, in the time of persecution, the nearness of death stood more than usually threatening before the eyes of all? Nay, must we not ask in turn: Supposing that the Epistle were spurious, not written till a lifetime after the founding of the church, at a period also when the clear apostolic instruction had long been everywhere spread abroad, what forger would still have invented even then such a case of dark apprehension, as that the dead might fare worse than those who should survive till the Coming? But this apprehension might easily arise among novices, who had enjoyed the apostolic instruction for only three weeks. Not less are we justified in asking: What forger would have allowed the Apostle, a lifetime after Paul’s death, to write about the hope that he himself might survive till the Coming (ch. iv.17)? As composed in the beginning and by Paul himself, the whole is intelligible; as a fiction of a late date, the whole becomes incomprehensible. That holds good also in a particular relation. Bavzr finds something at variance with the Apostle’s manner, in the way in which the author sets up the Jewish Christians as a model, and assails the Jews without. He is able to recognize him only when he is contending with the Jewish Christians. But the real Apostle informs us how the churches in Judea rejoiced in hia ministry (Gal. i. 22 sqq.), and at a much later date he makes collections for the saints in Jeru- salem. On the other hand, he suffered not only from the false brethren, but expressly also from the Jews:(2 Oor. xi. 24-26). And that is what we meet with in Thessalonica ; not yet, as after- wards in many places, a Judaistic strife within the church, but, suitably to the earlier period, an attack from without by altogether unbelieving Jews. There is no ground for the idea of Lrpsrus, that the Apostle is trying beforehand (ch. ii. 3, 5, 6) to avert Judaistic aspersions ; it was rather unbeliaving Jews that slandered the Apostles as agitators, and as persons who flattered the people from motives of ambition and greed, The Romans would not of themselves have thought thus early of regarding the gospel as dangerous to the state; their moderate course even shows, that they laid no great stress on the slander itself, Those who got it up were Jews, That Jews perceived sooner than the heathen the power of the gospel to transform the 6 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. world, is what was to be expected; that they raised the charge of a revolutionary movereat, is the lie of their passionate hatred. Therefore also does the Apostle pronounce on them a severe, but well-morited, judgment (ch. ii. 14 sqq.). They have killed their Messiah, as formerly their old prophets ; the followers of the Messiah in Judea they have persecuted, and now also they have driven out us Apostles; from Thessalonica last of all, but on previous occasions alsc (comp. Acts ix. 23, 29; xiii. 50; xiv.19). The aorist cannot hinder us from referring the statement to the whole of the persecution of the Apostle, which is thus taken together as one act; and so likewise in the case of the prophets. But in this way, says the Apostle. they fill up the measure of their ungodly and misanthropic temper. It is not simply the odiwm generis humani, in the sense of a Tacitus, that he upbraids them with, but that they are contrary tc men, in that they will not suffer the word of salvation to be spoken to the Gentiles. So now the wrath is come upon them, ready for the final burst. Does not the Apostle here speak quite like a prophet of God, just as in Rom. ix.? And to what now does the whole amount? What of the detailed recital of things that the Thessalonians knew by their own experience? In this Dr Wervs also sees nothing but a gush- ing of the heart, and thinks that only in the exhortations and instructions (chh. iv. and v.) are we to seek for the object of the Epistle. ‘We hold, on the contrary, that to describe the first three chapters as aimless is nothing else but to confess that one does not yet understand the Epistle ; whereas thoroughly to understand it will be the best vindication of its genuineness. § 4, COURSE OF THOUGHT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE EPISTLE. The very simple course of thought in the Epistle is as follows: After the salutation ch. i. 1 comes the FIRST PART, OH. I. 2—m1, 18, PERSONAL AND HISTORIOAL. I. Ch. i. 2—ii. 16. Paul signifies to the Thessalonians the genuineness of his preaching and of their faith, 1) Ch. i. 2-7. He begins with thanksgiving for the state of the church. He is sure of their Divine election. How? Because of the peculiar joyousness and power of his preaching, that had there been granted to him and his companions, and because of the unreserved readiness with which they received the word. The extraordinary result is for him an ever memorable work of God. 2) Ch. 1. 8-10. Others also far and wide have been struck both with the agency of tha Apostle and the conversion of the Thessalonians, So should the Thessalonians likewise be ever mindful not to allow themselves to be with- drawn from the ground of their former experience. To recall afresh and explain what they had gone through ought to retain them in this position. Once more, and with yet greater exactness, he reviews both sides of their experience: 8) a. Ch. ii. 1-12. The conduct of the Apostles, when, coming from their recent ill treat- ment at Philippi, they had so joyfully proclaimed the gospel, free from all deceit, impurity, and selfishness. By this too he would establish them—arm them, that is, against all insinuations that might possibly have staggered them. Let Jewish calumny charge us with what it will, and let Gentile adversaries repeat it, in order to turn you away from us; you know that your experience of us has been different. Aad so he Ὁ. Ch. ii, 138-16, bears testimony to their hearty faith, through which they had willingly endured all opposition; they have thereby (they first from among the Gentiles) entered into the noble fellowship of the oldest churches persecuted for the gospel’s sake; but the instigators of the hostility will be overtaken by the judgment. It tends mightily to strengthen them, when he interprets to them their experience, and opens to them a clear insight into the state of the times. But that they may understand how that even after lis expulsion he had by no means unfeelingly abandoned them, he informg them Il. Oh, ii. 17—iii. 18, what he had done for them since his departure; § 5. LITERATURE. q 1) Ch. ii, 17-20, how he had once and again desired to come to them; 2) Ch, iii, 1-5, how he had sent Timothy in his stead, and so for their sakes had deprived nimself of his attendance ; 8) Ch. iii. 6-18, how he is now full of thankful joy over his report; yet he intimates at the same time, that he might nevertheless still supply something lacking in them. Since he cannot at present accomplish this in person, he therefore does it at once by letter, and so follows the SEOOND PART, OHH. IV. AND V., DIDAOTIO AND HORTATORY. The warnings that meet us here have reference, first of all, to sins to which the temptation must have been peculiarly great in a Gentile city of maritime trade. Farther on, the instruc- tions and exhortations respect merely such manifestations as could not but occur in a young and unsettled church—cases of indistinctness and excitement in doctrine and life; to this belongs as well the fanatical indolence as the setting aside of ordinary occupations. In particular, we find 1) Oh. iv. 1-8, a warning against fornication and covetousness; 2) Ch. iv. 9-12, an incitement to growth in brotherly love, and, that love be not prejudiced, to quiet and sober industry ; 8) Oh. iv. 13—v. 11, instruction and exhortation respecting the coming of the Lord; 8. Ch. iv. 13-18, they who have fallen asleep will rise again, and so at the Lord’s advent will suffer no loss; b. Ch. ν. 1-11, but when He will come, we know not; let your walk, therefo.e, be at all times watchful and sober. Then come 4) Ch. v. 12-24, the closing exhortations: to honor their presidents, to live ru peace, to keep themselves free from all bitterness against persecutors, to unite vivacity with sobriety of spirit. The whole concludes ᾿ δ) Oh. v. 25-28, with the salutation and benediction. Thus the Epistle is throughout adapted to the need of the church—an exceedingly significant example of fatherly loving care of a church still in its infancy. And this is jast the earliest’ ot the Apostle’s letters that have been preserved to us. It was natural that in the Epistle tu the Galatians, whose life of faith was threatened by false doctrine, Paul should have had to let his dialectics act in a quite different fashion. [Ὁ war natural that the spiritual life of the Corinthians, much more richly developed, but distracted also by internal division, should have demanded from the Apostle work of more varied thought. In the Epistle to the Colossians also he has to do with an adulteration of the Gospel, and one indeed more refined. If the Epistle to the Romans marks the highest achievement of the apostolic thought, and that to the Ephesians the mightiest prophetic flight of his spirit, the one that comes nearest to our Epistle in tone and style is that to the Philippians. And this is readily-understood; for the two Macedonian churches, less conspicuous for a high display of the charisms, than for the inner life of faith and love, gave the heart of the Apostle for that very reason the most untroubled joy. But such is the rich fulness of his apostvlic spirit, that he was able to be to all his churches all that they required. Of the style of our Epistle ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, says: Habet hac epistola meram quandam dulcedinem, que lectori dulcibus affectibus non assueto minus sapit quam cetera, severitate guadam palatum stringentes. § 5. LITERATURE, Of the older literature a detailed estimate is given by Pett. We name Curysostom and TuropHy. act; Zwinett, Catvin and Brza; Grorius; Benern; Oxsnavsen, De Werre, Ewarp (die Send schreiben des Apostels Paulus, 1867); Parr (G@ryphiswaldie, 1830); Scuorr (Lipsia, 1834); Kocu, (1848; with a new title, 1855); Lonemann (as part of Meyer's Handbuch, 1850; 2d ed., 1859); Hor mann (die heilige Schrift Neuen Testaments, I., 1862). Practical Expositors : Herr. STAHELIN, das Neue Testament; M. F. Roos, Kurtze Auslegung (1786): C. H. Risesr, Betrachtungen iiber das Neue Testament; Von Gertach; Heusner; ὨΙΒΡΒΕΘΗ, die Briefe St. Pauli an die Epheser, Philipper, Kolosser und Thessalonicher (1868). 8 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. [Besides these works, and the commentaries on the whole Bible, or on the New Testament, referred to in Por Synopsis, or in the General Introduction to the Holy Scriptures in Lancx’s Matthew, ed. Scuarr, p. 19, the student of the Epistles to the Thessalonians may consult the following :—FaBEE Sraputensis, Epistole Pauli cum commentariis, Paris, 1617; Muscu.us, In Pauli Hpistolas aa Philipp. etc. commentarii, Leipzig, 1565; Weis, Help for the more clear and easy understanding of the Holy Scriptures, London, 1709-28 (in this work are anticipated very many of the best results of the modern textual criticism); ΤΌΆΒΕΤΙΝΕ, Commentarius in Epp. ad Thess, Busel, 1739; GuysE, Practical Expositor, London, 1739-52; Benson, Paraphrase and Notes on Six of the Epp. of St. Paul, 2d ed., London, 1752; Wester, Notes, &c., Bristol, 1764; Pyne, Puraphrase on the Acts ana the Epp., vol. ii, London, 1765; Baumearten, Auslegung der Briefe Pauli, Halle, 1767; Moxpen- HAUER, Griindliche Erléuterung der heiligen Bicher neues Test., vol. iii., Leipzig, 1768; J. D. MicHaExis, Paraphrasis u. Anmerkungen iiber die Briefe Pauli an die Gal., &c., 2d ed., Bremen and Gottingen, 1769; Krause, Die Briefe an die Phil. u. Thess., Frankfurt, 1790; Macxniaut, on the Epistles, Edin- burgh, 1795; Coxz, Commentary on the N. T., London, 1803; ΚΟΡΡΕ, Nov. Test, ed. TYCHSEN, Gottingen, 1823; Furarr, Vorlesungen iiber die Briefe Pauli, Tiibingen, 1829; TroLtops, Analecta Theologica, London, 1842; Prinz, Annotations on the Apostolical Hpp., vol. iii, London, 1851; Cony- BEARE and Howson, Life and Epp. of St. Paul, London, 1853; Jowxrrr, The Epistles of St. Paul to the Thess., Gal., Rom.,; with Critical Notes and Dissertations ; London, 1855, 1859 (the references are to the former edition); Littiz, Revised Version, with Notes, of the Epp. of Paul to the Thess., published by the American Bible Union,* New York, 1856, and London, 1858 (containing a very extensive and minute comparative view—on all moot points bearing on the translation—of critical editions, versions, and commentaries.+| This work, and my similar one on the closing books of the Canon, II. Pet. Revelation, are here cited under the title of Revision.); also my Lectures on the same Epp., New York, 1860 (referred to under the title, Lectures); Exiicorr, Critical and Grammatical Commentary on St. Pauls Epp. to the Thess., London, 1858, and Andover, 1864; Vauewan, Zhe Epp. of St. Paul for English Readers, London, 1864 (No. I., which is all that I have seen, contains the First Ep. to the Thess.),— J. 1. * [To the officers of the Bible Union I beg leave here to express my sense of obligation for the kind courtesy with which they admitted me to the freo use of their excellent library.—J. L.] t [In the following pages the Editor has paid special attention, in the exegetical department, to the latest repre- sentatives of English scholarship—Jowerr, ALForp (4th ed., 1865), Worpsworta (4th ed., 1866), ELLIcoTT, WEBSTER, and WILkEinson.—J, 1.] [N. B. For the sake of readier distinction, the small-print notes immediately following the translation will be referred to as Critical; the first division of the Commentary, simply aa Ezegetical.—J. 1ω] THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. ot > CHarrzr IJ 1. BALUTATION. 1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus [Timothy],’ unto the church’ of the Thee salonians which is* in God the Father and in* the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you [Grace unto you, χάρις ὑμῖν], and peace (from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ).° 1 [The English form, Timothy, occurs seven times in our Authorized Version,—J. L.] 2 [ἐκκλησία, German : Gemeinde, congregation. 4 [The repetition of the in is also superfiuous.—J. L. But see Dr. Schaff’s note 4 on Matt, xvi. 18.—J. 1,1 3 [Tho English supplement, which is, might better have been omitted.—J. 1,.] 5 eee the Auth. Vers. at 2 Thess, i.2; Rom. i. 7; Phitem, 8. Koch: “ By the omission of the verb the expression gains {n strength and emphasis."—German, after Luther: sed mit euch.—J. L.} 6 The words ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίον Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ are wanting in important manuscripts [B. F. 61, versions [Vulgate, Syriac, &c.], and all the a) commentaries, and are therefore brackcted by Bengel and Lach- mann, and cancelled by Tischendorf,* Pott, De though defended by Se ette, Liimemann, and others [Alford, Ellicott, Amer. ott, Olshausen, Koch, Reicbe, and others. d J ible Union], It is an obvious conjecture, that the words were brought here from the opening of the other Pauline Epistles, and in favor of this view is the brevity by which the inscription of this earliest of the Epistles is on the whole distinguished. Inthe precisely similar opening of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians the words in question are also found, and are there undoubtedly genuine. We let them stand here likewise [in brackets], in accordance with the principle which we intend to follow also in other cases, that for homiletic treatment a various reading only then comes to be of decisive importance, when the authorities are so weighty that a universal, or at least nearly universal, agreement prevails among the critics in regard to it. [In thig case, moreover, the common reading is sustained by the Codex Sinaiticus,t A. D. E., and other uncials.—J. L.] * [1 refer throughout to Tischendorf's seventh edition, the eighth, now in process of publication, not having got 88 far as the Epistles.—J. Τῷ, t [To this already famous manuscript, for which its discoverer, Tischendorf, is probably justified in claiming the rimacy in the department of textual criticism (in se habere rei critice principatwm), there is no reference whatever im Dr, Auberlen’s portion of this Commentary. The reader will here find the results of a fall and careful collation of it (aa well as of the modern critical editions) throughout both Epistles—J. L.) EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus [Timothy]. —On Paul, see the Acts of the Apostles, and the In- troduction to the Epistle to the Romans.— Silvanus. He is called in the Acts Silas; by Paul and Peter, Silvanus. A distinguished leader (ἡγούμενος ; comp. Lechler at Acts xv. 22) and prophet of the church of Jerusalem, he was chosen by the Apostolic Council as one of the bearers of its decrees to Antioch, where he then remained for a longer period in friendly inter- course with the Gentile Christians, exhorting them and confirming them in the faith (Acts xv. 22, 27, 82 sq.). Even though Acts xv. 84 be not genuine, yet that choice and this sojourn are sufficient to show, that Silas was one of the Jewish Christians who, like Stephen, had from the beginning a freer, open sense for Gentile Christianity and Paulinism. In recog- nition of this Jarge-heartedness Paul chose him for his attendant on his second missionary journey (Acts xy. 40), during which the church at Thessalonica was founded (see Jntroduction), and so we find him by his side in work and suffering, before magistrates, in stripes, in prison, in prayer, in miraculous deliver- ance, in flight, Acts xvi. 19, 25, 29; xvii. 4, 10, 14 sq.; xviii. 5. He accordingly appears in the in- scriptions of the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, and 2 Cor. i. 19. Subsequently Silvanus is simply mentioned by Peter as bearer of his First Epistle to Asia Minor, where he was already known, ever since Paul’s second missionary journey, as ‘‘a faithful brother” (1 Pet. v. 12; comp. Fronmiiller in Joc.). Silvanus, from his original position at Jerusalem in friendly relations to Peter, and then a companion of Paul, is a man of whom it must be thought a pecu- liarly natural thing, that he again appears by the side of Peter, when the latter addressed himself to the at least to some extent Pauline churches of Asia 10 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. Minor. He belongs to those men of second rank in the apostolic period, in whom the oneness of the Pauline spirit with that of the first Apostles, and the credibility, of late so severely assailed, of the book of Acts, are in an artless way historically represented. According to the tradition of the ancient Church, Sil- vanus should have been the first Bishop of Thessa- lonica, but Silas—whom it distinguishes from Sil- vanus—Bishop of Corinth (see Winer, biblisches Real- worterbuch, 3d ed., II. p. 459, Art. Silas). As this distinction is certainly erroneous, since Silas is merely a contraction, such as frequently occurs in proper names, for Silvanus, as ᾿Αντίπας for ᾿Αντίπατρος, in German Niklas for Nikolaus, &c., and since in the Acts we find Silas, and in Paul’s Epistles Silvanus, associated with Paul and Timothy at Thessalonica and Corinth, so the whole tradition admits of easy explanation as an arbitrary inference from the New Testament data, Silas appearing for the last time at Corinth, Acts xviii. 5, and Silvanus in the forefront of the Thessalonian Epistles —On Timothy, who had in like manner attended the Apostle during the founding of the Thessalonian church, see the Jntro- duction to 1 Tim. Everywhere Paul speaks of Timothy with paternal tenderness, and bears the highest testimony to his character. Not only does he mention him generally as a brother (2 Cor. i. 1; Col. i. 1; Philem. 1; 1 Thess. iii. 2), not only as a servant of God and his own fellow-laborer in the gospel of Christ (1 Thess. iii, 2; Rom. xvi. 21; 1 Cor. xvi. 10), a servant of Jesus Christ, like himself (Phil. i. 1), but he calls him his faithful and beloved, his genuine child in the Lord (1 Cor. iv. 17; 1 Tim. i. 2, 18 [γνησίῳ τέκνῳ]; 2 Tim. i. 2), and writes to the Philippians (ch. ii. 19 sqq.) of their knowing the proof of him, that, as a child the father,* he has served with him in the gospel; indeed he says ex- pressly (v. 20) that he has—so at least during the first Roman imprisonment, when he wrote this—no one likeminded, who will so sincerely and disinter- estedly care for the church. Thus in the glorious circle of apostolic men that surrounded Paul Timothy takes the first place. ‘‘No one,” says F. Ranxe, ‘has the Apostle embraced with more cordial and fatherly affection than Timothy—one of the loveliest and most refreshing sights of the apostolic age.”— It is undoubtedly as being the older man that Silvanus is here and 2 Cor. i. 19 placed before Timothy, + whose youth is still spoken of in the Epistles written to him at a much later date (1 Tim. iv. 12; 2 Tim. ii. 22). It is worthy of note and agrees with what has just been said, that in the narrative of travel in the Acts (chh. xvi., xvii.) Timothy, after the mention of his being added to the company, is not again imme- diately named, whereas Silas is mentioned frequently along with Paul. First on occasion of the separation from Paul is Timothy afterwards named along with and after Silas (ch. xvii. 14 sq.; xviii. 5).—The Apostle names, and his practice is similar in other places also (comp., besides the inscriptions of 2 Thess., 2 Cor., Phil., Col., and Philemon, in which Timothy in like manner appears, 1 Cor. i. 1 Paul and Sos- thenes, and Gal. i. 1, 2 Paul and all the brethren that are with me), Silvanus and Timothy as joint authors, } Ἔ [Recording to Luther’s more exact rendering of v. 22. —J. L. t [Extioorr: ‘“‘as being probably the older man, and Corel the older associate of St. Paul.” ALForD urges rather the personal and official eminence of Silas.—J. δ 1 [By no means. Paul ia the sole author, and would be 40 understood ; see 1 Thess. ii, 18 ; iii. 1, 2,5, 6; 2 Theas. i. δ; iii. 11. Comp. 1 Cor., Phil., and Philem,, in each of — as virtually joined with him in getting up the Epistle though he alone is the writer, and dictates the Epistle perhaps only to one of them. As they have preached the Lord together orally (comp. 2 Cor. i, 19), so should also the written word go forth from all the three, The three men who had become dear to the church must again appear before her mental vision united ag in the beginning ; she must recognize their fair, last- ing concord one with another, and know that she haa received the same gospel, not merely from an indi- vidual, but from the mouth of two and three wit- nesses (Matt. xviii. 16, 20), and is borne on more than one heart (comp. ver. 2: we give thanks). Therefore also Paul does not need to describe Sil- vanus and Timothy more closely; they are held still in fresh, living remembrance by the church.—For just the same reason also he does not designate him self more fully as an Apostle, &c. As already re- marked by Canvin, he needs not to come before the Thessalonians with official authority, but merely to recall his person to their memory, as he lived and wrought among them in the power of the Spirit. In this brief, free self-designation Linemann finds with reason a mark of the earlier composition and authenticity of our Epistles. Ata later period, in- deed, Paul does not in the inscriptions of his Epistles call himself an Apostle in cases, where he can count on faithful, unimpaired love and recognition on the part of a church or an individual ; yet even there the inscriptions are fuller, as Phil. 1. 1; Philem.1. But after that his apostolic authority was assailed, from the time of the Epistle to the Galatians, his general custom was to append his official to his per- sonal name, and then frequently he makes use of that for longer or shorter additions corresponding to the actual contents of the letter, so that no inscrip- tion is in all respects the same as another. Even in Thessalonica, it is true, attempts to create distrust were not wanting; but these affected not his apos- tolic authority as such, but his entire person. This freedom of the Apostle in his self-designations is characteristic and instructive. As he directs his let- ters, not to the office-bearers, but to the church, so, unless there be a necessity for it, he does not him- self come forth in his official authority. He has no stiff official style, but here too he proportions every thing to the circumstances and exigencies of the particular case. Accordingly, he here distinguishes himself by no addition from Silvanus and Timotheus, but simply takes the precedence of them, and thereby at the same time designates himself as properly the author of the Epistle. Certainly in this is shown also the humility of the Apostle, and so far the remark is not incorrect, that Paul omitted his apostolic title out of modesty, whether towards the Thessalonians (Curysostom, &c.), or towards Silvanus and Timothy Zwineut, Port, &c.). Only we are not to find here the proper motive of the omission (comp. Col. i. 1). The humility is all the more genuine, that it comes out thus silently and unconstrained. 2. To the church.—Paul writes not to the presbyters, teachers, &c., but to the churches ; where he names the office-bearers, it is by way of supple mentary appendage (Phil. i. 1).* In the most solemn which Epistles the Apostle associates « companion with himeelf in the salutation, and then immediately proceeds throughout in the first person singular. Comp. also the Epistle to the Galatians, where it can scarecly be supposed that the writer meant to ascribe joint authorship to “ au the brethren” of ch. i, 2—J, L.] * [After citing various explanations of the special men tion of “the bishops and deacons” in Phil. 1.1, Baprs CHAPTER I. 1. 1} manner he requires, ch. v. 27, that all the brethren should read the Epistle. To deny the reading of Holy Seripture to the laity, therefore, is to contra- vene its original destination. In his earlier Epistles (to the Thessalonians, Galatians, and Corinthians) Paul writes τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ or ταῖς éxxAnotas; in the later ones (Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colos- sians) τοῖς ἁγίοις, &c., which indeed is added in those to the Corinthians.* 8. In God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.—These words are to be closely joined with τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, as if they were preceded by τῇ or τῇ οὔσῃ, as in the opening of 1 and 2 Cor., where it is said, only in reverse order: τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Seod τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Κορίνϑῳ (comp. 1 Thess. ii. 14), The addi- tion attached by means of the preposition forms here, in fact (comp. Winer, p. 123), with the sub- stantive but one main idea, and is to be connected with it merely by the voice. This happens with spe- cial frequency in the case of the Pauline formula: ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ, to which our expression is nearly allied (comp., in particular, Phil. i. 1: rots ἁγίοις ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Φιλίπποις, also Col. i. 2). Thus the want of the article intimates that it belongs to the idea of the Church, to be in God and Christ. “Est hoec nota veluti approbatio vere et legitimee ecclesize” (CaLviy). In this very brevity of the ex- pression is something great and profound. It denotes not merely fellowship with God (Bencex, Lineman), but a real, essential being in God and Christ (Rom. xvi. 11; John xv. 4; xvii. 21 sqq.; 1 John ii. 5sq.; v. 20). “It is a high dignity, to which nothing is equal, when one is in God” (Curysostom). Whereas Thessalonica previously lay with the whole world in the wicked one (ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ masc., 1 John v. 19; comp. ver. 18; ἐν τῷ ἀληϑινῷ opposed to ver. 20)— whereas in that place there were only Jews, who had no part in Christ, and Gentiles, who had none also in God—there is at this time a church there, that is in God the Father, and in Christ Jesus. Here is a miracle of God, over which the Apostle gives Him glory and thanks; as always at the beginning of his Epistles, when he turns his eye on the churches, so also here, ver. 2. 4. Grace unto you [German: Grace be with you.—J. L.], and peace. The old epistolary style combines in the inscription what with us is distrib- uted into the address, salutation, subscription, and direction. The Pauline benediction is χάρις καὶ εἰρήνη ; only in the Epistles to Timothy (and perhaps Tit. i. 4) χάρις, ἔλεος, εἰρήνη ; the first form also in 1 and 2 Peter, the latter in 2 John; Jude 2: ἔλεος καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ ἀγάπη. Χάρις reminds us of the Greek salutation χαίρειν (comp. Acts xxiii, 26), which oc- curs also in the apostolic circular (Acts v. [xv.] 23 ; James i. 1); εἰρήνη, of the Hebrew (likewise Arabic, see Winer, Realwérterbuch: Héflichkeit) form of salu- tation and benediction, niby) (Gen. xlili, 23; Judg. adds: ‘‘ The opinion of Wiesinger is at least as probable, that the real reason is to be found in the circumstances of the church, and that there was a tendency to undue as- sumption on the part of some individuals, which needed such an effective check as was implied in the special ac- knowledgment of those who bore office in it.”—J. if * [Exiicort : “ The variation is slightly noticeable ; it does not however scem to point to gradually altered views with regard to the attributes of the church (Jowett), but merely to the present comparative paucity of numbers (compare Chrysost.), and their aggregation in a single as- sembly.” And the same considerations may perhaps ac- count for the fact that only in these two earliest Epistles does Piul address the church as composed of persons be- tunging to the city, and not as established im the city itself, Comp. Col. iv. 16.—J. L.J xix. 20; 1 Chron, xii. 18; Ex. xviii. 7; Judg. xviii. 15 1Sam. x. 4; xxv. 5, 6). As James ina lively manner connects, ch. i. 2, χαρά with the yaipev,.so Paul hag given it a turn of yet deeper Christian import in χάρις͵ while the εἰρήνη ὑμῖν had already by the Saviour on His return from death been brought to a Christian maturity and depth (John xx. 19, 21, 26; comp. also Luke x. 5, 6), especially in connection with His fare well discourse, in which He had promised, as the fruit of His victory over the world, and so as a dis- tinctive family legacy in opposition to the world, ta bequeathe His peace to His own (John xiv. 27; xvi. 83). By their juxtaposition both words are raised completely out of their Gentile and Jewish outward pea as referring almost solely to the natural life and welfare, into the “fulness of the peculiar salvation and blessing of Christians.” A notable in- stance of the way in which the New Testament dialect was formed.—Xdprs is, first of all, favor generally, kindness, especially towards inferiors, the ἀγάπη in self-manifestation (just as righteousness is holiness in self-manifestation), and in this sense it is used also of the child Jesus, Luke ii. 40: χάρις ϑεοῦ ἣν ἐπ’ αὐτό. But ina more special sense χάρις denotes (opposed to ὀφείλημα, νόμος, ἔργα, Rom. iv. 4; vi. 14 q.; xi. 6) the exhibition of the Divine love as free and unde- served in regard to such, as have not merely no legal claim to it, but have according to law deserved the opposite (Rom. iii. 28, 24; Eph. ii. 3-5). This is the New Testament saving grace, which in Christ Jesug has appeared to sinners (Tit. ἢ, 11; Johni. 17). It is not merely the principle of the redemption accom- plished once for all, but it continues also to be the sustaining ground, the nourishing power of the new Spiritual life with its manifold gifts in Christians (comp. Acts xxiii, 11 [no doubt a misprint for xi. 23]; vi. 8; Eph. iv. 7), and so is ever afresh in- wardly sealed and communicated to them from God in Christ through the Holy Ghost (comp. Rom. v. 5; Jobn i. 16). In this sense, according to which grace is thus not simply a sentiment, but at the same time a Divine self-communication, Paul desires for his readers ever fresh grace from God and Christ. Εἰρήνη need not be taken, with De Werre, MEYER, &c., against the Greek and New Testament usage, as = salvation, but with most since Carysostom, who on this point as a Greek has a special voice, as = peace. This is the immediate effect of grace in the heart of man, the restoration, after the distraction and discord of the life of sin, of the harmony of the inner life, with its pure enjoyment, resting on the fact that the oppression and curse of sin are removed from the conscience, and man knows that in Christ he is brought again into his true relation to God, the filial relation (Rom. v. 1), and is thereby comforted and strengthened against the oppositions and vexa- tions of the world (John xvi. 33), The enhancement of this peace, when it pours its quickening and ele- vating influence into the experience, is joy (xapd, Rom. xiv. 17; Phil. iv. 4; John xv. 11; xvi. 22, 24: xvii. 13; 1 Johni. 4; 1 Pet. i. 8—a fundamen- tal idea of the New Testament, too much neglected by us in life and doctrine). Peace being the feeling of convalescence and healthfulness of the new life, the home-feeling of the returned prodigal, it impels the man of itself to abide in the healthful life- element of home; it has a power to keep the heart and mind, the whole mechanism of the inner life, in Christ Jesus (Phil. iv. 7), and is there fore suitable in every relation as a chief benediction for Christians. _ 12 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. Of the natural world these two things are true: In God we live, move, and are [Luther's ver- sion: sind = éopév.—J. L.], all things harmoniously existing in the Logos (Acts xvii. 25-28; Col i. 17); and: The whole world lieth in the wicked one (1 John v.19), The original Divine powers of crea- tion and the superadded powers of the prince of this world, life and death, intermingle therein in a mys- terious manner. Through Christ this mixture is dissolved, and the separation, the great judgment of the world, is effected, whereby the Satanic element is cast out, and the world brought back again to its original ground of life (John xii. 31; Col. 1, 20). It is in His own person first of all, the person of the Son of man who has entered through death into His glory, that the world’s judgment is fulfilled, that which is of the devil is rightfully abolished, and humanity introduced anew to God. Whosoever would again live wholly in God must be in Him. But this new being and life unites itself to the world first inwardly in the spirit. As therefore all crea- tures in respect of their natural existence, that is, so far as they live generally in the world of death and corruption, live, move, and are in God and imme- diately in the Logos, drawing continually from His omnipresent, all-pervading energy the breath of life, so Christians, in respect of their inner, pneumatic, incorruptible existence, are and live first of all in Jesus Christ, the glorified, who being the Lord is also the Spirit * as God (2 Cor. iii. 17), and so the Head and all-pervading life-principle of the Church born of His Spirit (Col. i. 18; ii. 6,7; Eph. i. 22 8q.; il, 21 sq.), the element in which Christians live, as the branches in the vine (John xv. 4 sqq.), so that all they do is done in Christ Jesus (Col. iii. 17, and the phrase, occurring more than a hundred times with Paul, ἐν Χριστῷ or ἐν κυρίῳ). Because in Christ, they are then also, in this higher sense of the spiritual, eternal life, in God (1 Cor. iii. 23; xi. 8; John xiv. 20). Thus in the Church is a begin- ning made towards the attainment of the great, Divine purpose in the world, again organically to comprehend the whole in Christ and in God (Eph. i. 10; 1 Cor. xv. 28).—[Wepster and Witxinson: The full significancy of this important preposition ἐν, in its N. T. use with Θεῷ, Ἰησοῦ, Χριστῷ, Κυρίῳ, can only be understood by realizing the all-pervading doctrine of the Holy Ghost.—J. L.] 2. It is of doctrinal significance, that ἐκκλησία denotes as well the universal, as the individual or local, church. The distinction between congrega- tion and church [Gemeinde und Kirche] does not exist in the New Testament usage. Not merely a philological exactness, but one of Luther’s genial instincts must be recognized in his having preserved this identity of expression, and everywhere in the New Testament translated ἐκκλησία by Gemeinde [congregation]. Spirit is, according to Oetinger’s word, where every part can again become a whole. The same is true also of the place of the Spirit's manifestation, the Church. The Apostles, anxious as they were for the order of single churches (Acts xiv. 23; Tit. i. δ), made no arrangement before their departure for securing the external unity of the Church, which till then had rested in their persons. * (Hopge «Not one and the same person, but one and the same Being, in the same sense in which our Lord pays: ‘T and the Fatherare one.’ It is an identity of es- sence and of power.”—J. L.] From this fact, which has not yet been sufficiently considered, we perceive two things: 1. That the Church can be one in the Spirit, even where there is a separation of outward communions; 2. that wa should make moderate account of the Church as an institution, The New Testament has no word for churchiy.* 8. “ Nothing speaks more strongly for the Di vinity of Christ than the practice, which pervades the whole style of Scripture, of joining Christ with God, and ascribing to Him strictly Divine opera- tions.” OLsHauseN on Rom. i. 7. There is every- where in the New Testament, even in the Synoptical Gospels, a multitude of indirect evidences for the Divinity of Christ, modes of speech which can only on this supposition be understood in their full, na- tural sense. Christologies which recognize in the Redeemer merely the sinless, supernaturally begot- ten, eternally ordained central Man (SCHLEIERMACHER, Rorue, ScHENKEL), have in them important elements of truth, but do not ascend to the biblical height. In the inscriptions of the Pauline Epistles Father and Son are joined together as Θεὸς πατήρ, with and without ἡμῶν, and κύριος (again with and without ἡμῶν) Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Now it might be supposed, especially on account of the ἡμῶν common to both, that πατήρ and κύριος answer to one another, the former expression derived from the family, the latter from the state and kingdom; or the former from the filial relation, the latter from that of a servant (comp, Mal. i. 6 and the frequent δοῦλος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). But both the verbal arrangement and the decisive passage 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6 (comp. 1 Cor. xii. 5, 6; Eph. iv. 5, 6) show that the correspondence is rather between Sevs and κύριος, πατήρ and Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. And this reminds us that the LXX. put κύριος for mim (in conformity with the oral ΠΝ Ὁ) and ϑεός for ΒΝ (comp. also John xx. 28 and 2 John 8, where to κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός is still added, with a specific relation to the πατήρ, 6 υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός). Thus the appellation κύριος aiso becomes a witness for Christ’s Divinity, as Nirzsca has particularly pointed out. (Cfr. his article on the essential trinity of God, Studien wnd Kritiken, 1841, p. 322 sqq., and System der chris’l. Lehre, 5th ed., p. 145, 189.) The peculiarity of the designation of Christ as κύριος is, that therein the Divine essence (κύριος = mins) and the historic- al, official position and operation (κύριος κυριεύων, Rom. xiv. 9, Lord and King of the kingdom of God, on which account ἡμῶν is easily subjcined) are com- binedin one. The latter signification evolves itself in the Gospels by various steps and deepening shades of meaning from the dialect of common life, where κύριος as applied to Jesus is scarcely any longer an .* (German: dass man von der Kirche als Institution massiglich halten soll. Das Neue Testament hat kein Wort Jur kirchlich. Noy has the N.T. any word for evangelical, trinitarian, &c. The logic of this second inference, from which I beg leave to express my dissent, is quite as fee- ble, as its spirit would seem to be at variance with that of the N. ‘I. throughout. It is surely of the Church as an institution that Christ speaks in Matt. xvi, 18; xviii, 17; and Zaul, for example, in Eph. iy, 4-13; 1 Tim. iii. 15: &c, Nor is there any good reason why we should shrink from acknowledging, that whatever plausibility there may be in thie sort of indifferentism, which is indeed common onough, in regard to the outward constitution of the rere 2 Berra, not a all from the N.T., but from the istorical, and, alas, still seemingly helpless, confusi of Christendom.—J. L.] ΕΥ̓ Ee Perea t [Substituted by the Jews in the reading of the Scrip. tures for M399 .—J, L.] CHAPTER 1. 2-7, 14 ordinary word of courtesy, but, as in the sphere of revelation generally, every nomen again becomes omen, a reverential address to One whose essential superiority is recognized, as well as his possession of a miraculous power (John iv. 11, 15, 19; Matt. viii. 2, 6, 8, 21, 25; xvii. 4; xx. 30, 31; xxii. 48-45; xxv. 37, 44; xxvii. 10; John vi. 68; ix. 36, 38; xili.6, 13 sq. ; xx. 18, 28; xxi. ἢ ; comp. Actsii. 36; x. 36), whereas on the other hand the deeper, Je- hovistic-Messianic usage of the Apostles, especial- ly of Paul, is found employed at the very beginning, among the links of connection with the Old Testa- ment, by the angel Gabriel (Luke i. 16, 17, and so accordingly vv. 43, 76; comp. also Matt. vii. 21, 22; Acts vii. 59; ix. 13, 14). In the Book of Acts the expressions 6 λόγος τοῦ Seov and ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου are used interchangeably (ch. iv. 81; vi. 2, ἢ; viii. 14; xvii. 18, &c.; viii, 25; xiii. 48 sq. ; xv. 85 sq.; xix. 10, 20). In this higher use of the word it is clearly implied, that Christ attained His central position as Lord and Head of the Church, of humanity, of the world, only by means of His Divinity. But certain- ly there is in it also an expression of the dis- tinctive character of His Divinity, to wit, of sub- ordination rightly understood—the Father being the Supreme God over all, and so also the God of Christ (Epb. i. 17; John xx. 17; Rev. iii. 12), but the Son God as manifested, mediating, standing on the pinnacle of the world (Eph. iv. 6, 6; 1 Cor. xii. δ, 6). God, Lord, Spirit, are the trinitarian expres- sions of Paul; Father, Son, Spirit, those of the Evangelists, of the Lord, and of John.—That God, the Most High, is our Father, who loves us, and to whom we should draw near with filial confidence, and that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Jehovah, who as Man draws near to us as Saviour—this truth meets the readers of Paul’s Epistles at the very out- set, full of grace and peace. HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL, Paul and his friends a model of Christian fellow- ship: 1. Generally of brethren with one another ; 2. of teachers with one another (Paul and Silas, comp. Acts xvi. 17); 8. of teachers and scholars (Paul and Timothy). The brotherly fellowship of teachers laboring in a church, as a main condition af blessed working: 1. The personal fellowship of spirit ; 2. the fellowship of doctrine; 3. that ot prayer and intercession (comp. v. 2 and % Thess, i 8, 11).—Christian brotherhood and Christian friend ship, their oneness and their difference, shown in the relation of Paul to his fellow-laborers and especially to Timothy.—Rizeer: In the kingdom of Christ even the most highly-gifted person does not choose to be so alone, nor alone to perform everything, but gladly seizes occasion to support his own witness to the truth, and mode of acting therein, by the consent of others. In this way likewise a man car really well commend himself to the consciences of others, when they perceive in him a willingness tc let othefs also stand beside him as his equals. Believers should regard themselves as those who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Comp. Tzrsteecen’s: ‘“ All-pervading Air, wherein we ever move, of all things principle ond life, &c.” [Comp. Acts xvii. 28.—J. L.]—Roos: Civil societies have their ground in an external force and a tem- porary expediency ; a Christian church has its ever- lasting ground in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is acknowledged and adored in common.—Diepricu: Nowadays in most countries one knows only of churches on a merely natural foundation.—The great joy, which the Apostle al. ways proclaims to his readers at the beginning of his Epistles, that God is our Father and Jesus Christ our Divine Lord. The two vital points [ Herzpunkte] of Christianity: 1. In the heart of God, and from Him, grace; 2. in the heart of man, and from him in the church, peace.—THomas AQUINAS: χάρις principium omnis boni, εἰρήνη finale bonorum omnium.—Puiv. Matra. Haun: We have daily need of fresh emanations of grace and peace from the highest source. 1. The emanations of God’s grace are innumerable: for- giveness of sins; the witness of the Spirit, that we are the children of God; light and life-power from the word. 2. Every new effluence of grace gives also new peace within the heart, since in full assurance of the Holy Ghost we know that we have not to fear God’s wrath on account of our former sins, and that the impending day of wrath will not consume us (see on Col. i. 2; Eph, i. 2). [AnseLm, cited by Pelt and Alford: ‘ Gratia εἰ pax a Deo sit vobis, ut, qui humana gratia et secu lari pace privati estis, apud Deum gratiam et pacem habeatis.”—J. L.] FIRST PART. PERSONAL AND HISTORIOAL. Cu. 1. 2—OCn. IIT. 18. I. Paul shows the Thessalonians the genuineness of his preaching and of their faith. (Cz, 1. 2—Cun. TI. 16.) Cuapter I. 2-4. , The Apostle thanks God for the gracious standing of the Thessalonians (v. 2), which he describes in its human manifestation (v. 3), 88 well as its Divine ground (v. 4). The latter is their election, to be inferred from the fact, that the Gospel was, on the one hand, preached amongst them with power (v, 5), and, on the other hand, was received by them with joy, so as to furnish an example to others (vv. 6,7). 14 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. 2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you' in oul 3 prayers; remembering without ceasing*® your work of faith, and labor [toil κόπου] of love, and patience of hope in [of ]* our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of [betore, ἐμπροσϑεν] God and our Father [our God and Father, rot Jeot καὶ πατρὸς 4 ἡμῶν]; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God [brethren beloved ot 5 God, your election]; for [because, ὅτι] our gospel came not unto you* in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in [Sin. omits this ἐν} much assurance ; as [even as, καϑώς] ye know what manner of men we were [proved 6 were found] ° among you [for ἐν ὑμῖν Sin. has simply ὑμῖν} for your sake; and ye became followers [imitators, μιμηταί] of us and of the Lord, having received the word in 7 much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; so that ye were | became, γενέσϑαι] ensamples [a pattern|" to all that believe [all the believers] * in Macedonia and [in] Achaia.’ 1 V. 2.—ipév after μνείαν is, indeed, wanting in A. B. [Sin.] &c., but by Tischendorf, who, with Lachmann, for- merly cancelled it, it has been rightly resumed on preponderating evidence, externa] and internal. On account of the ὑμῶν before μνείαν it might easily drop out of the manuscripts. 5 2 V. 3,—[For a different construction of ἀδιαλείπτως, adopted by our Authors, see the Exegetical Notes.—J. L.J 3 -V. 8.—[Comp. ch. v. 8; Rom, ν᾿ 2; Tit. i.2; iii. 7. And so here the older English versions, and very many othere, See the Exegetical Notes, and the Revision,—J. Ld oy aed 4V.4,—[This construction of εἰδότες, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ θεοῦ (Sin: τοῦ θεοῦ) τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν, is that of the oldest versions (Syriac and Vulgate), and may be said to be now universully adopted. King James’ Revisers erred here in quitting Tyndale and Cranmer to follow Geneva and the Bishops’ Bible. Comp. 2 Thess. ii. 13, Rom. i. 7; Sept. Deut. xxxiii. 12; Sir. xlv. 1; xlvi. 18.—The reason for the change of the punctuation at the close of vy. 4 and 5 will be found in the exegesis.—J. L.) 5 V. 6.—eis ὑμᾶς, Griesbach, Lachmann, Liinemann : πρὸς ὑμᾶς. [Sin. inserts τοῦ θεοῦ after evayyédcov.—J. L.] 6 V. δ.-[ἐγενήθημεν. Comp. 2 Cor. vii. 14. Here Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva: behaved ourselves; Auberlen: ura erwiesen (and similarly in the other two instances in vv. 5, 6); and many other versions to the same effect. In the New Testament the first aorist passive forms of γίνομαι (see Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck, pp. 108-9) occur 36 times, and, while in 14 instances our English version treats them as simply equivalent to a past tense of εἶναι, it is not difficult to detect a different shade of meaning in every one of them. See the Revision on this verse, Notes s. and w. context Alford lays (Ellicott thinks an undue) stress on the passive forms as suggestive of Divine efficiency ; Wordsworth : “ were made by God’s grace.”—J. 1,] In the present and 80 ΤΟΎ, Ἰ.-τύπον ; Recepta, defeuded by Reiche: τύπους. [The singular is edited by Knapp, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott—the last-named, however, admittin G. K. L.; to which must now be added ternal authority—A. C. F. vili. 5.—J. L.] ΒΨ, Ἵ.--[πάσιν τοῖς morevovow;—“ mor. not having here a pure participial force, . Ellicott.—J. L.] coalescing with the article to form a substantive.” Ἐν that the plural form is supported by better ex in.—For the translation, comp. Tit. ii. 7 and Heb. - but, as often in the N. T . 1.—[ Most critical editions repeat the ἐν before τῇ ᾿Αχαΐᾳ, with nearly all the uncial manuscripts, including Sin.—Here, and inv. 8, Μακεδονίᾳ is in Sin. Maxacé.—J. L.] * [In his last edition ALrorp gives up this point.—J. L.] FXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (¥. 2.) We give thanks.— With such a thanks- giving for the faith of his readers, or rather an as- surance that he is always giving thanks on that ac- count, Paul begins all his Epistles to churches (and also 2 Timothy and Philemon), with the exception of that to the Galatians, where he sets out with a characteristic Savud¢w. What God has done and continues to do in sinners appears to him ever afresh great and worthy of praise, nor does he even allow himself to be disconcerted in his thanksgiving by the many faults and imperfections still adhering to the churches, while on the other hand by testify- ing his thankful joy in his readers, every one of whom is to understand that he himself is included therein (πάντων), he opens his way to their hearts. But pro gratulatione gratiarum actionem ponit, ut | Dei beneficium esse admoneat, quicquid predicat esse in ipsis laude dignum (Catvin).—The plural, found here and 2 Thessalonians and Colossians, is not the literary We (Pett, [Conyzeare,] &c., con- trary to 1 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, &c., but includes Silvanus and Timothy (comp. ch. ii. 18).* As the three men preach and write together, so also they pray together. Excel- * [So commentators generally in this instance. Worps- worTH’s remark, however, is worthy of note, that the we of these earliest Epistles is in those of later date exchang- ed for the first person singular JZ. Jowert algo refers it exclusively to Paul.—J. L.] lently Dz Werre: ‘In other cases the Epistles be- gin with such declarations of thankfulness only by way of preamble, and so that soon a special object of the Epistle is announced; but here the thanks- giving is connected with a good deal that the Apostle feels himself impelled to write to the young church respecting its condition, and his own relation to it; and this forms a principal part of the Epistle, if not its main substance.” The Apostle gives thanks for the Christian standing of his read- ers, and to confirm them therein, and remove all doubt of its Divine reality, as well as of the purity of the motives with which he himself had led them into their position, is really, strictly speaking, his object in chh. i.—tii, 2. Making mention of you—That μνείαν ποιούμ. Supplies the particular explanation, or modal definition, to ebxap.: ‘whilst we make mention of you,” is clear; and equally so that εἰδότες, v. 4, sup- plies a causal definition: Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians, because he knows their election. But it is a question, whether the intermediate participle is to be made parallel to the first or the third. The former view is adopted by most, and then at first sight a beautiful parallel results : μνημονεύοντες an swers to the μνείαν ποιούμ., the ὑμῶν is extended in ὑμῶν τοῦ Epyou—Inood Χριστοῦ, and προσευχῶν, Xc. returns in ἔμπροσϑεν--- πατρὸς ἡμῶν. But the parallelism is only too strong, and amounts to tautology; the first clause were of no account alongside of the second. We shall, therefore, ἃς A = ἐπὶ τῶν CHAPTER I. 2-ἴ. ΤΑ better (with Curysostom, ΟΑΙΥΊΝ, Scnort, Kocn), by taking μνημον. as parallel to εἰδότες, and finding in y. 8 the first, and in v. 4 the second, ground assign- ed for the thanksgiving. In favor of this, also, is the analogy of Col. i. 4 and 2 Thess i.3. To thanks- giving for the Thessalonians the Apostle is impelled on the human side by his remembrance of their work of faith, &c.; on the divine side, by his reasonable zonviction of their election.* 8. (V.2 [8]. ) Without ceasing.—’Adiarcrrws is by the Peschito, Vulgate, Lurner, Benes, Ewa.p, and many others [Brnson, Burton, Bioom- FIELD, ALFoRD, WeBsTER and WILKinson, &c.— J. L.], rightly construed with what precedes ; and for this the analogy of ch. ii. 13; Rom. i. 9; comp. 2 Tim. i. 8, is decisive. The word, moreover, is used by Paulin only one other place, 1 Thess. v. 17, and thus always in connection with prayer. Nor does the word so arranged drag (LiNemann); rather it is distinguished, and πάντοτε thereby receives its special illustration. The Apostle would certify the Thessalo- nians with peculiar emphasis that they are constantly in his devotional remembrance. On the other hand, μνημονεύοντες does not in this way become flat (Dz Wertz), but is just as marked and forcible as the parallel εἰδότες at the head of the clause. + 4, (V. 3.) For we are mindful [Remem- bering].—Mynyovetery is not merely transitive = μνείαν ποιεῖσϑαι, to mention, bring to remembrance (De Werte, Linemann, ὅ6.}), but it also means, and indeed primarily, to be mindful (μνήμων), as κυ- ρἰεύειν, δουλεύειν = κύριος, δοῦλος εἶναι. Thus every- where in Paul’s writings, and generally in the New Testament ; whence arises a new proof in favor of our view of v. 3 (though, even taken intransitively, the word might be understood of remembrance in prayer)—Panl remembers what he himself has seen at Thessalonica, and what Timothy has since reported to him (ch. iii. 6). He goes on to speak in unusually strong terms of the excellencies of the Thessalonians, as in the second chapter he has to commend his own ministry. In this there is neither flattery nor egotism ; nor is it simply even a father’s joy in the young church, that puts such words in his mouth. He is rather ‘exhibiting evidences to the Thessalonians, that they had attained to a genuine faith, and that there is in them a true work of God” (J. Micn. Haun). 5. Your work in [of] faith—‘ryay is to be * [E.icort, who takes the other view of μνημονεύοντες, ag being parallel to the preceding μνείαν ποιούμ.., woul: distinguish the three participial clauses thus: The frat serves principally to define the manner, the secoud the fime and circumstances, the third the reasons and motives of the action.”—J. L.] + [All this fails to satisfy me that the construction of our English version should not be retained. The whole sen- tenee js thus better bulanced. Paul having assured the Thessalonians that he was always thanking God for them, \t was much less important to add immediately that he made continual mention of them in his prayers, than that the continual remembrance of their Christian char- acter and ita fruits was the reason why his reference to them in his prayers always took the Sorm of thanksgwing to God, The other texts cited cannot contro] a sentence of different structure. Evxiicorr also adheres to this ar- rangement. as “ far more natural,” and refers in its behalf to Chrysostom and the other Greek commentators,—J. L.] 1 [This meaning, which Buza here introduced (com- memorantes), and which ALForD has lately adopted : mak- ing mention of (though in his New Testament for English Readers, published in the same year as the last edition of the Gitek Testament—1865—he follows the Common Ver- sion, remembering), is borne by the word, out of 21 instances of its occurrence in the New Testament, only at Heb. xi. 29 and there the construction is different.—J. L.] connected with the following substantives, and tha’ in such a way that its force extends over all the three main ideas.—It is, then, of three things that Paul is mindful, and this threefoldness he defines according to the three fundamental elements of the Christian life, which he so often extols: faith, love, hope (comp. ch. v. 8; 1 Cor. xiii. 18; Col. i. 4 8α.). But here these occur only in a subordinate, genitival way. And the genitives are all of the same sort: genitives of the origin (Dz Werrz, Scuorr, and most) ;* they mark the feeling that produces ἔργον, κόπος, ὑπομονή, showing itself practically therein. In German we should best employ compound sub- stantives: Glawbenswerk, Licbesmiihe |faith-work, love-toil], were this kind of phrase possible in the last instance. Now in this way also may be ex- plained the only one of these expressions that is difficult, and has been very variously understood : τὸ ἔργον τῆς πίστεως, with which comp. 2 Thess. i. 11. Here ἔργον, as parallel to κόπος, cannot denote a single work, but is something continuous, a total- ity, like our day’s-work, life-work. And so ἔργον ia already found also in classical Greek = business, oc: cupation; it denotes every human activity, especially in so far as it displays a free energetic movement, or is connected with toil and effort (Passow). In the New Testament and with Paul the word stands repeatedly for a man’s whole life-work, the sum of his ἔργα, as it is sometimes said that God judges according to works, at other times accord- ing to every one’s work (comp., for instance, Rom. i, fii] 6 with 1 Pet. i, 17; Rev. xx. 12 with ch. Xxii, 12). Τὸ ἔργον τῆς πίστεως is thus a course of action, with the accessory idea of vigor, strength, as proceeding from faith ; the resolute, serious authen- tication of faith ; practical earnestness in Christian- ity (comp. for the expression τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου, Rom. ii. 15, in which only the genitival relation is somewhat different; whereas the material parallel cited by Dr Wzrrz and others, Gal. v. 6: πίστις δι᾽ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη, is in so far less apt, as it con- founds the second particular, the κόπος τῆς ἀγάπης, with the first). To the later Pauline usage, formed in connection with the doctrine of justification, our expression stands as yet in no direct, conscious rela- tion; but in reality it forms a double antithesis to the ἔργα νόμου, since faith and law stand mutually opposed (Rom. iv. 18 sqq.; Gal. 111, 23 sqq.), and so the singular τὸ ἔργον to the anarthrous plural—the undivided unity of the spiritually quickened life- work to the incoherent multiplicity of single, more or less external, works and performances. For the thought, such passages may be compared as Col. i. 10; Eph. ii. 10, and especially Tit. iii, 8 (καλῶν ἔργων προΐστασϑαι of πεπιστευκότες Sep); ch. ii, 14, 7; 4.16; 1 Tim. ii. 10; 2 Tim. ii 21; ili, 17, As Paul has the expression τὸ ἔργον τῆς πίστεως in his two earliest Epistles, so his latest, the Pastoral Epistles, insist with peculiar earnestness on the evi- dencing of faith in good works, Herein moreover lie hints for the reconciliation of Paul with James, After what has been said, we can now readily ceti- mate the divergent explanations. It is a mistake, were it only on account of the analogy with what follows, to take τῆς πίστεως, nearly in the sense of * Exzicort is inclined to make them simply possessive genitives, and ἔργον, κόπου. ὑπομονῆς the prevailing features and characteristics of πίστεως, ἀγάπης, ἐλπίδος, respectively. But the two ideas are in this case essentially one—at Jeast inseparable in fact ;—the former belonging to the latter as modes of sel/-manifestation.—J, L.] 16 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS, John vi. 29, as a genitive of apposition [Hormann, ALrorp]: the work, that consists in faith ; whether, indeed, we understand this, with Ca.vin and Catov, of faith as a mighty operation of God in man, or, with Cirriccs and Macxnicut, of the reception of the Gospel as man’s work, so far as that involves, for example, the subduing of prejudices. It is also erroneous, because resting on an indistinct conception of the ἔργον and of the genitival relation, and like- wise as violating the analogy with what follows, and encroaching in the third member, to lay the chief stress, with Curysostom, THroporet, Pett, Line- MANN (though he rightly says that ἔργου is emphatic), and others, ou πίστεως : faith, something begun with energy, and in spite of all temptations steadfastly retained. Rightly ANSELM: guomodo fides vestra non eat otiosa, sed semper bonum opus gigntt ; De Werrs: moral activity, proceeding from faith; and similarly BenGEL, OLsHAvsEN, cc. {At 2 Thess. i. 11 Dr. Riagensaca would modify the above explanation of ἔργον τῆς πίστεως by limit- ing the expression to the inward work of faith in the soul itself, and cites Rom. iv. 20, 21 as a better parallel than Gal. v. 6. An obvious objection to this is, that what Paul had observed of the faith of the Thessalonians, and what he now remembered of it, could only have been its outward manifestations in the life, not its internal operation in the heart. And just so in regard to their love and hope.—J. L.] 6. Toil in [of] love.—[‘ Such as their own τ Jason had shown amid persecutions, in Acts xvii.” Jowrrt.—J. L.]—The first expression bears on the relation to God, the second on that to the Christian brethren (comp. Col. i. 4), the third on that to the world and its persecutions. The governing substan- tives advance from the active to the passive: ἔργον is vigorous doing, ὑπομονή patient suffering, κόπος forms the transition: toil is a doing combined with suffering ; strenuous, fatiguing, devoted labor. Pa- tience is the last and highest; rightly to suffer is more and harder than rightly to work; even in the case of the Lord suffering was the last, decisive test, and became the means of His perfecting and glorifi- cation (comp. 1 Pet. iv. 14). In these three, then, are shown and verified faith, love, hope—the root, stem, and crown of the new life. Faith lays hold of the grace exhibited in the facts of redemption, and is thus the foundation of Christian life, the reim- planting of man through Christ in God. Thence arises love as the echo and answer to the Divine love in the heart of man; it is the pure opposite of eelfishness—that principle of sin—and so is the soul of the Christian life, and of the present Christian fellowship—the fulfilling of the law. Hope knows that the future belongs to the Lord and His Church ; it is the real expectation and sure prospect, that the pneumatic life, which now already, descending from the Lord, dwells in his members, shall outwardly also penetrate and transfigure all things, and subdue its still existing antagonists, the flesh and the world, by means of new revelations of the Lord. Thus, in these three subjective factors of the new life is reflected at the same time the historical character of the objective kingdom of God.—With regard to the Thessalonians, therefore, Paul rejoices first of all in the vigor and earnestness of their life of faith, in that they have not yet become faint, and then in the fact that duriag this hard time, when their church is exposed to manifold vexations, they not merely in a general way hold together in mutual love, but also with laborious effort and sacrifice come to one another’s help—in beneficiis spiritualibua vel externis (BENGEL). Comp. the examples, Acta xvii. δ, 9; Rom. xvi. 4,12; 1 John iii. 16.—With this is connected finally : 4. (V. 8.) Patience in [of] hope. Ὑπομονή͵ properly the staying under (under the cross), patient, unwearied constancy in suffering ; here in persecu- tion (see Acts xvii. 6 sqq.). This constancy proceeds from hope, because in view of the future glory one can the more cheerfully bear the present suffering (Rom. viii. 18; 2 Cor. iv. 17 sq.; Heb. xi. 26; xii 2sq.). Patience, therefore, appears as the insepara- ble companion of hope (Rom. viii. 25); likewise, in the reverse order, as producing it, for in the spiritual life there exists a reciprocal influence (Rom. v. 3 sq.) ; or it even takes the place of hope beside faith and love (Tit. ii. 2; comp. 2 Tim. iii. 10; 1 Tim. vi. 11).— τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ refers ποῦ to all the three preceding virtues as derived from Christ (OtsHavsen, [STEIGER, on 1 Pet. i. 2, WoRDSworTH, Wesster and WILKINSON ]), nor yet to ὑπομονή (BEN- GEL, after 2 Thess. iii. 5), but to ἐλπίδος as a geni- tive, not of apposition (LuTHER), but of the object. Christ is the proper object of hope (and as such is certainly Himself also called 4 ἐλπίς, Col. 1. 27; 1 Tim. i. 1), not only because on Him all our trust (this the more common meaning of ἐλπίς) rests, but especially because it is throvgh His return and the revelation of the Kingdom of God therewith con- nected, that the Christian’s hope of glory is fulfilled (Tit. ii. 13). Let it be observed, how by the addi- tion of this genitive the element of hope, so im- portant in our Epistles, already appears here in a fuller and more emphatic way than the other two.* 8. Before our God and Father.— Ἡμῶν be- longs to both substantives.t The words ἔμπροσϑεν, &c., may be joined either with the verb μνημονεύοντες (De Werte, Orsnausen, [Liinemann, ALForD, ELur- corr], &c.), or with the three substantives, τοῦ ἔργου, &c. (Curysostom, THEoporer, (Ecumentus [Bishop Hat, Jowerr, Worpswortn]). Even in the first case μνήμον. need not be understood of mention in prayer, but that Paul before God, that is, so often as he comes before God in prayer, remembers their work of faith, &c.; that is the ground of his thanksgiving ; comp. ch. iii. 9, a parallel passage that favors this view. But opposed to it is the verbal arrangement, since ἔμπροσϑεν, &c, would in this way drag; and the other connection, which no more than ἐν Se, v. 1, requires the article to be repeated (against Lineman), might be preferable.{ By this means the entire conduct of the Thessalonians is put in relation to God (comp. ch. iii. 13), as v. 4 will presently describe in turn God’s bearing towards them. Curysostom [Worps- wortH]: ‘‘Since no man praised or rewarded what they did, therefore Paul adds these words, as if he would say: Be of good cheer, you suffer in the presence of God.” _ 9. (Ὁ. 4) Knowing.—Eidéres is thus parallel With μνημονεύοντες, v. 8; comp. the note on that word. Paul makes the two participles emphatic by 7 ns sss pire he ae ria Pesos er ουῃσιτερασα however, fein tis case gram’ note on Gal. i. 4.—J. Τ᾿ Po Ene CeR HS SRC eS Ne (Dr. Riecennacn’s Preface indicates a i f the connection with pynuovevovres.—J. LJ Bre Terceoe: for CHAPTER [f. 2-%. 1 placing them in the front. By the side of we remembrance of what actually lay before his eyes, he sets the knowledge, the firm assurance of some- thing, of which one cannot be so easily certain, and in this way he intimates so much the more strongly, that on this point he is sure of his ground. To an afflicted person no higher comfort can be given, than when it is allowed to say to him: I know that thou art chosen.—With this also agrees the address: brethren beloved of God (ἠγαπημένοι, perfect parti- ciple: embraced once for all by the Divine love): they are permitted to regard themselves as objects of the Divine love, of electing love; they are to know that their Christianity is not a human dream and vapor, but the evidence that the everlasting purpose of God’s own love is directed towards them. Comp. 2 Thess. ii. 13, where an address almost entirely similar stands also in connection with election ; Col. iii, 12; Rom. xi. 28; Ps. lx. 7 [5]; cviii. 7 [6],* where the members of the chosen people are called mia II LXX. ἀγαπητοί. Thus the members of the Old and of the New Testament Church are spoken of both as God’s chosen and as His beloved. ᾿ἘἘκλογή, selection, the election of grace, is the act- ing of the Divine love, whereby God has from eternity freely devised in Christ the plan of salva- tion, according to which all men should be called in succession to the kingdom of heaven,+ and has like- wise received into the same these ordained persons.t ᾿Ἐκλέγεσϑαι answers to "113, 6. g. Deut. vii. 6, and includes three things: ἐκ-λέγ-εσϑαι : the stem marks the freeness of the Divine choice; the middle, that God has chosen men for Himself, into the fellowship of His love, for His own; ἐκ, to select, out from the world, comp. John xv. 15; xvi. 19 (Jobn xv. 16, 19]. In our place ἐκλογή denotes, not, as Rom. ix. 11, the act of choosing, but, as 2 Pet. i. 10, the being chosen [MérieRr 8]; Rom. xi. 7, the chosen. Paul constant!» gives this title of elect to Christians, in whom through their calling and faith the purpose of redemption is realized ; see vv. 5, 6. 10. (V. 5.) Because.—'Or: not = that (LUTHER, BencEL, Scuorr, &c.), but = because, for. It serves not to analyze τὴν ἐκλογήν, but to confirm εἰδότες τὴν ἐκλ. ὑμῶν. The Apostle assigns two grounds of his knowledge of the election of the Thessalonians, both lying in the nature of the case, so far as from the realization of election an inference may be drawn backward to its existence: 1. the call had come to them in power (v. 5); 2. they had received it in faith (v. 6). The first takes place on the part of God through the apostolical preaching, the second on the part of men; and therefore to τὸ eday- * {The German Bible, like the Hebrew, includes the titles of the Psalms among the numbered verses.—J. L.] ἘΠῚ do not know where Scripture teaches that this is a part of the plan of salvation, or where ἐκλογή is em- ployed to express any such idea; nor is it easy to see how it could be, except, indeed, as the human race might be oken of as thus distinguished from the angele that sinned.—J. L. : ᾿ 1 [What persons? All men in succession? or the Church members referred to in the previous sentence? In either case reception and election represent, totally different ideas.—The whole definition is lacking in accuracy and precision. Nor do these qualities by any means charac- terize all that is added on this topic under the Doctrinal head. This is not the place for the discussion of theological systems. But I may be allowed simply to refer to what is said on this point in my Lectures on Thessalonians, p. 55 sqq. and p. 542 sq.—J. L.] ἢ ies Ὁ (Dr. W. Morier. He edited the 3d edition of Dz Werre’s Exeg. Handbuch on the Epistles to the Gaiatians and Thessalonians, 1864.—J. L.] Ὡς γέλιον ἡμῶν (v. ὅ) the ὑμεῖς (v. 6) is emphatically opposed. 11. Our gospel came [German: showed itself προ you.—Before Paul came to Macedonia "ἢ Thessalonica, as Rizerr also and OLSHAUSEN remind us, he was forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in the provinces of Asia and Bithynia (Acts xvi. 6, 7); from which he could but infer that the hour of their election had not yet struck (it came later, ch. xix. 10). Instead of this, he was called by a vision to Macedonia (ch. xvi. 9, 10), and here, and therefore also in Thessalonica, he was able to preach with more than ordinary power and assurance in the Holy Ghost. By this he perceived that God’s saving purpose was directed to the Thessalonians. Ἔγενήϑη eis, or, which is the same in sense, πρὸς ὑμᾶς, not: was with you (Luter), as if it were ἐν ὑμῖν, Ἐ but: came to you, showed itself in its direction and relation to you. By ἐγενήϑη the certainty of the fact is expressed in a sonorous word, which is there- fore thrice repeated in vv. 5, 6, and precisely at the essential points. This we have attempted to repre- sent in the translation by: showed iiself.+ 12. Not in word only, but, &.—Comp. as specially parallel 1 Cor. iv. 20; only that μόνον is wanting there, because the λόγος τῶν πεφυσιωμένων isin question, here the preaching of the Apostle. Δύναμις is the objective Divine force, which shone forth from the Apostle in preaching, and wrought as a power on men’s souls, spiritualis doctrine energia (CaLvIN); tAnpogop ia, the subjective fulness of conviction, assurance, confidence, and joyfulness, wit* which be was able to speak; Ewatp: gushing fui- ness. In the middle stands the common principle of both: the Holy Ghost, who animated the Apostle, and was, indeed, the Author alike of the former fact, the real power, and of this consciousness, the fulness of confidence. By means of ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ, signifi- cantly placed in the centre, as it were the soul of both, δύν. and πληροφ. receive their precise specifica- tion; for with mere power and assurance can even a worldly orator speak.—Power and spirit belong together (comp. 1 Cor. ii, 4; Rom. xv. 19; Acts i. 8; x. 38; comp. Luke i. 85), and so spirit and life (Rom. viii. 12 [11]; John vi. 63 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6; Rom. viii. 2, 10. 13. Even as ye know what, &.—With this begin the appeals, so frequent in the sequel, especially ch. ii, 1-12 (vv. 1, 2, 5, 9, 10,11), to the personal knowledge of the Thessalonians respecting the Apos- tle’s behavior among them. These can only be explained by the fact, that some sought to misrepre- sent that behavior, and bring it under suspicion. O ἴοι, how behaved, in what power and fulness ofthe Spirit (OnsnavsEn); carried out in detail, ch. ii. 1-12. So little does the Apostle divide his gospel, his preaching, his office, from his person, that for proof of the former he appeals, and can appeal, to thelatter. He says not: how we preached, but: how we were. The whole man preached. Such a fine advance of the thought characterizes the style of the Apostle.—By the δ ὑμᾶς put significantly at the close Paul hints thus early at what he afterwards also further unfolds, ch. ii. 1 sqq., that in his ministry he had sought not his own advantage, but only the sal- vation of the Thessalonians. 14. (V. 6.) And ye became, &c.—After v. 5 should be placed, not, as is commonly done, a periud, * (Bx1icorr would allow this sense to πρὸς ὑ"ᾶς, aod refers to 1 Cor. xvi. 10.—J. L. t [See Critical Note 6.—J. 1.1 {8 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. bat a comma, v. 6 being still dependent on ὅτι of v. 5, as the emphatic ὑμεῖς is no doubt opposed to τὸ εὐαγγ. ἡμῶν of that verse ;* see Exegetical Note 9 [10]. Thus v. 6, with which v. 7 is connected, contains the second ground from which is inferred the election of the Thessalonians, namely, the recep- tion on their part of the call. But, as Paul preached, not merely in a general way, but with power, &., so they too received the word, not merely in a general way, but in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. Through these corroborating circumstances on both sides the conclusion in regard to the election be- comes the more certain. And therefore is this corroboration emphasized in v. 6 by prefixing μιμη- ταὶ ἡμῶν ἐγενήϑητε, &c.; for the tertium compara- tionis lies not in δεξάμενοι τὸν λογόν, which indeed were unsuitable, in particular, to the Lord, but in this, shat in great affliction, with holy joy of the Spirit, they yielded themselves to God in faith, as Paul and the Lord had done in their preaching and official proce- dure. On μιμηταί, comp. 1 Cor. iv. 16; xi. 1; Phil. iii. 17; Eph. v. 1; Gal. iv. 12, and the Doc- trinal division. 15. Having received the word, &e.—When through the preaching of the gospel a man expe- riences in his heart the truth and glory of salvation, this will the more vividly mount even to joy of the Holu Ghost, the more that outward affliction, that is, hostility and persecution for the gospel’s sake, seeks to dispute with him the possession of salvation, As a counterpoise to the world’s intimidation and vexa- tion, the Holy Ghost works this inward joy at the opening prospect of an everlasting communion with God (πνεύματος ἁγίου, genitive of the origin, like the genitives of v. 8). And uow the question is, whetber the man gives the victory to this joy or to that affliction, to the new power of the Spirit or to the old power of the flesh. If he does the first, the ease comes to δέχεσϑαι τὸν λόγον. The δέχε- oai—on which comp. ch. ii. 18; Luke viii. 13 ; Acts viii, 14; xi. 1; xvii. 11; James 1. 21 (δέξασϑε τὸν ,λόγον, imperative)—expresses man’s agency in the work of salvation, as this is likewise marked by ὑμεῖς. But this agency is not an independent effi- ciency (Pelagianism), nor any codperation (Syner- gism), but an acceptance, the affirmation of the Divine working on us and in us, a free receptivity.t ‘While a man thus gives admission to prevenient grace, asserting itself to him inwardly in the word of the Spirit (v. 5), and acting upon his heart, he -yet recognizes the new life as entirely the work of the Holy Spirit, because he himself has not effected, but ‘merely received it—QOn the affliction of the Thessalonians, see Acts xvii. 5 sqq. At Thessa- lonica, and generally in the primitive Church period, fonversion was an act of personal courage and vigorous self-denial, since a man had to be prepared to surrender comfort, honor, property, and life *tself. 16. (V. 7.) A pattern to all the believers * [The Author’s German version repcats the ὅτι : and because ye became, &c, But itis better, with Exzicorr, to cegard the connection of v. 6 with that particle as rather Jogical than structural, and so “to place neither a period (TiscHENDORF, ALFORD), nor a comma (Lacumann, Burr- MANN), but a colon, after v. 5.” Inthe Translation, indecd, Ev.icotr, perhaps through oversight, retains the period.— 1.1). + [The joy οὗ the Holy Ghost is rather the accompani- ment and the fruit of faith, than, as here represented, the preparation for it.—J. L.} 1 (On δέχεσθαι as compared with παραλαβεῖν, sce Exeget- 1081 Notes on ch. ii. 12.—J. L.] answers to the μιμησαί of v. 6: The true followers become themselves in turn patterns for others. Thi circumstance, moreover, that they had become a pat- tern for others, might be of use to the Thessalonians for confirmation in their faith, and for their convie tion of its reality; the Apostle, therefore, still further enlarges upon it in the following section (vv. 7-10), to which our verse forms the transition.—Believers is one of the most frequent designations of Christians in the New Testament—comp. Acts ii. 44 ; iv. 82— along with ἅγιοι, &e. 17. Macedonia and Achaia, whither the Apostle journeyed from Thessalonica. Achaia, origin- ally the most northern territory of the Peloponnesus, was from the year 146 before Christ the name of the Roman province that embraced the Peloponnesus and Hellas, since by the overthrow of the Achzan League the Romans had made themselves masters of Greece. The two provinces of Macedonia and Achaia together formed the entire Greek domain, and are therefore often named together (Acts xviii. 12; xix. 21; Rom. xv. 26° 2 Cor. ix. 2). DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 2.) The exordiums of the Pauline Epistles afford us noteworthy glimpses of the devotional life of the Apostle. So faithfully and constantly did he bear churches and individuals on his heart in inter- cession and thanksgiving, that he is able to speak of it to his readers in terms, which to the common sense appear hyperbolical. And it is true that the apostolic is by its very nature hyperbolical, inasmuch as the Apostles transcend the ordinary measure, and excel all others not only as preachers and founders of the Church, but also as men of prayer. When the Twelve at Jerusalem gave up the external services to the deacons, they said: ‘But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts vi. 4). Prayer is to them the full half, and indeed the first half, of their office. And so Paul too begins his Epistles, in which he addresses the word to the churches, with a distinct reference to the fact, that he is constantly praying for them. By prayer we act upon God; by the word, on the world, on men. To every labor for the world must be added the blessing of God ; the moral can prosper only on the religious ground. Hence for every man the golden, in its simplicity inconceivably wise and com- prehensive, rule: Pray and labor. But forthe labor- er in the word, whereby the world is to be brough$ to God, and the Spirit of God is to enter men’s souls, the rule has a double value. And indeed from the statements of the Apostle we observe that he had regular exercises of devotion ; as a result of which, his Epistles manifest ἃ continual devotional frame. 2. (V.3.) On faith, love, hope, see Exegetical Note 3. (V. 4.) Election is not to be so understood, as if God had appointed some men to salvation, to the ex- clusion of others. The latter are not rejected, but simply passed by for a time [ ?—nur zuriickgestellt), Election has reference to an organic position in that kingdom of God, to which all men are appointed. and, in connection therewith, to a temporal entrance into the same (see Rom. ix.-xi., and on that passage especially J. T. Beck, Versuch einer pneumatisch hermeneutischen Entwicklung des iz. Kapitels tm Brief an die Rémer, Stuttgart, 1833), “ God 1 chooses for Himself out of all, before others and for CHAPTER I. 2-7, ly others.” (Rvowrre, Hausbibel, on Eph. i. 4.) Quite as little is election to be so understood, as if in the elect grace wrought irresistibly, so that they could not fail *o become and remain believers. Rather, when God’s hour for a man has struck, there goes forth to him tbrough the Gospel the call (v. δ), which he can receive or not (v. 6 ;—on the relation between grace and freedom, see the second Note on that verse) ; and, when he has received it, it is still for him a question of permanent interest, that he persevere and continue steadfast in grace (see 2 Thess. ii, 18-15: εἵλατο ὑμᾶς ὁ Seds Gm” ἀρχῆ:---ἐκάλεσεν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου --ἄρα οὖν στήκετε. 2 Pet. i. 10): ‘Scripture certain- ly knows only of a Divine causality in the matter of salvation; but neither does it conflict with this, that the conditions of obtaining salvation rest with man.” * (Stier, on Eph. i. 4.) By means of the first view, that the election of grace is to be understood in an organic and historical sense, the difficulty in regard to the reprobi is solved; by means of the other, that freedom, or, more precisely, man’s free recep- tivity is not annulled, but unbound, by grace and the election of grace, is solved the difficulty in regard to the electi, “Α preedestinatio sanctorum is spoken of, but without at the same time affirming also a reprobatio impiorum or a gratia irresistibilis.” (OLs- @AuSEN, on Eph. i. 4.) Predestination is a decretum absolutum, and to that extent remains ever a mys- tery, in so far as it rests on the free good pleasure of the Divine love and wisdom, which according to their sovereign @ecision, yet not otherwise in the kingdom of God than in secular history, assign to one a distinguished, to another an inglorious, posi- tion; but it is no decretum horrendum, because on the ground of what God gives men move with free- dom, and so the claims of conscience and reason remain secure. Nay, only thus does predestina- tion become, what it is to Paul, the Divine world- idea, the plan, formed in Christ, of creation and cedemption, which lies at the basis of the entire development of the world, and comprehends the successive e:evation or reintroduction of the crea- tures into the glery “f the Creator. But for beltev- ers the knowledge of election has a double signifi- cance—a humbling ore, made especially prominent in Rom. ix.; and one that lifts up, with which the Apostle has to do here, and at Eph. i. 4; Rom. viii. 28-30. The first consideration is the con- sciousness, fatal to all self-righteousness, that our salvation rests not on any doings or performances of ours, but is founded wholly out of and above ourselves in the free, everlasting mercy of God. The second is the lofty and joyful assurance, wherein believers find comfort, that their salvation is therefore not of yesterday, but from eternity ; that it rests not on weak, human props, but in the eternal purpose of grace of the Father in the Son, into the world-pervading realization of which they know themselves to be taken up. The grace of God is all- embracing ; but it is precisely in consequence of the aniversality of the gracious disposition that despisers perish. Jux. Mitter: ‘Love could not be in ear- nest with itself, did it not deny its denial.” [Matt. x. 33; Luke xii. 9.] To believers, on the other hand, it never occurs either to suppose that now * (Only let it be added, that the “‘ Divine causality ” ex- Sends also to the ‘human conditions,” though in sucha way, aowever to us incomprehensible, as does not at all impair, jut rather strengthens, mun’sfree moral agency. See Acts ii. 48 ; xvi. 14; Eph. ii. 8; 2 Tim. ii, 25; Luke xxii. 32; 1 et. i, δ; Jude 24; &c.—J. L.} indeed they can no longer miscarry, or even ta claim superiority to other men, as if God had not loved the world. “From all weakness and tempt- ation we may ever again revert to the eternal foun dation, that in Jesus Christ God has foreordaineé us, that within the eternal contemplation of His Son is included our election, which now advances in mani- festation and accomplishment, till we hear the gospel and are sealed by the Spirit. Only this is implied in the election of grace, as Paul explains it, that faith has reason to consider itself chosen; of those who do not attain to this grace he speaks not at all.” (“ Minutes of the Preachers’ Conference at Stuttgart, May 12, 1852, p. 309.)—[Barnes: It is possible for a people (and for individuals) to know that; they are chosen of God, and to give such evidence of it that others shall know it also.—J. L.] 4. (V. 5.) The call does not come through every sort of gospel-preaching, but through preaching filled with the Spirit, and an essential point in the matter is the personal endowment of the preachers, Comp. the Exegetical Notes 11 and 12. 5. (Vv. 6 and 7.) Christianity proposes to men no new problems which they must first solve by them- selves, and as it were in new paths; itis also in thia respect not a law, but a gospel. The primary prob- lem is solved, the way is prepared, and in this way there are forerunners, in whose footsteps we simply tread, God, Christ, and His witnesses. God was imitated by Christ (John v. 19 sq.), Christ by Paul and the Apostles (1 Cor. xi. 1), Paul by the Thessa- lonians and all who so walked (Phil. iii. 17), and then again these imitators themselves became a pattern for others (see Exegetical Note 15). Nor is that a spiritless imitation, but a following (Luke ix. 23 sqq., 57 sqq.) in the power of the Spirit, who begets ever new, fresh lite, though in historical continuity ; since He is a Spirit of remembrance (John xiv. 26), yea, the ever-present God Himself, authenticating His ear- lier creations by those subsequent, so that preceding spiritual men become models and instruments of training for the later, and that word: Learn of me (Matt, xi. 29), finds its fulfilment perpetually renew- ed. Thus the Church hangs through Christ on God, and from God were goes forth through Christ and His Apostles into the world an unbroken succession of bright forms, a cloud of witnesses (Heb. xii. 1), who are images and representatives of God in the world, and, in connection with their predecessors, leave a personal impress of the heavenly, spiritual quality, according to the circumstances and needs of each several period, As we commence the mission- ary work amongst a heathen people, not by translat- ing the Bible into their language, but by sending messengers to them—(it is not without reason that πορευϑέντες -occurs in the missionary charge, Matt. xxviii. 19)—so, in general, to the word of the Spirit, even the preached, audible word; must still be added the visible stamp of the Spirit in living personalities, who show by act the power and glory of the gospel, and in whom can be seen, if the expression is allow- ed, the holy arts of the spiritual walk—the spiritual dietetics. On this rests the high importance of good biographies, and yet more of the living observation of Christian characters. What Christian owes not his best thanks to such life-impressions? For, indeed, humanity is so organized, and this is its noble dis- tinction, that what is deepest rests ever on the rela- tion of person to person: the relation of father and child, of master and disciples, penetrates everywhere ΟΡΤΙΝΘΕΕ : “It cannot be denied that an embodied 20 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. visible gospel * is necessary to the right use of the ‘written rule, and of the hearing of preaching. The written standard must be made available through the help of the Spirit in the members.” Hence the im- portance of Church History in its innermost sanctu- ary, so far as it is a history of the invisible Church, of men of God, of true saints. That is the most liv- ing tradition, the tradition of the Spirit and of power. In this sense also an essential importance belongs to the Church as well as to Holy Scripture. She isina certain sense a continuation of the actual revelation of God alongside of the verbal revelation, wherein, it is true, the word of God reaches, as it always does, far beyond the fact, and the latter serves only as a step and means of guidance to the former (comp. John ii. 11 and 22; v. 36 sqq. and 39 sqq.; xiv. 10, 11). * And thus shall it be, till what we shall be appears ; then fact and word become one. HOMILETICAL AND PRAOTICAL. V. 2. Prayer, as in the apostolic Epistles, so generally, the beginning and foundation of the pro- mulgation of the word. The preacher’s office a perseverance in prayer and in the ministry of the word; comp. Acts vi. 4.—The Apostle’s daily com- munication with his churches by prayer.—ZwinG_1: True love is careful for the brethren.—A Christian preacher gives God glory and thanks for what through him has been wrought in souls; and just so the praise of other men becomes in the Christian’s mouth thanksgiving to God.—Rriecer: Oh, the lightening of the official burden, when the Lord still opens our eyes, and shows us for what we have to give thanks, and for what to pray !—Tueoporer: We should first give thanks for the good already bestowed upon us, and only then pray for what still is wanting. So do we find it everywhere with the Apostle.—Drepricn: Happy the man, who is able to let all his joy pour itself forth in pure thanks- giving to the Father. Otherwise there is even no joy worth anything.—Canvin: An important motive to zealous progress is the reflection, that God has granted to us noble gifts for the perfecting of the work begun; that under His guidance we have already made advances on the right road for reach- ing the end. For as an idle confidence in the virtues to which men foolishly lay claim puffs them up, and makes them secure and sluggish, so the recognition of God’s gifts humbles pious souls, and incites them to a soiicitous zeal. V. 8. Carvin: A brief description of true Christianity: 1. That faith be earnest and vigorous ; 2. that no pains be spared, so long as there are neighbors to be assisted, but that all the pious assidu- ously fulfil the obligations of love; 3. they should studiously endeavor, in the hope of Christ’s manifes- tation, to despise all things else, and by patience overcome both the irksomencss of the long interval (to the appearing of the Lord), and all the tempta- tions of the world.—Lurner: Faith is a lively, active, practical, temperate thing, so that it cannot but do good works unremittingly. It does not even ask whether good works are to be done; but let a man rather ask whether he has done, and is ever doing, them. Without constraint, therefore, a man becomes willing and glad to do good to every one, to ferve every one, to suffer in every way, from love to bod and for His glory, who has shown him so great * German. ein visiiles und sichtbures Evangelium.] grace; so that it is impossible to separate works from faith, as impossible as for heat and light to be separated from fire—Brncz. : He, who from regard to his own profit and ease withdraws from labor, loves little—Rizezr: Love will have reality and truth, nor that in such measure only as is convenient for every man, bringing him honor and a good name, without too closely compromising his own life ; but 80 that a man must descend withal from his own station, and the distinctions thereto belonging, and, instead of finding his pleasure in himself, place himself in the circumstances of another: that is what is meant by the labor of love. Under the patience of hope may be comprehended the entire career of our Lord Jesus Christ. For it is all summed up in this, that He condescended to what was most ignominious, and maintained Himself above what was most glorious; as now in our career of faith everything depends on the hope of the kingdom breaking its way through tribulation with the patience of Christ. . V. 4. Election the highest comfort of the tempted. —Zwinet1: Paul therewith guards his commendation, lest they arrogate to themselves what belongs to God alone.—Marks of election: 1. a powerful call; 2. a believing reception of the gospel as the word of God ; comp. ch. ii. 18.—An anointed preacher may thus comfort tempted believers, and one Christian another: I know that thou art chosen, —Rircer: The Apostle speaks thus decidedly of their election, in consequence of the call and the evidence of their obedience to it. Nor is it even beyond our present measure to form such a judg- ment, in praise of the work of God in a soul, though formerly, to be sure, it may have been more percep- tible. Our office otherwise loses its proper force [Seele, soul], when we never dare to discern between the righteous and the unrighteous, or to recognize as dead or alive what really is so. Vv. 3, 4. [Scorr: Faith which worketh not obedience ; professed love that declines self-denying labor; and hope which is separated from patient continuance in well-doing, can never prove a man’s election.—J. L.] V. 5. The right preaching of the kingdom of God, like itself, stands not in words, but in power —Spiritual power dwells in the preaching, when the bearers feel that the preacher himself is a m:n of firm conviction, who stands in the joyful assir- ance of that which he preaches.—Power on others and assurance (within) we cannot give to ourselves it is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Even an Apostle cannot everywhere work with equal force. It be- hoves us, renouncing self, to yield ourselves to the Lord.—The preacher’s doctrine and life must form one whole.—Jonn Micn. Hann: A holy, Christian behavior makes impressions on elect souls. Wher- ever we go or sojourn, let us never forget that we too are closely watched and observed. Our aim must be to walk as elect, holy and beloved, not only before our Holy Father, but also before the dear ones whom our Lord has purchased for Himself. V. 6. The right disposition of preachers and hearers.—Diepricn: Ye are in the heavenward march of the children of God, that is led by the God-Man.—Rirerr: To hear and receive God’s word has been specified by the Saviour Himself as the decisive badge of those, who are of God and of the truth ; especially when one is not deterred by the outside covering of shame and affliction.—Roos : A gospel or good news should cause joy, and, if unable to cause any, it is no gospel. When amongst CHAPTER I. 8-10. 21 Jews, Heathens, or Christians, unbelief, idolatry, and all damnable ungodliness is reproved, this rebuke should be keen and of swift operation; but so like- wise should joy over the simultaneously proffered grace swiftly rise, and cause the pain occasioned by the rebuke to be disregarded, when compared with the richness of the proffered grace, or with the happy condition into which a man now enters.—[Jowert : The suffering that comes from without cannot de- preas the spirit of a man who is faithful in a good gauae. It is only when “from within are fears” that the mind is enslaved.—J. L.] V. 7. Rieger: Who becomes a follower of the Lord, without confiding also in brave predecessors and comrades, and becoming their follower? Ii amounts to a great perverseness, when any woula break down confidence in those who by word and work, doctrine and life, are Lelpers of the truth, and would pretend in this to a zeal for the Lord, supposing that they are striving merely against a ruinous dependence on men. Whoever in his fol lowing casts off humility, fails likewise to attain the grace to become a pattern.—Even believers need patterns of the genuineness and evidence of joy under affliction [Werssrrr and WiLkrinson: It requires higher grace, and is a more important duty, to be an example to believers than to the world, ch ii, 10,—J. L.] Cx. 1. 8-10. 2. Other Christians also, who have heard thereof, bear witness to the blessed work of the Apostle at Thessalonica, and the thorough conversion of the Thessalonians. 8 For [Sin. omits γάρ] from you sounded out [hath been sounded forth, ἐξήχηται] the word of the Lord* not only in Macedonia and Achaia,’ but also in every [but in every] * place your faith to God-ward [toward God] is spread abroad [hath gone forth, 9 ἐξελήλυϑεν], so that we need not [have no need]* to speak anything. For they them- selves shew of us [report concerning us, περὶ jay ἀπαγγέλλουσιν] what manner of enter- ing in [entrance, εἴσοδον] we had® unto you, and how ye turned to God from [the] ° idols, 10 to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven [the heavens],’ whom He raised from the® dead, even Jesus, which delivered us [who delivered us]* from the wrath to come [the coming wrath, τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης]. 1 τ, 8.—[The German adopts a different arrangement of this verse. J.) 3 ν. 8.—[There is large authori (Scholz, Schott, Lachmann), But t. See Exeg. Note 2. For κυριον, Sin.) has θεοῦ of manuscripts (including Sin.) and versions for the repetition of ἐν τῇ before "Axate is is supposed to be an assimilation to v. 7. Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, &c., retain the common reading (A. B., many cursive mss., and some versions and Fathers).—J. L.] ὃν, 8.—Kai after ἀλλά should be cancelled, with Lachmann, Tischendorf and others {Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott], on superior manuscript authority [including Sin.]—to the advantage of the sense. Vv. ee χρείαν ἡμᾶς ἔχειν (rather: ἔχειν ἡμᾶς, with A. B. C. Ὁ. Sin, &c.; Lachmann, Scholz, Tischendorf, ort Alford, W worth, Ellicott) the negative phrase is, to have no need.—J. L.] 5 ur English Version renders χρείαν ἔχειν, to have need or lack, 24 times ; and in 6 of these Υ. 9.—Instead of the Recepta ἔχομεν, all now read ἔσχομεν, according to the best manuscripts [Sin., &c.], and the sense also favors this. 40. 9.--ἰτῶν εἰδώλων = 0997ONM , Is ii. 18. Comp. 1 John v. 21.—J. L.] 7 V. 10.—[rav οὐρανῶν. Comp. ‘Acts ii. 34; &c.—J. L.] 8 V. 10.—[The reading, τῶν νεκρῶν, which nearly all the critical editions now follow, ‘is supported,” says Ellicott, ἐς by reponderating external evidence. . jin. has the article.—J. L.] . and by the probability of a conformation to the more usual ἐνείρειν ἐκ vexpav.”? 9V.10.—[Or, our Deliverer, τὸν ῥνόμενον ἡμᾶς. See Exeg. Note 18, Our Translators here followed the Vulgate, qui eripuit, against the older English versions.—For ἀπό, Sin. and one cursive manuscript have éx.—J. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL 1. In commencing anew short section with v. 8, we vary from the common view which takes the whole of the first chapter together. But there are evidently three different testimonies adduced by Paul in support of the two facts, which he is now engaged in proving—his own pure, powerful preaching, and the genuine faith of the Thessalonians. He first gives his own testimony, ch. i. 2-1, especially v.56 ἴα. ; then he brings forward that of Christians else- where, ch. i. 8 to 10; lastly, he appeals to the Thes- ealonians and their remembrance of his entrance among them (ch. ii. 1-2), just as on his side he bears witness to them of thar believing reception of the word, of which they had, and still have, experience as the word of God (ch. ii. 18 to 16). 2. (V. 8.) There is a question, first of all, of the punctuation of v. 8. Ordinarily a comma is put first after "Ayala, and then there arises a double incon- venience. In the first place, the proof (γάρ) stretches unsuitably beyond the thing to be proved (v. 7): Ye are become a pattern to the believers in Macedonia and Achaia, for not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere, have you been heard of. In the second place, the clause with but is, in a manner a once unsuitable and really insignificant, provided with a new subject and verb, whilst we are expecting only: From you the word of the Lord has come forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in all places. If Paul meant to introduce a new subject and verb into the latter clause, he must have placed after ob μόνον the subject and verb of the former clause, together with ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν, which answers to the buds 22 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. after aloris.* It will therefore be better, with CaL- vin, Lonemann and others, to puta colon after κυρίου, so that now ov μόνον ἐν, as well as ἀλλ᾽ ἐν, is depend- ent on 7 πίστις ὑμῶν ἐξελήλυϑεν. If in this way the second of the difficulties named is obviated, so not less is the first also, since now the logical relation, expressed by γάρ, of v. 8 to v. 7 is formed thus: Ye are become a pattern to the believers in Macedonia aad Achaia; for even in other quarters it has become known, how the word of God has wrought among you. On this new thought the Apostle now dwells and carries it out by itself still further and beyon y. 7. For the exemplariness of the Thessalonians is not the main thought to be established in the follow- ing verses, but forms merely the transition to the new witnesses, the citation of whom is (according to Note 1) properly his object. That the clause with od μόνον appears attached to the preceding one by asyndeton need not disturb us, since, with explanatory clauses particularly, this is frequently the case, comp. ch. ii. 7,9. Winer, p. 476. 3. From you hath been sounded forth.—’A¢’ ὑμῶν stands emphatically first; ἀπό in the proper tocal sense: out from you. ᾿ξήχηται in the New Testament ἅπαξ λεγόμενον; ἐξηχέω commonly intran- aitive, but also in classic Greek transitive = to cause to sound forth; ἐξηχεῖται, it sounds forth, is heard abroad. Similarly here with the sense of the perfect : The word of God has been so powerful among you, has produced a movement so lively and loud, that the sound thereof, so to speak, [as of a trumpet; Curysostom, | has propagated itself to a distance— that people have heard it everywhere. Brnee.: claro sono diditus est. The idea of resonance (echo) does not lie in the word. Comp. the parallel ἐξελήλυδεν : has pressed forth, become known (Luke vii. 17). 4. ne word of the Lord—your faith in God.—These two expressions of themselves describe Christianity on its two sides ; the word on the Divine side, but offering itself to men; faith on the human, but turning to meet the approach of God; vv. 6 and 6. In the present connection, however, where the second clause merely carries out further the first, and *[ Accordingly, not a few interpreters from Pacninvus to Scporr and GERLacH assume such a transposition.— 2.1. t (Others, on the contrary, as Marrin’s French version and MicHae ris, introduce the colon immediately after τόπῳ, and throw all that precedes on the first verb. ‘The most simple explanation,” says Exuicotr, “ appears that of Ricnert (Loc. Paul. Expl. Jena, 1844), according to which the Apostle is led by the desire of making a forcible climax into a disregard of the preceding nominative, and in fact puts a sentence in antithesis to οὐ μόνον--᾿Αχαΐᾳ instead of a simple local clause, ἐν πάντι τόπῳ, or ἐν 6AM τῷ κόσμῳ (Ror. i. 8), as the strict logical connection actually requir- ed.’ But if we acquiesce in this view of the case as one of interrupted or mixed construction, it is not necessary, as I remarked in the Revision of the verse, Note g, with Rickert, to lay the main stress on ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν, or, except in the particular of local extent, to find any increase of force what- ever in the latter clause. On the contrary, ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐξήχηται 6 λόγος τοῦ κυρίον sounds something greater than ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἐξελήλυθεν ; and the very feeling of the writer that the former phrase implied, on the part of the Thessalonians, more of evangelical influence, if not missionary activity, than could properly be asserted of them in reference to the regions beyond their own Greck provinces, may have rompted the use, in the latter connection, of the weaker orm of expression: From you hath been sounded forth the word of the Lord, and not only is that true, asI have just intimated (v. 7), in relation to Macedonia and Achaia, ‘but everywhere, throughout all the household of faith, the fact and the circumstances of your conversion are familiarly known.” Axrorp retains the ordinary punctuation, but vegards the “new subject and predicate as merely an epex- wosis of the former.”—J, L.] where also, therefore, the verbs are synonymoug, both points are jointly intended under both expres sions: * the word of God, as it was preached by the Apostle and believingly received by the Thessalonians (so also OtsHavsEN, Dr Werte, Koca), and hence the emphatic position of ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν ; faith, as it was aroused in the Thessalonians by the Apostle’s preaching (Liwemann). But still the word of the Lord standa first, precluding mere human glory—The word of the Lord (as in Thess. iii, 1), the word or the gospel of Christ (Col. iii. 16; Rom. i. 9, and often), not dif ferent from the word or gospel of God (1 Cor. xiv 36; Rom. i. 1, and often), just as in the Acts ὁ λόγος τοῦ ϑεοῦ and 6 λόγος τοῦ κυρίου are used interchange. ably. It is not a genitive of the object = verbum de Deo, but, as is clear especially from ch. 11, 13, ἃ gen- itive of the subject or author =the word which Christ or God causes to be proclaimed (Linemann, &c.). Faith in God, because most of the Christians in Thessalonica had previously been heathens, see v. 9; πίστις πρός, instead of the common eis,} also at Philem. 5; comp. 2 Cor. iii. 4. 5. In every place, where, that is, there are Christian churches, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia ; similarly full expressions, Rom. i. 8; Col. i. 6, 23. But since Paul had not in the meantime left these countries, ὥστε μή ὅσ. must have reference to letters or visits. Ewatp and others call attention to the fact that precisely in Corinth where Paul wrote our Epistle, with trade converging there from all quarters of the Roman world, was it possible for him to give such an assurance. The church need not, therefore, have already existed for a long period (against Baur), but its rapid, powerfully spreading conversion must have excited great atten- tion. The words also indicate an intercourse of the liveliest kind among the Christians. 6. (V. 9.) They themselves.— Ad sensuwm, the explanation is from the previous ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ (v. 8). —Concerning us.—‘Huéy refers, as the double spe- cification (ὁποίαν καὶ πῶς) shows, to the Apostle and his helpers on the one side, and the Thessalonians on the other.t 4, What manner of entrance we had unto you.—e/codoy does not answer to the German Fin- gang in the sense of friendly reception, entrance into the heart (PELT, OLSHAUSEN and many). Opposed to this is partly the word itself (see ch. ii. 1 sq. and comp. Acts xiii. 24), and partly the connection, since it is in the following clause, καὶ πῶς, that mention is first made of the reception of the Apostle and his preaching, The word meansa going in, introduction (Curysostom, Catvin, De Werre, &c,): “ what sort of an introduction we had to you, to wit, with the preaching of the gospel; ὁ. 6. (comp, v. 5), with what power and fulness of the Holy Ghost (Catvin), with what inward confidence and contempt of outward dangers (Curysostom, &c.), we proclaimed to you * (This view of the synonymous equivalence of the two clauses is given by Baumearren, and is adopted, besides ar eh laa above, by ALForp. But see Note t on p. “+ [Exxicorr : “ The less usual preposition πρός is here used with great propriety, as there is a tacit contrast toa eae te ects rating. < Weeds RUE one ne suitable.” J. 1.1] ἐπ Τὰ ᾿ pare ΠῈΣ πιστὸ Teton of uy fe the other view Kuticorr remarks : “The studied promise nence of περὶ ἡμῶν and the real potnt of the clause are thus completely overlooked: Instead of our telling about out own success, they do it for us ; ἃ γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐχρὴν παρ᾽ ἡμῷ ἀκούειν, ταῦτα αὐτοὶ προλαβόντες λέγουσι, Chrys Ty CHAPTER I. 8-10. 2a the gospel.” Mark the expressive emphasis in ὑποίαν ; it is not merely ἥν or οἷοι (comp. οἷοι, v. 5) or ποίαν. Πῶς likewise is not = that [ALForD: how that, referring merely to the fact ; and so Exuicorr], but = under what difficult circumstances, and with what joy of the Spirit withal; it points back to v. 6. just as ὁποίαν to v. 5. At the same time we here detect the joy of the foreign brethren over the faith of the Thessalonians. 8. How ye turned to God from the idols.— ‘Emiorpépew is the regular New Testament word for conversion ; in the Acts, where it is naturally of frequent occurrence, with the addition ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον (ch, xi, 21), or eis φῶς (ch, xxvi. 18), or ἐπὶ τὸν ϑεόν (on xxvi. 18, 20; xiv.15; xv. 9), often too with an ἀπό, whose substantive describes heathenism some- times on the side of its demonian background, some- times on the side of men, sometimes of the idols, viz. ch. xxvi, 18 ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σατανᾶ, ch. xv. 19 ἀτὸ τῶν ἐϑνῶν, ch. xiv. 15 ἀπὸ τῶν ματαίων ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ Sedv ζῶντα. With this class is con- ‘nected the expression in our verse. The latter, neg- ative element corresponds to repentance (Acts xxvi. 20); the former, positive one to faith (Acts xi. 21), 9. To serve the living and true God.— Δουλεύειν * and ἀναμένειν are infinitives of the pur- pose. The primary feeling of profound awe in pres- ence of Deity, that belongs to human nature and especially to antiquity, finds expression also in lan- guage, The Old Testament employs, over against God, the expression that denotes the relation of the most unconditional subjection, that of the slave to his master: 339 (Ex. ix. 1, 13; Deut. viii. 19; and often); to which expression the corresponding inner sentiment is fear (X7, Jon. i. 9; comp, 708, of God, Gen. xxxi, 42, 53). To fear God and to serve God, these are the two most common Biblical ex- pressions for religion. And so in our text also ap- pears δουλεύειν Ses as the designation of religion or of religious practice generally ; or rather, what we are accustomed to designate by these faint expressions, is in a more cor.crete and living way conveyed by the Apostle in that phrase, as we too have the beau- tiful word Gottesdienst [Divine service]. By means of the additions ἴο τῷ Sed the phraseology bécomes a closer description of the true religion, in opposition to the false: ζῶντι, living, in opposition to the dead idol-images (see Rom. i. 23); @Andevd, existing in objective truth and reality, in opposition to the merely imaginary, lying idols (see Rom. i. 26). It may be thought strange that the Apostle uses, in regard to Christianity, such a general expression, that is applied also to the Old Testament religion as contrasted with heathenism, whereas he then puts what is specifically Christian, not into faith in Jesus, the Son of God and the Saviour, but into the expec- tation of His return from heaven, But it is just in its connection with v. 10 that the general expression of our verse acquires also a more especially Christian sense, A man can, in truth, only then really serve God, when he has access to him through Christ, and is by His blood purified from the dead works of the old, ungodly mind (see Heb. ix. 14), And that Paul bad not been silent on this point at Thessalonica, that he had proclaimed Christ as the Son of God, as the Saviour, and salvation in His death and resurrec- tion, all that we see from v.10. But certainly our two verses show that his preaching at Thessalonica * [The very word applied by Rome to her worship of the πω while she reserves λατρεύειν for God.—J. L. had turned, not so much round this central doctrine of salvation, as about the beginning and the end, the first things and the last. A parallel is furnished by the speech which the Apostle soon afterwards deliver ed at Athens (Acts xvii. 22-31), There too he rst of all leads his hearers over from the idols to the living God, and speaks of Christ especially as the futura Judge, and only incidentally, in connection with that, of His resurrection, and of faith therein ; though this, it is true, significantly enough forms the conclusion —[Wesster and Witxinson : “ He puts together the first and last articles of their creed; and then supplies ue ὑπὸ most important of the intervening articles.” 10. (V. 10.) And to wait for.—The Apostle de fines the life-aim of the converts in two particulars, the service of God, and the waiting for the return of His Son from heaven. Though we should even say with OrsHauseN, that ἐπιστρέφειν includes faith, and δουλεύειν implies love, it is only the more surprising that hope is raised into such explicit and emphatia prominence. This agrees and is connected with the whole eschatological tenor of our Epistles, as well as of the Apostle’s oral teaching at Theszalonica, and it contains a weighty warning for the Church (see Doc- trinal and Ethical, no. 8). Brneet says in his New Testament on our text: To wait for the Son of God is the most appropriate mark of a true Christian ᾿Αναμένειν only here in the New Testament; else- where we find used of the eschatological waiting προσδέχεσϑαι, Luke xii. 86 ; Tit. ii, 18 ; ἀπεκδέχεσϑαι, Phil. ili, 20; Heb, ix. 26 [28]; 1 Cor.i. 7; Rom, viii, 19, 28, 25; Gal. v.5 ; προσδοκᾷν, 2 Pet. iii, 12-14, 11. From the heavens &c. coming, belongs to ἀναμένειν. The plural of οὐρανοί, which occurs so often in the New Testament, but in Luther’s version is unhappily obliterated (so even in the address of the Lord’s Prayer), is to give us an impression of the manifold, rich life of the super-terrestrial world (John xiv. 2). These heavens, which frequently seem to us 580 remote, strange, and shut, will open their doors, and from them the Son of God will come forth with the heavenly host, to the dismay of the world and the joy of His own. Comp. Acts i, 11. 12. His Son, whom He raised from the dead. —The expression, Son of God, is thus used of Christ by Paul in his very first Epistle, though as yet with- out further specification, But it must be considered, in the first place, that the expression is plainly chosen for the purpose of designating Christ in his inner re- lation to God mentioned immediately before, and, secondly, that already in connection with it even here is the characteristic from heaven, which holds good as well of His first appearing (Gal. iv. 4, é¢- απέστειλεν, Sent forth ; Rom. viii. 3; 1 Cor. xv. 47): The Son of God is of heavenly, Divine origin. To the heathen at Thessalonica Paul had proclaimed not merely the true God, but also, what was still more unknown to them, that this God has a Son, who has become our Deliverer (ῥυόμενος). The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the great fact by which He is shown to be the Son of God (Rom. i. 4), and by which at the same time His return is rendered possible and certain (1 Pet. [i.]8-5). Was ἐκ rap vexpoy to form an antithesis to ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν Ἑ Comp. Rom. x. 6, 4. 13. Jesus, our Deliverer.—The majestic title, Son of God, is on purpose followed simply and plain. ly by His human proper name, Jesus. [WessteR and WiLkKrNson : presenting our Lord tous as He was re “a4 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. vealed and known in the flesh—J. 1.1 τὸν ῥυόμενον : not ῥυσάμ,, with reference to the past deliverance by His death; * nor ῥυσόμ., with refer- ence to the future deliverance at the judgment { (both, the latter as founded on the former, at Rom. v. 9, 10), but comprchensively fudu., our Deliverer, absolutely and evermore ; the participle having thus a substantival sense (Winer, p. 316); comp. Rom. xi. v. 26, after Is. lix, 20 xin. ύεσϑαι (comp, Col. i. 13; Rom. vii. 24; Matt. vi. 18), stronger than od ew, expresses the deliverance as a mighty fact, a strong, powerful extrication from the judgment, which shall inevitably smite all who have no part in Jesus. Τὸν fuduevoy has an explanatory relation to Ἰησοῦν (comp. Matt. i. 21; Acts iv. 10-12), similar to that of ὃν ἤγειρεν &e. to τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ. [BENGEL: Christus nos semel ἐλυτρώσατο, redemit: semper ῥύεται, eri- pit—ZJ. L.] 14, From the coming wrath.—Wrath is the holy will of God, energetically upholding, over against the sinful creature, His own inviolable order of life and government as the highest interest of the world, and for that reason surrendering for righteous punishment the party resisting it to self-chosen de- struction. The word is used sometimes of the affec- tion in God, His punitive justice (Rom. ix. 22; Heb. iii. 11; iv. 8; Rev. vi. 16; and often in the Old Testament) ; sometimes of the effect in the world, thence resulting, the judicial punishment (Luke xxi. 23; Rom. ii. 5; iii. 6; comp. xiii. 4, 9 [5]; Eph. v. 6; Col. iii. 6); sometimes in such a way that both ideas are included (John iii, 36; Rom. i. 18; ii. 8; Eph. ii. 3; Rev. xiv. 10; xvi. 19; xix. 15). Here and in ch. ii, 16; v. 9 ὀργή stands in the second sig- nification. This is shown also by the addition ἡ ἐρχομένη (comp. Col. iii. 6): the approaching, infal- libly imminent punishment ; similarly 4 μέλλουσα ὀργή, Matt. iii. 7; and then Rev. xi. 18, ἦλϑεν ἡ ὀργή σου. Salvation or the deliverance is just the being rescued from the judgment that overwhelms the world, Rom. i, 16-18 and, referring back to this, ch. v. 9-11; and this is the immediate sense of σώζειν, σωτήρ, σωτηρία, as here of ῥύεσϑαι. In 1 Thess. v. 9 also ὀργή and σωτηρία stand as mutual opposites. Because in Christ judgment has already passed upon the world (John xii. 31), therefore whosoever believeth in Him ~# no longer judged (John iii. 14-18; v. 24). DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 8.) The man who walks uprightly before God, God accredits also before his brethren, impart- ing to them through all that is seen of him joy, re- freshment, strength, so that they in return are able by their testimony to his conversion and spiritual walk to strengthen and encourage him, when tempt- ed thereupon from without or within. This is the Christian import of the ideas glory, honor, praise, &c. The lofty consciousness, as it is here aroused by the Apostle, does not flatter self-love, but begets an earnest sense of obligation, To be a city on thehill, to which the eyes of all look, is no light responsi- bitty, and brings a man under the discipline of the Spirit. The inerease of idle talk is repressed by much afiliction, 2. (Vv. 9, 10.) Christian truth is so rich and many- sided (πολυποίκιλος, Eph, iii. 10), that it may be de- livered in very various ways and from different points * [See Oritical Note 9.—J. L. 1 πες Benson, Korrz, Pett, and others.—J. L.} of view. Not only do we find in the New Testament a peculiar style of teaching in the case of every apostolic writer, but even the same Paul, it is evident, addressed the Thessalonians orally and in writing otherwise—put other truths in the fore ground—than, for example, in the Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans ; and yet at Thessalonica also there was laid the foundation of a steadfast Christianity, approved in trial, This consideration likewise cannot but inspire us in the Church with a large-heartedness and liberality of view in regard to the different ways of conceiving and representing the truth, provided only they stand sincerely and ear- nestly on the one foundation, 1 Cor. iii. 11, whether they be rather mystical or intellectual, churchly or specially biblical, practical or scientific (in the sense of Eph. i. 17 sq.), clinging to antiquity or looking towards the future. Church Confessions tolerate and require by the side of them all forms of expression. In our hymn-books too we find Pavun Grruarpt, TERSTEEGEN, ZINZENDORF, GELLERT [ToPpLapy, Cow- PER, the WesLEys], and others, in peace together, uttering one language in various dialects. 3. (V. 10.) The earliest Epistles of Paul are dis- tinguished by their eschatological complexion. Sub- sequently he went back from eschatology to the doctrine of faith and justification (Galatians and Ro- mans), of Christ and the Church (Philippians, Ephe- sians and Colossians).* In his development of doc- trine he pursued a regressive course similar to that of Messianic prophecy before him, and of the Church after him: first, the glorious end, and after that, the way to the end. But neither Old Testa- ment prophecy nor apostolic teaching ever on the way lost sight of the end, the glorious consummation in the kingdom of God. And even in one of his latest Epistles (Tit 11. 11 sq.) Paul has a passage very kindred to ours: conversion bere has its coun- terpart there in the (objective) appearing of Divine grace, whose aim is declared to be a godly life with denial of the heathen worldly-mindedness (=to serve the living and true God), while expecting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (=to wait for His Son from heaven). The Church, however, has, especially since the days of Constantine, too much neglected to wait for the coming of Christ ; even the Reformation restored, indeed, the genuine Pauline faith, but not yet the full hope. Calvin finds it here worthy of note, that for the hope of eternal salvation Paul puts the expectation of Christ. For, he adds, without Christ we are lost and hopeless; but, where Christ comes forward, there shines life and prosperity. Very beautiful ; still one perceives that he had not yet attained to the full apostolic consciousness of the importance of Christ’s coming as distinct from the blessedness after death,+ when, it is true, we are * [According as the development of error, and the cire cumstances of particular churches, required.—J. 1, t (For sufficiently obvious reasons, the general tone of the Reformation period on the subject of Christ’s second advent is not quite that of the apostolic age. Much more em= pliatically, however, is this true of the times that followed the Reformation. In the writings of the more eminen Reformers themselves, ΤΌΤΕ, MELANCHTHON CALVIN Knox, &c., not a few strong and fervid utterances are found, to which the remark of our Author would not do justice. For example, immediately preceding the above quotation from Caxvin we find these words: “ Ergo quisquis in vites sanct@ cursu perseverare volet, totam m entem applicet ad spem adventus Christi”—where there is no reference whats ever to death or the intermediate state. And similar testi monies could easily be multiplied (see the Homiletica) Notes on y. 10, and my Missionary Address, on The Hopi CHAPTER I, 8-10. 25 even already present with the Lord. If the Refor- mation is a working back to what was originally ex- hibited for the Church in Holy Scripture, we have then here one of the points in which the Reformation of the 16th century needs to be carried yet further, As we would walk in the footsteps of Prophets and Apostles, and in particular even of our Paul, we must recognize it as our task to quicken anew the element of hope in knowledge and practice. The beginnings, moreover, of such a work show them- selves latterly in almost all evangelical countries. HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 8. The clear pealing sound, that rings out from the living Church. J. M, Haun: The awaken- ing of some souls may produce much reflection far and wide.—J, G. Kors: A good man may through his earnestness become the light and salt of a whole neighborhood. (Kurzer Lebensabriss von J. 6. ΚΟΙΒ, nebst einer Sammlung von Betrachtungen, Stuttgart, 1859).—The report of faith a sweet savor of Christ (comp. 2 Cor. ii, 15 sq.). Curysostom: As a sweet-scented ointment keeps not its fragrance shut up within itself, put sends it afar, so likewise noble men keep not their virtue shut up within them- selves, but through their reputation are of service to quany for their improvement. Curysostom then further makes mention of the renown acquired by Macedonia, of which Thessalonica was a principal city, through Alexander the Great, who was not with- out reason beheld by the prophet [Dan. vii. 6] asa winged leopard, the swiftress and force being thus described, wherewith he scoured the whole world ; and so what happened in Macedonia became not less universally known than what occurred in Rome (the seat of the fourth-world empire of Daniel ; see Rom. i. 8)—TueE same: In such circumstances there fre- queutly arises envy (there is indeed, alas, such a thing as spiritual envy; see Gal. v. 26, φϑονοῦντες ; Phil. ii. 8,4; 1 Cor. xi. 15 sqq.); but even this also your excellence has overcome, and they themselves are heralds of your conflicts.—ZinzenporF: When Jesus glorifies His time of grace now here now there, rejoice thou in the mercy to others returning. —The testimony of others to our faith a comfort in trial—_[Benson: It was an honor to any church or city, to have the gospel go out from thence to other places.”—J. L.] V. 9. When the Lord enters the heart through the powerful preaching of the word, that is even the entrance of a king, though in humble raiment.— Zwinewi: Paul did not ride into Thessalonica with such pride and pomp, as Cardinals, Bishops, and Popish Legates are wont to display.—Riscer: The idols of the altar were not to be overthrown by the purer knowledge of God, which many philosophers at that time had ; the word of the Cross must come, which brought the idols to an end in the heart’s af- section, and forthwith also in the members ; then too of the Church, before the Synod of New York, 1865). But take only this pregnant one from Bishop Larimer’s Third Sermon on the Lord’s Prayer: ‘‘.4// those excellent learned wen whom, without doubt, God hath sent into this world in these latter days to give the world warning—all those men do gather out of Sacred Scripture that the last day cannot be far off. And this is most certain and suv that, whensoever He cometh, He cometh not too timely ; for all things which ought to come before are passed now: so that, if He come this night or to-morrow, He cometh not too early.”? The modern device, of interposing between us and that blessed hope the promised times of universal blessing, had not yet been thought oL—J. L.] they fell as to the service that was paid to them a, the altar.—Catvin: The end of true conversion is the living God. Many renounce superstition only te fall into what is worse ; for, losing all sense of God, they plunge into a worldly-minded, irrational * con tempt of the Holy One.—The same: We must first be couverted, before we can serve God.—Tur SAME: —No one is duly converted to God, but the man who has learned to yield himself fully to Him asa servant (in servitutem).—Rizcer: Conversion from idolatry to God was certainly in former times a great change ; but neither is it at the present time any trifle, when on obedience to the truth the idols of wealth, plea- sure, fleshly ease, honor from men, seeking to save one’s life in this world, self-love, confidence in the flesh, and such like, are cast forth from the heart’s affection.—Tuz same: The living and true God can be served only in spirit and in truth; and that re- quires a conscience purified in the blood of Jesua from dead works. Without fellowship with the Light, a man deals even with the living God ag with a dumb idol (John iv. 28, 24 ; Heb. ix. 14; see John i, 5-10). V. 10.—[On the first clause of this verse, see a good note by Barnres.—J. L.]—The Christian is a man who serves God and waits for Jesus.—CaLvIN: In the service of God, which in the corruption of our nature is a more than difficult matter, we are kept and established by the expectation of Christ; other- wise the world drags us back to itself, and we grow weary. Waiting for the Lord a main point 1. in the doctrine of Jesus and His Apostles, 2. in the life of faith of the Apostles and first Christians.—Rizcer: As to what is behind, free from everything; for what is before, watchful (Mark xiii. 33 sqq.; Luke xxi. 86).—[ALrorp : The especial aspect of the faith of the Thessalonians was hope : hope of the return of the Son of God from heaven: a hope, indeed, com- mon to them with all Christians in all ages, but evi- dently entertained by them as pointing to an event more immediate than the church has subsequently believed it to be. Certainly these words would give thern an idea of the nearness of the coming of Christ: and perhaps the misunderstanding of them may have contributed to the notion which the Apostle corrects, 2 Thess. 11. 1 sqq.—J. L]—We. must be in earnest with the expectation of Christ’s coming, if we would stand in the fulness of apostolic Christianity. This carries with it, 1. a Warning, a. against every kind of worldly happiness, and service of perishable things and men, especially against the modern absorption in practical and theoretic material- ism, even of a refined sort; b. against the Romaniz- ing over-valuing of what we already have even in the Church, and against striving for the Church’s outward dominion and glory ; ὁ. against false ideals of a great future of the life of nations, to be introduced by our own, be it even Christian, power and activity ; and against the so frequent intermixture, concurrent therewith, of the world and the kingdom of God; 2. Comfort, a. in regard to imperfections and sins in ourselves, in the world, in the Church: it has not yet appeared, what we shall be (1 John iii. 2); Ὁ. in regard to the sufferings and afflictions, which are the divinely appointed way to the future glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17sq.; Rom. viii. 17.—Carysostom: The sword in hand, the good in expectancy—[Vauenan: A summary of the Christian life in all times; service, and expectation. The loss or disparagement of either * [Weltlichgesinnte, unverniinftige; CaLvin: prof num et brutum, profane und brutish.—J, L. 26 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. has been in all times the cause of injury to the Church. The one, by itself, degenerates into a dry routine of duty: the other, into excitement, dream- iness, and indolent sentiment. The two together make up that life of practical piety which is the true end and chief glory of the Gospel. Tit. ii, 12, 13.— J. 1.1 Jesus, the Deliverer from the future wrath : 1. The wrath cometh; the world is going on to meet the judgment: an irrefragable matter of fact. On one hand, Roos: When the unbelieving world looks out to the time after death, it sees nothing, hopes for nothing, fears nothing, except when conscience is stirred ; whereas there is to be feared a fearful wrath of God, which at the appearing of Christ sball wholly burst over it, and, even before that, will make the condition of the soul separated from the body an unhappy condition. On the other hand, Riscer: The wrath of God, its revelation against all ungodli- ness of men, judgment on hidden sins, is already written deep in the consciences of all men. Under that wrath abide, and are even already grievously tormented by the fear of it in this world and the next, all who are not begotten again by the gospel unto hope. 2. In Christ is deliverance from the judgment. Carvin: It isan invaluable privilege tha, believers, as often as the judgment is spoken of, know that Christ will come for their deliverance.— Tue same: The wrath of God is a future thing. We are not to measure it by our present afflictions in the world, as nothing is more absurd than to snatch at the enjoyment of transitory blessings, by way of forming an estimate of the grace of God. Faith is the sight of the invisible, and so is not misled by the aspect of the present life. Whilst the ungodly revel in their security, and we languish in sorrow, let us learn to fear the vengeance of God that is hid- den from the eyes of the flesh, and rest in the calm pleasures of the spiritual life! [Vavcaan: The three phrases are equaily scrip- tural, (1) Christ saved, (2) Christ saves, (8) Christ will save. Comp. (1) Rom. viii. 24; Eph. li, 5; 2 Tim.i. 9. (2)1 Cor. i.18; xv. 2. (8) Matt. xxiv. 13; Mark xiii. 13; Phil. ii, 12; 2 Tim. ii. 10; Heb. ix 28; 1 Pet. i. 5.—J. L.] [There is a discourse by bishop SHERLOCK on v¥ 9, 10.—J. 1.1 Ca. Π. 1-12. 3. 8. The Thessalonians are themselves witnesses, that the Apostle’s was no vain entrance, but one of Divine power (vv 1, 2). As he exercises his ministry generally, with po impurity of purpose or method, but, as one put in trust by 1 3 4 Oo iva} 11 12 God, before the eyes of God (vv. 3, 4), so in Thessalonica also he appeared in no flattering or selfish spirit (vv. 5, 6), ἡ put with the most generous love (vv. 7, 8) and self-denying labor (v. 9). They themselves and God are his witnesses, that he had shown himself throughout unblamable towards the belicvers, whilst he was careful about nothing else but, as a father, to exhort every individual to a walk worthy of God (vv. 10-12). For yourselves, brethren, know [yourselves know, brethren,|* our entrance in [entrance, εἴσοδον] unto you, that it was not in vain [hath not been vain]*; but even after that we had sutfered before and were shamefully entreated [but hav- ing before suffered, and been shamefully treated],° as ye know, at [in, ἐν] Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with [in, ἐν] much contention. For our exhortation was [is],* not of deceit [delusion] nor [yet] " of uncleanness, nor’ in guile; but as [according as, καϑώς] we were allowed of God [have been approved by God] ° to be put in trust with the gospel even so [80, οὕτω ] we speak; not as pleasing men, but God,’ which trieth [who proveth|"* our hearts. For neither at any time used we words of flattery, as ye know; nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness; nor of men sought we [sought we of men]” glory, neither of [from, ἀπό] you, nor yet of [nor from, οὔτε ἀπό] others, when we might have been burdensome [or ἡ have used authority], as the apostles of Christ [Christ’s apostles, Χριστοῦ ἀπόστολοι] ; but we were [were found] ” gentle “ among you [in the midst of you, ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν], even as a nurse cherisheth her children [as a nurse would cherish her own children]; '* so [Ὁ being affectionately desirous” of you,we were willing to have imparted [to impart] unto you not the gospel of God only [not only the gospel of God],” but also our own souls, because ye were [became]"* dear untous. For ye remember, brethren our labor [toil, κόπον] and travail : for laboring [working] * night and day. because we would not be chargeable [that we might not be burdensome, πρὸς τὸ- μὴ ἐπιβαρῆσαι] to any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God alsu [and God], how holily and justly [righteously, δικαίως] and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe [to, or for you who believed]; as [even as, καϑάπερ] ye know how we exhorted, and comforted [encouraged], and charged [adjured] * [you, ὑμᾶς] every one of you, as a father doth his children [as a father his own children],” that ye would walk [should CHAPTER IL 1-12, an walk]** worthy [in a manner worthy, ἀξίως] of God, who hath called [calleth] ἢ you unto [into, εἰς] His [His own, ἑαυτοῦ] kingdom and glory. V. 1. -[The Greek order, retained by most of the old English versions.—J. L, 2V. 1—[kevh γέγονεν ; German: eitel gewesen ist. The reference is not to the results (Robinson and many others: fruitless, useless, &c., as in ch. ili. 5, eis κενόν), but, like the rest of this section, to the character of the Apostle’a miristry. Thisis one of the cases in which Wiclif and Rheims are kept right by the Vulgate.—J. L. 3'V. 2.—xai before προπαθόντες must be erased. [All the late critical editions omit it, on overwhelming evidence, including Sin.—J, L. ΕΝ " 4 V. 8.--[λαλοῦμεν of v. 4 shows that in this sentence the writer characterizes his ordinary preaching, and n < larity that at Thessalonisa.—J. L.] ne a οἰρυ Ια ΕΥΨ͵ 8.--[πλάνης, arror, as it is here rendered by many, and always elsewhere in our Common Version, except at 2 Thess. ii 11, dée‘waton. Auberlen, after De Wette, Limemann, Koch: Irrwahn.—J. L.] x 8 V. 3.—[Sue Ellicott’s note, p. 149 sq., on “ the appropriate rendering in the different cases of continued negation.’? —J Te TV, 3.—Instead of οὔτε, A. B.C. Ὁ. F. G, [Sin.] and some minuscules have here also οὔδε, which Lachmann, De Wette, Linemann (Hahn, Winer, Olshausen, Koch, Wordsworth, Alford’s last edition, Ellicott, who admits, however, that the reading is very doubtful.—J. L.] prefer; comp. Winer, Ὁ. 481. Yet the correspondent οὔδε may be also a cor= rection, and accordingly Tischendorf has in the seventh edition gone back to οὔτε. ΒΨ, 4.—[Sedoxtudoueda ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ. For the rendering of the verb, comp. Rom. ii. 18; 1 Cor. xvi. 3; Phil. i. 10 The tense also should be allowed its full force as a peek LJ Ε Ψ he anit at τῷ before Θεῷ is bracketed by Lachmann, and cancelled by Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, after B.C. Ὁ. Bin., &.—J. L. 10 V. 4.—[7@ δογ:μάζοντι, 2 repetition of the previous verb, in a modified sense; comp. HE. V. atch. v. 21, and often elsewhere. In v. 5 κολακείας is in Sin. coAaxias.—J. L 1, 6.—ovre ζητοῦντες ἐξ ἀνθρώπων δόξαν. foreign.—J. L. _ 14 V. 6.—[This marginal rendering of E. V. is substantially that adopted by the majority of interpreters from Ambro= siaster to Alford, Ellicott, and Auberlen: uns ein Ansehen geben. Ellicott quotes Chrysostom as decidedly in favor of the same interpretation, whereas Chrysostom expressly includes the other reference also (preferred by many from Theodoret to Webster and Wilkinson): ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ περὶ χρημάτων φησὶ τὸ, δυνάμενοι ἐν βάρει εἶναι «TA. Others in like manner allow either interpretation, or combine the two. See Revision.—J. L.] 13-V. 7,—[aAr’ (B. Sin. ἀλλὰ) ἐγενήθημεν. See ch. i. 5, Critical Note 6.—J. 1.1 14-V. 7.—Lachmann’s νήπιος [νήπιοι], childlike, which arose from drawing over the v from the preceding word, and as destroying the unity of the figure, must be rejected. [It has, however, very considerable support from manuscripts (B. 0.1 D.1 Ε΄. G. Sin.!), versions, and Fathers.—J. L.] 15 -V. 7.—[ws ἂν τροφὸς θάλπῃ τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα. Webster and Wilkinson : ‘asa nurse (any nurse) would.”—Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott: ἐάν, after B. C. D. Ἐν Ἐς G. &c., but not Sin.! Many, including Auberlen, have a colon or a period after ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν, and attach this clause as protasis to what follows inv. 8. Erasmus, Lachmann, Tischen- dort, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott, place a comma before and after it, Ellicott regarding the clause ‘‘ both as an illustra- tion of the preceding words, and as the protusis to the following.” But this divided duty is somewhat distracting. The simile of the nursing mother no doubt suggests what is said in v. 8, but can scarcely be a grammatical protasis to it, and yet maintain a structural connection with what precedes. On the whole, I prefer the arrangement of our English Ver- sion, and would cose v. 7 with at least a semicolon.—J. L.] 18 V. 8 —(ovTws qualifies εὐδοκοῦμεν, not suecpduevor.—J. L. 17 V. 8—Instead of ἱμειρόμενοι the common reading now is ὁμειρόμενοι [all the uncials, and many cursives.—J. L.] 1° VY. 8.—[{The Greek order, followed by Wiclif and Rheims, and later versions generally.—J. L. 19 VY. 8.--[ἐγενήθητε, the reading of recent critical editions, is sustained by abundant uncial authority, including Sin, The recepta γεγένησθε may have been an accommodation to the supposed present time of εὐδοκοῦμεν ..---α L. ον, ὃν econ el γάρ after νυκτός should be cancelled [as it now is in nearly all critical editions. It is wanting in A. Β. D!. F. G. Sin.—J. L.]. 21-V,10.—[imiv τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, participle of the imperfect, not, as English Version, Ellicott, &c., of the present. German: euch, den Gluubenden ; and similarly many others, from the Syriac to Liimemain. Comp. ch. i. 7.—For the import of the dative, see Exeget. Notes.—J. L.] : bud 22 V. 1].--[παραμυθούμενοι must have the same relation to v.12 as the other two participles between which is stands.—J. L. 385. Ὁ, isthe reading μαρτυρούμενοι is indeed better attested than -όμενοι [this, which was doubtful before, can no longer be allowed, now that -duevor is sustained by Sin.—J. L.], and was therefore at first favored by Lachmann and Tis- chendorf. But by the latter, with De Wette, Linemann [Bengel, Schott, Bloomfield, Alford, Ellicott], &c., it bas again been abandoned with reason, since μαρτυρεῖσθαι is only used passively [some reading μαρτυρόμενος also at Acts xxvi. 22.— J. L.J, and the mistake might easily occur in copying, from the similarity in soun' to παραμνθούμενοι. [Latin versions generally ra at alle German versions, beschworen or bezeugen ; Rhemish and Conybeare, to adjure ; Alford, to conjure, &e. J. L. 4V. 11.—[as De τέκνα ἑαυτοῦ. In Greek the verse is arranged thus: ‘“ Even as ye know how every one of you, as a father his own children, we exhorted you, and encouraged, and adjured.”” All the accusatives are dependent on the articiples, and therefore Ellicott’s translation : ‘‘ Even as ye know bow in regard of every one of you we did 80, ἃΒ ἃ father toward his own children, exhorting you and encouraging you, and charging you,” is wanting in his usual exact« ness.—J. L.] The Greek order is here followed by nearly all versions, English and av. 12.—[For περιπατῆσαι of the textus receptus, Scholz, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott, read περιπατεῖν, OD 26 arge authority of manuscripts uncial (including Sin.) and cursive.—J. L.] V.12.—[kxaAodvros. A. and Sin., with a few cursive nanuscripts, read καλέσαντος.---α. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL 1. (V. 1.) For yourselves know.—For the confirmation and clearer elucidation (γάρ) of the statement of the foreign brethren regarding his en- trance at Thessalonica (ch. i. 9), the Apostle now ap- peals at length, as he had done cursorily at ch. i. 5, to the recollection of the Thessalonians themselves on the subject. Hence the same expressions, εἴσοδος πρὸς ὑμᾶς. We might call ch. ii. 1-12 an ex- planation of the ὁποίαν, ch. i. 9, just as the πῶς ἐπεστρέψατε is then carried out in ch. fi. 13-16. The ihird testimony, thit of the Thessalonians themselves, serves to establish the second, that of the strangers, just as the latter serves to establish the first (comp. on ch. i. 8, Note 1). That ch. 11. 1 begins with the sama αὐτοὶ γάρ as ch. i. 9 is, of course, accidental ou αὐτοί ΓᾺΡ not stand opposed to that αὐτοί as such (that, indeed, has quite another reference, to ἡμᾶς ot v. 8), but to strangers generally, as in the sequel καὶ ἡμεῖς of v.18 corresponds to it.The details that follow are, in fact, intelligible only on the sup- position, that the Apostle has to confute certain aspersions on his person and ministry. Merely ta strengthen the Thessalonians (Canvin, Limemann, and most), he would not expatiate so much at large 28 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. wn the excellencies of his service amongst them, least of all with such solemn protestations (vv. 5, 10) and such frequent appeals to the recollection of the readers (vv. 2, 5, 9, 10, 11); but he enters on boast- ing for the same reason as in 2 Cor. x.—xili., be- cause he must defend himself. Only it is not here in Thessalonica any factious doings that he aas to con- tend with, but simply the insinuations whereby the unbelieving Thessalonians sought again to withdraw from the gospel their believing kindred and neigh- bors. In what these insinuations consisted we learn from the negative clauses, vv. 1, 8, 5 aq. The very fact that nearly our entire section proceeds in clauses with οὐκ and ἀλλά (vv. 1-2, 8-4, 5-9) shows, that Paul (through Timothy) had been informed of false assertions in regard to his operations—falsehoods, to which it was necessary for him to oppose the truth. Already Rizeer has remarked on τ. 8: A denial of this kind from the Apostle indicates, that such im- putations had been cast on him and his preaching. And says Roos more precisely: When the Thessa- lonian converts reflected on the change that bad taken place with them, it might possibly occur to them that an unknown man, of the name of Paul, had come to them over the sea with certain com- panions, had preached of one Jesus whom he called Christ, and of whom they had previously heard nothing, and had exhorted them to believe in Him, and serve Him as their Lord. So now we are Chris- tians, they may have thought, whereas formerly we were Gentiles or Jews. But, in making this change, have we done right? Is the name, the faith, the hope of Christians not a thing of vanity? Are we not suffering for it to no purpose ? Has not Paul de- ceived us? Is it not some falsehood that he has talked to us? And, besides, our countrymen hold his teaching to be a fable. These thoughts are now met by Paul in ch. ii. 1-16. 2, Our entrance unto you, that it hath not been vain.—This is the first of the imputations. κενή, comp. 1 Cor. xv. 14, = empty, idle, without power or substance, unreal; (HcUMENIUS: μῦϑοι καὶ λῆροι; CaLvIN: vana ostentatio ; comp. ch. i. 5, οὐκ ἐν λόγῳ μόνον, and the antithesis there, as here in v. 2. Not, therefore, = in vain, fruitless (Luruer, Fiart, &c.), nor yet at once powerless and fruitless (Dz Werte, [Jowert]), nor again = deceitful, fallax (Grotius). The γέγονεν, as distinguished from the simple ἦν or even ἐγένετο, expresses the secure con- sciousness of an accomplished, unassailable fact. In the original the subject of the dependent clause is by a Greck idiom attracted as object into the principal clause.* 3. (V. 2.) But having before suffered, &.— The cause of an idle babbler is one for which he does not submit to suffering, and still less, when he has just with difficulty surmounted one trial, does he again joyfully appear for the same cause, especially in a new conflict. A deep earnestness in suffering, and yet, along with that, an unwearied alacrity and fidelity in his calling, showed Paul to be a man whose appearance the Thessalonians needed only to recall (adds οἴδατε), in order to perceive the vanity of the suspicions alleged against him. Of what sort these were, may be inferred from Acts xvii. 6, 7: ringleaders, flatterers of the people, ambitious per- sons who sought their own advantage.—On the sufferings which the Apostle, immediately before ἱπροπαϑ.) his arrival in Thessalonica, had endured * | And so in our English Version ; whereas the German ‘hus’ Ye knou that our entranes hath, &c.—J. 1.1 at Philippi, see Acts xvi. 12 sqq. Paul addsbB ps oSévres, insullingly treated (comp. Matt. xxii. 6 ; Luke xviii, 22), not so much because προπάσχειν like πάσχειν is a vox media (Linemann), but because with his strong sense of right he had peculiarly felt the treatment received by him at Philippi to be arbitrary and unjust; see Acts xvi. 87. To such slight features even extends the harmony between the Acts and our Epistles, 4. We were bold in our God &c.—zaj- ῥησιάζεσϑαι, once again in Paul’s writings, Eph. vi. 20, and in like manner of the preaching of the gos- pel; frequently in the Acts, and indeed, except ch. xviii. 26, only of Paul from his conversion onwards, chh. ix. 27, 28; xiii, 46; xiv. 8; xix. 8; xxvi. 26, Freedom and boldness in testimony was therefore a prominent characteristic of this Apostle. OLSHAUSEN: παῤῥησία is the outward expression of mAnpopopia (ch. i. 5). Moreover, παῤῥησιάζεσϑαι is not here = to speak or preach freely, so that λαλῆσαι should be an explanatory infinitive resolvable by: so that (DE Wertz, Kocu, [Exuicorr: so as to speak] ), or an in- finitive of the purpose: in order éhat (Schott); but, as in Acts iii. 46 [?] and xxvi. 26, = to act with free- dom and alacrity, and λαλῆσαι is simply an infinitive of the object (Liwemann), as in v. 4 πιστευϑῆναι. [Anc so ALFORD, who translates: We were confident. EL- LicoTt, on the other hand, comparing Eph. vi. 20 and Acts xxvi. 26, agrees with De Werre in think ing that ‘the idea of bold speech, even though reiterated in λαλῆσαι, can scarcely be excluded.”— J. L.] We had, says Paul, this παῤῥησία, not in ourselves, especially after such experiences, but in our God (in whom, as in our spiritual life-ele- ment, we live and labor; see ch. i. 1, Doctrinal and Ethical, 1). Not merely was it no idle babbler wit whom the Thessalonians had to do; it was not, speaking generally, any mere man, but God; and this God Paul dares to call his God, because God visibly owned him, and the Thessalonians perceived in their conscience (2 Cor. iv. 2; v- 11) that in the power of God Paul spoke and acted. Therefore also he purposely adds: the gospel of God; he had not brought to them any empty talk, nor any kind of man’s word whatsoever (see v. 18), but the glad tidings which God Himself will have proclaimed in the world. Comp. on τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ ϑεοῦ Exeg. Note 4 to ch. i. 8, 6 λόγος τοῦ κυρίον. Why Paul does not say: in Christ, the gospel of Christ, but in God, of God, see Doctr. and Eth., 8. 5. In much contention.—As Paul had testified of the Thessalonians, ch. i, 6, that they received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so here he can testify of himself that in much con- tention, with joy in God, he had published the same. ᾿Αγών, not outward and inward contention ([Cury- sosTom, BisHop Hatz], OtsHavsen, [Jowerr]), but the contention of outward suffering only, Phil. i. 30 (De Werre, and most ).* 6. (V. 8.) For our exhortation is &c.—The verb to be supplied in v. 8 is not ἣν but, as λαλοῦ- μεν of v. 4 shows, ἐστίν, Paul confirms (γάρ) the statement as to his entrance at Thessalonica by a * (Including Linemann, ALForp, Ex.icorr, VAUGHAN, Yet, since there seems to have been no violent resistance to the preachers at Thessalenica, prior to the sudden outbreak which led to their immediate departure from the city (Acts xvii, 5-10), it is not well thus to restrict the reference. Comp, Paul’s use of the word at Col. ii. 1; 1 Tim. vi. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 7. FRitzscHe and many (LUNEMANN says, most) under: stand the word here of the Apostle’s cares and sorrows Why not take in both the inward e i ward Ey Xperience, and the out CHAPTER II, 1-12. 29 atalement de toto perpetuogue more suo (BENGEL). But since this general witness to himself might again also be called ἴῃ question, people at Thessalonica knowing nothing from their own observation of his ministry elsewhere, it was necessary for him to establish this point likewise by again enlarging, v. 5 sqq., on the spirit and method of his labors in Thessaiunica. Similarly Jesus: If ye believe not me, my witness of myself, at least believe my works that are done amongst you (John x. 38; xiv. 11). ἡ. Our exhortation (German: Predigt, = preaching, discourse]. Very well Linemann: παρά- κλησις is a calling to, address ; and, according to the different relations to which this address is applied, the word undergoes modifications of its meaning. In the case of sufferers it is consolation; directed toward a moral or intellectual need, it is exhortation and encouragement. Now, since even the first evangelical proclamation consists in exhortation and encouragement, to wit, in the summons to renounce sin and lay hold of the offered salvation (comp. 2 Cor. v. 20), παράκλ. might also be used generally of the preaching of the gospel; whether objectively of the contents of the discourse, or subjectively of the preaching itself. So here; seev. 4. BENGEL: ἐο- tum preconium evangelicum [ passionwm dulcedine tinctum, as Bengel adds.—J. L.]; Ousaausen: the work generally of Christian teaching. Paul uses this expression and not εὐαγγέλιον (ch. i. 5), λόγος, κήρυγμα (1 Cor. ii, 4), or such like terms, because here the question is about the preaching, not in so far as it is a proclamation, but as it wins and trans- forms the hearers.* 8. Not of delusion, nor yet of uncleanness, nor in guile.—éx marks the source from which the preaching proceeds; ἐν, the way and manner in which it is performed. The Apostle names two sources, one on the side of knowledge and doctrine, πλάνη, and one on the side of disposition, ἀκαϑαρσία. He first repels the reproach, as if the Christian faith preached by him were a superstition, a chimera, and he himself an enthusiast or a babbler, like the sorcerers or magicians (CiRrysost.). Opposed to this is the fact, v. 4, that he had been entrusted with the gospel by God. With an ov5¢—a stronger disjunctive than οὔτε (δέ and re), like our nor yet, stronger than nor (comp. WINER, p. 432)—Paul passes to the second point. ᾿Ακαϑαρσία, impurity, commonly in the sense of unchastity (Rom. 1. 24; 2 Cor. xii. 21; Gal. v. 19; Col. iii. 5), but also moral filth and un- cleanness generally (Rom. vi. 19); here either an impure mind, foul motives in general, or perhaps it answers better to our sordid [schmutgig], specially= covetousness, selfishness (vomp. ch. iv. 7; Eph. iv. 19; ν. 8). BencEL: ἀκαϑ. est, ube fructus carnis queritur, cf. Phil. i. 16, οὐχ ἃγνῶς.---δόλος, craft, fraud, all kinds of dishonest tricks for cheating and ensnaring. It adds to the impure design the impure means for its accomplishment, and so lies in like manuer on the practicil side. Whilst, therefore, for the reading οὐδέ there may be alleged the difference of the prepositions, yet on internal grounds οὔτε is perfectly justifiable (comp. WiNzER, p. 436 sq. {and *[ELLIcoTT : παράκλησις is “ perhaps distinguishable ᾽ frow διδαχή and διδασκαλία, “as directed more to the feel- age than the understanding.” JowsrtT: “The two senses of παράκλησις, exhortation and consolation, so easily passing into one another (compare v. 11), are suggestive of the exter- nal state of the early Church, sorrowing amid the evils of the world, and needing as its first lesson to be comforted ; und not less suggestive of the first lesson of the Gospel to ‘he individua" soul, of peace in believing.”—J. L.J Critical Note 77). In the antithesis likewise, v. 4 ἀκαδαρσία and δόλος are taken together in the sen. tence with οὕτως, since ἀνϑρώποις ἀρέσκοντες answert to δόλος and SeG τῷ δοκιμάζοντι τὰς καρδίας ta ἀκαδαρσία. Soin the confirmatory verses 5 and 6 the λόγος κολακείας answers to δόλος, the mpdpacis πλεονεξίας and ζητοῦντες ἐξ avSpdrwy δόξαν to dra Sapota. The proof of v. 1, in particular, that is given in v. 8, lies in οὐκ ἐκ πλάνης, answering to κενή of v. 1; but the confirmatory sentence, just like ch. i. 8, goes beyond that which it confirms, since with οὐδέ the Apostle adds new considerations, which ara then again themselves confirmed and carried fur- ther in v. 5 sqq. ‘This view is supplementary to Note 6. 9. (V. 4.) According as—so.—KaSds, cone formably to the fact that; οὕτως, according to that very rule: agreeably to the grace conferred and obli- gation laid upon us (Linemany). 10. Approved.— δοκιμάζειν means, first, to try, test, scrutinize; so at the close of our verse, and commonly in the New Testament, e.g. ch. v. 21; 1 Tim. iii. 10, and often ; and then also of the result of the trial: to regard as tried, fit, worthy, and to choose accordingly for a position (1 Cor. xvi. 3); hence in the next place generally, to value, prize.* So here, and similarly Rom. i. 28. Paul does not in this mean to assume any worthiness of his own, as the Greek interpreters (Carysosrom, THEOPHYLAcT, (ACUMEN tus) from their dogmatic standpoint characteristically explain, Rather his aim is just this, to exalt his authority as from God (similarly 1 Tim. i. 12). He would have it understood that, so far is he from preaching human heresy, or considering himself out of his own fancy called to be a preacher (é« πλάνης, v. 8), it is rather God Himself who, according to His gracious purpose (Grotius, Pett, Linemann, andeven THEODORET [ ALFORD: free choice] ) has vouchsafed to him the distinction of being entrusted with the glad, heavenly message to the world. So in the apodosis with οὕτως the main emphasis lies on ϑεῷ in oppo- sition to dvSpémos. Comp. v. 2 and note4; observe also the impressive sonorousness of the expres- sion. The perfect δεδοκ. marks what has hap- pened once for all, the security of it as a matter of fact. At the close of the verse Paul purposely uses the same word once again; he knows himself to be the object of a continuous Divine δοκιμάζειν. There Sox. is, to try, to examine; yet perhaps not without an accompanying intimation of favorable judgment. In the translation we hava sought to indicate this, as well as the identity of the verbs.+ Πιστευϑῆναι, infinitive of the object, deno- ting that which was vouchsafed to Paul. So Rom. i. 28, On Paul’s frequent construction of πιστεύεσϑαι, see Winer, p. 205. That Paul, moreover, here includes Silvanus and Timothy is obvious from the plurals καρδίας and ψυχάς, v. 8, as Linemann properly remarks against Dr Werrs, who appeals to v. 7 [6], ἀπόστολοι ; but see Note 16. Of course, however, Paul speaks primarily and chiefly of himself. t 11. (V. 4.) Not as pleasing men.—'Os before the participle gives it a subjective character, that of the conception and intention: We speak not with * (Exxicorr states the gradation thus : (a) to put to the test ; (Ὁ) to choose after testing ; (c) to approve of what ia so tested. This might perhaps be improved by transposing (Ὁ) and (c).—J. L.] t [German : von Gott werth geachtet—der unsere Herzen werthet (pritfet).—J. L.] Or at most, he for them, not they of themselvea --.1.] 30 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL Tu 1HE THESSALONIANS. the thought of p!easing men, and so winning them with guile (ἐν δόλῳ, v. 3), but to please God who searcheth our hearts, and so knows and judges even impure designs (ἐξ ἀκαϑαρσίας, v. 3). Comp. Gal. i. 10.—[AnvorpD: “ ἀρέσκοντες, in the strict sense of the present tense: going about to please, striving to please." —J. L.] 12. (V. 5.) For we.—On the logical relation, expressed by γάρ, of v. 5 sqq. to what precedes, see Notes 6 and 8 (at the end). 13. Used we words of flattery &c.—Tiye- oSa ἐν, of things ch. i. 5, here of persons (comp. 1 Tim. iv. 15) = versare in re, to engage in any matter, be occupied therein. The flattering words thus answer to ἀνϑρώποις ἀρέσκοντες, v. 4 (Carvin: Whoever will please men, must basely flatter), and to δόλος, v. 8 (CuRrsostom: We flattered not, as deceivers, who desire merely to draw people to themselves, and rule them). For the fact that he had not flattered them, Paul appeals to the recollection of his readers themselves: as ye know ; but for what follows, that he had had no selfish aims, he can only appeal to God, who knoweth the heart: God is witness! Comp. Rom. i. 9; Phil. i. 8. This appeal answers to dea τῷ δοκιμάζοντι τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν (v. 4), as the repel- ling of the insinuation, that his mind had heen set on earthly good and human glory (v. 6), answers to Seg ἀρέσκειν, v. 4, and οὐκ ἐξ dxaSapolas, v. 3. Τιλεονεξία corresponds to ἀκαϑαρσία, as in ch. iv. 6, 7; Eph. iv. 19; v. 8. Πρόφασις (from προφαίνω, not πρόφημι), properly, what appears; hence the pretext, behind which one hides his real thought, an excuse; so here parallel with λόγος: My speech was neither a word of flattery, nor a fair pretext, a plausible form for covetous ends. 14. (V. 6.) Nor sought we glory.—Znrotyres likewise is dependent on ἐγενήϑημεν, and parallel to ἐν λόγῳ κολ., ἐν προφάσει πλεονεξίας. Such a change of structure is truly Pauline (comp. Rom. xii. 9 sqq.). As to the thought, there is a close connec- tion with the latter point, as of ambition with ava- rice. On ἐξ dvSpérwy δόξαν, comp. John v. 41, 44. 15. Neither from you, nor from others.— In vv. 5, 6 there are, first, three mutually codrdinate οὔτε, then two subordinate to the clause of the last of these three, since οὔτε ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν Xe. distributes the ἐξ ἀνθρώπων. ᾿Από, essentially = ἐκ, brings tu view the special source as distinct from the general.* From others, with whom we might perhaps have sought honor for ourselves through your conversion (comp. ch. i. 8, 9). Erroneously BrNeEL: Qui nos admirati essent, si nos superbius tractassemus. 16. (V. 7 [6].)| When we might have used authority [or, been burdensome] as Christ's Apostles.—The participle δυνάμενοι is subordinated to ζητοῦντες, andis resolvable by although. Ἔν βάρει εἶναι : to be of weight, to appear important, dignified, to assume consequence. Against the connection, Tnxo- noret, Ewatp, and others: to be burdensome = ἐπιβαρεῖν, v. 9.1 ᾿Απόστολοι, so far as it refers also * (So Linemann, and similarly ALFrorp (ἐκ, the abstract round ; ἀπό, the conercte object ;—a distinction on which he Insists against ELuicor1, who pronounces it “ artificial and precarious.”) That of Scnort, assented to by OLSHAUSEN and BLoomFIELD, that ἐκ marks the immediate source, ἀπό the mediate, is rejected by Linemann as here impossible. But, even if the two prepositions must be regarded 1n this place as synonymous, it is desirable that the translation should indicate the change, WesSTER and WILKINSON: “derived from men, whether tendered on your part or on the part of others.”—J. L.] t(The latter half of v.6in our English Version is in father’s Bible attached to v. 7.—J. L. t+ [Macxnreut adopts the rendering of the English mar- to Silvanus and Timothy (see Note 10, at the end) is used in the wider sense, as in Acts xiv. 4, 14 of Paul and Barnabas. But perbapsthe old rule holda here: A potiori fit denominatio, As Christ's Apostles, as messengers and envoys (ambassadors) of the Anointed King of the whole world, solemnly ap- pointed by God (Acts xvii. 3, 7), they might have stepped forth with dignity. Ducit Paulus se adeo abfuisse ab inani pompa, a jactantia, a Sastu, ut legitimo etiam jure suo cesserit, quod ad vindicandam autoritatem pertinet (CALVIN). ᾿ 11. (V. 7.) But we were found gentle in the midst of ψου.--- Ἐγενήϑημεν answers to the ἐγενήῶ. of v. ὅ. ᾿ Ἤπιος (from ἔπω, εἶπον, whence then νήπιος, infans) properly, affable, mild, kind, loving (comp. 2 Tim. ii. 24). Swavissimum vocabulum, de parentibus precipue et de medicis dict solitum (Bence). [Ev μέσῳ ὑμῶν, in the midst of you, sur. rounded by you, as a teacher by his pupils, a mothe by her children, a hen by her chickens (BENGEL). It marks the centre of a group or society, drawing all eyes to itself (comp. Acts 1. 15; Luke ii. 46; Matt. xviii, 2): So that ye have all seen and ex- perienced it (Koon), Rigernpacu].* Even this loving demeanor of the Apostle might be interpreted as flattery (v. δ), and so Paul confutes this reproach by showing it to be a perversion of his virtue into a fault, Then by the fuller description, ὡς ἄν &c., of this his tender and devoted love, be at the same time confutes the other reproach (vv. 5, 6) of his having been selfish or ambitious. 18. As a nurse would cherish her own children.—Before ὡς there should be a point with the force of our colon,+ so that ὡς answers to οὕτως οὖν. 8. The sentence after ὡς is an explanation at- tached to what precedes by asyndeton, as in ch. i. 8; ii. 9, yet so that here also again the explanatory sentence contains at the same time an advance, an enlargement of the thought. Τροφός, nourisher, she who suckles; here not a nurse, but the mother her- self, as appears from τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα, in which moreover, especially with this arrangement of the words (comp. v. 8; otherwise v. 11), there exists the climactic intimation, her own children (see ALEX. Burrmann, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Spra- chgebrauchs, 1859, p. 97). With Stier, we have also expressed both in the version. { The figure of the mother (comp. Gal. iv. 19; Is. lxvi. 18; xlix. 15) is still tenderer than that of the father (v. 11), but is here chosen especially for this reason, because truly a nursing mother with her child seeks not profit or honor, but is wholly bent on bestowing (not receiv- ing) love. Θάλπειν likewise is a tender expression ; properly to warm, then, like /overe, to foster and cherish (Eph. v. 29; comp. Deut. xxii. 6, LXX). gin, but understands the Apostle to speak of his right to exact both obedience and maintenance. Perhaps, however, the other phrase, to be burdensome, no less admits of either reference, and it has the advantage of preserving— somewhat too strongly, indeed—the verbal affinity between vy. Gand 9. Comp. Critical Note 12.—J. L.] *[ALFoRD and Exzicorr find in ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν “a hint at the absence of all assumption of authority, ‘as one of ourselves,’ ὁ and cite CHrysostom, Q‘cuMENIUs, and ANCHIUS to the same effect.—J. L.] t (But see Critical Note 15.—J. L.] ft [wte cine sdugende Mutter ihre eigenen Kinder pfleget. It is obvious, however, that the maternal relation is indicated solely by the ἑαυτῆς τέκνα, and is not at all necessarily im- plied in τροφός. UGUSTINE, Serm. de Ps. lxxii. 24 ({xxiii, 23): ‘‘Apostolus vero, germano et pio caritatis affectu, et nutricis personam suscepit, dicendo, fovet; et matris, ad- dends,, filios SHON.) SURE Sohn nutrices foventes quidem, sed non filios suos: item sunt matres nutrici ᾿ foventes filios suos.’’—J. L.] aa a CHAPTER II. 1-12. 81 19. (V. 8.) So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing.—'One:pduevor, supported here by the best manuscripts, occurs in the New Tes- tament only here, and but seldom elsewhere, in the LXX, &c.; in meaning it is = ἱμείρεσϑαι (Recepta), and, like this, probably an enlarged form of μείρε- σϑαι, which should perhaps be distinguished from the ordinary μείρεσϑαι (see Passow), and is used by Nicander in the sense of the common ἱμείρεσϑαι (comp. Winer, p. 92) = ardently to long after any one, to love tenderly.*—Evdoxoduey is the imperfect with- out augment, as frequently ; WINER, p. 66: we were pleased, were cheerfully ready, took delight therein (comp. 2 Cor. v. 8; Rom. xv. 26). In vv. 7 and 8 one feels in word and figure the tender heartiness and swect breath of a first, fresh love, such as be- comes the firstling of the apostolica) Epistles. 20. To impart unto you &c.—Meradoiva stands emphatically forward, in order to mark the love as one altogether giving, imparting. The two objects of μεταδοῦναι are joined to one another ascen- sively by not only—bdut also, so that the second is held up as the one of greater importance for the con- nection (τοῦτο μεῖζον ἐκείνου, CHRYSOSTOM). Ἑαυτῶν, moreover, is opposea to τοῦ ϑεοῦ, and the Apostle means to say: We were willing not only to fulfil our Official service, entrusted to us by God, in delivering to you His gospel, but there was formed also a per- sonal relation of the most devoted love, in conse- quence of which we were ready to sacrifice to you our own life.t [WerssTeR and WiLKInson: ‘ ‘not only that which you could share without loss to me, but that which I must lose in giving ;’ or, ‘not only that which I held in trust for others, had in charge to give, but that which was most my own.’ ””—J. L.] The latter point was here the main thing, over against the imputations of covetousness and ambi- tion. The comparison with the mother has reference to this personal love, which is therefore still made specially prominent in the additional clause with δίοτι (stronger and more distinctive than ὅτι), which assigns the motive. How far now Paul with his atten- dants willingly gave up his own life to the Thessa- lonians, he shows himself by an example in v. 9, which is joined to what precedes, by γάρ, and is therefore illustrative of it. At the risk of health and life, he performed along with his preaching strenuous manual labor day and night, that he might be burdensome to no one, just as a mother day and night with much labor and self-sacrifice cherishes her little child. Add to this, that the Apostle—and it is of himself that he speaks at least primarily— was probably of a weak and sickly constitution (2 Cor. x. 10; xii. 5 sqq.), and we shall the better under- stand how much there was here of a μεταδοῦναι τὴν ψυχήν. Μεταδοῦναι is indeed zeugmatic, since out of it only the simple δοῦναι must be supplied to τὰς ψυχὰς (comp. Matt. xx. 28); but such constructions are frequent enough (see Winer, p. 548). On ἑαυτῶνΞΞ * [Ex.icorr prefers to regard μείρομαι as an apocopated, and ὁμείρομαι as a late and perhaps strengthened, form of ἱμείρομα. To the derivation from μείρομαι, Wonps- wortTH objects the aspirated 6, and he adheres strongly to TaropayLact’s account of the word as from ὁμοῦ and εἴρω, = “ προσδεδεμένοι, bound to, twined together with you, and clinging to you.” —J. L.] . "Pour German, after Luther, gives Leben for ψυχάς; and this interpretation is given by very many, including the English margin ; comp. 1 John iii. 16, &c. But says Ewuicotr: There is “perhaps a fiuint reference to the deeper meaning of ψυχή, as pointing to the centre of the per- sonality—our lives and souls (Fell), our very existences, and ell things pertaining to them.”—J. L.] ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, see Winer, p. 136. [Benes para phrase: Anima nostra cupiebat quasi immeare in animam vestram—and similarly Curysosrom: τὰν ψυχὰς εἰς ὑμᾶς κενῶσαι, effundere—though suitable ta μεταδοῦναι, is opposed to the γάρ οὗ v. 9. and per- haps also contains a thought not quite apostolic, and only in seeming accord with the figure of the mother, since not the suckling as such, but the ϑάλπειν is the tertium comparationis. To think of the gospel as the milk, according to 1 Pet. ii. 2; comp. Heb. v. 18 (Dz Wertz, Linemann, and others), is quite as little in keeping, since it is really not the Apostle’s gos- pel, but is expressly called the gospel of God, and since for that very reason, as has been pointed out, this consideration does not enter into the com parison with a mother. In μεταδοῦναι τὰς ψυχάς the exposure of the life in danger and persecutions is commonly thought of; nor is this excluded, since v. 9 contains merely an illustrative example, such as was required by the context, and was fitted to repel the imputation of covetousness and am- bition. —Ria@GENnBACcn. | 21. (V. 9.) For ye remember our toil and travail.—Mynuovetere, more sonorous than οἴδατε (vv. 1, 2, 5,11); here with an accusative; ch. i. 8, with a genitive——On γάρ, see Note 20. [The reference of γάρ to ἥπιοι ἐγενήϑημεν, ν. 7, is too remote; that to ἀγαπητοὶ ἡμῖν ἐγενήϑητε (Linze MANN), unsuitable —RiaGEnBacn. | Κόπος is strength. ened by the addition of μόχϑος, ἢ as at 2 Thess, iii, 8 (a verse which agrees almost verbally with ours), and 2 Cor. xi. 27. The expressions in their connection denote the most strenuous bodily labor at his handicraft as σκηνοποιός (Acts. xviii. 3), a maker of tents out of leather or cloth for shep- herds, travellers, soldiers, ἄρ. (Winer, Real- worterbuch IL. pp. 218,725). This κόπος and μόχϑος is now explained in a sentence appended, as in v. 4, by asyndeton {γάρ after νυκτός being spurious), in which the emphasis lies on what stands foremost, νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐργαζόμενοι, as in v. 8 on τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς. And now, as ἐκηρύξαμεν εἰς ὑμᾶς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ ϑεοῦ plainly answers to τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ ϑεοῦ οὗ ν. 8, so does νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐργαζόμενοι to τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς, #0 that there accrues from this a new and more precise confir- mation of our view of the γάρ and of μεταδοῦναι τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς. A 22, Working night and day.—Epyd(erSar, of manual labor, as ch. iv. 11, and often. We [Germans] say day and night, as ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός, Luke xviii. 7; Acts ix. 24, and frequently in the Apocalypse; but elsewhere, and always in Paul’s usage [both in his letters and speeches, ch. iii. 10; 2 Thess. ili. 8; 1 Tim. v.&; 2 Tim. 1. 3; Acts xx. 31; xxvi. 7.—J. L.], νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας or νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, because the Jews, as also the Athenians, be- gin the civil day with the evening. Here this order is emphatic,t because night-work is the more un- usual and irksome. We are not, therefore, to sup- pose that Paul preached all day, and performed *(Exuicorr: ‘The former perhaps marks the toil on the side of the suffering it involves (see on 1 Tim. iv. 10), the latter, as derivation seems to suggest (connected with μόγις, and perhaps allied to μέγας, see Pott, δύμηι. Forsch, Vol, 1 p. 283), on the side of the magnitude of the obstacles it hag to overcome.” Nearly opposite to this is Wordsworth: “The former word expresses energy of action, the other indicates patience im bearing.” ALForp: ‘No distinction can be established.”—J. L.] t {So Atrorp. But the correctness of the remark may be questioned, since Paul, as is mentioned above, observes the same order everywhere else.—J. I..] 32 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. manual labor in the night-time; on the contrary, the fatter occupation fille¢ up also a good part of the day, as on the other hand he preached likewise at night (Acts xx. 7); but, generally, day and night is, as with us, a vivid expression for without intermission (comp. especially Rev. xx. 10). 23. That we might not be burdensome to any of you, by his having to care for my support. So little did the Apostle seek any profit from the Thessalonians, that he sought not even the neces- saries of life from them bui earned them for himself, that his intercourse with them might on his part be altogether one of giving. In hac etiam parte jure suo obstinuit (Catvin ; comp. Note 16). For the matter in question, comp. Acts xviii. 3; xx. 34; 1 Cor. iv. 12; ix. 7 sqq.; 2 Cor. xi. 8 sqq.; Phil. w. 10 sqq., and Doctr. and Eth., 5.—On κηρύττειν eis, see Winer, p. 191.* 24. (V. 10.) Ye are witnesses and God.— The Apostle having in three sentences with οὐκ--- ἀλλά (vv. 1 and 2, 8 and 4, 5 9) confuted the re- proaches cast upon him, and which are summed up in the fewest words in v. 8—having shown that his doctrine is not an idle delusion, but the gospel of God, and that he himself has labored, not from selfish motives of covetousness and ambition, nor with impure methods of craft and flattery, but in the sight of God and with the most devoted love— he now at last opposes to that a brief, positive sketch of his ministry, and for this he again appeals to the Thessalonians and God as witnesses (comp. v. 5), by way of giving to his assertion so much the more of the impressive earnestness of truth. Men must witness for his manner of acting; God wit- nesses, in his conscience and theirs, for his inward disposition. This explanatory sentence likewise is added by asyndeton (comp. vv. 7, 9), a construction to which in the present instance the liveliness of emotion also contributes. 25. How holily, and righteously, and un- blamably, &c.—‘Oclws, with perceptible, inward reverence of God; δικαίως, with due consideration of men, leaving and giving to every one his own (comp. Eph. iv. 24; Tit. ii. 12 {Luke i. 75; Tit. i. 8]); + ἀμέμπτως, unblamably, irreproachably in the whole deportment—the negative side to the two positive ones (Linnemann), especially to δικαίως (OxsHausEN). This qualification Paul adds, because reproaches had been casi upon him.t [Benger and others : toward themselves, in order to get the three references to God, men, themselves as in Tit, ii, 12; but this is here icadmissible, since all is referred to ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσι --- ὁσίως assigning merely the religious ground of the behavior toward the be- lievers—Rigcensacu.] It is commonly not enough considered, that we have here before us, not adjec- tives, but adverbs (comp. Acts xx. 18., πῶς ἐγενόμην ped’ ὑμῶν); Paul is not speaking of his walk, his entire personal bearing (De Werre, Hormann)— otherwise we must have had ὅσιοι, d&e. (comp. οἷοι, * (But Winer there reverts to LurHEr’s wnter euch, in- stead of the preferable an of previous editions; and AUBER- LEN’s own version has simply the dative: verkitndigten wir euch. It may also be noted here that, for εἰς ὑμᾶς, the Cod. Sin. a prima manu reads tpiv.—d. 1..] T [BenGuL: Sancte in rebus divinis, juste erga homines— the classical distinction between ὁσίως and δικαίως, but not always to be pressed in the N. T.—J. L.] ¢ [Exuicorr: ‘ Perhaps it is safer to say that ὁσίως and δικαίως form on the positive side a compound idea of holy purity and righteousness. whether towards God or towards men, while ἀμέμπτω; stateson the negative side the general blamelessnees in both asvec ® and velations.’—J Τρ, ch. i. 5)—but of the manner of his dealing with the believers (Winer, p. 418). 26. To [for] you who believed.—ipiy ia simply the dative of direction or reference: to you, toward you (De Werte, Kocn) [not a dative of im terest: for your advantage,* nor yet of judgment appeared to you (Cicumentus and THEOPHYLACT, Catvin, Benert, Linemann); the adverbs in that case would scarcely be admissible-—RiGGENBACH. ].t The addition τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, at first view apparently superfluous [Jowerr], must here as at v. 13 have its own ground and significance. The beevers were told that their faith was credulity and superstition, that they had allowed themselves to be ensnared, abused, and misled by the stranger, and that this waa now called faith. A similar way of talking to that nowadays, which confounds faith with opinion, notion, dim, baseless feeling. In opposition to this Paul dwells with emphasis on the word faith in ita true import, and shows how he had never abused their confidence in him and his word so as to in- dulge himself in impurity of any kind, but rather, honoring their faith as faith in God and His word, he had in all his proceedings kept holy what was holy, and had with all earnest men exhorted them to 8 walk worthy of God. [Those, who explain the dative as a dative of judgment,{ take τοῖς moretow ow restrictively : tametsi aliis non ita videremur , ὃ Benet. Especially contrary to v. 13 (?).—RigGEn- BACH. ]--- Ἐγενήϑημεν, asin vv. 5,7; chap. i. 5. 27. (V. 11.) Whilst we, as ye know, &c [Even as ye know how we, &c.]—Kadames οἴδατε is a parenthetical clause similar to καϑὼς οἴδατε of vv. 2, 5; * belongs to the following parti- cipial construction. This time the Apostle puts xaSdrep for καϑώς. Decause immediately after ὡς occurs twice. The first ὡς belongs to ἕνα ἕκαστον, and has here a strengthening force such as it carries also elsewhere in connection with ἕκαστος (see Pas- sow under éxaoros), a usage very nearly akin to the connection of ὡς with superlatives. The corrobora- tion εἷς ἕκαστος, of frequent occurrence in the New Testament, is found likewise in classic Greek (A, Burruann, p. 105). With the double reénforcement, ὡς εἷς ἕκαστος, comp. Rev. xxi. 21; ἀνὰ εἷς ἕκαστος ; Eph. v. 83: ὑμεῖς of καϑ᾽ ἕνα ἕκαστος. The partici- pial clauses, vv. 11, 12, show to what extent Paul behaved holily and righteously and unblamably to- ward the believers (v. 10), and we have therefore resolved the participles by ἐπ that. The main em- * [An interpretation suggested by Muscutus, allowed by Bavweartrn, and adopted by Exricorr (whose version, however, to you that believe, does not convey that idea).— JL. + [The objection drawn from the adverbs to the construce tion of ὑμῖν asa dat. judicti—a, construction followed also by ALForD, who cites 2 Pet. iii. 14—is plausible only when, by an arbitrary rendering of the verb, as = appeared, were thought, the idea of judgment is transferred to it from the dative.—J. L.] 1 (German: als Dativ des Vortheils = as a dative of in- terest. But this must be a misprint for Urtheils.—J. L.] § [Sometimes also they restrict ὑμῖν τοῖς mor. to ἀμέμπ- τως (Syriac, THEODERET, (ScumENtIvs, Catvin, &c.). The Greek order is this: ‘‘Ye are witnesses, and God, how holily and righteously and unblamably to (for) you who believed we behaved.” Probably the precise import of the dative in this case must be left doubtfal. Exxiicorr’s ob- jection to it as a dative of judgment, that “the Apostle would scarcely have appealed to God in reference to the judgment of the Thessalonians,” is by no means decisive. Solemnly to remind converts of their earliest convictions and first love is a Scripture means of guarding thom, or recovering them, from declension and apostasy. Womp. Gal. iv. 14, 15; Rev. ii. 3,5; &¢.—J. L. ᾿ [én dem wir, wie thr ja wisset, &0.—J. 1,.} CHAPTER 11. 1-12. 33 phasis of the participial construction rests on the conclusion, εἰς τὸ περιπατεῖν ἀξίως, &c. (LineMann), und yet so that Paul would in connection therewith lay stress on two other considerations: 1. That he had taken pains to hold every one in particular to this worthy walk, and hence the doubly strengthened ἕκαστος ; 2. That for this end he had exerted all his force of speech, and hence the combination of the three sonorous rarticiples. The Apostle’s unblama- dle deportment towards the believers was shown in his exhorting every individual with the whole power of his address to nothing else but a walk worthy of God. This is simply the connection of v. 10 with vv. 11,12. The comparison with a father has refer- ence to all three points: a father keeps his children singly in his eye, and trains every one according to bis individuality ; he employs all the force of exhor- tation in kindness and severity ; he would keep his children only to what is good, and to no evil of any kind. Here, where the question is not, as in vv. 7, 8, about devoted love, but holy earnestness, Paul compares himself, not to a mother, but to a father. Paul never writes tautologically, but, even while re- peating similar thoughts, advances to new and wider points of view. [luterpreters in general do not agree with me in regarding καϑάπερ οἴδατε as a pa- renthesis, but take οἴδατε as a governing verb, on which ὡς, apart from ἕνα ἕκαστον, is dependent. But since ὡς is followed only by participles, they are obliged to supply the verbum jinitum, and then, be- cause ὑμᾶς is afterwards added, ἠγαπήσαμεν, οὐχ [οὐκ] ἀφήκαμεν, &c., is supplied to ἕνα ἕκαστον (PeLt, Scuorr, and others), or to the entire clause ἦμεν (Beza, Grortius, Fuart), or ἐγενήϑημεν, from the previous context (Benant, LUNEmANN, [ ALForRD, Worpswortu]), or, the supplement being left inde- terminate, an anacoluthon is assumed (DE ΕΤΤΕ, [Exuicorr]). With these grammatical inconveniences there is then connected also an erroneous and artifi- eial view of the logical relation of vv. 11, 12 to v. 10, as that Paul speaks in v. 10 of his behavior generally ; in vv. 11, 12, for confirmation of that, of the discharge of his duty as a teacher in particu- lar (Dz Werte, Kocu, similarly Hormann); or that in proof of his own virtue he adduces the fact of his having exhorted the Thessalonians to virtue, it being here taken for granted that one, who has it so much at heart that others shall be virtuous, will be so himself (Linemann). Independently of other objectiuns to these views, they would require a καί after καϑάπερ or after és.—RiGGENBACd. | * 28. Exhorted and encouraged and adjured. —ipés is superfluous + after ὡς ἕνα ἕκαστον ὑμῶν ; similar repetitions in the classics and also in the New Testament, Col. ii. 13; { Matt. viii. 1; and often * (Notwithstanding the above remarks, I adhere still to the ordinary construction of καθάπερ ὄιδατε, ὡς ἕνα ἕκαστον, ὅσο. The objections to it are more than counterbalanced by the exceeding awkwardness of the new arrangement pro- posed. As a parenthesis belonging to what follows it, καθάπερ οἴδατε would be strangely misplaced. It is also very improbable that any considerations of euphony de- termined the use of καθάπερ here, instead of καθώς (vv. 2, 53 ch.i.5. See ch. ii. 13, καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς). Perhaps it might rather be said, that the former was selected for the sake of still more strongly emphasizing the exactness of the correspondence between the personal and the official tonduct of the Apostle.—J. L.) Ε t [It is wanting in Cod. Sin.—Exzicorr speaks of it as 1“ collective ὑμᾶς, serving still more clearly to define all that were included—a defining and supplementary accusa- tive, somewhat allied to the use of that case in the σχῆμα a6" ὅλον καὶ μέρος."--.1} t [Some editions repeating ὑμᾶς after συνεξωοποιησε. -- Τ, 1.) ὥ (Winer, p. 531). Παρακαλεῖν, to exhort generally; παραμυδεῖσναι, kindly to encourage; μαρτύρεσϑαι, earnestly and solemnly to obtest, like διαμαρτύρεσϑαι͵ 1 Tim. v. 21; 2 Tim. ii, 14; iv. 1. ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, : Mapa Kaa. movet, ut facias aliquid (libenter); παραμνὸ., ut cum gaudio; paprup., ut cum timore. The two last participles really specify the twofold style and method of the παρακαλεῖν, and may be also gram matically subordinated to it, as, for example, δυνάμε vot of v. 7 [6] is subordinated to ζητοῦντες of v. 6, and κωλυόντων of v.16 to μὴ ἀρεσκόντων καὶ ἔναν τίων of v.15 (comp. 2 Tim. i. 4). In favor of this are the facts, 1. that εἰς τὸ περιπατ. cannot depend on paprup., which must have either ἵνα (1 Tim. v. 21) or the simple infinitive (2 Tim. ii. 14); 2. that ὑμᾶς is unsuitable to μαρτυρ., which cannot have an accu- sative of the person after it, except in the here inad- missible sense of taking one to witness, Perhaps the pleonastic ὑμᾶς is put after παρακαλοῦντες for the very purpose of separating the subordinate partici- ples from the superior one. Even as to form, παρα- pus. and paprup. belong together as of the middle voice, and are jointly distinguished from the active παρακαλοῦντες. Thus: We exhorted you with kindly encouragement as well as with earnest obtestation.* Comp., moreover, on the accumulation of participles Note 27.—The division of verses is here very unapt. 29. (V. 12.) That ye should wall in a manner worthy, &c.—Eis τὸ περιπατ. is thus dependent on παρακαλ., and denotes the contents or object of the exhortation. [So also Linzmann, who thinks, indeed, that εἰς may be referred to all the three participles; but in that case εἰς must rather denote the purpose, as De Werte and Koc understand it.—Riecen- BACH. | With ἀξίως τοῦ Seo τοῦ καλοῦντος comp. Eph. iv. 1: ἀξίως τῆς κλήσεως, Col.i. 10: ἀξίως τοῦ κυρίου. The two ideas are here combined. Καλοῦντος, pres- ent; because the kingdom and glory are still fu- ture, so that the call thereto, though it has already gone forth, yet continues till the coming of Christ, when the kingdom and the glory shall be revealed (Linemann).{ The participle is even half-subst#n- tival, like 6 ῥνόμενος, ch. i. 10. 30. Into his own kingdom and glory.— Mag- nificum syntheton (BENGEL). Not a hendiadys: kingdom of His glory, or glory of His kingdom Korps, Oxsnavsen, &c.); nor yet: earth/y kingdom the Church) and heavenly glory (BAUMGARTEN-CRU- 8105); nor is δόξα the glory of the Messianic king- dom (Dr Werte), but, since ἑαυτοῦ belongs also to δόξα, the glory of God, Rom. v. 2 (Linemany). Comp. the closing doxology of the Lord’s Prayer. ‘Eavrod is emphatic by position, as in v.7 [Wes-. sTeR and WILKINsoN: “implying a participation, or the most exalted fellowship and interest in the Divine: blessedness.”—J. L.]. Paul would here again, at: the end of the entire section as at its beginning (vv.. 2,4; see Notes 4 & 10), give prominence to the * (Similarly Pzizz: ‘in words both of encouragement: and solemn admonition.’’—It is quite probable that rapaxa- λοῦντες may draw the ὑμᾷς to itself as being the gencric word. But what is said above more than that is too confi- dently stated. Certainly there is not another instance in the New Testament of tapaxadéw (in the sense of exhorting): being followed, any more than μαρτύρομαι, by eis τό. The prevailing construction of the former also is with ἵνα or an’ infinitive.—J. L.] ᾿ t [The Greek Testament begins v. 12 with καὶ paprups μενοι.--. L.] . L 1 [Vavcuan: ‘A reiterated sound, continued through the individual life.”—J. L.] 34 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. thought, that it is God with whom believers have to do, and of whom he had been the mere but honest instrument (hence the leading position of ὁσίως in s, 10.—Comp. v. 18). Thus: God calls you to a participation in His own kingdom, which will appear at Christ’s advent, and in His own Divine glory, into which believers then enter through the change [of the living, 1 Cor. xv. 51.—J. L.] or through the (first) resurrection. It might be asked whether βασιλεία here is not to be taken in the active sense = kingly dominion ; yet this signification of βασιλεία τοῦ ϑεοῦ does not, to my knowledge, occur in the New Testament. But certainly the participation of Christians in the βασι- λεία will really be a participation in the βασιλεύειν. Their calling is indeed to be glorified (Rom. viii. 17),, not, however, to be ruled over, but to the βασιλεύειν or συμβασιλεύειν (Rom. v. 17; 1 Cor. iv. 8; 2 Tim. ii. 12; Rev. xx. 4, 6; xxii. 5).—The motive to a holy walk is therefore a double one, which yet again is but one and the same: Christians are to walk worthily, that is, they should regulate all their pro- ceedings and life-conduct in such a way as becomes 1. the holy majesty of God, with whom by their calling they have fellowship: and 2. their own desti- nation, expressed in this calling, to a share in the full dignity, imperial and essential, of this same God. This pure light of glory excludes all impurity (comp. 1 Tim. i. 11, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης, in con- nection with the preceding verses, and 1 John iii. 8). This section also, like the one before it, thus closes with an eschatological outlook. And, in truth, there meets us here the high practical importance of the Christian hope. As in suffering it begets patience (ch. i. 3), so in actinw a holy walk. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (Vv. 1-12.) To the Thessalonians assailed -on account of their faith Paul shows that there is something real about it, both in his case (vv. 1-12) -and in theirs (vv. 13-16). As proof he here cites, -got miracles, as, for example, in Gal. iii. 5, but sim- ply the demonstration of the spirit and of power— vibat of Divine, self-evidencing light they had per- -eckved in him, and experienced in their own hearts and.eonsciences. It is worthy of note that the Gen- ‘tile Apostle, in the very first Epistle written by him ‘for the Gentile world, insist) on this. And such is still to-day the twofold evidence of Christianity in the midst of a world estranged from God, where so fre- quevtky all power, all culture, all historical life stands, or seems to stand, in opposition to the gos- pel: the children of light, in whom, as nowhere else in the world, we perceive a perfect and blessed life (Matt. v. 14-16; Phil. ii. 15), and the purifying and quickeniug Divine influences which we experience in ourselves from the gospel (2 Cor. xiii. 5). 2. @ur section is rich in self-praise, which, how- ever, develops itself rather, step by step, as self- defence. A servant of Christ owes it, not so much to himself as his Master and his cause, to clear him- self of unjust imputations, whenever they threaten to hinder the progress of the gospel, and prejudice the faith and‘love of the brethren. How in such a case one should express and demean himself may be learned from Paul, who first of all lets it be seen that he is Divinely certain of his cause, and is con- geious of having acted with self-denial in the power of God and before tbe eyes of God, and then also he appeals freely to human testimony. The Lord knows how, by means of the oppositions of the world or other humbling experiences, so to dispose his servants inwardly, that when circumstances are such that the ends of the Divine kingdom require it, they can and ought to speak of themselves in a way, that to the judgment of a merely natural morality appears as self-praise. Here belongs also, for exam ple, the fact that John distinguishes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved; here belong many ex pressions in the Psalms and passages of Daniel, as ch. i, 17-20; ix. 2,3; 2 Cor. x.—xili. 8. Our section is a true pastoral mirror.* In the first and larger half (vv. 1-9) are two principal points of view, one of which concerns the cause, the doctrine; the other the individual, in respect partly of his inner motives, partly of his manner of acting and speaking. 1. For what concerns the doctrine, we must be able to testify that it is no misleading error, no idle, impotent human invention of any sort, that we preach, but the gospel of God, the glad tidings which God Himself would have to be published to men. We speak in the consciousness, and in the power, of a Divine commission, not as those who are enthusiastic for some self-contrived, human system, and such like, nor as idle babblers believing nothing. 2. For what concerns, a. the disposition and purpose in the discharge of the office, we know that we are free from impure motives of avarice and am- bition, for we prosecute our work for souls in the continual presence of Him who knows the heart, and, to please whom, we have to prosecute it earnestly, and in fervent love to those entrusted to us. That we may offer no hindrance to the gospel, we wil- lingly forego the honor and profit that we might otherwise properly claim. We are not satisfied with the faithful fulfilment of what is officially prescribed, but voluntarily undertake additional toil and trouble of every kind. We spare not our health or our life, where the honor of our Lord and the salvation of souls are concerned. In short, instead of seeking augbt for ourselves, the soul of our work is self- sacrificing love. It is more blessed to give than to receive. 6, As regards the means and manner of our working, we stand in no need of any sort of cunning or spurious pastoral shrewdness to draw the people to us, and secure for ourselves their respect. We never deal in flattering words. We aim not at all at pleasing men.—In the second half (vv. 10-12) Paul exhibits the holy and righteous behavior of ἃ servant of Christ toward the believers, and shows how, 1. so far as concerns the Church, this consists in not merely proclaiming the word generally, but in also bringing it near to individual souls, so that in this way the special care of souls is added to preaching. 2. For what concerns the preacher himself, he should put forth all his strength, and in different ways, adapted to occasional circumstances, to individuals and spiritual conditions, point those committed to him to the right way. 38. With regard, finally, to the doctrine, it should aim at nothing else but to hold the hearers to what is good. But in Christianity that which is morally good has a thoroughly religious character. It isa walk worthy of God. Nor does even that exhaust the matter. It is not merely the relation of single souls, or even of che congregation, to God, that is tobe held up to believers, but God has a kingdom, a corporate order of life, in which * Comp. Lehrer- und Predigerspiegel 1 Thess. ti. 1-12 i ZELLER’S Monatsblatt von Beuggen, 1800, No. ἀξ ἔθος uae CHAPTER I, 1-12. 88 He really shares His glory with the creature. To this kingdom, already founded in Christ, but to be first manifested at His advent, we are called. Our walk should bear in itself the stamp of our so high destiny. Weshould act from motives drawn from the kingdom and the glory. The preaching, therefore, must teach what the kingdom is, and what the glory (comp. my Discourse: die biblische Lehre von Reiche Gottes in ihrer Bedeutung fir die Gegenwart [The Bikle Doctrine of the Kingdom of God in its im- portance for the present time], Basel, 1859).—Lastly, in our section there is this fact also to be particularly noticed, that the Apostle compares himself in his ministry to a father and a mother: the latter in the first half, the former in the second. The parental relation, that most original of all human relations (being preceded only by the conjugal), that image of God’s relation to men, is itself again the natural, God-given pattern for all other relations of superior and inferior, and so especially also for preachers and and pastors. A servant of Christ has in his own house a constant school for his office. What he feels and does for his own children, the same he should feel and do for his Church. Yet, not merely the earnestness of paternal love, but the ten- derness and self-sacrifice likewise of the maternal, is in the Apostle. He speaks of the parental rela- tion, not by way of making it the foundation of just claims, but with an eye to its obligations and perfor- mances. 4. (V. 2.) It is worthy of remark that in v. 2 Paul does not say: we were bold in Christ, to speak unto you the gospel of Christ, but: in God, of God; and so throughout the entire section (see vv. 4, 8, 9, 12,13). To obviate the objections of the Gentiles and Jews, he purposely reverts to the altimate ground, still common more or less to them and Christians. Against Jesus Christ, that historical Person, they might bring forward the same excep- tions as against the Apostle himself; but God is His own immediate witness in the conscieuces of all men. And this Divine witness of conscience was, and is, on the side of the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. iv. 2; v.11). To this we too, in contending with the adversaries, must always again revert. We must connect Christ with God, Christianity with religion, that is, with the religious and moral nature of man in general, the positive and historical with the ideal ‘comp. John vii. 17). 5. (V. 5.) Twice in our short section does Paul call God to witness, vv. 5, 10, as he does in like man- aer also elsewhere, Rom. i. 9; Phil. i. 8; 2 Cor. i. 23; somp. xi, 31; Rom. ix. 1; 1 Tim. ii. 7. A servant of God may often find himself in the same position, espe- cially when meeting assaults, and where the question is about dispositions and prayers. A parallel to this is presented by the Verily, I say unto you, which is found so frequently in the mouth of the Lord, in the Synoptists with a single, in John with a double, ἀμήν. It was necessary for Him, in opposition to the unbelief or dulness of His hearers, to corroborate the often very paradoxical truth which he had to advance. Such assertions and protestations are ap- proaches to the oath, to which some of them come quite close, particularly 2 Cor. i. 2, 8, and therefore tontributions to the Scriptural view of the doctrine of the oath, and to the correct interpretation and application of Matt. v. 38-37; James v. 12. 6. (V. 9.) Paul insists strongly on the right of minisi 11s ο Live of the gospel (1 Cor. ix. 7sqq. ; 1 Tim. v. 17, (8; Gal. vi. 6), and he himself also receives support from the Philippians and other churches (9 Cor. xi. 8 sq.; Phil. iv. 10 sqq.). But in Corinth tt Cor, ix. 12; 2 Cor. xi. 7 sqq.) and Thessalonica and apparently in Ephesus also (Acts xx. 33-35) he ac cepted nothing during his work there, but provided for his own maintenance partly by manual labos (Acts xviii. 3; xx. 34), partly through the gifts of other Churches (2 Cor. xi. 9; Phil. iv. 16). He did this, that he might offer no hindrance to the gospel (1 Cor. ix. 12); at Corinth, in consideration of the false Apostles (2 Cor. xi. 12 sqy.); at Thessalonica, in consideration probably of the unbelievers, whose calumnies he forsaw, or was already even in some measure aware of. For that the Thessalonian Chris- tians were poor, as Curysosrom and others suppose, there is nothing to indicate; indeed, according to Acts xvii. 4, there were at any rate not a few rich persons among them. At the same time the Apostle desired also in his own person to furnish an example of fidelity in a earthly calling, of strenuous labor, of devoted love (Acts xx. 85; 2 Thess. iii. 7 sqq.). We have now here before us one of the cases in which, as in so many outward things—for example, in regard to usages, the times and places of Divine service, &c.—it could not be but that changes, to wit, specific regulations, should gradually be forth- coming in the Church. Soon the clerical calling could no longer be united with a secular one. It had therefore to be furnished with a regular income, and this is in accordance with Paul’s doctrine. If, then, we neither can nor should directly imitate his practice herein; if indeed, speaking generally, the exemplariness of the Lord and His Apostles does rot require from us a direct, outward imitation—this were really to turn the gospel again into law and letter (comp. ch. i. 6, 7, Doctrinal and Ethical, Note 5),—it is only the more important that we enter into the meaning and spirit of the Apostle, and act on this Apostolic view of the matter. Not to the Pope alone does his worldly dominion prove to be ruin; among us also earthly good has already become the curse and snare of many clergymen. This is one of the tenderest points in the relation between the shepherd and the flock, and by it is often insensibly closed the mouth of the shepherd and the heart of the sheep. There are certain portions of income, those that partake more of the nature of perquisites, which still fall immediately under the apostolic rule, not to burden those who would thereby be burdened, and rather to undergo privations, “lest we should ‘hinder the gospel of Christ” (1 Cor. ix, 12). It de- serves also to be noticed that the Apostle (1 Cor. ix. 14) says, that the Lord hath ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel, should have wherewithal to live, and not more. With us, to be sure, and especially of late, care is commonly taken that we should not have it in our power to think of laying up treasures. The wish expressed by Schleiermacher in 1804, “that the relations of the preacher’s position should be put more and more on such a footing, that it could present no external attraction to those who did not value it for its own sake,” has already received a manifold fulfilment. Those, however, who have to struggle with want and privation, may seek and find a strong cousolation in the fact, that they thus stand nearer to the apostolia model, than if they lived in abundance of everything. Comp. the flaming words of Lupwie Horacker iq his Life by A. Knapp, 1852, p. 157 sq.: “Often enough have I been offended with a. certain class of ministers. To lament over their poor pay is the’ a6 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL ᾿ TO THE THESSALONIANS. whole business, their main topic of conversation. Nowhere is there less of faith and contentment than among men of this sort. With them the earthly mind thoroughly predominates. In no class is there less of Divine understanding. In heaven we shall probably meet the smallest proportion of ministers ; for it is well-nigh impossible that such an ease-loving, selfish minister should enter the kingdom of heaven. Ta it not a real mercy that we are even kept a little short? How much money, then, must a preacher have on hand? Or how much must he have in furniture and pictures? On this absurdity I could descant fora day, and not exhaust the topic, dealing not with individual cases, but with the thing itself, nor yet out of illiberality of feeling, but from long observation. Ah, where is the imitation of Christ’s life of poverty? No doubt, there are many who suffer, but why ? because they fancy that a son is not saved, unless he gets to be a gentleman at the University. The true sufferers are they who are silent and endure, looking up to God.” {MI. Hevry: There is no general rule to be drawn from this instance; either that ministers may at no time work with their hands for supply of their out- ward necessities, or that they ought always to do so.—J. L.] s 7. (V.11.) Paul emphasizes the fact that he had exhorted every single individual. Comp. Acts xx. 31, and especially the thrice repeated πάντα ἄν- Spomoy of Col. i, 28. Here, as in Rom, v. 12, 15, 13 sq.; 1 Tim. ii. 4 syq., the emphasis is on ἄνϑρω- mos, since Paul is speaking of the spread of the Gospel among the Gentiles, of the removal of the distinetion between Jews and Gentiles, of Jesus be- lounging as man tu all mankind, and of every indivi- dual simply as a man having an interest in Him. This is that idea of humanity, of the infinite value of cach individual human soul before God, which first came to light in the New Covenant, in Christi- anity, and of which the Gentile Apostle was pre- eminently the bearer. In ancient times, to which the Old Covenant still essentially belongs, mankind was as yet given up as fleshly to the forces of nature, and therefore also to national divisions. The oppo- sition of TY and O74, λαός and ἔϑνη stood in force, as that of Greeks and Barbarians; for God in His revelation condescended to the στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου. Not yet was the individual of any ccnsequence in himself as a man; he came into view merely as a member of the larger natural whole, the people. A relative advance in this respect is certainly not to be mistaken within the sphere of the old world, when, for example, we think in the Old Testament of the Psalms, in Greece of the schools of philos- ophy, in Rome of the domestic life of a Cato and others. But even the Psalmist, who knows that in covenant with his God he is strong and secure against all the world, is ever ap Israelite; the Gre- cian sage is always a Hellene; and so forth. First on the cross of Christ was the flesh and the whole power of nature broken in pieces; first in Christ was the one new man created, so that now there is no longer a question of Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian (Eph. ii. 15; Col. iii. 11); there was born the idea at once of humanity and of man; universalism, and along with thst the true subjectivity and individual- ism, for every one singly to lay hold in faith freely from within on the salvation of God, and so attain to the fulness of human dignity (as was already rep- res~nted in the call of Abraham, Rom. iv.; Gal. iii). Not only did Paul recognize and preach this great truth; he likewise at the same time made practical application of it, on the universal Side im his Gentile mission, on the other in his special care of souls. The nationalists, therefore, have lost, nov their significance, but merely the sting of matual antipathy, so far as their members are in Christ; is the future kingdom of Christ the curse, the covering, will be removed from the nations as such, as from individuals at presem., so that the whole life of his- tory shall be a regenerate life, a life from the dead (Rom. xi. 15: comp. Is. xxv. 7, 8). ᾿ 8. (Ὁ. 12.) Glory (δόξα, 7733; for this Luther has also sometimes Alarheit [clearness, lustre], as for δοξάζειν verkldren [to illustrate}) is ἃ radical term used in Scripture of God, which in theosophy has met with more consideration than in theology. It is the real, organic side in the conception of spirit, whereby the Absolute Personality is not a mere abstract Ego, but the Absolute Life, unfolding and shaping itself in a fulness (πλήρωμαν of powers. What in earthly phrase has been called nature or the corporeity of God finds in the word glory—with which stand connected the expressions majesty, beauty, light, &c., when used of God—its Scriptural foundation and limitation. In glory is found the reason why the whole man, even as to his body, is called the image of God. By means of glory also is brought about, agreeably to its idea, the appearance or reve- lation of God. Christ’s glorification consists essen- tially in this, that His human nature is raised into the condition of this Divine glory. He makes a real, inward communication of it to His own (unio mys. tiea, the sacraments), so that they become partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet. i. 4; John xiv. 235 xvii. 5, 22, 24), till in the resurrection they are manifested in this glory, even as to their body (Col. iii. 8, 4). Benen (on Acts vii. 2) calls glory divi- nitas conspicua ; OETINGER, the unveiled holiness,— the great word that sums up the whole New Testa- ment: J. T. ΒΕΟΚ, christliche Lehrwissenchaft, p. 67, the self-manifestation of the living image of God, which has for man a hidden side, but also one visible in rich forms and degrees, and for special revelations assumes special local shapes. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vv. 1-12.—This section and its several parts are especially appropriate for texts of inaugural and or- dination sermons, and such like; happy he, who can take from it also his farewell text! The principal thought of the two main divisions, vv. 1-9 and 10- 12, are embraced in the Doctrinal and Ethical department, No. 2, and there already arranged also with reference to the Homiletic use.— J. Micu. Haan: Our Epistle was written to such as had been awakened for about half a year; it is thus rather for such as are weaker and for beginners. For this reason Paul strengthens and animates the Thessalo- nians by very circumstantial arguments from his own behavior, and that of Silas, among them; con- sidering that with inexperienced souls one must deal more largely in details, than with those who are more spiritually developed.—Tuz same: That ig it which in our days makes faith so difficult: sinful men dare to call in question the word of God, and to correct it, saying quite plainly that to a great extent itis just the word of man. This mischievoug cavilling may in dark hours of temptation rack with doubts even the lovers of truth, and frequently, if CHAPTER II. 1-12. 31 they have thoughtful souls, they undergo no light struggle. But these doubts are by the lover of truth overcome, and tend to the strengthening and confirmation of faith; for as all things must work ‘ogether for good to those who love God and truth, ΒΟ likewise this, since it too belongs to the “ all.”— Dixsricn: For the Christian it is important fre- quently to review his previous guidance in Christ, that he may become ever more conscious of the work of the Lord, and also feel himself bound in hearty affection to those, through whom the Lord hag come to us. To the calumniators of the Apostle we owe thanks to this day, for having been to him the occasion for such an exact self-portraiture. The enemies of the truth know not at all, what good service they often render to it. Vv. 1,2. J. Micu. Haun: The great boldness after the contumelious suffering is a sound, valid proof of the truth of God’s word, and of faith’s real ground, How should human nature be able to act and suffer thus aimlessly ? Its wont truly is, to seek and intend self in everything.—Tue same: The Lord’s true messengers are for the most part pre- pared in the school of suffering, and not in the society of trifling, young people, who in their fri- volity often do not know what to go at. If one or another from that quarter is to prosper, he too is called out of the confusion into the school of the cross, like all the rest.—TuH& same: While the Spirit of glory rested on us (1 Pet. iv. 14), we had spiritual boldness, joy in God and with God, incomparable heart-joy ; for the life of the spirit was so predomi- nant, that we regarded nothing in nature.—RIEGER: Suffering does not weaken faith, and so it does not even abate boldness in opening the mouth. Suffer- ing, indeed, undergone lovingly and willingly, as- sures a man that he is renewed into the image of Christ, and is treading in the footsteps wherein have walked all the lovers of truth, who in the world have been reviled. Suffering makes good salt; avoidance of the cross makes the salt insipid.— Tue same: When we hear of the boldness of the Apostles, we often suppose that all fear had been blown away. But the Apostles themselves com- monly put the two things together; on the one side, what through grace obtained the victory, namely boldness, and, on the other side, those assaults from nature and from the aspect of the world, through which they had to fight their way with great conten- tion.—Zwinet1: The preaching of the gospel does not go forward without a struggle, and indeed many struggles; for Christ is the sign that is spoken against. (Burgirr: The Apostle calls his boldness a boldness in God, because a boldness for God and from God.—A.Forp: All true confidence is in God as our God.—M. Henry: Suffering in a good cause should rather sharpen than blunt the edge of holy resolution.—J. L.] Vv. 3, 4. Riser: It is still at present an easy thing for the world, when the gospel is pro- pounded, to give it sometimes the appearance of error, superstition, peculiar notions; and in other cases, where some concession must be made to any one, to impute to him impure aims and self-seeking. -- ΤῊΝ same: In preaching the gospel, much de- ends on the heart and its purity tried and approved ἐν God; only in a good conscience can the mystery of the faith be put. Not merely in the beginning and on our first reception into His service does God prove our heart, but daily and hourly,—Caxvin : To please God and to please men are brought together by Paul as things mutually opposed.—Rizcer: In striving to please, not men, but God, the gate is strait, and the way narrow. One should, of course, commend himself to the consciences of men— should so deal with them, that, without his pleasing them after the flesh, they shall yet think favorably of him, and not in distrust turn away their heart and ear—should show to every man all gentleness, condescension, and readiness to oblige, and yet 89 keep himself apart in the spirit of the cross, as to be intent on pleasing, not men, but God (1 Cor. x. 33).—Dreprico: We may well trust those, who, in their transactions with us, desire in everything only to please God; God certainly desires what is best for us. Such as would merely please we will at the least, and without their knowing it, be unfaithful to us.—Rrzcer: Precious operation of the Spirit of glory, who rests on the sufferers, and, in their deep- est submersion in the baptism of sorrow, instructs them still to keep their head up, and to say to their God: For he knowetk the secrets of the heart (Ps xliv, 22).* Vv. 5-7. Rizcer: We cannot do too muck for the sake of winning men’s souls; and, if the world calls that flattery, we are to regard it as little as Jesus left off eating and drinking with publicans and sinners on account of the Pharisees. When, indeed, one’s aim with men is to steal some advan- tage for one’s self or one’s friends, and lull others to sleep to their own soul’s hurt, in that case there may be danger of indulging in words of flattery: and therefore the Apostle immediately disclaims covetousness also.—CaLvin : Where avarice and am- bition rule, there follow innumerable corruptions, and the whole man sinks into vanity; for these are the two fountains, whence flows the corruption of the entire ministry.—Cuarysostom: Paul says net: We were dishonored, nor yet: We received no honor ;—that were to have reproached the Thessalo nians;—but: We sought it not. [(icumenius ex tends the emphasis to ἐξ ἀνϑρώπων : ‘for the glory that is from God they both sought and received: τὴ; γὰρ ἐκ ϑεοῦ καὶ ἐζήτουν καὶ ἐλάμβανον .---ἶ. L. J. Μ. Haun: Although as ambassadors of the sover eign Lord of the whole creation we might have used authority, yet we did not seek to extort from you any such regard as that you should look upon us with fear and awe. This is the way nowadays of those who presume on their office. But what credit have they with the people, and what hearts trust them? That is the very reason why they are uni- versally abandoned. Not so the Lord’s ambassadors! —Rizcer: Therein consists a great secret of the kingdom of Christ, that by means of love, whereby the greatest becomes as the servant of all, He effects more, maintains a more fruitful order, than is achieved in any worldly empire by ever so rigorous a distinction of ranks.—TuE same: Christians, it is true, are not an abject people; they deal in large aims and hopes. They do not, however, seek honor from men, nor in the present time, but take it on credit against the resurrection of the just. [Burxirr: Flattery in any is odious, ina minister 8 monstrous, both because spiritual men ought to be most plain-hearted, and also because flattery about spiritual things is most fatal and pernicious, both to the giver and receivers A. CLarke: They * [Ps. xliv. 21 of the English version. Luther's version, followad in our text: nun kennet er ja unsers Herzens Grund —J.L.) 38 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. that preach the gospel should dive (not réot) by the gospel. But woe to that man who entered into the labor for the sake of the Aire; he knows not Christ and how can he preach Him ?—J. L.] Vv. 7-9. The Apostle’s motherly love to those committed to his care, as shown 1. in the most in- timate heart-communications to them, 2. in tender affability, 3. in indefatigable self-sacrifice—The con- nection of official fidelity with personal love.—New- born children often cry a great deal, get sick easily, give also every kind of annoyance, and need much care, and only a mother’s love and a muther’s patience can bear with them (BicHsEL: Brinnerungen aus dem Leben eines Landgeistlichen, Evangelische Kirchenzei- tung, 1859).—Roos: Dost thou from hearty love undergo day and night toil and trouble, which no man imposes on thee, or repays ?—Catvin: Paul’s unwillingness to have his wants supplied was in order that he might not hinder the gospel. For good pastors must be careful, not merely to run strenuously in their ministry, but of this also, that, so far as is in their power, they remove all obstacles from their course.—RiEzGER: Ministers of the gos- pel never want occasion to practise many an econ- omy in housekeeping, in the education of children, in clothes and comforts; whereby in some cases one has rather whcrewithal to give to the needy, and in other cases our income suffices, nor is there any necd to trouble ourselves and others with so many complaints, or with so much striving after changes. And again, there is always reason why we should not set so high a value ov what we are compelled to add from our own means, but ~eflect whether it is quite as much, as when Paul along with his preach- ing labored as a handicraftsman.—Paul made no ciaims on this life—desired not to have things easy in the present world; and therefore also the world could do him no harm.—J. G. ΚΟΙΒ: He who has the Spirit of Christ is faithful also in his earthly calling. That is, he is not too lazy to apply his powers in that direction; and neither does he ac too much, so as to waste his strength in vanity He gives his time to securing the heavenly call ing in the midst of the earthly one. Such a man is then so much more effective in the kingdom of God. [V. 10. Wessrer and Wixinson: Only be lievers can rightly estimate holiness and righteous ness; and it betokens high attainments in religion to be considered, and to be, an example of holiness and righteousness to them.—J. L.] Vv. 10-12. Rizczr: He who in Divine things seeks not his own, but serves the will of God, acta holily, he who does no wrong to his neighbor in anything, but shows him all love, acts righteously ; and he who, moreover, in :4 behavior, speech and entire conduct, puts it in no man’s power to charge him with an offensive contrast between his teaching and his life, acts unblamably. A father has and exerts an authority, but it is that of love, not of law.—SPENER says in one of his farewell discourses : I cannot say that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I cannot say that I have not ceased to warn every one.—Paul a model, not merely in preach~- ing, but also in the care of souls, and in the union of the two. The great Apostle, who filled the whole world with the sound of the gospel, at the same time went after individual souls with all zeal. The differ- ent ways in which salvation must be brought near to different men, and even to the same men at differ- ent times. We must learn to vary our voice.—[M. Henry: We should not only be good as to our gene- ral calling as Christians, but in our particular call- ings and relations.—J. L. [V. 12. Br. Davenant, on Col. i. 10: By this form of speaking we are admonished, that Christi- anity consists in a perpetual journey towards the celestial country, and that no one must halt by the way.—Wesster and Wikinson: The kingdom ir glorious, and the glory kingly.—J. L.] Ca. II. 13-16. 8. Ὁ, The Apostle now on his part also reminds the Thessalonians, with thanksgiving to God, that they had received his word as the word of God, as they have since continually experienced in themselves God’s mighty working (v. 13). They cvuld not otherwise have endured such vexzations from their countrymen, as the brethren in Judea had from the Jews (v. 14), whose enmity to the truth and the Apostles, moreover, need give the less offence, that they are thereby 1nther only filling the measure of their sins, and ripening rapidly for judgment (vv. 15, 16), 18 because, when ye received the word For this cause’ also thank we [we also give thanks to]? God without ceasing, of God which ye heard of us [received from us the word of preaching that is of God],° ye received ἐξ not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God [ye accepted, not men’s word but, as it is in truth, God’s word], which effectually worketh also [also work- 14 eth]* in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became followers [imitators, μιμηταί] of the churches of God which in Judea are [which are in Judea, τῶν οὐσῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ] in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered the same things, τὰ aird]° 15 [suffered, ἐπάθετε] like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the ews; who both killed the Lord [also killed the Lord]’ Jesus and their own prophets,° and have persecuted [and persecuted, ἐκδιωξάντων] us,’ and they please 16 not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak [hindering us ᾿ gS, κωλυόντων. from speakin εὐνὴν λαλῆσαι] to the Gentiles, that they might [may] CHAPTER I. 13-16. 8. be saved, to fill up their sims always: for [but, δέ] the wrath” is come [came]' upon them to the uttermost [to the end, εἰς τέλος]. 1 V.13.—Kai is read before διὰ τοῦτο [as well as after it] by Lachmann, Tischendorf, {Alford,] after A. B. [Sin.J; bw the authority is insufficient (Linemann). 13.—[cat ἡμεῖς εὐχαριστοῦμεν. ‘The καί belongs, as usual, to what immediately follows it.—£. V. renders evxapu στέω by to ive thanks in ch. i. 2; Ὁ ΟΣ giv πὶ ο ; v. 18; 2 Thess. ii. 13, and 23 times elsewhere out of 34.—J. L 13.—[The above is Ellicott’s version of παραλαβόντες λόγον ἀκοῆς παρ᾽ ἡμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ. Auberlen; da ihr das Wor der Botschaft Goltes von uns empfinget. Alford retains the construction of the common English Version. Note 2.—J. L.] See Exegetical 40. 19.--[ἐδέξασθε ob λόγον ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ . . . λόγον θεοῦ. Liimemann: “The addition of a ὡς (οὐχ ὡς λόγον avOp. ἀλλὰ... . ὡς λόγον θεοῦ), in itself superfluous (see Kihner II. p. 226), was so much the more inadmissible, because the Apostle wished to express, not merely what the preached word was in the view of the Thessalonians, but at the same time what it was in fact. Hence also the emphatic parenthesis, καθώς ἐστιν ἀληθῶς." ‘To the same effect many others, *neluding Alford, Wordsworth, and Ellicott.—In the Cod. Sin. ἀληθῶς, omitted a prima manu, is supplied by co :rec- sion.—J. 1,..] _ 5 V.13—[xai ἐνεργεῖται. The effectually of E. V., probably from Calvin’s efficaciter—Bishops’ Bible: effectuously— is scarcely warranted ; though neither is our simple worketh quite satisfactory. Auberlen: sich wirksam beweist = shows itself operative ; and so many others.—J. L.] 6 Ψ. 14.[So Sin. B. Ὁ. . F. &c., and the critical editors, instead of ταὐτά (Rec., after A. &c.).—J. L.] 7 V.15.—{If the first καί of this verse is rendered both, it must belong to τὸν κύριον, as in Wiclif: which slowen bothe the lord thesus and the profetis; and so others, including Conybeare, Ellicott, Vaughan. 8.—J. L.J But see the Exegetical Notes, BY. 15.--Ἰδίους before προφήτας is wanting in A. B. D1. ἘΠ, J. G. (Sin.] &c., and is therefore cancelled by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf (and nearly all the other recent editors], but defended by Schott, De Wette, Reiche, &c. (Revision: ‘Tertullian asserts (Adv. Marc. V. 15.) that it was hereticaly De Wette, on the other hand, thinks that it may have been dropped either in conse- urious, it is at any rate an intelligent gloss. introduced (adjectio hxretici). Even if guence of the ὁμοιοτέλευτον (τοὺς ἰδίους), or as offensive to the anti-gnostic spixit, and commends Schott for retaining it. 9 V.15.—[Or, as in the English margin : chased us out, ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξάντων. Auberlen : uns verlrieben haben; Ellicott, Alford : drove us out; Am. Bible Union: droveus forth; &c.—J. LJ 10 V. 16.—[The MSS. D. E. F. G. have the Vuigate addition of τοῦ Θεοῦ after ἡ ὀργή.---. L .] αἰ Ψ 16.—[é¢0ace (Lachmann: ἔφθακε, after B. D.).—The historical time is determined by that of ἀναπληρῶσαι. Am. Bible Union: came.—J. Τὰ, EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (V. 13.) For this cause we also give thanks —A.é τοῦτο: Because it is God who calls you to His kingdom, therefore we thank Him that ye received our word, not as man’s word, but God’s.* --Kal ἡμεῖς stands opposed to αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε (v. 1.) + and means Paul and his attendants, who now, in further explanation of ch. 1. 6 and πῶς ἐπε- στρέψατε of ch. i. 9 sq., remind the Thessalonians of their lively reception of the word of God, just as the Thessalonians were appealed to, vv. 1-12, as wit- nesses of the pure and powerful ministry of the Apostle among them ; see on chap. i. 8, Exeg. Note 1, We have mutually received from one another the deepest impressions of an operation of the Divine Spirit: that is the third argument, adduced in ch. ii. 1-16, whereby Paul seeks to convince the Thessalo- nians of the reality of their faith, So deep an im- pression did he retain of the faith of the Thessalo- nians, with which they received his word as the word of God, that he has ever since felt himself moved to unceasing thanksgiving to God. If he speaks of the matter to God, and here repeatedly emphasizes this fact (comp. ch. i. 2), they may at once herein recognize a new indication, how little the question is about something merely human (comp. on διὰ τοῦτο). So far τῷ ϑεῷ answers both to the previous rod ϑεοῦ (v. 12) and to the subsequent λόγον ϑεοῦ. The discourse thus turns back here, at the end of the entire section, to the beginning (ch. i. 2. Εν ΑΙ"). * [The same explanation of διὰ τοῦτο is given by Ous- BAUSEN, LiNEMANN, ALFORD. Others prefer a reference to “the general subjects of the precediug verses,—the earnest- ness and zeal of the Apostle and his associates ” (ELLICOTT ; acd similarly WessTeR and WILxKinson). Less probable is Vauoan’s reference to what follows —J. L.] ᾿ . { (Perhaps rather to ὑμεῖς οὔ v.10: Ye are our witnesses, and now we too are yours. Or as Zancurus: Not you alone ought to give thanks for this calling, but we also. d_simi- arly Exiicotr. Either explanation is better than ΤιῦνΕ- MANN’B: We, as well as every true Christian that hears of your deportment; or AtForp’s reference to those ex- pressly mentioned in ch. i. 7-—J. L.] Comp. the Greek of Matt. xii. 28, and see the note in Revision. ] Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, Alford, and the 2. When ye received from us the word of preaching that is of God.—TlapadaB., the objec- tive, outward, matter-of-fact reception, in distinction from δέχεσϑαι, the subjective, inward acceptance (comp. ch. i. 6.) Ἐ---ἀκοή = 792, Is. 111. 1; Rom. x. 14-17 = pass. what one hears, a report, announce- ment, preaching, message. Adyos ἀκοῆς (comp. Heb. iv. 2) is one of those genitival connections, which we in German are accustomed to express by a com- bination of nouns: Botschaftswort ; Ewarp: Pre- digtwort [as if we should say in English, message- word, preaching-word]. The addition of ἀκοῆς marks the audible, oral announcement, coming to men as a (new, hitherto unknown) message: comp. Rom. x, 17, where ἀκοή is distinguished from ῥῆμα Seoi, the latter going forth from God to His messengers, the former from the messengers to the rest of men. The anarthrous λόγος ἀκοῆς should perhaps be translated a message, to indicate it as unknown, new ; comp. λόγος κυρίου of ch. iv. 15 with ὁ λόγος τοῦ K. of ch. i. 8. With this message Paul appeared among the Thessalonians; he knew that it was from God; they could not yet of themselves know that. This he here represents to us in a measure by the purposely anomalous arrangement, παρ᾽ ἡμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ: they received the word of the message immediately from him, but behind him stood God as the Author and Sender of the message. Παρ᾽ ἡμῶν naturally depends on παραλαβ., to which also the preposition expressly points back (De Werte, Kocu [Exuicort, Wensster and WILkrNson], &c.), [not on λόγος ἀκοῆς (Bzza, Pett, OLsHavsen, Linumann, &c.), whereby the construction becomes very harsh and clumsy withal, since τοῦ ϑεοῦ would have to be a closer defi- nition of the composite idea, λόγος ἀκοῆς map’ ἡμῶν. —RIGGENBACH.]; Tod ϑεοῦ, on the other hand, de pends on λόγος ἀκοῆς, and is a gen. autoris, as in * [German versions represent the two verbs by empfam gen and auf- or an-nehmen. For ἐδέξασθε CaLvin has am pleat estis = ye embraced of Benson, MAckNIGHT, and other English versions.—WorpsworTH, WepstyR and WIteIN son’ accepted.—J. L.] 10 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Seod of vv. 2, 8, 9, ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου of ch. i. 8, (see there Note 4). It comes last with emphasis, the point in the subsequent context being that the preaching was the word, not merely of the man Paul, but of God. Thus the participial clause, παραλαβύντες---παρ᾽ ἡμῶν τοῦ Jeov, takes in once more the coutents of vv. 1-12; for there, from the beginning to the end (see especially vv. 2, 4, 12), it is shown that Paul had not labored among the Thes- saloniaus in his own name or in an egotistic manner, but, as an agent of God, had brought them His message and call. 8. Ye accepted it, not as men’s word, ἄς, [Ye accepted, not men’s word, &c.].*—The Thessalonians, then, understood and acknowledged the real nature, the Divine character and origin, of the apostolic preaching. They perceived in the word such a supernatural, essential power, as can proceed from no mortal man, himself involved in the disorder of the world’s sin. They felt the Godhead drawing near to them in the word of life; for the Holy Spirit was thereby active in their souls. And as [86 inward sense and instinct of the Divine light in the consciousness opened to, and allowed it- self to be intimately pervaded by, the concurrent ‘ light in the word, mightily judging and irradiating their previous darkness (2 Cor. iv. 4-6; John iii. 19-11), they therefore accepted the preached word for what it is, as the word of God.—Ed¢tacde, comp. δεξάμενοι ch. i. 6—a text for general comparison. As immediate object, λόγον ἀκοῆς τοῦ Seod must be supplied out of the participial clause ; οὐ λόγον avdp. &c. is a second accusative of the predicate: to accept something as—WIXER, p. 203 sq.—Adyor ἄνϑρ. in op- position to Seor indicates the origin, and at the same time the quality, which necessarily passes over from the source to what springs therefrom (OLsHAUSEN). The plural avySpérwy stands with reference to the plurality of the preachers, and also indeed generi- cally; comp. Matt, ix. 8. Wuner, p. 158. Λύγον Seov, the word which God Himsclf causes to be pro- claimed by men, whom He by His Spirit equips as His instruments ; comp. Rom. x. 17. Rieger: An expression of God’s heart concerning us.—Kadds ἐστιν ἀληδϑῶς : a simple, forcible testimony to inspi- ration. 4. Who [which] also worketh in you that believe.—’Os can be referred either to λόγον (CEcu- MENIUS, OLsHAUSEN, Linnemann, &c. [ConyBrare, Peitr, Jowetr, ALrorp, Exviticorr, Worpswortu, Wesster and Wi1Kinson, &c.]; comp. WINER, p. 231), and in favor of this it is alleged that elsewhere the active ἐνεργεῖν is used of God, and the middle évepyeiodat only of things (yet comp., for example, Col. i. 29; Eph. iii. 20) +; or to ϑεοῦ (THEopoRET, Luter, Bence, &c.), and this is preferable, because the context treats, not of an energetic operation generally, but specially of a Divine operation; ¢ BrncreL: Deus ostendens, verbum vere esse verbum Dei (ch. iv. 8,9; Acts xiv. 3). On the former view the meaning must be: which also shows itself as such, &c. [comp. Acts xx. 32].—Kal adds to the accept- ance of the word as God’s word on the side of the Thessalonians the effective, and that a continuous, * [fiee Critical Note 4.—J. L.] t (l'hese two texts, in which the middle participle is con- nected, not with θεός, but with (the Divine) évepyeta or δύνα- #es, cannot properly be regarded as exceptional.—J. L,] ὦ (It may quite as well be said, that in the context “the writer 1s mayifying the word, by way of justifying his con- tinual thanksgiving to God for the Thessalonian reception st it” (Revisie δ -J. 1..} confirmation of it on ue aid, of Ged Apis aorist; ἐνεργεῖται, present).* From that time on: ward you ae in tea) communion with God, whe shows Himself operative in you by the power of His heavenly Spirit, overruling everything human, δέ may be seen in the fact that even the strongest hu. man ties cannot bind you, since you bave suffered severely from your own relations and countrymen (v. 14). Τοῖς πιστεύουσιν : so far is faith from being some empty thing, that it is rather the organ for God’s operations in us (comp. v. 10 and Exeg. Note 26; for the topics, Eph. i. 19).+ ae 5. (V. 14.) For ye, brethren, became imi- tators, &c.—On γάρ, see Note 4. ὑμεῖς resumes the immediately preceding ἐν ὑμῖν, v. 28, and stands with honorable distinction foremost. Μιμηταὶ éye νήϑητε, as in ch. i. 6. There the Thessalonian be- lievers are described as followers of the Apostle and of the Lord Himself; here, in terms of scarcely less honor and encouragement, as followers of the origi- nal Christian churches in Judea. The Apostle poiuts out historically a fundamental law of the kingdom of God, that is now fulfilling itself in the case of the Thessalonians: The bearers of the Divine are al- ways expelled by the natural community to which they belong (comp. Matt. x. 35-37). Thus the Thessalonian Christians by their associates of their own race, and the Jewish Christians by the Jews, who in like manner killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and now also have driven out the Apostle. So little need the Thessalonians allow themselves to be disconcerted by the injustice done them by their compatriots, that herein rather lies the evidence of the reality and power of the Divine influences pres- ent with them; for only that which is really Divine is hated by the world (comp. the forcible word of Jesus, Jobn vii. 7; xv. 18 sq.), just as the strength to endure this enmity likewise rests on God’s opera- tion in believers. Ἐπάϑετε denotes strictly nothing more than the actual experience (there has befallen you), but according to the connection it includes the inward endurance of what has happened. For in no other way can πάσχειν serve to establish the efficien- cy of the Divine word in them, and in no other way, especially, can the preterite ἐπάϑετε, which, being parallel to the ἐδέξασϑε of v. 18, has primary refer ence to the time of their conversion, serve to confirm the present ἐνεργεῖται, than as implying that the Thessalonians have really encountered the enmity of their fellow-countrymen, and do not allow themselves to be thereby driven into apostasy. Taken together, vv. 13 and 14 thus answer pretty closely to the par- allel statement in ch. i. 6; v.13 to δεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον μετὰ χαρᾶς πνεύματος ἁγίου, v. 14 to ἐν ϑλίψει πολλῇ ; comp. there Exeg. Note 14. 6. (V. 14.) Of the churches of God which are in Judea, &c.—Tod Scot answers to the three- fold mention of God in v. 13; τῶν οὐσῶν has ἐν twice connected with it: in the first instance, ἐν τῇ ᾿Ιουδαίᾳ, it denotes the external, geographical sphere; in the other, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, the inner, essen- tial life-sphere, on which see ch. i. 1, Exeg. Note 3, and Doct. and Eth. 1. By the latter specification the Jewish-Christian congregations are distinguished * [Καί is no less intelligible on the other view: “As it 8 God’s word, so also, and in a manner that befits and pree claims its great Original, it worketh, é&c. (Revision), EL or adds, ao pernape Fy ye ge also ‘a contrast with 6 inoperative nature of the word, when not belleved.”——J. L.] , roe t {In the preface Dr. R1iacEnBAcu intimates his at from his colleague’s reference of the és.—J. L.] =~ CHAPTER 41. 13-16, 41 from the Jewish, which also εἶναι δοκοῦσι congrega- tions of God (Hicumenivus).—Tayv ἐκκλησιῶν is also to be noted in this respect, that the Thessalonians were the first church out of Palestine that was per- secuted as a church. 47. Countrymen.—vyugua., those of the same tribe, exhibits the natural connection (Luther only too strongly: blood relations), and the epithet ἰδίων gives it additional force, in order the more clearly to show the gospel’s penetrating, overcoming power as supernatural, Divine. By the συμφυλέται, therefore, as the contrast τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων shows, are meant chiefly only] Gentiles (OtsHauseNn, De Warrs, Linemann, WALD, [ALFoRD, Exiicorr, &c.] &c.), because the Thessalonian church was composed almost entirely of Gentile Christians (Acts xvii. 4). [Not Jews (Curysostom, &c.): Carvin, Bence, &c., think of Jews and Gentiles both.— RiccEnBacu.]—Adroi are the members of the churches in Judea; constructio ad sensum. 8. (v. 15.) Who also, &.—Kat is not perhaps to be connected with the καί following = as well—as also, since several καί follow one another in simple series: it rather adds to what precedes something new and correspondent: The Jews have not only persecuted the Christian churches in Judea, but also killed the Lord Jesus, ὅθ. The subsequent strong expressions respecting the Jews are at first sight somewhat strange, indeed almost displeasing, espe- cially because one does not well see, at least not at once, how the Apostle was led to them by the con- text. Looked at more closely, they fall apart into two divisions, the first consisting of past participles (ἀποκτεινάντων, ἐκδιωξάντων), the second of present (ἀρεσκόντων with ἐναντίων, κωλυόντων). Both divis- ions end in something that has reference to the Apostle: ἡμᾶς éxdiwt., v. 15, κωλυόντων ἡμᾶς, v. 16. Thus, the point in question is the relation of the Jews to the Apostle, on which comp. Acts xvii. 5. This seems also to have been used against the Apostle by the countrymen of the Thessalonians. They might say: ‘‘ How can you still believe that stranger? His own people, in fact, have driven him out, and are utterly unwilling to have him draw you over to his side;’’—an objection which might have the more weight for the Thessalonian Christians, be- cause most of them had previously been proselytes (Acts xvii. 4), and so accustomed to seek and find the truth among the Jews. To this Paul now an- swers: “Yes, they have persecuted me, but no otherwise than they did the Lord Jesus and their own prophets; nor are they willing to endure it, that I should publish salvation to you, and the Gen- tiles generally ; but in this they ape merely contrary to God and men, and fill up the measure of their sins.” Thus regarded, vv. 15 and 16 have a mean- ing and significance in where they stand, and thus algo is set aside the offensive harshness that seems to lie in the words; it is set aside from the same point of view, which in the earlier sections removes the offence of self-praise or of the praise of the Thessalonians. But the treatment of this matter is attached to this particular context for the reason that it falls under the same law as the suffering of the Thessalonians from those of their own race (see Exeg. Note 5): Paul had the same experience from ais countrymen, as they from theirs; and as they were preceded by the Jewish Christians, so he him- self by the Lord and the prophets. With such pre- decessors, and with this uniformity of experience, the offence must surely cease. It is moreover evi- dent that the example in v. 14 is there selected witk an eye to the fact, that Paul means presently ta speak of the Jews. And this point he has kept te the close of the entire section; for having fully re established his own authority with his readers, be can the more powerfully subvert their earlier author ity, the Jews, [While expositors generally deal with the difficulty, some of the expedients adopted by them in accounting for vv. 15 and 16 are very far. fetched. OtsHausen: ‘Paul foresaw that the Ju- daizers, standing on the same level as the Jews, would damage him in this Church algo, and there fore, by way of precaution, he here expressed him- self on the points in regard to which he was usually blamed.” But would any one attack the Jews be forehand, in order to resist a possible, later incur sion of Judaizing Christians, to whom, besides, sev- eral things are here inapplicable, whilst their charac- teristic peculiarities, especially their legality, are wanting? Von Hormany, on the contrary, supposes that some desired to persuade the Thessalonians, that the gospel was purely a Jewish affair, and that it is in opposition to this notion that Paul hera speaks, But one cannot understand how this objec- tion could arise, since the Jews were certainly the first and most vehement adversaries of the gospel in Thessalonica ; and then an attack on the Jews would still have been a very indirect and extravagant way of defending himself against that objection. Dz Werre contents himself altogether with the remark, that the Apostle seizes the opportunity to give vent to his displeasure with the Jews. Linemann is correct in finding the occasion of the philippic, vv. 15 and 16, in the fact, that in Thessalonica the Jews were the real instigators of the persecutions of the Christians, and that in other places likewise they manifested the same obdurate spirit of contra- - diction; but with this generality he stops, and so fails to account for the complexion of the entire pas- sage, as well as its particular phrases, and overlooks the reference to Paul. Carvin, who is followed by CaLIxtTUs, comes nearest the truth: Poterat Thessa- lonicensibus hoe venive in mentem: si hee vera est religio, cur eam tam infestis animis oppugnant Ju- dei, qui sunt sacer Dei populus? Ui hoc offendie- ulam tollat, pri di t, hoe eos co ha- bere cum primis ecclesiis, que in Judea erant, pos- tea Judcos dicit obstinatos esse Dei omnis sane doc- trine hostes. The only mistake hereis, that Calvin, whilst he too overlooks the special reference of vv. 15, 16 to Paul, and understands συμφυλετ.; v. 14, principally of the Jews, brings to bear on v. 14 the point of view, that is applicable to v. 15 sq.—Ria- GENBACH. | 9. The Lord Jesus and their own prophets, &e.—T dv κύριον stands emphatically first, and is still more marked in being separated by ἀποκτειν. from Ἰησοῦν: Yea, the Lord Himself they killed (comp. 1 Cor, ii. 8); is it to be wondered at, if they persecute the servant (comp. John xv. 20)? What is expressed in the case of Ἰησοῦν by the prominent putting forward of τὸν κύριον is in the case of robs mpophras expressed by the addition of idfovus: their own prophets, ὧν καὶ τὰ τεύχη περιφέρουσι (Curysost.), they treated no better than they have done the Gentile Apostle. This internal evidence is favorable to the genuineness of ἰδίους ; if regarded as spurious, this makes no change whatever in the thought; we lose merely that particular stroke Τοὺς προφήτας might grammatically be connected } as Koch would have it, with what follows; but com 42 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. mentators correctly refer it to what goes before, both because in other places also mention is made of the Jewish murder of the prophets (Matt. xxiii. 31, 87; Luke xi. 47 sq.; xiii. 84; Acts vi. 52), and on account of ἐκδιωξάντων, of which presently—When Paul now proceeds: καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξάντων, we are by this time so well prepared for it, that it can no longer furnish an objection to him, but rather an argument for him and against the Jews. ᾿Ἐκδιώκειν is no doubt in the Sept. Ps. xliv. 17 [16]; cxix. 157 the strengthened διώκειν (DE Werte, Lune.) ; but the proper meaning of the word (see, for instance, Passow, who indeed gives no other meaning) is to pursue forth, chase out, expel, persequendo ejicere (BeNGEL, who adds: freguens verbum apud LXX.), and so the word stands in the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament, Luke xi. 49 (in the parallel passage, Matt. xxiii. 34, διώξετε ἀπὸ πόλεως eis téAW)—a point of so much the more im- portance, as Paul probably has here in his eye that expression of Christ. In this case we are (with J. Micu. Haun, Baur, ἄς.) to think simply of the ex- pulsion of Paul and his companions from Thessalonica (see Acts xvii. 5, 13), the very thing at which many believers might stumble. [BenceL, PxLr, Scuorr, Linemann, (Exuicort,) think of the persecutions of Paul and the Apostles generally; but this ex- tension of ἡμᾶς is against the context, see vv. 16 and 17, as well as v. 13; besides, the aorist partici- ple leads us the more readily to think of a single act, since the Jewish persecutions of the Apostles in general still continued (see Acts xvii. 13; xviii. 6, 12), so that it must have been ἐκδιωκόντων as well as afterwards cwAvdyrwv.—RiGGENBAcu. | 10. And they please not God, &c.—The par- ticiples now pass from the aorist [ALrorp: definite events] into the present [ALrorp: habits] and, as τῶν καὶ τὸν κύριον--- ἐκδιωξάντων hangs closely together, so avain does all that follows as far as σωϑῶσιν. For not to please God and to be contrary to all men are correlatives, and κωλνόντων, &c. adds to it no- thing new and independent, but, having no καί be- fore it like all the previous participles, is to be sub- ordinated to ἀρεσκ. and ἐναντίων [with Linen., though he makes it depend only on ἐναντίων (and so Atrorp.—J. L.).—RicGEensacn.], comp. v. 6 sq.; 11 sq. The subordinate clause shows to what ex- tent the Jews displease God, and are contrary to all men; and thus at the same time these strong ex- pressions lose much of their harshness.—@cg μὴ ἀρεσκόντων : the Jews were jealous at Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 5), as they were elsewhere both before and afterwards (ch. xiii. 45; xviii. 6-13; comp. ch. xxii. 21 sq.; xxvi. 19 [21]), because through Paul so many Gentiles were converted, and this jealousy was with them a zeal for God and His kingdom in Israel Rom. x. 2), whereby they thought to please Him comp. John xvi. 2). In opposition to this Paul now says; they please not God. Thus the subjec- tive negative μή does not imply placere non guceren- tium (Bence, &c.); but, on the contrary, it denies the ἀρέσκειν as conceived by the Jews and also by the Thessalonians (Winer, p. 428 sq.)* Ubi dicit non placere Deo, hoc vult, indignos esse, quorum ratio inter Dei cultores habeatur (Carvin). The very *[Exxicorr: “Itis not correct always to find in the μὴ (as ALForp here) a reference to the feelings or views of the subject connected with the participle (compare on Gal. iv. 8). It sometimes refers to the aspect in which the facts are prenee by the writer, and regarded by the reader.’ In his correction ALroxp now acouiesces,—J. LL) softness of the expression has a peculiar force.— Πᾶσιν ἄνϑρ. ἐναντίων : as contrary to God, 80 con- trary to men; but the former passively = objects of the Divine displeasure, the latter actively = hostils to all men. πᾶσιν ἀνϑιρώποις, of course, excepting themselves, and so, as to the sense, = τοῖς Esveow in the explanatory clause. But Paul purposely holds up to view the inhumanity of this state of mind. When heathen writers, as interpreters are here in the habit of reminding us, reproach ‘ne Jews with adversus omnes alios hostile odium (Tae. Hist. V. 6; Juv. Sat. xiv. 108 sqq.; Jos. 6. Ap. ii. 10-14, ete.), they do not at any rate properly distinguish in this thing the Divinely sanctioned particularism of Israel, and the proud, narrow-minded exclusivism of the Jews. Paul, of course, blames only the latter, which would not acknowledge that God Himsell had now abolished the former. 11. (V.16.) Hindering us, &c.—KwAvdvror, see Exeg. Note 10. Δαλῆσαι ἵνα cwdwow, either: ἕο preach to the Gentiles, in order that they may be saved, (BENGEL, OtsHauseN, De WerTs; thus tak- ing Aad. as a meiosis or tapeinosis for εὐαγγελίζε- oa); or ἵνα is weakened, as in the New Testament it so often is, and marks the object (W1NER, p. 299 sqq.) = λαλῆσαι περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας, λαλῆσαι τὸ εὐαγ- γέλιον Υ. 2 (Lixemann, [Βπιιοοῦτ, Wepsrzr and Wixxinson], &c.). The latter method is the more simple. 12, To fill up their sins always.—Eis τό, &., belongs, not merely to κωλυόντων, but to the whole description from v. 15. The result is here presented as an unconscious purpose, just as we say: to jill up the measure [De Wertz). εἰς, then, is not = ὥστε, of the result as such (PELT, &c.); but neither does it mark God’s purpose in the sins of the Jews (OL- sHavusen, Litnemann)*: the expression belongs not so much to the Pauline style of thought, as to or- dinary speech.—RiGGENBACH] :---αὐτῶν stands em- phatically before τὰς ἅμαρτ. : their sins, while they are persecuting others, God’s messengers, as sinners, --Αναπληρῶσαι, comp. Matt. xxiii. 32, καὶ dues πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν [also Gen. xv. 16]. The compound ἄνωπληρ. means fo fill up, to fill again higher, so that, as it were, the still empty space in the vessel becomes ever smaller. We thus get a simple explanation of πάντοτε (which is thought to be difficult by Dz Werre, and strange by OLSHAUSEN, who, with BRETSCHNEIDER, would take it ἀϑξξ πάντως, παντελῶς). The subsequent clause like- wise with its εἰς TeAos, will in this connection obtain its natural interpretation. Πάντοτε means always, at every time, by the persecution of the prophets, of the Lord, of the Apostle, the sins were always again filled up, filled higher, till now the measure is full. 13. But the wrath came upon them to the end.—Aé opposes to the sin its punishment, and to the ever fresh increase the end. Parallel to the heaping up of the sin went the heaping up of the judicial wrath of God (Rom. ii. 5), which now, how- ever, is come ¢o the end, to the uttermost, where it must discharge itself (LUNEMaNN). On 4 ὀργή (Jowrrr: either the long-expected wrath, or the wrath consequent upon their sins—J. L.] see ch. i. 10, Exeg. Note 14. Eis teAos is to be connected with ἔφϑασε, which means simply pervenit (Vul- *(Atrorp and Exricorr also agree in thinking this the main reference of εἰς τό, considered not grammatically, but theologically. Jowesrr: the object and the result blended together in one; the natural event, as the Apostle regards it, in the order of Providence.—J. L CHAPTER II. 13-16, 48 gate, Carvin, De Werrs, Linemann, &c.), not revenit (BEza, ScHort, Pett, &.), since in the ew Testament, with the exception of 1 Thess. iv. 15, @Sdvew occurs only in the later, weakened sense of reaching to, with eis (Rom. ix. 31; Phil. iii. 16), ἐπί τινα (Matt. xii, 28; Luke xi. 20; comp. Dan. iv. 25), ἄχρι τινός (2 Cor. x. 14). Here it is connected with two prepositions of the direction, one of which (εἰς τέλος) indicates the inward development to the end; the other (ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς), the outward movement. [At this many interpreters needlessly stumble, and have either taken εἰς τέλος adverbially (=finally or totally), or have thought it necessary to refer it to ἡ ὀργή: the wrath which lasts to the end of the world, or for ever (THeopoRET, THEOPHYLACT, Ccumenivs, &c.), or till its full manifestation (OL- SHAUSEN),* or to the destruction of the Jews (Gro- rus, Peit, Frarr, &c.). The last view is shared also by De Wertr, Ewan, &., who connect εἰς τέλος with ἔφϑασε in the sense of 2 Chron. xxxi. 1; Dan. ix. 27,—to utter ruin, to complete extinction. —Riecensacn, |—Paul knows that the Jews, having likewise rejected the Messiah and the spiritual wit- ness of his Apostles, are now ripe for judgment, which accordingly followed soon after in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. He neither appeals to any revelation that he had received on this subject, nor does he merely draw inferences from the political situation of the Jews [Jowgrr: “ΤῸ the Apostle, reading the future in the present, the state of Ju- dea at any time during the last thirty years before the destruction of the city, would have been suffi- cient to justify the expression, ‘ wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.’”"—J, L.], but in the light of prophecy of the Old Testament and of the Lord Him- self: (EwaLp mentions Matt. xxiii, 837-39; xxiv. 16 sqq.; Dan. ix. 24 sqq.) he discerns with clear spirit- ual glance the interpretation of the signs of the time. With this earnest word on the near immi- nence of the Divine judgment on the principal adver- saries of the gospel the section closes, and so again in a measure with an eschatological prospect (comp. ch. i. 10; 11, 12). While the Jews fall under wrath, Christians are saved from wrath (ch. i. 10), and called to God’s kingdom and glory (ch. ii. 12). DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 13.) It may seem strange that Paul should thank God for something that the Thessalo- nians had done (ἐδέξασϑε). We are not to infer from this, that their acceptance of the word, or their faith, is thought of as an operation of God to the exclusion of man’s free reecptivity, Had Paul meant to say this, he must have expressed himself otherwise, as thus: We thank God that He wrought the acceptance, or faith, in you. But the indication in ἐδέξασϑε of free receptivity is the more marked, as it is only afterward that the operation of God in them is named in confirmation of the Divine charac- ter of the freely accepted word (8s καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν). Nevertheless, Paul can and must thank God for the faith of the Thessalonians, partly because it would not have existed but for *[(LoONEMANN : “ even to its—the wrath’s—end, that is, the wrath of God has come upon them to its extreme limit, so that it must now discharge itself; now must judgrhent take the place of the previous long-suffering aud patience.” To the same effect ALrorpD and Exviicotr. See the note in Ree sision.—J. L.] ; 1[Comp, Exegetical Note 4, with the foot-notes.—J. L.] His preparative grace, and the accompanying inflx ence of His Spirit, whereby the Thessalonians were convinced that Paul’s word was God’s word, and thus faith is no independent act of man (Olshausen) but really rests on a Divine causality; partly bee cause for every good thing that happens to the Christian, and makes him glad—and the faith of the Thessalonians was for Paul something in the highe& degree exhilarating (vv. 19, 20)—he gives thanks and honor to the Father of lights, under whose providential guidance and control stand even the free actions of men (Limemann). Comp. ch. i. 6 and its Exegetical Note 14, and Doctrinal Principles, No. 3. 2. Paul calls his word God’s word. To what ex- tent he knew himself to be justified in doing so has been shown already, especially in vv. 2, 4 and ch. i. 5. God Himself, by a miraculous call and thalight of revelation had entrusted him with the procla- mation of His glad tidings to the world (comp. Gal. i. 11-16; 1 Cor. ii. 6-16; Col. i, 25-29 ; Eph. iii, 1 -12), and now in Thessalonica, as in Corinth and elsewhere (1 Cor. ii. 4, 5; Rom. xv. 18, 19), he haa preached the gospel in the energy of the Holy Ghost. There are thus two essential points in the case: 1. The apostolic call and illumination (inspiration), which, effected by special acts of God, concerns the whole man, and assigns to him an official mission, a fundamental position and significance in the king- dom of God (comp. Eph. ii. 20); 2. the separate acts of proclamation, performed on the ground of that general inspiration, and yet again in every par- ticular instance, “‘in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance,” or “in demonstration of the spirit and in power.” Now what is true of the oral proclamation of Apostles holds good of the written. ‘‘ For the relation between word and writ- ing is ordinarily this, that the writing compresses the copiousness of the spoken word into a settled elementary form—the final expression, made clear and strong by deliberate reflection, of the inspired thought—and so in Holy Scripture we have the ripe, developed fruit of inspiration” (Marrensen, Dog- matik, 2d ed., p. 455). We are therefore at liberty, and are bound, to call also the written word of Apus- tles (and Prophets) the word of God. And down through all centuries the Church has borne to it in the power of the Spirit the same witness, that the Thessalonians did to Paul’s oral proclamation; she has freely recognized and accepted it as God’s word, The testimonium Spiritus Sancti continually asserts itself as the subjective correlative and living evidence of inspiratio.—But now, as regards the uninterrupted oral proclamation of the word of God in the preach- ing of the Church, on that point Paul says in the Pastoral Epistles, which may be regarded as his legacy to the Church in its gradual transition from the first age of the Apostles into the common course of history: “ Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me,” and: “ The thing that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach othera also” (2 Tim. i. 13; ii. 2). He will thus have the Church’s docirine and preaching expressly bound to the fundamental apostolic word, and, though here too the reference is to what is spoken and heard, yet we properly may and ought once more to think of the written word, which, indeed, is the only authen- tic tradition of the oral for later generations (1 John ii. 7, 24: i 8, 4; 2 Pet. i, 13-15), Essentially, therefore, the Church’s doctrine and preaching ia a 44 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. propagation, reproduction, an ever new appropria- tion of the apostolic word. But as the preaching Apostles would not have fulfilled their task by a mere dry communication of God’s revelations, but for every announcement they had to be freshly endued with the Spirit from on high, that the gos- pel might be brought powerfully to bear on the heart and conscience of the hearers according to their gen- eral and special needs, as, for example, on the Jews otherwise than on the Gentiles, so likewise for our preaching the objective agreement with apostolic, orthodox doctrine does not suffice, but there must always be a subjective fulness, and that in conjunc- tion with the Holy Spirit. It is not the preaching, but the preacher, that preaches (comp. ch. i. 5, and its Exegetical Note 12, and Doctrinal Principles, No. 4). This, in fact, is precisely what is proposed in the oral word, to bring near to men in a human way the objective gift of God—to convey it to them with a spiritual, personal vivacity. The preacher is not a mere messenger, who may have no interest in the intelligence he has to bring; he is a witness, guarantecing what he says by all that he is (John xv. 27; Luke xxiv. 48; Acts i. 8, 22; 1 John i. 2). And, accordingly, he too can and should testify to his hearers the one apostolic truth in the freedom of the spirit, ever according to their needs, in this or that form, from this side or from that. The more these two elements mutually interpenetrate, the ob- jective agreement with the apostolic doctrine and the subjective, spiritual fulness of the individual, so much the more may even the preaching of the Chureb be called the word of God. At the same time we here perceive that the Divine does not in its revelation and communication exclude or sup- press the human, but assimilates it, fills it with itself, and so consecrates it for its own organ. [When our Confessions teach: ‘‘ Sacramenta et ver- bum propter ordinationem et mandatum Christi sunt efficacia, etiamsi per malos exhibeantur” (Conf. Aug. 8; comp. Heb. i.), this contains a truth, no doubt; and yet there is here a somewhat hasty mak- ing of a virtue out of necessity, and especially the difference between the word and sacrament, in re- lation to the personality of the minister, is not duly considered. Comp. 1 Cor. i. 14-17—RiccEnBacn. ] Thus, in the connection of our passage with earlier statements in the Epistle, and in its harmony with expressions of the Apostle elsewhere, it furnishes essential features to the doctrine of the verbum divi- num, both as written and as preached. 8. (Vv. 18-16.) At that time there had arisen even among the heathen a searching after truth. The great world-empires had along with the popula- tions shaken also the gods and the religions. Light and happiness were sought in schools of philosophy, in the renewal of the mysteries, from the Goéte, &c. There had ensued, as in our day, a dissolution of the spiritual life—a confused, conflicting throng of all possible standpoints and attempts at deliver- ance. The point then was, to discriminate between man’s word and God’s. For this end the conscience is of service (2 Cor. iv. 2; v. 11), which is given to us a3 a compass on the swelling sea of life. When it is aroused, a separation is made between what is Divine and what is human. At this time many, at Thessalonica also, had already attached themselves as proselytes to the Jews, because even in the pre- paratory revelations of God they found the best sat- sfaction of their needs of conscience. Such were in a peculiar degree prepared, inwardly and outwardly, to accept the Gospel as the word of God. They were so more than the Jews, because the latter gen- erally held the law and the prophets in the way merely of outward tradition, whereas the forme. consented thereto with heart and life. Thus fre quently upright men, belonging as to their externa position to the world, are nearer to the kingdom of God than others, who have perhaps from their youtk up been associated with the pious. In like manner churches, which assume to be those in which alone salvation is to be had, or which boast of their ortho- doxy, are not exactly those which bring forth the most children to the Lord, because the Spirit departa in a measure proportioned to the reliance placed, as by the Jews, on institutions, the form of doctrine, &c. (Rom. ii. 17 sqq.) 4. (Vv. 14-16.) We can here almost perceive the growth in Paul of his leading view of the position of Gentile Christians in relation to Jewish Chris- tians and Jews. The latter are the proper enemies of the gospel, not only amongst those of their own nation, but also in the Gentile world; for this reason he sees the judgment now breaking in on them. On the other hand, he recognizes in the Gentile Chris- tians the followers of the Jewish Christians, of the true congregation of God in Israel. They belong— this thought here presents itself as a matter of course—to the genuine seed of Abraham, and take the place of the exscinded branches (Rom. iv. and xi.). The condition for this is simply faith, on which such special stress is laid in v. 13; through faith a man quits his natural connections, and enters the circle of the Divine operation in the world (the con- nection of vv. 18 and 14). To the Jews were en- trusted the λόγια τοῦ Seod (Rom. iii. 2); to believ- ers from among Jews and Gentiles is not merely en- trusted outwardly the λόγος Seot, but God thereby works in them with a living power (v. 13). We have thus here, in regard to the history of the king- dom of God, the genesis of Paul’s objective, funda- mental view respecting the setting aside of the Jews and the participation of the Gentiles in that king- dom, just as in Acts xiii. 38, 89 we have the genesis of his fundamental view of subjective salvation, of the doctrine of justification by faith. Then in the Epistle to the Romans both views are developed jointly. 5. But it must not be forgotten, that our text is not the last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting the Jews. It is rather in the Epistle to the Romana (chh. ix.—xi.) that he has uttered this. There, with an extreme, self-denying love, he expresses his pro- found, continual sorrow on account of the rejection of Israel (ch. ix. 1-3; x. 1, 2). He places the ulti- mate aim of his Gentile apostleship in this, that by means of the converted Gentiles the Jews should be provoked to emulation (ch. xi. 18, 14). He makes it the duty of Gentile Christians not to be proud and severe in regard to the Jewish branches broken off on account of their unbelief, because otherwise the same fate awaits us (ch. xi. 17-22). To his Gentile Church, accordingly, which has so often, alas, actu- ally fallen into that spirit of arrogance toward the Jews which he repudiates, and is still for the mos part ensnared therein, he has rather bequeathed it a her task, by means of her walk of faith before Israel, and her loving sorrow in their behalf, to win over tne blinded people. The Church has a mission of faith and love to the Jews; she has and should have a Jewish mission. If among us evangelicalg this obligation is again here and there acknowledged CHAPTER IL. 13-16. 45 and discharged, yet these efforts are but feeble, slight germs and beginnings. The Jewish mission is still ‘ar too much a thing singular, peculiar; it is too lit- tle sustained by the intercessory sympathy of the believing Church. We must in this thing learn to walk more fully in the steps of our Apostle and of the Lord Himself, of whom in reference to this very people Matt. ix. 86-88 stands written. The Jewish aission, moreover, is in a quite special sense the nission also of hope. For the very last word of the Jentile Apostle respecting Israel is this, that the en- tire people shall yet be saved, and from the receiving of them again shall a new life stream forth to the nations of the world (Rom. xi. 12, 15, 23 sqq.). This national conversion of Israel is, indeed, not a matter that we can introduce; with other develop- ments in the kingdom of God, it is connected with the coming of Christ (Matt, xxiii, 39; Acts ili, 19-21) [Zech. xii. xiii. xiv.—J. L.)]. But in order to this, to say nothing of the salvation of individual souls, the Jewish mission has to perform the office of a forerunner, and prepare the way. 6. The result of the entire development of the Jewish people during more than fifteen centuries was their division into a believing minority (v. 14) and an unbelieving majority (vv. 15, 16), which op- pressed and persecuted the former. Already, in- deed, bad the prophets prophesied of the remnant which alone should be converted (comp. Rom. ix. 27-29; xi. 1-10). This division [Scheidung] being completed, there came the crisis [Antscheidung], the judgment (κρίσις includes both) in the destruction of Jerusalem, from which the believers were delivered (Pella, &c.), whereas ruin befell the unbelieving peo- ple. The same result will follow the development also of the New Testament Church and of the Chris- tian nations. On this rests the deep, biblical truth of the distinction between che visible and the invisi- ble Church, We too stand in the time of separa- tion, and are advancing toward the crisis. 7. (Vv. 15, 16.) It is worthy of notice that the ideas of vv. 15 and 16 obviously lean on a sentence of the Lord, and are evolved from it. Comp. with v. 15 Matt. xxiii. 84; Luke xi. 49: ἀποστελῶ προ- φήτας καὶ ἀποστόλους καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενοῦσι καὶ ἐκδιώξουσιν, and with v. 16 Matt. xxiii, 82: καὶ dues πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον Tay πατέρων ὑμῶν, and v. 86: ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην. We thus see how, under the illumination of the Spirit, the words of the Lord and the Apostle’s own experi- ences originated his thoughts. At another time it was words of the Lord, which the Apostle received in immediate revelations from heaven. In his escha- tological teachings which we shall have later to con- sider, we shall see both kinds of words codperating, and along with them Old Testament prophecy. The sayings of Jesus were evidently not unknown to Paul. With him they frequently sound still in a freer form (preceding the written determination of hem). HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 13. Rieger: Where we said: 7 am glad, I ever think of it without joy, there the spirit, in which Scripture is written, impels us to say: We thank God, that He may ever be acknowledged as she Giver of these joyful providences, and that joy ‘teelf may be so seasoned with salt, that the flesh shall be less able to attribute aught to itself.— J. Micu. Haun: How greatly must it rejoice a ser- vant of the Lord, when he is permitted also to 868 fruits of his labor! Or are we going to find fault with this joy, even though it be a joy in the Lord? Or have we perchance any cause to blame the Apos tle, when, for the strengthening of the faith of ,those dear to him, he exhibits to them something of the fair fruits of the Spirit? Did not Jesus Himself firs tell His churches of whatever good things they had and then of their evil, if they bad any ?—Ricamr. Perhaps some one thinks, it was possible for the Thessalonians at once to accept as the word of God the word from the mouth of such a gifted Apostle; but who will require of us now, that we accept for God’s word everything that sounds from pulpits? That time also had its own difficulties. Paul was not regarded at Thessalonica with quite the same degrea of respect that we can now feel toward him. Out wardly he was to be looked upon as a mechanic (v, 9); inwardly the opposition he had to endure gava him great trouble. The acceptance in these circum- stances of his word as the word of God was pro- moted by means, that would still be effective in the case of our expositions at the present day—by searching the Scriptures, whether those things are so (Acts xvii. 11). That at least accept as God’s word, which thou canst so accept with the concur- rence of thy conscience.—The apostolic word (the word of the Bible) is God’s word, and certifies itself as such by its Divine, spiritual working in us (the witness of the Holy Ghost)—Roos: You experience a Divine working within you. Before you believed, there was none of this Divine working. It exists while you believe, and ever since you believe. You feel it, and may thence infer that what you believe is the word of God.—TuE same: Is it not the effect of the Divine working, that you can allow yourselves to be harassed by people of your nation, without be- coming thereby disheartened or enraged? Who has at any time seen this fruit of the Spirit in an unbe- lieving Gentile or Jew? Thus the patience and faith of the saints (Rev. xiii, 10; xiv. 12)—these two main elements of the suffering and contending Church—are likewise the main proofs of the Divine character of her foundation, as laid in the apostolic word. In this sense the Church is the proof of the Divine character of Scripture (comp., at ch. i. 6, 7, Doctrinal Principles, No. 5). This is, indeed, no glorious proof, such as might strike even the natural sense, the merely logical or mathematical under- standing. On the contrary, it is a proof from her humiliation. But the very fact that the Church of Jesus amidst all depressing and adverse circum- stances, and while having the whole world opposed to her, still endures, is a proof that supernatural, Divine powers here rule—that Jesus has given to her the glory which He received from the Father (John xvii. 22; 1 Pet. iv. 14).—The preached word as God’s word (comp. Luke x. 16): What this in- cludes, 1. for preachers (see Doctrinal Principles, No. 2), 2. for hearers: a. the obligation not to carry themselves with indifference or even offensively toward the word, but to receive it as a real message from God attentively and willingly; b. the blessing, that from the word thus received there proceed Di- vine influences upon us.—Prarr: God’s word can- not be without stir and fruit, wherever it is but allowed to rule, any more than fire and light in cold and darkness.—Zwinet1: The persecutors of God’s word, in order to render it odious, put forward the name of Luther or Zwingli. The believer alone car decide whether it 18 God’s word or man’s; that is 46 FIRST EPISTLE OF. PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. when God works in the hearers, and arouses and quickens within them the external, preached word, so that a new man is born. V. 14. See on v. 13.—Roos: Novices in Chris- tianity are commonly spared by the Lord sharp tri- als; but this was not the experience of the Thessa- ionians, the Lord often indeed showing that He does not always act according to one rule.—Though in our Christian world relations are in part changed from what they were then, yet even now also the convert has often to suffer, and that severely, from kinsmen and other companions. But let us be thoroughly penetrated by the power of the Divine word, and we are thereby enabled to hearken unto God more than unto the dearest of men. Then too have we the best hope of drawing after us those con- nected with us, when they see how the truth is sa- cred and precious to us above all things else; this inspires them first with respect for it, and afterwards perhaps with love to it.—BrneeL: The same fruits, the same afflictions, the same experiences of believ- ers of all places and times afford an excellent crite- rion of evangelical truth.—Roos: A congregation or a household of believers may take comfort from the example of others, and, in particular, converts in Christianity may do so from the example of older Christians.—Zwinet1: The churches in Judea be- lieved first on the Lord Jesus, and then the Gentiles also followed them; they did not, therefore, follow the Roman church or the Pope. [Moreover, the promise given to Peter, Matt. xvi. 18 sq., was ful- filled in Jerusalem at Pentecost and afterwards, Acts ii sqq., not in Rome.—RiecGEnsBacn. | {Martnew Henry: The cross is the Christian’s mark: if we are called to suffer, we are called only to be followers of the churches of God; so perse- cuted they the prophets that were before you, Matt. v. 12.—J. L.] Vv. 15,16. On the Jews, see Doctrinal Princi- ples, Nos. 8~6.—The sin of the Jews was peculiarly grievous, and more grievous than that of the Gen- tiles; for it consisted not merely in the doing of evil, but in the rejection of the help offered them against the evil, in their hostility to the messengers of salvation, in hardening themselves against the ever new and higher revelations and more urgent invitations of God (Matt. xxi. 33 sqq.; xxii. 3-7) Indeed, the real sin is unbelief (Mark xvi. 15 sq. ; John xvi. 9; v. 46 sq.). What was true, therefore, at that time of the Jews is now true of Christians; since the light shines now for us, fr us is the day of salvation.—BENGEL : Stubborn resistance to the word is that which most of all fills up the measure of sin. And Rieger: He who neglects his own salvation grudges to see in others greater zeal for their salva- tion; and so by the persecution of others is the measure of sins commonly filled up.—DrepRicH: To love Christ, and that alone, is truly to love Βὰ- manity; for true humanity is in Him alone, and by His word it is propagated and trained.—There ig among us Christians also a Jewish illiberality, which thinks to please God by drawing the circle in some one sense very tight. This is a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Rom. x. 2), a zeal which, ag with the Jews, is ever connected somehow with self- righteousness (v. 8), and does not duly understand Christ as the end of the law (v. 4). Let us allow grace to be really grace, and we shall recognize it also in its universality, nor will we make the strait gate still straiter. We learn to unite with a strict conscience a wide heart and a free vision.—PFaFF : God seldom punishes the first sin, but He suffera iniquity to mount for a certain period and to a cer- tain pitch. When it has reached the measure fixed by Him, He breaks in with His judgment; but this limit is not very discernible before the event. Fore- tokens of it, however, are not obscurely to be in ferred from, for example, the long duration and hei- nousness of the sins, from contempt of the richly proffered means of grace, from obduracy, &c.— Burkiit: It is a singular support to suffering saints, to consider that Christ and His Apostles suffered be- fore them, and by His sufferings has sanctified a state of affliction and persecution to them.—A spirit of persecution seems ofttimes to run in a blood, and passes from parent to child through many genera- tions. The Jews killed Christ, stoned the prophets, and persecuted the Apostles. — Paul ranks them that are enemies to the preaching of the gospel with the obstinate shedders of Christ’s blood; they are enrolled amongst the capital 2nemies of mankind.—J. L.] I. Ca. I. 17-Cu. 1Π. 18. What Paul did for the Thessalonians after his departure. Cu. 11. 17-20. 1. He had once and again earnestly purposed to come unto them, but was hindered. 17 But we, brethren, being taken [having been bereaved by separation] from you’ for a short time, in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly 18 [the more ab, end.]* to see your face with great desire. Wherefore*® we would have [wished to, ἠθελήσαμεν] come unto you, even I Paul, once and again [>oth 19 once and again, καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δίς] ; but [and, καί 7 Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing [glorying]*? Are [Or are]* not even ye [ye also, καὶ ὑμεῖς], in the presence of [before, ἔμπροσϑεν] our Lord Jesus Christ‘ 20 at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy. CHAPTER II. 17-20. 4" 1 V. 17.-- [ἀπορφανισθέντες ὑμῶν. German: verwaiset von euch; Vaughan: “literally, orphaned from you," ἀφ᾽ The double ἀπό emphasizes the ξοὶ of separation ; ὀρφανισθ., the feeling of bereavemtent and desolation that οπβυοά,-- Peile, E:licott, Vaughan and others: torn from you; Peile adding, and bereaved. Jowett: bereaved in being taken from you ; Robinson: “ bereaved and separated.”—J. 1.1 2M, ρα Sg Greek order, ‘ throwing the emphasis more distinctly on the more abundantly” (Ellicott).—J. L.] §-V.18.— others, read, after Sin. A. B. Reiche and others, retain διό of the received text. nstead of διό Lachmann, Liinemann [Tischendorf in the first and latest editions, Alford, Ellicott] and D. F. G. and some other manuscripts, διότι, whereas Tischendorf (ed. 2), De Wette, At any rate διότι must be = on which account, therefore, and sa equivalent to διό, as Linemann also supposes; but elsewhere διότι is with Paul = because; comp. in our Epistle ch. ik 8; iv. 6. 4 Υ. 19.--[καυχήσεως. See the English margin, and 2 Cor. vii. 4; comp. also Rom. xv. 17, and the several instances (6 out of 12) in which the noun is in our version rendered boasting.—J. L.] δ 7.19.—[The 4 before οὐχὶ καί is wanting in Sin.!, but was added by correction; and the same thing is true of ἡ before χαρά in v. 20.—J. L.] 6 δὰ 19. .—[Ellicott : ‘‘ The addition χριστοῦ (Rec. with F. G. L.; many Vy.) is rightly rejected by Lachmann, Tisch endorf, and most modern editors,” and our German text. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (V.17.) But we.—'Hyés, emphatic in itself and by its position in front: As to what concerns us. Having spoken, vv. 13-16, of the Thessalonians (comp. the ὕμξις standing foremost with like empha- sis in v. 14), Paul again reverts to himself, in order to do away with a second imputation or doubt, as if, since he has been gone from the Thessalonians, after they had been readily persuaded and won over, he had left off caring for them. Suspicionem contemius et negligentie preevenit (Catvin; similarly Psxr and others). Thus, as the first section (ch. i. 2-ii. 16) sketches for us a lively picture of Paul’s ministry at Thessalonica and of the founding of the church there, a like sketch is given in the second section (ch. ii, 17-iii, 18) of the manner in which, during the interval of some six months that has since elapsed, the founder of the church has cared for it and been active in its behalf. This authentic infor- mation respecting the Apostle’s doings in the estab- lishment and rearing of churches is of high value.— [ἡμέις, resumed from v. 18, and now contrasted— 3é—with the persecuting Jews of vv. 15, 16. So Linnemann, Atrorp, Exticorr.—J. L.] 2. Bereaved of you.—Curysostom: Paul does not say separated, but more than that. ᾿Ορφανός and ὀρφανίξω are even in the classics used, not merely of children bereaved of their parents, but also of parents bereaved of their children, and in other similar relations. The expression is one of tenderness, and belongs to the same category as the figure of the mother (vv. 7, 8) and of the father (v. 11) [so that Paul does not really compare himself to a child, as Curysostom &c. improperly assume.— Riecensacu]. The Apostle would, first of all, inti- mate to his readers, that, so far from having forgot- ten them, his separation from them has been for him a painful experience. Hence also the two additions: for the space of an hour, that is, only a very short time, as we say: for a moment (elsewhere πρὸς ὥραν, for a short time, Philem. 15; Gal. ii. 5; 2 Cor. vii. 8, or πρὸς καιρόν, for a time at least limited, Luke viii. 13; 1 Cor. vii. 6; here both are strengthened by being joined together), and: én presence only, not n heart, which ever remained with you (dative of reference, comp. 1 Cor. v. 8; and, on the opposition between πρόσωπον and καρδία, 2 Cor. v. 12; 1 Sam. xvi. 7, LXX.). Thus: We had almost no sooner been parted from you, and that only outwardly, not inwardly, than we again had a great longing to see you. [Πρὸς καιρὸν ὥρας does not state that the sepa- ration altogether lasts but a short time, as if Paul here anticipated the fulfilment of the wish expressed in ch. iii. 10 (De Werte, Kocw), or even thought of the reunion at the approaching parousia (OLsHavu- sEN).—Rigeensacn ]. 8. Endeavoured quite earnestly [the more It is wanting in Sin.—J. L.] abundantly endeavoured ].—When the idea, with which the comparison exists, is at once understood from the context, it is not uncommon for the com- parative to stand alone, and it then has the force of a positive, as in Acts xvii. 21; especially does this happen with the comparative of adverbs, as τάχιον, μᾶλλον, περισσοτέρως. ALEX. Burrmann, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Sprachgebrauchs, 1859, p. 72 (on the form περισσοτέρως, ibid, p. 61). If it is desired to specify the idea round which the comparison turns, it is evidently from the connection the πρόσωπον purposely repeated in opposition to καρδία: Because the Apostle was not separated from them in heart, though in face [presence], he there- fore strove the more keenly to see again their face also.+ Legs suitable suppleinents are introduced by others. Ἐν πολλῇ ἐπιϑυμίᾳ is a reiterated con- firmation of ἐσπουδάσαμεν. The one confirmation stands at the beginning, the other not less empbatic- ally at the close, of the sentence. Here also the Apostle’s love again shows itself so fervent, and as it were that of a bridegroom, that Cnrysosrom, im- pressed thereby, remarks: ἐρώμενος ἣν μανικός τις καὶ ἀκάϑεκτος καὶ ἀκαρτέρητος εἰς piAlay.—To see your face isa select phrase of love, instead of the more prosaic to come unto you of v.18; comp. ch. iii. 10. 4. (V. 18.) Wherefore we wished to come unto you.—From the general disposition, v. 17, proceeded positive resolutions, for the non-fulfilment of which Paul is not to be blamed.—Ey& μὲν Παῦλος: μέν solitarium for the greater prominence of the subject. From this too we see, as from καρδίας v. 4, and ψυχάς v. 8, that in the first person plural Paul intends to include Silvanus and Timothy (Liinemann). Had he meant himself alone by it, the addition of ἐγὼ μὲν Παῦλος would have been unnecessary. But here especially he had to distin- guish himself, because indeed Timothy had in the meanwhile come to Thessalonica. But having once singled himself out, he afterwards speaks even of himself alone in the plural, so even in our verse ἡμᾶς, and with peculiar distinctness in ch. iii. 1, 2.— Ka) ἅπαξ καὶ δίς, not simply δίς, nor yet ἅπαξ καὶ δίς (which is used indefinitely = more than once), but stronger than the former expression and more pre- cise than the latter: both once and twice, not only * [Περισσοτέρως occurs eight times in Paul’s other Epise tles (besides Heb. ii. Land xii. 19), and in some of those in stances does it stand for the positive.—J. L.] t (So De Werre, Koca, Exticorr, and others. The ob- jection to this is, not merely that, had the separation been in heart, there would have been no desire whatever to see them again [LUNEMANN), but that οὐ καρδίᾳ is simply an incidental, parenthetical correction of the main thought, ἀπορφανισθέντες ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν. I prefer Catvin’s explanation: The writer’s love, instead of being lessened by absence, waa rather the more inflamed thereby (and so ARETIUs, GILL, Winer, Worpsworts, VAUGHAN, and others).—J. L.] t [See Notes in my Revision of this verse.—J. L.] 48 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. once but twice (comp. Phil. iv. 16): “ testatur non subitum fuisse fervorem, qui statim refrixerit, sed hujus propositi se fuisse tenacem, quum varias occa- siones captaverit ” (CALVIN). 5. And Satan hindered us.—Instead of δέ, Paul chooses the Hebraistic connective, which in this cage is almost the more energetic.—Satan, the per- sonal devil (comp. ch. iii. 5), in whose existence, therefore, Paul not merely believes, but refers to his agency even such comparatively trifling and external matters, because therein there lies prepared a hin- drance to the kingdom of God (comp. Eph. vi. 12; otherwise at Rom. i. 18; xv. 22; Acts xvi. 6 sq.). The Apostle, then, does not everywhere, and as a matter of course, speak of Satan, but he knows how with testing insight to distinguish. There is nothing about him of mere cant. In what the restraint con- sisted, we know not; only it cannot have been an accumulation of business, or anything of that sort, but must have been something of evil—whether on the side of the Thessalonians or on that of Paul. In the first case we should have to think with Dr Werte &c. of the enemies of the gospel αὖ Thessa- lonica, whose hatred had been a source of danger to the Apostle on his arrival in Thessalonica; in the other case, either, with Carysostom and others, of -trials in the churches where Paul had since been, which rendered a removal from them impossible for him, or, perhaps better, of some sickness of the Apostle, and in connection with this we might think of Satan’s messenger, 2 Cor. xii. 7—a topic, it is true, on which we know just nothing very clear and certain. (Comp. also ch. iii. 7.) It is even very possible that both kinds of reasons concurred ; that the first time, for exainple, and this would best agree with v. 17, Paul desired to turn back again to Thes- salonica from Bercea, but was hindered in that by the Thessalonian Jews (Acts xvii. 13.—See Catvin, Bryeex, and others.) 6. (V. 19.) For.—Paul gives the reason of his longing after the Thessalonians, and of his repeated purpose to come unto them. J/lum desiderti ardo- rem inde confirmat, quia in ipsis felicitatem suam aloe repositam habeat ; perinde enim valet cee sententia ac si dixisset: Nisi me ipsum oblivis- car, necesse est ut vos expetam (CALVIN). 4, Who* [What] is our hope, &.—*H οὐχὶ καὶ duets belongs to τίς, and it is, of course, merely incidental that 4 is coincident with the 4 before χαρά and στέφανος ; ἔμπροσϑεν τοῦ κυρίου &c. belongs to ἐλπὶς ἢ χαρά &c.t But ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ dues is pur- posely put between, so that ἔμπροσϑεν ὅσ. attaches itself immediately to these words, because the Apos- tle would have it observed that, so far from his rela- tion to them being a transient one, it is rather to reach on to the coming of Christ, and verify itself before the eyes of the Lord.—Hope and joy, here, of course, cbjective = the subject of hope and joy. This the Thessalonians are not, in so far as Paul hopes in regard to them that they shall be found blameless (LisNEMANN), but in so far as they are the fruits of his ministry, after which the Lord at His return will inquire (see Luke xix. 15). To this also there is special reference in στέφανος καυχήσεως, an expression derived from the garland that crowns the competitor at the goal in the successfully contested race (1 Cor. ix. 25; 2 Tim. ii. 5; iv. 8). Καύχησις, moreover, is not glory in the objective sense, but * (So LvtHer, and other German versions.—J. L.] t [This is frequently indicated by a comma after καυχή- gvews, and another after vuecs.—J. L.1 glorying ; not gloria, but gloriatio ; and so a crown for glorying = in which I may glory (comp. Ez. xvi. 12; xxiii, 42; Prov. xvi. 81; LXX.). Roos: We hope on your account to have some great experience at the coming of Christ; we shall then be able to rejoice over you; we shall be able to parade with you, as one parades with a crown won in a contest of the games.—Ye also, as well as other churches; those, for example, in Philippi or Corinth (see Phii, iv. 1; 2 Cor. i, 14—-parallelisms also for the expres« sion). 8. (V. 20.) Ye are verily* [For ye are], &c.—I'dp confirms and strengthens the readily un- derstood affirmation in the oratorical question of v. 19 (comp. Winer, p. 896). Our glory and joy. The expression glory [Herrlichkeit] is properly re- tained in translation here also by Ewarp and J. Micn. Hany, and is by the latter emphasized in a theosophic way. Adta is weakened, when rendered merely by renown or honor [Litnemann: Ltuhm ¢ Lurnen, De Werre: Ehve—J.L.] (Comp. 1 Cor. xi. 7, where the woman is called the δόξα of the man, the man the εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα of God; and 2 Cor. viii. 28, where approved brethren are distinguished by the title, δόξα Χριστοῦ.) As δόξα in God Him- self is His life-impression, life-form (see at v. 12 Doctrinal Principles, No. 8), so with such genitives it denotes the representation of the life, resting on the communication of life,—the copy, standing in essential connection with the original, belonging tc it, and forming as it were one whole with it, so that the latter is surrounded by it with a balo, as the sun by its beams, as the head by the crown (δόξα parallel with στέφανος καυχήσεως). Thus it is with the man and the woman taken from him; with Christ and believers ; with Paul and the spiritual children be- gotten by him.—That such objective, actual glory then becomes in the subjective experience a matter of joy, lies in the nature of the case. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 18.) Satan appears in Scripture in a three- fold activity ; as tempter and seducer, as accuser, ag destroyer. In the first relation he is the first and perpetual author of sin amongst men (6 πειράζων, ch. iii, 5; Matt. iv. 3; 6 πλανῶν, Rev. xii. 9). As ac- cuser (κατήγωρ, Rev. xii. 10), he secks, when the sin is accomplished, to make the most of it with lying exaggeration before the Divine Judge (Zech. ili. 1), and also to exhibit it in the worst possible colors before our inner judge, the conscience, in order to bind the sinner inwardly, rendering him fainthearted and paralyzing his resistance to sin. Here belong the two most common names of the devil, the Hebrew jon, properly adversary, espe- cially in court (comp. 130W>, Zech. iii. 1, and ἀντίδικος, 1 Pet. v. 8), and the Greek διάβολος, in: former, slanderer, defamer, properly one who strikes through with words. As destroyer (comp. ᾿Απολ- λύων, Rev, ix. 11) Satan works, in so far as he, 88 prinoe of the fallen world, sets in motion all the * [Ihr setd ja—making the γάρ intensive, as is done also by Luruer, ScHOLEFIELD, Exicorr, and many others. But the rendering of our common version is quite as good ;—the 20th verse now justifying, as if “after reconsideration ” (Wesstrr and Witxinson), the confident tone of the pre- vious question by the trifmphant assertion of what is there only strongly ee The reader will notice likewite the emphatic eore.—J. L.] CHAPTER II. 17-20. 49 powers of physical and moral evil against salvation, the kingdom of God, and in behalf of mischief, which in the last instance is ἀπώλεια, eternal dam- nation. It is thus that he appears in our text. In the two first relations he is a liar; in the last, and— in so far as that lies as the ultimate aim at the bot- tom also of the earlier—in all three, a murderer (John viii. 44). In the case of Judas he succeeded first in his trade as a seducer, then in that of an ac- cuser ; hence the end of the former in despair and suicide, whereby he fell a prey to the destroyer. 2. (Vv. 19, 20.) Paul's hope is to be adorned with the fruits of his ministry before the Lord at His coming. Holy Scripture everywhere lays stress on this point, that every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor (1 Cor. iii. 8). The fundamental relation of every man to God in respect of faith or unbelief decides the question of his happiness or misery (Eph. ii. 8; Mark xvi. 16; John iii. 18, 36; v. 24). But within these two great classes there is still possible an extraordinary diver- sity in the life-acting of faith or unbelief—in prac- tical honesty and dishonesty. Through faith we are become children of God; but now we must yield ourselves to be also trained as such, and renewed ever more and more into the image of the Father and of our First-born Brother (χάρις παιδεύουσα, Tit. ii, 11, 12; comp. Heb. xii. 7-10; Col. iii. 10; Rom. xii. 2; viii. 29; 2 Cor. iii, 18), that we remain not weak, new-born children, but grow to the ripe age of a perfect man (Heb. v. 18, 14; comp. Eph. iv. 18, 14). We are rooted in the right ground and soil, and bear within us the full germ of life; but for that very reason it concerns us now to grow and bring forth fruit (Col. ii. 7; 1. 10, 11; Matt. xiii. 23; Mark iv. 26-28; John xv. 2; Phil. i. 9-11). The whole walk of a man contributes to the forma- tion of his disposition and character; all the issues of the life exert a formative reacting influence on our inner man—impress and stamp themselves also in ourselves (character from χαράσσω). In the Di- vine judgment, therefore, justification and condem- nation are made to depend even on our words (Matt. xii. 86, 37); but especially is our fate determined according to our works, or (in the singular) our work, life-work, so far as therein is exhibited the total result of the religious and moral life, rearing itself on the foundation of faith or unbelief (Rom. ii. 6; 2 Cor. v.10; Rev. ii. 23; xx. 12 sq.; xxii. 12; Matt. xvi. 27; John v. 29). As a man walks, so he becomes; and as he becomes, 80 is he also in death ; his works do follow him (Rev. xiv. 13), and agreeably thereto his destiny in that other world spontaneously shapes itself; on which account there will be among the blessed and among the lost very different degrees of glory or of torment (comp., for example, Luke xix. 17-19; xii. 47 sq.; Matt. xi. 22-24: 1 Cor. iii. 12-15. Of course, this is not the place to go into more precise definitions respecting heaven, hades, hell, the first and second resurrec- tions, &c.). By this view justice is done also to the scriptural idea of reward, without our falling into the Catholic idea of merit. And in this way, especially, sanctification, a spiritual walk, inward growth, and the outward activity of the life, here acquire an im- portance which in the original Protestantism was not duly recognized and acknowledged—a defect, that has been in many ways prejudicial, and here and there is so still, to our evangelical doctrine and prac- tic. It is true, our Confessions teach emphatically, that faith by an inward necessity brings forth good 4 works; and yet the main point of view, from which they had to handle this doctrine over against Catholicism, was the negative one: that righteous. ness and salvation depend neither for their attain- ment nor their preservation on good works, For this reason, and the kindred one, that for the doo trine of faith and justification that of regeneration was neglected, it was impossible for the idea of sane tification, and what is connected therewith also in eschatology, to reach fully its positive, scriptural de- velopment and significance. Meanwhile, there is by no means any want of good suggestions, particularly in Melancthon’s excellent discussion de dilectione et impletione legis in the Apology for the Augsburg Confession. 3. (Vv. 19, 20.) Whatever work we perform in an earthly calling, even in art and science as such, belongs to the domain of the perishable—of means, not of everlasting ends. Only what of good or evil is wrought in the souls of men is of eternal import. And the highest service is to help a soul to the life in God. On this rests the singular dignity, and also the responsibility, of the ministerial office. In an altogether peculiar sense, this is work for the day of Jesus Christ, whether we are now good shepherds or hirelings. 4, Paul hopes on the day of the Lord to be sur- rounded by those converted through him, as by a glory. This δόξα, this crown of glorying, is the true halo, when, coming into the presence of the heav- enly Judge, one is able to say: Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me. At His coming the Lord will present to Himself His entire Church glorious, without spot or wrinkle (Eph. v. 27; 2 Cor. xi. 2). But the Church is an organism, not merely in the sense that the body as a whole depends on the head, but also in that it is composed of vari- ous members, the weaker depending on the stronger. Thus do spiritual children hang on their spiritual fathers, and are as it were embraced in them, and ruled by them. In this sense Paul hopes to be sur- rounded by his Gentile churches; in this sense is the promise made to the Twelve of ruling the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 29, 30). This agrees with the fundamental view which Scrip- ture, in this case also the true interpreter of experi- ence, takes of humanity. It regards it, not as an atomic mass of individuals, but as an organism, de- pending for its natural life on Adam, for its spiritual life on Christ ; and that in such a manner, that from these two genealogical heads the membership branch- es off to every single individual. Hence the im- portance of progenitors and their primitive doings in the sphere itself of nature and of race (Adam, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Abraham, David, &.; Adam’s fall, Ham’s misdeed, Abraham's faith, the gracious treatment of David’s descendants for David's sake, &c.), just as prominent prophetic and apostolic per sons are centres of light and union in the spiritual sphere. The case is similar with the Lord of the world’s history. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL, Vv. 17. The Apostle’s loving union with his churches even when absent from them. J. Mica. Hann: In the Apostle, who certainly loves all the children of God, and even all the Lord’s dearly re- deemed, with a priestly, cordial love, there is yet a. predilection for his spiritual children (1 Cor. iv. 15: 50 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. Gal. iv. 19). The reason of that is the closer affin- ity of spiritual kindred. If it is so in the earthly nature, and cannot be said to be improper, who then shall blame it in the spiritual? Whoever blames it, would mend an arrangement of the Creator, who is also our Redeemer.—Riecer: As matters now stand with us, we are unable to estimate what a ben- efit it was to come together in person, and strength- en one another concerning the common faith.— Dizpricn: Christians may well even long to see one another, whilst they are in the flesh; worldlings are soon fain to get out of one another’s way.—[The same principles of the new creature, that led the primitive Christians to delight in personal inter- course with one another (comp. Acts iv. 23; xx. 38; Rom. i. 11; xv. 24; 1 Thess. iii, 6; 2 Tim. i. 4; 2 John 12; 8 John 14), were still more powerfully operative in their relations to their Lord (comp. John xiv. 8, 19; Phil. i, 28; 1 Thess. iv. 17; 1 John iii. 2; &—J. L.] V. 18. Carvin: It is certain, that whatever opposes the work of the Lord proceeds from Satan. Would that it were a firmly settled conviction in all pious souls, that Satan is contiaually making every effort to retard or hinder the edification of the Church! We should certainly be more intent on resisting him; we should have more at heart the preservation of sound doctrine, of which Satan takes such eager pains to rob us.—A part of that sound doctrine is the doctrine of Satan himself.— [Bishop Witson: Non-residence. N. B. It is the work of Satan, and his desire, to keep a pastor from his flock.—J. L.] Vv. 19, 20. It is important that a man should not merely be assured of his gracious standing and salvation, which, indeed, is the first thing and most important, but should also be zealous to bear fruit for the day of the Lord, and to be able hereafter to say to the Lord: Lord, my pound hath gained ten low, and cover with false humility his own drowai- ness and sloth.—A great and main point for the preacher, that he appear not empty before the Lord in His day.—Catvin: At the last day Christ’s ser- yants will obtain glory and triumph according as they have spread abroad His kingdom. Therefore should they even now rejoice and glory in nothing save tha blessed result-of their labor, in seeing the glory of Christ advanced through their service. In this way also they will attain to a true love for the Church.— Tueoporrt: Paul has compared himself to a mother (v. 7), and mothers are wont to call their young children their hope, joy, &c.*—CHRYSOSTOM : Who would not exult in such a numerous and well- bred troop of children?—To whose lot fall these joys of spiritual paternity? Do we even know any thing of them?—The Apostle’s joys and cares of spiritual fatherhood are a pattern for us also in re- gard to our children after the flesh, how we should be faithful in our families, and should carefully en- gage that not one of the members be lost.—To keep the coming of the Lord at all times before our eyes, that is to be likeminded with the Apostles—Rix- cer: In the gospel the Lord’s coming shines in upon us 80 near, that it affords us already at every step much light for our feet.—[Marrnew Henry: The Apostle here puts the Thessalonians in mind, that though he could not come to them as yet, and though he should never be able to come to them, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come; nothing shall hin- der that.—Brnson (Mackxyicut, Barnes, &c.): Paul expected to know his own converts again in the great day ; and particularly to rejoice in them. We may, therefore, hope to know our friends in the future state.—J. L.] * [In this suggestion THroporet, as usual, follows Curysostom. WorpswortH: ‘*These are my jewels,’ as the Roman mother, Cornelia, said of her offspring. Comp. gpounds (Luke xix. 16). 1 Prov. xvii. 6, στέφανος eee τέκνα τόκνων, καύχημα δὲ He can also set his aim too | τέκνων πατέρες avTav.’—J. Cua. III. 1-5. 2. Being unable to come himself, Paul sent Timothy. ‘Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear [endure, στέγοντες], we thought itygood [thought good, εὐδοκήσαμεν 5 Sin., as B.: ηὐδοκήσαμεν] to be left at [left behind in, καταλειφθῆναι ἐν] Athens alone, and sent Timothy our brother, and minister -of God, and our fellow-labourer [our brother and fellow-labourer with God]? in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you [exhort]? concerning [in behalf of]* your faith, that* no man [no one, μηδένα] should be moved by ἫΝ év] these afflictions; for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto unto this we are appointed, εἰς τοῦτο κείμε3α]. For verily [For even, καὶ γάρ] when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation [are to be afflicted, μέλλομεν ϑλίβεσϑαι):; even as [as also, καϑὼς καί 7 it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I [I also, κἀγώ] could no longer for- bear ἄρον στέγων], I sent to know your faith, lest by some means [lest haply, μήπως} the tempter have [had] tempted you, and our labour [toil, κόπος] be {should prove, γένηται] in vain. 1 V. 2.—Among the many variations is that one which first lies at the basis of the different readings, and presents a gnitable advance: τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν Kat συνεργὸν τοῦ θεοῦ (1 Cor. iii. 9). (This reading is followed by Griesbach and nearly, all the later editors, as well as by our text. ; v Cod. Sin. thus: τὸν a6. ἡμῶν καὶ διάκονον Ocod.—J. L, Υ. 2.— fwapaxadéoat, as in ch. v. 1; v. 14; 2 Thess. iii. 12; &c.; here closely connected with its object in v. 8.-- CHAPTER II, 1-5 δ] *fhe second ὑμᾶς is cbt i Schott, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth (after Sin. A.B. D.1 F.@ &e.), and by our text.—J. V.2.—[eures Glaubens halber. This represents the reading, adopted by Griesbach and later editors generally, of ὑπέρ (Sin. A. B.D’. &c.), instead of περί. --, L.] V.3:—The Recepia τῷ is supported only by minuscules ; the best manuscripts [including Sin.] give τό (see Winer, 6th edit. § 44, 5. 3). EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (V. 1.) Wherefore (because ye are thus our joy, ch. ii. 20; my crown of glory, which I hope to bring before the Lord, ch. ii. 19),* when we, &c. ; more exactly: + as those who could not longer en- dure it. Zréyw, in old Greck, to cover, then (of a vessel), to contain, and then (Philo and Paul), to en- dure; so 1 Cor. ix. 12; xiii. 7. This suits our place; but not, ἕο conceal. No longer endure, uamely, to be separated from you, and hindered from coming to you (ch. ii. 18).$ There is tender- ness in the fact, that his anxiety is scarcely hinted at, is at most intimated in the expression στέγοντες, and is not more distinctly announced till v. 5. 2. We thought good, were pleased (ch. ii. 8; the imperfect, continuously) ; here the aorist (on one occasion); CALVIN: promtam animi inclinationem designat.§ The plural, according to the restriction already introduced by the explanation in ch. ii. 18, οὐ Paul alone; for ch. iii. 1 sqq. is closely connected with what precedes; equivalent, therefore, to the singular in v. 6. Otherwise Grorius, Bence, Roos, Hormann, who, because the singular first comes at v. 5, think that the plural here does not denote Paul oe (and so Roos and Hormann at v. 6 also). But all three (ch. i. 1) cannot be meant; Timothy, being sent forth, is not one of those left alone. We shoula shus have to understand by the plural two out of the three; but that is more arbitrary than to ex- plain it (after ch. ii. 18) of Paul alone, {as is done by Scoot, De Wertz, Linemann, ALrorp.—J. L.] Generally indeed, it is he who decides. With this too Acts a “iii. 5 is at least more readily reconciled. 8. (V. 7.) In Athens, &., and sent, &.; therefore frm Athens. According to Acts xvii. 15 Paul sends a nessage from Athens to Berea, that Silas and Timothy should come to him with all speed ; accordin,; to Acts xviii. 6 they both came to him at Corintu from Macedonia. With this agrees 1 Thess. iii. 6: Timothy comes from Thessalonica (Macedonia) to Pau', with whom Silvanus also is present during the writing of the letter. The narra- tive in the Acts has in the interval a gap, that can only be filled up conjecturally. Hither (1a.) both bad come to Athens, and from that place had again been sent to the north, Timothy to Thessalonica, Silas perhaps to Philippi (aso in Macedonia). (If ἐπέμψαμε included also Silvanus, this would’ be a necessary supposition.) Or (1b.) only Timothy had come to .ithens, and been sent to Thessalonica, | Silas beinz still detained in Beroa (likewise in Macedonia). Or lastly (2.) both did not come to * [So Lineusnn; but better, with Aurorp and Exui- corr after Ta»oporeT and Carvin: Because of our affec- tion, and unavailing desire to see you.—J. L.] . | [As better representing the subjective μηκέτι with the participle.—J. 1,.} ᾿ Ἐ [Lhis is not expressed by our Common Version, which ἨΧΙΧΌΟΥΤΥ follows, though his paraphrase also is: ‘no -onger able to control ny longing, &c.”—J. L.] i ἔξ [Rather, a conclusion, determination of the judgment end will, as ALForp, Exucorr, &c.—J. L.] ; | [So Macknient, Pstey (see bis Hore Pauline. ch. x. No. iv., with Jowrrr’s unsatisfactory criticism), E.u- corr and others. Comp. ConyBsare and Howson’s Life and Epistles of St. Paul, London ed., vol. I. p. 409, and the Note at the end of ch. xi.—J. Le] Paul, so long as he lingered in Athens, but the lat. ter (moved, it may be, by accounts of persecutions in Thessalonica) sent after the first order (for them to come) a second in like manner from Athens to Bercea; that Timothy, instead of coming to him directly, should rather go in his stead to Thessaloni- ca, and only after that follow in his route (so Hue; WixseLerR, Chronol. des apostolischen Zeitalters, 249). He would thus have countermanded Timo- thy’s expected arrival in Athens. This would accord well with ἐπέμψ. (without éxeiSev); less naturally with xaradems., which, strictly taken, signifies not merely left alone, but left behind alone. Difficulty there is none, only a gap, which cannot be filled up incontestably in only one way. 4, Our brother, &.—The Cod. B. gives, our brother and fellow-laborer ; A. and Sin., our brother and God’s servant ; others, and God's servant and fellow-laborer ; the Recepta (not altogether after late authorities only), our brother and Glod’s servant and our fellow-laborer, where the arrangement ig wanting in solidity ; we should have to justify it per- haps thus: as God’s servant he is our fellow-laborer. But the reading which first lies at the basis of all the variations is that followed above (D. Ambrosias- ter); διάκονος Seov is common, sometimes in a com- prehensive (2 Cor. vi. 4), sometimes in a narrower sense (Acts vi.; 1 Tim. iii, 8). fy fellow-laborer, says Paul, Rom. xvi. 21; God’s fellow-laborers, 1 Cor. iii. 9. In the glad tidings of Christ; in the act, that is, of preaching the same.—lIt can scarcely be said that Paul gives Timothy these several titles of honor involuntarily, and on account merely of the latter being his faithful helper (Liinemann); he probably means also to show the Thessalonians what a helper he has deprived himself of for their sake (Curysostom) ; quo melius ostenderet quam bene illis consultum voluerit (CaLvIN); and at the same time to certify his own perfect agreement with Timothy, and confirm whatever he has done (Von Geriacu). Somewhat too refined perhaps is Hormann’s conjec- ture, that they were not, because Paul had not come himself, to think too highly of the coming of Timo- thy, and that he desires to guard aginst this. 5. To establish you (in the persecutions; that Timothy was to do) and to exhort, literally, to call to, which is to be understood, according to the context, either of exhortation or of comfort (Acts xv. 82; 2 Thess. ii. 17). But Paul expresses no dis- trust of their standing as believers. That the oldest authorities omit ὑμᾶς after mapax. makes no differ- ence in the sense; nor yet that they read ὑπέρ in- stead of mepf. For the former likewise means on account of, in consideration of, a8 in Rom. xv. 9; 2 Cor. i. 8; 2 Thess. ii. 1; at least, it is not necessary, with Linemann [Jowetr, Atrorp, Ex.icorr], to press the signification in favor of, for the benefit of (in order to support your faith), 6. (V. 8.) That no one should be moved, &c.—Zaivw (from σέω, σείω), in the New Testament only here, means to move to and fro; of dogs, ¢ wag the tail ; hence to flatter, deceive through flac tery (so in many places in Wetstein). Thus ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, that no one be deceived (by enemies, relations, hi own heart); similarly Ritcxerr: blanditiis corrumr 52 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. a sense suggested also by Worpsworra, after HEOPHYLACT; likewise Jowrerr: “ποὺ simply moved, but rather moved to softness."—J. L.] On the other hand, the Greek interpreters (familiar with the language), and so the moderns generally, in- cluding Linemann, understand by it, to be moved, shaken, like carevSijva: of 2 Thess, 11. 2, Hormann disputes this explanation, reduces even Liinemann’s examples from the classics to the sense of deluding, and understands thus: in (in the midst of, not by means of) the persecutions seeming well-wishers might delude you with suggestions.—T¢@ could not mean because that (as in 2 Cor. ii. 12 [13]), but must be equivalent to εἰς τό, for the end that, like the Hebrew >. But this were without example, and, besides, the accusative τό is attested by almost all the uncials. The latter Linemann [Atrorp] understands as in apposition to eis τὸ ornp. &.: that is to say that; which is as much as to say that ;—not good. Others [Scnorr, Kocu]: in reference to, ag in Phil. iv. 10 (where, however, another view is possible); best (Ewatp, Hormann [Winer, De Werte, Exticorr, Weester and Wsz- KInsoN]): it marks the purport of the charge, of the παρακαλέσαι ; comp. ch. iv. 1, 6. ἡ. In these afflictions; which after Paul’s de- parture befell the Thessalonians as well as him (ch. ii. 14). From v. 4 it is inferred that they imme- diately subsided. That they might return any day, and did actually break forth again, is shown by 2 Thess. i. 4. Curysostom and others err in suppos- ing that he speaks of his own afflictions, by which the Thessalonians were rendered anxious, as soldiers are by the wounding of the general. 8. Flor yourselves know, without any repeat- ed admonition of ours; know then also, that I am right in requiring, μηδένα calvecSa.—That unto this we (Christians generally) are appointed ; kelueda like τιϑέμεδα (Luke ii. 34; Phil. i, 16), Improperly Kocu: are prostrate (in misfortune and suffering); Phil. 1. might perhaps be so understood, but not Luke ii. Rather: by God ordained, there- unto appointed ; εἰς τοῦτο, to afflictions, as the way tmto the kingdom of God (Matt. v. 10-12; x. 21, 22, 84 sqq.; John xv. 18 sqq.; xvi. 2; Acts xiv. 22; 2 Tim. iii. 12). 9. (V. 4.) Καὶ γάρ, for even, for indeed.—You should therefore know it, from our telling you before.— That we are to be afflicted, μέλλομεν ϑλίβ. (again, Christians generally), that there awaits us; not sim- ply equivalent to the future, but: according to God’s purpose ; because darkness is opposed to light, the flesh strives against the spirit. Notwithstanding such undisguised forewarning, the gospel wins believers. An example of how far the Apostle’s word was from flattering speech (ch. ii. 6)—As also it came to pass (with you, as with us), and ye know; not: that it must come to pass, that were tautological with v. 3; but: that according to our forewarning it has come to pass. By this remembrance there accrued from an outward event an inward experience. As the subject of κείμεϑα (v. 3) and μέλλομεν (τ. 4), therefore, we understand Christians generally. Hor- MANN, on the contrary: the same as in the case of ἦμεν and προελέγομεν, and so only the Apostles. No doubt, in the clause, ‘‘ when we were with you,” the we can only mean the Apostles. But in the case of «elweda there is nothing before to suggest this limita- tion; and opposed to it is the fact, that thereby the most natural connection with what precedes is dis- turbed. To comfort the Thessalonians in thei: afflic- tions, he reminds them of the rule that affects all Christians. But, if we understood him to say: “that we Apostles are appointed thereunto,” it ia only in an ingenious, roundabout way that.we could get at the point of the confirmation and exhortation : Admit no such insinuation, as that we misled you into misery, while we secured ourselves. 10. (V. 5.) Flor this cause (on account of these afflictions ; unnaturally Hormann: because we els τοῦτο κείμεϑα), When I also, ὅδ. OLsHAUSEN interpolates: as you in your care for me ;—Linu- MANN: as the others, Timothy and the Christians in Athens ; * but there is nothing said of their having no longer endured ;—Hormann even: as we two, Silvanus and I, sent Timothy, so now also I alone (the singular) sent some one unnamed! On the other hand, De Werrr would refer the καί in kaya to the whole sentence; without proof. Just as here after διὰ τοῦτο, so it stands at Eph. i. 15; comp. Col. i. 9 [both texts cited by De Wette—J. L.] And, just as there, it opposes to what was said of the Thessalonians (ye have had experience of suf fering) + what he too now had done.—Sent, &c. is a resumption of v. 2. He says nothing any more about whom he sent; he merely adds, for what pur- pose, Nor is it any longer here, as at v. 2, what Timothy was to do, but what he thereby sought for himself. At no time mere tautological repetition. For Pett and OLsHAUSEN erroneously refer γνῶνα, to Timothy, though indeed not named, as the sub- ject; it belongs rather to the subject of the princi- pal verb (Linenann). 11. Your faith, whether [lest],{ &c.—Every- thing concentrates in this, whether they stand in the faith, Without our supplying φοβούμενος, μήπως expresses solicitude,, and first indeed, with the in divative preterite, in reference to what was past: whether perhaps it has already occurred ; there ex- ists oppression from without; now he is anxious to know, whether haply this had wrought inwardly so as to become a temptation for the Thessalonians, that is, to the disturbance of faith ;—then, moreover, with the subjunctive, in reference to what was im- pending, which in this case might possibly occur; for, even though the πειρασμός should have already occurred, this would still be by no means decided ; the temptation might, indeed, still be resisted, and the entire frustration of the work still be warded off. Similarly Gal. ii, 2; comp. Wiyur, 6 ed., 56, 2.4 The tempter is Satan (ch. ii. 18); the substantival participle marks his settled characteristic (Matt. iv. 3); that is what he is always after. That the sub- ject and the predicate are from the same stem gives emphasis to the expression. For εἰς κενόν, to come to nothing, to be frustrated, comp. Gal. ii. 2; Phil. ii.16; Hebr. p>, xwWd, atond, Is. Ixv. 23; Jer. vi. 29; Mic. i. 14.—Our toil; you surely do not mean to make me so poor? he thus speaks to * [Atrorp: “A delicate hint that Timotheus also was anxious respecting them; or it may have the same refer= ence as καὶ ἡμέις, ch. ii, 13—viz. to the other Christians who had heard of their tribulation.””—Reviston: “I no more than my companions.” —WEBSTER and WILKINson: “I in my sympathy with hte LJ t [Better at least than Exricorr: ‘ As they had felt for the Apostle (more fully so in v. 6), so he &.”—J. L.] t poe translates μήπως, ob nicht; and in this he follows very many of the best interpreters, whose nameg are given in my Revision of the verse, Note 8. But, ag is there remarked, ‘I do not find that cither the simple μή, which occurs so often, or μήπως, which occurs other 11 times (and, excepting Acts xxvii. 29, always in Paul’s Epies tles), is ever thus used’’—that is, as an indirect interroga- tive—“ in the New Testament.”—J. L.] CHAPTER III. 1-5. 5a their heart. It would be to their own hurt, if they fell away. But he in his love for them would reckon it a sensible loss for himself (Rimcer). Now at last and in such an affectionate manner, after he has already strengthened them, does he mention the dan- ger by name, DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL 1, (V. 1.) It was a sacrifice, to remain in so diffi- cult a position without the outward and inward sup- port of faithful helpers; rather to dispense with something himself, than allow the Thessalonians to want for anything. Love gives others the prece- dence (comp. Phil. ii. 19 sqq.). Canvin: Desiderit illius sui fidem facit, se majorem ilorum quam sui rationem habuisse ostendit. It is at the same time an instance of that so frequent change in his plans, which was misinterpreted to his disadvantage at Corinth (2 Cor. i. 17). What was said of another servant of God is to its full extent true of him: “The singleness of his eye kept him steadfast to his purpose under all the varied and trying circum- stances of his life. He changed his plans according as he observed a change in the intimations of Provi- dence, but his purpose remained fundamentally the same—the furtherance of the gospel by all means.” Berlenburger Bibel: A servant of the Church must accommodate himself to the circumstances of the Church, and yet in such a manner that, while doing one thing, he do not neglect another. 2. (V. 2.) The mission to Thessalonica was no small task for the youthful Timothy (1 Cor. xvi. 10, 11; according to 1 Tim. iv. 12 he needed encour- agement in the presence of older men). In the Acts the presence of Timothy at the founding of the church there is not once mentioned; plainly be- cause he was less conspicuous, and for the same rea- son the persecution did not affect him. Paul, how- ever, would not have entrusted a stranger to the church with such an important commission. The Apostle understood the wisdom of selecting a gentle manager, who yet was no skulk, but in a spirit of self-sacrifice sought, as few others, the things that were Christ’s (Phil. ii. 20-22). The difference of gifts is of service for different tasks. It is not every one that can root out stumps and stones, nor is this always in order. There is a time also for easy going —careful watering, and ministers with gifts adapted to that work. Even in war different enterprises are promoted by different sorts of weapons. 3. (V. 2.) Timothy, the brother. Care is to be taken that the name of brother do not become trite, nor yet be so claimed for a particular circle, as if it belonged to that especially, and to every member of it officially and as a matter of course. Rather it is due to ail living Christians, to whom Christ ad- dresses it (Matt. xii. 49, 50). Only on this basis is official brotherhood a truth. Elsewhere Paul calls Timothy his beloved, faithful, genuine child (1 Cor. ἣν. 17; 1 Tim. i. 2 [and 187). The child, dependent yn his father, grows up to be an independent brother. In the spiritual life it is possible for the degrees of kindred to become variable without dam- age, since through hallowed, tender love they co- exist, yet without confusion. Even the common human relations show images of this. A son when grown up may find his friend in his father. 4. That we are called God’s fellow-laborers, is for ug a high dignity. God will not drive everything through alone (Rieger), but will act also by meant of our agency, weak as it may be, yet strengthened and continually sustained by Him alone. For He it is, indeed, that worketh in us to will and to do, and then gives the increase (Phil. ii. 18; 1 Cor. iii. 6, 10); nevertheless he requires of us faithfulness (1 Cor, iv. 2)—that we lay hold of what He proffers, 5. (V. 8.) Confirmation and exhortation are needed even by believers, to arm them against threat ening and temptation. A comfortable support is communion in prayer. CaLvin: The communion of saints includes this, that the faith of one member should be a comfort to others. But to fasten on to men as men would be unsound and unprofitable, unless we allowed ourselves to be aroused to the recollection of what lies in our own consciousness of faith (ye yourselves know)—unless, animated by the example, we made use for ourselves of the open way of access to the Lord. 6. Curysostom: Who has ears to hear, let him hear: The Christian is appointed to suffer affliction. It is, therefore, just when we are appointed to a time of refreshing, that a strange thing happens to us (1 Pet. iv. 12). According to the world’s sentiment (and that of our natural sense), it is to our discredit when things go troublesome and hard with us; we almost suspect that everything is wrong with us. According to the word of God, that is rather a badge of Christians, a badge of honor; hae lege sumus Christiani, Cauvin. The Lord, indeed, must even again show Himself as the Breaker * (2 Cor. vi. 8-10; Rom. viii. 37). Besides, affliction that befalls us as Christians on account of our faith is still some- thing different from such natural trouble or tempta- tion of one’s own flesh, as all men must meet with. But Christians, after all, are really nothing but men on whom the Divine training takes effect; and al! suffering sent by God, not merely persecution prop: er, can and should be turned into a cross, and as ὃ cross be taken up and borne—as a crossing of our self-will. To be sure, our scriptural knowledge, and, on the other hand, our lively recognition of facts and ready acceptance of whatever is plainly laid on us, very often do not keep pace with each other, Hatred for Christ’s name’s sake is not to be pro- voked by us (Phil. iv. 5); + provided only we do not escape the trouble by reason of our excessive world- liness, our compliances, denials, and quenching of the pursuit of holiness. But the question always concerns only what God lays upon us, not a studied self-torture. When external persecutions fail, there may come upon us inward assaults from flesh and blood, refined and enhanced by the spirits that rule in the air—daily piercings of a needle, more irksome than the blows of a club. ἡ. (V. 4.) The forewarning obviates much vexa- tion (John xiii. 19; xiv. 29; xvi. 1). Hardship, in- stead of frightening, is then an actual confirmation of the prediction ; hostility itself must redound to the glory of the Lord. Carysosrom compares to the physician, who foresees the course of the dis ease, and thereby quiets his patient. God, however beholds beforehand not merely what will happen, a if it happened without Him, but what, even of that which is wicked and hurtful, He will work as Judge, according to the relation between the seed and the harvest (Gal. vi. 7, 8); and so the Divinely opened vision discerns this working of God even in thé wickedness of men. * [Durchbrecher—LutTHeEr’s word at Mic. ii. 13.--J. L.* t [τό ἐπιεικὲς ὑμῶν, your “forbearance.”—J. L,J 54 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. --. 8. What must the gospel be as ἃ divine power, that, with prospects so little flattering to the flesh, it yet wins believers! It is true that to a certain de- gree even an equivocal cause may gain by persecu- tion. To make martyrs of men is to call forth and strengthen the spirit of contradiction. That is a noble impulse (of an independent character) carica- tured (resistance to essential truth). But only in the clement of truth is there a steadfast and lasting perseverance. Berlenburger Bibel: But is it wise management, to talk of the cross to young Chris- tians? True wisdom conducts into a school, where we learn to be blessed. The lost blessedness is to be regained in no other way than the strait and narrow one. Tribulation, however, is laid on us, not as a legal burden, but as an evangelical condition. And this very distress must serve to purify us. 9. (V. 5.) Affliction from without becomes temptation within, insinuates itself as a trial of faith, urges to the experiment, whether we might not have less of the cross. The same word πειρασμός LuTHER translates sometimes by Versuchung [temptation], sometimes by XW (Ps. cxxii. 6), and in the New Tes- tament it often means to beseech (2 Thess. ii. 1).— And exhort, by virtue of apostolic authority ; but the evangelical exhortation is a friendly entreaty, which respects freedom. The entreaty and the ex- hortation are exercised in the Lord Jesus; the fellowship of His life is the element (2 Cor. ii. 17); the Apostle acts as Christ’s organ: he reckons not himself sufficiently worthy even to beseech or ex- hort. The object of the exhortation is marked sub- stantively by τό (Luke xxii. 23, 24; Rom. viii. 26; Winer, ὃ 18. 3). The aim of the walk is to please God (as the Apostle pleases Him, ch. ii. 4). [Wexp- ster and WILKINSon: “Θεῷ without art., such a being as God is..—J. L.]—Even as also ye do (actually) walk, recognizes what they already are; and this is implied also in the μᾶλλον: yet more (than you now do) should you become rich and abound (here intransitive) + therein. But not: You are to do more than is commanded.—F'or, con- firms the exhortation by an appeal to their own knowledge of what commandments (1 Tim. i. 5, 18; the verb at v. 11 and 2 Thess. iii. 4) they had re- ceived (comp. 1 Cor. xv. 1; Gal. iv. 13).—By the Lord Jesus, is not quite equivalent to ἐν of v. 1; we might have expected him to say: Jesus gave them by us ; but he says on the contrary: We gave them by Him the Mediator of all truth and all au- thority; not δ ἐμαυτοῦ did I command; comp. Rom. xv. 30. Synonymous with ἐν ὀνόματι, 2 Thess. fii, 6; διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος, 1 Cor. 1, 10. 2. (V. 3.) For this is God’s will, &. (ch. v.18); [Wesster and Wirxrnson: “ The art. with Θεοῦ draws attention to the circumstance that God had just been spoken of as one to whose will it hould be our main object to conform, ‘our God,’ * (Vavenan: “Literally, As a remaining thing: mark- ing an apprcach towards the.conclusion of the Epistle, but fot necessarily a very near approach.’—Wuzster and WILKINSON : τὸ λοιπὸν οὖν, “ Now then, what else I have to aay is’? ; λοιπόν, “ Let me 88) further.”—J. L.] ᾿ t [περισσεύητε--οοπίταβίθα with the transitive περισσεύ- gat of ch. iii. 12.—J. L.) ᾽ the God we serve."—J. L.]; with this begins the special detail of the παραγγελίαι. The subject is τοῦτο; the predicate ϑέλημα (according to the best authorities, without the article). What follows does not embrace the entire will of God on all its sides; multe sunt voluntates, Acts xiii, 22; Benezt.*—In apposition to τοῦτο, and substantially the subject of the statement, is 6 ἁγιασμός, which differs from ἁγιωσύνη, ch. iii, 18, in that the latter denotes the religious and moral character, but ἁγιασμός the re- ligious and moral process, the work of sanctification. Not materially different is Hormann’s view, accord- ing to which 6 ay. were merely appositional (to ᾿ δέλημα 3), and the proper definition of the τοῦτο would be first given by the following infinitives. In our Epistle Paul has as yet no occasion, as in Rom, iiivi., to develop, in polemic opposition to Jewish legality, justification as the basis of sanctification ; nor is that the case in the Corinthian Epistles; Paul has no set form; but the soul of his thought and action is this: “ΒΥ the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. xv. 10). OxsHausen, like some of the older interpreters, would understand ay. as opposed to the immediately following πορνεία, in the special sense of chastity. But that is ἁγνεία. Not even in Rom. vi. 19; 1 Tim, ii. 15, is the narrower sense found. And ἀκαϑαρσία likewise, v. 7, is more com- prehensive, including also covetousness, as in ch. ii, 8,5. Though ydp of v. 7 shows indeed that v. 6 must come under the contrast between uncleanness and sanctification, yet it does not at all follow from that, that the idea of the former is here limited to unchastity (see on v. 6). Rather, abstinenee from fornication is merely one (chief ) instance of the sanc- tification which he recommends. 3. (Vv. 3-5.) That ye abstain, &c.—The (accusative with) infinitive is epexegetical or appo- sitional to ἁγιασμός. On the subduing of fornica- tion, comp. 1 Cor. vi. and vii. CHurysosrom: When he says, ‘from ad? fornication,” he leaves it to those who know, to think of the various kinds of lewd ness. With the negative Paul couples the positive in the form of a coérdinate accusative with infini tive: that every one of you know, εἰδέναι ag scire, understand how to, be able to—(we only prop- erly know, what we can also do)—acquire, get,} not possess, which must have been expressed by the perfect κεκτῆσϑαι; no other tense means to possess, not even Sir. vi. 7; li. 20. By σκεῦος, however, vessel, utensil, tool, "2D, some (TERTULLIAN, CHRY- sostom [and the other more eminent Greek commen- tators, THEODORET, THEOPHYLACT, (AcUMENIUS.—J. L.], Cavin, Grorivs [Bishops Hats and Wixson, * (Exuicotr would explain the absence of the article simply by reference to the substantive verb preceding.— + (E.uicorr [after AtrorD] says, “to the preceding θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ." But his previous remark, that one rea- son why τοῦτο, the subject, is placed somewhat emphatic- ally forward is, that it may ‘direct the reader’s attention to the noun in apposition that follows,” naturally suggests the other and, I think, better view.—J. L.] 1 (German: erwerben, for κτάσθαι. ΦΟΎΕΤΥ and Eu cort: get himself. In the Revision I suggested: possess himself of—a phrase which Vaughan has adopted. Worps wort: “ocquire and hold; ὙΠ ΈΒΒΤΕΚ and WILKINSON secure the possession of. —J. L.] 62 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. Hamwonp, Wuitsy, &c.—J. 1.1, Benexr, OsHav- sEN, Pett [WorpswortH, WEBSTER and WILKIN- son] * understand the body, others (THEopoRE of Mopsuestia, Aucusrine, THoMas AQuiNnas, ZWINGLI, Werstein, Scuort, De Wertz, Linemann, Ewatp, Hormann [Jowert, ALForp, Exxicorr] ), + the wife. The former say that Scripture in still other places speaks of the body in this sense—does not treat it contemptuously as the prison of the soul—recognizes indeed the trouble that it makes for us as the seat, not the origin, of sin—but requires that it stand in the Lord’s service as a sanctified organ of the Spirit (1 Cor. vi. 18); comp. 2 Cor. iv. 7 (where, it is true, the epithet ὀστράκινα is not to be overlooked); the Rabbins, moreover, use 01D of the body; Philo says repeatedly: τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγγεῖον τὸ σῶμα; Barnabas, 7. 11: σκεῦος τοῦ πνεύματος ; but also, ch. 21, simply: τὸ καλὸν σκεῦος. In our text ἑαυτοῦ might, if necessary, take the place of πνεύματος. But how does κτᾶσϑαι, to get, to obtain, suit with this? For to possess is not the meaning of the word, but acguirere—an argument already employed by Wersrein. Accordingly κτᾶσϑαι would have to signify ἐο get the mastery over ; Curysostom: Only through sanctification do we gain the body for a σκεῦος ; sin, on the contrary, gains it, when we are impure. As this is of itself somewhat artificial, so itis entirely at variance (De Werrs, Litnemann {Kocu, Atrorp, Exticorr]) with the fact, that to κτᾶσϑαι really belongs also the negative definition (v. 5), μὴ ἐν πάϑει ἐπιϑυμίας (the genitive as in ch. i. 3; passion peculiar to lust, concupiscence ; ἐπι. is the natural element of sin (Rom. vii. 7), which swells to passion; comp, πάϑη ἀτιμίας, Rom, i, 24, 26). So then: You are to acquire the σκεῦος in sanctifica- tion, not in passionate lust ; this does not suit the assumed meaning of σκεῦος ; for, in truth, it is only by sanctification that the mastery over the body is gained ; by lust comes the opposite, the loss of the mastery. Gain the mastery over the body, not in pas- sion, were to give an absurd turn to the prohibition.t We are thus driven to the other explanation, for which, it is true, Scripture furnishes as little as for the first any perfectly exact parallel. For passages where man is described generally as a figure of clay (Is. xlv. 9, and often), or expressions as σκεύη ἐλέους, Rom. ix, 23, and such like, are too dissimilar. The one that comes nearest seems to be 1 Pet. iii. 7; but even there the wife is described as the weak- er vessel, to wit of the Divine grace, merely in the relation of contrast, over against the stronger vessel, but not as the vessel or instrument of the man. Among the Rabbins, however, the latter idea is ᾿ {I should say, a majority of all the commentators.— .] t (Exurcorr: “and apparently the majority of recent expositors.”” Most of the older commentators go the other way.—J. L.] t [I must still question whether the above argument, however plausible, is quite as demonstrative, as has been supposed. As I remarked in the Revision: ‘If the writer really meant 1o say: ‘Instead of serving divers lusts and pleasures (Tit. iii. 8, δουλεύοντες ἐπιθυμίαις KTA.), and thus making the body your tyrant (Rom. xvi. 18; 2 Pet. ii. 19) and your God (Phil. iii. 19), let every one of you seek to get possession and control of it, in a holy and honorable use, not in a vile abuse,’ it does not appear that such a construction would be in any respect more harsh and diffi- cult than wliat is often met with; 6. g. Rom. iii. 8; 1 John fii. 12. Comp. 1 Cor. ix. 27. Jowsrrr: ‘The words ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας, though forming an antithesis to ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ, need not necessarily, when applied to the heathen, carry us back to κτᾶσθαι τὸ σκεῦος. In v. 5 these latter words are lost sight of, and some general idea gathered from them, such as ‘living’ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας.""---ς- L.) found (with the blunt explanation: cei immittitur semen): vas meum quo ego utor, Megill. Esth. 1. 11 j and, besides, κτᾶσϑαι is used of taking a wife (Ruth iv. 10, Septuagint; Sir, xxxvi. 29 [24] ). It is objected, 1. that“this would be to speak toc meanly of the wife, as of a dependent instrument of the man, contrary to the reciprocity of 1 Cor. vii. 4 ς 2. that the opposition to wopy. would be taken some what too narrowly, especially if we understand the matter thus: You are to contract marriage m sane. tification, not in lust; in this way the exhortation would be, not for such as still remain single, or for widowers, and for others, even only in regard to the formation of the marriage tie; 8, (a point made by OtsHavsEN, and also by Catvin before him), that the exhortation would thus not at all apply to the woman. It may be replied (with Dz Werte and Liinemann), 1. that the wife is not in every respect viewed as the instrument of the man, but only in the special relation suggested by the opposition to πορν. Keep yourselves from vaga libido ; procure rather every one his own instrument, to wit, for the instinct in question, not as one in πορν. procures a σκεύος, not his own, in passionate lust. Here, as in 1 Cor vii., Paul speaks plainly and undisguisedly, but yet briefly and decently. 2. This exhortation is gene. rally applicable; that is to say, those who do not possess the gift of continence (1 Cor. vii. 2, 9) are, for the sake of avoiding πορν., to take to themselves every one his own regular wife (if they are still sin- gle or widowers), and not use a σκεύος that is not their own; but neither are they to marry in a merely fleshly way, and just so they are not to lead their married life in that spirit. It concerns both the formation of the marriage relation and the subse- quent life therein, when it is said: Obtain your σκεύος (ut first and ever afterwards) in sanctification and honor. 3. This exhortation Paul directs with perfect propriety to the men as the specially active parties, who readily allow themselves greater liberty in this thing. The inference as regards Christian women was self-evident. Ltnemann thinks that in sanctification and honor is merely an explanation of what is implied in the expression, his own vessel. But the sense is richer, if we thus distinguish: 1. Let every one ac- quire his own vessel, and that, indeed, 2. in the proper way, as it should be acquired (and then also kept accordingly). It is not enough that one have a wife; it is likewise important, in what way he has got and now holds her. ‘‘ For a man may be drunk even on his own wines.” The proper mode of the κτᾶσδαι is therefore described: in sanctification in- wardly, before God, so that there is an imitation of the love of Christ (Eph. v.) and a mutual further- ance in the service of God and in the rule of the spirit; whence follows in the relation between man and man: and in honor (Col, ii. 23; 1 Pet, iii, ΠΣ in maintaining one’s own honor, and in the respect or manifestation of honor that is shown to the wife ; as opposed to the ἀτιμία of him who sinks himself below the beasts, desecrating and degrading the oxevos by a sinful abuse through παϑ. em. in forni- cation, or even in carnal excesses within the iimita of marriage. Even as also the Gentiles; καί in compari- sons, v. 18; Rom. iv. 6; ἔϑνη, as frequently for ἐδινικοί. 4. (V. 6). That no one go beyond, &c., is added by asyndeton, with this variation, that now τό stands with the infinitive. Τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνει: CHAPTER IV. 1-8. 63 cannot depend on εἰδέναι : if on account of the arti- ele it could not be parallel to ἀπέχεσϑαι and εἰδέναι, then neither is it parallel to κτᾶσϑαι, which without the article depends on εἰδέναι. ΒΈΝΩΒΙ, sees in the asyndeton a proof that Paul is proceeding with the same topic, the τό bringing confirmation and climax to what was last said. It is, on the whole, supposed by many (Curysostom: the subversion of marriage is worse than the robbery of treasures, JuRon, Erasmus [Bishop Witson], Wersrein, Osttavusen, Petr, Von Gertaca [Jowsrr, ALrorn, Exuicort, - Vauewan, Worpsworta, Wepsrer and WILKIN- SON, and most others] ), that πλεονεκτεῖν (to over- reach, injure) stands here, not in its ordinary mean- ing, but figuratively of violated marriage, as Prov. vi. 29-32 compares the thief and the adulterer (that, however, is not to describe the adulterer figuratively as a thief); comp. 2 Sam, xii. (but that is an express parable), and the tenth commandment (of the Re- formed division),* which embraces both kinds of sins, Paul (they think), having said before that for- nication is contrary to sanctification, and therefore to God, now goes on to say that it wounds also brotherly love—is, so to speak, a greedy grasping at conjugal property, an injury to the rights of a brother. The specification, ἐν τῷ πράγματι, would then be used euphemistically : ‘‘in the matter” (that mentioned in vv. 4, 5; 2 Cor. vii. 11). On any other view, it is thought, there would be a quite abrupt introduction by asyndeton of a new subject, whereas even the γάρ of v. 7 shows that v. 6 speaks of the uncleanness of lewdness. Against the last remark, see Exeg. Note 2 (on v. 8); ἀκαϑαρσία is all impurity of the natural man, the dominion of the flesh over against the spirit; covet- ousness also belongs to it. On the other hand, there is no example (for a parable like that of Nathan is not one) of the asserted figurative use of πλεονεκ- τεῖν ; and even the asyndeton does not prove what these interpreters wish. Indeed, closely viewed, something even false would be the result of this. That is to say, were τὸ μή &. of v. 6 merely appo- sitional to vv. 4, 5—if nothing but a new side of πορνεία were to come out of it—then the adulterous πλεονεξία must be a characteristic of all πορνεία; a man, in other words, must thereby invade the rights of his brethren; which yet is not the case, for there is many an instance of πορν., which violates no brother’s right of possession; that is the case only in a single definite reiation, and must consequently have been mentioned as something new, not simply ag an apposition to what precedes, Even Linemann is here too punctilious, when on account of the τό he would take μὴ ὑπερβ. as codrdinate, not with ἀπέχ. and εἰδέναι, but with 6 ἁγιασμός : The will of God is 1. your sanctification, abstinence from forni- cation, and so forth; and 2, the μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν. But in this way there results the awkwardness of understanding ἁγιασμός of v. 3 in the narrower sense of chastity, whereas in v. 7 it is understood by Linemany himself (who takes v. 6 as an cxhorta- tion against covetousness) in the wider sense. We cannot be driven to this by that article. Even if we had to acknowledge in this a slight ruggedness of style, we should yet say with Hor- MANN, that the very article shows that something new, and of a different nature, now comes in, The * (Luther’s Catechism retains the Roman Catholic ar- rangement of the decalogue, which divides the tenth com- mandment into two to muke up for the omission of the second.—J. 1,.} difficulty disappears, as soon as (in reading) we pune tuate somewhat more strongly after ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν, and again after μὴ εἰδότα τὸν ϑεόν. Thus (with OrigeN, Carvin, Zwineut, Gromus, Ds Wert, Linemany, Ewarp, Hormann, and others) we recog nize in v. 6 a new exhortation to a second evidence of sanctification (along with chastity as the first) in honesty of dealing, instead of a reckless and covet ous overreaching, Many take ὑπερβαίνειν absolutely, without an object, modum excedere; Lurnern: to grasp too far; 1]. 9. 501; Puaro, Rep. 866, A. But since the one τὸ μή takes the two verbs close together, we shall do better by referring also, with Hormann, the addition ἐν τῷ mp. and the object to both verbs; and then ὕπερβ., to go beyond, is the same thing as to take no notice of, recklessly to dis. regard ; in what? even in πλεονεξία, the desire to have more, The verb is transitive also in 2 Cor. xii. 17, 18; τῷ enclitic, for τινι, as Grorius explains it, is not according to New Testament use—not even in 1 Cor. xv. 8; ἐν τῷ mp. means: in the business (Rom. xvi. 2), or even lawsuit (1 Cor. vi. 1), on hand at any particular time,* His brother—is this to be understood of brother in the widest sense, as equivalent to πλησίον ἢ That, however, is contrary to the usage, Even M& denotes a member of the people of God, But should the limitation, as in Deut. xxiii, 19 sq., indicate a difference in the treatment of brethren and of strangers? By no means; it does not con sist with the context, that those who are not breth. ren should be otherwise treated (comp. ch. iii. 12); Paul, looking simply at the intercourse of Christians with one another, requires that the same should be fraternal, and he uses the name of brother as an argument against unbrotherly overreaching ; etiolo- gia fugiende transgressionis, BEnceL; just as in 1 Cor. vi., where in like manner the transition from fornication (ch. v.) to covetousness is by asyndeton, hurried and abrupt. In other places also Paul puts close together these two capital vices, Eph. iv. 19; v. 8,5; Col. iii. 5. Confirmation of the warning: Because that (Rom. i. 19, 21) the Lord (Βενϑει,: Christus judec) is an avenger (vindex, Rom. xiii, 4) for all these things; the most diverse sins (suits bet- ter, if the previous discourse was at least of two kinds of sin, and not merely of two forms of the same sin); comp. 1 Cor. v. 11; vi. 9, 10; Gal. v. 19 sqq.t * [Per contra, Eruicorr: “The clause is not merely parallel to the anarthrous εἰδέναι, but reverts to the pre ceding ἁγιασμός" (Exiicoty on this point agreeing with Loinemann), “of which it presents a specific exemplifi- cation more immediately suggested by the second part of ver. 4. First, πορνεία is prohibited; then a holy use of its natural remedy affirmatively inculcated; and lastly, the heinous sin of μοιχεία, especially as regarded in its social aspects, formally denounced. So rightly Chrys. (ἐνταῦθα περὶ porxeias φησίν" ἀνωτέρω δὲ καὶ περὶ πορνεϊας πάσης), and after him Theod., Theophyl., @cum., and the majority of modern commentators. To regard the verse with Calv., Grot., and recently De Wette, Litnem., Koch, as referring to the fraud and covetousness in the affairs of life, is (a) to infringe on the plain meaning of τῷ πράγματι; (B) to obscure the reference to the key-word of the para- graph, ἀκαθαρσία, ver. 7 ; (y) to mar the contextual symmetry of the verses; and, lastly, to introduce an exegesis so frigid and unnatural, as to male us wonder that such good names should be associated with an interpretation so seemingly improbable.” So AtForp and Jowetr. Comp. Notes z and bin the Revision of this verse.—J. L.] t (Our Translators, following the Bishops’ Bible, seem to have taken τούτων as masculine, for the transgressors (WEtLs, Barnes, Suarpr, ConyBEARE), or for the injured parties. But all the other older English versions have 64 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. Even as we also told you before, not merely before this Epistle; that idea lies simply in the aorist (when we were with you, even then our oral teaching was to no other effect); but the apo (comp. mpoAdcyw with προεῖπον, Gal. v. 21) contains a reference to the coming of Christ to judgment: “before it happens;” and (by way of corrobora- tion) fully testified (ch. ii, 12 [11]), Cavin: tanta enim est hominum tarditas, ut nisi acriter perculsi nullo divini judicia sensu tangantur. 5. (Vv. 7, 8.) For God did not call, &c.— What prompted the exhortation, a return to the fun- damental idea of v. 3. The change from ἐπί to ἐν is not without design. The former might possibly mark the condition: on the ground of. But to specify a ground, even in a negative way, does not accord with the free grace of the call. But, since the purpose of an action is the motive of it, ἐπί may also express for the purpose of, hae lege ut esse- mus, Gal. v. 18; Eph. ii. 10; Winer, § 48, C. [Wesster and Wizkinson: “on the understanding of."—J. L.]). Ἐν, on the contrary, is internal; it may be understood by breviloquence (in order to be in) as equivalent to εἰς (WineER, § 50, 5; 1 Cor. vii. 15 with Col. iii, 15); but also of the essential nature of the καλεῖν (BENGEL, Hormann): in the offer and operation of sanctification the καλεῖν existed; that was the element in which the καλεῖν moved. The Apostle does not think so specially as we do of sanc- tification as a gradual subdual of the flesh, but it is for him separation from the world for God, the being made partakers of His Spirit; ἐν as Gal. i. 6; Eph. vi. 4. Wherefore then he that despiseth reject- eth] ;*—dSereiv, to invalidate, treat as null ; more rarely with a personal object: to reject (Luke x. 16); in the Septuagint frequently for 2. Is, xxi. 2; xxiv. 16. To the participle some supply ἐμέ, others τοῦτο, Thy ἐν ἁγιασμῷ κλῆσιν, Tas παραγγελίας (Vv. 2), not incorrectly as regards the sense, but gram- matically it is better to take it (with Dz ΕΊΤΕ, ΤΌΝΕΜΑΝΝ, Hormann [Jowert, ALrorp, Enxicort] ) as without an object, substantively: the despiser [rejecter]. In what follows we must not take οὐκ for ob μόνον, which weakens the force of the state- ment, but thus: The man, through whom the com- mands were conveyed to him, does not even come into view by the side of the despising of God, from whom they spring. In the case of ἄνϑρωπον, to think with (@cumenius, Pent, of the overreached brother, v. 6, or even with Hormann of the misused woman, and the brother injured through covetous- ness, is still more out of the way.t In the addition: who (also, { together with the calling) giveth (continuously), or gave (once) His Holy Spirit unto you, lies the climax of the exhortation, With the reading, wnto us, one might think of the Apostles, who speak from the Spirit {1 Cor. vii. 40), whose word therefore is not to be despised, or again (since this apologetic assurance is here uncalled for) of Christians generally. The bet- the word things, and nearly all commentators agree in making the pronoun neuter.—Our author’s remark on πάντα Tadra—made frequently by those who take his view of τὸ μὴ ὑπερβ. κιτ.λ.---ἰ of no weight. Why may not the reference be to the zarious forms of fleshly uncleanness 1--- .L.) * (See Critical Note 11.—J. L.J t [Exuicorr: “aman, any man, with a latent reference to the Apostle.’—J. L.] t [The author brackets the καί also in the translation. Bee Critical Note 12.--J. L.] ter attested ὑμᾶς, however, is for the readers: He giveth (or gave) into you [in emh hinein, for eis ὑμᾶς] His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who incites te sanctification, to dwell in you; and thus (De Werrs, OtsHavsEN), along with the commandment, the gift also of discernment, illumination through the proph- ets among you (ch, v. 20), and the spirit of discern. ment in yourselves (ch, v. 21), so that ye are able to judge whether I speak from myself—so that ye are ϑεοδίδακτοι (v. 9); and thus to you, moreover, sane tification is made a possible thing, for surely ye have not in vain received His Holy Spirit (Ewa.p); ye: are, therefore, also the more inexcusable, if ye do spise His commandments, grieve the Holy Spirit, and resist His discipline (Eph. iv. 80; Lunemann, Hormann). DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (Ὁ. 1.) There is danger in knowing the way, and not going forward (James i, 22), Standing still tends to backsliding. The point is, to walk continu- ally, step by step, even to the mark. CnrysosTom: The earth returns more than is given to it—But this as fruit, from the living force of the seed; no opera supererogationis, The true περισσεύειν is not any acting over and above the commandments (v. 2), but a more and more willing fulfilment of the command- ments. Zwine.1: No one can here be perfect, and he that standeth, let him take heed lest he fall. Daily we fall and sin; let us also daily arise.—That requires an ever fresh exhortation and admonition in the midst of the frivolity of an age, which heed- lessly despises the judgment of God.— Rieger: When one has once received from another some- thing pertaining to instruction in the matter of sal- vation, this forms a tie between hearts, such that one may hope to effect a still further advance. A word received with love into the heart communicates to us also an impulse to become ever more perlect. [Matrsew Henry: The Apostle taught them how to walk, not how to talk.—Apam CLarRKE: God sets no bounds to the communications of His grace and Spirit to them that are faithful. And as there are no bounds to the graces, so there should be none to the exercise of those graces.—J. L. 2, (V. 2). Bence, remarks, that in the Epistles to the only recently founded church at Thessalonica the Apostle speaks frequently of his commands; but seldom in Epistles to churches of longer standing. Evangelical freedom is no antinomianism. The ordi. nances of God require the obedience of faith, Ab- solute autonomy and creaturehood are mutually irreconcilable. The way to true Christian freedom lies through the obedience of faith, 3. (V. 3.) Sanctification is separation from the things of the world, purification from the pollution of the flesh, the surrender of ourselves to the ser- vice of God, to the dominion of the spirit over the flesh, for a pure offering to God who is holy, that is, who abides like Himself, asserting Himself in His spirituality, and therefore with an absolute superior ity, not only to everything impure, but to all that is created. Lev. xix. 2, Ye shall be holy, for I am holy.—Rircer: Under the impulse of His Spirit it pervades the whole man, so that all his powers and members are occupied in the service of righteous- ness, To this points even the emotion of shame, wherein is proclaimed a consciousness of the fall, and a longing after original innocence.—THE ΒΑΜῈ : We must not regard sanctification as such a lofty CHAPTER IV. 1-8 65 virtue, that only a very few are required to strive after it (comp. Heb. xii, 14). 4, (Vv. 3-6.) We need not be surprised at this warning against gross sins. The gospel does not cut off magically at one blow all danger of seduction, Gross sins on one side, great workings of the Spirit on the other—such is the mighty contrast in the primitive churches. Nowadays everything is brought much nearer to a level. Besides, the lust of the flesh and the thirst for gain are the capital vices, not merely of heathenism, but to this very day espe- cially of so many a rich commercial town. 5. (8-5.) Sensuality is a peculiarly powerful lust of the natural man, and strives against sanctification. Heathen laxity accounts it a matter of indifference, unless some right of wedlock is infringed; nay, by a reciprocal influence of error and lusts (Eph, iv. 22), and in consequence of a wicked ignorance of the holy God, heathenism, while deifying the natural ‘astinct, sanctions even a “holy” debauchery, and tnat even to the most unnatural abominations (comp. my Discourse on the calling of the prophet Hosea, Basel). Even the nobler heathens, e.g. ῬΊΑΤΟ in the Symposium,’ sometimes commend in the wise man as a sublime continence that without which a Christian were no Christian, while they speak of shameful things without any holy abhorrence. How feeble is their protest even against pederasty! And, sure enough, what a state of things was that of the Roman world at that time! A quite different spirit of earnest opposition was shown already even by the law of the Old Covenant (Lev. xviii. 30; Deut. xxii. 21; xxiii. 17); and the gospel thoroughly enforces the demand for resistance even to the secrecy of the thoughts (Matt. v. 28). On one occasion the Apostle appeals to the Christian sense of honor: Ye will not, surely, take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot (1 Cor. vi. 15)? and then again as here: Ye will not be willing, I hope, to live as do the heathen? Such admonitions are still needed by us. For the prevailing tendency-is to think far too lightly of the fleshly lusts, which yet war against the soul—Rircer: When a stale Chris- tianity is ever anew reviving all heathenish vanities in operas, plays, novels, shameful pictures and im- ages, it falls again likewise, along with heathenish unbelief, into heathenish fornication.—To subdue it is not an affair of a single resolution, but of con- tinuous practice——Curysostom: of an earnest dis- cipline—grounded in a knowledge of one’s own bodily and mental disposition, and showing itself by caution in intercourse, avoidance of all temptations, of all impurity in look, gesture, touch, of all seduc- tive reading, whereby the evil treasure of the heart is enlarged, by laying hold of the Divine help, turn- ing to account past experiences, perseverance in prayer, serious contemplation of the shortness of life and the preciousness of the faculties vouchsafed, by exerting the same with faithful diligence, and, above all, by overcoming in the blood of Jesus (Rev. xii. 11). A a means, and one of Divine appoint- ment, is the holy and honorable use of marriage ; “incontinentice medicina et continentia ipsa,” C. Hely. 29. But it must not be contracted in a way of carnal frivolity, nor carried on in a spirit of car- nal license. Paul speaks of these things without any absurd prudery or spurious spirituality; what _be- longs to nature he mentions without disguise, docs not dispute what is due to a natural necessity, but insists on discipline and a hallowed method in the 5 satisfaction of this instinct. We ought to be thank. ful for this sober teaching, equally remote as it is from a false burdening of the conscience througl monkish perverseness (comp. 1 Cor. vii. 3-5, in op position to a merely nominal marriage), and from e privileged explanation of immoderate fleshly lust, Nor are we at liberty to decline even the humiliation implied in the assignment of motive, 1 Cor. vii. 2. Zwinet: Paul does not altogether forbid the affection—gquis enim sine affectu cohabitat uxori suc ?—but whatever in that regard is immoderate and disorderly.—What is essential in holy wedlock is the helping of one another to grow in the rule of the spirit (Riz@ER: sanctification with reference to God and His service); this Divine aim in connection with what is humanly noble, to be mindful of one’s own honor, and not less of the honor and dignity of the woman in a due regard to her personality. This requires a constant modesty; for the Divinely or- dained instinct (Gen. i. 28; ii, 24) is no longer since the fall to be regarded as uninjured (Gen. iii. 7) Whoever abandons himself without reserve to lust, in his case it degenerates for his punishment into a ruling passion, of which he becomes the slave. 6. (V. 5.) That the Gentiles know not God (Gal, iv. 8; Eph. ii, 12; iv. 17 sqq.); this statement seems to be contradicted, not merely by so many beautiful expressions of the heathen respecting Di- vine things, but by the Apostle’s own words, when he pronounces them inexcusable, Rom. i. 19 sqq., for the very reason that they know God by His crea- tion. But the principle of reconciliation is found in the last mentioned passage itself. When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, and thus their thoughts became vain and their foolish heart was darkened. They held down* the truth in unright- eousness. They consequently do not know God as the God before whom we stand, the Holy One with eyes of flame, who is Spirit and not flesh; whom we know only in proportion to our sanctification ; for it is only when we are willing to strive after that which is the will of God, that we receive also the witness of the Spirit, and attain to the full knowedge of Him as the Searcher of our life. Even of men, whom we know merely by sight or from hearsay, not from per- sonal intercourse, we do not say that we know them. In this full, living sense, therefore, the heathen know not God (τὸν ϑεόν, the one, true God). This is a guilty ignorance, of which the general and the indi- vidual guilt are in an inverse proportion. But even the better views—how fragmentary are they, and how little do they amount to an undoubting, salu- tary, popularly pervasive knowledge ! 7. (V. 6.) Paul frequently brings together the two capital vices, lust and covetousness ; comp. also Heb, xiii. 4, 5. Between these two diverging sins- there is affinity and contrast. Both are character- ized by unfaithfulness, unbelief, as if God did not see or avenge—as if He were not a Spirit, nor holy, The man who is unfaithful to God in regard to his body, that nearest of possessions, is easily so like wise in reference to property of every kind, and vice versa. Or perhaps sin develops itself in a one-sided way. Libertines may be loyal and generous in money matters; honest people are frequently covet- ous, niggardly, bent on their own advantage. Τη- deed, covetousness is the vice of upright people, and is often joined to a pharisaic religionism ; it is aiso much more rarely confessed than other sins. Binet * [German : niederhalten, for κα τ exévrwv.—J. L.] 66 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. gives us the statement of a Catholic confessor, that in twenty years innumerable sins had been confessed to him, but not in a single instance covetousness, Then perhaps, in circumstances of special tempta- tion, the mischief breaks out also in the other direc- tion. Not being thoroughly faithful, they have no power of resistance. 8. (Vv. 7, 8.) The Divine call, and, along with that, the communication of the Holy Spirit, enhance responsibility (Luke xii. 48). And indeed the final measure of all sin is not the injury done to our neighbors, but the contempt put upon God (Ex. xvi. 7; 1 Sam. viii. 7). People are fain to put forward as an excuse their dislike to men.—Zwinei1: The parson I will not listen to, the false teacher, the heretic ;—such is the talk of those who do not dare openly to reject God.—To what extent may the cause of the teacher be identified with that of God? A wicked, hierarchical abuse is certainly possible, and occurs when the privilege of the teacher’s posi- tion is throughout, and without question, asserted as infallible; contrary to Matt. xvi. 17, 28; Gal. ii. 11 sqq.; 1 Cor. x. 15; 2 Cor, i, 24. Nevertheless, Luke x. 16 remains in force, in so far as the servants of Christ take upon themselves, above all things, the obligation implied in this promise. And all peniten- tial confession is complete only in the direct personal reference to God (B. li. 6 [4]); when the sinner begins clearly to perceive, that God’s commandments care no human fancies. The more light a man has ‘received, so much the more heinous is his transgres- sion. To grieve the Holy Spirit, with an ever- increasing constancy to do Him despite, may grow into the sin that is never forgiven. Comp. on this point my Discourse in the apologetische Beitriége von Gress und Riceensacu, Basel, 1863. For this rea- son the exhortation, which began with beseeching in Christ, becomes at the close a menace pointing to the vengeance of the Judge. The gospel knows nothing of the idea, that the fear of God’s judgment is an inadmissible motive. Its preaching is through- out two-edged. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 1. To beseech, where one might command, a model for Christ’s ministers (2 Cor. v. 20).—Herus- ner: The exhortation proceeds, 1. on the command of Christ, not of men (nor yet arbitrarily); 2. by His love to us; 8. by our love to Him; 4. by His future appearing.—Burlenburger Bibel: God be- seeches and exhorts, though according to His right and His power he might well threaten and command, Therein appears his kindness and love toward man [Tit. iii. 4]. With so much the greater force should this gracious style of injunction shame and subdue the otherwise hard natural heart.—[See Bishop Brv- ERIDGE’s Brief Notes on this verse.—J. L. V. 3. Srinerin: First holy, then peaceable; this will of God thou wilt not be able to annul.— Hevsyer: All commandments have one object, sanctification. The special Christian motives to sauctification: 1. It is an obligation of gratitude ; 2. itis the sign of the reconciliation received [Rom. v.1i]; 3. Christ is made unto us sanctification [1 Cor. 1. 80]; 4. we owe it to the world; without it, we do the world an injury, and dishonor Christ.— THE saME: The call of Christianity, a call to sancti- fication.— Burlenburger Bibel: To this point is the sum and substance of all Holy Writ directed, that the people of God should also live godly. It is not possible that an unholy person should come into fel lowship with God, the Holy One.—[Vor this is the will of God, your sanctification ;—the text of Mas SILLon’s third Sermon pour une profession re ligieuse.—J. L.] Hevsyer: Christ the Guardian of our chastity.— Curysostom: Men are led to fornication by luxury, wealth, levity, idleness, leisure. These occasiond must be cut off. In particular, he gives an impres sive warning against adultery, as the consequence of the early practice of fornication. ‘‘ Bear with me, if Iseem to speak what is impure, as if I had Jaid aside shame and blushing; for it is with reluctance that I submit to this, but for their sakes, who are not ashamed of the deeds, am I compelled to utter the words, You are ashamed to hear of it? It is, how ever, the deeds that you are ashamcd of, not of the words.” He speaks of these things, he says, as a surgeon probes a festering wound. ‘It is not youth that is responsible for them, otherwise all young men must be licentious; but we fling ourselves into the funeral pile.”—Burlenburger Bibel: A man may restrain himself from all outward eruptions of evil lust, and yet be inwardly full of the stench of the filthiest thoughts and desires, V. 2. Who is allowed to say that he knows God ? The man who loves Him, keeps His commandments, stands in sanctification. Vv. 8-6. The similarity and difference of the two capital vices mentioned by the Apostle.-—Covetous- ness itself is an uncleanness. [V. 7. Letenron: It is sacrilege for you to dis- pose of yourselves after the impure manner of the world, and to apply yourselves to any profane use, whom God hath consecrated to Himself.—J. L.] Vv. 6-8. Dread of the Judge and Avenger is not set aside even by the gospel. 1. Servile fear, indeed (Rom. viii. 15), hath torment and is not in love (1 John iv, 18); but every one who does not fear is not therefore a child of God; better than careless or in- solent frivolity, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. 2. Nay, within the sphere of grace, it is needful to use it with fear and trembling, that it be not turned into lasciviousness (2 Cor. ν. 11; Phil. ii, 12 [Jude 4]). 8. But the fear of God, the only Judge, is identical with trust in Him, the only Sa- viour and Protector (Matt. x. 28-31).—[Lrrq@uron : Men are ready to find out poor shifts to deceive themselves, when they have some way deceived their brother, and to stop the mouth of their own con- science with some quibble and some slight excuse, and force themselves at length to believe they have done no wrong. Therefore the Apostle, to fright them out of their shifts, sets before them an exacter Judge, who cannot be deceived nor mocked, who shall one day unveil the conscience, and blow away these vain self-excuses as smoke ; and that just Lord will punish all injustice—J. L.]J—Berlenburger Bibel: The despising [rejecting] occurs also through a hypocritical faith, when the way of sanctification ig refused as savoring of legalism, The flesh makes ever-fresh trials, whether it may be able to regain ita old ascendency. Vv. 1-8. Srockmeyer (in a series of manuscript Sermons, of which he has most kindly allowed us the use): Exhortation to sanctification: 1. Why is it still a necessity for a church even of true Chris- tians? Their standing is already in sanctification, but they need to become ever more perfect: a, they are still far from having attained to the measure of CHAPTER IV. 9-12. Gi Christ’s example ; it behooves them to strive against the temptation to a self-satisfied stationariness; b. the tendencies to sin are powerful; earlier habits of sin still retain an influence; whereas no department of life is to remain unsanctified, and no toleration is to be given to stubbornness, indolence, excuses, or palliations ; otherwise sanctification gradually ex- pires. 2. What are the particular points made prominent by the Apostle according to the special need of his readers? the two capital sins of the heathen world, fleshly lust and greed of gain. a. To offer wanton apologies for the former is to sink back into heathenism, which knows nothing of God. Ὁ. The second is a reckless encroaching on one’s neighbor, Against this Paul warns, at the same time that he fully recognizes brotherly love (vv. 9, 10); for a man may contribute to charitable objects, and yet all the while seek advantages in trade, that are an overreaching of his neighbors. But he whe on these points is free from reproach, let him try himself whether there are not others, in which his sanctification is still defective. 8. What is the seri ous admonition with which the Apostle confirms and strengthens his word of exhortation? The pro- claimer of evangelical grace speaks of punishment from an avenging God. On all ungodliness of men rests God’s wrath; he, therefore, who scorns the way prepared by God’s grace for escaping that wrath, forsakes the way of grace, and must be over- taken by the wrath; yea, he is worthy of a far sorer condemnation than heathens and Jews, just because to him the Spirit was given. Yes, help to achieve the victory is proffered to him in the strength of the Spirit. 1 Thess. iv, 1-7 is the Epistle for the Sunday Reminiscere, Ul. Incitement to growth in brotherly love, and, that love be not prejudiced, to quiet and sober industry. Cx. IV. 9-12. 9 But as touching [But concerning, περὶ δέ] brotherly love ye need not that I write [have no need that one write]' unto you: for ye yourselves are taught 10 of God to love one another: and indeed ye [for ye also, καὶ γάρ] do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia [that are in the whole of M.]:’ but we beseech [exhort]° you, brethren, that ye increase more and more [to abound 11 yet more],‘ and that ye [and to] study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own® hands, as [according as, καϑώς] we commanded 12 you; that ye may walk honestly [becomingly]° toward them that are without [those without, τοὺς ἔξω], and that ye may [and may] have lack [need]’ of nothing.° 1 V. 1.—[od χρείαν ἔχετε γράφειν. many read. ἔχετε; DAF. G Comp. ch. v.1; and i. 8, Critical Note 4.—J.L.] A.D.3E. K. L, Sin}, . Sin.* (Vulgate, Chrysostom, Lachmann, &c.], ἔχομεν, which is easier; B., εἴχομεν ; 4 minus- { x! and cules, with ἔχετε, have γράφεσθαι, comp. ch. v.1. See the Exegesis. 2 V. 10.2 [τοὺς ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Max.) It is of no importance to the sense, whether we read or omit τούς after ἀδελφούς. Sin.! is quite alone in reading a8. ὑμῶν ἐν. 3 V. 10.--[παρακαλοῦμεν. 4, 10.--[περισσεύειν μᾶλλον. inadvertence—retains it in the Translation.—J. bracket it.—J. L.] 6 VV. 12.--[-εὐσχημόνως. 73 Phil. iv. 8; &c.) is now obsolete.”—J. L.] Comp. ch. iii. 2, Critical Note 2.—J. L.] Comp. v. 1, Critical Note 5.—J. L.] 5 V.11.—i8ious is wanting in B. D.! F. G. {Uaghnenn, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott. .], but is found in A. D.3 The last—probably through K. L. Sin.) (Knapp, Hahn, Riggenbach, Revision: “The use of honest as = honorable, comely (see E. V. Rom. xii. 17; 2 Cor. xiii. 7 V.12.—[ Revision: “The word χρεία occurs 49 times in the N. T., and is nowhere else lack in E. V., which here follows the Bishops’ Bible.””—J. L.] ΒΥ . 12.-[Or, as in the English margin, of no man ;—which Riggenbach, and very many others, including Ellicott Gin the Commentary, not the Translation) prefer. See the Exegesis.—J. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (Vv. 9, 10.) But concerning brotherly love, &c.—The exhortation here turns to a new side of sanctification. Brotherly love (ch. iii, 12) is love to our fellow-Christians, who have the same Father (1 John v. 1), and is the centre of love to all men (2 Pet. i. 7), the Christian loving generally his neighbors on account of the hope, to which he knows and believes them to be called (Col. i. 4, 5 *). The proof of love which Paul praises in the Thessa- * [A very questionable reference. The love there spo- ken of is love to the saints; and, besides, the διά of v. 5 is best connected, not with τήν ἀγάπην of v. 4, but with εὐχαριστοῦμεν of v. 3.—J. L.] lonians (ποιεῖτε, v. 10), is perbaps chiefly, yet not exclusively, the rendering of actual help to those in distress—The reading ἔχετε with γράφειν Line MANN declares to be meaningless. But the two va- riations, ἔχομεν or γράφεσϑαι, might still suggest aa the more difficult the reading rejected by Linemann. As the subject of γράφειν we must supply ἡμᾶς, or assume that it is used impersonally: that one write unto you (of the writing to you ye have no need), Regularly it would be in the passive, as at ch, v. 1 (Heb, v. 12, τοῦ διδάσκειν ὑμᾶς τινά, is, of course, somewhat different *). On the use of the infinitive * (Besides that the τινά there is cften read τίνα, and construed with τὰ στοιχεῖα.---. 1.) 68 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. active, where the passive might have been expected, comp Winer, § 44. 8, Note 1. Ltnemann, indeed, would allow of the application of this rule only where the infinitive is used simply as a substantive, not where it governs a case.—OLSHAUSEN (with the read- ing ἔχομεν) finds the antithesis: When God teaches you, J may be silent. But ἔχετε likewise gives an antithesis: Ye need not that one write unto you; fcr ye yourselves are, ὅς. Taught of God, ϑεοδίδακτο. not respecting God, but according to the analogy of such compounds, dy God (comp. John vi. 4 ; Is. liv. 13; Jer. xxxi. 84; Ps. xvi. 7); not merely, that is, historically, out of God’s word in the Old Testament, or from Jesus’ commandment of love (John xiii.), or through the prophets amongst you (ch. v. 20), but inwardly through the Holy Ghost (v. 8).—Eis τό, as ch, iii. 10 and several times already, marks the end and aim of the teaching—For ye also do it (the ἀγαπῶν), and thus show by deeds that ye are taught of God. Toward [all] the brethren that are in the whole of Macedonia, not merely in Thes- salonica; which implies a lively intercourse with the Christians in Philippi, Beroea, and perhaps at small scattered stations, offshoots from the central church- es. Of this zeal of love he must have been in- formed by Timothy. The interval since their con- version was long enough for the purpose (against Baur).—But why was it necessary to write to such persons against fornication, and especially against πλεονεξία, according to our view? Was not this ex- cluded beforehand by brotherly love? Well, the very purpose of his warning is, that temptation should not overthrow them, He certainly makes no such reproach as: “ There are amongst you many πόρνοι) nor yet: “many mAcovéxra:;” merely this: ‘‘ You might be threatened with it; tempta- tion is strong ;” and even with a good disposition a man, whose integrity is not perfect, may deceive himself in regard to prevailing sins. It is with indi- viduals that the evil begins (α little leaven, &c., 1 Cor. v. 6); and there are particular sinful tenden- cies, the criminality of which is less recognized (again: a little leaven), There are, in fact, inward contradictions, imperfect conditions; and so even a tendency to uncleanness, to greediness, where there is yet, on the other hand, a zealous love. Now, the Apostle would strengthen them, while he writes en- couragingly: You know truly what brotherly love requires, and act accordingly ; only it is still impor- tant, that ye become ever more perfect; then too will you be ever less in danger from πλεονεξία. Thus in ‘Ye bave no need that one write unto you”? we have no mere figure of speech (transitio ; {Curysostom, THeopayLact, Peri, Litnemann, Ex- ticoTr]), no delicate turn of mere urbanites [Scnorr], but what was intended as a serious ac- knowledgment of the actual existence amongst them in power of brotherly love. The figure of speech is real: it appeals to what is already true of them, and then says: Go on, improve (so De Werte). 170 abound yet more, was the general exhortation of v. 1; it recurs in v. 10 in this particular relation ;—in orotherly love, not in a mere outward spending for eases of necessity. (Unnatural is Ewatn’s reference of περισσεύειν to what follows: Yet fur more and emulously to be quiet). 2. (δ. 11.) And to place your honor there- * (LONEMANN and Exxicort lay “the principal empha- sis on the fant of their being already taught ’—@ecodiSan- rou ;— ALFORD, on αὐτοὶ vmets.—J. L.] in [And to study] *—We are not to supply from what precedes, in brotherly love. Opposed to this ia the fact, 1. that φιλοτιμεῖσϑαι commonly governs an infinitive, and most naturally, therefore, in the pres. ent instance, the immediately following ἡσυχάζει» &e.; for, 2. unless the latter be allowed to depend on ¢iAor., it would stand (awkwardly) attached hy asyndeton. The word φιλοτ. has two meanings: to be ambitious, fond of honor ; with the infinitive: to place one’s honor in a thing, to emulate, zealously; strive (2 Cor, v. 9; Rom. xv. 20). Here, in what? in something that the world does not highly value. BENGE notices the ‘Oxymoron: φιλοτιμία politica erubescit ἡσυχάζειν." It is, therefore, instead of shining and seeking a false renown, to seek honor rather in being quiet; tranquil, calm in God (in con trast with a wordy volubility, Rieger); concerned about the training of the hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. iii. 4); comp. ἡσυχία, 2 Thess. ii, 11, 12; 1 Tim. ii, 2, 11, 12; where the opposite is me ριεργάζεσϑαι, πολυπραγμοσύνη, a loud, ostentatious officiousness—the driving disposition, which with its zeal about incidental matters affects a deceptive sub- stitute for Phil. ii. 12. This joux. branches out in the sequel on two sides: a. τὰ ἴδια πράσσειν, and b. ἐργάζεσϑαι ταῖς χερσίν, which is not the same thing. The former—in the classics, τὰ ἑαυτοῦ or ἑαυτῶν πράσσειν (see Wetstein)—is to attend to one’s own affairs, and so to serve God with fidelity in the calling which every individual has received for him- self, instead of that bustling, obtrusive meddling with other men’s matters (1 Pet. iv. 15), in which spiritual conceit finds occupation. This, conse- quently, belongs to the spirit of the calling, accord ing to its individual characteristics; and the mani festation of this proper feeling is to work with one’s own hands. The work does not jar with the quiet ness, but is promotive of it. It is only by a multi plicity of aims that the quietness is disturbed. Wath the hands, as Paul did (ch. ii. 9; Acts xx. 34).— According as we commanded you. This ex hortation, therefore, belonged also to the command ments which he had given from the first (v. 2). comp. 2 Thess. iii, 10. From the beginning he clearly foresaw the possibility of an unwholesome deterioration ; nor did this require tonger time foi its development (against Baur). Most of the Thes salonians, it is probable, were literally handicrafts men, and hence the expression, from which ther follows an application of the principle to every call ing. But even spiritual employments were con nected with manual labor (Paul), And in Ps, xe. 17 the expression, the work of our hands, goes beyond mere handicraft. 8. (V. 12.) That ye, &—This statement of the purpose is by Ewaip made dependent on παρηΎ γείλαμεν, and so on the parenthetical clause ; better by Linemann, Hormann and others, on the verb of the principal clause, παρακαλοῦμεν---φιλοτιμ. &e. 3 it not merely was, but it still is, the object of his ex. * [φιλοτιμεῖσθαι--- ΟΠ ἃ also in Rom. xv. 20 and 2 Cor v.9. Enzicorr: ‘In all, perhaps, some idea of τιμή may be recognized, but in 2 Cor. l. c. and in the present passage that meaning recedes into the background.” In most vers sions and commentaries, however, it is retained, as by our German: die Ehre darein zu setzen; and WorpswortH: “The love of glory, the moving passion of the Greeks. ... The Apostle turns the eager stream of their vainglorious activity, loving ever to be seen, and exulting in the foam and spray of its own restlessness, into a quiet lake of re« ligious life, clear and deep, reflecting in its peacefal mirror ΠΩΣ ΟἾΟΝ of heaven.” And he quotes Is. xxx. 7.- CHAPTER IV. 9-12. 65 hortation. This object likewise again divides itself ito propriety, seemliness of deportment (1 Cor. xiv. 40; vii. 35), anda generous independence; such will be the result of a quiet performance of one’s own business, and of diligence in labor. The first thought was of God; then come the brethren; and finally those without also are not forgotten. This was the title given by the Jews to the Gentiles; by the gospel, to those who are outside of the true Church, whether Jews or Gentiles (1 Cor. ν, 12). Toward them also Christendom has an obligation of ove, the Missionary office (comp. Col. iv. 5; 1 Cor. x. 32)—And may have need of nothing [or, of no one]. As people who earn their own bread. Mydevds is by Carvin (nulla re), Bencer, Liwne- mann [Jowerr, Atrorp, &c.], taken as neuter: want for nothing [Rev iii, 17]; Linem.: “To stand in need of no man is for man an impossibil- ity.” But the limitation of the idea is obvious from the context [so Exuicorr]. If Liinemann did not twist the idea into that of indigence, he would have to object to his own explanation, that it is not less impossible for a man to stand in need of nothing. Of course, it cannot absolutely be proved neither, that the word must be taken as masculine. The strongest argument is its proximity to τοὺς ἔξω. To have need of no one—of those without? but to them they could least apply ;—of the Christians? for this there is least in the context. We do best to take it (with Scnott, De Wetrz, Hormann) quite generally and without more precise definition: Through honest labor and quiet trust in God you will be free from the necessity of having recourse to men. Where an exigency arose invincible even by the most faithful diligence, there was then scope for the exercise of brotherly love. 4, (Vv. 9-12.) But a question still remains as to the connection of the two halves of this section, and particularly of vv. 10 and 11. In the close connec- tion of the two infinitives περισσ. and φιλοτ. by means of καί many, since CarysostomM, THEODORET, &c., have recognized the indication of an inward union; Curysostom: It is the part of love, not to receive, but to give. Others otherwise. Many, as Dz Werte: I exhort you to grow ever in brotherly love, still to increase in your readiness to benefit your brethren, and also in your care not to endanger love through indolence, whereby you would become a burden to one another (ch. v. 14), and would at last incur the blame of rendering it impossible, that all should any longer love the brethren aright. This would be said especially to the poor: Beware of abusing this doctrine. Ye too may practise brother- ly love, if ye walk orderly ; ye too would fall into πλεονεκτεῖν through indolence, particularly that of a seemingly spiritual sort. But Lijnemann protests with reason against the division of the church into two classes. Even φιλοτιμ. ὅτο. is said to all, and the working with their own hands comes in only secondarily, being preceded by that about being quiet and doing their own business, which concerns all. Liweann, however, appears to be mistaken in regarding φιλοτιμ. as something new hastily fastened on, and having no reference to what goes before. The connection of the two infinitives by καί binds then together as one exhortation: Still to grow in love, and also in your zeal for being quiet, every one working out his own salvation, and faithfully per- forming also his external labor—every one emulous- ly inciting his neighbor, and allowing himself to be incited, to fidelity ; this too belongs to love (Heb. x. 24, 25). Thus, the new exhortation likewise is added with a view to saving brotherly love from being damaged; and even outwardly among the worldly-minded the opposite course of conduct would create offence, and so in that quarter also would vio late " obligation of love (Hormann compares Epb iv. 28). The excitement, against which Paul has to war, the Thessalonians, is not at all of ἃ political (ZwinGxt), but religious nature. They were adrift in a new world of ideas, and in more than one in stance perhaps had thus been deprived of bread NEANDER and most assume an eschatological com- plexion, as if they were absorbed in the kingdom of heaven. Dz Werte, on the contrary, would confine himself to pious excitement generally, because Paul makes no mention of the eschatological ground, but rather speaks quite freely (ch. v. 1 sqq.) of the last things, and indeed in such a way precisely, as might easily through misapprehension occasion an increase of the agitation ; which he would hardly have done, had the agitation already been of that character, He therefore confines himself to the supposition of an idle officiousness, proselytism, concern for the salvation of other people’s souls, &. [Worps- wortH also speaks of the spirit of περιεργία, πολυ- πραγμοσύνη, and ἀλλοτριοεπισκοπία as ‘‘ characteris- tic of the Greek population long before the gospel appeared. Comp. Acts xvii. 21; 1 Tim. v. 18; 1 Pet. iv. 15; and the commentators on Juvenal, iii. 61-70."—J. 1.1 Still Liwewany is right in holding fast to the idea, that the expectation of the last things, whereby earthly interests were reduced in importance in their eyes, had formed the centre of their excitement. To this, he thinks, we are led by the context, the transition to the eschatological ques- tion, v. 13 sqq., being well accounted for by the association of ideas, and the writer then resuming, ch. v. 12 sqq., his practical exhortations (somewhat differently Hormann, see on v.13), We only add, that even the section ch. iv. 13-v. 11 results in prac- tical exhortations, against despondency, and to a sober vigilance. In giving heed to the νήφωμεν of ch, v. 6, 8, they would not be cut off from watchful- ness and waiting for the Lord, but only from an un- sound πολυπραγμοσύνη. The Apostle’s words, there- fore, contain really nothing, whereby a spurious excitement, even if it were of an eschatological nature, could be increased. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 9.) Christian beneficence was a new vir- tue, altogether unknown to the heathen. ‘See, bow they love one another!” was the saying amongst those, who still looked on from without (comp. John xiii, 34, 35; 1 Pet. i, 22; 8 John 5, 6), But the outward manifestation must not be separated from its inner root, brotherly love. Almsgiving from sympathy with external suffering, doing good generally on principles of humanity, philanthropy faith in mankind, these things are not to be de spised, but must be distinguished from Christian brotherly love. In many philanthropic enterprises there has been exhibited a remarkable persistency that may well put Christians to shame; but fre quently also motives of selfishness, calculation, am- bition have betrayed a temper at variance with the Christian spirit. The Christian, understanding by his >wn case the ruin of man, knows that the deep 70 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. est root of an enduring love, the true strength of an unwearying patience, the assurance of the highest aim over and above the mere outward relief, con- sists only in his loving his neighbors as sons of the sane Father through the One Son of the Father. Wherever this life from God really exists in force, there is found the capacity of a vigorous, unob- structed love. And this is no spirit of particularism —as little so, or even less so than the Old Testament eparateness of the people of God. Human perver- aity, it is possible, may turn it into a matter of nar- row sectarian partisanship, and thereby vitiate love itself. The truth is that love to those, who are already brethren in fact, is the hearth at which the flame is fed, that we may further love those also who are still to become so. This brotherhood, however, does not stand in a formula, but in the life from God, of which the first token is a sense for what is holy. 2. To be taught of God is the great end to which all are called. God, who is love, teaches to love; “ doctrine divine vis confluit in amorem,” BENGEL. With regard to the means: God’s word of the Old and New Testaments, expounded by its living preachers, is not to be refused; but it does not elucidate what is most vital, the immediate relation between God and man, between Spirit and spirit. In the consummation no one will teach his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Him, and that from their own experience of the forgive- ness of sins (Jer. xxxi. 34). This does not exclude, as the way to this highest end, mutual assistance, the edification of one another (ch. v. 11), the service, especially, of gifted members (1 Cor. xii. 8, 28); and this is the ordinary way, for the Divine illumi- nation is not one independent of means, or magical, but an introduction to the historical salvation. But even now, in this preparatory stage, with the full use of means through instruction and education, a point is reached, where human help must cease, and those alone are made manifest as true disciples (μαϑηταί), on whom the light of the Spirit moving in the word arises inwardly—for whom the lessons received from the word are inwardly interpreted, made illuminating, written on their hearts. Only an evil, hierarchical turn of mind regards with distrust this growth of an independent Christianity ;* toa godly-minded instructor it is the greatest joy, when he detects it in those under his care (comp. John iv. 42). Itis the Spirit bearing them witness that they have received a life from God, and shedding into their heart the love of God (Rom. v. 5; viii. 15, 16; 1 Cor. ii, 12; 1 John ii. 27; v. 6). It is a teaching, which is at the same time an influence, such as the law cannot exert. And, moreover, with the testimony that this is a Divine, holy, blessed, eternal life, there is joined an assurance that we have received this life from this source, and from none other. The witness of the Holy Ghost certifies to us that we are the children of God, and certifies us at the same time, that no otherwise do we become, or have we become 80, than through being begotten of the incorruptible seed of the Divine word (James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 25). In the last passage likewise there is connected with this an exhortation to broth- erly love (v. 22); comp. 1 John ν. 1. 3. (Vv. 10, 11.) We perceive the Apostle’s deep insight in this, that, after the warning against covet- ousness, he now also directs his warning to the oppo- * (Of course, this must not be strained so far as to con- trady.t 1 Cor. xii. 12-30; Eph. iv. 11-16; &c.—J. L.] site side, that they who are careless and indifferent in things of earth may not fancy that they are in no danger. Above all, a still inexperienced spiritual character may easily degenerate into a certain vain perverseness. What is true in the matter of mutual exhortation is recognized by Paul (ch. v. 11); but it is something different, when a man praginatically sets up for a guardian of souls, without warrant takes the brethren under his charge, gratuitously troubles himself about others—as if there were no longer need for us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. A singular instance of this perversity is given by the Apostle, 1 Tim. vi. 2. There is already a taint of unsoundness, when one connects the Christian character so closely with the outward appearance, that he values, for example, a simple, faithful nursery-maid less highly than he does a deaconess. It is not Christianity that is to be blamed for this, but the heart of man in its abuse of Christianity. True fidelity, again, in the care of other souls can proceed only from the man whe .- looks well to his own. 4, With this fidelity in working out our own sal- vation the Apostle joins in particular, the faithful industry of humble labor in our earthly calling. He tolerates no neglect of the ordinary duty of labor under a spiritual pretext. A certain officiousness, which under pious pretences abandons itself to sloth, allowing itself to be supported by others, and giving most reasonable offence to worldly-minded persons, shows itself especially in great cities (Von GERLACH). (In the country people know one another more inti- mately.) Our passage is very important as pointing out the true position of the Christian in regard to the tasks of this earthly life. By example and exe hortation Paul checks all shame of a false spiritual. ity, all arrogant and sluggish pretension, as if Chris- tians were too good to labor in the sweat of their face. He teaches us to recognize the worth of in- dustry. True, the Christian should have bis treasure and beart in heaven (Matt. vi. 19 sqq.); should not be bent on becoming rich (1 Tim. vi. 9; comp. v. 17 sqq.); should have as though he had not (1 Cor. vii. 29 sqq.); and yet he is not to suppose that he must flee out of the world (John xvii. 15); im the world to be kept from the evil, that is his aim; to seek, not worldly gain, but yet an economical inde- pendence ; no religiose vivere in the hermit’s sense (TuxornyLacr: Is fasting, or sleeping on the ground, to work with the hands?); no morality without the religious foundation; but at the same time no religiousness without moral autheutication. Such is the apostolical order, The moderns, per- haps, were not the first to set this light on the candlestick, but our Reformers restored it to its place (bona opera juxta vocationem). Faithful in. dustry is a test of ἔαμμπην and sincerity, a meang of discipline and self-control. The sons of Indian princes must on their conversion stand this test, The objection, that Christianity disqualifies for a life on earth, affects not Christianity itself, but merelv its unwholesome corruptions. History shows what « blessed influence the Christian spirit has exerted in all the departments of human activity. This is shown in the largest sphere, and not less in the smallest and most inconspicuous, Indeed it is pre- cisely in this devoted fidelity that a main proof must be given of a sincere Christian feeling, 5. The Apostle is possessed by an earnestly ex pectant hope in the coming of the Lord, and, even when his business is to calm the emotions, he can- CHAPTER IV 2-12. Ti not do it by saying to them like the wicked servant (Matt. xxiv. 48): My Lord delayeth His coming, But what is great and admirable is the discretion with which, with all his liveliness of aspiration, he yet avoids all revolutionizing of this αἰών, and not- withstanding that he hopes for the Lord’s coming as nigh at hand, nay, on account of this hope, he only the more insists on daily fidelity in earthly things (1 Cor. vii, 20 sqq.). “Ὁ world, thou art for us too emall!” This he understands throughout not in any monkish, but in a sound and sober sense. So- briety consists in never neglecting our daily duty— in being at all times faithful in ordinary, every-day, petty and extraneous concerns, not indeed because the material of our labor, but because the exercise of fidelity on that material is of importance for eter- nity. Two men working together in one field, two women at one mill—such is the order until the com- ing of the Lord. The difference, according to which they are taken or rejected, is in their inward spirit at their work, 6. (V. 12.) With worldly-minded persons the predominant consideration has respect to their equals, Christians inquire first, as to God, then as to the judgment of their brethren who have some under- standing of Divine things, and lastly as to what oth- ers say ;—/astly ; and therefore they are not en- tirely indifferent to that. This were contrary to humility and wisdom, which are willing to be told a truth even by the malevolent; and it were also a violation of the missionary obligation, and conse- quently of love. Roos: Give no occasion to those without to say, that faith in Christ makes idlers and beggars. Indeed, Curysostom already mentions, that the heathen called healthy beggars Xpioreu- πόρους. But not begging merely, a lazy enthusiasm also could not but discredit the gospel. This it was important to avoid. That the Church should be respected, that even her enemies should not be able to upbraid her with anything, and that no other re- proach than that of Christ should rest on her (1 Pet. ii. 9, 12), is an advantage towards which every one must be careful to contribute his share, and a condi- tion of a blessed outward efficiency. The gospel loes not destroy, but sanctifies, the delicate sense of honor and self-reliance—fostering the indepen- dence of a character which has its foundation in God. This is something quite different from a haughty severity, and is quite compatible with the simple acceptance of that which God, in a time of Divine visitation, presents also by the hand of brotherly love. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vv. 9. Heusner: Brotherly love was to be the most familiar thing for every Christian.—THEorny- Lact: What is extremely important needs not to be taught; it is obvious to all.—Berlenburger Bibel: For what reason may the admonition about brotherly love follow that respecting continence? That we may understand it of no other than a pure love.— Heupner: The Christian is a genuine divine, taught by the Spirit, not formed merely by othcrs’ teach ing.—Tne same: He who does not practise what ha knows, has learned nothing yet from God.—(Ber lenburger Bibel: He knows it merely after the law and the letter, but not after the Spirit. )}—Tsx saME: Not until God takes us into His school do we learn anything aright.—His teaching is at the same time a conferring of strength, pleasure, impulse. V. 10. Wisdom unites encouragement with in citement.—TnropnyLact: Halt not behind expecta: tion under the idea that you are already perfect.— Diepricn: True love never satisfies itself, and would willingly be urged to ever higher perform. ances. —StTarkE: Thinkest thou that thou art already rich enough in love? Thou errest greatly, and art still weak in thy knowledge.—The debt of love ig never fully paid off (Rom. xiii. 8). The further one gets, the greater becomes his task.—Berlenburger Bibel: They who dwell together are neighbors to one another. But true Christians do not confine their love so narrowly, but spread it abroad to all, God- is essentially boundless Love; the love of be lievers is boundless through grace. V.11. Von Gertacu: The Christian should live more inwardly than outwardly. The inner quietness will then show itself also in a quiet, industrious life, in which each man cares first for himself and those belonging to him, before he will help others.—This is not selfishness, but fidelity in one’s calling. — Starke: The spiritual or inner Sabbath of souls.—- The obligation to work exists also for the rich; for women.—RiEGER: A man’s mere intentions about some matter give him more trouble than the busi- ness itself. The one ensnaring thought of a deter- mination to become rich is more fatal to quietness, than hands full of necessary work.—THE saME: Occupation and work are not hostile to quietness, but promotive of it.—[Barrow has two Sermons on this verse.—J. L.] Vv. 11, 12. True honor, not in the first instance from men, but from God, and so at last from men also; ind, is an essential, weighty glory; δόξα, amongst men merely an empty show.—Rizcer: Oh what a great thing it would be, if we could only restore to men the true conception of honor, and divert them from much false seeking for honor in what is sheer vanity; so that one should seek hig honor in quietness, in the education of the inner man of the heart (1 Pet. iii. 4). Carefulness to please God supplies a stronger motive to an honor. able walk, than ever comes from inculeating ever so largely the desire of honor. V. 12. The value of independence, not merely from a human, but from a Divine point of view. Abraham, Gen. xiv. 22 sqq.—Berlenburger Bibel : Whoever desires much from the world must be ita slave; which is not becoming in the royal priest- hood. Hevsner: Two reasons for industry. 1. The honor of Christianity before the world demands it; 2. A noble independence of human bondage existe not without it.—1 Thess, iv. 1-7 is the Epistle for the Sunday called Reminiscere [2d Sunday in Lent}, 72 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL IO THE THESSALONIANS. Il. Cu. IV. 18-V. 11. Instruction and Exhortation in regard to the Coming of the Lord. Cs. IV. 18-18, 1. They who have fallen asleep will rise again, and so at the Lord’s Advent will suffer no loss. 18 But I would [we would]* not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [those who are falling asleep],’ that ye sorrow * not, even 14 as others [the rest also]* which [who] have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again [arose],° even so them also which sleep in Jesus [so 15 also those who fell asleep through Jesus|* will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by [in, ἐν] the word of the Lord, that we which are alive ond remain [who are living, who are being left over]’ unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which aré asleep [shall in no wise precede those who fell 16 asleep].° For [Because, ὅτι] the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God [with voice of arch., and with trumpet of 6.1," and the dead in Christ shall rise [arise] first ; 17 then we which are alive and remain [who are living, who are being left over]™ shall be caught up together with them [shall together with them be caught away]” in the clouds [in clouds],” to meet the Lord * in the air [into the air] ;** 18 and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 1 V. 13.—All the uncials [and all the recent editors] give θελόμεν instead of the Recepta θέλω. 2°V.13.—A. B. Sin. give the rarer κοιμωμένων ; the other majuscules, the raore frequent κεκοιμημένων ; only one Manuscript of a late date has the aorist, as in vy. 14, 15. [κοιμωμένων = are falling asleep from time to time, comp. σεριλειπόμενοι of vy. 15, 17 ;—or simply, are sleeping ; so Am. Bible Union, Alford, Ellicott, Alford quotes the epitaph: τερὸν ὕπλον κοιμᾶται.---. L.] 8 V. 13.—The subjunctive λυπῆσθε is given by B. Sin. and others; but λυπεῖσθε by A. and others. On ἵνα with the resent indicative, see Winer, p. 259. Formerly all such places were corrected; at present we begin to recognize a care- lecsuvae in the later speech, the only question being, whether it shows itself as early as the Apostle’s time, or is charge- able on the copyists. 4 Υ. 18.--[καὶ oi λοιποί. The καί belongs to οἱ λοιποί as one member of the comparison, not, as might be inferred from our Common Version, to καθώς.---. L.J 6 V.14.—[avéory. Only in a few instances out of a large number is ἀνίστημι in our Version “to raise up again,” “to rise again.” Comp. v.16; Rom. xiv. 9; &c.—J. L.] 6 V. 14.—[otitws καὶ 6 Θεὸς τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Revision: ‘* The aorist here and at v. 15 implies a back- ward look from the time of the resurrection, when of each one of the departed it may be said, as of Stephen (Acts vii. 60) : ἐκοιμήθη. Comp. also E. V. Acts xiii. 86 and 2 Pet. iii. 4.—For the connection of διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, sce the Exegetical Notes.—In this verse Sin.) has ἐπιστεύομεν, but this is corrected in Sin.2—J. L.] 7 'V.15.—[oi ζῶντες οἱ meptrerréuevor—comp. the temporal import of κοιμωμένων, v.13, in Note 2 above. Here, in questionable, but convenient, modern English phtate : are being left over, as our brethren in Christ successively depart.— περιλειπ.; in the New Testament only here.—J. L.] 8 V.15.—[od μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας. For the double negative, see E. V. Matt. v. 18, and often elsewhere. German: durchaus nicht.—For the force of the aorist participle, see Note 6 above.—J. L.] 9. V.16.—[These nouns are anarthrous in Greek; and the indefiniteness is just as allowable and as expressive in English.— Worthy of note also is the Greek arrangement of the whole clause: ““ Because the Lord Himself with a shout, with voice of archangel, and with trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven.”—J. L.) 20 V. 17.-[The same phrase as in v. 15 (though Sin. has here περιλιπόμενοι). See there Note 7.—J. L.] 11 V.17.—[dua σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα. Revision: “The direction is determined, not by the verb, but by εἰς ἀέρα." Comp. Matt. xiii. 19; Acts viii. 39; &c.—J. 1,.} 12 Ψ, 17.—[eév νεφέλαις, as in Mark xiii. 26.—J. L.J 18 -V.17.—[Literally : unto meeting of the Lord ; German, zur Begegnung des Herrn.—J. L.] 14-V.17.—[eis aépa—connected with ἁρπαγησόμεθα. Rigeenbach follows the modern German versions in changing Luther’s in der Luft into in die Luft. And similarly Alford, Ellicott (the Commentary—to which, however, the Transla- tion, as occasionally happens, is not conformed), Vaughan, &c.—J. L.] EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL. in a way not of rebuke but of encouragement, there being no occasion for him to censure any deliberate 1. (V. 13.) But we would not have you to | perverseness, With a lively transition (as in 1 Cor, oe ignorant, &c.—This or some kindred phrase is | v. and xii. and frequently) he leads in medias res frequently used by Paul, when he would introduce | The Thessalonians perhaps had asked a question, of tome new and important instruction (1 Cor. x.1; | Timothy may have given information respecting xii, 1; Col. ii. 1; Phil. i, 12); occasionally also in | their uneasiness about some of their number who eommunicating something personal, in which he feels | had died. Whether these were many or few, or a special interest (Rom, i, 13), Here in particular | even none at all, so that they were troubled merely he now begins to supply their deficiencies (ch. iii. | by the imminent peril of death, they had no clear 10) in respect of knowledge; in a very kindly spirit, | ness of view as to their fate. On the connectiox CHAPTER IV. 18-18. 79 with what goes before, see on ch. iv. 9-12 the Exe- getical Note 4. Formerly Hormanw likewise so un- derstood the matter; now (since what follows is not instruction generally respecting Christ’s return, but merely a consolatory addition with regard to those asleep) he rather assumes as the connecting thought their brotherly love in its anxiety about the depart- ed. That ye sorrow not, he says; not: that ye be not excited, Ch. v., however, adds still another ad- monition to sobriety. In questions of this sort no decision of exclusive validity can be hit upon,— Those who have fallen asleep (perfect), or those who are falling asleep (present; who are continually going to sleep ;—as afterwards: the liv- ing, who are being left over, continually); so he calls the dead, by a gentle euphemism, 1 Cor. xi. 30 (present); xv. 20 (perfect). Comp. Soph. «Εἴ, 509; then the Septuagint Is, xiii, 17 for 320; Job iii, 18, for 15; Dan, xii, 2, Septuagint καϑεύδειν. But it is more than merely an expression to veil a terrible reality, nor does it denote merely the re- freshment of rest, deliverance from earthly trouble ; on the contrary, it is the promise of an awaking, now especially tbat there is an Awakener (John xi. 11). We are not to think of a sleep of the soul, an entire unconsciousness. The figure is taken from the body, ἃ dead man resembling one asleep. Zwinewi, Cavin and others oppose with reason the Psychopannychians, whose dogma expressly contra- dicts other passages—the parable, Luke xvi. 19 sqq.; the promise, Luke xxiii, 43 (To-day /); the apostolic statements, 2 Cor. v. 8; Phil. i. 28; Rev. xiv. 13 (Blessed from henceforth—with the Lord). Even here the circumstance that Paul opposes to their sorrowfulness the resurrection, and only with this connects the being with Christ (v. 17), by no: means implies that those asleep in Christ are not yet blessed, or are not with Christ, as Phil. i. expressly teaches. He looks beyond the intermediate state, because he would offer the entire fulness of consola- tion, and that with reference to the anxieties of the Thessalonians, of which Note 4 will speak. 2. That ye sorrow not, even as the rest (of men, those not Christians) also (in comparisons, see v. 5) &., λυποῦνται; Who have no. hope. Here he speaks not exclusively of the heathen, as in v. 5: who know not God. In Eph. ii, 12, indeed, it is specially the heathen whom he describes as stran- gers to Israel’s promises, having no hope (in the widest sense, with reference to all Messianic prom- ises), and without God in the world, Israel, on the contrary, had promises and therefore also hopes, and # the Sadducees rejected these, there is yet in that place no thought of them. There is indeed, how- ever, still a difference between having the promises and the acual living holding fast of the hope, and it is not merely among the heathen that the latter is wanting. Even supposing that he has them espe- cially in his eye, it is yet not without reason that the expression is kept general. But the Apostle does not require that Christians shall not sorrow at all (Linzotann : because the phrase is not, μὴ τοσοῦτον ds, but simply: their sorrow should not be of the same sort as, etc. (καϑώς, as in Eph, iv. 17. Hor- * (Arronp, Exuicort, WEBSTER and WILKINSON, agree with Lonemann; of course, without denying the lawful- ness of such sorrow 88 is spoken of in John xi. 35, Phil. ii. 97,&c. They understand the Apostle to be thinking solely of ἃ sorrow occasioned by the apprehension that death is in some way a calamity to believers, and that sorrow he for- bids apsolutely.. J. L.] mann [Worpsworrs, after AvausTInz; and «4 most.—J. L.]). 3. (V. 14.) For if we believe, &c.—He thus gives the reason why they should not sorrow in a heathenish way ; εἰ is not used in the sense of sig.- dem, but the hypothetical turn just so much the more challenges their assent: i/, as we at least have no difficulty in believing (ch. i, 3,10; ii. 18); if we not merely hold it to be true, but build thereon with confidence (the meaning of πιστεύειν), making it the foundation of our life;—from this he then draws the conclusion, from which we in our ready despondency hang back.—That Jesus (he uses the human name) died (here not, fell asleep, but with- out any disguise he speaks of death), And did not every one believe that? Certainly we are not to assume here (with some Greek interpreters) a cau- tion against a Docetic denial of the bodily death, Christ’s death and resurrection are really to him the two inseparable pillars of the faith: He died (for us, ch, v. 10), and what more? did he remain in death ? no! died and arose; as the Firstfruit (1 Cor. xv. 20), He brought to light a victorious life. But he arose out of death, was.not glorified without passing through death; not even Christ.—So also those who, ὅς. Οὕτως is not simply a sign of the apodosis (OLsHAUSEN), any more than it is so at v. 17, but: so, as the Crucified arose (Rev. xi. 5); or: so, as the consequence of that (Rom. v. 12); still better: so, as made like Him in death and resurrec- tion ;—God will bring them with Jesus; it is not said: He will awake them.* The turn which the apodosis takes is concise and forcible, the clause, if we believe, being followed, not by another of the subjective kind: so we believe also, but objectively, by a matter of fact: so God will do thus and thus. If this faith of ours is the truth, if on this truth of God we firmly rely, then it follows, ὅθ. Otherwise Koca and Hormann; if we believe expresses, they think, a condition: then, in that case, so will God— that is, bring with Jesus those who in this faith have fallen asleep. But this is a harsher incongruity than what Hormann censures in the other explanation ; it must then have been said: So will He, when we fall asleep, awaken us.—It is still disputed, to what διὰ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ belongs. Almost all the moderns (De Werrts, Linemann, Hormann, and others) refer it to ἄξει, as being unsuited to κοιμηϑέντας, which would require ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ, as at v. 16 ἐν Χριστῷ, and so 1 Cor. xv. 18; and because to say that ἐν stands for διά [διά for ἐν. So Jowerr still; also Wesster and Wixxinson.—J. L.J, and both for 2, is obsolete. But ἄξει has already its more pre- cise specification in σὺν αὐτῷ, and with κοιμηϑέντας it is desirable to find their Christian character, not merely indicated by the context, but expressly de- clared (opposed to the view of Kocn and Hormann), The meaning, moreover, may well be this: those who fell asleep through Jesus, whose falling asleep is through the mediation of Jesus [Wxnster and WILKINSON: τοῦ "Incot—the article referring em- phatically to Jesus as presented in the first member, Jesus who died and rose again.—J. L.]; so Cury- sostom, Lurner, Catvin, Grotius, BrncrL, Hit GENFELD, and others.| He will bring them with * (Arorp errs in making the bringing of departed saints = ‘‘their being raised when Jesus appears.” Their resurrection is implied in their being brought.—J. L.] t [Several, as MvuscuLvs, ARETIUs, HamMmonD, ΤΊΠΟΤΕ son, &c., unduly restrict the reference, as if martyrs onl} were meant: who fell asleep on account of Jesus, for yerud 74 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. Him (Jesus)—this many take as pregnant for (awak- sn and) bring. (Through Jesus as Mediator God effects the work of quickening, John v. and vi.) But it is still simpler, if we understand οὕτως as above explained: so He will bring them, when con- formed to Jesus in death and resurrection, along with Him (as the Shepherd, whither He goes); Lutaer: thither, where Jesus abides; Roos: to glory, to rest, to the goal of their hope; SrarkE: with Him, when He shall come to Juloos Hor mann: when He brings Jesus into the world again (Heb. i. 6), He will bring them, cause them to come, along with Jesus, will let them share in His heavenly manifestation, How he comes at this ἄγειν, is shown vv. 16, 17. 4, (V. 15.) For (to explain) this we say unto you, etc.—He thus illustrates what was said in v. 14, first negatively (v. 15), then positively (vv. 16, 11). This (what follows) we say unto you ina word of the Lord; ἐν, as in 1 Cor. ii. 7, marks the me- dium in which the discourse moves; not in my words do I speak; my statement confines itself within the sphere of a word of the Lord; comp. for the matter 1 Cor. vii, 10, 12, 25, and for the expression 1 Kings xx. 8, mins 72372, lxx. ῬΈΕΙ supposes him to refer to Matt. xxiv. 81; to which Ewarp adds Luke xiv. 14; Hormann, Matt. xvi, 27 sq.; Zwinet and others, Matt. xxv. 1 sqy., John v. 28 sq. THEopuy- Lact and Catvin think of a word orally utered by Christ, and so probably a λόγος ἄγραφος, like Acts xx. 85. But such a one is in that place introduced differently ; and not one of the texts cited makes the special disclosure that here follows, respecting the relation between the dead and those still living. It is therefore more correct to think (with Curysos- tom and other Greeks, Bence, O.tsHausen, De Werte, Liinemann) of a revelation from the exalted Lord, an ἀποκάλυψις τοῦ μυστηρίου (Chrysostom, it is true, adduces not only 2 Cor, xiii, 3 on one side, but also Acts xx. 35 on the other), At 1 Cor. xv. 51 also Paul says something similar on a similar occasion; comp. Gal. i. 12; Rom. xi, 25.—That we who are living (here: in the earthly body), according to the more precise explanation: who remain over (are left over by God) unto the coming (return) of the Lord (that is: who live to see that coming), shall in no wise precede those who fell asleep: οὐ μή in the New Testa- ment indifferently with the aorist subjunctive or the future indicative; Winzr, § 56, 3. This coming (1 Cor, xv. 28) is coincident with Matt, xxiv. 31; Rey. xix. 11 sqq.; xx. 5 (not xx. 11 sqq.). Here we learn to understand the trouble of the Thessalo- nians, They sorrowed on the supposition that who- ever does not live to see the Advent suffers loss (in the Fourth [in the English Apocrypha, the Second] Book of Esdras, ch. vi. 18, we racet with such ideas ; see WiEsELER, Chronol. des apost. Zeitalters, p. 250). But how did they conceive of this loss? Evidently Linnemann goes too far, when from the words: Ye are not to sorrow as they who have no sake. Others, as Micnaruis, Scort, Barnes, ALFoRD, Wornswortu, Exricort, Vavauan, &c., make the idea to be that through Jesus the death of Christians is rightly ac- counted a sleep. Exticorr, however, allows that which of the two connections is the right one * must remain to the last an open question.’ It is in favor of that with ἄξει, that both in the Bible, and in profane literature, classical as well as modern, the figure of slecp is used for death in eral ; and that the other connection would ravher have ad: τοῦς διὰ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ κοιμηθέντας. See my note in the Revision.—J. L.} J hope, he (as Carvin and others before him) drawa the inference that they believed in no life at all after death, and supposed that the dying were absolutely excluded from the kingdom. That does not lie in the comparison, any more than v. 5: ‘‘ Indulge not in lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God,” charges them with not knowing God; rather, Be cause ye know Him, be not like those who know Him not.” And so here: “Sorrow not as those who have no hope; ye do have a hope.” He then reasons, ag in 1 Cor. »:v., from the connection be tween Christ and believers, the Head and His mem- bers, as an indissoluble unity: ‘‘ The Head cannot for. sake His members.” He does not in this imply the existence of any deniers of the resurrection, as at Corinth ; what we allow is simply that they suffered from dimness of apprehension, To the Greeks gen. erally the resurrection was a difficult topic (Acta xvii.). The Thessalonians, indeed, expected with firm faith the coming of the Lord (ch. i. 10; and in ch. iv. also it is presupposed). But the significance and operation of that event they did not duly per- ceive. They seem with Grecian fancy to have taken up the idea of the outward splendor of the appear. ance, without considering with sufficient earnestnesa that the Crucified One, who arose from the dead, will come again; the Conquerot of sin and death, Paul therefore reminds them of this fundamental truth, and thence infers that we shall not precede those fallen asleep, shall not be admitted to the Lord ear- lier than they, It is only by ingenuity that Lie. MANN can here hold fast to his idea: Paul, he thinks, is engaged with the figure of a race, where those who are outstripped, and have to lay behind in mid course, do not reach the goal at all. But Paul does not intimate that he has here any thought of this figure ; and besides, such a preoccupying of salva. tion, as would deprive others of it, is not within the compass of truth. This were a one-sided pressing of the figure of a race, that would turn it into an untruth, Rather, in saying: We shall not antici- pate the dead, he lets us see that the Thessalonians cherished such an idea; but that this leaves open all the while an undefined prospect at least for the later comers, But what prospect? On this point their view is not clear to us, perhaps was not so even to themselves. OxsHauseN, De Wertr, Hormann and others suppose that they bad no doubt about the resurrection at the final consummation, only they did not distinguish between the first and the second resurrections ; that, in fact, they knew nothing of the first resurrection (of the just), of the hailing of the returning Lord by His risen ones, and of their fellowship with Him during the glorious period pre. ceding the general judgment; that their idea was, that in the kingdom just at hand the dead would have no part; that, however, they really believed in the remote, final resurrection after the kingdom of glory, but found in that no living consolation. Still it is by no means clear how they should have mas tered and believed in such a precise arrangement of all the stages of the last things (Advent, Kingdom of glory, Last Resurrection) with only the single ex ception of the First Resurrection at the Advent; not yet how the Last Resurrection should have been of so little consequence in their estimation. Are we then, to be driven back on Liwwemann? Not that either; but we suppose that Paul had powerfully preached in Thessalonica the coming of Christ to set up His kingdom, but had not had time to enter inta all questions of detail. Now the Thessalonians, with CHAPTER IV. 18-18. % a lively impression of this message, had yet a rather dim, worldly understanding of it, from their con- ceiving of every miraculous occurrence as rather simply an exhibition of power, and not duly consid- ering that the path lies through death to resurrec- tion, through decease to the new life. To be gath- ered unto the Lord (as even in Matt, xxiv. 31 the resurrection is not expressly named)—for them this desire absorbed everything. Whoever lives not to see that, he suffers loss—such was their thought. They did not, like the Corinthians, deny the resur- rection of the dead, for the Apostle certainly does not reprove them as he does those; and quite as lit- tle perhaps can it be asserted so positively as OLs- HAUSEN assumes, that they believed only in the last resurrection ; but whether there was anything, and what, still to be expected for the dead, this was to them an obscure matter; their whole hope and aspi- ration was bent cz the one point, to remain exempt from death ;—the thing that Paul likewise desired (2 Cor. v. 4), but not so partially. This anxiety was such as could be felt only in the first period of in- struction still imperfectly apprehended. (See the Introduction, p. 12. On we who are living, see Exeg. Note 7.) 5. (V. 16.) For He Himself, the Lord* [Because the Lord Himself], &. or, not that (Kocu) ; + he shows how there is no such thing 88 pSdvew. De Wetre and Hormann would here, as at ch. iii. 11, understand merely: He, the Lord ; but here, as there, the Apostle makes an emphatic antithesis both of subjects and predicates; not: “We shall first come to Him,” but: “ He Himself will descend,” otherwise no one at all would come to Him. Ἔν signifies in, with, attended by, as 1 Cor. iv. 21; Rom. xv. 29. KéAevoua (another form, κέλευμα) Lutuer translates Feldgeschrei [war-cry], and understands by it the joyful exclamation of the angelic host, ‘‘ the van and guards ;” English Bible: with a shout; but more correctly the Vulgate: in jussu ; for the word signifies a shout of command, proceeding from the leading huntsman, or from the pilot of a ship, requiring the rowers to keep time, or from -a charioteer, or a general; Prov. xxx. 27, Sept. ; also Thucydides ii. 92; ἀπὸ ἑνὸς κελεύσματος ἐμβοήσαντες, where xed. does not denote the battle-cry of the combatants, but the meaning is that at a word of command they shouted. Christ is, therefore, de- scribed as a victorious Captain, whose order sum- mons to battle, for the destruction of His enemies and the extermination of the antichristian power (2 Thess. ii.; Rev. xix. 11 sqq.). To this is added: with the voice of an archangel, summoning the other angels, the great hosts of heavenly spirits, who sym- pathize in man’s salvation, codperating at the giving of the law (Acts vii. 63; Gal. iii, 19) and afterwards at the judgment (Matt. xiii. 41; xxiv. 31; xxv. 81); which last event brings a consummation also for themselves (Eph. i. 10). In canonical Scripture the archangel Michael appears again only at Jude 9; Gabriel is not so called, nor the seven angels before God (Rev. viii. 2 = Tob. xii. 15). Yet to the name archangel, prince of angels, corresponds the designa- lion ONS, ἄρχοντες, Dan. x. 18, 20; and already Josk, v. 14, πῆ 2 Χ τ, Sept. ἀρχιστράτηγος δυνάμεως κυρίου. By the archangel AMBROSIASTER [Jeremy TayLor] and OtsHavsen would understand * (Denn er selbst, der Herr ;—so RieGENBACH and others rfter Lutner ; but erroneously.—J. L.] + {Who connects with λέγομεν of v. 15.—J. L.] — Christ, the Lord of angels; others still mere un suitubly, the Holy Spirit; but he must be an angel, the highest amongst the angels, answering to the high priest as compared with the priests. Lastly, with a trumpet of God (the last, 1 Cor. xv. 52); this is not merely a nota superlativi, the very great, though it is indeed the Divine, and not a human ajesty that is antithetically described ; but, besider that, we are to understand it thus: which is used hy God’s command, in God’s service, which belorys te Him; De Werre compares κιϑάρας τοῦ ϑεοῦ, Rev xv. 2, What should it be? How will it sound? ig not to be searched out. The future reality is de- picted in images of present reality. It will be heard, as the sign will be seen, Matt. xxiv. 27, 30. As to its import, it is the conclusive echo of Sinai, the highest form of all the signals, whereby the peo- ple are called together before the Lord, that by which the enemy’s stronghold, mightier than Jericho, falls (Num. x.; Is. xxvii. 18; Zech. ix. 14; Rev. viii Seven trumpets), This is not a mere notion of Jew. ish Rabbis, but the prophetic word receives apcetclia sanction. Linemann and Hormann would ‘ander stand the archangel’s voice and the trumpet as in apposition to κέλευσμα," but without reason. [ Wut. sius, after Grotivs, identifies the archangel’s voice with the trumpet as blown by him.—J. L.] We have rather to recognize three particulars, following each other in rapid succession: the Commander's call of the King Himself; the voice of the arch- angel summoning the other angels; the trumpet, which awakes the dead, and collects the Lelievers. (Dr. Joun Dick: ‘ Three sounds are distinctly men- tioned, but I do not pretend to know what they are.”"—J. L. The descent from heaven presupposes the ascen- sion thither (Acts i. 11). And the dead in Christ shall arise first; ἐν Χριστῷ, though with- out the article, belongs to of νεκροί (WINER, § 20, 2). He speaks here only of the resurrection of the just (Luke xiv. 14), τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ at His coming (1 Cor. xv. 28), who have died in the Lord (Rev. xiv. 13), qui in Christi corpore continentur (CaL- vin); not of all without distinctivn arising in Christ. The correction in Codd. F. G., of νεκροὶ of is not at all necessary. The same Codd. together with D.? read (instead of πρῶτον) πρῶτοι ; Itala and Vulgate, primi, which is altogether unsuitable, for the con- trast here is not (as Turoruyzacr and others sup- pose) between such as rise first and others who do not rise till afterwards; but between what will take place first (the resurrection of those who fell asleep in faith), and what next (ἔπειτα) occurs in the case of the living. 6. (V. 17.) Then we &c. shall together with them be snatched away, caught away; has- * [And so Bishop Hatt, OLsHAUSEN, JowETT, ALFORD, Exuicort. I do not pereeive why this view should be reck- oned “more plausible’? (Exticorr) than the other. It might much rather be said to be inferior in martial _pre- cision and grandeur. See the note of WEBsTER and WIL xInson. In favor of ascribing the κέλευσμα to the Lord Himself, they refer to the parallel of the delivery of the law, where, besides the ministry and voice of angels, the sound of the trumpet, and the fire, we have also the voice of God (Ex. xix. 16, 18, 19; xx. 18,19; Deut. iv. 12, 15, 33; v. 4, 22-26; &c.); likewise to John v. 28, 29, Heb. xii. 19, 20, 25-27; Job xiv. 12-15; Ps. 1. 1-6; Matt. xiii. 30, 41; xxiv. 31. So Milton: “ΤῊ Son gave signal high, To the bright minister that watch’d ; he blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since perhaps When God descended ; and perhaps once more To sound at general doom.”” Par. L., B. xi.i—Jd. 1] 76 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. tily, swiftly, irresistibly, by the overpowering might of God; this lies in the expression (also 2 Cor. xii. 2, though in a different application); im (on)* clouds, as one received the Lord (Acts i.); not into the clouds (cis), but in the clouds (inwrapped), or on them (throned, as on chariots of God; Cury- sostom); comp. Matt. xxiv. 30; xxvi. 64; Rev. ti, 12; xiv. 14; unto meeting of the Lord, HRP ; instead of ἀπάντ. τοῦ κυρίου others (weaker authorities) give ὑπάντ. τῷ Χριστῷ. Both words, ἀπάντησις or ὑπάντησις, govern the genitive (Matt. xxv. 1) or (like the verb) the dative (Acts xxviii. 15). Curysostom and other Greeks: ‘‘to meet Christ, as persons of distinction meet a king to salute him, while others must wait for him, as criminals for the judge.” For the matter, 2 Thess. ii. 1 is to be compared. It is a description, so to speak, of the Church’s Ascension, in which the Head brings His members to Himself. Possibly the clouds here, as in Acts i., indicate a veiling of the transaction. But at any rate this rapture necessarily presupposes the previous sudden change (1 Cor. xv. 52; 2 Cor. v. 2 sqq.), which is here only not expressly mentioned, but without which a soaring away into the air were not conceivable. Only by means of the glorified corporeity (Phil. iii, 21) can such an event take place. Lurser (appealing to Heb. ix. 27) insists that all men must once die, that is, leave this life and enter another. For those left over, therefore pe “‘ Ueberlinge,” as if we should say, the over- ings.—J. L.], the change would be their death. These shall not sleep, but in a twinkling will die and live again—And so (as those who have been caught away into the air, the risen and changed ones, or, still better: as those who have thus met Him) shall we ever be with the Lord; Hor- MANN: continually, not meeting with Him merely in transient or occasionally repeated salutation; σύν expresses the intimate union, μετά simply outward companionship. This is the main point of comfort which he had in view: to be with the Lord, insepara- bly united to Him. Thus we reach the ἄγειν σὺν αὐτῷ (v. 14), the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. xix. 7-9). But it is not in the air that this being ever with Christ takes place (as Petr, Usreri, Werrzet think, with a quite mistaken appeal to Eph. ii. 2: the air as the region of spirits, but of evil spirits !). Only the meeting takes place in the air, not the abiding. Already Aucustine (De Civ. Dei, xx. 20, 2) saw the truth: Venienti ibitur obviam, non manentt. The Lord is come from heaven, but not quite to the earth, so that a rapture into the air leads to His presence. He comes to fetch them (John xiv. 2, 8) into the heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. iv. 18), which is so called, not merely because it is of a heavenly quality, and even the earth receives a heavenly glory, but because at the coming it really transports the glorified into heaven; they shall be with Him, as BENGEL says, non modo in aére, sed in celo unde venit. Others think of a coming with Him to the earth to judgment. Hiteenretp thinks that the meeting is followed by the coming with Him to the glorified earth. But that may even be reserved+ * [auf—a useless variation, not justified here by the ἐπί, in a similar connection, of other texts.—J. L.] + [Of course, this is quite compatible with the previous idea, of a coming with Christ to judgment, and that the latter is a scriptural representation there can be no doubt ; comp. Is. xxxii.1; Dan. vii. 9,10; Zech. xiv. 5; 1 Cor. vi. 2, ὃ; Rev. 11. 26, 27; iii. 21; xx 4; &c. It is also worth noting that, as I remarked in the Lectures, ‘‘ there are only three other places in the New Testiment where the phrase for a later date. In fact, the description is not one that exhausts all particulars ; it is carried only so far as is necessary to make it clear, that the dead shad be in no way inferior to those who survive. (See the Doctrinal and Ethical Notes, 5.) 4. (Vv. 15, 17.) We who are living, who are being left over.—Here Paul evidently reck. ons himself among those of whom he considers it possible, and a thing to be desired and hoped for, that they may live to witness the Advent; just 80 1 Cor. xv. 51 sqq. (according to the correct reading of the tezt. rec., and also of the Cod. Vat.).* The strange evasions, by means of which the Fathers and others sought to make out, that Paul nevertheless is not speaking of himself, are justly set aside by Linenwann. (To this class belongs the explanation of (Ecumenius, that the dead are the bodies, the living are the souls; &c.) Nor ought it to be im- puted to him, that he uses ἡμεῖς merely in the way of communicatio (THEOPHYLaCT : representing in his own person all who shall then be living), though knowing that he will not be present; of this knowl- edge we see nothing, rather a hope inconsistent with it. But it were just as inconsiderate to say bluntly, that the Apostle’s expectation has been plainly con- victed by the event as erroneous; as if thus the whole eschatological prediction collapsed. In_ that case, indeed, Paul would be a false prophet (Deut. xviii. 20 sqq.), and his appeal to the Lord’s word an untruth. This word of the Lord, as even Lunemann allows, told him only generally in what relation the dead would stand to those surviving, not who be- longs to each of the two classes; it was, therefore, not: ‘ Thou, Paul, shalt be of the number ;” other- wise he could not again have spoken doubtfully on the point at Phil. 1. 21 sqq.; 1. 17; 2 Cor. v. 9, and in still a different tone at 2 Tim. iv. 6. Alto- gether, just as here, in speaking of those who live to the Advent, he says ἡμεῖς by communicatio in the sense of hope (Grorius: putavit sieri posse), he elsewhere says as freely by communicatio on the opposite side: ‘‘ God will raise ws up,” 1 Cor. vi. 14 (this alongside of ch. xv. 51); 2 Cor. iv. 14; comp. 1 Thess. v. 10; Acts xx. 29. He expressly reminds us at ch. v. 1 sqq., that we know not the times and the seasons, and were not to know them; as the Lord declares even of Himself in his condition of self-denial (Mark xiii, 32), and as He represents to his Apostles (Acts i. 7). Had he meant to set it down as certain: I shall not die, that would really have been at least a knowledge of the χρόνοι ; and not less so, had he asserted: J shall die before that, it will not happen in my time. Moreover, if ἡμεῖς expressed the definite expectation: I shall yet be there, it must equally follow that to all his readers of that age included with himself in ἡμεῖς he makes the promise, that they shall live till the Advent; which were indeed utterly absurd. Rather, he op- poses the two classes to each other; here those asleep, and on the other side the living, those re- maining over; he himself, of course, is among the living ; but both classes are in a state of constant flux. What did not come to pass in the case of Paul and his cotemporaries, then holds good for those who follow after, and shall actually live till the Advent, Certainly the Apostles do all of them ex here translated to meet occurs; and in all of them (Matt. xxy. 1,6; Acts xxviii. 15) the party met continues after the meeting to advance still_in the direction in which he was moving previously.”—J. L.] * (Whereas Sin. agrees with A. C. F. G.: πάντες wa κοιμηθησόμεθα, ov πάντες δὲ dAAay.—J. L.] CHAPTER IV. 18-18. 7 press often enough the expectation of the Coming as near; 6. g., 1 Pet. iv. 7; 1 John ii, 18; James v. 8; and Paul, 1 Cor. vii. 29 sqq.; Rom. xiii, 11, 12; Phil. iv. 5; this, however, not as a dogma whereby the ignorance of the χρόνοι would be re- moved, but merely as a living hope and longing expectation, See Héremann, Die Stellung St. Pauli zu der Frage wn die Zeit der Wiederkunft Christi, Leipzig, 1858; and the Doctrinal and Eth- cal Notes, 6. 8. (V. 18.) Wherefore comfort one another with these words; ὥστε with a following im- perative also at Phil. iv. 1; and so διό, ch. v. 11. The comfort should check the sorrowing (v. 18); with these words, which rest on the word of the Lord, not rationibus, argumentis, but simply the words of the evangelical message. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 13.) It is not sorrow altogether for the dying that Paul forbids; he rather takes it for granted that they will have to sorrow; only let it not be as the sorrow of the hopeless. Nowhere does Scripture overstrain unnaturally its demand, as if death should cause no pang. It merely rebukes de- spondency, as if God were not God, and home were not home. But strength of faith is not a thing to be commanded, nor can its triumph be enforced.* Christ Himself shed tears, and Paul knew what it is to sorrow even for the dying (Phil. ii. 27). On the . whole (Starke): The believers of the Old Testament and of the New wept and sorrowed, but within such limits as the law already prescribed (Lev. xix. 28; Deut. xiv. 1), and the light of faith illustrates. The Apostle requires no Stoic insensibility, no icy hard- ness, Catvin: “aliud est freenare dolorem nos- trum, ut subjiciatur Deo, aliud abjecto humano sensu instar lapidum obdurescere.” And for this reason hope is an important element of the Christian life ; ch. i, 8; Rom. v. 2-5; viii. 24 sqq.; 1 Cor. xiii. 2, The rest, who have no hope, are in the widest sense all who stand not in Christ, the only Source and Guarantee of true life. In the Old Testament is the sound of many lamentations over the life in the shadowy realm, as being no life, but as gloomy as in the Homeric songs (Is.,xxxviii. 18 sq.; Ps, vi. 6 [5]; Ixxxviii, 11-13 [10-12]; cxv. 17; Job x. 21 [and 22]; &c.); not because the right conception is still wanting, but because the actual curse of death is not yet broken, The gleams of prophetic hope (Ps, xvi. 9 sqq.; xlix. 16 [15]; Prov. xiv. 32; xv. 24; xxiii, 14; Is. xxvii 19; Hos, xiii. 14; Dan. xii. 2) are first realized through Christ. But it is espe- cially the heathen, of whom the Apostle’s judgment aolds good, It might, indeed, be a question here, as at v. 5, whether he does not assert too much. For do we not find among all nations some hope of immortality ? and among the philosophers, as Socra- tes, Plato, &c., elevated thoughts on that topic, and arguments in its favor? True; but, measured by the full resurrection-life, what a state of death is that which the heathen call the other life! And how isolated is the more cheerful hope, how slender its thread, how feeble its knowledge, for the very reason that it is founded, not on the actings of God, * [Whatever is matter of duty is properly matter of pre- sept; Eph. vi. 10; 1 Thess. v. 16. Faith’s brightest tri- amph is amidst the tears and struggles of nature; Ps. xxi. 4.—J. &.] but on disputable, more or less problematical argu ments, accessible only to the refined thinker. How weak are the Consolationes of a Cicero, Seneca, Plu tarch ! nothing but probabilities, Even now obser vation shows how those who do not rely on the writ ten word, and, inquiring merely about the immor. tality of the soul, would thus simply recognize a permanent separation of soul and body (though this would be a permanent reign of death),—how these persons with all their arguments never get the better of their doubts; nay, how more and more the most decided amongst them no longer have or allow any hope. It were easy to bring together a number of disconsolate sayings from the classics; for example, Aaschylus, Humen. 688 (648): ἅπαξ ϑανόντος οὔτιϑ ἔστ᾽ ἀνάστασις. Theocritus, /dyll. 4,42: ἐλπίδες ἐν (ζωοῖσιν, ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ ϑανόντες. Catullus, 5, 4: Soles occidere et redire possunt: Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, Nox est perpetua una dormienda. Starke: In Plutarch’s time people mocked at the ἐλπιστικούς. It was an affected witticism of the dying Vespasian: v@, puto deus fio, And this is ag it should be; it is proper that we should not get to be certain of our personality, until we are sure of our God and Saviour, On this true basis, however, Scripture regards as normal the undivided life, when the spirit and the body are together; being equally remote from materialism, which seeks in matter for the root and strength of all spiritual life, and from idealism, which sees the most perfect spirituality in being released from the body. The glorified body as the perfect organ of the ruling spirit—this is the reéstablishment and consummation of the condition originally designed by God (Phil. iii. 21), ΤΥ ΤΗΒΕ : We shall again receive enriched and improved that which we lost in Adam; for we should have had it in Paradise ( Works, ed. Walch, xii. 2628), 8. Death a sleep; SrarKe: (1) Because in both the body rests, the soul remains alive; (2) because from both the body also awakes; (8) because both are a desirable release from trouble and toil; (4) be- cause after both we again joyously salute and wish one another g20d morning.—still the likeness exists only for faith, not for sight. According to what is visible, the word of triumph: “Ὁ death, where is thy sting?” sounds frequently like a scoff. Diz- pricH: The death of those dear to us still confronts us often as a frightful mystery—Not only does the Old Testament call him the king of terrors [Job xviii. 1 his name in the New Testament also is still the last enemy. A natural horror in the pres- ence of death is expressed by the Apostle himself in 2 Cor. v., and is seen in Gethsemane.* Corruption wears a different aspect from sleep. So much the greater must the Awakener appear to us. 4, (V. 15.) Paul appeals to a word of the Lord, like the old prophets (1 Sam. iii. 21; Is. 1,10; Jer. i. 2); not as one who steals and deceitfully gives out the Lord’s word (Jer. xiv. 14; xxiii. 30); not as one who has merely adopted rabbinical opinions, (Whence, indeed, have the Rabbins the substance of their doctrine?) Nor does he speak in heaped-up images of a transcendental vision (when he really had such a one, with what modest reserve does he speak of it! 2 Cor. xii.); but his words have a clear * (A statement strangely erroneous in both its members. The Apostle expresses no horror whatever of death. Wis groans are forced from him, not so much even by the pres- sure of present suffering, as by the earnestness of his long- ing for the heavenly state. And still more objectionable ia the reference to Gethsemane, in so far as it overlooks the supernatural elements in our Lord’s passion.—J. I) 78 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. and sober import. From the most intimate converse with the Lord he gives forth his explanations re- specting the course of the kingdom of God, the crises of Divine providence, and its final issues: Eph. iii, 8, 5 sqq.; Rom. xi, 25; 1 Cor. xv. 61 sqq.; and here. It is a weighty problem, and, God be praised! it is also a privilege vouchsafed in ever larger measure to our times, to bring one’s self into living communion with the prophetic word. Our very reverence for it should, indeed, restrain us from precipitate conclusions. 5. (Vv. 15-17.) Our passage furnishes no com- plete doctrine of the last things. In Scripture gen- erally there remains over for curiosity a multitude of unanswered questions; and even the legitimate desire of knowledge must acquiesce. Whatever is necessary to salvation, and serves to further the process of sanctification, is nowhere wanting. In this spirit should the doctrine of the Christian hope be dealt with (Lurnarpt, die Lehre von den letzten Dingen, Leipzig, 1861). Our passage says nothing beforehand of the condition that immediately follows death; nothing beyond calling it a sleep. A pre- liminary judgment, an introductory stage of blessed- ness, is indicated by the passages cited in Exeg. Note 1, A being with Christ is there promised to such as die, in Christ; yet must it be inferior in fulness and power to the life of the resurrection (comp. Rev. vi. 9-11), without our being able to define precisely the difference, Paul takes the less notice here of this topic, from his having to correct the anxiety of the Thessalonians in regard to the disadvantage which the dead might be under at the Advent. What is of use to this end he holds up to their view. Nor does he in our passage go further, But it easily admits of being combined with other passages into a gen- eral representation. Now what Paul says of the Coming was understood by the Reformers altogether of His Coming at the Last Judgment; as by Uat- VIN, in express opposition to the Chiliasts, though under the supposition, to be sure, that they teach the wild doctrine of a resurrection for only a thou- sand years. But even in the Apocalypse there is no mention of any such thing. If we take into view the passage in the Revelation, xx. 1-6, the question is, whether and in what way it may be reconciled with the doctrine of the Apostle Paul. An obvious expedient apparently is to identify the Advent here, v. 15, and 1 Cor, xv. 23, with the return at the set- ting up of the (millennial) kingdom, and in like manner the first resurrection of the Apocalypse with the resurrection of the just (Luke xiv. 14) or the gathering together of the elect (Matt. xxiv. 31), but positively to distinguish this from the final judgment on the whole world (Matt. xxv. 31; Rev. xx. 11 sqq.);* this last judgment, including the general resurrection, would then be comprehended in the end of which Paul, after making mention of the resurrection τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, says: εἶτα τὸ τέλος (1 Cor. xv. 24). More closely examined, however, the passages do not quite so readily admit of mutual adjustment. In the first place, at the text last men- tioned no one without the Apocalypse would think, that this εἶτα embraces a thousand years.+ And for * (It should not be hastily assumed that Matt. xxv. $146 refers, nt least exclusively, to the same process of iudgment as Rev. xx. 11 sqq. See BickerstTeta’s Practical Guide to the Prophecies, ch. xvii.; Brooks’ Essays on the Advent und Kingdom of Christ, Part ii. Essay iv.; Woon’s Last Things, ch. iii. Prop. viii.—J. L.] 1 [And yet there can be no doubt that the ἔπειτα of v. 23 embraces the longer interval between Christ’s resurrec- tion and that of his followers.—J. L.] this reason, accordingly, the Reformers, disregarding the Apocalypse, conceived of the raising of the dead as occurring at one and the same time, and sup- posed that such passages as John v. 28, 29; Acta xxiv. 15; 2 Cor. v. 10 speak of ἃ simultaneous resurrection of the just and the unjust, and that Matt. xxiv. likewise refers to no other coming of Christ than Matt. xxv. In like manner, and this is the second point, Matt. xxv. shows us the saved alongside of the lost, and says nothing of a first resurrection which had already, a thousand years before, brought the elect to glory. In our passage, indeed, and just so in1 Cor. xv., Paul is entirely silent about those who are lost. Carvin: The ob ject here is, not to alarm the ungodly, but to heal the immoderate grief of the pious. The resurrec- tion to judgment, therefore, might be thought of aa contemporaneous with that of the pious, or on the other hand as following at a later date. Only it is to be noticed that 1 Cor. xv. represents the raising of those who belong to Christ as something done once for all; then follows the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, after He has abol- ished all hostile rule. This does not sound as if still another host of those belonging to Christ would not share in the salvation till a later and final judgment, as must yet be the case, if Matt. xxv. speaks of this final judgment. On the whole, as it is important to fulfil the condition on which alone we can be sure of salvation, so it is difficult, if not impossible, to set up unexceptionable tests, according to which some are made partakers of the first resurrection, others only of the second, who are nevertheless saved. After all, the relation might rather be this, that the Pauline statements, as well as the pas- sages which speak briefly of the last day, the last hour (John vi. 89, 40; 1 John ii. 18; comp. 2 Pet. iii, 10, 12), comprehend the coming of the Lord in one view, which the Apocalypse then distributes into various stages. But as the day of the Lord divides itself in the later revelation into a series of steps, so also the resurrection of those belonging to Christ, since the first resurrection by no means merely passes by the raising of the lost to judgment, but shows likewise a later resurrection to life us still pos- sible. To the end belongs the glorification also of the terrestrial world (Rom. viii.; Rev. xxi. xxii.); and after that the saved have reigned together with Christ in the kingdom (2 Tim. ii. 12), and have co. operated with Him in the judgment (1 Cor. vi. 2, 8), That is to say, from their heavenly thrones (Rev. xx. 4) the kingdom will pass into its stage of highest fulfilment, when God shall be all in all (1 Cor. xv. 28). In many places, however, these stages are viewed together indiscriminately. Such a compre- hension of details, which are only kept apart by later prediction, meets us also elsewhere in all prophecy. 6. The last remark affords us light also in regard to the hope of the nearness of the Advent (see Exeg. Note 7). From the patriarchs down through the entire line of the prophets every one contem- plates the future salvation as one whole, with all its details, without any one being able to say: There ia here a want of perspective, an optical illusion, Rather, the living fulness of the future is conjoined with the vorying standpo‘ut of the present in one bud. The certainty, that the Lord is coming with His salvation, is so stirring, bright, overpowering, that the man who is full of it says: Quickly! The Assyrian period is Isaiah’s horizon, into which he CHAPTER TV. 13-18. ἧς sees Immanuel enter, bringing salvation (Is. vii. xxix. 17), And again there was a delay of four hundred years, before the promise in Malachi (ch, iii.) began to be fulfilled. Prophecy is not the knowledge of the history of the future, but a con- templation of the essential steps of development. Instructive is such a passage as Ezek, xii. 22 sqq. ; especially even because it is there shown to us, how long-suffering delayed the judgment, and how con- tempt. of the long-suffering accelerates it. Thus there came to pass finally what for so long a time the prophets had promised and threatened, and the scoffers had scoffed at; it came, according to human reckoning, later than had been supposed, yet not too late for any one, rather too soon for many. And as the New Testament time came, so will come the final term promised by Christ and the Apostles, Yea, they declared with truth that it had already arrived. With Christ began the world’s last hour, and there comes none later, to establish another and higher relation between God and humanity. If the period of waiting for the revelation of the Lord has reached much further than the Apostles supposed, and even than the words of Christ gave them reason to expect (Matt. x. 23; xvi. 28; xxiv. 29), it is to be considered, first, that in this very way scope was afforded for the development of the series of stages in His coming; and, secondly, that it behoves us to recognize long-suffering in the fact that, after the first step of the judgment (on Jerusalem), the sec- ond was deferred (2 Pet. ili, 8, 9,15). But, while acknowledging His sparing long-suffering, we ac- knowledge also that His government is so arranged as to admit of modification according to the faithful- ness or unfaithfulness of men; that we are wrong, therefore, in taking, much more than we are aware of, necessitarian views of prophecy. So much the more short-sighted were it to say, that a disappoint- ment respecting the date is proof that sach last things are not to be expected at all. A denial of the world’s end would require us also to assert that humanity has never had a beginning; and this would imply that the life of humanity has no aim, and that the establishment of a perfect, holy reign of God is not to be looked for. But he alone is a Christian, who directs his life toward this mark, Of the time and the hour he knows nothing. ‘ The Lord delay- eth His coming!”—that he leaves the wicked ser- vant to say; that the Bridegroom may tarry, he is well aware. There are also things that must still precede ; not the conversion of the nations, but the preaching of the gospel among all nations (Matt. xxiv. 14); along with this, the universal security of those who believe in no Advent, and by means of their unbelief are witnesses for the truth (1 Thess. v. 8; Matt. xxiv. 87 sqq.; Luke xviii. 8); the apos- tasy of Christendom from the faith (2 Thess. ii.). All these signs are perceptibly growing. The life of humanity, including the individual life, goes forward on the brink of eternity and to eternity. It is read- ily conceivable that the experience of a longer dura- tion of the world, according to man’s measurement, has modified in some degree our views of the last things, and turned the eye chiefly toward the death of individuals. But only too frequently does this way of thinking assume such a form, that the long- ing for the coming of the Lord and the glory of His holy kingdom, as well as sympathy in the fortunes of the Church at large, is too much smpaired. At times, on the other hand, and amongst the pious, when the life of faith rules in due force, we again meet likewise with thie apostolic hope and aspiration in living freshness, That watching and hoping are so unfamiliar to us, isa defect. The more we be come heavenly in our character and thoughts, the more also does the stream of human history appear to us as a hasting towards the coming of the Lord. ἡ. (V. 11.) The being caught away to meet the Lord is in the Irvingite* interpretation erroneously explained in a manner that seems to bear the dignity of an inviolable dogma. Comp. the work, which otherwise contains many good practical exhortations, by E. L. Geerine, Mahnung und Trost der Schrift in Betreff der Wiederkunft Christi, Basel, 1859, It is there taught (p. 55) that, previous to the coming tribulation, the company of disciples, who are wit- nessing for Jesus and waiting for Him, is brought into a condition of safety. Indeed, the saints will with Him judge the world (1 Cor. vi. 2); their de. liverance, therefore, through being taken away, pre ecdes the Lord’s return; and on p. 60 mention is made of servants of Christ who are not, it is true, recklessly profane nor yet hypocrites, but still are not looking out for the coming of the Lord, nor striving towards it, and, as their punishment fcr this, have no part in the rapture of the faithful servants, but must undergo the rule of Antichrist’s reign. They have forfeited their title to be kept from the hour of temptation, of the great tribulation, which comes on all (Rev. iii. 10). They might have been preserved and taken away from it.—This whole in- terpretation has at least no sort of foundation in our text. The German word entriicken (to snatch from) might give the impression that it refers to the taking away from a threatening danger. But Paul speaks of a swift-coming to meet the Lord, without regard to the question whether this is before or after the endurance of tribulation, To the view of Christen- dom in general he holds up, as prior to the coming of the Lord, the coming of the apostasy, and the tyranny of the Man of Sin (2 Thess. ii.). The keep- ing which the disciples need is not necessarily a being kept from the experience of this persecution, as if to be kept in the midst of it, to be kept while in the world from the evil—the thing which the Lord seeks in prayer for His disciples (John xvii. 15)— were a penal condition. There are various ways in which the keeping may rather take place: 1. bya previous death (Is. lvii. 1, 2; Rev. xiv. 18); 2. by endurance of martyrdom without renouncing the faith (Matt x. 28 sqq.; 2 Thess. ii.; Rev. xi. 7; xiii, 15; xx. 4); perhaps also, 38. by remaining hidden, in the case especially of the humble class, like the seven thousand in the time of Elias (Rom. xi. 4). There may be a participation in the judgment by those caught away to the Lord (as assessores judicit, Benee), without the interpretation which we op- pose. Altogether it is possible to love the coming of the Lord Jesus, without adopting the peculiar Irvingite exegesis. To represent the two things as inseparable, and to determine accordingly the re- ward of being caught away or the penalty of being left—this is, 1. in itself a wrong, as in every case where a human dogma is set up, and salvation con- nected with the acceptance of it; 2. it. misleads to a groundless confidence, and is a sort of illusory promise, that is not free from an effeminate fear of suffering. Comp. Lurnarpr, 1. 6. p. 87 sqq. * (The reference is to that in many respects remarkable body of Christians, which chooses to call itself the Catnolie Apostolic Church. The other name of Invingites they exe pressly disclaim as a misrepresentation at once of the origin and the spirit of the movement.—J. L.] FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 18. It is a heathenish ignorance of which a Christian must be ashamed, when he knows nothing of hope for the dead—He who does not believe is ignorant; faith is not oppused to knowledge.— Zwixet1: When we fear death, it is a sure sign that we have no love to God.—In so far as there is still selfishness in our love, and for that reason dis- composure at the death of our friends, to the same extent are we not yet duly taught of God. Death a sleep, but only through Christ; and only for faith, which knows the Awakener.—Roos: Death has an entrance, and also an outlet, We must and we desire to go the way that Christ went. Scripture does not forbid us to mourn, but only to mourn as those without hope-—Rizcer: By the examples of others, that nearly concern us, the thoughts of our hearts are revealed to us—our own dying agony.—Luruer: Holy Scripture not merely indulges, but commends and praises those who are sorrowful, and lament for the dead (Abraham, Jo- seph, the people at the death of Aaron and Moses), The Apostle simply distinguishes between the mourn- ing of the heathen and that of Christians—Tue SAME: It is an artificial virtue and fictitious fortitude of heathens and schismatics, when they pretend that we must entirely extract what is creaturely in us, and hold no terms with nature. Such a hard heart has never truly loved, and would fain dissemble be- fore people. He is a Christian, who, while expe- riencing sorrow, yet so restrains himself therein that the spirit rules over the flesh—We are allowed to weep for death. It is one thing, when Christ, who wept Himself, dries our tears, and another thing, when men would forbid them to flow. But we have no occasion to weep for the lot of those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. Whoever laments with- out measure or restraint, acts as a heathen acts— Bencet: The effect of the Christian faith is neither to abolish nor yet to aggravate grief for the dead, but gently to moderate it—Dirpricn: We need not be in a state of fearful uncertainty about any Chris- tian, whether living or dead.—Hevusner: Christian- ity teaches men to rise superior to natural sorrow, yea, to rejoice therein.—The ancient Christians called the day of the believer’s death his birthday. [Ignorance of the truth and purposes of God, so far as these have been revealed, injurious to our spiritual comfort and edification. “1 would not have you to be ignorant, brethren”—a common scriptural formula.—Doppripce: Let us charge it upon our hearts, that we do honor to our holy pro- fession in every circumstance, and particularly in our sorrows as well as our joys—M. Henry: ὉΠ (Judg. i, 28, Sept.), ordained, appointed to (John xv. 16; 1 Tim. i. 12; 1 Pet. ii. 8). (Hormann: brought into being, in order to perish—an unimpor- tant distinction.)}—To wrath, that is, to the endur- ance of it (ch. 1. 10; ii. 16; iv. 6). God wills not our destruction, but our salvation. In His entire purpose there is nothing to harm us, and so neither will there be at the appearing of His day.—But to the obtaining of salvation; περιποιεῖν, to make to remain over; in the middle: to save for one’s self (1 Tim, iii. 18); hence the substantive: gain, acquisition (2 Thess, ii, 14; Heb. x. 39). Ina peculiar sense, 1 Pet. ii. 9: people of the Divine possession [comp. Eph, i. 14]. Here too Taeoruy- Lact would understand it thus: that He should keep us asa possession for Himself. But this does not suit the addition of cwrnplas—Through Jesus Christ, might be connected with ἔϑετο, but more obviously with περιποίησιν σωτηρίας; ΠΌΤΗΒΕ : to possess [besitzen] salvation through Jesus Christ, Hence no anxiety in the expectation of the last things—Who died for us; that is the foundation of our περιποί. σωτ. as in ch, iv, 14 of our hope; He died for us, for our benefit (ὑπέρ), or on our account (περί). Neither one nor the other is pre- cisely equivalent to ἀντί, in our stead, But there may be cases where the ὑπέρ cannot otherwise be accomplished than by a doing ἀντί, 6. g. Philem. 13 ; and it is really ἀντί that stands in the discourse, Matt. xx. 28 (comp. 1 Tim. ii. 6), As the object of Christ’s dying, the final aim of the redemptive work, Pau! names a powerful consolation in death (thus closing the discussion begun at ch, iv, 13),—That, whether we are watching or sleeping, we should live together with Him. That ἵνα, though after a preterite, governs the subjunctive, is explained by Winer, § 41. Ὁ. 1. This reacts on εἴτε---εἴτε, so that here also, as with ἐάν re—édy τε (Rom. xiv. 8), the subjunctive is used (see WinER, p. 263), It is impossible that the watching and sleeping can here be taken in the previous ethical sense, for in the case of sleeping the ἵνα Chowper would be forfeited. To understand it literally {Wuirsy, and others] would yield a poor result. whether at the Advent we are watching in the day teme or lying asleep in the night, %& must therefore be equivalent tu the (ζῶντες περιλείπεσϑαι and row μᾶσδαι, ch. iv.; in meaning, the same as Rom. xiv, 8; γρηγορεῖν is in this sense without authority ; for καδεύδειν, comp. Matt. ix. 24; Dan. xii. 2, Sept. De Werve finds in this change of senses a violation of the rule of perspicuity. But what the Apostie means has always been evident. Voy Gervacn, in deed, remarks, not without reason, that the sleep of death, under which we still suffer, is itself a part of the curse of the sleep of sin. But provided only that we do not καϑεύδομεν in the sense of v. 6, let us securely καϑεύδειν = κοιμᾶσϑαι (ch. iv. 13), There is in this a certain joyous, triumphant pleasantry : Whether at that time we have our eyes still open, or must previously close them, we are (as the result of Christ’s death) to live together with Him. By ἅμα Beneex would understand: Simul, ut fit adventus ; but the necessary supplement would be, not: tm gether, when He comes, but: together, when He lives, and that does not suit, Others (Liinemann) take ἅμα by itself, = IM7, all together, one with an other (Rom, iii. 12);* and separate from it σὺν αὐτῷ; but Hormann is right in connecting ἅμα σὺν αὐτῷ, as in ch. iv. 17; together with Him, united with Him. It may still be asked, whether the state- ment means: We are now already living in fellow- ship with Him, and they likewise who are asleep are joined to Him; or: In that day, when His life shall appear, we shall appear as living with Him, whether His coming finds us watching in life, or sleeping in death. But the latter view, it is obvious, brings the thought to a more completely satisfactory termina- tion, Again, as compared with ἐσόμεϑα (ch. iv. 17), the expression ζήσωμεν shows a fine, truly Pauline, advance: To be with Him will be the true life out of death, 6. (V. 11.) Wherefore encourage [comfort] one another; as in ch, iv. 18; only here, it would seem, the moral incitement to watchfulness is more prominent. ΓΌΝΕΜΑΝΝ finds the idea of consola. tion, after vv. 9 and 10, preponderant here also. In the Greek there is no such sundering of the two ideas, —And (as the consequence of the παρακαλεῖν) edify one the other, promote one another’s estab- lishment on the foundation laid. Grotius: Aonete verbis, edificate exemplo ; but Jude 20 comprelends instruction and example. One another ; he does not in the first instance urge official obligation, as if everything was to be turned over on that; rather, that follows first at v.12. Εἷς τὸν ἕνα, along with ἀλλήλους, is good Greek. To read eis τὸν ἕνα t is unnecessary, and indeed improper (see, against it, Livemann).—Eiven as also ye do, comp. ch. iv. 10. Noble young church, where such things can be said! Catvin: With this addition he avoids the appearance of reproving them for negligence; and yet he has exhorted them, because human nature at all times needs the spur. Goonso! A pithy ener. gy, a morning freshness, a joyous hopefulness, are observable throughout the entire section. * [So Jowerr, ALForpD, Exzicort, with others named in Revision ; which see.—J. L.] ᾿ { [German : sprechet einander zu; whereas at ch. iv. 18 the phrase is, frdstel einander. See Revision.—J. ] t [Revision: ‘No edition has eis τὸν ἕνα, the construcs tion adopted by Faser (ad unum usque, toa man), WHITBY (into one body), Rickert (who understands by τὸν ἕνα, Christ).”"—J. I.) 86 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1, (Vv. 1-8.) In exact accordance with Christ’s teaching, the Apostle declines all close definition or calculation of the times, and points instead to the signs, which the disciples of Christ are required to consider, For those secure in their ungodliness there are no signs; on them the thief comes sud- denly, the pangs seize them all at once. But they themselves are for a sign to believers who watch and observe. It is the triumph of the cause of God, that even the despisers must render it the service of their testimony. Stupidity in Divine things, security and self-confidence, increase more and more; as it was, says Christ, in the days of Noah and Lot (Luke xvii. 26 sqq.). They ate, they drank, they married and were given in marriage; thus Jesus does not once upbraid them with the scandalous crimes which they committed, but with that very thing in their way of life which was commendable, but which becomes hideous, when nothing higher can be told of an age ; when its whole life is a worldly life, in which God is no longer taken into the account. A great increase of outward power and culture, reliance on science, industry, the conquest of the external world, lead to an arrogance that no longer admits its dependence on God. Les questions de disette ne sont que des questions de transport, they sometimes say. And because the threatened judgment so long delays, peo- ple regard it asa fable; mundum statuent eternum (BexcrL). But this is just ἃ. fulfilment of the prophecy, which gives previous indication of this very disposition.—VieTor: We will therefore care- fully avoid saying: The Lord will come within such and such a time; He will come during our life on earth, But we will just as carefully avoid saying: He will not come daring our life on earth—How great is the injury done to the Christian hope by the first of these errors, in consequence of the rebuffs to which it is inevitably exposed, was made plain to miuny in the year 1836. It is, moreover, quite con- ceivable, that the course of historical revelation has somewhat changed the form of faith’s expectation, and accustomed many to think more of the day of the individual’s death than of the day of general judgment. The former, as well as the latter, comes on unavoidable, indeed, but unannounced. In this there is certainly a narrowing of the horizon, when regard to the universal consummation is too much lost. It were improper at each text to distinguish : Here the destruction of Jerusalem is meant; here the day of the individual’s death; &c. The pro- phetic view rather comprehends all judgment under the figure of one day, and yet itself shows us that the fulfilment is distributed over a series of acts. Thus at one time (Rom. ii. 16), the prospect of the day of judgment is (without discrimination) held out also to the heathen, who yet, according to the com- plete scheme in the Apocalypse, do not appear be- fore the judgment-seat till the last resurrection ; at another time, on the contrary (Jobn vi. 39, 40, 44, 54), the ἐσχάτη ἡμέρα (without the distinction of a first resurrection) is described as the day of resurrec- tion for believers also, We say therefore, that with the Advent the last day appears; but how long and how far it shall reach, on that point there is nothing prejudged ; and instead of unprofitable, if not per- nicious, calculations, it is the observation of the Bigns that is helpful in the practical life. 2. (Vv. 4, 5.) The Scriptural ideas of light and darkness are quite different from those of the world, According to the latter, the thoughts become cleay through enlightenment of the understanding, the life serene through art and culture; and very many Te. vile the witnesses of the gospel as dullards whe bin. der the light, and the faith as a dark view of life, Now a truly evangelical sense will not shut itself in against any kind of knowledge. But (Hzupner): The illumination, of which unbelief makes its boast, is darkness, The light of knowledge in Divine things is inseparably connected in reciprocal influ- ence with the earnestness of sanctification ; just as, vice versa, the corruption of the will and the blind. ing of the perception act reciprocally on each other,.— Rixeer: To be in darkness is to stick fast in igno- rance, security, earthly-mindedness, indifference to the Lord Jesus, enmity against the light, repugnance to having one’s hidden things come to the light, and in this condition to be willing to remain (Joln iii. 19 sqq.). But God is light, and begets us by the word of truth to be children of light, exciting in the hid- den man a delight in the truth, which allows the evil there to be reproved by the light, and that which is wrought in God to be made manifest, thus withdraw- ing itself from the evil, and establishing itself on the good; and in this way is acquired a pure heart, and a single eye, to which the light is pleasant as its ele- ment, and so to a believer, as a child of light, even the day, which makes all clear, becomes supportable and desirable (1 John i. 5; James i. 17; Jobni. 4; viii. 12; Rom, xiii. 11 sqqg.; 1 Cor. iii. 13; iv. 5; in the Old Testament, Is. ix. 1 sqq.; lx. 1 sqq.).— For Christians the day has already dawned inwardly, though it does not yet prevail without. As children of light, they are now already doing that which shall be their everlasting employment, in the day which will make all things manifest. But there is implied an earn- est work of renewing, if a man is to rejoice, and not be alarmed, at such a manifestation (Matt. x. 26).—It is also too litule thought of, how great is the dignity of our calling, that is expressed in the fact, that the bigh- est splendor of earthly glory, even of that of the carthly intelligence, is described as dark night, when contrast ed with the brightness that shall be revealed in us; ov’ ὁ silenzio ὁ tenebre la gloria che passé (Manzoni). 8. (Vv. 6-8.) The exhortation: Ye are so and so by a Divine right, and know that ye are so; let us, then, also act accordingly! is peculiarly power- ful. Just so Rom. vi. 11, 12; Col. iii, 83,5. First: Reckon yourselves to be what the operation of God has made of you; the righteousness of faith, which He imputes to you, do ye also impute to yourselves ; then: Walk also accordingly. By this resting on the work of God’s grace the Sisyphus-toil of self. righteousness is abolished, and man is cheered, while at the same time his zeal also is stimulated. Here the exhortation is directed towards watchfulness and sobriety. From the tendency of the new nature, which has come into being through the Divine opera tion, proceeds watchfulness ; and the task proposed is, that we cherish it by vigilance over ourselves, and so strive after a symmetrical and stable character. Intoxication, on the other hand, is an aggravation of the bias of the old nature, for which we ourselves are responsible. It arises from giving one’s self up to worldly glory, to the honors and possessions, the enjoyments and cares, the doctrines and tendencies of those who ask not after God. In 1 Cor. xv. 34 the denial of the resurrection is described as a de- bauch.* It is a judgment, when God pours out to * [Greek : ἐκνήψατε---“ Awake” as from a fit of drurke enness.—J. L.. CHAPTER V. 1-11. 8" Δ people the cup of trembling.* We should seek for holy, Divine reality, not ideal mist and foam of words. Whoever gives himself up to sleep and stu- pefaction, seeks for the night; that is, he screens and hides himself in the ruling power of the un- godly nature, attaching himself to companions of his own dark character. Where circumstances are suit- able, and it is the hour of darkness, he gives his dis- position the reins, An apostolic description of sobriety, on the other hand, we read in 1 Cor. vii. 29 sqq. 4, (Ὁ. 8.) Under the figure of armor, we have here a recommendation of faith, love, and hope, these three, as in 1 Cor. xiii; faith and love, as having a peculiar intimacy of mutual connection, as in ch. i. 8; iii. 6. Tueopmyzacr refers the love to Christ and our fellow-men; TuEoporev only to our neighbors, and in such a relation this might be more in accordance with Paul’s usage (Gal. v. 6, 14; over against 1 John iv. 10, 19 sqq.). Faith lays hold of the forgiveness of sins, and the strength of Him who is stronger than the world (1 John iv. 4); love over- comes the evil with good (Rom. xii. 21), and pre- cludes the rise of selfishness, bitterness, wrath, and hatred. The one cannot be without the other, Genuine faith is not a harsh dogmatism; it dwells only in a heart touched by the love of God, so that of necessity love grows out of it, A faith that does not justify itself in the way of love is not the genu- ine; it is a reliance un notions, instead of a personal trust in the God of grace; and through the inflation of knowledge it lays itself open to the enemy. A love, moreover, that loves not the life that is born of God (1 John v. 1, 2), but spares the ungodly na- ture, is not genuine love. Only where faith and love are really and intimately one, is the Christian heart (the centre of all inward and outward life) secured within the shelter of this breastplate against all con- demuation, against all thrusts of the accuser, against all devilish assaults, And that the blows shall not reach the head, that the Christian is able without fainting to carry it aloft in suffering and affliction, that he should have the power, in steadfast endur- ance and with clear thought, of looking the enemy boldly in the eye—this comes to pass only when he’ is helmeted with the hope of an eternal consumma- tion of salvation and deliverance. Deliverance from perdition—such is the Christian’s salvation. With- out the hope of it, faith and love also would be maimed. Fora God that gave man no eternal hope were at the same time a God, that did not make Him the object of His eternal love, and would be no such God as man could personally trust in. 5. (Vv. 9-11.) Here again the work of God and man’s doing are intimately conjoined, the former with the latter (see Note 3). By God’s appointment Christ died for us, that we might live with Him. Through Jesus Christ we may and ought to make salvation our own. He has accomplished it, and on this foundation alone can there be any mention of our obtaining it. We do not, however, realize its benefits as a matter of course, ex opere operato Jesu Christi, but only when we allow what he has done for us to work in us, To this end is mutual ex- ortation directed. 6. (77. 11.) The Scriptural idea of edification is something different from the sickly, effeminate ex- citement of the feelings, that is spoken of here and there as edifying. The thing to be done is to build i Paar word at Zechariah xii. 2.— τι the temple of God, to establish it on the right foun dation, to fashion and fit stone upon stone (1 Cor, iii, 16; viii, 10;* Eph. ii. 20 sqq.; 1 Pet. ii. 4 sqq.; Jude 20). Comp, Zann, Htwas tiber den biblischen Begriff der Erbauung, Bremen, 1864, The question concerns the dwelling of God in hu manity, and the mutual adjustment, therefore, of living stones for a habitation of the Spirit. ‘This is, on the one side, a work of God, which becomes ever more inward; on the other side, it is man’s labor, with an ever-growing fulness of earnestness, and with spiritual means throughout; both directed to the end that it may some day be said: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men! (Rev. xxi. 3). By word and by walk should we further one another herein. But it is certain that many an occasion, when without being obtrusive we might exhort, com- fort, edify our neighbors, is lost by us through shy- ness and sluggishness, for want of faith and love, HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 1. Zwiner1: The Lord hides from us Hia day, that we may continually watch, and never relax through ease and the immoderate desire of pleasure ; Catvin: that we may stand ever on the watch; [Burkitt : upon our watch every hour, ... No hour when we can promise ourselves that He will not come.—J. L.J]—Roos: Men frequently indulge a prying spirit in regard to truth submitted to them, and would know more than is needful for them.— Heusner: An unreasonable curiosity about that, which God has concealed, always betrays a heart not yet occupied with the man’s coucern.—Von Ger- LtacH: Nowhere do the Apostles declare that the time is long.—Diupricu: There is here no use in fancies of all sorts, but much harm is easily done. V. 2. Ye know perfectly, What? That the time cannot be known.—QuesneL: All knowledge re- specting the day of judgment consists in believing, that we cannot know it, With this we must learn to be satisfied ; it is really sufficient—SrockMEYER : That the Lord cometh, let us hold all the more firmly in those very times, when there is the least appear- ance of such a thing ever happening.—To the care- less it might be agreeable to know the hour when the thief comes, that they might sleep quietly till then, and have themselves wakened at the time. For such as love the Lord there is no need of know- ing it; for He comes, indeed, unawares to them also, but not as a thief, but as a Friend and Saviour.—[If the approach of this day of the Lord is fitly com- pared to that of a thief in the night, stealing upon us we know not when, ‘‘at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning” (Mark xiii, 35), this seems to preclude the idea of a thousand years of millennial glory before its arrival.—J. L.] V. 3. Cavin: We regard as fabulous what does not at once meet our eyes.—Their thought is: It will not fare so ill with me; I shall be sure to 'cok out for myself; am sharp enough.—Hzvusner: The treacherous peace of the unbeliever is founded on an absolute denial of the Divine judgment, or on the hope of its great remoteness. In this peace is in- volved the shocking consideration, that God is: looked upon as an Enemy to be dreaded, with whom one is never happy but when let alone by Him.— Curysostom : Seest thou how the devil has succeed- ed in making us our own enemies ?—Livingstone * [The word which our English Version here renders emboldened is οἰκοδομηθήσεται.---ὖ, Lu] 88 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. _ found negro tribes who cried: Give us sleep! when they meant peace ; and the explanation of it is their dread of nocturnal assaults, But the Christian’s peace must be a wakeful one.—Berlendurger Bibel : There is no surer snare of Satan, than when he is able to suggest mere thoughts of security. Of these is also that: God will not take matters so strictly ; He is truly merciful—Roos: The world would not be helped at all by an exact definition of the seasons and times; it would not believe them, and would sleep on in its darkness,—SrineE.in: Jf, then, thou dost feel no disquiet, and dost perceive no danger, thy misery is so much the greater.—Disquiet the way to true quiet. [Barnes: One of the most re- markable facts about the history of man is, that he takes no warning from his Maker.—J. L.] Starke: Here in the world the ungodly escape many a deserved punishment, since God looks on, and they who should have punished the wrong often fail to do so; but in that great judgment-day there will be no longer any forbearance.—Hevusner: Here man has still the power of withdrawing himself from God, to wit, from God calling, warning, arousing ; but whoever thus withdraws himself from Him, will fall into His hands as a Judge and an Avenger.—To flee from God, or to flee to Christ; such is the dis- tinction between a wicked, worldly fear and the salu- tary fear of God.—Already the precursory judgments are frequently characterized by a sudden precipita- tion; so the flood, Sodom, Belshazzar.—Riverr: How much better and more advisable is it, to yield one’s self to the salutary pangs of travail, in which a man is born again to a living hope! [A spirit of indifference to this subject of the Lord’s coming, no proof of piety or Christian wis- dom. The topie was full of interest for the children of God in the apostolic age; and the grounds of that interest cannot have been impaired by the lapse of eighteen centuries.—J. L.] V.4. It is a strong consolation, when one can truly be reminded of the standing of a believer, wherein by the grace of God he is set.—CaLvin: Nulla densior caligo quam Dei ignorantia.—Srock- MEYER: The Lord’s return breaks in on the horror of the darkness of sin, whether of a more refined or grosser form, like the clear, all-revealing day, when everything appears in the true light just as it is.— Christians, who can claim the Saviour as their own, are able to say: For us, He may come when He will; we are looking for Him all the time.—It is in- deed a great thing to be in such a state of readiness, as is independent of all knowledge about the time and the hour, Vv. 5, 6. Srockmeyer: Happy the church, to which it can be said: Ye are all of you children of light and children of day! Am I so likewise? How do we come to be so? no otherwise than by a judgment, when we allow ourselves to be judged by the light of God.—Zwinei1: We are ashamed to act badly before men, and are not ashamed to sin before God. Such is our wickedness and folly. Where faith exists in force, we shall be more ashamed be- fore the all-seeing God, who is the Eternal light, than if a man saw us.—He who seeks the darkness involuntarily betrays his inward feeling, that he is not yet hidden (Ps, exxxix. 11, 12)—A special characteristic of the darkness is, that sins are no longer called by their own names.—Berlenburger Bibel: Wickedness must no longer be called wicked, but merely an infirmity——Srarke: The man who has uot Christ, the Sun of righteousness, walketh in darkness.—But whoever inwardly walks in the light, for him the coming of the Lord serves to perfect hia plessed condition with regard also to what is out. ward,—Stockmnyer: Blessed thought, that the per- fect day is coming, when all darkness disappears, and we shall be altogether light—[W. Jay: Three distinctions may be here made. Heathens are the children of night... . The Jews were all children of the dawn.... Christians are the children of the day.—Lriguron: Base night-ways, such as cannot endure the light, do not become you....0 that comeliness which the saints should study, that deco. rum which they should keep in all their ways, evox μόνως, one action like another, and all like Christ, living in the light... in the company of angels, of God, and Jesus Christ.—J. L.] V. 6. [Watchfulness and sobriety; frequently thus joined together, and commonly also introduced in immediate reference to the coming of the Lord; comp. Matt. xxiv. 42 sqq.; Luke xxi. 84-36; Rom. xiii, 11-13; Phil, iv, 5; Tit. ἢ, 11-13; 1 Pet. i 13.—Christian sobriety, not torpor or inactivity,— See Joan Howe’s sermon on this verse.—J. L.] V. ἢ. Eph. v.11: Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.—Luke xxi. 84; 1 Cor, v.11; vi. 10; Rom. xiii. 138: Drunkenness too be- longs there ; not merely the figurative, but also the literal.—Zwinet1: Wine in excess stirs up many a commotion and passion in the body; it is oil in the fire. Similar to it is the deliberate fostering of the passions generally.—HecBner: Drowsiness is cone tagious—It drags down like a leaden weight; so likewise in what is spiritual. Criminal outbreaks are not the worst; insensibility for the things of God, forgettulness of God, proud self-sufficiency are more wicked. V. 8. Roos: Art thou watching? Art thou sober? Is it day or night with thee? What is most required is, that we regard ourselves and all outward things with a spiritual eye, and avoid filling and loading body and soul with eating and drinking, impotent science, proud conceits, cares, ὧς, The Christian’s position that of a soldier.—Rix- eer: With a warrior much depends on the inward courage and the confident self-possession ; but, be- sides that, much also on the equipment assumed, and the use made of it.—Catvin: Against our powerful foe weapons are needed.—THE SAME: Semivictus est qui timide ac dubitanter pugnat.—Curysostom : Not even for one brief moment are we permitted to sleep; for at that very momeut the enemy might come.—SrockMEYER: We are not at liberty to take our ease, to unclasp the breastplate, and lay aside the helmet; otherwise the enemy spies out the un- guarded moment.—ZwineL: Jfunimentum pectoris adeogue vite fides est.—Roos : Art thou clothed with the armor of faith, if a trial or a doubt will discon- cert thee ? and with the armor of love, if an offence will exasperate thee ? Art thou impatient, when thou findest not thy satisfaction in the world? or hast thou put on the helmet of the hope of salvation ? [Faith and love :—An unloving faith, or a love that springs not from faith, no protection.—J. L.] V. 9. Roos: God has not made us Christians, servants of His, partners of His kingdom, that we: should still after all experience His wrath_—Srocke MEYER: The day of the Lord is one of two things, a day of wrath or a day of salvation, [Burxirr: It is the greatest piece of folly imaginable, from the appointment of the end to-infer the refusal or neg: CHAPTER V. 12-24. 88 lect of the means.—W. Jay: He has not appointed us to wrath, He might have done it. We deserved it, &c, But to obtain salvation. Four things with regard to this appointment: the earliness of it—the is of it—its ¢fficiency—its appropriation — ΤΙ , 10. ΟΗΒΎΒΟΒΤΟΜ: The mention of Christ's death shows us whence come our weapons, faith, love, hope.—[W. Jay: How well does the Apostle call the Redeemer “our life”! Three modes of expression; we are said to live by Him—to Him— with Him.—Taz same: Proof of Christ’s omnipres- ence and divinity ;—the happiness of Christians. ... Voltaire more than once says, in his letters to Mad- ame du Deffand, “1 hate life, and yet I am afraid to die.’ A Christian fears neither of these. He is willing to abide ; and he is ready to go. Life is his, Death is his, Whether we wake or sleep, we shall live together with Him.—J. L.] V. 11. Heusyer: It is a rare thing to hear aught about people reminding one another of the last day. The warning voices are regarded as impor- Dost thou object: “I am no teacher”? Teachera alone are not sufficient for the admonition of all.— SrAucit: Blessed therefore are the congregations, which in Christian order devoutly observe this rule, Blessed also the teacher, who is able on this point to commend his hearers.—That contempt for the teach- ἑὴν ome is not the right thing is shown presently, v. 12, Vy. 9-11, [The source, the method, and the na- ture of the gospel salvation.—J. L,] Vy. 1-11. This section is one of the pericopes for the so rarely occurring 27th Sunday after Trin- ity.—Hevpner: Christian deportment in view of the last day: vv. 1-6, its nature; vv. 7, 8, grounds of obligation; vv. 9-11, blessed results—Kots: Most men are pleased with themselves. He whose eyes are opened knows that by reason of the fall we are by nature children of darkness, and only through regeneration are to become children of the light, Our high destination is, to go forth from the dark. ness, and press forward into light. God already looks on that as in existence, which is only in process tunate disturbers and enthusiasts——Tueornyzact:! of growth. IV. __ Closing Exhortations: to honor the presidents, to live in peace, to keep them- selves free from all bitterness against persecutors, to unite vivacity with sobriety of spirit; ending with the prayer, that God may keep them. Cu. V. 12-24. 12 Απᾶ [Now, or: But]' we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor [those who toil, τοὺς κοπιῶντας] among you, and are over [preside over]? you in 18 the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly [very exceed. 14 ingly] * in love for their work’s sake. And be [Be] ut peace among yourselves.‘ Now [or: But]® we exhort you, brethren, warn [admonish]° them that are unruly [the disorderly],’ comfort [encourage] ἢ the feeble-minded [faint-hearted],* 15 support the weak, be patient [be long-suffering] "ἢ toward all men [all]. See that none render evil for evil unto any man [any one, τινί] ; but ever follow [always pursue, πάντοτε. . . διώκετε] that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all 16 men [both toward one another, and toward 811]. Rejoice evermore [always, 17,18 πάντοτε]. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is 19 [5] the will of God [God’s will] in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench 20, 21 not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove [But prove] ™ all things; 22 hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance [every form]** of 23 evil. And the very God of peace [But may the God of peace Himself |" sanc- tify you wholly ; and Z pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be pre- served blameless unto [and entire may your spirit and soul and body be kept 24 without blame at]*’ the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ._ Faithful is He that calleth you; who also will do 12. 1 V 12—[8¢; transitional, or with a slightly adversative suggestion of the special urgency of this particular rxe= eept.—J. L] . 2 V. 12.--προϊσταμένους (Sin, A.: προϊστανομένους), stand before ; Germ. vorstehen.—J. L.J ξ . Ε 8 V. 13.—It is of no consequence, as regards the sense, whether we read with the Elzevir (also Sin.) ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ, or -σῶς (with B. D.1 F. G.). (Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott.] ἀλερ te ἣν ᾿ 4 V.13.—The codd. A. Β. D.3 E. K. L., many minuscules, Copt., Goth., &c., give ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ; but Sin., D.! F. 6. Byz., Vulg. cum eis, &c., ἐν αὐτοῖς ; Sin., primd manu, even καὶ εἰρην. [the corrector cancels xai.—J. L]. See the expo sition. ᾿ . 5 V.14.—[8¢; opposed perhaps to the idea, that peace (τ. 13) was to be sought at the expense of purity and πὶ utual faithfulness, or that the duty of admonition was confined to church officers (vv. 12, 13).—J. L.] 6 V. 14.—[vovdereire 5 the same word as in v. 12; 2 Thess. iii. 15; &c. —J. L.] ᾿ , 1 V.14.—[rods ἀτάκτους. Revision: ‘The only instance of ἄτακτος in the N. T., as our Second Epistle contains the only instance also of the kindred verb and adverb. E. V. margin; comp. 2 Thess. iii. 6, 7, 11.2—JT. LJ v0 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. 8 V. 14.---[παραμυθεῖσθε ; comp. ch. ii. 11, Critical Note 22.—J. L.] ᾿ 9..14.--[ὀλιγοψύχους. Revision: “ Another N. T. ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, though common in the Sept.”—J. L.J 10 'V. 14.--[μακροθυμεῖτε. suffering.—J. L.} 11 Comp. E. V. 2 Pet. iii. 9; 1 Cor. xiii. 4. The noun is almost always in our Version long: V.15.—[kai εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας.] Before εἰς ἀλλήλους B. K. L. Sin.? [most of the cursives, Tischendorf’4 later editions, Alford, Wordsworth) give καὶ ; but it is wiunting in Sin.! A. D. E. F. G., versious, [Scholz, Schott, Lach« mann, Ellicott.—The ἀποδοῖ of Sin.! was corrected in Sin.2—J. L.] 12 V. 18.—[ Revision: ‘Lachmann alone reads γάρ éorw."—J. L.] 8, 18:5 (θέλημα, θεοῦ (Sin.1; τοῦ θεοῦ) = one part of the Divine will; comp. ch. iv. 3.—J. L 14 VY, 21.— only in A. Sin.!, Copt., Syz., &c. See tbe exposition. 16 V. 22.—[mavris εἴδους. See the exposition.—J. L.] .] ΠῚ : é after πάντα is given by most of the uncials [and critical editors ; Riggenbach brackets it]; it is wanting 16 V. 23.—[Adras δὲ ὁ θεὸς THs εἰρήνης. Comp. ch. iii. 11, Critical Note 8, and the foot-note to Exeg. Note 9; alse here Exeg. Note 6.—J. L.] τν . 28.-ςκαὶ ὁλόκληρον (found again at Jamesi. 4; here belongs to the predicate) ὑμῶν τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἣ ψυχὴ καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀμέμπτως ev... τηρηθείη. On this last word it is remarked in my Revision of Jude 1 : ‘“ The verb τηρέω occura 75 times in the N. T.,... and in E. V. is 58 times rendered to keep ; only here and 1 Thess. v. 23, to preserve. ‘Wherever, as in this verse, it is used of believers, I prefer to translate it to keep, not so much on the general ground of uniformity, as on account of the large use of that term in the same connection in our Lord’s high-priestly prayer (John xvii.). The present safety of the Church is the Father’s answer to the Son.”—J. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (Vv. 12, 13.) Now [or, But. See Critical Note 1—J. L.] we beseech you, &c.—The clos- ing section contains exhortations, which are improp- erly described [Dz Wertz, Litnemann] as miscella- neous. It is no fortuitous selection, but we recog- nize an order and purpose, It is natural that in the Apostle’s closing exhortations there should always be much that is generally available; but in every case the selection proves to be singularly appropriate to the particular exigency, short and striking, every sentence weighty (comp. Rom, xii. and other places), In our passage Paul passes (δέ, see Liinemann) from what all ought to do (v. 11) to that which peculiarly concerns the presidents, on whom especially devolves the office of exhortation and edification; Curysvus- tom: that they might not suppose, that he would raise all to the dignity of teachers; Hormann: but in your activity forget not what you owe to the office ; ἐρωτῶμεν, as ch. iv. 1; he begs, where the question is about the presidents, whereas he exhorts, v. 14, when urging upon them their own active du- ties; he has nothing of the hierarchical temper. Perhaps their neglect of the presidents was connect- ed with the excitement of enthusiasm (ch. iv. 11); he was not willing to have this spread ; sobriety (ch. v. 6 sqq.) was to be shown in this direction also. The presidents are not designated by their official titles (πρεσβύτεροι or ἐπίσκοποι), but by a brief indi- cation of their functions; who labor, take pains ; κοπιᾷν denotes severe labor, whereby one is wearied ; for that very reason they deserve recognition. Here it is not added as in 1 Tim. v. 17, in word and doc- trine ; and without this addition the expression has a wider reach, embracing the performance of all ser vice. "Ey ὑμῖν can mean on you (Hormann, WINE, § 48. ἃ. 8) or among you, in your circle; not, in your hearts (PELt), for that is not man’s business: The κοπιᾷν is defined by what follows ; for προΐστασ- Sa: and vovsereiy cannot refer to other persons, officers, classes, since participle is joined to participle by a simple καί ; under the one article are included statements respecting the same persons; they who labor and preside and admonish are one and the same; the same work is conceived of on different sides: in regard to the exertion of the individuals themselves it is a κοπιᾷν ; in its relation to the church, a προΐστασϑαι ; in application to the erring, & νουϑετεῖν. They preside over you in the Lord, since they themselves live in Him; therefore also their work is in Him, in His strength, and a presid- ἰδ, guiding, overseeing in His behalf; they are no civil magistracy. [WerBsterR and WILKINson: “ ἐν K., added as the highest sanction, and at the same time limitation of their authority."—J. L.] Unsuit- able and not correspondent to the word is the expla- nation of Curysostom, THEODORET, and others: whe intercede for you with God in prayer ; that were rather ἐντυγχάνειν ὑπέρ τινος. Finally, νουϑετεῖν is properly to correct one’s ideas, and so to admonish, remind, warn; to this submit yourselves. Nor is that even in later times the business of another office (against OrsHausEN), but merely a special side of the presidency: the exercise of discipline for the prevention of errors. [WepstER and WILKINSON: ““By the use of participles instead of nouns of office, ministers as exercising rather than as having certain functions, are represented as the objects of regard.”—J. L.] These men—such is his request— ye ought εἰδέναι, pregnant: respicere, to recognize and acknowledge them as being what they are ; like ἐπιγινώσκειν, 1 Cor, xvi. 18, and Prov. xxvii. 23, Septuagint for 37"; indeed, 33" is translated also by εἰδέναι, when the meaning is ¢o interest one’s self in a matter (Gen. xxxix. 6);—no doubt, a different case from one in which there is a personal object. But it is unquestionably harsher, when Ewatp, de- clining the pregnant signification of ¢i5., supposes that what is to be known about them is first resamed in ἡγεῖσϑαι, &c. Hormann understands it thus: You should know how it is with them, what you have in them; SrocKMEYER: what position they hold. But Perr alone introduces the idea of showing grati- tude to them by ἃ stipend.~—And to esteem them very exceedingly, &c. ; still dependent on ἐρωτῶμεν. According to the two interpretations that are here possible, ἡγεῖσϑαι, &c. is somewhat harsh and without any quite analogous example 5 either (THEoporET, Grorius [and many others] ): to esteem them exceeding highly, and that (modal definition of this esteem) in love, therefore not in fear, or such like sentiments; but elsewhere ἡγεῖσϑαι (with an accusative) means fo take one to be somes thing, not, by itself, to esteem highly; this would require the addition of περὶ πολλοῦ, π. πλείστου, and for that ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ can hardly answer. Besides, _ *™ [Euiicorr: “ Zo know, regard, recognize fully. No instance of a similar or even analogous usage has, as yet, been adduced from classical Greek.”—Rewision: “ Be not strangers to them—their calling and work—thetr necessities and trials. What follows in v.13 would be the result of the knowledge. There is no need, therefore, of straining the common meaning of the verb. into acknowledge, recogs nize, care for, take an interest in, regard with Savor, revere ence, &c., as is commonly done in the commentaries, vere sions, and lexicons. The other ordinary references, in behalf of this alleged Hebraism in the use of εἰδέναι, Will be found on examination to be, very often at least, delus sive.... Indeed, the Hebrew 3'3" itself is frequent y mise interpreted in the same direction.”—J. L.] CHAPTER Ὑ, 12-24. at It is then quite too tautological with εἰδέναι. Rather, therefore, with Curysostom: ἡγεῖσϑαι αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀγάπῃ τῇ ὑμῶν ὀφείλειν εἶναι, hy. adr. ἀξίους τοῦ ἀγαπᾶσϑαι (THEoPHYLACT: thou lovest him who se- cures for thee an entrance into the kingdom of heaven), or PELr: in carissimorum eos loco habete ; and just so Lunemann, Hormann: hold them in love, like ἔχειν τινὰ ἐν ὀργῇ (Thucyd. ii. 18). Thus, along with respect (v. 12) he recommends (v. 13) the high- est love,* although, nay, rather because, they admon- ish youu—For their work’s sake; the indolent, therefore, have no claim, but they who faithfully perform the serious work for souls. [Etxicorr: “on account both of the importance of the work (Heb. xiii. 17), and the earnest and laborious man- ner in which it was performed; comp. Phil. i. 22; ii, 30..—J. L.J—Be at peace among your- selves, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς equivalent to ἐν ἀλλήλοις, John vii. 85; for the matter, Mark ix. 50 is to be com- pared. The variation ἐν αὐτοῖς (which arose proba- bly from the brevity of the sentence, that seemed unable to stand independently) is followed by Cury- sostom, THEODORET (contradict not what they say), Tusopuytact, Lurarr (be αὐ peace with them), ZwinGit, CaLvin and others. Zwinati: Be well content with them ; but he proposes also the expla- nation: In them (through them) ye have peace. But the connection leads us to expect an imperative ; had the word been meant to be indicative, it would have been said: ἐν αὐτοῖς yap cio. But the refer- ence to the teachers is not good; 1. ἐν would not suit well; μετά (as in Rom. xii. 18) would in that case be the right word; 2. an exhortation to peace with the presidents would almost necessarily imply a previous quarrel with them, which is at least im- probable ; 3. lastly, towards presidents the question would not be merely to keep the peace, but to be obedient to them in the Lord. Better, therefore, according to the reading, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ; among your- selves. This exhortation is connected indirectly (DE Werrr) with the preceding. Peace in the church (like brotherly love, ch. iv. 9 sqq.) was most threat- ened, when any showed themselves meddlesome, neglected ἡσυχάζειν, πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, &c., and for that reason did not, it is probable, sufficiently esteem the presidents. On the other hand, deference to the presidents and compliance with their exhortations promoted the peace of all. Since the foes of peace are within in every heart, such an exhortation was salutary, even though there were no serious disagree- ments on foot. Undoubtedly that by which peace was most threatened was the ἀτακτεῖν, to which he forthwith proceeds. 2. (V. 14.) Now [or, But—see Critical Note 5.—J. L.] we exhort you, &.—Esteem for their presidents and peace among themselves should and will lead to proficiency in their tasks: 1. in refer- ence to the faults which still cleave to the brethren (v. 14); 2. in relation to their enemies (v. 15); in both relations he directs them, 3. to the right dispo- sition toward God (vv. 16-18), and therefore also toward the gifts of His Spirit (v. 19 sqq.).—At v. 14, as at v. 11, he exhorts all the brethren ; for it is a mistake to regard the exhortation, with Curysos- rom, THEopHYLact [ConyBEARE], and others, as ad- dressed to the presidents. Truly spiritually minded Christians will, indeed, yield themselves to the guid- gnce of the presidents (vv. 12, 18), but will them- * (And so Lonemann, Exxicorr;—but the accuracy of the remark depends on the real import of εἰδέναι.---, L.] selves also (v. 14) assist them in the same spirit, The Apostle is far from entertaining extravagant ideas of office. He immediately reverts to what al] have to do; the difference from v. 11 consists in this, that Paul now treats particularly of the manner of dealing with the erring, or the in some way weaker members.—Admonish the disorderly; not altogether, in general, those who live in the vioe lation of the commandments of God (Curysosrom: all sinners are ἄτακτοι; TuxopHyLact: he who in any way infringes order, the drunken, the slander- ers, the covetous), but here probably in the narrower sense that appears in ch. iv. 11,12; also 2 Thess, iil, 6, 11, ἀτάκτως περιπατεῖν, v. 7, ἀτακτεῖν ; ἄτακ- τος, inordinatus (Livy), is the soldier who keeps not his rank and file; then, by transference, who- ever forsakes his τάξις, place, rank, station; who+ ever quits the straight track, driving round irregu- larly and aimlessly. There were such in this flours ishing church.—Hncourage (ch. ii. 11) the fainte hearted; ὀλίγοψ., Septuagint for various Hebrew words, Is. liv. 63; lvii. 15; μικροψυχεῖν also occurs, We think first (so already Tuzoporer) of those wha grieved for the dead (ch. iv. 18 sqq.); Hormann will not allow this, because theirs was a case, not of faint-heartedness, but of error; still the error result. ed in faint-heartedness, and they therefore needed to be cheered with comforting truth (ch. iv. 18). No doubt, however, there might be yet other despond- ing persons, to whom, when under persecution, Christianity seemed too grievous a thing (us in like manner THEODORET; THkoPHyLacT: who could not endure trial); or tempted persops, whose thought was: For me there can be no forgiveness.—Sup- port the weak; ἀντέχεσϑαι, to hold fast to some- thing, adherere ; Tit. i. 9, to cleave to the word; Matt. vi. 24, to one’s master; and so here: to the weak, as a precious treasure; but also in Prov. iv. 6 Septuagint for 1724: Wisdom will keep thee, will adbere to thee as a protector. Hormann: Take pains with them, instead of despising them; a con- trast like that in Matt. vi. The temptation would be to become weary of the feeble, as people that are continually making new trouble for us, without ever reaching a definite result. But this would be a dan- gerous self-pleasing (Rom. xv. 1 sqq.). The word ἀσϑενεῖς might mean the sick (1 Cor. xi. 30), but also those without spiritual strength, the weak in faith and conscience, who do not get forward (1 Cor. viii. 10; ix. 22; Rom. xiv. 1); and to this we are led here by the context; the disorderly and the faint-hearted are single instances, but to be weak shows itself in still another form. It is very con- ceivable that in so young a church there were yet people who, like young children, easily stumbled, and in whom the old things continued still to work. They might become weakest, when they thought themselves strong (1 Cor. viii. and x.), The oppo- site quality is denoted by ἀνδρίζεσϑε, κραταιοῦσϑα (1 Cor. xvi. 13), or again by the ὑγιαίνειν of the Pastoral Epistles.—The most general precept comes last: Be long-suffering toward all; as love acta (1 Cor. xiii, 4; comp. TDN FMNT, Prov. xix. 115 Sept.). Patience allows time for the growth of the godly man. A necessary exhortation for such as are yet young Christians, who are apt to be young also in their zeal. Yoward all—Tnxroporet, OLSHAUSEN, Linemann [Aurorp, Exticorr] would understand this, as in v. 15, of all men; Hormann [Jowzrr] would take the clause in immediate connection with 92 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. v. 15. But δρᾶτε, &c. indicates a new start, whereby he passes to the true Christian treatment of all men; whereas in v. 14 it is still the behavior of Christians to one another that is spoken of; and so THropuy- bact even refers the expression (only somewhat too strictly) to the three classes before mentioned. Therefore: Be long-suffering toward all, the disor- derly, the faint-hearted, the weak, and whoever else in the church requires your patience (De WETTE). Who does not? [Wepsrer and WILKINSON: cer- tain classes required particular treatment, all re- quired patience.—J. L. 8. (V. 15.) See, be careful, be on your guard (Matt. viii. 4); βλέπετε also occurs in this sense ; see to it, heedfully, for it is not an easy matter (CaL- vin); that none render evil for evil unto any one (1 Pet. iii. 9; Rom. xii. 17; Matt. v.). Not merely, therefore, that ye do not violate μακροϑυμία, in an excessive, spiritual zeal, but also that no one, as quite commonly happens, give way to the re- vengeful disposition of the old man; toward any brother or non-Christian, possibly. a persecutor. Curysostom, Turopnyiact: If we are not to return evil, then so much the less should we begin by giv- ing evil for good.—Alas, that there is ever fresh need of such exhortations! But Paul does not say: μή τις ὑμῶν, and from this De Werte infers that it is taken for granted, that a spirit of revenge is so unworthy of true Christians, that to them it is mere- ly said: Guard against its breaking out elsewhere even in others. This LUnemann rejects, 1. because Paul could not have supposed, that with those who had been heathens vindictiveness was something so entirely laid aside, since it was rather a new, spe- cifically Christian commandment, to avoid it; 2. be- cause, therefore, all needed for themselves the ex- hortation to vigilance and self-conquest, whereas 3. it is but seldom that one is able to restrain others. Nevertheless it may still be asked: Why does Paul not employ the second person plural? Dz WertE is somewhat too one-sided; μή τις admits of both applications, to every one for himself, and to the warning of others; Hormann compares Heb. iti. 12; iv. 1; xii. 15; and even among Christians no one is perfectly secure against fits of revengefulness. Ac- cordingly: Let every one look to both himself and others; the discreet is to restrain the passionate. Most judiciously Bence: He who is incensed by wrongs is prejudiced ; therefore should others see to it, and seek to moderate him.*—But always pur- sue that which is good—not merely what is salu- tary, useful (OLsHAUSEN), what is good for one (Hor- MANN), altenis commodis (GRotius), nor yet benefi- cence (PzLr), but what is right before God (the opposite: κακόν), morally good (Rom. xii. 9, 21). Of course, this is also beneficial to one’s neighbor ; the special application of what is morally good to our neighbor consisting in those offices of love, which are to be rendered to him (Srarkez). The good is just everything that furthers the triumph of truth and love. Aim at dving this even to him who injures you. Paul does not always move in such generalities and abstractions (to do good for the sake of good, and such like); but to rich, conerete, par- ticular exhortations he subjoins these comprehensive and simplest fundamental principles (comp. 2 Cor. xiii. 7, and often). To attain to this (amidst mani- festations of enmity) requires a διώκειν. We must * [BENGEL’s own Latin: Quisque custodiat ef se et alles rum. Lesus, qui in fervore est, nimium videt ; ergo proximi widen: debent.—J. LJ τ as ‘ pursue that which is good, it does not eevee be long to us; the evil, or. the contrary, comes of itsell (comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 1, follow after charity : Puree 14, peace and holiness).—Toward one another that means the brotherly love of Christians (ch. iv 9, 10); and toward all, even non-Christians (ch, iii, 12); here the opposition is expressed. What 4 good , that is still more than what is becoming (ch, iv. 12). 4 (Wy. 16-18.) Rejoice always [2 Cor. vi. 10; Phil. iii. 1; iv. 4.—J. L.].—Whether you attain the end with your neighbor or not, do you pursue after it, so much as lieth in you (Rom. xii, 18), and, for your own part, rejoice evermore ; Tneoporer: even in poverty, sickness, contumely, torture, pris on; as those for whom all things work together for good (Rom, viii. 28). Here he speaks of the right disposition, no longer toward men, but before God. All that goes before is to be attained only when this peace rules within. Should there be a failure of joy because of the difficulty of overcoming evil with good, then raise yourselves above all that depresses you by prayer.—Pray without ceasing (ch. i. 3; ii. 18; Rom. i. 9). Already Curysostom and TuEo- PHYLACT recognize the connection: τὴν ὁδὸν ἔδειξε. Without ceasing ; this does not mean, with a contin ual, indolent folding of the hands; as Paul prayed night and day (ch. iii. 10), so likewise he labored night and day ‘ch. ii. 9); and yet he had also inter- vals of sleep! The next thing is therefore obvious: Never omit the practice of prayer; be as regularly diligent therein as in labor. This then infers a con- stant spirit of prayer, breathing through the whole life. But in order to the stirring up (2 Tim. i. 6) of this, and so to the quickening of joy, he exhorts further: in everything give thanks; BrnceEL: even in what seems adverse. Give thanks for the great grace already received (comp. Col. iv. 2; Phil. iv. 6). In the last place we find in like manner ἐν παντί. This is not the same thing as πάντοτε (which stands with it at 2 Cor. ix. 8), for καιρῷ should not have been wanting; but it means, in every point, every maiter or situation, equivalent to κατὰ πάντα, περὶ παντός, ὑπὲρ πάντων (Eph. v. 2¢).—For this is* God’s will, &c. (ch. iv. 3); not the will, since that of course includes more than this one point, The subject is τοῦτο, this, the giving thanks in everything ; Grotrus [Scuorr]: prayer and thanks. giving ; but in that case we should have to go still a step further, and, with Voy Geriacn [Corn. 4 Laping, Jowsrt, ALForp, Méx1ER] bring in also the rejoicing ; not quite everything from v. 14, for that is not so homogeneous that it could well be em- braced in τοῦτο as one topic. In consideration also of the fact that ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε is added by asyndeton, it may well seem more advisable to refer the τοῦτο, with ΒΈΝΘΕΙ,, only to the giving of thanks, which indeed is the means of quickening prayer and joy. Hormann: The interruption of the exhortations takes place, where one of them is spe- cially confirmed. On the predicate BENGEL re marks: Voluntas semper bona, semper spectans salum tem vestram in Christo. But not as CaLvin gives the turn: Of such a nature is God’s gracious will in Christ, that we have therein abundant cause for thanksgiving ; but: God’s will is ‘Ass that we give thanks, and this will of God is established in Christ mediated through Him; Christ strengthens us ta give thanks, because in Him all ‘things are ours 4 * Only Lacumann reads γάρ ἐστιν.---, LJ CHAPTER V. 12-24, 94 τ Cor. iii. 21 sqq.), all things work together for good (Rom. viii, 28), all things help forward the subdual of the flesh and the relief of the spirit. Finally εἰς ὑμᾶς, quoad vos, toward you, in reference to you. 5. (Vv, 19-22.) Quench not the Spirit.— From prayer and thanksgiving he passes to the source from which they flow; a right frame of heart toward God should show itself in the right use of His choicest gifts; in a proper bearing toward the manifestations of the Spirit in the life of the Church, —a supplement to v. 14, where the defects of the church and their proper treatment had been touched upon. The Spirit is He who is received from God (ch. iv. 8; 1 Cor. ii. ; Gal. iii.), and who, working in original fulness and freshness, distributes manifold gifts (1 Cor. xii.); the connection with v. 20 points in this direction. Carvin: Spiritus genus, pro- phetia species. Quench—literally, extinguish—Him not; the sacred fire; comp. Rom. xii. 11, τῷ πνεύ- ματι Céovres, and 2 Tim. i. 6, ἀναζωπυρεῖν ; THxEo- puyLacr: In the night of this life God gave us the Spirit for a light. ‘But Wursrein shows by many examples that σβέννυμι is used also of the stilling of awind. The fire is nourished by prayer, thanksgiv- ing, exercise; is quenched by neglect or suppres- sion, by want of wood or by pouring on water; Von GeRLacH: by contempt, suspicion, a fleshly mind, contradiction or inattention; CaLvin: by unthank- fulness. But a still more precise question is this: Does it mean: Stifle not the Spirit. in yourselves by impurity of doctrine and life? or suppress not the Spirit's utterances, when they meet you in the church? The connection with v. 20 leads to the second explanation; it being always understood, that to decline the Spirit’s influences in our own hearts renders us also averse to what we meet with in others of His extraordinary movements. This disaffection might work not only against prophesy- ing, v. 20, but generally against the most various manifestations of the Spirit. But when De Werrr conjectures that there were, in particular, timid, pusillanimous presidents, who, because they saw with regret the spiritual excitement, restrained those in- spired from coming forward, there is no satisfactory evidence of this. The exhortation is quite general in its tone (v. 27 will bring us to a similar question). Altogether unsuitable is Orsnavsen’s inference from our passage, that Paul can therefore have had no misgiving about the Thessalonians being in danger of becoming a prey to enthusiasm, according to the subsequent indications of the Second Epistle. No; Paul knew how matters stood; he admonished the disorderly ; he exhorted to careful examination ; but surely he could not write: Quench the Spirit! On the contrary, Hormann will not allow, that there existed in Thessalonica a partial disinclination to spiritual utterances; Paul, he thinks, would merely regulate their bias towards what was extraordinary, the main emphasis being on the after-clause, prove all things. This may be too exclusive on the other side. How easily, in presence of enthusiasm and even false prophesying, might a distrust of every- thing out of the common course take possession of other minds! Paul corrects both the one tenden- cy and the other. So already TuxoporeT: Some wished, on account of the false prophets, to stop also the true.—One particular instance of spiritual manifestations is mentioned in v. 20: Despise not prophesyings (where they occur). The word stands without the article, in the plural, denoting the \ndividual cases. Prophesying does not respect the —_ future merely (though this also ts not excluded, Acta xxi. 10 sqq.), but is an utterance of Divine myste- ries; mysteriorum retectio et mraesentium et futuros rum, Pevt; a speaking to the church under a special influence of the Spirit, but with clear conscious ness, and thus distinguished from the speaking with tongues; on the other side, it is not one and the same thing with teaching, the reflective development of thought; but a speaking from Divine inspiration, affecting hearts with a thrilling power, strengthening them with the fulness of consolation, unfolding the mysteries of judgment and of grace in the adminis- tration of the kingdom and in the sway of individual hearts. At all times one prophet has connected with the word of another; still mere exposition is not prophesying; to the latter belongs somewhat of originality ; but this shows itself as well in the elu- cidation of the past (prophetic history), as in the spiritual flashes that disclose what is coming (comp. 1 Cor, xii. 10, 28; xiv., especially vv. 24, 25; Eph, iv. 11; Rom. xii. 6; Acts xi. 27; xiii, 1; xv. 32; xix. 6). This gift despise not, old Greek ἐξουδενεῖν ; -éw likewise occurs (Mark ix. 12, various reading) ; the Swiss verniite answers exactly in etymology and import. Other gifts might be more brilliant, al. though this also, 1 Cor. xiv. 1, 39, is especially com- mended. The disaffection probably proceeded rather in undue resistance from the intellect and love of order; not, as in Corinth, from an overvaluing of the γλῶσσαι. Not to despise, however, does not mean to receive without judgment and blindly. Hence: Prove all things. The variations, πάντα, πάντα δὲ, δοκιμάζοντες, instead of -Cere, and lastly καὶ τὸ καλόν, seem to lead back to the asyndeton, πάντα δοκιμάζετε, as the simplest reading. But should the preponderance of authorities be deemed decisive in favor of the addition of δέ, the sentence would stand in opposition to what goes before, and the two following sentences would be arranged by the trial enjoined into 1. Hold fast that which is good, and 2. Abstain from the evil. Prove, the command is to all Christians, not to a privileged class.* The object of the trial is to be all things ; primarily, according to the context, what the proph- ets say. The word has come to be a peculiarly trite commonplace, in which the second half of the verse is frequently forgotten: Hold fast that which is good, fair, noble; what furthers you in the Divine life—what amongst the πάντα (primarily in the prophesyings) you find excellent—that hold fast, in opposition to the ἐξουϑενεῖν. A point of peculiar importance, however, is, not merely what, according to the Apostle, is to be proved, but especially how. The object is everything that claims to be spiritual, as in 1 Cor. xiv. 29 also it is precisely to what the prophets say that the direction applies: διακρινέτω- σαν. There is, therefore, no fanatical demand for ἃ blind submission, not even to the apostolic word (1 Cor. vii. and x. 15). Of so much the greater conse- quence is it to be certain that we really possess the true Divine criterion, What that is, Paul does not say ; but plainly it is none other than what they had received from him and through the Spirit had made their own, the apostolic word of truth, originating with the Spirit, and sealed by the Spirit (ch. ii, 18; * (Exurcorr would apply it ‘more restrictedly to those who had the special gift” of the discernment of spirits. But the limitation is not in the text, nor is it required. The church might properly be exhorted to do as a church what she was enabled to do effectively in the: exercise of her own special endowments.—J. 1.) 94 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. iv. 1, 2; 2 Thess. ii. 5; iii. 4,5); answering to the anointing of 1 John ii. 27. The trial of the spirits is a special charism (1 Cor. xii. 10; comp. Heb. v. 14), See more under the Doctrinal and Ethical head, No. 4.—To πάντα δοκιμάζετε Crrit of Alex- andria prefixes the words, γίνεσθε φρόνιμοι τρα- πεζῖται (money-changers, argentarii, nummularit). In the other Fathers this sentence is, y. δόκιμοι τραπ.; and from this arises a telling contrast: Be proved yourselves, that you may be able to prove (comp. HAnszt, in the Stud. τι. Krit., 1836, 1.). This expression is ascribed generally to Holy Writ by Ciemenr of Alexandria and the Constit. Apost. ; to Jesus in particular, by Jeromr, Epiruanius; to the Apostles, by Dionysius of Alexandria; to Paul (in connection with 1 Thess. v.), by OR1GEN, Basiz, and especially by Crriz. Does it come from some apocryphal book? rather, it is a ῥῆμα ἄγραφον. Such is Hinsex’s view, who thinks that it may at any rate have been in the Apostle’s mind, and that δοκιμάζετε is to be explained by the technical lan- guage of exchangers, as also εἶδος in v. 22: Abstain Srom every sort of bad money. But unless money- changers and coins had been expressly spoken of, it could occur to no one to think of that; especially not, that εἶδος without νομίσματος, and that too in the second member, instead of the first, could sig- nify a kind of money. We therefore hold to the more general signification.—But what is the mean- ing of v. 22? The Vulgate: ab omni specie mala, is still itself ambiguous. Luter: Avoid every evil appearance ; 30 also Canvin, Grotius [Worps- wortH, Wesster and Wrkinson]; the English Version, from all appearance of evil; the Dutch, van allen schijn des kwaads ; Martin and Ostervald, de toute apparence de mal. This were an altogether beautiful sense+ What is finally to be regarded is the εὐσχημόνως περιπατεῖν (comp. ch. iv. 12); it is perhaps impossible for the Christian always to avoid every evil appearance, but to the best of his ability he is todo so. Liinemann objects that this would imply on the other side: Hold fast merely the ap- pearance of what is good ; but that does not follow, inasmuch as the opposition might include the cli- max: Even from that which should have only an appearance of evil we are willingly to abstain, in order to give no offence. Ringer: That we may not forfeit the confidence of others; but first we are to accept what is proved to be good. Still this in- terpretation must be rejected, as violating the ex- pression ; that is to say, εἶδος means form, aspect, then hind, species,* (Jer. xv. 8, Sept.), as a sub- division of the genus; but not appearance. Then, to avoid an evil appearance would not suit the mat- ter here spoken of, namely the trial of prophesyings. It would be an independent sentence, introducing something altogether new, whereas evidently πονηρός stands opposed to καλός, and ἀπέχεσϑε to κατέχετε, as the two sides, the negative and the positive, of δοκιμάζειν. For Lityemann’s idea is plainly too re- fined, that, because we have not simply ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ, ν. 22 cannot form the antithesis to v. 21, but must contain a more general thought. Why should not Paul be able slightly to modify and inten- sify the expression? We shall see with what good reason. Hitcenrexp is unwilling to understand εἶδος in the sense of kind; that would be too flat; it should rather signify spectacle, figure, and be referred * [So the great majority of the best interpreters. Sce Revision.—J. L.] ὍΕΗΣ 7 to the shameful and seductive exhibitions of hem thenism. Already in like manner Roos thinks that what is meant is an image that seizes the mind, fane tasticalness, But in this way also the connection would be given up, and the idea limited to some sine gle matter, of which one does not of one’s own accord readily think ; whereas the context lends to the seemingly general idea a more specific import, Still it may be asked whether πονηροῦ, because with. out the article, belongs as an adjective to εἴδους (Bencet, Scrott, Petr), or as a substantive depend ing on εἴδους. The former construction would be advisable only in case the expression already im- plied, of what things the εἶδος is intended, and thosa things such as that their good εἴδη are distinguish. able from the bad. It is better, therefore, to take it, with De Werre, Litwemann (Jowett, ALrorp, ELL corr] and others, as a substantive (comp. Heb. v. 14, πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ Te Kal κακοῦ, also without arti. cle; comp. JosEpu. Ant. x. 8. 1, πᾶν εἶδος πονηρία; Hormann refers also to Prato, Rep. p. 857 c., ὁρᾷς τε εἶδος ἀγαϑοῦ [to which may be added Curysosr, Hom. viii. on this Epistle, οὐδέν ἐστιν εἶδος κακίας ὅπερ ἀτόλμητον.---. L.]. So the antithesis is: Hold fast that which is good (the good is one); from every kind of evil abstain (the evil bas various εἴδη, and hence the climax); even from the seemingly spiritual kind of evil; THEoDORET: as well in doc- trine as in conduct. Even that which comes forward as prophesying, or generally as a spiritual gift, is to be proved; even that kind of evil, which asserts itself under sacred pretexts, you are to avoid. There is evil of a human, natural, fleshly sort, but also of a demoniacal (comp. 2 Cor. xi. 14). 6. (Vv. 23, 24.) But may the God of peace Himself, &c.—A contrast both as to the subject and the predicate, as ch, iii, 11; iv. 16; not you alone have to do this, nor could you so accomplish it, but God must effect it; and that not merely here a κατέχειν, and there an amréxeoSa:—not isolated acts merely—but the main comprehensive work of life, your sanctification and preservation to the end. He is called the God of peace, its Lord, Author, Source, Rom. xv. 88 ; xvi. 20; similar combinations in Rom, xv. 5, 18. Everything advanced in vv. 14-22 is here taken together, and brought into view as all aiming at true peace. And truly the work of God, whereby he guides us to peace, is our sanctification, and, through that, our preservation to the Advent, Our sanctification is, indeed, His will (ch. iv. 3, 7); our entire surrender to His will and service ;—a thing which He alone can achieve, to wit, by His Holy Spirit (ch. iv. 8), Already has it begun; in their principles Christians are ἅγιοι ; but it is only by slow degrees that perfect sanctification pervades all their powers, And this consummation marks the advance in our passage as compared with ch. iii, 18, In what follows Bence distinguishes between unt- versi (all without exception) et singuli (every one entirely); but that does not lie particularly in the first clause. ὋὉλοτελεῖς, in the New Testament ἅπαξ Aey., means either: you as complete, entire, so that no sort of evil is in you; LuruEr: through and through ; or (PELT and others) ; May He sanctify you to be a perfect people—accusative of operation ; with this verb without example. This word, no lesa than dAdkAngrv, may suggest the faultlessness of sacrifice, The latter is equivalent to integer » at James i, 4 it stands with réAeos; in the Septnagint for Dw, pram; and unhurt, in all parts unin CHAPTER ΨΥ. 12-24, 98 jured, may your spirit, &e. be kept, &. De Werte, OcsHausen, and Ltnemann would understand it quantitatively, to distinguish it from ἀμέμπτως : every part by itself entirely, all spotless, But ὁλόκλ. denotes the quality,* the full healthy life, comp. ὁλοκληρία in the healing of the lame man (Acts iii. 16), and is yet sufficiently distinct from ἀμέμπτως, 1. as a positive expression opposed to the negative ; 2. as marking the nature of the subject itself, over against what expresses the verdict of the Judge; and lastly, 8. since ὁλοκληρία is a predicate, whereas the adverb ἀμέμπτως is to be understood as quali- fying the verb. On the latter point most interpret- ers do not clearly express themselves, or they take the adverb as if it were an adjective, comparing per- haps ch. ii, 10, ἀμέμπτως ἐγενήϑηιιεν, and the brevilo- quence ch. iii. 13 (where, however, we find ἀμέμπ- tous), as if it were τηρηδείη εἰς τὸ ἀμέμπτως γενηϑῆ- ναι év—. But that is too artificial, Lonemann un- derstands the adverb as more closely defining ὁλό- KAnpov τηρηϑεῖη ; + but to be perfect without blame would be a pleonastic description,} since perfection with blame is something inconceivable, There re- maixs, therefore, only (as recommended also by the order of the words) the reference of the adverb to the veih alone. The τηρηϑῆναι, it is true, is the act of God, and so far the adverbial qualification seems to be unsuitable; but since the being kept implies nevertheless a reciprocity between God and man, the prayer is in order: May your spirit, &c, be kept in such a way as can incur no blame at the Coming.§ ‘Oad«Anpoy, standing foremost, belongs as to sense to all the three members; the construction being, therefore, zeugmatic. The phrase, spirit, soul, body, is not a mere rhetorical amplification [Dz Werte], nor yet of itself a proof of a trichotomy of human nature (OxsH.), borrowed by Paul from Philo (or Plato). The phraseology of Scripture is as exact as it is popular; but it does not favor such a division. Even the texts, Heb. iv. 12; 1 Cor. ii. 14; xv. 44-46, show indeed incontrovertibly, that Scripture distinguishes between the spirit and the soul, but not necessarily as between constituent parts, substances, but as between two relations, sides, functions of the same essence, according to its upward or downward direction. For πνεῦμα, min. is the spiritual nature of man as directed upward, and as capable of living intercourse with God. The power of thought, νοῦς, is not the same thing as πνεῦμα (comp. Rom. vii. and viii.); for the voids can be entangled and enchained in the flesh (Col. ii. 18); the πνεῦμα is the essence quickened, emancipated, become dominant through regeneration by the Spirit of God, and that by means of which man is lord of nature and of the flesh. Of this there is mention here: May your spirit, in which God’s spirit dwells and rules (Rom. viii. 16 ; 1 Cor. ii, 11 with v. 12), be kept safe. It cannot be the Holy Spirit Himself,-for He can suffer no hurt, and *[Atrorp (WexssTER and WILKINSON): “ὁλοτελεῖς seems to refer to the entireness of sanctification, which is presently expressed in detail. . . . = ὅλους." Exuicorr: «The aspect of the former word is (here especially) mainly quantitative, of the latter, mainly qualitative.”"—J.L.] t [Exuicorr in like manner thus: ‘The adverbial predication of quality, appended to τηρηθείη, ὁλόκληρον in- volving that of quantity.”—J. L.] 2 + [Such pleonasms, however, are common enough with Paul; comp. especially Eph. i. 4, εἶναι ὑμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους.--“.1,. § [This, again, restricts the ἀμέμπτως altogether to the human and less important elements in the τηρηθῆναι.---.1..} so needs not to be kept; to beware of grieving Him (Eph. iv.) is something different, But man’s spirit is threatened with defilement (2 Cor. vii, 1), whereby the divinely renewed life might again become retro. grade, so that at last the ψυχικός should (as it were) no longer have any spirit (Jude 19)—On the con- trary, ψυχή, BI, is the spiritual nature as the quickening power of the body, as in animals; hence excitable through the senses, with faculties of per. ception and feeling. Σῶμα, finally, is the wisely arranged instrument of the soul, and destined, there- fore, likewise for the service of the Lord (1 Cor. vi. 18 sqq.); whereas σάρξ, which denotes first the bod- ily material, is further used to designate the whole man, as he with all his powers is enthralled by the sin-tainted corporeality ; comp. "WA already in Gen, vi. 8.—The Apostle, then, expresses the wish that not merely the spirit may be kept (with reference to what had just preceded) from falling back out of the life of regeneration, but that the soul also in its strivings may be held still under the discipline of the spirit, and thus the body, freed more and more from the dominion of its lusts, become an obedient instrument in the service of sanctification. In this way covetousness, with its violations of brotherly love, will be overcome; believers become one heart and one soul (Acts iv. 82); and fornication will ever more completely lose its power of allurement. This will be a sanctifying of the personality in all its pow ers and functions—[For additional remarks on the scriptural usage in regard to πνεῦμα and ψυχή, see the Doctrinal and Ethical Note 5.—Dr. Hopeg (on 1 Cor. xv. 43, 44) denies, like our Author (and comp. Eprarp on Heb, iv. 12), a triplicity of sub- stance in the constitution of man. ‘ The Bible,” he says, ‘‘ recognizes in man only two subjects or dis- tinct separable substances, the soul and body. And this has ever been a fundamental principle of Chris- tian anthropology.” In like manner Wepstrr ana Wikinson (Worpswort) find here “a tripartite division rather of man’s faculties than of his nature.” On the other hand, Dr. Canpuisu (Life in a Risen Saviour, p. 171) remarks on our text: ‘‘ There according to a view of man’s organization, or the constitution of his nature, these commonly received spirit, soul, body, are specified as its constituent parts or elements. The spirit, or that higher principle of intelligence and thought peculiar to man alone in this world, to which we now usually restrict the name of mind or soul; the soul, or that lower prin- ciple of animal life,—with its instincts selfish anc social, its power of voluntary motion, its strange incipient dawn of reasoning,—which, common alike to man and beast, is so great a mystery in both ; and the body, made to be the material organ and instru- ment of either principle, the higher or the lower; these three in one, this trinity, is our present human ity."—ALrorp: “ τὸ πνεῦμα is the spirit, the high- est and distinctive part of man, the immortal and responsible sow/, in our common parlance: ἡ ψυχή is the lower or animal soul, containing the passions and desires (αἰτία κινήσεως ζωικῆς ζώων, Plato, Def. p. 411), which we have in common with the brutes, but which in us is ennobled and drawn up by the πνεῦμα. That St. Paul had these distinctions in mind, is plain (against Jowzrr) from such places as 1 Cor. ii. 14, The spirit, that part whereby we are receptive of the Holy Spirit of God, is, in the unspiritual man, crushed down and subordinated to the animal soul (ψυχή) : he therefore is called ψυχικός, πνεῦμα ode ἔχων, Jude 96 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. 19."—To which may be added part of Exiicort1’s note in loc. : “ Distinct enunciation of three compo- nent parts of the nature of man: the πνεῦμα, the higher of the two immaterial parts, being the ‘ vis superior, agens, imverans in homine’ (Oxsu.); the ψυχή, ‘vis inferior que agitur, movetur’ (ib.), the sphere of the will and the affections, and the true centre of the personality.” I should say that, on Exxicorr’s own theory, this distinction belongs rather to the mvedjua.—J. L. . ‘It may be remarked that we frequently find instances of an apparent dichotomy, ‘body and-soul’ (Matt. vi. 25, x. 28, al.) or ‘body and spirit’ (1 Cor. v. 3, vii. 34, al.), but such passages will only be found accommodations to the popular division into a material and immaterial part; the ψυχή, in the former of the exceptional cases, including also the πνεῦμα, just as in the latter case the πνεῦμα also comprehends the ψυχή. . . . To assert that enumerations like the present are rhetor- ical (De W.), or worse, that the Apostle probably attached ‘no distinct thought to each of these words’ (Jowett), is plainly to set aside all sound rules of scriptural exegesis, Again, to admit the distinctions, but to refer them to Platonism (1, ΝΕΜ.), is equally unsatisfactory, and equally calculated to throw doubt on the truth of the teaching. If St. Paul’s words do here imply the trichotomy above described . . ., then such a trichotomy is infallibly real and true. And if Plato or Philo have main- tained (as appears demonstrable) substantially the same views, then God has permitted a heathen and a Jewish philosopher to advance conjectural opinions which have been since confirmed by the independent teaching of an inspired Apostle.”—J. L.] Faithful is he who calleth you; not dis- appointing confidence, worthy of credit; THropo- RET: ἀληϑής. The participle is in the present: He does so continually (ch. ii. 12; Gal. v. 8); or as a substantive: Such is His nature (ch. i, 17 [12]); He ever lets operate the drawing of His Spirit.— Who also will do it, the sanctifying and keeping, positively ; through grace is not irresistible, yet so that there is no failure on His part. The little word also gives prominence to the idea, that the keeping will answer to the calling of the faithful God, as car- rying it out even to the end. He perfects His entire work (Ps, xxii. 32 [31]; xxxvii. 5). The Epistle began with thanksgiving to God and His éxaoyh ; it closes with praise of His faithfulness to the end. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (Vv. 12, 18.) In all churches, however young, πρεσβύτεροι were soon appointed (Acts xv. 23), without whom a church could not exist as such. God is a God of order (1 Cor. xiv. 33); and, with- out regulated guidance, the πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια must have been neglected, and the περιεργάζεσϑαι must have prevailed (1 Thess, iv. 11). In the earliest Epistles, however, the presidents have certainly as yet very little prominence; the προϊστάμενος (Rom. xii. 8) and the κυβερνήσεις (1 Cor. xii, 28) occupying a modest position behind other gifts and functions, Government, command, is not in the Church of Christ the first thing. In this place teaching is not yet attached to superintendency, but stands beside it as a special free gift. Nor even for the exercise of discipline (for example, 1 Cor. v.) is the office at all described as exclusively authorized, and so respon- sible ; and quite as little is obedience to the bishops commended, as in the Ignatian Epistles, as a pana cea; rather the Apostle foresees the possibility of corruptions even among the elders (Acts xx. 20), But a due esteem for faithful and laborious presi. dents is for the welfare of the church. The simple way in which our Epistle speaks of these relations, marks it as one of the earliest. But if at a lates date we meet with fuller instructions (Eph. iv. 11, and especially in the Pastoral Epistles), still nowhere are the presidents clothed in the post-apéstolic fash. ion with a character of absolute authority, as if they had an exclusive dignity different from the general priesthood of Christians (1 Pet. ii. 9). Their rule is rather conceived of always as standing in necessary connection with the Holy Spirit ruling in the whole Church (comp. 1 Pet. v. 8); the spiritually minded members of the church must exercise the ministry of office, that it may really appear to be spiritual work, and not merely an acting of hierarchical su premacy, or even of a paid office. Nor does even the abuse of the περιεργάζεσϑαι drive the Apostle to a narrow and anxious one-sidedness in putting life into official chains—a proceeding, indeed, to which Moses himself was averse.—As regards the designa- tion of office-bearers, the opinion that has most widely prevailed is, that in the earliest period πρεσ- βύτερος (elder) and ἐπίσκοπος (overseer) are synony- mous; and this is, in fact, favored by such texts ag Acts xx. 17, 28; Tit.i.5, 7. Yet the view of Gun. pert (in RupeLBacn and Guericxe’s Zeitschrift, 1854, p. 56, sqq.) is worthy of examination, that in the earliest period πρεσβύτερος was the general title of honor for all church functionaries, who fell apart into 1. ἐπίσκοποι and 2. διάκονοι, the two divisions that meet us Phil. i, 1 and in the Pastoral Epistles ; James v. 14 speaks of those who waited on the sick, and calls them πρεσβύτεροι; Ἐ on the other hand, Acts xx. and Tit. i. speak only of the higher class of presbyters, the bishops; + whereas 1 Tim. v. 17 distinguishes amongst the elders those who labor in the word and doctrine from others who do not, ané yet ch. tii. 2 requires from every ἐπίσκοπος that he be apt to teach. Those κοπιῶντες, therefore, amongst the elders would probably be bishops. If one de« sired to maintain, even in the passage of the 5th chapter, the identity of bishops and elders generally, he would have to find in κοπιῶντες the description of those who take pains therein; but in that case would the others wno proved deficient be neverthe. less worthy of double honor? 1 With the teaching a (The presbyters whom James speaks of are not repze~ sented as in regular attendance on the sick, but as called in on an emergency for the performance of their appropriate ecclesiastical functions; and besides, the article—rods mpeoButépovs—shows that the body of presbyters, as such, is intended, and not any supposed inferior class.—That the deacons were at any time regarded as presbyters is an utterly arbitrary suggestion, though made by others before Gundert (see Mosurim’s Historical Commentaries, Cent. I. § 37), and is, indecd, at variance with all the indications of the New Testament.—J. L. ._, | [But to say that in the Church of Ephesus there ex- isted a plurality of diocesan or monarchical bishops, or that Paul left Titus in Crete to ordain a number of such func- tionanes im every city, would be self-evidently absurd.— 1 [The most natural inference from 1 Tim. y. 17 is, that at the time when that Epistle was written there were elders who ruled, but did not teach, and who, if they ruled well, were to be accounted worthy of double honor; while thia honor was especially due to those of the elders, who, whether by a higher official appointment, or by agreement amongst the elders themselves, not only ruled, and ruled well, but labored also in the word and doctrine 3; just as on the very same principle it might be sai ἃ, that double honor was still more emphatically due to such elders of the CHAPTER V. 12-24, bishop, and under his direction, there might be de- veloped the richest abundance of spiritual gifts, which were not confined to office (1 Cor. xiv. 26-82). The mode of election, finally, is not yet constitution- ally regulated. Roos: There was at that time no disputing about the right of patronage—If the Apostle requires that a bishop must have a good report even of them which are without (1 Tim. iii. 7), so much the less, certainly, would presidents have been forced on a church, in whom it had no confi- dence, The Apostles could allow the churches large scope, for they could trust them, that they yielded themselves to the guidance of Christ’s Spirit. But where this prerequisite should not exist, to think of helping the Church by committing to the congrega- tions comprehensive rights of government—this were a proceeding for which there could, at least, be no appeal to the Apostles. It is certain that the Apos- tles would have laid hands on no one of whom they had known: He stands not in our doctrine, which we have received from the Lord (comp. Acts ii, 42; 1 Tim, v. 22). 2. (Vv. 18-15.) Respect for the presidents is connected with the peace of the church ; and, on the other hand, peace relieves for them the burden of office. Peaceableness, however, must not be a cor- rupt allowance of all disorder. A true keeping of the peace does not exclude, but includes, discipline. It is a morbid symptom of our time, that it can so little endure discipline. It is true that to administer it in a proper way is a delicate matter, requiring both inwardly and outwardly much wisdom, love, patience, and self-denial. But it is none the less a false lenity and a criminal selfishness, listlessly to allow others, who are intrusted to us, to go to ruin. If a man is willing, not merely to deliver lordly admonitions to others, but to begin with the beam in his own eye, and also not to sin against his brother by neglecting to admonish him (Lev. xix. 17; Ezek. iii. 17 sqq.), but to warn him at whatever risk of suffering for it, he can in this way maintain peace even amidst the assaults of enemies, 8. (Vv. 16-18.) The gospel produces no joyless sullenness, but true joy for all people (Luke ii. 10), in hope (Rom, xii, 12), in the Holy Ghost (Rom. xiv. 17), in the Lord (Phil. iv. 1 [4]). When vexed with temptations, we cannot, indeed, feel it as joy, but we should so account it (James i. 2). Whatever occasion of sadness is contained in affliction (ch, i-iii.), it nevertheless promotes our salvation; and the man who not merely seeks, but has the Lord, in him is the fulness of joy (John xv. 11; xvi. 24; xvii. 18). Prayer is the means to this end. From fear of mechanism in prayer, some would regard merely its free spirit. But the likely result of that is a yielding to hindrances, Weare not so free from corruption, that we should be able to leave the mat- ter to our inclination, Practice, when attended to not as a legal penalty, but in hearty fidelity, awakens the right disposition; only in this way can one καιρός assist another, so that the intervening χρόνος shall be filled with the spirit of prayer, and prayer become the keynote of the soul. Prtac.: Si jugiter non potes lingua, tamen corde. Who acts thus? who not? why not? Comp. Luke xviii. 1; Rom. Church Catholic, as discharged also apostolic functions (1 Pet. v. 1). The other text, 1 Tim. iii. 2, when taken in connection with all the texts which demonstrate the iden- tity of the bishop and presbyter, can prove nothing more than that at this period the former title was confined to the teaching presbyters.—J. LJ xii. 12; Eph. vi, 18, If, for the quickening of de. votion, the Apostle counsels us to give thanks, it ia but the other side of the same truth, when the coun- sel of an experienced Christian was: Still repent ? for that only is true thanksgiving, which confesses : Of Thy favor I am not worthy ; and that only true repentance, which utters itself in thanksgiving, that God is nevertheless our God. 4. (Vv. 19-22.) It is a real trial of the spirit, the way in which a man treats the manifestations of spiritual gifts, and also their excesses, How easily do we fall either into a temper of undue excitement, whereby the limits of propriety and discretion are broken through, or, in opposition to this, into an un- easy or haughty, cold distrust of everything unusual ! In movements of the stronger sort there is, indeed, an element of discomfort, disturbance, offence ; they contain a presumption of abandoning the common track, and the danger is imminent, that with con- fused or even impure minds every path of order may be despised, and that what began in the Spirit may find its sad end in the flesh, By word and example the Apostle shows us, that we are neither blindly to assent to everything, nor suspiciously to reject every. thing, Quench not the Spirit, What is really spirit, should develop itself ἴῃ ἃ free and living way. The only thing required is, that it stand the proof that it is really spirit from the Spirit of God. In that case, though it may be strange and troublesome to the world, a spiritual man confesses it. It is owing to the narrowness of our hearts, that we are so annoyed by whatever is not according to our way. On the other hand, there may be a large-heartedness that neglects to try whether something is of Divine qual- ity, and that perhaps just while a false appeal is made to the apostolic word: Prove all things. On this point Rigger has already remarked, that that has come to be a huntsman’s halloo, as if in every heap of rubbish we must look for pearls, When, for example, one asks us to inquire whether there is not more truth in the Chinese religion than in the Christian, that has nothing at all to do with the word of the Apostle. According to this, as according to . that of John (1 John iv. 1), the question is, to try the spirits, whether they are of God. But there are spirits which are not so; false prophets (2 Thess. ii.); deceivers or deceived; nay, with an honest intention erroneous human inferences may be drawn from what the Spirit saith (comp. Acts xxi. 4, 11-14), There is really nowhere a formula, in which a man can comfortably rest. The matter must therefore be tried; but how? The great thing is to try by the right test, and not mere cavils and idle talk, Even in the things of this world it is folly to criticise aught without knowledge; much more, then, in Divine things. There we must be sure that we actually have the Divine rule. Even entrance into the faith does not take place blindly and without proof (John vii. 17); the knowledge, that the gospel is what our deepest necessity requires, admits of systematic de- velopment as a branch of apologetic science. But here Paul speaks of a trial, where a standing within the evangelical faith is already presupposed, and the question now is, whether this or that novelty is in accordance therewith. On what assurance of the truth the Apostle himself proceeds is shown by Gal. i, 8. A trial, therefore, in the Apostle’s sense pro- ceeds on the certainty of the fundamental anostolie truth, Even De Werre does not claim, that the rationalistic first principle, as to natural reason being the judge of Divine revelation, is to be derived from 98 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. our passage. For, 1. he says that the object uf the trial is uot revelation itself, but its reproduction, application, appropriation by those Christianly in- spired ; and, 2. that the rule is not to be the ration- alistic reason (that unknown 2), but the Christian πνεῦμα ; a legitimate trial requiring faith as a pre- requisite. But then Dr Werre himself again in s0me measure introduces rationalism, when he says, 1. that in Scripture we have simply the apostolic reproduction of the original revelation (as if the latter were not thus reduced to an « 7), and, 2. that man carries in himself the germ of the πνεῦμα, the reason, which, indeed, is first unbound and unfolded through Christ; Christians, consequently, would have to test by means of the Christian consciousness awak- ened in them, with the Christianly enlightened rea- son. But Christian consciousness is too weak an expression for the πνεῦμα according to the sense οἱ Scripture. For this supposes, not merely illumina- tion, but regeneration, and so a real, practical pro- cess of sanctification in submission to the word. At all events, we attain to the πνεῦμα in quite another way than that of criticism, Whoever has received it, bears in himself the witness that the Spirit is truth, and that this spiritual life is attained in no other way than from this source. Comp. Gzss, Das Zeugniss des Heil. Geistes in the Apologetische Bei- trdge of Gzss and Riceenpacu, Basel, 18638. Hence follows the right treatment of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit in different directions. The prophetic element, awakenings amongst the people, and such like, should not, alongside of the regular ministry, be despised, or suppressed, but tested, and held to a steady sobriety. And so, on the other hand, with wegard to the gift of γνῶσις, a profounder scientific wesearch and knowledge, against which there easily ‘arises in excited circles a spirit of contempt and dis ‘rust. The gospel, however, is no dead letter, but itself invites to ever-new labor of thought. Nor is the right of examination limited to teachers, or even to a council of bishops, According to 1 Cor, xii. 10 the διάκρισις πνευμάτων is a peculiar charism, a kind of receptive prophesying, incapable, therefore, of producing, but of inestimable value as a sound coun- terpoise to possible irregularities; a mark of the ὁλοκληρία of an apostolic church, This gift must show itself by its connection with the truth of God; only one in-whom God’s word is a living, sanctifying power gives evidence of the ability to test; and it is then a spiritual labor of no slight character, nor to be reached through external regulation. To train the laity to a Christian self-dependence is the aim of a truly evangelical rninistry. Where that gift is present, there is possible a wise, confident treatment of intellectual and spiritual movements ; people then stop saying to one another what the Wiirtemberg superintendent Weber heard from the peasant MicuarL, Haun: ‘‘ How comes it that our parsons are always preaching that men ought to be convert- ed, and, when one is converted, they cannot bear it?” to which, after being silent for some time, he replied, ‘‘ God knows he ‘is right!” None the less mindful, however, are we still of the truth, that it is not everything claiming to :be Divine that is so; as the lady Von Krispener confessed on her death- bed: ‘Often have I taken for the voice of God what was nothing but the fruit of my fancy and my aps Yet she was able to.add: ‘‘ What good I ave done will remain; what evil I have done, God’s mercy will blot out.” 5. (Vv. 28, 24.) Peace is here properly to be taken in its fulness of meaning, Hebr. bw. lifs unimpaired (comp. ὁλόκληρος, DPW), the full feek ing of life in the strength of the atonement, With this agrees also the opposite, confusion (1 Cor, xiv, 33). This peace alone makes joy possible even in suffering, and thanksgiving even in distress and affliction. But God alone brings us to the enjoy- ment of a true peace, not only with one another (Ὁ, 13), but first in and with Himself. This comes to pass through an all-pervading sanctification. Spirit and soul—the two designations may be used indiffers ently, when the question is not about diversity of functions, but solely about the one and the same substance; thus ψυχή stands with σῶμα, Matt. x, 28; and again πνεῦμα with σῶμα, 1 Cor. vii. 34 (whereas here the point is, not simply the preserva. tion of life, but sanctification and the service of God); πνεῦμα with σάρξ (1 Pet. iii, 18,19; 2 Cor, vii. 1) denotes the two ruling principles. But where the exact testing and sifting of the motives of action are spoken of, whether they proceed from above or from beneath, there it is said that the word of God, as a two-edged sword, pierces to the dividing aguns der of soul and spirit (Heb. iv. 12). And 80 here the discourse regards the sanctifying and keeping of all man’s functions. For the spirit cannot truly serve God, if soul and body continue in their natu. ral state of estrangement from the life that is of God, but they too must (slowly, gradually, with con. flict and trial, with daily mortifying of the σάρξ, anu yet with carefulness for the σῶμα) be drawn into the sanctifying process, and that must be inwrought into them. Otherwise our reason apologizes for sin; it savoreth not the things that be of God, but those that be of men; the conscience is lulled to sleep; the emotions and feelings of the soul sway up and down; the body is allowed to go unchecked in its wants and impulses, The whole must be changed, Very well Von GerLacu: The spirit of man is sane. tified and kept, when God’s Spirit dwells in it and rules it; the soul is sanctified, when the Divinely sanctified spirit controls it, when all its feelings, all its longings and strivings, however necessary to the maintenance in man of his proper life, and to the exertion thereby of an influence also on the world around, are yet perfectly subordinated to God and the spirit. The body is sanctified, when its instincts and wants are ruled and regulated by the spirit through the soul, and its members are made alto- gether instruments of holiness. It might seem as if in the sanctification of the spirit the sanctification of the soul and the body were already included. But it is of importance that the latter also is mentioned here and frequently, to guard us against the danger. ons error, that possibly the spirit might serve God, whilst the soul and the body persist in serving sin.— The Apostle here, as throughout the entire Epistle (ch. 1.10; ii. 19; iii, 18; iv. 15), directs our view toward the coming of the Lord. Then only will the true judgment be held, as never once before the pri- vate conscience (1 Cor. iv. 3-5). No peace, therefore, with sin! In order to our standing in that judgment, we need to place our re+ liance not on ourselves, but solely on the faithfulnesa of God, Having begun His work in us, He will also perfect it (Phil. i. 6; 1 Cor. i.9; x. 18: 1 Pet. i, δ). Human exhortations and resolutions, necessary aa they are, and though an emanation from God's faiths fulness, an instrument in His hand, an occasion of growth in a varied experience, yet do not carry CHAPTER V. 12-24, 99 within themselves the guarantee of success. Only that which the grace of God supplies is a pledge of the greater gift: He will not forsake His own work. This alone secures for us the possibility of reaching perfection. Am I already holy? perfectly holy? who would dare to make such an assertion, in pres- ence of Phil. iii, 12; James iii. 2; 1 John 1. 8-10? and still we are not at liberty to indulge ourselves in acomfortable repose. Certainly the last text shows us, how little 1 John iii. 9 is to be explained in the sense of a frightfully erroneous perfectionism. Even the maturest Christians, when dying, draw their com- fort from the thought, not how holy they are, but that they are in Christ. The holiness of the Saviour covers their sins and imperfections. But this new garment consumes the old man. Faith, which, ap- prehended by Christ, apprehends Christ [Phil. iii. 12], is no idle amusement of vain hopes, but a going forth out of ourselves, and a casting of ourselves with all our powers on Christ. To be kept in Christ with spirit, soul, and body, that is to be kept indeed. The man who stands there is not yet, it is true, per- fectly holy, but that is the point, nevertheless, toward which he will strive heartily. Such is the evangeli- cal doctrine of perfection. On the certainty of sal- vation, comp. the Apolog. Beitrdge of Guss and Rie- GENBACH, pp. 230-233, HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vv. 12, 18. Heupner: Paul beseeches, A sen- timent of cordial esteem and gratitude is something so tender, that it does not at all admit of the co- ercion of a command; especially esteem for our teachers.—Berlenburger Bibel: What the Holy Spirit might command, for that He beseeches and im- plores—Zhe same: Know them; that it may not be said: They knew nothing of Joseph.— Who labor amongst (or on) you ; Zwinett: Non enim est otian- dum, non stertendum. Et labor arduus est, predi- care verbum Dei.—Catvin: From the number of masters must be excluded all slow bellies [Tit. i. Hel need Sd Bibel: Teachers are not called to laziness, nor yet to an animal (mere outward bod- ily) activity. Spiritual labor is the soul’s earnest painstaking, wrestling, and searching, not only for one’s self, but for others; a laboring in prayer and patience (comp. 2 Cor. xi.; also Col. i, 29; ii 1; Gal. iv. 19)—Heusner: Teachers desire to make something of men; this labor is a great thing; but τὸ is not always recognized as such.-To choose Jabor- ing for souls as one’s exclusive calling is a service that requires effort, and in which at the same time the heart of faithful labor shuns admeasurement.— Carvin: It is not in vain that these marks are noted; by them believers are to distinguish the true pastors.—Curysostom has already very unapostolic effusions on ill-will towards the priests, through whom alone we receive admission to the kingdom of heaven and its ¢remendis mystertis—Hevsner: To misapprehend those who wish us well, and to frus- trate their labor, brings us sensible damage.—Berl. Bib,: The labor divided into presiding and exhort- ing.—If thou observest defects in the presidents, do not withdraw from them thy loving intercession.— To preside is not to domineer (1 Pet. v. 3; 2 Cor. i. 24).—The same: To preside is to lead the way, not haughtily to tyrannize.—A legitimate presidency is exercised in the Lord, therefore not in one’s own hame. It is subject to the trial of spirits, But the presidents are not merely the mouths by which the church speaks; they serve the church as belonging to Christ; they serve Christ in it—Admonition is not the pleasantest duty, but the severest.— 774 same: Presidents must learn to have zeal with knowledge, to correct with wisdom, to rebuke in love.—The same: Exhortation includes all Divine methods of admonition, encouragement, excitation, It is the particular application of the word to this and that person; not merely publicly, but in private, Hevsyer: The love of an honest teacher has na price ; only warm love is its worthy reward. Diepricu: Quarrels and divisions easily occur, when the preacher’s office is not honored.—On the other hand, where there is a tendency to strife, there the warnings of the presidents are disregarded.— [Vauauan: Subordination is peace.—J. L. [M. Henry: Ministers should rather mind the work and duty they are called to, than affect venex rae ia honorable names they may be called by.—= [Lectures : Christian liberty not an anarchy. All Church organization finds its warrant, vitality and blessing in Christ, The whole relation of pastor and people grows out of their joint relation to Him. —Tarerscu: The Church, although composed of members who are all called to be filled with the Holy Ghost, has yet been from the beginning no# mere Spirit, but the very Body of Christ, in which every part has that place and duty which have been assigned to it by God, and no other. The Church is the most perfect of all organizations, and Christianity the completion of all ordinances.—J. L.] V. 14. Hevusyer: It is the duty of all to further the teacher’s work, and to take part in his cares, Rieger: There is nothing more unhandsome, than when one will be everything, and is afraid of missing aught through the co-operation of others; whatever God grants to another to perform, that we ought to enjoy as really a common good.—Zwineu1: It is the duty of all to exhort one another, and so much the less to be displeased, when others perform it.—By no means should we leave exhortation to teachers, and ourselves maintain a sluggish peace. It is not to maintain peace, when no one dares to say aught, and no one allows aught to be said to him. True peace exists only where the truth sanctifies all_— Every one is known by his neighbors better than by his minister, from whom much is concealed. Catvin: Remedia morbis sunt accommodanda.— Hevsyer: It is truly a Christ-like work [ein wahres Jesuswerk], to interest one’s self in souls for which others regard labor as lost. Rude persons, who will submit to no order, need earnest correction, reproofs, challenges ; faint-hearted ones, the class opposite to the rude, despondent, never satisfied with there selves, need comfort; the weak, failing often, doing their part imperfectly, need help and support; every man needs patience, because every man has some- thing about him that others find troublesome and repugnant.—The sooner exhortation is given, the easier it goes.—To comfort may prove wearisome, especially when what is desired is not the evangelical comfort, to be still under the hand of God.—Cat- vin: When with one or two attempts at consolation we do not reach our end, we easily become annoyed, —Berl, Bib.: We must not take on airs with the lowly, but put ourselves on their level—Those weak in understanding, faith, love, inclination to holiness, we must so much the less abandon to themselves.— Patience is ποὺ indifference, for it endures what it 100 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. recognizes as evil; therefore is it a grace, to be able 4o be patient (1 Pet. ii, 19).* Impatience is weak- ness.—Srarke: This Divine disposition (to be slow to wrath) we too should have in ourselves; as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22)—Every Christian has yet his faults; what is there in me that others have to bear (Eph. iv. 32)? Let us therefore exercise pa- tience towards the members of our family, and not merely towards strangers; towards those in a hum- ble position, and not merely towards the eminent, V.16. Hevsner: It is the duty of Christians to maintain the spirit of love in the Church, and de- stroy all seeds of bitterness.—Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, is a principle of Divine justice; but selfish- ness would execute it in an arbitrary style—Srarke: To requite good with evil is devilish ; to requite evil with evil is heathenish; to requite gocd with good is commendable; to requite evil with good is Cbris- tian.—Curysostom: What harm can be done to the man, who is able even to requite evil with good? Whereas the bee, along with its sting, parts with its life—Abigail knew how to warn David. Zinzen- dorf said, that his chief aim was to love those who injured him, Vv. 12-15. SrockmeyerR: The Apostle is con- cerned about two things, that there be mutual ex- hortation, and that peace be maintained. Both are important; both must go hand in hand. Neither should be a hindrance in the way of the other. The one can prosper only when the other does; and the welfare of the Church, only when both are duly re- garded. V. 16. Hevsner: The Christian is always under the cross, and always in joy. Christianity the way to true gladness. But the gladness of a Christian is inward, deep, silent. And the path to this gladness lies only through sorrow. Res severa verum gau- dium.—There is much sorrow in the world ; but it is only true mourning that is blessed (Matt. v. 4), The work of God’s grace is the most glorious that can gladden the heart of man. Joy likewise belongs to the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22)—Rizcer: We may even be assailed by a variety of fortune; only the foundation of hope, as the proper source of Christian joyousness, should under all changes re- main the same.—Berl. Bib.: Many suppose that there is not in the world a more wretched, unhappy. man than a true Christian ; in this way the devil dis- heartens people.—But prayerful joy alone is true joy.—[Barrow’s Sermon on this text opens thus: “ Rejoice evermore! O good Apostle, how accept- able rules dost thou prescribe! O gracious God, how gracious laws dost Thou impose !"—See also a Sermon by Dr. Donne, and four by Dr. GaLz.— 2.1. ? 17, Zwiner1: True prayer is the lifting of the heart to God, not empty, wordy babble.—Lv- THER, in StarRKE: The whole life of a genuine Chris- tian goes on continually in prayer, For, though he is not constantly moving his lips or multiplying words, yet the heart, like the artery and heart in the body, goes on beating unceasingly with sighs, and the more that blows, vexation, and distress become severely afflictive and urgent, with so much the greater force does this sighing and praying proceed, even orally, so that you can as little find a Christian without prayer as a living man without a pulse, which stands never still, though the man is sleeping or doing something else, and he is not aware of it.— * [Τοῦτο γὰρ χάρις vt A—J. Lj Rizcer: To pray without growing weary, without yielding to hindrances, without despairing of the salvation of God, is to pray without ceasing. All sayings of Scripture must be reduced to practice als¢ in that Spirit by whom they were uttered ; under whose auspices we never take aim too high, nor ig any indulgence given to the sluggishness of the flesh.—When you do not at once receive the thing prayed for, do not therefore give over, _hold on (Rom, xii. 12).—Berl. Bib.: Four great hindrances to prayer: 1. too much outward business uncom. manded by God; 2. too little subduing of the body; 3. too little privacy; 4. too great slothfulness.— Zhe same: If thou wouldst not cease to pray, cease not to desire. The fervor of love is the cry of the heart, [Aucusring, as quoted by WorpsworTH: Continuoua desire is continuous prayer. If you cease to desire, you are dumb, you have ceased to pray.—J. L.J— Κύκνια (in the Erfahrungen am Kranken- und Sterbebette, p. 218) does not allow the validity of the complaint: J cannot pray ; as you have complained thus to me, a man, you can just as certainly sigh to God, and say: Alas, O God, I can no longer prays and so you are already engaged in prayer.—[See two Sermons by Barrow on this verse.—J. L.] V.18. That man is very unthankful to God, to whom the righteousness of Christ and the hope of eternal life are not of so much consequence, that he can rejoice in the midst of sorrow. Thanksgiving is a bridle on our desires, We are indecd permitted to pray earnestly, yet so that God’s will be dearer to us than our own.—RiecGER: One finds always occa- sion for thanksgiving, when we learn to understand how even that which seems adverse is thus well arranged for the quelling of the flesh and its dispo- sition, and for the relief of the Spirit— Berl. Bib.: The best thanksgiving is expressed in obedience, so that we again present to Him all that we have re- ceived from Him.—Curysostom: Hast thou suffered some evil thing? Why, if thou dost so choose, there is nothing evil in it. Give God thanks, and then it is changed into a blessing. With Curysos- Tom it was an axiom: There is but one calamity, sin, And after many sorrows he died with the words: God be praised for everything! [δόξα τῷ Θεῷ πάντων évecev.]|—To the thankful there is ever im- parted an increase of blessing, Ps. 1. 28.* [A beau- tiful hymn on this verse by Mrs. Meta HEvssER, see in Scuarr’s German Hymn-Book, Philad. 1859, No. 30.] Vv. 16-18. SrockmeYER: In what way may we attain to the ability of complying with the summons to be always joyful? The will of God is first of all, that thou too sbouldst be in Christ. Then hast thou God for thy Father; then is thy whole life in God and with God, with a heart that ever prays, that is, is ever directed toward God. Then art thou joyful in God (Ps. lxxiii, 25 sqq.), though not always tri- umphing aloud. When in the very depths of the soul is a still unreconciled conscience, no man can be truly glad; but let the peace of God dwell in the heart’s depths, and it is possible for thee, as a child of God, to weep as if thou wept not—to be sorrow- ful, and yet always rejoicing. 2. But how shall wa attain to this sure and constant communion through Christ with God? There are very many interrup- tions to the course of our prayers; pleasure and sore * (According to LurHeEr’s version: “ Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich ; und da ist der Weg, dass ich thm zeige dat Heil Gottes."—J. L.] CHAPTER V. 12-24, 10. row find us often unprepared. Now even that must incite us to prayer, and also to thanksgiving, If still unable to give thanks for everything, we may nevertheless in all things, at least for the earlier blessings already received; not as if all that was to go for nothing; till we learn also to give thanks even for chastisement itself. But especially is that, which God in Christ has done in thee, worthy of the loftiest praise. To be still uncertain as to our gra- cious state is a heart-trouble, sorer than all suffering. Whereas to have found mercy makes temporal afflic- tions light, We perceive also how little salutary would be a time of undisturbed prosperity, in which the heart would become corrupted and ever more greedy. Not till sin and infirmity lie wholly behind us, will our whole life be everlasting devotion and unspeakable joy—Comp. Paut Guruarpr’s Hymn, Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr, &c. V. 19. Srdmevin: The Holy Spirit in His gra- cious workings is quenched by the pious against their will through carelessness, so that the light of joy and strength declines in them, and they have to rekindle it with ardent sighs; but the ungodly suppress the Holy Spirit’s knocking by wanton resistance.—Berl. Bib. : Check the power of the Spirit neither in your- selves nor in others. By dissipation amongst vani- ties we quench the Spirit in ourselves. We should always resist ourselves rather than others.—Riccer : In things of the Spirit we do not exercise as much reasonableness as in the affairs of civil life, where we know how to turn to use the gifts and intelligence of every citizen; whilst in spiritual things, on ac- count of the apprehended abuse, we attempt an utter extinction. Von Gertacu: One main cause of the decay of our Church is, that the activity of the laity, the manifestation of the gifts vouchsafed to them for the common advantage, has no regular sphere of operation (comp. 1 Cor. xiv.)—There the life is con- tracted and withered. V. 20, Hevusner: Prophesyings are, strictly speaking, considered by the Christian; he is not a sceptic, nor an unbeliever, but neither is he credu- lous—Prophets appear even along with the written word; only not in opposition to it; they are rather those in whom the word becomes living, and through them also for others. The Reformers were the prophets of their century; SPENER one of those of the century that followed. Nor was there wanting to them also the stamp of the hatred which they had to endure (Matt, v. 11, 12).—Berl. Bib.: We should duly regard the manner in which God works won- drously even in novices, and give the glory to Him alone. {On vv. 16-20 Bishop Brvermwas has Brief Notes, and a Sermon on v. 18.—J. L.] V. 21, Zwinert: Prove all things; that holds good of things that are still doubtful, and respecting which the judgment is still unsettled.— Berl. Bib. : It is one thing, to prove; another, to destroy. For the trial there is needed the Spirit of God, and a humble mind, that will bend and bow.— Whatever novelty presents itself is to be proved by the already authenticated gospel. We are required to discern, not only ungodly spirits, but likewise human admix- tures with the truth. We are to allow ourselves to be proved by the Spirit of God (Ps. cxxxix.), Hu- man reason judges differently in different individu- als, a0 long as we are unenlightened (1 Cor. ii, 14); the Apostle’s exhortation is directed to such as stood in the faith. [Benson : What a glorious freedom of thought do the Apostles recommend! And how contempti ble in their view is a blind and implicit faith | WaT&RLAND’s Sermon on this verse: I, Care and discretion in choosing ; IL. Firmness and steadiness in retaining.—J. L. . 22, Verum index sui et falsi.—He1pErBera Carecuism, Quest. 114: (We should) with earnest purpose begin to live, not only according to some, but all, the commandments of God.—SrockMEYER Shun evil of every kind, even when there is no in. tention of evil; when it is not a lie, but an error; even when it is found in an otherwise well-enlight- ened, respectable, beloved person; even when it ia proposed in connection with what is true and good; even when it has much that is plausible and attract. ive. Whatever conflicts with the word of God ia of evil, let it seem never so obvious. V. 23. Without peace no sanctification [Cusp Nock: God is first the God of peace, before He 38 the God of sanctification.—J. L.], without sanctificar tion no peace.—RriEGER: Man can indeed do noth- ing without God ; but God also will do nothing with- out man, and the proof of his obedience at every step.—StrarkE: Blessed the man, to whom God is a God of peace in Christ, and not a God of vengeance out of Christ.*—The God of peace has thoughts of peace toward us.—Rigcer: Peace with God is first of all the atonement, effected on the cross by the blood of Jesus, and received by us in faith. But here the idea is still broader, and embraces likewise everything whereby God holds us in subjection to Himself, so that all striving and cavilling against God ceases, and on the contrary everything in man submits itself contentedly under God, passes under the easy yoke of Christ, is kept by a cheerful and willing spirit to a joyful life according to the will of God, and so peace with God and in God rules in the heart, This God of peace, drawing us thus entirely to Himself, by the very same means sanctifies us, For truly our sanctification is the willing and con- tented surrender to God, to His will and service, and cleaving to Him forever.—This requires on our side pursuit and effort, but in the strength which God fur- nishes (Phil, ii, 12 sq.), Therefore, no peace with sin, not even with any favorite sin; entire sanctifica- tion is the aim.—Berl. Bib.: By the fall we are wholly corrupted; the sanctifying process would take possession of us wholly. Presently we are afraid that we may become too holy.—[Bishop Wi1- SON: spirit, soul, body. All these have been defiled, and all must be regenerated.—J. L.] V. 24. ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, : In this brief word is contained the sum of all consolation.—Berl. Bib.: We must not rest in the best of rules, but betake ourselves to God Himself, Otherwise an idolatry grows out of the rules. [Vaucnan: God not only speaks, but will do, With Him words are never disjoined from deeds, nor promises from their performance.—J. L.] Vv. 23, 24, Srockmeyer: From the Apostle’a benediction, as earnest as it is comforting, we may see that the question concerns a thorough sanctifica- tion; 1. What is it? Not a superficial transforma, tion here and there, but a renovation of our entire nature; 2, Why is it so highly necessary? Because that will be the subject of inquiry and judgment on * (It is a still more serious thought, that as the God ot vengeance, no less than as the God of peace, God is ix Christ; John τ. 22; Acts xvii. 81; Rev. xix. 11-21; ὅτ. - 7. 1,..} 102 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. the day of judgment and decision of our eternal | What reason had the Apostle to pray for a perfect destiny; 8. How is it possible? Not in our own| preservation of those elements (soul, body, and strength; nor are we referred to ourselves, where we | spirit), unless he knew the reunion of all three, and should find only weakness and corruption, but to the | that there is one salvation for them all? They will steadfast, gracious will, and the thoughts of peace, | be perfect, who present all three blameless to God.— of Almighty God.—[Irenaus, in WorpsworrH: | J. L.] Vv. Conclusion of the Epistle with Salutation and Benediction. Cu. V. 25-28. 25, 26,27 Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 1 charge [adjure]’ you by the Lord, that this [the, τήν] epistle be read unto all 28 the holy* brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 6 with you. Amen.’ ιν, 27.—A. B. D.! E. évopxigw [found nowhere else]; Sin. and most others, dpxigw, which is, indeed, more common in the New Testament [Mark v. 7; Acts xix. 13;—the only other instances], and therefore, perhaps, in the present instance merely a correction. [Lachmann, ‘Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott edit évopx.—Nearly all versions and commenta- ries give the full force of the Greek verb, as E. V. does in the other instances, and here in the margin.—J. L.] 4 -V, 27.—ayios is wanting in B. D. E. F. G. and in Sin. primé manu; but is found in A. K. L., Sin. secundd manu, and in most of the versions. De Wette is probably right in holding, that it was omitted as being unusual and apparently superfluous, rather than it was added ; it is found also at Heb. iii. 1. [It is omitted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford. Riggenbach brackets it in his version.—J. L.] 3 V, 38,---ἀμήν at the close is wanting in B. D.1 F. G.; most of the authorities have it, and so Sin. [The critica. oditors generally omit it ; Riggenbach brackets.—J. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. ceived and read in public by the presidents, requires them, first of all, to salute and kiss all the brethren 1, (Ὁ. 25.) Brethren, pray for us (καὶ περί, | in the Apostle’s name. Ewaxp even asserts that vv. Β. D.', is unsuitable [LacuMann inserts the καί in | 25-27, beginning so abruptly, were plainly added by brackets.—J. 1.1). The closing words are concise | Paul in his own hand for the authentication of the and hearty. First, he solicits intercession in behalf | letter, according to 2 Thess. iii. 17 (in pursuance of of his apostolic calling ; this he frequently does, lay- | the untenable hypothesis, that our First Epistle was ing stress upon it, and humbly suing for it (2 Thess, | rather the Second); and that these words, accord- iii. 1; Rom. xv. 80; Col. iv. 8; Eph. vi. 18, 19; | ingly, were intended first for the presidents; Timo- Phile. 22).* ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, notes that in the Epistle to | thy having probably informed him that our Second the Galatians and in the First to the Corinthians he | Epistle (which was rather the First) had not been does not do so, because he was there compelled to duly read in public before the assembled church. admonish his readers with fatherly severity.+ | But even the appeal to 3 John 9 has no power to lift 2. (V. 26.) Greet all the brethren with a ‘all this out of the category of utterly groundless holy kiss; φίλημα, a love-token (Rom. xvi. 16; ! hypotheses. In opposition to it Hormann properly 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12); φίλημα ἀγάπης reminds us, that the invitation in v. 25 is addressed (1 Pet. v. 14); in the Latin Fathers, and first Ter- , to all the Thessalonians, and therefore also the next tullian, oseulum pacis [signaculum pacis—J. L.], Vv. 26; hence: Deliver my salutation (in connection also simply pax. The kiss, a general mark of salu. with the holy kiss) to all the brethren—this the Thes- tation, especially in the East, was here to be hal- salonians did collectively, when on hearing these lowed as an expression of brotherly love, and of the; words they kissed one another. common joy in the Lord. It had its place especially 8. (V. 27.) I adjure you, &c.; ὁρκίζω or évop- after prayer, and before taking the Holy Supper, Xc. | κίζω has also a different construction from the pres According to Tertullian it was omitted on Good Fri-| ent, but here it is construed with two accusatives, day (on account of the kiss of Judas). Later eccle-| one of the human person addressed, and another of siastical rules (with a view particularly to cutting off| the Divine Person by whom the adjuration takeg every pretext for heathen calumnies) insisted that | place (comp, Acts xix. 18); τὸν κύριον affording an enly men should kiss men, and women women. The | indirect proof of the divinity of Christ [Deut. vi, custom remained till the middle ages, and it still | 18; Is. Ιχν. 16; Matt. xxvi. 63.—J. 1.1. What fol- prevails in the East at Easter (comp. Avcusti, Hand-| lows. might mean: that the Epistle be read by all buch der chr. Archéol., 11. p. 118 sqq.). Because in | (dative after the passive); but better: that it be the other Pauline passages it is said: ἀσπάσασϑε | read to (before) all, including also those who could ἀλλήλους, but here: τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς πάντας, Du | not read; also before women and children; omnibus Werte and Linemann infer that the Epistle, re-| auscwltantibus (BrnaEL), Not: acknowledged ag genuine ; which is against the usage, and equally at variance with the state of the case, the Second Epis- 9. (Comp. 2 Cor. i. 11; Phil. i. 19; Heb. xiii. 18—J.L.] | tle having first to speak of spurious Epistles. Before +t [Brneex also remarks that this request is wanting : ΜΝ ad witdatin tn the Epistle to "Tunethy and Titus, either be αἰ is : a etlren, to wit, in Thessalonica ; not abroad cause Paul addressed them as his sons, or because he could | 2 Macedonia generally (Benes [Wornswortn ) elready count on having their intercession.—J. L.] for that must have been expressed, But why tl CHAPTER V. 25-28. 108 urgent, solemn adjuration? For in the supposition, that we need not take the strong expression so strictly [Jowrrr], we dare just as little acquiesce in this instance as at 1 Cor. viii, 18 and Rom, ix. 8. Everywhere the Apostle has his good reason for speaking so. Already ΤΉΒΟΡΟΒΕΤ and then OLs- HAUSEN conjecture that there was a slight feeling of distrust that the presidents might not read the Epis- tle to all; Canvin and Von GeRLacH suppose either that malevolent, envious persons might suppress the letter, or that a false prudence and caution might communicate it only to a few. The latter idea is more conceivable than the former. But without clearer evidence it is scarcely right for us to take up a reproach against the presidents. The incidental disturbances at Thessalonica really proceeded from the ἀτάκτοις, and the most that was to be appre- hended was, that all (presidents or others) might not have exactly the right tact in dealing with them. It is not said: τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ (comp. Col. iv. 16), but emphatically: to all the brethren; De WettrE: as much as to say, that no one should miss the reading. Lhere is no foundation for Baur’s statement (Paulus, p. 491), that the view of a later period betrays itself, according to which the apostolic letters had the au- thority of sacred things, to which due reverence was to be shown by a repeated reading in public, and that Paul himself could never have found it neces- sary solemnly to adjure the churches, that they should not leave his letters unread. But that he does not do at all; only that the Epistle shall not be withheld from any one, for this he makes them an- swerable before God; and as to a repeated reading for the sake of showing honor (a strange idea in itself), there is again no mention of it, as the very aorist infinitive shows (Linemann).*—But why, then, this urgent exhortation? There is no second instante of it, and to us, with our inexact knowledge of the circumstances, it is not perfectly intelligible. But, remembering how greatly he longed to see the Thessalonians (ch. iii.), we understand thus much, that he considers it of high importance that his writ- ten exhortations should come straight to all, and have their influence on all, in order that no false reports may arise from a false reserve; also that no one may be allowed on any pretence to avoid hear- ing them, and that generally all discrepancies may be at once crushed in the bud. Hormanwn refers to the circumstance, that the Thessalonians, who yearned so earnestly for Paul’s personal return, might be tempted somewhat to undervalue the writ- ten substitute for that; and this he guards against.+ —This passage by no means implies the existence of a series of apostolic letters; on the contrary, we rather get the impression that writing to churches was still a new business for him, and hence his ex- * [ALForp likewise uses this argument from the aorist in favor of a single act. But it “must certainly not be pressed,” says Exxicott, (“85 this tense in the infinitive, especially after verbs of ‘hoping,’ ‘commanding,’ &c., is often used in reference not merely to single acts, but to what is either timeless .. ., or simply eventwal, and depend- ent on the action expressed by the finite verb.”—J. L.] Τ [Exuicott: “We may perhaps fall back on the reason hinted by Taeoporer and expanded by recent expositors, —that a deep sense of the great spiritual importance of this Epistle, not merely to those who were anxious about the κεκοιμημένοι (ch. iv. 13), but to all without exception, sug- ested the unusual adjuration.’—Lectures: “It was well fant the common right of ‘all the holy brethren’ to the possession of the apostolic writings should be thus ex- licitly endorsed on the very first of the canonical Epis- es."—J. L.) ceeding anxiety that the Epistle should act on all This First Epistle he recommends to be read, as Moses and the Prophets were read (Deut. xxxi. 11 sqq. BEncet.), 4. (V. 28.) The grace, &c. 80. εἴη, ἔστω; the ordinary benediction at the close of the Epistles; somewhat shorter still, 1 Cor. xvi. 23 [according to the reading that omits ἡμῶν.---ὦ, L.]; shortest of all, Col. iv. 18; for the most part rather more ex tended; but always somewhat similar. This all need, At the beginning and end of the Epistles he desires grace for the readers, and that the grace of Jesus Christ. And this implies not merely that Christ is alive, but that He is Divine. No one would venture to wish for his readers the grace of any mere man. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL, 1. (V. 25.) Advanced Christians are readily for. gotten by us in our intercessions, which we regard as less necessary for them, and we think perhaps that they pray themselves, and better than we. We do not reflect, that they are also the most exposed to the enemy, and must contend in the front rank. 2. (V. 26.) Even without the external form, recommended by the Apostle, a hearty brotherly love is a possible thing. And yet it is true that there can scarcely be a prevailing neglect of all the evidences of love, and Christian love itself not grow cool. External rules are of no avail; but the ten- dency of the inner life creates for itself loving manifestations, 8. (V. 27.) The earnest adjuration shows that Paul perceives how it is the aim of the enemy of truth to withdraw it from the people.—CaLvin: There are always to be found those who will deny that it is well to publish what they yet acknowledge to be good.—BrnaeL: Quod Paulus cum adjura- tione jubet, id Roma sub anathemate prohibet. The passage is fatal to all Bible-prohibition.—Berl. Bib. : He must have noticed that there were asciolists amongst them, who might say: Who knows whether it is suitable for all (ch. v. 19; iii, 5)? Who then will now pretend, in contempt of such an adjuration, to forbid the laity to read the Scriptures ?—Where, too, is there even a trace of any fixing of an authen- tic interpretation?—[Benson: Paul did not look upon ignorance to be the mother of devotion; neither did he recommend it to them, before they read the Scriptures, first to read a system of divin- ity, drawn up by uninspired and fallible men.— WorpswortH : This public reading of the Epistles was a Divine provision made by the Holy Spirit Himself, not only for the public promulgation of Hia own will and word, but for the perfect assurance and unswerving belief of all reasgnable men in the genu- ineness, authenticity, integrity, and inspiration of that word.—J. L.] HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 25. Berl. Bib.: Pray for us; I need it as well as you.—TuzoporetT: 1. He desires their inter- cession; 2. gives them an example of modesty.— Berl. Bib.: In the Church militant one member should help another, ard may well seek that other's help. 104 FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. [Barnes: There is no way in which a people V. 27, Earnestness adjures. can better advance the cause of piety in their own Vv. 25-28. A church is well guarded, when 1. hearts, than by praying much for their minister— | mutual intercession is cherished in it; 2. brotherly 9.1. love is alive in it; 8, the word of God is rightly and . 26. Berl. Bib,: The holy kiss is opposed to | faithfully dispensed; and 4, the grace of Jesw the false kiss of the world, Christ rules over all, THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. INTRODUCTION, —+— 481. OCCASION, TIME, AND PLACE OF WRITING. ‘Taz Second Epistle, on the whole, indicates the same state of things as the First, and moves also in a similar circle of thought. Here too we still find no sort of reference to any Jewish-Christian adversaries of the Apostle, Silvanus and Timothy are still as in the First Epistle his helpers, and joined with him in the composition of the letter. From this very circumstance it may with great probability be inferred, that this Second Epistle also was written at Corinth. After the period marked in Acts xviii. we no longer find Silas with the Apostle. But when the subscription says, from Athens, that is here as erroneous as in the First Epistle. As regards both the situation of the Apostle and the state of the church we may observe in the Second Epistle a further development, which shows us that it was written some time after the First; not too soon after, for the First Epistle must have been in opera- tion for some time, if we are to account for the appearance of spurious Epistles (ch. ii. 2); nor yet too long after, certainly not after Paul had left Corinth, for ch. ii. 5; iii. 8, 10 imply, as BLEEK properly remarks (in his Introduction), that Paul had been but once in Thessa- lonica.* Paul has to endure an obstructive hostility (ch. iii. 1, 2); and this agrees with the latter period of his stay at Corinth (comp. Acts xviii. 9, 12). Moreover, there are branch- churches near Corinth (ch. i, 4); which implies that Paul had already been working there some time (comp. 2 Cor. i.1; Rom. xvi. 1). In Thessalonica, on the other hand, the develop- ment shows itself in three particulars, of which Paul must have been apprised orally or by letter : 1. An outbreak of new persecutions (ch. i. 4) brought with it the necessity for new con- firmation in the faith. 2. The excitement in regard to the expectation of the Advent had increased, but in a modified form, They no longer entertained any solicitude as to the dead; on that puint 1 Thess. iv. 18 sqq. had given them sufficient light ; but as they did not receive the instruction as soberly as 1 Thess. v. required, so their minds had been agitated in another way, partly through terror and consternation, partly through a vehement longing, whilst they supposed that Christ’s return was immediately imminent. Suggestions that claimed to be from tha Bpirit, and even forged apostolic letters (or at least one letter) increased the violent commo Φ (See Introduction to the First Epistle, p. 9, and foot-note.—J. L.] 106 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. tion (ch, ii. 1, 2). To correct this error, the Apostle insists on the terribly grave character of the catastrophe, that was still to be looked for previously. For believers, indeed, the result will be a happy one; but first the severe trial of the dominant apostasy, of the Antichristian period, will be gone through; and, until this passage is effected (which something at present restrains), the dawn of Christ’s blessed Coming is not to be expected. It is not satisfactory to say with De Werrs, that Paul seeks to cool off somewhat the too lively expectation, Rather, he seeks to deepen the too lightly cherished hope, and prepare the readers for a time which will be more trying than they supposed. Here likewise, though in a different direction from 1 Thess, iv., it again appears that they were still too little reconciled to the serious path of the cross and of death, and too readily overlooked the ὠδῖνες. : 3. It is probably connected with this, that the outgrowth of a disorderly, lazy officiousnesa had not declined, but had deplorably increased. If their thought was: ‘ Now, indeed, every- thing that exists is presently dissolving!” so much the more might many break bounds, Against this the Apostle directs, ch. iii, 6 sqq., his sharp word of reproof, and enjoins sterner measures of discipline. Thus the Second Epistle throughout presupposes the First. The First relates the history of the conversion of the Thessalonians; the Second shows us the progress of their develop- ment. The First treats of the possible nearness of the Advent; the Second corrects a mis- apprehension of this doctrine. The First gives friendly warning against a spirit of disorder; the Second is required to attack more sharply this stubborn evil. Besides, 2 Thess. ii, 15 refers to the First Epistle (tbe reference at least dcludes our First), and 2 Thess ii. 1 to1 Thess. iv. 17. Some expositors, it is true, would invert the relation. In the first place, GRorrus supposed that the Man of Sin (ch. ii. 8) was the Emperor Caligula, who attempted to place his statue in the temple; moreover, that ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς (ch. 11. 13) is only to be understood by supposing that the Epistle was addressed to Jewish Christians who had come from Palestine, and amongst them Jason; finally, that the mark of genuineness (ch. iii. 17) is to be regarded as a notice communicated by Paul to his readers at once in his first letter. But the whole of this is utterly arbitrary. A mark of genuineness was not wanted by readers until spurious letters were forthcoming, and this again is not conceivable prior to the existence of genuine letters. Nor are the Palestinian recipients of the letter anything but a fiction, invented to render somewhat more plausible that which contradicts all chronology, the reference of the second chapter to Caligula. Less impossible @ priori is Ewaup’s hypothesis, that the Second Epistle, put last as being the shorter, is rather the First, and indeed written from Bercea; that Paul therein corrects the misunderstanding in regard to his preaching of the speedy Advent; that only by this correc- tion is there explained that anxiety on account of such as died before the Advent, which he has now occasion to remove in his second letter (1 Thess. iv. 13 sqq.). It is certainly not ἃ priors impossible, that from a misunderstanding of 2 Thess, ii. there should have arisen such an anxiety as 1 Thess. iv. implies, though we would still find more natural a different effect of 2 Thess. ii. But the entire relation of the two Epistles is not at all satisfactorily explained by Ewaxp’s method. In a first letter we can understand the fact and reason of Paul’s revert~ ing so particularly to the history of the conversion of the Thessalonians (on that point comp. the exposition of the First Epistle) ; in a later letter, after that our Second had preceded as the First, we should no longer comprehend it; nor again the fact, that our First Epistle should be so entirely silent respecting the Second, in that passage (1 Thess. ii. 15 [5] sqq.) where the Apostle recounts all his cares and efforts in behalf of the Thessalonians, Of the mention of the churches, in which Paul gloried in the Thessalonians (2 Thess, i, 4), Ewan, who makes him write so at Berea, has no other than a very forced explanation. At 2 Thess, ii. 2 Ewaup himself has to admit, that from that it is evident that our Second Epistle had already been preceded by an earlier Epistle; and should that have been, not our First, but another lost one? : That were, however, a groundless conjecture. Nor is there at Bercea adequate opportunity for the vexations which the Apostle had to suffer, ch. iii. 2; for when, 8.2. GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. 10? after some time of unobstructed activity in that city, the agitators arrived from Thessalonica, his sojourn there came immediately to an end (Acts xvii. 14). So we will rest in this, that the old established succession of the two Epistles is likewise the correct one. 9 2. GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE. The external evidence of the Second Epistle is precisely the same as for the First, and aa for the Epistle to the Galatians. An allusion to 2 Thess. 111. 15 sq. see in Potyoarp, Phil. 11. If the First Epistle has on a close examination of even its minutest features proved itself to be genuinely Pauline, that of itself tells in favor also of the Second. The latter likewise hag never been suspected until the 19th century, and then on so-called internal grounds; first by Jonn Ernst Caristian Scumipt, who began (1801) with merely explaining ch. ii. 1-12 as a Montanistic interpolation, and subsequently called in question the whole Epistle. Dz WrrTm took sides with him in the first edition of his Hinleitung [Introduction to the New Test.—J, 1.1, but subsequently he himself refuted the grounds of doubt. On the other hand, Kern attacked the genuineness of the Epistle in the Tibingen Zeitschrift, 1889, I.; after him Baur, Paulus, p. 485 sqq., and in a modified form in his and ZeuiEr’s Theol, Jahrd., 1855, ΤΙ, p. 150 sqq.; most recently Hineenretp (who regards the First Epistle as genuine) in his Zeitschrift fir wissensch. Theologie, 1862, IIL. p. 242 sqq. Amongst the defenders of the genu- ineness are especially to be named GuERICKE, Bettrdge, 1828; Ruicun, authentia posterioris ad Th, epistole vindicie, 1829; Lanan, Das apost. Zeitalter, 1. Ὁ. 111 sqq.; the expositors Lijnemann, 2d ed., with special thoroughness, and Hormann. Nothing but what Hinexn- FELD brings forward of his own remains still unanswered. Many of the scruples alleged are in the highest degree trifling. One time the Second Epistle should be too like the First, merely an imitation; then again the expressions (of which every Epistle contains a number), that cannot be matched out of other Epistles, are urged as grounds of suspicion. In truth, the Second Epistle has no greater resemblance to the First than the Epistle to the Ephesians has to that to the Colossians, or than many passages of the Epistle to the Romans have to the Epistle to the Galatians; it has, besides, its alto- gether definite and appropriate aim. Nor are the peculiarities of expression for that reason unpauline, as the exposition will have to show. Amongst other points, indeed, HincEnFELD thinks that ch. i. 6,7 has an unapostolic sound, as if one merited the kingdom of God by suffering ; moreover, that in ch. ii. 15 we light upon an almost Romanizing recommendation of the Apostle’s oral and written traditions in general, and so forth; but others will have diffi- culty in seeing in what way the latter text is so essentially different from 1 Cor. xi. 2 or xv. 8; and as for the former and others such, it is the less necessary to anticipate the exposition, as the result in reference to the question of genuineness is in any event too unimportant; indeed, HitemnrexLp himself does not in this relation go further than to say (p. 245): “ Cer- tainly we are here brought at least to the extreme limit of the Pauline mode of statement.” A ground of suspicion, on which Baur especially lays stress, is what we read in ch, 11, 3 of forged letters of the Apostle, taken in connection with the token by which according to ch. iii. 17 the readers were afterwards to recognize the genuineness of an apostolic document, The former passage Kern would not understand of a spurious letter, but rather that it speaks of a misconstruction that had appeared in Thessalonica of the First Epistle. And so it is understood also by Bueex (Hinl., p. 886), who yet regards the Second Epistle likewise as genuine; but in consequence of that interpretation his explanation of ch. 111. 17 proves to be, as HinaENnrEeLp properly remarks (p. 263), very unsatisfactory. If, however, ch. ii, 2 speaks of a forged letter, as almost all since Ortezn have understood, then it is held to be incon- ceivable that such a thing should have occurred at so early a period; also that Paul could not. possibly have thought already in the beginning, when he had as yet written very few let ters, of setting up a mark of genuineness for all subsequent letters: “This is the sign in every Epistle, so I write;” that, moreover, the similar phrase in 1 Cor. xvi. 21 is the natural expression of his love in the salutation, whereas here, in an altogether unpauline manner, it is £08 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. made the mark of distinction between genuine and spurious letters; that this takes us toa time when spurious letters had come to be known, and there was occasion to ask for the testa of genuineness, These arguments lose every appearance even of validity, as soon as we realize to ourselvea the state of the case. The point was, to secure the Thessalonians against repeated deceptiun, and for this the best expedient was the precaution that Paul bit upon: “So I write; let no future .etter be put upon you as sent by me, which does not contain the salutation written by mine own hand.” Now, it is true that only in other two instances, 1 Cor. and Col. iv. 18, do we meet with the same clause: “ The salutation by the hand of me, Paul,” and in neither of these two places is the same object asserted as in our text. So much the less could a forger, with this and other Epistles before him, have thought of writing: This is my token in every Epistle. For, in fact, he did not find it stereotyped in all the Epistles. But the real Paul might so write to the real Thessalonians, whilst using the salutation of cordial love (and this it certainly was in our Epistle likewise first of all) as at the same time a precautionary meas- ure. The salutation was as to its contents a token of love; as to its form, as being written by Paul’s own hand, a token of genuineness. But with this it is not at all necessary to suppose, that the same words must continually recur; the only thing required was the auto- graph subscription. In what way Paul understood the word would be perfectly plain to us, if we possessed a third Epistle to the Thessalonians. It is true, indeed, that such a provision could only have been suggested to Paul by the fact that spurious letters were already known ; but according to ch. ii. 2 this was precisely the case. After the Apostle’s death the tempta- tion to such forging of letters might easily make itself felt; but why not as well in those times when writing to the churches was still a new thing, so that in any greatly excited circle such a letter readily seemed to be the appropriate means for securing an entrance for peculiar notions. Thus regarded, everything becomes intelligible; on the other hand, what these critics charge upon the forger is utterly incomprehensible. Looking at the matter in a purely rational light, how foolish would it have been for any one, who desired to forge a letter (and the case, we see, actually occurred), to draw attention so pointedly to this consideration: Suffer no spurious letter to be imposed on you, that has not my own subscription. Was he, fprsooth, even in his autograph to imitate the Apostle’s handwriting? That would not merely have been foolish, but it would have betrayed such a degree of callous obtuseness of conscience, as could never be reconciled with the character of holy earnestness and thoughtful purity, by which undeniably our Epistle likewise is distinguished. In fact, to infer that the more positively any one says: I am the Apostle, there is the stronger ground for suspecting that it is not true—this is surely unjust, so long as the impossibility of his speaking the truth is not shown conclusively. In the Epistle to the Galatians the Apostle speaks with far larger reference to his own person, and yet no one questions the genuineness, The main ground of doubt, and really the only one that comes into serious consideration, is the contents of the section, ch. ii. 1-12. It was from this point also that Scumrp1’s first doubt started. It is asserted that the doctrine of the Antichrist, which is here presented, is not Pauline. But in this, by dint of reasoning in a circle, people cut out and fashion for themselves a fictitious Paul. Yet what Paul says about the groaning creation occurs only in Rom. viii., and the prospect he holds out of Israel’s conversion only in Rom. xi. Is therefore the Epistle to the Romans to be regarded as spurious? On the whole, there is scarcely an Epistle that does not contain some point of doctrine peculiar to itself. It is said that the expectation of Antichrist rests on a Jewish foundation, especially on the prophecy of the book of Daniel; that by the development of that arose the Christian apoca- lyptic doctrine; that, as for this being found also in Paul, there is nothing to object to that, since in other respects also he discovers a way of thinking and looking at things that is per- vaded by Jewish elements; but that we should beware of attributing to him more of what is Jewish, than can on decisive grounds be established. We shall better describe the true state of the case, if we say that the Apostle’s faith and thought are rooted in the Old Testament § 2. GENUINENESS OF THE EFISTLE. 109 revelation. What, then, is really Pauline is not to be determined @ priori, but gathered from the sources ; and of these we shall not pronounce any to be spurious, merely because it pre sents something also that is peculiar, so long as it is not shown that this peculiarity contras dicts the nature of the Apostle. But in the question before us this is not at all the case. Baur, indeed, will detect a great difference between the Epistles to the Corinthians and those to the Thessalonians. The truth is, that here as there we find original features, which, however, most beautifully complete one another. Thus it is with the being clothed upon [2 Cor. v. 2] and changed (1 Cor. xv.), and then the being caught away into the clouds (1 Thess. iv.) ; the one thing necessarily requires the other. Of the same sort is the relation, when 2 Thess, ii. speaks particularly of Antichrist, whereas 1 Cor. xv. designates death as the last enemy, and so intimates that, prior to the last enemy, other enemies are to be overcome, That 1 Cor. xv. specially harmonizes with Ps. cx., and 1 and 2 Thess. with Daniel, we readily grant; only this proves no contradiction and no difference of authorship. The two supple: ment each other in the same way as do Rom. v. and 1 Cor. xv. But we shall by no meana reckon the doctrine of Antichrist among Rabbinical notions, if along with Daniel, Ps. cx., and other Old Testament places, we think of 1 John ii. 18, 22; iv. 8; 2 John 7; and the Apoca- lypse. It is true, they would even form an inconsistency between 1 Cor. and 2 Thess. There, it is said, Paul hopes to live till the Advent, whereas here the aim already is by means of a cer- tain theory to account for the fact, that the Advent cannot yet occur so soon. This, it 18 alleged, at once implies a tedious, fruitless expectancy, on account of which the non-occur- rence is explained on the ground of a certain hindrance; and altogether the prospect carries us to the end of the Roman monarchy, far beyond the stand-point and time of the Apostle. But if Paul looked for the Advent as possibly occurring soon, why might he not also think of the antichristian domination as occurring soon and speedily expiring? he even says him- self, that its beginnings are stirring already. There is not a word of correction for such as perhaps began to go astray, because the Advent was so long in coming; on the contrary, Paul sets right only those who supposed that it was even now at the door, and thereupon too lightly overlooked the severe path of the cross and of death, through which they had first to pass. The Apostle merely reminds them of this, but he does not say: It will tarry for a long time yet. Linemann is quite right in comparing the prophecy of Israel’s conversion (Rom. xi. 25 sqq.), of which it might likewise be said, and with just as little reason as of the prophecy in regard to Antichrist, that it points far beyond the stand-point and time of the Apostle. Besides, was not the expectation of the Advent of itself an outlook to the end of the Roman monarchy ? Baur himself, moreover, as good as abandoned that argument, when in 1855, in a new form of his hypothesis, he designated the year 68 as the earliest date of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. Is it not strange that what was to arouse suspicions against Paul is, a few years after the Apostle’s death, accepted without any suspicion at all, as soon as the matter concerns a forger? Already KERN puts the composition of the Epistle into the time between 68 and 70, between Nero’s death and the destruction of Jerusalem. For the Antichrist, he thinks, is Nero, whose return, as Rev. xvii. 10, 11 is supposed to show, was looked for; the κατέχων, again, being Vespasian, and the falling away the detestable wickedness of the Jews in the Roman Empire. But ΠΕ Werte and Lineman properly declare against such an infusion of the political element into the interpretation of our passage. Baur, on the other hand, going still farther in the track of KERN, comes to this result: that the Second Epistle was written soon after the year 68, but the First Epistle considerably later, after that the expecta- tion of Antichrist had in consequence of his non-appearance subsided (against the latter point see the Introduction to the First Epistle); that, in particular, in 2 Thess. ii. we already have an example of specifically Christian apocalyptic doctrine; that Antichrist is none other than Nero, and that the statements of our Epistle presuppose the view of the Apocalypse; that the divine worship, which according to Rev. xiii. 12-15; xix. 20 is paid to the Beast, 110 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. agrees with 2 Thess. ii. 4; and so the Beast which was, and is not, and shall be * (Rey. xvii. 8), to wit Nero, who passed for dead, but who should come again, is meant also in 2 Thess, ii. 6, 7; that the σαλευθῆναι of 2 Thess. ii, 2 has reference to the agitation about the pseudo- Nero after Galba’s death, of which Tacitus, Hist. ii. 8, gives this account: Achaia atque Asia falso exterrite, velut Nero adventaret: vario super exitu ejus rumore, eoque pluribus vivere eum Jingentibus credentibusque (BAUR thinks this delusion was of Christian origin, but what followa does not fit the Christians). Inde late terror, multis ad celebritatem nominis erectis, rerum novar rum cupidine et odio presentium, Gliscentem in dies famam fors discussit, There are altogether three spurious Neros recognized : this one the first; a second in the year 832 U. O. under Titus in Asia Minor (according to Zonaras); the third, twenty years after Nero’s death under Domitian, of whom Tacitus, Hist. i. 2, makes mention (comp. Sueto- nius, Nero, 57): Mota prope Parthorum arma falsi Neronis ludibrio. Our place, says Baur, refers to the first, as is indicated also by the excitement in the Christian regions of Achaia and Asia. The Epistle, he thinks, was written after that, 1. the σαλευϑῆναι, that is, the com- motion occasioned by the pseudo-Neronian disturbances, was now passed, the famam fors discussit had occurred, and the futility of the affair was already demonstrated. He supposes that the κατέχων was Vespasian, but that whether the temple in Jerusalem was still standing is doubtful, since ch. ii. 4 may be explained otherwise (Jahrd., p. 158). According to this scheme, the author wrote, 2. not until the Apocalypse was pretty generally recognized ; and his object was to impress on his readers the wisdom of letting the mistake which had been committed teach them this lesson, that the Advent cannot come before Antichrist comes, nor Antichrist without the apostasy, nor that without the removal of the κατέχων ; consequently, Vespasian must first be overthrown! and Antichrist must show himself as a wicked despot, and set himself up as God. For the future, therefore, let us be circumspect, and not suffer ourselves to be deceived by any jfalsi Neronis ludibrium. This entire hypothesis, however, stands in glaring contradiction to the plain tenor of our Epistle :—2 Thess. ii. 2 does not at all sound as if Christians had to be corrected, who had already once allowed themselves to be deceived into the notion that Antichrist was present, and to them it had now to be said: No doubt He will come, but you must be far more heed- ful in the examination of the signs. The Apostle rather speaks to such as suppose that the Lord is here, and they must be reminded that Antichrist comes first. The σαλευθῆναι of 2 Thess. ii. 2 has a quite different motive from that which BAUR imputes to it. But generally, even as regards the Apocalypse, the whole issue of fantastic, politico-spiritual allusiveness, is by no means the result of correct exposition ; and in the case of our text such ideas are noth- ing but a sheer importation. Bavr’s concession (p. 163) is worthy of note, that there is not one of the features in 2 Thess. ii. so specifically Neronian, that the author would bave to be at once set down as having failed in his part. Baur sees nothing in this but the prudently sus- tained effort to pass for the Apostle Paul. But is it not more prudent, that is, more natural, to admit that the writer is not merely acting a part, but is really the Apostle Paul? If that is the case, and if Paul wrote the letter in the year 54 at the latest, and had already the year before, according to 2 Thess. ii. 5, preached the same thing orally, it then follows that Paul had spoken to his Christians of Antichrist even before Nero became Emperor. Linemann also is quite right in his remark (and so Ewatp, p. 29), that the description in 2 Thess. ii., as compared with the Apocalypse, appears still to be very simple and little developed, and there fore of an earlier date than the latter. It is at any rate strange, when HILGENFELD expressly asserts to the contrary, that 2 Thess, ii, as contrasted with the Apocalypse, shows an important advance in eschatology, and belongs to a far later period. The result of his combinations is to remove the composition to the time of Trajan. In the mystery of lawlessness he would recognize the Gnostic heresies; most arbitrarily ; since the worship of a supreme Deity is something quite different from self. deification, The writer, according to Hirernrexp, is led to speak of the κατέχων by the fact * [According to the better reading, καὶ répeorat.—J. L.] 8 8. COURSE OF THOUGHT IN THE EPISTLE, 11 of a longer delay having already occurred than the Apocalypse gave reason to expect, and therefore also the Second Epistle is in irreconcilable contradiction to the First, which accord ing to HiucENnreip is genuine. The doctrine of the First Epistle, that the day of the Lord comes quite suddenly and at a time that cannot be calculated, like a thief in the night, is not, he says, the doctrine of the Second, which rather specifies very distinct tokens of Christ’s return, to wit, the rise of the apostasy, and the self-deification of the Man of Sin. Had Paul really- taught thus in Thessalonica (v. 5), he would thea in the First Epistle have again com pletely renounced his own doctrine. But the whole of this assertion is perfectly groundless, As regards the κατέχων, we cannot here further anticipate the exposition; every one must allow that an explanation which leads to such a result as that of H1LcENreLp, cannot at least be ὦ priori the only possible one. But that the signs of the time, mentioned in the Second Epistle, are to be considered as in irreconcilable contradiction to the coming as a thief in the night, is an extremely arbitrary assertion. Certainly the time and the hour are not at all thereby determined, and, on the other hand, to regard the signs of the time is everywhere required of the disciples. Even the First Epistle furnishes such a sign, namely, the utter, careless security itself of those who are no disciples (ch. v. 8). The apostasy, of which the Second Epistle speaks, is nothing but the highest development of that evil disposition, and when the deceptive power of the Man of Sin comes to an end in the Lord’s taking him away* by the Spirit of His mouth (2 Thess. ii. 8), that will be the consummation of those pangs which come suddenly on her who is with child (1 Thess. v. 3). The whole is aimed - merely at a wicked, careless security. “ But the day,” says the Apostle to the Christians (v. 4), “does not come on you as a thief, for ye are sober and watchful ;” and again: “ You do not allow yourselves to be befooled by the deceptions of the antichristian period, and have your eyes open for the signs of the time.” One must read with a preconceived opinion, to assert the irreconcilableness of the two Epistles. The development of the doctrine beyond the Apocalypse HiLGENFELD sees especially in this, that the antichristian ruler, who in the latter is distinguished from the false prophet, already in our Epistle coalesces with him. But is it not far more natural to acknowledge that here we have rather a first step, on which, not yet clearly discriminated, there comes forth the party by whom the lying wonders are performed, the object of which is to secure credit for the self-deification of the Man of Sin? In that case, however, 2 Thess. ii. does not pre- suppose the Apocalypse, but precedes it. On the whole, the prophecy of Daniel is quite suffi- cient as the basis of 2 Thess ii. ; even the exaltation above all that is called God or that is worshipped meets us already in that place (ch. xi. 86; vii. 8). This old prediction of the consummation, by its being concentrated in a head, of enmity against God and His anointed, is renewed by the Apostle, whose own eye is opened, and he thus foretells the acme of the wickedness of which the beginnings are already stirring; all, as Baur admits, without a single specific Neronian feature; in truth, all before even Nero was Emperor. It is very con- ceivable how the Christians might subsequently fall into the way of finding at once in the Emperor Nero the Antichrist whom they expected; but even this presupposes the existence of the prophecy of Antichrist. This knowledge is also of importance for the interpretation of the Apocalypse. The question as to the genuineness must therefore be decided essentially by the exposition of the second chapter. § 3, COURSE OF THOUGHT IN THE EPISTLE. In this case the old division of chapters has, on the whole, hit the right mark. Linn- MANN, indeed, would divide differently. After the salutation (ch. i. 1, 2) and introduction (vv. 8-12), he distinguishes a doctrinal part (ch. ii. 1-12) and a hortatory (ch. ii. 13-iii. 15), to which are added in conclusion the salutation and benediction (vv. 16-18). But it is, in the first place, unsuitable to describe ch. 1, 3-12 as being simply introduction; then the distine * [According to the reading followed by Riecensacu in 2 Thess. ii. 8.—J. LJ 112 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. tion between a doctrinal and a hortatory part is rather a modern than an apostolic concep- tion ; and, moreover, it is overlooked that the exhortation in ch. 11, 13-17 belongs strictly to the instruction concerning Antichrist, whereas τὸ λοιπόν, ch. iii. 1, obviously introduces the closing section. The last point is recognized by Hormann, who, however, on his part infers too much from it, namely, that the exhortation in ch. iii. forms a sort of supplement, uncon- nected with the main instruction of ch. ii., and that, consequently, even the officious idlenesa here reproved by the Apostle does not at all originate in eschatological excitement. But tha is to assert more than can be proved. According to what has been said, our Epistle divides itself as follows: 1. Ch. i. contains an address for the consolation of the readers under the fresh outbreak of persecutions ; after the salutation (vv. 1, 2), the Apostle thanks God for their growth in faith (vv. 8, 4), cheers them by the prospect of judgment and salvation (vv. 5-10), and prays that God would make them partakers of perfection (vv. 11, 12). 2. Ch. ii, supplies instruction and exhortation in regard to the antichristian consummation of evil; the warning, against allowing themselves to be easily misled into the notion of the day of the Lord being at the door (vv. 1, 2), is confirmed by reminding them that, as he had already told them orally, the Man of Sin must previously be revealed (vv. 3-5); that the mystery of lawlessness is still for the present restrained by an obstructive power, and will only reach its height when this is removed, and will then also come to its end by the appear- ing of the Lord (vv. 6-8); of what sort the lying power of the enemy will be, is hereupon more exactly described (vv. 9-12); but the Christians, whom God saves from this ruin, he so much the more encourages to stand fast, and implores in their behalf the Divine guardianship (vv. 13-17). 3. Ch. iii. closes the Epistle with regulations in regard, chiefly, to those who walked dis- orderly ; after a short introduction, in which he seeks their prayers, and commends to them generally a faithful perseverance in the true Christian spirit (vv. 1-5), he gives particular directions as to the treatment of those who will not desist from a pragmatical idleness (vv. 6-16). To this are attached in few words the parting salutation and benediction (vv. 17, 18). The Epistle is short, but not on that account the less important. The way in which the Apostle comforts his readers by a reference to the righteous judgment of God, is of itself very instructive ; still more the peculiar instruction respecting the impending consummation of hostility to God, which deserves the more to be laid to heart, the more the signs of the time reveal the impress of the antichristian nature; and, lastly, the Apostle’s severity likewise against all sham-spiritual indolence is to be well considered, and the discipline, the exercise of which he requires from the church, is in the highest degree fitted to hold forth a mirror to the Christendom of our day. As to the literature, there is nothing more to be noted, after what has been cited in § 2 What was said in the Introduction to the First Epistle, holds good also for the Sesond, except enly that Kocu’s Commentary does not extend to the Second Epistle. THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. L Address for the Consolation of the readers under the fresh outbreak of pex#ecutions, Ca. 1. 1-12. After the salutation (vv. 1, 2), the Apostle thanks God for their growth in faith (vv. 3, 4), cheers than by the pros pect of judgment and salvation (vv. 5-10), and prays that God would make them partakers of perfection (vv. 11, 12). 1 ‘Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus [Timothy], unto the church of the Thes- 2 salonians in God our Father’ and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and . peace, from God our’ Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Weare bound to thank [give thanks to]? God always for you, brethren, aa it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity [love, 4 ἀγάπη] of every one of you all’? toward each other aboundeth; so that we our- selves* glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all 5 your persecutions and tribulations [the afflictions]* that ye endure: which is a manifest token [a token, ἔνδειγμα] of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 6 seeing [if indeed]‘* é¢ ¢s a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation ἢ to them that trouble you [to those who afflict you affliction],° and to you, who: are troubled [afflicted], rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed [at. the revelation of the Lord Jesus, ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει τοῦ K. “I.] from heaven with His. 8 mighty angels [with the angels of His power, per’ ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ], in flam- ing fire,’ taking vengeance on them that [rendering vengeance to those who, διδόντος. ἐκδίκησιν τοῖς] know not God, and that obey not’ the gospel of our Lord Jesus 9 Christ:*° who shall be punished with [shall suffer punishment, δίκην τίσουσω,]. everlasting destruction from the presence [face]’ of the Lord, and from the 10 glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe [those who believed] (because our testi- 11 mony among you [to you, ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς] was believed), in that day. Wherefore [To which end, Eis 6] also we pray always for you, that our God would count [may count, ἀξδώσῃ] you worthy of this [the, τῆς] calling, and_ fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness [every desire of goodness], and the work of faith 12 with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ™ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ LV, 1.—[Sin.! inserts καί before marpi—the reading of two cursive manuscripts, but corrected in Sin.2—J. L.] τ. 2.-ἡμῶν is wanting only in Β. D. E. ; it is found in the majority of uncial (also Sin.), versions, and Fathera, [Ié: W bracketed by Lachmann, and cancelled by Tisch2ndorf and Alford.—J. L.] 8 114 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. 2 V.3,—[Ebxapioreiv ; see 1 Thess. ii. 13, Critical Note 2. -Sin.! omits mévrwv.—J. 1.1 ᾿ : τς sv. oe tua αὐτούς, Sin., with Β. ‘and a few cursives, reads αὐτοὺς pas eta? ss. Se han Ἢ belongs only to διωγμοῖς, and ay ταῖς θλίψεσιν to als avéxeoGe.””—In the First Epistle E. V. always x tion, and often elsewhere.—J. L. ᾿ ἀν ἢ ἥν. 6.--ἰεἴπερ, hypothetical, not causal; see the Exegetical Note 4. Vulgate, st amen Fire ee tecralig os out of the other five cases of εἴπερ, if so be (that), and so Alford and Ellicott here ; De Wette ᾽ anders.—J. L. 5 Vv. δ᾽ Τοῖς θλίβουσιν ὑμᾶς θλίψιν. Ellicott, who retains the Greek order : “ The shange aime more clearly the antithesis, and also to bring more into prominence the ‘lex (alionis’ that is tacitly re errs to. he Ἐπ an 6, 8.--πυρὶ φλογὸς 18 given by Sin. A. K. L., nearly all the minuscules, Chrysostom and o heres or τυρός, by B.D. E. F. G. [Schiolz, Lachmann, Wordsworth, Ellicott). Tischendorf prefers the former, because ie or siya ang the more common might more easily arise from correction, and in other places where it is genwne y appearance ot change. τὰς a ὲ ῬΡῚ ν. 38—[Or: ani to those who obey not. This construction, naturally suggested by the repeuon of baronet ἜΝ adopted by very many, and understood to designate a different class from the μὴ εἰδόσι θεὸν. See in opp: view Exegetical Note 4, and in favor of it the Revision of this verse, Note a.—J. LJ aie τς, δε το ana ethers ΒΨ, 8,- -χριστοῦ is added 10 Sin., A. F. G., and many versions; it is wanting 1m B.D. ea a0 aes oe —[{Riggenbach follows Knapp and Lachmann in bracketing Xp.; it is omitted by Bengel in his Ge1ma sion, endorf, Alford, Ellicott.—J. L. aes 9. Ὑ, 9.- [προσώπου. Gay Matt. xviii. 10; Luke i. 76; 2 Cor. iv. 6; 1 Pet. iii. 12; Rev. xx. 1L—J. L.] 10 V, 10,—All the uncials (and critical editions) give πιστεύσασιν ; only a few minuscules have rem eva δε τῶ 11 Ὑ, 11.--[πᾶσαν εὐδοκίαν ἀγαθωσύνης. See the Exegetical Note 6, and Revision, Notes q and r. 7 ΠΕ ἦν one he though not precisely an equivalent for εὐδοκία, is in this mstance convenient, and at least more readily a a igible than Ellicott’s phrase, every good pleasure of goodness. Am. Bible Union: all the good pleasure of goodness.—J. I.) 12 V.12.—In this case Sin. does not stand with Could. Fas Ἑ. θυ which se alae [Riggenbach omits it, as do i y “ Ellicott. Knapp and Lachmann brackct.—J. Τὸν 3 ῃ a ἘΠ ΣῈ Oa cele toa Jesus ΣΝ So Riggenbach and sume others. Generally, however, this case is regarded as an exception to the ordinary rule of grammar, on the ground that “Κύριος I. X. is a common title of Christ, and is often used independently of all which precedes it”? (Middleton).—J. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL, only become stronger in the tempests; at 1 Thess, i, 3 he had added ὑπομονὴ τῆς ἐλπίδος, and that fol- 1. (Vv. 1, 2.) See the First Epistle. lows here in another form.—Of every one of you 2. (Vv. 8, 4.) We are bound, &c,—As in 1 | all, he thus quile explicitly applies it to every indi- Thess, i. 2, only that he there says simply εὐχαρισ- vidual; toward each other; he speaks therefore τοῦμεν, and here declares the obligation (ch. ii. 13), | of brotherly love. How can Paul thus praise, when in the earnestness of his spirit, drawn from the | in chh, ii. and iii, he has yet to add reproof? Oxs- greatness of the grace; urgente animé exultatione | HAUSEN well: Even those excrescences (we add: (Benet): We are bound to do this, and it is a debt | which were found rather in individuals merely) were which we shall never be able fully to discharge. It| at least excrescences simply from a good stock, is by no means obvious, why this should be un- | There is something of cordial encouragement in the pauline ! is it only because we do not so read in any | fact, that Paul first recognizes the good that he finds other Epistle?! The words, as it is meet, are re- | in them, even though with some their faith and love ferred by some only to ὀφείλομεν, as confirmatory | are still lacking in wisdom.—So that we our. of the obligation, and, taken thus, they seem to be | selves, not others merely, glory in you. Hor- somewhat dull and pointless; better therefore: “‘so | mann thinks this would require a καί, and prefers to to give thanks, as the greatness of the unmerited | understand it thus: we of our own accord, without favor deserves; Brncui: οὗ rei magnitudinem ; | being prompted ; too artificial Dx Werre (and Hormayn: as the state of the case requires. Tnxo- | Curysostom before him) recalls 1 Thess. i. 8: “ We puytact (along with another explanation): in a | have no need to speak of it, since, everywhere people worthy manner, by word and deed ; for this is true | are telling of it;” whereas here: ‘Not merely do thanksgiving. Too subtle is Linemany’s interpreta- | others talk to us and speak of it everywhere, but we tion ; who, because καϑώς does not mark the degree | also (overcoming a modest reserve) must in our ex- (though it does the way and manner), and because | ceeding joy proclaim it.” To be sure, attention is the insertion of ἀδελφοί forbids the close backward | not drawn to this contrast by any particle of time; reference to εὐχαριστεῖν (but why ?), would connect | it at once results, however, from a mere comparison ἄξιον closely with what follows: “‘as it is meet, | of the two places. Paul not merely thanks God; he because.” But it is more natural to understand br: | glories also before men, Instead of the Recepta thus: ‘We are bound to give thanks (for this), | καυχᾶσϑαι, A. B. Sin. 17 [Lacumann, TiscHENDORF, that.” * Ὑπεραυξάνειν is such an emphatic expres- | ALForD, Exiicutr] give the rarer and on that ac- sion of entire commendation as the Apostle is fond | count, perhaps, the preferable ἐγκαυχᾶσϑαι (A. B., of; αὐξάνειν is used elsewhere transitively, but once | not Sin., write éve.), which at the most slightly also as intransitive, Acts vi. '7; and so the compound | strengthens the sense; savy. ἐν means to place here: ‘your faith groweth even beyond expecta-| one’s honor in something, to boast of a thing (1 tion; + and love increaseth + continually.” Paul | Cor, i. 31; iii, 21); there Paul forbids to glory in thankfully acknowledges the fulfilment of his wishes | any men whatever; does he not here do so himself? and exhortations (1 Thess. iii. 12; iv. 10); Rrzgzr: |) By no means; he means to boast, not of the Thessa- the fruit of his exhortations and intercessions, Faith | lonians as men, but only of the work of God in and love, of which Timothy (1 Thess, iii, 6) had re-| them (1 Thess. ii. 19). The relation’ is the same 88 ported the existence among the Thessalonians, had | between the ἀνϑρώποις ἀρέσκειν that is forbidden (Gal. i, 10, flattery of the old man) and that which one, and is preferred by ALrorp, ELticott, WEBSTER and enjoined (i Cor. x. 83, the cherishing of the new WitKinson: “ Added to introduce the special subject of |™man with tender fidelity). He boasts of them in eae ae on that fully justifies the assertion, evx. | the churches of God, those of Achaia, where he eihowev.”—J. TL, . ne is sojourning; Linemann: Corinth and its branch wber die Erwartung. Bettcr in the version : ibersehr, churches (the plural points to the surroun ding re * |LonrMann’s construction, however, is the common t imine: beyond measure.—J. L. μι ᾿ Ὁ [mehrt sich; in the version, zunimmt.—J. L.] gion, comp. Rom. xvi. 1); an advance on 1 Thess, CHAPTER 1, 1-12, — 11 I. 8 Without any reason Hircenrerp (p. 248) would detect a disagreement with 2 Cor. i. 1, alleg- ing that the genuine Paul does not at all describe the churches of Achaia as properly churches along with that of Corinth. The simple fact is, that in that place of the Corinthian Epistle he does not do so, it being surely equally possible for him to ad- dress a large number of saints, or to take them to- gether as churches; but if one were disposed to extort from 2 Cor. i. 1 the idea that the scattered Christians of Achaia had not yet been gathered into churches, we should then have to infer also from Rom. i. 7; Phil. i. 1; Col. i, 2, that no churches had yet been organized in Rome, Philippi, Colosse, when Paul wrote to the Christians of those places !—Ben- ΘΕ: reference of the ὑπὲρ, &c. to the remote εὐχαρισ- τεῖν is unnatural; it is rather a closer definition of ἐγκαυχ. ἐν ὑμῖν : for your patience and (your) faith; their endurance stapds first; the thing glo- ried in is, that they stood their ground not merely against a single attack ; the root of genuine patience is faith, which is then again in its turn purified by patience. In faith everything is concentrated (1 Thess, iii, 7); it is not of itself the same thing as hope [De Werre] (1 Thess. i, 3); nor, because πίστεως is connected with ὑπομονῆς by one article, are we required (as OrsuHausEN and Linewann sup- ose) to assume for πίστις the meaning of fidelity. No doubt, by omitting the second article Paul com- prebends patience and faith, so to speak, under one conception ; faith, however, retains the sense which it commonly bears elsewhere (and for the Greeks that is certainly less remote from the idea of fidelity than for us). There may be an endurance that does not proceed from faith, that is, from holding fast by the invisible God; and this would have no value; but just as little would a faith, that did not approve itself by its own steadfastness in affliction. In Rev. xiii, 10 also the two are joined together. The mani- festation of both takes place in all your persecu- tions and the afflictions that ye endure, pa- tiently bear, Hormann; the αἷς ἀνέχεσϑε in the second member answers to the ὑμῶν of the first. The persecutions proceed from hostile men; ὥϑλίψε- ow is more general, and presents the idea, how pain- ful and distressing the suffering is in the experience of it; afs, it is generally said, is an attraction for és; ΤΌΝΕΜΑΝΝ, for ὧν ; both constructions occur ; in the New Testament elsewhere always the genitive (Col. iii, 18, and often), The present ἀνέχεσϑε (over against the aorist of 1 Thess. ii. 14) shows that there had been a fresh outbreak of persecutions, ὃ. (V. δ.) A token, &.—%Seryua is not equivalent to εἰς ἐνδ, (cod. 73) [slightly favored also by the Syriac, and the Vulgate in exemplum.—J. 1.7, nor does it belong appositionally to the ὑμεῖς concealed in ἀνέχεσϑε (that would have required ὄντες ἔνδειγμα, besides yielding no good sense); but it is (similarly as in Rom. viii. 3) an apposition to the clause αἷς ἀνέχεσϑε, see Winer, ὃ 59. 9;* it is to be regarded as a nominative (De Were, Lie- mann [ALrorp, Exticort, WeBsTeR and WILKIN- Ron, &c.]), not an accusative; hence: which is a free ; ἔνδειγμα does not occur elsewhere in the ew Testament, though ἔνδειξις does (Rom. ili. 25, 26 ; Phil, 1, 28), It is not the mere suffering of tribulation that is of itself an evidence of the judgment, as being * [Rather to all that precedes from ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑπομονῆς to ἀνέχεσθν, So FRitzscHE, DE Werte, LUNEMANN, ALFORD, Enuicotr. See the Revision, Note k.—J. L.] perhaps an atonement for sins (Esrivs), or as an indi- cation that the judgment must come; such is not the effect of mere suffering in itself, but of suffering in patience and faith, and accordingly αἷς ἀνέχεσϑε ig said to those whose patience and faith can be hoasted of; and ἀνέχεσϑε itself implies the patient accept- ance. This patient endurance, then, is a proof of the righteous judgment of God. But to what extent is it so? The great majority of interpreters (Can vin, Pett, De Werrs, Linemann, Hormann, &c.) understand ἔνδειγμα (without warrant) as a presage of the future judgment, which has not yet appeared but is certainly impending ; a token from which it may be inferred that it widi come; so also Lurner: which shows that God will judge rightly. They say that ἔνδειξις so stands in Phil. i. 28; but the perdi- tion and salvation, whose evidence is there spoken of, are by no means impending merely in the future, but are already in progress at present, comp. 1 Cor. 1.18; and the ἔνδειξις of the righteousness of God, of which Rom. iii. 25 sq. speaks, is altogether meant aa present. In behalf, however, of the view that our text speaks of a presage of the future judgment, there is alleged 1. the article, as indicating the judgment κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, and 2. the connection with vv. 6, ἢ, where there is very explicit mention of the future retribution. Granting the latter point, still, if gy δείγμα in v. 5 by itself is to mean a presage, its rela tion to the following εἰς τὸ καταξ. is anything but clear. Esrivs, Bencet, Hormann, and others, make the latter clause dependent on ἀνέχεσϑε, and it is true that this would not necessarily lead to the Cathe olic doctrine of merit (just as little as Rom. viii. 17), but in the present connection it would have this inconvenience of depressing éderyyo., ὅς. into a sub. ordinate parenthesis, whereas plainly in that word ig to be seen the new principal thought, the beginning of the new line of thought, which is then carried forward in v. 6 sqq. This is perceived by Dz Werte and Linemann, who are therefore essentially correct in assuming that εἰς τὸ καταξ. depends on δικ. κρίσεως ; but how? shall it mean merely: with reference to the fact, that? or shall it be an epexe- getical conclusion, like 2 Cor. viii. 6: whose result will be, that (Litnemann)? or shall it even express simply the substance of the judgment (De WettTE)? TuEOPHYLACT even tales it as an equivalent to ὅπερ ἐστὶ karat. Dz Werte gives this paraphrastic ex- planation of the connection: By their steadfastness in persecution the Thessalonians approve themselves as worthy of the kingdom of God, and from this subjective worthiness may be inferred the objective righteous judgment of God, by which it is realized. But this is a singular confounding of two different modes of viewing the causal relation, as it were thus: Which steadfast suffering, since it shows what sort of people you are, is also a presage of what we ~ have to expect from the righteous judgment of God, in pronouncing you worthy ;—evidently an artificial and forced thought, which would still be but very unintelligibly expressed.* But on the whole it is * (The above is scarcely an exact representation of Dr Werte’s view. Me indeed parenthetical'y suggests as 8 possible explanation of eis τό the idea of the substance or purport (Inhalt) of God’s righteous judgment, as he does also that of LineMaws (Folge, result); but he himself lainly prefers allowing the Greck phrase its usual final Kore : der Zweck des gottlichen Rechstspruches. Nor does Dz Werte speak of the subjective worthiness being reale ized by means of the objective judgment of God; what he says is, that by the latter the Thessawoians shall be actu« ally and in fact translated into Gud’s kingdom: das Rechts 116 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. slways best, wherever it is possible, to hold fast in eis τό the idea of aim. Add to this the arbitrariness of understanding ἔνδείγμα as a foretoken of some- thing future, as also HinGenrexp remarks, The preference, therefore, is due to the interpre- tation, which we find not quite distinctly in ZwineL1, and then in OLsHauseN, needing only a somewhat more rigorous confirmation ; the interpretation, name- ly, according to which ἔνδειγμα denotes the evi- dence of God’s righteous judgment already at pres- ent in force. The article can be no obstacle to this, since the judgment of God, present and future, is one process (like eternal life, John xvii. 8); and vv. 6, 7 also form no counter-argument, for there we are shown that coming issue of the judgment, of which the present judicial administration (v. 5) is the pio- neer, But how, then, can the patient endurance of suffering be described as a manifestation of the already present judgment of God ? Here it is of importance rightly to understand the scriptural conception of righteousness and judg- ment. Now since the righteousness of God is cer- tainly not synonymous with grace, we must not con- found these ideas; it is the self-consistent relation of His holy love to the free creature; dispensing on both sides, to the believer according to his faith, to the unbeliever according to his unbelief. A judg- ment awaits also the former; O1sHavsen refers to 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18; likewise 1 Cor, xi, 32 points us to a judement for discipline and purification; thus: God fulfils in you His righteous judgment, not for your destruction, but for your trial, that He may be able to declare you worthy of the kingdom; He proves your standing in faith, and there is a right- eous requital also in this, that He rewards faith with patience ; or as STOCKMEYER beautifully and clearly carries out the idea on this one side (in an unprinted sermon; see the Homiletic hints on 1 Thess, iv. 1-8): “ First of all he represents to them the judg- ment of God as something, whereof they are now already permitted, in the midst of their tribulation, to have an experience in the highest degree joyful and comforting. That the Thessalonians were able to abide so patient in persecution, and so firm in faith, was already an evidence of the righteousness of God. Thereby God already proved Himself in their case to be the righteous rewarder of all that is good, For their obedience, in that they had re- ceived the gospel, God rewarded them by bestowing on them new grace, and new strength to suffer for the gospel’s sake, without becoming weary and faint-hearted (Matt. xiii. 12).” What one might find to be wanting in this statement is, at the most, that it would suit the expression, proof of the rightcous- ness, better than it does the one before us, proof of the righteous judgment, It must therefore be sup- plemented by remarking, first, that for believers also the operation of the Divine righteousness comes in- deed to be an effective judgment, but that it is a strong consolation to fall into the hand ef God, and not into the hand of men; moreover, as Von Ger- LACH notes, that it is the most frightful token (not merely a presage) of bursting doom, when God so hardens the ungodly that they persecute His chil- dren. Even this, however, must redound to the advantage of the ‘atter. urtheil Gottes, durch welches ste wirklich und in der That in das Reich Gottes werden versetzt werden. We erra merely = re ξ the Divine judgment to its future manifesta- ion.—J, L. The thought of our passage, therefore, would be this: Steadfastly and believingly ye endure your per. secutions; that is a proof of God’s righteous judg. ment, of His inviolably self-consistent wane of win: nowing; which proof is to the end (εἰς τό) * that γα should be deemed worthy, that He should be able to pronounce you worthy, of the kingdom of God, Toward this mark the judicial and sifting operation of God ig working; it will prevail with those who allow His judgment to take effect on them to their purification. [0 is obvious that, taken thus, εἰς τὸ karat. acquires a much better sense. Of course, 89 SrockMEYER goes on to say, this declaration of judg. ment, that already takes place at present, stands in closest connection with that last perfect demonstra tion of it, which is the hope of all believers. (The connection with v. 6 sqq.: If it is a righteous thing that God should some day render a perfect retribu tion, there is already now a proof of His righteous ness, in directing His judgments toward that end.)+ The kingdom of God, whereof we should be ao counted worthy, is the holy dominion which, in dix tinction from the Church of the present time (the kingdom in the form of a servant), shall one day be revealed by the return of the King in victorioug glory. Since flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, what avails for that is the death of the old man, as the Apostle says: for which ye also suffer; he says also, to express the agreement that exists between their actual experience and God’s plan.{ The ὑπέρ is understood by most to mean: in order to its attainment ; and this again would not express any legal meritoriousness, any more than Rom. viii. 17, but would amount to this: Ye suffer for your faith in it, your confession of it, your faith fulness to it, when grace had received you. Hin GENFELD insists on the meaning, not: im order to its attainment, but: in order to its promotion ; simi larly Hormann: to introduce this state of things; and even so there would be no warrant for the asser tion of the former, that there is here betrayed an unapostolic estimate of martyrdom. But ὑπέρ (as in Rom. i. 5; Acts v.41) means: in reference thereto, in behalf of the kingdom, and includes the two ideas of serving it and participating in it, 4, (Vv. 6-8.) If indeed it is a righteous thing, &c.—The thought is expressed hypothetic- ally, for the very purpose of strengthening its im- * (Lectures: ‘Such being the design and tendency, and such the certain result, of God's righteous judgment con- cerning His afflicted saints..—J. L.] t [I canrot but fear that the above elaborate discussion still leaves the matter somewhat obscure. Exzicorr, per= haps too rigorously, confines the δικαία κρίσις to that which “will be displayed at the Lord’s second coming ;” but he appears to be quite right in saying, that “to refer it solely to present sufferings, as perfecting and preparing the Thes- salonians for future glory (Osn.), is to miss the whole point of the sentence: the Apostle’s argument is that their endurance of suffering in faith is a token of God's right cous judgment and of a future reward, which will display itself in rewarding the patient sufferers, as surely as it will inflict punishment on their persecutors.” In my Revision and Leciures the case was put thus: “The patience and faith of the Thessalonians under persecution indicated the righteous judgment of God, by which they were even now, arid herenfter were to be stil more gloriously, accredited as meet heirs of His kingdom ; just because, and in so far as, there was thus indicated the realization in their charace ter and condition, as God's justified, sanctified, and at the same time suffering People, of the very grounds on which, by the laws of that kingdom, such a judgment must pro ceed.”—J. L.] t[Exrrcorr: ‘The καί with a species of consecutive force supphes 8 renewed hint of the connection betweet Θ suffering and the καταξιωθῆναι. «.7.A.” P ἃ δὴ; ye accordingly.’—J. 1.1 sca OEE SG CHAPTER I. 1-12. 111 port, and to indicate that it is altogether incontest- able, the writer appealing to his reader’s own judg- ment, TueopHytact: The hearers cannot but say : ἀλλὰ μὴν δίκαιον. It is a righteous thing with God [Vulgate: apud Deum; Syriac = coram Deo.—J, L.], righteousness is therein fulfilled ; to recompense, properly to render back (1 Thess. iii, 9), to those who afflict you affliction, and to you who are afflicted re- laxation, release, rest, refreshment (2 Cor. ii, 12, 18); in opposition to Saas, 2 Cor. vii. 5; viii, 13; similarly ἀνάψυξις, Acts iii, 19; comp. also the rest- ing in Rev, xiv. 138. For the present, he exhibits merely that negative side of the δόξα, for which the afflicted person first longs, freedom from earth’s sor- rows; the positive side comes afterward, vv. 10, 12. —With us, says the Apostle in the assured joy of faith ; without warrant is Bence.’s explanation (and Ewaty’s): us, the saints in Israel; De Werre would understand it generally: with us, Christians at large ; that may well be involved in the remoter deduction; but obviously the immediate suggestion of the actual phrase is: with us, the in like manner afflicted Apostles (ch. iii. 2), the foremost champions of the faith [ALrorp and Exuricorr: the writers of the Epistle; Wuxssrer and Wirkinyson: Paul.—ZJ. 1,41. Looking back from the final retribution (v. 6), we see that all the previous dealing also (v. 5) is righteous throughout. Of course, the ϑλίβεσϑαι is not of itself meritorious, but v. 7 likewise takes for granted SA:Boudvous of steadfast faith (v. 4); so that Hincenre.p’s censure of an unpauline thought falls to the ground.—Rest and refreshment will God give at the revelation of the Lord Jesus; it is a far more forced construction, when Grortius would refer this specification of time to the remote καταξιω- Siva. Of the Lord Jesus is a genitive of the object, though He is also the subject of it. Reveda- tion is the same thing as παρουσία; only there is still more conveyed by ἀποκάλυψις ; not merely that He will be present, but also that He will unveil Himself in His glory (1 Cor. i. 7; Luke xvii. 30), whereas He is now hid in heaven (Col. iii. 3, 4), and is only invisibly nigh to us (Matt. xxviii.). The way and manner of His coming is shown by what is added: from heaven, comp. 1 Thess. iv. 16; with the angels of His power, comp. 1 Thess. iii, 13; the expression means that they belong to His power, therefore also form His power, are its servants and executors, Comp. the στρατεύματα of heaven, Rev. xix. 14, Not: with His strong angels, mighty angels (THEOPHYLACT expressly, δυνατῶν), as if δυνάμεως were an adjectival definition of ayy., and αὐτοῦ were to be connected with ayy. Hor- MANN (because it is not said: μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῆς δυν. αὐτοῦ) would understand it as meaning with a host of angels,* ayy. being put first emphatically, to distinguish the heavenly forces from all of an earthly kind (but for this there was no occasion), and δύναμις signifying an army-force likewise in Luke x. 19; xxi. 26 (?), and in the Septuagint for MAX; αὐτοῦ, finally, he refers to what follows. This whole view is too artificial; and when he takes the words αὐτοῦ ἐν πυρὶ φλογὸς διδόντος together, and refers them to God, and at the same time regards ἐν τῇ amon. &c. as the beginning of this participial construction, this is, to say the least, as cummbrous as the ordinary view, weording to which ἐν τῇ am. &c. more closely de- . *[And so the Peschito Syriac, Drusivs, MicHAELis, Laced except that they connect the αὐτοῦ with ayyéAwy.— a fines what goes before.—There might certainly bea doubt as to where ἐν πυρὶ φλογός belongs (the varia tion which we have noted meets us in like mannet at Acts vii, 80; the Recepta means flaming fire, glowing fire, not faintly burning). Too subtile ig TusopHyiact’s remark, that the expression denotes fire that burns merely, and gives no light, it being merely consuming for sinners, and for the righteous merely luminous. It is possible to refer it to what follows as a specification of detail (TuEoporer: τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ εἶδος ; HitcenreLp: In point of fact the fiery flame belongs immediately to the punish. ment) ;* but it may also be regarded as the last fea- ture in the description of the revelation, and this is still simpler [and so Atrorp and Exuicorr]. TuEo- PHyLacr recognizes both explanations, and refers for the second to Ps. xevii. 8. The Lord is revealed in flaming fire, as in the burning bush, or as on Sinai; His throne is [not, as in Εἰ. V., is dike.—J. L.] glow. ing flame (Dan. vii. 9); as in the Old Testament God, so here Christ comes in fire; thus shall His day also be revealed (1 Cor. iii. 18); this agrees with the δόξα at His coming (Matt. xxv. 81); somewhat more remote is the glowing flame of His eyes (Rev, xix, 12); He Himself is a consuming fire (Heb. x, 27; xii, 29); comp., moreover, in the Old Testa. ment, Is. xxix. 6; xxx. 30. The terrible splendor of His majesty, which con- sumes all opposition, is concisely, but powerfully, delineated. We are not to inquire curiously into what is physical in this manifestation ; not till the last end will the fire that mfelts the elements come in power (2 Pet. iii. 7, 10); but at every epoch of judgment fire is also the figure of the purifying ardor of the Holy Ghost, consuming all impurity; comp. Matt. iii, 11, 12.—The reference of what fol- lows, (Jesus) rendering vengeance, dispensing punishment, is by Hormann without reason felt to be a difficulty. The Greek expression answers in the Septuagint to the Hebrew Maj? jM2, Ezek. xxv. 14, and elsewhere; comp. ἔκδικος, 1 Thess. iv. 6; ποιεῖν ἐκδίκησιν, Luke xviii. 7; see also Luke xxi, 22, 238, The Apostle now traces back to the general Divine administration what he had previously prom- ised to the Thessalonians in particular. Jesus will execute the Divine judgment on those who know not God; that it is not simply a want of knowl edge, but a criminal blindness, that is here intended, is evident; comp. 1 Thess. iv. 5; instead of sceking God (Acts xvii, 27), many bold the truth down [κατεχόντων, depress, repress] in unrighteousness (Rom. 1. 18); in angry defiance, like Pharaoh (Ex, v. 2), In the First Epistle the Gentiles were ex- pressly so described (comp. Ps. lxxix. 6); here ig described more generally the fundamental delinquen- cy, ungodliness. It is further said: and to those, who obey not the gospel, &.; the Lord Jesus has a right to claim obedience ; faith is, after all, an affair of the will, the obedience of faith (Rom. i. 53 Acts vi. 7). The repetition of the article τοῖς in the second member appears to place the disubedient as a second class alongside the first ; and so indeed many (Grotius, BENGEL, Ewap, LineMany, HoFMANN [JowsTt, ALFORD, ELicorr, Wesster and WILKIN« son, &c.]) distinguish, finding here the two classe of persecutors who vexed the Thessalonians ; those who know not God would be the heathen, those who obey not the gospel the Jews (comp. Rom. x.). But this same excessive strictness of historical reference * (So the Syriac, Brza, and many others.—J. L.] 118 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. ig not at all advisable ; Paul speaks generally of the judgment of the world. Moreover, Bencrt himself says merely Judwis maxime, and Hormann also [Estivs, Coccerus, WuitBy, Peis, Revision, &.— J. L.] sees in the second class all who reject the gos- pel, whether heathens or Jews; in this we recognize the correct feeling, that to limit the second designa- tion to the Jews is unjustifiable; but in that case the contrast is no longer clear, and there comes in the recollection of Christ’s reproach to the Jews, that they know not God (John viii. 55; xv. 21; xvi. 8; they are wanting in the knowledge described in John xvii. 3); with which the Apostle’s expressions are to be compared (Rom. iii. 11; x. 2; xi. 8 sqq.). On the whole, since the antithesis here is different from that in Rom, ii. 12, one looks for a condemna- tion at last only on account of the rejection of Christ, in which alienation from God culminates. The οἵτινες also of v. 9 comprehends in one the two seemingly different classes; so that we shail do bet- ter to find already in the eighth verse a description, not of two classes of men, but merely of the two poles of enmity against God: the fundamental aver- sion of men generally, and the consummation of their contumacy, when the opportunity of faith has been afforded them; so Carvin [Bishop Hatt], Pett, De Werte, OLsHausEN ; the repetition of the τοῖς cannot force us to the opposite view,* if we com- pare Rom. iv, 12 [see also my Revision of Rev. xvi. 2, Note j. These two are much better examples than those which Exxicorr cites, and objects to as ques- tionable, viz. Matt. xxviz 3; Luke xxii. 4,—J. L.]. Moreover, the ἅγιοι and tke πιστεύσαντες, v. 10, are not two different classes (as ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, consistently would have it), but two parallel designations of the same persons. At any rate, we see here that the ϑλίβοντες of v. 6 come under the judgment, not as being merely human oppressors of men, but as ene- mies of God. [WornswortH: μή implies that their ignorance and disobedience is the cause of their pun- isument.—J. L.] 5. (Vv. 9, 10.) Who [οἵτινες, who, as such_—J. L.] shall suffer punishment, &c.: properly pay, discharge ; but the etymology disappears, as the op- position would otherwise be incongruous: (namely) everlasting destruction; dArcdpos we had at 1 Thess. v. 3; ὀλέϑριον [Lacumann] is given only by A.; this were an adjective to δίκην; but i} is too feebly supported (the Sin. is also against it), and is unsuitable to ἀπό, &c., and to δίκην which already has an adjective [?]; the mistake was occasioned probably by αἰώνιον. The latter word might perhaps denote a long but still limited period; against this, however, is the parallel ζωὴ αἰώνιος, Matt, xxv. 41, 46; therefore, without limits, OLsHAUsEN thinks that Paul has not another text of equally decided import; but, though he does not use this expression, he yet does say unconditionally: βασιλείαν Seod οὐ κληρονομήσουσι (1 Cor. vi. 9,10). The ἀπό, το. is variously understood; Curysostom, BencxL, ῬΈΕΙ, * [Exticorr, however, is of opinion that it renders that view “all but ccrtain.”— Revision: “I see no reason in the present case to waive the operation of the ordinary gram- matical rule, especially as ignorance of God is frequently with Paul the specific characteristic of Gentilism; 1 Thess. kv. 5 (comp. Bent. Jer. x. 25); Acts xvii. 23, 30; Rom. i. 28; Gal. iv. 8; Eph. ii. 12, &c.; and it is, moreover, probable that the preseit (vv. 4, 5), no less than the previous tt Thess. ii. 14; Acts xvii ὃ, &c.), sufferings of this chure had a double source, in tho blind ungodliness of the hea then in general, and the special malignity of all such as resisted the grace of the gospel.”—J. I, 7 | Dz Werrs, Ewatp, Horwann explain from the face as of the efficient cause (Acts iii. 19, where, however, it is connected with ἐλδεῖν); προσώπου would be not simply equivalent to person, but more expressive: from His face, which will be turned toward them in a threatening, penal, terrible man ner; that mere look destroys them ; Curysostom ; He needs but to appear, and they are punished; Hormann compares Jerem. iv. 263 Sept.* Da Werte supposes that the second member especially : from the glory of His power, compels us te think of the efficient cause; but of that too an ex. planation may be found, that agrees still better with δίκην τίσουσιν, ὄλεϑρον αἰώνιον, namely, as ΒΕΖΑ, Livemann [Jowerr, Atrorp, Exuicorr], and oth. ers understand it, away from. OLSHAUSEN com: pares Is, ii. 10, 19, 21, Sept.: They will hide them- selves, fleeing ἀπὸ προσώπον τοῦ φόβου κυρίου καὶ amd τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, and finds in our text a breviloquence (as it were, hiding themselves from), But that is not at all necessary. We get the finest sense, and, as LUNEMANN properly remarks, a real advance, and not still the same thing merely that was already implied ἐν τῇ ἀποκ., when we under- stand it as destruction (away) Srom the face of the Lord (Jesus Christ); like ἀνάϑεμα ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ (Rom. ix. 8); comp. ἀπό also in Rom. vii. 2; 2 Cor. xi. 3; Gal. v. 4.4 This is destruction, to be sepa- rated from the blessed vision of His face, from the Source of light and life, from the influence of His gracious aspect; comp, Matt. vii. 23; and from the glory (the effulgence) of His strength ; there is the less need of understanding this in Dr Werte’s sense, that it is not said simply, from His strength, but from the δόξα of His strength. Linzmann’s explanation indeed: from the glory which is the cre- ation [Aurorn: visible localized result] of His power, is somewhat far-fetched; the parallelism leads us rather to understand by that something be- longing to the Lord Himself; comp. also the He- brew 1283 “71K, Is. ii. 10; Hormann: from His strength appearing in its glory; Digvricu: the glory of His omnipotence, in its creation of a new heaven and a new earth, and in its entire communi- cation of itself to the saved. And is not this a calamitous deprivation, to be separated from that glory of Christ’s power, which will glorify man into the likeness of the Lord? (Phil. iii. 21); and so to remain without any share in that which follows in v, 10: When He shall come, more exactly, shall have come [AuForD, Exuicorr, WorpsworrH]. And now the parallel members pour forth in the splendor of the prophetic strain, and bring the positive sup. plement to the ἄνεσις of ν. 7. To be glorified in His saints does not mean simply to te praised by or amongst them in words, but to be cctually shown to be glorious in the glory that He effects in them, by letting His glory appear in the glorification of His saints, by dwelling in them, and imparting Himself to them; see v. 12; John xvii. 10, 22 sqq.; Rom ix, 28. And so it is taken also by most expositors, The saints here are certainly Christians, not angels; the latter, indeed, were particularly named in v. 7. * [Comp. ch. ii. 8; Ex. xiv. 24; Ps, οἷν. 32; Hab. iil 6. My Revision cites Shakespeare, Julius Crear, i. 3: “Cesar shall forth : the things that threaten’d me Never look’d but on my back ; when they shall seo The face of Cwsar, they are vanished,”’—J. L.] t [Also Gen. iv. 16; Prov. xv. 293 Jer. xxxii. 31; Mats xxii, 1351 John ii, 28 Gin the Greek j~sud τεῦ the val references in my Jvevision of that verse, Note a).—J. L.] CHAPTER I. 1-12. 118 Nor does Benczt succeed in proving, convincingly, that the believers are a different class from the saints ; we rather recognize in this place merely the solemn parallelism of the members, But this does not exclude the climax implied in the πᾶσιν : in all, therefore also in you (vv. 4, 7). The being admired might be understood thus: In the hearts of His be- lievers He will ercate for Himself an admiring ado- ration ; but the parallel member leads rather to this explanation: By that which He works in them He will show Himself wonderful ; He will become the wonder and admiration of creation (especially per- haps of the angels, comp. Eph. iii. 10), when it is revealed, what He has known to make of His be- lievers. Thus it is taken already by Curysostom : BC ἐκείνων ϑαυμαστὸς ἀποδείκνυται; THEOPHYLACT [Wexsrez and WitKinson] thinks, in the presence of those who are now stiff-necked ; Liinemann: The blessedness of believers being admired, Christ also is therein admired as the Author of that blessed- ness; comp. ϑαυμασϑῆναι, Is. ἰχὶ, 6, Sept. It is worthy of note, how delicately one member of the statement answers to the other; the glory reveals what despised holiness is, and when it becomes mani- fest to what faith attains, that is a matter of wonder (Hormann).—Because our testimony to you was believed; μαρτύριον, equivalent to κήρυγμα, εὐαγγέλιον ; ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς belongs even without an article to pap. (according to Winer, § 20. 2), that directed toward you (similarly Luke ix. 5); were it to be re- ferred to émorevSn, πρός must have been used.* BznaEt seems to take ὅτι as that, for he says: mo- tivum admirationis, as if the clause supplied the subject of SavuacSiva; whereas its subject is still the Lord. The words ὅτι to suas are already rightly regarded as a parenthesis by Turoporer and THEOPAYLACT, and then by Zwineri and CaLvin; ἐν τῇ hu. ἐκ. goes back beyond that, but not, as BEnGEL would have it, to the too remote ἔλϑῃ [still less, as WepsteR and WILKINsoN would have it, to δίκην ticovow.—J. L.], but to ἐνδοξ. and ϑαυμασϑῆ- vou. Altogether untenable is Lurser’s translation : Our testimony to you of that day ye believed ; as little does it answer to take émorevdn for a future or (Gror.) a-future perfect; to say nothing of other misinterpretations. The sense of the parenthesis with the verb put emphatically forward is this: Since our testimony to you was believed, therefore I can speak of πιστεύσασιν in application also to you (ὑμῖν, v. 7); yes, you too belong to the believers ; he would fill them with the comfortable assurance : Ye are of the number. The addition of in that day, on the other hand, says: It will not happen till then; till then, patience! Carvin: fidelium vota cohibet, ne ultra modum festinent. [Perhaps also the phrase, in that day, was intended strongly to suggest the thought, that the very same day, which brings terror and ruin to the ungodly and unbeliev- ers, brings rest and glory to their former victims,— J. L,]—Hormann understands the passage other- wise; to avoid the parenthesis, he supposes that with ὅτι émor. there is a new beginning; and that ἐν τῇ fu. ἐκ. belongs to what follows, namely, to ἵνᾳ ὑμᾶς ἀξιώσῃ, thus getting now in his turn εἰς ὅ to ὑμῶν for a parenthesis ;—intolerably harsh! For though the position of ἐν τῇ ju. ἐκ. before ἵνα might perhaps be justified by Acts xix. 4 and similar texts, yet to add to the inversion the parenthesis also is too touch. * [And then with the genitive, not, as here, the accusa- tive.—J. L.] 6. (Vv. 11, 12.) Darauf geht auch allezeit unser Beten fur euch (Thereunto tend also at all times our prayers for you); such was out German paraphrase; εἰς & is not the same thing aa δι 8, quapropter (Gror.); it might mean, én referenct to which (Rom, iv. 20; Linemann); but the final signification is to be preferred: aiming at which, ta which end (Col. i, 29; De Werte [Jowert, Re vision, WeBsteR and WiLKINSoN, Am. Bible Union, &c.]), and the objection to this, that the certain truth of the purpose of grace (v. 10) would thus be made dependent on the Apostle’s prayers, loses ita force, so soon as we closely connect therewith περὶ ὑμῶν (with this view do we pruy for you),* and fur- ther perceive that ἵνα, ὅτο. merely carries out what εἰς § at the forefront of the sentence indicates; + at 1 Thess. iii. 10 likewise the import of the prayer is expressed in the form of a design. Bence.: hoe orando nitimur ; that what was promiscd in v. 10 may fall also to your share. We also pray, he says; we too for our part, in harmony with the purpose of God, This we do besides giving thanks (v. 3).t— That our God (says he, with devout appropriation) may count you worthy of the calling;$ Gro- tius, BeNGEL, OLsuavsen, Ewaip, and many under- stand it of making worthy ; Von GrrLacn: that He may bestow on you the necessary qualities, of which what follows would thus furnish the explana- tion. But ἀξιοῦν is always to deem worthy, pro- nounce [?] worthy; therefore: that He may count you worthy of being adjudged the κλῆσις. But were they not called long since ? what should this still im- pending κλῆσις mean? One might think, as in the parable of the supper, of repeated calls: that He may count you worthy of the last, decisive, energetic call, which brings you to the object ; or as HorMaNNn says (aud this might be separated from his distorted construction of our passage): that He may count you worthy of a calling, which brings to completion what began with our testimony and your faith there- in; of the call δεῦτε (Matt. xxv. 84), to which already Zwineut refers. But we may also with Linnemann (without regarding Phil. ili. 14, βραβεῖον τῆς κλήσεως, as quite parallel) understand κλῆσις as meaning that to which you are called: May He at last pronounce you worthy of that, the opposite of which might also, indeed, follow a want of fidelity ; comp. ἐλπίς, of the thing hoped for, Col. i. 5. The difference, after alJ, is really unimportant; for he, who is finally thought worthy of the glory to which * [It is, however, taken for granted throughout, that the Thessalonians were of the number of the saved; and therefore the ultimate answer to the objection is that given in my Revision: “ Itisno part whatever of Pauline philosoe phy, that the gracious and unalterable purpose of God ras cates the prayers and efforts of faith. Only by meana of these could Paul and his brethren aspire to be co-workers with God toward the predestined result. See 1 Cor. iii. 95 2 Cor. vi. 1; Phil. ii, 12,13, &."—J.L.J t [Not exactly so. Eis 6 refers immediately to the future glorification of the Lord in His saints; ἵνα, &e. to the preparatory sanctification of the Thessalonians.—J_L,] t¢ (Aurorp: “ We pray also (as well as wish).”” EL corr: “Besides merely longing or merely directing your hopes, we also avail ourselves of the definite accents of prayer, the καί gently contrasting the προσεύχ. with the ine fusion of the hope and expectation involved in the preceds ing words, and especially echoed in the parenthetical memes ber.” Leclures: ‘As that (v. 10) was to be the result of the Advent in believers generally, so also, and with a view to the same consummation, Paul’s continual request at the throne was, that the necessary preparatory work might be completed in the members of this particular church.”—J. L.] § [τῆς κλήσεως ;—not, your calling (PEILE, AtrorD, Ev. τοῦτα). Comp. 3 Jobn 7, ὑπὲρ τοῦ ovduaros.—J. L,] 120 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. Christians are called, is thought worthy also of the last invitation: Come, then/* The Apostle’s prayer is directed, moreover, to this point (in order that the ἀξιοῦν may be realized): that He may fulfil every desire of goodness, &c.; ὑμᾶς does not belong to this clause, πληροῦν not governing two accusatives, but the meaning is, in you. If we dis- regard obviously false interpretations (Grotius: your goodness, that is well-pleasing to Him ; simi- larly OLsHavsen and others), the only question is, whether with Catvin, Beneet, ῬΈΕΙ, and others, we are to understand it thus: that He may fulfil all the gout pleasure of His goodness, ex parte Dei, adds ENGEL, and, at the second member, ex parte vestri. But that is not well bere; De Wzrre, Linemann, Ewarp, Hormann properly hold that the second member, which denotes something wrought in the Thessalonians, compels us to understand the first also of ἀγαϑωσύνη in the Thessalonians. Besides, Paul never uses this word of the Divine, but always of human goodness (Rom, xv. 14; Gal. v. 22; Eph. v. 9). And again, if God’s goodness was to be spo- ken of, we must necessarily have had πᾶσαν τὴν εὐδ., and αὑτοῦ after it. The correct view, therefore, is: that He may bring (in you) to fulfilment every good pleasure in, every inclination to, goodness [so AL- ForD, Exticott, Werster and WiLxkInson: ‘‘ bet- ter, grace in them than towards them,” ὅς. ALForD errs, however, in making éyaSwotvns a gen. of ap- position.—J. 1.1. God must fulfil this; otherwise we are prone to evil; εὐδοκία of the human dispo- sition we find also at Rom. x. 1. Delight in what is good is partly the first preparation for faith (John vii. 17), and partly its fruit. But here the Apostle speaks, not merely of the furtherance of this dispo- sition, but of its fulfilment. Thus we are not to think simply of a growing sanctification, nor, as re- gards the work of faith, simply, with Curysos- Tom, THroporet, TuzopuyLact, of the endurance of persecutions; but Paul has his eye on the final mark. On ἔργον πίστεως, comp. the exegetical ex- planation of 1 Thess. i. 3; for the completion and slight modification of that let it merely be added, that for the right understanding of that text it seems to us indispensable, 1. to take the three genitives in the same way, and 2. to avoid every interpretation, by which one member of the statement would be confounded with another. It is very clear that the κόπος τῆς ἀγάπης is there the toil and labor spring- ing from love, befitting love. This must guide us also in the first member; ἔργον τῆς πίστεως is the work springing from faith, befitting faith ; not, how- ever, the moral authentication of faith outwardly, which would encroach on the second or third mem- ber, but the fundamental inward work of faith in the soul; not the sum of the works which spring from faith, but that which is presupposed as the founda- tion of all moral activity, to wit, the primary act of breaking loose from self-confidence, and casting one’s self entirely on the living God. Instead of Gal. v. 6, the text for comparison is rather Rom, iv. 20, 21, * [Evurcorr: “κλῆσις, though really the initial act (comp. 1 Thess. ii. 12), includes the Christian course which follows (Eph. iv. 1), and its issues in blessedness hereafter,” Bee Revision and Lectures. I am stil) inclined to refer iva ὑμᾶς ἀξιώσῃ τῆς κλήσεως to Gud’s tinal judgment on the Thessalonians as having walked worthy of their vocation (ἀξίως τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε, Eph. iv. 1. Comp. the in- variable New Testament use of ἀξίως, as in 1 Thess. ii. 12, and the import of ἄξιος in Matt. iii. 8; Luke iii. 8; Acts zxvi. 20). But as those whom God counts worthy He first makes worthy, the rest of the verse desoribes this prepara- sory process.—J. L.] This energetic groundwork of faith Paul sees exist ing in ihe Dhesuslonane he notes it in ἐπ 1 9, whereas here his prayer for them is that God may fully accomplish it, and through faith bring to pers fection the new man; ἐν δυνάμει, in power, with force (1 Thess. i, 5); LiNEMANN: powerfully 5 res ardua, says Catvin. It belongs to πληρώσῃ.-- That the name of our Lord Jesus, ὅθ. i Com pared with v. 10, this word indicates that to Himself we can bring no glory, but His name is glorified in us, and we personally in Him. Yet is His (and in general the Divine) name itself something real, as is expressly shown by the present context, which in v, 12 asserts of the name what v. 10 says of Christ Himself. Hallowed be Thy name; in the name of Jesus we pray, and in the name of God the Father, ἄς. we are baptized; comp. Ex. xxiii. 31; Deut, xxvi. 2; 1 Kings viii. 29; Jer. xxxii. 20; Ps. xlviii, 11 [10]. What His name is in fact He Himself makes for Himself; it is not a name given by mere human invention and conception. He reveals Him. self as he would be recognized and invoked, as He who is what He is called, and is effectively present wherever called upon. His name is glorified in us; and therefore this does not mean merely, that He is celebrated in the praises of our lips, but (as the second member shows) that He is in fact made glori- ous, when the Lord shows Himself in us true to His name, as the prayer-answering Saviour; when He prevails with us to have His name named upon us, as those who really belong to Him (Deut. xxviii. 10; Am. ix. 12; James ii. 7..—And ye in Him, that is, may be glorified; a reciprocity, as in John xvii, Most understand this asin Him, the Lord, Line- MANN, Hormann: in it, the name. As regards the meaning, the difference is unessential. This word likewise looks to the consummation; living in the Lord, we are to be made partakers of His glorified nature; in the name of the Lord: the power of that name, which is above every name, And all this, according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. He thus quenches all human pride, Since the article stands before Seod, and not before κυρίου, it is altogether most natural, with Hormany, to refer Seod also to Christ [but see Criti- cal Note 18.—J. 1.1, without this being, as HiteEn- FELD supposes (p. 264), a mark of spuriousness; for not merely Tit. ii, 18, but also Rom. ix. 5 speaks of Christ in loftier terms than are agreeable to our modern critics (comp. John xx. 28; 2 Pet. i. 1, 11). The distinction between God and Christ is not to be sustained by an appeal to texts like vv. 1 and 2, since there the article is wanting also before SeG and Seod, DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL 1, (V. 3.) It is important for all life, that it also grow; otherwise it stands still, or rather retrogrades, But growth in the kingdom of grace proceeds in part differently from what it does in the kingdom of na- ture. Even a tree, indeed, must grow as well below as above, But still more does that saying of SraRKE hold good of the Christian life: This growth takes, place either openly and sensibly, when a man, after experiencing the sorrows of repentance, is sensibly comforted and quieted in his soul (Ps, οἰ. 1-5); or it takes place in a secret, concealed, hidden manner in circumstances of trial, when a man perbaps makea the most powerful advance, but God does not yet allow Him to be clearly and proper! y sensible of it CHAPTER 1. 1-12. ---- - 121 —Still more important is another distinction, to wit, that every being in nature, even every man and every people, reaches on the natural side a highest point, and then declines and goes toward death, whereas by Christ and His Holy Spirit is implanted in the individual and in humanity a germ of imper- ishable life, that does not decay, but ripens to per- fection (v. 11), and is just then most powerfully ma- tured, when tribulation even to death wastes the outer man. [Buruirr: As it is our duty, it will be our great wisdom and prudence, so to speak of the graces of God which we see and observe in others, as that they may not be puffed up with any conceit of their own excellencies, but see matter of praise and thanksgiving due unto God only, and nothing to themselves—M. Henry: We may be tempted to think that, though when we were bad we could not make ourselves good, yet when we are good we can easily make ourselves better; but we have as much dependence on the grace of God for the increasing the grace we have, as for the planting of grace when we had it not.—J. L.] 2. (V. 4.) Are we at liberty even to glory in men? Not so as to foster our own ambition, or to flatter the ambition of others, Nor is all danger obviated by saying, that we extol God’s work in them; the old man seeks to catch his share also therein. Where faith is really put to the trial of patience (James i, 2-5), there is the least risk of pride, and in such a trial there is incentive for oth- ers, They, who are commended, are not allowed by God to want for secret checks. For them too that word holds good: nobdlesse oblige, 8. (V. δ.) God’s rule is a constant righteous judging and sifting with a gracious purpose; for righteousness stands in the service of grace; grace reigns through righteousness (Rom. v. 21). But it is not always easy even for faith to keep track of this, Not merely are wilful, impatient persons offended, that it often scems to go ill with the good, and so well with the wicked; not merely do the frivolous and faint-hearted ask, Where is now the righteous God? but even Asaph had well-nigh slipped here. It is the triumph of faith, when it lays hold of the Apostle’s word, and in that very thing, which seems to conflict with all righteousness, learns to recognize the working out of righteous judgment. On one side it is a terribly earnest declaration of it, when God punishes sinners by giving them up to sin (Rom. i. 24 sqq.; ix. 17; xi. 8 sqq., 32); the Christian likewise may be sensibly visited with chastisement, and it is hard to stand beneath the judgment of God; nevertheless, in the severity itself there is comfort, since it lifts us above depend- ence on men, And to him, who yields to the hu- miliation, there is the further help vouchsafed, that his faith is strengthened in the impossibility of the righteous God allowing confidence in His promise to come to shame; and still more, 7 the very confu- sions of time he perceives evidence of the righteous judgment of God, which in sending afflictions and persecutions, in hardening the ungodly, in the chas- tisement and purification of the pious, in their sepa- ration from the world, and in their confirmation to believing constancy, accomplishes itself from day to day, till in the final consummation (v. 6 sqq.) it reaches the end of righteous retribution. Until then the account is still open ; then comes the settlement. 4, Ringer: A man becomes meet for the king- fom of God under euffering ; not as if by suffering ramongst men, with God it stands unshaken. he could deserve it. For truly our affliction is not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. viii. 18), The mercy of God in Christ alone makes us meet for this inheritance (Col. i, 12), But God’s plan and order is, to try man’s intrinsic worth and value by their endurance in the fire of afiliction, and whether they are pos sessed by a paramount delight in the invisible and eternal, or by an irredeemable tendency to vanity (2 Cor. iv. 17, 18). The heirs of the kingdom must earn for themselves the witness, that they love not their lives unto the death (Rev. xii, 11). In the judgment of the world, it is true, they suffer as evil doers, as wilful, unmanageable people; but the testi- mony of God in a good conscience bids them rejoice, and leap for joy, and glory in tribulation, because they suffer for the kingdom of God (Luke vi. 23; 1 Pet. iv. 13; Rom. v. 3; comp. Rev. vi. 10 sq.; vii, 14; xi, 18)—We add, that a man cannot claim the reward, as if he had first given something to God (Rom. xi. 35); but when God has trained, proved, and tested a man, like gold in the fire, He crowns in him His own grace, and gives him the reward of hig fidelity, [Lectures: “That ye may be counted worthy, &c.;—if indeed it is a righteous thing, ἄς." In using such expressions—and there are very many of them in the New Testament—the inspired writers proceed upon the ground of that gracious covenant, in which, through their union with Chrst, believers stand, and whose merciful provisions, on God’s part absolutely sovereign and free, alone give them all the claim they have on the Divine favor here or hereafter. But that claim, though thus originating, and because thus originating, is an infinitely and eternally valid claim, It is deep and abiding, as the love of the Father for the Son; strong and sure, as the word and oath of Him who cannot lie—cannot deny Himself—or frustrate any hope which He him- self has raised. In this respect, as in many others, the gospel salvation reveals God’s righteousness no less than it does His love.—J. L.] 5. (Vv. 6, 7.) The jus talionis, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” or, ‘‘ with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again,” would be im- properly described as a human right of retaliation. It is rather just the inviolable Divine order, though in a sensible, allegorical form. Jesus Himself does not in Matt. v. 88 sqq. reject the principle (comp. Matt. vii. 2), but’ merely the arbitrary Pharisaie abuse of it. A Divine order it remains, and as such is engraven on the human consciertce, that guilt shall recoil on the head of the perpetrator. However much and however long justice may lie ae ἢ God’s long-suffering does not annul the fact, that His proceedings tend in the long run to a perfect retribution. For this reason even the purpose of God’s grace is not accomplished by means of an amnesty setting justice aside, but through the satis faction of justice by an adequate atonement. Who- ever rejects this, draws upon himself the final judg. ment; whoever in the sense of a living, penitent faith acquiesces in the economy of redemption, in that man the righteousness of God can work out salvation (1 John i, 9; Rom. iii. 26), On the wrath of God, comp. the Apologet. Beitrage by Guss and Riccensacu, p. 89 sqq.—[Barnes: If it is right that the sinner should be punished, it will be done— 2.1. a) The eschatological excitement in Thessalonica, 122 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. though it was known to the Apostle, does not at all hinder him from discussing these great truths. An abuse does not abrogate the proper use. And it is true that he speaks on the subject for the very ex- press purpose of comforting those under persecution. But neither does he fail also to follow this up in ch. ii. with the needful sedatives, One chief mark of Scripture as originating with the Spirit of God is, that both in the teaching of doctrine and in the regulation of the life it speaks with so great depth and force, and yet at the same time also with so great moderation; never one-sidedly either in the way of exaggerating or in that of suppressing any truth. It is to be observed, moreover, that this ex- pectation of rest at the return of Christ stands in distinct contradiction to the Irvingite doctrine of the translation ; see the Doctrinal and Ethical Note on 1 Thess, iv. 17.* 4. (Vv. 6-9.) But how should the prospect of the perdition of the ungodly serve to comfort the pious? This seems to savor of a malignant joy, or at least to express a strange longing for vengeance. To wait for the judgment of God, however, is some- thing different from avenging ourselves (1 Pet. ii. 23), And the former should as little be wanting in the children of God, as God ever ceases to be holy. The oppressors spoken of here, as so often in the Psalms, are not at all opponents on trifling grounds of human quarrel, but they hate God’s servants and children, because they hate God’s truth. In our text vy. 8 especially shows that those are meant to whom salvation was offered, but they have trifled away their hour of grace. Respecting the violence and scorn of the ungodly the living sentiment of justice now cries to God. On this point no man can judge, who has no inward experience of zeal for God’s glory. Paul testifies with joyful faith, that now already the righteous judgment of God rules, but withal he holds fast, as a postulate, the final, com- plete separation between the pious and the ungodly, as in Mal. iii. 18. Scripture generally is far from any abstract, idealistic surrender of the final and absolute triumph of the cause of God. If then we think of the Apostle’s fervent longing to be made a curse for his brethren (Rom. ix. 3), if they could thereby be helped, we shall give up entirely talking about vindictiveness. Yet how few have experi- enced the vehement desire, that right shall still be right, and God continue to be God, which must arise in a soul compelled to endure the harshest abuse and oppression of its faith! We need not wish to be more merciful than the eternal Mercy (Matt. vii. 14). There is a point, at which the flaming majesty of the holiness of God advances in power against the obdu- rate despisers of His grace. Nevertheless, the love of enemies remains in force (1 Thess. v. 15), so long as there is still anything to be hoped for. Canvin’s admonition is, that, although Paul promises ven- geance, yet we are not to wish for it against any man. It is quite possible that the honor of God’s cause, and the salvation of those exposed to seduc- tion, might impel an Apostle to call down a sharp judgment on the adversaries (1 Cor. v. 5; Acts xiii. 10, 11); but the design always is, wherever it is Btill possible, correction in order to salvation; and human violence is never allowed to interfere (Matt. xiii. 29. Give place unto wrath (Rom. xii. 19), that * (I am not aware of any sufficient scriptural evidence of the doctrine referred to. “But just as little, so far aa I tan see, is it contradicted by our text.—J. L.] to the wrath of God; where that is kindled, ix in the fulness of awe, and also of humble submission, as well as of sympathy towarda those who are judged, to stand aside. There thus exists a fundamental likeness between the piety of the Old Testament and that of the New. The differ. ence does not consist in the setting aside in the New Testament of the threatenings of judgment, but only in this, that in Christ’s redemptive work there is revealed an inconceivably larger grace than the Old Testament gave occasion to expect, whereby the uttermost is done to render possible a deliverance from judgment, While the revelation before Christ was to be altogether true—wholly that, and nothing more than that, which humanity before Christ was able to bear—yet, with all the glory of the words of grace even in the Old Testament, it was still impos sible that the fulness of mercy should be made known as it was by Christ in word and deed. Comp. the essay on die Nichstenliebe, Stud. und Krit., 1856, p. 117 sqq. 8. On not knowing God, see the Doctrinal and Ethical Note on 1 Thess. iv. 5. The heathen also are guilty, when they do not even inquire after God; but there are still many amongst them, who, for their own part, are at least in some measure ex- cused by the general degradation. This is recog- nized in the words of the Lord respecting Tyre and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. x. 15; xi. 22, 24). The consummation of guilt is, when the origi- nal stupidity towards God develops itself into con- scious rejection of His gracious counsel and work ; and here again also blasphemy against the Holy Ghost marks the highest point. ‘‘ Whosoever de- nieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John ii, 23); this word is receiving an ever-growing fulfilment in our day. It is possible for one to pray to a God who yet is rather sought than known. But wherever Jesus, the highest revelation of the true God, is not merely still unknown, but is denied and rejected, there at last nothing more is retained than a power of nature, to which it is impossible to pray as toa Father. But as the denial of Jesus betrays the repugnance of the heart, so faith is a matter of the will. In the former case, the meaning is: So thou sayest, but I will not, and thus God is made a liar (1 John i. 10); here the Apostle speaks of the obedience of faith, For this very reason the princi- ple stands firm also with Paul, that a man is judged according to his decds (Rom. ii, 6-11; 2 Cor, v. 10), But the innermost soul of right conduct is obedience to the command for the reception of grace; and that is just faith. 9. Holy Scripture knows nothing of the entire renunciation of all motives of fear and hope, such as is required by philosophic morality; nor is it known in actual life. Even the dullest indifferent ism, even the haughtiest self-consciousness, cannot fully extinguish fear and hope; nor should it. The only point of importance is, that the living God bes come their object. 10. The eternity of punishment is to many a peculiar offence. But let us not forget that only those are threatened with this (especially in Matt. xii, 31, 32), on whom the merciful God, Father, Son, and Spirit, has brought to bear His entire work of grace, and has done so in vain.* Through obdurate is, becomes man, * [This seems to mean that none are in da τ nal punishment but blasphemers of the Holy Ghost “Be lieving this doctrine to be thoroughly unscriptural, I shall be allowed here simply to express my firm dissent,—J. 1.1 OHAPTER 1. 1-12. 128 resistance to grace the state of inward desolation must have reached such a pass, that from a man in this condition even his neighbors necessarily become detached; whereas on the other hand we cannot think highly enough of the resources of the grace of God. Now since the grace of God Himself, being more fervent than a mother’s love, cannot forget, and therefore cannot, it would appear, cease to love, how is it possible that it should perpetuate the life of the damned, merely to subject them to perpetual torment? In the line of these thoughts we reach various attempts to set bounds tv the eter- nity of the punishments of hell. The most obvious device still would be to take αἰώνιος in a limited sense; but the inference on the side of life [Matt. xxv. 46] would scarcely be accepted. It must be allowed that, where we have to deal with first prin- ciples and final issues, we are least capable of view- ing things as God Himself views them, and there- fore also are least entitled to lay down definite doc- trines transcending the rule of Scripture. Comp. Apolog. Beitrdge, p. 239 sqq. [On the subject of this paragraph, see Lectures on Thessalonians, pp. 454-460.—J. L.] 11, (Vv, 10-12.) Who can form to himself a sufficiently lofty conception of that glory, when the Lord shall glorify His own in soul and body—shall disclose to all the world their previously unknown inward blessedness and sanctifying forces—shall manifest them as the Temple of God, as His friends and children, and introduce them to His everlasting joy (Calwer Handbuch der Bibelerklérung)! What amazement will it then awaken, to see this mighty body (of which Christ is the Head), grown up from the small seed-corn of faith, and now standing there perfect in its heauty through the union of all its members with the Head (Von Gertacg) | HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL, V. 8. Beginning and progress—both come from God; even growth therefore is no merit of ours.— Hevusyer: As the individual, so likewise the Church must be constantly on the increase.—Catvin: How disgraceful is our sluggishness, that we scarcely in a long while advance a foot !—Tuz same: We owe God thanks also for the good that He does to our brethren. So dear to us should be the salvation of our brethren, that whatever is given them we should regard as our own good, The welfare of every member tends to promote the prosperity of the whole Church.—Paul seeks to keep all the churches bound to one another in cordial sympathy.—Berl. Bib.: In the growth of love consists the greatest beauty of ἃ church,—Taeoruyiacr (after Curysos- tom): We should not love one, and another not; partial love is not love, but the cause of quarrels,— Tue same: It is not tears and lamentations that our sufferings deserve, but thanksgiving.—[Bishop W1L- son: If love abounds, faith also increaseth, This is a test.—J. L.] Υ. 4. Heusyrr: Temptations verify faith; by persecution is Christianity sealed—Srine.in: The fairest growth of faith, love, and experience flour- ishes on the stem of the cross—In such circum- stances a mere notion does not hold its ground.— Curysostom: Where love and faith are weak, they are shaken by affliction ; where they are strong, they vecome thereby still stronger.—How is it that in distress faith grows? and how love? Υ. 5. To what degree is the patient endurance of persecution proof of the righteous judgment ?~ When things go well with the ungodly, the carnal mind says: There is no judgment—Hevpner: That which now appears to conflict with the Divine right eousness is for faith a confirmation of it. It ig shown that God saves those only who are proved and sorely tried. Thy sufferings are necessary for the justification and glorification of the righteous ness of God. Thou art thereby to appear as one worthy of salvation.—JBerl, Bib.: Satan must not say: Christians do well to be pious; they are not allowed to suffer.—Srockmuyer: When it is said: Where is now the righteous God? why does He not own us? understand that, in enduring with patience and faith, thou hast already experienced a palpable demonstration of the righteousness of God.—Tua same: From the glorious end light is reflected on the darkest experiences, wherein, however, the right eousness of .God even already wrought, to make thea by means of thy unjust suffering gradually worthy of salvation.—Srarke: There is such a thing as the holy vengeance of God; Antiochus, Herod, Nero experienced it—Hrusner: To vex, afflict, oppress aman that loves God, and is loved by God, is in God’s eyes one of the most heinous offences,—Cury- sostom: We would not vindictively rejoice over the punishment of others, but over our own deliverance from such punishment and torment.—God will assign to every one the position suitable to his inward state, —Berl, Bib.: The inward and outward and external will there be mutually reconciled. V. 1. There is such a thing as coming out of great tribulation, a Sabbath rest, a blessed liberty of the children of God.—Herupner: Like faith, like trial, like reward.—Catvin: Much greater deference is given to those who have had long practice in that which they teach ; Paul does not stand in the shade, and bid the Thessalonians fight in the sun—Hezvs- ner: The angels have power to execute the judg- ments of God; the mightiest villain is powerless against them ; one glance of an angel smites him to the earth, V. 8. Carysostom: By saying nothing about hell, wilt thou thus extinguish it?—Tuz same: No one who keeps hell in view, will fall into hell—Tus same: It isa great evil, to despise threatenings.— Turopuyitacr: If those are condemned, who do not obey the gospel, how much more those who prevent the obedience of others! V.9. Mark that terribly serious word, everlast- ing —Rincur: To appear before Jesus, and to be unable to stand in the presence of His glorious power, will be just as intolerable for the ungodly as their punishment itself; even as the trial and court- day are often felt more keenly than the penalty.— Hevusner: To be banished from the face of Christ ig more than all torture. ’ Ψ. 10. [Letenron: Glorified in His saints, ὅθ. 5 —how much more in the matchless brightness of His own glorious person !—J. L.]—Srocxmeyzr: Ié will one day be manifest, that sanctification is glorifi- cation; at present many dread it as being the death of the old man.—Roos: Every one will wonder that from an insignificant root (faith) has sprung the splendid flower of glory, or that faith in the preached gospel should have drawn after it such glorious Tes sults,—Tur same: That Christ should be glorified and admired in the saints requires that they too have glorified bodies, and appear with Christ (Col. iii, 4). —SrockmzyeR: Many will be surprised, when tod 124 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. late, that many things which they pronounced impos- sible have yet come to pass.—[Larpner: The wis- dom, power, and faithfulness of Christ, glorified in the perfect holiness, external glory, and great num- ber, of His people.—J. 1.7 Y. 3-10 is one of the Epistles for the 26th Sun- day after Trinity (or else for the 27th). It proclaims to us the righteousness of Divine retribution, 1. as consolation for oppressed Christians, who are grow- ing in faith and love: a, already in the midst of their affliction let them recognize the holy rule of the righteousness of God; b. let them confidently expect, in the day of revelation, not merely rest from their labor, but glorification; 2. as a serious warning for the adversaries, who are not merely ἃ. driven now already from one degree to another of hostility to God, but are also, b. drawing upon themselves everlasting destruction; nor can they charge this on the gospel, but solely on their disobe- dience to it. V. 11. SrockmeyeR: Whoever is able to suffer for the cause of God, so long as it is still despised and assailed, is worthy also to rejoice with it, when it comes to honor. V. 12, Hevsner: Jesus is best glorified, and the honor of His name vindicated, in the life of Chris tians. Were this apology furnished by Christiana no written one would be needed, and their slander. ers would be struck dumb. ; : Vy. 11, 12. Srockmnyer: In this section are twa things deserving of all consideration: 1, that the Apostle feels himself impelled, even for such a Christian church as that was, still to make continual intercession; and 2. what it is that he asks for them, 1, The Apostles and Christ Himself lay great stress on intercessory prayer, whether it be the pouring forth of our heart’s sorrow for such as are still to ug the occasion of sorrow, or whether it is because we reflect on how much is involved in a man’s persever- ing to the end in the right way. Of course, inter. cession is not a kind of convenient makeweight for laziness, which likes to do nothnig otherwise ; but it seeks the blessing of God, without which we can do nothing. 2. The matter of the intercession is, that God would bring them to a point where He can count them worthy of the heavenly calling in its en- tire length and breadth ; and, for this purpose, that He would grant them grace to remain faithful and obedient to the call to holiness, Thus will be ful- filled the saying: ‘‘ I am thine, thou art mine.” Π. Instruction and Exhortation in regard to the antichristian consummation of evil. 1, Ca. II. 1-12. The warning, against allowing themselves to be easily misled into the notion of the day of the Lord being at the door (vv. 1, 2), is confirmed by reminding them that, as he had already told them orally, the Man of Sin must previously be revealed (vv. 3-5), that the mystery of lawlessness is still for the present restrained by an obstructive power, and will only reach its height when this is removed, and will then also come to its end by the appearing of the Lord (vv. 6-8); of what sort the iying power of the enemy will be, is then more exactly described. 1 2 3 4 5 \ 6 yet with you, I told you these things? 7 that he might be revealed [may he rev.]“ in his [his own]’* time. 8 ® brightness [appearing]* of His coming: [according il 10 Now [But]* we beseech you, brethren, by [concerning, ὑπέρ] the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our [and our| gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon [quickly]* shaken in mind [irom your mind],* or [nor yet]* be troubled [alarmed],° neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from [by, διά] us, as that the day of Christ [the Lord] ° is at hand [is present].’ Let no man [no one, μή τις] deceive you by any means [in any way]:° for [because, ὅτι] that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [the apostasy, ἡ ἀποστασία] first, and that [the, ὁ] man of sin’ be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth, and exalteth himself above [against]*° all that is called God or that is worshipped [every one called God or an object of worship],” so that he as God” sitteth [sitteth down, καϑίσαι] in the temple of God, showing himself [showing himself forth]"* that he is God. Remember ye not that, when I was And now ye know what withholdeth, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work [For the m. is already working of law- lessness],”"° only he who now letteth wid let, until he [only until he, who with- holdeth for the present,]‘’ be taken out of the way; and then shall that Wicked be revealed [shall be rev. the lawless one],’* whom the Lord [Lord J esus]”° shall consume with the spirit [breath]** of His mouth, and shall destroy with the even him, whose coming is after ἶ “ the working of Satan, with [in, ἐν] all power and siens and lying wonders [wonders of falsehood], and with [in, ἐν] all deceivableness [deceitfulness, ἀπάτῃ] of unrighteousness in them that perish [for those who are CHAPTER II. 1-12. 125 perishing];”* because they received [accepted]* not the love of the truth, that 11 they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send I ; [a working of delusion, ἐνέργειαν πλάνης 12 believe a lie [the falsehood, τῷ ψεύδει] ; that they all?” them strong delusion len God send]? ἄνης , that they should might be damned [may be judged] ** who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in” unrighteousness. 1V.1.—[Revision.: “* You see, then, what is to be ex Lord. But, in regard to that coming itself, &c.’ 2 V. 2.—[raxéws ; immediately on being thus tempted. 3 V,2.—[amo τοῦ νοός ; rendered as above, from your bach: vom vernitnfligen Sinn.—J. L pected, and prayed for, as your portion i u ἅ Or perhaps the Greek arrangement ΤΟΣ εὐ δα se cee ee between ἐρωτῶμεν ὑμᾶς here and προσευχόμεθα περὶ ὑμῶν of ch. i. 11.” Webster and Wilkinson thus: “Such is our hope and consolation, nected with the great fact which gives it its character, I beg of you, i, Ly rat gest an. opposition The latter is Riggenbach’s idea; whereas Page ona it is such, by every consideration cone Comp. E. V., Luke xiv. 21; xvi. 6.—J.L.] - mind, in several Geneva, Bishops), and recently by aca Jowett, Wordsworth, Alford. of the older versions (Tyndale, : Cranmer, Ellicott: from your sober mind; : Riggen- 4 V.2.—The best copics [including Sin., and Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott, &c.] give μηδέ, which is also the proper particle, and then μήτε three times. 5 V. 2.—[@pocicGar, a stronger word than σαλευθῆναι. schrecken, &c., are given for it in the versions.—J. L. ἂν . Comp. Winer, § 55. 6. Such equivalents as terrified, dismayed, perterreri, ere . 2.—Instead of the Rec, Χριστοῦ, which has few authorities, the most and the best (also Sin.) give κυρίου [and 80 all the recent editions.—J. L.] 1 V. 3.--ἰἐνέστηκεν ; Riggenbach, after Luther, vorhanden ware. On this word, see an elaborate note in Revision.— J.L.) 8 V, 8.- -[κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον ; comp. E. V., Rom. iii. 2; Phil. 1. 8.—J. LJ ® V. 3.—Instead of ἁμαρτίας, which, however, has mauy old authorities, and amongst others Or. 5, in its favor, By Sin, and some other Alexandrian sources give ἀνομίας, arising probably from vv. 7, 8, V. 4.—[émi with the accusative. 11 V. 4.---[-πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἣ σέβασμα. Ellicott, in the Commentary: above (and inst); i ‘ston : y and so Wordsworth, and recent English translators generally, tN { Be a Menton gant) and the Am. Bible Union, &c.—J. L.] μ 2 Revision: “EB. V. and the older English versi tly fol Vulg. omne quod = πᾶν τό, which however, I find in no printed text but that of Bes, Reet artes oes reason except that Jerome might seem to have read it, and that in Beza’s own opinion and there it is avowedly for nao it yields a richer sense: mihi tamen uberius videtur.”” Riggenbach, likewise, retains Luther’s iber alles das. But ve fr Fab: and Wordsworth have preferred the masculine construction.—J .L.)J ἘΣ ΤΡ ΕΣ en neeet aot εὐδοτα 12, 4.—The ws θεόν before καθίσαι in the Elzevir is brought under suspicion asa gloss by A, B. D,1 Sin., most of the versions, and the oldest Fathers. [It is condemned by Mill, and cancelled by the majority of critical editors. genbach likewise omits it.—J. L.] 13-V. 4.- -[ἀποδεικνύντα. Ellicott : 14 Rig- Comp. 1 Cor. iv. 9. Here, for the Vulgate ostendens, Augustine and others use ostentare. exhibiting, displaying ; Wordsworth, as above.—J. ᾿ οἰὸς ἧς i ide L.) V. 6.—[eis τὸ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι ; comp. 1 Thess. 111. 10.—J. L.] 16 'V. 6. --[τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ; the time assigned to him—then, and not sooner.—Sin.} A, K.: τῷ abrod.—J. L. 16 -V.7.—[7d yap μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται τῆς ἀνομίας. : J The emphasis of τὸ μυστήριον, as opposed to the double αποκαλυφθῆναι of vv. 7, 8, is strengthened by the Greek order.—J. L.] 17 Ψ΄ 7.—[udvor ὃ κατέχων ἄρτι ἕως, «.7.A. See the Exegetical Note 8.—J. L.] 18 Ὑ, 8.--Ἕἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος. Here again the revelation, as being now the main idea, is put foremost.— 7.1, Ry, 8.—'Iyoods is supported by Sin. A. D.! E.1 F, G. L.?, and most of the Versions and Fathers [and nearly all the critical editors.—J. L.]; it is wanting in B, 1).8 E.? K. L.1, and most of the minuscules.—The variation ἀνελεῖ (from 15. xi. 4, Sept. 1), for ἀναλώσει, makes no change in the sense; if Sin. a prima manu gives avadot [Sin.?: ἀνελοι] that is a corruption, holding the midule between the two readings. 20 γ' 8.-ἰπνεύματι. Union.—J. L.] 21 Μ΄, 8.---ἰἐπιφανείᾳ. Comp. the English version of Is. xi. 4; and so very many here, including the Am. Bible This word occurs six times in the New Testament—once, in reference to the Lord’s first com- ing; five times, in reference to His second—and is always elsewhere rendered in our Version, appearing. In the present instance E. V. follows the Bishop’s Bible. Alford and Ellicott have appearance, after Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva; Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, Am. Bible Union: manifestation.—J. L.] 22 Ὑ. 9.--[ἰκατά. Comp. Eph. i. 19; iii. 20; &c.—J. L 23 'V. 9,--[τέρασι ψεύδους. The genitive belongs to all the three nouns.—J. L.] 24 V. 10.—The authorities [including Sin.1] preponderate for the simple dative, whereas the iets preires ἐν.-- [τῆς before ἀδικίας is wanting in Sin.! A. Β. F. G., Lachmann, Tischendorf, Altord, Wordsworth, Ellicott.—J. L.] 25 -V. 10.—[édefavto. See 1 Thess. ii. 13, Exeg. Note 2.—J. L.] 26 Vv. 11.—The present πέμπει (Scholz, Schott, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Theile, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott.—J. L.] deserves the preference over the future πέμψει. Here, asin the previous instance [v. 8], Sin. a prima manu goes with the oldest authorities ; the correction by a later hand, with the Elzcvir. ᾿ 27 -V.12.—For ἅπαντες (all together), are Sin, A. F. 6. [Tischendorf, Alford]; for πάντες, B. D. E. L. The former is to be preferred as the rarer. instance of the too frequent dixcrepancy between the Commenta: “Out of 113 instances E. 28 -V.12.—[xpiOaor. Revision: [Accord ng to the Americ: edition of Ellicott, there is in regard to the reading here an and the Translation.—J. L.] i . makes κρίνω = κατακρίνω only in 7, including Rev. xviii. 20 (where see Revision, Note k); the others being John iii. 17, 18 (twice); Acts xii 27; Rom. xiv. 22.’—For may, eomp. 1 Thess. ii, 16.—J. L.J 29 V.12.—év is given by the Codd. A. D.9 E. K. L. and Sin. α secunda manu ; it is omitted (probably to conform it ἴο τῇ ἀληθ.) by B. D.2 F. G, and Sin. a prima manu, EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (Vv. 1, 2.) But we beseech you, &.; as in 1 Thess. iv. 1; v. 12; over against the prayer of ch. i, 11, 12 he now turns to his brethren; on account of, in regard to the coming, ὑπέρ, as in ch, 1, 4; Rom, ix. 27; not an adiuration, per, as you dread or desire that day (so Zwinei1, CaLvin, snd others); but this use of the preposition does not belong to the New Testament; Litnemann, too srtificially: in the interest of the coming [JoweErr and Worpsworta: on behalf of ; the former add- (Lachmann brackets it.—J. L.] ing: as though he were pleading in honor of that day, that the expectation of it might not be a source of disorder in the Church.”—J. L.], to obviate all mistakes on that subject; but certainly the coming itself has no such interest,* He is speaking, as in * [Atrorp and Exticorr partially adopt LonEmANN’s suggestion. I should rather say that ὑπέρ here, instead of περί, carries with it an indication of the strong personal interest felt by tbe writer and his readers in their Lord’ coming. So Green, who refers also to Acts v. 41; Rom. ix. 29; 2 Cor. v.12; vili. 23; &c.; WenstER and WILKINSON, 126 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. ν. 8, of the coming of the Lord to judgment (ch. i. 4, 8), and the setting up of the kingdom; with Christ's Advent he connects by means of one article our gathering together away (or upwards, Line- MANN)* unto Him; the two together form one event, the first completing itself in the second. For the topic, 1 Thess. iv. 17 may be compared ; for the word likewise, Matt. xxiv. 81 (the verb; the sub- stantive is used in Heb. x, 25 of assemblies for Divine service). The import of the entreaty is ex- pressed in the form of a purpose; εἰς τό, as in 1 Thess. ii. 12; iii, 10; that ye should not be quickly shaken; ταχέως does not stand here, as in Gal. i. 6, in opposition to a previous better con- dition; nor does it mean, as OLSHAUSEN supposes, so soon after my exhortations to you; but (Dr Wertz, Linemann): so soon as any one tells you something of that sort, forthwith. Σαλευδῆναι, moreover, is the expression that denotes the heaving of the sea; then figuratively, to excite an uproar (Acts xvii, 13); connected with ἀπό it has a preg- nant force (like xatapyeiodo: ἀπό, Rom, vii. 25 comp. also Rom. ix. 8 and 2 Thess. i. 9): shaken and thereby driven from [Worpswortn: drifted off from]; thrown out of your reason; + for that is the meaning of the word, as in 1 Cor. xiv. 14, 19, Rom. xiv. 5; not sententia (GrotiUS), persuasio ; that were γνώμη, or some such word. Accordingly : Hold fast a rational, sober thoughtfulness, which is required for your peaceful trial, and the due per- formance of your daily task. Attached to this, ac- cording to the best authorities, by μηδέ (the manu- scripts, indeed, vary exceedingly in the case of such particles), is ϑροεῖσϑαι, which, again, is not simply synonymous with cadevS. (that would be implied in μήτε), but ascensive ; Spoeiy signifies to cry aloud, make a noise, and then later, to frighten by uproar (Matt. xxiv. 6). Zwineti: to perplex, confound ; BENGEL: moveamini, mente ; turbemini, affectu ; according to HormMann, ϑροεῖσϑαι also should signify merely to be discomposed ; but then the climax would be destroyed. That a panic could not occur amongst the Thessalonians, it would be too much to assert. Even a crisis that is longed for, when it is one of so great and holy a sort, and so seriously searches the heart, can,strike a momentary terror ; ἢ whereas in σαλευῶ. we think chiefly of being thrown from the track by an overpowering hope [?].— Neither by spirit, \c.; by this the Apostle in- tends a spiritual suggestion, pretended prediction, utterance of a prophet, comp. 1 Thess. v. 20: De- apise not prophesyings, but prove them, whether error is not intermingled, It is a mistake to urder- stand thereby a false interpretation of Old Testament prophecy, or—which is still more absurd—delusive spiritual apparitions.—Nor by word nor by let- ter as by us; Turoporet, Grorius, WETSTEIN, De Werrs, Lineman [Davipspn, Hevision, Eui- * [There is neither away nor upwards (hin oder empor) in the ἐπί, which simply ‘(marks the point to be reached— losing its idea of superposition in that of approximation to or oie WessTER and WILKINSON: “to meet Iim.’—J. L. t (Revision: “The nearest approach that our idiom allows is, when we speak of aman being driven out of his mind.”—J. 1,.1 t [If the Thessalonians were induced to believe that the day of the Lord hud really come (the proper force of ἐνέστη- rev), there would be a sufficient ground of alarm in the ap- Parent failure in their case of the promise in 1 Thess. iv. 7. For a careful discussion of vy. 1, 2 the reader is re- rd to my Lectures on the Thessalonians, pp. 491-504,— corr] would refer ὡς 3° ἡμῶν to the two preceding memibers, as in v. 15 the Apostle’s word and epistle stand together; and then some should have carried round a pretended oral utterance of his, others even a spurious letter. But v. 15 cannot determine for v, 2; and, reading μήτε three times (the evidence for the various readings is very precarious and unequal), we must regard the three members as coérdinate, and not take two of them in closer connection with each other. Unless, therefore, ὡς δι’ ἡμῶν is to be confined to the last member merely, it must be re. ferred also to the first [so Erasmus, Rercue, Barnes, Wesster and Witkinsox.—J. L.]. But that is not possible, since a prophetic appearance could not be invented for the Apostle like a word or a letter, We therefore adhere to Curysostom, THEUPHYLAaCT, Zwixeut, Carvin, EwaLp, Hormany, in not regard- ing λόγον 88 a word hawked around as apostolic, but in understanding it, alongside of πνεύματος, of a διδαχή that reasoned without prophetic rapture, rather perhaps with proofs from ‘cripture; comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 26; CaRrysostom: miSavodoyia. There is no occasion to think of a calculation of Daniel’s weeks of years, The last member, finally, first Jerome, then Kern, Hitrcenrerp [Hammonp, ἿΝ ΕΒ- sTeR and WiLKINSON] and others, would explain to the effect that the Apostle is speaking merely of a misinterpretation of his First Epistle: Be not dis- turbed by letter, as if we had taught so. But in that case δι’ ἐπιστολῆς would not stand without the article; 1 Cor. v. 9, 11 and 2 Cor. vii. 8 show the style in which he appeals to an earlier epistle fronr his hand, The two members, πνεῦμα and λόγος, de- note means of seduction that had actually occurred, and had come, indeed, from people in Thessalonica (nothing suggests, as in Corinth, foreign intruders) ; the same thing must hold good also of a letter, that was falsely attributed to him; Paul would not of himself have thought of speaking of it [against Jowett]; ch. iii, 17 also cannot be naturally ex- plained otherwise than as a precaution against a repetition of the forgery. It is as surprising that such a thing occurred at that time, as that Paul speaks of it so gently. Hue thinks that the forger need have had no evil design; he merely wished, perhaps, with apostolic authority to agitate the se- cure, and work a reformation. Still a pia fraus is none the less a fraus. It is possible, however, that the letter was written anonymously, and merely shown around as Pauline. Otherwise, it is probable, Paul would speak more sharply. The import of this deceptive pretence was: as that the day of the Lord is present [so AL- ForD, ELicotr: is now come.—J. L.]. ὡς before ὅτι expresses what is supposed; 2 Cor. xi, 213 Winer, ὃ 65. 9; ἐνέστηκεν denotes a standing at the door, immediate presence (Rom. viii. 88; 1 Cor. iii, 22; Gal. i. 4). The emphatic position of the verb in front shows, that the Apostle does not in- tend generally to put far away the expectation of the last day; we are merely not to let ourselves be surprised by the cry: Here it is now?! Probably the fresh outbreak of singularly violent persecutions was explained in Thessalonica to this effect: Here is the beginning of the last day. 2. (Vv. 3-5.) Let no one deceive you in any way ; be not deluded (Eph. v, 6); in none of those three specified ways? or, in no other way? Both views are possible; at 1 Thess. v. 8 he had described the deception of a careless drowsiness, and now he points to the opposite snare, when a con: CHAPTER II. 1-12. 12) scientious vigilance is perverted into an unwhole- some excitement, which is then likely, in conse- quence of the exposure that follows, to threaten faith itself with shipwreck, Against this delusion, as against every other, they are to be on their guard. —Because, he thus confirms the warning. The protasis with ἐάν has no apodosis, as often happens with Paul; so Rom. ii. 17, according to the best reading; he lost sight of it in the course of the long description ; sometimes also (Rom. ix. 22) there lies in the ellipsis a certain reserve of judgment. Here the very obvious supplement is οὐ μὴ πάρεσται 7 ἡμέρα, or οὐ δύναται ἐλϑεῖν ὁ κύριος, or some such expression, [Wepster and Wixinson: ‘The omission arises from the fact that he is reminding them of communications previously made concern- ing two future events, and wishes to fix their atten- tion upon that which must precede the other, It may also be regarded as rhetorical, supplied in the Apostle’s dictation by a solemn pause, a gesture, and the significant and emphatic delivery of the words ἐὰν... πρῶτον, or as suggesting the sentiment, 7 am sorry to have it to say it will not come before ; and so ΒΕΝΘΕΙ,, abstinet verbis que non libenter audiret amator adventus Christi..—J. L.] Alto- gether unsuitable is any thought of the oath-formula, Nb ON, certissime [Srorr], besides that this also needs explanation as an ellipsis—HExcept there come the apostasy first (ἀποστασία, later Greek for the older ἀπόστασιΞ) ; this is erroneously applied by Curysostom, THEopoRET, THEOPHYLACT, AUGuS- ting, to Antichrist, as if it meant an apostasy in one individual, whereas the two verbs suffice to distin- guish also the two subjects; nor yet is it to be un- derstood politically or semi-politically, but according to universal biblical usage it denotes apostasy from the faith or from God [Acts xxi, 21. Comp. 1 Tim. iv. 1; Sept. Jer. xxix. 32.—J.L.]. Horsann, cor- rectly: ch. i, having commended their steadfastness in the faith, the apostasy can only be one from the faith in Christ; and this is acknowledged also by Carvin. Indeed, the article denotes that apostasy known to the Thessalonians by oral instruction from the prophets; comp. Dan. viii. 23; xi. 30; the spreading apostasy from the faith, Then in ἀνομία of v. 7 we find an intimation of the further result, that the revolt from God leads to the rejection of all Divine order. Already in those times of fresh faith is this foreseen and foretold by Paul—And the Man of Sin be revealed; frightful counterpart to the revelation from above (ch. i. 7); when there is a disclosure of that which is maturing as the wick- ed consummation of the evil principle in humanity —of that which at present is still μυστήριον, the counterpart of the heavenly (v. 7), but shall one day have its παρουσία (v. 9). Zhe Man of Sin, again with the article, the one already known to them; plainly a single personality ; if Zwirner after some of the ancients explains it collectively, as if it stood for filit perditi, there is no warrant for this in the context. The complete opposite to Christ is nota spiritual tendency, but a person. Nor is he called merely ἁμαρτωλός, but the Man of Sin, in contrast with Jesus, the Man of obedience; so to speak, the incarnate Sin, wherein the entire nature of sin is concentrated, incorporated, culminates ; just as what follows marks the opposite pole to Gen. iii. There the desire came up, but still in childish form, to wish to be their own God; what began there will here be fully ripened, Thus is his nature described ; and in connection with that his final destiny: the son of perdition, like Judas, his type, John xvii, 12, With the fact, that he wholly belongs to sin, coherea as fruit the fact, that he falls 2 prey to perdition; out of perdition springs his life in death; els ἀπώ- λείαν ὑπάγει (Rev. xvii. 11). Others would take it actively, or at least unite the two ideas [Tuxopo- ret]: one who is a sinner and falls into perdition, and also drags others down into sin and perdition ; according to v. 9 sqq. he really does that; but in the phrase, son of perdition, there is rather a designa- tion of the power to which he belongs; Estivs: quast ex perditione tanguam matre genitus ; as if it were even said, @ child of death. The mention of his fate is followed by a description of his manner of working (as v. 8 by v. 9); it is said of him: who opposeth, like Satan, Zech. iii. 1, Sept. ; what the latter is for the world of spirits, that the Man of Sin is for the world of men; no incarnation, there- fore, of Satan, We can take 6 ἀντικείμενος abso- lutely, and in thought supply of God or of Christ 5 the former, because he assails not merely the ree demptive work of Christ, but the foundation of all fear of God; and for the second it may be said, that in an altogether peculiar sense he will be the antago- nist, adversary, caricature of Christ; according te John’s expression, the ἀντίχριστος (1 John ii. 13), the Antichrist ; fain would he destroy Christ’s king- dom, and opposes him, as BENGEL says, corde, lin- gua, stilo, factis, per se, per suos, But considering that the article is not repeated before the second participle, and that thus the two predicates are com- bined into one idea (negative and positive), we might prefer to refer the ἐπί by an easy zeugma to both participles.* Who exalteth himself above all that is [against every one] called God or an object of worship; against the true God, and every one so called, comp. 1 Cor. viii. 5; to this the Apostle adds (every) σέβασμα, that is, object of worship, numen ; LutHarpt: whatever is holy to men, and passes amongst them as an object of fear. ful reverence; comp. Acts xvii. 28. To think of the defamation of the imperial majesty (the Σεβασ- +és) is still more inappropriate, than of angels; it was done in the interest of the interpretation which saw in Antichrist the Pope, as the despiser of worldly sovereignty. We have rather to understand it thus: above all that zs called God and is divinely honored. He will thus no longer act as the old kings, Pharaoh and Sennacherib, acted, who indeed blasphemed the God of Israel, but still worshipped their heathen gods; he will despise also the gods of the heathen. To adore these was a profound cor. ruption; still even in that caricature the need of worship announced itself. But the Man of Sin, being the consummmate dvrideos, as CHRYSOSTOM calls him, will worship nothing any more, bow be- fore nothing any more. All religion he treads under his feet. Herein consists the ripe poisonous fruit of evil, that with full consciousness self sets up to be the centre of all power, wisdom, and glory, The Apostle’s brief picture reminds us of (though it still transcends) Dan. vii. 8, 11, 20 sqq.: the horn with man’s eyes and a mouth speaking great things, which makes war with the saints and overcomes them till And so Benson, Korpr, Pett, WEessTER and Wile xinson. But the best interpreters gencrally reject the zeugma (Dr Werte, Linemany, Atrorp, Exricorr, &c.). Tn the New Testament ἀντίκειμαι is construed with the sime ple dative.—J. L.J 128 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. the judgment breaks forth, The modern interpret- ers see in this for the most part Antiochus Epipha- nes; more correctly we shall recognize in this little horn of the 7th chapter the yet future adversary, of whom Antiochus, described in similar terms, is but a type (see AvBERLEN’s Daniel), Antiochus, the Old Testament Antichrist, is meant in Dan, viii. 9 sqq., 23 sqq.; xi. 86 sqq.* The last passage, in particu- lar, depicts him as speaking presumptuous things against the God of gods, and as despising also the gods of his fathers; only on the God of strongholds, that is, on military power, does he rely. Still, self deification is not expressly asserted of him; Anti- ochus even turned the Temple of Jerusalem into a temple of the Olympian Zeus. Paul adheres to Daniel’s description, and can do so, just because Antiochus is a type of the last adversary. For the further stroke, with which he goes beyond Daniel, the self-deification of the Roman Emperor furnished him with a ready example.—So that he sitteth down in [eis τὸν ναόν, pregnant: intrudes into, and sits down in, &c.—J. L.] the temple of God; casioa is intransitive; αὐτόν (not αὑτόν) is not re- dundant (Petr), but emphatic; he, the audacious ; he in person sits down enthroned in the temple; does not merely have his image set up; in the tem- ple of God, the article and the addition, of God, showing that at any rate no heathen temple is to be thought of, but, if one of stone, then no other than that of Jerusalem, which, if the Epistle is genuine, was not yet destroyed. That that one is not to be thought of in an Epistle to a church of Gentile Christians (Von Geracn), is a groundless objection. The temple which Christ had cleansed, and in which the first Christians prayed, and likewise Paul him- self, that house of prayer for all people was an object of interest to every Christian church, Still, one can just as little perceive, why the sitting in the temple must be interpreted with all the rigid literality that, amongst others, WIESELER (Chronol. des apostol. Zeitalters, p. 258) and Doxuinerr (Christenthum und Kirche, p. 282) assert. We do not at once say with Curysostom and others, that the temple signi- fies the Church in all lands, or with Hitarnrep (p. 253), that the writer means figuratively the consum- mation of heresy establishing itself in the spiritual temple of Christendom (it then concerns him to show the feasibility of the Epistle having been com- posed under Trajan); but we suppose that, proceed- ing on a sensuous way of viewing the matter, and painting, as a prophet (Ez. xxviii. 2), in colors of bis own time, Paul depicts an act which, as a symbol of permanent spiritual significance, is confined to no locality, and means to say: He places himself in God’s room, and forces himself on mankind as a Divine ruler.t See the Exegetical Note 8.—Show- ing himself forth that he is God, as described more at large in Rev. xiii. What belongs to Christ, this impious person arrogates to himself, advancing *(Exiicorr: “This characteristic of impious exalta- tion is in such striking paralleliem with that ascribed by Daniel to ‘the king that shall do according to his will’? (ch. xi. 36), that We can scarcely doubt that the ancient inter- preters were right in referring both to the samo person,— Antichrist. The former portion of the prophecy in Daniel is apparently correctly referred to Antiochus Epiphancs, but the concluding verses (ver. 36 sq.) seem only applicable to Bin τ: whom Antiochus was mercly a type and shadow.” t [Exxicort, without excluding the figurative interpre- tation of Curysosrom, at the eine time lente einonely to an ultimate fulfilment in a future temple (Ez. xxxvii. 26) at Jerusalem.—J. L.] the claim, that for those on the earth he is God;. and thus wickedness becomes frantic. The self exhibition we understand, with Currsosrom and most, not merely of assertions in words or proclama tions, but of manifestations which should confirm the point by deeds; for the lying wonders, v. 9 sqq., shall deceive many. We cannot see why Liwemann finds in this a contradiction of καϑίσαι.--- Gently chiding them, the Apostle finally reminds them of the instruction which he had orally impart. ed to them. So far had he gone during the three weeks into the details of eschatology. But to the Apostle this same point of doctrine was of more im- portance than to our moderns; comp, Paul at Ath. ens, Acta xvii, 31. [Notice here also the force of ἔλεγον, I was telling, used to tell—J. L.] Even the medizval missionaries laid very great stress on the judgment, As the Thessalonians had to endure peculiar afflictions, Paul would seem to have led them into a special acquaintance with Daniel. 3. (Vv. 6-8.) And now ye know what withholdeth; καὶ viv is taken by Bence, Srorr, Kern, Hitcenreip and others as a temporal adverb in opposition to ἔτι of v. 5. LitNnemann’s objection, that in that case it must have been said: ταῦτα μέν éri—viv δὲ καί, does not amount to a great deal, except, indeed, that one does not exactly know how the point in contrast should be conceived of. Are we to understand it thus: Now, since you have learned the beginning of that matter, you know it as you did not previously? But what, then, had oceurred, that could give them such information, even without the Apostle’s explanation? Here Roos and Branpt think of the recent expulsion of the tumultuous Jews from Rome, and similar facts, which might show them how the pseudo-Messianie element was held down by the Roman power. But that would be at least very obscurely expressed, in a case especially where they needed a renewal of their earlier instruction; and now would he in such an altogether disguised manner announce the new topic, which present circumstances supplied in contrast witb his oral instruction? This has little to recom- mend it. Still more arbitrary is HiLGENFELD’s mM. ference, that in this opposition the later date of the Epistle betrays itself, as if καὶ νῦν could only be understood thus: and now, some 40 years after the Apostle's death! De Wertz, Linemany, Ewatp [ALForD, Exiicorr] see in καὶ viv the indication of a logical advance to a new thought: And now ye know surely (LUNEMANN: by way of passing on to a further point), They appeal to Acts vii. 84; x. 5; xiii, 11; xx. 25; but in all these places νῦν may also be taken temporally, whereas in our text it is not apparent why the simple καί should not have been used. OLsnausen, WIESELER, and others assume an inversion, as in the case of ἔτι ἴῃ Rom, v. 6 (various reading), WinEr, § 61.4, Of course, it would have been easy to write: καὶ τὸ νῦν κατέχον ; but it is true that we most naturally expect in the first member of the verse an offset to ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῷς This Horwann would obtain by tak- ing also v. 6 interrogatively, and the od of v. 5 88 still operative: Remember ye not—, and know (ye not) now (when his time has not yet arrived), what withholdeth, dc.? This, however, is too artificial. On the contrary, we obtain a very simple expla- nation of νῦν as a particle of time, if we understand it thus: And now, when ye recall my oral instruc tion, ye know. And so it follows also, what must have been probable beforehand (against HiteEn- CHAPTER If. 1-12. 129 FuLp), that the oral instruction already extended to the κατέχον, on which account he can speak of it the more briefly in writing. The meaning of the latter word is not, as DOLLINGER supposes, what pos- sesses, controls, but, as in Rom, i. 18, what restrains, hinders ; CHRYSosTOM: τὸ κωλύον; CALVIN: im- pedimentum, causa more; but not: what hinders me from expressing myself freely; that were an altogether arbitrary interpretation, and is thoroughly confuted by v. 7; but: what still retards the out- break and manifestation of Antichrist. The neuter in v. 6 denotes the power, the principle; the mascu- line in v. 7, a personality at the head of that power ; at least, this is @ priort the most natural,suggestion, Moreover, εἰς τό denotes, not so much the duration (until), as the purpose of God in the κατέχειν : that he may be revealed in his [own] time; he, none other than the Man of Sin, is to step forth from his concealment in his time, the time fixed for him, measured out to him as his own; a time will come, that belongs to him, as the present does not yet; measured out, indeed, to him also only by God; comp. Luke xxii. .53; the counterpart of the fulness of the time, Gal. iv.4. With the for that follows Paul accounts for his having spoken of the restraining of the Man of Sin, and of his revelation as still future. The ungodly element was really present already, and had a strong desire to break forth, but must still work as a dark mystery; not exactly in secret, but so that the wickedness does not yet expose its full nature. Μυστήριον forms an antithesis to ἀποκαλυφϑῆναι of v. 6; there is an emphasis in its being put first, and separated from its genitive, as in Gal. ii. 6, 9. The latter is a geni- tive either of apposition [Dz Wertz, Linemann, ArorD]: the mystery which consists in lawlessness, or of possession: which belongs to it ;* ungodliness also having its mystery, the frightful counterpart to that of godliness, 1 Tim. iii. 16; comp. the βάϑη τοῦ σατανᾶ, Rev. ii, 24, over against the βάϑη τοῦ ϑεοῦ, 1 Cor. ii. 10. Hormann would understand it merely thus: the confounding, incomprehensible, in- conceivable extreme of wickedness ; but the contrast with the revelation should not be set aside. Oxs- HAUSEN goes beyond Scripture, when on account of the antithesis he speaks of an incarnation of Satan, when it will be said: ὁ διάβολος ἐφανερώϑη ἐν σαρκί: there is nothing of that here, and even John vi. 70 ig rather against than for it. Esrrus correctly: non diabolus, sed diaboli ip or est, Anti- christ is, indeed, depicted as the caricature of Christ. But v. 7 does not yet treat of his person, but of the principle of lawlessness now already in action pri- vately. Thereby is denoted the profligacy which violates every Divine law. knows nothing but a com- plete autonomy, endures .10 will over it; Dan. xi. 36 may be compared: He will do κατὰ τὸ ϑέλημα αὐτοῦ. Here the remark is not convincing, that the expressions ἀνομία and, v. 8, ἄνομος point us for Antichrist to the Gentile domain (Rom. ii. 12; 1 Cor, ix. 21); still more groundlessly others say, to the Jewish, When Hormany, starting from Daniel, remarks that the faithless will fall a prey to Anti- christ, as the apostate Jews did to Antiochus, that is no doubt true; only it does not necessarily follow that he himself will proceed from among the Gen- tiles, Rather we may say that the result of apos- tasy from the gospel will be a new and consummate * (Exuicorr: “Simply a gen. definitions, or gen. of the eharacterie“g principle or quality.””—J. L.] 9 heathenism, the rejection not merely of faith, but of every Divine ordinance. At the height of the Anti christian wickedness, however, the differences be- tween Jews and Gentiles disappear, as they do on the other hand under the gospel. Zhe mystery is already working (ἐνεργεῖται never passive,* but mid. dle); ἤδη is in opposition to v. 6, an his [own] time, and then ἄρτι answers to ἤδη, and the τότε of v. 8 to in his [own] time. Paul regards the phenomena of the time with the eyes of the Spirit; in the op- position to the moral order of things, but especially in resistance to Christ, he perceives the beginning of the final rebellion against final grace. This is to him the working of a terrible mystery, such as not many yet recognize. He sees before him (De Werte) the scattered, shapeless mass of ungodli- ness, which is first to gain form and personality in Antichrist, and by which his appearance is prepared and introduced, as is the case with every historical personage. In Thessalonica especially he had lived to see the fanatical hostility of the Jews prove false amongst the heathen to their Messianic hope (Acts xvii. 7). The self-deification of the Emperor, and perhaps also already the false Gnosis of a Simon, were other features of that depravity. In the sequel μόνον belongs not to what precedes [thus Jowert suggests as possible a connection with μυστήριον : only as a hidden mystery ; Worps- WorTH connects with ἐνεργεῖται : worketh inwardly only ;—both constructions equally untenable.—J. L.], which is already defined by ἤδη, but to what follows; the clause introduced by it limits in a cer- tain way the preceding statement. As the Vulgate translates: tantum ut qui tenet nunc teneat, so many supply out of κατέχων a verb, κατέχει, καϑέξει, κατεχέτω, or even (BENGEL), from the following é μέσου γένηται, an in medio est. [Many supply sim- ply the verb of existence, and with that Wussrer and WILKINSON connect ἄρτι: is now—J. L.] Zwinett understands it thus (an interpretation already known to Augustine): ‘only he, who now holds aught, should hold it fast (whatever he has apprehended of the truth), till he (Antichrist) is taken out of the way.” But all these supplements are arbitrary. CaLvin, who construes correctly, is just as mistaken in his explanation: wntil he (Anti- christ), who now (that is, in the future for a short time) holds sway, is removed ; and then he must refer the τότε to v. 6. This view has simply every- thing against it; I urge only the one point, that he thus takes 6 κατέχων in a totally different sense from τὸ κατέχον, v. 6; whereas the remark cannot be avoided, that the one must correspond to the other, only that the masculine indicates a personality stand- ing at the head. If again there are not two clauses but one, we have merely to recognize an inversion, namely, that as regards the sense ἕως ought to be- first, whereas ὁ κατ. is put first for the sake of em- phasis; comp. Gal. ii. 10 [and so the clause is now generally construed; see Revision.—J. 1.7. Age cordingly: The mystery is already working, only until (so long must it remain a mystery), only until he, who withholdeth for the present, ts out of the way. That the latter phrase might denote a violent death, is not to be denied ; that it must do so, ie not to be asserted; indeed, comparing Col. ii. 14, wnt not even reading here atpeoda, but yeversat (cory. 1 Cor. ii, 2; 1 Tim. ii, 14), we perceive that as [6 * [As Bishop Butt makes 1t both here and at t Fieas- ii, 8.---5. 1.1 130 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. the manner, in which the κατέχων gets out of the way, the expression says absolutely nothing; by a peaceful withdrawal on his part, we shall of course not say, since there is a judgment in his being called off. Who now is the κατέχων, is really the darkest oint in the whole passage, now that we have no onger the oral interpretation; a proof, what oral tradition would amount to without a written record. Comp. the Doctrinal Note 3.—And then shall be revealed the Lawless one; the ἀνομία in person, the Head of wickedness in full expression; cer- tainly none other than the Man of Sin, v. 8.—From the mention of the revelation, vs. 3, 6, 8, and of the παρουσία, v. 9, Hormann finally infers (die Heilige Schrift neuen Testaments, 1., p. 880 sqq.), that there is here described a counterpart of Christ, that cannot be fully understood unless we recognize Antichrist also as already in existence, so that he will enter into the world anew from the supermundane sphere, It is not said, he suggests, that the ἀνομία, but that the ἄνομος will be revealed. This is the reason why Horsanw was so bent on setting aside the antithesis between μυστήριον and ἀποκαλ. Antiochus Epipha- nes himself, he thinks, may again be expected. This, however, is an exaggeration of the Scriptural statements, that lapses into extravagance. The Man of Sin will come (παρουσία) and be revealed (will discover himself to be what he is, and what from a child he was not taken for) in and by the complete disclosure of the ἀνομία, which previously kept working as pvorhpioy ;—this surely is sufficient for us to find in him the counterpart of Christ. Even Hormann will not go so far as to assume an incarna- tion of Satan. Comp. Aunerten, Daniel, 2d edi- tion, p. 456 sq., and Luruarnt, die Lehre von den letzten Dingen, p. 150, The latter properly refers to Mal. iii. 23 [iv. 6], where there is a promise of the sending of Elijah, which, however, is afterwards ex- wplained, in Luke i, 17; Matt. xi, 14; xvii, 11, 12, ‘ef John, the new Elijah,* just as Rev. xi. 6 holds out no prospect of the return of the former Elijah. ἜΝ is not the Elijah of history, says Lutnarpr, that ve have to expect, but the Elijah of prophecy ; ‘comp. also Ezek, xxxiv. 28. Such literal interpreta- tion as that practised by Hormann should be left to the popular fancy of the Jews (Matt. xvi. 14),— Whom the Lord (Jesus) shall consume; he thus becomes vids ἀπωλείας ; the consolation that he is to be destroyed, is attached by Paul immediately to the mention of his appearance. The Godless one comes at the time appointed for him by God, and is consumed by Jesus; his tyranny, therefore, is no sign of weakness on the part of God. Is, xi. 4 has not merely had an influence on the reading, but it is also a parallel for the subject matter—With the spirit [breath] of His mouth, &.; in German we do not have, as in Hebrew and Greek, the same word for spirit and breath. We must not with a coarse sensuousness think of a fiery wind, nor yet at once idealize the matter, as if what is meant were a word, shout, word of command; why in that case should not λόγος have been used? The explanation of the old Protestants was, that the word of God has inwardly, spiritually slain Antichrist (namely, the Popr), and the Advent will make a full end of him. The glowing parallelism of the clauses, however, intends not two acts, but only one. It is a counter. _* [That the promise mm Malachi was exhausted by the ministry of the Baptist, is not quite so certain. Comp. OLsHAvsEY on the passages cited, also Judge Jorn Jones’ Noles on Scripture, Philadelphia, 1861.—J. L.J part to the description of creation in Ps. xxxili. 6 Sept. The riew proceeds on the ground of sense. Nothing is required but the breath of the Lord, which has p»swer, as being the spirit of life, quicken ing for them that are His (Jobn xx. 22), but, amongst His enemies, who can bear it? One breath of the Lord scatters haughty power. Comp. Rev. xix. 15, 21, the sharp word out of His mouth i Grortiug refers also to Hos, xiii. 8. Equally sublime is the second clause: and (shall) destroy (him) with the appearing of His coming ; καταργεῖν, to destroy, abolish (1 Cor. ii, 6; xv. 24), does not im. ply the utter annihilation of his personal existence, for indeed he is cast into the lake of fire (Revelation), Elsewhere the Lord’s coming is denoted either by παρουσία, or by ἐπιφάνεια, 2 Tim. iv. 8; here the two are combined: by the appearing, the visibleness of His coming; He could, of course, come also invisibly. Zwinew1’s application of this to the daily coming of His word into the hearts of believers must be rejected. Mere caprice also is the Irvingite dis. tinction between the parousia [coming], by which believers from among the Gentiles shall be caught away to the Lord, and the subsequent appearing of the parousia [coming], in which the Jews are. con. cerned (comp. the Doctrinal and Ethical Notes on 1 Thess. iv, 17, and also Luruarpr, p. 37 sqq., espe- cially 48). ΒΕΝΘῈΙ 8 remark might be more worthy of attention, that the expression denotes the first gleam of the Advent, as distinguished from the final Judgment; though here also somewhat too great stress is put upon it.* But this much is true, that there is needed merely the first outburst of the Ad- vent, nothing but that He show Himself [Ps. xciv. 1], no organs for the exertion of His power ; BeNncEL: prima ipsius adventus emicatio. An earn- est of this in John xviii. 6. 4. (Vv. 9-12.) Whose coming is, &c.; of, as well as the ὅν of v. 8, referring again tc the ἄνομος of that verse. Only now, after he has already by way of consolation shown the end of the wicked one, is the description of his agency resumed, It will be terrible and destructive, but for that very reason will end in a holy judgment, and therefore the description can again resolve itself into thanks- giving, v. 18 sqq., that the Thessalonians do not be- long to the apostates, Hormann accordingly takes vv. 9-17 together, there being here shown, he thinks, as in ch, i, that punishment of unbelief, in which the appearance of the Lawless One will issue, in Opposition to the salvation which will be for the Church the result of the proclamation of the apos- tolic message. It is true that the theme of v. 8 (the Lord comes not, till Antichrist has appeared) is dis- charged at v. 8; but the description of his working, v. 9 sqq., serves still for the completion of the pic- ture, and indirectly for the warning of the readers: his power will be in the highest degree seductive ; let every one, therefore, beware of the first begin- nings of apostasy (vv. 2, 8); for whosoever believes the lie is lost (vv. 10, 11), But ye, thank God, are of those who believe the truth, ‘and are chosen to * [That there is an interval of time between our Lord’s descent from the right hand of the Father into the region of the air, where His gathered saints are admitted into His presence, and His coming with them to the judgment of the nations, is not only in itself a erfectly reasonable and scriptural idea, but one of use in ἐδ Τὸ the various, and at first sight apparently discrepant, descriptions of the manner of the Adveut, and of the condition of the world in that day.—J. L.] t (Comp. Revision, and Lectures, on this verse.—J. 1.} CHAPTER II. 1-12, 18) salvation (v. 18); therefore abide therein, stand fast, and hold fast what ye have received (v. 15). The appearance of the Lawless is, takes place, says the Apostle in the present tense, doctrinally, without regard to the time; comp. 1 Cor, xv. 85.—Accord- ing to the working of Satan, κατά, as in Col. i. 29. Satan gives him power, as the Father does to Christ (Rev. xiii. 2); it is the most perfect mimicry of Christ: salvation (in wonders) without repent- ance and the cross. But it is asked, whether κατὰ, &c, is a definition of the ἐστίν, or of ἐστὶν ἐν, &.; whether his appearance is already of itself in the might of Satan, or rather his appearance with won- ders. Hormann prefers the former view; that his coming is 1. according to the working of Satan, and 2. a coming in wonders. But it is better, with Linemann and others, to understand his coming as attended with wonders to be that, the source of which is assigned by κατ᾽ évépy.* There will be in it a putting forth of every power; πᾳσῃ without the article belonging by zeugma to all the three substan- tives, Δύναμις denotes the root of the operations ; σημεῖα, signs, in their significance as indicating the divinity of him who performs them—here of course deceptive ; lastly, τέρατα, portenta, the marvelous- ness of these indications, The three terms are often used of the deeds of Christ and the Apostles. Here we have the caricature; comp. the wonders of the false prophets, Matt, xxiv. 24, whereby even the elect would be deceived, were that possible. These prophets are, as it were, Antichrist’s apostles; in Rev. xiii. 18 sqq, it is ¢he false prophet in the singu- lar, who represents hypocritical, Godless wisdom, and by his signs procures homage for the first beast (the Godless despot), Paul does not yet say by whom (as distinct from the ἄνομος himself) the won- ders shall be wrought.—The wonders are called wonders of falsehood (ψεύδους again belonging to all the three words) in opposition to the wonders of truth in the case of Christ and His Apostles (as Paul asserts that he had wrought wonders, 2 Cor, xii. 12). To find in the genitive ψεύδους a designation simply of the origin, or simply of the object, or sim- ply of the quality of those wonders, is an unwar- rantable separation of what belongs all together.+ Moreover, Augustine is already aware of a double interpretation, what is meant being either a decep- tion of the senses by empty illusions without reality (so Turoporet), or real miracles misleading to a false belief in them as performed by Divine power. Avausting, referring to Job, prefers the second view, and 80 with reason most others. To this con- clusion we are at once led by the emphatic descrip- * [So the German versions and commentaries generally. In behalf of the other view it was remarked in Revision, that the clause κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ, “taken by itself, or at least as the leading feature in the statement, yields this fuller and more appalling intimation, that the entire coming of the Man of Sin—his spirit and aims and meas- ures throughout—will be instinct with the energy of Satan (Cisrysost.: ἄνθρωπός τις πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ δεχόμενος τὴν ἐνέρ- γειαν : Some man receiving all Satan’s energy. So THEo- Dor. and (icumeEn.), and that, even as the Church is ‘the body of Christ, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all’ (Eph. i. 23; comp. v. 19; iii. 20; &c.), so in Antichrist, his masterpiece, will Satan, so to speak, exhaust himself; put- ting forth through him all his own resources of strength and guile, in both the spheres of his operation, the external (ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασι ψεύδους) and the irftaat (ἐν πάσῃ ἀπάτῃ τῆς ἀδικίας). In this regard, the yriac is worthy of note, = Murpocx: for the coming of that (evil. One) is the working of Satan.”’—J. L.] t [Aurorp likewise combines all three ideas ; Exxicorr eu νοῦψοθα the second and third, but inclines to the tion by means of three synonyms. We also expect a8 counterparts to the miracles of Christ real opera tions, which yet are called miracles of falsehood (Roos), because men who regard them as proofs of the divintity of the unrighteous One are thereby miserably deceived. Performed by dark, gloomy powers, they are indeed at bottom nothing really creative, but assumptions, imitations, manifestations of a sham strength which at last is a wretched impo- tence, monstrosities without any saving object, but not, therefore, mere juggleries, The Bible through. out treats sorcery in a more serious way than as if it were empty legerdemain.—What follows likewise: and in all deceitfulness of unrighteousness, &e., does not mean an idle illusion, but an agency which has the glittering show of righteousness, and yet is full of unrighteousness, proceeding from that, and leading to it; the absolute culmination of un righteousness is in robbing God of His glory. (The oldest authorities omit the article at ἀδικίας, as well as at ψεύδους). The Apostle shows us as ἃ mark of the Man of Sin, besides the false miracles, the pros fanity also of his spirit and walk, and, besides lying (which again is an intentional falsification of knowl edge), the wickedness also of his will generally; both in contrast with the éaf%ea. This influence he has, however, only amongst those who are perish ing, in their circle (if ἐν were genuine; comp. 2 Cor. ii, 15; iv. 3); but the oldest authorities give simply the dative (incommodi): for the perishing (not a dative of judgment, as in 1 Cor, i. 18; ix. 2), It belongs also to what is said at v. 9.* The ἀπολ- λύμενοι (1 Cor. i. 18) are not those who have already perished, nor yet those who deserve to perish, but such as are perishing, are actually on the way to per- dition, and that through their own fault, as is said in the next clause: because they accepted not; ave ὧν, equivalent to ἀντὶ τούτων ὅτι, MWR ANN, Luke i. 20. He does not say: they received not the truth, but: the love of the truth. Curysostow, THEODORET, THEOPHYLACT err in supposing that by this Christ is meant, who has truly loved us (in that case the phrase should rather, have been, the truth of love), The Apostle rather gives us to understand, that the natural man by himself is not merely desti- tute of the truth, but has not so much as the love of the truth; even this must first be implanted in him, The sentence is to be understood comprehen- sively of all truth, wherever and however it comes to men. Its introductory stages are shown in Rom, i, and ii., and in Christ it culminates, In like mans ner, the want of love for the truth reaches its con- summation in obduracy against Christ, when clearly revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. For a long while a man may go along undecided; Antichrist will drive him to a decision. God does not force the truth on a man, who suffers it not to grow up in hig heart. What hinders a man from receiving the truth? That is indicated by the profound opposi- tion between truth and unrighteousness; comp, Rom. i. 18, and the Doctrinal and Ethical Note, 5.— [That they might be saved; εἰς τὸ σωϑῆναι * (Revision: “Looking at the passage in the light of Matt. xxiv. 24 and 2 Cor. iv. 3, I am disposed to retain the close connection of these words with ἀπάτῃ τῆς ἀδικίας ; and then it is intimated that Antichrist, though sitting in the temple of God, and displaying his pomp and his wondera before all the worshippers, shall nevertheless succeed in dee ceiving only the ἀπολλύμενοι ; the reasons of which succese immediately follow, as they exist on man’s part (v. 10), and (τσ. 11) on God’s.”—J. L: 132 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. αὐτούς, in order to their being saved ; the end and result of a reception of the love of the truth, which teveals a Saviour, and brings His salvation near.— J. L.J—And for this cause doth God send them; (καί is wanting only in Ὁ." 67) for this cause—as a punishment—we refer rather to what precedes than to what follows (so that eis τὸ, &c. would be epexegetical). He sends it to them—ac- cording to the best authorities the present, like ἐστίν of v. 9; but it does not signify already now, but is to be taken doctrinally, irrespective of time. Again, Luruer’s translation is, strong errors [krdf- tige Irrthitmer] ; more correctly: strength or work- ing of delusion. Does God do that? Or does He merely permit it to come, as the Greek interpreters and others soften the expression? No, indeed; the Apostle describes the mighty act of the Judge, pun- ishing evil by evil. Not to believe the truth is sin [to refuse the love of the truth, still darker sin— J. L.]; to have to believe the lie is the punishment of sin, the exposure of nakedness, like the abandon- ment to vice in Rom. i. 24; in the lusts (ἐν), where- in they are eusnared, He gives them up wnto un- cleanness (eis), lets them slide down on the sioping path of their own desires, and that because they would not have it otherwise. The object of the sending is, that they should believe the false. hood; not merely the error, but the conscious, wilful, God-defying untruth, The singular with the article denotes, not a single lie, but the entire force, the entire element of the devilish perversion of all truth (John viii. 44).* Grotius compares Prov, i. 29-31.—That they may be judged, object of the πιστεῦσαι, that is, God’s purpose therein. God has this decision in view, that they may be condemned as those in whom evil has come to maturity; Cury- sosToM: convicted as without excuse. They all together, who believed not the truth, who at that time shall not have believed; but had pleas- ure in unrighteousness [WerbsTeR and WILEIN- son; the ultimate and secret source of all the evil which results in condemnation.—J. L.]; over against the εὐδοκία ἀγαδωσύνης, ch. i. 11, A powerfully warning conclusion; Curysostom: ἔρχεται ἐλέγξων αὐτούς. The Apostle has thus more exactly defined the nature of the judgment already spoken of in ch. i,: The appearance of the Man of Sin must help to bring about the complete separation. It is true, therefore, that the matter does not proceed so swiftly and smoothly as you fancy; but yet with all terrible earnestness it will proceed gloriously. JZUCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1, (V. 2.) The Apostle’s exhortations to the use of reason are far more frequent than Luther’s trans- lation allows to be seen. _ It is its business to under- stand the manifestation of God in the creation (νοεῖν, Rom. i. 20). The voice of conscience likewise is heard as the law of the reason (Rom. vii. 23).+ It * (Atrorp and Exnicort: “the falsehood implied in the preceding words, ov ἐστὶν---ἀδικίας, not falsehood gen- erally.”? Ztevision: ‘* The reference may be to the ψεύδους of v. 9 (comp. 1 John ii, 21, 22, ψεῦδος---ὃ ψεύστης), or Pos- sibly to that characteristic lie of Antichrist, v. 4, in which the Sataric promise in the garden (Gen. iii. 5) may be con- sidered as finding its last and highest, but still appropriate, fulfilment.”—J. L.J + [What Paul calls ‘the mind” (νοῦς) in Rom. vii. 23, 25 is nothing different from “the inward man” (ὃ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος) of v. 22; and that is not the natural man or car- wal mind (Rom. viii. 7), but the soul as renewed.—J. L.] is true that the power is not thus given to man, truly to overcome the law of sin in the members. That is possible only for the spirit which is renewed by the Spirit from God (Rom. viii.). Without this the spirit falls a prey to the carnality, vanity, pollution, which affect it and the conscience (Col. ii. 18 ; Eph. iv, 17; Tt. i. 15), But even in the regenerate it has ite work, Though the peace of God passeth all under. standing, yet it too keeps the heart and thereby the thoughts (νοήματα, Phil. iv. 7). The Spirit of God re- news the reason, bringing it under obligation, and enabling it, to apply itself to a reasonable service of God (Rom. xii. 1, 2), to attain a certainty of knowl- edge with full assurance (Rom. xiv. 5), yea, to search into the mysteries of God (Rev. xiii. 18; xvii. 9), Whoever neglects to cherish it may, while standing himself in the Spirit of God, become unfruitful for others (1 Cor. xiv. 14-19). The fulness of the Divine Spirit in the Apostle shows itself in this, that he does not so readily as we, on account of the abuse of which he too is aware, become distrustful towards the right use. The limits of the reason are indicated even in its German name [Vernunft]: it perceives [vernimmt] realities, which it does not itself originate. 2. Our chapter suggests a special instance of the sobriety required in 1 Thess. v. At 1 Cor. xv. 34 the Apostle describes the denial of the resurrection asa case of intoxication [ἐκνήψατε, awake as from drunkenness]; here, on the contrary, he warns against an error in the opposite direction. For it is not merely the being overcharged with worldly pleas- ures and cares (Luke xxi. 34 sqq.) that hinders watchfulness ; but the excitement also, which would anticipate the glory, is in danger of turning into so much the greater disappointment and lassitude, and is far from being that joyful uplifting of the head (Luke xxi. 28), which implies endurance to the end, literally an ὑπομένειν, a bearing up under (Matt. xxiv. 18). An immoderate and presumptuous spirit- ualism easily ends in making shipwreck of faith. How many, who allowed themselves to be induced by a fantastic excitement to dispose of their goods and abandon their homes,* sank down afterwards into a stupid worldliness! It is also very deserving of remark, that already in the apostolic age fanati- cism was the fruitful mother of fraud. The man, who will carry out his nice favorite notions under the false pretence of an apostolic name, does not stand before God. The really pseudonymous Scrip- tures have a different character from those, which a perverse criticism would add to them. It is no good sign, when so many have no longer the sense for dis- tinguishing an unwholesome, impure element from the truth of God. Moreover, as regards the warning of the Apostle, and the similar words of Christ: Go not forth! believe them not (Matt. xxiv. 28, 26)! it may well seem strange, how often many have disre- garded them. It is true, indeed, that a careless security goes not forth in advance, does not even believe that there is yet to be any Advent, and knows just nothing of the prayer, Come, Lord Jesus! Still, a bustling, eschatological excitement is merely a seeming faith, and in reality a self-willed precipitancy. When He actually comes, it will be as the lightning. Of the previous signs Paul saya to his readers: “They will be severer than yor .® [Another allusion (see p. 336) to the sort of Millerite pratt that prevailed in some parts of Germany in 1836 CHAPTER Π. 1-12. 13% think;” as Jesus likewise saddens the heart of His disciples, that He may then duly comfort them. Louruarpt properly remarks (p. 64), in reference to the Irvingite doctrine of the translation, that to promise glory without the full experience of the cross is a sign, that the flesh has to do with these notions; and he describes (p. 49) as fanatical that expectation, in which the eye is held in mere search- es into the future, and draws from it no genuine strength for work in the present. From experiences of his time, Joun George Mouser of Schaffhausen {as reported in Grizer’s Monatsblattern, October, 1863, p. 211), describes the reprehensible sect-spirit as of a denunciatory (or as Lavarer calls it, a hang- man) nature, delighting in strained inferences, the suppression of all reason, spiritual pride, supersti- tion, the domination of a loud, talkative chief, &. Apocalyptic study is of high importance, the more the mystery of lawlessness begins strongly to bestir itself; but it must throughout and constantly find its counterpoise in ethics, Indifference to the claims of the present, to the duties of the daily Christian walk, to one’s temporal calling, to the weal of our fatherland, and such like interésts, is not Christian- ity. It is not she, that in the fulness of her truth turns Christians into unfruitful visionaries. The very remembrance, that they are but strangers and pilgrims on the earth (1 Pet. ii, 11), is expressly used to introduce those exhortations, which require from every one according to his position the great- est fidelity in details. 8. (Vv. 3-10.) The INSTRUCTION CONCERNING AN- ticBRist is a highly important part of the prophetic word. The point, on which historically all are agreed, is the affinity of this section with the Book of Daniel; its dependence on the Jewish eschatol- ogy, Say many; we express it more correctly by say- ing, that the Pauline prophecy has its root in that of the Old Testament. Let it be mentioned as a curiosity, that TycHsen would set aside the prophecy by the assumption, that Paul quotes sentence by sen- tence from a letter of the Thessalonians opinions which he then refutes. We need not prove that Paul is in earnest in delivering his doctrines. Be- sides the commentaries, we refer to WIESELER, Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters, 1848, p. 256 sqq.; Baum@arTen, Apostelgeschichte, 2d ed., 1859, 1, 603 sqq.; and especially the instructive excursus in Heusner, p. 168 sqq., and in Do.- Linger, Christenthum und Kirche in der Zeit der Grundlegung, 1860, p. 277 sqq., 422 sqq. Consid- eration is due also to what Ep, Boumer has edited in Ligpyer’s Jahrbiicher fur deutsche Theologie, iv. 8, from ScHNECKENBURGER’S remains (zur Lehre vom Antichrist); and yet, however learnedly the Jewish Opinions and those of the primitive Christians are here discussed, the essay presents not much that is satisfactory for the understanding of our passage. [Perhaps the best sketch in English of the history of opinion on this important section is that given by Atrorp in his Prolegomena to this Epistle, and mainly taken, as he intimates, from Linnemann. See also the article Antichrist in Appendix B to Surr’s Dictionary of the Bible, where will be found a list of the principal writers on the subject.*—J. L.] We classify the interpretations as follows: # [In the Amer. edition of Surra’s Dictionary, now in sourse of publication, the article Antichrist (by Rev. Fred. Meyrick), with additions by Prof. Hackett and E. Abbot, is bsg in its proper alphabetical order, vol. i. p. 102-113.— I. The interpretation of the ancient Church The Fathers are essentially agreed in expecting, immediately before the still future appearing of Christ, the appearance of the personal Antichrist ; only Aucustine (de Civ. Dei, 20, 19) already takes the idea in a collective sense, so as to embrace the prince with all his adherents.* On the other hand many understand the apostasy personally of the An tichrist. Tuzoporer [after Curysosrom] describes the adversary as a man who receives into himself the whole energy of the devil; if he even speaks of an imitation of the incarnation of Christ, he yet again restricts the idea to this, that Satan chooses for himself a man, who shall be possessed of all his own might. Some would also have it, that he shall be born of the tribe of Dan, and appear as a false Mes siah of the Jews; but these are Jewish notions, which find acceptance only at a later period. Cyriz of Jerusalem, for example, teaches likewise (Catech, xv. 4-8), that he will be very skilful in magic arts, will at first appear with flatteries, but afterwards will rage against the Christians with exceeding cruelty, and that for three years and a half. Some of these traits are derived from Daniel and the Apocalypse. The sitting in the temple most explain as do Tuxo- poret and Turopuycact,+ of his usurping the presi- dency or lordship in the Church, and giving himself out as Christ and God. Yet Irenaus (Adv. Her. v. 25) and Cyaiz of Jerusalem understand it liters ally of sitting in the temple at Jerusalem, which he is to display great zeal in rebuilding (Cyr.). The preparatory μυστήριον ἐνεργούμενον, or, as we may even say, a strong type of Antichrist, Curysosrom (and many after him) sees in Nero (inconsistently with the date of composition); { Taeoporet, on the contrary, in the Gnostic heresies, wherein, he thinks, is hidden the snare of lawlessness. The most un- certain point is the explanation of the κατέχων. Most saw in that the Roman Emperor (in the neuter, the Empire). Curysostom: As the Babylonian, the Persian, the Macedonian, the Roman empires fol- lowed one another, so shall Antichrist follow the rule of the Romans. He, like Aucustine and Jz- ROME, supposes that the Apostle speaks so obscurely of the end of the Roman Empire, in order not to draw on bimself the reproach of seditious preaching. He acts thus, not from cowardice, but to teach us that we should not provoke needless hostility. Curysostom is aware also of the explanation, that the κατέχον denotes the coatinuance of the extraor- dinary gifts of the Spirit ; but this he refutes. Tam opore of Mopsuestia and THEODORET propose an- other explanation to this effect: What is meant is not the grace of the Spirit, which cannot withdraw, since without that no one could overcome; nor yet the Roman power, since this is followed by no other, but what is meant is the purpose (ὅρος) of God to restrain the outbreak till the gospel be generally spread abroad, and idolatry destroyed. In this there is something aimed at that is correct as regards the thought ; but the phraseology does not suit it. The ὅρος τοῦ Seod should not ἐκ μέσου γενέσϑαι, but Φ (St, Augustine gives this simply as the opinion of ofhe ers, De Civ, Dei, lib. xx. cap. 19: “ Nonnullt, non ipsum principem, sed universum quodam modo corpus ejus, id est, ad eum pertinentem hominum mullitudinem simul cum ipso suo principe hoc loco intelligt Antichristum volunt.? —P. 5.1] t [CHRysosToM : καθεσθήσεται εἰς τὸν ναὸν TOU Θεοῦ, οὗ τὸν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὰς πανταχοῦ ἐκκλη» gias.—J. L. ᾿ ies + [Curysostom’s own words are: Νέρωνα ἐνταῦθά φησιν ὡσανεὶ τύπον ὄντα τοῦ ᾿Αντιχρίστον.--ὦ. L.] 134 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALON-ANS. πληρωδῆναι, as indeed THEOPHYLacT expresses him- self in explanation. On the whole, the interpreta- tion of the Fathers is simply textual. Only as to ow the prophecy adjusts itself to the temporary horizon of the Apostle, on that point they have little to say. It is not till the third century that some (and first Commopi4n) adopt the idea, that Nero will come again as Antichrist. Then in the middle ages fantastic notions were propagated about Antichrist as an ungodly tyrant; all sorts of fables being told concerning the place and manner of his birth, and the nature and region of his operation (comp. Heusyer, p. 170; Déxuineer, p. 482). But as the established Church and its hierarchy antici- pated the glory of the kingdom, the coming of the Lord and also that of Antichrist retired more into the background. On the other hand, the way was preparing for Il. Vhe interpretation of the Reformers. The sects of the middle ages, which arose in opposition to the secularized Church (Wicxirites, Hussirss, like- wise SAvonaroLa and GaiLer of Kaisersberg) de- clared the Pope to be Antichrist, and the German Em- peror (as being heir of the Roman Emperor) to be the κατέχων. This was also the prevailing interpreta- tion of the Reformers, Luraer, ZwincGLs, CALvIn ; amongst the Lutherans even a doctrine of their standards, Artie. Simale., 11. 4, p. 314, and in the Appendix, p. 847 (Recnenbere’s ed.). It was said, that the removal of the κατέχων of the western Roman Empire cleared the way for Antichrist ; and then the abominations of the papacy were enumer- ated: A falling away from the gospel to command- ments of men, lust of power, oppression of the con- science, cruelty, insane pride, wicked assumption of power in heaven and on earth, and that reaching even into the life of eternity, the abuses of indul- gences, charges to angels in certain bulls, the assert- ed power of the priest in transubstantiation, author- ity to change the faith and laws. In all this, it was thought, the Pope puts himself in the place of God, yea, arrogates to himself Divine attributes and idola- trous worship. One is amazed to see how much of this applies, and yet this interpretation must be rejected ; that is to say, there is indeed no mistaking the fearfully antichristian features of the Papacy, and consequently its typical relation to Antichrist ; but still one cannot affirm, that the Papacy is the Antichrist. In the first place, it should have been possible to show still more of the Popish μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργούμενον, already in Paul’s days. Appeal was made perhaps to Gal. i, and ii,; Zwinexi re- ferred to the false apostles already existing at that time, who were still restrained by the great faithful- ness and care of the Apostles; Benge to Rom. xvi. 17 sqq. and 1 Tim. iv. 1 sqq. In all that, however, the Papal tendency did not yet reach a clear expres- sion. The way, likewise, in which the κατέχων is explained, is by no means felicitous. The German Emperor, who took the place of the Roman, also fell, and Antichrist did not come. But even if that admitted of explanation, still the features of the prophecy are not at all fulfilled in the Papacy itself. In the first place, the word of the Apostle brings into view one personality. It is said, indeed, that the serics et successio hominum are not inconsistent with that, since, as in a monarchy, there is still but one head; but perhaps that one may be a pious Pope? and besides our passage speaks of the one (without followers) who is swept away; which does not agree with the Papacy, And there are yet other points that do not suit. Whilst there have been wicked Popes (occasionally, also, those of a better character), still the Pope cannot be charged with utter apostasy from Christ. He confesses the Triuna God, and does by no means despise σεβάσματα. Caxvin tries in vain so to explain the Apostle’s de. scription, as if it did not imply an express self-deifi. cation. If it is said with Benen (and similarly Branvt), that the abomination of the Papacy will yet attain to the highest pitch, namely, to the cast. ing away of the mask, and the open antichristianism of the Wicked One, then we really give up the inter. pretation of the Reformers, and reduce the Papacy to the rank of a (momentous) prognostic of that antichristianism. Of course, the Roman Catholic DoLLINGER cannot consent even to that; he also thinks that the supposition of an apostasy of such universal prevalence contradicts the promises given to the Church; as if the word about the “little flock,” or about the “ few that find” the strait gate, bad no place in the gospel. Roos, going beyond BENGEL, expressly remarks, that there is much that is antichristian in the Pope, but that there are still important deficiencies; since he still acknowledges the supremacy of God, nor does he deny the Son, The apostasy, he thinks, is here with us, but not yet the Man of Sin. In the latter Roos properly recog- nizes a single person; according to the Apocalypse, the last head of the beast; the false Messiah. He is of opinion, that that will be the highest pitch of the Papacy, and that it presupposes, not the destruc- tion, but merely a great alteration, of the fourth Empire (of Daniel); the Pope, having seized all the Imperial rule that bas hitherto stood in his way, will then have become Antichrist. To us it simply ap- pears to be undemonstrated, that this consummation of evil is to be looked for as the highest pitch of the Papacy, and not rather of a Czsaropapism. It is yet to be noticed, that already some Greek interpret. ers, and then Western Catholics, and also Protes- tants, pointed to Mohammed as the Antichrist, Cavin reckons him and sectarianism as belonging to the great apostasy ; whereas MELaNcuTHON, Bucer, Muscutvus, Buiuinger and others distinguish the Eastern Antichrist from the Western. Our fathers knew why they sang: “ Zhe murderous violence of Pope and Turk restrain.”* In Mohammed also there are antichristian features; he too belongs to the “many Antichrists” (1 John ii. 18); but neither is be the Antichrist, whom the Advent shall destroy. Just so think Roman Catholics, when they in return designate Luther as Antichrist. Déiuinexr (p. 438) admits, that what was perhaps said in polemical paroxysm is not really valid as the Church interpre- tation; and certainly Estius, for example, does not say here that Luther is the Antichrist described by Paul, but merely that Luther learned from the devil as his master, to designate the Pope as the Anti- christ. In his opinion Luther would fall under the principle expressed by him at 1 John ii, 18: omnis hereticus antichristus.t—The untenableness of the Reformation references to this or that phenomenon of Church history led to various III. Rationalistic interpretations, We distin- guish, a. such explanations resting on the histozy of * [From Lurner’s hymn: Erhalt uns, Herr, by deinem Wort, Und steur’ des Papsts und Titrken Mord, &c.—J. LJ t [For a good statement and defence of the Protestant interpretation, see WorpswortH in loc. He gives refere ences also to some of the earlier literature of the Englisk Church on the same side.—J. L.] CHAPTER II. 1-12. 135 the time as assert, that the prophecy has reference to single individuals or phenomena of the past, and was fulfilled in them or else not fulfilled; for the fulfilment can only be asserted, when the substance of the matter is eliminated from the text, and merely it most outward features are retained in a poor, dry, apiritless way. Ingenuity can be shown in this, his- torical erudition, and a sort of talent at combination, but the whole is paltry; the spirit of the passage is lost. It is right to recognize the fact, that the im- mediate reference to the Apostle’s time should not be overlooked, but it is wrong to limit his word ex- clusively to the history of his time. The view which [Hammonp], Cuericus, Wuitsy, Scuirrcrn, Nés- seLt, Krauss, Harpuin support, understands by the Coming the judgment on Jerusalem, and conse- quently looks for the Antichrist somehow in the Jewish people. They are themselves the Antichrist (thinks Wuirsy), or the Pharisees and Rabbis (ScHérraEn), or the Zealots (Néssent, Krauss), or the Highpriest Apanias, Acts xxiii, (Harpuin), or the wicked ringleader, Simon, the son of Gioras Ciericus). The apostasy is understood either of e political revolt from the Romans, or of a re- ligious falling away, or of both. The. restraining power Cuericus refers partly to the Roman gov- ernor, partly te Agrippa II. and the Jewish authori- ties, who disapproved of the rebellion; Wuirtny and Nosszxr, to the Emperor Claudius, who was favor- able to the Jews; Scuérrcen to the Christians, who by their prayers delay the catastrophe. But this limitation of the catastrophe to the Jewish people is untenable. The Cuming, of which the Apostle speaks, does not concern Jerusalem merely, but likewise the Thessalonians, because it regards the whole world; nor, according to Daniel to whom Paul goes back, is the Man of Sin the Jewish peo- ple, or a party in it, or even a member of it, but a tyrant ruling all the nations of the world, This is recognized by those who by Antichrist understand a Roman Emperor ; first of all by Grotius, who here- in found Caligula, that frantic madman, who would be worshipped as the supreme God, greater than Jupiter (Suetonius, Cal. 22 and 23), and tried at first to bring his statue into the temple at Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant, xviii. 8)—an attempt which the pru- dence of Herod Agrippa I. succeeded in frustrating (comp. Scuneckunspurcer, Veutestam. Zeitgeschichte, 1862, p. 41 and 212). The κατέχων is the Procon- sul Vitellius, who advised against it. But even after his removal the outrage was not carried out? Gro- TIUS answers, that before God the will is as the deed, as in the case of adultery with the eyes. He dis- tinguishes, finally, the ἄνομος of v. 8 from the Man of Sin of v. 8, and sees in the former Simon Magus, along with the impius Princeps the impius Doctor, who is then consumed by the appearing of Christ, to wit, in the ministry of Peter. As this last explana- tion is utterly capricious, so the entire combination falls to pieces, as soon as we think of the chronol- ogy: Caligula was dead at least 10 years already, before Paul even made his first visit to Thessalonica, Werste:n would recognize in Antichrist Titus (the mild Titus !), who caused sacrifice to be offered im the temple-site (but not himself to be worshipped !), or, in a wider sense, the Flavian house; the κατέχων being Nero, who must first be killed, and the falling away relating to the struggles of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. Such is profane exegesis. The spirit of the passage, however, is less destroyed, when Ham- won would find in Antichrist Simon Magus, the father of heresy, who should reveal himself, that is. cast off the mask of Christianity, when the κατέχων; to wit, the νόμος, should be set aside.* But against all these explanations may be urged the question . What is left of the parousia [the Advent] in the full sense of the word? They therefore tend strong ly to the view that is frankly explained by saying, that there is here an expectation expressed, which long ago found its confutation in history ; so espe. cially Kern, Baur, Hiteenrenp. According tc them, we are to understand by the fallling away the profligacy of the Jews, wherein Christians also shall participate, and by the mystery of wickedness the Gnostic heresy (on this point the interpretation wa. vers); but the Antichrist is Nero, whose coming is looked for, when the κατέχων, namely Vespasian, ia removed. But that such personal severities of lan- guage towards contemporaries should be concealed in our passage has, among other objections to it, this also against it, that it is @ priori improbable that we should find one Emperor in Antichrist, and another in the κατέχων, two individuals, therefore, of the same class. In the κατέχων we expect to perceive a power of a different order from the Man of Sin, This holds likewise against Détiixcer, who does not, as those last named, see in Antichrist the re- turning Nero (which implies a post-Pauline date of composition), but adjusts himself better to the cir- cumstances of the time, in so far as in his view the stripling Nero stands for Antichrist, and the still reigning Claudius for the κατέχων; Nero was a devotee of magic arts, and, as he began the Jewish war, so he at least made a beginning of the profana- tion of the temple by the worship of the Emperora (p. 284), But this is surely a very inadequate fulfil. ment of v.4; Déztinger also concedes, that at the end of the days a perfect fulfilment will occur. But that the young Nero, who as yet had done nothing of so shocking a character, should have been re- garded by Paul as Antichrist, and the dull Claudius, moreover, as the κατέχων (which he understands ag meaning, who is now in possession), this too, viewed historically, is in the highest degree insufficient, Nor, finally, is it well that in the apostasy Dér- LINGER sees a misleading by the Gnostic heretics, that is entirely independent of Antichrist. bh. A rationalistic speculation in the opposite direction ig that of those, who, like the otherwise sound ῬΈΕΙ and others, divest the prophecy as much as possible of everything concrete, and, retaining the general idea, explain whatever is found therein of personal features, as the dressing up of a tendency. Thue SCHNECKENBURGER also speaks of the personification of evil in its resistance to Christ. The idea then is, the climax of hostility to the gospel, prior to the Advent; but the Advent is by many regarded not asa single visible act, but as the final and general passing over of the nations to the gospel.* Pre. viously there will occur a falling away, that is admit. ted, but without the biblical sharpness of conflict, and without any leading personalities. According to ScHNECKENBURGER the κατέχων should be the impe- rial power of Rome as the binding head of the po * (Hasmonp’s notion is, that the temporary conformity of the Apostolic Church to the Jewish law, by appeasing Jewish hatred, delayed the opportunity for which the early heretics were watching, of stirring up persecution against the Christians.—J. L.] ᾿ Ν t [This idea our author properly brands as rationalistic. On the contrary, very many, who pride themselves on thein evangelical orthodoxy, admire it as being what they cal spiritual.—J. L.] ; 186 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. litical order; according to Pritt (as with ΤΉΒΟΡΟ- RET), the purpose of God, who makes use of various means; in Paul’s time, of the Roman sovereignty ; at all times, of that resistance to utter confusion, which proceeds even from a striving for honor and possession, or, as we might say, of conservatism ; on the whole, of the better leanings of humanity, the never entirely extinct longing for salvation. The μυστήριον, &c., on the other hand, is the moral de- pravation already observable in Paul’s time ; accord- ing to ScHNECKENBURGER, Jewish sorcery, which sought entrance also amongst the heathen (Elymas, Acts xiii.; the ἀντικείμενοι πολλοί, 1 Cor. xvi. 9). To these general descriptions one can altogether assent; the neuters, τὸ κατέχον and τὸ μυστήριον, are explained satisfactorily, but 6 κατέχων and the Antichrist are missing. Why? Because many, as Licxe (on 1 John), by setting aside individualities think to make the idea “ more conceivable.” But this interpretation damages also what is said in 1 John ii, 18 (comp. with ch. ii, 22; iv. 3; 2 John 7): “It is the last hour, in which the Antichrist cometh ; there are even already many antichrists : this does not mean: “These come instead of the One,” but: “These come as forerunners of the One, the future chief personality.” They show that the fulfilment draws near, already now is τὸ τοῦ ἀντι- χρίστου in the world” (ch. iv. 8); which answers to the μυστήριον of Paul, and is the sign of the Anti- christ’s coming. Consequently, the explanation, which sets aside the personalities plainly indicated in the words of the Apostle, tends strongly, ὁ. to that particular rationalistic view, in which the sense of the Apostle is on the whole correctly given, but is rejected as an opinion of the time. So De WertTE and Ltunemann. The former will see in the entire section nothing but a subjective outlook of the Apostle into the future of the Church, wherein he paid a tax to human weakness, in that here, as in 1 Thess. iv.; 1 Cor. xv.; Rom. xi., he wished to know too much beforehand. A fanciful interpretation of Daiiel, in connection with philosophcal speculation, furnished the form. Liinemann also thinks that Paul erred, as the non-fulfilment has shown, and that he was disposed to lay down more exact conclusions regarding the course of events, than it is granted to man, even when filled with the Spirit of Christ, to know. But this at bottom is nothing less than the rejection of all prophecy, in spite of an assurance like that of 1 Thess, iv. 15; and for what reason ? because people proceed on a view of Daniel diamet- rically opposed to that of the Apostle, and on a cor- responding modern speculation. At the same time, an undue stress is laid on the fact, that the expecta- tion was not realized in the apostolic age. There- fore (Liinemann) it is altogether capricious to look for the fulfilment of the prophecy only in a remote future. Others will rather find in this assertion nothing but caprice. At all events the question con- cerns not merely the coming of Antichrist, but the Advent of Christ Himself. If the expectation of the latter is not to be rejected for the reason that it was not realized in the Apostle’s time, one cannot see why, before the yet future appearing of Christ, Antichrist also might not first appear in the future. Paul, indeed, merely hoped that it might happen, that he should yet live to see the coming of Christ, but nowhere does he say that it will be so; rather, that the times and seasons are unknown to us. If the prophecy of Immanuel (Is. vii—ix.) is brought {nto connection with the chastisement by the As- syrians, without having gone into fulfilment at that time, and yet after more than 700 years Christ was the true Immanuel, why cannot the same thing occur in the case of the Advent? Comp. our remarks on 1 Thess, iv. and v.—To prove that Paul’s vision does not reach beyond the horizon of his own time, an improper stress would be put on the sitting in the temple, to wit, at Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus had foretold the destruction of the temple (Matt. xxiv. 2, 15), and that, in a passage which agrees so thorough. ly with Matt. xxiv., Paul should take no notice of this is the less to be assumed, when we reflect what a judgment he holds out in prospect to the Jews, But we have said already, that his words need not be pressed with so narrow a literality, as if they stood or fell with the Herodian temple. He portrays, in. deed, an outward act that connects itself with the temple; but this act is the expression of an abiding disposition and purpose, that is not confined to the one house of stone. It is possible that this or a kin- dred act of outward pomp, and ostentation in the sanctuary, serves as an expression of self-deification, Who will see beforehand, where and in what form of outward action it will come to pass, that the Man of Sin shall force himself on all the world as God? The language of a prophet must be understood ac- cording to the avalogy of the prophets, Dr Wert, to be sure, does not scruple to assert, that, without regard to the chronological difficulty, the prediction is in itself untrue. The personifica- tion of sinfulness and ungodliness, in connection with all the forces and arts of devilish imposture, as an exact counterpart of Christ, is a contradiction, he says, to the reflective understanding as much as to pious feeling and the honor of humanity. But this is true only of that sort of reflective understanding, which first misrepresents the Scripture doctrine of the devil, as a philosopheme; which thinks, that what is said of blasphemy against the Spirit (Matt, xii.) is not to be taken according to the strictness of the letter; which indeed would be compelled in con- sistency to deny all actual perdition. But there is also another way of thinking which learns from Je- sus, and a pious feeling which, instead of embracing ἐδελοδϑρησκεία, bows itself in adoration before the holy God. But as for the honor of humanity, where is it in the case of an Alexander VI., or a Marat? in the abomination of the Papacy, or the abolition of God in 1798, and the worship of a prostitute aa the goddess of reason? In a word, the apostolic age is past, but the apostolic prophecy is still ex- tant, and speaks to us with a high significance— most of all at a time, when the mystery of lawless. ness is bestirring itself in greater strength than for- merly.* This brings us to the view which we hold to be the true one: IV. The interpretation resting on the proper tdea of the history of the kingdom. Generally speaking, there is concerned in it a resumption of the patristic interpretation, avoiding the reference to single phe- nomena of previous Church history, observing the point of connection within the horizon of the apos tolic age, and leaving open the prospect of a still impending realization of the prophetic picture. Of * (JoweErr’s improved method of emptying the prophce cy of all Divine force and reality is simply a combinatioa of several of the worst elements of the rationalistic intore pretation with a ‘‘conjecture” of his own to the effect that the restrainer is ‘the Jewish law, the check on spiritual licentiousness which for a little while was holding in its chains the swarms of Jewish heretics, who were soon to be let loose and sweep over the earth” !—J. L.) CHAPTER II, 1-12, 13% this view ΒΕΝΘΕΙ, and Roos were already the pio- neers, and it is since maintained by OLsHausEN (who makes merely the unsuitable addition of the incarna- tion of Satan), Hormann (deducting his Antiochus redivivus), first in Weissagung und Erfillung (IL, 291 sqq.), then in Schriftbeweis, and lastly in the Heil. Schrift Neuen Testaments (I., 812 sqq.); also by LurHarpt, Baumearren, Von Gerzaci; like- wise, on the whole, by Heuser, as in part by Dér- LINGER (at least in so far as he affirms a second and future fulfilment); then by Tuierscu (Die Kirche im apostolischen Zeitalter, 2d ed., 1858, p. 62 sqq., p. 189; and in the pamphlet, DoLuincER’s Auffas- sung des Urchristenthums, 1861, p. 38 sqq.), Von. Ogrrincen (De peccato in spiritum sanctum, 1856, p. 156 sqq.), the Englishman Axrorp [Exticorr, See also my Lectures, pp. 607-540], and others, Let us direct our attention chiefly to three points: 1, the falling away, 2. Antichrist himself, 3. the κατέχων. (1.) It is a momentous fact, that already in this almost the earliest Epistle Paul writes to the glori- ous young church about a falling away in Christen- dom, as Moses and the prophets did about the falling away of the people of God. For it is a falling away in Christendom that he intends, a reaction aguinst its eneral extension. Thus Joel, Isaiah (ch, xxvii.), zekiel (ch. xxxviii.), Psalms ti. and cx., foretell a judgment on all nations, and so do Jesus and His Apostles the rise of false prophets who should de- ceive many, a grievous diffusion of the ungodly, worldly spirit; comp. Matt. xxiv. 10 sqq.; John v. 43; 1 Tim. iv. 1; 2 Tim. iii. 1; Acts xx. 29, 30; Jude and 1 Pet. ii.; 1 and 2 John, and the Revela- tion. A prelude to this Paul had witnessed in Thes- salonica itself. The Old Testament teaches the com- prehension of the revolters under one enemy of God as their head only, perhaps, in Ps, cx. 6 * and with peculiar distinctness in Daniel; in the New Testa- ment this is done in our text and in Revelation, The expression ἀντίχριστος is found only in the First and Second Epistles of John. But in our passage the falling away is by no means identical with the Antichrist (as the Fathers understood it), or even merely (a8 De Were thinks) the working exclu- sively of Antichrist ; rather, the general rush of vio- lent departure from the faith precedes that final dis- closure of the Antichristian despot. TsirrscH: The abomination in the holy place, which introduces the judgment on Jerusalem, is the type of that desecra- tion of the Church, which invokes the judgment by Antichrist, and soon also upon him, OLsHAUSEN and Hormann are correct in stating, that in the time of the Maccabees faithless Jews broke the covenant, prior to the raging of Antiochus; they then sided with the tyrant, whereas the Lord’s people took cour- age, and many actually died as martyrs. BENGEL Teminds us that in the gospel likewise there is first a proclamation, that the kingdom has come nigh, and then the King himself comes forward. Thus it is only in the later periods of the Old and New Testa- ments, that the concentration of evil in a single head is plainly taught, but not as an isolated, pecu- liar opinion, but as a recapitulation. Answerable, that is, to the apostasy spreading ever more widely, and springing from it, is (2.) The Man of Sin, the ripest fruit of his time, the consummate product of evil; not so much a * [Oxo Y™9, “He has smitten the head.”—J. L.] false prophet, as WieseLer imagines, as the Godless self-deifying ruler of worldly empire. The abomis nable worship of the Emperors, to which so many were enslaved, was a serious foretaste of this, Vain. glorious falsehood, €duction, blasphemy, are the characteristics of this being. In every worldly em. pire a tendency to apotheosis had been observable (Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander) ; of this current Paul notes the shameless consummation. Why should it be “more conceivable,” that in this last empire the personal climax should be omitted, which was want ing in none of its predecessors? In all history there exists a reciprocity of action between the actual movement of the time and the achievements of ar energetic personality, For every historical individ ual there is a thousand-fold work of preparation, and he makes his appearance not otherwise than as a child of his age. And again the drift of the time only reaches an irresistible supremacy, when one man conceives the spirit of the time at its height, with bold grasp brings to bear what is fermenting half obscurely in a thousand minds, and so stamps the age with his seal. He can do it, if he has the courage—after all, it will be the effrontery—to ex. press and carry out what is in a thousand hearts, Those who were his forerunners then become his servants and helpers, Of course, we do not yet know himself, the future head; a prolepsis there was again, when many were disposed to see in Napoleon I. more than a type of him. But that the apostasy is advancing in Christendom, who can hide from himself? It is important to attend to this, in opposition to an over- valuing of the outward Christianity of the popular life and that of states. Faithfulness in little and the least, the thankful administration of what is still entrusted to us, will not be weakened in the smallest degree, if we hold less to an untenable ideal. But of this character is the opinion, that the develop- ment of the kingdom of God advances on the smooth and level road of “progress” in what is good, and that the question is about the easy and brilliant “transfiguration of the world” [ Welt- verklérung| by means of Christian culture.* On the contrary, the prospect held out to us rather is, that in the last severe conflict evil will even obtain an outward victory, as over Christ on Good Friday, but shall then be destroyed by the Lord Himself. It is well worth while to give heed to the prophetic word, and that so much the more, as the day comes nearer; not throwing it into the shade with a shrug of the shoulder, as if it were a matter of fanaticism, Paul himself would have us prudently try the spir- * (This very familiar but plainly unscriptural delusion was recently asserted with characteristic frankness by America’s most popular preacher in the following terms (see the New York Independent, May 31, 1866): “The last period is that which has just come. I know not whether the second advent of Christ is at hand, or not. I know not even what the meaning of it is. That there is to be a literal visit of Christ to the earth again they may believe who are wedded to physical interpretations of Scrip- ture. Ido not so read the Word of God. But that there is to be a power of Christ upon the earth that may be we called His second coming; that the world is to be so fill with His glory that no man shall have occasion to say to his fellow-men, ‘Know the Lord,’ because all shall mow Him, from the greatest to the least; and that there is to be anew heaven and a new earth, in which dwell righteous- ness, I do profoundly believe. I believe in a glorious period of development, that is to make the world’s history as bright as noonday. What it may be, I know not; and how near we may be to it, I know not. The signs of the times are auspicious, and they all point in one way.” Comp. 1 Thess. v. 3 and Ez, xiii. 10-16.—J. L.1 138 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. ts, and hold fast our νοῦς. But the same thing holds good also of watchfulness, that we be not be- fooled by the fanaticism of reason, intoxicated with the giddy potion of the great words of philosophers and poets, nor suffer our sensibility to be dulled, till it is no longer wounded by any blasphemy. We refer the reader to the earnest words against the false boast of the world’s glorification by Christian culture, instead of by the cross and regeneration, in AUBERLEN’s Daniel, 2d ed., p. 234 sqq., 289, 264. On p. 261 it is said: We are not to suppose that during the present dispensation Cliristianity will ever, or is meant to, succeed in Christianizing the world in a true and proper sense. An ameliorating influence it may and probably will exert on all the departments of life; but a proper glorification must necessarily be preceded by a regeneration, that is, by death and resurrection; in this way it behooved even Christ Himself to be glorified. In accordance with this Hrvpner says (p. 177): However the deli- cate and tender-hearted may shudder at the idea of such a degenerate, atheistical, as it were devilish, generation, yet according to the course of things it is probably what we have to expect. In humanity ood and evil go forward parallel to each other Matt. xiii. 30), As the culture of the understand- ing, science and art increase, man attains greater Opportunity on the one side for improvement, but on the other also for deterioration.—In truth, we can trace more and more of this μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργού- μενον : a widespread, daring, fundamental unbelief ; a more and more conscious hatred of the Divine; even in the better class of spirits a deep, gnawing scepticism, that undermines the lowermost founda- tions of Divine and human truth and authority ; thus little holds its ground in the consciousness un- molested as sacred, as was formerly the case even with rude transgressors; all piety is with many utterly shaken, and revolt elevated to a principle; to this is added the worship of genius; the emanci- pation of the flesh, the arrogance of rule over nature, a coarse self-deification. As a single in- stance, we may note the proclamation of Napoleon I. in Egypt, cited by Menzex in his Die letzten 120 Jahre der Weltgeschichte, 11. 875. And how wide- ly is this spread! How strongly does history tend to the result, that everything should assume the dimensions of a world-empire! Hindoos often now- adays despise, along with the idols of their fathers, the living God, and devour the productions of Ger- man and English infidelity, ete. Nor is it on slight grounds that a feeling is so widely spread as is that of uneasiness, yea, of horror, at the volcano fer- menting in the depths of society. One must be wilfully blind, to see in our popula- tions nothing but an ill-understood bent of aspiration after Christianity in a more human form. Let us according to our ability become all things to all men (1 Cor, ix. 22); let us change our voice (Gal. iv. 20), in order if possible to gain some by new methods. But do not let us forget, that he alone finds entrance to the faith, and to the clear, bright intelligence of fuith, who does not disdain the strait gate of μετάνοια, But our testimony may give place to that of others, and, before all, of Dz Werrr, who in the Preface to his exposition of the Apocalypse holds different language from that in his exegesis of the Thessalonian Epistle. There, under the impres- sions of the year 1848, he says, p. vi: “I could not help seeing in our time, though in a different out- ward form and in yet darker colors, the Antichrist depicted by John. The self-deification of Antichrist appears to me child’s play, compared with the God. denying, unbelieving, arrogant egotism of our day, with its rejection of all restraint; and what is 8 material persecution of the Christian faith with fire and sword, compared with the destructive dialectica of Young Hegelianism, or with the flattering speech and infatuation of the so-called love of freedom, which springs from the worst inward bondage, and ia leading the poor people to a bondage both inward and outward? According to the counsel of those who pretend to stand at the head of the culture of the time, and whose claim to that effect passes cur rent, the State should rid itself of Christian princi ple, and take up its position on the ground of indif ference, if not even of atheism, What a progress— to a new and hitherto unexampled barbarism!” That, indeed, we have no reason to be excessively amazed at this, Luruarpr asserts (p. 149), that, how- ever much Christianity may come to be the world’s religion, and even gather the rerootest barbarians within the pale of the Church, the future that lies before us is the complete inward estrangement of the masses from the Christian faith, and finally thei open apostasy. And Von GrRLacH expresses him self thus: In our days there has actually been made a beginning of a worship, in which humanity is dei- fied and adored; and the complete dissolution of the Christian Church into the kingdoms of this world is already expected by many. For, say these errorists, the State is the only form in which the infinitude of reason, freedom, and the highest blessings of the human spirit in reality exists, and no higher fortune can befall religion and the Church, than that they should essentially codperate with this phenomenon of the reason, and stand forth as institutions of the State—THE same: Assaults on the foundations of the Christian faith, more comprehensive and of deep- er reach than ever before occurred—assaults, which notwithstanding their folly meet with the greatest applause amongst those whom the god of this world has blinded—these are signs of the appearing of the Antichrist, such as never existed in the times of Papal power.—[Atrorp: “If it be said, that this is somewhat a dark view to take of the prospects of mankind, we may answer, first, that we are not speculating on the phenomena of the world, but we are interpreting God’s word: secondly, that we be- lieve in One in whose hands all evil is working for good,—with whom there are no accidents nor fail. ures,—who is bringing out of all this struggle, which shall mould and measure the history of the world, the ultimate good of man and-the glorification of His boundless love in Christ: and thirdly, that no prospect is dark for those who believe in Him, For them all things are working together for good; and in the midst of the struggle itself, they know that every event is their gain; every apparent defeat, real success ; and even the last dread conflict, the herald of that victory, In which all who have striven on God’s part shall have a glorious and everlasting share,”—J, L,]—It is of great importance, that with- out any faint-hearted anxiety, or hasty restlessness, or censoriousness, we should yet have our senses ex- ercised to discern what—sometimes under a fair show, sometimes shamelessly enough—is not merely unchristian, but antichristian, We shall be so' much the more thankful if at any time we fall in with the hindering, restraining power. That is, indeed, the obscurest point in the interpretation ; the question, namely : CHAPTER Il. 1-12. 139 (3.) What is the κατέχον ἢ who the κατέχων ? it must at any rate be a beneficent force, which only according as God permits, prevails, or is taken out of the way, or, when He recalls it, retires; a power it must be, which already during Paul’s life- time was working (ἄρτι), and is still to-day working, since the Antichrist is, indeed, not yet present. Two eading interpretations at once present themselves: it is either a political power that is seen here (with the majority of the Fathers), or (with other exposi- tors) one of a religious nature, The former view (in ΤΈΤΟΙΑΝ, De Resurr, 24: Romanus status) is adopted by many Protestants and Catholics, who think that in the Apostle’s time the Roman Empire was to be understood by the neuter, and its ruler by the masculine. Paul knew by repeated experience, even in Thessalonica itself, that the Roman Govern- ment had a beneficent side (Acts xvii. 9; xviii, 14 syq.; xxi. 32; &.; comp. Rom. xiii), By means of the protection of law and its established political order it not merely suppressed lawlessness and sedi- tion, but it afforded also to the gospel, by its rigor- ous resistance to Jewish malignity, a certain degree of shelter and opportunity. Daniel likewise had a similar experience of worldly power. By this meth- od, however, it is rather the meaning merely of τὸ κατέχον that is cleared up, not so much that of 6 κατέχων. The latter would have to be the Emperor existing at any time prior to the final Antichristian Regent. But wicked, in some cases most ungodly tulers, like Caligula, or even like Claudius, could scarcely appear to the Apostle as representatives of the power that still hinders the full outburst of evil. Even those less wicked were too much alike in qual- ity to the bad men, in whom was exhibited the μυ- στήριον ἤδη ἐνεργούμενον. Hormann says with rea- son, that certainly amongst the evil Emperors, who ruled in Paul’s time, it could not but be particularly manifest, that not men, but only a superhuman power, still checked the outbreak of utter wicked- ness, WHIESELER also insists on the idea, that what hinders the outbreak of consummate ungodliness must be something good, and the supporter of what is good. OxsHausen would make the distinction, that the same Emperors might have been personally types of Antichrist, and in their official position rep- resentatives of law, and so κατέχοντες ; but this is certainly too refined and artificial. If, therefore, we try the other view, which sees in the κατέχων a religious power, the perplexity be- comes almost greater still, whether we say (with Korps, Scuort, Heypenreicu and others), that the κατέχων is Paul with his intercession; or (with Zwina.t, Dirprich, Grimm in the Std. τ. Krit., 1850, iv.), the Apostles generally, thei’ fidelity, and vigilance, and spiritual power; or (with ALVIN), the proclamation of the gospel; or (with Scaérrcen), the intercessory Church. In the latter case, the mas- tuline singular would be strange; might that per- haps be Christ ? but how would this agree with ἐκ μέσου γενέσϑαι ὃ it is just after the brief tyranny of Antichrist that He is to appear to judgment; or Christ in them (Col. i. 27), the young spirit of the Christian cause (BaumGarTen-Crusivus)? But if that withdrew altogether, there would no longer be any Church; and the Church cannot be taken out of the wry before the appearance of Antichrist ; it 18 impossible that the Antichrist should not come till after the Church is removed; for that which, not perhaps hinders his outbreak, but rather excites his wrath, is just the Church itself, which he persecutes, without being able to set it aside, Even the Irving ite reference to the company of the chosen oneg, which should be caught away before the coming of Antichrist, is thoroughly untenable; that whole doc. trine would have to be previously established, as ig not the case, to make the reference of the κατέχων to that company even at all plausible. ᾿ If, however, we limit the import of the expres sion ὁ κατ. to a small part of the Church, or even to a member of it, the removal of the same becomes indeed conceivable, but there arises a new difficulty. If, for example, we were to suppose Paul to have meant himself by it, we could not, indeed, pro nounce it @ priori impossible that he should have ascribed so great an influence to his apostolic inter. cession in restraining the revelation of Antichrist ; but it is impossible that he should have said to tha Thessalonians: I am the κατέχων, and I must first ἐκ μέσου γενέσϑαι. The latter phrase cannot be re- ferred merely to his imprisonment, since his inter. cession would still not have been terminated thereby ; it would have to be understood of his death, and then it is no longer intelligible how he could have said here: Antichrist does not come, till I am dead; whereas in 1 Thess. iv. and 1 Cor. xv. he says: I re- gard it as possible that I may live till the Advent. And besides, whether we take Paul or the Apostles in general, they died, and the Antichrist did not come. This holds likewise against the interpretation of Wirseuer, who seeks the κατέχων in Jerusalem, where also the session in the temple should occur. He understands by it the pious in Jerusalem collec. tively, or, if it must be an individual, then James the Just, who was called the bulwark of the people * (Hegesippus, in Eusebius’s Church History, ii. 28). Now James too died, and Antichrist came not. But to say nothing of the mistake, which we are not with- out reason to charge on the Apostle, it is likewise ἃ priori unimaginable, that Paul should have spoken to the Thessalonians of James alone in a way which we should find scarcely conceivable as coming from the Jewish Christians, by whom the latter was re- garded with an extravagant veneration. Thus it seems that we are driven back on the first explanation, which understands τὸ κατέχον as the shelter and protection of the authority, at that time of the Roman, but still even now of essentially the same power; thus, in the judgment also of Lancs (Positive Dogmatik, p. 1270): It is the old social order, Church and State, the latter especially, Rom. xiii.; and, on the Catholic side, of Lurrzrpeck (Neutest. Lehrbegriffe, II. 231): It is every orderly power in the world. In the same sense LurHarpr says (p. 157 sqq.): In the doctrine of antichristianity, as being the issue of worldly power, there would be for Christians a danger of putting themselves in thought, and perhaps also in outward conduct, in a false relation to public life and to the rulers of the civil commonwealth, did there not stand alongside of it the other doctrine, that in the civil order the will of God is fulfilled, and a blessed force has sway. Therefore also the Apostle enjoins subjection to the higher powers, as the Divinely appointed guardians of justice (Rom. xiii,), and that prayer be made for them, that through them the Church may enjoy quiet and dwell safely (1 Tim. ii. 2; comp. 1 Pet. ii, 18 sqq.). In the present consciousness of Christians, * [That being the import of his other name Obiias, from ded oy .—J. L.] 140 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. moreover, there is scarcely anything more certain than this, that the moral and legal order is a Divine dike, which at present still: holds back the floods of a gloomy abyss, and who knows for how long? For it is the spirit of ungodliness, which declares itself also in the subversion of the order of human law. And thus it will be the moral forces of the natural life, which the Apostle understood to be that check upon ungodliness.—This appears to us to be a per- fectly sufficient explanation of what τὸ κατέχον is; but 6 κατέχων ἢ how is this power to be compre- hended in a single masculine subject? We saw how far it is from being satisfactory even for the Apos- tle’s time, to find this subject in any Roman Empe- ror of that period. 52 Ewatp, who feels the necessity of recognizing here, not merely, with WIESELER, a good, but, with Hormann, a supernatural power, has proposed an explanation of his own; that what is spoken of is nothing else but the expected return of Elijah, who is at present still in heaven, but, when he comes, will withstand the Antichrist, so that the latter will not reach his full power, until Elijah is removed (Matt. xvii, 11; Rev. xi. 8-12), There is thus an Elias redivivus, as with Hormann an Antiochus redivivus, only that Hormann himself seriously believes in the latter. But, looked at closely, it is untenable that even Paul himself should have thought of Elijah. For how could the tarrying of Elijah in heaven be described as the κατέχον, and Elijah himself, who must first come, as the very κατέχω; ἄρτι ῦϑ That must be a personage who was already working, while Paul was alive. Who he is, has been best shown by Hormann (already in Weissagung und Erfiillung, etc.), and he is joined by Luruarpr, Baumearten, AUBERLEN (Daniel, 67), Von Oxtrincen. He starts with this idea, that since Paul appeals to his oral instruction, which, so far as the Antichrist is concerned, unques- tionably rested on Daniel, it is to be expected that we shall best find in the same source the solution also of the κατέχων ; and so it is too in fact. In Dan. x. 5, 13, 20 an angel prince says to Daniel; “I withstood the prince of Persia;”* that is not the human king; v. 13 shows that there is a distinction made between the ὉΠ sab and the superhuman prince, 075 mandy ἜΘ; but an evil spirit is meant, who tries to incite the king of Persia to evil, and to whom the good angel has offered successful resistance. This good angel, therefore, is in Persia 6 κατέχων, who strengthens whatever there is of τὸ κατέχον, and disposes the Persian king to treat with kindness the people of God. It is the good spirit, still active in the worldly power of heathenism. In the Greek empire, he intimates, he will no longer have this influence ; there, to use Paul’s phrase, he will have to ἐκ μέσου γενέσϑαι, quit the field, and then this will be followed by the coming of the Old Testa- ment Antichrist (Antiochus), The very same pros- pect Paul holds out for the period of the Christian Church: through the conservative action of a good spirit opportunity is given for the Spirit of Christ ; when the former is compelled to withdraw, then will Antichrist come, Indeed, we speak also of the spirit of a time, in a good as well as a bad sense, meaning thereby a prevailing, or, so to speak, epidemic force, mightier than any individual ; only we understand it * (Literally: “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstoos me.”—J. L.] as impersonally, anonymously, as in a neuter form, whereas Scripture adds to this the masculine, and shows us in the background of individual and na tional life a struggle of good and evil powers of a real and personal kind. It is obvious that this con flict of the two principles—on the one side the mys tery of ungodliness, and, on the other, the restrain ing foree—is the soul of history. It were A great matter to bring the lovers of truth to a consciousnesg of this; that they should no longer be satisfied with talking in a mere empty, formal way about progress, but bethink themselves: Progress—whither? Let both grow together / until the harvest / [By the κατέχον and κατέχων ALFORD under. stands respectively “the fabric of human polity, and those who rule that polity, by which the great up. bursting of godlessness is kept down and hindered,” —ELLicoTT inclines to the view which refers τὸ κατέχον to “the restraining power of well-ordered human rule, the principles of legality as opposed to those of ἀνομία---ΟΥ which the Roman Empire was the then embodiment and manifestation,” and on the change of gender to the masculine he remarks: “Perhaps the simplest view is to regard it, not 88 ἃ studied designation of a single individual (6. g. St. Paul, Scuort, p. 249), or of a collection of such (6. g. the saints at Jerusalem, WirsE.er, Chronol., p. 273, or, more plausibly, the succession of Roman Emperors, WorpswortH), but merely as a realistic touch, by which what was previously expressed by the more abstract τὸ κατέχον is now, as it were, rep- resented as concrete and personified; comp. Rom. xiii. 4, where the personification is somewhat simi. larly introduced after, and elicited from a foregoing abstract term (éfovelay).”—J. L. (4.) (Vv. 9-12.) If false prophets can work mira cles, as did the Egyptian magicians, it is evident that miracles alone do not prove a cause to be Divine; rather, they themselves need confirmation, in order to become in their turn demonstrative signs, Al- ready in Deut. xiii. it is announced that there may be wonders wherein a temptation lurks; if they aim at misleading to idolatry, the honest Israelite is to know what to think about them. And so with the powers of a Simon (Acts viii.) or Elymas (Acts siii.), In these cases it is impossible for us accurately to determine how much is idle jugglery, and how much real power of a baneful sort, nor is it required that we should so determine. When we perceive the criminal object in view, we should restrain ourselves from meddling with the matter. There is an un- wholesome impulse to fall in with everything that has merely some show of the wonderful and ex- traordinary ; we should understand that such a spirit may open the door to the Antichristian delusion. It is unskilful apologetics, that in this merely outward way would found on the supernatural the argument for the Divine, But it is not less mistaken, to reject altogether the evidence of miracles. What is obvi- ous to common sense is stated by Jesus in express words, Matt. xi. 5, 20-24; John x, 25; xiv. 10, 11; xv. 24 (over against ch. iv. 48, and similar texts), and so by the Apostle, 2 Cor, xii. 12 (over against 1 Cor, i. 22), namely, that we should have regard to Divine signs. To demand signs in wilful conceit is a perverse thing; but to disregard the signs which God vouchsafes is not less improper. Of those that are really given by God the convincing power lies in the harmony of the inward with the outward; on the one side, the powers of a higher order, which, healing and helpful, penetrate the death.life [1 Tim CHAPTER II. 1-12. 14] v.6]; on the other, an impress of holiness, which attests itself simply and clearly to the conscience. In the agreement of these two sides there is a strength of evidence, which neither the one nor the other possesses apart; and in what is called in John [xvii. 4] the work of Christ the two sides are thoroughly combined. That the wonder-worker is a holy man of God, lies in the foundation of our trust in him. We judge the matter by the rule which God has planted in our conscience, not by one that we have made for ourselves, For this reason also, far from exalting ourselves above him, we bow in his presence. The want of this stamp of holiness would be a warning to us against a deceiver. And again, on the other hand, an individual, in whom we recog- nize the energy of sanctification, may probably be of service to us in the powerful edification and fur- therance of our inner life. But without the power of extending a healing virtue ‘likewise into our outer life, and guaranteeing to us a future perfection of life, the Saviour would still not be a complete Sa- viour. ‘The work of Divine redemption must not be reduced to the proportions of a human tragedy. (5.) The contrast between truth and unrighteous- ness is of frequent occurrence (Rom. i. 18; 1 Cor. xiii, 6; comp. John iii. 20, 21). Though at first sight it appears to be not altogether valid, yet it proves to be very striking, when the inward develop- ment is examined. Whoever seeks satisfaction in sin and loves unrighteousness, thereby suppresses the truth of God which might germinate within him. With the truth, the question would be, to seek God and His righteousness,—to discern the way in which we are delivered from evil, and enabled to do well ; but whoever cleaves to unrighteousness, in his case thé uncleanness of the will is the beginning also of the obscuration of the intelligence, which thus be- comes enslaved to falsehood. And inversely, for be- coming righteous, for regeneration and sanctification, the first beginning is nothing else but in hearkening to the truth, yielding to the truth, submitting to be reproved by the truth, The man who pauses, and from a desire to see how he stands before God comes to-the light, attains with this knowledge to the be- ginning of a change of mind. Only in him, who allows this love for the truth to be aroused within him, can the truth itself take effect, and become a power for righteousness—Rrecer: There is in the truth, as in the natural light, something lovely, de- lightful, comforting. In nothing has man so great a satisfaction as in the truth. But, of course, it comes with us into conflict with other violent tendencies. Truth, and faith therein, are obstructed by man’s evil desires, by the pleasure he takes in unrighteousness, and by his impatience of being reproved by the light, And where the truth is not received into the love of the heart, there also it exerts no saving power. Only in the love of the heart can the truth take root, and bear fruit. But the truth does not force itself against their will on those who despise it. God knows how, in connection with the truth, to re- gard also His own honor, and maintains His reserve. At first a man takes matters easily with respect to the truth and to being misled into error; he trifles with both, does not yield to the truth his heart’s love, but thinks that neither shall the error and the deception overmaster him. Behind error, however, lurks a power that is perilous to every one who is hot armed with love for the truth.—Roos: They who perish have had the saving truth, but they re- veived not the love of the truth. One cannot love the truth without believing it, nor can one believe it without loving it. It is certain, and should therefore be believed ; it is beautiful, lovely, consistent, salu tary, containing most excellent things, and should therefore be loved. But the world loves it not, but makes its greatest boast of the fact, that it still toler. ates or endures it; whereas it is only of that which is evil that we say that it is tolerated or endured, ta wit, when we cannot or are not disposed to prevent or exterminate it, Truth, on the contrary, should be loved, not tolerated, But there can be no greater unrighteousness than this, to take delight in invent ing, reading, hearing, and still further propagatin doubts against the sure, trye, dear and precious mata τ God. The end of such must be, to believe the ie. (6.) Does God Himself send an energy of delu- sion? The Greek Fathers thought this too harsh, and softened the expression by taking the sending for a bare permission ; but improperly. Our fathers of the Reformation especially insisted on recognizing the will of God as powerfully active even in judg- ments of this kind. Already in the Old Testament He sends evil spirits (1 Sam. xvi. 13 sqq.; 1 Kinga xxii. 22); to wit, for the punishment of sin by sin (comp. Rom. i. 24 sqq.). He is the holy God, and therefore is never the first Author of evil; but the evil that already exists He turns to His own holy ends. He does not produce in the heart falsehood and wickedness; but where they are already in the heart, there He puts a lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets. From the corrupt seed that is in the heart he brings forth this fruit, that it serves Hig purpose. Thou art to have thy will, and reap what thou hast sown. This judgment is never a faint, im- potent permission, but a powerful operation, though to the last with a salutary aim (Rom. xi. 32); only in cases where the period of grace is trifled away, does it issue in irreclaimable obduracy (Matt. xiii, 14, 15). But even the rebel must in his way, since he would not otherwise, serve the gracious counsel of God. Frequently an evil is for a long while not yet manifest as such; it lies dormant, it lurks in am- bush, its consequences have not yet broken forth. The power of delusion is so much the more effective, when truth and falsehood are mingled, and interest- ing individuals defend this mixture ; even that which is worst can adorn itself with a fair seeming, and with plausible words deceive the hearts of the sim- ple (Rom. xvi. 18), The exhortation is: Take heed, and turn from them; and the promise: The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet. This He does especially even by means of that judicial mani- festation of the evil fruit, His action over against the free creature consists in the mere solicitation of its freedom. This proceeds from God; but it is in man’s power to say yes or no to it.* Thus faith is * [Sein Thun gegenitber der freien Kreatur besteht in lauter Sollizitiren der Freiheit; von Gott geht es aus, der Mensch aber kann es bejahen oder verneinen—an unguarded statement, I should say, and itself an undue softening of the plain representations of Scripture in regard to man’s spiritual bondage and helplessness. True enough, our fall- en nature, which now says No to God, still retains the very same faculty of will with which it_was originally endowed for the purpose of saying Yes. But, perverted and par- alyzed by sin, it has never yet in any single instance since the fall said Yes, and in no single future instance will it make that response, except as, not merel solicited, wut re- newed, strengthened, and enabled by Divine grace. What, then, is the value of that figment of ability to please God, which, owing to the absolute and universal conditions of the case, brings forth only fruit, unto death (Rom. vil 5) And how much better is it than inability 1—J. L.] 142 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. the work of God, and yet also that which God re- quires; and so the hardening of the sinner is de- scribed sometimes as the act of God, at other times as the act of man, Of immense significance, more- over, and justice, is this form of judgment, that they who would not believe the truth must believe the lie. How many, who cry out against an implicit faith, when the Bible is in question, are ignominiously en- slaved by an implicit faith over against anonymous journalists! How many, who in opposition to the word of God have nothing but unbelief, sink down into disgraceful superstition towards somnambulists, fortune-tellers, and rapping tables! Already Cury- ΒΟΒΤῸΜ remarks, that they, who said: Since there is but one God, we could not believe in the divinity of Christ, are deprived by Antichrist of all excuse. And in our day, they who believe not that an almighty, wise God created the universe, do believe (for they have not seen it) that chance whirled to- gether the atoms; and they, who believe not that Jesus changed the water into wine, do believe that the unconscious power of nature transformed the ape intoa man. ‘This collier’s faith of unbelief is a judgment. Before all the world must it be made - manifest, that the motive of their unbelief was not a noble protest against a dependence unworthy of the spirit, but pleasure in unrighteousness. Verily, they too believe ; only they would not believe in the holy truth of God; and therefore their punishment is, that their need of faith squanders itself on the most pitiful vanities. That which we already now see of this sort is ἃ foretaste of what is coming. [ALrorD: God is sending must not for a moment be under- stood of permissiveness only on God’s part—He -is the judicial sender and doer—it is He who hardens the heart which has chosen the evil way. All such distinctions are the merest folly: whatever God per- mits, He ordains.—E.uicorr: The words are defi- nite and significant; they point to that judicial in- fatuation, .. . into which, in the development of His just government of the world, God causes evil and error to be unfolded, and which He brings into puni- tive agency in the case of all obstinate and truth- hating rejection of His offers and calls of mercy.— Lectures: According to our Apostle, this cbild of hell comes to execute on earth a judicial, punitive, Divine mission, Paul does not say, that God com- pels any man to believe in Him; but he does say that, in lifting the veil that hides the Antichrist, one of God’s designs is to begin to avenge the wrong already done to “the truth,” by showing that in the free, spontaneous exercise of a depraved nature, the wilful despisers of His own saving grace will yield ready credence to the lie of the cruel and treacher- ous Blasphemer.— The same: The whole, then, is just as if it had been said: Men hate the truth, which God sends to them for their salvation, and even refuse to be reconciled to it. He then and therefore, instead of destroying them at once, takes measures to bring out all the sin and madness of their hearts; and this, in order to their being ulti- mately brought into judgment, when He shall be jus- tified in His speaking, and sball be clear in His judg- ing (Eccl. xi. 9; Ps. li. 4). In other words, God's purpose is, by means of an extreme manifestation af human wickedness, to draw forth and vindicate the declaration of the Divine judgment. ‘“ When judged,” says Augustine (de Civ. Dev, xx. 19. 4)— Judged, that is, for rejecting the truth —“ when Judged, they shall be seduced; and when seduced, they shall be judged.”"—J. L.] HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 1. The glory of Jesus and our glorificatior are most intimately connected. Now already the union with Jesus begins within; it will one day break forth also outwardly, and be thenceforth with out hindrance.—Who can think highly enough of the Christian’s calling! Who can be faithful enough in that which is least ! [Βυκκιττ: At the day of judgment there shall be both a congregation and a segregation.—M, Henry: Christ the great centre of their unity, They shall be gathered together to Him to be at tendants on Him, to be assessors with Him, to be presented by Him to the Father, to be with Him for ever, and altogether happy in His presence to all eternity. —Tur same: The doctrine of Christ’s com. ing, and our gathering together to Him, is of great - moment and importance to Christians; otherwise it would not be the proper matter of the Apostle’s ob- testation.— Lectures : How much and how earnestly were the Apostles and their churches occupied about the coming of the day of God! Can we persuade ourselves that it is any improvement on their habits, that we scarcely ever think about it at all, but have taken to making the best of the present evil world? ΕΝ Ms } Zwineii: True Christians do not suffer themselves to be frightened by idle alarms, knowing that they are reconciled to God, whether they live or die.—If we cannot but be frightened, that is a sign, that we are not standing in the full spirit of disciple- ship. Art thou prepared ?—But only God’s grace in Christ can take away completely all terror from the heart.—Luruarpr: Let the Lord come by day or by night, when He does come, that is His day.—Divine truth, even when most clearly delivered, can easily be misunderstood. The duty of the teacher is, as far as possible to remove the misconception.— HEvs- NER: The Christian must exercise a holy criticism.— Roos: On this false notion (that the day of Christ is present) there would have arisen divisions amongst true Christians ; some would have regarded it as im- portant and necessary, others as futile-—Wherever there is an awakening from the sleep of [spiritual] death [Eph, v. 14], there is very apt to be a mingling of flesh and spirit. Vv. 1, 2. To gaze from earth away towards heaven, and to turn away from heaven to earth— both may be wrong, and both right (comp. Acts i.). The certainty, that the Lord cometh, must never withdraw us from present duty. [ALrorp: Every cxpression of the ages before us, betokening close anticipation, coupled with the fact that the day has not yet arrived, teaches us much, but unteaches us nothing: does not deprive that glorious hope of its applicability to our times, nor the Christian of his power of living as in the light of his Lord’s approach, and the daily realiza- tion of the day of Christ.—J. L.] V. 8. [Lerenton: He seems not to assert any great tract of time to intervene, but only that in that time great things were first to come.—J. L.J— Cavin: Christ also warns His disciples to prepare themselves for severe conflicts. When the Church is torn in pieces, we are not to be frightened as by something unexpected. The Church must first fal) into horrid ruin, before it is fully re-established, How useful is this prophecy! One might otherwise think : This cannot surely be the building of God (it being so wasted); or others might say: Christ can CHAPTER II. 1-12, 143 not so grievously abandon His bride (and find in this a pretext for all corruptions)—The preparation and warning close with the promise of victory.—RixGER: God allows the evil free course, and scope for further development. The loss, which His glory thus seems for a time to suffer, He again makes good by judg- ments, and meanwhile His time of patience becomes salvation to many others, Vv. 8, 4, Drepricu: The Man of Sin will make Adam’s sin his very religion, and will glorify sin. This can only be an apostate Christian, a consum- mate Judas.— Berl. Bib.: These things always follow one upon the other: Apostasy in Christianity, and an absurd, mad throne of government for the pun- ishment of the previous folly, which imposed the yoke on itself. V. 5. Carvin: How forgetful are men, when their eternal salvation is in question !—Hence the need of their being ever anew reminded of what has been said—of an ever-fresh watering of that which bas been planted.—Curysostom connects with this verse a very impressive exhortation to the right hear- ing of the word. V. 6. Nor can wickedness come at its own will, but only at the set time assigned to it by God. The servant is not above his master (Luke xxii. 53). V. 7. Heusner: Wickedness is a mystery: 1. The origin of evil is a mystery, and hides in the dark; so with 2. its connections, and the means which it employs; 3. its progress; and 4, its ten- dency.—At present the mystery of lawlessness is stirring more strongly than formerly. _ V. 8 Roos: Antichrist, indeed, is coming, but Christ also comes behind him. Therefore let no man’s heart fail him, who is concerned for the honor of Christ's cause.—Berl. Bib.: The strong one can be opposed only by One stronger than he.—Catvin : God exhorts His people to patience, because it is only for a little while that He afflicts His Church_— Berl. Bib.: Supposing that Antichrist and all his adherents were brought under (subdued),* what would it avail us, if we have an antichrist in our own body? V. 9. Diepricu: The whole being of Antichrist comes from falsehood ; falsehood is all that he does ; and again the object of the whole is likewise to pro- mote falsehood. V. 10. Drzprica: Whoever does not, like Paul, seek for truth above all things, but is bent on gold and honor and the friendship of the world, has come under the power of the devil, and serves Antichrist to his own steadily advancing and utter ruin.—The truth itself excites love for the truth, but does not force it.—SrineLin: Oh that we had but a greater horror of the Antichristian abominations, prayed more fervently for the poor, misled people, and made use of the truth for ourselves in a more thank- ful and devout spirit ! V. 11. Srocxmeyer: All unrighteousness is a lie; in promising man satisfaction, it lies —D1s- * [Untergebracht (besiegt)—the former word being scarce- y now used in this sense.—J. L.] pricH: The just God res also in this, that con. tempt for His pure, saving truth must be punished thus (by belief in falsehood).—Rize@rr: God’s word and our own conscience sufficiently assure us, that God has no share in what is evil; and yet He can employ the agency of evil spirits and evil men for the attainment of His purposes.—[The reader is re ferred to two admirable Discourses of Sourn on this verse: “‘Tll-disposed affections, both naturally and penally the cause of darkness and error in the judg. ment.”—J. L. V. 12.—Roos: To doubt, deny, start objections, and be indifferent to all the articles of the Christian faith, such is the reigning fashion; but hereafter people will believe Nes—Srockmeyer : To love sin, and concoct for one’s self a righteousness that ia nothing but unrighteousness whitewashed, this is to block up the way of truth.—Tne same: Wherever the truth reaches, it effects a separation ; judgment is separation, xpfois—CaLvin: When he says ail, he intimates that contempt for God will not be ex- cused by the great multitude of those who refuse ta obey the gospel. God is the Judge of all the world, and can just as well inflict punishment on a bundred thousand, as on one individual. Vv. 1-12, Heusner: What practical value hag this prophecy of Paul for us ? 1. It affords us important instruction on the na- ture of the human heart, and also on the nature of Christianity. Our race is in a state of corruption, which must still inore and more develop itself; this must fill ys with shame and humiliation. But Chris- tianity, because it contains the strongest. antidote to the evil, for that very reason stirs up the evil spirit, and excites it to its most strenuous efforts; these, however, the Lord Himself will bring to naught. No religion has so unmasked and combated the evil, as the Christian, 2. This prophecy warns us against indifference to the earliest, weak beginnings of evil, and to the motions of unbelief. We are to regard these 88 approximations to that time of extreme degeneracy. We are to watch and be on our guard against them, even against the least assent to principles that dis- parage Christianity. 8. So much the more is it our duty to hold firmly and immovably by true Christianity, which can alone preserve us from that aberration. The man, in whom is the Spirit of Christ, cannot be harmed by the spirit of Antichrist. We should also be con- cerned for our descendants, to maintain the true faith among them. 5 4, This prophecy, moreover, may console us, as we look on the signs, the preludes, or finally the actual irruption, of the Antichristan period, God long ago foresaw it, announced it, permitted it; it cannot, therefore, destroy His work, but must rather serve for the more certain and speedy consummation of the kingdom of Christ. Christ will protect Hia own, will comfort them under violence, secure them against falsehood, and finally achieve sbeir complete redemption. ‘ 144 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. ~ 9 Ca, IL 13-17, 2 7 ἀν vel. tte Antichristian ruin Exhortation, growing out of the foregoing instruction: Christians, whom God has saved from the ve are the more encouraged to stand fast, and for them the Divine guardianship is besought. 13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God [Greck order: to God always] for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,’ because God hath from the beginning chosen you [God chose you from the beginning]* to salvation through 14 [in] ° sanctification of the Spirit and belief [faith]“ of the truth ; Whereunto He called you® by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus 15 Christ. [instructions] ’ 16 word, or our epistle [by our word or epistle].” Therefore [So then],’ brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught [were taught, ἐδιδάχϑητε], whether by Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father [But may He Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ and our God and Father],’ which hath loved us, and hath given [who loved us, and gave, ὁ ἀγαπήσας ἡμᾶς, καὶ δούς] ws everlasting consolation and good hope 17 through [in, ἐν] grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you [establish you] * in every good word and work [work and word].” 1 -V.13.—[Sin.! A.: ὑπὸ τοῦ xvpiov.—J. L.J 4 V. 13.—[etAaro—so nearly all the εἵλετο--ὑ μᾶς ὁ θεὸς am’ ἀρχῆς.---ὦ. L.) critical editors (on large uncial authority, including Sin.), instead of the Ree. We retain the Rec. ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς, which, besides A. D. E. K. L. and most of the Fathers, is given also by the Sin. The reading ἀπαρχήν, B. F. G., Vulg. primiias [Lachmann], is an (unnecessary) attempt at alleviation ; sec the exposition.—[Sin.! D.1: etA. juas.—J. L.] 3 ‘V. 13.—[év ; comp. 1 Thess, iv. 7, and see the exposition.—J. L.] 4 V.13.—[mioree with the genilive of the object. Revision: “See E. V., Mark xi, 22; Acts iii. 16. Nowhere else, out of two or three hundred instances, does Εἰ, V. render πίστις, beltef”—J. 1.1 5 V, 14.—The connection requires ὑμᾶς, which, besides many other a ee is retained also by Sin. ; itacism 168 νη A. B. D.! to the reading ἡμᾶς (Lachmann.—Sin. F. G.: 8 V.15.—[dpa οὖν. 7 V.15.--[wapaddcecs; Riggenbach: Ueberlieferungen. εἰς ὃ καὶ ex.—J. L. Sce 1 Thess. v. 6, Critical Note 9.—J. L.] Revision: ‘*Campbell: ‘The word tradition with us ime orts, as the English lexicographer rightly explains it, “ anything delivered orally from age to age ;”’ whereas παράδοσις ports, 8. grap gaAtly exp & y δ᾿ ‘3 Ρ ΡΤΈΡΟΙΙΥ implies, ‘‘ anything handed down from former ages, in whatever way it has been transmitted, whether y coral or by written testimony ; or even any instruction conveyed to others, either by word or by writing.’ In this last accep- tation we find it used in... 2 Thess. ii. 15.2 ’—J. L.] 8 V.15.—[dua λόγου εἴτε δι᾿ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν = by word or by epistie of us. Ellicott (Am. Bible Union): by word, or by our epistle (letter). But the ἡμῶν belongs to both nouns.—J. L.] ® V.16.—[avros δὲ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ 6 θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ ἡμῶν. The grammatical construction is the same as in 1 Thess. iii. 11, where see Critical Note 8, and Exegetical Notes 9, 10.—J. L.] The reading καὶ θεός without 6 seems to connect θεός as another predicate for Christ with the previous κύριος ; but the most important authorities that omit the article before θεός (B. D.!) read for it afterwards ὁ πατήρ instead of καὶ πατήρ, so that even this reading gives no ditferent sense from the Recepla. (Lachmann reads tLus: ὁ χριστὸς καὶ (0) θεὸς ὃ πατήρ ; Sin. thus: "Ino. Xp. καὶ ὃ θεὸς ὁ πατήρ ἡμῶν ; and a correction cancels the letter 6.—J. L. 10 V.17.—The majority of the oldest codd. [including Sin.] versions and Fathers (and modern critics] omit ὑμᾶς after στηρίξαι, so that to this verb τὰς καρδίας also belongs as object [to which Alford properly objects that these are not the agents in ἔργον and Adyos.—For ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας, Sin., as A., reads τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν.--. $5 11 V. 17.—The preponderance of authorities ‘also Sin.) is in favor of the order, ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ [and so nearly all the critical editors], instead of the reverse order of the Recepla. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (Vv. 18, 14.) But we are bound, &c.—Paul concludes the section on the coming of Antichrist with thanksgiving for the election and salvation of the readers; with an exhortation to steadfastness ; and finally with a prayer for their stability. After the serious and agitating topic, of which he had been speaking, he is the more inclined to utter a word of eae oie: exhortation, and comfort. Already TnzorayLact remarks: He now softens his address, after the words of terror. For even though the prospect of the final conflicts was of itself a matter of consolation for true believers, yet the grave ques- tion still presented itself: How shall we endure? We are bound to give thanks, he says, and so reverts to ch. i. 8. There he gave thanks for their steadfast faith amid persecutions from without. Now his thanksgiving is still further enlarged, the ground being salvation likewise in view of the afflictions of the last time; and he gives thanks, notwithstanding that he had to make mention of the apostasy within Christendom (v. 8). We, he writes, namely Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy [Jowsrr, Conybearn, WEB- sTeR and Witkinson: Paul alone]; most say: in opposition to the perishing, v. 10, who fall away to Antichrist. But this antithesis does not come out right ; a suitable contrast to the perishing would be the Thessalonians, not the preachers of the gospel. THEOPHYLACT perceives this, and therefore remarks: “Tf we give thanks for you, how much more are ye bound to do so!” It is better, therefore, to under- stand the matter with Hormany, thus: Over against the Antichristian deception which God will send (and which, as an active mystery of iniquity, has already begun), we, the preachers of the gospel, give thanks for what He is now working by us, to save you frow the coming judgment, and we the more give thanks, when we see how the way of this judgment is already preparing.—Brethren beloved of the Lord, this is his anchor-ground; here is his conr forting assurance: Those grievous sinners cannot CHAPTER II, 13-17. 145 hurt you. In 1 Thess. i. 4 the word is ὑπὸ ϑεοῦ, which is given here only by D.’ Vulg.; Sin. and A., τοῦ κυρίου ; most, κυρίου without the article; which is here distinguished from Seds before and after, and yet one with the Father: Christ; in opposition to Antichrist, to whom the others fall away. In the former place Paul gave thanks for their ἐκλογή, here in the same sense: ὅτι εἵλατο ὑμᾶς (this Alexandrian form, instead of the Rec. εἵλετο is given by nearly all the uncials), F'or you, which is now more fully explained: to wit, that* God chose you. Else- where Paul says ἐκλέγεσϑαι, fo select for one's self ; only here, αἱρεῖσϑαι, to choose, that is, for something, here eis σωτηρίαν : in the Septuagint the word is not of rare occurrence ; for example, Deut. xxvi. 18, of the choosing of the people of God. Instead of ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, Hormann also prefers the reading ἀπαρχήν, which cannot be understood as in Rom. xvi. 5 and 1 Cor, xvi. 15. Ltnemanw observes that the Thes- salonians could not be so called, since they were neither generally, nor even in Macedonia merely, the first that believed. This reading is one of the con- siderations by which Grorivs would support his strange hypothesis, that the Epistle was addressed to Christians from Judea, Hormann, according the reference to earlier or later conversion, finds here simply the idea of firstfruits consecrated to God, in opposition to the mass of the profane, and compares Rev, xiv. 4. But the reading is too feebly support- ed We therefore adhere to am’ ἀρχῆς, from the beginning. Is this, however, to be taken rela- tively, or absolutely? Such as prefer the former idea understand it as Zwinei1: ab initio predica- tionis, amongst you, or in Macedonia generally. Nor can it be positively required that in this case there should have been an addition like that in Phil, iv. 15 (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου) ; for even without any addi- tion the expression has this signification at 1 John ii. 4, 24, But certainly the connection there favors this view, as it does not here; for even to say, that the phrase is to be explained in opposition to the last things, does not suggest this limitation: on the beginning of the gospel. Moreover, the expression 80 understood would imply that the time, when Paul wrote, was already considerably remote from the time when the church was founded. Cavin re- marks still further, that he meant to furnish a ground of consolation, which should be available, not merely for those converted at the commencement of preaching, but for all the elect. But the decisive consideration is this, that that restriction does not suit εἵλατο. God’s election is eternal, and only the accomplishment of it by means of the call takes place in time. It is therefore equivalent to from eternity, aa we men can form a conception of that ; so far as we can go back in thought; or to πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου (Eph. i. 4; comp. 2 Tim. i. 9). ᾿Απ᾿ ἀρχῆς is similarly used in 1 Johni. 1; ii. 13; Is, xliii, 18 Sept. ; and thus it is understood by Cat- vin, ΒΕΝΘΕΙ,, and the moderns generally, He hath chosen us to salvation, in opposition to those who received not the truth that they might be saved (v. 10). In the subsequent ἐν ay. alongside of εἰς Dz Werte would find an indication of the nearest object (1 Thess. iv. 7): ἐο sanctification ; but in this way the change of the preposition would be ill accounted for. The ἐν, &c. cannot belong to εἵλατο, since the _* (So Riccznzpaau, with many others (as LurHer, Linzmann, Dr Wertz, Evuicorr, &c.), prefers to render the ὅτι.- -Φ. L.] 10 objective purpose of free grace is not conditioned by the subjective process in us. Even Linemann’s view, that it belongs to the whole of εἵλατο εἰς σωτηρίαν, and denotes the means through which the past election to eternal salvation should be realized is liable to the same objection: It is not the elec: tion, but the being saved, that is accomplished in sanctification; Hormann: The choosing does not need this means, Jn is instrumental—equivalent to by means of, a8 already Curysosrom explains ἐν by διά, and has a close connection with eis σωτηρίαν, og THrorHyzacr intimates: ἔσωσεν ὑμᾶς, ἁγιάσας διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος." Sanctification is now inwardly the aim of the Divine counsel towards us (1 Thess. iv. 3), in opposition to the having pleasure in unright- cousness (v. 12); it is the way likewise to the future outward δόξα (v.14). But how are the two follow- ing genitives to be understood ὃ ἀληϑείας must be a genitive of the object, as in Phil. i, 27; but πνεύμα- Tos is not essentially so co-ordinate as that the paral- lelism could force us to understand that genitive in the same way. Were πνεύματος also a genitive of the object, it would denote man’s own spirit, which is to be sanctified through the operation of the Holy Ghost, and then rule the whole man. It would be strange, however, and contrary to 1 Thess. v. 23, that the spirit alone should be designated as the objeet of sanctification. And since even so the parallelism would not be at all a conclusive one, it 18 better to give it up entirely, and regard my. (with THeorny- Lact, Ca.vin, Grorius, Benert, and most of the moderns) as a genitive of the author: in sanctifica- tion proceeding from the (Holy) Spirit (1 Pet. i. 2); and faith of the (Divine) truth, the latter clause being opposed to belief of the lie (v.11). It is un- suitable to explain ἀληδϑείας as an adjective: in true faith (Curysostom, Pett), Oxsnausen makes a great difficulty of the fact, that the first thing in order (faith) here follows after, and therefore thinks we must here understand that faith perfected in judgment, which already presupposes sanctification ; similarly Curysostom, THEopHyLact: Even after sanctification we require much faith, that we may not fall away from it. But it is simpler to under-. stand with Linemann, that the objective, the work- ing of the Holy Spirit (whose final aim in this world. is sanctification), is followed by the subjective, the receptivity of faith for the Holy Spirit’s operation ; faith following on ἁγιασμός, as the first thing that the Holy Spirit works, and as the way to the achieve- ment of sanctification. [Wexpsrer and WILKINSON: No precedence of time, or sequence of cause and effect is to be inferred from the order of the clauses ; cf, 1 Cor. vi. 11. Holiness which is ascribed and is due to the immediate action of the Holy Spirit, is also produced instrumentally by belief, And belief is the result of the Holy Spirit’s influence upon the heart, an influence which changes and sanctifies.— J. L.] The truth is to be understood here in its highest perfection, as in John xiv. 6; xviii. 37; whoever is faithful in the first principles of truth, ig then open to the voice of truth in its perfection. * [Enuicorr: “The prep. ἐν may be instrumental (Curysost., LOnem., al.), but is perhaps more naturally taken in its usual sense as denoting the spiritual state in which the εἵλατο εἰς σωτηρίαν was realized.” WEBSTER and WiLKinson: “ἐν ey. following εἷλ. indicates that their present state, character, and qualification for future bless- edness, are the effect of God’s choice, involved in it, aa part of His original purpose of grace towards them. So in, ὁ Pet. i. 1, 2. And see Rom, viii. 29; Eph. 1.. 4, 5, ὑ-- JL) 146 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. The contrast to this is, that ἀδικία, on the other hand, rushes into bondage under falsehood (v. 11). —Whereunto He called you; it is not said εἰς $v (πίστιν, or some such word), but εἰς 6, 80 as to embrace all that precedes; whereunto, namely, to this σωϑῆναι ἐν ay. καὶ πίστ. (Liinemann). The «αλεῖν is the carrying out of the εἵλατο; 1 Thess. ii. 12; iv. 17—By our gospel, our preaching of the glad tidings (1 Thess. i. 5); the gospel which we roclaim (to that extent only, ours; Rom. ii. 16). Burkitt: “It is also a word of esteem, love, and affection; what we love, we call ours.”—J. L.] This is the historic condition ; how can they believe, if there be no preaching? (Rom. x. 14.) Now fol- lows a second εἰς, an explanatory apposition to eis 6,* or the final object of faith and sanctification —a distinction of no importance, and depending merely on whether we understand the σώζεσϑαι, con- tained substantially in εἰς 6, in a narrower or a com- prehensive sense, At all events the Apostle is now speaking of the final consummation of the σωτηρία: to the obtaining, acquisition, taking possession, of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; to a participation therein, to be glorified with Him, So we are to understand περιποίησις (comp. 1 Thess. v. 9), with Grorirus, Otsnausen, De Werrs, Line- MANN, Ewaup, Hormany. Incorrectly Lurner [Cat- vin, and others. See the /evision on this verse, Note e.—J. L.]: for a glorious possession of Christ, namely, that we should become so; but it is not well to sink δόξης to a merely adjectival idea, and in the explanation of περιπ. to vary from 1 Thess. v. 9. Pau] does not mean merely: Thy purchused heri- tage, but: Thy purchased heir am 1, Still more unsuitable is the explanation of Curysostom, THxo- puyLacr [VataB.us, Corn. 4 Lapipe], and others: zo acquire glory for Christ, the glory of Christ, the Feiend of man, consisting in the salvation of many. ‘The thought would be a beautiful one, but in that case we must have had τῷ κυρίῳ. What Paul says us rather in substance the same as in Rom. v. 2; viii. 17, 20; Phil. iii, 21; John xvii, 22 sqq. (participa- ‘tion in the life of Christ’s glorification), Such is the description of the final consummation of the re- demptive work: the receiving of spiritual life, pow- erful, and exempt from death, That will be the crowning of the last stage—of sanctification, namely —that is aimed at in the unglorified, earthly life. The destiny thus promised to the Thessalonians is confirmed by the exhortation that follows. 2. (Ὁ. 15.) So then, brethren, stand [fast]; since such an end awaits you, and God overlooks nothing that concerns you, do you your part. En- couragement (by a thankful recognition of the good that exists) and exhortation stand always together in reciprocal relation. [WerpsrerR and WUiLKINson: The most assured hope of salvation does not render exertion and admonition unnecessary; on the con- trary, the exhortation to steadfastness and watchful- ness here follows as an inference from the assertion of certain safety—J. L.] Stand fast (1 Thess. iii. 8) in the conflict; opposed to the σαλευϑῆναι of v. 2; and hold (the same word in Mark xvii, 8, of the Pharisees), nil addentes, nil detrahentes, BENGEL; in order to personal steadfastness it is required to nold fast the traditions [instructions]; Lurmer: Satzungen [statutes]. Zwine.t: instituéiones ; Car- vin rightly: not merely external disciplinc, but * (Better this, than to call it with Exiicotr “a more exact snecificaticn of the preceding els cwrmpiav.”—J. L.) whatever was offered to you in doctrine and precept for knowledge and practice. We are not to think so much of transmission from fathers to children, as of the delivery of that which the Apostle had received for them from God; comp. παρέδωκα of Christ's death on the cross, 1 Cor, xv. 3; of the Lord’s Sup. per, 1 Cor, xi, 23; τὰς παραδόσεις κατέχετε (as here κρατεῖτε), 1 Cor, xi, 2.—Which ye were taught (comp. WinER, § 32. 5); whether by word (at first, oral preaching) or by epistle (the subsequent confirmation) of us; ἡμῶν belongs to both’substan. tives, word and epistle denoting merely two different forms for the same substance, and εἴτε---εἴτε show ing the closeness of the connection (1 Cor. xiii, 8); ZWINGLI: quecunque docui sive presens, sive absens By δὲ émor. without the article is denoted not any single particular epistle, but the one method of in struction over against the other; not merely there. fore the First Epistle, though, of course, the expres sion suits that in the first instance, but they should also hold what they were taught in this Second Epis. tle, and, should he follow it with a third, they were to lay that likewise to heart, and generally to give heed also to the epistolary instruction (comp. 1 Thess, v. 27), holding fast whatever in word or writing really comes from him, and is not merely ascribed to him falsely, as that letter of v. 2. 8. (Vv. 16, 17.) But may He Himself, &,— The Apostle concludes the section with a benedic tion, as at 1 Thess, iii. 11; v.23. He Himself, not merely we, who taught you; not merely you, whom we exhort: orfxere.—Our Lord Jesus Christ and our God and Father; Father, that is, through Christ. Commmonly the Apostle follows the reverse order; but here he goes back from Christ (who is for us also possessor of the glory that was last spoken of) to the Father, the ultimate ground of all blessednegs, the ultimate Source of all exhortation, comfort, and confirmation. THEODORET (in the interest of the controversy with Arius) finds herein a proof, that the sequence of the names is no indication of a difference of dignity.*—Who loved us (all Christians) and gave us everlasting con- solation (flowing from this love). The root of all is the unmerited love of God; the aorist denotes the historical proof of love, the work of redemption (comp. Eph. ii. 4; John iii. 16; 1 John iv. 10); the same thing is said of Christ, Gal. ii. 20 [Eph. v. 2, 25]. The everlasting consolation is by CuRYsostoM, TneopHyiact, aud others, improperly taken as synonymous with hope; Petr interprets it of the everlasting blessedness (Luke vi. 24; xvi. 25: to be comforted). The latter is no doubt the highest end, but too far from being a present attainment, and still too tautological with what follows. Properly to distinguish it from that, we understand by everlasting consolation something real, now already present, which makes us of good courage now under the dis. tress of the present time; not so personal, as in Zwinaui’s explanation: guce est ista consolatio? Christus Jesus ; but yet a benefit now already granted us in Christ, and showing itself to be an inexhausti ble source of joy; namely, reconciliation with God as the foundation of all further hope.t With thin * [Curysostom employs the same argument.—J. L.] t (Lectures, Ὁ. 552: “Who loved us. This is sometimes restricted to God the Father” (LONEMANN, ELLicorr), “and to His act of sending the Son to save us” (Line- MANN, RiecEnsacu). “I prefer to understand it of the eternal love—the love ‘from the beginning’ of both the Father and the Son. (To this the singular is no objection, CBAPTER — 11. 18-14. 144 the hope of the consummation of glory is connected also in Rom. v. 1, 2; and the same truth ix a some- what different combination is expressed likewise in Rom. viii. 28 sqq.—And good hope; with which should be compared the blessed hope of Tit. ii, 18, in heaven, Col. i. 5, which non-Christians, the hea- then especially, do not have, 1 Thess. iv. 13.—In Brace, without merit of ours, is best referred to δούς, not so well (with De Werrr, Liwemann [Cas. TALIO, aves) to both participles (it being less suited to ἀγαπ.). This is the foundation of his con- fident intercession: Such a God is ours, and in ac- cordance with this His disposition I am able to desire for you, that He may comfort your hearts; for the two subjects the verb stands only in the singular (1 Thess, iii, 11); the two are one, even in the innermost and most glorious operations of grace. Herein shines the Divinity of Christ; it is not possi- ble that the name of any man could be so often joined with the name of God. It is better here to understand the calling to [zusprechen, παρακαλέσαι] on the side of comforting encouragement, than on that of exhortation [as in 1 Thess. iii. 2; see there Exegetical Note 56.—J. L.]; the question is about their holding faith, and being free from fear and anxiety (v. 2), even in view of the aggravation of their afflictions; comp. Ps. cxix. 32.*—[Exuicorr: “The Apostle does not say merely ὑμᾶς, but ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας (comp. Col. ii. 2); it was the καρδία, the seat of their feelings and affections, ... the καρδία that was so full of hope and fear about the future, that the Apostle prayed might receive comfort.”— J. L.J—And establish, &c.; if we do not read ὑμᾶς, it is simplest to regard the preceding καρδίας as still the object; it is less natural to supply in thought, with Liwemann [and most others; see Critical Note 10.—J. 1. ἃ ὑμᾶς out of ὑμῶν. May He strengthen [establish] them, that your sanctifica- tion may be perfected, and ye be not entangled in the apostasy of Christendom.—In every good work and word; not by work and word [Cury- sostom, THEOPHYLACT, BencEL], to wit, God’s work and God’s word; but with this παντί does not well agree, and dyad@ still less; since in that case no distinction would be necessary between good and bad, The adjective belongs to both substantives, not, as Lurner translates, ix every doctrine and good work. Nor is λόγος properly restricted to the \dea of doctrine, as Cavin too would have it: sana toctrina, and ῬΕΙ͂, because, he says, it so stands at v. 15. But there the connection is different, the parallel member in this instance being ἔργῳ, which comprehends every action, and so does λόγῳ like- wise (especially with παντί) every good word; Zwineti: bonus sermo. Doctrine is a part of that. The order, word and work, would be ascensive ; in the more strongly supported reading work has the precedence as being the main thing; that must Speak first of all. May God strengthen you in every good work wherein you are engaged (in oppo- sition to unrighteousness), and then also in every good word, of truth, faith, love (in opposition to fince this very anomaly is admitted in the next verse.) And then the latter half of the verse refers to the manifes- tation and effects of that love in time: and gave us, in the finished redemption of the cross, in the forgiveness of sin, m the presence of the Comforter, &c.’”” The same distinc- tion will be found applicable to nearly all the texts cited sbove.—J. L.] ᾿ * [Lurner’s somewhat free translation of the latter clause of that verse being: Wenn du mein Herz trostest, dost comfort, &c."—J. L.] falsehood); when it comes from the bottom of the heart, and corresponds to the work, it is itself a work, yea, the criterion of perfectness (James iii, 2) DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (Vv. 18, 14.) On election, see at 1 Thess, i 4 and ch. v. 23, 24. There is no question of a ca pricious preference of one, and disregard of an other ; such partial views are not taken by faith ag faith ; rather, in those who believe the consciousnesa prevails, that their salvation is not at all founded on their own merit, A faith even, which should be ever looking only at itself, would for that very rea- son be constantly threatened again with disturbance and agitation, Assurance is maintained only by going out from self, and casting one’s self on the everlasting love and grave, whose purpose from the beginning, before the creation of the world, was the salvation of believers. Excellently Rieger: In the description of the most formidable troubles eternal election is often introduced as the shelter of the saints, Matt. xxiv. 22, 81; Rev. xiii. 8; xvii, 8 But that which comes first is not the triumphal song of Rom. viii, but the way of righteousness (Rom, ivii.). Election provides a secret deposit ; sanctifi- cation is election disclosed; and the root of that ig faith in the truth.* But how does one become sure of his election? Rigger: The purpose is seen in its accomplishment ; the building shows the plan— Cavin: Because we are unable to penetrate into the secret counsel of God, that we may there become certain of our salvation, He gives us more accesyble tokens and pledges of our election, to wit, in our sanctification by His Spirit, and our illumination in order to faith in His gospel—Boéut: The Second Helvetic Confession (Vienna, 1864), p. 19: It is in the way that we are to discover, whether we are on the way; we should not torment ourselves and oth. ers with the inquiry, whether even before the foun- dation of the world we were put on this way; we are rather to examine ourselves whether we have the way beneath our feet; and Christ is that way.—For the same reason we are not at liberty to place a false reliance on a donum perseverantic, as if we could be sure of any such thing out of Christ. The following admonition to steadfastness (comp. 2 Pet. 1, 10) is seriously meant, and so is the benediction with which the section concludes. 2. (V. 15.) This verse is one of the words, by which of old (as early as Curysosrom) it was pro- posed to show the equal authority of oral tradition alongside of Scripture. But when Joun Damascene with this amongst others defends the worship of im. ages, we have a striking instance of pretended tradi- tion in conflict with Scripture. It is indeed clear, and no one contests it, that Christ did and spake many things that are not recorded, and in like man- ner that the preaching of the Apostles was first of all oral, which was then fixed and ascertained by writing ; of course, in a short Epistle like ours, only very partially, still so as to guard against misappre- hension and deterioration of doctrine. If then it is said that we are to believe also oral tradition, we answer: Yes, when its apostolic origin and character * [In this is implied, what Scripture no doubt teaches, that Jettion is the Divine root of faith. See v.13; John vi. 37; Acts xiii. 48; Rom. viii. 28-30; Eph, ii. 8; 1 Pet. 1.2; &.—J. L.] 148 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. are proved to us. But this very chapter shows us, how quickly the oral teaching was forgotten (v. 5), ard was subjected to misconceptions or even falsifi- vations (v. 2), so that it needed to be corrected and certified. The evangelist John also says (ch, xx. 30, 81), that Jesus truly did many things which are not written, but that the preceding selection was written for the confirmation of faith in the Son of God, and of life in that faith. For this, therefore, the written word is a sufficient source, and for whatever claims to be apostolic the only authentic rule. But can that be a genuine tradition, which contradicts the written gospel? Paul knows simply a double form for one and the same substance, nothing of additions that introduce a new and heterogeneous substance. In point of fact, there is beside the Bible πὸ well- attested tradition. Zwinet1: Paul, however, had taught nothing else but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cavin: When Paul will cast no snare on the Co- rinthians (1 Cor. vii, 35), how do they pretend to give out all their self-made ordinances as of equal dignity with the Pauline? Heusyer: Paul does not say, that the tenor of the oral teaching was different from that of the written. [Macgnigut: No doc- trines merit the name of traditions in the Scripture sense of the word, but such as were taught by the Apostles of Christ, or by other spiritual men, who received them by immediate revelation from Him.— J. L.J—It must be considered, on the other hand, how emphatically the Apostle here asserts the au- thority of his written word. It is no dead letter, but a seed-corn that is quickened in every suscep- tible heart. We know also that generally the writ- ten jword is still more carefully weighed than that which is spoken, Many have an unintelligent aver- sion to all authority. They confound it with coer- cion and bondage. But authority is such an ascen- dency as rests on intellectual preéminence,* com- mends itself to rational conviction, and educates the obedient into true freedom. The mere fact that men are not self-created, implies that they cannot be ab- solutely autonomous ; to say nothing of sinners, who need redemption. The true freedom is that with which the Son makes free (John viii. 36), and the means to this emancipation is holding fast His word in the obedience of faith. The highest freedom and joy is to live and move in the word of truth. 3. (Vv. 16, 17.) Evangelical comfort is some- thing different from a transient and essentially vain feeding with illusions. Christ and His Apostles seem first to trouble the hearts of those whom they comfort, and show them that there may come a much severer experience than the frivolous mind imagines, but that all comes from God and for the promotion of His kingdom. To have God for ours, throughout even the hardest fortune, such is the everlasting con- solation of the gospel. We must not at once think of the worst, that it will not turn out so bad; this is to comfort with unwholesome vanities, after the man- aer of the world. Such theoretical optimists readily become, when things go ill, practical pessimists, and in their despair disgracefully lay down their arms. Tt is better to be theoretically a pessimist, prepared for the worst, and practically through the grace of God an optimist, confident even in the worst.— {Jowszrr: The Greek philosopher would have spoken of wisdom as an ἰάτρεια ψυχῆς, as we speak of the gospel as remedial to the ills of human nature. St. * [In things pertaining to God, on a Divine commis- sion.—J. L.] Paul uses stronger language ; with him the gospel ig a cousolation. Within and without, the Christian is suffering in this evil world. The gospel makes him sensible of this state, and at the same time turns hia sorrow into joy.... Rom. xv. 5; 2 Cor 1. dm JL HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 18. Rizezr: With every contemplation of what the enemy has done and will yet do, the ser vants of God nevertheless lose not their joy in God’a husbandry [Matt. xiii, 25, 28; 1 Cor. iii, 9]; they are merely driven the more under the wings of God’s grace.—Hsupner: The election of a man to salva. tion is for others also a subject of thanksgiving. — Dieprica: Allow thyself to be sanctified in faith, and it is certain that thou art eternally chosen,— Curysostom: Not by works, not by righteous con duct, but by faith of the truth do we attain to salva tion.—SrockmzyerR: So we resist not this will of God, but yield ourselves to it, who shall be able to hinder its being carried through to a glorious issue ? —Berlenb. Bibel: They who perish are ruined, not because they are absolutely rejected, but because they have no care for the truth, Believers are pre. served, not because they deserve it, but because they cleave earnestly to God. Whoever concerns him- self about the truth, so as to lay hold on God, is saved, But whoever meddles with God’s word, and that not rightly, is only made worse by it.—[Bur. Kitt: 1. Election is to the’ means as well as to the end. 2. Sanctification and holiness, not the cause of our election, but the effect and fruit of it. 3. Sanctification being the fruit, it is also the evidence of our election. 4. The necessary connection be- tween the sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth.—J. L.] V. 14. Zwinewr: The gospel is God’s alone; but ofttimes God communicates to us what is His. Paul could say that the gospel was his, as regards service and office——Drepricn: Whatever Jesus has, that according to the will of the Father is also to be wholly ours. V. 15. Over against the Anutichristian deception, it concerns us to abide the more firmly by the word ; only by the word can we overcome, as Christ over. came; Matt. iv—[M. Henry: He doth not say, Ye are chosen to salvation, and therefore ye may be careless and secure ; but therefore stand fast, Comp. 1 John ii, 27, 28.—Lectures: An unwavering ad- herence to apostolic teaching is at once the great manifestation, and an essential condition, of Chris- tian stability.—J. L.] [Wuitsy: How can she (the Church of Rome) be relied on as a sure preserver and true teacher of (unwritten) traditions, which hath confessedly (AN- seLm, Estivs) lost one of great moment (vv. 5, 6) deposited with the Thessalonians, and the primitive Church ?—J. L.] Vv. 15-17. Stockmeyer: There is no success without our own earnest willing and doing, nor with- out our own pains and labor; but the power which worketh in us both to will and to do is the Lord’s, For this reason also, the Apostle is able to express what he had on his heart, in behalf of those who had become believing Christians, in a twofold man ner, as an exhortation, v. 15, and again as a benedic- tion and intercession, vv. 16,17. The one does not exclude the other. The one is possible only through the other. CHAPTER III. 1-5, 148 Υ. 10. There is mention of a good hope also in Prov. x. 28; xi. 23.*—[Zectures: Good, because of the preéminent excellence of the object of it, the impregnable basis on which it rests, and the purify- Ln aed which it exerts in the heart and life.— vy. 16,17. Roos: Whoever has no experience of the love of God, and has obtained no consolation reaching into eternity, and no good hope through e, on that man no doctrine and no exhortation to good works has any hold. When God comforts, He strengthens the soul, and when He strengthens, He comforts it.—[M. Henry: 1. Comfort is a means of establishment ; for the more pleasure we take in the word, and work, and ways of God, the more likely we shall be to persevere therein. And, 2. our establishment in the ways of God is a likely means in order to comfort; whereas if we are wavering in faith, and of a doubtful mind, or if we are halting and faltering in our duty, no wonder if we are stran- gers to the pleasures and joys of religion. What is * (Lurnen’s version of the latter text: Der Gerechten Wunsch muss doch wohl gerathen.—J. L.] it that lieth at the bottom of all our uneasiness, but our unsteadiness in religion ?—J. L.]—Hevnner The consolation of Christianity is an everlasting con solation, true, certain, satistying, a consolation of Βα]. vation ; the consolation of the world is a spurious, pitiful consolation, which leads the deeper into per dition. God alone can put comfort into the heart, penetrating and abiding. Here is comfort: God loves thee, God chooses thee, God keeps thee.— Berlenb. Bibel: The everlasting consolation is a per manent, new-created life of the spirit, implanted amidst the anguish of suffering in truly following ee Christ, and so not liable to death or destruc- ion. V. 1%. Word and walk must always go together. Vv. 13-17. The good assurance of an evangeli- cal preacher in behalf of his converts rests entirely, in its beginning, middle, and end, on God: 1. Eter- nal election, fulfilling itself in time in the call to faith and sanctification, makes the beginning; 2. the exhortation to steadfastness in apostolic truth forma the middle; 3. the end can be prosperous only by God carrying out in His everlasting faithfulness the work that He has begun, In. Closing Exhortations. 1. Ca. Iil. 1-5. The Apostle seeks their prayers, and commends to them generally a faithful perseverance in the true Christian spiri . 1. Finally, brethren, pray [Greek order: pray, brethren,] for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course [may run]’ and be glorified, even as i 7s with 2 you [also with you] ;ἢ 3 od) 3 and wicked men: for all men the 4 and keep you from evil [or: the evil one].° And that we may be delivered from unreasonable [per- have not faith [not all have faith].’ ord is faithful [faithful is the Lord],° who shall stablish [establish] you, But And [But]’ we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do* and will do the things which we com- 5 mand you.’ And the Lord direct [But may the Lord direct] “ your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ [the patience of Christ].” 1V.1.—[rpéxn. Revision: “E. V. margin, and ee else. Here it combines Tyndale, Geneva, Bishops’ Bible: have free passage, with the Rhemish : have course.”’—J. L. X ny : av. la - i Ellicott: “The καί gently contrasting (Ὁ them with others where a similar reception had « L—[xat πρὸς ὑμᾶς. taken place.” Rather, the καί compares them with—puts them alongside of—others, where, in answer to their prayers, asimilar reception should yet take place.—J. L.] 3°V.2.—[{arémwv. The English margin, . 2.—[od Hammond, Waerdswerh English Test., Ellicott, Am. Bible Union: perverse ; Ri enbach: verkehrien. 2 J ἔς i yas πάντων ἡ πίστις. Riggenbach, after De Wette and Limemann: nicht Aller (Sache) tst der Glaube ; absurd; Benson, Scott, Conybeare, Alford’s See the Exegetical Note.—J. L.J v. . Ellicott : ¢t is not all that have faith. See the Exegetical Note, and the Revision of this verse, Note e.—J. LJ ‘ ‘ 5 V. 3.—There is a ἡ εος ἐς ake of authority (including the Sin.) for ὁ κύριος ; against the reading ὁ Bebe [2 Ὥ.} Ἑ. G. Vulg. Lachmann.—J. 1] is likewise the fact, that according to parallel passages, such as 1 Cor. i. 9, it is the more obvious. others, making πιστός the instentencoua ae οἵ a ΝῊ ᾿ See the Exegetical Note.—J. L. Revision: ‘Not onlydo we rely on the faithfulness of the Lord, but we have a gracious confidence 6 V. 8.--ἰτοῦ πονηροῦ. ΤΥ, 4.---ἰδέ. The Greek order should be retained in the translation, as it is by Riggenbach, Ellicott, Am. Bible Union, and ὃ κύριός ἐστιν ; but corrected into ἐστ. ὃ κύρ.--. L.] also in you ; nor, indeed, can you expect the promised confirmation and security, apart from your own obedience, and tient continuance in well-doing, but only in and through that.”—J. L.] ᾿ ane a ΒΨ, 4.—The reading varies Hetween focaiee and καὶ ποιεῖτε [Riggenbach’s translation follows the former, which is that of Sin.1, while Sin.? has the other.—J. L.]; ported (B. F. G., but not Sin.). 9. 4.-- ὑμῖν is wanting in Sin. B. D.} Vulg. the insertion of καὶ ἐποιήσατε before καὶ ποιεῖτε is too feebly supe [It is cancelled by Alford and Ellicott ; Lachmann brackets it, as he does also the words καὶ ἐποιήσατε xai.—The latter half of the verse is arranged in Greek thus: that the things which wa tommand you ye both do and will do.—J. L.] Ellicott: 10 V. 5.—[a δὲ κύριος κατευθύναι. “A gentle anithesis (δέ) to what precedes ;—‘ I doubt you not, my confi- 1, dence is in the Lord ; may He, however, vouchsafe His blessed aid.’ »—J. ΤᾺ} ie uy. δ. Βοῖστο ὑπομονήν all the uncials give the article τήν, which is omitted by the Elzevir after a few late authorities. The English Version translates ὑπομονή, patience, here in the margin, and always elsewhere, 31 times, except Rom, ii. 7 and 2 Cor. i. 6. Here it follows the Bishops’ Bible.—J. L.] 150 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (Vv. 1, 2.) Finally, pray, &¢.—Td λοιπόν (here the article is wanting only in F, G.), equivalent to λοιπόν, 1 Thess. iv. 1 [ELuicorr: “ but, owing to the article, slightly more specific.” Comp. 1 Thess, iv. 1, Exeg. Note 1—J. 1.1. Grotius: Voz pro- perantis ad finem. It might be understood tempo- rally: henceforth ; but here it is better to take it in the sense of furthermore, moreover, what I have still to say, after the leading instruction on the subject of the last things. Pray for us (see 1 Thess, v. 25, and the note there), as we for you. These words also show the conclusion to be near. The subject of the prayer is again expressed in the form of purpose. It is a thoroughly disinterested prayer that he con- templates ; not for his own personal concern, but for a main object of his apostolic calling (comp. Eph. vi. 19); not, that God would strengthen him in faith ;— Paul did not, indeed, assume any such lofty position, as that he himself could not be a castaway (1 Cor. ix. 27); yet it would have been contrary to deco- rum, to ask his children for their prayers in that re- gard [Ὁ] ;—but, that the word of the Lord may run; the word of the Lord (1 Thess. i. 8), or the word of God (1 Thess, ii. 13), is the gospel. At 1 Thess. iv. 15 the phrase had a somewhat more spe- cific meaning. Zo run is to fulfil its course swiftly and without hindrance ; not bound (2 Tim. ii. 9); to spread itself to where it is not yet; and, where it is already, to bestir itself, and come into proper circu- lation. [Comp. the Sept. Ps. exlvii. 15: ἕως τάχους δραμεῖται ὃ λόγος avrod.—J. L.]—And be glori- fied, not merely commended, and its glory recog- nized (Acts xiii. 48), but really glorified by its fruit, and actual demonstration of its Divine power and truth; CaLvin: in the renewal of men into the image of Christ ; whereby, certainly, are called forth many praises to God (comp. ch. 1, 12; Rom. xi, 18). —Even as it is also with you (1 Thess. iii. 4); he thus cheers them (comp. 1 Thess. ii, 18). Your prayers are to help the missionary work. The two present tenses after ἵνα denoted something continu- ous; whereas the aorist subjunctive with the second ἵνα: and that we may be delivered, marks a single occasion, deliverance from an actually existing peril. Here now in the second instance is a ques- tion of personal preservation, but here also again with a view to his office, that he may be kept safe for that, We may mean J Paul, or else J and Sil- vanus and Timothy ; but certainly not, 7 and you Thessalonians, since he reverts to them again at v. 3. TuEoporET remarks that the prayer seems to be two- fold, and yet is but one; for when the ungodly are subdued, the word of the message also has unob- structed course. TnropnyLact: He prays thus, not that he may run no danger, for to that he was even appointed. But we cannot understand the deliver- ance as does CaLVIN: sive per mortem, sive per vitam ; for his desire here is to be preserved to his earthly office, The ἄτοποι are properly such as are not in their place ; the neuter denotes at Luke xxiii, 41 a criminal act; the masculine is here rendered by the Vulgate, importunis ; Cicero explains it once by tmeptus ; but here it signifies not merely people who act improperly, but such as hinder and resist Divine and human order; WersTEIn: facinorosus, flagitie- sus. Still there is rather couched in the expression & certain reserve, though it does denote perverse, base men; Berlenb. Bibel [Bencer.]: ungereimte [absurd]; and then πονηρός has a more forcible im port: Bad, wicked. Paul has in his mind deliver. ance from snares, as at Rom. xv. 31; for it would ba a mistake to think of the contradiction of heretics (Curysostom, TuropHytact: such as Hymeneus and Alexander; Zwine.t thinks that Paul intendg hypocrites and false brethren; Cavin: at least faithless Christians in name, along with furious Jew ish zealots). The early date of the Epistle does not accord with the idea of false teachers, but very well with that of fanatical Jews, who expressly laid wait for the Apostle at Corinth (Dz Werte and the mod. erns generally); Acts xviii. 9, 10 answering per. fectly to our v. 1, and Acts xviii. 12 sqq. (the accu sation before Gallio) to our v. 2. This again isa fine stroke of unstudied, artless coincidence with the apostolic history; a proof of genuineness.—For not all have faith. He thus gives the reason why he is compelled to speak of such men, from whose hands the point is to be delivered, and for whom one cannot simply pray: Convert them! (comp. John xvii. 9 with v. 20). Some allege that Paul cannot be bringing forward the common-place: All do nor believe, and thence infer that we must understand kis meaning to be: It is not all who pass for Christians, that have trwe faith (so CaLvin [Jowerr] and oth ers); they therefore think that the adversaries are (CaLvin: at least in part) false Christians, But there is thus introduced what is not found in the expression, 7 πίστις meaning Christian faith abso- lutely, not true faith in opposition to that which is merely pretended. However, the sentence is no bare commonplace; nor yet is it suitable, as the phrase is abused for a frivolous excuse; and as little is it an assertion of the absolute Divine decree, as if God were unwilling to give faith to all; but a griev- ous charge: There are even people too ἄτοποι καὶ πονηροί, treacherous and impure, to be susceptible of faith.* It is a fine remark of BeneeL, how appropriately Paul writes thus to those very Thessa- lonians who had been so prompt to believe: Be not surprised, if this is not the case with all. 2. (V. 3.) But faithful is the Lord.—Not in German, but in Greek [and English] there is observ- able an antithesis between πιστός and πίστις of v. 2 (comp. 2 Tim. ii. 13). But this is no reason for translating that πίστις by fa thfulness; ἡ πίστις denotes Christian faith; but this is essentially faith- fulness to God, trust in His faithfulness, whereas un- belief is faithlessness, distrust of His grace. There is peril in having to live amongst such unbelieving and therefore also faithless men. To this grief, therefore, he at once opposes the consolation—to man’s unfaithfulness the invariable faithfulness of God. The faithful Lord suffers not the ἀτόπους καὶ πονηρούς to get the upper hand, Zhe Lord (accord. ing to the best reading) is Christ. That it can here, as in the Septuagint, mean only God (namely, the Father), is asserted by H1Lcenretp in the interest of the spuriousness of the Epistle, but without any valid reason (comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 7 along with Rom. i. * [far den Glauben empfdnglich—the expression eme ployed also by Dz Werrx and Linrmann. It is not, howe ever, of a want of susceptibility of faith in the most dese perate class of sinners, that Paul speaks, but of the actual destitution of faith in some to whom the gospel came. And the fact is ‘stated in general terms; not so much ag something that had just transpired in the particular city or region where the Apostle was now laboring, but rather as something that holds good, as with the force and regularity of a law, wherever the gospel is preached” (Lectures, pe 560). Comp. Matt. xix. 11.—J. L.] CHAPTER III. 1-5. 151] 10). It is to be observed that Paul does not dwell on his own distresses, but the reflection, that the Thessalonians in their locality have the same experi- ence of human wickedness as himself in Corinth, leads him at once back again to his own afilicted spiritual children, who are, indeed, as yet less expe- rienced than he—Who shall establish you (not simply may, ch. ii. 17), so that such as have not faith shall not be able to drag you off with them; and keep you from the evil. How this last word is to be taken is doubtful, as in Matt. vi. 13; John xvii. 15, and elsewhere. It may be that it is to be understood as neuter, as at Rom. xii. 9; from the evil with which perhaps bad men threaten you ; the Lord will keep you, so that whatever is done to you outwardly shall do you no inward hurt, and that which is properly πονηρόν shall not come to you, nor shall you be worsted in the conflict; and He will also so far avert outward harm, that the trial become not too severe (1 Cor. x. 18).* Possibly, however, it is to be regarded as masculine; 6 πονηρός, the Prince of evil, whose instruments evil men are, dares not fouch you (comp. Eph. vi. 16; 1 John ii. 18; v.18). It is at any rate improper to take the singular: the evid (man) as collective for evil men [the Dutch Annotations, Koprz, Rosmxmixurr, Fxatt, allow this interpretation.—J. L.]. But Liwz- mawnn’s assertion that it must be understood as neu- tral, on account of the opposition to ch. ii. 17 [a point which Atrorp also makes.—J. L.], is ground- less; especially after the separation made by 7d λοιπόν (v. 1), of which, indeed, Linemann gene- rally makes too little account (see the close of the Introduction). In favor of the masculine are Cat- vin, Benet, Rizazr, Von GERLACH, OLSHAUSEN [and very many others, from (icumznius and THEo- PHyLact to Exiicorr and Worpsworts.—J. L.], also Hormann: From the evil man he comes to the Evil One, who might rob him of the fruit of his labor ; we add, by persuasion or else by seduction, and refer to 1 Thess, ii. 18; iii. 5. Whether it be neuter or masculine, Paul’s promise is: God will establish you for the conflict, and protect you in it. 8. (Vv. 4, 5.) But we have confidence in the Lord touching you.—After reliance on God, there now follows again (as in ch. ii, 15) an exhorta- tion, expressed in the delicate and winning form of confidence. Turoporer: For he is not forcing them, but seeking their free conviction: keep your- selves worthy of this good opinion, You can surely do so, since the Lord strengthens and guards you. This at once leads to, and prepares for, the special exhortation of v. 6 sqq. Jn the Lord, the same ex- pression as in Gal. v. 10; comp. Phil. ii, 24; Rom. xiv, 14. In Him our confidence in you has its strong foundation ; we boast not of the flesh, and place not our hope in you as men, but only in the Lord; and yet in the Lord touching you ;* because ye stand in Him as we do; ye will thus receive the exhortation in the name of the Lord, and the Lord in whom ye stand will guide your hearts, and make you willing and able. The verb παραγγέλλειν is found also at 1 Thess, iv, 11, and the substantive παραγγελλία at 1 Thess, iv, 2; it is synonymous (at least on the * (Taken as neuter, rod πονηροῦ might perhaps have “a τοδὶ reference to the great current of evil which had already begun to flow, and which in the second chapter had been traced sv ward to its fatal issue.” Lectures.— * Ἰέφ᾽ buds; towards and upon you, in regard to you; Germ. auf euch.—J. L.] practical side) with παράδοσις, ch. ii. 15. As faith originated only in an act of obedience, so likewise it is only in this way that it can be maintained. Obe dience is thus connected with preservation. By un. derstanding the verse in this way: What we com mand and ye do, that ye will also do, we should rend asunder what belongs together. Far more natural ig this: what we command you, ye both do und will do (henceforward and with a constant impiove- ment). This exhortation he immediately seals again by a precatory benediction: But may the Lord direct, &c. TsEoporer: We need both, purpose and strength, from above.* The Lord alone can give you success. Zhe Lord is, as always, Christ ; not, a8 HincenreLp again decides, God (the Father), Basit the Great, Tazonorer, ΤΗΒΟΡΕΥΤΔΟΥ [Worps- wortu], would have it, that Paul is speaking of the Holy Spirit, because it could not be said: May Christ direct your hearts into the patience of Christ (were this valid, it would hold still more strongly, inasmuch as it concerns the first member of the verse, that it could not be said: May God direct your hearts into the love of God). But the argu. ment is not convincing. It were contrary to the whole usage of the New Testament, to understand by the Lord the Holy Spirit; 2 Cor. iii, 17 (to be explained by v. 6) is of quite another sort. Rather, Christ is repeated at the end of the second member, because it is remote from the subject, and separated from it by ϑεοῦ (comp., moreover, 1 Cor. i. 7, 8). Thus Christ, the Faithful (v. 3), who alone can make you do what is right, in whom alone we have confi- dence in you (v. 4), may He plainly direct (1 Thess, iii. 11, owr way ; here) your hearts (2 Chron. xii, 14, Septuagint), so that they reach out sincerely towards the mark. But the passage in Chronicles is not an irrefragable proof, that here also the mark of the xarevSivew must necessarily be a proceeding of the Thessalonians; the mark itself might be a Divine concernment, to which their hearts are to reach out in faith and trust. In the case of the first member, the love of God, it would no doubt be simplest to regard the genitive as a genitive of the object: love to God [Dr Wertr, Linemann, Atrorp, Lectures, Exuicort, Wesster and Wirkixson, &c.], not the love which God gives or prescribes, though, of course, our love is awakened by a discernment of the love which God has to us. But in the second member a similar explanation does not present itself as quite so natural, Caxvin translates: expectatio- nem Christi, and explains it still more distinctly to be the hope of the coming of Christ, under the con- stant endurance of the cross. Already CurysosTom proposes this view amongst others, And so Hor. mann: Jt denotes the wailing of him who holds to Christ as his hope ; but what he alleges for this,— that, for example, in Jer. xiv. 8 Septuag. God is called the ὑπομονὴ Ἰσραήλ,---ἰΒ a different expres- sion from what we read here. Even the ἀναμένειν Ἰησοῦν (1 Thess. i, 10), or the ὑπομονὴ τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ κυρ. (v. 8 there), does not support the assumed sense of ὑπομονὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Proof is wanting, that the last phrase denotes a waiting for Christ, Rey. iii. 10 likewise is probably to be understood differently. Moreover, patientia propter Christum prestita (BENGEL) goes beyond the simplest geni- * (Wir bediirfen beides, Vorsatz und Kraft, von oben- sound doctrine, but scarcely an accurate rendering of ἀμφοτέρων ἡμῖν χρεία, καὶ προθέσεως ἀγαθῆς καὶ τῆς ἀνωθᾳ. avuvcpyeias.—J. L.j 152 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. tive. Nor can we well judge otherwise of the inter- pretation: “ patient, steadfast adherence to Christ.” De Werte appeals on behalf of his explanation : “ steadfastness in the cause of Christ,” to παϑήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ (2 Cor. i. 5, and similar phrases in Col. i. 24; Heb. xi. 26), which, however, is by no means quite homogeneous with the expression before us. But if we explain, as Petr would have us do (and as Carvin holds to be possible): patience as coming from Christ or as wrought by Him, or with Gro- TIUS: cujus causa est Christus, we then ‘exchange the genitive of the object for the genitive of the author. Even the first member Pett would actually understand in a corresponding way: love, which God infuses into our hearts ; but such a sense of ἀγάπη Seov he cannot establish even by his appeal to δικαιοσύνη eos. Is it necessary, then, that both genitives be taken in the same way? ΠΌΝΕΜΑΝΝ rids himself of the parallelism, and understands the matter thus: love fo God (object) and the steadfast- ness of Christ (genitive of possession) ; the latter in the sense that it also is ours, in so far as the Chris- tian’s endurance in affliction for the gospel’s sake is essentially the same with the steadfastness that was peculiar to Christ Himself in His sufferings. To this would belong the idea which Curysosrom also ad- mits as possible: endurance as Christ endured.* For our own part, we did not consider ourselves bound by the parallelism at ch. ii. 13; but there πνεύματος and ἀληϑείας were really more heteroge- neous than the parallel genitives in our text. In- wardly, also, the latter are too strictly codrdinate, for us to venture on quitting the parallelism. We should therefore prefer with OLsHavuseN to under- stand both genitives as genitives of the subject. Nor indeed is it said: May the Lord fill your hearts with love, ἃ. (which could then be nothing but a dispositon of heart in the Thessalonians), but: Jay He dircet them, according to our understanding, into the love which God hax to us, and has especially manifested in the work of redemption, and into the patience of Christ, to wit, that with which Me resigned Himself for us to suffering, and at all times supports us. May He direct your hearts to this centre, from which proceeds all the Christian’s strength: the love of God, as most fully revealed in the patience of Christ. This will be to you not merely an example, but a source of strength for withstanding the evil (v. 3). The Thessalonians par- ticularly needed this admonition to humility in order to check their eschatological impatience, which showed itself practically in their ἀτάκτως περιπατεῖν and περιεργάζεσϑαι (vv. 6, 11). The address thus introduces in the most natural way the exhortation that follows. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (V. 1.) That the word of God have free course and be glorified is not a thing that happens of itself, but is in part committed also to our fidel- ity. Every praying person, even though he himself has not the teaching faculty, is on his part a co- worker therein, [Scorr: The success of the gospel is as really promoted by fervent prayer, as by faith- ful preaching.—J. L.] We are not indeed to sce {18 and movement in the Church only where extra- = [80—besides Linemann—Atrorp, Exiicorr, Lectures, &c.: “patience such as Christ exhibited.”—J. L.] ordinary phenomena are making a stir. On the in conspicuous advance of quiet, faithful labor there rests a constant blessing. And yet the drowsy state: of nominal Christendom must weigh upon our hearts, and raise the question whether we have been as assiduous as we ought in that spiritual work, whick the Apostle requires from Christians, 2. (Ὁ. 2.) Faith is not every man’s affair—this is a word which, like that other, prove all thinga (1 Thess. v. 21), is often enough subjected to frivo- lous abuse. Many an individual takes shelter in the subterfuge, that he is not at all organized for faith; for others faith may be the right thing, perhaps even honorable in them; but for him it is impossible to believe; nay, the Apostle himself says, &c. It is, however, of perverse and wicked men that he says, that faith is not for them (see the "erantwortung des christlichen Glaubens, 2d ed., p. 16 sy.), Roos: What is here spoken of is not that natural unaptness for faith, which exists in all men, but an unaptness which a man brings on himself by a prolonged de- parture from God, and by contracting a Satanic obduracy and wickedness.* SrockMeyer: Faith is not a thing that a man has so completely in his own power, that he can say at any moment when he pleases: Mow J will believe ; there is required a cer- tain preparation of soul, that is not found in every man. But it is a very perverse application of this, to say: “I too belong to the very class that has no concern with faith, What, then, can I do in that direction? And if faith is not every man’s affair, is it so, that so much really depends on faith ? is it so, that one can be saved only by faith? Surely God will not be so unjust!” But the Apostle does not say that a man can do nothing in this direction, so that he is innocent in the matter. Whence comes it that the disposition of many men is unsusceptible of faith? Did God make them so? Is it God, who to some only will grant what is necessary to faith, while he refuses and withholds it from others, how- ever earnestly desirous even they may be to obtain it? That be far from Him!+ The Apostle teaches us to derive all want of susceptibility from a quite different source, even men’s own fault (comp. ch. ii, 10-12). He will by no means apologize for un- belief, as if it were an unmerited fate from which some men cannot at all escape. He rather refers us to their own guiltiness, namely, their destitution of love for the truth, and that from the pleasure they have in unrighteousness—At the commencement especially of a living Christian state we readily sup- pose, as the truth has become too strong for us, that others also should in like manner yield to it. Or, if that does not happen, we readily fall to blaming our elders and teachers for not having testified the truth with sufficient fervor, They, indeed, are re- quired earnestly to examine themselves, whether they are not chargeable with some neglect or mis management. But the example of the Apostles, yes, of Christ Himself, shows us, that even the most faith ful preaching is resisted by the natural heart of mam * [See the foot-note to p. 156.—No. doubt, there are de= grees of wickedness in unrenewed men, as there are degrees of grace, faith, and holiness in Christian men. But in the case of every Christian man it is true, that his faith is “the gift of God” (Eph. ii. 8); and of every unrenewed man ta whom the gospel comes it is no less true, that hig unbeliat is the sinful product of a sinful and blinded hea. t (John iii. 18-20 ; 2 Cor. iv. 3,4; &e—J. L.] t (Das sei ferne!—the German version of μὴ yévorro, Which in our Enelish 'festament is, God Sorbid! Comp E. V. Gen. xviii. 25.—J. L.J . CHAPTER III. 1-5, 158 To this fact we must learn, with whatever loving sor- pow, to reconcile ourselves, and least of all are we to wry by means of false concessions to make the truth plausible to the enemies of the faith, Roos: A preacher of the gospel tries with all fidelity to set such people right. But, if he has a clear insight into the state of their souls, he finds personal relief even when seeing no fruit of his labor. He knows shat God will not require their blood at his hand, Such is the consolation of Jesus Himself, Matt. xiii. 14, 15. "3. Roos: Deliverance from the wicked did take place, but not in such a way as the human sense might have desired; for Paul and other servants of God were often until their death harassed with such prople; and yet God saved them from them by re- straining their fury (frequently by means of the Ro- man authorities), by letting many blasphemers die at the right time, by humbling the whole Jewish people through the destruction of Jerusalem, and lastly by so ordering all things, that the Apostles, harassed and persecuted by the Jews in a daily trial of their faith, were only the more widely driven around in the earth. 4, (V. 4.) Roos: Paul wrote and did everything in the Lord and by the Lord (comp. vv. 6, 12; 1 Thess, iv. 1,2; and elsewhere), These were not in Paul’s case mere customary pious phrases; he had the feeling of them, and was convinced that in nuth- ing did his commands, hopes, and instructions go beyond the power, and at the same time the light and inward impulse, given him by the Lord Jesus. He knew that he was not left to his natural reason and discretion, but that, being in Jesus, he saw by His light, worked in His strength, and by Him was held and controlled. Happy is he, of whom this is the experience. Whatsoever he doeth prospers [Ps. i. 8].—In the Lord we may also have confidence in others, who likewise stand in the Lord. To trust in men out of the Lord leads astray, and one must often learn, that all men are liars (Rom. iii. 4). The idealism of faith in humanity is then easily changed into that so-called knowledge of men, which looks for nothing but baseness in every one. Love, on the contrary, hopeth all things, and believeth all things (1 Cor. xiii. 7), without being blind to the corruption of nature ; but it knows God who is greater than our heart [1 Jobn iii, 20], and believes in His power to save and subdue, Relying on the Lord for every- thing, it believes also in the perfecting of His work in the hearts of His own, and throughout all inter- ruptions still hopes for it. [Barnes: Not primarily in you, ὅθ, He must be a stranger to the human heart, who puts much confidence in it even in its best state.-—J. L.] ὅ. (V. 5.) Our heart must be directed to the love of God, as the foundation of all faith, and to the patience of Christ, as the chief manifestation of that Jove ;-the latter, not merely in order to the contem- plation of that greatest exemplar, but from this direction towards the character of God and Christ faith itself receives something of this Divine nature Ε Pet, i. 4], participates in these primary forces of ife, so that it now does everything according to this tule, and from this impulse. Love enkindles love in tt; the patience which Christ learned and practised, yea, with which He continually bears with us, brings this seed into the heart of the believer and from this vine there grows as a branch the patience of the Christian (Rtzcrr). Patience must not be wanting to love; otherwise the latter also would soon cease. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 1, Dizpricn: He had brought them by means of the word to faith; a stream of blessing should now also through their prayers and love flow back again to him, so that he may be able to deliver his testimony with ever-growing efficiency. —Cnrysos Tom: Let no one from an excessive humility defraud us of this assistance—Srarxe: Since upright teach- ers carry the word of God amongst the people, it is reasonable that they be remembered in prayer ; but, if they do not at once see fruit, they should labor on, and call to mind the Divine promises.—Herus. NER: The Christian Church should not be a motion- less sea; stagnation brings corruption and death. The gospel must keep moving; it must run; this running produces everywhere, even where the gospel is not a stranger, new life and vivacity.—The mis sionary spirit knows no other goal than that de- scribed in Is, xi. 9. V. 2. Faith is not every man’s, though God offers faith to every man, Acts xvii. 31 (Berlend. Bibel),* —Grotius; Such as take pleasure in vice will not believe us; because they love the works of dark- ness, they hate the light —Rizcer: (We must have this told to us) partly that under a similar experi- ence we may be less frightened, partly also that we may escape the frequently plausible temptation to refine and cut and carve at the doctrines of the faith, till every one should be able to find himself suited.—Paul strove to become all things to all men, but still he hoped for nothing more from it, than by all means to save some (1 Cor. ix. 22).—Srarke: Patiently to undergo suffering for Christ’s sake, and yet to pray God for deliverance therefrom, are not inconsistent with each other ;. especially when the deliverance has for its object not so much our own ease as the glorification of the Divine name. [Lectures: ἀτόπων καὶ πονηρῶν ἀνδρώπων" οὐ γὰρ, «.7.A. So far, then, from there being any ground for exalting reason against faith, it is only faith that can either restore the dislocation, or rectily the depravity, of our fallen nature.—THE same: No man can reject the Divine testimony concerning Christ, when fairly and fully presented to him, without thereby inflicting immediate and serious damage on his whole inward life—without, in fact, becoming, whatever appearances there may be to the contrary, a worse man, as well as a guiltier man, than he was before.—J. L.] V. 3. The faithfulness of the Lord is the only ever sure refuge. V. 4. Curysosrom, THEopHyLact: We have con- fidence in the Lord, that is opposed to pride ; touch. ing you, that is opposed to indolence.—BEncEL: Nulli homini per se fidas.—Catvin : Authority and obedience have here their limits: Nothing except in the Lord!—[Burxirr: The character of that obe- dience which the gospel directs; it must be univer. sal and perpetual.—J. L.] V. 5. Dieprica: Truly Christ Himself is all patience with us, and so He teaches us in Fim alsa to be all patience. Vv. 1-5. Heupner: Exhortations to prayer and faithfulness. ᾿ Vv. 4, 5. That heart is well disposed, and capa * (Lurer’s version of πίστιν παρασχῶν πᾶσιν : Jeden mann vorhdlt den Glauben ; English ταᾶτρὲ ἃ : offered faith —J.L.! 154 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS, — ble of all that is good, which through the grace of the Lord is directed into the love of God and into the patience of Christ, 1. The most natural thing for us would be, to abide with all love by the love of God, to which we owe ourselves and all things. But, as regards God, we are truly unnatural children, have little need of intercourse with Him, are fre- quently able to go a long time without Him, readily suffer ourselves to be withdrawn from Him by His gifts instead of being thereby led to Him, become altogether disheartened under the strokes of His dis- cipline, do not love what He loves, His will, His commands, He gives effect to his love by sending His Son to save us from the fleshly temper of our heart Not until our hearts allow themselves to be turned towards this love proceeding from God (1 Jobn iv. 10; Rom. vy. 8), does there rise in us alsc love to God. But, 2. that this spirit may take ful] possession of us, there is need of continual labor and effort; our hearts must allow themselves to be directed to Christ, the perfect pattern of patience, as He practised it throughout His whole life even to the cross towards His disciples, towards the people, towards His wicked foes. We must be thankful te Him, that He becomes not weary of bearing also with us, Thus we too learn patience, and receive strength for it out of His strength; thus do we learn to wait for His help, and patiently to hold fast the hope of His glorious coming (after Srock. MEYER.) 2. Cu. III. 6-16. He gives impressive directions as to the treatment of those, who will not desist from a pragmatical idleness. 6 Now [But]’ we command you, brethren, in the name of our? Lord Jesua Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh [ walking, περιπατοῦντος] disorderly, and not after the tradition [according to the instrue- 7 tion]* which he [they] * received of [from, παρά] us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow [imitate]° us; for we behaved not ourselves disorderly [were 8 not disorderly, οὐκ ἠτακτήσαμεν] among you; Neither did we eat any man’s bread [bread from any one, ἄρτον παρά twos] for nought, but wrought with labor and travail night and day [but in toil and travail, working night and day],° that 9 we might not be chargeable [burdensome]’ to any of you: Not because we have not power [authority],° but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to fol- low us [that we might give ourselves for a pattern unto you to imitate us]. For even [For also],'° when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any [any one] would [will, ϑέλει] not work, neither should he eat [let him eat, ἐσθιέτω]. For we hear that there are some which walk [hear of some walking, ἀκούομεν γάρ τινας περιπατοῦντας] among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies [being b., περιεργαζομένους]. Now them that are such [Now such, τοῖς δὲ τοιούτοις] we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ bo : in the L. J. C.J," that with quietness they work, and eat [working with quietness, they eat, μετὰ ἡσυχίας ἐργαζόμενοι... ἐσϑίωσιν] their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in” in well-doing. And if any man [But if any one, εἰ δέ τις] obey not our word by this epistle [the ep.],"° note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed [shamed].”* Yet [And]** count Aim not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now the Lord of peace Himself give [But may the Lord of peace Himself Give, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος... δῴη] you peace always by all means [in every way].’’ The Lord de with youall. ὁ 11 12 14 15 ly. 6.—[d¢. Revision: *©So far is it from being true, however, that the love of God and the patience of Christ ara Incompatible with the maintenance of a proper discipline, &c.”? Ordivarily, indeed, this δέ is regarded as merely pera Panter RO Sot Πμπηδβος, think it refers to ἃ mapayy. in v. 4 = Now the command I have to give you is—J. L.) - 6.—Only B. D.? E.! omit ἡμῶν ; the great majority of authorities have it; also. Sin. [It? - mann, and cancelled by Tischendort, ‘Alford, Ellicott.—J. Py , pe ee ae 3 V. 6.--ἰ[.κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν. See ch. ii. 9, Critical Note 22, and ch, ii. 15, Critical Note 7.—J. L.] _,4 ¥. 6.—The third person plural, if not genuine, would least of all have come b correction, presenting as it doesa slight inaccuracy of style ;-- παντός points to a plurality, and so the sequel treats of the ἀτάκτοις inthe plural. The Ree cepla παρέλαβε has scarcely any support at all; παρελάβετε [Lachmann] is given, indecd, by B. F. G., but obviously as a correction; we havo therefore to read either παρέλαβον (wilh Sin, Ὁ. EB. K. L., &c. [approved by Mill and edited b Bengel, Knapp, Scholz, Schott. —J. L.]), or still better παρελάβοσαν (with Sin.! A. D,! Griesbach, Tischendorf ‘Alford, Ὑοχθο ποία, Ellicott, &c.—J. L.]), the rarer (Alexandrian) form ; see Winer, § 13. 2; Rom. iii, 13; and the Septuagint Ἢ δ ae ee ; comp. 1 Thess. i. 6.—J. L.] + 8.-ἰἨ ἀλλ᾽ ἐν (Sin. : ἀλλὰ ἐν) κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ, VUKT ὶ ἡμέ; ἐ A - wisn suite hice τοὶ ἀλλὰ ἐν - peresi Χ ῳ, α καὶ ἡμέραν ἐργαζόμενοι. See foot-note to p. 162.—Lachmann ‘i δι oes in 1 ‘Thess. ii. 9.—J. L.] . 9.-- ἐξουσίαν. This word is rendered authority 29 times in our Common Version, and 3 i older, end in many modern, English Versions. Others have right.—J. L.J ee ee as Meare A CHAPTER II. 4-16. 155 9 V. 9.—[tva ἐαντοὺς τύπον (see 1 Thess. i. 7, Critical Note 7) δῶμεν ὑμῖν εἰς τὸ in huas.— 10 V.10.—[xat γάρ. Revision: “ And you cannot well doubt that euch eae cae ae ror τ ᾿ Ee did we inculcate this rule, but also by express precept.” TaEHES by correction.—J. L.] 1: by our exam« 1 Ellicott makes this γάρ “coordi i v.7” (so Liinemann), and finds here a “second confirmation of the wisdom and ie rere he ers γάρ that they ought to avoid those that were walking disorderly.”—The τοῦτο before παρηγγέλλομεν is wanting in Sin.!, Ὁ nce of the preceding apie ui . 12.—The reading, ἐν κυρ. "Ino. Xp. has the oldest authorities in its favor, A. B. Sin. D.1 E.! F. G., Versions jLachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, Ri; over the more usual with παρακαλεῖν, iggenbach]; the other, διὰ τοῦ κυρ. ἡμῶν "I. X. [Sin.? D.? E.? K. L.], is more- ly, a ἐκκακήσητε, Schott, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott, read éy- (Sin.) or é κακήσητε.---ὦ. 1. 15 Ψ 14.--[ἰτῆς ἐπιστολῆς ; Revision: ‘which I have just written, and which he will soon hear read.” Ellicott, however: ‘‘This, perhaps, may remain as one of the few cases iu which idi justi ΜΝ πὶ the pronomioal tpanelation ;᾽ as does likewise ἈΠ ΩΣ LJ idiom and euphony may justify us in retaining 14-V, 14.—The καί is wanting in A. B. Sin. D.? ἘΣ, [Lachmann], and with this is connected the fact, that nearly the same authorities give the infinitive συναναμίγνυσθαι [Lachmann]; many codd., to be sure, are constantl and e, as the Sin. also just before gives σημειοῦσθαι ; see the exposition, Ὁ 16 Ὑ, 14. --ἰ[866 1 Cor. iv. 14; and so Ellicott here.—J. L.] 16 V.15.—{xai. See the exposition.—J. 1,. d confounding as [Riggenbach brackets xai.—Jd. 4 J 17 V. 16.—[év παντὶ τρόπῳ. Comp. ch. ii. 3.—J.L.] The only suitable reading τρόπῳ is sufficiently supported by 4.38. Sin. D.* Εἰ. K. L., Versions and Fathers; τόπῳ (A.! Ὁ 1 Cor. i. 2, and was improperly favored by Beza and Grotius. «Ὁ I. G. [Vulgate] ) arose probably from such places ag [Lachmann alone edits it.—J. L.] The other various readings—v. 8, νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας, instead of νύκτα καὶ ἡμέμαν ; v.11, a different position of the word περιπατοῦντας ; V. 13, ἐνκακήσητε, instead of exx.—are of no consequence whatever to the sense. EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL. 1, (V. 6.) But we command you, &.—An adequate foundation having been laid, he comes now to speak of the matter specially in hand. The order is addressed to all the brethren, not, as OLSHAUSEN supposes, to the presbyters; THEODORET says merely, that the leaders of the Church must follow this rule. But the meaning of the Apostle is, in regard to all who are not themselves &raxro:—all on whom he can rely, ὅτι ποιεῖτε καὶ ποιήσετε, ὅσ. (v. 4)—now to tell them what they have to do.—In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is this command given ; as representing Him, standing in Him, we command, have confidence to do so; Curysostom: It is not we that say it, but the Lord speaks by us; He who has the right to enjoin, and the strength for execution ; equivalent to v. 12: in the Lord, or by the Lord ; for the Lord Himself and His name are inseparable. Again, ὑμᾶς is not the object of στέλλεσϑαι (this would not suit the middle voice), but the subject in the case of an accusative and intinitive; this occurs elsewhere only when the infinitive has a different accusative from the accusative or dative governed by the finite verb [comp. Acts i. 4 with 1 Cor. vii, 10] ; but here ὑμᾶς stands, because παραγγ. ὑμῖν is already somewhat too far removed from the infinitive. The expression oréAAcoSa: Hrsyenius explains by φο- βεῖσϑαι; ΤΗΒΟΡΟΚΕΤ by χωρίζεσσαι. “The idea starts from ἃ sensuous point of view: timidly to with- draw; hence: to be afraid ; 2 Cor. viii. 20, with τοῦτο ; but in Mal. ii. 6 Sept. with από, in the sense: to be in fear of. Here this meaning is not suitable, since he is not exhorting them to fear, but directing "a course of proceeding, the breaking off of intimate intercourse ; Gal. ii. 12, ὑπέστελλεν ἑαυτόν (because in this case the middle is not used; the ὑπ- implies secrecy*); akin to Rom. xvi. 17, ἐκκλίνατε ἀπ’ aitév.—F'rom every brother ; no such discipline is to be exercised towards those without (1 Cor. v. 11, 12), but only towards those who desire to be called brethren. According to Matt. xviii. 15 sqq. likewise a brother only is the object of Church dis- cipline.—Walking disorderly, and not accord- ing to the tradition [instruction] (ch. ii. 15) which they received from us, namely, the brethren, even those ἄτακτοι ; comp. 1 Thess. ii. 18, * (So Marrazas and OxrsHavsen explain ὑ πέστελλεν, whereas ExiicorT agrees with DE WETTE in regarding that rather ag the initial act, which led to the second—the sepa- tation.—J. Let ἢ iv. 1. The receiving was through the medium of oral instruction, and this was confirmed by example (v. 7). On the ἀτάκτως περιπ. see already at 1 Thess, iv. 11; v.14. Here as little as there does it denote a life altogether unregulated by Divine law, and utterly vicious; v. 11 shows that those are rather meant, who without any occupation bustled around in fanatical idleness. Before giving this more precise description of them, he prefixes a still more exact confirmation of his demands. Disorder, connected probably with eschatological excitement (ch, ii. 2), and with this Ewatp would also join a mistaken appeal to a fraternal community of goods (1 Thess. iv. 9-12), must with some at least have been on the increase, in spite of the Apostle’s ex- hortation. For this reason Paul, over against the tender, lenient words of the First Epistle, now ap- plies a second and sharper course of discipline. The point is, to act vigorously against the unreformed, in order to arrest the contagion, preserve the church, and, if possible, exert by means of the stronger measures a saving influence on the obstinate offend- ers themselves. 2. (Vv. 7-9.) For ye yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us (1 Thess. i. 6); ye know it by word and deed on our part; he thus justifies the reproach which he makes against them in regard to the παραδόσεις, by setting forth what they them- selves knew.—For we were not disorderly (without occupation) among you; he thus confirms the assertion: ye know ; we might also connect this, as well as πῶς, &c., and as an explanation of that, with οἴδατε: that we (that is to say) were not dis- orderly ;* so [Am. Bible Union] Hormann, who even (clumsily) makes v. 9 still governed by br1.— Neither did we eat bread from any one + for nought; for nought, as a gift [ALrorp: there seems to be an allusion in the construction to the original sense of Swpedy.—J, L.], without paying for it; he speaks humbly, as if Jabor in the gospel were no labor; that is the way, moreover, in which the worldly mind judges. It is a remark already of the Fathers, that it would net have been δωρεάν, had Paul even performed no raanual labor. [See Matt, x. 10; 1 Cor. xv. 10—J L.] Bread is the plair and main article of food; to eut bread, a Hebraism, od box (Gen. xliii, 25; Luke xiv. 1), eqaivalent *Exuicorr: “in that we behaved not disorderly.~ » Le.) ᾿ t |wapdé τινος. ὙΙΈΒΒΤΕΕ and Witkingon (uote the pre vincial English idiom : off any man.—J. Lj 156 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. to the simple ἐσθίειν (v. 10), Moreover, the Ger- man proverb also says: Whose bread I eat, &.— But working in toil and travail night and day [But in toil and travail, working night and day],* that is, we ate bread. _DE Werte would needlessly assume that the participle is used irregu- larly for the finite verb, or that ἦμεν is to be sup- plied, as at 2 Cor. vii. 5. Much more obvious in the present instance is the supplement ἐφάγομεν, so that ἐργαζόμ. form the antithesis to dwpedy.—That we might not be burdensome to any of you; comp. 1 Thess, ii. 9 sqq.—(What I mean is) not that, or still better: (We did this) not because we have not authority, that is, to live of the gospel, or here, τοῦ δωρεὰν ἄρτον φαγεῖν, as in 1 Cor. ix. 6, τοῦ μὴ ἐργάζεσϑαι ; comp. the discussion in 1 Cor. ix. 4-14; Luke x. 7, the laborer is worthy of his hire.—That we might give ourselves for a pattern unto you (1 Thess. i. 7) to imitate us; such was his object, comp. Acts xx. 36. Huineen- FELD will have it, that to give the churches in this way an example was merely the result of the apos- tolic labor, but could not be the original design, as the forger here asserts. But really one cannot see why the Apostle, who represents to us details of his life as providential, as in 1 Cor. i. 14, 15, might not much more readily say with perfect truth, that he had wished to train his churches also by his own ex- ample. 3. (V. 10.) For also when we were with you; in confirmation of the example he says: For indeed we also (καὶ γάρ [see Critical Note 107), when we were with you, commanded you that which our example showed you; command and example were harmonious, Ltnemann [ALForp] puts an improper emphasis on the τοῦτο, when he inter- prets thus: “For also this we commanded you Mis with what other things? This distinction of several commands is here altogether an interpolation, and is besides contradicted by the verbal arrangement. Were we required by καί to seek for some other antithesis than the one indicated by us, it would be far more proper to understand the matter with Hor- aaNN thus: For even when we were with you, already at that time, we commanded you ; we do not now for the first time lay upon you a new yoke. At all events we perceive that already at his first visit Paul with keen pastoral insight saw the necessity of the warning. We commanded you, he speaks in the imperfect; this was our repeated order: that, if any one will not work, neither let him eat; if one would not work, as well as the Apostle who did double work, he did not at all deserve that food should be given him, If one will not, although he could; no reproach is cast on ‘those unable to work δ nolle vitium est, says Beneet, The word is a pro- verbial sentence, to which Grotius and Wertstsin adduce many parallels from the Greeks and Rabbins, We are not at ἐσθίειν to think in the first instance of the Holy Supper. 4. (Vv. 11, 12). For we hear, &.—Paul ex. plains why the command (vy. 10) was given.—Of * [Higennace’s construction is the more common 3 but the othor, “ which makes ἐν κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ the positive com- plement, in opposition to δωρεάν, of ἄρτον ἐφάγομεν, and then adds νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν ἐργαζόμενοι as an explanatory arallel ᾽᾽ (Revision), is adopted by the Dutch Version, Dz VETTE, WINER, ConyBEARE, Exuicorr, Am. Bible Union, and others. Exuicorr: “The emphatic position of δωρεάν 2 age Suggests the sharper antithesis, which the sepa- tation of the members here seems to introduce.’—J. 1,.] some (not many, but even ἃ few are ἃ hurtful leaven, 1 Cor. v. 6) walking among you dix orderly; this is now explained, and that in an earnest. word-play, already imitated by Zwineur in the Swiss dialect: Sy thund niit und thund zuvil [They do nothing, and do too much.—J. L.]; Can VIN: nihil operis agentes, sed curiose satagentes ; Ewap: nicht arbeit treibend, sondern sich herum treibend.* The περιεργάζεσϑαι is, in fact, the phan. tom of a dutiful ἐργάζεσϑαι ; the giving up of one’s self to idle roving, to aimless bustle, to by-matterg and other people’s concerns, with which we have properly nothing to do; instead of, as we ought, τὰ ἴδια πράσσειν (1 Thess. iv. 11). The adjective περίεργος is found 1 Tim. v. 13; comp. Acts xix. 19, τὰ περίεργα πράσσειν. Thus already in that time of freshest life there appeared this frivolous humor under the pretext of activity for the kingdom of God. A further stage of degeneracy is afterwards described in Phil. iii, 19; Rom. xvi. 18—Now such (those who are of this sort) we command ; addressing himself, though indirectly and in the third person, to those very persons; it was to be expected that all would be present at the reading of the letter (1 Thess. v, 25), and that no one would avoid listening to it. He at once softens his lan. guage, and speaks still in a more kindly tone, as he also requires at v.15: and exhort; αὐτούς is now to be taken out of the dative τοιούτοις, by an obvi ous zeugma: in the Lord Jesus Christ; in Him our exhortation has its strength. If we read διά, then it is: by means of Him, while we avail our. selves of His name, and by His sacred person give impressiveness to our words: as you love the Lord Jesus, and fellowship with Him. The subject of the exhortation is expressed in the form of the object : that working with quietness they eat theiz own bread; ἡσυχία, comp. ἡσυχάζειν, 1 Thess, iv, 11, denotes rest, inward composure, retiredness, and avoidance of show, and stands opposed to περιεργά- ζεσϑαι; their own bread, that is honestly earned, obtained by faithful and diligent labor with God’s blessing, not begged bread, implies therefore épyd¢, and stands in opposition to the δωρεάν of v. 8. 5. (v. 13.) But ye, brethren; he thus turns Once more to those free from blame, and them only he accosts with cordial address.—Be not Weary, dispirited (2 Cor. iv. 1, 16); in all the New Testa ment instances we find the variation ἐγκακεῖν (writ- ten also ἐνκακεῖν) given by the oldest authorities, instead of ἐκκακεῖν, The sense, as developed by Passow, is at the most according to the etymological genesis slightly different (to be cowardly in anything, or to turn out cowardlu),+ but in the end both come to the same thing; ἐκκακεῖν not being common else- where, the copyists probably introduced their tamiliar éyx.—Become not disheartened in well-doing. Catvin, Esrivs, Pet, Dr Werte, Ewautp, Von GrrLacu, and most others, refer the word to benefi- cence, and without question this thought would suit very well. That is to say, the Apostle, having in ¥ * [Esrrus: “ Quasi dicas, nthil operantes, sed circumope- rantes.’? Rozinson: “Doing nothing, but over-doing; not busy in work, but busy-bodies.” “ConyBrare: ἴ Busy bodies who do no business; JowErr: « busy only with what is not their own business 3” WEBSTER and Winky: son : “ working nothing but overworking.”—J, L.] t (Exxicorr, on Gal. vi. 9: “If éxran. exist, the differs ence will be very slight; ἐκκακεῖν may perhaps mean ‘tc retire from fear oul of any course of action’ (nearly ἀποκα- at i, fypageiy, ‘to behave cowardly,’ ‘ to lose heart,’ when CHAPTER III. 6-16. 157 10 forbidden a mistaken almsgiving, now glances also at the opposite danger. After many disturbing, discouraging experiences of dishonesty, unworthi- ness, sloth, abuse of kindnesses, it is necessary to check the growth of displeasure and distrust, lest those who are in real distress should have to suffer innocently. CHRysostom even remarks particularly, that Paul’s meaning is that the idle should be pun- ished, but not left to famish; Turovorer: Bodily support is not to be withdrawn from the delinquents, any more than from sick members; others: They should be dealt with patiently, till they are trained to selfdependence. But Grotius, Bencer, Riraxr, Otsuausen, Linemann, Hormann [ALrorp, Worps- wortu, Exiicotr], properly object, that the meaning of καλοποιεῖν is wider and more comprehensive, namely, to act honorably ; ΤΙΌΝΕΜΑΝΝ : as is right and proper ; Bence. : bene facientes, etiam m industria ; comp. Gal. vi. 9; and in our Epistle substantially ch. i. 11,; ii. 17. The same expositors, however, do again partially restrict the meaning in another way. Linemann thinks that, since v. 14 shows that the discourse still turns on the same theme, we are to understand it thus: Be not discouraged, but per- sist in not allowing yourselves to be tainted by the evil example. Hormann finds this too exclusively negative, and therefore takes the more exact defini- tion this way: Become not weary in doing what is befitting, whatever, that is, conduces to the welfare of the moral community. To this we are able to assent, only with the remark, that we understand the phrase as comprehensively as possible—as including, therefore, both their own unblamable walk, steady, loving, earnest discipline (vv. 14, 15), and also a due beneficence. Suffer not yourselves by any means to become weary in the performance of your duty; act in every way as followers of God (Matt. v. 45; SraRke). [Lectures: After the solemn command and ex- hortation in the 12th verse to the idlers, the Apostle immediately turns round again to the sound portion of the church, and seeks first, before proceeding with his disciplinary instructions, to confirm them in their more consistent course. But ye, brethren, whatever others may do, and great as are your discourage- ments within the church, as well as from without, be not weary in doing what is right. Unaffected by these examples of a restless fanaticism and ignoble indolence, do still as you have done hitherto, Lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and hon- esty. And, in particular, see to it that nothing in your own opinions or sentiments be suffered to inter- cupt the diligent prosecution of your lawful callings. —J,.L.] Wisely, plainly, in few words, Paul says whatever is needful in all directions. 6. (Vv. 14, 15.) But if any one obey not, &c.—What has just been said is not to be understood in the sense of a spurious complaisance that does not do what is really good. Paul speaks with the au- thority of truth, though not so strongly moved, be- tause the case is not so frightful, as in 1 Cor. v. 1-5, The words διὰ τῆς ἐπιστ. are annexed by [Erasmus] Carvin, Lurner, Grorivs, Beneet, Pett [the Eng- lish margin], and others, to what follows. LurTuEr: Note that man by a letter ; aud WINER as late as the 6th edition (18. 9, Note 8) marks this as at least a possible interpretation, But Orsaausen, De Wertz, Linewann, Ewatp, Hormann [and most others] are with reason opposed to it, and connect the words (as s already done by Curysostom, THEoPHYLACT, Brza) with what precedes, here are these objections to the first-mentioned interpretation: 1. The article διὰ vis ἐπ. (wanting only in F, G.) is not naturally explained ; Winer’s account of it: in the letter which you have then to write, which I then hope to receive from you, is certainly too artificial ; and thia the more 80, because 2. διὰ τῆς ἐπ. from its promi. nent position would have an altogether unaccount- able emphasis, But again, 8. the middle σημειοῦσϑε would not be very suitable, since ἡμῖν might rather have been expected. And lastly, 4, as to the matter itself, it would be very strange, that Paul shonld have kept the churches in such a state of depend- ence, as to require an epistolary record of every offender, as if it were necessary that he should pro. nounce or at least sanction the punishrnent. Von Grrtacu thinks that this happens only on account of the newness and inexperience of the church, Still what a paralysis of all self-dependence would this have involved! How difficult also would it have been even to comply with the injunction, since Paul certainly was not stationary always in the same place. And having just told them how they were to proceed, is it to be supposed that he again takes the matter out of their hand? he, who in a far worse case reproaches the Corinthians for not having them selves interfered (1 Cor. v. 2)? Everything, then, concurs against this explanation, But that of Ben ceL and Petr is not tenable: By means of this letter (this very Second Epistle to the Thessalonians), rely- ing on it, holding it forth to him, proceed against him; ΒΈΝΘΕΙ, : notate (hunc) nota censoria ; but this is not at all the import of σημειοῦσϑε. Accord- ingly, διὰ τῆς ἐπιστ. must be closely connected with τῷ λόγῳ ἡμῶν, although the article τῷ is not repeat. ed; it might be omitted (Winer, § 20. 2), because the whole from τῷ to émor. forms together but one idea, ‘H ἐπιστ. is the present Second Epistle, as in 1 Thess. v. 27 it is the First. Hence: If any one obey not our word announced to him by the reading of this Epistle (especially vv. 10, 12); or (Linz. MANN): my command renewed by means of this Epistle; that man onucotcse. This word in the middle signifies, to note for one’s self ; it is used of physicians who mark the symptums of disease; also of grammarians who make remarks: σεμείωσαι, note this, Hence: Note him for yourselves, mark him down, as one to be avoided. BzxerL compares the synonymous παραδειγματίζειν ; Curysostom adds as a statement of the object: that he may not remain hidden, The meaning is not simply: “Make him known by all withdrawing from him ;” but: “ Point him out by an agreement in the church, in order that this may be done.” The sense is essentially the same, whether we read καὶ μὴ ovvavoplyvuose, or μὴ συναναμίγνυσϑαι (the latter reading is perhaps to be explained by the influence of 1 Cor. v. 9, 11). The passage runs more correctly, if we read: Mar him for yourselves in order μὴ συναναμίγνυσϑαι, &e., καὶ μὴ ὡς ἐχϑρὸν ἡγεῖσϑε, without αὐτόν, be- cause here likewise belongs still the previous τοῦτον whereas the omission is not so natural, if a separate imperative with the dative has intervened, Still this is far from being conclusive. With the other read- ing the inaccuracy is not greater than perhaps at v. 12.* The Apostle’s command is, not to mix them- selves up, that is, to have no dealings, with such a one, to cultivate no fraternal intercourse with him. *1The two cases are by no means parallel, and iy neither case can the construction properly be called inaccu rate.—J. L.] 158 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. It is essentially the same as had already been en- joined in v. 6, στέλλεσϑαι ὑμᾶς ἀπό, &c.; except only that what was there indicated as the act of indi- viduals appears in this instance to be a general pro- ceeding of the great majority; if nearly all did so, and that by agreement, it was no longer an act merely of individual members, but of the churcb, The design of it was: that he may be shamed ; Ewan: that he may repent and reform. The active is found at 1 Cor. iv. 14; here we have the passive not middle), as in Tit. ii, 8; the middle with τινά Ks classical Greek, τινός) signifies, to regard one, Sear him (Luke xviii. 2). The passive, on the other hand, will mean: that he may be brought to the point of turning in upon himself; that he may be led by disapprobation to a knowledge of himselfi— And count fim not as an enemy ; that is to say, as an enemy of God and the church; ὡς might be dispensed with; it makes more strongly prominent the subjective side of the conception [Euurcorr: “@s being used (here almost pleonastically ...) to mark the aspect in which he was not to be re- garded.”—J. i} and is indeed a Hebraism, comp. 3 20 Π, Sept. ἦγ. ὥσπερ (Job xix. 11). The con- nection with what precedes is made by καί, not δέ, No doubt, καί like the Hebrew Ἢ frequently serves for a connection that is loose in form, while yet really marking opposition. But here it is still more simple to understand Paul as having in his eye as the main exhortation what follows ἀλλά, and as merely in the first instance removing with μὴ ὡς, &c. what might stand in the way of wholesome ad- monition. [Exiicorr: “xaf..., with its usual and proper force, subjoins to the previous exhortation a further one that was fully compatible with it, and in fact tended to show the real principle on which the command was given: it was not punitive, but cor- rective.” Jvevision: ‘That the moral result aimed at (ἵνα ἐντραπῇ) may not be hindered, this, of course, must be the spirit and style of your discipline: count him not,” &c.—J. 1.1 Accordingly: Admonish him as a brother; comp. 1 Thess. v. 12; prop- erly: set his mind right. THEOPHYLACT: vouSerety is not ὀνειδίζειν. The Apostle immediately repeats his warning against an excess of human severity. Due admonition belongs to brotherly love (Lev. xix. 17). Inconceivably capricious is the assertion of HILGeyrexp (p. 262), that disorderly idlers did not attain to this superior importance until the rise of Christian heresy, or that the later writer endows mere idlers with the features of error in Christian doctrine. But in truth there is not in the text a sin- gle hint of this sort. For it would be a groundless and arbitrary abuse of ch. ii, 4, 7, to regard it as a proof of the heretical character of the ἀτάκτως περιπατοῦντες. Thus too we lose the instructive fact, that Paul already expresses himself with whole. some rigor against things, which we perhaps judge too loosely. 7. (V. 16.) But may the Lord, &c.—This closing prayer is the fourth solemn desire in this short Epistle; Paul is full of prayer and supplica- tion, The turn of the phrase is the same as in 1 Thess, iii. 11; v. 23; 2 Thess. ii. 16. In opposition to your doing, the Lord Himself must show you and impart to you what is right. In 1 Thess. v. 23 the word is: ὁ Sebs τῆς eip.; but here: the Lord of veace ; and that is not the Father, as Wersrrin thinks, and Hiicenreiy, who sees therein a trace of souriousness | but Christ, who has this peace, and authority to dispense it, the Prince of peace (18, ix 5 [6]; John xiv. 27; xx. 19 sqq.) Why should it not have been just as possible for Paul to call Him 80, as κύριος τῆς δόξης (1 Cor. ii. 8)?—Give you peace; that is something greater than merely agree. ment amongst yourselves, though the taming of the refractory (CALViN) is included in it, But, in par- ticular, the article shows that we are here to under. stand peace in the whole compass of its meaning— everything pertaining to it—above all, peace with God, inviolate life and salvation, and the full, joyful sense of that; finally, a peace that overspreads the entire world. Linemann remarks, as THEODORET before him, that to wish one peace at the conclusion of letters is the Christian modification of %pwode.— , May He give you this always (so διὰ παντός is to be understood likewise at Rom. xi. 10) in every way; comp. Phil. i. 18, παντὶ τρόπῳ without év; the import of the last phrase is: i every sense, and therefore to a larger extent than simply in the last- mentioned relatidns; this thought is given with specifications in 1 Thess. v. 28. He concludes in the briefest style with the benediction: The Lord be with you all; therefore also with the erring. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. (Vv. 7-9.) On the manual labor of the Apos- tle, see at 1 Thess. ii. 9, the Doctrinal and Ethical Note 6. There the question is primarily about obvi- ating suspicion, as if he sought his own profit; here he completes what was there said with the positive consideration, that his aim in that matter had also been to train them by his example to Christian dili- gence. In the preacher everything preaches, says Harms; and many things are better taught by ex- ample than by word. Paul clearly recognizes the right of preachers of the gospel to be paid; but in his Gentile mission he ordinarily waived it, that he might be burdensome to no one, keep no one by it from the gospel, avoid even the appearance of self: ishness (I seek not yours, but you, 2 Cor, xii. 14), and make the gospel without charge (1 Cor. ix. 18; 2 Cor, xi. 7), so that it should appear as really a gift of free grace. It is still in our day a surprise to the heathen, when missionaries do not like merchants seek for gain amongst them. The Apostle thus con tinued free from a dependence injurious to the gos pel, kept under his body (1 Cor. ix. 29), and gave the churches an example of industry in union with. godliness. His conduct formed a very marked con- trast to the proud Roman contempt for manual labor, and is also a rare instance of a Divinely refreshed elasticity of spirit. It is a great thing so to walk, that the appeal can be made to the glory of God: Imitate us, It is important tbat the pastor and his house should in all respects preach also to the eye, and should feel a joy in setting an example. This requires a self-discipline, before which arrogance dis- appears. The last and highest point no doubt is: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ ” (1 Cor, xi. 1). 2, (Vv. 10-18.) Here the Apostle states the principles of a sound Christian support of the poor (comp. on 1 Thess. iv. 10, 11, and 12, Doctrinal and Ethical Notes 4-6), The rule in v. 10 goes back to the primary command in Gen, iii, 19, that curse which yet is equally a blessing (Ps, exxviii. 2), and which is not to be hastily set aside under a pretence of spirituality, but in fact through fleshly indulgence CHAPTER ΠΙ. 6-16, 159 and sloth, An excitement that does not go deep easily brings with it such disdain of outward activity, that a person fancies himself raised in heavenly rap- ture above labor, almost as if it were dishonorable. Here, then, the test is very soberly applied: Art thou raised also above eating? like the angels (Brn- GEL)? In the Old Testament, especially the Prov- erbs (comp. also Ps. xxxvii. 21), industry is more largely spoken of; in the New Testament the heav- enly calling preponderates, but this, wherever it ig necessary, with a very plain and sober protest against misapprehension and abuse. The gospel cannot be degraded into a mere hod-carrier for civil uses, but no less does it repel all such noxious perversity as would bring 1. an unmerited reproach on Divine truth, and 2, damage to the heart of the erring themselves, a sore recovery from a brief debauch, God, it is true, cares for the birds and the lilies, but for them according to the nature of birds and lilies, and for men, in the way that is good for men. In our text the sharpest discipline is appointed for idle- ness, even of the refined, seemingly pious sort: it is to reap its natural fruit, namely, want and hunger. So then, you are to work ; not all with your hands; head-work also is work. Even those who give should observe the principle of v. 10, and not by an im- proper bestowal of charity out of their own or the public means injure the recipient, and confirm him in his sin. Alms is ἐλεημοσύνη, but it is an evil tenderness, to foster an immoral mendicity. What a repudiation is there in our passage of the mendicant orders, who made their τάξις to consist in living ἀτάκτωςϊ Bence inquires: What would Paul have said to such vows not to mention that such beg- gars affect to be the greatest saints. The dignity of the individual, and inevitably also his religious inde- pendence, are depressed and enslaved by the enjoy- ment of alms received in indolence. A different thing is innocent poverty; as a Divine humiliation, it may exert a salutary influence. SrocKMEYER: The Apostle does not say that whoever does not work shall not eat. That were harsh and unmerci- ful. For many a man does not work, who yet should eat; the old, who have passed their life in labor, and whose strength for labor has thus been exhausted, these have an honorable place reserved for them at the table of the prosperous; those in like manner, who through bodily or mental infirmity are incapacitated for work, have a free seat at the table of love ; and, lastly, such as would fain labor, but just at present they find no work; they them- selves beg: “Give us not bread, give us work; we desire to eat our own bread ;” to them work should be given, but, until that is found, they should not be left to perish. Only to those who will not work does the Apostle’s injunction apply. There is no reason to fear that any one will thus die of hunger. Before it comes to that, hunger will drive to labor, and for the idler that is the greatest kindness, indeed his salvation. To give blindly, wherever we are applied to, is frequently to do, not a favor, but an injury, It is true, however, that little is done by merely turning away from the idler, and regarding ag an enemy of society. He is still a brother, though an erring one, who deserves to be shamed and censured in earnest (v. 15), and, if we are not Yet at liberty to open to him the liberal hand, we are not to refuse him the hind of brotherly compassion, that seeks to lead him in the right way.—Amongst those who are suffered to eat, without having to work, children also are to be numbered ; not, how- ever, the rich. STOCKMEYER explains how the bless. ing of a quiet, orderly condition becomes ours oniy through faithful, unassuming labor, Many persons, indeed, are so burdened with work, that we might well desire for them more leisure for the tranquil culture of the inner man. Still, less depends on freedom in that respect, than on the right direction of the heart. And when labor itself exerts a whole. some influence on the soul of man, it leads it from dissipation into a state of collectedness, from caprice to orderliness, from bustle to calmness, so that in- deed during labor it finds time for self-introspection, and for sanctifying and strengthening itself in look ing upwards to God. Idleness, on the other hand, has precisely the opposite effect. Though the body enjoys a lazy quiet, the spirit roves the more rest- lessly to and fro, and becomes the prey of the most unregulated thoughts and desires, And then there is work of the most various kinds, from the cultiva- tion of the soil into fruitful fields, on through all the relations of life, to the culture of man’s spirit and heart itself. In this task every one should be inter. ested, every one on his part by orderly activity con- tributing to the good of the whole. Those, there- fore, to whose lot wealth has fallen, without their having needed to earn it, have before men a certain right to eat their bread even without labor; but not before God, if they would be His good stewards, nor yet before themselves, if they desire their own profit. This must be urgently impressed on their heart: Find work for yourselves along with your bread ; if you have no need to work for yourselves, work for others, work for the general good; only then will the blessing rest on your bread.—Amidst the many disappointments which one experiences in intercourse with the indigent, it may become a diffi- cult thing for the naturally selfish heart to preserve its love. It must be made a matter of earnest study, to be evermore a cheerful giver. But on the whole (SrockMEYER) there is so much to make us weary in well-doing. Sometimes it seems to us that the work required of us is really too much; sometimes it seems to be as it were in vain, and crowned with no result ; sometimes even, instead of encouragement, we meet with nothing but misconception and ingrati- tude. But how is it that the Apostle can forbid us to become weary? We become so without wishing to do so. Yes, but one may wish to get the better of his weariness, and in this we are aided by the fountain of refreshment and strength, to which we are pointed in that reference to the love of God which appoints unto us an eternal Sabbath, and to the patience of Christ, who had to experience still greater ingratitude, and seemed to labor with even less result, than we (v. 5). 8. (Vv. 6, 11, 14, 15.) The injunction here given by the Apostle is, after the extraordinary judgment on Ananias and Sapphira, and the penal sentence on Simon the sorcerer, the first example of Church die cipline. It is the more worthy of notice on account of the Apostle’s subjecting to it an error, which we probably should not have regarded so seriously, With a keen spiritual insight he practises the prin- cipiis obsta, as in 1 Cor. xi. 3 sqq. 5 where he resistd with such marked emphasis the first stirrings of a Women’s Emancipation. On Church discipline comp. Gover’s Report in the Swiss Reformed Preachers! Association at Neuenburg, 1850, and Fapri on Kirchenzucht im Sinn und Geist des Hvangeliums, Stuttgard, 1854, Both agree in proving Church dis cipline of a genuine and thoroughly evangelical kind 160 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. to be an act of severity proceeding from love, and in recognizing in the historical development of excom- munication a very unevangelical penalty, and one rather befitting the police. Both incline somewhat too much towards reducing all Church discipline to a cure of souls, The ground-text from which they properly start is Matt, xviii. 15 sqq. As we are to give no offence to our neighbors (v. 6 sqq.), 80 just as little are we to sin against them by neglecting to admonish them. It is a brother who is liable to cen- sure. If he will be a Christian, and still persists in a sin that is inconsistent with his Christian profession, he should be convicted of this contradiction, first privately, and, if that does not avail, then by taking with us one or two witnesses. Neither in the case of the first complainant, nor of these further wit- nesses, is there any assertion of the need of an offi- cial character. Only they must be Christians, whose hearts are affected by the injury done to the Chris- tian calling. If again he hear not the two or three, then tell it to the Church,—her, namely, whose estab- lishment and invincibleness were spoken of in ch. xvi. 18. And if he hear not the Church also, let him be to thee as a heathen and a publican. In the earlier stages a protest was made from his confes- sion against his sin, but now it is from his sin, since he will not forsake it, against his confession. Let him be to thee as a heathen, that is, to thee, the first complainant; nor is this to be at once generalized. But certainly there is now further connected here- with a promise given by the Lord to His disciples, that whatever they bind or loose on earth shall be ratified likewise in heaven. They have made God’s cause theirs; God now makes their cause His; and, if they have no other weapons than the prayers of two or three gathered together in the name of Jesus, He will hear their prayers, and will cause the bind- ing and loosing to act with power. In 1 Cor. ν. we meet with a case, in which Paul teproaches the church for not having taken measures against a peculiarly grievous scandal. There too he by no means makes the office-bearers especially re- sponsible. There too the man, whom discipline should have reached, is one who desires to pass for a brother, and nevertheless holds fast stubbornly to his sin (v.11). In that instance Paul omits the first and second exhortations, because in a notoriously bad case these were no longer admissible. But he insists that the church, to be free from participation in the guilt, should have broken off all intercourse with the impenitent sinner (vv. 9, 11); and he fur- ther declares, by virtue of his apostolic authority, yet in such a way that it appears to be the rule which the Corinthians should have executed, that he delivers that wicked person unto Satan; he does not mean, to damnation, but, if possible, for salvation, namely, for the destruction of the flesh, to a bodily disease, or some such trial, that the spirit may be saved (v.5; comp. 1 Tim. i. 20 [1 Cor. xi. 30]). The suspension of intercourse answers to the word, let him be to thee as a heathen and a publican ; the delivery to Satan, on the other hand, is a special mode of binding, and is effected through the prayer of faith, invoking, when necessary, a terrible punish- ment as a means of salutary discipline. This, of course, can be imitated in a very evil and fleshly style; but however often fanatical priests may have practised such an abuse, this does not annul the legitimate use, that keeps within the limits of the word and spirit of Scripture. Men are required, who really have the Spirit (John xx. 22, 28), or who pray sincerely in the name of Jesus (Matt. xv.ii, 19, 20); only such can practise especially thie extrema measure. And then it is just as important, not to neglect a timely restoration ; a8 the Apostle sets ug the example, when he will not allow that the un- happy man be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow, and so destroyed by Satan (2 Cor. ii. 7, 11). In Thessalonica the question was not about any- thing so unusually wicked, as there in Corinth. For this reason, there is as yet in the meanwhile no men. tion of a delivery to Satan, but simply of the rup. ture of brotherly intimacy. As ΒΕΝΟΡΙ, says, the affair was a labes que non nisi lautas animas tentat, And therefore the offenders here are not to be re garded as publicans and heathens, but as brethren who must be admonished, and who accordingly must even be told what there is against them. They must be dealt with as diseased, not as amputated, mem- bers, It bas been asked whether in the suspension of brotherly intercourse, which according to 1 Cor. τ. 11 was a refusal to eat together, carried with it an exclusion from the Holy Supper. Gover will not admit of the inference, that, if not even ordinary fellowship at table was granted to him, then much less was the Supper; this he thinks not at all self evident, the first being a matter of personal allow- ance, the second not so. But the distinction is per- haps too nice, and for the apostolic age especially untenable. A publican or a heathen might be pres- ent at the preaching of the word, but he had no part in the fraternal repast. The shrine of the covenant was for no one who was delivered unto Satan. Nor indeed was the Supper at that time observed as a separate act of worship; it formed the conclusion of the love-feast or agape, and the two together were called δεῖπνον xvpiaxdy If the one half of this was refused, then, of course, so was the other. On this point, therefore, Fasri also does not agree with GopEet. What most readily admits still of a doubt in our passage is, how far the discipline reached, since it is here said expressly: not as an enemy, but as a brother admonish him, At any rate, however, the apostolic writings do not anticipate an insolent demand for the Supper on the part of those under censure, but repentance unto life. Then as to the manner in which the church de clares itself, that is not, it is true, clearly defined. When Jesus says: Should he not hear the church, the church must have found some way of expressing its mind. The mode is left undetermined ; but our passage shows that, as soon as the church as a whole, or by a large majority, obeyed the word of the Apos- tle, the στέλλεσθαι, an individual affair in the first instance, came to be a σημειοῦσϑαι on the part of the church. Because nowadays we do not generally have churches, that could in this way harmoniously express themselves in the Spirit of the Lord, we are not at liberty to deny the existence of such a state of things even in the apostolic age. At present there may be no possibility of anything much be- yond the private care of souls; but this does not prove that church discipline is essentially nothin but the private care of souls. Nor is the design of it by any means solely the reformation of the otfend- er. When the Basle Confession says: es bannet die christenliche Kylch nit dann umb Besserung evillen [the Christian Church does not excommunicate for the sake of amendment], it also supplements thie onesidedness by exhibiting the other object: damé. die Kilch jr Gestalt sovil méglich on Mastn (ohne CHAPTER III. 6-16. 161 Flecken) behalte [that the Church may preserve its aspect as free from blemishes as ipoasblel. In other words, the restoration of the erring person is cer- tainly the first thing aimed at by the genuine ear- nestness of love; but whether he repents or not, it is just as important to save the church from a spread- ing scandal, and the church conscience from moral stupefaction ; and not less so, finally, is the removal of any such stain as would imperil the outward mis- sionary calling of the church (1 Cor. v. 1; x. 32). Discipline, therefore, contemplates something beyond the mere influence on individuals. It is, as Nivzscu says, a judicial act. So it is understood likewise in the Articles of Schmalkald, III. 9, where the lesser excommunication is very briefly spoken of, for the purpose, chiefly, of pressing the distinction between it and civil penalties; and just so in the Heidelberg Catechism, Quest. 85. How is it with us to-day? By a manifold un- christian banning and cursing; by an admixture of civil penalties, of such, in particular, as by disgrac- ing exasperated; and by a wicked distinction of classes, there has so much damage been done to the practice of ecclesiastical discipline, that a zealous rigorism, which would reéstablish the old methods, has here the least possible prospect of any result whatever. But, while in our circumstances the set- ting aside of an unevangelical Church police merits the highest approval, it is not so with the wide- spread relaxation of all discipline, and the resent- ment of many against whatever looks like it. When an officer of Berne was required to see that his sol- diers, after a night riotously passed in drinking and whoring, were on the next morning without any rebuke whatever ordered to the Holy Supper, it is conceivable that the wounded conscience might be driven even to separation, And yet it is not said that this expedient was the right one. But a pri- vate proceeding, which without arrogance testifies an unwillingness to be made a partaker of another’s guilt through intercourse with the sinner, as if we favored his sin (2 Jolm 10, 11), that is the duty in- cumbent first of all on the individual. It will be blessed, the more one is willing to suffer for the truth, The στέλλεσϑαι, performed by one or a few, when many are not yet ripe for it, is an act of fidel- ity to the apostolic word; and a prayer of two or three has in this case a special promise from the Lord. Roos: The directions are left still standing in the Bible, if peradventure it may be possible for small societies here and there to make use of them ; and we wait for better times, when their use will be more complete and general. 4, (V. 16.) Roos: When animosity was mingled with exhortation, or self-willed people despised it, it might produce discord. Paul therefore wishes for them peace in the heart, in the family, and the church; peace with the Lord, with their stumbling brethren, and also, so far as possible, with those without.—Not by covering up what is evil, but by overcoming it, is true peace to be obtained. The sin that troubles it must be extinguished. But that we should have to contend with our neighbors should not cease, however necessary it may be, to be pain- ful to us, Peace must ever be our aim. A cheerful warfare in the spirit of peace only the Lord of peace can give, HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL. V. 6 sqq. in connection with v. 5. Roos: A 11 directing of the heart into the love of God is neces- sary, when we are to denounce something that ia opposed to the glory of God, and abolish it in our. selves or others; and a directing of the heart into the patience of Christ is necessary, if, according to me injunction in v. 15, zeal is not to be carried too ‘ar. Vv. 6. Disorder may arise in the best clurches.— Berl. Bib. ᾿ To command in the name of Jesus Christ requires the humility and long-suffering of Jesus, Catvin: Those live disorderly, who reflect not on the end of their creation; those orderly, who walk according to the commandments of God. Roos: These people were not idle, but they did not attend to their own business, but meddled with the affairs of others, and so did not maintain tne neces. sary quietness. Their work, accordingly, was no work, but a restless occupation that was troublesome to others. They ran around (Dixpricn) in restless. ness, excitement, inaction, and eccentricity.—CaLVIN calls such sponging drones.—Hevusyer: If one found no companions, that of itself must be an end of hia enjoyment, Vv. 7-9. Carvin: Our teaching has much more weight, when we lay no burden on others but what we bear ourselves.—Curysostom: Talking is easy for every one ; the difficulty is in acting, when there is need for it—Hxunyer: A position of high con- sideration often misleads into taking undue liberties, —Dirprico: (The Apostle acted thus) that they might see, that a Christian should work and earn his own bread.—Mental iabor is by many not reckowed to be really labor.—Carvin; All men are not so reasonable, as to acknowledge what is due to a min- ister of the word; many grudge them their living, as if they were idlers.—Paul insists on the right, but shows them (Drepricu) that he would rather do double work, than accept of a gratuitous support.— Heuspyer: The common maxim is: I do not put myself to inconvenience for the sake of others— Tue same: True freedom restricts itself. V. 10. Hxusyer: Every morsel admonishes : Dost thou deserve to taste ? Vv. 11, 12. Περιεργάζεσϑαι is in French: faire des riens,—Dirpricu ; Such fanatical, labor-shirking folks fancy that they are beyond all others zealous, pious, and holy. At such fanaticism weak people are accustomed readily to stare.—Sranriin: It is sinful indolence, when one does not Christianly labor in an honorable calling. But that calling is honor- able, which in itself is not displeasing to God, nor scandalous to our neighbor, but in which we are led by God to stand, and to which we are permitted to ask His assistance. Idleness and Christianity do not agree. The more pious the Christian, the more dili- gent the worker.—Srarke: He who without neces- sity eats other people’s bread is no better than a thief—Dreprica: Our glory and our heavenly treas- ure we have within; we can therefore perform all outward labor, and should do so willingly, that we may serve our time by what is temporal. They who belong to the eternal Lord should not beg or steal what is temporal, Thus (in such a seemingly lowly way) will God perfect us for the highest glory. ἢ aoe A slotbful man is a scandal to any soci- ety, but most to a religious society. —Lectures : What a practical, reasonable, orderly thing Christian- ity is! It would have every man at work—at work of some kind—and every man at his own work.— Tur saME: And eat their own bread! How often 162 SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. has that one noble phrase quickened the pulse, and nerved the arm, of honest industry! It has done more for the poor of Christendom, in Prot- estant countries at least, than all the devices of philanthropy and all the provisions of law.— J. L. V 18. Zwinerr: Many call those good works, which are not at all good. Nothing is good, but what comes from God.—Dreprich: Become not weary in this good way of a sober, discreet walk.— Roos: (Paul’s wish is that) they should not drive this precept (vv. 10-12) too far, and, if those breth- ren should perhaps be unable fully to earn their own bread, they are not to be reluctant to help them.— Curysostom: It is not the giving, but the miscon- duct of the beggar, that should cause us pain.— Berl. Bib. : Fret not thyself because of evil-doers (Ps. xxxvii, 1, 8).—Rieeer: The Apostle had frequent occasion to warn against despondency (2 Cor. iv. 1, 16; Gal, vi. 9; Eph. iii, 18). Vv. 14, 15. Apostolic Church discipline presup poses genuine churches, wherein the rule of God's word is recognized, and those who have the Spirit decide. Curysostom already bewails the decay of discipline-—Roos: Paul demands obedience, and hints at still greater severity. He writes at one time mildly, at another sharply, according to the exigen- cies of persons and cases as they occurred. He de- sires to draw the upright Thessalonians also into fel- ‘owship in his zeal.—Church discipline should not merely exclude gross scorners, but should also hold members living in the dissipation of inactivity to quietness and work.—Roos: Penitent shame makes all right again.—It looks well, when the few dis orderly persons blush at being put to shame by the reserve of others.—Riecer: Many a man in his self luve and fond fancy supposes that he hits it far bet. ter than others; but by the withdrawal of confidence and intercourse he must be made to feel, that he has reason to be ashamed.—Catvin: Not flattery, but exhortation, is the true sign of love.—Roos: Mattera stand ill in a Christian church, when we are not able and willing to shame disorderly persons by withdraw ing from them, and treating them with reserve. In such a case love has not salt enough,—In how many places is the mass composed of the listless or the malevolent !—Roos: Who will make them blush, when they are defiant, and not ashamed of wicked ness ? V. 16. Rizcer: We need peace in the Church, in the commonwealth, in households, marriages, families, trades, in regard to eating one’s own bread, in regard to opinions, wherein one is often puffed up against another. But (Von Geruacn): Peace, not at the cost of the holy war against impurities, but just by means of such a conflict. Vv. 6-16. Srockmeyer: The word of God would especially take under its discipline and care our inner man, and implant in us a heavenly mind, but not as if earthly relations were something alto- gether indifferent, or even something so low, that the Christian is not at all to meddle with them. Rather, the heavenly mind is to show itself in thosa very things (Luke xvi. 10). 8. Cu. ΠΙ. 17, 18. He concludes with a parting Salutation and Benediction under his own hand. 17 18 every epistle: so I write. Amen.* The salutation of Paul with mine own hand;’ which is the [a] token” m The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with yon all, 1 V.17.-(The Greek is: Ὁ ἀσπασμὺς τῇ ἐμῆ χειρὶ Παύλου, which Riggenbach renders: Der Gruss mit meiner Paulushand. Our English Version gives it in three forms: ‘‘ The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand” (1 Cor. xvi. 21; and so Ellicott nour text); “The salutation by the hand of me Paul” (Col. iv. 18); ‘‘ The salutation of Paul with mine own band” (2 Thess. iii. 17). The secoud mode was adopted in my Revision of this Episule.—J. L.] 2 V.17.—[onuetov, without the article; and so De Wette, Liinemann, Conybeare, Ellicott, and others.—J. Τὰ 3 V. 18.—Most authorities give ἀμήν; it is wanting in B., Sin. ὦ prima manu, and some others. that Amen was added by the church, when the Epistle was read. Sach likewise omits it.—J. L.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. (V.17.) The salutation of Paul with mine own hand; Παύλου is in apposition to ἐμῇ, which in- deed as to sense is the same thing as μου. Hitherto, therefore, Paul had dictated; and that was his cus- tom (Rom. xvi. 22); though Gal, vi. 12 [11] purports otherwise.—Which is the [a] token; ὅ might be explained by attraction, the subject being conformed to the gender of the predicate; but it is better to understand it thus: which, to wit, the domd (coda τῇ ἐμῇ xept.—In every epistle ; on which Tuxo- pHyLacT already remarks: ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ἐπιστ. τῇ ἴσως πεμφϑησομένῃ mpos ὑμᾶς, ἣ καὶ ἁπλῶς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ πρὸς οὕστινας. [Exuicorr: “ Apparently with reference to every future epistle (τῇ πρὸς οὕστινας δήποτε, ΤΉΒΟΡΗ. 2) which the Apostle might here- after deem it necessary so to authenticate,—not : Grotius ecites, [It is cancelled by Tischendorf and Alford. Riggen- merely those he might have contemplated writing ἐσ Thessalonica (Tueoru. 1, Linem.); for consider 1 Cor, xvi. 21 and Col. iv. 18. If it be urged that these last mentioned are the only Epistles in which the autograph attestation seems to have found a place, it may be reasonably answered that the πάσῃ must be understood relatively of every Epistle that was sent in such a way or under such circumstances as to have needed it. All the other Epistles (except 1 Cor., Col., which have the σημεῖον, and 1 Thess. which was sent before circumstances proved it to be necessary) are fairly shown both by De Werte and by Atrorp in loc, to have either been delivered by emissaries (2 Corinth., Phil.), to bear marks (Gal. vi. 11, and perhaps the doxology in Rom., Eph.), or to be of such a general character (Rom.? Eph.? and those to individuals) as to have rendered such a formal attestation unnecessary."—J, L,J—So I CHAPTER II. 17, 18. 164 write; not, that is, these words, as if there were cause for surprise, if we meet with them again only in 1 Cor. and Οὐ]. ; it is not ταῦτα, but οὕτως, and De Werre’s inquiry, why the words recur in the amallest number of the other Epistles, is quite super- fluous. He says merely: This is my handwriting (see the Introduction to Thess. p. 114). Gnrorrus, Ben- Get and others, thought of an intricate monogram, difficult of imitation; but that is untenable, and not consonant to antiquity, It may be further asked, whether by the autograph salutation Paul means v, 14, or v. 18, or both together. Very improbable is Drepricx’s idea: The salutation and benediction in v. 16 are written by my hand, The word is referred to v. 18 by Carysostom (ἀσπασμὸν καλεῖ τὴν εὐχήν), Turoporrr, THEOPHYLACT; by Linemann, on the other hand, only to v. 17, ἀσπασμός, he thinks, being something different from a benediction, But proba- bly this is to distinguish too nicely, and besides it is scarcely to be supposed, that Paul should have writ- ten v. 17 with his own hand, and then again have dictated v. 18. Nor does Linemann assume this, but regards both verses as autographical. In that case, however, the separation between salutation and benediction also fails, as Hormann properly remarks, The closing salutation might be compressed, or ex- tended. The Apostle wrote it himself, but not always in the same words, nor always expressly drawing attention to it: 6 dom, &c. In this place it is the salutation of love, and at the same time a precautionary measure for the future. After what bas been said, Lunemann’s other inference is like- wise untenable, that, if Paul here says for the first time: οὕτως γράφω, and thus shows that his hand- writing was still unknown to the Thessalonians, then in the First Epistle he had not written the salutation, But he might there too have written the words of benediction, and merely not have found occasion to make express reference to his handwriting. So Hor- MANN with reason. Utterly groundless is it, when Grorivs also infers from our passage that this Epis- tle “ns the first, since, had they already received one at an eerlier period, this notice would have been unnecessary.— A thorough knowledge of Paul’s cus- tomary procedure could only be got from the original letters, But we know enough to say, that to regard the warding off of a pernicious forgery, as just a mark by which a forger betrays himself, is the most perverse abuse of our passage.* 2. (V. 18.) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all; as in the First Epistle, only that here all is expressed; no one, therefore, even of the delinquents is excluded, DOCTRINAL AND ETHIOAL. (Vv. 17, 18.) Paul takes great pains even for the Jides humana of Scripture. The interest which faith has in scientific criticism consists in this, that it must be of importance for us to place confidence in nothing that is precarious. Now the original apos- tolic manuscript is not accessible to us, but we are referred to a series of intermediate processes, through which copies of the original are delivered to us, and, were we obliged to verify the trustworthiness of these mediums, we should remain in a painful uncer- tainty. But, on the whole, it is only through the Jides divina that the fides humana first receives its full authentication. Only because this Epistle also bears the stamp of the Spirit of God, is the asser- tion of the writer, which we read at v. 17, worthy of credit, and it becomes a moral impossibility for us to impeach it as a falsehood. Not the Apostle’s handwriting, which we no longer have before us, but the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which pervades the Epistle, is for us the decisive seal of authenticity. HOMILETICAL AND PRAOTICAL. Srdnevin: Truly this is also the mark of all those who are a living epistle of Christ (2 Cor. iii, 2, 8), that the grace of their Lord Jesus, whom they have received in faith and love to their justification, sanctification, and salvation, is by them continually embraced and held fast as their souls’ only comfort and joy. * (Wepsrer and WILKINSON : “ We have here a strong proof that St. Paul regarded himself and desired the churches to regard him as the sole author of his Epistles, whatever might be the association of the superscription, or the corresponding phraseology of the compositicn.” J.-L THE END OF THESSALONIANB TWO EPISTLES OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY. BY J. J. VAN OOSTERZEE, D.D., PROFESSOR IN ORDINARY OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF UTRECHT. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, WITH ADDITIONS, BY E. A. WASHBURN, D.D., RECTOR OF CALVARY CHURCH, NEW YORK, AND Ε. HARWOOD, D.D., RECTOR OF TRINITY OHURCH, NEW HAVEN. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, Zxvenzp, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by CHARLES SCRIBNER ἃ CO., 18 the Clerk’s Office of the District Court ot the United States ror the Southern Distrie of New York. AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Ir is not without a degree of reluctance, that I here offer to the friends and patrcne of the Bible-work of Lawak my commentary on the Pastoral Epistles and that to Philemon, which I have undertaken by the wish of the honored Editor. It lay, however, in the nature of the sub- ject, that this new task, although of less extent, must present greater difficulties than the treatment of the Gospel of Luke. A Pauline epistle demands a labor less pleasant and easy than one of the synoptic Gospels; a pastoral epistle, again, is more difficult than many others; and, still more, a meeting with the errorists of the apostolic time is never so agreeable as the study of the delightful scenes in the life of Jesus. He, however, who has shared the pleasures of this common work, should not refuse its burthens; and be who, like the author of this com- mentary, has seen his life divided for years between the tasks of theological literature and a laborious official charge, may have gained in part, perhaps, a practical preparation for the treat- ment of these epistles, which are an exhaustless mine for all the ministers of the Gospel in our own time, and, if possible, beyond even other portions of the apostolic legacy. I have thus, then, put my hand to this work; and it is indeed less difficult in this respect, that I have, after earlier doubts, become strongly convinced of the genuineness of the pastoral letters, and yet more of their composition during the second imprisonment of Paul at Rome. This last conviction I must have wholly given up, had I been able to agree with the main arguments of a work* which I met with shortly before finishing my own. I refer to the striking book of Dr. C. W. Οττο, in which the theory of one only imprisonment of Paul at Rome is again keenly defended, and the opinion which forms the basis of the present commen- tary opposed at almost every point. This thorough monograph on one of the most confused points of introductory criticism has led me to a new study of the position, which I had reached not without much conflict and toil; and bad the learned author convinced me of my mistake in this point, I would not have hesitated to erase my almost completed work. This, however, is not the case; nay, I donot believe that Dr. Orro’s work, deserving as it is i many respects, will lead many writers of introductions and exegetes to his conclusion. We must admire, doubtless, in many points the striking power of combination shewn by the author; and especi- ally acknowledge the masterly way in which he has arranged and summed up the external proofs for the genuineness of the pastoral epistles. Yet, on the other side, his whole argument confirms anew my opinion, that the genuineness of these epistles cannot be maintained, if we consider the second imprisonment of the Apostle a mere Jegend. The method in which Dr. Orro seeks to prove that the first epistle to Timothy was written on occasion of the Corin- thian discords, as little satisfies us as his exposition of 2 Tim. iv. 6-8; according to which the Apostle expresses only his deep sorrow, with not a word of premonition concerning his death ; and we are thus to infer that he speaks of the end of his missionary labor, not of his coming martyrdom. We may fully grant, that there is a unity in principle among all the erroneous teachers opposed in the Pauline epistles, without drawing thence the consequences, which the author admits in regard to questions of introduction and of chronology. We at least are still of he opinion, that between the prediction of the errorists, whom Paul looked for in the future Acts xx. 29), and their open appearance and activity at Ephesus, there must be a greater period than that claimed by Dr. Orro. The whole direction and management of the community is more systematized and developed after the first: letter to Timothy, than at the time of the first imprisonment of the Apostle at Rome; and, besides, we do not know how to explain th * The historic relations of the Pastoral Epistles examined anew. Dr.0. W.Orro. Leipzig. 1860, tv AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. various personalia in the second epistle to Timothy, unless we admit a second imprisonment. The position of the case is not, that to save the genuineness of the epistles, we accept in a quite arbitrary way the hypothesis of a second imprisonment, and thus bring in our proof ὦ tutiori« but on the contrary, that in these epistles, of whose genuineness the external evidence is enough, we meet with the record of facts, for which no conceivable place can be found in Paul’s life, so far as it is given in the Acts of the Apostles; and which therefore in and by themselves compel us to the decision, that the Apostle was:released from his prison (Acts xxviii. 30, 31). For this reason the second epistle to Timothy is a sufficient proof of the second imprisonment; and it is yet further strongly confirmed through the church tradition, although not beyond all doubt. We fear that the Author has not done sufficient justice to this last point, although we readily acknowledge that he has avoided with greater foresight many of the rocks on which we have seen WisseLer stranded. Yet this is not the place to speak of all the particulars of 8 still unsettled inquiry. We heartily hope that others will give to the book of Dr. Orro the thorough judgment which it claims in every view. Perhaps in the present case we have been so much the harder to con- vince, because we formerly held more or less the same position, and have since Το που ποθ it. In addition, we must be content to point to the remarks of Dr. Lanes on this question in his article Paulus in Hrrzoa’s Real encyclopddie [vol xi. p. 289 87; and above all to the small, but weighty essay of L. Rurret, St. Paul, sa double captivité ἃ Rome. Paris, 1860. Without apparently equalling Dr. Orro in learning, the author of this last-named brochure satisfies us far more with the result of his inquiry, and we gladly subscribe his own words; “ In a ques- tion of this kind we cannot ask a mathematical certainty; it only concerns us to know on the side of which hypothesis are the more probabilities: and after a serious study, undertaken with strong prepossessions against the idea of a double imprisonment of St. Paul, we must range ours-lves in the last result with Greszter, Lanex, Gurrioxr and Nranper, notwithstanding the learned pages of Reuss, W1EsELER, and EpMonD DE PRESSENSE —we will add—of Orro., Beyond this, I have little to say as to the editorship of this part of the Bible-work. It will, I hope, be found an advantage, that I have sought to make not a very scientific book of exegesis, but a practical commentary, designed non coqguis, sed convivis. Discussions are for this reason avoided as far as possible, and only results given. The self-denial, which here and there was necessary in the treatment of a difficult subject within a few words, where I often had more to say and should perhaps have said it, I have willingly borne on account of the sim of this edition. In points of difference regarding doctrine and confessions, it was not hard for me to express myself with moderation, although, as I hope, with sufficient decision. Moreover, Ihave designed to give not only muita, but multwm. As to the epistle to Philemon in con- clusion, it is also a kind of pastoral letter, a great, unique example of the apostle’s pastoral labor and cure of souls. Regarded from another side, it would perhaps be best treated together with the epistle to the Colossians. But here the isagogie point of view should not be decisive. In a practical Bible-work the epistle will be sought in its accustomed place; and as an evidence of apostolic practice it stands justly there. Thus I must decide, as Paul did before, to receive Onesinius, as otherwise a homeless wanderer. The wish of the Editor to add the pages on Philemon as a sort of appendix to the rest, has been therefore readily complied with. A request from so esteemed a source cannot easily be denied. My honored friend Dr. Langer has now, therefore, the personal responsibility, should any think that he has perhaps laid on me more of the Bible-work than my shoulders can well bear, T ought not indeed to hope that my commentary on these epistles will bring such unlooked for and happy results as my Luke, a new edition of which is in the press. May it only pleage the Lord to crown with his blessing these weak efforts for the spread of his kingdom; and that He may grant me as well as my brethren in the ministry, to become through this study os the pastoral letters, what Paul proposed to Timothy: σπόυδασον σεαυτὸν δόκιμον παραστῆσαι τῷ ϑεῷ, ἐργάττν ἀνεπαίσχυντον, δρϑοτομοῦντα τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληδείας. J. J. VAN OOSTERZEE. Rotrernam November, 1860. AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Tue intimation of the respected publishers, that a new edition of my “ Pastoral Epistles” has become necessary; and the added request, that it might be prepared for the press as soon as possible, came to me at an inconvenient time, when I was called.to an important charge in my official position, which claimed almost exclusively my time and strength. I have, however, done what I could; and a comparison of both editions will readily show, that this last may rightly be called “a newly corrected and improved” one. Ali at least, which seemed to me worthy and needful to add after the completion of the first, I have fairly incorporated ; slight errors in form or matter have been corrected in various places; and although the main idea, from which I believed I must start, remains unchanged, yet here and there a position has been more closely defined, modified or completed. Had more decisions of any importance suggested themselves to me, they might indeed have led to a larger revision. It appears to me a just duty to express my thanks for a treasure, as unexpected as it is invaluable, which I have found in the Codex Sinaiticus for the settlement of the text of this edition in doubtful passages. It would not have been difficult for me, to have given a marked enlargement to the homiletic annotations by the help of the earlier or later literature of the pulpit: but I thought it the main purpose of this work, that the ne guid nimis should be kept in mind. I wished as little a fons as a pons, but simply a useful guide for personal study in homiletics. With this view, I now give the work anew into the hands of our present and future practical divines, with the prayer, that the study of the Pastoral Epistles may increase and hallow their capacity and love for the service of the Word, which preaches redemption, J. J. VAN OOSTERZEE. ὉΎΒΕΟΕΊ, June, 1868. THE PASTORAL LETTERS. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. —_—~—— §.. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PASTORAL LETTERS, As there appear in heaven solitary stars, and again larger groups which form together one shining constellation, so we find the like phenomena in the heaven of Holy Writ. Here are many distinct writings, which can hardly be compared with each other, by the side of others which have such a common relation and character as more or less divides them from the for- mer. Thus of the thirteen Epistles whose authorship is usually ascribed to the Apostle Paul, there are several wholly independent (e.g. 1 Cor. or Phil.), while, again, others more or less complete each other (6. g. Rom. and Gal.; Eph. and Col.), and still others form a small cycle of apostolic writings, as is the case with the three Pastoral Epistles. Even from the most super- ficial view of these Epistles it is clear, that in many relations they show different features from the remaining letters of the same Apostle; and hence it is well worth our study to understand their peculiarities fully at the outset. While all the other letters, except the private one to Philemon, are addressed to whole com- munities, these three are sent to individuals, co-workers with St. Paul in the Gospel. As a whole they treat chiefly of the same objects, the preaching of the Word and the organization of the Body; and thus far are rightly called by their usual name of Pastoral Epistles. They contain rules for the pastoral office of Timothy and Titus; rules flowing from the heart of a trae shepherd, and thus entirely fitted to form these disciples after the likeness of the Chief Shepherd of the flock (1 Pet. v. 4). They bear, therefore, less an official than a confidential character, and have many expressions, many turns of language, which are not found, or at least in the same manner, throughout the other writings of this Apostle. While their style is less fresh and life-like than that of the earlier letters, they have a deeper tone of fatherly friendship and tenderness, and betray the most heartfelt anxiety not only for the communities, at whose Lead Timothy and Titus were placed, but also for their own spiritual and temporal welfare. Although, again, nothing is wanting in them in regard to the weightiest relations of Christian doctrine, yet these three Epistles bear a practical rather than a doctrinal color- ing, and are directed, no less than the other letters of the Apostle, toward the demands of the time. Many momentous hints, warnings, precepts and forebodings are addressed to both these young overseers of the community, and through them to the whole Body, although these letters were not designed, like most of the others (Col. iv. 16), for public reading. They furnish us in their complete form a deep insight into the heart of the Apostle, whom we meet here in the closing period of his life bowed down more than ever before by many persecutions and toils; yet filled on the one hand with glowing zeal against the foes of the Divine kingdom, on the other with the inmost fatherly love toward both his spiritual sons in the faith. They clearly exhibit, at the same time, the feeling with which he looked forward to the impending dismem- berment of the Church, as well as to his own near end. More than the other Epistles, they remind ws of the Apostle’s word, that he has “the treasure of the Gospel in earthen vessels : ἢ but they show, also, the truth of what follows, “that the excellency of the power may be of 2 I'HE PASTORAL LETTERS. God and not of us” (2 Cor. iv. 7). Among the three, there are, again, two which have 8 strong likeness to each other; the first to Timothy and that to Titus, although tke relation of the Apostle was much closer to the former than to the latter. The second to Timothy so far differs from both, that it may be called, so to speak, the apostolic-prophetic testament of the great Apostle of the Gentiles; his legacy to his friend and in him at the same time to the whole Church. After this view of the characteristics, we need no longer postpone the inquiry, whether the genuineness of these Pastoral Epistles, and, indeed, that of the whole three, can be defended on satisfactory grounds. 92, GENUINENESS. The external proofs for the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles, apart from the tradition of the ancient Church, are as numerous and undoubted as for the other writings of St. Paul. We will name those which appear to us the weightiest, without denying the importance of others, here omitted. We find citations from, or clear allusion to passages in the First Epistie ta Timothy, in Cremens Kom. Epis. Prim. ad Corinth. cap. 29. Comp. 1 Tim. ii. 8. Ibid. cap. δά. Comp. 1.Tim. iii. 18. In Potyoarp, Ad Philipp.c. 12. Comp. 1 Tim. 11. 192. Ibid. ὁ. 4. Oomp. 1 Tim. vi. 7,10. In the letter to Diognetus (Just. Opera, p. 501). Comp. 1 Tim. iii. 16. In Irenavus, Adv. Heres. i.c.1. Comp.1Tim.i.4. In Tuzornyzus, Ad Autol. 6. 38. Comp 1 Tim. ii. 1,2. In Cremens Arex. Strom. lib. 2. Comp. 1 Tim. vi. 20, 21. Lib. 2. Oomp, 1 Tim. v. 14, 15. Admonit. ad Gent. p. 55. Comp. 1 Tim. iv. 7,8. In Tuerutiiuan, de prescript. heret., c. 25. Comp. 1 Tim. vi. 20; De Pudicit.c.18. Oomp.1 Tim. i. 20. The Second Epistle to Timothy is quoted by Barnazas, Epist. c. 7. Comp. 2 Tim. iv. 1, By Ienatrus, dd Hphes. ὁ. 2; and dd Smyrn. c. 9,10. Compare 2 Tim. i. 16,18. By Pory- carp, Ad Philipp. c. 5. Oompare 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12. By Inznwaus, Adv. Hares. v. ο. 20. Oomp. 2 Tim. iii. 7. By Crumews Axux. Strom. lib. i. p. 270. Comp. 2 Tim. ii. 1, 2,15. Ad- monit. ad Gent. p. 56. Oomp. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Tzrrortiay, Scorpiac. ὁ. 18. Comp. 2 Tim. iv. 6,8. By Evszsrus, 17. 5. ii. 22. Comp. 2 Tim. iv. 17. The Epistle to Titus, finally, by Crumuns Rom. Epist. prim. ad Corinth, ο. ὃ. Comp. Tit, fii 1. By Ienarrus, Ad Trall. ὁ. 8. Comp. Titus ii. 8. By Irrwavus, Adv. Heres. iii. c. 8, 84. Comp. Titus iii. 10, 11. Ibid. 1,16, 8. Comp. Titus iii. 10. By Tuzopayius, Ad Autol. i. 2, p. 95. Oomp. Titus ili. 5, 6. By Oremuns Arzx. Strom. lib.i. p. 299. Comp. Titus i. 12. Adm. ad Gent. p. 6. Comp. Titus ii. 11-18. By Terrurian, De prescript. Heret. c. 6. Oomp. Titus iii, 10, 11. If now we add, that Evszzrus without any question reckons the three Pastoral Epistles to- gether among the homologowmena ; that they appear in the Peschito as well as in the canon of Muratori; and that their rejection by the earlier Gnostic heretics can be explained from their partly polemic character, we must fully grant that the external evidences are entirely sufficient, and that Jerome was right, when in his preface to the Epist, to Tit., he declares in regard to the heretics who rejected these Epistles among others: “ Et si quidem redderent causas, cur eas Apostoli non putarent, tentaremus aliquid respondere et forsitan satisfacere lectori. Nune vero cum heretica auctoritate pronuncient et dicant: ‘élla epistola Pauli est, hae non est,’ ea aucto- ritate refellt se pro veritate intelligant, gud ipsi non erubescunt Salsa simulare.” Since the time of Tartan, the genuineness of these writings has remained undisputed to the beginning of the present century. It is now, however, chiefly on internal grounds that objections are brought forward against these Epistles, especially against the first to Timothy. J. E. 0. Sommmr and particularly Son.zreRMaouERr, in 1807 opened the series, and were answered by PLANO, Weescuziper and Broxwavs. Soon after, E1ounorn directed his Wweapors against the dines Epistles, and was sustained by Dz Wzrrz, Sonorr and Soprapzr, whilst even Neanver and Usrmri expressed themselves in doubtful tone as to the genuineness of the First Epistle, OrEDNER in his introduction to the New Testament, p. 478, gave to the context a peculiar turn, since he ascribed the three Epistles, at first only in part but later asa whole, toa fictitious source. Next, on the other side, Hua, Berrzorpr, Femmosrr, Gurrioxs, Bout, OvettIvs, Kuma, HeyprnreicH, Mack and others appeared as defenders. But the Pastoral Letters re § 2. GENUINENESS. 3 ceived their worst attack from the side of the newer ΤΌΒΙΝΘΕΝ school. F. 0. Bavy in 1888 assaulted them with a strong hand, but soon found in Baumearrun and Borrerr well-armed opponents, while Marruizs, Wimsinezr, ὈΙΒΤΙΕΙΝ, Tazrson and Hururr wrote in favor of their genuineness. J. P. Lanaz, in his History of the Apostolic Age, i. p. 34, and Sonarr Hist. of the Apost. Church, § 87, also defended them. Among the most recent critics, who in spite of such strong apologetic works have given a judgment partly unfavorable, partly uncer- tain, are Rupow, Maneorp and Russ. The latest. contribution to the history and literature of this question may be found among others in Hurusr in his Commentary, second edition, p. 40 et seq. The external evidences for the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles are very thoroughly given by O. W. Orro in his later work, p. 375 et seq. ; where it is shown conclu- sively that the external evidences not only prove nothing against the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles, but rather confirm them in a striking manner, so far as is possible from the character of church literature in the first century after the apostolic time. It will hardly need any apology, if we bere speak at the same time of the genuinenss of the three Pastoral Epistles. According to Bavr’s own admission (Paulus, p. 499), there is such a homogeneity in the three Epistles, that neither can be separated from the other two, and hence we may justly infer the identity of authorship. As to ull the internal objections, of which we must speak, they are partly of a philological, partly of a chronological, partly of ahistorical nature. A brief word on each of these three chief points of criticism. The first objection concerns the peculiarities in the language of these Epistles, which are seen by comparison with other unquestionably genuine letters of St. Paul. There are reckoned in the first Epistle to Timothy eighty-one ἅπαξ λεγόμενα, in the second sixty-three; in the Epistle to Titus forty-four, of which some are found only in the later Church writers. Yet it is to be noted in regard to these (1) that even in other epistles of Paul there occur phrases, which are not found in him elsewhere; e.g. in Epistle to Philippians fifty-four, and in Epis- tles to Ephesians and Colossians together, more than one hundred and forty. (2) That the peculiar character of the objects, here named, makes the use of new words and forms of speech partly necessary, and partly very explainable. (8) That these Epistles, as will be later shown, belong to the last period in the life of the Apostle, when his style had reached its fullest capacity. (4) That in a pastoral letter to his special friends and scholars, quite another style would be admissible, than in an official, apostolic writing to the whole Church. (5) That every author has the liberty to say the same things in a very different manner; and that he will make use of this freedom so much the more, as his style becomes subjective and his personality more fully developed. (6) That the Holy Spirit wrought in regard to the speech of the apos- tles, in the truest sense with a progressive power of creation and life. (7) That the Apostle often reverts to the glowing and sharp language of his opponents, which he combats in these Epistles, so that many expressions, now seemingly foreign, are borrowed, perhaps, from the ipsissima verba of those errorists, (8) That not a few words and conceptions, held to be un- Pauline, are found in other unquestionably genuine Epistles of Paul; and that a forger, writing in the name of an apostle, would certainly have taken double care to exclude anomalies of such a sort from his fictitious work. The second objection regards the fact, that in these Epistles, many points are referred to and discussed, which point to a later than the apostolic time. Of this sort, especially, is the descrip- tion of the heretics here named ; the constitution of the Church here anticipated as if present; that which the Apostle says in the first Epistle to Timothy in regard to widows, etc. It must be remembered in respect to this: (1) that the identity of these heretics with the Gnostics of the second century is not at all made out as yet; and even the opposite is provable from other apostolic letters, that at least the seeds of their errors were already scattered in the time of Paul, and had partly sprung up. The grounds on which Bavzg, for instance, has supposed that could find a reference here to the Marcionites, are arbitrary and weak in the extreme. The ere opposed is no other than that which the Apostle examines, among others, in the 4 THE PASTORAL LETTERS. Epistle to the Colossians; and it isa priori probable that the errorists, who appear with βὸ much strength in the second century, did not suddenly shoot up as if out of the ground, but rather had their πρόδρομοι already in the earlier period. Warnings against such earlier errora as we meet in the first Epistle to Timothy, would no longer be necessary in the second century, when the Churchly and the Gnostic ideas had already reached a period of absolute division, (2) It must, undoubtedly, be granted, that in these Epistles there is fuller mention of churchly unstitutions and organization than in the other writings of the Apostle. But it is clear, mean- while, from the Book of the Acts (chap. vi. 1), that the diaconate was already very early estab- lished; and that Paul had been wont to appoint bishops almost everywhere, is clear also from the Acts (xiv. 23; xx. 17). Now it lies in the nature of things, that definite rules were neces- sary for the fulfilment of these offices, and, therefore, that such rules could have no better place than in these Epistles to Timothy and Titus. The hierarchical tendencies which have been here discovered, lie solely in the imagination of critics, as will appear plain at once, if we even superficially compare the Pastoral Letters with the letters of Iawarrus. Of the later episcopal order no trace is here discoverable; the πρεσβύτεροι and ἐπίσκοποι are in ΠΟ way as yet separated from each other; they are rather identical; the diaconate is not once mentioned in the Epistle to Titus, and the rules for the office of a bishop are given with the utmost simpli- city and brevity. If Paul knew and weighed the signifiyance of Church organization for the welfare of the Christian body, which can hardly indeed be doubted, then it is altogether con- sistent that at the close of his life, before he left the scene of his earthly action, he should express himself more fully on the snbject; and with his knowledge of the many dangers threat- ening the community, this care for its overseers would lie more earnestly on his heart. It has been said, indeed, that Paul did not in general give the slightest weight to Church institutions; but the proofs of this remain, in our view, quite wanting. And (8) last of all, as to the regula- tion in regard to widows (1 Tim. v. 3-14). It might, perhaps, appear that the Epistle belongs to a period, when the name χήρα was given to all in the community who continued unmarried for the Lord’s sake; yet no proof whatever has been offered us by Baur that the word widow must here be understood in this wider sense. No παρϑένοι are here meant, but real widows; and the rule given them can in no case be called a law for a distinct, ascetic mode of life. On the question whether we are to understand by these widows actual deaconesses, we shall speak farther in this Commentary. That Christian widows had received a place of honor in the com- munity, and already in the day of Paul had consecrated themselves wholly to such a life-service, cannot, in itself, be held at all improbable. Of still less weight are other internal doubts, which have been offered against the Pauline origin of the Pastoral Epistles. The apparent agreement seen in all the three is sufficiently explained from the fact, that in the same period of the Apos- tle’s life they are directed to two men, whose position and wants were in many points alike. That Timothy is treated as an inferior, and addressed in the tone of a schoolmaster, has only a show of truth, when we linger on the sound of the words, without looking at the heart of the writer, and taking into account his consciousness of high apostolic authority. Not only here, but also in other letters of the Apostle, a peculiar prominence is given to pure doctrine against rising errors; and thus, too, the Christology of these Epistles is the same as, 8. g., in the Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, as will appear from the exposition of some striking passages. The want of logical connection in the conceptions and ideas, so peculiar to our Apostle else- where, but here far less apparent, is not really so striking as has been represented ; it is partly the result of the practical and pastoral tenor of the Epistle, and partly, again, due to the relative advance in the age of the author. The predominant ethical view of life, the constantly repeated call to good works, etc., is nowise in irreconcilable strife with the Pauline doctrine of g aces but finds many echoes in other writings with which the Pastoral Epistles here and there agree 80 strikingly, that a new proof of forgery has been seen in this very circumstance. Why should not Paul, however, in handling the same subjects, find a necessity now and then for the same phrases? That beside these special instances, there are abundant traces of likeness in spirit. tone and drift to the other, genuine Epistles, becomes more palpably clear with each new comparison, § 2. GENUINENESS, ΠῚ -- The chronological objection remains, then, the chief one. In the history of Paul as known to us, no point can be named, which we can exactly receive as the date of the authorship ; in which view, therefore, we cannot conceive how these Epistles could have been written in very near succession. We acknowledge in so far these difficulties, that we hold the compo- sition of these letters defore or during the jirst imprisonment of Paul at Rome to be in the highest degree improbable, not to say impossible; and we must regard as useless the various attempts to bring one of these Epistles into the life of the Apostle, as known to us in the Book of the Acts. But the question is, whether we should not admit a second imprisonment of Paul at Rome; and in that case we should place these letters in the time of his life just preceding his martyrdom. We believe, for our part, that we must give an affirmative answer to thig question; nay, we find in the Pastoral Epistles themselves the strongest proof, that the church tradition of a second imprisonment of the Apostle at Rome is in the main well-grounded. In the Epistles whicl. Paul writes in his first imprisonment, there is seen throughout the expectation, that notwithstanding his desire to depart and to be with Christ, he shall be freed and restored to the community (Phil. i. 25, 26; ii. 24; Philem. xxii). In his second letter to Timothy, on the contrary, he speaks of the sure prospect of his soon approaching martyrdom ; and we learn that at his first answer all men forsook him (2 Tim. iv. 16). It is alike improb- able, either that the first named hope of the Apostle remained unfulfilled, or that the last named statement refers to his first imprisonment. His release from the first captivity is by no means incredible; but rather it may be easily explained by the favorable feeling which was personally excited in many toward him (Phil. i. 12, 18; conf. Acts xxiv. 23-27; xxvi. 28-32), No wonder, therefore, that the church tradition quite early favored the view of a second im- prisonment, during which the second Epistle to Timothy might have been written. Evszsrvs, H. E. fi, 22, speaks of it in the phrase: λόγος ἔχει, by which he did not at all mean a wavering or doubtful legend, merely of sporadic growth, but a general, prevalent conviction, a tradition, which he repeats as such. The view, which thus generally obtained in his time, that the Apostle was really freed from his first imprisonment, rested on the witness of older writers, whom Evszsius does not indeed cite by name, but whom he probably had known. The classic passage in this connection from Orem. Rom. Epist. prim. ad Corinth, ὁ. 5, has at least in our view a decisive weight here. It reads thus: “Παῦλος --- κηρυξ γενόμενος ἔν τε τῇ ἀνατολὴ καὶ ἐν τῇ δύσει, τὸν γενναῖον τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ κλέος ἔλαβεν δικαιοσύνην διδάξας ὅλον τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα τῆς δύσεως ἐλϑῶν καὶ μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων, οὕτως ἀπηλλάγη Tov κόσμου καὶ εἷς τὸν τόπον ἅγιον ἐπορεύϑη.," Ὁ If now this sentence, 6. δ. in the words ὅλον τὸν κόσμον; may bear a rhetorical stamp, still it is by no means to be thence inferred, that the plain declaration con- tained in it may be wrong. Although Paul was not in the literal sense of the word a herald of Christ through the whole world, yet the distinct assurance of OLemznt that he preached in the west as well as the east, has its full weight. The limit in the west which Paul reached, according to his own account, cannot be Rome, but rather Spain (conf. Rom, xv. 28). The supposition that a Roman, who wrote this, should have represented Italy as his utmost limit, is as arbitrary as the notion that we are to think of a purely subjective limit here, which the Apostle had sketched for himself, in which case the pronoun ἑαυτοῦ could not possibly have been omitted. That Paul in fact had fulfilled his plan of journeying to Spain, which could only have happened after his release from the first imprisonment, is inferred not merely from the tradition descending from the fourth century, but also from the well-known fragment from the canon in Muratori, written in the second half of the second century, in which the journey of the Apostle is given as a historic fact, in the words: profectionem Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis.t The early conjunction of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in the chureb tradition has here also a certain significance, since it cannot be admitted, that Peter came ta * A proof so much the less questionable, in that Clement probably had personally known the Apostle, whose disciple 46 perhaps was (Phil. iv. 8); and that he lived in Rome, where they would have preserved an exact Imowledge of the ast fortunes of Paul (RUFFET). ᾿ . t WreseLeR is purely arbitrary. ‘Such opinions as seem indicated in the canon of Muratori, which may have beer held by this or that individual, although they have not reached us from the original sources, may have been the meaning of Evserius in his λόγος ἔγχει. 6 THE PASTORAL LETTERS. Rome during the first imprisonment of Paul (Acts xxviii. 30, 31): and either he could not have suffered death with him, or it must have been at a later time. The rise of this tradition of a second imprisonment cannot be satisfactorily explained, if this lacks historic ground. We have, for the rest, as little occasion here to inquire whether the actual presence of Paul in Spain can be affirmed, as to give a connected picture of the life and doings of the Apostle in this last period of his career. Enough, that even apart from the Second Epistle to Timothy, the tradition of a second imprisonment deserves credit on external and internal grounds, as it has been in every time defended by powerful and eloquent voices: e. g. by Pazry, Hore Paw line, ad ἃ. 1, an author, who even now may claim to be consulted in our contest with the latest destructive criticism, If his treatment of the evidence be just, then there is a whole period in the life of Paul, in which we can place the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles; so that the chronological objection to their genuineness is as little beyond confutation, as the philological and historical. Comp. G. Astro, Spec. Exeg. Histor. de alt. Pauli Captivitate, Tr. ad Rh. 1859. M. Rurrer, la double Captivité de St. Paul ἃ Rome, Paris, 1860. We may further compare the Special Introductions and Exegetical comments which follow, and the article ‘ Paulus” in Hzrzoa’s Real-Encyclopdadie. [Among the more recent English expositors, Atrorp, Exrioorr, ConyBzarz, Howson and Worpswortn, maintain the ground of St. Paul’s release from his first imprisonment. V. Αἰ» ForD in loco for a thorough summary of the evidence. The argument for one imprisonment is well stated by Davipson, Introd. to the N. T.—Tr.] 58. IMPORTANCE. The value of the Pastoral Epistles is beyoud all doubt. They belong to the most precious memorials of the Apostolic time, which have come to our knowledge. They give us new aids toward aright judgment of the character of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, and his rela- tion to his friends and co-laborers; toward the nearer knowledge of the earliest polity of the Christian church, and of the errors so soon arising within its pale. Thus they serve as invaluable material for biblical biography and the oldest church history. They contain, besides, a choice collection of counsels and warnings for the teachers and guides of the church, which remain always important through all centuries. Criticism has said, that the directions of St. Paul to Timothy are too vague and insignificant to be worthy of him; but it has not given sufficient weight to the fact, that it was not so much the Apostle’s design to establish the legislation of the church, as to lay down in his writing the high principles and weighty rules, which should remain unforgotten by the shepherds of the flock. COaxvuy is right in so far, when he writes of the Second Epistle to Timothy: “ Jn his duabus epistolis quasi in vivd tabuld depictum habemus verum ecclesia regimen.” Undoubtedly we should go too far in our estimate of these writings, if we considered them as a complete pastoral charge, or a full compendium of pastoral theology. They have neither that thorough order, nor that completeness, nor that universal application in all the rules here given, which would be demanded for such a pur- pose.* Much has exclusive reference to circumstances of person and place; much is likewise directed to the wants not only of the chief minister but of the community itself; as to which Oatvin notices, that these Epistles do not bear exclusively the character of a confidential private writing. “ Hane epistolam aliorum magisquam Timothei causa scriptum esse judico,” thus begins his exposition of the argument on the First Epistle to Timothy,—“ et méhé assenti- entur, qui diligenter omnia expenderint. Non equidem nego, quin ejus quogue docendi et monendi rationem Paulus habuerit, sed muita hie contineri dico, gue supervacuum Suisset seribere, si cum solo Timotheo habutsset negotium.” But however this may be, the Pastoral Epistles certainly deserve to be the vade mecum of each present or future religious teacher, whe will find embodied here a rich treasure of doctrine and counsel, of comfort and encouragement, Especially in days like ours, when so many questions in reference to church organization are *[It should be noted here, as the true canon of criticism, that St. Paul does not give in these letters the forma, eonstitution, according to which the church is to be built; but he is writing of an already existing reality. The theo does not precede the fact; but ‘e fact precedes the theory, which explains it.—Tr.” is § 4. THEOLOGICAL-HOMILETICAL TREATMENT. 7 asked with new energy, the weighty precepts of the Pastoral Letters deserve to be expounded with all earnestness. Where they hold before our eyes a speaking picture of the simplicity of the Apostolic age, they belong to the whole work of Protestantism against the usurpations of the Papal hierarchy. The heretics here opposed and unmasked are and remain in many regards the types of later false teachers; the warnings against ‘ oppositions of science, falsely so called,’ which were needful for Timothy, are no less so in our day against so many, who have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Here, too, as it were in passing, there is given a strong witness to many a cardinal truth of the Gospel, so that these brief writings are rela- tively rich in loci classicé for the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture, the Divinity of Christ, the work of atonement, and the new birth through the Holy Ghost, &c., as will be shown in various places and passages. That furthermore Christian ethics finds here manifold warnings against certain sins, and encouragements to certain Ohristian graces, is self-evident at the first glance. Thus the contents of the Pastoral Epistles justify the honorable place which they hold among the canonical writings of the New Testament, and prove themselves also the fruit of the Holy Ghost, who influenced the Apostle in no mechanical manner when he took his stylus in his hand, as if he were one of the actwarét and notarié of the Spirit; but inspired him so fully even in writing, that he was enabled clearly to develop the Christian truth, to exhibit the Christian life in a living way, and to give the pastor and teacher suggestions regarding its normal principles, worthy to the end of time of the earnest reflection of all ministers of the Gospel. We can thus with good conscience repeat, in reference to all three Epistles, the praise given by Srarke: “This Epistle is surely a rich treasure of truth, since in words, seemingly at first so simple, there lie such depths, that a preacher will only truly grasp them after much experience of their large spirit and high wisdom ; and will still find enough remain- ing always for his study,”—nay, with good reason he adds, “that in this Epistle there is contained a true house-tablet for all estates of men.” Thus, too, the directin of the Saxon church canon was a just one: ‘that a minister of the church should most diligently read the Epistles of Pan] to Timothy and Titus; and read again and often repeat, that he might learn how to maintain himself both in love and life, and how to rule his own household and himself.” Horner: “The weighty question: πῶς δεῖ ἐν οἴκῳ Sedu ἀναστρέφεσθαι has here an answer, harmonious in spirit with what is expressed in all the other letters of Paul. Might the question never have been answered, and never be answered in any other spirit in the church!” 894, THEOLOGICAL-HOMILETIOAL TREATMENT OF THE PASTORAL EPISTLES. It is not necessary to our design to give a complete view of the literary history of these Epistles. A rich collection of writings on the general subject, or on particular chapters and verses, will be found among others, in Winer, Handbuch ἃ. Theol. Literatur. I. p. 265; and in J. A. J. Wetstnazr, in his Commentary, Kénigsberg, 1851, p. 257. We shall name only those writings whose study and use is desirable for practical divines and pastors. Among the Re- formers LutHER must especially be named. Scholia et Sermones in Prim. Joh. Epist. atque Annott. in Pauli Epist. (priorem ad Timoth. et Titum, edit. Bruns. Liibeck, 1797. Then the Commentary of Catvin; that on both Epistles to Timothy, dedicated to Edward, Duke of Somerset ; that on the Epistle to Titus, to his co-workers, Fare and Virer, whose labor he had received and carried forward at Geneva in somewhat such manner as Titus the work of Paul at Orete. Also Metanoutnon: Enarratio Epistole prim. ad Timoth, et duorum Capitum secunde, Wittemberg, 1561. Among later authors, who have labored in the spirit of the Reformation, Benert must least of all be forgotten. His Gnomon contains precious material for the right understanding of the Pastoral Letters. Not to cite among the expositors those whose labor has become more or less antiquated from the present standpoint of science, we mention only the exegetical works which we wish to see especially in the hands of the clergy, who would prepare themselves by independent study for preaching or Bible instruction. Beside the Commentary of Wizsmvcer already named, which appeared as the continuation of OLsuavs- tnx’s Commentary, and contains likewise the Epistles to the Philippians and Philemon, we ought: 12 8 THE PASTORAL LETTERS. specially to mention the thorough exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, with particular reference to the authenticity, place and time of authorship, by Dr. O. 8. Marrures, Greifswald, 1840, which has made the earlier works of PLarr, Mack, ΗΕΥΡΕΝΒΕΊΟΗ, and others quite superfluous Further, the brief exposition of the Epistles to Titus, Timothy, and Hebrews, by Dr. W. M. L. Dez Werte, 2d ed. 1847; but before all others the noble critical-exegetical treatise on the Epis tles to Timothy and Titus, prepared by Dr. J. E. Huruer, 2d enlarged ed., Gdtting., 1859, 11th part of MevEr’s Comment. on the N. T.* Among the writings which have appeared be- yond Germany, and which specially claim to be consulted in regard to St. Paul and these Epistles, we name Mr. J. Da Costa; Paulus, eene Schriftbeschonwing. 2 Th. Leyden, 1846-47, Dr. H. E. Vinxe: De Zend brieven van den Ap. Paulus aan Timoth. Titus en Philemon, met oppelderende en toe passelyke Aanmerkingen. Utrecht, 1859. Ap. Monon; St. Paul, cing discours, Paris, 1851. Conyszare anp Howson: Life and Letters of St. Paul. London, 1850-53. 2 parts, in 4to; admirable both in form and contents [republished by O. Scribner, New York]. From the Danish there has appeared in a translation (Jena, 1846), an excellent work of Dr. O. E. Scuartina. The latest essays on these Epistles, both for their exposition and their relation to Biblical Criticism and the Canon. Among English introductory works which have been de- voted to the Pastoral Epistles, we must specially name Τῇ. H. Horne, an Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, 3d ed., revised by S. T. Treceties. Lond., 1862, pp. 547-560. Finally may be compared the latest writers on the Apostolic age: NEANDER, SoHAFF, Turerson, Lanexz, and others. WusEter, Chronol. des Apost. Zeitalters. Gottingen, 1848; although he admits no second imprisonment of Paul at Rome. Lecntzr: Das apost. und nach-apost. Zeitalter. 2d Aufl. 1857. We name also, J. Diepricw: Die Briefe St. Pauli an Timo- theus, Titus, Philemon und der Brief an die Hebréer, Kurz erklart fir heilsbegierige aufmerk- same Bibelleser ; but especially copious, and rich in learning, the work of Dr. O. W. Orro (which appeared after the preparation of this part of our Bible work); The Historical Relations of the Pastoral Epistles anew Examined, Leipzig, 1860; with which should be compared also a thorough recension by WxissE in the Studien u. Kritiken, 1861. IJ. In a peculiar way the genuineness of the Epistles has been defended by Prof. MAroxer in a short but interesting essay on the position of the Pastoral Letters in the life of St. Paul, although he allows only one imprisonment. Meiningen, 1861. The Commentary of Huruer furnishes powerful weapons for the strife against the hypercritical views of the Tiibingen school. As to exegetical or practical aids for the study and use of particular parts of the Pastoral Epistles, we shall speak in the proper place. {It is unnecessary, in adding the more important English works connected with these Epistles, to give more than a passing notice of older expositors, as Hammonp, ΒΙΤΒΥ, BEen- son, Macxyient, Newoomn, and Broomrrerp in his Greek Testament. They are learned and judicious; but at this day of less worth, as they do not fully meet the more difticult ques- tions since raised as to the genuineness of these Epistles; and the later historic criticism has thrown new light on some special topics, e.g. the early heresies, and the order of deaconess. The Hore Pauline of Parry, however, deserves to be always remembered, as one of the earliest and most ingenious essays in that comparative history of the Acts and the Epistles, which has since been so largely explored. The more recent exegetical works have added much to our knowledge of this part of the New Testament. Among them, that of ΟΟΝΎΒΕΛΕΕ and How- gon: Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 7th American ed. 1866, is the richest contribution to the history and literature of the Apostle’s age. Atrorp has given a thorough criticism of the Pastoral Epistles, in his Greek Test. with Notes, See especially his Prolegomena for a discussion ; of the evidences of their genuineness. Cur. WorpswortH: Greek Test. with Introd. and Notes, London, 1866, is of chief value for his large citations from Patristic history and theology in regard to the Pauline time. Etztroorr: Comment. Epp. to Tim., is worthy of careful study, Davipson: Introd. N. T., is the ablest English writer who has defended the theory of one im- prisonment. In addition to these, much valuable matter concerning the life of St. Paul may be found in Larpnur: Hist. Apost. and Evang. Swtra: Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, Tate: Continuous History of St. Paul. Lewy: St. Paul.—tTr.] * i [It is to be hoped that the admirable Commentary of Mrvznr, as yet the best in an: gu i ity ry any language for critical abil will before long bo translated for the use of Enelish and American readers.—Tr.1 : THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. INTRODUCTION. --..-.-- 91. ΤΙΜΌΤΗΥ, to whom two of the Pastoral Epistles are addressed, was from Lycaonia, or aecording to some, from Lystra (Acts xvi. 1), according to others, from Derbe (Acts xx. 4). The son of a Jewish mother, Eunice, and a Greek father, he had from the former, as also from his grandmother, Lois, a devout training and instruction in the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Tim. i. 5; iii. 14,15). That he was a relative of St. Paul (Origen) is as unproved, as the supposition (Starke) that his father belonged to the σεβομένοι, the proselytes of the gate. In this family the Word of the Lord (Matt. x. 84-86) was truth; for while the father remained an unbeliever, the mother and son were already converts to Christianity before the second mis- sionary journey of Paul, who became acquainted with them at Lystra. The Apostle found the youthful Timothy ready and willing to accompany him on his farther journey, as he had a good report with the brethren (Acts xvi. 1, 2). From the fact that the Apostle calls him his son (réxvov, 1 Cor. iv. 17), we may justly infer, that he had received the Gospel through the preach- ing of Paul, at his first sojourn in Lystra (Acts xiv. 6,7). Out of consideration for the Jews he circumcised him, as his father was a Greek, and then took him into the chosen companion- ship of his confidential friends and followers (Acts xix. 22). He journeys with the Apostle over Troas to Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, where he first remains, to follow Paul later to Athens (Acts xvii. 14, 15). Not long after he was sent by the Apostle to Thessalonica, to strengthen and comfort that young community (1 Thess. iii. 1-5), and to join Paul again in Corinth (Acts xviii. 5; 1 Thess. iii. 6). Where Timothy had lived in the time between the second and third missionary journey of Paul, the history does not tell us, but we find him again on the third missionary journey at Ephesus by the side of the great Apostle to the Gentiles (Acts xix. 22), from whence he entrusts to him a message to Macedonia and Achaia (1 Cor. iv. 17; xvi. 10, 11). When Paul wrote his second letter from Macedonia to the Corinthians, Timothy was by him (2 Cor. i. 1), and accompanied him soon after on a journey to Corinth, from whence also his greeting was borne to the community at Rome (Rom. xvi. 21). On the Apostle’s return through Macedonia, he sent Timothy, among others, beforehand to Troaa (Acts xx. 4). €till later we meet him again at Rome; at the time of the Apostle’s first i-upris- opment, in his close neighborhood (v. the beginning of the Epistles to Colossians, Philiy pians, and Philemon). From thence Paul was minded to send him as soon as possible to Philippi, to learn the condition of the community there (Phil. ii. 19), of which design, however, it does not appear later that there was an actual fulfilment. As we infer from our Epistle, the Apostle, after his release from his first captivity, had left him behind in Ephesus on 8 journey to Mace- donia (1 Tim. i. 8), and hoped soon to meet him there again (1 Tim. iii. 18). Probably on this occasion (not at the outset of the journey, Acts xvi.) he was consecrated by sclemn laying on 10 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. of hands to the work of the ministry (1 Tim. i. 18; iv. 14), so that the tradition is mainly right which makes him the first Bishop of the Church at Ephesus, although we do not explain this title in the later hierarchical sense. Probably he had labored there for some time, until an urgent letter of Paul, during his second imprisonment, called him very speedily to Rome (2 Tim. iv. 21). When and where he was cast into prison, from which he was again released according to Heb. xiii. 23, can only be inferred by conjecture. Tradition says, that he suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Domitian (81-96 a.p. Nicepuor. iii. 11); but according te Baronivs, it was under Trajan, a.p. 109. Of his personal Christian character, all which we know with certainty or can fairly infer, gives the most favorable witness; and it is wholly without ground that any have questioned this from the admonitions which the aged Apostle thought needful in view of bis youth. In the fullest sense of the word he deserves the honor- able name “man of God,” which the Apostle gives him (1 Tim. vi. 11), and he must stand still higher in our eyes, if we look more closely at the difficult circumstances with which he had more and more to contend at Ephesus. His connection with Paul, so far as we learn from history, is from the outset unbroken, intimate, inexhaustibly happy fer himself, yet for the Apostle also a souree of refreshing and comfort in his trials. Not only does he appear in thia equal to the other co-workers and friends of Paul, but it is recorded that he surpassed them al. (Phil. ii. 20); which doubtless was partly due to the admirable training given by his mother. Niemeyer, in his Characteristics of the Bible, I. p. 442, says truly in his praise: “Τῇ Apostolic history tells us how closely he always walked in the counsels of his teacher, how diligent to spread the gospel, how he renounced all, even harmless comfort, that he might not throw the least stumbling-block in the way of Christianity (1 Tim. v. 23). That noble feeling, that heart wholly given to God and Christ, binds him so fast to Paul, that he cannot speak of him save in the tenderest language; that he calls him his dear, upright son, and commends him with such warmth to the love of other communions. Hallowed indeed to us—hallowed peculiarly to all the teachers of religion, be the remembrance of the noble man, the earliest emulator of the great Apostle.” The article on Timothy, by A. Koutur, in Herzoe’s Real-Encyklopddie, XVI. pp. 167-172, deserves here to be compared ; and not less that by T. ΒΑΝΚΕ in Preer’s Evangel. Kalender, 1850, pp. 70-74; as well as the Biblische Worterdbuch fiir das Chrisliche Volk. Stuttgart, 1857 in voce. §2. TIME, PLACE, AND DESIGN OF THE COMPOSITION. From the Epistle itself we can infer only what follows, as to the time when the Apostle first wrote to Timothy. According to Chap. i. 8, the Apostle was, when he wrote this letter, on the road from Ephesus to Macedonia; while he had left Timothy at the first-named place, and then was tninded (chap. iii. 14) to return as soon as he could, although he thought a delay quite pos- sible. We can almost definitely assume, that nothing is said in the Acts of this stay of the Apostle at Ephesus. Yr the first time he remains there only a very short season (Acts xviii. 19); the second time he had resided there indeed from two to three years, yet it is clear from various circumstances, that this journey from Ephesus to Macedonia (Acts xx. 1) cannot be the same the Apostle speaks of (1 Tim. i. 3). On this occasion Timothy is not left behind as Bishop of the Church at Ephesus; he has rather, according to Acts xx. 8, accompanied the Apostle, already three months later, on his further journey. Besides, Paul was not intending (Acta xx. 1) so soon to return to Ephesus as had been his design according to 1 Tim. iii. 14; on the contrary, he was on the way to Jerusalem ; he did not remain at this time at Ephesus, nay, he expresses his foreboding that the elders of that community will see his face no more (Acts xx. 16, 25). We are hence compelled to infer another journey of Paul from Ephesus to Macedonia, and can fix it only after his release from his first imprisonment at Rome.* From the want of sufficiently sure historic data, we must be content with a certain measure of probability as to the question, how long after the reiease this letter was written. If we now suppose, that the * Minrcren, a. a. 0; p. 6, attempts to justify, but only by a forced method, his view that we are here to understand the journey, Acts xviii. 21, to Jerusalem. He explains, solely on internal grounds, the words, B. 31, eis Μακεδονίαν, as spurious. The complete impossibility of supposing this one of the journeys, of which we are told in the Acts, is weL shown by Rurret. $2. TIME, PLACE, AND DESIGN OF COMPOSITION. 1] Apostle was early informed of the appearance and growth of erroneous teachers in Asia Minos and Ephesus at that time, then the probability is unavoidable, that very soon after his release from his chains he hastened thither, and from thence, after leaving Timothy, journeyed tc Macedonia and Greece. If now we suppose (WigseLer) that the first imprisonment of Paul at Rome was during the years 61-68, then we are induced to place the zomposition of this letter at the end of the year 63, or the beginning of 64. The contents of the letter have nothing to prevent our supposing this comparatively early date. Where Paul was at the writing of this first Episile, cannot be precisely known. The desig- nation of Athens as the place of composition in the verss. Copt. et Erp. lacks every histaric ground ; and it is equally so with the old subscription found in many manuscripts, as well 88 the Peschito, which gives Phrygia Pacatiana. This last supposition points to a later time, since before the age of Oonstantine the Great, there is no mention of Phrygia Pacatiana. If we might suppose that the first Epistle to Timothy was composed shortly after that to Titus, we might perhaps have thought of Nicopolis; but the internal probabilities lead us to give to this first letter to Timothy the priority among the Pastoral Epistles. Another hypothesis, that the letter was sent from Laodicea, would hardly have been received, had not some con- founded it, groundlessly, with the ἐπιστολὴ ἐκ Λαοδικείας, to which Ool. iv. 16 alludes (THEO- PHYLAOT). From the obscurity which hangs over this less important question, it is best to be content with the general suggestion, that the letter was probably composed in Macedonia, at least in its neighborhood. ‘ The hypothesis that the letter was written in the prison at Cesarea, and contained a charge to Timothy for Macedonia, is too forced to deserve a more precise refutation.” (Dz WeErTE). The occasion and purport of this writing are clear enough from the contents. What the Apostle at his earlier departure from Ephesus (Acts xx. 29) had feared, he had only too soon realized.* Heretical teachers had arisen (chap. i. 4); and Timothy, still comparatively young, needed much this counsel and guidance for his action in such a case. We prefer to show later the proper character of these erroneous teachers, and to answer better, in our exposition of the letter itself, the auestion in what relation they stand to other like phenomena in the apostolic time, since we van then consider together their various features. Enough, that in their doctrine there were seen the ἀντιϑέσεις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως (1 Tim. vi. 20), whose seeds already showeu themselves in the days of Paul; and the Apostle considered the con- tradiction between their doctrine and practice on the one side, and his gospel on the other, as wholly irreconcilable. With so much greater eagerness he turns his eye toward Timothy, because he recalls his youth (chap. iv. 12). He must be warned partly against deviations in conduct, partly against despondency; and as his position in the church was by no means equal to that of the Apostle, he needed a publi testimony to the agreement of his teaching with that of Paul. To this end, then, the Epistle was written, although his own position and that of the church was also keptin view. WurrsELer says somewhat too strongly: ‘‘The whole composition of the letter presupposes a slight practice and experience of Timothy in the rule of the affairs of a Christian community.” However. he was not as yet self-poised and spirit- ually ripe, and thus he was not only counselled here to hold fast to the confession and profes- sion of the truth, but he was enlightened as to the weighty matters regarding the direction and guidance of the church. No further design for later times, andoubtedly, passed consciously through the mind of the Apostle; but he who believes that the Spirit of Truth guided his writing, and cared for the wants of the church in the coming ages also, will tind here expressed not indeed the fixed forms, in which church polity and the organization of the Christian com- munity must move from century to century in all lands, yet their great, unchangeable ground- laws. Thus Luruzr is right, when he says in his preface: ‘St. Paul writes this Epistle as a model for all Bishops, what they shall teach, and how they shall rule the Christian Church in al! circumstances, so that they need not guide Christian men by their own human darkness." * The supposition of Dr, Orro, that the first Epistle to Timothy was written on account of the Corinthian troubles, i by no means favored by a deeper study of the Epistles to the Corinthians compared with the character of the heretical teachers here described. 12 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 88. CONTENTS AND DIVISIONS OF THE EPISTLE. For the purpose of a general view of the contents of this Epistle, it will be useful to give here its chief divisions, although their mutual connections can be better explained by the exposition itself. After the apostolic greeting, Paul at once (chap. i. 8) recalls the exhortation which he had left to Timothy, and gives a short account of the erroneous teachers whom he must above all oppose (v. 4). In relation to those who deceitfully present themselves aa teachers of the law he now brings to view the true meaning of the law (vv. 5-10) in regard to which he expresses his personal gratitude for the mercy which had befallen him in his own conversion and calling to the service of the Gospel (vv. 11-17). Here he returns to his starting point (v. 8), and counsels Timothy to fight the good fight of faith as a soldier, while he recalls for his warning the sad example of two well-known heretics (vv. 19, 20). In the following verses he counsels the diligent use of public prayers, whilst he supports his counsel by many motives (chap. ii. 1-7), and then in particular shows, how both men and women should conduct themselves in this and in the social assemblies of the church (vv. 8-15). This opens the way (chap. iii.) for his special discourse on the appointment of bishops of the church (vv. 1-13) He shows what wants Timothy must particularly consider (vv. 1-8) in the selection of bishopa -and (vv. 9-18) of deacons; as to which he remarks that he expects soon to visit him, but writes this beforehand, that Timothy may know how he is to act in the church of God (vv. 14, 15). Here follows a passage on the great mystery of godliness (v. 16), which better agrees with the connections of the fourth chapter, and leads the Apostle to show in its true light the truth preached by him, in contrast to the errors he opposes (chap. iv. 1-5). The Apostle refers to the prophets, who predicted the times of apostasy, in which dangerous errors should go hand in hand with immoral precepts; but again he passes on (vv. 6-16) in 8 tone of paternal anxiety, to give Timothy various admonitions as to the exercise of his official duty. In the fifth chapter he proceeds to write rules of conduct for different classes in the Christian body. Sometimes more briefly, sometimes more fully, Paul points out here, how he should act toward the old and the young (vv. 1, 2), toward widows in regard to their support by the community (vv. 38-8) ; further, what rules he should adopt in his choice of deaconesses, and what should be hia counsel as to the young widows (vv. 9-16). In regard to the elders he gives many observa- tions, partly how the church (vv. 17, 18), partly how Timothy himself must act in various con- ditions and circumstances (vv. 19-22); in which he offers a wholesome rule for his own health (v. 28), and he adds a general counsel, rich in the knowledge of human nature (vv. 24, 25), which shall make him cautions in judgment of others. In the last chapter his advice is directed partly to the church, in reference to different classes. He informs servante how they must conduct themselves toward unbelieving as well as believing masters (vv. 1, 2), while immedi- ately after follows a strong rebuke to those who, from impure motives, preach another doctrine than that of the Apostle (vv. 8-5). In view of their insatiable covetousness, the Apostle shows the indivisible connection of godliness and contentment, and warns against the love of money, which is not only for the individual, but the church, the root of many evils (vv. 6-10). In oppo- sition to this bad state of things, Timothy must remain true to his high calling (vv. 11-16) and fight the good fight of faith, remembering his own good confession, and that of his suffering Saviour, as well as his hope of the glorious appearing of Christ. Here, perhaps, the Epistle would fitly close; yet the thought of the richer members of the community draws out a special warning from the Apostle’s heart (vv. 17, 18), whilst his love of Timothy compels him once more to gather all his counsels in a strong, closing exhortation, which he then seals with his benediction (vv. 19-21). ᾿ From this summary sketch, it appears that there is to be found here no systematic order of thought, as, e. g. in the Epistles to the Romans and Ephesians, but a free, natural outpouring of the Apostle’s heart. It is impossible to show any organic connection, but rather the varied counsels of this letter remind us of pearls of varied color and size, yet strung on one threac. The spirit remains one and the same in all these exhortations, so that the remark of our old Srarxz is just: ‘ The style is plain, simple, and artless, yet pointed and impressive, as a father § 4. LITERATURE. 13 is wont to write to his son, caring more for the quality of the things than the nicety of the words. Yet there shines everywhere a lofty spirit and a great truth, which a teacher, the oftener he rightly reads and reflects on, discovers more and more.” 54, LITERATURE. Beside the authors already named in the first General Introduction, we may compare Wir sius: de vitd Timothei breviarium, in the Miscellanea Sacra, Il. Herborn, 1712, 2d ed. p. 557 et seg. T. A. ὙΥΕΘΒΟΒΕΙΡΕΒ: The First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, newly translated and ecpounded, 1810. G. E. Luo: Epist. prim. ad Timoth. Grace cum comment. perpetuo, 1887, J. BERRIMAN: ϑεὸς ἐῴφανερ. ἐν σαρκί, or, Critic, Dissertat. on 1 Tim. iii. 16. London, 1741. J. G. Burxuarpt: Dissert. Theol. Inaug. de loco1 Tim. iii. 16. Lips., 1786. The Treatisa on this Epistle, in the New Testament by O. v. Gzrtaon. Dr. H. 1. Hevsner: Practical Eupo- sition of the New Test.,4 vols. Potsdam, 1859, containing both Epistles to Timothy; and others. [In addition to the English expository works named in the General Introduction, we may refer to a few which should be consulted in regard to the special topics of the first Epistle. The history of the heresies in St. Paul’s time is handled with much ingenuity by Srantey: Comm. on Ep. Corinth., whose theory, however partial as to the Gnostic traces in other parts of the New Testament, has strong confirmation in the Pastoral Epistles. We should name especially also Sonarr’s Apostol. Church, B. IV. ch. 8. This work, although of German authorship, stands foremost in learning and ability among all which have been written in our own language. Burron: Lectures, has given much light on the Jewish origin of these heresies. See also, for some striking observations, the late commentary of T. L. Davizs: Epp. to Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon. London, 1866. In regard to the primitive rule of deaconess, v. Howson: Deaconesses, London, 1862, and the admirable volume of J. M. Lup- tow: Woman's Work in the Church, London, 1866. The vexed question of Episcopacy and Presbytery, as connected with these Epistles, has employed many writers in the English Church; but as they are of more ecclesiastical than exegetical value, they are not here mentioned.—Tz.] THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY. I. Superscription, and wish for Blessing. Cu. 1. 1, 2. 1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ [Christ Jesus]* by [according to] the com. mandment* of God our Saviour,* and Lord Jesus Christ,‘ which is our hope; 2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from od our’ Father and Jesus Christ [Christ Jesus]° our Lord. ® [Latin : Incipit ad Timotheum prima. English Version: The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy ; which is a translation of the title in the Recepta. 1 Ver. 1.—{Xptorod Ἰησοῦ͵ instead of “Inc. Xpwor., the reading of the Recepta, and of Lachmann also. Binaiticus has Χριστ. "Ino.—E. H.] 2 Ver. 1.—{xar’ ἐπιταγήν. So all the authorities. &c.; cf. 2 Tim. i. 1. Huther.—E- H.J The The Sinaiticus has κατ᾽ ἐπαγγελίαν = according to the promise, But the true reading, doubtless, is the received.—E. H.} 3 Ver. 1.--[Θεοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ; the order of these words varies much in the later MSS. See Tischendorf; so Ver. 1.—Received text: Lord Jesus Christ. [Omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf; found in the Sinaiticus. In the Minuscules, καὶ is left out, or placed sometimes before δωτῆρος; 5 Ver. 2.—[juav; in the Recepta, but to be omitted; is omitted b 6 Ver. 2.—[Xptorod Ἰησοῦ ; 80 Lachmann and Tischendorf, suppo: ous the same.—E. H.] EXEGETICAL AND ORITIOAL. Ver. 1. Paul. See, in reference to. his person, the statements of the Acts of the Apostles, and the preceding Pauline Epistles.—By the command- ment, κατ᾽ ἐπεταγήν. The Apostle begins his work thus, because he would enforce his apostolic author- ity against heretical teachers. The same expression occurs in Titus i. 3, and refers to the Divine commis- sion of the Apostle, the foundation of which was ϑέλημα ϑεοῦ, to which he alludes in other places, as 2 Tim. i, 1 (comp. Gal. i. 1). We do not, however, discover in this an undesigned expression of his con- fflence in the Divine origin and character of his apostleship (Matthies). We believe, rather, that the Apostle uses this word designedly, in order to give to his admonitions their due authority.— God our Saviour, σωτῆρος ἡμῶν (comp. Jude, 25; Luke i. 47). The representation of God the Father as Sa- riour is peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles ; while in according to Huther.—E. H.) our author in his text.—E. H.] d by the weightiest authorities. The Sinaiti- the other Pauline Epistles, the name is usually given to Christ. It is obvious that this name is applied to the Father, in view of that which He has done, through Christ, for the salvation of mankind.—Our hope. One of those rich expressions which lose their power and beauty in any paraphrase (comp. Jobn xi. 25; Col. i. 27; Eph. ii. 14, and similar passages). The conception is as little exhausted, whether we consider Christ exclusively as the foun- dation, or exclusively as the object of hope; rather, both conceptions are to be so blended, that we shall see in Christ the living centre of the Christian hope. “ In eo solo residet tota salutis nostre materia ;” Calvin, It is Christ, in and through whom alone our hope in the Divine σωτηρία is realized. Ver. 2. Own son in the faith, γνησίῳ τέκνῳ, not κατὰ σάρκα, but ἐν πίστει: which last word must not be joined with γνησίῳ, but with τέκνῳ, and denotes the sphere in which the relationship has grown between Paul and Timothy (comp. 1 Cor, iv 16 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 14-17; Gal. iv. 19). Titus, in chap. i. 4, is greeted with the same name of honor, κατὰ κοινὴν πία- τιν. The Apostle feels inwardly moved to give such prominence to the bond which unites him in Timothy; and from this spring of inner love now bursts his noble intercessory prayer. [The English Version reads, ‘in the faith;” but it is better “in faith.’ So Conybeare, and others, Alford and Wordsworth, however, retain the former reading.— W.]—Grace, mercy, and peace. A new charac- ‘eristic of the Pastoral Epistles, that mercy is named in the salutation, while elsewhere St. Paul is wont to entreat only grace and peace for his readers (com- pare, however, Gal. vi. 16; Jude 2). It is not pos- sible that a writer of fiction would have allowed such slight deviatione ; he would rather have been careful to copy, as literally as possible, the Apostle’s usual form of salutation, This difference gives us an in- ternal proof, in its degree, of the genuineness of the Epistle. The chief motive by which the Apostle felt himself compelled, from the fulness of his heart, to join this third word to the other two, was doubtless his own personal feeling, As his life drew nearer its close, and he felt more deeply his weakness, his coming end, the ἔλεος was the foundation of his hope; and for Timothy, too, with grace and peace, it was the one thing needful. “ Misericordia dicit gratiam quasi teneriorem erga miserabiles, et hujus misericordia divine experientia affert habilitatem ad ministerium evangelicwn,” vers. 18, 16; Bengel. We may call grace the highest good for the guilty, mercy for the suffering, and peace for the struggling disciple of the Lord. In its harmony, this ravish- ing threefold chord expresses all the spiritual gifts which the Christian should ask for himself and his brethren.—Christ Jesus. Here, as very frequently in the Epistles to Timothy, the official name, The Christ, in which the Messianic promises are fulfilled, is placed before the name of the historic person, Jesus. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1, As it was not necessary for Timothy to be assured of the apostolic authority of Paul, since he had not the least doubt of it, it becomes more evi- dent here that the Apostle attaches to it a high sig- nificance, when it is named even in the beginning of this letter. We often hear the superficial notion advanced, that the Apostles, as the first witnesses of the personal appearing of Christ, had some advan- tage over later teachers, but that there is, after all, no essential inequality. If this were true, the Pas- toral Epistles would have, in many respects, an en- tirely different character. We hear in them not merely an elder teacher addressing his younger brethren in office, not merely a spiritual father ad- dressing his son, but an Apostle giving exhortations to his youthful fellow-laborers, in a tone which ad- mits no contradiction, and expects nothing but obe- dience for Christ's sake in all he prescribes and ordains (comp. 2 Cor. vii. 15, 16). If we once admit that the spirit of truth was given to each one (πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον, 1 Cor. xii, 7), it lies in the very nature of the case, that with the munus apostolicum qua tale, charismata were joined, which other teach- era of the courck could not enjoy, or, at least, to the same degree. The Lord, who has appointed some apostles, and some evangelists (Eph. iv. 11, 12), has by no means made the latter equal to the former. This misconception of the principle of authority begets the most unchecked wilfulness and private opinion, and brings us not to the feet of the Apos tle, but under the sceptre of every writer who may place himself and his word above that of St. Paul, The recognition of the apostolic authority is the best palladium against the threefold enemy which assaila the evangelical church in our day—Mysticism, Ra tionalism, and Romanism; comp. P, JaLaGuyYeEr, Inspiration du Nouveau Testam., Paris, 1851; espe cially p. 61-89. 2. The recognition of Jesus Christ as our hope involves, if it have any significance whatever, the recognition of His real divinity, If the Lord be nothing more than a mere man, a8 many modern theologians represent, then we are not free to call Him our hope, without narrowing greatly our con- ception of its meaning. The Scriptures pronounce a fearful judgment upon all who trust in an arm of flesh; comp. Jer. xvii. 5, 6; Ps. cxviil. 8, 93 exlvi. 3. 8. The apostolic benediction, ‘‘ Grace, mercy, and peace,” illustrates the character of the gospel, as essentially different not only from the law, but from every merely human and philosophic system of religion. All grace, mercy, and peace which God can bestow, come to us only through and in com- munion with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; comp. John xiv. 6, HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. The significance of Paul’s title, the Apostle of the Lord.—Paul the Apostle, for all ages and centn- ries.—The calling of Paul to the apostolic office a good to all Christendom.—The nature, foundation, and value of the apostolic authority.—God the Sa- viour of all men, but especially of those that believe (1 Tim. iv. 10).—Christ the Lord of the Church— Christ our hope: (1.) What does this name involve ? (2.) What does it demand ?—Christ (1.) can be our hope, for He is the true God; (2:) will be our hope, for He is the Mediator between God and man; (8.) must be our hope, for there is salvation in no other, —The communion of saints.—The strong tie that unites together spiritual fathers and their children. The high value of the gospel blessings.—The grace, the mercy, and the peace of God, in their relation to the faith, the love, and the hope of the Christian.— Jesus Christ the souree whence all spiritual blessings flow to us.—What must the Christian ask first and chiefly for his brethren ? OstanpeR: If Paul be a messenger of God, we cught to regard his writings as nothing else than the infallible word of God (Luke x. 16).—No man ought to preach without a due calling in the church (Heb. v. 4).—Anton: The majesty of God can only be constantly and lovingly manifest in the face of Jesus Christ. If Christ be our hope, then we cer- tainly must not rest our hope on the gaints, or on our own merit, but recognize Christ as the orly Re deemer.—The office and work of the preacher are means by which spiritual sons and daughters are born to God (Philem. 10).—Laner’s Opus bibl.: Every believing reader of this benediction should put him. self in the place of Timothy, and make it his own, since he knows and honors God as his Father, and Christ as his Lord. CHAPTER I. 8-11. IL Jecasion for the writing of this Epistle—Preliminary description and condemnation of the heretical teachers who had appeared at Ephesus, who misunderstood equally the nature both of the Law and of the Gospel. Cu. 1. 3-11. 3 As* I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions [questionings] rather than godly edifying ὮΝ dispensation of God]? which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; under- standing [considering] neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law zs good, if a man 88" it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made [set forth = posita] for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,’ for man-slayers, For whore- mongers, for them that detile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound 11 doctrine: According to the glorious gospel [the gospel of glory] of the blessed ~ © CH TO Or 10 God, which was committed to my trust [which I have been entrusted with]. 1 Ver. 3.—[No apodosis to καθώς. Lachmann brackets vers. 5-17; but this scarcely meets the case. Perhaps wa had better supply, with our author, at the end of ver. 4, so now also I exhort thee. son.—E. H.] So likewise Conybeare and Howe 2 Ver, 4.—Dispensation (Haushaltung), according to the reading οἰκονομίαν; instead of the οἰκοδομίαν of the Recepta, which has scarcely any critical confirmation at all. The reading οἰκονομίαν is supported by such weighty authorities (mow also by the Sinaiticus), that its accuracy cannot be doubted. Matthdi says: ‘‘otkovouiar, ita omnes omnino met, ae ti quidem, qui scholia habent, etiam in scholiis uti quoque interpretes edtti. οἰκοδομίαν nihil nist error est typothe- tarum Erasmi, § cum v confuso nisi Erasmus deliberate ita correxerit ad latinum: exdificationem ;” Huther. 3 Ver. 8.—[Lachmann, on the authority of A., reads χρήσητοι; the rest have χρῆται. So also the Sinaiticus.— "Ver. 9.--ἰπατρολῴαις, μητρολῴαις. Lachmann, Tischendorf, Sinaiticus, instead of warpa., wytpa.—E. H.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 3. Besought. For the occasion and object of this exhortation, see the Introduction, Timothy must remain at Ephesus, προσμεῖναι (the same word occurs in Acts xviii. 18), in order, by his presence, to oppose the evil which was becoming apparent there. The simplest explanation of this somewhat singular phrase, is, that Paul had already, at Ephe- sus, given this injunction to Timothy, and had then left him in order to set out on his journey to Mace- donia. According to Chrysostom, the form in which this admonition is couched is a proof of the friend- ly spirit of the Apostle towards Timothy: ‘ οὐ γὰρ ἔιπεν : ἐπέταξα, οὐδὲ ἐκέλευσα, οὐδὲ παρῇνεσα, ἀλλὰ TL; παρεκάλεσά σε.""---,ῥοταθ. In other places, also, the Apostle speaks, without any personal desig- nation, of those whom he calls upon Timothy to oppose (vers, 6, 19; chap. iv. 1; 2 Tim. ii. 18). Timothy knew them from his own experience, and needed, therefore, no more exact advice. He was to eharge them, not at once publicly (Matthies), yet in an earnest and emphatic way, to teach no other doc- trine than that which the Apostle had before deliv- ered, Ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖν (comp. chap. vi. 3; Tit. i. 13). The word indicates the strange elements that may mingle with the teaching of the gospel, and easily assume a character hostile to it. The same warning Paul had already given, in another form, to the elders of the church (Acts xx. 29). The pure doctrine, in which men must steadfastly abide, is naturally, in his thought, identical with his gospel (2 Tim. ii. 8). Ver. 4. Fables and endless genealogies (comp. Tit. i, 14; 1 Tim. iv. 7; 2 Tim. iv. 4; Tit, iii. 9). It is difficult to know with certainty what piso: and γενεαλογίαι are here specially meant. From all that we gather, however, in this Epistle, it is most probable that reference is made to fables of Jewish form and origin, which were endlessly spun out, and had called forth much dispute in the- church. ‘ Although there were many fables among the heathen, yet the Apostle has in special view the Jewish traditiones ; for it was asserted that Moses had not written down all the mysteries revealed by God, but had given much orally to the elders, by whom they were handed down as a traditional law, or Kabbala, although these Jewish notions were mostly of their own invention, and in part, too, drawn from heathen philosophy;” Starke. The genealogical records here mentioned appear also to have been mainly of Jewish origin, and, as we know, were held in high repute, and gave occasion for many useless and curious questions; although wa need not entirely exclude a reference to the doctrine of Emanation, taught by the heretical schools, The ζητήσεις are nothing but the foolish questions (Tit. iii. 9), which lead to strife and discord. This love 18 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. of fables and genealogies is held by the Apostle in such great aversion, because it furnished such mate- rial for dispute, rather than for a right knowledge of the essential way of redemption (οἰκονομία). “ Μᾶλλον, non semper comparationis sed seepius cor- rectionis et oppositionis nota est (comp. 2 Tim. i. 4);” Glassius, Most commentators agree that the clause which begins the third verse should be under- stood to close at the end of the fourth verse, with an οὕτω καὶ νῦν παρακαλῶ, which certainly might be most fitly inserted in this place. Otherwise it must be supposed that the Apostle, after a long digression (vers. 5-7), takes up again, at ver. 18, the thread of the broken exhortation ; ver. 5 or ver. 12 forms no perfect conclusion. Ver. 5. The end of the commandment. It is a question, whether reference is made to the com- mand given by Paul, in ver. 3, to Timothy, or, in a wider sense, to the Divine commandment in general, which Timothy is to impress upon his hearers. The latter is the more probable, since the Apostle begins forthwith to oppose a false view of the Mosaic law. “TlapayyeAla, practical teaching as the chief ele- ment of the διδασκαλία ὑγιαίνουσα ; a contract to the μῦδοι," De Wette.—End; Luther: The sum, as this word designates that to which we are chiefly to look, and toward which we are to strive. ‘‘The ultimate aim of all the admonitions of the Christian preacher should be practical—to call out a true love;” Olshausen, Even to Timothy, Paul writes very little of the mysteries of Christianity, that, by his example, he may yet more put to shame this ger- minal Gnosticism.—Charity out of a pure heart, &c. Love, ‘tthe bond of all Christian virtues,” the fruit of the tree, whose root, faith, is presupposed as already existing, and commended at the close of the exhortation. This love can only spring out of a pure heart, cleansed from all selfishness and evil de- sires ; out of a good conscience, which, being free from the guilt of sin, and reconciled with God, can then first love in truth; and from an unfeigned faith—Unfeigned, ἀνυπόκριτος ; that is, no empty thought or fancy, but a spiritual light and spiritual life not consisting in words, but in a living assurance of the heart, and proving its life in its fruits, With- out real faith there is no good conscience ; without a reconciliation of the conscience there is no pure heart ; without a pure heart there is no true Chris- tian love conceivable. Thus all are blended in the closest union, [Alford: “It is faith—not the pre- tence of faith, the mere Scheinglaube of the hypo- erite. . . . Wiesinger well remarks, that we see that the general character of these false teachers, as of those against whom Titus is warned, was not so much error in doctrine, as leading men astray from the earnestness of the loving Christian life to use- less and vain questionings, ministering only strife.”] Ver. 6. From which... vain jangling. Ὧν, that is, from the Christian dispositions and virtues mentioned in ver. 5. The polemic character of the Epistle of Paul appears immediately after the statement of the τέλος τῆς παραγγελίας. The here- tics were separatists, ἀστοχήσαντες ; they had failed of the end which the Apostle has set forth—the Bame word occurs in 1 Tim. vi. 21; 2 Tim. ii. 18— and were thus astray in a false path, because they had turned cis ματαιολογίαν. The etymology indi- cates the meaning of this word, which, besides, is found only here. (Tit. i. 10, ματαιολόγοι occurs). Here is suggested that waste of words, that empty talk, 2 ~bich there can be found no rational sense, no unity of conviction. Compare the βέβηλοι κενοφωνίαι (chap. vi. 20), and the βέβηλοι te γραώδεις μῦϑοι (1 Tim. iv. 75. Tit. iii. 9). he character of this vain jangling is more exactly de fined by what immediately follows, in ver. 7. Ver. 7. Teachers of the law, νομοδιδάσκαλοι, not in a good, but in a bad, unevangelical sense of this word; men who so mixed together law and gos pel, that the latter was weakened, and who would likewise force a Mosaic system upon the Christian, in the notion that they themselves had pierced deeper than others into its nature and spirit. It is the same Jewish legalism, which, in its special relation to the Gentiles, the Apostle opposes in Rom. xii, 17 and Gal. vi. 20; because, in its inmost spirit, it is in irreconcilable conflict with Christian truth and free. dom. In the keenest way, throughout the following verses, it is held up to view in its utter nakedness, μὴ νοοῦντες, x.7.A. ‘* Bonus doctor debet esse intelli- gens, simulque certus: istis, inquit Paulus, utrumque deest ; Bengel. They themselves understand not what they say, nor whereof they affirm. If we may draw a distinction between these two expressions, the former seems to mean the subjective opinions, the expressed ideas, the fictions of these men; while the second designates the objective views, the mate- rial, on which they based their convictions with the greatest confidence, but into which, according to the assertion of Paul, they had no clear insight. So also Raphelius: ‘‘ Qui neque ea, gue loguuntur satis intelligant, neque quibus de rebus loguantur, con- siderant.”. What these νομοδιδάσκαλοι held as to the unaltered authority of the Mosaic law, rested on their plain ignorance of the very purpose of the law; which is therefore, in the 8th and following verses, designedly placed by the Apostle in its true light. It appears, also, from this whole argument, that these heretics were not already separated from the community, or in opposition to it—in which case Timothy could bave had no further influence over them—but they were still within its pale. It is wor- thy of note, too, that they continually sought author- ity in the writings of the Old Testament for their half-heathen speculations, Ver. 8. But we know. An authoritative apostolic οἴδαμεν, of quite other worth than that of the Scribes and Pharisees (John ix. 29, 31). The Apostle places the declaration of his knowledge, which he had learned in the school of the Holy Ghost, against the arrogant view of the false Gnosis, Perhaps its advocates had thought to raise a sus- picion against him, as if he despised the law, or, at least, denied it any real worth. He opposes to this his doctrine, which he fully knows will be received by Timothy—that the law is good (properly, beauti- ful, καλός), and in itself blameless (comp. Rom. vii. 12); yet only on condition that every man use the same lawfully, νομίμως, which was not done by these heretics, A play upon the word; as if to say, that the law must be fulfilled according to law. We have special cause to be thankful that the true defi- nition of the law has been so fully stated by Paul in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, as rightly to explain 1 Tim. i. 8-10. Nopiuws is the use of the law by the man who allows it to exercise ita proper office, who is brought by it to 4 knowledge of his own sin and liability to punishment, “ Thig knowledge will give us its spirit and intent-—not room for idle questions and subtleties, nor for self. deception through a feigned and outward righteous ness. This lawful use of the law is meant by Christ , CHAPTER I. 8-11. e when He promises life to those who keep the law (Luke x. 28; chap. xviii, 20, ef seg.);” Von Ger- lach. It is self-evident, also, that Paul in this place speaks not of the hearer or the reader of the law, but solely of ite application by its teachers, who may we! reflect on the verses which follow. ver 9. That the law is not made for a righteous man. It is not strange that this passage should at first awaken surprise in many readers, and that, at the time of the Reformation, it should have been controverted by Agricola. The first question is, whom the Apostle means by this righteous man— 8 question which is at once answered by the antithe- sis following it, ἀνόμοις δὲ, «.7.A. In distinction from this, the person meant by δίκαιος may be one whose life is righteous and moral according to the requirements of the law. But since, according to the invariable doctrine of the Apostle, all who are under the law are also under the curse of the law, so that by the works of the law no flesh can be justi- fied (Gal. iii, 10; Rom. iii, 20), it follows, that by the righteous Christian man must be meant one who has been justified by faith in Christ, and wholly re- newed by the Holy Spirit (justus per justificationem, et per sanctificationem), Of such a man Paul says, that the law is not made for him, νόμος οὐ κεῖται. As the article is wanting before νόμος, it may be thought that only a general proposition is stated as to the nature and purpose of any moral code (Chry- sostom, Brentano). But the mention of the gospel in contrast with the law (ver. 11), and the argument against the νομοδιδάσκαλοι (ver. 7), imperatively re- quires us here to understand the Mosaic law alone. On the omission of the article, see Wintr’s Gram- mar, ix loco. This law, tken, is not made for the righteous man; that is, it is not given to him, as euch. When De Wette says, “ This view of the law seems foreign to the Apostle,” he seems to for- get entirely such passages as Gal. v. 18-23. The thought, that the letter of the Mosaic law possesses no more binding force for the redeemed in Christ, is so entirely Pauline, that it forms one of the main pillars of his whole doctrinal structure. It certainly gives also a fulfilment of the law from the Christian standpoint, as it is announced in Rom. iii. 313 viii. 4, and in other places. But in this passage the Apostle expressly shows its meaning for the wholly unconverted, in order to expose more clearly the folly of those heretics who will put the law by the side of, or even above the gospel, for the Christian. (Augustin on Ps. i: “Justus non est sub lege, quia in lege Domini est voluntas ejus ; qui enim in lege est, secundum legem agitur ; ille ergo liber est ; hic arrous.” Hooxrr, Eccl. Pol., B.1, 6. 8. “A law is a directive rule unto goodness of operation. The rule of Divine operation is the definitive appoint- ment of God’s own wisdom set down within Himself. The rule of natural agents that work by necessity is the determination of the wisdom of God, known to God, but not unto them. The rule of voluntary agents on earth is the venture that reason giveth concerning the goodness of those things which they are to do... . Neither must we suppose that there aeedeth one rule to know the good, and another the evil by. For he that knoweth the straight, doth even thereby discern the crooked. Goodness in actions is like unto straightness; wherefore, that which is done well, we term right.”—W.]—But for the lawless. In contrast to this true spirit of law, the Apostle now names a long list of evil- doers, for whom the law remained in full force; a list in which one familiar with the Pauline wr.tinga will not expect completeness, systematic orcer, or logical strictness, in its various conceptions; yet which by no means lacks connection, and has clearly this thought at the bottom, that they who are most zealous for the law often most grossly transgress it (comp. Rom, ii, 20), He names, at the outset, two by two, six classes of wicked men—avduos καὶ ἀνυποτάκτοις ; that is, such as care nothing for the law, and have altogether refused obedience to it (comp. Titus i, 6-10); ἀσεβέσι καὶ ἁμαρτολοῖς, god« less (comp. Titus ii. 12) and gross sinners, who have no fear of God in their hearts (comp. Rom. iv. 5; v. 6). Here the hostile attitude toward God be. comes more prominent, while the preceding two ara violators of the law in general. ᾿Ανοσίοις καὶ βεβή- λοις blend both the first conceptions, as the irre. ligious and profane, here depicted, are alike de spisers of the Holy God, and of His holy law. Here follow, more in detail, certain specimina mali, from which we may suppose that, with the exception of the last vitium, ἐπιόρκοις, the various statutes of the second table passed before the mind of the Apostle, He names the murder of father and mother—those who violate the first commandment with promise (Eph. vi. 2), and grossly abuse their parents (πατρα- rolas; ὃ τὸν πατέρα ἀτιμάζων, τύπτων ἢ κτείνων ; Hesychius), J/furderer, consequently a breaker of the sixth commandment, ἀνδροφόνοις ; in the New Testament an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον. Further, those who sin against the seventh commandment, commit forni- cation with women (mépvois), or with the male sex (apoevoroiras), comp. Rom. i. 27; both natural and unnatural crime (comp, Levit, xix. and xxiii.) Then follow transgressions of the eighth commandment, here wholly concerning men—the sin of man-steal- ing, specially forbidden in Exodus xxi. 16; Deut. xxiv. 7; ἀνδραποδισταῖς, plagiariis, It was, besides, no rare crime among the Greeks to steal boys or girls, that they might be sold into slavery. Lastly follow those who break the ninth commandment, ψεῦσται, ἐπίορκοι ; such as deliberately speak false- hood, or swear to a falsehood, or break an oath already taken. By the following εἴ τε ἕτερον, καὶ 7.A., we may suppose meant transgression against the tenth commandment, which is here omittec. We find, however, in this catalogus criminum, no orderly reference to the commandments of the first table ; and Bengel has clearly gone too far, when he writes, “ Paulus pro ordine decalogi hice nominat injustos.” This is true only of the second half of the deca- logue.—And if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. Sound doctrine —one of the expressions characteristic of the Pas- toral Epistles (comp. 2 Tim. iv. 8; Titus ii. 1, and elsewhere). Not healthful doctrine is meant (Lu- ther), nor a sound morality (Leo), but the Christian teaching in general is approved in its inner sound- ness, as opposed to the ματαιολογία of the heretics, This phrase is used also to express those symptoms of disease which St. Paul saw with grief springing up in the church (comp. 2 Tim. ii, 17). [It is ob servable that the word “wholesome” occurs nine times in the Pastoral Epistles, and always in refer. ence to doctrine ; ee Ver. 11. According to the glorious gospel ...cemmitted to my trust. Κατά is not used here for the more exact definition of sound doctrine, as some have thought; for, in that case, τῇ would have to be repeated before κατά; nor need it be supposed in apposition to ἀντίκειται, which would 20 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. give a very awkward conclusion. Verse 11 is an addition, which refers to the whole preceding line 95 thought, and means that, according to the gospel of Paul, the law has no other purpose than that fully explained in vers. 6-10. The Apostle would have us understand, that his view of the law is not the fruit of his private opinion, but rather the true sum- mary of the gospel committed to him. This qualifi- eation of the gospel is really apologetic. The gospel of glory, τῆς δόξης, not signifying ἔνδοξον (Heyden- reich), in the sense of blessed, glorious doctrine, but the gospel by which the glory of God in Christ has become manifest to the world; whose especial and chief substance is this Divine glory (2 Cor. iv. 4), and indeed the glory of the blessed God, τοῦ μακα- piov Θεοῦ (comp. 1 Tim. vi, 15), If God Himself be blessed, then the revelation of His glory, which has been proclaimed, not through the law, but through the gospel, will be full of blessing. Perhaps the repeated use of the epithet in this Epistle has a cer- tain reference to the system of Aéons taught by the heretics. This gospel is committed in trust to Paul, ὃ ἐπιστεύϑην ἐγώ A peculiarly Pauline construc- tion, on which, comp. Winer, Gramm. N. T., p. 40. In other places, too, the Apostle speaks with warmth of tuis his dear prerogative; as Rom, xv. 16; Eph. iii. 8; Col. i. 25. Those who oppose the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles, are therefore wrong in thinking such emphatic reference to his person and his office at all extraordinary. The con- sciousness which Paul had of his high calling, rises with redoubled power as he contends with the here- tics; and in this letter to his friend and scholar he follows the warm outpouring of his spirit, not in a logical order, yet in harmony with his whole thought, as we read in vers. 12-17, DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1, Two opposite views, in regard to the character and condition uf the early Christian Church have prevailed, with mure or less success, in our time, both of which are disproved in the opening verses of the first Pastoral Epistle. In the one view, it is thought that the apostolic age was a kind of para- disaic state of the young community—a state full of love, and innocence, and purity; in contrast with which the post-apostolic age seems a fall, like that of our first parents (Thiersch, and others), In the other view, there was at first only a chaos of mani- fold parties and tendencies, out of which there gradually rose, in the second century, after many conciliatory efforts, the harmonious structure of the Catholic church (Tiibingen school), But the little we have already learned from the Epistle to Timothy aeither favors the one nor the other view. It is apparent that already, soon after A. Ὁ. 60, heresies and factions sprang up in the church, hostile to the original spirit of Christianity, which the Apostle be- lieved that he must oppose with all his energy. We find that the germs of Gnosticism, whose formal development we can trace in the second century ander manifold shapes, were already broadcast in the second half of the first century. But, on the other hand, this error appears only as a fleck of rust on the pure metal of that truth, earlier taught and fully acknowledged. We see the Apostle, clothed with an authority which no one can defy with impu- nity, and rising high above the strife af parties, His gospel is no other in substance than that proclaimed his fellow-Apostles, and by his and their co ee His ee becomes the sharp but healthfu. corrective of the errorists, who have gained head se early; and it remains the norm of its development for the church, in the second and the succeeding ries. a The characteristic marks of the heretics of the first century rise here already to our view. A sickly search after the discovery of the unattainable, with a thankless misconception of simple truth ; an undua valuing of lesser things, with a depreciation of the essentials of Christianity; a striving after their own honor, while they cared little for the edification of believers ; a fastening of their own philosophic theo. ries on the falsely-interpreted letter of the Scrip. tures, whose spirit they sadly misconceived ; a denial of the practical nature of Christianity, while its real freedom is abused as an allowance to the flesh; a falsehood as to the special relation between the law and the gospel of Christ ;—all these symptoms of disease are found anew, in countless forms, among the sectaries and heretics of later days. 8. The Apostle is alike removed from the one. siced view either of a love without faith, or of a faith without love. He will neither have the fruit without the tree, nor the tree without the fruit. He knows only the one requiremeit of the gospel— love; yet only the love blossoming in a heart puri- fied through faith. Here, as afterwards more fre- quently, purity of faith and purity of conscience are linked in their inmost relationship. 4, “Love, out of a pure heart.” &c. In thia statement of the chief requisite of Christianity there is confirmed the essential unity of theology and morality, whose arbitrary separation so often does unmeasured injury to each, and has kept many from the right understanding of the gospel. 5. We have here a weighty help toward answer- ing the question, how far the Mosaic law has a bind. ing power. But fully to understand the Apostle’s mode of thought upon this subject, the Epistles te the Romans and Galatians must be specially com- pared. Here, also, Paul appears the same glowing and zealous advocate, as he had before shown him- self, of the right of Christian freedom. While he exalts the worth of the law in its own proper sphere, beyond any disparagement, he shows its entire in- sufficiency whenever it is placed by the side of, or above the gospel. 6. We find the chief forms of Judaism in the time of our Lord, again existing in His earliest church—Pharisaism and Sadduceeism. Against this united power of selfrighteousness and unrighteous. ness, the disciple no less than the Master is pledged to bear the sword of the Spirit with all power (Matt, xvi. 6). 7. A precept, of the first importance in pastoral theology, is here given by the Apostle to the preach- ers of the Word. It is not enough to preach the truth free from all error; but they are also bound to contend with every energy against error. Persecu- tion of heretics is indeed unchristian and unevane gelical, and its frightful traces remain on many ἃ page of Church history, marked with blood and tears, Yet he would be no less to blame, who, like Timothy o ruler in the church, capable of large in fluence, should allow the errorist to go unchecked and remain satisfied, if not himself corrupted by the leaven of error, The bee which has lost its sting can produce no more honey. The saying of Calvin is that of every true witness of Jeeus Christ : 2 CHAPTER - 12-17. 2} dog barks loudly when one seizes his master; and should I be silent when the truth of God is as- sailed?” Polemics against leading heretics ought not to be the chief staple of gospel preaching ; nor should this be wholly and always lost sight of. . HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL No doctrine should be permitted or preached in the church but the unadulterated apostolic doctrine. —The relation of Mythology to Christianity—The difference between the holy ‘‘ mystery of the gos- pel,” and a sickly mysticism.—A sermon whose first and last fruit is strife and dispute, instead of the promotion of the Divine way of redemption, is thereby self-condemned.—The sum of the command- ment: (1) No Christianity without love; (2.) no Christian love without purity of heart; (3.) no purity of heart without a good conscience; (4.) no good conscience without an unsullied faith_—How far we may swerve from the end of the Divine reve- lation, even when we believe ourselves very near to it.—The attitude of the Christian toward the law.— Among the confessors of the gospel there were and are at all times (1.) some, who are neither under the law nor under grace; (2.) others, who are indeed under the law, but not yet under grace; (3.) others, who are under grace, and no more under the law.— The worth of the law as a bar, as a mirror, as a seal, [German: Riegel, Spiegel, u. Siegel.|—For whom the law is given, and for whom not.—The Christian re- deemed from the curse of the law, so that the right- eousness required by the law is fulfilled in him.— Every gross or slight, open or concealed immorality, is directly opposed to sound doctrine.—A noble eulogy of the gospel: (1.) The gospel of the glory of God; (2.) this God, the blessed God; (8.) through this blessed God, the ministry of the gospel is entrusted to a man like Paul.—Every estimate of the law that does not accord with the gospel of Paul deserves to be rejected—The ceaseless alternation of Lega‘ism and Antinomianism in the Christian Church: (1.) Its traces; (2.) its causes; (3.) its import; (4.) its only remedy.—[Ienatius: ᾿Αρχὴ μὲν mloris, τέλος τὲ ἀγάπη. Faith the beginning but love the end, or final cause.—W.] __ Starke: OsIANDER: The pure doctrine is a great gift of God, therefore it is to be guarded well; a costly loan, therefore to be well laid out,—Lanan’a Opus Bibl.: Pure doctrine and a godly life must always go together.—Hepincer: What helps nos growth in godliness, we ought to banish from church and school.—Anton: If the enemy cannot else lead us astray in our Christianity, he sings to us of high things, which common Christians do not know.—- Lange’s Op,: Theologians must especially care that they do not become loose talkers, and thus corrupters of others.—In nothing is pride more per ceptible, more hurtful, and perilous, than in spiritua things.—Every preacher of the gospel is also a teach. er of the law; for the gospel shows how man can and ought to hold the law of God in the gospel way. —QuESNEL: Gospel doctrine does not so hold up faith as to bend the law (1 Cor. ix. 21).—Sins must not be judged by human fancy, but according to the law and the gospel.—Sins that are forbidden in the law, are also contrary to the gospel (Rom. iii, 31).— Anton: Iii the office of preacher, the whole ain must be to know the gospel as a gospel of the glory of God (2 Cor, iv. 6). [Cupworrn, Sermon I: Christ came not into the world to fill our heads with mere speculations, to kindle a fire of wrangling and contentious dispute, whilst, in the mean time, our hearts remain all ire within toward God. Christ was vite magister, not schole ; and he is the best Christian whose heart beats with the purest pulse toward heaven; not he, whose head spinneth out the finest cobwebs. Ink and paper can never make us Christians—can never beget a new nature, a living principle in us—can never form Christ, or any true notions of spiritual things, in our hearts, A painter that would draw a rose, though he may flourish some likeness of it in figure and color, yet he can never paint the scent and fragrancy.—Donne, Sermons: As the soul is infused by God, but diffused over the whole body, and so there is a man; so faith is infused from God, but diffused into our works, and so there is a saint, Practice is the incarnation of faith; faith is incorpo rate and manifest in a body by works.—W.] I. The Apostle’s communication upon his calling to the ministry of the gospel, and upon the grace, in its high significance, which was glorified in him by his con- version.— Doxology. Cu, I, 12-17. 12 And‘ I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he 13 counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before’ a blas- phemer, and a persecutor, and injurious [insolent]: but I obtained mercy, 14 because I did ἐΐ ignorantly in unbelief, 15 exceeding abundant with faith and love faithful saying [Faithful is the saying], anc Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; 3 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first 16 amongst whom am I]. And [But] the grace of our Lord was which is in Christ Jesus. This is a and worthy of all acceptation, that of whom I am chief [first [é«, sianer] Jesus Christ might shew forth 81" long-suffering, for a pattern te 22 THE FIRSY EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 17 [of ?] them which should hereafter believe on him to life everl the King eternal [of ages], immortal, invisible, the only wise [ de honor and glory for ever and ever. 1 Ver. 12.—xai is wanting in A. F. G., and others, and upon this the other hand, it is retained by Tischendorf. It is not in the Sinaiticus. The authorities are in favor of τό. 2 Ver. 18.---ἰ Τὸν mpor., Recepta. Sinaiticus. cuits; not in the Sinaiticus.—E. H. 3 Ver. 16.--[πᾶσαν ; ἅπασαν is the reading adopted by modern critics. 4 Ver. 17.—Received text: μόνῳ σοφῷ; wherefore, also, Luther ; F. G., and others, Griesbach removes σοφῷ from the text σοφῷ is also not in the Sinaiticus. [‘The English Version, EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 12. And I thank, &c. Criticism asks how this sentence can have any just connection with the rest, and finds in this prominent setting forth of the apostolate a ground of doubt. Psychology might better ask, whether a man like Paul, in a familiar letter, could withhold such an expression, since in ver. 11 he had begun to speak of his high preroga- tive. Besides, this personal allusion is the less out of place, because, among the heretics at Ephesus, there were some certainly who sought to undermine the authority of Paul by allusions to his former his- tory, or even by venturing doubts of his miraculous calling from the Lord. This reference to himself was, again, most appropriate, as an illustration from his own living experience, of his statement in vers, 8-11, in relation to the law and the gospel—Who hath enabled me. We need not refer this exclu- sively to ability for the conversion of men (Bengel), or for the endurance of trial (Chrysostom), or for the doing of miracles (Mack), althongh none of these need be left out. Without any limitation, Paul re- fers here to the Divine power which he had in every way received, from the time of his calling to the present. ‘“ Quo verbo non modo intelligit, se det manu principio esse formatum, ut idoneus ad munus suum foret, sed simul complectitur continuam gratice subministrationem. Neque enim satis fuisset, semel esse fidelem declaratum, nisi eum perpetuo auxilio confirmasset Christus ;” Calvin.—F'or that he... into the ministry, πιστόν με ἡγήσατο. Fidelity is the trait especially required of the ministers of the gospel (comp. 1 Cor. iv. 2), Thus the Lord counted Paul faithful—in other words, saw in him one who would prove faithful; and this was the mark of Christ’s trust, that He had given him such an office, Séuevos eis διακονίαν ; just as a proprictor gives one of his dependents a striking proof of his confidence, when he makes him steward over the rest. The omniscient Lord of the Church foresaw Paul’s fidel- ity, and sanctified him as a chosen instrument. That the Apostle regarded this fidelity not as of his own merit, but as a gift of grace, appears from 1 Cor, vii. 25, Ver. 13. Who was before, ἄς. A fuller con- fession of his former character, in order to express more clearly the ground of his thankfulness (ver. 12).—Blasphemer, against the name and truth of the Lord (comp. Acts xvi. 11).—Persecutor, of Christians, both in word and in deed (comp. Acts xxii, 4; Gal. i, 13)—Injurious, ὑβριστής, (comp. Matt. xxii. 6; Rom. i, 30), “The last phrase strengthens the preceding, as it refers to the abuse springing from arrogance and contempt of others ;” Wiesinger—But I obtained mercy, &. Not only because he obtained forgiveness of sins, but Tov was probably an attempted correction of the text. asting. Now untc alone wise] * God, Amen. account has been left out by Lachmann. Oa 80 also Lachmann, Tischendorf, and the After ὄντα Lachmann inserts pe; Tischendord So also in the Sinaiticus.—E. H.] “To the alone wise.” On the ground of A. D.} ; and his example has been almost universally followed. like Luther, ‘only wise.’”—E. H.] because, also, he was called to the apostolic office, established in it, and counted faithful; ver. 12, And why? Because I did it ignorantly, in unbe- lief. The Apostle does not at all deny that his un- belief was sinful, and thus deserving of punishment; he here refers merely to the one fact, which should mitigate this just sentence. The ἄγνοια in which he had lived made forgiveness possible, since he had not yet begun to sin against the Holy Ghost (comp. Luke sii. 45; xxiii, 34; Matt. xii, 31, 82). His ignorance did not at all merit forgiveness, but it left the possibility of it, without impairing the holiness and righteousness of the Lord. The positive ground of this act of mercy lay, at last, altogether in the Divine grace (comp. ver. 14 and Titus iii. 5). [‘‘ How could Christ have judged St. Paul faithful, when a persecutor? Some of the schoolmen, as Aqui nas, suppose that πιστός is said by anticipation of St. Paul’s future character, ex provisis meritis >" Wordsworth.—W. | Ver. 14. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, sreperAedvace—the only in- stance in which this word is found in Paul. When he speaks of sin (Rom. v. 20), he there uses the word ἐπλεόνασεν ; when, on the contrary, he tells of the mercy bestowed on him, he adds this most sig- nificant ὑπέρ. It is as if he wrestled with speech, fully to utter his overpowering feeling —With faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Faith— not a childlike trust in God in general, but a faith whose object is Christ; here, as commonly in the Epistles of Paul, a faith united with love to Christ, “ΕΝ οὐ the love that Christ has and exercises, but that which He imparts to men” (Olshausen), This faith and this love are ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, because Jesus Himself is their centre (comp. Col. i. 4), And when the Apostle says that the grace of the Lord was ex- ceeding abundant, with faith and love (μετά), he does not consider the process or the effects of this grace, but that personal, inward life in men which accompanies it: indicatur, m..d., quasi comites Suisse illius χάριτος (Leo). Through this faith and this love he had reached the real possession and enjoyment of the mercy with which the Lord, of His free grace, had enriched him, Ver. 15, Faithful saying, &. Bengel: “ Πισ- tés, fidus, gravissima prefandi formula. Scit Paulus, quod dicit et de quo confirmet ipsaque ser monis simplicitate refutat secus docentes, eo commua niora tractans, sed decore, quo abstrusiora affecta- bant alii. Sie quoque;” Tit. ii. 1—And worthy of all acceptance, πάσης ἀποδοχῆς, worthy of be lief without any reservation whatever, The Apostle means an acceptance frorn which every doubt is ex. cluded, and which thus acts through the intellect ag well as the heart—That Christ Jesus, ἄς The expression, came into the world, has its full ex CHAPTER I. 12-17, 23 osition in the truth of our Lord’s preéxistence comp. John xvi. 32), The word κόσμος is here to be understood not in a moral, but in a physical sense, as an opposite to the higher moral order of the world. Paul states the object of this incarnation without any limit whatever; for which reason, too, the article is omitted, ἀμαρτωλοὺς σῶσαι (comp. Luke xix. 10; Rom. v. 6). The Pauline concep- tion of σωτηρία is not opposed to a state of unhap- piness in general, but to a lost state: ‘ Subest in hoc verbo emphasis, nam qui officium Christi esse fatentur salvare, cogitationem tamen hance difficilius admittunt, quod ejusmodi salus ad peccatores perti- neat, Semper enim abripitur sensus noster ad respectum dignitatis, simul atque indignitas apparet, considit fiducia ;” Calvin—Of whom I am chief. In a psychological view, it is noticeable how much trouble commentators have taken to turn aside from the clear import of this word, being more concerned, apparently, for the honor of Panl than he was him- self. The best of these explanations may be found in De Wette. But whoever believes that a personal confession like this exceeds the bounds of truth, proves that he has very little conception of the humility and love of the Apostle, who freely allows that he is chief in the long catalogue of sinners, be- cause he knows his own sin better than that of others, and gladly, too, esteems others better than himself (comp. 1 Cor. xv. 9; Phil. ii. 8; Eph. iii. 8). Ver. 16. Howhbeit, for this, &c. In propor- tion to the depth of his humility, he rises now in boldness of faith. Should any one wonder that such grace had reached the chief of sinners, Paul sets against this the cause (ἀλλά), and shows the world- wide significance of his own conversion. So great a sinner had for this very reason reccived grace, iva Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ἐνδείξηται τήν ἅπασαν μακροϑυμίαν. —Long-suffering. The Divine attribute of the Lord, whereby He does not at once punish the sin- ner, but prolongs the opportunity of repentance. In the pardon of one less wicked than Paul, this grace could not have shown its full glory; but in him, τῷ πρώτῳ, is revealed ἢ ἄπασα μακροῦ.) 80 that Paul’s conversion appears a very marvel of the love of Jesus Christ for sinners. How much farther the purpose of this miracle reaches than to the Apostle and his contemporaries, is evident from what imme- diately follows.—For a pattern to them... to life everlasting. By the word ὑποτύπωσις, which is used again only in 2 Tim. i, 13, is denoted the original, normal, typical character of the event (τύπος, Rom. v.14; ὑπόδειγμα, 2 Pet. ἢ. 6). Paul stood before the eyes of all after generations as a witness to the power, the grace, and the love of the Lord ; so that the greatest of sinners need not doubt that grace. The Lord had dealt with him as the king of a rebellious city, who should release at once the rebel chief; asa physician in an hospital, who should cure the most diseased; so that thenceforth no guilty, no sick, need doubt the possibility of grace and salvation.’ In this sense Paul was a type, τῶν μελλόντων πιστεύειν ἐπ᾿ ἀντῷ ; “not so much in himself as an object of faith, but rather in his trust- ful belief, as the perfect assurance of our salvation,” Rom. ix. 33; Matthies. The aim of this believing trust appears again from what immediately follows: eis ζωὴν αἰώνιον. See, in Bengel, another less proba- ble relation of the thought. It is not strange that, when the Apostle gives to this grace toward him a significance so great for all coming ages, his heart rises in a hymn of thanksgiving (ver. 17). And no 13 wonder, also, that he speaks so fully here of his highest privilege ; for not by the law, but the gospel only, could he praise the mercy of the Lord to him, and to so many after him. Thus this whole confes. sion serves also as the confutation of the heretics, who had placed the former above the latter (comp. vers, 6-10). Ver. 17. Now unto the Hing eternal, τῶν αἰώνων. According to some, King of the worlds; αἰῶνες is here taken in the sense of Heb. i. 2; 80, e.g., Leo: regem totius mundi. It is better, how- ever, on account of the preceding τῶν μελλ. moT., to suppose that the Apostle had in his mind not the conception of space, but that of the succession of ages. Only in the process of time can the typical significance of the conversion of Paul (ver. 16) be fully realized ; and God is the King of all the ages, in whom the later believers are brought together. The conception that the kingdom of God is an eter- nal dominion, lies not so much in the words τῶν αἰώνων (Wiesinger), as in the following ἀφϑάρτῳ. It may be that this lofty yet rare expression (it occurs only in the Apocrypha of the Old Testament ; comp. also Ps. cxlv. 13) may have flowed the more readily from the pen of the Apostle, because, in this letter, he opposes those heretics of Gnostic tendency who were wont to speak of Along in an entirely dif- ferent and fanciful sense.—Immortal (comp. Rom. i, 28 and 1 Tim. vi. 16), who alone has immortality —Invisible, not only who is not seen, but who, in the nature of the case, cannot be seen (comp. John 1.18; 1 Tim. vi. 16; Heb, xi. 27).—Only. Zope with μόνῳ is a spurious interpolation, probably trans- ferred from Rom. vi. 27.—Forever and ever (comp. Gal. i. 5; Phil. iv. 20). [Most recent Eng- lish expositors agree with the German in reject- ing cop@; 6. g., Alford, E'licott, Conybeare.—W.] This doxology, if compared with others, shows in every feature such a Pauline character, that it de serves to be placed among the evidences for, not against (Schlciermacher, and others), the genuine- ness of the Pastoral Epistles. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. It is admitted that Paul was wont to regard the whole history of the Divine revelation, under the old covenant, from a typical and symbolic stand- point. The creation, for instance, of the man and the woman, the first sin, the life of faith in Abra- ham, the relation between Sarai and Hagar, the pas- sage of the Israelites through the Red Sca, and their fortune in the desert, are not isolated historic facts, but point with higher significance to great truths, or to ever-recurring laws (see 1 Cor. x. 1, &c.; Gal. iv. 93, and elsewhere). In the same manner he consid. ers the event of his own conversion, It stands before his view as a mirror, which images the mercy of the Lord to the greatest sinner in all succeeding times, This thought gives us the point of view from which we must always regard the most striking ex- amples of Christ’s power. The Lord works not only dynamically, but symbolically; and every new act of His might and love is a sign of what He will con- tinually repeat in still higher measure. ; 2. The conversion of Paul is one of the highest revelations of the majesty and power of the Divine grace. We see in it a grace not only overpowering and searching, but forgiving, strengthening, and purifying. It is alike clear what are the natural and! 24 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. insurmountable burriers in the reception of this grace ; as where one sins wilfully, so that there remains no more offering for sin (Heb. x. 26), Had Paul had no ἄγνοια, his forgiveness would have been quite im- possible, since, in that case, he would have committed a sin unto death (1 John v. 16, 17), by which the in- ward link of connection with the Divine mercy, salva- tion, and atonement would have been entirely wanting. 8. We find a self-revelation like this of Paul, on a larger basis, in the confessions of 5. Augustin. It is worth our study, in an ethical view, to compare, with this feeling of personal unworthiness, the gross Pelagian self-conceit of Rousseau’s confessions. It is this union of the deepest humility with the most unshaken faith, that unlocks the secret of such sin- gular grandeur of character in Paul. 4. “Christ Jesus came into the world,” &.—a gospel within a gospel; as John iii. 16; 1 John iv. 9, 10, and several other places. Observe how sim- ple the Apostle’s confession of faith becomes, as he draws nearer to the close of life. In the great an- tithesis of sin and grace, all is finally resolved. The gospel a glad message for the lost; this is all, but this is enough. Here is exactly seen the accord, on one side, which the gospel finds, and, on the other, the discord against which it clashes. 5. As with Paul, so with many since, we see how the worst foes of the truth, after their conversion, have become its strongest witnesses. Thus, 8. Au- gustin ; later, John Newton; in the history of mis- sions, Van der Kemp, and many others.—The natu- ral cause and deep significance of this fact. 6. If the conversion of a single Paul called forth such a hymn of thanksgiving, how much louder will it resound when the kingdom of God is come, and all His wonderful ways for the redemption of the manifold millions are revealed before all saints. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. No higher ground of thanksgiving than for con- version to the truth——The great contrast between ‘the once and the now in the life of Paul. How far it must be repeated with every Christian.—The glory of the minister of the gospel whom the Lord has eounted faithful, and has placed in office.—The dif- ference between pardonable and unpardonable sin.— How far the ignorance of unbelief is self-condemned. —tThe conversion of Paul an evidence of the power of grace: (1.) No fall so deep that grace cannot de- scend ¢o it; (2.) no height so lofty that grace cannot lift the sinner to it—The inseparable union of grace on the side of the Lord, and of faith and love on the side of the sinner.—Faith and love no merito- rious cause of grace, but only the means through which it is appropriated.—That “mercy has been given to me,” the highest boast of faith—What grace works in the sinner, before, in, and after his conversion.—In what way the Christian, after the attern of Paul, must look back on his early errors: (1 With thanksgiving for his redemption (ver. 12); 2.) with constant humility (vers, 18-15); (3.) with unshaken and steadfast faith ; (4.) with glad glorify- Ing of the Lord (ver. 17).—The great end of the manifestation of the Son of God in the world.—The gospel a glad message, which (1.) embraces all sin- ners ; (2.) is worthy of all acceptance.—Paul a pat- tern of the deepest humility, united with the greatest faith.—‘* Of whom I am chief”: (1.) How far can each one repeat this word for himself? (2.) why is this confession necessary? Without it, (a) there is no desire for redemption ; (2) no delight in redemp- tion; (6) no knowledge of the worth of redemp- tion.—What can the greatest sinner learn for his encouragement and guidance from the pardoned Paul ?—God the King of the ages: (1.) He swaya them with His mighty will; (2.) He outlives them on His eternal throne.—The glorification of God the highest end of redemption.—The conversion of Paul a worthy subject for the glorifying of God on earth and in heaven (comp. Gal. i. 24). “Of whom I am chief,” a beautiful preparatory theme for the Holy Supper. ‘‘I have obtained mer cy,” an appropriate subject for the celebration of thé Supper itself. ‘Now unto the King eternal,” a fit- ting topic for the sermon of thanksgiving, where, as through Holland, it is preached after the celebration of the Supper. Ver. 12 specially suited for an ordi- nation, or for a church festival. Srarke: Lanor’s Op.: In the work of our conversion, we must ascribe nothing to our own power, but all to God (Phil. ii. 13), Every teacher must be sure of his Divine call to the office (Acts xx, 28).—Although he who is justified knows that he has forgiveness of sins, still he regards that time of his life with a constant feeling of shame; yet this will be joined with a spirit childlike and resigned to the will of God.—OsranpER: The grace of God ia the richer and more abundant the greater our trans gressions have been, when we have repented truly and from the heart (Rom. v. 20).—As often as the example of a converted sinner is offered in the sa- ered Scriptures, our faith in the forgiveness of sins should be strengthened.—Is God an eternal King? We need not fear that tyrants will drive Him from the throne of His majesty. Since He cannot die, let us fly to Him in all our trials, and reflect, God still lives !—HrusnerR: Because Paul acted openly and sincerely as a persecutor, God accepted him. Here the saying of Johnson applies: “1 love a good hater ;” 2. ¢., I love one who, with true, frank con- viction, is opposed to me.—Christianity is for sinners, not for the righteous.—The long-suffering forbearance of God toward the unbelieving.—What incalculable results may come from the conversion of a sinner ! Vers, 12-17. The Epistle for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and elsewhere: Brck: Mercy meets us as (1.) the ground; (2.) the way; (3.) the end.—Linpemann: How encouraging a faith is this faith in the mercy of God! It awakens us (1.) to sincere humility ἢ re to steadfast patience ; (8.) to heartfelt repose ; (4.) to a thankful joy—Scumattz: The blessednesa of grace.—Att: Man in his rejoicing over the gra- cious work of God.—Natorp: What deep cause we have to humble ourselves before God.—Ap. Monon; The signs of a true conversion shown in the exam. ple of Paul: (1.) What it is; (2.) what its purpose; (3.) how it originates. See his third sermon on Paul, in the introduction of the work already mentioned. {Jeremy Tayior: This consideration St. Paul urged as a reason why God forgave him, because he did it ignorantly. For heresy is not an error of the understanding, but of the will. And this is clearly insinuated in Scripture, wherein faith and a good life are made one duty, and vice is called opposite to faith, and heresy opposed to holiness,— Bisnop Haty: “ ΤῸ save sinners.” Add, if thou wilt “whereof I am chief.” Thou canst say no worse of thyself than a better man said before thee, who, in the right »f asinner, claimed the benefit ofa Saviour.—W.] CHAPTER I, 18-20, IV. Paul exhorts Timothy to fight the good fight, and strengthens this exhortation by referring him to the falling away and condemnation of’some, two of whom he mentions by name, Cu. 1. 18 which went before on thee, that thou 18-20. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies by [in] them mightest war’ a good war. 19 fare; Holding faith and a good conscience; which some having put away com 20 cerning faith have made shipwreck: whom I have delivered unto Satan, blaspheme. Of whom is Hymeneus’ and Alexander ; that they may learn [be taught] not te 1 Ver, 18.—[orparevn. Recepta, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Sinaiticus, otparevon.—E. H.] 2 Ver. 20.—[{Sinaiticus, Ὑμένεος. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 18. This charge I commit unto thee, παρατίϑεμαι, committo tibi ; yet not ut auditoribus proponas (Bengel); for it is obviously a precept for the official life and work of Timothy himself. Here the Apostle, after his more personal disclosure (vers. 5-17), returns to his original exhortation (vers. 3, 4), and again directly addresses Timothy, whom he has for awhile lost sight of. The question, what παραγ- γελία properly means, is differently answered by commentators. It seems best to seek the answer in the clause immediately following, ἵνα orpar., k.7.A., and thus to explain ἵνα as a particle referring to the object. Thus Matthies, De Wette, Wiesinger, Hu- ther, and others. It is not so much a command, in the strict sense of the word, as a tender, fatherly counsel, that Timothy shall show himself a true sol- dier of Jesus Christ, and so fulfil the high expecta- tions that were justly cherished concerning him. We notice here that Paul already employs military figures (Otto). Παραγγελία is used of a military command; ΧΕΝΟΡΗΟΝ, Hell. 11. Paul, in a Chris- tian sense, assigns to Timothy the command against the heretics. —According to the prophecies which went before on thee. Heubner: ‘ Ac- cording to the good hopes which thou didst awaken in thy youth—hbopes that wise, devout men ex- pressed of thee, and likewise prophetically foretold, as Staupitz in the case of Luther.” Instead of this superficial view, we have every reason to refer these words to the χάρισμα τῆς προφητείας in the Christian ‘Church at the time of the Apostle, and to compare it with 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6. Prophesyings are here, as always in the New Testament, spoken of as the fruit of a supernatural influence of the Holy Ghost; and we can easily conceive that such utter- ances were not wanting at the solemn ordination of Timothy to the ministry of the Gospel. These prophesyings went before in him (προαγούσας ἐπί σε), preceding his entrance upon his Christian course; and Timothy would turn this hope to shame, lf he shewed himself untrue to his calling. Ἔν αὐταῖς, in conformity to them. The view, that those prophesyings were the weapons which Timothy must put on for the conflict, seems too artificial, and not strictly Pauline; it is simpler to regard them as the But in 2 Tim. ii. 17 it has Ὑμέναιος---ἴϑ commonly received spelling.—E. H.] rule which must determine his conduct, or, if we will, as the limits within which he must act.—War a good warfare. De Wette is too general: ‘‘ That thou, in the conduct of thy office, demean tbyself worthily and bravely.” Far more happily Luther: ‘‘That thou therein do a knightly work.” Στρατεία here does not mean the conflict of the Christian life in general, but the conflict as a leader in the church, which Timothy was to wage specially against the heretics of his day. It is a warfare, in a strict sense of the word, under the banner of the King of kings. For a correct understanding of the figurative expres- sion, comp. 2 Cor. x. 4; Eph. vi. 10-18; 1 Thess, v. 8; 2 Tim. ii, 8, 5.—Chrysostom: διὰ τί καλεῖ στρατείαν τὸ πρᾶγμα; δηλῶν, ὅτι πόλεμος ἐγήγερται σφοδρὰς πᾶσι μὲν μάλιστα δὲ τῷ διδασκάλῳ. Ver. 19. Holding faith and a good con- science. In the contlct which we wage outwardly against the enemy, our chief concern is with the inner state and disposition of the heart. Ἔχων is here to be taken in the sense of κατέχων, as the participial connective denotes the manner in which Timothy must follow the exhortation (ver. 18). That faith is here set forth as a weapon, as Eph. vi, 16 (according to Matthies), is improbable, on account of the inner connection of πίστιν and συνείδησιν ἀγαϑήν. The Apostle simply means that Timothy shall guard both—that is, shall hold fast, and not renounce them. There is thus the same connection of faith and conscience here as in ver. 5. Unbelief is with the Apostle not theoretical, but practical— bound with the inward state of our moral life, as ia shown by what immediately follows—Which some having put away, &c. The sense is: through the defilement of a good conscience, some have lost not only this, but also the faith which they before pos- sessed. “Hy τινὲς ἀπωσάμενοι ; which—Z. 6., a good conscience—some have rejected, as a troublesome creditor whom they will be rid of at any cost.— Have suffered shipwreck. Ναυαγεῖν is a word used in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew writers, and common with us to denote severe, irrecoverable losses. It is only found in the New Testament, in its proper sense, in 2 Cor. ii. 25, and here in a figurative sense. Should it be thought that the |image of a shipwreck had in the preceding ἀπωσά. μενοι passed before the mind of Paul, then a good 26 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. conscience must be regarded not as the rudder (Mack), but as the anchor (Wiesinger), with whose loss the whole vessel is ruined, The proposition, περὶ, 6. accus., denotes especially what they had lost in the wreck, “ MMetaphora a naufragio, sumpta aptissime quadrat, nam innuit, ut salva fides ad portum usque pervenit, navigationis nostre cursum bona conscientia regendum esse, alias naufragii esse periculum, hoc est, ne fides mala conscientia tan- quam gurgite in mari procelloso immergatur ;” Cal- vin, Ver. 20. Of whom is Hymeneus and Alex- ander. Hymeneus ; perhaps the same mentioned in 2 Tim. ii. 17. Alexander ; probably not the same mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 14 as 6 χαλκεύς, since, in this case, the excommunication would have the ap- pearance of personal revenge; perhaps we should refer it to the Ephesian named in Acts xix. 88, who, without doubt, was well enough known to Timothy. —Whom I have delivered unto Satan. The formal sentence of excommunication, by which any were separated from the church and given over to the powers of darkness which ruled in heathendom (Col. i, 18 and 1 Cor. v. δ). Here, as in the pas- sages just cited, the Apostle seems to point mentally εἰς ὄλεῶρ. τῆς σαρκός, aS may be inferred from the following ἵνα maidevs., «.7.A., which, however, should not be regarded as the effect of the ban of the church per se, but rather of a just, divine recom. pense. That the Apostle here speaks only of what he had done in his own mind (Planck, Matthies), is mere conjectire, The expression admits of no other explanation than that of a fact already completed, which he either for the first time disclosed to Timo- thy, or for good reasons mentioned again.—That they may learn, ἵνα παιδευϑῶσι, with the added thought of the chastisement which, in the view of the Apostle, ought to restrain them from a repetition of the blasphemy which, without doubt, they had already uttered against God and Christ. ‘ Facto fidet naufragio, blasphemice periculum adest ;” Ben- gel. [The phrase here used may probably have been drawn from the formula of excommunication used in the apostolic church. Alford thinks the delivering to Satan ‘an apostolic act for the pur- pose of correction, which might or might not be accompanied by extrusion from the church,” Vide in loco. But the solemn strength of the phrase seems hardly to admit the idea of a lesser penalty, The kingdoms of Christ and of Satan are conceived of as two opposites, Augustine well calls this dis- cipline of excommunication, “ Medicinalis vindicta, terribilis lenitas, charitatis severitas.” Ad Liter, Petilian. 8, 4.—W.] DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1, As the life of the individual Christian ts a constant warfare, so may the life of an upright min- ister of the gospel be specially regarded from this point of view; and above all, in the days when error lifts its head boldly and arrogantly, as in the time of Timothy. There is, however, a false lust for strife, ag a false love of grace, against which the young minister of the word cannot be too earnestly warned. Siziing suggestions as to the way in which he must wage the καλὴν στρατείαν, and guide his official life, may be found in the old, well-known work of J. Vatentiy Anprei, entitled, “The Good Life of a Righteous Servant οὐ the Gospel,” which is referred to by Herper, in his “ Lettcrs on the Study of The ology,” and is still worthy of study. His contrast of the good and bad teacher ought not to be forgot ten: ‘ Preeceptor bonus ducit, dum malus trahit 3 lucet ille, hie offuscat ; docet ille, hic confundit 5 regit ille, hic impellit ; excitat ille, hic deprimit oblectat ille, hie angit; format ille, hic destruit, Paucis dicam: nisi preceptor ipse liber, imo biblio theca, et museum inambulans sit, nisi laboris brevia rum et manubrium, nisi linguarum artiumque re pertorium et formula, nisi insuper patric et ecclesios ornamentum audiat, non sapit ad ingenium nostrum, Nam libros repetere et exigere, ad laborem agere et stimulare, precepta, regulas dictaque obtrudere, cujua vis est ; summam rei monstrare, facilitatem aperire, applicationem adhibere, usum docere, exemplo pra ire, denique ad Christum omnia referre, hoc opus, hie sudor Christianus est, quem nulle orbis opes re- penderint.” See Hacznpacn’s ‘‘ Lectures on the History of the Reformation,” in loco. 2. The Pauline conception of the inner relation of faith and conscience is of the highest significance, As unbelief nearly always leads either to grosser or more refined immorality, so not rarely it begins fror an immoral ground, at least when faith existed be fore. This conception is thoroughly Pauline; comp Rom. 1. 21; and, again, our Lord’s own view of it, John vii, 17. It is a deep mental truth; for it is far too common to represent faith or infidelity as a mat- ter of abstract opinion, Gospel truth is no mere work of the understanding or the memory; the light of the gospel is life, and its work is power. It can only then be grasped, when knowledge and affection and volition are joined, so that the thought has root in the affections, and activity in the will; as, re- versely, an action severed from Christian knowledge and affection can never be Christian. It would be interesting to study the history of heresies from thia point of view, and to seek the deepest moral ground of the greatest errors. On the other hand, it is obvious that a conscientious, moral life, is essential to the stability of the life of faith, Compare the essay of Ep, GupER on “ The Scriptural Doctrine of Conscience ;” Theol. Stud. und Kritik., 1857; Orro, p. 98. 8. What Paul says of Hymeneus and Alexander, shows us how highly he valued church discipline, and how much the looseness and indifference of many churches in this respect directly contradicta his spirit and example. Yet it should be noticed, that he only resorted to this in extreme cases, and then solely with the view to effect reformation by such punishment, and to save the soul from eternal harm. The inquisition of the Roman Church is thus as fully condemned here, as the indifference of many members of the evangelical church, HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL. The Christian life, as well as that of every true minister of the gospel, a warfare.—Wo to the herald of the gospel who does not fulfil all that is justly expected of bim.—Faith lost, all lost.—The ‘inner connection of faith and conscience, of the religious and moral life-—The shipwreck of faith : (1.) How easily one can suffer shipwreck ; (2.) how disastrous the end.—The sight of another’s apostasy ought to lead us to greater diligence, to greater truth and watchfulness.—Ecclesiastical discipline: (1.) Its prine ciple; (2.) its right; (8.) its purpose; (4.) its CHAPTER Π. 1-7. 2 mode; (5.) its limits—Even the punishment of sin may be transformed into blessing. Srarke: Lanee’s Op.: Our spiritual strife does not cease, but lasts as long as we live, for our spirit- ual enemies never die.—What the eye is to the head, and the heart to the body, the conscience is to faith and to a complete Christianity.—It is very ten- der, and must therefore be well guarded.—lIt is not an unavoidable necessity that any should fall away from the grace of God, but rather it is possible and necessary to abide therein to the end (1 Cor. xv. 18). —OsianpeR: The departure of Hymeneus and Alex- ander from the pure doctrine, shows that some will always fall away, although the servants of the church fulfil their office truly (2 Cor. xi, 28). The Romieh excommunication is different from the apostolic, ag darkness from light ; for it does not come from Goa but is rather a work of Satan; not against the ene. my, but to destroy the friends and wituesses of the truth (John xvi. 2, 3)—Hsvpyer: The remem brance of the hopes of a former teacher is a great stimulus, an earnest call to be and to do what others have expected of us.—It is a grave truth: sinful life leads to unbelief; religion becomes doubtful; it is for our interest to doubt. Strive, then, earnestly to abide in communion with Christ.—Chastisements are healing messengers of God for the recovery of men, Vv. Exhortation to supplication for all men, especially for those in authority. Cu. I. 1-%, 1 I exhort’ therefore, that, first of all,” supplications, prayers, intercessions, 2 and giving of thanks [thanksgiving], be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; [,] that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all 8 godliness and honesty.* For this ¢s good and acceptable in the sight of God our 4 Saviour; Who will -have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge 5 of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, 6 the man Christ Jesus; [,] Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified * in 7 due time. [, an apostle Whereunto [In respect of which] I am ordained a preacher, and speak the truth in Christ,° and lie not) [I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not] ; a teacher of the Gentiles in fuith and verity. 1 Ver. 1.--ἰ παρακαλῶ ; παρακάλει, G.—evidently, as Huther says, a conjecture for the sake of giving to the Apos Ἡ.] tle’s address to Timothy the form of a command.—E. Ver. 1.--[ἰτπρῶτον πάντ. ; not, at the beginning or opening of public service (C. and H. after Chrysostom), but “before all things’”—as the author, who follows Huther, observes, the words are to be connected with παρακαλῶ.-- word to express the sense of the Apostle here. Ο. and H.: “gravity.” German Version: 3 Ver. 2.--ἰσεμνότητι. If the English word respectability had not lost its meaning, it would perhaps be the proper Dignity is too stately. Vulgate: ‘ castitate.” “ Ehrbarkeit.”” Calvin: ‘“‘honestate.”” The word means an estate or condition of honor, &c, founded upon the possession of the corresponding moral quality, honesty.—E. H.] Ver. 6.—[7d μαρτύριον ; omitted by A., and rejected by Lachmann. article. In some MSS. οὗ was written before τὸ wap. The omission from A. is certainly singular. It stands in the Sinaiticus without the The sense is much better with than without the words, Tischendorf retains them. Huther says that Lachmann did; but this is a mis- take—at least, they are not in the large edition of 1850.—E. H.] 5 Ver. 7.—The words of the Recepta, ἐν Χριστῷ, are wanting been left out by Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and others. [They are not in Murpocx’s Syriac Translation.—H, H.] ix. 1. The Sinaiticus has retained them. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 1. I exhort therefore, that, first of all. There is not a marked connection between this and the former chapter, but the Apostle passes simply from the general command (ver. 18) to the special, and states at once what in his view is especially im- portant. The whole of the second chapter contains precepts concerning the Christian Church. Vers. 1-7 declares for whom and on what ground public prayer ought to be made; vers, 8-15 how men and women should conduct themselves in this respect ; and, indeed, the last portion is not without some more precise suggestions as to the calling of women in general.—I exhort therefore, παρακαλῶ. The Apostle now personally counsels Timothy what he must do to fight a good fight in his pastoral office, in A. 1.1 Ε΄ G., and others, and for this reason have Perhaps they were introduced from Rom. and what should be his first task in his relation to the church, Πρῶτον must not be joined with ποιεῖσϑαι (Luther), but with παρακαλῶ ; οὖν is here a connective, which joins the exhortation to vers, 18, 19, and was necessary on account of the digres- sion in ver. 20, [The English Version reads: “2 exhort therefore, that, first of all.” This reading ia sustained by many expositors, as Luther, Calvin Bengel, and later, among the English, Conybeare But Alford adopts the same reading as is here given “T exhort first of all ;” so also Heydenreich, Mat- thies, Wiesinger, De Wette, Huther, Ellicott.—W.] The ground on which the Apostle chiefly urges these intercessions can be only probably determined. Per haps, in time of persecution, they had been some what neglected, or were less earnestly conducted by the believers at Ephesus, after they had left thei 2é THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. first love (Rev. ii. 4); perhaps some persons had been excluded by party spirit, or by the want of unity. Whatever the reason, the Apostle exhorts that intercessions be made for all men—for mankind in its wholeness.—Supplications, prayers, inter- cessions, the giving of thanks; four words which mark the earnestness and comprehensiveness of all Christian petitions. In respect to the first three, the words of Calvin are of value: ‘‘ Vegue tamen super vacanea est verborum congeries, sed mihi videtur Paulus consulto tres voces in eundem finem simul conjungere, ut precandi studium et assiduitatem magis commendet et vehementius urgeat.” As to the meaning of the εὐχαριστία, the Apostle elsewhere teaches that Christian devotion, as is implied in its nature, must at all times be accompanied witb thanks- giving (1 Thess. v. 17, 18; Col. iv. 2). The view that the Apostle in each of these words would desig- nate a special kind of prayer, is as arbitrary as the opinion that this is a mere empty tautology. But since one and the same subject is here denoted by different words, we may at least attempt to reach a more exact definition, That arbitrary exegesis into which many earlier and later commentators have fallen, will be entirely avoided if we study the gram- matical force of the language. δέησις, from δέομαι, egeo, signifies generally a prayer which springs from the feeling of want; προσευχή, a petition, not with- out regard to whom it is offered, like the preceding word, but distinctly addressed 1o God; comp. Phil. iv. 6; ἔντευξις (from ἐντυγχάνω = adeo aliquem) means not intercession in and for itself (comp. chap. iv. 5), but here, where ὑπὲρ πάντ. ἄνδρ. follows, it signifies prayer offered not so much for our own needs, as on behalf of others; εὐχαριστία, finally, is thanksgiving joined with all before, both for preser- vation from evil, and for the good in which men rejoice. Those for whom all such prayers are made are not only Christians, but Jews and heathen like- wise ; and the whole exhortation, therefore, is op- posed to an unchristian exclusiveness. Ver. 2. For kings, and for all that are in authority. After this general injunction, some are named who need a special place in public prayers. There is no designation of Antonine and his associate tulers (Baur)—which, certainly, would be internal evidence of the spuriousness of the Epistle—but a general designation of the class, including the Ro- man emperor then or afterward living, and all under him invested with high office (comp. Rom, xiii. 1)— That we may; not a statement of the character of the prayer, but of its purpose ; and this, too, not in the subjective, but objective view. The Apostle does not mean that the church should be influenced, through such petitions, to lead a quiet and peaceable life under authority ; but he supposes that God, who guides the hearts of kings as the water-brooks (Prov. xxi. 1), will, in answer to the prayer of the church, move the hearts of kings, and of all in authority, to leave Christians at rest.—A quiet and peaceable life. No immoderate striving after the crown of martyrdom, but a quiet life to the glory of God, is the highest ideal. According to Olshausen, ἤρεμος denotes an inward, ἡσύχιος an outward rest; but others differ. It is most desirable that Christians should thus pass (διάγειν) their lives in all godliness and honesty. [The word rendered honesty should be gravity, according to Alford, Conybeare, and oth- ers, It should be remembered, however, that hon- esty, at the time of our English Version, came nearer than now to the idea of honorable or respectable, which lies at the root of ceuvdrns.—W.] These last two words mark the sphere of the Christian life. Εὐσέβειᾳ, a word which, with Paul, occurs only in the Pastoral Epistles, and denotes our disposition toward God; σεμνότης, an expression also peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles, refers to the outward rela tion of the Christian toward his fellow-men, Wie singer justly remarks, from a manuscript note of Olshausen, that a strong light is thrown on this whole exhortation, when we recal the conduct of the Jews shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, It had been already enjoined in the Old Testament that the Jews should pray for their Gentile rulers (comp. Jer. xxix. 7; Ezra vi. 10). The custom re- mained among them, Augustus ordered that a lamb should be offered for him daily in the temple; and, until the destruction of Jerusalem, this usage lasted ; but the Zealots regarded it as a Divine worship, and demanded that the offering should cease. JOSEPH., De Bello Jud. ii. 11. [This injunction of St. Paul became the rule of the early church ; and it is intere esting to trace it in the prayers for kings found in almost all the primitive liturgies. Ziturgia Basilit, Goar, Rit. Gree, pp. 171, 178; Liturgia Marci, Renavpor, Lit, Orient., tom. 1, p. 183; Miss, Sar- ish. Missa pro Rege, Lit. Gallic, MaBILLon, p. 246. Chrysostom informs us that it was the custom, in his day, to offer daily prayers for kings and all in au- thority. Hom. 6 in 1 Tim. The prayers for the royal family, in the English Version, although they do not appear to have been translated from any very ancient offices, are yet, in substance and expression, conformed to the primitive. See Patmer, Orig. Liturg. We have here the true reverence of law which Christianity teaches, But we are never to confound this, or like maxims—e. g., Rom, xiii. 1— with any theory of the divine right of kings, or with ‘““passive obedience” to any tyranny, as has been done by some divines. The political duty of men in a Christian state cannot be the same with that of the primitive church under a Nero.—W.] Ver. 8, For this is good and acceptable; τοῦτο 80. παιεῖσϑαι ἐντεύξ. The Apostle now adds various motives (vers, ὃ-- 7) toward obeying the ex- hortation given in vers, 1,2. The first is, that every such prayer is good in and for itself, καλόν ; it shows the true Christian spirit which marks the professor of the gospel; it yields us the enjoyment of that privilege named in ver. 2. It is again, as a second motive, ἀπόδεκτον ἐνώπιον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Θεοῦ. This is God’s will; it befits His desire and purpose ; it is already expressed in the name σωτήρ, and this appears clearly from the following (vers. 4, 5). Our Saviour wills that all should be saved; and thus we pray for all, as the objects of His gracious will. Ver, 4. Who will have all men to be saved. Paul teaches not only here, but in other places (comp. Rom. viii, 32; xi, 32; Titus ii, 11), that the de- sire of God to bless all sinners ig unlimited, yet it can be only in the ordained way of faith. And here. perhaps, he affirms it, in order to maintain this doctrine plainly against every Gnostic limitation of salvation, as well as to give a fit motive for prayer. For, had God willed the contrary of what is here revealed, it would be foolish and fruitless to pray for the welfare of others, when perbaps this or that per son might be shut out from the plan of salvation. Yet more, the Apostle speaks here of the ϑέλειν of God in general, not of the βούλημα, which regards believers (Eph. i. 11). It is therefore entirely need. less, by any exegetical gloss, to limit the expression, CHAPTER II. 1-7. 2 all men, or to understand πάντας ἄνϑρ. in the sense of all classes of men (which would make ver. 1 an absurdity)—Unto the knowledge of the truth; properly, not all truth, not even all religious truth in general, but Christian truth, This added clause explains through what means the σωθῆναι of all men must be wrought, Ver, 5, Flor there is one God... the man Christ Jesus. The ground of the general redemp- tive plan of God is here so shown (γάρ) as to give a third motive in justification of Christian interces- sions; the unity of person whence the plan of uni- versal salvation has gone forth, and through whom it is completed, The unity of God, which the Apostle clearly declares in other places (Rom. iii. 29, 30; 1 Cor. viii. 4; Eph. iv. 6), is here placed distinctly in tke foreground, to show how arbitrary is any limit of Christian intercession ; the unity of the Mediator, to prove that the Jew has not the least advantage over the heathen, since both must be saved in one and the same way. Meotrys, He who stands between God and man, in order to effect a new union (comp. Gal. iii, 20): “inter Dewm atque homines medius constitu‘us ;” Tertullianus. When Paul calls Him, finally, with special emphasis, the man Christ Jesus, it is not absolutely necessary to infer that he was opposing the heresy of Docetism (Huther), although such a purpose is quite possible and probable, when we think how early the real manhood of the Lord was doubted (1 John iv. 3), and what high dignity the first Gnostics ascribed to Mons and to angels, The thought, too, is genuinely Pauline (see Rom. v. 15; 1 Cor. xv. 81; Phil. ii. 7,8; Heb. ii, 16, 17), and it is most fitting in this place, since the Lord, had He not been real man, could not have been also μεσίτης ; while, again, the ἀνϑρώπων just before called out almost involuntarily this emphatic ἄνϑρω- TOs. Ver. 6. Who gave himself. This expresses the mode in which the Mediator has fulfilled His office, and the universality of the redemptive plan. Has given, δούς, comp. Gal. i. 4; Titus ii. 14. The voluntary character of the offering of the Lord is here, as often before, set forth by the Apostle; and although he does not speak in express words of this sacrifice in his death, yet it follows from the very purpose of the Mediator to give a ransom for all; since the price of redemption could be nothing less than Himself, His blood, and life. ᾿Αντίλυτρον, somewhat stronger yet than the usual λύτρον (Matt. xx. 28), since the idea of an exchange, which lies in the substantive itself, gains special force from the preposition (Matthies). In connection with ἀντί- λυτρον, ὑπέρ is not, in this place at least, sim- ply to be understood im commodum (Huther), but here the idea of substitution must be firmly held. This one ransom weighs more than all the souls in whose place it is reckoned; and here, too, these souls are spoken of as πάντες. See further under Doctrinal and Ethical thoughts. [It appears by no means just, either on exegetical or doctrinal grounds, to draw the idea of substitution from this passage. The phrase ἀντίλυτρον simply includes the meaning of satisfaction, freedom purchased by a sufficient ransom. Undoubtedly the truth of a vicarious sacri- fice in its living sense, Christ in us and we in Him, is the blessed truth of the word of God. But it has been the vice of theology always to lower this holy mystery of a Divine love and sacrifice to a commer- cial contract. The cur Deus homo of Anselm can- not explain that mystery so truly to the Christian reason or heart, as the few words of St. John tha Divine: “God is love. God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” And it may be well for any who read this image of St. Paul, to weigh the following profound sentence of Coleridge + “Forgiveness of sin, the abolition of guilt, through the redemptive power of Christ’s love, and of His perfect obedience, is expressed, on account of the resemblance of the consequence in both cases, by the payment of a debt for another, which debt the payer bad not himself incurred. Now the impropriation of this metaphor (i. ¢., the taking it literally), by transferring the sameness from the consequents to the antecedents, or inferring the identity of the causea from a resemblance in the effects, this view or scheme of redemption, grounded on this confession, I believe to be altogether unscriptural ;” “‘ Aids to Reflection, ἌΡ ον. 19, on Spirit. Relig..—W.]—To be testi- fied in due time; τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις. Lu- ther: “That it should be preached in his own time;” Vulgata: “‘cujus testiinonium temporibus suis confirmatum est.’ Chrysostom, and other Church fathers, incorrectly understand the suffering and death of the Lord as itself the μαρτύριον. But the idea (Huther) that the reference is to the preach ing of the gospel, which has now been sent at a fit- ting time, seems alike arbitrary, since in this case the beginning of ver. 7 sinks almost to flat tautology, We think, rather, that μαρτύριον should here be held in apposition to ἀντίλυτρον ; to wit, that the Apostle calls this sacrifice of the Lord in death for our ran- som the great μαρτύριον ; the witness of the truth stated in ver, 4, which is raised above all doubt through this blessed revelation of grace. Since this offering is made, there cannot be any further ques- tion whether God wills the salvation of all, The Apostle does not speak of a testimony which he is the first to affirm, but one to which God has given witness already in His Son; and in ver. 7 he first alludes to his own personal connection with it. “Innuitur testimonium redemtiocnis universalis ;” Bengel.—In due time, καιροῖς ἰδίοις ; that is, in the time foreordained by God, and for this reason most fitting; in other words, in the πλήρωμα τ. καιροῦ (Gal. iv. 4); comp. 1 Tim. vi. 15; Acts xvii, 26; Titus i, 2. Ver. 7. Whereunto I am ordained. Ets 6, ad quod (testimonium, sc. annunciandum) ; another remembrance of his apostolic calling and dignity, as cbap. i. 12. Paul points to the universal character of his calling, as proof of the universality of Divine grace; and this again as the great motive to pray for all.—A preacher; this general design of his call- ing is denoted by a name suited to all messengers of the gospel, and precedes the specific official title, ἀπόστολος.---Ἰ speak the truth, &c. (comp. Rom. ix. 1). A solemn adjuration, which, in view of so weighty a matter, and the many personal misjudg- ments concerning Paul, is quite appropriate here, and may well awaken confidence, not distrust. Al- though this digression has no logical force, it agreea well with a friendly, confiding letter like this, where his heart speaks in the most artless manner.—A teacher of the Gentiles. A more exact state. ment of the special sphere in which he is called to the work of his apostolic office. This mention of his peculiar gift lends new force to his exhortation to pray for all men.—In faith and in verity. Not only in true faith (Heydenreich, Mack, De Wette), but both conceptions are to be closely distinguished, Faith (a noteworthy var'ation, ἐν πγεύματι), means 30 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. faith in Christ, which is the great personal motive in the life of the Apostle; truth, that objective Chris- tian truth itself, which is known and received by faith, The preposition ἐν seems, as often, to denote the means whereby the Apostle sought to reach the appointed end. That the words are to be taken as a formal assertion, like ἀλήϑ. λέγω (ver. 6), is not probable, DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. The doctrine of Christian intercession, which the Apostle teaches with such heartfelt power, breathes the whole spirit of Christianity. The Lord Himself com- mended it, even for our enemies (Matt. v. 44). Thus, too, James, who was so fully quickened by the spirit ef his glorified Master (James v. 16); and it is evi- dent how strongly, and how often, Paul enjoins the intercession of the brethren, That the early Christians likewise earnestly kept this apostolic pre- cept, and, even amidst the worst persecutions, did not cease to pray for kings and for those in author- ity, is clear from the early liturgies, as well as the testimony of apologists and church fathers. Thus, ὁ. g., TERTULLIAN, Apol., cap. 80: “ Manibus ex; pansis oramus pro omnibus imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, et quaecumque hominis et Cesaris vota sunt.” And Potycarp, ad Philipp., cap. 12, says: “Pro omnibus sanctis orate. Orate etiam pro regilus, et potestatibus et principibus, atque pro persequentibus ct odientibus vos, et pro inimicis crucis, ut fructus vester manifestus sit in omnibus, ut sitis in illo perfecti.” With this practice of Christian prayer, the Apostle exhorts believers to lead a quiet and holy life; and in this he shows his confidence, tbat such prayer for the community will obtain a blessing from God ;—an unreasonable hope, if he speaks only of an influence on our own minds, not a supernatural power in prayer. This injunction is thus an indirect proof that there is not only a sub- jective, but also an objective connection, granted and assured of God, between prayer and its effects. 2. According to the express teaching of the Apostle, Christianity is the great instrument of sal- vation for all men. If the word ἐκκλησία is rightly understood, the saying, extra ecelesiam nulla salus, has a sound sense. The right of Christian mission- ary work is grounded in this faith. The universality of God’s plan of redemption is the mightiest spur of that Christian humanity which embraces all men, It is impossible, therefore, to be truly human, if one is not truly Christian; and it is alike contradictory to profess ourselves truly Christian, without being human. 8. “God wills that all men should be saved.” It is a sorry dogmatism which would weaken the proof given in this passage for the universality of the plan of redemption, by exegetical arts; 6. g., when any seek to explain will in the absurd sense of desire ; or all men in the sense of all classes—as Calvin and others have here done. Exegetical honesty forbids us to find in this place less than what is said, in other words, in 1 Tim. iv. 10 and 2 Pet. iii. 9. The inevitable necessity of an ἀποκατάστασις πάντων, from the fact that at some time, sooner or later, what God wills must be fulfilled, does not follow, however, from this position. The will of God here spoken of is not absolute, but conditional ; ὁ. e., God wills that all men be saved by means of faith; but as faith, on the one side, is a gift of grace, so, on the other, it is a duty, whose neglect deserves pun- ishment, and unbelief is a guilt that must have its reckoning. Against such views of Universalism we urge also, in their full force, the many positive ex- pressions which set forth the eternal blessedness of believers, as grounded in the free decisions of God, and His grace in Christ. True wisdom lies not in sacrificing one series of these conceptions to the other, but in holding both with equal strength, since the unity of the seeming contradictions must be always a problem for Christian philosophy. These apostolic expressions, finally, give the fullest right to the freest, most unlimited, and powerful announce- ment of the gospel, while it must be left to God to show us the perfection of His purposes, and to jus- tify them before our eyes. [It is the error of every theological system like that here alluded to, that it does not take its starting point from the moral facta of the Christian consciousness, but from the abstract idea of the Divine will, The iron chain of its logic must therefore end in a fatalism, which excludes all moral conditions based on the free choice of man, Such a premise may end in the dogma of absolute’ decrees and limited atonement; or it may equally lead to Universalism. If the will of God be irre. spective of human action, there can be no limit to His grace. Or, again, if it be a logic within the circle of purely speculative ideas, it will end in the Pantheism of Spinoza; in an impersonal substance, of which all human actions are only phenomena, without any moral quality of good or evil. All these are forms of the same ground error. A Christian theology begins with the facts of our personal being, of sin and responsibility, and thence reasons to the character of God. The sentence of Hooxer, B. 1, ὁ. 2, is profound: “They err, who think that of the will of God to do this or that, there is no reason besides His will.” And this of Cupworrs, Serm. I, breathes the heart of the gospel: “It is the sweetest flower in all the garland of His attributes, that He is mighty to save ; and this is far more mag- nificent for Him than to be styled mighty to destroy. For that, except it be in a way of justice, speaks no power at all, but mere impotency; for the root of all power is goodness.”—W. 4, If the death of the Saviour is revealed as a ransom for all, it is most important to distinguish between the power of His death, which is great enough to effect the redemption of all, and the fruit of His death, which is shared only by the believing and regenerate, As to the first point, the words of Augustin are weighty; Sermo 114, de tempore: “Und morte universum mundum, sicut omnium conditor, ita omnium reparator, absolvit: indubi- tanter enim credimus, quod totum mundum redemit, qui plus dedit, quam totus mundus valeret.” The other point is met by the words of the Saviour: “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ;” and again: “1 pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me;” John x. and xvii. 5. According to the express doctrine of our Apostle, the mediatorial office of the man Christ Jesus is not only the cardinal truth of Christianity. but the conditio sine qud non of the eternal salva tion of man, The existence of the only God would be, indeed, no glad message for fallen man, did he not hear also of a Mediator between God and man, In contrast to this soteriological doctrine of the Apostle, the boldness of many at this day is strange CHAPTER II. 1-4, 31 indeed, who assert that they need no Mediator, but that man can go directly to the Father without the Son. Such men lack above all the living knowledge of the desert of sin, and the holiness of God. The God whom they approach is not the God revealed in the Scriptures, but rather the idol of their own dark- ened understanding, [We may fitly append here a passage from AxcuBisHor Trencu’s ‘ Sermons,” which sets forth the living view of the mediatorial sacrifice, as it is distinguished alike from any forensic theory of imputation, and any denial of it on moral grounds. “Could God be well-pleased with the sufferings of the innocent and holy? What satisfaction conld He find in these? Assuredly not: but he could have pleasure—nay, according to the moral neces- sities of His own being, he must have the high- est joy, satisfaction, and delight—in the love, the patience, the obedience, which those sufferings gave Him the opportunity of displaying. . . . Nor was it, as somre among the schoolmen taught, that God arbitrarily ascribed and imputed to Christ’s obedience unto death a value which made it equal to the needs and sins of the whole world. We affirm rather with the deeper theologians of thuse and all times, who crave to deal with realities, not ascriptions and imputations, that His offering had in itself this intrinsic value. . . . Christ satisfied herein, not the Divine anger, but the Divine craving after a perfect holiness, righteousness, and obedience in man,”—W.] 6. Against all Docetist tendencies which now and then appear in the church, the Apostle’s assertion of the real manhood of Christ has always the deepest significance. There is among the strong defenders of the divinity of the Son far more Crypto-Docetism, far more fear of allowing the full and undiminished truth of Christ?s humanity, than they themselves know. On the other side, it is much to be wished that all who rightly hold the ἄνϑρωπος ᾽1. Xp., could as readily accept what the Apostle further says in the,Pastoral Epistles, in respect to the divinity of the Lord; see 1 Tim. iii, 16; Titus ii, 18. The very Docetism so early visible in the apostolic age, is an indirect proof of the superhuman character of the Saviour. His appearance was so wonderful, that men could not at first believe Him to be real man, ἡ, “Christianity knits the ties by which natural religion binds men to one God still more closely, through the one only Mediator; for He points to the one centre of all. Christ is the bond of the God- head and manhood ;” Heubner. 8. The apostolic command to pray for all men has been often interpreted as allowing prayers for the dead. The words of Luther are noteworthy on this subject, Kirchenpostille, Dom. [., Post Trin.: “We have no command from God to pray for the dead, therefore no one can sin who does not pray for’ them. For, in what God has neither commanded nor forbidden, no man can sin. Yet, because God has not granted us to know the state of the soul, and we must be uncertain whether it has not met already its final doom, and therefore cannot tell if the soul be condemned, it is no sin that thou prayest for the dead; but in such wise, that thou leave it in doubt, and say thus: ‘Dear God, if this soul be in that state that Thou yet mayest help it, I pray Thee to Le gracious unto it.’ For God has promised to hear us in what we ask. Therefore, if thou hast prayed once, or thrice, thou shouldest believe that ae heard, and pray no more, lest thou tempt od. 9. If we have, according to the doctrine of the Apostle, only one Mediator between God and man then the invocation of saints, and Mariolatry espe cially, as practiced in the Roman Church in recent times, is already condemned in its very principle. HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL. Public prayer no secondary thing, but the chief element in the assembly of believers,—The duty of special intercession: (1.) Its extent (ii. 1, 2); (2.) its ground (ii, 3-7).—To pray for others: (1.) Its intrinsic worth; (2.) how seldom and poorly per- formed.—The relation of Christian subjects toward their rulers—The influence of religious life and prayer on the welfare of the Church.—God wills that all men be saved: (1.) No mere show or pre- tence of will, but a right earnest will; (2.) no inac- tive will, but mighty, and working for the good of all; (3.) no absolute and despotic will, but a con- ditioned and holy will, against which the stiffnecked enmity of unbelief can hold out to its own eternal shame.—The knowledge of the truth, the Divine means for the eternal redemption of the sinner.— One Mediator for all: (1.) What a privilege to know Him! (2.) what a curse to reject Him! (8.) whata duty, after man has found Him, to make Him known to others also!—The high significance of the true manhood of the Lord. Without it, (1.) There is no perfect revelation of God in Christ; (2.) there is no true reconciliation of the Divine and the human, in and through Christ.—Christ the ransom for all: (1.) From what ; (2.) for what; (8.) to what the Christian is thus redeemed.—The manifestation of Christ the pivot of the world’s history.—God’s time is always the best.—As Paul, so every minister of the Gospel must be assured of his Divine calling.— Faith and truth the great means to bring others to a knowledge of the gospel.—Missions to the heathen a continuation of the work of Paul. Starks: OsianpER: Christians ought not only to pray for those who, like them, profess some sort of religion, but for all men, that God will guide their hearts to the gospel of Christ. —Lancr’s Opp.: There is in intercession for others the purest exer- cise of love for others—One of the best and most valuable kinds of tax which we owe and may pay to our rulers, is to pray for them, and to thank God heartily for the good we receive through them.— Anton: Prayer is a real Noah’s ark, in which we may shut ourselves amidst threatening floods.—We cannot else pass through the tossing world (Luke xviii. 7, 8)—Bibl. Wirt.: If God is minded to bring all men to the knowledge of the truth, who do not wilfully shut their eyes to it; if Christ has given Himself in death for all, that they may be kept from eternal ruin, we ought also, as holy children, to fol- low this example of God and Christ, gladly encour- age all to seek their eternal health and salvation, and omit nothing which may aid toward it (Rom, x, 1).—Laner’s Opp.: How can the Christian religion be other than true, since it leads to the knowledge of saving truths, while all other truths are ouly phantoms ?—If it be the earnest will of God to save all men, none can excuse himself who remains god. less and unbelieving.—Since the satisfaction of Christ is the masterwork and centre of the gospel, it must be chiefly urged by all teachers, and most 3% THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. fully embraced and believingly applied by all hearers (1 Cor. i. 23; Gal. ii, 20).—Osr1anprr: The gospel of Christ belongs to the Gentiles also (Isa, xlix. 6).— Hevpyer: Common prayer is a means of uniting hearts, a true bond of the Church.—Where the best Christians are, there are the best citizens.—Polythe- ism severs nations; Christianity binds all in one.— An angel could not be the Reconciler of the world. —AIl perfect virtue is self-sacrifice, a denial of my personal self, just as every ungodly life is egoism.— Christian integrity speaks truth—Lisco: The duty of common prayer.—Intercession a work of love.— The greatest thought, the noblest deed, and the holi: est decision. ᾿ Vers, 1-6. Epistle for Rogation day, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and elsewhere.— Brcx : Tnterces- sion, the consecration of a life of prayer.—Interces sion the crown of prayer.—KNiprenBERG: On the right spirit of Christian intercession.—DRASEKE : Christian intercession considered, (1.) In its nature ; (2.) in its dignity; (8.) in its effects —DimrzscH: The wish of a Christian people for the welfare of its rulers.--W. Horacker: Of the right priestly spirit, as the ueed of our time. VI. By whom and how Prayer is to be made, and how especially women should conduct themselves in that respect. Cu. II. 8-15. wrath and doubting.’ I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without In like manner also, that women’ adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness [shamefastness] and sobriety; [,] not with braided [plaited] hair, or [and ?] gold,’ or pearls, or costly array; [,] But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works [by means of their good works]. all subjection. over the man, but to be in silence. transgression. Let the women learn in silence [tranquilly] with [in] But I suffer not a woman to teach,’ nor to usurp authority For Adam was first formed, then Eve, And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived* was in the Notwithstanding [But] she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. 1 Ver. 8.-ἰδιαλογισμοῦ, Sinaiticus, διαλογισμοῦ. γισμῶν. 2 yuvaikas.—E. H.] Griesbach, μοῦ, in text; μῶν, in margin. Tischendorf, dedAo- The singular form, being the more unusual, is probably the true reading.—E. H.] Ver. 9.—(woadtws κ. Tas γυν. Lachmann, ὡσαύτως γυναῖκας ; so also the Sinaiticus. Tischendorf, ὡσαύτ. x. t Ver. 9.--ἰἢ χρυσῷ ; Tischendorf, καὶ χρυσῷ. Sinaiticus the same. Lachmann, A. G., καὶ ypvotg.—E. HJ 4 Ver. 12.—[yvvaixi δὲ διδάσκειν. Lachmann (A. D. G.) has διδάσκειν δὲ γυναικὶ ; so also the Sinaiticus. Tischen- dorf has retained the order of the words in the Recepia.—E. H.] δ Ver. 14.--[-Ἠἀπατηθεῖσα. —E. H EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 8. I will therefore, ὅθ. Βούλομαι οὖν. Βόυλεσδϑαι is stronger than SéAew; it is to ordain, by the power of his apostolic authority; οὖν con- nects the following exhortation with vers. 1-3, and is needed on account of the brief digression in vers. 4-7. As the Apostle thus reverts to the public prayers just commended, he now states more exactly when, how, and through whom these should be con- ducted ; and with this he adds his special counsel to the women as well as the men, The latter, in ex- press distinction from the women, are alone to direct public prayers. It thus appears that, in the assem- bly of believers, this duty was not given exclusively to the presiding officer, but was performed without limitation by the members of the church. The Apostle does not object to this, but only orders that the women shall abstain entirely from it, which, per- haps, in more recent times, they had not always done.—Everywhere. Not only to be joined with προσεύχεσδαι, but with the whole proposition; in which it is further taught both that men ought, and Lachmann, Tischendorf, Sinaiticus, ἐξαπατηθεῖσα. The authorities are consentient here, how they ought to pray everywhere. The somewhat singular phrase, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, is surely not a de- signed contrast to the Jewish localism, which held the temple or the synagogue almost exclusively as the fit place for prayer, but is probably explained by the fact that the Ephesian church, like many others, consisted of different ἐκκλησίαι κατ᾽ δεκον, and thus had several places of meeting. Perhaps, also, in these different circles, the same customs were not in use ; or some held one place holier than others. In view of this, the Apostle gives a precept which is to be remembered by all ubi cumque sint—Lifting up holy hands; a Jewish custom, no: only in taking an oath, or in benediction, but especially in prayer (see Ps. xxviii. 2; lxiii. 5); and, as appears from this passage, a usage of the Christian church. ; comp. Clem. Rom. ad Corinth, cap, 29.—Holy hands; such as are not stained with wilful sin, in contrast with the unclean hands of an evil-doer (Ps, xxiv. 43 xxvi. 6; comp. James iv. 8). In regard to the form, ὁσίους χεῖρ. (instead of ὁσίας, as some Code really have it), comp. Winer, Gramm., 6th ed. Pp. 64.-~Without wrath, ὅθ. Without wrath and CHAPTER II, 8-15, 38 ee contention. Luther less accurately says, ohne Zorn und Zweifel. The latter, contention, is the out- ward expression of the former. The Apostle refers directly to the wrath and contention of believers among themselves—it may be in questions of re- ligious dispute, or other outbreaks in daily life. It is most probable that such disturbances had hap- pened at their meetings in Ephesus, or, in the judg- ment of the Apostle, were to be feared. [The Eng- lish Version and that of Lutber are the same. Alford renders ‘‘ without wrath and disputation ;” that is, in tranquillity and mutual peace. Words- worth renders, “without doubting or disputing.” But see Ellicott.—W.] Ver. 9. In like manner also, that women. At the opening of this verse, Βούλομαι must be anew supplied from the preceding; in the remain- der, however, the construction is difficult and in- volved. It seems best, after γυναῖκας, to supply, not προσεύχεσδϑαι, but προσευχομένας, since the ὡσαύτως forbids the supposition that the Apostle has now closed the subject of public prayer in order to give a general rule as to the dress and attire of the women. It is more likely that Paul now passes on to the con- duct of the women in the church, since they are not included in the preceding exhortation, having no right of speech in public prayers. They must ap- pear in modest attire; καταστολή = ἔνδυμα; περι- βολή = σχῆμα σώματος. Kéouios = πρέπουσα γυ- ναιξὶν ἐπαγγελλομέναις τῆν δεοσέβειαν (ver. 10). The object of the Apostle is not to enjoin a general tule of life for Christian women, but specially for their demeanor at the place of prayer. He does not forbid all ornament, but only the excess which is a mark of frivolity and love of display, and awakens impure passions. They should adorn themselves, but with bashfulness and modesty (Luther: “ with shame and modesty”). Both expressions refer not alone to the outward garment, but more to the inward spirit befitting the modest dress. αἰδώς expresses the inward aversion from everything un- seemly; σωφροσύνη, the control of the passions (Huther). This is the only ornament allowed to Christian women at public prayer. [Shamefastness ; not, as in modern reprints of the English Version, shamefacedness ; see Trenca, Δ. 7. Synonymes. This is an early Saxon form, which has unhappily become obsolete in this case. Wordsworth, how- ever, is surely wrong when he calls it a word akin to steadfastness. It is to be found in the original edi- tion of the Version of 1611.—W.]—Not with braided hair, πλέγμα, insinuati multiplices in orbe crines ; but the general sense of a head-dress, or dress of the hair, should not be lost (comp. 1 Pet. iii. 5; Isa. iii, 24), Thee braidings of the hair are put first, but the following substantives denote the dress—ornaments of gold, whether bracelets, rings, or chains, pearls, or costly clothing, πολυτελής, nearly the same as in Matt. xi. 8, μαλακα ἱμάτια, and in Luke vii, 25, ἱματισμὸς ἔνδοξος. Compare with this whole precept the Divine denunciation of female luxury (Isa. iii.), and like passages in the Church fathers; 6. g., TERTULLIAN, De Famineo Cultu. “ Vestite vos serico probitatis, bysso sancti- tatis, purpura pudicitie.” Aveustin, Hpit. 73: “ Verus ornatus, maxime Christianorum et Chris- tianarum, non tantum nullus mendaz fucus, verum ne auri quidem vestisgue pompa, sed mores bont sunt.” Sompare the remarkable “Eulogy of Seneca,” ad Hely, cap. 6. Ver. 10. But what becometh. The main clause must here be distinguished from the subordi nate clauses. The chief proposition is that in which the Apostle states what is the true ornament of a devout woman. I will, he says, that they adorn themselves with good works. Good works, om the occasion of their public worship, can scarcely ba any other than offerings of love for the poor, ag Heydenreich has remarked; which, however, Huther without reason calls wholly arbitrary, Why should not this be styled the true ornament of a Christian woman, that, like Dorcas, she is full of good worka and alms deeds? “Si operibus testanda est pietas, in vestitu etiam casto apparere hee professio debet ;” Calvin, The words, which becometh, &c., we regard not as a parwnetic clause, which would offer great difficulty, but as defining the reason of Paul’s praise of such an ornament, ὅ = καϑ᾽ 8 = ὧσ πρὲπει. This dress, from his point of view, is the only be. coming one,—Professing godliness, ἐπαγγελλ. Seoo.; an expression peculiar to the Pastoral Epis- tles. Luther: die Goitseligkeit beweisen ; French: qui font profession de pieté ; Dutch: die goduruch- tigheid bclijden. ᾿Ἐπαγγελλ., who glory in some thing, or lay claim to something, or will pass for something, or who employ themselves in something, Compare the Horatian “que medicorum sint, profi« teri.” In this meaning of the verb, in this place, it is so-much the less advisable to connect it with the following words, δ ἔργων ἀγαϑῶν. Ver. 11. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. Although the following counsels of the Apostle may readily be referred to the general relations of the sexes, still the connec. tion requires us to regard them as here aimed at public teaching by women. Not the docere, but the discere ; not prominence in outward rank, but the ὑποταγή in the place of prayer, is their proper call- ing. It appears that the Christian women at Ephe- sus were inclined to put themselves forward more than became them, The Apostle therefore enjoing silence upon them; and in the Jewish synagogues likewise, whose order was followed by the Christian assemblies, it was the rule that women should hear, but not speak (comp. 1 Cor. xiv. 34, and Constel. App. iii. cap. 6). Thus TertuLuian wrote, De Virg. Vel., cap. 9: “Non permittitur mulieri in ecclesia logui, nee docere, nec tinguere, nec ullius virilis muneris, nedum sacerdotalis officii sortem, sibi vin- dicare.".—Ey ἡσυχία; the women, without uttering a word, are humbly and believingly to hear the in- struction, which is given solely by men, in the holy lace, : Ver. 12. But I suffer not a woman, &. The parallel is so complete between vers. 11 and 12, that we can refer this verse to nothing save public instruction. Not any general authority of the wife over her husband is here forbidden—although the Apostle without doubt opposes this—but especially the assuming such superiority in the church. Even to ask concerning what she does not understand, is not allowed to a woman in public (1 Cor. xiv. 36), but only in her own house. Αὐϑεντεῖν, in the earlier Greek, is equivalent to ἀυτοχείριζειν ; in the later, to ἐξουσίαζειν. ᾿Ανδρός ; the remark of Bengel ia excellent: “Jd non tantum maritum notai, sed totum genus virorum.”—To be in silence. Εἶναι ἐν ἧσυχίᾳ ; not only tacere, but still more, in silentio versari; 80 that silence is almost the distinct sphera assigned to woman in such circumstances. We have an instance, however, of διδάσκειν on the part of 2 woman in Acts xviii, 26, which the Apostle certainly 34 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. would not have forbidden. Finally, the Apostle sup- ports this rule of silence on two grounds, which are both taken from the book of Genesis. Ver. 18, For Adam... then Eve (comp. Gen. ii, 7, 18-23), Just as, in 1 Cor, xi. 8, the Apostle refers to the priority of Adam’s creation, and thence infers the dependence of Eve in birth and condition; and, in her, of all women. Not always, indeed, yet here the priority warrants the superiority. “The Old Testament narration, as the Scriptures in general, is held by the Apostle as a holy, spiritual utterance of Divine truth ; Adam and Eve are prototypes for all humanity of the manly and womanly nature; and in the creation of the primeval pair is the real ground of the law, that the woman must not teach, and, yet more, not be de- sirous to rule ;” Matthies, Ver. 14. And Adam was not, ὅτ. (comp. Gen. iii. 1). A second ground, directly connected with the preceding. In ver. 13 it was stated why no authority was given to woman over man; in ver. 14, why she is justly forbidden to teach. “ Deceptio indicat minus robur in intellectu, atque hic nervus est, cur muliert non liceat docere ;” Bengel. It is true that Adam also was misled, yet by means of the woman ; but she was deceived in the strongest sense of the word, and she alone. She allowed herself to be enticed by the treacherous speech of the serpent, while Adam simply accepted the fruit from her band. This passage does not conflict with Rom. v. 12, since Adam is there named as the head of sinful human- ity, without reference to Eve; while here St. Paul regards the origin of sin as given in the Jewish nar- rative, which, in 2 Cor, ii, 8, also is ascribed to Eve. With Adam, then, was a simple παράβασις ; with Eve, ἀπάτη and παράβασις together, Adam was therefore in the transgression, in the state of disobe- dience to the positive command of God. The read- ing ἐξαπατηδεῖσα, defended by Lachmann and Tisch- endorf, strengthens yet more the sense and force of the antithesis. ‘In this matter the Apostle’s view is confirmed by the character of the female sex, and the experience of all times, which proves how sus- ceptible woman is to such guile and persuasion ; and his reasoning needs therefore no defence, but its truth is clear in the very nature of the subject ;” Mack. [It should be remarked here, that this narra- tive of the fall has been held by many sound exposi- tors as a moral truth of primitive history, not to be understood in its literal sense, but portrayed in a symbolic form. The note of Coleridge, although somewhat too much in the vein of Origen, may well be added: “We have the assurance of Bishop Horseley, that the Church of England does not de- mand the literal understanding of the document con- tained in the second (from ver. 8) and third chapters of Genesis as a point of faith; divines of the most unimpeachable orthodoxy, and the most averse to allegorizing of Scripture history in general, having from the earliest ages adopted or permitted it in this instance. . . . Nor, if we suppose any man conver- sant with Oriental works of anything like the same antiquity, could it surprise him to find events of true history in connection with the parable, In the tem- ple language of Egypt, the serpent was the symbol cf the understanding. . . . Without or in contra- vention to the reason, the spiritual mind of St. Paul, the understanding (φρόνημα σαρκὸς, or carnal mind) becomes the sophistic principle, the wily tempter to evil by counterfeit good; ever in league with and always first applying to the desire as the inferior nature, the woman in our humanity ; and through the desire prevailing on the will (the manhood, virtus). . . . The Mosaic narrative, thus interpreted, gives a just and faithful exposition of the birth and parentage of sin, as it reveals itself in time;” “ Aids, to Reflection,” p. 242 ed. 1840. Read also, for a like interpretation, Henry More, “ Defence of the Moral Cabbala,” ο. 3.—W.] ἢ ᾿ Ver. 15, She shall be saved in child-bearing ἃς, The Apostle seems to fear lest he may have disheartened the women, and he now adds an en. couraging word, Probably it was written in the recollection of the sentence which is coupled in Gen, iii, with the story of the fall, God had changed the curse into a blessing for her as well as for Adam, and made the penalty of sin a means of grace. She shall be saved, σωϑήσεται. A share in the salvation of Christ is not withheld from her, although she has no part in public teaching. Yet she can only gain the personal enjoyment of this grace when she re- mains in her allotted calling. Through child-bear- ing, διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, proceeds the Apostle ; and this expression has often been ἃ stumbling-block. “Do you think it was Paul’s opinion, at the time he wrote 1 Cor. vii., that the salvation of the female sex depends on child-bearing?” asks Schleiermacher, when he opposes the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles. The reply must be undoubtedly in the negative ; but it should be added, that no reasonable man, apostle or not apostle, would take this propo- sition unconditionally ; since, in that case, the great- est number of children would best entitle the mother to salvation. We are simply to suppose that the Apostle has in view Christian women only, for whom the question is, how they, who already believe in Christ, should personally gain the salvation they seek, It is, then, quite unnecessary to interpret the διά as meaning the outward mode of the cwdjoera ; still less to give it the sense of “notwithstanding ” (Flatt); it denotes simply a condition in which the woman becomes partaker of such blessing. On this use of the preposition, see WINER, p. 339, who gives various examples, The Apostle would say: Far be the thought that the true fulfilment of the duties of a mother, as each might perhaps fear, can hinder the salvation of woman; on the contrary, she will then obtain it, when she remains in her allotted sphere of home (comp. chap. v. 14). Texvoyovia does not mean merely the munus puerpere in the strict sense of the word, but includes the Christian nurture and training of children. The notion that γυνή refers to Eve alone, or to Mary, the mother of the Lord, needs no serious refutation. The Apostle speaks of the Christian wife in general, and therefore can directly use the plural fer the singular, when he adds, ἐὰν μείνωσιν. That this last clause does not refer to both men and women (Heydenreich), nor to the children (Chrysostom, Schleiermacher, Leo, Mack), is quite obvious. The last would, on account of the preceding τεκνογονία, be grammatically possi ble; but it is not probable, since the salvation of the Woman would then be made dependent on the con- tinuance of her children in fellowship with Christ. Calvin justly denied this view, when he wrote “ Atgui unica vox est apud Paulum τεκνογονία, Proinde ad mulieres referri, necessarium est ἐὰν μείνωσιν, κιτιλ. Quod autem plurale verbum est, nomen. vero singulare, nihil habet incommodi. Si quidem nomen indefinitum, ubi seilicet de omnibus communis est sermo, vim collectivi habet, ideoque mutationem numeri facile patitur. Porro ne totam CHAPTER Il. 8-15, 35 mulierum virtutem in conjugalibus offictis inelu- deret, continuo post etiam majores adjicit virtutes, quibus pias mulieres exceclere convenit, ut a profanis differant. Imo tune demum generatio gratum est Deo obsequium, quum ex fide et caritate procedit.” This last must especially be held in view. The slightest trace of singularity vanishes, when we sce what the Apostle requires of women in their Christian ife. They must endure even to the end, if they will be saved (Matt. xxiv. 13), Πίστις, ἀγάπη, ἁγιασμός, are for them the chief aim, as well as for every man. By the connection of these words with σωφροσύνη, modestia, the exhortation again returns to its starting point, the subordinate rank of woman. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. It belongs to that universal character of Chris- tianity which Paul has unfolded so strongly in vers. 4-7, that the worship of God must be confined to special times and places (comp. John iv. 21-24). When the Apostle assigns to the male members of the whole church the duties of preaching and in- struction, he condemns, on one side, the clerical exclusiveness which allows the laity in no way to preach the word in the church, and, on the other side, the Quakerism which permits men and women, without restraint, to come forward when moved by the Spirit. 2. It shows the deep spiritual insight of the Apostle, when he urges the removal of all wrath and strife, as irreconcilable with common prayer, A similar suggestion is found in 1 Pet. iii, 1. Com- pare the beautiful essay of A. Vive, entitled, Za colére et la priere,in his Etudes Evangel. p. 436; and most specially see the precept in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 23-25). 8. How incalculable is the debt which women owe to Christianity ! how holy is the calling allotted to the believing woman by the gospel! (comp. La Femme, deux discours, par Ap. Monon, Paris, 1855.) While woman before was a slave, the property of the man, the mere victim of his sensual lusts, she is now joint-heir of eternal life (1 Pet. iii. 7). AL though, however, the gospel sanctifies the commu- nity and the family, it does not reverse the natural order of things, but requires each to remain in the position God has given to each. This whole passage (vers. 8-15) is a continuous practical exposition of the great principlé which Paul has affirmed in 1 Cor. vii. 24, 4. The high worth which the Apostle here gives to the duties of the wife and mother, shows likewise with what restrictions we must receive his partial praise of celibacy (1 Cor. vii.), and is a sound cor- rective of all false asceticism. 5. Christian morality must be shown in our attire ; and it is never to be forgotten, that the first garments after the fall were sewed by the hand of shame. Still, it would be absurd and petty to push the outward letter of this apostolic precept, as is too often done, although this rule of St. Paul has by no means only a local or temporary meaning. Comp. De Werte, Lehrbuch der christlichen Sittenl., p. 73. The question raised by the precept in ver. 9 (comp. 1 Cor. xi. 14), whether men should wear long hair, rovoked in the Reformed Church of the Nether- finds, in the ‘seventeenth century, a long and hot dispute. See, for a full account, the /earned work of Dr. G. D J. Scnoren, Bijdragen tot de geschiede- ΩΝ ad kerkelijke en wereldlijke kleeding ; Haag, 56. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. The public prayer of the chu: zh.—The holy dis position needed for holy action—No really devout prayer without mutual love and peace,—Humility the best dress for woman: (1.) The best home dress ; (2.) the best travelling dress; (3.) the best mourning dress; (4.) the best grave-dress—The special position which Christianity has assigned te woman: (1.) What Christ is for women ; (2.) What women must be for Christ.—The eloquence of a Christian silence.—Ministering love, true greatnes: in the kingdom of God.—The subordination of woman to man grounded not in man’s arbitrary will, but in the order of God at creation. Woman skould not forget that sin has come into the world, not first through man, but through her.—The last created was the first deceived—The Xanthippe character not only unchristian, but unnatural—The curse of sin on the woman changed, through the grace of God, into a blessing.—The nobleness and blessedness of the calling of a mother.—We may be lost even in the bearing of children, if we remain not*in faith and holiness, as well as chastity.—The saving power of the gospel in our home life.—Christianity pro- motes reformation, not revolution.— Let all thinga be done decently and in order” (1 Cor, xiv. 40). SrarkeE: Hepineer: Prayer without glow, with- out an enkindled spirit, is not good.—Unbelief de- stroys the best.—Lanax’s Op, Bibl. : Although prayer specially concerns the heart, yet the right direction of the heart will lead to the fit manner of prayer.— Spener: The Apostle specially wishes that, in the public worship of God, our thoughts should be more on the inward than the outward—Women, when they pray or attend Divine service, must not think that they are to prepare for it by splendid dress, gold, pearls, outward ornament, or that such array will please God.—Hepinerr: Lavish ornament ig the fruit of pride——Both errors are to be shunned pomp, and slavish copying of every empty fashion, as well as neglect, uncleanliness, and disorder in dress; for neither becomes a Christian.—Lanae’s Op.: In dress we must be guided partly by neces- sity, partly by comfort, partly, too, by the custom of the country ; and thus we must reject all servility and all vain show (1 John ii. 15, 16)—If woman should learn, then man should allow her the oppor- * tunity, to be a good teacher at home, not only in words, but in deeds also (1 Cor. iv. 35).—Much of the discord among married persons usually springs from the fact that the wife will not be subordinate, or the husband does not know how to rule with in- telligence and love, and thus misuses his rule (1 Pet, iii, '7).—Ostanper: Since woman is given to man ag a help-meet, not a ruler, the right of authority and precedence belongs to man.—Even before the fall, Eve was weaker than Adam; so that Satan turned not to Adam, but to Eve, and led her first astray from God (1 Pet. iii. 7).—-The Apostle does not deny salvation to childless women, but only teaches what is the appointed calling of women, in which holy mothers, by the grace of the Mediator Christ, through faith, attain eternal life—Lanen’s Op.: As faith 15 not without love, so faith and love are not without salvation.—HEDINGER: Believing women who have children have this comfort, that their hardest pain, 36 THE FIRST EPISTLE TC TIMOTHY. anti even the loss of life, is only a trial sent from the heavenly Father, never a hindrance to salvation (Rom, viii. 35). Von Gertacn: It follows from the right spirit of prayer, that our works should be in harmony with our words, and especially in public devotion.—Man, at cre- ation, was complete ; but the woman had given her, in her origin, the lot of dependence.—Many who have children are lost ; many who are childless are saved. Hevsyer: The prayerful Christian consecrates every place asa temple.—The holiest places cannot help him who prays with an unholy spirit.—Dress, the most foolish of vanities —The Christian woman even in drese shows herself Christian.—True order in the Christiar Church edifies the whole.—The woman is blessed ag a mother, when she cares for the good Christian nur. ture of her children.—The specific duties of man and woman.—Lisco: Husband and wife in prayer before God.—The right place of women in the sanctuary,— The true ornament of the Christian in worship. VII. The proper temper of the overseers of the community, of the deacons, and ot their wives. A.—Dignity and nature of the office of the overseer. Ca. 1Π. 1-7. This és a true’ saymg [Faithful is the saying], If a man desire [aspire unto} the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blame less, the husband of one wife, vigilant,” sober, of good behaviour [decorous = ornatum], given to hospitality, apt to teach; [,] Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;* [,] but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; [,] One that ruleth well his own house,’ having his children in subjection with all gravity; [—] For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? [—] Not a novice, lest being lifted up [blinded] with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have® a good report of them which are without; lest he fall .« oo into reproach and the snare of the devil. ΄ 1 Ver. 1.-[πιστὸς ; all the authorities; the Sinaiticus, tustior est Hieronymo, 2 Ver. 2.--[ἰνηφάλεον. 3 Ver. 8ἃ.--μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ. Wanting in A. Ὁ), dorf have left it out. The Sinaiticus has it not. 4 Ver. 4.—[mpoterdpevor. exceptional. —E. H.) Vv But no one is rash enough to approve it. Every one now reads νηφάλιον.---Πὸ, H.) . EF. G., and others, and upon this account Lachmann and Tischen- Apparently it has been intercalated from Titus i. 7 80 Recepta, Lachmann, Tischendorf. The Sinaiticus reads mpotoravép»evov—peculiar and But A., Orig. also, ἀνθρώπινος ; humanus, hee lectio ve~ Matthai, quoted by Huther.—E. H.] er. 7.—[8et δὲ αὐτόν ; αὐτόν left out by Lachmann and Tischendorf (wanting in A. F. G. H., and others); not in the Sinaiticus. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 1. This is a true saying. There is no reason whatever to refer this phrase, which often occurs in the Pastoral Epistles, to the preceding remarks (Chrysostom); it is clear, on the contrary, that here, as chap. i. 15, there begins a new line of thought. After the Apostle, in the former chapter, has treated of the duties of the church as a whole, especially in regard of public prayer, he turns to the special view of certain persons, the episcopi and diacont. Undoubtedly it would fall to the lot of Timothy, in his intimate relations to the body, to appoint such officers; and as there might arise a difference of opinion, it was desirable for him to have a written direction from the Apostle, to which he might always appeal. Paul begins, therefore, by informing him, as Titus (chap. i. 6), what special qualities such officers should possess, It is from his own knowledge, doubtless, of the high importance of this function of the eprscopus, that he considers first its weighty requirements.—If a man desire, In G., the whole seventh verse is written in the margin ; according to Lachmann.—E. H.] &c. It appears as if, at that time, there was in Ephesus, and its neighborhood, an eager strife for such a presbyterial rank—a strife which contrasts strikingly with the reluctance shown to its accept- ance by 80 many eminent men in the third and fourth centuries; and as it certainly did not spring with all from the purest motives, it does not give us the happiest proof of their Christian spirit. Yet we need not understand ὀρέγεται in the sense of an ambitious rivalry (thus De Wette, against which comp. Heb. xi. 16), since the Apostle would surely have rebuked it with decision. It may have been joined, on the part of many, with an active zeal for the church, which needed only a partial check and guidance.—The office of a bishop, ἐπισκοπή. The word does not before occur in this sense in the New Testament, with the exception of the citation from the Old Testament (Acts i. 20). As to ita real meaning, it is proven beyond doubt that in the days of the Apostle the ἐπίσκοποι had no higher rank than the πρεσβύτεροι, although Paul (1 Tim. v. 17) makes a distinction even among the latter: and ‘t is CHAPTER III. 1-7, 37 certain, likewise, that first in later times, by the combined influence of various causes, a higher place was given to the bishops among their fellow episcopi (Acts xx. 17, 28). The rule of the church at large was entrusted to the Apostles; that of the indi- vidual communities, to the episcopate or presby- terate. On the diaconate, which is not at all iden- tical with these last, see below, ver. 8.—He de- sireth a good work, καλον ἔργον ἐπι. The adjective expresses the excellence, the noun the difficulty of the work; since ἔργον, in this connec- tion, is not the same as πρᾶγμα or χρῆμα. The Apostle regards it not as a passive, but an active reality; and Augustin thus far wrote with truth, De Cw, Dei, xix. 19: “ Episcopatus est nomen operis, non honoris.”—JERoME: ‘ Opus, non dig- nitatem, non delicias; opus per quod humilitate decrescat, non intumescat fastigio.” Bunanu: “ Ne- gotium, non otium.” On the whole subject here treated by Paul, we may well compare the Tracta- tus by Jon, pe Wicier, De Officio Pastorali, pub- lished by Dr. G. B. Lechler, Leipzig, 1868. He treats of two points, de sanctimonio vite, et de salubritate doctrine, and gives suggestions to be laid to heart. [Note, on the Presbyter-Episcopal Office —This verse is the cruz of the whole controversy concern- ing the ministry of the apostolic church, and should not, therefore, be passed by with so slight notice as in this commentary. We will endeavor here to give an impartial, critical summary of the evidence con- tained in the Pastoral Epistles. It is clear, from 1 Tim, iii, 1-7 ; Titus 1. 5-9, that the titles ““ episco- pus” and “presbyter” belonged at first to the same rank. See Brneuam, “Ch. Antig.,” B. 1, ¢ 3; Scnarr, ‘‘ Apost. Ch.,” Β. 8, c. 8, and the citation from Jeromr, Ep. 82, Ad Oceanwm. Presbyter was the earlier Jewish-Christian name, nomen ctatis ; episcopus the later, taken from political usage among the Greeks, nomen officti. The former very proba- bly denoted the general ministerial dignity ; the lat- der, the oversight of a particular church, The re- striction of the episcopate to a superior order, there- fore, came later. Was it of apostolic date or au- thority? We turn to this Epistle, and it is clear that Timothy had the power of judging presbyters ; 1 Tim. iv. 11, 14; ch. v. 1, 17-24; and the power of ordaining them; 1 Tim. v. 22. The power of ordaining elders in every city is also given to Titus, i, 2; the injunction to rebuke with all authority, Titus ii, 15. We omit 2 Tim. i. 6, 14; chap. ii. 2, since these are too vague for any fair argument. Timothy and Titus, then, were commissioned by St. Paul, and had the two powers of ordination and of judicial rule. See Hooxer, Heel. Pol., B. 7, ο. 11, where the argument is forcibly stated. But the next question is, was this superior office a tempo- rary or permanent one? Were these diocesan bish- ops, or only evangelists, sent on a special mission ? It cannot be proved with certainty, from these Epis- tles, that they were more than evangelists. Timo- thy, moreover, is charged to ‘‘do the work of an evangelist,” 2 Tim, iv. 5. Titus is spoken of, 2 Cor. viii. 28, with other brethren, as ‘‘ messengers of the churches.” See Carvin, Jnst. iv. 8, 5. 4. The fact of their superior y.chority appears to us, then, a pre- sumptive aygumeat for the establishment of the epis- copate; yet it cannot be a demonstration. But a further question remains: How can this change of name be explained, by which the later bishop be- came higher than the presbyter? It is the received theory of the Episcopal divine, that when the apos tolic authority had thus passed into this diocesan form, the official title was restricted to the higher rank, The name, it is said, is unimportant, but the fact is the essential. See Binenam, B. 2, c 19, But this does not wholly meet the difficulty. It is not at all likely, had these new diocesan rulers been appointed directly, like Timothy and Titus, by the Apostles, that they would have taken a name appro priated to a lower order. The change points natu. rally to some election of a presbyter by the college as their chief. This sufficiently explains the case, and appears the most probable custom in the early church, Thus Frexp, ‘Of the Church,” Β, 5, ὁ. 27, Yet it is, after all, uncertain whether this was done in all cases, as he claims, by the direct choice of the Apostles, or by the choice of the body. There can be little doubt, however, from the appointment of Timothy and Titus, that such a superior order of men was becoming the general rule of the church, and that, too, with the permis. sion, if not by the ordinance of the Apostles. We must, then, draw our conclusion from these meagre and uncertain hints. The chief error has been on either hand, that men have judged the plastic, grow- ing institutions of the early church by the fixed order of a later age. It is enough to say, that toward the close of the lives of St. Paul and St, John, there was a natural, historic change of the church, as it became settled in its great social cen. tres, from the general rule of the apostolate to a dio cesan structure. See Rotug, Anfdnge d. christl, Kirche, p. 498, ff. We see, in the cases of Timothy and Titus, the germinal form of such an episcopal office. It was a legitimate outgrowth. It had the sanction of the Apostles. To say that it was the invention of a later age, an apostasy from primitive parity or democracy, is unhistoric. Such a structu- ral change could not have taken place without con- flict; and the very silence of the sub-apostolic records, the undisputed right with which diocesan episcopacy emerges at the opening of authentic church history, confirms it as primitive. Yet it is alike unhistoric to rear this fact into a jus divi num, or to identify this simple episcopate of the early church with the type of a later hierarchy. Compare also the numerous works on the Ignatian controversy, by Cureton, Bunsen, Baur, Lipsius, Uhl- horn, and others.—W,] Ver. 2, A bishop then must be, &c. Here follows a long list of qualifications, partly negative, and wholly concerned with the circle of daily, house- hold life; since the Apostle is not speaking here of the higher gifts of Spirit and faith, which should be lacking in no Christian, least of all in an episcopna. All which is needed for the life hid with Christ, is passed by in silence, that he may consider solely the special requisites of the office. This fully met his purpose, as he speaks only of the aspirants to the episcopate, not of those already in it; and this apos- tolic rule was to serve Timothy as a safeguard against the importunity of incapable and unworthy men,—Then, οὖν, joins the following counsel with the previous praise of the office. Bengel: ‘‘ Bonum negotium, bonis committendum.”—Blameless, the husband of one wife. Two qualifications are named first, which the Apostle holds of highest worth, The episcopus must be blameless, ἀνεπίληπο τον εἶναι, in good repute, without offence in the eyes of believers, as well as of the unbelieving world. Thus he would be by no means blameless, were he 38 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMCTHY. not μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ. Is this phrase to be under- stood as forbidding polygamy or deuterogamy to the newly-appointed overseer? Scholars are not agreed, and the subject itself is far from clear. It is cited ‘n favor of the former view, that polygamy was by no means strange among the Jews; see Justin M., Dial ο. Tryph., § 134, ed. Colon; that this custom was less common umong the Greeks, and might give offence; that Christianity expressly enjoins and de- mands monogamy. The champions of the other view maintain that Timothy hardly needed the warn- ing not to choose an episcopus who had several wives, since the unfitness of so sensual a man for this spiritual office would be self-evident; that, on the other hand, a second marriage might not have peen approved by the Greeks; that Paul did not prescribe this abstinence as a general rule (the oppo- site is clear from 1 Cor. vii. 8, 39), but that this may rightly have been enjoined on such officers, who were to set an example of the highest self-restraint ; and that, finally, in chap. v. 9, it is required of a widow, chosen as deaconess, to have been once only raarried, The last reason seems of the greatest weight; and we therefore agree with those who hold this command of Paul to be directed against a second marriage, as unseemly for the episcopal office. to the question how far this rule should be consid- ered binding now, we cannot better reply than with Weubner, in loco: ‘‘ Perhaps the rude, quarrelsome disposition of the stepmother, in the servile condi- tion of women at that time, was the cause of this αν. With us such a reason is no longer applicable ; and, on the contrary, the nurture of the young often requires a second marriage. If we regard marriage ideally, as the beartfelt union of two persons, wholly surrendered to each other, then a second marriage seems to disparage the first, or to be rather a thing of policy than love. Our general inference is, that a church teacher should conform to the usages of the country or the society in which he lives, so far as he can.” That, however, Christian antiquity had really no favorable opinion of second marriage, is seen from ATHENAG., Legat. pro Christo, p, 81. TueormiLus ad