3. b. The Apostle now on his part also reminds the Thessalonians, with thanksgiving to God, that they had received his word as the word of God, as they have since continually experienced in themselves God’s mighty working (1Th_2:13). They could not otherwise have endured such vexations from their countrymen, as the brethren in Judea had from the Jews (1Th_2:14), whose enmity to the truth and the Apostles, moreover, need give the less offence, that they are thereby rather only filling the measure of their sins, and ripening rapidly for judgment (1Th_2:15-16)
13For this cause also thank we [we also give thanks to] God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us [received from us the word of preaching that is of God], ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God [ye accepted, not men’s word, but, as it is in truth, God’s word], which effectually worketh also [also work eth] in you that believe. 14For ye, brethren, became followers [imitators,
ìéìçôáß
] of the churches of God which in Judea are [which are in Judea,
ôῶí ïὐóῶí ἐí ôῇ Éïõäáὶá
] in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered [suffered,
ἐðὰèåôå
] like things [the same things,
ôὰ áὐôÜ
] of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews; 15who both killed the Lord [also killed the Lord] Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted [and persecuted,
ἐêäéùîÜíôùí
] us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, 16forbidding us to speak [hindering us from speaking,
êùëõüíôùí
…
ëáëῆóáé
] to the Gentiles, that they might [may] be saved, to fill up their sins always: for [but,
äἐ
] the wrath is come [came] upon them to the uttermost [to the end,
åἰò ôÝëïò
].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. (1Th_2:13.) For this cause we also give thanks.—
Äéὰ ôïῦôï
: 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.—
Êáὶ ἡìåῖò
stands opposed to
áὐôïὶ ãἁñ ïἴäáôå
(1Th_2:1) and means Paul and his attendants, who now, in further explanation of 1Th_1:6 and
ðῶò ἐðåóôñÝøáôå
of 1Th_1:9 sq., remind the Thessalonians of their lively reception of the word of God, just as the Thessalonians were appealed to, 1Th_2:1-12, as witnesses of the pure and powerful ministry of the Apostle among them; see on 1Th_1:8, 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 1Th_2:1-16, whereby Paul seeks to convince the Thessalonians of the reality of their faith. So deep an impression did he retain of the faith of the Thessalonians, with which they received his word as the word of God, that he has ever since felt himself moved to unceasing thanksgiving to God. If he speaks of the matter to God, and here repeatedly emphasizes this fact (comp. 1Th_1:2), they may at once herein recognize a new indication, how little the question is about something merely human (comp. on
äéὰ ôïῦôï
). So far
ôῷ èåῷ
answers both to the previous
ôïò
͂
èåïῦ
(1Th_2:12) and to the subsequent
ëüãïí èåïῦ
. The discourse thus turns back here, at the end of the entire section, to the beginning (1Th_1:2. Ewald).
2. When ye received from us the word of preaching that is of God.—
Ðáñáëáâ
., the objective, outward, matter-of-fact reception, in distinction from
äÝ÷åóèáé
, the subjective, inward acceptance (comp. 1Th_1:6.)—
ἀêïÞ
=
ùְîֻòָä
, Isa_53:1; Rom_10:14-17=pass, what one hears, a report, announcement, preaching, message.
Ëüãïò ἀêïῆò
(comp. Heb_4:2) is one of those genitival connections, which we in German are accustomed to express by a combination of nouns: Botschaftswort; Ewald: Predigtwort [as if we should say in English, message-word, preaching-word]. The addition of
ἀêïῆò
marks the audible, oral announcement, coming to men as a (new, hitherto unknown) message: comp. Rom_10:17, where
ἀêïÞ
is distinguished from
ῥῆìá èåïῦ
, the latter going forth from God to His messengers, the former from the messengers to the rest of men. The anarthrous
ëüãïò ἀêïῆò
should perhaps be translated a message, to indicate it as unknown, new; comp.
ëüãïò êõñßïõ
of 1Th_4:15 with
ὁ ëüãïò ôïῦ Ê
. of 1Th_1:8, With this message Paul appeared among the Thessalonians; he knew that it was from God; they could not yet of themselves know that. This he here represents to us in a measure by the purposely anomalous arrangement,
ðáῤ ἡìῶí ôïῦ Èåïῦ
: they received the word of the message immediately from him, but behind him stood God as the Author and Sender of the message.
Ðáῤ ἡìῶí
naturally depends on
ðáñáëáâ
., to which also the preposition expressly points back (De Wette, Koch [Ellicott, Webster and Wilkinson], &c.), [not on
ëüãïò ἀêïῆò
(Beza, Pelt, Olshausen, Lünemann, &c.), whereby the construction becomes very harsh and clumsy withal, since
ôïῦ èåïῦ
would have to be a closer definition of the composite idea,
ëüãïò ἀêïῆò ðáῤ ἡìῶí
.—Riggenbach.];
ôïῦ èåïῦ
, on the other hand, depends on
ëüãïò ἀêïῆò
, and is a gen. autoris, as in
åὐáããÝëéïí ôïῦ èåïῦ
of 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:8-9,
ὁ ëüãïò ôïῦ êõñὶïõ
of 1Th_1:8, (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,
ðáñáëáâüíôåò
—
ðáñ
’
ἡìῶí ôïῦ èåïῦ
, takes in once more the contents of 1Th_2:1-12; for there, from the beginning to the end (see especially 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:4; 1Th_2:12), it is shown that Paul had not labored among the Thessalonians in his own name or in an egotistic manner, but, as an agent of God, had brought them His message and call.
3. Ye accepted it, not as men’s word, &c. [Ye accepted, not men’s word, &c.].—The Thessalonians, then, understood and acknowledged the real nature, the Divine character and origin, of the apostolic preaching. They perceived in the word such a supernatural, essential power, as can proceed from no mortal man, himself involved in the disorder of the world’s sin. They felt the Godhead drawing near to them in the word of life; for the Holy Spirit was thereby active in their souls. And as the inward sense and instinct of the Divine light in the consciousness opened to, and allowed itself to be intimately pervaded by, the concurrent light in the word, mightily judging and irradiating their previous darkness (2Co_4:4-6; Joh_3:19-21), they therefore accepted the preached word for what it is, as the word of God.—
ἘäÝîáóèå
, comp.
äåîÜìåíïé
1Th_1:6—a text for general comparison. As immediate object,
ëüãïí ἀêïῆò ôïῦ èåïῦ
must be supplied out of the participial clause;
ïὐ ëüãïí ἀíèñ
&c. is a second accusative of the predicate: to accept something as—Winer, p. 203 sq.—
Ëüãïí ἀíèñ
, in opposition to
èåïῦ
indicates the origin, and at the same time the quality, which necessarily passes over from the source to what springs therefrom (Olshausen). The plural
ἀíèñþðùí
stands with reference to the plurality of the preachers, and also indeed generically; comp. Mat_9:8. Winer, p. 158.
Ëüãïí èåïῦ
, the word which God Himself causes to be proclaimed by men, whom He by His Spirit equips as His instruments; comp. Rom_10:17. Rieger: An expression of God’s heart concerning us.—
Êáèþò ἐóôéí ἀëçèῶò
: a simple, forcible testimony to inspiration.
4. Who [which] also worketh in you that believe.—
Ὅò
can be referred either to
ëüãïí
(Œcumenius, Olshausen, Lünemann, &c. [Conybeare, Peile, Jowett, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, &c]; comp. Winer, p. 231), and in favor of this it is alleged that elsewhere the active
ἐíåñãåῖí
is used of God, and the middle
ἐíåñãåῖóèáé
only of things (yet comp., for example, Col_1:29; Eph_3:20); or to
èåïῦ
(Theodoret, Luther, Bengel, &c), and this is preferable, because the context treats, not of an energetic operation generally, but specially of a Divine operation; Bengel: Deus ostendens, verbum vere esse verbum Dei (1Th_4:8-9; Act_14:3). On the former view the meaning must be: which also shows itself as such, &c. [comp. Act_20:32].—
Êáß
adds to the acceptance of the word as God’s word on the side of the Thessalonians the effective, and that a continuous, confirmation of it on the side of God (
ἐäÝîáóèå
, aorist;
ἐíåñëåῖôáé
, present). From that time onward you are in real communion with God, who shows Himself operative in you by the power of His heavenly Spirit, overruling everything human, as may be seen in the fact that even the strongest human ties cannot bind you, since you have suffered severely from your own relations and countrymen (1Th_2:14).
Ôïῖò ðéóôåýïõóéí
: so far is faith from being some empty thing, that it is rather the organ for God’s operations in us (comp. 1Th_2:10 and Exeg. Note 26; for the topics, Eph_1:19).
5. (1Th_2:14.) For ye, brethren, became imitators, &c.—On
ãÜñ
, see Note 4.
ὑìåῖò
resumes the immediately preceding
ἐí ὑìῖí
1Th_2:13, and stands with honorable distinction foremost.
Ìéìçôáὶ ἐãåíÞèçôå
, as in 1Th_1:6. There the Thessalonian believers are described as followers of the Apostle and of the Lord Himself; here, in terms of scarcely less honor and encouragement, as followers of the original Christian churches in Judea. The Apostle points out historically a fundamental law of the kingdom of God, that is now fulfilling itself in the case of the Thessalonians: The bearers of the Divine are always expelled by the natural community to which they belong (comp. Mat_10:35-37). Thus the Thessalonian Christians by their associates of their own race, and the Jewish Christians by the Jews, who in like manner killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and now also have driven out the Apostle. So little need the Thessalonians allow themselves to be disconcerted by the injustice done them by their compatriots, that herein rather lies the evidence of the reality and power of the Divine influences present with them; for only that which is really Divine is hated by the world (comp. the forcible word of Jesus, Joh_7:7; Joh_15:18 sq.), just as the strength to endure this enmity likewise rests on God’s operation in believers.
ἘðÜèåôå
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
ðÜó÷åéí
serve to establish the efficiency of the Divine word in them, and in no other way, especially, can the preterite
ἐðÜèåôå
, which, being parallel to the
ἐäÝîáóèå
of 1Th_2:13, has primary reference to the time of their conversion, serve to confirm the present
ἐíåñãåῖôáé
, 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, 1Th_2:13-14 thus answer pretty closely to the parallel statement in 1Th_1:6; 1Th_5:13 to
äåîÜìåíïé ôὸí ëüãïí ìåôὰ ÷áñᾶò ðíåýìáôïò ἁãßïõ
1Th_5:14 to
ἐí èëßøåé ðïëëῇ
; comp. there Exeg. Note 14.
6. (1Th_2:14.) Of the churches of God which are in Judea, &c.—
Ôïῦ èåïῦ
answers to the threefold mention of God in 1Th_2:13;
ôῶí ïὐóῶí
has
ἐí
twice connected with it: in the first instance,
ἐí ôῇ Ἰïõäáßᾳ
, it denotes the external, geographical sphere; in the other,
ἐí ×ñéóôῷ Ἰçóïῦ
, the inner, essential life-sphere, on which see 1Th_1:1, Exeg. Note 3, and Doct. and Eth. 1. By the latter specification the Jewish-Christian congregations are distinguished from the Jewish, which also
åἶíáé äïêïῦóé
congregations of God (Œcumenius).—
Ôῶí ἐêêëçóéῶí
is also to be noted in this respect, that the Thessalonians were the first church out of Palestine that was persecuted as a church.
7. Countrymen.—
Óõìöõë
., those of the same tribe, exhibits the natural connection (Luther only too strongly: blood relations), and the epithet
ἰäßùí
gives it additional force, in order the more clearly to show the gospel’s penetrating, overcoming power as supernatural, Divine. By the
óõìöõëÝôáé
, therefore, as the contrast
ôῶí Ἰïõäáßùí
shows, are meant chiefly [only] Gentiles (Olshausen, De Wette, Lünemann, Ewald, [Alford, Ellicott, &c.] &c), because the Thessalonian church was composed almost entirely of Gentile Christians (Act_17:4). [Not Jews (Chrysostom, &c.): Calvin, Bengel, &c, think of Jews and Gentiles both.—Riggenbach.]—
Áὐôïß
are the members of the churches in Judea; constructio ad sensum.
8. (1Th_2:15.) Who also, &c.—
Êáß
is not perhaps to be connected with the
êáß
following=as well—as also, since several
êáß
follow one another in simple series: it rather adds to what precedes something new and correspondent: The Jews have not only persecuted the Christian churches in Judea, but also killed the Lord Jesus, &c. The subsequent strong expressions respecting the Jews are at first sight somewhat strange, indeed almost displeasing, especially because one does not well see, at least not at once, how the Apostle was led to them by the context. Looked at more closely, they fall apart into two divisions, the first consisting of past participles (
ἀðïêôåéíÜíôùí
,
ἐêäéùîÜíôùí
), the second of present (
ἀñåóêüíôùí
with
ἐíáíôßùí
,
êùëõüíôùí
). Both divisions end in something that has reference to the Apostle:
ἡìᾶò ἐêäéùî
1Th_2:15,
êùëõüíôùí ἡìᾶò
1Th_2:16. Thus, the point in question is the relation of the Jews to the Apostle, on which comp. Act_17:5. This seems also to have been used against the Apostle by the countrymen of the Thessalonians. They might say: “How can you still believe that stranger? His own people, in fact, have driven him out, and are utterly unwilling to have him draw you over to his side;”—an objection which might have the more weight for the Thessalonian Christians, because most of them had previously been proselytes (Act_17:4), and so accustomed to seek and find the truth among the Jews. To this Paul now answers: “Yes, they have persecuted me, but no otherwise than they did the Lord Jesus and their own prophets; nor are they willing to endure it, that I should publish salvation to you, and the Gentiles generally; but in this they are merely contrary to God and men, and fill up the measure of their sins.” Thus regarded, 1Th_2:15-16 have a meaning and significance in where they stand, and thus also is set aside the offensive harshness that seems to lie in the words; it is set aside from the same point of view, which in the earlier sections removes the offence of self-praise or of the praise of the Thessalonians. But the treatment of this matter is attached to this particular context for the reason that it falls under the same law as the suffering of the Thessalonians from those of their own race (see Exeg. Note 5): Paul had the same experience from his countrymen, as they from theirs: and as they were preceded by the Jewish Christians, so he himself by the Lord and the prophets. With such predecessors, and with this uniformity of experience, the offence must surely cease. It is moreover evident that the example in 1Th_2:14 is there selected with an eye to the fact, that Paul means presently to speak of the Jews. And this point he has kept to the close of the entire section; for having fully reestablished his own authority with his readers, he can the more powerfully subvert their earlier authority, the Jews. [While expositors generally deal with the difficulty, some of the expedients adopted by them in accounting for 1Th_2:15-16 are very far fetched. Olshausen: “Paul foresaw that the Judaizers, standing on the same level as the Jews, would damage him in this Church also, and therefore, by way of precaution, he here expressed himself on the points in regard to which he was usually blamed.” But would any one attack the Jews beforehand, in order to resist a possible, later incursion of Judaizing Christians, to whom, besides, several things are here inapplicable, whilst their characteristic peculiarities, especially their legality, are wanting? Von Hofmann, on the contrary, supposes that some desired to persuade the Thessalonians, that the gospel was purely a Jewish affair, and that it is in opposition to this notion that Paul here speaks. But one cannot understand how this objection could arise, since the Jews were certainly the first and most vehement adversaries of the gospel in Thessalonica; and then an attack on the Jews would still have been a very indirect and extravagant way of defending himself against that objection. De Wette contents himself altogether with the remark, that the Apostle seizes the opportunity to give vent to his displeasure with the Jews. Lünemann is correct in finding the occasion of the philippic, 1Th_2:15-16, in the fact, that in Thessalonica the Jews were the real instigators of the persecutions of the Christians, and that in other places likewise they manifested the same obdurate spirit of contradiction; but with this generality he stops, and so fails to account for the complexion of the entire passage, as well as its particular phrases, and overlooks the reference to Paul. Calvin, who is followed by Calixtus;, comes nearest the truth: Poterat Thessalonicensibus hoc venire in mentem: si hæc vera est religio, cur eam tam infestis animis oppugnant Judæi, qui sunt sacer Dei populus? Ut hoc offendic-ulam tollat, primum admonet, hoc eos commune habere cum primis ecclesiis, quæ in Judæa erant, postea Judæos dicit obstinatos esse Dei omnis sanæ doctrinæ hostes. The only mistake here is, that Calvin, whilst he too overlooks the special reference of 1Th_2:15-16 to Paul, and understands
óõìöõëåô
. 1Th_2:14, principally of the Jews, brings to bear on 1Th_2:14 the point of view, that is applicable to 1Th_2:15 sq.—Riggenbach.]
9. The Lord Jesus and their own prophets, &c.—
Ôὸí êýñéïí
stands emphatically first, and is still more marked in being separated by
ἀðïêôåéí
, from
Ἰçóïῦí
: Yea, the Lord Himself they killed (comp. 1Co_2:8); is it to be wondered at, if they persecute the servant (comp. Joh_15:20)? What is expressed in the case of
Ἰçóïῦí
by the prominent putting forward of
ôὸí êýñéïí
is in the case of
ôïὺò ðñïöÞôáò
expressed by the addition of
ἰäßïõò
: their own prophets,
ὧí êáὶ ôὰ ôåýîç ðåñéöÝñïõóé
(Chrysost.), they treated no better than they have done the Gentile Apostle. This internal evidence is favorable to the genuineness of
ἰäßïõò
; if regarded as spurious, this makes no change whatever in the thought; we lose merely that particular stroke.
Ôïὺò ðñïöÞôáò
might grammatically be connected, as Koch would have it, with what follows; but com mentators correctly refer it to what goes before, both because in other places also mention is made of the Jewish murder of the prophets (Mat_23:31; Mat_23:37; Luk_11:47 sq.;Luk_13:34; Act_7:52), and on account of
ἐêäéùîÜíôùí
, of which presently.—When Paul now proceeds:
êáὶ ἡìᾶò ἐê äéùîÜíôùí
, 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. ̔
Åêäéþêåéí
is no doubt in the Sept. Psa_44:17 [Psa_44:16]; Psa_119:157 the strengthened
äéþêåéí
(De Wette, Lünem.); but the proper meaning of the word (see, for instance, Passow, who indeed gives no other meaning) is to pursue forth, chase out, expel, persequendo ejicere (Bengel, who adds: frequens verbum apud LXX.), and so the word stands in the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament, Luk_11:49 (in the parallel passage, Mat_23:34,
äéþîåôå ἀðὸ ðÜëåùò åἰò ðüëéí
)—a point of so much the more importance, as Paul probably has here in his eye that expression of Christ. In this case we are (with J. Mich. Hahn, Baur, &c.) to think simply of the expulsion of Paul and his companions from Thessalonica (see Act_17:5; Act_17:13), the very thing at which many believers might stumble. [Bengel, Pelt, Schott, Lünemann, (Ellicott,) think of the persecutions of Paul and the Apostles generally; but this extension of
ἡìᾶò
is against the context, see 1Th_2:16-17, as well as 1Th_2:13; besides, the aorist participle leads us the more readily to think of a single act, since the Jewish persecutions of the Apostles in general still continued (see Act_17:13; Act_18:6; Act_18:12), so that it must have been
ἐêäéùêüíôùí
as well as afterwards
êùëõüíôùí
—Riggenbach.]
10. And they please not God, &c.—The participles now pass from the aorist [Alford: definite events] into the present [Alford: habits] and, as
ôῶí êáὶ ôὸí êýñéïí
—
ἐêäéùîÜíôùí
hangs closely together, so again does all that follows as far as
óùèῶóéí
. For not to please God and to be contrary to all men are correlatives, and
êùëõüíôùí
, &c. adds to it nothing new and independent, but, having no
êáß
before it like all the previous participles, is to be subordinated to
ἀñåóê
, and
ἐíáíôßùí
[with Lünem., though he makes it depend only on
ἐíáíôßùí
(and so Alford.—J. L.).—Riggenbach.], comp. 1Th_2:6 sq.; 11 sq. The subordinate clause shows to what extent the Jews displease God, and are contrary to all men; and thus at the same time these strong expressions lose much of their harshness.—
Èåῷ ìὴ ἀñåóêüíôùí
: the Jews were jealous at Thessalonica (Act_17:5), as they were elsewhere both before and afterwards (Act_13:45; Act_18:6-13; comp. Act_22:21 sq.; Act_26:19 [Act_26:21]), because through Paul so many Gentiles were converted, and this jealousy was with them a zeal for God and His kingdom in Israel (Rom_10:2), whereby they thought to please Him (comp. Joh_16:2). In opposition to this Paul now says; they please not God. Thus the subjective negative
ìÞ
does not imply placere non quærentium (Bengel, &c.); but, on the contrary, it denies the
ἀñÝóêåéí
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 (Calvin). The very softness of the expression has a peculiar force.—
Ðᾶóéí ἄíèñ
.
ἐíáíôßùí
: as contrary to God, so contrary to men; but the former passively=objects of the Divine displeasure, the latter actively=hostile to all men.
ðᾶóéí ἀíèñþðïéò
, of course, excepting themselves, and so, as to the sense,=
ôïῖò ἔèíåóéí
ill the explanatory clause. But Paul purposely holds up to view the inhumanity of this state of mind. When heathen writers, as interpreters are here in the habit of reminding us, reproach the Jews with adversus omnes alios hostile odium (Tac. Hist.1Th_2:5; Juv. Sat. 14:103 sqq.; Jos. c. Rev_2:10-14, etc.), they do not at any rate properly distinguish in this thing the Divinely sanctioned particularism of Israel, and the proud, narrow-minded exclusivism of the Jews. Paul, of course, blames only the latter, which would not acknowledge that God Himself had now abolished the former.
11. (1Th_2:16.) Hindering us, &c.—
Êùëõüíôùí
, see Exeg. Note 10.
Äáëῆóáé ἴíá óùèῶóéí
, either: to preach to the Gentiles, in order that they may be saved, (Bengel, Olshausen, De Wette; thus taking
ëáë
. as a meiosis or tapeinosis for
åὐáããåëßæåóèáé
); or
ἵíá
is weakened, as in the New Testament it so often is, and marks the object (Winer, p. 299 sqq.)=
ëáëῆóáé ðåñὶ ôῆò óùôçñßáò
,
ëáëῆóáé ôὸ åὐáããÝëéïí
1Th_2:2 (Lünemann, [Ellicott, Webster and Wilkinson], &c.). The latter method is the more simple.
12. To fill up their sins always.—
Åἰò ôü
, &c., belongs, not merely to
êùëõüíôùí
, but to the whole description from 1Th_2:15. The result is here presented as an unconscious purpose, just as we say: to fill up the measure [De Wette). [
åἰò
then, is not=
ὤóôå
, of the result as such (Pelt, &c.); but neither does it mark God’s purpose in the sins of the Jews (Olshausen, Lünemann)1Th : the expression belongs not so much to the Pauline style of thought, as to ordinary speech.—Riggenbach]:—
áὐôῶí
stands emphatically before
ôὰò ὰìáñô
: their sins, while they are persecuting others, God’s messengers, as sinners.—̔
Áíáðëìñῶóáé
, comp. Mat_23:32,
êáὶ ὑçå
͂
éò ðëçñþóáôå ôὸ ìὲôñïí ôῶí ðáôÝñùí ὑçῶí
[also Gen_15:16]. The compound
ἀíáðëçñ
. means to fill up to fill again higher, so that, as it were, the still empty space in the vessel becomes ever smaller. We thus get a simple explanation of
ðÜíôïôå
(which is thought to be difficult by De Wette, and strange by Olshausen, who, with Bretschneider, would take it as=
ðÜíôùò
,
ðáíôåëῶò
). The subsequent clause likewise with its
åἰò ôåëïò
, will in this connection obtain its natural interpretation.
ÐÜíôïôå
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.—
ÄÝ
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_2:5), which now, however, is come to the end, to the uttermost, where it must discharge itself (Lünemann). On
ἡ ὀñãÞ
[Jowett: either the long-expected wrath, or the wrath consequent upon their sins.—J. L.] see 1Th_1:10, Exeg. Note 14.
Åἰò ôåëïò
is to be connected with
ἔöèáóå
, which means simply pervenit (Vulgate, Calvin, De Wette, Lünemann, &c.), not prævenit (Beza, Schott, Pelt, &c.), since in the New Testament, with the exception of 1Th_4:15,
öèÜòåéí
occurs only in the later, weakened sense of reaching to, with
åἰò
(Rom_9:31; Php_3:16),
ἐðß ôéíá
. (Mat_12:28; Luk_11:20; comp. Dan_4:25),
ἄ÷ñé ôéíüò
(2Co_10:14). Here it is connected with two prepositions of the direction, one of which (
åἰò ôÝëïò
) indicates the inward development to the end; the other (
ἐð
ʼ
áὐôïýò
), the outward movement. [At this many interpreters needlessly stumble, and have either taken
åἰò ôÝëïò
adverbially (=finally or totally), or have thought it necessary to refer it to
ἡ ὀñãÞ
: the wrath which lasts to the end of the world, or for ever (Theodoret, Theophylact, Œcumenius, &c.), or till its full manifestation (Olshausen), or to the destruction of the Jews (Grotius, Pelt, Flatt, &c.). The last view is shared also by De Wette, Ewald, &c., who connect
åἰò ôÝëïò
with
ἔöèáóå
in the sense of 2Ch_31:1; Dan_9:27,=to utter ruin, to complete extinction.—Riggenbach.]—Paul knows that the Jews, having likewise rejected the Messiah and the spiritual witness of his Apostles, are now ripe for judgment, which accordingly followed soon after in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. He neither appeals to any revelation that he had received on this subject, nor does he merely draw inferences from the political situation of the Jews [Jowett: “To the Apostle, reading the future in the present, the state of Judea at any time during the last thirty years before the destruction of the city, would have been sufficient to justify the expression, ‘wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.’ ”—J. L.], but in the light of prophecy of the Old Testament and of the Lord Himself (Ewald mentions Mat_23:37-39; Mat_14:16 sqq.; Dan_9:24 sqq.) he discerns with clear spiritual glance the interpretation of the signs of the time. With this earnest word on the near imminence of the Divine judgment on the principal adversaries of the gospel the section closes, and so again in a measure with an eschatological prospect (comp. 1Th_1:10; 1Th_2:12). While the Jews fall under wrath, Christians are saved from wrath (1Th_1:10), and called to God’s kingdom and glory (1Th_2:12).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. (1Th_2:13.) It may seem strange that Paul should thank God for something that the Thessalonians had done (
ἐäÝîáóèå
). We are not to infer from this, that their acceptance of the word, or their faith, is thought of as an operation of God to the exclusion of man’s free receptivity. Had Paul meant to say this, he must have expressed himself otherwise, as thus: We thank God that He wrought the acceptance, or faith, in you. But the indication in
ἐäÝîáóèå
of free receptivity is the more marked, as it is only afterward that the operation of God in them is named in confirmation of the Divine character of the freely accepted word (
ὃò êáὶ ἐíåñãåῖôáé ἐí ὑìῖí ôïῖò ðéóôåýïõóéí
). Nevertheless, Paul can and must thank God for the faith of the Thessalonians, partly because it would not have existed but for His preparative grace, and the accompanying influence of His Spirit, whereby the Thessalonians were convinced that Paul’s word was God’s word, and thus faith is no independent act of man (Olshausen), but really rests on a Divine causality; partly because for every good thing that happens to the Christian, and makes him glad—and the faith of the Thessalonians was for Paul something in the highest degree exhilarating (1Th_2:19-20)—he gives thanks and honor to the Father of lights, under whose providential guidance and control stand even the free actions of men (Lünemann). Comp. 1Th_1:6, and its Exegetical Note 14, and Doctrinal Principles, No. 3.
2. Paul calls his word God’s word. To what extent he knew himself to be justified in doing so has been shown already, especially in 1Th_2:2; 1Th_2:4 and 1Th_1:5. God Himself, by a miraculous call and the light of revelation had entrusted him with the proclamation of His glad tidings to the world (comp. Gal_1:11-16; 1Co_2:6-16; Col_1:25-29; Eph_3:1-12), and now in Thessalonica, as in Corinth and elsewhere (1Co_2:4-5; Rom_15:18-19), he has preached the gospel in the energy of the Holy Ghost. There are thus two essential points in the case: 1. The apostolic call and illumination (inspiration), which, effected by special acts of God, concerns the whole man, and assigns to him an official mission, a fundamental position and significance in the kingdom of God (comp. Eph_2:20); 2. the separate acts of proclamation, performed on the ground of that general inspiration, and yet again in every particular instance, “in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance,” or “in demonstration of the spirit and in power.” Now what is true of the oral proclamation of Apostles holds good of the written. “For the relation between word and writing is ordinarily this, that the writing compresses the copiousness of the spoken word into a settled elementary form—the final expression, made clear and strong by deliberate reflection, of the inspired thought—and so in Holy Scripture we have the ripe, developed fruit of inspiration” (Martensen, Dogmatik, 2d ed., p. 455). We are therefore at liberty, and are bound, to call also the written word of Apostles (and Prophets) the word of God. And down through all centuries the Church has borne to it in the power of the Spirit the same witness, that the Thessalonians did to Paul’s oral proclamation; she has freely recognized and accepted it as God’s word. The testimonium Spiritus Sancti continually asserts itself as the subjective correlative and living evidence of inspiratio—But now, as regards the uninterrupted oral proclamation of the word of God in the preaching of the Church, on that point Paul says in the Pastoral Epistles, which may be regarded as his legacy to the Church in its gradual transition from the first age of the Apostles into the common course of history: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me,” and: “The thing that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2Ti_1:13; 2Ti_2:2). He will thus have the Church’s doctrine and preaching expressly bound to the fundamental apostolic word, and, though here too the reference is to what is spoken and heard, yet we properly may and ought once more to think of the written word, which, indeed, is the only authentic tradition of the oral for later generations (1Jn_2:7; 1Jn_2:24; 1Jn_1:3-4; 2Pe_1:13-15). Essentially, therefore, the Church’s doctrine and preaching is a propagation, reproduction, an ever new appropriation of the apostolic word. But as the preaching Apostles would not have fulfilled their task by a mere dry communication of God’s revelations, but for every announcement they had to be freshly endued with the Spirit from on high, that the gospel might be brought powerfully to bear on the heart and conscience of the hearers according to their general and special needs, as, for example, on the Jews otherwise than on the Gentiles, so likewise for our preaching the objective agreement with apostolic, orthodox doctrine does not suffice, but there must always be a subjective fulness, and that in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. It is not the preaching, but the preacher, that preaches (comp. 1Th_1:5, 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, guaranteeing what he says by all that he is (Joh_15:27; Luk_24:48; Act_1:8; Act_1:22; 1Jn_1:2). And, accordingly, he too can and should testify to his hearers the one apostolic truth in the freedom of the spirit, ever according to their needs, in this or that form, from this side or from that. The more these two elements mutually interpenetrate, the objective agreement with the apostolic doctrine and the subjective, spiritual fulness of the individual, so much the more may even the preaching of the Church be called the word of God. At the same time we here perceive that the Divine does not in its revelation and communication exclude or suppress the human, but assimilates it, fills it with itself, and so consecrates it for its own organ. [When our Confessions teach: “Sacramenta et verbum propter ordinationem et mandatum Christi sunt efficacia, etiamsi per malos exhibeantur” (Conf. Aug. 8; comp. Hebrews 1.), this contains a truth, no doubt; and yet there is here a somewhat hasty making of a virtue out of necessity, and especially the difference between the word and sacrament, in relation to the personality of the minister, is not duly considered. Comp. 1Co_1:14-17—Riggenbach.] Thus, in the connection of our passage with earlier statements in the Epistle, and in its harmony with expressions of the Apostle elsewhere, it furnishes essential features to the doctrine of the verbum divinum, both as written and as preached.
3. (1Th_2:13-16.) At that time there had arisen even among the heathen a searching after truth. The great world-empires had along with the populations shaken also the gods and the religions. Light and happiness were sought in schools of philosophy, in the renewal of the mysteries, from the Goëtæ, &c. There had ensued, as in our day, a dissolution of the spiritual life—a confused, conflicting throng of all possible standpoints and attempts at deliverance. The point then was, to discriminate between man’s word and God’s. For this end the conscience is of service (2Co_4:2; 2Co_5:11), which is given to us as a compass on the swelling sea of life. When it is aroused, a separation is made between what is Divine and what is human. At this time many, at Thessalonica also, had already attached themselves as proselytes to the Jews, because even in the preparatory revelations of God they found the best satisfaction of their needs of conscience. Such were in a peculiar degree prepared, inwardly and outwardly, to accept the Gospel as the word of God. They were so more than the Jews, because the latter generally held the law and the prophets in the way merely of outward tradition, whereas the former consented thereto with heart and life. Thus frequently upright men, belonging as to their external position to the world, are nearer to the kingdom of God than others, who have perhaps from their youth up been associated with the pious. In like manner churches, which assume to be those in which alone salvation is to be had, or which boast of their orthodoxy, are not exactly those which bring forth the most children to the Lord, because the Spirit departs in a measure proportioned to the reliance placed, as by the Jews, on institutions, the form of doctrine, &c. (Rom_2:17 sqq.)
4. (1Th_2:14-16.) We can here almost perceive the growth in Paul of his leading view of the position of Gentile Christians in relation to Jewish Christians and Jews. The latter are the proper enemies of the gospel, not only amongst those of their own nation, but also in the Gentile world; for this reason he sees the judgment now breaking in on them. On the other hand, he recognizes in the Gentile Christians the followers of the Jewish Christians, of the true congregation of God in Israel. They belong—this thought here presents itself as a matter of course—to the genuine seed of Abraham, and take the place of the exscinded branches (Romans 4, 11). The condition for this is simply faith, on which such special stress is laid in 1Th_2:13; through faith a man quits his natural connections, and enters the circle of the Divine operation in the world (the connection of 1Th_2:13-14). To the Jews were entrusted the
ëüãéá ôïῦ èåïῦ
(Rom_3:2); to believers from among Jews and Gentiles is not merely entrusted outwardly the
ëüãïò èåïῦ
, but God thereby works in them with a living power (1Th_2:13). We have thus here, in regard to the history of the kingdom of God, the genesis of Paul’s objective, fundamental view respecting the setting aside of the Jews and the participation of the Gentiles in that kingdom, just as in Act_13:38-39 we have the genesis of his fundamental view of subjective salvation, of the doctrine of justification by faith. Then in the Epistle to the Romans both views are developed jointly.
5. But it must not be forgotten, that our text is not the last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting the Jews. It is rather in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 9-11) that he has uttered this. There, with an extreme, self-denying love, he expresses his profound, continual sorrow on account of the rejection of Israel (Rom_9:1-3; Rom_10:1-2). He places the ultimate aim of his Gentile apostleship in this, that by means of the converted Gentiles the Jews should be provoked to emulation (Rom_11:13-14). He makes it the duty of Gentile Christians not to be proud and severe in regard to the Jewish branches broken off on account of their unbelief, because otherwise the same fate awaits us (Rom_11:17-22). To his Gentile Church, accordingly, which has so often, alas, actually fallen into that spirit of arrogance toward the Jews which he repudiates, and is still for the most part ensnared therein, he has rather bequeathed it a her task, by means of her walk of faith before Israel, and her loving sorrow in their behalf, to win over the blinded people. The Church has a mission of faith and love to the Jews; she has and should have a Jewish mission. If among us evangelicals this obligation is again here and there acknowledged and discharged, yet these efforts are but feeble, slight germs and beginnings. The Jewish mission is still far too much a thing singular, peculiar; it is too little sustained by the intercessory sympathy of the believing Church. We must in this thing learn to walk more fully in the steps of our Apostle and of the Lord Himself, of whom in reference to this very people Mat_9:36-38 stands written. The Jewish mission, moreover, is in a quite special sense the mission also of hope. For the very last word of the Gentile Apostle respecting Israel is this, that the entire people shall yet be saved, and from the receiving of them again shall a new life stream forth to the nations of the world (Rom_11:12; Rom_11:15; Rom_11:23 sqq.). This national conversion of Israel is, indeed, not a matter that we can introduce; with other developments in the kingdom of God, it is connected with the coming of Christ (Mat_23:39; Act_3:19-21) [Zechariah 12, 13, 14.—J. L.]. But in order to this, to say nothing of the salvation of individual souls, the Jewish mission has to perform the office of a forerunner, and prepare the way.
6. The result of the entire development of the Jewish people during more than fifteen centuries was their division into a believing minority (1Th_2:14) and an unbelieving majority (1Th_2:15-16), which oppressed and persecuted the former. Already, indeed, had the prophets prophesied of the remnant which alone should be converted (comp. Rom_9:27-29; Rom_11:1-10). This division [Scheidung] being completed, there came the crisis [Entscheidung], the judgment (
êñßóéò
includes both) in the destruction of Jerusalem, from which the believers were delivered (Pella, &c.), whereas ruin befell the unbelieving people. The same result will follow the development also of the New Testament Church and of the Christian nations. On this rests the deep, biblical truth of the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church. We too stand in the time of separation, and are advancing toward the crisis.
7. (1Th_2:15-16.) It is worthy of notice that the ideas of 1Th_2:15-16 obviously lean on a sentence of the Lord, and are evolved from it. Comp. with 1Th_2:15, Mat_23:34; Luk_11:49 :
ἀðáóôåëῶ ðñïöÞôáò êáὶ ἀðïóôüëïõò êáὶ ἐî áὐôῶí ἀðïêôåíïῦóé êáὶ ἐêäéþîïõóéí
and, with 1Th_2:16Mat_13:32 :
êáὶ ὑìå
͂
éò ðëçñþóáôå ôὸ ìÝôñïí ôῶí ðáôÝñùí ὐìῶí
, and 2:36:
ἥîåé ôáῦôá ðÜíôá ἐðὶ ôὴí ãåíåὰí ôáýôçí
