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1Th_1:7. The Thessalonians had so far advanced that they who were formerly imitators had now become a model and an example to others.
τύπον ] The singular is regular, as the apostle considers the church as a unity (see Winer’s Grammar, p. 164 [E. T. 218]; Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 60; Kühner, II. p. 27).
πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ] not to all believers (de Wette), but to the whole body of believers. See Winer, p. 105 [E. T. 137]. πᾶσιν augments the praise given. οἱ πιστεύοντες are believers, Christians (comp. Eph_1:19). Chrysostom, whom Oecumenius, Theophylact, and most interpreters (also Pelt and Schott) follow, takes πιστεύουσιν in the sense of πιστεύσασιν , finding in 1Th_1:7 the idea that the Thessalonians converted at a later period were further advanced in the intensity of their faith than those who had been earlier believers: Καὶ μὴν ἐν ὑστέρῳ ἦλθε πρὸς αὐτούς · ἀλλʼ οὕτως ἐλάμψατε , φησίν , ὡς τῶν προλαβόντων γενέσθαι διδασκάλους … Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν , ὥστε τύπους γενέσθαι πρὸς τὸ πιστεῦσαι , ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἤδη πιστεύουσι τύπος ἐγένεσθε . But this view would contain a historical untruth. For in Europe, according to the Acts (comp. also 1Th_2:2), only the Philippians were believers before the Thessalonians; all the other churches of Macedonia and Achaia were formed afterwards. The present participle is rather to be understood from the standpoint of the apostle, so that all Christians then present in Macedonia and Achaia, that is, all Christians actually existing there at the time of the composition of the Epistle, are to be understood.
ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀχαΐᾳ ] Comp. Rom_15:26; Act_19:21 : the twofold division of Greece usually made after its subjection to the Romans (comp. Winer, Realwörterb. 2d ed. vol. I. p. 21). The emphasis which Theodoret puts on the words ( Ηὔξησε τὴν εὐφημίαν , ἀρχέτυπα αὐτοὺς εὐσεβείας γεγενῆσθαι φήσας ἔθνεσι μεγίστοις καὶ ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ θαυμαζομένοις ) is not contained in it. Baur’s (p. 484) assertion, that what is said in 1Th_1:7 is only suitable for a church already existing for a longer time, is without any justification. For to be an example to others depends on the behaviour; the idea of duration is entirely indifferent.