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1Th_2:1 is referred by Grotius to a thought to be supplied after 1Th_1:10 : Merito illam spem vitae aeternae retinetis. Vera enim sunt, quae vobis annuntiavimus. Arbitrarily, as αὐτοὶ γάρ , emphatically placed first, yea, you yourselves, must contain a contrast of the readers to other persons; and, besides, this view is founded on a false interpretation of οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν (see below). Also 1Th_2:1 cannot, with Bengel, Flatt (who, besides, will consider 1Th_1:8-10 as a parenthesis), Pelt, Schott, and others, be referred to 1Th_1:5-6; nor, with Hofmann, “extending over εἰδότες τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν ” (1Th_1:4) to εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ Θεῷ (1Th_1:2), the thought being now developed, “what justification the apostle had for making the election of his readers the special object of thanksgiving to God.” But must, with Zanchius, Balduin, Turretin, de Wette, Bloomfield, Alford, and others, be referred back to 1Th_1:9. For to 1Th_1:9 points—(1) αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε , by which the Thessalonians themselves are contrasted to the strangers who reported their praise; (2) τὴν εἴσοδον ἡμῶν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς , even by its similarity of sound refers to ὁποίαν εἴσοδον ἔσχομεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς (1Th_1:9); (3) the greater naturalness of referring γάρ (1Th_2:1) to the preceding last independent sentence. The relation of this reference is as follows: in chap. 1Th_2:1 the apostle refers to 1Th_1:9, in order to develope the thought expressed there—which certainly was already contained in 1Th_1:5-6—by an appeal to the consciousness of the readers. But the thought expressed in 1Th_1:9 was twofold—(1) a statement concerning Paul and his assistants, namely, with what energy they preached the gospel at Thessalonica ( ὁποίαν εἴσοδον ἔσχομεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ); and (2) a statement concerning the Thessalonians, namely, with what eagerness they received the gospel ( καὶ πῶς κ . τ . λ .). Both circumstances the apostle further developes in chap. 2.: first, and most circumstantially, the manner in which he and his assistants appeared in Thessalonica (1Th_2:1-12); and, secondly, the corresponding conduct of his readers (1Th_2:13-16). But the description of himself (1Th_2:1-12) was not occasioned by the calumniations of the apostle, and a diminution of confidence in him occasioned thereby (Benson, Ritschl, Hall. A. Lit. Z. 1847, No. 125; Auberlen); also, not so much by the heartfelt gratitude for the great blessings which God had conferred on his ministry at Thessalonica, as by the definite design of strengthening and confirming, in the way of life on which they had entered, the Christian church at Thessalonica,—which, notwithstanding their exemplary faith, yet consisted only of novices,—by a vivid representation of the circumstances of their conversion. How entirely appropriate was the courageous, unselfish, self-sacrificing, and unwearied preaching of the apostle to exhibit the high value of the gospel itself, seeing it was capable of inspiring such a conduct as Paul and his companions had exhibited!
γάρ ] yea, or indeed. See Hartung, Partikellehre, I. p. 463 ff.
The construction: οἴδατε τὴν εἴσοδον , ὅτι —where we, according to our idiom, would expect οἴδατε , ὅτι ἡ εἴσοδος κ . τ . λ .—is not only, as Schott and others say, “not unknown” to classical writers, but is a regular construction among the Greeks. See Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 466.
ἡ εἴσοδος ἡ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ] denotes here nothing more than our entrance among you.
κενός ] is the opposite of πλήρης , and denotes empty, void of contents, null.
οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν ] Grotius (whom Hammond follows) translates this by mendax, fallax ( ùÑÈåÀà ), and gives the sense: non decepturi ad vos venimus. But although κενὸς often forms the contrast to ἀληθὴς (see also Eph_5:6), yet it obtains only thereby the meaning falsus, never the meaning fallax; also 1Th_2:2 would not suit to the meaning fallax, because then the idea of uprightness would be expected as a contrast. Oecumenius finds in 1Th_2:1-2 the contrast of truth and falsehood: οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν · τουτέστιν οὐ ματαία οὐ μῦθοι γὰρ ψευδεῖς καὶ λῆροι τὰ ἡμέτερα κηρύγματα . But he obtains this meaning only by incorrectly laying the chief stress in 1Th_2:2 on τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ( οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς ἀνθρώπινόν τι ἐκηρύξαμεν εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ λόγους ). Similarly to Grotius, but equally erroneously, Koppe (veni ad vos eo consilio et studio, ut vobis prodessem, non ut otiose inter vos viverem) and Rosenmüller (vani honoris vel opum acquirendarum studio) refer οὐ κενὴ γέγονεν to the design of the apostle, interpretations which are rendered impossible by the perfect γέγονεν . With a more correct appreciation of γέγονεν , Estius, Piscator, Vorstius, Turretin, Flatt, and others give the meaning inutilis, fructu carens, appealing to the Hebrew øÄé÷ . This meaning is in itself not untenable, but it becomes so in our passage by the contrast in 1Th_2:2; for 1Th_2:2 does not speak of the result or effect of the apostle’s preaching at Thessalonica, but of the character of that preaching itself. For the sake of this contrast, therefore, οὐ κενή is equivalent to δυνατή , δεινή (Chrys.: οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνη οὐδὲ ἡ τυχοῦσα ), and the meaning is: the apostle’s εἴσοδος , entrance, among the Thessalonians was not weak, powerless, but mighty and energetic. Pelt, Schott, Olshausen, de Wette, and Bloomfield erroneously unite with this idea of οὐ κενὴ the idea of the success of the apostle’s εἴσοδος , which is first spoken of in 1Th_2:13 ff.