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1Th_5:14. Ἄτακτος ] is especially said of the soldier who does not remain in his rank and file (so inordinatus in Livy); then of people who will not conform to civil regulations; then generally disorderly. Here the apostle alludes to those members of the Thessalonian church who, instead of applying themselves to the duties of their calling, had given themselves up to an unregulated and unsteady nature and to idleness, comp. 1Th_4:11; 2Th_3:6; 2Th_3:11. We are not to understand, with Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Estius, Fromond., Turretin, Benson, Bolten, Bloomfield, and others, the presbyters as the subject of νουθετεῖτε , but, as is already evident from the addition of ἀδελφοί , and generally from the similarity of the introductory words of 1Th_5:14 with those of 1Th_5:12, the members of the church in their totality. Paul thus here puts it out of the question that the church as such had fallen into ἀταξία (see on 1Th_4:11). But it also follows from these words that the apostle was far removed from all hierarchical notions in regard to rulers (Olshausen).
Further, they were to comfort, to calm τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους ] the faint-hearted, the desponding. Paul here thinks particularly on those who, according to 1Th_4:13 ff., were painfully agitated concerning their deceased friends. Yet this does not prevent us from extending the expression also to such who failed in endurance in persecution, or who, conscious of some great sin, despaired of the attainment of divine grace, etc.
The ἀσθενεῖς ] the weak, whom the church is to assist, are not the bodily sick, but fellow-Christians who still cling to prejudices, and were more imperfect than others in faith, in knowledge, or in reference to a Christian life; comp. Rom_14:1-2; 1Co_8:7; 1Co_8:11-12.
μακροθυμεῖν ] to be long-suffering, denotes the disposition by which we do not fly into a passion at injuries inflicted, but bear them with patience and forbearance, comp. 1Co_13:4; Eph_4:2; Col_3:12.
πρὸς πάντας ] to all, is not to be limited to ἄτακτοι , ὀλιγόψυχοι , and ἀσθενεῖς (Koppe), nor to fellow-Christians (Riggenbach), but is to be understood of all men generally; comp. εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας , 1Th_5:15.