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1Th_5:2. Αὐτοὶ γάρ ] For ye yourselves, emphatically contrasted with the person of the writer, as in 1Th_4:9.
ἀκριβῶς ] exactly, i.e. very well.
By the ἡμέρα κυρίου , Hammond, Schoettgen, and Harduin arbitrarily understand the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; Nicolas de Lyra, Bloomfield, and others, the day of each man’s death; Oecumenius, Theophylact, and Zwingli, the death of the individual and the end of everything earthly, ἡμέρα κυρίου can only be another expression for παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου , 1Th_4:15, and denotes, as everywhere else, the near impending period, when the present order of the world will come to an end, and Christ in His glory will return to the earth for the resurrection of the dead, the general judgment, and the completion of the kingdom of God; comp. 2Th_2:2; 1Co_1:8; 1Co_5:5; 2Co_1:14; Php_1:6; Php_1:10; Php_2:16. Besides, the corresponding expression éåÉí éÀäÉåÈä is used in the Old Testament to denote a time in which God will manifest in a conspicuous manner His penal justice, or also His power and goodness; comp. Joe_1:15; Joe_2:11; Eze_13:5; Isa_2:12.
ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί ] as a thief in the night, sc. ἔρχεται ; comp. 2Pe_3:10. The figure is designed to depict the suddenness and unexpectedness of the coming; comp. Mat_24:43; Luk_12:39. Others, as Flatt, Schott, and Alford (similarly also Hofmann and Riggenbach), find expressed therein the further reference that the day of the Lord will also be terrible to all those who are not properly prepared for it. But this further idea is not contained in 1Th_5:2, but only meets us in what follows. The comparison ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί was undoubtedly the chief reason of the opinion in the ancient church, that the advent is to be expected at night (more specifically, on an Easter-eve), which gave rise to the vigils, as one wished to be overtaken in a waking condition by the return of Christ. Comp. Lactantius, Institt. vii. 19: “Haec est nox, quae a nobis propter adventum regis ac Dei nostri pervigilio celebratur; cujus noctis duplex ratio est, quod in ea et vitam turn recepit, quum passus est, et postea orbis terrae regnum recepturus est.” Jerome on Mat_25:6 (vol. vii. p. 203): “Traditio Judaeorum est, Christum media nocte venturum in similitudinem Aegyptii temporis, quando pascha celebratum est et exterminator venit, et dominus super tabernacula transiit.… Unde reor et traditionem apostolicam permansisse, ut in die vigiliarum paschae ante noctis dimidium populos dimittere non liceat, exspectantes adventum Christi.”
οὕτως ] even so, a strong resumption of the preceding ὡς .
The present ἔρχετε is not here used instead of the future ἐλεύσεται (Vorstius, Koppe, Flatt, Pelt), but is designed to characterize the coming thus taking place as an absolute and certain truth. See Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 371; Winer, p. 237 [E. T. 331].