1 Thessalonians 1:10

ACK omit των before νεκρων: Pauline usage varies.

Before της οργης, εκ is read by אABP 17 73: απο by CDGKL, &c., Western and Syrian; vg ab ira.

10. καὶ�. (You turned to God from idols, to serve … God) and to await His Son (coming) out of the heavens. The emphasis laid on “hope” at the outset of the εὐχαριστία prepared us for this culmination. The mind both of writers and readers was full of the thought of Christ’s glorious return (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 1 Thessalonians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:7 ff; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-14; and see Introd. pp. xxvii. ff., lxiii. f.); St Paul’s first preaching had given to Thessalonian faith this outlook. The farther we go back in the history of the Apostolic Church, the more we find it intent upon the coming of its Lord. It held freshly in mind the promise of Acts 1:11, and set great store by such assurances as are recorded in Luke 12:36; Luke 19:12; Matthew 26:64, &c. Cf. Acts 3:21; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 3:20 f.; Colossians 3:1-4; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:7; Hebrews 9:27 f.; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:3; Revelation 1:7, for the dominance in N.T. thought of this “blessed hope.”

Ἀναμένειν is a hap. leg. in the N.T.: ἀνα-implies sustained expectation; cf. ἀπεκδέχεσθαι in 1 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 3:20. Τῶν οὐρανῶν, plural after שָׁמַיִם, heaven being conceived in Hebrew thought as multiple and various—rising tier above tier: cf. 2 Corinthians 12:2; Hebrews 4:14, &c.; also Ephesians 1:3, &c.; and see the article “Heaven” in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible.

Jewish hope was looking for a glorious descent from heaven of the Messiah, who was sometimes designated “the Son of God”; the added ὅν ἥγειρεν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, Ἰησοῦν—whom He (God) raised from the dead, even Jesus—discloses the chasm parting the Church from the Synagogue: cf. the account given of St Paul’s preaching to the Jews at Thessalonica in the Introd., pp. xvii. f. The resurrection of Jesus was the critical fact in the controversy; the moment he was convinced of this fact, Saul of Tarsus became a Christian (see Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:12, &c.; cf. Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:3 ff.). God’s raising of Him from the dead gave evidence that Jesus was “His Son” (cf. Romans 1:4), and Saviour and Lord of men (Romans 4:24 f., Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:20 ff., &c.; also Acts 2:32 ff., &c.). The resurrection, proving Jesus to be Lord and Son of God, preludes His return in glory; for such glory is promised and due to Him in this character (see Philippians 2:9 ff., Acts 3:21; Acts 17:31; Matthew 26:63 f.; Luke 24:26 f.; Revelation 5:12). “Jesus” always stands with St Paul for the historical person: see 1 Thessalonians 4:14, and note.

The Thessalonians await Jesus as our rescuer from the wrath that is coming—τὸν ῥυόμενον ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης. As the glorious return of Jesus filled the horizon of this Church, so the question of final salvation or perdition engrossed their thoughts respecting themselves and their fellows: see 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:5 ff; 2 Thessalonians 2:12 ff. Accordingly, the Apostle dwells in these two Letters on the consummation of salvation, not its present experience as he did afterwards, e.g., in Romans 5:1 ff.; Galatians 4:6 f.; Ephesians 1:4 ff; Ephesians 2:5 ff; cf. Ephesians 5:9 and note below, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-16. In the religion of the readers he emphasizes two things, serving the true God in place of idols and awaiting the return from heaven of the risen Jesus; but the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins, as that is expounded in the second group of the Epistles and hinted in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 f. below, is really implied by the description of Jesus as the Deliverer from God’s wrath; for that “wrath” is directed against human sin, and sin is only removed by forgiveness (justification): see 1 Thessalonians 4:6 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:8 f.; cf. Romans 1:18; Romans 2:5 ff; Romans 4:15, &c. The assurance of Romans 5:9, σωθησόμεθα διʼ αὐτοῦ [Χριστοῦ] ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς, belongs to those δικαιωθέντες νῦν ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ. See on this point Introd., Chap. iii. (3).

The full manifestation of God’s judicial anger is reserved for “the day of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 5:2; see note), which the Apostle associates with the return of Jesus, who will bring at once punishment for the impenitent and deliverance for the faithful (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 : cf. 1 Corinthians 1:7 ff; 1 Corinthians 15:23 ff.; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Acts 17:31; John 5:27 ff.; Hebrews 9:27 f.). “The wrath” is described here not as “to come” (τῆς μελλούσης, Matthew 3:7), as though referred to a future separated from the present, but as “coming” (so Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6 : for the same participle, cf. Hebrews 10:37; Revelation 1:4)—a future continuous with the present—since the conclusive punishment of sin is already in train: see Romans 1:18 ff.; also 1 Thessalonians 2:16 below, and note. “The present ἔρχεσθαι is frequently used to denote the certainty, and possibly the nearness, of a future event, e.g. Matthew 17:11; John 4:21; John 14:3” (Lightfoot).

Ὁ ῥυόμενος is a timeless present participle, equivalent to a noun (Winer-Moulton, p. 444), like ὁ καλῶν (1 Thessalonians 5:24; cf. Galatians 1:23; Ephesians 4:28); and ῥύομαι, as distinguished from ἐξαγοράζω (Galatians 3:13) or λυτρόομαι (Titus 2:14), means deliverance by power, not price, indicating the greatness of the peril and the sympathy and might of the Redeemer: cf. the use of this verb in Romans 7:24; 2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:17 f. The participle stands for הַגֹּאֵל, the redeeming kinsman, in Genesis 48:16 (LXX.) and often in the Deutero-Isaiah; but such passages as Psalms 7:1; Psalms 86:13—where the Hebrew verb is הִצִּיל—represent the prevailing associations of the word. Under ἡμᾶς the writers include themselves with their readers, in the common experience of sin and salvation: cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ff., 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Romans 5:1-11.