1 Thessalonians 4:11

11. ιδιαις is supplied by א*ADcKL, &c.—an Alexandrian emendation (? harmonistic: see 1 Corinthians 4:12; Ephesians 4:28), adopted by the Syrians. WH relegate the adjective to the mg in Ephesians 4:28, where it is attested by the same chief uncials as here, with the additional support of the versions.

11. (παρακαλοῦμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς) … καὶ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν καὶ πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, and to be ambitious to keep quiet and to attend to your own business. This somewhat surprising turn to the παραγγελία was due to an element of restlessness in the Thessalonian Church, of which the 2nd Epistle, in ch. 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13, will give emphatic evidence; the symptoms indicated in 1 Thessalonians 4:12 ff. below may be traced to the same cause; see Introd. pp. xxxvi., xliii. f. The association of this appeal with the topic of φιλαδελφία suggests that the disorder hinted at disturbed the harmony of the Church.

Φιλοτιμεῖσθαι (ut operam detis, Vulg.; better, ut contendatis, Beza) is to act as a φιλό-τιμος, a “lover of honour,”—which signifies in common Greek a man ambitious, whether in a good or bad sense (oftener the latter), of public distinction; in later Greek the word became synonymous with ζηλωτής or πρόθυμος, denoting a man eager and restless in any pursuit; but there clings to it the connotation of some desire to shine or pursuit of eminence: see Romans 15:20; 2 Corinthians 5:9, for the only other N.T. examples. In the combination φιλοτιμ. ἡσυχάζειν there is an oxymoron, a touch of Pauline irony, as though it were said, “Make it your ambition to have no ambition; be eminent in unobtrusiveness!” The love of distinction was universal and potent for mischief in Greek city life, and the Thessalonians betray something of the uneasy, emulous spirit which gave the Apostle subsequently so much trouble at Corinth: cf. also Galatians 5:26; Philippians 2:3. For τὰ ἵδια, “one’s own (private or home) affairs,” cf. Luke 18:28; John 19:27, &c. Lightfoot refers in illustration to Plato’s Repub. 496 d, describing the philosopher who escapes from the turmoil and degradation of political affairs, as ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ ἄγων καὶ τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττων; similarly Dio Cassius lx. 27.

The closing admonition, καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:8-12; Ephesians 4:28), implies that some of those reproved forsook their daily work in pushing themselves into public activity and notoriety. Most of the Thessalonian Christians practised some handicraft; they belonged to the lower walks of social life (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:26 ff.). Ἡσυχάζειν … καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι κ.τ.λ. are combined in the μετὰ ἡσυχίας ἐργαζόμενοι of 2 Thessalonians 3:12; cf. also 1 Timothy 2:2; 1 Timothy 2:11 f.; 1 Peter 3:4. For the use of ἐργάζεσθαι, see note on 1 Thessalonians 2:9. Christianity through such precepts as these, and through the example of Jesus and the Apostles, has given a new dignity to manual labour, ennobling the life of the great bulk of mankind in a manner very contrary to the sentiments of classical culture and philosophy.

To “work with your hands” had been matter of a special “charge” on the part of the missionaries—καθὼς ὑμῖν παρηγγείλαμεν—a παραγγελία supported by the example of the παραγγέλλοντες: see 2 Thessalonians 3:8-12; cf. Ephesians 4:28 f.; Acts 20:34 f.