1 Thessalonians 5:12

προιστανομενους in אA (? Alexandrian); cf. Romans 12:8, and 1 Timothy 3:4, for the reading of א.

12. Ἐρωτῶμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, εἰδέναι τοὺς κοπιῶντας ἐν ὑμῖν κ.τ.λ. But we ask you, brothers, to know those that toil among you, &c. For the ἐρωτᾶν of request, and its difference from παρακαλεῖν (1 Thessalonians 5:14), see note on 1 Thessalonians 4:1. The note of personal urgency in this word indicates some difficulty existing at Thessalonica on the point in question; certain members of the Church lightly regarded the προϊστάμενοι,—scil. “the disorderly” (1 Thessalonians 5:14; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 f.; 2 Thessalonians 3:11 ff.), men disposed to resent admonition.

Εἰδέναι bears a pregnant force in this connexion—“to know those that toil, &c., as such, to know them for what they are” (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:15); or, more generally, “to know them properly, to know what you possess in them,” much as in 1 Corinthians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 2:12; John 7:28 f., John 8:19; John 8:55. There is no need to import the looser Hebraistic use of οῖδα, and its synonyms, from the LXX rendering of יָדַע.

(τοὺς κοπιῶντας ἐν ὑμῖν) καὶ προϊσταμένους ὑμῶν ἐν κυρίῳ καὶ νουθετοῦντας ὑμᾶς, (those that toil amongst you) and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you. The three participles, bound by the vinculum of the single article, describe one and the same set of persons,—probably the πρεσβύτεροι who figure in the earliest Church organization carried over from the Judæan to the Pauline Christian communities: see Acts 11:30; Acts 14:23; Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5; 1 Timothy 5:1, &c.; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1. These are included in the ἡγούμενοι of Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17; Hebrews 13:24. Approved “elders” are described in 1 Timothy 5:17 as οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι (amongst whom “those who labour in word, &c.” are “especially” distinguished), their function being compared to that of a good father “presiding well over his own house” (1 Timothy 3:4 f., 2 Kings 3:12). Like ἡγούμενος, however, προϊστάμενος is not a technical term of office implying stated presidency in Church meetings; it is “a word usually applied to informal leaderships and managements of all kinds” (Hort), as in Romans 12:8; Romans 16:2 (προστάτις; cf. Titus 3:8; Titus 3:14). The existence at Thessalonica, so early, of distinct Church-officers may be probably, but not certainly, inferred from this passage; these προϊστάμενοι, like the family of Stephanas in Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:15 ff.), may have “presided” only in the sense that they took spontaneously a leading part in Church business and discipline (but see note on ἐν κυρίῳ below): this appeal is parallel to 1 Corinthians 16:15 f., and has the words εἰδέναι and κοπιᾶν in common with that passage. St Paul emphasizes the service done to the community by these leaders—οἱ κοπιῶντες … διὰ τὸ ἔργον αὐτῶν—not their authority. For κοπιᾶν, see note to κόπος, 1 Thessalonians 2:9. Ἐν ὑμῖν might signify “on,” rather than “among you” (so Winer-Moulton, p. 483), as denoting the matter, substratum, of the labour, but less suitably here; the toil exercised amongst the Thessalonians (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:7) should be “known” to them. For ἐν κυρίῳ, see note, 1 Thessalonians 4:1 : this adjunct attaches to the position of the προϊστάμενοι a more weighty and solemn character; it appears to connote authority upon their part, since it bases their relation to the Church upon the connexion of both parties with “the Lord”: His Lordship underlies their leadership.

In the third place, the Church-leaders are commended to esteem as νουθετοῦντες ὑμᾶς. Νουθεσία is the primary duty enjoined upon them in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (supposing these to be specifically addressed there); it comes last here, being that in which the offence of their service lay. So Theodore paraphrases εἰδέναι … τοὺς νουθ. κ.τ.λ., “non resultantes illis, quando vos corripere volunt.” Νουθετέω (= ἐν τῷ νῷ τίθημι) means “to put one in mind of” (ans Herz legen) that one has forgotten or might forget; it bears an ethical, sometimes a disciplinary, sense (cf. νουθετεῖν πληγαῖς, in Aristophanes); hence its application to “the unruly” in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 and 2 Thessalonians 3:15 (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:14); it implies kindly, hopeful “admonition.” The word is confined to St Paul (including Acts 20:31) in the N. T. Νουθετεῖν is distinguished from διδάσκειν in Colossians 1:28; Colossians 3:16, the latter appealing to the understanding, the former to the conscience and will; it is the function of the ποιμήν as distinguished from the διδάσκαλος of Ephesians 4:11.