1 Thessalonians 1 - Introduction
ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΙΣ Αʹ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΙΣ Αʹ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Greeting_. As any trouble at Thessalonica had arisen over Paul's character more than his authority, or rather as his authority had been struck through his character, he does not introduce his own apostolic rank or that of his colleagues (1 Thessalonians 2:6) in the forefront of this letter, which i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thanksgiving for the origin and achievements of the church_. 1 Thessalonians 1:2. Whenever Paul was at his prayers, he remembered his friends at Thessalonica; and whenever he recalled them his first feeling was one of gratitude to God (see 1 Thessalonians 3:9) for the Christian record which, as ind... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀδιαλ. Neither distance nor fresh interests make any difference to his affection; his life is bound up with their welfare; his source of happiness is their Christian well-being (_cf._ 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20; 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10). The adverb (a late Greek formation, _cf. Expos._, 1908, 59) goes e... [ Continue Reading ]
The practical evidence of the Spirit in their lives showed that God had willed to enrol them among His chosen people (note the O.T. associations of _beloved by God_ and _election_), just as the same consciousness of possessing the Spirit gave them the sure prospect of final entrance into the Messian... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι = “inasmuch as”. τὸ εὐαγγ. ἡμῶν, the gospel of which the apostles, and by which their hearers, were convinced. As the καθὼς clause indicates, πληροφ. must here denote personal conviction and unfaltering confidence on the part of the preachers. The omission of the ἐν before πληρ. throws that word... [ Continue Reading ]
θλίψει … χαρᾶς, _cf._ for this paradox of experience, Mazzini's account of his comrades in the Young Italy movement: “We were often in real want, but we were light-hearted in a way and smiling because we believed in the future”. The gladness of the primitive Christian lay in the certainty of possess... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ πίστις … ἐξελ. (Romans 10:18), by anacoluthon, reiterates for emphasis ἀφʼ ὑμῶν … κυρίου (ὁ λόγος τ. Κ. depending for its effectiveness on the definite testimony of Christians). Paul is dictating loosely but graphically. The touch of hyperbole is pardonable and characteristic (_cf._ Romans 1:8; 1... [ Continue Reading ]
The positive and negative aspects of faith: “Videndum est ut ruinam errorum sequatur aedificium fidei” (Calvin). ἀληθινῷ = “real” as opposed to false in the sense of “counterfeit”. ζῶντι, as opposed to dead idols (see above, p. 5) impotent to help their worshippers. Elsewhere the phrase (_cf._ 1 Tim... [ Continue Reading ]
In preaching to pagans, the leaders of the primitive Christian mission put the wrath and judgment of God in the forefront (_cf._ Sabatier's _Paul_, 98 f.), making a sharp appeal to the moral sense, and denouncing idolatry (_cf._ Sap., 14, 12 f., 22 f.). Hence the revival they set on foot. They sough... [ Continue Reading ]