1 Thessalonians 4:11

φιλοτ. ἡσυχάζειν (oxymoron). The prospect of the second advent (1 Thessalonians 4:13 f., 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10) seems to have made some local enthusiasts feel that it was superfluous for them to go on working, if the world was to be broken up immediately. This feverish symptom occupies Paul more in the diagnosis of his second letter, but it may have been present to his mind here. For instances of this common phase in unbalanced minds compare the story of Hippolytus (Comm. Dan., 4:19) about a Pontic bishop in the second century who misled his people by prophesying the advent within six months, and also a recent outburst of the same superstition in Tripoli (Westminster Gazette, Nov., 1899) where “the report that the end of the world will come on November 13” produced “an amazing state of affairs. The Israelites are sending their wives to pray in the synagogues, and most workmen have ceased work. Debtors refuse to pay their debts, so that trade is almost paralysed.” καὶ πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια. Plato uses a similar expression in his Republic, 496 D (ἡσυχίαν ἔχων καὶ τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττων); but of the philosopher who withdraws in despair from the lawlessness of a world which he is impotent to help (see also Thompson's note on Gorg., 526 c).