1 Thessalonians 4:2

Almost a parenthesis, as Bahnsen points out in his study of 1 12 (Zeitschrift f. wiss. Theol., 1904, 332 358). The injunctions (παραγγελίαι in semimilitary sense, as 1 Timothy 1:18) relate to chastity (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8) and charity, (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10), with a postscript against excitement and idleness (11, 12). παραγγ. for the cognate use of this term (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:8) in the inscriptions of Dionysopolis (παραγγέλλω πᾶσιν μὴ καταφρονεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ) cf. Exp. Ti., x. 159. διὰ κ. τ. λ., the change from the ἐν of 1 Thessalonians 4:1 does not mean that the Thessalonians before their conversion got such injunctions from Paul on the authority of Christ, while afterwards they simply needed to be reminded of the obligations of their union (ἐν) with the Lord. No strict difference can be drawn between both phrases (cf. Heitmüller's Im Namen Jesu, 71 f.), though the διά lays rather more stress on the authority. For Jesus to command διά the apostles seems to us more natural than to say that the apostles issue commands διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, but the sense is really the same. The apostles give their orders on the authority of their commission and revelations from the Lord whom they interpret to His followers (cf. Romans 15:30; Romans 12:2). But this interpretation must have appealed to the sayings of Jesus which formed part of the παράδοσις (cf. Weizsäcker's Apostolic Age, i. 97, 120, ii. 39). Thus 8 a is an echo of the saying preserved in Luke 10:16.