1 Thessalonians 5:14

The particular form of insubordination at Thessalonica was idleness (for the contemporary use of ἀτ. in this sense, see Oxyrh. Papyri, ii. 1901, p. 275). Similarly, in Olynth. iii. 11, Demosthenes denounces all efforts made to shield from punishment τοὺς ἀτακτοῦντας, i.e., those citizens who shirk active service and evade the State's call for troops. ὀλιγοψύχους = “faint-hearted” (under trial, 1 Thessalonians 1:6, see references), ἀντέχεσθε (cleave to, put your arm round), ἀσθενῶν (i.e., not in health only but in faith or position, Acts 20:35), μακ. π. πάντας = do not lose temper or patience with any (of the foregoing classes) however unreasonable and exacting they may be (cf. Proverbs 18:14, LXX). The mutual services of the community are evidently not to be left to the προϊστάμενοι, for Paul here urges on the rank and file the same kind of social duties as he implies were incumbent upon their leaders (cf. νουθετ. 12, 14). If ἀδελφοί here meant the προϊστάμενοι, it would have been more specificially defined. An antithesis between 12 and 14 would be credible in a speech, not in a letter.