2 Thessalonians 1:4

The single article groups ὑπομονὴ and πίστις as a single conception = faith in its special aspect of patient endurance (cf. on Revelation 13:10), faithful tenacity of purpose. M. Gebhardt, in his L'Italie Mystique (pp. 318 f.), observes that “the final word of Dante's belief, of that ‘religion of the heart' which he mentions in the Convito, is given in the 24th canto of the Paradiso. He comes back to the very simple symbol of Paul, faith, hope and love; for him as for the apostle faith is at bottom simply hope.” Faith is more than that to Paul, but sometimes hardly more. The Thessalonians are not to fear that they are holding a forlorn outpost. Neither man nor God overlooks their courage (cf. Plato's Theaet., xxv., ἀνδρικῶς ὑπομεῖναι καὶ μὴ ἀνάνδρως φεύγειν). Their founders and friends at a distance are watching with pride their resolute faith; while in God's sure process of providence that faith has a destiny of its own, since it is bound up with His eternal designs. Hope is only mentioned once (2 Thessalonians 2:16, cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:5) in this epistle, for all its preoccupation with the future. Faith covers almost all its contents here. θλίψεσιν more general than διωγμοῖς. ὑπὲρ, as in I., 1 Thessalonians 3:2, is equivalent to περί, with a touch of personal interest (Abbott's Johannine Grammar, p. 559; Meisterhans, Gramm. d. attischen Inschriften, 182).