+ Dr. J. Rendel Harris offers as a conjectural reading drayyéAXere ye report, taking the passage as an exact parallel to ch. ii. 1, ye know that our entrance was not in vain. He thinks that thus a reference would be shown to a letter from the Thessalonians to Paul, and that the difficulty would be relieved which grows out of the improbability of a newly founded church exerting so extensive an influence. Expositor, Vol. 1V., No. III., 1898.
Cu. I] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 19
Entering in (eicodov). Comp. ch. ii. 1. The thought of ver. 5 is resumed. The repetition of the word in ch. ii. 1, and of in vain in ch. iii. 5, may point to expressions in a letter of the Thessalonians.
Unto you (mpos). The preposition combines with the sense of direction that of relation and intercourse. Comp. Matt. xii. 56; Mk. ix.16; J.i.1; Acts iii. 25; Col. iv. 5 Heb. ix. 20.
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Ye turned unto God (ézrectpéate mpos Tov Oeov). Comp. Acts xiv. 15. The exact phrase only here. The verb is common in LXX, with both xvpsov Lord and Oesv God.
Idols. See on 1 Cor. viii. 3. The word would indicate that the majority of the converts were heathen and not Jews.
Living and true (favre cal adn). The only instance in N. T. of this collocation. It does not occur inO.T. For adnOivos genuine, see on J. i. 9; iv. 87; vii. 28. Mostly in the Johannine writings.
10. To wait for (avayévev). N.T.°. Several times in LXX, as Job ii. 9; vii. 2; Isa. lix. 11. Paul’s usual word is amexdéyouar: see Rom. viii. 19, 238, 25; 1 Cor. i. 7; Philip. iii. 20.
From heaven (é« trav ovipavav). Lit. from the heavens. Comp.) Cor. xy, 4]; 1 Th. iv.165 2/Th.i.' 7. )Paul uses the unclassical plural much oftener than the singular. Although the Hebrew equivalent has no singular, the sin- gular is almost universal in LXX, the plural occurring mostly in the Psalms. Ovpaves is from a Sanscrit word meaning to cover or encompass. The Hebrew shamayim sig- nifies height, high district, the upper regions. Similarly we have in N. T. év inpictous in the highest (places), Matt. xxi. 9; L. ii. 14: ev inrois in the high (places), Heb. i. 8. Paul’s usage is evidently coloured by the Rabbinical conception of
20 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cz. IL
a series of heavens: see 2 Cor. xii. 2; Eph. iv. 10. Some Jewish teachers held that there were seven heavens,* others three. The idea of a series of heavens appears in patristic writings, in Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the celestial hie- rarchies, and in Dionysius the Areopagite. Through the scholastic theologians it passed into Dante’s Paradiso with its nine heavens.t| The words to await his Son from heaven strike the keynote of this Epistle.
Jesus which delivered (Incody Tov pucuevov). More cor- rectly, delivereth. See on Matt. i. 21. ‘PveoOas to deliver, mostly in Paul. Lit. to draw to one’s self. Almost invaria- bly with the specification of some evil or danger or enemy. LeHlev to save is often used in a similar sense, of deliverance from disease, from sin, or from divine wrath: see Matt. i. 21; Mk. vi. 56; L. viii. 86; Acts ii. 40; Rom. v. 9: but cafe is a larger and more comprehensive term, including not only deliverance from sin and death, but investment with all the privileges and rewards of the new life in Christ.
The wrath to come (rijs dpyfs Ths épyoudys). Lit. the wrath which is coming. The wrath, absolutely, of the wrath of God, as Rom. v. 9; xii. 19; 1 Th. ii. 16. Sometimes for the punishment which wrath inflicts, as Rom. xii. 4; Eph. v. 6; Col. iii. 6. See on J. iii. 36. The phrase wrath to come is found in Matt. iii. 7; L. ili. 7. Coming does not necessarily imply the thought of speedy or imminent approach, but the general tone of the Epistle points in that direction.