3. “τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι ᾿θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ
ἃ And so (result).
proper- antis ad finem ” (Grotius), Test. Reub. v. 5; cf. on 2 Cor. xiii. 11, and Jan- ς On article in indir. questions, see Blass, § 47. e Contr. ii. 15. f ν. 18, Ps. xxix. 5, etc.
Tap ἡμῶν “τὸ πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς ἵνα περισ-
/ »ς ἡ ο αν παραγγελίας ἐδώκαμεν ὑμῖν
salonians 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 (év) with the Lord. No strict difference can be drawn between both phrases (cf. Heitmuller’s Im Namen Fesu, 71 f.), though the διά lays rather more stress on the authority. For Jesus to command διά the apostles seems ta: 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 fol- lowers (cf. Rom. xv. 30, xii. 2). But this interpretation must have appealed to the sayings of Jesus which formed part of the παράδοσις (cf. Weizsicker’s Apostolic Age, i. 97, 120, ii. 39). Thus 8a is an echo of the saying preserved in Luke x. 16.
Ver. 3. ἅγιασμός (in apposition to τοῦτο, θέλημα without the article being the predicate) = the moral issue of a life related to the "Άγιος (cf. ver. 8), viewed here in its special and negative aspect of freedom from sexual impurity. The gospel of Jesus, unlike some pagan cults, e.g., that of the Cabiri at Thessalonica (cf. Lightfoot’s Biblical Essays, pp. 257 {.), did not tolerate, much less foster, licentiousness among its worshippers. At Thessalonica as at Corinth Paul found his converts exposed to the penetrating taint of life in a large seaport. As the context indicates, ay. ὑμῶν = “the per- fecting of you in holiness” (ay. in its active sense, ὑμῶν genitive objective : so Liinemann, Ellicott, Bahnsen). The ab- sence of any reference to δικαιοσύνη is remarkable. But Paul’s dialectic on justi- fication was occasioned by controversies about 6 νόμος which were not felt at Thessalonica. Besides, the ‘‘ justified” standing of the believer, even in that synthesis of doctrine, amounted practi- cally to the position assured by the posses- sion of the Spirit to the Christian. In his uncontroversial and eschatological mo-
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