ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε καθὼς "καὶ οἱ "λοιποὶ “οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα.
σειν τὰ ἴδια καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν, καθὼς ὑμῖν παρηγγεί- | εὐσχημόνως πρὸς "τοὺς ἔξω Kat’ μη-
13. οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων,
14.
A A on ii. 14. εἰ yap πιστεύομεν ὅτι ᾿Ιησοῦς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, " οὕτω καὶ ὃ Θεὸς
Ὦ ἴ.ε. pa- gans asin ἔ Eph. ii. 3, cf. Sap. ii. rf. “then it follows that”.
moron). The prospect of the second ad- vent (iv. 13 f., v. I-10) seems to have made some local enthusiasts feel that it was superfluous for them to go on working, if the world was to be broken up immediately. This feverish symptom occupies Paul more in the diagnosis of his second letter, but it may have been present to his mind here. For instances of this common phase in unbalanced minds compare the story of Hippolytus (Comm. Dan., iv. 19) about a Pontic bishop in the second century who misled his people by prophesying the advent within six months, and also a recent outburst of the same superstition in Tripoli (West- minster Gazette, Nov., 1899) where “' the report that the end of the world will come on November 13” produced ‘an amazing state of affairs. The Israelites are sending their wives to pray in the synagogues, and most workmen have ceased work. Debtors refuse to pay their debts, so that trade is almost paralysed.” —kal πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια. Plato uses a similar expression in his Republic, 496 D (ἡσυχίαν ἔχων καὶ Ta αὑτοῦ πράττων) ; but of the philosopher who withdraws in despair from the lawlessness of a world which he is impotent to help (see also Thompson’s note on Gorg., 526c).
Vv. 13-18. περὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων.
Ver. 13. δὲ, after οὐ θέλομεν as a single expression.—Affection for the liv- ing has another side, viz., unselfish solici- tude for the dead. Since Paul left, some of the Thessalonian Christians had died, and the survivors were distressed by the fear that these would have to occupy a position secondary to those who lived until the advent of the Lord, or even that they had passed beyond any such par- ticipation at all. At Corinth some of the local Christians felt this anguish so keenly, on behalf of friends and relatives who had died outside the church, that they were in the habit of being baptised as their representatives, to ensure their final bliss (1 Cor. xv. 29). The concern
ο Cf. Theogn. 567, Iph. Aul. 1250, Sap. ii. 22, iii. 18.