45
ταὶς θλίψεσιν αἷς ἀνέχεσθε, 5. ™ ἔνδειγμα τῆς δικαίας κρίσεως Tod! Attract. fr
as ΟΥ ὧν
Θεοῦ, " εἰς τὸ “ καταξιωθῆναι ὑμᾶς τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑπὲρ ἧς (Win. 8
καὶ πάσχετε: 6. " εἴπερ “ δίκαιον παρὰ Θεῷ ” ἀνταποδοῦναι τοῖς πι Ὁ ~ ” - 5, > θλίβουσιν ὑμᾶς θλῖψιν 7. καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς θλιβομένοις " ἄνεσιν “μεθ CA > au. λύ A , 3 ΠΟΣῚ 5 aA Ca AN ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ “ ἀποκαλύψει τοῦ Κυρίου ᾿Ιησοῦ am οὐρανοῦ μετ΄ ἀγγέλων
δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ 8. " ἐν πυρὶ φλογός, διδόντος " ἐκδίκησιν * τοῖς μὴ
εἰδόσι Θεὸν καὶ τοῖς μὴ " ὑπακούουσι
and xiv. 22.
11. 5-6, 9, viii. 17; 2 Cor. iv. 17 f.
Isa. iv. 15 (quoted on I. iv. 16).
knows!” uz Cor. i. 7; Rom. ii. 5.
and on 1 Cor. iii. 13. A Hebraism. x Cf. I. iv. 5 (Jer. x. 25; Ps. xxviii. 6).
t 1 Thess y Cf.
sure process of providence that fain has a destiny of its own, since it is bound up with His eternal designs. Hope is only mentioned once (ii. 16, cf. iii. 5) in this epistle, for all its preoccupation with the future. Faith covers almost all its con- tents here.—@AiWeouv more general than διωγμοῖς.---ὑπὲρ, as in 1., ili, 2, is equiva- lent to περί, with a touch of personal interest (Abbott’s fohannine Grammar, p.559; Meisterhans, Gramm. d. attischen Inschriften, 182).
Ver. 5. ἔνδειγμα, in apposition to the general thought of the preceding clause ; it does not matter to the sense whether the word is taken as an elliptic nominative or an appositional accusative. ‘‘ All thts is really a clear proof of (or points to) the equity of God’s judgment,” which will right the present inequalities of life (Dante, Purg., x. togf.). Δικαία κρίσις is the future and final judgment of 6-10, whose principle is recompense (Luke xvi. 25); there is a divine law of compensa- tion which will operate. This throws back light upon the present sufferings of the righteous. These trials, it is as- sumed, are due to loyalty and innocence of life; hence, in their divine aspect (ver. 5), they are the necessary qualification or discipline for securing entrance into the realm of God. They are significant, not casual. Paul begins by arguing that their very infliction or permission proves that God must be contemplating a suit- able reward and destiny for those who endured them in the right spirit. ets τὸ κ.τ.λ. is thus a loose expansion (from the common rabbinic phrase, cf. Dalman’s Worte Fesu, 97 f.; Ἐς Tr., 119) of one side of the δικ. κρίσις. The other side, the human aspect of ϑλῖψις, then emerges in ver. 6. Since the Thessalonians were suffering at the hands of men (rots θλί- Bovras, Isa. xix. 20), the two-handed,
p See on Rom. iii. 30, viii. 9, 17 » “since”.
r From Isa. Ixvi. 2 (LXX).
. ti. 15; see below, iii. 2. v Cf. UXX of Exod. iii. 2; Isa. xxix. 6, Ixvi. 6, 15 f.
w Ezek. xxv. 14 (LXX); Jer. xxv. 12; Deut. vii. g.
24, 4e). Only here in N.T.; for idea, see Phil. and Sap. it gif: aA > , lol / πιο lai. τῷ 7 εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Κυρίου τι. ο See on Acts v. 41 q Exod. xxiii. 22; see on Rom. s Cf. 2 Cor. ii. 13; Asc. ‘““We need it too, God
Rom. x. 16. Acts vi. 7; Clem. Rom. xlii. 4.
engine of retribution (so Lam. iii. 64 f.; Obad. 15; Isa. lix. 18, for ἀνταποδ.) must in all fairness punish the persecutors (cf. Sap. xi. 9, 10). This is the only passage in which Paul welcomes God’s vengeance on the enemies of the church as an ele- ment in the recompense of Christians.— ὑπὲρ ἧς καὶ πάσχετε: to see an intelli- gible purpose in suffering, or to connect it with some larger movement and hope, is always a moral stay. “God gave three choice gifts to Israel—the Torah, the Land ot Promise, and Eternal Life, and each was won by suffering” (Bera. choth, 5a).