Ver. 7. After noting the principle of recompence (5-74). Paul proceeds (76-10; to dwell on its time and setting, especi- ally in its punitive aspect. He consoles the Thessalonians by depicting the doom of their opponents rather than (gc, Το) their own positive relief andreward. The entire passage breathes the hot air of the later Judaism, with its apocalyptic antici- pation of the jus talionis applied by God to the enemies of His people; only, Paul identifies that people not with Israel but with believers in Christ Jesus. He ap- propriates Israel’s promises for men and women whom Israel expelled and perse- cuted.—The ἄγγελοι are the manifesta- tion of Christ’s δύναμις, as the ἅγιοι (saints not angels) are of his δόξα (ver. 1<) ; the position of ayy. (cf. Win., 8 80, 125) tells against Hofmann’s interpretation of
Suv. =“ host” (NY, so LXX). Here
and in the following verses the divine prerogatives (e.g., fiery manifestation and judicial authority) are carried. over to Jesus.
Ver. 8. Those who know not God are of course not pagans as such but im- moral pagans, in the sense of Rom. i. 28 f. Those who refuse obedience to the
z 4 Macc. x. 15. , A , ὙΌΣ, a , Pe , > a @
a From Isa. προσώπου τοῦ Κυρίου kat ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης THs ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, το. ὅταν ll. ΤΟ, Ig, η 5 A ε - lol 3 ~ Ἢ α κα). "ἔλθῃ “ ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ καὶ “ θαυμασθῆναι ἐν πᾶσι ο A ee 11; Lk.
- 3 A ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ: 9. οἵτινες δίκην τίσουσιν, “ὄλεθρον "αἰώνιον, * ἀπὸ
bd
τοῖς πιστεύσασιν (ὅτι ἐπιστώθη 1 τὸ “ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς) * ἐν
χι]. 27, αμα > , re ὦ ‘ , LMT Yee etc τη ἡμέρᾳ εκεινη. ΙΙ. εις O και προσευχόμεθα πάντοτε περι υμων, ο ΞΕ he ΓΕ. , a λή ς ὸ ea ‘ , a pert. ἵνα ὑμᾶς ἀξιώσῃ τῆς κλήσεως ὃ Θεὸς ἡμῶν καὶ πληρώσῃ πᾶσαν (Moult 186). ς Only here in Ν.Τ., cf. Ex. xiv. 4; Sir. xxxviii. 6, etc. ; Isa. iv. 2 f., xlix. 3. d Reminiscence
of Ps, Ixviii. 36; Ixxxix.8(LXX). Cf. Sir. xxxviii. 3; 4 Macc. xviii. 3. e Cf. 1 Cor.i.6. f From Isa. ii. rr (17). g Cf. Col. 1. 2ο. “It is to this our thoughts turn as we pray, εἰς, ’' (Ruther- ford). h Equivalent, as e.g. in LXX of Exod. ix. 16.
1 For επιστευθη Markland and Hort conj. επιστωθη (5ο 31, 112), as if “the Christian testimony (vv. 4-5) of suffering for the faith had been confirmed and sealed upon the Thessalonians” (cf. Ps. xcii. 4 ἢ, LXX, θαυμαστος ev υψηλοις ο κυριος “τα βαρτυρια σου επιστωθησαν σφοδρα). πιστωθήτω is used (as here with επι) of the divine word in τ Chron. xvii. 23 (cf. 2 Chron. ii. 9). The MSS. reading throws επιστευθη to the front for emphasis, but it must go with εφ ηµας. The point of the sentence, as Lgft. admits, leads us to expect “a direct connexion between the Thessalonians and a belief in the gospel rather than between the Thess. and the preaching of the gospel,” so that µαρτυριον is less vital to εφ nas. No satisfactory parallel can be quoted for either construction of ἐπιστευθη, however, and the likelihood upon the whole is that it represents a primit:ve and natural corruption of επιστωθη.
gospel are, as the repetition of the article suggests, a different class of people, per- haps drawn both from Jews and pagans. But as Paul never seems to contemplate the idea of any Jew failing to hear the gospel (cf. Rom. x. 16 f.), the description here applies principally to them.—év πυρὶ φλογός, one of the most favourite real- istic traits of the last judgment, in apocalyptic Judaism (cf. passages in Volz’s Fidische Eschatologie, 285, 286) ; here it is simply a descriptive touch, which Paul does not pause to elaborate (cf. Cor. iii. 13). The rather “ broad and inflated” language (Weizsacker) of the whole passage 1s probably due to the subject, more than to Paul’s employ- ment of Silvanus, himself a prophet (cf. Acts xv. 32 and τ Thess. ii. 12-16), as his amanuensis.