Ver. 10. The position of pov shows that it belongs not to τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς as a whole, but to ὑπομονῆς (2 Thess. iii. 5). The precise sense ‘ therefore is not ‘‘my word about pati- ence” (i.e., my counsel of patience as the supreme virtue of these latter days, so Weiss, Bousset, etc.), but ‘‘the word, or the preaching, of that patience which refers to me” (i.¢., the patient endurance with which, amid present trials, Christ is to be served; so Alford, Spitta, Holtzm.).
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b Matt. XxXiv.2z f.
τῆς ὑπομονῆς µου, κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας Tod ” πειρασμοῦ
cf. Apoc. τῆς ’ μελλούσης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης, πειράσαι τοὺς
Wile Bike fy να 4 σε κατοικουντας επι TIS YS.
71. ε Α comfort μηδεὶς λάβη τὸν στέφανόν σου. , > ~ lal A A A ” > ‘ > ” A στύλον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ µου, "καὶ ἔξω οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃ ἔτι, καὶ
(XXii.7,20) » nota threat (ii. 16), cf. XXii. 12. Win. § 22, 54, Abbott, Diat. 1920. g Emphatic, as opposed to Isa. xxii. 25.
See Ps. xxxviii. (xxxix.), 8: καὶ νῦν τίς ἡ ὑπομονή µου; οὐχὶ 6 κύριος; The second reason for praising the Philadelphian Christians is their loyal patience under persecution, as well as the loyal confes- sion of Christ (ver. 8) which had possibly brought on that persecution. κἀγὼ «7A. (“I in turn”; cf. similar con- nection in John xvii. 6-8), a reproduction of the saying preserved in Luke xxi, 36. The imminent period τοῦ πειρασμοῦ refers to the broken days which, in eschatological schemes, were to herald messiah’s return. Later on, this period is specifically defined as a time of seduc- tion to imperial worship (cf. xiii. 14-17, vil. 2, with Dan. xii. 1, LXX). The Philadelphian Christians will not only triumph over the contempt and intrigues of their Jewish foes but also over the wider pagan trial (which is also a tempta- tion), inasmuch as their devotion, already manifested in face of Jewish malice, will serve to carry them through the storm of Roman persecution. The re- ward of loyalty is in fact fresh power to be loyai on a higher level: ‘the wages of going on, and ever to be’. This seems better than to take the world- wide trial as the final attempt (viii. 13, xi. Το, etc.) to induce repentance in men or to punish them, from which the P. Christians (cf. vii. 1-8, and Ps. Sol. xiii. 4-10, xv. 6, 7) would be exempt; but it is impossible from the grammar and difficult from the sense, to decide whether τηρεῖν é« means successful endurance (pregnant sense as in John xvii. 15) or absolute immunity (cf. 2 Peter ii. 9), safe emerg- ence from the trial or escape from it entirely (thanks to the timely advent of Christ, νετ. 11). Note the fine double sense of τηρεῖν: unsparing devotion is spared at least some forms of distress and disturbance. It is like Luther’s paradox that when a man learns to say with Christ, ‘‘The cross, the cross,” there is no cross. Rabbinic piety (Sanh. 98 ϐ) expected exemption from the tribula- tion of the latter days only for those who
d ii. 25, c/. 4 Macc. vi. 18-21, Heb. x. 36. I f Gal. ii. 9 (see Lgft.’s note), Isa. xxii. 23, Jer. i. 18.
ο» ο: , a 3 C7 πε, ερχοµαι ταχυ’ κρατει ο εχείς, ινα
12. Ὁ νικῶν, ποιῄσω αὐτὸν
e Nom. pendens, as ii. 7. For constr.,
were absorbed in good works and in sacred studies.
Ver. 11. ‘You have not long to wait and suffer now”; a fresh motive tor tenacity of purpose. Compare with what follows the tradition of R. Simon (in Tract. Shabb. bab. 88 a) that on the occa- sion of Exod. xxiv. 7, the Israelites were each crowned with two crowns by 600,000 angels—one when they said we will do, the other when they said we will be obedient; but on the occasion of Exod. xxxili. 6 these crowns were snatched off by 1,200,000 devils. In the last day, at the messianic age, God restores these crowns (according to Isa. xxxv. 10). The sense is not altered if ἵνα ... σου (like Luke xii. 20) is taken as a vivid form of the passive ‘‘ lest thou be deprived of thy » crown” (cf. Col. ii. 18 with 2 Tim. iv. 8), forfeiting it through misconduct.