THE
PULPIT COMMENT ARY EDITED BY THE
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D. DEAN OF GLOUCESTER
AND BY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
II. THESSALONIANS
<!Etposmion anb ~omilttir5 BY REV. P. J. GLOAG, D.D.
~omili£5 b~ @ariou5 ~utJ.)or5 REV. PROF. T. CROSKERY, D.D. REV. W. F. ADENEY, 11.A. REV. B. C. CAFFIN, M.A. REV. R. FINLAYSON, B.A.
NEW EDITION
FUNK & WAG NALLS COl\IP ANY LONDON AND NEW YORK 1913 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF
PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS. INTRODUCTION.
f 1. THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE EPISTL&. THE external evirlence in favour of the authenticity of the Second Epistle to the ThessalonianR is even stronger than that in favour of the First Epistle. In consequence of the prediction of the" man of sin," contained in the second chapter, which prediction made a great impression on the early Church, it 1s more frequently referred to and quoted by the Christian Fathers. The testimonies of Justin Martyr, lrenieus, Clemens of Alexandria, and Tertullian may all be appealed to. Justin Martyr (A.D. 140) unquestionably alludes to this Epistle when he says, "When also the man of apostasy, who speaketh great thingi;, against the Most High, shall dare to commit unlawful deeds against us Christians" (' Dial. cum Tryph.,' c. 110). And the foll"wing direct quotatiuns are found in the writings of lrenieus (A.D. 178): "And again in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, speaking of antichrist, Paul says, 'And then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the presence of his coming' ( eh. ii. 8)" (' Adv. Homs.,' iii. 7, 2). And again: "Concerning whom the apostle in the Epistle which is the Second to the Thel'salonians thus speaks : 'Except a falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition : who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped' ( eh. ii 3, 4)" (' Adv. Hoores.,' v. 25. 1). Nor is the internal evidence by any means deficient. The character of Paul is impressed upon this Epistle; his lively sympathy with his convert.a, his gratitude to God for the increase of their faith and love, his joy in their spiritual welfare, his tendomess when censuring them, his assertion of his apostolic authority, hie referenoe to hie former instructions, his request for an interest in their prayen,-all these oharacteristica of the apostle ue ii INTRODUCTION TO
found in this Epistle. The style is undoubtedly Pauline. We have the same form of iaalutation at the beginning and of benediction at the close t.he same parallelisms, the same digressions and expansions, the sam~ expressions and peculiarities of diction, which are elsewhere found in Paul's other Epistles.1 The prophetic portion in the second chapter has indeed been adduced as an evidence of spuriousness. But this objection is partly founded on a mistaken interpretation of the prediction; and although it is admitted that there is here a striking peculiarity, yet this peculiarity relates only to the matter, not to the phraseology, which is undoubtedly l'auline. "The passage in question," observes Dean Alford, "will be found on comparison to bear, in style and flow of sentences, a close resemblance to the denunciatory and prophetic port.ions of the other Epistles. Compare, for instance, ver. 8 with Col. ii. 8, 16; vers. 8, 9 with 1 Cor. ;l[V. 24-28; ver. 10 with Rom. i. 18, 1 Cor. i. 18, and 2 Cor. ii. 15; ver. 11 with Rom i. 24, 26; nr. 12 with Rom. ii. 5, 9 and Rom. i. 22." • And although this pa~sage has been much objected to by modern critics, yet hardly any scriptural passage has been more frequently referred to by the early Fathers, and that without any doubt that it formed a part of a genuine Epistle of Paul. The undesigned coincidences noticed in this Epistle are few and unim- portant. The obscurity of the prediction concerning antichrist has been adverted to as a proof of genuineness. No author, it has been remarked, writes unintelligibly on purpose; but it is to be observed that what is almost uniutelligible to us was not unintelligible to the Thessalonians. They had a key to the interpretation of the passage in the oral instructions of the apostle given when he was at Thessalonica: " Remember ye not, that, when I was with yon, I told yon of these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time" (oh. ii. 5, 6). 8 In the Epistle Paul observes: "Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we· might not be chargeable unto any of yon" (eh. iii. 8). The apostle here ai,;serts that he received nothing in the way of maintenance from the 'I'hei,;i,;alonians; and this fact is confirmed by a statement in the Epistle to the Philippians, wherein it is said that his wants in Thesi;alonica were at least partially supplied by the Philippians: "Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedoni:-., no Church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thesi;alonica ye sent once and again to my necessity" (Phil. iv. 15, 16). And the motive which induced the apostle to decline support from the Thessa.l.onians, namely, to give them an example of honest labour and diligenoe in work (oh. iii.· 9), was the same which aotuated him to 1 See 11.uthor'1 • Pauline Epiotles,' p. 108; 11.nd IWIO Jowt1tt'a 'Epilltle1 ol Paul,' Yol. L pp. IW-H2, lllt edit. 1 Alford'• • Grook Teat&ment,' vol. iii., Prol~goweoe., p. 66. • Po,.lt:y'a 'Hora, PauliwB:' 2 Thes1111.lunie.na, No. L THE ::IEUOND EPlS'l'LE TO TilE THE::iSALONlANS. 111
pursue the same course of conduct at Ephesus (Acts xx. 34, 35). 'Yhere 11.ppeare also to be in this Epistle a refrrence to the First Epistle, where the apostle says, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traclitione whioh ye have been taught, whether by word, or in our Epistle" (eh. ii 15).