tion, dprivrj Kai aafydteia, which words Ezekiel xiii. 10 doubtless sug-
gested to the apostle. Peace and security where sin reigns, where
a lively faith in the reconciliation and redemption in Christ is want-
ing, is pitiful self-delusion.

Vers. 4^6. To this is now subjoined the exhortation (which ap-
pears in the form of supposing the best in the readers), not to be in
that spiritual situation that the day of the Lord can seize upon
them like thieves in the night ; consequently to walk in the light,
not in darkness. Light and darkness, day and night, waking and
sleeping, to be sober and to be drunk, are treated as synonyms and
correlatives, as in numberless passages of Scripture. (See John iii.
19, viii. 12 ; Rom. ii. 19 ; Eph. v. 8, vi. 14 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 13 ; 2
Tim. iv. 5 ; 1 Pet. i. 13, iv. 7, v. 8.) The reading K^nra^ in these
verses, which is supported by A.B., and justly received by Lach-
mann, is important ; for /rAtm-T^ might very easily have been
altered from ver. 2, but the correction into KXhrra^ is exceedingly im-
probable. The Ktenrat are then represented as viol OKOTOVS, who ply
their trade in darkness. (In verse 4 Iva can only, as Schott justly
observes in opposition to Fritzsche, by doing the greatest violence to
the sentence, be taken reAiKwr, for the ovu lore kv oK6rei is a premiss,
"ye are certainly, as I know, not in darkness," which a particle
strictly denoting purpose in no wise suits, especially as it is followed
subsequently by yap. In the well-known formula viol 06>Toc, ^epa?,
more is couched than a mere external relation ; it expresses the idea
of having received one's higher life from the light and its sanctify-
ing influence.)

Vers. 7, 8. Paul designates the night as that time in which sleep
and drunkenness usually take place ; those things, therefore, no
longer become those who have night in the spiritual sense behind
them ; they are awake and armed for the combat. The metaphor
of arming we became fully acquainted with at Eph. vi. 10, seq., and
there also spoke of the discrepancies which are found between the
two passages in the comparison of the several weapons with differ-
ent Christian virtues. As to the rest, we find the order of succes-



FIKST THESSALONIANS V. 9-11. 291

8ion of the three Christian cardinal virtues here again just as in i. 3,
where see the Commentary.

Vers. 9-11. 'Paul fastens on the &Xmg crwr^ptaf in order to ex-
press the idea, that God hath not appointed the faithful to wrath,
hut to salvation, that therefore also the day of the Lord brings
them not destruction, but blessing. "EOero involves undoubtedly
the election of grace by God, but only in the sense of a proedesti-
natio sanctorum, as has been proved at Rom. ix. to be scriptural,
and especially to be Paul's doctrine. The atoning death of Christ
is named as the means by which salvation is realized according
to God's ordinance. The BITS ypTjyop&pev, eire Kadevdupev, whether
we wake or sleep, seems strange at first sight, as in ver. 6 sleep-
ing among the faithful was altogether denied. But it is clear that
the two expressions are here used in a totally different sense, viz.,
as antithesis to %r\v and as = Koipaodai, iv. 13, seq. Paul again
connects his discourse with the previous discussion, in which he
had made it clear that those fallen asleep in Christ forfeit nothing
of their blessedness ; with a reference to that he says, we believers
shall live with Christ (iv. 17), whether we be still in the body,
when he cometh, or already fallen asleep. (Compare Bom. xiv.
8.) As to the rest, itadevdeiv is found in no other passage of the
New Testament used of death, for in the history of the awakening
of Jairus' daughter (Matth. ix. 24 ; Mark v. 39 ; Luke viii. 52)
it means, in opposition to d-nedave, really " to sleep :" KoipdaOat is
everywhere else found of the death-sleep. In like manner yp^yopeZv
is found nowhere else in the meaning " to live, to walk in the body."
The passage, therefore, bears certainly a singular character, and the
more so indeed, as none can avoid the impression that a preference
is given the yp7?yopeZv, as the state of waking consciousness, over the
nadevdeiv, whereas we are inclined to claim for the soul of the pious
man released from the body a higher degree of consciousness.*
However, this difficulty is solved on the ground already detailed at
1 Cor. xv. 19, 20. From the representation of the New Testament
the state of the soul separated from the body is not, it is true, an
unconscious one, but yet of such a nature that the consciousness
appears depressed. Complete self-consciousness reappears only with
the resurrection of the body ; a living on without bodily resurrection
Paul treats (1 Cor. xv.) as a losing of eternal life. The striking
part of the passage thus lies purely in the use of the words chosen,
and not in the idea. Verse 11 then closes, like iv. 18, with a sum-
mons to reciprocal encouragement and edification. (Ver. 9. Uepc-

* How universally this notion is spread appears from the ordinary mode of expres-
sion used in reference to the dead : " now everything is clear to them, the veil is removed
from them I" from which it appears unmistakeably that we conceive the connection of
the soul with the body as a hinderance to complete consciousness.



292 FIRST THESSALONIANS V. 12, 13.



" attaining, acquiring," Paul uses also at 2 Thess. ii. 14 ;
Eph. i. 14 ; it is also found Heb. x. 39 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9. Ver. 10. As
to the use of the conjunctive instead of the optative in this passage,
see Winer's Gr. 41, b, 1, p. 257 ; 41, c, note, p. 263. Ver. 11.
Elf rbv "va = dAA^Aovf iv. 18 is found in profane writers also. See
Kypke obs. p. 339.)



6. CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS.
(v. 12-28.)

Vers. 12, 13. The first two verses of the closing exhortations
which follow, concern the relation of the readers to the teachers and
heads of the church. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians duly to hon-
our them in their position. As nothing similar is found in the
second epistle, and no express polemical doctrine shews itself in this
passage, nothing obliges us to suppose that in Thessalonica theo-
retical or practical errors in regard to the relation of laymen to the
teachers of the church had been disseminated. As it is inherent in
human nature that such errors ever and everywhere appear in indi-
viduals, because obedience and subordination are such difficult duties,
it may reasonably be supposed that Paul found himself impelled to
give his precepts merely with a view to the relation as such. True,
the slight intimation v. 27 (of which passage see the explanation)
might seem to countenance the idea that the relation between the
church and its heads was not altogether untroubled. Yet nothing
certain can be deduced from that. So much, however, results un-
mistakeably from these verses, viz., that Paul supposes a difference
among the members of the church. All do not stand on a level
according to the principles of democratical equality, but there are
teachers and learners, leaders and led, as appears clearly in the
Epistles to Timothy and Titus. As to the rest, the terms by which
the teachers are here designated are to be taken so that the appel-
lative ol Komtivres iv vfilv designates them quite generally as labour-
ers (tv vfuv is to be taken in the sense " among you," not as = i-v
raZf Kapdiaif v/wDv, as Flatt and Pelt insist ; for the question is not
merely of a purely inward labour, but also of outward guidance of
the church). On the other hand, Trpoiordfievoi, presiding, and vov-
OSTOVVTES, admonishing, do not denote, for instance, two other classes
along with the Komuvre<; t but two different forms of the labours of
the KOTTiuvres, as is clear from the absence of the article. Labour in
the church might be more external or more spiritual ; the former is
the TTpoioTaoOai (compare 1 Tim. v. 17, where -rrpoEa-oJ-e^ are named),
the latter the vovderelv. Whether, indeed, Paul already conceives



FIRST THESSALONIANS V. 14-18. 293

these two forms of labour in the church as two entirely separate
church-offices, may, it is true, appear uncertain, considering the
church in Thessalonica was so young, and, no doubt,- small too ; but
in later times (see 1 Cor. xii. 8 ; Eph. iv. 11 ; 1 Tim. iv. 17) such a
distinction between the offices is decidedly expressed. (Ver. 12.
Eltievcu is used, after the analogy of the Hebr. nj, Gen. xxxix. 6,
Prov. xxxi. 23, and the Latin respicere, in the sense of respectful
acknowledgment. See 1 Cor. xvi. 18. Ver. 13. 'YTrepeK-rreptaaov, see
iii. 10. The phrase rjyeladai nva EV dydrnj is harsh. Schott com-
pares Job xxxv. 2, rjyelodai n KV Kpiasi, tsstoa^ awh. The phrase de-
notes the esteem and love which are equally due to the rulers of the
church for their painful labour so beneficial to the laity. Elp^vevKTs
ev tavTolg, be at peace among yourselves, seems, it is true, to point to
disputes among the Christians in Thessalonica ; yet this by no
means accords with the whole remaining contents of the epistle,
which breathe only acknowledgment on the part of the apostle.
(But compare v. 27.) True, we cannot well take the words by them-
selves as an independent exhortation, nor annex them to what fol-
lows, because the -napana^ov^Kv 6e vpag answers to the ep(OTo>juev 6e vpSf
(ver. 12) and marks a 'fresh beginning ; but they afford a very good
sense in connection with what precedes, if we regard the exhorta-
tion to preserve the proper relation towards the labourers for the
church as, in conclusion, comprised in the exhortation to peace.
Where teachers and taught stand in a false position towards each
other, there the peace of the church is already undermined. D.E.
G. read avrolg for eavrols, but it is presumably only a slip of the pen
for avrolg. Finally, it is again to be taken, as in ver. 12, in the
meaning KV JUECTW fywji'.)

Ver. 14. As to 'the rest, how far Paul is from hierarchical
notions of the dignity of the rulers is shewn by the circumstance
that he here immediately summons all to the vovOerelv, admonish-
ing, which he seemed in ver. 12 to assign to the labourers alone.
(The exhortation to warn the dranroi, i. e., to return to subordina-
tion, refers, it may be supposed, to the state of things brought under
discussion in 1 Thess. iv. 11 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 11. 'OAtydi/w^o? is found
nowhere in the New Testament but here, often, however, in the
LXX. for the Hebrew nsj? or hn-Vste, Isaiah liv. 6, Ivii. 15, Prov.
xiv. 29. 'A.vTK%ea6atj " to care for one, to support one." See Matth.
vi. 24 ; Luke xvi. 13. The doOevels are doubtless to be understood
less of the bodily, than of the spiritually, weak. The Trpbg navrag
is more accurately defined by the e/f aAA^Aovf itai el$ -ndv-aq, which
follows in ver. 15, as embracing the absolute universality of all
men.)

Vers. 15-18. There now follows a series of single exhortations,
which altogether presuppose the highest moral standing, as it reigns,



294 FIRST THESSALONIANS V. 19-22.

e. g., in the sermon on the mount, and seem in part formed on well-
known utterances of the Lord. Ver. 15 answers in meaning to
Matth. v. 44, in words to Rom. xii. 17 ; 1 Peter, iii. 9. (See as to
6pav, in the sense sibi cavere, for which jS/Urrav also stands Matth.
viii. 4. xviii. 10. To dyaSov is here to be taken, as at Matth. vii. 11,
in the sense, " the beneficial, useful," in opposition to KCLKOV.} In
ver. 16 -ndvTore ^aipere is to be explained as at Phil. iii. 1. Ver. 17
is to be understood, from Luke xviii. 1 ; Rom. xii. 12 ; Eph. vi. 18 ;
Col. iv. 2, not of merely frequent, but of unceasing, prayer (ddiateiTr-
TW^, see i. 2), i. e., of a pervading tendency of life directed towards
God. Finally, Paul in ver. 18 exhorts to thanksgiving unto God
under all circumstances, be they pleasant or unpleasant. (Eph. v.
20.) This thankful state of mind is to be considered as the expres-
sion of childlike dependence on God, which in every state of things,
even in what is unpleasant, honours God's will. The rou-o yap
de^Tjfta (comp. iv. 3) can be referred only to evxapiorelv, " it is God's
will that you give thanks for all things ;" TOVTO cannot be taken,
with Storr = TOIOVTO, as if the meaning were, " God's will is of such
a nature towards you, that you have only cause to thank him, as
he does you only good." Such an exchange of TOVTO and TOJOVTO
is contrary to usage. As to the rest, definite reasons cannot be
shewn for the position of the several propositions ; they might be
equally well arranged in the inverse order.

Vers. 19-22. The next exhortation, TO -rrvevfia p) aftivvvre sup-
poses the comparison of the Spirit to a candle or fire, which, as is
well-known, is frequently found in the New Testament, and has
occasioned various modes of expression. (See John iv. 24 ; Eph.
vi. 16 ; 2 Tim. 6 ; Heb. xii. 29.) But the question whether nvevpa
is to be taken here as an ethico-religious principle, or as the source
of the Charismata, is to be altogether declined, because the two
cannot be separated, or at least did not appear separately in the
apostolical times. Where the Spirit was, he shewed himself alike
in moral and religious relations, and in the extraordinary gifts.
But, as the efficacy of the Spirit was outwardly recognizable in the
Charismata, and in these a quenching was alone possible, as perhaps
from fear of enthusiasm, which in his strictly spiritual influences
was out of the question (for who would have thought of quenching
the virtues of faith, love, and hope, called forth by the Holy Ghost ?)
we are therefore to refer the nvevna primarily to the gifts. To this
also what follows adjusts itself, in which a particular form of Cha-
risma, viz., the TrpoQTfTeia, is especially brought forward and recom-
mended. (See at 1 Cor. xii. 4, seq., xiv. 1, seq.) As to the rest,
we plainly see, from these exhortations, that Paul had no presenti-
ment at the time when he wrote this, that the Christians in Thessa-
lonica were in danger of becoming a prey to fanaticism, though



FIEST THESSALONIANS V. 19-22. 295

this, according to the second epistle, was subsequently the case.
True, the Tr-pocfyrjTeiag fj-f) egovdeveire, considered by itself, might be
understood as indicating Paul's wish to make the Thessalonians, like
the Corinthians (1 Cor. xiv. 1, seq.), observe the value of calm con-
scious prophesying over the more fanatical tongue-haranguing. But
the " quench not the Spirit" does not allow this explanation. This
exhortation must rather have inspired the Christians in Thessalouica
with the sorrowful conviction that all gifts might easily give occa-
sion for abuses, and led them, to avoid these, to slight the gifts them-
selves. When Paul at a later date wrote the Epistles to the Corinth-
ians, he himself even found it proper to moderate the over-estimation
of them, and at length in his latest epistles the gifts retreat entirely
into the background, as is especially shewn in the pastoral epistles.
Ver. 21. It is clear from the context that the words, irdvra 6e
do/afiaer, K. r. A., are not to be taken in the totally general sense in
which they are usually employed ; they rather refer to the Charisma
of the diaKgivig nvevpdTwv, 1 Cor. xii. 10, 30 ; 1 John iv. 1. The
readers are called on to prove the representations of the prophets by
the gift of proving, dwelling in them ; the individual gifts are to
complete and rectify one another. (Compare the remarks in the
Comm. on 1 Cor. xii. 10, xiv. 29.) Here, then, reason, as man's
natural power, is not set up for a judge over Divine revelation, but
by God's ordinance the modes of operation of the Holy Ghost are
variously distributed, so that in some the communication of what is
new predominates, in others the criticism of what is communicated.*
The words in ver. 22, dirb navrbg ddovg, K. r. A., form no fresh sen-
tence, but only the complement to the TO nakbv Kare^ere. The import,
therefore, of the dom^etv (= Kpiveiv, to separate, to sift), is divided
into its two aspects, into the recognizing of the good and the rejec-
tion of the evil, which latter has mixed up the sinfulness of the pro-
phets with the Divine power operating in them. It can only be
doubtful how the ddov^ is to be taken. The meaning " appearance"
is inadmissible because the combination ddog Trovijpov is without ex-
ample, and the idea of abstaining from evil appearance does not
accord with what precedes. The application of this meaning, there-
fore, would require that we construct ver. 22 with ver. 23 : but this
too is inappropriate. The exhortation to abstain from evil appear-
ance presupposes that they are already free from evil itself; but in
ver. 23 that deliverance from evil seems in the dyidaai, K. r. A., to be
only gained by prayer. And even if this admits of being set aside
by the remark that dyidoai here can only be understood of the growth
of the already existing pure new man, yet the avrbg 6e } K. r. A., shews
that something new is to follow. E5of is, therefore, to be taken in

* In meaning the exhortation coincides with the well-known apocryphal utterance
of Christ's : ylveade <j>p6vij*oi Tpairs&Tai.



296 FIRST THESSALONIANS V. 23, 24.

the signification, "species, sort," as Josephus (Arch. x. 3, 1) writes
irav eldog Trovrjpiag, so that novrjpov is taken as a substantive. (Ver.
21. The conjecture rrv^ara for -ndvra is not only unnecessary, but
inapposite ; the discourse is not of distinguishing trjie and false
prophets, but only true and untrue utterances of those to whom the
gift of prophecy belonged.)

Vers. 23, 24. As the Thessalonians are, as members of the
Christian church, already ayiot, i. e., set apart from the sinful world,
filled with the principle of true holiness (see at Rom. i. 7), stress is
especially to be laid on the 6AoTAet. Sanctification extends itself
only by degrees over the collective powers and qualities of man ; it
is precisely progress in this process of glorification and the preserva-
tion of the whole personality spotless, till the judgment at Christ's
coming (iii. 13), that Paul wishes them in these words, and that
too, as no one can sanctify himself by his own power, from God him-
self, through his Spirit. But God is here called Oeof r7^ dp^r^, be-
cause sanctification is the condition of outward and inward peace ;
God, therefore, who carries peace in himself, will also impart it to
men through sanctification. ('OAoreAyfc is found only here in the
New Testament. Aquila renders Deut. xiii. 17, VV:?, by iAoreAwc.
It stands here quite synonymous with 6A6-A7/po$-, which, according
to James i. 4, is found in the meaning of TAo, as it also often occurs
in the LXX. and Josephus for oVw or Dnsp. Of course the ^Ao/cA^pov
refers to every single one of the three parts of human nature named.
Each is to be preserved entire in itself, and all together to be kept
spotless. By sin not only the mutual relation of the parts, but also
the stability of each single one by itself, may be weakened.) That,
lastly, the juxtaposition of the three terms, Trvevfia, V v % 7 /> ffw/za, is not
a mere rhetorical amplification for the idea of the totality, nor yet
that nvevfia can be understood of the Divine Spirit, but denotes the
human spirit (see on Rom. viii. 16) is acknowledged by the latest
interpreters, though Pelt and Schott will not admit that the distin-
guishing of nvevfia and V v %^ pervades the anthropological system of
Paul and of the Bible generally. But, as the distinguishing of
nvevna and V^ 7 ? nere cannot surely be merely accidental, a differ-
ence m the use of the two expressions can be proved to exist else-
where also (although in many passages, where nothing depends ex-
actly on accurate distinctions, the one expression also stands, and
may stand, for the other) as, lastly, the partition into spirit, soul
and body, was current among the Jews, just as among the Platon-
ists ; it appears, even where we cannot ourselves recognize this
division, indispensable, under a purely historical view, to acknowledge
the triple division of human nature as a doctrine of the apostolical
age. But, in fact, it follows that many Christian points of doctrine
(particularly, the doctrines of regeneration, of the relation of the old



FIKST THESSALONIANS V. 23, 24. 297

to the new man, and whatever connects itself with this), can bo
made intelligible only by assuming the distinction between spirit
and soul. We have, therefore, by continued investigation been only
more and more convinced of the correctness of the result of our
treatise de trichotomia humance naturce (printed in the opusc. theol.,
pp. 143, seq.), which in essentials Vitringa also had already (observ.
sacr. y pp. 549, seq.) in earlier times expressed in reference to cabal-
istic* and Platonist views, just as in later times Usteri (in " the
system of St. Paul," pp. 404, seq.) at least recognized it as an historical
fact. For, whilst the ^v%r) denotes the lower region of the spiritual
man comprises therefore the powers to which analogous ones are
found in animal life also, as understanding (0pev^), appetitive faculty
(/capd'/a), memory, fancy the -rrvev^a includes those capacities which
constitute the true human life, viz., reason (vov$) } as the faculty of
perceiving the divine ; conscience, as the faculty of distinguishing
moral good and evil ; free-will, as the faculty of moral choice, which
alone renders us proper subjects of history. Just according to the
predominance of the one or the other principle in man he appears
either as TrvevfjiariKog or i/w^t/cdf, or even oapKinog. The Divine Spirit,
attaching itself to the human spirit weakened by sin, arid filling it
with complete energy, frees man from the power of sin which rules
him, and exhibits him as Trvev^ariKog in the full sense of the word. (See
the remarks on Kom. vii. 23 to viii. 3.) The certainty of the fulfil-
ment of the wish for his readers expressed in ver. 23 Paul now finds
(ver. 24) grounded in the faithfulness of God, who has called them
unto participation in the merits of Christ ; the will of God exhib-
ited in this calling will also, in accordance with his unchangeable-
ness, arrive at completion. The necessity that is couched in this
idea is to be referred to the prcedestinatio sanctorum alone, in the
sense in which we set it forth as a doctrine of Scripture at Romans
ix. 1. Paul does not mean here to say that God knows how to
make good his calling by the force of his gratia irresistibilis even
to the complete sanctification of man against his free will ; but God
knows how to lead the will of man through the influences of his
grace itself to full concordance with his holy decrees. The possibility
of resistance is not by this excluded ; it remains to man even after
his conversion, but then to the all-knowing eye of God, no true call-
ing takes place in the rebellious. As to the rest, the &g ical -no^aei
is elliptical ; copyists, therefore, might easily feel themselves obliged

* The Cabbalists assumed, in appearance only, besides riband ^33 also rra c 3 as dif-
ferent from both ; therefore three spiritual powers, and, with the corporeity, four parts
of human nature. For rtfcCS answers to the nveii/Lta uyiov of the New Testament, which
also Paul distinguishes from the human irveffia (Rom. viii. 16), so that in the regenerate
man also three spiritual powers are to be supposed ; but the irvevua ayiov is not an in-
tegral part of human nature, but a divine influence in him, which elevates it above
itself.



298 FIRST THESSALONIANS V. 25-28.

to complete the sentence. In some, though unimportant, MSS. we
find the addition, TJJV t-krrida tyzwv fleftaiav. But it seems more suit-
able to supply merely ravra Travra, inasmuch as the -rroielv is most
naturally referred to what is prayed for in ver. 23. (On marbg
6 Qeos see at 1 Cor. i. 9, x. 13.)

Vers. 25-28. The recommendation of praying for him, and the
commission to greet all the brethren with the holy kiss, are also
found Kom. xv. 30 ; Col. iv. 3 ; Rom. xvi. 16 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 20 ; 2
Cor. xiii. 12, on which passages see the Commentary. In the three
last-cited passages indeed it is always said dandaaade dA/ir/Aovf,
whereas here the commission is given to some to kiss all the other
brethren. But this is sufficiently explained by the fact that, as ver.
27 clearly shews, this epistle is primarily addressed to the rulers of the
church, yet only as being at the same time designed for the whole
brotherhood. It was, therefore, we may suppose, delivered to the
elders according to Paul's intention, read first by them, and then
read out to the whole church in public assembly. But that Paul