k

1 Cor. 10. 1. 2 Cor. 1. 8. 2 Pet. 3.

13. Οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοὶ, περὶ τῶν κεκοιμημένων, ἵνα μὴ Rom. 1. 13. λυπῆσθε καθὼς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα. 14 * Εἰ γὰρ πιστεύομεν ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἀνέστη, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ κ ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ. 15 ' Τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίου, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες 'cor. 4. 13, 14. οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ Κυρίου οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέν. 1ot: 13. 22, 51.

respectful deportment (evoxnuóvws) towards Heathen Magis- | trates, and to render honour and obedience to them as "unto the Lord," in all things not contrary to His will. See on Matt. xxii. 21. Rom. xiii. 1-4. Tit. iii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 13.

And what was true as to the duty of Subjects toward Rulers was true of the duty also of Slaves to Masters.

The necessity of this precept had appeared on the occasion of St. Paul's visit to Thessalonica, when he was charged by the Jers with being a preacher of sedition; and the Heathen populace was stirred up by them against him and Silas, as acting "contrary to the laws of Cæsar, in saying that there is a different King, Jesus" (Acts xvii. 7).

The World had yet to learn, from the loyalty of Christians, even when persecuted by it, that Christianity is the best safeguard of States.

23.

2

ο. 15. 12

Rev. 1.

and let faith banish grief. Why should we grieve for the dead? because death is bitter? But Christ has passed by that way." Augustine (Serm. 173).

So another African Father writes: "Remember the words of the Apostle; and be not grieved by your friend's departure, as the Heathen who have no hope. For if we believe in the Resurrection of Christ, we believe in the resurrection of those for whom Christ died and rose again. Therefore sorrow for death has been done away. Why should you weep for one who is not lost? Why should you mourn for him who will return? He whom you lament is not dead; he is only gone on a journey. Do not weep for him who has set out a little before you, and whom you will soon follow. 'Profectio est quam credis mortem. Non est lugendus qui antecedit, et quem tu mox subsequeris.' Tertullian (de Patientiâ, 9); see also S. Cyprian, de Mortalitate,

Christians were also taught by the Apostle to behave evσxn-capp. 14, 15. pores towards them that were without, by industry, lest the Heathen should be able to say that Christianity was a religion of indolence. (Bengel.)

- undevós] of nothing: some render it of no man; but the former translation seems preferable.

13. θέλομεν] So the best MSS. Elz. éxw. Cp. 2 Cor. i. 8. RekoLunμévor] So Elz., with D, E, F, G, I, K. A, B have komμévær, which is received by Lach., Tisch., Alford, Ellicott.

There is a difference in meaning between Koμúμevol and Kéo, on which account the latter reading seems preferable; oi komáμevo means properly those who are falling asleep, and sometimes, those who are sleeping; but Keкounμévoι signifies those who have been laid asleep, and are still asleep; that is, here, those who, as to their bodies (for of their souls he is not here speaking), have, as it were, been 'somno compositi,' lulled into the sweet slumber of a Christian death, in which they still repose, till they will be awakened by the last trump. Cp. John xi. 11, Adcapos kekoluntai, and 1 Cor. xv. 20, Xplords àарx

TÜV KEKOLUNUÉVWv. See note below on 1 Cor. xi. 30.

The word κοιμᾶσθαι, and κεκοιμῆσθαι, is never applied in the New Testament to the soul (for there is no sleep of the soul after death), but always to the body; and by the use of the word in that sense, it is intimated that the body will be awakened; that is, that the body will rise again. See Aug. (Serm. 172): “Dorsientes eos appellat Scripturæ veracissima consuetudo, ut, cùm dormientes audimus, evigilaturos minimè desperemus ;" and Serm. 93: "Quare dormientes vocantur? nisi quia suo die resuscitabuntur." So also Chrys. and Theophyl. Cp. note below, on 1 Cor. xv. 6.

wa μǹ Avaĥole] that ye be not grieved; 'ne contristemini' (Vulg.); but be comforted. Some MSS. have Avreîode here. See on 1 Cor. iv. 6.

He does not mean that they are not to sorrow for the departed, but that they are not so to sorrow, as men who have no hope.

As it is beautifully expressed by Augustine (Serm. 172): "Non admonuit Apostolus ut non contristemur, sed (ut non contristemur) sicut cæteri qui spem non habent." For we have hope. "Contristamur ergo nos in nostrorum mortibus necessitate amittendi, sed cum spe recipiendi. Inde angimur, hinc consolamur; inde infirmitas afficit, hinc fides reficit; inde dolet humana conditio, hinc sanat divina promissio." See also his touching address to Christian mourners: "You may, indeed you must, sorrow, but not as the Heathen do, who have no hope. You must sorrow. But remember, where you have sorrow you have also comfort. How can you but sorrow when that body, which lives by the soul, becomes lifeless by the flight of the soul? and when that which used to walk lies; when that which used to talk is dumb; when the closed eyes admit no light; when the ears are open to no sound; when all the functions of the limbs cease? Is not this dead body a house in which an unseen spirit once dwelt, and which it once beautified? That which was unseen is gone; that which we see with pain, remains. Here surely is a cause of sorrow. But let it have its comfort. What comfort? The Lord Himself will descend with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first; and then we who remain alive shall be caught up In the clouds to meet Christ, into the air. Pereat contristatio ubi tanta est consolatio.' Let grief be wiped away from the soul, VOL. II.-PART III.

of λomol] the rest, the others, the heathen. On this use of of AoiToi see ch. v. 6; 1 Cor. vii. 12. The feelings of the Heathen on the subject of death were expressed as follows: Theocr. (Id. iv. 42), ἐλπίδες ἐν ζωοῖσιν, ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ θανόντες. Æschyl. (Eum. 638), ἅπαξ θανόντος οὔτις ἐστ ̓ ἀνάστασις. Catull. (v. 4), " Soles occidere et redire possunt: | Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, | Nox est perpetua una dormienda." How different from the language of the Apostle! (See on 1 Cor. xv. 37.) But these words of Aonol, are not to be limited to the Heathen, but are applicable to the ungodly, and generally to all who are not true believers. See Proverbs xi. 23, λπìs àσeßŵv àñoλeîtai, but τ. 7, δικαίου οὐκ ὄλλυται ἐλπίς.

14. ei yáp] for if we believe; the el does not imply any doubt, but assumes that there is no doubt. Cp. Col. iii. 1. Phil. i. 22. 'Inooûs àπébave] Jesus died. But they of whom he is speaking are not said by him to be dead, but asleep. The death

of Jesus has made death to be not death, but sleep.

asleep through the power and death of Jesus, and through faith τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ] those who have been laid in Him, Who Himself (as the Apostle says here) died and rose again.

The bias of some Expositors to separate the words dià Toû 'Inσoû from kolunévras, and to join them in a less easy combination with age, seems to have arisen from neglect of the proper meaning of Kounoévтas, somno compositos,' laid asleep.

The best illustration of the sense of the word is found in the first passage in which it occurs in the New Testament, viz. in the history of the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He looked up to heaven and saw Jesus, once dead, but now risen and standing at God's right hand to help him. He prayed to Jesus to receive his spirit, and through the love and power of Jesus, Who had died, and had been buried, and had risen and ascended into heaven, and through faith in Him, the first Martyr éxophon, fell asleep.

On this use of dia, through a person as a mediator, and especially as applied to Christ, the Mediator (1 Tim. ii. 5), and the Door (John x. 7), and the Way (John xiv. 6), through Whom alone all blessings, both in life and death, come to us from God, see John x. 9; xiv. 6. Acts iii. 16; x. 36. 43. Rom. i. 5; v. 11. 17. 21. 1 Cor. viii. 6; xv. 21. 2 Cor. i. 5; v. 18. Gal. vi. 14, δι ̓ οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται. Col. i. 16. 20. 2 Thess. iii. 12. Tit. iii. 5, 6. Heb. xiii. 15. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 5, and Dean Alford's excellent note here, and so Ellicott.

Indeed, Chrysostom had rightly expounded the words thus, T πίστει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ κοιμηθέντας : and Theodoret says, "Jesus is the Mediator of the Resurrection; and the faithful who have Christ dwelling in themselves Koutai dià Toû 'Inσoû.”

15. év λóyw Kupíov] in the Word of the Lord; not on my own authority, but the Lord's Who speaks in me, and by me.

This expression, the Word of the Lord,' is a link which connects the writings of the Apostle with those of Moses and the Prophets of old, to whom the Word of the Lord came,' and who are said to speak in the Word of the Lord.' See 1 Kings xiii. 1, 2. Jer. i. 4, LXX. Hos. i. 2.

16 m ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ ἐν σάλ

distinguished from the dead) who are being left behind (present participle) by the departure of others who die from time to time, shall not anticipate those who have fallen asleep; or, as Tertullian says (de Resurrect. 24), "nos qui remanemus in adventum Domini non præveniemus eos qui dormierunt."

This passage has given rise to three questions:

1. What is the meaning of the words of Cwvres, the living, here?

2. Whether, inasmuch as all men are from Adam, and since it is said in Holy Scripture that by Adam death passed upon all, and that in Adam all die (Rom. v. 12. 14. 1 Cor. xv. 22), and it is appointed unto men to die, and after that the Judgment (Heb. ix. 27), they who are alive on the earth when Christ comes will first die, and so pass through Death to Resurrection and Judgment?

These two questions were discussed in ancient times;
Another has arisen in modern days, viz. ;

3. Whether St. Paul believed and taught in this Epistle that he himself would be alive at Christ's coming, and therefore sup. posed that the Second Advent was near at hand when he wrote these words?

On this point the reader may see the note there.

Consequently, some Expositors were led to interpret CVTES as equivalent to spiritually alive, and quickened by a lively faith; and others supposed that all would first die, and then revive and be raised for Judgment.

These differences of opinion are recapitulated by S. Jerome, Epist. ad Minervium, iv. p. 216; S. Augustine, de octo Dulcitii quæstionibus, vol. vi. p. 223; and Epist. ad Mercator. 193; and de Civ. Dei, xx. 20; and in Enchirid. c. 54; de Fide et Symb. c. 8; S. Chrys. and Theophyl. in 2 Tim. iv. 1; and by Isidorus Pelusiot. Epist. 222; and, in later times, by Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. vii. pp. 561-563.

S. Augustine, although not enabled to ascertain the true reading in 1 Cor. xv. 51 as fully as it has since been determined, declared the true meaning of the passage in the following language:

thought, especially of late, that those, whom Christ at His coming finds alive, shall immediately die; and after a sudden and universal expiration shall be restored to life again, and joined with the rest whom the graves shall render, that all may be partakers of the resurrection;

But the Apostle's description of the last Day mentioneth no such kind of death, yea, rather excludeth it: For we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the Lord. (1 Thess. iv. 15-17.)

In which words, they which remain unto the coming of the Lord, are not said to die or to rise from the dead, but are distinguished from those which are asleep and rise first: yea, being alive, are caught up together with them, having not tasted death;

The same is further confirmed by the Apostle, saying, Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed (1 Cor. xv. 51), which, being added to the former, putteth this doctrine out of question; for the living, which remain at the coming of Christ, are opposed to them which are asleep; and the opposition consists in this, that they shall not sleep, which sleep is not opposed to a long death, but to death itself, as it followeth, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (which shall not sleep) shall be changed; so that their mutation shall be unto them as a Resurrection. And collation of these two Scriptures maketh up this conclusion so manifestly, that I conceive no man had ever doubted or questioned the truth of it, had they not first diflered in the reading of the text. (Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. vii. p. 563.)

3. As to the third question, we may say

It was not revealed by Almighty God to St. Paul, nor has it ever been revealed to any man, whether he himself should remain alive till Christ's second coming. Our Lord said to his Apostles, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His own power." (Acts i. 7.)

46

But it would be very erroneous to say (as has been recently affirmed by some), that St. Paul expected that he himself, and the majority of those whom he was addressing, would be alive at Christ's Second Coming; and that he taught in this Epistle, as an article of Christian Doctrine, that Christ would come in his own age and lifetime; and that he was deceived in this expectation, and afterwards "modified this opinion," particularly when "he saw the evil effects of this doctrine on the practice of the Thessalonians," who (it is alleged) were induced by the expectation of an immediate reappearance of Christ to relinquish their worldly callings, and to live in idleness.

If no other meaning can be attached to the words of the Apostle, and if it be evident, that he designed that the meaning which they manifestly proclaim, should be assigned to them, namely, that at the end of the World, and at the Lord's Second Coming, there will be some who will not be unclothed of their bodies, but be clothed upon with immortality, and this mortal will be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. v. 4), doubtless with this This allegation is disproved by the fact that St. Paul used meaning will accord that which we profess in the Rule of Faith, the same language five years after the composition of his two namely, that He will come again to Judge the Quick and Dead;' Epistles to the Thessalonians, viz. in his first Epistle to the Coso that we are not here to understand by the word quick, therinthians, where, using the first person plural in the same way as just, and by the word dead, the unjust, although it be true that the Just and the Unjust will be judged; but by the word quick in the Creed we are to understand those whom Christ's second Coming will find not yet departed from the body; and by dead, those who have departed from it. And those other texts (1 Cor. xv. 36. 51) must be so expounded as to agree with this interpretation. (Augustine.)

However, even till the sixteenth century, many Expositors were of the opinion that all who were alive at Christ's coming would first die, and then revive and be judged. So Aquinas, Anselm, and A Lapide here.

But now that the reading of 1 Cor. xv. 51 has been established, by the collation of MSS. and Versions derived from all parts of Christendom, there can be no longer any doubt that the interpretation propounded by S. Augustine is the true one; and it may suffice to remind the reader of the words of the learned English Expositor of the Creed on this subject; He shall judge the quick, that is, those which shall be then alive when He cometh; and He shall judge the dead, that is, those which at the same time shall be raised from the dead;

The only doubt in this interpretation is, whether those that shall be found alive when our Saviour cometh shall still so continue till they come to judgment, or upon His first appearance they shall die, and after their death revive; and so together with all those which rise out of their graves appear before the judgment

seat. The consideration of our mortality, and the cause thereof (that it is appointed unto all men once to die, in that death hath passed upon all, Heb. ix. 27. Rom. v. 12), might persuade us that the last generation of mankind should taste of death, as well as all the rest that went before it; and therefore it hath been

here, he says, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Cor. xv. 5.1).

And, be it observed, he used that language at a time when he himself personally was in daily danger of death. (1 Cor. xv. 31. Cp. 2 Cor. i. 8, 9.)

If the personal pronoun we in the present passage means St. Paul himself and his own contemporaries, it must also have the same meaning in the latter passage.

There was no alteration whatever in his teaching, such as is supposed;

Before he wrote to the Corinthians he himself warned the Thessalonians in his second Epistle, which, be it remembered, was written very shortly after the first, against being "soon shaken or troubled as if the day of the Lord was at hand" (2 Thess. ii. 2).

And he teaches them that the Day of the Lord would not come until after the manifestation of some Power, which was not then visible, and which he describes.

St. Paul, also, in his Epistle to the Romans, written in the next year after the first Epistle to the Corinthians, speaks of the Conversion of the Jews as an event still to be looked for after the "fulness of the Gentiles had come in " (Rom. xi. 24-27).

This was a preliminary prophecy, which he, the Apostle of the Gentiles, well knew was not yet accomplished; and therefore he was a debtor to the Gentiles (Rom. i. 14, 15; xi. 13), and bound to promote its fulfilment. Cp. Tertullian, de Resurrectione, c. 23.

As to the use of the pronoun we in this passage and that to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xv. 51), if it be pressed rigidly, it would follow that all the Thessalonians to whom he writes, who would

πιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ ̓ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται

πρῶτον, 17 η ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπα- η John 12. 26. γησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα· καὶ οὕτω πάντοτε συν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. 18 Ωστε παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις.

ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου-ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ] with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God. See Zech. ix. 14, ❘ ii. 12; iv. 1.

a Matt. 24. 3, 36.

Mark 13. 34.

a

V. 1: Περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων καὶ τῶν καιρῶν, ἀδελφοὶ, οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε ὑμῖν Η Μ24 12, 43 γράφεσθαι· 25 αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκριβῶς οἴδατε, ὅτι ἡμέρα Κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτὶ οὕτως ἔρχεται· 3· ὅταν γὰρ λέγωσιν, Εἰρήνη καὶ ἀσφάλεια, τότε αἰφνίδιος αὐτοῖς ἐφίσταται ὄλεθρος, ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶν τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκφύ

Luke 21. 34.

2 Pet. 3. 10.

Rev. 3. 3.

& 16. 15.

c Luke 21. 34, 35.

Isa. 13. 6-9.

Jer. 13. 21.

d Eph. 5. 8.

e Luke 16. 8. Rom. 13. 12.

Eph. 5. 8.

f Matt. 24. 42.

& 25. 13.

Luke 21. 34, 36.

Rom. 13. 11, 12.

1 Cor. 15. 34.

Eph. 5. 14.

1 Pet. 5. 8.

g Rom. 13. 13.

h Isa. 59. 17. Rom. 13. 12.

Eph. 6. 14. &c.

i Rom. 9. 22.

1 Pet. 2. 8.

k Rom. 14. 8, 9.

1 Cor. 5. 15.

1 Rom. 15. 27.

1 Cor. 9. 11.

& 16. 18.

Gal. 6. 6.

Phil. 2. 29.

1 Tim. 5. 17. Heb. 13. 7, 17.

γωσιν.

e

4 4Ὑμεῖς δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σκότει, ἵνα ὑμᾶς ἡ ἡμέρα ὡς κλέπτης καταλάβῃ· 5' πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς υἱοὶ φωτός ἐστε καὶ υἱοὶ ἡμέρας, οὐκ ἐσμὲν νυκτὸς οὐδὲ σκότους.

h

6 f

*Αρα οὖν μὴ καθεύδωμεν ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ, ἀλλὰ γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν· 7 8 οἱ γὰρ καθεύδοντες νυκτὸς καθεύδουσι, καὶ οἱ μεθυσκόμενοι νυκτὸς μεθύουσιν 8 * ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας ὄντες νήφωμεν, ἐνδυσάμενοι θώρακα πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης, καὶ περικεφαλαίαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας· 9 · ὅτι οὐκ ἔθετο ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ὀργὴν, ἀλλ ̓ εἰς περιποίησιν σωτηρίας διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 10 * τοῦ ἀποθανόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ἵνα, εἴτε γρηγορῶμεν εἴτε καθεύδωμεν, ἅμα σὺν αὐτῷ ζήσωμεν.

κ

11 Διὸ παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους, καὶ οἰκοδομεῖτε εἰς τὸν ἕνα, καθὼς καὶ ποιεῖτε. 12 Ερωτῶμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοὶ, εἰδέναι τοὺς κοπιῶντας ἐν ὑμῖν, καὶ προϊστα

1

CH. V. 1. τῶν χρόνων καὶ τ. καιρῶν] the times and seasons : * de temporibus et momentis' (Vulg.). Χρόνος signifies duration or length of time; καιρὸs, point of time: so that καιρὸς is ἀκμὴ χρόνου, ' punctum temporis. See on Acts i. 7, and the remarks of Augustine, Epist. 197, noting the inadequacy of the Latin lan- | guage to mark this difference, "Ibi Græcè legitur (Act. i. 7) χρόνους ἢ καιρούς. Nostri utrumque hoc verbum tempora appel lant sive χρόνους sive καιροὺς, cum habeant hæc duo inter se non negligendam differentiam ;" which he explains.

2. ἀκριβῶς οἴδατε] ye know well. How did the Thessalonians | know certainly that the Day of the Lord would come "as a thief in the night?"

The expression is a remarkable one. No one but Christ Himself would have ventured to compare His Second Advent to judge the World to the coming of a Thief. Probably the Thessalonians derived that knowledge from a written Gospel.

If so, it must have been either from the Gospel of St. Matthew (xxiv. 43), or of St. Luke (xii. 39), or from both. See above, on ii. 18 and iii. 5.

The present comparison is not found in either of the two other Gospels. The expression, the Day shall come, is not found in St. Matthew (cp. Matt. xxiv. 50), but it is found in St. Luke (xxi. 34, 35).

Also, the word αἰφνίδιος, here used by St. Paul to describe the sudden coming of that day, occurs only once in the New Testament, viz. in the Gospel of St. Luke describing the coming

of that Day.

Whether the Thessalonians were now in possession of the Gospel of St. Luke, is a question which has been touched upon elsewhere. See on 1 Thess. i. 9; ii. 18. 2 Cor. viii. 18.

It may be observed here, in addition to what is there said, that, at the beginning of both these Epistles to the Thessalonians, the Apostle addresses them to the Church (Εκκλησία), 25 8 Society already existing at Thessalonica (1 Thess. i. 1. 2 Thess. i. 1), and that in this chapter we have evidence of the existence of a body of Clergy (v. 12) already organized there.

|

We find also a solemn charge from St. Paul, that this Epistle should be publicly read in the presence of the Faithful (v. 27), | doubtless in the assembly of the Church.

We know also that the reading of the Gospels as well as of the Old Testament was a part of the Ritual of the Primitive Church. (See Justin M. Apol. ii. p. 98; c. Tryph. p. 331. Kirchofer, pp. 35, 36.)

It is probable, that the Holy Spirit who gave so solemn a charge that this Epistle should be read in the Church, would have been equally earnest in providing that some authentic account of the words, works, and sufferings of Him on Whom all the teaching of the Apostle in this and all his Epistles is built, should be extant for the use of the faithful; and that one of the duties of the Clergy who are mentioned here, was to read such an

Evangelic History in the public religious assemblies at Thessalonica. See further on v. 21. 27.

· ἡμέρα Κυρίου] the day of the Lord. The Article ή is prefixed by A, I, K, but not by B, D, E, F, G. Cp. 2 Pet. iii. 10, ἥξει ἡμέρα Κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης.

οὕτως ἔρχεται] so it cometh; the present tense, it cometh, marks its certainty. Cp. ἐφίσταται υ. 3, and Rev. i. 7, and ep. Winer, § 40, p. 237.

3. ἡ ὠδίν] the birth-yang. See Ps. xlviii. 6, ὠδῖνες ὡς τικτούσης. Jer. vi. 24; xiii. 21.

6. οἱ λοιποί] the others the heathen.

See above, iv. 13.

8. θώρακα πίστεως] the breastplate of faith. In carnal weapons, a shield is always a shield, and nothing more; but not so in spiritual. For we find that the Apostle sometimes specifies the 'loricam fidei,' the breastplate of faith; and in another place, scutum fidei,' the shield of faith. (Eph. vi. 14. 16.) Faith is both a breastplate and a shield; it is a shield because it receives and wards off the darts of the enemy, and it is a breastplate because it defends the heart from being pierced through. Augustine (in Ps. 34).

9. εἰς περιποίησιν] for the purchase of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Ad acquisitionem salutis per Dominum' (Vulg.); and so the Gothic Version of Ulphilas. περιποίησις, from περιποιοῦμαι, sibi vendico, redimo, is said properly of Christ purchasing salvation for us, and redeeming us by This signification of the word had already been prepared for Evangelical use by the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, which uses the word in the sense of recovering, rescuing, pur

the sacrifice of Himself.

chasing, and making alive and keeping alive. See Isa. xxxi. 5, περιποιήσεται καὶ σώσει, and xiii. 21, λαόν μου ὃν περιεποιησάμην, and see Gen. xxxi. 18; xxxvi. 6, and Mal. iii. 17. 1 Pet. ii. 9.

But by virtue of their incorporation in Christ their Head, the acquisition made by Christ is here predicated of Believers, who by means of His death and passion acquire salvation and glory ; and so the Apostle speaks in 2 Thess. ii. 14, εἰς ὃ ἐκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς εἰς περιποίησιν δόξης τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Cp. Heb. x. 39.

10. εἴτε γρηγορῶμεν] whether we be awake or asleep: whether we be dead or alive. Cp. Rom. xiv. 8.

11. εἷς τὸν ἕνα] one the other. See 1 Cor. iv. 6, εἰς ὑπὲρ τοῦ So Herod. iv. 50, ἓν πρὸς ἓν συμβάλλειν. Winer, § 26,

ἑνός.

Ρ. 156.

12.

εἰδέναι] to know and discern, to distinguish from false teachers, and to acknowledge, to revere and love them as teachers of the truth. See on Acts xv. 18. Compare 1 Cor. xvi. 16. 18, ἐπιγινώσκετε τοὺς τοιούτους, and Phil. ii. 29.

This word eidévat is specially used to express the duty owed by the Laity to their Ministers. Thus Ignatius (Smyrn. 9), καλῶς ἔχει ἐπίσκοπον εἰδέναι.

On the duty here inculcated of "obedience to Spiritual Guides and Governors,” see Dr. Barrow's Three Sermons, vol. iii. pp. 106-167, in which the author, with his usual clearness and learning, shows first who they are that are entitled to be owned

μένους ὑμῶν ἐν Κυρίῳ, καὶ νουθετοῦντας ὑμᾶς, 13 καὶ ἡγεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς ὑπερεκπε- m Rom. 14. 1. ρισσοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ διὰ τὸ ἔργον αὐτῶν.

14 " Παρακαλοῦμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοὶ, νουθετεῖτε τοὺς ἀτάκτους, παραμυθεῖσθε τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους, ἀντέχεσθε τῶν ἀσθενῶν, μακροθυμεῖτε πρὸς πάντας.

15 'Ορᾶτε μή τις κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ τινὶ ἀποδῷ, ἀλλὰ πάντοτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν διώκετε, καὶ εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας.

16 ° Πάντοτε χαίρετε· 17 " ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε· 189 ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε, τοῦτο γὰρ θέλημα Θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς.

19' Τὸ Πνεῦμα μὴ σβέννυτε, 20 προφητείας μὴ ἐξουθενεῖτε. 21. Πάντα δὲ δοκιμάζετε· τὸ καλὸν κατέχετε, 22' ἀπὸ παντὸς εἶδους πονηροῦ ἀπέχεσθε.