u Rom. 15. 33. ch. 3. 13.

1 Cor. 1. 8.

& 6. 20.

x 1 Cor. 1. 9.

& 10. 13.

2 Cor. 1. 18.

Heb. 10. 23.

y Rom. 16. 16. 1 Cor. 16. 20.

2 Cor. 13. 12.

u

vi. 7), probably referring to the present text. See the note of Valesius on Euseb. 1. c., and note above on Matt. xxv. 27, and the present Editor's note on Theocritus xii. 23.

On the duty of examining the evidence of Religion, see on 1 Cor. x. 15.

This precept, "Try all things, hold fast the good, and abstain from all eril," evidently implies that they to whom it is addressed had some standard by which all things were to be tried.

They are required to prove the various doctrines presented to them; they must therefore have had some touchstone by which those doctrines were to be tested. What could that be? Some authentic document doubtless. How otherwise could these Thessalonians, who were only neophytes in Christianity, recently con. verted from idolatry (1 Thess. i. 9), have been proof against the arts of false teachers? how would they be enabled to prove ali things, and to hold fast the truth? This consideration confirms the opinion stated above (v. 2), viz. that they had a written Gospel already provided for them.

On this text see Dr. Waterland, Serm. xxiii. vol. ix. p. 287. 22. and navтds eïdous пovnрoû à éxeode] This precept, like that in v. 20 (see note), is to be coupled with the preceding one. Hence S. Basil says (cited by Grinfield here), "The wise examiner of spiritual coinage (i. e. of doctrine) will hold fast what is genuine, but will hold himself of ἀπὸ παντὸς εἴδους πονηροῦ.”

Try all things, put them to the test, do not hastily receive any doctrine that is presented to you, nor believe every spirit, but prove them by the Rule of Faith which ye have received, and hold fast that which is good, Τὸ καλὸν κατέχετε, but ἀπέχεσθε ἀπὸ Tavros Eldous пovnpov, hold yourselves off from its opposite evil.'

Observe the contrast between κατέχετε and ἀπέχεσθε, and between Tò xaλov, 'the one good and true,' as opposed to аяò παντὸς εἴδους πονηροῦ.

But what is εἴδους πονηροῦ ?

Some learned expositors interpret it, every form, sort, or kind of evil.'

But this interpretation seems liable to two objections;

1. The word eldos (from eldw, video) which often occurs in the LXX, means form, outward appearance, which is seen; but it does not signify kind, except perhaps in Jer. xv. 3. And it never signifies kind or sort in the New Testament. Indeed that is a philosophical sense of eldos which is not quite in harmony with the style of the sacred text. The nearest approach to that meaning is in Ecclus. xxiii. 16; xxv. 2. In the New Testament eldos signifies visible form, shape (Luke iii. 22; ix. 29. John v. 37) or outward appearance (2 Cor. v. 7) as distinguished from what is an object of faith and is unseen.

2. eldous seems more naturally construed as agreeing with πονηροῦ. And it is doubtful whether πονηροῦ would have been used for Tou Tovnрoû. The passage cited in defence of this construction, Heb. v. 14, πрòs diákρioiv Kaλoû тe Kal Kakou, is hardly parallel.

Accordingly we find that in the Vulgate, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic Versions, eïdous is construed as agreeing with wovnpoù, and so the Old Latin Version in the Codex Augiensis (now first published by Mr. Scrivener), and Cod. Boërnerianus. On the whole, the meaning of the two precepts seems to be:

Hold fast the good, and Hold yourselves off, refrain, not merely from πᾶν ἔργον πονηρόν, every evil work, (cp. 2 Tim. iv. 18, where the structure is the same as here, and аνтds рyou оvпpov, and confirms this exposition, and Job i. 1, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος, LXX, and Exod. xxiii. 7,) but hold yourselves also off from every appearance that is evil; from every thing that has an evil look.

Provide things honest, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men (2 Cor. viii. 21); or as the heathen poet expresses it, keep yourselves off

ance. An ancient version of an early Father thus renders the words: "Deus pacis sanctificet vos perfectos, et integer vester spiritus et anima et corpus sine querelâ in Adventum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi servetur," Irenæus (v. 6. 1), who comments on this triple division of the human constitution, and on the graces which men receive from God, and the duties which they owe to Him, for the perfect preservation of each of these elements (spirit, soul, and body) to the coming of Christ.

What reason (says Irenæus) had the Apostle to pray for a perfect preservation of those elements (soul, body, and spirit), unless he foreknew the reunion of all three, and that there is one salvation for them all? They who present all three blameless to God will be perfect. They will be perfect, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, and keep their souls and bodies blameless before Him, by holding the true faith, and doing their duty to their neighbour. (S. Irenaeus, and see S. Gregory Nyssen ap. Theophyl. here.)

It is not to be supposed that the yux and veûμa are different parts of the human constitution; for the sentient faculty is indiscerptible (Bp. Butler, Anal. i.), and cannot be anatomized, like the body; but they are different faculties of the invisible part of man; so that yux refers to that lower faculty of life which man has in common with other animals, and veûμa represents the higher attribute which they do not possess, and which makes him nearest to God. (See Grotius here.)

This distinction of σῶμα, ψυχὴ, and πνεῦμα is best illustrated by the adjectives thence derived, and as used by St. Paul; σwuaTIKOS belonging to the body (1 Tim. iv. 8), vxirds, animal, distinguished from TVEνμATIKòs, spiritual, 1 Cor. ii. 14; xv. 44. 46 cp. Jude 19, ψυχικοί, πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες. Observe also their order, as here marked by St. Paul,-vevμa, the spirit, or highest faculty, the proper recipient of the Holy Spirit; then, secondly, ux, or living principle, as that which animates the oŵua, or corporeal frame. Cp. 1 Tim. iii. 16.

26. ἀσπάσασθε—φιλήματι ἁγίῳ] Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. This precept also is to be coupled with that which is placed next to it, viz. I conjure you that this Epistle be read to all the brethren.'

Let the reader compare this precept as it stands here with the other places where the same precept occurs in St. Paul's Epistles (1 Cor. xvi. 20. 2 Cor. xiii. 12. Rom. xvi. 16. Cp. 1 Pet. v. 14), and let him also bear in mind the practice of the primitive Church in this respect, especially as stated by Justin Martyr (Apol. ii. p. 97), "After the Prayers (in the Church) are ended, we greet one another with a kiss."

S. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech. 5, n. 2) says that, before the 'sursum corda' a deacon said to the communicants (in the words of St. Paul),"Salute one another with a holy kiss."

This was called plλnua eiphvns, Osculum Pacis,' the ‘Kiss of Peace,' and a seal of peace, Signaculum Pacis' (Tertullian de Orat. 14), and sometimes simply 'Pax.' In the Eastern Churches it was given before the oblation in the Eucharist, as a sign of reconciliation and love; in the Western, after the consecration of the elements, and before the distribution. See Concil. Laodic. c. 19; August. c. literas Petil. ii. c. 23 (quoted by Bingham, xv. 3. 3); and Constitut. Apost. ii. 57, àσña(éolwoav àλλýλovs oí ávδρες καὶ ἀλλήλας αἱ γυναῖκες τὸ ἐν Κυρίῳ φίλημα.

Further, we know from the Acts of the Apostles that the Churches planted by St. Paul came together on a stated day, the Lord's Day, to break bread, i. e. to receive the Holy Communion. See on Acts xx. 7.

On considering these evidences we may conclude that the kiss of which the Apostle speaks, was not one given in private; it was a holy kiss, the kiss of peace, the kiss to be given in a holy place on a holy solemnity, the kiss to be given in the assemblies of the Church at the Holy Communion. In a word, this kiss which passed from mouth to mouth was a holy symbol of Unity. The mouth which gave it was about to receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist, and the kiss was a seal of that love which knits together the faithful with one another and with Him in the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood. Here, then, we have another glimpse of the system of spiritual order and discipline organized by the Apostle in the Churches planted by him.

Concerning this Apostolic precept, "Salute one another with a holy kiss," and whether it is still obligatory, see Hooker, Pref.

iv. 4, &c.

27. Ενορκίζω (30 A, B, D*, Ε.-Elz. ὁρκίζω) ὑ. τ. Κ. ἀναγνωσθῆναι τὴν ἐπιστολὴν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀδελφοῖς ] I adjure you by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the holy brethren. A solemn adjuration by the Lord, Christ; and a testimony to His Godhead. For He Whom the Apostle invokes, as knowing all things, cannot be other than God. Cp. Ps.

Ixiii. 12.

This solemn adjuration shows also the great importance of the matter here enjoined, viz. that the Epistle now sent should be read to all the brethren, doubtless, not only at Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia, but in all the Macedonian Churches. Compare 1 Cor. i. 1, 2. 2 Cor. i. 1.

Taken together also with other similar denunciations in Holy Writ, it seems to imply a condemnation of every Church which is untrue to this charge, and does not read the Holy Scriptures in the vernacular tongue to the people. "Quod Paulus cum adjuratione jubet, id Roma sub anathemate prohibet" (Bengel). There is something therefore like a prophetic protest in this solemn adjuration.

The Apostle had given a precept in the foregoing verse concerning an order to be observed in their public assemblies at the administration of the Holy Communion. He now gives direction as to another point in their public Ritual, viz. the Reading of Holy Scripture.

He uses the same language in both precepts, with a slight change in the position of the words.

He had said, Salute all the brethren, Toùs àdeλþoùs návтas, greet every one, with a holy kiss; he now says, I adjure you, by the Lord, that this Epistle be read to all the holy brethren.—åylois is not in B, D, E, F, G, and is omitted by Lach., Tisch., Alf. ; but it is in A, I, K and many Versions and Fathers, and is retained by Ellicott. On the use of the aorist here, see his note, p. 87.

This Epistle was the first Epistle written by St. Paul; and the precept he gives here, that this Epistle should be read in the public assemblies of the Church, is a specimen and pattern of what was to be done with all his Epistles. They were addressed (for the most part) not to private or particular persons, but to large public Societies, to Churches. See particularly Gal. i. 2, the Churches of Galatia; 1 Cor. i. 2. 2 Cor. i. 1, to the Church at Corinth with all the Saints that are in all Achaia.

They were to be passed on and circulated from one Church to another. See Colossians iv. 15, 16, “When this Epistle is read among you (he takes it for granted that it will be read), cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that ye read the Epistle from Laodicea,"-probably another Epistle of the Apostle. See the note there.

His Epistles, which were to be thus read, were to be read, not as the word of man, but of God. They were to be read in the same manner as, and of equal authority with, the Books of Moses and the Prophets, which were read as Holy Scripture in the Synagogues, and had been recognized as the Word of God by Jesus Christ Himself.

See his assertion of his own inspiration in this Epistle (1 Thess. ii. 13, and 1 Cor. ii. 13). See also the terms in which he refers to his Epistle in 2 Thess. ii. 15; iii. 6. 14. That St. Paul's injunctions to read this Epistle in this manner were complied with, we may infer from the second Epistle, where he commends the Thessalonians for their faith (2 Thess. i. 3), which he would not have done if they had disobeyed the precept laid upon them here with a solemn adjuration.

It is also to be remembered, that the Apostle St. Peter, at the close of his life, when all, or nearly all, St. Paul's Epistles had been written, speaks of all St. Paul's Epistles as Holy Scripture (see on 2 Pet. iii. 16), i. e. as of equal authority with those writings which, and which alone, were called Scripture by the Ancient Church and People of God, and had been received as divinely Inspired by them, and by Jesus Christ Himself. Besides, it is manifest from early Christian testimony that St. Paul's | Epistles were read in all Churches of Christendom in primitive times, and were read as Scripture. See, for instance, Tertullian, Præs. Hæret. c. 36; adv. Marcion. iv. 5. Canon. Muratorian. Origen ap. Euseb. vi. 24. Cyril Hierosol. cat. 4. Clemens Rom. i. 47. Here then we have a further insight into the order and discipline of Christian Churches as founded by the Apostles.

We have seen that the Society of Christians at Thessalonica is called a Church (i. 1; cp. ii. 1), that it had a body of Clergy known as such (v. 12, 13). We have seen reason to believe that they had public assemblies on a stated day for the administration

of the Holy Communion; and we now perceive ground for the persuasion that a part of the public service on those occasions consisted in the reading of St. Paul's Epistles as Holy Scripture. Three inferences may be drawn from the above:

(1) If such an organization as this was settled in the Gentile City of Thessalonica, one of the first cities of Europe which received the Gospel, and where he was enabled to remain only for a short time, and to which this Epistle (the earliest written by him) is addressed, much more may we believe that a regular system of Church Order and Ritual, as well as of Christian Teaching, was settled in the other Churches to which the Apostle came afterwards in succession, such as Corinth and Ephesus, and which had the benefit of his presence for a longer time, and which received and read the Epistles which he had already written to other Churches.

This conclusion is confirmed by what we know of those other Churches from the Acts of the Apostles and the other Epistles of St. Paul. See, for instance, Acts xx. 17. 1 Cor.

xiv. 26.

(2) If St. Paul thus solemnly adjures the Thessalonians that this Epistle, written by himself, should be read in the public assemblies of the Church, and if all his Epistles were thus read, and if they were read as Holy Scripture by the Churches, it is reasonable to suppose (as has been already suggested, see on i. 9, and on ii. 18, and v. 2) that the Apostle had provided for those Churches some written document, containing a record of the words, works, and sufferings of Him on Whom all St. Paul's teaching in all his Epistles is grounded.

Would the Apostle, who so earnestly conjures them to read his own words, not take good care that they should be able to read the words of his Divine Master JESUS CHRIST?

Is it not therefore probable that they to whom he sent this Epistle possessed already a written Gospel?

(3) This earnest adjuration in the name of the Divine Head of the Church, that this Epistle should be publicly read, and the fact that this precept was complied with, and that all St. Paul's Epistles were publicly read as Holy Scripture in the Churches of all parts of Christendom in the age in which they were written, and have continued to be read in all parts of the World even to this day, will suffice to convince all reasonable persons that the Epistles which we have in our hands, bearing the Apostle's name, cannot have been tampered with; and that these Epistles, as a whole and in every part of them, are, what they profess to be, the writings of the blessed Apostle St. Paul.

In a word, this public reading of the Epistles was a divine provision made by the Holy Spirit Himself, not only for the public promulgation of His own Will and Word, but for the perfect assurance and unswerving belief of all reasonable men in the Genuineness, Authenticity, Integrity, and Inspiration of that Word.

It is the best safeguard against all allegations on the contrary side. And they who duly consider the nature of this evidence will not much need to occupy their time and distract their thoughts with the theories of those who, forgetting or suppressing this evidence, which dates from the age of St. Paul himself, and declares itself in the consentient voice and concurrent practice of eighteen centuries, set up their own surmises against its authority, and deny the genuineness and inspiration of Epistles of St. Paul. 28. ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ] The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. After the solemn adjuration to read his Epistle in the Church, he adds the token by which it was to be known as his Epistle. St. Paul did not write his Epistles with his own hand, except in one instance, as far as we know for certain (though other exceptions have been made by some), viz. the Epistle to the Galatians, in which he expressly mentions the fact (Gal. vi. 11) in order to obviate any doubts as to the genuineness of the other Epistles not so written;

But his usual habit was to employ an amanuensis. I, Tertius, who wrote this Epistle, salute you in the Lord (Rom. xvi. 22). And this was a happy circumstance, because the persons whom he employed as his amanuenses were witnesses to the genuineness of the Epistles penned by them. But though (as was usual for authors in those days) St. Paul dictated his Epistles to secretaries, yet he invariably subscribed them with his own hand. "The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every Epistle, so I write. The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand" (2 Thess. iii. 17. Col. iv. 18. 1 Cor xvi. 21.)

In what did this salutation consist?

If we examine the thirteen Epistles to which the name of

St. Paul is prefixed, we find that near their conclusion they all contain (with some verbal variations) the phrase," The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." And St. Paul himself indicates that this Apostolic Benediction is what he means by the salutation of me Paul; for in the passage just quoted he says, "The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every Epistle: so I write," and then he adds immediately, "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." These words, then, the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, were St. Paul's salutation written by his own hand. This was the token by which all his Epistles were to be known. And a beautiful and interesting token it is.

The following is the form in which this salutation appears in the several Epistles, arranged in chronological order :—

1 Thess. v. 28. you.

2 Thess. iii. 18. you all.

St. Paul's Benediction.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with

Gal. vi. 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren.

1 Cor. xvi. 23. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

2 Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

Rom. xvi. 24. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Col. iv. 18. Grace be with you.

Philem. 25. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Eph. vi. 24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

Phil. iv. 23. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

The choice of this yvápioμa, or badge of cognizance, is characteristic. The Apostle, who was the most signal monument of Divine Grace, fitly chooses Grace for his motto and sign manual. This salutation, found at the close of every one of St. Paul's thirteen Epistles, is not found in any one of the Epistles of any other Apostle, written in St. Paul's lifetime. It is employed by others after his death. It is used in the Apocalypse (written after St. Paul's death), and also by S. Clement of Rome at the close of his Epistle to the Corinthians.

It was adopted by St. Paul as his own badge, and, being known by others to be so, it seems to have been appropriated and reserved to him by his brethren during his life. Soon after his death it was used by others, and it has now become the ordinary conclusion of liturgies and sermons in all parts of Christendom.

This salutation, employed by St. Paul as his own criterion in each of his Thirteen Epistles, and not used by any other Apostle in St. Paul's life, is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to which St. Paul's name is not prefixed, but which ends thus, They of Italy salute you: Grace be with you all. Amen." (Heb. xiii. 24, 25.)

This circumstance confirms the evidence that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by St. Paul. See below, the Introduc tion to that Epistle.

The subscription to the Epistle in Elz., purporting that it was written from Athens, found in A, B**, I, K, and other MSS., and in the Syriac, Arabic, and Coptic Versions, is inconsistent with the History of the Acts (xviii. 5) and the beginning of the Epistle itself. See Introduction above, p. 1, and Lünemann, p. 7.