2 Thessalonians 3 · Robertson's Word Pictures
1Finally (to loipon). Accusative of general reference. Cf. loipon 1Th 4:1 .
Pray (proseuchesthe). Present middle, keep on praying. Note per as in 1Th 5:25 .
That the word of the Lord may run and be glorified (ina o logos tou kuriou treche ka doxazeta). Usual construction of ina after proseuchoma, sub-final use, content and purpose combined. Note present subjunctive with both verbs rather than aorist, may keep on running and being glorified, two verbs joined together nowhere else in the N.T. Paul probably derived this metaphor from the stadium as in 1Co 9:24ff.; Ga 2:2; Ro 9:16; Php 2:16; 2Ti 4:7 . Lightfoot translates "may have a triumphant career." On the word of the Lord see on 1Th 1:8 . Paul recognizes the close relation between himself and the readers. He needs their prayers and sympathy and he rejoices in their reception of the word of the Lord already,
even as also it is with you (kathos ka pros umas). "As it does in your case" (Frame).
2And that we may be delivered (ka ina rusthomen). A second and more personal petition (Milligan). First aorist passive subjunctive of ruoma, old verb to rescue. Note change in tense from present to aorist (effective aorist).
From unreasonable and evil men (apo ton atopon ka poneron anthropon). Ablative case with apo. Originally in the old Greek atopos (a privative and topos) is out of place, odd, unbecoming, perverse, outrageous, both of things and persons. Poneros is from poneo, to work (ponos), looking on labour as an annoyance, bad, evil. Paul had a plague of such men in Corinth as he had in Thessalonica.
For all have not faith (ou gar panton e pistis). Copula estin not expressed. Panton is predicate possessive genitive, faith (article with abstract substantive) does not belong to all. Hence their evil conduct.
3But the Lord is faithful (pistos de estin o kurios).
But faithful is the Lord (correct rendition), with a play (paronomasia) on pistis by pistos as in Ro 3:3 we have a word-play on apisteo and apistia. The Lord can be counted on, however perverse men may be.
From the evil one (apo tou ponerou). Apparently a reminiscence of the Lord's Prayer in Mt 6:13 rusa emas apo tou ponerou. But here as there it is not certain whether tou ponerou is neuter (evil) like to poneron in Ro 12:9 or masculine (the evil one). But we have o poneros (the evil one) in 1Jo 5:18 and tou ponerou is clearly masculine in Eph 6:16 . If masculine here, as is probable, is it "the Evil One" (Ellicott) or merely the evil man like those mentioned in verse 2? Perhaps Paul has in mind the representative of Satan, the man of sin, pictured in 2:1-12, by the phrase here without trying to be too definite.
4And we have confidence (pepoithomen). Second perfect indicative of peitho, to persuade, intransitive in this tense, we are in a state of trust.
In the Lord touching you (en kurio eph' umas). Note the two prepositions, en in the sphere of the Lord (1Th 4:1 ) as the ground of Paul's confident trust, eph' (ep) with the accusative (towards you) where the dative could have been used (cf. 2Co 2:3 ).
Ye both do and will do ([kai] poieite ka poiesete). Compliment and also appeal, present and future tenses of poieo.
The things which we command (a parangellomen). Note of apostolic authority here, not advice or urging, but command.
5Direct (kateuthuna). First aorist active optative of wish for the future as in 2:17; 1Th 5:23 from kateuthuno, old verb, as in 1Th 3:11 (there
way , here
hearts ) and Lu 1:79 of
feet (podas). Perfective use of kata. Bold figure for making smooth and direct road. The Lord here is the Lord Jesus.
Into the love of God (eis ten agapen tou theou). Either subjective or objective genitive makes sense and Lightfoot pleads for both, "not only as an objective attribute of deity, but as a ruling principle in our hearts," holding that it is "seldom possible to separate the one from the other." Most scholars take it here as subjective, the characteristic of God.
Into the patience of Christ (eis ten upomnen tou Christou). There is the same ambiguity here, though the subjective idea, the patience shown by Christ, is the one usually accepted rather than "the patient waiting for Christ" (objective genitive).
6Now we command you (parangellomen de umin). Paul puts into practice the confidence expressed on their obedience to his commands in verse 4.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (en onomat tou kuriou Iesou Christou).
Name (onoma) here for authority of Jesus Christ with which compare
through the Lord Jesus (dia tou kuriou Iesou) in 1Th 4:2 . For a full discussion of the phrase see the monograph of W. Heitmuller, Im Namen Jesu. Paul wishes his readers to realize the responsibility on them for their obedience to his command.
That ye withdraw yourselves (stellestha umas). Present middle (direct) infinitive of stello, old verb to place, arrange, make compact or shorten as sails, to move oneself from or to withdraw oneself from (with apo and the ablative). In 2Co 8:20 the middle voice (stellomeno) means taking care.
From every brother that walketh disorderly (apo pantos adelphou ataktos peripatountos). He calls him "brother" still. The adverb ataktos is common in Plato and is here and verse 11 alone in the N.T., though the adjective ataktos, equally common in Plato we had in 1Th 5:14 which see. Military term, out of ranks.
And not after the tradition (ka me kata ten paradosin). See on 2:15 for paradosin.
Which they received of us (en parelabosan par emon). Westcott and Hort put this form of the verb (second aorist indicative third person plural of paralambano, the -osan form instead of -on, with slight support from the papyri, but in the LXX and the Boeotian dialect, Robertson, Grammar, pp. 335f.) in the margin with parelabete (ye received) in the text. There are five different readings of the verb here, the others being parelabon, parelabe, elabosan.
7How ye ought to imitate us (pos de mimeistha emas). Literally, how it is necessary to imitate us. The infinitive mimeistha is the old verb mimeoma from mimos (actor, mimic), but in N.T. only here (and verse 9), Heb 13:7; 3Jo 1:11 . It is a daring thing to say, but Paul knew that he had to set the new Christians in the midst of Jews and Gentiles a model for their imitation (Php 3:17 ).
For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you (ot ouk etaktesamen en umin). First aorist active indicative of old verb atakteo, to be out of ranks of soldiers. Specific denial on Paul's part in contrast to verse 6,17 .
8For nought (dorean). Adverbial accusative, as a gift, gift-wise (dorea, gift, from didom). Same claim made to the Corinthians (2Co 11:7 ), old word, in LXX, and papyri. He lodged with Jason, but did not receive his meals gratis, for he paid for them. Apparently he received no invitations to meals. Paul had to make his financial independence clear to avoid false charges which were made in spite of all his efforts. To eat bread is merely a Hebraism for eat (verse 10). See 1Th 2:9 for labour and travail, and night and day (nuktos ka emeras, genitive of time, by night and by day). See 1Th 2:9 for rest of the verse in precisely the same words.
9Not because we have not the right (ouch ot ouk echomen exousian). Paul is sensitive on his
right to receive adequate support (1Th 2:6; 1 Co 9:4 where he uses the same word exousian in the long defence of this
right , 1Co 9:1-27 ). So he here puts in this limitation to avoid misapprehension. He did allow churches to help him where he would not be misunderstood (2Co 11:7-11; Php 4:45f. ). Paul uses ouch ot elsewhere to avoid misunderstanding (2Co 1:24; 3:5; Php 4:17 ).
But to make ourselves an ensample unto you (all' ina eautous tupon domen umin). Literally,
but that we might give ourselves a type to you . Purpose with ina and second aorist active subjunctive of didom. On tupon see on 1Th 1:7 .
10This (touto). What he proceeds to give.
If any will not work, neither let him eat (ot e tis ou thele ergazestha mede esthieto). Recitative ot here not to be translated, like our modern quotation marks. Apparently a Jewish proverb based on Ge 3:19 . Wetstein quotes several parallels. Moffatt gives this from Carlyle's Chartism: "He that will not work according to his faculty, let him perish according to his necessity." Deissmann (Light from the Ancient East, p. 314) sees Paul borrowing a piece of workshop morality. It was needed, as is plain. This is a condition of the first class (note negative ou) with the negative imperative in the conclusion.
11For we hear (akouomen gar). Fresh news from Thessalonica evidently. For the present tense compare 1Co 11:18 . The accusative and the participle is a regular idiom for indirect discourse with this verb (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 1040-2). Three picturesque present participles, the first a general description, peripatountas ataktos, the other two specifying with a vivid word-play,
that work not at all, but are busy-bodies (meden ergazomenous alla periergazomenous). Literally,
doing nothing but doing around . Ellicott suggests,
doing no business but being busy bodies . "The first persecution at Thessalonica had been fostered by a number of fanatical loungers (Ac 17:5 )" (Moffatt). These theological dead-beats were too pious to work, but perfectly willing to eat at the hands of their neighbours while they piddled and frittered away the time in idleness.
12We command and exhort (parangellomen ka parakaloumen). Paul asserts his authority as an apostle and pleads as a man and minister.
That with quietness they work, and eat their own bread (ina meta esuchias ergazomeno ton eauton arton esthiosin). Substance of the command and exhortation by ina and the present subjunctive esthiosin. Literally,
that working with quietness they keep on eating their own bread . The precise opposite of their conduct in verse 11.
13But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing (umeis de, adelphoi, me enkakesete kalopoiountes). Emphatic position of umeis in contrast to these piddlers. Me and the aorist subjunctive is a prohibition against beginning an act (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 851-4). It is a late verb and means to behave badly in, to be cowardly, to lose courage, to flag, to faint, (en, kakos) and outside of Lu 18:1 in the N.T. is only in Paul's Epistles (2Th 3:13; 2Co 4:1,16; Ga 6:9; Eph 3:13 ). It occurs in Polybius. The late verb kalopoieo, to do the fair (kalos) or honourable thing occurs nowhere else in the N.T., but is in the LXX and a late papyrus. Paul uses to kalon poiein in 2Co 13:7; Ga 6:9; Ro 7:21 with the same idea. He has agathopoieo, to do good, in 1Ti 6:18 .
14And if any one obeyeth not our word by this epistle (e de tis ouch upakoue to logo emon dia tes epistoles). Paul sums up the issue bluntly with this ultimatum. Condition of the first class, with negative ou, assuming it to be true.
Note that man (touton semeiousthe). Late verb semeioo, from semeion, sign, mark, token. Put a tag on that man. Here only in N.T. "The verb is regularly used for the signature to a receipt or formal notice in the papyri and the ostraca of the Imperial period" (Moulton & Milligan's Vocabulary). How this is to be done (by letter or in public meeting) Paul does not say.
That ye have no company with him (me sunanamignustha auto). The MSS. are divided between the present middle infinitive as above in a command like Ro 12:15; Php 3:16 or the present middle imperative sunanamignusthe (-a and -e often being pronounced alike in the Koine). The infinitive can also be explained as an indirect command. This double compound verb is late, in LXX and Plutarch, in N.T. only here and 1Co 5:9,11 . Auto is in associative instrumental case.
To the end that he may be ashamed (ina entrape). Purpose clause with ina. Second aorist passive subjunctive of entrepo, to turn on, middle to turn on oneself or to put to shame, passive to be made ashamed. The idea is to have one's thoughts turned in on oneself.
15Not as an enemy (me os echthron). This is always the problem in such ostracism as discipline, however necessary it is at times. Few things in our churches are more difficult of wise execution than the discipline of erring members. The word echthros is an adjective, hateful, from echthos, hate. It can be passive,
hated , as in Ro 11:28 , but is usually active
hostile , enemy, foe.
16The Lord of peace himself (autos o kurios tes eirenes). See 1Th 5:23 for
the God of peace himself .
Give you peace (doie umin ten eirenen). Second aorist active optative (Koine) of didom, not doe (subjunctive). So also Ro 15:5; 2Ti 1:16,18 . The Lord Jesus whose characteristic is peace, can alone give real peace to the heart and to the world. (Joh 14:27 ).
17Of me Paul with mine own hand (te eme cheir Paulou). Instrumental case cheir. Note genitive Paulou in apposition with possessive idea in the possessive pronoun eme. Paul had dictated the letter, but now wrote the salutation in his hand.
The token in every epistle (semeion en pase epistole). Mark (verse 14) and proof of the genuineness of each epistle, Paul's signature. Already there were spurious forgeries (2Th 2:2 ). Thus each church was enabled to know that Paul wrote the letter. If only the autograph copy could be found!
18Salutation just like that in 1Th 5:28 with the addition of panton (all).
THE FOURTH GROUP
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES
FIRST TIMOTHY
TITUS
SECOND TIMOTHY
A.D. 65 TO 68
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
It is necessary to discuss introductory matters concerning the three because they are common to them all. It is true that some modern scholars admit as Pauline the personal passages in 2Ti 1:15-18; 4:9-22 while they deny the genuineness of the rest. But that criticism falls by its own weight since precisely the same stylistic characteristics appear in these admitted passages as in the rest and no earthly reason can be advanced for Paul's writing mere scraps or for the omission of the other portions and the preservation of these by a second century forger.
The external evidence for the Pauline authorship is strong and conclusive (Clement, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Theophilus, the Muratorian Canon). "Traces of their circulation in the church before Marcion's time are clearer than those which can be found for Romans and II Corinthians" (Zahn, Introduction to the N.T., tr. II, p. 85). Marcion and Tatian rejected them because of the condemnation of asceticism by Paul.
Objections on internal grounds are made on the lines laid down by Baur and followed by Renan. They are chiefly four. The "most decisive" as argued by McGiffert (History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, p. 402) is that "the Christianity of the Pastoral Epistles is not the Christianity of Paul." He means as we know Paul in the other Epistles. But this charge is untrue. It is true that Paul here lists faith with the virtues, but he does that in Ga 5:22 . Nowhere does Paul give a loftier word about faith than in 1Ti 1:12-17 . Another objection urged is that the ecclesiastical organization seen in the Pastoral Epistles belongs to the second century, not to the time of Paul's life. Now we have the Epistles of Ignatius in the early part of the second century in which "bishop" is placed over "elders" of which there is no trace in the New Testament (Lightfoot). A forger in the second century would certainly have reproduced the ecclesiastical organization of that century instead of the first as we have it in the Pastoral Epistles. There is only here the normal development of bishop (=elder) and deacon. A third objection is made on the ground that there is no room in Paul's life as we know it in the Acts and the other Pauline Epistles for the events alluded to in the Pastoral Epistles and it is also argued on late and inconclusive testimony that Paul was put to death A.D. 64 and had only one Roman imprisonment. If Paul was executed A.D. 64, this objection has force in it, though Bartlet (The Apostolic Age) tries to make room for them in the period covered by the Acts. Duncan makes the same attempt for the Pauline scraps admitted by him as belonging to the hypothecated imprisonment in Ephesus. But, if we admit the release of Paul from the first Roman imprisonment, there is ample room before his execution in A.D. 68 for the events referred to in the Pastoral Epistles and the writing of the letters (his going east to Ephesus, Macedonia, to Crete, to Troas, to Corinth, to Miletus, to Nicopolis, to Rome), including the visit to Spain before Crete once planned for (Ro 15:24,28 ) and mentioned by Clement of Rome as a fact ("the limit of the west"). The fourth objection is that of the language in the Pastoral Epistles. Probably more men are influenced by this argument than by any other. The ablest presentation of this difficulty is made by P. N. Harrison in The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles (1921). Besides the arguments Dr. Harrison has printed the Greek text in a fashion to help the eye see the facts. Words not in the other Pauline Epistles are in red, Pauline phrases (from the other ten) are underlined, hapax legomena are marked by an asterisk. At a superficial glance one can see that the words here not in the other Pauline Epistles and the common Pauline phrases are about equal. The data as to mere words are broadly as follows according to Harrison: Words in the Pastorals, not elsewhere in the N.T. (Pastoral hapax legomena) 175 (168 according to Rutherford); words in the other ten Pauline Epistles not elsewhere in the N.T. 470 (627 according to Rutherford). Variations in MSS. will account for some of the difficulty of counting. Clearly there is a larger proportion of new words in the Pastorals (about twice as many) than in the other Pauline Epistles. But Harrison's tables show remarkable differences in the other Epistles also. The average of such words per page in Romans is 4, but 5.6 in II Corinthians, 6.2 in Philippians, and only 4 in Philemon. Parry (Comm., p. CXVIII) notes that of the 845 words in the Pastorals as compared with each other 278 occur only in I Tim., 96 only in Titus, 185 only in II Tim. "If vocabulary alone is taken, this would point to separate authorship of each epistle." And yet the same style clearly runs through all three. After all vocabulary is not wholly a personal problem. It varies with age in the same person and with the subject matter also. Precisely such differences exist in the writings of Shakespeare and Milton as critics have long ago observed. The only problem that remains is whether the differences are so great in the Pastoral Epistles as to prohibit the Pauline authorship when "Paul the aged" writes on the problem of pastoral leadership to two of the young ministers trained by him who have to meet the same incipient Gnostic heresy already faced in Colossians and Ephesians. My judgment is that, all things considered, the contents and style of the Pastoral Epistles are genuinely Pauline, mellowed by age and wisdom and perhaps written in his own hand or at least by the same amanuensis in all three instances. Lock suggests Luke as the amanuensis for the Pastorals.
The conclusion of Lock is that "either they are genuine 'letters' or artificial 'Epistles'" (Int. Crit. Comm., p. XXV). If not genuine, they are forgeries in Paul's name (pseudepigraphic). "The argument from style is in favour of the Pauline authorship, that from vocabulary strongly, though not quite conclusively, against it" (Lock, Op. Cit., p. XXIX). I should put the case for the Pauline authorship more strongly than that and shall treat them as Paul's own. Parry (Comm., p. CXIII) well says: "It is not reasonable to expect that a private letter, addressed to a personal friend, for his own instruction and consideration, should exhibit the same features as a letter addressed to a community for public, oral communication."
Special Books on the Pastoral Epistles (besides Introductions to the N.T., Apostolic History, Lives of Paul, the Epistles of Paul as a whole): Belser (1907), Bernard (Cambridge Gr. T., 1899), E. F. Brown (Westminster, 1917), Bowen (Dates of P. Letters, 1900), Dibelius (Handbuch, 1913), Ellicott (1883), P. Fairbairn, P. N. Harrison (Problem of the Past. Eps., 1921), Harvey (1890), Hesse (Die Entst., 1889), Humphreys (Camb. B., 1897), Huther (1890), H. J. Holtzmann (1880), James (Genuineness and Authorship of P. Eps., 1906), Kohler (Schriften N.T., 2 Aufl. 1907), Knabenbauer (1913), Kraukenberg (1901), Laughlin (Past. Eps. in Light of One Rom. Imp., 1905), Lilley (1901), W. Lock (Int. & Crit. Comm., 1924), Lutgert (Die Irrlehre d. P., 1909), Maier (Die Hauptprobleme d. P., 1910), Mayer (1913), Meinertz (1913), Michaelis, W (Pastoralbriefe etc. zur Echtheitsfrage der Pastoralbriefe, 1930), Niebergall (Handbuch, 1909), Parry (1920), Plummer (Exp. B., 1896), Pope (1901), Riggenbach (1898), Stock (Plain Talks on, 1914), Strachan (Westm. N.T., 1910), von Soden (Hand-Comm., 1891), Wace (Sp. Comm., 1885), B. Weiss (Meyer Komm., ed. 5, 1886), White (Exp. Grk. T., 1910), Wohlenberg (Zahn's Komm._, 1906).
FIRST TIMOTHY
PROBABLY A.D. 65
FROM MACEDONIA
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
Assuming the Pauline authorship the facts shape up after this fashion. Paul had been in Ephesus (1Ti 1:3 ) after his arrival from Rome, which was certainly before the burning of Rome in A.D. 64. He had left Timothy in charge of the work in Ephesus and has gone on into Macedonia (1Ti 1:3 ), possibly to Philippi as he had hoped (Php 2:24 ). He wishes to help Timothy meet the problems of doctrine (against the Gnostics), discipline, and church training which are increasingly urgent. There are personal touches of a natural kind about Timothy's own growth and leadership. There are wise words here from the greatest of all preachers to a young minister whom Paul loved.
1 Timothy 1