1 Thessalonians 4

Syntactic observation

Λοιπὸν οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ἐρωτῶμεν ὑμᾶς καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ἐν κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ, ἵνα καθὼς παρελάβετε παρ’ ἡμῶν τὸ πῶς δεῖ ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καὶ ἀρέσκειν θεῷ, καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε, ἵνα περισσεύητε μᾶλλον … τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν, ἀπέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς πορνείας, εἰδέναι ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ, μὴ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας καθάπερ καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν θεόν — For the rest, then, brothers, we ask you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, just as you received from us how you must walk and please God — just as indeed you are walking — you abound more … For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to acquire his own vessel in sanctification and honour, not in passion of desire just as also the nations that do not know God. Λοιπόν is 2 Cor 13:11 · Phil 3:1 ‘for the rest’ as there — not smoothed to ‘finally’; ⸀οὖν is the base text’s reading. ἐρωτῶμεν καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν ‘we ask and exhort’ — two verbs side by side. τὸ πῶς δεῖ ‘how you must’ — the article binds the question-clause as a noun; ⸂καθὼς καὶ περιπατεῖτε⸃ ‘just as indeed you are walking’ is the base text’s reading (absent from the Received Text). θέλημα comes without the article — ‘the will of God’ — and ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν ‘your sanctification’ stands in apposition to unfold it (the word of Rom 6:19 · 1 Cor 1:30 · three times in this chapter — vv.3 · 4 · 7). ἀπέχεσθαι (middle) is Acts 15:20 ‘keep away from’ as there. σκεῦος ‘vessel’ is the word of Acts 9:15 · Rom 9:21 — whether ‘acquiring one’s own vessel’ means taking a wife or ruling one’s own body the text does not settle; the rendering leaves it open. ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας ‘in passion of desire’ — Rom 1:26 πάθος ‘passion’ · ἐπιθυμία as at Col 3:5 ‘evil desire’. τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν θεόν has the grain of Gal 4:8 ‘not knowing God’.

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Syntactic observation

τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, διότι ἔκδικος κύριος περὶ πάντων τούτων, καθὼς καὶ προείπαμεν ὑμῖν καὶ διεμαρτυράμεθα. οὐ γὰρ ἐκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ ἀλλ’ ἐν ἁγιασμῷ. τοιγαροῦν ὁ ἀθετῶν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἀθετεῖ ἀλλὰ τὸν θεὸν τὸν καὶ διδόντα τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον εἰς ὑμᾶς — that he not overstep and take advantage of his brother in the matter, because the Lord is a bringer of justice concerning all these things, just as we also said to you beforehand and solemnly testified. For God did not call us for uncleanness but in sanctification. Consequently, the one setting aside sets aside not a man but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. ὑπερβαίνω occurs once in the New Testament — ‘overstep’; πλεονεκτέω is 2 Cor 7:2 ‘take advantage of’ as there. ἐν τῷ πράγματι ‘in the matter’ — the text does not name the matter the article points to (read as the matter of vv.3-5, but left open). ἔκδικος ⸀κύριος is Rom 13:4 ‘bringer of justice’ as there — these two places in the New Testament; the Received Text adds the article. προείπαμεν καὶ διεμαρτυράμεθα ‘said beforehand and solemnly testified’ — Gal 5:21 · Acts 2:40. ἐπὶ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ ↔ ἐν ἁγιασμῷ — the prepositions differ: ‘for uncleanness’ with the ἐπί of Gal 5:13 ‘called for freedom’ · ‘in sanctification’. τοιγαροῦν stands here and at Heb 12:1 in the New Testament — ‘consequently’ (kept apart from οὖν ‘therefore’). ὁ ἀθετῶν … ἀθετεῖ ‘the one setting aside … sets aside’ — the verb of Mark 7:9 · Gal 2:21. ⸀καὶ ⸀διδόντα ‘who also gives’ — the base text has a present participle (the Received Text an aorist δόντα): a Spirit still being given. τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον runs ‘his Spirit, the holy one’ — ‘his Holy Spirit’.

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Syntactic observation

Περὶ δὲ τῆς φιλαδελφίας οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε γράφειν ὑμῖν, αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε εἰς τὸ ἀγαπᾶν ἀλλήλους· καὶ γὰρ ποιεῖτε αὐτὸ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ. παρακαλοῦμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, περισσεύειν μᾶλλον, καὶ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν καὶ πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν, καθὼς ὑμῖν παρηγγείλαμεν, ἵνα περιπατῆτε εὐσχημόνως πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω καὶ μηδενὸς χρείαν ἔχητε — Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you are doing it toward all the brothers in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, to abound more, and to aspire to be quiet and to do your own affairs and to work with your hands, just as we charged you, so that you walk decently toward those outside and have need of nothing. φιλαδελφία is Rom 12:10 ‘brotherly love’ as there. γράφειν ὑμῖν is a subjectless infinitive — ‘for anyone to write to you’ supplies a subject (5:1 has the passive γράφεσθαι). θεοδίδακτοι occurs once in the New Testament — ‘taught by God’ (θεός + διδάσκω) · a one-word form of John 6:45 ‘they shall all be taught of God’ (διδακτοὶ θεοῦ). περισσεύειν μᾶλλον takes up v.1. φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν ‘aspire to be quiet’ — Rom 15:20 ‘aspire’ · Luke 14:4 ‘be quiet’ · not inverted to ‘quietly aspire’ (the infinitive is the object). πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια ‘do your own affairs’ · ἐργάζεσθαι ⸀ταῖς χερσίν ‘work with your hands’ (the Received Text ‘with your own hands’, ἰδίαις) — taking up 2:9 ‘working night and day’. εὐσχημόνως is Rom 13:13 ‘decently’ · οἱ ἔξω is Col 4:5 ‘those outside’ as there. μηδενὸς χρείαν ‘have need of nothing’ — μηδενός can be neuter (‘of nothing’) or masculine (‘of no one’), so it also reads ‘depend on no one’; left open.

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Syntactic observation

Οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων, ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε καθὼς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα. εἰ γὰρ πιστεύομεν ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη, οὕτως καὶ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ. τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ κυρίου, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας· ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι θεοῦ, καταβήσεται ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον, ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα· καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. ὥστε παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις — Now we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who are falling asleep … For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so also God will lead with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus … we the living, who survive until the coming of the Lord, will by no means come before those who have fallen asleep; because the Lord himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we the living, who survive, will at the same time together with them be snatched up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore console one another with these words. Οὐ θέλομεν ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν is the formula of 2 Cor 1:8 as there. ⸀κοιμωμένων is the base text’s present participle ‘those who are falling asleep’ (the Received Text has the perfect ‘who have fallen asleep’); κοιμηθέντας in vv.14 · 15 is aorist ‘those who have fallen asleep’ — John 11:11 ‘fall asleep’ as there · not hastened to ‘die’. οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα ‘the rest who have no hope’ — the grain of Eph 2:12 ‘having no hope’. ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη ‘died and rose’ — ἀνίστημι intransitive. διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ can attach to κοιμηθέντας before it or to ἄξει after it; the rendering sets it with ‘fallen asleep through Jesus’ and records the other path. ἐν λόγῳ κυρίου ‘in a word of the Lord’ — no article. οἱ περιλειπόμενοι stands in these two places in the New Testament (vv.15 · 17) — ‘who survive’. οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν ‘will by no means come before’ — the verb of Matt 12:28 · 1 Thess 2:16 ‘come upon’, here alone in its older sense ‘precede’; ‘before’ carries that sense and the verb stays. κέλευσμα occurs once in the New Testament, ‘shout of command’ · ἀρχάγγελος here and at Jude 9, ‘archangel’ (the ἀρχ- prefix) · σάλπιγξ is the word of 1 Cor 15:52 ‘the last trumpet’. ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον … ἔπειτα ‘will rise first … then’ — the order is the point of the paragraph. ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ‘at the same time together with them’ — both words rendered. ἁρπαγησόμεθα is 2 Cor 12:2 ‘be snatched up’ (passive) as there · εἰς ἀπάντησιν is the phrase of Matt 25:6 ‘to meet’ · Acts 28:15 · εἰς ἀέρα ‘in the air’ (the word of Eph 2:2). πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ‘always with the Lord’. παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ‘console one another’ — on the side of 3:7 ‘be consoled’ · one verb with 4:1 · 10 ‘exhort’ (recorded).

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