Joshua D. Vander Stel
Presented to Dr. Donald Holdridge
April 5, 2007
Greek Exegesis, 11:30 A.M. TR
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF 1 THESSALONIANS 2:13-20:Having been taken away from them physically, Paul greatly desires to be in the presence of his Christian family in Thessaloníki — his glory and joy.
OUTLINE OF 1 THESSALONIANS 2:13-20:
Paul's personal Reflections on the ThessaloniansPaul's Founding of the Church, Reminders for the ChurchI. (2:1-16) Fruit of the Conversion of the Thessalonians
A. (2:13-14) Steadfastness and Endurance Mark Christian Converts
B. (2:15-16) Evil Acts of the Judeans
Lord's Wrath Upon the Judeans
II. (2:17-20) Paul is Taken Away from the Thessalonians
A. (2:17-18a) The Gospel Creates Enduring Fellowship and Love:
Desire to be Together Physically
B. (2:18b) Satan Hinders Paul
C. (2:19-20) A New Church Becomes a Reward for a Christian Witness:
New Believers are Paul's Glory and Joy
(Wilkinson 420, Butler 1339, MacArthur 1842).
INTRODUCTION:
The first letter to the Thessalonians was sent by Paul from Corinth about AD. 51. Thessalonica, modern day Salonika, was a great seaport and the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. As a “free city” under Augustus, she possessed authority to appoint a governing board of magistrates called “politarchs”. Her location on the main road from Rome to the East brought commercial success and a population of about 200,000 in the first century. A city steeped in mysticism, Greek, and Roman deities, Thessalonica was within sight of Mount Olympus and the legendary Pantheon (Wilkinson 417).
Although often debated by historians, it is possible that Thessalonica was home or workplace to a large Jewish population. The ethics and monotheism of the Jews was extremely attractive to Greeks saturated by and frustrated with immoral paganism, and Judaism was initially embraced. These gentiles sympathetic to Judaism, called God-fearers, were primed for the good news of Messiah. As a result, many were quick to respond to Paul's presentation of the gospel when he visited during his second missionary journey (Acts 17:10). Local Jews became jealous of Paul's missionary success, and being unable to find Paul or Silas they brought Jason, the missionaries' host, before the Politarchs. Jason was accused of harboring traitors of Rome, and was forced to make a pledge — likely guaranteeing Paul and Silas' permanent departure from Thessalonica. The missionaries left for Berea that night (Wilkinson 417). Apparently, the Thessalonian Jews proceeded to cause trouble in Berea, so Paul moved on to Athens, instructing Silas and Timothy to join him there (Acts 17:11-16). When they arrived, Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica (3:1-2). Silas, or Silvanus, probably went to Philippi. Then they both rejoined Paul at Corinth (1:1, Acts 18:5). It was there in A.D. 51 that Paul wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians in response to Timothy's good report (Wilkinson 418).
As Timothy must have conveyed, the church at Thessalonica was abounding in many ways. The purpose of Paul writing this letter was to encourage and educate the Thessalonian converts. Paul was able to commend the believers for their “exemplary faith, diligent service, patient steadfastness, and overflowing joy” (Wilkinson 416). Paul also thought it necessary to voice a word of caution. Paul realizes that the Thessalonians' present abundance of joy and success in living for Christ is no guarantee against future complacency (Wilkinson 416). Paul encourages the Thessalonians to excel in their faith, grow in love for one another, and to give thanks for all things in every circumstance. It is Paul's desire that the Thessalonian church would stay on track, and continue to grow exponentially! The two themes of 1 Thessalonians are encouragement and exhortation, from Paul as a spiritual father to the church at Thessalonica as his spiritual children.
Paul had an earnest desire to rejoin the believers at Thessalonica, but the Adversary hindered his return. Paul may have been in Thessalonica for as little as three weeks (“three Sabbaths,” Acts 17:2). Yet several factors seem to indicate Paul may have spent as much as a year there. First, while in Thessalonica Paul received two separate offerings from Philippi, a city about one hundred miles away (Philippians 4:15-16). Second, most of the Thessalonians that accepted Paul's message were gentiles coming out of idolatry (1:9, 2:14-16), implying a focused ministry toward the gentiles after Paul's initial work with the Jews and gentile God-fearers. Third, Paul writes that he worked “night and day” (2:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9) while he was at Thessalonica. Paul supported himself by tent making, which would have taken away many hours from his ministry of evangelism. This would have required a longer stay in order to accomplish the great work of transformation that took place. The language of his epistle shows Paul was deeply attached to the Thessalonians, and proud of their salvation and spiritual growth. It is this attachment and parental pride that plays out in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20.
EXEGESIS OF 1 THESSALONIANS 2:13-20:
Fruit of the Conversion of the Thessalonians (vv.2:1-16)In this section, Paul is pleased to compliment the Thessalonians. He expresses how thankful he is for their testimony and their encouragement to him. He congratulates them on their recent salvation, and excitedly recounts the change he has seen in them as they have come out of Judaism and idolatry. At the end of these verses, Paul reminds the church of the evil actions of the Judeans, and that their judgment will come swiftly from God.
Steadfastness and endurance are the marks of Christian converts (vv.2:13-14).
Because of this, we also give thanks to God continually, that having received the word of hearing from us (of God), you accepted not the word of man, but as it truly is– the word of God, who also works in you who believe. Paul, and likely Timothy, express their happiness to the Thessalonians. Paul is thankful to God continually (present tense) that the Thessalonians received the gospel he preached to them. In a time where men enjoyed following great men, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that the word they heard from him was the gospel of God, not of Paul. ...who also works in you who believe. Paul describes God as an effective agent of change- God does work in his chosen. Paul is in essence indicating that he has observed growth in the Thessalonian believers.
For you became imitators, brethren, of the assemblies of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you suffered such things, even you, from your own countrymen, as also they from the Jews... Paul encourages the Thessalonians by saying they are very similar to the churches in other areas of Jewish power, namely Israel. This would have been exciting, as the Judean churches were highly respected. As they face persecution, the Thessalonians should know that other churches have faced the same things before them. Paul knows the hardships of being persecuted by everyone in your community, and especially the local Jews. The Thessalonians “suffered” things similar to the Judean churches, only now from both the majority Greeks and the local Jews.
The Judeans act evil towards the new Christians (2:15-16a).
...the Jews, who put to death both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and persecuted us, and are not pleasing [to] God, and [are] contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the nations that they might be saved... The Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus, even though Roman guards carried out the murder. The Jews killed the
Savior. The Jews were responsible for persecuting Paul, other evangelists, and all Christians. The Jews wanted to stop the
messengers of
Salvation. The Jews also did everything possible to ensure that there were no converts to Christianity. They wanted to
prevent salvation. In these three manners the Jews were contrary to all men.
The Lord's wrath has come upon the Judeans (vs.2:16b)....to fill up their sins always, but the anger has come upon them – to the end! The sin of the Jews is as far as it can go. Their deserved punishment could not be greater. They “pile up their sins to the maximum limit” (Matthew 23:32, Romans 2:5) (MacArthur 1845). The anger, or wrath, is the wrath of God as in 1:10. It has come in that the judgment of God in Revelation 19, and the eternal wrath for unbelievers is such a sure thing that it can already be referred to as having already come. God's wrath against sin is also upon unbelievers from their creation until they may be saved and covered with Christ.
Paul is Taken Away from the Thessalonians (vv.2:17-20)
In the next four verses, Paul expresses his desire to be with the congregation at Thessalonica. His joy, and theirs, derives from their common faith in Christ, and Christ;s presence within the church body and family. Paul, in his separation, feels incomplete and as a dismembered part of the Body of Christ. Our spiritual family, especially our spiritual children by evangelism, are our source of hope, glory, and joy.
The gospel creates enduring fellowship and love (vv.2:17-18a).
And we, brethren, having been taken from you for the space of an hour – in presence, not in heart – hastened more abundantly to see your face with much desire, therefore we wished to come to you, even I Paul, both once and again... Paul, as a spiritual parent to the church founded through him in Thessalonica, desires to be with his spiritual children. Yet, he has been taken away from the Thessalonians – separated physically. In mind and heart, he remains in one accord with them.
The Greek word translated
having been taken from is
aporfanisthentes, a participle (Aorist Passive Participle, Masculine Nominative Plural) from the verb aporfanidzo– to make an orphan of, or to separate from. The phrase “Aporfnisqentes af uvmwnv” (vs.17) is translated several different ways in modern translations:
we were torn away from you (NIV, ESV, NIRV)
we were bereft of you (AMP)
we were kept from coming to you (CEV)
were separated from you (Message)
after we were separated (NLT)
after we were forced to leave you (HCSB)
having been taken away from you (NASB, NKJV)
having been bereft of you (NASB prior to revision)
having been taken from you (YLT)
we... being taken from you (KJV, 21st Century KJV)
we... being bereaved of you (ASV)
we desolate from you (Wycliffe)
when we were orphaned by being separated from you (TNIV)
Barclay Newman's lexicon lists aporfanizw as “to separate from” (Newman 22). F. Wilbur Gingrich and the editors of the Shorter Lexicon point out that aporfanizw is always used figuratively, and translate it as “to make an orphan of” (Gingrich 23). Balz and Schneider agree, saying the word's only use in the New Testament is figurative of Paul, who is separated from the congregation at Thessalonica. They also specify the word's meaning as “to make an orphan (of someone)” (Balz 141).
It is interesting to note that aporfanizw is a hapax legomena, that is to say that the word in all its forms appears only once amidst the 5594 words of the New Testament (Thayer 642). It appears that the word may have been created by Paul, who is known to have created many compound words in his writings (Thayer 642). The elements compounded to make aporfanizw, the preposition apo, or away (from) and the noun orfanos (orphan), are both very common in most koine writings. Paul was well educated, and although he wrote in the common language, he enjoyed working with and creating words, as well as pinpointing exactly the word to use for each expression. Amazingly, out of a vocabulary of 363 words in Thessalonians, 200 words appear just once (Köstenberger 1135). Yet aporfanizw appears only once in the entire Bible. Could Thessalonians 2:17 be the birthplace of this unusual verb?
No derivatives of orfanos are similar to aporfanizw (there are no other verbs from orfanos, in either ancient or modern Greek). There are two adjectives from the noun orfanos. These adjectives both mean fatherless, and they are used frequently in the writings of Josephus and the Septuagint. Yet, the word aporfanizw does not appear in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) (Liddell 380). In the Old Testament, there was no Hebrew term for orphan or the act of being made an orphan... only the concept of being father less (Butler 479). This fact has been attributed to the patriarchal male-centered attitude of most ancient cultures (Butler 480). This explains the word's absence in the Septuagint, even if the word existed prior to Paul.
It can be assumed that aporfanizw was extremely uncommon even several decades after Paul wrote Thessalonians, as it does not appear in any of the ancient historian Josephus' writings, the Apocrypha, or even the Pseudopygrapha (Rengstorf 84). Josephus did employ the Greek term for orphan, the noun orfanos. He also used the adjective orfania, but he used no verb forms relating to orphanhood – Paul's form or otherwise (Rengstorf 84). It is interesting to observe the transformation in social status relating to children without parents. The Hebrews understood only the absence of the male parent as detrimental. Yet “fatherless” was replaced in Greek thinking by a feminine adjective!
Prior to the writings of Paul, no author is known to have used the verb aporfanizw. There is however one ancient mysterious case outside of the New Testament. The Greek playwright Aeschylus, writing about 550 years before Paul, used a passive verb that has often been translated similarly to Paul's. Aeschylus' aporfanizomai means to be orphaned or bereaved (Liddell 380). It is very possible that Paul was reaching for this passive verb when he was writing Thessalonians, as Paul was well educated in the Greek classics. Yet, Paul's aporfnisqentes, apparently from a more modern root form, may have been intended as a modification upon Aeschylus' word. Paul could have been simply updating a word that had not been used in the Greek language for some 500 years, or he could have been intentionally shifting the focus of the verb. Although both authors' forms are passive, Aeschylus' use focuses on the child being abandoned, while Paul's displays a parent being forcefully removed from their child (Thayer 642). An orphan is created in each case, but the usages emphasize the different parties involved.
In the five hundred years following Paul's epistle, only one other primary source is known to employ the verb aporfanizw. The Apophthegmata Patrum, a collection of wise anecdotes and spiritual illustrations, was probably authored by hermits and monks dwelling in the Egyptian desert in the fourth century (Apophthegmata 1). These early Christians kidnapped Paul's verb and used it in another way entirely. Their use indicated separation from God, or to be bereaved and deprived of God's good blessing (Lampe 207). In 300 years, the verb had switched from social emphasis to spiritual, or at least the relational meaning had switched from man-man to man-God.
Amazingly, somewhere in the last five hundred years Paul's original usage returned. The word aporfanizw has finally come into common use. The modern Greek language uses the verb to talk about a child who has been abandoned or whose parents have died. Usage of the word can be seen on the websites of Greek orphanages, the Greek parliament (Parliament.gr) and in modern Greek dictionaries.
Upon studying the Greek word, the following translation most accurately captures the emotional pain Paul is experiencing in his separation from the Thessalonians:
...for the space of an hour, we were forced to leave you as orphans – we were torn away from you in presence, not in heart.
We hastened more abundantly to see your face with much desire, therefore we wished to come to you, even I Paul, both once and again... Paul earnestly desired to be very close to the Thessalonians. He wished to be in their presence, face to face. Apparently, several times Paul has considered or attempted going back to Thessalonica.
Satan hinders Paul (vs.2:18b).
...and the Adversary did hinder us. Despite his earnest desire, and perhaps repeated attempts, Paul has been unable to rejoin the Thessalonians. The Devil in some way prevented his progress. This could refer to the pledge that Jason made (Acts 17:9) as referenced in the introduction of this paper. The Devil as Adversary was Paul's enemy as a military or athletic opponent, and continually worked against Paul, his missionary efforts, and the growth of the churches.
A new church becomes a reward for a Christian witness (vv.2:19-20).For, what [is] our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you before our Lord Jesus Christ in his presence? For you are our glory and joy! Paul peaks his argument in the revelation that our joy is not in material things. Our happiness, hope, and joy need not hinge on temporal status, and need not be affected adversely by persecution or the work of the Devil. The source of our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing, our glory, etc. is the salvation of men's souls, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is ultimately revealed in the presence of Jesus, through His splendor displayed in His Body the Church, as well as at the Lord's Day in His physical appearance (perhaps a preview of the topics addressed in chapter four). The crown of rejoicing may be a reference metaphorically to the wreath awarded an athletic victor. It is “a wreath of exultation which celebrates salvation's victory over Satan and mankind's persecution of believers” (MacArthur 1846). Thus Paul ties in verse 18b, and expresses the inability of Satan as Adversary to impede the progress of God's work of salvation.
APPLICATIONS:Much like the Apostle Paul, I am unable to be present physically with the church family I love. As I am away at college, I greatly miss the friendships, the fellowship, the encouragement, and the edification I once experienced as a part of that body. Yet, I know that I can rejoice in their growth while I am away. I can thank God for the salvation of my friends back home, and pray that they continue to conform to Christ's image. The key principle in verses nineteen through twenty is that the source of our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing, our glory, etc. is in the salvation of men's souls, and in our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As I work at Lowe's Hardware, I am often ridiculed and mistreated because of my faith, which I evidence verbally and through my work. I can be encouraged in Paul's reminder to the Thessalonians that many have gone before me and experienced persecution, and God has protected them and allowed them to grow through those experiences. Even more so, I can continue to work hard without being recognized, as I know that working hard is a testimony to Christ's presence within my life. Thanks to verses 19-20, I know that my reward will be the salvation of my co-workers, not promotion or being treated well.
I am pursuing a career as a Pastor. I know that God has gifted me in the areas necessary, and He has called me to teach. God has provided for me in every way so far, and I am progressing toward being a trained pastor. Yet, I am often reminded by other people that being a pastor is very difficult financially. There is no reward monetarily for serving the Lord, and at times I will suffer and I will have to give up things other less-deserving men have. In these situations, I can call to remembrance verses 19-20. My reward is not wealth, luxury, or financial security. I will have to trust in God's provision. My reward is the salvation of men's souls, and the joy I receive from serving the Body.
WORKS CITED
“Apophthegmata Patrum”. New Catholic Dictionary. Catholic Forum.com. 5 April 2007.
Balz, Horst and Gerhard Schneider, Eds. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. 3 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980.
Butler, Trent C., Ed., et. al. Holman Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Holman Bible, 1991.
Gingrich, F. Wilbur. Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. 2d ed. Rev. by Frederick W. Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1983.
International Inductive Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Eugene: Harvest House, 1993.
Köstenberger, Andreas and Raymond Bouchoc. The Book Study Concordance of the Greek New Testament. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2003.
Lampe, G.W.H., Ed. A Patristic Greek Lexicon. 5 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
Liddell, H.G., and R. Scott, Eds. Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996.
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible: New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997.
Newman, Barclay M., Jr. A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament. Stuttgart, West Germany: Biblia-Druck, 1971.
Rengstorf, K.H., Ed. A Complete Concordance to Flavius Josephus. 5 vols. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1973.
Strong, James. The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: King James. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001.
Thayer, Joseph Henry. The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Lafayette: Book Publisher's Inc, 1983.
Wilkinson, Bruce and Kenneth Boa. Talk Through the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983.
BibleGateway.com. 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20. Gospel Communications International. 2007. 4 April 2007. .
