Глава IV

The Apostle's admonitions to readers for Christian prosperity (1) according to the commandments of the Lord Jesus (2) through maintaining purity, brotherly love and hard work (3-12). The resurrection of the dead and their participation together with the (glorified) living at the second coming of Christ (13–18). The exhortation part begins with chapter IV. The Apostle, having briefly pointed out in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 the shortcomings (υστερήματα) in F.’s faith, which Timothy informed him about, now moves on to a detailed discussion of these shortcomings “Το λοιπόν” - shows that the whole essence of the message is given in 1 Thessalonians 1–3, containing an apology for the relations of Apostle. Paul to the F-skim Christians. From 1 Sol.4 the addition to the first three begins. Yστερήματα θ . touched upon the chapters. image of two subjects - Christian morality (1 Thessalonians 4:1–12), and the second coming of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11). The end of the epistle is occupied with brief but deeply meaningful aphorisms concerning both the general life of the church and personal behavior. 1 Thessalonians 4:1. For this reason, brethren, we ask and implore you by Christ Jesus, that you, having received from us how you ought to act and please God, may be more successful in doing so; 1 Sol.4:2. for you know what commandments we gave you from the Lord Jesus. Ap. indicates here the basis of his έρωτώμεν και παρακαλούμεν - they are based on the basis of the divine authority of Christ (έν Κυρίφ Ί ησοϋ), recognized by F-mi. As a servant of Christ, in His name, and fulfilling His command, Apostle turns. to his followers in F. with persistent, heartfelt and authoritative exhortation, so that they, having received from him an indication of how they should please God, would succeed in this more and more. Δει here indicates moral necessity. “Αρεσκαν Θεφ is the main one for Ap. Paul, and in general the biblical concept of true life for man, in which both religion and morality are united, as they arise from the personal relationship of the believer to God” (Zindlay op. p. 81). But the Apostle reminds that all this exhortation is based on what is already known to them, and what was conveyed to them as the commandments of the Lord, revealed to them in His name (δια - indicates the name and authority of I. Christ as their sanction). 1 Sol.4:3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication; 1 Thessalonians 4:4. so that each of you knows how to keep his vessel in holiness and honor, 1 Sol.4:5. and not in the passion of lust, like the pagans who do not know God; 1 Sol.4:6. so that you do not deal with your brother in any way unlawfully or selfishly: for the Lord is the avenger of all this, as we told you before and testified. 1 Sol.4:7. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. 1 Sol.4:8. So he who is disobedient is not subject to man, but to God, who gave us His Holy Spirit. Here is Ap. touches on the most sore spot in the moral life of F-th Christians, information about which he received through Timothy. Recently converted F-tsy could not immediately break ties with their past, when many things were considered indifferent, especially in the area of ​​sexual life. The Apostle here again reminds F. of the decree of the Jerusalem Council: “keep yourselves from fornication,” for “the will of God,” which has already sanctified them, requires perfect purity from them. Hence, it is necessary for everyone to be able to (είδέναι - to know as a result of skill, “for purity is not a fleeting pulse, but an exercise, a skill” - Lightfoot) “το εαυτού σκεύος κτάσθαι” - “to observe one’s vessel in holiness and honor” (Russian. lane). Here the main difficulty arises from how to understand the word σκεύος. There are two possible understandings; according to one, σκεύος is our body, according to another, it is a metaphorical expression used here instead of the word “wife.” The second interpretation is defended by Theodore of Mopsuetsky and Blazh. Augustine (suum vas possidere, hoc est, uxorem suam in p. jul. Pelag. IV:10) and many modern commentators. The name of the wife “vessel om” is not something unexpected (although 1 Peter 3:7 has nothing to do with it); it is found among rabbinical writers; and the verb κτάσθαι meaning “to marry” is used in the LXX (Ruth. 4:10, etc.). If we accept this interpretation, then the thought will be partly the same as in 1 Cor 7:2, although with a slightly different connotation. “Although on the negative side πορνεία is forbidden, on the positive side purity and holiness are equally clearly instilled in relation to the commandment of God given in Gen. 1:28” (Ellicott Thessalonians, p. 53). But against this interpretation, two considerations can be pointed out: a) the word σκεύος in this sense is not found anywhere in N. 3.; and b) if Ap. used this expression, we would have the right to attribute to him an extremely low and sensual view of both woman and marriage. It is better, therefore, to dwell on the first interpretation adopted by Tertullian (Caro... vas vocatar apud Apostolam, quamjubet in honori tractare – De resurrectione carnis. 16), Chrysostom, Theodoret, etc. The name of the body as a vessel is found in ancient times - for example, in Lucretius in his De rerum natura, III, 440: “corpus, qaod vas quasi constitit ejus"… There is such a use of the expression in Ap himself. Paul in 2 Cor 4:7, and is found among the Apostolic men, for example, in Apostle. Barnabas in his epistle, ch. VII, “το σκεύος του πνεύματος”, the difficulty lies only in the verb κτάσθαι, which in this case will need to be translated with the word “possess”, “keep”, which is the meaning of this verb only in the past. owls κέκτησθαι. “But judging by the data from the papyri, then, apparently, one can think that, at least in ordinary colloquial speech, this meaning was no longer associated exclusively with the past. time." (Milligan, op. p. 49). “Not in the passion of lust” - when lust acquires a character not outside of standing deception, but within an active passion, an internal accompaniment to sin, a principle ruling over the inner man (Rom. 6:12). “Like the pagans who do not know God” is the depravity of the pagan world, according to the thought of Ap. Paul owes his existence to ignorance of the true God. "St. Paul knows nothing of the common (but superficial) division between religion and morality. He looks upon the latter as something inseparable” (Lightfoot, op. p. 56). Art. 6 continues to clarify the point of v. 3–4. Art. 3–4 prohibits πορνία, art. 6 indicates the extreme reprehensibility of μοιχεία. So, regarding this verse, St. Chrysostom says: “ενταύθα περί μοιχείας φησίν; "" (Migne, Series Graeca, vol. 62, p. 424). Understanding this verse in the sense of prohibiting extortion and greed does not allow, firstly, the context of the speech, and especially Art. 7, and, secondly, the expression τό πράγματι (“in things” - in Slav.; in Russian: “in nothing”), which, being with a member, directly points to the subject that is now being discussed - i.e., the sins of carnal lust. Art. 7 clearly indicates why F. should refrain from fornication and adultery: they are called by God not to uncleanness, but to holiness. The latter must be the all-pervading atmosphere in which the life of a Christian must grow and flow. He who rejects this state rejects God, who gave him the guarantee of sanctification - the Holy Spirit. “This gift of the Spirit, as the Apostle says, puts you in a completely different relationship with God than the one in which you were before. This gift is a witness in your souls against uncleanness. This gift is a sign that God has sanctified you for Himself, but it is also a guarantee of vengeance if you desecrate what no longer belongs to you, but to God” (according to Lightfoot, op. p. 58). Compare 1 Cor 3:16. 1 Sol.4:9. There is no need to write to you about brotherly love, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 1 Thessalonians 4:10. for this is what you do to all the brothers throughout all Macedonia. We beseech you, brothers, to prosper more 1 Sol.4:11. and strive diligently to live quietly, to do your own work, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 1 Sol.4:12. so that you may act decently towards outsiders and not lack for anything. These verses contain an exhortation to excel in brotherly love and a call to a quiet, modest and independent life. The Apostle frankly admits that the Fites are blameless in the first respect, for their love extends to the brothers “throughout all Macedonia.” According to the book Acts we know that the churches of Christ were in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. But one must think that Christianity spread to other large places, such as, for example. Amphipolis, Pella, etc.; hence the explanation of the expression Ap. Π. "all over Macedonia". But, pointing out the need to succeed in φιλαδελφία, Ap. Π. It also concerns a sore spot in the life of the F. community - the appearance of “disorderly” among it (Article 11). It must be thought that widespread Christian charity has caused great abuses, and created a class of persons who chose to live at the expense of others, leaving a quiet and independent working life. Freed from work, they devoted themselves entirely to agitation, and were probably the reason for the abnormal growth of eschatological aspirations and hopes among F. Their “fussiness” upset the peaceful course of Fess’s life. Christians, and unwittingly undermined the authority of Christ. community among the pagans, forcing the latter to look at it as a gathering of idle and harmful people, busy only with “exorbitant dreams.” 1 Sol.4:13. I do not want to leave you, brothers, in ignorance about the dead, so that you do not grieve like others who have no hope. In this and subsequent verses of the letter we are talking about two of the most important topics: the fate of those who died before the parousia of Christ, and the signs of the parousia itself. The message in verse 13 is not separate from 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12. The enhanced development by the anticipation of the parousia of Christ, weakening, on the one hand, attention to the ordinary routine of life, could, on the other hand, raise a persistent question about what will be the fate of those who die, or died before the parousia. One must think that several deaths have already occurred; the difficulty was not entirely imaginary. Timofey, during his stay in F., undoubtedly noticed this difficulty, and reported it to Ap. Pavlou, Ap. does not want to leave F. without explanation on this very important topic - namely περί των κεκοιμη μένων - the dead. The Vatican and Codex Sinaiticus read κοιμωμένων - which, according to the English. scientist bishop Lightfoot, "is a more expressive term, pointing forward to a future awakening, etc. containing in itself a hint of the resurrection in a more definite manner than κεκομημένων.” (Notes, p. 63). The Apostle's goal is so that they do not grieve like οι λοιποί - like the pagans. Here it is not grief that is generally prohibited, which is partly natural to man, but its excessive manifestation, as among the pagans, who looked at the fact of separation from the world, sometimes with despair, sometimes with that sad-hopeless, but partly flaunting feeling, which is well expressed by the Roman poet Catullus: Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux, Nox est perpetua una dormienda. (See Catulli, Tibulli, propertii carmina, Lipsiae, 1890, p. 3: V:5–6). F. also mixed in fear for the fate of the dead. 1 Sol.4:14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. There is no basis for this fear. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then the fate of the dead is in the right hands. The death and resurrection of Christ is the basis of Christian hope. But how to understand the expression “in Jesus” - δια τού Ί ησοϋ? It, of course, defines των κεκοιμημένων more clearly, but still this expression is quite unexpected. Ep. Lightfoot notes perfectly here: “the justification for δια should probably be sought in the fact that κοιμηθήναι is not equivalent to θανεϊν, but also contains the idea, firstly, of a peaceful, quiet death, and, secondly, of awakening. Christ made the death of a Christian a peaceful dormition” (p. 65, op. cit.), hence the instrumental nature of the preposition δια. Therefore, there is no need to understand this verse as a reference to those who died “martyrdom” in Jesus, by suffering for Him. 1 Thessalonians 4:15. For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not warn those who are dead, “By the Word of the Lord” - Ap. Paul is probably referring here not to some saying of Christ that was not written down and has not come down to us, but to a revelation given to him personally. This understanding is somewhat justified by the use of the expression “Word of the Lord” in V. 3. “We who live, remain until the coming of the Lord”... Is it possible, on the basis of this expression, to build the same conclusion as Apostle himself. Did Paul hope to witness the parousia of Christ? Speaking about the living, does he mean himself and his generation, or is “living” here taken at the moment instead of “living in general”? Isn't this just a picturesque way of speaking? Of course, we can consider οι ζώντες as only a figurative expression meaning all living people in general. Περιλειπόμνοι is, as it were, an explanation of the first, and the whole question is whether Ap considered. possible and probable for yourself to be among these περιλειπόμενοι? “It would seem fair and correct to state,” writes Ellicott, that περιλειπόμενοι is simply the present, and that Ap. Paul must be understood in the sense that he places himself among those “remaining on earth,” although this does not at all mean that he had any precise and definite expectations regarding himself. At the time when he wrote these words, he was one of the ζώντες and περιλειπόμενοι, and as such, he distinguishes himself and others from the χοιμηθέντες, and naturally identifies himself with the class of people to which he then belonged" (op. cit, p. 64). But despite this, we are still inclined to the opinion that Ap. could hope to be a lifetime participant in the parousia. He would not have said: “we are the living” if he were talking about a completely distant event. It must be remembered that the liveliness of anticipation of the parousia Ap. Paul preserved it until the end of his life, as evidenced by Philippians 4:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:22. 1 Thessalonians 4:16. because the Lord Himself, with a proclamation, with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; “The Lord Himself” I. Christ - see 1 Thess. 1:10. Proclamation - κέλευσμα - a general invitation, a call to the living and the dead, which will probably come from the Lord Himself and will find an echo “in the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God” - (cf. all this with Matthew 24:30, 31). 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Then we who are left alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. "On the clouds" (cf. Acts 1.9, Matt. 24:30, 26:64). “In the air” – εἰς ἀέρα i.e. in the atmosphere surrounding our earth. 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