Exegesis and Exposition of First Thessalonians 5:27-28

EXEGESIS AND EXPOSITION OF FIRST THESSALONIANS 5:27-28 Pastor William E. Wenstrom Jr. WENSTROM BIBLE MINISTRIES Norwood, Massachusetts 2020 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Exegesis and Exposition of 1 Thessalonians 5:27-28 First Thessalonians 5:27 1 Thessalonians 5:27 I call on you solemnly in the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. (NET) This verse is composed of the following: (1) first person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb enorkiz ō (ἐνορκίζω ), “I call on solemnly ” (2) accusative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ ), “ you ” (3) articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος ), “ in the Lord ” (4) aorist passive infinitive conjugation of the verb anagin ōsk ō (ἀναγινώσκω ), “ to have read ” (5) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun epistol ē (ἐπιστολή ), “ this letter ” (6) dative masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “ to all ” (7) articular dative masculine plural form of the noun adelphos (ἀδελφός ), “ the brothers and sisters .” Paul is employing the figure of asyndeton in order to emphasize the solemn nature and importance of the command contained in 1 Thessalonians 5:27 to have the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community read to each member of their congregations the contents of First Thessalonians. The accusative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su which means “each one of you” since the word refers to the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community as a corporate unit. It is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions expressing the idea that “each and every” pastor-teacher in the Thessalonica must read the contents of First Thessalonians to every member of their congregation. The first person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb enorkiz ō (ἐνορκίζω ) means “to adjure, to command or implore as if under oath, to command to put under oath, to insist that one take an oath, to require that one swear.” The word pertains to demanding that a person take an oath as to the truth of what is said or as to the certainty that one will carry out the request or command. 1 The referent of the first person singular form of this verb is the apostle Paul. The second person plural form of the personal pronoun su is functioning as the object of an object-complement double accusative construction. This indicates means that it is receiving the action of the first person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb enorkiz ō (ἐνορκίζω ), “I call on solemnly .” This is indicating that each pastor-teacher in the Thessalonian Christian community 1 Louw and Nida 33.467 2020 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1 received the action of being solemnly commanded by Paul to have the contents of First Thessalonians read to each and every member of their congregation. Therefore, enorkiz ō is expressing the idea that Paul is solemnly commanding each of the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community to read the contents of First Thessalonians to each and every member of their congregation. The noun kurios means “the Lord” and refers the Father’s one and only Son, Jesus of Nazareth, which is indicated by the fact that this word is ascribed to Jesus of Nazareth throughout First Thessalonians. In fact, the last time the word appeared in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the term was ascribed to Jesus Christ. This word functions as the complement of an object-complement double accusative construction. This indicates that the noun kurios is complementing the object of this object-complement double accusative construction which is the personal pronoun su in that it predicates or affirms something about. Therefore, kurios is making an assertion about the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community who we noted are the referent of the personal pronoun su. Now, Paul is expressing his apostolic authority by solemnly commanding the pastors in Thessalonica to communicate the contents of First Thessalonians to each member of their congregation. Also, the noun kurios , “Lord” expresses the sovereignty of Jesus Christ over the church. Therefore, this is making the assertion that each of the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community were to read the contents of First Thessalonians read to each member of their congregation “by the authority of the Lord.” The articular construction of the noun kurios emphasizes that the Lord Jesus Christ is in a class by Himself. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus Christ is called the “King of kings and Lord of lords .” It emphasizes that there are many lords in the world, but that Jesus Christ is in a class by Himself in that He is sovereign over these other human or angelic lords. The present tense of the verb enorkiz ō is a descriptive or progressive present which is used to describe a scene in progress. It is expressing the idea that by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul was solemnly commanding each of the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community “at this particular time” to read the contents of First Thessalonians to each member of their congregation. The active voice of this verb is a simple active which means that the subject performs the action indicated by the verb. This is therefore indicating that by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul performs the action of solemnly commanding each of the pastor-teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community to read the contents of First Thessalonians to each member of their congregation. The indicative mood of this verb enorkiz ō is declarative presenting this assertion as a non-contingent or unqualified statement. 2020 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2 The verb anagin ōsk ō means “to read, to read aloud, to read publicly” since the word pertains to having a particular piece of literature read publicly or aloud to people and thus involves verbalization. Therefore, this verb in 1 Thessalonians 5:27 refers to the contents of First Thessalonians being read publicly to each member of the Thessalonian Christian community by their pastor-teachers. The second person plural form of the personal pronoun su is also functioning as the subject of the aorist passive infinitive conjugation of the verb anagin ōsk ō (ἀναγινώσκω ), “ to have read .” This means that the personal pronoun functions semantically as the subject of this infinitive. Normally the subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the main verb and is thus in the nominative case. However, when the infinitive requires a different agent, it is almost always put in the accusative case by the writer. Therefore, the personal pronoun su is functioning as the accusative subject of the infinitive form of the verb anagin ōsk ō (ἀναγινώσκω ), “ to have read .” This would indicate that each of the pastor- teachers in the Thessalonian Christian community was to perform the action of reading the contents of First Thessalonians to each member of their congregation. The noun epistol ē means “epistle, letter” since the word pertains to an object containing writing addressed to one or more persons. 2 It occurs 24 times in the Greek New Testament and means “a letter” or “epistle.” It originally meant in classical Greek a message of any kind, either written or verbal. Where the verb epistello meant the act of writing a message, the noun epistole meant “that which is transmitted or written,” the message or letter itself. The noun epistol ē in classical Greek referred to a wide range of written communication. Gunter Finkenrath of Burscheid-Hilgen University commenting on the classical usage of the noun epistol ē, writes, “With the spread of the Hellenic culture a whole range of letters was developed, from private letters of an intimate nature, open letters (e.g. the didactic letters of the Epicurean philosophers) to artistic epistles, which were aesthetic treatises in letter form. Traveling philosophers and their pupils were accustomed to carry letters of recommendation.” 3 By the Septuagint and the New Testament periods, epistol ē had lost its oral meaning and meant only the written message, hence, a letter, or epistle. It was not only used in an informal sense in the New Testament as in secular writings, but more importantly it was employed in an authoritative and official sense. The apostolic epistles in the New Testament were authoritative in nature. They were authoritative because they originated from the throne room of God. The apostolic epistles are unique from secular epistles in that sense alone. The Christian epistle claimed divine authorship. They claimed to be the very words of God. 2 Louw and Nida, 6.63 3 Dictionary of New Testament Theology, volume 1, page 246 2020 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3 Karl Heinrich Rengstorf of Munster University writes, “It is a generally acknowledged fact today that the apostolic letters collected in the NT are marked by an authoritative and official nature. Connected herewith is the point that for all their formal similarity to the epistles of antiquity the NT epistles constitute a special genre. As has long since been recognized, their distinctiveness is to be seen not merely in the way in which the authors introduce themselves as deputies of Christ but also in the prefaces, even though these differ and Paul’s letters occupy a special place of their own. At any rate the NT epistles, like oral proclamation and the Gospels, seek to say a last and definitive word about the historical situation of the individual, humanity and the world in the light of the Christ event as God’s eschatological act.” 4 Here in 1 Thessalonians 5:27, epistol ē refers to the first epistle the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christian community.

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