9. "Onesimus...who is one of you."-See the Epistle to Philemon, from which we learn that Onesimus was a slave who had run away from his master. This master was Philemon, a person who had been converted by means of our apostle; and Onesimus having fled to Rome, and being there converted by St. Paul, was by him sent back to Philemon with a letter, in which he entreats him to receive the returned runaway "as a brother beloved." There is nothing in the Epistle to Philemon which intimates to what place he belonged; only we learn that he was of the same place with Archippus, wherever that might be; and from that circumstance it here turns out that he was of Colosse; for, in verse 17, the apostle salutes Archippus as a minister of the church at Colossa. Taking these circumstances together, it appears more than probable that Onesimus now returns to his old master with Paul's epistle, in company with Tychicus, the bearer of an epistle to the church at the same place. Philemon, who is thus ascer tained to have been a member, and apparently a distinguished one, of the church at Colossæ, would most likely have been saluted by name in this epistle, had not the apostle written to him separately. Observe also that Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, who in this epistle send their salutations to the church of Colossæ, are also saluters of Philemon in Paul's epistle to him. 10. "Aristarchus."-This person was of Thessalonica in Macedonia, and became Paul's "companion in travel," after his visit to that place. As such he is mentioned as being, with Gaius, dragged into the theatre by the mob, during the tumult at Ephesus. We afterwards find that he was with Paul in his perilous voyage to Rome. Compare Acts xix. 29; xxvii. 2. "Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas."-That Mark was nephew to Barnabas is nowhere else mentioned, not even in the history (Acts xii. 12) which records a contest concerning him between Paul and Barnabas. If the circumstance had there been mentioned, it would have furnished some explanation of the adherence of Barnabas to Mark, and their leaving Paul together. But it is from such undesigned coincidences and incidental explanations as this that Paley has obtained that wonderful mass of evidence for the truth of the Scripture history of St. Paul, which his Hora Pauline' offer. 13. "Laodicea, and... Hierapolis."-These two towns were both near Colossæ, which was, in fact, situated between them. Laodicea was the most important of the three, being indeed the capital of the province, and will come rege larly under our notice in Rev. iii. 14. Eusebius reports that the three towns were destroyed by an earthquake in the tenth year of the Emperor Nero, being but a few years after this epistle was written: but, if so, they must soon have been rebuilt, as their historical existence does not then terminate. Colossa, which claims particular notice here, was with the others situated in the southern part of Phrygia. Though a town of considerable note, it was by no means the principal one of Phrygia; for when that great province was ultimately divided into Phrygia Pacatiana and Phrygia Salutaris, it ranked but as the sixth city of the former division. The The town was seated on an eminence to the south of the Meander, at a place where the river Lycus began to run under ground, as it did for five furlongs, after which it again rose and flowed into the Meander. This valuable indication of the site of Colossæ, furnished by Herodotus (1. vii. c. 30) establishes the truth of the received conclusion, that the ancient city is represented by the modern village of Khonas. This village is described by Mr. Arundell as being situated most picturesquely under the immense range of Mount Cadmus, which rises to a very lofty and perpendicular height behind the village, in some parts clothed with pines, in others bare of soil, with vast chasms and caverns. immense perpendicular chasm, seen in the view, affords an outlet to a wide mountain torrent, the bed of which is dry in summer. The approach to Khonas, as well as the village itself, is beautiful, abounding in tall trees, from which vines of most luxuriant growth are suspended. In the immediate neighbourhood of the village are several vestiges of an ancient city, consisting of arches, vaults, squared stones, while the ground is strewed with broken pottery, which so generally and so remarkably indicates the sites of ancient towns in the East. That these ruins are all that now remain of Colossæ, there seems no just reason to doubt. 16. "The epistle from Laodicea.”—This has occasioned considerable discussion. "Chrysostom and Theodoret remark, in their commentaries on this verse, that some understand by this, an epistle which the church of Laodicea had written to the apostle. For the expression ry in Adixias signifies that from Laodicea, NOT that to the Laodiceans, nv gos Tous Aandinus. Several are of the same opinion. The words may however signify both, and contain in either case a very harsh ellipsis.-'Cause the epistle to be brought to you from Laodicea, which they have received from me;' or, 'Cause the epistle to be brought to you from Laodicea, which they have written to me.'" (Hug, sect. cxx.) The explanation which supposes this to be an epistle which the Laodiceans had written to St. Paul, presumes that the Laodiceans had written to him concerning the errors of certain false teachers, and soliciting his advice, and that the apostle replies in the present epistle, which he addresses to the Colossians, perhaps because this was the larger church, though Laodicea was the more considerable city; and also, probably, because the same false teachers had caused still greater disturbance among the Colossians. But he directs them, nevertheless, to send the same epistle to the Laodiceans, and obtain in return a copy of their letter to him, in order that they might the better understand his answer. This explanation is adopted by Mr. Horne, in his Introduction to this epistle, although, when speaking of that to the Ephesians, he prefers a different view. It is liable to some very serious objections, since it requires us to suppose that Paul should have written to the Colossians what related properly to the Laodiceans; that he returns no answer to the Laodiceans, who had doubtless not written to him without a cause; that he wrote to the one what they could not understand, and did not write to the others who could understand him. Besides, the epistle to the Colossians, after all, is not so arranged as to refer to a preceding epistle from any party whatever: it merely refers to verbal accounts. But, notwithstanding these objections, we would far more willingly concur in this hypothesis than admit, with Doddridge and others, that the apostle refers to an epistle written by him specially to the Laodiceans, and which has since been lost. But we are not driven to this alternative, since it is fairly open to us to conclude that the apostle means the epistle which is known to us as to the Ephesians, and which was encyclical or circular, being addressed to the Ephesians, Laodiceans, and some other churches in Asia Minor; or else, more simply, with Dr. Macknight, that St. Paul sent the Ephesians word by Tychicus, who carried their letter, to send a copy of it to the Laodiceans, with an order to them to communicate it to the Colossians. At any rate, that the epistle to the Ephesians is intended, is so highly probable in itself, is so well supported by certain peculiarities in that epistle, so well meets all the conditions of the question, and is so amply supported by ancient testimonies, that we are fully justified in our acquiescence, although absolute proof of the fact is necessarily wanting. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIAN S. work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 4 Knowing, brethren 'beloved, your ele tion of God. 5 For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. 6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: 7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. 9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Or, beloved of God, your election. I. THESSALONIANS.-The account of the first establishment of the faith of Christ at Thessalonica, by St. Paul, is given in Acts xvii., to which the reader may advantageously refer before perusing this and the next epistle. Driven from the capital of Macedonia by the rage and malice of the Jews, the apostle retired to Berea, whence also the pursuing hatred of the Thessalonian Jews compelled him to withdraw to Athens, from which, after a time, he proceeded to Corinth. Silas and Timothy had, however, been left behind at Berea; and from thence the latter, at the apostle's desire, went to visit the Thessalonians (ch. iii. 1, 2, 5). It seems that Paul had intended to stay at Athens till his conpanions joined him; but he had left that city and proceeded to Corinth before they arrived. Now the epistle being written in the names of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, it is evident that it was not composed until they had met together in that city; thus disproving the statement in the spurious subscription, that it was written from Athens. The accounts which were brought to the apostle, by Silas and Timothy, of the state in which they left the Thessalonian church, p bably gave the immediate occasion to this epistle. It will be observed that this explanation gives a very early date to the present epistle. In the introductory note on that to the Galatians, we have shown that it was written by St. Paul during this same residence at Corinth, and that it is generally conceived to be the first, or one of the two or three very first, which the apostle wrote. In short, the ques tion, on this point, lies between that epistle and the one (or indeed the two) now before us. Opinion is equally divided on the subject. As these epistles were written at the same place, and nearly at the same time, it may be allowed to remain doubtful whether the priority should be assigned to the one epistle to the Galatians, or the two to the Thess lonians; or whether the former may not take date between the two latter. And this is really of little consequence when we have more certain evidence for the conclusion, that the three together form, in point of time, the first part of that invaluable portion of Sacred Scripture of which the apostle Paul was the wiiter. Verse 1. "The Thessalonians."—It is proper here to take some notice of the city, to the church in which the two Epistles now before us were addressed. Thessalonica was a port, very advantageously situated at the bottom of the Thermatic Gulf. It stood on the slope of a mountain, rising in the manner of an amphitheatre, and protected at the summit by an acropolis of vast extent. Strabo says that originally, when only a village, it bore the name of Therma. But when it had been greatly aggrandized by Cassandra, who removed thither the inhabitants of several neighbouring towns, he changed its name to Thessalonica, which was that of his wife, the sister of Alexander the Great. When the country was conquered by the Romans (B.c. 168), it was divided into four parts, of which Thessalonica was the special capital of the second, and the general capital of the whole. Thessalonica adored many gods, but principally Jupiter, as the father of Hercules, the alleged founder of its ancient royal family. This rich and powerful city had, for public spectacles and for the amusement of the citizens, a famous amphitheatre, where also gladiatorial combats were exhibited; there was also a circus for public games. Pliny says Thessalonica was in his time a free city; to which the more important distinction of a colony was substituted by the emperors Valerian and Gallien. It also bears on coins the title of Neocoros, concerning which see the note on Acts xix. 35. This important place still survives, as a town of great consequence, under the abridged name of Salonica. As there is no better account of this place than Dr. Clarke has given, we transcribe the descriptive part of his statement. "The walls of Salonica give a very remarkable appearance to the town, and cause it to be seen to a great distance, being whitewashed; and, what is still more extraordinary, they are also painted. They extend in a semi-circular manner from the sea, enclosing the whole of the buildings within a peribolus, whose circuit is five or six miles; but a great part of the space within the walls is void. It is one of the few remaining cities which has preserved the ancient form of its fortifications; the mural turrets yet standing, and the walls that support them, being entire. Their antiquity is perhaps unknown, for, although they have been ascribed to the Greek emperors, it is very evident that they were constructed in two distinct periods of time; the old Cyclopean masonry remaining in the lower parts of them, surmounted by an upper structure of brickwork. The latter part only may properly be referred to the time of the Greek emperors, being also characterized by the method of building, which then became very general, of mixing broken columns and fragments of the early Grecian architecture and sculpture, confusedly among the work. Like all the ancient and modern cities of Greece, its wretched aspect within is forcibly contrasted with the beauty of its external appearance; rising in a theatrical form upon the side of a hill, surrounded with plantations of cypress and other evergreens and shrubs. The houses are generally built of unburnt bricks, and for the most part they are little better than so many hovels. The citadel stands in the higher part of the semi-circular range from the shore; and there is a bastion, with a battery, at either extremity towards the sea, but no fosse on the outside of the walls." Some considerable ancient remains are still to be seen at Salonica, There is the citadel or castle, which is the old Greek citadel or Acropolis: in this there are some verde antique pillars, supposed to be the remains of a temple of Hercules. There is also a triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius; and the colossal torso of a female statue supposed to be that of the wife of Cassander, whose name was given to the city. The other antiquities, besides those found in the citadel, are-two triumphal arches at each end of the principal street, one of Augustus and the other of Constantine; a rotunda built after the mode of the Pantheon at Rome; an ancient temple of the Thermean Venus, now turned into a Turkish mosque; and the ancient church of St. Sophia, which corresponds, on a smaller scale, with the cathedral church of that name at Constantinople, and is now also, like that famous edifice, used as a mosque. But the most remarkable monument is the magnificent Corinthian propylæum of a large enclosed place, which is usually supposed to have been the hippodrome; and of which the attic over the entablature is charged with figures as large as life, in alto relievo, which are among the finest Grecian sculptures which have escaped the ravages of time. This work is attributed, by Beaujour, to the reign of Nero. To this summary we may add that, at some distance without the walls of the city, there is a tumulus, which Dr. Clarke considers the largest he had seen in Turkey. In the cemetery, also without the walls, there are many shafts of ancient columns; while, in different parts of the town, several marble soroi are now used as cisterns. The situation of Thessalonica was so judiciously selected, that it is still a flourishing commercial town, from which is exported the corn, cotton, wool, tobacco, bees'-wax, and silk of all Macedonia. It is the seat of a pasha, and has a large population, containing, as in the time of St. Paul, a very considerable proportion of Jews; and Dr. Clarke thinks he can trace, from the two epistles before us and from the Acts of the Apostles, that the Jews, in those times, at Thessalonica, were a very similar set of persons to those which he found there at the beginning of the present century. 5. "In much assurance."-In this (ango@ogia), there is a metaphor derived from a ship in full sail—that is, with all her sails set and filled by the wind. 8. "Your faith...is spread abroad.”—Grotius very properly remarks here that many merchants traded from Thessalonica, which was a rich commercial city, to all parts of Greece: and hence they had more than usually favourable opportunities of making known their own conversion, and of promulgating the leading truths of the Gospel. CHAPTER II. 1 In what manner the Gospel was brought and 2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at 'Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention. 3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: 4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. 5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: 1 Acts 16, 22. 6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: 8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. 9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God. 10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: 11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, 12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. 13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye re Or, used authority. ceived it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. 14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judæa are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have 'persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. 17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. 18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of 'rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 20 For ye are our glory and joy. Verse 9. "Labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable."-The apostle seems to allude to that excessive application to his handicraft employment, which at times became necessary, that he might allow himself opportunity, at other times. of pursuing his evangelical labours. Or it may seem to have been his custom to make up by night labour for the loss of time (to his trade) which his higher duties occasioned. To this there seem to be allusions in other Epistles. We may hence perceive that it was no light resolve when the apostle determined that the labour of his hands should minister not only to his own necessities, but to the necessities of those who were with him. 15. Contrary to all men."-Although it was the intention of the Law of Moses to keep the Jews separate and distinct from all other nations, by the establishment of ceremonial rites and usages, which rendered intercourse with the heathen difficult or impossible while that Law was obeyed; it was certainly not the intention of the Law to dietate or encourage that absolute hatred to the persons and to the very souls of people of other nations, which the Jews did, in the time of the apostle, most certainly entertain. The fact is often noticed by the heathen writers; and the feeling was repaid by a degree of dislike and contempt which only that feeling could exceed, and which even the proud and supercilious Romans were not in the habit of applying to any other nation. Thus Tacitus characterises them (Hist. v. b. v. cap. 11) "as being faithful to obstinacy, and spontaneously merciful among themselves, but towards all others actuated by the most irreconcileable hatred." This hatred seems to have proceeded so far, that they would not show the road to one who was not of their religion, nor lead the thirsty person, if uncircumcised, to the common spring (Juven. Sat. xiv. 103, 4.); and although this is said by a satirist, it is no doubt true, being amply confirmed by their own writers, who held it more than doubtful, whether it were not unlawful to stretch forth a hand to save a heathen, when in imminent danger of perishing. 16. "Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles," &c.—Most certainly the unbelieving Jews could not approve of the Gospel being preached to Jews any more than to Gentiles. We must therefore understand this to mean that they held it to be unlawful to attempt by any teaching to save the soul of a Gentile. We should be reluctant to offer this interpretation, if it were not most certain that the Jews were of this opinion. Indeed, they held a Gentile who studied the Law to be worthy of death; and taught that, "Whosoever hath not the Holy Name sealed and bound up in his flesh (that is, who is not circumcised), it is forbidden to make known to him a word of the Law; much less to allow him to study therein:" and, "Whosoever is not circumcised, and one delivers to him the least thing in the Law, it is as if he destroyed the world, and dealt falsely with the name of God." |