3. Cf. 1 Thess. 5:16–22; 2 Cor. 13:11.
For a detailed analysis of this material, see Gamble, Textual History, 56–83.
This is also missing in Colossians, Philemon, and the Pastoral Epistles.
On this matter see on 1:10 ().
See 1 Thess. 5:12–14; Rom. 16:17–20; cf. Phil. 4:2–3. Cf. Bjerkelund, Parakalō, 113.
Cf. 1 Thess. 5:16–22; 2 Cor. 13:11.
Spicq, Agape, 181 (120–21), suggests that they reflect military commands; cf. Godet, 464.
Gk. γρηγορεῖτε. See 1 Thess. 5:6, 10 and Col. 4:2, its only other occurrences in Paul; cf. Mark 13:34, 35, 37 and parallels, and Rev. 3:3.
Gk. στήκετε, a verb found first in Paul in all of Greek literature; apparently a new form from the perfect of ἵστημι. Cf. 1 Thess. 3:8; 2 Thess. 2:15; Gal. 5:1; Rom. 14:4; Phil. 1:27; 4:1. See the discussion in W. Grundmann, TDNT 7:636–38.
The RSV translates “in your faith,” a position taken also by Parry, 249; Grosheide, 402; and Barrett, 393, who allows that the other may be in view but suggests that it finally makes little difference, since it “would then mean the Christian religion, the religion which (on the human side) is marked by trust and obedience.” This is true, of course, but the combination of the preposition ἐν (which makes the usage in 2 Cor. 1:24 not comparable) and the article τῇ indicates that it means “in the faith” (= locative of sphere; cf. Ellis, 170 n. 88); the context suggests that it is thus comparable to “the gospel.”
This is esp. noteworthy in light of the oft-repeated, but inaccurate, assertion with regard to the Pastoral Epistles that the use of “faith” in those letters does not reflect Paul’s distinctive use of this word. That is to judge everything in light of Galatians and Romans, and even there is to overlook Gal. 1:23. Cf. Fee, 1 Timothy, 8.
LXX Ps. 30:24; cf. 26:14; 2 Sam. 10:12. This seems all the more likely, since of the two verbs, ἀνδρίζομαι occurs only here in the NT and κραταίω elsewhere in Paul only in Eph. 3:16, with a considerably different sense. The verb ἀνδρίζομαι means to “play the role of a man,” an idea that is frequent in antiquity as a call to courage in the face of danger.
See and .
On this “household” see on 1:16.
Gk. οἴδατε; for this verb as a reminder see on 1:16 and 12:2.
Gk. ἀπαρχή, “firstfruits” (see on 15:20), thus not just the “first converts,” but as “firstfruits” the promise of more to come. For this usage to refer to first converts in a province or city, see 2 Thess. 2:13 and Rom. 16:5. The fact that they were among his first converts in this city accounts for the fact that he baptized them (1:16). Ellis, 20, suggests that ἀπαρχή here means “the consecrated first-born who, like the Levites, are set apart for the work of God.” But that runs aground on the other Pauline uses of the term. However, see C. Spicq, “ἈΠΑΡΧH. Note de lexicographie neo-testamentaire,” in The New Testament Age: Essays in Honor of Bo Reicke (ed. W. C. Weinrich; Macon, Ga., 1984), 2:493–502, who also sees the metaphor in a more active than passive sense (= “the firstfruits who are consecrated to Christ in such and such a region”).
This is true for Paul despite the evidence of Acts 17:34. Most likely Paul used the term here in its more limited sense to refer to the Peloponnesus, and esp. to Corinth as the capital of the province.
See further on v. 17. For the discussion of slaves and freedmen in these settings see on 7:21 and 22.
Gk. ἔταξαν ἑαυτούς (lit. “they appointed themselves”), a combination commonly used to express this idiom.
Gk. dative, not genitive as in the NIV, indicating the people for whom their service was rendered.
The nearly identical phrase “the service of the saints” appears in 2 Cor. 8:4 and 9:1 to refer to the collection for the saints in Jerusalem. Ruef, 186, thinks that this is in view here as well. But the aorist of the verb, the content of v. 16, and the context of the paragraph as a whole are against it; the “saints” here are the Corinthians themselves, as in 1:2, and the “ministry” has been among them.
Gk. διακονία; see and .
Zerwick, BG, 415, suggests that this use of ἵνα is imperatival. That would make v. 15a an independent clause with no object; but since the verb παρακαλῶ demands some kind of object, either expressed or implied, this ἵνα clause functions as that object, even if one goes the route of Zerwick as to grammatical nomenclature.
Gk. καί, omitted by the NIV but without good reason (although cf. Conzelmann, 298, who warns against overloading the word). Paul is urging that they not only “recognize” them for their service for the saints, but that they also submit themselves to such people. Or perhaps the καί picks up the service of Stephanas’s household (= “you in your turn”). See the next note.
Gk. ὑποτάσσησθε; cf. 15:27–28. There is probably something of a play on words here. They “appointed themselves” (ἔταξαν ἑαυτούς) as your servants; you in your turn “submit yourselves” (ὑποτάσσησθε) to them.
Holladay, 215, incorrectly cites Tit. 3:1, which, like Rom. 13:1–6, refers to the ruling authorities.
The verb does seem to mean that in Rom. 13:1 and 5, although in 1 Pet. 2:13 and 18 it means to submit to undeserved brutality in the sense of not fighting back, as over against submission = obedience.
If this includes Fortunatus and Achaicus in the next verse, and the plural “to such as these” makes that a possibility if not a probability (in v. 18 it clearly refers to the three of them), then in the Christian church a whole new order has been established in which believers lovingly submit themselves to one another out of love and respect for their labors. This could include slaves as well.
See on 15:58. Although this is the only occurrence of the verb συνεργέω in this sense, Paul regularly uses the noun συνεργός to refer to his fellow workers in the gospel. See on 3:9. That it also includes women is made certain from its usage in Phil. 4:2–3. For the verb κοπιάω see on 4:12 and 15:10; cf. esp. Rom. 16:6 and 12. For the latter word see also A. Harnack, “ΚΟΠΟΣ,” ZNW 27 (1928), 1–10.
The δέ could be slightly adversative to the preceding sentence. Thus, when these men return to Corinth, they should give respectful deference to them, “but for now I am rejoicing in their coming.”
Gk. χαίρω (NIV, “I was glad”); the present tense implies that he is still rejoicing over their coming and therefore over their continuing presence with him. Contra Conzelmann, 298 n. 9, who argues that it means “ ‘arrival’ (not ‘sojourn’).”
Gk. παρουσία; see on 15:23 to refer to the Second Coming of Christ.
Clement of Rome mentions a Fortunatus in his letter (65:1), but he can scarcely be the same man. The name was very common in Rome.
Cf. Lenski, 779–80; Moffatt, 278; Grosheide, 403. According to Godet, 467, who thinks it probable, the suggestion goes back at least to Weizsäcker, Die apostolische Zeitalter (1886), 632.
Gk. ὑμέτερον [see on 15:31] ὑστέρημα . . . ἀνεπλήρωσαν. R-P, 396, give equal weight to the possibility that ὑμέτερον could be subjective, but the nearly identical, and unambiguous, passage in Phil. 2:30 rules that out.
The final explanatory γάρ in this letter, which has an esp. large number of them.
Gk. ἀναπαύω, used always in this sense by Paul: 2 Cor. 7:13; Phlm. 7 and 20.
Gk. οὖν, omitted by the NIV.
Gk. ἐπιγινώσκετε; cf. the οἴδατε in v. 15 and the ἐρωτῶμεν . . . εἰδέναι of 1 Thess. 5:12.