Corpus-Paul

[Michael Pahl <michaelpahl AT gmail.com>]

Chris, I've posted this on your blog, but I thought I'd email it as
well. I think the concern with how these themes play out in the rest
of the letter has more weight than you are giving it here. This is not
simply a (stereo)typical Pauline triad--these three themes govern
Paul's expectations of how the Thessalonians are doing and Paul's
response to the recent news from Timothy as to how they are doing.

This initial statement in 1:3 represents Paul's memory (MNHMONEUONTES)
of the Thessalonians' reception of the missionary message (a hugely
important matter which Paul reminds them of in chs. 1-2). Then when
Paul describes his response to Timothy's report he does so in these
terms. Tellingly, Timothy brings back good news of the Thessalonians'
faith and love, but not hope (3:6). Their ongoing faith, as you note,
is evident in their standing firm in the Lord (3:8), though there is
still room for growth in this area (3:10). Their ongoing love, indeed
the "Godtaught" nature of it, is evident in the love they have for one
another (4:9-12; cf. 4:6), though they should abound in this even
more. Of the three core virtues Paul remembers from the initial
Thessalonian reception of the missionary message, only hope is
missing--they are grieving as those without hope in the face of the
death of loved ones in the community (4:13).

In view of this, to understand what Paul means by "faith, hope, and
love" in 1:3, one must look to the way Paul explicates these themes in
the rest of the letter. Faith and hope are, as you note, focused
toward the Lord Jesus in the rest of the letter. However, love is not,
but it is explicitly described in terms of brotherly love. Thus, I
would favour the idea that the genitive phrase in 1:3 only qualifies
the "hope," even though in terms of broader Pauline theology the
concepts of faith and love toward God/Jesus can certainly be found.

My two pence worth!

Michael

--
Michael W. Pahl, PhD student (Birmingham, UK)


>
> ________________________________
From: corpus-paul-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of Chris Tilling
> Sent: Thu 08/12/2005 7:53 AM
> To: corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [Corpus-Paul] 1 Thess 1:3 problems [mx]
>
>
>
>
> Dear list members. I posted a similar post on my blog, but I thought I could
> be doing with help from a wider audience.
>
> What is the relation of the objective genitive in 1 Thess 1:3 ('tou kuriou
> hmwn Ihsou Xristou') to the lengthy object of the sentence (starting with
> umwn, working through the triad of faith, love and hope)? Is the objective
> genitive modifying just the 'hope', or also the 'faith' and 'love'?