Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [1 Thessalonians: Chapter 2].
middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile as he shows in
Eph 2 and which only the Cross of Christ can break down.
Tacitus (_Hist_. V. 5) says that the Jews are _adversus omnes
alios hostile odium_.
2:16 {Forbidding us} (\k•luont•n h•m•s\). Explanatory participle
of the idea in \enanti•n\. They show their hostility to Paul at
every turn. Right here in Corinth, where Paul is when he writes,
they had already shown venomous hostility toward Paul as Luke
makes plain (Ac 18:6ff.). They not simply oppose his work among
the Jews, but also to the Gentiles (\ethnesi\, nations outside of
the Abrahamic covenant as they understood it). {That they may be
saved} (\hina s•th•sin\). Final use of \hina\ with first aorist
passive subjunctive of \s•z•\ old verb to save. It was the only
hope of the Gentiles, Christ alone and not the mystery-religions
offered any real hope. {To fill up their sins alway} (\eis to
anapl•r•sai aut•n tas hamartias pantote\). Another example of
\eis to\ and the infinitive as in verse 12. It may either be
God's conceived plan to allow the Jews to go on and fill up
(\anapl•r•sai\, note \ana\, fill up full, old verb) or it may be
the natural result from the continual (\pantote\) sins of the
Jews. {Is come} (\ephthasen\). First aorist (timeless aorist)
active indicative of \phthan•\ which no longer means to come
before as in 1Th 4:15 where alone in the N.T. it retains the
old idea of coming before. Some MSS. have the perfect active
\ephthaken\, prophetic perfect of realization already. Frame
translates it: "But the wrath has come upon them at last." This
is the most likely meaning of \eis telos\. Paul vividly foresees
and foretells the final outcome of this attitude of hate on the
part of the Jews. _Tristis exitus_, Bengel calls it. Paul speaks
out of a sad experience.
2:17 {Being bereaved of you} (\aporphanisthentes aph' hum•n\).
First aorist passive participle of the rare compound verb
(\aporphaniz•\, in Aeschylus, but nowhere else in N.T.).
Literally, {being orphaned from you} (\aph' hum•n\, ablative
case). Paul changes the figure again (\trophos\ or mother nurse
in verse 7, \n•pios\ or babe in verse 7, \pat•r\ or father in
verse 11) to {orphan} (\orphanos\). He refers to the period of
separation from them, {for a short season} (\pros kairon h•ras\)
for a season of an hour. This idiom only here in N.T., but \pros
kairon\ in Lu 8:13 and \pros h•ran\ in 2Co 7:8. But it has
seemed long to Paul. Precisely how long he had been gone we do
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