1 Thessalonians 2:16

2:16 The mission to the Gentiles was one of the most important issues in the early church (Acts 11:18; 13:46-49; 28:28; Rom 1:16). • Judgment comes when sins pile up to their complete measure (Gen 15:16; Dan 8:23; cp. Matt 23:31-36).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Th 2:16. Λαλῆσαι, to speak) Less is said than he wishes to be understood by Ταπείνωσις.—εἰς τὸ ἀναπληρῶσαι, that they may fill up) Obstinacy against receiving the word above all fills up the measure of sins.—αὐτῶν, their) the sins of the Jews.—πάντοτε) as always, so now also.—εἰς τέλος, [tending] to the end) A sad closing catastrophe [Engl. Vers. to the uttermost]. The same phrase occurs at Luk 18:5. Under Herod Agrippa the Jewish state had begun again to flourish, but after his death, Act 12:23, the Roman procurators returned. Cumanus and Felix, and their successors, more and more harassed the Jews. This epistle was written in the year of our Lord 48, and about that time a tumult arose at Jerusalem during the feast of the passover, and an immense multitude were slain: some say, more than thirty thousand. The wrath of God closely pursued these miserable men, and εἰς τέλος, [at the last] at length, destroyed their city and temple.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Th 2:16 . κωλυόντων κ . τ . λ ., defining (Luk 11:52 ) from the Christian standpoint that general and familiar charge of hatred to the human race ( ἐναντίων κ . τ . λ .) which was started by the exclusiveness of the ghetto and the synagogue. ἔφθασε κ . τ . λ ., “the Wrath has come upon them,” apparently a reminiscence of Test. Levi. vi. 11. This curt and sharp verdict on the Jews sprang from Paul’s irritation at the moment. The apostle was in no mood to be conciliatory. He was suffering at Corinth from persistent Jewish attempts to wreck the Christian propaganda, and he flashes out in these stern sentences of anger. Later on (Romans 9-11.) he took a kinder and more hopeful view, though even this did not represent his final outlook on the prospects of Judaism. Consequently, it is arbitrary to suspect 1Th 2:14 (15) 16 as a later interpolation, written after 70 A.D. ( cf. the present writer’s Hist. New Testament , pp. 625, 626). But the closing sentence of 1Th 2:16 has all the appearance of a marginal gloss, written after the tragic days of the siege in 70 A.D. (so e.g. , Spitta, Pfleiderer, Primitive Christianity , i. 128, 129, Schmiedel, Teichmann, die Paul. Vorstellungen von Auferstehung u. Gericht , 83, Drummond, etc.). The Jews, no doubt, had recently suffered, and were suffering, as a nation in a way which might seem to Paul, in a moment of vehement feeling, a clear proof of condign punishment (so e.g. , Schmidt, 86 90). But neither the edict of Claudius nor the bloody feuds in Palestine quite bear out the language of this verse. And ὀργή is surely more than judicial hardening ( cf. Dante’s Paradiso , vi. 88 93); its eschatological significance points to a more definite interpretation.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The judgments of God being angry, which indeed appeared shortly after in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, whither many resorted even out of divers provinces, when it was besieged.

Until the wickedness of theirs which they have by inheritance as it were of their fathers, be grown so great that the measure of their iniquity being filled, God may come forth to wrath.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Forbidding--Greek, "Hindering us from speaking," &c.

to fill up their sins alway--Tending thus "to the filling up (the full measure of, Gen 15:16; Dan 8:23; Mat 23:32) their sins at all times," that is, now as at all former times. Their hindrance of the Gospel preaching to the Gentiles was the last measure added to their continually accumulating iniquity, which made them fully ripe for vengeance.

for--Greek, "but." "But," they shall proceed no further, for (Ti2 3:8) "the" divine "wrath has (so the Greek) come upon (overtaken unexpectedly; the past tense expressing the speedy certainty of the divinely destined stroke) them to the uttermost"; not merely partial wrath, but wrath to its full extent, "even to the finishing stroke" [EDMUNDS]. The past tense implies that the fullest visitation of wrath was already begun. Already in A.D. 48, a tumult had occurred at the Passover in Jerusalem, when about thirty thousand (according to some) were slain; a foretaste of the whole vengeance which speedily followed (Luk 19:43-44; Luk 21:24).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. 1Th 2:15.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16 Who hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles. It is not without good reason that, as has been observed, he enters so much into detail in exposing the malice of the Jews. For as they furiously opposed the Gospel everywhere, there arose from this a great stumblingblock, more especially as they exclaimed that the gospel was profaned by Paul, when he published it among the Gentiles. By this calumny they made divisions in the Churches, they took away from the Gentiles the hope of salvation, and they obstructed the progress of the gospel. Paul, accordingly, charges them with this crime — that they regard the salvation of the Gentiles with envy, but adds, that matters are so, in order that their sins may be filled up, that he may take away from them all reputation for piety; just as in saying previously, that they pleased not God, (1 Thessalonians 2:15) he meant, that they were unworthy to be reckoned among the worshippers of God. The manner of expression, however, must be observed, implying that those who persevere in an evil course fill up by this means the measure of their judgment, until they come to make it a heap. This is the reason why the punishment of the wicked is often delayed — because their impieties, so to speak, are not yet ripe. By this we are warned that we must carefully take heed lest, in the event of our adding from time to time sin to sin, as is wont to happen generally, the heap at last reaches as high as heaven.

For wrath has come. He means that they are in an utterly hopeless state, inasmuch as they are vessels of the Lord’s wrath. “The just vengeance of God presses upon them and pursues them, and will not leave them until they perish — as is the case with all the reprobate, who rush on headlong to death, to which they are destined.” The Apostle, however, makes this declaration as to the entire body of the people, in such a manner as not to deprive the elect of hope. For as the greater proportion resisted Christ, he speaks, it is true, of the whole nation generally, but we must keep in view the exception which he himself makes in Romans 11:5, — that the Lord will always have some seed remaining. We must always keep in view Paul’s design — that believers must carefully avoid the society of those whom the just vengeance of God pursues, until they perish in their blind obstinacy. Wrath, without any additional term, means the judgment of God, as in Romans 4:15, — the law worketh wrath; also in Romans 12:19, — neither give place unto wrath

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(16) Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles.—The Apostle indicates the special way in which their contrariety showed itself.

To fill up.—Literally, unto the filling up. Not exactly their intention in forbidding, but, the end to which such conduct was steadily (“alway”) tending. (Again comp. Act_7:51, and Mat_23:32.) St. Paul seems to mean that there may be a certain sum of wickedness which God will allow a nation, a church, a person, to complete, before cutting” them off from all spiritual help; the Jews were industriously labouring to complete the sum.

For.—The Greek word is but; and the point is this:—“The Jews have been working up to the rounded perfection of their sin; but (they had not much left to do) the wrath burst suddenly upon them to its uttermost.” The word for “is come” (which should be the simple preterite “came”) is the same as that used in Mat_12:28, Luk_11:20, of a sudden, unexpected apparition. “The wrath” is the wrath from which Jesus is delivering us (1Th_1:10), and it had already come upon the Jews, though its outward manifestation in the destruction of Jerusalem was not to come yet awhile. The particular moment at which St. Paul means that the wrath “came” must have been the moment of their final rejection of the Messiah.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved] R. V., may be saved. As much as to say: “These Jews, if they had their way, would prevent us speaking a single word to you about the Gospel; they would willingly see all the Gentiles perish!” This stamped them as enemies of the human race. They were furious to think that unclean Gentiles claimed a share in their Messiah! Their murderous hatred against Paul was due to the fact that he preached Christ to the heathen and declared God to be the God of Jews and Gentiles equally, saving both alike through faith in Christ. So when in his defence before the Jewish multitude at the Temple he came to the words, “Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles,” they broke out in uncontrollable rage, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live!” (Act_22:21-23). The Jews of Thessalonica seem to have been especially mean and fanatical (Act_17:5; Act_17:11; Act_17:13); and the Apostle wishes his readers to see how entirely he is on their side as against his fellow-countrymen.

to fill up their sins alway] After the death of Christ a space for repentance was allowed them, the “forty years” alluded to in Heb_3:9; Heb_3:17. Had they accepted Christ’s message of reconciliation through the apostles and become His witnesses to the Gentiles, the judgement would have been averted (Act_3:19). The measure allowed to the nation’s sins was not yet full; but this last refusal made their cup overflow—slowly filling, as it had been, for many ages. “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers,” Jesus had said to them (Mat_23:32); and this they had done, beyond all question. The phrase fill up their sins, signifying ripeness for judgement, is used in Gen_15:16 of the Amorites in Abraham’s time—an ominous parallel. “Alway:” comp. Stephen’s reproach, “As did your fathers, so do ye” (Act_7:51).

for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost] but the wrath (R. V.), not for; as though he said, “But the end comes at last: they have always been sowing this harvest; now it has to be reaped.” Whose wrath this is, goes without saying; so in Rom_5:9 God’s anger is called with impressive emphasis “the wrath.” It is indeed “the wrath” of ch. 1Th_1:10 (see note): there regarded in its final and general manifestation to the world, here in its imminent relation to the people of Israel. There it is “coming;” here it “is come,” or has arrived.

These words are prophetical; but the announcement goes beyond prediction. The Jews as a people had decisively refused the gospel of Jesus Christ, and their fate was sealed. The nation was moving swiftly and visibly down the inclined plane to ruin. And this calamity was to be final. “To the uttermost,” says the Apostle; lit., unto an end. In former threatenings the Lord had said, “Yet will I not make a full end” (Jer_4:27, and often). He does make a full end this time—an end of the Old Covenant and of national Israel as the elect people; still it is not “the end,” as though God had no further dealings with ancient Israel: see on the contrary Romans 11.

In the year 70 of our Lord Jerusalem fell, after the most dreadful and calamitous siege known in history; and the Jewish people ever since have wandered without a home and without an altar. Tristis exitus, says Bengel: urgebat miseros ira Dei, et εἰς τέλος (tandem, at length) urbem cum templo delevit.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved,.... Speaking or preaching the Gospel is the ordinary means of saving souls, or of acquainting them with the way of salvation, the necessity of it, and of the application of it to them, and with this end and view it is preached: now though the Jews disbelieved the Gospel, and despised the ministry of it, and disavowed any such use and end of it, yet such was their envy at the Gentiles, and their hatred of them, that could they have believed it to be the means of salvation, they would have forbidden the preaching of it to them, as they now did; and it is certain, that even the believing Jews, through ignorance, did at first disapprove of the ministry of the word to the Gentiles; see Act 11:1 such was the aversion of that nation to all others, and which perfectly agrees with their general sentiments, which forbid the explanation of the law to the Gentiles; and therefore it need not be wondered at, that they should do all that in them lay to hinder the entrance and spread of the Gospel among them, of which take the following proof (f):

"whoever has not the holy name sealed and bound in his flesh (i.e. is not circumcised) "it is forbidden to make known to him a word of the law", and much less to study in it--and whoever is not circumcised, and they give to him , "the least thing in the law", it is as if he destroyed the world, and dealt falsely with the name of God--Hillell and Shammai did not make known to Onkelos a word of the law, until he was circumcised--and the traditions are, that even though a man is circumcised, yet if he does not do the commands of the law, lo, he is as a Gentile in all things, and "it is forbidden to teach him the words of the law":''

nay, it is a rule with the Jews (g), that

"if a Gentile studies in the law, he is guilty of death:''

and thus were they left in providence, to judicial blindness and hardness of heart,

to fill up their sins alway; the measure of their own and their fathers' iniquities; see Mat 23:32 a phrase expressive of the abounding of their sins, and of their being under a divine appointment, and of their being limited and restrained by a divine power, and overruled by infinite wisdom, to answer some ends and purposes of God's glory;

for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost: which is to be understood, not of their wrath and fury being come to its highest degree and pitch against the followers of Christ, but of "the wrath of God", as the Vulgate Latin version and Beza's ancient copy express it; and designs not so much "eternal punishment", as the Ethiopic version renders the phrase, or everlasting wrath and damnation on the reprobate part of that people, as temporal ruin and destruction, which was now near at hand, and hung over their heads; and therefore is said to be come to them, and which in a little time fell upon their nation and city, and temple, even to the uttermost, to the last degree; and was, as the Arabic version renders it, "wrath consuming"; or "the consummation, and that determined poured upon the desolate", spoken of in Dan 9:27 and which, as it is come upon them, will remain "unto the end", as the phrase may also be rendered; unto the end of the world, until the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, and then God's elect among the Jews shall obtain mercy, and be called, and so all Israel shall be saved, Rom 11:25.

(f) Zohar in Lev. fol. 30. 2, 3. (g) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 59. 1. Maimon. Hilchot Melachim, c. 10. sect. 9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Ver. 16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles] Bale out of Capgrave reporteth, that St Asaph (as they called him) had this saying often in his mouth, Quicunque verbo Dei adversantur, saluti hominum invident, Those that are against the preaching of the word, do envy the salvation of men. Such were Stephen Gardiner, and before him Archbishop Arundel, who died of a grievous swelling in their tongues, and that deservedly; quod verbum Dei alligassent, ne suo tempore praedicaretur, saith the historian, because they had hindered the preaching of the word.

To fill up their sin alway] Bounds are set to sin by the Divine decree, Zec 5:7. Wickedness is compared to a woman pressed in an ephah; when the measure is full, the business is finished. {See Trapp on "Mat 23:32"} The bottle of wickedness, when once filled with those bitter waters, sinketh to the bottom.

Wrath is come upon them to the uttermost] Or, until the end: wrath is come upon them finally (εις τελος), so as it shall never be removed; cloud, which at length covered the whole heaven; so some interpret it. God’s wrath is like Elijah’s, or as thunder, which you hear at first a little roaring noise afar off; but stay awhile, it is a dreadful crack. "Who knoweth the power of thy wrath?" saith Moses, Psa 90:11. The Jews are to this day a people of God’s wrath and curse.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles - see Act 17:5, Act 17:13. No particular instance is mentioned in the life of Paul previous to this, when they had formally commanded him not to preach to the pagan, but no one can doubt that this was one of the leading points of difference between him and them. Paul maintained that the Jews and Gentiles were now on a level with regard to salvation; that the wall of partition was broken down; that the Jew had no advantages over the rest of mankind in this respect, and that the pagan might be saved without becoming Jews, or being circumcised; Rom 2:25-29; Rom 3:22-31; notes, Col 1:24. The Jews did not hold it unlawful “to speak to the Gentiles,” and even to offer to them eternal life Mat 23:15, but it was only on condition that they should become proselytes to their religion, and should observe the institutions of Moses. If saved, they held that it would be as Jews - either originally such, or such by becoming proselytes. Paul maintained just the opposite opinion, that pagans might be saved without becoming proselytes to the Jewish system, and that, in fact, salvation was as freely offered to them as to the children of Abraham. Though there are no express instances in which they prohibited Paul from speaking to the Gentiles recorded before the date of this Epistle, yet events occurred afterward which showed what were their feelings, and such as to make it in the highest degree probable that they had attempted to restrain him; see Act 22:21-22, “And he (Christ) said unto me (Paul), Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they (the Jews) gave him audience unto this word, and then lift up their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live.”

That they might be saved - That is, as freely as others, and on the same terms, not by conversion to Judaism, but by repentance and faith.

To fill up their sins alway - At all times - πάντοτε pantote - in every generation. That is, to do now as they have always done, by resisting God and exposing themselves to His wrath. The idea is, that it had been a characteristic of the nation, at all times, to oppose God, and that they did it now in this manner in conformity with their fixed character; compare Act 7:51-53, and notes on Mat 23:32, on the expression, “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.”

For the wrath is come upon them - This cannot mean that the wrath of God had been then actually poured out upon them in the extreme degree referred to, or that they had experienced the full expressions of the divine displeasure, for this Epistle was written before the destruction of their city and temple (see the Introduction); but that the cup of their iniquity was full; that they were in fact abandoned by God; that they were the objects even then of his displeasure, and that their destruction was so certain that it might be spoken of as an indubitable fact. The “wrath of God” may be said to have come upon a man when he abandons him, even though there may not be as yet any external expressions of his indignation. It is not punishment that constitutes the wrath of God. That is the mere outward expression of the divine indignation, and the wrath of God may in fact have come upon a man when as yet there are no external tokens of it. The overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple, were but the outward expressions of the divine displeasure at their conduct. Paul, inspired to speak of the feelings of God, describes that wrath as already existing in the divine mind; compare Rom 4:17.

To the uttermost - Greek - εἰς τέλος eis telos - “to the end;” that is, until wrath shall be “complete” or “exhausted;” or wrath in the extremest degree. It does not mean “to the end of their race or history;” nor necessarily to the remotest periods of time, but to that which constitutes completion, so that there should be nothing lacking of that which would make indignation perfect: “εἰς τέλος eis telos - gantz und gar” - thoroughly, entirely, through and through.” Passow. Some have understood this as meaning “at the last,” or “at length,” as Macknight, Rosenmuller, Koppe, and Wetstein; others as referring to duration, meaning that it would follow them everywhere; but the more correct interpretation seems to be to refer it to that extremity of calamity and woe which was about to come upon the nation. For an account of this, see the notes on Mat 24:21.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

To full up the measure of their sins, after which God’s justice would punish them. (Witham) --- The Jews filled up the measure of their iniquities by the opposition they every where manifest to the religion of Christ. The earliest Fathers of the Church testify that they dispersed people into every nation to blaspheme the name of Christ; and hence sprang the evil fame which Christians bore among the pagans. See the apologies of St. Justin, Tertullian, Origen, &c. --- For the wrath of God is come upon them to the end. It seems a foretelling of their entire destruction, which happened not long after under Vespasian and Adrian. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved: their contrariety to all men is expressed particularly in this instance; they forbade the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, which were the greater number of men; though they opposed also their preaching to the Jewish nation: for the Jews could not endure to hear that the Gentiles should be received into the church, or into special favour with God; as appears by Christ’s sermon in the synagogue, Luk 4:28, and in the apostle’s apology for himself at Jerusalem, Act 22:21,22. And their forbidding them implies, not an act of authority, for they had it not, but their hindering them what they could, and stirring up the people and rulers against them, as Act 17:6.

To fill up their sins alway; to cause it to rise up to such a measure and degree as will at last bring destruction. Though this was not their intention, yet through the just judgment of God it was the event. They killed the prophets; but killing Christ, and persecuting the apostles, and hindering the salvation of mankind thereby, this filled up their sin. The expression alludes to what is said of the Amorites, Gen 15:16, and foretold by Daniel, Dan 9:27, called the consummation. As here is a perfecting of holiness, and filling up of grace, so also of sin. And sin against the gospel ripens sin more than against the law. And because they made a constant progress in sin, they are said to fill it up; Fill ye up the measure of your fathers, Mat 23:32.

For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost: first they filled up their sin, and then comes this wrath, or that wrath foretold by Daniel, Dan 9:27; and by our Saviour, Mat 23:38. It was their last destruction by the Romans. God’s wrath broke forth upon them several times before, but not to the utmost till now. Or, to the end, as in the Greek. In former punishments God removed his wrath and restored them again, but this continues to the end. Or, some, by the end, understand only the perfection and consummation of this wrath. And its coming may be read in the Greek, it hath prevented them; as bringing them to judgment beforehand in this world; as the destruction of the old world, Sodom, and Jerusalem, were figures and forerunners of the last judgment. And yet this doth not contradict what the apostle speaks, Rom 11:1-36, and many of the prophets, concerning their calling into the faith and church of Christ before the end of the world. Also we must understand it with an exception of the remnant of God’s election that was amongst them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Forbidding… speak… Gentiles—See note on Act_21:40.

Saved—Through faith in Christ. All this they do to this sad result, namely, to fill, etc.

Always—Persistently.

The wrath—Which belongs to them as a race fallen by apostasy.

The uttermost—Literally, the end, the finality, the ultimate downfall inflicted by the wrath, in consequence of their apostasy. Rom_9:21-22. The most conspicuous manifestation of this end was the destruction of Jerusalem.

St. Paul here speaks severely but judicially, and worthily of the prophetic spirit. No mere human love for his people ever surpassed his. Rom_9:1-5. Yet from his first conversion Judaism pursued him with reckless hate, just because his great heart opened wide for the conversion of mankind. He was held false to Judaism, because he was true to humanity. The Jews arrested him in their temple, arraigned him before Lysias, before Felix, before Festus, and finally before. Nero, and the only reason why they did not execute him was, because no pagan court would sanction their hate.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Forbidding us by contradicting, blaspheming, slandering, laying snaresto speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. Not that the Jews were averse to the proselytism of the Gentiles, provided they were circumcised -rod kept the Law of Moses; on the contrary, Judaism at this period was a proselytizing religion; but their great objection to the preaching of the gospel was that the preachers did not insist on the Gentiles becoming Jews before they became Christians. And, accordingly, we learn from the Acts of the Apostles that the unbelieving Jews were the most violent and implacable enemies of the gospel. Of the numerous persecutions mentioned in the Acts, there were only two, namely, those at Philippi and Ephesus, which were not occasioned by the Jews. To fill up their sins always; so that the measure of their iniquity became full to overflowing. Their forbidding the apostles to preach to the Gentiles was the last drop which caused the cup of their iniquity to overflow. (cutup Gen_15:16, "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full The remark of Professor Jowett is well worthy of notice: "In the beginning of sin and evil it seems as if men were free agents, and had the power of going on or of retreating. But as the crisis of their fate approaches, they are bound under a curse and the form in which their destiny presents itself to our minds is as though it were certain, "rod only a question of time how soon it is to be fulfilled." For the wrath; that wrath which was predicted and is merited by them. "Wrath" is here used for punishment, which is the effect of wrath. Is come upon them to the uttermost; literally, to the end. The apostle here refers to the judgments of God, which were impending on Jerusalem and the Jewish people; judgments which were fearfully executed in the awful sufferings they endured in the Jewish war, and in the destruction of their city by the Romans. Beware of opposing the gospel.

The Jews did so. They endeavored to prevent the apostle preaching to the Gentiles, and wrath came upon them to the uttermost; and so will all opposition made to the gospel terminate. (Psa_2:6, Psa_2:9) If we ourselves will not embrace the gospel, let us beware of throwing obstacles in the way of those who would. Especially let parents beware how they act toward their children when under religious impressions.

Fullness of sins.

fill up their sins always." This is a terrible and mysterious expression. Some light may be gained by considering it in relation to the history of the Jews, as it is of these people that it is here written. They had accumulated sin upon sin in slaying Christ and the prophets, in expelling the apostles from their communion, and finally in hindering the Gentiles from receiving that gospel which they had rejected for themselves. But there was to come an end to this tale of wickedness. The time was drawing near when the Jews would no longer have power to hurt the cause of Christianity, and when swift punishment for their accumulated iniquities would descend in the destruction of their city and nation. They were hastening to fill up the sins, which must issue in this fearful doom.

I THE GREATEST SIN IS THAT OF SINNING WITHOUT RESTRAINT. It is a mistake to speak of every sin as of infinite guilt, or of all sins as equally guilty. Such an assertion is not only false, it tends either to despair or to reckless excess in sinning. However far one has gone in sin, it is better to stop than to go on to greater enormities. To be adding sin to sin, and to be sinning "always," are signs of reckless, abandoned depravity.

II THERE IS A FULLNESS OF SINS WHICH BRINGS ITS OWN PENALTY. When sin reaches this point the penalty can no longer be stayed. The cup once full flows over in wrath and ruin. It is as though forbearance and guilt were in the scales. When guilt is full the balance dips. There is an end to all possible long-suffering. The more men go on in excesses of sin, the faster do they approach the inevitable day of reckoning. The sooner the sin is filled up to the measure which passes endurance, the sooner must the stroke of doom fall.

III FULLNESS OF SINS MUST LEAD TO FULLNESS OF PUNISHMENT. They who fill up their sins always will have the wrath "come upon them to the uttermost." The worst debtor must be made to pay the last farthing. The swifter the rush downhill, the greater the crash at the bottom. The more tares that are sown in spring, the more bundles to burn in harvest. He who fills the present life with sins will have the next life filled with wrath.

IV THERE SEEMS TO BE A LIMIT TO SINS. There is a fullness of sins. There is no fullness of virtues; these can be developed indefinitely. The good man is growing up to a perfection. The bad man is being corrupted, not to a perfection, but to a fullness. Evil has limits; goodness has none. Satan is let loose for a time. God restrains the wrath of the wicked. Sin, through rebellion against God, cannot break away from all Divine control. Sins are limited by several means:

1. Capacity. We have a limited power of sinning.

2. Time. God sometimes cuts the sinner off in the midst of his days, and brings the guilty nation to destruction.

3. Providential control. The fullness of sins is not the amount which God predestines to be committed, for God is not the author of sin, nor does he will or permit it. This fullness is the measure beyond which God stays the evil from proceeding. When the tide of iniquity, driven onwards by rebellious powers, reaches this fullness, God says, "Here shall thy proud waves be stayed," and the storm beats itself out in impotent fury. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To fill up - The measure of their sins always, as they have ever done. But the vengeance of God is come upon them - Hath overtaken them unawares, whilst they were seeking to destroy others, and will speedily complete their destruction.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

saved (See Scofield "Rom 1:16")

sins Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always [ Gen_15:16 ; Mat_23:32 ]: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost . [While narrating the course of events at Thessalonica, Paul notes the similarity between the history of the Thessalonian church and that of the Judæan churches, and reviews the latter history for the encouragement of the Thessalonians. Surely the opposition of their pagan countrymen ought not to cause these Thessalonian Christians to doubt that God favored or approved them, for such opposition was to be expected. Even the Jews, though professedly the people of God, had killed God's prophets and Christ their Lord, and had driven out the apostles and evangelists. Though the Jews were God's people, their conduct in rejecting God's Son showed that they did not please God; and that they were haters of their fellow-men was very apparent, for they even forbade Christ's apostles to attempt to save the Gentiles by preaching the gospel to them. Their opposition to churches either in Judæea or Greece was therefore no evidence that God disapproved these churches: on the contrary, God patiently permitted them to do all this, that their wickedness might be fully ripened and exposed, so that a full and notable punishment might be meted out to them--punishment which began just before the siege of Jerusalem, and continues to this day. Wrath unto the uttermost, or unto the end, signifies a wrath which fully expends itself in executing judgment. It does not mean wrath unto the end of the world-- Rom_11:15 ; Rom_11:25-26 ]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles. Nothing created such animosity on the part of the Jews as preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. See Acts 22:21–23. To fill up their sins alway. To fill the measure of their sins so full that God would reject them as a people. Compare Gen. 15:16; Matt. 23:32. For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. They were ripe for destruction. Before twenty years it came.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

16. BD* alone have preserved εφθακεν—the less obvious, but intrinsically better reading; cf. Eph 1:20, ενηργηκεν (-σεν).

DG latt vg Ambrst, with Western license, gloss οργη by του θεου.

16. κωλυόντων ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἔθνεσιν λαλῆσαι ἵνα σωθῶσιν, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles in order that they may be saved. As much as to say, “These Jews would stop our mouths if they could, and prevent us uttering a single word to you about the Gospel; they would gladly see all the Gentiles perish.” While many individual Jews were of a humaner spirit, this was the dominant feeling and the cause of the murderous enmity that pursued the Apostle Paul, bringing about his long imprisonment and finally his death. Here he exposes the motives of his traducers: they poisoned the minds of the Thessalonians against him to rob them of the Gospel of salvation; cf. the denunciation of Jewish Christian proselytizers in Gal 6:12 f.

Κωλυόντων, anarthrous participle, in explanatory apposition to the last clause (or, perhaps, to the two last clauses, θεῷ … ἐναντίων). This verb in pres. and impf. is regularly tentative: “being fain to forbid.” Ἵνα is so weakened in later Greek, that λαλῆσαι ἵνα κ.τ.λ. might mean “to tell the Gentiles to be saved—to bid them be saved”: “a periphrasis for εὐαγγελίζεσθαι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν” (Ellicott). This usage is clear in the case of the verb εἰπεῖν in Luk 4:3; Luk 10:40; but it does not occur elsewhere with λαλεῖν, the force of which here lies in its connexion with τοῖς ἔθνεσιν (cf. 1Th 2:2; also Act 4:17; Act 11:19 f., Joh 4:27, 1Co 3:1, for the stress on the person addressed in construction with λαλεῖν; and Eph 3:8, for τοίς ἔθνεσιν in like emphasis): the Jews would not have a word said to the Gentiles “with a view to effect” their salvation. For ἵνα σωθῶσιν, cf. 1Co 10:33; 2Ti 2:10.

εἰς τὸ ἀναπληρῶσαι αὐτῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας πάντοτε states the issue for the Jews of their sustained and violent resistance to the word of God, now consummated by their rancorous opposition to the Gentiles’ receiving it. On εἰς τό, see note on 1Th 2:12; the preposition may signify consequence here, as in 2Co 8:5 f., Heb 11:3, but with a meaning akin to purpose (a blind aim),—“to the effect that,” “in a manner calculated to”—whereas ὥστε (1Th 1:8, &c.) expresses bare consequence (“so that,” “so as to”). Ellicott and Bornemann may be right, however, in seeing here the purpose of God, “which unfolds itself in this wilful and at last judicial blindness on the part of His chosen people”: cf. Rom 1:24, διὸ παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεός … εἰς ἀκαθαρσίαν, where sin is declared to be punished by further and more flagrant sin. The phrase “fill up their sins” recalls Gen 15:16, οὔπω ἀναπεπλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν Ἀμοῤῥαίων—an ominous and humiliating parallel for Israelites; cf. also Dan 8:23. Still more distinctly the words of Jesus are echoed (Mat 23:31 f.): υἱοί ἐστε τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας· καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. Ἀνα-πληρόω, “to fill up (to the brim),” implies a measure quite complete: cf. 2Th 2:6-8; Rom 2:5 f. Πάντοτε covers the whole ground of 1Th 2:15, indicating a course of misdoing repeated at every turn.

That God’s purpose was at work in the above ἀναπληρῶσαι is shown by the last clause, ἔφθασεν δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἡ ὀργὴ εἰς τέλος, but the (Divine) wrath has hastened (to come) upon them, to (make) an end. Whose wrath goes without saying; cf. ἡ ὀργή in 1Th 1:10, and Rom 5:9. In 1Th 1:10 “the wrath” was contemplated in its approaching manifestation to the world; here in its imminence upon the Jewish people: there it is “coming” (ἐρχομένη); here it “has arrived.” Φθάνω—construed with εἰς in Rom 9:31, Php 3:16; with ἐπί in Mat 12:28, &c.—signifies reaching the object aimed at, with the associated idea of speed or surprise; with a direct object, it means to overtake, anticipate (see 1Th 4:15). For the element of unexpectedness in the judgement, cf. 1Th 2:2 f., and Mat 24:50, Luk 21:34 f., &c., in our Lord’s prophecies; this sense of φθάνω is unmistakable in Mat 12:28, and accords with the emphatic position of the verb here. The sentence is prophetic, resembling in its aorist (or perfect: see Textual Note) the Hebrew perfect of prediction (where the certain future is realized in thought); the Apostles infer this from the facts before their eyes. “The Jews” have rejected the Name in which alone there is salvation (Act 3:19 ff; Act 4:12); by their crime in killing the Lord Jesus, and by forbidding His Gospel to the world, they have sealed their doom. The tragedy of Israel’s fate hurries visibly to its pre-determined close.

And this calamity will be final—ἔφθασεν (or ἔφθακεν) … εἰς τέλος. In former threatenings God had said, “Yet will I not make a full end” (Jer 4:27, &c.); this time He does make an end—of the Old Covenant and of national Israel. Still Romans 11 opens out a new prospect for the Jewish race; after all it is εἰς τέλος, not εἰς τὸ τέλος, that is written. For St Paul’s use of τέλος as implying the goal and terminus of some Divine dispensation, cf. Rom 10:4; 1Co 10:11; 1Co 15:24; also Luk 22:37. In Luk 18:5, Joh 13:1, εἰς τέλος has much the same force as here, meaning not at last, but finally (so as to reach an end), by way of crown and finish to the matter in hand.

Within twenty years of the writing of this Letter Jerusalem fell, after the most dreadful and calamitous siege known in history; and the Jewish people ever since have wandered without a home and without an altar. “Tristis exitus,” writes Bengel: “urgebat miseros ira Dei, et εἰς τέλος urbem cum templo delevit.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16.] Characterization of the Jews as enemies of the Gospel and of mankind. Jowett’s note is worth quoting: “Wherever the Apostle had gone on his second journey, he bad been persecuted by the Jews: and the longer he travelled about among Gentile cities, the more he must have been sensible of the feeling with which his countrymen were regarded. Isolated as they were from the rest of the world in every city, a people within a people, it was impossible that they should not be united for their own self-defence, and regarded with suspicion by the rest of mankind. But their inner nature was not less repugnant to the nobler as well as the baser feelings of Greece and Rome. Their fierce nationality had outlived itself: though worshippers of the true God, they knew Him not to be the God of all the nations of the earth: hated and despised by others, they could but cherish in return an impotent contempt and hatred of other men. What wonder that, for an instant (? on all this see below), the Apostle should have felt that this Gentile feeling was not wholly groundless? or that he should use words which recall the expression of Tacitus: ‘Adversus omnes alios hostile odium?’ Hist. v. 5.”

16. εἰς τό] not of the result merely, ‘so that,’—but of the intention, not of the Jews themselves, but of their course of conduct, viewed as having an intent in the divine purposes: as so often in St. Paul.

ἀναπλ.] to bring up the measure of their sins to the prescribed point.

πάντοτε] ταῦτα δὲ καὶ πάλαι ἐπὶ τῶν προφητῶν κ. νῦν ἐπὶ τοῦ χριστοῦ κ. ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔπραξαν, ἵνα πάντοτε ἀναπληρωθῶσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι αὐτῶν, Œcum. The idea is, not of a new measure having to be filled πάντοτε, but of their being πάντοτε employed in filling up the measure.

But (this their opposition to God and men shall not avail them: for) the (predestined, or predicted, or merited) wrath (of God) came upon them (he looks back on the fact in the divine counsels as a thing in past time, q. d. ‘was appointed to come:’ not ‘has come.’ No sense of anticipation need be sought in ἔφθασεν in later Greek, except when it governs an accusative of the person, as ch. 4:15; see reff.) to the utmost (to the end of it, i.e. the wrath: so that it shall exhaust all its force on them: not ‘at last’ Wahl, al.: nor to be taken with ἡ ὀργή, the wrath which shall endure to the end (ἡ εἰς τ.?), as Thl., Œc., al.: nor to be referred to the Jews, ‘so as to make an end of them,’ De W.).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To speak - that they might be saved (lalhsai ina swqwsin). Not, to speak to the Gentiles in order that they might be saved, but to tell the Gentiles that they might be saved. Comp. 1Co 10:33.

To fill up [αναπληρωσαι] . The verb means the making up of what is lacking to perfect fulness; the filling of a partial void. Comp. Phi 2:30. Once in LXX of filling up of sins, Gen 14:16. Always blind and stubborn, the Jews filled up the measure of their sins by their treatment of Christ and his apostles.

Alway [παντοτε] . Emphatically placed at the end of the sentence. At all times - before Christ, in Christ 's time, now - the Jews by their resistance to the divine word fill up their 'sins.

Is come [εφθασεν] . The verb not frequent in N. T. and used mostly by Paul. See on 2Co 10:14, and comp. Rom 9:31; Phi 3:16.

To the uttermost [εις τελος] . This is not the meaning of the phrase in N. T. It is to the end : see Mt 10:22; Mt 24:13; Luk 18:5; Joh 13:1. The wrath of God had not come upon them to the uttermost. The meaning is that the divine wrath had reached the point where it passed into judgment.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.