1– 5. ‘ Unable to bear the thought of this continued separation any longer, we made up our minds— I speak of Silas and myself— to be left behind alone, even though it was in Athens, a city “ wholly given to idolatry,” while we dispatched Timothy, our true brother in Christ, and called by God Himself to the ministry of the Gospel, in order that he might be the means not only of establishing you more firmly in your present conduct, but also of encouraging you in the heart-possession of the Faith. And there is the more need of this in view of the troubles which (so we hear) are now falling upon you, and by which if you are not on your guard you may be led astray. You cannot surely have forgotten that these are the inevitable lot of Christ’ s disciples. For even while we were still with you, we warned you clearly that we are hound to encounter trouble. And so it has now proved in your own experience. So anxious however are we still regarding you that— let me say it once more for myself— unable to bear the thought of this continued separation any longer, I sent Timothy to bring back a full report of your faith, lest, as we feared might have been the case, Satan had succeeded in tempting you, and our toil on your account had come to naught.’ 1. Διὸμηκέτιστέγοντες] ‘ Wherefore no longer bearing’ (Vg. non sustinentes amplius) viz. the separation referred to in 2:17 f. Στέγειν originally = ‘ cover,’ and thence either ‘ keep in’ in the sense of ‘ conceal,’ ‘ hide,’ or ‘ keep off’ in the sense of ‘ bear up under,’ ‘ endure’ (Hesych.: στέγει· κρύπτει, συνέχει, βαστάζει, ὑπομένει). Either meaning yields good sense here and in v. 5, but the latter, as Lft. has shown, is to be preferred in view of 1 Corinthians 9:12; 1 Corinthians 13:7, the only other passages in the N.T. where the verb occurs, and its general use in later Gk. e.g. Philo in Flacc. § 9 (2. p. 526 M.) μηκέτιστέγεινδυνάμενοιτὰςἐνδείας. For the more literal sense of ‘ ward off’ cf. Polyb. 3:53. 2, Dittenberger Sylloge2 318, 24 (2./b.c.) ἔστεξεντὴνἐπιφερομένηντῶνβαρβάρωνὁρμήν. ηὐδοκήσαμενκαταλειφθῆναικτλ.] Grot.: ‘Triste hoc, sed tamen hoc libenter, feceramus … vestri causa.’ For ηὐδοκήσαμεν (Vg. placuit nobis) see 2:8 note, and for καταλειφθῆναι in the sense of being left behind owing to the departure of others cf. [Jo.] 8:9, Acts 25:14. Hence the verb is frequently used in connexion with dying (Deuteronomy 28:54, Proverbs 20:7, Mark 12:19, Luke 20:31), and is also the technical term in wills of the Ptolemaic period for ‘ bequeath,’ e.g. P.Petr. 1. 11, 9 f. (the will of a cavalry officer) ἐὰνδέτιἀνθρώπινονπάθωκαταλείπω ... τὸνἵππονκαὶτὰὅπλαπτολεμαίω[ι]. In the same will, according to Mahaffy’ s restoration, the testator appoints a certain Demostratus his executor with the formula καταλείπωἐπίτροπον. In the passage before us the 1st pers. plur. ηὐδοκήσαμεν may be understood of St Paul alone (Add. Note B), but in view of v. 5 (see note) is best referred to St Paul and Silas (cf. Intr. p. 30). How keenly the two older Apostles felt the departure of their younger companion is proved by the emphatic μόνοι— the sense of loneliness being further deepened by their position in Athens ‘ urbe videlicet a Deo alienissimâ’ (Beng.). [Cf. the now almost proverbial ‘ Alone in London.’ ] Calv.: ‘ signum ergo rari amoris eat et anxii desiderii, quod se omni solatio privare non recusat, ut subveniat Thessalonicensibus.’