23, 24. ‘ As however without God all your strivings must be in vain we pray that the God of peace Himself will sanctify you through and through, that the whole man may become God’ s, each part preserved entire and without blame, and found so at the Parousia of the Lord Jesus. Nor need you have any fear regarding this. The very fact that it is God Who is calling is to you the pledge that He will not suffer His calling to become null and void.’ 23. ὁθεὸςτῆςεἰρήνης] a frequent title at the close of the Pauline Epp. (Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Philippians 4:9, (Hebrews 13:20); cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 ὁκύρ. τ. εἰρ..), and intended to bring out ‘ the peace’ which is not only the one God’ s characteristic attribute, but which it is His peculiar privilege to bestow, and which in the present passage gains in significance in view of the ἀταξία just spoken of. For ‘ Peace’ as a Talmudic Name of God see Taylor Sayings2 p. 25 f.; while as further illustrating the personal application of the term it may be noted that in P.Oxy. 41, 27 (3./4. a.d.) the prytanis at Oxyrhynchus is popularly acclaimed as εἰρήνηπόλεως. ἁγιάσαιὑμᾶςκτλ.] ‘ sanctify you wholly’—ἁγιάσαι not being limited to the initial act of consecration, but (as in Romans 15:16, Ephesians 5:26) pointing to the actual inward sanctification of the Thessalonians ‘ in their whole persons’ (Vg. Ambrstr. per omnia, Luth. Weizsäcker durch und durch). For this ethical sense of ἁγιάζειν cf. Leviticus 11:44 ἁγιασθήσεσθεκαὶἅγιοιἔσεσθε, ὅτιἅγιόςεἰμιἐγώ, and for a full discussion of the word and its synonyms see Westcott Heb. p. 346 f. For ὁλοτελής (ἅπ. λεγ. N.T.) cf. Plut. Mor. 2:909 b, Dittenberger Sylloge2 376, 45 ἀνεισφορίαν, ἣνοὐδεὶςτῶνπρότερονΣεβαστῶνὁλοτελῆἔδωκεν. The adv. ὁλοτελῶς, by which Suidas defines the common ὁλοσχηρῶς, is found in Aq. Deuteronomy 13:16 (17). ὁλόκληρον] a secondary predicate to be taken closely along with τηρηθείη, and as belonging to all three substantives (WM. p. 661). As regards meaning, ὁλόκληρος can hardly be distinguished from ὁλοτελής though, in accordance with its derivation, it draws more special attention to the several parts to which the wholeness spoken of extends, no part being wanting or lacking in completeness. Thus in the LXX. the word is used of λίθοι as yet untouched by any tool (Deuteronomy 27:6, 1Ma 4:47), and it is the regular expression in Philo (de anim. § 12, 2. p. 836 M.) and Josephus Antt. 3. 278 (12. 2) to denote the integritas required both in priests and victims. From this the transition is easy to the metaphorical sense of mental and moral completeness which the word has in the apocr. books of the O.T. (Sap. 15:3 ὁλόκληροςδικαιοσύνη, 4Ma 15:17 τὴνεὐσέβειανὁλόκληρον), and in James 1:4 where it is joined with τέλειος (for distinction between them see Trench Syn. § 22.) and explained as ἐνμηδενὶλειπόμενος. An interesting parallel to the use of ὁλόκληρος in the present passage is afforded by the magical papyrus P.Lond. 1. 121, 589 f. (3./a.d.) διαφύλασσεμουτὸσῶματὴνψυχὴνὁλόκληρον, while its original meaning is seen in P.Oxy. 57, 13 f. (3./a.d.) ὑπὲρτοῦὁλόκληρον (sc. ποιῆσαι) τὴνἐπίσκεψιντῶνχωμάτων. The allied subst. ὁλοκληρία (cf. Acts 3:16) occurs in the sense of physical wholeness, health, e.g. B.G.U. 948, 2 ff. (4./5. a.d.) εὔχομε ... τὰπε[ρὶτ]ῆςὑγίαςσουκαὶὁλοκληρίαςσουχαίριν, and for the verb see P.Grenf. 1. 53, 4 f. (4./a.d.) ὅπωςὁλοκληροῦντασὲἀπολάβομεν. ὑμῶντὸπνεῦμακτλ.] The precedent gen. ὑμῶν is unemphatic (cf. Abbott Joh. Gr. p. 416), and belongs to each of the following substantives, ‘ your spirit and your soul and your body,’ but this triple subject must not be pressed as if it contained a psychological definition of human nature. St Paul ‘ is not writing a treatise on the soul, but pouring forth, from the fulness of his heart, a prayer for his converts’ (Jowett), and consequently all appeals to the verse in support of a Pauline system of Trichotomy as against the Dichotomy found elsewhere in his Epp. are beside the mark. At the same time it will not do to regard the three subjects as of ‘ mere rhetorical significance’ (de Wette): they are evidently chosen in accordance with the general O.T. view of the constitution of man to emphasize a sanctification which shall extend to man’ s whole being, whether on its immortal, its personal, or its bodily side: cf. Hebrews 4:12 with Westcott’ s Add. Note p. 114 ff. The trichotomist arguments based on the passage will be found fully stated by Ellicott The Destiny of the Creature, Serm. 5. with the accompanying Notes. For the more important inquiry how far St Paul may have been influenced here by Pharisaic theology see Wohlenberg ad loc., and cf. Jos. Antt. 1. 34 (1. 2). For the occurrence of the same trichotomy in Egyptian rites in the order ‘ soul, body, spirit’ see the interesting note by Rev. F. E. Brightman in J.T.S. 2. p. 273 f. ἀμέπτως] an adverbial adjunct (2:10 note) qualifying the whole expression ὁλόκληρον ... τηρηθείη: cf. Clem. R. Cor. 44:6 ἐκτῆςἀμέμπτῶςαὐτοῖςτετιμημένης (τετηρημένης, Lft.) λειτουργίας. It is not without interest to notice that ἀμέμπτως, which in the N.T. is confined to this Ep., occurs in certain sepulchral inscriptions discovered at Thessalonica, e.g. an inscription of 50 a.d. Εἰσιάδιτῇσυνβίωιζησάσῃἀμέμπτωςἔτη ... [μνε]ίαςχάριν (no. 30 Duchesne et Bayet Mission au Mont Athos p. 29). ἐντῇπαρουσίᾳκτλ.] a temporal clause marking also the condition under which the blameless ὁλοκληρία will be made manifest (cf. 2:19 note). Wohlenberg prefers to connect the words more closely with τηρηθείη, the thought then being that in the judgment following upon Christ’ s appearing, while others find themselves the subjects of God’ s wrath, those who have undergone this triple sanctification will be preserved in bliss. The difference in meaning is not very great, but under no circumstances can the A.V. ‘ unto (as if εἰς) the coming’ be accepted, however true the thought underlying it (cf. Philippians 1:6). For παρουσία see Add. Note F.