1, 2. ‘ And now, Brothers, to apply more directly what we have been saying, we entreat you as friends, nay we exhort you with authority in the Lord, to carry out ever more fully the mode of life which is pleasing to God, as you have already learned it from us. We know indeed that you are doing this, but there is still room for progress, as you cannot but be aware in view of our previous instructions.’ 1. Λοιπόν] a colloquial expression frequently used to point forward to a coming conclusion (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:11, 2 Timothy 4:8; τὸλοιπ. 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Philippians 4:8), but in itself doing little more than mark the transition to a new subject as in late Gk. where it is practically equivalent to an emphatic οὖν: cf. Polyb. 1:15. 11 λοιπὸνἀνάγκησυγχωρεῖν, τὰςἀρχὰςκαὶτὰςὑποθέσειςεἶναιφευδεῖς, Epict. Diss. 1:22. 15 ἄρχομαιλοιπὸνμισεῖναὐτόν, and the other passages cited by Jannaris Exp. 5. 8. p. 429 f.: see also Schmid Attic. 3. p. 135. As showing its frequency as a connecting particle in the Κοινή (cf. B.G.U. 1039, 8 (Byz.)), Wilcken remarks that it has passed over into Coptic in this sense (Archiv 3. p. 507). In mod. Gk. λοιπόν has displaced οὖν altogether. In the present passage οὖν is retained in the text by WH. mg., Tischdf., Zimmer, Nestle. It might easily have dropped out after the -ον of λοιπόν: on the other hand the combination λοιπὸνοὖν is found nowhere else in the N.T., cf. however B.G.U. 1079, 6 ff. (a private letter— 1./a.d.) λοιπὸνοὖνἔλαβονπαρὰτο(ῦ) Ἄραβοςτὴνἐπιστολὴνκαὶἀνέγνωνκαὶἐλυπήθην. ἐρωτῶμενὐμᾶςκτλ]. Ἐρωτᾶν in class. Gk. always = ‘ interrogare’ is frequently used in the N.T. = ‘ rogare,’ cf. 5:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Philippians 4:3, the only other occurrences of the word in the Pauline writings. This usage is amply vouched for in the Κοινή (e.g. P.Oxy. 292, 7 f. (1./a.d.) ἠρώτησαδὲκαὶἙρμί[α]ντὸνἀδελφὸνδιὰγραπτοῦἀνηγεῖ[σθαί] σοιπερὶτούτου, and the other exx. below), and need therefore no longer be traced to the influence of the Hob. ωΡΘΰΗμ (cf. Deissmann BS. pp. 195 f., 290 f.). In this, its later sense, ἐρωτᾶν can hardly be distinguished from αἰτεῖν, though by laying greater stress on the person asked than on the thing asked for, it is more appropriate in exhortation (Grimm-Thayer s.v. αἰτέω). The note of urgency underlying its use is heightened here by its conjunction with παρακαλοῦμεν (2:11 note), and still more by the addition of ἐνκυρίῳἸησοῦ, pointing to the real source of the writers’ authority (cf. Ephesians 4:17).For the conjunction of the two words in epistolary phrases cf. P.Oxy. 294, 28 f. (1./a.d.) ἐρωτῶδέσεκαὶπαρακαλ[ῶγρά]ψειμοιἀντιφώνησινπερὶτῶνγενομέν[ων], 744, 6 f. (1./b.c.) ἐρωτῶσεκαὶπαρακαλῶσεἐπιμελήθ‹ητ›ιτῷπαιδίῳ. The latter papyrus also supplies an instance of ἐρωτάω construed with ἵνα, 13 f. ἐρωτῶσεοὖνἵναμὴἀγωνιάσῃς ‘ I urge you therefore not to worry.’[ἵνα] καθὼςπαρελάβετε] ‘ [that] even as ye received.’ If ἵνα is read it should have a comma placed after it to show that it really belongs to the last clause of the verse, where, on account of the long parenthesis, it is repeated. For this semi-final ἵνα when the subject of the prayer is blended with its purpose cf. 5:4, 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, 2 Corinthians 1:17, and for the development of this usage in the later language see Hatzidakis p. 214 ff., Moulton Prolegg. p. 206 ff. A good ex. from the Κοιντ́ occurs in the Christian papyrus-letter already cited P.Heid. 6, 14 ff. (4./a.d.) παρακαλῶ [ο]ἶν, δέσποτα, ἵναμνημον[ε]ύηςμοιεἰςτὰςἁγίαςσουεὐχάς, ἵναδυνηθῶμενμέροςτο͂ν (ἁμ)αρτιῶνκαθαρίσεως.Παραλαμβάνω as usual lays stress not so much on the manner of the Thessalonians’ receiving, as on the contents of what they received: cf. note on 2:13, and for περιπατεῖν as the result of this teaching see 2 Thessalonians 3:6, Colossians 2:6.τὸπῶςδεῖὑμᾶςπεριπατεῖνκτλ.] In accordance with a usage peculiar to St Luke and St Paul in the N.T. τό (ὅπως without τό FG) is here used to introduce an indirect interrogative sentence (cf. Luke 1:62, Romans 8:26; Blass p. 158), while at the same time in quite class. fashion it binds together all that follows into a kind of substantival object to παρελάβετε (cf. 3:3, and see further Viteau Ιtude 1. p. 67 f.). The two infinitives are consequently best taken as closely connected, the second stating the necessary result of the first, ‘ how to walk and (so) please God’ (cf. WM. p. 544 n.1). For περιπατεῖν cf. 2:12 note, and for ἀρέσκεινθεῷ cf. 2:4 note. In Psalms 25. (26.) 3 the LXX. rendering for δΔϊΐδΘμΜΗλΐϊΔι is εὐηρέστησα. καθὼςκ. περιπατεῖτε] a clause amply vouched for on ms. authority (ΰABD* G 17 …), and in entire accord with the writers’ practice to praise whenever praise is due (Intr. p. 44), but which, by destroying the regularity of the sentence, leads them to substitute ἵναπερισσεύητεμᾶλλον for the οὕτωςκαὶπεριπατῆτε which we would otherwise have expected. For a similar irregularity of construction due to the same cause cf. Colossians 1:6 (with Lft.’ s note), and for the intensive μᾶλλον cf. v. 10, 2 Corinthians 7:13, Philippians 1:23, Mark 7:36.