SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:19
Porque ¿cul es nuestra esperanza, o gozo, o corona de que me gloríe? ¿No lo sois vosotros, delante del Seor nuestro Jess el Cristo en su venida?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 2:19
Verse 19. For what is our hope] I can have no prospects from earth; I have forsaken all for the Gospel; and esteem every thing it can afford as dross and dung, that I may gain Christ. Why then should I continually labour at the risk of my life, preaching the Gospel? Is it not to get your souls saved, that ye may be my crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ? For this I labour; and, having planted the Gospel among you, I wish to take every opportunity of watering it, that it may grow up unto eternal life.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 19. For what is our hope, or joy , etc.] The apostle here gives a reason why they were so concerned at parting with the Thessalonians, and were so desirous of seeing them again, and attempted it so often, cause they were their hope; not the foundation of it, which was Christ; nor the thing hoped for, which was eternal life; nor the ground of their hope, which was the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; but they were persons whom they hoped well of, and of whom their hope was steadfast; as of their election of God, of their redemption by Christ, of their effectual calling, of their perseverance in faith and holiness, notwithstanding all reproach and persecution; and of meeting the Lord, and being together with him for ever: and they were also their joy; their conversion was a matter of joy to them, because of the glory of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, displayed therein; because of the abundant grace bestowed on these persons; and because that hereby the kingdom of Satan was weakened, and the kingdom of Christ enlarged and his churches increased and beautified; and their own ministry was blessed and confirmed, and their hearts and hands strengthened, and they encouraged to go on in it: and they continued to be their joy, inasmuch as they stood fast in the Lord, walked on in the truth, and had their conversations as became the Gospel of Christ; and they were persuaded would be their joy hereafter, at the second coming of Christ; when they should give up their account of them with joy, and not with grief: and it is added, or crown of rejoicing ; or of glorying, or boasting; not that they gloried in them, for they gloried not in men, but in the Lord, in his righteousness, riches, wisdom, strength, and grace, in the person, blood, and cross of Christ; but they gloried of them, as trophies of divine grace, as a prey taken out of the hand of the mighty, and as lawful captives delivered from the power of Satan, and of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of Christ. The Alexandrian copy reads, as we render it, crown of rejoicing : which is but a stronger phrase, to press the joy they had in their conversion and perseverance, in allusion to crowns wore at times of rejoicing, as at marriage feasts, and the like: hence we read of the crowns of the bridegrooms, and of the brides, which were forbidden the use of in the war of Vespasian; the latter were made of gold, in the form of the city of Jerusalem, and from thence called golden cities f10 ; and the former, some say, were made of salt and sulphur, to put them in mind of the destruction of the Sodomites, for their unnatural lusts f11 ; others of a salt stone as clear as crystal, or of the stone Bdellium, painted in the colour of sulphur f12 ; and some were made of myrtles and roses, but in the war of Vespasian only those made of reeds were used f13 ; these crowns at weddings seem to be the beautiful crowns in ( Ezekiel 23:42) where the Septuagint use the same phrase as here, stefanon kauchsewv , a crown of rejoicing, or glorying: the Hebrew phrase trapt trj[ , may be rendered a crown of glory, as the phrase here is by the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; but does not mean the crown of glory, life, righteousness, and immortality, the apostle expected at the hands of Christ another day; nor that his being an instrument of the conversion of these persons was the ground of such an expectation, or was what entitled him to such a crown; since he knew that conversion work was owing to the powerful grace of God, and the crown of eternal life was his free gift; but that it would be an honour to him, and give him abundant joy and pleasure at the coming of Christ, to be encircled with such a number of souls he had been useful to, and who were his spiritual children; just as children's children are the crown of old men, ( Proverbs 17:6) all this is put by way of question, which strongly affirms, are not even ye ; or ye also, as well as others, as the Corinthians and Philippians; (see 2 Corinthians 1:7 Phi 1:6,7 4:1). In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? to judge the quick and dead, when both they and these should meet him, and stand before him with confidence, being clothed with his righteousness, and clad with robes of immortality and glory.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 17-20 - This world is not a place where we are to be always, or long together In heaven holy souls shall meet, and never part more. And though the apostle could not come to them yet, and thought he might never be able to come, yet our Lord Jesus Christ will come; nothing shall hinde that. May God give faithful ministers to all who serve him with their spirit in the gospel of his Son, and send them to all who are i darknes __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
τις 5101 γαρ 1063 ημων 2257 ελπις 1680 η 2228 χαρα 5479 η 2228 στεφανος 4735 καυχησεως 2746 η 2228 ουχι 3780 και 2532 υμεις 5210 εμπροσθεν 1715 του 3588 κυριου 2962 ημων 2257 ιησου 2424 χριστου 5547 εν 1722 τη 3588 αυτου 846 παρουσια 3952
Vincent's NT Word Studies
19. Hope. Used of the object of hope, as Col. i. 5; 1 Tim. i. 1; Heb. vi. 18.
Joy - crown (cara - stefanov). Comp. Philip. iv. 1. The phrase crown of rejoicing or boasting, in Prov. xvi. 31; Ezek. xvi. 12; xxiii. 42. Comp. Isa. lxii. 3, stefanov kallouv crown of beauty, and Soph. Aj. 465. stef eujkleiav crown of renown. The Thessalonians were "a chaplet of victory of which Paul might justly make his boast in the day of the Lord" (Ellicott). For stefanov see on Apoc. iv. 4.
Coming (parousia). See on Matt. xxiv. 8, and on ejpifaneia appearing, 1 Tim. vi. 14 and 2 Thess. ii. 8.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:19 {Crown of glorying} (stefanos kaucesews). When a king or conqueror came on a visit he was given a chaplet of glorying. Paul is answering the insinuation that he did not really wish to come. {At his coming} (en tei autou parousiai). this word parousia is untechnical (just _presence_ from pareimi) in #2Th 2:9; 1Co 16:17; 2Co 7:6f.; 10:10; Php 1:26; 2:12. But here (also #1Th 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2Th 2:1,8; 1Co 15:23) we have the technical sense of the second coming of Christ. Deissmann (_Light from the Ancient East_, pp. 372ff.) notes that the word in the papyri is almost technical for the arrival of a king or ruler who expects to receive his "crown of coming." The Thessalonians, Paul says, will be his crown, glory, joy when Jesus comes.
