There are four statements about the Jews
in 1 Thessalonians 2:15:
who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets
and also drove us out.
They displease God
and are hostile to all men
[by preventing us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved—1 Thessalonians 2:16a]
The structure in the Greek is fairly clear. All of these clauses are governed by a single definite article (the
= Greek: τῶν/tōn), which functions like a relative pronoun (who
).1,2 This means that all four of these statements are descriptive of the Jews
at the end of 1 Thessalonians 2:14.3,4,5 Whoever these Jews
might have been, they were a group characterized by the actions of these four statements.
One further general comment on verse 15: each of the four statements describes the Jews
acting toward the Lord Jesus, God, or other people (the Lord Jesus...the prophets...us...God...all mankind
). In each case, the recipient of the action is stated first in the Greek text and is thereby emphasized.
15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind