1 Thessalonians 2:16
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
Study Note
Study Note
Paul describes those who 'forbid us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.' The phrase 'fill up their sins' (anaplērōsai autōn tas hamartias) echoes Matthew 23:32 ('Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers'), presenting obstruction of the gospel as the capstone sin that completes a pattern of resistance to God's purposes. The declaration 'the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost' (ephthasen de ep' autous hē orgē eis telos) uses a perfect tense suggesting wrath already arrived — possibly a proleptic description of the judgment Paul anticipates, or a reference to 70 CE from the perspective of Luke's redaction.
Other Translations
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
forbidding us to speak to the nations that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, but the anger did come upon them--to the end!
Who, to make the measure of their sins complete, kept us from giving the word of salvation to the Gentiles: but the wrath of God is about to come on them in the fullest degree.
Cross References
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is …
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of …
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the …
And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This …
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do …
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and …
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.