살전 3장 9-10절 믿음의 부족한 것을 보충함

9 For swhat thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly tnight and day uthat we may see you face to face and vsupply what is lacking in your faith?

s [ch. 1:2]

t 2 Tim. 1:3

u ch. 2:17; [Rom. 1:10]

v See 2 Cor. 13:9

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 살전 3:9–10.

 

9 우리가 우리 하나님 앞에서 너희로 말미암아 모든 기쁨으로 기뻐하니 너희를 위하여 능히 어떠한 감사로 하나님께 보답할까

10 주야로 심히 간구함은 너희 얼굴을 보고 너희 믿음이 부족한 것을 보충하게 하려 함이라

 대한성서공회, 성경전서: 개역개정, 전자책. (서울시 서초구 남부순환로 2569: 대한성서공회, 1998), 살전 3:9–10.

 

바울은 디모데로부터의 데살로니가 교회 성도들의 소식을 듣고 이제 감사의 기도를 드리고 있다. 

 

9절) ‘우리 하나님 앞에서’라는 표현은 ‘엠프로스덴 투 데우 헤몬’이다. 여기서 ‘엠프로스덴’은 ‘면전에서’라는 의미로 신전의식을 의미한다. ‘In front of God’, 하나님 앞에서의 정신은 우리 신앙에 있어서 매우 중요하다. 여기서 바울의 기쁨은 개인의 감정적인 것의 만족이 아니라 하나님 앞에서의 기쁨인 것이다. 복음이 전해졌고 이 복음을 듣고 궁핍과 환난 가운데서 흔들리지 않은 믿음으로 서 있는 데살로니가 성도들, 바로 이 일을 하나님이 이루셨다라는 인식과 믿음이 있기에 ‘하나님 앞에서’ 기뻐하는 것이다. 

이어지는 표현은 ‘너희로 말미암아’이다. 바울은 이 과정에서 본인의 수고와 노력을 강조할 수도 있었을 것이다. 하지만 데살로니가 성도들로 말미암은 소식으로 인해서 기뻐하고 있는 것이다. 

 

이어서 바울은 ‘능히 어떠한 감사로 하나님께 보답할까?’라고 질문한다. 이는 수사의문문으로 받은만큼 완전히 보답하는 것은 불가능하다라는 의미이다. 

시편 116:12

12내게 주신 모든 은혜를 내가 여호와께 무엇으로 보답할까

시편 기자의 이러한 고백은 주님의 은혜가 너무 커서 무엇으로도 보답할 수 없다는 사실을 강조하는 것이다. 

 

‘보답할까’라고 표현된 단어는 ‘안타포두나이’로 원형은 ‘안타포디도미’이다. 이는 되돌려주어야 할 것을 있는 그대로 되돌려주는 것을 의미하는 동사이다.(눅 14:14) 감사함으로 보답할까(유카리스티안 안타포두나이)는 감사하다(유카리스테인)라는 셈족 표현이라고 할 수 있다. 

 

-  γάρ links vv. 9f. to what precedes it as an inference in the form of a question (τίνα γὰρ εὐχαριστίαν δυνάμεθα τῷ θεῷ ἀνταποδοῦναι περὶ ὑμῶν, “for what thanksgiving are we able to return to God concerning you?”). Two things are implicit in this question. First, Paul was profoundly thankful for the continuing faithfulness of the Thessalonians. Frame (134) suggests that ἀνταποδοῦναι (“return”), which may be used either in a negative sense (cf. 2 Thes. 1:6; Rom. 12:19) or in a positive sense, as it is here (cf. Rom. 11:35), is stronger than ἀποδιδόναι. Following Milligan he argues that it has the nuance of “complete return.” With τίνα (“what”) it suggests that Paul felt unable to give sufficient thanks to God for the tremendous sense of relief and joy he experienced at hearing the good news concerning his converts at Thessalonica. Second, that Paul wished to give thanks to God for the Thessalonians suggests that the apostle had a powerful awareness of God’s working in and among his converts to enable them to remain true to their new beliefs and behavior patterns as Christians.

While the phrase περὶ ὑμῶν (“concerning you”) shows that Paul’s feeling of thankfulness was based on his readers’ steadfastness in the gospel, the phrase ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ χαρᾷ ᾗ χαίρομεν διʼ ὑμᾶς (“for all the joy with which we rejoice on account of you”) designates the immediate cause of his desire to give thanks to God. Best (144) claims that ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ χαρᾷ (“for all the joy”) was intended as a deliberate balancing of ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ καὶ θλίψει (“in all our distress and tribulation”) in v. 7. For this reason he translates ἐπί in both cases as “in.” Apparently Best understands ἐπί in v. 9 in the sense of “manner,” so that the prepositional phrase explains the manner of Paul’s thanksgiving. This, however, obscures the fact that εὐχαριστίαν ἀνταποδοῦναι (“to return thanksgiving”) is the semantic equivalent of εὐχαριστεῖν (“to give thanks”) and therefore that ἐπί is dependent on it and expresses the basis for the action contained in the verbal idea “to return thanksgiving.” For this reason ἐπί should be translated by a preposition like “for” or even “on account of” to indicate Paul’s motivation for rendering thanks, which is the tremendous joy he experienced because of the Thessalonians’ continuing faith. The reason for this joy and the ensuing thanksgiving can be seen if we look back at 2:19f., where Paul tells the readers that they are his “glory and joy” before the Lord Jesus at his coming, but this of course depended upon their remaining faithful. Thus when Paul discovered that they had continued in their commitment to Christ as Lord it was a source of tremendous joy for him, as well as a source of encouragement (3:7), and led to his desire to express in an adequate way his sense of thankfulness to God. The fact that “the joy with which we rejoiced” was ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ (“before God”) implies that his rejoicing was done in the context of prayer.

 Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1990), 137–138.

 

10절) 바울은 주야로 그들을 위하여 기도했다. 그 내용은 구체적으로 11-13절에 나온다. 

‘주야로’는 ‘뉙토스 카이 헤메라스’로 문자적으로는 ‘밤 그리고 낮’이지만 이는 끊임없이 기도한다는 의미이다. 마찬가지로 ‘간구하다’는 표현은 ‘데오메노이’로 ‘데오마이’의 현재 분사 용법으로 특별한 시간의 제약 없이 계속하여 기도한다는 의미를 내포하고 있다. 

‘심히’로 번역된 ‘휘페렉페릿수’는 ‘휘페르’(뛰어넘어, beyond), ‘에크’(밖으로, out of), ‘페릿소스’(보통이 아니게, extraordinally)의 합성어로 ‘보통을 훨씬 초월하여 엄청나게’라는 의미하다. 이는 최고의 강조 표현으로 바울은 자신이 얼마나 데살로니가 성도들을 향해 간절히 간구하는 지를 표현하고 있는 것이다. 

 

바울이 그렇게 심히 간구하는 목적은 두가지이다. 첫째는 그들의 얼굴을 보기 원해서이며 둘째는 데살로니가 성도들의 믿음의 부족함을 채워주기 위한 것이었다. 

바울은 계속해서 자신이 그들에게 나아가 얼굴과 얼굴을 보며 만나기를 원했다라고 고백했다. 하지만 사탄의 방해로 직접 가지는 못했지만 디모데를 보내어 그들의 소식을 듣고 감사하며 그들의 부족함을 발견하고 채워주려고 하고 있다. 

‘부족한 것을’로 번역된 ‘휘스테레마타’는 ‘휘스테레마’의 복수형으로 ‘어떤 상태에 미치지 못하여 부족한 것들’을 의미한다. 바울은 데살로니가 성도들이 주안에 굳게 서있다(8절)라고 말하면서 동시에 그들의 믿음이 부족한 상태에 있다고 말하고 있다. 하지만 이것은 성화의 과정속에 모든 그리스도인의 상태이다. 믿음이 견고하여 궁핍과 환난 가운데 분투하며 살아가는 이들에게도 계속해서 믿음의 훈련이 필요한 것이다. 우리 모두는 여전히 믿음의 성장과정, 성화의 과정가운데 있는 것이다. 

‘보충하다’라는 표현은 ‘카타르티사이’로 ‘카타르티조’의 부정과거 능동태 표현이다. 카타르티조는 ‘준비하다, 완성하다, 복구하다, 바로잡다’의 의리보 본문에서는 부족한 부분을 채움으로 온전케 한다라는 의미이다.(마 4:21, 히 11:3, 벧전 5:10) 데살로니가 인들은 여전히 믿음의 부족함이 있었다. 그 구체적인 내용은 아마도 이후에 4-5장에서 바울이 이야기하는 하나님을 기쁘시게 하는 생활이 무엇인지, 주님의 재림과 죽은자의 부활에 대한 내용이었을 것이다. 

 

-  3:10 Although Timothy’s report about the Thessalonians’ faith and love was very positive, he also shared with Paul some areas of concern. So Paul prays that God will allow him to return to the church and “supply what is lacking.” Since Satan prevents Paul from going back (2:18) and doing this in person, the apostle does it instead by means of a letter: the second half of this letter (4:1–5:22) takes up those matters where their faith is “lacking.”

 Douglas J. Moo, “The Letters and Revelation,” in NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 2154.

 

-  Paul indicates the constancy of his prayer requests for the Thessalonians in the words νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ δεόμενοι (“night and day praying earnestly”). The unusual adverb ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ communicates the intensity of Paul’s prayer as well as the intensity of the desire that lies behind his prayer request. As Bruce (68) notes, “Paul is fond of compounds expressing superlativeness” (cf. ὑπερπερισσεύειν in Rom. 5:20; 2 Cor. 7:4; ὑπεραυξάνειν in 2 Thes. 1:3; ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ in 1 Thes. 5:13; ὑπερλίαν in 2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11, etc.). ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ δεόμενοι literally means something like “making requests quite beyond all measure.”

Paul mentions two things concerning which he petitioned God. First, he reports to his readers that he prayed εἰς τὸ ἰδεῖν ὑμῶν τὸ πρόσωπον (“to see you face to face”). He had already told them that he desired to do this (2:17f.; 3:7), and by mentioning it here as a part of his regular prayer life he reiterates his genuine commitment to return to the Thessalonians. This seems to reflect very clearly the occasion of the letter. Paul seeks to keep open the possibility of his own return to Thessalonica while reassuring his readers of his continuing concern for them.

Second, he explains why he wished to return. Because his departure from the Thessalonians was apparently abrupt, he tells his converts that he wants to return καταρτίσαι τὰ ὑστερήματα τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν (“to complete the deficiencies of your faith”). Paul has in mind the opportunities that a visit would afford for giving his converts further personal instruction and exhortation, the very thing that his letters were intended to do in his absence (cf. Lyons, Pauline Autobiography, 218). The neuter plural τὰ ὑστερήματα (“deficiencies”) when taken with the genitive τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν (“of your faith”) indicates a concern not for a lack of faith on the part of his readers but for the need to deepen their understanding and encourage their Christian behavior. Timothy had been sent to begin this task (3:2), but Paul informs his readers that he still wishes to come to them and personally continue their instruction in the faith. Paul shows here a profound awareness of the need to continue the process of resocializing the Thessalonians into the Christian way of life (see comments on 2:11f.). Although he desired to do this in person, his letter to the Thessalonians was intended to serve as a substitute for his presence, just as Timothy had substituted for him when he had visited them. In the light of this, we may understand 4:1–5:22 as an attempt by Paul to make good the deficiencies in his converts’ understanding of their new faith and its requirements with respect to their ethical conduct. Thus 3:10 helps to prepare for the parenetic material in chaps. 4–5.

 Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1990), 138–139.