Mistreated (5195) (hubrizo from húbris = injury, insult, reproach, arrogance, insolence, ill-treatment. Our English word hubris refers to exaggerated pride or self-confidence) means act with insolence, wantonness, wicked violence, to treat injuriously. To act spitefully toward someone, treat shamefully, and therefore to injure or to abuse. It conveys the idea of treating someone contemptuously in an insolent and arrogant way. Hubrizo expresses insulting and outrageous treatment and especially treatment which is calculated to publicly insult and openly humiliate the victim. Thayer writes that in Greek usage the mental injury and the wantonness of its infliction being prominent Milligan notes that in the present verse hubrizo emphasizes that the missionaries' insolent treatment was... More than the bodily suffering it was the personal indignity that had been offered to him as a Roman citizen NIDNTT notes that originally the root word hubris ... meant excess weight, excess power; sometimes more concretely, ill-treatment, abuse, insult; sometimes more abstractly, arrogance, insolence, brutality. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan) TDNT has an excellent background discussion on this word family (hubris, hubrizo)... 1. The original sense of this group, which is of obscure derivation, is that of invading the sphere of another, with an implication of arrogance. Conveyed is the idea of trespass with overweening force and the infliction of insult, injury, etc. There are warnings against hubris, which is a common fault among the free, but which finally brings destruction to the self or others. 2. Tragedy deals with hubris. It is the scornful right of the mighty. The gods visit it with retribution and hence it plays a big role in the Greek sense of sin. It breeds tyrants, plunges into excess, and entails violation of reverence for the holy. In human relations it means either scorn and contempt or, more actively, hurt and violence. 3. For the historians hubris is an important factor in the course of events. In Herodotus the religious basis is plain; the Persian plan of conquest is in keeping with a fundamental attitude. In Thucydides affluence leads to hubris and punishment follows. Xenophon finds in the decay of Sparta and Athens a judgment on hubris. 4. In legal rhetoric hubris denotes the violence of the rich or the violation of personal rights. 5. Socrates has no sense of arrogance. For Plato hubris is the negative side of érōs and an essential force. In young people it leads to attacks on parents and public order. It hits the weakest most severely and results in injustice and destruction. If education brings victory over it, the victory can lead to fresh hubris. hubris is a power of fate that permeates all areas of life. 6. In Aristotle hubris denotes sexual violation but also scorn, ill-will, arrogance, greed, and offense against the gods. A presumptuous disposition is a general human complaint which the law cannot punish. It raises a political problem; only prudence can achieve the peace that is the goal of politics, but periods of peace also produce transgression. 7. The usual senses continue in the later period, but while hubris retains its emotional force, it often takes on much weaker meanings, and it never becomes a key concept in Greek thinking. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans) Bruce comments that... The outrage lay not so much in their being subjected, Roman citizens though they were, to treatment from which Roman citizens were legally exempt, as to their being publicly stripped and flogged without any inquiry into the charges brought against them outrageous treatment whether they were Roman citizens or not. (Bruce, F F: 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, Incorporated. 1982 or Logos) There are 4 uses of hubrizo in the Septuagint (LXX) (2Sa 19:43; Isa 13:3; 23:12; Jer. 48:29) and 5 in the NT (including the present verse)... Matt. 22:5 But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. Luke 11:45 And one of the lawyers said to Him in reply, "Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too." Luke 18:32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, 33 and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again." Acts 14:5. And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to mistreat and to stone them, 6 they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region;7 and there they continued to preach the gospel. The insult (hubris) was a theme that was frequently touched upon by ancient moralists. Aristotle, for example, comments on insults (hubris), saying For insult (hubris) consists in causing injury or annoyance whereby the sufferer is disgraced. Insults were treated so seriously that the victim could take legal action against the person who caused the insult, similar to the way we could take a person to court for defamation of character. Hiebert adds that for Paul... the physical suffering was not the worst part of the treatment received. Paul more strongly resented that he and his co-workers had been shamefully treated, grievously "insulted." Gross indignities had been heaped on them in the way they had been treated—arrested on a false charge, stripped of their clothes and publicly beaten without a trial, and thrown into the inner prison with their feet in the stocks as though they were the most dangerous criminals. They had suffered not only bitter cruelty but public humiliation. Paul was deeply conscious that his social status as a Roman citizen had been outraged. The treatment accorded them was contrary to Roman law. His desire to reverse this mistreatment caused Paul to demand that the Philippian magistrates come personally to conduct them out of prison (Acts 16:37). (Hiebert, D. Edmond: 1 & 2 Thessalonians: BMH Book. 1996) In Philippi - The account of Paul's beating and imprisonment there is found in Acts 16:12-40. Philippi was about one hundred miles or 3-4 days’ journey, northeast of Thessalonica. Recall that Paul and Silas could sing hymns to God in jail after the abusive treatment they received (see Acts 16:25) and thus were not likely to be deterred by physical suffering from further testimony in Thessalonica. Paul wrote to Timothy... For this reason (because if the gospel for which he had been appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher) I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. (See note 2 Timothy 1:12) AS YOU KNOW, WE HAD THE BOLDNESS IN OUR GOD: eparresiasametha (1PAMI) en to theo hemon: (1Th 1:5; Acts 4:13,20,31; 14:3; 17:2,3; Ep 6:19,20) Paul appeals to their personal experiences in Thessalonica which were well known to the saints there. It is notable that Paul was human just like you and me and His source of courage and bold speech was not in self but in God. He reminds us of his humanness in 1Corinthians writing that he was with them... in weakness (literally without strength, in a sate of limited capacity to do something) and in fear and in much (much in amount) trembling (quaking or quivering with fear as bespeaks great timidity). (1Cor 2:3) And in Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians (writing from Ephesus) he states that... we were afflicted (present tense = continually, verb = thlibo = pressed together, hemmed in figuratively referring to sufferings from pressure of circumstances and/or antagonism of persons) on every side: conflicts (mache = fightings, controversies, battles, almost assured over the Gospel) without, fears within. (2Cor 7:5) Vincent commenting on as you know notes that this is... One of the many characteristic expressions of these Epistles which indicate community of experience and sentiment on the part of Paul and his readers. See 5" class="scriptRef">1Th 1:5, 8; 2:1, 5, 11" class="scriptRef">11" class="scriptRef">10, 11; 3:3, 4, 12; 4:1, 2, 6, 11; 5:1, 11; 2Th 2:15; 3:1. Know (1492) (oida) refers to having come to a perception or realization of something. Oida generally means to know intuitively or instinctively. To be acquainted with. To have information about. Paul is introducing this explanation with an appeal to his (Silas and Timothy's) personal experiences in Thessalonica which were well known to them. These things were absolutely true and they knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Paul gave a similar reminder to the saints at Philippi writing that... For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict (agon) which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (See notes Philippians 1:29; 1:30) Hiebert comments that... Paul's insertion of the words as you know within his statement about the sufferings indicates his vivid feeling and strong desire to carry his readers fully with him in recalling the facts. His words, quite literally, "even as you know," indicate that their memory would recall an exact correspondence between his assertion and the facts. When the missionaries arrived in Thessalonica their lacerated backs were still far from fully healed. The painful movements of the new arrivals soon brought out the story of the suffering they had undergone at Philippi. It became immediately clear to their hearers that their work of preaching carried the possibilities of dangerous consequences. But the missionaries believed they had nothing to hide. (Ibid) Robertson (Word Pictures) comments that... The insult in Philippi did not close Paul’s mouth, but had precisely the opposite effect in our God. It was not wild fanaticism, but determined courage and confidence in God that spurred Paul to still greater boldness in Thessalonica... be the consequences what they might. Had the boldness in our God - Their holy boldness was not self-wrought but Spirit empowered. Their boldness was not self confidence that the world extols, but was confidence based solely on their God and their trust that He would sustain them. Paul would later write to the Ephesians charging them (in light of the reality of spiritual warfare as for example when one shares the Gospel) to continually (present imperative)... be strong (more literally "be continually strengthened" - passive voice = continually depending upon and allowing the Spirit to strengthen you) in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. (see note Ephesians 6:10) And as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he came to understand that the way to power was though weakness... (After Paul had entreated the Lord three times unsuccessfully that the thorn in his flesh might depart Paul wrote that God) has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2Cor 12:9-10) The pattern and power for boldness in the early church and for all believers of all times is recorded by Luke...in Acts 4 he writes that the Jewish rulers and elders and scribes (those adamantly opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ) (13)... observed the confidence {parrhesia - boldness} of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.... 29 (After being released Peter and John joined the fellow believers and prayed) "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond-servants may speak Thy word with all confidence {parrhesia - boldness} 30 while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus." 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled (second time filling was mentioned. The first time was Acts 2:4. This repetition emphasizes the importance of believer's continual dependence upon the Holy Spirit to live out the supernatural Christian life, the Christ life), and began to speak the word of God with boldness. {parrhesia} (Acts 4:13, 29-31) (Comment: Are you allowing the Spirit to fill you continually? Holy Spirit enabled boldness was a mandatory requirement for the missionaries to witness and speak forth the gospel in Acts [Acts 9:27, 28, 13:46, 14:3, 18:26, 19:8] and is no less critically important to all believers today so that we might speak forth the gospel even if it is in the face of much opposition, which it quite likely will be!) In his letter to the saints at Ephesus, Paul requested specifically to... pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (see notes Ephesians 6:19; 20) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/1thessalonians_21-2.htm#mistreated