G2967 κωλύω (kōlýō)

Hindering (2967) (koluo from kólos = docked, lopped, clipped, kolazo = curtail) means to cut off, to cut short, to weaken and generally to hinder, to prevent, to check, to restrain or to forbid by word or act. The idea is to cause something not to happen. Koluo can describe the keeping back of something from someone (Acts 10:47 referring to the Holy Spirit - see verse below). To hinder means to make slow or difficult the progress of something by interfering in some way with the activity or progress thereof. In short koluo means to make it difficult for someone to do something or for something to happen. Here in 1Thessalonians 2:16, koluo is in the present tense indicating an active, persistent practice by the unbelieving Jews to prevent by whatever means the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. By their obstructionist tactics, the Jews were interfering with the work of the missionaries among the Gentiles, but clearly did not succeed in silencing the Gospel of God. Koluo is used 13 times in the LXX (Ge. 23:6; Ex 36:6 = "the people were restrained from bringing" more contributions; Num. 11:28; 1 Sam. 25:26; 2 Sam. 13:13; Job 12:15 = "Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth."; Ps. 40:9; 119:101 = I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Thy word.; Eccl. 8:8 = "No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind"; Isa. 28:6; 43:6; Ezek. 31:15; Mic. 2:4) and 23 times in the NT... Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Mark 9:38 John said to Him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us." 39 But Jesus said, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who shall perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Comment: The construction is present imperative in a prohibition, “stop hindering” which is what the disciples were doing. Jesus forbids the continuance of the action.) Luke 6:29 "Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Luke 9:49 And John answered and said, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us." 50 But Jesus said to him, "Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you." Luke 11:52 - see above Luke 18:16 But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King." Acts 8:36 And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" Acts 10:47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" (Literally, Can any one cut off the water from the being baptized as to these?) Acts 11:17 "If God therefore gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" Acts 16:6 And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; Acts 24:23 And he gave orders to the centurion for him to be kept in custody and yet have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from ministering to him. Acts 27:43 but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, Romans 1:13 (note) And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 14:39 Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 1Thessalonians 2:16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. 1 Timothy 4:3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. Hebrews 7:3 (note) And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, 2 Peter 2:16 (note) but he received a rebuke for his own transgression; for a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. 3 John 1:10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and he forbids those who desire to do so, and puts them out of the church. Gentiles (1484) (ethnos) refers to non-Jews or the heathen and when preceded by the definite article ("the") in Greek, means "the nations" which is synonymous with the Gentiles a description implying those who practice idolatry and are ignorant of the true and living God. All of mankind can be divided into Jew and Gentile and thus "Gentile" is a synonym for anyone who is non-Jew, who is not a member of the "chosen people". The Hebrew word corresponding to Gentile is goyim. From Genesis 12 onward the majority of the Scriptures are about the Jews, with the Gentiles mentioned as they interface with the Jews. The NT does have more mention of the Gentiles after the formation of the Church, but the last book, the book of Revelation is predominantly Jewish with over 200 OT quotes or allusions to OT passages. So that (2443) (hina) expresses the purpose for which they were seeking to speak to the Gentiles, to preach Christ and Him crucified that they might be saved. This was the purpose for which Jesus had called him and set Paul aside, Luke recording that... the Lord (Jesus) said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake. (Acts 9:15-16) In Romans Paul declared... I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry (see note Romans 11:13) Hiebert explains that the fierce opposition of the Jews... was due to the fact that Christian missionaries offered salvation to Gentiles without demanding that they first become Jews. Everywhere the Jews showed themselves wildly jealous at Paul's success in winning Gentiles to the Christian faith directly. By their persistent opposition, the Jews deliberately sought to rob Gentiles of the salvation in Christ that they resolutely rejected for themselves. As Lenski well remarks, "The worst feature of unbelief is not its own damnation, but its effort to frustrate the salvation of others.'" It was precisely because Paul clearly saw the seriousness of the hindering work of the Jews—that it was fraught with eternal consequences for the Gentiles they were able to turn away from the gospel—that he denounced the Jews so passionately. (Hiebert, D. Edmond: 1 & 2 Thessalonians: BMH Book. 1996)