lest the Tempter had tempted
you. With mē pōs (“lest”) Paul expresses the
apprehension with which he had sent Timothy (BDF §370.2). The aorist epeirasen (“had tempted”) indicates that
at the time he sent Timothy, Paul had feared that the Tempter (cf. Matt 4:3)
had already tempted them, and the subjunctive genētai (“had been”) implies his uncertainty about the outcome of
the temptation. An insight into Paul’s thinking is provided by 2 Cor 2:5–11, in
which Paul, after emotionally referring to the tribulation and anguish with
which he had written to the Corinthians on a prior occasion, cautions them not
to abandon a member of the congregation who was still under the congregation’s
censure. By not restoring the person to the church’s fellowship, he would lapse
into excessive sorrow and be taken advantage of by Satan (see 1 Cor 7:5 for
Satan tempting people because of their lack of self-control; cf. 10:8–10).
(Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians: A New
Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 32B; New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2008], 195)