3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all.
3:6 But we command you, brothers and sisters, 11 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined 12 life 13 and not according to the tradition they 14 received from us.
1 tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”
2 tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A F G I 0278 Ï lat sy sa) have ἡμῶν (Jhmwn) after πατρός (patros), reading “God our Father,” in apparent emulation of Paul’s almost universal style. The omission of the pronoun (the reading of B D P 0111vid 33 1739 1881 pc) seems to be the original wording of this salutation. As well, the intrinsic evidence also supports the shorter reading: If 2 Thessalonians is authentic, it was one of Paul’s earliest letters, and, if so, his stereotyped salutation was still in embryonic form (see discussion at 1 Thess 1:1). NA27 places the word in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.
3 tn Grk “You do remember, don’t you?”
5 tn This is the verbal form of the words occurring in vv. 6 and 11, meaning “to act out of line, in an unruly way.”
7 tn Grk “walking in an undisciplined way” (“walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s way of life or conduct).
8 tn There is a play on words in the Greek: “working at nothing, but working around,” “not keeping busy but being busybodies.”
9 tn Grk “an example for you to imitate us.”
11 tn Grk “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.”
12 tn Grk “angels of power,” translated as an attributive genitive.
13 tn Or “by means of.”
15 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.
16 tn Or “unruly, out of line.” The particular violation Paul has in mind is idleness (as described in vv. 8-11), so this could be translated to reflect that.
17 tn Grk “walking in an undisciplined way” (“walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s way of life or conduct).
18 tc The reading “you received” (παρελάβετε, parelabete) is found predominately in Western witnesses (F G 1505 2464 pc), although the support of B and the Sahidic version strengthens the reading considerably. The reading “they received” is found in two different forms: παρελάβοσαν (parelabosan; in א* A [D*] 0278 33 pc) and παρέλαβον (parelabon; in א2 D2 Ψ 1739 1881 Ï). (παρέλαβον is evidently a correction of παρελάβοσαν to the more common spelling for the third person aorist form). The external evidence is divided fairly evenly, with παρελάβετε and παρελάβοσαν each having adequate support. Internal evidence leans toward “they received”: Given the second person reading, there is little reason why scribes would intentionally change it to a third person plural, and especially an archaic form at that. There is ample reason, however, for scribes to change the third person form to the second person form given that in the prior context παράδοσις (paradosis, “tradition”) is used with a relative clause (as here) with a second person verb (see 2:15). The third person form should be regarded as original.