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 “and now,” but this shows the logical result of his previous teaching.
4 tn Grk “the thing that restrains.”
5 tn Grk simply “strengthen,” with the object understood from the preceding.
6 tn Grk “every good work and word.”
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 tc Most witnesses, including some early and important ones (א2 A D F G Ψ Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the witnesses for the omission are among the best