1 Thessalonians 2:12

2:12 exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory.

1 Thessalonians 2:11

2:11 As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his own children,

1 Thessalonians 4:8

4:8 Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority ¹  but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

1 Thessalonians 4:4

4:4 that each of you know how to possess his own body ²  in holiness and honor,

1 Thessalonians 1:10

1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. ³ 

1 Thessalonians 2:19

2:19 For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of ⁴  before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you?

1 Thessalonians 4:6

4:6 In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, ⁵  because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, ⁶  as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly.

1 Thessalonians 3:13

3:13 so that your hearts are strengthened in holiness to be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. ⁷ 

1 Thessalonians 1:4

1:4 We know, ⁸  brothers and sisters ⁹  loved by God, that he has chosen you, ¹⁰ 

1 Thessalonians 4:5

4:5 not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

5:24 He who calls you is trustworthy, and he will in fact do this. ¹¹ 

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

5:9 For God did not destine us for wrath ¹²  but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 5:10 He died ¹³  for us so that whether we are alert or asleep ¹⁴  we will come to life together with him.

1 Thessalonians 2:2

2:2 But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, ¹⁵  as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God ¹⁶  in spite of much opposition.

1 Thessalonians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ¹⁷  and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians ¹⁸  in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you! ¹⁹ 

1 Thessalonians 1:8

1:8 For from you the message of the Lord ²⁰  has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, ²¹  so that we do not need to say anything.

1 Thessalonians 4:15

4:15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, ²²  that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

2:13 And so ²³  we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, ²⁴  you accepted it not as a human message, ²⁵  but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 3:6

3:6 But now Timothy has come ²⁶  to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection ²⁷  and long to see us just as we also long to see you! ²⁸ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn Grk “rejecting man.”

[4:4]  ¹ tn Grk “to gain [or possess] his own vessel.” “Vessel” is most likely used figuratively for “body” (cf. 2 Cor 4:7). Some take it to mean “wife” (thus, “to take a wife for himself” or “to live with his wife”), but this is less likely. See J. Smith, “1 Thess 4:4 – Breaking the Impasse,” BBR 10 (Fall 2000), who argues that “vessel” in this context is very likely a euphemism for the sexual organs.

[1:10]  ¹ sn The coming wrath. This wrath is an important theme in 1 Thess 5.

[2:19]  ¹ sn Crown to boast of (Grk “crown of boasting”). Paul uses boasting or exultation to describe the Christian’s delight in being commended for faithful service by the Lord at his return (1 Cor 9:15-16; 2 Cor 1:12-14; 10:13-18; Phil 2:16; and 1 Cor 3:14; 4:5).

[4:6]  ¹ tn Grk “not to transgress against or defraud his brother in the matter,” continuing the sentence of vv. 3-5.

[4:6]  ² tn Grk “concerning all these things.”

[3:13]  ¹ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א* A D* 81 629 lat) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of this benediction, while the majority of mss, including several excellent witnesses (א² B D² F G Ψ 0278 1739 1881 Ï it sy sa), lack the particle. A decision is difficult, but in light of Paul’s habit of adding the ἀμήν to his notes of praise, even in the middle of his letters (cf. Rom 9:5; 11:36; 15:33; Gal 1:5), one might expect scribes to emulate this practice. Although a decision is difficult, it is probably best to follow the shorter reading. NA²⁷ has the particle in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[1:4]  ¹ tn Grk “knowing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a finite verb and a new sentence started here in the translation.

[1:4]  ² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:4]  ³ tn Grk “your election.”

[5:24]  ¹ tn Grk “who will also do,” with the object understood from v. 23.

[5:9]  ¹ sn God did not destine us for wrath. In context this refers to the outpouring of God’s wrath on the earth in the day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:2-4).

[5:10]  ¹ tn Grk “the one who died,” describing Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:9). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 10 in the translation.

[5:10]  ² sn The phrases alert or asleep may be understood (1) of moral alertness (living in faith, love, and hope as vv. 6, 8 call for, versus being unresponsive to God) or (2) of physical life and death (whether alive or dead). The first fits better with the context of 5:1-9, while the second returns to the point Paul started with in 4:13-18 (no disadvantage for the believing dead).

[2:2]  ¹ map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[2:2]  ² tn The genitive in the phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (to euangelion tou qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. This same phrase occurs in vv. 8 and 9 as well.

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² map For the location of Thessalonica see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[1:1]  ³ tc The majority of witnesses, including several early and important ones (א A [D] I 33 Ï bo), have ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυριοῦ Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (apo qeou patro" Jhmwn kai kuriou Ihsou Cristou, “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”) at the end of v. 1. The more abrupt reading (“Grace and peace to you”) without this addition is supported by B F G Ψ 0278 629 1739 1881 pc lat sa. Apart from a desire to omit the redundancy of the mention of God and Christ in this verse, there is no good reason why scribes would have omitted the characteristically Pauline greeting. (Further, if this were the case, why did these same scribes overlook such an opportunity in 2 Thess 1:1-2?) On the other hand, since 1 Thessalonians is one of Paul’s earliest letters, what would become characteristic of his greetings seems to have been still in embryonic form (e.g., he does not yet call his audience “saints” [which will first be used in his address to the Corinthians], nor does he use ἐν (en) plus the dative to refer to the location of the church). Thus, the internal evidence is overwhelming in support of the shorter reading, for scribes would have been strongly motivated to rework this salutation in light of Paul’s style elsewhere. And the external evidence, though not overwhelming, is supportive of this shorter reading, found as it is in some of the best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes.

[1:8]  ¹ tn Or “the word of the Lord.”

[1:8]  ² tn Grk “your faith in God has gone out.”

[4:15]  ¹ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[2:13]  ¹ tn Grk “for this reason,” which seems to look back to Paul’s behavior just described. But it may look forward to v. 13b and mean: “and here is another reason that we constantly thank God: that…”

[2:13]  ² tn Grk “God’s word of hearing from us.”

[2:13]  ³ tn Paul’s focus is their attitude toward the message he preached: They received it not as a human message but a message from God.

[3:6]  ¹ tn Grk “but now Timothy having come,” a subordinate clause leading to the main clause of v. 7.

[3:6]  ² tn Grk “you have a good remembrance of us always.”

[3:6]  ³ tn Grk “just as also we you.”