1 Tesalonika 2:1

Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica

2:1 For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, ¹  about our coming to you – it has not proven to be purposeless. ² 

1 Tesalonika 3:7

3:7 So ³  in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, ⁴  through your faith.

1 Tesalonika 5:9-10

5:9 For God did not destine us for wrath ⁵  but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 5:10 He died ⁶  for us so that whether we are alert or asleep ⁷  we will come to life together with him.

[2:1]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

[2:1]  ² tn Grk “has not become empty.” Paul is defending himself against the charge that he lacked earnestness and personal concern for them, but appeared in their city out of greed or egotism. In his defense he appeals to what they recall of his ministry and what has become of it since he left, all of which demonstrates his God-given earnestness and effectiveness.

[3:7]  ³ tn Or “for this reason.”

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

[5:9]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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).