1 Tesalonika 1:1-3

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ¹  and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians ²  in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you! ³ 

Thanksgiving for Response to the Gospel

1:2 We thank God always for all of you as we mention you constantly ⁴  in our prayers, 1:3 because we recall ⁵  in the presence of our God and Father ⁶  your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope ⁷  in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Tesalonika 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. ⁸ 

1 Tesalonika 2:14-15

2:14 For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, ⁹  of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews, 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets ¹⁰  and persecuted us severely. ¹¹  They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people,

1 Tesalonika 2:19

2:19 For who is our hope or joy or crown to boast of ¹²  before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not of course you?

1 Tesalonika 3:11

3:11 Now may God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.

1 Tesalonika 3:13--4:2

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. ¹³ 

A Life Pleasing to God

4:1 Finally then, brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how ¹⁵  you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) ¹⁶  that you do so more and more. 4:2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

1 Tesalonika 4:14-16

4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that ¹⁷  God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. ¹⁸  4:15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, ¹⁹  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. 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, ²⁰  and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

1 Tesalonika 5:9-10

5:9 For God did not destine us for wrath ²¹  but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 5:10 He died ²²  for us so that whether we are alert or asleep ²³  we will come to life together with him.

1 Tesalonika 5:18

5:18 in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Tesalonika 5:23

Conclusion

5:23 Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Tesalonika 5:28

5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ²⁴ 

[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.

[1:1]  tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Or “mention you in our prayers, because we recall constantly…”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “making mention…recalling.” The participle ποιούμενοι (poioumenoi) in v. 2 has been translated as temporal, and μνημονεύοντες (mnhmoneuonte") in v. 3 has been translated as causal.

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Or the phrase may connect at the end of the verse: “hope…in the presence of our God and Father.”

[1:3]  ⁷ tn These phrases denote Christian virtues in action: the work produced by faith, labor motivated by love, and endurance that stems from hope in Christ.

[1:10]  ⁸ sn The coming wrath. This wrath is an important theme in 1 Thess 5.

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

[2:15]  ¹⁰ tc ἰδίους (idious, “their own prophets”) is found in D¹ Ψ Ï sy Mcion^T. This is obviously a secondary reading. Marcion’s influence may stand behind part of the tradition, but the Byzantine text probably added the adjective in light of its mention in v. 14 and as a clarification or interpretation of which prophets were in view.

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “and drove us out” (cf. Acts 17:5-10).

[2:19]  ¹² 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).

[3:13]  ¹³ 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.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

[4:1]  ¹⁵ sn As you received instruction from us about how (Grk “as you received from us how”). The Greek word translated received is used for accepting instructions passed on as fixed traditions from teacher to follower. Paul speaks in these terms about doctrinal traditions as well as ethical instruction that he passes on to his converts and expects them to keep (cf. 1 Cor 11:2, 23; 15:1-3; Gal 1:9; Phil 4:9; 2 Thess 2:15; 3:6).

[4:1]  ¹⁶ tc This parenthetical clause is absent in several later witnesses (D² Ψ Ï), but it may have been expunged for sounding redundant. The longer text, in this instance, is solidly supported by א A B D* F G 0183^vid 0278 33 81 104 326 365 629 al co and should be unquestionably preferred.

[4:14]  ¹⁷ tn “we believe that” is understood from the first clause of the verse, which is parallel. Grk “so also God will bring.”

[4:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” It is possible that “through Jesus” describes “bring,” but this gives the unlikely double reference, “through Jesus God will bring them with Jesus.” Instead it describes their “falling sleep,” since through him their death is only sleep and not the threat it once was. Also Christians are those whose total existence – life and death – is in and through and for Christ (1 Cor 8:6).

[4:15]  ¹⁹ 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.

[4:16]  ²⁰ tn Neither noun in this phrase (ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, ejn fwnh ajrcangelou, “with the voice of the archangel”) has the article in keeping with Apollonius’ Canon. Since ἀρχάγγελος (ajrcangelo") is most likely monadic, both nouns are translated as definite in keeping with Apollonius’ Corollary (see ExSyn 250-51).

[5:9]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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).

[5:28]  ²⁴ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א A D¹ Ψ 1739^c Ï lat sy bo), 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 sufficiently early and diffuse (B D* F G 0278 6 33 1739* 1881 it sa) to render the verdict against the particle here.