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 1:4

1:4 We know, ³  brothers and sisters ⁴  loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ 

1 Tesalonika 5:27

5:27 I call on you solemnly in the Lord ⁶  to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. ⁷ 

1 Tesalonika 3:6

3:6 But now Timothy has come ⁸  to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection ⁹  and long to see us just as we also long to see you! ¹⁰ 

1 Tesalonika 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 Tesalonika 3:11

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

1 Tesalonika 3:5

3:5 So ¹¹  when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

1 Tesalonika 4:15

4:15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, ¹²  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.

[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.

[1:4]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Grk “your election.”

[5:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “I adjure you by the Lord,” “I put you under oath before the Lord.”

[5:27]  ⁷ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א² A Ψ [33] 1739 1881 Ï ar vg sy bo), read “holy” before “brothers [and sisters]” (ἁγίοις ἀδελφοῖς, Jagioi" adelfoi"). It is possible that ἁγίοις dropped out by way of homoioteleuton (in uncial script the words would be written agioisadelfois), but it is equally possible that the adjective was added because of the influence of ἁγίῳ (Jagiw) in v. 26. Another internal consideration is that the expression ἅγιοι ἀδελφοί ({agioi adelfoi, “holy brothers”) is not found elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum, though Col 1:2 comes close. But this fact could be argued either way: It may suggest that such an expression is not Pauline; on the other hand, the unusualness of the expression could have resulted in an alteration by some scribes. At the same time, since 1 Thessalonians is one of the earliest of Paul’s letters, and written well before he addresses Christians as saints (ἅγιοι) in 1 Corinthians for the first time, one might argue that Paul’s own forms of expression were going through something of a metamorphosis. Scribes insensitive to this fact could well impute later Pauline collocations onto his earlier letters. The internal evidence seems to support, albeit slightly, the omission of ἁγίοις here. Externally, most of the better witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א* B D F G 0278 it sa) combine in having the shorter reading. Although the rating of “A” in UBS⁴ for the omission seems too generous, this reading is still to be preferred.

[5:27]  tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “but now Timothy having come,” a subordinate clause leading to the main clause of v. 7.

[3:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “you have a good remembrance of us always.”

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “just as also we you.”

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “for this reason.”

[4:15]  ¹² 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.