1 Tesalonika 1:1

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 

1 Tesalonika 2:8

2:8 with such affection for you ⁴  we were happy ⁵  to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

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 2:15

2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets ⁶  and persecuted us severely. ⁷  They are displeasing to God and are opposed to all people,

1 Tesalonika 3:11

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

1 Tesalonika 4:8

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

1 Tesalonika 4:14

4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that ⁹  God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. ¹⁰ 

1 Tesalonika 4:16

4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, ¹¹  and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

[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.”

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Grk “longing for you in this way.”

[2:8]  ⁵ tn Or “we are happy.” This verb may be past or present tense, but the context favors the past.

[2:15]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “and drove us out” (cf. Acts 17:5-10).

[4:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “rejecting man.”

[4:14]  ⁹ tn “we believe that” is understood from the first clause of the verse, which is parallel. Grk “so also God will bring.”

[4:14]  ¹⁰ 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).

[4:16]  ¹¹ 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).