1 Thessalonians 3

So when we could not stand the waiting any longer, we decided it was best to stay behind in Athens by ourselves.

1Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;

Note"Forbear" here means to hold out or put up with something, not to refrain from acting. The background is a journey: Paul and his companions had been forced out of Thessalonica and had traveled south through Macedonia into Greece, ending up in Athens, roughly three hundred miles away. Sending Timothy back meant Paul lost his only remaining coworker and was left on his own in a city where he had no established church.

2We sent Timothy to you. He is our brother, God's servant, and our coworker in spreading the good news about Christ. We sent him to make you strong and to encourage you about your faith,

2And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:

Note"Timotheus" is the Greek form of the name Timothy. "Minister" in 1611 English meant simply a servant or attendant, with no sense of an ordained clergyman; "fellowlabourer" means a workmate, someone doing the same job alongside you. "Establish" translates a word for propping something up or bracing it so it will not collapse.

3so that none of you would be shaken by these hard times. You yourselves know that this is what we have been marked out for.

3That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.

Note"Moved" here does not mean emotionally touched. The Greek word pictures a dog wagging its tail, and by extension anything being shaken, wobbled or drawn off course. "Appointed thereunto" means set in place for exactly this; the wording says the hardship is part of the arrangement, not an accident in it.

4In fact, when we were with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to suffer trouble. And that is exactly what happened, as you know.

4For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.

Note"Verily" means truly, and "we told you before" means we told you in advance, not merely at some earlier time. "Tribulation" translates a Greek word whose root sense is pressure or crushing weight, and in the King James New Testament it normally means outside persecution rather than inner unhappiness. "Came to pass" simply means happened.

5That is why, when I could not stand the waiting any longer, I sent Timothy to find out how your faith was holding up. I was afraid that the tempter had somehow tempted you and that our hard work had come to nothing.

5For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

NoteNote the switch from "we" to "I": Paul drops the plural he has been using and speaks for himself. "The tempter" is a title, a standard way of referring to Satan by what he does rather than by name. "In vain" means empty, producing nothing, the way a harvest fails.

6But Timothy has just now come back to us from you, and he brought good news about your faith and your love. He told us that you always think of us warmly and long to see us, just as we long to see you.

6But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:

Note"Charity" in the King James Bible always means love. It comes through the Latin caritas and carries no sense of giving money to the poor, a meaning the English word picked up later. "Good tidings" translates a verb that everywhere else in Paul's letters means to preach the gospel; this is the one place he uses that solemn word for ordinary good news from a friend.

7So, brothers and sisters, in all our own hardship and pressure, the news about your faith has been a comfort to us.

7Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:

Note"Comforted" in 1611 was a stronger word than it is now. It came from the Latin for strength and meant to be braced or put back on your feet, not soothed. "Distress" translates a word meaning constraint or a tight place with no room to move.

8Now we really live, as long as you keep standing firm in the Lord.

8For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.

Note"Now we live" is an idiom, roughly "now I can breathe again". "Stand fast" is a military picture: holding the position you were placed in rather than breaking ranks.

9How can we thank God enough for you? We have so much joy because of you before our God.

9For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;

Note"Render to God again" means pay back in return. The question assumes an exchange in which Paul owes God something for the joy received and cannot find a payment large enough.

10Night and day we pray as hard as we can that we may see you face to face and supply whatever is still missing in your faith.

10Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

Note"Night and day" in that order reflects the Jewish way of counting a day, which began at sunset rather than at midnight. "Perfect that which is lacking" uses a verb applied to mending torn fishing nets and setting broken bones; it means supplying and repairing what is missing, not criticizing a defect.

11Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, clear the road for us to come to you.

11Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.

NoteThe King James "God himself and our Father" can be misread as two parties. The Greek is a single phrase, "our God and Father himself". "Direct our way" translates a word meaning to make a road straight, that is, to clear the obstacles from a journey Paul has already tried twice to make.

12And may the Lord make your love for one another, and for everyone else, grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.

12And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

13May he make your hearts firm, so that you will be holy and free from blame in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his holy ones.

13To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Note"Stablish" is the older form of establish and means to make firm or fix in place. "The coming" translates parousia, the word used for the formal arrival of a king or emperor at a city, when the citizens would go out to meet him on the road. "Saints" renders a word meaning simply "holy ones", and readers have long divided over whether it means angels here or Christians who have already died; the Greek leaves it open.