2 Thessalonians

This letter is from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. We are writing to the church of the Thessalonians, the group of believers who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

NoteSilvanus is the fuller Latin form of the name shortened to Silas in Acts, and Timotheus is the Greek form of Timothy; these are Paul's two coworkers, both known to the Thessalonians from the founding of the church there. Thessalonica was a large port city and the administrative capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, on the main road east from Italy. The word translated "church" is not a building but simply an assembly or gathering of people.

2May grace and peace be yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note"Grace unto you, and peace" is the standard opening of Paul's letters. It reshapes the ordinary Greek letter greeting, chairein, into charis, grace, and adds the Hebrew greeting shalom, peace, which meant wholeness and well being rather than only the absence of conflict. Grace is a favor given to someone who has not earned it.

3Brothers and sisters, we owe it to God to thank him for you all the time, and it is the right thing to do. We thank him because your faith is growing so much, and the love each of you has for the others keeps increasing.

3We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

Note"Charity" in 1611 English simply meant love of any kind, and had not yet narrowed to mean giving money to the poor. The Greek word is agape, the ordinary early Christian word for committed love between people. "Meet" is the old word for fitting or proper. "Brethren" was used of a mixed group of men and women, not of men only.

4Because of that, we ourselves brag about you among the churches of God. We tell them how you keep going and keep trusting God through all the persecution and hard times you are living through.

4So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

Note"Glory in you" means boast about you, speak of you with pride, and carries no sense of worship. "Patience" translates hypomone, which is not calm waiting but holding your ground under pressure, staying put when something is trying to push you off. "Tribulations" translates a word whose root image is crushing pressure or being squeezed; it covers hardship of any kind, not only formal persecution.

5All of this is clear evidence that God judges rightly. The result is that you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, the very kingdom you are suffering for.

5Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

NoteA "manifest token" is a plain, visible proof or piece of evidence. The Greek sentence is compressed and does not say exactly what the evidence consists of, so it can be read either as the persecution itself demonstrating that God will judge rightly, or as the Thessalonians' endurance under it being the sign.

6After all, it is right and fair for God to pay back trouble to those who trouble you,

6Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

Note"Recompense" means to pay back in kind. The phrase is a legal one about a judge giving what is due, and it plays on the same word in both halves: trouble returned to the troublers.

7and to give relief to you who are being troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, coming with his powerful angels.

7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

Note"Rest" here translates anesis, the loosening or slackening of something stretched tight, so relief from pressure rather than sleep or inactivity. "Revealed" translates apokalypsis, an unveiling or uncovering, the pulling back of a curtain on something that was already there but unseen.

8He will come in blazing fire, bringing punishment on those who do not know God and who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus Christ.

8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Note"Taking vengeance" renders a judicial phrase, giving out the penalty that is due, rather than acting on a personal grudge. The Greek leaves it open whether "them that know not God" and "that obey not the gospel" describe two groups or one group twice over. "Gospel" is the old English for good news, an announcement of something that has happened.

9They will be punished with destruction that lasts forever, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

NoteThe little word translated "from" can mean either separation, shut out and away from the Lord's presence, or source, the destruction coming out from his presence. Both readings have been held since antiquity and the Greek does not settle it. The phrase echoes the wording of Isaiah 2, where people hide from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty.

10This happens on that day, when he comes to be honored among his holy people and to be marveled at by everyone who believes. You are included, because you believed the message we brought you.

10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Note"Admired" in 1611 meant wondered at or marveled at, with a note of astonishment; it did not mean looked up to fondly, which is the modern sense. "Saints" translates hagioi, holy ones, meaning people set apart for God; in the New Testament it is a term for all believers rather than a title for a distinguished few.

11That is why we also pray for you all the time. We pray that our God will count you worthy of the life he called you to, and that by his power he will bring to completion every good purpose and every act that comes from faith.

11Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

Note"Good pleasure" means settled good purpose or desire, not enjoyment. The Greek phrase "the good pleasure of his goodness" is ambiguous about whose goodness is meant: God's own good purpose that he carries out, or every good intention of the readers that God brings to completion. "Calling" refers to the summons by which God invited them in, and "with power" attaches to God's doing of it.

12Then the name of our Lord Jesus Christ will be honored in you, and you will be honored in him. This comes from the undeserved kindness of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

12That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.