ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Thessalonians 2.13-16

Book: 1 Thessalonians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

11. as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying, 12. to the end that ye should walk worthily of God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory.

13. And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe. 14. For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; 15. who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and pleased not God, and are contrary to all men; 16. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

  1. But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence not in heart, endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire: 18. because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again; and Satan hindered us. (1 Thessalonians 2:11-18, ASV)
WEB

11. As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12. to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.

13. For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe. 14. For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews; 15. who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and didn’t please God, and are contrary to all men; 16. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.

  1. But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence, not in heart, tried even harder to see your face with great desire, 18. because we wanted to come to you, indeed, I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. (1 Thessalonians 2:11-18, WEB)
KJV

11. As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, 12. That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. 14. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15. Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: persecuted us: or, chased us out 16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

  1. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. 18. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. (1 Thessalonians 2:11-18, KJV)
YLT

11. even as ye have known, how each one of you, as a father his own children, we are exhorting you, and comforting, and testifying, 12. for your walking worthily of God, who is calling you to His own reign and glory.

13. Because of this also, we, we do give thanks to God continually, that, having received the word of hearing from us of God, ye accepted, not the word of man, but as it is truly, the word of God, who also doth work in you who believe; 14. for ye became imitators, brethren, of the assemblies of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because such things ye suffered, even ye, from your own countrymen, as also they from the Jews, 15. who did both put to death the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and did persecute us, and God they are not pleasing, and to all men [are] contrary, 16. forbidding us to speak to the nations that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, but the anger did come upon them, to the end!

  1. And we, brethren, having been taken from you for the space of an hour, in presence, not in heart, did hasten the more abundantly to see your face in much desire, 18. wherefore we wished to come unto you, (I indeed Paul,) both once and again, and the Adversary did hinder us; (1 Thessalonians 2:11-18, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul, writing with Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, who are named as co-senders in the opening (1 Thess 1:1).
  • Audience: The church in Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia; a largely Gentile congregation of recent converts (1 Thess 1:9) founded on the second missionary journey (Acts 17:1-9).
  • Location: Written from Corinth, shortly after Timothy returned with news of the young church (1 Thess 3:6).
  • Time period: c. AD 50-51. The Gallio inscription from Delphi fixes Paul in Corinth around AD 51-52 (Acts 18:12), which makes this letter either the earliest or one of the two earliest surviving Pauline writings, roughly twenty years after the crucifixion.

Theological reading

A thanksgiving followed by the harshest paragraph in the letter, and one that has to be handled carefully.

Verse 13, the reception of the word. "When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God." Paul distinguishes the human delivery from the divine origin without separating them, which is the substance of what later doctrines of inspiration try to formalize. See Inspiration.

Verses 14-16, the difficult section. Paul tells the Thessalonians that they suffered from their own countrymen just as the churches in Judea suffered from theirs, "who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out", and ends with "wrath has come upon them to the utmost."

Three things should be said plainly.

  1. The comparison is about persecution, not ethnicity. The parallel Paul draws is between two churches suffering from their own compatriots, Gentile Thessalonians from Gentile Thessalonians, Judean believers from Judean opponents. The word rendered "the Jews" is best read here of the specific opponents in Judea, which is how the same author speaks of himself as an Israelite (Romans 11:1) and of his unceasing grief for his kinsmen (Romans 9:1-3).
  2. The passage has been used to justify appalling things, and Christian readers should say so rather than pass over it. The prophetic tradition Paul is standing in is one of internal critique (Amos 2:4-5; Jeremiah 7:1-15), and internal critique becomes something else entirely in the mouths of outsiders.
  3. A minority of scholars argue verses 14-16 are a later interpolation (the case was pressed by Birger Pearson in 1971, largely on the grounds that "wrath has come upon them to the utmost" reads like a reference to AD 70). The majority position defends authenticity: the verses appear in every manuscript, there is no text-critical evidence for their absence, and the aorist can be read proleptically. The interpolation theory should be reported, not adopted, and it is not needed to read the passage responsibly.

See Romans 9 through Romans 11 for Paul's extended and very different treatment of the same question.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.