Passage

1 Thessalonians 2.18

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

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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. 17. 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.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20. For ye are our glory and our joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:16-20, ASV)

WEB

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. 17. 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.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming? 20. For you are our glory and our joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:16-20, WEB)

KJV

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. 17. 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.

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? ^{rejoicing: or, glorying} 20. For ye are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:16-20, KJV)

YLT

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! 17. 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;

for what [is] our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye before our Lord Jesus Christ in his presence? 20. for ye are our glory and joy. (1 Thessalonians 2:16-20, 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

"For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan hindered us."

A rare first-person interruption. The letter is written in the plural throughout, and here Paul breaks in by name, "I, Paul", to make the frustrated intention personal. He had been driven out of Thessalonica after a short stay (Acts 17:5-10) and evidently tried repeatedly to return.

"Hindered." Enekopsen is a road-and-army word, to cut into or break up a road so an advance cannot proceed. Paul uses it of his own delayed travel again at Romans 15:22.

What Paul attributes to Satan, and what he does not. He names satanic obstruction of his travel plans without offering a mechanism, and elsewhere he attributes obstruction to the Spirit (Acts 16:6-7, forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak in Asia) and impediments to the work itself (Romans 1:13) without naming an agent. Paul does not run a general theory in which every frustrated plan has an identifiable spiritual cause, and the verse should not be used to build one.

The doctrinal frame. Satan in Paul is real, active, and limited: he tempts (1 Thess 3:5), disguises himself (2 Corinthians 11:14), and is decisively defeated (Romans 16:20, "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet"). A hindrance that delays an apostolic visit is exactly the scale of power the New Testament grants him.

See Satan and Spiritual Warfare.

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.

G4567 - satanas, satanas, Strong's G4567
G4314 - pros, pros, Strong's G4314

Quoted in

Concepts:

The Devil

Lexicon:

G4567 - satanas

Passages:

1 Thessalonians 2.17-3

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.