ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Thessalonians 5.19-22

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

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

17. pray without ceasing; 18. in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.

19. Quench not the Spirit; 20. despise not prophesyings; 21. prove all things; hold fast that which is good; 22. abstain from every form of evil.

  1. And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-24, ASV)
WEB

17. Pray without ceasing. 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

19. Don’t quench the Spirit. 20. Don’t despise prophesies. 21. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. 22. Abstain from every form of evil.

  1. May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24. He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-24, WEB)
KJV

17. Pray without ceasing. 18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

19. Quench not the Spirit. 20. Despise not prophesyings. 21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

  1. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-24, KJV)
YLT

17. continually pray ye; 18. in every thing give thanks, for this [is] the will of God in Christ Jesus in regard to you.

19. The Spirit quench not; 20. prophesyings despise not; 21. all things prove; that which is good hold fast; 22. from all appearance of evil abstain ye;

  1. and the God of the peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved unblameably in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; 24. stedfast is He who is calling you, who also will do [it]. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-24, 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 single instruction in five clauses: do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil.

Two failures refused at once. The first pair guards against suppression, the second against credulity. Paul assumes a congregation in which the Spirit is actively at work and in which some of what is said in the assembly will not survive examination. Neither shutting the whole thing down nor accepting all of it is available.

"Quench." Sbennumi is the fire word, used of extinguishing a lamp or a flame, which sets up the Spirit as fire (compare Acts 2:3 and 2 Timothy 1:6, fan into flame). Something is burning and can be put out.

"Despise prophetic utterances." Exoutheneite, to treat as nothing. That Paul has to say it suggests some in Thessalonica were already dismissive, possibly in reaction to the eschatological confusion the letter addresses.

"Examine." Dokimazō is the assaying verb, testing to approve; see 1 Thess 5:21. The standard against which prophecy is tested is not specified here, but Paul supplies it elsewhere: conformity to the gospel already received (Galatians 1:8), the confession of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:3), and the building up of the church (1 Corinthians 14:3).

"Every form of evil." The phrase is pantos eidous ponērou, every kind or appearance of evil. The KJV "all appearance of evil" has often been read as a rule about how things look to others; the more probable sense is every sort of evil thing, which fits the testing metaphor: keep what assays as good, reject every kind that does not.

See Christian Discernment and Tongues as Evidence of the Spirit.

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

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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.