Passage

2 Thessalonians 2.15

Book: 2 Thessalonians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14. whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15. So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17. comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, ASV)

WEB

13. But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; 14. to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15. So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17. comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, WEB)

KJV

13. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14. Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, KJV)

YLT

13. And we, we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, that God did choose you from the beginning to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, 14. to which He did call you through our good news, to the acquiring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ;

15. so, then, brethren, stand ye fast, and hold the deliverances that ye were taught, whether through word, whether through our letter;

and may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who did love us, and did give comfort age-during, and good hope in grace, 17. comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, giving the practical conclusion of the chapter.
Audience: The church at Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and a free city on the Via Egnatia. Paul had planted the congregation only months earlier (Acts 17:1-9) and left the city under duress; the believers were still under local pressure, and had been unsettled by a report that the day of the Lord had already arrived (2:2).
Location: Most probably Corinth, where Silvanus and Timothy were with Paul (Acts 18:5), written shortly after 1 Thessalonians.
Time period: c. AD 50-52. The date is anchored by the Gallio inscription at Delphi, which places the proconsulship of Achaia held by Gallio (Acts 18:12) at roughly AD 51-52.

Theological reading

The chapter's actual instruction. After a paragraph on the lawless one, the restrainer, and delusion, the command is not to watch, calculate, or identify anyone. It is "stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught." The eschatology is put to work as stability.

Paradoseis, "traditions." The noun means what is handed over, the same word family as the transmission verbs at 1 Corinthians 11:23 and 15:3. In Paul it denotes apostolic teaching delivered as a deposit, not the accumulated custom of later centuries; the content here is what the Thessalonians received from Paul himself within the previous year.

"Whether by word of mouth or by letter from us." Oral and written apostolic teaching are placed side by side with equal authority. The verse is used in Catholic and Orthodox argument for the authority of tradition alongside Scripture, and in Protestant argument the reply is that the oral teaching in view is apostolic and contemporaneous, not a later stream. Both readings should be represented fairly; the verse plainly says that the apostolic message was delivered in both media, and it does not by itself settle what happens after the apostles.

A note on 3:17. The mention of a letter here connects to the closing signature. The same congregation had been unsettled by a letter "as if from us" (2:2), so the question of which communications carry apostolic weight is live in this letter in a way it is not elsewhere.

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.

G3056 - logos, logos, Strong's G3056

Quoted in

Concepts:

Sola Scriptura

Lexicon:

G3860 - paradidomi

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.