1 Thessalonians 1
Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the assembly of the Thessalonians — grace and peace, the shortest greeting. We give thanks for all of you, remembering unceasingly your work of faith, labour of love and endurance of hope. Brothers beloved by God, we know your choosing — the gospel came not in word only but in power, in the Holy Spirit and in much full assurance. In much affliction with joy of the Spirit you received the word, becoming imitators of us and of the Lord, a pattern to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia. From you the word of the Lord has rung out — people themselves report what entrance we had, how you turned from the idols to serve the living and true God, and await from the heavens his Son raised from the dead, Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Why this rendering
1Thess.1.3 Observation
Syntactic observation
Παῦλος καὶ Σιλουανὸς καὶ Τιμόθεος τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων ἐν θεῷ πατρὶ καὶ κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ· χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη. Εὐχαριστοῦμεν τῷ θεῷ πάντοτε περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν μνείαν ποιούμενοι ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν ἡμῶν, ἀδιαλείπτως μνημονεύοντες ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως καὶ τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν — Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making remembrance in our prayers, unceasingly remembering your work of faith and labour of love and endurance of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father. The shortest greeting among the letters — no ‘apostle’ and no ‘from God’ (⸀εἰρήνη — the Received Text adds ‘from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’). Three men send it and give thanks as ‘we’. μνείαν ποιούμενοι is the phrase of Rom 1:9 · Eph 1:16 ‘make remembrance’ (⸀ — the Received Text adds ὑμῶν); ἀδιαλείπτως is Rom 1:9 ‘unceasingly’. Verse 3 has three genitive pairs — work of faith · labour of love · endurance of hope — faith·love·hope standing in one sentence as at Col 1:4-5; ‘of our Lord Jesus Christ’ attaches to hope. κόπος is John 4:38 ‘labour’ · ὑπομονή is Luke 8:15 ‘endurance’.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The base text (⸀) ends without ‘from …’ — the Received Text’s addition is not rendered.
Basis ‘Work produced by faith’ · ‘labour prompted by love’ would dissolve the identical shape of the three.
Basis The familiar rendering resolving the genitives as cause.
Rejected It closes the genitive the text leaves open, three times over.
Lost in translation
τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως · τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης · τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος — three of one shape as ‘… of …’ three times.
μνείαν ποιούμενοι · ἀδιαλείπτως — the same words as Rom 1:9, ‘making remembrance · unceasingly’.
⸀εἰρήνη — the sign that the base text ends the greeting here. The rendering carries the short greeting, not the sign.
Θεσσαλονικέων — ‘the assembly of the Thessalonians’ keeps the genitive of people, not of a city.
Why this rendering
1Thess.1.5 Observation
Syntactic observation
εἰδότες, ἀδελφοὶ ἠγαπημένοι ὑπὸ θεοῦ, τὴν ἐκλογὴν ὑμῶν, ὅτι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐγενήθη εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐν λόγῳ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν δυνάμει καὶ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πληροφορίᾳ πολλῇ, καθὼς οἴδατε οἷοι ἐγενήθημεν ἐν ὑμῖν δι’ ὑμᾶς· καὶ ὑμεῖς μιμηταὶ ἡμῶν ἐγενήθητε καὶ τοῦ κυρίου, δεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον ἐν θλίψει πολλῇ μετὰ χαρᾶς πνεύματος ἁγίου, ὥστε γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς τύπον πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν — knowing, brothers beloved by God, your choosing, because our gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much full assurance, just as you know what sort of people we became among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became a pattern to all who believe. ἐγενήθη · ἐγενήθημεν · ἐγενήθητε · γενέσθαι — four aorists of ‘become’ link three verses (the gospel came · we became · you became · became a pattern). ἐκλογή is Rom 9:11 ‘choosing’. Four ἐν (in word · in power · in the Spirit · in full assurance) as ‘in’ four times. πληροφορία is Col 2:2 ‘full assurance’. μιμηταὶ ἡμῶν … καὶ τοῦ κυρίου puts the order of 1 Cor 11:1 ‘imitators of me … as I of Christ’ into one phrase. θλῖψις and χαρά in one verse — ‘in affliction … with joy’. ⸀τύπον (singular — Received Text plural) · ⸀θεοῦ (v.4) · ⸀καί (v.5) · ⸀ἐν (v.5) are the base text’s readings.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The base text has the singular — one assembly, one pattern; the Received Text’s plural is not rendered.
Basis The site-rule of Rom 9:11 ‘choosing’ — a genitive of the ones chosen.
Basis The noun unfolded into a clause.
Rejected It turns the text’s noun into a verb — the object of ‘knowing’ is one word.
Lost in translation
ἐγενήθη · ἐγενήθημεν · ἐγενήθητε · γενέσθαι — one verb four times. ‘Came · became · became · became’ split the first.
Four ἐν (v.5) — ‘in’ four times shows one preposition.
θλίψει / χαρᾶς (v.6) — ‘affliction / joy’ face each other in one verse.
⸀τύπον — ‘a pattern’ carries the base text’s singular; the variant sign is not carried.
Why this rendering
1Thess.1.9 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἀφ’ ὑμῶν γὰρ ἐξήχηται ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου … ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐξελήλυθεν … αὐτοὶ γὰρ περὶ ἡμῶν ἀπαγγέλλουσιν ὁποίαν εἴσοδον ἔσχομεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ πῶς ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων δουλεύειν θεῷ ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ, καὶ ἀναμένειν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὃν ἤγειρεν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, Ἰησοῦν τὸν ῥυόμενον ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης — For from you the word of the Lord has rung out … your faith toward God has gone out … for they themselves report concerning us what sort of entrance we had to you, and how you turned to God from the idols, to serve as slaves the living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. Two perfects (ἐξήχηται has rung out · ἐξελήλυθεν has gone out) say ‘it already stands so’; ἐξηχέομαι occurs once in the New Testament. εἴσοδος is the word of Acts 13:24 ‘entrance’. ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων is the construction of Acts 14:15 ‘turn from these futile things to the living God’; θεῷ ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ ‘living and true’. δουλεύειν is Col 3:24 ‘serve as slaves’; ἀναμένω occurs once — ‘await’. τὸν ῥυόμενον is a present participle — ‘who rescues’ (the verb of Rom 7:24). ὀργὴ ἐρχομένη ‘the coming wrath’ — a different word from Matt 3:7 ‘the wrath about to come’ (μέλλω); ⸀ἐκ (Received Text ἀπό) is the base text’s reading.
Rendering options · 3
Basis ῥύομαι ‘rescue’ as fixed at Rom 7:24 — not shifted to a future ‘will rescue’.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It shifts a present participle to the future and departs from ‘rescue’ as fixed.
Basis The word of Acts 13:24 ‘entrance’ — here the ‘entrance’ the missionaries had.
Lost in translation
ἐξήχηται · ἐξελήλυθεν — two perfects. ‘Has rung out · has gone out’ carry the perfect.
ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων — the same words as Acts 14:15 ‘turn … to the living God’ are visible.
τὸν ῥυόμενον — a present participle. ‘Who rescues’ carries the present.
ἀναμένειν (v.10) / ἐκδέχομαι (1 Cor 11:33) / προσδέχομαι (Luke 2:25) — ‘await / wait for / wait for’.