1 Thessalonians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul¹ and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians² in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you!³

1 Thessalonians 1:3

1:3 because we recall⁴ in the presence of our God and Father⁵ your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope⁶ in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 3:13

3:13 so that your hearts are strengthened in holiness to be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.⁷

¹tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

²map For the location of Thessalonica see JP1-C1; JP2-C1; JP3-C1; JP4-C1.

³tc The majority of witnesses, including several early and important ones (א A [D] I 33 Ï bo), have ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυριοῦ Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (apo qeou patro" Jhmwn kai kuriou Ihsou Cristou, “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”) at the end of v. 1. The more abrupt reading (“Grace and peace to you”) without this addition is supported by B F G Ψ 0278 629 1739 1881 pc lat sa. Apart from a desire to omit the redundancy of the mention of God and Christ in this verse, there is no good reason why scribes would have omitted the characteristically Pauline greeting. (Further, if this were the case, why did these same scribes overlook such an opportunity in 2 Thess 1:1-2?) On the other hand, since 1 Thessalonians is one of Paul’s earliest letters, what would become characteristic of his greetings seems to have been still in embryonic form (e.g., he does not yet call his audience “saints” [which will first be used in his address to the Corinthians], nor does he use ἐν (en) plus the dative to refer to the location of the church). Thus, the internal evidence is overwhelming in support of the shorter reading, for scribes would have been strongly motivated to rework this salutation in light of Paul’s style elsewhere. And the external evidence, though not overwhelming, is supportive of this shorter reading, found as it is in some of the best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes.

tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

⁴tn Grk “making mention…recalling.” The participle ποιούμενοι (poioumenoi) in v. 2 has been translated as temporal, and μνημονεύοντες (mnhmoneuonte") in v. 3 has been translated as causal.

⁵tn Or the phrase may connect at the end of the verse: “hope…in the presence of our God and Father.”

⁶tn These phrases denote Christian virtues in action: the work produced by faith, labor motivated by love, and endurance that stems from hope in Christ.

⁷tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א* A D* 81 629 lat) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of this benediction, while the majority of mss, including several excellent witnesses (א² B D² F G Ψ 0278 1739 1881 Ï it sy sa), lack the particle. A decision is difficult, but in light of Paul’s habit of adding the ἀμήν to his notes of praise, even in the middle of his letters (cf. Rom 9:5; 11:36; 15:33; Gal 1:5), one might expect scribes to emulate this practice. Although a decision is difficult, it is probably best to follow the shorter reading. NA²⁷ has the particle in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.