Here, as in verse 10, there is a considerable overlap of meaning between three terms, and again the translator must aim to convey as fully as possible the total meaning of the three terms together. Encouraged is related to the noun translated appeal in verse 3. There Paul is thinking of his first appeal to non-Christians. Here he is thinking of his approach to those who are already believers, so encouraged is more appropriate. Comforted is a close synonym of encouraged; indeed both Greek words can have the meaning of either English word. All three verbs (“encourage,” “comfort,” “urge”) imply continuous action in Greek, but this force is brought out in Good News Translation only in connection with the third verb: kept urging. It would be stylistically clumsy to say “kept encouraging, kept comforting, and kept urging.” It is sometimes possible to combine a rendering of encouraged and comforted, since they are closely related concepts and may, in fact, be rendered by idiomatic expression, for example, “we strengthened your hearts,” “we made your liver warm,” or “we gave strength to you.” The expression kept urging may be rendered as “we said to you strongly that you should,” “we continued saying to you most clearly,” or even, idiomatically, “we kept on speaking to you with our hearts exposed.”
Live is literally “walk,” a Hebrew metaphor which cannot be literally transferred to current English. It refers to a person’s behavior or way of life, particularly from the moral point of view.
That pleases God is literally “worthily of God.” Paul does not mean that his readers should behave so well as to become worthy of God’s love or his gifts. It is rather that their behavior should be such as is appropriate in the relationship to God in which they now live. One might translate “behave like people who belong to God” (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and the notes on 1.4). That pleases God may be rendered in some languages as “that causes God to have a happy heart.” Often it is “God” who must become the subject of an expression for a pleased response, for example, “a life that God loves,” or “a life about which God says, This is how it should be.”
Instead of who calls you (present), some manuscripts have “who called you” (past). The latter is more common in Paul’s writings (cf. Galatians 1.6; 1 Thess. 4.7; 1 Corinthians 1.9). There is no contradiction between God’s initial call and his insistent renewal of that call, but Paul is thinking of the latter in this verse. In translating who calls you, it is important to avoid the implication that God is shouting to someone. The proper equivalent in some languages is “who invites you” or “who asks you,” in the sense of an urgent request.
God is calling the Thessalonians to share in his own Kingdom and glory. Paul does not speak very often about the kingdom of God, but it is a central theme in the Gospels, especially in the Synoptics. The expression does not mean a territory over which God rules (like “the Kingdom of the Netherlands”), but the kingship of God, his act of ruling over men and the world. In all the Gospels, Jesus speaks about “entering the kingdom” (e.g. Mark 10.25; John 3.5). This means “entering the community of those who acknowledge God as king.” The kingship of God is a dynamic concept having several aspects. In one sense, God was always king, and he was so worshiped in Old Testament times. Yet Jesus preached that the kingdom of God had come near (Mark 1.15), that is, that God’s kingship was about to become effective in a new way. However, the complete fulfillment of God’s reign is still to come (cf. Matthew 16.28), and it is this future aspect of the kingdom which is uppermost in Paul’s thought (see 1 Corinthians 15.24, 50; Ephesians 5.5; cf. 2 Thess. 1.5; 2 Timothy 4.1).
To share in may be most readily translated in many languages as “to have a part in” or “to be a party of,” though, in the Greek, the clause is literally “God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” One should avoid an expression which would imply that the kingdom of God is divided among various individuals. Rather, the biblical writers think in terms of a group of people sharing together in the rule of God.
It is difficult, in translation, to find a term flexible enough to include all the aspects of New Testament teaching about the kingdom of God at the same time and to exclude geographical associations. Good News Translation retains the traditional word “Kingdom,” indicating by a capital letter that it has a specialized meaning. Good News Bible Bible en français courant Biblia Dios Habla Hoy include the expression in their glossaries. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch normally translates “God’s new world.” In this kind of context it is essential to employ a term for Kingdom which is the same as the one used in the Gospels, but it is most important that any term used for Kingdom focus upon the “rule of God”—especially his future rule—and not upon some territory over which God reigns. Hence, to share in his own Kingdom may be equivalent to “have a place in God’s ruling,” or possibly “be given by God a share in his ruling.”
It is possible that the focus here is on being part of God’s people. If Kingdom and glory are taken together, then the following possibilities are suggested: “to share in this wonderful experience of being part of God’s people,” or “to be part of God’s wonderful people.” If, on the other hand, Kingdom and glory are not taken together, it may be possible to render this expression as “to know God’s greatness and to be part of his own people.”
Against the protest of some scholars, Phillips translates Kingdom and glory together as “the splendor of his own kingdom.” Barclay and Translator’s New Testament have “glorious kingdom,” Jerusalem Bible (but not Bible de Jérusalem) “the glory of his kingdom,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “share his glory with him in the new world.” There are four arguments in favor of a translation along these lines. First, in Hebrew one may expresses with two nouns a single idea which includes them both, and Paul’s style often shows the influence of Hebrew. Second, Paul links Kingdom and glory together with a single pronoun his (not “his kingdom and his glory”). Third, there is so much in common between the meanings of the two nouns that where Mark 10.37 reads “in your glory,” the parallel in Matthew 20.21 has “in your kingdom.” Fourth, the semantic overlap of the two terms is increased if we are right in thinking that Paul sees the kingdom of God as mainly a future event, since “glory” also had future connotations for him.
Glory is the word translated praise in verse 6. There it refers to human relationships, but here it refers to the visible splendor of God as it will be revealed in the “last days.”
If one combines Kingdom and glory into a single phrase, in which glory modifies Kingdom as “glorious ruling” (and in many respects this is a preferable rendering), it may be possible to translate as “have a share in God’s wonderful rule,” or “have a part in God’s ruling; it will be wonderful.” If, however, one separates Kingdom and glory as two different aspects of the future promise, it may be necessary to employ expressions which would appear to distinguish these aspects even more than they should be, for example, “have a part in God’s rule and in his wonderfulness.” In many languages it is not possible to speak of glory as “something shining” or “something brilliant.” More satisfactory equivalents are found in the area of “wonderful,” “majestic,” or “that which causes great admiration.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .