This verse gives the reason why Christians should not grieve as non-Christians do. The relation with verse 13b is marked in Greek by a conjunction meaning “for,” which Good News Translation, in accordance with current English usage, omits, leaving the relation implied. Throughout the New Testament, Christian hope for the future is closely related to the past events which form the basis of faith, that is, the death and resurrection of Jesus. So it is here.
The relation between the two halves of this sentence, beginning we believe that Jesus and so we believe that God, is not quite clear. Several factors need to be taken into consideration.
1. Paul is expressing himself in a very concentrated way, and some links in the chain of his argument are omitted.
2. We have noticed in previous passages how easily Paul makes the transition between speaking about Jesus and speaking about God. In fact, Paul more often says “Jesus was raised,” implying “God raised Jesus,” than he says Jesus … rose again (the words for “raised” and rose are quite different in Greek). The parallel would have been clearer if Paul had followed his normal usage here, but he may be quoting a fixed saying already current in the church. Nevertheless, the underlying parallel is clear, namely, that God raised Jesus and God will also raise those who believe in Jesus.
3. King James Version (cf. Luther 1984 Zürcher Bibel La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée) follows the form of the Greek closely by translating “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again.” This is ambiguous in English since it does not tell us whether or not the condition is fulfilled. There is no doubt, however, that the Thessalonians shared the fundamental Christian belief that Jesus did die and rise again. The form of the Greek suggests taking the condition as a fact. There are various ways of making this fact clear. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible (cf. Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale) has “if, in fact, we believe,” which is equivalent to “if, as we do, we believe.” Revised Standard Version has “since” instead of “if.” Phillips (1st edition) has: “if, after all, we believe.” All these rendering are possible. The simplest solution is that chosen by Jerusalem Bible Good News Translation New English Bible Barclay Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Bible en français courant, that is, to make two separate statements, leaving the relation between them to be expressed at the beginning of the second.
4. What, then, is the relation between verse 14a and 14b?
(a) As we have seen, it is not satisfactory to see it as one of ground and condition. “We believe that God will bring believers with Jesus, on condition that we believe that Jesus died and rose again” does not properly represent the relation.
(b) Nor is it simply a comparison, as Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has (“as we believe that Jesus died and rose, in the same manner we believe”), though this is the normal meaning of the word which Good News Translation translates so. A glance at Diagram 3 is enough to show that the items listed in the second column are not only (and not primarily) similar to those in the first column, but the second group really depends on the first.
(c) The relation between 14a and 14b is best understood as one of reason and result; but even this needs to be more closely defined. We believe in 14a indicates a presupposition (it is almost an aside). The second we believe is not expressed in the Greek text. Paul is therefore not relating one act of believing to another (as in Phillips “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again from death, then we can believe that God…,” cf. La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée). Barclay‘s otherwise excellent translation runs into difficulties at this point: “We believe that Jesus died and rose again. We therefore also believe that in the same way God will bring with Jesus those who died in the Christian faith.” The whole point of the passage is that the Thessalonians do not yet believe the second point, and this translation would require either a different meaning for the two occurrences of “we,” or some vague and unusual meaning such as “Christians believe.” Paul is rather relating one act of God, which the Thessalonians already know about, to another, the consequence of the first, about which they have not yet been taught. The meaning may be paraphrased as “Jesus died and rose again. (We all believe this already.) Therefore, this assures us that God will take to himself those who have died believing in him.” Unfortunately, as we have seen in paragraph 1, the consequence is indirect, but Moffatt may be right in translating “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then it follows….”
Two more problems remain. First, the words translated believing in him are literally “through Jesus” (Revised Standard Version). They may be related either (a) to will take back which would give the meaning “through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (Revised Standard Version cf. Moffatt “by means of Jesus,” Luther 1984 La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “by Jesus and with him”); or (b) to those who have died believing in him (literally, as in v. 13, “those who have fallen asleep through Christ”). In this case, “through Christ” would have the same meaning as the more frequently used expression “in Christ,” discussed in the notes on 2.14. This would make a convincing parallel to those who have died believing in Christ in verse 16. This interpretation is followed by King James Version Knox Jerusalem Bible Phillips Barclay New English Bible Translator’s New Testament (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Bible en français courant Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Bijbel in Gewone Taal), as well as by Good News Translation.
The final problem is the meaning of take back. Literally the Greek word means “will bring” or “will lead,” but in English “bring” includes the idea of movement toward a given point of reference. In this context “bring” therefore would imply “God will move down from heaven to earth with Jesus and with those who have died believing in him.” Is this what Paul means? There are strong reasons for thinking that it is not.
(a) The meaning of the word translated will take back varies according to the context. Sometimes the infinitive may mean simply “to go.” Usually, it implies movement with someone else and on someone else’s initiative, like the English “lead.” It does not, however, always imply movement towards a point of reference. In Acts 20.12, for example (contrast Acts 5.26), it involves movement away from the point of reference, and Good News Translation accordingly translates “they took the young man home.” That the meaning varies according to the context is recognized by the translators of Bible de Jérusalem, who change “will bring” of their 1st edition to “will take away” in their 2nd edition in their rendering of the present verse.
(b) There is no suggestion here or in the wider context of God the Father’s coming from heaven to earth.
(c) Nor is there any suggestion that the dead are already in heaven (cf. Matthew 27.52 f.).
(d) Verse 16, which fills out the meaning of verse 14, suggests that the movement is in the opposite direction: Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first.
In translation, the point of reference must be made clear. In the context, this is the earth, where we are in verse 15. The translation would therefore be something like “God will take” (or “take back”) “to himself.” Very few translations make this clear, as Good News Translation does, but Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “God will draw to himself, together with Jesus, those who have died as Christians,” and New American Bible has “will bring forth with him from the dead.” Some translations avoid the problem by eliminating the idea of movement completely. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “God will … give (them) life with Jesus” (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).
In some languages one encounters serious problems in trying to translate literally rose again. In the first place, “to rise” may not express the concept of “coming back to life.” It might only mean to sit up from a lying position or to stand up from a lying or a sitting position. Furthermore, “again” can be confusing, since it may imply merely rising up a second time, rather than coming back to life from death. This means that in many languages it is necessary to say that “Jesus lived again,” “Jesus became alive again,” or “Jesus died and then became alive.”
The conjunction so may require a more elaborate equivalent in order that the precise connection will be clearly indicated. A literal translation might suggest that “because of our belief about Jesus, therefore we believe that God will do….” As already pointed out, this is not the proper connection. It may be preferable to translate “because Jesus died and rose again, therefore we believe that God….”
To avoid the wrong implication of “will bring with Jesus” (cf. New American Bible), it may be useful to use a causative, for example, “will cause them to be with Jesus.”
Those who have died believing in him indicates a relation often described as “attendant circumstance”; in the present instance the people were believing in him at the time they died. This relation may be expressed as “those who were believing in him when they died,” or “those who believed in him and died.” It would be wrong to suggest a concessive relation, such as “those who died even though they believed in him.” This idea may be precisely what was troubling the Thessalonians; they may have thought that true Christians would not experience physical death, and so were quite disturbed by the fact some of their number had died.
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 .