The Thessalonians have received Paul’s message about Christ as a word from God (2.13), but Paul now reminds then that if they reject the moral appeal that goes with this message, they are rejecting God. Whoever rejects this teaching may be rendered “whoever refuses to follow this teaching,” or, idiomatically, “whoever throws this teaching away.” Some languages introduce direct discourse to express rejection, for example, “whoever says no to this that we have taught,” or even “whoever says about what we have taught, This is not true.”
As in many other instances, it may be necessary to have a positive before the negative, for example, “that man is saying no to God; he is not just saying no to a man.” It is true that to reject the message involves rejecting the person who proclaims the message (in this case, Paul), but since Paul speaks on behalf of God (as representing God’s authority), the rejected one is really God himself. Accordingly, it may be necessary to introduce an expression such as “just” in order to indicate that “it is not just a man, but it really is God.”
Some Greek manuscripts have a word meaning “also” between God, who and gives you his Holy Spirit (“God, who also gives…”). The UBS Greek New Testament has this word in the text but encloses it in square brackets. King James Version and La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée include it, but most translations do not.
Translations vary between God, who gives and “God who has given” (Knox cf. King James Version Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Both concepts are included in the meaning of the Greek, which specifies only that the “giving” extends over a period and is not a single event, as Moffatt‘s “gave” suggests.
The order of the last words of this sentence in Greek is somewhat unusual (though not as odd in that language as a literal translation suggests): “giving the Spirit his the holy to you.” The effect is to emphasize “to you” and also “holy.” Phillips conveys this effect by translating “It is not for nothing that the Spirit God gives us is called the Holy Spirit” (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).
Some manuscripts have “us” in place of “you”—a common confusion between similar sounding Greek words. An emphatic you makes better sense. This is the reading supported by most good manuscripts and followed by most translations, but King James Version Knox Phillips Barclay Biblia Dios Habla Hoy have “us.”
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 .