The Thessalonians have put their love into practice, not only in their own city, but throughout the surrounding province of Macedonia (cf. 1.8). The Greek means “you are also doing it,” but in English, where the expression “doing brotherly love” is awkward, behaved like this is a good common language equivalent (cf. Bible en français courant). Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “you also put love into practice towards….” (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This is better than “you do this with the brothers…” (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Jerusalem Bible). The love of the Thessalonians for Christians in other parts of Macedonia no doubt met with a response, but Paul does not say so here: his concern is with what his readers have been doing.

Because it may be difficult to use a general expression such as behaved like this, one may prefer to use a more specific reference to love of the brethren, for example, “loved all the brothers in all of Macedonia,” or “… all fellow believers….”

The UBS Greek text includes in square brackets a definite article between brothers and in all of Macedonia. If it is included, the meaning would be, as in Good News Translation, the brothers in all of Macedonia. If it is omitted (and the textual evidence seems in favor of leaving it out) the most likely meaning would be “you are behaving like this all over Macedonia, to all the brothers.” There is a difference in grammatical form, but the meaning is essentially the same.

The second part of the verse repeats almost verbally expressions used in verse 1. The transitional, translated so, may indicate a contrast, and Phillips and New English Bible accordingly translate “yet” (Barclay cf. Luther 1984 La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Bible de Jérusalem Bible en français courant have “but”). The contrast is of limited scope, between the love the Thessalonians are showing and the still greater love Paul recommends, and it should not be overemphasized in translation, as Jerusalem Bible‘s “however” tends to do. So is perhaps slightly ambiguous. On a hasty reading, it could be misunderstood as introducing a conclusion or summing up what has been already said; but when the passage is read as a whole, it is clear that Paul’s thought is looking forward to the specific advice he has to give in verse 11.

To do even more could be misunderstood if translated literally, even as the same phrase occurring in 4.1 can be misconstrued. Paul does not mean that the Christians in Thessalonica should love more people, since he has already indicated the extent of their love. Evidently it is the quality of their lives (as reflected in verse 11) which is here in focus. Therefore “to do even better” may be a more satisfactory equivalent.

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 .

You yourselves know very well (New English Bible, cf. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “perfectly well”) emphasizes both you and know. At the moment, the point of the comparison with a thief is that he comes as unexpectedly as the Day of the Lord will come (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “will surprise you”). The idea that the thief comes to do harm is not implied until later. The concept of the Day of the Lord goes back at least to Amos 5.18, 20, where it is already linked with the contrast between light and darkness; but whereas in the Old Testament, “the Lord” was God (that is, Yahweh or Jehovah), for Paul, here as in almost all other passages, “the Lord” is Christ.

The translation should make it clear, first, that the comparison is between two events, the coming of the Lord and the coming of a thief; and secondly, that something which is to happen, and is therefore unknown, is being compared to something which has already happened frequently, and is therefore well known. The addition of the future verb will come indicates clearly that the Day of the Lord is an event in the future. The verb “comes” could be added after thief, since it is implied. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes the point of comparison explicit by translating “will come as unexpectedly as a thief in the night.”

The image of the thief may be influenced by the saying of Jesus later recorded in Matthew 24.43; Luke 12.39. The same image is used later in 2 Peter 3.10; Revelation 3.3; 16.15. Paul does not need to search for original ways of expressing teaching with which his readers were already well acquainted.

The Day of the Lord will come as a thief at night is far more difficult to translate than one might think. The comparison is between two events, but in the first instance it is “time that comes” and in the second instance it is “the thief that comes.” In many languages it is impossible to speak about “a day coming,” though one can say “a person will come on a certain day.” If, however, one translates “the Lord will come as a thief comes at night,” the comparison may seem to point, not to the unexpectedness of the coming, but to stealthiness or bad intent. Here it may be necessary to say “the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief who comes at night” (cf. Phillips), or “the Lord will come when no one expects him, just as a thief comes when no one is expecting him.”

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 .

Times and occasions represent two Greek words which in some contexts are clearly differentiated, times referring to time as recorded by clocks and calendars, and occasions referring to the “psychological moments” at which the time is ripe (especially, for God to act). However, this distinction is not always maintained, particularly in such a set phrase as this, in which the two words are used together. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch therefore combines them, translating “the point in time,” cf. Bijbel in Gewone Taal “the precise moment.” In many languages it is quite impossible to distinguish between times and occasions, and so it is often necessary to translate “about the day when these things will happen.”

In there is no need to write you, it may be necessary in some languages to indicate who would do the writing (if there were a need for it); this would, of course, be Paul. These things is a reference back to the coming of the Lord (4.15; 5.2). It may be necessary, therefore, to translate “there is no need for me to write to you about the precise moment when the Lord will come,” or “… come back.”

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 .

This concluding sentence recalls verse 13, where Paul first stated his desire to meet his readers’ anxieties. Encourage is the word which is translated “help” in 3.2, and “encourage” in 2.12 and in the exact parallel 5.11. The word can also mean “comfort” or “console.” However it is translated, it should relate to be sad (literally “be pained”) of verse 13. That is, now that the Thessalonians have been given a new understanding of one aspect of the Christian faith, they need no longer grieve over the final outcome of those who have died. What Paul tells them and assures them can change their sadness into confident hope; they can be comforted and encouraged by this teaching of the Lord’s, and they are to comfort, encourage, and give hope to one another.

In choosing a translation for encourage, it is important to select a term which will be in contrast with sad in verse 13. In some cases one may wish simply to translate “remove the sadness from one another with these words,” or “with these words cause your hearts no longer to tremble.”

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 .

The effect of this verse is to reinforce Paul’s message that no Christians, neither the dead, nor those who are still alive, will be separated from Christ at the time of his coming. We who are living at that time (literally “we [emphatic], the living, the left-behind,” exactly as in verse 15) will be with them, that is with the Christians who have died; and all Christians will from then on be always with the Lord—a statement which contrasts strikingly with the various kinds of figurative language which have gone before.

The words translated along with most commonly mean “at the same time as” (cf. Zürcher Bibel Luther 1984). This conflicts slightly with the preceding first and then, but in a passage using so many figures of speech, this is not a serious problem. Consistency in the use of figurative language is not one of Paul’s strong points anyway (cf. e.g. Romans 11.16-24). The words translated along with (see also 5.10) may, however, also mean “in the same place as,” and this may be the most natural basis for translation here, for example, “we will all be gathered up to be with them, and to meet the Lord in the air.”

We … will be gathered up includes the idea of being violently caught or snatched away (that is, from earth; cf. Acts 8.39). There are two problems involved in translating we … will be gathered up along with them. First the passive expression may be difficult, since an agent is implied, and in some languages it may need to be expressed. The obvious agent in this context is God, so one may translate “God will gather us up together.” Second, the implication of meeting Jesus in the air may suggest a term for “gathering” which would mean “lift up together” or “snatch up.” Such a term, however, could imply violence, as when the police or soldiers seize a thief. In some translations, therefore, a causative expression is used: “God will cause us to come together.”

It would be wrong to translate in the clouds in such a literal way as to suggest that the Christians will be “hidden from sight.” The apparent meaning here is “up where the clouds are.” This coincides with the meaning suggested by the phrase in the air, rendered in many languages simply as “in the sky.”

The word translated meet is an unusual one. In secular Greek, it is used in referring to ceremonies held on the occasion of a state visit, and specially to the inauguration of a ruler or important official. But the idea of going out to meet God is also found in the Old Testament (e.g. Exodus 19.10-18). The general idea is that of a solemn, not a casual or accidental, meeting. For some languages the appropriate connotations of a word translating meet may be contained in a term suggesting “to greet the Lord in the sky,” or “to gather round the Lord in the sky.”

There is a difference, both in the Greek words and in their meanings, between so in this verse and so then in the verse 18. The term translated so summarizes what has gone before, while the word translated so then indicates a relation of means and result. The context shows very clearly that we here includes all Christians.

We will always be with the Lord is in some languages best expressed as “we will always remain with the Lord,” or “… continue with the Lord.” In some instances this may be rendered “we will always stay where the Lord is,” or even “we will always accompany the Lord.”

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 .

In verses 16-17, the figurative language becomes even more marked. Paul draws a picture of a meeting of Jesus, first with those who have died and then with those who are still alive. The “place” of this meeting is the air (v. 17). In the Greek world view, this was a technical term for the middle level between the earth and the space in which the stars were thought to move, called “the ether.” It is not clear how far Paul shared this view of the world. He never uses the word “ether”; no one else in the New Testament uses the word “air.” When Paul uses “air,” it sometimes has a more general sense than it seems to have here. In this passage, the general picture is clear and can normally be translated without the help of cultural annotations. The dead are snatched up from the ground, and the Lord comes down from heaven to meet them in some “place” between. Expressions of space and time need not be understood literally, but they should be taken seriously in translation.

These central events are accompanied by others. The shout of command translates a single word which may also have the more general meaning of a loud cry. “It belongs to the language of sailors, hunters and jockeys” (Rigaux). It is not clear from the text who is shouting. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes it clear that it is God, and this makes good sense for receptor languages which prefer or require an explicit statement about the agent. Similarly, the text does not state explicitly that it is God who blows the trumpet, though this may be implied. The text states only that the trumpet belongs to God.

A literal translation of Good News Translation would be very difficult in some languages, since in them one cannot speak of shouting a command without indicating who is the agent. Furthermore, placing the phrase the shout of command immediately before the archangel’s voice might imply that it is the archangel who does the shouting. The closest equivalent in some languages is simply “God will shout a command, the archangel will speak, and people will hear God’s trumpet.” It is possible in some instances to avoid indicating the agent by introducing the sounds by the phrase “people will hear,” for example, “people will hear a loud command, the voice of the archangel, and God’s trumpet.”

Since in verse 17 it says that the believers will meet the Lord in the air, it would be wrong to translate “the Lord himself will come down” in such a way as to imply that he will come down to the surface of the earth. It is simply that “the Lord will come down out of heaven.” The translation should not specify precisely how far down he comes, though in some languages it may be useful, in order to avoid other complications, to say “will come down from heaven into the air.”

Those who have died believing in Christ is literally “the dead in Christ.” The metaphor of sleep, used in verses 13 and 15, is replaced here by the normal literal expression. The text does not focus on the fact of their having believed in Christ at the moment of death, for after death also they are “in Christ.” Paul simply means “dead Christians,” “the Christian dead.” It is most natural to connect “in Christ” with “those who have died.” The alternative construction, “those who have died rise in Christ first,” is much less likely. Throughout this passage, Paul is thinking only of Christians who have died. Good News Translation‘s to life is implied in the text. These words remind us of the literal meaning behind the metaphor of rising.

For some of the problems involved in translating who have died believing in Christ, see the note on verse 4.14.

The phrase will rise to life must be translated in many languages as simply “come back to life” or “live again.”

The temporal expression first implies a comparison, and this is brought out clearly in the beginning of verse 17, but in some languages the temporal relation is better expressed by a transitional alone, such as “then,” for example, “those believers in Christ who have died will come back to life, and then we who are living at that time….”

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 .

What we are teaching you now is the Lord’s teaching raises the same question that “for this other reason” raised in 2.13. The verse literally begins “for this to you we say.” Does the word “this” (Good News Translation what) refer backward or forward? Is the Lord’s teaching contained in verse 14 or in 15b ff.? The answer to this question is not immediately clear, since verses 15-17 repeat in more specific terms the content of verse 14. However, it is practically certain that “this” refers forward to the sentence which follows. Paul has announced his theme briefly in verse 14; now, as he prepares to expand it, he makes a solemn appeal to the authority of Christ. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch here, as in 2.13, makes this clear by reversing the two parts of verse 15: “You need have no fear: those who have already died will not be at any disadvantage compared with us, who are still alive when the Lord comes. For this, I can appeal to a word of the Lord.” Bible en français courant solves the problem by beginning “here is…,” an expression which in French is regularly forward-looking. Good News Translation‘s colon after the Lord’s teaching has the same function, but when the passage is read aloud, the punctuation needs a sensitive reader to interpret it with the appropriate intonation. Translator’s New Testament expands the text and divides the sentence: “We are now telling you something which the Lord himself said. It is that those of us who are alive….”

To make clear that the Lord’s teaching refers to what follows, one may use Good News Translation‘s wording of a similar one, for example, “what we are going to tell you is just what the Lord taught.” Otherwise, the transposition of this first clause to the end of verse 15 may be the most satisfactory solution, for example, “we who are still alive when the Lord comes, will not go ahead of those who have already died. This is just what the Lord himself taught.”

The identification of participants in this verse raises linguistic problems which have important theological implications. The first we (in we are teaching you) is defined by the word you; it means Paul and his fellow evangelists. There is no need, as we have seen in many other passages, to limit the reference to Paul alone, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch does. The second we (before who are alive on the day the Lord comes) is most naturally understood as including both Paul and his companions on the one hand and his readers on the other. Here (as is not always the case) the grammatical structure of the Greek sentence corresponds to the semantic relations between its parts. Paul’s principal concern, expressed in the main verb, is that those who are still living when the Lord comes will have no priority over those who have already died. Paul is not concerned to make any dogmatic statement, either about which of his readers will still be alive at that time, or about whether he will himself still be alive. The we is quite general (and Phillips is not justified in omitting it completely, translating “those who are still living…”). Paul may have assumed, as the Thessalonian Christian did (see 2 Thess. 2.1-3), that Jesus would come soon, and that he, Paul, would be alive at that time. But the question of Paul’s own survival is not for the moment in focus.

The Lord’s teaching is literally “a word of the Lord.” “Word” clearly means here a whole “message” rather than a single word; and “of the Lord” means “from the Lord” rather than “about the Lord.” Paul is not quoting any recorded saying of Jesus. Nor does he seem to be quoting any particular saying which has since been lost. It would certainly be difficult to decide where to insert quotation marks to identify an assumed quotation. Paul may be giving the general content of Jesus’ teaching about the end of the age, such as was later recorded in such passages as Mark 13. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s literal translation “a word of the Lord” (cf. La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Zürcher Bibel Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Luther 1984 Bijbel in Gewone Taal) is therefore probably too specific; teaching (cf. Bible en français courant Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) or “message” (Barclay Phillips) is to be preferred. Moffatt‘s “we tell you, as the Lord has told us” is an attractive restructuring which brings out the similarity in the Greek of “we say” and “word,” as Good News Translation‘s we are teaching and teaching also do.

The Greek connecting word “for” (translated by King James Version Revised Standard Version Moffatt) is rightly omitted in modern English and some other languages.

Verse 15b, and probably verses 16-17 also, contain the teaching referred to in 15a. The connection is shown in Greek by a “that” (cf. King James Version Revised Standard Version) which has the same function as the colon in Good News Translation. The verse continues, in literal translation, “we, the living, the left-behind to the appearing of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” “We” is emphatic, in contrast to “those who have fallen asleep.” “Not” is also emphatic, showing that Paul’s main concern is to show that Christians who have died will benefit from the coming of Jesus, just as much as those who are still alive. Several translations combine “living” and “left-behind” in some such phrase as “we who are left alive” (New English Bible); Good News Translation omits the second element. Exactly the same expression is used in verse 17. Good News Translation‘s the day is not expressed in this verse in the Greek.

On the word for “appearing,” see the notes on 2.19. On sleep as a metaphor for death, see the notes on verse 13.

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch restructures the sentence so as to make the dead, rather than the living, its subject: “Those who have already died will … be at no disadvantage….” The meaning is the same, but this translation brings out more clearly the fact that Paul’s main concern, and that of his readers, is for the Christians who have died. Note that in doing this, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch removes the metaphor which Good News Translation translates go ahead of. Alternatively, Good News Bible‘s spatial metaphor may be replaced by a temporal metaphor without distorting the meaning, for example, “we who are alive when the Lord comes will not be with him any sooner than those who have 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 .

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 .