From this point until the end of the chapter, the focus changes. Paul’s attention is concentrated, not on himself and his companions, but on the way in which their message was received. The change of focus is marked by an emphatic pronoun: “as for you, you became imitators.”

Imitated and, still more, “imitators” (Jerusalem Bible), and “imitation” tend to include a negative component of not being real or authentic. That is not the case here. The Greek suggests an adult pupil’s relationship with his teacher, in a cultural situation in which education was not limited to formal instruction during fixed hours, but involved the sharing of a way of life. We are in the same area of meaning as example in verse 7, “come after” in Mark 1.17, and “follow” in Luke 5.11. (See also 1 Thess. 2.14; 1 Corinthians 4.16; and, more distantly, Matthew 5.48.) New English Bible has “example” here (cf. Barclay Best) and “model” in verse 7.

It may be necessary to expand the expression you imitated us and the Lord, for example, “you learned to live just as we lived and as the Lord lived,” “you followed us and the Lord in the way you lived,” or “you were like us and the Lord in the way in which you behaved.”

The Lord always means “Christ” in Paul’s writings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The meanings of the Greek word range from “sir” to the name of God, “Yahweh.” Here it indicates the relationship of a servant to the one whom he serves and to whom he belongs, but the negative implications of “slaveholder” should be avoided. At the same time, it may be necessary to employ a pronoun to show the relationship of Lord to the believers, for example, “our Lord” or “our chief.” However, Paul always uses Lord in speaking of the risen Christ, and the translator should avoid titles which suggest merely the earthly life of Jesus.

Suffered translates a noun whose meaning, like that of the English “pressure,” extended from pressure to more general suffering or hardship. To understand suffered in the broader sense probably implied here, it may be useful to employ a phrase such as “you endured many troubles” (cf. Translator’s New Testament “the message brought you great trouble”), “you underwent much persecution,” or “you suffered many times because people were troublesome to you.” Introducing the agents of the suffering may be necessary in order to indicate that the suffering was not the result of illness, for example, “people caused you to suffer much,” or “… to have troubles many times.” The word here translated received (translated accepted in 2.13) may have the meaning of receiving willingly or welcoming; but it is also the ordinary word for receiving a letter. In this type of context, it is essentially equivalent to “believed.”

The Thessalonians to whom Paul writes have received the message. This is literally “the word,” but now in a different sense from that in verse 5, where it was a question of “mere words.” Here it is a synonym for “the Good News”; it is the Christian message, called the message about the Lord in verse 8 and God’s message in 2.13. It is clearly, in this context, a spoken rather than a written message. In translating the message, it may be important to specify what it is about, for example, “the message about Jesus Christ.”

The joy that comes from the Holy Spirit specifies more clearly the point of comparison between Jesus, the evangelists, and their hearers. It is not simply that they suffered, but that the Holy Spirit (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “God’s Spirit”) gave them the power to do so with joy. Thus their joy is the effect of what the Holy Spirit has done. This is not entirely clear in Jerusalem Bible (“the joy of the Holy Spirit”) or New English Bible (“rejoiced in the Holy Spirit”). The joy that comes from the Holy Spirit or “the joy which the Holy Spirit gives” (Barclay Translator’s New Testament cf. Bible en français courant Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) is to be preferred.

It may be somewhat difficult to express clearly the relation between received the message and the phrase with the joy, since joy is not the means of receiving, but the manner in which the people of Thessalonica came to believe, and in which they endured suffering. In some languages this is best expressed as a kind of accompanying experience, for example, “you believed the message about Jesus Christ, and you were joyful,” but it is important to indicate clearly the relation between the Holy Spirit and the joy. Since the relation is one of cause, it is perhaps best to translate, as in some languages, “you believed the message, and the Holy Spirit caused you to have joy,” or “… caused you to be exceedingly happy.”

It is possible that the joy experienced by the Thessalonians is better related to their experience of suffering, rather than to their reception of the good news. Accordingly, it may be possible to say “You received the good news, and because of this you experience many kinds of hardships. Yet, in spite of these hardships, the Holy Spirit continues to make you joyful.”

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 .