This passage is closely related to verses 1-5, but marks a new stage, introduced by a word which may indicate either a contrast or a transition. Those translations which take it as contrastive (King James Version Moffatt Revised Standard Version Phillips New English Bible Translator’s New Testament Zürcher Bibel Luther 1984 La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Bible en français courant Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) translate the word as “but” (cf. Jerusalem Bible “however”); those which take it as a transitional (Knox Barclay Good News Translation Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Bible de Jérusalem Traduction œcuménique de la Bible Bijbel in Gewone Taal) simply do not translate it. There is indeed an element of contrast: Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica because he was anxious, but now that he has returned with good news, Paul is reassured.
A special problem for English translators is that now may indicate either a transition or a point in time. As a transition it usually occurs at the beginning of a sentence (e.g. Genesis 3.1 Revised Standard Version: “Now the serpent was more subtle…”). In this verse, the Greek uses two different words to express (1) the contrast (or transition, see last paragraph) and (2) the now which indicates present time, and it may be necessary to use two different words in translation also.
In pre-New Testament Greek, the temporal now was used to refer to something which had just happened, and here, in an emphatic position at the beginning of the sentence, it may still have this meaning. Moffatt (“a moment ago”), Barclay Translator’s New Testament (“has just returned”), Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Bible de Jérusalem Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translate it in this way. By New Testament times, however, the word more often meant simply “at the present time,” and this is the translation chosen by Knox Good News Translation Zürcher Bibel Luther 1984 Bible en français courant Bijbel in Gewone Taal Biblia Dios Habla Hoy.
Though the Greek text specifies that Timothy has returned “to us from you,” it is strictly redundant to add these words in translation. They are one of the emotive elements in the original, but a literal translation may have the effect of making the sentence heavier. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates more simply “Timothy has come back from Thessalonica”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “has come back from you”; Bijbel in Gewone Taal “is back with us.” If either “to us” or “from you” is omitted, it fits in better with the context to omit “to us,” since Paul’s main concern is not with his reunion with Timothy, but with the news Timothy brought back about the situation in Thessalonica. Good News Translation omits both phrases.
He has brought us the welcome news. Paul uses here the verb which generally refers to the communication of the Christian message, the announcement of the Good News. Here it has the meaning which is usual in secular writings: that of bringing any kind of good news. It is therefore essential to avoid any translation which might suggest the specifically Christian sense. It is probably for this reason that Good News Translation has welcome news instead of the more common “good news” (Revised Standard Version and New English Bible), which when read aloud could be misunderstood as “the Good News.”
In some languages one does not say “to bring news.” Rather, “one comes and speaks news.” The translation of welcome refers to the emotive response of those who heard the news, for example, “news which made us happy” or, idiomatically, “news which soothed our ears.”
About your faith and love. Commentators discuss whether Paul is thinking mainly of the Thessalonians’ love for God of for one another. This becomes a problem for the translator only if the nouns are replaced by verbs requiring a direct object. In this case, it would be more natural to refer “love,” like “faith,” to the Thessalonians’ relationship to God (see the notes on 1.3). This would give a translation something like “he has brought the welcome news that you still trust God and still love him.” However, Paul rarely writes about men loving God (see notes on 2 Thess. 3.5), and it may be better to translate “he has brought the welcome news that you still trust God and still love one another.”
He has told us that you always think well of us. He has told us is inserted in order to begin a new sentence. The components of meaning in the phrase in the translated think well of us include (1) remembrance and (2) either (a) affection or (b) respect (c) both. In translating the first component, it should be borne in mind that the time between Paul’s leaving Thessalonica and writing this letter was almost certainly counted in months rather than in years. Good News Translation tightly avoids any suggestion that an effort of memory was needed. Within the second component of meaning, the Greek can convey both affection and respect, but the translator may have to choose which is more important in this context. The same expression is used in 2 Maccabees 7.20 in speaking of a heroic mother who “deserves to be remembered with special honour” (New English Bible). Good News Translation‘s think well of us brings out this element of respect, while New English Bible‘s and Barclay‘s “think kindly of us” emphasizes the element of affection (cf. Knox Biblia Dios Habla Hoy; also Phillips “cherish happy memories of us,” cf. Bijbel in Gewone Taal; Jerusalem Bible “remember us with pleasure”; cf. Translator’s New Testament Bible de Jérusalem). On balance, the element of affection seems to fit in better with the warmth of the passage as a whole. An appropriate expression for affection in this context could be “you remember us with happiness,” “you are happy when you think of us,” or “your thinking about us causes you to have joy.”
The center of gravity, so to speak, of this phrase is the Greek word often rendered as “good,” and it is to this that always should be related: not “you are continually thinking of us” (unless possibly as an emotive exaggeration), but “your memories of us are good ones,” “whenever you remember us, it is in a good sense.”
Some editions of the Greek text punctuate this sentence in such a way as to connect always with what follows (i.e. “wanting to see us”), but this is less natural than the punctuation followed by Good News Translation and most other translations.
You want to see us. The word translated want conveys strong emotion, like the English verb “long” in “long to see us.” As in verse 2.17, see must be rendered as implying “visiting” rather than merely looking at.
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 .