Verses 3-6 form a single sentence in Greek. This passage is such a closely knit unit that it will be necessary to discuss verses 3-6a together.
God wants translates the phrase which in Greek is literally “this is God’s will.” “This” refers directly to “God’s will,” which is then specified in four ways: (1) to be holy, (2) to be … completely free from sexual immorality, (3) to know how to live with one’s wife in a holy and honorable way, and (4) not to do wrong to one’s fellow Christian. These and similar infinitives often have the force of imperatives, and may be translated as such (“be holy,” etc.) if this is natural. Zürcher Bibel marks the transition from the general (“God’s will”) to the specific (to be holy) by inserting “namely” (quite legitimately, though in unnecessary square brackets). Cf. Phillips “God’s plan is to make you holy, and that means a clean cut with sexual immorality.” To be … completely free from sexual immorality is more specific than to be holy, but not a different point as Good News Translation‘s and suggests. A comma, or even “that is,” is preferable.
Instead of translating the first words literally, “this is God’s will,” in some languages one may wish to translate “the following is what God wants,” or “the things I will mention are what God wants.”
“God’s will” should not be understood as a remote set of general rules (though it does indicate the content of what God wills, rather than the act of willing). Paul regularly (e.g. 1 Corinthians 1.1) uses this expression in speaking of his personal calling to be an apostle.
There is a tendency for some translators to think that “will” in the phrase “God’s will” must reflect some kind of philosophical concept of “inexorable plans” or “predetermined set of circumstances.” In this context the emphasis is upon “what God wants” or “what God desires,” and so one may translate “God wants you to be holy….”
What are the relations between these four specific aspects of God’s will for the Thessalonians? This important question cannot be answered until we are clear about the meaning of the individual items. (1) and (2) present no serious problems, but (3) has been and still is understood in radically different ways, and (4) is also open to different interpretations.
1. The word translated to be holy (literally “sanctification,” Revised Standard Version) implies a process which depends on God. On the meaning of holy, see the notes on 3.13. Common language translators have to face the problem of whether holy and related words are part of common language. Good News Translation and Bible en français courant think they are. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “God wants your whole life to belong to him,” and Bijbel in Gewone Taal “God wants you to lead a life which is devoted to him.” It may be difficult to speak of “a life which belongs to God” or even “a life devoted to God.” A person, however, may be regarded as belonging to God, and therefore one can translate “to lead such a life as one would who belongs to God,” or “to live in such a way as to show that you are devoted to God.”
2. God wants you to be … completely free from sexual immorality. The word translated sexual immorality is sometimes translated simply “immorality” (cf. Revised Standard Version 1st edition and Bible en français courant), but it means more specifically any kind of sexual immorality. It is therefore narrower in meaning than most dictionary definitions of the English word “immoral” (Concise Oxford Dictionary: “Opposed to morality; morally evil; vicious, dissolute”), but in current English there is a strong tendency for sexual overtones to become dominant, while the more precise high-level synonym “fornication” (King James Version New English Bible Knox Jerusalem Bible) is becoming archaic and/or ecclesiastical. Phillips, as Good News Translation, makes the sexual element explicit: “a clean cut with sexual immorality,” cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “that no one should have sexual relations outside marriage”; cf. also Moffatt, Revised Standard Version 2nd edition “unchastity,” Translator’s New Testament. In some languages it may be necessary to be explicit in translating free from sexual immorality, for example, “so that no one will have sexual intercourse with anyone except his or her own spouse.” In some instances, however, it is better to employ a term for immorality, and then to state the avoidance of such, for example, “to never live like a dog,” “to never go around with other women,” or “to never loosen someone else’s girdle.”
3. Commentators have been divided for many centuries over the meaning, in this context, of the word which Good News Translation translates wife (cf. 1 Peter 3.7). King James Version, like the Vulgate, adopts the literal translation “vessel,” possibly in the sense of a receptacle for the soul. Revised Standard Version and Moffatt (cf. Zürcher Bibel Luther 1984 Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Bible en français courant Traduction œcuménique de la Bible Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Bijbel in Gewone Taal) agree with Good News Bible in translating wife. New English Bible Knox Phillips Jerusalem Bible Barclay Translator’s New Testament (cf. La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Bible de Jérusalem) translate “body,” which is the main alternative. Jerusalem Bible (cf. Bible de Jérusalem) regrettably and awkwardly tries to have the best of both worlds by translating “the body that belongs to him.” Many translations give the alternative rendering in a note.
The word translated live with implies actually an act of taking possession of or acquiring, and not merely the state of having or possessing. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“to live together with his wife”) and Good News Translation may therefore be too weak, unless the phrase is intended as a euphemism for (b) below. “To get a wife” would therefore mean either (a) “to win a girl to become one’s wife” (as in Ecclesiasticus 36.24: “the man who wins a wife has the beginnings of a fortune” New English Bible), or (b) “to have sexual relations with one’s wife,” which, together with the following in a holy and honorable way, would make a good contrast with verses 3b and 5. Meaning (a) is the normal meaning of the English expression “to get a wife”; (b) is perhaps the slightly more probable meaning of the Greek in this context, if the translation wife is chosen. If, on the other hand, one translates “body,” the entire phrase would mean something like New English Bible‘s “each one of you must learn to gain mastery over his body.”
Part of the problem is that nowhere else in New Testament is “vessel” used metaphorically by itself: it is always used in some such defining phrase as “vessel of wrath” or “vessel of the Holy Spirit.” Those who prefer the translation “body,” however, argue that the “common clay pots” of 2 Corinthians 4.7 (cf. 2 Timothy 2.21) are almost certainly bodies, in the normal biblical sense of human beings in their weakness.
Those who choose the translation “wife” argue that it is more natural to speak emphatically of one’s “own wife” (in contrast to the relations outside marriage implied in verse 3) than of one’s “own body.” However, the word translated “own” is not always emphatic in New Testament Greek (see notes on 2.7). On the other hand, it is argued that the context contains a general appeal, not only to married men, but to the whole Christian community in Thessalonica, and that the translation “body” avoids an abrupt transition.
One solution would be to understand “vessel” as a euphemistic metaphor for the penis (cf. New American Bible “guarding his member”). This is the most likely translation of the equivalent Hebrew word in 1 Samuel 21.5 (another difficult verse) and parallels in secular Greek are also quoted. There is no parallel in the New Testament, but in view of the subject matter the argument from silence is not strong. The most powerful argument in favor of this meaning is that it would explain the obscurity of the expression, and thus the conflicting interpretations to which it has given rise. Receptor languages differ in the degree of euphemism they employ, in a text of this kind, in speaking of genital organs. If one favors the second of the two solutions, it may be best to choose the translation “body,” while recognizing the likelihood that the original reference was narrower. It is interesting to note that in 1 Corinthians 12.23-24 Paul uses the same word for honor as in the present passage (“give greater honor to those parts of the body that lack it”).
4. The main difficulty here is in deciding the meaning of the word translated matter (v. 6). This is general term which can also, in certain contexts, have the specific meaning of “business.” Knox (following the Vulgate), Barclay Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée choose this meaning here, but most translators agree with Good News Translation in choosing a more general word. There are two strong arguments in favor of this: (a) there is no parallel to the use of this word in the singular to mean “business” (compare this sense of the English word “affair[s]”); and (b) the translation “business” would involve an abrupt transition from sexual ethics to a discussion of honesty. The two verbs with which matter is associated, do wrong and take advantage, though comparatively rare, may also have general meanings: the first “break a law” or “sin,” and the second “defraud, cheat.”
Almost all translations which use a general word like matter put the word this before it, in order to make clear the relation to the previous verses. If we adopt this interpretation, we find at this point an implied reference to marriage and the social consequences of sexual immorality. Jews commonly thought of adultery as primarily a sin against the husband of the woman with whom adultery was committed, and this view goes back to the Tenth Commandment (“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” Exodus 20.17 New English Bible).
We can now return to the previous question: what are the relations between these four aspects of God’s will for the Thessalonians? If our understanding of the individual aspects is correct, there is a clear progression in Paul’s thought from the general to the specific, with each item related to the one before, and developing part of its meaning. We have noted this kind of movement in several previous passages. (1) God wants to make the Thessalonians completely holy, people whose lives show that they belong to him. (2) In particular, they must avoid sexual immorality. (3) Christians should shine by contrast with pagans in the way in which they control their sexual impulses. (4) If they do this, they will avoid damaging other people’s marriages. In other words, Paul warns his readers successively against sin in general, against sexual immorality, against lack of sexual self-discipline, and against adultery.
Paul appeals to the authority of Christ at the beginning and end of this passage (vv. 2, 6b), but in between he stands on common ground with Jews against non-Jews (contrast 2.14-16). This is significant for the translator at two points. First, a negative word like heathen or “pagan” is quite in place in verse 5, as it would not be in 2.16. Second, it would be wrong to translate fellow Christian (literally “brother”) in verse 6 in such a way as to overemphasize the distinction between members of the Christian family and others. Paul is speaking to Christians, and by “brother” he does indeed mean fellow Christian, but there is no suggestion that the Thessalonians should behave any differently in this respect towards non-Christians than they would towards other members of the church.
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 .