In this verse, as at the end of verse 14, Paul’s concern widens to include non-Christians. No one and to all people make this clear. To one another means “to fellow-Christians.”

English, like Greek, can naturally use the metaphor see in the sense of “take care” or “make sure.” In New Testament Greek, as in modern English, the metaphor is dead or dying, but in continues in certain negative expressions, for example, “see that (something) does not happen.” It is therefore often appropriate to translate it by a literal equivalent. (See also the notes on 5.19 for the translation of metaphors.)

See that no one pays back wrong for wrong may need some restructuring. This is particularly the case with the introductory expression see, for example, “prevent people paying back wrong for wrong,” or “do not permit people to pay back wrong for wrong.” On the other hand, it is possible that this admonition is directed to each individual, in which case one can translate “no one should pay back wrong for wrong.”

The phrase pays back wrong for wrong is a very condensed expression involving a number of complex relations. These are expressed in various languages in quite different ways, for example, “exchange one bad deed for another bad deed,” or “give back a bad deed when one has received a bad deed.” It may, in fact, be necessary to be even more explicit, for example, “No one should do wrong to someone else just because that person has done wrong to him.”

Greek dictionaries commonly distinguish between the words for good used here and in verse 21. The word used here tends to mean “morally good” or “physically sound,” while the word used in verse 21 tends to mean “good to look at, attractive, beautiful.” In this context, however, they have virtually the same meaning, and Good News Translation therefore translates them both by good.

At all times may be translated as “always,” but since in Greek it is a relatively strong term in an emphatic position, one may translate it as “regardless of the circumstances” or “regardless of what happens.”

Make it your aim may be translated as “try earnestly” or “endeavor strongly.”

To do good to one another may be equivalent to “help one another.”

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 .