As in the case of Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, the statement of presumed triple authorship, that is, from Paul, Silas, and Timothy, may be misleading, for it is obvious from the letter itself that Paul is the real author. It may be necessary in some languages to translate “from Paul, together with Silas and Timothy,” or “from Paul, with Silas and Timothy joining in,” or “I, Paul, am writing to you with the help of Silas and Timothy.” It is often necessary to introduce a verb such as “write to” or “send this letter to” in order to combine the statement of authorship with an indication of those to whom the letter is directed.

There are only two differences between these verses and 1 Thess. 1.1 (see the notes).

First, the word our is added (God our Father), clearly including both the senders of the letter and those who will receive it. The appositional expression God our Father must be expressed in some languages by means of a relative clause, for example, “God, who is our Father.” Some translators feel that it is necessary to identify the figurative meaning in our Father and mark it as a simile, for example, “God, who is like a Father to us.” However, this is usually not necessary.

The second addition is less readily seen in Good News Translation than in the more literal Revised Standard Version:
1 Thess. 1.1b
Grace to you and peace.
2 Thess. 1.2
Grace to you and peace
from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.

Good News Translation restructures the sentence in 2 Thessalonians, using the word give to bring out the meaning of the preposition “from.”

In a number of languages it is relatively meaningless to say “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Since this is essentially a petition expressing a desire for God’s response and blessing, it must sometimes be represented as a prayer, for example, “I pray that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ may give you grace and peace,” or “… be gracious to you and cause you to experience peace.”

In both verse 1 and verse 2, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are closely linked by the use of a single preposition: literally “in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” in verse 1, and “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” in verse 2. Barclay‘s translation, “who belong to God our Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 1), and “from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 2), does not convey this close link. However, in some languages it is grammatically essential to repeat the preposition (cf. Bible en français courant of v. 1, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy of both verses).

While the weight of the Greek manuscript evidence seems to favor “God the Father” as the more correct reading, many manuscripts do have God our Father. In some languages the translator will have no choice, since kinship terms such as “Father” must have an expressed possessor.

Though it may very well be that the expression grace and peace reflects Christian greeting in its Greek and Semitic forms, it is certainly not enough merely to say “greetings to you.” The fact that grace and peace are to come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ indicates clearly that Paul has something more in mind than mere Christian greeting. It is sometimes very difficult to find the appropriate translation of grace and peace for this type of context. Some translators employ “may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ show you their love and call you to be at peace,” or “… be kind to you and cause you to rest within you hearts.” In this type of context “peace” is not so much the peace of reconciliation with God as the normal blessing which comes to a man who is a child of God.

Commentators have often noted that Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians is less warm and affectionate than his First Letter. This is generally true, and many of the indications of emotion which were mentioned in the notes on the first letter are absent or less frequent in the second. There are, however, exceptions to this general rule. In proportion to their length, Paul addresses his readers as brothers as often in the second letter as in the first. The emotive tone of 2 Thess. 1.3-12 is also as high as that of the first letter.

One indication of high emotive content in Paul’s letters is the length of his sentences. In the original Greek, the sentence length is generally greater than in most modern languages, but it is particularly great when Paul’s argument or appeal reaches a climax. In 2 Thessalonians, only three sentences are more than two verses in length. One of these (2.8-10) is central to the main theme of the first part of the letter, and another (3.7-9) is central to the main theme of the second part. By far the longest sentence in the whole letter is in this section: it runs without a break from verse 3 to verse 10. It is no coincidence that this is also the passage in which Paul expresses most strongly his affection for the Christians in Thessalonica, and his confidence that, despite all the attacks upon it, their faith will continue to stand firm.

Different languages have other ways of indicating high emotion. For example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch puts an exclamation mark at the end of the first sentence, and emphasizes the evangelists’ “boasting” in verse 4 by putting it at the beginning of the sentence (“with pride we tell…”). Knox uses a rhetorical question in verse 6 (“or do you doubt that there is justice with God…?”)

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .