3:8

In this verse Paul told the Thessalonians more specifically why he was encouraged.

3:8a

now we can go on living: This is an idiomatic use of the verb “to live.” The Greek text reads literally “we live.” The Berean Standard Bible has translated this as go on living to make the sense clear in English. Some English versions use other idioms to express the meaning. For example:

we can breathe again (New Jerusalem Bible)

During the time when Paul was worried about the Thessalonians, his life was affected negatively because he was anxious. Once he knew that things were well with the Thessalonians, he was relieved, joyful, could enjoy life again, and had everything that made life worthwhile. It is difficult to find a short, non-idiomatic expression in English to express all of this meaning. If you have an idiom in your language that expresses this meaning, you could use it here.

3:8b

as long as you are standing firm: The Greek is literally “if you are standing firm” (Revised Standard Version, King James Version, Good News Translation, NET Bible, New Century Version, SSA). This may have the following meanings:

(1) Paul could “go on living” because he was sure that they were standing firm.

(Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), New International Version (2011 Revision))

(2) Paul could “go on living” only if they were standing firm.

(Berean Standard Bible, God’s Word)

It is recommended that you follow the first meaning (1). Most commentators agree that the “if” does not mean that Paul doubted whether the Thessalonians were standing firm.

standing firm in the Lord: This expressions means “continuing to believe strongly in the Lord.”

the Lord: This refers to the Lord Jesus.

© 2002 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.