5:15a

Make sure that no one repays evil for evil: Paul was telling the Thessalonian believers that they should make sure that no one among them retaliated if someone, whether a fellow believer or an unbeliever, wronged him. Notice that it is not just a command to the person who has been wronged but to the whole Christian community. Christians have responsibility to make sure their fellow believers obey commands such as this.

5:15b

Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people: Here Paul balanced the negative command in 5:15a with a positive command. It is not enough just to avoid harming others. Paul commanded them to do what is good for both believers and unbelievers.

Always: Paul emphasized the Greek word pantote (Always) by placing it at the beginning of the sentence. You should emphasize this in your translation in the way that is natural in your language.

pursue: The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek verb diōkō literally as pursue. Therefore the meaning here is “to try earnestly/strongly, to make a great effort.”

General Comment on 5:16–22

From this point onward, through to 5:22, Paul emphasized certain words in each command by putting that word at the start of the command. These are mentioned as they occur in the notes that follow.

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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.