3:2a

our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ: This verse contains a long description of Timothy in the middle of a narrative sentence. In some languages, wording it this way may interrupt the flow of the sentence to have this information about Timothy between Paul’s statement that “we sent” him and his description of the reason why he and Silvanus sent him. Paul provided this information in order to confirm that he had authorized Timothy to visit the Thessalonians and that Timothy was fully qualified to help them. In some languages it may be necessary to use a separate sentence for Paul’s description of Timothy, then return to the main theme in a new sentence afterward. For example:

and send Timothy to you. Timothy, our brother, works with us for God and helps us tell people the Good news about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faith. (New Century Version)

our brother: For the term brother, see the note on 1:4.

fellow worker for God: There is a textual problem in this verse. There are three different Greek texts followed by English versions:

(1) The text reads “God’s fellow worker”.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Century Version, SSA)

(2) The text reads “God’s servant”.

(Revised Standard Version, God’s Word, New Jerusalem Bible)

(3) The text reads “God’s servant and our fellow worker”.

(King James Version, Contemporary English Version)

Most Greek scholars agree that the first option (1) is the correct one, so it is recommended that you follow it.

However not all scholars agree on what the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fellow worker for God means. There are two possibilities:

(1) It means that Timothy worked together with God, that they worked together to spread the gospel.

(English Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision))

(2) It means that Timothy was a fellow-worker of Paul and Silas and that all three worked together for God.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, 2011 edition, Good News Translation, New Century Version, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), New Revised Standard Version, SSA)

It is recommended that you follow the first option (1).

in the gospel of Christ: The Greek text has no verb in this part of the verse, but most modern English versions include a verb here, such as “spreading” (New International Version (2011 Revision)) or “preaching” (Good News Translation). It will probably be necessary to do something similar in your translation.

the gospel of Christ: In this context, this means “the gospel about Christ.”

3:2b

to strengthen…you in your faith: Paul intended that Timothy should strengthen the Thessalonians inwardly/spiritually, that he should help them believe more strongly in Christ.

and encourage you in your faith: The second thing that Paul intended was that Timothy should encourage the Thessalonians to keep on believing.

in your faith: Notice that this phrase goes with both verbs, strengthen and encourage.

© 2002 by SIL International®

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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.