Paul goes on to mention some of the things which convince him that God has chosen the Thessalonian Christian. There is no question of logical proof, so Good News Translation‘s link-word for is perhaps better than “because” (Jerusalem Bible Phillips). However, since for in verse 5 introduces a rather general reason and primarily marks a translation, it may be preferable in some languages to omit this word and allow the relation between the preceding verses and verse 5 to remain implicit.
We brought the Good News to you is translated more literally by Zürcher Bibel as “our proclamation of the gospel happened among you not merely in word,” but to introduce a word like “proclamation” or “preaching,” as Luther 1984 does, appears to limit the Good News to words, and so produces an unnecessary clash with the last part of the sentence. On the contrary, the preaching of Paul and his companions, like that of Jesus, was linked with acts which showed God’s power. In translating we brought the Good News to you, it is important to avoid the implication that the Good News is a kind of substance which can be carried. The equivalent of this expression in some languages is “we were the first to announce to you the Good News.”
The word translated Good News is also the word for “gospel.” Here it is not yet, of course, the title of a book, but among Christians it has already become almost a technical term for the message about Jesus. That is why Paul uses the definite article the and why Good News Translation uses capital letters: Good News. Paul can safely assume that his readers already know to which “good news” he refers. Likewise, any reader of the New Testament, by the time he gets to Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians, will almost certainly understand Good News in a more or less technical sense. However, it may be useful at this first occurrence to introduce a fuller phrase, “the Good News about Jesus Christ.”
This verse describes an act of communication from Paul and his friends to the Thessalonians: we … to you. The question therefore arises whether the phrases with power and the Holy Spirit and with complete conviction of its truth refer to the evangelists or to their hearers; that is, to the way in which the message was proclaimed or to the way in which it was received. One could assume that in theory both are referred to, but it is more likely that either the one or the other aspect of the act of communication was in the forefront of Paul’s mind. The immediate context suggests that here (though not in verses 3-4 and 6) Paul’s main concern is with the giving of the message; that is, with the way in which the message was brought rather than the way in which it was received. That is how Good News Translation (cf. Bible en français courant) understands it. Other translations make the same meaning more explicit (Moffatt “with ample conviction on our part” [cf. Translator’s New Testament text]; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “with complete certainty that this message is the truth”; Bijbel in Gewone Taal “based on a firm conviction”). A few translations suggest that at least the conviction is in the hearers of the message (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “his Holy Spirit … gave us … power to convince”; Barclay “carrying complete conviction”; Phillips “the convincing power of the Holy Spirit”), but this is less likely. Translations which attempt to avoid a decision concerning this question are unclear and often unnatural.
Not with words only may be rendered as “we did not use just words” or “we did not just speak words” or even “we did not just talk.”
Power and the Holy Spirit are often associated, and can be translated together as “the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit” (Barclay). The contrast between words and power and the Holy Spirit may be indicated clearly by “we did not just talk, but we also showed the power of the Holy Spirit.” Power is best understood as referring to “miracles.” Therefore the contrast may read “not just with words, but with miracles done by the Holy Spirit.”
The phrase with complete conviction of its truth may be translated in some languages as “we showed how completely we believed the truth of the Good News,” or “we showed how much we believed that the Good News is certainly true.”
The last sentence of verse 5 in Good News Translation is very general: You know how we lived when we were with you: it was for your own good. We should like to know what is was in the evangelists’ way of life which impressed their hearers so deeply. The following verse suggests that it may have been their shared experience of persecution (cf. Acts 17.5-13), but the text does not tell us that, and we should not read it into our translation. Jerusalem Bible‘s “for your instruction” is too specific. The fact that one does not want to be too specific and thus rule out the broader meaning, makes this sentence difficult to translate. When a language has a verb with the general sense of “to behave,” “to carry on,” “to do,” etc., it may be employed here. But in some languages it is necessary to use other types of expression for such general activity, for example, “you know what we did when we were with you.” The final clause, it was for your own good, is likewise difficult to render in a satisfactory way, but one can sometimes employ an expression such as “all of this was to help you,” “this was good for you,” or “this benefited you.”
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 .