Paul states the reason for his concern about the Christians at Thessalonica. They are in danger of believing, on insufficient grounds, that “the Day of the Lord” had already come. This leads Paul to explain in some detail what he believes that Day will be and to speak of the events which must first take place—events so public and dramatic that everyone will know they have occurred.
The exact meaning of this verse can best be reached by looking at its wider context and at the general situation of the Thessalonians. Like most Christians in the generation following the death of Jesus, they are living in a state of high expectation that Jesus would soon return and the final judgment would take place. Paul shares these beliefs. His only concern is that the Thessalonians do not become so excited that they accept without question anything they might hear or read on this subject.
In this setting, it is possible to define more closely the meaning of the expressions translated be … confused in your thinking and upset. Out of context, the most common meaning of be confused in your thinking in English would be “not to reason correctly,” but this is not the main element in the meaning of the Greek. Upset suggests sadness and often annoyance, but again this is not the meaning of the original.
Be confused in your thinking is literally “be shaken from (your) mind,” (cf. King James Version‘s and Revised Standard Version‘s unidiomatic “shaken in mind”). Biblical thought never separates the mind from the rest of human nature, but for Paul the word translated “mind” or thinking normally means “man using his powers of judgment,” and this meaning fits the context well. The state of mind from which Paul wants to save his readers is not simply one of terror (cf. Knox “do not be terrified out of your senses”) nor insanity (cf. Translator’s New Testament “shaken out of your senses”), but neither is it merely logical confusion, as Good News Translation might suggest, still less a change in one’s way of thinking, as in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy. La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée “shaken in your good sense” and Barclay “thrown off your balance” are closer. Note that most translators either remove or replace the metaphor of shaking. New English Bible (cf. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) has “lose your heads.” Most languages are rich in metaphors suggesting various degrees of mental disturbance.
The passive expression not to be so easily confused combined with an implication of means (by the claim that) is the basis for some rather extensive changes in some languages involving the introduction of a reference to human agencies, for example, “do not let those who claim that the Day of the Lord has already come easily confuse you in your thinking.” This type of construction may, however, involve a number of syntactic complications, and therefore it may be necessary to employ a further restructuring, for example, “Some people say that the Day of the Lord has already come; but I beg you, brothers, not to let such people confuse you in your thinking or upset your thoughts.”
Upset is a rare and strong word. It is used in a similar context in Matthew 24.6 and Mark 13.7, where Good News Translation translates “troubles.” Here the stress falls, no longer on the Thessalonians’ judgment, but on their emotions. The context does not explicitly refer to fear, and Barclay‘s “not to get into a state of panic” is too strong and possibly misleading, though fear is certainly involved in the Gospel verses just referred to. An equivalent of upset is in many languages “to twist” or “cause to turn,” for example, “do not let them twist your thoughts,” or “do not let them turn your thoughts around.” This seems to be a far more common expression than the idea of upsetting or turning something upside down. One can in some languages employ “do not let them trouble you in your thoughts,” or even “do not let them cause you to worry about whether your thoughts are right.”
Commentators correctly point out that the word translated easily (literally “quickly”) does not always refer to time. Paul almost certainly does not mean either “so quickly after my last visit” or “so quickly after my last letter.” However, in this context the meaning may still include a time element (cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). A possible paraphrase would be “as soon as you hear or read some report that the Day of the Lord has come, don’t immediately accept it without question, or let it disturb you emotionally.” Although the disturbance of judgment is mentioned before the emotional disturbance, the first is probably the result of the second, and it may therefore be preferable in some languages to reverse the order in translation.
So easily is simply “easily” in the original. The addition of so suggests (1) that the Thessalonians have already been led astray and (2) that Paul is blaming them. The first suggestion may be correct; otherwise, why should Paul discuss the subject in such detail? It is possible that the neglect of work mentioned in chapter 3 was linked with a belief that the Day of the Lord had already come. However, Paul may have found it more tactful to speak of a real situation as if it were only a possible danger. For this reason, too, it may be better to avoid the suggestion that Paul is blaming his readers, though some scholars detect a note of impatience in verse 5. Later in this letter Paul makes a clear distinction between the Christian community as a whole, which needs teaching and practical advice (3.6, 13), and certain members of the community, who, though still to be treated as brothers, are directly condemned (3.11-12, 14-15).
On the Day of the Lord, see notes on 1 Thess. 5.2. There is no textual basis for King James Version‘s “day of Christ,” though no doubt for Paul the Old Testament “Day of the Lord” had become also the day of Christ, and “the Lord” in Paul’s writings normally means “Christ.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “the day on which the Lord comes,” clearly referring to Christ. Translator’s New Testament and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible add a note to explain “day of the Lord.”
In place of has come, a few translators (Knox, following the Latin, cf. King James Version) have “is close at hand.” The Greek verb can have this meaning in other tenses and in other contexts. In past tenses, however, it means “has arrived,” and in Romans 8.38 and 1 Corinthians 3.22 the same verb is contrasted with events still to come. Rigaux (p. 653) describes the translation “is imminent” as “a commentary,” having no linguistic basis.
The rest of verse 2 mentions the possible causes of the Thessalonians’ disturbance. Most commentators agree that there are three of these: (1) a “spirit,” (2) a “word,” and (3) a “letter.” (2) and (3) are occasionally taken together, to make a twofold contrast between a spoken utterance and a written message contained in a letter. This is unlikely, mainly because the Greek sentence contains three parallel expressions, and also because the term translated “word” often refers to a spoken message, as in 1 Thess. 1.6 (cf. Acts 20.38).
On the other hand, there seems rather to be a contrast of meaning between spoken messages (1) and (2) above and the written message (3). This is emphasized by Good News Translation and Bible en français courant. The two spoken messages, on this interpretation, would therefore be (1) the kind of ecstatic prophecy described in 1 Corinthians 14 (though this is nowhere else described as “a spirit” without qualification), and (2) a nonecstatic message of preaching or teaching. In the New Testament, neither ecstatic prophecy nor teaching is always accepted as coming from God (see 1 John 4.1). The translation of “spirit” as “prediction” (Knox, Phillips) is too narrow; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “prophetic revelation.” Bible de Jérusalem, which had “prophetic words” in its first edition, widens this to “manifestations of the Spirit” in the second.
Most translations take perhaps it is thought … that we wrote it in a letter to mean that a forged letter, falsely claiming Paul as its author, was circulating, and that this letter contained the statement that the Day of the Lord had come. It is true that verse 3 refers to a deliberate attempt to deceive the Thessalonians. However, the Greek (literally “by a letter as by us”) can also imply that a genuine letter by Paul (presumably 1 Thessalonians) had been misunderstood to mean that the Day of the Lord had come. (There was probably not much time, either since the writing of 1 Thessalonians or even since Paul’s visit, for a forgery to be written and circulated and to come to Paul’s knowledge.) Paul may not even be referring to any letter actually in existence, but be putting his readers on their guard against the danger of being influenced by such a letter (cf. Moffatt Knox Phillips “any … letter,” Barclay “some letter”). Good News Translation is right to leave these various possibilities open.
It is not certain whether Paul means that:
1. the “letter,”
2. the “word,” and the “letter,”
3. the “spirit,” the “word,” and the “letter”
were supposed to be “from us” (Revised Standard Version). Most translations from King James Version to Translator’s New Testament choose the first possibility, and this is the simplest solution. Phillips and probably Bible de Jérusalem agree with Good News Translation in choosing the third, while Knox, Barclay, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Zürcher Bibel choose the second. The main argument for this compromise solution is the difficulty of deciding what could be meant by a prophetic utterance wrongly supposed to come from Paul and his companions. The devices used by translators to show which of these three possibilities they have chosen are varied and interesting. They include:
1. In languages where it is possible, a singular (Bijbel in Gewone Taal Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Luther 1984 La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale) or plural (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Bible de Jérusalem) verb equivalent to “come (from us).”
2. Repetition or nonrepetition of such words as “some” and “any” (Jerusalem Bible “any prediction or rumour or any letter,” contrast Knox “any spiritual utterance, any message or letter”), cf. New English Bible Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.
3. Restructuring, as in Good News Translation, Bible en français courant Zürcher Bibel (whose use of square brackets is however not to be recommended): “… neither through a [prophetic] spirit nor through a supposedly-from-us-coming word or [such] a letter.”
4. Punctuation (e.g. King James Version “neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us,” cf. Barclay “some message…, or some statement or some letter”).
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 .