The effect of this verse is to reinforce Paul’s message that no Christians, neither the dead, nor those who are still alive, will be separated from Christ at the time of his coming. We who are living at that time (literally “we [emphatic], the living, the left-behind,” exactly as in verse 15) will be with them, that is with the Christians who have died; and all Christians will from then on be always with the Lord—a statement which contrasts strikingly with the various kinds of figurative language which have gone before.

The words translated along with most commonly mean “at the same time as” (cf. Zürcher Bibel Luther 1984). This conflicts slightly with the preceding first and then, but in a passage using so many figures of speech, this is not a serious problem. Consistency in the use of figurative language is not one of Paul’s strong points anyway (cf. e.g. Romans 11.16-24). The words translated along with (see also 5.10) may, however, also mean “in the same place as,” and this may be the most natural basis for translation here, for example, “we will all be gathered up to be with them, and to meet the Lord in the air.”

We … will be gathered up includes the idea of being violently caught or snatched away (that is, from earth; cf. Acts 8.39). There are two problems involved in translating we … will be gathered up along with them. First the passive expression may be difficult, since an agent is implied, and in some languages it may need to be expressed. The obvious agent in this context is God, so one may translate “God will gather us up together.” Second, the implication of meeting Jesus in the air may suggest a term for “gathering” which would mean “lift up together” or “snatch up.” Such a term, however, could imply violence, as when the police or soldiers seize a thief. In some translations, therefore, a causative expression is used: “God will cause us to come together.”

It would be wrong to translate in the clouds in such a literal way as to suggest that the Christians will be “hidden from sight.” The apparent meaning here is “up where the clouds are.” This coincides with the meaning suggested by the phrase in the air, rendered in many languages simply as “in the sky.”

The word translated meet is an unusual one. In secular Greek, it is used in referring to ceremonies held on the occasion of a state visit, and specially to the inauguration of a ruler or important official. But the idea of going out to meet God is also found in the Old Testament (e.g. Exodus 19.10-18). The general idea is that of a solemn, not a casual or accidental, meeting. For some languages the appropriate connotations of a word translating meet may be contained in a term suggesting “to greet the Lord in the sky,” or “to gather round the Lord in the sky.”

There is a difference, both in the Greek words and in their meanings, between so in this verse and so then in the verse 18. The term translated so summarizes what has gone before, while the word translated so then indicates a relation of means and result. The context shows very clearly that we here includes all Christians.

We will always be with the Lord is in some languages best expressed as “we will always remain with the Lord,” or “… continue with the Lord.” In some instances this may be rendered “we will always stay where the Lord is,” or even “we will always accompany the Lord.”

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 .

This verse expresses the result of which the reason has just been given. Believers is here a synonym for “Christians,” a rare term in the New Testament (see Acts 11.26). Paul does not mean that the Thessalonian Christians set out to evangelize the rest of Macedonia and areas beyond, but that the Christians in those places were strengthened when they heard what had happened in Thessalonica.

The term example takes up the concept of imitation. The word is in the singular (“example,” not “examples”). It does not refer to the lives of certain outstanding individuals, but to the life of the whole Christian community which has influenced others. One may translate as “So you became the kind of people that all the believers in Macedonia and Greece could imitate,” or “… that all the believers in Macedonia and Greece should be like.” In a more extended form, this sentence may be translated as “So you lived in such a way that all the nonbelievers in Macedonia and Greece could see and could live as you live.”

Achaia is “Greece” in some translations (e.g. Bible en français courant) and was so rendered in earlier editions of the Good News Bible. There had been times when the name Achaia was applied to the whole of Greece, but at the time Paul wrote, Macedonia and Achaia were two Roman provinces whose boundaries corresponded to those of no modern state. Together, they covered almost the whole area of modern Greece and Albania, and also the southern part of Yugoslavia, which is still called Macedonia.

Verses 8-10 form a single sentence in the Greek text. This sentence illustrates two tendencies of Paul’s style. The first is his movement from the general to the specific, which we have already noticed in verses 2-5. There is nothing totally new in verse 9a. This verse simply amplifies three earlier statements: there is nothing … that we need to say (v. 8), we brought the Good News to you (v. 5), and your faith in God (v. 8). Secondly, verses 8b-9a illustrate Paul’s tendency to make a negative statement (there is nothing … that we need to say), and then to repeat the substance of it in positive terms (all those people speak…). Paul has already used the same device twice, in verses 5 and 8.

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 .

Paul’s question “For what thanksgiving can we render to God for you…?” (Revised Standard Version), is rhetorical, not only in the sense that it expresses frustration at there being no possible answer. The meaning is that no act of thanksgiving can possibly be enough to equal the joy which Paul has received from God in hearing about the Thessalonians’ faith. Most translations keep this verse (but not verse 10 which in Greek is part of the same sentence) in the form of a question. Three translations (Good News Translation Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée) change the form of the sentence. They adopt three different solutions. Good News Translation turns the question into a statement, perhaps losing both some emotive impact, and also the idea that, although Paul and his companions do give thanks to God, their thanks will never bear any proportion to the joy they have received. La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée makes the sentence an exclamation: “What thanks we can give God for you…!” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes the verse a negative statement, and this is perhaps the most attractive solution: “We cannot thank our God enough for you.” Several translations which keep the rhetorical question add “enough” or some equivalent after “thank God,” and this is almost required by the context: Paul does thank God, but, he believes, not “adequately” (Barclay). Give includes the meaning of giving in return for something one has received. It is often very difficult to translate “we cannot thank … enough.” Rather than a negative expression, most languages seem to prefer one that is emphatic and positive, for example, “we do thank God very much.” Another arrangement of the elements in this sentence may give a rendering which parallels Good News Bible, for example, “the joy which we have when we pray to our God.” For a language which uses inclusive and exclusive first person plural, “we” should be exclusive but “our” should be inclusive, since the latter reference must include the Thessalonians.

In translating we can give thanks to our God for you, it is important to understand for as indicating cause. It is not on behalf of the Thessalonians that Paul gives thanks; the Thessalonians are the ones who caused Paul to give thanks to God. Therefore, one can translate “now because of you we can give thanks to our God.”

The Greek introduces the question with a conjunction which, in questions, is roughly equivalent to the English interjection “why!” (as in Matthew 27.23 : “Why, what harm has he done?” New English Bible). Most translations omit this word here without appreciable loss of meaning.

The joy is literally “all the joy,” like “all our trouble and suffering” in verse 7. In both verses, “all” intensifies the following noun(s), and does not mean “all” as opposed to a part. “All the joy” is therefore translated by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “the great joy.”

King James Version‘s “all the joy wherewith the joy” reflects a repetition in the text which goes back to a Hebrew idiom (e.g. Isaiah 35.2) which is strange in most other languages. It occurs also in John 3.29, where even King James Version chose the idiomatic translation “rejoiceth greatly” instead of the literal “rejoices with joy.” The combined effect of “all the joy with which we rejoice” is to intensify the expression of Paul’s happiness.

For the joy is an expression of cause for thankfulness (compare for you in the previous sentence). Note, however, that in this instance the Thessalonians are the cause for the joy, and joy is the cause of thankfulness. In some languages this relation may be expressed as “because of you we have joy, and therefore we thank him.”

In his presence translates the phrase “before our God.” “Before” is often used in speaking about a relationship, especially of prayer. This can be brought out in translation, either as Good News Translation does, with “presence” implying a relationship of prayer, or for example, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the whole verse: “We cannot thank God enough for you and for the great joy which he causes us to have in 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 .

To say that Christ died for us is an apparently simple statement, but it raises great problems of theological interpretation, and some (fortunately smaller) problems for the translator, centering on the meaning of the word for. Greek uses two main prepositions in similar contexts, and it is dangerous to press too hard the distinction between them. The one used here (huper) tends to have a fairly general meaning: “on behalf of” or “for the sake of,” rather than “instead of” or “in place of.” The implication here is that Christ died in order that those who believe in him might benefit in some way. Paul goes on immediately to say in what way: the purpose of Christ’s dying is that all believers might live together with him forever (cf. 4.17). Might is required in English after in order that.

The phrase for us (in the clause who died for us) expresses a benefactive relation; that is, we are the beneficiaries of the fact of Christ’s dying. Some languages even have a benefactive case, and that would be the appropriate form to use in this context.

Whether we are alive or dead is literally “whether we are awake or asleep.” “Sleep,” both here and in 4.13 and 15, is a metaphor for death, and this determines the meaning of “to be awake.” This verb does not have the specific meaning here that it has in verse 6, that of being alert for the coming of Christ, but it has the wider meaning of remaining alive (that is, until the time of his coming). Here Paul cleverly uses two terms which he had been using to speak of alertness but which at this point he transposes to mean “alive/dead.” In this way he brings us back to 4.13. When he comes (cf. Bible en français courant) is implicit in the text.

Whether we are alive or dead is rendered in some languages as “it makes no difference whether we are alive or dead,” or “whether we are alive or dead, it is all the same.” When he comes must be closely related to “being alive or dead.” Therefore one may translate the entire expression as “whether we are alive or dead when he comes, that will not make any difference.”

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 .