This verse links God’s purpose for men with specific events which happened during Paul’s visit to Thessalonica. The verb called refers to a particular point in time, and through the Good News we preached to you (literally “through our gospel,” cf. 1 Thess. 1.5) tells us to what point in time Paul is referring. Some difficulties may be encountered in translating called, for this is not the idea of “shouting at” or “calling a person’s name at a distance.” The closest equivalent in some languages is “earnestly invite” or even “urge.”

To this means everything Paul has mentioned as part of God’s purpose: salvation, sanctification, and faith. The purpose of to this is explained in the second part of the verse as to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though the implication of to this are spelled out later in verse 14, it may be necessary in the first part of the verse to employ some such phrase as “to this new kind of life” or “to be his people.”

He called you is not in the Greek, but is repeated from the beginning of the verse in order to divide the sentence.

On to possess, see 1 Thess. 5.9. Both there and here, the word means “gaining possession of.” In other contexts it can mean simply possess, but here the context shows that Paul is thinking of a process rather than a state. Bible de Jérusalem “enter into possession” combines both ideas rather effectively.

Your share of is implicit in the original. The idea is not that of dividing something, but of participating in the glory (see 1 Thess. 2.6) which is part of the nature of God himself. Barclay has “he wanted you to have as your own the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Though it is important to avoid the implication of dividing up the glory of Jesus Christ, it is also important to avoid the implication that one is to take over as one’s own the glory of Jesus Christ. The emphasis here is upon participating in the glory. This may be expressed in some languages as “to also be happy because of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In some instances the closest equivalent may be “to have a little of that wonderfulness which the Lord Jesus Christ has.”

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 .