VERSE BY VERSE ANALYSIS OF THE GREEK

Verse 1

"in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ": normally whenever Paul describes the church, he describes it as the church OF God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and not IN God the Father, etc. First, if Paul had used "of," then he would have been stressing the fact that the church BELONGS to God and Jesus, which it does. Here though by using IN, Paul means that the church has its existence and life in God and Jesus. God didn't simply make us His sons and daughters and then let us go off on our own. We should move and breathe in Jesus and the Father. God and Jesus are the sphere in which we have our life and being. Outside of God and Jesus are death and destruction; inside God and Christ the life of the resurrection. Moreover, we are only the church of God because we are IN Him. When we move outside of God and Jesus, we cease to be the church of God.

Second, note that we are not just the church of God. Paul uses one preposition "in" with both persons, the Father and Jesus. You can't live in the Father without living in Jesus. You can't be the church of the Father unless you are also the church of Jesus Christ. The only way to get to the Father is through Jesus. You cannnot have one without the other.

Verse 2

How often does Paul pray for the Thessalonian church? The idea of "constantly" or "continually" runs throughout this verse not only because of the adverbs used here [pantote, pan-TAH-tay (always) and adialeiptos, a-dee-a-LIPE-toes (constantly)] but also because of the verb tense [present tense which stresses continual action].

Verse 3

Notice the triad so famous in Paul: "faith, hope, and love." The Greek doesn't say simply "faith, hope, love," it says "THE love, THE faith, and THE hope." Anybody can have faith, hope, love. Rather the use of the article "the" and its 2-fold repetition means that the triad is referring to THE CHRISTIAN love, THE CHRISTIAN faith, and THE CHRISTIAN hope which come only from Jesus.

The 3 nouns in this triad are called subjective genitives. In other words because the 3 nouns they modify are active words, the triads should almost be translated as "the works which Christian faith produces, the labor which Christian love produces, and the steadfastness which the Christian hope produces."

The reason they are working, laboring, and enduring is that they are aware of God's and Jesus' presence.

Verse 4

The verb tense of the word "beloved" [ay-gah-PAY-men-noy] yields rich meaning. It is in the perfect tense, signifying that God not only loved us but that He continually loves us. Some would translate this as "loved and remaining loved."

Verse 6

Whatever else this letter is, it is the letter from a pastor to a church he deeply loves. He continually affirms them and shares his love for them. Although our translations may say, "You became imitators," the Greek says "You yourselves became imitators." The emphatic use of "you yourselves" is a way that Paul really focuses on them, really affirms them, compliments them.

Verse 8

The word translated "sounded forth [from you]" [the Greek word exechetai (pronounced ex-AY-keh-tie)] literally means "trumpeted." The Thessalonian Christians were not quietly sharing their faith. They were like trumpets blaring out to the world the good news [the Word] about Jesus.

Note that their faith was directed towards God. They weren't just wishful thinkers because they were positive by nature. Rather they placed their faith directly in God.

Verse 10

"Who delivers us": Paul uses the present tense to note that Jesus is not simply going to deliver us when He returns but that He right now is in the process of delivering us. We are not as delivered now as we will be when He returns; however, He right now is definitely in the process of delivering us. In fact His return is for the explicit purpose of finishing what He started when He came into our lives at the time of salvation.