independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
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The salutation 1:1–2
1
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,independent — the senders — the same three as 1 Thessalonians, again without titles
to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:phrase modifier — dative of address — identical to 1 Thess 1:1 except the added ἡμῶν: 'our' Father
2
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.independent — the greeting — now expanded with the ἀπό clause 1 Thess lacked; Father and Lord as one source
The thanksgiving and the judgment — one sentence 1:3–10
vv. 3–4 — the debt of thanks: faith over-growing, love abounding, the founders boasting
3
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers,independent — the sentence's one finite main verb — ὀφείλομεν: thanks owed as a debt, where 1 Thess simply gave it
as is fitting,comparative — the aside doubling the obligation — ὀφείλομεν the debt, ἄξιον the fittingness
because your faith is growing beyond measurecause — the ground — ὑπεραυξάνει, an over-compound found only here: the prayer of 1 Thess 3:10 answered
and the love of each single one of you all for one another is increasing,cause — the pair — the ὅτι carries over; ἑνὸς ἑκάστου πάντων: the love counted head by head
4
so that we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God,purpose — ὥστε result of both verbs (anchored on the nearer) — αὐτοὺς ἡμᾶς: this time the founders do the telling (contrast 1 Thess 1:8)
for your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictionsphrase modifier — the boast's content — ὑπομονή and πίστις paired under one article: enduring faith
which you are enduring —relative — αἷς by attraction (ἀνέχομαι governs the genitive ὧν); present tense — the pressure is still on
vv. 5–7a — the just judgment read off their endurance: repayment both ways
5
evidence of the righteous judgment of God,phrase modifier — verbless apposition to the whole endurance-in-persecution — the suffering itself is the ἔνδειγμα
so that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God,purpose — εἰς τό + infinitive — the judgment's aim; καταξιωθῆναι echoes ἄξιον (v. 3) and is echoed by ἀξιώσῃ (v. 11)
for which you are indeed suffering —relative — the kingdom worth the pain; ascensive καί
6
since indeed it is just in God's sightconditional — εἴπερ — backward conditional grounding the δικαίας κρίσεως claim (so anchored, per the εἴπερ rule); assumed true, copula elided
to repay with affliction those who are afflicting you,content — epexegetic infinitive — what the justice consists in; θλίβουσιν / θλῖψιν, measure for measure
7
and to you who are afflicted, rest with us,phrase modifier — the infinitive carried over — ἄνεσις, slackening of the strain; μεθ' ἡμῶν: the writers wait for the same rest
vv. 7b–10 — the revelation: flaming fire, vengeance, eternal loss — and glory in the saints
at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power,phrase modifier — the temporal frame of the whole double repayment — ἀποκάλυψις, the unveiling; ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, a Hebraic genitive: his mighty angels
8
in flaming fire,phrase modifier — theophany fire (Exod 3:2; Isa 66:15); πυρὶ φλογός with NA28/SBLGNT against the variant φλογὶ πυρός
inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus,participial — genitive participle on τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ; the repeated τοῖς μή could mark two groups (pagans / gospel-refusers), but the single οἵτινες that follows favors one company doubly described
9
who will pay a penalty —relative — qualitative ὅστις on the whole not-knowing, not-obeying company — 'such as will pay'; δίκην τίσουσιν, a classical idiom, only here in the NT
eternal destruction,phrase modifier — apposition naming the penalty — ὄλεθρος αἰώνιος: ruin belonging to the age, defined by the next line as exclusion
away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,phrase modifier — Isa 2:10, 19, 21 LXX verbatim — ἀπό read as separation (the destruction consists in exclusion from the face), not as source
10
when he comesconditional — ὅταν — indefinite temporal, backward on τίσουσιν (so anchored): the penalty falls at the coming
to be glorified in his saintspurpose — purpose infinitive — ἐν: glorified in his holy ones, they themselves the mirror of the glory (Ps 88:8 LXX)
and to be marveled at among all who have believedpurpose — the pair — θαυμασθῆναι (Ps 67:36 LXX); aorist πιστεύσασιν: faith seen as complete from the vantage of that day
— for our testimony to you was believed —cause — parenthetic ground — ἐπιστεύθη picks up πιστεύσασιν: the Thessalonians certified among those believers
on that day.phrase modifier — resumption over the parenthesis — completes ὅταν ἔλθῃ with the fixed prophetic formula (Isa 2:11, 17)
The prayer for worthiness and mutual glory 1:11–12
11
To this end we also pray always for you,independent — εἰς ὅ — the prayer aims at the vv. 5–10 scenario; πάντοτε and περὶ ὑμῶν echo v. 3: thanksgiving and prayer share one rhythm
that our God may count you worthy of the callingpurpose — content-ἵνα after the verb of praying — ἀξιώσῃ answers καταξιωθῆναι (v. 5): what judgment will declare, prayer now asks
and may fulfill every resolve of goodness and work of faith with power,purpose — petition 2 — εὐδοκία ἀγαθωσύνης read of their resolve, not God's good pleasure; ἔργον πίστεως repeats 1 Thess 1:3 verbatim
12
so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,purpose — ὅπως — the purpose beyond both petitions; ἐνδοξασθῇ resumes v. 10, and 'the name' carries Isa 66:5
and you in him,purpose — the reciprocity, verb carried over — you glorified in him as he in you: v. 10's exchange made mutual
according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.phrase modifier — the norm of the whole exchange; the single article spans θεοῦ and κυρίου — grammatically patient of one referent ('our God and Lord, Jesus Christ'), but the fixed κύριος-formula and the pairing of v. 2 favor two
Analysis. After the two verbless lines of the greeting, the chapter is really two sentences. The first (vv. 3–10) hangs entirely from one purple main verb, Εὐχαριστεῖν ὀφείλομεν, and never returns to the margin: the ὅτι ground (faith over-growing, love abounding) opens into the ὥστε boast, the boast into the verbless ἔνδειγμα apposition, and from there the judgment unwinds — the εἴπερ backward conditional with its twin repayment infinitives, the ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει temporal frame with its fire and its vengeance-giving participle, the οἵτινες penalty relative, and the ὅταν ἔλθῃ close — so that the sentence stair-steps to depth 12 before the second sentence, the prayer (vv. 11–12), steps back out to the margin and climbs only to depth 3. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: ἔνδειγμα (v. 5) is read as verbless apposition to the endurance-in-persecution itself, not to the boasting; εἴπερ (v. 6) is a backward conditional grounding the δικαίας κρίσεως claim, so it takes an anchor; ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει (v. 7b) frames the whole double repayment, not only the ἄνεσις; the two τοῖς μή phrases of v. 8 are read as one company doubly described (the single οἵτινες of v. 9 tips it); ἀπὸ προσώπου (v. 9, Isa 2) is separation, not source; ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη (v. 10) is a parenthesis with ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ resuming ὅταν ἔλθῃ over it; εὐδοκία ἀγαθωσύνης (v. 11) is the Thessalonians' resolve, not God's good pleasure; and the one article of v. 12 is left with two referents — grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.