1我保羅同西拉和提摩太寫信給帖撒羅尼迦屬於我們父上帝和主耶穌基督的教會。
2願我們的父上帝和主耶穌基督賜給你們恩典和平安!
感恩與勸勉
3弟兄姊妹,我們應當為你們常常感謝上帝,這是合宜的,因為你們的信心不斷增長,彼此相愛的心也不斷增加。 4因此,我們在上帝的眾教會中誇獎你們在各種迫害和患難中的堅忍和信心。 5你們這種表現正是上帝公義審判的明證,使你們配進上帝的國,你們正在為這國受苦。
6上帝是公義的,祂必以患難來報應那些迫害你們的人。 7當主耶穌和祂大能的天使在烈焰中從天上顯現時,祂必使你們這些受苦的人和我們同得安慰, 8懲罰那些不認識上帝、不聽從有關我們主耶穌之福音的人。 9那些人要受的刑罰就是離開主的面和祂榮耀的權能,永遠滅亡。 10主降臨的那日,祂要在祂的眾聖徒中得到榮耀,使所有的信徒驚歎不已。你們也會在當中,因為你們相信了我們做的見證。
11因此,我們常常為你們禱告,願我們的上帝看你們配得祂的呼召,用大能成全你們一切美好的心願和憑信心所做的工作。 12這樣,按照我們的上帝和主耶穌基督所賜的恩典,主耶穌基督的名便在你們身上得到榮耀,你們也在祂身上得到榮耀。
1I, Paul, am writing this letter. Silas and Timothy join me in writing.
We are sending this letter to you, the members of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul Prays and Gives Thanks
3Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you. That is only right, because your faith is growing more and more. We also thank God that the love you all have for one another is increasing. 4So among God’s churches we brag about the fact that you don’t give up easily. We brag about your faith in all the suffering and testing you are going through.
5All of this proves that when God judges, he is fair. So you will be considered worthy to enter God’s kingdom. You are suffering for his kingdom. 6God is fair. He will pay back trouble to those who give you trouble. 7He will help you who are troubled. And he will also help us. All these things will happen when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come in blazing fire. He will come with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who don’t know God. He will punish those who don’t obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. 9They will be destroyed forever. They will be shut out of heaven. They will never see the glory of the Lord’s strength. 10All these things will happen when he comes. On that day his glory will be seen in his holy people. Everyone who has believed will be amazed when they see him. This includes you, because you believed the witness we gave you.
11Keeping this in mind, we never stop praying for you. Our God has chosen you. We pray that he will make you worthy of his choice. We pray he will make every good thing you want to do come true. We pray that he will do this by his power. We pray that he will make perfect all that you have done by faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory through what you have done. We also pray that you will receive glory through what he has done. We pray all these things in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.