3
When I could no longer endure worrying about you, I sent Timothy to you in order to find out whether or not you were still trusting in God.
1 Thessalonians 3:1-5
1 As a result of that, when I could no longer endure worrying about you, I decided that Silas and I would stay behind alone in Athens city, 2 and we two sent Timothy to you. You know that he is our close associate and also works for God by proclaiming the message about Christ. Silas and I sent him in order that he would urge you to continue to strongly trust in Christ. 3 We wanted none of you to consider turning away from Christ as a result of people causing you to suffer. You know that God has planned that we who trust in him will suffer like that when people do that to us who trust in him. 4 Remember that when we were present with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted {that people would cause us to suffer}. And because that is what happened, you know that what we said was true! 5 I was afraid that Satan, the one who tempts us, had caused you to stop trusting in Christ. If that had happened, we would have worked uselessly while we were present with you! So I sent Timothy to you in order to find out whether or not you were still trusting in Christ. I sent him because I could no longer endure not knowing ◄about your spiritual condition/whether or not you were still trusting in Christ►.
Now Timothy has just returned and has told us the good news that you still trust in Christ. As a result, we have been cheered up, and we cannot thank God adequately for what he has done for you. Very frequently we ask God that we will be able to visit you and help you to trust him more strongly.
1 Thessalonians 3:6-10
6 Now Timothy has just returned to Silas and me from being with you, and he has told us the good news that you still trust in Christ and that you love him (OR, each other). He told us also that you always happily remember us and that you strongly desire that we visit you, just like we strongly desire to visit you. 7 My fellow believers, even though we are suffering very much [DOU] because of what people are doing to us here, we have been cheered up because Timothy told us about your still trusting in Christ. 8 Now we feel very encouraged [IDM] that you continue to strongly trust in the Lord Jesus. 9 ◄We cannot thank God adequately for what he has done for you!/How can we thank God enough for what he has done for you?► [RHQ] We greatly rejoice concerning you when we pray to our God! 10 We constantly [HYP] and fervently/earnestly ask God that we will be able to visit you [SYN] and that we will be able to help you to trust in Christ/God more strongly!
We pray that God will help us to return to you and that the Lord Jesus will help you to love each other and other people more and more, just like we love you more and more.
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
11 We pray to God, our Father, and to our Lord Jesus, that they will ◄clear the way/make it possible► so that we can return to you. 12 As for you, we pray that the Lord Jesus will help you to love each other and other people more and more, just like we continue loving you more and more. 13 We pray that our Lord Jesus will strengthen your resolve to do what pleases God (OR, strengthen you spiritually). We pray that God our Father will enable you to conduct your lives in a way that is pure and that no one can justly criticize, so that when Jesus comes back to earth accompanied by all those who belong to him, he will be pleased with you.