A Look at 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16
Refuting Antisemitic Interpretations of Scripture
Throughout history, certain New Testament passages have been misinterpreted to justify antisemitism. One of these passages is 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16. This article examines this passage in its proper historical and theological contexts to demonstrate why antisemitic interpretations fundamentally misrepresent Paul’s intentions and contradict his broader theology.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16, the Jewish apostle Paul wrote:
For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Messiah Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.
When read in isolation and without contextual understanding, these verses have been weaponized to promote antisemitism. However, responsible biblical scholarship reveals these interpretations to be deeply flawed.
Paul Praised One Group of Jewish People and Rebuked Another
A critical fact often overlooked is the passage’s opening statement. Paul begins by praising the believers in Thessalonica—a mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile believers in Messiah—for imitating the churches in Judea. Based on our historical understanding of first-century Judea, these Judean congregations would have been overwhelmingly composed of Jewish believers in Jesus.1 So while Paul praised this group of Jewish people (in Thessalonica and Judea), he also rebuked another group—the Jewish people in Judea who were not followers of Jesus and who persecuted the Jewish believers in Judea.
Furthermore, Paul himself was Jewish. Therefore, in this passage, we have a Jewish man (Paul) encouraging Jewish and Gentile Thessalonians to imitate other Jewish people in their righteousness when facing persecution by certain other Jewish people. This reality fundamentally undermines any antisemitic reading of the text.
“The Judeans who Killed the Lord Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 2:14–15)
In 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15, the Greek word Ioudaiōn is improperly translated as “Jews” rather than as “Judeans,” leading to one of the reasons for this passage’s misunderstanding. As a result of this mistranslation, verses 14–16 “cease to be what they are, namely, a comparison of the Thessalonian congregation’s suffering at the hands of their countrymen in Thessalonica with the Judean congregations’ suffering at the hands of their countrymen the Judeans,” according to Messianic Jewish scholar David Stern.2 He continues,
In a passage where the context is the Land of Israel, Ioudaiōn generally means “Judeans,” the citizens of the province of Judea (however that province is delimited). . . . This alone would be reason enough for translating it “Judeans” here. But even if there were no general principle, the parallel construction in the sentence makes “Judeans” inescapably the only correct rendering. . . . [Paul] says that you people in God’s congregation in Thessalonica suffered the same things from your countrymen the Thessalonians as God’s congregations in Y’hudah [Judea] did from theirs.3
When properly translated, the passage compares the Thessalonian congregation’s suffering at the hands of their countrymen (fellow Thessalonians) with the Judean congregations’ suffering at the hands of their countrymen (fellow Judeans).
In addition, the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament contained no punctuation. Without the comma, the second half of the sentence specifies which particular Judeans Paul meant—those directly involved in opposing Jesus, and not the Jewish people as a whole. Therefore, a correct translation should read, “The Judeans who killed the Lord Jesus.”4
This grammatical distinction clarifies that Paul was addressing a specific subset of Judeans who were instrumentally involved in Jesus’s death and who continued to oppose the early Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus. As a Jewish person himself, Paul would be appalled to see his words applied to all Jewish people across time and space.
Paul’s Rebuke Followed the Pattern of the Hebrew Prophets
Paul’s harsh language against certain Judean opponents followed a well-established pattern in the Hebrew Scriptures where the Jewish prophets harshly rebuke their fellow Jewish people for disobedience and unbelief.5 This prophetic tradition typically includes six themes that characterize the prophets’ rebukes of Israel:
- Israel’s rebellion and disobedience as a nation
- God’s warnings to Israel through the prophets
- Israel’s rejection of the prophets while continuing in rebellion
- God’s justified wrath upon the nation for disobedience
- Israel’s opportunity to repent amid God’s wrath
- The restoration of Israel to blessing upon repentance6
For example, the prophet Nehemiah wrote of his fellow countrymen in Israel:
But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, and cast Your law behind their backs and killed Your prophets who had admonished them so that they might return to You, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, but when they cried to You in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors. (Nehemiah 9:26–27)
Similarly, Paul rebuked his fellow Jewish people for their unbelief and persecution of Jewish followers of Jesus, yet he remained hopeful and confident of Israel’s future restoration and salvation. Paul expressed his love and hope for Israel in Romans 9–11:
- Paul expressed his profound love for his fellow Jewish people who did not know Jesus as Messiah: “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart . . . for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites” (Romans 9:2–4).
- Paul affirmed God’s continuing covenant with Israel: “Israelites, to whom belongs . . . the glory and the covenants . . . and the promises” (v. 4), and “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:2).
- Paul affirmed Israel’s future redemption: “All Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).
Throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, rebukes of the Jewish people always encompass hope for Israel’s repentance and anticipation of her restoration. As Messianic apologist Dr. Brian Crawford writes, “A truly antisemitic worldview is one that assigns all condemnation to Israel, gives no hope of repentance in the present, and steals away any hope for Israel’s restoration as a nation.”7
In conclusion, when properly interpreted within its correct context, 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 is not an antisemitic passage. Paul, as a Jewish follower of Jesus, addressed specific Judean opponents of early followers of Jesus and did not condemn the Jewish people as a whole. His criticism follows the tradition of the Hebrew prophets who rebuked the people of Israel when they rejected God’s prophets through unbelief and disobedience. Yet, these prophets also held out hope for Israel’s repentance and future restoration.
by Jennifer Miles
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1 David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary: A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, electronic ed. (Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996), 1 Thessalonians 2:14.
2 David Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary.
3 David Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary.
4 Frank D. Gilliard, “The Problem of the Antisemitic Comma Between 1 Thessalonians 2:14 and 15,” in New Testament Studies 35 (1989), 481–502.
5 James M. Scott, “Paul’s Use of Deuteronomic Tradition,” Journal of Biblical Literature 112, no. 4 (Winter 1993): 645–665.
6 James M. Scott, “Paul’s Use of Deuteronomic Tradition.”
7 Brian J. Crawford, “Antisemitism and the New Testament: Avoiding the Hermeneutics of Hate,” Power Point presentation, as presented on the forthcoming episode “Is the New Testament Antisemitic?” on Judaism Demystified podcast, hosts Ben Koran and Benzi Siouni, https://www.judaismdemystified.com/podcast.
