After Paul and his teammates Silvanus and Timothy were expelled from Thessalonia, the apostle worried over the new community there like some anxious parent. Paul's fear had its basis not just in the usual vicissitudes of human nature, but in the disturbing reports of persecution these new Christians had already been forced to endure.

It is against this anxious backdrop that Paul receives Timothy's uplifting news, his Thessalonian brothers and sisters have remained strong under stress. In verse 9, Paul uses the power of a rhetorical question to emphasize his pleasure: "How can we thank God enough ...?" The joy he feels overwhelms and outweighs his ability to give thanks for it. The King James Version retains the idiomatic Hebrew roots of Paul's exuberant abundance of joy, stating quaintly t…