One of the key questions about 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 is whether the first-person plural (we
) should be understood as a literary plural, referring only to Paul, or whether it should be taken literally. This question also arose in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 1 Thessalonians 2:18, and the use of the plural here in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 provides one of the important clues for answering the question about its use throughout the letter. Though many commentators take the plural literally1,2—here it could only include Paul and Silvanus, not Timothy—the close parallel between 1 Thessalonians 3:1–2 and 1 Thessalonians 3:5 makes it likely that Paul is referring only to himself. The same sending of Timothy is described both times, and in 1 Thessalonians 3:5 Paul uses the emphatic singular (κὰγὼ/kagō) to say that he had sent Timothy. This indicates that the plural in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 is probably literary.3,4,5
1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone,