1 Thessalonians 2:20

ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε ἡ δόξα ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ χαρά. Yes, truly, you are our glory and our joy. In this reply to the rhetorical question of 1 Thessalonians 2:19, δόξα covers ἐλπίς and στέφανος καυχήσεως, while χαρά is repeated. The emphasis on ὑμεῖς, and the close correspondence of 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, scarcely admit of our reading ἐστέ as a distinctive present—as though the sentence meant, “You are now, as you will be then, our glory.” The δόξα, like the στέφανος of Christians, belongs to the future (see Romans 8:18, &c.); and yet, like their καύχησις (see note above), it is begun already (see Romans 8:30).

The division of Chapter s is misjudged here; 1 Thessalonians 2:17 above supplies a much better break.