for our good news [regarding salvation] came to you not only in word, but also in [its inherent] power and in the Holy Spirit and with great conviction [on our part]. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your benefit.

for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

That was the kind of affection we had for you, which made us ready to share with you not only God's good news but our own lives too, because you were so dear to us.

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same [kind of] persecution from your own countrymen, as they did from the Jews,

But now when Timothy returned to us from you, and brought us the glad tidings of your faith and love, and that ye retain a kind remembrance of us always, earnestly desirous to see us, as we are also to see you:

see that none of you pays back evil for evil, but always aim at what is kind to one another and to all the world;

Abstain from every form of evil [withdraw and keep away from it].