Text -- 2 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (NET)

Salutation

1:1 From Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thanksgiving

1:3 We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater. 1:4 As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.

Encouragement in Persecution

1:5 This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering. 1:6 For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 1:7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. 1:8 With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 1:9 They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, 1:10 when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed– and you did in fact believe our testimony.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 2Th 1:1

Paul, etc. ( Paulos ,etc. ).

This address or superscription is identical with that in 1Th 1:1 save that our (hēmōn ) is added after

Robertson: 2Th 1:1

Father ( patri ).

Robertson: 2Th 1:2

From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ( apo theou patros kai Kuriou Iēsou Christou ).

These words are not genuine in 1Th 1:1, but are here and they appear in all the other Pauline Epistles. Note absence of article both after en and apo , though both God and Lord Jesus Christ are definite. In both cases Jesus Christ is put on a par with God, though not identical. See note on 1Th 1:1 for discussion of words, but note difference between en , in the sphere of, by the power of, and apo , from, as the fountain head and source of grace and peace.

Robertson: 2Th 1:3

We are bound ( opheilomen ).

Paul feels a sense of obligation to keep on giving thanks to God (eucharistein tōi theōi , present infinitive with dative case) because of God’ s continued blessings on the Thessalonians. He uses the same idiom again in 2Th 2:13 and nowhere else in his thanksgivings. It is not necessity (dei ) that Paul here notes, but a sense of personal obligation as in 1Jo 2:6 (Milligan).

Robertson: 2Th 1:3

Even as it is meet ( kathōs axion estin ).

Opheilomen points to the divine, axion to the human side of the obligation (Lightfoot), perhaps to cheer the fainthearted in a possible letter to him in reply to Paul’ s First Thessalonian epistle (Milligan). This adjective axios is from agō , to drag down the scales, and so weighty, worthy, worthwhile, old word and appropriate here.

Robertson: 2Th 1:3

For that your faith groweth exceedingly ( hoti huperauxanei hē pistis humōn ).

Causal use of hoti referring to the obligation stated in opheilomen . The verb huperauxanō is one of Paul’ s frequent compounds in huper (hupeṙbainō , 1Th 4:6; hupeṙek̇teinō , 2Co 10:14; hupeṙeṅtugchanō , Rom 8:26; hupeṙnikaō , Rom 8:37; hupeṙpleonazō , 1Ti 1:14) and occurs only here in N.T. and rare elsewhere (Galen, Dio Cass.). Figure of the tree of faith growing above (huper ) measure. Cf. parable of Jesus about faith-like a grain of mustard seed (Mat 13:31.).

Robertson: 2Th 1:3

Aboundeth ( pleonazei ).

Same verb in 1Th 3:12, here a fulfilment of the prayer made there. Milligan finds diffusive growth of love in this word because of "each one"(henos hekastou ). Frame finds in this fulfilment of the prayer of 1Th 3:12 one proof that II Thessalonians is later than I Thessalonians.

Robertson: 2Th 1:4

So that ( hōste ).

Another example of hōste and the infinitive (enkauchāsthai ) for result as in 1Th 1:7 which see.

Robertson: 2Th 1:4

We ourselves ( autous hēmas ).

Accusative of general reference with the infinitive, but not merely hēmās (or heautous ), perhaps in contrast with en humin (in you), as much as to say, "so that we ourselves, contrary to your expectations, are boasting"(Frame). Enkauchaomai occurs here alone in N.T., but is found in the lxx and in Aesop’ s Fables , proof enough of its vernacular use. Paul was not above praising one church to other churches, to provoke them to good works. Here he is boasting of Thessalonica in Macedonia to the Corinthians as he did later to the Corinthians about the collection (2Co 8:1-15) after having first boasted to the Macedonians about the Corinthians (2Co 9:1-5). There were other churches in Achaia besides Corinth (2Co 1:1).

Robertson: 2Th 1:4

For ( huper ).

Over, about, like peri (1Th 1:2).

Robertson: 2Th 1:4

In all your persecutions ( en pasin tois diōgmois humōn ).

Their patience and faith had already attracted Paul’ s attention (1Th 1:3) and their tribulations thlipsesin (1Th 1:6). Here Paul adds the more specific term diōgmos , old word from diōkō , to chase, to pursue, a word used by Paul of his treatment in Corinth (2Co 12:10).

Robertson: 2Th 1:4

Which ye endure ( hais anechesthe ).

B here reads enechesthe , to be entangled in, to be held in as in Gal 5:1, but anechesthe is probably correct and the hais is probably attracted to locative case of thlipsesin from the ablative hōn after anechesthe , from which ye hold yourselves back (cf. Col 3:13).

Robertson: 2Th 1:5

A manifest token of the righteous judgment of God ( endeigma tēs dikaias kriseōs tou theou ).

Old word from endeiknumi , to point out, result reached (̇ma ), a thing proved. It is either in the accusative of general reference in apposition with the preceding clause as in Rom 8:3; Rom 12:1, or in the nominative absolute when ho estin , if supplied, would explain it as in Phi 1:28. This righteous judgment is future and final (2Th 1:6-10).

Robertson: 2Th 1:5

To the end that you may be counted worthy ( eis to kataxiōthēnai humas ).

Another example of eis to for purpose with first aorist passive infinitive from kataxioō , old verb, with accusative of general reference humas and followed by the genitive tēs basileias (kingdom of God). See note on 1Th 2:12 for kingdom of God.

Robertson: 2Th 1:5

For which ye also suffer ( huper hēs kai paschete ).

Ye also as well as we and the present tense means that it is still going on.

Robertson: 2Th 1:6

If so be that it is a righteous thing with God ( eiper dikaion para theōi ).

Condition of first class, determined as fulfilled, assumed as true, but with eiper (if on the whole, provided that) as in Rom 8:9, Rom 8:17, and with no copula expressed. A righteous thing "with God"means by the side of God (para theōi ) and so from God’ s standpoint. This is as near to the idea of absolute right as it is possible to attain. Note the phrase in 2Th 1:5.

Robertson: 2Th 1:6

To recompense affliction to them that afflict you ( antapodounai tois thlibousin hēmās thlipsin ).

Second aorist active infinitive of double compound anṫapodidōmi , old verb, either in good sense as in 1Th 3:9 or in bad sense as here. Paul is certain of this principle, though he puts it conditionally.

Robertson: 2Th 1:7

Rest with us ( anesin meth' hēmōn ).

Let up, release. Old word from aniēmi , from troubles here (2Co 2:13; 2Co 7:5; 2Co 8:13), and hereafter as in this verse. Vivid word. They shared suffering with Paul (2Th 1:5) and so they will share (meth' ) the rest.

Robertson: 2Th 1:7

At the revelation of the Lord Jesus ( en tēi apokalupsei tou Kuriou Iēsou ).

Here the Parousia (1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 5:23) is pictured as a Revelation (Un-veiling, apȯkalupsis ) of the Messiah as in 1Co 1:7, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 1:13 (cf. Luk 17:30). At this Unveiling of the Messiah there will come the recompense (2Th 1:6) to the persecutors and the rest from the persecutions. This Revelation will be from heaven (ap' ouranou ) as to place and with the angels of his power (met' aggelōn dunameōs autou ) as the retinue and in flaming fire (en puri phlogos , in a fire of flame, fire characterized by flame). In Act 7:30 the text is flame of fire where puros is genitive (like Isa 66:15) rather than phlogos as here (Exo 3:2).

Robertson: 2Th 1:8

Rendering ( didontos ).

Genitive of present active participle of didōmi , to give, agreeing with Iēsou .

Robertson: 2Th 1:8

Vengeance ( ekdikēsin ).

Late word from ekdikeō , to vindicate, in Polybius and lxx.

Robertson: 2Th 1:8

To them that know not God ( tois mē eidosin theon ).

Dative plural of perfect active participle eidōs . Apparently chiefly Gentiles in mind (1Th 4:3; Gal 4:8; Rom 1:28; Eph 2:12), though Jews are also guilty of wilful ignorance of God (Rom 2:14).

Robertson: 2Th 1:8

And to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus ( kai tois mē hupakouousin tōi euaggeliōi tou kuriou hēmōn Iēsou ).

Repetition of the article looks like another class and so Jews (Rom 10:16). Both Jews as instigators and Gentiles as officials (politarchs ) were involved in the persecution in Thessalonica (Act 17:5-9; 2Th 1:6). Note the use of "gospel"here as in Mar 1:15 "believe in the gospel."

Robertson: 2Th 1:9

Who ( hoitines ).

Qualitative use, such as. Vanishing in papyri though surviving in Paul (1Co 3:17; Rom 1:25; Gal 4:26; Phi 4:3).

Robertson: 2Th 1:9

Shall suffer punishment ( dikēn tisousin ).

Future active of old verb tinō , to pay penalty (dikēn , right, justice), here only in N.T., but apotinō once also to repay Phm 1:19. In the papyri dikē is used for a case or process in law. This is the regular phrase in classic writers for paying the penalty.

Robertson: 2Th 1:9

Eternal destruction ( olethron aiōnion ).

Accusative case in apposition with dikēn (penalty). This phrase does not appear elsewhere in the N.T., but is in 4 Maccabees 10:15 ton aiōnion tou turannou olethron the eternal destruction of the tyrant (Antiochus Epiphanes). Destruction (cf. 1Th 5:3) does not mean here annihilation, but, as Paul proceeds to show, separation from the face of the Lord (apo prosōpou tou kuriou ) and from the glory of his might (kai apo tēs doxēs tēs ischuos autou ), an eternity of woe such as befell Antiochus Epiphanes. Aiōnios in itself only means age-long and papyri and inscriptions give it in the weakened sense of a Caesar’ s life (Milligan), but Paul means by age-long the coming age in contrast with this age , as eternal as the New Testament knows how to make it. See note on Mat 25:46 for use of aiōnios both with zōēn , life, and kolasin , punishment.

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

When he shall come ( hotan elthēi ).

Second aorist active subjunctive with hotan , future and indefinite temporal clause (Robertson, Grammar , pp. 971ff.) coincident with en tēi apokalupsei in 2Th 1:7.

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

To be glorified ( endoxasthēnai ).

First aorist passive infinitive (purpose) of endoxazō , late verb, in N.T. only here and 2Th 1:12, in lxx and papyri.

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

In his saints ( en tois hagiois autou ).

The sphere in which Christ will find his glory at the Revelation.

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

And to be marvelled at ( kai thaumasthēnai ).

First aorist passive infinitive (purpose), common verb thaumazō .

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

That believed ( tois pisteusasin ).

Why aorist active participle instead of present active pisteuousin (that believe)? Frame thinks that Paul thus reassures those who believed his message when there (1Th 1:6.; 1Th 2:13.). The parenthetical clause, though difficult, falls in with this idea:

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

Because our testimony unto you was believed ( hoti episteuthē to marturion hēmōn Ephesians' humas ).

Moffatt calls it an anti-climax.

Robertson: 2Th 1:10

On that day ( en tēi hēmerāi ekeinēi ).

The day of Christ’ s coming (2Ti 1:12, 2Ti 1:18; 2Ti 4:8).

Vincent: 2Th 1:3

We are bound - as it is meet

The accumulation of cognate expressions indicates the apostle's earnestness.

Vincent: 2Th 1:3

Groweth exceedingly ( ὑπεραυξάνει )

N.T.o . See on 1Th 3:10.

Vincent: 2Th 1:4

Glory ( ἐνκαυχᾶσθαι )

N.T.o . The simple verb καυχᾶσθαι to boast , and the kindred nouns καύχημα ground of boasting , and καύχησις act of boasting , are favorites with Paul.

Vincent: 2Th 1:5

A manifest token ( ἔνδειγμα )

N.T.o . Comp. ἔνδειξις , Phi 1:28. The token is the patience and faith with which they endure persecution and tribulation. It is a token of the righteous judgment of God, in that it points to the future glory which God will confer at the final judgment and the righteous award which will be dispensed to the persecutors. Similarly Phi 1:28.

Vincent: 2Th 1:5

That ye may be counted worthy

The structure of the sentence is loose. These words should be directly connected with righteous judgment , and denote the purport of that judgment - their assignment to an inheritance in the kingdom of God.

Vincent: 2Th 1:5

Of the kingdom of God ( τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ )

The phrase is not frequent in Paul. βασιλεία θεοῦ four times; βασιλεία τοῦ χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ kingdom of Christ and of God , once. Here in the eschatological sense - the future, consummated kingdom, the goal of their striving and the recompense of their suffering. See on Luk 6:20.

Vincent: 2Th 1:6

Seeing it is ( εἴπερ )

More literally, if so be that . Confirming, in a hypothetical form, the assertion of God's judgment upon persecutors, 2Th 1:5. It implies no doubt, but rhetorically puts a recognized fact as a supposition. So Rom 3:30; Rom 8:9, Rom 8:17; 1Co 8:5.

Vincent: 2Th 1:7

Rest ( ἄνεσιν )

See on liberty , Act 24:23. With this exception only in Paul.

Vincent: 2Th 1:7

With us

According to Paul's habit of identifying his experience with that of his Christian readers. See 1Co 4:8; Rom 8:23; Phi 1:29, Phi 1:30; Phi 2:18; Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21; 2Co 1:7.

Vincent: 2Th 1:7

When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed ( ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει τοῦ κυρίου Ἱησοῦ )

Lit. in the revelation of the Lord Jesus . For ἀποκάλυψις revelation , see on Rev 1:1.

Vincent: 2Th 1:7

With his mighty angels ( μετ ' ἀγγέλων δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ )

Lit. with the angels of his power .

Vincent: 2Th 1:8

In flaming fire ( ἐν πυρὶ φλογός )

Lit. in a fire of flame . Comp. 1Co 1:13; 2Pe 3:7.

Vincent: 2Th 1:8

Taking vengeance ( διδόντος ἐκδίκησιν )

Lit. giving or rendering . Vengeance is an unfortunate rendering, as implying, in popular usage, personal vindictiveness. See on 2Co 7:11. It is the full awarding of justice to all parties.

Vincent: 2Th 1:8

On them that know not God - obey not the gospel ( τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσι θεὸν - τοῖς μὴ ὑπακούουσιν τῷ εὐγγελίῳ )

To know God is to know him as the one, true God as distinguished from false gods; to know his will, his holiness, his hatred of sin, and his saving intent toward mankind. Two words are used of such knowledge, εἰδέναι and γινώσκειν . Both are applied to the heathen and to Christians, and both are used of the Jews' knowledge of God. Ἑιδέναι , of heathen, Gal 4:8; 1Th 4:5; 2Th 1:8. Γινώσκειν of heathen, Rom 1:21; 1Co 1:21. Ἑιδέναι , of Christ and Christians, Joh 7:29, Joh 8:19, Joh 8:55; Joh 14:7. Γινώσκειν of Christ and Christians, Gal 4:9; 1Jo 2:13, 1Jo 2:14; 1Jo 4:6, 1Jo 4:7, 1Jo 4:8; Joh 10:15; Joh 17:3. In John, γινώσκειν of Jews who do not know the Father, Joh 16:3; Joh 8:55 : εἰδέναι , Joh 7:28; Joh 8:19; Joh 15:21. The two are combined, Joh 1:26; Joh 7:27; Joh 8:55; 2Co 5:16. A distinction is asserted between γινώσκειν as knowledge grounded in personal experience, apprehension of external impressions - and εἰδέμαι purely mental perception in contrast with conjecture or knowledge derived from others. There are doubtless passages which bear out this distinction (see on Joh 2:24), but it is impossible to carry it rigidly through the N.T. In the two classes, - those who know not God and those who obey not the gospel, - it is not probable that Paul has in mind a distinction between Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were not ignorant of God, yet they are described by John as not knowing him. The Gentiles are described by Paul as knowing God, but as refusing to glorify him as God (Rom 1:21). Paul rather describes here the subjects of God's judgment as one class, but under different aspects.

Vincent: 2Th 1:9

Shall be punished ( δίκην τίσουσιν )

The verb (N.T.o .) means to pay or render . Lit. shall pay penalty .

Vincent: 2Th 1:9

Everlasting destruction ( ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον )

The phrase nowhere else in N.T. In lxx, 4 Macc. 10:15. Rev. properly, eternal destruction. It is to be carefully noted that eternal and everlasting are not synonymous. See additional note at the end of this chapter.

Vincent: 2Th 1:9

From the presence ( ἀπὸ προσώπου )

Or face . Ἁπὸ from has simply the sense of separation. Not from the time of the Lord's appearing , nor by reason of the glory of his presence . Πρόσωπον is variously translated in A.V. Mostly face: also presence , Act 3:13, Act 3:19; Act 5:41 : person , Mat 22:16; Luk 20:21; Gal 2:6 : appearance , 2Co 5:12; 2Co 10:1 : fashion , Jam 1:11. The formula ἀπὸ προσώπου or τοῦ προσώπου occurs Act 3:19; Act 5:41; Act 7:45; Rev 6:16; Rev 12:14; Rev 20:11. In lxx, Gen 3:8; Gen 4:14, Gen 4:16; Exo 14:25, and frequently.

Vincent: 2Th 1:9

Glory of his power ( δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ )

For glory see on 1Th 2:12. Ἱσχὺς power , not often in Paul. It is indwelling power put forth or embodied, either aggressively or as an obstacle to resistance: physical power organized or working under individual direction. An army and a fortress are both ἰσχυρὸς. The power inhering in the magistrate, which is put forth in laws or judicial decisions, is ἰσχὺς , and makes the edicts ἰσχυρὰ valid and hard to resist . Δύναμις is the indwelling power which comes to manifestation in ἰσχὺς The precise phrase used here does not appear elsewhere in N.T. In lxx, Isa 2:10, Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21. The power (δύναμις ) and glory of God are associated in Mat 24:30; Mar 13:26; Luk 21:27; Rev 4:11; Rev 19:1. Comp. κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ strength of his glory , Col 1:11.

Additional Note on ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον eternal destruction , 2Th 1:9

Ἁιών transliterated eon , is a period of time of longer or shorter duration, having a beginning and an end, and complete in itself. Aristotle (περὶ οὐρανοῦ , i. 9, 15) says: " The period which includes the whole time of each one's life is called the eon of each one." Hence it often means the life of a man, as in Homer, where one's life (αἰών ) is said to leave him or to consume away ( Il . v. 685; Od . v. 160). It is not, however, limited to human life; it signifies any period in the course of events, as the period or age before Christ; the period of the millennium; the mytho-logical period before the beginnings of history. The word has not " a stationary and mechanical value" (De Quincey). It does not mean a period of a fixed length for all cases. There are as many eons as entities, the respective durations of which are fixed by the normal conditions of the several entities. There is one eon of a human life, another of the life of a nation, another of a crow's life, another of an oak's life. The length of the eon depends on the subject to which it is attached.

It is sometimes translated world ; world representing a period or a series of periods of time. See Mat 12:32; Mat 13:40, Mat 13:49; Luk 1:70; 1Co 1:20; 1Co 2:6; Eph 1:21. Similarly οἱ αἰῶνες the worlds , the universe, the aggregate of the ages or periods, and their contents which are included in the duration of the world. 1Co 2:7; 1Co 10:11; Heb 1:2; Heb 9:26; Heb 11:3.

The word always carries the notion of time , and not of eternity . It always means a period of time. Otherwise it would be impossible to account for the plural, or for such qualifying expressions as this age, or the age to come . It does not mean something endless or everlasting. To deduce that meaning from its relation to ἀεί is absurd; for, apart from the fact that the meaning of a word is not definitely fixed by its derivation, ἀεί does not signify endless duration. When the writer of the Pastoral Epistles quotes the saying that the Cretans are always (ἀεί ) liars (Tit 1:12), he surely does not mean that the Cretans will go on lying to all eternity. See also Act 7:51; 2Co 4:11; 2Co 6:10; Heb 3:10; 1Pe 3:15. Ἁεί means habitually or continually within the limit of the subject's life. In our colloquial dialect everlastingly is used in the same way. " The boy is everlastingly tormenting me to buy him a drum."

In the New Testament the history of the world is conceived as developed through a succession of eons. A series of such eons precedes the introduction of a new series inaugurated by the Christian dispensation, and the end of the world and the second coming of Christ are to mark the beginning of another series. See Eph 3:11. Paul contemplates eons before and after the Christian era. Eph 1:21; Eph 2:7; Eph 3:9, Eph 3:21; 1Co 10:11; comp. Heb 9:26. He includes the series of eons in one great eon, ὁ αἰὼν τῶν αἰώνων the eon of the eons (Eph 3:21); and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes the throne of God as enduring unto the eon of the eons (Heb 1:8). The plural is also used, eons of the eons , signifying all the successive periods which make up the sum total of the ages collectively. Rom 16:27; Gal 1:5; Phi 4:20, etc. This plural phrase is applied by Paul to God only.

The adjective αἰώνιος in like manner carries the idea of time. Neither the noun nor the adjective, in themselves, carry the sense of endless or everlasting . They may acquire that sense by their connotation, as, on the other hand, ἀΐ̀διος , which means everlasting , has its meaning limited to a given point of time in Jud 1:6. Ἁιώνιος means enduring through or pertaining to a period of time . Both the noun and the adjective are applied to limited periods. Thus the phrase εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα , habitually rendered forever , is often used of duration which is limited in the very nature of the case. See, for a few out of many instances, lxx, Exo 21:6; Exo 29:9; Exo 32:13; Jos 14:9; 1Sa 8:13; Lev 25:46; Deu 15:17; 1Ch 28:4. See also Mat 21:19; Joh 13:8; 1Co 8:13. The same is true of αἰώνιος . Out of 150 instances in lxx, four-fifths imply limited duration. For a few instances see Gen 48:4; Num 10:8; Num 15:15; Pro 22:28; Jon 2:6; Hab 3:6; Isa 61:8.

Words which are habitually applied to things temporal or material can not carry in themselves the sense of endlessness. Even when applied to God, we are not forced to render αἰώνιος everlasting . Of course the life of God is endless; but the question is whether, in describing God as αἰώνιος , it was intended to describe the duration of his being, or whether some different and larger idea was not contemplated. That God lives longer than men, and lives on everlastingly, and has lived everlastingly, are, no doubt, great and significant facts; yet they are not the dominant or the most impressive facts in God's relations to time. God's eternity does not stand merely or chiefly for a scale of length. It is not primarily a mathematical but a moral fact. The relations of God to time include and imply far more than the bare fact of endless continuance. They carry with them the fact that God transcends time; works on different principles and on a vaster scale than the wisdom of time provides; oversteps the conditions and the motives of time; marshals the successive eons from a point outside of time, on lines which run out into his own measureless cycles, and for sublime moral ends which the creature of threescore and ten years cannot grasp and does not even suspect.

There is a word for everlasting if that idea is demanded. That αἰώνιος occurs rarely in the New Testament and in lxx does not prove that its place was taken by αἰώνιος . It rather goes to show that less importance was attached to the bare idea of everlastingness than later theological thought has given it. Paul uses the word once, in Rom 1:20, where he speaks of " the everlasting power and divinity of God." In Rom 16:26 he speaks of the eternal God (τοῦ αἰωνίου θεοῦ ); but that he does not mean the everlasting God is perfectly clear from the context. He has said that " the mystery" has been kept in silence in times eternal (χρόνοις αἰωνίοις ), by which he does not mean everlasting times, but the successive eons which elapsed before Christ was proclaimed. God therefore is described as the God of the eons , the God who pervaded and controlled those periods before the incarnation. To the same effect is the title ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν αἰώνων the King of the eons , applied to God in 1Ti 1:17; Rev 15:3; comp. Tob. 13:6, 10. The phrase πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων before eternal times (2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2), cannot mean before everlasting times. To say that God bestowed grace on men, or promised them eternal life before endless times, would be absurd. The meaning is of old , as Luk 1:70. The grace and the promise were given in time, but far back in the ages, before the times of reckoning the eons.

Ζωὴ αἰώνιος eternal life , which occurs 42 times in N.T., but not in lxx, is not endless life, but life pertaining to a certain age or eon, or continuing during that eon. I repeat, life may be endless. The life in union with Christ is endless, but the fact is not expressed by αἰώνιος . Κόλασις αἰώνιος , rendered everlasting punishment (Mat 25:46), is the punishment peculiar to an eon other than that in which Christ is speaking. In some cases ζωὴ αἰώνιος does not refer specifically to the life beyond time, but rather to the eon or dispensation of Messiah which succeeds the legal dispensation. See Mat 19:16; Joh 5:39. John says that ζωὴ αἰώνιος is the present possession of those who believe on the Son of God, Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24; Joh 6:47, Joh 6:64. The Father's commandment is ζωὴ αἰώσιος , Joh 12:50; to know the only true God and Jesus Christ is ζωὴ αἰώνιος , Joh 17:3.

Bishop Westcott very justly says, commenting upon the terms used by John to describe life under different aspects: " In considering these phrases it is necessary to premise that in spiritual things we must guard against all conclusions which rest upon the notions of succession and duration. 'Eternal life' is that which St. Paul speaks of as ἡ ὄντως ζωὴ the life which is life indeed , and ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ θεοῦ the life of God . It is not an endless duration of being in time, but being of which time is not a measure. We have indeed no powers to grasp the idea except through forms and images of sense. These must be used, but we must not transfer them as realities to another order."

Thus, while αἰώνιος carries the idea of time, though not of endlessness , there belongs to it also, more or less, a sense of quality . Its character is ethical rather than mathematical. The deepest significance of the life beyond time lies, not in endlessness, but in the moral quality of the eon into which the life passes. It is comparatively unimportant whether or not the rich fool, when his soul was required of him (Luk 12:20), entered upon a state that was endless. The principal, the tremendous fact, as Christ unmistakably puts it, was that, in the new eon, the motives, the aims, the conditions, the successes and awards of time counted for nothing. In time, his barns and their contents were everything; the soul was nothing. In the new life the soul was first and everything, and the barns and storehouses nothing. The bliss of the sanctified does not consist primarily in its endlessness, but in the nobler moral conditions of the new eon, - the years of the holy and eternal God. Duration is a secondary idea. When it enters it enters as an accompaniment and outgrowth of moral conditions.

In the present passage it is urged that ὄλεθρον destruction points to an unchangeable, irremediable, and endless condition. If this be true, if ὄλεθρος is extinction , then the passage teaches the annihilation of the wicked, in which case the adjective αἰώνιος is superfluous, since extinction is final, and excludes the idea of duration. But ὄλεθρος does not always mean destruction or extinction . Take the kindred verb ἀπόλλυμι to destroy , put an end to , or in the middle voice, to be lost , to perish . Peter says, " the world being deluged with water, perished " (ἀπολοῦνται 2Pe 3:6); but the world did not become extinct, it was renewed. In Heb 1:11, Heb 1:12 quoted from Psalm 102, we read concerning the heavens and the earth as compared with the eternity of God, " they shall perish " (ἀπολοῦνται ). But the perishing is only preparatory to change and renewal. " They shall be changed" (ἀλλαγήσονται ). Comp. Isa 51:6, Isa 51:16; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1. Similarly, " the Son of man came to save that which was lost " (ἀπολωλός ), Luk 19:10. Jesus charged his apostles to go to the lost (ἀπολωλότα ) sheep of the house of Israel, Mat 10:6, comp. Mat 15:24. " He that shall lose (ἀπολέσῃ ) his life for my sake shall find it," Mat 16:25. Comp. Luk 15:6, Luk 15:9, Luk 15:32.

In this passage the word destruction is qualified. It is " destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, " at his second coming, in the new eon. In other words, it is the severance, at a given point of time, of those who obey not the gospel from the presence and the glory of Christ. Ἁιώνιος may therefore describe this severance as continuing during the millennial eon between Christ's coming and the final judgment; as being for the wicked prolonged throughout that eon and characteristic of it, or it may describe the severance as characterizing or enduring through a period or eon succeeding the final judgment, the extent of which period is not defined. In neither case is αἰώνιος to be interpreted as everlasting or endless .

Vincent: 2Th 1:10

To be glorified ( ἐνδοξασθῆναι )

Only here and 2Th 1:12 in N.T. Repeatedly in lxx. See Exo 14:4, Exo 14:17; Isaiah 45:26. o Class.

Wesley: 2Th 1:3

It is highly observable, that the apostle wraps up his praise of men in praise to God; giving him the glory.

Wesley: 2Th 1:3

Probably he had heard from them since his sending the former letter.

Wesley: 2Th 1:3

Like water that overflows its banks, and yet increaseth still.

Wesley: 2Th 1:4

"That ye may be accounted worthy of the kingdom."

Wesley: 2Th 1:5

This is treated of in 2Th 1:6 and following verses.

Wesley: 2Th 1:6

(However men may judge) to transfer the pressure from you to them. And it is remarkable that about this time, at the passover, the Jews raising a tumult, a great number (some say thirty thousand) of them were slain. St. Paul seems to allude to this beginning of sorrows, 1Th 2:16, which did not end but with their destruction.

Wesley: 2Th 1:8

Does God barely permit this, or (as "the Lord" once "rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven," Gen 19:24) does a fiery stream go forth from him for ever? Who know not God - (The root of all wickedness and misery) who remain in heathen ignorance.

Wesley: 2Th 1:8

This refers chiefly to the Jews, who had heard the gospel.

Wesley: 2Th 1:9

Tremble, ye stout - hearted.

Wesley: 2Th 1:9

As there can be no end of their sins, (the same enmity against God continuing,) so neither of their punishment; sin and its punishment running parallel throughout eternity itself. They must of necessity, therefore, be cut off from all good, and all possibility of it.

Wesley: 2Th 1:9

Wherein chiefly consists the salvation of the righteous. What unspeakable punishment is implied even in falling short of this, supposing that nothing more were implied in his taking vengeance!

Wesley: 2Th 1:10

For the wonderful glory of Christ shall shine in them.

JFB: 2Th 1:1

Still more endearing than the address, 1Th 1:1 "in God THE Father."

JFB: 2Th 1:2

So some oldest manuscripts read. Others omit "our."

JFB: 2Th 1:3

Greek, "We owe it as a debt" (2Th 2:13). They had prayed for the Thessalonians (1Th 3:12) that they might "increase and abound in love"; their prayer having been heard, it is a small but a bounden return for them to make, to thank God for it. Thus, Paul and his fellow missionaries practice what they preach (1Th 5:18). In 1Th 1:3, their thanksgiving was for the Thessalonians' faith, love, and patience"; here, for their exceeding growth in faith, and for their charity abounding. "We are bound" expresses the duty of thanksgiving from its subjective side as an inward conviction. "As it is meet," from the objective: side as something answering to the state of circumstances [ALFORD]. Observe the exact correspondence of the prayer (1Th 3:12, "The Lord make you to abound in love") and the answer, "The love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth" (compare 1Th 4:10).

JFB: 2Th 1:3

Right.

JFB: 2Th 1:4

Make our boast of you, literally, "in your case." "Ourselves" implies that not merely did they hear others speaking of the Thessalonians' faith, but they, the missionaries themselves, boasted of it. Compare 1Th 1:8, wherein the apostle said, their faith was so well known in various places, that he and his fellow missionaries had no need to speak of it; but here he says, so abounding is their love, combined with faith and patience, that he and his fellow missionaries themselves, make it a matter of glorying in the various churches elsewhere (he was now at Corinth in Achaia, and boasted there of the faith of the Macedonian churches, 2Co 10:15-17; 2Co 8:1, at the same time giving the glory to the Lord), not only looking forward to glorying thereat at Christ's coming (1Th 2:19), but doing so even now.

JFB: 2Th 1:4

In 1Th 1:3, "patience of hope." Here hope is tacitly implied as the ground of their patience; 2Th 1:5, 2Th 1:7 state the object of their hope, namely, the kingdom for which they suffer.

JFB: 2Th 1:4

Literally, "pressures." The Jews were the instigators of the populace and of the magistrates against Christians (Act 17:6, Act 17:8).

JFB: 2Th 1:4

Greek, "are (now) enduring."

JFB: 2Th 1:5

Your enduring these tribulations is a "token of the righteous judgment of God," manifested in your being enabled to endure them, and in your adversaries thereby filling up the measure of their guilt. The judgment is even now begun, but its consummation will be at the Lord's coming. David (Psa 73:1-14) and Jeremiah (Jer 12:1-4) were perplexed at the wicked prospering and the godly suffering. But Paul, by the light of the New Testament, makes this fact a matter of consolation. It is a proof (so the Greek) of the future judgment, which will set to rights the anomalies of the present state, by rewarding the now suffering saint, and by punishing the persecutor. And even now "the Judge of all the earth does right" (Gen 18:25); for the godly are in themselves sinful and need chastisement to amend them. What they suffer unjustly at the hands of cruel men they suffer justly at the hands of God; and they have their evil things here that they may escape condemnation with the world and have their good things hereafter (Luk 16:25; 1Co 11:32) [EDMUNDS].

JFB: 2Th 1:5

Expressing the purpose of God's "righteous judgment" as regards you.

JFB: 2Th 1:5

Greek, "in behalf of which ye are also suffering" (compare Act 5:41; Act 9:16; Phi 1:29). "Worthy" implies that, though men are justified by faith, they shall be judged "according to their works" (Rev 20:12; compare 1Th 2:12; 1Pe 1:6-7; Rev 20:4). The "also" implies the connection between the suffering for the kingdom and being counted worthy of it. Compare Rom 8:17-18.

JFB: 2Th 1:6

This justifies the assertion above of there being a "righteous judgment" (2Th 1:5), namely, "seeing that it is (literally, 'if at least,' 'if at all events it is') a righteous thing with (that is, in the estimation of) God" (which, as we all feel, it certainly is). Our own innate feeling of what is just, in this confirms what is revealed.

JFB: 2Th 1:6

Requite in kind, namely, tribulation to them that trouble you (affliction to those that afflict you); and to you who are troubled, rest from trouble.

JFB: 2Th 1:7

Governed by "to recompense" (2Th 1:6). The Greek is literally, "relaxation"; loosening of the tension which had preceded; relaxing of the strings of endurance now so tightly drawn. The Greek word for "rest," Mat 11:28, is distinct, namely, cessation from labor. Also, Heb 4:9, "A keeping of sabbath."

JFB: 2Th 1:7

Namely, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the writers, who are troubled like yourselves.

JFB: 2Th 1:7

At the time when . . . ; not sooner, not later.

JFB: 2Th 1:7

Rather as the Greek, "with the angels of His might," or "power," that is, the angels who are the ministers by whom He makes His might to be recognized (Mat 13:41, Mat 13:52). It is not their might, but His might, which is the prominent thought.

JFB: 2Th 1:8

Greek, "In flame of fire"; or, as other oldest manuscripts read, "in fire of flame." This flame of fire accompanied His manifestation in the bush (Exo 3:2); also His giving of the law at Sinai (Exo 19:18). Also it shall accompany His revelation at His advent (Dan 7:9-10), symbolizing His own bright glory and His consuming vengeance against His foes (Heb 10:27; Heb 12:29; 2Pe 3:7, 2Pe 3:10).

JFB: 2Th 1:8

Literally, "giving" them, as their portion, "vengeance."

JFB: 2Th 1:8

The Gentiles primarily (Psa 79:6; Gal 4:8; 1Th 4:5); not of course those involuntarily not knowing God, but those wilfully not knowing Him, as Pharaoh, who might have known God if he would, but who boasted "I know not the Lord" (Exo 5:2); and as the heathen persecutors who might have known God by the preaching of those whom they persecuted. Secondarily, all who "profess to know God but in works deny Him" (Tit 1:16).

JFB: 2Th 1:8

Primarily the unbelieving Jews (Rom 10:3, Rom 10:16); secondarily, all who obey not the truth (Rom 2:8).

JFB: 2Th 1:8

Omitted by some of the oldest manuscripts, and retained by others.

JFB: 2Th 1:9

Greek, "persons who," &c.

JFB: 2Th 1:9

Driven far from His presence [ALFORD]. The sentence emanating from Him in person, sitting as Judge [BENGEL], and driving them far from Him (Mat 25:41; Rev 6:16; Rev 12:14; compare 1Pe 3:12; Isa 2:10, Isa 2:19). "The presence of the Lord" is the source whence the sentence goes forth; "the glory of His power" is the instrument whereby the sentence is carried into execution [EDMUNDS]. But ALFORD better interprets the latter clause (see 2Th 1:10), driven "from the manifestation of His power in the glorification of His saints." Cast out from the presence of the Lord is the idea at the root of eternal death, the law of evil left to its unrestricted working, without one counteracting influence of the presence of God, who is the source of all light and holiness (Isa 66:24; Mar 9:44).

JFB: 2Th 1:10

"When He shall have come."

JFB: 2Th 1:10

As the element and mirror IN which His glory shall shine brightly (Joh 17:10).

JFB: 2Th 1:10

Greek, "them that believed." Once they believed, now they see: they had taken His word on trust. Now His word is made good and they need faith no longer. With wonder all celestial intelligences (Eph 3:10) shall see and admire the Redeemer on account of the excellencies which He has wrought in them.

JFB: 2Th 1:10

Supply for the sense, among whom (namely, those who shall be found to have believed) you, too, shall be; "because our testimony unto (so the Greek for 'among') you was believed" (and was not rejected as by those "who obey not the Gospel," 2Th 1:8). The early preaching of the Gospel was not abstract discussions, but a testimony to facts and truths experimentally known (Luk 24:48; Act 1:8). Faith is defined by BISHOP PEARSON as "an assent unto truths, credible upon the testimony of God, delivered unto us by the apostles and prophets" (originally delivering their testimony orally, but now in their writings). "Glorified in His saints" reminds us that holiness is glory in the bud; glory is holiness manifested.

Clarke: 2Th 1:1

Paul, and Silvanus, etc. - See the notes on 1Th 1:1. This epistle was written a short time after the former: and as Silas and Timothy were still at Corinth, the apostle joins their names with his own, as in the former case.

Clarke: 2Th 1:3

Your faith groweth exceedingly - The word ὑπεραυξανει signifies to grow luxuriantly, as a good and healthy tree planted in a good soil; and if a fruit tree, bearing an abundance of fruit to compensate the labor of the husbandman. Faith is one of the seeds of the kingdom; this the apostle had sowed and watered, and God gave an abundant increase. Their faith was multiplied, and their love abounded; and this was not the case with some distinguished characters only, it was the case with every one of them.

Clarke: 2Th 1:4

We ourselves glory in you in the Churches of God - We hold you up as an example of what the grace of God, can produce when communicated to honest and faithful hearts

Clarke: 2Th 1:4

For your patience and faith - From Act 17:5, Act 17:13, and from 1Th 2:14, we learn, that the people of Thessalonica had suffered much persecution, both from the Jews and their own countrymen; but being thoroughly convinced of the truth of the Gospel, and feeling it to be the power of God unto salvation, no persecution could turn them aside from it. And having suffered for the truth, it was precious to them. Persecution never essentially injured the genuine Church of God.

Clarke: 2Th 1:5

A manifest token of the righteousness judgement of God - The persecutions and tribulations which you endure, are a manifest proof that God has judged righteously in calling you Gentiles into his Church; and these sufferings are also a proof that ye are called in; for they who enter into the kingdom of God go through great tribulation; your going through that tribulation is a proof that ye are entering in, and God sees it right and just that ye should be permitted to suffer before ye enjoy that endless felicity

The words, however, may be understood in another sense, and will form this maxim: "The sufferings of the just, and the triumphs of the wicked, in this life, are a sure proof that there will be a future judgment, in which the wicked shall be punished and the righteous rewarded. "This maxim is not only true in itself, but it is most likely that this is the apostle’ s meaning

Clarke: 2Th 1:5

That ye may be counted worthy - Your patient endurance of these sufferings is a proof that ye are rendered meet for that glory on account of which ye suffer and, in a true Gospel sense of the word, worthy of that glory; for he who is a child of God, and a partaker of the Divine nature, is worthy of God’ s kingdom, not because he has done any thing to merit it, but because he bears the image of God; and the image is that which gives the title.

Clarke: 2Th 1:6

Seeing it is a righteous thing - Though God neither rewards nor punishes in this life in a general way, yet he often gives proofs of his displeasure, especially against those who persecute his followers. They, therefore, who have given you tribulation, shall have tribulation in recompense.

Clarke: 2Th 1:7

And to you who are troubled, rest with us - And while they have tribulation, you shall have that eternal rest which remains for the people of God

Clarke: 2Th 1:7

When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed - But this fullness of tribulation to them, and rest to you, shall not take place till the Lord Jesus come to judge the world

Clarke: 2Th 1:7

With his mighty angels - The coming of God to judge the world is scarcely ever spoken of in the sacred writings without mentioning the holy angels, who are to accompany him, and to form his court or retinue. See Deu 33:2; Mat 25:31; Mat 16:27; Mat 26:64; Mar 8:38.

Clarke: 2Th 1:8

In flaming fire - Εν φλογι πυρος· In thunder and lightning, taking vengeance - inflicting just punishment on them that know not God - the heathen who do not worship the true God, and will not acknowledge him, but worship idols; and on them that obey not the Gospel - the Jews, particularly who have rejected the Gospel, and persecuted Christ and his messengers; and all nominal Christians who, though they believe the Gospel as a revelation from God, yet do not obey it as a rule of life.

Clarke: 2Th 1:9

Who shall be punished - What this everlasting destruction consists in we cannot tell. It is not annihilation, for their being continues; and as the destruction is everlasting, it is an eternal continuance and presence of substantial evil, and absence of all good; for a part of this punishment consists in being banished from the presence of the Lord - excluded from his approbation, for ever; so that the light of his countenance can be no more enjoyed, as there will be an eternal impossibility of ever being reconciled to him

Clarke: 2Th 1:9

The glory of his power - Never to see the face of God throughout eternity is a heart-rending, soul-appalling thought; and to be banished from the glory of his power, that power the glory of which is peculiarly manifested in saving the lost and glorifying the faithful, is what cannot be reflected on without confusion and dismay. But this must be the lot of all who acknowledge not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Clarke: 2Th 1:10

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints - As the grace of God is peculiarly glorified in saving sinners and making them into saints, this gracious power will be particularly manifested in the great day, when countless millions will appear before that throne who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb

Clarke: 2Th 1:10

And to be admired - Οαυμασθηναι· To be wondered at among and on the account of all them that believe. Much as true believers admire the perfections of the Redeemer of mankind, and much as they wonder at his amazing condescension in becoming man, and dying for the sins of the world; all their present amazement and wonder will be as nothing when compared with what they shall feel when they come to see him in all his glory, the glory that he had with the father before the world was. In reference to this we may apply those words of St. John: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."1Jo 3:2

Instead of τοις πιστευουσιν, them that believe, τοις πιστευσασιν, them that have believed, is the reading of ABCDEF, many others, the later Syriac, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala, with most of the Greek fathers. This reading is undoubtedly genuine

Clarke: 2Th 1:10

Because our testimony - was believed in that day - The members of this sentence seem to have been strangely transposed. I believe it should be read thus: "In that day, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired among all them that have believed; for our testimony was believed among you."The Thessalonians had credited what the apostles had said and written, not only concerning Jesus Christ in general, but concerning the day of judgment in particular.

Calvin: 2Th 1:1

1.To the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God. As to the form of salutation, it were superfluous to speak. This only it is necessary to notice — that by a Church in God and Christ is meant one that has not merely been gathered together under the banner of faith, for the purpose of worshipping one God the Father, and confiding in Christ, but is the work and building as well of the Father as of Christ, because while God adopts us to himself, and regenerates us, we from him begin to be in Christ. (1Co 1:30)

Calvin: 2Th 1:3

3.To give thanks. He begins with commendation, that he may have occasion to pass on to exhortation, for in this way we have more success among those who have already entered upon the course, when without passing over in silence their former progress, we remind them how far distant they are as yet from the goal, and stir them up to make progress. As, however, he had in the former Epistle commended their faith and love, he now declares the increase of both. And, unquestionably, this course ought to be pursued by all the pious — to examine themselves daily, and see how far they have advanced. This, therefore, is the true commendation of believers — their growing daily in faith and love. When he says always, he means that he is constantly supplied with new occasion. He had previously given thanks to God on their account. He says that he has now occasion to do so again, on the ground of daily progress. When, however, he gives thanks to God on this account, he declares that the enlargements, no less than the beginnings, of faith and love are from him, for if they proceeded from the power of men, thanksgiving would be pretended, or at least worthless. Farther, he shews that their proficiency was not trivial, or even ordinary, but most abundant. So much the more disgraceful is our slowness, inasmuch as we scarcely advance one foot during a long space of time.

As is meet. In these words Paul shews that we are bound to give thanks to God, not only when he does us good, but also when we take into view the favors bestowed by him upon our brethren. For wherever the goodness of God shines forth, it becomes us to extol it. Farther, the welfare of our brethren ought to be so dear to us, that we ought to reckon among our own benefits everything that has been conferred upon them. Nay more, if we consider the nature and sacredness of the unity of Christ’s body, such a mutual fellowship will have place among us, that we shall reckon the benefits conferred upon an individual member as gain to the whole Church. Hence, in extolling God’s benefits, we must always have an eye to the whole body of the Church.

Calvin: 2Th 1:4

4.So that we ourselves glory in you. He could not have bestowed higher commendation upon them, than by saying that he sets them forward before other Churches as a pattern, for such is the meaning of those words: — We glory in you in the presence of other Churches. For Paul did not boast of the faith of the Thessalonians from a spirit of ambition, but inasmuch as his commendation of them might be an incitement to make it their endeavor to imitate them. He does not say, however, that he glories in their faith and love, but in their patience and faith. Hence it follows, that patience is the fruit and evidence of faith. These words ought, therefore, to be explained in this manner: — “We glory in the patience which springs from faith, and we bear witness that it eminently shines forth in you;” otherwise the context would not correspond. And, undoubtedly, there is nothing that sustains us in tribulations as faith does; which is sufficiently manifest from this, that we altogether sink down so soon as the promises of God leave us. Hence, the more proficiency any one makes in faith, he will be so much the more endued with patience for enduring all things with fortitude, as on the other hand, softness and impatience under adversity betoken unbelief on our part; but more especially when persecutions are to be endured for the gospel, the influence of faith in that case discovers itself.

Calvin: 2Th 1:5

5.A demonstration of the righteous judgment of God. Without mentioning the exposition given by others, I am of opinion that the true meaning is this — that the injuries and persecutions which innocent and pious persons endure from the wicked and abandoned, shew clearly, as in a mirror, that God will one day be the judge of the world. And this statement is quite at antipodes with that profane notion, which we are accustomed to entertain, whenever it goes well with the good and ill with the wicked. For we think that the world is under the regulation of mere chance, and we leave God no control. Hence it is that impiety and contempt take possession of men’s hearts, as Solomon speaks, (Ecc 9:3) for those that suffer anything undeservedly either throw the blame upon God, or do not think that he concerns himself as to the affairs of men. We hear what Ovid says, — “I am tempted to think that there are no gods.” ⁶²⁶ Nay more, David confesses (Psa 73:1) that, because he saw things in so confused a state in the world, he had well-nigh lost his footing, as in a slippery place. On the other hand, the wicked become more insolent through occasion of prosperity, as if no punishment of their crimes awaited them; just as Dionysius, when making a prosperous voyage, ⁶²⁷ boasted that the gods favored the sacrilegious. ⁶²⁸ In fine, when we see that the cruelty of the wicked against the innocent walks abroad with impunity, carnal sense concludes that there is no judgment of God, that there are no punishments of the wicked, that there is no reward of righteousness.

Paul, however, declares on the other hand, that as God thus spares the wicked for a time, and winks at the injuries inflicted upon his people, His judgment to come is shewn us as in a mirror. For he takes for granted that it cannot but be that God, inasmuch as he is a just Judge, will one day restore peace to the miserable, who are now unjustly harassed, and will pay to the oppressors of the pious the reward that they have merited. Hence, if we hold this principle of faith, that God is the just Judge of the world, and that it is his office to render to every one a recompense according to his works, this second principle will follow incontrovertibly — that the present disorderly state of matters (ἀταξίαν) is a demonstration of the judgment, which does not yet appear. For if God is the righteous Judge of the world, those things that are now confused must, of necessity, be restored to order. Now, nothing is more disorderly than that the wicked, with impunity, give molestation to the good, and walk abroad with unbridled violence, while the good are cruelly harassed without any fault on their part. From this it may be readily inferred, that God will one day ascend the judgment-seat, that he may remedy the state of matters in the world, so as to bring them into a better condition.

Hence the statement which he subjoins — that it is righteous with God to appoint affliction, etc. , is the groundwork of this doctrine — that God furnishes tokens of a judgment to come when he refrains, for the present, from exercising the office of judge. And unquestionably, if matters were now arranged in a tolerable way, so that the judgment of God might be recognized as having been fully exercised, an adjustment of this nature would detain us upon earth. Hence God, in order that he may stir us up to the hope of a judgment to come, does, for the present, only to some extent judge the world. He furnishes, it is true, many tokens of his judgment, but it is in such a manner as to constrain us to extend our hope farther. A remarkable passage truly, as teaching us in what manner our minds ought to be raised up above all the impediments of the world, whenever we suffer any adversity — that the righteous judgment of God may present itself to our mind, which will raise us above this world. Thus death will be an image of life.

May be accounted worthy. There are no persecutions that are to be reckoned of such value as to make us worthy of the kingdom of God, nor does Paul dispute here as to the ground of worthiness, but simply takes the common doctrine of Scripture — that God destroys in us those things that are of the world, that he may restore in us a better life; and farther, that by means of afflictions he shews us the value of eternal life. In short, he simply points out the manner in which believers are prepared and, as it were, polished under God’s anvil, inasmuch as, by afflictions, they are taught to renounce the world and to aim at God’s heavenly kingdom. Farther, they are confirmed in the hope of eternal life while they fight for it. For this is the entrance of which Christ discoursed to his disciples. (Mat 7:13; Luk 13:24)

Calvin: 2Th 1:6

6.To appoint affliction. We have already stated why it is that he makes mention of the vengeance of God against the wicked — that we may learn to rest in the expectation of a judgment to come, because God does not as yet avenge the wicked, while it is, nevertheless, necessary that they should suffer the punishment of their crimes. Believers, however, at the same time, understand by this that there is no reason why they should envy the momentary and evanescent felicity of the wicked, which will ere long be exchanged for a dreadful destruction. What he adds as to the rest of the pious, accords with the statement of Paul, (Act 3:20,) where he calls the day of the last judgment the day of refreshing

In this declaration, however, as to the good and the bad, he designed to shew more clearly how unjust and confused the government of the world would be, if God did not defer punishments and rewards till another judgment, for in this way the name of God were a thing that was dead. ⁶²⁹ Hence he is deprived of his office and power by all that are not intent on that righteousness of which Paul speaks.

He adds with us, that he may gain credit to his doctrine from his experience of belief in his own mind; for he shews that he does not philosophize as to things unknown, by putting himself into the same condition, and into the same rank with them. We know, however, how much more authority is due to those who have, by long practice, been exercised in those things which they teach, and do not require from others anything but what they are themselves prepared to do. Paul, therefore, does not, while himself in the shade, give instructions to the Thessalonians as to how they should fight in the heat of the sun, but, fighting vigorously, exhorts them to the same warfare. ⁶³⁰

Calvin: 2Th 1:7

7.When the Lord shall be manifested. Here we have a confirmation of the foregoing statement. For as it is one of the articles of our faith, that Christ will come from heaven, and will not come in vain, faith ought to seek the end of his coming. Now this is — that he may come as a Redeemer to his own people; nay more, that he may judge the whole world. The description which follows has a view to this — that the pious may understand that God is so much the more concerned as to their afflictions in proportion to the dreadfulness of the judgment that awaits his enemies. For the chief occasion of grief and distress is this — that we think that God is but lightly affected with our calamities. We see into what complaints David from time to time breaks forth, while he is consumed by the pride and insolence of his enemies. Hence he has brought forward all this for the consolation of believers, while he represents the tribunal of Christ as full of horror, ⁶³¹ that they may not be disheartened by their present oppressed condition, while they see themselves proudly and disdainfully trampled upon by the wicked.

What is to be the nature of that fire, and of what materials, I leave to the disputations of persons of foolish curiosity. I am contented with holding what Paul had it in view to teach — that Christ will be a most strict avenger of the injuries which the wicked inflict upon us. The metaphor, however, of flame and fire, is abundantly common in Scripture, when the anger of God is treated of.

By the angels of his power, he means those in whom he will exercise his power; for he will bring the angels with him for the purpose of displaying the glory of his kingdom. Hence, too, they are elsewhere called the angels of his majesty

Calvin: 2Th 1:8

8.Who will inflict vengeance. That he may the better persuade believers that the persecutions which they endure will not go unpunished, he teaches that this also involves the interests of God himself, inasmuch as the same persons that persecute the pious are guilty of rebellion against God. Hence it is necessary that God should inflict vengeance upon them not merely with a view to our salvation, but also for the sake of his own glory. Farther, this expression, who will inflict vengeance, relates to Christ, for Paul intimates that this office is assigned to him by God the Father. It may be asked, however, whether it is lawful for us to desire vengeance, for Paul promises it, as though it could be lawfully desired. I answer, that it is not lawful to desire vengeance upon any one, inasmuch as we are commanded to wish well to all. Besides, although we may in a general way desire vengeance upon the wicked, yet, as we do not as yet discriminate them, we ought to desire the welfare of all. In the mean time, the ruin of the wicked may be lawfully looked forward to with desire, provided there reigns in our hearts a pure and duly regulated zeal for God, and there is no feeling of inordinate desire.

Who know not. He distinguishes unbelievers by these two marks — that they know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ. For if obedience is not rendered to the gospel through faith, as he teaches in the first and in the last chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, [Rom 1:18,] unbelief is the occasion of resistance to it. He charges them at the same time with ignorance of God, for a lively acquaintance with God produces of itself reverence towards him. Hence unbelief is always blind, not as though unbelievers were altogether devoid of light and intelligence, but because they have the understanding darkened in such a manner, that seeing they do not see. (Mat 13:13.) It is not without good grounds that Christ declares that this is life eternal, to know the true God, etc. (Joh 17:3.) Accordingly, from the want of this salutary knowledge, there follows contempt of God, and in fine, death. On this point I have treated more fully in commenting on the first chapter of First Corinthians. ⁶³²

Calvin: 2Th 1:9

9.. Everlasting destruction from the face. He shews, by apposition, what is the nature of the punishment of which he had made mention — destruction without end, and an undying death. The perpetuity of the death is proved from the circumstance, that it has the glory of Christ as its opposite. Now, this is eternal, and has no end. Accordingly, the influence of that death will never cease. From this also the dreadful severity of the punishment may be inferred, inasmuch as it will be great in proportion to the glory and majesty of Christ.

Calvin: 2Th 1:10

10.When he shall come to be sanctified. As he has hitherto discoursed as to the punishment of the wicked, he now returns to the pious, and says that Christ will come, that he may be glorified in them; that is, that he may irradiate them with his glory, and that they may be partakers of it. “Christ will not have this glory for himself individually; but it will be common to all the saints.” This is the crowning and choice consolation of the pious, that when the Son of God will be manifested in the glory of his kingdom, he will gather them into the same fellowship with himself. ⁶³³ There is, however, an implied contrast between the present condition in which believers labor and groan, and that final restoration. For they are now exposed to the reproaches of the world, and are looked upon as vile and worthless; but then they will be precious, and full of dignity, when Christ will pour forth his glory upon them. The end of this is, that the pious may as it were, with closed eyes, pursue the brief journey of this earthly life, having their minds always intent upon the future manifestation of Christ’s kingdom. For to what purpose does he make mention of His coming in power, but in order that they may in hope leap forward to that blessed resurrection which is as yet hid?

It is also to be observed, that after having made use of the term saints, he adds, by way of explanation — those that believe, by which he intimates that there is no holiness in men without faith, but that all are profane. In the close he again repeats the terms — in that day, for that expression is connected with this sentence. Now, he repeats it with this view, that he may repress the desires of believers, lest they should hasten forward beyond due bounds.

Because credit was given What he had said in a general way as to saints, he now applies to the Thessalonians, that they may not doubt that they are of that number.

“Because,” says he, “my preaching has obtained credit among you, Christ has already enrolled you in the number of his own people, whom he will make partakers of his glory.”

He calls his doctrine a testimony, because the Apostles are Christ’s witnesses. (Act 1:8.) Let us learn, therefore, that the promises of God are ratified in us, when they gain credit with us.

Defender: 2Th 1:1

This second epistle to the Thessalonians was, apparently, written soon after the first while Timothy and Silvanus (Silas) were still with Paul at Corinth. Paul had received a reply to his first letter and their response indicated that the Thessalonians needed still further instruction and correction. Apparently some false teacher had written them in the name of Paul (2Th 2:2), and his erroneous teachings needed to be corrected. Also, they were undergoing severe persecutions for their Christian stand and Paul wanted to both commend and encourage them in this (see note on 1Th 1:1)."

Defender: 2Th 1:4

The tribulations which all saints, in all ages, must endure (not just in the last generation - Act 14:22; 2Ti 3:12) are from men. The future tribulation visited on rebellious men, however, will be from God (2Th 1:6). They are not the same. In fact, our present tribulations can be considered a blessing since we are therefore enabled to share, in small measure, the sufferings of Christ (2Th 1:5; Phi 1:29; Phi 3:10; 2Co 1:5)."

Defender: 2Th 1:7

"Rest" here is a noun not a verb. That is, those who are doing the troubling will receive tribulation; those who are being troubled will be given rest.

Defender: 2Th 1:7

The angels accompanying Christ at His first coming testified of peace and good will (Luk 2:13, Luk 2:14). At His second coming, they bring vengeance and flaming fire."

Defender: 2Th 1:8

This fire may be the same as "the pillar of fire" (Exo 13:21) that protected and guided God's people in the wilderness. Alternatively, there are numerous references to fires in the tribulation period (Rev 8:5-10; Rev 18:8). Finally, climaxing the day of the Lord, the earth itself will be "burned up" (2Pe 3:10).

Defender: 2Th 1:8

"Taking vengeance" does not imply taking revenge but rather exacting justice. God has been long suffering, but "our God is a consuming fire" and "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 12:29; Heb 10:31).

Defender: 2Th 1:8

Knowing God means more than knowing about God. It means knowing Him as He is, and personally and reverently acknowledging Him as sovereign Creator, redeeming Savior, and all-seeing Judge.

Defender: 2Th 1:8

It is the gospel by which men are saved (1Co 15:1, 1Co 15:2), and there can be no other way of salvation (Joh 14:6; Act 4:12). The gospel is good news and salvation is offered freely to anyone who will receive it through faith in Christ. There is no acceptable excuse for rejecting His love and sacrificial death. For those who do reject Him, however, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Heb 10:26, Heb 10:27)."

Defender: 2Th 1:9

This "everlasting destruction" is not annihilation of being, but of well-being. It means everlasting ruin or everlasting punishment (compare Mat 25:41; Rev 14:11).

Defender: 2Th 1:9

The very essence of eternal hell is that it involves everlasting separation from God and all manifestation of His glorious power. Hell cannot be located on the new earth (see Rev 19:20, note; Rev 20:10, note) since the lake of fire is in existence both before and after the disintegration of this present earth. Since God's power pervades His entire universe, it seems that the lake of fire must be as far away as possible from the presence of God on the new earth. To be forever separated from all that God is - love, power, righteousness, beauty, intelligence, etc. - is, essentially, what men who reject Him have chosen, and this is what hell will be like."

Defender: 2Th 1:10

When Christ returns and calls His saints to meet Him in the air (both dead and living - 1Th 4:16, 1Th 4:17), He will "be admired in all them that believe," not just those who are maintaining a certain standard of spirituality at the time of His coming. The rapture is not a partial rapture but is effective for all believers, whether carnal or spiritual, living or dead. The evaluation of one's life after individual regeneration will be settled at Christ's judgment seat (2Co 5:10)."

TSK: 2Th 1:1

2Co 1:19; 1Th 1:1-10

TSK: 2Th 1:2

Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3, 1Co 1:8

TSK: 2Th 1:3

are : 2Th 2:13; Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:4; 1Th 1:2, 1Th 1:3, 1Th 3:6, 1Th 3:9, as is, Luk 15:32; Phi 1:7; 2Pe 1:13

your : Job 17:9; Psa 84:7, Psa 92:13; Pro 4:18; Isa 40:29-31; Luk 17:5; Joh 15:2; Phi 1:9; 1Th 4:1, 1Th 4:9, 1Th 4:10; 1Pe 1:22; 2Pe 1:5-10, 2Pe 3:18

groweth : The word, υπεραυξανω [Strong’ s G5232], from υπερ [Strong’ s G5228], intensive, and αυξανω [Strong’ s G837], to grow, increase, signifies, as Dr. Clarke remarks, to grow luxuriantly, as a good and healthy tree in a good soil; and, if a fruit tree, bearing an abundance of fruit to compensate the labour of the husbandman. Faith is one of the seeds of the kingdomcaps1 . tcaps0 his the Apostle had sowed and watered, and God gave an abundant increase. Their faith was multiplied, and their love abounded, and this was not the case with some distinguished characters only; it was the case with every one of them. For this the apostle felt himself bound to give continual thanks to God on their behalf, as it was ""meet""and right.

TSK: 2Th 1:4

glory : 2Co 7:14, 2Co 9:2, 2Co 9:4; 1Th 2:19

your patience : 2Th 3:5; Rom 2:7, Rom 5:3-5, Rom 8:25, Rom 12:12; 1Th 1:3, 1Th 3:2-8; Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36; Heb 12:1-3; Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 5:7, Jam 5:8; 2Pe 1:6; Rev 14:12

your persecutions : 1Th 2:14, 1Th 3:3, 1Th 3:4; Jam 5:11

TSK: 2Th 1:5

manifest : 2Th 1:6; Phi 1:28; 1Pe 4:14-18

righteous : Job 8:3; Psa 9:7, Psa 9:8, Psa 33:5, Psa 50:6, Psa 72:2, Psa 99:4, Psa 111:7; Jer 9:24; Dan 4:37; Rom 2:5; Rev 15:4, Rev 16:7, Rev 19:2

may : 2Th 1:11; Luk 20:35, Luk 21:36; Act 13:46; Eph 4:1; Col 1:12; Rev 3:4

for : 2Th 1:7; Act 14:22; Rom 8:17; 1Th 2:14; 2Ti 2:12; Heb 10:32, Heb 10:33

TSK: 2Th 1:6

Deu 32:41-43; Psa 74:22, Psa 74:23, Psa 79:10-12, Psa 94:20-23; Isa 49:26; Zec 2:8; Rev 6:10, Rev 11:18, Rev 15:4, Rev 16:5, Rev 16:6, Rev 18:20,Rev 18:24, Rev 19:2

TSK: 2Th 1:7

who : Isa 57:2; Mat 5:10-12; Luk 16:25; Rom 8:17; 2Co 4:17; 2Ti 2:12; Heb 4:1, Heb 4:9, Heb 4:11; 1Pe 4:1; Rev 7:14-17, Rev 14:13, Rev 21:4

when : Mat 13:39-43, Mat 16:27, Mat 25:31, Mat 26:64; Mar 8:38, Mar 14:62; Joh 1:51; Act 1:11; 1Th 4:16, 1Th 4:17; Tit 2:13; Heb 9:28; Jud 1:14, Jud 1:15; Rev 1:7, Rev 20:11

his mighty angels : Gr. the angels of his power, Joh 1:3; Eph 1:2; Col 1:16; 1Pe 3:22; Rev 22:6, Rev 22:9, Rev 22:16

TSK: 2Th 1:8

flaming : Gen 3:24; Deu 4:11, Deu 5:5; Psa 21:8, Psa 21:9, Psa 50:2-6; Dan 7:10; Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46; Heb 10:27, Heb 12:29; 2Pe 3:7, 2Pe 3:10-12; Rev 20:10,Rev 20:14, Rev 20:15, Rev 21:8

taking : or, yielding vengeance, Deu 32:35, Deu 32:41, Deu 32:42; Psa 2:9-12, Psa 94:1; Isa 61:2, Isa 63:4-6; Heb 10:30; Rev 6:10,Rev 6:16, Rev 6:17

that know : Exo 5:2; 1Sa 2:12; Psa 9:10, Psa 79:6; Isa 27:11; Jer 9:6; Zep 1:6; Joh 3:19, Joh 8:19; Rom 1:28; 1Co 15:34; 1Th 4:5

and that : Deu 4:30; Psa 18:44; Isa 1:19; Act 6:7; Rom 1:5, Rom 2:7, Rom 2:8, Rom 6:16, Rom 10:16, Rom 15:18; Rom 16:26; 2Co 10:5; Gal 3:1; Heb 2:3, Heb 5:9, Heb 11:8; 1Pe 1:2, 1Pe 3:6, 1Pe 4:17

TSK: 2Th 1:9

be : Isa 33:14, Isa 66:24; Dan 12:2; Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46, Mat 26:24; Mar 9:43-49; Luk 16:25, Luk 16:26; Joh 5:14; Phi 3:19; Heb 10:29; 2Pe 2:17, 2Pe 3:7; Jud 1:13; Rev 14:10,Rev 14:11, Rev 20:14, Rev 21:8, Rev 22:15

from the presence : Gen 3:8, Gen 4:16; Job 21:14, Job 22:17; Psa 16:11, Psa 51:11; Mat 7:23, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:41; Luk 13:27

the glory : 2Th 2:8; Deu 33:2; Isa 2:10,Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21; Mat 16:27, Mat 24:30; Tit 2:13 *Gr: Rev 20:11

TSK: 2Th 1:10

to be glorified : 2Th 1:12; Num 23:23; Psa 89:7; Isa 43:21, Isa 44:23, Isa 49:3, Isa 60:21; Jer 33:9; Mat 25:31; Joh 11:4, Joh 17:10; Gal 1:24; Eph 1:6, Eph 1:12, Eph 1:14, Eph 1:18, Eph 2:7, Eph 3:10,Eph 3:16; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 7:11, Rev 7:12

to be admired : Psa 68:35

our : 2Th 2:13; 1Th 1:5, 1Th 2:13

in that : Mal 3:17; Mat 7:22, Mat 24:36; Luk 10:12; 2Ti 1:12, 2Ti 1:18, 2Ti 4:8

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 2Th 1:1

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus; - See the notes on 1Th 1:1.

Barnes: 2Th 1:3

We are bound to thank God always for you; - See the notes on 1Th 1:2. "As it is meet."Since it is fit or proper. "Because that your faith groweth exceedingly."It would seem probable from this that Paul had heard from them since his First Epistle was written. He had doubtless received intelligence of the error which prevailed among them respecting his views of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and of the progress which the truth was making, at the same time. "And the charity of every one of you all toward each other."Your mutual love.

Barnes: 2Th 1:4

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God - That is, we mention your example to other churches, and glory in it, as an evidence of what the gospel is suited to do; see the notes on 1Th 2:19-20; compare the notes on 2Co 9:2.

For your patience - Your patient endurance of trials.

And faith - Fidelity, or constancy. You have shown unwavering confidence in God in your afflictions.

In all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure - See the notes on 1Th 2:14; 1Th 4:13. It would seem from this that the persecutions and trials to which the apostle referred in his First Epistle were still continued.

Barnes: 2Th 1:5

Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God - The word "which"is supplied by our translators, and there may be some doubt to what the apostle has reference as being "a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God."The general sense seems to be, that the fact that they were thus persecuted was an evidence that there would be a future judgment, when the righteous who were persecuted would be rewarded, and the wicked who persecuted them would be punished. The manner in which they bore their trials was an indication also of what the result would be in regard to them. Their patience and faith under persecutions were constantly showing that they would "be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they were called to suffer."It is evident that a relative must be supplied here, as our translators have done, but there has been a difference of view as to what it refers. Some suppose that it is to "patience,"others to "persecutions and tribulations,"and others to the "whole sentence"preceding. The latter is probably the true construction, and the sense is, that the endurance of affliction in a proper manner by the righteous is a proof that there will be a righteous judgment of God in the last day:

(1) It is evidence that there will be a future judgment - since the righteous here suffer so much, and the wicked triumph.

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 hese things are now permitted in order that the character may be developed, and that the reason of the sentence in the last day may be seen.

\caps1 (3) t\caps0 he manner in which these afflictions are borne is an evidence - an indication ( ἔνδειγμα endeigma ) of what the results of the judgment will be. The word rendered "manifest token"( ἔνδειγμα endeigma ), occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means an indication, token, proof - anything that shows or points out how a thing is, or is to be (from ἐνδείκνυμι endeiknumi , to show, to point out). The meaning here is, therefore, that the course of events referred to - the persecutions which they endured, and the manner in which they were borne - furnished a proof that there would be a righteous judgment, and also afforded an indication of what the result of that judgment would be. We may, in general, learn what will be the issues of the judgment in the case of an individual from the manner in which he bears trials.

Of the righteous judgment of God - That there will be a just judgment hereafter. The crimes of the wicked who go unpunished on the earth, and the sufferings of the good who are unavenged, are a demonstration that there will be a judgment, when all these inequalities will be adjusted.

That ye may be counted worthy - As the result of your affliction, that you may be fitted for the kingdom of God. This does not mean that Christians will merit heaven by their sufferings, but that they may show that they have such a character that there is a fitness or propriety that they should be admitted there. They may evince by their patience and resignation, by their deadness to the world and their holy lives, that they are not disqualified to enter into that kingdom where the redeemed are to dwell. No true Christian will ever feel that he is worthy on his own account, or that he has any claim to eternal life, yet he may have evidence that he has the characteristics to which God has promised salvation, and is fitted to dwell in heaven.

Of the kingdom of God. - In heaven, see the notes on Mat 3:2.

For which ye also suffer. - The sufferings which you now endure are because you are professed heirs of the kingdom; that is, you are persecuted because you are Christians; see 1Th 2:14.

Barnes: 2Th 1:6

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you - The sense is: "There will be a future judgment, because it is proper that God should punish those who now persecute you. It is not right that they should go unpunished, and triumph forever. It is not an arbitrary thing, a thing which is indifferent, a thing which may or may not be done; it is a just and proper thing that the wicked should be punished."The doctrine is, that the future punishment of the wicked is just and proper; and that, being just and proper, it will be inflicted. Many suppose that there would be no justice in the eternal punishment of the wicked; that the threatening of that punishment is wholly arbitrary; that it might easily be dispensed with, and that because it is unjust it will not be inflicted, and need not be dreaded. But that it is just and proper, a very slight degree of reflection must show. Because:

\caps1 (1) i\caps0 t is inconceivable that God should threaten such punishment unless it were just. How can it be reconciled with his perfections that he can hold up before mankind the assurance that any of them will be punished forever, unless it be right that it should be so? Can we believe that he deliberately threatens what is wrong, or that, in the face of the universe, he publicly declares his intention to do what is wrong?

\caps1 (2) p\caps0 eople themselves believe that it is just that the wicked should be punished. They are constantly making laws, and affixing penalties to them, and executing them, under the belief that it is right. Can they regard it as wrong in God to do the same thing? Can that be wrong in him which is right in themselves?

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 f it is right to punish wickedness here, it is not wrong to punish it in the future world. There is nothing in the two places which can change the nature of what is done. If it is right for God to visit the sinner here with the tokens of his displeasure, there is nothing which can make it wrong to visit him in like manner in the future world. Why should that be wrong in another world which is right and proper in this?

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 t will be a righteous thing for God to punish the wicked in a future state, for they are not always punished here as they deserve. No one can seriously maintain that there is an equal distribution of rewards and punishments on the earth. Many a man goes to the grave having received no adequate punishment for his crimes. Many a murderer, pirate, robber, traitor, and plunderer of nations under the name of a conqueror, thus dies. No one can doubt that it would be a just thing to punish them here if they could be arrested. Why should it be any the less "just"to punish them when they enter another world? In like manner, many a man lives a life of profligacy; or is an open scoffer; or aims to cast off the government of God; or is a seducer of innocence; and yet lives in the midst of wealth, and goes down in calmness and peace to the grave; Psa 73:3-5; Job 21:23-33. Why is it not just that such an one should be punished in the future world? compare Psa 73:16-20. But, if it is right that God should punish the wicked in the future world, it will be done. Because:

(1) There is nothing to hinder him from doing it. He has all power, and has all necessary means of inflicting punishment, entirely at his disposal.

\caps1 (2) i\caps0 t would not be right not to do it. It is not right for a magistrate to treat the righteous and the wicked alike, or to show that he has as much regard to the one as to the other.

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 t cannot be believed that God has uttered a threatening which he never meant to execute, or to appear before the universe as having held up before men the terror of the most awful punishment which could be inflicted, but which he never intended to carry into effect. Who could have confidence in such a Being? Who could know what to believe when he makes the most solemn declaration?

\caps1 (4) t\caps0 he Judge of all the earth "will do right;"and if it is right to declare that "the wicked shall be turned into hell,"it will not be wrong to inflict the sentence. And if, on the whole, it is right that the sinner should be punished, it will be done.

Them that trouble you. - Those who persecute you; see 1Th 2:14.

Barnes: 2Th 1:7

And to you who are troubled - That is, "it will be a righteous thing for God to give to you who are persecuted rest in the last day."As it will be right and proper to punish the wicked, so it will he right to reward the good. It will not, however, be in precisely the same sense. The wicked will deserve all that they will suffer, but it cannot be said that the righteous will deserve the reward which they will receive. It will be right and proper, because:

\caps1 (1) t\caps0 here is a fitness that they who are the friends of God should be treated as such, or it is proper that he should show himself to be their friend; and,

\caps1 (2) b\caps0 ecause in this life this is not always clearly done. They are often less prospered, and less happy in their outward circumstances, than the wicked. There is, therefore, a propriety that in the future state God should manifest himself as their friend, and show to assembled worlds that he is not indifferent to character, or that wickedness does not deserve his smiles, and piety incur his frown. At the same time, however, it will be owing wholly to his grace that any are ever admitted to heaven.

Rest - The future happiness of believers is often represented under the image of rest. It is rest like that of the weary laborer after his day of toil; rest, like that of the soldier after the hardships of a long and perilous march; rest, like the calm repose of one who has been racked with pain; see the notes on Heb 4:9. The word "rest"here ( ἄνεσις anesis ) means a letting loose, a remission, a relaxation; and hence composure, quiet; 2Co 2:12; 2Co 7:5.

With us - That is, with Paul, Silas, and Timothy; 2Th 1:1. It would increase the comfort of the Thessalonians derived from the anticipation of the future world, to reflect that they would meet their religious teachers and friends there. It always augments the anticipated joy of heaven to reflect that we are to share its blessedness with them. There is no envy among those who anticipate heaven; there will be none there. They who desire heaven at all, desire that it may be shared in the highest degree by all who are dear to them.

When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven - Shall appear; shall come from heaven; see the notes, 1Th 4:6.

With his mighty angels - Margin, "angels of his power."So the Greek. The sense is, that angels of exalted rank and glory will accompany him; see the 1Th 4:16 note; Mat 24:31; Mat 25:31 notes.

Barnes: 2Th 1:8

In flaming fire - This is a circumstance which is not noticed in the account of his appearing in the parallel place in 1Th 4:16. The object of the apostle here seems to be to represent him as coming amidst vivid flashes of lightning. He is commonly described as coming in clouds, and to that common description there is here added the image of incessant lightnings, as if the whole heavens were illuminated with a continued blaze.

Taking vengeance - Margin, "yielding."Greek, "giving. The word "vengeance"is used in the sense of punishment, for there cannot be in God what literally corresponds with the passion of revenge; compare the notes on Rom 12:19.

On them that know not God. - On all who are strangers to him; that is, who are living in pagan darkness, or who, having heard of him, have no practical acquaintance with him.

And that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Who do not embrace it, and practice its precepts in their lives; compare the notes on Rom 2:9.

Barnes: 2Th 1:9

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction; - see the notes on Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46. The word which is here rendered "destruction"( ὄλεθρον olethron ), is different from that which occurs in Mat 25:46, and which is there rendered "punishment"- κόλασις kolasis . The word ὄλεθρον olethron - "olethron"- occurs only here and in 1Co 5:5; 1Th 5:3; 1Ti 6:9; in each of which places it is rendered destruction. It does not denote annihilation, but is used in the same sense in which we use the word when we say that a thing is destroyed. Thus, health is destroyed when it fails; property is destroyed when it is burned or sunk in the ocean; a limb is destroyed that is lost in battle; life is destroyed when one dies. In the case before us, the destruction, whatever it be, is:

\caps1 (1) t\caps0 o be continued forever; and,

\caps1 (2) i\caps0 s to be of the nature of punishment.

The meaning then must be, that the soul is destroyed as to the great purposes of its being - its enjoyment, dignity, honor, holiness, happiness. It will not be annihilated, but will live and linger on in destruction. It seems difficult to conceive how anyone can profess to hold that this passage is a part of the Word of God, and yet deny the doctrine of future eternal punishment. It would not be possible to state that doctrine in clearer language than this. It is never is in clearer language in any creed or confession of faith, and if it is not true that the wicked will be punished forever, then it must be admitted that it would not have been possible to reveal the doctrine in human language!

From the presence of the Lord - That is, a part of their punishment will consist in being banished from the immediate presence of the Lord. There is a sense in which God is everywhere present, and in that sense he will be in the world where the wicked will dwell, to punish them. But the phrase is also used to denote his more immediate presence; the place where are the symbols of his majesty and glory; the home of the holy and the blessed. It is in that sense that the word is used here, and the idea is, that it will be one of the circumstances contributing to the deeper woe of the place of punishment, that those who dwell there will be banished from that holy abode, and will never be permitted to enter there.

And from the glory of his power - The meaning seems to be, that they will not be able to endure the manifestation of his power and majesty when he shall appear, but will be driven away by it into outer darkness; see 2Th 2:8. The Saviour, in describing his second coming, uses this language: "They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;"Mat 24:30. There will be a great exhibition of both. The power will be seen in the convulsions of nature which will precede or attend him; in the resurrection of the dead; and in the bringing of all to judgment: and the glory will be seen in his own person; the dignity and number of his attendants; and the honor that shall then be conferred on him as the final Judge of all mankind. By the manifestation of that power and glory the wicked will be driven away into eternal ruin. They will not be able to stand before it, and though, in common with the righteous, they may see the majesty of the Redeemer in the last day, yet they will be driven away to witness it no more.

Barnes: 2Th 1:10

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints - That is, the redeemed in that day will be the means of promoting his glory, or the universe will see his glory manifested in their redemption. His chief glory as seen in that day will be connected with the fact that he has redeemed his people; and he will come in order that all the appropriate honor of such a work may then be manifested. He will be "glorified"then by the numbers that shall have been redeemed; by their patience in the trials through which they have passed; by the triumphs which religion shall have made on the earth; by their praises and songs, and by their ascent with him to the realms of blessedness.

And to be admired in all them that believe - This may either mean that he will be admired among or by them that believe; or that the ground of the admiration which he will receive in that day will be what will be seen in them; that is, their graces, their numbers, their joys, their triumphs will be the occasion of producing admiration of him - for he will be regarded as the source of it all. Tyndale renders it: "and to be made marvelous in all them that believe."The latter interpretation seems to me to be the correct one. The general idea is, that Christ in that day will be manifested in a glorious manner, and that the source of his highest triumphs will be what is seen in the saints. His main honor when he returns to the world will not be the outward splendors which will attend his coming, nor the angels that will accompany him, nor the manifestation of his power over the elements, but the church which he has redeemed. It will then be seen that he is worthy of universal admiration, for having redeemed that church. He shall then be admired or glorified in his people:

(1)\caps1     f\caps0 or having conceived the plan of redeeming them;

(2)\caps1     f\caps0 or being willing to become incarnate and to die to save them;

(3)\caps1     f\caps0 or the defense of his church in all its persecutions and trials;

(4)\caps1     f\caps0 or raising his people from the dead;

(5)\caps1     f\caps0 or the virtues and graces which they will exhibit in that day.

This appropriate honor of Christ in the church has never yet been fully seen. His people on earth have, in general, most imperfectly reflected his image. They have in general been comparatively few in number, and scattered upon the earth. They have been poor and despised. Often they have been persecuted and regarded as the "filth of the world and the offscouring of all things."The honors of this world have been withheld from them. The great have regarded it as no honor to be identified with the church, and the proud have been ashamed to be enrolled among the followers of the Lamb. In the last day all this will be changed, and the assembled church will show to admiring worlds how great and glorious is it, Redeemer, and how glorious was the work of redemption.

Because our testimony among you was believed. - The meaning of this seems to be, that they would be among the number of those who would in that day honor the Saviour, because they had embraced what the apostle had preached to them respecting these future scenes. Thus interpreted, this clause should be regarded as connected with 2Th 2:7. "And to you it is a righteous thing that he should give rest with us, because our testimony among you was believed,"That is, you have shown that you are true Christians, and it is proper that you should partake of the triumphs and hopes of that day.

Poole: 2Th 1:3

The apostle begins this Epistle as the former, with thanksgiving; only there he gave thanks for their faith, hope, and love, here he only mentions their faith and love; there for the efficacy of their grace, here for the growth of it. There he said only: We give thanks here he addeth:

We are bound and as it is meet; as if he was obliged to give thanks for them now somewhat more than before, perceiving their grace did not only yet abide, notwithstanding all their persecutions, but increase and grow. But the apostle’ s thanksgiving here respects particularly these Thessalonians’ growth. Not only the beginning, but growth of grace is from God; else why doth the apostle give thanks for it? As Phi 1:6 . Hence he is styled the God of all grace, 1Pe 5:10 , weak and strong, first or second. The manner of its growth, whether by infusion of new degrees, as the first grace is infused, or by co-operating only with it, and so it is increased by exercise, is a question I leave to the schoolmen. However, growth is a duty, and commendable in churches. And the apostle mentions particularly:

1. Their growth in faith; and that a great degree, uperauzanei , it groweth exceedingly it grows over and above, above the ordinary rate of growth, or the common pitch of faith. Their progress was from faith to faith, their assent to the doctrine of the gospel grew more firm and rooted, and the persuasion of their happy state in Christ was much confirmed and strengthened, with a more confident reliance on him; or their faith was extended to more objects by the increase of their knowledge.

2. Their increase in love; which he also expresseth by an emphatical word, pleonazei , which signifies increasing to more and more; their love grew in the habit, and abounded in the fruits of it. And this love he sets forth by the universality of it, and the reciprocalness of it, it was the love of all to each other; they all did love, and were all beloved of one another: there was no schism among them, as in some other churches.

Faith and love are two sister graces, and are always more or less together; only in the order of nature, faith is first, and worketh by love; but not first in time; and then afterwards, when it brings forth, love is fides formata, faith formed, as the papists speak. Hence some have said, that there was not one hypocrite or false Christian in this whole church. Now the apostle and his fellow ministers hereupon judged themselves bound to give thanks. Christians are obliged to give God thanks for the grace of God in others as well as in themselves; and especially the ministers of the gospel, for the people that have been converted by them, or are committed to them. Hereby the apostle’ s joy was increased at present, and his future glory might be advanced also.

Poole: 2Th 1:4

In the former verse the apostle gave thanks for them, in this he glories in them; he gave thanks for them to God, and glories in them before men. Wherein Silvanus and Timotheus are to be understood as joined with him herein. Glorying inclndes in it high estimation of a thing, rejoicing in it, high commendation of it, and applauding ourselves in it; and it must be some great thing, either really or in opinion, and in which some way or other we ourselves are concerned. And glorying is a good or evil according to the matter or object of it. To glory in our wisdom, strength, riches, Jer 9:23 ; to glory in men, 1Co 3:21 , in our own works, Rom 4:2 , in what we have received as if not received, 1Co 4:7 , after the flesh, 2Co 11:18 , or in our shame, Phi 3:19 ; all this glorying is evil. But to glory in God, Isa 41:16 , in his holy name, 1Ch 16:10 , with God’ s inheritance, Psa 106:5 , in the knowledge of the Lord, Jer 9:24 , in the cross of Christ, Gal 6:14 , in tribulation, Rom 5:3 , in Christ Jesus, 1Co 1:31 , in hope, Heb 3:6 , and of the success of the ministry in the church’ s growth, and their faith and patience, as here in the text; all this glorying is good: as elsewhere he boasted or gloried in the Corinthians’ liberality, 2Co 9:2 ; but his glorying in them was not to exalt himself, but to magnify the grace of God, and provoke other churches to imitate them.

In the churches of God where the excellency of grace is known, and the commendation of it will be received and imitated; and not amongst carnal men, who scoff at true goodness. And it was the apostle himself, and Silvanus and Timotheus, that thus gloried in them. It adds to persons’ commendation, when it is by men of great knowledge, wisdom, and goodness. And it was by such as well knew them, and understood their state; and being instruments in their conversion, were more concerned to glory in them than any other apostles or ministers. And their glorying in them, as it respects what he said of them in the former verse, so what he further adds in this, which is their

patience and faith in all their persecutions and tribulations Persecutions are properly sufferings for righteousness’ sake: tribulations, any kind of suffering, as some distinguish. And it seems they had many of both, when he saith all, & c. And yet they endured them, that is, not only suffered them because they could not cast them off, but in the sense of the apostle James, Jam 5:11 : Behold, we count them happy which endure; which is a suffering out of choice, and not mere necessity, as Moses did, Heb 11:25 , when sufferings stand in competition with sin, or the dishonour of the Christian profession. Sufferings in themselves are not desirable, and the apostle did not glory in their sufferings, but in their faith and patience. As he before joined faith and love together, so here faith and patience; and as love springs from faith, so doth Christian patience, whereby it is distinguished from patience as a mere moral virtue found among the heathen, either that of the Stoics, Peripatetics, or Platonists. Faith and patience are well styled the two suffering graces, and therefore here mentioned by the apostle when he mentions their sufferings. Faith as it depends upon God, and sees love under afflictions, believes his promises, looks at the recompence of reward, &c., so it supports under suffering. And patience, as it keeps down passion, and quiets the soul under its burden, makes it to sit lighter, and gives advantage to the exercise of that grace and reason, whereby a Christian is strengthened under his sufferings. Now hereupon the apostle glories in them, as men are apt to do in the heroic acts of great conquerors; or the captain of an army, in the valiant performances of his soldiers.

Poole: 2Th 1:5

These words seem to follow by way of argument, to comfort these Thessalonians under their sufferings:

1. By what they manifest viz. the righteous judgment of God they are a plain indication of it, or demonstration, as the word is used by logicians. And by judgment we must not here understand the judgments or afflictions God inflicts in this world; so that when God doth not spare, but chasten his own children, it is a token of his righteous judgment. But rather under understand it of the last judgment: when we see the righteous suffering such wrongs and injuries from wicked men, and they go unpunished, we may argue thence that there is a judgment to come; we cannot else well vindicate the righteousness, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of God in his governing the world: as Solomon so argued, when he saw so much unrighteousness in the very seat of justice; I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time for every purpose and work, Ecc 3:16,17 . And this judgment is called here righteous judgment, by way of eminency, as it is expressed by one word, dikaiokrisia , Rom 2:5 , (for all God’ s judgments are righteous):

(a) Because the wicked will then meet with justice without mercy, which is not so in any present judgments.

(b) Justice will then be clearly manifested, which now lies obscure, both with respect to the righteous and the unrighteous.

And in this sense the words carry an argument of comfort to the saints, under their present unjust, sufferings from their enemies. As to the same purpose the apostle speaks to the Philippians,

Phi 1:28 .

2. The other argument of comfort is from the result of their sufferings, the great advantage which will arise out of them; they will be hence accounted worthy of the kingdom of God: not by way of merit, as the papists say; the Greek word in the text, in its usual acceptation, will not favour that opinion, it signifies no more in the active voice, than the Latin word dignari, which we English to deign, or vouchsafe; and yet we may allow the word to signify more here, not only that this kingdom may be vouchsafed, but that ye may be meet or worthy to receive it; not that all their sufferings could deserve this kingdom, for the apostle saith, Rom 8:18 : I reckon the sufferings of this present time not worthy of the glory, & c. There is no proportion between them, and so they cannot merit it, yet God may account those that suffer for this kingdom worthy of it, according to the grace of the new covenant in Jesus Christ, and as it hath a congruity with the nature of God, and his faithfulness in his promises; and so our translation renders the word, not that ye may be worthy of the kingdom of God, but accounted worthy God of his free grace will account them worthy. The kingdom of God is propounded to men in the new covenant upon certain conditions, and those that perform them have a worthiness of right, as Rev 22:14 , but not of merit. But God enables men to perform the conditions, so that there is nothing on our part properly meritorious; yea, when we have performed them, yet our worthiness is to be attributed to Christ, and God’ s grace, and not to ourselves, else man would have whereof to glory. The Scriptures call eternal life the gift of God, Rom 6:23 , and attributes salvation to grace, Eph 2:8 . We must allow a worthiness only that is consistent with grace; but when we have done all we must say: We are unprofitable servants. Luk 17:10 ; and after all we have done and suffered for the kingdom of God, must pray, as Paul for Onesiphorus, that we may find mercy of the Lord at that day, 2Ti 1:18 .

For which ye also suffer the sense either respects their enemies, that it was upon the account of this kingdom that they persecuted them, having nothing else justly against them; or else their own aim and intention in suffering, it was for the kingdom of God. And hence we may learn that his kingdom is worth suffering for, and that in some cases it cannot be obtained without suffering: and he that then refuseth to suffer will be accounted unworthy of it; as he that doth suffer for it, as these Thessalonians, hath, upon the account of God’ s covenant, and the merits of Christ, not only the grace and mercy, but the justice and faithfulness, of God engaged to bestow it upon him. And also that we may and ought in our sufferings look to the reward, as Moses did, Heb 11:1-40 .

Poole: 2Th 1:6

By these words the apostle doth illustrate his argument for a judgment to come, taken from the persecutions and tribulations of the saints. It is of necessity that God should be righteous, and recompensing is a necessary act of righteousness; but we yet see it not, therefore there is a judgment to come. And this recompence is both to the righteous and the wicked, the persecutors and persecuted. The former he here speaks first of: and to recompense tribulation to them that trouble the people of God, is a just recompence; it is according to the law of retaliation, whereof we have some instances in this world, as in Pharaoh, Adoni-bezek, Haman, &c.; and many others, whereof we have a large account in the history of the church and her persecutors; but this will be more fully verified in the judgment to come, called the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Rom 2:5 . And God’ s recompence to them is here called tribulation; so Rom 2:9 . And though in other scriptures the punishment of the wicked is set forth by other names, yet here it is called by this name; not only for elegancy of speech, by a paranomasia, but to parallel their suffering to their sin; they brought tribulation upon others, and God will bring it upon them. And under this word is comprehended all the torments of hell, which our Saviour expresseth by weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, Mat 8:12 , which is the extremity of tribulation. And it is said here, God will recompense, &c., which should teach us not to revenge ourselves; as Psa 94:1 Rom 12:19 . And this the apostle sets before these Thessalonians by way of comfort; not that we ought to reioice in men’ s destruction merely for itself, but in the honour that will thereby arise to God’ s justice, and in the favour, honour, and salvation God will vouchsafe to his people herein.

Poole: 2Th 1:7

Having spoken of the recompence of the troublers, here of the troubled: and in this we may observe a parallel, as in the former. The recompence to these is expressed by rest in the Greek, dismission, or cessation from labour or trouble; as Heb 4:9 : There remaineth a rest to the people of God, where the word is, keeping a sabbath, importing a rest from labour, as this text doth speak of a rest from trouble. And though the word rest is properly negative, yet under it the apostle comprehends all the felicity of the future state; elsewhere called a crown, a kingdom, an inheritance, glory, salvation, eternal life, yea, it contains in it the perfect satisfaction of the soul in the fruition of God, &c. And this is said to be given them by way of recompence, as tribulation is to their troublers; though there is no parity between their trembles and the rest, that is, their recompence, yet it is a proper recompence; and therefore the grace and mercy of God will be much manifested therein, though it is said to come from God’ s righteousncss in the text. The righteousness of God dispenseth both these recompences; but yet the righteousness in both is not alike; akribodikaion , strict justice, dispenseth the one, and the punishment of the wicked riseth from the nature of their sin, and the merit of it; but it is only epieikeia , equity, that dispenseth the other, and that not so much with respect to the nature of the saints’ duties or sufferings, as the promises and ordinance of God, and the merit of Christ for them. And this rest the apostle sets forth before them, under a twofold circumstance:

1. Rest with us Us, the apostles and ministers of Christ, we and you shall rest together; as we have partaken of troubles together, so we shall of rest. And you shall enjoy the same felicity with the apostles themselves, in the same state of rest. And though now place doth separate us, yet we and you shall rest together, which will the more sweeten this rest to you and us.

2. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven the other circumstance. This is the time of their entering into this rest. Christ’ s coming is sometimes called his epifaneia , appearing, 2Ti 4:8 , or shining forth; sometimes, fanerwsiv , his manifestation, 2Co 4:2 1Jo 3:2 ; sometimes, apokaluqiv , his revelation, as in the text. Now the heavens contain him, but he will come in person, and his glory shine forth: though before that their souls shall be at rest in heaven, and their bodies in the grave, yet not till then shall their persons be at rest. And as Christ himself is already entered into his rest, Heb 4:10 , so he will come again to take his people into the same rest with him.

Poole: 2Th 1:8

But his coming will be upon another account to many others, which is said here to be to take vengeance, for which purpose he is said to be revealed with his mighty angels, or angels of might; and elsewhere, with all his holy angels. They are said to excel in strength, Psa 103:20 , or to be mighty in strength, and have the name of might, Eph 1:21 . And here called mighty, because as the work Christ comes upon is great and difficult, so he will have instruments sufficient for it, and none shall be able to hinder. And though he hath power himself sufficient, yet the angels must attend him to solemnize this great day, and to be serviceable to him in the work thereof, which, as it will respect the saints in their resurrection from the dead, and their gathering from the four winds, and separating them from the ungodly, as tares from the wheat and sheep from the goats, so the taking vengeance also in this day of the Lord’ s wrath, which the apostle, especially, is in these verses speaking of, is the work they shall be employed in. As also in flaming fire, or the fire of flame, a Hebraism. Fire is the most dreadful of all the elements, especially flaming, to denote the great wrath of that day, and its breaking forth, as fire when it flameth. God’ s wrath is often expressed in Scripture by fire, Deu 32:22 Psa 97:3 , &c.; Jer 21:12 Heb 10:27 ; and as that which attendeth the great day of Christ, Dan 7:10 1Co 3:13 2Pe 3:7,12 . And whether this flaming fire is material, or only metaphorical; if material, whether the present elementary fire, which shall descend, and be joined with that which shall break forth out of the bowels of the earth, as in Noah’ s flood the waters were from above and from beneath; or whether it shall be some new created fire, and the action of it natural, or supernatural, I shall leave it to the schoolmen. Yet it is generally conceived it is a material fire; else how can the elements be said to melt with fervent heat, and the world and the works thereof burnt up, as the apostle Peter speaks, 2Pe 3:10 ; and parallels it with the deluge in Noah’ s time, which was with material water. But yet it is to be a manifestation of the fire of God’ s wrath, and an instrument of it also in the destruction of ungodly men, 2Pe 3:7 ; for it is said in the text, Christ is revealed in it to take vengeance. Vengeance is an act of justice; it is a retribution of evil for evil, the evil of suffering for the evil done: and God claims it as belonging to himself, Psa 94:1 Rom 12:19 Heb 10:27 ; and it is mentioned in the parable, Luk 18:7,8 , as one great work of Christ, at his coming, to avenge the elect.

On them that know not God; these are the persons upon whom he will execute vengeance: by whom some think are meant the heathen, who had not the gospel. Those that had not the gospel, yet had means to know God, by the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, which if they did not improve, but remained ignorant of God, will fall under this vengeance. And by knowledge here is not meant so much a speculative as a practical knowledge of God; and so such as do not fear, love, and honour God, may be said not to know him. As the Gentiles, who are said to know God, Rom 1:21 , but yet not glorifying him as God, and living in idolatry, are said not to know him, Gal 4:8 1Th 4:5 . And as God tells the king of Judah, that to do justice and judgment is to know him, Jer 22:16 . And Eli’ s sons, though priests, yet are said not to know the Lord, 1Sa 2:12 .

And that obey not the gospel which may be taken in conjunction with the former words, and then such as obey not the gospel are the same with them that know not God. As God is not known aright but by the gospel, so they only know God aright by the gospel who obey it. Some are ignorant and know not God, though they live under the gospel. Or, such as have knowledge, yet are not obedient. Knowledge and obedience ought to go together. And this obedience is called the obeying of the gospel. The gospel hath not only promises to be believed, but precepts to be obeyed. Yea, faith itself may fall under its precepts, and then those that believe not the gospel do not obey it: as the same word in the Greek signifies to believe and obey. And as the gospel hath some peculiar precepts and institutions, so all the commands of the moral law are comprehended in it; and the equitable part of the judicial law, yea, and the ceremonial law also, where that which is moral is figured by it; and so far as the gospel commands, men ought to obey; and disobedience appears to be a great evil, when it will expose men to this great vengeance. So Rom 2:8,9 : To them that do not obey the truth, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, & c. Not to obey the law of nature, exposed the heathen to God’ s wrath, Rom 1:18 ; and to disobey the law of Moses, the Jew, Rom 2:2 Heb 2:3 10:28 Heb 12:25 ; much more not to obey the gospel. Christ is said here especially to take vengeance of such at his coming. Gospel sins are most heinous and most provoking, and will be most severely punished.

Poole: 2Th 1:9

This is the vengeance before spoken of; it is here called

destruction not an annihilation, and cessation of being, but of all well-being: and elsewhere called death, Rom 6:23 , and the second death, Rev 20:6 , which imports also not all ceasing of life, but all comfort of life. And it is not the body alone, nor the soul alone, but their persons,

who & c.; and as fire is a great destroyer, so Christ’ s coming in flaming fire brings their destruction. And this destruction is

everlasting: the fire that destroys them is never quenched, Mar 9:43,44 . As the fire of the altar, which was a fire of mercy, was not to go out, so the fire of Tophet burns for ever, Isa 30:33 , which is the fire of justice; and God living for ever, and his justice never satisfied, their destruction is for ever. They sinned in their eternity, and will be punished in God’ s eternity. There was a remedy provided in the gospel for men, but rejecting the gospel, and not obeying it, there remains no hope; their destruction is everlasting. And this destruction is called punishment, dikhn tisousin poenam luent; not the chastisement of a Father, as the temporal affliction of God’ s people. It proceeds from vindictive justice; it is taking vengeance. And this punishment is twofold, punishment of loss and sense, and from both together proceed perfect destruction.

From the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power the preposition from in the first expression noting separation, in the second noting efficiency. Others conceive efficiency to be meant in both, their destruction proceeding from the face of Christ frowning on them, frowning them into hell, (which smiling upon others, will bring their salvation), as well as from his glorious power manifested against them to destroy them, Rom 9:22 . And yet others interpret the preposition in both places to note separation, both from the face of Christ, which the saints shall behold and rejoice in for ever, and from his glorious power; which will work in some for their complete salvation in the day of his appearing, as it had done before in their first conversion, and sanctification. The destruction of the wicked will be from or by the power of Christ; but by this

glory of power may be meant only that power which will bring glory both to the bodies and souls of the saints, and this the wicked shall have no experience of in that day.

Poole: 2Th 1:10

This speaks the different manner of Christ’ s coming towards the saints and believers; not in flaming fire to destroy them, as in the former verse; but to be

glorified and admired in them. He saith not to be glorified by them, by their adoring and praising of him, but in them. He hath a personal glory, wherein he will appear glorious, and another mystical, in his saints. The Head will be glorified in the members, as they are glorified in and from the Head: as the sun hath a lustre and glory in the moon and stars besides what it hath in its own body, as Col 3:4 : When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory. The glory God gave his Son, he hath given it to his saints, Joh 17:22 , and will put it upon them, and be glorified in it in the day of his appearing; as God is said to have glorified himself in Israel, Isa 44:23 .

And to be admired and this glory will be so great, that he shall be admired in it, as the word signifies. It will set the saints themselves, and all the angels of heaven, yea, the whole world, a wondering. Small things do not cause admiration, but what is great and we cannot comprehend, that we admire. And Christ will not only be admired by them, but in them; the wonderful love, grace, mercy, wisdom, and faithfulness of Christ towards them will be admired. To raise up such a number of poor, sinful, despicable worms out of the dust into such a sublime state of glory and dignity, will be admirable.

Because our testimony among you was believed and that these Thessalonians might have the comfort of this particularly, he having spoken of saints, and those that believe in general, the apostle applies this therefore to themselves in way of parenthesis: q.d. Christ will be admired in all that believe; and ye are among them that believe; ergo, &c. And the doctrine of the gospel he had preached, he called it his testimony, as Joh 3:33 1Co 3:6 ; which implies it was not an invention of his own, he did not speak of himself, as the word implies: and this testimony found different entertainment, some believed it not, others believed it and received it; upon which account the Thessalonians are commended and comforted here by the apostle. The Syriac read the words in the future tense, without a parenthesis; Christ will come to be thus glorified and admired in his saints, because our testimony among you concerning it shall be believed or confirmed in that day; he means the day of Christ’ s last coming, which he called the day of the Lord, 1Th 5:2 ; and because it is so great a day, is therefore by way of emphasis called that day.

PBC: 2Th 1:1

2Th 1:1

2 Thessalonians-Introduction

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. {2Th 1:1-4}

Biblical historians date 1and 2 Thessalonians in the early 50s A. D. Both letters appear to have been written within a brief time, 2 Thessalonians following shortly after 1 Thessalonians. Did this church misunderstand something Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians regarding the Second Coming, or did one of Paul’s critics misrepresent his teaching to lead them away from his true teachings? Some disagreement exists in this area. Paul’s comment in 2Th 2:1 does not make the point sufficiently clear. " ... as from us," could refer to a fraudulent letter that someone claimed to be Paul’s, or it could refer to a letter he wrote taken out of context and misinterpreted.

While focusing rather intently on the Second Coming and related events, both Thessalonian letters offer incredibly practical Christian truth for our instruction. We fail the New Testament model of integrated truth when we try to segregate the various themes of its teachings, trying to force each topic into a neat, well-insulated box. The New Testament model integrates its themes and doctrines into a continuous whole. Systematic theology is an instructive way to bring various truths into focus and to see how they work, but it is not the New Testament method of teaching. Truth integrated into the believer’s daily life and needs is far more edifying, and often more clear to the reader. God willing, I will attempt to follow this model as we survey 2 Thessalonians.

How do you react to error in other believers, particularly other believers within your own church fellowship? Paul confronted error wherever he encountered it. His methods of dealing with it vary far more widely than we would expect from our perspective. To make every point of doctrine and every interpretation of every verse in the Bible a " major" issue of fellowship reveals an intense denominational mindset, not the Biblical heart. Both in Paul’s methods of dealing with error and in the errors he confronted with various strategies we can learn much about how to deal with problems and differences in our own world, as well as in our own church fellowship.

Consider one simple contrast. When Paul discovered an insidious legalism in the churches that he had just founded in his " first missionary journey," he confronted it with intensity in the Galatian letter. Yet when he discovered error in the Thessalonian church regarding their view of the Second Coming, he confronted it directly, but gently. Given our present world and mindset, we would be more inclined to reverse his strategy. Confront legalism gently, if at all, but make one’s views of the Second Coming a matter of essential doctrine and orthodoxy. Demand conformity or breach of fellowship. It is not that Paul viewed the Second Coming as a lesser doctrine than legalism. He understood that legalism is similar to an infectious disease. If allowed to grow in any area of our Christian thought, it will infect all other areas of our thought and conduct, eventually destroying the essential character of our faith.

Paul did not have to deal with the myriad of aberrant views of the Second Coming in his day. For the most part, he had two views with which to interact. On one side he faced the intellectual and philosophical view of the Greek elitists such as the men who heard his sermon on Mars Hill. {Ac 17:1-34} They talked about life after death as a necessary evil by which they could control the uneducated masses, but they didn’t really believe in life after death, particularly if it involved a bodily resurrection. You have a similar perspective in the Sadducees. Then Paul had to interact with a rather narrow margin of ideas related to belief in life after death. It is instructive for us to consider that historically the Biblical teaching on eschatology, the doctrines of final things, formed one of several central notes of a balanced and accepted doctrinal motif. Subsequent to the acceptance of Darby’s teachings on a secret rapture and related ideas, the whole field of eschatology has become so splintered and controversial that most Christian teachers dread even mentioning the question. " This is such a controversial area of doctrine." We need to return to the historical model, to the New Testament model, of eschatology in which the simple reality of the Lord’s promised return and holy righteous judgment integrate seamlessly and without effort into the whole fabric of New Testament doctrine. Through this work I will attempt to follow that theme.

Rather than attack the Thessalonians for a grave departure, Paul engages them with tender grace. Here we should learn Paul’s perspective on the appropriate methods of dealing with error. Confront it, yes, but do so with the same spirit of loving grace that God demonstrated when he saved us in our sinful and undeserving state. Paul models both method and content in his writings. We must not overlook either.

The practice of authentic grace will win more people to our doctrinal perspective than anything we could possibly do otherwise.

On one side of the theological landscape of our culture we frequently see frightening intolerance. One extreme view demands that you either agree on all points, however minor, or you go to war. The other extreme displays such incredible tolerance that it stands for nothing, and displays the flaw of that philosophy-its adherents fall for everything! They have rejected Scripture as an inspired and coherent statement of divine truth in favor of sentimentality. However you " feel" about something becomes your true epistemology, your ultimate authority.

Paul would not ignore the error of this beloved church on such an important issue, but neither would he attack them with ferocity.

What is a Biblical model of church fellowship? What doctrinal points are so important that a person’s deviation on those points cross the acceptable bounds of orthodoxy so violently as to break fellowship? When you become aware of someone moving in the direction of error, how do you interact with them? Or do you? Paul’s encounter with Thessalonica provides us with a rich source of Biblical instruction. He touches major doctrines, in this case the doctrine of final things. He also models how we should engage each other in godly grace and Christian love so as to prevent error, not simply ignore it.

Paul addresses these people as a church that is " in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." He does not question their spiritual identity with God, or as a true church, because of their error. He greets them with fondness and familial grace. He thanks God for them. Despite one area of fault, he honors their faith as a growing faith, not as a faulty faith, or as an inferior faith. He commends their charity (how they treated each other, not merely how they felt toward each other). He honored them for faithfulness in the midst of persecution. Yes, this is a church with a problem, but this is also a church with a lot of good things about it.

Even if we were to explore Paul’s letter to the Galatians with its intense disapproval of their legalism, we would discover an underlying spirit of genuine affection and tenderness. Whether in Galatians or in Thessalonians, almost mirror opposite letters in terms of Paul’s methods in confronting error, Paul’s objective is to win the people, not win the argument. He doesn’t seek to establish an inner circle of Paul-worshippers. He isn’t interested in loyal followers of Paul. He unselfishly seeks to win these people to loyal and authentic service to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not tolerate relativism with its emotional and subjective " This is my truth; that is your truth." Nor will he tolerate idolatrous Paul-adoration. For Paul an objective and knowable truth exists in terms of God and what God has revealed to us that must serve as the foundation for the whole Christian life. He does not write the various letters that we see under his signature in the New Testament merely to give us his private opinion, his truth. He wrote them to give us God’s truth in discernable and practical terms that we can both learn and integrate into our personal lives.

For Paul, heaven is not another world or sphere; it is the logical continuation of godly living and of divine grace into its full and eternal expression. May we learn his teaching well.

328

2 Thessalonians-An Imperfect Church in Tribulation

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. {2Th 1:1-4}

Have you ever seen a perfect church? Several years ago I wrote a brief piece that was distributed among several churches in which I raised concern for some of our cultural habits that lack specific Biblical authority. Later I heard that one person in a church whose members received this piece complained about my writing to his pastor. His objection was that the " church" is perfect. My point was obvious. The New Testament model of the church is indeed perfect. However, I’ve never seen an actual church that perfectly lived up to that model. Every church is flawed, less than perfect, in some particulars than that New Testament model. Every church mentioned in the New Testament eventually ceased to exist. Had they been perfect, they would have survived their trials. The Biblical institution of the church exists today because the Lord designed it to remain as a witness to His truth throughout all time. {Eph 3:21} However, we find no New Testament basis for thinking that any local church, even ours, will inevitably survive and maintain a perfect model of the faith that Jesus once and for all time delivered to the saints. {Jude 1:3}

Our link to the future specifically depends on our faithfulness to God’s model as we hold to His Word and its teachings, making our church and His unchanging truth relevant to the community in which we live. We may hold to basic Biblical truth but inject so much of ourselves into our church culture as to become excessively rigid and irrelevant to visitors or inquirers. Thus we insert ourselves between the Lord, our spiritual light source, and the dark world that he charged us to enlighten. I become concerned when I see churches magnify and practice activities not specifically taught in Scripture, often defending the practice fiercely on the basis of tradition or of personal taste. Neither Biblical doctrine nor practice should grow out of such relativistic foundations. Typically the more energy we invest in such non-Biblical issues the less energy and vision we have for the New Testament model of Jesus’ church and what it should be about in its members and the community at large. When someone in any church suggests doing something or believing something, we should insist on their offering a specific New Testament passage in support of the idea. Absent that Biblical support, the matter should be dismissed, not embraced.

This question of relevance is no less Biblical than the question of New Testament content in our faith and practice. We may hold to an acceptable degree of Biblical faith and practice, but confuse and cloud its impact with our private attitudes or peripheral practices that tend to cloud the impact that truth should have on broken hearted and inquiring sin-sick sinners who come among us looking for godly help. When Jesus told the disciples that they (we?) were the salt of the earth, he set a high goal of relevance and interaction between them and the world around them. Salt never seasoned or preserved anything as long as it remained safely in the shaker! It must make contact with the food in order to serve its purpose. We may isolate ourselves from the world around us and never fulfill the salt metaphor. This lesson speaks powerfully not only to truth but to relevance.

Often we tend to use the argument from silence to support our non-Biblical ideas or practices. " Well, since the Bible doesn’t really say anything against it, what is wrong with it?" Logical thinkers observe that the weakest of all arguments for any idea is the argument from silence! This mindset tends to view the Bible as essentially irrelevant to our world, our lives, and our selves. We can blind our minds to what Scripture really teaches and claim silence for almost anything when in fact Scripture speaks volumes on the question. If Scripture lives up to its inspired billing as a thorough furnisher to every good work, {2Ti 3:16-17} we should accept that high standard into our thinking and look to Scripture alone for our authority in both faith and practice. Any idea in faith or practice that must stand on the argument from silence should be discarded as failing the test of Scriptural authority. We claim that we hold to Scripture alone as our authority for faith and practice. We should stand factually, and behaviorally, on our claim.

What does this have to do with our passage? Actually it has everything to do with it. We have in the Thessalonian church a clear example of a good church with a problem and with incredible trouble unless it corrected that problem. Where is the Thessalonian church today? It doesn’t exist! Either in the question of substantial truth in faith and practice or in the question of relevance, salt and light in its world, it failed the divine charge and faded into extinction. Our vision of a future for our church must be integrated with a solid Biblical vision of authority, not confused with personal preferences and private ideas.

Despite what we today would classify as a major theological error, Paul wrote to this church in sincere terms of endearment, even honoring their growing faith, love, and patience in the face of fierce persecution. Paul directly confronted the theological error in this church, but he didn’t judge them excessively or denounce them as no longer a true church. When we deny our humanity and our less-than-perfect behavioral standing with the Lord and his perfect model, we shut ourselves off from the dynamic power of Scripture to correct and grow our lives and faith. When we confront and accept our spiritual imperfections, we seek the corrective and healing influence of Scripture to make us stronger in our faith and more Biblical in our conduct, both as individuals and as a collective body of believers.

Did you ever meet someone who always tried to present a " perfect" image of themselves to those around them? These people consistently seem compelled to appear bigger and better than life. They often demonstrate incredible astuteness in their observation that others are less than perfect, but when confronted with their own person and conduct, they attempt to hold up their personal conduct and thinking as the perfect model. First of all, such people are really hard to live with! For us poor sinners to live with perfect people represents a constant uphill battle. Invariably, however, people with this inclination eventually reveal their true humanity, their flaws and failures. Whether they acknowledge them or not, they are indeed flawed vessels! It is far easier to live with people who freely confess their personal flaws and failures and then invest obvious energy and effort to improve, to grow in grace and spiritual knowledge. Try telling the person who complained at my writing because he thought that his church was actually perfect that something is wrong with them. Try applying Scripture to their conduct. How will he respond? Then try to apply the same Scripture to the same conduct in a church, or to a person, who accepts his/her imperfections and hungers for Biblical teaching to grow. How do their reactions differ? Which person or church will more likely grow and survive the difficulties of life? We will either sit in judgment of Biblical truth, or we will submit to its powerful ability to change us for the better. We will never do both.

Paul confronted a good, but flawed, Thessalonian church with its error. He did so in love. He didn’t fail to see its good points and to commend them, but neither did he fail to observe that she was not a perfect church in need of some major changes to her theology and practice.

I offer a friendly challenge to each of us, an exercise in spiritual growth for the coming days. Spend some time assessing your church’s actual conduct and faith against the Biblical model. Do you carefully dust off rose-colored glasses and protest that everything about your church is absolutely perfect? Or do you see some areas that make you a bit uncomfortable, areas that, like this Thessalonian church, need some attention and change to bring your church closer to the Biblical model you found in Scripture? How willing are you, and your church, to confront areas of deficiency and to take corrective steps to bring your church closer to that model? The future—indeed the survival-of your church may well depend on just such thinking and conduct. The Lord may not like those " perfect" churches much more than we do! Churcholatry, the worship of church, is indeed a form of idolatry! Worshipping a church is little better than worshipping any other false god or idol. The Lord whom we serve requires exclusive worship of Himself alone. Church should assist that worship, not itself become an object of worship. It must not allow compromise to interfere with or hinder true worship!

332

PBC: 2Th 1:4

2Th 1:4

2 Thessalonians-Divine Judgment Never Sleeps

2Th 1:4-6

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; {2Th 1:4-6}

Why suffering for godly people? This question frequently surfaces in terms of a September 11, 2002 event, but it no less appears when an individual believer comes face to face with a catastrophic personal crisis. Sadly many who otherwise demonstrate reasonable faith crumble under pressure and use the event as an excuse for a major pity party.

Still other believers struggle a bit more with the problem. " God is testing me. What does he want me to learn?" Not a bad way to view your problem, but this reaction also falls short of Paul’s primary point in our passage. No doubt God intends to teach us through trials. While we would be quite content with the status quo, he intends to grow us stronger in our faith and in our fellowship with him. Is this the primary purpose for which God allows suffering in our lives, or is it a side benefit to a greater purpose?

It is amazing that we sometimes fall into the " God is testing me" syndrome on the premise that God wants to see how strong we are, how much we can endure. Out of our theological mindset we freely proclaim God’s omniscience, his all-knowingness. Then out of our experiential and sentimental mindset we say that God is testing us with the obvious implication that he actually doesn’t know for sure just how faithful or strong we are in our faith. So which is it? Does he know everything, or doesn’t he? If he is omniscient, he fully knows precisely how strong or weak we are in our faith. He has no need to put us to the test to know our standing. This dichotomy serves as a perfect example of the dangers of sentimental Christianity rather than Biblical Christianity. We freely criticize the New Age movement, and with good reason, but then we fall into the same error of relativistic sentimental religion on which the New Age ideas stand. To grasp the distinction between New Age philosophy and Biblical Christianity, one need only read briefly in Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, a classical second century work that refuted the contemporary gnostic claims to Christian roots. Irenaeus as a youth is reported to have learned his Christian foundations from Polycarp, himself a disciple of the apostle John. In many ways to read the gnostic errors that this giant of our faith confronted echoes much of the modern New Age philosophy’s foundations, further corrupted only by its incorporation of Hindu teachings. Irenaeus’ defended what we call Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, that the exclusive source of Christian truth is the public writings of the apostles and a few men close to them, the canon of Scripture, not a spurious secret verbal source or " revelation." Irenaeus appeals to Scripture alone as the believer’s source of spiritual knowledge and authority.

So if God has no need to learn how faithful or strong in faith we’ll be in trial, and if his primary design in suffering is not to teach us greater depth in Biblical truth, why does he allow it in our lives? In 2Th 1:4 Paul commends the Thessalonians for their patience and faith in their intense trials. We cannot overlook that first century Christians lived under almost constant threat against their lives and property due to their public faith. " I’m a Christian, but I don’t talk about it" would have shocked these giants in the faith, shocked them with shame that their pretended successors in the noble faith of their Lord Jesus Christ would live in timidity of faith or in ignorance of their Biblical obligation to serve as beacons of spiritual light in a dark world.

Let’s try something novel! Let’s grab Paul by the hand and allow him to lead us where he wants us to go with this nagging question. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God... What is it that serves as this token, this proof of God’s righteous judgment? And to whom does it serve as a " token" or proof of his righteous judgment? The text flows; it isn’t broken up into bite-size verses that, proverbs-like, stand alone and apart from their contextual setting.

It seems that the context of the passage leads us to consider that suffering Christians are not allowed to endure their trials to enable God to learn something he doesn’t already know. Rather he allows suffering to enable us to learn the power of his grace in our lives. Whether it be Abraham in the Old Testament or you and me today, God sends or allows trials and testing so as to instruct us in the weight of his incredible power.

Patience and faith aren’t the ordinary human response to suffering! They only appear when God is working in the trial and when we respond to him, not to the trial!

Pause and spend a few hours reading the book of Job. Consider particularly the first few chapters where you discover a conversation between God and Satan that Job never knew about. From the beginning God knew how Job would respond to trial. It was Satan, not God, who doubted his faith. Without a question God taught Job many things that he didn’t know before his suffering began. However, what is the point of Scripture with Job’s experience? Jas 5:11 cuts through forty two chapters of the Old Testament narrative and gives us the divine perspective in one simple sentence! God intended the Job’s experience to reveal to us his tender compassion upon his people.

In our lesson it is not the mere presence of suffering that becomes a direct evidence of divine judgment and justice. It is rather the way faithful believers respond to that suffering that magnifies God and gives glory to him! Had the Thessalonians plunged into a sentimental pity-party, wallowing in self-pity and complaint, would their suffering still have applauded God’s righteous judgment? I think not.

What does this lesson teach us? When suffering or unpleasantness invades your life, and rest assured that it will, how will you react? Don’t wait till it happens and then react with shock and disillusionment. Prepare for it every day with intense time in Scripture and in absorbing meditation on its relevance to your life. Don’t merely use the Bible to put yourself to sleep at nights. Use it to wake yourself up in the morning as well! Don’t try to build your whole life outside the light of Scripture with the excuse that it is no longer relevant or sufficiently clear in its message to teach you anything about how to really deal with life. Get so close to it with your mind and your heart, with you intellect and your emotions, that spiritual osmosis will occur. It will work its way through the pores of your soul into the deepest fabric of your being. Allow its refreshing moisture to revive the dry bones of life lived only for self-gratification. {Ps 32:1-11}

The message in this passage startles and challenges us. Perhaps more than at any other time in our lives, when suffering and trials invade our life, we have a golden opportunity to demonstrate God’s grace and righteous judgment. Instead of complaining, " Why would God allow such a thing to happen to me?" respond to your suffering with patience and faith. When Christians face difficulty, the whole world watches! How will we react in the moment of test? Will we abandon every tenet of our faith and join the self-centered and the godless in their " It isn’t fair" complaint? Or will we react in patient faith so that onlookers will be amazed and refreshed by our faithful endurance?

Suffering will come in our life. Don’t doubt it. We can’t know when or what form it will take. We may live as if the Garden of Eden never occurred and react with amazement when trials surprise us. Or we may spend daily time absorbing the Biblical worldview that prepares us for suffering when it inevitably comes.

So what is the major purpose in our suffering? While divine instruction no doubt should occur, God has a far greater design than our instruction. He intends to use our learning in suffering to proclaim his glory! Instead of responding to suffering so that weak Christians and unbelievers react with " How could a good God allow...?" we have the incredible opportunity to respond to it so that they will be amazed at God’s tender goodness. You see, we may face our suffering in our own weakness, or we may face it in God’s strength! One reaction will feed the fires of unbelief. The other will urge people to consider the incredible power and goodness of God. When your trial comes, how will you react? Don’t know? Well today is the best time to change. Build the habit of living so close to God that osmosis, the wondrous absorption of his power and vitality into your life, will transform you into a living demonstration of his power and of his righteous judgment. May He be praised in our suffering!

333

PBC: 2Th 1:5

See GILL: 2Th 1:5 Hit F4 and search for " that ye may be counted worthy"

NOTE: Notice the word " counted" in this text. It is not from the same Greek word as the texts in which " counted" and " imputed" and " imputeth" are usually found- SGreek: 3049. logizomai-but it does carry with it from the root of the word the idea of " weighing, having weight," from SGreek: 2661. kataxioo SGreek: 515. axioo and SGreek: 514. axios. IMHO, it is God who counts us worthy or imputes us worthy and it is ONLY that which gives any weight or any power or authority for us to ever be accounted worthy for anything.

PBC: 2Th 1:6

2Th 1:6

2 Thessalonians-Divine Judgment Will Come-Is Just

2Th 1:6-10

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his? mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.? {2Th 1:6-10}

Despite the temporary appearance that evil prevails and that God does nothing, in the end God will step into the equation and have the last word. Peter {2Pe 3:1-18} warns that unbelievers and scoffers will taunt believers with the delayed Second Coming and judgment. He observes that in order to rationalize their rejection of God’s certain judgment, these unbelievers intentionally ignore two certain and obvious truths. First, God created the universe. Neither matter nor the universe is eternal. Both have a beginning; the God who created them can destroy them. Second, God intervened in human history with the flood in Noah’s day. Everything doesn’t continue, naturalistic style, as it has always been. The flood presents us with a clear demonstration against the philosophy of naturalistic perpetual sameness. Archaeological discoveries clearly demonstrate the existence of major cataclysmic events in the earth’s history. Yet evolutionists make an indefensible leap into perpetual sameness when they attempt to date the earth and biological life on the earth. Even if believers bowed out of the dialogue, we have an example of two sciences that run in contradictory directions on the basis of scientific discoveries and the conclusions they draw from them.

It is a righteous thing with God to judge and dispense penalties upon the wicked. The length of the delay till judgment comes is not relevant to Christians. Whether it occurs next month or ten thousand years from now, the Christian’s faith simply holds that it will occur. All Biblical teaching indicates that it will occur suddenly and unexpectedly. The thief breaking into the house strongly implies that even the people who live in the house are taken by surprise at the event. This suggests that even Christians will be somewhat surprised at the Second Coming when it occurs. They will be praying for it, and anticipating it with joyful faith, but they will not expect it when it occurs. Given the general Biblical predictions of apostasy and a rampant increase in evil as the end approaches, it seems likely that Christians living at the time will likely be crying out along with past martyred saints, " How long oh Lord...?"{ Re 6:10}

Paul anticipates the long delay and encourages the Thessalonians to rest now in that expectation and to anticipate it with the deep conviction that they will rest with Christ when the day arrives. For any Biblical teacher to suggest that Christians should anticipate the Second Coming with fear flies in the face of this clear Biblical teaching. Paul didn’t warn the Thessalonians to fear the day, but to rest in the prospect of its ultimate arrival. The word translated rest in this passage refers to a temporary rest, a brief rest stop for soldiers from marching. Rather than referring to our eternal state after the resurrection, it appears that Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, and us, to view the Second Coming with peace and comfort, not with horror or fear. For the elect of God it will be a time of secure contentment and joy. They will see their persecutors brought to account before God for their sins and sentenced to a penalty that altogether fits the crimes they committed. In the closing chapters of Revelation when the Lamb begins to confront the enemy forces in the last colossal engagement, the saints are present, but seem to fill the role of witnesses to their Captain’s personal triumph, not to participate in the actual conflict.

Not only should believers view the Second Coming with a sense of peace and assurance, they should live with the realization that the actual experience of that day will be a moment of ultimate rest for them. Scripture’s description of heaven seems more to describe a new world of amazing activity, not of passive rest. Eternity for the saved will not be a never-ending church service! Nor will it be a perpetual existence of non-activity. The rest to which Paul exhorts the Thessalonians seems more logically to refer to our anticipation of the last Day than our actual experience when that Day arrives.

Notice the sequence of activities that occur following Paul’s exhortation to rest.

1. the Lord Jesus appears from heaven.

2. his mighty angels appear with him.

3. he takes vengeance on the wicked, here described as those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel.  Vengeance refers to appropriate justice not to revenge.

4. the glory of his might shall appear both in terms of the penalty he imposes justly upon the wicked, and also in terms of the blessing he pours out on the elect.

5. he will be glorified in the elect through his work in them.

6. he will be admired by the elect.  This thought hardly describes a fearful response to the Second Coming.

All these events serve to reinforce Paul’s exhortation to these people to rest peacefully as they anticipate the Day. It will not be a dreaded event at all, but rather the culmination of their Christian experience up to that time. As glorious as it shall be, however, it shall serve as a mere introduction to their eternity in glory with their risen and victorious Savior in heaven.

We cannot miss the point so obviously included in this lesson. Both blessing and judgment form the full agenda of the Second Coming and final judgment. The elect will awake in glorified resurrection bodies. Their Savior shall be glorified in them as never before in their life on earth. Our role in heaven will not appear in our busily counting the stars in our crown, but in our glorification of our Lord for his gracious work in and for us, more apparent and glorious then than we ever imagined. Further we shall admire him, not our crowns. The self-absorbed " stars in my crown" mindset so sadly common among modern Christians will be alien to that day and our time in heaven.

The other point to note in this lesson has to do with divine judgment. The people described by the double term " know not God and obey not the gospel" shall face God’s wrath and justice. Occasionally sentimental Christians, Christians who allow personal sentiment to rule over Biblical revelation, will try to defend the idea of universalism that all human beings shall be saved in heaven. Occasionally they will defend their view by asserting that all Biblical references to hell or to divine punishment refers to " making our own hell on earth." A number of passages in Scripture simply will not bend to this sentimental idea. This passage encourages suffering Christians, but it uses their anticipation of the last day as the tool of encouragement. Both the final judgment and punishment of the wicked and the incredible joys of the righteous stand side by side as an inspired description of our entrance into eternity. In our sentimentality we overlook God’s essential attributes, one of which is holiness. For reasons our emotions may not fully comprehend today God will gain glory from the eternal demonstration of his holiness through the punishment of the wicked just as he will gain honor for his mercy and grace through our receiving heaven and its joys.

In that day. Paul directs all the events he has described here to " that day." The full preterist school of eschatology (I do not impose this conclusion on partial preterists, though that view leaves many questions unanswered in this area.) interprets that all the passages dealing with final judgment and Second Coming refer to the divine judgment against the city of Jerusalem and the first century Jewish culture in A. D. 70. Though that event exhibits the marks of divine judgment, it hardly fulfills the context of these words from Paul to a church on the Greek peninsula in the ancient city of Thessalonica. Scripture clearly and repeatedly predicts a final day in which God shall bring the universe as we know it to an end, impose final and decisive judgment upon his enemies, and raise his elect to eternal glory. Frequently the advocates of this eschatological school point to 1Th 4:1-18 and imply that Paul fully expected the Second Coming (as defined by the preterist school in A. D. 70) in his lifetime. Even so, according to all reliable historical records, Paul died before A. D. 70! More likely is the idea that Paul taught the imminence, not the immediacy, of the Second Coming in 1 Thessalonians. Then in 2 Thessalonians, correcting a misunderstanding (interestingly a preterist misunderstanding!) in this church, in 2 Thessalonians he clearly taught that the Second Coming shall occur only after a significant delay. We should live in joyful anticipation of it, in certain expectation of it, but also in faithful service till it arrives!

334

PBC: 2Th 1:9

Whole Verse:

The context starts back in 2Th 1:1 as Paul is addressing a Church. He continues to commend them for their continued faith and charity and continues on in such thankfulness in 2Th 1:4-7, and in 2Th 1:7-9 he DECLARES the facts of the coming future at the End-Time to them, but ABOUT others. Any one who is TROUBLED about these Eternal Things needs this " rest." However, there is a group of folks Paul is about to tell this Church about, that are NOT troubled.

He tells them in 2Th 1:7-9 -" And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that KNOW NOT GOD," and (obviously also) " OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL of our Lord Jeus Christ:" (And of such a group of folks who qualify in BOTH of these just mentioned categories of KNOWING NOT GOD and ALSO Obeying not the gospel) designates their final plight as 2Th 1:9 -" Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power."

Those who OBEY NOT the gospel are the SAME GROUP that ALSO do NOT KNOW GOD. This does not even come close to teaching about infants and/or mentally retarded, simple or feeble-minded folks. This is only teaching the final destiny of the non-elect. There has never been a person who KNOWS NOT GOD, that is capable of, or desires to, or is even aware of THE GOSPEL.

Ps 10:4 -" The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." Does the INFANT, mentally retarded, simple or feeble-minded person have a PRIDE OF COUNTENANCE? No, no, no.

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Haydock: 2Th 1:5

For an example of the just judgment of God. That is, that the persecutions and troubles you suffer in this world shew the justice of God in punishing men for their sins, even in this life, so that by these temporal pains you may be found worthy of a crown of eternal glory in the kingdom of God. (Witham) ---

The afflictions, which are here frequently the portion of the just, are sensible proofs of the rigour with which the Almighty will, at the day of final retribution, pour out his indignation on the wicked. For, if he is unwilling to let the just be free from all temporal punishment, (though he discharges their debt of the eternal) and if he continually exposes them to the derision, calumnies, and persecutions of the wicked, what have not the wicked to apprehend when he shall stretch forth his hand in vengeance? Or, as others explain it, God permits the good to be persecuted here, that one day he may treat the wicked according to the rigour of his justice. He permits them here to fill up the measure of their iniquities, that on the last day he may reward the long suffering of the one, and punish the infidelity of the other. In both the one and the other, the finger of God's justice will clearly manifest itself. If the hopes of the good reached no farther than this life, they would be the most wretched of beings; for here, in general, they are more exposed than any to the injuries of the wicked. Nothing proves more clearly the necessity of a general judgment, than this his conduct to his most chosen servants. For it is impossible that, just as he is, he should permit patience and faith to go unrewarded, or wickedness and injustice unpunished. The Son of God has promised us heaven only on condition that we bear wrongs patiently. (Calmet) ---

Here again the apostle teaches the advantages of sufferings which the Thessalonians joyfully underwent, to be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, Greek: Kataxiothenai umas; and ver. 11, ibid. Greek: axiose. The apostle teaches here, that nothing defiled shall ever enter into the kingdom of heaven; and gives us to understand at the same time, that he will one day punish with extreme rigour the cruelty and impiety of persecutors. (Bible de Vence)

Haydock: 2Th 1:6

Seeing [1] it is a just thing. Literally, If yet it be just. St. John Chrysostom takes notice, that we must not expound the text as if St. Paul made a doubt whether it was just or not for God to repay retribution to such as troubled, afflicted, and persecuted his faithful servants, and to punish them when he shall be revealed (i.e. at the day of judgment) with flaming fire, or with the flames of hell: nothing certainly is more just; as on the contrary, it is just to reward the pious and those who are found worthy of the glorious kingdom of God. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Si tamem justum est, Greek: eiper dikaion. See St. John Chrysostom, ( Greek: log. b. p. 226) Greek: eiper entautha anti tou epei, &c.

Haydock: 2Th 1:9

Being confounded with the face of the Lord, whom they have rejected, and with the glory of his power and greatness, which will appear in irresistible splendour and majesty.

Haydock: 2Th 1:10

This shall be at the last day, when Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be made [2] wonderful (to be admired and praised) in or by all them who have believed in that day: (i.e. the things foretold of that day) because our testimony [3] was believed upon you concerning that day, i.e. as to the punishments and rewards that shall be given on that day. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Admirabilis fieri in omnibus, Greek: thaumasthenai en pasi.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Quia creditum est testimonium nostrum super vos in illa die, Greek: oti episteuthe to marturion emon eph umas, en te emera ekeine.

Gill: 2Th 1:1

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus,.... See Gill on 1Th 1:1.

Gill: 2Th 1:2

Grace be unto you, and peace,.... See Gill on Rom 1:7.

Gill: 2Th 1:3

We are bound to thank God,.... Since all blessings, temporal and spiritual, come from him: and that always: seeing he is ever giving out fresh favours, or continuing former ones; and because those, especially which are of a spiritual nature, always abide, such as faith and love; which the apostle particularly takes notice of, the members of this Church had, and were increasing in them: for it was not for himself, but for them he gives thanks,

for you, brethren: who were so, not in a natural or civil relation, but in a spiritual one, being the children of God, and brethren of Christ; and to do this for them, he looked upon himself with others under an obligation:

as it is meet; just, proper, and fitting; it not only becomes the persons who have received mercies from God to be thankful for them; but it is very right for others to join with them in it, and especially the ministers of the Gospel, who are bound, and whom it becomes: it is agreeable to their office and profession to give God the praise and glory of all the grace, and the increase of it, which those, who attend their labours, are favoured with, since this is not of them, but of God; and it was for an increase of grace the apostle here gives thanks, as he judged he was obliged to do, and it was fit he should.

Because that your faith groweth exceedingly. Their faith was not a faith of miracles, nor a mere historical faith, or a counterfeit and temporary one, but the faith of God's elect; which is the evidence of things not seen, of an unseen Christ, and the glories of another world; that grace by which a man goes out of himself to Christ for righteousness, life, and salvation; by which he is justified, and by which he lives on Christ, and walks on in him as he has received him. This was theirs; it was not of themselves, the produce of nature, or the fruit of their natural power and free will; but it was the gift of God, and of his operation; a fruit of the Spirit of God, and of which Christ was the author and finisher; and was only theirs, as being given unto them, implanted in them, and exercised by them under the influence of the Spirit of God, and for their use, comfort, and advantage. This was, at first, but like a grain of mustard seed, very small, but gradually increased, and grew exceedingly; and from seeing of Christ, and looking at him, and which at first might be very dim and obscure, it proceeded to going or coming to him; and which might be in a very feeble manner, and was not without being drawn and led, and great encouragements, many invitations, and large assurances; and from thence to a laying hold upon him, though it may be but in a trembling way, and not without being called to stretch forth the hand of faith, and be no more faithless, but believing; and from thence to a leaning and relying on him, trusting in him with all, and for all; and from thence to claiming an interest in him, saying, my Lord, and my God, which is the full assurance of faith; and when it is come to this, it is grown exceedingly, which might be the case of these Thessalonians; which the apostle knew by the aboundings of their love, for faith works by love; and by their patience, firmness, and resolution in suffering for Christ; all which are in proportion to faith, and the growth of it; and for this he gives thanks to God, for faith is a precious thing; and as that itself, so the increase of it is from God, and therefore to him the praise belongs:

and the charity of everyone of you towards each other aboundeth; as their faith in Christ, so their love to one another was increasing, and showed itself in serving one another both in temporals and spirituals; and this was not the case of a few only, or of the greater part, but of everyone of them; which made their communion with one another very comfortable and delightful. For what is more pleasant than for brethren to dwell together in unity?

Gill: 2Th 1:4

So that we ourselves glory in you,.... Or "of you"; for though they were the subject concerning which, yet not the object in which they gloried; the apostle elsewhere advises not to glory in men, but only in the Lord; nor was this his practice contrary to his advice, for he did not boast of these persons with respect to their carnal things; he did not glory in their flesh, nor in their riches, nor wisdom, nor strength, nor any external gift; he gloried indeed of their graces, and of the exercise and increase of them; but of these not as of themselves, or as owing to him, and his fellow ministers, but as instances of the grace of God, and for which he gives thanks to him: and besides, he did not glory of these in the presence of God, in whose presence none should glory, but

in the churches of God; the other churches in Macedonia and Achaia, as Philippi, Berea, Corinth, &c. he gave thanks to God for them, and gloried of them before men, or among the saints, to the glory of the grace of God in them, and in order to stir up other churches to an emulation and imitation of them. And the particulars he gloried of them for were as follow,

for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: many and sore were the reproaches, the afflictions, and persecutions that befell them for the sake of Christ, and their profession of him, and his Gospel; and which is more or less the case of everyone that will live godly in Christ Jesus: and these they endured, they bore and stood up under, they were not shocked, and staggered, and moved from the hope of the Gospel by them; which shows that the truth of grace was in them; for where there is not the root of the matter, when tribulation and affliction arise because of the profession of the word, such are offended, stumbled, and quickly gone; but these saints endured their afflictions, and with great patience, without murmuring and repining, and with great constancy, firmness, and resolution of mind. They stood fast in the grace and doctrine of faith, and in the profession of both, which they held without wavering, and none of the things they met with could move them from it. The apostle had mentioned their faith before, and he takes notice of it again, because their patience, constancy, and perseverance in sufferings, arose from it; for the trying of faith works patience, Jam 1:3. The Ethiopic version leaves out the word "faith", but very wrongly.

Gill: 2Th 1:5

Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God,.... That is, according as some think, that God should glorify those that are persecuted, and punish their persecutors: this sense indeed may seem to agree with what follows; but the apostle is speaking not of something future, but of something present; not of what God will do hereafter, but of the present sufferings of the saints. According to others the sense is, that God's suffering affliction and persecution to befall his own people, as a chastisement of them, that they may not be condemned with the world, is an evidence of his strict justice, that he will not suffer sin in any to go unobserved by him; and is a manifest token how severely and righteously he will punish the wicked hereafter, see 1Pe 4:17. But rather the meaning of the words is this, that whereas good men are afflicted and persecuted in this life, they have now their evil things, and bad men prosper and flourish, and have their good things, so that justice does not seem to take place; which seeming inequality in Providence has been sometimes the hardening of wicked men, and the staggering of the righteous, which should not be; this is now a manifest token, and a clear case, that there will be a righteous judgment, in which things will be set aright, and justice will take place; for God is neither unrighteous nor careless, or negligent; and this is observed to support the saints under their sufferings, and to animate them to bear them patiently:

that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer; either of the Gospel, which is sometimes so called, and for which they suffered, and so judged themselves worthy of it; as those that put it away from them, and care not to suffer the least reproach for it, show themselves to be unworthy of it, and of eternal life also: or of a Gospel church state, and a name, and a place in it, for which the people of God likewise suffer; and those who shun reproach and sufferings for it are not worthy to have a place, or their names there: or rather of the heavenly glory; for the hope of which saints suffer much here, whereby their graces are tried, and so they are counted worthy, not by way of merit of it, but meetness for it; many tribulations are the way, or at least lie in the way to this kingdom. In the school of afflictions the saints are trained up for it; and though these are not worthy to be compared with their future happiness, yet they work for them an eternal weight of glory; by the means of these the graces of the Spirit of God are exercised and increased, their hearts are weaned from the world; and coming up out of great tribulations, they wash their garments, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, and are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light.

Gill: 2Th 1:6

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God,.... That which is righteous in itself, is righteous in the sight of God, but it is not always so with men; men may think it a righteous thing that they should be rewarded for persecuting the followers of Christ, supposing they hereby do God good service; but on the contrary, with God, and in his sight and account, it is a righteous thing, or a point of justice,

to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you: persecution is an affliction, or a trouble to the saints; persecutors trouble them in their minds and bodies, in their persons and property; they trouble their minds by casting reflections and reproaches upon them, by severe revilings, and cruel mockings, which all are not alike able to bear; and they trouble and afflict their bodies by imprisonment and bonds, by scourging and beating, and various cruel and torturing deaths; and they disturb them in the possession of their estates, by spoiling their goods, and confiscating them to their own use; and it is but according to "lex talionis", the law of retaliation, to render tribulation to such troublers of God's Israel; and to them it is recompensed, either in this world, or in the world to come: sometimes in this world persecutors are manifest instances of God's judgments and wrath upon them, as Herod, who stretched out his hands to vex certain of the church, killed James the brother of John, and imprisoned Peter, and was smitten by the angel of the Lord, and was eaten of worms; and the Jews, who were now the only and the implacable persecutors of the saints, in a short time had the wrath of God come upon them to the uttermost, even upon their nation, city, and temple, upon their persons and property. And if not in this life, it is a certain thing that hereafter such shall have indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish; they shall be cast into outward darkness, into the lake of fire; and the hottest place in hell will be their portion, even devouring flames, and everlasting burnings; and are what is designed by tribulations here.

Gill: 2Th 1:7

And to you who are troubled, rest with us,.... This is another branch of the justice of God, in rendering to them who are afflicted and persecuted for righteousness sake, "rest"; a relaxation or rest from persecutions, for a while at least; as the churches of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had, from that persecution raised at the death of Stephen, Act 9:31 and as the Christians had at the destruction of Jerusalem; which though it was a day of vengeance to the unbelieving Jews, were times of refreshing to the saints, who were now delivered from their persecutors: or rather this designs a rest which remains for the saints after death in the grave, and at the coming of the Lord, and to all eternity; when they shall rest from all their toil and labour, and be freed from sin, and all disquietude by it, and from the temptations of Satan, and likewise from the persecutions of men; see Job 3:17. And this will be enjoyed in company with the apostles, and other believers; and as it is some alleviation to the sufferings and afflictions of saints now, that the same are accomplished in others, so it will enhance the heavenly glory, rest, and felicity, that they will be partners and sharers in it with the apostles of Christ Jesus, and have the same crown of glory they have; and indeed their company and conversation will be a part of their happiness.

When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven; then will the justice of God take place in both the above branches and instances of it, rendering tribulation to persecutors, and rest to the persecuted. Christ, ever since a cloud received him out of the sight of the apostles up to heaven, has been, as it were, hid, and has not been seen with corporeal eyes by men on earth ever since, but by a very few, as Stephen, and the Apostle Paul; he has only been seen by an eye of faith; at his second coming there will be a revelation of him, and every eye shall see him: and this revelation of him will be "from heaven": thither he was received at his ascension, and there he now is; and here he is received, and will be retained until the end of all things; and from hence the saints expect him, and from hence will he descend in person, and then he will be revealed, and appear to the view of everyone: and that

with his mighty angels; which will add to the glory, majesty, and solemnity of that appearance: these are called his angels, because he is the Creator of them, and the object of their worship and adoration, and he is the Lord and head of them, and they are ministering spirits to him and his; and "mighty" angels, because they excel all other creatures in strength; a remarkable instance of the might and strength of angels is in 2Ki 19:35. The words from the original text may be rendered, "with the angels of his power"; as they are by the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, for they will be the ministers of the power of Christ in gathering the elect from the four winds, and all nations, before Christ; and in taking out of his kingdom all that offend, and do iniquity; and in severing the righteous from the wicked; and in casting the latter into the furnace of fire. The Syriac version reads the words, "with the power of his angels".

Gill: 2Th 1:8

In flaming fire,.... Which may either refer to Christ, who will be revealed from heaven in such a manner; and whose coming will be as the lightning, not only sudden, but glorious, illustrious, and visible; he will be seen and easily discerned; there will be such a light and flaming fire about him, which, as it will serve to make him visible, will greatly add to the majesty of his appearance, and strike terror to his enemies, and burn them up round about; see Dan 7:7 or else it may refer to the angels, who shall descend in fiery forms, which is agreeably to their nature, Psa 104:4 and so they appeared in the forms of horses of fire, and chariots of fire, when Elijah was carried up to heaven. And it is a tradition of the Jews ^z, that the angel Gabriel descended בשלהובא דאשא, "in a flame of fire", to burn Moses, as he was in the inn, when upon his journey from Midian to Egypt: or this clause may be read in construction with the following, as it is in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, "in flaming fire taking vengeance"; and so expresses the manner in which vengeance will be taken on the wicked by Christ, the Judge of all, to whom it belongs: and the punishment of ungodly men is often signified by fire, and flames of fire, by the fire of hell, and a lake which burns with fire and brimstone, by a furnace of fire, everlasting fire, and fire that cannot be quenched, to set forth the endless torture and inconceivable misery of the damned; and it may be, some regard is had to the general conflagration, which will be at the coming of Christ, when the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth, and all that is in it, shall be burnt up, when the bodies of the wicked, then living, will be consumed in flames of fire, and their souls feel the wrath of the Almighty. The persons who will then be punished, and on whom vengeance will be taken, are described as follows,

on them that know not God; which is a periphrasis, or common character of the Gentiles, 1Th 4:5 who know not the one, true, and living God; or know him not so as to glorify him as God, and be thankful to him for the mercies they receive from him, and still less know him in Christ Jesus; which ignorance of theirs is not without sin, nor will it excuse from punishment; for though vengeance will not be taken on them, because they have not a spiritual saving knowledge of God, in the Mediator Jesus Christ, who never was revealed to them; yet forasmuch as they had the light and law of nature, by which the being of God, and the invisible perfections of his nature might be seen and understood, and much of his will, with respect to moral good and evil, be known, against both which they have rebelled, and having sinned, will perish without law: though it may also include all such persons, who having been favoured with an external revelation, have professed to know God, and yet in works have denied him:

and that obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; of which Christ is the author, was the preacher, and is the sum and substance; which is good news and glad tidings of the grace of, God, of peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation by Christ; which may be said to be obeyed, when it is received and embraced by faith, with and from the heart, and confession is made of it with the mouth, and the ordinances of it are submitted to; and which is called the obedience of faith, because faith without obedience is not right, and obedience without faith is of no avail: but all that hear the Gospel do not obey it; there are some that disbelieve and reject the doctrines and ordinances of it, and others that, do profess it, and do not yield a cordial and cheerful obedience to it; both may be reckoned among the disobeyers of it: and though the unbelieving Jews may be chiefly designed here, yet deists of every age and place, where the Gospel revelation has come, and carnal professors, and profane despisers everywhere, may be included; whose condemnation will be aggravated by the external light which has shone around them, and they have hated; the severest punishment will be inflicted on them; it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah, than for such persons; see 1Pe 4:17.

Gill: 2Th 1:9

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction,.... With destruction both of soul and body, though not with the annihilation of either; their gnawing worm of conscience will never die, and the fire of divine wrath will never be quenched; the smoke of their torment will ascend for ever. Sin being committed against an infinite and eternal Being, will be infinite in its duration; nor will it cease to be in the persons punished, who will not be in the least reformed or purged from sin by punishment; which will make the continuance of it just and necessary. And these will be driven

from the presence of the Lord; as the former clause may express the punishment of sense the wicked will feel in their own breasts, this may intend the punishment of loss; or what they will be deprived of, the presence of the Lord, in which the happiness of angels, and of glorified saints lies; and may also signify how sudden and terrible their destruction will be. As soon as the Lord appears, they will perish at his presence like wax before the fire; and so awful will be his appearance, they will flee from it with the utmost terror, and call to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the face of the Lord, and to screen them from his wrath:

and from the glory of his power; or his glorious power, in which he shall come, and which will be exerted, and shown in raising the dead, and gathering all nations before him, in passing sentence on them, and in executing it. For he has power, as to save, so to destroy, as to glorify the bodies and souls of his saints, so to destroy the wicked, both body and soul, in hell; and the glory of his power will be seen in the one, as well as in the other. And now it will be, that tribulation will be rendered to the troublers of the Lord's people.

Gill: 2Th 1:10

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints,.... Or by them who are set apart for holiness and happiness by God the Father; whose sins are expiated by the blood and sacrifice of Christ; to whom he is made sanctification; and who are sanctified by the Spirit and grace of God; and in whom Christ has a peculiar interest, through his Father's gift, his own purchase, and the power of his grace: and when he comes a second time he will be glorified in these persons; he will appear glorious to them; he will come in his own glory both as God and man; and in his Father's glory, authority, and majesty, conferred on him as the Judge of the whole earth; and with the glory of his angels, who will accompany him. And he will also bestow a glory on them; their souls will be endowed with perfect knowledge and holiness; and their bodies will be made like to his glorious body; and both will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father; and this glory on the members of Christ will redound to the glory of him their head. And as he will then, in the most full and clear manner, display the glory of his person and perfections, of his wisdom, power, faithfulness, and goodness, set off the glory of his offices, and, the administration of them, and open the riches both of his grace and glory to them; so they will, in return, ascribe honour, praise, and glory, to him, and give him the glory of their salvation to all eternity:

and to be admired in all them that believe; who are the same with the saints; these are convertible terms; for no man can be a saint, unless he is a believer in Christ, let him make what pretensions to holiness he will: and no man can be a true believer in Christ, unless he is a saint; for true faith works by love, and in a way of holiness; and in those, or by those that are sanctified by faith in him, will he be admired when he appears a second time. He is admired by them now; he is with them the chiefest among ten thousands, and altogether lovely: they wonder at the glory and beauty of his person, and the fulness of his grace; and are amazed that such as they are should be admitted to communion with him; and how much more will they wonder, when they shall see him as he is? and he will be admired by others on the account of them, when they shall see those that they have despised, and persecuted, and accounted as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, received into the arms of Jesus with all the expressions of tenderness and love; placed at his right hand, and set down with him on his throne, clothed with white robes, and crowns on their head, and palms in their hands: and he himself will be admired with them, when they shall see him whom they took to be a mere man, and who was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs, and was loaded with reproach and ignominy, and at last suffered a shameful death, coming in the clouds of heaven in power and great glory as the Judge of quick and dead; thus will he be admired by them, in them, and with them.

(Because our testimony among you was believed) in that day; the phrase, "in that day", belongs to all that goes before, as that Christ shall take vengeance on wicked men, and they shall be punished by him, and he shall be glorified and admired in and by his people in that day, when he shall be revealed from heaven, and come to judge both quick and dead. Though some versions read it in construction with the clause immediately preceding, "because our testimony among you was believed in that day"; or concerning that day; that is, you gave credit to the testimony we bore, when among you, concerning this illustrious day of the Lord; or our testimony, the ministry of the word by us, in which we bore a testimony to the person and grace of Christ, to his first, and to his second coming, was received and embraced by you with a view to this day, and to the enjoyment of the glory of it. The Arabic version renders it, "for our testimony will be true in that day"; that is, it will appear to be so, everything we have said will be accomplished then. The Syriac version is very remote, "that our testimony concerning you may be believed in that day": but it is best to read this clause in a parenthesis, as in our version; which is an application of what is said to the Thessalonians, who might conclude, that since they had embraced the testimony of the Lord Jesus, borne unto him by his apostles, they would be found among the number of the saints and believers, in whom Christ would be glorified and admired; the consideration of which might animate and encourage them to endure afflictions and persecutions with patience, and to hold out to the end, and at last enjoy the heavenly glory, for which the apostle next prays.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Th 1:1

¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

² map For the location of Thessalonica see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:2

¹ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

² tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A F G I 0278 Ï lat sy sa) have ἡμῶν (Jhmwn) after πατρός (patros), reading “God our Father,” in apparent emulation of Paul’s almost universal style. The omission of the pronoun (the reading of B D P 0111^vid 33 1739 1881 pc) seems to be the original wording of this salutation. As well, the intrinsic evidence also supports the shorter reading: If 2 Thessalonians is authentic, it was one of Paul’s earliest letters, and, if so, his stereotyped salutation was still in embryonic form (see discussion at 1 Thess 1:1). NA²⁷ places the word in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:3

¹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

² tn Grk “as is worthy.”

NET Notes: 2Th 1:5

¹ tn Grk “so that you may be made worthy.” The passive infinitive καταξιωθῆναι (kataxiwqhnai) has been translated as an active construction in English for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:6

¹ tn Grk “if in fact/since,” as a continuation of the preceding.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:7

¹ tn Grk “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.”

² tn Grk “angels of power,” translated as an attributive genitive.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:8

¹ tn Grk “meting out,” as a description of Jesus Christ in v. 7. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 8 in the translation.

² sn An allusion to Jer 10:25, possibly also to Ps 79:6 and Isa 66:15.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:9

¹ tn Grk “who,” describing the people mentioned in v. 8. A new sentence was started here in the translation by replacing the relative pronoun with a personal pronoun.

² tn Or “power,” or “might.” The construction can also be translated as an attributed genitive: “from his glorious strength” (cf. TEV “glorious might”; CEV “glorious strength”; NLT “glorious power”).

sn An allusion to Isa 2:10, 19, 21.

NET Notes: 2Th 1:10

¹ tn Or “marveled at.”

² tn Grk “because our testimony to you was believed.”

Geneva Bible: 2Th 1:3

^{( 1 )} We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith ^{( a )} groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

^{( 1 )} The first part of the epistle, in which he rejoices that through the grace of God, they have bravely sustained all the assaults of their enemies. And in this he strengthens and encourages them, moreover showing with what gifts they must mainly fight, that is, with faith and charity, which must daily increase.

^{( a )} That whereas it grew up before, it does also receive some increase every day more and more.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 1:5

^{( 2 )} [Which is] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

^{( 2 )} He shows the source of all true comfort, that is, that in afflictions which we suffer from the wicked for righteousness' sake, we may behold as it were in a mirror the testimony of that judgment to come, the end of which is most acceptable to us, and most severe to his enemies.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 1:6

^{( 3 )} Seeing [it is] a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

^{( 3 )} A proof: God is just, and therefore he will worthily punish the unjust, and will do away the miseries of his people.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 1:7

And to you who are troubled rest ^{( 4 )} with us, ^{( 5 )} when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

^{( 4 )} He strengthens and encourages them also along the way by this means, that the condition both of this present state and the state to come, is common to him with them. ^{( 5 )} A most glorious description of the second coming of Christ, to be set against all the miseries of the godly, and the triumphs of the wicked.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 1:8

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them ^{( 6 )} that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

^{( 6 )} There is no knowledge of God to salvation, without the Gospel of Christ.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 1:10

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (^{( 7 )} because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

^{( 7 )} They are considered as children of God by the faith which they have in the Gospel, which is preached to them by the apostles.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 2Th 1:1-12

1 Paul certifies them of the good opinion which he had of their faith, love, and patience;

11 and therewithal uses divers reasons for the comforting of them in persecution, whereof the chief is taken from the righteous judgment of God.

Maclaren: 2Th 1:10

Christ Glorified In Glorified Men

He shall come to be glorified in His saints; and to be admired in all them that believe.'--2 Thess. 1:10.

THE TWO Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are the Apostle's earliest letters, both give very great prominence to the thought of the second coming of our Lord to judgment. In the immediate context we have that coming described, with circumstances of majesty and of terror. He shall be revealed with the angels of His power.' Flaming fire' shall herald His coming; vengeance shall be in His hands, punishment shall follow His sentence; everlasting destruction shall be the issue of evil confronted with the face of the Lord' --for so the words in the previous verse rendered the presence of the Lord' might more accurately be translated.

And all these facts and images are, as it were, piled up in one half of the Apostle's sky, as in thunderous lurid masses; and on the other side there is the pure blue and the peaceful sunshine. For all this terror and destruction, and flashing fire, and punitive vengeance come to pass in the day when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that believe.'

There be the two halves--the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the revelation of a stranger, and the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the glorifying of Him who is their life.

I. The Remarkable Words Which I Have Taken For My Text Suggest To Us,

First of all, some thoughts about that striking expression that Christ is glorified in the men who are glorified in Christ.

If you look on a couple of verses you will find that the Apostle returns to this thought, and expresses in the clearest fashion the reciprocal character of that glorifying' of which he has been speaking. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' says he, may be glorified in you, and ye in Him.'

So, then, glorifying has a double meaning. There is a double process involved. It means either to make glorious' or to manifest as being glorious.' And men are glorified in the former sense in Christ, that Christ in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He makes them glorious by imparting to them of the lustrous light and flashing beauty of His own perfect character, in order that that light, received into their natures, and streaming out at last conspicuously manifest from their redeemed perfectness, may redound to the praise and the honour, before a whole universe, of Him who has thus endued their weakness with His own strength, and transmuted their corruptibility into His own immortality. We are glorified in Christ in some partial, and, alas! sinfully fragmentary, manner here; we shall be so perfectly in that day. And when we are thus glorified in Him, then--wondrous thought!--even we shall be able to manifest Him as glorious before some gazing eyes, which without us would have seen Him as less fair. Dim, and therefore great and blessed thoughts about what men may become are involved in such words. The highest end, the great purpose of the Gospel and of all God's dealings with us in Christ Jesus is to make us like our Lord. As we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. We, beholding the glory, are changed into the glory.'

And that glorifying of men in Christ, which is the goal and highest end of Christ's Cross and passion and of all God's dealings, is accomplished only because Christ dwells in the men whom He glorifies. We read words applying to His relation to His Father which need but to be transferred to our relation to Him, in order to teach us high and blessed things about this glorifying. The Father dwelt in Christ, therefore Christ was glorified by the indwelling divinity, in the sense that His humanity was made partaker of the divine glory, and thereby He glorified the divinity that dwelt in Him, in the sense that He conspicuously displayed it before the world as worthy of all admiration and love.

And, in like manner, as is the Son with the Father, participant of mutual and reciprocal glorification, so is the Christian with Christ, glorified in Him and therefore glorifying Him.

What may be involved therein of perfect moral purity, of enlarged faculties and powers, of a bodily frame capable of manifesting all the finest issues of a perfect spirit, it is not for us to say. These things are great, being hidden; and are hidden because they are great. But whatever may be the lofty heights of Christlikeness to which we shall attain, all shall come from the indwelling Lord who fills us with His own Spirit.

And, then, according to the great teaching here, this glorified humanity, perfected and separated from all imperfection, and helped into all symmetrical unfolding of dormant possibilities, shall be the highest glory of Christ even in that day when He comes in His glory and sits upon the throne of His glory with His holy angels with Him. One would have thought that, if the Apostle wanted to speak of the glorifying of Jesus Christ, he would have pointed to the great white throne, His majestic divinity, the solemnities of His judicial office; but he passes by all these, and says, Nay! the highest glory of the Christ lies here, in the men whom He has made to share His own nature.'

The artist is known by his work. You stand in front of some great picture, or you listen to some great symphony, or you read some great book, and you say, This is the glory of Raphael, Beethoven, Shakespeare.' Christ points to His saints, and He says, Behold My handiwork! Ye are my witnesses. This is what I can do.'

But the relation between Christ and His saints is far deeper and more intimate than simply the relation between the artist and his work, for all the flashing light of moral beauty, of intellectual perfectness which Christian men can hope to receive in the future is but the light of the Christ that dwells in them, and of whose fulness all they have received.' Like some poor vapour, in itself white and colourless, which lies in the eastern sky there, and as the sun rises is flushed up into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caught the light amongst its flaming threads and vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves pale, ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the Alpine snow passes off them, being recipient of an indwelling Christ, shall blush and flame in beauty. Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in my Father's kingdom.' Or, rather they are not suns shining by their own light, but moons reflecting the light of Christ, who is their light.

And perchance some eyes, incapable of beholding the sun, may be able to look undazzled upon the sunshine in the cloud, and some eyes that could not discern the glory of Christ as it shines in His face as the sun shineth in its strength, may not be too weak to behold and delight in the light as it is reflected from the face of His servants. At all events, He shall come to be glorified in the saints whom He has made glorious.

II. And Now, Notice Again, Out Of These Full And Pregnant Words The Other Thought, That This Transformation Of Men Is The Great Miracle And Marvel Of Christ's Power.

He shall come to be admired'--which word is employed in its old English signification, to be wondered at'--in all them that believe.' So fair and lovely is He that He needs but to be recognised for what He is in order to be glorified. So great and stupendous are His operations in redeeming love that they need but to be beheld to be the object of wonder. His name shall be called Wonderful,' and wonderfully the energy of His redeeming and sanctifying grace shall then have wrought itself out to its legitimate end. There you get the crowning marvel of marvels, and the highest of miracles. He did wonderful works upon earth which we rightly call miraculous,--things to be wondered at--but the highest of all His wonders is the wonder that takes such material as you and me, and by such a process, and on such conditions, simply because we trust Him, evolves such marvellous forms of beauty and perfectness from us. He is to be wondered at in all them that believe.'

Such results from such material! Chemists tell us that the black bit of coal in your grate and the diamond on your finger are varying forms of the one substance. What about a power that shall take all the black coals in the world and transmute them into flashing diamonds, prismatic with the reflected light that comes from His face, and made gems on His strong right hand? The universe will wonder at such results from such material.

And it will wonder, too, at the process by which they were accomplished, wondering at the depth of His pity revealed all the more pathetically now from the great white throne which casts such a light on the Cross of Calvary; wondering at the long, weary path which He who is now declared to be the Judge humbled Himself to travel in the quest of these poor sinful souls whom He has redeemed and glorified. The miracle of miracles is redeeming love; and the high-water mark of Christ's wonders is touched in this fact, that out of men He makes saints; and out of saints He makes perfect likenesses of Himself.

III. And Now A Word About What Is Not Expressed, But Is Necessarily Implied In This Verse, Viz., The Spectators Of This Glory.

The Apostle does not tell us what eyes they are before which Christ is thus to be glorified. He does not summon the spectators to look upon this wonderful exhibition of divine judgment and divine glory; but we may dwell for a moment on the thought that to whomsoever in the whole universe Christ at that great day shall be manifested, to them, whoever they be, will His glory, in His glorified saints, be a revelation beyond what they have known before. Every eye shall see Him.' And whatsoever eyes look upon Him, then on His throne, they shall behold the attendant courtiers and the assessors of His judgment, and see in them the manifestation of His own lustrous light.

We read that unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places shall be made known' in future days, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.' We hear that, after the burst of praise which comes from redeemed men standing around the throne, every creature in the earth and in the heavens, and in the sea and all that are therein were heard saying,' Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.'

We need not speculate, it is better not to enter into details, but this, at least, is clear, that that solemn winding up of the long, mysterious, sad, blood and tear-stained history of man upon the earth is to be an object of interest and a higher revelation of God to other creatures than those that dwell upon the earth; and we may well believe that for that moment, at all events, the centre of the universe, which, draws the thoughts of all thinking, and the eyes of all seeing, creatures to it, shall be that valley of judgment wherein sits the Man Christ and judges men, and round Him the flashing reflectors of His glory in the person of His saints.

IV. And Lastly, Look At Men's Path To This Glorifying.

He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that believed'; as that word ought to be rendered. That is to say, they who on earth were His, consecrated and devoted to Him, and in some humble measure partaking even here of His reflected beauty and imparted righteousness--these are they in whom He shall be glorified. They who believed'; poor, trembling, struggling, fainting souls, that here on earth, in the midst of many doubts and temptations, clasped His hand; and howsoever tremulously, yet truly put their trust in Him, these are they in whom He shall' be wondered at.'

The simple act of faith knits us to the Lord. If we trust Him He comes into our hearts here, and begins to purify us, and to make us like Himself; and, if that be so, and we keep hold of Him, we shall finally share in His glory.

What a hope, what an encouragement, what a stimulus and exhortation to humble and timorous souls there is in that great word,' In all them that believed' I Howsoever imperfect, still they shall be kept by the power of God unto that final salvation. And when He comes in His glory, not one shah be wanting that put their trust in Him.

It will take them all, each in his several way reflecting it, to set forth adequately the glory. As many diamonds round a central light, which from each facet give off a several ray and a definite colour; so all that circle round Christ and partaking of His glory, will each receive it, transmit it, and so manifest it in a different fashion. And it needs the innumerable company of the redeemed, each a several perfectness, to set forth all the fulness of the Christ that dwells in us.

So, dear brethren, beginning with simple faith in Him, partially receiving the beauty of His transforming spirit, seeking here on earth by assimilation to the Master in some humble measure to adorn the doctrine and to glorify the Christ, we may hope that each blackness will be changed into brightness, our limitations done away with, our weakness lifted into rejoicing strength; and that we shall be like Him, seeing Him as He is, and glorified in Him, shall glorify Him before the universe.

You and I will be there. Choose which of the two halves of that sky that I was speaking about in my introductory remarks will be your sky; whether He shall be revealed, and the light of His face be to you like a sword whose flashing edge means destruction, or whether the light of His face shall fall upon your heart because you love Him and trust Him, like the sunshine on the Alpine snow, lifting it to a more lustrous whiteness, and tingeing it with an ethereal hue of more than earthly beauty, which no other power but an indwelling Christ can give. He shall come with everlasting destruction from the face'; and He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that believed.' Do you choose which of the two shall be your portion in that day.

MHCC: 2Th 1:1-4

Where there is the truth of grace, there will be an increase of it. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. And where there is the increase of grace, God must have all the glory. Where faith grows, love will abound, for faith works by love. It shows faith and patience, such as may be proposed as a pattern for others, when trials from God, and persecutions from men, quicken the exercise of those graces; for the patience and faith of which the apostle gloried, bore them up, and enabled them to endure all their tribulations.

MHCC: 2Th 1:5-10

Religion, if worth anything, is worth every thing; and those have no religion, or none worth having, or know not how to value it, cannot find their hearts to suffer for it. We cannot by all our sufferings, any more than by our services, merit heaven; but by our patience under sufferings, we are prepared for the promised joy. Nothing more strongly marks a man for eternal ruin, than a spirit of persecution and enmity to the name and people of God. God will trouble those that trouble his people. And there is a rest for the people of God; a rest from sin and sorrow. The certainty of future recompence is proved by the righteousness of God. The thoughts of this should be terrible to wicked men, and support the righteous. Faith, looking to the great day, is enabled partly to understand the book of providence, which appears confused to unbelievers. The Lord Jesus will in that day appear from heaven. He will come in the glory and power of the upper world. His light will be piercing, and his power consuming, to all who in that day shall be found as chaff. This appearance will be terrible to those that know not God, especially to those who rebel against revelation, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great crime of multitudes, the gospel is revealed, and they will not believe it; or if they pretend to believe, they will not obey it. Believing the truths of the gospel, is in order to our obeying the precepts of the gospel. Though sinners may be long spared, they will be punished at last. They did sin's work, and must receive sin's wages. Here God punishes sinners by creatures as instruments; but then, it will be destruction from the Almighty; and who knows the power of his anger? It will be a joyful day to some, to the saints, to those who believe and obey the gospel. In that bright and blessed day, Christ Jesus will be glorified and admired by his saints. And Christ will be glorified and admired in them. His grace and power will be shown, when it shall appear what he has purchased for, and wrought in, and bestowed upon those who believe in him. Lord, if the glory put upon thy saints shall be thus admired, how much more shalt thou be admired, as the Bestower of that glory! The glory of thy justice in the damnation of the wicked will be admired, but not as the glory of thy mercy in the salvation of believers. How will this strike the adoring angels with holy admiration, and transport thy admiring saints with eternal rapture! The meanest believer shall enjoy more than the most enlarged heart can imagine while we are here; Christ will be admired in all those that believe, the meanest believer not excepted.

Matthew Henry: 2Th 1:1-4

Here we have,

I. The introduction (2Th 1:1, 2Th 1:2), in the same words as in the former epistle, from which we may observe that as this apostle did not count it grievous to him to write the same things (Phi 3:1) in his epistles that he had delivered in preaching, so he willingly wrote the same things to one church that he did to another. The occurrence of the same words in this epistle as in the former shows us that ministers ought not so much to regard the variety of expression and elegance of style as the truth and usefulness of the doctrines they preach. And great care should be taken lest, from an affectation of novelty in method and phrases, we advance new notions or doctrines, contrary to the principles of natural or revealed religion, upon which this church of the Thessalonians was built, as all true churches are; namely, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. The apostle's expression of the high esteem he had for them. He not only had a great affection for them (as he had expressed in his former epistle, and now again in his pious wish of grace and peace for them), but he also expresses his great esteem for them, concerning which observe,

1. How his esteem of them is expressed. (1.) He glorified God on their behalf: We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, 2Th 1:3. He chose rather to speak of what was praiseworthy in them in a way of thanksgiving to God than by commendation of them; and, as what he mentions was matter of his rejoicing, he accounted it matter of thanksgiving, and it was meet or fit it should be so, for we are bound, and it is our duty, to be thankful to God for all the good that is found in us or others: and it not only is an act of kindness to our fellow-christians, but our duty, to thank God on their behalf. (2.) He also glories in them before the churches of God, 2Th 1:4. The apostle never flattered his friends, but he took pleasure in commending them, and speaking well of them, to the glory of God and for the excitement and encouragement of others. Paul did not glory in his own gifts, nor in his labour among them, but he gloried in the grace of God which was bestowed upon them, and so his glorying was good, because all the commendation he gave to them, and the pleasure he took himself, centered in the praise and glory of God.

2. For what he esteemed them and thanked God; namely, the increase of their faith, and love, and patience. In his former epistle (1Th 1:3) he gave thanks for their faith, love, and patience; here he gives thanks for the increase of all those graces, that they were not only true Christians, but growing Christians. Note, Where there is the truth of grace there will be increase of it. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. And where there is the increase of grace God must have all the glory of it. We are as much indebted to him for the improvement of grace, and the progress of that good work, as we are for the first work of grace and the very beginning of it. We may be tempted to think that though when we were bad we could not make ourselves good, yet when we are good we can easily make ourselves better; but we have as much dependence on the grace of God for increasing the grace we have as for planting grace when we had it not. The matter of the apostle's thanksgiving and glorying on behalf of the Thessalonians was, (1.) That their faith grew exceedingly, 2Th 1:3. They were more confirmed in the truth of gospel-revelations, confided in gospel-promises, and had lively expectations of another world. The growth of their faith appeared by the works of faith; and, where faith grows, all other graces grow proportionably. (2.) Their charity abounded (2Th 1:3), their love to God and man. Note, Where faith grows love will abound, for faith works by love; and not only the charity of some few of them, but of every one to each other, did abound. There were no such divisions among them as in some other churches. (3.) Their patience as well as faith increased in all their persecutions and tribulations. And patience has then its perfect work when it extends itself to all trials. There were many persecutions which the Thessalonians endured for the sake of righteousness, as well as other troubles which they met with in this calamitous life; yet they endured all these, by faith seeing him that is invisible, and looking to the recompence of reward; and endured them with patience, not with an insensibility under them, but with patience arising from Christian principles, which kept them quiet and submissive, and afforded them inward strength and support.

Matthew Henry: 2Th 1:5-10

Having mentioned their persecutions and tribulations, which they endured principally for the cause of Christ, the apostle proceeds to offer several things for their comfort under them; as,

I. He tells them of the present happiness and advantage of their sufferings, 2Th 1:5. Their faith being thus tried, and patience exercised, they were improved by their sufferings, insomuch that they were counted worthy of the kingdom of God. Their sufferings were a manifest token of this, that they were worthy or meet to be accounted Christians indeed, seeing they could suffer for Christianity. And the truth is, Religion, if it is worth any thing, is worth every thing; and those either have no religion at all, or none that is worth having, or know not how to value it, that cannot find in their hearts to suffer for it. Besides, from their patient suffering, it appeared that, according to the righteous judgment of God, they should be counted worthy of the heavenly glory: not by worthiness of condignity, but of congruity only; not that they could merit heaven, but they were made meet for heaven. We cannot by all our sufferings, any more than by our services, merit heaven as a debt; but by our patience under our sufferings we are qualified for the joy that is promised to patient sufferers in the cause of God.

II. He tells them next of the future recompence that shall be given to persecutor and persecuted.

1. In this future recompence there will be, (1.) A punishment inflicted on persecutors: God will recompense tribulation to those that trouble you, 2Th 1:6. And there is nothing that more infallibly marks a man for eternal ruin than a spirit of persecution, and enmity to the name and people of God: as the faith, patience, and constancy of the saints are to them an earnest of everlasting rest and joy, so the pride, malice, and wickedness of their persecutors are to them an earnest of everlasting misery; for every man carries about with him, and carries out of the world with him, either his heaven or his hell. God will render a recompence, and will trouble those that trouble his people. This he has done sometimes in this world, witness the dreadful end of many persecutors; but especially this he will do in the other world, where the portion of the wicked must be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. (2.) A reward for those that are persecuted: God will recompense their trouble with rest, 2Th 1:7. There is a rest that remains for the people of God, a rest from sin and sorrow. Though many may be the troubles of the righteous now, yet God will deliver them out of them all. The future rest will abundantly recompense all their present troubles. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. There is enough in heaven to countervail all that we may lose or suffer for the name of Christ in this world. The apostle says, To you who are troubled rest with us. In heaven, ministers and people shall rest together, and rejoice together, who suffer together here; and the meanest Christian shall rest with the greatest apostle: nay, what is far more, if we suffer for Christ, we shall also reign with him, 2Ti 2:12.

2. Concerning this future recompence we are further to observe,

(1.) The certainty of it, proved by the righteousness and justice of God: It is a righteous thing with God (2Th 1:6) to render to every man according to his works. The thoughts of this should be terrible to wicked men and persecutors, and the great support of the righteous and such as are persecuted; for, seeing there is a righteous God, there will be a righteous recompence. God's suffering people will lose nothing by their sufferings, and their enemies will gain nothing by their advantages against them.

(2.) The time when this righteous recompence shall be made: When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, 2Th 1:7. That will be the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God; for then will God judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed, even Jesus Christ the righteous Judge. The righteousness of God does not so visibly appear to all men in the procedure of his providence as it will in the process of the great judgment-day. The scripture has made known to us the judgment to come, and we are bound to receive the revelation here given concerning Christ. As,

[1.] That the Lord Jesus will in that day appear from heaven. Now the heavens retain him, they conceal him; but then he will be revealed and made manifest. He will come in all the pomp and power of the upper world, whence we look for the Saviour.

[2.] He will be revealed with his mighty angels (2Th 1:7), or the angels of his power: these will attend upon him, to grace the solemnity of that great day of his appearance; they will be the ministers of his justice and mercy in that day; they will summon the criminals to his tribunal, and gather in the elect, and be employed in executing his sentence.

[3.] He will come in flaming fire, 2Th 1:8. A fire goeth before him, which shall consume his enemies. The earth, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. This will be a trying fire, to try every man's work, - a refining fire, to purify the saints, who shall share in the purity, and partake of the felicity, of the new heaven and the new earth, - a consuming fire to the wicked. His light will be piercing, and his power consuming, to all those who in that day shall be found as chaff.

[4.] The effects of this appearance will be terrible to some and joyful to others.

First, They will be terrible to some; for he will then take vengeance on the wicked. 1. On those that sinned against the principles of natural religion, and rebelled against the light of nature, that knew not God (2Th 1:8), though the invisible things of him are manifested in the things that are seen. 2. On those that rebel against the light of revelation, that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. This is the great crime of multitudes - the gospel is revealed to them, and they will not believe it; or, if they pretend to believe it, they will not obey it. Note, Believing the truths of the gospel is in order to our obeying the precepts of the gospel: there must be the obedience of faith. To such persons as are here mentioned the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ will be terrible, because of their doom, which is mentioned, 2Th 1:9. Here observe, (1.) They will then be punished. Though sinners may be long reprieved, yet they will be punished at last. Their misery will be a proper punishment for their crimes, and only what they have deserved. They did sin's work, and must receive sin's wages. (2.) Their punishment will be no less than destruction, not of their being, but of their bliss; not that of the body alone, but both as to body and soul. (3.) This destruction will be everlasting. They shall be always dying, and yet never die. Their misery will run parallel with the line of eternity. The chains of darkness are everlasting chains, and the fire is everlasting fire. It must needs be so, since the punishment is inflicted by an eternal God, fastening upon an immortal soul, set out of the reach of divine mercy and grace. (4.) This destruction shall come from the presence of the Lord, that is, immediately from God himself. Here God punishes sinners by creatures, by instruments; but then he will take the work into his own hands. It will be destruction from the Almighty, more terrible than the consuming fire which consumed Nadab and Abihu, which came from before the Lord. (5.) It shall come from the glory of his power, or from his glorious power. Not only the justice of God, but this almighty power, will be glorified in the destruction of sinners; and who knows the power of his anger? He is able to cast into hell.

Secondly, It will be a joyful day to some, even to the saints, unto those that believe and obey the gospel. And then the apostle's testimony concerning this day will be confirmed and believed (2Th 1:10); in that bright and blessed day, 1. Christ Jesus will be glorified and admired by his saints. They will behold his glory, and admire it with pleasure; they will glorify his grace, and admire the wonders of his power and goodness towards them, and sing hallelujahs to him in that day of his triumph, for their complete victory and happiness. 2. Christ will be glorified and admired in them. His grace and power will then be manifested and magnified, when it shall appear what he has purchased for, and wrought in, and bestowed upon, all those who believe in him. As his wrath and power will be made known in and by the destruction of his enemies, so his grace and power will be magnified in the salvation of his saints. Note, Christ's dealings with those who believe will be what the world one day shall wonder at. Now, they are a wonder to many; but how will they be wondered at in this great and glorious day; or, rather, how will Christ, whose name is Wonderful, be admired, when the mystery of God shall be finished! Christ will not be so much admired in the glorious esteem of angels that he will bring from heaven with him as in the many saints, the many sons, that he will bring to glory.

Barclay: 2Th 1:1-10

There is all the wisdom of the wise leader in this opening passage. It seems that the Thessalonians had sent a message to Paul full of self-doubtings. They had been timorously afraid that their faith was not going to stand the test and that--in the expressive modern phrase--they were not going to make the grade. Paul's answer was not to push them further into the slough of despond by pessimistically agreeing with them but to pick out their virtues and achievements in such a way that these despondent, frightened Christians might square their shoulders and say, "Well, if Paul thinks that of us we'll make a fight of it yet."

"Blessed are those," said Mark Rutherford, "who heal us of our self-despisings," and Paul did just that for the Thessalonian Church. He knew that often judicious praise can do what indiscriminate criticism cannot do and that wise praise never makes a man rest upon his laurels but fills him with the desire to do still better.

There are three things which Paul picked out as being the marks of a vital Church.

(i) A faith which is strong. It is the mark of the advancing Christian that he grows surer of Jesus Christ every day. The faith which may begin as an hypothesis ends as a certainty. James Agate once said, "My mind is not like a bed which has to be made and remade. There are some things of which I am absolutely sure." The Christian comes to that stage when to the thrill of Christian experience he adds the discipline of Christian thought.

(ii) A love which is increasing. A growing Church is one which grows greater in service. A man may begin serving his fellowmen as a duty which his Christian faith lays upon him; he will end by doing it because in it he finds his greatest joy. The life of service opens up the great discovery that unselfishness and happiness go hand in hand.

(iii) A constancy which endures. The word Paul uses is a magnificent word. It is hupomone (5281) which is usually translated endurance but does not mean the ability passively to bear anything that may descend upon us. It has been described as "a masculine constancy under trial" and describes the spirit which not only endures the circumstances in which it finds itself but masters them. It accepts the blows of life but in accepting them transforms them into stepping stones to new achievement.

Paul's uplifting message ends with the most uplifting vision of all. It ends with what we might call the reciprocal glory. When Christ comes he will be glorified in his saints and admired in those who have believed Here we have the breath-taking truth that our glory is Christ and Christ's glory is ourselves. The glory of Christ is in those who through him have learned to endure and to conquer, and so to shine like lights in a dark place. A teacher's glory lies in the scholars he produces; a parent's in the children he rears not only for living but for life; a master's in his disciples; and to us is given the tremendous privilege and responsibility that Christ's glory can lie in us. We may bring discredit or we may bring glory to the Master whose we are and whom we seek to serve. Can any privileged responsibility be greater than that?

Constable: 2Th 1:1-2

I. SALUTATION 1:1-2

The Apostle Paul opened this epistle by identifying himself and his companions to the recipients. He also wished God's grace and peace for them to introduce himself and to express his continuing good will toward his children in the faith.

Verses 1 and 2 are almost identical to 1 Thessalonians 1:1. One change is that Paul called God "our" Father here rather than "the" Father.

The benediction (v. 2) is fuller than the one in 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Paul mentioned both grace (God's unmerited favor and divine enablement) and peace (the cessation of hostility) again, but he identified their source here. Both blessings come from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He again asserted the deity of Christ, and he balanced the fatherhood of God with Christ's lordship over the church and the believer.

Constable: 2Th 1:3-12

II. COMMENDATION FOR PAST PROGRESS 1:3-12

Paul thanked God for the spiritual growth of his readers, encouraged them to persevere in their trials, and assured them of his prayers for them. He did so to motivate them to continue to endure hardship and thereby develop in their faith (cf. James 1:2-4).

Constable: 2Th 1:3-4

A. Thanksgiving for growth 1:3-4

1:3 In his earlier epistle to the Thessalonians Paul had urged them to grow in faith (1 Thess. 4:10) and to increase in love (1 Thess. 3:12). He now rejoiced that they were doing both of these things (v. 3).⁵ Paul began each of his epistles except Galatians with thanksgiving for the spiritual progress of his readers. The word translated "greatly enlarged," which Paul used to describe their faith, occurs only here in the New Testament and means "grown exceedingly," not just normally. The Thessalonians' growth had been unusual. They were a model congregation in this respect.

"We ought to give thanks" means "We must give thanks" (cf. 2:13). Paul was not saying he knew he should give thanks but did not, but he felt obligated to give thanks and did so.

"Clearly in this entire passage . . . the writers reveal themselves as men who are elated . . . rather than reluctant, exuberant rather than hesitant."⁶

"Paul was well aware of the shortcomings of the Thessalonian believers, but he did not allow their faults to blind him to their strong points. . . . Instead of criticizing, he is eager to commend."⁷

1:4 No wonder Paul said he cited the Thessalonians to other churches as an example to follow. This growth had come in the midst of persecution, and this made it even more commendable. "Faith" (Gr. pistis) usually refers to faith in someone or something, but often it means "faithfulness" (e.g., Rom. 3:3; Gal. 5:22; Titus 2:10). It probably has the latter meaning here. His readers were enduring hostile actions ("persecutions") as well as other painful experiences ("afflictions") at the hands of both Jews and Gentiles because of their Christian faith (cf. 1 Thess. 1:6; 2:14; Acts 17:5-9).

Constable: 2Th 1:5-10

B. Encouragement to persevere 1:5-10

These verses explain what God's future righteous judgment is.

1:5 Paul explained that suffering for Christ demonstrates the believer's worthiness to participate in God's kingdom. A hot fire under gold ore separates the gold from the dross and shows the gold to be what it really is. Likewise the fire of trials can separate the Christian from the unsaved and show him to be what he really is. He is what he is by God's grace. It is God's grace that qualifies a person for heaven, not suffering. Suffering only exposes the quality of the person whom God's grace is transforming.

Paul taught elsewhere that God will reward Christians who endure temptations to abandon their commitment to Jesus Christ with the privilege of reigning with Christ in His millennial kingdom (2 Tim. 2:12). Whereas all Christians will return to earth with Christ at His second coming and enter His kingdom, only those who follow Him faithfully in this life will reign along with Him.⁸

"Jesus encouraged his disciples to rejoice when they were persecuted for his sake because, he said, your reward is great in heaven' (Matt 5:11, 12 par. Luke 6:22, 23). This note recurs again and again throughout the NT."⁹

1:6-8 In the future God in His justice would punish the Thessalonians' persecutors and give rest to his readers as well as to all Christians who suffer affliction for the gospel. This will take place when Jesus Christ returns to the earth in judgment. This is not a reference to the Rapture. The judgments described in the following verses (vv. 9-10) will not take place then. It is a reference to Christ's coming at the end of the Tribulation (cf. Ps. 2:1-9; Matt. 25:31). Then Christ will punish those who do not know God (cf. Rom. 1:18-32) and those who do not obey the gospel (cf. John 3:36). The former group may be Gentiles and the latter Jews.¹⁰ However this is probably a case of synonymous parallelism in which both descriptions refer to both Jews and Gentiles.¹¹ He will put them to death and will not allow them to enter the Millennium (cf. Ps. 2; Ezek. 20:33-38; Joel 3:1-2, 12; Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 14:1-19; Matt. 25:31-46).¹²

1 Thessalonians 4	2 Thessalonians 1
Christ returns in the air.	Christ returns to the earth.
He comes secretly for the church.	He comes openly with the church.
Believers escape the Tribulation.	Unbelievers experience tribulation and judgment.
The Rapture occurs at an undisclosed time.	The Second Coming occurs at the end of the Tribulation in the day of the Lord.13

1:9 These non-Christians will suffer "eternal destruction" (lit. they will pay a penalty). Their fate is eternal separation from the person of Christ and the manifestation of His glory (i.e., eternal death). This is Paul's most explicit reference to the eternal duration of unbelievers' judgment in all his writings. It is ironic that those who reject Christ experience God's rejection.

"Olethros (destruction') does not refer to annihilation, which cannot be everlasting.'¹⁴ The word in LXX and NT usages never has this meaning but rather turns on the thought of separation from God and loss of everything worthwhile in life . . ."¹⁵

"Heaven is primarily the presence of God. Hell is the loss of that presence."¹⁶

1:10 When Christ returns to earth His "saints" will accompany Him. Paul referred specifically to Christians (i.e., believers of the church age who previously experienced the Rapture), not all believers. Old Testament saints will not experience resurrection until the Second Coming (Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2). Jesus Christ's second coming will be a day of great glory and vindication for Him. Paul's readers would participate in it because they had believed Paul's testimony when he had preached the gospel among them. They would reflect Christ's glory as will all other believers who will accompany Him at His second coming (i.e., all Christians).

"Just as Paul is elusive about the nature of the vengeance to be inflicted by the Lord Jesus, he is also elusive about the nature of the reward to be bestowed."¹⁷

"That day" is a clear reference to the day of the Lord (cf. Isa. 2:11, 17). It will include Jesus Christ's return to the earth at His second coming (cf. Mark 13:32; 14:25; Luke 21:34; 2 Tim. 1:12, 18; 4:8).¹⁸ Then He will be glorified "in the presence of" His saints (the locative use of the Greek preposition en).¹⁹

At first reading it may appear that verses 5-10 offer hope that God would judge the Thessalonians' persecutors very soon and that the Thessalonian Christians would find "relief" (v. 7) in the Rapture. However the return of Christ in "fire" (v. 7) dealing out punishment (vv. 8-9) when He comes "with His saints" (v. 10) must refer to the Second Coming. Thus it appears that the Second Coming follows the Rapture immediately. This is what posttribulationists believe.²⁰ However the Tribulation will precede the Second Coming, as posttribulationists agree. Paul proceeded to explain that the Thessalonians were not in the Tribulation (2:1-12). Only if they were then in the Tribulation could the hope of relief by a posttribulational Rapture have been a comfort to them. Consequently it seems that in 1:5-10 Paul was seeking to comfort his readers by assuring them that ultimately they would experience relief by entering rest in the Millennium following Christ's second coming. Ultimately God would punish their persecutors at the great white throne judgment at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:11-15).

Thomas, a pretribulationist, understood the revelation of Jesus Christ spoken of in verses 5-10 to be a general one that embraces the Rapture and the Second Coming.

"Many have chosen to limit apokalypsei (revelation,' appearance') to a single event, identifying it with Christ's return to earth at the close of the tribulation. The role of his powerful angels' in the revelation favors this understanding in the light of Matthew 24:30, 31; 25:31. It is more persuasive, however, to explain apokalypsei as a complex of events, including various phases of end-time happenings. The present context associates the word with Christ's coming for his own as well as his coming to deal with opponents. Since the primary thrust of vv. 5-10 is to encourage suffering Christians, the meaning of apokalypsei for them should receive the emphasis. God's dealings with the rest of the world are included only to enhance the relief' experienced by believers at the righteous judgment of God."²¹

It seems to me, as I have tried to explain above, that the references to what will happen at this appearing describe the Second Coming exclusively. Thomas admitted that enjoyment of the future glory of Christ's coming--and only His second coming will be in glory--is the leading idea of this chapter.²²

College: 2Th 1:1-12

2 THESSALONIANS 1

I. GREETING (1:1-2)

¹ Paul, Silas ^a and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

² Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

^a 1 Greek Silvanus , a variant of Silas

1:1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

The opening greeting of this second letter is identical to the first letter's in all but two points. Paul's relationship with his co-workers, the readers' identity as the assembly of God's people united with God and Christ, and their blessing of God's grace and peace are again prominent (see comments on 1 Thess 1:1 above). One difference comes in v. 1, where God is specifically "our Father" as in most of Paul's other salutations (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; Phlm 3; Gal 1:3 reads thus in some manuscripts) instead of "the Father" as in 1 Thess 1:1. But little significance can be attached to the change.

1:2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second difference comes at the end of v. 2, where the source of grace and peace are specified as in the other extant letters of Paul (cf. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4; Phlm 3). As in v. 1 and 1 Thess 1:1 above, Paul, who was steeped in Jewish monotheism, attributes such gifts to both God and Jesus with absolute ease and naturalness. Such is possible for him because he regards Jesus as fully divine (see comments on 1 Thess 1:1 above).

II. OPENING THANKSGIVING, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER (1:3-12)

As in 1 Thess 1:2-10 and in most of Paul's other letters, 2 Thessalonians begins with a statement of thanksgiving, focusing on the readers' devotion to Christ. Here Paul also offers a prayer for the readers, commonly attached to the thanksgiving in other letters but separated in 1 Thessalonians by Paul's discussion of his ministry with the church (1 Thess 3:11-13; cf. Phil 1:3-11; Col 1:3-14; Phlm 4-7; Eph 1:15-19; 2 Thess 2:13-14).

The difference in tone between 1 and 2 Thessalonians is immediately noticeable in this section. The warmth and enthusiasm of the first letter are less evident here, where the style appears more formal. This difference can easily be exaggerated, but some difference in tone between the passages is conceded by all. While it is impossible to account for the change entirely, much of the difference can be attributed to the shift in subject matter. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul's concern was largely for his ongoing relationship with the church. Under such circumstances, an extra measure of personal warmth would be expected.

Some have speculated that in response to the more direct praise in the first letter, the Thessalonians had protested through Timothy that they were unworthy. Others have suggested parallels in liturgical language or discussions of suffering in apocalyptic literature (Rev 3:4; 5:9, 12). In any case Paul's purpose in this letter has less to do with personal relationships (though they remain "brothers," v. 3) and is more narrowly confined to specific problems in the church. One of these, the church's understanding of the Lord's return in light of their present suffering (cf. 2:1-12), Paul begins to address here. The nature of this subject may have produced a more formal style as well. The use of the opening section to make a preliminary announcement of his themes is also seen in other letters (e.g., Phil 1:3-11).

Though it contains distinct sections, these verses constitute a single, long sentence in the Greek text. For Paul these verses were tightly bound together.

A. THANKSGIVING FOR THE THESSALONIANS' GROWTH AND ENDURANCE IN PERSECUTION (1:3-4)

³ We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. ⁴ Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

The focus in this first section of the sentence is on the persecution experienced by the readers and God's answer to it. Paul had mentioned persecution in the first letter (1 Thess 1:6) but here makes it more prominent, emphasizing especially both the readers' and God's responses to it, underlining the larger meaning it had for their Christian experience. Though Paul offers thanks in vv. 3-4 for some of the same characteristics as in 1 Thess 1:2-3, the greater focus on persecution here starkly displays the readers' Christian virtues against the background of their suffering. This emphasis may reflect an intensification of the persecution in Thessalonica since the first letter. However, in light of the evident problem in understanding the relationship of the Lord's coming to their suffering, Paul probably emphasizes this theme in anticipation of the discussion of 2:1-12.

1:3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

This statement of thanksgiving has many features in common with 1 Thess 1:2-3 (see comments above). The focus of Paul's thanksgiving is again on the readers' demonstration of the cardinal Christian virtues, particularly faith and love. Perhaps reflecting the fact that this is now his second letter, Paul mentions particularly their growth in these areas, in part a fulfillment of his prayer for the church in 1 Thess 3:11-13. The word translated "is growing more and more" is uJperauxavnw (hyperauxanô), found only here in the New Testament. It is an intensification of the more common verb signifying growth, perhaps coined by Paul himself.

In context Paul probably uses the intensive form to emphasize the contrast between the readers' growth and their difficult circumstances. Paul uses a different verb, pleonavzw (pleonazô, "is increasing") to indicate their growth in love, but no distinction in meaning should be pressed, since the difference is probably to avoid repetition. Both verbs are in the present tense, indicating that the growth is a continuing action. The whole statement is reminiscent of Jesus' parables which emphasize the growth of God's kingdom from small, insignificant beginnings (Matt 13:31-33; Mark 4:26-32; Luke 13:18-21; cf. 2 Cor 10:15).

Inferences from silence are notoriously debatable, but the prominence of "hope" in 1 Thess 1:3 makes that term's omission here striking. Its absence does not imply that the Thessalonians do not have hope, and most of the first two chapters concentrate on the content of their hope, the return of Christ. However, it is possible that Paul does not name hope as a basis for thanksgiving because confusion about the day of the Lord (2:2) has temporarily damaged the readers' hope.

Paul does not state directly that he gives thanks but combines expressions to indicate that such thanksgiving is necessary and right. "Ought" represents ojfeivlw (opheilô), which indicates obligation or necessity; "and rightly so," literally "as is fitting" (kaqwÉ" ajxiovn ejstin, kathôs axion estin), reinforces that point with a complementary expression. Though the indirect statement is perhaps less personal than the one in 1 Thess 1:2, it is stronger in expressing that such thanksgiving is Paul's solemn duty, even when the circumstances are less than joyful.

1:4 Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

As in 1 Thess 1:7-10 Paul stresses that the Thessalonians' living out of the gospel has been reported as an edifying message to other churches. By using "boast" to refer to these reports, Paul implies that his own work has had their growth and faithfulness as its objective. This statement echoes 1 Thess 2:19-20 (see comments above) as well as remarks in later letters (e.g., 1 Cor 15:31; 2 Cor 1:14; 7:4, 14; 8:24; 9:2; Phil 1:26; 2:16). In other passages Paul expresses the same concept with other terms (e.g., "reward," 1 Cor 3:14). In all of these cases Paul's boast is ultimately not in his own achievements (cf. Rom 3:27; 2 Cor 10:17) but in the results of God's grace, by which he has been given the ministry which bears this fruit. To make this boast "among God's churches" (see comments on 1 Thess 1:1 above) is therefore to share more of the good news among the people who belong to God because of that message.

To see suffering as an occasion for boasting requires a keen eye of faith. Using such an eye, Paul focuses particularly on the readers' "perseverance and faith." The first term, uJpomonhv (hypomonç; cf. 1 Thess 1:3), stresses active endurance under difficulty and pressure; it is patience put into practice in suffering. The second, pivsti" ( pistis ) refers in this context particularly to constancy in faith, or faithfulness: the readers have maintained their position in Christ despite the difficulties it has brought to them. These two terms are obviously similar in meaning, and Paul draws them even more closely together by modifying both with a single definite article. Endurance and faith are the Thessalonians' one response to persecution.

The readers' suffering is also expressed with a pair of terms. "Persecutions," diwgmov" (diôgmos), indicates specifically the sufferings inflicted by others because of their opposition to one's beliefs. "Trials," qli'yi" ( thlipsis ) can refer more broadly to any kind of suffering but is frequently used in the New Testament to refer specifically to persecution that comes because of one's faith (cf. 1 Thess 3:3-4 and comments above). The combination probably emphasizes the severity of the readers' sufferings, and no distinction between the words is stressed. These troubles continue for the readers even as Paul writes: his verb is in the present tense, accurately translated as "are enduring" in the NIV.

Two unusual expressions occur here. One is that "we" is intensive, literally "we ourselves" (aujtouÉ" hJma'", autous hçmas). An obvious explanation for this emphasis is not forthcoming, but it may be that Paul emphasizes that he takes the unusual step of boasting about them to others. The second is the expression "churches of God." Normally Paul uses the plural "churches" when he specifies the churches in a particular geographical area and the singular when he refers to the "universal" church. Whether this means, as Wanamaker suggests, that Paul refers here to churches without geographical limitation remains uncertain.

B. ENCOURAGEMENT IN LIGHT OF GOD'S JUDGMENT (1:5-10)

⁵ All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. ⁶ God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷ and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Though it can remain an abstraction for those without difficulty, the problem of evil is a burning question for those who are suffering. "Why is this happening?" is perhaps the most troubling question that human beings must confront. For those who suffer because of their faith, the question is even more intense. Christians who believe themselves to be the people of God, those who have received God's salvation and are experiencing the fulfillment of his eternal promises, have an even more difficult question to answer. If God is really on their side, if he is really loving and powerful, why do they suffer?

Paul has already provided much of the answer in 1 Thess 3:3-4: Christians suffer inevitably as a result of their identity, because they are united with the Christ who suffered in fulfillment of God's purpose. Here Paul reiterates that point in v. 5. But here he goes on to explain more. If God allows his people to suffer at the hands of those who have deliberately refused him and his message, if he in effect allows the innocent to suffer at the hands of the wicked, is he really a righteous and powerful God?

In answer to this question, Paul reminds the readers that the present situation is not the final situation. Though it may seem that evil consistently triumphs over good, there remains a final reckoning in which God will bring fitting punishment on those who have persecuted his people. Until that time, the readers can take encouragement in their confidence that God in the end will vindicate his people by repaying their antagonists decisively. God is both just, judging sin wherever it exists, and powerful, able to bring his sentence to bear on evildoers. The Thessalonian church may appear to be a small, insignificant group of people whose enemies have the best of them, but the end of history will show what the unseen reality has always been.

Paul's concept of God's justice here is retributive: evildoers are repaid in kind for the evil which they have done. This notion, once fundamental in western legal thought, is now rejected in many circles. More recently evil has been seen according to the model of disease, and so punishment has been viewed as therapy or rehabilitation. Consequently many modern or postmodern people are uncomfortable with the language of this passage. But for Paul evil was not merely a sickness but a consequence of conscious rebellion against God and submission to his adversary (cf. Eph 2:1-3).

In Paul's thought forgiveness is therefore costly; God's justice demands appropriate payment for sin, namely the death of Jesus. Only in light of God's justice can the full extent of his love and forgiving grace be seen: through his Son he himself provides the substitutionary payment for human sin (cf. Rom 3:23-26). If some then refuse his offer and even oppose it, they are fully responsible for their actions, and God's justice demands a retributive punishment for them (cf. 1 Thess 1:10; 2:16). For God to do less would mean for him to tolerate evil, especially evil directed toward the very people whom he has saved. If God is truly good, then he must pronounce sentence on evil.

The eschatological view that Christ will return secretly to remove the church from tribulation and later return again to judge the wicked does not fare well in this passage. Paul's language indicates that relief for the believer and retribution for the unbeliever are simultaneous. As elsewhere in the New Testament, the parousia is a single, indivisible act bringing both blessing and judgment (cf. 1 Thess 5:1-11).

Several factors have suggested to some that in vv. 7b-10 Paul has incorporated a traditional formula, including a concentration of Old Testament references, a shift from the second to the third person, and the uses of parallelism. While it is possible that Paul uses a pre-formed tradition here, the content is so consistent with the context and his own thought that his own free composition of this material seems more likely.

This section actually continues the Greek sentence begun in v. 3, though in translation it has been divided into shorter sentences for readability. Here the reason for thanksgiving even in suffering is made clear.

1:5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right,

Though one might think that belonging to God's people would ensure a life without trouble, Paul declares that the opposite is true. To belong to God means to suffer in this age, which is ruled by his great adversary, even as Christ himself suffered. But this suffering belongs in the context of God's promised triumph over sin and judgment against it. Hence, Paul can say that suffering in the present is an indication or "evidence" (e[ndeigma, endeigma ) of God's righteous judgment. The specific evidence to which Paul refers could be the Thessalonians' endurance, the persecutions which they receive, or a combination (v. 4).

In favor of the former is the use of a related word in Phil 1:28, where the reference is clearly to the Philippians' endurance. In favor of the persecutions is the fact that Paul mentions them nearer to "evidence." However, the following context, discussing as it does both the punishment to come on the persecutors and the relief to come to the Christians, favors a broader combination of the two. Paul's point, then, is that the persecution and the readers' response to it demonstrates that God's determination to bring retribution on his opponents and relief to his faithful people is necessary for justice to prevail.

While Paul is about to focus on the future judgment, the language here suggests that the judgment has already begun. Like other aspects of God's promised future, judgment is also a present reality, which may be realized here in several respects. One is the believers' endurance, which demonstrates that they have received the grace which has already pronounced them innocent (v. 12) and aligns them with the faithful of the past (1 Thess 2:14-15). By contrast the persecutors show by their rejection of God's grace and solidarity with God's enemies of the past that they are already under judgment (1 Thess 2:16). In the larger sense, the fact that the believers find themselves persecuted in a world still under the sway of evil (cf. 2:3-12 and comments below; 1 Cor 2:8; Eph 2:2; 6:12) shows that they belong to the God who will in the future reestablish the fullness of his reign. It is also possible that Paul views their present suffering as an aspect of God's discipline of his children, which leads ultimately to their salvation (Rom 5:3-5; 1 Cor 11:32; 2 Cor 6:9). Their present identities, as demonstrated by their behavior and circumstances, will be fully revealed and ratified in the judgment to come.

and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

A second result of this situation (the sentence structure suggests that "as a result" should connect the clause to v. 4 rather than to the beginning of v. 5) is being counted worthy of God's kingdom. As union with Christ inevitably brings suffering for one's faith (1 Thess 3:3-4), it also indicates that the sufferer genuinely belongs to the kingdom which Christ rules (cf. 1 Thess 2:12 and comments above). The readers' citizenship in the kingdom of God is both a present reality and a promise of the future. Thus, they continue to suffer for it now ("you are suffering" translates a present-tense verb), but they can both endure and triumph because they already belong to the kingdom and because they look forward to the full realization of God's rule when his enemies will be defeated fully and finally (cf. 1 Thess 2:16).

It should be noted carefully that Paul speaks of being "counted worthy," clearly implying the action of God who accounts worthiness according to grace and not merit (cf. v. 12). The readers' perseverance does not earn God's approval but shows that they genuinely trust in his grace to supply it. Likewise, "of the kingdom" implies not "in order to gain the kingdom" but "on behalf of the kingdom"; it assumes membership in the kingdom in the present rather than holding it out as a prospect for the future.

1:6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you

God's justice is defined here in unequivocally retributive terms. Though the NIV's rendering of this verse departs considerably from the Greek sentence structure, it captures the sense well. Literally the verse could be translated, "If indeed it is just with God to pay back trouble to those troubling you"; the conditional "if" is firmly assumed to be true.

The concept of retribution has significant biblical background. The principle of lex talionis in Exod 21:23-25 establishes the principle of retribution. "An eye for an eye" was first of all a limitation on the extent of punishment, forbidding, for example, the sentence of "a life for an eye." Secondly, the principle did not allow any aggrieved person to take vengeance to this extent; rather, God himself is the one who would bring retribution (Deut 32:35), even if his judgment was mediated through human agents according to Israel's law. In Rom 12:19 Paul quotes this second passage as a reminder not to seek personal vengeance (cf. Acts 23:3). But that restriction on taking justice into one's own hands depends on the assurance that God will bring retribution. This assurance is exactly what the present text offers: "pay back" translates ajntapodivdwmi (antapodidômi), which also appears in Rom 12:19, and is underlined with the repetition of "trouble." This retributive emphasis is tied closely to the preceding discussion: "trouble" here translates thlipsis and its cognate qlivbw (thlibô), the former appearing in v. 4 with the translation "trials."

1:7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.

For the readers the future punishment of their adversaries is a comforting prospect for two reasons. First of all, it means their vindication, as implied in the previous verse. They can be encouraged, not because they will delight in the pain which their opponents will experience but because their punishment will mean the believers' vindication - it will demonstrate that they were indeed God's people and their enemies were his enemies. Second is the assurance of this verse, that their suffering will end with Christ's return as judge. As those who are troubled (thlibô as in v. 6), the readers will receive "relief," a[nesi" ( anesis ), signifying a cessation of their suffering (cf. 2 Cor 8:13).

Though for readability the NIV supplies another verb, "give," here, "relief" is in fact also the object of "pay back" in v. 6. This relief is, in other words, the just retribution which the faithful receive for their endurance of tribulation (cf. Rom 8:18; 2 Cor 4:7-18). Briefly reminding the readers that they are not alone in their suffering for the kingdom, Paul inserts "and to us as well," literally "with us." The Thessalonians had, of course, firsthand familiarity with Paul's sufferings (1 Thess 1:6; 2:2, 16; Acts 17:5-9). As persecution is by nature the experience of all Christians (1 Thess 3:3-4; 2 Tim 3:12), both the apostle and his converts can expect it. But without the assurance that God will bring an end to it with the punishment of the persecutors, the reality of his justice and his commitment to his people could not be maintained.

This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

The description of Christ's return here, in contrast to the one in 1 Thess 4:16-17, provides details that emphasize his power as victor and judge. His revelation (ajpokavluyi" [ apokalypsis ], rendered as a verb, "is revealed," in the NIV) will mean the full disclosure of his divine authority, which has remained hidden to the world (cf. 1 Cor 2:7-8; 2 Cor 4:3-4). So his revelation will be "from heaven," not so much stressing the angle in the sky from which he will make his appearance as the fact that he has since his ascension been at the supreme place of authority. Elsewhere angels are pictured as accompanying Christ in his return (Matt 24:31; 25:31) and more generally as agents of the final judgment (Matt 13:39; Mark 8:38; 13:37; Luke 12:8; often in Revelation). Here they are "powerful" angels, literally "angels of power," agents of the Lord's own power which will be exercised in final judgment.

"Blazing fire" could be connected either to the Lord's return in v. 7 or his judgment in v. 8 (in the Greek text the corresponding phrase occurs after "angels of power"). The NIV has taken it with v. 7, which has the virtue of understanding the three prepositional phrases as parallel descriptions of the Lord's revelation. Paul's phrase is literally "a fire of flame," another example of a redundant expression used for emphasis.

Fire has a rich background on which Paul draws. In the Old Testament it is closely associated with the visible manifestation of the Lord (Gen 15:17; Exod 3:2-3; 19:18; Judg 6:21; 13:20; Num 14:14; Isa 4:5; Ezek 1:27) and with his judgment (Gen 19:24; Exod 9:24; Lev 10:2; Num 11:1; 16:35; 2 Kgs 1:10; Isa 66:15-16; Ezek 38:22; 39:6; Joel 2:30; Amos 1:4, 7; Mal 4:1). In intertestamental apocalyptic literature it is associated with the heavenly world ( 1 Enoch 14:9-22) and the final judgment ( 1 Enoch 102:1; 2 Apoc. Bar. 37:1; 48:39; 2 Esdr 13:10-11; Jub. 9:15; 3:10; 1QS 2:8; 4:13; 1QH 17:13). The same associations are found in the New Testament (Matt 3:10; 7:19; Luke 3:9; 9:45; John 15:6; Rev 1:15; 4:5; 2:18; 10:1; 11:5; 19:12). So as Paul addresses these Christians under persecution, the combination of images here would evoke a powerful response of confidence and eager anticipation.

1:8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

The judgment to be received by the persecutors is one which they share with all of God's opponents. The basis for that judgment is not just the trouble which they have caused for the Christians. The full measure of their crime must be taken by the standard of God's revelation. Not knowing God is in the language of the Old Testament especially characteristic of the Gentiles (Ps 79:6). For Paul this ignorance is not merely a result of circumstances for which one is not responsible. Because God's "eternal power and divine nature," though invisible, have been revealed in creation, all people, including Gentiles who do not have the Scriptures, are culpable for their willful rejection of knowledge of God (Rom 1:18-23, esp. v. 20; cf. Acts 14:15-17; 17:22-28; 1 Thess 4:5).

But Paul is specifically focused here on those who persecute Christians, so these can be characterized by their rejection of the distinctive Christian message, the gospel of Jesus. This turn of phrase is ironic: "gospel" signifies "good news," so to reject such a message is especially reprehensible. While it has been argued that these two phrases describe Gentiles and Jews respectively, Paul can easily say that Jews like Gentiles have rejected the knowledge of God which they have received (Rom 2:1-29; cf. Isa 1:3) or that Gentiles like Jews have disobeyed (Rom 11:30-32). Both descriptions, therefore, apply comprehensively to all of those who oppose God and his people in Christ. It is also worth noting that here Paul assumes that the gospel is a message to be not only believed but also obeyed (cf. Rom 1:5). These whom the Lord will punish are those who disobey continually; the participle translated "who . . . do not obey" is in the present tense.

Thus, the punishment due these people is not the egotistic retaliation of a jilted deity but the measured and just retribution for their crime as it is fully understood. "Punish" translates a participial phrase, divdonte" ejkdivkhsin (didontes ekdikçsin), literally "giving vengeance," the noun again the one found in Deut 32:35 (cf. Rom 12:19). Seen as the deliberate rejection of the Creator and violent opposition to his salvation (cf. 1 Thess 2:15-16), their sin demands the punishment which Paul will now describe.

1:9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

Again Paul's language is retributive: "they will be punished" is literally "they will pay the punishment." Eternal destruction is the fitting penalty for those who have treated the eternal God with the contempt described in v. 8. Though the phrase translated "everlasting destruction," o[leqron aijwvnion (olethron aiônion; cf. 1 Thess 5:3), could refer to annihilation - the ceasing to exist for eternity, Paul amplifies the sense of this phrase with what follows, a close parallel to Isa 2:10, 19, 21. The relationship between the destruction and the exclusion is even clearer when it is noted that "shut out" has been inserted by the NIV. Literally the text reads "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his strength."

Thus, Paul apparently understands the "destruction" to refer not to an end to conscious existence, terrible as that would be, but as the eternal exclusion from God's presence. This is certainly fitting punishment for the crime of having rejected knowledge of God and his good news of salvation. "Destruction" would thus signify "ruin," the utter failure to realize the purpose of one's existence, namely the eternal fellowship with God that Paul here describes (cf. 1 Thess 4:17; Rom 8:17-18, 30; 2 Cor 4:17; Phil 3:21). The reference to God's power here further underlines his ability to carry out his sentence and his enemies' inability to escape it.

The "Lord" here is the Lord Jesus, as the next verse shows. Marshall notes that with the use of Isaiah's language for Yahweh here (Isa 2:10, 19, 21), Paul applies to Jesus scriptural language for God. Other clear allusions to Christ's deity appear later in the chapter (v. 12).

1:10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.

The contrast between the response of the persecutors with their destiny and the response of the believers with theirs is sharply drawn here. Again Paul's language is probably based on the Old Testament, since it shows a striking similarity to the LXX of Ps 88:6 (89:7) and 67:36 (68:35). Those who have rejected God will be excluded from his glory (dovxa, doxa , v. 9); those who have believed will glorify (ejndoxavzw, endoxazô), that is, they will acknowledge and extol God's glory. His "holy" people are literally "holy ones," which could refer, as in 1 Thess 3:13, to angels (see comments above). However, as in that text, Paul more likely uses the term to refer to Christians as those who belong to God.

This sense contrasts well with the preceding discussion of those who are excluded from God's presence and parallels the next one, "all those who have believed." This phrase again contrasts with the description in v. 8. With "all" it emphasizes that Christ's coming will have its effect on more than just the first readers of this letter; they belong to a great fellowship of God's people. "Marvel" translates qaumavzw (thaumazô), a word often used for the reverence of those who witness a manifestation of God or his work (e.g., Matt 8:27; 9:33; 15:31; 21:10; Mark 5:20; Luke 8:25; 11:14; Rev. 13:3). With both verbs Paul uses the preposition ejn ( en ), translated first as "in" and then as "among." Among the prepositions which Paul could have used, this one suggests the presence of Christ among or in the midst of the people who praise him.

"On the day" refers to "the day of the Lord" (cf. 1 Thess 5:2 and comments above). The possibility that this day was past is the issue that troubles the Thessalonians (cf. 2:2). Paul's use of the phrase here is redundant: the Greek sentence reads, "when he comes . . . in that day." But the redundancy points to the teaching which Paul will spell out in 2:1-12, namely that "the day of the Lord" (2:2) cannot have arrived unless the vindication of his people and defeat of his enemies is complete.

This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

This sentence is an expansion of a much shorter remark which Paul has somewhat awkwardly inserted into the sentence, perhaps as a result of dictating it orally. Literally the text simply reads, "Because our testimony to you was believed." However, the awkwardness makes Paul's emphasis clearer. By repeating "believed," he has explicitly identified the readers with those who will marvel at the Lord. The implication, made explicit by the NIV's expanded translation, is that the Thessalonians can look forward to participating in the great worship celebration that will issue from the Lord's return. Just as their persecutors actually belong to a much larger group under judgment (vv. 6, 9), so they belong to a great host who will receive blessing. For a small group of persecuted believers, the expectation of belonging to a vast, eternal gathering of God's people would give strong encouragement.

C. THE CONTENT OF PAUL'S PRAYER (1:11-12)

¹¹ With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. ¹² We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. ^a

^a 12 Or God and Lord, Jesus Christ

The sentence begun in v. 3 continues here, but the content has distinctly shifted from a statement of thanksgiving to a description of Paul's prayers for the readers' future. The prayer focuses generally on the their ongoing steadfastness in light of the larger purpose of God which Paul has just discussed. The prayer, in other words, is that the readers would remain faithful during the present persecution, knowing that God will be faithful to fulfill his purpose to bring them safely to full fellowship with him (cf. 1 Thess 5:23).

1:11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count your worthy of his calling,

As elsewhere, Paul stresses that his prayers for the church are constant: the verb is in the Greek present tense and modified by pavntote ( pantote , "constantly"), which reinforces the continuing aspect of the tense. These prayers are based on the believer's confidence in God's final deliverance and judgment at Christ's return (see above); therefore, they have as their object the fulfillment of God's saving objective. His call was extended to them for their salvation (1 Thess 2:12), which will be theirs not by being "worthy" but being counted "worthy" through God's grace (v. 12 below).

and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.

But God's grace compels a fitting response. The recipients of the call must maintain the faith by which they first received the call, putting that faith into action (cf. Eph 2:10; 4:1) despite the opposition which they presently experience. To do otherwise is to number oneself with those described in vv. 6, 8. But this is accomplished ultimately not by the believer's own efforts. The "act prompted by your faith" is certainly the believers act, but Paul calls on God to "fulfill" it. Likewise "by his power" translates a Greek phrase placed at the end of the clause, a point of emphasis putting further stress on God's work in the lives of the suffering faithful. "Every good purpose of yours" is an ambiguous phrase: it could refer either to God's good purpose of salvation for the believers or their purpose to do good. If it connects more closely with the calling, God's purpose is emphasized (cf. Eph 1:5, 9: Phil 2:13); if it is taken as a parallel to "act prompted by your faith," the believers' purpose is intended (Rom 10:1; Phil 1:15). The link to the following phrase is a close one and so more likely determines the sense.

1:12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul has already stated that the Lord's glory among his people will be the outcome of his return (v. 10). Now he reiterates that point, but without specifying whether the glorification is present or future. No doubt Paul understands it as both. As Christ will be glorified among his saints at his return, so now he is glorified by them - and they by him - as, united with him, they live out their calling faithfully by his power.

To glorify the "name" is a common way in the Old Testament of expressing the exaltation of God; Paul's application of it to Jesus is consistent with his belief in Jesus' deity. But potentially clearer in this regard is the last phrase of this verse. "Our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" represents a Greek phrase in which one definite article governs two nouns, which is normally used to indicate that the two nouns constitute a single unit in some respect. Though it is possible that Paul simply followed his habits in including the article in the phrase "the grace of [the] God" and omitting it with "Lord Jesus Christ," the possibility that the structure is deliberate cannot be dismissed. This unity could be in the giving of grace rather than in absolute identity, but even then Paul could hardly name Jesus as the source of grace with God if he did not conceive of Jesus as divine.The NIV's footnote reflects the stronger interpretation of this structure.

Paul again focuses on grace as the principle undergirding the entire relationship between the Lord and his people. The readers' faithful putting into practice of their calling and the consequent glorification of Jesus is finally a working out of his grace. By the demonstration of his grace in the lives of those who have received it, the Lord's true majesty is made clear.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

McGarvey: 2Th 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ . [For a similar salutation, see 1Th 1:1]

McGarvey: 2Th 1:3

We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet [just], for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth [Paul acknowledged himself obliged to give thanks because his prayer at 1Th 3:12-13 had been answered by the Thessalonians doing the things which he prayed they might do. Thus he very forcefully recognizes the good in his converts that he may be listened to with patience when he begins to correct their faults];

McGarvey: 2Th 1:4

so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure [The faith and love of the Thessalonians were such that, spontaneously, of their own accord, Paul and his companions delighted to tell of it to the churches at Corinth, Cenchreæ and in other parts of Achaia. Though the persecutions which arose while Paul was in Thessalonica were still continuing, yet they neither exhausted the patience of the Christians so as to drive them to forsake God, nor their faith so as to lead them to mistrust God. We should observe that the churches are commonly called, by Paul, as here, churches of God, though sometimes churches of Christ];

McGarvey: 2Th 1:5

which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer :

McGarvey: 2Th 1:6

if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you ,

McGarvey: 2Th 1:7

and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire ,

McGarvey: 2Th 1:8

rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus [The patience and faith of the Thessalonians were a manifest token (i. e., pledge, proof or demonstration) of that coming day wherein God will disclose the righteousness of his judgments, and wherein all apparent violations of justice shall be rectified (Ecc 3:16-17; Phi 1:28). The purpose of this judgment will be that those who suffer for the kingdom of God may graciously be counted worthy of the heavenly joys of that kingdom, and that the wicked may be punished. If it is indeed a righteous thing (and who can doubt it?) for God to recompense evil for evil, so that those who afflict the righteous shall themselves be afflicted, and those who have suffered affliction for righteousness' sake may find rest with their fellow-Christians when Jesus, who is now hidden from their sight in heaven, reveals himself to human vision with the angels which display his power, and with that flaming fire which at once shows forth his glory and consumes his enemies (Heb 10:27 ; Heb 12:29), rendering vengeance as a great judge, not as a resentful potentate, to them that willfully know not God -- Exo 5:2 ; Rom 1:28 ; Luk 12:47-48 ; Rom 2:14-15 (principally Gentiles), and them that obey not the gospel (principally Jews) -- Rom 10:3 ; Rom 10:16 . In verse 6 Paul draws a comparison between the law which forbids retaliation to the individual (Rom 12:17), and that which accords it to all government, especially the government of God himself, under whose rule unforgiven iniquity never escapes punishment (Heb 2:2 ; Rev 20:12). He does this to show that God is under the second and not under the first law. In verse 7 we are reminded that the negative happiness of heaven is rest from all afflictions, sorrows, pains, persecutions, etc. (Heb 4:9 ; Rev 14:13 ; Rev 21:4). It is the quiet haven of the storm-tossed bark. Continuing the thought, Paul says further of the objects of God's vengeance --]:

McGarvey: 2Th 1:9

who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might ,

McGarvey: 2Th 1:10

when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day . [In that day when Jesus comes to be glorified, those who refuse to know God, and those who disobey the gospel, shall receive a punishment which is here clearly described as eternal. The word "destruction" imports the wreck or dissolution of the organism, but not the annihilation of the essence. The rest of the sentence implies banishment and separation from the presence of the Lord with all its joys, and from all participation in that manifestation of his power which will show itself in the glorification of his redeemed (Mat 25:41 ; Col 3:4). The latter thought is expanded by Paul throughout the remainder of the chapter. In that day Jesus shall be "marvelled at in all them that believe," because they shall reflect his glory as a mirror gives back the radiance of the sun (2Co 3:18). The parenthesis ("because," etc.) is injected into the thought for the purpose of identifying the Thessalonians with the believers, and so with the glorification promised to believers.]

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: 2Th 1:9

2 THESSALONIANS 1:9—Will the wicked be annihilated or suffer conscious punishment forever?

PROBLEM: In some passages of Scripture, like this one, it speaks of the wicked being “destroyed” by God, suffering “the second death” ( Rev. 20:14 ), or going to “perdition” ( 2 Peter 3:7 ). Yet in other places, it speaks of them suffering conscious torment (e.g., Luke 16:22-28 ). Will unsaved persons be annihilated, or will they consciously suffer forever?

SOLUTION: “Destruction” does not mean annihilation here, otherwise it would not be “everlasting” destruction. Annihilation only takes an instant, and it is over. If someone undergoes everlasting destruction, then they have to have everlasting existence.

Furthermore, “death” does not mean annihilation, but separation. Adam and Eve died spiritually the moment they sinned, yet they still existed and could hear God’s voice ( Gen. 2:17 ; cf. 3:10 ). Likewise, before one is saved, he is “dead in trespasses and sins” ( Eph. 2:1 ), and yet he is still in God’s image ( Gen. 1:27 ; cf. 9:6 ; James 3:9 ) and is called on to believe ( Acts 16:31 ) and to repent ( Acts 17:30 ) and be saved.

Likewise, when the wicked are said to go into “perdition” ( 2 Peter 3:7 ), and Judas is called the “son of perdition” ( John 17:12 ), it does not mean they will be annihilated. The word “perdition” ( ap?leia ) simply means to perish or to come to ruin. But junk cars have perished in the sense of having been ruined. But they are still cars, ruined as they may be, and they are still in the junk yard. In this connection, Jesus spoke of hell as a junk yard or dump where the fire would not cease and where a person’s resurrected body would not be consumed (see comments on Mark 9:48 ).

Finally, there are several lines of evidence that support the everlasting consciousness of the lost. First, the rich man who died and went to hell was in conscious torment ( Luke 16:22-28 ), and there is absolutely no indication in the text that it was ever going to cease.

Second, Jesus spoke repeatedly of the people in hell as “weeping and gnashing of teeth” ( Matt. 8:12 ; 22:13 ; 24:51 ; 25:30 ), which indicates they were conscious.

Third, hell is said to be of the same duration as heaven, namely, “everlasting” ( Matt. 25:41 ).

Fourth, the fact that their punishment is everlasting indicates that they too must be everlasting. One cannot suffer punishment, unless a person exists to be punished ( 2 Thes. 1:9 ).

Fifth, the beast and the false prophet were thrown “alive” into the lake of fire at the beginning of the 1,000 years ( Rev. 19:20 ), and they were still there, conscious and alive, after the 1,000 years ( Rev. 20:10 ).

Sixth, the Scriptures affirm that the devil, the beast, and the false prophet “will be tormented day and night forever and ever” ( Rev. 20:10 ). But there is no way to experience torment forever and ever without being conscious for ever and ever.

Seventh, Jesus repeatedly referred to hell as a place where “the fire is not quenched” ( Mark 9:48 ), where the very bodies of the wicked will never die (cf. Luke 12:4-5 ). But it would make no sense to have everlasting flames and bodies without any souls in them to experience the torment.

Eighth, the same word used to describe the wicked perishing in the OT ( abad ) is used to describe the righteous perishing (see Isa. 57:1 ; Micah 7:2 ). The same word is used to describe things that are merely lost, but then later found ( Deut. 22:3 ), which proves that “lost” does not here mean go out of existence. So, if perish means to annihilate, then the saved would have to be annihilated too. But we know they are not.

Ninth, it would be contrary to the created nature of human beings to annihilate them, since they are made in God’s image and likeness, which is everlasting ( Gen. 1:27 ). For God to annihilate His image in man would be to attack the reflection of Himself.

Tenth, annihilation would be demeaning both to the love of God and to the nature of human beings as free moral creatures. It would be as if God said to them, “I will allow you to be free only if you do what I say! If you don’t, then I will snuff out your very freedom and existence!” This would be like a father telling his son he wanted him to be a doctor, and, when he chose instead to be a park ranger, the father shot him! Eternal suffering is an eternal testimony to the freedom and dignity of humans, even unrepentant humans.   

Evidence: 2Th 1:6

The world doesn’t understand why the Christian turns the other cheek. This isn’t because he is weak. Rather than take the law into his own hands, he simply commits himself to " Him who judges righteously." If God sees fit to repay, He will. The Scriptures tell us, " Vengeance is mine; I will repay, said the Lord" ( Rom 12:19 ).

Evidence: 2Th 1:7

Judgment Day : Such a thought should stir in us a passion for evangelism. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For verses that warn of its reality, see 2Ti 4:1 .

Evidence: 2Th 1:10

Our beliefs govern our actions. Those who don’t believe that they are in danger of God’s wrath will not flee from it.

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Second Thessalonians

From Corinth a.d. 50 Or 51

By Way of Introduction

It is plain that First Thessalonians did not settle all the difficulties in Thessalonica. With some there was precisely the opposite result. There was some opposition to Paul’s authority and even defiance. So Paul repeats his " command" for discipline (2Th_3:6) as he had done when with them (2Th_3:10). He makes this Epistle a test of obedience (2Th_3:14) and finds it necessary to warn the Thessalonians against the zeal of some deceivers who even invent epistles in Paul’s name to carry their point in the church (2Th_2:1.), an early instance of pseudepigraphic " Pauline" epistles, but not for a " pious" purpose. Paul’s keen resentment against the practise should make us slow to accept the pseudepigraphic theory about other Pauline Epistles. He calls attention to his own signature at the close of each genuine letter. As a rule he dictated the epistle, but signed it with his own hand (2Th_3:17). Paul writes to calm excitement (Ellicott) and to make it plain that he had not said that the Second Coming was to be right away.

This Epistle is a bit sharper in tone than the First and also briefer. It has been suggested that there were two churches in Thessalonica, a Gentile Church to which First Thessalonians was sent, and a Jewish Church to which Second Thessalonians was addressed. There is no real evidence for such a gratuitous hypothesis. It assumes a difficulty about his sending a second letter to the same church that does not exist. The bearer of the first letter brought back news that made a second necessary. It was probably sent within the same year as the first.

JFB: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Its GENUINENESS is attested by POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 11], who alludes to 2Th 3:15. JUSTIN MARTYR [Dialogue with Trypho, p. 193.32], alludes to 2Th 2:3. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 7.2] quotes 2Th 2:8. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 1.5, p. 554; The Instructor, 1.17], quotes 2Th 3:2, as Paul's words. TERTULLIAN [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 24] quotes 2Th 2:1-2, as part of Paul's Epistle.

DESIGN.--The accounts from Thessalonica, after the sending of the first Epistle, represented the faith and love of the Christians there as on the increase; and their constancy amidst persecutions unshaken. One error of doctrine, however, resulting in practical evil, had sprung up among them. The apostle's description of Christ's sudden second coming (1Th 4:13, &c., and 1Th 5:2), and the possibility of its being at any time, led them to believe it was actually at hand. Some professed to know by "the Spirit" (2Th 2:2) that it was so; and others alleged that Paul had said so when with them. A letter, too, purporting to be from the apostle to that effect, seems to have been circulated among them. (That 2Th 2:2 refers to such a spurious letter, rather than to Paul's first Epistle, appears likely from the statement, 2Th 3:17, as to his autograph salutation being the mark whereby his genuine letters might be known). Hence some neglected their daily business and threw themselves on the charity of others, as if their sole duty was to wait for the coming of the Lord. This error, therefore, needed rectifying, and forms a leading topic of the second Epistle. He in it tells them (2Th. 2:1-17), that before the Lord shall come, there must first be a great apostasy, and the Man of Sin must be revealed; and that the Lord's sudden coming is no ground for neglecting daily business; that to do so would only bring scandal on the Church, and was contrary to his own practice among them (2Th 3:7-9), and that the faithful must withdraw themselves from such disorderly professors (2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:10-15). Thus, there are three divisions of the Epistle: (1) 2Th 1:1-12. Commendations of the Thessalonians' faith, love, and patience, amidst persecutions. (2) 2Th. 2:1-17. The error as to the immediate coming of Christ corrected, and the previous rise and downfall of the Man of Sin foretold. (3) 2Th. 3:1-16. Exhortations to orderly conduct in their whole walk, with prayers for them to the God of peace, followed by his autograph salutation and benediction.

DATE OF WRITING.--AS the Epistle is written in the joint names of Timothy and Silas, as well as his own, and as these were with him while at Corinth, and not with him for a long time subsequently to his having left that city (compare Act 18:18, with Act 19:22; indeed, as to Silas, it is doubtful whether he was ever subsequently with Paul), it follows, the place of writing must have been Corinth, and the date, during the one "year and six months" of his stay there, Act 18:11 (namely, beginning with the autumn of A.D. 52, and ending with the spring of A.D. 54), say about six months after his first Epistle, early in A.D. 53.

STYLE.--The style is not different from that of most of Paul's other writings, except in the prophetic portion of it (2Th 2:1-12), which is distinguished from them in subject matter. As is usual in his more solemn passages (for instance, in the denunciatory and prophetic portions of his Epistles, for example, compare Col 2:8, Col 2:16, with 2Th 2:3; 1Co 15:24-28, with 2Th 2:8-9; Rom 1:18, with 2Th 2:8, 2Th 2:10), his diction here is more lofty, abrupt, and elliptical. As the former Epistle dwells mostly on the second Advent in its aspect of glory to the sleeping and the living saints (1Th. 4:1-5:28), so this Epistle dwells mostly on it in its aspect of everlasting destruction to the wicked and him who shall be the final consummation of wickedness, the Man of Sin. So far was Paul from laboring under an erroneous impression as to Christ's speedy coming, when he wrote his first Epistle (which rationalists impute to him), that he had distinctly told them, when he was with them, the same truths as to the apostasy being about first to arise, which he now insists upon in this second Epistle (2Th 2:5). Several points of coincidence occur between the two Epistles, confirming the genuineness of the latter. Thus, compare 2Th 3:2, with 1Th 2:15-16; again, 2Th 2:9, the Man of Sin "coming after the working of Satan," with 1Th 2:18; 1Th 3:5, where Satan's incipient work as the hinderer of the Gospel, and the tempter, appears; again, mild warning is enjoined, 1Th 5:14; but, in this second Epistle, when the evil had grown worse, stricter discipline (2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:14): "withdraw from" the "company" of such.

Paul probably visited Thessalonica on his way to Asia subsequently (Act 20:4), and took with him thence Aristarchus and Secundus: the former became his "companion in travel" and shared with him his perils at Ephesus, also those of his shipwreck, and was his "fellow prisoner" at Rome (Act 27:2; Col 4:10; Phm 1:24). According to tradition he became bishop of Apamea.

JFB: 2 Thessalonians (Outline)

• ADDRESS AND SALUTATION: INTRODUCTION: THANKSGIVING FOR THEIR GROWTH IN FAITH AND LOVE, AND FOR THEIR PATIENCE IN PERSECUTIONS, WHICH ARE A TOKEN FOR GOOD EVERLASTING TO THEM, AND FOR PERDITION TO THEIR ADVERSARIES AT CHRIST'S COMING: PRAYER FOR THEIR PERFECTION. (2Th 1:1-12)
• CORRECTION OF THEIR ERROR AS TO CHRIST'S IMMEDIATE COMING. THE APOSTASY THAT MUST PRECEDE IT. EXHORTATION TO STEADFASTNESS, INTRODUCED WITH THANKSGIVING FOR THEIR ELECTION BY GOD. (2Th. 2:1-17)
• HE ASKS THEIR PRAYERS: HIS CONFIDENCE IN THEM: PRAYER FOR THEM: CHARGES AGAINST DISORDERLY IDLE CONDUCT; HIS OWN EXAMPLE: CONCLUDING PRAYER AND SALUTATION. (2Th. 3:1-18)

TSK: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, it is generally agreed, was the earliest written of all St. Paul’s epistles, whence we see the reason and propriety of his anxiety that it should be read in all the Christian churches of Macedonia. - " I charge you by the Lord, that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren" (1Th 5:27). " The existence of this clause," observes Dr. Paley, " is an evidence of its authenticity; because, to produce a letter, purporting to have been publicly read in the church at Thessalonica, when no such letter had been read or heard of in that church, would be to produce an imposture destructive of itself. Either the Epistle was publicly read in the church of Thessalonica, during St. Paul’s lifetime, or it was not. If it was, no publication could be more authentic, no species of notoriety more unquestionable, no method of preserving the integrity of the copy more secure. If it was not, the clause would remain a standing condemnation of the forgery, and one would suppose, an invincible impediment to its success." Its genuineness, however, has never been disputed; and it has been universally received in the Christian church, as the inspired production of St. Paul, from the earliest period to the present day. The circumstance of this injunction being given, in the first epistle which the Apostle wrote, also implies a strong and avowed claim to the character of an inspired writer; as in fact it placed his writings on the same ground with those of Moses and the ancient prophets. The second Epistle, besides those marks of genuineness and authority which it possesses in common with the others, bears the highest evidence of its divine inspiration, in the representation which it contains of the papal power, under the characters of " the Man of sin," and the " Mystery of iniquity." The true Christian worship is the worship of the one only God, through the one only Mediator, the man Christ Jesus; and from this worship the church of Rome has most notoriously departed, by substituting other mediators, invocating and adoring saints and angels, worshipping images, adoring the host, etc. It follows, therefore, that " the Man of sin" is the Pope; not only on account of the disgraceful lives of many of them, but by means of their scandalous doctrines and principles; dispensing with the most necessary duties, selling pardons and indulgences for the most abominable crimes, and perverting the worship of God to the grossest superstition and idolatry. It was evidently the chief design of the Apostle, in writing to the Thessalonians, to confirm them in the faith, to animate them to a courageous profession of the Gospel, and to the practice of all the duties of Christianity; but to suppose, with Dr. Macknight, that he intended to prove the divine authority of Christianity by a chain of regular arguments, in which he answered the several objections which the heathen philosophers are supposed to have advanced, seems quite foreign to the nature of the epistles, and to be grounded on a mistaken notion, that the philosophers designed at so early a period to enter on a regular disputation with the Christians, when in fact they derided them as enthusiasts, and branded their doctrines as " foolishness." In pursuance of his grand object, " it is remarkable," says Dr. Doddridge, " with how much address he improves all the influence which his zeal and fidelity in their service must naturally give him, to inculcate upon them the precepts of the gospel, and persuade them to act agreeably to their sacred character. This was the grand point he always kept in view, and to which every thing else was made subservient. Nothing appears, in any part of his writings, like a design to establish his own reputation, or to make use of his ascendancy over his Christian friends to answer any secular purposes of his own. On the contrary, in this and in his other epistles, he discovers a most generous, disinterested regard for their welfare, expressly disclaiming any authority over their consciences, and appealing to them, that he had chose to maintain himself by the labour of this own hands, rather than prove burdensome to the churches, or give the least colour of suspicion, that, under zeal for the gospel, and concern for their improvement, he was carrying on any private sinister view. The discovery of so excellent a temper must be allowed to carry with it a strong presumptive argument in favour of the doctrines he taught....And, indeed, whoever reads St. Paul’s epistles with attention, and enters into the spirit with which they were written, will discern such intrinsic characters of their genuineness, and the divine authority of the doctrines they contain, as will, perhaps, produce in him a stronger conviction than all the external evidence with which they are attended." These remarks are exceedingly well grounded and highly important; and to no other Epistles can they apply with greater force than the present most excellent productions of the inspired Apostle. The last two chapters of the first epistle, in particular, as Dr. A. Clarke justly observes, " are certainly among the most important, and the most sublime in the New Testament. The general judgment, the resurrection of the body, and the states of the quick and the dead, the unrighteous and the just, are described, concisely indeed, but they are exhibited in the most striking and affecting points of view."

TSK: 2 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

2Th 1:1, Paul certifies them of the good opinion which he had of their faith, love, and patience; 2Th 1:11, and therewithal uses divers reasons for the comforting of them in persecution, whereof the chief is taken from the righteous judgment of God.

Poole: 2 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

ARGUMENT

(deutera . This is well called the Second or latter Epistle to these Thessalonians, for so it is; though Grotius would have it the first, if not sent, yet first written.)

The apostle being yet hindered from coming to them, and understanding some mistake of what he wrote in his former Epistle about the coming of Christ, he thereupon sends this Second Epistle; where, after his usual salutation, he gives thanks for them, and hearing of the continuance of their faith and patience under all their persecutions, he glories in them; and then comforts them by arguments taken from the righteous judgment of God, and the different manner and effect of Christ’ s coming, both to themselves and all the saints that believe, and to their adversaries, and all that knew not God, nor obeyed the gospel; and then prays for the perfecting of their faith to the glorifying the name of Christ, 2Th 1:1-12 . But hearing they were shaken in their minds about the time of Christ’ s coming, as if it should be presently, in the age wherein they lived, he doth vehemently caution them against such a mistake: and tells them of a great apostacy, and the revelation of the man of sin, which innst precede that day, which he doth particularly describe in the manner and effects thereof: but speaks of these Thessalonians with thanksgiving to God, as such as God had chosen, and called to obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus; and then prays for their comfort and establishment, 2Th 2:1-17 . He next proceeds to desire their prayers, both with respect to the success of the ministry, and the safety of the persons who were employed therein; and declares his confidence in them that God would establish them, and that they would obey the commandments they had received from them: and gives them some further commandments about such in the church as did walk disorderly; and so concludes his Epistle with prayers for their peace, and recommending them to the grace of Jesus Christ, 2Th 3:1-18 .

Chapter Summary

2Th 1:1,2 The salutation.

2Th 1:3-5 Paul certifieth the Thessalonians of the good

opinion which, he had of their faith, love, and patience.

2Th 1:6-10 Of the righteous judgment of God in punishing their

enemies, and recompensing their sufferings,

2Th 1:11,12 and of his prayers that God would fulfil his

gracious purpose in them.

Ver. 1,2. These two verses are the same as in the former Epistle, and therefore I proceed.

MHCC: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

The second epistle to the Thessalonians was written soon after the first. The apostle was told that, from some expressions in his first letter, many expected the second coming of Christ was at hand, and that the day of judgment would arrive in their time. Some of these neglected their worldly duties. St. Paul wrote again to correct their error, which hindered the spread of the gospel. He had written agreeably to the words of the prophets of the Old Testament; and he tells them there were many counsels of the Most High yet to be fulfilled, before that day of the Lord should come, though, because it is sure, he had spoken of it as near. The subject led to a remarkable foretelling, of some of the future events which were to take place in the after-ages of the Christian church, and which show the prophetic spirit the apostle possessed.

MHCC: 2 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

(2Th 1:1-4) The apostle blesses God for the growing state of the love and patience of the Thessalonians.

(2Th 1:5-12) And encourages them to persevere under all their sufferings for Christ, considering his coming at the great day of account.

Matthew Henry: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians

This Second Epistle was written soon after the former, and seems to have been designed to prevent a mistake, which might arise from some passages in the former epistle, concerning the second coming of Christ, as if it were near at hand. The apostle in this epistle is careful to prevent any wrong use which some among them might make of those expressions of his that were agreeable to the dialect of the prophets of the Old Testament, and informs them that there were many intermediate counsels yet to be fulfilled before that day of the Lord should come, though, because it is sure, he had spoken of it as near. There are other things that he writes about for their consolation under sufferings, and exhortation and direction in duty.

Matthew Henry: 2 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

After the introduction (2Th 1:1, 2Th 1:2) the apostle begins this epistle with an account of his high esteem for these Thessalonians (2Th 1:3, 2Th 1:4). He then comforts them under their afflictions and persecutions (2Th 1:5-10) and tells them what his prayers were to God for them (2Th 1:11, 2Th 1:12).

Barclay: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227). It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church, and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time, there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36.)

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who would Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation.... He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added Ws own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end). In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me." (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 .)

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS TO THE THESSALONIANS

Paul Comes To Macedonia

For anyone who can read between the lines the story of Paulcoming to Macedonia is one of the most dramatic in the book of Acts. Luke, with supreme economy of words, tells it in Act_16:6-10 . Short as that narrative is, it gives the impression of a chain of circumstances inescapably culminating in one supreme event. Paul had passed through Phrygia and Galatia and ahead of him lay the Hellespont. To the left lay the teeming province of Asia, to the right stretched the great province of Bithynia; but the Spirit would allow him to enter neither. There was something driving him relentlessly on to the Aegean Sea. So he came to Alexandrian Troas, still uncertain where he ought to go; and then there came to him a vision in the night of a man who cried, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." Paul set sail, and for the first time the gospel came to Europe.

One World

At that moment Paul must have seen much more than a continent for Christ. It was in Macedonia that he landed; and Macedonia was the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who had conquered the world and wept because there were no more worlds left to conquer. But Alexander was much more than a military conqueror. He was almost the first universalist. He was more a missionary than a soldier; and he dreamed of one world dominated and enlightened by the culture of Greece. Even so great a thinker as Aristotle had said that it was a plain duty to treat Greeks as free men and orientals as slaves; but Alexander declared that he had been sent by God "to unite, to pacify and to reconcile the whole world." Deliberately he had said that it was his aim "to marry the East to the West." He had dreamed of an Empire in which there was neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian or Scythian, bond or free (Col_3:11 ). It is hard to see how Alexander could have failed to be in Paulthoughts. Paul left from Alexandrian Troas which was called after Alexander; he came to Macedonia which was Alexanderoriginal kingdom; he worked at Philippi which was called after Philip, Alexanderfather; he went on to Thessalonica which was called after Alexanderhalf-sister. The whole territory was saturated with memories of Alexander; and Paul must surely have thought, not of a country nor of a continent, but of a world for Christ.

Paul Comes To Thessalonica

This sense of the wide-stretching arms of Christianity must have been accentuated when Paul came to Thessalonica. It was a great city. Its original name was Thermal, which means The Hot Springs, and it gave its name to the Thermaic Gulf on which it stood. Six hundred years ago Herodotus had described it as a great city. It has always been a famous harbour. It was there that Xerxes the Persian had his naval base when he invaded Europe; and even in Roman times it was one of the worldgreat dockyards. In 315 B.C. Cassander had rebuilt the city and renamed it Thessalonica, the name of his wife, who was a daughter of Philip of Macedon and a half-sister of Alexander the Great. It was a free city; that is to say it had never suffered the indignity of having Roman troops quartered within it. It had its own popular assembly and its own magistrates. Its population rose to 200,000 and for a time it was a question whether it or Constantinople would be recognized as the capital of the world. Even today, under the name Salonika, it has 70,000 inhabitants.

But the supreme importance of Thessalonica lay in this--it straddled the Via Egnatia, the Egnatian Road, which stretched from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic to Constantinople on the Bosphorus and thence away to Asia Minor and the East. Its main street was part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. East and West converged on Thessalonica; it was said to be "in the lap of the Roman Empire." Trade poured into her from East and West, so that it was said, "So long as nature does not change, Thessalonica will remain wealthy and prosperous."

It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was settled there, it was bound to spread East along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered and West until it stormed even the city of Rome. The coming of Christianity to Thessalonica was crucial in the making of it into a world religion.

PaulStay At Thessalonica

The story of Paulstay at Thessalonica is in Act_17:1-10 . Now, for Paul, what happened at Thessalonica was of supreme importance. He preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths (Act_17:2 ) which means that his stay there could not have been much more than three weeks in length. He had such tremendous success that the Jews were enraged and raised so much trouble that Paul had to be smuggled out, in peril of his life, to Beroea. The same thing happened in Beroea (Act_17:10-12 ) and Paul had to leave Timothy and Silas behind and make his escape to Athens. What exercised his mind was this. He had been in Thessalonica only three weeks. Was it possible to make such an impression on a place in three weeksime that Christianity was planted so deeply that it could never again be uprooted? If so, it was by no means an idle dream that the Roman Empire might yet be won for Christ. Or was it necessary to settle down and work for months, even years, before an impression could be made? In that event, no man could even dimly foresee when Christianity would penetrate all over the world. Thessalonica was a test case; and Paul was torn with anxiety to know how it would turn out.

News From Thessalonica

So anxious was Paul that, when Timothy joined him at Athens, he sent him back to Thessalonica to get the information without which he could not rest (1Th_3:1-2 , 1Th_3:5 ; 1Th_2:17 ). What news did Timothy bring back? There was good news. The affection of the Thessalonians for Paul was as strong as ever; and they were standing fast in the faith (1Th_2:14 ; 1Th_3:4-6 ; 1Th_4:9-10 ). They were indeed "his glory and Ws joy" (1Th_2:20 ). But there was worrying news.

(i) The preaching of the Second Coming had produced an unhealthy situation in which people had stopped working and had abandoned all ordinary pursuits to await the Second Coming with a kind of hysterical expectancy. So Paul tells them to be quiet and to get on with their work (1Th_4:11 ).

(ii) They were worried about what was to happen to those who died before the Second Coming arrived. Paul explains that those who fall asleep in Jesus will miss none of the glory (1Th_4:13-18 ).

(iii) There was a tendency to despise all lawful authority; the argumentative Greek was always in danger of producing a democracy run mad (1Th_5:12-14 ).

(iv) There was the ever-present danger that they would relapse into immorality. It was hard to unlearn the point of view of generations and to escape the contagion of the heathen world (1Th_4:3-8 ).

(v) There was at least a section who slandered Paul. They hinted that he preached the gospel for what he could get out of it (1Th_2:5 , 1Th_2:9 ); and that he was something of a dictator (1Th_2:6-7 , 1Th_2:11 ).

(vi) There was a certain amount of division in the Church (1Th_4:9 ; 1Th_5:13 ).

These were the problems with which Paul had to deal; and they show that human nature has not changed so very much.

Why Two Letters?

We must ask why there are two letters. They art, very much alike and they must have been written within weeks, perhaps days of each other. The second letter was written mainly to clear up a misconception about the Second Coming. The first letter insists that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and urges watchfulness (1Th_5:2 ; 1Th_5:6 ). But this produced the unhealthy situation where men did nothing but watch and wait; and in the second letter Paul explains what signs must come first before the Second Coming should come (2Th_2:3-12 ). The Thessalonians had got their ideas about the Second Coming out of proportion. As so often happens to a preacher, Paulpreaching had been misunderstood, and certain phrases had been taken out of context and over-emphasized; and the second letter seeks to put things back in their proper balance and to correct the thoughts of the excited Thessalonians regarding the Second Coming. Of course, Paul takes occasion in the second letter to repeat and to stress much of the good advice and rebuke he had given in the first, but its main aim is to tell them certain things which will calm their hysteria and make them wait, not in excited idleness, but in patient and diligent attendance to the daywork. In these two letters we see Paul solving the day to day problems which arose in the expanding Church.

FURTHER READINGS

Thessalonians

J. E. Frame, Thessalonians (ICC; G)

G. Milligan, St. PaulEpistles to the Thessalonians (MmC; G)

W. Neil, The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians (MC; E)

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: 2 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

Lift Up Your Hearts (2Th_1:1-10)

Constable: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

This epistle contains evidence that Paul had recently heard news about current conditions in the Thessalonian church. Probably most of this information came to him from the person who had carried 1 Thessalonians to its recipients and had returned to Paul at Corinth. Perhaps other people who had news of the church had informed Paul, Silas, and Timothy also. Some of the news was good. The majority of the Thessalonians were continuing to grow and to remain faithful to Christ in spite of persecution. Unfortunately some of the news was bad. False teaching concerning the day of the Lord had entered the church and was causing confusion and leading some of the Christians to quit their jobs in expectation of the Lord's return.

In view of these reports Paul evidently felt constrained to write this epistle. He commended his children in the faith for their growth and faithfulness, corrected the doctrinal error about the day of the Lord, and warned the idle to get back to work.

Almost all conservative scholars believe that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians from Corinth. The basis for this conclusion is that Paul, Silas, and Timothy were present together in Corinth (Acts 18:5). The New Testament does not refer to them being together from then on, though they may have been. Paul evidently wrote 1 Thessalonians from Corinth. The topics he treated in the second epistle seem to grow out of situations he alluded to in the first epistle. They reflect a very similar situation in the Thessalonian church. Corinth, therefore, seems the logical site of composition of 2 Thessalonians.

For these reasons it appears that Paul composed 2 Thessalonians quite soon after 1 Thessalonians, perhaps within 12 months.¹ This would place the date of composition in the early 50's A.D., perhaps 51 A.D., and would make this the third of Paul's canonical writings assuming Galatians was his first.

"The external evidence for the Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians is stronger than for 1 Thessalonians."²

Purpose

Three purposes are evident from the contents of the epistle. Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonian believers to continue to persevere in the face of continuing persecution (1:3-10). He also wanted to clarify events preceding the day of the Lord to dispel false teaching (2:1-12). Finally, he instructed the church how to deal with lazy Christians in their midst (3:6-15).

Message³

We could contrast 1 and 2 Thessalonians by saying that Paul wrote the first epistle primarily to comfort the Thessalonians whereas he wrote the second epistle primarily to correct them.

Paul had said some things in his first epistle from which his readers drew a false conclusion. He had said that Christ would return and His return could be very soon (1 Thess. 4:15-18). He also said the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, unexpectedly (1 Thess. 5:2).

In view of what Paul had taught the Thessalonians about the day of the Lord when he was with them (2 Thess. 2:5), they wondered if that day had already begun. They wondered if they were in the Tribulation and if the second coming of Christ was imminent. Teaching from several other sources that confirmed their suspicions (2 Thess. 2:2) intensified their questions about Paul's statements regarding future events that he had written in 1 Thessalonians.

The apostle wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct these erroneous ideas. The return of Christ of which Paul had written was not His second coming but the Rapture. While the day of the Lord would arrive unexpectedly it would be unexpected only by unbelievers. Several predicted events would precede its commencement.

The central message of this epistle is the truth about the day of the Lord.

Paul made an important distinction in this epistle about future events.

In 1 Thessalonians he taught that the Lord's return could take place very soon and that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night. Consequently he urged his readers to wait expectantly for the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16-17; 5:2).

In 2 Thessalonians he wrote that the day of the Lord cannot begin immediately. Therefore his readers should continue their work (2 Thess. 2). These statements may seem contradictory, but they are not.

Paul distinguished these two truths in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. The distinction is between "our gathering together to Him" (v. 1) and "the day of the Lord" (v. 2). He wrote verses 1-12 to show the difference between the first event and the second period.

Paul also gave definite new revelation about the day of the Lord.

He said that presently the mystery of lawlessness is at work (2:7). Paul did not say the mystery of "sin" or "evil" but "lawlessness." He did so because lawlessness (rebellion against divine law) is the root trouble with human life individually, socially, nationally, and in every other sphere. The "mystery" of lawlessness is the new revelation he expounded here concerning the course of lawlessness in the world and history, in space and time.

Second, he revealed that in the future God will remove what is presently restraining lawlessness (2:7). The restrainer probably refers to the Holy Spirit who indwells the church. Lawlessness produces corruption, but the church is the salt of the earth, and salt prevents the spread of corruption. Lawlessness also produces darkness, but the church is the light of the world, and light dispels darkness. Lawlessness is presently working, but what keeps it from running wild is the Holy Spirit's ministry through Christian men and women.

Third, Paul announced that in the future there will also be a crisis: the man of lawlessness will be revealed (2:8). When will God withdraw the Spirit from the world? He will do so when He withdraws the church from the world. When will He withdraw the church from the world? He will do so at "our gathering together to Him" (v. 1, i.e., the Rapture). After that, the human leader of lawlessness will appear. He will be entirely godless, but he will be such a remarkable character that he will convince most people that he is divine. This is the Antichrist.

Finally, Paul taught that after this crisis Jesus Christ will return to the earth to set up His kingdom (2:8). He will come when the man of lawlessness is the prominent character on the stage of history. However when Christ comes, He will destroy this Antichrist and curtail lawlessness (cf. Ps. 2).

In view of this revelation Paul called on his readers to do two things.

First, he called on them to be courageous. He did not want them to be mentally upset (2:2) but comforted and established (2:17). A clear understanding of the course of future events and the time of the Lord's return is essential for the mental and spiritual encouragement and stability of Christians. We need this to be courageous in the face of all the lawlessness we encounter in the world. Give this to the people you serve in ministry.

Second, Paul called his readers to responsible conduct. He instructed them to go on with life, to wait but also to work. Christians must behave responsibly by providing for our own needs. The hope of Christ's imminent return at the Rapture is no excuse for irresponsibility. Paul was not just urging activity (witnessing, praying, etc.) but specifically earning a living.

The gravest danger we face in our world today is not socialism or communism or fascism but lawlessness specifically refusal to submit to God's laws. The person who lives this way is anti-Christ.

We need to recognize this danger for what it is and to combat it by being salt and light in the world. However, we should also remember that Christ will eventually be victorious. This will keep us from becoming frantic and losing our stability.

Each of us also needs to make sure lawlessness does not characterize our personal lives. We must be submissive to divine rule if we would be consistent and confident Christians.

Outline⁴

I. Salutation 1:1-2

II. Commendation for past progress 1:3-12

A. Thanksgiving for growth 1:3-4

B. Encouragement to persevere 1:5-10

C. Prayer for success 1:11-12

III. Correction of present error 2:1-12

A. The beginning of the day of the Lord 2:1-5

B. The mystery of lawlessness 2:6-12

IV. Thanksgiving and prayer 2:13-17

A. Thanksgiving for calling 2:13-15

B. Prayer for strength 2:16-17

V. Exhortations for future growth 3:1-15

A. Reciprocal prayer 3:1-5

1. Prayer for the missionaries 3:1-2

2. Prayer for the Thessalonians 3:3-5

B. Church discipline 3:6-15

1. General principles respecting disorderly conduct 3:6-10

2. Specific instructions concerning the idle 3:11-13

3. Further discipline for the unrepentant 3:14-15

VI. Conclusion 3:16-18

Constable: 2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

Bibliography

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

THE SECOND

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE THESSALONIANS.

INTRODUCTION.

In this epistle St. Paul admonishes the Thessalonians to be constant in the faith of Christ, and not to be terrified by the insinuations of false teachers, telling them that the day of judgment was near at hand, as there must come many signs and wonders before it. He bids them to hold firm the traditions received from him, whether by word or by epistle; and shews them how they may be certain of his letters by the manner he writes. This epistle was written soon after the former, and also from Corinth, about A.D. 52. (Challoner; Witham) --- From the context we learn that the present is a continuation of the former epistle. He not only rectifies wrong impressions caused by his former letter, but finding that those indolent characters whom he had reprimanded were no ways corrected, he determines to reprimand them still more severely in this letter, which he tells us he writes because he has it not in his power to visit, as he could wish, the Thessalonians.

====================

Gill: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 THESSALONIANS

This second epistle was written, not from Athens, as the subscription testifies, nor from Rome, as Athanasius ^a supposes; but from Corinth, from whence was sent the former, and where the apostle and Timothy, and Silvanus met; and which was sent about half a year after the other. The design of which is to comfort and support the Thessalonians under the afflictions and persecutions they endured for the sake of the Gospel; and to rectify a mistake they had gone into, and which might be occasioned by what the apostle had said in his former epistle, concerning the second coming of Christ, as though it was just at hand; which might lead them to neglect their worldly business, and duties of civil life, and give the enemies of the Gospel an advantage against the whole of it as false, should not this prove true; as also to exhort this church to take notice of disorderly persons such as were idle, and busy bodies, and withdraw from them, and remove them from their communion, as being not only burdensome to them, but a reproach to their profession.

Gill: 2 Thessalonians 1 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 THESSALONIANS 1

This chapter, besides the inscription and salutation, contains a thanksgiving for the flourishing condition in which the graces of the Spirit were in these saints, and consolation for them under their suffering circumstances. The inscription and salutation are in 2Th 1:1 and are as usual: the thanksgiving is in 2Th 1:3 for the growth of their faith, the abounding of their love, and their constant patience under persecutions and afflictions, insomuch that the apostle also gloried of them for these things among other churches, 2Th 1:4 and as an encouragement to them to continue patient under sufferings, he observes that this was a token of the righteous judgment of God, and that they were reckoned worthy of his kingdom for which they suffered, 2Th 1:5 and of which righteous judgment they might be assured, from the nature of God himself, whose justice required a retribution of vengeance to their persecutors, and rest to them with the apostles, 2Th 1:6 the time of which rest and ease is pointed at, as that it will be at the coming of Christ; which is described by the place from whence he comes, heaven; by his retinue, his mighty angels; by the manner in which he shall come, in flaming fire; and by the vengeance he will execute: the objects of which are also described, by their ignorance of God, and by their disobedience to the Gospel of Christ; and by the nature of the punishment inflicted on them, which will lie in an expulsion from the presence, power, and glory of God, and in an everlasting destruction of soul and body, 2Th 1:7 but as for them, the persecuted saints, and which is mentioned for their comfort, Christ shall at this day be glorified and admired in them, and by them, 2Th 1:10 wherefore the apostle prays for this perseverance of them, that the good work of faith might be performed in them, and they enjoy the glory they were called unto; and that Christ might be glorified in them, and they in him; not according to their works, but according to the grace of God through him, 2Th 1:11.

College: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

The pressures of persecution, apparent in 1 Thessalonians, have intensified in this letter. In its three brief chapters the reader perceives the vital importance for suffering believers of confident hope in the Lord's return. Likewise intensified is the problem of idleness. In the face of abuses of Christian generosity, 2 Thessalonians gives a sharp reminder of the individual Christian's duty to live as a responsible member of the community, hard-working and self-supporting.

Much of what was said about the circumstances and organization of 1 Thessalonians can also be affirmed of the second letter (see introduction to 1 Thessalonians above). But unlike 1 Thessalonians, this letter presents two major critical problems. Brief attention will be given to these below.

AUTHORSHIP

Unlike 1 Thessalonians, the second letter has widely been taken as a pseudepigraph, composed after Paul's death by one of his followers who used 1 Thessalonians as a model. Several lines of evidence have been cited to support the hypothesis that 2 Thessalonians is not an authentic letter of Paul.

One of these concerns the letter's eschatology. While 1 Thessalonians emphasized that the Lord's return was imminent, that is, that it could occur at any time (5:1-11), 2 Thessalonians appears to propose a series of preliminary signs which must occur before the Lord can return (2:1-12). If this is indeed the case, then, it is argued, that the tension between the two letters is such that Paul could not have written both. More particularly, it is often argued that the less imminent expectation of 2 Thessalonians reflects a later period in the life of the church, when the vivid expectation that the Lord would return within the lifetime of the first generation of Christians had been disappointed. If so, then it is clearly a production of the generation after the apostle Paul.

Secondly, it is argued that the tone of 2 Thessalonians is considerably colder and more formal than 1 Thessalonians. As an example, "we ought to thank" in 2 Thess 1:3; 2:13 is regarded as less warm than "we thank" in 1 Thess 1:2. Likewise, the repeated use of "command" in 2 Thess 3:6, 12 is said to reflect a less intimate relationship between the writer and the readers. Such a shift in tone is thought to be unlikely if Paul had written both letters, especially if 1 Thessalonians was written first, but is entirely to be expected if the second letter was a pseudepigraph.

Thirdly, the background of the readers appears to be different. 1 Thess 1:9 appears to indicate a predominantly Gentile audience, but in 2 Thessalonians references to the final judgment (1:6-10) and the man of lawlessness (2:1-12) appear to assume knowledge that could be expected only of Jews. It is consequently argued that the second letter was not written for the same church, indicating that the addressee and so also the author named in the salutation are fictions.

Combined with these concerns is the literary style of 2 Thessalonians. In some respects it closely resembles 1 Thessalonians, following a similar outline (including a double thanksgiving: 1 Thess 1:2-10; 2:13-16; 2Thess 2 Thess 1:3-12; 2:13-17) and discussing similar themes (eschatology, idleness). However, it has been argued that the sentence structure of 2 Thessalonians is significantly different from the undisputed letters of Paul. In particular, 2 Thess 2:3-12 is a more complex sentence than is found elsewhere in Paul's letters, constructions with the genitive are more frequent, and subordinating conjunctions are more numerous. Likewise it is argued that a number of terms and concepts from Paul's authentic letters are used in a different sense in 2 Thessalonians. The combination of similarity and dissimilarity is said to point to a post-Pauline imitator, who at some points incorporated elements of Paul's style and substance from 1 Thessalonians and at others reflected followed his own course.

The force of these arguments is considerable, and a large number of contemporary scholars have been persuaded by them to reject Pauline authorship of this letter. However, the idea that 2 Thessalonians is pseudepigraphical is itself problematic. It is first of all difficult to understand why someone would write 2 Thessalonians and ascribe it to Paul, since presumably it contained nothing so controversial as to demand the apostle's authority for its acceptance. Furthermore, if written by a later imitator, that person knew only 1 Thessalonians, since the major parallels are only with that letter. Such a situation would be surprising for a second-generation disciple of Paul. The reference to the temple in 2:4 gives no indication that the Jerusalem temple has been destroyed by the Romans, again surprising if the letter were written near the end of the first century when the fall of Jerusalem was well known. Furthermore, 3:6-15 give every appearance of having been written to a specific congregation in response to a particular problem. It would be most unusual for a letter to be written to specific church in the name of Paul after his death and not be detected as a pseudepigraph. And if all in the church recognized the fiction and accepted it as such, we must explain how the later church forgot the origins of the letter, since all external evidence affirms that Paul is the author (Marcion, c. A.D. 150, and the Muratorian Canon, c. A.D. 180, both ascribe it to Paul). These considerations make the hypothesis of pseudepigraphy less than likely.

In fact, each argument for pseudepigraphy can be explained on the hypothesis that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians himself. The eschatological tension in fact has less to do with a lessening of expectancy than is often allowed. Exegesis of 2:1-12 in the comments below will indicate that what Paul discusses here is probably not a series of preliminary signs but the present reality that evil and the Evil One appear to dominate and that such dominance is itself proof that the Lord has not yet returned. In this case, there is absolutely no tension between the eschatology of the first and second letters. However, even if this interpretation should be wrong, it is not impossible that Paul would express a different perspective on the Lord's coming in 2 Thessalonians and not view it as contradictory, just as he does in 1 Cor 15:1-58, which stresses the general resurrection, and 2 Cor 5:1-10, which stresses individual immortality.

Likewise, the change in tone between the two letters can be explained by the change in circumstances. In 1 Thessalonians part of Paul's concern was to reassure the readers of his affection for them despite his absence. That need having been met, the second letter - preoccupied with the persecution of the church, the problem about the Lord's return and the idleness of some members - reflects less of the personal warmth emphasized in the first. Furthermore, if Paul used a different amanuensis for each letter, or if Silas and Timothy had different roles in the composition of each letter, the tone and style could easily have changed.

The change from a Gentile to a Jewish background is more apparent than real. As noted in the introduction to 1 Thessalonians, that letter includes a number of phrases which assume knowledge of the Old Testament and Judaism. The Jewish orientation of the second letter is more explicit but hardly necessitates a different audience. This observation also obviates the need for other hypotheses, such as that Paul sent the two letters to two different factions of the church, one Gentile and the other Jewish, or that he sent the first letter to the church at large and the second to the leaders of the church.

The stylistic differences between 2 Thessalonians and the other letters of Paul are real, but they can be exaggerated. The complexity of sentences and concentration of subordinating conjunctions are in fact not two matters but one, since complex sentences require subordinating conjunctions. The sentence of 1:3-12 is exceptional, but it is approximated in Ephesians and Colossians. The authorship of those letters is also disputed, but to base an argument for one letter's inauthenticity on its similarity with another questioned letter is to build a supposition on another supposition. It would be fairer to admit that in a short letter like 2 Thessalonians, a few unusual expressions may create a false impression of stylistic variance. Furthermore, it is admitted by all that Paul's style changed with each letter. Only in Romans, for example, do we find the rhetorical question, "What shall we say then?" (3:5; 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14, 30), and no one disputes the authenticity of Romans on that basis. Alleged differences in the use of key terms and presentation of concepts have likewise been exaggerated. Paul's usage elsewhere is often more flexible than some critics will allow. And 2 Thessalonians contains some Paulinisms which would have been difficult for an imitator to compose. The combination of similarities and differences between the two Thessalonians letters and between the second and the rest of the Pauline corpus is at least as consistent with the hypothesis that Paul wrote both under changing circumstances as it is with the hypothesis of a pseudepigrapher.

Thus, though the controversy over the authorship of this letter is likely to continue among scholars, the arguments against Paul's authorship are not sufficient to overturn the testimony of the letter itself and of the early church. By nature of the case, evidence to prove the authenticity of an ancient document always falls short of absolute proof. But those who have accepted 2 Thessalonians as a genuine letter of Paul can do so with integrity, knowing that the balance of evidence favors their conclusion.

ORDER AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF WRITING

The traditional assumption has always been that 2 Thessalonians was written not long after 1 Thessalonians, while Paul was still in Corinth. Paul had apparently received a report, perhaps from Timothy after the delivery of the first letter, of ongoing problems in the Thessalonian church. The persecution had not abated, misunderstandings about the Lord's return continued, and the willfully idle had not repented. Therefore, Paul composed a second letter to address the developing situation, probably only months after writing the first.

There have been several scholars who have questioned the traditional order, however, postulating that 2 Thessalonians was in fact written first. The traditional order of Paul's letters, these have argued, is based not on chronology but length, longer letters of Paul being placed before shorter ones in the canon. Therefore, internal considerations alone, the evidence of the letters themselves, must determine the order of writing.

The most recent and important advocate of the priority of 2 Thessalonians is Charles Wanamaker. His argument, which in the main follows a line marked out by others, may be summarized as follows. First, the persecution of 2 Thess 1:4-7 appears to be a matter of the past in 1 Thess 2:14. Secondly, the idlers of 2 Thess 3:6-15 appear to be a new problem, while 1 Thess 4:10-12 and 5:14 address it as something well known and already under control. Thirdly, the signature of 2 Thess 3:17 appears to be more fitting in Paul's first letter to the church. Fourth, the eschatological teaching of 1 Thess 4:13-5:11, especially in light of the remark in 5:1 that the readers had no need of such instruction because they had received it before, is more coherently explained if it is an elaboration on 2 Thess 2:1-12, especially if some implications of that passage had been misunderstood. On the other hand, if the church had already received 1 Thess 4:13-5:11, it is difficult to see how they would have concluded that the day of the Lord had already come (2 Thess 2:2), since the dead had not yet been raised and united with the living in the Lord's presence (1 Thess 4:17). Therefore, Wanamaker argues with earlier advocates of the hypothesis that 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul after he received a vague report about problems in the Thessalonian church and was delivered by Timothy in the visit described in 1 Thess 3:1-10.

While Wanamaker has succeeded in showing how little evidence there actually is for the priority of 1 Thessalonians, the case for the priority of 2 Thessalonians is far from proved. External evidence must be weighed also: Marcion apparently referred to 1 Thessalonians as the first letter despite the fact that he did not arrange his canon by length. As far as internal matters are concerned, if 2 Thessalonians was the first letter, it is surprising that Paul makes no reference to it in 1 Thessalonians as a part of his passionate discussion of his prior work with the Thessalonian church (2:1-12) and his attempts to return to them since his departure (2:17-20). Wanamaker suggests that the mention of Timothy's visit may be a tacit reference to it, since Timothy can be assumed to have carried some letter from Paul on this visit. Still, one might expect a more specific mention of so substantial a letter as 2 Thessalonians had it been written first. On the other hand, the references to letters in 2 Thess 2:2, 15; 3:17 are at least consistent with the idea that 1 Thessalonians had already been received, though they do not demand it.

If 1 Thessalonians is prior, as the slight balance of probability suggests, we can assume that the persecution of the church, which may have abated after Paul's departure, has heated up again, or at least that the church is in greater turmoil because of it. Likewise, we must assume that the church's misunderstanding of the Lord's return in 2:2 occurred despite the logical force of 1 Thess 4:13-18. Also, the idle who were warned briefly in 1 Thess 4:11-12 and 5:14 did not heed that warning. Such developments will surprise those who assume that human behavior is always reasonable and orderly, but those who have experienced the give and take of pastoral leadership will recognize that churches and Christians, like stocks, seldom move in a straight line. Against such a background Paul dictated his second letter, seeking to correct the church's course and reinforce its growth.

THEOLOGICAL VALUE

2 Thessalonians focuses primarily on three issues: persecution, the Lord's return, and the problem of idleness. Each has remarkable relevance for today's church.

Persecution is perhaps less a part of the experience of Christians in North America than in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, for many Christians it remains a real threat. More broadly, all believers experience the hostility of unbelievers at various points, and all can be subject to the hurt of their ridicule, even if they are relatively safe from physical violence. 2 Thessalonians provides the important reminder that God notices such suffering and promises to bring vindication for his people. The suffering of the church will one day end.

Likewise, the pervasive dominance of evil, obvious to every modern observer, will one day end as well. Whatever the precise nature of the "man of lawlessness" (2:3), Paul certainly focuses attention on his present activity (2:9-12). Christians who wonder whether their faith is true when they see the opponents of Christianity with the upper hand have their answer in this letter. Evil will continue to run rampant in this age, but when Christ returns, he will utterly destroy every manifestation of it and the One who stands behind it. The goodness and faithfulness of God can be trusted to answer every aspect of injustice in this age.

Unemployment, underemployment and wide gaps in income are no less a social reality now than they were for Paul's readers. And so the need for Christian charity continues as it did in the first century. But the dangers inherent in such sharing are still real as well. Paul's reminders about the need for personal responsibility and self-support (3:6-12), coupled with the reminder to continue in good works of generosity (3:13) are messages to be heeded as today's church considers its role in addressing the pressing issues of poverty and the failures of the secular welfare state.

The observation that problems had intensified since Paul wrote his first letter contains a pertinent message in itself. Even in Paul's ministry, the life of the church was characterized by trouble as much as progress. Yet through such trouble the work and will of God are accomplished. Christians frustrated by the one-step-forward-two-steps-back trajectory of the church can take heart that in similar circumstances the great apostle still found much for which to give thanks and boast (1:3-4; 2:13-14). God's will, which will be fully realized only when Christ returns, is even now being worked out in the life of the church, even when outwardly it appears defeated.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: 2 Thessalonians (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. GREETING - 1:1-2

II. OPENING THANKSGIVING, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER - 1:3-12

A. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Growth and Endurance in Persecution- 1:3-4

B. Encouragement in Light of God's Judgment - 1:5-10

C. The Content of Paul's Prayer - 1:11-12

III. INSTRUCTION ON THE LORD'S RETURN - 2:1-12

A. The Day of the Lord Not Yet Present - 2:1-2

B. The Apostasy and the Man of Lawlessness - 2:3-12

1. The Apostasy and the Revelation of the Man of Lawlessness - 2:3

2. A Description of the Man of Lawlessness - 2:4

3. Reminder of Oral Instruction on the Subject - 2:5

4. The One Who Restrains/Prevails - 2:6-10

5. God's Consequent Actions - 2:11-12

IV. RENEWED THANKSGIVING, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER - 2:13-17

A. Thanksgiving for the Salvation of the Thessalonians- 2:13-14

B. Encouragement to Remain Faithful to the Traditions Delivered by Paul - 2:15

C. Prayer for the Lord's Encouragement and Strength - 2:16-17

V. EXHORTATIONS - 3:1-16

A. General Exhortations - 3:1-5

B. Exhortations Regarding Church Discipline - 3:6-15

1. Exclusion of the Willfully Idle - 3:6-13

2. Exclusion of the Disobedient - 3:14-15

VI. CONCLUSION - 3:16-18

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

McGarvey: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE

That the second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written very soon after the first is apparent from the fact that the two Epistles show that practically the same conditions existed in that church, and also from the fact that Silas and Timothy join with Paul in both letters; and it can not be shown that these three men were ever together after the earlier part of Paul's ministry in Corinth. We would therefore date this letter in the latter part of A. D. 52 or the early part of A. D. 53. Jesus had left the world about twenty-three years before, promising to return at an indefinite date. This indefiniteness gave free scope to the conjectures of his early followers, until the clear teaching of his apostles brought about a better understanding. There are evidences in the first Epistle that the Lord's coming was a subject of great interest to the Thessalonians. It seems likely that at the date of that Epistle the disciples there were expecting the Lord's return in the near future; for they were grieving over the thought that their loved ones who died would thereby be cut off from all participation in the joys of that coming--a joy which those still living fully expected to realize. In correcting this false view as to the dead, Paul had not thought it needful to specify that all would likely die before the Lord came, since in his teaching while in Thessalonica he had shown that the events which God had decreed should intervene before the coming of the Lord, were of such a nature as to necessarily require much time. Thus the idea that the Lord's return would take place in the near future remained uncorrected by him, for he was not really aware that it prevailed. Moreover, certain passages in his first Epistle could be, and evidently were, misconstrued to favor the idea, and were used to foster and strengthen it. See 1Th 4:15; 1Th 4:17; 1Th 5:4; 1Th 5:6 . Again, traditional sayings of the apostle were appealed to in confirmation of this erroneous notion, and, as a consequence of all this, the church was excited and troubled. The design, therefore, of this second Epistle was to correct the error as to the Lord's coming, and thus restore tranquility to the church. To do this the apostle reminds them of his former instruction, wherein he showed that the rise and fall of the man of sin must precede the coming of the Lord. Having corrected the doctrinal error, he closes his Epistle, as usual, with prayer and admonitions and a benediction.