2 Thessalonians 1

2 Thessalonians 1:1

I. SALUTATION (1:1, 2) 1:1 Silvanus and Timothy were with Paul when he wrote this Letter from Corinth. The Letter is addressed to the church of the Thessalonians; this reveals its human composition and geographical location. In God our Father distinguishes the assembly from a heathen gathering. And in the Lord Jesus Christ marks it out as a Christian congregation. 1:2 The apostle does not wish fame, fortune, or pleasure for the saints, but grace and peace. Grace provides enablement for everything within the will of God, and peace gives serenity in every kind of circumstance. What more could a person desire for himself or for others? Grace and peace are from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace precedes peace; we must know God’s grace before we can experience His peace. Paul’s mention of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as co-sources of these blessings implies the equality of the Father and the Son.

2 Thessalonians 1:3

II. PAUL AND THE THESSALONIANS (1:3-12) A. Paul’s Debt of Thanks (1:3-5) 1:3 The Letter begins with thanksgiving for the saints. To read this is to listen to the heartbeat of a true servant of Christ as he rejoices over his beloved spiritual children. To him thanksgiving was a continual duty to God, and it was an appropriate duty as well in view of the faith and love of the Christians. Their faith was making astonishing strides, and each one without exception was showing more and more love to the others. This was an answer to the apostle’s prayer (1Th_3:10, 1Th_3:12). Notice the order: first faith, then love. Faith puts us in contact with the eternal spring of love in God Himself, writes C. H. Mackintosh, and the necessary consequence is that our hearts are drawn out in love to all who belong to Him.1:4 Their spiritual progress caused Paul and his associates to boast about them to other churches of God. They had remained steadfast and full of faith in spite of the persecutions they were enduring. Patience here means steadfastness or perseverance. 1:5 The fact that they were standing up so bravely under the persecutions and afflictions was an indication of the righteous dealings of God. He was supporting them, strengthening them, encouraging them. If they had not received His divine power, they would never have been able to demonstrate such patience and faith in suffering for Christ. Their heroic endurance proved them worthy of the kingdom of God. It did not suggest that any personal merit entitled them to enter the kingdom; it is only through the merits of Christ that anyone will be there. But those who suffer on behalf of the kingdom here show that they are among those who will reign with Him in that coming day (Rom_8:17; 2Ti_2:12). E. W. Rogers, in commenting on the phrase you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, states: This has to do with human responsibility. On the side of divine sovereignty we have been made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, and this meetness is solely due to our association with Christ in His death and resurrection. We are graced in the Beloved, altogether independent of anything in ourselves, either before or since we were saved. But God allows His people to go through persecutions and tribulations in order to develop in them the moral excellencies which make them worthy citizens of that kingdom. Some of the apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name. Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians that God would count them worthy of their calling most certainly had nothing to do with adding anything to the work of Christ. The Cross makes the believer worthy of his position in the kingdom, but patience and faith in tribulation manifest such an one as morally worthy of it. Among members of any earthly society there are those who are discreditable as well as others. Paul prayed that it should not be so among these saints.

2 Thessalonians 1:6

B. The Righteous Judgment of God (1:6-10) 1:6 The righteous action of God is seen in two wayspunishment for the persecutors and then rest for the persecuted. Williams says: God’s action in allowing His people to be persecuted, and in permitting the existence of their persecutors, had a double purposefirst, to test the fitness of His people for government (v. 5); and second, to manifest the fitness of their persecutors for judgment. 1:7 Just as God will mete out punishment to the enemies of His people, so He will award rest to those who suffer for His sake. We should not conclude from verse 7 that suffering saints will not obtain relief from trial until Christ comes back from heaven in flaming fire. When a believer dies, he obtains rest. Living believers will enjoy relaxation from all tensions at the time of the Rapture. What this verse is saying is that when the Lord pours out judgment on His adversaries, the saints will be seen by the world to be enjoying rest. The time of God’s righteous retribution is when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. Retribution for the ungodly and rest for believers are included in His coming. Which phase of Christ’s coming is referred to here? It is clearly the third phasethe manifestation of His coming, when He returns with His saints to the earth.

EXCURSUS ON THE RAPTURE AND REVELATION The RaptureThe Revelation1. Christ comes to the air (1Th_4:17). 1. He comes to the earth (Zec_14:4). 2. He comes for His saints (1Th_4:16-17). 2. He comes with His saints (1Th_3:13; Jud_1:14). 3. The Rapture is a mystery, i. e. , a truth unknown in OT times (1Co_15:51). 3.

The Revelation is not a mystery; it is the subject of many OT prophecies (Ps. 72; Isa. 11; Zechariah 14). 4. Christ’s coming forHis saints is never said to be preceded by celestial portents. 4. His coming with His saints will be heralded by signs in the heavens (Mat_24:29-30). 5. The Rapture is presented as a time of blessing (1Th_4:18). 5. The Revelation is identified with the Day of the Lord (2Th_2:1-12, NU Text). 6. The Rapture is presented as a time of blessing (1Th_4:18). 6.

The main emphasis of the Revelation is on judgment (2Th_2:8-12). 7. The Rapture takes place in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1Co_15:52). This strongly implies that it will not be witnessed by the world. 7. The Revelation will be visible world-wide (Mat_24:27; Rev_1:7). 8. The rapture seems to involve the church primarily (Joh_14:1-4; 1Co_15:51-58; 1Th_4:13-18)8. The Revelation involves Israel primarily, then also the Gentile nations (Mat. 24:1-25:46)9.

Christ comes as the Bright and Morning Star (Rev_22:16). 9. He comes as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings (Mal_4:2). 10. The Rapture is not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels, but is alluded to several times in John’s Gospel. 10. The Revelation is characteristic in the Synoptics but hardly mentioned in John’s Gospel. 11. Those taken are taken for blessing (1Th_4:13-18). Those left are left for judgment (1Th_5:1-3). 11.

Those taken are taken for judgment. Those left are left for blessing (Mat_24:37-41). 12. No dating system is given for events preceding the Rapture. 12. An elaborate dating system is given for the Revelation, such as 1260 days, 42 months, 3bd years (see Dan_7:25; Dan_12:7, Dan_12:11-12; Rev_11:2; Rev_12:14; Rev_13:5). 13. The title Son of Man is never used in any of the passages dealing with the Rapture. 13. The revelation is spoken of as the coming of the Son of Man (Mat_16:28; Mat_24:27, Mat_24:30, Mat_24:39; Mat_26:64; Mar_13:26; Luk_21:27).

Granted then that these are two separate events, yet how do we know that they do not occur at approximately the same time? How do we know that they are separated by an interval? Three lines of proof can be mentioned:

1. The first is based on Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks (Dan_9:25-27). We are now living in the parenthetical Church Age, between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks. The seventieth week is the Tribulation Period of seven years. The church is taken home to heaven before the Tribulation Period (Rom_5:9; 1Th_1:10; 1Th_5:9; Rev_3:10). The coming of Christ to reign takes place after the seventieth week (Dan_9:24; Matt. 24).
2. The second line of proof for an interval of time between the Rapture and the Manifestation is based on the structure of the book of Revelation. In the first three chapters, the church is seen on earth. Chapters 4 through 19:10 describe the Tribulation Period when God’s wrath will be poured out on the world that has rejected His Son. The church is never mentioned as being on earth during this period. The church is apparently taken to heaven at the close of chapter 3. In Rev_19:11, Christ returns to earth to subdue His foes and to set up His kingdomat the close of the Tribulation Period.
3. There is a third consideration which necessitates a time interval between Christ’s coming for the saints and His coming with the saints. At the time of the Rapture, all believers are taken out of the world and are given their glorified bodies. Yet when Christ returns to reign, there will be believers on earth who will not as yet have glorified bodies and who will marry and raise children during the Millennium (Isa_11:6, Isa_11:8). Where do these believers come from? There must be a period of time between the Rapture and the Revelation during which they are converted. Now to return to verse 7, we have the arrival of the Lord Jesus in power and great glory. He is attended by angels through whom His power is exerted.

1:8 The flaming fire may be a reference to the Shekinah, the glory cloud which symbolizes God’s presence (Exo_16:10). Or it may be a picture of the fiery judgment which is about to be unleashed (Psa_50:3; Isa_66:15). Probably it is the latter. When God takes vengeance, it is not vindictiveness, but righteous recompense. There is no thought of getting even but rather of meting out the punishment which His holy, righteous character demands. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze_18:32). Paul describes two classes marked out for retribution:

1. Those who do not know Godthose who have rejected the knowledge of the true God as revealed in creation and in conscience (Rom. 1, 2). They may never have heard the gospel.
2. Those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christthose who have heard the gospel and have rejected it. The gospel is not simply a statement of facts to be believed, but a Person to be obeyed. Belief in the NT sense involves obedience. 1:9 These shall be punished. A god who doesn’t punish sin is no god at all. The idea that a God of love must not punish sin overlooks the fact that God is also holy and must do what is morally right. The nature of the punishment is here defined as everlasting destruction. The word translated everlasting or eternal (aionios) is used seventy times in the NT. Three times it may mean ages of limited duration (Rom_16:25; 2Ti_1:9; Tit_1:2). The other times it means eternal or endless. It is used in Rom_16:26 to describe the unending existence of God. Destruction never means annihilation. It means loss of well-being, or ruin as far as the purpose of existence is concerned. The wineskins which the Lord Jesus described in Luk_5:37 were destroyed (same root word as used here). They did not cease to exist, but they were ruined as far as further usefulness was concerned. This passage is often used by post-tribulationists to confirm their position. They understand it to say that believers will not obtain rest and their persecutors will not be punished until Christ comes back to reign, and this is admittedly at the end of the Tribulation. Therefore, they conclude that the hope of believers is the post-tribulation Rapture. What they fail to see is that the Thessalonians to whom this was written have all died and are already enjoying rest with the Lord in heaven. Likewise, their persecutors have all died and are already suffering in Hades. Why then does Paul seem to say that these conditions will not take place until Christ returns to earth in power and great glory? The reason is that this will be the time that these conditions will be openly manifested to the world. Then the world will see that the Thessalonians were right and their persecutors were wrong. The saints will be seen enjoying rest when they return with Christ in glory. The destruction of the Lord’s enemies at the end of the Tribulation will be a public demonstration of the doom of all who have afflicted God’s people in all ages. It will help us to remember that Christ’s coming to reign is a time of manifestation. What has been true all along will be unveiled for all the world to see. This is not true of the Rapture. The punishment of the wicked also includes banishment from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. To perish without Him is to be without Him forever. 1:10 His coming will be a time of glory for the Lord and of amazement for the spectators. He will be glorified in His saints, that is, He will be honored because of what He has done in and through them. Their salvation, sanctification, and glorification will be tributes to His matchless grace and power. He will be admired among all those who believe. Amazed onlookers will gasp as they see what He has been able to do with such unpromising human beings! And this will include the Thessalonians believers too, because they had received and believed the testimony of the apostles. They would share in the glory and triumph of that Day, namely, the Day of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. By way of review, we might paraphrase verses 5-10 as follows: Your patience in the midst of tribulation is very significant. In all this God is working out His righteous purposes. Your steadfast endurance of persecution shows that you are among the company of those who will share the glories of Christ’s coming reign. On the one hand, God will measure out judgment to those who now trouble you. On the other hand, He will give rest to you who are now troubled, along with us alsoPaul, Silvanus, and Timothy. He will judge your enemies when He comes from heaven with the angelic executors of His power in flaming fire, punishing those who are willfully ignorant of God and those who are willfully disobedient to the gospel. These will suffer everlasting destruction, even banishment from the Lord’s face and from the display of His power, when He returns to be glorified in all believersincluding you, because you did believe the gospel message we preached to you.

2 Thessalonians 1:11

C. Paul’s Prayer for the Saints (1:11, 12) 1:11 In the preceding verses the apostle has been describing the glorious calling of the saints. They have been called to suffer persecution, which in turn fits them for rule in the kingdom. Now he prays that their lives in the meantime will be counted worthy of such a high calling, and that God’s mighty power will enable them to obey every impulse to do good, and to accomplish every task undertaken in faith. 1:12 The result would be twofold. First, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified in them. This means that they would give an accurate representation of Him to the world, and thus bring glory to Him. Then they, too, would be glorified in Him. Their association with Him, their Head, would bring honor to them as members of His Body. Chapter 1 closes with the reminder that this prayer can be answered only according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus he concludes a marvelous explanation of the meaning and outcome of suffering in the believer’s life. Imagine how encouraged the Thessalonians were when they read this reassuring message!