2 Thessalonians 1
LenskiCHAPTER I
THE GREETING
2 Thessalonians 1:1
1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of Thessalonians in connection with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
See the discussion in 1 Thess. 1:1. The writers again use only their unmodified names. The church is addressed as it was in the first epistle save that ἡμῶν is added in the phrase attached. “Grace to you and peace” is amplified by the addition of the phrase “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” See the discussion of this phrase in the exposition of some of Paul’s other letters. The point to be noted is the fact that the Thessalonians are addressed in the same way in both epistles, which means that the attitude of the writers toward the Thessalonians has not been altered by what had occurred in Thessalonica since the first letter was written and sent.
Paul and Silvanus had received the fullest information about Thessalonica from Timothy whom Paul had sent to bring a report (1 Thess. 3:1–6). Second Thessalonians evidences the fact that it, too, rests on full information regarding what had occurred since Timothy’s return and since the dispatching of First Thessalonians. How did this further information reach Corinth and the writers? Some assume that the Thessalonians had written a letter to Paul. But this epistle nowhere indicates that it is an answer to a letter received from Thessalonica. Still more convincing is the full and detailed information about Thessalonica presented in this epistle, plainly being information which no letter from Thessalonica could have contained—if such a letter had been written and had prompted an answer on the part of Paul and his assistants. We know the fact that this information reached Paul, but we do not know how the information was carried.
The Preliminary Section of the Letter
Once More Gratitude to God for the State of the Thessalonians Combined with Prayer for Them
2 Thessalonians 1:3
3 This is plainly the introductory section of the epistle. Several things are worthy of note. Here the thanksgiving ends with prayer for the Thessalonians; in First Thessalonians the thanksgiving stands alone, and the prayer-wishes are placed at the end of the two parts of the letter (1 Thess. 3:11–13; 5:23, 24). A comparison of the two thanksgivings answers the question as to which epistle is first and which second. 1 Thess. 1:2–2:20 could not appear in a second letter, for it speaks of the beginnings in Thessalonica and, as chapter 3 shows, of the time of Timothy’s visit and the reception of the information he brought. 2 Thess. 1:3, etc., cannot antedate First Thessalonians for this applies only to the later growth in Thessalonica. We note these and still further facts because some critics reverse the order of the two epistles.
Again we note that this second thanksgiving merges (v. 5–10), not merely into the great hope of the Parousia, but, as combined with this, into a reminder of the great final judgment with its terrors for those who disobey the gospel and with its glory for the true saints. The new note, struck with such force already in the opening paragraph of this second epistle, is that of damning judgment. This note is not found in First Thessalonians; it belongs in this second epistle which sketches the great Antichrist and his doom; it serves as a warning also for the Thessalonians, a few of whom were not following the gospel properly but were acting disorderly. This second epistle at once takes a firm, almost stern grip on the Thessalonians—at once reflecting and then fitting the situation in Thessalonica.
The Thanksgiving
We are obliged to give thanks to God always concerning you, brethren, even as it is worthy, that your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each single one of you increases toward one another so that we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God over your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions which you endure, an indication of the righteous judgment of God so that you are deemed worthy of the kingdom of God, in behalf of which you also suffer; etc.
Every commentator remarks that the writers do not say simply, “We give thanks to God always concerning you” (as in other epistles), but here and in 2:12, “We are obliged to give thanks,” etc. We need not take note of all the explanations. To call this statement un-Pauline, a mark of spuriousness, implies that a writer must always use the same expression no matter what the circumstances and what his thought may be. To attribute the insertion of obligation to someone who wrote this letter and only submitted it to Paul for his signature is to overdo the explanation. To find “a full-toned liturgical formula,” commonly used in later devotional language, and thus to deny the Pauline authorship of this letter, is to misread the meaning of Paul’s wording and what the later phraseology intends. In our Communion liturgy the minister still says: “Let us give thanks unto our Lord God,” the congregation responds: “It is meet and right so to do,” and the minister continues: “It is truly meet, right, and salutary, that we should … give thanks,” etc. Later forms of language did not produce either Paul’s wording or the thought it intends to convey.
The feeling that the expression “we are obliged to thank” (are morally compelled) seems to indicate a reluctance is correct; the wording is intended to make that impression. But instead of being weaker than the simple “we thank,” it is stronger. We use similar expressions, for instance: “We (or: you) cannot help but say,” etc., implying fullest readiness to say because of facts which are all too plain. So here “we are obliged” means: “we cannot help it, you Thessalonians with your faith and love amid all your persecutions simply make us thank God concerning you.” The idea is: if we writers should ever want to hold back our thanks regarding you we just could not. The writers remember 1 Thess. 1:2 and now say still more. They cannot help it in view of what has transpired since the first letter was written. Πάντοτε has the same force it had in 1 Thess. 1:2.
The placement of “brethren” so far back is also viewed critically, which would have caused Paul to wonder. Why must he place every address farther forward? In 1 Thess. 1:2 he has none!
True, this placement makes the first clause a kind of unit by itself but scarcely so that it separates the next so that we must read: “even as it is worthy because,” etc., ὅτι depending on this clause and not on “we are obliged to give thanks.” Ὅτι states that for which thanks is being given (dafuer, dass, B.-P. 572; “for that,” R. V.). Does that, then, make “even as it is worthy” rather superfluous since it is already contained in “we are obliged”? On the contrary, it brings out the very point intended by “we are obliged.” Of course, καθώς does not express degree but comparison. It is a worthy thing to feel an obligation to thank God and to meet this obligation, especially when the object imposing the obligation for thanksgiving is so weighty. In ἅξιον there is the idea of weight, one that balances the scales; here the meeting of this obligation and the worthiness of doing so are to be balanced.
This thanksgiving to God concerns the faith and the love of the Thessalonians despite the persecutions that have continued since the visit of Timothy and the sending of the first letter. These persecutions did not upset the faith of the Thessalonians; instead, their faith “grows exceedingly,” they cling more intensely to Christ. The supposition that ὑπέρ in the verb implies that their faith grows “beyond” proper sober bounds and thus refers to the disorders mentioned in 3:6, etc., is not supported by the context. The faith is growing “beyond” what it was at the time when the first letter was written. Perhaps even this is too specific; the verb may indicate only a very strong growth, one that is wholly praiseworthy, for who can have too much faith? So also their love is increasing.
In 1 Thess. 3:12 “abound” is added; its absence here is of no particular significance. Persecution drew the members most closely together: “the love of each single one of you all for one another,” which is stronger than ὑμῶνεἰςἀλλήλους, “your love for one another.”
In 1 Thess. 1:3 hope is added to faith and love as an object of thanksgiving. In this epistle hope is not mentioned, and, as we gather from the rest of the letter, this is due to the fact that in Thessalonica some were misconstruing this hope and thus also were changing their conduct. Paul praises what is good and true without the least discount; but he does not praise, he corrects what is faulty and wrong. He does so here. The two letters are misunderstood when the Thessalonian fault, which is revealed in the second letter, is found mentioned in the first. If that were true, 1 Thess. 1:3 would not speak of the Thessalonian faith, love, and hope with equal gratitude to God, as it does, but would deal with the fault regarding hope.
This fault has developed since the first letter was written. Did it develop as a result of that first letter? Of course, not as a legitimate deduction but due to misunderstanding? Such an opinion is not justified, whether it is expressed in language that is derogatory to Paul or is toned down to milder language. 1 Thess. 1:10 speaks of the waiting for Christ as this was reported by Paul prior to the first letter, a waiting with which no fault could be found. 1 Thess. 5:1, etc., states that the Thessalonians “know” about the times and the seasons and only repeats the main facts of this knowledge. The admonitions to soberness (1 Thess. 5:6, 8) are elaborated in such a way that they exclude the conclusion that some were already losing their balance. Finally, Second Thessalonians makes no correction regarding a misunderstanding of anything said in First Thessalonians.
The point of 1 Thess. 4:13–5:11 is the grieving for the members who had already died. Second Thessalonians says nothing further about this grieving. The legitimate conclusion to be drawn is that the comfort offered in First Thessalonians (4:18; 5:11) had been effective—the grieving ceased. What, then, caused the disorderliness that had developed since that time? All that we can say is, the pressure of persecution; and this we say chiefly on the basis of later experiences in the church when calamitous times led many to imagine that Christ would come immediately.
It would be unfair to think that all the Thessalonians or even a majority of them had become unbalanced regarding the Parousia. This was true regarding only comparatively few. But incipient errors must be promptly checked, and it is this that is now done for the Thessalonians. In 3:6, etc., plus v. 14, 15 we see that the church had kept its soberness and thus is ordered to deal with the few who have gone off on a wrong tangent.
2 Thessalonians 1:4
4 Ὥστε states the result which the growing faith and the increasing love of the Thessalonians has: “so that we ourselves (like others who hear about you) boast about you in the churches of God over your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions,” etc. Ὑμᾶςαὐτούς is not reflexive but intensive (R. 687) like αὐτός in 1 Thess. 5:23; the persons about whom the boasting is done are indicated by ἐν, which is quite regular even when the verb is the simplex (it is not a Hebraism). Where this boasting is done is also stated by ἐν although this might be a dative stating to whom the boasting is made. The infinitive is durative. The compound verb, which is used also by other writers, is proper with the two ἐν phrases.
Rather much is inferred from the plural “in the churches of God” when these are thought to be a number of churches that had been newly founded in Achaia, sufficient time having elapsed since the writing of the first letter to permit the founding of so many churches in this new territory. We do not know where the churches referred to by the writers are located. The phrase does not necessarily mean that the writers are present in each church when they boast. It is natural to think of all the churches with which the writers from time to time keep making contact through visitors, oral messages, etc. Some of these churches may have been located in distant places. The word ἐκκλησία, “assembly,” still needs a modifier to show that a Christian assembly is referred to, hence we have “the churches of God”; the unmodified ecclesia, like our word “church,” soon became sufficient.
We recall 1 Thess. 1:8 where the writers are happy to say that reports about the Thessalonians have gone out far and wide so that the writers find the churches informed about the Thessalonians and need not tell the news themselves. In 2 Cor. 8:1, etc.; 9:2, etc., we see that Paul loves to boast to others about the faithfulness and the zeal of one church or of a number of churches. This delights his heart. Who would not a thousand times rather boast than lament and complain?
This boasting is never self-glorification which says what the churches are doing while meaning what Paul himself has done. The credit is given wholly where it belongs. And the aim is always to encourage and strengthen those to whom the boast is made, to stimulate their consciousness that they are not a lone handful standing by themselves but are bound together with so many others in other cities and provinces. Paul ever has in mind “the Communion of Saints.” To this date we boast of one church to another, and it is right so to do. In those early days, when the church was first being planted, it was still more proper to do so. The firm stand of the Thessalonians meant much to the churches who heard of it; and the thought of how much it meant stimulated the Thessalonians, too, to stand ever more firmly and faithfully.
Ἐν indicates the personal, ὑπέρ the impersonal object of the boasting (in 2 Cor. 10:8 it is περί): “over your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions,” etc., the whole of which should be read as a unit. One article combines the two nouns, ὑμῶν and also the entire phrase belong to both. The fact that love is not again named does not imply that it is disregarded, for it is ever the fruit of faith. It is not stressed in this connection. The stress is on the perseverance, ὑπομονή, “the remaining under,” “the brave patience,” as Trench calls it, with which the manly Christian holds out. It accompanies genuine faith.
The perseverance is named first simply because it is stressed; it is so also in Rev. 13:10 and similarly “thy love and faith” in Philemon 5. We need not regard this double expression as a hendiadys as the older commentators do: persevering faith or faithful persevering, yet the two are closely connected; nor does πίστις mean “faithfulness,” it is the same “faith” that was mentioned in v. 3, it is confidence in Christ.
The reason that perseverance and faith are thus combined appears from the phrase “in all your persecutions and the afflictions which you endure.” So “the persecutions” have continued, apparently in repeated outbreaks; “all” may reach back and take in those also that occurred prior to the time of the first letter. “Afflictions” is a wider term and includes the painful effects of the persecutions, many of which persist long after the persecution dies down. The view that the article in the expression ταῖςθλίψεσιν prevents ὑμῶν from being construed with this noun is not supported by grammar. The relative clause is added because the Thessalonians are still enduring the painful results.
In the New Testament ἀνέχω always occurs in the middle and is construed with the genitive (B.-D. 176, 1), so we assume that αἷς is an attraction to the case of the antecedent. This verb may govern the accusative, and even a dative of means is at times found. The writers are proud and happy to tell all the churches that the Thessalonians bravely hold out in their faith in spite of all their persecutions and consequent sufferings. Regarding the earlier sufferings see 1 Thess. 2:14. Therefore the greater is the pity that a church so brave, etc., should have members that have wild, disorderly notions in another direction.
2 Thessalonians 1:5
5 We regard the next statement as a simple nominative apposition: “an indication of the righteous judgment of God so that you are counted worthy of the kingdom of God, in behalf of which you also suffer.” What is such an “indication,” ἔνδειγμα, “a thing pointed out” (ἔνδειξις is the act)? Suffering these afflictions as the Thessalonians suffer them with perseverance and faith. Suffering persecution would not yet be such an indication. When we are construing the apposition we cannot stop with the minor relative clause “which you endure” but must include the main concepts plus the minor one: “your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions,” etc. But this is not an indication offered by the Thessalonians but one that Paul now points out to them, one that the Thessalonians may not have noted but should note for their comfort. To endure persecution and painful affliction in perseverance and faith may seem like a hardship, often like a needless hardship for the believers. Viewed in its true light, it is “an indication of the righteous judgment of God.”
Some expositors regard this judgment as a present judgment of God, others warn us against accepting this idea as though Paul is speaking of “an advance indication of the judgment God will render at the last day.” They point to what follows as substantiating this idea; but this only follows and is not yet said in v. 5. Nor does the article “the righteous judgment” compel one to think of the “the final judgment.” This is God’s judgment on the persevering faith of the Thessalonians right here and now. The thought often occurs to true Christians that God is unrighteous when he lets them suffer severe persecution. This is the problem with which Ps. 73 deals. It is ever a righteous and thus most blessed judgment, and we are to see the indication to that effect.
Hence also εἰςτό does not denote purpose as those suppose who think of the final judgment. This infinitive phrase states the outcome or result of God’s righteous judgment: “so that you are deemed worthy of the kingdom of God,” namely in this judgment of his which is indicated by the perseverance and faith with which you suffer. The genitive indicates to what the ἔνδειγμα refers; the infinitive clause states to what the κρίσις refers. “To be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God” is almost the verdict now pronounced upon the Thessalonians; yet one may debate a little as to whether εἰςτό is meant in that sense, for every act of judging (κρίσις) involves a verdict. The infinitive rather at once states the outcome or result of the act of judging. The idea that εἰςτό expresses purpose is not tenable. A righteous verdict has no further purpose than to be what it is, a righteous act.
But a verdict always has a result, and that is the main thought here. For this reason, too, the infinitive is an aorist.
Here we again have the idea of weight in ἄξιος (as in the adjective in v. 3). The ungodly are like chaff which the wind drives away, they cannot stand in the judgment now or ever (Ps. 1:4, 5); but perseverance and faith which are tried by persecution and affliction have weight in God’s judgment. This weight of worthiness does not lie in our suffering but in Christ who fills our faith. The infinitive, too, does not mean “to be made worthy,” least of all by what we suffer, but “to be deemed or accounted worthy” and thus matches the idea of a “judgment,” God’s pronouncing a verdict. Here “the kingdom of God” is the kingdom of glory. “To be accounted worthy of this kingdom” = to be considered fit for entering this kingdom at the final consummation.
It was a tremendous encouragement to the Thessalonians to be told that their unshaken faith in all their persecutions constituted an ἔνδειγμα or indication that God judged them to be worthy of eternal blessedness, that his judgment pointed to this outcome and result.
2 Thessalonians 1:6
6 The point to be noted is the fact that this judgment of God which results in regarding the Thessalonians worthy of God’s kingdom is absolutely righteous. Hence the substantiation: if, indeed, it is righteous with God duly to give in return affliction to those afflicting you and (thus) to you that are afflicted surcease in company with us in connection with the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven in company with his power of angels in flaming fire, etc.
Εἴπερ is the strengthened εἰ and is used in a condition of undisputed reality that is fully assured for the reader as well as for the writer, here: “if, indeed, it is righteous as it most certainly is in your judgment as well as in ours.”
The Scriptures emphasize the absolute righteousness of God in the final judgment. In this public judgment before the whole universe of men and angels all will acclaim that God is righteous in acquitting the believers and equally righteous in damning the ungodly and unbelievers. Both verdicts will rest on absolute justice. The damned themselves will not dream of challenging or even questioning the verdict that sends them to their doom. Those who appear in God’s judgment with the righteousness of God bestowed upon them by the gospel through faith (Rom. 1:16, 17) must be declared righteous by a righteous God; those who appear in the unrighteousness of their sin and unbelief (Rom. 1:18) must be damned by a righteous God. In the full light of the last day all the fallacies that today darken men’s judgment will disappear. The fact that God is and must be righteous is axiomatic; a God who is unrighteous in the least cannot exist.
Ἀπό has the force of “duly”; ἀντί, “in return for,” hence “duly to give in return” and in this sense “to recompense”; aorist to denote the complete final act. The justice of giving “affliction to those afflicting you” is beyond question (Matt. 7:2). This is what they demand of God by their actions, demand again and again, and God would not be righteous if he did not meet this demand upon his righteousness. The proposition is axiomatic even as far as all ordinary sense of human right and justice is concerned.
2 Thessalonians 1:7
7 Καί has consecutive force: “and thus.” The self-evident nature of the first proposition carries with it the self-evidence of the second, that in righteousness God must then duly give “to you that are being afflicted” by these afflicters “surcease” from affliction “in company with us,” the writers, who now endure the same unjust affliction. Ἄνεσις is relief or rest and is exactly the proper opposite to affliction. The righteous hand of God must interpose: as it crushes forever the afflicters of the righteous, so it must free the afflicted and place them into his kingdom. Their affliction was permitted only to test and try the genuineness of their justifying faith. The end must be eternal rest in the kingdom to which they clung by faith in the Savior-King.
The idea that their suffering affliction merits this reward is the very opposite of all that the Scripture teaches and of the justice here set forth, for the acts of afflicting God’s people are only the public evidences of ungodliness and unbelief, i.e., of the rejection of God and Christ, while the perseverance under such afflictions belongs to the public evidence of faith in God and Christ, in the grace and the salvation they bestow. The final public judgment deals with the open evidence as establishing what it evidences in the hearts of the one class as well as in the hearts of the other. It is this fact that publicly displays the absolute righteousness of God’s judgment.
Paul is the last man to fail to include himself and his assistants with his readers. The Thessalonians saw how the storm of persecution broke over him and Silvanus when they worked in Thessalonica, which involved also Jason (Acts 17:5, etc.). Verily, they were in company with each other (μετά) in the matter of this significant affliction for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s (Mark 10:29). What Paul writes to the Thessalonians in the way of assured comfort is what is his own deepest assurance and comfort. He also ever has in mind the fellowship of all believers in the Una Sancta. The world hates all of them because Jesus has taken them out of the world (John 15:18, etc.); every evidence the world supplies for this fact is so much assurance and comfort that the righteous God deems the believers worthy of his kingdom and will duly grant them rest in that kingdom.
God often deals with those who afflict the believers now and grants to the latter seasons of refreshing (Acts 3:19). But all this is only preliminary and only partially reveals the justice of God. Not of this does Paul speak here but of the last day and of the final judgment: “in connection with (or: at) the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven in company with his power of angels,” etc. This is the Parousia (1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:1, 8) which is called “the revelation” because the Lord Jesus will then be revealed visibly in all his glory, majesty, and power so that every eye shall see him, also they that pierced him (Rev. 1:7).
In these two letters the expression “the Lord Jesus” occurs a number of times. When Paul attributes the final judgment to God he does so in the sense of what John 5:27 and Acts 17:31 state, and what the phrase “in connection with the revelation of the Lord Jesus” conveys—ἐν being more than temporal. “From heaven” (“out of the heavens,” 1 Thess. 1:10; Acts 1:11) means visible descent in glory. “With his power of angels” is not a genitive of quality: “with his mighty angels” (A. V., but the margin is correct). Μετά governs δυνόμεωςαὑτοῦ. Then ἀγγέλων is regarded as an appositional qualitative genitive since μετά is evidently chosen because of the mention of angels: “in company with his power as exhibited in angels” who will accompany him. Next to Christ are angels; all Christ’s power is visibly displayed in them at his Parousia.
2 Thessalonians 1:8
8 The reader automatically continues with the next phrase: “in flaming fire.” He would not halt at the end of v. 7 and connect this phrase with the following participle, and still less would he halt before αὐτοῦ and connect this with the participle and thus obtain a genitive absolute: “he with flaming fire giving due justice,” etc. This is not a genitive absolute, for the genitive participle modifies τοῦΚυρίουἸησοῦ, who will execute the judgment for God. We construe: “in company with his power of angels in flaming fire.” This is an allusion to Ps. 104:4 (Heb. 1:7): “who makes his ministers a flaming fire.” Those who consider only Isa. 66:15 and 29:6 think that the Lord himself appears as flaming fire; it is his power as displayed in his angels that flames like fire.
The Scriptures use both “in fire of flame” and “in flame of fire” so that the readings vary in our passage. The expression goes back to Exod. 3:2 although Paul’s wording has its source in Ps. 104:4. “A fire of flame” = a flaming fire (characterizing genitive). Some of the early commentators understand δύναμις, “power,” in the sense of “army”: “his army of angels” (the abstract for the concrete); but the word is not used in this way.
The picture presented is most tremendous. While the description pertains to the angels—the Lord’s power exhibited in them, their innumerable host being a vast fire descending with shooting flames—it leaves us to imagine the unimaginable power and glory of him who descends in the center of this host, whose power and glory in this revelation human words cannot describe.
Διδόντοςἐκδίκσιν is also Old Testament phraseology (Isa. 66:15): giving justice to those who do not know God and to those who are disobedient to the gospel of our Lord Jesus, etc. The present participle is descriptive; the expression is used regarding the guilty: “rendering vengence,” it is used with this verb only here in the New Testament. The two articles point to two classes: “those who do not know God” (pagans without contact with the gospel)—“those who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (Jews and pagans who reject the gospel). The two substantivized participles are present tenses and are descriptive of condition (εἰδόσι is a second perfect and is always used as a present). This not knowing God is the wilful, guilty ignorance described in Rom. 1:18–32 and further explained in Rom. 2:14–16. Not obeying the gospel is to refuse it the faith which it would create.
2 Thessalonians 1:9
9 Οἵτινες is both qualitative and causal: such (and because they are such) as shall suffer as justice destruction eternal away from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes to be glorified among his saints and to be marvelled at among all those that believed, for our testimony to you was believed in connection with that day.
“Such,” as v. 8 states they are, and as such the justice they shall suffer is no less than “destruction eternal away from,” etc., where there is only outer darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, Matt. 22:13. Δίκην is the predicate accusative. No man can describe all that ὄλεθρος and its synonym ἀπώλεια contain. Those who think that Paul does not dwell on the horrors of hell because he does not describe its details may note that he uses these most powerful terms. Nothing can go beyond paying as a just penalty “destruction (ruin, devastation) eternal.”
The view that this consists in being “away from the Lord’s face,” etc., is untenable. “Destruction” itself states in what it consists, for it is a descriptive term. Those who find annihilation in it would thereby abolish hell, others misunderstand αἰώνιος and reduce it to a long term which, however, eventually ends. There is no time beyond the last day, either short or long, but only timelessness, eternity, “the eon to come”; this is what the adjective means, which is true of the ζωή or “life” of the blessed as it is true of the “destruction” of the damned. This destruction occurs “away from the Lord’s face” and thus in the outer darkness. They loved the darkness rather than the light (John 3:19) during their earthly life when they might have walked in the light; they thus brought upon themselves damnation, destruction where the face of the Lord sheds no light, which is already description enough.
“And from the glory of his strength” rounds out the description of the destruction. Ἰσχύς means the might or strength that the Lord possesses whether he exhibits it or not; compare δύναμις in v. 7. But “the glory” of it is its blessed and thus glorious manifestation. So the Lord does let his might shine forth, namely in his glory-reign in heaven, far away from which glory the damned lie wrecked in an eternal wreck.
2 Thessalonians 1:10
10 “When he comes” (or “shall come”); ὅταν, “whenever,” once more points to the unknown date of the Lord’s Parousia. Two infinitives of purpose follow, they are aorist passives, effective constatives (not descriptive presents): “to be glorified among his saints and to be marvelled at among all who believed.” Some have at least the first ἐν mean: an seinen Heiligen, so that the glorification really goes out from the Lord and glorifies his saints; but the two ἐν are exactly alike, and the second will not permit such a modification. Both prepositions mean “among.” The saints will surround their Lord with praise, honor, and glory; his believers will marvel at his glory “in that day” when their bodily eyes shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). The verbs are passive and not middle as some would render them: glorify himself, have himself marvelled at.
In v. 9 the damned are removed from the glory that shines in Christ; in v. 10 the saints surround Christ and not only see his glory but also glorify him in response. They are rightly named saints, for sinners must ever flee from the face of Christ’s glory. The language has an Old Testament flavor. Various passages may be cited that have similar expressions. We have even a kind of parallelismus membrorum in the correspondence of the second infinitive: “and to be treated with wonder among all his believers.” Wonder or marvelling is only a second term for glorifying—glorifying going out toward him in praise, marvelling keeping ourselves filled with wonder. “Among all his believers” (aorist: that did believe) fits this wonderment. At one time they walked by faith, by trusting this unseen Lord Jesus; now at his Parousia they see him. This is far beyond all that they had ever conceived, and wonder overwhelms them.
Here we have the same order of terms: saints—believers, that occurs elsewhere (Eph. 1:1); the former is more comprehensive and is also passive; those upon whom all the Spirit’s sanctifying work has been done, all his work in setting them apart for God; the latter indicates the central part of this work and is expressed actively, the response of trust and confidence. Αὐτοῦ does not need to be repeated. The aorist participle conveys the idea that their faith has now turned to sight. The duplication in the second infinitive clause emphasizes and magnifies the effect of the Lord’s appearance among the blessed; in fact, it cannot be adequately stated because it will be so great.
It is characteristic of Paul’s style to add something when such an expression is duplicated; here it is the word “all.” This “all” conveys the idea that at the Parousia the multitude of believers will be great. The Thessalonians are not to think that the ones who believed will be only a little flock. When all of them are at last assembled they will be a glorious host. “All” also conveys the thought that everyone who believed will be there to marvel. Beyond this we need not go; the thought of the Una Sancta is enough. The fact that “all” includes the Thessalonian believers is stated in the next clause; the fact that those already dead will also be there (1 Thess. 4:14, 15) is certainly true although the difference between the living and the dead is here not touched upon in any special way. The resurrection is implied. The supposition that after “that day” still more will be brought to faith and become believers is excluded by the very idea of the Parousia itself.
The fact that a parenthesis should be inserted at this point in Paul’s grandiose description has been called an anticlimax, a weak ending. In the first place, we question that we have a parenthesis. It rests on the supposition that ἐν = “at,” and that the last phrase is to be construed with ἔθλῃ: “whenever he shall come … at that day.” This is, however, not tenable because ὅταν is indefinite and cannot be modified by a phrase that indicates a definite date; we cannot properly say: “whenever he comes … at that day.” The clause: “whenever he comes” is complete in itself. To construe as has been done would require ὅτε in place of ὅταν. To escape this conclusion we cannot attach the phrase to the two infinitives because they are already dated by being construed with the main verb, and thus their date likewise comes under the indefinite “whenever.” The last phrase belongs to the ὅτι clause where Paul placed it and where the common reader would naturally leave it. This ἐν is not the temporal “at” but the connective ἐν: “in connection with.” We have it in Rom. 2:16: the accusing and excusing of pagan consciences is “in connection with” the coming judgment day; these actions would not at all take place if that day were not expected. See the same ἐν in 1 Thess. 5:23: God keeps us now, this keeping is ever as “in connection with” the Parousia and certainly not “at.”
Since there is no parenthesis, we note the full weight of this important clause with explanatory ὅτι: “for believed was our testimony to you in connection with that day.” The presentation is wholly objective since v. 6; it is now given a strong subjective, personal turn. Paul would do that: the Thessalonians are to apply all the objective truth to themselves. They believed the testimony which Paul and Silvanus brought to them. (ἐπί, literally, “upon you,” note the accusative), believed it “in connection with that day.” Their whole faith connected it with that day of final judgment. The aorist designates the fact.
The fact that the gospel testimony itself dealt whh that day is self-evident. See a sample of it in Acts 17:30, 31; God wants all men everywhere to repent now because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world through Christ. This is “testimony.” Paul and Silvanus and Timothy themselves believe it and hence testify. This testimony “was believed” by the Thessalonians “in connection with that day.” They believed it in order that by their faith they might appear at that day among “all those that did believe” and would thus be accepted by the Lord Jesus. It was the connection with that day that was important for the Thessalonians. In 1 Thess. 2:19 the writers declare that the Thessalonians are their hope, joy, and crown “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in connection with his Parousia.” It is always that day and the Parousia in connection with which everything culminates. Note that ἐπιστεύθη links right into ἐνπᾶσιτοῖςπιστεύσασιν and places the Thessalonian believers among all the believers.
Here there is presented what “the revelation of the Lord Jesus” will bring upon all those who did not believe and upon those who did believe, the Thessalonians being among the latter. The righteousness and justice of it all are stressed just as they are in Acts 17:31 and elsewhere. God and the Lord Jesus could not possibly judge save in absolute righteousness.
But the whole impact of this presentation appears in the stupendousness of the Parousia at that day. It exceeds all imagination. The point of it all is directed against those who do not know God and those who do not obey the Lord’s gospel, whom the eternal righteousness will bring to just and eternal destruction. The believers are introduced only in the “whenever” clause and are not paralleled with the godless and the disobedient but are only glorifying and marvelling.
Why a description of this kind? Its silent aim for the Thessalonians is to impress them with the terrors of “that day.” When that day comes, the universe will know it. The supposition that only believers will know it (2:2) is completely removed. The supposition that it has already come and is here (2:2) is equally destroyed. The godless and disobedient in the whole world will know it as their day of doom. Let the Thessalonians remember all the descriptions of that day which Paul and his assistants have given them by their testimony, which is here once more pointedly summarized for them.
A second, silent aim underlies this passage. Woe to those who disregard the testimony given to the Thessalonians! A few of them have recently done so by acting contrary to the tradition which they received from Paul and the apostles (3:6). Let them think of “that day”! The fact that the Lord’s day will come as a thief comes at night they have already been told (1 Thess. 5:2) and know. What if that day comes upon them while they are engaged in their disorderliness?
The Prayer
2 Thessalonians 1:11
11 It is perfectly in order for Paul to continue with a relative instead of beginning a new sentence. Continuous connection, sometimes in long chains, is the Greek way of linking thought. It is so here: in regard to which we are also praying always for you that our God may count you worthy of the (your) calling and may (thus) fulfill every good pleasure of goodness and (every) work of faith with power in order that there may be glorified the Name of our Lord Jesus in you, and you in it according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
The A. V.’s “wherefore” as a translation of εἰςὅ is more correct than the R. V.’s “to which end.” “In regard to which” is the proper rendering, and the neuter relative refers to what the previous verses state. Ἀξιώσῃ harks back as far as καταξιωθῆναι in v. 5 so that we need not hesitate in regard to making the relative refer to all of v. 5–10 and need not confine it only to what v. 10 states about the saints and believers, for the Thessalonians are to escape the righteous judgment of the godless and disobedient and are thus to be among those glorifying the Lord when he comes. “Also” adds the praying to the thanksgiving (v. 3); on “always” see 1 Thess. 1:2. Περὶὑμῶν has the same force it had in v. 3; we say “for you.” Non-final ἵνα states the substance of these prayers for the Thessalonians.
Subject and predicate are reversed in order to obtain an emphasis on both; the object ὑμᾶς is placed before both for the same reason. It is impossible to reproduce this in our non-flexible English. In v. 5 it is being counted worthy of admission into the kingdom of glory (κατά in the verb is perfective); here the verb means to count worthy of the calling we have already received and in which we now live. Κλῆσις has the same meaning it has in other passages: the effective gospel call. The thought is the same as that expressed in 1 Thess. 2:12: “walking worthy of the God who called you for his kingdom and glory,” or in Eph. 4:1: “to walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were called.” The only difference is the fact that “our God” is named as the one who judges in regard to our worthiness, whether we walk as our calling intends that we should walk or not. The writers pray that God may deem us worthy and not reject us as unworthy and as unfaithful to the calling he has bestowed upon us. The verb is thus properly the effective aorist.
The counting worthy in v. 11 is the same as that mentioned in v. 5 save that v. 5 looks to the final goal, worthiness for heavenly glory, while v. 11 looks at what intervenes, at our present calling and how we measure up to that. He who is worthy of his present calling is thereby worthy of the kingdom of glory; he who is worthy of that kingdom must be worthy of God’s calling. We posit no new meaning for κλῆσις: such as a call that is yet to come at the last day, that call then bidding us to enter heaven.
We keep together: “that our God may count you worthy of the (the article in the sense of his or your) calling and may (thus) fulfill every good pleasure of goodness and (every) work of faith with power.” This fulfilling is to be the result of God’s deeming worthy. Whom our God regards worthy of his calling, to him he will grant this fulfillment. Him who is called and then proves himself unworthy of that gospel call our God cannot bless with this fulfillment but must abandon to his unworthiness and unfaithfulness. “May fulfill” is again properly the effective aorist.
Both genitives are subjective: “every (or “all”) good pleasure of goodness,” and: “(every or all) work of faith.” This is the good pleasure which our goodness puts forth, the work which our faith produces (on the latter compare 1 Thess. 1:3). Ἀγαθωσύνη is our bonitas, the “goodness” which God’s call has wrought in us; “faith” is the heart and center of it and is likewise produced in us by God’s gospel call. When a Christian proves worthy of his calling, the goodness in his heart and soul will produce all manner of εὐδοκία, good determination of his own free will, and the faith in his heart will produce all manner of work. Our God will bring these to fulfillment; the good pleasure will be carried out, the work completed and not left abortive, half-done. C.-K. 354. God will do this ἐνδυνάμει, “with power,” not with omnipotence, but with the power of his gospel grace. “All” is not repeated with “work” but, despite the difference in gender, is intended as a modifier of both nouns: “all good pleasure”—“all work.”
The A. V. translates: “all the good pleasure of his (God’s) goodness.” While εὐδοκία is often used with reference to God, this cannot be the case here because the two objects cannot be diverse: the good pleasure of God’s goodness, the work of our faith. C.-K. 354. Both must be ours: the one the free determination to which our goodness moves us, the other the good work to which our faith impels us. The power of grace will bring both to fulfillment so that God finds us worthy of his calling. The point to be noted is that we cannot by our own unaided strength attain this fulfillment and retain this worthiness.
God must do it. Hence the writers ever pray to him, and the Thessalonians will follow their example. Another point is that some of us may lose this worthiness; 3:6, 11 refer to those in Thessalonica who are in such danger. By losing this worthiness they would lose also that mentioned in v. 5. We need scarcely add that in neither passage the worthiness of work-righteousness is implied; such false righteousness is the opposite of worthiness in God’s judgment.
2 Thessalonians 1:12
12 Ὅπως denotes purpose and is used here because ἵνα has already been used to introduce the substance of the prayers, and if it were again used, this would make the impression that this substance is being continued. God’s purpose in granting us the indicated fulfillment is “that there may be glorified the Name of our Lord Jesus in you, and you in it according, etc.,” the subject and the verb are transposed in order to make both emphatic. The relation of this glorification to that mentioned in v. 10 is the same as the counting worthy in v. 11 to that mentioned in v. 5. Already in this life the glorification (like the counting worthy) is to take place, and thus at the last day the final glorification of Christ in us (like the final counting worthy).
Paul does not write that “our Lord Jesus” may be glorified in you but that “the Name of our Lord Jesus” may be glorified (again the effective aorist). We often find τὸὄνομα inserted thus: “in the Name of the Lord (Jesus, Christ)” is a frequently occurring phrase. The comment that this Name is a designation like “the Lord” or “the Lord Jesus,” etc., is inadequate. “The Name” = the revelation. By the Name he reveals himself to us, and by this revelation of himself we are able to apprehend him. The Name is the link: all by which he makes known to us his person and his work for our saving apprehension. This is to shine forth in glory ἐνὑμῖν, “in connection with you,” so that men may see it. The connection referred to is stated in v. 11: the fulfillment of all the good determination (εὐδοκία) and the work of faith in the Thessalonians. “In you” does not mean secretly, within the recesses of your hearts, for the verb refers to a splendor that is to shine forth so that others may see it (Matt. 5:16); ἐνὑμῖν means “in connection with you.”
Paul also adds strikingly: “and you in connection with it.” One may argue as to whether ἐναὐτῷ means “in connection with him” or “with it” (the Name). In itself this makes little difference, but as it is the Name that receives glory, so it should be the Name that bestows glory. In this life the glory which the Name displays in us believers is wholly spiritual: we appear as blessed (Matt. 5:3, etc.), as God’s children and sons, etc. The world, indeed, scorns this spiritual glory, yet many others see it, especially our fellow believers. It was so in the case of Jesus; John says: “We beheld his glory” (John 1:14); the world shuts its eyes against it.
This double glorification is to take place “according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.” In v. 11 it is “power,” here it is “grace.” These are not two separate items, for we have defined this power as being spiritual (Rom. 1:16: the gospel is the power of God unto salvation). It is proper to stress the power of grace in the fulfillment of our good determination and of our work and to stress the undeserved favor of God (χάρις) in the reciprocal glorification as the purpose of that fulfillment. It is pure grace and undeserved by us sinners that in connection with us Christ’s Name is glorified and we in connection with it. So also ἐν and κατά are proper, the one merely marking the connection that the power has with the fulfillment of our good intent and work, the other doing more by indicating the norm for the double glorification. For this ever follows one norm or rule and keeps to that course, namely the grace of Christ. The moment this grace is abandoned, neither the Name nor we are glorified, the opposite ensues.
The genitive τοῦΘεοῦἡμῶνκαὶΚυρίουἸησοῦΧριστσῦ raises an interesting question: “Is this one person or two?” Our versions translate it as being two by inserting “the” (“the Lord,” etc.). Those who think that two persons are referred to, God and Christ, are sometimes governed by dogmatical interests, namely by their claim that Christ is never called God, at least not in such a direct way. For us no dogmatical interest is involved; it makes no difference whether Christ is here called God or not, elsewhere he is called God and is shown to be God. We thus have only a linguistic interest, and this is strongly in favor of one person, for one article (τοῦ) unites both nouns.
Moulton, Einleitung 134 (R. 786) quotes examples from the papyri which show that the early Christians called Jesus “our great God and Savior.” Robertson says, “Moulton’s conclusion is clear enough to close the matter,” and then quotes Moulton: “Familiarity with the everlasting apotheosis that flaunts itself in the papyri and inscriptions of the Ptolemaic and Imperial times lends strong support to Wendland’s contention that Christians, from the latter part of 1 A. D. onward, deliberately annexed for their divine Master the phraseology that was impiously arrogated to themselves by some of the worst of men” (meaning the Roman emperors). The only thread on which objection could be hung is the fact that Κύριος without the article is often used as a proper name, and this thread is rather weak.
This matter is important for the critics, for they make genuineness of the epistle depend on the answer to this question; if only one person is here referred to, they claim that this epistle cannot be written by Paul.
We note furthermore that Paul loves to bring his thoughts to a unified conclusion and does not conclude at random or with a duality. This he does here by stating that the grace comes to us from one person and not from two. The position of ἡμῶν has nothing to do with the question. The reason that the designation of “Jesus Christ” is here made so weighty by the addition of “our God” to “Lord” is seen when one considers what precedes, especially the glory and the power described in v. 7–10. His revelation we await whose grace now operates in us, God’s Son (1 Thess. 1:10), “our God and Lord.”
B.-P Griechisch-Deutsches Woerterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments, etc., von D. Walter Bauer, zweite, voellig neugearbeitete Auflage zu Erwin Preuschens Vollstaendigem Griechisch-Deutschen Handwoerterbuch, etc.
R A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research. 4th edition..
B.-D Friedrich Blass’ Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch, vierte, voellig neugearbeitete Auflage, besorgt von Albert Debrunner.
C.-K Biblisch-theologisches Woerterbuch der Neutestamentlichen Graezitaet von D. Dr. Hermann Cremer, zehnte, etc., Auflage, herausgegeben von D. Dr. Julius Koegel.
Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to