16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who had love for us and has given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through his great mercy has given us a new birth and a living hope by the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead, And a heritage fair, holy and for ever new, waiting in heaven for you, Who, by the power of God are kept, through faith, for that salvation, which will be seen at the last day. You have cause for great joy in this, though it may have been necessary for you to be troubled for a little time, being tested in all sorts of ways, So that the true metal of your faith, being of much greater value than gold (which, though it comes to an end, is tested by fire), may come to light in praise and glory and honour, at the revelation of Jesus Christ: To whom your love is given, though you have not seen him; and the faith which you have in him, though you do not see him now, gives you joy greater than words and full of glory:
Husbands, have love for your wives, even as Christ had love for the church, and gave himself for it;
But we have faith that we will get salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they.
And when he had a desire to go over into Achaia, the brothers gave him help, and sent letters to the disciples requesting them to take him in among them: and when he had come, he gave much help to those who had faith through grace:
To all those who are in Rome, loved by God, marked out as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
For this reason it is of faith, so that it may be through grace; and so that the word of God may be certain to all the seed; not only to that which is of the law, but to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting; And waiting gives experience; and experience, hope: And hope does not put to shame; because our hearts are full of the love of God through the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
For our salvation is by hope: but hope which is seen is not hope: for who is hoping for what he sees? But if we have hope for that which we see not, then we will be able to go on waiting for it.
In the same way, there are at this present time some who are marked out by the selection of grace. But if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works: or grace would not be grace.
For our present trouble, which is only for a short time, is working out for us a much greater weight of glory; While our minds are not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are for a time; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
But God, being full of mercy, through the great love which he had for us, Even when we were dead through our sins, gave us life together with Christ (by grace you have salvation),
And be living in love, even as Christ had love for you, and gave himself up for us, an offering to God for a perfume of a sweet smell.
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the hope of eternal life, which was made certain before eternal time, by the word of God who is ever true;
But when the mercy of God our Saviour, and his love to man was seen, Not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but in the measure of his mercy, he gave us salvation, through the washing of the new birth and the giving of new life in the Holy Spirit, Which he gave us freely through Jesus Christ our Saviour; So that, having been given righteousness through grace, we might have a part in the heritage, the hope of eternal life.
So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false; And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil;
And from Jesus Christ, the true witness, the first to come back from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who had love for us and has made us clean from our sins by his blood;
But the mercy of the Lord is eternal for his worshippers, and their children's children will see his righteousness;
Even those whom he has made free, will come back again; they will come with songs to Zion; on their heads will be eternal joy; delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever.
The sun will not be your light by day, and the moon will no longer be bright for you by night: but the Lord will be to you an eternal light, and your God your glory. Your sun will never again go down, or your moon keep back her light: for the Lord will be your eternal light, and the days of your sorrow will be ended.
As they had twice as much grief, and marks of shame were their heritage, so in their land they will be rewarded twice over, and will have eternal joy.
Now before the feast of the Passover, it was clear to Jesus that the time had come for him to go away from this world to the Father. Having once had love for those in the world who were his, his love for them went on to the end.
And I will make prayer to the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you for ever, Even the Spirit of true knowledge. That Spirit the world is not able to take to its heart because it sees him not and has no knowledge of him: but you have knowledge of him, because he is ever with you and will be in you. I will not let you be without a friend: I am coming to you.
But Abraham said, Keep in mind, my son, that when you were living, you had your good things, while Lazarus had evil things: but now, he is comforted and you are in pain.
Having ever in mind your work of faith and acts of love and the strength of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father;
Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;
And it is our desire that you may all keep the same high purpose in certain hope to the end: So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.
My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself holy, even as he is holy.
In this we see what love is, because he gave his life for us; and it is right for us to give our lives for the brothers.
See, I will make those of the Synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews, and are not, but say what is false; I will make them come and give worship before your feet, and see my love for you.
They will never be in need of food or drink: and they will never again be troubled by the burning heat of the sun: For the Lamb who is on the high seat will be their keeper and their guide to fountains of living water: and God will make glad their eyes for ever.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
The apostle is very careful to hinder the spreading of an error into which some among them had fallen concerning the coming of Christ, as being very near (v. 1-3). Then he proceeds to confute the error he cautioned them against, by telling them of two great events that were antecedent to the coming of Christ-a general apostasy, and the revelation of antichrist, concerning whom the apostle tells them many remarkable things, about his name, his character, his rise, his fall, his reign, and the sin and ruin of his subjects (v. 4-12). He then comforts them against the terror of this apostasy, and exhorts them to stedfastness (v. 13-15). And concludes with a prayer for them (v. 16, 17).
2Th 2:1-3
From these words it appears that some among the Thessalonians had mistaken the apostle's meaning, in what he had written in his former epistle about the coming of Christ, by thinking that it was near at hand,-that Christ was just ready to appear and come to judgment. Or, it may be, some among them pretended that they had the knowledge of this by particular revelation from the Spirit, or from some words they had heard from the apostle, when he was with them, or some letter he had written or they pretended he had written to them or some other person: and hereupon the apostle is careful to rectify this mistake, and to prevent the spreading of this error. Observe, If errors and mistakes arise among Christians, we should take the first opportunity to rectify them, and hinder the spreading thereof; and good men will be especially careful to suppress errors that may arise from a mistake of their words and actions, though that which was spoken or done was ever so innocent or well. We have a subtle adversary, who watches all opportunities to do mischief, and will sometimes promote errors even by means of the words of scripture. Observe,
2Th 2:3-12
In these words the apostle confutes the error against which he had cautioned them, and gives the reasons why they should not expect the coming of Christ as just at hand. There were several events previous to the second coming of Christ; in particular, he tells them there would be,
2Th 2:13-15
Here observe,
2Th 2:16-17
In these words we have the apostle's earnest prayer for them, in which observe,