8 giving vengeance to those who don't know God, and to those who don't obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus,
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.
However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you; On the kingdoms that don't call on your name;
But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore since all these things are thus to be destroyed, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
Don't you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
But they didn't all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"
For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
Wake up righteously, and don't sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don't know God;
how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation-- which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard;
For we know him who said, "Vengeance belongs to me," says the Lord, "I will repay." Again, "The Lord will judge his people."
By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror.
They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers,{The word for "sorcerers" here also includes users of potions and drugs.} idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;
Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don't know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go."
You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
Vengeance is mine, and recompense, At the time when their foot shall slide: For the day of their calamity is at hand, The things that are to come on them shall make haste.
If I whet my glittering sword, My hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my adversaries, Will recompense those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, My sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, For his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
Those who know your name will put their trust in you, For you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very tempestuous around him. He calls to the heavens above, To the earth, that he may judge his people: "Gather my saints together to me, Those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The heavens shall declare his righteousness, For God himself is judge. Selah.
When the boughs of it are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
to proclaim the year of Yahweh's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.
Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 1
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 1
2Th 1:1-12. 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.
1. in God our Father—still more endearing than the address, 1Th 1:1 "in God THE Father."
2. from God our Father—So some oldest manuscripts read. Others omit "our."
3. We are bound—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).
meet—right.
4. glory in you—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; 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.
patience—in 1Th 1:3, "patience of hope." Here hope is tacitly implied as the ground of their patience; 2Th 1:5, 7 state the object of their hope, namely, the kingdom for which they suffer.
tribulations—literally, "pressures." The Jews were the instigators of the populace and of the magistrates against Christians (Ac 17:6, 8).
which ye endure—Greek, "are (now) enduring."
5. Which—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 (Ps 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" (Ge 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 (Lu 16:25; 1Co 11:32) [Edmunds].
that ye may be counted worthy—expressing the purpose of God's "righteous judgment" as regards you.
for which—Greek, "in behalf of which ye are also suffering" (compare Ac 5:41; 9:16; Php 1:29). "Worthy" implies that, though men are justified by faith, they shall be judged "according to their works" (Re 20:12; compare 1Th 2:12; 1Pe 1:6, 7; Re 20:4). The "also" implies the connection between the suffering for the kingdom and being counted worthy of it. Compare Ro 8:17, 18.
6. seeing it is a righteous thing—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.
recompense—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.
7. rest—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," Mt 11:28, is distinct, namely, cessation from labor. Also, Heb 4:9, "A keeping of sabbath."
with us—namely, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the writers, who are troubled like yourselves.
when—at the time when … ; not sooner, not later.
with his mighty angels—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 (Mt 13:41, 52). It is not their might, but His might, which is the prominent thought.
8. In flaming fire—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 (Ex 3:2); also His giving of the law at Sinai (Ex 19:18). Also it shall accompany His revelation at His advent (Da 7:9, 10), symbolizing His own bright glory and His consuming vengeance against His foes (Heb 10:27; 12:29; 2Pe 3:7, 10).
taking—literally, "giving" them, as their portion, "vengeance."
know not God—the Gentiles primarily (Ps 79:6; Ga 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" (Ex 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).
obey not the gospel—primarily the unbelieving Jews (Ro 10:3, 16); secondarily, all who obey not the truth (Ro 2:8).
Christ—omitted by some of the oldest manuscripts, and retained by others.
9. Who—Greek, "persons who," &c.
destruction from the presence of the Lord—driven far from His presence [Alford]. The sentence emanating from Him in person, sitting as Judge [Bengel], and driving them far from Him (Mt 25:41; Re 6:16; 12:14; compare 1Pe 3:12; Isa 2:10, 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; Mr 9:44).
10. "When He shall have come."
glorified in his saints—as the element and mirror IN which His glory shall shine brightly (Joh 17:10).
admired in all them that believe—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.
because, &c.—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 (Lu 24:48; Ac 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.
11. Wherefore—Greek, "With a view to which," namely, His glorification in you as His saints.
also—We not only anticipate the coming glorification of our Lord in His saints, but we also pray concerning (so the Greek) YOU.
our God—whom we serve.
count you worthy—The prominent position of the "You" in the Greek makes it the emphatic word of the sentence. May you be found among the saints whom God shall count worthy of their calling (Eph 4:1)! There is no dignity in us independent of God's calling of us (2Ti 1:9). The calling here is not merely the first actual call, but the whole of God's electing act, originating in His "purpose of grace given us in Christ before the world began," and having its consummation in glory.
the good pleasure of, &c.—on the part of God [Bengel].
faith—on your part. Alford refers the former clause, "good pleasure of his goodness," also to man, arguing that the Greek for "goodness" is never applied to God, and translates, "All [that is, every possible] right purpose of goodness." Wahl, "All sweetness of goodness," that is, impart in full to you all the refreshing delights of goodness. I think that, as in the previous and parallel clause, "calling" refers to God's purpose; and as the Greek for "good pleasure" mostly is used of God, we ought to translate, "fulfil (His) every gracious purpose of goodness (on your part)," that is, fully perfect in you all goodness according to His gracious purpose. Thus, "the grace of our God," 2Th 1:12, corresponds to God's "good pleasure" here, which confirms the English Version, just as "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" is parallel to "work of faith," as Christ especially is the object of faith. "The work of faith"; Greek, (no article; supply from the previous clause all) work of faith"; faith manifested by work, which is its perfected development (Jas 1:4; compare Note, see on 1Th 1:3). Working reality of faith.
with power—Greek, "in power," that is, "powerfully fulfil in you" (Col 1:11).
12. the name of our Lord Jesus—Our Lord Jesus in His manifested personality as the God-man.
in you, and ye in him—reciprocal glorification; compare Isa 28:5, "The Lord of hosts shall be … a crown of glory and … a diadem of beauty unto … His people," with Isa 62:3, "Thou (Zion) shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem," &c. (Joh 21:10; Ga 1:24; 1Pe 4:14). The believer's graces redound to Christ's glory, and His glory, as their Head, reflects glory on them as the members.
the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ—There is but one Greek article to both, implying the inseparable unity of God and the Lord Jesus.