2 Thessalonians 1 - Peake Arthur S. and Grieve A. J. - Peake's Comment

2 Thessalonians 1

¹ Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

² grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rejoicing in their Fidelity

³ We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

⁴ so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

⁵ which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

⁶ seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

⁷ and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

⁸ in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

⁹ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

¹⁰ when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

¹¹ Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

¹² that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1

2Th 1:1-12 . Introductory. Thanksgiving for the past and prayer for the future. Paul thanks God for the growing love of the Thessalonian Christians and their loyalty under persecution, and prays that they may be counted worthy of their high calling at the day of the Lord, when they will receive “rest” and their opponents “eternal destruction.”

2Th 1:3 . For the emphasis on faith and love, see 1Th 1:3 *.

2Th 1:4 . persecutions: cf. 1Th 2:14-16 .

2Th 1:5 . which . . . Judgement of God: this phrase is obviously parenthetical. Some scholars would omit it altogether on the ground that it breaks the flow of the sentence, but we have no MS warrant for this. The antecedent to “which” has to be obtained from the previous sentence, and is probably found in the words “patience and faith.” “Your heroic faith under persecution . . . affords a proof of what awaits you in the day of God’s final judgment” (Milligan).

2Th 1:7 . at the revelation: at the reappearance or Parousia of the Lord from heaven.

2Th 1:8 . in flaming fire: it is better to connect these words with previous clause (RV) than with the following (AV). For the appearance of Christ in a flame of fire cf. the appearance of God in OT (Exo 3:2 ; Exo 13:21 ; Exo 19:18 ; Exo 24:17 ; Psa 18:12 ; Isa 66:15 ).

2Th 1:9 . eternal destruction: the word translated “eternal” means “age-long,” and need not denote “everlasting” unless the context requires it. In this verse the context probably does require it.