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The Righteous Judgment of God 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Cliff Sabroe
How can a loving God allow souls to end up in a fiery hell? Is God just and fair? How can one know whether they are saved or lost? Is Jesus coming again? Questions such as these have plagued mankind for centuries. When Paul penned his first letter to the Thessalonian brethren he corrected false views concerning the parousia and exhorted the brethren to be prepared for its coming (
The city of
The date of the epistle has not faced much controversy.
The date of this epistle may be fixed with a fair degree of precision since it falls within Paul’s period at
It is stated in the greeting of both epistles that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were the ones addressing the church in Thessalonica. Although there are a few liberal scholars that doubt them as authors, the majority of scholars note that there is no need to doubt Paul, Silvanus and Timothy as the authors of this wonderful epistle.
The passage that will be examined in this paper is 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10.
2Th 1:5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be worthy of the
Verses 5-10 begin in the middle of a long sentence, but move into a separate theme. This theme is the divine punishment of the unjust and the rewarding of the faithful (Demarest 109-10). The verse in the English begins with the phrase “which is the manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God”. Coffman describes it in this manner “All of the sufferings God’s people inflicted upon them by unbelievers and enemies of righteousness will be vindicated in the righteous judgment of Almighty God against such offenders; and so certain is that judgment that the very persecutions themselves are actually a token of the judgment to come” (Coffman 86).
It is important for one to note that in this verse, God’s judgment is seen through persecution. The question posed is what is seen as righteous when a Christian is persecuted. What judgment is being discussed?
“Some expositors regard this judgment as a present judgment of God, others warn against accepting this idea as though Paul is speaking of “an advance indication of the judgment God will render at the last day” (Lenski 382). Lenski goes on to refute this position by stating “Hence also eis to 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
The persecution brought upon them was a clear sign of the righteous judgment of God that he might test and try them and prove them worthy to receive the blessings of the
Brother Lipscomb goes on to elaborate on the last part of the verse with these comments: “There sufferings served another purpose; they were not only suggestive of the judgment to come they were also disciplinary. They are intended to make those who endured them meet for the inheritance of the saints” (ibid).
What Paul is saying to the Thessalonians in light of the context is that until the power of the gospel came into their hearts they were incapable of the ability of such endurance. The fact that they had patiently endured and their faith was not shaken was proof of the new righteous life that they were living; a righteous life being a life that trusts in God to vindicate himself and them. It is because of this that all thoughts of vengeance that one may have, should be removed. “It is a blessing to man to try and to test him and prove his worthiness for the
2Th 1:6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,
In this verse we begin with one of the key words of the epistle, that key word being the word righteous. Righteous is defined as “that which is right, conformable to right, pertaining to right, that which is just. This is expected by the one who sets the rules and regulations whereby man must live, whether that be society or God. Therefore, it means that which is expected as duty and which is claimed as a right because of one’s conformity to the rules of God or society” (Zodhiates 1237). God’s judgment whenever it is carried out is always pure and just for these are characteristics of the almighty.
This verse begins with the statement “since”. Paul here is stating the basis of his affirmation that the tribulation of the Thessalonians was a token of God’s judgment upon the adversaries. It is a righteous thing with God so to judge the enemies of his work; and the “since” in this verse is not to be constructed in any sense as conditional. It is a Hebrew idiomatic way of arguing from a certainty (Coffman 87).
In this verse we have the negative side of God’s judgment. “Just as it is true that it is a righteous item with God to bring believers to salvation and blessing in His kingdom, so it is a righteous thing with him to bring punishment to those who persist in courses of evil” (Morris 199). The word here translated in the NKJV as repay is defined “as the thought of recompense” (Kittel 169).
Many people have a hard time with a loving God being a God of vengeance. “This is sometimes thought to be so un-Christian that the hypothesis of interpolation has been resorted to. This however does not seem warranted (Morris 199). It is true that the New Testament speaks volumes about the love and mercy of God, but it is also true that it does not gloss over serious salvation issues. The Lord spoke plainly of the fate of those who persist in ways of sin and impenitence (Mark 9:47-48, Luke 13:3ff).
The phrase in this verse “to repay with tribulation those who trouble you” is extremely strong in the original Greek. This phrase is “Second aorist active infinitive of double compound ant?apodido¯mi, old verb, either in good sense as in (1Thess. 3:9) or in bad sense as here. Paul is certain of this principle, though he puts it conditionally” (Barnes 71).
Great comfort can be gleaned from this verse.
In the context of the unjust suffering of the righteous it serves as an assurance that evil men ultimately will receive the punishment they deserve. For the righteous it is somehow easier to suffer at the hands of evil with the knowledge that the evil persecutor will not escape but will be brought to justice. The promise of a balancing of accounts in the future may not eliminate the pain of suffering, but it does reduce its insult. It confirms the innocence of the victim and limits evil’s success. The victim’s temporary affliction is easier to bear when viewed against the eternal suffering of the afflictor. (Morris 208).
When it seems like the whole world is against us and that evil is not being brought to justice it is a great encouragement to know that in the end justice will be served. This would be a grand comfort to the persecuted Thessalonians that see evil around them going unpunished on a daily basis. The God of the Bible is a God who takes this life very seriously. Our lives and behavior does have lasting consequences. This idea did not originate with Paul, but with our Lord (see Matthew 25). Those who had fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the strangers, visited the sick and the prisoners were rewarded. Those who had ignored and neglected such acts of kindness were taken away.
“Divine retribution is another way of saying that this life is significant. Our actions have lasting consequences. What we do in this life might be likened to the introductory matters of an endless symphony” (Demarest 111).
2Th 1:7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
Paul in this verse continues his discourse about the benefits to persecuted Christians that are manifested in the righteous judgment of God. At the time of Christ’s coming those who have been brought down and troubled by the intense persecution that is all around them will be comforted.
It was right for God to punish the wicked and to reward the righteous. The Christians in the Thessalonica were undergoing affliction when Paul wrote. He was assuring them there was relief, if not in this world, in the world to come. Paul described their relief by the word rest. Rest meant freedom from tensions. Paul always contrasted rest with afflictions (2 Corinthians 2:13; 7:5; 8:13). Rest was used in other places in the New Testament to refer to the Christian’s hope (Hebrews 4:9; Revelation 14:13). Paul knew the Christians in the Thessalonica were under tension and affliction even as he had been and was. Rest with us taught that Paul identified with there sufferings (Sheerer 905).
It benefit all exegetes to note the definition of the word rest. For in our world today rest sometimes is equated with laziness or apathy; it is not the case in this verse. The word rest is the Greek word anesis which denotes the metaphorical idea of refreshment (Bultmann 367)(Vine 529). The word is also known to represent the idea of “loosening or relaxing. In classical Greek it could refer to the release of a bowstring and so comes to mean relaxation and recreation in general. It is the relaxing of the cords of endurance now tightly drawn” (Rodgers 482). The Thessalonians shared in the suffering and persecution that Paul faced, so that in the end they will also share in the rest that he receives (Robertson 43). “The Parousia, then will be the occaision for equitable retribution and reward. For the reversal of roles in the life to come cf. Luke 16:25; but the reversal is not arbitrary but ethically appropriate” (Bruce 150).
The next phrase at the revelation of Jesus Christ is similar to phraseology of the first epistle in which the Parousia is described in this manner For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:16f).
The word revelation in this verse is the Greek word apakalipsis which is defined as a manifestation or disclosure (Arndt 91). The New King James does a good job in rendering this word as revelation. When the Lord Jesus shall come from heaven in visible form, it will be a revelation or a manifestation of the Lord that has never been seen before (McGarvey 31) (Lipscomb 88). As described in Revelation 1:7 “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen”.
Next in this verse we have the Parousia being described as with the angels of his power. It has long been noted in the New Testament that our Lord’s second coming would be with His angels. Hendrickson explains: “That the Lord at His coming will be accompanied by the angels (in whom his power is made manifest) had been proclaimed by Jesus himself (Matt. 13:41, 42; 25:31; cf. Jude 15; Rec. 14:19). Their function will be twofold: “first, to gather the weeds, binding them in bundles to be burned,” and also “to gather the wheat into my (the Lord’s) barn.” (Hendrickson159) (Clarke 563). These angels manifest and enhance the glory of the Lord, for they will be with Him when he comes in glory to sit at His throne of glory (Croskery 13).
It is also interesting for one to note that in this verse the angels are described as mighty. Mighty is the Greek word dunamis, which denotes miraculous power and strength (Thayer 159). One should also note the Pauline usage of the phrase Lord Jesus which he uses several times throughout both epistles to describe Christ’s role as the ultimate ruler and judge of the universe. This is similar to the description of Jesus given in John 5:27 and Acts 17:31 which state “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man; because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Jesus is a mighty Lord and it is only fitting that when he come again that He would be revealed in power with powerful/mighty angels.
This passage is enough to strike fear into the heart of every sinner and to bring peace to the life of every saint. Jesus is Lord, Jesus is powerful and Jesus is coming again.
2Th 1:8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some translators place in flaming fire with the previous verse, and it does fit with the sentence structure of verse 7. Either way nothing is lost in either translation. Lenski does however, expound on this phrase in his commentary with this statement.
The reader automatically continues with the next phrase: “in flaming fire.” He would not halt at the end of v.7 and connect the phrase with the following participle, and still less would he halt before autou 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 tou Kuriou Iesou, 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 angels that flames like fire” (Lenski 387).
The picture being presented in this verse is awesome. While the immediate description pertains to the angels, we see the Lord’s power exhibited in them, their innumerable host being a vast fire coming down with shooting flames. It leaves one to imagine the unimaginable power and glory of our Lord who descends in the center of this host, our Lord whose power and glory cannot be described (ibid).
In the second part of this verse we have revealed the two groups that will not escape the judgment of God. Those groups being: 1. Those who do not know God and 2. Those who do not obey the Gospel.
“Those who do not know God” are most likely in reference to the Gentiles who refuse to acknowledge God and thus give way to the gratification of every lust desire. “Paul declares that thus ignorance of God is willful, that idolatry was the outcome of ungodliness, and that its wickedness was shown by horrible depravity of morals it produced. It was, therefore shown by the horrible depravity of morals it produced” (Lipscomb 89). David Lipscomb continues by stating “Such is the sentence that Paul pronounces on heathenism in view of its general character and fruits. In this Paul had before his mind those Gentiles who refused the knowledge of God and showed their hatred toward his children” (Ibid). In summary “Those who do not know God” are those who have never known of the creator or a refusal to acknowledge the lord are thus lost in their state of knowledge.
The next group of people to be judged in this verse are those “who do not obey the gospel”. Before this group is discussed we need to note that “The repetition of the article here indicates two separate classes of people” (Moffat 46). This second group are those who do not obey the gospel. “And what does that mean? It means those who refuse to be baptized into Christ and to assume the duties and obligations incumbent upon all true Christians. The most concise and shortest definition of the ‘gospel’ in the NT is in Mark 16:15,16 where Christ equated being baptized with the ‘gospel’” (Coffman 92-3).
2Th 1:9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
With reference to the previous two groups in the last verse Paul continues the discussion about their destiny. He states that they shall be punished with “everlasting destruction”.
The very fact that this “destruction” (cf. 1 Thess. 5:3; 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 6:9 is “everlasting” shows that it does not amount to “annihilation” or “going out of existence”. On the contrary it indicates an existence “away from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might”. While “everlasting life” manifests itself in the blessed contemplation of the face of the Lord, sweet fellowship with him, closeness to him (Rev. 22:4; cf. Ps. 17:15; Matt.5:8), a most wonderful together-ness (1 Thess. 4:17), “everlasting destruction” – which is the product of God’s vengeance – is the very opposite (Hendrickson 160).
This banishment for the evil from a loving fellowship with Christ is a great motivation for one to serve God with all his might. This would also be a comfort to the persecuted Thessalonians to know that those who had been persecuting them will not go un-judged.
2Th 1:10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
This is the final verse to be examined from this pericope. This verse points out to the reader, when Jesus comes the righteous and the wicked will be separated (Matthew 25:31-33). At the second coming Jesus will be primarily concerned with His righteous children. He shall come to be glorified in His saints. The second coming of Jesus will be great and impressive. It will be greater than anything man has ever seen.
In this verse the phrase “When He shall come” proves the return of Christ, because the phrase is “aorist subjunctive, a construction indicating the certainty of the event and yet the uncertainty of the time of it” (Kelcy 146).
The reason that the Thessalonians were to be glorified at the second coming is that they were those who believed what had been taught to them. The past tense is used here because it looks back from judgment day, to the time when the gospel was first believed at the time of its first being preached to the Thessalonians (Mason 153).
This author finds that the most powerful word in this verse is marveled. It will be a time of great marveling when Jesus returns. Much as true believers may marvel at, and much as they admire the perfections of the Redeemer of mankind, and as much as they wonder at his amazing ascension in becoming a man, and dying for the sins of the world; all their present amazement and wonder will be nothing when compared with what they shall feel when they come to see Him with all His glory, the glory that He had with the Father before the world was (Clarke 564). It will be a glorious time of comfort for the saints at the parousia, Matthew Henry words it beautifully in his commentary on the New Testament:
Christ will be glorified and admired in them. His grace and power will then be manifested and magnified, when it shall appear what he has purchased for, and wrought in, and bestowed upon, all those who believe in him. As his wrath and power will be made known in and by the destruction of his enemies, so his grace and power will be magnified in the salvation of his saints. Note, Christ's dealings with those who believe will be what the world one day shall wonder at. Now, they are a wonder to many; but how will they be wondered at in this great and glorious day; or, rather, how will Christ, whose name is Wonderful, be admired, when the mystery of God shall be finished! Christ will not be so much admired in the glorious esteem of angels that he will bring from heaven with him as in the many saints, the many sons, that he will bring to glory (Henry 1883-4).
In just 5 short verses the Apostle Paul beautifully describes the righteous judgment of God. Judgment that will make all the wrongs of this world right, and judgment that will bring peace and comfort to the faithful. We live in a world where courts and earthly judges cannot always be trusted. Innocent people are often placed in prisons while evil goes unpunished. Our God is a fair and just God, and when God pronounces judgment, justice will be served. Paul has faithfully delivered the bad news and the good news. The stark awfulness of the bad news makes the good news even better. God’s offer of the good news is to every single human being. No one needs to live by the bad news. And that’s the Good News!
May the readers of this grand epistle always find comfort when reading about the second coming of our Lord. When our Lord comes again, righteous judgment comes with Him, and when righteous judgment comes, justice is served.
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