To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is only fitting, because your faith is increasing abundantly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another grows ever greater. 4 As a result, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you indeed are suffering. 6For after all it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These people will pay the penalty of age-enduring destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints and marveled at among all who believe on that day (because our testimony to you was believed) 11 concerning which we pray for you always, that our God will consider you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, in accordance with the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2Thes1:1-12).
I have bolded the points on which I will briefly focus. Taken in order, note again (vv1-2) Paul’s trait of carefully distinguishing between “God our Father” and the Lord Jesus Christ. For this apostle, who unlike the other twelve, never knew Jesus in the flesh, only as He appeared to Him in His glorified state at His conversion, “There is only one God – the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1Cor8:6). I have commented on the significance of this divine ordering in recent posts.
Secondly, note Paul’s praise of the Thessalonian church such that he boasts of them to other assemblies concerning their perseverance in the face of persecution. But why should he “speak proudly” of them (v4) if it were, as I once believed, “all of grace”, perseverance guaranteed? He knows that is not the case, many in churches elsewhere do not persevere, as Jesus also make clear in His revue of the Asian churches in Revelation, as more dogmatically does the writer to the Hebrews (ch6).
Thirdly and relatedly, it is not simply the case that his Thessalonian readers had “got saved”, they needed to show themselves to be “worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering” (v5). Or as Paul wrote elsewhere more dogmatically, “we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom8:17NASB). This in turn relates to God’s fairness and justice: “After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted (vv6,7).
Not for the faint hearted
Then Paul refers again to the Day of the Lord, and it appears a scary prospect. As most bible versions rightly identify, the burning fire relates to what is to be done to human beings, not as, for example, the NASB might suggest by its use of punctuation that it is merely referring to the accompanying angels’ appearance. Remember at this point, the coming of Christ relates to what Paul has referred to as “the Good News of God”, and what Luke described in Acts as “the universal restoration”. Yet the way this chapter tends to be interpreted, it is to be the time when virtually everyone is burnt to a cinder or worse still tortured in flame for all eternity.
I say, “virtually everyone”, in fact it would be everyone on the planet given that in Paul’s first letter he had outlined matters relating to the rapture. As is also referred to in other texts on the subject, the saints are first removed from the earth and then come with their Lord to judge the earth. Even, discounting the rapture, historic cultural and religious formation has ensured that the majority will not have heard, still less understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even amongst Christians, having been firstly (for 28 years) an Evangelical Calvinist, then (also for 28 years to date) a Catholic, I know what each respectively understand they are to do in response to the gospel is markedly and potentially fatally different (regarding fiducial disposition and sacrament). Even within the true Church (currently divided between East and West), referring back to my quotation from Rom8:17 concerning suffering with the Lord, few may be found worthy to be “glorified with Christ”.
Seemingly, the “Good News of God” and “universal restoration” is to be a cosmic horror show. If I were still an Evangelical, or indeed anything like an orthodox Catholic, I would frankly struggle to alleviate that depiction, no doubt muttering under my breath like the Protestant’s founding fathers, “So be it, let God be God”. But now I say, not so – let God be the God of the bible, of whom His gracious and merciful incarnated Son was the exact representation (Col1:15); a God who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but desires that all who can be should ultimately be healed and come to a knowledge of the truth. And yet One who affirmed by His Son (Jn6:44) and frequently reiterated by His faithful apostle Paul that men and women are innately incapable of responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ – it is a matter of God’s elective choice.
The resolution
The key issue is what Paul meant by those who “do not know God” and “do not obey the gospel”. Those who do not know God are those are not of God, but like Cain are of the devil (cf. 1Jn3:10; 1Jn3:12; Mt15:13; Mt13:39). Numerous earlier posts refer. In terms of not obeying the gospel, one can only obey or refuse to obey what is clearly known and understood. As I have already indicated, it will be a very small proportion of those currently occupying the planet who truly understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and how they are to respond to it.
The central aspect of the “Day of the Lord” will (of course) be the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in all His glory, but also what it means to obey His gospel and submit to His Kingship. Even then, and even knowing the consequences, some will refuse to acquiesce – I have referred to them already. Many more shall come to believe, understand and (as stated in a few verses time) admire. To them it could be said as it was to Thomas: “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” The latter are the elect. They, through the faith they were gifted from God (Eph2:8) had “trusted in advance” ( Eph1:12 προηλπικότας) in the Saviour, and they shall be blessed indeed: “when (Jesus Christ) comes to be glorified in His saints and marveled at among all who believe on that day (just as our testimony to you was believed).
Lexical ambiguities
Not many bible versions translate v10 as I have. The issue is word order, which in biblical Greek is problematical in the sense of being flexible and therefore ambiguous. Two years studying biblical Greek at Bible college hardly makes me an expert, but for those who are more expertise, I suggest the word order indicates that Paul is saying that Christ shall be glorified in His saints and that He shall be admired by many more who come to believe on that day. It is not just the Greek word order, but that Paul added, as it were, in parenthesis, “just as you believed our testimony (when we came to you)”. Also, what he writes in the subsequent verse (11) directly pertains to the “on that day” which logically would immediately proceed it rather than being inserted a phrase earlier as in some translations (e.g. NASB).
Regardless of these lexical uncertainties, in view of everything else I have come to appreciate (or rather believe I have been shown) regarding God’s providential intentions, I am confident on the matter. It also in accordance with what Scripture infers concerning the vast majority who have died or will die before Christ’s coming, most of whom will also have been ignorant of the true gospel – again, in view of ethnic/cultural/religious developments and divisions/apostacy amongst the churches. As referred to in the epistles of Peter, the Good News of Jesus Christ is preached to those who have died “that though they have been judged in the flesh as people, they may thereafter live in the spirit according to the will of God” (1Pet4:6).
For sure, these matters have not been clearly and unambiguously delineated in Scripture. By “these matters” I more generally refer to God’s broader benign providence, which as I have demonstrated from Scripture (canonical and ex-canonical) was never intended to be clarified until these last days (see footnote).
[These posts pertain to an expansive revelation concerning divine providence. It was the result of a prophetic insight received by the author, who believes the process he is involved with is itself a fulfilment of scriptural prophecy, both canonical and extra-canonical – more particularly Revelation chapter ten and two related passages from the Book of Enoch (ch93:8-10 and ch104:11-13 Charles edition numbering). The full picture is set out in “The Little Book of Providence” and summarized in 95 theses]
*The LITTLE BOOK OF PROVIDENCE: a seven-part synopsis of the bible: – available as a paperback from Amazon or FREELY as a PDF file https://richard-777.blog/free-download-of-pdf/
Author’s Facebook page HERE
The Little Book of Providence 