This is the fourth entry in the Second Letter of Paul to the
Thessalonians Bible Junkies Commentary. You can find the first entry here. In the first entry I discussed
introductory matters, such as the origin of the Church in Thessalonica, its
early history with Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, and also introductory matters of
scholarship, including the structure of Paul’s letters, modeled on the
Hellenistic letter form, and noting such issues as whether the letter was
written by the Apostle Paul. In the second entry, I gave an overview of the
content in 2 Thessalonians. In
the third entry, I started the process of commenting on the text itself, discussing
the salutation, based on the New Revised Standard Version in English and the
Greek text which underlies all translations.
4. Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians:
3 We
must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as
is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of
you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast of you
among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your
persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. 5 This is
evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy
of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. 6 For it is
indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and
to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire,
inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will suffer the punishment of
eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of his might, 10 when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be
marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to
you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, asking that our
God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good
resolve and work of faith, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be
glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the
Lord Jesus Christ. (NRSV)
The Thanksgiving in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, as in 1Thessalonians, is in
the plural, representing all of the named authors, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy.
The first line of the Thanksgiving is similar to that found in the earlier
letter, though this is not odd since the Thanksgiving openings can be quite
formulaic. More interesting is that 2 Thess. 1:3 also speaks of faith (pistis)
and love (agapê), two of the three theological virtues noted in 1
Thess. 1:3. Missing is the third virtue, hope (elpis), but this
might be more apparent than real, at least in terms of theological content. 1
Thess. 1:3 spoke of the Thessalonians’ “steadfastness of hope” (hypomonês
tês elpidos), while 2 Thess. 1:4, after praising the Church for its
abundant faith and love, finds Paul, Silvanus and Timothy boasting of the Church’s “steadfastness (hypomonês)
and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are
enduring.” It seems that this “steadfastness” is itself the ground and proof of
hope in the midst of persecution.
This similarity is itself one of the reasons some scholars see evidence
of dependence of 2 Thess. on 1 Thess., though yet again we are faced with the
dilemma: does similarity more likely indicate Paul and his companions writing
quickly after 1 Thess. or someone much later copying Paul’s style and content? The
sense of persecution in 2 Thess. seems real and the afflictions (thlipsesin)
mentioned in 1:4 are often associated with the eschaton, a major issue
in 1 Thess. and again in 2 Thess. That the persecutions have continued in
Thessalonica would be a major reason to write to the Church again, as we find
is the case. Paul and his co-workers see the persecutions as “evidence of the
righteous judgment of God…intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God,
for which you are also suffering” (1:5). The notion that suffering is intended
to purify the righteous or prepare them for God’s kingdom is not unusual in
Christian thought and has a long pedigree in Jewish thought, apocalyptic and
otherwise (see 2
Macc. 6:12-17).
This is only a part of the story, however, and it is the other part
which can unsettle readers today. In light of the coming Judgment, “when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels (1:7),” those who
afflicted the Thessalonian Church will find themselves repaid (antapodounai)
“with affliction” (1:6). Paul, Silvanus and Timothy speak of this as
eschatological “relief” (anesis) when Jesus and his angels appear “in
flaming fire, inflicting vengeance (ekdikêsin) on those who do not know
God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (1:8). Frankly,
this is typical Jewish and Christian apocalyptic imagery, in which sharp lines
are drawn between the righteous and the wicked in evocative mythic language.
For some, it is the language itself, “flaming fire,” “inflicting vengeance,”
that is problematic, but most people who struggle with such passages do so on
the basis of the judgment “on those who do not know God and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (1:8). There are two issues: have all of
these people had the opportunity to hear the Gospel and so respond to it? Does
the issue of vengeance simply reflect the desire to “pay back” (antapodounai)
those who have harmed the Christians? It is important to keep in mind that this
discussion of judgment is not at odds with what Paul will write in other
letters, such as Romans
1-3, about God’s judgment or with the basic understanding of God’s judgment
in Judaism and Christianity. Even more important is the Pauline belief that judgment
and vengeance are not a Christian’s to repay (see Romans 12:17-21)
but in the hands of God. We simply do not know the basis of God’s judgment, but
must be assured that it is just (which is why it rests with God and not even
those who have been unjustly persecuted and harmed).
It is intriguing, though, that those who “will suffer the punishment of
eternal destruction” have their punishment described in terms which are
decidedly less mythical than that of “flaming fire” and “mighty angels.” Eternal
destruction is described as being “separated from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of his might” (1:9), language which fits both with the notion of
people who have decided of their own accord to turn from God and with the language
of the CCC 1033-35: “The
chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God.”
Certainly, though, 2 Thess. still maintains the basic Christian belief
in the parousia or manifestation of Christ “on that day” when not only
will the unrighteous be punished, but the holy ones, “all who have believed,
because our testimony (martyrion) to you was believed,” will glorify him
and “be amazed” (thaumasthênai) by him.
This is the goal of all of Paul’s preaching, along with his co-workers,
that those who hear the Gospel gain eternal life in God’s kingdom and live in
the presence of God’s glory. Paul returns, therefore, to the initial theme of
the Thanksgiving, praying that their faith might continue to grow through God’s
power. The Thanksgiving ends, as a result, with this prayer: “that our God will
make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve
and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”
(1:11-12).
Next entry, we will discuss the continued focus of the letter on the
eschaton and its impact on the Church in Thessalonica.
John W. Martens
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