2 Thessalonians

Chapter Introduction

Paul wrote First Thessalonians in late 50 A.D or early 51.  There were probably only a few months between the two letters.  When the letter was delivered to the Thessalonians, they probably sent a letter or message back to Paul. The courier may also have brought news back to Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

In First Thessalonians, we saw Paul was concerned about the people there; they were baby Christians in a baby fellowship.  There was lots of good news that came back from Thessalonica, however, Paul was still very concerned.  So, while Paul was still in Corinth, he was moved to write another letter to them.  This letter was almost immediately after his first letter.

The believers there were holding on.  They were persevering.  They were growing and maturing in the Lord, and their fellowship was growing and thriving.  But, the persecution and suffering were growing more intense as well.  There didn't seem to be any relief to their suffering.

We'll see in Chapter 2 that the Thessalonians received another letter that was supposedly from Paul.  It was a convincing forgery that the church there read, which led them to believe some false doctrine.  Other men, claiming to be teachers and claiming to be associated with Paul, brought this same false doctrine in person.  This may have led them to some errant end-times beliefs, which in turn caused some to be idle.   Probably the bigger issue among the Thessalonians was that they were being persecuted and beaten down.  They were discouraged while being persecuted.  This led to a difficult situation.

 Paul wrote this letter to:

• Correct some doctrine
• To give a spiritual and loving kick in the backside to those who were idle
• Encourage those who were discouraged and deceived

2 Thessalonians 1:1-2

Paul was writing the letter, but Silas and Timothy were right there with him. The Thessalonians knew all these guys. Silas was with Paul when he first came to Thessalonica, and Timothy went back there to help the Christians after Paul and Silas had been run off. These were friends and brothers in Christ, writing to friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. It was personal and written in love.

These people were living in a rough time.  There was a constant assault on them and persecution against them.  In all times, in all things, grace and peace are important, but in times of persecution and pain, the presence of grace and peace is critical.  Paul reminds the Thessalonians that the source of this grace and peace is God our Father and the Lord Jesus.  The mercy and grace of God were sufficient for these people at that time.  God had not looked away.  He had not forgotten them.  That same mercy and grace is sufficient for us in our time, for every circumstance.  God isn't going to put His people in a situation where they are beyond His grace and mercy.  There simply is no place like that.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-10

Paul thanked God for the Thessalonians.  They were really growing in faith and love.  Instead of telling them how great they were and tempting them to pride, he thanked God for them, as it is fitting because God is the reason their faith grew.  God was the reason they were growing in love toward each other.  There was no room for them to take credit for the work He was doing.  This growth in love is an answer to Paul’s prayer of 1 Thess 3:12.

Silas, Timothy, and Paul were so impressed with what was happening there in Thessalonica that they used them as an example for other fellowships.  They were able to point to the Thessalonians and say, "See these guys, they are an example of patience and faith in the middle of hard times.  This is what God can do."  Their very lives had become a testimony to others in difficult times, and this remains so even today.  They were enduring persecution and tribulation.  This church remained patient, faithful, and loving toward each other when it would have been so easy to become self-centered and hateful.  The boast wasn't of the Thessalonians, but it was a boast of an amazing God and what he can do through lives yielded to Him, even in horrible circumstances.

What do our lives testify? 

• Faithfulness and grace?
• Love and patience?
• Our perseverance in all things?
• Do our actions and words glorify the God who saved us?

In good times, we tend to get slothful, lazy, and complacent.  Then suddenly, we are staring at a long road of suffering, an undetermined season of opportunity to trust and grow in the Lord.  It’s our lives on the good days that we prepare (practice) for the bad days.  Our performance is predetermined by our preparation.  I've said it before, I don’t remember who said it first, but “Don't doubt in the darkness what you know to be true in the light.”  You just need to make sure you are being filled with truth while in the light.

You can walk around your house in the light over and over again, but it's when the lights are out, and you're in the darkness, that you discover the truth of whether you trust in the darkness what you learned in the light.  What if you go to someone else's house or someone moves the furniture?  Stimulating your toe on the furniture is a pretty quick and memorable lesson.  You can't make your way through the dark unless you are prepared in the light.

Paul boasted about the Thessalonians and their faithfulness in the middle of a horribly dark time.  They hadn't had the opportunity to walk in the light for a very long time. That's part of why Paul was trying to help guide them, so they didn't spiritually stub their toe in the dark. 

These folks felt inferior as if they were failing as Christians because they were going through these times.  Was God mad?  Disappointed?  Had they messed up something?  Paul wants them to know that their endurance was manifest evidence of God's judgment.  This wasn’t God’s punishment or condemnation, but his grace to allow them to suffer and empower them not to renounce their faith, thereby growing them strong.  The result was a subsequent worthiness of the kingdom of God.  

The endurance of the Thessalonians was evidence.

• God, in his infinite wisdom and in His judgment, decided the Thessalonians were faithful and able to withstand a trial of hardship.
• God saw they were strong and allowed suffering to make them even stronger.
  • The implied opposite is, in their weakness, God withheld suffering so as not to break them under the strain.
• Their suffering drew them closer to God.
  • While Satan diligently attempts to use suffering to break us down and draw us away.

It is easy to lose focus on God when things get tough.  The persecution may seem harsh, and we don’t understand it, but regardless, God is in charge, and our job is to remain faithful and in Him whether we agree and understand or not.  Prior to every great move of God in the lives of His people, there was a time of suffering, tribulation, or pain.

Think of Mary the morning she went to the tomb.  She was in the darkest time of her life and seemingly without hope. She was suffering, having lost her Lord, witnessing his cruel death.  She could have wondered about her future and what life would look like without Jesus.  Yet, just a few minutes later, the Lord had spoken her name, and she was the first to see the risen savior.  What if a distraught Mary had woken up that Sunday morning, rolled over, and went back to bed?  What if, with little sleep, having cried all night, depressed and heartbroken, she decided there was just no reason to go to the tomb?  She would have missed out on so much.

What if Paul, having been put in prison in Rome, had given up and assumed his ministry was over?  What if Moses, having been kicked out of Egypt and the courts of Pharaoh, had given up?  What if John gave up when exiled to Patmos?  We could go on and on.

What if you just give up?  What if you assume Satan has won, and you roll over and say, "What's the use?"  What if you allow suffering to break you down instead of build you up?  What will you be missing out on?

Persecution acts to purge, perfect, and purify the body of believers.  Pain and suffering have a way of realigning our priorities and setting our eyes on Christ.  Tribulation gives us a clear vision of the path we are to be on.  And together, we are bonded, growing, and surviving.

(See also 2 Timothy 3; James 1:2-4; 2 Timothy 2.)

God is faithful and righteous in His judgment; He will repay those who persecute and settle all scores. In settling the score, the Thessalonians would be granted rest when the Lord is revealed. They were far from inferior. They were being honored. 

Paul drew their attention away from their current circumstances toward this coming day when Jesus would appear with all his angels at his side (Zech 14:5).  The Lord and His angels will come in the flaming fire of judgment.  This is likely a reference to Isaiah 66 and generally to the visitations of God in judgment. 

When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,

And your bones shall flourish like grass;

The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants,

And His indignation to His enemies.

For behold, the Lord will come with fire

And with His chariots, like a whirlwind,

To render His anger with fury,

And His rebuke with flames of fire.

For by fire and by His sword

The Lord will judge all flesh;

And the slain of the Lord shall be many (Is 66:14-16)

This vengeance will be brought on:

• Those who don’t know God
  • These aren’t folks who never got the opportunity.  These folks don’t know Him because they chose to maintain Him as a stranger.  They chose to rule the life apart from Him.
• Those who don’t obey the gospel
  • It is thought that Paul has the Jews in mind, those who knew God but rejected the good news of His son.  I can’t help but wonder that this may also be the modern-day Christian who portrays a knowledge of the gospel yet rejects it as playing a role in their life. 

The punishment is the same for both: everlasting destruction. The Lord is glorified in His righteous judgment. The punishment of those who rejected Him will glorify Him, as will the glorification that will come from the saints who will admire and adore Him. 

How can destruction be everlasting?  We can't begin to imagine eternity, let alone an eternity in a state of no hope or mercy.  This is a new state of consciousness in hell with everlasting torment. That's what it says in Matthew 25: it is suffering without end. 

Note in Is 66:14 the demeanor of the saints when Christ comes with the fire of judgment.  There will be great rejoicing, not necessarily at the destruction of unbelievers but at the coming of the Lord.  After all, their persecution will be ended. It will seem so far in the rearview as not to be noticed at all. The times of pain will pass; they'll pass quickly. They're just a spec of time in eternity. Soon, very soon, whatever trouble we feel will be forgotten when we rest with the Lord when He is revealed and calls us home.

There’s a secondary message in this passage that you could easily miss.  Paul just assured them that the Lord was coming.  They had not missed Him.  That day was still in the future.  Imagine the difference this would make to people who were suffering, thinking they missed the Lord’s coming and subsequently were without hope.  Then they learned suffering was a good thing, the Lord was still coming, and their hope was restored!

2 Thessalonian 1:11-12

Paul draws a conclusion from the previous ‘truths’ he has shared with them.  Because he knew the Lord saved them by grace, loved them deeply, cared for them, and watched over them moment by moment, and because he knew the Lord would come again soon, he prayed:

• God would count them worthy
  • This was to be found strong in faith, love & patience (v.3).  The high calling on our life is to discover how we fit into God’s grand plan.  Our calling is that we would be worthy to be plugged into His plan that is already set, leading to the Day of the Lord.
  • Worthiness isn’t found in human accomplishment or goodness. 
• Fulfill the pleasure of His goodness and work of faith with power
  • Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit.  Paul was impressed that the goodness of the Lord was on display in them, but there was more!  The goodness of the Lord is a bottomless well from which to draw.  Paul prayed they would continue to draw from that well and grow in their goodness of the Lord.
  • One commentary put it this way: “Faith is not passive; it is ceaselessly active, appropriating God’s blessings and using God’s power for God’s service.”^[1]  They had not been abandoned in their current situation.  The ability to withstand the unjust suffering from the hand of man is evidence of the power of God at work in their life.
  • They, in fact, could see God work in their lives with power.  They weren’t victims of persecution, although that may be the way it appeared, they were disciples of Jesus Christ.
•  That Jesus would be glorified in them.
  • I believe it points back to the picture of His coming.  There is a great rejoicing as the purified bride stands before the bridegroom.  The Lord is glorified by this church of saints that were once wretched sinners and enemies of God; now washed clean, they bring glory to the One who did all the work.
• And they glorified in Jesus
  • Through all perseverance, the saints will come to the close of the church age at His coming.  We will no longer be in the process of sanctification, but we will be past that to the glorification.  We will receive glorified, eternal bodies to live with Him forever.

It is by God’s grace we might even have these opportunities.  We don’t deserve His goodness and kindness. In fact, what we deserve is far worse than any persecution.  It is by His grace that someday we might look up and see the sky split at His coming. 

© 2018, 2024 Doug Ford