C. The Content of Paul's Prayer (1:11-12)
6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power to on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Paul moves from the present situation with its problems and its distress to the coming of the Lord in triumphant majesty at the end of the age. He makes it clear that evil people will then be punished, and the people of God will be given relief. The Thessalonian believers will have their share in that great day. In their times of distress and persecution this picture of the majesty of their Savior would have brought comfort and inspiration.
6 That God's righteous purpose is being worked out is reiterated in the enunciation of a great principle. That Paul puts it into a hypothetical form ("if so be," which NIV omits) does not signify that the matter is open to dispute. It is rather his way of indicating that it is so sure that it can with safety be cast into this hypothetical mold. "If (as all agree) ..." is the sense of it (cf. RSV, "since indeed ...").
This verse resumes what has been said in the previous verse and, so to speak, gives the other side of it. The use of the term "just" shows that we are in the same circle of ideas as when Paul spoke of "God's judgment" as "right" (it is the same Greek adjective that NIV renders "just" and "right"). But now we have the negative aspect. Just as it is true that it is a righteous thing 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.20 This is sometimes thought to be so un-Christian that the hypothesis of interpolation has been resorted to. This, however, does not seem warranted. If it is true that the New Testament speaks much of the love and mercy of God, it is also true that it does not gloss over the serious nature of moral issues. Our Lord spoke plainly of the fate of those who persist in ways of sin and impenitence (Mark 9:47-48; Luke 13:3, 5, etc.).21 Those who followed after did not slur over this truth. They said plainly that the evildoer can look for nothing but the continuing wrath of God (Rom. 1:18ff.). Often retribution is pictured as overtaking people in the world to come, but not a few passages indicate that it may operate here and now (e.g., Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). This verse ought not then to be dismissed as un-Christian, but recognized as giving expression to a well-defined strand of New Testament teaching (even if it is unpalatable to many modern people).22 We should not miss the point that there are differing aspects of the Lord's coming. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 he will come to gather his people; here his coming is also a coming for judgment.
7 God's recompensing activity is not confined to the repayment of the wicked. It has its application to the relief of the righteous as well. Paul looks to God to grant rest to the afflicted. This word "relief' is frequently used by the apostle, and nearly always in contrast to affliction, as here. It denotes a freedom from restraints and tension.23 The prospect of such relief given by God himself is held out before the suffering Thessalonians as something that will strengthen their spirits in the trying times through which they are passing. There is a tendency in modern times to look askance on heavenly rewards and the like. It is true that the Christian must serve God for what he is and not from selfish motives. It is true, too, that anyone who serves in order to obtain a reward has not caught the spirit of Christianity at all. Such a person has simply exchanged one form of selfishness for another, and the result is not pleasing. Yet when full allowance has been made for that, it remains that the New Testament does speak of a rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:9). We are not being true to its teaching if we overlook this. While it may well be true to say that if we are still serving God with a view to getting something for ourselves we do not know much about the Christian faith, it is also true that the contemplation of the rest that God has reserved for them is a normal and legitimate activity of the saints who are passing through trials (those who are in comfortable circumstances may despise the thought of final rest, but the troubled do not).
Paul speaks of rest "with us"24 (NIV, "to us"), a little touch that reminds his readers that he is not delivering an academic disquisition on the nature of suffering and recompense. He is speaking out of his own difficult situation. Throughout his missionary career he was encompassed with trials, not least during his stay at Corinth during which this letter was written.
There is a sense in which retribution takes place in the here and now. There is a fuller sense in which it is reserved for the last great day, when it will form part of the revelation. It is this that Paul has especially in mind in the present passage, as he proceeds to make clear. The section that begins "when the Lord Jesus is revealed" and goes on to the end of verse 10 is of such a rhythmical character that a number of commentators have felt that it is a psalm of some sort. A necessary corollary seems to some to be that Paul is quoting from some other writer. While acknowledging that the section is poetic, we may feel that it does not follow that Paul is not the author. No valid reason has been adduced for doubting that Paul wrote it. He can employ a very elevated style, as 1 Corinthians 13 (to name no other) amply shows.
Various words are used of Christ's appearing on that day. The typical word (see on 1 Thess. 2:19) stresses the idea of coming. The word used here25 directs attention rather to the thought of uncovering what is hidden. Now the Lord is hid from the view of the world, and it is even possible for people to deny his existence. But on that day he will be revealed in all his glory. He will be shown to be what he is.
Paul proceeds to describe this revelation26 in a series of prepositional phrases. It will be (a) from heaven, (b) with the angels, and (c) in flaming fire. The first of these conveys the thought that the highest place of all is Christ's and is his now. He is enjoying the glory of the Father. When he comes it will be with the very highest authority, and his task will be the divine task of judgment. This thought of his glory is continued in the reference to "the angels of his power." In modem times it is usually held that "of his power" should be taken as equivalent to an adjective, and accordingly NIV renders "his powerful angels."27 While this is a possible way of reading the Greek, the probability is that Paul's use of the noun should be respected. The point is that the passage is dealing with the Lord, and it is his power rather than that of the angels that is likely to be spoken of.28 It is also the case that "angels of power" appear to be a definite class in apocalyptic literature. Frame is able to cite a passage from the Ethiopic Enoch in which these angels are expressly distinguished from "the angels of principalities." Possibly the expression implies that they are to be the agents of the divine will. But the main idea is that they are angels that belong to his power.
Some commentators prefer to take "in blazing fire"29 with what follows as indicating the manner in which the vengeance spoken of will be visited on the wicked 30 It seems preferable to take it with the preceding, and as being the third in the series of prepositional phrases describing the Lord's revelation. In that case the majesty of the appearance of the Lord who is revealed is brought out by comparing it to that of flaming fire. This comparison is to be found in other places (Exod. 3:2; Isa. 66:15; Rev. 1:13-14). On outstanding occasions, like the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai or the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, fire is the symbol of the divine presence.
8 Having spoken of flaming fire as the robe of the returning Lord, Paul moves on to his function, namely, that of administering justice. The word rendered "punish" has no associations of vindictiveness 3 ' It is a compound based on the same root as that of the word rendered "right" in verse 5 and "just" in verse 6, and it conveys the idea of a firm administration of unwavering justice. As Findlay says, "it is the inflicting of full justice on the criminal ... nothing more, nothing less." He draws attention to the use of the term elsewhere (Luke 18:3, 7; Rom. 12:19; 2 Cor. 7:11). The passage in Romans is a quotation from Deuteronomy 32:35, where this process is ascribed to Yahweh. Yet here it belongs to the Lord Jesus. It is yet another example of the ease with which the church, from the very first, assigned to Christ the functions that the Old Testament reserved for Yahweh.32
The rest of the verse concerns the identity of those who will be the objects of this retributory justice. The use of separate articles in the Greek before "those who do not know God" and "do not obey the gospel" is most naturally taken as pointing to two groups of people (NIV ignores the second article). Some commentators accordingly understand the first expression to signify the Gentiles, and the second to refer to the Jews.33 The objection to this is that the distinction is not made clearly enough, for the verse can be readily understood as an example of synonymous parallelism.34 If Paul meant Jews and Gentiles, there seems to be no reason why he should not have inserted another word or two to make the meaning clear. While it is true that the Gentiles are sometimes described as people who do not know God, the Jews could also be spoken of in this way (John 8:54-55). Again, the Gentiles can be said to be disobedient to God (Rom. 11:30). Bearing in mind the Hebraistic coloring of this passage and the fondness for parallelism in elevated Hebrew style, we apparently have here two designations of more or less the same group of people. There is nothing in the context to prepare us for an allusion to Jew or Gentile. "Those who do not know God" refers, of course, not to people who have never heard of the true God, but to those who are culpably ignorant. It is the sort of thing that Paul speaks of in Romans 1:28, where he refers to people who "did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God." The second clause is then a specific example of this, and the most heinous of all, for it involves the rejection of the revelation that God has given in his Son. The gospel is a message of good news, but it is also an invitation from the King of kings. Rejection of the gospel accordingly is disobedience to a royal invitation. This is emphasized in the reference to Jesus as "Lord," a word that, in addition, has point in a second advent setting.
9 The thought of merited punishment continues. Paul does not use the simple relative but the relative of quality, which has the force of "who are of such a kind as to."35 His verb has a legal background. The word "punishment" (the Greek means "suffer punishment," as RSV) is another word from the same root as "righteous" and "vengeance" in the earlier verses. It brings us the idea of a just penalty, of a punishment meted out as the result of an evenhanded assessment of the rights of the case 36 Paul leaves us in no doubt either as to the fact of the punishment of the wicked or of the justice of this proceeding.
The nature of the punishment is "everlasting destruction."37 The noun is used of the destruction of the flesh with a view to the saving of the spirit (1 Cor. 5:5). In that passage Paul clearly does not view destruction as annihilation, for there is no likelihood that he thought of such a one as being saved in a disembodied state. This has its relevance to the present passage, for it indicates that the word does not signify so much annihilation as the loss of all that is worthwhile, utter ruin. The adjective "everlasting" means literally "age-long," and everything depends on the length of the age. In the New Testament there is never a hint that the coming age has an end-it is the continuing life of the world to come 38 When the life of believers beyond the grave is spoken of, it is with the use of this same adjective. "Eternal life" is the life that belongs to the age to come; therefore it has no end. At the same time "eternal" is a quality of life. It is not only that life in the age to come will be longer than life here: it will also be of a different quality. All of this has to be borne in mind when we consider the other expression "everlasting destruction." It is the opposite of eternal life. It is the end of all that is worthwhile in life. As eternal life can be defined in terms of the knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3), so the eternal destruction that is here in mind is "from the presence of the Lord"; "from" appears to have the meaning "away from"39 (contrast 1 Thess. 4:17). It indicates that separation from the Lord which is the final disaster.40 The solemnity of this thought should not be minimized. Those who oppose the things of God here and now are not engaged in some minor error that can easily be put right in the hereafter. They are engaging in that defiance of the will of God which has eternal consequences. Life here and now has a high and serious dignity. In particular, facing up to the gospel invitation is a choice fraught with the most solemn and lasting consequences.4
The Semitic expressions toward the end of the verse serve a twofold purpose. They stress the certainty of the destruction spoken of, and in their insistence on the might of the Lord they bring a message of hope and cheer to the Thessalonians. It is as though Paul is turning their eyes away from the troubles through which they are passing to remind them that the power of their oppressors is as nothing compared to the might of the glorious Lord who is to be revealed. "The majesty of his power" is a very expressive phrase, and the choice of the word "power" in this context is suggestive.
10 This very long and complex sentence now concludes, and we are back at the thought of the coming of the Lord. When this takes place,42 it will be in order that (the construction expresses purpose43) he may be glorified in his saints (or "holy people," as NIV puts it). This, of course, refers to all believers, those set apart for the service of the Lord. The idea here is not a common one, namely, that the glory of the Lord will be seen in his saints, but it is strongly expressed. The verb "glorified" is an unusual compound (only here and in v. 12 in the New Testament), the preposition "in" being prefixed to the usual word for "glorify." Then "in" is repeated before "saints." The meaning probably is that the Lord will not only be glorified "among" the saints (as REB), but "in" them. There may be a recollection of Psalm 89:7, which in LXX speaks of God as being glorified "in the council of his holy ones" (which seems to refer to the angels), but here there is no reference to the council; it is the saints themselves in whom the Lord will be glorified. "In" may mean "among" or "by means of' or "because of." But we should perhaps bear in mind that Paul frequently speaks of believers as being "in Christ," and less frequently of Christ's being "in" his people. It seems that he is saying that those who are in Christ and in whom Christ dwells will by virtue of that fact share in his glory. On the great day it is not only the Lord himself who will be glorious, but his glory will also be seen in the saints.44 The thought may be that they have been redeemed and indwelt by the Lord, and that this will cause the angels to ascribe glory to the Lord (so, for example, Frame). But it seems more likely that the idea is that of the Lord's glory being shared with or mirrored in his people. They are one with him and they will share his glory.
This clause and that which follows are a necessary corrective to any idea that the Lord at his coming will be preoccupied with the necessity for dealing with the wicked, which has been the center of attention in the preceding verses. That of course is important, especially for those undergoing persecution, but it is not all-important. The Lord comes primarily for other purposes, and dealing with the wicked is incidental to the establishing of the new order of things. This new order will far surpass anything that we can dream of, as will the Lord who establishes it 45 Thus Paul can speak of him as being marveled at. The wonders of that day are not to be taken for granted. We might have expected him to use the present tense and say, "in all those who believe," both from the general sense of the passage and from the fact that it is Paul's habit to use the present tense of this participle. But in this verse he is drawing attention to the decisive act of faith rather than to the continuing belief, so he employs the aorist. He describes those who will marvel as "all those who will have put their trust in him."
"In that day," which comes last in the Greek, goes with the coming and its associated events. It makes clear to what they apply. Its detachment from the remainder of the expression gives it a certain emphasis. The intervening words are a parenthesis. They are not particularly easy to fit into the structure of the sentence, and it is not surprising, accordingly, that some exegetes have suggested excision, and others emendation. Even Hort, who was very conservative in these matters, resorted to a conjectural emendation of the text.46 There seems to be no point in working through all the suggestions that have been put forward. The simplest explanation is that we need some such words as "you will be among them" to bring out the sense. Paul has been speaking of the glorious saints. He knows that there are some fainthearted souls among the Thessalonians, and on the spur of the moment and with scant regard for the niceties of grammar, he makes his interjection that will assure them that they will be of the number of the glorified ones in that day. The "testimony" reminds us that the essential task carried out by Paul and his companions had been bearing witness to the saving truths of the gospel. They had not expounded some philosophical or religious theory, but had testified to what God had done in Christ. "Was believed" (NIV "you believed") is another aorist. It brings before us the thought of the decisive act of belief with which the Thessalonians had welcomed the gospel 47 This picks up the thought of Paul's relationship to the converts and his responsibility for bringing about their conversion that surfaces from time to time (e.g., 1 Thess. 2:15, 19).