B. The Great Rebellion (2:3-12)
i Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
Paul had spoken a good deal about the second coming during his mission at Thessalonica, but it is clear that not all of his teaching had been grasped. New converts, full of enthusiasm, perhaps emotionally unstable, but as yet imperfectly instructed in the deeper things of the faith, not unnaturally went astray in some points in this important but intricate subject. Paul had had occasion to refer to the Parousia in his first letter, but this, it seems, did not clear away all doubts. He felt accordingly that he must deal with the subject again. Indeed, it forms the principal part of 2 Thessalonians. The situation had become complicated by the fact that some in Thessalonica were claiming Paul's authority for the view that the day of the Lord had already come (2:2), and it was important that this error be corrected. Our big difficulty in interpreting what he says is that it is a supplement to his oral preaching. He and his correspondents both knew what he had said when he was in Thessalonica, so there was no point in repeating it. He could take it as known, and simply add what was necessary to clear up the misunderstandings that had arisen. We find it very difficult to fill in the gaps and to catch his allusions, which are so difficult, indeed, that many and various suggestions have been put forward in the attempt to elucidate the apostle's meaning. We must bear in mind the gaps in our knowledge and not be too confident in our interpretations of this notoriously difficult passage.'
1 Paul begins, not by pontificating, but by making request of his friends.2 The verb he uses is not a common one in his writings (though it is far from being an unusual word). It is appropriate to a respectful request (see the note on 1 Thess. 4:1), as is the affectionate "brothers." The subject3 of his request is twofold, but the use of the single article shows that the coming of the Lord (see the note on 1 Thess. 2:19) and the gathering of the saints are closely connected. Indeed, they are two parts of one great event.4 The assembly of the saints (see I Thess. 4:13-18) does not seem to be vitally related to the coming of the Antichrist, the subject Paul is beginning to discuss, but characteristically he includes it. It is so important, especially to his friends who had been in doubt about their loved ones who had died, and so very much a part of the coming of the Lord. "Our being gathered to him" is the "muster" (Moffatt) of the saints.5 This may well have been something of a technical term; the cognate verb is used of the gathering of the elect (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27). The noun occurs again in the New Testament only once (Heb. 10:25), and there it is the assembling of believers for worship that is in mind (though it should not be overlooked that that verse also looks for the coming of the Lord). Notice the significance of "to him." It is not simply that the saints meet one another: they meet their Lord and remain with him forever (cf. 1 Thess. 4:17).6
2 Always, it would seem, there have been some Christians who have let their imagination rather than their reason dictate their understanding of the Parousia. This was true of the earliest days of the church, just as of more recent times. The content of Paul's appeal accordingly is that his readers should retain their mental equilibrium. He employs two expressions for the kind of weakness he wants them to avoid and to which some of them were already giving way. The first, "not to become easily unsettled," directs attention to the possibility of being caught up by a sudden excitement. The adverb "quickly" (NIV, "easily") does not mean "after a short period," as though pointing to their forsaking the true position soon after reaching it. Rather, it has reference to the quality of the action. Its force is "hastily," "precipitately" (cf. its use in 1 Tim. 5:22). The verb is in the aorist, which more naturally signifies a sudden action than one that is continuous. It is a verb that is often used of literal shaking; the motion produced by wind and wave, and especially violent motion. Its use of a ship driven from its mooring shows us the kind of thing Paul has in mind. He is thinking of people who lack a secure anchorage, and are readily tossed here and there .7 NIVs "unsettled" is more exactly "shaken from your mind," and the word for "mind" is one that can on occasion be near in meaning to "spirit" (as Lightfoot points out), but properly it directs attention to the reasoning faculty. For example, it is used in distinction from "spirit": "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful" (1 Cor. 14:14). In the present passage "mind" stands for the whole mental balance of the person (Findlay, "the regulative intellectual faculty," CGT). Putting all this together, then, Paul is urging his readers in the first instance to maintain the stability that will enable them to withstand any sudden shock or discovery. People taken up with advent speculations may easily take an unbalanced interest in the latest idea, and their conduct will be adversely affected thereby. But those whose views on the second coming are more stable are not easily thrown off balance.8
The second weakness is that of being "alarmed." This time the verb is in the present and points to a continuing state. Jesus used it when he said, "when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed" (Mark 13:7).9 It describes a state of "jumpiness" or of worry. Just as some are easily thrown off balance, so others can fall into a state of constant fretting. Paul wants neither of these states in his converts.
He speaks of three possible ways in which they might be 10 "Spirit" (NIV has "some prophecy") must be understood in the light of the fact that the early church expected supernatural communications from time to time, for example, through the ministry of prophets (cf. 1 Cor. 14:29-30; 1 John 4:1). It means some revelation divinely communicated. Paul, of course, encouraged the right use of prophecy (1 Thess. 5:19-20), but here the content of the supposed prophecy showed that it could not have come from God. "Report" (the Greek means "word") may refer to a sermon, though the term is broad enough to cover all sorts of oral communications. Some interpreters have felt that "letter" means 1 Thessalonians, but this is far from having been demonstrated. The expression is general and might refer to that letter, or to another that Paul had written or had been said to have written, or to a forgery ("purporting to be from us," RSV). There are various possibilities. Nor is the matter rendered any easier by the following "as from us"'' ("supposed to have come from us," NIV), for this expression, too, is rather indefinite. It indicates that Paul feared that a communication of some kind had been reputed to have come from him (and his assistants?). But he writes in general terms, and we are probably justified in inferring that he was not quite sure of exactly what had happened. Either that, or else he felt it not wise to refer to it too directly. But he is making quite clear that he accepts no responsibility whatever for the report. However it had come, and however it had been attributed to him, he had had nothing to do with it. He does not want his friends to be worried by these speculations, and he completely renounces them.
The content of the particular report was "that the day of the Lord has already come" (for "the day of the Lord" see on 1 Thess. 5:2). Some commentators hold the meaning to be that the day of the Lord was on the very point of occurring. The verb, however, does not mean "to be at hand" but rather "to be present." t2 It is sometimes contrasted with verbs expressing the future idea (e.g., Rom. 8:38; 1 Cor. 3:22). Moreover, Paul could, and did, say that the Parousia was "at hand" (with a different Greek expression, Phil. 4:5). It seems that the verb ought to be given its usual sense here, rather than to have the idea of imminence imported into it. Obviously the Lord had not returned in the full sense that Paul had described in his teaching to the Thessalonians, and outlined in the First Epistle. But the day of the Lord was a complex idea. It included a number of events, as we see from the various passages of Scripture that refer to it. To say that the day of the Lord had come did not mean that it was completed and that all the glorious events associated with it had occurred. That was so obviously untrue that it needed no refutation. What it did mean was that that day had dawned. They were even then living in it.' This being so, the climax must infallibly be reached, and that within a very short space of time.14 We can easily picture the effect such news would have on those who were not well grounded in the Christian faith and who were given to excitability. Paul proceeds to show the complete falsity of such an idea.15