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Introduction
See the Introduction to the BSN notes on 1 Thessalonians, which gives context for both letters. This second letter was likely written just months after the first.
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2 Thessalonians 1
2 Th 1:1-2 – This opening is almost identical to the one in the first letter. Same players.
2 Th 1:3 – In the previous letter, Paul expressed his hope that the Thessalonians would stand firm in their faith. In this letter, he speaks of their faith being “greatly enlarged.” This is progress! Paul has obviously received, since sending his first letter, a good report of their growth in faith and love. May your family regularly receive such reports from heavenly sources.
2 Th 1:4 – In the previous letter, Paul had written them about the afflictions they’d been experiencing since they first believed the gospel message that Paul had preached to them on his first visit. See especially the third chapter of 1 Thessalonians, and the accompanying BSN notes. This will help with unpacking not just this verse, but with the verses below as well (2 Th 1:5-12).
2 Th 1:5 – Only if we’re willing to suffer for the kingdom can we ever be considered worthy of it. The theme of suffering first on the way to glory runs throughout the messianic plan; that is, it was the pattern of Messiah’s life and it is the pattern of the lives of His followers. (Suffering and Glory)
2 Th 1:6-8 – Paul is speaking here of a recurring theme of his first letter: what we call “the Second Coming of Christ.” ***** This coming of the Lord will be, as it had always been before in its preliminary and lesser manifestations, a Passover. That is, it will be the coming of the Lord in judgment against the faithless but with pockets of protection for the faithful. The plague came on Egypt, but the Israelites – though living in the midst of Egypt – were spared from the plague. This is the way the Lord’s judgment always work. There have always been, and will always be, days of judgment from the Lord. We in America have been headed for such judgment for a while but are heading ever more swiftly toward it now. The day of the Lord that Paul is speaking of here, and that was spoken of throughout the New Testament as imminent, was the granddaddy of all “days of the Lord.” It encompassed the greatest tribulation on the greatest generation of humanity. There never was one like it before, and there won’t ever be one that hard or that significant again.
Mark 13:19 “For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.
Mark 13:20 “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.
Still, a judgment of any nation is a big deal – for that nation even if not for others. Therefore, even though we Americans are not facing the greatest judgment ever, we are facing something profoundly significant for us and therefore can go to school on how New Testament saints handled their crucible.
2 Th 1:9-12 – When God’s wrath hits, faithful believers will be enjoying the presence of the Lord in the midst of it. I’m not saying things will be easy for us. The apostles themselves said their times wouldn’t be easy. But they will be relatively easy given what’s going to happen to the unrighteous. David and Peter are talking about the same thing – the same pattern or sequence of events. This applies to any judgment of God – including the one in Sodom from which Lot was spared.
Ps 2:12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!
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1 Pet 4:14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
1 Pet 4:15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;
1 Pet 4:16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
1 Pet 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1 Pet 4:18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
1 Pet 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
As for our current 21st-century situation, there are two types of Americans these days: those who stand for Christianity and those who seeks its replacement. Many, many Americans – including many Christians – are already on record as seeking its replacement. For when you say that we are a pluralistic nation or a secular nation you are saying you no longer want or expect America to be the Christian nation that was founded in 1776. Even as recently as the 1940’s and early 1950’s, presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman spoke of America as a Christian nation without any expectation of rebuttal to that point. But it is certainly rebutted now – right and left. I make no predictions about how things will turn out for us…except that judgment is coming and that the righteous can find shelter in the midst of it if they stay faithful to the Lord.
Hab 3:2 LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
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1 Th 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Th 5:10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
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2 Thessalonians 2
2 Th 2:1 – Paul continues talking about the Second Coming (“the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”). This was the great event toward which all the New Testament writings were looking. Jesus had taught them that His coming would occur in their generation – it would not be delayed beyond that timeframe. Do we believe the Lord would disappoint the apostles and those they taught? Not possible. (Jesus Christ Has Already Come Again) ***** The “gathering together to Him” was a spiritual thing – an acceptance of the revelation that He…was…God and Father. (Jesus Christ Is God and Jesus Is the Father) You can see throughout the New Testament that one of the biggest obstacles for disciples of Jesus was to make the transition from fleshly thinking to spiritual thinking. For example, consider what Jesus said to His disciples in Jn 11:11-14 or what Paul had to say to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 3:1-3. Therefore, we should not be surprised if many believers in that century were still looking for a physical return of Jesus. Sadly, Jesus had said:
Matt 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
Matt 7:14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Thus in our day it is all the more imperative that we learn to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh!
2 Th 2:2-12 – If the Second Coming was to consist of a physical return of Jesus that everyone could physically see, then Paul would not have needed to write these 11 verses. Instead, he would have written them one verse saying that there’s no way the day of the Lord could have already come because every single human being would have known it. It would be impossible to be deceived about a Second Coming that ended history – we notice something like that. Think about it. If it’s not clear to you after thinking about it, you can read the book The Biblical Case for the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact where I go into detail about this passage and many others.
Since judgment still follows the same patterns, we can learn from this great judgment by noticing a similar sequence of signs in our own time.
2 Th 2:3-4 – We have already seen apostasy (that is, a falling away) from the Lord. And we now see not just a man of lawlessness, but many men of lawlessness – just as happened in the great judgment the prophecy of antichrist became a fulfillment of many antichrists.
1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
In fact, you can say that today it’s almost become routine that individuals act as if they are a supreme being with the power to alter reality.
A specific example of such a man of lawlessness appearing late in New Testament times can be seen in the apostle John’s third letter – a man named Diotrephes. For more explanation, see the BSN notes on 3 John 1:9-10.
2 Th 2:7 – We’re seeing things now that had previously been restrained.
2 Th 2:11-12 – We certainly see many people now believing things that are patently false. (“Who ya gonna believe – me or your lyin’ eyes?”) Society has gone mad. How many more signs do we need that judgment cannot be far off in 2023?
2 Th 2:13 – Paul is reminding the Thessalonians of what he has told them before: they are destined for man’s afflictions, but not for God’s wrath. The one is bearable, but not the other. (See BSN notes on 1 Th 3.)
1 Th 3:3 so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
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1 Th 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thus could David write a thousand years before this:
Ps 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
The word “delivers” means the same thing as “saved” or “salvation.” Thus we suffer the afflictions and persecutions that men bring on us because of our faith in and love of Christ, but we are saved from God’s wrath and see His glory instead. Thus do we experience suffering and glory as followers of Messiah.
2 Th 2:14 – And this is the glory that bearing the Lord’s afflictions bring us:
2 Cor 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
2 Cor 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Th 2:15 – This is why we read the Bible regularly.
2 Th 2:16-17 – We do not get to live a comfortable life, but we do get to live a comforted life…which is much better.
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2 Thessalonians 3
In the combined eight chapters that comprise these two letters to the believers in Thessalonica, this last chapter is the first one that doesn’t contain an explicit reference to the Second Coming. (But remember: Chapter divisions post-date the authors by a thousand years.)
2 Th 3:1 – Here’s what happened when Paul first went to Thessalonica – and what Paul is now saying he would like to see replicated everywhere:
1 Th 2:13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
2 Th 3:2-3 – It’s good to know that we don’t have to deal with the evildoer all by ourselves. We have the Lord Himself to help us.
2 Th 3:4 – My hope is that every father gets to say this to his children – if not now, then at least eventually.
2 Th 3:5 – Paul views God’s role in the lives of the Thessalonians as much larger than they do.
1 Thess 4:9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
2 Th 3:6 – This is the same advice Paul gave the Corinthians about their associations.
1 Cor 5:9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
1 Cor 5:10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.
1 Cor 5:11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one.
2 Th 3:7-9 – We read in Acts 17 that because of the resistance of the Jews in Thessalonica to his message, Paul only preached in the synagogue there on the sabbath. Presumably, he was working his trade during the week. It was only in Acts 18:5 that we read of his being able to devote himself completely to the word of God. Therefore, the Thessalonians had gotten an eyeful of evidence that Paul was not one to freeload off the work of others.
2 Th 3:10-12 – Although we see no explicit reference to the Second Coming in this chapter, it could be that this passage is alluding to some who justified their laziness by saying, “If the Lord’s coming soon, why should I work?”
2 Th 3:13 – And Paul gave the Galatians a good reason for doing this.
Gal 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
2 Th 3:14-15 – This seems to be an expansion on the exhortation Paul gave in verse 6 above. In any case, the hope of such disassociation is re-association. That is, when a person is so off-track that they won’t take good advice, it’s better put distance in the relationship until the other person comes to his senses. Otherwise, if fellowship continues normally when a person is seriously sinning, your camaraderie sends the wrong message. It becomes form of complicity. Jesus laid the foundation for this view when He taught His disciples…
Matt 18:15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
Matt 18:16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.
Matt 18:17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
But even the earthly Jesus Himself wouldn’t say that this idea was completely original with him because both the idea of “two or three witnesses” and the idea of removing the wicked person from the camp are found in the Law of Moses.
2 Th 3:16 – Coupling this with what Paul told the Philippians adds perspective.
Phil 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Phil 4:12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
2 Th 3:17 – The use of a scribe, whether professional or amateur, was common in ancient times. For Paul to personally add a line like this was similar to one of us signing a typed letter. It also may be an indication that forging letters in an apostle’s name had already begun by this time. Without a doubt, forgeries would appear later. Listed below, along with the date they are believed to have been produced, are some examples. As there were false prophets (2 Pet 2:1) and false apostles (2 Cor 11:13), so there were false writings. Here is the source, though be aware that this listing includes some texts that were authentic but came after the apostolic generation and therefore were not included in the New Testament. (The New Testament consists of solely of genuine writings of men from Jesus’ generation.)
- 150-200 Acts of Paul
- 150-300 Coptic Apocalypse of Paul
- 150-300 Prayer of the Apostle Paul
- 150-350 Preaching of Paul
- 250-400 Apocalypse of Paul
- 300-390 Letters of Paul and Seneca
All that said, hand delivery by known and trusted intermediaries was the primary means of authenticating the text.
2 Th 3:18 – From whence does this grace come? From the lips of Messiah. #FJOT
Ps 45:2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
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