This week, we begin a study of 2 Thessalonians, Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica, a city in the Roman province of Macedonia and today a city in the northern part of Greece. I will not repeat background information already covered in the introduction and study of 1 Thessalonians. You can look back in the podcasts to see that information if you have joined us after we started 1 Thessalonians. You can also read Acts 17:1-14 and 18:1-11 again. It was likely from Corinth that Paul w...
This week, we begin a study of 2 Thessalonians, Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica, a city in the Roman province of Macedonia and today a city in the northern part of Greece. I will not repeat background information already covered in the introduction and study of 1 Thessalonians. You can look back in the podcasts to see that information if you have joined us after we started 1 Thessalonians. You can also read Acts 17:1-14 and 18:1-11 again. It was likely from Corinth that Paul wrote both letters to the Thessalonians.
Most likely, Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians within 6 months or so after he wrote his first letter. He had somehow heard that some people had misunderstood or were reacting in wrong ways to what he had written in the original letter. Some seem to have heard that they were to be “blameless” on the day of Jesus’ return and thought they had to live perfect lives and knew they were far from perfect and unprepared. (See 1 Thess. 3:12-13 and 5:23-24. Paul had already said that they were counted “sanctified” and holy, “blameless” through what God did for them, in Christ, and not through their own efforts. He wanted to emphasize that grace of God even more, though, in this second letter, as we will see.)
Others seemed to be thinking that maybe Jesus had already come back, and they had somehow missed Him. Still others seemed so sure that Jesus was coming back very soon, that they might as well quit their jobs and other responsibilities and just sit and wait for Him. Paul responded to these false ideas, too, and told a little more, as God inspired him to write about what would still happen before the return of Jesus and what God’s people were to be doing in the meantime, as they waited for Him.
2 Thessalonians begins with almost the same words as 1 Thessalonians (2 Thess. 1:1-2). Paul identified himself as the author of this second letter, along with his co-workers, Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy. The people of the church existed “in” and “from” “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” All Christian believers, including Paul and us today, have come to faith only through “grace” - the undeserved love and favor and saving work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (spoken of in 2:13). This grace from God gives believers the blessing of peace with God and helps us to live in greater peace with one another, as well. (Again, I will not repeat all that was already said in my notes on 1 Thess. 1:1-2. Go back to that for more detail.)
In 2 Thess. 1:3-4, Paul said that he was “obligated” to give thanks to God for the believers in Thessalonica, “as is right” and proper, because of their growing faith and love for each other, even in the midst of continuing “persecutions” and “afflictions." Note that Paul did not boast about himself or even about the believers themselves. He gave thanks to God, because God was enabling all of this. It was by God’s love and work in these believers that they were remaining “steadfast” in faith. For that, Paul is thankful to God.
These verses are still a reminder to us today that God is also at work for our good, even in our troubled times, and can help our faith in Him to grow stronger. See other Scriptures, such as Romans 5:2-5 and 8:17-18, 28, and 2 Corinthians 4:17. (If you have the latest version of a Lutheran Study Bible, you will find a great description on p. 2061, in comments on 2 Thess. 1:4, of what we can learn from our Lord in times of difficulty. If you would like me to include those words in the next study, let me know.)
In 2 Thess. 1:5-7, Paul also said that these tough times will not last forever. As Jesus suffered in this earthly life, so we will also “suffer” some trouble in this life, as we seek to follow Him. This is “evidence” and points out that we are still in “the kingdom of God“ as we continue to trust our Lord even in hard times. (See also Romans 8:14-17 and Philippians 1:27-30.) There will be “relief,” in God’s good timing, and for sure at the return of Jesus, when we will have perfect peace and rest in eternal life, with our Lord. (See, for example, Hebrews 4:9-10 and Psalm 30:5.)
Paul went on to talk about another aspect of the second coming of Christ, that he had said little about in 1 Thessalonians. The return of Christ will also be a time of judgment for those who “afflict” believers and continue in unbelief and oppose God and His will in Christ. Jesus will return "with His mighty angels in flaming fire” (2 Thess. 1:7-8). Fire can be a symbol of God’s good presence, as in Exodus 3:2 and the Holy Spirit’s work in Acts 2 and the angels in Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7. But the Scriptures also speak of the “consuming fire” of judgment for those apart from the Lord. (See Isaiah 66:15-16 and Hebrews 10:26-27 and Jesus’ own words in the Gospels. See Luke 16:22-24 for example.)
There can be consequences of sin in this life. See Romans 1:18 and 1:24,26,28. The worst consequences, though, are after this life, in “hell.” God wants no one to end up there. (See 1 Timothy 2:3-4.) That is why the warnings of hell are in the Scriptures and why Jesus speaks about hell more than anyone else in the Scriptures.
There is still time to be brought to faith, as long it is “today,” before the return of Christ. See Hebrews 3:12-15. But if one dies in unbelief, without Christ, that is how one will be for eternity. See Paul’s words in 2 Thess. 1:8-9. People will not be eternally destroyed, in the sense of being annihilated. They will be “away forever from the presence of the Lord” and all His blessings. Literally, they will be away from “the face of the Lord”.
In contrast, the believers in Thessalonica and all believers who continue in faith will have eternal life and joy and enjoy God’s presence and blessings always. A benediction we often use in worship says, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance (His face) upon you and give you peace” (Leviticus 6:22-27).
We have the blessings of God already, as we trust in Him. His promises are sure for us. At the same time, as sinners, we can only “see” God indirectly, through His Word (which tells us all that we need) and in our baptism (the water with the Word, blessed by the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith) and the Lord’s Supper (where we still see only bread and wine, but know by faith that Jesus actually is with us, in His very Body and Blood, in this Holy Meal, for our forgiveness and strength). See 1 John 3:1-2. We are God’s children, and in heaven “we shall see Him as He is.” The psalmist says, “I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15).
In the final verses of chapter 1, Paul went out of his way to try to make clear again to the Thessalonians that those who will be in heaven will be there, not by their own “blameless” living, but by the blameless work of God in Christ and His perfect blessings earned for us. The “saints” are not especially holy people who merited eternal life. The saints are simply “all who have believed” the “testimony” of the Scriptures about God and Jesus as Savior (2 Thess. 1:10).
Paul prayed, too, that the Thessalonian believers would know by God’s grace through faith that God “makes us worthy of His calling." He calls us and “fulfills every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power" - not by our power and goodness. The One Who is glorified is Jesus and His perfect life, death and resurrection for us. Only indirectly are we glorified and counted blameless, in and through Him (2 Thess. 1:11-12).
Isaiah trusted, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). Paul wrote, near the end of his life, “I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That includes the believers at Thessalonica, and you and me, too. May Paul’s prayer be answered in our lives also. That is “the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:12). “He will surely do it” (1 Thess. 5:24).
