The Just Judgment of God

The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication and rest for the righteous, but everlasting loss for the wicked - 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10.

The “revelation” of Jesus from Heaven will mean vindication and reward to the faithful but loss and punishment for men and women who reject the Gospel. This will be especially so for those who have persecuted the saints. Christ’s return will result in “just judgment” for the righteous and the unrighteous.

Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians was written after he left the city. His first letter expresses the Apostle’s joy at the good news that the congregation had remained faithful despite hostility. His second letter addresses three main subjects: Persecution, believers who refuse to work, and issues concerning “the Day of the Lord.”

[Photo by Davide Cantelli (Bologna, Italy) on Unsplash]

Persecution had increased, and some members of the congregation were refusing to work in anticipation of Christ’s imminent return. Paul begins by discussing persecution and its significance in light of the return of Jesus. In Chapter 1, the Apostle prepares his audience for the discussion of the second chapter about “the Day of the Lord,” the “Apostasy,” and “the Man of Lawlessness.”

Paul thanks God for the perseverance of the Thessalonians. He refers to their “persecutions” in the plural number, indicating an ongoing hostile environment. The Greek word translated as “tribulations” in English is also plural - (2 Thessalonians 1:3-4, Matthew 24:21, Revelation 1:9, 7:14. See also Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:19, 13:24).

• Persecution is “evidence of the just judgment of God so that you be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, on behalf of which also you are suffering, since it is just for God to requite tribulation to those troubling you, and relief to you, to those being afflicted with us; at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his angels of power” - (2 Thessalonians 1:5-7).

Judgment means a decision for or against someone. The term “evidence” refers either to the endurance of the Thessalonians or to their persecution.  If the former, “perseverance” demonstrates the rightness of God’s decision for the Thessalonians to inherit His Kingdom.

If “evidence” is intended to refer to the ongoing persecution, the persecuting activities of the church’s opponents validate God’s judicial sentence on the persecutors since “it is just for God to requite affliction to those who afflict you and relief to you.” Both senses may be intended.

The Greek verb translated as “requite” or ‘antapodidōmi’ (ανταποδιδωμι) means “to give back, repay.” Here, it refers to the “recompense” given by God to two groups, the persecutors and the saints. God will repay “affliction” to the persecutors, but rest and reward to faithful disciples. Both results will be received when Jesus is revealed, and both judgments by God will certainly be “just.”

The Greek word translated as “revelation” is ‘apokalypsis’ (αποκαλυπσις), meaning a “revealing, uncovering, disclosure; an unveiling.” It is used several times in the Greek New Testament for the coming or "revelation" of Jesus - (1 Corinthians 1:7, 1 Peter 1:7, 1:13).

EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION

This “revelation of Jesus” will occur when he arrives from Heaven. This parallels the clause Paul uses in his first letter when describing how Jesus will “descend from Heaven with a shout.” Previously, he called the event “the arrival” or ‘Parousia’ (παρουσια). Paul thusly applies both terms, “revelation” and “arrival,” to the same future event, the return of Jesus at the end of the age - (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

The clause translated as “in flaming fire” may go with the preceding sentence. It would then read, “the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his angels of power, in flaming fire.” Or Paul may be referring to the “fire” of destruction that the wicked will receive on “the Day of the Lord.”

• (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) - “In flaming fire giving vengeance to those who know not God and to those refusing to heed the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who will pay a penalty, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might. Whenever he shall come to be made all-glorious in his saints and to be marveled at in all who believe, because our witness to you was believed.”

The phrase “in flaming fire” also alludes to a passage found in the Book of Isaiah:

• “Yahweh comes with fire and like a storm-wind are his chariots, to render with fury his anger and his rebuke with flames of fire” - (Isaiah 66:15).

Divine vengeance will come on those who reject the Gospel, “everlasting destruction.” This is the “penalty” they will pay. The term “everlasting” or ‘aiōnion’ (αιωνιον) refers to the length of time that the results of this destruction will last.

The English term “destruction” translates the Greek noun ‘olethros’ (ολεθος), meaning “ruin, destruction, undoing.” Paul uses the same word for the “unexpected destruction” that will overtake the unprepared in 1 Thessalonians. The clause alludes to a prophecy by Obadiah as translated by the Greek Septuagint version of the Book of Obadiah:

• “You should not have looked on the day of your brother in the day of strangers; nor should you have rejoiced against the children of Judah in the day of their destruction [‘olethros’], neither should you have boasted in the day of tribulation. Neither should you have gone into the gates of the people in the day of their troubles” - (Obadiah 12-13).

• “For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and security, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they will in no way escape” - (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).

The Prophet Obadiah pronounced judgment on the nation of Edom for oppressing Israel. Paul applies his words to the persecutors of the Thessalonian congregation. “Everlasting destruction” does not refer to the “tribulations” that will occur before the end since it will be “everlasting” and coincide with the “Revelation of Jesus” - (Matthew 7:23, 22:13, 25:41, Luke 13:27).

Those who oppose the Gospel will be excluded from the presence of the Lord and his “glorious might,” an echo of Christ’s saying from his Olivet Discourse shortly before his arrest and execution:

• “Immediately after the tribulation of those days <…> then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the arrival [‘parousia’] of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” - (Matthew 24:29-31).

Reward or punishment will be received “whenever he comes.” Note well how Paul applies both “come” and “revelation” to the same final event, the future arrival (singular) of Jesus from Heaven - (See Matthew 24:30, 24:42-46, 25:31, Mark 13:26, 13:35-36, Luke 21:27).

On that day, his faithful saints will be gathered to admire him. Believers and unbelievers alike will be presented before him. The former for vindication, the latter group, for judgment. Paul thus contrasts the future vindication of the faithful with the condemnation of the wicked that will occur on “the Day of the Lord.”

Regardless of which term the Apostle uses, “coming” or “arrival,” the noun is in the singular number and refers to the same return of Jesus from Heaven. The Day of the Lord will be an event of singular finality.

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SEE ALSO:

• Coming on the Clouds - (The whole earth will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of Heaven, and he will send his angels to gather his elect –Mark 13:21-27)

• Gathering the Elect - (The saints will be assembled before Jesus on the Last Day, and the wicked will be collected for judgment and cast from his presence) 

• Vindication or Condemnation - (The arrival of Jesus will mean vindication for the righteous, but judgment and punishment for the wicked)

• The Day of the Lord - (Jesus will arrive and gather his people on the Day of the Lord, and in the New Testament, this event becomes the Day of Christ)