King James Version
2 Thessalonians 1
12 verses with commentary
Greeting
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ</strong>—the same apostolic team from the first letter greets the assembly (<em>ekklēsia</em>, ἐκκλησία). The phrase <strong>in God our Father</strong> (<em>en Theō Patri hēmōn</em>, ἐν Θεῷ Πατρὶ ἡμῶν) emphasizes believers' covenantal position—not merely near God but vitally ...
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(1) **Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus.**—The company which despatched the First Epistle is not yet broken up. This proves that the Second Epistle was written before the end of the second missionary journey, for after that time we do not read of Silvanus being in the company of St. Paul. The salutation is precisely the same as in the First Epistle, save for the last clause of 2Thessalonians 1:2, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. a gift--**Greek, "the gift." Translate, "It is not that I seek after the gift, but I do seek after the fruit that aboundeth to your account"; what I do seek is your spiritual good, in the abounding of fruits of your faith which shall be put down to your account, against the day of reward (He 6:10).
Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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<strong>Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ</strong>—Paul's standard greeting carries profound theology. <em>Charis</em> (χάρις, grace) is God's unmerited favor, the foundation of salvation and perseverance. <em>Eirēnē</em> (εἰρήνη, peace) is the Hebrew <em>shalom</em>—total well-being, reconciliation with God, and the end of enmity.<br><br>These gifts flow <st...
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**18. But--**Though "the gift" is not what I chiefly "seek after" (Php 4:17), yet I am grateful for the gift, and hereby acknowledge it as ample for all my needs. Translate, "I have all" that I want, "and more than enough." Literally, as English Version, "I abound" over and above my needs.
**I am full--**Greek, "I am filled full."
**the odour of a sweet smell--**(See on Ep 5:2). The figure is ...
Read full commentary →Thanksgiving and Prayer
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
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<strong>We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth</strong>—Paul's thanksgiving is obligatory (<em>opheilomen</em>, ὀφείλομεν, 'we owe'). Their <em>pistis</em> (πίστις, faith) is <strong>growing exceedingly</strong> (<em>hyperauxanei</em>, ὑπεραυξάνει), a rare co...
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(3) **We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren.**—The thanksgiving is regarded as a positive *debt* incurred, which it would be a dishonesty not to pay.
**Because.**—This assigns the reason for saying that it was “meet,” and does not merely follow after “thank God:” in which case, the words “as it is meet” would have been rather weak, as containing no more than is involved in “we are bou...
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**19. my--**Paul calls God here "my God," to imply that God would reward their bounty to His servant, by "fully supplying" (translate so, literally, fill to the full) their every "need" (2Co 9:8), even as they had "fully" supplied his "need" (Php 4:16, 18). My Master will fully repay you; I cannot. The Philippians invested their bounty well since it got them such a glorious return.
**according t...
Read full commentary →So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
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<strong>So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure</strong>—Paul boasts (<em>enkauchaometha</em>, ἐγκαυχώμεθα) about them to other congregations. Their <em>hypomonē</em> (ὑπομονή, endurance/patience) and <em>pistis</em> (πίστις, faith) shine through <strong>all your persecutions</strong> (<em>diōgmoi...
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(4) **So that we ourselves.**—Why was it less likely that St. Paul and his companions should thus glory in them than other friends did, or perhaps than the Thessalonians themselves? Possibly, because it seemed almost like self-praise to praise their own converts; but much more probably, because the writers had before felt and expressed misgivings on the point: this suits the thought of 2Thessaloni...
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**20. God and our Father--**Translate, "Unto our God and Father."
**be glory--**rather as the Greek, "be the glory." Not to us, but to Him be "the glory" alike of your gift, and of His gracious recompense to you.
God's Righteous Judgment
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
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<strong>Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer</strong>—their perseverance is <em>endeigma</em> (ἔνδειγμα, evidence/proof) of God's <strong>righteous judgment</strong> (<em>dikaias kriseōs</em>, δικαίας κρίσεως). God deems them <strong>worthy</strong> (<em>kataxiōthēnai</em>, καταξιωθῆναι, counted wo...
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(5) **Which is . . .**—In the fervid eloquence of the original these connecting words are omitted, and the clause added in a kind of apposition to the words “in all your persecutions;” the effect is the same as when we in English put a dash: “which ye endure—a manifest token,” &c. The indication of God’s righteous judgment consisted not so much in the vitality and growth of the Thessalonians’ fait...
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**21. Salute every saint--**individually.
**greet--**salute you.
**The brethren which are with me--**Perhaps Jewish believers are meant (Ac 28:21). I think Php 2:20 precludes our thinking of "closer friends," "colleagues in the ministry" [Alford]; he had only one close friend with him, namely, Timothy.
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
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<strong>Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you</strong>—<em>dikaion para Theō</em> (δίκαιον παρὰ Θεῷ, 'righteous with God') asserts divine justice. <strong>Recompense</strong> (<em>antapodounai</em>, ἀνταποδοῦναι) means 'repay in kind'—those giving <strong>tribulation</strong> (<em>thlipsin</em>, θλῖψιν, crushing pressure) will receive tribulatio...
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(6) **Seeing it is.**—Literally, *if so be it is fair:* a form very common in St. Paul, when he wishes to argue from some fact which he knows his readers will recognise (*e.g., *Romans 8:9). “Your persecution is a clear indication what God’s fair verdict will be—that He will pronounce you fit—unless indeed you deny (as you will not) that it *is* fair to recompense the persecutors with tribulation ...
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**22. they that are of Cæsar's household--**the slaves and dependents of Nero who had been probably converted through Paul's teaching while he was a prisoner in the Prætorian barrack attached to the palace. Philippi was a Roman "colony," hence there might arise a tie between the citizens of the mother city and those of the colony; especially between those of both cities who were Christians, conver...
Read full commentary →And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, his: Gr. the angels of his power
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<strong>And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels</strong>—the flip side of verse 6: persecuted believers receive <em>anesin</em> (ἄνεσιν, relief/rest), literally 'loosening' of pressure. This <strong>rest</strong> comes <strong>when</strong> (<em>en</em>, ἐν, at the time of) Christ's <em>apokalypsei</em> (ἀποκαλύψει, revelat...
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(7) **Rest with us.**—Why “with us”? It shows sympathy in their present trials, for it implies that the writers themselves had earned or were earning (see Acts 18:12) that rest by the like trials. The word “rest” (or *relaxation*) is the opposite of the “strain” at which the persecution kept them. Such “rest” is not to be expected in its fulness till the judgment day.
**From heaven.**—St. Paul see...
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23. (Ga 6:18).
**be with you all. Amen--**The oldest manuscripts read, "Be with your spirit," and omit "Amen."
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: taking: or, yielding
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<strong>In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ</strong>—Christ appears <strong>in flaming fire</strong> (<em>en pyri phlogos</em>, ἐν πυρὶ φλογός), echoing God's Sinai theophany (Ex. 19:18). <strong>Taking vengeance</strong> (<em>didontos ekdikēsin</em>, διδόντος ἐκδίκησιν, literally 'giving justice/vindication') shows Chri...
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(8) **In flaming fire.**—Most critics agree to change the punctuation here, by omitting the comma after “angels” and inserting it after “fire.” The flaming fire here is not the instrument of the vengeance—*i.e., *hell-fire—but the common pictorial attribute of the Divine Presence (Exodus 3:2; Exodus 19:18; Daniel 7:9).
**Taking vengeance.**—The expression in the original is one which is said to be...
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THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
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<strong>Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power</strong>—<strong>everlasting destruction</strong> (<em>olethron aiōnion</em>, ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον) is not annihilation but eternal ruin, conscious separation from God. The punishment is <strong>from the presence</strong> (<em>apo prosōpou</em>, ἀπὸ προσώπου, 'away from the face') o...
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(9) **Punished with everlasting destruction** specifies the “vengeance” to be taken. But the word “destruction” does not stand absolutely and alone as a synonym for “annihilation.” This passage, in itself, gives us no reason to suppose that the lost will be “destroyed” in the ordinary sense of the word. They are to be *“*destroyed *from the presence* of the Lord, and from the glory of His power”—*...
Read full commentary →When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
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<strong>When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day</strong>—Christ comes both to judge (vv. 8-9) and to be <strong>glorified in</strong> (<em>endoxasthēnai en</em>, ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν) His saints. They become His glory, reflecting His character perfectly. <strong>To be admired</strong> (<em>th...
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(10) **When he shall come.**—Not simply a repetition of the temporal date which was mentioned in 2Thessalonians 1:7—“when the Lord,” &c—but an introduction of the contrast which will be presented “in that day” by the spectacle of the glory of the saints. Thus the penalty of 2Thessalonians 1:9 is made to appear greater, while at the same time the readers’ minds are turned back to a more wholesome s...
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INTRODUCTION
The GENUINENESS of this Epistle is attested by Justin Martyr [Dialogue with Trypho, p. 311, B.], who quotes "the first-born of every creature," in reference to Christ, from Col 1:15. Theophilus of Antioch [To Autolychus, 2, p. 100]. Irenæus [Against Heresies, 3.14.1], quotes expressly from this "Epistle to the Colossians" (Col 4:14). Clement of Alexandria [Miscellanies, 1. p. 325], ...
Read full commentary →Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: count: or, vouchsafe
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<strong>Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power</strong>—<strong>Wherefore</strong> connects prayer to eschatological hope. Paul prays God would <strong>count you worthy</strong> (<em>axiōsē</em>, ἀξιώσῃ, deem worthy) of <strong>this calling</strong> (<em>klēseōs</...
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(11) **Wherefore.**—Literally, *whereunto*—*i.e., *to their being found among the blessed. The “also” serves to emphasise the “pray”: we do not content ourselves with merely hoping, but we direct actual prayer to that end. The word “whereunto” seems grammatically to depend upon the word “calling”—“of the calling whereunto, we *pray* also for you always, that our God would count you worthy.”
**Coun...
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**2. Colosse--**written in the oldest manuscripts, "Colasse." As "saints" implies union with God, so "the faithful brethren" union with Christian men [Bengel].
**and the Lord Jesus Christ--**supported by some oldest manuscripts omitted by others of equal antiquity.
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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<strong>That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ</strong>—the purpose of worthy living: mutual glorification. <strong>The name</strong> (representing Christ's character) is <strong>glorified in you</strong> when believers reflect His nature. Simultaneously, <strong>ye in him</strong> are glorified—cau...
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(12) **That the name . . .**—This verse gathers up what has been said in 2Thessalonians 1:8-10. Seeing the favours bestowed upon the Christians in the last day, all, the lost as well as the saved, will be forced to acknowledge the glory (*i.e.*, the divine perfection) of the Jesus whose Christship had been rejected, and the glory (*i.e., *the true dignity) of the Christians who had been despised f...
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3. Thanksgiving for the "faith, hope, and love" of the Colossians. So in the twin Epistle sent at the same time and by the same bearer, Tychicus (Ep 1:15, 16).
**We--**I and Timothy.
**and the Father--**So some of the oldest manuscripts read. But others better omit the "and," which probably crept in from Ep 1:3.
**praying always for you--**with thanksgiving (Php 4:6). See Col 1:4.