2 Thessalonians Commentary

The believers in Thessalonica had faced persecution since their conversion, but now it was more severe. A false teaching declared that the day of the Lord had already come, and some believers even quit working. What do you say to people whose lives move from bad to worse? Paul’s second letter to this new church addresses their troubling problems.

Setting

From the time of their conversion, the Thessalonian Christians had experienced hostility (1 Thes 1:6; 2:14), and Paul had worried whether they would retain their faith (1 Thes 3:5). When Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians, they had stood firm in faith, love, and hope (1 Thes 1:3; 3:6-8).

After Paul sent his first letter, the situation in the Thessalonian church deteriorated and the persecution intensified. What Paul had previously written was being countered by a false teaching that said that the day of the Lord had already come (2:2). Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians after receiving this news (2:2; 3:11) in order to give this church a shift in perspective.

Summary

Second Thessalonians opens with the customary greeting (1:1-2), then quickly moves to thanksgiving for the church’s faith, love, and persevering hope, which had become a model for other congregations (1:3-4). Noting their suffering, Paul says that God will judge their persecutors and bring reward to the Thessalonian believers (1:5-10). Paul gives thanks for this church and prays that God will continue to make them worthy of his calling (1:11-12). In spite of their troubles, Paul is confident in God’s work among them.

Paul counters the false teaching that “the day of the Lord has already begun” (2:1-2) and urges the church not to be deceived by this doctrine (2:3). He outlines events that will precede Christ’s coming, when the church will be gathered to meet him (2:1-12). First, there will be rebellion against God (2:3). Then “the man of lawlessness” will come, who will claim to be divine and demand worship (2:3-4). Although he will be empowered by Satan and will deceive many, Jesus will destroy him (2:8-12).

Paul is confident that God chose and called the Thessalonian Christians, and he urges them to stand firm (2:13-15). Paul concludes his discussion on final events with a prayer for the church (2:16-17) and a request that they pray for him as he preaches the Good News (3:1-2). His confidence in the church is based on God’s handiwork in them (3:3-5).

In the closing section (3:6-18), Paul returns to an issue that he had addressed in the first letter. Some believers were refusing to work, despite Paul’s instruction and example, so Paul calls on the church to discipline them (3:6-10). He also addresses these idle members directly, telling them to get to work (3:11-12). He commands the church to treat these slackers as errant Christians rather than hostile enemies (3:14-15), and he encourages the church to continue its generosity toward those in genuine need (3:13). He closes the letter with prayers and a final greeting (3:16-18).

Authorship

Paul’s name is in the letter opening (1:1); at the conclusion, Paul adds a note in his own hand to certify the letter’s authenticity (3:17). As in 1 Thessalonians, the names of Silas and Timothy, the cofounders of this church, are included alongside Paul’s, indicating that they stood behind the contents of the letter and probably shared in its writing. Most of the first-person pronouns in the letter are plural (“we”), suggesting that Silas and Timothy had real input into the letter and that their names were not included simply as a courtesy. However, the final greeting in Paul’s own writing emphasizes that he is the primary author, personally responsible for the contents of the letter.

The early church unanimously affirmed that 2 Thessalonians was a genuine letter of the apostle Paul, and the letter is in harmony with Paul’s other writings.

Recipients

The recipients of the letter were the same as those who received 1 Thessalonians: “the church in Thessalonica, . . . you who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thes 1:1). Many were artisans who earned their living by manual labor (3:6-12) or were clients of rich patrons. They were not people who had great wealth.

Meaning and Message

Wars are often fought on multiple fronts. This was certainly the case with the conflict in the church at Thessalonica. With persecutors assailing the church, false doctrine circulating, and unruly members refusing to work, the battle lines were numerous. In his response, however, Paul never embraces despair or exasperation. He is very clear in his teaching and correction. He intends for his words to strengthen the troubled church, stop the false teaching, and correct the errant members.

The value of Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians is not merely in figuring out how events will occur at the end of human history, but that has often been the approach to the second chapter of this letter. Second Thessalonians is primarily a pastoral letter from Paul that provides hope and confidence in God when the world has gone mad. Christ reigns now, and Christ will be triumphant in the end.

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians

This Second Epistle was written soon after the former, and seems to have been designed to prevent a mistake, which might arise from some passages in the former epistle, concerning the second coming of Christ, as if it were near at hand. The apostle in this epistle is careful to prevent any wrong use which some among them might make of those expressions of his that were agreeable to the dialect of the prophets of the Old Testament, and informs them that there were many intermediate counsels yet to be fulfilled before that day of the Lord should come, though, because it is sure, he had spoken of it as near. There are other things that he writes about for their consolation under sufferings, and exhortation and direction in duty.

Its GENUINENESS is attested by POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 11], who alludes to Th2 3:15. JUSTIN MARTYR [Dialogue with Trypho, p. 193.32], alludes to Th2 2:3. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 7.2] quotes Th2 2:8. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 1.5, p. 554; The Instructor, 1.17], quotes Th2 3:2, as Paul's words. TERTULLIAN [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 24] quotes Th2 2:1-2, as part of Paul's Epistle.

DESIGN.—The accounts from Thessalonica, after the sending of the first Epistle, represented the faith and love of the Christians there as on the increase; and their constancy amidst persecutions unshaken. One error of doctrine, however, resulting in practical evil, had sprung up among them. The apostle's description of Christ's sudden second coming (Th1 4:13, &c., and Th1 5:2), and the possibility of its being at any time, led them to believe it was actually at hand. Some professed to know by "the Spirit" (Th2 2:2) that it was so; and others alleged that Paul had said so when with them. A letter, too, purporting to be from the apostle to that effect, seems to have been circulated among them. (That Th2 2:2 refers to such a spurious letter, rather than to Paul's first Epistle, appears likely from the statement, Th2 3:17, as to his autograph salutation being the mark whereby his genuine letters might be known). Hence some neglected their daily business and threw themselves on the charity of others, as if their sole duty was to wait for the coming of the Lord. This error, therefore, needed rectifying, and forms a leading topic of the second Epistle. He in it tells them (2Th. 2:1-17), that before the Lord shall come, there must first be a great apostasy, and the Man of Sin must be revealed; and that the Lord's sudden coming is no ground for neglecting daily business; that to do so would only bring scandal on the Church, and was contrary to his own practice among them (Th2 3:7-9), and that the faithful must withdraw themselves from such disorderly professors (Th2 3:6, Th2 3:10-15). Thus, there are three divisions of the Epistle: (1) Th2 1:1-12. Commendations of the Thessalonians' faith, love, and patience, amidst persecutions. (2) 2Th. 2:1-17. The error as to the immediate coming of Christ corrected, and the previous rise and downfall of the Man of Sin foretold. (3) 2Th. 3:1-16. Exhortations to orderly conduct in their whole walk, with prayers for them to the God of peace, followed by his autograph salutation and benediction.

DATE OF WRITING.—AS the Epistle is written in the joint names of Timothy and Silas, as well as his own, and as these were with him while at Corinth, and not with him for a long time subsequently to his having left that city (compare Act 18:18, with Act 19:22; indeed, as to Silas, it is doubtful whether he was ever subsequently with Paul), it follows, the place of writing must have been Corinth, and the date, during the one "year and six months" of his stay there, Act 18:11 (namely, beginning with the autumn of A.D. 52, and ending with the spring of A.D. 54), say about six months after his first Epistle, early in A.D. 53.

STYLE.—The style is not different from that of most of Paul's other writings, except in the prophetic portion of it (Th2 2:1-12), which is distinguished from them in subject matter. As is usual in his more solemn passages (for instance, in the denunciatory and prophetic portions of his Epistles, for example, compare Col 2:8, Col 2:16, with Th2 2:3; Co1 15:24-28, with Th2 2:8-9; Rom 1:18, with Th2 2:8, Th2 2:10), his diction here is more lofty, abrupt, and elliptical. As the former Epistle dwells mostly on the second Advent in its aspect of glory to the sleeping and the living saints (1Th. 4:1-5:28), so this Epistle dwells mostly on it in its aspect of everlasting destruction to the wicked and him who shall be the final consummation of wickedness, the Man of Sin. So far was Paul from laboring under an erroneous impression as to Christ's speedy coming, when he wrote his first Epistle (which rationalists impute to him), that he had distinctly told them, when he was with them, the same truths as to the apostasy being about first to arise, which he now insists upon in this second Epistle (Th2 2:5). Several points of coincidence occur between the two Epistles, confirming the genuineness of the latter. Thus, compare Th2 3:2, with Th1 2:15-16; again, Th2 2:9, the Man of Sin "coming after the working of Satan," with Th1 2:18; Th1 3:5, where Satan's incipient work as the hinderer of the Gospel, and the tempter, appears; again, mild warning is enjoined, Th1 5:14; but, in this second Epistle, when the evil had grown worse, stricter discipline (Th2 3:6, Th2 3:14): "withdraw from" the "company" of such.

Paul probably visited Thessalonica on his way to Asia subsequently (Act 20:4), and took with him thence Aristarchus and Secundus: the former became his "companion in travel" and shared with him his perils at Ephesus, also those of his shipwreck, and was his "fellow prisoner" at Rome (Act 27:2; Col 4:10; Plm 1:24). According to tradition he became bishop of Apamea.

Next: 2 Thessalonians Chapter 1