The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the
Author and Date
First and 2 Thessalonians are very similar in language, suggesting that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians within a few weeks of 1 Thessalonians. The return of the Lord is of central importance in both letters. First Thessalonians reveals that some Thessalonians were perplexed over the death of loved ones and whether they might miss the Lord’s return. In 2 Thessalonians, a different problem surfaces—one still related to the coming of the Lord. (On the origins of the church at Thessalonica and Paul’s earlier relations with them, see the Introduction to 1 Thessalonians.)
Both in 1 Thessalonians (1:6; 2:14; 3:3–5) and in 2 Thessalonians (1:4–7), it is clear that believers there suffered certain persecutions and hardships—just as Paul and Silas themselves did, leading to their departure by night from the city (Acts 17:5–10; 1 Thess. 2:2). Paul’s concern for the spiritual stability of the Thessalonian church had led him to send Timothy and to express, in writing 1 Thessalonians, joyful relief upon learning of their spiritual health (1 Thess. 2:17—3:10). The steadfastness of the Thessalonians, their persistence and patience amid adversity, drew the frequent praise and gratitude of the apostle (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:4). Still, there were clear concerns over imbalanced attitudes related to Christ’s coming.
“We hear,” said the apostle (3:11), “that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all.…” Work stoppage, it seems, was prompted by an erroneous teaching that someone, unnamed, had brought to Thessalonica—a doctrine that announced that “the day of Christ had come” (2:2). Such a teaching may have had a falsely claimed charismatic origin (“by spirit,” 2:2). Or it may have surfaced in a letter falsely attributed to Paul.
Whatever the source of the erroneous teaching, Paul quickly wrote 2 Thessalonians to round out the proper way to understand the return of the Lord. That day, he clarifies, will not occur until certain events take place. First, there will be a falling away and more importantly, the Man of Sin will be revealed—the “son of perdition” (2:3). This figure, in the letters of John called the Antichrist (1 John 2:18; 4:3; 2 John 7), will blasphemously call himself God (2:4). He will deceive many, for he will possess charismatic powers, including the ability to perform miracles (2:9). The spirit of such a figure, the “mystery of lawlessness” (2:7) was already at work in Paul’s day. But a restraining power—not clearly identified by the apostle (see note on 2:6, 7)—controls the Man of Sin in such a way as to keep him from interfering with God’s consummation of the course of human events through the return of Christ at the Second Coming.
Twice in 2 Thessalonians (2:15; 3:6), the apostle appeals to the “tradition”—fixed beliefs within the churches—as a check upon charismatic but novel teaching. Frequently in the Thessalonian letters he reminds his readers to continue in the things he earlier taught (1 Thess. 2:11, 12; 3:4; 4:2; 2 Thess. 2:5, 15; 3:4, 6, 10, 14). Already in these letters, probably the earliest of New Testament books to be written, a body of fixed Christian beliefs is developing.
Second Thessalonians, if written only a few weeks after 1 Thessalonians, would therefore also have been written about A.D. 50.
Personal Application
Scripture presents both signs and suddenness as descriptions of the Lord’s return. That may seem contradictory. But alert Christians observe the signs and know that the “mystery of lawlessness” is perennial. They avoid date-setting, leaving the times and the seasons in the hands of the Lord of history (1 Thess. 5:1). Yet they live expectantly, knowing that whether they live or die they are the Lord’s (Rom. 14:8; 1 Thess. 5:10).
Before novel teachings that originated with charismatic prophecy are adopted, they should be tested (1 Thess. 5:19, 20). One such test is surely consistency with the generally accepted beliefs—“traditions”—of the historic church and especially alignment with apostolic beliefs. It is sobering to learn that even the Man of Sin, the Antichrist, will possess miraculous powers. Miracles, surprisingly, are never a sufficient ground for faith (Matt. 7:21–23; John 2:23–25): they can be imitated. But the enduring love of God, which is poured out in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), continues into eternity even after charismatic gifts have passed (1 Cor. 13:8–13). Love, then, is the way believers experience eternity within time.
Father God Revealed
As elsewhere in the New Testament, God is seen as the Father (1:1; 2:16), the source of grace (1:12) and love (3:5), and the object of thanks (1:3; 2:13). He has chosen (2:13) those in His kingdom (1:5) and makes them worthy of His saving call (1:11), but as well He repays evildoers (1:6) and allows delusion to those who despise the truth (2:11) and who do not know Him (1:8). The churches are His (1:4), they rest in Him (1:1).
Christ Revealed
The coequality of Christ with God receives particular attention in this book. Father and Son together are the source of grace and peace (1:2, 12; 3:16, 18), comfort and stability (2:16, 17), love and patience (3:5). Though the church is located geographically in Thessalonica, its spiritual position lies “in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1; 3:12). As in 1 Thess., the Lord Jesus will come again (1:7, 10; 2:1); and He will, “with the breath of His mouth” (2:8), discomfit the Man of Sin at the moment of His return (2:8) and take vengeance on those who have no knowledge of God (1:8).
The Holy Spirit at Work
In the single direct reference to the Holy Spirit in 2 Thessalonians, Paul gives thanks to God for the Thessalonians, whose selection for salvation by God “from the beginning” the apostle describes comprehensively as “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2:13). The Spirit’s sanctifying work can be seen as one way to view the intent of God for His people in saving them. Prophetic utterance from the Spirit, or alleged to be so (2:2), must always be tested (1 Thess. 5:20, 21; 1 Cor. 14:29).
Outline of 2 Thessalonians
I. Typical letter opening 1:1–4
A. Authors 1:1
B. Addressees 1:1
C. Greetings 1:2
A. Consequences of the coming 1:5–12
1. To the righteous: established worthiness 1:5, 10–12
2. To the unjust: declared banishment 1:6–9
B. Indicators of the coming 2:1–12
1. The falling away 2:1–3
2. The Man of Sin 2:3–5
3. The restrainer 2:6
4. The lying wonders 2:7–12
A. To steadfastness 2:13–17
B. To prayer 3:1–5
C. Against idleness 3:6–13
E. To peace 3:16
IV. Concluding comments 3:17, 18
A. An accrediting signature 3:17
B. A wish for grace 3:18
Greeting
1 PAUL, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 aGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s Final Judgment and Glory
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other,
4 so that awe ourselves boast of you among the churches of God bfor your *patience and faith cin all your persecutions and 1tribulations that you endure,
5 which is amanifest1 evidence of the righteous *judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, bfor which you also *suffer;
6 asince it is a righteous thing with God to repay with 1tribulation those who trouble you,
7 and to give you who are troubled arest with us when bthe Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His *mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not *obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 aThese shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and bfrom the glory of His power,
10 when He comes, in that Day, ato be bglorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who 1believe, because our *testimony among you was believed.
11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would acount you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His *goodness and bthe work of faith with power,
12 athat the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Great Apostasy
1 Now, brethren, aconcerning the *coming of our Lord Jesus Christ band our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 anot to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of 1Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come aunless the falling away comes first, and bthe man of 1sin is revealed, cthe son of perdition,
4 who opposes and aexalts himself babove all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits 1as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
7 For athe 1mystery* of lawlessness is already at *work; only 2He who now restrains will do so until 2He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, awhom the Lord will consume bwith the breath of His mouth and destroy cwith the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is aaccording to the *working of Satan, with all power, bsigns, and lying *wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among athose who perish, because they did not receive bthe love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And afor this reason God will send them strong *delusion, bthat they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but ahad pleasure in unrighteousness.
Stand Fast
13 But we are 1bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God afrom the beginning bchose you for *salvation cthrough 2sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
14 to which He called you by our gospel, for athe obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brethren, astand fast and hold bthe traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our 1epistle.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, awho has loved us and given us *everlasting *consolation and bgood hope by grace,
17 comfort your hearts aand 1establish you in every good word and work.
Pray for Us
1 Finally, brethren, apray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you,
2 and athat we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; bfor not all have faith.
3 But athe Lord is faithful, who will establish you and bguard you from the evil one.
4 And awe have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.
5 Now may athe Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.
Warning Against Idleness
6 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, athat you withdraw bfrom every brother who walks cdisorderly and not according to the tradition which 1he received from us.
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you;
8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread 1free of charge, but worked with alabor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you,
9 not because we do not have aauthority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are abusybodies.
12 Now those who are such we command and 1exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ athat they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
13 But as for you, brethren, ado not grow weary in doing good.
14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this 1epistle, note that person and ado not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 aYet do not count him as an enemy, bbut 1admonish him as a brother.
Benediction
16 Now may athe Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.
17 aThe salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a *sign in every 1epistle; so I write.
18 aThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy also wrote 1 Thess. No other letter of Paul links these three, though Timothy’s name appears as coauthor elsewhere (see note on 1 Thess. 1:1).
1:3 See section 2 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
1:4–8 See section 1 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
1:4 The patience and faith of the Thessalonians amid persecutions and tribulations are frequently and gratefully described as commendable and exemplary by the apostle in his letters to them (1 Thess. 1:3, 6–8; 2:14; 3:2–4; 2 Thess. 1:6, 7).
1:5–10 The fact that the Thessalonians are increasing in faith and love while bravely enduring persecution is clear evidence (v. 5) that God is at work in them preparing them for His kingdom. One day the present situation will be reversed, for the persecutors will themselves suffer tribulation (v. 6), and the persecuted will find rest (v. 7) when Christ returns.
1:7 When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, in part of the events surrounding the return of the Lord in the Day of the Lord, the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence [literally, “the Face”] of the Lord. The evil ones forever will be banished from the Lord’s presence, while the saved “shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). The difference is eternal. See Rev. 19:11—22:21.
1:11, 12 See section 1 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
2:2 Upsetting and erroneous teaching can arise by spirit, through charismatic prophecy, as well as by word through reasoned instruction, and even by letter, as if from us (see 3:17). Like a later heresy (2 Tim. 2:18, “the resurrection is already past”), the error at Thessalonica put in the past what belongs to the future as though the day of Christ had come. The primary thrust of 2 Thess. is to correct this error by the clarification that certain indicators—especially a great apostasy and the emergence of the Man of Sin—will precede the Day of the Lord.
2:3 The falling away refers to massive rebellion against God and His authority by unbelieving humankind during the Great Tribulation. The man of sin (“man of lawlessness” in some manuscripts) is called the Antichrist in the letters of John. On the son of perdition, see the note on 1 Thess. 5:5.
2:4 Jewish history had already shown in Antiochus Epiphanes (about 167 B.C.) a fiercely ungodly monarch who desecrated the temple at Jerusalem (Dan. 11:31–36; the Book of 1 Maccabees, an intertestamental historical account, tells this story). Roman emperors, such as Gaius Caligula (A.D. 37–41) and Domitian (A.D. 81–96), sought to be regarded as divine. This corrupting potential of political power will mark the final Man of Sin as well.
2:5 From Paul’s words when I was still with you I told you these things, it is clear that future events formed part of his pastoral instruction during the brief time he was with the Thessalonians.
2:6, 7 In grammatical terms, what is restraining the Man of Sin is neuter, referring to an impersonal force, while He who now restrains is masculine, suggesting a personal figure. Paul apparently expected his readers to understand what or whom he meant (since he had given them instruction when with them), but today’s readers should hesitate to clarify by dogmatic opinion what stands unclear in the biblical text itself (it is always helpful to reread 2 Pet. 3:15, 16 and be reminded that even one apostle found difficult passages in the writings of another). The restrainer is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. Among interpretations proposed for the restraining power that keeps the Antichrist in check have been 1) Paul’s incomplete ministry: the son of perdition would emerge once Paul’s mission is complete; 2) the Holy Spirit, who keeps things under control until the ripe eschatological moment; 3) God Himself, since it is evil that is held back; 4) the Jewish state at the time; 5) the institution of human government. The last alternative has in its favor Paul’s own experience of benefits gained from Roman citizenship (Acts 16:37; 22:26–29). In addition the neuter expression “what is restraining” could refer to the Roman system of government itself and the masculine “he who is now restraining” to the then-reigning Roman emperor, Claudius, whose tenure (A.D. 41–54) was one of the saner eras in Roman imperial history.
2:7, 8, 11, 12 The mystery of lawlessness, which was in Paul’s day already at work, need not be taken as some deep secret. Good and evil alike occur in the world. As the final Day of the Lord approaches, when evil rouses and the limiting forces are withdrawn, the lawless one will be revealed, but—as made clear a generation later in the Book of Revelation—the result will be the final destruction of the Antichrist and all the forces of evil, with God and Christ in final triumph. Meanwhile, there are many who believe the lie, because they did not believe the truth. People will believe something.
2:9, 10 See section 4 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
2:9 The identical word used six times of the return of the Lord in the two Thessalonian letters refers here to the coming of the lawless one. Just as God energizes the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:6), Satan will empower this figure to produce compelling, but deceptive, signs and lying wonders. Not every “miracle” comes from God, nor are such wonders any less miraculous because of their origin. See Ex. 7:11.
2:13 See section 3 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
2:13 Sanctification is but another way to translate the usual word for “holiness”—a term rather characteristic of 1 Thess. and occurring in that book three times (4:3, 4, 7; compare 1 Thess. 5:23), more often than in the Book of Romans. Because the work of the Spirit can be described comprehensively as the cultivation of holiness, the Spirit most frequently is designated the Holy Spirit. But a splendid balance is urged between the believer’s personal holiness and belief in the truth, between subjective piety and objective truth.
2:15 See section 4 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
2:15 The traditions which you were taught describe emerging fixed beliefs and practices that eventually form a skeletal apostolic orthodoxy. Paul refers to the same idea when, six years later, he conveys tradition to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 11:2, 17; 15:3) and cites the practice of the churches as a source for his pastoral counsel (1 Cor. 4:17; 7:17; 11:16; 14:33). Such a churchly tradition, this early in the Pauline mission, was violated by the disorderly brothers mentioned in 3:6, and Paul’s words in 3:4 illustrate the birth of tradition.
2:16, 17 Here is the first of three benedictions in 2 Thess. The others are at 3:5 and 3:16. Compare 1 Thess. 3:11–13; 5:23.
2:16 See section 2 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
3:1, 2 See section 4 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
3:5 See section 2 of Truth-In-Action at the end of 2 Thess.
3:6 In vv. 6–15 Paul warns against every brother who walks disorderly, urging the severe step of discontinued fellowship with those who persist in such behavior (vv. 6, 14, 15). The term “disorderly” (vv. 6, 7, 11) originally described one conspicuously out of step in a marching military column. The refusal to work may have arisen from the conviction of some of the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord was just about to occur; therefore, menial labor was thought to be inappropriate and unnecessary.
3:10–12 Paul’s counsel and his example, both at Thessalonica (3:7, 8) and at Corinth (1 Cor. 9:3–6, 12, 15), were that if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Refused employment leads to becoming busybodies, who simply should go back to work.
3:14, 15 The disciplinary separation implied in the words do not keep company with him are consistent with other instructions about discipline in the NT (Matt. 18:15–17; 1 Cor. 5:11; James 5:19, 20; 1 John 5:16, 17). The disciplinary action involved limited interaction with the church and its members for an unspecified amount of time. Admonish includes what today we would term “mandated counseling and accountability to the church’s leaders as a prerequisite to restored fellowship.”
3:17 The salutation by Paul in his own hand appears also at the end of 1 Cor. (16:21), Gal. (6:11), Col. (4:18), and Philem. (19).
3:18 On grace, see the note on 1 Thess. 5:28.
CHAPTER 1
1 afflictions
* See WW at Heb. 10:36.
1 plain
* See WW at Matt. 5:22.
1 affliction
1 NU, M have believed
* See WW at Rom. 15:14.
CHAPTER 2
* See WW at 1 Cor. 15:23.
1 NU the Lord
1 NU lawlessness
1 NU omits as God
1 hidden truth
2 Or he
* See WW at 1 Thess. 2:13.
* See WW at Acts 15:12.
c [1 Pet. 1:2]
1 under obligation
2 being set apart by
1 letter
1 strengthen
CHAPTER 3
1 NU, M they
1 Lit. for nothing
1 encourage
a Eph. 4:28; 1 Thess. 4:11, 12
1 letter
1 warn
1 letter
* See WW at Rev. 16:14.