The word 'exceedingly' reminds us of Jesus' parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31ff). There faith was growing like a mustard seed - increasing beyond what could normally be expected. It was an internal, organic growth like that of a tree or a plant constantly budding and branching forth in fresh beauty and vigor. Their love was diffusing and expanding as a flood irrigating the land. Paul's prayer of I Thessalonians 3:12 had been answered. Furthermore, Paul writes "we ourselves glory in you;" they spoke proudly of the Thessalonians; Paul did not hesitate to praise one church to another in order to provoke them to further good works. The glorying of which Paul writes is the Thessalonian's patience (endurance under trial) and faith. Without faith the Thessalonians could not have remained steadfast under their afflictions. Gloag says, "The patience and faith of the Thessalonians shone the more brilliantly amidst persecution and afflictions, even as the stars shine brighter in the dark of night. To be a true Christian in the time of peace is a great matter; but to be a true Christian in the season of persecution is a greater; faith is then tested in the furnace" (Pulpit Commentary, Vol. XXI, p. 2).
Paul teaches an important practical lesson here as to our attitude toward other Christians who are doing well in some aspects of their discipleship. In order to avoid flattery yet encourage and to affirm people without spoiling them, Paul gives us a good example. We can do the same by expressing our feelings something like this - 'I thank God for you, brother or sister, I thank Him for the gifts He has given you, for His grace in your life, for what I see in you of the love and gentleness of Christ.' This affirms without flattering, and encourages without puffing up.
6 God's righteousness is retributive - God repays those who afflict believers, and it is remunerative - He grants those who are being afflicted rest and gracious relief from the hardships and toils of the Christian life. Apparently Paul believes that such retribution and remuneration will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ (Hiebert). The judgment will be righteous because God is righteous. His judgment will never be arbitrary or capricious but in strict harmony with that which is just. God will judge both evil and good. Upon the evil doer He will recompense affliction upon those who afflict. The trouble-makers will be repaid with trouble, and God will give relief to the Thessalonians. To the good He will give rest and welcome relief. God will reverse the fortunes of the persecuted and the persecutors when Christ comes. Without a doubt, Paul was familiar with Psalm 7:9-11, "Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God testeth the mind and hearts. My defense is with God, who saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." God's just policy is that persecutors shall be persecuted. In this age, which is 'man's day,' the world scoffs, scorns, hates and pressures with impunity. But pay day is coming (Yeager, Vol. XV, p. 258).
7 God knows there are some of His people who are opposed, ridiculed, boycotted, harassed, imprisoned, tortured and killed. The Christian may think that God has turned His face from them, but His eyes are all-seeing, and He does not turn a deaf ear to the cries of His people. Is God doing anything? Yes, He is preparing and qualifying His people for His heavenly kingdom. One day there will be a supernatural invasion (disclosure) from outer space - the coming of the righteous Judge. His revelation will be 'from heaven,' accompanied by supernatural messengers (angels) of God and 'in a fire of flame." Examples of Old Testament manifestations are found in Exodus 3:2; 19:18; 24:17; Psalm 18:12; Isaiah 30:27-30; and Daniel 7:9,10. For God's people there will be a 'rest' - a freedom from restraints and tension; a letting up or releasing and easing. An illustration here might be the loosening or relaxing of a taut bowstring - pressure and tension will be relaxed. "Paul speaks of rest 'with us,' a little touch which reminds his readers that he is not delivering an academic disquisition on the nature of suffering and recompense. He is speaking out of his own difficult situation" (Morris, p. 201). He also writes that there is a sense in which retribution takes place in the here and now. There is a fuller sense in which it is reserved for the last great day.
8 Who are the subjects of this judgment? They will be God's enemies, especially the atheists (heathen) and the disobedient (Jew as well as Gentile). God will mete out judgment according to the guilt deserved. Each offender will receive his full justice but no more. God is a God of love, but He will avenge His children. He is a God of vengeance! We have to look no further than Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalm 94:1 and Romans 12:19 to know that God is a God of vengeance. We must, however, remember that God is not vindictive in His vengeance. It is the inflicting of full justice on the criminal, nothing more, nothing less.
9 What are the consequences of this judgment? For the lost - 'punishment' determined by a lawful process. The idea of punishment is for the offendent to pay a penalty. The destruction of the unsaved is like that referred to in I Thessalonians 5:3 - sudden, eternal (age-long). It shall be banishment from God's face and the glory of His might. One cannot be mistaken about the fate of the lost when Paul uses in his various epistles such terms as wrath, indignation, affliction, punishment, death and destruction. To be separated from God and His glory would be punishment (final disaster) enough.
10 What awaits the saints of God? In this verse the Lord is central in the picture. He (the Lord Jesus Christ) will come 'to be glorified in his saints.' Christ will get the glory when it is openly displayed what He has done for His saints when they are assembled with Him in glorified bodies and perfect spirits. It will be a marvelous display of wonder and admiration. Even the angels, who have never understood the salvation of the saints (I Peter 1:12), will be admiring spectators. Yeager writes of this verse, " Paul had told the Thessalonians in his first epistle (I Thessalonians 5:1-11) that they were not to be concerned with date setting. Now he points them forward, not to a specific day, but to a day that certainly will come when our Lord will return. That day will see Christ's judgment on the unsaved world and the rapture of His church...The saints are going to 'cover Him with glory' and marvel at the sight. Every one who has ever believed upon Him, including the Thessalonians who believed Paul's message when he first preached to them, will be there glorifying Him and marvelling at His power and majesty" (Vol, XV, p. 263).
Ultimately the purpose of the missionaries' prayer is that God may be honored and glorified. Christ's name (the whole character of a person) is equal to Christ Himself as He has revealed Himself; as God's Anointed One, the Savior and Lord of His Own people.
Paul had written earlier, I Thessalonians 2:19; 5:1-11, concerning the Lord's coming. Apparently they misunderstood his epistle. Was His coming immediate? The Thessalonian believers were behaving like 'rudder-less ships' - victims of wind and waves blown about. Some were stopping their work; they were shaken about. These individuals must have thought the Lord's coming was within a few days, weeks, or months at the most. So why work; they could live on what they had already laid up.
The Thessalonians were shaken and troubled by some report that they had heard concerning the coming of the Lord. Possibly someone had written a letter to them and had penned Paul's name to it, or someone had stirred them up with some false notion. Paul seems to marvel that the church members are 'agitated' like the waves by a storm or 'caused to totter' like a reed in the wind. They are extremely terrified, frightened and alarmed. Paul admonishes them not to believe everything they hear whether it is a misrepresentation of prophecy (someone who thought he had a gift of prophecy) , or by a letter forged with Paul's name on it or otherwise. The day of the Lord is not 'at hand' or 'at the door.' The word 'present' is translated in various ways in the New Testament - 'at hand,' 'come,' 'present,' 'be present.' In the papyri the word is translated 'current year.' Jesus admonished His disciples to be slow to hear those who say, "Lo here,' or 'Lo there' hoping to lead others astray about the presence of the Lord (Matthew 24:23; Mark 13:21).
The "Day of the Lord" in the Old Testament is not a single event but is rather a period associated with the divine judgment upon sin and the deliverance of God's people - a day of darkness and unparalleled judgment, a day of trial (Isaiah 13; Joel 2; Amos 5:18). Walvoord defines the scope of the day as follows: 'it includes the tribulation time preceding the second advent of Christ as well as the whole millennial reign of Christ. It will culminate in the judgment of the great white throne. The Day of the Lord is therefore an extended period of time lasting over one thousand years! (Hiebert, p. 304).
The leader of this anti-christian, anti-god movement is called 'the man of sin' or 'the son of perdition.' Could this 'man of sin' be identified with John's 'beast out of the sea' (Revelation 13 and 17)? That there is a close connection between the two must be admitted. Hendriksen discusses this premise at length (pp. 171-178). We do know that he will be a person, and he will be a sinner. This devil-motivated man must first appear upon the earth before the Day of the Lord can come. Yeager states that, "there has always been atheism, deism, infidelity, materialistic rejection of all idealism, hyper-idealistic rejection of matter, agnosticism, gnostism, secular humanism, extreme environmental determinism in the form of organic evolution and a growing disregard for the canons of common decency in the interest of unbridled pornography" (Vol. XV, p. 271). This apostasy will be in the form of the rebellion - a revolt that will culminate in specific rebellion - one greater and more intense that ever before. Various teachers of prophecy have been wrong so many times about Antichrist; they have chosen Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, the Reverend Moon, Arafat, Muammar el-Qaddafi and many others. Personally, I think if we took the characteristics of all these and combined them into one person we would have some idea how wicked and ungodly this person would be. The Antichrist will be the epitome of all wicked men who have ever lived.
4 Stott gives four names or titles to the leader of the rebellion: (1) he is 'the Antinomian' - the man of lawlessness, (2) he is 'the Doomed' - the man doomed for destruction; the son of destruction, and (3) he is 'the Enemy' - opposed to everything that is called God, and (4) he is 'the Climber' - exalting himself over God (p. 159). So he is the opposer of Christ; he is antichrist; an instrument of Satan; he is hostile against God and all that pertains to God; he sits in the temple at Jerusalem; he demands religious veneration 'showing,' exhibiting and asserting his divinity. The characterization of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Old Testament type of the Antichrist (Daniel 11:36,37), is closely parallel to Paul's 'man of sin.' Stevens states - 'so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God' apparently describes something that has already taken place, a fact of the writer's own time" (American Commentary, p. 86).
5 These words seem to contain a reproach or a mild rebuke. Paul 'jogs' their memory, as if to say, 'it is as I told you before.' It was while Paul was still in Thessalonica, during his only visit there, that he spent some time telling the new Christians what he is not telling them again. The error, which Paul is here correcting, was that we can be so certain that Lord will return in our own lifetime that we are justified in quitting all secular work and making preparation for His return.
6 The old KJV used the word 'withholdeth' for 'restraineth.' The word means 'to hinder;' a restraint' upon the appearance of the man of sin. 'Restraineth' can mean 'to hold back,' or 'to hold fast,' 'to retain' or 'to hold away,' 'to rule.' "The first seems more true to the context. "To the end that he may be revealed in his own season;" there is in this a blending of purpose and result. The restraint prevents the premature manifestation of sin as the very embodiment of iniquity. The development of evil is under God's control. (Hiebert, p. 311). Events were not yet ripe for his appearance; the coming of Antichrist is scheduled on God's prophetic clock, for He does everything "after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11). Just as His will was done in the first coming of His Son, Galatians 4:4,5 says, "when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Moffat says that this 'man of sin' is Satan's messiah, an infernal caricature of the true Messiah.
7 "Satan, while perfectly aware of the fact that he cannot himself become incarnate, nevertheless would like to imitate the second Person of the Trinity, also in this respect as far as possible. He yearns for a man over whom he will have complete control, and who will perform his will as thoroughly as Jesus performed the will of the Father...For the time being, the worst Satan can do is to promote the spirit of lawlessness" (Hendriksen, p. 182,183). This 'mystery' referred to here is something previously unknown to man or secret before it is revealed by God; it is something undiscoverable by mere human research but must be divinely revealed. The seeds of apostasy were already sown in Paul's day (I John 2:18;4:3). It has been working and only until he who restraineth is removed, then the mystery of lawlessness will no longer work secretly, but will be openly manifested.
Just who is this restrainer? Or a better question would be - who can restrain or can effectively counteract the personal activities of Satan? Only a superhuman Restrainer can do the work. The Restrainer is God - His Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit will be taken "out of the midst" of the world when the returning Christ calls His church to Himself. He indwells His saints/His church now. When the saints or the church is no longer on the earth, the devil and his antichrist will have full sway. Yeager states, "God is directing the course of history on this planet. He intervened with a flood because He chose to do so, but He also promised that He would not intervene again until the 'days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound' (Revelation 10:7) because that is the time when the Holy Spirit's ministry by which He effectually calls out the Body of Christ will be finished...The Holy Spirit is 'taken from the midst' only in terms of His restraining influence, without being removed from the earth....God will restrain Satan in the full expression of his diabolical activity until the tribulation, when He will allow the mystery of iniquity to have its fullest expression (Vol. XV, pp.279,280).
8, 9 This wicked one will appear unveiled in all his naked deformity; the Revised Version says he will be slain. The breath from the Lord Jesus Christ, like the blast of a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19ff), will destroy the antichrist. The true Christ will swiftly terminate the career of the deceiving antichrist. Christ will slay (take away, destroy, kill) the antichrist and put an end to that usurper. The opposition between the man of sin and the Christ will not be a long drawn-out fight (no struggle; no laborious contest going round after round - one round to the man of sin and one round to Christ) the issue will be settled in a moment of time. Our Lord will simply 'blow upon' him, and he will swiftly be destroyed.
10 Satan is the agent who works in the man of sin; he is the organ or instrument of Satan. This 'man of sin' will try to duplicate what Jesus did during His earthly ministry. While Jesus operated in accordance with truth, the 'man of sin' will operate in all deceit. Not only will the unsaved not embrace the gospel, but they were led astray by numerous errors and delusions. "This pastmaster (man of sin) will have at his command all the energy and skill of Satan to mislead and deceive" (Robertson, p. 53). Hiebert say, "The cause for their perishing lies not in God but in themselves, 'because they received not the love of the truth,' that they might be saved - they were not unfortunate victims of 'predestination unto damnation'" (John 3:19) (p. 317).
11, 12 The lie mentioned here is the falsehood which the man of sin disseminates by his deceit of unrighteousness. The lie is specific; it is the opposite of truth. It is the lie par excellence, the last and crowning deception practiced by Satan in passing off the lawless One as God (Hiebert, pp. 318,319). Whenever anyone deliberately refuses to accept the truth, they are necessarily led to believe a lie - their minds are open to all manner of falsehood and delusion. God as a moral Being cannot remain passive toward active evil. He is a moral God who is operative in the working of moral law. Furthermore, God is sovereign and no forces of evil, not even Satan himself, nor his man of sin can resist His might. Sin must be punished in a moral universe.
"When Pharaoh hardens his heart (Exodus 7:14; 8:15, 32; 9:7), God hardens Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 9:12). When the king of Israel hates God's true prophets, the Lord permits him to be deceived by placing a lying spirit in the mouth of other prophets (II Chronicles 18:22). When men practice impurity, God gives them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity (Romans 1:24,26). And when they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge God, he finally gives them up to a base mind and to unclean behavior (Romans 1:28)" (Hendriksen, p. 186). God, as the moral Ruler of the universe, will pronounce sentence of condemnation against the followers of the man of sin, this sentence being the necessary result of their receiving not the love of the truth. Its reception would have been the cause of their salvation; its rejection results in their condemnation" (Pulpit Commentary, Vol. XXI, p. 26). Their lack of faith arose, not from any defect in their understanding, but from the perversion of their moral nature.
14 Whom God elects, He calls in time by the gospel and the final result is to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The means whereby God calls is through His Holy Spirit and His gospel. Again, we look at J.E.Cobb's definition of God's purpose in grace. "We believe that election is the eternal purpose of God, according to which He graciously regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners; that being perfectly consistent with the free agency of man, it comprehends all the means in connection with the end; that it is a most glorious display of God's sovereign goodness being infinitely free, wise, holy, and unchangeable; that it utterly excludes boasting, and promotes humility, love, prayer, praise, trust in God, and active imitation of His free mercy; and it encourages the use of means in the highest degree; that it may be ascertained by its effects in all who truly believe the gospel; that it is the foundation of Christian assurance; and that to ascertain it in regard to oneself demands and deserves the utmost diligence" (Church Manual, p. 92).
15 "Therefore" or "so then" is a summing up or a drawing of a conclusion. The logical practical deduction is drawn. Paul implies how does the foregoing verses apply to the realities of daily responsibility? Stand firm, be steadfast, hold a firm grip on 'the things handed down' from teacher to pupil. Paul doesn't mean the traditions of man (Colossians 2:8). He means the Scriptures handed down by faithful men from generation to generation - the true God-given gospel message. "Traditions" here mean the apostle's instructions in Christianity, whether by word of mouth or by letter. The word is used thirteen times in the New Testament and in I Corinthians 11:2 the same word is translated 'ordinance.' The context determines whether the 'tradition' or 'ordinance' is good or bad; sometimes it is the traditions of the Jewish fathers which should not be followed. Paul means the message which he had given them in person, when He was in Thessalonica and in the first epistle, and not the rumored word which was being passed around among them (Yeager).
16, 17 Two of God's tremendous gifts are 'eternal comfort' and 'good hope.' Both graces operate in the present and in the future. The word 'comfort' is translated 'consolations' in several places in the New Testament. It is a result of the 'calling along side' of the Holy Spirit, Who gives the peace and comfort each child of God needs. This peace and comfort will be with all the saved 'eternally.' Paul and his comrades request that their readers be comforted in their hearts and established in them. The 'heart' is that inner core of their very being. Their 'hope' was in Christ, and what greater assurance can one have than 'in Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity?' What an encouragement this passage must have been to the recently converted Thessalonians? They were enduring persecution and had been confused and annoyed by the false charismatic prophecy fanatics. Paul makes it clear that their chief concern is not to sit idly by and watch the skies for an unannounced event, but rather to live for the Lord, study His good message and perform all the 'good deeds' which God has before ordained that they should walk in them' (Ephesians 2:10).
"To be glorified" means to have its power and glory manifested in the salvation of men. The word is glorified when it is received as truth, and its power transforms lives. Verse two speaks of 'unreasonable and wicked men' probably meaning the Jews (I Thessalonians 2:15,16). In this case the 'unreasonable men' may have been out of place, odd, unbecoming, bigoted, perverse and outrageous Jews like the ones who plagued Paul at Corinth as well as in Thessalonica (Robertson). Paul was 'dogged' by the evil men during his ministry as a missionary. He wanted the Thessalonians to know that they were engaged in a spiritual warfare and thus they needed spiritual weapons. Paul had to preach, and they had to pray. Yet behind his preaching and their prayers stood the faithful Lord Himself, Who watches over His word, and Who confirms it by His Spirit in the hearer's hearts, so that it works effectively.
3 One thing of which the Christian can be assured, when men may not be faithful, God is still faithful. In spite of the wicked and pernicious opposition of Satan and his forces, God's purpose and plan will ultimately triumph. Paul repeats "the Lord" over and over again thus reiterating the lordship of the Savior and their Leader to encourage them against the forces of evil. The Lord will 'establish' them; He will 'guard' them. The Lord can be counted on, however perverse men may be. Inwardly the church needed strengthening; outwardly Satan is on the outside and he needs to be guarded, preventing the Thessalonians from falling into his snares and traps - fanaticism, loafing, meddlesomeness, neglect of duty and defection.
4 Paul's assurance is founded upon the faith that the Thessalonians have manifested over and over again. When the Christian is united with God as are the Thessalonians, God will perfect in them what He has begun. Paul's use of the words 'command' and 'obey' some five times (4,6,10,12,14) here have 'a military ring' to them. Paul is somewhat amazed at the Thessalonians' love which is strong and never-ending above all human comprehension. His prayer is that the Lord will lead his converts to concentrate their thinking, their emotions and their will on love and steadfastness.
5 God will open up the way by the removal of obstacles that hinder them from reaching their desired goal. Their supreme Guide will assist them in attaining their goal.
There are personal offenses, public offenses and heretical offenses. Each one of these are to be dealt with in their own particular way. Personal offenses are those between two individuals and can be settled by using the method described in Matthew 18:15-19. Public offenses are those in which the peace and harmony of the church are disturbed, and they are to be dealt with as Paul instructed the Corinthians (I Corinthians 5:4ff). Heretical offenses are those that are contrary to the doctrines of the church and are subject to the rules given in Titus 3:10,11.
7 - 9 Paul, Silas and Timothy had set good examples in the work ethic. Without a doubt Paul worked night and day - making tents by day, preaching and teaching by night. The missionaries refused to be dependent upon the new converts. Paul had toiled hard among the Thessalonians, both at his trade and in preaching; his life was highly disciplined. Paul writes for the church members to 'follow' or 'imitate' him. He did not sit down and idly wait for the coming of the Lord.
Paul must have paid for all the food that he ate; he labored and travailed meaning he slaved away at tent making in order to avoid having to ask anyone to feed him. Of course Paul had apostolic authority to take money in return for his ministry (I Corinthians 9:6-15; II Corinthians 11:7-12). Paul was an apostle with all that meant in terms of prestige and the right of maintenance. 'For nought' or 'for nothing' means without paying for his food. The missionaries did not live at any other man's expense. There is only one exception to Paul's rule (Philippians 4:5). "To eat bread' is evidently a Hebraism (Semitism) meaning 'to get a living' (Genesis 3:19; Amos 7:12).
10 Paul does not write, whoever does not work shall not eat; but whoever will not work. He had taught them by word of mouth and by example. The point here is not inability but unwillingness to work. He insists that those who deliberately loaf around must not be supported out of a false sense of charity. If they can work but refuse to work, let them go hungry. Carlyle is quoted by Robertson, "He that will not work according to his faculty, let him perish according to his necessity" (p. 59). "Labor may in one point of view be part of the curse, but it is also a blessing adapted to man's fallen nature. Labor is the law of God; idleness is the parent of many crimes and is productive of misery" (Gloag, p. 64). Yeager writes, "Unemployment results from (1) unwillingness to work, (2) lack of physical strength, (3) lack of education and/or technical training required for the task, and (4) lack of opportunity to work. The first of these, unwillingness to work, cannot be excused on grounds of Christian ethics. He who can work but will not should starve to death" (Vol XV, p. 303).
11, 12 Some were working around a job, not at it. Moffet translates this phrase 'busybodies instead of busy.' It is easy to picture these persons. There are some who would lay down their tools, run from one 'brother' to another with fantastic stories about Christ's immediate return - 'the day had already arrived!' Paul uses the present tense here - 'we keep on hearing' about your loafing. "While their activities are not said to be related to the erroneous doctrine about the day of the Lord which was exciting the church (2:2), such a connection is generally assumed. As former Greeks who had never been excited about the dignity of manual labor, the habit of idleness seems to have been a part of the background of some of the Thessalonian church members. The view that the day of the Lord had already set in and that the Lord would return at just any time would naturally stimulate their native tendency to give themselves to excited discussion in preference to dull manual labor. Their meddlesome activities may well have consisted of their excited efforts to convince others of the correctness of the startling news that the prophesied day of the Lord had already begun" (Hiebert, p. 346).
Instead of gadding about and gossiping, they should be working calmly and making a living for their families; they were to earn some honest money and pay for their own food. The writers were more anxious to change the Thessalonians then to condemn them. The tone is always 'brotherly;' Paul wants reconciliation more than condemnation. He wants the offenders to be won back into the fellowship.
13 - 15 The good church members are not to follow the disorderly member and behave badly, nor were they to become weary of good works. Doing things that are honorable, excellent and beautiful should simply stand out against gossiping and gadding about. To be 'weary' is 'to lose courage,' 'to falter', and 'give up.' To note such an offender is 'to mark him,' 'to single him out for identification.' Although the disorderly were brothers, they were erring brothers, and Paul would say, 'don't get mixed up with them.' Anyone who is disobedient should be marked or noted and reprimanded. They should be friends with the disorderly but not close friends. The object of the discipline is 'that he may be ashamed.' Paul's approval of social control as a means of church discipline for the reform of a backslider is to be noted. Throughout this section of Scripture, Paul aims for the church to reclaim, if possible, the offenders in the spirit of love. Of course, enforcement of discipline is a difficult matter. Sometimes it is easy for church members to become censorious and unnecessarily harsh in the process. Paul would condemn such actions by the orderly church members.