"Second Thessalonians" followed very quickly upon the heels of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. If we ask why, the answer generally given is that the brethren at Thessalonica had become unduly excited over the prospect of Christ's return from heaven; that serious disorders had broken out in consequence; that some of them had actually quit their daily work on the ground that Christ might come any day--and that Paul therefore hastened to correct their wrong notion, and to calm their excitement. This explanation seems so plausible and satisfactory that it has been very generally accepted. In many commentaries, in expository writings and sermons this view is widely held and exploited. But there is not the slightest proof or foundation for all this remarkable theory. It is a pure assumption, and presents a striking example of the old vice of "jumping at conclusions." What really was the urgent motive and reason for the writing of this second epistle to the Thessalonians we shall see.

      After a salutation, almost exactly like that in the first epistle, Paul proceeds to comfort the Thessalonian brethren. This special endeavor to comfort and reassure the brethren (vs. 3-7) is significant. Plainly something had come up to trouble and distress these brethren. [37] What was it? Why does Paul so fervently commend them for their faith and love, and tell them how he even boasts of them and holds them up as an example to other churches in regard to their faith and patience amid all their persecutions and afflictions? (2 Thess. 1:3, 4.) Why does he so earnestly point out the significance of their present sufferings and afflictions--that they are a sure token of the great promise in store for them? (V. 5.) He speaks of the Day of the Lord, the Day of Wrath and Vengeance, when the Lord shall be revealed in flaming fire, "rendering vengeance to them that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus," and assures them that when that Day comes the tables will be turned: that those who now afflict shall then be recompensed by affliction; but you, who are now afflicted shall have rest. In that Day Christ's saints who now suffer shall be seen in glory, the object of wonder and amazement to all that behold them. (V. 10.)

      For Christ "shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believe"--and you too, you Thessalonians, shall be of that company, for "our testimony unto you was believed." (Comp. Col. 3:4.) And on the strength of this Paul utters the beautiful and consoling prayer of verses 11, 12.

      Now for all this there certainly was a reason. The Thessalonian church must have needed this comfort and assurance, and the information concerning the great Day of Vengeance. And therein lies the clue as to the purpose of this letter.

      In 2 Thess. 2 Paul enters upon the real heart of their difficulty:

      "Now we beseech you brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him: to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand." (2 Thess. 2:1, 2.)

      Here then the reason of their distress comes out: clearly, in some way--either by (spurious) prophetic utterance, or by wrong teaching, or on the authority of an epistle purporting to have come from Paul--they had been made to believe that the Day of the Lord (a term which always designates the Day of vengeance and of wrath and retribution) had already broken in upon them. (For was it not to come as a thief? 1 Thess. 5:2). And the afflictions through which they were going (they had been made to believe) were the foretaste and beginnings of that wrath. That' explains the whole matter and the reason for Paul's writing, and all that Paul writes to them in this epistle.

      The text of both the King James¹ and the American Revised [38] Version here says that the day of the Lord "is just at hand." But the Greek text shows that the error which Paul sought to remove from their minds was that that Day had already broken in upon them. The American Standard Revised Version (than which, on the whole, there is no better and more faithful translation)--here followed the King James Version too much. The English Revised Version more accurately gives this translation: "that the day of the Lord is now present." (For the Greek word enistemi means "to be present," always, and everywhere in the New Testament. See Rom. 8:38; 1 Cor. 3:22; 7:26; Gal. 1:4; 2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 9:9.) Other translations (except the Roman Catholic version) translate accordingly.

      Baptist Translation: "As that the day of the Lord is present."

      Conybeare and Howson: "That the day of the Lord is come"--(with a footnote: "Literally 'is present.' So the verb is always used in the N. T.")

      Young's Bible Translation: "As that the day of Christ had arrived."

      Moffat: "That the Day of the Lord is already here."

      Goodspeed: "That the Day of the Lord has already come."

      Rotherham: "As that the day of the Lord has set in."

      Weymouth: "That the day of the Lord is already here."

      "Twentieth Century": "That the Day of the Master is here."

      Revised Standard Version: "That the day of the Lord has come."

      Alford's "Greek Testament" (a Critical Commentary on the Greek Text of the New Testament) says,

      "St. Paul could not so have written [i. e. as denying that the day of the Lord is at hand], nor could the Spirit have so spoken by him. The teaching of the Apostles was, and of the Holy Spirit in all ages has been, that the day of the Lord is at hand. But these Thessalonians imagined it to be already come, and accordingly were deserting their pursuits in life, and falling into other irregularities, as if the day of grace were closed. So Chrysostom plainly, 'The devil, when he could not persuade them that the announcement of things future were false, took another way, and having suborned certain pestilent fellows, endeavored to deceive by persuading them that those great and glorious events had an end. At one time they said that the resurrection is past: but in this case they said that the judgment was come, and the presence of Christ, etc. . . . And what was worst of all, some of them repeated sayings of Paul to this effect, some feigned epistles as having been written by him.'"

      So, likewise, the Expositor's Greek Testament, a later work of the same kind, has this to say,

      "enesteken [the day of the Lord] 'were already present.' The cry was, ho kurios paresti [the Lord has come, or, is present]. The final period [according to these false teachers] had already begun, and the Thessalonians were probably referred to their sufferings as a proof of this." [39]

      The matter is of some importance. To have said that the day of the Lord was not anywhere near, (as the King James and Amer. Rev. Version implies) would have given ground to sinners to "put far off the evil day"; and would also have given some show of excuse for misguided believers to say (like the unfaithful servant of Luke 12:45) "My lord delayeth his coming." But the correct translation puts an altogether different face on the matter. If these Thessalonians had been made to believe that the Day of Wrath had broken in upon them unawares, we can understand why they would have been "shaken from their mind" and "troubled." The prospect of Christ's coming would not have so troubled and upset them. The coming of Christ was their hope (Tit. 2:13) and their comfort (1 Thess. 4:18); for their expectation was that He would deliver them from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10) and would bring them salvation (1 Thess. 5:9, 10), and that they would be removed out of the sphere of the coming wrath and taken up to Himself. (1 Thess. 4:16, 17.) This happy event obviously would have to take place before the "Day of the Lord" breaks in upon the guilty world. It may be some wonder to us how the Thessalonians could have been led to believe that they had missed the "salvation," and deceived into thinking that the day of wrath had come upon them; but manifestly that was what had happened. The whole of this second epistle to the Thessalonians is designed therefore to remove that false impression, to dispel their fear, and to comfort their hearts. And Paul does not do that by putting the coming of the Lord far away into the future (as some think) but by correcting their mistake as to the Day of the Lord, and reassuring them as to their standing and acceptedness before God. The Day of the Lord (Paul tells them) cannot come except the falling away (the great "apostasy") come first, and the Man of Sin be revealed. That alone should be enough to convince them that the Day of the Lord had not already come. (And hadn't he told them that, even when he was yet with them? 2 Thess. 2:5.)

THE "PAROUSIA" AND THE DAY OF THE LORD

      At this point it may be well to call attention to a common misunderstanding, which, among other things, has caused confusion and misconception in regard to this passage. It is generally assumed that the coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord are synonymous and co-extensive, referring to one and the same event. If that were the case, how could the Thessalonians have thought that the Day of the Lord had come upon them? (Perhaps that was the thought that prompted the translators to put "the day of the Lord is just at hand," where the true text said, "The day of the Lord is now present".) For if the coming of Christ (the "parousia") were one and the same event as the Day of the Lord, how could any false teacher have made them believe that the Day of the Lord was already present? But, is it not said that in the Day of the Lord Christ will be revealed in flaming fire with the angels of His power, taking [40] vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel? And is not that the coming of Christ? Very true. That is one feature of it, and is included under the "parousia." But before this event, the Lord descends and takes up His own, who shall "meet the Lord in the air," and who thenceforth are "forever with the Lord." This, the first act of the great final drama, is that deliverance from the coming wrath, and that "salvation," of which Paul had spoken to them in the first epistle (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9, 10; comp. Heb. 9:28.) That was the hope and promise given those Christians, and that was what they feared they had missed. If the Day of the Lord had come upon them, then they must in some way also have missed that "gathering together unto Him," and been left behind to face that wrath. According to the promise they should have been safely with Jesus when that day of wrath came; but now (as somebody had told them) the day of wrath had come, and they had not been taken up to "live together with Him." (1 Thess. 5:10.) That was the one cause of their distress. It was due partly to ignorance, partly to this falsehood, which was foisted upon them by some pretended prophetic utterance, or a (forged) epistle purporting to have come from Paul. All this misconception Paul clears away. In the "parousia" (the "coming" or "presence") of the Lord, the first feature is that which is described in 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. That has no reference to the world: it concerns only Christ's own. When He comes in His glory to judge and to execute "the vengeance that is written" (and that is the Day of the Lord)--His saints are with Him (for from the moment they are caught up, they are "for ever with the Lord" 1 Thess. 4:17). When He comes in His glory they also are manifested with Him in glory. (Col. 3:4; 2 Thess. 1:10.) When He comes to Judge, they are associated with Him in judgment (1 Cor. 6:2). When He sits down in His throne (Matt. 25:31) they sit down with Him (Rev. 3:21). If He rules the nations with a rod of iron and breaks them to pieces as a potter's vessel, they participate with Him in that rule. (Rev. 2:26, 27.)

      How long will the taking up of the saints (1 Thess. 4:16, 17) precede His coming in glory with them? We are not told. The event of 1 Thess. 4:16, 17 is undated. We are not told that signs must necessarily precede that. And it is for that event that Christians look and wait. We are not waiting for the Beast of Rev. 13, or the rise of Antichrist: we wait for the Lord. That there will be an interval of time between His coming to receive His saints unto Himself, and His coming with them to judge and execute the wrath of God can be shown from the fact that certain transactions must take place during that space. But regardless of that point--this is clear, that the Christian's hope (and it is a HOPE) is centered on the event of 1 Thess. 4:16, 17; and that they are not to face the judgment of the Day of Wrath. [41]

[FST 37-41]