Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Thessalonian 1:12
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.
12. that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you ] Once more read Lord Jesus (R. V.), not Lord Jesus Christ.
For this end, “to be glorified in His saints,” we were told in 2Th 1:10, Christ is coming; the call by which God summoned the Thessalonians in the Gospel has this in view; with the same purpose, therefore, the Apostle prays for the fulfilment of the work of grace in them. There is nothing he desires in his own case so much as “that Christ may be magnified” (Php 1:20); nor anything that he covets more eagerly for his friends.
But now it is the Saviour’s name that is to be glorified; for their salvation, when complete, will set forth with astonishing lustre the Divine-human name of our Lord Jesus. This “name” is “glorified,” when its full import is recognized, and the worship which it requires is paid to Him who bears it. So in Php 2:9-10, we read how the work and sufferings of Christ will have their consummation when “in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”
and ye in him ] This glorification will be mutual. It will be the honour of the Head to have such members, and of the members to have such a Head; of the “Firstborn” to have such and so many younger brethren (Rom 8:29), and theirs to have such an Elder Brother. This is the perfection of love, that each should see its own joy and pride in the other. Comp. 2Co 1:14, “we are your glorying, as you are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.” For the glorification of the saints in Christ, its nature and conditions, see farther, Rom 8:17-23; Rom 8:28-30; Col 3:1-4; Php 3:20; 2Ti 2:10-13.
And this joyous and triumphant issue of the faith of the persecuted Thessalonians is according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus christ. “Our God” is the fountain, “the Lord Jesus Christ” the channel of this grace.
The “grace of God and of Christ” now named from one, now from another of its Divine Bestowers, seldom, as here, from both had from the first this issue of its working in view. And the glorious result is only what we might expect from such grace. It is “the grace of our God,” as it shows Him to be ours and makes Him ours in experience. Our God is a rare expression with St Paul, occurring twice here ( 2Th 1:11-12), twice in 1Th (2Th 2:2; 2Th 3:9), and only once elsewhere, 1Co 6:11; more frequent is God our Father, or occasionally our God and Father. It is found often in St John’s Apocalypse.
For the meaning of Grace, and its place in St Paul’s vocabulary, see note on 1Th 1:1, adding the following observations. There is no word in the N.T. more original and characteristic than this. Its usage springs from the nature of the Gospel of Christ, as that expresses the character of God and His relationship towards men. (1) The radical sense of Grace ( charis) in common Greek is pleasingness. From the artistic feeling of the Greek mind, this came to be synonymous with loveliness ( gracefulness), which was idolized in the three Graces ( Charites), embodiments of all that is charming in person and in social life. Such was the connection of this word with religion in classical Greek. (2) It further signified pleasingness of disposition, favour both in the active sense ( a) of obligingness, graciousness; and in the passive sense (b) of acceptableness. In the Greek of the O.T., Psa 45:2, “Grace is poured into thy lips,” supplies an example of ( a), similarly Col 4:6; while ( b) is exemplified in the familiar phrase, to “find grace in the eyes of” so and so (comp. Luk 2:52). On 2 a is based the specific N.T. signification of Grace, so conspicuous in St Paul. It denotes, therefore, (3) the favour of God towards mankind, revealed in Jesus Christ. Hence, on the one hand, it stands in contrast with human sin and ill-desert (“where sin multiplied, grace superabounded,” Rom 5:20); and is the moving cause of man’s salvation, embodied and acting in Jesus Christ, above all in His death upon the Cross (Joh 1:17; Tit 2:11; Gal 2:21; &c.): God’s grace is His redeeming love to sinners. On the other hand, it is the attribute of God’s Fatherhood: “Grace to you from God the Father” (2Th 1:2, &c.; comp. ch. 2Th 2:16; Joh 1:14). The revelation of the Grace and the Fatherhood of God go together. Grace acts in the way of forgiveness (St Paul’s “forgive” in Eph 4:32; Col 2:13; Col 3:13, is derived from charis, and signifies to “show grace”), and in the free gift of the blessings of salvation (Rom 3:24; Rom 5:17, &c.). Hence, in the Apostle’s teaching, Grace is opposed not only to sin which it conquers and destroys, but to human merit which it sets aside to “works of law” regarded as means of our salvation, and to everything that would make God’s benefits conferred on us in Christ matters of “debt” on His part: see Rom 3:19-21; Rom 4:4-15; Gal 2:15-21; Eph 2:1-10, for the establishment of this leading principle of St Paul’s doctrine. It is the idea of mercy (not grace) that in the O.T. brings us nearest to this N.T. conception. But while the former expresses God’s pitiful disposition as the Almighty toward man who is weak and wretched, this denotes His loving, forgiving disposition as our Father in Christ toward sinful and lost men. Two further uses of the word, arising out of this principal use, should be noted. Grace signifies (4) sometimes an act, or bestowment of God’s grace this or that manifestation of grace (Rom 1:5; Eph 3:8). (5) Sometimes, again, it denotes a state of grace in man, God’s grace realized and operative in the Christian: “this grace in which we stand,” Rom 5:2 (comp. 2Ti 2:1; 2Pe 3:18; &c.). (6) Lastly, charis bears in the N.T. and in common Greek the sense of thanks, gratefulness.
The course of the Apostle’s Thanksgiving has carried his readers far away from their present troubles into a region of heavenly rest and triumph; while for a moment, by the way, it lifts the curtain to reveal the judgement hanging over their tormentors. The “vengeance” that awaits the latter, and the “relief” that awaits the former, are in each case a just and inevitable recompense.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – That is, that the Lord Jesus himself may be honored among you; the name often denoting the person. The idea is that the apostle wished that the Lord Jesus might be honored among them by the fair application and development of the principles of his religion.
And ye in him – That you may be regarded and treated as his friends when he shall come to judge the world.
According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ – That is, that you may experience all the honor which his grace is fitted to impart.
In view of the exposition given of this chapter, we may remark:
(1) That the wicked will certainly be punished when the Lord Jesus shall come to judgment. Words cannot reveal this truth more plainly than is done in this chapter, and if it is not to be so, then language has no meaning.
(2) The punishment of the wicked will be eternal. It is impossible for language to teach that doctrine more clearly than is done in this chapter. If it were admitted to have been the intention of God to teach the doctrine of eternal punishment, it is impossible to conceive that he could have chosen more plain and positive language to express the doctrine than has been done here. Can it be, then, that he means to trifle with people on so solemn a subject, by using words which have no meaning?
(3) It will greatly aggravate the punishment of the wicked that it will be a righteous thing for God thus to punish them. If they were to suffer as martyrs; if in their sufferings they could feel that they were oppressed and crushed beneath mere power; if they could feel that they were right and that God was wrong; if they could get up a party in the universe against God, sympathizing with them as if they were wronged, the case would be changed. A man can endure suffering much more easily when he has a good conscience, and feels that he is right, than he can when he feels that what he endures is deserved. But the sinner in hell can never have this consolation. He will forever feel that God is right and that he is wrong, and that every pang which he endures is deserved.
(4) If it be a righteous thing that the wicked shall be punished, then they never can be saved by mere justice. No one will go to heaven because he deserves or merits it. All dependence on human merit, therefore, is taken away in the matter of salvation, and if the sinner is ever saved, it will be by grace, and not by justice.
(5) If it is a righteous thing that the sinner should perish, he will perish. God will do right to all.
(6) It is amazing that the mass of men have so little concern about their future condition. God has plainly revealed that he will destroy the wicked forever, and that it will be a righteous thing for him to do it; and yet the mass of mankind are wholly unconcerned, and disregard all the solemn declarations of the Bible on this subject as if they were idle tales. One would suppose that the very possibility of eternal suffering would rouse all the sensibilities of the soul, and lead to the earnest inquiry whether it is not possible to avoid it. Yet the mass of people feel no concern in this inquiry. It is impossible to ever get them to think of it. We cannot get them even to ask the question, seriously, whether they themselves are to be happy or miserable for all eternity. This stupidity and indifference is the most unaccountable fact on earth, and probably distinguishes this world from all others.
(7) It is rational to think of religion; to reflect on eternity; to be serious; to be anxious about the future state. If there is even a possibility that we may be miserable forever, it is proper to be serious about it. And if there is a solemn declaration of God that it will be a righteous thing for him to punish the wicked, and that he will punish them with everlasting destruction, assuredly the mind should be concerned. Is there anything more worthy the calm and sober attention of the human soul than such solemn declarations of the infinite God?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Th 1:12
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you
Christ glorified in His servants
I.
When the work of faith is fulfilled with power, Christ is glorified in His servants.
1. Christ is glorified.
(1) Passively in all His creatures, as His glorious excellencies are visibly represented in them. Natural agents (Psa 19:1-2; Psa 145:10). The new creature (Eph h1:12).
(2) Actively, as they conceive and declare His excellency.
(a) In their hearts, by estimation and love (Luk 1:46; Psa 73:25), and trust (Isa 26:3), and delight (Psa 4:6-7; Psa 73:3).
(b) With their tongues (Psa 50:23; Jam 3:10).
(c) In their lives, by fixing his glory as the end (1Co 10:31), and by doing those things as may most suit the end (1Pe 1:15).
2. The work of faith fulfilled with power glorifies Christ. Christ is glorified by–
(1) Our patience under troubles (Joh 21:19; Php 1:21), which is a work of faith.
(2) All holy conversation and godliness (Mat 5:16; 1Pe 2:12).
II. In promoting the glory of Christ we promote the salvation of our souls.
1. God has appointed this order that we should first glorify Him before He glorifies us. It would redound to Gods dishonour if he should glorify those that do not glorify Him, and make no difference between those who break His laws and those who keep them.
2. God has also appointed that we should glorify Him on earth before He glorifies us in heaven. In this we have Christ for an example (Joh 17:4-5).
3. Christ takes special notice of those that glorify Him in the world (Joh 17:10). Christ is glorified–
(1) In His Person, when He is owned as the Son of God (Joh 17:8).
(2) In His office (Joh 14:13).
(3) In His doctrine, when it is believed and practised (Act 13:48)
4. This glory is promised (1Sa 2:30; Joh 12:26; Rom 8:7).
5. The suitableness between His being glorified in us and our being glorified in Him.
(1) Objectively, because this impression of honour upon us redounds to His glory (2Th 1:10).
(2) Actively, because one part of our happiness is, that we love and praise Him. This is our glory, that we behold Christs glory (Joh 17:24).
6. We may expect this glory–
(a) With confidence (2Ti 4:8; 2Th 2:13).
(b) Without danger of presumption, because Christ is the Lord of glory (Jam 2:1;1Co 2:8), and because that grace whereby we glorify Him is given by Him (Joh 17:22).
III. Our complete salvation, from first to last, flows from the grace of God in Christ. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Christ is glorious in the character of His followers in that
I. They give Him the throne, and cheerfully acknowledge His authority over them.
II. Whatever is excellent in their character is but the reflection of His own.
III. They are His witnesses in this ungodly world.
IV. They love to promote His glory and advance the interests of His kingdom. Application:
1. This is full of comfort to Gods people, because they have the greatest security in His guardianship and love.
2. It is full of inducements to holy being.
3. It is full of rebuke to ungodly men, in that there are no indications of the Saviours glory in their characters. (G. Spring, D. D.)
A Christian is the reflex of Christ
It has often been said that the Christian virtues are only impressions of the image of Christ; and that is true and good; but these impressions must find expression in everyday life. We are called of God to make manifest the character of Him that loved us. Once, in a large company of Christian men, the most lively regret was expressed that there is no authentic portrait of Jesus Christ as he lived and walked upon this earth. How gladly, it was said, would Christians often look on the features of that face! But one of Gods aged pilgrims stood up and said, I cannot deplore that at all, because a true Christian is the true likeness of Christ. (Pastor Funcke.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. That the name of our Lord] This is the great end of your Christian calling, that Jesus who hath died for you may have his passion and death magnified in your life and happiness; that ye may show forth the virtues of him who called you from darkness into his marvellous light.
And ye in him] That his glorious excellence may be seen upon you; that ye may be adorned with the graces of his Spirit, as he is glorified by your salvation from all sin.
According to the grace] That your salvation may be such as God requires, and such as is worthy of his grace to communicate. God saves as becomes God to save; and thus the dignity of his nature is seen in the excellence and glory of his work.
1. It is an awful consideration to the people of the world, that persecutions and afflictions should be the lot of the true Church, and should be the proof of its being such; because this shows more than any thing else the desperate state of mankind, their total enmity to God; they persecute, not because the followers of God have done or can do them hurt, but they persecute because they have not the Spirit of Christ in them! Men may amuse themselves by arguing against the doctrine of original sin, or the total depravity of the soul of man; but while there is religious persecution in the world, there is the most absolute disproof of all their arguments. Nothing but a heart wholly alienated from God could ever devise the persecution or maltreatment of a man, for no other cause but that he has given himself up to glorify God with his body and spirit, which are his.
2. The everlasting destruction of the ungodly is a subject that should be continually placed before the eyes of men by the preachers of the Gospel. How shall a man be induced to take measures to escape a danger of the existence of which he is not convinced? Show him the hell which the justice of God has lighted up for the devil and his angels, and in which all Satan’s children and followers must have their eternal portion. All the perfections of God require that he should render to every man his due. And what is the due of a sinner or a persecutor, of one who is a determinate enemy to God, goodness, and good men? Why, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. And if God did not award this to such persons, he could not be the God of justice.
3. The grand object of God in giving his Gospel to mankind is to save them from their sins, make them like himself, and take them to his eternal glory. He saves according to the measure of his eternal goodness; the scanty salvation contended for and expected by the generality of Christians, it would be dishonourable to God to administer. He saves according to his grace. His own eternal goodness and holiness is the measure of his salvation to man; not the creeds and expectations of any class of Christians. To be saved at all, we must not only be saved in God’s way, and upon his own terms, but also according to his own measure. He who is not filled with the fulness of God cannot expect the glory of God.
4. Another proof of the fall and degeneracy of men is, their general enmity to the doctrine of holiness; they cannot bear the thought of being sanctified through body, soul, and spirit, so as to perfect holiness in the fear of God. A spurious kind of Christianity is gaining ground in the world. Weakness, doubtfulness, littleness of faith, consciousness of inward corruptions, and sinful infirmities of different kinds, are by some considered the highest proofs of a gracious state; whereas in the primitive Church they would have been considered as evidences that the persons in question had received just light enough to show them their wretchedness and danger, but not the healing virtue of the blood of Christ.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him; opwv. All expositors agree that these words contain in them a final cause, as the Greek word imports; and so understand them as the ultimate end of the apostles prayer for them; he had prayed for things that did concern their salvation, but he looked further, which was, that thereby the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in them. The glory of Christ and the saints salvation are wrapt up together; and though they are to look immediately to the latter, yet ultimately to the former. But whether the apostle means the glorifying Christ in this life, or the life to come, is a question. I rather think the words refer to the life to come, when the name of Christ shall be for ever glorified in the salvation of his people, when all the good pleasure of Gods goodness shall be fulfilled upon them, they having been kept in the faith by the power of God unto the end, through Jesus Christ; and then also they shall be glorified not only by him, as we may read the text, but in him, in being received into a participation of the same glory with Jesus Christ, and by their union with him are glorified in him, Joh 17:22; Col 3:4; 1Jo 3:2. And when this is done, then have they received the prize of their calling, then is the whole good pleasure of Gods goodness fulfilled, then is the work of faith accomplished; which things the apostle saith he prayed for in their behalf.
According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ: what the apostle before called the good pleasure of Gods goodness, he here calls his grace, and he adds the grace of Christ, because the grace or favour of both are so eminently manifested in these things, whereby not only the name of God, but of Christ also, shall be glorified, as he said before; and that it may be glorified in them according to his grace, that is, greatly glorified; and they glorified in him according to the grace of God and Jesus Christ, that is, greatly glorified, as we may further understand the words; the grace of God being exceeding great towards them in Jesus Christ. And hereby the apostle would exclude all thoughts about their own merit, 2Th 1:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. the name of our Lord JesusOurLord Jesus in His manifested personality as the God-man.
in you, and ye inhimreciprocal glorification; compare Isa28:5, “The Lord of hosts shall be . . . a crown ofglory and . . . a diadem of beauty unto . . . His people,” withIsa 62:3, “Thou(Zion) shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royaldiadem,” c. (Joh 21:10Gal 1:24; 1Pe 4:14).The believer’s graces redound to Christ’s glory, and His glory, astheir Head, reflects glory on them as the members.
the grace of our God and theLord Jesus ChristThere is but one Greek article toboth, implying the inseparable unity of God and the Lord Jesus.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you,…. This is the end of the apostle’s prayer, and which is answered by the fulfilment of the things prayed for; as the name of Christ and his Gospel are dishonoured, by the unbelief, cowardice and the unworthy walk of professors; so they are glorified in and by the saints, by their faith, patience, and good works in this world; which not only themselves adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, but cause others to glorify him likewise; and Christ will be glorified in them hereafter, by the glory which will be conferred upon them, and which will reflect glory upon him; when all the gracious designs of God are accomplished on them and the work of faith is finished in them; for should not these be completed, Christ would lose the glory of redemption and salvation, which by means of these will be given by the saints to him to all eternity:
and ye in him; that is, that ye may be glorified; the saints are now glorified in him as their head and representative, being raised together and made to sit together in heavenly places in him; and when the work of grace is finished upon their souls, they will be glorified together with him and by him; and in the resurrection morn shall appear in glory with him both in soul and body, and shall be made like him, and everlastingly enjoy him and see him as he is; the Alexandrian copy reads and us “in him”; and all this will be as it is wished for, “according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ”; according to the grace and free favour of God in election, and of Jesus Christ in, redemption, and of the blessed Spirit in sanctification; for election, redemption, calling, justification, pardon, adoption, and the whole of salvation from first to last are of grace and not of works; and according to this, all these things must be prayed for the application of, and must be expected only on such a foot; and to this must all be ascribed, the glory of which is the ultimate end of God, in all he has done, does, or will do for his people.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That (). Rare with Paul compared with (1Cor 1:29; 2Cor 8:14). Perhaps here for variety (dependent on clause in verse 11).
The name ( ). The Old Testament (LXX) uses embodying the revealed character of Jehovah. So here the
Name of our Lord Jesus means the Messiahship and Lordship of Jesus. The common Greek idiom of for title or dignity as in the papyri (Milligan) is not quite this idiom. The papyri also give examples of for person as in O.T. and Ac 1:15 (Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 196ff.).
In you, and ye in him ( , ). This reciprocal glorying is Pauline, but it is also like Christ’s figure of the vine and the branches in Joh 15:1-11.
According to the grace ( ). Not merely standard, but also aim (Robertson, Grammar, p. 609).
Of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ ( ). Here strict syntax requires, since there is only one article with and that one person be meant, Jesus Christ, as is certainly true in Titus 2:13; 2Pet 1:1 (Robertson, Grammar, p.786). This otherwise conclusive syntactical argument, admitted by Schmiedel, is weakened a bit by the fact that is often employed as a proper name without the article, a thing not true of in Titus 2:13; 2Pet 1:1. So in Eph 5:5 the natural meaning is
in the Kingdom of Christ and God regarded as one, but here again , like , often occurs as a proper name without the article. So it has to be admitted that here Paul may mean “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ,” though he may also mean “according to the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The name [ ] . In no case where it is joined with Jesus, or Christ, or Lord Jesus, does it mean the title or dignity. 33 Paul follows O. T. usage, according to which the name of the Lord is often used for all that the name covers; so that the name of the Lord = the Lord himself.
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON oleqron aijwnion eternal destruction, 2Th 1:9.
Aiwn transliterated eon, is a period of time of longer or shorter duration, having a beginning and an end, and complete in itself. Aristotle (peri oujranou, 1 9, 15) says : “The period which includes the whole time of each one’s life is called the eon of each one.” Hence it often means the life of a man, as in Homer, where one’s life [] is said to leave him or to consume away (Il 5:685; Od. 5 160). It is not, however, limited to human life; it signifies any period in the course of events, as the period or age before Christ; the period of the millenniam; the mytho – logical period before the beginnings of history. The word has not “a stationary and mechanical value” (De Quincey). It does not mean a period of a fixed length for all cases. There are as many eons as entities, the respective durations of which are fixed by the normal conditions of the several entities. There is one eon of a human life, another of the life of a nation, another of a crow’s life, another of an oak’s life. The length of the eon depends on the subject to which it is attached.
It is sometimes translated world; world representing a period or a series of periods of time. See Mt 12:32; Mt 13:40, 49; Luk 1:70; 1Co 1:20; 1Co 2:6; Eph 1:21. Similarly oiJ aijwnev the worlds, the universe, the aggregate of the ages or periods, and their contents which are included in the duration of the world. 1Co 2:7; 1Co 10:11; Heb 1:2; Heb 9:26; Heb 11:3.
The word always carries the notion of time, and not of eternity. It always means a period of time. Otherwise it would be impossible to account for the plural, or for such qualifying expressions as this age, or the age to come. It does not mean something endless or everlasting. To deduce that meaning from its relation to ajei is absurd; for, apart from the fact that the meaning of a word is not definitely fixed by its derivation, ajei does not signify endless duration. When the writer of the Pastoral Epistles quotes the saying that the Cretans are always [] liars (Tit 1:12), he surely does not mean that the Cretans will go on Iying to all eternity. See also Act 7:51; 2Co 4:11; 2Co 6:10; Heb 3:10; 1Pe 3:15. Aei means habitually or continually within the limit of the subject’s life. In our colloquial dialect everlastingly is used in the same way. “The boy is everlastingly tormenting me to buy him a drum.”
In the New Testament the history of the world is conceived as developed through a succession of eons. A series of such eons precedes the introduction of a new series inaugurated by the Christian dispensation, and the end of the world and the second coming of Christ are to mark the beginning of another series. See Eph 3:11. Paul contemplates eons before and after the Chuistian era. Eph 1:21; Eph 2:7; Eph 3:9, 21; 1Co 10:11; comp. Heb 9:26. He includes the series of eons in one great eon, oJ aijwn twn aijwnwn the eon of the eons (Eph 3:21); and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes the throne of God as enduring unto the eon of the eons (Heb 1:8). The plural is also used, eons of the eons, signifying all the successive periods which make up the sum total of the ages collectively. Rom 16:27; Gal 1:5; Phi 4:20, etc. This plural phrase is applied by Paul to God only. The adjective aijwniov in like manner carries the idea of time. Neither the noun nor the adjective, in themselves, carry the sense of endless or everlasting. They may acquire that sense by their connotation, as, on the other hand, ajidiov, which means everlasting, has its meaning limited to a given point of time in Jude 1:6. Aiwniov means enduring through or pertaining to a period of time. Both the noun and the adjective are applied to limited periods. Thus the phrase eijv ton aijwna, habitually rendered forever, is often used of duration which is limited in the very nature of the case. See, for a few out of many instances, LXX, Exo 21:6; Exo 29:9; xxxii. 13; Jos 14:9; 1Sa 8:13; Lev 25:46; Deu 14:17; 1Ch 28:4. See also Mt 21:19; Joh 13:8; 1Co 8:13. The same is true of aijwniov. Out of 150 instances in LXX, four – fifths imply limited duration. For a few instances see Gen 48:4; Num 10:8; Num 14:15; Pro 22:28; Jon 2:6; Hab 3:6; Isa 61:17. Words which are habitually applied to things temporal or material can not carry in themselves the sense of endlessness. Even when applied to God, we are not forced to render aijwniov everlasting. Of course the life of God is endless; but the question is whether, in describing God as aijwniov,. it was intended to describe the duration of his being, or whether some different and larger idea was not contemplated. That God lives longer than men, and lives on everlastingly, and has lived everlastingly, are, no doubt, great and significant facts; yet they are not the dominant or the most impressive facts in God ‘s relations to time. God ‘s eternity does not stand merely or chiefly for a scale of length. It is not primarily a mathematical but a moral fact. The relations of God to time include and imply far more than the bare fact of endless continuance. They carry with them the fact that God transcends time; works on different principles and on a vaster scale than the wisdom of time provides; oversteps the conditions and the motives of time; marshals the successive eons fronn a point outside of time, on lines which run out into his own measureless cycles, and for sublime moral ends which the creature of threescore and ten years cannot grasp and does not even suspect.
There is a word for everlasting if that idea is demanded. That aijwniov occurs rarely in the New Testament and in LXX does not prove that its place was taken by aijwniov. It rather goes to show that less importance was attached to the bare idea of everlastingness than later theological thought has given it. Paul uses the word once, in Rom 1:20, where he speaks of “the everlasting power and divinity of God.” In Rom 16:26 he speaks of the eternal God [ ] ; but that he does not mean the everlasting God is perfectly clear from the context. He has said that “the mystery” has been kept in silence in times eternal [ ] , by which he does not mean everlasting times, but the successive eons which elapsed before Christ was proclaimed. God therefore is described as the God of the eons, the God who pervaded and controlled those periods before the incarnation. To the same effect is the title oJ basileuv twn aijwnwn the King of the eons, applied to God in 1Ti 1:17; Rev 14:3; comp. Tob. 13 6, 10. The phrase pro cronwn aijwniwn before eternal times (2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2), cannot mean before everlasting times. To say that God bestowed grace on men, or promised them eternal life before endless times, would be absurd. The meaning is of old, as Luk 1:70. The grace and the promise were given in time, but far back in the ages, before the times of reckoning the eons. Zwh aijwniov eternal life, which occurs 42 times in N. T., but not in LXX, is not endless life, but life pertaining to a certain age or eon, or continuing during that eon. I repeat, life may be endless. The life in union with Christ is endless, but the fact is not expressed by aijwniov. Kolasiv aijwniov, rendered everlasting punishment (Mt 25:46), is the punishment peculiar to an eon other than that in which Christ is speaking. In some cases zwh aijwniov does not refer specifically to the life beyond time, but rather to the eon or dispensation of Messiah which succeeds the legal dispensation. See Mt 19:16; Joh 5:39. John says that zwh aijwniov is the present possession of those who believe on the Son of God, Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24; Joh 6:47, 64. The Father ‘s commandment is zwh aijwviov, Joh 12:50; to know the only true God and Jesus Christ is zwh aijwniov, Joh 17:3.
Bishop Westcott very justly says, commenting upon the terms used by John to describe life under different aspects : “In considering these phrases it is necessary to premise that in spiritual things we must guard against all conclusions which rest upen the notions of succession and duration. ‘Eternal life ‘ is that which St. Paul speaks of as hJ ontwv zwh the life which is life indeed, and hJ zwh tou qeou the life of God. It is not an endless duration of being in time, but being of which time is not a measure. We have indeed no powers to grasp the idea except through forms and images of sense. These must be used, but we must not transfer them as realities to another order.” 34 Thus, while aijwniov carries the idea of time, though not of endlessness, there belongs to it also, more or less, a sense of quality. Its character is ethical rather than mathematical. The deepest significance of the life beyond time lies, not in endlessness, but in the moral quality of the eon into which the life passes. It is comparatively unimportant whether or not the rich fool, when his soul was required of him (Luk 12:20), entered upon a state that was endless. The principal, the tremendous fact, as Christ unmistakably puts it, was that, in the new eon, the motives, the aims, the conditions, the successes and awards of time counted for nothing. In time, his barns and their contents were everything; the soul was nothing. In the new life the soul was first and everything, and the barns and storehouses nothing. The bliss of the sanctified does not consist primarily in its endlessness, but in the nobler moral conditions of the new eon, – the years of the holy and eternal God. Duration is a secondary idea. When it enters it enters as an accompaniment and outgrowth of moral conditions. In the present passage it is urged that oleqron destruction points to an unchangeable, irremediable, and endless condition. If this be true, if oleqrov is extinction, then the passage teaches the annihilation of the wicked, in which case the adjective aijwniov is superfluous, since extinction is final, and excludes the idea of duration. But oleqrov does not always mean destruction or extinction. Take the kindred verb ajpollumi to destroy, put an end to, or in the middle voice, to be lost, to perish. Peter says, “the world being deluged with water, perished” (ajpolountai 2Pe 3:6); but the world did not become extinct, it was renewed. In Heb 1:11, 12 quoted from Psalm 102, we read concerning the heavens and the earth as compared with the eternity of God, “they shall perish” [] . But the perishing is only preparatory to change and renewal. “They shall be changed” [] . Comp. Isa 51:6, 16; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1. Similarly, “the Son of man came to save that which was lost” [] , Luk 19:10. Jesus charged his apostles to go to the lost [] sheep of the house of Israel, Mt 10:6, comp. Mt 14:24. “He that shall lose [] his life for my sake shall find it,” Mt 16:25. Comp. Luk 14:6, 9, 32.
In this passage the word destruction is qualified. It is “destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power,” at his second coming, in the new eon. In other words, it is the severance, at a given point of time, of those who obey not the gospel from the presence and the glory of Christ. Aiwniov may therefore describe this severance as continuing during the millennial eon between Christ ‘s coming and the final judgment; as being for the wicked prolonged throughout that eon and characteristic of it, or it may describe the severance as characterizing or enduring through a period or eon succeeding the final judgment, the extent of which period is not defined. In neither case is aijwniov to be interpreted as everlasting or endless.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you” (hopos endoksasthe) “So as may be glorified”, or made to appear glorious (to onoma tou kuriou hemon lesou en humin) “the name of our Lord Jesus among you all”, or in you all, the Church at Thessalonica. Though Christ may be glorified in every believer, the highest degree of glory one may give to Him is in or through devoted services in His Church, Eph 3:21; 1Pe 1:7-13.
2) “And ye in him” (kai humeis en auto) “and you all in him”, as bridegroom of the wedding, Joh 3:29-30; Rev 19:7-9.
3) “According to the grace of our God” (kata ten charin tou theou hemon) “according to or based on the grace of our God”; provided for the redemption of all and strength for every believer, Eph 2:8-9; Tit 2:11; 2Pe 3:18.
4) “And the Lord Jesus Christ” (kai Kuriou lesou Christou) “and (the grace of) (the) Lord Jesus Christ”; Grace and truth were unveiled or manifest to all men in the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, John 1-17; Joh 8:32; Joh 14:6. Man’s capacity to give glory to God by Christ Jesus through His church is because of God’s initiative love and grace, Joh 3:16; Rom 3:24; Heb 4:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified. He calls us back to the chief end of our whole life — that we may promote the Lord’s glory. What he adds, however, is more especially worthy of notice, that those who have advanced the glory of Christ will also in their turn be glorified in him. For in this, first of all, the wonderful goodness of God shines forth — that he will have his glory be conspicuous in us who are covered over with ignominy. This, however, is a twofold miracle, that he afterwards irradiates us with his glory, as though he would do the same to us in return. On this account he adds, according to the grace of God and Christ. For there is nothing here that is ours either in the action itself, or in the effect or fruit, for it is solely by the guidance of the Holy Spirit that our life is made to contribute to the glory of God. And the circumstance that so much fruit arises from this ought to be ascribed to the great mercy of God. In the mean time, if we are not worse than stupid, we must aim with all our might at the advancement of the glory of Christ, which is connected with ours. I deem it unnecessary to explain at present in what sense he represents the glory as belonging to God and Christ in common, as I have explained this elsewhere.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) That the name . . .This verse gathers up what has been said in 2Th. 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 for their allegiance to Him. It stands to reason that Christians must share Christs glory (i.e., full recognition; comp. Note on 1Th. 2:6) in that day, for when the lost recognise what He is, it is ipso facto a recognition that they were right and wise to follow Him. The words according to the grace belong only to and ye in Him: it is the gracious will (for grace here has hardly its strict theological sense) of God, in which Christ concurs, that we should be thus glorified in Him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Name glorified in you By your examples inducing thousands to turn to Christ.
Ye in him By the beauty of holiness conferred on you here, and glory hereafter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Th 1:12 . . ] The name of our Lord Jesus, i.e. so far as He is the , the Lord ; comp. Phi 2:9 ff. Arbitrarily, de Wette: Christ, so far as He is recognised and known. Still more arbitrarily Turretin, Moldenhauer, Koppe, and others: is a mere circumlocution for .
] refers not to (so Alford), but to ; and the giving prominence to the mutual reciprocity , , is an exhaustive representation. Comp. Gal 6:14 ; 1Co 6:13 .
] according to the grace of our God and of the (see Winer, p. 113 [E. T. 154]) Lord Jesus . According to Hofmann and Riggenbach, Christ is here named both our God and our Lord, an interpretation which, indeed, grammatically is no less allowable than the interpretation of the doxology, , Rom 9:5 , as an apposition to , but is equally inadmissible, as it would contain an un-Pauline thought; on account of which also Hilgenfeld, Ztschr. f. d. wiss. Theol. , Halle 1862, p. 264, in the interest of the supposed spuriousness of the Epistle, has forthwith appropriated to himself this discovery of Hofmann.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
REFLECTIONS
READER! it were well, if truly regenerated souls would frequently, and with a suitable solemnity of holy joy, contemplate the great day of Christ’s coming, which the Apostle here proposeth to the Church, as the sure support to all the exercises and trials of life. For what damps the highest prosperity of sinners, becomes the richest encouragement to comfort, under all the pressure of evil, to the saints. And, if the people of God would learn, under grace, to connect with their prospect of Christ’s coming, their union and interest in that glory in which he comes, what a joy unspeakable and full of glory would this bring with it to their souls. And, as the human nature of Christ united to his divine, gives a right and interest in all that is divine, and the glory of the Godhead is communicated to the human nature, and dwells in it; so our union with Christ gives a right and interest in all that belongs to Christ, as Christ, for communication in all that is communicable, and we derive out of his fullness, grace here, and glory hereafter. This was the very end for which the Church was predestinated, that we might be conformed to his image. May the Lord, give to all his redeemed ones, grace, so to contemplate Christ, and so to wait for his coming, that his precious name may be glorified in his people, and they in him, according to the grace of God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 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.
Ver. 12. That the name of our Lord ] It is much for the honour of the saints that Christ shall account himself glorified in their glory. Neither is it for their honour only, but for their advantage; for this glory of Christ shall redound unto them; therefore it is added by the apostle, “And ye in him.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Th 1:12 . Here at any rate it is impossible to take in a universalistic sense (so Robinson, Ephesians , pp. 225 f.), as though it implied that Christians were put on the same level as O.T. saints. The idea is the merciful favour of God, to the exclusion of human merit. The main topic of the letter is now brought forward; 2Th 2:1-2 gives the occasion for the (2Th 1:3-12 ) which follows.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
according to. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Th 1:12. , the name) We confer nothing on the Lord, whereas the Lord really confers upon us salvation; and hence His name is glorified in us; and we ourselves moreover in Him.-, grace) with this grace in view, he mentioned , of goodness, 2Th 1:11.
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Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Th 1:12
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,-If Christians are thus faithful and worthy, then the name of Christ is glorified in them as his servants. When the servants of God are worthy, and are glorified in it, the Lord is glorified in them.
and ye in him,-When he is glorified all the true and faithful in Christ will be glorified in him. All this will be brought about through the provisions that Gods love has made for making men righteous and saving them.
according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.-All the grace of God is developed in, and magnified through, Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the name: 2Th 1:10, Joh 17:10, 1Pe 4:14
and ye: Gen 18:18, Psa 72:17, Isa 45:17, Isa 45:25, Joh 17:21-26, Phi 3:9, Col 2:9, Col 2:10, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 1:8
the grace: Rom 1:7, 1Co 1:4, 2Co 8:9, 2Co 13:4, Tit 2:11, Rev 1:4
Reciprocal: Isa 46:13 – Israel Joh 14:3 – I will Act 19:17 – the name Gal 1:24 – General Eph 2:7 – show Phi 1:11 – are 1Th 2:12 – who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Th 1:12. When Christians prove their faith by their works, they will thereby glorify the Lord. By the same token the glory of the Lord will be given upon them, for both Lord and servant are to work together (1Co 3:9). This entire workmanship is according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Th 1:12. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you. This declares the purpose to be served by the fulfilment of his prayer for them. The meaning of the words has been explained above. New Christ may be glorified in us by obedience and patience, then by the results of these, perfected righteousness, glory, honour, and immortality. He is glorified now in all who manifest how firmly they believe His word, how highly they esteem the holiness He exemplified, how profoundly they love Him. And they do so when they suffer without repining, and obey with alacrity and self-sacrifice.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle declared at 2Th 1:10, how Christ should be glorified in his saints hereafter; now he prays that the name of Christ may be glorified in them here.
Where note, That sanctifying grace maketh Christians a glory to the name of Christ, not by adding any glory to him, which before he had not, but by setting forth that glory which he already hath.
Note also, That as the name of Christ is glorified in the saints now, so they shall be glorified in him then, and glorified with him, and by him. The same glory, for kind, shall be put upon the head and members; grace is the only way to glory, and glory will be the certain reward of grace.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. [Paul prays that the Thessalonians may be counted worthy of the gospel invitation, so that they may receive, according to the fullness of God’s limitless power, all the blessings to which they have been invited; viz.: all the graces and glories that ever the goodness of God desired to bestow, and every aspiration or heavenly ideal for which their own faith prompted them to strive; that thus their lives might glorify Christ, and be glorified by Christ, according to the gracious purposes of God in Christ. Jesus is glorified in his saints by their reflection, and the saints are glorified in Jesus by his impartation of his divine excellencies.]