Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Thessalonian 1:6

Seeing [it is] a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

6. seeing it is a righteous thing with God ] Lit., if verily (if, as all will admit) it is righteous with God.

The Apostle has just spoken (2Th 1:5) of “God’s righteous judgement” as manifest in the unshaken faith and courage of His servants. That visible token points to their future and unrevealed reward on the admitted assumption, on which he now dilates, that the retribution awaiting the persecutors and the persecuted from His hand is in truth a righteous thing.

Now the justice of the award is self-evident; since it is affliction to them that afflict you, and to you the afflicted ease. Once besides St Paul speaks of the future suffering of the wicked as “affliction,” in Rom 2:9 “affliction and distress upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” The term represents this suffering as of the nature of a personal infliction. It indicates the reversal that will take place in the other world between the position of the sufferers and inflicters of wrong; comp. our Lord’s picture of Dives and Lazarus in Hades: “Now he (Lazarus) is comforted, and thou (Dives) art tormented,” Luk 16:25. Similarly in Col 3:25, “He that doeth wrong shall receive back the wrong that he did.” In Rev 13:10, Mat 26:52, the same principle of retribution in kind is illustrated. This is “just with God:” He must count it so; for it is a common rule of justice, and of all true justice He is the Fountain.

If this law demands that the inflicters of wrongful suffering shall suffer and smart for it, so it requires that faithful endurance shall win “relief.” The Greek word denotes relaxation, abatement, as of a tightly strung bow, or the paroxysms of fever. So the Apostle designates his own “relief” from anxiety in 2Co 2:13; 2Co 7:5; it is contrasted with “affliction” again in 2Co 8:13.

“Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas,

Ease after war, death after life does greatly please.”

Job 3:17 is a striking parallel to the phrase to you the afflicted rest: “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.” But the rendering of the LXX in this passage is so different, that it is scarcely likely that these words were in the Apostle’s mind. Nor is he thinking, like Job and Edmund Spenser, of rest in death.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you – The sense is: There will be a future judgment, because it is proper that God should punish those who now persecute you. It is not right that they should go unpunished, and triumph forever. It is not an arbitrary thing, a thing which is indifferent, a thing which may or may not be done; it is a just and proper thing that the wicked should be punished. The doctrine is, that the future punishment of the wicked is just and proper; and that, being just and proper, it will be inflicted. Many suppose that there would be no justice in the eternal punishment of the wicked; that the threatening of that punishment is wholly arbitrary; that it might easily be dispensed with, and that because it is unjust it will not be inflicted, and need not be dreaded. But that it is just and proper, a very slight degree of reflection must show. Because:

(1) It is inconceivable that God should threaten such punishment unless it were just. How can it be reconciled with his perfections that he can hold up before mankind the assurance that any of them will be punished forever, unless it be right that it should be so? Can we believe that he deliberately threatens what is wrong, or that, in the face of the universe, he publicly declares his intention to do what is wrong?

(2) People themselves believe that it is just that the wicked should be punished. They are constantly making laws, and affixing penalties to them, and executing them, under the belief that it is right. Can they regard it as wrong in God to do the same thing? Can that be wrong in him which is right in themselves?

(3) If it is right to punish wickedness here, it is not wrong to punish it in the future world. There is nothing in the two places which can change the nature of what is done. If it is right for God to visit the sinner here with the tokens of his displeasure, there is nothing which can make it wrong to visit him in like manner in the future world. Why should that be wrong in another world which is right and proper in this?

(4) It will be a righteous thing for God to punish the wicked in a future state, for they are not always punished here as they deserve. No one can seriously maintain that there is an equal distribution of rewards and punishments on the earth. Many a man goes to the grave having received no adequate punishment for his crimes. Many a murderer, pirate, robber, traitor, and plunderer of nations under the name of a conqueror, thus dies. No one can doubt that it would be a just thing to punish them here if they could be arrested. Why should it be any the less just to punish them when they enter another world? In like manner, many a man lives a life of profligacy; or is an open scoffer; or aims to cast off the government of God; or is a seducer of innocence; and yet lives in the midst of wealth, and goes down in calmness and peace to the grave; Psa 73:3-5; Job 21:23-33. Why is it not just that such an one should be punished in the future world? compare Psa 73:16-20. But, if it is right that God should punish the wicked in the future world, it will be done. Because:

(1) There is nothing to hinder him from doing it. He has all power, and has all necessary means of inflicting punishment, entirely at his disposal.

(2) It would not be right not to do it. It is not right for a magistrate to treat the righteous and the wicked alike, or to show that he has as much regard to the one as to the other.

(3) It cannot be believed that God has uttered a threatening which he never meant to execute, or to appear before the universe as having held up before men the terror of the most awful punishment which could be inflicted, but which he never intended to carry into effect. Who could have confidence in such a Being? Who could know what to believe when he makes the most solemn declaration?

(4) The Judge of all the earth will do right; and if it is right to declare that the wicked shall be turned into hell, it will not be wrong to inflict the sentence. And if, on the whole, it is right that the sinner should be punished, it will be done.

Them that trouble you. – Those who persecute you; see 1Th 2:14.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Th 1:6-7

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed

The two troubles and the troublers

I.

The term applied to our Lords coming revealed. To reveal is to uncover what is hidden. This may be done in two ways–

1. Spiritually, as Jesus is now evidently set forth in His gospel.

2. Outwardly.

(1) In this way Christ has been already revealed, but only partially. Few saw Him, and those few very little.

(2) By and by He will come without disguise and every eye shall see Him.

II. The different portions which will then be given to various persons.

1. The troublers and their portion.

(1) Wherever God has a people there will sure to be troublers.

(2) Sometimes God visits such with His displeasure here, just to show that He marks what they are doing, but generally He seems to let them alone.

(3) Their position is–

(a) Tribulation. Of this we all know something, but the deepest sorrow we have ever felt compared with this is as a summer cloud to winter midnight.

(b) Recompense. It is to come upon them as a consequence of their unkindness to Gods people. Wretched they would have been had they let these people alone, but because they would not they shall be still more wretched.

(4) How seldom do some of us think of this. We regard the hard speeches of the ungodly as little more than the outbursts of prejudice, ill-humour, or harmless pleasantry; but God regards them differently.

(5) How this truth magnifies the love Christ bears to us, grounding His judicial proceedings on the conduct of men towards us as well as toward Himself. He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of My eye.

2. The portion of the troubled.

(1) We must not think that we are in the number of these because the world ill-treats us. The world frequently torments its own followers.

(2) The blessing pronounced is–

(a) rest. The very thing for which most of us long. We are often grieved at this longing: but Christ in His compassion shows us that holy Paul had the same longings, and that they were lawful. This compassion is further shown in this revelation of heaven. Were we in that place where they rest not day nor night we should never call it by that name. That activity is quite in harmony with this rest; but Christ does not dwell upon it because He is addressing weary men.

(b) Rest with us. It will be a rest of the same kind as that enjoyed by the highest saints. It may be enough to be with Christ; but if we love Him we shall love His people, and to meet with the latter also will augment our joy. Paul could enter into this. It gave him as much joy as them.

III. The righteousness of this.

1. Christ came as a Saviour, and accordingly displayed love and mercy; He will come as a Judge, and what we look for in a judge is equity. Gods justice now is very much a matter of faith, but then it will be made fully manifest.

2. To bring this about there must be evident justice in the portions assigned to different men. Their destinies must be suited to their character and conduct. See standing before the Judge two separate companies. Here are those who bore willingly hatred and reproach for His names sake–there are those who reproached and hated them because they loved His name. Without looking any farther we see the force of these words.

(1) These latter have troubled Gods people, and it is but their desert that they should be troubled in their turn.

(2) The harassed people find rest. True they merit it not, and remembering what they are we should have expected the apostle to say, It is a merciful thing with God to give you rest. This he does say elsewhere, but here he enters into his Masters feelings who thinks only of His peoples services and forgets their sins.

3. What the grace of God leads Him to promise His justice will lead Him to perform. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Divine retribution a manifestation of Divine justice:–

I. The justice of God.

1. Justice is Gods attribute as Governor. It is twofold.

(1) General–the perfection of the Divine nature. This is the same with His holiness. God loves righteousness and hates iniquity necessarily (Psa 5:4; Zec 3:5).

(2) Particular which respects His office as Judge of the world (Deu 32:4).

2. Of His government there are two acts.

(1) Legislative justice, which determines mans duty, binds him to the performance and defines the rewards and punishments which shall be due upon mans obedience and disobedience (Deu 30:15).

(2) Judiciary or distributive justice, whereby He renders to all men according to their works (Rom 2:6; 1Pe 1:17). This is twofold.

(a) Rewarding (Heb 6:10; 2Ti 4:8).

(b) Vindictive or punishing (Rom 2:7-9; Joh 3:19; Heb 10:29).

3. This distributive justice is exercised.

(1) More darkly here: yet even here the wicked are punished and the righteous rewarded (Rom 1:18; Psa 58:11).

(2) More plainly hereafter (Rom 2:5). The difference between the last time and this is–

(a) That the righteous and the wicked have but the beginnings of their reward and punishment: the wicked inwardly (Heb 2:15; Eph 4:19; Psa 81:12) and even outwardly, as witness the fall of nations, and the sudden and otherwise unaccountable destruction of individuals; so the righteous have inwardly much of his love, peace, etc.; and outwardly the wicked have it not all their own way (Mal 3:17-18).

(b) Gods justice now appears more negatively than positively, i.e., God does nothing contrary to justice. As to His rewards His servants have deserved nothing which they enjoy; and as to His restraint of due punishment it is to bring the sinner to repentance.

II. This justice as applied to the different recompenses.

1. Tribulation to them that trouble you for a double reason.

(1) Their own disobedience to Gods laws (Rom 2:8).

(2) Their opposition to those that would obey God, so consenting with the devil in his apostasy (Mat 23:13; Mat 24:49).

2. To you who are troubled rest. How is this just? Things may be said to be righteous with God.

(1) In respect of strict justice when what is done deserves reward by its intrinsic value. So no obedience of man or angel can bind God to reward it.

(2) In respect of His bounty God is just. When He rewards man because he is in some way righteous. This capacity of reward respects either the righteousness of Christ (Rom 3:25-26), or the difference between the person recompensed and others. General justice requires that He should put a difference between the godly and the wicked (Psa 11:7).

(3) In respect of His promise (1Jn 1:9).

3. Particularly discuss these two effects.

(1) The troublers are to be troubled (Rom 2:9). The law of retaliation operates often in the course of providence (Jdg 1:7; Oba 1:5). Ahabs blood was lapped up by dogs where Naboth was murdered. Haman was executed on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai. Henry III of France was killed in the chamber where the massacre was contrived; and Charles IX died flowing in his blood in his bed. The rich glutton wanted a drop who gave not a crumb.

(2) The troubled rest–and the rest in proportion to the trouble. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The thought of rest

While walking through the streets of the city we passed a man whose head was whitened and body bowed by the hardships of not less than sixty years. His limbs trembled under their heavy burden, and with much apparent effort he advanced but slowly. We overheard him talking in a low and subdued voice, evidently mourning over his weariness and poverty. Suddenly his tone changed and his step quickened, as he exclaimed, Ill rest when I get home. Even the thought of rest filled him with new life, so that he pursued with energy his weary way. To us it was a lesson. If the thought of the refreshing rest of home encourages the careworn labourer so that, almost unmindful of fatigue and burdens, he quickens his step homeward, surely the Christian, journeying heaven ward, in view of such a rest, should press onward with renewed vigour. This little incident often comes to mind amid the perplexing labours of the day, and stimulates to more constant and earnest effort. Each labourer toiling in his Masters vine yard, bearing the heat and burden of the day, can say, Ill rest when I get home.

Rest after suffering

None of us who have not read deeply into history can under stand how utterly the Russian and German peoples were threshed, as straw is threshed on the summer threshing floor, by the iron flail of Bonaparte. So extreme was the suffering that it broke the heart of that most beautiful and noble woman, the wife of King William, the father of the late Kaiser. She died, as it were, struggling with the sorrows of her people. For her her husband erected a tomb in the environs of Berlin. I can hardly mention it without tears. It is peculiarly built, standing alone in a forest, with glass that throws a sombre light upon all the hither part of it, while on the far part the golden and natural light of the sun shines–as if this side, where you enter, represented the gloom of this world, and the other side, where she lies, carved in marble over her dust, represented the light and the glory of the more blessed land. When I first was there I had read about, but never had fairly conceived of, that which met my eyes. The queen, sculptured at full length, lies as one upon a bed at rest. There is the most exquisite expression of having at last come to full, perfect, and joyful rest. (H. W. Beecher.)

Rest for the troubled

I. What is this rest? It is–

1. A felicitating rest. In it there is–

(1) Freedom from all troublesome evils.

(a) Sin (Rom 7:24) is the most grievous, but in heaven there is no sin (Eph 5:27). In paradise there was a tempter, but not in heaven.

(b) Misery and affliction (Rev 22:4).

(2) An enjoyment of all good, even God. To our felicity three things are necessary.

(a) A prepared faculty;

(b) a suitable object;

(c) the conjunction of these.

In a state of glory these things concur. The faculty is more prepared than here as we are purged from sin and fleshly delusions–the object is more manifested (1Co 13:12); the conjunction is more intimate; for here it is by faith, there by vision, here by an imperfect, there by a perfect love.

2. A holy rest, a perpetual sabbatizing (Heb 4:9). The Sabbath is not a time of idleness; on it the sacrifices were doubled (Num 28:1). So our service is not ended with our lives; holy work will be part of the blessedness of heaven (Rev 7:14-15).

3. A rest for the whole person–body and soul.

II. Why our reward is represented as rest. Because it suits–

1. The aim of the saints. It is the end of motion. None have it but those that seek after it. We are all travelling to the other world. Some are posting to eternal torment on the broad road, others to life and rest by the narrow way (Mat 7:13-14). Every day a Christian gets nearer the goal (Rom 13:11).

2. The goodness of God, who delights to recompense His people for their pain and weariness. He has a care for His weary servants here and gives them rest (Isa 50:4; Mat 11:28).

III. rest with us.

1. All Christians have the same felicity for substance though the degrees are different. Those who have been together in the labour, duty, and danger shall be together in the rest and recompense (Mat 25:1). The grounds of essential happiness are the same to all.

(1) The same Redeemer (Exo 30:15; 1Co 1:2; Rom 3:22).

(2) The same covenant which is the common charter of the saints (Act 2:39). It is a covenant which–

(a) Offers the same benefits, pardon, life (Rom 4:23-24; 2Ti 4:8).

(b) Requires the same duties (Gal 6:16; Rom 1:16).

2. Though the essential happiness of the saints is the same, yet there are degrees in glory. What relation holiness has to heaven, so more holiness here means more happiness there.

3. It is a comfortable adjunct to our felicity that we shall have such company there (Mat 8:11; Heb 12:22-23; Eph 2:19; Eph 3:15). Let this promote church unity. (T. Manton, D. D.)

The craving for rest

No one will easily believe how anxiously, for a long time, I have wished to retire from these labours into a scene of tranquility, and, for the rest of my life (dwindled, it is true, to the shortest span) to converse only with Him who once cried, Come unto Me all ye that labour, etc. In this turbulent and raging world, amid so many cares, which the state of the times heaps upon me in public, or which declining years and infirmity cause me in private, nothing do I find on which my mind can more comfortably repose than on secret communion with God. (Erasmus.)

Rest not for the present

Epaminondas, before going into battle with the Lacedaemonians, sat down to rest for a few moments, when his seat fell under him. That, quoth the soldiers, bodes no good. Nay, said their leader, with happy pre sence of mind; it is an intimation to me that I have no business to be sitting here when I should be leading you against the enemy. (Percy Anecdotes.)

Rest not on earth

There is the tradition of an Indian chief who with his wife fled before the prairie fires till he had crossed a broad river; when he struck his tent pole into the ground and cried, Alabama! (here we may rest). He was no prophet. Hostile tribes overpowered them; and they found only their graves where they sought a home. This is, may be, a parable of the soul; for it earth has no Alabama. (E. Foster.)

Rest at last

The pass of Glencoe in Scotland is reached by a long, steep, and winding path; but at its top is a stone with the inscription Rest and be thankful. Such is the pilgrims path; but at its end is heaven, on whose gates may be read a similar inscription. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 6. Seeing it is a righteous thing] Though God neither rewards nor punishes in this life in a general way, yet he often gives proofs of his displeasure, especially against those who persecute his followers. They, therefore, who have given you tribulation, shall have tribulation in recompense.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

By these words the apostle doth illustrate his argument for a judgment to come, taken from the persecutions and tribulations of the saints. It is of necessity that God should be righteous, and recompensing is a necessary act of righteousness; but we yet see it not, therefore there is a judgment to come. And this recompence is both to the righteous and the wicked, the persecutors and persecuted. The former he here speaks first of: and to recompense tribulation to them that trouble the people of God, is a just recompence; it is according to the law of retaliation, whereof we have some instances in this world, as in Pharaoh, Adoni-bezek, Haman, &c.; and many others, whereof we have a large account in the history of the church and her persecutors; but this will be more fully verified in the judgment to come, called the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Rom 2:5. And Gods recompence to them is here called tribulation; so Rom 2:9. And though in other scriptures the punishment of the wicked is set forth by other names, yet here it is called by this name; not only for elegancy of speech, by a paranomasia, but to parallel their suffering to their sin; they brought tribulation upon others, and God will bring it upon them. And under this word is comprehended all the torments of hell, which our Saviour expresseth by weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, Mat 8:12, which is the extremity of tribulation. And it is said here, God will recompense, &c., which should teach us not to revenge ourselves; as Psa 94:1; Rom 12:19. And this the apostle sets before these Thessalonians by way of comfort; not that we ought to reioice in mens destruction merely for itself, but in the honour that will thereby arise to Gods justice, and in the favour, honour, and salvation God will vouchsafe to his people herein.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. seeing it is a righteousthingThis justifies the assertion above of there being a”righteous judgment” (2Th1:5), namely, “seeing that it is (literally, ‘if atleast,‘ ‘if at all events it is‘) a righteous thingwith (that is, in the estimation of) God” (which, as we allfeel, it certainly is). Our own innate feeling of what is just, inthis confirms what is revealed.

recompenserequite inkind, namely, tribulation to them that trouble you(affliction to those that afflict you); and to you whoare troubled, rest from trouble.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God,…. That which is righteous in itself, is righteous in the sight of God, but it is not always so with men; men may think it a righteous thing that they should be rewarded for persecuting the followers of Christ, supposing they hereby do God good service; but on the contrary, with God, and in his sight and account, it is a righteous thing, or a point of justice,

to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you: persecution is an affliction, or a trouble to the saints; persecutors trouble them in their minds and bodies, in their persons and property; they trouble their minds by casting reflections and reproaches upon them, by severe revilings, and cruel mockings, which all are not alike able to bear; and they trouble and afflict their bodies by imprisonment and bonds, by scourging and beating, and various cruel and torturing deaths; and they disturb them in the possession of their estates, by spoiling their goods, and confiscating them to their own use; and it is but according to “lex talionis”, the law of retaliation, to render tribulation to such troublers of God’s Israel; and to them it is recompensed, either in this world, or in the world to come: sometimes in this world persecutors are manifest instances of God’s judgments and wrath upon them, as Herod, who stretched out his hands to vex certain of the church, killed James the brother of John, and imprisoned Peter, and was smitten by the angel of the Lord, and was eaten of worms; and the Jews, who were now the only and the implacable persecutors of the saints, in a short time had the wrath of God come upon them to the uttermost, even upon their nation, city, and temple, upon their persons and property. And if not in this life, it is a certain thing that hereafter such shall have indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish; they shall be cast into outward darkness, into the lake of fire; and the hottest place in hell will be their portion, even devouring flames, and everlasting burnings; and are what is designed by tribulations here.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

If so be that it is a righteous thing with God ( ). Condition of first class, determined as fulfilled, assumed as true, but with (if on the whole, provided that) as in Rom 8:9; Rom 8:17, and with no copula expressed. A righteous thing “with God” means by the side of God ( ) and so from God’s standpoint. This is as near to the idea of absolute right as it is possible to attain. Note the phrase in verse 5.

To recompense affliction to them that afflict you ( ). Second aorist active infinitive of double compound –, old verb, either in good sense as in 1Th 3:9 or in bad sense as here. Paul is certain of this principle, though he puts it conditionally.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Seeing it is [] . More literally, if so be that. Confirming, in a hypothetical form, the assertion of God ‘s judgment upon persecutors, ver.

2Th 1:5It implies no doubt, but rhetorically puts a recognized fact as a supposition. So Rom 3:30; Rom 8:9, 17; 1Co 8:5.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God” (eiper dikaion para theo) “Since a just thing it is with God”, or a righteous thing. God’s actions are always righteous and just because they are fruits or products of His holy nature, Rev 6:10.

2) “To recompense” (antapodounai) “to repay, or to pay back, to recompense”, Divine retribution, punishment for wrong, is an attribute of the holiness of God. Without it He would not be God, 2Th 1:8; Heb 10:30-31; Rom 2:5-9.

3) “Tribulation to them that trouble you” (tois thlibousin humas thlipsin) “affliction to the ones (Gentiles) afflicting you”; vengeance belongs to the Lord — He will repay; as Israel was the “apple of God’s eye”, in old Testament Days, so is the church the “apple of our Lord’s eye” in this age, His bride, espoused, for whom He shall soon return, Deu 32:10; Zec 2:8; Psa 17:8-9; 2Co 11:1-2; Act 1:10-11; Rev 19:5-9. Judgment shall be upon those who reject and persecute her; Deu 32:35; Rom 12:19; This is the assuring comfort conveyed to the Thessalonians in this letter. This is said to be the only passage in which Paul seemed to welcome God’s vengeance on the enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

6 To appoint affliction. We have already stated why it is that he makes mention of the vengeance of God against the wicked — that we may learn to rest in the expectation of a judgment to come, because God does not as yet avenge the wicked, while it is, nevertheless, necessary that they should suffer the punishment of their crimes. Believers, however, at the same time, understand by this that there is no reason why they should envy the momentary and evanescent felicity of the wicked, which will ere long be exchanged for a dreadful destruction. What he adds as to the rest of the pious, accords with the statement of Paul, (Act 3:20,) where he calls the day of the last judgment the day of refreshing

In this declaration, however, as to the good and the bad, he designed to shew more clearly how unjust and confused the government of the world would be, if God did not defer punishments and rewards till another judgment, for in this way the name of God were a thing that was dead. (629) Hence he is deprived of his office and power by all that are not intent on that righteousness of which Paul speaks.

He adds with us, that he may gain credit to his doctrine from his experience of belief in his own mind; for he shews that he does not philosophize as to things unknown, by putting himself into the same condition, and into the same rank with them. We know, however, how much more authority is due to those who have, by long practice, been exercised in those things which they teach, and do not require from others anything but what they are themselves prepared to do. Paul, therefore, does not, while himself in the shade, give instructions to the Thessalonians as to how they should fight in the heat of the sun, but, fighting vigorously, exhorts them to the same warfare. (630)

(629) “ Morte et sans vertu;” — “Dead and powerless.”

(630) “ S. Paul, donc, enseignant les Thessaloniciens comment ils doyuent combattre au milieu des afflictions, ne parle point comme vn gendarme qui estant en l’ombre et a son aise, accourageroit les autres a faire leur deuoir a la campagne au milieu de la poussiere et a la chaleur du soleil: mais combattant luy—mesme vaillamment, il les exhorte a combattre de mesme;” — “St Paul, therefore, instructing the Thessalonians how they ought to fight in the midst of afflictions, does not speak like a soldier who, while in the shade and at his ease, would encourage others to do their duty in the campaign in the midst of dust, and in the heat of the sun; but, while fighting himself valiantly, he exhorts them to contend in like manner.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

Text (2Th. 1:6-7)

6 if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, 7 and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire,

Translation and Paraphrase

6.

(We say that your endurance will work out to this happy result,) assuming (as we do) that it is a righteous (and therefore a predictable) thing on the part of God, to repay affliction to those who are afflicting you,

7.

And (to repay) rest to you who are being afflicted (along) with us. (And this will be done) at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven (when He comes) with his mighty angels.

Notes (2Th. 1:6-7)

1.

God is going to recompense (or repay) two things:

(1)

Affliction to those who afflict you.

(2)

Rest to you that are afflicted.

2.

God has always repaid people according to their works. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works. Rev. 18:6; Rev. 20:12. Those who afflict will receive affliction. Those that take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Mat. 26:52. See Jos. 6:25. Who can doubt that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to those who afflict his people?

Some people argue that God is too kind and loving to punish anyone. But the truth is that God could not be righteous and let sin and cruelty go unpunished. Those who cause you to suffer must be repaid for their wrongs if God is just and righteous.

3.

There is a similarity in some words in 2Th. 1:6-7 which is not brought out by the King James text, but is very plain in the American Standard Version:

If so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest . . .

Thus also the New English Bible:

It is surely just that God should balance the account by sending trouble to those who trouble you, and relief to you who are troubled. (Copyright, Oxford University and Cambridge University, 1961)

4.

We must leave to God the work of taking vengeance. Rom. 12:19 : Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. This verse gives us encouragement that all sin will be justly punished, and also keeps in check our own poorly informed and poorly controlled instincts for punishing others.

5.

Rest shall be given to the children of God when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. Our eternal life is a time of rest, as well as service. Rev. 14:3 : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours. Heb. 4:9 : There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God. We must work now. The rest will come later.

6.

Rest (Gr., anesis) means a loosing, relaxing, relief, rest. (Thayer). The slackening of strings that have been pulled tight. (Preachers Homiletic Commentary)

7.

The parousia of the Lord is described in this verse as not only a coming, but a revelation of the glory and judgment of the Lord. (For the meaning of parousia see notes on 1Th. 2:19-20, par. 7.)

This word revelation (Gr., apokalupsis) means an uncovering, a laying bare, instruction in things before unknown, manifestation, appearance, (Thayer) It is applied to the coming of the Lord in 1Co. 1:7; 2Th. 1:7; 1Pe. 1:7; 1Pe. 1:13; 1Pe. 4:13.

8.

We notice that BOTH the rest and the tribulation which the Lord Jesus shall recompense will be given at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven.

This cancels out the idea that the saints will have been taken out of the earth to be with the Lord several years before Christ appears in glory to all mankind. For BOTH the saints and the sinners will receive their due recompense at the revelation of the Lord. The saints are not to receive their rest several years before the sinners get their tribulation, but both will receive what they have coming at the revelation of the Lord, (For more about this, see Special Studies II and IV on pages 242 and 247.

9.

The Lord Jesus is to be revealed along with his mighty angels, Angels are indeed mighty; they even excel in strength. Psa. 103:20, Numerous Scripture passages teach that the Lord will come with his angels, his holy ones (or saints). See Mat. 24:31; Mat. 25:31, and article IV in Appendix.

If one angel laid 185,000 Assyrians low in a single night, the coming of the angels should be terrifying to sinners. Isa. 37:36.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(6) Seeing it is.Literally, if so be it is fair: a form very common in St. Paul, when he wishes to argue from some fact which he knows his readers will recognise (e.g., Rom. 8:9). Your persecution is a clear indication what Gods fair verdict will bethat He will pronounce you fitunless indeed you deny (as you will not) that it is fair to recompense the persecutors with tribulation and the persecuted with rest. The context shows that St. Paul does not mean that all suffering deserves a requital with bliss, but he does put it as a matter of common fairness that when men have suffered for the kingdoms sake God should so reward them hereafter.

With God.Such a system of requital commends itself as fair to men: is it likely to seem less fair in the eyes of God? Holy Scripture always sets forth the power of the human conscience to recognise Gods principles of action: whatever is righteous for men is so for God, and vice vers.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

6. A more complete explication of its being a token of righteous judgment.

A righteous thing A just retribution. The doom of sinners, awful as it may be, at the judgment-day, is not beyond the measure of their desert. A false humanitarianism, cultivating an exaggerated and morbid style of benevolence, and silencing the solemn voice of the stern moral monitor within, may reject the divine attribute of justice. But the proofs of that attribute reign throughout nature and history, as well as in the pages of revelation.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

6. Recompense Repay, like for like. For the individual, retaliation is no law. But for government, divine or human, it is a measure of righteousness.

Tribulation trouble The same word in Greek for both; God repays trouble for trouble. The sinner is paid in kind, to teach the universe that sin and misery are inseparably one.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Th 1:6-7. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, &c. His justice is equally concerned to afflict those in their turns who have afflicted you; 2Th 1:7 and to grant to you who have been afflicted, repose with us, &c. Heylin. With his mighty angels, should be joined to the next clause;his mighty angels in flaming fire; or, “who will make a flaming fire;” as Psa 104:3-4.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Th 1:6 . The suitableness and naturalness of this result to be expected from the righteousness of God, the mention of which was to comfort the Thessalonians and encourage them to continued endurance, is further carried out by an intimation of the retribution to be expected at the return of Christ. To assume a parenthesis from 2Th 1:6 to , 2Th 1:7 (Grotius), or to 2Th 1:10 inclusive (Moldenhauer), is unnecessary arbitrariness.

] provided , does not express any doubt, but introduces by means of an elegant expression, under the form of suspense, a saying whose truth is fully acknowledged. Comp. 8:9, 17. See Hermann, ad Viger. p. 834; Hartung, Partikellehre , I. p. 343; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 528.

] righteous , joined to , 2Th 1:5 . The apostle here places himself upon the standpoint of the strict righteousness of God, which is conceived according to the analogy of human jus talionis , and is also so asserted in Rom 2:5 ff.; 2Co 5:10 ; Eph 6:8-9 ; Col 3:24-25 . It is accordingly inadmissible to interpret , with Pelt and others, of the manifestation of divine grace . The idea that one may obtain eternal salvation by his own merits , which recently Bisping finds here expressed, is removed from the Pauline mode of thought generally, and also from this passage. Certainly, as all men are subject to sin as a ruling power, the possibility of obtaining salvation can only be contained in Christ; and that God revealed this possibility of salvation, and by the mission of Christ invited us into His kingdom, is a pure contrivance of His free grace ; but with this grace His holiness and righteousness are not abolished. There remains room for the exercise of the strict righteousness of God, as only he can enter into His eternal kingdom who, with the desire of salvation, accepts the call; whereas whoever closes himself against it, or rises up in enmity against it, must incur righteous punishment at the last day.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

Ver. 6. To recompense tribulation ] To trouble these troublers of Israel, and that throughout all eternity, because they would be always troubling God’s people if they might; as it is said of the scorpion, that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting. (Pliny.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

6 .] if at least (reff.: it refers back to above, and introduces a substantiation of it by an appeal to our ideas of strict justice) it is just with (in the esteem of, reff.) God to requite to those who trouble you, tribulation (according to the strict jus talionis ), and to you who are troubled, rest (reff.: literally, relaxation: ‘the glory of the kingdom of God on its negative side, as liberation from earthly affliction.’ Ln.) with us (viz. the writers, Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, who are troubled like yourselves: not ‘ with us ( all ) Christians ,’ as De W., al., for all Christians were not , which is the condition of this in our sentence: still less, ‘ with us Jews ,’ you being Gentiles (Bengel, al.)) at the revelation (manifestation in His appearing, reff.) of the Lord Jesus from heaven (cf. 1Th 4:16 ) with the angels of His power (no hendiadys not as E. V., ‘his mighty angels,’ which as usual, obscures and stultifies the sense: for the might of the angels is no element here, but His might , of which they are the angels serving His power and proclaiming His might) in (the) fire of flame (further specification of the above: does not belong to the following. On the analogy, see Exo 3:2 ; Exo 19:18 ; Dan 7:9-10 ) allotting (distributing as their portion: reff.) vengeance to those who know not God (the Gentiles, see reff.), and to those (the repeated indicates a new class of persons) who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus (the unbelieving Jews, see Rom 10:3 ; Rom 10:16 ), which persons ( , generic and classifying, refers back to their characteristics just mentioned, thus containing in itself the reason for &c. following (against Ellic.). See discussed by Hermann, Prf. ad Soph. d. Tyr. pp. vii xv) shall pay the penalty of everlasting destruction from (local, as in Mat 7:23 , , ‘apart from,’ see reff. (so Pisc., Beza, Schott, Olsh., Lnem., al.). It has been interpreted of time , ‘ from the time of the appearing &c.’ (Chr., c., Thl., &c.), but will not bear this: also of the cause , which would make 2Th 1:9 a mere repetition of . to . above (so Grot., Beng., Pelt, De W., Baumg.-Crus., al.)) the face of the Lord and from the glory of his Power (i.e. from the manifestation of his power in the glorification of his saints (see ref. Isa.). De W. makes these words, . . ., an objection to the local sense of . But it is not so: the being the visible localized result of the ; see next verse) when He shall have come (follows on &c. above. On the aor. subj. with , see Winer, edn. 6, 42. 5) to be glorified (aor.: by the great manifestation at His coming) in (not ‘ through ’ ( , , Chrys.: so c., Thl., Pelt, al.), nor ‘ among :’ but they will be the element of His glorification: He will be glorified in them, just as the Sun is reflected in a mirror) his saints (not angels, but holy men), and to be wondered at in (see above) all them that believed (aor. participle, looking back from that day on the past), because our testimony to you (ref., not ., as belongs immediately to ) was believed (parenthesis, serving to include the Thessalonians among the ), in that day (of which we all know: to be joined with ., &c., not with , &c., as Syr., Ambr., Grot., al., who also take . as a future, ‘for in that day our testimony with regard to you will be substantiated.’ Most unwarrantable requiring also instead of – .

Calvin says, ‘repetit in die illa ideo autem repetit, ut fidelium vota cohibeat, ne ultra modum festinent.’ I should rather say, to give more fixity and definiteness to the foregoing). We may observe, as against Jowett’s view of the arguments here being merely “they suffer now; therefore their enemies will suffer hereafter: their enemies will suffer hereafter; therefore they will be comforted hereafter,” that the arguments are nothing of the kind, resting entirely on the word , bringing in as it does all the relations of the Christian covenant, of them to God, and God to them, and by contrast, of God to their enemies and persecutors.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Seeing = If so be. Greek. eiper.

with. App-104.

trouble. Greek. thlibo, afflict. The noun in 2Th 1:7.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

6.] if at least (reff.: it refers back to above, and introduces a substantiation of it by an appeal to our ideas of strict justice) it is just with (in the esteem of, reff.) God to requite to those who trouble you, tribulation (according to the strict jus talionis), and to you who are troubled, rest (reff.: literally, relaxation: the glory of the kingdom of God on its negative side, as liberation from earthly affliction. Ln.) with us (viz. the writers, Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, who are troubled like yourselves: not with us (all) Christians, as De W., al.,-for all Christians were not , which is the condition of this in our sentence: still less, with us Jews, you being Gentiles (Bengel, al.)) at the revelation (manifestation in His appearing, reff.) of the Lord Jesus from heaven (cf. 1Th 4:16) with the angels of His power (no hendiadys-not as E. V., his mighty angels, which as usual, obscures and stultifies the sense: for the might of the angels is no element here, but His might, of which they are the angels-serving His power and proclaiming His might) in (the) fire of flame (further specification of the above: does not belong to the following. On the analogy, see Exo 3:2; Exo 19:18; Dan 7:9-10) allotting (distributing as their portion: reff.) vengeance to those who know not God (the Gentiles, see reff.), and to those (the repeated indicates a new class of persons) who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus (the unbelieving Jews, see Rom 10:3; Rom 10:16), which persons (, generic and classifying, refers back to their characteristics just mentioned, thus containing in itself the reason for &c. following (against Ellic.). See discussed by Hermann, Prf. ad Soph. d. Tyr. pp. vii-xv) shall pay the penalty of everlasting destruction from (local, as in Mat 7:23, ,-apart from, see reff. (so Pisc., Beza, Schott, Olsh., Lnem., al.). It has been interpreted of time,-from the time of the appearing &c. (Chr., c., Thl., &c.), but will not bear this:-also of the cause, which would make 2Th 1:9 a mere repetition of . to . above (so Grot., Beng., Pelt, De W., Baumg.-Crus., al.)) the face of the Lord and from the glory of his Power (i.e. from the manifestation of his power in the glorification of his saints (see ref. Isa.). De W. makes these words, …, an objection to the local sense of . But it is not so:-the being the visible localized result of the ; see next verse) when He shall have come (follows on &c. above. On the aor. subj. with , see Winer, edn. 6, 42. 5) to be glorified (aor.: by the great manifestation at His coming) in (not through (, , Chrys.: so c., Thl., Pelt, al.), nor among: but they will be the element of His glorification: He will be glorified in them, just as the Sun is reflected in a mirror) his saints (not angels, but holy men), and to be wondered at in (see above) all them that believed (aor. participle, looking back from that day on the past),-because our testimony to you (ref., not ., as belongs immediately to ) was believed (parenthesis, serving to include the Thessalonians among the ),-in that day (of which we all know: to be joined with ., &c., not with , &c., as Syr., Ambr., Grot., al., who also take . as a future, for in that day our testimony with regard to you will be substantiated. Most unwarrantable-requiring also instead of -.

Calvin says, repetit in die illa ideo autem repetit, ut fidelium vota cohibeat, ne ultra modum festinent. I should rather say, to give more fixity and definiteness to the foregoing). We may observe, as against Jowetts view of the arguments here being merely they suffer now; therefore their enemies will suffer hereafter:-their enemies will suffer hereafter; therefore they will be comforted hereafter,-that the arguments are nothing of the kind, resting entirely on the word , bringing in as it does all the relations of the Christian covenant, of them to God, and God to them,-and by contrast, of God to their enemies and persecutors.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Th 1:6. , with God) Although good and bad men do not estimate the injuries done by the latter, and the sufferings endured by the former, as of so great importance.–, affliction [tribulation]-to them that afflict [trouble]) The lex talionis [compensation in kind]. To this refer 2Th 1:8-9.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Th 1:6

if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you,-While God permitted them to suffer persecution as a means of testing and strengthening their faith and love, he recompensed tribulation on those who troubled them. God uses wicked men to try the faith and love of his servants, to test their worthiness, and then so orders that these wicked persecutors are punished for the evil they brought on his servants. God works in and through his people and overrules and controls the courses of the wicked.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Deu 32:41-43, Psa 74:22, Psa 74:23, Psa 79:10-12, Psa 94:20-23, Isa 49:26, Zec 2:8, Rev 6:10, Rev 11:18, Rev 15:4, Rev 16:5, Rev 16:6, Rev 18:20, Rev 18:24, Rev 19:2

Reciprocal: Jos 7:25 – Why hast Est 9:5 – smote Job 3:17 – the wicked Job 34:33 – he will Psa 7:13 – persecutors Psa 17:2 – Let my Psa 18:24 – the Lord recompensed me Psa 34:21 – they Psa 35:24 – Judge Psa 71:16 – thy righteousness Psa 92:15 – and Psa 119:132 – as thou usest to do unto those Psa 119:142 – an everlasting Pro 12:14 – and Ecc 3:17 – God Isa 34:8 – General Isa 66:5 – but Isa 66:15 – the Lord Jer 50:34 – that he Jer 51:56 – the Lord Dan 9:16 – according Joe 3:4 – swiftly Joe 3:7 – and will Joe 3:19 – for Hab 3:16 – that I Mat 7:2 – General Mat 10:41 – a righteous man’s Mat 18:6 – offend Mar 9:42 – it Luk 18:7 – avenge Luk 21:36 – accounted Rom 2:9 – Tribulation Rom 3:5 – Is God 2Co 4:17 – worketh Phi 1:28 – an 2Th 1:5 – manifest 2Ti 4:8 – the righteous 2Ti 4:14 – reward Heb 6:10 – God Rev 2:9 – tribulation Rev 14:13 – Yea

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2Th 1:6. God will suffer evil men to persecute His children in this world, knowing they will withstand the test and thus prove their worthiness to be counted as heirs of the kingdom. But these evil doers will get their just dues after a while, and such a dealing with them is declared to be a righteous thing. Recompense means to repay or “deal out”; tribulation denotes trouble or punishment. The verse means that God will deal out punishment to the ones who have been troubling His children.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Th 1:6. If indeed it is a righteous thing with God. The confirmation of what has been said is put hypothetically to suggest the impossibility of the contrary supposition, and so present the truth of the reason in the most convincing form. The reference is specially to the words righteous judgment of 2Th 1:5.

To recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. This is the jus talionis, the law of retaliation, of meting to a man according to his own measure. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; this is the inviolable Divine order. And just as many instances of the punishment of sin in life startle us by the exactness of the retribution, so here Paul by the words he chooses designs to indicate pointedly that this exactness will characterize the final judgment. It is the doctrine also of James (2Th 2:13), He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our apostle had shown in the foregoing verse, that their patience under persecution was a manifest evidence of God’s intending them a portion of that kingdom, for which they suffered persecution; now in this verse he denounces the persecutor’s doom upon them, namely, That the righteous nature of God did oblige him to recompense tribulation, and to repay trouble, to all such as did trouble them, and unkindly persecute them for righteousness’ sake.

Learn thence, That as persecutors generally do continue finally impenitent, so the heaviest stroke of divine vengeance shall fall on such, in the day of God’s most righteous judgment: It is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble you.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

2Th 1:6-8. Seeing it is a righteous thing However men may judge of it; with God To whom belongeth vengeance, (Rom 12:19,) and who will avenge his elect that cry unto him day and night; to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you To remove the pressure from you to them. And it is remarkable that about this time, at the passover, the Jews raising a tumult, a great number, some say thirty thousand of them, were slain. St. Paul seems to allude to this beginning of sorrows, 1Th 2:16, which did not end but with their destruction. And to you that are troubled That suffer persecution; rest with us If not in the present world, where we do not ourselves expect it, yet at last, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven. By the word , here rendered rest, or, as it more properly means, relaxation, the apostle does not mean deliverance from persecution. The believing Jews, with whom St. Paul here ranks himself, had no relaxation in that sense any more than the believing Gentiles. But he meant deliverance from the troubles of this life at death, and the enjoyment of eternal rest, the rest of God, partly entered into then, and more especially after the coming of Christ here spoken of. With his mighty angels Who shall be the ministers of his power in the execution of this great and awful judgment. In flaming fire To which the aerial heavens and the earth are reserved, (2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10,) and by which they shall be destroyed; taking vengeance Or inflicting punishment, as also signifies; see 1Pe 2:14, where the same word is translated punishment. Does God, as some say, barely permit this punishment to come upon his enemies? or, as the Lord once rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, (Gen 19:24,) does a fiery stream go forth from him? Who know not God By an experimental and practical knowledge; who know him not so as, 1st, To be humbled before him, Job 40:4-5; Job 42:5-6; Job 2 d, To trust in him, (Psa 9:10,) namely, for pardon, holiness, and eternal life, being first truly penitent; 3d, To love him with a love shed abroad in their hearts, Joh 4:7; 4th, To keep his commandments, 1Jn 2:3-4; 1 John , , 5 th, To be transformed into his image, 2Co 3:18. In which passages the fruits of the saving knowledge of God are designedly specified, and two of them at least, namely, love and obedience to God, declared to be absolutely essential to the true knowledge of him. Reader, examine thyself! Does thy knowledge of the one living and true God produce these fruits? Surely it cannot, unless he that commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into thy heart, to give thee the knowledge of his glory in and by Jesus Christ, 2Co 4:6; unless the Son of God hath given thee an understanding to know him, 1Jn 5:20. And who obey not the gospel Who do not receive its truths and promises with a lively faith, productive of love and obedience, Christ being the author of eternal salvation only to those that love and obey him, 1Co 16:22; Heb 5:9. Believing the gospel is often termed by St. Paul the obedience of faith, both because God hath commanded men to believe it, and because it contains not only doctrines to be credited, threatenings to be revered, and promises to be trusted, but also a variety of precepts necessary to be obeyed. Probably in the former clause, who know not God, the apostle had chiefly the unbelieving Gentiles in view, and in this latter the unbelieving Jews.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you,

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

ARGUMENT 3

THE RAPTURE

Paul gave us the largest paragraph in the first epistle on the rapture of the saints. Here we have it again in glowing colors, describing the unearthly

splendors of that glorious revelation of the triumphant God-man in scenes of grandeur, sublimity, and glory, beggaring all description.

6. An awful retribution awaits the persecutors of Gods saints.

7. To you who are troubled rest with us. How glorious to have rest with apostles and saints in that awful day! Shall we have it? It is the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, with the angels of his power.

8. In fire of flame. Fire throughout the Bible means destruction. It is the regular symbol of sanctification, because sin is destroyed in that work. Here, as in Daniel 7, it symbolizes the destruction of the wicked when our Lord comes in his glory to execute retribution on the incorrigible, to gather his saints, take up his Bride, and receive his crown at the hands of the Father, King of kings and Lord of lords. The finally incorrigible are to be destroyed, as symbolized by the fire here, and Daniel 7, Act 3:23, Rev 11:18.

9. Eternal destruction. Aionion is the strong word in the Greek language for endless punishment. It is used by the Holy Ghost to reveal the eternity of the heavenly life (Mat 24:46), human redemption (Heb 9:12), and God (5:14).

10. When he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be wondered at in that day among all the believers, because our testimony was believed by you. O what a time of wonder and admiration! Immortal tongue fails to describe the ineffable glories of our King, who will be the center of adoring wonder by all his saints. Meanwhile we will be lost in utter bewilderment in contemplating Gods mercy to us, and how it happened, in the wonderful providence of God, that we ever believed his Word and got saved. Shall you and I participate in the enraptured wonders and glories of Gods saints in that day?

11. Well do we join Paul in his prayers in your behalf, that God may count us worthy of our high calling in Christ.

1. We pray you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering unto him. When our Lord comes, all the members of his Bridehood will be gathered to him, and taken up to the marriage supper in heaven.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

1:6 {3} Seeing [it is] a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

(3) A proof: God is just, and therefore he will worthily punish the unjust, and will do away the miseries of his people.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

In the future God in His justice would punish the Thessalonians’ persecutors and give rest to his readers as well as to all Christians who suffer affliction for the gospel. This will take place when Jesus Christ returns to the earth in judgment. This is not a reference to the Rapture. The judgments described in the following verses (2Th 1:9-10) will not take place then. It is a reference to Christ’s (second) coming at the end of the Tribulation (cf. Psa 2:1-9; Mat 25:31). Then Christ will punish those who do not know God (cf. Rom 1:18-32; Jer 10:25; Psa 79:6; Isa 66:15) and those who do not obey the gospel (cf. Joh 3:36). The former group may be Gentiles and the latter Jews. [Note: Thomas, p. 313; James E. Frame, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, p. 233; I. Howard Marshall, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, pp. 177-78.] However this is probably a case of synonymous parallelism in which both descriptions refer to both Jews and Gentiles. [Note: Wanamaker, p. 227.] He will put them to death and will not allow them to enter the Millennium (cf. Psalms 2; Eze 20:33-38; Joe 3:1-2; Joe 3:12; Zep 3:8; Zec 14:1-19; Mat 25:31-46). [Note: For further information concerning the judgments on Israel and the Gentiles at the Second Coming, see John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom, pp. 276-95.] Note the contrasts between the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4 and the Second Coming in 2 Thessalonians 1. [Note: Adapted from Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Ready, p. 131.]

1 Thessalonians 4	2 Thessalonians 1
Christ returns in the air.	Christ returns to the earth.
He comes secretly for the church.	He comes openly with the church.
Believers escape the Tribulation.	Unbelievers experience tribulation and judgment.
The Rapture occurs at an undisclosed time.	The Second Coming occurs at the end of the Tribulation in the day of the Lord.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)