5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” (2 Thessalonians 1:5–7 (ESV)
Continuing the discussion of evil, it is not only important to understand the existence of evil, but also God’s purpose for it, and His judgment of it. AS previously stated, God exists, evil exists, God wills evil to exist, and God will judge evil and evildoers.
The Apostle wrote, “since indeed God considers it just to repay.” The phrase since indeed (εἴπερ; eiper) means after all or indicates a probability or an assured condition. The apostle assured the Thessalonians God would do something in response to the evil suffering they experienced by opponents to the Gospel. What would the Lord do; then and now?
The phrase considers it just to repay (παρὰ δίκαιον; para dikaion) means to have an opinion of what is just and righteous. God has the opinion it is just and righteous of Him to bring repayment. To repay (ἀνταποδοῦναι; antapodounai) refers to retribution, reprisal and payback. To what and to whom is the Lord bringing justice?
The text says, “to repay with affliction those who afflict you,” Affliction (θλῖψιν; thilpsin) is distress, trouble and suffering. This affliction was brought by those who afflict (θλίβουσιν; thlibousin) or bring persecution and suffering upon believers in Christ. God brings the same level of affliction upon the afflicters they bring upon the afflicted.
“And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.” The Lord not only promised to being justice upon those who afflict, but also to being relief to the afflicted. Relief (ἄνεσιν; anesin) is rest from trouble and difficulty. This relief would be not only for the Thessalonians but also for Paul, Silas and Timothy. By contemporary application, God’s relief is for every believer in Christ who has suffered for the truth of the Gospel.
When will this ultimate justice and relief come? The text says, “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” The word revealed (ἀποκαλύψει; apokallypsis) means to disclose and to make fully known. This is the English world apocalypse.
Commentator Criag Keener says, “As in Jewish literature, so here the righteous receive rest from their tribulation only at the same time that God vindicates them by his final judgment on the wicked (cf. also Deut. 32:34–36, 41). Fire burning one’s adversaries was a common image in the Old Testament (e.g., Num. 11:1; Ps. 97:3; Is. 26:11; 66:15–16, 24; cf. Jer. 4:4; 15:14; 17:4; 21:12; Ezek. 21:31; 22:20; Nahum 1:6; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8). This image was natural because of the use of fire in war and because “wrath” was often described in Hebrew and cognate languages in terms of “burning,”[1]
This also became customary end-time imagery in Jewish literature; in some Jewish texts the whole earth would be destroyed, in others the kingdom would be established without such cosmic transformation. But the wording here is particularly from Isaiah 66:15. The “mighty” angels are envisioned as the Lord’s army.[2]
Dr. William Hendriksen writes, “In a touching manner the passage is so worded that association with others in suffering for the cause of Christ (note verse 5: “you, too, are suffering”) is balanced by association with others in enjoyment of rest (“rest with us,” that is, with Paul, Silas, Timothy, and, of course, with all other believers).
This rest—freedom from every form of bondage, and everlasting peace in the presence of the God of love—will be granted to believers “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven.”[3]
“Paul is fond of this word revelation (ἀποκάλυψις, literally uncovering, the removal of the veil). Often, he uses it in the sense of a disclosure of divine truth (Rom. 2:5; 16:25; 1 Cor. 14:6, 26; 2 Cor. 12:1, 7; Gal. 1:12; Eph. 3:3). In the present instance, however, the term has reference to the glorious manifestation of the Lord at his second coming. So also in 1 Cor. 1:7. Then the veil which now hides him from our view will be taken away, for we shall see him in his majestic descent from heaven (see on 1 Thess. 4:16). The expression “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven” means “when the Lord Jesus will be revealed, coming from heaven:”[4]
God exists. Evil exists. God wills evil to exist for His purpose and ultimate glory. God will punish evil and evildoers. May we rest assured of God’s salvation of sinners by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 2 Th 1:6–7.
[2] Ibid.
[3] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of I-II Thessalonians, vol. 3, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 158.
[4] Ibid.
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