Preface to the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessa
CLA_2TH.PDF, source PDF p. 3
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL
THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
FOR an account of Thessalonica, and St. Paul’s labours there, the reader is requested to consult the preface to the preceding epistle. That this second epistle was written shortly after the first, and from the same place too, is very probable, from this circumstance, that the same persons, Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, who addressed the Church at Thessalonica in the former epistle, address the same Church in this; and as three such apostolic men were rarely long together in the same place, it is very likely that the two epistles were written not only in the same year, but also within a very short time of each other. It appears that the person who carried the first epistle returned speedily to Corinth, and gave the apostle a particular account of the state of the Thessalonian Church; and, among other things, informed him that many were in expectation of the speedy arrival of the day of judgment; and that they inferred from his epistle already sent, 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 17; 5:4, 6, that it was to take place while the apostle and themselves should be yet alive. And it appears probable, from some parts of this epistle, that he was informed also that some, expecting this sudden appearance of the Lord Jesus, had given up all their secular concerns as inconsistent with a due preparation for such an important and awful event; see 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13. To correct such a misapprehension, and redeem them from an error, which, if appearing to rest on the authority of an apostle, must in its issue be ruinous to the cause of Christianity, St. Paul would feel himself constrained to write immediately; and this is a sufficient reason why these epistles should appear to have been written at so short a distance from each other. What rendered this speedy intervention of the apostle’s authority and direction the more necessary, was, that there appear to have been some in that Church who professed to have a revelation concerning this thing, and to have endeavoured to confirm it by a pretended report from the apostle himself, and from the words already referred to in the former epistle; see here on 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2: “We beseech you, brethren, be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by SPIRIT, nor by WORD, nor by LETTER as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” As the apostle, in this epistle, 2 Thessalonians 3:2, entreats the Thessalonians to pray the Lord that he and his companions might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, Dr. Macknight supposes that the epistle was written soon after the insurrection of the Jews at Corinth, in which they dragged Paul before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, and accused him of persuading men to worship God contrary to the law; Acts 18:13. This argument places it also in the year 52, or 53, in the twelfth or thirteenth of Claudius the successor of Caius.
As there have been some eminent Christian writers who have entertained the same opinion with those at Thessalonica, that not only St. Paul, but other apostles of Christ, did believe that the day of general judgment should take place in their time, which opinion is shown by the event to be absolutely false; it appears to be a matter of the utmost consequence to the credit of Divine revelation, to rescue the character of the apostles from such an imputation. Dr. Macknight has written well on this subject, as the following extract from his preface to this epistle will prove:- “Grotius, Locke, and others,” says he, “have affirmed that the apostles believed that the end of the world was to happen in their time; and that they have declared this to be their belief in various passages of their epistles. But these learned men, and all who join them in that opinion, have fallen into a most pernicious error; for thereby they destroy the authority of the Gospel revelation, at least as far as it is contained in the discourses and writings of the apostles; because, if they have erred in a matter of such importance, and which they affirm was revealed to them by Christ, they may have been mistaken in other matters also, where their inspiration is not more strongly asserted by them than in this instance. It is therefore necessary to clear them from so injurious an imputation. “And first, with respect to Paul, who was an apostle of Christ, and Silvanus, who was a prophet, and a chief man among the brethren, and Timothy, who was eminent for his spiritual gifts, I observe that the epistle under our consideration affords the clearest proof that these men knew the truth concerning the coming of Christ to judge the world; for in it they expressly assured the Thessalonians that the persons who made them believe the day of judgment was at hand were deceiving them; that, before the day of judgment, there was to be a great apostasy in religion, occasioned by the man of sin, who at that time was restrained from showing himself, but who was to be revealed in his season; that, when revealed, he will sit, that is, remain a long time in the Church of God, as God, and showing himself that he is God; and that, afterwards, he is to be destroyed. Now, as these events could not be accomplished in the course of a few years, the persons who foretold they were to happen before the coming of Christ certainly did not think the day of judgment would be in their lifetime. Besides, St. Paul, Romans 11:23-26, by a long chain of reasoning, having showed that, after the general conversion of the Gentiles, the Jews, in a body, are to be brought into the Christian Church, can any person be so absurd as to persevere in maintaining that this apostle believed the end of the world would happen in his lifetime?
“Next, with respect to the Apostle Peter, I think it plain, from the manner in which we has spoken of the coming of Christ, that he knew it was at a great distance; 2 Peter 3:3, 4, 8, 9: ‘Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the time the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as at the beginning of the creation. But this one thing, let it not escape you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord, who hath promised, doth not delay, in the manner some account delaying.’ Now, seeing Peter has here foretold that, in the last age, the wicked will mock at the promise of Christ’s coming, on account of its being long delayed; and, from the stability and regularity of the course of nature during so many ages, will argue that there is no probability that the world will ever come to an end; it is evident that he also knew the coming of Christ to judgement was at a very great distance at the time he wrote that epistle.
“The same may be said of James; for, in the hearing of the apostles, elders, and brethren assembled in the council of Jerusalem, he quoted passages from the Jewish prophets, to show that all the Gentiles were, at some future period, to seek after the Lord; Acts 15:17. But, if James looked for the general conversion of the Gentiles, he certainly could not imagine the end of the world would happen in his time.
“Lastly, the Apostle John, in his book of the Revelation, having foretold a great variety of important events respecting the political and religious state of the world, which could not be accomplished in a few years, but required a series of ages to give them birth; there cannot be the least doubt that he likewise knew the truth concerning his Master’s second coming; and therefore, to suppose that he imagined the day of judgment was to happen in his own lifetime, is a palpable mistake.
“Upon the whole, seeing the apostles and other inspired teachers of our religion certainly knew that the coming of Christ to judgment was at a great distance, every impartial person must be sensible they have been much injured, not by the enemies of revelation alone, but by some of its friends; who, upon the strength of certain expressions, the meaning, of which they evidently misunderstood, have endeavoured to persuade the world that the apostle ignorantly believed the day of judgment was at hand. These expressions may all be applied to other events, as shall be showed in the next section, and therefore they ought to be so applied; because candour requires that sense to be put on an author’s words which renders him most consistent with himself.”
As the term coming of Christ has several acceptations in the sacred writings, and the applying any one of these to the subject to which in a given place it does not belong, may lead to very erroneous if not dangerous conclusions, as it appears to have done at Thessalonica; it is necessary to consider the different senses in which this phrase is used, that we may know its specific meaning in the different places where it occurs. Dr. Macknight, in the fourth section of his preface, intitled, Different Comings of Christ are spoken of in the New Testament, has treated this subject also with considerable judgment, as the reader will at once perceive. “In this article I propose to show that there are other comings of Christ spoken of in Scripture besides his coming to judgement; and that there are other things besides this mundane system whose end is there foretold; and that it is of these other matters the apostles speak, when they represent the day of their Master and the end of all things as at hand.
“First, then, in the prophetic writings of the Jews (2 Samuel 22:10, 12; Psalm 97:2-5; Isaiah 19:1) great exertions of the Divine power, whether for the salvation or destruction of nations, are called the coming, the appearance, the presence of God. Hence it was natural for the apostles, who were Jews, to call any signal and evident interposition of Christ, as Governor of the world, for the accomplishment of his purposes, his coming and his day; accordingly, those exertions of his power and providence, whereby he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, abrogated the Mosaic institutions, and established the Gospel, are called by the apostles his coming, and day; not only in allusion to the ancient prophetic language, but because Christ himself, in his prophecy concerning these events, recorded Matthew 24:30 &c., has termed them the coming of the Son of man, in allusion to the following prophecy of Daniel, of which his own prophecy is an explication; Daniel 7:13, 14: ‘I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days. And they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’ This prophecy the Jewish doctors, with one consent, attribute to the Messiah, and of that temporal kingdom which they expected was to be given him. Farther, they supposed he would erect that temporal kingdom by great and visible exertions of his power for the destruction of his enemies; but they little suspected that themselves were of the number of those enemies whom he was to destroy; and that his kingdom was to be established upon the ruin of their state. Yet that was the true meaning of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. For, while the Jewish nation continued in Judea, and observed the institutions of Moses, they violently opposed the preaching of the Gospel, by which the Messiah was to reign over all people, nations, and languages. Wherefore, that the everlasting kingdom might be established effectually, it was necessary that Jerusalem and the Jewish state should be destroyed by the Roman armies. Now, since our Lord foretold this sad catastrophe in the words of the prophet Daniel, Matthew 24:30, ‘And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;’ and after describing every particular of it with the greatest exactness, seeing he told his disciples, Matthew 24:34, ‘This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled;’ can there be any doubt that the apostles, (who, when they wrote their epistles, certainly understood the true import of this prophecy,) by their Master’s coming and by the end of all things, which they represent as at hand, mean his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and to put an end to the institutions of Moses? It is no objection to this, that, when the apostles heard Christ declare, ‘There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down,’ they connected the end of the world or age with that event; Matthew 24:3: ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, και συντελειας του αιωνος, and of the end of the age?’ For as the Jewish doctors divided the duration of the world into three ages; the age before the law, the age under the law, and the age under the Messiah; the apostle knew that the age under the law was to end when the age under the Messiah began; and therefore by the end of the age they meant, even at that time, not the end of the world, but the end of the age under the law, in which the Jews had been greatly oppressed by the heathens. And although they did not then understand the purpose for which their Master was to come, nor the true nature of his kingdom; nor suspect that he was to make any chance in the institutions of Moses; yet when they wrote their epistles, being illuminated by the Holy Ghost, they certainly knew that the institutions of Moses were to be abolished; and that their Master’s kingdom was not a temporal but a spiritual dominion, in which all people, nations, and languages were to be governed, not by external force, but by the operation of truth upon their minds through the preaching of the Gospel.
“Farther, that the apostles, by the coming of Christ, which they represented as at hand when they wrote their epistles, meant his coming to establish his spiritual kingdom over all people, nations, and languages, and not his coming to put an end to this mundane system, is evident from what Christ himself told them, Matthew 16:28: ‘There be some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.’ And, agreeably to this account of the coming of Christ and of the end of all things, I observe that every passage of their epistles, in which the apostles have spoken of these things as at hand, may with the greatest propriety be interpreted of Christ’s coming to establish his everlasting kingdom over all people, nations, and languages, by destroying Jerusalem, putting an end to the law of Moses, and spreading the Gospel through the world. Thus, 1 Corinthians 10:11: ‘These things-are written for our admonition, upon whom τα τελη των αιωνων, the ends of the ages are come,’ means the end of the age under the law, and the beginning of the age under the Messiah. Philippians 4:5: ‘Let your moderation be known to all men: the Lord is nigh;’ namely, to destroy the Jews, your greatest adversaries. Hebrews 9:26: ‘But now once επι συντελεια των αιωνων, at the conclusion of the ages, (the Jewish jubilees,) hath he been manifested to abolish sin-offering by the sacrifice of himself.’ Hebrews 10:25: ‘Exhorting one another daily; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching,’ the day of Christ’s coming to destroy Jerusalem and the Jewish state. Hebrews 10:37: ‘For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.’ James 5:7: ‘Wherefore, be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.’ James 5:8: ‘Be ye also patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord (to destroy the Jews, your persecutors) draweth nigh.’ James 5:9: ‘Behold the Judge standeth before the door.’ 1 Peter 4:7: ‘The end of all things (the end of Jerusalem, and of the temple, and of all the Mosaic institutions) hath approached. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.’ 1 John 2:18: ‘Young children, it is the last hour of the Jewish state; and as ye have heard (from Christ, in his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem) that antichrist cometh, so now there are many antichrists, whence we know that it is the last hour of the Jewish state.’
2. “There is another coming of Christ spoken of by the apostles, different likewise from his coming to judge the world, and to put an end to the present state of things; viz. his coming to destroy the man of sin. 2 Thessalonians 2:8: ‘Him the Lord will consume by the breath of his mouth, and will render ineffectual by the bright shining of his coming.’ This singular event, which will contribute greatly to the honour of God and the good of his Church, being accomplished by a visible and extraordinary interposition of the power of Christ in the government of the world, is, agreeably to the Scripture style, fitly called the coming of the Lord, and the bright shining of his coming; but this coming is nowhere in the Scriptures said to be at hand.
3. “There is likewise a day or coming of Christ, spoken of by Paul, different from his coming to judgment, and from both the former comings; I mean his releasing his people from their present trial by death. 1 Corinthians 1:8: ‘He also will confirm you unto the end, without accusation, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Philippians 1:6: ‘He who hath begun in you a good work, will be completing it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It is true, the release of Christ’s servants from their present trial by death is accomplished, for the most part, by no extraordinary display of his power; yet it is fitly enough called his day and coming, because by his appointment all men die, and by his power each is carried to his own place after death. Besides, his servants in particular being put on their duty, like soldiers, must remain at their several posts till released by their commander: and when he releases them, he is fitly said to come for that purpose.
4. “Besides all these, there is a day or coming of the Lord to judge the world, and to put an end to the present state of things. This coming Christ himself has promised. Matthew 16:27: ‘The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy angels; and then shall he reward every man according to his work.’ Now this, being a real, personal appearing of Christ in the body, is, more properly than any other of his comings, called the day and coming of Christ. And the purposes of it being more important than those of his other comings, the exertions of his power for accomplishing them will be most signal and glorious. Hence this coming is, with great propriety, termed the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the day of his revelation, when he shall be glorified in his saints, and admired of all them who believe.
“Thus it appears that, when the apostles wrote, there were four comings of Christ to happen, three of them figurative, but the fourth a real appearance; that these different comings are frequently spoken of in Scripture; and that, although the coming of Christ to destroy Jerusalem, and to establish his everlasting kingdom, be represented by the apostles as then at hand, no passage from their writings can be produced in which his personal appearance to judge the world is said, or even insinuated, to be at hand. The truth is, if the different comings of Christ are distinguished as they ought to be, we shall find that the apostles have spoken of each of them according to truth; and that the opinion which some Christians have unadvisedly espoused, to the great discredit of the inspiration of the apostles, has not the least foundation in Scripture.” The epistle naturally divides itself into three parts, and each is contained in a separate chapter.
PART 1. CHAP. I.-Contains the address, and motives of consolation in their afflicted and persecuted state.
PART 2. CHAP. II.-Is partly prophetical, and partly didactic. It contains the doctrine concerning Christ’s coming to judgment, and a prophecy concerning some future but great apostasy from the Christian faith. PART 3. CHAP. III.-Is wholly hortatory; and contains a number of important advices relative to Christian virtues, and a proper behaviour in those situations in life in which it had pleased God to call them. This is the shortest of all St. Paul’s epistles to the Churches, but is of very great importance, and in many places very sublime, especially in the second part; and in this there are several very great difficulties, and some things hard to be understood. After all the pains and labour of learned men, it would be hazardous to say, the meaning of every part is now clearly made out. What increases the difficulty is, that the apostle refers to some private communication with themselves, no part of which is on record, and without which it would require St. Paul’s inspiration to be able to fix the sense and meaning of all we find here. May the Father of lights give the reader a wise understanding in all things! Amen.
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.
Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle.
-Year of the Constantinopolitan era of the world, or that used by the Byzantine historians, 5560.
-Year of the Alexandrian era of the world, 5554.
-Year of the Antiochian era of the world, 5544.
-Year of the Julian period, 4762.
-Year of the world, according to Archbishop Usher, 4056. -Year of the world, according to Eusebius, in his Chronicon, 4280. -Year of the minor Jewish era of the world, or that in common use, 3812. -Year of the Greater Rabbinical era of the world, 4411. -Year from the Flood, according to Archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 2400.
-Year of the Cali yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 3154. -Year of the era of Iphitus, or since the first commencement of the Olympic games, 992.
-Year of the era of Nabonassar, king of Babylon, 799. -Year of the CCVIIth Olympiad, 4.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 799. -Year from the building of Rome, according to Frontinus, 803. -Year from the building of Rome, according to the Fasti Capitolini, 804. -Year from the building of Rome, according to Varro, which was that most generally used, 805.
-Year of the era of the Seleucidæ, 364.
-Year of the Cesarean era of Antioch, 100.
-Year of the Julian era, 97.
-Year of the Spanish era, 90.
-Year from the birth of Jesus Christ according to Archbishop Usher, 56. -Year of the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity, 52.
-Year of Ventidius Cumanus, governor of the Jews, 4. -Year of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 3.
-Year of Caius Numidius Quadratus, governor of Syria, 2. -Year of Ananias, high priest of the Jews, 8.
-Year of the Dionysian period, or Easter Cycle, 53.
-Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, or Common Golden Number, 15; or the second year after the fifth embolismic.
-Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 12, or the first after the fourth embolismic.
-Year of the Solar Cycle, 5.
-Dominical Letters, it being Bissextile, or Leap Year, BA. -Day of the Jewish Passover, according to the Roman computation of time, the Calends of April, i.e. April 1st, which happened in this year on the Jewish Sabbath.
-Easter Sunday, April 2.
-Epact, or the moon’s age on the 22d of March, or the XIth of the Calends of April, 4.
-Epact, according to the present mode of computation, or the moon’s age on New Year’s day, or the Calends of January, 11.
-Monthly Epacts, of the moon’s age on the Calends of each month respectively, (beginning with January,) 11, 13, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, 20, 20.
-Number of Direction, or the number of days from the twenty-first of March (or the XIIth of the Calends of April) to the Jewish Passover, 10 -Year of Claudius Cæsar, the fifth emperor of the Romans, 12. -Roman Consuls, Publius Cornelius Sylla Faustus, and Lucius Salvius Otho Titianus; and for the following year, (which is by some supposed to be the date of this epistle,) Decimus Junius Silanus, and Quintus Haterius Antoninus.
Joseph Benson
Preface
BEN_VOL8.PDF, source PDF p. 359
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.
PREFACE
This second epistle to the Thessalonians is thought, by the best critics and chronologers, to have been written from Corinth, soon after the former, chiefly on account of some things therein which had been misunderstood. This appears probable for this reason, among others, that Timothy and Silvanus, who joined him in his first letter, were still with him, and joined him in this second. And, seeing in this epistle he desired the brethren to pray that he might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, (2 Thessalonians 3:2,) it is probable he wrote it soon after the insurrection of the Jews at Corinth, in which they dragged him before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, and accused him of persuading men “to worship God contrary to the law,” Acts 18:13; we cannot therefore be much mistaken, in supposing that it was dated in or about the year of our Lord 55.
The epistle begins with a devout acknowledgment to God for the eminent attainments which the Thessalonians had made in faith and other Christian graces, and especially for the zeal and fidelity with which they adhered to the gospel in the midst of persecution, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4. II. To support and animate them under their trials, he reminds them of the distinguished honour that would be conferred on all the saints at the coming of Christ, and the vengeance that would at the same time overtake all the enemies of the gospel; assuring them of his constant prayers for their further improvement in true religion, verses 5-12. III. Lest, by mistaking the meaning of what he had said or wrote to them at any time upon that subject, or by any other means, they should be deceived into an opinion that the day of final judgment was near at hand, he informs them, that before that awful time there would be a grand apostacy in the church, and an antichristian power, which he calls the man of sin, would arise, and greatly obstruct the progress of the gospel, arrogantly assuming to itself the divine authority, and, by pretending miracles, leading multitudes into the most fatal delusions. Some beginnings of this power, he signifies, were already discoverable; and as soon as those restraints which then lay upon it were removed, it would break out in all its force, and continue to spread, till it should be finally destroyed by the coming of Christ, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. IV. By these views, he is led to express his thankfulness to God that the Thessalonians had escaped this corruption which had begun so early to prevail in the church, and had given such convincing proofs of their entering into the true spirit of Christianity, in which he exhorts them to persevere with steadfastness and constancy, adding his earnest supplications for their increasing comfort and establishment, verses 13-17. V. He desires their prayers that his labours might be attended with the same success among others as they had been among them; and that he might be delivered from the opposition of unreasonable men, expressing withal his confidence in their continued regards to the instructions he had given them, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5. VI. He gives directions for their conduct toward some disorderly members of the church, who, neglecting their proper business, meddled in the concerns of others. These he exhorts to attend to their own affairs, and to provide carefully for their own subsistence, that they might not be a burden to others; reminding them of the example he had set, while at Thessalonica, in maintaining himself by the labour of his own hands, verses 6-12. VII. If any one, notwithstanding, should refuse to comply with this exhortation, he directs the other members of the church to exclude him from their company and friendship, that he might be made sensible of his fault; concluding with his usual salutation, verses 13-18. It is justly observed by Dr. Doddridge, from whose Introduction to this epistle the above analysis of its contents is extracted, that “though this is the shortest of all St. Paul’s epistles, it is not inferior to any of them in the sublimity of the sentiments which it contains, and the excellent spirit which it breathes. And besides those marks of its genuineness and divine authority which it bears in common with the rest of these epistles, it has one peculiar to itself, from the exact representation it contains of the Papal power, under the characters of the ‘man of sin’ and the ‘mystery of iniquity.’ For, considering how directly opposite the principles here described were to the genius of Christianity, it must have appeared, at the time when this epistle was written, highly improbable to all human apprehension that they should ever have prevailed in the Christian Church; and, consequently, a prediction like this, which answers so exactly, in every particular, to the event, must be allowed to carry its own evidence along with it, and to prove that the author of it wrote under a divine influence.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
To the Thessalonians.
SUT_VOL5.PDF, source PDF p. 172
Editorial note: Additional printed-edition collation — Sutcliffe, vol. 2 (1835): The printed heading reads ST. PAUL’S SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. The omitted opening words are restored in the heading paragraph. SUT_VOL5.PDF, PDF page 172; Sutcliffe, printed Commentary, vol. 2 (1835), p. 563.
ST. PAUL’S SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
THIS second epistle is thought to have been written in the course of a year after the first, and about twenty one years after our Saviour’s ascension. The infant church, at that time under deep affliction, needed the double support of faith and consolation. St. Paul opens the fountain of life in excellence of doctrine, in fellowship of the Spirit, and comfort of love, awaiting the coming of the Lord, which is here divided into two distinct periods of time.
First, his advent to punish the jews, who pursued the church with malice, as they had pursued the Lord of glory, till they nailed him to the cross. The second period refers to his coming to destroy the Man of Sin; that wicked one, who should rise out of the earth, like the beasts which leave their lairs in the night, as the Roman empire should decline.
Thus by the Spirit of prophecy the sacred writer uplifts the curtain of futurity, and leaves the sunshine of victory, and the crown brilliant on the new Zion, in which the Lord had chosen to dwell.
Daniel Whedon
Plan of the Epistle.
WHD_CO13.PDF, source PDF p. 543
2 THESSALONIANS
INTRODUCTION.
ST. PAUL’S vivid description, both in his early preaching and in his first epistle, of the glorious appearing of Christ to the judgment of the world, so deeply impressed the Thessalonians that ultraism and fanaticism seized the occasion to disturb the Church. A rumour was started that an epistle had been received from him declaring that the advent was at hand. To correct this evil the apostle writes this letter, in which he is moved by the Spirit, not only to negative the immediateness of the advent, but to open a glimpse of the process of events which were to precede the advent. This passage forms an important part of what we may call the Apocalypse of Paul.
In regard to authenticity, all the remarks made of the first epistle are equally true of the second. It has all the external proofs, and all the internal marks, which show an epistle genuine. As to the time and place of its writing, it evidently closely followed after the former epistle; and, as both bear the names of Sylvanus and Timothy, both were obviously written from Corinth whilst the three were there preaching. See notes, Acts 18:5. PLAN OF THE EPISTLE.
1. Thanks for their firmness in persecution—a token of divine justice at the advent 2 Thessalonians 1:3-6
2. Vivid description of the infliction of justice at the advent 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
Adam Clarke
Preface to the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessa
CLA_2TH.PDF, source PDF p. 3
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL
THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
FOR an account of Thessalonica, and St. Paul’s labours there, the reader is requested to consult the preface to the preceding epistle. That this second epistle was written shortly after the first, and from the same place too, is very probable, from this circumstance, that the same persons, Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus, who addressed the Church at Thessalonica in the former epistle, address the same Church in this; and as three such apostolic men were rarely long together in the same place, it is very likely that the two epistles were written not only in the same year, but also within a very short time of each other. It appears that the person who carried the first epistle returned speedily to Corinth, and gave the apostle a particular account of the state of the Thessalonian Church; and, among other things, informed him that many were in expectation of the speedy arrival of the day of judgment; and that they inferred from his epistle already sent, 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 17; 5:4, 6, that it was to take place while the apostle and themselves should be yet alive. And it appears probable, from some parts of this epistle, that he was informed also that some, expecting this sudden appearance of the Lord Jesus, had given up all their secular concerns as inconsistent with a due preparation for such an important and awful event; see 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13. To correct such a misapprehension, and redeem them from an error, which, if appearing to rest on the authority of an apostle, must in its issue be ruinous to the cause of Christianity, St. Paul would feel himself constrained to write immediately; and this is a sufficient reason why these epistles should appear to have been written at so short a distance from each other. What rendered this speedy intervention of the apostle’s authority and direction the more necessary, was, that there appear to have been some in that Church who professed to have a revelation concerning this thing, and to have endeavoured to confirm it by a pretended report from the apostle himself, and from the words already referred to in the former epistle; see here on 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2: “We beseech you, brethren, be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by SPIRIT, nor by WORD, nor by LETTER as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” As the apostle, in this epistle, 2 Thessalonians 3:2, entreats the Thessalonians to pray the Lord that he and his companions might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, Dr. Macknight supposes that the epistle was written soon after the insurrection of the Jews at Corinth, in which they dragged Paul before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, and accused him of persuading men to worship God contrary to the law; Acts 18:13. This argument places it also in the year 52, or 53, in the twelfth or thirteenth of Claudius the successor of Caius.
As there have been some eminent Christian writers who have entertained the same opinion with those at Thessalonica, that not only St. Paul, but other apostles of Christ, did believe that the day of general judgment should take place in their time, which opinion is shown by the event to be absolutely false; it appears to be a matter of the utmost consequence to the credit of Divine revelation, to rescue the character of the apostles from such an imputation. Dr. Macknight has written well on this subject, as the following extract from his preface to this epistle will prove:- “Grotius, Locke, and others,” says he, “have affirmed that the apostles believed that the end of the world was to happen in their time; and that they have declared this to be their belief in various passages of their epistles. But these learned men, and all who join them in that opinion, have fallen into a most pernicious error; for thereby they destroy the authority of the Gospel revelation, at least as far as it is contained in the discourses and writings of the apostles; because, if they have erred in a matter of such importance, and which they affirm was revealed to them by Christ, they may have been mistaken in other matters also, where their inspiration is not more strongly asserted by them than in this instance. It is therefore necessary to clear them from so injurious an imputation. “And first, with respect to Paul, who was an apostle of Christ, and Silvanus, who was a prophet, and a chief man among the brethren, and Timothy, who was eminent for his spiritual gifts, I observe that the epistle under our consideration affords the clearest proof that these men knew the truth concerning the coming of Christ to judge the world; for in it they expressly assured the Thessalonians that the persons who made them believe the day of judgment was at hand were deceiving them; that, before the day of judgment, there was to be a great apostasy in religion, occasioned by the man of sin, who at that time was restrained from showing himself, but who was to be revealed in his season; that, when revealed, he will sit, that is, remain a long time in the Church of God, as God, and showing himself that he is God; and that, afterwards, he is to be destroyed. Now, as these events could not be accomplished in the course of a few years, the persons who foretold they were to happen before the coming of Christ certainly did not think the day of judgment would be in their lifetime. Besides, St. Paul, Romans 11:23-26, by a long chain of reasoning, having showed that, after the general conversion of the Gentiles, the Jews, in a body, are to be brought into the Christian Church, can any person be so absurd as to persevere in maintaining that this apostle believed the end of the world would happen in his lifetime?
“Next, with respect to the Apostle Peter, I think it plain, from the manner in which we has spoken of the coming of Christ, that he knew it was at a great distance; 2 Peter 3:3, 4, 8, 9: ‘Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the time the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as at the beginning of the creation. But this one thing, let it not escape you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord, who hath promised, doth not delay, in the manner some account delaying.’ Now, seeing Peter has here foretold that, in the last age, the wicked will mock at the promise of Christ’s coming, on account of its being long delayed; and, from the stability and regularity of the course of nature during so many ages, will argue that there is no probability that the world will ever come to an end; it is evident that he also knew the coming of Christ to judgement was at a very great distance at the time he wrote that epistle.
“The same may be said of James; for, in the hearing of the apostles, elders, and brethren assembled in the council of Jerusalem, he quoted passages from the Jewish prophets, to show that all the Gentiles were, at some future period, to seek after the Lord; Acts 15:17. But, if James looked for the general conversion of the Gentiles, he certainly could not imagine the end of the world would happen in his time.
“Lastly, the Apostle John, in his book of the Revelation, having foretold a great variety of important events respecting the political and religious state of the world, which could not be accomplished in a few years, but required a series of ages to give them birth; there cannot be the least doubt that he likewise knew the truth concerning his Master’s second coming; and therefore, to suppose that he imagined the day of judgment was to happen in his own lifetime, is a palpable mistake.
“Upon the whole, seeing the apostles and other inspired teachers of our religion certainly knew that the coming of Christ to judgment was at a great distance, every impartial person must be sensible they have been much injured, not by the enemies of revelation alone, but by some of its friends; who, upon the strength of certain expressions, the meaning, of which they evidently misunderstood, have endeavoured to persuade the world that the apostle ignorantly believed the day of judgment was at hand. These expressions may all be applied to other events, as shall be showed in the next section, and therefore they ought to be so applied; because candour requires that sense to be put on an author’s words which renders him most consistent with himself.”
As the term coming of Christ has several acceptations in the sacred writings, and the applying any one of these to the subject to which in a given place it does not belong, may lead to very erroneous if not dangerous conclusions, as it appears to have done at Thessalonica; it is necessary to consider the different senses in which this phrase is used, that we may know its specific meaning in the different places where it occurs. Dr. Macknight, in the fourth section of his preface, intitled, Different Comings of Christ are spoken of in the New Testament, has treated this subject also with considerable judgment, as the reader will at once perceive. “In this article I propose to show that there are other comings of Christ spoken of in Scripture besides his coming to judgement; and that there are other things besides this mundane system whose end is there foretold; and that it is of these other matters the apostles speak, when they represent the day of their Master and the end of all things as at hand.
“First, then, in the prophetic writings of the Jews (2 Samuel 22:10, 12; Psalm 97:2-5; Isaiah 19:1) great exertions of the Divine power, whether for the salvation or destruction of nations, are called the coming, the appearance, the presence of God. Hence it was natural for the apostles, who were Jews, to call any signal and evident interposition of Christ, as Governor of the world, for the accomplishment of his purposes, his coming and his day; accordingly, those exertions of his power and providence, whereby he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, abrogated the Mosaic institutions, and established the Gospel, are called by the apostles his coming, and day; not only in allusion to the ancient prophetic language, but because Christ himself, in his prophecy concerning these events, recorded Matthew 24:30 &c., has termed them the coming of the Son of man, in allusion to the following prophecy of Daniel, of which his own prophecy is an explication; Daniel 7:13, 14: ‘I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days. And they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’ This prophecy the Jewish doctors, with one consent, attribute to the Messiah, and of that temporal kingdom which they expected was to be given him. Farther, they supposed he would erect that temporal kingdom by great and visible exertions of his power for the destruction of his enemies; but they little suspected that themselves were of the number of those enemies whom he was to destroy; and that his kingdom was to be established upon the ruin of their state. Yet that was the true meaning of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. For, while the Jewish nation continued in Judea, and observed the institutions of Moses, they violently opposed the preaching of the Gospel, by which the Messiah was to reign over all people, nations, and languages. Wherefore, that the everlasting kingdom might be established effectually, it was necessary that Jerusalem and the Jewish state should be destroyed by the Roman armies. Now, since our Lord foretold this sad catastrophe in the words of the prophet Daniel, Matthew 24:30, ‘And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;’ and after describing every particular of it with the greatest exactness, seeing he told his disciples, Matthew 24:34, ‘This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled;’ can there be any doubt that the apostles, (who, when they wrote their epistles, certainly understood the true import of this prophecy,) by their Master’s coming and by the end of all things, which they represent as at hand, mean his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and to put an end to the institutions of Moses? It is no objection to this, that, when the apostles heard Christ declare, ‘There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down,’ they connected the end of the world or age with that event; Matthew 24:3: ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, και συντελειας του αιωνος, and of the end of the age?’ For as the Jewish doctors divided the duration of the world into three ages; the age before the law, the age under the law, and the age under the Messiah; the apostle knew that the age under the law was to end when the age under the Messiah began; and therefore by the end of the age they meant, even at that time, not the end of the world, but the end of the age under the law, in which the Jews had been greatly oppressed by the heathens. And although they did not then understand the purpose for which their Master was to come, nor the true nature of his kingdom; nor suspect that he was to make any chance in the institutions of Moses; yet when they wrote their epistles, being illuminated by the Holy Ghost, they certainly knew that the institutions of Moses were to be abolished; and that their Master’s kingdom was not a temporal but a spiritual dominion, in which all people, nations, and languages were to be governed, not by external force, but by the operation of truth upon their minds through the preaching of the Gospel.
“Farther, that the apostles, by the coming of Christ, which they represented as at hand when they wrote their epistles, meant his coming to establish his spiritual kingdom over all people, nations, and languages, and not his coming to put an end to this mundane system, is evident from what Christ himself told them, Matthew 16:28: ‘There be some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.’ And, agreeably to this account of the coming of Christ and of the end of all things, I observe that every passage of their epistles, in which the apostles have spoken of these things as at hand, may with the greatest propriety be interpreted of Christ’s coming to establish his everlasting kingdom over all people, nations, and languages, by destroying Jerusalem, putting an end to the law of Moses, and spreading the Gospel through the world. Thus, 1 Corinthians 10:11: ‘These things-are written for our admonition, upon whom τα τελη των αιωνων, the ends of the ages are come,’ means the end of the age under the law, and the beginning of the age under the Messiah. Philippians 4:5: ‘Let your moderation be known to all men: the Lord is nigh;’ namely, to destroy the Jews, your greatest adversaries. Hebrews 9:26: ‘But now once επι συντελεια των αιωνων, at the conclusion of the ages, (the Jewish jubilees,) hath he been manifested to abolish sin-offering by the sacrifice of himself.’ Hebrews 10:25: ‘Exhorting one another daily; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching,’ the day of Christ’s coming to destroy Jerusalem and the Jewish state. Hebrews 10:37: ‘For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.’ James 5:7: ‘Wherefore, be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.’ James 5:8: ‘Be ye also patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord (to destroy the Jews, your persecutors) draweth nigh.’ James 5:9: ‘Behold the Judge standeth before the door.’ 1 Peter 4:7: ‘The end of all things (the end of Jerusalem, and of the temple, and of all the Mosaic institutions) hath approached. Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.’ 1 John 2:18: ‘Young children, it is the last hour of the Jewish state; and as ye have heard (from Christ, in his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem) that antichrist cometh, so now there are many antichrists, whence we know that it is the last hour of the Jewish state.’
2. “There is another coming of Christ spoken of by the apostles, different likewise from his coming to judge the world, and to put an end to the present state of things; viz. his coming to destroy the man of sin. 2 Thessalonians 2:8: ‘Him the Lord will consume by the breath of his mouth, and will render ineffectual by the bright shining of his coming.’ This singular event, which will contribute greatly to the honour of God and the good of his Church, being accomplished by a visible and extraordinary interposition of the power of Christ in the government of the world, is, agreeably to the Scripture style, fitly called the coming of the Lord, and the bright shining of his coming; but this coming is nowhere in the Scriptures said to be at hand.
3. “There is likewise a day or coming of Christ, spoken of by Paul, different from his coming to judgment, and from both the former comings; I mean his releasing his people from their present trial by death. 1 Corinthians 1:8: ‘He also will confirm you unto the end, without accusation, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Philippians 1:6: ‘He who hath begun in you a good work, will be completing it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It is true, the release of Christ’s servants from their present trial by death is accomplished, for the most part, by no extraordinary display of his power; yet it is fitly enough called his day and coming, because by his appointment all men die, and by his power each is carried to his own place after death. Besides, his servants in particular being put on their duty, like soldiers, must remain at their several posts till released by their commander: and when he releases them, he is fitly said to come for that purpose.
4. “Besides all these, there is a day or coming of the Lord to judge the world, and to put an end to the present state of things. This coming Christ himself has promised. Matthew 16:27: ‘The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy angels; and then shall he reward every man according to his work.’ Now this, being a real, personal appearing of Christ in the body, is, more properly than any other of his comings, called the day and coming of Christ. And the purposes of it being more important than those of his other comings, the exertions of his power for accomplishing them will be most signal and glorious. Hence this coming is, with great propriety, termed the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the day of his revelation, when he shall be glorified in his saints, and admired of all them who believe.
“Thus it appears that, when the apostles wrote, there were four comings of Christ to happen, three of them figurative, but the fourth a real appearance; that these different comings are frequently spoken of in Scripture; and that, although the coming of Christ to destroy Jerusalem, and to establish his everlasting kingdom, be represented by the apostles as then at hand, no passage from their writings can be produced in which his personal appearance to judge the world is said, or even insinuated, to be at hand. The truth is, if the different comings of Christ are distinguished as they ought to be, we shall find that the apostles have spoken of each of them according to truth; and that the opinion which some Christians have unadvisedly espoused, to the great discredit of the inspiration of the apostles, has not the least foundation in Scripture.” The epistle naturally divides itself into three parts, and each is contained in a separate chapter.
PART 1. CHAP. I.-Contains the address, and motives of consolation in their afflicted and persecuted state.
PART 2. CHAP. II.-Is partly prophetical, and partly didactic. It contains the doctrine concerning Christ’s coming to judgment, and a prophecy concerning some future but great apostasy from the Christian faith. PART 3. CHAP. III.-Is wholly hortatory; and contains a number of important advices relative to Christian virtues, and a proper behaviour in those situations in life in which it had pleased God to call them. This is the shortest of all St. Paul’s epistles to the Churches, but is of very great importance, and in many places very sublime, especially in the second part; and in this there are several very great difficulties, and some things hard to be understood. After all the pains and labour of learned men, it would be hazardous to say, the meaning of every part is now clearly made out. What increases the difficulty is, that the apostle refers to some private communication with themselves, no part of which is on record, and without which it would require St. Paul’s inspiration to be able to fix the sense and meaning of all we find here. May the Father of lights give the reader a wise understanding in all things! Amen.
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.
Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle.
-Year of the Constantinopolitan era of the world, or that used by the Byzantine historians, 5560.
-Year of the Alexandrian era of the world, 5554.
-Year of the Antiochian era of the world, 5544.
-Year of the Julian period, 4762.
-Year of the world, according to Archbishop Usher, 4056. -Year of the world, according to Eusebius, in his Chronicon, 4280. -Year of the minor Jewish era of the world, or that in common use, 3812. -Year of the Greater Rabbinical era of the world, 4411. -Year from the Flood, according to Archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 2400.
-Year of the Cali yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 3154. -Year of the era of Iphitus, or since the first commencement of the Olympic games, 992.
-Year of the era of Nabonassar, king of Babylon, 799. -Year of the CCVIIth Olympiad, 4.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 799. -Year from the building of Rome, according to Frontinus, 803. -Year from the building of Rome, according to the Fasti Capitolini, 804. -Year from the building of Rome, according to Varro, which was that most generally used, 805.
-Year of the era of the Seleucidæ, 364.
-Year of the Cesarean era of Antioch, 100.
-Year of the Julian era, 97.
-Year of the Spanish era, 90.
-Year from the birth of Jesus Christ according to Archbishop Usher, 56. -Year of the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity, 52.
-Year of Ventidius Cumanus, governor of the Jews, 4. -Year of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 3.
-Year of Caius Numidius Quadratus, governor of Syria, 2. -Year of Ananias, high priest of the Jews, 8.
-Year of the Dionysian period, or Easter Cycle, 53.
-Year of the Grecian Cycle of nineteen years, or Common Golden Number, 15; or the second year after the fifth embolismic.
-Year of the Jewish Cycle of nineteen years, 12, or the first after the fourth embolismic.
-Year of the Solar Cycle, 5.
-Dominical Letters, it being Bissextile, or Leap Year, BA. -Day of the Jewish Passover, according to the Roman computation of time, the Calends of April, i.e. April 1st, which happened in this year on the Jewish Sabbath.
-Easter Sunday, April 2.
-Epact, or the moon’s age on the 22d of March, or the XIth of the Calends of April, 4.
-Epact, according to the present mode of computation, or the moon’s age on New Year’s day, or the Calends of January, 11.
-Monthly Epacts, of the moon’s age on the Calends of each month respectively, (beginning with January,) 11, 13, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, 20, 20.
-Number of Direction, or the number of days from the twenty-first of March (or the XIIth of the Calends of April) to the Jewish Passover, 10 -Year of Claudius Cæsar, the fifth emperor of the Romans, 12. -Roman Consuls, Publius Cornelius Sylla Faustus, and Lucius Salvius Otho Titianus; and for the following year, (which is by some supposed to be the date of this epistle,) Decimus Junius Silanus, and Quintus Haterius Antoninus.
Joseph Benson
Preface
BEN_VOL8.PDF, source PDF p. 359
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS.
PREFACE
This second epistle to the Thessalonians is thought, by the best critics and chronologers, to have been written from Corinth, soon after the former, chiefly on account of some things therein which had been misunderstood. This appears probable for this reason, among others, that Timothy and Silvanus, who joined him in his first letter, were still with him, and joined him in this second. And, seeing in this epistle he desired the brethren to pray that he might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, (2 Thessalonians 3:2,) it is probable he wrote it soon after the insurrection of the Jews at Corinth, in which they dragged him before Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, and accused him of persuading men “to worship God contrary to the law,” Acts 18:13; we cannot therefore be much mistaken, in supposing that it was dated in or about the year of our Lord 55.
The epistle begins with a devout acknowledgment to God for the eminent attainments which the Thessalonians had made in faith and other Christian graces, and especially for the zeal and fidelity with which they adhered to the gospel in the midst of persecution, 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4. II. To support and animate them under their trials, he reminds them of the distinguished honour that would be conferred on all the saints at the coming of Christ, and the vengeance that would at the same time overtake all the enemies of the gospel; assuring them of his constant prayers for their further improvement in true religion, verses 5-12. III. Lest, by mistaking the meaning of what he had said or wrote to them at any time upon that subject, or by any other means, they should be deceived into an opinion that the day of final judgment was near at hand, he informs them, that before that awful time there would be a grand apostacy in the church, and an antichristian power, which he calls the man of sin, would arise, and greatly obstruct the progress of the gospel, arrogantly assuming to itself the divine authority, and, by pretending miracles, leading multitudes into the most fatal delusions. Some beginnings of this power, he signifies, were already discoverable; and as soon as those restraints which then lay upon it were removed, it would break out in all its force, and continue to spread, till it should be finally destroyed by the coming of Christ, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. IV. By these views, he is led to express his thankfulness to God that the Thessalonians had escaped this corruption which had begun so early to prevail in the church, and had given such convincing proofs of their entering into the true spirit of Christianity, in which he exhorts them to persevere with steadfastness and constancy, adding his earnest supplications for their increasing comfort and establishment, verses 13-17. V. He desires their prayers that his labours might be attended with the same success among others as they had been among them; and that he might be delivered from the opposition of unreasonable men, expressing withal his confidence in their continued regards to the instructions he had given them, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5. VI. He gives directions for their conduct toward some disorderly members of the church, who, neglecting their proper business, meddled in the concerns of others. These he exhorts to attend to their own affairs, and to provide carefully for their own subsistence, that they might not be a burden to others; reminding them of the example he had set, while at Thessalonica, in maintaining himself by the labour of his own hands, verses 6-12. VII. If any one, notwithstanding, should refuse to comply with this exhortation, he directs the other members of the church to exclude him from their company and friendship, that he might be made sensible of his fault; concluding with his usual salutation, verses 13-18. It is justly observed by Dr. Doddridge, from whose Introduction to this epistle the above analysis of its contents is extracted, that “though this is the shortest of all St. Paul’s epistles, it is not inferior to any of them in the sublimity of the sentiments which it contains, and the excellent spirit which it breathes. And besides those marks of its genuineness and divine authority which it bears in common with the rest of these epistles, it has one peculiar to itself, from the exact representation it contains of the Papal power, under the characters of the ‘man of sin’ and the ‘mystery of iniquity.’ For, considering how directly opposite the principles here described were to the genius of Christianity, it must have appeared, at the time when this epistle was written, highly improbable to all human apprehension that they should ever have prevailed in the Christian Church; and, consequently, a prediction like this, which answers so exactly, in every particular, to the event, must be allowed to carry its own evidence along with it, and to prove that the author of it wrote under a divine influence.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
To the Thessalonians.
SUT_VOL5.PDF, source PDF p. 172
Editorial note: Additional printed-edition collation — Sutcliffe, vol. 2 (1835): The printed heading reads ST. PAUL’S SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. The omitted opening words are restored in the heading paragraph. SUT_VOL5.PDF, PDF page 172; Sutcliffe, printed Commentary, vol. 2 (1835), p. 563.
ST. PAUL’S SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.
THIS second epistle is thought to have been written in the course of a year after the first, and about twenty one years after our Saviour’s ascension. The infant church, at that time under deep affliction, needed the double support of faith and consolation. St. Paul opens the fountain of life in excellence of doctrine, in fellowship of the Spirit, and comfort of love, awaiting the coming of the Lord, which is here divided into two distinct periods of time.
First, his advent to punish the jews, who pursued the church with malice, as they had pursued the Lord of glory, till they nailed him to the cross. The second period refers to his coming to destroy the Man of Sin; that wicked one, who should rise out of the earth, like the beasts which leave their lairs in the night, as the Roman empire should decline.
Thus by the Spirit of prophecy the sacred writer uplifts the curtain of futurity, and leaves the sunshine of victory, and the crown brilliant on the new Zion, in which the Lord had chosen to dwell.
Daniel Whedon
Plan of the Epistle.
WHD_CO13.PDF, source PDF p. 543
2 THESSALONIANS
INTRODUCTION.
ST. PAUL’S vivid description, both in his early preaching and in his first epistle, of the glorious appearing of Christ to the judgment of the world, so deeply impressed the Thessalonians that ultraism and fanaticism seized the occasion to disturb the Church. A rumour was started that an epistle had been received from him declaring that the advent was at hand. To correct this evil the apostle writes this letter, in which he is moved by the Spirit, not only to negative the immediateness of the advent, but to open a glimpse of the process of events which were to precede the advent. This passage forms an important part of what we may call the Apocalypse of Paul.
In regard to authenticity, all the remarks made of the first epistle are equally true of the second. It has all the external proofs, and all the internal marks, which show an epistle genuine. As to the time and place of its writing, it evidently closely followed after the former epistle; and, as both bear the names of Sylvanus and Timothy, both were obviously written from Corinth whilst the three were there preaching. See notes, Acts 18:5. PLAN OF THE EPISTLE.
1. Thanks for their firmness in persecution—a token of divine justice at the advent 2 Thessalonians 1:3-6
2. Vivid description of the infliction of justice at the advent 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
3. Prayer for their safety in that day 2 Thessalonians 1:11, 12
4. The advent not at hand 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
5. Hopeful prayer for their continued firmness 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
6. Charge to idlers to become industrious 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
7. Benedictory and salutatory conclusion 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18