Comfort in Tribulation; Assurance of Recompense (2 Thessalonians 1:5–7)

The Thessalonians were making progress inwardly, in their good Christian dispositions and feelings, yet their outward situation was not comforting. The Apostle hastens to console them in their afflictions and to encourage them toward endurance. To this end he sets before them those truths that are most powerful to accomplish it. For one who suffers unjustly, consolation and support are one thing: there is a God Who sees my righteousness and, alongside it, the weight of my afflictions, and there will be a time when He will render to each according to His justice. Anyone who has endured even some slight injustice will attest that this is so. These are the truths that St. Paul now sets vividly before them. With particular force he first awakens in their consciousness: (a) the assurance of the certainty of recompense, verses 5–7, and then (b) he depicts the circumstances in which it will be accomplished, and especially what it will be, verses 8–10. Since the Thessalonians had already demonstrated their cheerful endurance, these convictions, under the influence of which it had ripened in their hearts, were certainly present in their spirits. And St. Paul does not wish to kindle them for the first time, but to revive them, to give them greater force and life-giving effect upon suffering hearts, by confirming their truth with his apostolic word and thus lending them divine authority.

(a) Assurance of the certainty of recompense (2 Thess. 1:5–7)

For the assurance that there will be a judgment and a righteous recompense, the Apostle does not go far afield. He draws it from the very situation of the Thessalonians. From the fact that you endure such injustices, he says, it is plain that there will be a judgment at which you will receive your due and your persecutors will be punished. The righteousness of God demands it. St. Paul here employs the same argument by which the immortality of the soul, or the existence of life beyond the grave, is most powerfully confirmed. The righteous suffer here while the lawless prosper. If God exists, and is a righteous God—and He does exist—then there is assuredly another life, in which the former will receive their due reward and the latter their due punishment.

2 Thess. 1:5. A manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.

“A manifest token”—grammatically, not “as a token” or “as a proof,” but “what is a token,” “what serves as proof.” The thought is: the persecutions and afflictions which you bear with cheerful endurance point, as with a finger, to the righteous judgment that is to come, at which it will be decreed for you (or that you may receive therein as your reward) the blessed heavenly kingdom. “A manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” Now, what points to such a judgment—your cheerful endurance, or the persecutions and afflictions? Both one and the other. Cheerful endurance points to a conviction in those who endure that there will be a judgment at which their righteous cause will triumph. This conviction gives them the strength to endure, not to sink under the weight of calamities. That this was indeed the case with the Thessalonians ought not to be doubted, for otherwise endurance would not have come to pass in them at all. Blessed Theodoret paraphrases the Apostle’s thought thus: The afflictions you endure show that you clearly know the rewards for enduring dangers and await the heavenly kingdom, knowing the righteous ordinance of the Lawgiver. For this is the meaning of the words: “a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” But how does the conclusion follow from this personal conviction that there will in fact be a judgment and a righteous recompense? — This conclusion is mediated by that truth requiring no proof, namely that there is a God, good and righteous. This truth every person bears in his heart with a conviction of its inviolability that surpasses all argument. No single argument attains the force of this immediate conviction. Cheerful endurance for a righteous cause of God is born and ripens in the heart only under the influence of this immediate truth, firmly held by the very heart that both endures and remains cheerful in endurance. Therefore, as from the fact that there is a God, good and righteous, it follows with certainty that He will not permit the unfaithful to triumph forever over those faithful to Him, but has absolutely determined in His counsel a day when He will glorify some and put others to shame—so also from cheerful endurance, formed in the heart under the certain truth of the existence of God, good and righteous, it equally follows with certainty that there will be a judgment and a righteous recompense. This is how it appears when we consider only what was occurring in the hearts of the Thessalonians and for their benefit. But how could others draw the same conclusion from this? — The unjust persecutions and afflictions directed them toward it. They might not see what was in the hearts of the Thessalonians, but they could not fail to see that they were suffering, and suffering for a righteous cause. And from this alone the conclusion arose in them at once of itself: therefore there will be a righteous judgment; it cannot be that things should remain so forever—that is, the righteous should suffer while the unrighteous triumph. The time will come when each will be rendered what he deserves. But in them too this conclusion is mediated by the same indubitable and self-evident truth that there is a God, good and righteous, whose essential attribute is to render to each according to his works. Thus, whether endurance is taken into account or persecutions and afflictions, from both the conclusion follows that there will be a judgment and recompense, and it follows through the mediation of the truth of the existence of the righteous God. The Apostle sets this forth in the following verse, the sixth. And in other places of Scripture these subjects are brought together. Thus in one passage it is said that whoever desires to please God must be prepared for every kind of trial (Sir. 2:1); and in another: “he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). Inseparable from a God-pleasing and righteous life are both trials, or afflictions and persecutions, and faith in recompense, that is, in the existence of the righteous judgment of God. The Apostle’s thought may be expressed thus: the persecutions and afflictions which you—believing and living by faith in a spirit of love—endure, while your enemies and persecutors enjoy happiness and indeed at your expense, prove that there will be a day when the righteousness of God will recompense you with blessedness for your present deprivations. Or thus: your cheerful endurance and steadfastness in the faith amid persecutions and afflictions is a pledge of that blessedness with which God will one day count you worthy, rendering in His infinite righteousness what is due to your self-sacrificing faithfulness.

“That you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God.” The purpose and meaning of the judgment is to render to each according to his works. As for you, the judgment will be to the end that you receive the kingdom. For you the judgment is not fear and trembling, but comfort and consolation. That you suffer unjustly already shows that you will be counted worthy of the kingdom. God has already adjudged it to you; it is already yours—the judgment need only arrive. “For which you also suffer.” You endure persecutions and afflictions in that hope, taking comfort and encouragement from the certainty that for your endurance you will without fail receive the kingdom. Look through the lives of the martyrs, and you will be assured that, with the strength of faith and love toward the Lord, in all of them there lay deep in the heart the certainty of receiving ineffable blessedness for brief sufferings. The splendor of the kingdom with Christ the Lord awaiting them after their torments in the other life obscured from them the horrors of the tortures prepared by their tormentors. “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us,” the Apostle attests (Rom. 8:18). All were inspired by the hope: “if we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17).

Or thus: you suffer, for this is the only path by which one can enter the kingdom. Narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leads to life (Matt. 7:14). The Lord suffered, the Apostles and the prophets suffered, and for all who walk in their steps afflictions are inevitable. In the world the Lord foretold only tribulations for His own (Jn. 16:33). As they persecute Me, He says, so will they persecute you (Jn. 15:20). But “blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10). St. Chrysostom writes: “Therefore the cause of their sufferings lies not in the fact that their persecutors are stronger than they, but in the fact that by this very path they must enter the kingdom: ‘through many,’ he says, ‘tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22).”

Besides what has been said, our commentators discern in the words “a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God” also other shades of thought that are not without edification. St. Chrysostom writes: “The Apostle seems to say here: in order that the righteousness of God may be revealed in the fact that He crowns you and punishes them.” Oecumenius expresses the same thought more fully: “You endure these things in order that, in counting you worthy of the heavenly kingdom, the righteousness of God may be manifested. God therefore permits you to be in affliction, so that when He rewards you with the heavenly kingdom for your endurance, He may reveal His righteousness therein”—“as a token that the judgment of God will in righteousness count you worthy of the kingdom” (Theophylact). It is as though He were saying: you will have deserved to be counted worthy of the kingdom—you will have won it through your sufferings. “The Apostle consoles them by showing that they will be crowned for their labors and struggles, in accordance with the demands of justice” (Chrysostom). “See, suffering for Christ wins the heavenly kingdom by right, and not by grace alone. By this he lifted the gaze of their minds on high and inspired them to despise afflictions” (Oecumenius). Or: “He afforded them great consolation, showing that they will be crowned not by grace but by right, receiving the kingdom as recompense for their own labors and toils” (Theophylact).

To all that has been said one may also add the following thought: believers, with all their striving to be pure before God’s eyes, cannot boast of it—for who is free from defilement? They hate sin and pursue it within themselves, yet it continually breaks through and calls down upon them the righteous judgment of God. This judgment is accomplished in that they are subjected to temporal sufferings as a deliverance from eternal torment—so that, having satisfied in their regard the righteousness of God here below, the entrance into the kingdom may be opened to them without hindrance there. “When we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world,” says the same Apostle in another place (1 Cor. 11:32). But from this very fact one may also see how unyielding the righteousness of God is: even small sins it leaves not without punishment. To the righteous, because of their constant zeal to fulfill the will of God, it repays their falls into sin—as it were against their will—with temporal sufferings here below. What then must those expect who do not believe and take no care whatsoever for the things pleasing to God, but give themselves over to every unrighteousness and impurity? Their torments must be without measure. To this very thing the sufferings of those who believe in the Lord and walk according to His will point. The holy Apostle Peter, writing in consolation to those enduring persecution, says: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:17–18).

2 Thess. 1:6–7. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those who trouble you, and to you who are troubled rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power.

The conclusion drawn from unjust suffering for God’s cause—that there will be a judgment and recompense—is mediated, as was said above, by the concept of a righteous God. This truth the Apostle now sets forth as the beginning and foundation for what he has said before. There will be a judgment, and by it you will receive the kingdom, because the righteousness of God demands it. It is righteous with God to render to each according to his due. By this law of righteousness, you will receive rest in exchange for tribulation, while those who trouble you will receive tribulation. But this will take place not in the present order of things, but at the glorious Second Coming of the Lord from heaven with hosts of angels—to execute judgment upon all who dwell upon the earth.

In verses 6 and 7 the thought is continued that has been sufficiently explained above. We shall make only a few observations on the expressions used here.

“Seeing it is” (in Greek, ειπερ, is not found everywhere) “a righteous thing”—if it is righteous—“expresses not doubt, but strengthens the truth that is being asserted” (Theodoret). The condition is such that upon it one immediately implies: but it is beyond doubt righteous. Such is the turn of phrase, while the thought is as though the Apostle had said: since it is righteous. In other passages, in similar speech, the Greek conditional particle “if” — ειπερ — is translated directly into Slavonic as: “forasmuch as,” “seeing that.” So it is in (Rom. 8:9, 17; 1 Pet. 2:3).

“If” is used here in place of “for,” just as we ourselves use such an expression when speaking of matters we regard as indubitable and incontrovertible. Instead of saying “for it is entirely just,” he says “if it is just.” He used “if” in speaking of something on which all were agreed (Chrysostom). “In the hearers the inference naturally arose of itself: but this is righteous” (Theophylact). The Apostle had it in mind to call forth the Thessalonians’ own judgment, naturally arousing in them the sense of justice common to all, and thereby raising up in the minds and hearts of his readers a defender and confirmer of the truth of righteous recompense. “Such a manner of reasoning removes all doubt, because they themselves knew that this was just. For if it is just before men, how much more before God” (Chrysostom).

“With God”—with God, in His counsels and determinations, if we take into account His essential attributes—with God, Who is Justice itself, Who sees both your sufferings and your cheerful endurance for Him personally, for His cause upon the earth, the cause of faith in Him and in His Son, to which He Himself has called you, which He Himself has helped your minds and hearts to receive, and to which He now helps you to stand firm. Judge for yourselves: is it righteous, with such a God, to recompense you with rest and your enemies with torment?

“To recompense.” This word denotes both resolutions and acts of the righteous judgment of God: reward (Lk. 14:14) and vengeance (Rom. 12:19). Recompense also takes place in the present period of existence, but not in full and not universally. Here it serves the purpose of correction and purification. The full recompense will follow after the resurrection, as a consequence of the universal Last Judgment. Recompense presupposes correspondence to deeds and merits. “What then? Will the recompense be equal to the deeds? — No, on the contrary; see how from what he says afterward it becomes clear that the punishment will be far more severe, and the reward far greater” (Chrysostom).

“Tribulation to those who trouble you.” Justice repays in kind—with what each one has done unjustly. “What is so just as that those who oppress the good in this age should in the age to come suffer what they now inflict upon others?” (Ambrosiaster). But what will this tribulation be? — Below (verse 9) it is called eternal destruction.

“And to you who are troubled, rest.” Rest is not merely liberation from outward pressures and hardships, as when we say: at last God has given us room to breathe freely; but also positive blessings—consoling and gladdening—as we also say among ourselves: in this is my consolation, my comfort, my joy. But what will this rest be? — Below (verse 10) the thought is conveyed that it will be an object of wonder for all—both for those who receive it and for those who only behold those counted worthy of it. This tribulation and rest are depicted in more vivid relief in Rev. 14:10–13.

“With us”—that is, with the Apostle Paul and his companions, or with all the Apostles in general, laboring for the establishment of Christ’s kingdom upon the earth amid such calamities and dangers that in another place he calls himself and them “appointed to death” (1 Cor. 4:9). For this reason the Apostle entertains no doubt that he and all the Apostles have a great rest laid up for them in heaven, being assured of it by the word of the Lord, Who says: “I appoint to you” (you who have continued with Me in My trials) “a kingdom, as My Father appointed to Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom” (Lk. 22:29–30). If this promise of the Lord was also known to the Thessalonians, what comfort that single word—“with us”—must have filled their hearts with! And what greater convincing force the argument known to the Apostle for the truth of righteous recompense thereby acquired! — “He consoles them by presenting them as sharers of the Apostles” (John of Damascus); “sharers both in the labors and in the crowns of the Apostles” (Oecumenius); “thereby making them equal in their crowns to those who have accomplished countless and far greater feats” (Chrysostom).