The Circumstances of the Recompense, II (2 Thessalonians 1:9–10)

2 Thess. 1:9. Who shall suffer punishment, eternal destruction, from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His power.

Here the Apostle explains what the vengeance will consist in and how it will overtake them. “They will receive punishment”—they will bear just punishment according to their deeds, which will be exceedingly painful, so that it cannot be better characterized than by being called “eternal destruction.” The words: “tribulation to those who afflict”—point only to something painfully unpleasant; “rendering vengeance”—causes a presentiment of the severity of the pronouncement of punishment but does not define it; “in flaming fire”—if these words are understood as the instrument of punishment—defines more fully what that punishment will be. But here there is still room for the expectation of an end to the torments. But when he said: “they will receive punishment, eternal destruction,” thereby completing the depiction of the bitter lot of unbelievers and sinners, he delivers the final blow, condemning them to eternal desolation.

“Eternal destruction”—previously (1 Thess. 5:3) “utter destruction”—is eternal perishing. They will feel that they are finally perishing, yet bear the conviction that they will never perish, being reborn at every moment, as it were, for fresh torments: “They will suffer and not be exhausted; the very fire will in some manner regenerate them, only to devour them again” (Ambrosiaster).

“There are many people who build good hopes not on the fact that they abstain from sins, but on the supposition that gehenna is not as terrible as they say of it, but milder than they threaten us with, and moreover temporary rather than eternal; and they reason much on this subject. Meanwhile, I can produce proofs from every side that it is not only not milder than it is represented in the threats, but far more terrible. To confirm this, the very fear aroused by mere words about gehenna suffices, even if we do not unfold their meaning. And to be assured that it is not temporary, hear what the holy Paul says here about people who do not know God and do not believe in the Gospel—namely, that they will receive eternal destruction. In what manner, then, can what is eternal become temporary?” (Chrysostom). “Where, then, are the Origenists who fable about the finitude of punishments?” (Theophylact).

“From the face of the Lord”—according to the Hebrew idiom (a turn of speech that cannot be translated literally), the same as “from the Lord,” from the Lord Himself, and not through intermediaries—to hear from Him personally the verdict, and by His power to be cast into gehenna. A similar meaning occurs in Acts, where the expectation of times of refreshing from the face of the Lord is expressed (Acts 3:20). Nor did he simply say: from the Lord—but from the face of the Lord, to signify the fearfulness of the Lord the Judge for unbelievers and sinners, and therewith the impartiality of the judgment and the vengeance. It will be dreadful for them to look upon the face of the Lord: it will drive them away, or they will flee, only to avoid meeting His face. For His eyes are “a flame” of fire (Rev. 19:12).

“From the glory of His power”—from His glorious might, or from His mighty glory. This expresses the awesome majesty of the Almighty Judge as God. “He will not simply come, but with mighty glory. And His glory will not be without power, and His power will not be without glory; that is, He will appear as an All-powerful King” (Theophylact). “The face” denotes fearfulness; but fearfulness without power is nothing. In the Judge on the last day both will be manifest. Unbelievers and sinners will see on the face of the Lord the Judge not only a wrathful and inexorable anger, but also boundless power, which will punish them by casting them into a torment from which no one will ever deliver them. Both they will feel—penetrated by the sense both of His fearfulness and of His boundless punishing power—and, overwhelmed by this sense, they will be repelled from Him as by lightning, the moment His fearful verdict on their fate issues from His lips: “Depart from Me” (Mt. 7:23), and they will be cast down into gehenna. But that same face and that same power will pour ineffable comfort into the hearts of all who have believed and have remained faithful to the faith. St. Chrysostom writes: “The Apostle wishes here to express that the punishment of sinners will be accomplished easily, that for this no great effort is needed, but it will suffice only for the Lord to come and appear, and punishment and torment will overtake all the guilty. His coming will bring joy to some and torment to others.”

The words: “from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His power”—some heterodox Western commentators paraphrase thus: being removed from the face of the Lord and from His glory—supposing that eternal punishment will consist in this. This idea, by the structure of the speech, is inappropriate here, and is generally incorrect. Indeed, future punishments will be made heavier by the fact that sinners will be removed from the face of God, whose vision the righteous will enjoy; but they will not consist in this alone. The external condition of sinners will also be desolate not merely because of the absence of good things, but also because of positive torments. Just as the blessedness of the righteous, amid the all-beatifying vision of God, will also have an external setting wholly fitting to that vision.

2 Thess. 1:10. When He comes to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed, in that day.

Behold the purpose of the Second Coming of the Lord! He comes for this: to be glorified and to be wondrous in His saints and in those who have believed. The rejection of unbelievers and sinners will occur, as it were, in passing. The majesty and fearfulness of the Lord’s appearing will repel and strike them. But all the Lord’s attention will be directed toward making His mercy marvelous in the glorification of His faithful. What a warm and comforting consolation for those who suffer for their faith in the Lord!

Corresponding to what precedes—eternal destruction for unbelievers, but for you wondrous glory—though he does not speak directly of their glory, but of the Lord’s glorification in them, he by this very fact increases yet more the brightness of the state awaiting them in the future, giving to understand that their glory will be a certain share of the glory of God—a divine glory.

The Lord is in Himself always glorious and wondrous, but in His saints and in those who believe He is not always and not fully glorious and wondrous at the present time. In their persons He is disparaged and not revered. But then He will show what His saints and those who believe in Him truly are, what gracious power they carry within themselves on earth, and with what spiritual glory the souls beneath the covering of a mortal body and an outwardly unbecoming state are clothed. What is now hidden will then be manifested to all. The Lord will clothe them with the glory with which He Himself is clothed, so that not only those who are strangers to Him but even the believers themselves and the angels will marvel at this and will glorify Him. “It has not yet been revealed what we shall be” (1 Jn. 3:2). And it has not entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9).

God is wondrous in His saints (Ps. 67:36), and makes marvelous His purposes in them (Ps. 15:3), often even here. This is necessary for the purposes of the economy of the salvation of the human race. The Lord Himself appeared wondrously on earth; wondrous were the holy Apostles, who in frail vessels carried the great grace of God that subjected the whole world; wondrous were the holy martyrs, who endured dreadful torments with rejoicing—even frail women, young maidens, and children; wondrous were the venerable ones, who found paradise in severe deprivations. Especially wondrous are the moral transformations: from drunkards into sober men, from fornicators into the chaste, from the wrathful into the meek, from the miserly into the generous, from the proud into the humble. But here these things are not seen and honored by all. Then before all will shine the light of the glory of the grace of God—and it will be plain what perfections each person has acquired through his labors on earth, and in which the divine glory manifests itself. For that glory will not clothe them from without, but will break forth from within, from those holy qualities that constitute the very fabric of their souls.

And this is the Apostle’s purpose in these words—to drive away the gloomy thoughts to which the persecutions and tribulations could give occasion. The holy Fathers direct most of their attention to this side in their commentary. Here are their thoughts. Theodoret: “The Apostle showed the greatness of the punishment of unbelievers, calling it eternal destruction; now he lets us see also the glory of those who have believed, saying that God Himself will be glorified in them and will appear wondrous. In the present life some remain in suffering and labor, while others, living wickedly, enjoy abundant good things; but in the day of judgment—the righteous will be glorified and deemed worthy of crowns, while those who lived wickedly will be given over to torments.” St. Chrysostom: “When the persecutors see that those very ones whom they tormented, despised, and subjected to mockery have become close to Him, then His glory will be revealed, or, more properly, in this will consist both His glory and the glory of the latter; His glory because He did not forsake them but surrounded them with greater splendor—their glory because they were deemed worthy of such honor.” He also says: “When those who were wretched and abased and endured a thousand sufferings, and through it all preserved faith in Him, He deems worthy of such glory, then the power of God will be manifested, because, though the believers here seemed to have been forsaken by Him, they will be deemed worthy of glory there. In this above all will be revealed all the glory and power of God.” Oecumenius: “to be glorified”—can be understood in two ways: it is glorious for Him that there will be many saints whom He fills with His good things; or thus: He will be glorified by the saints, at the sight of Him seated at the right hand of the Father in the Father’s glory, as the God of all. A third meaning may also be allowed: that the saints will move the incorporeal powers to glorify Him, at the sight of how many and how great are the good things He bestows upon His faithful. “To be wondrous”—as the saints will give occasion for Him to be glorified, so also to appear wondrous—because those who in this life seemed so abased and rejected that they were driven out and killed, He deemed worthy of so many and such great good things (Theophylact has the same thoughts).

“For our testimony was believed.” Some see in these words an explanation of the word “who have believed”—as if to say: the Lord will come to be wondrous in those who have believed—understood: in you, or: and in you—since you also believed our testimony, that is, the testimony about Christ Jesus, or the preaching of the Gospel—since this testimony was received by you with faith, was believed by you. In that case—“in that day”—will refer to the glorification and wondrousness of the Lord in the saints: when He comes to be glorified and to be wondrous in that day; and the words: “for our testimony was believed among you” will constitute a parenthetical clause, as if standing in brackets. Theophylact writes: “God will be wondrous in that day, because our word and preaching were believed by you—that is, because you believed and made yourselves worthy of those good things which will then be granted to the faithful.” So also Theodoret: “In that day” must be referred to what was said above, that is, the Lord will be wondrous in all who have believed in that day. He called the preaching a testimony; and said that they believed this testimony.

St. Chrysostom, who always had moral purposes in his homilies, sees here among other things also this thought: “Since many pretend to be believers, do not count anyone blessed before death, for only in that day will it be revealed who has truly believed.” This same thought is retained by Oecumenius: “In that day” it will be evident that you have believed, for now many pretend to be believers. With this interpretation too, the words: “for our testimony was believed…” explain the preceding: “who have believed,” only in a different regard. With this interpretation there is no need, however, to suppose that “for our testimony was believed…” is a parenthetical clause and to move “in that day” to another place.

But it seems close of all to the flow of the speech will be the interpretation of St. John of Damascus, according to which “for our testimony was believed…” reveals not the sincerity of the faith of those who believed, but the divine dignity of the faith itself. He says: “That truth which we now preach, in that day — πιστευθησεται — will prove undeniably true.” Now unbelievers have the boldness to say: in whom do you believe, and in what, and for what purpose? — treating with words of contempt both the faith and the Lord Himself who is the object of faith, and those who believe. And they seem to triumph, exalting their wisdom over the simplicity of the believers’ faith. Then will shine the glory of the faith, and it will be solemnly revealed before all that this is the one and only guide, given by God to those living on earth for all the time the earth shall stand, and that those who followed it, despite the multitude of oppositions, were not mistaken in their hope. The testimony of the Apostles, that they preach not their own but what was delivered to them by God and the Lord and was inspired by the Holy Spirit—will prove true, and all will acknowledge this. And the Lord will be wondrous in the believing of those who have believed—He shall be justified “in His words,” and shall overcome “when He is judged” (Ps. 50:6). That the word “was believed” stands in the past and not the future tense does not hinder this interpretation. The Apostle places our attention at that moment when this will be accomplished, and as it were says: the Lord will be wondrous in those who have believed—for behold, see—our testimony has proved true.

With this the holy Paul concludes his depiction of the future judgment and recompense. He held the attention so long on this subject because there is no other subject that has the power to so sober the mind and impart such alertness and energy to the moral powers as the contemplation of what the end of all things will be. The cold strictness of moralism—to act from mere consciousness of duty alone—is foreign to the divine teaching. It surrounds a person with motives to which human nature responds sympathetically at all levels of its development. St. Chrysostom teaches on this matter as follows: “The thought of the kingdom moves us to lead a virtuous life. True, one who is fully virtuous is guided not by fear (of punishment) nor by the desire to gain the kingdom, but by Christ Himself, as Paul did. But let us think about the goods in the heavenly kingdom and about the torments in gehenna, and at least in this manner let us rightly form and educate ourselves, let us in this manner move ourselves to fulfill what we ought to fulfill. When in the present life you see something good and great, then think about the heavenly kingdom, and you will be persuaded that what you have seen is of no account. When you see something dreadful, think about gehenna, and you will laugh at what seemed dreadful to you. When fleshly lust takes hold of you, think about the fire, reflect on the very pleasure of that sin—that it is of no account and does not even bring pleasure. If the fear of transgressing the laws enacted here has such power as to restrain us from evildoings, then how much more—the remembrance of the future, unceasing torment, eternal punishment. If the fear of offending an earthly king restrains us from so many crimes, then how much more the fear of offending the heavenly King. If the mere sight of a dead man so humbles our mind, then how much more—gehenna and the unquenchable fire, how much more—the undying worm. If we constantly thought about gehenna, we would not quickly fall into it. For this very reason God threatens with punishment. If reflection on gehenna brought us no great benefit, God would not have uttered this threat; but since the memory of it can help us rightly to fulfill great deeds, He has as it were sown in our souls a salutary medicine—the thought of it that arouses dread” (on verse 8).