2 Thessalonians 1:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

At the same time he consoles them by showing that they will be crowned for their labors and cares, according to the demand of justice. But first he says what concerns them themselves. For even if someone strongly desires to avenge himself, above all he seeks a reward for himself. Therefore the Apostle added: "that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer." Thus the cause of their sufferings is not that their persecutors are stronger than they are. Rather, it is that by this very path they must enter the Kingdom. "Through many tribulations," he says, "we must enter the Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).

"For which you also suffer." Thus the persecutors rule over you not because they are stronger, but because the Kingdom of Heaven is acquired through suffering. This exchange must necessarily be accomplished in precisely this way, and not without labor. "Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God," says the Lord.

For no man is endowed with such righteousness that he has no need of being tested by sufferings, whether for perfection, strengthening, or the proving of his power. Do they not number among the righteous the Apostle Paul? Though he humbly and sincerely confesses his past transgressions, he gives thanks that he was justified by faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Gal 2:16). Did He, Whom vain-minded men do not understand, spare Paul when He says: "I will spare neither the righteous nor the sinner" (Ezek 21:3)? Let them hear Paul himself: "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations," he says, "a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me. Three times I besought the Lord that it should depart from me, but the Lord said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Cor 12:7-9). The same Paul says that these burdens and persecutions are evidence of the righteous judgment of God.

If the Thessalonians suffer and die unrewarded in this life, or if their persecutors prosper and die unpunished for their evil, then we conclude that a time will come when they will undergo due punishment. Then the sufferers for the faith will be rewarded. That is, there will be judgment. Second, more closely to the situation of the Thessalonians, the persecutions and afflictions to which they are subjected are nothing other than the action of that righteous judgment of God. This judgment must begin first with the house of God, the Church of Christ, and then pass to all men (1 Pet 4:17). This judgment punishes Christians for their pre-Christian life and for their voluntary and involuntary falls even within Christianity. At the same time, for Christians it serves as a means to show their faith and patience, and so to accomplish merits after which rewards will follow.

In this very patience of theirs there is visible proof that the righteous judgment of God will surely come. The Lord Jesus, appearing from heaven with the angels of His power, in flaming fire will take vengeance on the Thessalonians' persecutors, and in general on all who have not known God and do not obey the Gospel of the Lord.

According to Blessed Theodoret's explanation, the Apostle speaks as though saying: "The afflictions you endure show that you clearly know the rewards for enduring dangers and await the Kingdom of Heaven, knowing the righteous decree of the Lawgiver. For this is what the words mean: evidence of the righteous judgment of God." St. John Chrysostom says: "Thus the cause of their sufferings is not that their persecutors are stronger than they are. Rather, it is that by this very path they must enter the Kingdom, for 'through many tribulations,' he says, 'we must enter the Kingdom of God' (Acts 14:22). There will be reason to count you worthy of the Kingdom: you will have suffered for it. The Apostle consoles them by showing that they will be crowned for their labors and cares, according to the demand of justice. What then? Will the recompense be equal to the works? No. On the contrary, see how from what he says afterward it is revealed that the punishments will be much harsher and the reward much greater. By equating them in crowns with those who performed countless and far greater struggles, the Apostle points to the time of recompense. Through the description of the event itself, he lifts their thoughts upward. By his word he seems to open the heavens and present them to their sight. He surrounds the Lord with an angelic host. Thus he sketches a splendid image both of the place itself and of what is in it, so that the Thessalonians may come to themselves."

This judgment will take place when the Lord Jesus Christ appears in all His glory. Like God on Sinai and in the bush, He will appear in the brightness of fire. He will punish those who have not known God, because they did not wish to know Him, and those who did not receive the Gospel. He will punish them with eternal destruction. And this will be when, the Apostle again adds for the consolation of the Thessalonians, Christ is glorified in His saints. That is, He will show His majesty in their glorification and communicate His glory to them. He will appear wondrous and will awaken wonder toward Himself in all creation by what He accomplishes in all believers. Therefore He will do this also in the Thessalonians, in whom the Apostle's testimony concerning Christ met with full faith.

Then he depicts the circumstances in which it will be accomplished, and especially what it will be like, verses 8-10. Since the Thessalonians had already shown their cheerfulness in endurance, these convictions were certainly present in their spirit. Under their influence, that cheerfulness had ripened in their hearts. Saint Paul does not wish to give birth to them for the first time, but to enliven them. He wishes to give them greater strength and a more life-giving effect upon suffering hearts. He does this by confirming their truth with his apostolic word, and thereby giving them divine authority. The Apostle does not go far to provide assurance that there will be judgment and righteous recompense. He derives it from the Thessalonians' own condition. From the fact, he says, that you endure such injustices, it is clear that there will be a judgment. At that judgment you will be recompensed, and your persecutors will be avenged. The righteousness of God requires this. Saint Paul here used the same proof by which the immortality of the soul, or the existence of life beyond the grave, is most strongly confirmed. Here the righteous suffer, while the lawless prosper. If there is a God, and a righteous God, and He does exist, then undoubtedly there will be another life. There the first will receive their due reward, and the second their due punishment. Grammatically, the word indication does not mean for an indication or for a proof, but what is an indication, a proof, or what serves as proof. The thought is this: the persecutions and sorrows that you bear cheerfully point, as with a finger, to the righteous judgment that is to come. At that judgment it will be decreed for you, or that you should receive there, the blessed kingdom of heaven as your reward. An indication of the righteous judgment of God. What then points to such a judgment: cheerful patience, or persecutions and sorrows? Both. Cheerful patience points to the conviction in those who endure that there will be a judgment, at which their righteous cause will triumph. This conviction gives them strength to endure and not to fall under the weight of afflictions. That this was so in the Thessalonians should not be doubted. Otherwise patience would not have taken place in them. Blessed Theodoret paraphrases the Apostle's thought in this way: The sorrows you endure show that you clearly know the rewards for enduring dangers, and that you await the heavenly kingdom, knowing the righteous decree of the Lawgiver. For this is what the words mean: an indication of the righteous judgment of God. But from this personal conviction, how does it follow that there really will be judgment and righteous recompense? This conclusion is mediated by the truth that needs no proof: there is a God, good and righteous. Everyone bears this truth in his heart with a conviction of its immutability, which is higher than all proofs. Not one proof reaches the power of this direct conviction. Cheerful patience for the righteous cause of God is born and ripens in the heart only under the action of this direct truth. It is firmly held by the same heart that endures and remains cheerful in endurance. Thus, from the fact that there is a God, good and righteous, it undoubtedly follows that He will not allow the unfaithful always to triumph over those faithful to Him. In His counsel He has most certainly appointed a day when He will glorify the one and shame the other. So too, from cheerful patience, formed in the heart under the certain truth of the being of God, good and righteous, it also undoubtedly follows that there will be judgment and righteous recompense. This is the conclusion if one looks only at what was taking place in the hearts of the Thessalonians and for the Thessalonians. But how could others draw the same conclusion from this? The unrighteous persecutions and sorrows led them to it. They might not see what was in the heart of the Thessalonians, but they could not fail to see that they suffered, and suffered for a righteous cause. From this alone the conclusion immediately arose of itself: therefore there will be a righteous judgment. It cannot be that this will remain forever, that is, that the righteous suffer while the unrighteous triumph. There will be a time when each will be repaid according to what he deserves. Yet for them also this conclusion is mediated by the same certain truth, requiring no proof, that there is a God, good and righteous. His essential property is to render to each according to his works. Therefore, whether one has patience in view, or persecutions and sorrows, from both it follows that there will be judgment and recompense. This follows through the mediation of the truth of the being of a righteous God. The Apostle sets this forth in the following verse, the sixth. In other places of Scripture these subjects are also set together. In one place it is said that he who wishes to please God must be ready for every temptation (Sir 2:1). In another: he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb 11:6). Both temptations, or sorrows and persecutions, and faith in recompense, or in the being of God's righteous judgment, are inseparable from a God-pleasing and righteous life. The Apostle's thought may be expressed this way: the persecutions and sorrows that you, believers living according to faith in the spirit of love, endure, while your enemies and persecutors enjoy happiness and even at your expense, prove that there will be a day. On that day God's justice will repay you with blessedness for your present deprivations. Or thus: your cheerful patience and firmness in faith amid persecutions and sorrows serve as a pledge of that blessedness with which God will one day deem you worthy. In His boundless righteousness He will render what is due to your self-denying faithfulness. That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. The aim and meaning of judgment is to render to each according to his works. As for you, it will be for this purpose: that you may receive the kingdom. For you judgment is not fear and trembling, but joy and consolation. The fact that you suffer wrongfully already shows that you will be counted worthy of the kingdom. God has already decreed it for you. It is already yours. Only let the judgment come. For which ye also suffer. You bear persecutions and sorrows in this hope. You are comforted and inspired by this, that for patience you will unfailingly receive the kingdom. Look through the lives of the martyrs, and you will be assured that, with the power of faith and love for the Lord, all of them held deep in their hearts the certainty of receiving indescribable blessedness for short-lived sufferings. The radiance of the kingdom with Christ the Lord awaiting them after tortures in the other life overshadowed for them the horrors of the torments prepared by the tormentors. The Apostle assures us: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18). All were animated by the hope: if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him (Rom 8:17). Or thus: you suffer because only by this path can one enter the kingdom. Narrow is the way and strait the gate that lead to life (Mt 7:14). The Lord suffered. The Apostles and Prophets suffered. Sorrows are unavoidable for all who walk in their steps. The Lord foretold only sorrows for His own in the world (Jn 16:33). As they persecute Me, He says, so they will persecute you also (Jn 15:20). But blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:10). Saint 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. For he says: through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Besides what has been said, in the words an indication of the righteous judgment of God our commentators see other shades of thought, not without edification. Saint Chrysostom writes: The Apostle seems to say here: that God's righteousness may be revealed in this, that He crowns you and punishes them. Oecumenius expresses the same thought more fully: You endure this so that, in deeming you worthy of the heavenly kingdom, God's justice may be manifested. Therefore God permits you to be in sorrows, so that when He repays you for this with the heavenly kingdom, He may show His justice in it. This is an indication that God's judgment will righteously deem you worthy of the kingdom (Theophylact). It is as though he said: there will be reason to deem you worthy of the kingdom. You will have suffered for it. The Apostle comforts them by showing that they will be crowned for their labors and cares, according to the demand of justice (Chrysostom). See: suffering for Christ bestows the kingdom of heaven by righteousness, and not by grace alone. By this he lifted their thought upward and inspired them to despise sorrows (Oecumenius). Or: He gave them great consolation, showing that they would be crowned not by grace, but by righteousness, receiving the kingdom as recompense for their own labors and sweat (Theophylact). To all that has been said, one may add this thought as well. The faithful, despite all their effort to be pure before God's eyes, cannot boast of it. For who is clean from defilement? They hate sin and pursue it in themselves, yet it still breaks through and calls down upon itself the righteous judgment of God. This judgment is carried out in their being subjected to temporary sufferings for deliverance from eternal torments. Thus, once God's righteousness has been satisfied concerning them here, there an unhindered entrance into the kingdom is opened for them. When we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world, says the same Apostle elsewhere (1 Cor 11:32). From this it is also clear how exacting God's righteousness is. It does not leave even small sins without punishment. To the righteous, because of their constant zeal to fulfill God's will, it repays falls into sin, as if against their will, by temporary sufferings here. What then should be expected by those who do not believe and have no care for works pleasing to God, but give themselves over to every unrighteousness and uncleanness? Their torments must be without measure. The sufferings of believers in the Lord, who walk according to His will, point precisely to this. The holy Apostle Peter writes in consolation to those enduring persecutions: It is time for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins first with us, what shall be the end of those who disobey the Gospel of God? And if the righteous man is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (1 Pet 4:17-18).