2 Thessalonians 1:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He says precisely that they "will suffer punishment, eternal destruction." How, then, can the eternal become temporary? "From the face," he says, "of the Lord." What does this mean? The Apostle wishes to express that this can easily be done. Since wealthy people at that time were very arrogant, he says that no great effort is needed for this. It will be enough for God only to come and appear, and punishment and torment will overtake all the guilty. His coming will bring joy to some and torment to others. Where will Gehenna be? In my opinion, somewhere outside this whole world. As royal prisons and mines are far away, so Gehenna will be somewhere outside this universe. Therefore let us ask not where it is, but how to avoid it. Nor should you disbelieve future punishments on the grounds that God does not punish everyone here. He is compassionate and long-suffering, and therefore He threatens and does not immediately cast into Gehenna. "I do not desire the death of the sinner" (Ezek 18:32), He says. If there is no death for the sinner, then this was said in vain. I know that for you discourse on Gehenna is most unpleasant. But for me there is nothing more pleasant than this.

Therefore he rightly said: "when He comes to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at in all who have believed." For then all will marvel at the Judge's just sentence. "Because our testimony among you was believed, in that day." The words "in that day" must be referred to what was said above. For He will be "marveled at" in "all who have believed in that day." By "testimony" the Apostle meant the preaching, and he said that they believed this testimony.

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.

There are many people who suppose that Gehenna is not so fearful, and moreover that it is temporary. Meanwhile I can present proofs from every side that it is not only no weaker than it is represented in the threats, but even more terrible. To be assured that it is not temporary, let us hear what the holy Apostle Paul says here about people who do not know God and do not believe the Gospel. He says that they will receive eternal destruction." To this His Grace Theophan adds: "In the times of the Apostles, those who did not believe in God were the pagans, while those who did not obey the Gospel were chiefly the Jews (Rom 10:3, 16, 21; 1 Thess 2:15-16). Perhaps St. Paul also understood it this way. But if we look at our own time through the Apostle's word, we will have to acknowledge that here the Apostle did not designate particular peoples. Rather, he designated moral and religious qualities and states by which those who destroy themselves can exist among all peoples."

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.

Yet here there still remains some expectation that the torments may cease. But when he says, “They shall suffer punishment, eternal destruction,” he completes the depiction of the bitter lot of unbelievers and sinners.

He finally strikes them down by sentencing them to eternal lack of consolation. Eternal destruction, previously “complete ruin” (1 Thess 5:3), is eternal perishing.

They will feel that they are utterly perishing, and yet they will carry the conviction that they will never perish. At every moment they will be, as it were, born anew for fresh torments.

“They will suffer and not be consumed. The very fire will in some manner regenerate them, so that it may then devour them” (Ambrosiaster).

“There are many people who place good hopes not in abstaining from sins, but in supposing that Gehenna is not as terrible as people say.

They think it is milder than the Gehenna with which we are threatened, and that it is temporary, not eternal. They reason much about this.

Yet from every side I can present proofs that it is not only not milder than it is presented in the threats, but even far more terrible.

The fear stirred up by the mere words about Gehenna is enough to confirm this, even if we do not unfold their meaning. To be assured that it is not temporary, hear what St. Paul says here.

He speaks about people who do not know God and do not believe the Gospel. He says that they shall suffer eternal destruction. How then can what is eternal become temporary?” (Chrysostom).

“Where, then, are the Origenists, who invent myths about the end of torments?” (Theophylact).

“From the face of the Lord,” according to a Hebrew idiom, means “from the Lord,” from the Lord Himself, and not through intermediaries.

They will personally hear the sentence from Him and by His power will be cast into Gehenna. A similar meaning appears in Acts, where there is expectation of times of refreshing “from the face of the Lord” (Acts 3:20).

He did not simply say “from the Lord,” but “from the face of the Lord,” to signify the terror of the Lord as Judge for unbelievers and sinners.

It also signifies the incorruptibility of the judgment and vengeance. It will be terrible for them to look upon the Lord’s face. 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 might” means from His glorious power, or from His mighty glory.

This expresses the dread majesty of the almighty Judge as God. “He will not simply come, but with mighty glory.

His glory will not be without power, and His power will not be without glory. That is, He will appear as the all-powerful King” (Theophylact).

The face signifies terror, but terror without power is nothing. In the Judge on the last day both will be manifest. Unbelievers and sinners will see not only dread and implacable anger on the face of the Lord the Judge.

They will also see boundless power, which will punish them by casting them into torment, from which no one will ever rescue them.

They will feel both. They will be pierced by the sense of His terror and of the boundless power that punishes. Crushed by this feeling, they will be driven away from Him like lightning.

This will happen as soon as the dread sentence of their lot proceeds from His mouth: “Depart from Me.” Then they will be cast down into Gehenna.

But the same face and the same power will pour inexpressible relief into the hearts of all who believed and remained faithful to the faith.

St. Chrysostom writes: “The Apostle wishes here to express that the punishment of sinners will be carried out easily. For this no great effort is needed.

It will be enough 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.”

Some heterodox Western interpreters paraphrase the words “from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might” in this way: “being removed from the face of the Lord and from His glory.”

They suppose that eternal torment will consist in this. This thought is unsuitable to the structure of the speech here, and in general it is incorrect.

Certainly, future punishments will be made heavier by the fact that sinners will be removed from the face of God. The righteous will be delighted by the vision of Him.

Yet the punishments will not consist in this alone. Their outward condition will be without consolation, not only because of the absence of good things, but also because of positive torments.

Likewise the blessedness of the righteous, together with the all-blessed vision of God, will also have an outward condition wholly fitting to that vision.