Catholic Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 1

"God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled." (2 Thessalonians 1:6-7)

Perseverance under Persecution

Paul gives thanks for the Thessalonians' growing faith and increasing love, and for their perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials they are enduring. Their endurance is evidence of God's righteous judgment that they will be counted worthy of his Kingdom. God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels, to punish those who do not know God and refuse to obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord, on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people.

The eschatological justice promised here is the pastoral foundation of Christian perseverance under suffering. Paul does not counsel the Thessalonians to pretend their suffering does not hurt, or to be indifferent to the injustice done to them. He tells them the truth: God sees it, God is just, and the day of accounting is coming. The Catechism presents the last judgment as the moment when the full truth of every person's relationship with God and neighbour will be revealed, and every injustice either repented or answered for (CCC 1039).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you. This is not a call to the satisfaction of revenge but to the relief of trusting that justice belongs to God. When you are being wronged and there is no human recourse, this is the word: give it to the just God who sees everything and whose accounting is perfect. Release the judgment. He will do what needs to be done.

Prayer

Lord God, you are just. We give to you every injustice we have suffered and every wrong that has gone unaddressed. You see it all. On the day of the Lord Jesus, the books will be balanced. Until then, give us the perseverance and faith of the Thessalonians, counted worthy of your Kingdom. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

2 Thessalonians
1
Greetings to the Thessalonians
(1 Thessalonians 1:1–10)
1 Paul, Silvanus,* 1:1 That is, Silas and Timothy,
 
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
 
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father † 1:2 SBL, NE, and WH God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
3 We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing. 4 That is why we boast among God’s churches about your perseverance and faith in the face of all the persecution and affliction you are enduring.
Christ’s Coming
 
5 All this is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment. And so you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels 8 in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might, 10 on the day He comes to be glorified in His saints and regarded with wonder by all who have believed, including you who have believed our testimony.
 
11 To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.‡ 1:12 Or the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.

*1:1 1:1 That is, Silas

†1:2 1:2 SBL, NE, and WH God the Father

‡1:12 1:12 Or the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.

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