2 Thessalonians 1:6 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Seeing it is a righteous thing However men may judge of it; with God To whom belongeth vengeance, (Romans 12:19,) and who will avenge his elect that cry unto him day and night; to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you To remove the pressure from you to them. And it is remarkable that about this time, at the passover, the Jews raising a tumult, a great number, some say thirty thousand of them, were slain. St. Paul seems to allude to this beginning of sorrows, 1 Thessalonians 2:16, which did not end but with their destruction. And to you that are troubled That suffer persecution; rest with us If not in the present world, where we do not ourselves expect it, yet at last, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven. By the word ανεσις, here rendered rest, or, as it more properly means, relaxation, the apostle does not mean deliverance from persecution. The believing Jews, with whom St. Paul here ranks himself, had no relaxation in that sense any more than the believing Gentiles. But he meant deliverance from the troubles of this life at death, and the enjoyment of eternal rest, the rest of God, partly entered into then, and more especially after the coming of Christ here spoken of. With his mighty angels Who shall be the ministers of his power in the execution of this great and awful judgment. In flaming fire To which the aerial heavens and the earth are reserved, (2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10,) and by which they shall be destroyed; taking vengeance Or inflicting punishment, as διδοντος εκδικησιν also signifies; see 1 Peter 2:14, where the same word is translated punishment. Does God, as some say, barely permit this punishment to come upon his enemies? or, as the Lord once rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, (Genesis 19:24,) does a fiery stream go forth from him? Who know not God By an experimental and practical knowledge; who know him not so as, 1st, To be humbled before him, Job 40:4-5; Job 42:5-6; Job 2 d, To trust in him, (Psalms 9:10,) namely, for pardon, holiness, and eternal life, being first truly penitent; 3d, To love him with a love shed abroad in their hearts, John 4:7; 4th, To keep his commandments, 1 John 2:3-4; 1 John 1 John,, 5 th, To be transformed into his image, 2 Corinthians 3:18. In which passages the fruits of the saving knowledge of God are designedly specified, and two of them at least, namely, love and obedience to God, declared to be absolutely essential to the true knowledge of him. Reader, examine thyself! Does thy knowledge of the one living and true God produce these fruits? Surely it cannot, unless he that commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into thy heart, to give thee the knowledge of his glory in and by Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:6; unless the Son of God hath given thee an understanding to know him, 1 John 5:20. And who obey not the gospel Who do not receive its truths and promises with a lively faith, productive of love and obedience, Christ being the author of eternal salvation only to those that love and obey him, 1 Corinthians 16:22; Hebrews 5:9. Believing the gospel is often termed by St. Paul the obedience of faith, both because God hath commanded men to believe it, and because it contains not only doctrines to be credited, threatenings to be revered, and promises to be trusted, but also a variety of precepts necessary to be obeyed. Probably in the former clause, who know not God, the apostle had chiefly the unbelieving Gentiles in view, and in this latter the unbelieving Jews.