1 From Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalo nians which is in God our Father and in Christ Jesus, the Lord.
2 May grace and peace be yours from God the Father and Christ Jesus, the Lord.
3 Brothers and sisters, we should give thanks to God at all times for you. It is fitting to do so, for your faith is growing and your love for one another increasing.
4 We take pride in you among the churches of God because of your endurance and your faith in the midst of persecution and sufferings.
5 In this the just judgment of God may be seen; for you must show yourselves worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are now suffering.
The judgment and the coming of Christ
6 Indeed, it is just that God repays with affliction those who persecute you,
7 but to you who suf fer, he will grant rest with us when the Lord Jesus will be shown in his Glory, coming from heaven and surrounded by his court of angels.
8 Then with flaming fire will be punished those who do not recognize God and do not obey the Gospel of Jesus, our Lord.
9 They will be sent to eternal damnation far away from the face of the Lord and his mighty glory.
10 On that day the Lord will be glorified in the midst of his saints, and reveal his wonders through those who believe in him, that is through you who have received our testimony.
11 This is why we constantly pray for you; may our God make you worthy of his calling. May he, by his power, fulfill your good purposes and your work prompt ed by faith.
12 In that way, the name of Jesus our Lord will be glorified through you, and you through him, according to the loving plan of God and of Christ Jesus the Lord.
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Comments 2 Letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 1
• 1.1 We again encounter the same ideas we have explained in 1 Thessalonians. A persecuted community. The basis of Christian life: faith, hope (or endurance), love. The day of Christ.
• 6. When the apostles preached to the pagans, they insisted on the judgment of God (Rom 1:18; Acts 17:31). In fact, these pagans never thought they would be judged at the end of their lives. For almost a century there has been a tendency among us Christians not to mention judgment in reaction to several centuries when it was over emphasized and with it the fear of pun ishment. Actually, the evangelization of modern pagans, in whom conscience has not even been awakened in the family, demands that it be spoken of as in Paul’s time.
To know that good and evil exist, that life prepares for definitive salvation (or the loss of it) and that God will judge us is an essential basis for Christian life. It is precisely from this truth that many turn away, saying for example that God is all-love, or imagining successive existences where we can catch up for our mistakes.
Indeed it is just that God repays with affliction. Let us not forget that the letters to the Thessalonians are the earliest of Paul’s letters. Even if it was his duty to remind them of the judgment, as did the prophets, and Jesus himself – certainly he had not yet totally purified his thirst for justice of every trace of violence. This violence against the wicked has been (and still is in many religions) a support for faith, but Jesus has invited us to get rid of it (Mt 13:29).
Coming from heaven… he will do justice. In the early years of the apostles, it was believed that the Day of the Lord would soon come and judgment (the Last Judgment) would inaugurate the reign of God the Father (1 Cor 15:24). We now suppose – perhaps mistakenly – that it is not imminent, and we prefer to think of judgment as coming at the death of each one: individual judgment.