The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Thessalonians — Section 19

&his judicial Ire mUBt have a fearful aspect to the ungodly, The description here be11ra a close resemblance to what is found in Dao. vii. 9, 10: 11 J beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Aooieot of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, e.od the hair of his head like the pure wool : his throne was like the fiery fie.me and hie wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before iiim : thollll&od thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : the judgment was set, and the books were opened." The description is here transferred from the Ancient of days to him who is there styled the Soo of mao. (4)Judieial action toward two classes of CM ungodly, "Rendering vengeance." Juda- 0 ment is the manifestation of the justice of God. When men are convicted before a human tribunal they have to give an equivalent for the wrong they have done to others. Society in that way not only protects itself, but expresses its indignation against their crimes. The Lord is to take his seat as Judge, first convicting and then pronouncing sentence. In this there is implied no revengeful feeling; but there is implied holy indignation, in the name of the highest Authority in the universe, against all the ungodly for all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought. First class of tM ungodly. "To them that know not God." This is a description of the heathen. And it is t.o be noticed that vengeance is t.o be rendered not merely to the wicked world-rulers (Pharaohs and Neros), to those who have traded in their fellow-men, to those who have been covenant-breakers, to those who have taken away the life of the innocent, but to the heathen as a whole. Oo the other hand, it is to be noticed that they are not regarded historically, but from the point of view of the writers as those who have had to do with their not knowing God. In so far, therefore, as it can be i11stly said that, from their bad environments, they have not had to do with this oot knowing God, vengeance shall not be rendered to them. But, in so far as they have oot followed their light, there shall not any of them escape. &cone/, cla.,a ojt'Ju,ur,,godly. "And to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus." Our Lord Jesus is iden- tified with gospel as well as with Law, with mercy as well as with judgment. What is the gospel but the good news of the Son of God coming into our nature, and suffering vengeance, just indignation and death, in room of the transgressors? And when he comes forward now io the ministration of tho gospel, and commands meo everywhere to repent of their sins and to accept of mercy, has he not a right to be obeyed? And will the most humanitarian maintain that he who obeys not should go unpunished ·t (5) Their punishment in its content,. "Who shall suffer punishment, :even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might." Such being their character (as "who" implies), they shall suffer punishment. The suffering of punishment by them corresponds to the rendering of vengeance by the Lord. The punishment is declared to be destructive. This may mean, and in some of its applica- tions doee mean, annihilation. But there is not good reason for supposing that it meana annihilation in its application to the punishment of the ungodly. It seems to involve a low conception of the nature of man and of the moral government of God, to suppose that human beings are to be placed under trial, and to work out a moral history, and that after their failure they are in multitudes to be quenched in the darkness of non- existeoce. It seems more reasonable to take the meaning t.o be that they shall be destroyed, in being consigned to a state of wisery for which in their creation they were not intended. Their nature (unlike that of Christ's people, 1 Thess. iv. 23) being diRintegrated by sio, their peace shall be completely broken. The epithet "eternal" which is applied to destruction is of terrible import. It points to the pun- ishment as stretching away into the eternal world. It may be doubted whether by itself it is decisive for the absolute eternity of future punishment. It is not so decisive as if the form had been endless. Oo the other hand, it is not decisive against the endlessness of future punishment that the word means age-long. It needs to be considered in connection with the subjects to which it is applied. Eternal sio, as the right reading now is io Mark iii. 29, apparently means sio for which there is oo escape from punishment. Eternal punishment does not mean that judgmeot is eternally proceeding, but that its issues reach into eternity. The similar word which in the Old Testament is applied to the mountains from the nature of the case imports a limited eternity. The eternal times through which ,the mystery wae hidden can only mee.o limited tunes into which the pan eternity was regarded as divided. Applied to Goo,  a& L 1-12.J THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THE8BALONIAN8. 17