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“They looked … and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.” (Exod. 16:10) GET into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the cloud and when you have found it, continue to look at it, rather than at the leaden gray in the middle. Do not yield to discouragement no matter how sorely pressed or beset you may be. A discouraged soul is helpless. He can neither resist the wiles of the enemy himself, while in this state, nor can he prevail in prayer for others. Flee from every symptom of this deadly foe as you would flee from a viper. And be not slow in turning your back on it, unless you want to bite the dust in bitter defeat. Search out God’s promises and say aloud of each one: “This promise is mine.” If you still experience a feeling of doubt and discouragement, pour out your heart to God and ask Him to rebuke the adversary who is so mercilessly nagging you. The very instant you whole-heartedly turn away from every symptom of distrust and discouragement, the blessed Holy Spirit will quicken your faith and inbreathe Divine strength into your soul. At first you may not be conscious of this, still as you resolutely and uncompromisingly “snub” every tendency toward doubt and depression that assails you, you will soon be made aware that the powers of darkness are falling back. Oh, if our eyes could only behold the solid phalanx of strength, of power, that is ever behind every turning away from the hosts of darkness, God-ward, what scant heed would be given to the effort of the wily foe to distress, depress, discourage us! All the marvelous attributes of the Godhead are on the side of the weakest believer, who in the name of Christ, and in simple, childlike trust, yields himself to God and turns to Him for help and guidance.—Selected. On a day in the autumn, I saw a prairie eagle mortally wounded by a rifle shot. His eye still gleamed like a circle of light. Then he slowly turned his head, and gave one more searching and longing look at the sky. He had often swept those starry spaces with his wonderful wings. The beautiful sky was the home of his heart. It was the eagle’s domain. A thousand times he had exploited there his splendid strength. In those far away heights he had played with the lightnings, and raced with the winds, and now, so far away from home, the eagle lay dying, done to the death, because for once he forgot and flew too low. The soul is that eagle. This is not its home. It must not lose the skyward look. We must keep faith, we must keep hope, we must keep courage, we must keep Christ. We would better creep away from the battlefield at once if we are not going to be brave. There is no time for the soul to stampede. Keep the skyward look, my soul; keep the skyward look! “Keep looking up— The waves that roar around thy feet, Jehovah-Jireh will defeat When looking up. “Keep looking up— Though darkness seems to wrap thy soul; The Light of Light shall fill thy soul When looking up. “Keep looking up— When worn, distracted with the fight; Your Captain gives you conquering might When you look up.” We can never see the sun rise by looking into the west. —Japanese Proverb. Cowman, L. B. (1925). Streams in the Desert (pp. 102–104). The Oriental Missionary Society.Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:15b-Exhortation to Grow to Spiritual Maturity
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday April 5, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:15b-Exhortation to Grow to Spiritual Maturity
Lesson # 244
Ephesians 4:11 Therefore, on the one hand, He Himself generously gave some to be apostles but on other hand, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, specifically, teachers 12 for the purpose of equipping the saints for performing the work of service in order to ultimately build up the members of Christ’s body 13 until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing the unity produced by obedience to the one and only Christian faith. Correspondingly, until all of us without exception attains to the unity produced by an experiential knowledge of God’s Son. Until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing a mature man. Until all of us without exception attains to experiencing proportionately to the full stature of the one and only Christ’s character. 14 In order that each of us as a corporate unit would no longer be children. Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race because of craftiness according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception. 15 Instead, on the basis of each and every one of us as a corporate unit making it our habit of practicing the truth by means of the practice of divine-love, let all of us without exception grow with respect to every area of our character into the state of being like Him, namely, Christ, who is the head. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:15 is composed of the following:
(1) Causal participial clause: alētheuontes…en agapē (ἀληθεύοντες...ἐν ἀγάπῃ), “Instead, on the basis of each and every one of us as a corporate unit making it our habit of practicing the truth by means of the practice of divine-love” (Author’s translation)
(2) Hortatory subjunctive clause: auxēsōmen eis auton ta panta (αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα), “Let all of us without exception grow with respect to every area of our character into the state of being like Him.” (Author’s translation)
(3) Relative pronoun clause: hos estin hē kephalē, Christos (ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλή, Χριστός), “namely, Christ, who is the head.” (Author’s translation)
The hortatory subjunctive clause or exhortation in Ephesians 4:15 contains the verb auxanomai (αὐξάνομαι) which is used in a figurative sense for the spiritual growth of the believer.
Specifically, it speaks of the church age believer “growing” spiritually in the sense of becoming more and more like Christ with regard to their character.
The referent of the first person plural form of this verb is of course Paul and the recipients of this epistle.
The subjunctive mood of this verb is a hortatory subjunctive, which expresses the idea of the apostle Paul urging the recipients of this letter to unite with him in growing up spiritually to Christ-like character because of practicing the truth by means of practicing divine-love.
In this exhortation, Paul employs the accusative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) and the referent of this word is the holy character of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is indicated by the fact that this word agrees in gender (masculine), number (singular) with its nearest antecedent, which is the articular genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός), which appears in Ephesians 4:13.
As we noted in our study of this verse, the proper name Christos (Χριστός) contains the figure of metonymy, which means that the person of Christ is put for His holy character.
The intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) is the object of the preposition eis (εἰς), which functions as a marker of a change of state, which indicates the state of the believer’s character being changed into the character of Christ.
The basis for this is practicing the truth and the means by which this is accomplished is the practice the love of God as a result of obeying the Lord’s command to love one another as He has love the believer.
Also, in this exhortation, we have the articular accusative neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), which pertains not only to the totality of an abstract concept but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exception.
The referent of this word is every area of the Christian’s character, which is to reflect the character of Jesus Christ whose character reflects perfectly the character of His heavenly Father (John 1:18).
The word “character” in this context pertains to the aggregate features and traits of a person.
Since the believer’s character is to reflect the character of Christ, the word pertains to the aggregate features and traits of Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures assign to Jesus Christ the same divine essence as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit meaning that He possesses all the attributes of deity.
The Scriptures teach that He is sovereign (Matthew 28:18a; Colossians 2:10b), that He is perfect righteousness (John 8:46a; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 2:21b) and justice (John 8:16a; 2 Tim. 4:8; Ps. 9:8; Deut. 32:4; Rev. 15:3b).
Furthermore, the attribute of love is ascribed to Him (John 13:34; Rom. 5:8; Ephesians 3:19; 1 John 4:9-10) as well as eternal life (1 Tim. 1:17; 1 John 5:11), omniscience (Luke 11:17; John 2:24-25; 6:64; 21:17) and omnipresence (Matthew 18:20; Prov. 15:3).
He is also omnipotence (John 1:3, 10; 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:23-24; Phil. 3:21; Hebrews 1:3; Rev. 1:8) and immutable (Mal. 3:6; Hebrews 1:10-12; 13:8) and veracity (John 1:14; 14:6a; 1 John 3:16).
Of course, there are some divine attributes that the believer can never manifest such as omniscience, omnipresence, sovereignty and immutability.
However, they can manifest the righteousness of God by obeying the command to love God with one’s entire being and fellow human being as oneself, which fulfills one’s obligation to both God and human beings.
Righteousness is one’s obligation to both God and one’s fellow human being, which is accomplished through obedience to both of these commands.
The believer can also manifest simultaneously God’s justice by practicing the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself.
The believer can manifest the eternal life of God by personally encountering the triune God by obeying the Spirit inspired Scriptures since the Lord defined eternal life in John 17:3 as knowing the Father experientially, which is in fact personally encountering Him through experiencing fellowship with Him.
Thus, like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have a personal experiential knowledge of each other so the believer can possess an experiential knowledge of the triune God.
However, there is a caveat, namely that the knowledge of each member of the Trinity for each is exhaustive.
Such is not the case for the believer because they received the nature of God at justification but are not beings who are eternal by nature like the members of the Trinity.
The believer can manifest the omnipotence of God by appropriating it by faith in the Spirit inspired Scriptures.
Lastly, the believer can manifest God’s attribute of love by obeying the Lord’s command to love one another.
The adjective pas (πᾶς) functions as an adverbial accusative of reference, which would express the idea of Paul and the recipients of this epistle uniting together in growing up to Christ-like character “with reference to” every area of their character because of practicing the truth by means of practicing divine-love.
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:15a-Practicing the Truth By Practicing Divine-Love
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 3, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:15a-Practicing the Truth By Practicing Divine-Love
Lesson # 243
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, on the basis of each and every one of us as a corporate unit making it our habit of practicing the truth by means of the practice of divine-love, let all of us without exception grow with respect to every area of our character into the state of being like Him, namely, Christ, who is the head. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:15 is composed of the following:
(1) Causal participial clause: alētheuontes…en agapē (ἀληθεύοντες...ἐν ἀγάπῃ), “Instead, on the basis of each and every one of us as a corporate unit making it our habit of practicing the truth by means of the practice of divine-love” (Author’s translation)
(2) Hortatory subjunctive clause: auxēsōmen eis auton ta panta (αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα), “Let all of us without exception grow with respect to every area of our character into the state of being like Him.” (Author’s translation)
(3) Relative pronoun clause: hos estin hē kephalē, Christos (ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλή, Χριστός), “namely, Christ, who is the head.” (Author’s translation)
In Ephesians 4:15, Paul is exhorting and encouraging the recipients of this epistle to join with him in growing to spiritual maturity, namely Christ-likeness.
The basis for which this is to be accomplished is making it their lifestyle of practicing the truth by means of the practice of divine-love.
This exhortation and encouragement to do this is presenting a contrast with the contents of Ephesians 4:14, which is a purpose clause, which indicates “the purpose” of the Lord Jesus Christ generously giving the four communication gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11.
As we noted, Ephesians 4:12 presents the first purpose for the Lord doing this, namely for the purpose of equipping the members of the body of Christ in order that they might perform the work of service and in turn build up the members of this body.
Then, in Ephesians 4:14, we have the second purpose of the Lord giving these communication gifts.
Namely, that the members of the body of Christ would no longer be spiritual children.
Paul then describes being a spiritual child as being like a ship tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place.
The means by which this takes place is described by Paul as every wind, that is teaching.
He then elaborates on this by asserting that it is by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race that the believer is unstable spiritually and lacking in direction.
These unidentified members of the human race are false teachers according to what follows.
Paul then presents the reason why these false teachers employ trickery to deceive members of the body of Christ.
He asserts that it is because of their craftiness, which is according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception.
So therefore, the exhortation in Ephesians 4:15 is presenting a contrast between a believer being a spiritual child whose spiritual growth is hindered because of accepting false doctrine as truth to live by and that of the believer practicing the Word of truth by obedience to the Lord’s command to love another as He has loved them so that they grow up spiritually to become like Christ.
This is a contrast because both statements address the believer’s response to the Word of God and in particular the Lord’s command to love another and both are addressing the believer’s conduct.
This causal participial clause in Ephesians 4:15 stands in the emphatic position of this exhortation in order to emphasize the basis and the means by which the exhortation will be accomplished in the lives of Paul and the recipients of this epistle.
The verb alētheuō (ἀληθεύω) is debated among scholars and expositors of Ephesians 4:15 because the word can not only mean “to speak the truth” but also “to be truthful, to be faithful to the truth, to live by the truth, to practice the truth.”
I interpret the verb as meaning “to be truthful, to be faithful to the truth, to practice the truth” or “living one’s life by means of truth.”
This is indicated by several factors.
First, the church age believer does not grow up spiritually to Christ-likeness by only speaking the truth to their fellow believer but also by their conduct which is the result of obeying the Word of truth.
Secondly, the prepositional phrase en agapē (ἐν ἀγάπῃ) modifying this verb speaks of practicing the Lord Jesus Christ’s command to love one another as He has loved the believer, and which command addresses the believer’s conduct.
Furthermore, in Ephesians 4:14, Paul describes a spiritual child as one who rejects the Word of God as truth to live by and accepts false doctrine as truth to live by.
A believer does not reject false doctrine by merely speaking the truth but rather by practicing the truth.
Therefore, the verb alētheuō (ἀληθεύω) is a reference to the believer’s conduct or behavior because the command to love one another addresses the believer’s conduct and a spiritual child is a believer whose conduct is immature because of not obeying the command to love one another and thus is not practicing the Word of God.
Paul’s concerned about the believer becoming like Jesus Christ with regards to their character, which involves not only the believer’s speech but also their conduct.
Lastly, the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:2 commands the recipients of this epistle to continue making it their habit of living their lives by means of obedience to the Lord’s command to love another, and which command speaks of their lifestyle, which corresponds to Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians 4:15.
In both passages, obedience to the command to love one another is the means by which the recipients of this letter were to live their lives.
Therefore, Paul wants these Gentile Christians to conduct their lives by means of obedience to this command, which will result in spiritual growth and Christ-like character.
In this casual participial clause, Paul employs the noun agapē (ἀγάπη), which we have noted many times in our study of Ephesians, does not refer to the function of human love but rather is a love which originates in the character and nature of the triune God.
It is manifested in the life of the believer who is obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
Therefore, this word speaks of “divine-love” because it originates in the essence of God (1 John 4:8) and is reproduced and reflected in the life of the believer when they obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command to love one another as He loves the body of Christ.
It also reproduced in the church age believer by the Holy Spirit when they exercise faith in the Spirit inspired contents of Scripture (Gal. 5:22-23).
This post-justification faith provides the church age believer the capacity to practice the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love another as He loved them.
This noun agapē (ἀγάπη) contains the figure of metonymy, which means that divine love is put for the practice of the love of God by the believer as a result of obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
It is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions as a marker of means, which indicates that Paul and the recipients of this letter and ultimately all church age believers were to make it their habit of practicing the Word of God, which is truth “by means of the practice of divine love.”
Ephesians 4:15 is the seventh time that Paul has employed the noun agapē (ἀγάπη) up to this point in the epistle (Eph. 1:4, 15; 2:4; 3:17, 19; 4:2).
As we noted in our introduction, one of the major themes of Ephesians is the love of God.
Both the attribute of each member of the Trinity and the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to the church that they are to love one another as He has loved them are referred to in this epistle.
That the love of God is a major theme is indicated by the noun agapē (ἀγάπη) appears 10 times in Ephesians (Eph. 1:4, 15; 2:4; 3:17, 19; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2: 6:23), the verb agapaō (ἀγαπάω) 7 times (Eph. 1:6; 2:4; 5:2, 28, 33; 6:24), the adjective agapētos (ἀγαπητός) twice (Eph. 5:1; 6:21).
Ephesians 4:15 is the fourth time in Ephesians that Paul has used the noun agapē (ἀγάπη) in relation to the recipients of this epistle obeying the Lord’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
He uses this word in order to affirm and commend that the recipients of this epistle were obeying this command (cf. Eph. 1:15; 3:17; 4:2).
The present tense of the verb alētheuō (ἀληθεύω) is a customary present, which expresses the idea of the believer “making it their habit of” practicing the truth of God’s Word by practicing the love of God by means of obedience to the Lord’s command to love another as He has loved in order to grow up to be like Christ.
The participle conjugation of the verb alētheuō (ἀληθεύω) functions as a casual participle, which means that it indicates the cause or reason or ground of the action of the finite verb.
Therefore, this would indicate that the participle conjugation of the verb alētheuō (ἀληθεύω) is presenting “the reason why” or “the basis upon which” the believer will grow up to Christ-like character.
Therefore, this expresses the idea that the believer will grow up to Christ-like character “because” or “on the basis” that they are practicing the truth by means of practicing divine-love as a result of obeying the Lord’s command to love one another as He has loved the believer.
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:14-The Second Purpose for the Lord Jesus Giving the Communication Gifts to the Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 1, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:14-The Second Purpose for the Lord Jesus Giving the Communication Gifts to the Church
Lesson # 242
Ephesians 4:11 Therefore, on the one hand, He Himself generously gave some to be apostles but on other hand, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, specifically, teachers 12 for the purpose of equipping the saints for performing the work of service in order to ultimately build up the members of Christ’s body 13 until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing the unity produced by obedience to the one and only Christian faith. Correspondingly, until all of us without exception attains to the unity produced by an experiential knowledge of God’s Son. Until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing a mature man. Until all of us without exception attains to experiencing proportionately to the full stature of the one and only Christ’s character. 14 In order that each of us as a corporate unit would no longer be children. Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching, by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race because of craftiness according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception. (Lecturer’s translation)
As we noted, the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:14 presents the second purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ gave the gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching.
We noted that the gift of evangelism is excluded because the function of this gift is to benefit the non-Christian community and increase numerically the membership of the body of Christ.
Furthermore, only the gift of teaching is extant since the end of the first century A.D. because the gift of apostleship no longer exists because of the death of the twelve apostles.
Also, the gift of prophecy was no longer needed because of the completed canon of the Greek New Testament at the end of the first century A.D.
In Ephesians 4:12, Paul asserts that the first reason for these three communications and the gift of teaching after the first century A.D. is to equip spiritually the members of the body of Christ in order that they would be able to perform the work of Christian service and to ultimately build the members of the body of Christ.
This equipping involves communicating sound doctrine to the members of the body of Christ (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Then, in Ephesians 4:13, we noted that Paul employs four indefinite temporal clauses, which are not only expressing a future contingency from the perspective of the Lord giving of the communication gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching but they are also presenting the result of the function of these gifts.
In relation to the first indefinite temporal clause, Paul teaches that unity experientially produced by obedience to the Christian faith in the future is contingent upon the function of the gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching and will be the result of the function of these gifts.
In relation to the second indefinite temporal clause, he teaches the unity produced by an experiential knowledge of God’s Son in the future is also contingent upon the function of these gifts and will be the result of the function of these gifts.
As we noted, first and second correspond to each other because experiencing unity and possessing an experiential knowledge of God’s Son is contingent upon the Christian faith as it is communicated by those with the gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching.
Also, in order to possess an experiential knowledge of God’s Son, the believer must learn and obey the Christian faith, which communicates to the believer the significance of the person of the incarnate Son of God as well as the significance of His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
In relation to the third indefinite temporal clause, Paul teaches that individual members of the body of Christ attaining to a mature man in the future is also contingent upon the function of these three gifts and will be result of the function of these gifts.
Lastly, in relation to the fourth indefinite temporal clause, Paul teaches that each member of the body of Christ attaining to experiencing proportionately to the full stature of the one and only Christ’s character in the future is contingent upon the function of these three gifts and will be result of the function of these gifts.
Now, in Ephesians 4:14, Paul presents the second purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ gave the communication gifts to the church.
He asserts that He gave these gifts in order that believers would no longer be spiritual children.
He describes a spiritual child in figurative or metaphorical sense as one who like a ship is tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place.
Then, he presents the means by which this takes in the life of the believer, namely, by means of every wind, that is, teaching and which teaching is false doctrine originating from the lies of Satan’s cosmic system.
Paul then elaborates on this means by asserting that a spiritually immature believer is like a ship tossed back and forth by waves by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race.
These unidentified members of the human race are false teachers.
Thus, the trickery of these false teachers describe what Paul means by every wind of teaching.
The apostle then identifies the reason for this false doctrine, namely because these false teachers are characterized by craftiness, which is according to their program, which itself is characterized by that which produces deception.
Therefore, the second purpose of the Lord giving the gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching to the body of Christ with teaching the only gift extant today in the twenty-first century, is to protect the members of the Christian community from false doctrine.
The function of these gifts is to stabilize the soul of the believer with sound doctrine and to give them direction in life and a purpose to accomplish their heavenly Father’s will on earth.
So therefore, as we noted earlier, Ephesians 4:12 presents the “positive” purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ generously giving these four communication gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11.
On the other hand, the contents of Ephesians 4:14 present the “negative” purpose for which the Lord gave these gifts.
Second Thessalonians Series: 2 Thessalonians 1:10-Believers of the Church Age, Old Testament and Tribulation Will Witness the Second Advent
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 6, 2025
Second Thessalonians Series: 2 Thessalonians 1:10-Believers of the Church Age, Old Testament and Tribulation Will Witness the Second Advent
Lesson # 14
2 Thessalonians 1:3 Each of us is under obligation to always make it our habit of always giving thanks to the one and only God on behalf of each one of you brothers and sisters because it is appropriate for your faith is growing to an extraordinary degree. Correspondingly, the divine-love of each and every one of you is increasing to a considerable degree for one another. 4 Consequently, each one of us, we ourselves regularly expressed great pride in all of you in the congregations belonging to this one and only God, specifically about your perseverance as well as faith in the midst of all your persecutions as well as your adversities, which each of you are regularly enduring. 5 This is evidence of the exercise of this God’s righteous judgment so that each of you become worthy of this God’s kingdom for the benefit of which, each of you are regularly experiencing suffering. 6 Indeed, to repay with adversity for the detriment of those who regularly cause each of you to experience adversity is righteous in the judgment of this one and only God. 7 Correspondingly, to pay back rest for the benefit of each and every one of you who are regularly experiencing adversity along with each one of us at the revealing from heaven of our one and only Lord Jesus with His mighty angels. 8 The one who will as a certainty cause those who do not possess a personal knowledge of God to experience retribution by means of flaming fire. Specifically, to the detriment of those who do not obey the one and only gospel about the Lord Jesus. 9 These who are characterized by disobedience will suffer a righteous punishment, namely, eternal destruction away from our Lord’s presence, specifically away from His glory, that is, the manifestation of His victorious power 10 on that day when He has returned in order to be greatly honored by the saints. In fact, in order to be marveled at by each and every one who has believed. Also, by means of each and every one of you because our testimony was believed by each one of you. (Pastor’s translation)
2 Thessalonians 1:10 continues the thanksgiving section of Second Thessalonians which begins the body of this letter.
This section ends in 2 Thessalonians 1:12 and is divided into three parts.
The first part appears in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 and commends the Thessalonians’ for their post-justification in the midst of persecution and the second appears in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 and serves to comfort and assure the Thessalonians that God will judge their persecutors.
The third part is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 and contains Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s intercessory prayer for the Thessalonians (1:11-12).
So therefore, like 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, Paul’s prophetic statement in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 serves to encourage and assure the Thessalonian Christian community that God the Father will judge the unrepentant, unregenerate Gentiles in the city of Thessalonica who persecuted them because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
It also assures them that ultimately, He will judge every unrepentant, unregenerate person on the earth during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel and when He returns at His Second Advent to establish His millennial kingdom.
In fact, it assures them that the Lord Jesus Christ will judge every unrepentant, unregenerate person in history-past, present and future at the Great White Throne Judgment.
At that time, the Lord will execute the sentence against the unrepentant, unregenerate sinner by casting them alive into the eternal lake of fire.
Furthermore, 2 Thessalonians 1:10 encourages and assures the Thessalonians that they will take part in the events of the Second Advent of Jesus Christ in that they will witness the Lord Jesus Christ manifesting His omnipotence at His Second Advent in order to defeat His enemies and establish His kingdom on the earth.
This verse asserts that the Thessalonians with other believers throughout history will marvel at this manifestation of the Lord’s divine omnipotence.
Now, we come to 2 Thessalonians 1:10, which contains a temporal clause followed by an emphatic clause which in turn is followed by a hoti (ὅτι) causal clause.
The temporal clause asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ will return at His Second Advent in order to be greatly honored by His saints and this statement coincides with the prophetic statement in 2 Thessalonians 1:9.
Therefore, this temporal clause is expressing the idea that unrepentant, unregenerate human beings will suffer a righteous punishment and specifically eternal destruction when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth at His Second Advent.
Paul’s emphasis in using this temporal clause is not to identify the particular time when the Second Advent takes place but rather that it will take place.
The adjective hagios (ἅγιος), “saints” describes church age believers from the perspective that they have been set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of justification in order to order serve God exclusively.
Specifically, it describes those sinners who are justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son during the church age in contrast to those who were declared justified through faith in the Lord prior to the church age during Old Testament dispensation and after the church age, i.e. the seventieth week of Daniel.
Some interpret the adjective hagios (ἅγιος) here in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 as meaning “holy ones” referring to the angels, however, in all 76 instances in which Paul uses this word, the referent is never the angels.
He uses it to describe the Scriptures (Rom. 1:2), the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5; 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16; 1 Cor. 6:19; 12:3; 2 Cor. 6:6; 2 Cor. 13:13; Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 1 Thess. 1:5-6; 4:8; 2 Tim. 1:14; Titus 3:5), a kiss (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26), the apostles (Eph. 3:5), the Christian’s calling (2 Tim. 1:9).
However, most of the time it is used to describe church age believers (Rom. 1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25-26, 31; 16:2, 15; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:1-2; 14:33; 16:1, 15; 2 Cor. 1:1; 8:4; 9:1, 12; 13:12; Eph. 1:1, 15, 18; 2:19; 3:8, 18; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18; Phil. 1:1; 4:21-22; Col. 1:2, 4, 12, 26; 1 Thess. 3:13; 1 Tim. 5:10; Phlm. 5, 7).
Now, as we noted earlier, this temporal clause which begins 2 Thessalonians 1:10, is followed by an emphatic clause, which presents the second purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ will return to planet earth at His Second Advent.
It asserts that He will do so in order to by marveled at by each and every one who has believed in Him as their Savior.
This emphatic clause not only presents an addition to the previous statement which as we noted asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth in order to be greatly honored by the saints but is also advancing upon and intensifying this previous statement.
Therefore, the advancement and intensification is that not only will the Lord be greatly honored by the saints but He will also be marveled at by all those who have believed in Him.
As we also noted, the reference to the saints is a reference to the church whereas all those who have believed is a reference to believers who lived during the Old Testament dispensations prior to the church age and after the church age, namely, the seventieth week of Daniel.
Therefore, the advancement and intensification is that not only will the church be present at the Lord Jesus Christ’s Second Advent but also resurrected believers who lived during Old Testament dispensations and after the church age, namely, those who lived during the seventieth week of Daniel.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that the adjective pas (πᾶς) is modifying the participle conjugation of the verb pisteuō (πιστεύω) and the former pertains to the totality of an object, thus, it is speaking of the totality of believers throughout human history and not just the church age.
Therefore, this adjective is emphasizing that not only church age believers will be present at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ but all who exercised faith in Him throughout history will be as well.
Old Testament saints looked forward in faith to Him whereas believers living during the seventieth week of Daniel will look back in faith at Him like church age believers.
As we also noted earlier, this emphatic clause is followed by a hoti (ὅτι) causal clause which actually serves as an addition to this emphatic clause.
This hoti (ὅτι) causal clause asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ will be marveled at by each and every member of the Thessalonian Christian community because Paul, Silvanus and Timothy’s testimony was believed by each of them.
This hoti (ὅτι) clause is describing the Thessalonians being declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son as their Savior which took place during the church age.
“Testimony” is the noun marturion (μαρτύριον) refers to Paul, Silvanus and Timothy communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Thessalonians when they were in their unregenerate state in the sense that these men affirmed to the Thessalonians the truth of Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection, ascension and session at the right hand of the Father.
