2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2 Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him,… The apostle's main design in this Epistle is to correct a most disquieting error that had arisen upon this point. I. THE PANIC IN THE THESSALONIAN CHURCH. 1. It was concerning the date of the second coming of Christ. "Touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him." The facts of this august event had been prophetically described in the First Epistle. (1) It was the personal coming of Christ in "the day of the Lord" to judge the quick and the dead. (2) It was an event involving their "gathering together unto him" to meet the Lord in the air: a happy meeting, a marvellously glorious sight. 2. The misapprehension caused a sort of panic. "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled" - like a ship tossed upon a stormy sea. It was this deep agitation of mind, this consternation and surprise, which led to the unsettled spirit that manifested itself in the Thessalonian Church. Errors in the region of dispensational truth often have this tendency. 3. The panic was due to one or other of three sources. "Neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us." (1) It may have had its origin in some pretended revelation or spiritual utterance in the Thessalonian Church. Our Lord had predicted false alarms of this sort. "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe him not" (Matthew 24:23). (2) Or it may have come "through word," that is, word of mouth, supposed to be spoken by the apostle during his visit to Thessalonica. (3) Or "through letter as from us," apparently forged letters such as had already become rife in the early Church. II. THE GROUND OF THE PANIC. "As that the day of the Lord is now present." This is the correct translation; not "it is at hand." 1. It could inspire no terror for the Thessalonians to know that the day was at hand, for this had always been the apostle's teaching, as well as that of all Scripture (Matthew 24.; Romans 13:12; Philippians 4:5; Hebrews 10:25, 37; James 5:8; 1 Peter 4:7). They had been already familiar with the doctrine, which ought rather to have filled their hearts with transcendent gladness. 2. Their disquietude and distress arose from the belief that the Lord had already come without their sharing in the glory of his kingdom. Their relatives were still lying in their graves without any sign of resurrection, and they themselves saw no sign of that transformation of body in themselves that was to be the prelude to their meeting the Lord in the air. The apostle tells them distinctly that the day has not come, and that the signs of its approach had not yet been exhibited. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, |
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